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Tract  No.  97 


THE  \     TERN  RESERVE 
I  XL  SOCIETY 


Issued  Oct 


A  aoaoao  . 

"$91008  IfiohoteiH  9V1989H  m9^89 

9161  ,rtt8  i9doi9D9a  b9iQ       Part    I 


Articles  of  Incorporation 
Officers  —  Membership 


Annual  Report  for  1  9  1  6-  1  9  1  7 


Part  II 

Side  Lights  on  the 
Ohio  Company  of  Associates 


GEN.  GEORGE  A  GARRETSON 

fe  Member:  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  December  8th,  1916 


Tract  No.  97 

THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Issued  October,  1917 

Part  I 

Articles  of  Incorporation 
Officers — Membership 

Annual  Report  for  1  9 1  6- 1  9 1  7 


Part  II 

Side  Lights  on  the 
Ohio  Company  of  Associates 

from  the 
John  May  Papers 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 

19'7 


ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 

f 


STATE    OF   OHIO 

These  Articles  of  Incorporation  of 
THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Witnesseth,  That  we,  the  undersigned,  all  of  whom  are  citi- 
zens of  the  State  of  Ohio,  desiring  to  form  a  corporation  not  for 
profit,  under  the  general  corporation  laws  of  said  State,  do  hereby 
certify: 

FIRST.  The  name  of  said  corporation  shall  be  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society. 

SECOND.  Said  corporation  shall  be  located  and  its  principal 
business  transacted  at  the  City  of  Cleveland,  in  Cuyahoga  County, 
Ohio. 

THIRD.  The  purpose  for  which  said  corporation  is  formed  is 
not  profit,  but  is  to  discover,  collect  and  preserve  whatever  relates 
to  the  history,  biography,  genealogy  and  antiquities  of  Ohio  and 
the  West;  and  of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  including  the  physical 
history  and  condition  of  that  State;  to  maintain  a  museum  and 
library,  and  to  extend  knowledge  upon  the  subjects  mentioned,  by 
literary  meetings,  by  publication  and  by  other  proper  means. 

In  Witness  Whereof,  We  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  this 
seventh  day  of  March,  A.  D.,  1892. 

Henry  C.  Ranney,  Charles  C.  Baldwin, 

D.  W.  Manchester,  David  C.  Baldwin, 

Amos  Townsend,  Percy  W.  Rice, 

William  Bingham,  Jas.  D.  Cleveland, 

A.  T.  Brewer. 


OFFICERS 

The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

OFFICERS  FOR  1916-1917 

President 

WILLIAM  P.  PALMER 

Vice  President  and  Director 

WALLACE  H.  CATHCART 

Honorary  Vice  Presidents 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 

JACOB  B.  PERKINS 

Secretary 
ELBERT  J.  BENTON 

Treasurer 
A,  S.  CHISHOLM 

Trustees 

ELROT  M.  AVERT  RALPH  KING 

S.  P.  BALDWIN  W.  G.  MATHER 

C.   W.    BlNGHAM  PRICE   McKlNNEY 

A.  T.  BREWER  D.  Z.  NORTON 

E.  S.  BURKE,  JR.  WM.  P.  PALMER 

W.  H.  CATHCART  DOUGLAS  PERKINS 

A.  S.  CHISHOLM  JACOB  PERKINS 

J.  D.  Cox  F.  F.  PRENTISS 

WM.  G.  DIETZ  J.  L.  SEVERANCE 

JAMES  R.  GARFIELD  AMBROSE  SWASEY 

C.  A.  GRASSELLI  CHAS.  F.  THWING 

WEBB  C.  HAYES  J.  H.  WADE 
S.  S.  WILSON 

Finance  Committee 

C.  W.  BINGHAM  W.  G.  DIETZ 

S.  P.  BALDWIN  D.  Z.  NORTON 

F.  F.  PRENTISS 

Publication  Committee 

W.  H.  CATHCART 
E.  J.  BENTON  H.  E.  BOURNE 


4  LIBRARY  STAFF 

LIBRARY  STAFF 

WALLACE  H.  CATHCART Director 

SARAH  LOUISE  WEBB Director's  Secretary 

ALTA  BLANCHE  CLAFLIN Cataloguer 

ANNIE  J.  OLDHAM Assistant  Cataloguer 

HELEN  C.  MATHEWS Reference  Assistant 

JESSIE  M.  ALLEN  .  .  , .  Assistant 


J.  B.  PIERCE .  .Custodian 


MEMBERSHIP 

The  Society  consists  of  three  classes  of  members. 

(1)  Annual  or  Sustaining  members  have  full  privileges,  use  of 

library,  all  publications,  annual  fee  is  ten  dollars. 

(2)  Controlling  members,  who  alone  have  the  voting  franchise,  are 

life  members,  fee  two  hundred  dollars  (one  payment),  and 
Patrons,  fee  five  hundred  dollars. 

(3)  Honorary  and  corresponding  members  are  chosen  by  vote 

of  the  Trustees. 

PATRONS,  LIFE  AND  ANNUAL  MEMBERS  OF  THE 

WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

PATRONS 


Mrs.  Dudley  P.  Allen 

M.  Andrews 
*Perry  H.  Babcock 
*Charles  Candee  Baldwin 
*Mrs.  Caroline  P.  Baldwin 
*David  Candee  Baldwin 
*Elbert  Irving  Baldwin 

Mrs.  Lillian  Hanna  Baldwin 

S.  P.  Baldwin 
*  James  Barnett 

Charles  W.  Bingham 
*William  Bingham 

Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bradford 

M.  A.  Bradley 
*Alexander  Brown 

Charles  F.  Brush 

E.  S.  Burke,  Jr. 
*Stevenson  Burke 

W.  H.  Canniff 
*Leonard  Case 

Wallace  H.  Cathcart 

A.  S.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Mary  H.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Eliza  Ann  Clarke 

*Deceased 


*Mrs.  Maria  B.  Cobb 

J.  D.  Cox 

H.  G.  Dalton 

J.  H.  Dempsey 
*Dan  Parmelee  Eells 

H.  P.  Eells 
*William  J.  Gordon 

C.  A.  Grasselli 
*Truman  P.  Handy 

D.  R.  Hanna 
H.  M.  Hanna 

*Charles  W.  Harkness 
Edward  S.  Harkness 
Mrs.  Stephen  V.  Harkness 
W.  L.  Harkness 

*Henry  R.  Hatch 

*John  Hay 

*Mrs.  John  Hay 

*Peter  M.  Hitchcock 

"Liberty  E.  Holden 

*James  H.  Hoyt 

*John  Huntington 
H.  H.  Johnson 
M.  B.  Johnson 


6 


MEMBERSHIP 


"Oliver  G.  Kent 

H.  W.  King 

Ralph  King 

Mrs.  Mary  Perkins  Lawton, 

Warren,  Ohio 
*Isaac  Leisy 

Price  McKinney 

William  McLauchlan 
*Mrs.  Flora  Stone  Mather 

Samuel  Mather 

William  G.  Mather 

D.  Z.  Norton 

E.  W.  Oglebay 
William  P.  Palmer 
Samuel  H.  Parsons 

*Henry  B.  Payne 
*O.  H.  Payne 
Douglas  Perkins 
*Henry  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*H.  S.  Pickands 
*James  Pickands 
*Alfred  A.  Pope 

F.  F.  Prentiss 


*H.  C.  Ranney 
*R.  R.  Rhodes 

John  D.  Rockefeller 

John  P.  Sawyer 

Mrs.  Mary  Baldwin  Sawyer 

John  L.  Severance 
*H.  A.  Sherwin 
*Mrs.  Margaretta  Stone 

Ambrose  Swasey 
*Isaac  N.  Topliff 
*Amos  Townsend 
*James  J.  Tracy 

Jeptha  Homer  Wade 
*John  F.  Warner 
*Miss  Mary  A.  Warner 

Rollin  C.  White 
*Thomas  H.  White 

William  J.  White 

Windsor  T.  White 
*Mrs.  Mary  E.  Whittlesey 
*John  L.  Woods 
*Charles  O.  Scott 

George  H.  Worthington 


LIFE  MEMBERS 


*Jarvis  M.  Adams 
*Dudley  P.  Allen 
*John  W.  AUen 

M.  Catherine  Allen 
ML  Lebanon,  N.  Y. 

Miss  Sarah  L.  Andrews 
*Peter  M.  Arthur 

Elroy  M.  Avery 

Mrs.  Brenton  D.  Babcock 
*Mrs.  Lucy  (Mygatt)  Backus 

Chambers  Baird, 
Ripley,  Ohio 

*Dcceased 


*Dudley  Baldwin 
*John  D.  Baldwin, 

Worcester,  Mass. 
*Norman  C.  Baldwin 
*Seymour  Wesley  Baldwin 
Ohio  C.  Barber 
Harley  Barnes, 

Painesville,  Ohio 
*Levi  F.  Bauder 
*Clifton  B.  Beach 
George  H.  Beckwith, 
Toledo,  Ohio 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Thomas  S.  Beckwith 

Elbert  J.  Benton 
*Lucius  B.  Bierce 
*Edward  Bingham 
*Jesse  P.  Bishop 

William  K.  Bixby, 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  C.  Blossom 
*William  J.  Boardman 

C.  C.  Bolton 

B.  F.  Bourne 
*E.  H.  Bourne 

H.  E.  Bourne 
*N.  P.  Bowler 
*W.  W.  Boynton 

Mrs.  S.  A.  Bradbury 
*Alvah  Bradley 

Luther  A.  Brewer, 
Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa 

A.  T.  Brewer 

W.  J.  Brodie 

Alexander  C.  Brown 
*Fayette  Brown 

Harvey  H.  Brown 

Arthur  Bruce, 

East  Canterbury,  N.  H. 
*John  R.  Buchtel 

A.  E.  Buell 
"Charles  H.  Bulkley 
*Thomas  Burnham, 

Glen's  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Jonathan  F.  Card 
*W.  S.  Chamberlain 
*Herman  M.  Chapin 
*Oscar  A.  Childs 
*William  Chisholm,  Sr. 
*Wm.  Chisholm 

Arthur  H.  Clark 


*Edward  W.  Claypole, 

Akron,  Ohio 
*Ahira  Cobb 
*John  L.  Cole 
*William  Collins 
*A.  G.  Colwell 
*Joseph  Colwell 
*A.  L.  Conger, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Corning 
*Warren  H.  Corning 
W.  H.  Cottingham 
*David  N.  Cross 
*Stiles  H.  Curtiss 
*Kirtland  K.  Cutler, 

Spokane,  Wash. 
*Wm.  M.  Darlington, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
*J.  H.  Devereaux 
W.  G.  Dietz 
*Wilson  S.  Dodge 
*Lyman  C.  Draper, 

Madison,  Wis. 
*A.  M.  Dyer 
*H.  C.  Ellison 
George  H.  Ely, 

Elyria,  Ohio 
*Heman  Ely 
*John  Erwin 
*A.  W.  Fairbanks 
Winchester  Fitch, 

New  York  City 
*William  Perry  Fogg, 

New  York  City 
*Manning  F.  Force, 

Sandusky,  Ohio 
*  Julius  E.  French 
H.  A.  Fuller 


"Deceased 


8 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Samuel  Augustus  Fuller 

Harry  A.  Garfield 
*  James  A.  Garfield 

James  R.  Garfield 
*Theodatus  Garlick 
*George  A.  Garretson 
"Charles  E.  Gehring 

James  G.  Gibbs 

Charles  F.  Glaser 
*Charles  Gordon 
*Eugene  Grasselli 
*Miss  L.  T.  Guilford 

Cleveland  C.  Hale 

John  C.  Hale 

Leonard  C.  Hanna 
*Stephen  V.  Harkness 
*H.  A.  Harvey 

Fitch  Haskell, 

New  York  City 
"Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 

Fremont,  Ohio 
*G.  E.  Herrick 
*Charles  G.  Hickox 

Frank  F.  Hickox 

Miss  Laura  Hickox 
"Ralph  W.  Hickox 
*Addison  Hills 

Miss  Mary  Louise  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Miss  Mildred  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Mrs.  P.  M.  Hitchcock 
*O.  J.  Hodge 
*Franklin  B.  Hough, 
New  York  City 

W.  D.  Howells,  Jr., 
Auburndale,  Fla. 
'Deceased 


Colgate  Hoyt, 

New  York  City 
*George  Hoyt 
*James  M.  Hoyt 
*J.  L.  Hudson 
Mrs.  Mary  Wood  Hunt 
Mrs.  Marrett  L.  Huntington 
Miss  Mary  E.  Ingersoll 
Kent  Jar  vis,  Jr., 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  N.  Johnson 
Mrs.  Alice  Butterfield  Jones 
M.  M.  Jones, 

Utica,  N.  Y. 
*Mrs.  Frederick  Judson 
*Myron  R.  Keith 
Hermon  A.  Kelley 
*Horace  Kelley 
*Thomas  M.  Kelley 
"Jared  Potter  Kirtland 
*Virgil  P.  Kline 
*William  G.  Lane, 

Sandusky,  Ohio 
"Increase  A.  Lapham 
"Benson  G.  Lossing, 
New  York  City 
"0.  H.  Marshall, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
"Samuel  H.  Mather 
"Samuel  L.  Mather 
"Herbert  McBride 
"John  Harris  McBride 
"Leander  McBride 
W.  S.  Metcalf 

Chardon,  Ohio 
"Lewis  Miller, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Otto  Miller 


MEMBERSHIP 


William  C.  Mills, 

Columbus,  Ohio 
William  H.  Miner, 
St.  Louise,  Mo. 
*James  Monroe, 

Oberlin,  Ohio 
E.  W.  Moore 
*Edmund  P.  Morgan 
*George  W.  Morgan 
*William  J.  Morgan 
Miss  Mary  L.  Morse, 

Poland,  Ohio 
*George  Mygatt 
*Eben  Newton 
*William  S.  C.  Otis 
*George  W.  Pack 
Charles  A.  Paine 
James  Parmelee 
Eugene  H.  Perdue 
*Edwin  R.  Perkins 
*George  T.  Perkins, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Jacob  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*L.  Lewis  Perkins 
William  A.  Price 
*William  H.  Price,  Jr. 
*Frederick  W.  Putnam, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
*Rufus  P.  Ranney 
Rollin  T.  Reefy, 
Elyria,  Ohio 
*Harvey  Rice 
*Percy  W.  Rice 
Franklin  M.  Ritezel, 

Warren,  Ohio 
Mrs.  Maria  D.  Rives, 
Hillsboro,  Ohio 

*Deceased 


*George  F.  Robinson, 
Ravenna,  Ohio 

Frederick  P.  Root 
*Henry  C.  Rouse 
*James  F.  Ryder 
*J.  H.  Salisbury 

Charles  Baldwin  Sawyer 

David  Pascal  Sawyer 

Leonard  Schlather 
*Ferdinand  Schumacher, 
Akron,  Ohio 

Geo.  F.  Scofield 

Mrs.  G.  F.  Scofield 

W.  C.  Scofield 
*John  F.  Seiberling, 

Chicago,  III. 
*Samuel  W.  Sessions 
*Louis  H.  Severance 

Ernest  J.  Siller 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Smith 
*Stiles  C.  Smith 
*William  H.  Smith, 
Chicago 

Andrew  Squire 

Oliver  M.  Stafford 
*Silas  M.  Stone 
*Worthy  S.  Streator 

Charles  Henry  Strong 

Daniel  R.  Taylor 
*Robert  W.  Taylor 

Mrs.  Sophia  Strong  Taylor 

Henry  Burton  Thompson, 
Hillsboro,  Ohio 

Charles  F.  Thwing 
*  John  Tod 
*Norton  S.  Townsend 

Lyman  H.  Treadway 
*H.  B.  Tuttle 


10 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Mrs.  Mary  McArthur  Tuttle, 

Hittsboro,  Ohio 
*Washington  S.  Tyler 
*Randall  P.  Wade 
*Miss  Ann  Walworth 
*Miss  Sarah  Walworth 
W.  R.  Warner 
*Horace  P.  Weddell 
"Charles  Whittlesey 
*George  Willey 


E.  M.  Williams 
Mrs.  J.  D.  Williamson 
*Samuel  E.  Williamson 
*Edwin  N.  Winslow 
Henry  A.  Wise, 
Canton,  Ohio 
*Joseph  Worden, 

Willoughby,  Ohio 
G.  Frederick  Wright, 
Oberlin,  Ohio 


ANNUAL  MEMBERS 


Gardner  Abbott 
Charles  E.  Adams 
Franklyn  L.  Alcott 
W.  D.  B.  Alexander 
A.  F.  Allen 
Harriet  W.  Andrews 
A.  A.  Augustus 
E.  R.  Bailey 
Charles  Baird 
Charles  W.  Baker 
A.  D.  Baldwin 
H.  G.  Baldwin 

C.  O.  Bartlett 
James  C.  Beardslee 
George  H.  Beaumont 
W.  H.  Becker 
Warren  Bicknell 
Frank  Billings 
William  Bingham,  2nd 
George  T.  Bishop 
Morris  A.  Black 

D.  S.  Blossom 
Ben.  P.  Bole 
Ernest  Boley 
Chester  C.  Bolton,  Jr. 
Fred  S.  Borton 

*Deceased 


T.  E.  Borton 
Walter  S.  Bowler 
Alva  Bradley 
C.  L.  Bradley 
M.  F.  Bramley 
W.  R.  Breed 

C.  E.  Briggs 
Charles  T.  Brooks 
T.  H.  Brooks 
Fayette  Brown 
Robert  J.  Bulkley 
T.  W.  Burnham 
Frank  C.  Caine 
W.  C.  Caine 

G.  D.  Cameron 
Gray  Casement 
W.  T.  Cashman 

F.  M.  Casto 

D.  J.  Champion 
W.  P.  Champney 

G.  N.  Chandler 
John  C.  Chandler 
N.  D.  Chapin 
Andrew  T.  Chisholm 
Wr.  M.  Clapp 

J.  A.  Coakley 


MEMBERSHIP 


11 


E.  C.  Collins 
William  Collins 
A.  E.  Convers 
O.  R.  Cook 
William  T.  Corlett 
H.  B.  Corner 
Henry  W.  Corning 
James  W.  Corrigan 
Henry  Coulby 
George  A.  Coulton 
W.  H.  Cowdery 
Jacob  D.  Cox,  Jr. 
Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft 
R.  T.  Cragin 
Geo.  W.  Crile 
J.  B.  Crouse 
Benedict  Crowell 
S.  W.  Croxton 
Loftus  Cuddy 
Mattoon  M.  Curtis 
Henry  S.  Curtis 
William  E.  Gushing 
Martin  B.  Daly 
D.  Edward  Dangler 
N.  L.  Dauby 
Charles  G.  Dawes 
J.  G.  Deericks 

A.  T.  DeForest 

B.  Dettlebach 
H.  K.  Devereux 
Francis  E.  Drake 
W.  M.  Duncan 
A.  C.  Dustin 
Hayden  Eames 

C.  S.  Eaton 
H.  R.  Edwards 
Charles  Eiseman 
A.  W.  Ellenberger 
L.  H.  Elliott 


F.  A.  Emmerton 
A.  L.  Erlanger 
E.  R.  Fancher 
Julius  Feiss 
Paul  L.  Feiss 
S.  P.  Feiin 

E.  L.  Fisher 
George  E.  Follansbee 
George  W.  Ford 

S.  W.  Fordyce 
W.  H.  Foster 
Charles  H.  Gale 
George  H.  Ganson 
A.  L.  Garford 
Fred  H.  Gates 
Kermode  F.  Gill 
Harry  Gillett 
Frank  H.  Ginn 
Christian  Girl 

F.  K.  Glidden 

F.  H.  Goff 
Thomas  Goodwillie 
Harvey  D.  Goulder 

G.  W.  Grandin 
R.  F.  Grant 
E.  R.  Grasselli 
T.  S.  Grasselli 
E.  B.  Greene 
Frank  M.  Gregg 
David  C.  Griese 
E.  S.  Griffiths 
John  M.  Gundry 
H.  E.  Hackenberg 
Alexander  Hadden 
E.  V.  Hale 
Orlando  Hall 
Samuel  H.  Halle 
Salmon  P.  Halle 
Charles  A.  Hanna 


MEMBERSHIP 


H.  M.  Hanna,  Jr. 
L.  C.  Hanna,  Jr. 
A.  F.  Harvey 
P.  W.  Harvey 
Coburn  Haskell 
W.  S.  Hayden 
Webb  C.  Hayes 
Will  L.  Hayes 
Thomas  Henderson 
F.  A.  Henry 
Myron  T.  Herrick 
Parmely  W.  Herrick 
Wilson  B.  Hickox 
H.  A.  Higgins 
F.  A.  Billiard 
Lawrence  Hitchcock 
Reuben  Hitchcock 
T.  H.  Hogsett 
Mrs.  L.  Dean  Holden 
C.  F.  Hoover 
A.  C.  Hord 

A.  R.  Horr 
Charles  W.  Hotchkiss 

B.  W.  Housum 
Elton  Hoyt,  2nd 
A.  T.  Hubbard 
Adella  Prentiss  Hughes 
W.  J.  Hunkin 

A.  S.  Ingalls 
H.  L.  Ingersoll 
J.  M.  Ingersoll 
R.  L.  Ireland 
Walter  J.  James 
F.  J.  Jerome 
Homer  M.  Jewitt 
J.  Howard  Johnson 
Isaac  Joseph 
Adrian  D.  Joyce 
F.  W.  Judd  * 


Jeanette  P.  Kinney 
L.  H.  Kittredge 
John  A.  Kling 
T.  S.  Knight 
E.  P.  Lenihan 
Win.  A.  Leonard 
S.  C.  Lewis 
W.  E.  Lewis 
Robert  Lindsay 
Bascom  Little 
J.  B.  Livingston 

E.  S.  Loomis 
Malcolm  L.  McBride 

F.  S.  McGowan 
H.  B.  McGraw 
John  MacGregor,  Jr. 
Geo.  T.  Mclntosh 
H.  P.  Mclntosh 
Arthur  G.  McKee 
H.  H.  McKeehan 
Amos  B.  McNairy 
M.  J.  Mandelbaum 
W.  H.  Marshall 
George  A.  Martin 
Frank  S.  Masten 
Amasa  Stone  Mather 
Miss  Katherine  L.  Mather 
S.  Livingston  Mather 

E.  A.  Merritt 

Mrs.  E.  C.  T.  Miller 

Leonard  B.  Miller 

James  R.  Mills 

D.  C.  Moon 

C.  J.  Morgan 

C.  R.  Morley 

J.  E.  Morley 

Chas.  L.  Murfey 

L.  A.  Murfey 

W.  P.  Murray 


MEMBERSHIP 


13 


S.  T.  Nash 

A.  W.  Neale 

F.  H.  Neff 
Harry  New 

Mrs.  John  E.  Newell 
Robert  W.  Ney 
R.  C.  Norton 
J.  R.  Nutt 
Herbert  K.  Oakes 
George  H.  Olmstead 
H.  C.  Osborn 
W.  A.  Osborn 
C.  A.  Otis 
Ed.  S.  Page 
C.  A.  Paine 
K.  V.  Painter 
Proctor  Patterson 
Hosea  Paul 

G.  H.  Peters 
John  Phillips 
Henry  F.  Pope 
Chas.  H.  Prescott 
W.  H.  Prescott 
W.  A.  Price 

C.  R.  Putnam 
F.  A.  Quail 

B.  D.  Quarrie 
W.  H.  Quinby 
S.  A.  Raymond 

Mrs.  Cornelia  M.  Rees 
Walter  J.  Rich 
F.  B.  Richards 
W.  C.  Richardson 
Louis  Rorheimer 
Geo.  S.  Russell 
J.  A.  Rutherford 
Wm.  B.  Sanders 
Willard  N.  Sawyer 
H.  L.  Schuler 


Frank  R.  Scofield 

F.  A.  Scott 

J.  K.  Secor 

F.  A.  Seiberling 

C.  A.  Selzer 

A.  D.  Severance 

Belden  Seymour 

Mrs.  Charles  J.  Sheffield 

Henry  E.  Sheffield 

Robert  K.  Sheppard 

Henry  S.  Sherman 

Miss  Clara  Prentiss  Sherwin 

John  Sherwin 

George  B.  Siddall 

F.  P.  Smith 

Samuel  Louis  Smith 

A.  B.  Smythe 

Martin  Snider 

Sidney  Spitzer 

John  J.  Stanley 

Abraham  Stearn 

F.  A.  Sterling 

A.  L.  Stone 

E.  E.  Stone 
C.  B.  Stowe 
H.  W.  Strong 
J»  J.  Sullivan 
W.  C.  Talmage 
A.  S.  Taylor 
V.  C.  Taylor 
W.  D.  Taylor 

F.  H.  Teagle 
Stephen  W.  Tener 
J.  R.  Thomas 

A.  B.  Thompson 
Thomas  Wingate  Todd 
S.  H.  Tolles 

F.  W.  Treadway 

B.  C.  Tucker 


14  MEMBERSHIP 

George  D.  Upson  E.  L.  Whittemore 

M.  J.  VanSweringen  Hugh  B.  Wick 

O.  P.  VanSweringen  H.  C.  Wick 

M.  G.  Vilas  Elmer  B.  Wight 

Gustav  Von  Den  Steinen  E.  P.  WTilliams 

John  Whittlesey  Walton  James  D.  Williamson 

A.  R.  Warner  Myron  H.  Wilson 

W.  H.  Warner  Sidney  S.  Wilson 

Charles  W.  Wason  George  C.  Wing 

C.  G.  Watkins  P.  H.  Withington 

J.  H.  Webster  L.  J.  Wolf 

George  P.  Welch  John  J.  Wood 

S.  T.  Wellman  Herbert  Wrright 

John  Wheeldon  J.  B.  Zerbe 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

To  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY: 

Gentlemen: 

A  year  has  rapidly  passed,  and  we  pause  on  the 
threshold  of  another,  the  beginning  of  a  new  half 
century  in  the  Society's  history,  to  look  back  over  the 
work  of  the  year  just  closed,  to  profit  by  our  errors, 
and  by  our  successes  to  get  a  fresh  inspiration  for  the 
one  ahead. 

The  year  1916-17  has  been  one  of  greatest  activity 
and  disturbance  in  our  national  affairs,  caused  by  the 
turbulent  war  into  which  nearly  the  whole  civilized 
world  is  now  participating,  the  United  States  being 
one  of  the  last  nations  to  enter.  As  an  historical 
society,  devoted  to  American  history  we  have  viewed 
the  war  hitherto  as  we  would  that  of  any  foreign  war — 
as  outside  the  field  of  our  work.  But  now  it  is  fast 
taking  on  an  American  aspect  in  which  we  must  be 
interested.  Future  generations,  in  studying  American 
history,  will  call  upon  us  for  the  causes  leading  up  to, 
and  the  participation  of  the  United  States  in  this  war. 
Thus  we  are  compelled  to  gather  material  pertaining 
to  the  world's  greatest  war,  just  as  we  have  preserved 
the  documents  and  history  pertaining  to  the  French 
and  Indian  wars,  the  War  of  Independence,  the  War 
of  1812,  Mexican  War,  the  Civil  War,  and  the  Spanish 
American  War.  A  small  start  has  already  been  made 
in  this  direction.  Will  the  friends  of  the  Society  kindly 
keep  this  in  mind  and  send  to  us  anything  bearing  on 
this  great  struggle? 

Just  as  this  report  will  show  that  steady  and  perhaps 
more  rapid  increase  than  ever  before  has  been  made 
in  our  collections,  in  even  a  larger  degree  has  been  the 
call  and  demand  on  the  Society  and  its  small  force 

15 


16  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

to  attend  to  the  needs  of  the  steadily  increasing  number 
of  users.  May  we  as  briefly  as  possible  present  to 
you  the  results  of  the  past  year  and  then  point  to  a 
few  needs  which  seem  the  most  pressing. 

THE  MEMBERSHIP 

During  the  year  death  has  taken  a  number  of  our 
members.  In  the  list  of  patrons:  Mrs.  Caroline  P. 
Baldwin,  Mr.  C.  W.  Harkness,  Mr.  James  H.  Hoyt 
and  Mr.  H.  A.  Sherwin.  In  the  list  of  life  members 
we  have  lost  Judge  W.  W.  Boynton,  Gen.  G.  A.  Garret- 
son,  Hon.  Virgil  P.  Kline  and  Mrs.  Mary  McArthur 
Tuttle.  From  the  list  of  annual  members  we  have 
lost  by  death  Mr.  H.  A.  Everett,  Mr.  J.  H.  Severance, 
Mr.  J.  H.  Sheadle  and  Mr.  Chas.  A.  Vogt. 

NECROLOGY 
MRS.  CAROLINE  PRENTISS  BALDWIN 

Mrs.  Caroline  Prentiss  Baldwin,  a  patron  of  this 
Society,  and  the  widow  of  its  second  President,  Judge 
Charles  Candee  Baldwin,  passed  away  November  10th, 
1916. 

Mrs.  Baldwin  was  born,  of  New  England  parentage, 
January  18th,  1842.  Her  earliest  paternal  ancestor 
in  this  country  was  Captain  Thomas  Prentice,  of 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  a  freeman  of  that  town  in 
1652,  and  famous  in  King  Phillip's  War.  Her  great- 
grandfather, Samuel  Prentice  was  a  surgeon,  and  his 
father,  Colonel  Samuel  Prentice,  an  officer  in  the 
Revolutionary  War. 

In  September,  1862,  Miss  Prentiss  married  Charles 
Candee  Baldwin.  Mrs.  Baldwin  was  not  a  woman  who 
delighted  in  having  her  philanthropies  made  public; 
she  rather  shunned  all  such  publicity.  Kind-hearted 
and  generous,  she  was  responsive  to  all  worthy  calls 
for  assistance. 

The  deep  interest  that  Judge  Baldwin  showed  in 
this  Society  during  his  life  time  she  continued,  respond- 


- 

GEN.  GEORGE  A  (,ARRl|St)N 

Life  Member,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

Died  December  8th,  1916 


\ 


DIRECT 


needs  of  ti 
we  as  br 
the  psi 
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THE 


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CHARLES  WILLIAM  HARKNESS 

Patron,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

Died  May  1st,  1916 


MAIJJIW 

IsohoteiH  avieasH  rmteaW 
8161  ,* 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  17 

ing  to  our  current  needs,  also  contributing  generously 
to  our  endowment  plans. 

Besides  this  Society,  she  was  constantly  interesting 
herself  in  the  Infants'  Rest,  and  the  Humane  Society 
of  Cleveland. 

Mrs.  Baldwin  is  survived  by  one  son,  Samuel 
Prentiss  Baldwin,  and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  John  P. 
Sawyer,  with  whom  she  spent  her  life  after  the  death 
of  Judge  Baldwin. 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  HARKNESS 

Charles  William  Harkness,  son  of  Stephen  Vander- 
burg  and  Anna  M.  (Richardson)  Harkness,  was  born 
in  Monroeville,  Ohio,  December  17th,  1860,  and  died 
in  New  York  City,  where  he  had  passed  the  later  years 
of  his  life,  May  1st,  1916. 

His  early  life  was  spent  in  Cleveland,  where  he  was 
prepared  for  college  at  the  old  Brooks  School  for 
Boys.  He  entered  Yale  in  1878  and  graduated  there- 
from in  1883.  After  graduation  he  returned  to  his 
home  in  Cleveland.  In  addition  to  the  management 
of  the  Harkness  estate,  with  which  he  had  been  occupied 
since  the  death  of  his  father,  he  had  large  interests  in 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  New  York,  was  a  director 
in  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  Company,  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway,  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad,  and  the  Tilden  Iron  Mining  Company. 
During  the  summer  he  spent  the  most  of  his  time  at 
his  large  country  estate  near  Madison,  New  Jersey. 

He  was  married,  May  27th,  1896,  in  Philadelphia, 
Pa.  to  Mary,  daughter  of  William  G.  and  Sarah  Wells 
(Bushnell)  Warden,  who  survives  him.  His  mother 
and  a  brother,  Edward  Stephen  Harkness  are  also 
living. 

A  short  time  before  his  death  he  sent  a  generous 
sum  toward  the  endowment  of  this  Society,  to  which 
his  family  had  for  many  years  shown  the  most  kindly 
interest. 


18  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

JAMES  H.  HOYT 

James  H.  Hoyt,  son  of  James  M.  Hoyt  and  Mary 
Ella  (Beebee)  Hoyt — for  nearly  seventy  years  a 
resident  of  Cleveland,  a  patron  and  regular  supporter 
of  our  Society — was  called  away  from  his  earthly  tasks 
March  21,  1917,  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  Born  in 
Cleveland,  Nov.  10th,  1850,  educated  in  the  Public 
Schools  and  later  at  Western  Reserve  University, 
Amherst  College  and  Brown  University,  graduating 
from  the  latter  in  1874,  he  entered  Harvard  Law  School 
in  1875  and  graduated  in  1877.  After  spending  a 
short  time  in  his  father's  office,  he  became  a  member 
of  the  law  firm — Willey,  Sherman  &  Hoyt.  Upon  the 
death  of  Mr.  Wiley  the  firm  became  Sherman  &  Hoyt, 
later,  Sherman,  Hoyt  and  Dustin,  and  at  the  time  of 
Mr.  Hoyt's  death  it  was  known  as  Hoyt,  Dustin, 
Kelley,  McKeehan  &  Andrews.  He  was  a  director 
in  several  companies  and  banks;  a  trustee  of  the 
Carnegie  Pension  Fund,  member  of  several  clubs,  and 
the  President  of  the  Union  Club,  Cleveland,  at  the 
time  of  his  death. 

Mr.  Hoyt  married  in  1875,  Jessie  Proctor  Taintor, 
and  had  two  children,  Katherine  Hoyt  Mather,  and 
Elton  Hoyt,  2nd,  the  wife  and  children  surviving. 

From  an  appreciation  of  Mr.  Hoyt,  written  by 
Mr.  McKeehan,  we  take  the  liberty  of  quoting  the 
following  for  it  portrays  Mr.  Hoyt's  characteristics 
as  seen  by  one  who  was  not  only  an  intimate  friend, 
but  a  daily  associate  with  him  in  his  business  for  a 
period  of  some  fifteen  years. 

From  his  father  and  mother  he  inherited  a  keen  in- 
tellectuality and  a  deep  spiritual  nature.  The  father  was 
educated  in  the  law  and  in  theology,  and,  although  never 
ordained  to  the  ministry,  he  frequently  filled  the  pulpits 
of  various  churches  in  Cleveland  in  the  absence  of  the 
regular  pastors.  The  earliest  recollections  of  the  son  now 
held  by  those  who  were  his  boyhood  companions  center 
about  the  old  Baptist  church,  of  which  the  father  was 
member,  then  located  upon  the  present  site  of  the  Hickox 
Building. 


JAMES  H.  HOYT 

atron,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  March  21st,  1917 


DIRECTOR'S  R* 

JAMES  H. 

;  -ary 

• 

• 

March  31,  191  ioridm. 

\ov.  '  in  the 

Sch<              i   late*  ?    University, 

Amherst  College  ar  aduating 

from  the  latter  *rd  Law  S< 

in  1875  and  gra  «g  a 

short  time  -  a  m*  •  nber 

of  the  law  Upon  the 

death  of  M      TYOH  .H  SSMAI  n  &  Hr 

later**9"08  Ifiaho^iH  sviaasH  rmJasW  .noiiB^ 

Mr.  H-        viei^isdDwM^akri. 

Kelley,  Andrews              «as  a  dir« 

in   sever  *    and  banks;   a    trustee  of   the 

Carnegi  member  of             1  clubs,  and 

the  PK  lion  Club,  Clt           -1,  at  the 

time  of 

M  Jessie  Proctor  Taintor, 

and  ha-.  e  Hoyi   Mather,  and 

Elton  I!  'ildren  surviving. 

Fr=  '  lr    Hoyt,  written  by 

Mr.  Me  »f  quoting  thi 

folio  win  i>  character  i  M  t  ics 

as  seen  i  intimate   friend, 

but  a  daily  in  his    business  for  a 
period  of  s« 

From  it-  d  mother  i  ted  a  keen  in- 

•tuality  sj  Mi-- 

educated in  ' 

ordained  to  t  Ipits 

of  various  chur:  (I  in  the  absence  of 

regular  pas  to  r-  -llections  of  the  son 

held  by  those  wl  >,' 

about  the  old  B 

men  .'  the  Hi^^H 

dinir. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  19 

He  was  a  skilled  and  fearless  advocate,  but  as  Cleve- 
land's business  interests  developed  the  demands  of  his 
clients  became  such  that  he  was  compelled  to  devote  his 
talents  almost  exclusively  to  the  work  of  construction  and 
advice.  He  was  never  a  seeker  for  public  office.  In  1895 
he  became  a  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomination  for 
the  office  of  governor  of  Ohio,  but  this  was  solely  due  to  the 
insistance  of  many  loyal  friends  throughout  the  state. 

He  had  respect  for  the  law  as  declared  by  the  wisdom  of 
the  ages.  He  respected  the  administration  of  justice.  He 
held  courts  in  high  esteem.  He  was  the  soul  of  integrity 
and  honor.  His  client's  cause  was  his  cause  and  to  them 
he  gave  bountifully  of  all  he  possessed. 

Mr.  Hoyt  was  a  kindly  and  a  sentimental  man.  He  had 
a  genteel  instinct.  He  loved  nature;  he  loved  flowers;  he 
loved  his  books,  and  he  drew  from  them  copiously.  He  was 
always  thoughtful  and  considerate  of  those  who  were  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  any  way.  He  was  more  than  generous — 
generosity  became  a  passion  with  him.  He  prized  his 
friends,  and  delighted  in  having  them  with  him;  he  always 
thought  he  received  from  them  more  than  he  gave,  but 
they  know  better. 

Mr.  Hoyt  was  an  emotional  man,  his  emotions  did  npt 
control,  but  they  did  soften  him.  He  was  spiritual;  he  was 
religious  in  the  broadest  sense;  he  was  poetic.  He  was  as 
tender  as  a  woman.  He  would  not  willingly  wound  the 
feelings  of  anyone. 

Mr.  Hoyt  was  a  staunch  citizen  of  Cleveland.  He  had 
many  and  flattering  offers  which  would  have  taken  him 
into  fields  of  wider  opportunity  for  himself,  but  he  stead- 
fastly refused  to  leave  the  city  of  his  birth.  He  was  inter- 
ested in  her  institutions  and  in  her  public  life.  Above  all, 
he  was  intensely  patriotic;  he  was  always  loyal  to  his 
country;  he  never  hesitated  or  faltered  whenever  his 
country  was  threatened  from  within  or  without.  Had  he 
lived,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  he  would  have  served 
his  country  in  whatever  capacity  he  was  permitted  to  serve. 
Shortly  before  his  death,  he  was  presented  in  the  South 
with  his  country's  emblem,  in  accepting  which  he  promised 
to  wear  it  until  his  country  should  be  honorably  freed 
from  danger.  And  so,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  miniature 
stones  rest  peacefully  today  upon  the  bosom  of  him  who  so 
proudly  cherished  the  gift. 

James  H.  Hoyt  measured  up  to  the  full  standard;  he  was 
a  big  man.  May  a  coming  generation  profit  by  his  illus- 
trious example. 


20  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

HENRY  ALDEN  SHERWIN 

Henry  Alden  Sherwin,  who  passed  away  at  his 
country  home  "Winden,"  Willoughby,  Ohio,  June 
26th,  1916,  was  born  at  Baltimore,  Vermont,  Septem- 
ber 27th,  1842.  As  a  mere  lad  of  thirteen  he  started 
in  business.  Coming  to  Cleveland  in  1860,  he  entered 
the  dry  goods  business  as  a  clerk,  but  soon  advanced 
to  the  position  of  head  bookkeeper.  Six  years  later  he 
left  that  business  to  organize  the  industry  now  known 
all  over  the  world  as  "The  Sherwin  Williams  Com- 
pany." For  some  four  years  the  Company  was  known 
as  Dunham  &  Company,  then  upon  the  admission  of 
Mr.  E.  P.  Williams  to  the  firm,  it  became  Sherwin, 
Williams  &  Company.  Mr.  Sherwin  remained  the 
head  of  the  organization  until  his  health  demanded 
a  release  from  the  close  application  that  had  been 
given  so  unstintedly  to  the  up-building  of  their  immense 
business,  at  which  time  he  relinquished  his  active 
connection,  and  became  the  head  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Sherwin  Williams  Company.  This 
gave  him  more  time  to  spare  for  other  things  in  which 
he  was  interested,  and  he  turned  to  the  development 
of  his  beautiful  country  estate  at  Willoughby,  over- 
looking the  valleys  and  hills  towards  the  old  Mormon 
Temple  at  Kirtland.  Part  of  his  land  was  formerly 
owned  by  the  Mormons,  and  it  was  on  account  of  this 
historic  connection  that  he  provided  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society  with  a  fund  to  gather 
material  pertaining  to  the  history  of  the  Mormons  and 
to  their  settlement  at  Kirtland.  Here  on  his  estate 
he  erected  his  country  residence  and  in  it  provided  a 
magnificent  room  to  house  his  rare  books  and  manu- 
scripts, the  accumulation  of  years  of  painstaking 
collecting.  A  devotee  of  the  piscatory  art,  the  largest 
individual  collection  in  his  library  was  that  on  Angling. 
Over  one  hundred  different  editions  of  Isaac  Walton's, 
"The  Complete  Angler,"  from  the  very  rare  first 
edition,  unpretentious  in  size  and  appearance,  to 


*Jt> 


HENRY  A.  SHERWIN 

atron,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  June  26th,  1916 


the 
to  ' 

left  th; 
all  ovt 


'  levela,; 
-  as  a  clerk 
bookkeeper. 
-unize  the  in 


VHWH3H8  .A  YHK3H 

IfiohoteiH  avisasH  mstesW  . 
9161  ,rf^aS  sni/l  beid 

•ttil  his 


as  P 
Mr 

hear! 

a    T< 

connection,   and  the  he 

directors  of  the  Slierwin  V 
:ore  time  to  sp 


th  • 


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down 


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board  of 


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the    accun 


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3, 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  21 

luxurious  extra-illustrated  copies,  bound  in  the  finest 
leather,  stood  side  by  side  on  the  library  shelves  with 
thousands  of  other  works  on  this  subject.  His  collec- 
tion on  angling  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  of  its  kind 
in  the  world.  But  Mr.  Sherwin's  collecting  was  not 
confined  simply  to  books  on  angling;  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Grolier  Club  of  New  York;  the  Caxton  Club 
of  Chicago,  and  the  Rowfant  Club  of  this  city,  and  had 
full  sets  of  their  publications.  Intensely  fond  of  all 
that  was  artistic  in  book  making,  many  of  the  choicest 
specimens  of  typography  were  to  be  found  in  his  collec- 
tions, many  exquisitely  bound  under  his  own  direction, 
whenever  possible,  by  the  world's  greatest  living 
binders;  to  these  he  added  specimens  of  the  noted 
binders  of  the  past.  But  Mr.  Sherwin  had  other 
activities  that  claimed  his  time,  and  his  ever  ready 
philanthropy.  As  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Cleveland,  he  was  interested  in  all  the  various 
lines  of  work  of  his  denomination,  generously  giving 
of  his  means. 

As  a  director  of  The  Cleveland  Trust  Company 
and  the  First  National  Bank,  and  as  a  trustee  of  the 
Society  for  Savings,  he  freely  gave  wise  counsel, 
gathered  from  the  experience  of  his  fruitful  business 
career.  As  the  chairman  of  the  first  board  of  directors 
of  the  Railroad  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  later  as  trustee  in  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  as  a  valued  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  Denison  University,  he  was  keenly  inter- 
ested in  all  that  pertained  to  the  educational  and 
moral  uplift  of  young  men.  As  one  has  stated  most 
appropriately,  "he  was  a  man  of  business  ideals, 
always  most  generous  and  broad  minded  in  all  his 
dealings." 

Mr.  Sherwin  married  in  1865  Miss  Frances  Smith 
of  Cleveland,  who  survives  him  with  their  three 
daughters,  Miss  Belle  Sherwin,  Miss  Prudence  Sherwin 
and  Mrs.  Orville  W.  Prescott. 


22  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

WASHINGTON  WALLACE  BOYNTON 

Judge  Washington  Wallace  Boynton,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  members  of  the  Bar  in  Cleveland; 
five  years  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio; 
life  long  friend  and  member  of  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society,  passed  away  June  27th,  1916. 

Judge  Boynton,  son  of  General  Lewis  D.  and  Ruth 
(Wellman)  Boynton,  was  born  in  Russia  Township, 
Lorain  County,  Ohio,  January  27th,  1833.  His  parents 
were  born  and  lived  in  Belgrade,  Maine,  until  1826, 
when  they  moved  to  Ohio,  where  they  had  purchased 
a  large  tract  of  land.  His  direct  ancestor  emigrated  to 
America  in  1632. 

Judge  Boynton  as  a  boy  received  his  education 
from  the  common  and  select  schools  of  the  district  in 
which  he  lived.  At  sixteen  we  find  him  teaching  in 
the  district  school.  Later,  in  1855-57,  as  the  head  of 
a  select  school  in  Amherst  Township;  from  1857-64 
he  served  as  County  Examiner  of  school  teachers. 
In  1856,  having  read  law  for  a  number  of  years,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  but  did  not  commence 
practice  until  1858.  From  1859-64  he  served  as 
Prosecutor  of  Lorain  County.  On  February  9th,  1869, 
Governor  R.  B.  Hayes  appointed  him  Judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas  Court,  which  position  he  held  until 
1877.  His  district  covered  Lorain,  Medina  and  Sum- 
mit counties.  On  February  9th,  1877,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  which  office  he 
held  until  ill  health  compelled  him  to  relinquish  it 
in  November,  1883.  Shortly  afterward  he  located  in 
Cleveland  and  formed  a  partnership  with  his  first 
partner  of  the  sixties,  Judge  C.  C.  Hale,  and  in  1888, 
N.  T.  Horr  was  admitted  to  the  firm.  It  was  then 
known  as  Boynton,  Hale  &  Horr.  After  the  resignation 
of  Judge  Hale  in  1892,  in  order  to  accept  a  Circuit 
Judgeship,  the  firm  name  was  changed  to  Boynton  & 
Horr,  and  continued  as  such  until  1897,  when  Judge 
Boynton  retired. 

Thus  briefly  is  the  record  of  forty  years  active 


JUDGE  W.  W.  BOYNTON 

ber,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  June  27th,  1916 


22 


DIRECTOR'S 


WASHINGTON  WALLA 

Judge  Washington  \ 
most  prominent  members  of  the 
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DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  23 

work  in  public  service.  Judge  Boynton  was  ever  a 
fearless  opponent  of  all  that  was  unjust,  and  immoral. 
He  was  gifted  with  wonderful  power  as  a  speaker  and 
pleader  at  the  Bar.  Besides  his  deep  interest  at  all 
times  in  legal  matters,  he  had  a  more  than  ordinary 
fondness  for  historical  and  general  literature,  and 
wrote  at  different  times  several  articles,  largely  on 
local  historical  matters,  and  delivered  on  July  4th, 
1876,  an  address  on  the  history  of  Lorain  County, 
which  was  published  as  Tract  No.  83  of  our  Society's 
publications. 

Judge  Boynton  married  at  Ridgeville,  Ohio,  Decem- 
ber 20th,  1859,  Miss  Betsey  A.  Terrell,  who  survives 
him. 

GENERAL  GEORGE  A.  GARRETSON 

Another  revered  citizen  of  Cleveland,  and  member 
of  this  Society,  who  has  passed  away  within  the  past 
year,  is  General  George  Armstrong  Garretson,  whose 
business  life  for  many  years  was  so  closely  connected 
with  the  National  Bank  of  Commerce  at  West  Sixth 
(Water)  Street  and  Superior  Avenue. 

Gen.  Garretson  was  born  at  New  Lisbon,  Ohio, 
January  30,  1844.  His  father,  Hiram  Garretson, 
within  a  few  years  thereafter,  removed  with  his  family 
to  Cleveland,  and  became  engaged  in  the  wholesale 
grocery  business  in  the  firm  of  Hanna,  Garretson  & 
Company. 

George  A.  Garretson  was  barely  eighteen  when  our 
Civil  War  commenced,  but  he  at  once  enlisted  as 
private  in  the  84th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
served  from  May  26  to  September  20,  1862.  He  then 
applied  for  admission  to  West  Point,  and  was  appointed 
cadet  in  1863.  Upon  his  graduation  in  1867  he  received 
appointment  as  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  4th  U.  S. 
Artillery,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  his  resig- 
nation January  1,  1870. 

At  his  father's  desire,  he  returned  to  Cleveland  and 
became  connected  with  the  wholesale  grocery  business 
but  in  1875  he  entered  upon  a  more  congenial  business 


24  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

career  with  The  Second  National  Bank.  In  this  bank 
and  its  successor,  The  National  Bank  of  Commerce, 
he  served  as  clerk,  assistant  cashier,  cashier,  vice- 
president,  and,  from  1890  to  his  death,  as  its  president. 
He  had  kept  his  interest  in  military  affairs,  however, 
and  was  a  member  of  Troop  A,  Ohio  Cavalry,  serving 
as  its  captain  from  1887  to  1892.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  Spanish-American  War,  he  offered  his  services  to 
President  McKinley,  and  received  his  appointment  as 
Brigadier  General  of  Volunteers,  May  27,  1898.  He 
served  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  and  received  his  honor- 
able discharge  November  30,  the  same  year. 

General  Garretson  was  an  officer  in  several  banking 
and  other  business  organizations  of  Cleveland,  and  was 
also  interested  in  many  of  Cleveland's  charitable 
institutions,  as  the  Red  Cross,  the  Fresh  Air  Camp, 
Lakeside  Hospital,  etc. 

He  was  twice  married .  His  first  wife,  Anna  Scowden 
Garretson,  whom  he  married  in  1870,  died  in  1886. 
In  1888  he  was  married  to  Emma  R.  Ely,  daughter  of 
George  H.  Ely.  His  wife,  and  their  three  children, 
Margaret  Ely,  now  Mrs.  Henry  A.  Raymond,  George  Ely, 
and  Hiram,  survived  him,  at  his  death  Dec.  8,  1916. 

The  Memorial  to  General  Garretson  adopted  by 
the  members  of  the  Veteran  Association  of  Troop  A, 
embodies  an  estimate  of  his  personal  character,  which 
can  be  heartily  endorsed  by  all  his  associates  in  business 
and  social  life.  We  quote  the  following: 

Words  are  inadequate  either  to  express  our  admiration 
for  his  dauntless  courage,  his  love  of  country,  his  nobility 
of  character,  or  our  affection  for  his  endearing  qualities  and 
tenderness  of  heart.  There  is  no  member  of  this  Veteran 
Association  of  Troop  A  who  does  not  owe  him  an  inex- 
tinguishable debt  of  honor  and  of  gratitude  for  the  shining 
example  he  set  before  us  of  a  fine  and  fearless  soldier,  of  a 
noble  and  patriotic  citizen,  of  a  courteous  and  considerate 
gentleman,  and  of  a  warm  and  affectionate  friend. 

(It  is  a  coincidence  that  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
which  prepared  these  resolutions  from  which  we  have  just 
quoted,  was  James  H.  Hoyt,  who  so  soon  after  followed 
General  Garretson  to  the  beyond.) 


VIRGIL  P.  KLINE 

Life  Member,  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  January  18th,  1917 


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DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  25 

VIRGIL  PHILIP  KLINE 

Virgil  Philip  Kline,  life  member  and  a  constant 
contributor  to  our  work,  died  Thursday,  January 
18th,  1917,  at  his  home,  2733  East  Overlook  Road, 
Cleveland  Heights. 

His  entire  life  was  spent  in  Ohio  and  on  the  Western 
Reserve,  having  been  born  at  Congress,  Ohio,  Novem- 
ber 3rd,  1844.  At  the  age  of  six  the  family  moved  to 
Conneaut,  Ohio.  Mr.  Kline's  college  education  was 
commenced  at  Hiram  College,  Ohio,  but  finished  at 
Williams  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1866.  Soon 
after  graduation  he  entered  a  law  office  in  Cleveland 
and  studied  law;  later  he  taught  school  for  two  years 
at  Cuyahoga  Falls.  He  returned  to  Cleveland  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1870,  and  became  the 
partner  of  Albert  Slade.  Later  he  was  the  head  of 
the  law  firm,  Kline,  Carr,  Tolles  &  Goff,  and  since 
April,  1913,  was  the  senior  member  of  the  firm, 
Kline,  Clevenger,  Buss  &  Holliday.  For  many  years 
he  was  the  personal  attorney  of  Mr.  J.  D.  Rockefeller 
and  for  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Kline  is  survived  by  his  widow,  two  daughters, 
Mrs.  Dr.  Carlisle  Pope  and  Mrs.  Charles  S.  Brooks, 
and  his  son,  Virgil  P.  Kline,  Jr.,  of  Clarksburg,  West 
Virginia. 

The  following  expressive  tribute  of  his  worth, 
ability,  and  character  was  paid  to  him  by  his  fellow 
associates  on  the  Board  of  Directors  of  The  Cleveland 
Trust  Company,  with  which  board  he  had  served  from 
the  first. 

It  was  a  rare  privilege  to  be  associated  with  Mr.  Kline. 
He  was  a  lawyer  of  great  ability,  possessed  of  the  finest  sense 
of  professional  honor.  He  was  an  eloquent  advocate,  an 
uncompromising  foe  of  every  form  of  sham  and  hypocrisy. 
He  hated  vice;  he  was  a  man  of  pure  life — a  lover  of  justice 
and  fair  play.  He  believed  in  and  practiced  the  highest 
standards  of  business  morality.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in 
democracy;  he  loved  his  country,  his  state  and  the  city  in 
which  he  won  his  professional  success,  but  above  all  he  loved 
his  friends,  his  family  and  his  fireside.  He  was  a  scholarly 


26  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

man,  widely  read  in  the  best  literature  of  all  countries  and 
all  ages;  he  was  a  high-minded,  public-spirited  citizen, 
possessed  of  sound  judgment  and  a  rare  knowledge  of  men. 
He  was  a  delightful  companion,  a  loyal  friend,  a  courtly, 
honorable,  courteous,  cultured  gentleman. 

Words  are  all  too  feeble  to  express  our  admiration 
and  respect  for  him  and  the  deep  sense  of  loss  we  feel  at  his 
death. 

MRS.  MARY  MCARTHUR  TUTTLE 

Mrs.  Mary  McArthur  Tuttle,  a  life  member  and 
highly  esteemed  friend  of  the  Society,  passed  away 
at  the  old  family  home  at  Hillsboro,  Ohio,  September 
4th,  1916. 

Mary  McArthur  Thompson,  born  November  5th, 
1849,  was  the  daughter  of  Eliza  Jane  Trimble  and 
James  Henry  Thompson.  On  her  father's  side  she 
was  descended  from  John  Burton  Thompson,  a  captain 
in  the  Revolutionary  War;  on  her  mother's  side  she  was 
the  granddaughter  of  Allen  Trimble,  former  Governor 
of  Ohio. 

In  the  early  eighteen  hundreds  her  grandfather 
Allen  Trimble,  moved  to  Hillsboro,  on  to  lands  pur- 
chased by  his  father,  and  there  erected  the  home  in 
which  the  family  lived  so  many  years,  and  where  Mrs. 
Tuttle  was  living  with  her  sister  Mrs.  Rives  and  her 
brother  Henry,  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

On  July  6th,  1875,  Mary  McArthur  Thompson 
married  Herbert  Tuttle,  who  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  Professor  of  International  Law  at  Cornell  Univer- 
sity. Their  married  life  was  a  most  happy  one;  both 
were  deeply  interested  in  literature  and  history,  and 
in  addition  to  this,  Mrs.  Tuttle  had  an  intense  love  for 
art,  having  graduated  from  an  art  school  in  Cincinnati. 

Like  her  mother,  who  was  known  all  over  this 
country  as  the  "Mother  of  the  Crusade,"  she  was 
deeply  interested  in  all  things  tending  to  aid  in  the 
temperance  movement. 

It  was  through  the  kind  efforts  of  Mrs.  Tuttle  and 
those  of  her  sister  and  brother  that  the  personal 
papers  and  records  of  her  grandfather,  Governor  Allen 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  27 

Trimble,  were  turned  over,  a  few  years  ago,  to  The 
Western  Reserve  Historical  Society  for  permanent 
preservation. 

TRIPS 

Trips  in  the  interest  of  the  Society,  owing  to  the 
pressure  of  work  in  the  library,  have  been  confined  to 
a  very  few. 

A  trip  East  was  made  in  order  to  investigate  the 
facilities  provided  in  the  various  libraries  of  New  York 
City  for  the  care  of  maps,  manuscripts,  etc.,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  equipping  of  our  own  manuscript  room 
and  vault.  On  this  trip  several  large  accessions  were 
made  to  our  collections  through  special  funds  that 
were  provided  for  this  purpose. 

Valuable  additions  were  also  obtained  through 
exchange  with  the  American  Numismatic  Society,  the 
American  Geographical  Society  of  New  York,  and  the 
New  York  Public  Library. 

Later,  another  trip  was  made  which  resulted  in 
securing  for  the  Society  the  papers  of  General  Braxton 
Bragg. 

A  few  trips  have  been  made  to  different  places  on 
the  Reserve,  bringing  in  to  us  quite  valuable  additions, 
probably  the  most  extensive  one  being  from  the  home 
of  Miss  Anne  Hitchcock  at  Burton,  Ohio. 

This  last  month,  as  chairman  of  the  Ohio  College 
Library  section,  your  director  attended  a  meeting  of 
the  Ohio  College  Association  at  Columbus. 

EQUIPMENT 

In  our  late  bulletin  we  called  attention  to  the  fund 
generously  provided  by  Messrs.  C.W.Bingham,  Ralph 
King,  William  G.  Mather,  D.  Z.  Norton,  William  P. 
Palmer  and  J.  H.  Wade,  for  furnishing  the  vault  and 
manuscript  room  with  steel  cases.  I  know  of  no  one 
thing  we  have  needed  more,  than  some  safe  place  for 
the  proper  preservation  of  our  valuable  historical 
documents. 

In  the  equipment  of  this  room  we  have  arranged 


28  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

for  cases  for  our  maps,  broadsides,  atlases,  portraits, 
pictures,  etc.  In  the  vault  will  be  housed  the  rarer 
books  and  manuscripts  for  further  protection  from 
fire.  In  order  that  the  vault  may  be  kept  at  a  medium 
temperature  a  steel  day-gate  has  been  installed,  per- 
mitting the  free  circulation  of  air,  at  the  same  time 
giving  ample  protection.  We  hope  to  have  the  cases 
erected  soon  after  our  annual  meeting. 

A  steel  cabinet  for  holding  our  coin  and  medal 
collection  has  been  received  through  the  courtesy  of 
Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey. 

Last  May  Mr.  Ralph  King  purchased  for  the 
Society  another  steel  table  for  reference  readers,  thus 
enabling  us  to  replace  an  old  wooden  table  with  one 
matching  our  new  equipment. 

Hon.  T.  E.  Burton,  on  his  removal  to  New  York, 
left  with  the  Society  his  typewriter  and  desk  which  will 
be  greatly  appreciated  by  our  cataloging  department. 

Mr.  D.  Z.  Norton  has  very  generously  provided 
funds  for  a  new  flag  and  a  flag  staff,  which  have  been 
placed  in  front  of  the  building.  This  is  a  much  appre- 
ciated gift  as  it  covers  a  need  which  we  have  felt  for 
a  number  of  years. 

PUBLICATIONS 

During  the  year  Tract  No.  96  was  published,  con- 
sisting of  the  "Annual  Reports  of  the  Society,"  and 
"The  Connecticut  Land  Company:  a  study  in  the 
beginnings  of  colonization  of  the  Western  Reserve," 
by  Claude  L.  Shepard,  with  accompanying  documents, 
edited  by  Professor  Elbert  J.  Benton.  This  publica- 
tion, we  believe  is  the  best  we  have  as  yet  issued.  In 
March  we  issued  Bulletin  No.  2. 

We  have  been  pleased  to  receive  the  many  words  of 
appreciation  concerning  these  publications  that  have 
come  from  our  members,  as  well  as  from  the  various 
societies  and  organizations  with  whom  we  exchange. 

This  year  it  is  our  intention  to  publish  a  number  of 
letters  and  documents  pertaining  to  the  Ohio  Land 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  29 

Company's  affairs  which  were  among  the  papers 
acquired  by  the  Society  some  years  ago  from  descend- 
ants of  Col.  John  May,  who  came  to  Ohio  in  1788  and 
was  the  agent  for  the  Ohio  Land  Company  at  Marietta. 
We  believe  these  papers  bearing  so  intimately  on  the 
first  settlement  in  Ohio  will  be  of  interest  to  all  our 
members. 

MUSEUM 

The  museum  seems  to  be  growing  in  popularity, 
the  attendance  this  year  was  over  20,000.  The  visits 
to  the  museum  by  schools  and  other  organizations  of 
the  city  show  that  it  is  being  used  more  and  more  as 
a  means  of  instruction.  This  year  we  have  had  visits 
from  nearly  fifty  schools,  often  embracing  large  classes; 
the  year  before  the  number  was  twenty-seven.  These 
are  not  mere  sight  seeing  expeditions,  but  in  nearly 
every  case  the  scholars  come  with  memorandum  book 
and  pencil  and  take  notes,  for  papers  to  be  written 
later  at  home,  on  the  particular  collection  or  collec- 
tions which  had  been  assigned  to  them  for  investigation. 

MUSEUM  ADDITIONS 

A  large  number  of  interesting  items  have  been 
added  to  the  Museum: 

From  Mr.  Horace  H.  Miller,  Canton,  Ohio,  we  have 
received  some  Indian  wampun;  an  old-fashioned  tuning 
fork  such  as  was  used  in  the  early  days  in  churches  before 
they  had  organs  to  give  the  pitch  to  the  singers;  also  other 
items  of  interest. 

Mr.  Wm.  Ritezel,  of  Warren,  Ohio.  A  gavel  made  from 
timber  taken  from  the  house  in  which  President  McKinley 
was  born. 

Miss  Baker,  of  Dawning  School.  An  old-fashioned 
wooden  grain  shovel. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Rutenbeck.  The  works  of  five  watches,  all 
over  150  years  old. 

Miss  A.  L.  Sherwin.  Seven  stuffed  birds,  several 
badges,  etc. 

Mrs.  M.  S.  Askue,  Youngstown.  A  Pike's  Peak  bottle, 
a  specimen  of  interesting  early  glassware. 


30  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  R.  W.  Williams,  Elyria.  A  valuable  collection  from 
Nicaragua,  consisting  of  the  skin  of  a  boa  constrictor, 
items  of  pottery  ware,  and  many  items  of  household 
utensils  representing  Nicaraguan  handicraft. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.  A  beautiful  scrape  from  Mexico. 
These  scarfs  are  worn  by  the  high  officials  of  Mexico. 
Also  a  fly-swatter  from  Egypt,  and  an  old  wooden  dash 
churn,  made  by  his  grandfather,  Mr.  Henry  Talmage  of 
Center,  Morrow  County.  It  is  very  pleasing  to  receive 
I  the  utensils  that  were  a  part  of  every  early  pioneer  family's 
household  outfit. 

Miss  Anne  Hitchcock  of  Burton.  A  foot-warmer,  a  pair 
of  early  Colonial  shoe-buckles,  candlestick,  and  other  house- 
hold utensils  of  the  early  days. 

Mrs.  L.  E.  Holden.  An  extensive  collection  of  Indian 
pottery  consisting  of  some  58  pieces,  also  five  Indian 
skulls  from  Peru. 

Mrs.  J.  D.  Williamson.  A  large  plaster  bust  of  her  great- 
grandfather, Thomas  Mills  Day,  who  was  at  one  time 
Secretary  of  State  of  Connecticut. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Streator.  A  barometer  that  hung  for  years  on 
the  porch  of  the  old  Streator  home  which  was  torn  down  this 
past  winter. 

Mrs.  C.  K.  Halle.  A  double  knife  brought  from  Egypt 
enclosed  in  a  case  elaborately  decorated  with  beads. 

Mr.  W.  D.  Howells,  Jr.  A  rare  medallion  or  bust  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  in  a  contemorary  frame,  a  relic  of  the 
sixties. 

Mr.  A.  F.  Harvey.  Three  examples  of  wood  carving  by 
Herkimer,  two  being  large  elk  heads  with  the  natural  horns 
attached,  the  third  representing  a  mediaeval  king's  head. 

Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz.  A  collection  of  seven  old  pistols 
including  one  pair  of  duelling  pistols,  also  an  iron  tomahawk. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Fitch.  Two  walking  sticks  of  Judge  James 
Kingsbury  which  had  been  presented  to  Mr.  Fitch  by  Ellen 
A.  Parton,  grand-daughter  of  Judge  Kingsbury. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  Gerould.     An  old  brass  warming-pan. 

Dr.  Elroy  M.  Avery.  A  collection  of  Civil  War  en- 
velopes. 

Mr.  G.  W.  F.  Blanchfield.— A  pair  of  shoe-buckles  worn 
in  Colonial  times. 

Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft.  Some  homespun  linen  made  at 
Chester  Cross  Roads  by  Mrs.  J.  L.  Humiston  over  70  years 
ago. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  31 

Mr.  S.  P.  Baldwin.    Ten  pieces  of  Aztec  pottery. 

To  our  snuff-box  collection  we  have  added  several 
from  the  O.  J.  Hodge  collection,  also  one  with  the  por- 
trait fo  William  Henry  Harrison  on  the  cover. 

PORTRAITS  AND  PICTURES 

A  larger  addition  than  usual  has  been  made  to  this 
important  branch  of  our  work.  With  the  installation 
of  our  steel  cases  we  will  be  able  to  get  the  unframed 
pictures  together  and  listed,  and  with  this  foundation 
work  done  we  can  from  year  to  year  keep  accurate 
record  of  the  additions  and  the  number  in  this  collec- 
tion. 

Among  those  received  this  year  are  several  hundred  that 
have  been  added  to  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  collection  on  the 
Civil  War,  consisting  of  portraits  of  generals,  battle 
scenes,  framed  rosters,  etc.,  also  a  large  collection  of 
portraits  of  Lincoln,  many  of  which  came  with  the  collec- 
tion of  Lincoln  medals  mentioned  elsewhere  in  this  report. 
Mr.  George  H.  Beckwith,  of  Toledo,  a  son  of  the  late 
Dr.  David  H.  Beckwith,  of  this  city,  has  presented  the 
Society  with  an  oil  portrait  of  his  father,  also  a  large  oil 
painting  of  the  old  Lock  House  on  the  canal  and  the 
shipyards  across  the  Cuyahoga  River,  at  the  foot  of  Seneca 
Street  Hill,  as  they  appeared  some  sixty  years  ago. 

Mrs.  F.  W.  Throssell.  A  framed  picture  of  President 
Garfield. 

Mr.  F.  M.  Chandler  has  presented  from  his  father's 
estate  a  framed  group  of  pictures  concerning  the  Cassie 
L.  Chadwick  case,  which  includes  the  photograph  of  the 
forged  checks,  portraits  of  the  participants,  etc. 

From  the  estate  of  Col.  John  Gibbons,  through  the 
kindness  of  Charles  and  Frank  Gibbons,  have  been  received 
framed  pictures  of  Lincoln  and  his  family,  George  Washing- 
ton, General  Grant  and  family,  General  Garfield,  Colonel 
Gibbons  and  others. 

Miss  Louise  Claflin.  A  framed  picture  of  William 
Ellery  Curtis. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Streator.  A  collection  of  nine  portraits  of 
Civil  War  generals  and  two  photo  groups  of  Clevelanders. 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Smith.  A  framed  portrait  of  Gen.  J.  A. 
Williamson. 


32  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  D.  Dodge.  A  group  picture  of  the 
"Ivanhoe  Boat  Club"  made  about  1848. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Harris.  A  frame  photo  group  of  the  members 
of  the  Cleveland  Board  of  Education. 

Mr.  Clifford  Fuller.  A  painting  of  the  Cleveland  harbor 
with  the  tug  Champion. 

From  The  Bank  of  Commerce.  A  large  photograph 
album  of  the  Directors  of  the  old  Western  Reserve  National 
Bank,  containing  portraits  of  James  Pickands,  Samuel 
Mather,  J.  H.  Hoyt,  Calvary  Morris,  E.  P.  Williams,  John 

F.  Rust,  H.  H.  Brown,  C.  W.  Bingham,  S.  H.  Chisholm, 
J.  K.  Bole,  J.  S.  Colby,  D.  Z.  Norton,  Darius  W.  Caldwell, 

G.  S.  Russell,  and  H.  C.  Rouse. 

Mr.  P.  W.  Harvey.  Thirteen  photographs  of  lake  craft 
that  were  wrecked  or  destroyed  in  the  storm  on  Lake 
Superior,  November,  1905. 

Hon.  T.  E.  Burton.  A  framed  certificate  of  his  ap- 
pointment as  senator,  a  cartoon  of  himself,  and  a  framed 
photograph  of  the  Kansas  commissioners  of  1856. 

Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz.  A  framed  picture  entitled  "  Reading 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Boston,  July  18, 
1776."  Also,  on  deposit,  a  framed  picture  of  a  caravan 
of  early  settlers  traveling  to  Ohio. 

Mrs.  Keeler,  the  widow  of  Judge  Harvey  Keeler.  A 
large  framed  portrait  of  Benjamin  F.  Wade.  Mrs.  Keeler's 
father  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Wade  and  considered 
this  a  most  excellent  likeness.  Mrs.  Keeler  has  also  sent  in 
a  framed  picture  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  Gerould.  Eight  framed  pictures  of  historical 
subjects. 

Mr.  Allen  D.  Severance.  Two  framed  pictures  of  early 
Cleveland,  made  in  1830,  and  several  photographs. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.  A  collection  of  enlarged  photo- 
graphs illustrative  of  the  life  of  the  beaver,  to  accompany 
the  beaver  collection  presented  by  him  the  year  before. 

NUMISMATIC  AND  MEDALLIC  COLLECTIONS 

In  no  one  year  of  the  history  of  the  Society  has 
such  a  large  increase  been  made  in  these  collections 
as  during  the  year  just  closed.  In  our  last  report  we 
called  attention  to  our  numismatic  collections  and 
asked  those  of  our  members  or  friends  who  might  have 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  33 

specimens  of  old  paper  money,  coins  or  medals,  if 
they  would  kindly  donate  them  to  us.  Through  this 
published  request  we  have  received  a  number  of 
accessions. 

We  have  now  a  nucleus  for  an  extensive  collection 
in  this  line.  I  do  not  need  to  dwell  on  the  importance 
of  this,  or  the  appropriateness  of  our  trying  to  make  it 
as  complete  as  possible. 

The  usefulness  of  these  collections  has  been  well 
demonstrated  this  year,  as  has  been  shown  elsewhere 
in  the  report  under  the  head  of  work  done  in  the 
Society  by  the  historical  students  of  Western  Reserve 
University. 

The  following  excerpt  from  our  last  Bulletin  gives 
a  brief  account  of  three  of  the  most  valuable  additions 
in  this  line. 

GREEK  AND  ROMAN  COINS 

Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey  presented  to  the  Society  two 
collections  of  rare  coins.  The  first,  some  900  Greek  and 
Roman  coins,  consists  of  those  from  the  earliest  period  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  coinage  down  to  the  extinction  of  the 
Roman  Empire.  In  this  collection  are  included  about  fifty 
specimens  of  the  coinage  of  Judaea,  embracing  a  fine  selec- 
tion, from  the  time  of  Simon  Maccabeus,  B.C.  141-135,  to 
that  of  the  captivity  under  Domitian,  A.D.  85.  Another 
group  of  some  thirty  specimens  consists  of  the  coins  of 
Pheidon,  King  of  Argos,  700  B.C.,  and  later  Aegian  coins. 
These  silver  coins  are  among  the  earliest  issued.  They  were 
struck  in  Aegina  and  are  irregular  in  form,  with  a  tortoise — 
the  symbol  of  Astarte,  the  Phoenician  goddess  of  trade — 
on  one  side  and  on  the  other  merely  an  incuse  square  made 
by  the  upper  of  two  dies,  between  which  the  "flan"  or  plain 
piece  of  metal  was  placed.  The  coinage  consists  of  the 
obol,  the  three  obol,  the  six  obol  or  drachma,  and  the 
double  drachma.  The  drachma  originally  weighed  93 
grains,  but  was  gradually  reduced  to  66  grains. 

The  second  collection,  likewise  the  gift  of  Mr.  Swasey, 
consists  of  some  1300 

CHINESE  AND  JAPANESE  COINS 

The  date  of  the  beginning  of  Chinese  coinage  is  un- 
certain, but  it  is  claimed  to  have  commenced  nearly  1000 
years  B.  C.  The  earliest  forms  were  patterned  after  various 


34  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

articles  that  had  been  used  for  barter  from  prehistoric  times, 
such  as  spades  or  hoes,  knives  or  swords,  rings  or  amulets, 
nut-graters,  shirts,  bells,  hats,  etc.  Of  these  earlier  forms 
there  are  some  twenty-five  specimens  of  the  knife  or  razor 
money,  ten  specimens  of  shirt  money,  one  of  the  grater, 
one  of  the  bell,  fourteen  pieces  of  bridge  money,  an  extensive 
assortment  of  open  work  or  amulet  coins,  two  pieces  of  hat 
money  (rare  early  Korean  issues),  and  a  large  collection  of 
"cash"  issued  during  the  various  dynasties,  from  the 
earliest  down  to  the  present  time. 

To  this  collection  Mr.  Swasey  has  added  a  fine  specimen 
of  a  note  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (1368-1399).  This  large 
Chinese  paper  note,  one  of  the  earliest  authentic  known 
pieces  of  printed  paper  money,  is  13J^  x  8%  inches  in  size, 
and  is  printed  on  mulberry  paper  of  Chinese  invention, 
and  probably  from  wooden  blocks.  This  bill  was  printed 
nearly  a  century  before  Gutenberg  invented  printing  in 
Europe.  The  Chinese,  it  is  claimed,  did  book  printing 
as  early  as  932  A.D.,  and  used  wooden  blocks  for  printing 
pictures  a  century  before  that  date. 

These  valuable  collections  that  Mr.  Swasey  has  so  will- 
ingly purchased  for  us,  add  very  extensively  to  those 
already  owned  by  the  Society,  and  have  been  the  basis  of 
a  number  of  interesting  exhibits  and  talks  to  the  historical 
students  of  the  Western  Reserve  University. 

LINCOLN  MEDALS 

The  third  collection  above  mentioned  belongs  to 
medals,  and  is  the  gift  of  our  president.  This  exceedingly 
unique  and  rare  collection  consists  of  a  little  over  400 
different  Lincoln  medals,  issued  during  the  life,  or  in 
commemoration  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  formed 
through  years  of  careful  searching  and  gathering 'together 
by  a  private  collector  in  the  East.  Upon  his  death  the 
collection  was  offered  by  his  Executor  to  the  Society,  and 
purchased  by  Mr.  Palmer  for  us.  In  addition  to  the  above 
number  of  Lincoln  medals,  there  were  about  eighty  dupli- 
cates, also  thirty  Lincoln  photographic  campaign  badges, 
and  one  hundred  and  eleven  other  historical  medals. 

This  at  once  gives  the  Society  as  large  a  collection 
of  Lincoln  medals,  probably,  as  there  is  in  any  public 
institution  in  America,  excepting  the  one  in  the  American 
Numismatic  Society  in  New  York. 

Other  accessions  during  the  year  are  as  follows: 
From  Mr.  David  L.  Evans.     Nine  Roman  coins. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  35 

The  American  Numismatic  Society.  A  miscellaneous 
collection  of  Colonial  and  Continental  paper  money. 

Mr.  Wm.  E.  Gushing.  A  collection  of  Continental 
currency. 

The  Michigan  Historical  Commission.  A  small  collec- 
tion of  Michigan  bank  bills. 

Whitehead  and  Hoag.     Seven  Lincoln  medals. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  Gerould.     A  small  collection  of  paper  money. 

Mrs.  Stiles  H.  Curtiss.  A  collection  consisting  of  233 
copper,  42  silver,  2  gold,  and  2  Roman  coins,  a  Washington 
medal  and  56  pieces  of  paper  money. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Bingham.  A  l£j^c  paper  bill  of  the  city  of 
Cleveland,  1816,  also  a  small  collection  of  Michigan  bank 
bills. 

Rev.  Ralph  Bailey.  A  medal  of  Stonewall  Jackson  that 
was  dug  up  with  some  other  coins  on  his  father's  plantation. 

Miss  Valentine  VanTassel.  A  $10  Kirtland  (Mormon) 
bill. 

Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft.    A  small  India  copper  coin. 

Mr.  George  H.  Ely  of  Elyria.    Five  early  bank  bills. 

Hon.  T.  E.  Burton.  A  bronze  inauguration  medal  of 
President  Taft,  a  1916  Republican  National  Convention 
bronze  badge  of  the  Burton  delegates ;  a  silver  medal  issued 
to  himself  at  the  "Centenaire  de  la  banque  de  France,"  a 
bronze  medal  of  the  second  Pan-American  Scientific  Con- 
gress, 1915-16;  also  a  collection  of  five  different  issues  of 
French  five-franc  pieces,  and  a  small  collection  of  foreign 
copper  coins. 

Adelbert  College  Library.  A  large  medal  of  Thos.  F. 
Bayard,  ambassador  at  St.  James,  1893-97. 

Mr.  L.  A.  Murfey .  A  set  of  the  bills  of  the  Bank  of  Ohio 
in  the  following  denominations:  $1,  $2,  $3,  $5,  and  $10. 
Also  a  framed  shield  of  fractional  currency  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Vogt.  Three  pieces  of  fractional  paper  cur- 
rency. 

Also  there  has  been  added  to  the  collection: 

Two  fifteen  pound  notes  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  June  1,  1779,  a  collection  of  bills  of  the  Republic  of 
Texas  in  denominations  of  $1,  $2,  $3,  $5,  $20,  $50,  $100 
and  $500,  a  set  of  Villa  currency  in  the  denominations 
of  25c,  50c,  $1,  $5  and  $10,  and  ninety  pieces  of  Chinese 
paper  money. 


36  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

We  have  also  been  endeavoring  to  complete  the  in- 
signia of  the  various  patriotic  organizations.  To  this 
collection  have  been  added: 

Through  the  gift  of  Col.  John  P.  Nicholson,  19  badges 
and  insignias,  including  a  few  of  the  G.A.R. 

From  Mrs.  Perry  L.  Hobbs  we  have  received  the  insignia 
of  the  "Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,"  and  also  one 
of  the  "Dames  of  the  Loyal  Legion." 

THE  LIBRARY 

The  general  work  of  the  library  varies  very  little 
from  year  to  year,  the  new  items  that  come  in  by  gift 
are  looked  up,  and  if  duplicates,  or  undesirable,  are 
sent  to  the  duplicate  room;  if  needed  for  the  library 
they  are  sent  up  to  the  cataloger  where  they  are  put 
through  the  various  necessary  steps  to  make  them  a 
part  of  our  permanent  collection.  This  is  the  regular 
routine  work,  and  the  amount  that  can  be  accomplished 
must  depend  on  the  number  of  helpers  we  employ. 

In  the  reference  library,  the  work  is  getting  heavier 
from  year  to  year,  owing  to  the  increasing  number  that 
make  use  of  our  collections. 

The  genealogical  collections  have  always  been 
used  to  a  large  extent,  but  this  year  the  most  noted 
increase  has  been  in  the  use  of  our  newspaper  files. 
The  people  of  Cleveland  are  gradually  learning  that 
our  library  is  practically  the  only  one  where  these 
files,  to  any  extent,  can  be  consulted. 

The  work  with  the  students  of  the  Western  Reserve 
University  has  been  most  interesting  and  we  believe 
profitable  to  them.  Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Benton 
a  number  of  interesting  exercises  have  been  assigned 
to  the  students,  requiring  them  to  make  their  own 
examination  of  source  material,  then  to  place  in  writing 
the  results  of  their  observations  and  conclusions.  It 
has  been  our  pleasure  to  look  over  a  number  of  these 
papers  and  we  have  been  afforded  great  satisfaction 
in  reading  what  they  have  written,  and  noting  their 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  37 

words  of  appreciation  for  the  opportunity  of  having 
our  collections  to  work  in. 

May  I  briefly  call  attention  to  a  few  subjects 
assigned. 

First.  The  development  of  our  national  currency. 
This  was  divided  into  several  exercises : 

(a)  A   preliminary  exercise   leading  up  to  the  be- 
ginning of  all  coinage,  starting  with  the  transition  from 
means  of  barter,  then  to  the  crude  coins  of  the  ancients. 
This  was  illustrated  to  the  students  by  exhibits  of  the 
earliest  coinage  of  the  world,  such  as  the  Chinese  and 
the  Aegina  coins,  the  Chinese  earliest  coinage  having 
taken  the  form  of  items  or  utensils  used  formerly  in 
barter.     Further  exhibits  were  made  of  the  wampun 
of  the   American  Indians,   which   to   a  large  extent 
formed  their  medium  of  exchange.     The  beaver  skin, 
which  was  so  largely  adopted  as  a  basis  of  value  in 
trade  in  our  colonies,  was  illustrated  by  means  of  early 
manuscripts  and  Colonial  records,  showing  the  relative 
value  of  many  articles  of  common  use,  and  of  other 
skins  in  comparison  with  this  standard. 

(b)  An  exercise  on  the  Colonial  currency.     For 
this,  the  earliest  coinage  of  America,  including  the 
pine-tree  shilling  of  Massachusetts,  the  copper  coinage 
and   paper   currency   of   the   individual   states   were 
exhibited,  and  we  were  able,  for  the  period,  to  show 
fair   examples,    from    our    numismatic    collection,    of 
nearly  all  the  different  types. 

Later  exhibits  were :  the  coinage  of  the  Continental 
period, — of  the  period  succeeding  the  Continental 
through  the  various  state  and  private  bank  issues,  the 
"wild-cat"  issues  etc.,  up  to  the  period  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  last  exercise  embraced  the  currency  of  the 
Civil  War  period,  and  in  our  exhibit  we  called  attention 
to  the  shortage  of  small  currency  at  that  time,  and  the 
use  at  first  of  postage  stamps  encased  in  a  brass  cover- 
ing to  protect  them  from  damage,  and  then  the  issues 
by  the  government  of  the  fractional  postal  currency, 


38  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

store  issues,  the    "shinplasters,"  the  copper  tokens, 
and  the  greenbacks. 

Other  exercises  assigned  were:  the  determination 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison's  principles  and  policy  from 
a  study  of  the  file  of  the  "Liberator,"  the  great  anti- 
slavery  newspaper,  edited  by  him; — the  determination 
of  the  rights  of  employers  over  laborers,  from  a  perusal 
of  the  eighteenth  century  newspapers; — readings 
assigned  in  the  colonial  records  and  statutes.  One 
exercise  covered  the  material  in  the  museum  that 
would  illustrate  Colonial  industrial  processes,  which 
included  the  household  utensils  of  the  early  days; 
another  exercise  called  for  an  examination  of  Colonial 
newspapers  and  the  early  American  Almanacs. 

I  call  attention  to  these  things  to  show  how  our 
collections  can  be  turned  to  practical  use,  and  as  fast 
as  our  time  and  means  will  permit,  we  want  to  develop 
along  these  lines.  We  feel  satisfied  that  this  group  of 
some  eighty  students  have  formed  a  different  idea 
along  the  lines  of  these  exercises  from  those  who  did 
not  have  the  advantage  of  our  collections,  and  in  a 
number  of  cases  they  have  become  deeply  interested 
in  our  work  and  in  later  years  the  seed  that  has  been 
planted  will  bring  forth  fruit  to  the  Society. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  this  year's  work  has 
been  the  opportunity  to  talk  to  the  young  ladies  of 
the  Normal  School  of  Cleveland.  These  future  teachers 
of  our  public  schools  were  sent  in  divisions  of  some 
fifty  at  a  time  and  it  was  my  pleasure  to  talk  to  them 
on  the  development  of  the  old  Northwest,  the  form- 
ation of  the  Western  Reserve  and  the  beginnings  of 
Cleveland.  These  talks  which  I  would  hardly  dignify 
by  the  term  lecture,  were  illustrated  by  the  use  of  our 
early  maps. 

The  Library  School  of  the  University  made  its 
annual  visit  to  the  library,  and  in  addition  to  explaining 
our  work  and  methods  and  showing  the  diversity  and 
uniqueness  of  our  collection,  a  talk  was  given  to  them 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  39 

on  the  Shaker  collection  as  typifying  a  well  rounded 
out  collection  on  a  single  subject. 

SPECIAL  FUNDS 

Some  three  years  ago  a  few  friends  of  the  Society 
provided  funds  for  purchasing  along  special  lines,  and 
since  then,  from  time  to  time,  have  added  to  these 
funds.  I  know  from  the  willingness  with  which  these 
men  have  responded  that  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  them 
to  do  this,  and  the  collections  standing  in  their  names 
are  increasing  steadily  from  year  to  year.  I  cannot 
sufficiently  express  the  gratitude  of  the  Society  for 
the  aid  these  gentlemen  are  giving  us,  for  it  has  made 
it  possible  to  add  to  our  collections  many  rare  and 
valuable  books  that  we  could  not  purchase  from  our 
income. 

It  would  be  most  advantageous  if  we  could  add  to 
the  list  of  these  special  funds.  May  I  suggest  a  few 
divisions  of  our  collections  that  need  such  aid?  In  the 
library  we  should  develop  along  the  following  lines: 

(a)  The  War  of  1812  division,  (b)  Although  we 
have  extensive  collections  of  some  of  the  different 
states,  yet  there  are  many  gaps  in  town  histories  that 
we  need,  especially  of  those  states  with  which  Ohio  has 
been  so  closely  connected,  viz.,  Connecticut,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Virginia.  Two  to  three  hundred  dollars 
a  year  devoted  to  a  single  state  would  help  wonderfully. 
(c)  A  fund,  and  the  aid  of  all  our  members,  in  gather- 
ing material  concerning  the  war  the  United  States  is 
just  entering  upon,  the  vastness  and  importance  of 
which  no  one  can  now  foretell;  but  now  is  the  time  to 
begin  collecting  this  material,  (d)  Books  on  the 
American  Indians.  On  this  subject  we  have  spent  very 
little  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 

Another  division,  not  in  books  but  in  numismatics, 
is  worthy  of  the  aid  of  a  number.  Our  collections  need 
rounding  out.  In  the  Continental  and  Colonial 
currency  there  are  gaps  that  could  be  filled  with  small 


40  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

outlays  and  make  the  exhibit  more  complete.  Of 
course  there  is  no  limit  to  what  might  be  spent  on  coins, 
but  a  little  each  year  spent  judiciously  would  aid  much. 

SPECIAL  FUNDS 
OTTO  MILLER  FUND 

The  funds  that  Mr.  Otto  Miller  has  provided  us 
with  from  time  to  time  have  been  devoted  exclusively 
to  purchasing  genealogies  and  other  books  containing 
family  histories  and  records.  This  is  the  only  resource 
we  have  for  this  purpose  and  has  been  of  great  value  to 
us,  as  it  has  enabled  us  from  time  to  time  to  pick  up 
some  of  the  genealogies  or  town  records  that  have  been 
urgently  needed  by  users  of  the  library. 

This  year  the  following  books  have  been  placed  to 
the  credit  of  this  fund: 

Scotch-Irish  Pioneers  in  Ulster  and  America.    Bolton. 

Ancestral  Chart  of  William  Lincoln  Palmer. 

Ancestry  of  Washington.     Waters. 

Some  Descendants  of  William  Palmer. 

Index  of  Honor  Rolls.    Lineage  Book  of  the  D.A.R. 

Jacob  Little9 s  Discourse,  Granville,  1853. 

The  Reverend  Alexander  Miller  of  Va.  and  some  of  his 
descendants. 

History  and  Genealogies.  By  W.  H.  Miller,  Richmond, 
Ky.,  1907. 

The  American  Genealogist,  Vol.  1,  12  Nos. 

The  Van  Pelt  Genealogy. 

Documentary  History  of  Rhode  Island.     Chapin. 

The  Church  Genealogy. 

Putnam-Wyandt-Snyder  Genealogy. 

Jewett  Genealogy. 

Fuller  Genealogy  in  3  vols. 

Old  Families  of  Salisbury,  Vol.  3. 

The  House  of  Hanna.  By  Sarah  A.  Hanna,  Brookville, 
Ind.5  1906. 

Genealogy.  A  Weekly  Journal  of  American  Ancestry. 
Vols.  1-5  incl. 

Humphreys,  A.  L.  A  Handbook  to  County  Bibliography. 
London,  1917. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  41 

J.  H.  WADE  FUND 

Some  three  years  ago  Mr.  J.  H.  Wade  established 
a  fund  (which  he  later  increased)  in  order  that  we  might 
round  out  our  collection  on  New  Jersey  history.  We 
were  especially  weak  in  the  town  histories  of  New  Jersey 
and  the  generous  recognition  of  our  needs  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  Wade  is  enabling  us  to  gradually  build  up  a 
suitable  collection  on  this  state. 

We  have  purchased  from  this  fund  a  number  of 
exceedingly  valuable  books;  perhaps  the  most  valuable 
one,  being  a  typewritten  copy  of  the  old  manuscript 
record  book  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey. 

The  other  books  added  to  this  collection  are  as 
follows : 

Wheeler,  E.  S.    Scheyichbi  and  the  Strand.    1876. 

Early  Records  of  the  Township  of  Orange,  with  biograph- 
ical notes.  1897. 

Urquhart,   F.    J.     Short   History   of  Newark.     1916. 

Philhower,  C.  A.  Brief  History  of  Chatham,  N.  J. 
1914. 

Brown,  W.  M.  Biographical,  Genealogical  and  Descrip- 
tive History  of  New  Jersey.  1900. 

Nelson,  William.  Biographical  Cyclopedia  of  New 
Jersey.  2  vols.  1913. 

Chambers,  T.  F.    Early  Germans  of  New  Jersey.    1895. 

Thomas,  Gabriel.     Historical  Description  of  West- New- 
Jersey.     1698.     (Reprinted  1848.) 

Wall,  J.  P.     New  Brunswick.     1908. 

Wall,  J.  P.     Old  Markets  of  New  Brunswick.     1914. 

Barber  &  Howe.  Historical  Collections  of  New  Jersey. 
1844. 

Brown,  E.  S.     History  of  Nutley,  N.  J.     1907. 

Corwin,  E.  T.  Historical  Discourse  on  Occasion  of  the 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  of 
Millstone.  1866. 

Atkinson,  Joseph.     History  of  Newark.     1878. 

Stearns,  J.  F.  First  Church  in  Newark;  Historical  Dis- 
courses. 1853. 

History  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Peapack,  N.  J.    1881. 


42  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

F.  F.  PRENTISS  FUND 

Mr.  Prentiss  has  very  graciously  added  to  the 
fund  furnished  some  few  years  ago,  which  we  have  been 
using  to  purchase  Ohio  items  exclusively,  as  they  have 
been  offered  from  time  to  time. 

With  this  fund  we  have  added  to  the  Library  34 
books  and  104  pamphlets  bearing  on  Ohio,  which  were 
lacking  in  our  collections.  Among  these  books  are  a 
number  of  exceedingly  rare  Ohio  imprints,  representing 
the  early  presses  in  different  Ohio  towns;  one  book 
obtained  I  have  been  unable,  thus  far,  to  find  trace  of 
another  copy  listed  anywhere,  although  I  have  a  faint 
impression  of  having  seen  a  copy  in  some  collection. 
It  is  John  Kilbourne's  Columbian  Geography,  published 
in  Chillicothe  by  Nashee  and  Derby  in  1815.  We  are 
pleased  to  get  any  books  representing  early  printing, 
especially  in  Ohio. 

H.  A.  SHERWIN  FUND 

The  fund  which  was  established  by  Mr.  H.  A. 
Sherwin,  just  before  he  died,  for  the  purchase  of  books 
on  Mormonism,  has  been  the  means  of  bringing  into 
the  library  some  forty  books  and  pamphlets.  As  fast 
as  the  early  Mormon  books  are  offered  to  us,  at  prices 
which  seem  reasonable,  we  have  added  them  to  our 
collection. 

During  the  year  the  following  were  purchased: 

Talmage,  Dr.  James  E.     The  Book  of  Mormon.    Two 
Lectures. 

Thompson,  Charles.    Evidences  in  Proof  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  Being  a  Divinely  Inspired  Record. 
Das  Buck  Mormon.     Hamburg,  1852. 
Codman,  John.     The  Mormon  Country. 

(Mackay,  Chas.)     The  Mormons  or  Latter-Day  Saints. 
3ded. 

Waite,  Mrs.  C.  V.    The  Mormon  Prophet  and  His  Harem. 

Chandless,  William.    A  Visit  to  Salt  Lake. 

Freece,  Hans.  P.    The  Letters  of  an  Apostate  Mormon  to 

l~r  •       o 

tiis  oon. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  43 

Ward,  Austin  N.    Male  Life  Among  the  Mormons. 

Smith,  Joseph.    Mormon  Portraits. 

Thomas,  John.     Sketch  of  the  Mormons. 

Dougal.    The  Mormon  Prophet.     1899. 

The  Latter  Day  Saints'  Millenial  Star.     Vol.  13. 

"Mormonism."  Conybeare.  The  Edinburgh  Review. 
London,  1854. 

Mormonism  Exposed.  Joseph  Smith.  By  John  Bowes. 
London  (1850). 

Richards,  Franklin  D.  Doctrines  of  the  Latter-Day 
Saints.  London,  1857. 

Taylder,  T.  W.  P.  The  Mormon's  Own  Book.  London. 
1855. 

Taylder,  T.  W.  P.  The  Mormon's  Own  Book.  London. 
1857. 

Pratt,  P.  P.    Late  Persecution.    1840.    New  York. 

Snow,  Lorenzo.  The  Only  Way  to  Be  Saved.  London. 
1854. 

Bible  View  of  Polygamy. 

Brown,  Benjamin.  Testimonies  for  the  Truth.  Liverpool. 
1853. 

Dunn,  Rev.  Ballard  S.  The  Twin  Monsters..  New 
York.  3d  ed. 

DeLeon,  Edwin.    Mormonism.     %  vols. 

Cannon,  F.  J.  Brigham  Young  and  His  Mormon  Empire. 
N.  Y.  (c!913.) 

Caswall,  Henry.  The  Prophet  of  the  19th  Century.  Lon- 
don. 1843. 

Mormonism  Unveiled.    Hartford.     1881. 

Lamb,  M.  T.  The  Golden  Bible;  or  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
N.  Y.  1887. 

Pratt,  P.  P.  A  Voice  of  Warning  and  Instruction  to  Att 
People.  6th  ed.  Edinburgh.  1847. 

The  Seer.  Vol.  1,  Nos.  1-12;  vol.  2,  Nos.  1-6.  Pub.  by 
Orson  Pratt. 

Book  of  Mormon.    Liverpool.     1852. 

Paddock,  Mrs.  A.  G.  The  Fate  of  Madam  LaTour. 
N.  Y.  1881. 

Pratt,  Parley  P.  Key  to  the  Science  of  Theology.  Salt 
Lake  City.  1874. 

Pratt,  Parley  P.  A  Voice  of  Warning  and  Instruction 
to  All  People.  Manchester,  Eng.  1841. 


44  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Little,  J.  A.  From  Kirtland  to  Salt  Lake  City.  Salt  Lake 
City.  1890. 

Hawthornthwaite's  Adventures  Among  the  Mormons  as 
an  Elder  During  the  Last  Eight  Years.  Manchester. 
1857. 

RALPH  KING  FUND 

Mr.  Ralph  King  has  put  the  Society  under  further 
obligations  to  him  for  a  most  valuable  group  of  books 
on  Costume.  These  have  been  received  during  the 
early  part  of  the  winter  and  have  proved  of  great 
interest  and  value  to  our  readers.  One  only  need  to 
know  the  rarity  of  these  fine  hand-colored  and  hand- 
somely bound  volumes  to  appreciate  the  value  of  these 
gifts  of  Mr.  King. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  main  titles: 

Jacquemin.     Iconographie  du  Costume. 

Walker.     The  Costume  of  Yorkshire.     1885. 

Costume  of  Ladies  of  Paris  and  London.  1786-1794. 
3  vols. 

Colleccion  General  T rages  de  Espania.    1801. 

Davey,  Richard.     Furs  and  Fur  Garments. 

Freaks  of  Fashion. 

Early  American  Native  Costumes. 

Alexander.  The  Dress  and  Manners  of  the  Austrians. 
(1813.) 

Reinhardt.     A  Collection  of  Swiss  Costumes.    London. 

Moeurs  et  Coutumes  des  peuples.    2  vols.    Paris.  1811. 

Costumes  of  the  Canary  Islands.    London.     1829. 

Gallery  of  Fashion.     1794-1797. 

Doyley.  The  Costume  and  Customs  of  Modern  India. 
London. 

Types  et  caracteres  Anciens.     Paris.     1841. 

The  Military  Costume  of  Turkey.    London. 

THE  WM.  P.  PALMER  FUND 

By  means  of  this  fund  the  collection  of  books  and 
pamphlets  relating  to  President  Lincoln  has  been 
enlarged  by  several  hundred  during  the  year.  To  the 
collection  on  the  Civil  War  a  number  of  newspapers 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  45 

of  the  Confederate  states,  which  are  found  only  at 
rare  intervals  now,  have  been  added,  filling  in  many 
gaps  in  our  files. 

The  largest  addition  to  any  one  division  made 
during  the  year  has  been  to  that  of  Slavery;  an 
unusually  large  number  of  books  and  pamphlets  of  the 
eighteenth  century  bearing  on  this  subject  have  been 
purchased.  A  number  of  rare  editions  of  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin  have  come  in,  including  copies  of  the  first 
American  and  the  first  English  editions. 

All  told  there  have  been  955  volumes  and  2524 
pamphlets  added  to  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  Collection  on 
the  Civil  War  during  the  past  year,  in  addition  to  the 
manuscripts,  maps,  portraits,  medals,  etc. 

J.  D.  Cox  FUND 

This  last  year  Mr.  J.  D.  Cox  has  provided  us  with 
funds  to  buy  a  number  of  rare  Ohio  items. 

In  checking  up  Thomson's  Bibliography  of  Ohio,  we 
find  that  the  Society  has  the  larger  proportion  of  the 
books  there  recorded.  Among  those  it  lacks  are  a 
number  of  very  rare  Ohio  items,  books  which  only 
appear  at  long  intervals  in  the  market  and  then  com- 
mand rather  high  prices. 

Mr.  Cox  has  made  it  possible  for  us  to  obtain  a 
number  of  these  books,  and  has  kindly  expressed  his 
willingness  to  aid  us  in  this  direction  from  time  to  time. 
Among  the  books  purchased  through  this  fund,  we 
enumerate  the  following: 

William  Smith.  A  brief  view  of  the  conduct  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  the  year  1755;  so  far  as  it  affected  the  general  service 
of  the  British  colonies,  particularly  the  expedition  under  the 
late  General  Braddock.  Published  in  London,  1756. 

Report  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  trade  and 
plantations  on  the  petition  of  the  Honourable  Thomas 
Walpole  *  *  *  for  a  grant  of  lands  on  the  River  Ohio 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  new  Government.  London, 
1772. 

William  Smith.  A  brief  state  of  the  province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  which  the  conduct  of  their  assemblies  for  several 


46  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

years  past  is  impartially  examined,  and  the  true  cause  of  the 
continual  encroachments  of  the  French  displayed,  more 
especially  the  secret  design  of  their  late  unwarrantable 
invasion  and  settlement  upon  the  Ohio  River.  London. 
1755. 

An  answer  to  a  pamphlet  entitled,  A  brief  state  of  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania.  London.  1755. 

Thomas  Paine.  Public  Good:  being  an  examination  into 
the  claim  of  Virginia  to  the  vacant  Western  Territory. 
Published  in  Albany.  1780? 

Benjamin  Franklin.  A  true  and  impartial  state  of  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia.  1759. 

Adam  Walker.  A  journal  of  two  campaigns  of  the 
Fourth  Regiment  of  U.  S.  Infantry  in  the  Michigan  and 
Indiana  territories,  under  the  command  of  Col.  John  P. 
Boyd  and  Lieutenant  James  Miller,  in  1811-12.  Keene, 
N.  H.,  1816.  This  is  a  very  scarce  item  and  relates  to  the 
campaigns  in  Ohio,  and  has  an  extensive  account  of  Col. 
Ball's  fight  on  the  Sandusky  River. 

Thomas  Hutchins.  A  Topographical  description  of 
Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  North  Carolina 
comprehending  the  Rivers  Ohio,  Scioto,  etc.  London. 
1778. 

State  of  the  British  and  French  colonies  in  North  America. 
London.  1755. 

In  addition  to  these  a  number  of  other  Ohio  items 
have  been  purchased  from  this  fund. 

GIFTS  TO  THE  LIBRARY 

Outside  of  the  gifts  received  through  special  funds, 
probably  the  largest  individual  gift  this  year  has  been 
that  of  Hon.  T.  E.  Burton.  This  collection  has  just 
been  received  and  has  not  been  accessioned  or  even 
unpacked.  Besides  a  number  of  volumes,  there  are 
several  thousand  pamphlets,  the  accumulation  of  the 
many  years  of  active  work  of  Senator  Burton  in  public 
affairs.  We  hope  as  soon  as  possible  to  go  through 
this  collection  and  arrange  and  classify  it. 

Mr.  Daniel  R.  Taylor  has  shown  a  deep  interest 
in  our  work  and  on  his  own  initiative,  and  at  his  per- 
sonal expense,  has  sent  out  a  large  number  of  letters 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  47 

asking  for  the  old  text-books  of  the  early  days.  Already 
we  are  beginning  to  get  results  from  these  letters,  not 
only  in  early  text-books,  which  are  becoming  more 
interesting  and  valuable  every  year,  but  also  in  many 
other  books  that  have  been  unearthed  in  the  search. 
The  Society  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  Mr.  Taylor 
for  undertaking  to  gather  together  these  books  that 
formed  the  basis  of  the  education  of  our  pioneers. 

To  this  collection  Mr.  Homer  H.  Johnson  has  con- 
tributed some  nine  early  text-books  that  were  used  by 
his  ancestors.  Mrs.  J.  C.  Gerould  also  contributed  a 
number,  besides  many  other  books  and  manuscripts. 
Mrs.  Mabel  Askue  gave  two  early  texts. 

From  Lieutenant  Hart,  of  Tacoma,  Washington.  Ad- 
dress on  Abraham  Lincoln  by  C.  P.  Bissett. 

Mrs.  A.  R.  Warner,  Cleveland.  Knight  and  Parson's 
Business  Directory.  Cleveland  Illustrated,  by  Wm.  Payne. 
1876.  Peet's  Business  Directory  of  Cleveland,  1846-7.  This 
is  the  second  issue  of  Peet's  directory  and  the  third  of 
Cleveland  directories.  Mr.  Peet  was  Mrs.  Warner's  grand- 
father. 

Mr.  Edwin  Swift  Balch,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  Elise  Willing 
Balch,  in  Memoriam. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Conaway.  The  Forty-fourth  annual  banquet 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Cavalry. 

The  American  Geographical  Society.    Eight  volumes  of 
their  Journals,  and  about  100  numbers  of  their  Bulletin. 

Mrs.  Brenton  B.  Babcock.  History  of  Londonderry  by 
Rev.  Parker. 

Mr.  S.  P.  Baldwin  is  continuing  to  show  the  same 
interest  in  the  Society  that  his  father,  Judge  Baldwin 
and  his  uncle,  Mr.  David  C.  Baldwin,  constantly 
maintained  through  the  first  thirty  years  of  the 
Society's  history.  He  has  sent  in  a  large  number  of 
books  this  year,  among  which  is  a  set  of  the  National 
Geographical  Society  Publications,  bound  in  half 
morocco;  a  number  of  early  Ohio  imprints;  Professor 
Wright's  Asiatic  Russia,  also  Professor  Wright's  Story 
of  My  Life  and  Work.  All  told  we  are  indebted  to  Mr. 
Baldwin  for  110  volumes  and  about  100  pamphlets. 


48  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Some  of  the  other  gifts  to  the  library  have  been  as 
follows : 

Mr.  P.  W.  Harvey.  One  hundred  and  thirty  bound 
volumes  of  magazines. 

Mrs.  P.  M.  Hitchcock.  One  hundred  miscellaneous 
pamphlets. 

Mr.   T.    S.    Knight.     Ten   miscellaneous   volumes. 

Mr.  C.  B.  Moore.  Some  Aboriginal  Sites  on  Green  River, 
Kentucky. 

Mr.  Frank  B.  Moore.  A  collection  of  100  books  and 
pamphlets  given  in  the  name  of  Caroline  E.  Moore. 

Col.  John  P.  Nicholson.  A  number  of  different  lots  of 
pamphlets  on  the  Civil  War. 

O.  W.  Norton,  Chicago.  Attack  and  Defense  of  Little 
Round  Top;  Army  letters,  1861-65;  and,  Two  Bugle  Calls. 

Miss  L.  E.  Oakley.  One  of  five  typewritten  copies  of 
her  Biographical  Sketch  of  Calvary  Morris,  made  for  The 
Cleveland  Trust  Company. 

Mr.  James  Parmelee,  Washington,  D.  C.  Volume  2  of 
Stokes'  Iconography  of  Manhattan  Island. 

Pennsylvania  State  Library.  Pennsylvania  archives, 
seventh  series,  vols.  1-5.  Frontier  Forts  of  Pennsylvania, 
%  vols. 

Mrs.  E.  R.  Perkins.  Thirty  volumes  of  the  Presbyterian 
Home  Missionary  Society  and  a  number  of  other  volumes. 

Malcolm  D.  Rudd,  Lakeville,  Conn.  Historical  Collec- 
tions Relating  to  the  Town  of  Salisbury,  Conn.  2  vols. 

Mrs.  Frances  D.  Tenney.  War  Diary  of  Luman  Harris 
Tenney.  1861-1865. 

Mr.  William  Thompson.  Life  of  George  H.  Stewart;  also 
Marsh's  Story  of  the  Jubilee  Singers. 

Mrs.  F.  W.  Throssel.  Forty-eight  volumes  of  Harper's 
Monthly,  and  39  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Mr.  George  C.  Wing.  Early  Years  on  the  Western  Re- 
serve. 

Mr.  D.  H.  Bates,  New  York  City.  A  number  of  books 
and  pamphlets  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  United 
States  Military  Telegraph  Corps. 

Mr.  W.  K.  Bixby.  Correspondence  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
1778-1826. 

Mr.  Eckstein  Case.  Hon.  P.  A.  Armstrong's  The 
Piasa,  or  the  Devil  Among  the  Indians. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  49 

Mr.  Arthur  H.  Clark.  Sylvester's  Indian  Wars  of  New 
England.  3  vols. 

Mrs.  C.  L.  Clarke.  Chauncey  M.  Depew's  Some  Views 
on  the  Threshold  of  Fourscore. 

Mr.  John  B.  Clement.  Statutes  of  the  Baronial  Order  of 
Runnemede. 

The  Cleveland  Foundation.  Seventeen  volumes  of  the 
School  Survey  of  Cleveland. 

The  Cleveland  Museum  of  Art.  Catalog  of  the  Inaugural 
Exhibition. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Coakley.  "Foundation  Stones  of  a  Great 
Diocese,"  by  Lambing.  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  Record.  Pitts- 
burgh. 

Connecticut  Historical  Society.  Records  of  the  Connec- 
ticut State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  1783-1804.  Also  papers 
of  the  Connecticut  State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  1783- 
1807. 

Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft.  One  hundred  magazines  and  a 
number  of  other  interesting  items. 

Mrs.  S.  H.  Curtiss,  whose  husband  was  Secretary  of  the 
Society  in  the  early  ninety's.  199  volumes  and  62  pamph- 
lets, mostly  of  an  historical  or  genealogical  nature. 

Hon.  C.  M.  Depew.     Nine  of  his  addresses. 

Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz.  About  150  pamphlets  on  Finance, 
etc.  A  bound  volume  of  Harper's  Weekly  covering  the 
Civil  War  and  Spanish  American  War  periods,  also  a 
number  of  other  valuable  books. 

Mr.  F.  A.  Emmerton.  Diary  of  William  Bentley.  1784- 
1819.  4  vols. 

Mrs.  H.  C.  Ford.  Five  volumes  of  the  City  Council 
Proceedings.  1881-1885.  Seven  volumes  of  the  Annual 
Reports  of  Cleveland. 

Estate  of  Col.  Chas.  Gibbons.  Ninety-seven  books  and 
82  pamphlets. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Handerson.  A  set  of  the  publications  of  the 
Southern  Historical  Society.  Orth's  History  of  Clevelandy 
3  vols.  Harper's  Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War. 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Harris.  Sixty  copies  of  Central  High  School 
papers,  and  75  miscellaneous  periodicals. 

Mrs.  M.  D.  Harter.  The  Aaron  Burr-Expedition; 
Letters  to  Ephraim  Brown  from  Silas  Brown.  1805-1815. 


50  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

GENEALOGICAL  COLLECTIONS 

Besides  the  regular  subscriptions  that  we  maintain 
for  genealogical  magazines  from  year  to  year,  about 
100  genealogies,  including  those  purchased  from  the 
Otto  Miller  fund,  have  been  added  to  this  department. 

Of  these  we  note  the  following: 

From  The  Burton  Historical  Library,  by  exchange. 
Forty -two  genealogies. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Tyler,  of  Warren,  Ohio.  The  Tyler  Genealogy. 
2  vols. 

Rev.  Newton  Whitmarsh  Bates.  A  copy  of  The  Whit- 
marsh  Genealogy. 

The  Daughters  of  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America. 
The  Lineage  Books  for  1910,  1911,  1913,  1914  and  1916. 

Mr.  Wesley  B.  Burford.  A  copy  of  the  Burford  Gene- 
alogy. 

Mr.  J.  B .  Cabell,  Dunbarton,  Va.  The  Majors  and  Their 
Marriages. 

Rev.  R.  T.  Cross.  The  Grant  Family,  1601-1905;  also 
The  Partridge  Genealogy. 

Mr.  Spencer  J.  Estey.  Isaac  Esty  of  Topsfield  and 
Some  of  His  Descendants. 

Mr.  Fred  H.  Gates.  Stephen  Gates  and  His  Descend- 
ants, 1898. 

Mr.  Charles  Hadley.  Notes  of  the  Quaker  Family  of 
Hadley. 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Neal  Hanaford.  Family  Records  of  the 
Hanaford  Family. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Hanna,  by  exchange.    Ohio  Valley  Genealogies. 

Mr.  Geo.  A.  Jewett.    The  Jewett  Family  of  America. 

Mr.  W.  H.  L.  McCourtie.  McCourtie  Genealogy;  also 
the  Cohan  Genealogy. 

Mr.  Chas.  N.  Page.  History  and  Genealogy  of  the  Page 
Family. 

Mr.  George  H.  Partridge.    The  Partridge  Genealogy. 

Mr.  Hosea  Paul.  The  Jewett  Genealogy,  %  vols.,  and  the 
Year  Book  of  the  Jewett  Family  Association  for  1912-13. 

Mr.  Charles  L.  Peirson.     The  Page  Descent. 

Mr.  D.  S.  Rockwell.  Eleven  Centuries  of  the  Remote 
Ancestry  of  the  Rockwell  Family. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Ryerson.     The  Ryerson  Genealogy. 

Mr.  E.  J.  Sellers.    Fenwick  Allied  Ancestry. 

Mr.  Bradford  Sherman.  Genealogy  of  the  Sherman 
Family. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  51 

Mr.  H.  L.  Shiner.    Descendants  of  George  Huse  Shiner. 
Mrs.   Annie  Morril  Smith.     From  One  Generation  to 
Another,  and  Morrill  Kindred  in  America. 

Mr.  Clarence  D.  Smith.    The  Peck  Family  Record,  vol.  1 . 
Mr.  D.  L.  Tappan.     The  Tappan-Toppan  Genealogy. 
Mr.  E.  G.  Wylie.    Chart  of  the  Wylie  Family. 

NEWSPAPERS 

We  have  increased  our  newspaper  collection  this 
year  by  177  bound  volumes  and  by  as  many  more 
unbound. 

In  addition  many  gaps  in  our  files  have  been  filled 
by  obtaining  single  numbers  here  and  there.  These, 
amounting  to  a  large  number,  have  been  carefully 
listed  and  put  in  their  respective  files.  Nearly  all  the 
additions  to  this  collection  have  been  obtained  by 
exchange  or  gift. 

Among  the  bound  volumes  obtained  this  year  are: 

A  bound  volume  containing  a  number  of  the  issues  of 
the  Cleveland  Register  for  1818  and  a  run  (not  complete) 
of  the  Cleveland  Herald,  1818-25.  This  is  the  gift  of  Mrs. 
A.  R.  Warner. 

A  file  of  the  Buffalo  Evening  Post,  1851-1866. 

The  Nation,  1865-68. 

The  London  Chronicle,  1764  and  1777. 

The  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  1860-1865. 

The  Boston  Gazette,  1801,  1804. 

The  North  American  and  United  States  Gazette,  Phila- 
delphia, 1862-69. 

The  Press,  Philadelphia,  1861-1866. 

The  South,  Baltimore,  1861-2. 

The  Philanthropist,  New  Richmond,  Ohio,  1836-8. 

The  Railroad  Record  and  Journal  of  Commerce,  Banking, 
Manufacturing  and  Statistics,  Cincinnati,  1854-1863. 
*   The  Methodist,  New  York,  1861-65. 

The    Star,    Ravenna,    Ohio,    1832. 

The  Columbian  Centinel,  1792-1795 

The  Zanesville  Visitor,  1837-8. 

The  Torch,  1916. 

In  addition  to  the  above  the  Society  has  subscribed 
for  a  set  of  the  photostat  copies  of  the  Boston  News 
Letter.  The  News  Letter,  founded  in  1704  by  John 


52  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Campbell,  was  the  first  newspaper  published  in  America. 
The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  with  the  co- 
operation of  those  owning  copies  of  this  newspaper,  is 
reproducing  by  photostat  a  few  sets  of  these  otherwise 
unobtainable  papers.  It  is  purposed  that  the  reprint 
will  include  at  least  all  known  copies  up  to  1774. 

It  is  very  fortunate  that  photostat  copies,  which 
naturally  are  absolutely  accurate,  are  being  made,  so 
that  some  of  the  rarest  and  almost  inaccessible  material 
are  made  available  to  students  in  different  sections. 

ALMANACS 

Another  example  of  valuable  photostat  work  is  the 
set  of  the  early  Massachusetts  almanacs  which  has  been 
given  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  Palmer. 

As  many  of  our  members  may  know,  the  first  print- 
ing press  in  America  was  set  up  to  print  the  almanac 
of  1639.  Of  these  early  Massachusetts  almanacs,  the 
very  earliest  ones  are  not  known  to  be  in  existence,  and 
of  the  later  ones  there  are  in  several  cases  only  a  single 
copy  available,  and  these  are  scattered  through  private 
and  public  collections.  The  American  Antiquarian 
Society  has  done  good  work  in  making  available  the 
photostat  copies  of  all  the  known  issues,  starting  with 
the  earliest  one  that  is  now  extant,  that  of  1646,  and 
continuing  with  all  the  different  issues  up  to  1670. 
The  Society  is  to  be  congratulated  that  one  of  the  few 
sets  issued,  in  sixty  volumes,  has  been  presented  to  it. 

Several  early  Ohio  almanacs  were  purchased  by 
means  of  the  F.  F.  Prentiss  fund.  Besides  these,  quite 
a  number  have  been  received  on  exchange  and  gift 
from  other  sources. 

MAPS 

A  number  of  manuscript  as  well  as  printed  maps 
have  been  added  to  the  William  P.  Palmer  collection. 
The  most  valuable  is  a  collection  of  some  forty-five 
Confederate  war  maps,  the  majority  of  them  being 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  53 

hand-drawn  by  the  engineers  of  the  Confederate  army 
and  used  by  General  Braxton  Bragg  in  his  campaigns. 

From  Mr.  C.  W.  Bingham,  we  have  received  an 
exceedingly  interesting  manuscript  map  covering  the 
territory  from  Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario  along  the 
Niagara  River.  This  map  was  made  during  the  War 
of  1812  and  shows  all  the  fortifications  and  defences  in 
this  section. 

Mr.  Allen  Severance.  A  manuscript  map  of  an 
early  allotment  in  the  village  of  Brooklyn. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Streator.  An  early  map  of  North 
America. 

By  purchase  several  maps  have  been  placed  in  the 
Society's  collection,  including  Hennepin's  map  of  the 
Mississippi  region,  1687;  Bellin's  map  of  New  France, 
1755,  showing  the  Great  Lakes  and  as  far  south  as  the 
Ohio  River;  also  an  early  map  of  Ohio  showing  the 
Western  Reserve  with  only  two  county  divisions,  viz. : 
Geauga  and  Trumbull. 

On  account  of  the  inaccessibility  and  the  fear  of 
duplication,  little  has  been  done  of  late  years  towards 
enlarging  our  map  collection,  except  by  such  maps  as 
were  offered  as  gifts.  With  the  installing  of  our  new 
cases  and  the  cataloging  of  the  collection  on  hand,  we 
can  devote  efforts  to  its  increase. 

MANUSCRIPTS 

The  manuscript  collections  of  the  Society  have 
received  many  valuable  additions.  The  latest  consists 
of  many  of  the  private  papers  and  correspondence  of 
Hon.  T.  E.  Burton.  This  large  collection  has  just  been 
received  but  no  effort  has  been  made  as  yet  to  classify 
or  even  arrange  it. 

The  collection  on  the  Civil  War  given  by  Mr. 
Palmer  has  been  increased  by  a  large  number  of  rare 
manuscripts.  To  call  attention  to  all  the  items  received 
in  this  collection  would  be  too  extensive  for  this  report, 
but  allow  us  to  mention  one  special  collection,  perhaps 


54  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

the  most  outstanding  one,  that  has  been  added  during 
the  year,  that  of  the  General  Braxton  Bragg  Papers. 
These  papers  cover  thoroughly  the  operations  of  the 
Confederate  army  under  General  Bragg.  In  the  collec- 
tion were: 

A  large  number  of  printed  General  Orders  bearing 
notations  in  the  handwriting  of  General  Bragg. 

A  broadside  proclamation  issued  by  General  Bragg 
at  Bardstown,Ky.,  To  the  People  of  the  Northwest,  invit- 
ing Ohio  and  other  Western  states  to  join  the  Con- 
federacy. 

A  daily  diary  of  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  cam- 
paigns for  1862-63,  from  the  pen  of  one  of  his  aides-de- 
camp, Captain  Stoddard  Johnson,  recording  with 
minuteness  all  the  battle  engagements  of  this  campaign. 

The  original  drafts  of  the  reports  of  General  Bragg 
to  President  Jefferson  Davis  bearing  on  the  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  campaigns. 

Four  original  letter-books;  the  first  covering  the 
period  from  March  10,  1861  to  August  16,  1862.  This 
commences  with  his  official  letter  to  the  Confederate 
government  at  Montgomery,  reporting  his  arrival. 
(The  first  general  order  of  the  Confederate  government 
appointed  General  Braxton  Bragg  commander  of  the 
Confederate  forces  at  Pensacola.)  This  volume  also 
contains  the  official  correspondence  with  Union  author- 
ities; correspondence  with  Confederate  governors,  gen- 
erals, President  Davis  and  various  cabinet  officials, 
giving  full  reports  of  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Pickens, 
Pensacola  and  other  points  along  the  coast,  by  the 
Union  fleet. 

The  second  letter-book,  from  January  1st,  1863, 
to  August  20th,  1863,  contains  over  1000  letters,  orders, 
proclamations,  and  correspondence  with  the  subor- 
dinate commanders  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and 
reports  of  battle  engagements  transmitted  to  the 
Confederate  War  Office. 

The  third  letter-book,  from  September  8th,  1863, 
to  November  30th,  1863,  contains  circulars,  telegrams, 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  55 

list  of  staff  officers  serving  with  the  different  general 
officers,  dates  of  their  commissions,  and  the  roster  of 
the  officers  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 

The  fourth  letter-book  contains  letters  and  tele- 
grams from  the  headquarters  of  the  Department  of 
North  Carolina  from  December  26th,  1864,  to  April 
10th,  1865.  The  orders  and  dispatches  in  this  book  are 
of  great  interest.  They  are  directed  to  President  Davis, 
General  Lee,  and  the  commanding  officers  of  the  surviv- 
ing Confederate  units  scattered  throughout  the  Con- 
federacy. All  told,  there  are  some  850  letters  and  dis- 
patches in  this  volume. 

These  four  volumes  contain  over  4,000  letters, 
orders  and  dispatches,  a  complete  record  from  March, 
1861  to  April  10th,  1865,  shortly  after  General  Lee's 
surrender. 

The  separate  documents  in  the  collection,  consisting 
of  some  2,000  pieces,  include: 

Official  reports  of  General  Bragg. 

Official  reports  to  the  Provisional  Government  at  Mont- 
gomery, Alabama,  before  and  during  the  early  stages  of  the 
war. 

Documents  and  dispatches  by  Confederate  generals, 
mainly  devoted  to  the  military  movements. 

The  original  drafts  of  General  Bragg's  dispatches, 
1862-3. 

Dispatches  from  the  Provisional  Government  at 
Montgomery,  some  of  which  are  in  cipher,  but  the  secret 
code  of  the  Government  is  included  in  the  collection. 

The  official  reports  of  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
campaigns;  the  battles  of  Shiloh,  Perrysville,  Murfeesboro, 
Chickamauga,  Mission  Ridge,  Lookout  Mountain  and 
many  other  engagements.  These  rare  documents  consist 
of  from  four  to  thirty  pages  each. 

A  long  letter  from  Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham  of  Ohio  to 
General  Bragg,  asking  permission  to  enter  the  Confederate 
lines,  also  letters  and  telegrams  between  General  Bragg, 
President  Davis  and  the  authorities  at  Richmond  bearing 
on  this  case. 

Secret  Confederate  reports  bearing  on  the  organization 
of  the  Union  armies. 


56  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

List  of  Federal  prisoners  held  as  hostages  against  the 
capture  of  General  Morgan  and  his  command. 

Some  twenty  odd  orders  and  dispatches  of  General 
Longstreet.  These  are  exceedingly  rare,  as  General  Long- 
street's  papers  were  destroyed  in  the  fire  at  his  residence  in 
Gainesville,  Ga.,  some  twenty  years  ago. 

Besides  these,  there  are  over  200  personal  letters 
addressed  to  General  Bragg  by  Generals  Polk,  Hardee, 
Wheeler,  Kirby  Smith,  and  others. 

There  were  also  in  the  collection  a  large  number  of 
Confederate  newspapers. 

The  maps  in  this  collection  I  have  noted  elsewhere 
in  this  report. 

A  partial  list  of  other  manuscripts  received  is  as 
follows : 

From  Mr.  C.  W.  Bingham,  a  subscription  list,  dated 
May  16,  1864,  signed  by  Clevelanders,  to  raise  $200  for 
purchasing  a  new  flag  for  the  124th  (Ohio  Regt.)  to  have 
inscribed  on  it — The  battle  fields  of  Chickamauga  and 
Mission  Ridge  by  order  of  General  Thomas. 

Mr.  Allen  Severance  has  presented  a  most  valuable 
collection  of  early  Cleveland  material,  consisting  of  letters 
of  R.  Parkman  to  John  Walworth,  1804;  various  com- 
missions of  John  Walworth,  the  earliest  being  signed  by 
Governor  Arthur  St.  Clair;  the  letter-book  of  John  Wal- 
worth, 1809-1812;  a  history  of  Kinsman,  Ohio,  written  by 
Dudley  P.  Allen,  M.D.;  and  a  large  number  of  other 
interesting  items. 

Mrs.  Julia  Pickard  Bailey  on  her  return  from  a  trip  to 
her  southern  home  and  that  of  her  husband,  Rev.  Ralph 
Bailey,  brought  an  interesting  collection  of  Civil  War 
correspondence  of  some  30  pieces,  consisting  largely  of 
letters  written  by  Confederates  from  the  battle  fields. 

Mrs.  J.  C.  Gerould  has  presented  the  Record  book  of 
Mentor  Public  Library,  1826-51,  also  the  By-laws  of  the 
same  under  date  of  1820. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Ackley.  Book  of  the  Rocky  River  Town 
plat,  January  17,  1811,  and  a  survey  of  the  same,  dated 
January,  1811;  with  other  items. 

Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft.  Record  Book  of  the  M.  E.  Church 
at  West  Salem,  Ohio,  1853. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  57 

Mr.  John  Daggett,  Kirtland,  Ohio.  Manuscript  record 
book. 

Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz.  A  collection  of  Hinsdale  manu- 
scripts. 

Mrs.  E.  C.  Higbee.  Twenty -two  volumes  of  the  records 
of  the  Conversational  Club  of  Cleveland. 

Miss  Anne  Hitchcock.  A  large  box  of  manuscript 
papers  of  the  Hitchcock  family  of  Burton. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Lampson,  of  Jefferson.  Several  old  letters, 
including  one  important  letter  written  during  the  War  of 
1812. 

Mrs.  Walter  J.  Rich.  A  large  collection  of  the  papers 
and  documents  of  her  grandfather,  Peter  Weddell.  f 

Mr.  S.  S.  Wilson,  Willoughby,  Ohio.  Manuscript  Rec- 
ord book  of  Chagrin  (now  Willoughby),  1828;  Record  book 
of  Chagrin,  copied  by  William  Phillips,  clerk,  in  1819.  This 
dates  back  to  April  3rd,  1815.  Record  of  the  Justice  Court 
of  Willoughby  Township ;  also  five  other  manuscript  records 
including  some  of  Willoughby  Medical  College. 

Mr.  James.  I.  Wyer,  Director  of  New  York  State  Library. 
Twenty  manuscript  documents  and  letters  of  the  War  of 
1812. 

By  purchase.  Twenty-two  letters  and  documents  bear- 
ing on  Blennerhassett-Burr  affairs,  including  the  order  of 
arrest  of  Blennerhassett  have  been  added  to  the  collection. 

Some  three  or  four  different  lots  of  Shaker  manuscripts 
have  been  added  to  our  ever  increasing  collection. 

Mrs.  P.  M.  Hitchcock.  A  chest  full  of  manuscript 
records  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  R.R.  This 
collection  of  papers  and  documents  was  collected  by  Mr. 
Hitchcock  at  the  time  he  was  connected  with  the  Rail- 
road as  receiver. 

NEEDS 

1.  The  largest  and  most  pressing  need  is  an  addi- 
tion to  our  building.  The  heavy  increase  in  the  size 
of  our  collections  is  rapidly  filling  all  vailable  space 
and  will  compel  us  to  study  seriously  this  problem. 
We  have  collections  packed  away  that  would  be  very 
instructive  if  there  were  space  in  the  Museum  for  their 
proper  display.  Many  interesting  exhibits  could  be 
arranged  for  the  public  if  there  were  more  room. 
Whether  it  would  be  better  on  the  one  hand  to  try  to 


58  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

dispose  of  our  present  building  and  location  and  to 
select  a  new  building  lot  and  erect  thereon  an  edifice 
better  suited  to  the  present  needs  of  the  Society,  or 
on  the  other  hand,  to  build  a  book  stack  at  the  rear  of 
our  present  building,  is  a  matter  to  be  thought  over 
most  carefully  before  any  decision  is  reached. 

2.  Binding.    Some  two  years  ago  Mr.  William  G. 
Mather  very  kindly  provided  some  funds  for  binding  a 
number  of  our  serials,  but  there  are  many  others  that 
need  to  be  thus  protected.    If  we  could  bind  some  three 
to  four  hundred  volumes,  it  would  make  available  a 
number  of  important  serials  and  publications  that  are 
now  practically  unusable. 

3.  Provision  for  mounting  our  maps  and  broad- 
sides should  be  arranged  for  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that 
the  work  of  classifying  and  cataloging  this  material 
may  be  pushed  forward  as  soon  as  the  cases  are  ready 
for  them. 

4.  We  should  employ,  as  soon  as  funds  will  per- 
mit, an  assistant  cataloguer  to  aid  in  the  cataloging. 
With  the  force  we  have  now  we  can  hardly  take  care 
of  the  books  that  come  in  from  day  to  day. 

LIBRARY  STATISTICS 

The  following  shows  the  amount  accomplished  in 
accessions  and  cataloging  for  the  year. 

Number  of  bound  volumes  accessioned  during  the  year.  .  .  .  2258 
"  newspaper  volumes  accessioned  during  the  year ..  167 

"  pamphlets  accessioned  during  the  year 1311 

*  volumes  withdrawn  during  the  year 100 

"  pamphlets  withdrawn  during  the  year 58 

Last  number  in  bound- volume  accession  book 42566 

Number  of  bound-volumes  withdrawn  to  date,  as  duplicates 

or  as  inappropriate  for  our  collections 4250 

Number  of  newspaper  volumes  reaccessioned  in  the  news- 
papers accession  book 7 

Total  number  of  withdrawals  to  be  deducted .  .          ...   4257 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  59 

Number  of  volumes  accessioned  in  general  bound-volumes 

accession  book  remaining  to  date 38309 

Number  of  volumes  accessioned  in  newspapers  accession 

book 2977 

Total  number  of  accessioned  volumes  in  library 41286 

Last  number  in  pamphlets  accession  book 13738 

Number  of  pamphlets  withdrawn  to  date 491 

Total  number  accessioned  pamphlets  remaining 13247 

Total  number  of  accessioned  volumes  and  pamphlets  to 
date 54533 

The  greater  part  of  the  volumes  and  pamphlets  in  the  Palmer 
Collection  are  still  unaccessioned.  The  Shaker  collection  is 
wholly  unaccessioned,  as  well  as  many  newspaper  volumes,  and 
volumes  of  Ohio  state  documents.  The  unbound  and  unac- 
cessioned material  includes  also  serials,  annuals,  college  cata- 
logues and  bulletins,  speeches,  sermons,  the  Brodie  Collection  of 
amateur  journalism,  the  almanac  collection,  the  nnbound  news- 
papers, and  unbound  state  documents. 

The  number  of  duplicates  for  exchange  listed  during  the  year 
was  3656;  the  total  number  listed  to  date  is  19485. 

The  number  of  pamphlets  fitted  into  Gaylord  pamphlet- 
binders  during  the  year  was  1363. 


60 


CATALOUGING  REPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR 


CATALOGUING  REPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR 


No.  for  tl 
New  titles  catalogued 

ic  yr. 
1053 

No.  to  date 
15517 

Volumes  catalogued  (L.  C.  titles)  

913 
245 

11878 
3782 

(not  L.  C.  titles)    .  . 

Total  volumes  catalogued  

1158 

405 

1 
0 
8 

15660 
3536 
3495 

Pamphlets  catalogued  (L.  C.  titles)                 263 

(not  L.  C.  titles)  ....  142 

Total  pamphlets  catalogued  

7031 

3882 
7 
89 

"Sheep-bound"  set  government  documents 
checked  

Manuscript  volumes  catalogued 

Newspaper  volumes  catalogued      

Total  volumes,  pamphlets,  etc.,  catalogued.  . 

1572 

26669 

Cards  prepared  for  catalogue  (L.  C.  printed), 
(typewritten).. 

Total  cards  prepared  for  catalogue 

4575 
1922 

about 
56,400 

13,505 

6497 
9002 
957 

*Temporary  slips  prepared  and  filed  in  cata- 
logue 

Depository    cards    delivered    to    Cleveland 
Public  Library  

*Especial  attention  is  called  to  the  number  of  temporary  slips  filed.  These 
represent  about  7500  titles  added  during  the  year  and  not  yet  catalogued,  (and 
many  not  accessioned).  It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  with  our  small  present  force 
of  workers,  it  is  not  possible  to  make  great  headway  against  the  large  annual 
increase  of  material  added  to  the  library. 

WALLACE  H.  CATHCART, 

Director. 


TREASURER'S  REPORT  61 

TREASURER'S  REPORT 

THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

RECEIPTS  AND  DISBURSEMENTS 
YEAR  ENDING  APRIL  30,  1917 

RECEIPTS 

May  1,  1916— Cash  on  hand $  2,643.21 

Subscriptions— May  1,  1916  to  April  30,  1917 8,487.00 

Special  Contributions 8,421.68 

Income  from  Endowment  Fund 4,148.93 

Miscellaneous  Receipts 61.05 

Interest  on  Deposits  to  April  30,  1917 61.73 

$23,823.60 
DISBURSEMENTS 
May  1,  1916  to  April  30,  1917 19,130.45 

May  1,  1917— Balance  on  hand $  4,693.15 

DlSBURSEMENSTS 

Subscriptions  to  periodicals 72.28 

Printing  and  Stationary 1,193.75 

Salaries 7,230.45 

General  Expense 620.81 

Light  and  Heat 383.07 

Traveling 128.42 

Building  Account 130.82 

Additions  to  collections 9,370.85 

$19,130.45 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

14  at  $250.00  each .$  3,500.00 

200.00  each 200.00 

150.00  each 900.00 

100.00  each 400.00 

50.00  each 400.00 

25.00  each 175.00 

30.00  each 30.00 

10.00  each 2,880.00 

2.00  each 2.00 

$  8,487.00 
Special  contributors  during  the  year  were  Messrs. 

A.  C.  Brown  F.  F.  Prentiss 

Ralph  King  Ambrose  Swasey 

Otto  Miller  W.  C.  Talmage 

Wm.  P.  Palmer  J:  H.  Wade 


62  TREASURER'S  REPORT 

ENDOWMENT 

The  endowment  under  date  of  August  1st,  1917,  amounts  to 
$127,309.  This  sum  includes  the  $25,000  known  as  the  Dudley  P. 
Allen  bequest,  and  $29,535  thus  far  received  from  the  O.  J.  Hodge 
estate. 

The  following  are  the  contributors  to  the  endowment  thus  far: 

M.  Andrews  Mrs.  S.  V.  Harkness 

Caroline  P.  Baldwin  W.  L.  Harkness 

Lilian  H.  Baldwin  H.  H.  Johnson 

Chas.  W.  Bingham  H.  A.  Kelley 

M.  A.  Bradley  H.  W.  King 

W.  H.  Canniff  Ralph  King 

A.  H.  Clark  Wm.  McLauchlan 
Cleveland  Chapter  of  the  D.A.R.Samuel  Mather 

J.  D.  Cox  Wm.  G.  Mather 

H.  G.  Dalton  D.  Z.  Norton 

J.  H.  Dempsey  Wm.  P.  Palmer 

H.  P.  Eells  John  L.  Severance 

C.  A.  Grasselli  J.  H.  Wade 

Chas.  W.  Harkness  Rollin  C.  White 

Edw.  S.  Harkness  Windsor  T.  White 

A.  S.  CHISHOLM,  Treasurer 


Side  Lights 

ON 

The  Ohio  Company  of  Associates 


From  the 


JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


Edited  By 

ELBERT  JAY  BENTON 

With  An  Introduction 


CONTENTS 


Introduction. 

I.  Description  of  Ohio. 

II.  Statement  by  Cutler  and  Sargent  to  the  Board  of  the 

Treasury. 

III.  A  Financial  Statement  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Ohio 

Company. 

IV.  The   Subscription   of   the   Proprietors   of   the   Ohio 

Company  for  a  Public  School  Teacher  at  Marietta. 

V.  The  Contract  of  Three  Laborers  with  John  May. 

VI.  Original  Record  of  the  First  Police  West  of  the  Ohio 

River. 

VII.  Original  Record  of  the   Establishment   of  Military 

Discipline. 

VIII.  Militia  Orders  and  By-laws  of  Marietta. 

IX.  The  Statement  of  John  May  as  Chairman  of   the 

Committee  on  Drawing  City  Lots. 

X.  The  General  Statement  of  the  Agencies  of  the  Ohio 

Company. 

XI.  The  Protest  of  the  Rhode  Island  Proprietors. 

XII.  Cutler's  Explanation  of  the  Dual  Purchase. 

XIII.  Two  Letters  by  Manasseh  Cutler. 

XIV.  The  Statement  of  Richard  Platt,  Treasurer  of  the 

Ohio  Company. 

XV.  List  of  160  Acre  Lots  in  Colonel  May's  Agency. 

XVI.  A  Defense  by  Richard  Platt. 

XVII.  The  Agreement  between  May  and  Sargent  regarding 

Military  Warrants. 

XVIII.  A  Letter  by  James  Bowdoin,  April  21,  1789. 

XIX.  The  Statement  by  John  May,  February  4,  1795. 

XX.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  May  7,  1796. 

XXI.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

December  29,  1796. 

XXII.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

July  14,  1797. 

XXIII.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

August  2,  1797. 

64 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


65 


XXIV.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  Benjamin  Tal- 

madge,  August  24,  1797. 

XXV.  A  Deed  from  John  May,  Agent,  to  One  of  the  Pro- 

prietors in  His  Agency,  April  16,  1798. 

XXVI.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  April  14,  1799. 

XXVII.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

December  11,  1799. 

XXVIII.  A  Statement  of  Taxes  and  a  Letter  from  William 

Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May,  March  25,  1800. 

XXIX.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

July  24,  1800. 

XXX.  A  Statement  of  Taxes  on  the  Ohio  Lands,  June  12, 

1801. 

XXXI.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  September  18,  1801.     (incomplete) 

XXXII.  A  Statement  of  Taxes  and  Attached  Letter  from 

William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May,  July  15,  1802. 

XXXIII.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  19,  1802. 

XXXIV.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  26,  1802. 

XXXV.  A  Letter  from  Manasseh  Cutler  to  John  May,  June 

28,  1803. 

XXXVI.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  December  26,  1803. 

XXXVII.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

August  13,  1804. 

XXXVIII.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  November  14,  1804. 

XXXIX.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

August  10,  1805. 
XL.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  November  4,  1805. 
XLI.  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

January  7,  1806. 
XLII.  Statement    of    Taxes    and    Accompanying    Letter, 

William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May,  August  6, 

1806. 
XLIII.         A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  18,  1806. 
XLIV.          A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  26,  1806. 


66  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

XLV.  Letter   of   William   Rufus   Putnam   to   John   May, 

August  22,  1807. 
XLVL          Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  14,  1807. 
XLVII.        Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

May  7,  1808. 
XLVIII.      Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

September  22,  1808. 

XLIX.         Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  21,  1808. 
L.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

August  1,  1809. 
LI.  Copy  of  a  Letter  and  Deed  from  John  May  to  William 

Rufus  Putnam,  October  23,  1809. 
III.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

March  15,  1810. 
LIIL  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

August  10,  1810. 
LIV.  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  3,  1810. 
LV.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

November  7,  1810. 
LVI.  A  Letter  from  William  Rufus  Putnam  to  John  May, 

September  11,  1811. 
LVII.  A  Copy  of  a  Letter  from  John  May  to  William  Rufus 

Putnam,  October  24,  1811. 

MAPS 

I.  Land  Grants  and  Reserves  in  the  Ohio  Territory 

in  1788,  facing  page  68. 

II.  A  Contemporery  Map  of  the  Ohio  Company  Lands, 

1788,  facing  page  70. 

III.  Plan  des  achats  des  Compagnies  de  L'  Ohio  et  de 

Scioto,  facing  page  74. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  appearance  in  print  of  the  Records  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  edited  by  Professor  Archer  B.  Hulbert, 
seems  to  make  this  a  particularly  appropriate  time  to 
publish  the  John  May  Papers  which  are  in  the  manu- 
script collections  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical 
Society.  The  History  of  the  Ohio  Company  together 
with  that  of  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  to  which 
the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society  devoted  its 
last  annual  publication  forms  a  remarkable  phase  of 
the  expansion  of  New  England  and  of  its  share  in  the 
Westward  movement.  Conditions  were  ripe  in  New 
England  after  the  Revolution  for  such  a  movement. 
The  land  bounties  promised  by  Congress  to  bolster 
up  the  volunteer  system  of  recruiting  the  Continental 
armies  had  produced  a  class  which  looked  to  the  West 
as  the  location  of  its  reward.  The  issues  of  bonds  or 
certificates  of  one  form  or  another  had  created  a  form 
of  national  indebtedness  which  the  holders  wished  to 
invest  on  more  favorable  terms  than  the  general  market 
permitted.  Congress  had  possession  of  western  lands 
by  1787  and  was  ready  to  bargain  them  away  in  order 
to  liquidate  a  portion  of  its  national  indebtedness. 
The  Ohio  country  south  of  the  Connecticut  Western 
Reserve  and  east  of  the  Virginia  Military  Reserve, 
except  a  small  reserve  of  10,000  acres  on  the  Tuscarawas 
River  for  the  Christian  Indians  under  the  care  of  the 
United  Brethren  or  Moravian  missionaries,  was  open 
for  white  settlement.  Congress  had  formulated  a  land 
policy  in  1785.  By  this  the  western  lands  were  to  be 
surveyed  into  townships  six  miles  square  and  sections 
one  mile  square.  Seven  ranges  or  tiers  of  townships 
lying  immediately  west  of  the  Pennsylvania  boundary 
were  being  surveyed,  and  as  fast  as  surveyed  offered 
for  sale  at  a  dollar  an  acre,  half  in  whole  townships  and 
half  in  section  lots.  But  bidders  were  scarce  and  sales 

67 


68  INTRODUCTION 

discouragingly  slow.  The  causes  of  the  temporary 
failure  of  the  Congressional  policy  are  clear.  The  weak 
national  government  backed  up  by  a  meager  army  of  a 
few  hundred  soldiers  was  unable  to  compel  the  Indians 
to  respect  their  agreements.  Moreover  the  frontiers- 
men of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Kentucky,  were 
accustomed  to  taking  lands  by  "tomahawk  right" 
and  refused  to  pay  for  lands  as  long  as  others  could 
be  occupied  unchallenged.  Under  the  circumstances 
Congress  was  rather  easily  induced  to  alter  its  policy 
temporarily  and  sell  its  lands  in  huge  tracts  to  larger 
eastern  bidders.  The  new  born  spirit  of  nationalism 
among  the  American  people  stamped  with  the  seal  of 
patriotism  every  effort  to  anticipate  the  British  or  the 
Spanish  in  the  actual  colonization  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  The  main  fact  for  American  History  is  that  a 
marked  era  in  promotion  of  frontier  real  estate  adven- 
tures developed  during  the  decade  following  1785.  In- 
dividuals and  companies,  much  like  Baltimore,  Penn, 
Berkeley,  Carteret,  the  Virginia  Company,  and  the 
Massachusett  Bay  Company  of  older  colonial  times, 
dreamed  of  vast  fortunes  in  the  wildernesses  of  America 
without  venturing  great  amounts  of  capital.  Some  of 
them  purchased  lands  on  the  frontier  of  the  eastern 
states,  others  from  the  United  States  out  of  the  Con- 
gress lands  in  the  Northwest.  Some  of  the  operators 
were  mere  land  speculators  without  any  purpose  to  de- 
velop their  territories,  others  gave  serious  attention  to 
the  colonization  of  their  purchase.  Professor  Hulbert's 
historical  sketch  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Records  of 
the  Ohio  Company  makes  clearer  than  hitherto  the 
distinction  in  purpose  and  method  of  such  enterprises 
as  the  Ohio  Company  and  the  group  of  Scioto  spec- 
ulators. He  shows  that  the  former  represented  a  cred- 
itable plan  to  combine  sound  investment,  home  making 
and  state  building  while  the  latter  was  a  land  jobbing 
deal  pure  and  simple.  The  Ohio  Company  invested  a 
large  sum  of  money  for  the  time  in  a  tract  of  land  to  be 
colonized  and  incorporated  into  the  Union;  the  Scioto 


£     CONNELCTICU1[    RESERVE 

w/xx/XX/y^xV  x/xx/yXxXxa 


LAND  GRANTS  AND  RESERVES  IN  THE  OHIO 
TERRITORY  IN  1788 


INTRODUCTION  69 

purchase,  known  by  the  region  upon  which  its  option 
was  taken,  was  an  enterprise  in  which  the  promoters 
would  not  have  to  invest  a  cent.  If  the  westward 
tide  set  its  way  the  instalments  due  to  the  govern- 
ment in  order  to  take  up  the  option  could  be  met  and 
there  would  be  left  an  opportunity  for  extensive  profits 
to  the  promoters;  if  it  failed  the  contract  would  mere- 
ly lapse.  The  latter  was  the  outcome.  The  fraudulent 
sale  of  four  shares  of  the  Scioto  lands  in  Europe  and 
the  unfortunate  plight  of  the  innocent  French  purchasers 
have  given  the  episode  a  notoriety  far  beyond  merit. 
The  fact  that  the  representatives  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany joined  forces  with  the  land  jobbers  hanging  about 
the  capital  in  a  dual  contract  in  order  to  carry  through 
Congress  the  main  project  has  produced  a  nice  problem 
in  business  ethics  and  Congressional  political  methods 
for  the  historian.  This  small  historical  problem  should 
not  be  allowed  to  obscure  the  wholesome  influence  of 
Cutler  and  Sargent.  The  event  in  American  History 
of  real  consequence  was  the  purchase  on  October  27, 
1787,  by  the  Ohio  Company  from  the  Treasury  Board 
acting  under  authority  from  Congress  of  a  tract  of  land 
lying  north  of  the  Ohio  and  west  of  the  Seven  Ranges 
for  a  cash  payment  of  half  a  million  dollars  and  another 
half  million  to  be  paid  when  the  tract  was  surveyed. 
The  United  States  agreed  to  give  the  company  lots 
16  and  29  in  each  township  for  education  and  religion, 
two  whole  townships  for  a  university,  and  the  bounty 
lands  to  which  the  members  who  were  Revolutionary 
soldiers  were  entitled  provided  these  did  not  exceed 
one-seventh  of  the  tract.  At  the  same  time  Congress 
reserved  sections  8,  11  and  26  in  each  township  for 
such  purposes  as  it  might  itself  desire.  The  contract 
permitted  the  Ohio  Company  to  offer  at  par  the  de- 
preciated Continental  certificates  which  had  been  issued 
for  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  in  payment  for  its 
lands.  The  stockholders  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  turn 
paid  their  subscriptions  in  either  these  certificates  or  in 


70  INTRODUCTION 

bounty  claims  counted  in  the  ratio  of  a  dollar  for  every 
acre  of  the  claims  up  to  one-seventh  of  the  subscription. 
Professor  Hulbert  emphasizes  the  influence  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati  and  the  American  Union 
Lodge  of  Masons  in  the  formation  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany. The  congenial  New  England  army  officers 
bound  together  by  long  service  in  the  Revolution  and 
by  common  membership  in  the  two  great  organizations 
of  men  of  the  time  produced  a  fertile  field  for  any 
undertaking  which  called  for  cooperation  or  team  work 
whether  of  land  speculation  or  political  activity.  It 
may  be  of  interest  to  point  out  that  the  Connecticut 
Land  Company  was  also  a  product  of  that  fertile  field 
for  cooperation.  The  leaders  were  officers  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary army.  Seven  of  the  Ohio  Company's  stock- 
holders became  members  of  the  Connecticut  Land 
Company.* 

Moses  Cleaveland  who  had  two  shares  or  $2000  in 
the  Ohio  Company  became  a  chief  promoter  of  the 
Connecticut  Company  with  $32,600  in  the  latter  enter- 
prise. He  was  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  a  leading 
member  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  a  Grand 
Marshall  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  of  Connecti- 
cut. Certainly  the  promoters  of  these  companies,  men 
like  Generals  Samuel  H.  Parsons,  Ruf us  Putnam,  Ben- 
jamin Tupper,  Moses  Cleaveland,  Major  Winthrop 
Sargent,  Lieutenant  Ephraim  Kirby  and  the  Reverend 
Manasseh  Cutler,  belonged  to  a  common  New  England 
class  with  wide  associations,  business  and  professional. 
There  is  no  evidence  in  the  records  of  either  company 
of  any  direct  connections  between  the  enterprises.  It 
was  a  common  thing  for  men  of  affairs  to  be  members 
of  several  land  speculating  companies.  The  same  men 
who  were  colonizing  Ohio  were  exploiting  the  lands  of 
western  New  York  and  Maine. 


*The  following  men  were  stockholders  in  both  companies: 

Caleb  Atwater  with  $1000  in  Ohio  Company  subscribed  $22,846  in  the  Connecticut 
Company;  Moses  Cleaveland  $2000  in  former,  $32,600  in  latter;  Sylvanus  Griswold  $1000  and 
$1,683  respectively;  Nehemiah  Hubbard  $2000  and  $19,039;  Ephraim  Kirby  $1000  and  $20,000; 
Uriah  Tracey  $1000  and  $28,700;  and  Joseph  Williams  $2000  and  $15,231  respectively. 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY  LA 
Reduced  from  original  size,  20x14 


'ANY  LAND 
26,20x14^  inches 


INTRODUCTION  71 

The  Connecticut  Land  Company  which  purchased 
the  Western  Reserve  in  1795  after  the  hard  times  of 
1791  and  1792  and  after  the  conquest  of  the  Indians 
by  General  Anthony  Wayne  in  1795  escaped  from  many 
of  the  difficulties  which  the  Ohio  Company  experi- 
enced. By  the  time  any  considerable  population  was 
located  on  the  Western  Reserve,  Ohio  territory  had 
been  organized  and  cast  its  protecting  influence  over 
the  whole  region.  The  Connecticut  Company  did  not 
have  the  same  problems  of  political  organization  which 
the  Ohio  Company  had.  More  was  left  in  the  Western 
Reserve  to  the  initiative  of  the  settlers;  there  was  less 
of  company  activities.  Both  showed  to  a  marked 
degree  the  evils  of  absentee  landlordism.  The  stock- 
holders who  remained  in  the  east  found  sales  slow, 
complained  of  taxes,  and  would  seem  to  have  found 
the  stock  a  poor  investment.  Mr.  Shepard's  article 
in  the  Annual  Publication  of  the  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  for  1916  showed  that  the  Connecticut 
Company  surveyed  its  lands,  cleared  a  few  wood  roads, 
and  gave  away  a  few  small  lots  of  land  and  small  sums 
of  money  as  bounties  to  encourage  the  establishment 
of  saw-mills  and  flour  mills.  A  reading  of  the  Ohio 
Company  Records  impresses  one  with  the  wider 
activities  of  its  Board  of  Directors.  They  did  all  for 
the  settlers  on  their  lands  which  the  other  companies 
of  the  day  did  and  much  more  because  the  times  re- 
quired it.  During  the  trying  early  years  they  acted  as 
a  Board  of  Police  and  concerned  themselves  not  only 
with  the  defenses  of  the  little  community  but  minutely 
regulated  the  local  government  of  the  settlements. 
They  engaged  a  minister  and  a  teacher,  and  for  some 
years  bore  the  large  part  of  the  expenses.  The  minutes 
of  the  meetings  of  the  Directors  become  an  interesting 
study  in  the  regulation  of  frontier  life  by  a  proprietary 
company.  The  Directors  and  Agents  carried  the 
company  through  the  hard  times  of  1791,  the  serious 
losses  caused  by  the  speculations  and  bankruptcy  of 
the  Treasurer,  and  a  four  year  Indian  War.  Houses 


72  INTRODUCTION 

were  provided  for  the  refugees  of  the  Indian  War. 
Lands  were  given  to  the  Nova  Scotia  refugees  near  Fort 
Harmar  and  for  the  French  emigrants  at  Gallipolis. 
The  measures  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  small 
investor  and  the  poor  settler  go  beyond  those  of  the 
other  companies  of  the  day  and  are  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  indifference  and  undemocratic  features  of 
the  rival  policy  of  Congress  on  the  Seven  Ranges.  No 
stockholder  in  the  Ohio  Company  could  take  more 
than  five  shares;  poor  men  could  club  together  in 
taking  a  single  share.  All  lands  were  divided  by  lot. 
Houses  were  built  in  Marietta  by  the  company  for 
the  first  immigrants.  The  workmen  of  the  company 
were  paid  in  cash  or  lands,  and  if  in  lands  on  liberal 
terms.  While  not  many  of  the  stockholders  migrated 
to  the  company  lands  those  who  did  had  what  amounted 
to  a  bonus.  Each  stockholder's  allotments  as  a  share 
holder  amounted  to  1173  acres  per  share.  In  addition 
he  might  if  he  had  been  a  Revolutionary  soldier  take 
up  his  bounty  lands  which  varied  with  his  rank  from 
100  acres  for  the  privates  to  300  for  captains  and  500 
for  colonels.  Above  these  rights  the  stockholders  who 
settled  on  the  company  lands  had  a  prior  claim  to 
the  extent  of  100  acres  in  the  Donation  tracts  provided 
they  located  on  one  of  them  and  fulfilled  the  conditions 
of  the  homesteader.  Non-proprietors  who  settled  on 
one  of  the  Donation  tracts  which  were  located  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  company's  purchase  secured  homesteads 
on  the  same  terms.  The  obligations  were  analagous 
to  the  "corn  and  cabin"  rights  of  Virginia.  The  settler 
must  within  five  years  have  built  a  house  with  a  cellar 
and  chimney  and  have  cleared  and  planted  20  acres. 
Within  three  years  50  apple  or  pear  trees  and  20  peach 
trees  must  be  growing.  Yet  withal  the  growth  of  the 
colony  was  slow.  The  Ohio  Company  divided  its 
lands  among  the  members  in  1796  and  from  that  event 
ceased  as  an  organization  to  have  much  influence  on 
the  history  of  the  West. 


INTRODUCTION  73 

Some  of  the  May  Papers  will  throw  light  on  the 
activities  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  this  period.  In 
1909  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society  purchased 
an  old  chest  filled  with  papers  from  Miss  Mary  D. 
May  of  Cambridge,  a  granddaughter  of  Colonel  John 
May.  The  papers  had  remained  undisturbed  since 
May's  death,  except  that  his  Journal  and  a  few  letters 
had  been  removed  and  published.*  A  full  examination 
of  the  contents  of  the  chest  revealed  a  varied  mass  of 
papers  of  a  man  of  affairs  in  Boston  and  in  the  Ohio 
country.  Letters  and  documents  from  Manasseh 
Cutler,  William  Rufus  Putnam  and  George  Washington 
were  in  the  disordered  lot.  John  MayJ  was  one  of  the 
active  founders  of  the  Ohio  Company,  an  Agent  for 
26  stockholders  representing  35  shares  out  of  817,  and 
owner  himself  of  what  amounted  to  four  shares  though 
only  one  was  in  his  own  name.  In  1788  he  spent  two 
months  in  Marietta  occupied  with  the  business  of  the 
Ohio  Company  and  with  developing  the  land  which 
fell  to  his  share  in  the  first  allotment.  He  took  with 
him  a  party  of  laborers,  "stout  hearty  men,"  whom 
he  provisioned  and  paid  three  or  four  dollars  a  month. 
At  Pittsburgh  he  secured  a  covered  flat  boat  capable 
of  carrying  a  burden  of  forty -five  tons.  This  served 
to  transport  the  party  with  tools,  supplies  and  live- 
stock— cows,  hogs,  and  dogs.  At  Marietta  the  boat 
furnished  lodging  until  a  log  house  was  built,  and  then 
supplied  the  lumber  for  the  floors  of  the  house.  May's 
Journal  is  an  interesting  account  of  1 8th  century  travel, 
westward  migration  and  frontier  activities. 

If  May  really  contemplated  occupying  with  his 
family  the  house  which  he  built  in  Marietta  the  plan 
was  abandoned.  During  1789  he  made  a  second  and 

*Journal  and  letters  of  Colonel  John  May  of  Boston  relative  to  Two  Journeys  to  the  Ohio 
Country  in  1788  and  1789,  Cincinnati,  1873). 

t  John  May  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Connecticut,  November  24,  1748.  While  a  boy  he  was 
sent  to  Boston  and  apprenticed  after  the  custom  of  his  time  to  a  distant  relative,  Colonel 
Ephraim  May.  He  was  engaged  in  business  in  Boston  when  the  Revolution  began.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  he  was  one  of  the  famous  "tea  party"  two  years  earlier.  In  1778  he  was 

S'ven  a  commission  in  the  Boston  militia  and  rose  successiely  from  the  rank  of  Captain  to 
ajor,  Lieutenant  Colonel  and  after  the  Revolution  to  Colonel.    He  served  in  Rhode  Island 
under  the  Count  of  Rochambeau's  command.     For  twenty  years  Colonel  May  was  a  Fire- 
warden of  Boston  and  for  eight  years  a  Slectman.    He  died  in  Boston,  July,  1812. 


74  INTRODUCTION 

his  final  visit  to  the  West.  This  one  was  on  a  trading 
adventure  with  a  "floating  store."  One  concludes 
from  his  letters  that  the  undertaking  was  only  moder- 
ately successful.  He  found  the  western  storekeepers  to 
whom  he  expected  to  sell  his  wares  "in  a  miserable 
way."  Ginseng  or  skins  were  the  currency  of  the  trade. 
The  remainder  of  his  relations  with  the  Ohio  Company 
were  those  of  an  absentee  proprietor  and  Agent.  In 
the  latter  capacity  he  was  virtually  a  sub-treasurer  of 
the  company  for  a  Boston  group  of  proprietors,  twenty- 
six  in  number.  While  May  was  an  active  member  of 
the  Ohio  Company  his  influence  was  secondary  to 
that  of  Manasseh  Cutler,  Rufus  Putnam  and  possibly 
one  or  two  others.  He  kept  copies  of  the  company 
records  and  correspondence  which  came  to  him.  Some 
of  this  material  apparently  does  not  exist  elsewhere. 
The  following  selection  from  the  May  Papers  is  sub- 
mitted as  a  contribution  of  sources  for  the  history  of 
one  of  the  most  important  movements  in  the  coloni- 
zation of  Ohio.  It  should  supplement  the  Marietta 
College  Historical  Collections. 


L 


i 


o 


DESCRIPTION  OF  OHIO 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  Map  was  apparently  prepared  for  use  in  sell- 
ing the  Scioto  Lands  in  France.  The  original  map, 
the  author  of  which  is  unknown,  and  the  Explanation 
of  the  Map  by  Manasseh  Cutler  were  clearly  intended 
for  the  use  of  prospective  subscribers  to  the  stock  of 
the  Ohio  Company.* 

This  so-called  Explanation  of  the  Map  is  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  documentary  Side  Lights  on  the 
Ohio  Company  from  May's  Papers.  It  exhibits  some 
of  the  extravagance  of  statement  characteristic  of  real- 
estate  promoting.  The  author  foresaw  a  time  within 
twenty  years  when  "there  will  be  more  people  on  the 
western  than  on  the  eastern  waters  of  the  United 
States"  and  made  the  suggestion  that  Congress  might 
adopt  a  sort  of  a  peripatetic  federal  capital  migrating 
westward  with  the  seat  of  empire.  It  represents  on  the 
whole  the  more  intelligent  eastern  opinion  of  the  Ohio 
country  in  1787  and  its  prospects.  The  chief  value  of 
the  document  as  a  primary  source  for  the  history  of 
the  Ohio  Company  lies  in  the  emphasis  which  it  places 
on  the  water  routes.  It  is  clear  that  one  of  the  chief 
motives  in  locating  the  new  town  at  the  juncture  of 
the  Ohio  and  Muskingum  Rivers  was  the  same  as  that 
which  caused  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  to 
locate  its  chief  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cuya- 
hoga.  The  Cuyahoga  and  the  Muskingum  were  parts 
of  a  main  highway  between  the  Ohio  River  and  Lake 
Erie.  Cutler  like  his  contemporaries  was  thinking  in 
the  terms  of  small  boats,  river  navigation  and  portage 
paths.  With  their  knowledge  they  were  right  in 

*An  English  translation  of  the  French  translation  was  published  in  the  Ohio  Archaeological 
and  Historical  Society's  Publications,  Vol.  Ill,  81.  The  translation  departs  considerably  from 
the  original. 

75 


76  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

locating  the  western  settlements  at  the  junctions  in 
the  western  river  system. 

DOCUMENT 

AN/  EXPLANATION/  OF  THE/  MAP/  WHICH 
DELINEATES  THAT  PART  OF  THE/  FEDERAL 

LANDS,/  Comprehended  between  Pennsylvania  West 
Line,  the  Rivers  Ohio/  and  Sioto,  and  Lake  Erie;  con- 
firmed to  the  UNITED  STATES/  by  sundry  Tribes 
of  Indians,  in  the  Treaties  of  1784  and  1786,/  and 
now  ready  for  Settlement. 

SALEM:/     PRINTED  BY  DABNEY  AND  GUSHING,/ 
MDCCLXXXVII. 

New- York,  28th  October,  1787. 

Having  attentively  perused  the  following  pamphlet, 
describing  part  of  the  western  territory  of  the  United 
States,  I  DO  CERTIFY,  that  the  facts  therein  related, 
respecting  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  productions,  and 
general  advantages  of  settlement,  &c.  are  judicious, 
just  and  true,  and  correspond  with  observations  made 
by  me  during  my  residence  of  upwards  of  ten  years  in 
that  country. 

Thomas  Hutchins, 
Geographer  of  the  United  States. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  77 

AN 
EXPLANATION,  &c. 

THE  great  river  Ohio  is  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
Monongahela  and  the  Alleghany,  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  about  290  miles  west  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  and  about  20  miles  east  of  the  western 
line  of  that  State.  In  the  common  travelling  road,  the 
former  distance  is  computed  at  320  miles;  and,  by  the 
windings  and  oblique  direction  of  the  Ohio,  the  latter 
is  reckoned  about  42.  These  two  sources  of  the  Ohio 
are  large  navigable  streams;  the  former,  flowing  from 
the  southeast,  leaves  but  30  miles  portage  from  the 
navigable  waters  of  the  Potowmac,  in  Virginia;  the 
latter  opens  a  passage  from  the  northeast,  and  rises 
not  far  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Susquehanna. 

THE  State  of  Pennsylvania  have  already  adopted 
the  plan  of  opening  a  navigation  from  the  Alleghany 
river  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  through  the  Susque- 
hanna and  the  Delaware.  In  this  route  there  will  be 
a  portage  of  only  24  miles. 

ON  the  junction  of  these  rivers,  or  at  the  head  of 
the  Ohio,  stands  Fort  Pitt,  which  gives  name  to  the 
town  of  Pittsburgh,  a  flourishing  settlement  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  fortress.  From  this  place  the  Ohio 
takes  a  southwestern  course  of  1188  miles,  including 
its  various  windings,  and  discharges  itself  into  the 
Missisippi;  having  passed  a  prodigious  length  of 
delightful  and  fertile  country,  and  received  the  tribute 
of  a  large  number  of  navigable  streams.  The  Muskin- 
gum,  the  Hockhocking,  the  Sioto,  the  Miami,  and  the 
Wabash,  from  the  northwest;  the  Kenhawa,  the 
Kentucky,  the  Buffaloe,  the  Shawanee,  and  the  Chero- 
kee, from  the  southeast,  all  navigable  from  100  to 
900  miles,  discharge  themselves  into  the  Ohio;  and  yet 
the  Ohio  itself  forms  but  an  inconsiderable  part  of  that 


78  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

vast  variety  of  congregated  streams  which  visit  the 
ocean  through  the  channel  of  the  Missisippi. 

THE  Ohio,  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Missisippi, 
divides  the  State  of  Virginia  from  the  federal  lands,  or 
the  lands  which  do  not  fall  within  the  limits  of  any 
particular  State.  These  extend  westward  to  the 
Missisippi,  and  northward  to  the  boundary  of  the 
United  States,  excepting  only  the  Connecticut  reserve, 
which  is  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  bordering  on  the  south 
of  Lake  Erie,  and  stretching  120  miles  west  of  the 
western  limit  of  Pennsylvania.  But  a  small  proportion 
of  these  lands  is  as  yet  purchased  of  the  natives,  and 
to  be  disposed  of  by  Congress.  Beginning  on  the 
meridan  line,  which  forms  the  western  boundary  of 
Pennsylvania,  they  have  surveyed  and  laid  off  seven 
ranges  of  townships.  As  a  north  and  south  line  strikes 
the  Ohio  in  a  very  oblique  direction,  the  termination  of 
the  seventh  range  falls  upon  that  river  9  miles  above 
the  Muskingum,  which  is  the  first  large  river  that  falls 
into  the  Ohio.  It  forms  this  junction  at  172  miles 
below  Fort  Pitt,  including  the  windings  of  the  Ohio, 
though  in  a  direct  line  it  is  but  90  miles. 

The  lands  in  which  the  Indian  title  is  extinguished, 
and  which  are  now  purchasing  under  the  United  States, 
are  bounded  as  before  described  on  the  east,  by  the 
great  Miami  on  the  west,  by  the  Ohio  on  the  south, 
and  extend  near  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Muskingum 
and  Sioto  on  the  north. 

THE  Muskingum  is  a  gentle  river,  confined  by  banks 
so  high  as  to  prevent  its  overflowing.  It  is  250  yards 
wide  at  its  confluence  with  the  Ohio,  and  navigable  by 
large  batteaux  and  barges  to  the  Three  Legs;  and,  by 
small  ones,  to  the  lake  at  its  head.  Prom  hence,  by  a 
portage  of  about  one  mile,  a  communication  is  opened 
to  Lake  Erie,  through  the  Cayahoga,  which  is  a  stream 
of  great  utility,  navigable  the  whole  length,  without 
any  obstruction  from  falls.  From  Lake  Erie,  the 
avenue  is  well  known  to  the  Hudson  in  the  State  of 
New-York.  The  most  considerable  portage  in  this 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  79 

route  is  at  the  fall  of  Niagara,  which  interrupts  the 
communication  between  the  lakes  Erie  and  Ontario. 
From  the  latter  you  pass  through  the  river  Oswego,  the 
Oneyda  lake,  Wood's  creek,  and  find  a  short  portage 
into  the  Mohawk,  and  another  occasioned  by  a  fall 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson, 
at  Albany. 

THE  Hockhocking  resembles  the  Muskingum, 
though  somewhat  inferior  in  size.  It  is  navigable  for 
large  boats  about  70  miles,  and  for  small  ones  much 
farther.  On  the  banks  of  this  very  useful  stream  are 
found  inexhaustible  quarries  of  free-stone,  large  beds 
of  iron  ore,  and  some  rich  mines  of  lead.  Coal  mines 
and  salt  springs  are  frequent  in  the  neighborhood  of 
this  stream,  as  they  are  in  every  part  of  the  western 
territory.  The  salt  that  may  be  obtained  from  these 
springs  will  afford  an  inexhaustible  store  of  that  neces- 
sary article.  Beds  of  white  and  blue  clay,  of  an  excellent 
quality,  are  likewise  found  here,  suitable  for  the  manu- 
facture of  glass,  crockery  and  other  earthen  wares. 
Red  bole  and  many  other  useful  fossils  have  been 
observed  on  the  branches  of  this  river. 

THE  Sioto  is  a  larger  river  than  either  of  the  preced- 
ing, and  opens  a  more  extensive  navigation.  It  is 
passable  for  large  barges  for  200  miles,  with  a  portage 
of  only  4  miles  to  the  Sandusky,  a  good  navigable 
stream  that  falls  into  the  lake  Erie.  Through  the 
Sandusky  and  Sioto  lies  the  most  common  pass  from 
Canada  to  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi;  one  of  the  most 
extensive  and  useful  communications  that  are  to  be 
found  in  any  country.  Prodigious  extensions  of  terri- 
tory are  here  connected;  and,  from  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  western  parts  of  Canada,  lake  Erie  and  the 
Kentucky  countries  are  settling,  we  may  anticipate 
an  immense  intercourse  between  them.  The  lands  on 
the  borders  of  these  middle  streams,  from  this  circum- 
stance alone,  aside  from  their  natural  fertility,  must  be 
rendered  vastly  valuable.  There  is  no  doubt,  but  flour, 
corn,  flax,  hemp,  &c.  raised  for  exportation  in  that 


80  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

great  country  between  the  lakes  Huron  and  Ontario, 
will  find  an  easier  outlet  through  lake  Erie  and  these 
rivers,  than  in  any  other  direction.  The  Ohio  merchant 
can  give  a  higher  price  than  those  of  Quebec,  for  these 
commodities;  as  they  may  be  transported  from  the 
former  to  Florida  and  the  West-India  islands,  with  less 
expense,  risk  and  insurance,  than  from  the  latter;  while 
the  expense  from  the  place  of  growth  to  the  Ohio  will 
not  be  one  fourth  of  what  it  would  be  to  Quebec,  and 
much  less  than  even  to  the  Oneyda  lake.  The  stream 
of  Sioto  is  gentle,  no  where  broken  by  falls:  At  some 
places,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  it  overflows  its  banks, 
providing  for  large  natural  rice  plantations.  Salt 
springs,  coal  mines,  white  and  blue  clay,  and  free-stone, 
abound  in  the  country  adjoining  this  river. 

THE  undistinguishing  terms  of  admiration,  that 
are  commonly  used  in  speaking  of  the  natural  fertility 
of  the  country  on  the  western  waters  of  the  United 
States,  would  render  it  difficult,  without  accurate 
attention  in  the  surveys,  to  ascribe  a  preference  to  any 
particular  part;  or  to  give  a  just  description  of  the 
territory  under  consideration,  without  the  hazard  of 
being  suspected  of  exaggeration;  But  in  this  we  have 
the  united  opinion  of  the  Geographer,  the  Surveyors, 
and  every  traveller  that  has  been  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  country,  and  marked  every  natural 
object  with  the  most  scrupulous  exactness — That  no 
part  of  the  federal  territory  unites  so  many  advan- 
tages, in  point  of  health,  fertility,  variety  of  production, 
and  foreign  intercourse,  as  that  tract  which  stretches 
from  the  Muskingum  to  the  Sioto  and  the  Great  Miami 
rivers. 

COL.  GORDON,  in  his  journal,  speaking  of  a  much 
larger  range  of  country,  in  which  this  is  included,  and 
makes  unquestionably  the  finest  part,  has  the  following 
observation:  "The  country  on  the  Ohio  is  every  where 
pleasant,  with  large  level  spots  of  rich  land;  and 
remarkably  healthy.  One  general  remark  of  this  nature 
will  serve  for  the  whole  tract  of  the  globe  compre- 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  81 

hended  between  the  western  skirts  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains;  thence  running  southwesterly  to  the  dis- 
tance of  500  miles  to  the  Ohio  falls;  then  crossing  them 
northerly  to  the  heads  of  the  rivers  that  empty  them- 
selves into  the  Ohio;  thence  east  along  the  ridge  that 
separates  the  lakes  and  Ohio's  streams,  to  French 
Creek — This  country  may,  from  a  proper  knowledge, 
be  affirmed  to  be  the  most  healthy,  the  most  pleasant, 
the  most  commodious  and  most  fertile  spot  of  earth, 
known  to  the  European  people." 

THE  lands  that  feed  the  various  streams  above 
mentioned,  which  fall  into  the  Ohio,  are  now  more 
accurately  known,  and  may  be  described  with  con- 
fidence and  precision.  They  are  interspersed  with  all 
the  variety  of  soil  which  conduces  to  pleasantness  of 
situation,  and  lays  the  foundation  for  the  wealth  of  an 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  people.  Large  level 
bottoms,  or  natural  meadows,  from  20  to  50  miles  in 
circuit,  are  every  where  found  bordering  the  rivers, 
and  variegating  the  country  in  the  interior  parts.  These 
afford  as  rich  a  soil  as  can  be  imagined,  and  may  be 
reduced  to  proper  cultivation  with  very  little  labour. 
It  is  said  that  in  many  of  these  bottoms  a  man  may 
clear  an  acre  a  day,  fit  for  planting  with  Indian  corn; 
there  being  no  underwood;  and  the  trees,  growing  very 
high  and  large,  but  not  thick  together,  need  nothing 
but  girdling. 

THE  prevailing  growth  of  timber  and  the  more 
useful  trees  are,  maple  or  sugar  tree — sycamore — black 
and  white  mulberry — black  and  white  walnut — butter- 
nut— chesnut — white,  black,  Spanish  and  chesnut 
oaks — hickory — cherry — buckwood — honey  locus  t — 
elm — horse  chesnut — cucumber  tree — lynn  tree — gum 
tree — iron  wood — ash — aspin — sassafras — crab  apple 
tree — paupaw  or  custard  apple — a  variety  of  plumb 
trees — nine  bark  spice,  and  leatherwood  bushes.  Gen- 
eral Parsons  measured  a  black  walnut  tree  near  the 
Muskingum,  whose  circumference,  at  five  feet  from 
the  ground,  was  22  feet.  A  sycamore,  near  the  same 


82  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

place,  measures  44  feet  in  circumference,  at  some 
distance  from  the  ground.  White  and  black  oak,  and 
chestnut,  with  most  of  the  above-mentioned  timbers, 
grow  large  and  plenty  upon  the  high  grounds.  Both 
the  high  and  low  lands  produce  vast  quantities  of 
natural  grapes  of  various  kinds,  of  which  the  settlers 
universally  make  a  sufficiency  for  their  own  consump- 
tion of  rich  red  wine.  It  is  asserted  in  the  old  settle- 
ment of  St.  Vincent's,  where  they  have  had  opportunity 
to  try  it,  that  age  will  render  this  wine  preferable  to 
most  of  the  European  wines.  Cotton  is  the  natural 
production  of  this  country,  and  grows  in  great  perfection. 

THE  sugar  maple  is  a  most  valuable  tree  for  an 
inland  country.  Any  number  of  inhabitants  may  be 
forever  supplied  with  a  sufficiency  of  sugar,  by  preserv- 
ing a  few  trees  for  the  use  of  each  family.  A  tree  will 
yield  about  ten  pounds  of  sugar  a  year,  and  the  labour 
is  very  trifling:  The  sap  is  extracted  in  the  months  of 
February  and  March,  and  granulated,  by  the  simple 
operation  of  boiling,  to  a  sugar  equal  in  flavour  and 
whiteness  to  the  best  Muscovado. 

SPRINGS  of  excellent  water  abound  in  every  part  of 
this  territory;  and  small  and  large  streams,  for  mills 
and  other  purposes,  are  actually  interspersed,  as  if 
by  art,  that  there  be  no  deficiency  in  any  of  the  con- 
veniences of  life. 

VERY  little  waste  land  is  to  be  found  in  any  part  of 
the  tract  of  country  comprehended  in  the  map  which 
accompanies  this.  There  are  no  swamps;  and  though 
the  hills  are  frequent,  they  are  gentle  and  swelling,  no 
where  high  nor  incapable  of  tillage.  They  are  of  a 
deep,  rich  soil,  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timber, 
and  well  adapted  to  the  production  of  wheat,  rye, 
indigo,  tobacco,  &c. 

THE  communications  between  this  country  and  the 
sea  will  be  principally  in  the  four  following  directions. 

1.  THE  route  through  the  Sioto  and  Muskingum  to 
lake  Erie,  and  so  to  the  river  Hudson;  which  has  been 
already  described. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  83 

2.  THE  passage  up  the  Ohio  and  Monongahela,  to 
the    portage    above-mentioned,    which    leads    to    the 
navigable  waters  of  the  Potowmac.    This  portage  is  30 
miles,  and  will  probably  be  rendered  much  less  by  the 
execution  of  the  plans  now  on  foot  for  opening  the 
navigation  of  those  waters. 

3.  THE  great  Kenhawa,  which  falls  into  the  Ohio 
from  the  Virginia  shore,  between  the  Hockhocking  and 
the   Sioto,   opens   an   extensive   navigation  from   the 
southeast,  and  leaves  but  18  miles  portage  from  the 
navigable  waters  of  James  river,  in  Virginia.     This 
communication,  for  the  country  between  Muskingum 
and  Sioto,  will  probably  be  more  used  than  any  other, 
for  the  exportation  of  manufactures,  and  other  light 
and  valuable  articles;  and,  especially,  for  the  import- 
ation of  foreign  commodities,  which  may  be  brought 
from  the  Chesapeak  to  the  Ohio  much  cheaper  than 
they  are  now  carried  from  Philadelphia  to  Carlisle  and 
the  other  thick  settled  back  counties  of  Pennsylvania. 

4.  BUT  the  current  down  the  Ohio  and  the  Mis- 
sisippi,  for  heavy  articles  that  suit  the  Florida  and 
West-India  markets,  such  as  corn,  flour,  beef,  lumber, 
&c.  will  be  more  frequently  loaded  than  any  streams 
on  earth.    The  distance  from  the  Sioto  to  the  Missis- 
ippi  is  800  miles;  from  thence  to  the  sea  is  900.    This 
whole  course  is  easily  run  in  15  days;  and  the  passage 
up  those  rivers  is  not  so  difficult  as  has  usually  been 
represented.     It  is  found,  by  late  experiments,  that 
sails  are  used  to  great  advantage  against  the  current 
of  the  Ohio:    And  it  is  worthy  of  obervation,  that  in 
all  probability  steam-boats  will  be  found  to  do  infinite 
service  in  all  our  extensive  river  navigation. 

SUCH  is  the  state  of  the  facts  relative  to  natural 
advantages  of  the  territory  described  in  the  annexed 
map.  As  far  as  observations  in  passing  the  rivers, 
and  the  transitory  remarks  of  travellers,  will  justify 
an  opinion,  the  lands  farther  down,  and  in  other  parts 
of  the  unappropriated  country,  are  not  equal,  in  point 
of  soil  and  other  local  advantages,  to  the  tract  which 


84  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

is  here  described.  This,  however,  cannot  be  accurately 
determined,  as  the  present  situation  of  these  countries 
will  not  admit  of  that  minute  inspection  which  has  been 
bestowed  on  the  one  under  consideration. 

IT  is  a  happy  circumstance,  that  the  Ohio  Company 
are  about  to  commence  the  settlement  of  this  country 
in  so  regular  and  judicious  a  manner.  It  will  serve  as 
a  wise  model  for  the  future  settlement  of  all  the  federal 
lands;  at  the  same  time  that,  by  beginning  so  near  the 
western  limit  of  Pennsylvania,  it  will  be  a  continuation 
of  the  old  settlements,  leaving  no  vacant  lands  exposed 
to  be  seized  by  such  lawless  banditti  as  usually  infest 
the  frontiers  of  countries  distant  from  the  seat  of 
government. 

THE  design  of  Congress  and  of  the  settlers  is,  that 
the  settlements  shall  proceed  regularly  down  the  Ohio; 
and  northward  to  lake  Erie.  And  it  is  probable  that 
not  many  years  will  elapse,  before  the  whole  country 
above  Miami  will  be  brought  to  that  degree  of  cultiva- 
tion, which  will  exhibit  all  its  latent  beauties,  and 
justify  those  descriptions  of  travellers  which  have  so 
often  made  it  the  garden  of  the  world,  the  seat  of 
wealth,  and  the  centre  of  a  great  empire. 

To  the  philosopher  and  the  politician,  on  viewing 
this  delightful  part  of  the  federal  territory,  under  the 
prospect  of  an  immediate  and  systematic  settlement, 
the  following  observations  will  naturally  occur. 

First.  THE  toils  of  agriculture  will  here  be  re- 
warded with  a  greater  variety  of  valuable  productions, 
than  in  any  part  of  America.  The  advantages  of 
almost  every  climate  are  here  blended  together;  every 
considerable  commodity,  that  is  cultivated  in  any  part 
of  the  United  States,  is  here  produced  in  the  greatest 
plenty  and  perfection.  The  high  and  dry  lands  are  of 
a  deep,  rich  soil — producing,  in  abundance,  wheat, 
rye,  Indian  corn,  buck  wheat,  oats,  barley,  flax,  hemp, 
tobacco,  indigo,  silk,  wine  and  cotton.  The  tobacco  is  of 
a  quality  superior  to  that  of  Virginia;  and  the  crops 
of  wheat  are  larger  than  in  any  other  part  of  America. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  85 

The  common  growth  of  Indian  corn  is  from  60  to  80 
bushels  to  the  acre.*  The  low  lands  are  well  suited 
to  the  production  of  nearly  all  the  above  articles, 
except  wheat,  where  the  large  bottoms  are  inter- 
spersed with  small  streams,  they  are  well  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  rice;  which  may  be  produced  in  any 
quantities.  The  borders  of  the  large  streams  do  not 
generally  admit  of  this  crop,  as  very  few  of  them  over- 
flow their  banks.  But  the  scarcity  of  natural  rice 
swamps  is  amply  compensated  by  the  remarkable 
healthfulness  of  the  whole  country;  it  being  entirely 
free  from  stagnant  waters.  It  is  found,  in  this  country, 
that  stagnant  waters  are  by  no  means  necessary  to 
the  growth  of  rice;  the  common  rich  bottoms  produce 
this  crop  in  as  great  perfection  as  the  best  rice  swamps 
of  the  southern  States.  Hops  are  the  natural  production 
of  this  country;  as  are  peaches,  plumbs,  pears,  apples, 
melons,  and  almost  every  fruit  of  the  temperatezone. 

No  country  is  better  stocked  with  wild  game  of 
every  kind:  Innumerable  herds  of  deer,  elk,  buff  aloe, 
and  bear,  are  sheltered  in  the  groves,  and  fed  in  the 
extensive  bottoms  that  every  where  abound;  an  un- 
questionable proof  of  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil: 
Turkies,  geese,  ducks,  swans,  teal,  pheasants,  part- 
ridges, &c.  are,  from  observation,  believed  to  be  in 
greater  plenty  here,  than  the  tame  poultry  are  in  any 
part  of  the  old  settlements  in  America. 

THE  rivers  are  well  stored  with  fish  of  various  kinds, 
and  many  of  them  of  an  excellent  quality.  They  are 
generally  large,  though  of  different  sizes :  The  cat-fish, 
which  is  the  largest,  and  of  a  delicious  flavour,  weighs 
from  30  to  80  pounds. 

PROVISIONS  will,  for  many  years,  find  a  ready  market 
on  any  of  these  rivers ;  as  settlers  are  constantly  coming 
in  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  must  be  supplied 
by  purchase,  for  one  year  at  least,  with  many  articles. 

*General  Parsons,  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  treaty  at  Miami,  in  1786,  has  made 
in  his  journal  the  following  note:  "  Mr.  Dawson  has  lived  two  summers  at  this  place — (Little 
Beaver,  near  Pennsylvania  west  line) — He  says,  his  corn  is  from  80  to  100  bushels  per  acre: 
Last  year,  he  planted  7  acres — plowed  twice  before  planting,  and  hoed  once  only — and  had 
600  bushels." 


86  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

Second.  FROM  its  situation  and  productions,  no 
country  is  so  well  calculated  for  the  establishment  of 
manufacturers  of  various  kinds.  Provisions  will  be 
forever  plenty  and  cheap.  The  raw  materials  for 
fabricating  most  of  the  articles  of  clothing  and  dress, 
are  and  will  be  the  luxuriant  production  of  this  country. 
Though  silk,  cotton  and  flax  are  valuable  in  themselves, 
yet,  by  being  wrought  into  the  various  articles  of  use 
and  ornament,  the  expence  of  transportation  is  pro- 
portionably  lessened.  The  United  States,  and,  perhaps, 
other  countries,  will  be  supplied  from  these  interior 
parts  of  America. 

SHIPBUILDING  will  be  a  capital  branch  of  busi- 
ness on  the  Ohio  and  its  confluent  streams.  The  Ohio, 
when  at  the  lowest,  admits  of  four  fathom  of  water, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  to  its  confluence 
with  the  Missisippi,  except  at  the  rapids,  which,  at 
such  times,  interrupt  the  navigation  for  about  one 
mile.  The  descent,  in  that  distance,  is  only  15  feet; 
and  the  channel,  which  is  250  yards  wide,  has,  at  no 
time,  less  than  5  feet  of  water.  In  freshes,  the  water 
rises  30  feet;  and  boats  are  not  only  rowed  against 
the  stream,  but  ascend  the  rapids  by  means  of  their 
sails  only.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Geographer,  and 
others  who  have  viewed  the  spot,  that,  by  cutting  a 
canal  a  little  more  than  a  half  a  mile  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river,  which  is  low  meadow  ground,  the  rapids 
may  be  avoided,  and  the  navigation  made  free  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year.  Hemp,  timber  and  iron  will  be 
plenty  and  good;  and  the  high  freshes,  from  February 
to  April,  and  frequently  in  October  and  November, 
will  bear  a  vessel  of  any  burden  over  the  rapids,  in 
their  present  state,  and  out  to  sea. 

THE  following  observations,  by  an  English  engineer, 
who  had  explored  the  western  country,  were  addressed 
to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  in  the  year  1770,  when 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  North  American  department 
—at  a  time  when  we  were  British  colonies,  and  our 
country  considered  only  as  the  handmaid  to  Great 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  87 

Britain,  in  furnishing  raw  materials  for  their  manu- 
factures. 

"No  part  of  North  America  will  require  less  en- 
couragement for  the  production  of  naval  stores  and 
raw  materials  for  manufactories  in  Europe;  and  for 
supplying  the  West-India  islands  with  lumber,  provi- 
sions, &c.  than  the  country  of  the  Ohio — and  for  the 
following  reasons: 

"1.  THE  lands  are  excellent — the  climate,  tem- 
perate; the  native  grapes,  silk-worms,  and  mulberry 
trees,  abound  every  where;  hemp,  hops  and  rye  grow 
spontaneously  in  the  vallies  &  low  lands;  lead  &  iron 
ore  are  plenty  in  the  hills;  salt  springs  are  innumerable; 
and  no  soil  is  better  adapted  to  the  culture  of  tobacco, 
flax  and  cotton,  than  that  of  the  Ohio. 

"2.  THE  country  is  well  watered  by  several 
navigable  rivers,  communicating  with  each  other;  by 
which,  and  a  short  land  carriage  the  produce  of  the 
lands  of  the  Ohio  can  even  now  be  sent  cheaper  to 
the  seaport  town  of  Alexandria  on  the  river  Potowmac 
where  General  Braddock's  transports  landed  his  troops, 
than  any  kind  of  merchandise  is  sent  from  Northamp- 
ton to  London. 

"3.  THE  river  Ohio  is,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year, 
navigable  with  large  boats;  and,  from  the  month 
of  February  to  April,  large  ships  may  be  built  on  the 
Ohio,  and  sent  to  sea,  laden  with  hemp,  iron,  flax,  silk, 
tobacco,  cotton,  &c. 

"4.  FLOUR,  corn,  beef,  ship-plank,  and  other  useful 
articles,  can  be  sent  down  the  stream  of  Ohio  to  West 
Florida,  and  from  thence  to  the  West  India  islands, 
much  cheaper,  and  in  better  order,  than  from  New  York 
or  Philadelphia  to  those  islands. 

"5.  HEMP,  tobacco,  iron,  and  such  bulky  articles, 
may  be  sent  down  the  stream  of  Ohio  to  the  sea  at 
least  50  per  cent,  cheaper  than  these  articles  were  ever 
carried  by  a  land  carriage  of  only  60  miles  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  waggonage  is  cheaper  than  in  any  other 
part  of  North- America. 


88  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

"6.  THE  expence  of  transporting  European  manu- 
facturers from  the  sea  to  the  Ohio  will  not  be  so  much 
as  is  now  paid,  and  ever  must  be  paid,  to  a  great  part 
of  the  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
Whenever  the  farmers  or  merchants  of  Ohio  shall 
properly  understand  the  business  of  transportation, 
they  will  build  schooners,  sloops,  &c.  on  the  Ohio, 
suitable  for  the  West  India  or  European  markets;  or, 
by  having  black  walnut,  cherry  tree,  oak,  &c.  properly 
sawed  for  foreign  markets,  and  formed  into  rafts,  in 
the  manner  that  is  now  done  by  the  settlers  near  the 
upper  parts  of  the  Delaware  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
thereon  stow  their  hemp,  iron,  tobacco,  &c.  and  proceed 
with  them  to  New  Orleans. 

"IT  may  not,  perhaps,  be  amiss  to  observe,  that 
large  quantities  of  flour  are  made  in  the  western 
counties  of  Pennsylvania,  and  sent,  by  expensive  land 
carriage,  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia;  and  from  thence 
shipped  to  South  Carolina,  and  East  and  West  Florida- 
there  being  little  or  no  wheat  raised  in  these  provinces. 
The  river  Ohio  seems  kindly  designed,  by  nature,  as 
the  channel,  through  which  the  two  Floridas  may  be 
supplied  with  flour,  not  only  for  their  own  consumption, 
but  also  for  carrying  on  an  extensive  commerce  with 
Jamaica,  and  the  Spanish  settlements  in  the  Bay  of 
Mexico.  Millstones,  in  abundance,  are  to  be  obtained 
in  the  hills  near  the  Ohio;  and  the  country  is  every 
where  well  watered  with  large  and  constant  springs 
and  streams  for  grist  and  other  mills.  The  passage 
from  Philadelphia  to  Pensacola  is  seldom  made  in 
less  than  a  month;  and  60  shillings  sterling  per  ton 
freight  (consisting  of  16  barrels)  is  usually  paid  for 
flour,  &c.  thither.  Boats,  carrying  500  or  1000  barrels 
of  flour,  may  go  in  about  the  same  time  from  Pitts- 
burgh, as  from  Philadelphia,  to  Pensacola,  and  for 
half  the  above  freight.  The  Ohio  merchants  could 
deliver  flour,  &c.  there,  in  much  better  order  than 
from  Philadelphia,  and  without  incurring  the  damage 
and  delay  of  the  sea,  and  charges  of  insurance,  &c.  as 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  89 

from  thence  to  Pensacola.  This  is  not  mere  speculation ; 
for  it  is  a  fact,  that  about  the  year  1746  there  was  a 
scarcity  of  provisions  at  New  Orleans;  and  the  French 
settlements  at  the  Illinois,  small  as  they  then  were, 
sent  thither,  in  one  winter,  upwards  of  eight  hundred 
thousand  weight  of  flour." 

IF,  instead  of  furnishing  other  nations  with  raw 
materials,  companies  of  manufacturers  from  Europe 
could  be  introduced  and  established  in  this  inviting 
situation,  under  the  superintendence  of  men  of  pro- 
perty, it  would  occasion  an  immense  addition  of  men 
and  wealth  to  these  new  settlements,  and  serve  as  a 
beneficial  example  of  economy  to  many  parts  of  the 
United  States. 

Third.  IN  the  late  ordinance  of  Congress,  for 
disposing  of  the  western  lands  as  far  down  as  the  river 
Sioto,  the  provision  that  is  made  for  schools  and  the 
endowment  of  an  university,  looks  with  a  most  favour- 
able aspect  upon  the  settlement,  and  furnishes  the 
presentiment,  that,  by  a  proper  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  education,  under  these  advantages,  the  field  of 
science  may  be  greatly  enlarged,  and  the  acquisition  of 
useful  knowledge  placed  upon  a  more  respectable  foot- 
ing here,  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Besides 
the  opportunity  of  opening  a  new  and  unexplored 
region  for  the  range  of  natural  history,  botany  and  the 
medical  science,  there  will  be  one  advantage  which  no 
other  part  of  the  earth  can  boast,  and  which  probably 
will  never  again  occur — that,  in  order  to  begin  right, 
there  will  be  no  wrong  habits  to  combat,  and  no  in- 
veterate systems  to  overturn — there  is  no  rubbish  to 
remove,  before  you  can  lay  the  foundation.  The  first 
settlement  will  unbosom  many  men  of  the  most 
liberal  minds — well  versed  in  the  world,  in  business  and 
every  useful  science.  Could  the  necessary  apparatus 
be  procured,  and  funds  immediately  established,  for 
founding  a  university  on  a  liberal  plan,  that  professors 
might  be  active  in  their  various  researches  and  em- 
ployments— even  now,  in  the  infancy  of  the  settle- 


90  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

ment,  a  proper  use  might  be  made  of  an  advantage 
which  will  never  be  repeated. 

MANY  political  benefits  would  immediately  result 
to  the  United  States  from  such  an  early  institution  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  The  people  in  the  Kentucky 
and  Illinois  countries  are  rapidly  increasing.  Their 
distance  from  the  old  States  will  prevent  their  sending 
their  children  thither  for  instruction;  from  the  want 
of  which  they  are  in  danger  of  losing  all  their  habits  of 
government,  and  allegiance  to  the  United  States: 
But,  on  seeing  examples  of  government,  science,  and 
regular  industry,  follow  them  into  the  neighborhood  of 
their  own  country,  they  would  favour  their  children 
with  these  advantages,  and  revive  the  ideas  of  order, 
citizenship,  and  the  useful  sciences.  This  attention, 
from  these  neighbouring  people,  would  increase  the 
wealth  and  population  of  the  new  proposed  settlement. 

Fourth.  IN  the  ordinance  of  Congress,  for  the 
government  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio, 
it  is  provided  that,  after  the  said  territory  acquires  a 
certain  degree  of  population  it  shall  be  divided  into 
states,  the  eastern  State,  that  is  thus  provided  to  be 
made,  is  bounded  on  the  Great  Miami  on  the  west, 
and  by  the  Pennsylvania  line  on  the  east.  The  centre 
of  this  state  will  fall  between  the  Sioto  and  the  Hock- 
hocking.  At  the  mouth  of  one  of  these  rivers,  will 
probably  be  the  seat  of  government  for  this  State: 
And,  if  we  may  indulge  the  sublime  contemplation  of 
beholding  the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States 
settled  by  an  enlightened  people,  and  continued,  under 
one  extended  government — on  the  river  Ohio,  and  not 
far  from  this  spot,  will  be  the  seat  of  empire  for  the 
whole  dominion.  This  is  central  to  the  whole;  it  will 
best  accommodate  every  part;  it  is  the  most  pleasant, 
and  probably  the  most  healthful. 

ALTHO'  it  is  an  object  of  importance,  that  Congress 
should  soon  fix  on  a  seat  of  government — yet,  in  the 
present  state  of  the  country,  it  is  presumed,  it  will  not 
be  thought  best  that  such  seat  be  considered  as  im- 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  91 

movably  fixed.  To  take  the  range  of  the  Alleghany 
mountains  from  north  to  south,  it  is  probably  20 
years  will  not  elapse,  before  there  will  be  more  people 
on  the  western  than  on  the  eastern  waters  of  the  United 
States.  The  settlers  ought  even  now  to  have  it  in 
view,  that  government  will  forever  accommodate  them 
as  much  as  their  brethren  on  the  east:  This  may  be 
necessary,  to  prevent  their  forming  schemes  of  inde- 
pendence, seeking  other  connexions,  and  providing  for 
their  separate  convenience.  As  it  is  the  most  exalted 
and  benevolent  object  of  legislation  that  ever  was 
aimed  at,  to  unite  such  an  amazingly  extensive  people, 
and  make  them  happy,  under  one  jurisdiction,  every 
act  of  Congress  under  the  new  constitution  by  looking 
forward  to  this  object,  will,  we  trust,  inculcate  and 
familiarize  the  idea.  They  will,  no  doubt,  at  an  early 
period,  make  a  reservation  or  purchase  of  a  suitable 
tract  of  land  for  a  federal  town,  that  will  be  central 
to  the  whole;  and  give  some  public  intimation  of  such 
intention  to  transfer  the  seat  of  government,  on  the 
occurrence  of  certain  events — such  as,  comparative 
population,  &c.  This  would  render  such  transfer  easily 
practicable,  by  preventing  the  occasion  of  uneasiness 
in  the  old  States;  while  it  would  not  appear  to  be  the 
result  of  danger,  or  the  prospect  of  revolt,  in  the  new. 

EXTRACTS 

From  the  Letters  of  M.  St.  John  De  Crevecoeur, 
Consul  of  France  for  the  Middle  States  in  America — 
lately  published  in  Europe. 

"THE  Ohio  is  the  grand  Artery  of  that  part  of 
America  beyond  the  mountains;  it  is  the  centre  where 
all  the  waters  meet,  which  on  one  side  run  from  the 
Alleghany  mountains,  and  on  the  other  come  from  the 
high  land  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lakes  Erie  and  Michigan. 

"It  has  been  calculated,  that  the  region  watered 
by  those  rivers,  &c.  comprised  between  Pittsburgh  and 


92  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

the  Missisippi,  contains  at  least  260,000  square  miles, 
equal  to  166,920,000  acres.  It  is,  without  a  doubt,  the 
most  fertile  country  .  .  .  the  most  diversified  and  best 
watered  soil,  and  that  which  offers  to  agriculture  and 
commerce  the  most  abundant  and  easy  resources,  of 
all  those  that  the  Europeans  have  heretofore  dis- 
covered and  peopled. 

"!T  was  on  the  10th  of  April,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  that  we  quitted  the  key  of  Pittsburgh,  and 
gave  ourselves  up  to  the  current  of  the  Ohio." 

"THIS  sweet  and  tranquil  navigation  appeared  to 
me  like  an  agreeable  dream:  Every  moment  presented 
to  me  new  perspectives  which  were  incessantly  diver- 
sified by  the  appearance  of  the  islands,  points,  and  the 
windings  of  the  river,  without  intermission  .  .  .  changed 
by  this  singular  mixture  of  shores  more  or  less  woody; 
whence  the  eye  escaped,  from  time  to  time,  to  observe 
the  great  natural  meadows  which  presented  themselves, 
incessantly,  embellished  by  promontories  of  different 
heights,  which  for  a  moment  seemed  to  hide,  and  then 
gradually  unfolded  to  the  eyes  of  the  navigator,  the 
bays  and  inlets,  more  or  less  extensive,  formed  by  the 
creeks  and  rivulets  which  fall  into  the  Ohio.  What 
majesty  in  the  mouths  of  the  great  rivers  which  we 
passed !  Their  waters  seemed  to  be  as  vast  and  as  pro- 
found as  those  of  the  river  upon  which  we  floated! 
I  never  before  felt  myself  so  much  disposed  for  medita- 
tion: My  imagination  involuntarily  leaped  into  futur- 
ity; the  absence  of  which  was  not  afflicting,  because  it 
appeared  to  me  nigh — I  saw  those  beautiful  shores 
ornamented  with  decent  houses,  covered  with  harvests 
and  well  cultivated  fields;  on  the  hills  exposed  to  the 
north,  I  saw  orchards  regularly  laid  out  in  squares;  on 
the  others,  vineyard  plats,  plantations  of  mulberry 
trees,  locust,  &c.  I  saw  there,  also,  in  the  inferior 
lands,  the  cotton  tree,  and  the  sugar  maple,  the  sap  of 
which  had  become  an  object  of  commerce.  I  agree, 
however,  that  all  those  banks  did  not  appear  to  me 
equally  proper  for  culture;  but,  as  they  will  probably 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  93 

remain  covered  by  their  native  forests,  it  must  add  to 
the  beauty,  to  the  variety,  of  this  future  spectacle. — 
What  an  immense  chain  of  plantations !  What  a  long 
succession  of  activity,  industry,  culture,  and  commerce, 
is  here  offered  to  the  American! — I  consider  then,  the 
settling  of  the  lands,  which  are  watered  by  this  river, 
as  one  of  the  finest  conquests  that  could  ever  be 
presented  to  man;  it  will  be  so  much  the  more  glorious, 
as  it  will  be  legally  acquired  of  the  ancient  proprietors, 
and  will  not  exact  a  single  drop  of  blood — It  is  destined 
to  become  the  source  of  force,  riches,  and  the  future 
glory  of  the  United  States. 

"TOWARDS  noon,  on  the  third  day,  we  anchored  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  in  two  fathoms  and  an 
half  of  water.  In  order  to  give  you  a  weak  idea  of 
what  I  call  the  Anatomy  of  the  Ohio,  I  will  speak  to 
you  of  this  river,  and  let  you  have  a  glimpse  of  what 
will  one  day  be  the  utility  of  all  its  branches.  It  falls 
into  the  Ohio  172  miles  from  Pittsburgh,  and  is  120 
fathoms  wide;  it  is  deep,  and  navigable  for  large 
vessels  to  147  miles  in  the  inner  part  of  the  lands;  its 
current  is  moderate,  and  never  overflows  the  banks, 
which  are  elevated,  without  being  steep;  one  of  its 
branches  approaches  all  at  once  the  greatest  of  the 
sources  of  the  Sioto,  called  the  Seccaium,  and  the 
river  Sandusky;  this  last  falls,  as  you  know,  into  the 
great  bay  of  the  same  name,  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake 
Erie.  It  is  towards  one  of  the  principal  branches  of  the 
Muskingum,  that  the  great  savage  village  of  Tuscarawa 
is  built;  whence  a  carriage  of  two  miles  lead  to  the  river 
Cayahoga,  deep  and  rather  rapid,  the  mouth  of  which, 
in  lake  Erie,  forms  an  excellent  harbour  for  ships  of 
£00  tons.  This  place  seems  to  be  designed  for  a  spot 
for  a  town;  and  many  persons  of  my  acquaintance  have 
already  thought  of  it.  All  the  travellers  and  hunters 
have  spoken  to  me  with  admiration  of  the  fertility  of 
the  plains  and  hills  watered  by  the  Muskingum;  also, 
of  the  excellent  fountains,  salt  pits,  coal  mines  (particu- 


94  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

larly  that  of  Lamenchicola),  of  free  stones,  &c.  that 
they  find  throughout. 

"IT  was  on  the  fourth  morning,  at  day -break,  we 
weighed  anchor;  and,  in  the  space  of  three  days  of 
sweet  and  tranquil  navigation,  anchored  before  the 
Sioto,  218  miles  from  the  Muskingum,  and  390  from 
Pittsburgh,  in  order  to  receive  on  board  General 
Richard  Butler,  who  came  from  finishing  some  negotia- 
tions with  the  Shawanese:  It  is  to  him  I  am  indebted 
for  the  following  particulars  of  that  fine  river,  upon 
the  banks  of  which  he  had  resided  during  five  years  of 
the  war. 

"THE  Sioto  is  almost  as  large  as  the  Ohio;  its  current 
is  navigable,  for  vessels  of  a  middle  size,  to  the  village 
of  Seccaium,  111  miles  from  its  mouth.  At  this  village 
commences  the  grand  portage  of  Sandusky,  which  is 
but  four  miles  ....  a  communication  much  frequent- 
ed by  whites  and  savages,  and  consequently  of  the 
greatest  importance.  This  river  waters  a  champaign 
country,  very  luxuriant  and  extensive. 

"THOSE  vast  lands,  so  well  known  under  the  name 
of  the  plains  of  Sioto,  begin  some  miles  above  the  river 
Kuskinkas,  and  continue  almost  to  Seccaium:  They 
are  watered  by  the  pretty  rivulets  of  Alaman,  Deer, 
Kispoko,  &c.  and  by  a  great  number  of  more  con- 
siderable streams :  It  is  towards  their  sources,  that  you 
have  a  view  of  the  fine  villages  of  the  Shawanese  nation. 
Many  of  them  are  from  25  to  30  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence; and,  as  if  nature  had  been  willing  to  render  them 
still  more  useful  to  man,  she  has  covered  them  with 
gentle  risings,  upon  which  she  has  planted  the  finest 
trees.  These  plains  are  never  overflowed,  and  their 
fertility  is  most  admirable.  If  a  poor  man,  who  has 
nothing  but  his  arms  to  support  him,  should  ask  of  me, 
where  shall  I  go  to  establish  myself  in  order  to  live 
more  at  my  ease  without  the  aid  of  oxen  or  horses? 
I  would  say  to  him,  go  upon  the  banks  of  some  rivulet 
on  the  plains  of  the  Sioto;  there  you  will  obtain  per- 
mission of  the  savages  of  the  neighbouring  villages  to 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  95 

scratch  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  deposit  your  rye, 
your  corn,  your  potatoes,  your  cabbages,  your  tobacco, 
&c.  leave  the  rest  to  nature;  and,  during  her  operations, 
amuse  yourself  with  fishing  and  hunting." 

"EVERY  spring  a  prodigious  number  of  storks  come 
to  inhabit  these  plains;  they  are  at  least  six  feet  high; 
while  feeding,  they  have  their  centinels  to  watch,  and 
announce  the  approach  of  danger;  some  time  before 
their  departure  they  assemble  in  large  flocks,  and  upon 
a  certain  day,  all  together,  raise  themselves  slowly,  and, 
by  a  kind  of  circular  ascent,  describe  large  spiral  paths 
in  their  flight. 

"FINALLY,  on  the  10th  day  after  our  departure  from 
Pittsburgh,  we  anchored  before  Louisville,  having 
made  705  miles  of  navigation,  in  212  hours  and  thirty 
minutes  of  time." 


96  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


II 

STATEMENT  BY  CUTLER  AND  SARGENT 

TO  THE  BOARD  OF  THE  TREASURY, 

JULY  26,  1787* 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

An  examination  of  the  Records  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany during  the  negotiations  with  Congress  for  the 
purchase  leaves  the  impression  that  some  of  the  notes 
and  letters  which  passed  between  the  representatives 
of  the  Ohio  Company  and  the  committee  of  Congress 
have  disappeared.  This  statement  by  Cutler  and 
Sargent  appears  to  be  one  of  these  fugitives  from  the 
company's  archives.  Congress  on  July  23  had  author- 
ized the  Treasury  Board  to  enter  into  a  contract  with 
the  representatives  of  the  Ohio  Company.  On  July 
26  Cutler  and  Sargent  submitted  this  explanation  of 
the  conditions  of  the  purchase  acceptable  to  them- 
selves. The  third  paragraph  shows  how  thoroughly 
the  Scioto  Purchase  had  been  grafted  onto  the  original 
proposal.  The  first  two  payments  covered  the  Ohio 
Company's  real  purchase,  the  installment  feature 
covered  the  option  on  the  Scioto  lands  which  later  fell 
through  from  inability  to  raise  the  funds  with  which 
to  meet  the  annual  payments.  The  "powerfull 
barrier"  argument  is  pressed  in  the  conclusion  as  a 
final  reason  why  Congress  should  meet  the  terms 
proposed  by  the  Ohio  Company. 

DOCUMENT 
Gentlemen,  New  York,  July  26,  1787. 

We  observe  by  the  act  of  the  23rd  instant  that  your 
honorable  board  is  authorised  to  enter  into  a  contract 
for  the  sale  of  a  tract  of  land  therein  described  on 

*Published  in  part  in  the  Ohio  Archeological  and  Historical  Society  Publications,  Vol. 
Ill,  135. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  97 

certain  conditions  expressed  in  the  act.  As  we  suppose 
this  measure  has  been  adopted  in  consequence  of 
proposals  made  by  us,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and 
associates,  to  a  Committee  of  Congress,  we  beg  leave 
to  inform  you,  that  we  are  ready  to  enter  into  a  con- 
tract for  the  purchase  of  the  lands  described  in  the  act; 
provided  you  can  conceive  yourselve  authorised  to 
admit  of  the  following  conditions,  which  in  some  degree 
vary  from  the  report  of  the  Committee,  Viz. 

The  subordinate  surveys  shall  be  compleated  as 
mentioned  in  the  act,  unless  the  frequency  of  Indian 
interuptions  may  render  the  same  impracticable  with- 
out an  heavy  expence  to  the  Company. — 

The  mode  of  payment  we  propose  is  half  a  million 
of  dollars  when  the  contract  is  executed;  another  half 
million  when  the  tract  as  discribed  is  surveyed  by  the 
proper  Officer  of  the  United  States;  and  the  remainder 
is  six  equal  payments  computed  from  the  date  of  the 
second  payment. — 

The  lands  assigned  for  the  establishment  of  an 
University  to  be  nearly  as  possible  the  Center  of  the 
first  million  and  half  Acres  we  shall  pay  for,  for  to 
fix  it  in  the  center  of  the  proposed  purchase  might  too 
long  defer  the  establishment. — 

When  the  second  payment  shall  be  made  the  pur- 
chasers shall  receive  a  deed  for  as  great  a  quantity 
of  land  as  a  million  of  dollars  will  pay  for  at  the  price 
agreed  on — after  which  we  will  agree  not  to  receive 
any  further  deeds  for  any  of  the  lands  purchased,  only 
as  such  period  and  on  such  conditions  as  may  be  agreed 
on  between  the  board  and  the  purchasers. — 

As  to  the  security  which  the  act  says  shall  be  good 
be  and  sufficient  we  are  unable  to  determin  what  those 
terms  may  mean  in  the  contemplation  of  Congress  or 
of  your  honrable  board. — We  shall  therefore  only 
observe,  that  our  private  fortunes  and  that  of  most 
of  our  associates  be  embarked  in  the  support  of  the 
purchase  it  is  not  possible  for  us  to  offer  any  adiquate 


98  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

security,  but  that  of  the  land  itself  as  is  usual  in  great 
land  purchases. — 

We  will  agree  to  regulate  so  to  regulate  the  contract, 
that  we  shall  never  be  entitled  to  a  right  of  entry  or 
occupancy  but  on  lands  actually  paid  for,  nor  receive 
any  deed  till  our  payments  amount  to  a  million  of 
dollars,  and  then  only  in  proportion  to  such  payments. 

The  advance  we  shall  always  be  under  without  any 
formal  deed,  together  with  the  improvements  we  made 
on  the  lands  will  we  presume  be  ample  security  even 
if  it  were  not  the  interest  as  well  as  the  disposition  of 
the  Company  to  lay  the  foundation  of  their  establish- 
ment on  a  sacre  regard  to  the  rights  of  Posterity. 

If  these  terms  are  admitted  we  shall  be  ready  to 
conclude  the  contract.  If  not  we  shall  have  to  regret 
for  a  numerous  class  of  our  Associates,  that  the  certif- 
icates they  received  as  specie  at  the  risk  of  their  lives 
and  fortune  in  support  of  the  common  cause,  must 
for  a  considerable  time  longer  wait  the  tedious  and 
precarious  issue  of  public  events;  (altho'  they  are  willing 
their  right  in  them  on  terms  advantagious  to  the 
public)  and  that  the  United  States  may  lose  an  oppor- 
tunity of  securing  in  the  most  effectual  manner,  as 
well  as  improving  the  value  of  their  western  Terratory, 
whilst  they  establish  a  powerful  barrier  against  the 
irruption  of  the  Indians  or  any  attempts  of  the  British 
power  to  interupt  the  security  of  the  adjoining  States. 

We  have  the  honour  to  be  with  the  greatest  respect, 
for  ourselves  and 
Associates. 

Gentlemen 
Your  Obedient  Humble  servants 

Manh  Cutler 
The  Honrable  Winthrop  Sargeant. 

(signed) 

The  Board  of  Treasury. 

Compared  with  the  original  in  the  Office  of  the  board 
of  Treasury 

(signed)  Wm  Duer  Secty. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


III 

A  FINANCIAL  STATEMENT  BY  THE 
TREASURER  OF  THE  OHIO  COMPANY. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  chief  value  of  the  treasurer's  statement  like 
that  of  the  receipt  which  accompanies  it  is  in  the 
clear  evidence  of  the  share  of  Duer  and  the  other 
Associates  of  the  Scioto  group  in  enabling  the  Ohio 
Company  to  meet  its  first  payment.  General  Parsons 
had  proposed  on  behalf  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  May, 
1787,  a  three  hundred  thousand  dollar  purchase. 
Cutler  and  Sargent  inspired  and  aided  by  the  group  of 
practised  financiers  about  the  Treasury  Department 
found  a  way  to  enlarge  the  project  appreciably. 

DOCUMENT 

New  York  Nov.  13th  1788— 

I  do  hereby  Certify,  that  on  ye  27th  of  Octr  1787 
when  I  made  the  first  payment  for  the  Ohio  Company, 
their  actual  funds  paid  into  my  hands  amounted  to 
only  Three  Hundred  &  fifty  six  Thousand,  &  seven 
Hundred  &  twenty  one  &  47-90  dollars;  and  that  the 
Ballance  of  one  Hundred  and  forty  Three  Thousand, 
two  Hundred  &  seventy  eight  &  43-90  dollars  was  the 
property  of  the  Associates  of  the  Scioto  Company,  & 
loaned  to  the  first  mentioned  Company,  for  ye  purpose 
of  compleating  their  first  payment,  upon  Conditions  of 
being  reimbursed  out  of  ye  first  Securities  afterward 
to  be  paid  into  my  hands  by  the  agents  of  ye  Ohio 
Company,  which  has  since  been  done. 

Richd  Platt 

Treasr.  of  ye  Ohio  Company 
(A  true  Copy) 


100 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


Securities    received    from    the  Agents    to    ye  27th 
Octr.  1787,  inclusive. 

Dollars— 

Winthrop  Sargent    4th  Octr  1787 5,135.38 

20th 32,083.18 

22d 18,290.67 

26th 20,673.13 

27    1,901.83 


Ebenr  Sprout 


Benja  Talmage 


Archibald  Crary 


William  Corlis 


10th 21,344.35 

11th 655.10 

27th 1,991.71 


12th 10,109.18 

18th 1,513.46 


13th 38,639.84 

25th..  803.53 


18th 72,655.32 

22d..  999.12 


Henry  Jackson 
John  May 
Benja  Tupper 
Joel  Barlow 
Manasseh  Cutler 


78,084.39 


23,991.26 


11,622.64 


39,443.47 


73,654.34 


14,205.52 
24,575.60 

3,004.73 
14,268.06 

9,848.40 


64,022.56 

356,721.47 
143,278.43 


500,000  — 
Richd  Platt  Treasr.  Ohio  Company. 


Eliphalet  Downer    20th 11,774.52 

22d 1,983  — 

26th..  448  — 


22d  

22d  

22d  

22d  

22<*  63,024.43 

26th 998.13 


Paid  in  by  ye  Associates  of  ye  Scioto  Company 
(true  copy) 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  101 


IV 

THE  SUBSCRIPTION  OF  THE  PROPRIETORS 

OF  THE  OHIO  COMPANY  FOR  A  PUBLIC 

SCHOOL  TEACHER  AT  MARIETTA 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  document  is  a  concrete  example  of  the  real  in- 
terest of  the  proprietors  in  the  colony. 

DOCUMENT 

WHEREAS  the  Agents  of  the  OHIO  COMPANY, 
at  their  Meeting  in  Providence,  State  of  Rhode-Island, 
upon  the  Seventh  Day  of  March  inst.  passed  the  follow- 
ing Resolutions: 

"That  the  Directors  be  requested  to  pay  as  early 
Attention  as  possible  to  the  Education  of  Youth,  and 
the  Promotion  of  public  Worship,  among  the  first 
Settlers;  and  that,  for  these  important  Purposes,  they 
employ,  if  practicable,  an  Instructor  eminent  for 
literary  Accomplishments,  and  the  Virtue  of  his 
Character;  who  shall  also  superintend  the  first  scholas- 
tic Institutions,  and  direct  the  Manner  of  Instruction. 
And  to  enable  the  Directors  to  carry  into  Execution 
the  Intentions  expressed  in  this  Resolve,  the  Pro- 
prietors, and  others  of  liberal  and  benevolent  Minds, 
are  earnestly  requested  to  contribute,  by  voluntary 
Donation,  to  the  forming  of  a  Fund  to  be  solely  appro- 
priated thereto. — That  the  Agents  will  exert  themselves 
in  promoting  Subscriptions,  and  paying  the  Monies 
they  may  collect  into  the  Treasury;  and  the  Treasurer 
is  to  report  to  the  Directors,  at  or  before  their  next 
Meeting." 

And  whereas  the  Directors  of  the  said  Company,  by 
their  vote  of  the  same  Day,  have  fully  approved  of  the 
Resolutions  aforesaid,  and  have  added  their  Solicita- 
tions to  the  Request  of  the  Agents : 


102  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

WE  therefore,  the  Subscribers,  anxious  to  promote 
and  encourage  so  laudable  an  Undertaking,  do,  each 
one  for  himself,  promise  to  pay  to  any  one  of  the 
Agents  of  the  OHIO  COMPANY  the  Sums  respectively 
annexed  to  our  Names. 
March,  1788, 

James  Bowdoin  900  Dolre  in  Interest  notes,  paid 
Col°  May. 

Thomas  Russell  500  Dollars  of  Hardys  Indents  pd 
ditto 

Benj :  Cobb  200  Doller  in  Indents  Ditt— 

John  May  100  Dollars  in  Indents 

Jos:  May  200  Dollars  Indents  pd  D° 

Wm  Breck  100  Dollars  Indents  pd 

Elisha  Ticknor      100  Dollars  Indents  pd 
E.  Gerry  200  Do  lars  Indents  paid  Colo  May 

Ebenr  Dow  100  Dollars  Indents  paid 

Russell  Sturges  one  hundred  Dollars  indn  pd  Colo  May 
Jos :  May,  a  Bell  for  the  first  public  Building  erected  in 
the  New  City — 

Eben.  Wales  100  Dollars  Indents 

Azor  G.  Archbald — a  Bible  for  the  first  publick  Build- 
ing erected  in  the  New  City  the  sd  Bible  to  be  of  the 
first  Quality 

Thomas  Blake  Eighty  eight  Dollars  in  Indents  paid. 
W-  Dall  100  Dollars  Interest  Indents  paid. 
N.B.     the  above  indents  mentioned  as  paid  me,  are 
the  Intrest  of  the  finall  settlements  in  the  hands  of 
Col°  R.  Platt;  which  I  have  not  yett  received  of  him, 
Nor  Can  I,  untill  the  second  payment  is  maid  the 
Board  of  Treasury. 

400  Dollars  of  James  Bowdoin  Winthrop  Sergant  is 
agent  for  which  sum  Maddam  Bowdoin  has  directed 
him  to  pay  me. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  103 


THE  CONTRACT  OF  THREE  LABORERS  WITH 

JOHN  MAY 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

Three  laborers  agree  with  John  May,  March  28, 
1788,  to  work  in  Marietta  for  six  months  for  $4  a 
month,  transportation  and  provisions  to  be  furnished 
by  the  employer. 

DOCUMENT 

Boston  March  28th  1788— 

We  the  subscribers  Do  hereby  Acknowledge  that  we 
have  this  day  agreed  with  John  May  Esq-  of  Boston, 
and  Do  hereby  Lett  ourselves  to  Labour  for  him  on 
his  plantation  in  the  Ohio  Country,  for  the  full  term 
of  Six  months  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  April 
Next  Comeing — and  we  Do  freely  and  fully  consent 
that  we  will  be  subject  to  his  Order,  and  Do  such  work 
as  he  may  have  occation  for,  according  to  the  best  of 
our  abillities,  on  Consideration  thereof  the  Said  John 
May  agrees  to  and  with  the  Subscribers  that  he  will 
pay  thire  transportation  to  the  above-Mentioned 
Country,  that  he  wil  provid  for  them  good  &  wholsum 
food;  and  will  pay  them  four  Dollars  pr  Month  in 
Cash  at  the  expiration  of  the  Said  Six  months  or  in 
Lands,  at  the  then  going  Cash  price — 

Joseph  Ransford 
Joseph  Williams 
Walter  Tufts 


104  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


VI 

ORIGINAL  RECORD  OF  THE  FIRST  POLICE 
WEST  OF  THE  OHIO  RIVER 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  Directors  of  the  Ohio  Company  instituted  local 
government  and  acted  as  a  Board  of  Police.  In  the 
latter  capacity  they  created  and  organized  a  local 
military  body. 

DOCUMENT 

This  is  to  Certify  that  the  Board  of  Police,  on  the 
Banks  of  Muskingum,  at  a  meeting  on  the  Thirteenth 
Day  June,  1788.  Have  appointed,  Col°  Archibd 
Crary,  Col°  John  May,  Col°  Ebr  Battle,  Col°  Alex. 
Oliver,  Col°  Wm  Stacy,  Majr  Samuel  Phillips,  And 
Capt.  Oliver  Rice,  Officers  to  Command  the  Company 
(not  in  pay  of  the  Ohio  Company)  formed  by  Regula- 
tions of  said  Board 

Wm  Corlis, 
Muskingum  June  20th,  1788 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  105 


VII 

ORIGINAL  RECORD  OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT 
MILITARY   DISCIPLINE, 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  document  is  like  those  which  immediately 
follow  an  interesting  bit  of  evidence  on  the  procedure 
of  a  frontier  community  with  problems  of  defence  and 
civil  organization. 

DOCUMENT 

Banks  of  Muskingum  22nd  June  1788- 
The  gentlemen  appointed  by  the  board  of  Police  to 
act  as  officers  in  the  military  department,  until  the 
establishment  thereof  by  His  Excellency  the  govournor 
&  the  Judges  appointed  by  Congress  for  this  purpose, 
met  this  day  &  made  the  following  arangment  which 
they  beg  leave  to  report  to  the  Honorable  board 
Viz- 

Liut  Col  Wm  Stacey.  4th 

Coll0  Archabald  Crary   1st  Leut   Col°  Alexr  Oliver  5th 
Coll0  Ebenr  Battelle  2nd        Major  Sam1  Phillips  6th 
Coll0  John  May  3rd  Cap*  Oliver  Rice  7. 

The  above  gentlemen  have  appointed  the  following  to 
act  as  Subalterns. —  Mr.  Samuel  Stebbins.  Adjutant 

Mr.  Wm  Gridley  7th 

Major  Dean  Tyler  1st  Mr  Daniel  Dunham  8th 

Leiut  Charles  Green  2nd       Mr  Benjamin  Stile  9th 
Mr.  Wanton  Casey  3rd          Mr  H.  H.   Williams   10th 
Mr  James  Backus  4th  Mr  Gray  11th 

Mr.  Isaac  Pierce  5th  Mr  Cory  12th 

Mr  Paul  Fearing  6th  Mr  Josiah  White  13f 

They  have  allso  aranged  those  who  are  to  act  as 
Private  Soldiers  in  such  manner  as  they  think  will  be 
for  the  intrest  of  the  establishment 

Pr  Order  John  May  Secretary  Military, 
N.  B.     June  24th 


106  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

there  was  an  addition  to  the  above  officers  of  Three 
Viz* 

Col°  Sprout  who  ranks  2nd 

Cap*  Cooper  8th 

Cap*  Devell  9th 

Cap*  Rice  altered  10th 

(Endorsed  Report  of  officers  to  the  Board  of  Police 
June  24th  1788.) 


THE  JOHM  MAY  PAPERS  107 


VIII 

MILITIA  ORDERS  AND  BY-LAWS  OF 
MARIETTA 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  manuscript  was  a  note-book  prepared  by  John 
May.  It  contains  a  list  of  the  Militia  at  Marietta,  June 
22,  1788.  There  were  11  officers  and  76  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  privates.  Of  the  87  men  in  the 
list  21  were  proprietors  in  the  Ohio  Company.  The 
list  is  followed  by  the  by-laws  of  the  Board  of  Police. 
These  are  an  invaluable  source  for  the  internal  organ- 
ization and  local  government  of  the  colony  during  the 
first  weeks  of  its  existence.  They  contain  one  rule 
not  common  in  American  History.  The  board  of 
police  appointed  an  officer  "whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
obtain  returns  of  all  persons  in  the  settlement,"  lists 
with  the  names,  occupations,  and  places  from  which 
the  inhabitant  came,  and  placed  upon  the  travellers  or 
immigrants  the  duty  of  reporting  themselves  to  the 
officer  within  24  hours  after  their  arrival.  The  by-laws 
add  the  clause  "should  any  person  or  persons  arrive 
on  the  ground  not  being  proprietors  the  board  shall 
decide  upon  the  propriety  of  residence."  This  ordinance 
illustrates  the  reversion  of  these  western  Puritans  to 
early  New  England  attempts  to  regulate  immigration. 

DOCUMENT 
LIST  OF  THE  MILITARY  AT  MUSKINGUM- 

Coll°  Crary  1  June   23  July     3rd 

Coll0  Sprout  2—42  4th 

Coll0  Battelle  3—25  5th 

Lieut.  Coll0  Stacey  4    —     26  —       6th 

Lieut.  Col°  Oliver  5—27  7th 

Major  Phillips  6             28  8th 

Capt.  Munro  7    —     29  —       9th 


108  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

Capt.  Cooper  8    —     30       —     10th 

Capt  Devell  9  July      1st  11th 

Capt  Rice  10  2  12th 

Col°  Crary  13th 

Col°  Sprout  14th 

Col  Battelle  15th 

Lieut.  Col°  Stacy  19th 

Oliver 

Major  Phillips  20th 

Capt.  Munro  16th 

Capt.  Cooper  21 

Capt.  Devell  17 

Capt.  Rice  18 

Officers 

Col°  Crary  1st 

Col°  Battelle  2nd 

Col°  May  3rd 

Lieut.  Col°  Stacy  4th 

Leut.  Col°  Oliver  5th 

Major  Phillips  6th 

Capt.  Munro  7 

Capt.  Coopr  8 

Capt.  Devell  9 

Capt.  Rice  10th 

Acting  Non  commissioned  officers 
Dean  Tyler  1st     22nd  June 

Charles  Green  2nd    23rd 

Wanton  Casey  3rd     24th 

James  Backus  4th 

Isaac  Pierce  5th 

Paul  Fearing  6th 

Willm  Gridley  7th 

Daniel  Dunham  8th 

Benjam  Still  9th 

Henry  H.  Williams  10th 

Sam1  Stebbins  Orderly  11th 

Mr.  Gray 
Mr.  Cory 
Mr.  White 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


109 


Russell   Arlington 
Asa  Babcock 
Benjm  Baker 
Joshua  Chever 
Lott  Chever 
Danuel  Cogshall 
Daniel  Cogsall  Junr 
Arnold  Celt 
Walter  Casey 
Layton  Dick 
Thomas  Hughes 
Nath1  Helms 
Selah  Hart 
Amos  Harvey 
Benoni  Hubbart 

Samuel  Hefferd 
James  Johnson 
Stephen  Kenion 
Thomas  Lord 
James  Leach 
Samuel  Mitchell 
Benjamin  Sargeant 
Hezekiah  Medcalf 
Andrew  McClure 
James  Minott 
Thophilus  Night 
Silvenus  Newton 
Robert  Newell 
William  Norton 
John  Miller 
Solomon  Eldrige 
James  Owens 


Privates. 

Stephen  Pierce 
Jeseph  Ransford 
John  Russell 
Benjamin  Slocum 
Wm.  Smith 
Slvester  Eldrige 
Alpheous  Russell 
John  Stacey 
Richard  Elliott 
John  Skinner 
Nath1  Stanwood 
Jabish  True 
Breton  Perry 
Joseph  Levins 
John  Hubbard 
Walter  Tufts 
Trueman  Hubbard 
Jerysh  Williams 
Ebenr  Attwood 
Elijah  Attwood 
Daniel  Cumstock 
Wm  Cumstock 
Asa  Woodwerth 
Aaron  Clough 
Abraham  Green 
James  Gee 
Nath1  Stanwood 
John  Smith 
Oliver  Fuller 
Sivester  Fuller 
Hezekiah  Reed 
Aaron  Barlow 


Simeon  Wright 
Orders  for  the  24  June  1788 — 

Col°  John  May  is  appointed  to  make  the  details  for  the 
officers  of  the  day,  the  officers  of  the  day  will  report 
to  the  board  and  the  officer  of  the  Guard  will  report 
to  the  officer  of  the  day,  and  receive  directions  from 


110  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

him;  the  officer  of  the  day  will  be  appointed  in  the 
proportion  of  members  between  those  officers,  ap- 
pointed by  the  board  and  then  appointed  by  the 
Superintendent.— 

Regulations  ordered  by  the  Board  of  Police  at 
Muskingum  River  June  13th  1788  &  Continue  in  force 
untill  the  establishment  of  Government  by  the  Gov- 
ourner  and  Judges. — 

The  directors  and  agents  of  the  Ohio  Company,  at 
a  meeting  on  the  banks  of  Muskingum  the  13  day  of 
June  cosidering  the  necssaty  of  Tempery  arangments 
untill  the  govournor  of  the  united  States  can  be  fully 
known  and  executed,  decided,  that  the  directors  pres- 
ent be  a  board  of  Police  to  execute  for  the  time  being, 
the  powers  of  government. 

The  board  wishing  to  advance  as  far  as  possable 
the  best  objects  of  the  settlement,  to  prevent  the 
Confusions  arising  from  a  state  of  anarchy  appoint 
Jonathan  Return  Meigs  Esqr  to  be  an  officer  of  Police 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  execute  such  regulations  as 
may  tend  to  clenlyness  health  decency  or  vitlity  and 
propriety  of  moral  conduct  he  shall  pay  a  strict  regard 
to  the  Rules  of  the  board,  from  time  to  time,  to  be 
made  known  &  in  causes  occationally  arising,  he  shall 
decide  according  to  his  discretion  allowing  an  appeal 
to  the  board  if  demanded  on  the  Spott.  He  shall 
report  dayley  such  regulations  as  he  may  think  neces- 
sary to  be  returned,  adopted  or  rejected  and  all  maters 
all  occurrencies,  in  case  of  obstruction  in  the  execution 
of  his  duty,  the  Sd  officers  of  Police  shall  demand  aid 
of  the  Commander  of  the  Military  who  shall  grant  it 
immediately. 

The  appointed  Wm  Curtis  Esqr  Secretary;  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  obtain  perfect  returns  of  all  persons 
in  the  settlement  and  of  Such  as  Shall  from  time  to 
time  come  on  the  ground  Lists  shall  by  him  be  kept  of 
the  name  ages  occupations,  places  from  whence  they 
came  and  destination,  all  persons  coming  into  the 
settlement  Shall  report  themselves,  or  if  in  the  service 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  111 

of  others  be  reported  to  the  Secretary  in  24  hours  next 
after  there  arivall. 

Should  any  person  or  persons  arive  on  the  ground 
not  being  proprietors  the  board  shall  decide  upon  the 
proprity  of  residence. 

Military  duty  as  Established  by  the  Superintendant 
of  the  Comy  affairs  be  Continued,  and  the  guard  shall 
be  doubled  upon  the  same  establishment  only  that  the 
settlers  not  in  the  pay  of  the  Company.  Shall  at 
present  furnish  one  half  the  guard; — the  Settlers  shall 
be  formed  into  a  Corps  distinct  from  the  Corps  in  pay 
of  the  Company. — under  the  Command  of  the 
who  shall  be  fully  invested  with  the  powers  of  detaching 
upon  Notice  given  to  the  duty  before  mentioned 
parad  or  any  other  duty  of  Safety  and  defence.  The 
directors  and  military  commanders  or  Ither  of  them, 
may  point  out  to  which  purpose  all  effectives  between 
ages  of  fifteen  &  fifty,  shall  be  considered  as  forming 
one  Corps  under  there  Command,  distinct  from  those 
in  the  way  of  the  Company  but  Subject  to  the  Com- 
mand of  the  Superintendent  there  shall  be  an  officer  of 
the  day  regularly  appointed  to  attend  to  the  execution 
of  military  duty.  No  person  shall  go  into  the  fields  to 
Labour  or  without  the  Limitts  of  the  field,  upon  any 
pretentious  whatever  without  arms.  No  person  shall 
go  beyond  the  limmitts  of  the  field  without  Leave  from 
the  Commander  of  the  Troops  or  the  officer  of  the  day. 

No  firing  shall  be  allowed  in  or  near  the  Streets,  no 
fireing  shall  be  allowed  to  fire  on  the  first  day  of  the  week 
except  in  cases  of  attack. — the  Corps  shal  parade  on 
first  days  of  the  week,  for  examination  in  suits  on  &c. 
under  there  respective  officers 

Punishments  shall  consist  of  Labour  for  the  the 
Publisck  or  expultion  according  to  the  nature  of  the 
Crime  but  in  cases  of  high  offence  be  fined  by  common 
Law  the  Judges  of  the  Territry  will  be  reported  to— 

upon  the  fourteenth  day  of  June  1788  at  the  settle- 
ment upon  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum  the  residents 
wer  conveened,  and  the  ordinance  of  Congress  for 


112  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

establishing  a  government  in  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  North  west  of  the  river  Ohio,  the  Com- 
missions of  the  Judges  in  Said  Territory  and  the  pre- 
ceeding  Rules  &  Regulations  were  read  declared  and 
proclaimed  for  the  present  observation,  Conduct,  & 
Government  of  the  people.— 

WARRANT 

Muskingum,  20th  June,  1788— 

this  is  to  certify  that  the  board  of  police  on  the  banks 
of  Muskingum  at  a  Meeting  the  thirteenth  day  of 
June  1788.  Have  appointed  Col°  Arch.  Crary  Col° 
John  Mary  Col°  Ebenr  Battell,  Lut.  Col°  Alex1* 
Oliver  Lut.  Col°  Stacey.  Major  Sam1  Phillips  &  Capt. 
Oliver  Rice,  officers  to  Command  the  Companies  (not 
in  pay  of  the  Ohio  Company,  formed  by  regulation  of 
Said  Board — 

William  Corlis.  Sec7  Police. 

The  board  of  Police  Order  and  direct,  that  No  person 
Shall  enter  into  traffick,  or  Commerce  with  the  Indians 
or  any  of  them  without  a  permition  from  the  board  or 
General  Harmer  (in  which  last  Case  the  Same  Shall  be 
registered  with  the  Secretary)  upon  the  penalty  of 
forfitting  the  articals  Given  &  Received  in  exchang, 
and  Such  Other  punishment  not  extending  to  life  or 
Limb,  as  the  Judges  may  inflict. 

No  person  shal  enter  into  traffick  or  Commerce 
with  any  non  Commissioned  officer  or,  or  private 
Soldier  in  the  pay  of  the  United  States,  without  a 
regular  permistion  from  General  Harmer,  or  the 
Commanding  officer  for  the  time  being 
by  order  of  the  Police 

W.  C.  Secretary- 
Muskingum  June  9th  1788— 

Nor  shal  any  non-commissioned  officer,  or  Soldier, 
be  supplied  with  Spirritous  licquers,  expecting  by  the 
Sutlers  Regularly  appointed  or  to  be  appointed  by 
General  Harmer,  or  the  Commanding  officer  of  any 
garrison  post  Station  or  Command.— 

W.  C.  Act— 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  113 


IX 

THE  STATEMENT  BY  JOHN  MAY  AS  CHAIR- 
MAN OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON 
DRAWING  CITY  LOTS 

DOCUMENT 

The  Committee  appointed  to  make  the  Necessary 
preparations  &  arangment  for  drawing  the  Citty-Lots 
on  the  East  Side  of  Muskingum  river,  have  attended 
that  business  and  report  that  the  Names  &  Numbers 
are  prepared  the  Books  Ruled  &  lined  and  the  following 
Gentlemen  appointed  to  attend  this  buisness. 

Coll0  Ebenr  Sprout  to  Call  the  Names 
Col°  Arcd  Crary  to  Call  the  Numbers 
Mr  Barlow — to  String  the  Names  &  Numbers 


May 

Meigs 


^Writer— 


Corlis 
Muskingum  July  7th  1788.     John  May  Chairman. 


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116  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

XI 

THE  PROTEST  OF  THE  RHODE  ISLAND 
PROPRIETORS 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

Several  members  of  the  Ohio  Company  from 
Rhode  Island,  mostly  persons  who  joined  the  company 
after  the  purchase  had  been  made,  did  not  understand 
the  dual  nature  of  the  contract  with  the  Treasury 
Board.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the  secrecy  which  Colonel 
Duer  enjoined  upon  the  representatives  of  the  Ohio 
Company  was  a  factor  in  the  misunderstanding.  As 
the  Scioto  rights  vanished  and  the  narrower  limits  of 
the  Ohio  Company  became  evident  the  Rhode  Island 
Associates  in  the  Ohio  Company  imagined  they  had 
been  defrauded  out  of  something  of  value.  Their 
complaint  greatly  annoyed  the  Directors  of  the  Com- 
pany and  undoubtedly  gave  them  no  little  embarass- 
ment. 

DOCUMENT 

At  a  Meeting  of  the  Proprietors  in  the  Ohio  Company 
of  Newport  and  its  Vicinity  at  the  House  of  Cap* 
John  Lawtons  Sepr  20th  1788— 

Information  being  made  at  this  Meeting  that  the 
Agents  who  Contracted  for  a  Quantity  of  Land  N. 
West  of  the  river  Ohio  in  behalf  of  the  Ohio  Company 
are  endeavouring  with  sume  other  Persons  to  deprive 
said  Company  of  the  Benefit  of  a  Greater  part  of  said 
purchase  altho  every  Step  that  hath  been  taken  in 
contracting  for  said  land  and  effecting  a  Settlement 
hath  been  Supported  by  the  fund  of  Said  Company 
Supplied  equally  by  the  proprietors  and  half  a  Million 
of  Dollars  advanced  by  them  previous  to  the  priviledge 
of  entry  and  Occupancy— 

Therefore  it  is  unanimously  agreed  that  Peleg  Clark 
and  William  Vernon,  Esqr,  Doctr  Isaac  Scenter 
Thomas  Rumreill  Esqr,  and  Cap*  Wm  Littlefield 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  117 

be  a  Committee  to  open  a  Correspondence  with  the 
proprietors  in  Providence  &  elsewhere  respecting  said 
Attempt  to  deprive  said  Company  of  their  Right 
in  sd  purchase  informing  them  that  the  propri- 
etors here  are  determined  to  Support  their  Claim 
by  every  Legal  &  fair  measure  and  that  they  com- 
municate from  time  to  time  every  thing  of  importance 
they  may  receive  through  their  correspondence  and 
that  they  likewise  Request  the  Sentiments  of  said 
proprietors  Respecting  the  locating  a  Quantity  of 
land  to  be  disposed  of  at  a  low  rate  or  given  to  Estab- 
lish Settlers  in  such  Situations  as  to  Secure  the  Settle- 
ment from  the  irruptions  of  the  Indians.  A  true  Copy 

Witness 

Thomas  Rumreill  Clk  to  sd  Meeting 
[Endorsement] 
[Address — ] 

Tho8.  Rumrill 

Newport  Septr.  25th.  1788 
Sir 

We  inclose  you  a  Note  of  the  proprietors  in  the 
Ohio  company  in  this  place  and  Vicinity,  appointing 
us  a  committee  to  open  a  correspondence  with  the 
proprietors  in  your  state  and  elsewhere  for  the  purpose 
therein  mentioned: — 

We  conceive  the  attempt  to  deprive  us  of  our  right, 
highly  ungenerous;  and  when  we  consider  that  ev'ry 
measure  that  hath  been  taken,  hath  been  supported 
out  of  the  funds  of  the  company  supplied  equally  by 
the  proprietors,  and  half  a  Million  of  Dollars,  advanced 
to  secure  the  right  of  entry  and  occupancy;  we  think 
it  a  Base  attempt,  in  them  to  endeavour  to  benefit 
themselves  to  the  Injury  of  the  company  by  availing 
themselves  of  the  advantage  of  our  advances. — 

We  are  informed,  that  a  Number  of  the  present 
Agents  and  Directors,  favour  this  Attempt,  therefore 
we  should  be  cautious,  who  we  trust  to  represent  us, 
at  the  proprietors  meeting  in  December  next;  and  that 


118  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

they  be  instructed,  to  dismiss,  such  persons  from  Office, 
who  are  acting  against  the  interest  of  the  company  by 
favouring  this  Design. 

We  propose  to  write  to  Eliphelet  Dyre  Esqr  and 
Col1  Talmage,  of  Connecticut,  Mess"  Mumford  and 
Bowen  &  Mr  Richard  Ward  New  York,  Dwight  Foster, 
Esqr  of  your  State,  and  to  Jabez  Bowen  Esqr  Provi- 
dence.— 

We  wish  you  to  take  the  sentiments  of  the  pro- 
prietors in  Boston  &c  and  if  agreeable  join  us  in  making 
interest  to  counteract  the  designs  formed  against  the 
Interest  of  the  Company,  by  writing  to  the  several 
Gentlemen,  aforemention'd,  or  any  other  proprietors, 
who  you  imagine  is  not  concern 'd  against  the  company, 
so  the  proprietors  may  have  general  Notice  of  this 
matter  as  soon  as  may  be.— 

With  Respect  to  the  locating  a  Quanity  of  land  to 
be  disposed  of  at  a  low  Rate  or  given,  to  establish 
Settlers,  we  are  of  Oppinion,  nothing  of  that  kind 
ought  to  take  place,  untill  the  company,  are  clearly 
and  fully  Ascertain'd  of  their  right,  in  the  purchase  of 
the  Territory  described  in  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the 
23d  of  July  1787.  For  if  the  contracting  agents  &c, 
do  effect  their  purpose  of  confining  the  Companys 
purchase  to  one  Million  and  a  half  of  acres,  we  conceive 
we  shall  be  giving  away  our  land  to  form  Settlements 
to  the  great  emolument  and  advantage  of  their  Vile 
speculation  upon  the  company. 

We  would  further  inform  you  that  the  proprietors 
here  are  detirmined  to  support  their  claim  by  every 
Legal  and  Fair  Measure. 

We  are  with  sentiments  of  Esteem  &  Regard 

Your  most  Obedient  and 

very  Humble  Servants 

P.  S.  we  request  an  Answer  Peleg  Clarke 

as  soon  as  Convenient  Wm  Vernon 

Isaac  Senter 
Tho8  Rumreill 
Coll.  John  May  Wm  Littlefield 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  119 


XII 

CUTLER'S  EXPLANATION  OF  THE  DUAL 
PURCHASE,  NOVEMBER  19,  1788. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

So  far  as  I  know  this  important  document  has 
never  been  printed.  Copies  of  it  were  sent  to  the 
other  Directors  and  to  the  Agents  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, and  probably  some  of  these  have  been  preserved. 
The  document  was  intended  as  a  defense  but  its  chief 
value  lies  in  the  detailed  history  of  the  relation  of  the 
Ohio  Company  to  the  Scioto  Associates  and  of  both 
with  the  Treasury  Board.  The  wisdom  of  the  Con- 
gressional policy  of  selling  the  public  domain  to  the 
eastern  land  companies  may  be  a  proper  subject  for 
discussion;  after  the  reorganization  of  the  national 
government  and  a  sounder  national  financial  policy 
had  been  adopted  the  land  policy  of  1787  was  not 
repeated;  but  there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  very  solid 
basis  for  criticism  of  Cutler  and  his  associates  of  the 
Ohio  Company  for  the  bargain  which  they  made. 


DOCUMENT 

To  the  Agents  of  the  Ohio  Company- 
Gentlemen, 

As  I  feel  myself  extremely  injured  by  ye  false  & 
base  insinuations  which  have  been  spread  abroad 
respecting  ye  purchase  of  our  Lands  of  Congress,  I 
beg  leave  to  address  you  on  that  subject.  You,  Gentle- 
men, I  conceive,  are  the  only  body  to  whom  we  are 
accountable  for  our  conduct.  You  were  pleased  to 
accept  &  approve,  in  terms  sufficiently  strong,  ye 
report  I  made  to  you  of  ye  purchase  for  ye  Ohio 
Company.  You  have  never  since  manifested  to  me 


120  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

any  dissatisfaction,  nor  called  on  me  for  any  explan- 
ation of  any  part  of  my  conduct,  which  I  presume  you 
would  have  done,  if  you  were  not  satisfied.  But  as 
representations  have  been  made,  very  injurious  to 
my  character,  &  low  &  disingenuous  measures  have 
been  pursued,  respecting  ye  matter — much  to  yc 
injury  of  ye  Company,  as  well  as  to  myself,  I  shall, 
unasked,  lay  before  you  a  statement  of  circumstances 
&  facts,  &  beg  you  to  justify  or  condemn  me  to  ye 
world,  as  you  shall  judge  my  conduct  merits. 

I  shall  first  give  you  a  short  history  of  our  proceed- 
ings, &  ye  circumstances  of  ye  Company,  stating  facts 
which  I  can  fully  prove — &  then  make  some  observa- 
tions on  them,  &  ye  injuries  I  have  suffered. 

When  I  was  appointed  to  go  to  Congress  for  ye 
purpose  of  purchasing  ye  lands,  our  Company  was  in 
its  infancy. — The  only  persons  who  had,  at  that  time, 
taken  an  active  part  in  forming  ye  Company,  & 
procuring  subscriptions,  were  Gen1.  Parsons,  Gen1. 
Putnam,  Gen1.  Tupper,  Majr  Sargent  &  myself.  The 
whole  amount  of  subscriptions  were  computed  at  250— 
this,  I  think,  will  appear  on  ye  books  in  ye  Secretary's 
Office,  in  ye  doings  of  Company  at  ye  meeting  in 
Boston,  March  8 — ,  1787.  More  than  an  100  of  those 
shares  were,  if  mistake  not,  on  my  list. 

After  I  had  had  many  conferences  with  ye  Com- 
mittee of  Congress  on  terms  of  purchase  to  ye  amount 
of  1,000,000,  Dolra  (for  I  had,  at  that  time,  no  tho't 
of  contracting  for  more)  they  seemed  to  insist  on  5/  pr 
Acre,  tho'  ye  price  was  not  so  decidedly  fixed  as  ye 
terms  of  payment — the  terms  which  they  positively 
fixed  were,  one  half  down,  ye  other  as  soon  as  the 
exterior  line  was  run.  So  fixed  were  ye  terms  of  pay- 
ment that  I  was  certain  they  would  not  receed  from 
them.  To  raise  500,000  dolrs.  instantly,  circum- 
stanced as  our  Company  then  was,  appeared  to  me 
absolutely  impracticable — for  we  had  only  250  shares 
subscribed  for — 100  of  them  on  my  list,  of  which  I 
could  not  calculate  on  more  than  ten  that  could  pay 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  121 

ye  money  instantly,  or  in  6  or  8  weeks,  which  was  the 
longest  time  proposed.  No  person  from  the  state  of 
Rhodeisland  had,  at  that  time,  joined  our  Company, 
nor  did  we  calculate,  while  I  was  at  New  York,  on 
receiving  a  farthing  from  that  State.  And  ye  success 
of  subscriptions  in  the  other  States  were  precarious. 
I  therefore  proposed  to  give  up  ye  idea  of  a  purchase, 
&  to  return  home.  This  determination  I  mentioned  to 
ye  Commee  &  perticularly  to  Judge  Holton  &  Mr. 
Dane — Thus  far  I  acted  alone  in  the  business. 

At  this  juncture,  proposals  were  made  to  Majr. 
Sargent  &  myself  for  purchasing  another  tract  of  land, 
adjoining  ye  boundaries  we  proposed  for  ye  Ohio 
Company,  &  an  offer  was  made  of  100,000  dolrs  to  ye 
Ohio  Company,  if  wanted,  to  complete  their  first  pay- 
ment, which  sum  was  afterwards  to  be  refunded.  It 
appeared  to  us,  likewise,  probable  that,  by  connecting 
ye  two  purchases  we  might  extend  ye  second  payment 
untill  a  line  was  run  around  ye  whole,  which  would 
not  only  give  us  longer  time  to  dispose  of  shares,  & 
collect  ye  money,  but  we  should  gain  a  large  sum  of 
indents  of  interest  to  ye  funds  of  ye  Ohio  Company, 
on  ye  2d  payment.  These  appeared  to  me  important 
advantages  to  ye  Company,  neither  could  I  suppose 
it  would  make  any  difference  in  ye  view  of  Congress, 
whether  one,  two,  or  three  Companies  were  concerned 
in  ye  purchase,  yet  it  might  make  an  essential  difference 
to  ye  Ohio  Company,  in  particular,  if  we,  at  that 
time,  kept  ye  separate  purchases  out  of  sight;  which 
we  did  untill  we  went  to  N.  York,  to  complete  ye 
contract — then  we  informed  the  Board  of  Treasury 
that  ye  purchases  was  made  for  two  Companies,  & 
desired  two  distinct  contracts — to  which  they  con- 
sented without  making  ye  least  objection. 

As  I  then  viewed  the  matter,  &  as  I  have  ever  viewed 
it  since,  ye  part  we  proposed  to  act  was  fair,  just,  & 
honorable,  &  that  ye  interest  of  ye  Ohio  Company 
would  be  essentially  promoted. 


122  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

Accordingly,  application  was  again  made  to  ye 
Comm*66 — they  consented  to  reduce  ye  price  to  4/ 
pr  acre — that  500,000  dolra  should  be  paid  down  upon 
closing  ye  contract — &  ye  remainder  on  the  survey 
of  ye  exterior  line  of  ye  whole  tract  being  completed. 
These  were  ye  best  terms  they  would  admit — &  tho' 
we  did  not  acceed  to  them,  they  tho't  proper  to  report 
them  to  Congress,  &  an  ordinance  passed  ye  23d  of 
July,  authorizing  ye  Board  of  Treasury  to  contract 
with  any  person  or  persons,  on  those  terms.  This 
Resolve  was  sent  to  us,  enclosed  in  a  letter  from  ye 
Board  of  Treasury  requesting  us  to  inform  them 
whether  we  were  disposed  to  contract  on  those  terms, 
or  not.  After  consulting  ye  Agent  for  ye  other  Com- 
pany, we  stated  to  ye  Board,  in  answer  to  their  letter, 
the  terms,  on  which  we  were  willing  to  contract.  Our 
letter  was  sent  by  ye  Board  to  Congress,  who  approved 
the  terms,  excepting  that  interest  should  be  paid  on 
the  instalments,  in  which  the  other  lands  were  to  be 
paid  for.  This  letter,  as  well  as  the  two  Resolves,  is 
printed  in  ye  Journals  of  Congress.  The  terms  of 
Contract  is  stated,  in  our  letter,  in  ye  following  words— 
"The  mode  of  payment  we  propose  is,  half  a  million 
"of  dollars  when  the  contract  is  completed,  a  nother 
"half  million  when  the  tract,  as  discribed,  is  surveyed 
"by  the  proper  Officer  of  the  United  States,  &  the 
"remainder  in  six  equal  payments,  computed  from 
"ye  date  of  the  2d  payment.  The  land  to  be  assigned 
"for  ye  establishment  of  a  University  to  be  nearly 
"as  possible  in  the  center  of  the  first  million  &  an  half 
"acres  we  shall  pay  for — When  the  second  payment  is 
"made,  we  shall  receive  a  deed  for  as  great  a  quantity 
"of  Land  as  a  million  of  dollars  will  pay  for,  at  the 
"price  agreed  on.  After  which  we  will  agree  not  to 
"receive  any  further  deeds  for  any  of  ye  lands  pur- 
"  chased,  but  at  such  periods,  &  on  such  conditions  as 
"may  be  agreed  to  betwixt  ye  Board  &  ye  purchasers" 
Here  you  will  observe  the  Ohio  Company's  lands 
perfectly  designated,  &  unconnected  with  ye  other 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  123 

tract  for  we  are  to  receive  a  deed  for  ye  whole  of  those 
lands,  as  soon  as  the  second  payment  is  made. 

We  then  entered  into  a  formal  Contract  with 
William  Duer  &  his  Associates  for  ye  lands  we  had 
agreed  for,  over  &  above  ye  Ohio  Company's  purchase, 
with  this  reservation  that  those  persons  who  had,  at 
that  time,  taken  an  active  part  in  forming,  &  carrying 
into  execution  ye  design  of  ye  Ohio  Company,  should 
have  ye  liberty,  if  they  pleased,  to  be  concerned  with 
ye  said  William  Duer  &  his  associates,  in  a  part  of 
those  lands,  on  their  giving  bonds  to  pay  such  propor- 
tion of  expences  &  losses  as  might  arise  in  ye  prosecu- 
tion of  thier  plan.  And  in  ye  same  contract,  ye  said 
Wm.  Duer  obligated  himself  to  pay  to  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  following 
words — "And  whereas  ye  purchase  of  ye  above 
"described  lands,  depends  on  ye  punctual  payment, 
"on  ye  part  of  the  Ohio  Company,  of  ye  one  moiety 
"of  ye  purchase  money  of  the  part  contracted  for  in 
"their  behalf,  it  is  hereby  agreed  that  ye  said  William 
"Duer  shall  (if  it  be  found  necessary)  advance,  on 
"account  of  their  said  contract,  100,000  dolre,  provided 
"that  whatsoever  sum,  so  paid,  be  reimbursed  to  ye 
"said  Wm  Duer  out  of  ye  monies,  which  ye  said  Sargent 
"&  Cutler  may  afterwards  receive  for  subscriptions." 
This  instrument  was  too  lengthy  to  transcribe  ye 
whole,  &  only  ye  words  I  have  recited  relate  to  the 
Ohio  Company — It  was  written  in  ye  usual  legal 
form,  &  duly  executed  in  presence  of  two  witnesses, 
Richard  Plait  &  Royal  Flint.  The  instrument  itself 
I  can  produce,  in  support  of  ye  above  facts,  whenever 
it  may  be  necessary. 

On  my  return  to  Boston,  a  meeting  of  ye  proprietors 
of  ye  Ohio  Company  was  notified  &  held — at  which, 
I  made  a  report  of  ye  purchase  for  ye  Ohio  Company, 
which  was  received  &  fully  approved  by  a  vote  of  ye 
Agents.  At  ye  same  meeting,  &  on  ye  report  then 
made,  Gen1.  Vernum,  in  ye  name  &  on  ye  behalf  of 
ye  subscribers  in  Rhodeisland  State,  joined  our  Com- 


124  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

pany — &  gave  us  encouragement  to  expect  100,000 
dolra  would  be  collected  by  them  to  be  paid  in  our 
first  payment.  But  notwithstanding  that  sum  &  ye 
100,000  dolrs  from  Col.  Duer,  it  was  very  doubtful 
whether  we  should  be  able  to  complete  ye  first  payment 
for  my  sbuscribers,  (who  were  ye  greatest  number 
obtained  then  by  any  one  Agent),  were,  generally, 
persons  who  proposed  to  be  settlers,  &  had  little  or  no 
money  at  command,  depending  on  disposing  of  their 
property  to  make  payment.  The  sums  collected  by 
other  agents  were  generally  small.  So  great  was  my 
anxiety,  lest,  after  all,  we  should  fail  of  makeing  pay- 
ment, that  a  few  days  before  I  sat  out  for  N.  York,  I 
borrowed  money,  on  my  own  credit,  wherever  I  could 
obtained  it.  I  borrowed  of  M-.  Isaac  Story  of  Marble- 
head  3021.^dolreof  Majr.  John  Burnham  of  Ipsw  ch 
819*-°  dol.— of  Mr.  Proctor  of  Glocester  1001  dolr.- 
of  Mr.  Wadsworth  of  Danverse  2000  dol  I  received 
of  Mr.  Joseph  Barrell  of  Boston  an  order  on  Mr. 
Dunr  Ingram  of  Philadelphia  for  8904-  —  &  a  promis 
of  Mr  Barrel  that  he  would  forward  an  order,  on  Mr. 
Joy  of  N  York,  for  70,000  dolrs,  if  we  could  not  com- 
plete ye  payment  without  it. — For  this  money  I  gave 
my  own  obligation  to  replace  ye  principle  with  ye 
same  interest  due  thereon — &  if  ye  identical  securities 
were  not  returned — indents  of  interest  for  one  year  & 
9  months  for  ye  loan.  Of  these  facts  I  can  produce 
proper  vouchers. 

When  I  arrived  at  N.  York,  I  found  I  had  not 
been  mistaken  in  my  calculations,  for  had  there  not 
been  a  much  larger  subscription  in  that  City,  than 
we  had  supposed,  there  would  have  been  a  great 
deficiency  above  ye  100,000  dolre  to  be  paid  by  Co1 
Duer.  My  money  was  not  paid  in,  untill  nearly  all 
was  received  from  ye  other  Agents,  as  I  wished  to 
know  whether  there  would  be  occasion  for  ye  securities 
I  had  borrowed.  The  Treasurer  made  his  calcula- 
tions, &  supposed  there  would  be  a  deficiency  after 
Col°  Duer  had  completed  his  payment,  but  ye  exact 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  125 

sum  could  not  be  ascertained  untill  he  knew  how 
much  would  be  paid  by  ye  N.  York  subscribers.  Being 
obliged  to  leave  ye  City,  I  paid  in,  of  ye  money  I 
borrowed  4000^,  for  ye  loan  of  which  I  have  since 
paid  450  dolra  in  indents,  which  I  presume  I  shall 
lose,  as  I  see  no  way  for  it  to  be  refunded.  My  idea 
was,  at  that  time,  that  deficient  subscribers,  or  those 
that  subscribed  afterward,  should  make  up  any  loss 
sustained  by  ye  necessity  of  loans  for  ye  1st  payment, 
intended  to  have  laid  ye  matter  before  ye  Agents,  but 
never  did.  I  should,  however,  consider  myself  ex- 
tremely happy,  if  I  should  sustain  no  greater  loss  & 
injury  than  this,  in  consequence  of  my  being  concerned 
in  ye  Ohio  Company. — But  my  design  in  mentioning 
the  loan  of  this  mony,  is  to  convince  you  how  uncertain 
our  1st  payment  was,  even  after  ye  engament  from 
Col.  Duer,  &  ye  exertions  I  made  to  prevent  a  failure. 

Thus  ye  matter  stood  when  I  left  N.  York.  Nor 
did  I  ever  ascertain  ye  exact  sum  paid  in  by  Col.  Duer, 
untill  my  return  from  Muskingum,  but  only  in  general, 
that  he  made  up  ye  deficiency  agreeably  to  contract. 
By  ye  Treasurer's  Books  it  appears  that  there  was  a 
deficiency,  after  ye  monies  were  paid  in  by  ye  Agents, 
&  generally  by  ye  subscribers  in  New  York,  of  95,000 
dolrs — Of  this  sum  Col.  Duer  paid  upwards  of  50,000 
dolre,  &  engaged  Col.  Platt  to  pay  ye  remainder  on 
his  Ace*.  Which  sum  Col.  Platt  advanced  on  Duer's 
Ace*,  except  a  small  part  of  it,  which  he  considered 
as  paid  on  Ace*  of  some  subscribers  for  whom  he  had 
promised  to  make  payment.  The  amount  of  those 
shares,  (as  no  settlement  of  this  money  had  been 
made)  he  was  unable,  when  I  called  upon  him,  to 
ascertain.  But  he  assured  me  he  would  find  ye  exact 
sum  paid  by  &  on  Ace*,  of  Col.  Duer,  &  forward  a 
Certificate  to  Majr.  Sargent,  which  will,  I  presume,  be 
laid  before  you  with  this  paper. 

From  ye  above  history,  I  think  you  must  be  con- 
vinced, Gentlemen,  that  we  had  just  reason  to  con- 
clude, that  ye  Ohio  Company,  small  as  it  then  was, 


126  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

could  not  collect  500,000  dolre  in  8  weeks —  ye  longest 
term  proposed  by  ye  Board  of  Treasury  for  completing 
ye  Contract,  &  that  we  should  have  been  fully  justified, 
if  we  had,  solely  on  this  account,  given  up  ye  idea  of  a 
contract — The  advantages  derived  to  ye  Ohio  Com- 
pany by  connecting  ye  two  Contracts,  are  too  obvious 
to  need  any  remarks. — For  we,  not  only,  made  ye 
contract,  &  obtaind  better  terms,  in  consequence  of 
this  connection,  but  we  were  enabled  to  complete  ye 
contract,  which  we  could  not  otherwise  have  done, 
without  loaning  money  at  ye  expence  of  ye  Company 
—We  have  also  a  much  longer  term  for  making  our 
second  payment — &  in  ye  same  proportion  increased  ye 
interest  allowed  upon  it.  This  must  be  an  addition 
to  our  funds  of  no  small  consequence.  The  interest 
saved  can  not  amount  to  less  than  30,000  dolra,  & 
will  probably  amount  to  double  that  sum.  You  like- 
wise must  be  convinced  that  it  was  necessary,  or  at 
least  prudent,  to  keep  ye  two  purchases  out  of  sight, 
untill  we  were  ready  to  complete  ye  contract;  otherwise 
we  might  have  failed  of  extending  our  2d  payment 
untill  a  line  was  run  around  ye  whole,  &  of  course  ye 
interest  due  thereon.  This  we  much  feared  &  were 
cautious  of  speaking  of  it.  But  when  we  were  prepared 
to  complete  ye  contract,  we  explained  the  two  pur- 
chases to  ye  Board  of  Treasury,  with  whom  two  con- 
tracts were  executed,  as  perfectly  distinct,  &  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  as  they  are  of  Judge  Symme's 
purchase. 

I  would,  therefore  beg  to  be  informed  what  injury 
has  been  done  to  ye  Ohio  Company? — We  fulfilled  our 
commission,  entirely,  with  regard  to  them.  Our  orders 
were  to  purchase  only  to  ye  amount  of  1,000,000 
dol™ — we  had  no  orders  to  purchase  more,  nor  could 
we  have  been  justified  if  we  had  done  it.  We  made  no 
application  of  a  farthing  of  their  money  to  any  other 
purpose.  The  price  was,  certainly,  as  low  as  it  would 
have  been,  if  we  had  not  connected  ye  two  purchases. 
The  terms  we  obtained  for  our  own  company  were 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  127 

more  advantagious — we  are  allowed  an  interest  on  ye 
sum  credited — they  pay  interest.  We  purchased  ye 
very  land  we  were  ordered  to  purchase — On  what 
ground  then,  can  we  be  charged  with  unfaithfulness 
&  dishonesty  in  ye  trust  ye  Company  reposed  in  us? — 
Is  not  ye  charge  base  &  cruel? 

But  I  must  beg  leave  just  to  notice  a  few  things 
which  have  been  said  by  those  who  have  so  ungen- 
erously attacked  our  characters.  It  has  been  said 
that  we  were  under  no  necessity  of  contracting  with 
Col.  Duer, — for  Mr.  Brown  of  Providence  had  told 
me  that  he  would  advance  any  sum  we  might  want — 
This  report  is  false — At  ye  time  we  engaged  to  make 
ye  2d  purchase  I  had  never  seen  ye  face  of  Mr.  Brown, 
nor  had  I  ever  heard  of  his  wishing  to  be  concerned  in 
ye  western  lands — The  first  time  I  ever  saw  him,  was  on 
my  way  to  N.  York  ye  2d  time,  near  8  weeks  after  the 
purchase  was  made,  when  I  called  upon  him,  &  asked 
him  whether  he  would  be  willing  to  advance  a  sum  in 
securities,  if  we  found  that  we  could  not  complete  ye 
500,000  dollars?  His  reply  as  nearly  as  I  can  recollect, 
was,  that  he  would  take  5  or  10  shares  more. — It  must, 
likewise,  be  very  strange  if  Mr.  Brown  had  made  me 
this  offer,  that  I  should  have  hired  money  at  my  own 
risk,  &  on  ye  terms  I  did,  to  complete  ye  first  payment. 

The  first  time  I  ever  saw  Gen1.  Vernum,  was  at 
N.  York  after  we  had  agreed  to  purchase  the  Scioto 
Lands,  &  just  as  we  were  closing  our  business.  He 
said  something  to  us  about  being  concerned  in  ye 
purchases,  but  said  he  did  not  consider  us  as  formed 
into  a  Company,  &  that  there  must  be  a  meeting  to 
agree  on  articles  of  Association.  This  led  us  to  con- 
clude that  neither  he,  nor  any  of  ye  Rhodeisland  people, 
would  ever  join  us.  But  as  he  connected  himself  with 
us  after  ye  purchase  was  made,  &  upon  that  report, 
without  any  intimation  of  any  other  Lands,  I  think 
he,  &  ye  Gentlemen  he  represented,  have,  of  all  others, 
ye  least  ground  to  contend  about  ye  other  Lands. 


128  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

It  has  been  said  the  Scioto  lands  were  purchased 
on  ye  credit  of  ye  Ohio  Company — The  reverse  of 
this  is  true — for  if  money  was  advanced  to  ye  Ohio 
Company,  by  those  purchasers,  &  could  not  have  com- 
pleted their  contract  without  it — the  Ohio  Company 
is,  clearly,  indebted  to  them  for  their  purchase.  But 
admit  that  ye  Scioto  Lands  were  purchased  on  better 
terms  by  connecting  the  two  purchases — how  did  this, 
in  ye  smallest  degree,  injure  ye  Ohio  Company? — I 
doubt  not  Judge  Symm's  was  benefited  by  our  pur- 
chase— obtained  better  terms  than  he  would  have  done 
if  he  had  been  ye  first  contractor — Shall  ye  Ohio 
Company  then  attempt  to  take  his  Lands  from  him? 
There  is,  in  reality,  no  greater  connection  between  the 
two  purchases  we  made,  than  there  is  between  his  & 
ours. 

But  it  may  be  asked  why  we  did  not  purchase  ye 
whole  for  ye  Ohio  Company? — Sufficient  reason  has, 
I  think,  already  been  given.  We  had  no  authority  to 
go  beyond  ye  funds  of  ye  Company.  The  Company 
at  that  time,  had  it  not  in  their  power  to  make  ye  1st 
payment.  Besides,  ye  intention  of  ye  Scioto  Company 
was  to  dispose  of  a  part  of  their  lands  in  Europe,  & 
to  procure  a  number  of  inhabitants  to  settle  in  the 
western  Country.  This,  if  effected,  must  be  an  addi- 
tional advantage  to  our  Company — they  would  become 
a  barrier  to  us — our  lands  must  become  more  valuable 
—as  ye  value  of  lands  must  always  depend  on  ye 
number  of  people  on,  or  near  them.  This  was  no  small 
inducement  to  us  to  make  ye  purchase  for  them — But  if  it 
be  still  asked,  why  yeOhio  Company  could  not  have  done 
this? — I  would  answer — that  ye  idea  of  purchasing  lands 
for  a  Company,  formed  &  circumstanced  as  ours  was,  to 
speculate  upon,  where  there  must  be  large  expences  & 
hazard  of  loss,  is  too  rediculous  to  be  entertained  by 
any  man  of  common  sense.  Such  speculations  can 
not  be  undertaken  unless  every  individual  advances 
money,  or  enters  into  formal  obligations  to  sustain 
his  proportion  of  expence  &  loss.  Was  it  possible  for 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  129 

a  company  formed  like  ours  to  do  this? — We  find  it 
sufficiently  difficult  to  raise  ye  funds  for  our  own 
purchases,  &  to  pay  for  our  own  purchase. — And  who 
will  advance  interest  for  others,  without  security  from 
loss?  You  must  likewise  be  sensible,  that  those  who 
wish  to  obtain  those  lands,  do  not  wish  for  them  for 
ye  Ohio  Company — t^iey  know  it  to  be  absolutly 
impossible  for  ye  Company,  as  such,  to  fulfill  ye  condi- 
tions of  the  Scioto  purchase,  ye  amount  of  which, 
at  ye  price  securities  have  lately  arisen,  will  be 
nearly  a  million  of  dollars  in  silver.  It  may  be  their 
intention  to  form  a  Company  under  ye  colour  of  ye 
Ohio  Company,  but  it  must  be  a  Company  totally 
distinct  from  it — differently  formed  &  regulated. — 
And  what  advantages  could  the  Ohio  Company,  as 
such,  expect  to  derive  from  the  Company  those  Gentle- 
men would  form,  which  they  may  not  expect  from  those 
who  now  hold  ye  Lands?  And  was  it  in  their  power  to 
take  ye  lands  from  those  who  have  already  rendered 
us  essential  service,  (which  certainly  it  is  not)  would 
it  not  be  extremely  base  &  ungenerous? 

It  has  been  said  some  persons  became  adventurers 
in  ye  Ohio  Company,  principally,  from  ye  expectation 
of  making  money  by  those  lands. — -The  brains  of  some 
persons  might  teem,  for  aught  I  know,  with  expectations 
of  possessing  ye  whole  western  territory — &  what  then? 
—are  we  answerable  for  their  visionary  imaginations? 
—We  reported  only  ye  Ohio  Lands — those  persons 
who  are  now  spreading  jealousies  &  discord,  joined 
us  on  that  report — &  had  never  an  idea  suggested  to 
them,  from  ye  Purchasers,  of  any  right  to  other  lands. 
If  they  had  given  themselves  ye  trouble  to  have  en- 
quired of  us,  they  would  have  been  assured  that  they 
had  not — 

Another  complaint  is,  that  we  acted  as  agents  for 
ye  Ohio  Company,  &  therefore  had  no  right  to  pur- 
chase for  any  others,  &  that,  consequently,  all  ye 
lands  we  purchased  must  belong  to  ye  Ohio  Company, 
whether  purchased  for  them  or  not. — We  are  able  to 


130  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

prove  that  Congress  refused  to  know  any  such  Com- 
pany— or  that  we  should  be  considered  as  Agents  for 
it.  When  this  matter  was  debated  in  Congress,  Mr. 
Holten  &  MT.  Dane  insisted  that  there  was  such  a 
Company,  which  had  for  a  considerable  time  been 
publicly  known  by  ye  title  of  Ohio  Company.  Mr. 
Holton  called  upon  me  to  produce  evidence  of  our  being 
a  Company.  I  put  into  his  hands  our  articles  of  Asso- 
ciation, which  he  read  in  Congress.  But  it  was  still 
objected,  that  we  were  a  self-created  body,  &  not 
legally  incorporated,  &  therefore  Congress  could  not 
know  us  as  such.  Accordingly  ye  words  Ohio  Com- 
pany, &  our  names  as  agents,  were  ordered  to  be 
erased  from  ye  report  of  the  Committee.  If  you 
attend  to  ye  Resolve  of  Congress  you  will  find  that  it 
begins  thus— "The  following  report  of  a  Committee 
"being  amended  to  read  as  follows. — That  ye  Board  of 
"Treasury  be  authorized  &  empowered  to  contract 
"with  any  person  or  persons  for  a  grant  of  a  tract  of 
"  Land,  bounded,  &e" — It  was  therefore  my  opinion,  & 
still  is,  that  it  would  have  been  right  &  honorable,  & 
no  person  could  have  justly  charged  us  with  im- 
propriety of  conduct,  if,  after  we  had  completed  our 
commission  for  ye  Ohio  Company,  we  had  purchased 
any  tract  for  ourselves,  or  for  any  other  persons, 
altho'  ye  Ohio  Company  should  derive  no  advantage 
from  it.  Shall  our  characters,  then,  be  stigmatized, 
when  we  consulted  &  actually  obtained,  important 
advantages  to  ye  Ohio  Company  by  connecting  another 
purchase  with  theirs? — The  Board  of  Treasury  were 
so  opposed  to  ye  term  Ohio  Company ,  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  we  prevailed  with  them  not  to  erase  it,  after 
it  was  inserted  in  ye  instrument  of  contract. 

Permit  me  now,  Gentlemen,  to  ask,  on  ye  other 
hand,  whether  you  would  not  have  blamed  us,  if  we 
had  refused  ye  offer  of  ye  100,000  dol™  &  ye  oppor- 
tunity for  extending  ye  2d  payment,  &  saving  y6 
interest  upon  it? — If  we  had  returned  without  making 
ye  purchase,  &  occasioned  ye  expence  of  sending  again 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  131 

to  Congress? — Or  would  you  not  have  blamed  us  if 
we  had  purchased  only  ye  Lands  for  ye  Ohio  Company, 
&  refused  those  advantages?  Most  certainly  you 
would — I  certainly  should  have  tho't  myself  culpable. 

I  am  sorry,  Gentlemen,  to  have  been  so  lengthy  on 
this  subject — but  I  presume  on  your  candor,  when  you 
consider  it  is  not  in  my  power,  personally,  to  vindicate 
my  conduct  before  you. — And,  especially,  when  you 
consider  what  must  be  my  feelings,  when  my  character 
is  cruelly  attacked  in  an  instance  of  public  trust — in 
a  matter  in  which  I  feel  conscious  to  myself  of  having 
acted  with  ye  strictest  fidelity,  &  of  essentially  promot- 
ing ye  interest  of  ye  Company. — On  my  return  from 
Muskingum,  I  found,  at  N.  York,  that  a  certain  Gentle- 
man, who  had  passed  thro'  that  City  on  his  way  from 
Marietta  to  Rhodeisland  had  spread  a  general  jealousy 
among  adventurers  there,  &  that  my  character  had 
suffered  much  in  consequence  of  it.  Fortunately  for 
me,  Col.  Talmage  happened  to  come  to  N  York  soon 
after,  who  highly  resented  ye  injury  done  to  my 
character — took  much  pains  to  set  ye  matter  right  in 
ye  minds  of  adventurers.  He  had  heard  me  explain 
ye  whole  matter  to  Gen1.  Vernum  at  Providence,  (who 
at  that  time  appeared  to  be  satisfied)  &  was  convinced 
of  ye  advantages  derived  to  ye  Ohio  Company.  But 
still,  to  satify  himself  of  facts,  applied  to  ye  Books  in 
ye  treasurer's  Office,  where  he  found  a  large  sum  paid 
to  yc  Ohio  Company  on  Ace*,  of  Col.  Duer,  without 
which  ye  Contract  could  not  have  been  completed. 
I  feel  myself  much  indebted  to  ye  friendly  exertions  of 
Col.  Talmage. 

The  same  suggestions  were  spread  in  Rhodeisland, 
&  a  private  Committee  has  been  formed  there  to 
correspond  with  other  adventurers — particularly  at 
Boston.  Letters  have  been  sent  to  Col.  May,  request- 
ing him  to  engage  adventurers  in  that  town  to  attempt 
a  recovery  of  those  lands.  This  information  I  have 
from  Col.  May  himself. — Such  measures  before  the 
purchasers  were  called  upon  to  explain  their  conduct, 


132  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

I  conceive  to  be  extremely  base  &  underhanded — It 
is  generally  considered  here  as  very  threating  to  ye 
settlement.  Col.  May  has  declared  ye  settlement 
was  in  harmony  untill  two  certain  Gentlemen  arrived 
from  Rhodeisland  State.  Altho'  there  are  many 
worthy  characters  gone  into  ye  Country  from  that 
State,  Yet  such  is  ye  general  prejudice  against  ye 
state  of  Rhodeisland  in  this  quarter,  that  many  people 
who  intended  to  become  settlers,  are  so  much  alarmed 
with  ye  apprehension  that  ye  same  spirit,  which  has 
been,  publicly,  known  to  prevail  in  Rhodeisland,  will 
be  transplanted  &  prevail  in  that  country,  that  they 
have  determined  not  to  remove  for  ye  present.  Their 
apprehensions  are  heightened  by  finding  that  it  is 
those  who  sustain  high  Offices,  who  have  sturred  up 
jealouses  &  discord  at  so  early  a  stage  of  ye  settlement. 
The  Ohio  settlement  is  now  become,  with  us,  very  un- 
popular— more  than  30  families  within  ye  compass  of 
my  knowledged,  who  waited  only  for  my  return  from 
that  Country,  are  now  determined  to  wait  untill  ye 
settlement  is  further  advanced,  that  they  may  know 
something  of  ye  society  in  which  they  are  to  make 
their  residence. 

I  now,  submit  ye  matter  to  your  decision.  If  you 
are  satisfied  with  my  conduct  in  making  ye  purchase, 
I  shall  expect  you  will,  in  justice  to  my  character, 
declare  it  to  ye  world.  You  will  feel  yourselves  bound, 
I  doubt  not,  to  repair  ye  injury  I  have  received  as 
far  as  it  lies  in  your  power,  tho'  it  is  an  injury  of  such 
a  nature  as  does  not  admit  of  full  reparation.  If  you 
should  wish  for  any  further  information,  in  my  power 
to  give,  or  confermation  of  facts,  I  must  beg  you  to 
acquaint  me  with  it.— 
I  am, 

with  much  esteem, 
Gentlemen, 

your  most  obedient, 
&  humble  Serv*. 
Ipswich  Nov.  19th,  1788  M  Cutler 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  133 

(Copy) 
(endorsement) 

Revd.  Manassa  Cutler's 
papers  respecting  the 
Purchase  of  Land, 

from  Scioto  to  the 

7th  Rang  of  Townships. 


134  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XIII. 

TWO  LETTERS  BY  MANASSEH  CUTLER, 
DECEMBER  9  AND  15,  1788. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  first  letter  accompanied  the  explanation.  Both 
bear  on  the  criticism  which  was  abroad  regarding  the 
Scioto  part  of  the  purchase. 


DOCUMENT 

Ipswich  Decr.  9th,  1788- 
My  Dear  Sir, 

When  I  saw  you  last  in  Boston,  you  gave  me  en- 
couragement to  expect  some  ace*,  of  what  was  doing 
in  Rhodeisland  State  respecting  ye  Scioto  Lands,  but 
I  have  not  been  favoured  with  a  line  from  you — I  feel 
myself  extremely  abused  &  injured — It  appeared  to 
me  best,  on  ye  whole,  to  state  ye  matter  of  ye  purchase 
to  ye  Agents  at  Marietta,  which  I  forwarded  by  Mr. 
Story  who  is  gone  into  ye  Country  for  ye  purpose  of 
preaching  to  ye  people  this  winter — I  take  ye  liberty 
of  enclosing  a  copy  to  you.  My  character,  I  presume, 
must  have  suffered  in  Boston  altho'  I  have  heard 
little  from  that  town — Should  you  be  convinced  that 
I  am  undeserving  of  censure,  it  will  be  in  your  power 
to  do  much  to  set  ye  matter  right  in  ye  minds  of  those 
who  have  been  dissatisfied — especially  adventurers  in 
ye  Company.  Attempts  to  destroy  characters,  I  ever 
considered  as  one  of  the  basest  of  crimes.  I  view  ye 
highway  robber,  or  mid-night  assassin,  far  less  criminal, 
than  ye  man  that  would  deprive  a  nother  of  his  char- 
acter &  reputation.  The  loss  of  property,  or  life,  with 
a  man  of  feelings,  will  bear  no  proportion  to  that  of 
character — the  one  may  be  regained,  &  ye  other  may 
be  lamented — but  a  person  robbed  of  his  character, 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  135 

can  neither  enjoy  ye  advantages  of  property,  nor  bless- 
ings of  life — nor  will  death  afford  him  y*  consolation 
that  his  memory  will  be  respected — The  injuries  done 
to  character  &  reputation  can  never  be  cured.  It  is 
to  no  purpose  to  say  ye  same  opportunity  is  given  to 
vindicate,  that  there  is  to  defame — for  when  a  persons 
character  is  once  aspersed,  it  is  always  suspected, — 
&  it  is  impracticable  to  apply  ye  antidote  as  far  as  ye 
poison  is  extended.  Downer,  I  hear,  is  returning  from 
ye  westward,  who  seems  to  have  made  it  his  business 
to  defame  me,  in  all  companies,  where  he  has  been. 
He  will,  no  doubt,  discharge  his  artilery,  &  reck  his 
malevolence  on  every  occasion.  He,  publicly,  de- 
clared, at  Muskingum  on  his  return,  I  am  told,  that 
he  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  injure  our  settlement. 
One  Mr.  Wiiham,  of  Fribourgh,  was  a  few  days  since 
here — he  has  been  with  Downer  on  to  Judge  Symme's 
purchase,  in  order  to  look  out  land  for  a  number  of 
families,  who  sent  him  for  the  purpose  into  ye  Country. 
Wiiham  gives  ye  preference  to  our  settlements,  &  has 
engaged  six  shares  of  me  on  his  return.  He  says  that 
Downer  made  a  very  false  representation  of  Symm's 
purchase,  many  times,  in  his  hearing — particularly 
at  Muskingum.  Wiiham  gives  an  high  ace*,  of  our 
Lands  down  ye  Ohio — 

By  Witham  I  have  letters  from  Gen1.  Putnam,  as 
late  as  ye  27th  of  Octr— The  treaty  had  not  taken 
place — but  there  were  daly  expectations  of  a  number 
to  come  in  from  Sandusky. — Uncertain  whether  Brant 
will  come  in,  or  not — The  Indians  very  friendly — & 
ye  people  under  no  Apprehensions.  Gen1.  Putnam 
informs  me  that  ye  report  of  a  very  fine  salt-spring  up 
the  Muskingum,  is  now  made  a  certainty — he  intends 
to  visit  it,  before  he  returns  home. 

I  have  forwarded  a  statement  of  my  Agency,  with 
my  address,  to  ye  Agents — &  would  have  sent  a  copy  to 
you  had  I  time  to  transcribe  it — However,  I  will 
take  it  with  me  when  I  come  to  Boston — You  will  see 
by  it  that  I  have  receipts  from  ye  Treasury,  for  greater 


136  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

sums  both  of  silver  &  securities  than  I  have  received— 
which  I  wish  to  satisfy  you  of — as  I  suspect  it  has  been 
suggested  that  I  have  appropriated  ye  Companies 
money  to  my  own  use.  This  was  intimated  to  me  at 
N.  York  as  having  been  said  by  ye  Rhodeisland 
Gentleman  from  Muskingum — &  I  presume  from 
some  things  you  mentioned  to  me  that  you  had  heard 
such  a  report — My  character  seemes  to  be  attacked 
from  every  quarter.  But,  it  is  my  intention  to  make  a 
final  settlement  of  all  my  Ohio  business  as  soon  as 
posible — when  I  shall  be  able  to  prove  that  so  far  from 
gaining  by  being  concerned  in  ye  Company  I  shall 
sustain  considerable  loss,  besides  all  my  labour— 

The  property  of  ye  Ohio  Company,  I  conceive,  has 
depreciated,  at    least,  one  quarter,  for  ye  present,  in 

consequence  of  ye  Conduct  of  Gen1.  V n—    &  Col— 

C — y — .*  Before  I  went  into  ye  Country  I  disposed 
of  a  few  shares  for  more  than  ye  first  value — which  I 
mentioned  to  ye  Agents  at  Muskingum,  &  for  which 
I  shall  render  an  Ace*.  It  appeared  to  me,  when 
others  were  selling  shares  for  more  than  ye  first  price, 
it  was  not  improper  for  Agents  to  do  ye  same  with 
shares  that  were  relinguished — in  this  way  we  might 
increase  ye  funds  of  ye  Company — Now  there  appear 
to  be  no  purchasers  at  ye  first  cost — many  wish  to 
give  up  their  shares  who  have  made  part  payment— 
I  expect  to  have  a  considerable  number  to  give  up  to 
ye  Agents — 

I  am, 

with  respect  &  esteem, 
Sir, 

Your  very  humble  Serv*- 
M  Cutler. 

Col.  May- 

The  information  you  gave  me,  respecting  Col.  C — y  I 

*General  V n  was  James  Mitchell  Varnum  of  Rhode  Island;  Col.  C y  was  Archibald 

Crary  of  the  same  state.  Both  were  Revolutionary  officers  of  distinction  and  Proprietors  in 
the  Ohio  Company. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  137 

thot  proper  to  mention — I  hope  it  will  not  be  dis- 
agreeable to  you — 
[Address] 

Col.  John  May — 
Boston. 

Ipswich  Decr  15th,  1788 
Dear  Sir 

Since  I  wrote  to  you  by  Mr.  Eliot,  I  have  been 
favored  with  a  letter  from  Col.  Platt,  enclosing  two 
Certificates  of  ye  exact  sum  paid  by  ye  Scioto  Com- 
pany. You  will  find  enclosed  copies  of  those  two 
Certificates,  which  can  not  fail  of  giving  you  ye  fullest 
conviction  that  ye  Ohio  Company  could  not  have 
completed  their  payment  without  loaning  money  at  ye 
expence  of  ye  Company — that  of  consequence  we  are 
beholden  to  ye  Scioto  Company  for  our  purchase. 
Platt  finds  the  sum  greater  than  he  supposed  when  I 
was  at  N.  York — at  that  time,  he  had  not  gone  over 
his  books  with  attention,  nor  had  he  made  any  settle- 
ment with  ye  Associates  of  ye  Scioto  Company.  He 
has  sent  on  similar  Certificates  to  Majr  Sargent  which 
will  be  laid  before  ye  Agents  with  my  paper.  Col. 
Crary  is  returned  to  Muskingum — Platt  writes — "I  am 
very  apprehensive  that  Varnum  &  his  Rhodeisland 
Associates  will  do  great  injury  to  our  Company,  & 
discourage  many  valuable  settlers  from  going  in  to  ye 
Country"— 

You  will  do  me  a  particular  favor  if  you  will  inform 
Col.  Jackson  of  ye  Statement  I  have  made  of  the 
purchase,  &  show  him  the  Certificates — and  also  any 
other  person  concerned,  or  that  may  have  had  any 
unfavorable  impressions  made  on  their  minds  respect- 
ing my  character.  It  'is  in  your  power,  Sir,  to  do  much 
to  set  this  matter  right,  &  I  flatter  myself  your  regard  to 
justice  &  ye  interest  of  ye  Company  will  induce  you 
to  do  it.  I  am,  Dr  Sir, 

Your  Sincere  Friend 

&  most  humble  Serv* 

M  Cutler 


138  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

Col.  John  May, 

(address) 

Col.  John  May 

Boston 

To  be  left  at  Mr.  Joseph  May's  store  No.  3.     Long 
Wharf. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  139 


XIV. 

DOCUMENT 

THE  STATEMENT  BY  RICHARD  PLATT, 
TREASURER  OF  THE  OHIO  COMPANY. 

Sources  of  Richd  Platts  losses  which  account  for  the 

Differency  in  the  Statement  of  his  affairs 

Vizt     By  the  Ohio  Company,  in  this  way  I  assumed  to 

pay  more  than 

Vizt    By  the  Ohio  Company,  in  this  way  I  assumed  to  pay  more  than 

1*  1000,000  Dollars  in  the  year  1787  when  Cer- 
tifycates  ware  at  2/8  O£  of  this  assumption 
sum  was  not  paid  to  me,  Sum  paid  in  Land 
Warrants  instead  of  Certifycates,  and  sum 
paid  in  Money  at  the  time^— and  rendered  at 
distant  Period,  thereafter  in  consequence  of 
which  there  was  a  Loss  of  the  differance  be- 
tween 2/8  and  the  high  price  of  certifycates  in 
my  oppinnion  of 75,000  Dollars 

2nd  My  Europian  Speculations  on  adventure  on 
adventures  of  grate  Extent  and  Long  Duration, 
one  of  which,  was  for  300,000  Dollars  bor- 
rowed for  1,  2  &  3  years  by  three  persons 
eaqually  concerned,  who  lent  10,000  Dollars 
in  Money  for  Said  Term  with  out  Intrust,  at 
Winding  up  of  this  thing,  last  year  there  was  a 

loss  of  each  man 25,000 

two  other  adventures  of  my  own  for  about 
8,000  Dollars,  lasted  eight  months  and  pro- 
duced nothing,  So  that  the  Two  Sums  10,000 
Dollars  and  16,000  Dollars  may  be  computed 

as  depriving  me  of 20,000 

and  an  Additional  loss  to  me  was  that  as  the 
Certifycates  went  thro  my  hands,  on  there 
return  from  Europe.  I  Sold  large  Sums  at  my 
own  hazard.  8/  9/  &  10/  O£  in  the  year  1790 
lost  by  it  perhaps 50,000 

3d  My  large  Sum  of  Money  lent  and  paid  fer  my 
friend,  long  Since,  much  of  which  is  not  repaid, 
and  by  nearly  40,000  Dol8  with  held  by  Wm 
Duer  on  a  loan  made  by  Cussineaux  by 
means  of  both  which  I  lost  at  least 40,000 

210,000 


140  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

Amount  brought  Over 210,000 

4th      Loses  on  800  Scrips  bought  at  high  prices  and 

long  Cr  at  about  200  Doll8  average 100,000 

these  Scrips  were  ment  to  be  Converted  into 
half  Shares  as  I  held  a  large  quantity  of  Stock 
but  as  they  fell  I  sold  out  at  about  136  Dol- 
lars amt*  to— 108,800 

thinking  to  replace  them  again  at  less,  but  the 
Markett  rose  up  Suddenly  to  200  Dollars 
again— Lost .  . 51,200 

5th  By  the  Late  failures  which  deprived  me  of  the 
Use  and  Command  of  Upward,  of  100,000£  in 
Cash  for  a  Long  time  and  thereby  loosing  its 
obveous  Advantages  at  the  present  crices,  My 
Debts  were  Subdivided  and  far  extended — my 
means  ware  promp  and  at  least  capable  of 
enhansing  my  fortune  before  they  ware  calld 
for — say —  25,000 

6th  By  Mess.  Leonard  Blaker  &  Banjn  Luxars 
Misfortunes,  by  means  of  which  I  am  cut 
Short  of  a  Supposed  Sum  of  30,000£  being 
one  hah*  conserned  in  there  opperations  which 
ware  to  Terminate,  on  the  first  of  January 
Next,  say  loss  of 50,000 

7  My  verry  large  deliverey  of  Stock  for  Two 
years  past  on  Contract  in  a  rappidly  rising 
Markett,  and  Say  More  than  half  a  Million  of 
Dollars,  the  Loss  on  which  may  be  Said  to  beff  50,000 
and  Since  my  Stoppage  I  have  already  lost  by 
the  non  fulfilment  of  Contracts  &  and  other 
means  to  be  Shewn  say 16,250 

402,450 

[endorsement] 
Puffing  by 
Richard  Platt 
Late  Treasurer  of 
the  Ohio  Company. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


141 


XV. 

LIST  OF  160  ACRE  LOTTS  IN  COL-  JOHN  MAY'S 

AGENCY. 

drawn  March  23rd  1789. 


John  Sprague 
Thomas  Russell 

Do 

James  Bowdoin 
Frederick  May 
Ebenr  Wales 
William  Dall 
James  Bowdoin 
Robert  Williams 
John  May  Junr 
John  W.  May 
Russell  Sturgus 
Willm  R.  May 
James  Bowdoin 

io8  Blake 
Fames  Patterson 
io8  Russell 

llisha  Ticknor 
Fames  Smith 

lbenr  Dorr 
Fames  Patterson 


>ir 


DOCUMENT 

868  Joseph  May  849 

820  James  Bowdoin  867 

814  John  Lucas  897 

894  Henry  R.  May  822 

874  Sam1  Perkins  821 

866  Willm  Hopkens  889 

808  Elbridge  Gary  816 

892  Willm  Brick  878 

855  Benjm  Cobb  886 

881                    Do  875 

810  Tho8  Russell  846 

812  James  Bowdoin  851 

852  Tho8  Russell  900 

847  Winthrop  Sargent  263 

864  John  Waldo  818 

838  Henry  Bowers  806 

845                    Do  884 

824  Nath1  Ruggles  877 

833  John  May  in  Sargants  Class 
896  No.  247 

871 


I  have  looked  over  the  Books  tintill  my  Patience 
exhausted,  in  order  to  make  out  your  36  Con- 
tituants,  the  last  I  find  in  Sargant's  Agency,  if  I  am 
tot  right  you  will  correct  me  in  your  next — I  have 
ipplied  to  Sundry  Books  &  cannot  give  you  a  better 
>unt  than  the  above  if  that  will  give  you  satisfac- 
tion, it  will  add  to  those  Pleasures  which  have  ever 
added  to  the  felicity  of  Sir  Yr  friend  & 

humbl  Servt.  E.  Battelle 


142  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

XVI. 
A  DEFENSE  BY  RICHARD  PLATT 

DOCUMENT 

New  York  May  10th  92- 
Dear  General 

Yestarday  Had  a  meeting  of  my  Crediters  while  I 
was  present  all  was  peace  &  Decancy,  but  afterwards 
I  am  told  the  Devil  was  to  pay  about  the  Ohio 
Company — that  is  because  I  paid  them  as  far  as  I  was 
able — I  knew  very  well  that  this  would  be  the  case, 
yet  I  did  not  hesitate  &  hope  I  never  Shall  have  any 
hesitation  to  do  what  is  right — I  am  sorrey  the  Directors 
&  Agents  did  not  close  with  my  proposal  of  paying 
H  McCombs  &  other  Notes  for  Stock,  to  them  in  a  final 
adjustment  between  us — But  I  know  they  did  not  con- 
ceive themselves  at  liberty,  being  only  trustees  for  the 
Company — However  as  little  or  nothing  is  now  to  be 
expected  excepting  what  may  result  from  other  peoples 
Notes — I  wish  the  Directors  will  come  to  some  con- 
clusion, as  soon  as  they  can  with  propriety  respecting 
the  Balance  due  them  I  mean  by  this,  that  some  author- 
ity Should  be  some  where  vested,  in  order  to  meet  a 
final  Issue  of  my  Affairs  I  have  made  an  offer  of  all 
I  possess  to  my  Crediters  &  the  Ohio  Company. 
Balance  is  in  the  mass  of  my  Debts  &  must  share  their 
fate — Write  me  my  Dear  Sir  when  at  leasure  &  believe 
me  to  be  Sincerely  your  Friend 

&  Serv* 

Signed  Richd  Platt 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  143 


XVII. 

THE  AGREEMENT  BETWEEN  MAY  AND 

SARGENT  REGARDING  MILITARY 

WARRANTS. 

DOCUMENT 

New  York  May  3rd  1792. 

Whereas  Winthrop  Sergant  Esqr  by  an  Instrument 
Dated  at  Providence  Seventh  of  March  1788.  and 
directed  to  me  the  Subscriber  did  grant  to  Col°  John 
May  of  Boston  the  privalidge  of  Useing  his  Name  in 
settling  with  me  his  Military  Bounty  Land,  he  the 
Said  May  having  taken  in  More  then  a  seventh  part 
of  his  Agency  in  that  way. — I  Do  therefore  consent 
and  agree,  that  in  every  Dividend  of  Such  of  the  Ohio 
Companies  stock  as  shall  be  at  any  time  made  to  the 
proprietors,  the  Said  John  May  shall  have  the  privilidge 
of  Six  thousand  Acres  of  Land  Warrants  (being  placed 
in  the  Said  Sargent  Agency;)  so  far  as  Respects  the 
Dividend  of  Said  stock,  there  being  one  full  seventh 
part  of  Sargent s  Agency  paid  in  Land  Warrants.  Not- 
withstanding; and  the  agent,  in  stateing  the  several 
Claims  on  the  stock  to  be  Divided  are  hereby  auther- 
ised  to  Make  them  Out  accordingly — 

Richd  Platt 

late  Treasr  Ohio  Compy 
&  acting  as  Agent  for  Winthrop  Sargent. 


144  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XVIII-LVIL 

LETTERS  FROM  THE  CORRESPONDENCE  OF 
JOHN  MAY. 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

The  letters  are  chiefly  the  correspondence  between 
May  and  his  representative  in  Marietta  who  was 
William  Rufus  Putnam,  a  son  of  the  Director  of  the 
Ohio  Company,  General  Rufus  Putnam.  Letters  from 
Governor  Bowdoin,  Manasseh  Cutler,  and  others  are 
included.  The  routine  of  paying  taxes  and  waiting 
for  the  day  when  the  tide  of  immigration  would  set 
toward  the  Ohio  Company  lands  is  the  dominant  note 
of  these  letters.  An  occasional  comment  on  local 
politics  enlivens  the  dull  business  of  the  correspond- 
ence. The  letter  by  John  May,  October  21,  1808, 
cursed  the  embargo  in  true  Federalist  style.  The 
collection  shows  the  slow  realization  of  the  proprietors 
from  their  western  investment  and  the  causes  as  well. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  145 

DOCUMENT 
XVIII. 

Boston  April  21,  1789. 
Sir 

As  you  are  going  to  Marietta  on  the  Ohio,  WE 
pray  the  favour,  in  case  you  should  have  a  good  oppor- 
tunity, that  you  would  dispose  of  our  several  Shares 
in  the  Ohio  Company's  Lands,  which  you  know  are 
nine;  and  we  do  hereby  authorize  &  empower  you  to 
sell  and  dispose  of  them  accordingly;  provided  it  be 
for  money,  and  at  a  rate  not  less  than  what  we  agreed 
on,  about  which  you  are  fully  informed. — You  will  be 
so  good  as  to  present  our  respectful  Compliments  to 
Major  Sargent,  and  let  him  know  our  intention  to 
dispose  of  those  Shares;  &  that  we  request  the  favour 
of  his  assisting  you  for  that  purpose,  in  any  thing  in 
his  power;  which,  from  the  polite  attention  he  fre- 
quently has  manifested,  we  are  induced  to  hope  for. 

Wishing  you  Success  and  prosperity,  we  are  very 
respectfully  Sir 

Yr  most  obed'  Servte 

James  Bowdoin 
Eliza  Bowdoin 
John  May  Esqr 
P  S. 

WE  pray  the  favour  you  will  obtain  for  the  within- 
mentioned  Shares  as  much  as  you  can,  but  not  dispose 
of  them  for  less  than  two  hundred  &  twenty  five  dollars 
of  Silver  per  Share  nett:  the  purchaser  paying  every 
kind  of  charge  whatever.  We  have  understood,  that 
Shares  have  been  Sold  for  400  Such  dollars  each. 


146 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT 
XIX. 

John  May's  Return  of  proprietors  in  his  Agency  for 
the  purpose  of  Receiving  a  second  Divident  on  the 
surplus  funds  of  the  Ohio  Company 
Those  marked  thus  x  are  paid 

Boston  Feby  4th  1795 


Names  of  proprietors 

Number     Amount 
of                of 
Shares       Dividend 

X 

James  Bowdoine  &c 

5              130 

X 

Thomas  Russell 

5               130 

GO  00     CO 

X 

John  May  W.  Sergt. 

1                26 

<N  i>    o 

Benjamin  Cobb 
Wm.  Ball 

2                52 
26 

11 

Wm  Brick 

26 

ii 

John  Lucas 

26 

B 

Wm  Hoskins 

26 

b 

H*H 

Sam1  G.  Perkins 

26 

M  °O 

•*-»  TJ 

Rob*  Williams  Junr 

26 

«J   g 

Russell  Sturges 

26 

3  ^ 

Elbridge  Gerry 

26 

°& 

Henry  K.  May  in  Haven 

26 

HH 

Elisha  Ticknor 

26 

X 

Fredk  May  E.G. 

army  warrants 

John  Sprage 

00 

Wm  R.  May 

26 

Ebenr  Dorr 

26 

Ebenr  Wales 

26 

Thomas  Blake 

26 

728 

John  May  &  W.  M. 

0 

army  warrants 

James  Patterson 

2 

army  warrants 

James  Smith 

1 

army  warrants 

Jn°  May 

1 

army  warrants 

Jn°   May   Junr 

1                35  shares 

Thomas  Seward  2      2) 

3 

5  shares 

Florence  Crowley       1) 

38  Shares 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


147 


Apr.  18th,  1797 
Return  of  Shares 
in  Mays  Agency 

795 
2d  Dividend 

The  Shares  which  are  now  the  property  of  John  May — 

Fredr  May—  ) 

&  John  May  W.  M  j  Two  Shares 
James  Smith  &  James  Patterson  of  Marietta 
Owe  him.     $1200— 


Amount  brought 
over 

Jereh  Fogg 
Thomas  Odvorn 
Sam1  Tenney 


749.60 

78. 


No. 

Shares 

32 

1 

1 

1 


I  am  to  pay  him 
Army  warrants  7th  part 

Dollr" 
Cents  is  910—44  cents 


35    ®  26  Dollars 


Mem0  I  did  receive,  as  my  first  Dividend  2998.39 

«d  Dividend  is  %  is  —  749.60 

ad  6  Sharesin  Harris  & 

Sargents  Agenecy 

at  26  Doll8  \y±  Cents  156.8 


905.68 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XX. 

Boston  May  7th  1796 

Dear  Sir  T 

When  your  father  was  last  in  this  place,  I  men- 
tioned to  him  that  I  wanted  an  Agent  in  your  Country 
to  Attend  Carefully  to  all  my  affairs  in  the  Ohio  Com" 
purchase,  he  recommended  you  as  a  Suitable  person; 
and  putting  special  confidence  in  all  that  General 
Kufus  says.  I  have  thought  fit  to  make  you  my 
attourney  for  which  purpose  I  have  inclosed  a  lull 
power  properly  executed,  and  you,  to  be  so  Good  as 
to  undertake  and  Do  for  me  as  tho  you  was  transactm 
business  for  yourself — 

In  order  that  you  may  have  a  Clear  Idea  of  my 
affairs  in  your  Countrey  I  shall  detail  to  you  everything 
as  plain  as  I  Can,  &,  firstly.  I  own  one  Share  Drawn 
in  the  Name  of  John  May.  W  M.  and  one  Share  drawn 
in  the  Name,  John  May  Junr  or  Wm  Rufus  May.  I  am 
not  certain  which  of  these  Shares  was  Transfered  to 
Charles  Knowls  &  by  him  to  Skinner,  it  is  probable 
however  your  recording  Book  will  tell,  I  allso  Own  a 
house  and  Gardens  on  Campus  Martious  which  Col° 
Battelle  has  had  the  care  of.  I  think  your  father 
tould  me  there  was  a  few  Dollars  to  pay  in  order  to 
make  this  Spott  of  Land  mine  forever.  I  thought  I 
gave  your  father  money  for  this  purpose  but  he  says 
nay.  therefor  I  wish  you  to  make  such  payment  as 
will  secure  the  Land  on  which  ye  house  stand,  and  the 
Gardens.  I  expect  Col°  Battell  has  money  of  mine  in 
his  possession  for  funds  left  in  his  Care  and  for  rent 
to  Said  house  &c.  I  wish  you  to  Call  on  him  for  Settle- 
ment and  if  he  has  don  me  Justice  there  will  be  mony 
enough  to  answer  any  expence  you  may  be  at.  but  if 
you  cant  obtain  any  mony  from  him  you  will  draw  a 
Bill  on  me,  payable  at  sight  for  any  Little  expence 
you  may  be  at  on  my  ace*,— you  will  please  to  Lett  the 
house  fer  as  much  as  you  can  &  I  think  this  alone 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  149 

will  be  able  to  defray  all  the  expences — I  have  two 
Deeds  in  my  Possession  properly  executed  one  for 
James  Patterson  deceased  and  one  for  James  Smith,  but 
these  not  having  paid  fully  for  the  amount  of  their 
shares  is  the  reason  why  I  have  not  sent  them  on  to 
Marietta  and,  they  must  know  this  to  be  the  Reason 
for  I  wrote  them  both  sum  years  ago  on  the  subject 
and  sent  there  account  to  them  or  to  Col°  Battelle — 
but  Least  they  may  be  mislaid  I  will  now  give  you  a 
Coppy  of  them  Inclosed 

these  Shairs  of  Smith  &  Pattersons  you  will 
observe  were  bought  alltogether  fer  bounty  lands  and 
it  is  there  misfortune  that  a  Number  of  them  were 
not  good — there  Shares  being  purchased  in  this  way 
does  not  intitle  them  to  any  of  the  surplus  funds  as 
you  may  se  by  examining  the  accounts  of  the  Ohio 
Comy  settled  at  Philadelphia  a  Coppy  of  which  your 
father  has  in  keeping,  the  particular  ace*  I  refer 
to  is  the  statement  of  the  agents  accounts  for  the 
purpose  of  apportioning  the  Divident  to  proprietors, 
you  will  there  se  that  I  am  Agent  for  35  Shares,  that 
the  amount  of  paper  securities  paid  by  me  to  the 
treasurer,  was  24700  Dollars 

Ditto  Land  warrants  10300  D° 


35000 ) 

Doll.  6184  J  so  that  I 

the  Directors  deducted  6184  Land) 
warrant  as  not  Claimed  in  a  Dividend  \ 

received  a  dividend  on  28816.  and  it  was  never  con- 
sidered or  intended  that  I  should  pay  a  Dividend  to 
those  who  purchaced  wholey  with  Land  warrant, 
those  of  that  Class  here  are  perfectly  Sattisfied  with 
receiving  a  Deed  for  a  full  Share  of  the  Companys 
Land, — however  you  may  til  Mr  Smith  &  the  Agent 
of  Mr  Patterson  that  they  will  give  you  good  security 
for  the  payment  of  the  ballance  of  there  account.  I 


150  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

will  send  on  there  Deeds  to  you,  with  sentiments  of 
Grate  esteem,  I  am  Sir  your  friend  and  humble  servt 

J.  May 
(endorsement) 

Coppy  of  Letter  to 
Wm  Ruf us  Putnam 

May  7,  1796. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  151 

DOCUMENT  XXI. 

Marietta,  Decemr  29—1796 

I  receiv'd  your  letter  of  May  16th  1796 — enclosing 
your  power,  and  other  papers — have  delayed  answering 
it  because  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  situation 
of  your  affairs  in  this  quarter — 

Soon  after  the  receipt  of  your  letter  I  applied  to  Col° 
Battalle  for  a  settlement,  which  I  have  not  beem  able 
to  effect  yet  Col°  Battalle  has  many  of  those  articles 
on  hand  which  he  receipt'd  to  you  for — and  wishes  to  re- 
turn them  I  shall  wait  you  instructions  on  the  subject — 
The  rents  for  the  house  have  mostly  expended  upon — 
at  that  it  is  in  a  very  decay'd  situation — the  foundation 
being  entirely  rotten — I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  is 
not  worth  repairing — my  Father  has  advanced  money 
for  the  garden — which  I  have  not  been  abl  to  get  in 
order  to  dischare  it — 

I  inform'd  Mr  Smith  as  you  directed  concerning  his 
Share  of  Land — and  Patterson  also — since  that  Smith 
has  brought  an  action  in  law  against  you — a  copy  of 
the  declaration  I  now  Send  you  I  want  your  advice 
and  direction  on  the  Subject.  I  have  spoken  to  an 
Attorney — a  Mr  Meigs — who  will  assist  us  in  the 
business.  In  order  to  support  this,  money  will  be 
wanted;  it  can't  be  raised  here  nor  do  I  know  of  an 
opportunity  to  draw  on  you  you'll  be  obliged  to  intrust 
it  by  the  Mail  if  you  have  not  a  better  mode — if  you 
think  proper — Mr  Smith  Contemplates  on  the  resid- 
uary funds  I  immagin — my  Father  has  been  twice 
attacked  in  this  way — one  cause  was  referd  the  other 
is  now  pending  before  the  General  Court  of  the  Terri- 
tory— next  March  term  you'll  be  called  upon  to  defend 
—against  Smith — before  that  I  shall  expect  your 
instructions — My  Father  presents  his  respects  to  you 
Sir —  Sir  I  have  the  Honour  to 

be  your  most  obed*  Serv* 

W.  Rufus  Putnam 


152  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

P  S  The  Laws  here  prescribe  that  where  cases  are 
similar  the  trial  of  one  may  determine  both — Patterson 
Heirs  rest  their  claim — to  the  residuary  funds — on 
Smith's  Success  in  order  to  destroy  their  claim  to  more 
land  and  money  than  they  have  purchased  by  their 
powers — it  will  be  necessary  to  make  i£  appear  that 
those  powers  you  mention  were  rejected  agreeably  to 
your  Statement  by  the  best  authority  you  can  procure 
—and  the  powers  returned, 
(addressed) 

Col°  John  May,  Boston  in  the  State  of 
Massachusett 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  153 


DOCUMENT  XXII. 

Marietta  July  14th  1797. 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favour  of  May  25th  came  safe  to  hand  as  did 
yours  of  February  21st  with  those  papers  enclosed, 
and  the  bank  Note  of  twenty  dollars,  timely  enough 
for  the  court — the  reason  why  I  did  not  write  was  that 
I  wished  to  wait  Smith's  movements  till  after  the 
Court — in  such  cases  the  Law  requires  to  advertize 
in  the  public  prints — which  he  did  not  do  'till  after 
March  term — At  June  term  it  was  called  and  continued 
—and  so  it  rest  now — Your  last  came  to  Marietta  in 
my  absence  up  the  Muskingum — Surveying — and  it 
has  not  been  in  my  power  to  answer  it  untill  now — 
With  respect  to  Col°  Battelle,  we  have  adjusted  the 
account,  and  those  Articles  which  he  returned  are  still 
at  his  house,  but  I  shall  dispose  of  them  in  a  short 
time,  to  the  best  advantage — In  regard  to  Smith's 
law  suit  the  advice  of  Mr  Meigs  is,  that  as  Smith  has 
sued  for  Residuary  Money,  upon  the  face  of  your  certifi- 
cates it  will  be  best  to  show  payment  by  the  way  of 
an  Acct  for  the  land  warrants  &  your  services  as  Agent 
— which  the  practice  of  our  Courts  admits  of — which 
we  will  substantiate  in  part  by  the  rejected  powers  in 
my  hands — and  Should  the  Jury  find  the  ballance  in 
your  favour  you'll  recover  Damages  equal  to  the 
ballance  with  Cost  of  suit — and  thus  you  will  be  made 
good — for  your  advances  on  Smith's  Acct — it  is 
point  undetermined  whether  the  fee  of  the  whole 
share  does  not  Vest  in  Smith  it  being  granted  to  you 
only  in  trust  to  convey  to  him;  but  as  the  title  to  the 
land,  is  not  the  Object  of  the  present  Suit,  nor  will  be 
affected  by  it,  if  you  could  recover  damages  equal  to 
your  claims  against  Smith — it  will  perhaps  save  a 
cross  action,  and  a  great  deal  of  vexation — I  do  not 
know  that  Smith  has  really  taken  possession  of  any 


164  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

of  the  land  except  the  fifth  division  or  100  acre  lot 
which  he  now  lives  upon-Your  account  must  be 
attested  to  before  a  Magistrate  who  will  certify  the 
same— accompanied  with  a  ceruficate  from  the  Pro- 
thonotary  of  the  County— that  he  is  a  Magistrate— and 
a  certificate  also  from  the  Governor  that  he  is  Pro- 
thonotary  of  the  County— this  the  Practice  of  our 
Court  requires— the  trial  will  be  put  off  till  1  hear  & 
am  instructed  from  you— Your  Division  Deed  ought 
to  be  recorded  here— in  order  to  make  good  the  title— 
the  Sketch  enclosed  shows  the  N08  drawn  to  your  shares— 
the  large  divisions  are  not  yet  Survey 'd  tho  they  are 
of  a  midling  quality — as  to  their  value  I  can't  deter- 
mine money  is  scarce  here  people  buy  very  little  land 
unseen — some  Shares  are  worth  1500  Dollars  others 
not  more  than  7  or  800 — from  the  situation  of  yours 
I  should  suppose  them  of  the  middle  quality — Mr 
Meigs  advises  to  a  continuance  of  the  suit  if  possible 
untill  after  the  trial  of  two  causes  of  the  same  nature, 
which  are  now  in  Court — Should  they  not  succeed  per- 
haps Smith  May  be  brought  to  terms  with  justice  to 
himself  &  you — The  twenty  dollars  you  sent,  with  what 
arises  from  the  sale  of  your  goods  &  house  rent  I  shall 
pass  to  your  credit  as  you  directed — you  may  rest 
assured,  I'll  not  fail  to  do  the  best  for  you  I  can — my 
Father  sends  his  Compliments  to  you — we  shall  be 
happy  to  see  you  next  Spring  or  before — 
Dear  Sir  I  have  the  Honor 
to  be  your 

Ob*  Servent 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam. 
Col  John  May — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  155 

DOCUMENT  XXIII. 

Marietta  August  2nd  1797. 
Dear  Sir 

Your  letter  of  the  3,rd  of  July  was  handed  me  by 
Mr  Boothby  yesterday  in  which  you  mention  having 
written  in  February  &  in  May — both  of  which  I  reed 
as  you  are  informed  before  now  I  trust — by  my  letter 
of  the  fourteenth  of  July  last — sent  by  the  post,  in 
which  I  represented  you  affairs  in  their  true  light — 
The  advertizement  you  refer  to  in  your  last  is  the  same 
I  mentioned  in  mine — Smith  send  out  an  Original 
Attachment  upon  your  house  &  land  which  the  Law 
requires  he  should  advertize — this  is  the  advertise- 
ment you  heard  of — Now  Sir  if  Smith  moves  against 
you — the  house  and  land  stand  charged  with  the 
debt — unless  otherwise  paid — I  wish  you  to  under- 
stand the  business — you'll  therefore  permit  me  to 
explain — the  Process  in  this  Country  commences, 
cither  by  a  Summons  or  an  attachment  upon  the 
Person  or  Property  either  Personal  or  Real  now  in 
consequence  of  your  not  residing  here  Smith  attached 
your  house  &c — which  is  in  no  danger  of  being  sold 
at  public  Sale  untill  he  gets  Judment  against  you — 
which  I  rather  think  he'll  not  obtain,  you  may  there- 
fore rest  easy  on  that  Score — for  I  assure  now  as  I  did 
in  my  last — I'll  not  be  wanting  in  your  business — to 
best  of  my  abilities — I  wish  to  hear  from  you  in 
answer  to  my  letter  of  July  14 — I  hope  you  will  not 
fail  to  follow  the  directions  therein  if  you  have  not 
receiv'd  it  let  me  know  soon  that  I  may  write  again  on 
the  subject — 

with  Esteem  I 

remain  you  Obed*  Serv* 
W.  Rufus  Putnam 
Col°  May 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XXIV. 

Boston  Aug*  24th  1797. 

Benjamin  Talmage  Esq: 

Sir 

If  you  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  lay  your  hand 
on  Richard  Platts  Property,  which  I  have  no  doubt 
you  will  be  able  to  do,  in  process  of  time,  I  beg  you  to 
be  so  good  as  to  take  effectual  measures  to  secure  for 
me  the  Indent  money  due  from  him  to  me  Amounting 
to  $3399.25  as  pr  a  settlement  of  the  Ohio  Companys 
accounts  made  &  done  with  him  at  N  York  by  the 
Directors  &  Agents  as  will  fully  appear  in  the  Inden* 
Ace*  Np  6 — now  in  your  possession — as  it  is  probable 
this  request  is  made  to  you  prior  to  any  of  the  other 
agents  I  beg  you  to  give  me  the  prefference,  and  let 
mine  be  the  first  secured,  if  the  generall  power  I  have 
sined  to  you  will  not  be  sufficient  I  will  give  you  another 
full  power  whenever  you  shall  think  it  necessary — I  am 
Sir  with  sentiments  of  great  Esteem 
Yr  Most  Obed.  humble  Serv* 

(signed) 

John  May 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  157 


DOCUMENT  XXV. 
To  all  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come  Be  it  Known 

That  I  John  May  of  Boston  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts Agent  for  certain  Associates  in  the  Ohio 
Company  in  execusion  of  said  trust,  in  pursuance  of 
the  Aticles  of  Association  of  said  Company;  and  in 
Consideration  of  Five  Shillings  to  me  paid  do  hereby 
grant  and  Convey  to  James  Smith  of  the  County  of 
Washington  in  the  Norwest  Terratory  one  of  the  said 
Associates,  his  Heirs  &  Assigns  forever — the  Following 
Lots  of  Land  viz*  Eight  Acres  N°  175  Three  Acres 
N°  681  One  Hundred  and  sixty  Acres  N°  833  One 
hundred  Acres  N°  313  Six  hundred  and  fourty  acres 
N°  3  of  the  fourth  Town  in  the  twelvth  range — Two 
hundred  and  Sixty  two  acres  in  miles  square  N°  9  of 
the  fourth  Town  in  twelvth  range  as  the  same  are 
further  described  in  the  Books  of  said  Company  being 
one  full  Share  of  Land  (including  House  lot  N-  78 
with  the  several  Lots  aforesaid  Drawn  for  said  share 
in  the  name  of  the  aforesaid  James  Smith)  in  Two 
several  tracts  of  Land  granted  to  Rufus  Putnam 
Manassah  Cutler  Robert  Oliver  and  Grifin  Greene  in 
trust  for  the  Ohio  Company  of  Associates  by  Two 
several  Letters  Patent  Executed  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States  under  their  great  seal  bearing  date 
he  the  tenth  day  of  May  in  year  of  our  Lord  One 
Thousand  Seven  hundred  and  Ninety  two  which  said 
two  tracts  of  Land  are  situated  in  the  County  of 
Washington  in  the  Terratory  of  the  United  States 
norwest  of  the  river  Ohio  and  in  that  part  Thereof 
Purchased  by  the  said  Company  of  Associates  one  of 
which  Tracts  contains  besides  the  several  lots  &  parcels 
of  Land  reserved  and  appropriated  for  particular 
purposes — Seven  Hundred  and  Fifty  Thousand  acres, 
and  the  other  of  said  Tracts  Contains  Two  Hundred 


158 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


and  fourteen  Thousand  Two  hundred  and  eighty  five 
Acres  as  by  reference  to  said  letters  patent  will  more 
at  large  appear- 
To  Have  and  to  hold  the  said  several  lots  or  One 
Share  hereby  granted  with  the  appertinances  to  him 
the  said  James  Smith  his  Heirs  and  assigns  forever—- 
In witness  whereof  I  the  said  Jn°  May 
Signed  Sealed      have  set  my  hand  and  seal  this  six- 
And  Did  In         teenth  day  of  April  in  the  year  of  our 
Presence  of          Lord  one  Thousand  seven  hundred 
and  ninety  Eight — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  159 


DOCUMENT  XXVI. 

Boston,  Apl  14,  1799. 
William  R.  Putnam  Esqr 

Sir,  I  duly  recd  your  Letters  of  January  &  February 
last  and  note  the  contents. — I  am  happy  it  meets  your 
approbation,  my  Sending  you  the  power  of  acting  for 
a  number  of  Gentlemen  who  have  now  authorised  you 
to  act  and  do  for  them — This  Instrument  I  now  inclose 
you  it  contains  63  Shares — I  have  enclosed  you  ye 
following  papers — Abel  Sharons  deed  from  E.  Ticknor 
— Eben  Wales  deed  Sargent  to  Bolland,  Boland  to 
Newman  and  Newman  to  Avery  Asael  Bigelow,  S.  G. 
Perkins  to  John  May.  a  note  of  hand  against  Joseph 
Ransford  our  £8.2.0.  and  a  Letter  for  Yourself  all  of 
which  I  hope  will  arrive  safe  at  Marietta — These 
deeds  are  Sent  on  for  the  purpose  of  having  them 
recorded  and  wish  to  have  them  returned  as  Soon  as 
Convenient  I  observe  by  the  account  you  Sent  me 

D.       e 

Some  time  Since  that  you  have  or  ought  to  have  260.78 
of  my  money  in  your  hands,  which  if  there  is  any  of  it 
remains  uncolleted  must  be  called  in,  and  with  it  as 
far  as  it  will  go  pay  the  Taxes  that  are  levied  and  your- 
self for  the  troble — but  least  there  should  not  be 
neough  (for  we  cannot  tell  here  how  much  a  Share 
is  Taxed)  I  have  sent  you  Fifty  Dollars  in  Bank 
money  which  I  suppose  will  be  more  than  Sufficient 
for  every  purpose  but  as  you  purpose  coming  to  New 
England  this  Season,  we  will  then  Settle  all  things 
Should  anything  prevent  your  coming  this  way  you 
will  please  to  write  me  particularly  and  inclose  me  your 
account  that  I  may  Shew  it  to  my  constituants 

With  respect  to  my  house  at  Campus  Martius  the 
affairs  with  pattersons  Heirs  and  all  other  matters  and 
things  respecting  me  in  your  country  I  leave  intirely 
to  your  judgment  &  Discretion  to  act  and  do  as  you 


160  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

may  think  best  for  my  Interest — I  believe  I  have 
already  informed  you  that  the  Shares  which  I  call 
mine  are  drawn  in  the  names  of  John  May  John  May 
Junr  I  have  now  purchased  S.  G.  Perkins  Share  make 
me  owner  of  3  Shares  in  all — I  have  in  my  possession 
a  true  copy  of  the  draughts  and  doings  of  the  agents 
at  Marietta  1st  Feby  '96  I  am  directed  to  have  it 
printed  but  I  find  it  incompleat — for  it  does  not  con- 
tain the  Range,  Township  and  Mile  Square  of  the 
following  Drafts  Viz  8  acre  3  acre,  House  lot  160 
Acres  &  100  acres  therefore  if  'tis  possible  I  wish  you 
to  send  me  the  nescessary  Information  that  I  may 
compleat  the  Business — 

In  addition  to  the  above  mentioned  papers  inclose 
is  a  Deed  of  Mathew  Parks  which  he  has  sent  you, 
the  expence  of  Recording  &c  you  will  please  charge  to 
my  account  &c  &c — 

Memorandum  of  Papers  Sent  by  Post  to  Marietta 

Apr  15,  1799. 

Viz.    A  Generall  Power  of  attoy  to  Wm  R.  Putnam 
John  May  to  W.  R.  P.  a  Letter  containing 
150$  an  other  Letter  to  Wm  R.  Putnam 
Deeds  to  Record     Abel  Shermen 
Ebenr  Wales 
Sam1  G.  Perkins 
Asahel  Bigalow 
Leond  Boland 
Winthrop  Sergent 
Henry  Newman 
a  Note  on  J.  P.  Ransford  8.. 2— 

Memorandum  of  John  Brown  about  Waldo 
Mathew  Mark     1 
Eliphalet  Thorp  ) 
Boston     July  22d  1799 

d°      Wm  R.  Putnam  Esqr  John  May  Junr  Deed  to 
record 

John  May  J/2  Share 
Wm  Marshall  Jr— 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  161 

DOCUMENT  XXVII. 

Marietta  Decembr  11th  1799 
Dear  Sir— 

I  herein  enclose  to  you  four  deeds — Viz — to  John 
May  John  May  jr  Wm  Marshall  &  Crocker  Sampson 
they  all  have  been  recorded  and  certified — and  trust 
they  will  all  come  safe  to  your  hands — the  deed  to 
Sampson — I  received  at  Worcester  in  your  letter— 
the  Registered  fees  are  marked  upon  the  deed — 76 
cents  the  postage  to  Worcester  25  cents — all  making 
101  cents  which  I  shall  charge  to  you — I  called  upon 
Col°  Battle  and  have  negotiated  the  business  with 
him  in  the  way  we  talked  of — when  I  was  with  you — 
the  note  and  interest  amounts  to  160  dollars — inter- 
est to  be  at  six  per  cent  to  be  paid  annually — the  whole 
to  be  paid  within  three  years  from — Decembr  9th 
1799 — I  wish  you  to  send  the  deed  for  those  two  shares 
—belong  to  Pattersons  heirs  &  the  names  of  the  heirs 
are  Elizabeth-Easter,  William  and  Margaret — all  chil- 
dren to  James  Patterson — they  say  the  money  shall  be 
paid  when  the  deed  is  produced  hoever  I  shall  hold  the 
deed,  'till  the  money  is  paid — when  paid  I'll  pass  it 
to  your  account — they  settle  agreeably  the  stated 
account  I  showd  you  last  summer — $85  &  some  cents — 
the  proprietors  of  Wild  land  living  at  Providence  have 
put  them  upon  sale — in  manner  and  form  like  unto 
your  power — and  committed  them  entirely  to  Benjn 
T  Gilman — I  should  be  happy  to  from  you  and  how 
the  business  progresses — with  respect  to  the  power — 
in  the  power  for  paying  taxes — Jesse  Daggit  signes 
for  one  share — Administrator  to  Estate  of  Jonathan 
Williams  Now  so  there  are  three  shares  in  the  name 
of  Jonan  Williams  I  wish  to  know  which  share  he  still 


162  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

retains — my  father  presents  his  compliments  to  you 
and  yours — 

be  so  good  Sir  as  to  remember  me  to  Mw  May  & 
Family — I  had  an  agreeable  journey — home — found 
all  well — 

I  am  Sir  your  most 

Obt  Servt 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam- 
Col  May— 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


163 


DOCUMENT  XXVIII. 

Col°  John   May  of  Boston  to  Wm  Rufus  Putnam  of 
Marietta  Dr. 

To  the  taxes  upon  the  land  of 
the  following  persons  for  1800 


1 

Proprietors  names-            , 

i 

1    !| 

I        t|S 

«§!         o« 

45  5,          •« 

g®3      g&S, 

Amount  in 
Dollars  &  c  — 

Remarks 

David  Pierce  Jun'        t 

>             11.75 

14.65       5.00 

31.40 

David  Pierce  Sen         < 

I              9.40 

11.72       4.00 

25.12 

Asael  Bigelow                : 

/2            1.17 

1.96        1.00 

4.13 

Stephen  Cook                ] 

L               2.35 

2.93       1.00 

6.28 

Samuel  Levett              * 

J              7.05 

8.79       3.00 

18.84 

Paid 

William  Dall                 ] 

L              2.35 

2.93       1.00 

6.28 

John  C.  Jones               t 

>            11.75 

14.65       5.00 

31.40 

paid 

Crocker  Sampson          '. 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

paid 

John  Coats 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

Nathaniel  Dean 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

Ebenezer  Wales 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

paid 

W"  Pearce 

4.70 

5.86          .00 

12.56 

John  May 

4.70 

5.86       2.00 

12.56 

paid 

Do        Do                 ! 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

Russel  Sruges 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

Eldrige  Gerry 

4.70 

5.86          .00 

12.56 

paid 

Ebenr  Dorr 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

paid 

Lydia  Haskins 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

Joseph  Waldo 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

John  Stanton 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

Caleb  Champney 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

Mathew  Park 

2.35 

2.93         .00 

6.28 

paid 

Edward  Whitman 

2.35 

2.93          .00 

6.28 

paid 

Eleazer  Baker               1 

l^          3.52 

4.40          .50 

9.42 

paid 

John  Stratton               j 

\>/2          3.52 

4.40         .50 

9.42 

has  Straton  1^ 

or  ^  only 

Benj.  Cobb                    \ 

I              4.70 

5.86       2.00 

12.56 

paid 

John  L.  Sulivan            i 

5             11.75 

14.65       5.00 

31.40 

I    have    put    5 

share  here  paid 

Leonard  N.  Borland 

L               2.35 

2.93        1.00 

6.28 

not  paid 

Moses  Everitt 

L               2.35 

2.93        1.00 

6.28 

paid 

Elizabeth  Bowdoin 

5              7.05 

8.79       3.00 

18.84 

paid 

Elizabeth  Temple         '. 

5              7.05 

8.79       3.00 

18.84 

paid 

James  Bowdoin             J 

5              7.05 

8.79       3.00 

18.84 

paid 

Joseph  Stephens 

t               2.35 

2.93        1.00 

6.28 

Abel  Sherman 

I               2.35 

2.93        1.00 

6.28 

paid 

164  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


ThosWalcutt  1  2.35         2.93       1.00         6.28 

Jessie  Dagget  1 

Wm  Marshall  1 


Jessie  Dagget  1  2.35         2.93       1.00         6.28 

shall 


$399.77 


Jessey  Dagget 
signed  for  one 
drawn  in  the 
name  of  Jon- 
Williams  —  J. 
W.  has  two 
shares  which  is 
it — I  am  to 
pay  for 


to  Ballance  on  Thos  Russells  shares    2.94          See  the  letter- 


Total $402.71 

Per  Contra  Cr  by  money  expected  of  James  Patterson .     85.05 

$317.66  ballance  due- 
Marietta  March  26th  Errors  Except*  Wm  Rufus  Putman 
1800 

Marietta  March  25th  1800- 
Dear  Sir — 

I  wrote  you  last  winter,  but  have  not  been  so  happy 
as  to  receive  an  answer  yet — the  subject  of  that  letter 
was — that  Patersons  Heirs  were  ready  to  pay  the 
ballance  due  you  and  wished  you  to  send  on  a  Deed— 
the  Names  of  the  Heirs  are — Elizabeth — Esther 
Margaret  and  William  If  you  have  not  sent  it  on  I  wish 
you  would  by  this  opertunity — this  letter  will  be 
handed  to  you  by  my  brother  Edwin  Putnam — The 
taxes  upon  land  are  much  larger  this  year  than  the 
last  owing  to  the  peculiar  situation  of  our  County— 
between  the  adoption  of  laws  and  the  making  of  them— 
the  laws  adopted  by  the  Governour  &  Judges — applies 
the  money  in  each  County  to  its  own  use — the  law  made 
by  the  late  Legislature — applies  all  the  money  raised 
upon  wild  land  to  the  use  of  the  Territory  generally— 
the  County  tax  for  1800  was  laid  before  the  law  for 
the  Territorial  tax  was  made — therefore — there  is 
this  year — a  County  tax  &  a  territorial  tax — the  County 
tax  is  as  last  year — the  Territorial  tax  will  be  it  is 
supposed  25cts  upon  a  hundred  acres — you'll  recollect 
that  when  I  was  at  Boston  I  mentioned  that  John  L. 
Sulivan  signed  the  power  of  attorney  for  (%.  of  five) 
shares  drawn  in  the  name  of  Tho8  Russell — you 
Directed  me  to  pay  for  the  five  shares  althoe  you  nor 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  165 

I  had  not  received  any  more  than  to  pay  for  %  of  5 
shares — 

the  tax  upon  five  shares  @  2.35  =$11.75 
D°       of  5  D°  8.81 


ballance  due —  2.94    ' 

if  you  should  request  it  I  shall  make  out  a  statement 
of  last  year  taxes  with  the  Vouchers — but  as  that 
account  was  settled  last  year  except  the  small  sum 
above  I  shall  let  it  rest  unless  requested  by  you  or 
some  of  the  Subscribers  I  herein  enclose  to  you  an 
account  for  this  year — wish  you  to  pay  the  money  to 
my  brother — whose  receipt  shall  be  to  you  as  my 
own — The  Settlements  near  us  increase  very  slowly — 
the  Military  land  and  the  public  land  to  the  Westward 
are  settled  very  fast — there  is  more  land  for  market 
than  money  or  purchasers — It  would  have  been  well 
if  the  proprietors  of  the  Ohio  Company  had  put  their 
land  upon  sale  five  years  ago — but  the  longer  it  is 
delayed  the  worse  it  will  be — the  plans  of  the  Ohio 
Company's  land  are  not  compleat — owing  to  urgency 
of  the  public  survey's — 

I  am  Dear  Sir  with  sentiments  of  Esteem 

Your  obt.  Hon  Servt. 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 

Col  May — please  to  present  my  respects  to  your  lady 
and  Family — 


166  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XXIX. 

Marietta  July  24th  1800 
Dear  Sir 

I  received  your  favour  dated  May  19th  by  my 
Brother  with  the  money  &c  am  sorry  to  hear  of  the 
remissness  of  the  proprietors,  it  does  not  affect  me 
any  otherwise  than — that  I  wish  well  to  their  interest 
here — and  am  certain  it  will  suffer  if  the  taxes  are  not 
paid  in  time — the  loss  will  fall  entirely  upon  them- 
selves— however  rather  than  see  the  sacrifice  of  property 
that  must  unavoidably  be  made  if  the  land  is  sold— 
was  I  in  circumstances  equal  to  it,  I  would  advance 
the  money  for  the  taxes  and  trust  to  their  paying  it 
but  that  is  not  in  my  power — It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  taxes  will  not  be  so  large  hereafter — We  have  a 
young  legislature  and  like  other  young  things — it 
wants  experience — but  for  our  consolation  our  Country 
is  filling  up  very  fast — the  public  lands  are  all  for 
sale  at  a  moderate  price — these  things  all  prevent 
the  sale  of  the  Ohio  Company's  purchase — but  add 
materially  to  the  value  of  it — you  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  situation  of  our  purchase — it  has  on  the  S  E— 
the  Ohio — which  is  lined  with  inhabitants  on  the 
Virginia  Shore — to  the  East  it  has  the  Seven  Ranges 
which  are  now  for  sale  and  are  settling — which  con- 
nects us — in  settlement  even  with  the  Eastern  States— 
thoe  rather  extensive — to  the  North  public  &  Military 
land  on  which  there  are  a  number  already  &  daily 
increasing — to  Westward  the  settlements  upon  the 
Scioto — Miami  &c — that  this  is  quite  an  extensive 
country — of  course — the  land  must  very  soon  rise  in 
value  after  the  other  lands  are  sold  &  settled — beside 
such  an  extent  of  Country  becoming  private  property 
liable  to  taxation  the  proportion  of  the  expence  of  the 
Government  will  be  very  small  upon  100  acre  except 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  167 

for  making  roads  &c — which  by  the  by  will  add  more 
to  the  land  than  the  tax — yes  double — 
I  enclose  to  you  William  Marshalls  deed  which  has 
been  recorded  the  Registers  fees  are  marked  on  the 
Deed — 58  Cents  which  I  have  charged  you  with — I 
have  also  credited  you  with  the  152  Cents  mentioned 
in  your  last — this  has  been  a  very  fine  season  for 
English  grain  and  grass — our  country  abounds  with 
produce  wheat  @  % — Rye  @  % — Indian  Corn  @  % 
—the  merchants  in  this  town  are  building  a  small 
vessel,  which  it  is  contemplated  to  load — with  produce 
for  the  New  Orlean  or  West  India  Trade — what  should 
you  think  of  seeing  three  or  four  Vessels  upon  the 
stocks  on  the  banks  of  the  much  famed  Muskingum — 
Should  it  succeed  to  our  wishes  I  think  the  time  is 
not  far  distant — timber  plenty — iron  cheap — business 
in  abundance — labour  in  proportion  to  Merchantdize — 
Our  Settlements  are  usually  healthy — 
I  am  Sir  your  most 
Ob4  Hon  Serv* 

Wm  Ruf  us  Putnam- 
Col0  Jn°  May— 


168  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XXX. 

Marietta  June  12th  1801- 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  of  March  30 —  inclosing  a  deed  to  I.  Nye 
&c  came  safe  to  Marietta,  as  did  your  other  of  April 
29th  inclosing  Mr  Ticknor's  deed — which  has  been 
recorded,  and  now  I  return  it  the  office  fees  are  marked 
on  the  back  with  pensil  figures  58  Cents  the  postage  on 
the  letter  was  50  Cents — which  I  shall  charge  you  in 
account — and  also  shall  credit  you  50  dollars  for  I 
Nye  Deed — I  have  stated  the  taxes  for  the  present 
year — the  reason  why  the  taxes  are  more  on  one  share 
than  another  is  that  each  lot  is  taxed  according  to  the 
quality — this  was  the  case  last  year — but  supposing 
that  a  whole  share  would  be  taxed  as  one  tract — I 
stated  to  you  the  taxes — as  if  all  the  land  had  been 
3rd  rate — by  which  I  lost  15  or  20  dollars — but  as  the 
burying  has  passed  by  111  not  recall  it  the  taxes  for 
this  year  become  due  the  first  of  August— 
the  state  of  our  settlements  is  very  little  alterd  for  two 
years  except  the  natural  increase  in  population  and 
cultivation  which  is  very  great — some  have  large 
barns  which  were  well  stored  with  wheat  hay  &c— 
Our  market  is  better  this  spring  than  usual — Our 
Merchants — last  year  built  and  freighted  a  vessel  of 
100  tons  from  Marietta — and  it  is  expected  that  in  a 
few  days — the  keels  of  two  other  vessels  will  be  laid— 
one  of  200  Tons  the  100 — our  fields  of  wheat  promise 
a  plentiful  harvest — althoe  the  season  has  been  very 
wet — Emigrants  are  few  into  the  Companys  purchase- 
but  exceed  any  thing  to  be  conceivd  of,  into  the  Military 
and  public  lands — thus  encircled  with  extensive  settle- 
ments the  period  is  fast  approaching  when  the  attention 
of  settlers  will  fix  on  our  purchase — the  land  will  sell 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


169 


for  a  liberal  price  and  the  wood  top'd  hill  become  a 
pleasant  piloe 

I  am  Sir  with 

sentiments  of  the  highest  respect 
Your  Ob  Servt 
Wm  Ruf  us  Putnam 
Col  Jn°  May 

Statement  of  Taxes  upon  land  lying  in  the  County  of 
of  Washington  North  west  Territory,  and  belonging 
to  the  following  persons — for  the  year  1801 — by  Wm 
Rufus  Putnam  to  Col  Jn°  May 


N« 
Shi 


flerritorial 
Tax 


Road 
Tax 


Commission  Amount 


3 

John  May                      $6.03       $3.02 

$3.00 

$12.05 

2 

Elbridge  Gerry               4.05         2.03 

2  — 

8.08 

1 

Eben'  Dorr                     2.01         1.01 

1  — 

4.02 

1 

John  Stanton                  2.01         1.01 

1  — 

402 

1 

Matthew  Parke              2.01         1.01 

1  — 

4.02 

4| 

5 

Thomas  Russell            10.79         5.39 

5  — 

21.18 

a 
rt 

3 

Elizabeth  Bowdoin         6.55         3.28 

3  — 

12.83 

1 

3 

Elizabeth  Temple           6.23         3.12 

3  — 

12.35 

0) 

3 

James  Bowdoin               6.03         3.02 

3  — 

12.05 

8d 

Caleb  Champney           2.03         1.02 

1  — 

4.05 

MMJ 

O  o 

Joseph  Waldo                 2.01         1.01 

1—  - 

4.02 

JQ  -4-> 

.2  •** 

Abel  Sherman                 2.21 

.11 

1  — 

4.32 

William  Marshall           2.19 

.10 

I  — 

4.29 

1  1 

John  C.  Jones               10.08 

.04 

5  — 

20.12 

O  et 

Benjm  Cobb                    4.04         t 

.02 

2  — 

8.06 

•^ 

»H                . 

Joseph  Stephens             2.01 

.01 

1  — 

4.02 

§, 

Ebenr  Wales                   2.19 

.10 

1  — 

4.29 

• 

y* 

Samuel  Adams               2.68 

.34 

1.33 

5.35 

*8 

Hugh  Henderson            2.21 

.11 

1  — 

4.32 

M 

John  Coats                      2.01 

.01 

1  — 

4.02 

William  Doll                  2.01 
Jonathan  Williams         2.01 

.01 
.01 

1  — 
1  — 

4.02 
4.02 

•  Credit  by  bal- 
lance    of    30 

Thomas  Walcott           2.19 

.10 

1  — 

4.29 

dollars     after 

Russell  Sturgis                2.03 
Christopher  Marshall    2.21 

.02 
.11 

1  — 
1  — 

4.05    ' 
4.32 

paying  tax  on 
the    Military 

Moses  Everitt                2.01         1.01 

1  — 

4.02 

land  &c    two 

^  dollars. 

Deduct 


for  Jn»  Coates 


Marietta  June  12th  1801 


180.18 


Wm  Rufus  Putnam— 


170  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XXXI. 

Boston  Sep*  18th  1801- 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  12  June  came  duely  to  hand  the  rea- 
son of  my  not  answering  it  sooner  was  to  give  time 
for  the  proprietors  to  pay  in  theire  Taxes  in  doing 
which  they  have  Moved  but  Slowley.  I  have  however 
at  Length  Collected  all  on  the  Memorandum  you 

$    c 

sent  me — Except  B.  Cobb     2  Shares  8.  6 

Sam1  Adams     1#  5.35 

and  Hugh  Henderson     1  4  32 

117.73 

my  own  3  Shares  which  you  undoubtedly  paid 

Sum  time  ago — is    $12.5  1 

and  50$  I.  Neys  Deed  62.  5 

which  I  have  chargd  you       50.  J 

$79.78 

This  Sum  I  deduct  from  the  foot  of  the 

$      c 

memorandum  you  sent  me  which  is  180.18  and 
leaves  a  ballance  of  $100.40 

Mr.  Edward  Whitman  wishes  to  be  considered  as 
belonging  to  your  Agency  and  has  accordingly 
paid  me  twelve  Dollars  86 

TOO  12.86 

113.26 

he  says  that  2$.8c  of  this  money  is  Due  to  D.  Wood- 
bridge  Esqr  the  residue  10.78  is  to  pay  Tax  N°  2  &  3. 
I  call  this  last  Tax  N°  3 — in  future  I  wish  you  to 
denominate  the  Tax  by  the  Number.  I  am  not  a 
little  surprised  that  theire  is  no  Greater  demand  for 
our  Land,  while  they  are  settleing  on  both  our  falanks 
&  in  the  rear,  the  time  however  will  soon  come  when 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


171 


theire  will  be  a  demand  for  the  Land  in  our  purchase, 
and  Other  Settlers  besides  those  you  make  a  Nights 
&  on  Sundays,  which  you  are  pleased  to  call  the 
natural  increase  in  popilation  will  come  and  demand 
the  Shares  paying  the  cash  for  the  Same. 
I  expected  your  farmes  would  yeald  abundantly  that 
theire  would  be  a  demand  for  all  you  raise  theire  for 
your  Marketts  growing  better  doth  not  surprise  me 
they  will  Grow  Better  every  year  but  it  is  not  best 
they  should  rise  too  rapid  while  the  poor  Setters  are 
Comeing  out — I  have  bot  the  best  of  Flour  in  your 
country  for  one  Crown  &  2d  but  I  suppose  it  is  more 
there. 

(To  Wm  R.  Putnam. 
Marietta) 


172  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XXXII. 

Marietta  July  15th  1802 
Dear  Sir 

The  foregoing  statement  will  enable  you  to  collect 
from  the  several  proprietors  the  money  mentioned, 
the  division  mentioned  has  arisen  from  this  circum- 
stance the  law  for  levying  a  road  tax  could  not  be  put 
into  execution  I  have  enclosed  you  own  taxes  as  others 
for  the  sake  of  regularity  in  my  accounts — I  have  not  been 
able  to  get  a  farthing  of  Interest  money  from  Battle  yet 
—the  mortgage  expires  next  fall — shall  I  sue  it  up?— 
application  has  been  made  to  me  for  an  160  acre  lot 
drawn  in  the  name — Perkins  now  belonging  to  you— 
400  dollars  has  been  offered  for  it  100  in  the  fall — the 
other  in  yearly  payments  of  100  dollars  each  with 
interest — secured  upon  the  land  by  mortgage — should 
you  feel  inclined  to  sell — and  would  empower  me  to 
do  it  (or  send  in  a  deed — (which  by  the  by  you  cant  do 
for  as  there  are  two  appliants — and  not  yet  deter- 
mined who  ought  to  have  the  claim  of  purchas — I  cant 
transmitt  a  name  to  you) — you'll  have  no  need  of 
sending  money  for  this  year — the  general  power  is  so 
circuitous  that  I  prefer  direct  ones — with  restrictions  if 
you  please — (say  to  notice  you  of  price — and  not  convey 
till  directions  received — )  the  offer  made  you  I  think 
generous — our  settlement  progress  modirately — but 
the  County  will  probable  settle  eventually — 

I  formerly  paid  taxes  for  the  following  persons  but 
as  I  have  receiv'd  neither  mony  or  directions — presume 
they  are  paid  some  other  way — A  Biglow — Stephen 
Cook — Crocker  Sampson  William  Pierce— 
I  have  the  honor  to  be 
with  much  esteem 

your  obed1  Servt 
Col°  May  Wm  Rufus  Putnam 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


N°4 


173 


A  Statement  of  taxes  for  the  year  1802  upon  the 
belonging  to  the  Persons  hereafter  named  lying  in 
the  County  of  Washington  N  W  T — with  a  deduction 
of  the  amount  of  the  road  tax  for  ye  year  1801— 
included  in  the  statement  for  that  year — and  paid  by 
the  persons  to  Wm  Rufus  Putnam  and  still  remains  in 
his  hands — as  the  Road  taxes  ar  not  laid — 


Persons  Names 


taxes  for  1802     Road  tax  for  1801 


Amount  to  be  remitted 
Including  Expenses 


paid 

William  Doll        1    Dol  3.36cts.  Dol—  1.—  - 

D—  2.36 

2.50 

X 

paid 

John  C  Jones       5 

16.84 

5.04 

11.80 

12.50 

X 

paid 

John  Coats           1 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2.50 

X 

paid 

Eben'  Wales         1 

3.56 

1.09 

2.47 

2.61 

X 

paid 

John  May            3 

10.08 

3.02 

7.05 

7.47 

X 

paid 

Russell  Sturgesl 

3.38 

1.01 

2.37 

2.51 

X 

paid 

Elbridge  Gerry    2 

6.76 

2.02 

4.74 

5.  2 

X 

paid 

Ebenr  Dorr           1 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2.50 

X 

paid 

Joseph  Waldo    — 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2.50 

X 

paid 

John  Stanton     — 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2*50 

X 

paid 

Caleb  Champney 

3.38 

1.01^ 

2.36^ 

2.50 

. 

paid 

Mathw  Parke  &  Co7 

3.64 

1.— 

2.64 

2.70 

X 

paid 

Thomas  Russell  5 

17.82 

5.48^ 

W.34% 

13.  4 

X 

paid 

Moses  Everitt 

3.36 

l.~ 

2.36 

2.50 

paid 

Elizabeth  Bowdoin 

10.68 

3.37^ 

7.403^ 

7.83 

X 

paid 

James  Bowdoine  -5 

10.28 

3.01% 

7.263^ 

7.83 

X 

paid 

Elizabeth  Temple- 

10.10 

3.11^ 

6.98% 

7.41 

X 

paid 

Abel  Sherman 

3.58 

1.10% 

2.473^ 

2.62 

X 

paid 

Thomas  Walcott 

3.56 

1.09 

2.47 

2.61 

paid 

Jonathan  Williams 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2.56 

X 

paid 

W  Marshal 

3.56  one 

1.  04  &  half  shares  2.52 

3.96 

X 

paid 

Christ  Marshal 

3.56 

1.10% 

2.45% 

2.60 

X 

paid 

Joseph  Stephens 

3.36 

1.— 

2.36 

2.50 

X 

$137.06 

41.42^ 

95.633/6 

101.09 

95.63% 

137.06— 


p,  Samuel  Cobb  -fa 

To  Jn°  May  Esqr 

Marietta  July  15th  1802 

Caleb  Strong — one  Share         Wm  Rufus  Putnam — 
Asahal  pomroy    one  Share 


5    x 


174  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XXXIII. 

Boston  October  19th  1802 
My  Dear  Friend 

as  Usual,  I  have  delayed  to  ansure  your  Letter  of 
13  Juley  last,  incloseing  the  amount  of  Tax  (No  4) 
again,  to  Sundrey  proprietors  of  the  Ohio  Company 
therein  Mentioned,  and  my  reasons  fer  so  so  doing 
is  the  Same  as  last  year  —  which  is  a  careless  remission 
the  proprietors  have  to  pay  their  trifling  taxes,  when 
you  Send  me  the  List  I  allways  advertise  it  in  the 
Newes  papers  that  such  a  tax  is  levied  and  that  those 
in  your  agency  may  pay  the  Same  to  me  if  they  choose 
to  do,  and  that  I  will  remitt  the  same  to  you  without 
delay  —  yett  they  pay  so  little  attention  to  it  that  I 
have  to  Dun  them  —  I  have  at  length  Collected  all 
contained  in  your  Schedule  accepting  Caleb  Champney 
—  Moris  Everett  &  Thomas  Wolcutt  —  you  may  how- 
ever consider  them  as  paid  —  as  I  will  take  it  to  mi 
own  account  —  and  in  addition  to  your  schedule  which 

$     c 

amounts  to  95..63J^ 

you  will  please  to  add   Samuel   Cobb      1    2  Shares 
who  is  Sole  Heir  to  Benjamin  Cobb  deceased  J       4.  .72 


this  sum  you  will  please  to  Charge  to  my  account— 
and  Collect  in  my  out  standing  Debts  as  fast  as  possable 
—and  retaine  the  same  in  your  hands,  for  future  pur- 
poses —  With  respect  to  Coll0  Battells  mortgage  as 
the  time  is  about  Transpired  and  theire  is  No  prospect 
of  his  redeeming  it,  I  wish  you  to  sue  it  up,  and  finally 
Settle  that  business  completly  —  I  do  not  wish  however 
to  distress  him  by  turning  him  immediately  off  the 
Farme  but  am  willing  he  Should  continue  on  the  Same 
behaveing  well,  and  paying  a  Moderate  Rent  —  as  your 
Laws  are  undoubtedly  materially  different  from  ours  I 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  175 

shall  therefore  leave  it  wholly  with  you  to  conduct 
this  business  as  you  may  think  most  for  my  Intrust 
and  greeable  to  your  Laws. 

You  mention  that  application  has  been  made  for 
a  160  acre  Lot  of  mine  drawn  in  the  Name  of  Perkins 
which  is  S.  G.  Perkins — the  mode  of  payment  &c  the 
price  to  be  given  400$.  I  allso  leave  this  to  your  better 
Judgment  you  being  on  the  Spott,  and  putting  Great 
Confidence  in  your  integrity  shall  Leave  it  wholey 
with  you  to  make  the  Bargain  or  not.  if  you  think 
best  Sell  him  the  Lott,  let  him  go  on  and  improve  it 
agreeable  to  the  termes  proposed — Draw  a  Deed 
agreeable  to  your  Mode  send  by  Post  for  me  to  Sign 
Seal  and  acknowledge,  he  shall  pay  the  postage  from 
thence  to  this  place,  and  I  will  pay  it  back  or  it  is  no 
Sale. 

In  consequence  of  your  mentioning  that  I  need 
not  send  on  the  money  for  this  Last  tax  I  have  passe 
to  your  Cr  that  amount  Vizt.  $100..35^  Cents— 
Biggelow  Cook,  Sampson  &  Pierce  have  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  my  notify  cat  ions,  therefore  we  know  them 
not.  I  have  a  Greate  desire  to  Se  our  delightfull 
Countrey  once  more  but  it  is  hardly  probable,  mean- 
time I  am  with  sentiments  of  Great  respect  your  Most 
Obedient  servant.  John  May 

On  the  17  Jany  1803 

I  wrote  W.  R.  Putnam  desiring  him  to  pay  Edward 
Whitmans  Tax  N°  4 — and  sent  it  by  Maile 
I  paid  the  postage — 


176  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XXXIV. 

Boston  October  26,  1802 
Dear  Sir 

I  wrote  you  a  few  days  Since  and  informed  you  of 
my  haveing  collected  the  Tax  N°  3  agreeable  to  your 
Schedule  (date  15  July  1802)  excepting  Three  persons 
which  I  Stand  accountable  for — yesterday  I  receive  a 
line  from  his  Excellency  Caleb  Strong,  requesting  that 
I  would  forward  to  you  the  amount  of  the  Tax  on 
One  share  drown  in  his  own  name,  and  half  a  share  in 
the  name  of  Asahel  Pomroy.  which  agreeable  to 
schedule  I  make  amount  to  3$..54c  as  the  Shares  Aver- 
age. If  I  am  not  right  you  will  make  it  so  as  this 
Sum  cold  not  be  sent  you  in  paper  we  having  none  So 
Small,  I  have  credited  you  with  that  amount.  I  beg 
you  to  have  the  Tax  paid  on  this  Share  &  half  and  in 
future  consider  him  Governor  S — on  my  list,  he  says 

he  has  paid  the  Taxes  up  to  Last  Winter    

Next  Monday  is  Election  for  Members  of  Congress 
for  this  Commonwealth  there  will  be  a  smart  struggle 
between  Federal  &  Anta — but  I  have  no  doubt  but 
the  Federall  Intrust  will  prevaile  I  pray  God  it  may 
thro  ought  all  the  States.  I  am  Sir  in  Greate  haste 
your  most  obedient  servant 

John  May 
Coppey  to 

To  William  R.  Putnam 

N°4. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  177 


DOCUMENT  XXXV. 

Col.  Jn°  May  Litchfield  June  28th  1803. 

D'  Sir 

I  have  before  me  your  letter  of  the  20th  instant,  & 
am  sorry  you  have  so  much  trouble  in  the  business, 
especially  as  the  great  object  is  to  induce  Gentlemen 
to  receive  money  which  is  generally  pretty  acceptable. 
It  would  be  peculiarly  agreeable  to  me  to  see  you  at 
this  place,  especially  as  I  can  hardly  expect  that  any 
ordinary  occasion  will  call  you  into  this  quarter  again. 
However,  to  accommodate  you  on  the  present  occasion, 
I  will  endeavour  to  have  the  business  so  arranged  that 
you  need  not  be  obliged  to  come  on  to  this  place.  I 
will  endeavour  to  be  at  Hartford  on  thursday  of  next 
week,  say  the  7th  of  July,  so  that  on  this  following 
day  we  may  accomplish  the  business.  In  this  case  I 
will  meet  you  at  Lee's  Stage  House.  If  I  should  not 
come  on,  be  good  enough  to  call  on  Mess™  Tallmadges 
&  Averills,  Merchte  at  Hartsford,  who  shall  be  in- 
structed by  me  how  to  proceed  in  the  business.  I  will 
also  annex  the  form  of  a  Dft  which  the  other  agents 
will  please  to  execute,  &  which  being  presented  will 
authorise  the  payment  of  their  dividends. — 

I  wish  the  whole  business  of  the  Agencies  in  ques- 
tion may  be  done  at  the  time  proposed  agreeably  to 
the  statement  annexed. — 
I  am  Sir 
Your  most  obed*  Serv* 

Benjn  Tallmadge 
Amo*  of  3d  Dividend  due  to 

M  Cutler's  Agency         $1,334.17    on  86  Shares 

Ephm  Cutler's  do  217.62  13 

Nath1  Freeman's         do  151.17  9 

Henry  Jackson's         do  245.94  13 

Eliph0  Downer's          do  331.73  18 

Jn°  May's  534.63  35 

$2,815.26         174 


178  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

To  Benjamin  Tallmadge 

Treasurer  of  the  Ohio  Company 
$1,334.17 

Sir 

Please  to  pay  to  Col.  Jn°  May  one  thousand  three 
hundred  thirty  four  Dollars  &  1%oo  being  the  amo*  of 
the  third  Dividend  due  to  my  agency  on  Eighty  Six 
proprietary  Shares,  &  his  rec*  shall  be  your  Discharge 
from  any  further  Claim  or  Demand  for  the  same- 
Witness  my  hand  at 
this  Day  of  July  1803 

In  presence  of  (Copy)  M.  Cutler 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  179 


DOCUMENT  XXXVI. 

Boston  Decemr  26,1803 
Dear  Sir 

About  four  months  since  I  wrote  you  by  maile  in 
forming  you  that  many  of  the  proprietors  in  the  Ohio 
Compy  haveing  seen  an  abstract  of  a  Letter  written 
at  Marietta  and  published  in  a  Connecticutt  paper- 
respecting  a  Tax  on  the  Lands — which  became  due 
on  the  first  day  of  Novemr  last  if  not  then  paid  an 
Addition  of  50  pr  C*  and  10  pr  c*  Intrust  must  be 
paid — 

I  wrote  you  fulley  and  pritty  Lengthey  at  that  time, 
the  purport  of  which  was  to  request  you  to  pay  the 
Taxes  on  all  those  Shares  that  had  ever  ben  paid 
through  me  and  that  you  woo'd  do  it  previous  to  the 
Said  first  day  of  November — and  make  out  a  Schedule 
of  the  Same  and  inclose  it  to  me  at  Boston  and  in  case 
you  had  not  Cash  enough  of  mine  in  your  hands,  to 
Draw  on  me  for  the  amount  at  Sight — Whether  you 
have  received  that  Letter  I  am  not  able  to  say — but  this 
I  am  sorry  to  Say  that  through  sum  misfortune  or 
other  I  have  received  no  Answer  the  owners  of  shares 
are  Grown  Uneasey  &  perhaps  sum  of  them  may  think 
I  have  not  don  my  duty — cleare  me  my  friend  from 
this  imputation  as  soon  as  possable — and  I  earnestly 
request  you  to  settle  up  those  Taxes  immediately  if 
not  all  redey  don  which  I  have  myself  no  doubt  of 
— &  I  beg  you  to  forwarde  me  the  Schedule  so  that  I 
may  be  able  to  settle  with  them  here — I  am  mortified 
and  so  are  all  the  good  Federialist  here  at  the  dis- 
placement of  your  Much  Honoured  Father.  I  will 
thank  you  to  make  my  best  regards  to  him  and  tel 
him  I  am  I  feel  much  hurt  at  his  being  removed  from 
the  office  of  Surveyor  Generall  of  the  U.States 


180  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

will  you  be  so  good  as  to  give  me  your  oppinion 
respecting  the  Louisanna  purchase  and  what  effect  it 
will  have  on  our  Lands — Mean  while  I  remain  your 
friend  and  humble  servant 

Jn°  May 

Wm  R.  Putnam  Esqr 
Marietta — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  181 

DOCUMENT  XXXVII. 

Marietta  August  13th  1804 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  of  March  18th  has  been  receiv'd  by 
which  it  appears  that  you  do  not  fully  understand  my 
account,  the  amount  of  which  you  say  is  $461.41}^ 
this  is  the  footing  of  our  account  for  1802  &  1803 — 
previous  to  this  time  accounts  had  been  rendered  on 
examination  you  will  find  a  ballance  of  $82.77J^ 
charged,  that  is  to  be  credited  in  a/c  for  1804  acknol- 
edged  to  be  in  my  hands — Battles  note  for  which 
(according  to  your  directions)  I  took  a  mortgage  on 
his  farm — has  not  been  collected,  althoe  it  has  been 
some  time  in  suit,  owing  to  the  new  organization  of 
the  Courts — in  my  last  it  was  contemplated  for  the 
payment  of  the  present  years  taxes,  but  the  dependence 
is  too  uncertain,  as  in  all  probability  it  will  not  be 
collected  in  time,  consequently  it  will  be  necessary 
that  you  collect  &  transmitt  the  ballance  of  the  en- 
closed estimate  of  taxes  by  the  first  of  December  next 
Vz— 

Estimate  am*  of  $207.01 

Money  in  my  hands  82.77 

Ballance  to  be  remitted  114.24 


as  soon  as  the  money  shall  be  collected  upon  B  Note 
it  will  be  placed  to  your  credit,  but  untill  then  I  do 
not  hold  myself  accountable  further  than  as  an  Agent 
—The  difference  of  our  accounts  arises  from  the  differ- 
ent modes  adopted  by  us  in  them — you  seem  to  have 
distinguished  between  agency  and  other  more  private 
matters  I  have  but  one  acct  wherein  you  are  charged 
with  all  moneys  paid  for  taxes  &c — and  credited  for 


182  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

all  payments,  whether  in  east  at  Boston  here  or  else- 
where, old  houses  money  for  lands  &c — I  have  omitted 
the  enquiries  for  Mr  Thomas  Blake,  but  will  make 
them  &  will  soon  write  again — Friends  all  well — fine 
Crops  but  no  sale  for  land — 

With  sentiments  of  esteem  I  am 
Dear  Sir  your 

obedient  Servt. 

Wm  Ruf  us  Putnam 
Col  John  May 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  183 


DOCUMENT  XXXVIII. 

Boston  November  14th  1804 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  13th  August  came  to  hand  in  due 
time  Incloseing  a  Schedule  of  Taxes  on  Sundrey 
Shares  of  Land  in  the  Ohio  Country  (say  49j^  Shares) 
for  1804  I  have  from  time  to  time  omitted  to  Answer 
that  Letter  until  now — the  reason  whey  is  the  Same 
as  Usual,  The  proprietors  pay  so  little  attention  to 
paying  this  Tax  that  I  amwearey  of  haveing  anything 
to  Do  with  it — theire  is  however  a  few  particular 
frinds  who  are  solicitious  that  I  should  still  continue 
to  take  care  of  theire  Taxes  through  you — whose 
Names  I  shall  hereafter  mention — you  will  observe 
by  the  Statement  immediately  following — that  theire 
is  6^/2  Shares  Uncollected,  and  that  Israel  Evans  owes 
me  for  the  year  1802  &  1803 — the  year  1804  being 
returned  to  you  Uncollected,  which  you  will  Undoubt- 
edly proceed  against  them  according  to  Law — and 
at  the  Same  time  I  request  you  to  Levey  on  his  properts 
for  the  24  Dollars  &  8%oo  and  when  recovered  pass  to  Cr 
my  ace*.  Samuel  Haven  allso  Owes  me  for  the  Tax 
for  1803  besides  the  present  year,  but  he  has  wrote 
me  a  Letter  so  full  of  promise  that  I  have  considered 

him  as  paid  but  he  is  a  poor  D 1.    I  have  felt  a 

Little  Antious  of  Late  least  this  might  not  Reach  you 
in  season  alltho  I  think  17  Days  will  be  time  enough. 
I  have  drewd  up  this  statement  in  form  of  an  Account — 
Dr  Wm  R.  Putnam — Esqrin  Account  with  John  May — Cr. 


184 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


1804 

Nov.  14    To  ballance  of  Old  Ace* 82.77 

To  Amount  of  Taxes  that  could  not 
be  Collected— 

Vizt. 

Moses  Everett              1    share 3.29 

Thomas  Wolcutt          1    D«     3.21 

Joseph  Stephens           1             3.  6 

Leonard  V.  Boland       1             3.  5 

Israel  Evans                  2              6.39 

Asahel  Bigalow               Y2         1.40 

To  your  Commission    6^          6.50 

To  Ditto  Israel  Evans  Tax.  .          . .  109.67 


1804 
Nov.  14 

By  amount  of  Taxes  pr 
Schedule  sent  me  to  Col- 
lect and  forwzrd  to  Said 
W™  R.  Putnam  at  Mari- 
etta  207.  1 

Ballance  due  Jn° 

May 2.46 


for  1802  paid  by  me  7.68] 
>itto  1803    do  7.12  I 

To  your  Commission     4. —  f 


24.80 


My  Own  Com"  &  Trpble6 
having  wrote  Sundry  times 
paid  postage  &  c  &c — 


ToCashinclo.  75  — 


209.47 


209.47 


Mr  Thomas  Blake  wishes  me  to  pay  his  Tax  this 
present  year,  and  so  on  Untill  further  directions 
theire  fore  you  will  please  to  pay  that — which  will 
bring  me  a  trifle  in  your  debt — 

The  names  of  those  persons,  who  I  am  still  willing 
to  Collect  the  Taxes  for  are  as  follows. 


Viz- 


Share 

William  Dall 1 

Jn*  C.  Jones 5 

Jn*  May 3 

Ebenr  Wales 1 

Russell  Sturges 1 

Elbridge  Gerrey 1 

S.  Pumroy    ) 1 

Sold  him  by  E.  Gerrey      J 1 

Eben'  Dorr 1 

Joseph  Waldo 1 

Jn*  Stanton  Heires. ...  1 
Caleb  Champney 
his  Heires 


17 


brought  back 25 


Matthew  Park 1 

Thomas  Russells  heires 5 

James  Bowdoine 4^  ) 

Elizabeth  Temple 4^  \ 

Abel  Sherman 1 

Jonathan  William 1 

William  Marshall 1 

Christopher  Marshall  sold 
to  S.  Pumroy 

Benjamin  Cobb  heires 2 

Caleb  Strong 2 

Edward  Whitman 1 

John  Coats 1 

25 


42 
and  Thomas  Blake 1 

43    Shares— 
1804    Novem'  30  to  State  taxes  paid  in  Gallia  per  your  order  see  N-  1—  $   89.68 

Decem'  3  to  Do  Washington  Do    2         56  — 

To  my  commission  for  payment  on  49  Shares  @         6  49. — 

To  Cash  paid  Edwin  Putnam  Act*  fees 3         10.21 

To  my  trouble  in  the  business 5. 

(209.89 


, 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  185 


I  have  inclosed  the  Seventy  five  Dollars  as  men- 
ioned  before  and  hope  they  reach  you  in  safety  &  in 
good  time  to  answer  the  purpose  designed.  I  have  no 
time  nor  much  inclination  to  say  anything  on  Polliticks 
Only  that  by  the  late  returns  Massachusetts  comes 
out  more  than  half  democraticks — alas,  alas  &  a  lack,  a 
Day.— 

I  will  thank  you  to  make  my  best  regards,  and 
respect  to  your  aged  Father  and  any  inquiring  friends, 
and  believe  me  to  be  with  Great  Esteem  your  most 
Obedient  servant —  John  May 

[To  Wm  R.  Putnam] 


186  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


XXXIX. 

Marietta  August  10th  AD  1805. 
Dear  Sir — 

Your  favor  of  November  14th  came  safe  to  hand 
but  not  untill  after  the  day  of  payment  of  the  taxes 
for  1804 — Notwithstanding  as  an  execution  had  been 
obtain  against  Battle  and  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Sheriff  who  was  likewise  collector,  a  negotiation  was 
made  &  the  penalty  on  the  taxes  saved — your  letter 
with  instructions  on  what  rights  to  pay  was  too  late 
I  had  already  then  paid  according  to  former  instructions 
the  proper  vouchers  of  which  I  herein  transmit — as 
I  never  know  any  of  those  delinquents  you  mention 
in  you  account,  only  through  you — I  have  paid  only 
by  your  order,  therefore  cannot  charge  them  as  they 
personally  have  never  even  asked  the  payment  of 
tax  &c  I  humbly  conceive  that  you  are  the  only  person 
that  can  charge  them — further  suppose  I  might 
collect  3  or  4  dollars  from  a  share  of  land  by  a  foreign 
attachment — it  would  cost  more  than  it  is  worth— 

I  have  therefore  thought  proper  to  state  an  acct 
without  noteing  those  delinquents,  as  for  them  I  con- 
ceive myself  answerable  in  no  degree  whatever- 
Col0  John  May 

To  Wm  Rufus  Putnam  D 

Per  Contra C 

1804    By  ballance  of  acct  for  1803 $82.77 

Decem  By  cash  per  post 75. — 

Decem  20  By  Cash  of  E.  Putnam 
coli  of  E.  Battle  upon  the  mort- 
gage  204.25 

362.02  $362.02 

Ballance  due  John  May  $152.13 
Note  Tho*  Blakes  taxes  omitted  in  place .  . .  $4.76 

Crocker  Sampson      Do     3.06 

Commissions 2. 

7.82  to  be  deducted 7.82 

the  real  sum  due. .  $144.31 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


187 


I  have  made  an  estimate  for  the  present  year  agreeable 
to  the  instructions  in  your  last,  which  will  govern  me 
in  future  untill  further  instructions — we  find  that  the 
new  system  of  Government  adopted  by  our  state  is 
not  quite  so  cheap  as  was  pretended — the  taxes  have 
risen  25  pr  Ct  yearly  since  the  adoption  of  our  con- 
stitution. I  say  adopted,  for  we  had  truly  very  little 
to  do  in  the  making  of  it — The  State  of  Ohio — by  a 
forced  birth  has  been  so  enfebled,  that  I  fear  she  will 
never  get  rid  of  her  "leading  strings"  There  is  very 
little  prospect  of  selling  the  Comy  land  except  some 
particular  lots,  the  United  States  have  very  great 
quanties  for  sale  and  upon  Credit,  with  an  exemption 
from  taxes  for  5  years — these  are  the  happy  conse- 
quences amongst  others  of  our  becoming  a  state,  upon 
the  propositions  of  Congress — should  any  application 
be  made  for  any  of  your  lands  I  shall  give  you  notice 
immediately — 

Estimate  for  1805 

Charged    x    William  Dall 

x    John  C.  Jones 
paid      x    John  May 

Ebenr  Wales 

Russell  Sturges 

Elbridge  Gerry 

Eben'  Dorr 

Joseph  Waldo 

John  Stanton 

Caleb  Champney 

Mathew  Parke  &  Co. 

Tho'  Russell 

Elizabeth  Bowdoin 

James  Bowdoin 

Elizabeth  Temple 
Charged    x    Abel  Sherman 

x    Jonathan  Williams 
Charged    x    Wm  Marshall 

x    Christopher  Marshal 
x    Benj*  Cobb 
x    Caleb  Sturges 
x    Edward  Whitman 
x    John  Coats 
x    Samuel  Havens 
Charged    x     Tho' Blake 

44          $240.30 

Ballance  Cr 152.13 

Sum  necessary  to  pay  taxes $88.17 


My  Commission 

taxes       C 

om- 

4.30       $1 

L—          $5.30       ] 

L             6.30 

22.00         / 

»              27.           I 

>           32.0 

12.             i 

J              15.           J 

5           18.0 

4.20 

5.20 

6.20 

4.20 

5.20 

6.20 

11 

14.           I 

15  — 

4.30 

5.30 

6.30 

4.20 

5.20 

6.20 

4.25 

5.25 

6.25 

4.40 

5.40 

6.40 

4.25 

5.25 

6.25 

22.             L 

>               27.           i 

>           32.— 

14.             i 

J               17.           J 

J           20.— 

14.              J 

J               17.           J 

J           20.— 

14.             J 

J               17.           J 

J           20.— 

4.20          ] 

I                 5.20 

6.20 

4.60          ] 

I                 5.60 

6.60 

4.40          ] 

\y<L            5.40 

9.30 

4.20          1 

I                 5.20 

6.20 

9.             i 

2                   11 

13.— 

9.             I 

J                   11 

13.— 

4.20          ] 

I                 5.20 

6.20 

4.20 

I                 5.20 

6.20 

4.20          ] 

L                 5.20 

6.20 

4.20          ] 

L                 5.20 

6.20 

$283.40 


188  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


Bt 


The  taxes  of  the  present  year  fall  due   December   1 
and  must  be  paid  otherwise  a  penalty  of  25  pr  Ct— 
My  father  thanks  you  for  your  kind  remembrance  and 
request  you  accept  his  sincere  regards— 

I  am  Dear  Sir  Your  Obedient  Servt 
Col  John  May  Wm  Rufus  Putnam 


Amount  of  Tax  1805 

Ballance  due  Jn*  May  on  old  account  144. .31  - 

Joseph  Waldo  Not  paid              5..20  - 
(  Pumroy  for  Christ*  Marshall      5..20  -  17..40  - 

Seth  I  and  one  Shre  E.  Gerrey  7 

17..40 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  189 


DOCUMENT  XL. 

Boston  November  4,  1805 — 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  10  August  came  duely  to  hand  with 
the  Schedule  for  Tax,  for  the  year  1805.  &  Sundry 
Receipts  &c  I  should  have  answered  you  sooner  hadit 
ben  in  my  power  to  Collect  the  Tax  but  they  have 
been  more  reluctant  in  paying  this  time  than  usual — 
you  will  observe  by  the  above  acct  Two  shares  are 
not  paid  Vizt.  Waldo  &  Stanton  they  are  both  Dead 
&  I  cannot  find  aney  Person  willing  to  pay  the  same 
theire  for  you  will  collect  them  in  your  way — in  your 
Schedule  you  Charge  E.  Gerry,  2  Shares  11$ — Com- 
2  carried  14$  an  Errer  of  1$  which  I  have  Charge  in 
Acct  and  inclosed  you  in  Bank  Bills  71$.  allso  Bill  of  ex- 
change drawn  by  Pumroy  on  Tupper  which  I  take  to  be 
correct  but  should  their  be  any  Errer  I  am  reddey  to  rec- 
tify, youl  please  to  Observe  that  Gerrey  has  Sold  one 
Share  Vizt.  Fredk May  to  S.  W.  Pumroy  so  that  Pumroy 
holds  2  &  Gerrey  only  one  Share.  I  find  such  Reluctanc 
in  the  paying  this  Tax  that  I  decline  collecting  it  again 
but  request  you  to  pay  Anualy  my  Shares  &  Wm 
Marshall  in  which  I  am  interested  and  I  request  you 
to  write  as  often  as  Convenient  &  let  me  know  the 
amount  of  May  &  Marshals  Tax  which  Shall  be  Sent 
punctually.  I  Should  be  Glad  you  would  dispose  of 
My  shares  when  you  can  have  a  Good  Chance,  please 
to  remember  me  to  all  friends,  and  in  particular  to 
your  aged  Father  wishing  you  Health  happiness  & 
Prosperity,  I  remain  your  friend  and 

Humble  Servant 

J.  M— 
Wm  R.  Putnam  at  Marietta 


190  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 

D*  William  Rufus  Putnam  Esq'  To  John  May 

1805  1805 

Nov1 4  To  amount  of  Ballance  due  Jn*  May  \  144..31 

1  Acco'  Rendered  10  Aug"  1805  /  Nov'  4      By  Amount  of 

To  Joseph  Waldo  Tax  not  collected  5..20    Taxes  Sent  me  to  Collect 

To  John  Stanton  Tax  not  paid  5.. 25    pr  your  Schedule      240..30 

"  Over  Charge  on  E.  Gerrey's  2  Shares  ) 
p'  Schedule  $11.  cornm'  2  j 

carried  out  14.  1 — 

To  Samuel  W.  Pumroys  Bill  of       )  , «,  7n 

Exchange  on  Edw*  W.  Tupper    J 
his  Tax  pr  Christ'  Marshall  5..20 

Ditto  Freer  May  say  one  of  )  «  *n 

E.  Gerreys  Shares  J 

My  Commission  on  2. 

November  4,  1805  13..70 

44  Shares  am'        240..30        Cash  Sent  him  mail       70..84 


deduct  2  shares       10..45        To  ballance  240..30  240..30 

229..S5 

Boston  November  4,  1805 
Errers  Excepted  &  Ballance  paid 
sent  to  Marietta  pr  Mail  this  day— J.  May  a  True  Coppey  of  the  one 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  191 

DOCUMENT  XLI. 

Marietta  January  17th  1806 — 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  of  1st  Novemr  arived  in  Marietta 
some  time  near  the  last  of  Decemr  enclosing  bank 
bills — orders  &c — your  own  taxes  I  had  settled  on  the 
first  of  Decembr  which  was  the  time  of  payment, 
and  in  consequence  of  the  tardiness  of  your  letter  in 
coming  there  has  fallen  a  penalty  of  25pr  centum  on 
all  the  others  for  whom  you  pay,  the  taxes  are  not  yet 
discharged  but  in  due  time  they  will  be  attended  to, 
as  it  relates  to  your  own  &  Wm  Marshalls  land  I  shall 
pay  every  attention  necessary  Our  State  in  remote 
parts  from  us,  is  filling  surprisingly  the  emigration 
into  it  this  autumn  past  has  equalled  former  emigra- 
tions into  Kentucky  which  are  well  known  to  have 
exceeded  any  thing  of  the  kind  ever  before — but  the 
Companys  lands  are  not  much  sought  after — Will  not 
the  day  come? 

I  am  Dear  Sir 
with  esteem  your  obt.  St. 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 
Col°  John  May — 


192  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XLIL 

Marietta  August  6th  AD  1806- 
Dear  Sir 

As  the  period  to  give  notice  of  the  taxes  for  the 
present  year  has  arived  notwithstanding  in  your  last 
letter  you  declined  ever  collecting  &c  again,  it  seems 
necessary  to  request  your  attention  this  year  at  least, 
therefore  I  presume  to  address  you — the  necessity 
arises  particularly  from  the  state  of  the  taxes  for  the 
last  year — the  estimate  which  I  transmitted  last 
August,  was  but  an  estimate,!  nowtransmitt  a  schedule 
of  the  payments,  with  the  proper  vouchers  (except  in  a 
few  instances,  in  those  duplicate  receipts  were  not 
taken  through  omission)  from  this  there  appears  to  be 
a  balance  dur  me  from  the  persons  composing  the 
agency — as  the  money  paid  upon  the  Estimate  was 
receiv'd  by  you  and  the  quantity  known  to  you  only- 
it  appears  to  me  that  no  person  can  so  well  settle  it 
as  yourself — I  have  been  very  particular  in  drawing 
out  schedule  that  it  may  appear  where  the  money 
was  paid  &  why — you  will  perceive  by  the  receipt 
that  a  penalty  of  25  pr  Ct  pd  on  all  or  most  of  your 
properties  the  reason  is,  the  money  with  your  instruc- 
tions did  not  arrive  in  time  Vz  by  the  first  of  Decem- 
you  own  tax  &  two  or  three  others  the  proprietors 
cannot  complain  as  it  was  in  consequences  .  . 
tardiness — as  this  balance  will  come  through  you  have 
thought  proper  to  add  an  estimate  for  the  present 
year,  which  I  believe  is  so  near  correct,  that  hereafter 
we  can  close  the  agency  with  ease.  I  have  even  con- 
sidered myself  as  your  agent,  rather  than  yourself 
as  mine  therefore  the  notice  may  with  propriety  be 
given  them,  (that  is  the  proprietors  that  they  must 
adopt  some  other  mode  of  transmitting  mony — The 
taxes  for  the  present  year  become  due  Decemr  1s* 
and  if  not  paid,  sales  immediately  take  place — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  193 

Accept  Dear  Sir  my  sincere  regards  for  yourself 
&  wellfare — althoe  at  a  distance  and  in  a  complete 
Democratic  State  yet  we  here  rejoice  at  the  late  success 
in  the  choice  of  Governor  Strong  I  assure  you — 
I  have  the  honor 
to  be  Dear  Sir 

your  obedient  Hbl  Servt. 

Wm  Ruf  us  Putnam 

Col  Jn°  May- 

Mr  Pomeroys  Bill  I  return  that  he  may  get  it 
again,  I  can  accept  no  bill  on  Mr.  Tupper — he  would 
not  pay  it  pretends  to  own  the  land  but  as  the  taxes 
were  not  paid  I  feared  Mr  P.  might  suffer  I  therefore 
paid  them — 


194 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


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THE  JOHN  MAY  COMPANY 


195 


Estimate  for  1806 


John  May $16.47 

Edward  Whitman 

John  Coats 5.96 

William  Doll 5.71 

John  C.  Jones 28.55 

Ebenr  Wales 5.96 

Russell  Sturges 5.69 

Elbridge  Gerry 10.05 

Eben7  Dorr 5.70 

Caleb  Champney 5.93 

Mathew  Parke 5.32 

Thomas  Russell 28.53 

Elizabeth  Bowdoin 17.86 

James  Bowdoin 17.98 

Elizabeth  Temple 17.16 


Abel  Sherman $  5.33 

Jonathan  Williams 6.23 

William  Marshall 5.43 

Christopher  Marshall 5.08 

Benjm  Cobb 12.03 

Caleb  Strong 11.40 

x  Samuel  Havens 5.30 

x  Joseph  Stephens 5.70 

x  Thomas  Blake..  5.70 


Whole  amot  Tax  for 
1806  is  254.76— 


62.20 
192.56 


192.56 


254.76 


Col  John  May 


Dr.        Per  Contra 


Cr. 


1806 

August  6  to  the  amount  of 
the  taxes  paid  by  his  direc- 
tion for  the  year  1805 
See  Schedule  on  the  other 
side $290.47^ 


$290.47^ 


Errors  Excepted. 
Marietta  August  6 
AD  1806 


By  the  ballance  of  acct  for 

1803 $144.31 

By  Cash  received  per  mail 

in  Decem*  last 71. — 

August  6th  By  balance  debt 

in  new  account 75.16^ 


290.47^ 


W"  Ruf  us  Putnam 


196 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XLIII. 

Boston  Oc*  18,  1806 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  6  August  I  Received  in  due  time,  since 
which  I  have  ben  indevouring  to  Collect  in  the  Taxes 
according  to  your  Schedule.  Sum  I  cannot  find  and 
Sum  few  promise  but  do  not  pay.  I  accordingly 
return  them  delinquents — as  followes — 


Now 


Now 


Joseph  Stephens  not  be  found 

he  was  not  on  the  Schedule  last  year  & 

Consequently  you  Ought  not  Charge  him  to 

me  in  your  a/ c 

Samuel  Pumroy  Owns  one  of  E.  Gorrey  Shares 

and  Christopher  Marshals  Share, — he  says 

Tupper  must  pay  for  them  &  he  will  not 

pay  me 

Marshal  5..8  Gerney  5..5 

paid    Elbridge  Gerrey  One  Share  Unpaid 
Caleb  Champney    Not  paid 
Edward  Whitman  Sent  his  Mony  on  July  last 
as  he  says,  so  he  wont  pay 

paid    Samuel  Haven  has  paid 

.    Thomas  Blak  wont  pay 


5..70 


6..S9 


10..13 


5..93 

5..69 

..00 
5..70 


45..04 


List  of  those  who  have  paid 

John  May 16..47 

John  Coats 5..9G 

WmDall 5..71 

Jn8  C.  Joness 2S..55 

Ebenr  Wales 5..96 

Russel  Sturgis 5..69 

Eben?  Dorr 5..70 

Matthew  Park 5..32 

Tho"  Russell 2S..53 

Elisah  Bowdoine 17..86 

James  Bowdoine 17..98 

Elisabeth  Temple 17..  16 

Abel  Sharman 5. .33 

Jone  Williams 6..23 

W"  Marshall 5..93 

Sam1  Cobb 12..03 

Caleb  Strong 11. .40 


Am*  brt.  up 201.81 

Sam1  Haven  p* 5.30 


Ballance  of  a/  c 

for  1805 , 

Deduct  Jo* 
Stepens,  not  on 
the  schedule  for 
for  1805 .  . 


207..11 
.  75..16 


the  ballance  of  1805) 201..81 


.G..89    6S..27 
275.. 38 


Sent  to  Marietta  Oct  18..1806.  Oc1 
25.  Sent  another  Letter  to  W  R. 
Putnam  incloseing  a  Bill  of  Six  Dollars 
to  pay  Tax  for  One  Share  for  Elbridge 
Gerrey — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  197 


DOCUMENT  XLIV. 

Boston  October  26,  1806. 
Dear  Sir 

I  Wrote  you  pr  Mail  on  18th  instant  Inclosing 
Two  hundred  &  Seventy  Six  Dollars  with  the  names  of 
those  proprietors  who  had  paid  and  those  which  had 
not.  this  day  Elbridge  Gerrey  Esqr  CalPd  on  me 
and  was  disappointed  that  I  had  not  sent  his  Tax  with 
the  others  and  requested  me  to  forward  it  to  you  I 
theirfore  now  inclose  you  a  Bank  bill  for  Six  Dollars 
his  Tax  on  One  Share  (the  other  being  Sold  to  Pumroy.) 
is  about  5$..5cthe  surplus  will  serve  to  pay  Postage  &c — 
I  hope  this  withe  the  preceding  one  will  Reach  you  in 
safety  wishing  you  health  presperity  &  a  Good  Govern- 
ment I  remain 

Your  sincere  friend  &  humbl 

Serv* 
To  Wm  R.  Putnam  John  May. 


198  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XLV. 

Marietta  August  22  AD1807- 
Dear  Sir 

I  here  enclose  a  duplicate  voucher  of  the  payment 
of  taxes  of  the  persons  therein  named  for  the  year  1806 
—it  appears  necessary  that  you  should  hold  such  a 
one — for  their  satisfaction  should  they  enquire,  and 
further,  as  those  persons  are  known  to  me  only  through 
you — I  know  not  where  to  address  to  them  and  it 
seems  necessary  that  they  should  be  put  in  mind  of 
the  present  years  taxes,  which  are  the  same  they  were 
last  and  become  due  on  the  first  day  of  Decemr  next— 
I  would  therefore  suggest  the  propriety  of  your  first 
notifying  them  in  the  newspapers  even  if  it  is  at  my 
expence — there  are  two  or  three  names  in  this  duplicate 
which  were  not  in  your  memorandum,  these  were 
placed  here  through  mistake  you'll  therefore  take  no 
notice  of  them — Vz — Stephen  Cooke  John  Stanton  & 
Moses  Everett  as  I  have  paid  their  taxes  I  would  thank 
you  to  write  me  where  they  can  be  found — Vz — Cook 
&  Stanton  Everett  correspond  with  me — It  would  be 
very  agreeable  to  me  never  to  know  those  proprietors 
only  through  you  as  the  business  can  be  done  better 
in  this  way  we  have  practised  than  to  communicate 
with  each  individuals — but  this  must  be  as  you  please- 
so  it  must — A  Certain  Mr.  Daniel  W.  Griffith  wishes 
to  purchase  Wm  Dalls  one  hundred  and  sixty  acre  lot 
proposes  to  give  two  dollars  per  acre,  and  request  a 
credit  of  three  years — the  lot  is  numbered  808  lays 
about  14  miles  from  Marietta  upon  the  South  branch 
of  Wolf  Creek  the  quality  is  unknown  to  me — 

Our  town  is  improving  pretty  fast  for  a  new  world 
and  should  all  those  towns  on  the  Atlantic  coast  be 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  199 

put  under  contribution  by  some  foreign  power — 
Marietta  will  go  clear.  There  seems  to  be  a  fair 
opportunity  of  trying  the  efficacy  of  a  Gun  boat 
ad[ministrati]on. 

wishing  health  and  happiness  to  you  and  yours 
I  remain  your  obedient  Serv* 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam. 


200  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XLVI. 

Boston  Octr  14,  1807 

Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  2£d  August  I  duely  received  inclosing 
The  Voucher  for  Taxes  paid  in  the  year  1806.  Agree- 
able to  your  sugetion  I  put  a  Short  advertisement  in 
the  Centinall  for  Three  suckessive  weeks,  informing 
the  whole  world  that  the  Taxes  were  the  same  this 
year  as  the  Last  &  that  they  must  be  paid  in,  on  or 
before  the  first  day  of  Decemr  Nex — I  have  waited 
until  now  to  give  an  Opertunity  for  those  who  chose 
it,  to  put  theire  money  into  this  Letter,  you  will  Se 
by  the  names  how  few  have  taken  this  oppertunity 
Viz" 

Shares        Cash  Sent 

John  May  of  Boston 3  17. 

Elisabeth  Bowdoine 3  17.15 

James  Bowdoine 3  17.15 

Elisabeth  Temple 3  17.38 

E.  Wales  mony  is  sent  on 

W  Marshall 1 

to  make  even  Say  postage  &c 


13  75.00 


I  observe  that  the  avaridge 
on  each  was  about  4.70       4.70 
I  allow  1$  on  each  1. — 

or  your  commission  5.70 


I  now  enclose  you  the  above  Sum  of  Seventy  five 
Dollars  which  I  have  no  doubt  will  reach  you  safely  in 
due  time,  &  request  you  to  let  me  know  by  Letter 
immediately  on  the  receipt  thereof — I  did  not  hear  of 
the  arivall  of  My  Last  until  I  received  your  last — I 
shewed  Mr  Dall  your  paragraft  respecting.  Griffith 
&  Dall  says  he  has  wrote  you  on  the  subject 
I  shall  now  give  you  the  names  and  Places  of  Abode 
of  those  proprietors  mentioned  on  your  Schedule — viz 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  201 

Stephen  Cook  of  Andover  Samuel  Cobb    Boston         Cobb  Strong  Northampton 

WmDall    Boston  Tho*  Russel  Sam1  Haven      Dedham 

Jn*  C.  Jones    D'  is  John  L.  Sullivan  D*          Ebenr  Wales     Dorchester 

Jn*  Coates      De  E.  Bowdoine    D'  John  May        Boston 

Eben*  Doer      D*  Jona  William  is  Russel  Sturgis        D* 

Elbridge  Gerrey  Cambridge  Doctr  Chever  -    Boston  E.  Temple  D* 

Matthew  Park    Boston      Wm  Marshall    Brookline  James  Bowdoine    D* 
Abel  Sherman  Newton 

I  wish  you  to  sell  if  you  can  at  a  fair  price  my 
Share  which  Stands  on  your  Book  drawn  in  the  Name 
of  John  May.  W.  Marshal  the  8  acre  lot  is  N°  435 
&  house  Lots  439 — this  we  are  desireous  of  Sellin — 
Indeed  I  should  be  glad  to  have  my  other  Two  Shares 
Sold  if  you  can  procure  a  tollarable  price  &  Good  pay 
for  them — I  will  thank  you  to  Write  me  on  this  Subject. 
I  am  Sir  your  Most  Obedin  Servt. 

J.  May 
To  Wm  R.  Putnam 


202  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XL VII. 

Marietta  May  7th  1808 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  of  Feby  26th  was  duly  receiv'd  one  Copy 
seven  dollars  which  I  placed  to  the  Cr  of  E  Dorr— 
Decon  Nye  has  proposed  to  pay  for  the  redemtion 
of  Dr  land  therefore  this  sum  will  be  applied  to  the 
present  year's  taxes — yours  enclosing  money  for  taxes 
last  year  was  receiv'd  with  the  money  I  have  wated 
answering  that  I  might  state  this  years  taxes  which 
are  the  same  they  were  last;  the  duplicate  receipts  for 
last  year  have  not  been  obtained  but  you  may  expect 
to  recive  them  ere  long — the  sale  of  the  share  of  land 
you  mention  I  have  not  been  able  to  effect,  indeed  I 
think  it  likely  that  it  cannot  be  sold  here  on  account 
of  the  scarcity  of  money  &  the  stopage  of  business— 
but  I  will  use  every  endeavour  to  dispose  of  it  in  the 
way  that  will  answer — 

I  remain  Dear  Sir  your  ob* 
Humble  Serv* 

Wm  Ruf  us  Putnam 
Col1  Jn°  May— 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY  203 

DOCUMENT  XL  VIII. 

Marietta  Sep*  22—  AD  1808- 
Dear  Sir 

I  receivd  yours  of  Octr  last  enclosing  in  all  the  sum 
of  eighty  dollars,  which  was  applied  in  the  payment  of 
the  taxes  of  the  persons  therein  named  as  you  directed 
I  opened  an  account  with  each  one,  therefore  shall 
trouble  you  as  corresponding  agent  no  more  unless 
you  shall  please  to  accommodate  some  of  them  —  Mr 
Dorr's  money  was  receivd  and  accepted  for  the  re- 
linquishment  of  his  land  —  enclosed  I  send  it  please  to 
give  it  him  —  Our  wise  State  Legislature  foreseeing 
that  there  would  be  a  total  stagnation  of  business, 
and  that  consequently  people  would  be  at  leizure  to 
pay  (forgeting  that  money  might  be  wanting)  have 
increased  the  state  taxes  very  considerably  —  say  from 
$471  to  $6.80  on  a  share  —  from  this,  the  taxes  & 
commissions  on  a  share  will  am*  to  $7.80  or  there 
abouts  —  and  must  be  paid  Decemr  1st  next  —  bills 
of  the  US  Marietta  or  those  of  some  southern  State 
will  only  be  eccepted  by  the  collector  —  You  mention 
the  selling  of  part  of  your  land  —  why  it  cannot  be  sold 
here  at  all;  land  at  this  time  is  of  no  value.  I  had  like 
to  have  forgotten  to  mention  that  I  hardly  recovered 
from  a  very  sore  sickness  which  has  prevented  my 
writing  sooner  and  now  prevents  my  sending  the 
duplicate  receipts— 

Yours  respectfully 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 
Col°  May— 


aged  father  is  well  and  tenders  his  respects  — 
Dear  Sir, 

please  to  give  the  Bowdoin  Family  notice  of  there 
taxes  I  dont  whom  to  address 


204  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  XLIX. 

Boston  October  21,  1808- 

Dear  Sir 

I  received  yours  of  the  22d  September  in  due  time. 
I  mentioned  the  present  years  taxes  to  a  few  friends 
who  have  requested  me  to  forward  on  theire  Taxes  to 
you  in  closed  in  My  Letter — Viz. 

Jn°  May  3  Shares  --  7.20  $21.60 

Elisabeth  Bowdoine  3  Ditto  21.60 

James  Bowdoine  3  Ditto  21.60 

Elisabeth  Temple  3  Ditto  21.60 

Wm  Marshall  1  Ditto  7.20 

Egenr  Wales  1  Ditto  7.20 

John  Stanton,  heirs  1  Ditto  7.20 

Wm  Wiswald  for  C.  Champney  1  Ditto  7.20 


16  Shares  $115.20 

which  sum  of  one  hundred  &  fifteen  dollars  &  20/ioo 
I  now  inclose  you  in  bills  and  make  no  doubt  it  will 
reach  you  in  safety  and  in  good  time  I  wish  you  to 
inform  me  immediately  on  the  receipt  of  it — Mr  Wm 
Wiswald  says  he  Sent  you  last  year  Six  Dollars  to 
pay  Tax  on  C.  Champney  Share  he  wishes  you  would 
write  him  about  it. 

I  have  paid  the  Taxes  on  W7m  Marshal,  one  Share 
and  the  half  Share  drawn  in  the  Name  Jn°  May  & 
W.M — ever  since  the  first  Taxes  commenced  &  he 
has  Never  paid  Me  One  farthing  Nor  can  I  git  him  to 
attend  to  it  altho  I  have  seen  him  &  have  wrote  him 
frequently,  the  amount  he  Owes  Me  is  includeing  this 
present  year  is  $62.75  cents  and  I  have  no  Notion  of 
having  it  lay  any  longer. — I  theirefore  request  you  to 
attach  in  my  name  the  one  Undivided  half  Share  o 
Land  which  may  belong  to  the  Said  Wm  Marshal 
being  drawn  in  the  name  of  Jn°  May  &  WTm  Marshall 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  205 

and  is  N°  435  of  the  8  Acre  Lot,  what  I  mean  is  for 
you  to  attach  all  his  right  to  the  above  share  and  have 
it  sold  and  if  it  Should  Go  Very  Low  buy  it  on  My 
Account — for  all  these  extra  troubles  I  am  allways 
willing  to  pay  you — as  you  &  I  have  never  wrote  on 
polliticks  I  think  it  not  worth  while  to  begin  now.  I 
shall  Only  say  we  have  ben  dreadfully  cramped  for 
allmost  a  year  by  the  Cursed  imbargo — and  we  do 
no  se  any  prospect  of  its  removal  at  present — they 
threten  us  from  head  Quarters  that  if  they  raise  the 
imbargo,  we  must  go  to  war  with  England — Spain  is  at 
work  Gloriously.  God  be  with  hir — Never  forget  to 
make  my  best  regards  to  your  Venerable  Father — and 
believe  me  to  be  your  Most 

Obedient  Servant 

J.  May 

Endorsed  1808 

Coppey  of  Letter  to 
Wm  R.  Putnam 
Oct.  25,  1808 


Wrote  him  in  December 

Wrote  him  a  duplicate  with  additions 

March  25  1809. 


Write  him  Lengthey  July  25  1809 


206  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  L. 

Marietta  August  1st  1809— 
Col°  May 
Dear  Sir — 

At  length  I  have  commenced  writing  to  you — which 
I  ought  to  have  done  some  time  ago — but  have  been 
prevented  by  one  circumstance  &  an  other — your 
favor  of  Oct  last  inclosing  money  for  taxes  was  receiv'd 
and  the  money  you'll  find  in  following  accounts  yours 
of  March  last  was  likewise  receiv'd  what  you  state 
relative  to  Wm  Marchalls  land  will  be  attend  to,  I 
have  waited  untill  this  time  as  our  Court  sits  within 
about  a  fortnight  at  which  term  the  suit  will  be  brought 
— James  Smith  with  whom  we  have  had  difficulty 
heretofore  has  made  a  demand  of  the  balance  or  last 
payments  of  the  residuary  funds — which  he  says  you 
have  receiv'd  from  Col°  Talmage  since  the  settlement 
of  the  former  suit  upon  his  share — and  he  says  that 
unless  you  pay  them  over  to  him,  he  will  commence 
an  action — wish  to  write  on  this  subject  immediately- 
Inclosed  you  will  receive  the  vouchers  of  the  pay  of 
taxes  for  1807  and  1808 — of  those  persons  you  directed 
— except  for  Caleb  Champneys  heirs  .  .  .  them  I 
write  Wm  Wisward  and  enclose  the  vouchers — but 
here  acknowledged  to  have  receiv'd  $7.20  of  you  for 
them — 

that  each  person  may  the  particular  situation  of  his 
acct  I  draw  these  separately  the  vouchers  may  with 
the  ace*  be  delivered  then. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


207 


John  May  Dr 
1807 

Decemr  to  pay  of  state  tax . . .  $13.72 
to  commissions 3.00 

1808  to  postage  Feb.  26th 25 

Nov.  to  postage 75 

Decem  to  payment  of  taxes 

&c 17.086 

to  commissions 3. — 

1809  to  balance  Cr  new  acct..       .79 


Per  Conta    C' 
1807 

Cash    enclosed  under    Date 

oct.  14th $17.00 

1808 

Cash    enclosed  under    Date 
Oct  25..  .  21.60 


38.60  $38.60 

Closed  to  August  1—1809 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 


James  Bowdoin  and  others    Dr. 
1807 
Dec.  to  pay'  of  State  taxes  see 

to  Com  on  9  shares 9. — 

1808 

Dec.  to  pay  of  State  taxes. . .  53.216 
to  Cornm0 9.— 

113  913 
balance  Cr  in  new  acct . .        2  57 


Per  Contra    C' 
1807 
By  cash  by  Col°  May  Oct 

14th $51.68 

1808 

By  Cash  by  Col*  May  Oct 
25..  .  64.80 


$116.48 


116.48 
Acct  Closed  to  August  1—1809 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 

I  requested  By  a  Mr  Jeremiah  Dare  of  this  town  to 
apply  for  the  purchase  of  your  eight  acre  lot  lying  in 
the  Township  of  Marietta  about  two  miles  from 
Town  N°  192 — Drawn  in  the  name  of  Samuel  G 
Perkins — Mr  D  offers  one  hundred  dollars  for  it  one 
half  down  thereon  some  little  Cr  he  is  a  responsable 
man  and  I  think  it  is  as  much  as  the  lot  is  worth 
should  you  send  a  deed  you  may  fifty  dollars  of  the 
money  for  the  payment  of  the  taxes  for  the  present 
year — 

I  remain  with  great  respect  your  obedient 
Sir 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 


208  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LI. 

Boston  23d  October  1809— 
Dear  Sir 

I  was  from  home  when  yours  of  August  1  came  to 
Boston  consequently  did  not  recive  it  until  sum  time 
after — I  am  happy  you  have  commenced  writing 
again  I  own  that  I  felt  a  little  uneasy  at  not  hearing 
from  you  for  almost  a  year,  have  wrote  you  three 
times  I  was  fearful  my  Letter  with  money  had  mis- 
carried I  wish  you  allways  on  the  receipt  of  my  Letters 
just  to  Drop  a  line  informing  me  of  it  &  any  other 
matters  you  may  think  worth  while — 

I  have  waited  until  this  time  in  Order  to  collect 
the  Taxes  of  those  proprietors  who  wished  to  send  by 
this  conveyance  they  are  allways  tardey — 

I  have  Examined  the  Accounts  you  Sent  me  & 
find  them  correct.  I  have  sent  on  with  the  rest,  Will™ 
Marshal  Tax,  alltho  he  has  not  paid  me  one  Cent 
since  the  taxes  commenced.  ,,if  it  is  admissable  you 
will  please  to  add  the  sum  of  Twelve  Dollars  to  the 
Account  which  I  Sent  you  against  him  this  12  dollars 
is  for  Tax  on  lj^  shares  for  this  year  your  Comm' 
Mine  &c— 

I  now  Inclose  you  a  deed  to  Jeremiah  Dare  for  which  he 
is  to  advance  you  cash  and  will  give  you  Satisfactory  security 

for  the  Rest 50.00 

the  ballances  due  may  Bowdins  &  Marshall  deducting 

35  Cents  Wales  owed  you 3.34 

the  remainder  I  inclose  you  in  cahs 49.66 

Stanton  has  enough  with  you 103.00 

I  Raise  for  Secy  Jn°  May 3  Shares  —  5.86  - 

Bowdone  Temple  &  Bowdin .  .   9      — 

Marshal 1  -  is  87.90 

Wales 1  your   commiss         15, 

Wiswald 1 

15     shares  102.90 


THE  JOHN  MAT  PAPERS  209 

I  hope  that  this  will  reach  you  in  Safety  &  in  good 
time 

I  am  satisfied  James  Smiths  demands  are  unjust, 
he  is  not  intitled  to  any  dividend  on  the  surplus  funds 
as  he  paid  me  for  his  share  all  together  in  army 
warrants,  &  for  such  shares  I  received  No  dividend  at 
the  Settlement  at  Philadelphia — 

your  honor-  father  was  theire  present,  &  president  of 
the  board  of  directors,  he  Undoubtedly  will  remember 
if  not  his  Books  and  Papers  will  show  that  I  represented 
35  shares  &  demanded  a  dividend  on  them  but  they 
allowed  me  on  28  only,  Saying  that  those  Shares  paid 
for  in  Army  Warrents  drew  theire  full  Share  of  Land 
but  ware  not  intitled  to  surplus  money  consequenly 
they  allowed  me  none  on  7  Shares  of  which  James 
Smith  was  one — I  am  however  willing  to  leave  it  to 
your  father  to  say  what  is  right — if  Smith  has  com- 
menced an  action,  or  insits  on  doing  it.  I  leave  it 
with  you  to  manage  the  matter  according  to  your  best 
Judgement — imploy  council  if  you  think  proper.  I 
shall  add  that  I  did  not  receive  any  surplus  Money  for 
him  and  am  loth  to  pay  him  what  I  did  not  receive — 
as  the  Share  of  mine  drawn  in  the  name  S.  G.  Perkins 
is  now  twice  broke  in  upon  I  wish  you  to  sell  the 
remainder  or  any  of  my  other  Shares  when  you  have  a 
good  oppertunity — you  please  to  attend  to  the  Marshall 
account — and  pray  write  immediately  on  the  recept 
of  this.  Never  forget  to  remember  my  best  regards  to 
your  Hond  father  &  believe  me  your  sincear  friend  &c 

John  May 


210  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DEED. 

Know  all  men  by  these  Presents  that  I,  John  May 
of  Boston,  in  the  County  of  Suffolk  and  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  Esqr — In  consideration  of  One 
hundred  Dollars  in  hand  paid  to  William  Ruf us  Putnam 
(my  agent  at  Marietta)  on  or  before  the  delivering 
hereof — by  Jeremiah  Dare  of  the  Town  of  Marietta 
in  the  County  of  Washington  and  State  of  Ohio — The 
receipt  whereof  is  hereby  Acknowledged — Do  hereby, 
give  grant  sell  and  convey  to  the  said  Jeremiah  Dare- 
One  Eight  Acre  lot  of  Land  lying  in  the  Said  Town- 
ships of  Marietta,  and  was  drawn  in  the  Name  of 
Samuel  G.  Perkins,  and  is  Numbered  in  the  Ohio 
Companeys  Book  of  Draughts,  one  hundred  and  ninety 
two — 

To  have  and  to  hold  the  Said  Eight  Acre  lot  of 
Land  hereby  granted  with  the  privalidges  and  appurt- 
unances  theire  Unto  belonging — Unto  him  the  said 
f eremiah  Dare  his  heires  and  assignes  forever 

In  Witness  whereof  I  the  Said  John  May,  and 
Abigail  my  Wife  in  token  of  hir  Relinquishment  of 
Dower  in  the  premises  have  here  Unto  set  our  hand 
and  Scales* 

this  was  Sent  back  for  want  of  Warentee,  the  One 
now  Gone  on  is  thus  Warenteed—  J.  M.- 

assignes  forever.  A.  M.- 

*and,  I  the  said  John  May  Do  further  covenant 
with  the  Said  Jeremiah  Dare  that  I  am  the  right  full 
Owner  of  the  said  Eight  Acre  lott  and  have  full  right 
to  Sell  the  Same — and  that  I  will  &  do  Warrant  to 
defend  the  same   against  the  Lawfull  Claims  of  all 
people- 
Signed  Sealed  &c— 
Octr  3d  1810- 

Coppey  of  a  Deed  and  a  Letter  to  Wm  R.   Putnam 
Marietta,  Oct.  23—1809. 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  211 


DOCUMENT  LIL 

Marietta  March  15th  1810— 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  dated  Octr  23  enclosing  money  and  a 
deed  for  Jeremiah  Dare  was  duly  receivd  but  imme- 
diately after  the  reception  I  was  called  from  home, 
and  have  been  absent  through  the  winter  and  now  for 
the  first  time  have  an  opportunity  to  reply — The 
money  you  sent  was  applied  as  you  directed.  Mr  Dare 
paid  $50 — which  was  placed  to  your  credit,  an  account 
of  the  taxes  with  the  vouchers  will  be  sent  on  to  you  a 
soon  as  duplicate  receipts  can  be  obtained. — I  have 
not  seen  James  Smith  since  I  recev'd  your  letter,  but 
shall  conduct  according  to  your  directions — should 
there  an  oppertunity  offer  for  the  sale  of  any  of  your 
land  it  will  be  attended  to — Mr  Dare  requests  that  I 
would  remit  the  and  you  sent  on  back  to  you  again — 
for  these  two  reasons — first  Mrs  May  has  not  acknowl- 
edged it— secondly  it  is  not  a  warrantee  he  requests 
that  you  would  correct  those  errors  in  a  new  deed  and 
send  it  on — however  he  paid  the  money  as  agreed  upon 
my  giving  him  my  receipt — The  suit  against  Wm 
Marshal  is  progressing  Business  is  very  dull  in  this 
place  money  very  scarce  therefore  there  is  very  little 
opportunity  for  letting  land  or  sale.  Settlement  in 
the  Ohio  Companys  purchase  encreases  very  slowly; 
many  years  will  probably  elaps  before  all  the  land 
will  be  demanded — My  Father  requests  his  regards  to 
be  presented  to  you — 

I  remain  Dear  Sir 

your  Obedient  Serv* 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam. 
Col°  Mav. 


212  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LIIL 

Marietta  August  10th  1810— 
Dear  Sir 

I  wrote  in  March  last  in  answer  to  yours  of  Octr 
which  doubtless  you  have  receiv'd  as  I  have  obtained 
duplicate  receipt  for  the  payment  of  taxes  last  year 
they  are  herein  enclosed — 

1st    James  Bowdoin  &  others  amounting  to $53.255 

2d    John  Mays   &  others  amounting  to 17.085 

3d    William  Marshall  &  others  amounting  to 5.865 

4th    Ebenr  Wales  &  others  amounting  to 5.865 

5th  Caleb  Champney  &  others  amounting  to 6.097 

88.167 
Commission  on  15  Shares  —  6/ 15.00 


Money  remitted 102.90 


Balance  due  me 000.26* 

The  taxes  for  the  present  you  are  nearly  one  fourth 
higher  than  they  were  last  and  become  due  on  the 
first  of  Decemr  your  business  with  Wm  Marshal  is 
progressing,  but  the  money  cannot  be  counted  on  this 
present  year  for  the  payment  of  taxes — On  your  return- 
ing a  corrected  deed  for  Mr  Dare  there  will  be  fifty 
dollars  in  hand  for  the  purpose — it  is  an  unpleasant 
thing  that  the  taxes  have  risen,  but  this  proceeds  from 
bad  management  in  our  publick  men — the  origin  of 
this  evil  was  laid  in  our  going  from  a  Territorial 
Government  to  a  State — The  constitution  of  our 
Territorial  government  provided  that  so  soon  as  there 
should  be  60,000  free  inhabitants  within  any  of  the 
contemplated  divisions  they  might  form  to  themselves 
a  constitution  &  State  Government  provided  it  should 
be  repulican — and  that  such  state  should  be  received 
into  the  Union  upon  the  limit  of  the  original  States — 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  213 

Congress  held  large  tracts  of  land  in  our  state  has 
commenced  their  system  of  sale — our  country  was  filling 
with  inhabitants  when  certain  exclusive  patriots  set 
in  motion  the  forming  a  state  government,  but  it 
was  objected  that  we  wanted  the  number  required — Vz 
— 60,000 — to  obviate  this  dificulty  a  certain  portion 
of  the  Country  sent  agents  to  Congress  a  procured  a 
bill  to  pass — authorizing  the  Eastern  division  to  form 
a  state  government — but  connected  with  it  certain 
propositions — wherein  the  state  was  to  relinquish  the 
right  of  taxing  public  lands,  and  that  they  would  not 
tax  land  sold  by  the  U  S  for  five  years  after  it  should 
be  sold — now  as  there  was  no  other  source  of  supporting 
our  government  but  from  land  taxes,  the  poor  Devils 
that  had  purchased  before  this  business  had  them  all 
to  pay — now  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  has  filled  the 
state  with  inhabitants  increased  the  representation 
and  consequently  the  expense  of  government  but  add 
nothing  to  the  funds  untill  after  five  residence — when  I 
reflect  on  this  business,  done  under  the  spurious  show 
of  love  for  the  people — I  sicken,  and  abhor  the  idea  of 
modern  republicanism — but  why?  we  are  not  alone — 
whenever  democracy  prevails — some  authentic  evil 
preys  upon  the  bowels  of  the  state  I  sincerely  regret 
the  relapse  into  which  my  native  state  has  fallen,  how 
to  account  for  it  is  dificult,  but  nothing  ought  to 
surprise  us  these  days  of  universal  distraction — This 
season  has  been  very  wet  even  so  that  it  has  very 
inconvenient  to  secure  the  crops  of  hay  and  wheat, 
such  seasons  have  usually  produced  sickness,  but  as 
yet  there  is  very  little  in  this  quarter— my  Father  is 
not  in  very  good  health  this  summer — yet  is  able  to 
do  business;  accept  his  regards  for  yourself — 
I  remain  dear  Sir 

Your  Ob*  Servt. 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 
Col°  Jn°  May— 

J  Smith  has  not  called  on  me  since  I  receivd  your 
letter. 


214  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LIV. 

Boston  Oct  3  1810 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  26  August  came  duely  to  hand  inclosing 
receipts  for  taxes  the  last  year  and  a  broad  hint  fer 
more  this  year — your  remarks  on  the  extreaudinay 
high  Taxes  of  this  present  year,  as  well  as  former 
Ones,  are  turely  mortifying  theire  is  no  such  Taxes  laid 
on  Any  of  the  wild  Lands  in  this  Countrey,  in  fact  it  is 
unfaire  &  unjust  and  cannot  be  patently  bourn 

I  most  Sincearly  lament  and  regret  with  you  the 
relaps  of  our  Commonwealth,  &  it  remains  verey 
Unsartain  when  if  ever  She  recovers  hir  former  dignety 
and  Splender — Such  an  Unwealy  house  of  Repr 
sentatives  upwards  of  600  a  Majorety  of  them  Violent 
Ignorant  Noysey  democrats,  filld  the  Chamber  last 
June  I  dread  the  time  when  the  long  winter  Sesion  will 
commence  then  theire  will  be  constant  spoutings  from 
durty  filthey  fountaines — but.  No  More- 
Inclosed  you  have  my  Deed  to  Jereh  Dare  done  in  the 
Strongest  manner  we  know  how  this  I  presume  to  be 

good  for $  50.00 

and  I  allso  inclose  you  in  Cash 67.00 

This  Sum  is  to  pay  Taxes  on  3  Shares  my  own  in $117.00 

the  Ohio  Company,  Purchases  Say  &  7. S3  pr  share  is.  ...  21.99 
Ditto  James  Bowdoins  &  Lady  Temple  heirs  9  shares ....  65.97 

Ditto  Ebenr  Wales  Esqr 7.33 

Ditto  Wm  Wiswald  fer  Caleb  Champneys  heirs 7.33 

102.62 
Your  Comm'  on  14  Shares  14$,  postage  &c  38 14.38 

117.00 

I  hope  this  will  reach  you  in  Safety  and  in  good  time 
if  Smith  does  not  trouble  us  any  more  so  Much  the 
better,  if  he  Does  I  refer  you  to  my  former  Letter  on 
that  Subject — I  expect  the  nex  time  I  hear  from  you 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  215 

to  be  informed  that  you  have  got  through  with  the 
business. 

You  will  observe  that  I  have  not  sent  the  Tax  for  the 
one  Share  of  Wm  Marshal,  altho  I  have  repetedly 
wrote  him  and  in  formed  his  Son  for  Many  Years,  yet 
they  have  never  paid  the  Least  attention  to  the  busi- 
ness. I  theirefore  give  them  up  to  theire  own  in- 
sensabillity — 

I  have  a  Son  Arived  from  Sea  Sum  three  Month 
ago,  by  name  Wm  Rufus  he  is  about  twenty  three 
years  of  age,  tired  of  going  to  Sea  in  these-times  & 
not  acquainted  with  felling  the  mighty  Oaks  nor  in 
fact,  with  farmeing  of  any  kind — yet  he  wishes  to 
become  a  farmer — had  I  better  Send  him  on  to  take 
up  Sum  of  my  burnt  Lots  and  Learn  to  farm?  that 
is  the  Question  on  which  I  pray  your  Opinion  Am  I 
paying  taxes  for  those  Land,  which  you  have  sold  for 
me.  if  I  am  I  hope  you  will  cancel  it — I  begg  you  to 
write  me  on  the  receipt  of  this  it  is  of  consequence 
that  we  should  be  informed  of  the  receit  of  our  Letters 
in  due  time,  you  will  please  to  make  my  best  respects 
to  your  Venerable  Father  &  believe  Me  to  be  your 
Most  Obedient  Servant 

J  M 
To  Wm  R.Putnam. 


216  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LV. 

Marietta  Novr  7th  1810— 
Dear  Sir 

Your  favor  of  Octr  3d  enclosing  a  deed  for  Mr  Dare 
and  sixty  seven  dollars  in  bank  Bills  come  safe  to 
hand — I  shall  answer  your  queries  as  they  stand  in 
order — I  found  Smith  determined  to  pursue  the  busi- 
ness therefore  to  save  expence  I  compromised  with 
him  for  fifteen  dollars — I  have  obtained  judgement 
against  Wm  Marshal  for  better  than  eighty  dollars  in 
your  account  I  added  interest  on  the  different  sums 
from  the  time  of  payment  and  it  was  allow'd  the 
money  will  be  collected  some  time  in  Decemr — In 
reference  to  your  Son  I  would  observe  that  a  farmer 
life  compared  with  the  more  busy  scenes  of  life  will 
appear  dull — but  if  he  has  a  taste  for  it  he  will  do  well 
enough  there  are  two,  one  hundred  acre  lots  of  your 
lying  on  the  Ohio  twenty  miles  or  more  below  Galli- 
polis  wThich  would  make  a  very  good  farm  and  there 
are  scattering  settlements  along  the  river  near  to  and 
adjoining  it — Also  farms  with  partial  improvements 
might  be  bought  to  great  advantage  from  1000 — to 
3000  dollars  some  with  good  improvements — All 
kinds  of  farmers  tools  may  be  had  here  to  good  advan- 
tage also  cattle  horses  hogs  or  sheep — I  shall  be  happy 
to  see  your  son  in  this  country  and  every  assistance 
within  my  power  shall  cheerfully  lend  him — doubtless 
you  recollect  Majr  Goodale  who  settled  at  Bel-pre 
the  garden  of  the  purchase — (unfortunate  man  he  fel 
by  the  Indians)  his  Estate  has  been  rented  and 
neglected  untill  the  buildings  which  were  log  are  fallen 
to  the  ground,  and  the  fences  so  decay d  so  that  it 
appears  a  very  ruin — still  there  remains  160  acres  100 
acres  of  which  is  first  rate  bottom  and  fifty  acres  now 
cultivated  as  above  described — with  a  beautiful  exten- 
sive front  of  the  Ohio — this  tract  was  sold  a  year  ago 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  217 

for  $1100  dollars  and  is  now  for  sale — a  few  hundred 
dollars  laid  out  in  repairs  in  fences  and  cleaning  up 
brush  &  would  render  it  as  complete  a  farm  as  any  one 
could  wish — it  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  an  old  flourish- 
ing settlement — on  the  reception  of  your  letter  im 
mind  first  lit  on  the  spot  as  well  calculated  to  suit  your 
son — My  father  enjoys  very  good  health  as  also  his 
family  and  all  connections — Old  Friend  Battle  is 
is  still  alive  resides  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  son 
but  dwells  by  himself  that  (as  he  observes)  he  may 
eat  his  mush  in  his  own  way — accept  of  my  regards 
&  well  wishes  for  yourself  and  family. 
Yours  respectfully — 

Wm  Rufus  Putnam 
Col°  Jn°  May. 


218  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LVI. 

Marietta  Sept  11th  AD  1811 
Dear  Sir 

That  period  has  arived  when  it  is  necessary  to 
inform  relative  to  taxes — enclosed  you  will  receive  an 
account  of  the  taxes  paid  for  those  persons  you  directed 
in  your  letter  of  Octr  last.  I  have  been  the  more 
particular  in  making  it  out  that  it  might  appear,  that 
the  taxes  have  exceeded  the  money  which  has  been 
remitted,  by  comparing  the  sums  paid,  with  those 
receiv'd,  you'll  readily  notice  the  balances  due  from 
those  mentioned  in  the  account,  which  they  can  pay 
over  with  the  money  for  the  present  year — When  I 
wrote  you  last,  I  was  in  expectation  of  having  recovered 
the  money  from  William  Marshall  before  this  time— 
but  Sir,  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Court  at 
length  proceeded  to  the  sale  of  the  land  attached  in 
the  county  of  Washington,  but  they  would  not  sel 
for  half  the  sums  due  and  payment  of  cost  consequently 
we  must  travel  into  other  Counties  for  a  further  sale 
which  will  delay  the  business  in  such  a  manner;  that 
the  collection  cannot  be  relied  on  for  the  payment  of 
taxes  the  present  year — The  taxes  for  the  present 
year,  will  amount  to  some  little  more  than  they  did 
last,  and  become  due  by  the  first  of  December — I  think 
I  mentioned  in  my  last  that  I  have  settled  with  James 
Smith  relative  to  the  residuary  funds,  I  found  that  he 
would  sue  for  the  money  and  that  even  if  you  should 
gain  the  suit  yet  the  cost  would  be  more  than  the 
fifteen  dollars  which  I  gave  him — but  further,  from 
former  decisions  I  am  led  to  believe  that  he  would  have 
recovered — I  here  state  our  accounts  (except  more 
relative  to  the  suit) — for  1809  &  1810  the  voucher  for 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS 


219 


1809  have  been  returned  to  you,  but  the  account  is 
here  included  as  it  is  connected  with  1810 — 


Clo*  John  May  Dr. 

1809 

to  postage  on  a  letter 25 

Nov.  to  postage  on  a  letter 75 

to  bills  returned  not 

current 4.00 

29  to  taxes  paid  on  his  land . .  17.085 
to   commissions   on   three 

shares 3. 

1810 

Sept.  15  to  cash  paid  James 
Smith    residuary    funds    on    his 

share 15.00 

Nov.  26  to  pay  of  taxes  on  his 

land  for  1810 22.2S9 

to    commissions    on    three 


Per  Contra  Cr 

1809 

By  balance  due  for  1808. .  .$00.79 
Novr  by  cash  enclosed 19.79 

1810 

Oct.  by  cash  enclosed  by  mail 
for     pay*    of    taxes    and 

commis" 25.37 

By  balance  Charged  in  new 

a/c 19.374 


shares 


3.00 
65.324 


65.324 


I  have  nothing  material  to  write  only  land  is  very  low 
yet,  of  a  very  dull  market — I  fear  the  nonresident 
proprietors  will  be  tired  of  paying  taxes  before  they 
will  be  able  to  sel  their  lands  for  a  reasonable  price — 
my  father  is  still  living  and  in  tollerable  health — request 
to  present  his  respects  to  you — 

I  am  with  great  due  respect  your 
Obt  Serv* 

Wm  R.  Putnam 
Sept.11,1811 


220  THE  OHIO  COMPANY 


DOCUMENT  LVIL 

Boston  October  24,1811 
Dear  Sir 

I  received  yours  of  the  11  Sept  in  due  time  in- 
closeing  Accounts  Receipts  &c  for  taxes  for  the  year 
1810 — I  have  been  prevented  from  makeing  up  the 
budget  until  now.  partley  oweing  the  Death  of  the 
Late  James  Bowdoine  who  was  bureyed  in  this  town 
the  Last  week — all  the  heirs  of  the  Bowdoine  family 
are  gone  except  sum  Grand  Children  of  the  Old  Gov- 
ourner,  Named  Temple  &  Winthrops. 

I  wish  you  to  follow  up  the  Wm  Marshal  affair  to  a 
Close  as  soon  as  possable  you  will  keepe  the  Money  in 
crib  for  next  years  taxes,  but  let  me  know  the  exact 
amount  in  your  Next  Letter,  which  I  request  you  send 
me  on  the  Receipt  of  this. — 

as  you  did  not  inform  me  how  Much  the  Taxes  on 
each  Share  is  this  year,  but  thought  them  sumthing 
more  than  last — I  have  theirefore  Sent  7.50  pr  Share 
and  one  Dollar  on  each  share,  your  Commission  Say 
on  14  Shares 

Vizt— John  May   3  Shares  @  8.50  $25.50 

Heires  of  James  Bowdoin  9  Ditto  76.50 

Ebenr  Wales  Esqr                1  8.50 

Heires  of  C.  Champney      1   —  8.50 

14  119.00 

ballance  due  you  in  New  ace* —  19.37 


138.37 

which  sum  I  now  inclose  you  by  a  check  drawn  by  the 
Cashier  of  our  Union  Bank  on  the  cashier  of  the 
Penselvania  Bank  @  Philadelpia  138.38  when  you  pase 


THE  JOHN  MAY  PAPERS  221 

it,  it  will  be  Necessary  for  you  to  indorse  the  Same — 
I  thought  this  the  best  method  of  conveying  it  and  hope 
it  will  reach  you  in  safety.  I  wish  you  to  sell  any  of 
my  lotts  when  you  can  obtain  a  fair  price  &  good  pay — 
remember  me  to  thy  aged  father,  &  believe  Me  to  be 
your  Sincear  friend  &  Humble  Servant 

J.  M— 
To  W-  R.  Putnam. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Adams,  Samuel 169,  170 

Alaman  River 94 

Albany 79 

Alexandria 87 

Alleghany  Mountains 81,  91 

River 77 

Andover 201 

Archbald,  Azor  G 102 

Arlington,  Russell 109 

Attwood,  Elijah 109 

Avery,  Mr 159 

Babcock,  Asa 109 

Backus,  James 105,  108 

Baker,  Benj 109 

Eleazer] 163 

Barlow,  Aaron 109 

Joel 100,  113,  114 

Barrell,  Joseph 124 

Battelle,  Ebenezer. . .  .104,  105,  108,  112,  141,  148,  149,  151,  153, 
161,  172,  174,  181,  186,  216 

Bay  of  Mexico 88 

Belpre 216 

Bigelow,  Asahel 159,  160,  163,  172,  184 

Blake,  Thomas ..  102,  141,  146,  182,  184,  186,  187,  194,   195,  196 

Blaker,    Leonard 140 

Board  of  Police 104,  1 10 

By-laws  of 107 

Boland,  Leonard  V 184 

Boothby,  Mr 155 

Borland,  Leonard 160,  163 

Boston 103,  123,  124,  134,  135,  137,  138,  143,  145,  146,  148, 

152,  156,  157,  159,  163,  169,  170,  174,  176,  179,  182, 
183,  189,  190,  196,  197,  200,  201,  204,  208,  210,  214, 
220 

Bowdoin,  Elizabeth.  .  .  102,  145,  163,  169,  173,  187,  194,  195,  196, 
200,  20 1,  204,  208 

Governor 144 

James 102,  141,  145,  146,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194, 

195,  196,  2OO,  2OI,  204,  2O7,  2O8,  212,  214,  22O 

James,  Death  of 220 

James,  Heirs  of 220 

Bowen,  Jabez 118 

222 


INDEX  223 

Bowers,  Henry 141 

Bowland,  Leonard 160,  163 

Bowlen,  Mr 159,  160 

Braddock,  General 87 

Brant,  Joseph 135 

Breck,  William 102,  141,  146 

Brookline 201 

Brown,  John 160 

Mr 127 

Buffaloe  River 77 

Burnham,  Maj.  John 124 

Butler,  General  Richard 94 

Cambridge 201 

Campus  Martius 148,  159 

Canada 79 

Carlisle 83 

Casey,  Walter 109 

Wanton 105,  108 

Cayahoga  (see  Cuyahoga) 

Celt,  Arnold 109 

Champney,  Caleb.  .  .  .163,  169,  173,  174,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196, 

204,  206,  212 

Heirs 184,  206,  214,  220 

Cherokee  River 77 

Chesapeak  River 83 

Chever,  Dr 201 

Joshua 109 

Lott 109 

Cincinnati,  Society  of 70 

Clark,  Peleg 116,  118 

Cleaveland,  Moses 70 

Clough,  Aaron 109 

Coal  Mines 79,  80 

Coats,  John 163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196,  201 

Cobb,  Benj..io2,  141,  146,  163,  169,  170,  174,  184,  187,  194,  195 

Samuel 173,  174,  196,  201 

Cogshall 109 

Cogshall,  Daniel,  Jun 109 

Congress 67,  84,  187 

Journals  of 122 

Land  Policy 67,  213 

Connecticut  Land  Company 67,  70,  71,  75 

Connecticut  Reserve,  The 78 

Cook,  Stephen 163,  172,  175,  198,  201 

Cooper,  Capt 106,  108 

Corlis,  William 100,  104,  112,  113,  115 

Cory,  Mr 105,  108 


224  INDEX 

County  of  Washington 157,  169,  218 

Crary,  Col.  Archibald 100,  104,  105,  107,  108,  112,  113,  115, 

136,  137 

Crowley,  Florence 146 

Cumstock,  Wm 109 

Curtis,  William HO 

Cussineaux,  Mr 139 

Cutler,  Ephraim 114,  177 

Manasseh 69,  70,  73,  75,  96,  98,  99,  100,  114,  119 

123,  132,  133,  134,  136,  137,  144,  151,  177, 

178 

Cuyahoga  River 75,  78,  93 

Daggit,  Jesse 161,  164 

Dall,  W 102,  141,  146,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196, 

198,  200,  201 

Dane,  Mr 121,  130 

Danverse 124 

Dare,  Jeremiah 207,  208,  210,  21 1,  212,  214,  216 

Dawson,  Mr 85 

Dean,  Nathaniel 163 

DeCrevecoeur,  M.  St.  John,  Letters  of 91 

Dedham 201 

Deer  River : 94 

Delaware  River 77,  88 

Devell,  Capt 106,  108 

Dick,  Layton 109 

Doll,  Wm.  (see  Dall,  W.) 

Donation  Tracts 72 

Dorr,  Ebenezer 102,  141,  146,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  196, 

201,  202 

Dorchester 201 

Downer,  Eliphalet 100,  115,  135,  177 

Duer,  Col.  William 98,  99,  123,  124,  125,  131,  139 

Dunham,  Daniel 105,  108 

Dyer,  Eliphalet 118 

Eldrige,  Sylvester 109 

Solomon 109 

Eliot,  Mr 137 

Elliott,  Richard 109 

Evans,  Israel 183,  184 

Everitt,  Moris 174 

Moses 163,  169,  173,  184,  198 

Fearing,  Paul 105,  108 

Flint,  Royal 123 

Florida 80,  83,  88 

Fogg,  Jereh 147 

Fort  Pitt 77,  78 


INDEX  225 

Foster,  Dwight 1 18 

Freeman,  Nathaniel 114,  177 

French  Creek 81 

French  Emigrants 72 

Fribourgh 135 

Fuller,  Oliver 109 

Sivester 109 

Gallia  County 184 

Gallipolis 72,  216 

Gee,  James 109 

Gerry,  Elbridge 102,   141,   146,   163,   169,   173,   184,   187, 

188,  189,  190,  194,  195,  196,  197,  201 

Gilman,  Benj.  P 161 

Glocester 1 24 

Goodale,  Major 216 

Gordon,  Col 80 

Gray,  Mr 105,  108 

Great  Miami 79,  80,  90 

Green,  Abraham 109 

Lieut.  Charles 105,  108 

Grifin 157 

Gridley,  William 105,  108 

Griffith,  Daniel 198,  200 

Harmer,  Joel 112 

Harris,  Edward 1 14 

Harris  &  Sargent's  Agency 147 

Hart,  Selah 109 

Hartford 177 

Harvey,  Amos 109 

Haskins,  Lydia 163 

Havens,  Samuel 183,  187,  194,  195,  201 

Hefferd,  Samuel 109 

Helms,  Nathl 109 

Henderson,  Hugh 169,  170 

Hillsboro,  Earl  of 86 

Hockhocking  River 77,  79,  83,  90 

Holton,  Judge 121,  130 

Hoskins,  Wm 146 

Hubbard,  John 109 

Hubbard,  Trueman 109 

Benoni 109 

Hudson  River 78,  79,  82 

Hughes,  Thomas 109 

Hulbert,  Archer  B 67,  68,  70 

Hutchins,  Thomas 76 

Illinois 89,  90 

Ingram,  Mr.  D 124 


226  INDEX 

Ipswich 124,  132,  134,  137 

Jackson,  Col 137 

Henry 100,  114,  177 

Jamaica 88 

~ames  River 83 

ohnson,  James 109 

ones,  John  C 163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196,  201 

by,  Mr. 124 

Cenhawa  River 77)  83 

Kenion,  Stephen 109 

Kentucky 79>  9°>  191 

Kentucky  River 77 

Kirby,  Ephraim 70 

Kispoko  River 94 

Knowls,  Chas 148 

Kuskinkas  River 94 

Lake  Erie 75,  76,  78,  79,  80,  82,  84,  91,  93 

Lake  Huron 80 

Lake  Michigan 91 

Lake  Ontario 79,  80 

Land  Bounties 67,  69 

Lawton,  Capt.  John 116 

Leach,  James 109 

Lead  Mines 79 

Lee's  Stage  House 177 

Levett,  Samuel 163 

Levins,  Joseph 109 

Litchfield 177 

Little  Beaver 85 

Littlefield,  Capt.  Wm 116,  118 

London 87 

Lord,  Thomas 109 

Louisiana  Purchase 180 

Louisville 95 

Lucas,  John 141,  146 

Luxars,  Benjamin 140 

McClure,  Andrew 109 

McCombs,  H 142 

Marblehead 1 24 

Marietta 72,  73,  103,  131,  134,  145,  147,  151,  153,  IS5> 

159,  160,  161,  164,  166,  168,  171,  172,  I79>  l8o, 
181,  184,  186,  190,  191,  192,  195,  196,  198,  199, 

202,  203,  206,  207,  210,  211,  212,  2l6,  2l8 

Marietta,  List  of  Militia  at 107 

Mark,  Mathew 160 

Marshall,  Christopher.  169,  173,  184,  187,  188,  190,  194,  195,  196 


INDEX  227 

Marshall,  William.  .  .167,  169,  173,  187,  189,  191,  194,  195,  196, 
200,  201,  204,  206,  208,  209,  212,  215,  216, 
218,  220 
Wm.,  Jr  ............................  160,  161,  164,  184 

Maryland  .............................................   88 

Masons,  American  Union  Lodge  of  ........................   7° 

Massachusetts  .........................................  184 

May,  Abigail  ......................................  210,  21  1 

Frederick  ..........................  141,   146,   147,  190 

Col.  John  ......  73,  102-105,  107-109,  112,  113,  115,  118, 

121,  131,  132,  136-138,  141,  I43~i48»  I5°» 
152,  154-163,  165,  167,  169,  172,173,  175- 

178,  180,  I82-I9I,  193-197,  200-202,  204- 
213,  215,  217,  219,  220,  221 


ohn,  Jr  .......................  141,  146,  148,  160,  161 

W 


Jo 

John  W  .....................................  I41* 

Joseph  .................................  102,  138,  141 

Mrs.  John  ..................................  162,  211 

William  R  .........................  141,  146,  148,  215 

Papers  .......................................  67,  73 

May's  Agency  .........................................  147 

Medcalf,  Hezekiah  ..................................  ----  109 

Meigs,  Mr  ....................................  151,  153,  *54 

Jonathan  Return  ............................  no,   113 

Miami  ................................................   85 

Miami  River  .....................................  77,  78,  84 

Military  Bounty  Land  ..................................  143 

Miller,  John  ...........................................  109 

Minott,  James  .........................................  109 

Mississippi  River  ................  ......  77,  78,  79,  83,  86,  92 

Mitchell,  Samuel  ......................................    109 

Mohawk  River  .........................................   79 

Monongahela  River  ..................................  77,  83 

Moravian  Missions  .....................................   67 

Mumford  &  Bowen,  Messrs  ...............................  118 

Munro,  Capt  ......................................  107,  108 

Muskingum  .............................  135,  136,  137,   153 

Muskingum  River  .....  75,  77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  82,  83,  86,  93,  94, 

104,  105,  no,  113,  125,  131,  167 
New  Orleans  ........................................  88,  89 

New  York,  State  of  .....................................   78 

New  York  City  ........  87,  96,  99,  121,  124,  125,  127,  131,  136, 

137,  142,  143,  156 
Newman,  Mr  ......................................  159,  160 

Newport  ..............................................  117 

Newton  ...............................................  201 

Newton,  Silvenus  .......................................  109 


228  INDEX 

Newell,  Robert 109 

Niagara  River 79 

Night,  Thophilus 109 

Northampton 87,  201 

Norton,  William 109 

Nova  Scotia  Refugees 72 

Nye,  Decon 202 

Isaac 1 68,  170 

Odiorn,  Thos 147 

Ohio,  Description  of 75~9S 

State  of f 187 

Ohio  Archaeological  &  Historical  Society  Publications 75,  96 

Ohio  Company,  The 75,  84,  96,  99,  101,  102,  107,  no,  114, 

Il6,  119,  121,  122,  123,  125,  126,  128, 

129, 130, 131, 136, 137, 139, 142, 144, 

146,   149,   156,   157,  165,   174,   179,  210, 

214 

Directors  of 104,  1 10,  1 19 

Records  of 67,  68,  71,  96,  210 

Rhode  Island  Associates  in 119,  137 

Lands 145,  166 

of  Newport  and  Its  Vicinity . 1 16,  117 

Ohio  Country,  Trees  of 81 

Ohio  Falls 81 

Ohio  River 75,  76,  77,  78,  79,  80,  81,  83,  84,  86,  87,  88, 

90,  91,  92,  93,  94,  116,  166,  216 

Oliver,  Col.  Alexander 104,  105,  107,   108,  112 

Robert 157 

Oneyda  Lake 79,  80 

Oswego  River 79 

Owens,  James 109 

Parke,  Mathew,  &  Co 173,  187 

Parks,  Matthew 160,  163,  169,  184,  194,   195,  196,  201 

Parsons,  General  Samuel  H 70,  81,  85,  99,  115,  120 

Patterson,  Elizabeth 161,  164 

Esther 161,  164 

Jas 141,  146,  147,  149,  151,  161,  164 

Margaret 161,  164 

William 161,  164 

Heirs 152,   159,  161,  164 

Pearce,  Wm 163,  172,   175 

Pennsylvania 77,  78,  83,  84,  85,  87,  88,  90 

Pennsylvania  Bank,  Philadelphia 220 

Pensacola 88,  89 

Perkins,  Samuel  G 146,  159,  160,  172,  175,  207,  209,  210 

Perry,  Breton 109 

Philadelphia 77,  83,  87,  88,  124,  149,  209,  220 


INDEX  229 

Phillips,  Maj.  Samuel 104,  105,  107,  108,  112 

Pierce,  David,  Jun 163 

David,  Sen 163 

Isaac 105,  108 

Stephen 109 

Pittsburgh 77,  8.8,  91,  92,  93,  94,  95 

Plat,  Richard 99,  100,  102,  123,  125,  137,  139,  140,  142,  156 

Pomroy,  Asahal 173,  176,  193 

Potowmac  River 77,  83,  87 

Proctor,  Mr 1 24 

Providence 101,  131,  143,   161 

Pumroy,  S 184,  189,  190,  196 

Putnam,  Edwin 164,  184,  186 

General 135 

Rufus 70,  114,  120,  144,  147,  157 

William  Rufus 73,  144,  150,  151,  154,  155,  159,  160, 

162-165,  167,  169,  171-173,  175, 
176,  180,  182-186,  188-193,  193~ 
197,  I99>  201-203,  205,  207,  210, 

211,  213,  215,  217,  219,  221 

Quebec 80 

Ransford,  Joseph 103,   109,   159,  160 

Reed,  Hezekiah 109 

Rhode  Island 101,   123,  131,  132,  134 

Rhode  Island  Associates 1 16,  137 

Rice,  Capt.  Oliver 104,  105,  106,  108,  112 

Ruggles,  Nathaniel 141 

Rumreill,  Thos 116,  117,  118 

Russell,  Alpheous 109 

John 109 

Thos 102,  140,  141,  146,  164,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194, 

195,  196,  201 

St.  Vincent 82 

Salt  Springs 79,  80 

Sampson,  Crocker 161,  163,  172,  175,  186 

Sandusky  Portage 94 

Sandusky  River 79?  93 

Sargeant,  Benjamin 109 

Sargent,  Winthrop.  .  .  .69,  70,  96,  98,  99,  100,  102,  115,  120,  123, 
125,  137,  141,  143,  145,  159,  1 60 

Scenter,  Dr.  Isaac 116,  118 

Scioto  Associates 119 

Company 100,  137 

Lands 75,  90,  127,  128,  134,  166 

Purchase 68,  96,   134 

River 76,  77,  78,  79,  80,  82,  83,  89,  93,  94 

Seccaium  River 93 


INDMC 

Seccaium  Village 

Seven  Ranges 72,  I 

Seward,  Thos 146 

Sharon,  Abel 157 

Shawanee  River 77 

Shawanese  Indians 94 

Sherman,  Abel.  .160,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196,  201 
Sioto  (see  Scioto) 

Skinner,  John .  . 109,  148 

Slocum,  Benjamin 109 

Smith,  Jas 141,  147,  149,  151,  153,  I54»  I55>  I57>  206, 

209,  213,  218 

Smith,  Wm 109 

South  Carolina 88 

Sprague,  John 141,  146 

Sprout,  Ebenezer 100,  106,  107,  108,  113,  115 

Stanton,  John.  .  .^ 163,  169,  173,  187,  189,  190,  198 

Stanton,  Jno.,  Heires 184,  204 

Stanwood,  John 109 

Nathl 109 

Stebbins,  Samuel 105,  108 

Stephens,  Joseph 163,  169,  173,  184,  194,  195,  196 

Stile,  Benjamin 105,  108 

Stacy,  Col,  William 104,  105,  107,  108,  112 

Stacey,  John 109 

Story,  Isaac 124,  134 

Stratton,  John 163 

Strong,  Caleb 173,  176,  184,  194,  195,  196,  201 

Sturgess,  Caleb 187 

Russell 102,  141,  146,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194, 

195,  196,  201 

Sullivan,  John  L 163,  164,  201 

Susquehanna  River 77 

Symme,  Judge 126,  128,  135 

Talmage,  Col.  Benj 100,  114,  118,  131,  156,  177,  178 

Talmage's  &  Averill's 177 

Temple,  Elizabeth 163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196,  200, 

201,  208,  214 

Tenney,  Samuel 147 

Thorp,  Eliphalet 160 

Three  Legs 78 

Ticknor,  Elisha 102,  141,  159,  168 

True,  Jabish 109 

Tufts,  Walter 103,  109 

Tupper,  Benjamin 70,  100,  114,  120,  193 

Edw.  W 1 89,  190,  196 

Tuscarawa 93 


INDEX  231 

Tyler,  Maj.  Dean 105,  108 

Union  Bank,  Boston 220 

United  States ; 187 

Varnum,  Gen.  James  Mitchell 123,  127,  131,  136,  137 

Vernon,  Wm 1 16,  1 18 

Virginia,  State  of 78,  83,  84,  88 

Virginia  Military  Reserve 67 

Wabash  River 77 

Wadsworth,  Mr 124 

Walcott,  Thos 164,  169,  173,  174,  184 

Waldo,  John 141,  160 

Joseph 163,  169,  173,  184,  187,  188,  189,  190 

Wales,  Ebenezer 141,  146,  159,  160,  163,  169,  173,  184,  187, 

194,  195,  196,  200,  201,  204,  208,  212,  214, 

220 

Ward,  Richard 118 

Washington,  Gen.  George 73 

Washington  County 157,  169,  184,  218 

Wayne,  Gen.  Anthony 71 

West  Florida 87,  88 

West  India 83,  87,  88 

West  India  Islands 80 

Western  Reserve 67,  71 

Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 67 

White,  Josiah 105,   108 

Whitman,  Edward 163,  170,  175,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196 

Williams,  H.  H 105,  108 

Jerysh 109 

Jonathan 161,  169,  173,  184,  187,  194,  195,  196,  201 

Joseph 103 

Robert 141,  146 

Wines,  Production  of 82 

Wiswald,  Wm 204,  206,  214 

Witham,  Mr 135 

Wolf  Creek .198 

Wood's  Creek 79 

Woodbridge,  D 170 

Woodwerth,  Asa 109 

Worcester 161 

Wright,  Simeon 109 


I 


Publication  No.  98 


Tf<  TIONS 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
SOCIETY  Hfc     IICAL 


aoHoao  . 

iio^aiH  svisssH  ms^asW  srfT  \o  isdmsM  sliJ 


Articles  of  Incorporation 
Officers — Membership 


Annual  Reports  for  1 9 1  7- 1  9 1 8 

# 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 
1918 


HON.  GEORGE  FOREMAN  ROBINSON 

Life  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

Died  July  23rd,  1917 


Publication  No.  98 


TRANSACTIONS 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
SOCIETY  HISTORICAL 


Issued  August  1918 


Articles  of  Incorporation 
Officers — Membership 


Annual  Reports  for  1  9 1  7- 1  9 1 8 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 
1918 


ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 


STATE   OF    OHIO 

These  Articles  of  Incorporation  of 
THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Witnesseth,  That  we,  the  undersigned,  all  of  whom  are  citi- 
zens of  the  State  of  Ohio,  desiring  to  form  a  corporation  not  for 
profit,  under  the  general  corporation  laws  of  said  State,  do  hereby 
certify : 

FIRST.  The  name  of  said  corporation  shall  be  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society. 

SECOND.  Said  corporation  shall  be  located  and  its  principal 
business  transacted  at  the  City  of  Cleveland,  in  Cuyahoga  County, 
Ohio. 

THIRD.  The  purpose  for  which  said  corporation  is  formed  is 
not  profit,  but  is  to  discover,  collect  and  preserve  whatever  relates 
to  the  history,  biography,  genealogy  and  antiquities  of  Ohio  and 
the  West;  and  of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  including  the  physical 
history  and  condition  of  that  State;  to  maintain  a  museum  and 
library,  and  to  extend  knowledge  upon  the  subjects  mentioned,  by 
literary  meetings,  by  publication  and  by  other  proper  means. 

In  Witness  Whereof,  We  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  this 
seventh  day  of  March,  A.  D.,  1892. 

Henry  C.  Ranney,  Charles  C.  Baldwin, 

D.  W.  Manchester,  David  C.  Baldwin, 

Amos  Townsend,  Percy  W.  Rice, 

William  Bingham,  Jas.  D.  Cleveland, 

A.  T.  Brewer. 


OFFICERS 

The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

OFFICERS  FOR  1917-1918 

President 
WILLIAM  P.  PALMER 

Vice  President  and  Director 
WALLACE  H.  CATHCART 

Honorary  Vice  Presidents 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 
JACOB  B.  PERKINS 

Secretary 
ELBERT  J.  BENTON 

Treasurer 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 


Trustees 


ELROY  M.  AVERT 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 
C.  W.  BINGHAM 
A.  T.  BREWER 
E.  S.  BURKE,  JR. 
W.  H.  CATHCART 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 
J.  D.  Cox 
WM.  G.  DIETZ 
JAMES  R.  GARFIELD 
C.  A.  GRASSELLI 
WEBB  C.  HAYES 


RALPH  KING 
W.  G.  MATHER 
PRICE  McKiNNEY 
D.  Z.  NORTON 
WM.  P.  PALMER 
DOUGLAS  PERKINS 
JACOB  PERKINS 
F.  F.  PRENTISS 
J.  L.  SEVERANCE 
AMBROSE  SWASEY 
CHAS.  F.  THWING 
J.  H.  WADE 


C.  W.  BINGHAM 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 


E.  J.  BENTON 


S.  S.  WILSON 

Finance  Committee 

W.  G.  DIETZ 
D.  Z.  NORTON 
F.  F.  PRENTISS 

Publication  Committee 

W.  H.  CATHCART 

H.  E.  BOURNE 


4  LIBRARY  STAFF 

LIBRARY  STAFF 

WALLACE  H.  CATHCART Director 

SARAH  LOUISE  WEBB Director's  Secretary 

ALTA  BLANCHE  CLAFLIN Cataloguer 

ANNIE  J.  OLDHAM Assistant  Cataloguer 

MINNIE  L.  BUSHFIELD Reference  Assistant 

JESSIE  M.  ALLEN ,  .  Assistant 


J.  B.  PIERCE  .  .  .  .  Custodian 


MEMBERSHIP 

The  Society  consists  of  three  classes  of  members. 

(1)  Annual  or  Sustaining  members  have  full  privileges,  use  of 

library,  all  publications,  annual  fee  is  ten  dollars. 

(2)  Controlling  members,  who  alone  have  the  voting  franchise, 

are  life  members,  fee  two  hundred  dollars  (one  payment), 
and  Patrons,  fee  five  hundred  dollars. 

(3)  Honorary  and  corresponding  members  are  chosen  by  vote 

of  the  Trustees. 

PATRONS,  LIFE  AND  ANNUAL  MEMBERS  OF  THE 

WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

PATRONS 


*Dudley  P.  Allen 

M.  Andrews 
*Perry  H.  Babcock 
*Charles  Candee  Baldwin 
*Mrs.  Caroline  P.  Baldwin 
*David  Candee  Baldwin 
*Elbert  Irving  Baldwin 

Mrs.  Lillian  Hanna  Baldwin 

S.  P.  Baldwin 
*James  Barnett 

Charles  W.  Bingham 
*William  Bingham 

Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bradford 

M.  A.  Bradley 
*Alexander  Brown 

Charles  F.  Brush 

E.  S.  Burke,  Jr. 
*Stevenson  Burke 

W.  H.  Canniff 
*Leonard  Case 

Wallace  H.  Cathcart 

A.  S.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Mary  H.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Eliza  Ann  Clarke 

*Deceased 


*Mrs.  Maria  B.  Cobb 

J.  D.  Cox 

H.  G.  Dalton 

J.  H.  Dempsey 
*Dan  Parmelee  Eells 

H.  P.  Eells 
*William  J.  Gordon 

C.  A.  Grasselli 
Truman  P.  Handy 

D.  R.  Hanna 
H.  M.  Hanna 

*Charles  W.  Harkness 
Edward  S.  Harkness 
Mrs.  Stephen  V.  Harkness 
W.  L.  Harkness 

*Henry  R.  Hatch 

*John  Hay 

*Mrs.  John  Hay 

*Peter  M.  Hitchcock 

*Liberty  E.  Holden 

*James  H.  Hoyt 

*John  Huntington 
H.  H.  Johnson 
M.  B.  Johnson 


6 


MEMBERSHIP 


"Oliver  G.  Kent 

H.  W.  King 

Ralph  King 

Mrs.  Mary  Perkins  Lawton, 

Warren,  Ohio 
*Issac  Leisy 

Price  McKinney 

William  McLauchlan 
*Mrs.  Flora  Stone  Mather 

Samuel  Mather 

WiUiam  G.  Mather 

D.  Z.  Norton 

E.  W.  Oglebay 
William  P.  Palmer 
Samuel  H.  Parsons 

*Henry  B.  Payne 
*O.  H.  Payne 
Douglas  Perkins 
*Henry  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*H.  S.  Pickands 
*James  Pickands 
*Alfred  A.  Pope 

F.  F.  Prentiss 


Mrs.  F.  F.  Prentiss 
*H.  C.  Ranney 
*R.  R.  Rhodes 

John  D.  Rockefeller 

John  P.  Sawyer 

Mrs.  Mary  Baldwin  Sawyer 

John  L.  Severance 
*H.  A.  Sherwin 
*Mrs.  Margaretta  Stone 

Ambrose  Swasey 
*Isaac  N.  Topliff 
*Amos  Townsend 
*James  J.  Tracy 

Jeptha  Homer  Wade 
*John  F.  Warner 
*Miss  Mary  A.  Warner 

Rollin  C.  White 
*Thomas  H.  White 

William  J.  White 

Windsor  T.  White 
*Mrs.  Mary  E.  Whittlesey 
*John  L.  Woods 
*Charles  O.  Scott 

George  H.  Worthington 


LIFE  MEMBERS 


*Jarvis  M.  Adams 
*John  W.  AUen 

M.  Catherine  Allen, 
Mt.  Lebanon,  N.  Y. 

Miss  Sarah  L.  Andrews 
*Peter  M.  Arthur 

Elroy  M.  Avery 

Mrs.  Brenton  D.  Babcock 
*Mrs.  Lucy  (Mygatt)  Backus 

Chambers  Baird, 

Ripley,  Ohio 
*Dudley  Baldwin 
*Deceased 


*John  D.  Baldwin, 
Worcester,  Mass. 
*Norman  C.  Baldwin 
*Seymour  Wesley  Baldwin 
Ohio  C.  Barber, 

Akron,  Ohio 
*Harley  Barnes, 

Painesville,  Ohio 
*Levi  F.  Bauder 
*Clifton  R.  Beach 
George  H.  Beckwith, 
Toledo,  Ohio 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Thomas  S.  Beckwith 

Elbert  J.  Benton 
*Lucius  B.  Bierce 
*Edward  Bingham 
*Jesse  P.  Bishop 

William  K.  Bixby, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  C.  Blossom 
*William  J.  Boardman 

C.  C.  Bolton 

B.  F.  Bourne 
*E.  H.  Bourne 

H.  E.  Bourne 
*N.  P.  Bowler 
*W.  W.  Boynton 

Mrs.  S.  A.  Bradbury 
*Alvah  Bradley 

Luther  A.  Brewer, 
Cedar  Rapids,  la. 

A.  T.  Brewer 

W.  J.  Brodie 

Alexander  C.  Brown 
*Fayette  Brown 

Harvey  H.  Brown 

Arthur  Bruce, 

East  Canterbury,  N.  H. 
*John  R.  Buchtel 

A.  E.  Buell 
*Charles  H.  Bulkley 
*Thomas  Burnham, 

Glen's  Falls,  N.  Y. 
*Jonathan  F.  Card 
*W.  S.  Chamberlain 
*Herman  M.  Chapin 
*Oscar  A.  Childs 
*William  Chisholm,  Sr. 
*Wm.  Chisholm 

Arthur  H.  Clark 

*Deceased 


*Edward  W.  Claypole, 

Akron,  Ohio 
*Ahira  Cobb 
*John  L.  Cole 
*William  Collins 
*A.  G.  Colwell 
*  Joseph  Colwell 
*A.  L.  Conger, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Corning 
*Warren  H.  Corning 
W.  H.  Cottingham 
*David  N.  Cross 
*Stiles  H.  Curtiss 
*Kirtland  K.  Cutler, 

Spokane,  Wash. 
*Wm.  M.  Darlington, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
*J.  H.  Devereaux 
W.  G.  Dietz 
*Wilson  S.  Dodge 
*Lyman  C.  Draper, 

Madison,  Wis. 
*A.  M.  Dyer 
H.  C.  Ellison 
Geo.  H.  Ely, 

Elyria,  Ohio 
*Heman  Ely 
*John  Erwin 
*A.  W.  Fairbanks 
Winchester  Fitch, 

New  York  City 
*William  Perry  Fogg, 

New  York  City 
*Manning  F.  Force, 

Sandusky,  Ohio 
*Julius  E.  French 
H.  A.  Fuller 


8 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Samuel  Augustus  Fuller 

Harry  A.  Garfield 
*James  A.  Garfield 

James  R.  Garfield 
*Theodatus  Garlick 
*George  A.  Garretson 
*Charles  E.  Gehring 

James  G.  Gibbs 

Chas.  F.  Glaser 
*Chas.  Gordon 
*Eugene  Grasselli 
*Miss  L.  T.  Guilford 

Cleveland  C.  Hale 

John  C.  Hale 

Leonard  C.  Hanna 
*Stephen  V.  Harkness 
*H.  A.  Harvey 

Fitch  Haskell, 

New  York  City 
*Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 

Fremont,  Ohio 
*G.  E.  Herrick 
*Charles  G.  Hickox 

Frank  F.  Hickox 

Miss  Laura  Hickox 
*Ralph  W.  Hickox 
*Addison  Hills 

Miss  Mary  Louise  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Miss  Mildred  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Mrs.  P.  M.  Hitchcock 
*0.  J.  Hodge 
*Franklin  B.  Hough, 
New  York  City 

W.  D.  Howells,  Jr., 
Youngstown,  Ohio 

•Deceased 


Colgate  Hoyt, 

New  York  City  . 
*George  Hoyt 
*James  M.  Hoyt 
*J.  L.  Hudson 
Mrs.  Mary  Wood  Hunt 
Mrs.  Marrett  L.  Huntington 
Miss  Mary  E.  Ingersoll 
Kent  Jarvis,  Jr., 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  N.  Johnson 
Mrs.  Alice  Butterfield  Jones 
M.  M.  Jones, 

Utica,  N.  Y. 
*Mrs.  Frederick  Judson 
*Myron  R.  Keith 
Hermon  A.  Kelley 
*Horace  Kelley 
*Thomas  M.  Kelley 
*Jared  Potter  Kirtland 
*Virgil  P.  Kline 
*William  G.  Lane, 
Sandusky,  Ohio 
*Increase  A.  Lapham 
*Benson  G.  Lossing, 

New  York  City 
*O.  H.  Marshall, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
*Samuel  H.  Mather 
*Samuel  L.  Mather 
*Herbert  McBride 
*John  Harris  McBride 
*Leander  McBride 
W.  S.  Metcalf, 

Chardon,  Ohio 
*Lewis  Miller, 
Akron,  Ohio 


MEMBERSHIP 


Otto  Miller 
Wm.  C.  Mills, 

Columbus,  Ohio 
William  H.  Miner, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*James  Monroe, 
Oberlin,  Ohio 
E.  W.  Moore 
*Edmtmd  P.  Morgan 
*George  W.  Morgan 
*William  J.  Morgan 
Miss  Mary  L.  Morse, 

Poland,  Ohio 
*George  Mygatt 
*Eben  Newton 
*William  S.  C.  Otis 
*George  W.  Pack 
Charles  A.  Paine 
James  Parmelee 
Eugene  H.  Perdue 
*Edwin  R.  Perkins 
*George  T.  Perkins, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Jacob  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*L.  Lewis  Perkins 
William  A.  Price 
*William  H.  Price,  Jr. 
*Frederick  W.  Putnam, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
*Rufus  P.  Ranney 
Rollin  T.  Reefy, 

Elyria,  Ohio 
*Harvey  Rice 
*Percy  W.  Rice 
Franklin  M.  Ritezel, 
Warren,  Ohio 

*Deceased 


Mrs.  Maria  D.  Rives, 

Hillsboro,  Ohio 

*George  F.  Robinson, 

Ravenna,  Ohio 

Frederick  P.  Root 
*Henry  C.  Rouse 
*James  F.  Ryder 
*J.  H.  Salisbury 

Charles  Baldwin  Sawyer 

David  Pascal  Sawyer 
*Leonard  Schlather 
*Ferdinand  Schumacher, 
Akron,  Ohio 

George  Scofield 

Mrs.  G.  F.  Scofield 
*W.  C.  Scofield 
*John  F.  Seiberling, 

Chicago,  III. 
*Samuel  W.  Sessions 
*Louis  H.  Severance 

Ernest  J.  Siller 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Smith 
*Stiles  C.  Smith 
*William  H.  Smith, 
Chicago,  III. 

Andrew  Squire 

Oliver  M.  Stafford 
*Silas  M.  Stone 
*Worthy  S.  Streator 

Charles  H.  Strong 

Daniel  R.  Taylor 
*Robert  W.  Taylor 

Mrs.  Sophia  Strong  Taylor 

Henry  Burton  Thompson, 
Hillsboro,  Ohio 

Charles  F.  Thwing 
*John  Tod 


10 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Norton  S.  Townsend 

Lyman  H.  Treadway 
*H.  B.  Tuttle 
*Mrs.  Mary  McArthur  Tuttle, 

Hillsboro,  Ohio 
"Washington  S.  Tyler 
"Randall  P.  Wade 
*Miss  Ann  Walworth 
"Miss  Sarah  Walworth 

W.  R.  Warner 
*Horace  P.  Weddell 
"Charles  Whittlesey 


"George  Willey 
E.  M.  Williams 
Mrs.  J.  D.  Williamson 
*Samuel  E.  Williamson 
*Edwin  N.  Winslow 
Henry  A.  Wise, 
Canton,  Ohio 
*Joseph  Worden, 

Willoughby,  Ohio 
G.  Frederick  Wright, 
Oberlin,  Ohio 


ANNUAL  MEMBERS 


Gardner  Abbott 
Chas.  E.  Adams 
Franklyn  L.  Alcott 
W.  D.  B.  Alexander 
A.  F.  Allen 
Harriet  W.  Andrews 
A.  A.  Augustus 
E.  R.  Bailey 
Charles  Baird 
Charles  W.  Baker 
A.  D.  Baldwin 
H.  G.  Baldwin 

C.  O.  Bartlett 
James  C.  Beardslee 
George  H.  Beaumont 
W.  H.  Becker 
Warren  Bicknell 
Frank  Billings 
William  Bingham,  2nd 
Geo.  T.  Bishop 

M.  F.  Bixler 
Morris  A.  Black 

D.  S.  Blossom 
Ben  P.  Bole 

*Deceased 


Ernest  Boley 
Chester  C.  Bolton,  Jr. 
Fred  S.  Borton 
T.  E.  Borton 
W.  S.  Bowler 
Alva  Bradley 
C.  L.  Bradley 
M.  F.  Bramley 
W.  R.  Breed 

C.  E.  Briggs 
Chas.  T.  Brooks 
T.  H.  Brooks 
Fayette  Brown 

E.  G.  Buckwell 
Robert  J.  Bulkley 
T.  W.  Burnham 
Frank  C.  Caine 
W.  C.  Caine 

G.  D.  Cameron 
Gray  Casement 
W.  T.  Cashman 

F.  M.  Casto 

D.  J.  Champion 
W.  P.  Champney 


MEMBERSHIP 


11 


G.  N.  Chandler 
John  C.  Chandler 
N.  D.  Chapin 
Andre  T.  Chisholm 
W.  M.  Clapp 
J.  A.  Coakley 
E.  C.  Collins 
Wm.  Collins 
A.  E.  Convers 
O.  R.  Cook 
W.  T.  Corlett 
H.  B.  Corner 
Henry  W.  Corning 
James  W.  Corrigan 
Henry  Coulby 
George  A.  Coulton 
W.  H.  Cowdery 
Jacob  D.  Cox,  Jr. 
Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft 
R.  T.  Cragin 
Geo.  W.  Crile 
J.  B.  Crouse 
Benedict  Crowell 
S.  W.  Croxton 
Henry  S.  Curtis 
H.  P.  Gushing 
Martin  B.  Daly 
D.  Edward  Dangler 
N.  L.  Dauby 
Joseph  David 
Charles  G.  Dawes 
J.  G.  Deericks 

A.  T.  DeForest 

B.  Dettelbach 
H.  K.  Devereux 
Francis  E.  Drake 
W.  M.  Duncan 
A.  C.  Dustin 
Hayden  Eames 


C.  S.  Eaton 
H.  R.  Edwards 
Charles  Eisenman 
A.  W.  Ellenberger 
L.  H.  Elliott 
F.  A.  Emmerton 
A.  L.  Erlanger 
E.  R.  Fancher 
Julius  Feiss 
Paul  L.  Feiss 
S.  P.  Fenn 

E.  L.  Fisher 

Geo.  E.  Follansbee 
S.  W.  Fordyce 
W.  H.  Foster 
Charles  H.  Gale 
Geo.  H.  Ganson 
A.  L.  Garford 
Kermode  F.  Gill 
Harry  Gillett 
Frank  H.  Ginn 
Christian  Girl 

F.  K.  Glidden 

F.  H.  Goff 
Thomas  Goodwillie 
Harvey  D.  Goulder 

G.  W.  Grandin 
R.  F.  Grant 
E.  R.  Grasselli 
T.  S.  Grasselli 
E.  B.  Greene 
Frank  M.  Gregg 
David  C.  Griese 
E.  S.  Griffiths 
John  M.  Gundry 
H.  E.  Hackenberg 
Alexander  Hadden 
E.  V.  Hale 
Orlando  Hall 


MEMBERSHIP 


Samuel  H.  Halle 
Salmon  P.  Halle 
Charles  A.  Hanna 
H.  M.  Hanna,  Jr. 
L.  C.  Hanna,  Jr. 
A.  F.  Harvey 
P.  W.  Harvey 
Coburn  Haskell 
W.  S.  Hayden 
Webb  C.  Hayes 
Will  L.  Hayes 
Thomas  Henderson 
F.  A.  Henry 
Myron  T.  Herrick 
Parmely  W.  Herrick 
Wilson  B.  Hickox 
H.  A.  Higgins 
F.  A.  Hilliard 
Lawrence  Hitchcock 
Reuben  Hitchcock 
T.  H.  Hogsett 
Mrs.  L.  Dean  Holden 
C.  F.  Hoover 
W.  R.  Hopkins 
A.  C.  Hord 

A.  R.  Horr 

Chas.  W.  Hotchkiss 

B.  W.  Housum 
Elton  Hoyt,  2nd 
A.  T.  Hubbard 
Adella  Prentiss  Hughes 
W.  J.  Hunkin 

A.  S.  Ingalls 
H.  L.  Ingersoll 
J.  M.  Ingersoll 
R.  L.  Ireland 
Walter  J.  James 
F.  J.  Jerome 
Homer  M.  Jewitt 


J.  Howard  Johnson 
Isaac  Joseph 
Adrian  D.  Joyce 
Jeanette  P.  Kinney 
L.  H.  Kittredge 
John  A.  Kling 
T.  S.  Knight 
E.  P.  Lenihan 
Wm.  A.  Leonard 
S.  C.  Lewis 
W.  E.  Lewis 
Robert  Lindsay 
Bascom  Little 
J.  B.  Livingston 

E.  S.  Loomis 
Malcolm  L.  McBride 

F.  S.  McGowan 
John  MacGregor,  Jr. 
Geo.  T.  Mclntosh 
H.  P.  Mclntosh 
Arthur  G.  McKee 
H.  H.  McKeehan 
Amos  B.  McNairy 
George  A.  Martin 
Frank  S.  Masten 
Amasa  Stone  Mather 
Miss  Katherine  L.  Mather 
S.  Livingston  Mather 

E.  A.  Merritt 

Mrs.  E.  C.  T.  Miller 

Leonard  B.  Miller 

James  R.  Mills 

C.  J.  Morgan 

C.  R.  Morley 

J.  E.  Morley 

Mrs.  Seville  H.  Morse 

Chas.  L.  Murfey 

L.  A.  Murfey 

S.  T.  Nash 


MEMBERSHIP 


F.  H.  Neff 
Harry  New 

Mrs.  John  E.  Newell 
Robert  W.  Ney 
R.  C.  Norton 
J.  R.  Nutt 
Herbert  K.  Oakes 
George  H.  Olmstead 
H.  C.  Osborn 
W.  A.  Osborn 
C.  A.  Otis 
Ed.  S.  Page 
C.  A.  Paine 
K.  V.  Painter 
J.  J.  Parker 
Proctor  Patterson 
Hosea  Paul 

G.  H.  Peters 
John  Phillips 
Henry  F.  Pope 
Charles  T.  Pratt 
Chas.  H.  Prescott 
W.  H.  Prescott 
W.  A.  Price 

C.  R.  Putnam 

F.  A.  Quail 

B.  D.  Quarrie 

W.  H.  Quinby 

Mrs.  Cornelia  M.  Rees 

Walter  J.  Rich 

F.  B.  Richards 

W.  C.  Richardson 

Louis  Rorimer 

Geo.  S.  Russell 

J.  A.  Rutherford 

Wm.  B.  Sanders 

Henry  L.  Schuler 

Frank  R.  Scofield 

F.  A.  Scott 


J.  K.  Secor 

F.  A.  Seiberling 

C.  A.  Selzer 

A.  D.  Severance 

Belden  Seymour 

Mrs.  Charles  J.  Sheffield 

Henry  E.  Sheffield 

Henry  S.  Sherman 

Miss  Clara  Prentiss  Sherwin 

John  Sherwin 

George  B.  Siddall 

F.  P.  Smith 

Samuel  Louis  Smith 

A.  B.  Smythe 

Sidney  Spitzer 

John  J.  Stanley 

Abraham  Steam 

F.  A.  Sterling 

A.  L.  Stone 

E.  E.  Stone 
C.  B.  Stowe 
H.  W.  Strong 
J.  J.  Sullivan 
W.  C.  Talmage 
A.  S.  Taylor 
V.  C.  Taylor 
W.  D.  Taylor 

F.  H.  Teagle 
Stephen  W.  Tener 
J.  R.  Thomas 

A.  B.  Thompson 
Thomas  Wingate  Todd 
S.  H.  Tolles 

F.  W.  Treadway 

B.  C.  Tucker 
Geo.  D.  Upson 

M.  J.  VanSweringen 
O.  P.  VanSweringen 
M.  G.  Vilas 


14  MEMBERSHIP 

Gustav  Von  Den  Steinen  H.  C.  Wick 

John  Whittlesey  Walton  Elmer  B.  Wight 

A.  R.  Warner  E.  P.  Williams 

W.  H.  Warner  J.  D.  Williamson 

C.  G.  Watkins  Myron  H.  Wilson 

J.  H.  Webster  Sidney  S.  Wilson 

Geo.  P.  Welch  George  C.  Wing 

S.  T.  Wellman  P.  H.  Withington 

John  Wheeldon  L.  J.  Wolf 

E.  L.  Whittemore  J.  B.  Zerbe 
Hugh  B.  Wick 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

To  THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  AND  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY: 

Gentlemen: 

In  no  one  year  has  history  been  made  as  rapidly  as 
in  the  one  just  past.  The  war,  into  which  the  United 
States  was  compelled  to  plunge,  has  been  surging  on, 
requiring  the  time  and  largely  the  means  of  all  in  order 
to  prosecute  it  successfully.  The  vastness  of  the  strug- 
gle, the  unlimited  resources  of  every  kind  required,  the 
man  power  necessary  to  carry  it  on,  has  taxed  us  in 
every  direction.  Yet  all  these,  as  never  before,  show 
the  absolute  necessity  of  maintaining  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent all  that  pertains  to  the  uplift  of  man  in  educational 
and  allied  interests.  Never  has  there  been  a  time  when 
greater  calls  have  been  made  upon  the  patriotism  of 
this  country.  Never  has  there  been  a  time  when  the 
needs  have  been  felt  more  for  enlarging  and  develop- 
ing the  institutions,  whose  functions  are  to  preserve 
and  make  available  all  that  has  gone  to  make  this  Re- 
public what  it  is. 

The  elements  that  have  entered  into  its  foundations, 
the  developments  of  its  institutions,  the  manner  of  life 
of  its  citizens,  the  ideals  that  have  been  formulated  and 
made  a  part  of  our  national  existence — all  these  require 
careful  interpretation  and  study. 

It  is  peculiarly  the  function  of  societies  of  our  type 
to  make  possible  this  careful  study  of  America's  history. 
In  order  to  do  this,  vast  quantities  of  source  material 
must  be  painstakingly  and  diligently  sought,  brought 
together,  and  made  available  for  the  use  of  students  of 
history  and  economics. 

Feeling  the  importance  of  this,  our  own  work  has 
been  pushed  forward  just  as  far  as  the  time  seems  to 
permit.  Our  small  staff,  all  eager  to  do  their  part,  have 
worked  to  their  utmost  to  make  the  work  a  success,  and 
to  keep  the  expenses  to  a  minimum. 

15 


16  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

The  war  itself  has  entailed  upon  us  increased  re- 
sponsibilities in  preserving  the  ephemeral  literature  that 
may  be  had  today  and  that  tomorrow  is  practically 
lost.  This  work  we  have  undertaken  to  do  as  well  as 
our  means  will  permit  and  some  of  the  results  are  noted 
under  the  head  of  the  library  proper. 

MEMBERSHIP 

The  membership  of  the  Society  has  shown  a  steady 
increase  for  the  last  three  or  four  years,  due  largely  to 
the  personal  efforts  of  our  President.  Although  it  is 
not  by  any  means  as  large  as  is  desirable,  yet  it  is  en- 
couraging to  feel  that  it  is  going  ahead  from  year  to 
year. 

The  membership  this  year  stands  at  47  patrons,  84 
life  members  and  302  annual  members,  making  a  total 
of  433  members,  an  increase  of  22  over  last  year. 

Yet  each  year  we  are  compelled  to  note  with  sad- 
dened hearts  that  death  has  invaded  the  ranks  of  our 
membership  and  has  claimed  here  and  there  one  who 
had  been  a  loyal  supporter  of  the  work  and  upon  whom 
we  can  depend  no  further. 

We  are  pleased  to  note  that  some  of  the  younger 
generation  are  taking  up  the  burdens  that  their  fathers 
were  wont  to  carry,  and  I  trust  that  as  time  goes  on 
these  younger  men  will  realize  that  the  work  their 
fathers  were  interested  in,  is  one  worthy  of  their  active 
support  and  generous  assistance, 

NECROLOGY 

Among  the  patrons  of  the  society  we  are  compelled 
to  record  the  death  of  Colonel  Oliver  Hazard  Payne, 
who  died  June  the  27th,  1917.  Five  of  our  life  mem- 
bers have  been  called  home:  W.  S.  Tyler,  May  27, 
1917,  W.  C.  Scofield,  July  6,  1917,  Hon.  Geo.  F.  Robin- 
son of  Ravenna,  July  20,  1917,  Harley  Barnes,  Paines- 
ville,  October  19,  1917,  and  Leonard  Schlather,  April 
19,  1918. 


">»T  B       17 

Among   our  Loft  us    Cuddy, 

Wm.  E.  Gushing,  ^nider,  and 

Chas.  W.  Wason  1 

HARLEY  BAK 

On  October  19th,  1917,  Mr.  H  iife 

member  of  the  Western  Reserve  !  -iety, 

passed  away  very  suddenly  at  his  at  or 

Avenue,  Painesville,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  born  in  Chester,  Geauga  County, 
Ohio,  March  6th,  1859.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  district  school,  and  at  Chester  Seminary,  and 
moved  to  Painesville  in  early  life,  where  he  took  up 
the  study  of  law  SM^Ss^m^A  to  the  Bar  in  1888, 
but  fl^W$$^^  In  1890 

he  formed  the  fiM  &*&Bfti&  fe^cott,  in  the  Abstract 
business  for  Lake  County.  Later,  in  1893,  he  organized 
the  Realty,  Title  and  Investment  Company,  and  re- 
tained mVinterest  in  it  until  1898.  From  1890  to  1891 
he  occupied  the  position  of  County  Recorder.  He  was 
one  of  the  principal  stock  holders  in  the  Painesville 
Elevator  Company  which  he  formed  in  1891.  He  was 
also  largely  interested  in  forming  the  Dollar  Bank  of 
Painesville,  and  the  Geneva  Savings  Bank  of  Geneva. 

A  prominent  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Painesville,  Mr.  Barnes  was  interested  in  all  religious 
enterprises  of  his  denomination,  but  more  especially 
in  Sunday  School  work. 

On  December  21st,  1883,  Mr.  Barnes  married  Miss 
Arloa  A.  Gloin  of  Chester,  who  passed  away  in  1906. 
On  October  4th,  1910,  Mr,  Barnes  married  Ethel 
Daughters,  who  with  their  little  son  Harley  D.,  and  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Barnes,  Mrs.  Jolliffe,  of  Painesville, 

vive  him. 

WlLLAIM    EllASTUS    GUSHING 

In  the  death  of  Mr.  Gushing,  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  lost  one  of  its  generous  supporters, 
and  <  nd,  a  distinguished  citizen  and  lawyer,  a 


HARLEY  BARNES 
e  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  October  19th,  1917 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  17 

Among  our  annual  membership  Loftus  Cuddy, 
Wm.  E.  Gushing,  W.  P.  Murray,  Martin  Snider,  and 
Chas.  W.  Wason  have  passed  away. 

HARLEY  BARNES 

On  October  19th,  1917,  Mr.  Harley  Barnes,  a  life 
member  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society, 
passed  away  very  suddenly  at  his  home  on  Mentor 
Avenue,  Painesville,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Barnes  was  born  in  Chester,  Geauga  County, 
Ohio,  March  6th,  1859.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  district  school,  and  at  Chester  Seminary,  and 
moved  to  Painesville  in  early  life,  where  he  took  up 
the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1888, 
but  owing  to  poor  health,  he  never  practiced.  In  1890 
he  formed  the  firm  of  Barnes  &  Scott,  in  the  Abstract 
business  for  Lake  County.  Later,  in  1893,  he  organized 
the  Realty,  Title  and  Investment  Company,  and  re- 
tained his  interest  in  it  until  1898.  From  1890  to  1891 
he  occupied  the  position  of  County  Recorder.  He  was 
one  of  the  principal  stock  holders  in  the  Painesville 
Elevator  Company  which  he  formed  in  1891.  He  was 
also  largely  interested  in  forming  the  Dollar  Bank  of 
Painesville,  and  the  Geneva  Savings  Bank  of  Geneva. 

A  prominent  member  of  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Painesville,  Mr.  Barnes  was  interested  in  all  religious 
enterprises  of  his  denomination,  but  more  especially 
in  Sunday  School  work. 

On  December  21st,  1883,  Mr.  Barnes  married  Miss 
Arloa  A.  Gloin  of  Chester,  who  passed  away  in  1906. 
On  October  4th,  1910,  Mr.  Barnes  married  Ethel 
Daughters,  who  with  their  little  son  Harley  D.,  and  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Barnes,  Mrs.  Jolliffe,  of  Painesville, 
survive  him. 

WILLAIM  ERASTUS  GUSHING 

In  the  death  of  Mr.  Gushing,  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society  lost  one  of  its  generous  supporters, 
and  Cleveland,  a  distinguished  citizen  and  lawyer,  a 


18  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

worthy  scion  of  one  of  its  oldest  and  most  distinguished 
families. 

Dr.  Erastus  Gushing,  the  grandfather  of  Mr. 
Gushing,  came  to  Cleveland  when  it  was  only  a  small 
village,  and  opened  an  office  for  the  practice  of  medicine. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Dr.  Henry  Kirke  Gush- 
ing, another  eminent  physician,  who  married  Betsey 
Maria  Williams  of  New  York  state.  Nine  children 
were  born  to  them.  William  E.,  who  was  the  oldest 
of  the  boys,  was  born  in  Cleveland  September  23rd, 
1853.  His  early  education  was  obtained  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city,  supplemented  by  a  college 
education  at  the  old  Western  Reserve  College  at 
Hudson,  Ohio.  He  was  graduated  in  1875  with  the 
degree  of  B.  A.,  and  honored  with  election  to  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society.  After  completing  a  course 
at  Harvard  Law  School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1878, 
he  returned  to  Cleveland  and  formed  a  law  partnership 
with  the  late  Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson. 

Preferring  the  office  work  of  his  profession  to  that 
of  the  Court  Room  he  devoted  himself  especially  to 
the  study  of  corporation  law,  and  became  one  of  the 
best  read  lawyers  of  his  state. 

He  never  sought  nor  held  public  office,  but  his 
work  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  the  American 
Bar  Association  on  Uniform  State  Laws,  will  be  of 
lasting  benefit  to  the  people. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  always  generously  helpful  to 
the  younger  members  of  the  Bar,  and  ready  with 
counsel  and  assistance,  even  at  the  expense  of  great 
personal  inconvenience. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Gushing  lived  up  to  the  highest 
ethical  standards  of  his  profession.  No  lure  of  profit 
or  of  place  could  tempt  him  to  compromise  with  them 
for  a  moment,  and  he  leaves  the  record  of  a  professional 
life  as  high  and  spotless  as  it  was  devoted  and  learned 
and  successful. 


IAM  ERASTUS  CUSHI 
The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  December  19th,  1917 


•  _  . 

tr  DIRECTOR'S   REPORT 

worthy  scion  of  one  of  its  oldest  and   aost  distinguished 
families. 

Dr.  Erastus  Cashing,  th>-  grandfather  of  Mr. 
Gushing,  came  to  Cleveland  when  it  was  only  a  small 
village,  and  opened  an  office  for  the  practice  of  medicine. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Dr.  Henry  Kirke  Gush- 
ing, another  eminent  physician,  who  married  Betsey 
Maria  Williams  of  York  state.  Nine  children 

were  born  to  them.  William  E.,  who  was  the  oldest 
of  the  boys,  was  born  in  Cleveland  September  23rd, 
1853.  His  early  education  was  obtained  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city,  supplemented  by  a  college 
education  at  the  old  Western  Reserve  College  at 
Hudson,  OhicDMiifej^msTgtadmlfldJiw  1875  with  the 

degree    ^iDft.lAho^a«H  a-naaaR  rmctesy/;  eriT  k>  istflB&Mn    to    the 

Phi  Beta  KappaTm  ,rf*er  ladm&bci  herd  g  a  course 

at  Harvard  Law  School,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1878, 
he  returned  to  Cleveland  and  formed  a  law  partnership 
with  the  late  Judge  Samuel  E.  Williamson. 

Preferring  the  office  work  of  his  profession  to  that 
of  the  Court  Room  he  devoted  himself  especially  to 
the  study  of  corporation  law,  and  became  one  of  the 
best  read  lawyers  of  his  state. 

He  never  sought  nor  held  public  office,  but  his 
work  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  the  American 
Bar  Association  on  Uniform  State  Laws,  will  be  of 
lasting  benefit  to  the  people. 

Mr.    Gushing   \v  vays   generously   helpful   to 

membei>   r.f  the   Bar,   and  ready  with 
A  and  assistance.  <  ren  at  the  expense  of  great 
al  inconvenience. 

lawyer,  Mr.  (  .>;  lived  up  to  the  highest 

andards  of  his  profession.  No  lure  of  profit 
or  of  place  could  tempt  him  io  compromise  with  them 
fo  r,  and  he  leaves  tin  record  of  a  professional 

lif<  'less  as  it  v  as  devoted  and  leai' 

and 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  19 

He  was  a  man  of  absolute  integrity  and  high  ideals, 
and  those  who  were  favored  with  his  friendship  counted 
it  among  their  most  precious  possessions. 

Although  Mr.  Gushing  kept  closely  to  the  work  of 
his  profession,  he  found  time  to  give  valuable  service 
in  other  connections;  he  was  Trustee  of  the  Society  for 
Savings,  The  Western  Reserve  University,  and  the 
University  School  of  Cleveland.  He  was  not  only  a 
member  and  generous  supporter  of  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society,  but  was  frequently  the 
means  of  bringing  valuable  additions  to  its  collections. 
He  held  also  membership  in  the  Cleveland  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  in  the  New  England  Historical 
Society  of  Boston.  He  belonged  to  the  Union  Club, 
and  to  the  Twentieth  Century  Club  of  Cleveland. 
He  was  a  member  and  a  trustee  of  the  Old  Stone 
Church. 

Mr.  Gushing  married  on  June  4,  1884  in  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts,  Miss  Carolyn  Kellogg,  who  survives 
her  husband. 

Mr.  Gushing  died  suddenly  on  the  19th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1917,  at  the  age  of  64  years. 

JUDGE  GEORGE  FOREMAN  ROBINSON 

An  honored  and  deeply  interested  life  member  was 
lost  to  our  Society  in  the  death  of  Hon.  George  F. 
Robinson,  of  Ravenna,  who  was  called  to  rest  July  23rd, 
1917. 

Judge  Robinson  was  a  profound  lawyer  and  a 
judge  whose  fairness  and  clear  interpretation  of  the 
spirit  of  the  law  was  recognized  by  all.  A  veteran  of 
the  Civil  War  and  always  intensely  patriotic,  he  was 
beloved,  and  now  is  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him  or 
came  in  touch  with  his  many  fine  qualities. 

Judge  Robinson  was  born  near  Ravenna,  Ohio, 
January  20th,  1844.  His  parents,  George  E.  and 
Hannah  (Johnson)  Robinson,  were  then  living  on 
their  farm  just  north  of  Ravenna.  His  early  schooling, 
commenced  in  the  public  schools  of  Ravenna,  was 


20  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

abruptly  interrupted  by  the  call  of  President  Lincoln 
for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  and  although  only 
seventeen  years  of  age,  Judge  Robinson  answered  the 
call  and  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  F,  16th  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry  on  May  11,  1861.  He  was  dis- 
charged August  22nd,  1861,  on  expiration  of  his  term 
of  service;  re-enlisted  December  22nd,  1861,  as  First 
Sergeant,  Company  E,  80th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry; 
was  promoted  to  Second  Lieutenant,  March  21st, 
1862;  to  First  Lieutenant,  January  15th,  1863;  to 
Captain,  July  28th,  1863;  and  was  discharged  as  a 
paroled  war  prisoner  March  13th,  1865.  He  was  with 
the  80th  Ohio  Regiment  at  Siege  of  Corinth;  was 
under  Grant  in  the  Northern  Mississippi  Campaign, 
including  the  battles  of  luka,  in  the  Campaign  around 
Vicksburg,  its  siege  and  the  surrender  of  the  same. 
It  was  in  the  latter  campaign  he  was  wounded  in  the 
neck,  and  carried  the  bullet  to  his  death-bed.  He  was 
wounded  at  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  again  at  Mission 
Ridge,  Tenn.,  and  here  taken  prisoner;  incarcerated 
in  Libby  Prison,  remaining  there  one  year;  was  then 
removed  to  Belle  Isle  and  later  to  Macon,  Georgia, 
where  he  was  kept  until  exchanged  at  Annapolis  as 
a  paroled  war  prisoner,  a  few  weeks  before  the  close 
of  the  war. 

Judge  Robinson  immediately  returned  to  his  native 
town  and  took  up  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Luther  Day,  then  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  the  politics  of  Portage  County, 
serving  as  County  Prosecutor  for  a  period;  also  for 
several  years  was  mayor  of  Ravenna.  But  other 
matters  besides  law  and  politics  claimed  his  attention. 
He  was  an  active  member  in  both  the  Military  Order 
of  the  Loyal  Legion,  and  in  the  G.  A.  R.  He  served  as 
President  of  the  Second  National  Bank  for  several 
years,  and  was  a  member  of  Unity  Lodge  No.  12,  F.  & 
A.M. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  I 

Ju  legal  mind  lim  sought 

for  on  not  long  before  lie  became 

Judge  on  i    •  icnch.      For  a  little  over 

twc  e  yeaiv  ^ople,  v.  <vagerly 

ele-  'aithful:  ,  eoveri;  irts 

of  Portage,    M          '  nil  Coi 

A  careful  and  7/ealou 
best  in  literature 
a  library  of  the  world's  bes: 
one  of  the  best  collecti< 
Interest  in  history  and  tii<»  r< 
need  for  the  preservation  of   n 

QJ3ITO08  23JHAHO  MAIJJIW 

Yi9foo8  fehoiaiH  9vi9«9fl  nraJaaW  sriT  io  i9dm9M  9}U 

Tiei.dW^tfeld 

County  came  through  his  am  and  influence. 
It  was  a  pleasure  and  a  source  of  great 
to    have    known    him.     Extremely 
one  had  only  to  be  in  his  presence  for  me  to 

see  of  the  man,  his  great  intellt  ..cy,  his 

kindly  hospitality   and   lofty  principles, 
is  better  for  the  life  of  such  a  man,  and  can  ill  affc 
to  loss  such. 

Judge  Robinson  was  married  :nd,  1867, 

to  Miss  Mary  Gillis,  daughter  of  the  ohn  Gillis 

of  Ravenna,  who  survives  him  with  us, 

Henry  M.  Robinson,  attorney,  at  Pasa>'  :  t,  California, 

Lieutenant  Richard  H.  M/R  York, 
and  Thomas  M.  Robinson  of  Your 

WILLIAM  CHARLES  LD 

In  the  death  of  Mr.  WiJlb       C.   Scufiold  which 

occurred  July  6th,    191  il  age  of 

six,   The   Western  I                               J  Society 

e  of  its  oldest  fn<  '            ne  of  its  life 

eld  was  borr,  Octobei  18*1,  near 

of  Wakefidd  in  England.     FIi<  early  you 


WILLIAM  CHARLES  SCOFIELD 

Life  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

Died  July  6th,  1917 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  21 

Judge  Robinson's  clear  legal  mind  made  him  sought 
for  on  all  sides,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  became 
Judge  on  the  Common  Pleas  Bench.  For  a  little  over 
twenty-nine  years  he  served  the  people,  who  so  eagerly 
elected  him,  faithfully  and  justly,  covering  the  courts 
of  Portage,  Mahoning,  and  Trumbull  Counties. 

A  careful  and  zealous  student  of  history  and  of  the 
best  in  literature  at  large,  he  gradually  accumulated 
a  library  of  the  world's  best  thought,  until  it  became 
one  of  the  best  collections  in  that  section  of  the  state. 
Interest  in  history  and  the  recognition  of  the  great 
need  for  the  preservation  of  its  sources  led  Judge 
Robinson  to  early  become  interested  in  the  work  of 
The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  and  many 
of  the  Society's  rarest  historical  treasures  from  Portage 
County  came  through  his  aid  and  influence. 

It  was  a  pleasure  and  a  source  of  great  inspiration 
to  have  known  him.  Extremely  modest  always, 
one  had  only  to  be  in  his  presence  for  a  short  time  to 
see  the  worth  of  the  man,  his  great  intellectuality,  his 
kindly  hospitality  and  lofty  principles.  The  world 
is  better  for  the  life  of  such  a  man,  and  can  ill  afford 
to  loss  such. 

Judge  Robinson  was  married  August  22nd,  1867, 
to  Miss  Mary  Gillis,  daughter  of  the  late  John  Gillis 
of  Ravenna,  who  survives  him  with  their  three  sons, 
Henry  M.  Robinson,  attorney,  at  Pasadena,  California, 
Lieutenant  Richard  H.  M.  Robinson  of  New  York, 
and  Thomas  M.  Robinson  of  Youngstown,  Ohio. 

WILLIAM  CHARLES  SCOFIELD 

In  the  death  of  Mr.  William  C.  Scofield  which 
occurred  July  6th,  1917,  at  the  exceptional  age  of 
ninety-six,  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
lost  one  of  its  oldest  friends  as  well  as  one  of  its  life 
members. 

Mr.  Scofield  was  born  October  25th,  1821,  near  the 
small  town  of  Wakefield  in  England.  His  early  young 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  2$ 

and  three  !rs.  Frank  Rockefeller,  Mrs.  D. 

Edward  Dangler  a»»<i  Mrs.  James  H.  Cogswell  survive 

him,  ofield,  passed  away  just  a 
few  moj 

WASHI  TYLER 

The  President   and  fc  he  W.   S,   Tyler 

Company  passed  away  Sun<  May  27, 1917, 

at    Hotel    Statler,    Clevelat  Here    he    and 

Mrs.  Tyler  had  made  their  win 

Mr.  Tyler,  son  of  Royal  W  .    •  Faauu 

(Holmes)  Tyler,  was  born  April  1  art 

of  Cleveland  ^i^is^^wig^vp  i 
but  then*  as  AjQoio  City-     4/s  -ciioo;    ;.  :  'c- 

in   me°°  puBlic81  ^IpoG'^^^e^  BSeotr  9tr   idemy,   in 
"Colchester,  in  the  ola  state  of  Connecticut,  where  he 
was  sent  as  a  boy.    At  thirteen  he  gave  up  his  school 
and  took  a  position  as  clerk  in  the  dry  goods  business 
in  Hartford,  Connecticut.   On  his  return  to  Cleveland, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  entered  the  firm  of  E.  1. 
Baldwin  &  Company,  dealers  in  dry  goods.     Later, 
in  1872,  he  formed  the  W.  S.  Tyler  W'ire  Works  Com 
pany,  of  which  Company  he  was  active  President 
to  a  short  time  before  his  death,  and  even  after 
gave  up  his  active  connection,  his  counsel  and  direction 
were  frequently  sought.    There  is  seldom  an  emplo 
more  beloved  by  all  his  employees  Ir.  Tyler  v* 

their  interests  were  his,  and  ear  established  a 

profit  sharing  plan  in  which  the  e'  es,  numbering 

over  1000,  shared.    His  govern  ver  his  assistants 

was  always  by  kindness. 

He  was  one  of  Cleveland  ung  philanthropists. 

Many  of  the  institutions  that  xtand  for  the  welfare 
and  educational  advancement  of  her  citizens  received 
his  hearty  support  and  wise  counsel. 

He  was  a  life  member  of  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  Western  Reserve  University,  the  Children's  Aid 
Society,  Lakeside  Hospital,  Hiram  House,  the  Old 


ife  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died  May  27th,  1917 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  28 

and  three  daughters,  Mrs.  Frank  Rockefeller,  Mrs.  D. 
Edward  Dangler,  and  Mrs.  James  H.  Cogswell  survive 
him.  One  son,  Ezra  B.  Scofield,  passed  away  just  a 
few  months  ahead  of  his  father. 

WASHINGTON  S.  TYLER 

The  President  and  founder  of  the  W.  S,  Tyler 
Company  passed  away  Sunday  morning,  May  27, 1917, 
at  Hotel  Statler,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where  he  and 
Mrs.  Tyler  had  made  their  winter  home. 

Mr.  Tyler,  son  of  Royal  W.  Tyler  and  Fannie  A. 
(Holmes)  Tyler,  was  born  April  12,  1835,  in  that  part 
of  Cleveland  which  is  now  known  as  the  West  Side, 
but  then,  as  Ohio  City.  His  schooling  was  obtained 
in  the  public  schools,  and  at  Bacon  Academy,  in 
Colchester,  in  the  old  state  of  Connecticut,  where  he 
was  sent  as  a  boy.  At  thirteen  he  gave  up  his  school 
and  took  a  position  as  clerk  in  the  dry  goods  business 
in  Hartford,  Connecticut.  On  his  return  to  Cleveland, 
at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  entered  the  firm  of  E.  I. 
Baldwin  &  Company,  dealers  in  dry  goods.  Later, 
in  1872,  he  formed  the  W.  S.  Tyler  Wire  Works  Com- 
pany, of  which  Company  he  was  active  President  up 
to  a  short  time  before  his  death,  and  even  after  he 
gave  up  his  active  connection,  his  counsel  and  direction 
were  frequently  sought.  There  is  seldom  an  employer 
more  beloved  by  all  his  employees  than  Mr.  Tyler  was; 
their  interests  were  his,  and  early  he  established  a 
profit  sharing  plan  in  which  the  employees,  numbering 
over  1000,  shared.  His  government  over  his  assistants 
was  always  by  kindness. 

He  was  one  of  Cleveland's  leading  philanthropists. 
Many  of  the  institutions  that  stand  for  the  welfare 
and  educational  advancement  of  her  citizens  received 
his  hearty  support  and  wise  counsel. 

He  was  a  life  member  of  The  Western  Reserve 
Historical  Society,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  Western  Reserve  University,  the  Children's  Aid 
Society,  Lakeside  Hospital,  Hiram  House,  the  Old 


24  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Stone  Church,  and  of  the  Workingmen's  Loan  Associa- 
tion, a  Director  of  the  Commercial  National  Bank, 
and  a  member  of  the  Union,  Clifton,  Country,  and 
Roadside  Clubs. 

Mr.  Tyler  married  Marion  A.  Clark,  daughter  of 
James  F.  Clark,  May  5,  1869,  who  survives  him  with 
their  daughter  Mrs.  Elizabeth  T.  Miller. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Last  fall  we  published  Tract  No.  97,  which  embraced 
the  annual  reports  of  the  Society,  as  Part  I,  and  "Side 
Lights  on  the  Ohio  Company  of  Associates,  from  the 
John  May  papers,"  edited  by  Prof.  E.  J.  Benton, 
as  Part  II. 

It  has  been  felt  for  some  time  that  it  would  be 
better  to  divide  our  publication  and  have  the  reports 
of  the  Society  issued  separately  from  the  balance  of 
our  publications.  This  is  more  in  line  with  the  method 
of  publishing  by  the  leading  Societies,  and  also  aids 
in  the  classification  of  material.  Then  again,  the 
Director's  report  is  read  on  the  first  of  May  and  if  not 
published  until  November,  it  leads  to  confusion,  as 
many  of  the  gifts  that  have  been  made  after  the 
first  of  May,  do  not  appear  in  the  list  of  donations, 
although  the  publication  may  be  dated  some  months 
later. 

Our  intention  is  to  drop  the  word  "Tract,"  but  use 
the  same  continuous  numbering  for  the  publications, 
having  the  Director's  report,  etc.,  put  out  under 
the  head  of  "Transactions,"  and  the  balance  of  our 
publications  under  the  head  of  "Collections."  So 
that  with  this  year  the  publications  will  consist  of 
"Transactions"  as  No.  98  of  the  Society's  publications, 
and  the  "Collections"  as  No.  99. 

Also  a  check  list  has  been  prepared,  to  be  published 
as  soon  as  may  seem  best,  which  will  be  supplementary 
to  Tract  No.  93,  and  will  include  the  recent  books 
added  to  the  King  Collection  of  books  on  Costume. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  25 

TRIPS 

As  has  been  the  habit  in  former  years,  a  number 
of  short  trips  have  been  made  to  the  various  towns 
on  the  Reserve,  resulting  in  good  additions  to  our 
collections.  The  pressure  of  work  in  the  building 
however  has  been  so  great  that  it  has  been  impossible 
to  take  as  many  of  these  trips  as  seemed  to  be  desirable. 

Every  little  while  our  attention  is  called  to  this 
or  that  collection  that  could  be  procured  if  we  went 
after  it,  and  while  we  cannot  cover  the  whole  field, 
yet  we  cover  as  much  as  we  can. 

One  long  trip  was  made  to  the  South  early  this 
spring  which  resulted  in  the  accumulation  of  some 
very  rare  material,  as  well  as  the  making  of  acquaint- 
ances which  are  always  helpful  to  the  Society  and 
results  from  which  are  felt  long  after  the  trip  may  be 
forgotten. 

Owing,  to  the  high  waters  a  day  was  spent  in 
Cincinnati  which  was  not  anticipated  when  laying 
out  the  trip,  but  it  was  put  to  good  advantage  and  the 
beginning  of  an  arrangement  for  obtaining  two  quite 
important  collections  was  made. 

From  Cincinnati  we  visited  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
where  we  called  at  the  Transylvania  College  Library, 
and  also  at  the  Lexington  Library.  Material  was 
obtained  at  both  places.  A  side  trip  was  also  made  to 
Paris,  Kentucky,  for  some  special  items. 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  was  our  next  stop,  where  we 
visited  the  Tennessee  Historical  Society,  also  the  old 
Normal  School;  and  it  was  here  that  quite  a  bunch 
of  material  pertaining  to  the  old  Willoughby  Normal 
School,  which  we  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  before, 
was  picked  up.  It  seems  that  the  Principal  of  the 
School  in  the  thirties  moved  to  Nashville  and  became 
connected  with  the  Normal  School  there.  Also 
Volumes  II  and  III  of  Benjamin  Lundy's  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation  were  obtained.  This  period- 
ical, the  first  one  published  in  the  United  States 


26  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

devoted  to  the  cause  of  Anti-Slavery,  was  started  by 
Mr.  Lundy  in  Ohio,  and  continued  afterwards  at 
Nashville,  and  still  later  in  Baltimore.  There  are  very 
few  copies  of  this,  in  fact  I  know  of  no  other  set  in 
any  of  the  libraries. 

The  State  Library  was  also  visited  and  a  fine 
collection  of  the  publications  of  the  State  of  Tennessee 
during  the  war  period  was  dug  out  of  the  basement 
of  the  State  House. 

Our  next  stop  was  at  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  a 
visit  was  made  to  the  beautiful  new  State  house 
recently  completed.  They  have  no  general  State 
Library  at  Jackson.  Their  Division  of  Archives  under 
the  management  of  Mr.  Dunbar  Rowland,  is  being 
excellently  conducted.  The  collections  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Historical  Society  are  in  the  building,  and 
consist  almost  entirely  of  museum  material.  There 
seems  to  be  a  dire  need  in  this  state  for  a  general 
library  where  the  people  of  the  state  can  have  the 
advantages  resulting  therefrom.  The  publications 
of  the  Mississippi  Historical  Society  are  very  valuable; 
but,  as  that  Society  is  not  collecting  to  any  extent 
the  publications  of  other  societies,  perhaps  accounts 
for  the  fact  that  there  are  not  more  sets  of  their  own 
publications  in  the  various  libraries  of  the  country. 
We  did  not  have  a  single  volume  of  them  in  our  own 
library,  complete  as  it  is  in  most  of  the  Society  publica- 
tions of  this  country.  Arrangements  were  made  by 
which  we  have  obtained  a  full  set,  and  will  receive 
others  as  issued. 

We  also  had  presented  to  us  by  Mr.  Rowland,  a 
large  collection  of  Confederate  States  money  and 
separate  state  issues. 

From  Jackson  we  went  to  New  Orleans,  a  place 
full  of  interest,  also  of  many  old  book  shops,  and 
good  public  libraries,  as  well  as  private  libraries.  A 
number  of  these  were  visited. 

In  the  Howard  Memorial  Library,  whose  genial 
librarian,  Mr.  Beers,  has  been  with  it  from  its  inception, 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  27 

nearly  three  days  were  spent  in  going  through  their 
duplicates,  and  a  case  of  material  has  just  been  received 
from  there  which  we  have  not  yet  checked  up. 

A  visit  was  also  made  to  the  Louisiana  State 
Historical  Society  and  the  Louisiana  State  Museum. 
A  file  of  the  Louisiana  State  Historical  Society  publica- 
tions which  we  were  lacking  have  been  received  on 
exchange. 

The  private  collections  of  Mr.  Gaspar  Cusachs, 
President  of  the  Louisiana  Historical  Society,  and  also 
the  remarkable  collection  on  Louisiana  belonging  to 
Mr.  Thompson,  President  of  the  Louisiana  State 
Museum,  were  both  seen.  Mr.  Thompson,  it  is  said, 
has  as  fine  a  collection  on  Louisiana  as  there  is  in 
existence,  and  many  profitable  hours  could  be  well 
spent  in  the  quietness  of  his  private  library. 

From  New  Orleans  we  went  to  Mobile,  and  then 
on  to  Montgomery,  where  we  felt  quite  at  home, 
owing  to  the  closeness  of  Camp  Sheridan  and  the 
constant  meeting  of  Ohio  acquaintances  who  were, 
connected  with  the  camp  at  that  time.  From  an  his- 
torical standpoint,  of  course,  everything  centers  around 
the  State  Capitol,  in  which  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment was  first  organized  and  Jefferson  Davis  proclaimed 
President. 

Here,  Honorable  Thomas  N.  Owen,  State  Archivist, 
is  developing  a  collection  very  similar  to  our  own, 
of  course,  being  centered  around  Alabama  history  as 
a  nucleus;  and  by  untiring  efforts  he  has  brought 
together  during  the  last  fifteen  years,  a  very  fine 
general  collection.  He  took  great  pains  in  showing 
me  the  different  methods  he  has  employed  in  handling 
the  various  collections,  and  a  delightful  day  was  spent 
in  comparing  notes.  A  large  collection  of  material 
was  also  obtained  from  this  place. 

Stops  were  also  made  at  Atlanta  and  Savannah. 
At  the  latter  place,  by  special  invitation,  a  visit  was 
made  to  the  De  Renne  Library  at  Wormsloe,  Georgia, 
which  is  probably  the  most  outstanding  collection  on 


28  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Georgia  history.    We  also  visited  the  Georgia  Historical 
Society. 

From  Savannah  we  went  to  Charleston  and  then 
to  Columbia.  Since  our  last  visit  to  Charleston,  the 
South  Carolina  Historical  Society  has  been  housed 
with  the  Charleston  Library  in  their  new  fire-proof 
building. 

From  every  place  we  visited,  material  was  obtained. 
Several  hundred  issues  of  Confederate  newspapers, 
which  are  exceedingly  desirable,  were  picked  up  on 
this  trip.  Besides  the  books,  pamphlets,  newspapers 
and  other  material  already  received,  there  are 
still  some  newspapers  coming,  which  when  received, 
will  make  an  addition  to  the  above  of  two  or  three 
thousand  separate  numbers. 

We  have  been  very  fortunate  thus  far,  in  not  being 
disappointed  in  the  results  of  any  one  of  our  trips. 
They  have  always  brought  handsome  returns  in  the 
way  of  material,  yet,  of  equal  value  has  been  the 
insight  gained  into  new  methods,  and  in  getting  into 
closer  touch  with  other  organizations  working  along 
the  same  lines  as  ourselves.  It  is  a  source  of  a  great 
deal  of  personal  pleasure  to  see  how  well  known  our 
Society  has  become  in  all  sections  that  have  been 
visited. 

THE  LIBRARY 

The  library  has  kept  up  a  steady  growth  through 
the  year.  We  have  an  efficient  corp  of  workers  and 
although  we  could  easily  use  more,  in  order  to  keep 
the  work  any  where  near  up  to  date,  yet  we  hardly 
think  it  is  the  time  to  expand  in  this  direction. 

The  report  of  the  cataloguing  and  the  detail  work 
accomplished  will  best  be  seen  in  the  statistical  record 
of  the  library  later  on  in  this  report.  We  shall  treat 
the  work  of  the  library  under  its  different  divisions. 

MANUSCRIPTS  AND  BROADSIDES 

The  Manuscript  and  Broadside  collections  of  the 
Society  are  steadily  growing  and  each  year  there  is 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  29 

generally  some  one  collection  that  stands  out  more 
prominently  than  the  others.  The  one  this  year  which 
perhaps  overshadows  the  others  is  the  collection  of 
the  John  Kerr  manuscripts. 

John  Kerr  was  one  of  the  four  original  proprietors 
of  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  from  the  character  of  the 
papers  in  his  collection,  he  must  have  been  a  person 
of  great  prominence,  not  only  in  the  development 
of  Columbus,  and  the  getting  of  the  capitol  removed 
to  that  place,  but  also  in  various  other  enterprises. 

It  was  on  February  20th,  1810,  that  the  General 
Assembly  of  Ohio  passed  an  act  to  provide  for  a 
commission  to  select  a  site  for  the  permanent  seat  of 
government,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  first 
at  Chillicothe,  then  for  a  short  time  at  Zanesville, 
later,  again  at  Chillicothe.  The  plateau  on  which 
Columbus  stands  was  patented  as  early  as  1802  by 
some  Revolutionary  War  refugees  from  Canada  and 
Nova  Scotia,  but  was  later  purchased  by  James 
Johnson,  Lyne  Starling,  Alex.  Laughlin,  and  John 
Kerr,  who  combined  their  interests  under  the  firm 
name  of  "Proprietors  of  Columbus."  John  Kerr 
became  secretary  and  probably  on  this  account,  was 
able  to  save  the  large  collection  of  manuscripts  which 
we  have  obtained.  The  whole  collection  contains 
several  hundred  manuscripts,  records,  maps,  etc. 

We  call  your  attention  to  a  few  of  the  more  prom- 
inent items. 

The  original  manuscript  plat  of  Columbus  and 
other  parts  of  Franklin  County,  in  the  hand  of  and 
signed  by  John  Kerr,  dated  Chillicothe,  February  26, 
1807 — size  28  x  13  inches,  and  giving  the  names  of 
the  owners  of  the  various  lots.  This  is  probably  the 
first  land  map  of  Columbus. 

The  original  manuscript  plat  of  Worthington, 
signed  by  Jas.  Kilbourne,  dated  May  16,  1804.  This 
is  undoubtedly  the  first  plat  of  Worthington. 

A  manuscript  record  book  containing  some  thirty 
plats,  surveys  and  patents  of  Ohio  lands,  dated  1800-23. 


30  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Another  volume  with  some  twenty  odd  plats  and  sur- 
veys of  Ohio  lands,  dating  between  the  years  1807 
and  1811. 

The  most  valuable  maps  in  the  collection  are  two 
companion  maps  forming  the  Northwestern  section 
of  Ohio,  extending  west  of  the  Reserve  and  north  of 
the  Greenville  Treaty  Line.  The  first  of  these  two 
maps,  covers  the  western  half  and  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  northern  boundary  of  Ohio,  on  the  south 
by  the  Greenville  Treaty  line,  on  the  east  by  the  east 
line  of  Piqua  District  and  on  the  west  by  the  State 
line.  Size  46  x  27  inches.  The  other  map,  (45  x  28 
inches)  covers  the  eastern  half  of  this  section,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  north  by  Lake  Erie,  Miami  River, 
etc.,  on  the  south  by  the  Scioto  river,  etc.,  on  the  east 
by  the  line  of  the  Reserve.  These  maps  are  in  the 
hand  of  John  Kerr,  and  dated  (1816).  They  have 
never  been  published  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to 
find.  On  them  are  carefully  located  the  Indian  trails, 
villages,  forts,  etc. 

Another  map,  which  also  has  never  been  published, 
is  the  original  map  of  Township  No.  6,  north,  Range 
No.  16,  east  of  first  meridian  in  Ohio,  showing  Sandusky 
River  and  Bay,  Portage  River,  etc.  Size  16  x  13 
inches.  This  also  is  in  the  hand  of  John  Kerr  and 
dated  (1815). 

An  entire  monograph  could  easily  be  given  to  the 
description  of  the  various  maps  in  the  collection,  all 
of  which  are  in  manuscript.  All  told  there  are  in  the 
neighborhood  of  200  maps  and  surveys. 

Among  the  other  items  in  the  collection  are: 

The  record  book  of  the  "Franklinton  Turnpike 
Company,"  containing  the  Minutes  of  the  Proceed- 
ings, Names  of  Members,  Articles  of  Association, 
Surveys,  etc.,  from  April  7,  1817  to  Sept.  12,  1818. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Martin  in  his  history  of  Franklin  County 
states  that  "The  Columbus  and  Sandusky  Turnpike 
Company  was  the  first  joint  stock  company  road 
constructed,  any  part  of  which  was  in  Franklin 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  31 

County."  This  Company  was  incorporated,  Jan.  31, 
1826,  while  the  Franklinton  Turnpike  Company  ante- 
dates it  nearly  nine  years. 

The  original  manuscript  book  of  the  Proprietors  of 
Columbus  containing  the  Minutes  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Proprietors  from  their  first  meeting  at  Frank- 
linton, April,  1812  to  June  16,  1815,  also  accounts  of 
sales  of  land  in  Columbus  from  June  18,  1812  to 
Sept.  21,  1819. 

The  original  manuscript  book  inscribed  "Account 
of  Sales  of  Lots  in  Columbus,"  commencing  the  18th 
of  June,  1812,  gives  the  names  of  the  purchasers, 
residence,  number  of  lot,  date  of  sale,  prices  sold  at,  etc. 

A  manuscript  inscribed  "Owners  of  Lots  in  Colum- 
bus," dated  1822. 

The  original  manuscript  Report  of  the  Election 
of  Officers  of  Scioto  Lodge  No.  2,  F.&A.M.  of  Chilli- 
cothe,  dated  Dec.  5,  1810,  and  about  12  other  manu- 
script records  of  this  early  Ohio  lodge. 

The  record  book  containing  the  Minutes  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Polomic  Literary  Society,  Chilli- 
cothe,  list  of  members,  etc.,  Jan.  1803. 

The  original  record  book  giving  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  Chillicothe  Library,  with  catalogue  of  the  books 
therein,  1804  to  1813.  This  library  was  one  of  the 
first  to  be  established  in  Ohio,  and  far  antedates  any 
record  at  Chillicothe  of  its  early  libraries. 

The  original  manuscript  charter  of  the  Farmers' 
Bank  of  Columbus,  one  of  the  earliest  banks  in  Ohio. 
Mr.  Kerr  was  the  first  President  of  this  bank. 

Original  manuscript  of  an  Authentic  Arithmetic  in 
the  hand  of  John  Kerr,  dated  Jan.  28,  1788. 

An  unpublished  manuscript  journal  in  the  hand  of 
John  Kerr  of  a  tour  from  Pittsburgh  to  Kenahawa, 
Va.  and  return  in  1800.  This  gives  description  of 
towns,  villages,  settlements,  and  other  interesting 
items  noted  on  this  trip. 

A  large  manuscript  book  containing  the  Minutes 
of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Columbus  Library,  Constitu- 


32  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

tion,  Rules  and  Regulations,  Names  of  Members, 
Number  of  Shares  issued  to  each  subscriber,  Names  of 
Officers,  Catalogue  of  books,  etc.,  April  8,  1816  to 
Feb.  9,  1819.  This  record  shows  that  a  library  existed 
in  Columbus  several  years  earlier  than  any  mentioned 
by  the  historians  of  Columbus,  or  by  the  State 
Librarian. 

Among  the  manuscripts  and  broadsides  added  to 
the  library  this  year  may  be  mentioned  the  following 
gifts: 

Miss  Stella  T.  Hatch.  Typewritten  manuscript  of 
the  "Pioneer  Women  of  Cleveland,  West  Side,  1807-1850.'' 

Dr.  G.  C.  Ashmun.  Field  Book  of  Surveys  of  Tallmadge. 

Mr.  S.  P.  Baldwin  has  placed  with  the  Society  for  per- 
manent preservation  a  collection  of  miscellaneous  items, 
largely  manuscripts  pertaining  to  the  development  of 
Gates  Mill  and  its  history.  In  this  collection  is  the  manu- 
script history  of  Gates  Mill  taken  down  from  two  of  the 
oldest  inhabitants  in  1904.  Also  records  of  the  Maple  Leaf 
Land  Company,  and  copies  of  a  number  of  papers  that 
have  been  published  there;  newspaper  clippings,  etc. 

Thomas  and  Charles  P.  Kinsman.  A  large  number  of 
manuscripts  relating  to  the  Western  Reserve,  from  the 
papers  of  Hon.  Calvin  Pease.  These  were  received  through 
the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz. 

The  Executive  Committee,  Cleveland  Centennial  Com- 
mission. Index  to  Pioneer  Families  of  Cleveland,  by 
Mrs.  Gertrude  Van  R.  Wickham. 

Mrs.  Perry  L.  Hobbs.  Report  of  the  Historian  of 
the  Western  Reserve  Chapter,  D.A.R.,  1915-1917. 

Mrs.  Virgil  P.  Kline.  Broadside— "  To  the  People  of 
New  England."  Pertaining  to  the  War  of  1812. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss.  Four  early  Ohio  Broadsides.  A 
collection  of  letters,  documents,  etc.,  of  the  Vallandigham 
family  of  Ohio,  1796-1864. 

Miss  Eva  L.  Reefy.  Manuscript  Record  Book,  Anchor 
Lodge,  No.  119,  Knights  of  Honor,  Elyria,  Ohio,  1875-84. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  Autographed  manuscript  of 
"The  Battle  of  Fair  Oaks"  by  General  Erasmus  D.  Keys, 
1889.  Original  autographed  manuscript  Report  of  the 
Battle  of  Monocacy,  by  Major  General  Lew  Wallace, 
Baltimore,  1864.  Log  of  the  U.  S.  Steamer  Brooklyn  and 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  33 

Richmond  of  South  Western  Gulf  Blockading  Squadron, 
in  command  of  Joseph  Simpson,  1861-1864.  A  large  collec- 
tion of  manuscripts,  order  books,  record  books,  General 
Orders,  etc.,  of  the  10th  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  The 
Mercury  Extra,  dated  Dec.  20,  1860.  Broadside— The 
Union  is  dissolved.  Broadside  offering  $100,000  reward  by 
the  War  Department,  Washington,  April  20,  1865,  for 
the  capture  of  Surratt,  Booth,  and  Harrold.  A  miscellan- 
eous collection  of  Civil  War  song-sheets. 

MAP  COLLECTIONS 

Within  a  few  days  after  our  last  annual  meeting, 
the  steel  cases  in  our  manuscript  room  and  vault 
were  installed,  and  as  we  could  from  time  to  time, 
the  work  of  classifying  and  putting  away  the  material 
intended  for  these  rooms,  has  been  carried  on. 

The  large,  interesting  and  exceedingly  valuable 
collection  of  maps  and  atlases,  largely  relating  to 
America,  that  came  to  us  from  the  C.  C.  Baldwin 
estate,  have  been  removed  from  their  cases,  in  which 
they  have  stood  for  a  long  number  of  years,  carefully 
opened  up,  partially  arranged  and  classified.  The 
wall  maps  have  been  removed  from  their  rollers  and 
prepared  for  mounting  and  laying  flat.  The  loose 
maps  will  have  to  be  mounted  on  cloth  in  order  to 
preserve  them.  The  work  on  these  should  be  pushed 
forward  just  as  soon  as  funds  may  be  obtained  for  it. 
The  atlases  we  will  catalogue  at  once.  In  our  next 
report  we  hope  the  work  will  have  progressed  suffi- 
cinetly  so  that  we  can  give  a  more  elaborate  account 
of  this  interesting  collection. 

Although  in  some  way  your  director  was  familiar 
with  the  collection,  yet  in  going  through  it  more 
carefully  he  realizes  the  importance  and  completeness 
of  Judge  Baldwin's  work  in  gathering  these  early 
American  maps. 

In  addition  to  the  Baldwin  collection  and  the  maps 
listed  below,  quite  a  number  of  Civil  War  maps  have 
come  in  through  the  William  P.  Palmer  collection, 
the  most  interesting  being  the  manuscript  maps  of 


34  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

General  Wilder.  This  collection  consists  of  nearly 
thirty  manuscript  maps,  used  by  General  Wilder  in 
his  campaigns. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Cathcart.     12  maps — miscellaneous. 
Mr.  Daniel  M.  Bates.    Lloyd's  Official  Map  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,    1858  and   1859.     Lloyd's   Military   Map   & 
Gazetteer    of    the    Southern    States.      General    Grant's 
Campaign  War  Map. 

Mr.  John  T.  Loomis.  Map  of  the  Federal  Territory 
from  the  Western  Boundary  of  Pennsylvania  to  the 
Scioto  River. 

Mrs.  Cora  Bowler  Malone.  Map  of  the  Western 
Reserve,  including  the  Firelands,  September,  1826. 

Mrs.  E.  B.  Nicalaus.    Atlas  of  the  World,  1701-1721. 

NEWSPAPERS 

No  special  effort  has  been  made  during  the  year 
to  increase  to  any  extent  our  newspaper  collections, 
yet  the  Society  has  received  a  number  of  very  impor- 
tant papers,  largely  through  gifts. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  of  about  1000 
issues  of  Confederate  newspapers  that  have  been 
added  to  the  William  P.  Palmer  Collection,  and  also 
of  the  file  of  the  Lorain  Constitutionalist  and  Elyria 
Constitution,  from  Vol.  I,  No.  1,  Oct.  3,  1866  to  date, 
which  was  presented  to  the  library  by  Miss  Eva  L. 
Reefy,  whose  father  was  the  editor  and  owner  of 
the  paper  from  1872.  This  makes  our  files  of  the  Elyria 
papers  unique,  covering  as  they  do  practically  all  of 
the  early  papers  that  have  been  issued  there. 

The  attached  list  gives  the  additions  to  this  division. 

Miss  Jessie  Allen.  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  4  vols, 
Jan.  1854-1860.  The  Evening  Post,  New  York,  1859,  60. 
The  Buffalo  Weekly  Express,  3  vols,  1856-1858.  The 
National  Era,  Washington,  D.  C.,  1855-1857.  The  Cleveland 
Morning  Leader,  1859,  60.  The  New  York  Weekly  Tribune, 
1856. 

The  Amherst  News  Company.  The  Amherst  Weekly 
News  from  the  beginning  in  1914. 

Mrs.  Mabel  Askue.  The  Connecticut  Valley  Advertiser, 
containing  History  of  East  Haddam. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  35 

Mrs.  Isabel  Worrell  Ball.  30  volumes  of  The  National 
Tribune,  1885-1917. 

The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer.  Monthly  bound  volumes 
for  1917. 

The  Cleveland  Press.    Quarterly  bound  volumes  for  1917. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss.  Collection  of  early  Newark,  Ohio, 
newspapers,  consisting  of  about  600  issues. 

Estate  of  M.  E.  Raymond.  A  large  collection  of  Warren 
and  Chardon  Newspapers. 

Miss  Eva  L.  Reefy,  Elyria.  A  file  of  the  Lorain  Con- 
stitutionalist, and  later  known  as  the  Elyria  Constitution, 
from  1866  down  to  its  close. 

Mr.  Lyman  Treadway.  Framed  copy  of  the  Boston 
Gazette  &  Country  Journal,  Monday,  March  12th,  1770. 

Ballou's  Pictorial,  Boston,  1856  and  1857. 

The  Sentinel  &  Star  in  the  West,  Cincinnati,  1829  and  '30. 

Photostat  copies  of  The  Boston  News  Letter,  1714-1725. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  The  Maryland  News  Sheet, 
Baltimore,  Md.,  1861-62.  Also  a  large  collection  of  Con- 
federate newspapers. 

Mr.  F.  M.  Wood.  The  Painesville  Telegraph,  Oct.  18, 
1866.  Cincinnati  Weekly  Gazette,  Sept.  21,  1881.  Le  Jour- 
nal, 1916  (2  nos.).  The  Telegraph,  Nov.  27, 1844.  The  Press 
&  Advertiser,  Dec.  5,  1860.  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal, 
Aug.  12,  1836. 

The  Lawrence  Publishing  Company.  The  Ohio  Farmer 
for  1917,  bound. 

WAR  LITERATURE 

As  has  been  stated  in  the  beginning  of  the  report, 
extensive  efforts  have  been  made  during  the  year  to 
cover  material  concerning  the  present  war.  This  has 
been  so  bulky  and  so  large  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  enumerate  anything  like  a  satisfactory  list  of  it. 
I  will  however,  call  attention  to  a  few  items  to  show 
the  general  character  of  material  that  is  being  obtained. 

American  Lithograph  Company,  New  York.  7  posters 
pertaining  to  the  war. 

American  National  Red  Cross,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Collection  of  Posters. 

Latham  Lithograph  and  Printing  Co.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Collection  of  Posters. 


36  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Liberty  Loan  Committee,  New  York.  Printed  material 
pertaining  to  the  Liberty  Loan. 

Mr.  Otto  Miller.  Collection  of  typewritten  material 
pertaining  to  Camp  Sheridan. 

Mr.  Sidney  A.  Mayer.  File  of  Trench  and  Camp,  Camp 
Sheridan. 

Trenton  Times.    File  of  Camp  Dix  Times. 

Chaplain  Grain.    File  of  The  Recoinnaissance. 

Columbia  University.  Columbia  War  Papers  and  Bulle- 
tins of  Information. 

Committee  on  Public  Information,  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  full  set  of  their  publications. 

Courier  Journal.  File  of  Trench  and  Camp,  Camp  Zach- 
ary  Taylor. 

Mr.  J.  Robert  Crouse.  Printed  material  pertaining  to 
War  Savings  Certificates  and  Thrift  Stamps. 

Mr.  Forest  F.  ftryden.  "  The  Army  and  the  Navy  of  the 
United  States  of  America." 

Erie  Lithograph  Company.     Posters. 

Governors  of  the  different  Federal  Reserve  Banks. 
Printed  material  pertaining  to  the  Liberty  Loan. 

Florida  Times  Union.  File  of  Trench  and  Camp,  Camp 
Johnston. 

Forbes  Lithograph  Manufacturing  Company.    Posters. 

Albert  Frank  &  Company.    Posters. 

Chaplain  A.  C.  Howells.  File  of  the  Eighty-third  Divi- 
sion News,  Camp  Sherman. 

H.  C.  Miner  Company.     Collection  of  posters. 

Mr.  Geo.  M.  Smith.  File  of  Trench  and  Camp,  Camp 
Pike. 

Prof.  J.  M.  Telleen.  "  The  Camp  Workers  and  Their 
Work."  Camp  Sherman. 

Mr.  Wm.  Thompson.  Partial  file  of  the  Red  Cross 
Magazine. 

Mr.  Tim  Thrift.  19  original  drawings  pertaining  to  the 
Red  Cross  Campaign. 

U.  S.  Marine  Corps.  Posters  and  circulars  pertaining 
to  U.S.M.C. 

U.  S.  Navy.     Collection  of  Posters. 

U.  S.  Navy  League.  Printed  material  pertaining  to 
the  war. 

U.  S.  Navy  Recruiting  Station,  Pittsburgh.    Posters. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  37 

Wyanoak  Publishing  Company.     Posters. 

Mr.  Basil  L.  Walters.  File  of  the  Ambulance  Service 
News,  Allentown,  Pa. 

Mr.  Alvah  Bradley.  Report  of  the  Publicity  and 
Advertising  Committee,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  War  Work  Campaign, 
Nov.  11-17,  1917.  War  Work  Week— Nov.  11-17,  1917— 
portfolio  containing  photographs,  literature,  posters,  etc. 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Campaign. 

Mr.  Adam  Strohm.  File  of  Trench  and  Camp,  Camp 
Gordon. 

Mr.  Geo.  W.  Gossel.  File  of  the  Pass  in  Review,  Ft. 
Worth,  Texas. 

BOOKS 

The  general  additions  to  the  library  for  the  year 
amount  to  8,000  miscellaneous  books  and  pamphlets. 
A  large  proportion  of  these  have  come  in  through 
special  funds  as  enumerated  below. 

J.  D.  Cox  FUND 

This  fund  was  used  this  year  in  the  purchase  of 
the  Washington  medals,  an  account  of  which  is  given 
under  the  head  of  Medallic  Collections  in  the  Museum. 

RALPH  KING  FUND 

The  Costume  Collection  which  has  been  largely 
increased  during  the  last  three  years,  by  means  of 
this  fund,  has  been  further  added  to  this  year.  It 
has  been  used  even  more  this  year  than  last.  Several 
of  the  schools  that  had  made  little  use  of  the  collection 
before  have  become  very  much  interested,  and  the 
room  set  aside  for  these  books  has  been  used  daily 
by  workers  who  are  constantly  praising  the  facilities 
so  nicely  provided  by  Mr.  King. 

The  714  volumes  in  the  King  Collection  have  been 
carefully  catalogued  during  the  last  three  months. 
In  addition  to  the  general  author  and  subject  cards 
filed  in  the  regular  catalogue,  a  special  catalogue  has 
been  made  which  is  to  be  kept  in  the  Costume  room, 
convenient  for  the  users  of  the  collection.  For  this 


38  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

special  catalogue  about  900  cards  have  been  prepared. 
As  many  of  the  books  in  this  unique  collection  are 
exceedingly  rare  and  expensive,  and,  oftentimes  in 
beautiful  bindings,  one  of  the  assistants  has  made 
folders  of  binding  cloth  lined  with  soft  outing  flannel 
to  keep  them  from  rubbing  against  one  another,  which 
in  a  short  time  would  seriously  damage  the  highly 
polished  surfaces  of  the  bindings. 

The  following  books  have  been  added  by  Mr.  King 
to  the  Costume  Collection  this  year: 

41  volumes.     The  World  in  Miniature,  by  W.  H.  Pyne. 
17  volumes.     Ladies  Monthly  Museum,  Vols.  11-27. 
1    volume.     English  Costume.     A  series  of  24  colored 
costume   plates  describing  the  dresses  worn  from  1053  to 
1807. 

1    volume.     Greek    Costumes — Original    drawings    by 
Moyr  Smith,  containing  20  original  colored  drawings. 

1    volume.     Histoire   du   Costume   en   France,   par   J. 
Quicherat.     Paris:    1875. 

1     volume.     The    Ladies     Companion    and    Monthly 
Magazine,  Vol.  3,  London:   1851. 

1  volume.     Costumes  des  Pyrenes.    Alfred  Dartiguenave. 
Making  a  total  of  63  volumes. 

In  addition  to  these  Mr.  W.  T.  Higbee  has  made  a 
valuable  donation  of  "Silks  in  the  World  of  Fabrics 
and  Fashions,"  and  16  Fashion  magazines. 

WM.  P.  PALMER  FUND 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  books 
and  pamphlets  that  have  been  received  through  the 
above  fund,  which  this  year  amount  to  1294  books  and 
pamphlets,  in  addition  to  the  portraits,  maps,  news- 
papers, and  manuscripts  that  have  come  from  the 
same  fund. 

Some  twenty  rare  and  valuable  items  on  Lincoln 
have  been  added  to  the  collection.  The  items  that  we 
lack  in  Lincolniana  are  growing  less  every  year  and 
therefore  the  ones  to  be  obtained  are  those  that  are 
seldom  offered.  This  is  true  with  regard  to  much  of 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  39 

the  Confederate  material  that  is  lacking.  As  we  have 
become  better  acquainted  with  the  collections  of  other 
Societies  we  find  there  are  very  few  that  excel  this 
collection  of  Mr.  Palmer's,  in  any  respect.  In  many 
of  its  divisions  we  are  far  in  advance  of  other  libraries. 

Special  effort  has  been  made  along  the  line  of 
Confederate  material.  A  large  nember  fo  pieces  of 
sheet  music  printed  in  the  South  during  the  war  period 
have  been  added  to  this  collection  from  time  to  time. 
This  year  quite  a  large  number  of  pieces  have  come  in. 

We  enumerate  a  few  of  the  more  important  and 
outstanding  books  and  pamphlets  that  have  been 
added  during  the  past  year. 

Journal  of  the  Senate  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  at  its  first  session,  1862.  Raleigh, 
1862. 

The  Battle  of  Fort  Sumter  and  first  victory  of  the  Southern 
Troops.  Charleston,  1861. 

Acts  and  Resolutions  of  the  Second  Session  of  the  Pro- 
visional Congress  of  the  Confederate  States,  1861.  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.  1861. 

Journal  of  the  Senate  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  at  its  second  session,  1863.  Raleigh, 
1863. 

Journal  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  North  Carolina  at  its 
Session,  1862-63.  Raleigh,  1863. 

Provisional  and  Permanent  Constitutions  together  with 
Acts  and  Resolutions  of  the  first  session  of  the  Provisional 
Congress  of  the  Confederate  States,  1861.  Montgomery,  Ala. 
1861. 

Articles  of  War  for  the  Government  of  the  Armies  of  the 
Confederate  States.  Charleston,  1861. 

Alabama.  Ordinance  and  Constitution  of  State  of 
Alabama,  of  the  Provisional  Government,  and  of  the  Confeder- 
ate States  of  America.  Montgomery,  1861. 

Alabama.  Acts  of  the  called  session,  1863,  and  of  the 
third  regular  annual  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  held  in 
Montgomery,  August  17th,  and  the  second  Monday  in  Novem- 
ber, 1863.  Montgomery  1864. 

Georgia.  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  passed  in  Millegeville  in  December,  1865,  and 
January,  February,  and  March,  1866.  Milledgeville,  1866. 


40  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mississippi.  Journal  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  State  of  Miss.  Called  session,  at  Macon,  August,  1864. 
Meridian,  Miss.  1864. 

Mississippi.  Laws  of  the  State  of.  Passed  at  the  regular 
session  held  at  Jackson,  November  and  December,  1861,  and 
January,  1862.  Jackson,  1862. 

Mississippi.  Laws  of  the  State  of.  Passed  at  the  regular 
session  held  in  the  city  of  Jackson,  October,  November  and 
December,  1865.  Jackson,  1866. 

Mississippi.  Laws  of  the  State  of.  Passed  at  called 
session  held  in  Macon,  March  and  April,  1864'  Meridian, 
Miss.  1864. 

Mississippi.  Laws  of  the  State  of.  Passed  at  called 
session  held  in  Macon,  Aug.,  1864-  Meridian,  Miss.  1864. 

Florida.  The  Acts  and  Resolutions  adopted  at  the  first 
session  of  the  12th  General  Assembly.  Begun  and  held  at 
the  Capital,  Tallahassee,  Nov.  17,  1862.  Tallahassee,  1863. 

Florida.  Acts  and  Resolutions  adopted  by  the  General 
Assembly  at  its  14th  session  begun  and  held  at  the  Capital  in 
Tallahassee,  December  18,  1865.  Tallahassee,  1866. 

Virginia.  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of.  Passed  at 
the  extra  session  assembled  at  Richmond,  June  19,  1865. 
Richmond,  1865. 

North  Carolina.  Ordinances  of  the  State  Convention 
published  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly 
ratified  February  11,  1863.  Raleigh,  1863. 

Tennessee.  Acts  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  passed  at  the 
first  session  of  the  34th  General  Assembly  for  the  year  1865. 
Nashville,  1865. 

Louisiana.  Acts  passed  by  the  5th  legislature  of  the 
state  at  its  session  held  and  begun  in  Baton  Rouge,  January 
21,  1861.  (French  and  English)  Baton  Rouge,  1861. 

Louisiana.  Acts  passed  by  the  6th  legislature  of  the  state 
held  and  begun  in  Baton  Rouge,  November  25, 1861.  (French 
and  English)  Baton  Rouge,  1861. 

Louisiana.  Acts  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of,  at  the  extra  session  held  and  begun  in  New  Orleans, 
November  23,  1865.  (French  and  English)  New  Orleans, 
1866. 

Louisiana.  Acts  passed  by  the  7th  legislature  of  the 
State  of  Louisiana  at  its  first  session  held  in  the  city  of  Free- 
port  on  the  18th  day  of  January,  1864-  Shreveport,  La. 
1864. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  41 

South  Carolina.  Journal  of  the  Convention  of  the  people 
of  South  Carolina  held  in  I860,  61,  and  '62  together  with  the 
Ordinances,  Reports,  Resolutions,  etc.  Columbia,  S.  C. 
1862. 

Rules  for  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Confederate 
States.  Richmond,  1862. 

F.  F.  PRENTISS  FUND 

Mr.  Prentiss  is  showing  the  same  deep  interest  in 
our  work  that  he  has  from  the  first,  and  is  providing 
us  with  funds  that  have  enabled  us  thus  far  to  purchase 
such  needed  Ohio  material  as  has  been  offered  to  us. 

The  fund  is  most  welcome,  as  it  makes  it  possible 
for  the  Society  to  purchase  the  items  directly  they 
are  offered,  so  that  we  are  less  liable  to  lose  books 
through  delay  caused  by  having  to  seek  the  funds  first. 

There  has  been  added  through  this  fund  during 
the  year  139  books  and  pamphlets.  Among  these 
perhaps  the  most  interesting  are  as  follows: 

Papers  relative  to  the  Mission  of  Hon.  Butler  King  of 
Europe.  Milledgeville,  Ga.  1862. 

Quelques  considerations  sur  la  defense  de  Vetat  de  la 
Louisiane.  Nouvelle-Orleans,  1861. 

Narrative  of  Richard  Lee  Mason  in  the  Pioneer  West. 
1819. 

One  Garfield  Scrap  Book. 

Ashe's  Travels  in  America,  1806.  New  York  edition, 
1811. 

Birbeck's  Notes  on  a  Journey  in  America.  Dublin, 
1818. 

Conclin's  New  River  Guide.    Cincinnati,  1853. 

Report  of  the  Attorney  General  on  Contract  with  John  C. 
Symmes.  1803. 

Journals  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Ohio, 
two  sessions,  1818. 

A  Collection  of  30  pamphlets  on  General  James  A.  Garfield. 

A  Collection  of  early  Ohio  newspapers. 

Papers  in  relation  to  the  Official  Conduct  of  Governour 
Sargent  in  connection  with  the  Mississippi  territory.  Boston, 
1801. 

Chauncey's  Letter  to  a  Friend.    1767. 


42  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Holditch,  Robert.    The  Emigrants'  Guide  to  the  U.  S. 

Harmon,  Daniel  W.  Journal  of  Voyages  and  travels 
in  the  interior  of  North  America.  1820. 

Norton,  John  N.     The  Life  of  Bishop  Chase.    1857. 

Phillips,  Cutler.    Map  of  Ohio  and  Description. 

Beatty,  Chas.  The  Journal  of  a  two  months  tour;  with  a 
view  of  promoting  religion  among  the  frontier  inhabitants  of 
Pennsylvania.  London.  1768. 

Winter,  N.  O.    History  of  Northwestern  Ohio. 

Meek,  Basil.    History  of  Sandusky  County. 

Also  a  number  of  other  early  Ohio  imprints. 

H.  A.  SHERWIN  FUND 

The  fund  established  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Sherwin  while 
he  lived,  for  the  purchase  of  books  on  the  Mormons, 
has  been  completely  invested.  We  are  hoping  that 
some  day  this  fund  may  be  re-established  so  that  this 
valuable  collection  may  again  be  carried  on  to  a 
larger  extent. 

There  has  been  purchased  during  the  year  47 
items,  the  most  important  one  being  a  copy  of  The 
Evening  and  Morning  Star,  June  1832,-September 
1834,  published  at  Kirtland.  These  early  Mormon 
papers  are  almost  impossible  to  obtain  and  the 
Society  is  to  be  congratulated  in  having  as  good 
files  as  they  have  of  these  early  periodicals. 

Among  the  items  purchased,  we  mention  the  follow- 
ing: 

Stansburg,  H.  Die  Mormonen-Ansiedlungen.  Stutt- 
gart, 1854. 

Greene,  J.  P.  Facts  relative  to  the  expulsion  of  the 
Mormons.  Cincinnati,  1839. 

Mormon  Fanaticism  Exposed.  A  Compendium  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  or  Joseph  Smith's  Golden  Bible.  Boston, 
1842. 

Document  of  Correspondence,  Orders,  etc.  relating  to 
Mormons.  Fayette,  Mo.,  1841. 

The  Report  of  the  Public  Discussion  at  Stockport  between 
John  Bowes  and  Mr.  Joseph  Barker.  London,  1855. 

Smith,  Joseph.  The  Book  of  Mormon,  3d  ed.  Nauvoo, 
El.  1840. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  43 

Pratt,  P.  P.     A  Voice  of  Warning,  2d  ed.  rev.     New 
York,  1839. 

Smith,  Joseph.     The  Book  of  Mormon,  1st  Welsh  ed. 
1852. 

Smith,  Joseph.     The  Book  of  Mormon,  1st  French  ed. 
Paris,  1852. 

Smith,  Joseph.     The  Book  of  Mormon,  1st  Italian  ed. 
Londra,  1852. 

Lyon,  John.     The  Harp  of  Zion.    Liverpool,  1853. 

Hickman,  Bill.    Brigham's  Destroying  Angel.    Explan- 
atory Notes  by  J.  H.  Beadle,  Esq.    New  York,  1872. 

GENEALOGICAL  RESEARCH 

This  division  of  our  work  is  constantly  growing. 
There  have  been  more  searchers,  who  have  been  work- 
ing on  their  family  histories  this  past  year  than  ever 
before.  To  keep  up  with  the  demands  in  this  direction 
is  always  impossible,  yet  our  collections  have  been 
increasing  rapidly. 

This  year  we  have  added  466  genealogies  to  the 
library,  31  through  individual  gifts  and  exchanges, 
and  the  remainder  were  purchased  by  means  of 

THE  J.  H.  WADE  FUND 

Through  this  purchase,  many  of  the  rarer  and 
choicer  genealogies  have  been  obtained.  A  large 
percent  of  these  were  issued  in  small  editions  of  fifty 
or  one  hundred  copies,  rarely  any  in  larger  editions 
than  of  250  copies,  and  it  is  this  that  causes  the  scarcity 
and  high  prices  of  so  many  of  the  family  histories. 
Still  others  have  been  privately  printed  and  seldom 
get  into  the  book  shops  where  they  may  be  purchased. 

With  another  one  or  two  purchases  of  the  magnitude 
of  this  one,  so  generously  financed  by  Mr.  Wade,  our 
collection  will  rank  well  up  with  those  of  the  older  and 
more  extensive  collections  in  the  East.  It  might 
stimulate  both  interest  in,  and  gifts  to  this  division 
of  our  work  if  we  were  to  publish  a  brief  check  list  of 
the  various  family  histories  now  in  our  collection. 


44  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  Wade's  gift  has  certainly  been  appreciated, 
judging  from  the  remarks  of  those  who  are  already 
reaping  the  benefit  of  this  magnificent  addition. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  genealogies  added  this 
year  outside  of  the  J.  H.  Wade  gift. 

Mrs.  Louis  Richmond  Cheney  and  Miss  Eliza  Trumbull 
Stickney.  A  Genealogical  Chart  of  some  of  the  Descendants 
of  John  Trumbull. 

Mr.  Percy  Adams,  England.  A  History  of  the  Adams 
family  of  North  Staffordshire.  London,  1914.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  elaborate  genealogies  received 
during  the  year. 

Mr.  F.  A.  Baker.  Genealogical  Record  of  Rev.  Nicholas 
Baker  (1610-1678)  and  his  Descendants. 

Mrs.  F.  A.  Ball.  1917-1918  Year  Book  of  the  Samuel 
Ashley  Chapter,  D.  A.  R. 

Mr.  Pierson  Worral  Banning.  Roster  of  the  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars  in  the  State  of  California.  1916.  Also  a  file 
of  the  Liberty  Bell. 

Mr.  P.  H.  Baskerville.  The  Baskerville  Family,  Rich- 
mond, Va.  1912.  Additional  Baskerville  Genealogy,  Rich- 
mond, Va.  1917.  The  Hamiltons  of  Burnside,  North 
Caroline,  Richmond,  1916. 

Rev.  Newton  W.  Bates.     The  Bates  Bulletin. 

Mr.  E.  M.  Chadwick.  The  Chadwicks  of  Guelph  and 
Toronto  and  their  Cousins.  Also  Supplementary  Notes  and 
Addenda. 

Chicago  Chapter,  D.A.R.    Year  book  for  1917-18. 

Clarence  W.  Eastman.  An  account  of  some  of  the 
Ancestry  of  Harry  Thompson  and  Myra  Hull. 

Mrs.  Fenno-Gendrot.  The  Ancestry  and  Allied  Families 
of  Nathan  Blake  3rd  and  Susan  (Torrey)  Blake. 

Mr.  Alden  Freeman.  Memorial  of  Captain  Thomas 
Abbey.  His  Ancestors  and  Descendants  of  the  Abbey  Family. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Greene.  The  Greene's  of  Rhode  Island,  with 
Historical  Records  of  English  Ancestry,  1534-1902.  By 
Louise  Brownell  Clarke.  1903. 

Captain  Hollenbeck.  History  of  the  Cahoon  Family  and 
Chart. 

Mr.  B.  A.  Leonard.     The  Newton  Genealogy. 

Miss  K.  P.  Loring.  The  Loring  Genealogy  by  Charles 
Henry  Pope,  and  Katharine  Peabody  Loring.  Cambridge, 
Mass.  1917. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  45 

Mrs.  Amos  B.  McNairy.    Genealogical  Records.    Edited 
by  Jeannie  Robison  and  Henry  C.  Bartlett. 

Mr.  Chas.  E.  Mather.  The  Mather  Family  of  Cheltenham, 
Pennsylvania.  By  Horace  Mather  Lippincott,  Phila- 
delphia, 1910. 

Mr.  Edward  A.  Merritt.  Revised  Merritt  Records. 
Comp  by  Douglas  Merritt.  New  York,  1916. 

Mr.  Frederick  C.  Nims.  Notes  Genealogiques  sur  la 
Famille  Raizenne. 

Mr.  O.  O.  Page.  A  Short  account  of  the  Family  of 
Ormsby  of  Pittsburgh.  1892. 

Mr.  John  Henry  Patterson.  History  of  the  Beck  Family. 
By  Charlotte  Reeve  Conover. 

Mr.  John  Pearson.  Descendants  of  Andrew  Webber, 
1763-1845. 

Mr.  Theodore  Cuyler  Rose.  The  Tousey  Family  in 
America. 

Mr.  Harry  L.  Shiner.  Descendants  of  Abraham  Tour- 
tellote  Andrews  and  his  wife,  Miriam  Lurinda  Guild. 

Dr.  Moses  D.  A.  Steen.  The  Steen  Family.  2d  edition, 
1917. 

Mr.  Virgil  C.  Taylor.  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Romer, 
VanTassel  and  Allied  Families  and  Tales  of  the  Neutral 
Ground. 

Dr.  J.  J.  Tyler.  One  Line  of  Descent  from  the  Branford, 
Connecticut  Line  of  Tyler. 

Mr.  S.  E.  Wait.  A  Partial  History  of  the  Whittier,  Fox, 
Colburn,  Packard,  Brainerd  and  Wait  Families. 

Mrs.  Cyrus  Walker.  The  English  Ancestry  of  Peter 
Talbot  of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  compiled  for  Emily  Talbot 
Walker,  by  J.  Gardner  Bartlett. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Wrightnour.  The  Frampton  Family,  by  J.  S. 
Wrightnour. 

In  addition  to  the  books  that  came  in  through 
the  special  funds  a  large  number  of  individual  gifts 
have  been  made  to  the  Society,  among  which  we 
note  the  following: 

Miss  Jessie  Allen.    Thirty-two  miscellaneous  volumes. 
Mrs.    W.    W.    Armstrong.      Sixty-nine    miscellaneous 
volumes,  8  pamphlets. 

Dr.  G.  C.  Ashmun.  The  National  Portrait  Gallery.  3 
volumes. 


46  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Dr.  Elroy  M.  Avery.    Ten  miscellaneous  pamphlets. 
Estate  of  Robert  Bailey.    One  hundred  and  fifty  mis- 
cellaneous volumes. 

Thomas  W.  Balch.     " The  Philadelphia  Assemblies" 

Mr.  H.  G.  Baldwin.  "0/d  Roads  out  of  Philadelphia:' 
By  John  T.  Paris. 

Mr.  S.  P.  Baldwin  invited  your  director  to  make  a 
selection  from  the  books  in  his  private  library  that  would 
be  of  use  to  the  Society.  The  selection  consisted  of  some 
sixty  volumes  and  two  hundred  pamphlets.  The  collection 
included  a  bound  set  (lacking  two  volumes)  of  the  National 
Geographic  Magazine  and  a  number  of  the  Bulletins  of 
the  Geological  Society.  Lowndes  Bibliographers  Manual, 
11  vols.  Hall's  Legends  of  the  West,  first  edition.  Hubbard's 
Narrative  of  Indian  Wars.  In  addition  to  these  Mr. 
Baldwin  has  sent  in  126  magazines  and  24  miscellaneous 
volumes. 

Mrs.  Isabel  Worrell  Ball.  Forty-six  numbers  of  The 
Indian  Leader.  Sixty-six  miscellaneous  publications. 

Mrs.  M.  M.  Bond.  Arthur's  Magazine,  4  volumes,  1872, 
1873,  1879  and  1880. 

American  Colleges.  A  large  number  of  general  cata- 
logues have  been  received  from  our  various  American 
Colleges. 

Mrs.  Charles  Brooks.  From  the  estate  of  Mr.  Virgil 
P.  Kline — 67  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Mr.  C.  M.  Burton.  Reprints  of  manuscripts  from  the 
Burton  Historical  Collection,  Volumes  1,  3,  5  and  6. 

Mr.  Joseph  G.  Butler.  "A  Journey  through  France  in 
War  Time." 

Mrs.  Oscar  J.  Campbell.  Eighty-four  miscellaneous 
volumes  and  ninety-nine  magazines. 

W.  H.  Cathcart.  Seventeen  volumes,  three  hundred 
pamphlets. 

Mr.  N.  A.  Chapman.  Three  hundred  and  eighteen 
books  and  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  pamphlets- 
miscellaneous. 

Mr.  Pierce  C.  Chilton.  T.  F.  Botsford's  "^  Boy  in  the 
Civil  War." 

Miss  A.  B.  Claflin.  A  File  of  the  Nation,  for  the  year, 
also  twenty-six  numbers  of  The  New  Republic. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Clark.  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
and  the  Great  Lakes  Regions.  By  E.  H.  Blair.  2  vols. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  47 

Mr.  W.  C.  Cochran.  The  Dream  of  a  Northwestern  Con- 
federacy. By  Mr.  Cochran. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Cox.  Set  of  the  Cleveland  Foundation  Surveys. 
Twenty-five  vols.  and  a  number  of  rare  Ohio  Books. 

Mrs.  C.  J.  Craft.  Atlantic  Monthly  file  for  1917.  Ten 
miscellaneous  pahmplets  and  four  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Miss  Alice  K.  Gushing.  One  English  Text  Book,  1821. 
Goodrich' 's  History  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  W.  E.  Gushing.  The  Records  of  Massachusetts. 
Six  vols.  Result  of  Researches  among  the  British  Archives, 
relative  to  the  Founders  of  New  England.  By  S.  G.  Drake. 
Memorials  of  the  Dead  in  Boston  in  Copp's  Hill  Burying 
Ground.  By  Thomas  Bridgman. 

Wilson  M.  Day.  History  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  in  2 
volumes,  by  L.  H.  Everts.  History  of  Springfield,  Massa- 
chusetts in  2  vols.  Records  of  the  Town  of  Cambridge,  Mass. 
First  report  of  the  Board  of  Trade  Committee  on  Industry, 
1893. 

The  W.  J.  DeWrenne  Georgia  Library.  A  Short  History 
of  the  Confederate  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States  of 
America.  1861-1899.  A  Catalogue  of  books  relating  to  the 
History  of  Georgia  in  the  library  of  W.  J.  DeRenne. 

Mr.  Frank  P.  Dresser.     Memoir  of  George  Frisbie  Hoar. 

Miss  Bettie  A.  Dutton.    Thirty-six  early  text  books. 

Mr.  Lorenzo  Fish.     Two  early  text  books. 

Mr.  Clarence  W.  Fitch.  "Old  Fifteen"— A  history  of 
early  Masonry  in  Cleveland. 

Mrs.  J.  B.  Foraker.  A  collection  of  Speeches  and  other 
publications  of  Mr.  J.  B.  Foraker. 

Mrs.  H.  C.  Ford.  Council  Proceedings  of  Cleveland, 
1880-83.  Ordinances  of  the  City  of  Cleveland,  1880-81. 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Harris.    Thirty-five  miscellaneous  pamphlets. 

Mr.  Will  Hayes.    "  The  Immortal  Six." 

Mrs.  S.  H.  Herriman.  Six  miscellaneous  volumes  and 
pamphlets. 

Mr.  Henry  Holcomb.     Four  miscellaneous  volumes. 
Miss  Holtkamp.     "  Raising  the  Wreck  of  the   United 
States  Battleship  Maine." 

Mr.  M.  B.  Houghton.  "Two  Boys  in  the  Civil  War 
and  After."  "From  the  Beginning  Until  Now." 

I.  O.  O.  F.  Home.  History  of  the  Odd  Fellows9  Home 
of  Ohio.  By  L.  E.  Dodd. 


48  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mrs.  C.  R.  Koch.  Ten  volumes— The  Reports  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  at  the 
24th  to  the  33rd  Meetings. 

Mr.  Melvin  F.  Lewis.    Forty  volumes — miscellaneous. 

Mr.  W.  S.  Long.    "  James  Barbour."    By  W.  S.  Long. 

Mrs.  Amos  B.  McNairy.  Eight  volumes — Magazine 
of  Western  History.  Four  pamphlets. 

Mrs.  Cora  Bowler  Malone.  Twenty-seven  miscellan- 
eous volumes. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Miller.  29th  Year  Book,  First  Ohio  Heavy 
Artillery,  also  sketch  of.  By  Mr.  Miller. 

Mr.  Otto  Miller.  Ancient  Town  Records.  Vol.  1,  New 
Haven  Town  Records,  1649-1662.  The  Institution  and 
Records  of  the  New  Hampshire  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Col.  John  P.  Nicholson.  Fifty  pamphlets  and  one 
hundred  and  forty  pieces,  miscellaneous,  on  the  Civil 
War. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  Vol.  4  of  The  Hakluyt  Society 
Publications.  Vols.  1  and  2,  Hurlburt's  Ohio  Company. 
Vols.  2,  3,  and  4,  Sprague's  Journal  of  Maine  History,  and 
continuation.  Vols.  41-46,  The  Geographical  Journal. 
Clara  Endicott  Sears'  "Bronson  Alcotfs  Fruitlands." 
Clara  Endicott  Sears'  Gleanings  from  Old  Shaker  Journals. 
The  Unwritten  History  of  Braddock's  Field.  And  a  number 
of  other  pamphlets  and  books  outside  of  the  Civil  War 
collection. 

Mr.  Hosea  Paul.  Annotated  copy  of  "A  Military 
Record  of  Battery  D,  First  Ohio  Veteran  Volunteers  Light 
Artillery:' 

Mr.  John  Pearson.  History  of  Lonoke  County,  Arkansas. 
Cleveland  Industries  1880-1910. 

Mr.  E.  R.  Perkins,  Jr.  Memorial  of  Edwin  Ruthven 
Perkins. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Frentiss.    Sixty-two  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Mr.  Louis  Ravenel.  Messages  of  the  Presidents.  Vols. 
1-11. 

Miss  Eva  L.  Reefy.  Fifteen  volumes  of  Ohio  Laws; 
seventeen  miscellaneous  pamphlets. 

Mrs.  E.  P.  Roberts.  One  set  of  Orth's  History  of 
Cleveland.  3  vols. 

Mrs.  J.  P.  Sawyer.  Representative  Citizens  of  Ohio. 
By  G.  F.  Wright. 

Mrs.  Johanna  Schroeder.    Four  early  text  books. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  49 

Col.  D.  M.  Scott.  A  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Career  of 
Captain  Catesby.  By  R.  Jones.  Roster  No.  317.  Camp 
Catesby,  March,  1918. 

Mrs.  Belden  Seymour.  The  Life  of  Brigham  Young. 
By  E.  H.  Anderson. 

Mr.  Geo.  B.  Shepard.  History  of  Jericho,  Vermont. 
1763-1916. 

Mr.  Howard  E.  Talbot.    Two  early  text  books. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.    Seven  miscellaneous  pamphlets. 

Mr.  Daniel  R.  Taylor.    Collection  of  early  text  books. 

Mr.  R.  C.  Ballard  Thruston.  "  The  Origin  and  Evolu- 
tion of  the  United  States  Flag."  By  Mr.  Thurston. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Wade.  Andrews,  Bessie  Ayers.  Sketches  of 
Greenwich  in  Old  Cohansey.  Selections  from  the  Correspond- 
ence of  the  Executive  of  New  Jersey  from  1776-1786 

Hollifield,  Rev.  A.  Nelson.  Remembering  the  days  of  Old. 
Hewitt,  Louise.  Historic  Trenton,  1890.  Schenck,  William 
Edward.  An  Historical  account  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  Princeton,  N.  J.  1850.  Col.  Scott's  Letter  to 
Judge  Nevius,  Mr.  Lupp,  and  Mr.  Wood  of  New  Brunswick, 
Oct.  1841-  Sprague,  Wm.  B.  Discourse  at  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  Oct.  9,  1867.  Findley,  Rev.  Wm.  T.  Forty 
Years  Retrospect.  Historical  Discourse  at  Central  Presby- 
terian Church,  Newark,  N.  J.  Jan.  28,  1877.  Mac- 
Donald,  James  M.  Some  Reniniscences  of  a  Twenty  Years' 
Ministry,  Princeton,  N.  J.  1873.  Ellis,  Franklin.  History 
of  Monmouth  County,  N.  J.  Phila.  1885. 

Mr.  Charles  Williamson.    Ten  volumes,  ten  pamphlets. 

Mr.  Sidney  S.  Wilson.  Twenty-two  miscellaneous 
volumes. 

Mr.  George  C.  Wing.  An  original  of  the  folio  edition 
of  the  Reports  and  Arguments  of  Sir  John  Vaughan,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas.  London,  1677.  By  Thomas 
Roycroft. 

Mr.  W.  E.  W.  Yerby.  History  of  Greensboro,  Albama. 
By  Mr.  Yerby. 

THE  MUSEUM 

The  Interest  in  the  Museum  continues  to  grow, 
although  little  effort  has  been  made  to  increase  the 
collections,  nor  have  we  endeavored  to  make  better 
classification  of  the  material,  owing  to  the  limited 
space  that  we  have.  The  Schools  are  taking  increased 
advantage  of  this  material.  This  year  there  were  71 


50  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

classes  from  the  various  colleges,  high  schools,  grammar 
schools,  and  private  schools  of  Cleveland  and  its 
suburbs,  that  visited  the  museum,  against  50  classes 
last  year,  and  27  the  year  before. 

The  attendance  in  the  museum  is  about  the  same 
as  during  the  previous  year,  although  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  keep  a  correct  account  of  the  visitors. 
We  have  no  turnstile  and  the  count  must  be  made  by 
an  attendant  who  oftentimes  has  to  be  away  from  her 
desk,  in  different  parts  of  the  building,  and  can  only 
count  those  whom  she  sees  pass  by  her  door. 

PICTURES  AND  PORTRAITS 

No  more  interesting  collection  has  been  developed 
in  connection  with  the  Museum  than  that  of  the 
pictures  and  portraits.  We  have  made  an  effort  to 
obtain  as  many  of  these  as  we  could. 

A  short  time  ago  we  made  an  appeal  for  the  portraits 
of  noted  Clevelanders,  and  as  a  result  of  this  appeal, 
perhaps  the  most  outstanding  picture  that  has  come 
to  the  Society  is  the  oil  painting  of  Mr.  Daniel  P. 
Eells,  presented  by  his  son,  Howard  P.  Eells.  This 
generous  example  of  Mr.  Eells,  we  hope  will  be  followed 
by  others,  and  that  from  time  to  time,  portraits  of 
our  leading  men  may  find  a  place  in  our  collections. 

The  following  list  will  show  that  a  number  of 
interesting  pictures  have  come  to  the  Society. 

To  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  Collection — about  one  hundred 
photographs  and  Civil  War  pictures. 

Miss  Stella  T.  Hatch.  Large  framed  portrait  of  Mr. 
Daniel  Pomeroy  Rhodes.  Large  framed  portrait  of  Mrs. 
Daniel  Pomeroy  Rhodes. 

Mrs.  W.  W.  Armstrong.  Twenty  miscellaneous 
pictures.  Framed  picture  of  General  Breslin.  Framed 
Group  of  United  States  Officials. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Baker.  A  collection  of  seventy-three  photo- 
graphs— Red  Cross  Campaign,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Campaign,  and 
others  pertaining  to  the  war. 

Mr.  N.  A.  Chapman.  A  collection  of  miscellaneous 
pictures. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  51 

Mr.  Howard  P.  Eells.  Oil  Painting  of  Mr.  Daniel  P. 
Eells. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss.  Water  color  portrait  of  Tecumseh, 
the  Shawnee  chieftan,  painted  by  Holland.  Framed 
picture  of  Te  Aho  te  Rangi  Wharepu,  Chief  of  the  Ngati- 
Mahuta,  tribe  of  Waikato,  New  Zealand.  Showing  the 
practice  of  tattooing. 

Mrs.  C.  J.  Craft.  Drawing  of  Plymouth  Church  on 
Prospect  Street  just  west  of  Ninth  Street.  By  C.  H. 
Strong. 

Mr.  Andrew  Squire.  Framed  views  of  New  York,  1776, 
1826,  1916. 

Mr.  Belden  Seymour.  The  Directors  of  The  People's 
Savings  &  Loan  Association,  1871 — The  First  Board — 
22  portraits. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.  Embroidered  picture  made  by 
The  Standard  Sewing  Machine  Company  of  Cleveland 
for  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition  in  1893. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  Oil  Painting  of  Lewis  Clark,  the 
original  George  Harris  of  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  Painted 
from  life  by  F.  H.  Dart,  Oberlin,  Ohio.  Also  Daguerrotype 
of  Josiah  Hanson,  original  of  "Uncle  Tom." 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Williamson.  One  early  view  of  Cleveland 
about  1850. 

Mrs.  H.  B.  Barnes.    Framed  picture  of  M.  A.  Hanna. 

Mrs.  C.  K.  Halle.  Framed  portraits  of  Jacob  Lectein- 
stecker  and  wife. 

Mr.  George  M.  Edmondson.  Framed  picture  taken  at 
Senator  Hanna's  residence  at  Luncheon,  July  25,  1894, 
showing  Senator  and  Mrs.  Hanna,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alger, 
Governor  Merriam,  President  and  Mrs.  Wm.  McKinley 
and  Mrs.  McKinley's  nieces,  and  Miss  Phelps.  Also 
photograph  album  of  early  Clevelanders  taken  by  E. 
Decker. 

Mr.  B.  Dettlebach.  Framed  hand  drawn  portraits  of 
Mr.  Henry  R.  Groff,  John  D.  Rockefeller,  President 
C.  F.  Thwing,  Chas.  W.  Elliott,  Ex-President  of  Harvard 
University. 

Other   items   added   to   the   museum   embrace  the 
following  gifts: 

Elroy  M.  Avery.    Two  Indian  Portraits. 
Miss  Holtkamp.    Paper  Knife  made  of  the  wood  from 
the  "Maine." 


52  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  George  C.  Wing.  A  water  vase  or  jug  of  the 
Quichua  Indians,  Peru. 

Mr.  N.  C.  Smith.  Hand  made  telegraph  instrument 
used  in  the  early  sixties  on  the  L.  S.  &  M.  S.  R.  R. 

Miss  Jessie  Allen.  A  hunter's  leather  shot  pouch, 
100  years  old. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Walton.  An  old  field  chest  used  by  Col. 
Whittlesey. 

Mr.  Frank  Gottschalt.    One  wool  reel. 

Mrs.  C.  J.  Craft.  Swingling  knife  for  dressing  flax 
made  by  David  Humiston  in  1850. 

Mr.  Wallace  N.  Stearns.  The  Sword  of  Captain  Wm. 
Wallace  Munn.  Communion  Service  from  Park  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  Madison,  Ohio,  purchased  in  1863. 

Mr.  N.  A.  Chapman.  One  tea  set — four  pieces  of 
early  pewter  ware  and  two  pewter  spoons.  Also  three 
early  antique  glass  bottles,  and  two  old  candle  lanterns. 

Mr.  E.  G.  Norris.    One  spinning  wheel. 

Mr.  Prentiss  Baldwin.  Collection  of  ten  pieces  of 
Astic  pottery,  etc. 

Mr.  J.  V.  N.  Yates.  U.  S.  Frigate  Congress  Flag. 
18  x  9  feet,  containing  26  stars. 

Mr.  James  W.  Ellsworth.  One  Whiting  and  Win- 
chester eight  day  grandfather's  clock,  from  Rutland, 
Vermont. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss.  Two  boomerangs,  bowie  knife,  one 
Chinese  clock,  and  a  number  of  other  relics. 

Mr.  G.  W.  Crossette.  A  collection  of  implements,  etc., 
largely  from  the  Philippine  and  Feejee  Islands. 

Mrs.  T.  W.  Hill.  A  collection  of  Mexican  pottery  and 
utensils,  consisting  of  twenty-five  pieces.  One  pair  of  Indian 
Moccasins. 

Mr.  P.  G.  Ravelson.    Fifteen  arrowheads. 

MEDALLIC  COLLECTIONS 

The  Society's  collections  of  medals,  which  last 
year's  report  showed  had  been  largely  increased,  has 
more  than  doubled  itself  this  year.  The  most  complete 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  53 

and  outstanding  group  that  has  been  received  is  that 
of  the  collection  of. 

WASHINGTON  MEDALS. 

purchased  from  the  J.  D.  Cox  fund. 

Our  attention  was  called  last  summer  to  a  remark- 
able collection  of  medals  formed  by  a  gentleman  in 
the  east,  who  had  for  his  hobby,  devoted  a  long  life 
to  the  gathering  of  different  Washington  medals. 
He  had  been  not  only  enthusiastic,  but  most  painstak- 
ing, replacing  a  poorer  specimen,  whenever  possible, 
with  a  better  one.  Feeling  that  he  had  gone  as  far 
as  he  could  in  this  collection,  it  was  offered  to  us,  and 
on  calling  Mr.  Cox's  attention  to  it,  the  Society  was 
most  generously  authorized  to  purchase  the  entire 
collection,  consisting  of  some  900  varieties,  from  the 
above  mentioned  funds. 

Further  purchases  made  from  the  same  funds 
during  the  year  have  increased  the  collection  until 
it  now  consists  of  (in  round  figures)  1000  varieties  of 
Washington  medals. 

Of  all  the  outstanding  heroes  in  American  history 
no  one  has  been  more  extensively  honored  by  a  patriotic 
and  loving  people  than  George  Washington.  As 
Mr.  W.  S.  Baker  in  his  exhaustive  check-list  of  Medallic 
Portraits  of  Washington  printed  in  1885,  in  speaking 
of  his  classification  of  the  medals  says—  "It  needs  but 
a  glance  at  the  titles  of  the  different  groups,  to  reveal 
how  the  name  of  Washington  is  associated  in  the 
minds  of  a  people,  with  all  their  diversified  interests, 
pursuits  and  enterprises.  Setting  aside  those  referring 
directly  to  his  own  history,  civil  and  military,  the 
memorials  of  his  death,  eulogistic  inscriptions  and 
quotations  from  his  pen,  which  comprise  nearly  all 
that  properly  speaking  may  be  termed  Washington 
medals,  the  work  will  be  found  to  include  almost 
every  subject,  national,  local,  and  personal,  which 
has  arisen  during  the  century.  If  benevolence  is  to 


54  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

be  awakened,  patriotism  aroused,  emulation  excited, 
temperance  inculcated,  industry  stimulated,  or  events 
to  be  celebrated,  the  mind  of  the  designer  seems  to 
turn  at  once  to  the  Pater  Patriae,  and  the  medal  struck 
for  the  purpose  or  occasion,  must  of  course,  bear  his 
head  as  the  prominent  object." 

In  classifying  this  large  collection,  we  have  followed 
carefully  the  classification  adopted  by  Mr.  Baker, 
adding  to  it  such  subject  headings  as,  "The  Centennial 
Anniversary  of  the  Inauguration,"  "Centennial  of 
the  Evacuation  of  New  York,"  "Centennial  of  the 
Proclamation  of  Peace,"  "Centennial  of  the  Constitu- 
tion," etc.,  which  groups  have  been  formed  since  the 
publication  of  Mr.  Baker's  work.  Of  many  of  these 
medals  only  a  very  few  have  been  struck.  The  West- 
wood  medal,  which  comes  under  the  head  of  Eulogistic 
medals,  we  possess  one  of  the  two  known  specimens, 
struck  in  tin.  Of  others  in  the  collection  there  have 
been  only  four  or  five  specimens  struck.  The  metals 
used  in  striking  these  medals  are  lead,  tin,  silvered 
metal,  copper,  brass,  bronze,  silver  and  gold. 

LINCOLN  MEDALS 

To  the  Lincoln  medals  given  the  Society  last  year 
by  Mr.  Palmer,  some  79  different  ones  have  been 
added,  making  our  collection  of  Lincoln  medals  now 
about  500.  In  addition  to  this,  Mr.  Palmer  has 
presented  to  the  collection: 

Eighteen  U.  S.  Grant  medals. 
Two  Andrew  Jackson. 
Twelve  General  McClellan. 
Five  Henry  Clay. 
Thirteen  Lane  and  Breckenridge. 
Two  General  Fremont. 
One  General  Hancock. 
Sixteen  Wm.  H.  Harrison. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  55 

Six  Douglas. 

Nineteen  various  Civil  War  Generals. 

Other  Lincoln  medals  have  been  received  from: 

Mr.  Victor  Morgan,   Medal  of  Lincoln,  awarded  by 
the  Cleveland  Press. 

Mr.  Charles  Edison,    Lincoln    medal   commemorating 
Lincoln  Centennial  at  Irvington-On-Hudson. 

The  Illinois  Watch  Company,  six  Lincoln  medals. 

Lincoln   Accident   Insurance    Company,    one   Lincoln 
medal. 

Lincoln  Stove  Company,  one  Lincoln  watch  charm. 

The  Toledo  News  Bee.    Lincoln  medal  awarded  by  the 
Toledo  News  Bee. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Morgan,  Large  bronze  medallion  of  Lincoln. 

Other  additions  to  the  medallic  collections  are  as 
follows: 

Mr.  C.  J.  Morgan.     A  large  plated  brass  medallion 
of  George  Washington. 

Mr.    Robert    Glenk.      Medal    of    the    Centennial    of 
Louisiana  Statehood. 

Mr.   Clark.     Badge   of  the  Annual   Reunion  of  the 
United  Confederate  Veterans.    1915. 

NUMISMATICS 

The  paper  money  collection  of  the  Society,  which 
had  been  scattered  in  various  scrap  books,  mounted 
in  different  ways,  and  put  away  in  various  envelopes, 
the  past  summer  was  brought  together,  unmounted, 
carefully  cleaned,  pressed  and  remounted  on  uniform 
cards,  holding  four  ordinary  size  bills  to  the  sheet,  all 
carefully  hinged  so  that  both  sides  of  the  bills  can  be 
seen,  and  then  filed  under  the  individual  states  in 
specially  made  portfolios.  This  was  a  very  tedious 
task  as  many  of  the  bills  were  old  and  had  to  be 
handled  with  the  utmost  care,  and  those  that  were 
in  any  way  torn  had  to  be  mended.  The  results 
accomplished  are  very  satisfactory  and  has  enabled 


56 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 


us  to  make  some  interesting  displays  along  the  different 
periods.    Following  is  a  list  of  the  bills: 


Colonial  &  Continental ...  237 

Alabama 104 

Arizona 2 

Arkansas 51 

Connecticut 36 

Delaware 6 

District  of  Columbia 13 

Florida 7 

Georgia 252 

Illinois 13 

Indiana 22 

Iowa 2 

Kentucky 19 

Louisiana 94 

Maine 6 

Massachusetts 46 

Maryland 19 

Michigan 156 

Minnesota 1 

Mississippi 62 


For'd.  1148 

Missouri 26 

Nebraska 5 

New  Hampshire 4 

New  Jersey 34 

New  York 114 

North  Carolina 157 

Ohio 257 

Ohio  State  Bank 56 

Pennsylvania 45 

Rhode  Island 27 

South  Carolina 52 

Tennessee 75 

Texas 14 

Vermont 14 

Virginia 200 

Wisconsin 7 

Confederate  issues 1099 

Foreign 75 


Total 


3389 


On  my  southern  trip  a  large  number  of  issues  of 
paper  money  were  received,  largely  through  donations, 
or  exchanges.  Also  there  were  obtained,  in  addition  to 
the  items  enumerated  below,  several  hundred  bills  of 
the  Confederate  States  issues: 

Alabama 25  bills 

Florida 2  bills 

Georgia 101  bills 

Louisiana 1  bills 

Mississippi 50  bills 

North  Carolina 11  bills 

Tennessee 2  bills 

Virginia 4  bills 

Similarly  to  the  paper  money  the  task  of  classifying 
and  arranging  the  collection  of  coins  has  been  con- 
tinued. We  have  had  to  devote  odd  moments  to  this 
work  as  the  details  of  the  regular  work  of  the  Society 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  57 

takes  up  the  larger  part  of  our  time.  Results  in  the 
coin  collection  cannot  be  made  known  until  the  work 
is  completed. 

The  following  have  been  presented  to  the  Society: 

Mr.  Eckstein  Case.    Two  Early  Ohio  bills,  one  St.  Louis 
bill. 

Mr.  N.  A.  Chapman.     Fifty-four  miscellaneous  bank 
bills. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.    Four  Mexican  bills. 

Mr.  George  J.  Schwartz.    Seven  Ohio  Bank  bills. 

Mrs.  C.  C.  Canfield.    Four  Roman  coins,  six  Spanish 
coins,  Indian  Wampum. 

Mrs.  T.  W.  Hill.    Sixteen  early  Japanese  coins  and 
a  small  collection  of  miscellaneous  coins. 

NEEDS 

There  are  one  or  two  needs  that  seem  to  be  more 
outstanding  than  others,  and  I  simply  call  the  attention 
of  the  Society  to  them  as  they  should  be  looked  after 
as  soon  as  they  can  be. 

The  first  is  the  installing  of  a  vacuum  system  for 
cleaning  the  building.  Ten  years  has  made  a  great 
change  in  this  respect.  When  the  Society  collections 
were  first  moved  to  University  Circle,  it  was  clean 
in  this  vicinity.  This  was  before  the  advent  of  heavy 
motor  trucks  and  automobiles.  Now  even  with  the 
windows  closed,  and  the  best  of  weatherstripping  on 
them,  the  dirt  continuously  sifts  through,  due,  I 
think,  largely  to  the  shaking  of  the  building  by  these 
heavy  trucks.  Then  in  the  summer  time,  when  we 
are  obliged  to  have  ventilation  through  the  open  win- 
dow, the  atmosphere  laden  with  soft  coal,  natural 
gas,  and  soot,  together  with  the  continuous  dust  raised 
by  the  passing  automobiles,  keeps  the  books  con- 
stantly covered  with  dust,  so  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  hand  them  to  our  patrons  in  the  clean  condition 
they  should  be.  A  system  of  this  kind  would  probably 
cost  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1500  to  $2000,  but  it 
would  well  pay  for  itself  not  only  in  the  preservation 


58  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

of  our  books,  but  in  being  able  to  present  them  to 
the  users  of  the  library  in  a  proper  state  of  cleanliness. 

The  second  need  is  that  of  further  funds  for  binding. 
Last  year  we  spent  some  $250,  and  the  year  before  the 
same  amount,  for  binding  some  of  our  Historical 
Society  publications  and  other  serials.  This  imme- 
diately made  available  a  number  of  valuable  sets  that 
were  practically  unusuable  before.  Many  of  our 
newspapers  are  unbound,  which  is  extremely  detri- 
mental to  the  papers  when  used  in  their  present  condi- 
tion. These  would  be  expensive  to  replace,  and  in 
fact  many  of  them  could  not  be,  if  once  destroyed. 

For  a  few  years  we  could  easily  use  from  $500  to 
$1000  a  year  on  necessary  binding. 

The  third  item  we  have  already  mentioned  in  our 
last  report.  This  is  the  need  of  a  stack  room.  The 
collections  have  been  growing  rapidly  and  are  fast 
reaching  the  point  where  it  will  be  impossible  to 
acommodate  properly,  the  incoming  books  unless  we 
have  better  facilities.  We  have  already  taxed  the 
facilities  of  the  building  to  the  utmost.  We  appreciate 
the  fact  that  there  are  a  great  many  demands  at  the 
present  time,  on  everyone,  still,  this  is  something  that 
should  receive  careful  consideration  from  our  officers 
and  trustees. 


Material  for  the  sketches  of  Colonel  O.  H.  Payne 
and  Leonard  Schlather  has  not  reached  us  in  time  to 
insert  in  this  year's  issue,  but  will  be  printed  in  next 
year's  report. 


STATISICAL  REPORT  OF  THE  CATALOGING 
DEPARTMENT 

May  1,  1917  to  April  30,  1918. 

Number  of  bound  volumes  accessioned  during  the  year ....  3768 
Number  of  newspaper  volumes  accessioned  during  the  year .  98 

Number  of  pamphlets  accessioned  during  the  year 1198 

Number  of  volumes  withdrawn  during  the  year 16 

Number  of  pamphlets  withdrawn  during  the  year 27 

Last  number  in  bound- volumes  accession  book 46334 

Number  of  bound  volumes  withdrawn  to  date,  as  duplicates 

or  inappropriate  for  our  collections 4266 

Number  of  newspaper  volumes  reaccessioned  to  date  in  the 

newspapers  accession  book *1627 


Total  number  of  withdrawals  to  be  deducted .  .   5893 


Number  of  volumes  accessioned  in  general  bound-volumes 

accession  book  remaining  to  date ' 40441 

Whole  number  of  volumes  accessioned  in  newspaper  acces- 
sion book .  .  3075 


Total  number  of  accessioned  volumes  in  library 43516 

Last  number  in  pamphlets  accession  book 14936 

Number  of  pamphlets  withdrawn  to  date 518 

Total  number  of  accessioned  pamphlets  remaining 14418 

Total  number  of  accessioned  volumes  and  pamphlets  to 

date 57934 

There  are  also  163  volumes  of  manuscripts  accessioned  to  date,  in 
special  manuscripts  accession  book. 

*The  number  of  reaccessioned  newspaper  volumes  deducted  dur- 
ing the  year  1915-16  (1620  volumes)  was  not  included  in  the  deduc- 
tions in  last  year's  report,  as  it  should  have  been.  The  error  is  now 
corrected. 

About  half  of  the  Palmer  collection  is  still  unaccessioned,  as 
well  as  some  bound  volumes  of  newspapers  and  Ohio  state  docu- 
ments. Other  unbound  and  unaccessioned  material  include 
serials,  annuals,  college  catalogues  and  bulletins,  speeches, 
sermons,  the  Brodie  collection  of  amateur  journalism,  the  almanac 
collection,  the  unbound  newspapers,  and  unbound  state  docu- 
ments. 

Wallace  H.  Cathcart,  Director 
59 


CATALOGING  REPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR 

May  1,  1917  to  April  30,  1918. 

No.  for  the  yr.No.  to  date 


New  titles  catalogued 

1869 

17386 

Volumes  catalogued  (L.  C.  titles)  

1654 

13532 

Volumes  catalogued  (not  L.  C.  titles)  

777 

4559 

Total  volumes  catalogued  

9431 

18091 

Pamphlets  catalogued  (L.  C.  titles)                279 

3815 

Pamphlets  catalogued  (not  L.  C.  titles)  .  .  .  .191 

3686 

Total  pamphlets  catalogued 

470 

7501 

"Sheep-bound"  set  government  documents 
checked  

0 

3882 

Manuscript  volumes  catalogued 

1 

8 

Newspaper  volumes  catalogued  

0 

89 

Total  volumes,  pamphlets,  etc.,  catalogued  . 

2902 

29571 

Cards  prepared  for  catalogue  (L.  C.  printed) 
Cards  prepared  for  catalogue  (typewritten)  . 

5092 
4229 

Total  cards  prepared  for  catalogue  .        .... 

939,1 

65700 

Temporary  slips  prepared  and  filed  in  cata- 
logue 

8000 

Depository    cards    delivered    to    Cleveland 
Public  Library 

1719 

60 


TREASURER'S  REPORT  61 

TREASURER'S  REPORT 

WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

RECEIPTS   AND   DISBURSEMENTS 
YEAR   ENDING  APRIL   30,    1918 

RECEIPTS 

May  1,  1917— Cash  on  hand $  4,693.15 

Subscriptions,  May  1,  1917  to  April  30,  1918 6,635.00 

Special  Contributions 11,223.67 

Income  from  Endowment  Fund 5,700.50 

Miscellaneous  Receipts 18.40 

Hodge  Fund 1,341.02 

Interest  on  Deposits  to  April  30,  1918 72.91 

$29,684.65 
DISBURSEMENTS 

May  1,  1917  to  April  30,  1918 26,199.69 

May  1st,  1918— Balance  on  hand $3,484.96 

DISBURSEMENTS 

Subscriptions  to  Periodicals 61.46 

Printing  and  Stationary 1,504.83 

Salaries 9,492.94 

General  Expense 1,378.93 

Light  and  Heat 658.18 

Traveling 329.25 

Building  Account 4,065.45 

Additions  to  collections 8,208.74 

Hodge  Fund 499.91 

$26,199.69 
SUBSCRIPTIONS 

9  at  $250.00  each 2,250.00 

5  at    150.00  each 750.00 

5  at    100.00  each 500.00 

6  at      50.00  each 300.00 

5  at      25.00  each 125.00 

271  at      10.00  each 2,710.00 

$  6,635.00 

Special  contributors  during  the  year  were  Messrs. 
C.  W.  Bingham  Ralph  King  F.  F.  Prentiss 

J.  D.  Cox  Wm.  G.  Mather        Geo.  B.  Shepard 

Estate  of  O.  J.  Hodge     D.  Z.  Norton  J.  H.  Wade 

Wm.  P.  Palmer 

A.  S.  Chisholm,  Treasurer 


Publication  No.  99 


COLLECTIONS 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Issued  December  1918 


The  Movement  for  Peace  Without  a  Victory 
During  the  Civil  War 


ELBERT  J.  BENTON 


' 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 
1918 


OFFICERS 
The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

OFFICERS  FOR  1918-1919 

President 
WILLAIM  P.  PALMER 

Vice  President  and  Director 
WALLACE  H.  CATHCART 

Honorary  Vice  Presidents 
JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 
JACOB  B.  PERKINS 

Secretary 
ELBERT  J.  BENTON 

Treasurer 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 


Trustees 


ELROY.  M.  AVERY 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 
C.  W.  BINGHAM 
A.  T.  BREWER 
E.  S.  BURKE,  JR. 
W.  H.  CATHCART 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 
J.  D.  Cox 
WM.  G.  DIETZ 
JAMES  R.  GARFIELD 
C.  A.  GRASSELLI 
WEBB  C.  HAYES 


C.  W.  BINGHAM 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 


E.  J.  BENTON 


S.  S.  WILSON 
Finance  Committee 

F.  F.  PRENTISS 

Publication  Committee 
W.  H.  CATHCART 


RALPH  KING 
W.  G.  MATHER 
PRICE  McKiNNEY 
D.  Z.  NORTON 
WM.  P.  PALMER 
DOUGLAS  PERKINS 
JACOB  PERKINS 
F.  F.  PRENTISS 
J.  L.  SEVERANCE 
AMBROSE  SWASEY 
CHAS.  F.  THWING 
J.  H.  WADE 


W.  G.  DIETZ 
D.  Z.  NORTON 


H.  E.  BOURNE 


ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 


STATE  OF  OHIO 

These  Articles  of  Incorporation  of 
THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Witnesseth,  That  we,  the  undersigned,  all  of  whom  are  citizens 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  desiring  to  form  a  corporation  not  for  profit, 
under  the  general  corporation  laws  of  said  State,  do  hereby 
certify : 

FIRST.  The  name  of  said  corporation  shall  be  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society. 

SECOND.  Said  corporation  shall  be  located  and  its  principle 
business  transacted  at  the  City  of  Cleveland,  in  Cuyahoga  Conuty 
Ohio. 

THIRD.  The  purpose  for  which  said  corporation  is  formed  is 
not  profit,  but  is  to  discover,  collect  and  preserve  whatever  relates 
to  the  history,  biography,  genealogy,  and  antiquities  of  Ohio  and 
the  West;  and  of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  including  the  physical 
history  and  condition  of  the  State;  to  maintain  a  museum  and 
library,  and  to  extend  knowledge  upon  the  subjects  mentioned,  by 
literary  meetings,  by  publication  and  by  other  proper  means. 

In  Witness  Whereof,  We  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  this 
seventh  day  of  March,  A.  D.,  1892. 

Henry  C.  Ranney  Charles  C.  Baldwin 

D.  W.  Manchester  David  C.  Baldwin 

Amos  Townsend,  Percy  W.  Rice, 

William  Bingham,  Jas.  D.  Cleveland, 
A.  T.  Brewer 


THE   MOVEMENT  FOR   PEACE  WITHOUT   A 
VICTORY  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

It  is  a  common  practice  for  writers  on  the  Civil 
War  to  reduce  the  opposing  forces  to  two,  the  South 
and  the  North,  or  Confederates  and  Unionists,  and 
likewise  to  simplify  the  issues  by  condensing  them  to 
one  word,  slavery.  There  is  enough  truth  in  this  view 
to  satisfy  many  persons.  It  has  the  merit  that  it  may 
be  easily  remembered.  That  it  breeds  superficiality 
and  inaccuracy  of  thought  does  not  seem  to  trouble 
the  authors.  It  fails  wholly  to  explain  the  motives 
and  ideals  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  in  the  South 
who  supported  the  Confederate  cause  and  of  an  as- 
tonishingly large  number  in  the  North  who  opposed 
the  Unionists  in  the  prosecution  of  the  War  without, 
in  either  case,  having  any  direct  interest  in  preserving 
slavery.  It  also  falls  short  as  an  adequate  presenta- 
tion of  the  complex  forces  arrayed  against  the  Govern- 
ment throughout  the  Civil  War. 

It  is  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to  re- 
call that  the  Civil  War  was  preceded  by  the  secession 
of  seven  states,  extending  from  South  Carolina  south- 
ward and  westward  along  the  coast,  during  the  winter 
of  1860-1861.  They  were  the  states  which  were  dom- 
inated by  the  cotton  planters. 1 

Complex  motives  were  present  in  their  act  of  se- 
cession, but  the  decisive  one  was  the  determination 
that  property  in  slaves  should  have  access  to  the  fed- 
eral territories,  and  have  the  same  federal  protection 
as  that  extended  to  other  forms  of  personal  property 
in  the  territories.  The  gauntlet  had  been  thrown  down 
by  the  Breckinridge  Democrats  in  the  campaign  of 
1860,  and  accepted  by  the  Republicans.  The  election 
of  Lincoln  on  a  platform  which  declared  "that  the 

1  There  were  somewhere  near  1,600,000  white  families  in  the  South.  Less  than 
400,000  of  these  held  slaves.  Three  fourths  of  the  southern  families  held  no  slaves 
and  had  no  direct  interest  in  its  continuation.  About  10,000  families  owned  the 
great  slave  plantations  and  constituted  the  ruling  class  of  the  slave  states.  The 
South  in  the  Building  of  the  Nation,  Vol.V,  p.  117. 


2  CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

normal  condition  of  all  the  territory  is  that  of  free- 
dom" and  denied  "the  authority  of  Congress,  of  a 
territorial  legislature,  or  of  any  individuals,  to  give 
legal  existence  to  slavery  in  any  territory  of  the  United 
States"  effectually  blocked  the  cotton  planters'  pro- 
gram. Lincoln's  firm  refusal  during  the  winter  of 
1860-1861  to  assent  to  a  compromise  in  Congress  upon 
the  territorial  issue  strengthened  the  conclusion  which 
the  secessionists  had  reached  that  the  Union  as  it  was 
developing  was  no  longer  tolerable. 2 

Lincoln's  inflexible  attitude  represented  for  the 
most  part  the  views  of  the  western  element  of  the  Re- 
publican party.  Horace  Greeley,  an  eastern  Republi- 
can of  great  influence,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 
placed  his  popular  journal  on  record  for  peace,  virtually 
on  the  Confederate  terms.  "If  the  cotton  States",  he 
said,  "shall  decide  that  they  can  do  better  out  of  the 
Union  than  in  it,  we  insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace. 
The  right  to  secede  may  be  a  revolutionary  one,  but 

it  exists  nevertheless Whenever  a  considerable 

section  of  our  Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go 
out,  we  shall  resist  all  coercive  measures  designed  to 
keep  it  in.  We  hope  never  to  live  in  a  republic,  where- 
of one  section  is  pinned  to  the  residue  by  bayonets." 
"If  the  cotton  States  generally  unite  with  her  (South 
Carolina)  in  seceding,  we  insist  that  they  cannot  be 
prevented,  and  that  the  attempt  must  not  be  made. 
Five  millions  of  people,  more  than  half  of  them  the 
dominant  race,  of  whom  at  least  a  half  a  million  are 
able  and  willing  to  shoulder  muskets,  can  never  be 
subdued  while  fighting  around  and  over  their  own 
hearth-stones". 3  It  is  true  that  Greeley  soon  recanted 
his  doctrine  of  peace-at-any-price,  but  not  before  in- 
calculable encouragement  had  been  given  to  disunion. 4 

2  Lincoln  took  the  position  that  the  compromises  proposed  in  Congress  would 
not  terminate  the  struggle  between  the  North  and  the  South  over  the  territories; 
that  the  only  compromise  of  any  value  was  a  federal  prohibition  against  acquiring 
any  more  territory.     Nicolay  and  Hay,  Complete  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Jan- 
uary n,  1861,  Vol.  VT,  p.  93. 

3  The  New  York  Tribune,  Nov.  9,  16,  19,  30,  1860. 

4  Ibid.     January  14  and  February  2,   1861. 


CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  3 

He  continued  throughout  the  war  to  seek  peace  other- 
wise than  by  the  direct  one  of  overcoming  Southern 
resistance  by  military  force.  A  negotiated  peace,  one 
without  victory,  became  his  highway  to  reunion. 
Greeley  by  no  means  stood  alone  among  the  Republi- 
cans. His  was  not  an  isolated,  individual  view.  The 
thought  of  the  loss  of  the  southern  markets  paralyzed 
the  combative  organs  of  many  an  eastern  merchant. 
Those  whose  sense  of  nationalism  was  slightly  devel- 
oped raised  the  white  flag  before  secession.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  declared  that  he  did  not  care  if  the 
southern  states  seceded,  and  that  it  would  be  an  ad- 
vantage for  them  to  go  off. 5  What  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  and  other  extreme  Abolitionists  were  saying 
interested  relatively  few.  They  were  outside  the  pale. 
But  within  the  innermost  circles  of  the  Republican 
fold,  the  self-appointed  leader,  the  President-elect's 
choice  for  the  premiership  of  the  Cabinet,  William  H. 
Seward,  was  commonly  classed  with  those  who  stood 
ready  to  renounce  the  Territorial  clause  of  the  Repub- 
lican platform  and  to  compromise  with  the  cotton 
planters  in  order  to  maintain  peace. 6 

What  the  historian  has  to  record  about  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  Civil  War  is  that  the  rival  policies  of 
Radical  Democrats  and  Radical  Republicans  precipi- 
tated the  conflict.  The  decisive  or  aggressive  forces 
before  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  were  the  cotton  planters 
and  the  western  farmers  who  had  accepted  Breckin- 
ridge  and  Lincoln  respectively  as  their  leaders.  The 
real  issue  between  them  was  to  determine  whether 
planters  with  black  slave  gangs  or  the  sons  of  small 
farmers  and  artisans  should  have  the  homesteads  of 
the  prairie  west.  Both  saw  that  the  two  labor  systems 
were  mutually  exclusive.  They  had  not  been  able  to 
dwell  in  peace  in  Kansas.  The  tragic  history  of  the 
poor  whites  of  the  South  had  established  their  in- 

5  Address  at  Boston,  Nov.  27,   1860.     New  York   Tribune,  Nov.  29,  30,1860. 
Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  139,  141. 

6  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  288,  especially  notes  2  and  3. 


4  CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

compatibility  beyond  a  perad venture.  And  yet  these 
forces  which  knew  what  they  wanted  and  counted  not 
too  dear  the  cost  constituted  a  clear  minority  of  the 
nation.  The  great  majority,  with  minds  unmade,  with 
hopes  centered  on  compromises,  ready  for  peace  at 
almost  any  price,  waited  through  -the  fateful  passing 
months  for  a  harmony  of  leadership  which  came  too 
late.  The  Radical  elements  rallied  around  their  lead- 
ers without  hesitation  as  defenders  of  holy  causes  and 
stamped  their  opponents  as  aggressors.  It  is  one  of 
the  tragedies  of  human  history  that  so  far  both  views 
could  describe  accurately  a  situation.  The  economic 
system  which  each  represented  called  for  new  lands. 
Wild  land  was  the  raw  material  of  the  old  agriculture. 
If  the  cotton  planters  were  the  more  impatient  and  the 
more  bitter  it  was  because  their  institution  was  the 
more  wasteful  of  land  and  their  individual  capital  at 
stake,  if  land  failed  them,  greater  than  that  of  the  small 
farmers.  Humanitarianism  entered  into  both  agri- 
cultural movements,  but  differed  fundamentally  in 
kind.  The  planters  regarded  the  slaves,  members  of 
a  larger  family  circle,  as  a  race  in  its  childhood  which 
needed  the  disclipine  and  protection  of  the  slave  sys- 
tem; and  there  their  thinking  stopped.  The  Republi- 
can farmers  and  merchants  and  artisans  were  anti- 
slavery  in  every  sense,  but  not  stimulated  by  any 
strong  radical  agitation  such  as  had  organized  the 
Abolition  movement  of  New  England  and  other  parts 
of  the  North.7 

The  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  and  the  call  of  President 
Lincoln  for  the  state  militia  brought  tumbling  into  the 
arena,  as  it  were,  two  new  forces.  A  middle  group  of 
slave  states,  North  Carolina,  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
Arkansas,  seceded  and  joined  the  Confederacy.  And 
why?  Slavery  in  their  limits  was  decadent.  There 
was  no  dominant,  aggressive  cotton  planter  or  other 


7  A.  C.  Cole,  President  Lincoln  and  the  Illinois  Radical  Republicans,  Mississippi 
Valley  Historical  Review,  Vol.  IV,  No.  4,  March  1918,  p.  417. 


CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  5 

similar  class  planning  to  provide  for  the  future  of  a 
basic  labor  system.  A  free  labor  system  had,  in  fact, 
come  strongly  into  conflict  with  the  old  slave  system. 
But  the  idea  that  the  federal  union  was  a  creature  or 
servant  of  sovereign  states,  that  the  states  could  not  be 
coerced,  was  a  political  fetish.  The  growing  national- 
ism genuinely  alarmed  the  persons  who  made  States' 
Rights  the  basis  of  their  political  philosophy.  Their 
interpretation  of  American  colonial  history,  their  read- 
ing of  all  history,  although  crude  and  inaccurate  like 
that  of  their  generation,  convinced  them  that  the  be- 
ginning of  all  tyranny  was  in  centralization,  the  secur- 
ity of  human  liberty  in  America,  and  for  that  matter 
in  the  World,  bound  up  in  maintaining  unimpaired 
States'  Rights.  There  is  no  use  of  quarrelling  with 
the  philosophy  of  another  generation  because  we  have 
drifted  far  from  it.  It  is  enough  to  take  account  of  the 
fact.  The  doctrine  that  a  state  might  not  be  coerced 
was  the  tenet  which  guided  the  middle  group  of  slave 
states  into  secession.  They  would  protest  that  their 
act  came  not  because  they  loved  the  old  Union  less 
than  their  neighbors,  but  because  they  feared  a  new 
and  uncovenented  union  which  threatened  to  take 
its  place.  States'  Rights  which  was  the  main  chord 
with  the  middle  group  of  slave  states  was  at  the  same 
time  a  minor  one  with  the  cotton  group.  Conversely, 
elements  of  the  population  of  the  middle  group  were 
directly  interested  in  the  perpetuation  of  slavery, 
or  terrified  at  the  idea  of  vast  numbers  of  negro  freed- 
men  in  their  midst,  and  so  joined  their  influence  with 
the  dominant  one  to  resist  what  all  feared  in  common, 
a  new  union  and  a  new  era.  The  central  fact  is  that 
Lincoln's  call  for  the  state  militia  to  enforce  the  fed- 
eral laws  and  maintain  the  federal  institutions  was  an- 
swered by  the  withdrawal  of  four  states  and  the  waver- 
ing of  a  group  of  border  slave  states — Delaware,  Mary- 
land, Kentucky  and  Missouri.  One  of  them  Kentucky, 
proclaimed  its  neutrality,  and  actually  maintained  the 


6  CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

novel  status  until  neutrality  was  violated  in  Septem- 
ber, 1861,  by  a  Confederate  army. 8 

In  the  end  the  border  states  remained  in  the  Union, 
or  perhaps  in  the  case  of  Maryland  the  fact  is  more 
accurately  expressed  when  it  is  said  that  it  was  re- 
strained from  secession.  A  large  element  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  border  states  found  ways  of  opposing  the 
Administration  in  the  prosecution  of  the  War.  One  of 
the  most  common  was  to  give  their  adhesion  to  an- 
other force  arrayed  in  the  Civil  War.  This  was  the 
movement  of  the  Peace  Democrats.  The  thought  of 
this  element  like  the  dominant  one  in  the  middle  group 
was  glued  to  the  States'  Rights  political  philosophy. 
Each  individual  thought  of  himself  as  a  defender  of  all 
that  was  institutionally  precious.  That  he  was  sacri- 
ficing himself  or  his  country  to  a  passing  theory  of 
government  he  could  not  see.  To  him  there  were  no 
Mt.  Pisgahs  from  which  to  survey  the  passing  ages. 
That  he  was  an  indirect  ally  of  a  slave  oligarchy 
troubled  him  about  as  little  as  the  alliances  of  the  dem- 
ocracies of  Europe  with  Russia  in  1914  troubled  them. 
All  through  the  three  slave  sections  poor  white  farmers 
whose  economic  life  had  been  narrowed  to  the  lowest 
standards  by  competition  with  the  large  slave  gangs 
sprang  to  the  aid  of  the  cotton  planters  and  the  doc- 
trainaires  of  States'  Rights.  The  alliance  was  complete 
and  whole  hearted  because  it  was  based  on  long  gen- 
erations of  common  thought  and  persistant  teaching 
in  an  isolated  environment.  The  poor  whites,  too, 
feared  the  freeing  of  the  negroes.  They  imagined,  as 
others  without  number  before  them  had  imagined,  a 
state  of  anarchy  and  violence  and  hard  times  in  the 
South  if  by  any  chance  the  discipline  of  slavery  were 
relaxed.  A  rough  sketch  of  this  kind  does  not  do  jus- 
tice to  the  complex  motives  and  fears  of  the  Confeder- 
ates. It  only  pretends  to  outline  some  main  forces. 


8  There  is  no  story  more  strikingly  illustrative  of  Lincoln's  political  sagacity 
and  patience  than  his  treatment  of  Kentucky  at  this  crisis.  See  Rhodes,  History 
of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  391-2. 


CONTENDING  FORCES  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  7 

There  were  others,  such  as  run  with  the  current  of 
human  history  born  of  greed,  and  selfishness,  and 
bitter  memories,  but  they  are  of  no  great  moment  now. 
The  significant  fact  is  that  the  several  elements  of 
population  which  the  Confederate  statesmen  cemented 
together  thought  of  their  Cause  as  one  of  defense. 

IN  1861  President  Lincoln  rallied  two  organized 
political  forces  in  support  of  his  policy  of  forcible  re- 
union. These  were  (1)  the  Republican  Party  as  a 
whole  and  (2)  a  portion  of  the  Democratic  Party, 
the  War  Democrats.  The  Republican  Party  took  the 
name  Union  Party  in  order  to  make  agreeable  the  new 
alliance,  though  the  camouflage  only  partially  suc- 
ceeded in  its  purposes.  The  War  Democrats  gener- 
ally maintained  their  party  organization  and  resisted 
the  temptations  of  fusion.  They  supported  the  policy 
of  forcible  reunion;  they  had  no  sympathy  with  the 
Administration's  ideas  of  policies  toward  slavery,— 
either  the  pledges  with  regard  to  the  territories,  or 
slavery  in  the  States.  They  were  uncharitable  critics 
of  the  measures  which  the  Government  deemed  nec- 
essary to  accomplish  its  purpose.  But  they  yielded 
an  invaluable  support  to  the  main  purpose  of  the 
Administration,  which  was  re-union. 

There  were  also  the  Abolitionists;  the  followers  of 
Garrison  and  Wendell  Phillips.  To  the  Southerner, 
involved  as  he  was  socially  and  financially  in  a  race 
tangle,  they  were  hideous  monsters.  Did  they  not  call 
his  ownership  of  slave  property  a  crime?  And  offer  the 
remedy  of  confiscation?  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Aboli- 
tionists took  no  account  of  history,  and  social  systems, 
and  racial  progress,  or  elemental  justice.  To  be  sure, 
with  most  of  them  the  end  was  to  be  achieved  by  the 
ballot.  John  Brown's  race-war  was  a  movement 
by  itself.  The  South,  however  made  the  fundamental 
mistake  of  identifying  John  Brown's  movement  with 
Abolition,  and  both  with  that  of  the  Republicans.  Men 
who  feared  a  social  revolution  should  undoubtedly 
have  a  measure  of  consideration  from  History  if 


8  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

they  could  not  draw  clear  distinctions.  In  reality, 
those  who  thought  as  did  Lincoln  were  leaving  the 
slavery  of  the  States  for  the  States  to  meet.  They 
committed  themselves,  when  once  the  War  began,  to 
the  primary  task  of  preserving  democracy  from  the 
perversion  with  which  secession  threatened  it.  They 
had  no  intention  of  making  the  fate  of  slavery  an 
issue  of  the  Civil  War.  The  Abolitionists,  whether 
of  the  extreme  variety  who  could  not  find  satisfac- 
tion in  one  of  the  other  parties,  or  more  moderate, 
supported  the  President  in  the  prosecution  of  the  War. 
They  did  so,  however,  with  the  hope  that  Lincoln's 
policy  would  overtake  their's  and  lead  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  slavery.  Lincoln's  constructive  policy  with 
regard  to  slavery,  announced  in  his  message  to  Con- 
gress in  December,  1861,  combining  a  policy  of  state 
emancipation  with  national  compensation  to  the  owners 
and  colonization  of  the  freedmen,  did  not  satisfy  the 
Abolitionists. 

A  paper  which  enumerated  the  supporters  of  the 
United  States  at  the  North  during  the  civil  war  and 
ignored  the  large  population  in  the  middle  group  of 
slave  states,especially  of  western  Virginia  and  eastern 
Tennessee,  that  fought  in  the  Union  armies  would  neg- 
lect an  important  factor  of  the  Civil  War.  The 
mountain  whites  of  the  South  were  too  much  isolated 
to  fear  the  freedmen,  had  been  too  long  in  conflict  with 
the  State  authorities  to  be  concious  of  any  attachment 
to  States'  Rights.  Living  the  simple  democratic  life  of 
the  frontier  they  were  instinctively  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  slave  oligarchies.  It  will  suffice  to  think  of 
this  force  as  positively,  and  whole  heartedly,  Unionists. 
Its  contribution  to  the  War  measured  in  percentages  of 
volunteers  to  the  total  population  exceeded  that  from 
the  northern  states. 

THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

The  menace  of  national  disruption  through  the 
efforts  of  the  seceding  states  was  only  one  form  of  at- 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  9 

tack  on  democratic  government  during  the  Civil  War. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  had  to  combat 
other  forces,  more  insidious  because  less  open  and 
above  board,  and  therefore  really  more  dangerous  ones. 
There  was  a  danger  of  foreign  intermeddling  during  the 
early  months  of  the  War.  The  Governments  of  Eng- 
land and  France  pressed  the  United  States  to  accept 
mediation  in  order  to  find  a  basis  for  a  negotiated  peace. 
But  all  knew  well  that  a  negotiated  peace  meant  a  per- 
manent disruption  of  the  Union.  The  foreign  powers 
even  considered  armed  intervention.  The  Pope  ex- 
horted the  Archbishops  of  New  York  and  New  Orleans 
to  use  their  influences  with  their  respective  communi- 
ties for  peace;  encouraged  by  the  response  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  correspondence  led  the  Pope  to  make  the 
charge  that  the  Government  at  Washington  was  to 
blame  for  the  continuation  of  the  War. 9 

Neither  of  the  foreign  powers  exhibited  any  real 
appreciation  of  the  great  moral  or  social  or  political 
principles  involved  in  the  titanic  American  struggle. 
Their  mistake  may  well  be  passed  over.  The  particular 
Governments  of  Europe  of  that  day  had  no  sympathy 
with  democracy  as  it  was  being  worked  out  in  America. 
And  as  for  moral  or  social  issues,  it  is  open  to  question 
whether  even  the  American  people  realized  these  at  the 
time.  Certain  it  is  that  to  Lincoln  in  1861  the  issue 
was  the  simple  one  of  restoration  of  the  union. x  ° 

The  most  dangerous  opposition  which  a  cause  may 
have  is  one  which  conceals  itself,  perhaps  unconsciously, 
behind  a  pacifist  group,  or  any  particular  group,  and 
makes  use  of  one  or  the  other  for  partisan  ends.  In 

9  Letter  of  Pope  Pius  IX  to  Archbishop  Hughes,  October  18,  1862,  published  in 
the  Richmond  Daily  Whig,  August  7,  1863.     Other  letters  of  the  correspondence 
in  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Confederacy,  Vol.  IT,  pp.  571,  603. 

10  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Complete  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  16. 
Letter  to  Greely,  August  22,  1862.     "My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to 
save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.    If  I  could  save  the 
Union  without  freeing  any  slave  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing 
all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving 
others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that.      What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored 
race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union". 


10  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

other  words  the  party  which  takes  advantage  of  a 
national  crisis  in  order  to  achieve  a  success  it  could  not 
win  from  a  democratic  people  at  the  polls  is  the  great- 
est menace  a  free  people  has  to  face.  Such  a  party  de- 
liberately flouts  democracy.  It  attempts  to  convert  a 
democracy  into  an  autocracy.  The  history  of  the  Civil 
War  was  complicated  by  the  persistent  activities  of 
just  such  a  party. 

A  portion  of  the  northern  Democracy,  especially 
large  in  the  Old  Northwest,  openly  opposed  the  pro- 
secution of  the  War  by  the  Administration. 1 1  Be- 
cause of  the  fact  that  the  movement  demanded  that 
the  Administration  stop  the  War,  and  that  the  mem- 
bership was  drawn  from  the  old  Democratic  party  the 
name  the  Peace  Democratic  Party  has  been  given  it. 
Breckinridge  received  279,211  votes  in  the  free  states 
in  1860;  this  element  was  a  natural  nucleus  of  a  north- 
ern party  of  opposition.  The  opponents  sneer ingly 
called  its  members  "copperheads",  or  identified  them 
with  the  Confederates  by  the  common  appelation  of 
"butternuts".12 

Fernando  Wood,  Mayor  of  New  York,  and  his 
brother,  Benjamin  Wood,  publisher  of  the  New  York 
News  and  a  member  of  Congress,  made  themselves 
spokesmen  of  a  faction  of  Peace  Democrats  in  the  East. 
Fernando  Wood  proposed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War  that  New  York  City  proclaim  itself  a  free  city, a  sort 
of  a  Liibeck  or  Hamburg  in  the  federal  union,  and  re- 
tain its  trade  both  with  the  United  States  and  the  Con- 


1 1  The  South,  too,  had  its  Peace  Parties.    At  one  time  in  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia  the  activities  of  such  an  opposition  gave  the  Confederate  authorities 
considerable  embarassment.     The  movement  seems  to  have  been   the  work    of 
a  dormant  Union  element  stirred  to  life  by  local  leadership.     See  the  Richmond 
Daily  Whig,  February  19,  1864,  for  a  brief  account. 

12  A  satirical  poem  published  in  Philadelphia,  1863,  worked  out  in  seemingly 
endless  verses  the  theme  of  contempt  of  the  Unionists  for  the  Copperheads. 

"Ye    'sneak'    is  a  sly  bird.      Ye  rattle-sneak,  indeed,/hath  some  chivalry, 
if  it  is  in  his  tail;  but  ye  Sneak/yclepid  'Copperhead'  hath  none."  etc. 

There  was  an  appropriateness  in  the  term  "butternut"  for  both  the  confeder- 
ates and  the  Peace  Democrats.  Both  drew  their  strength  in  numbers  from  the 
poorer  whites  of  the  rural  South  and  West  who  by  force  of  circumstances  wore 
homespun  clothes  dyed  from  the  butternut. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  11 

federacy.  "Thus",  according  to  the  Mayor's  vision, 
"We  could  live  free  from  taxes,  and  have  cheap  goods 
nearly  duty  free."  1 3  But  the  chief  elements  of  the 
Peace  Democrats  were  located  in  the  Ohio  valley,  de- 
creasing in  density  of  numbers  as  the  distance  north- 
ward from  the  Ohio  river  increased.  The  evidence  con- 
nects the  class  with  the  immigration  stream  which  had 
moved  like  an  overflowing  flood  from  the  South  to  the 
north  side  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  area  in  Ohio  com- 
prehended by  a  line  drawn  through  Dayton,  Hamilton, 
Chillicothe  and  Cincinnati,  the  river  counties  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois,  and  their  neighbors,  were  the  strongholds 
of  the  party. x  4 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  Copperheads  were  the 
smaller  farmers  and  poor  artisans  of  the  region, 
if  measured  by  accumulated  wealth.  They  like  the  poor 
whites  of  the  South  saw  another  vision  from  that  which 
the  followers  of  Lincoln  saw.  The  latter  saw  the  ex- 
pansion of  their  agricultural  system  across  the  fertile 
prairies  of  the  plains  balked  by  expanding  slave  areas. 
The  former  saw  a  black  horde  of  freedmen,  a  veritable 
black  peril,  sweeping  from  the  southland  across  the 
Ohio  into  the  free  farming  regions  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 1 5 
All  those  social  forces  which  count  with  a  people — en- 
vironment, tradition,  decades  of  teaching  from  plat- 
form, press,  and  pulpit — were  bearing  their  natural 
fruit  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  It  is  the  tragedy  of  this  Con- 
flict in  the  Northwest  that  the  votaries  of  both  sides 
thought  of  their  causes  as  defensive  ones,  and  from 
the  point  of  view  of  each  it  was  so. 

13  McPherson,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  42. 

14  The  Census  o/  1860  showed  that  about  six  per  cent  of  the  white  population 
of  Ohio  were  immigrants  or  the  descendents  of  immigrants  from  slave  states, 
chiefly  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky;  about  twelve  per  cent  of  Indiana,  chiefly 
from  Kentucky,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee;  about  ten  per  cent  of 
Illinois,  chiefly  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina;  about 
25  per  cent  of  Missouri,  chiefly  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina. 

16  The  Democratic  newspapers  kept  the  menace  of  the  freedmen  always  before 
their  readers.     The  Columbus  Crisis,  October  29,  1862,  contains  a  typical  article. 


12  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

There  was  a  close  analogy  between  the  line  of  rea- 
soning of  the  Copperheads  and  their  poor  white  kinsfolk 
of  the  South.  Without  doubt,  if  the  Copperheads  had 
had  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Northwest  as  they  had 
in  Kentucky  they  would  have  made  the  whole  section 
neutral,  or,  if  they  had  been  in  the  majority  as  in 
North  Carolina  they  would  have  swung  the  Northwest 
into  an  alliance  with  the  Confederacy.  It  was  inevi- 
table that  they  should  number  among  themselves  some 
that  were  the  conscious  agents  of  the  South  and  some 
whom  the  loss  of  peace-time  markets  during  the  early 
stages  of  the  War  and  the  consequent  hard  times  drove 
into  the  opposition  party.  The  newspapers  of  the 
river  towns  stressed  the  losses  from  the  cessation  of  the 
old  trade.  The  Cincinnati  Gazette  estimated  at  the 
close  of  1861  that  the  loss  of  the  southern  market  for 
bacon  alone  meant  a  loss  of  $6,000,000  to  the  farmers 
of  the  Northwest. 1 6  To  those  who  were  more  concern- 
ed about  the  recovery  of  the  old  river  commerce  and 
plantation  markets  than  about  rival  labor  systems  or 
social  structures,  peace-at-any-price  had  a  commercial 
background.  Once  the  South  seceded  and  set  up  a 
barrier  to  river  commerce,  the  event  worked  two  ways. 
To  the  Peace  Democrats  of  the  Ohio  Valley  it  stimu- 
lated a  movement  for  peace  in  order  to  have  back  old 
markets  on  the  basis  of  restoration;  to  the  Unionists  it 
stimulated  a  war  of  conquest.  The  varying  points  of 
view  arose  from  the  respective  doctrines  of  States' 
Rights  and  Nationalism. 

The  Peace  Democrats  of  the  Northwest  had  an 
active,  cunning  leadership.  The  names  of  only  a  few 
have  survived  the  oblivion  which  history  allows  to  those 
who  grieviously  err.  The  high  priest  of  the  faction  was 
Clement  L.  Vallandigham.  He  was  of  Huguenot  and 
Scotch  descent;  the  scion  of  families  early  transplanted 
to  Virginia,  and  thence  to  Ohio ;  Presbyterian  and  Dem- 
ocrat by  forces  as  immutable  in  such  minds  as  any  laws 

16  See,  for  example,  the  Knoxville  Daily  Register,  June  12,  1862. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  13 

of  nature.  He  inherited  a  fixed  philosophy  of  life. 
His  was  one  of  those  minds  that  instinctively  fear  in- 
novation, whose  eyes  were  on  the  past,  whose  faith 
clung  to  established  institutions  and  time  worn  customs. 
The  dogmatic  assurance  and  inflexible  purpose  of  his 
kind  were  entrenched  in  a  cold  and  selfish  personality. 
As  a  man  he  stood  apart  from  others,  set  off  by  an  ar- 
rogance and  egoism,  which  would  neither  take  council 
of  man  or  God. x  7  And  yet  somehow  he  possessed  a 


17  The  following  letter  from  the  brother  of  Vallandigham's  mother,  besides 
giving  an  interesting  glimpse  of  Maryland  life  in  the  30'$,  reveals  much  of  the 
heritage  of  Vallandigham.  The  original  is  in  the  Vallandigham  Collection  of 
manuscripts,  letters,  etc.  in  the  Library  of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society. 

Parsonage,  Trinity  Parish  Charles  Co.  Maryland 

Saturday  night  Nov.   17,  1832. 
Rev:    C.    Vallandigham. 

Dear  brother.  The  period  of  life  &  the  grade  in  the  Ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion to  which  I  have  attained,  intimate,  nay  urge,  the  propriety  of  surrendering 
my  juvenile  enmities.  The  reflection  that  I  had  alienated  those  toward  whom 
nature  duty  and  interest  bound  me  to  cherish  pacific  feelings,  has  incurred  many 
a  pang  of  regret.  I  am,  therefore,  constrained  to  make  this  overture  to  you.  You 
are  excusable  for  not  having  superceded  its  necessity — as  you  have  not  known 
the  particular  place  of  my  present  residence.  You  will,  doubtless,  respond  in  a 
spirit  similar  to  that  in  which  I  write*****It  will  very  probably,  interest  you  to 
become  acquainted  with  my  present  condition  and  future  prospects.  I  was  elected 
Rector  of  this  Parish,  upon  the  3d  of  June  1830 — but  was  prevented  by  the  ex- 
treme sickness  of  my  eldest,  (then  only)  child  from  taking  charge  of  it  until  the 
21.  of  the  ensuing  August.  This  parish  is  twenty  miles  in  length  &  its  medium 
width  is  nine  miles  &  contains  over  two  hundred  families.  In  it  are  two  brick 
Churches,  erected  some  seventy  or  eighty  years  since,  which  have  been  rebuilt. 
They  are  situated  twelve  miles  from  each  other.  The  Glebe,  upon  which  I  live, 
contains  300  acres,  two-thirds  of  which  are  enclosed,  and  upon  it  are  erected  a 
Parsonage,  Negro  house,  Corn  &  Meat  house,  Tobacco  barn  et  ceaterea.  The 
Parsonage,  a  brick  house  of  eighty  years  erection,  is  a  substantial,  neat  house. 
It  is  five  miles  distant  from  my  Parish  Church  &  seven  from  my  Chapel.  The 
Vestry  employed  me  the  first  year  for  $435  and  the  use  of  the  Glebe,  worth  $200.. 
The  second  year  they  gave  me  500$  &  use  &c.  The  present  year  they  will  give 
me  $600  &  use  &c.  My  perquisites  are  worth  200$  per  annum — so  that  my  present 
salary  is  1000$.  Since  resident  here  I  have  baptised  250  infants,  married  twenty- 
seven  couples  (for  which  I  have  rec4  $230 —  some  of  them  were  slaves,  &  preached 
thirty-six  funerals,  (for  which  I  have  reca  270$)  During  last  Convention  year 
namely  from  May  31'.  to  May  '32,  I  buried  81  persons.  Sickness  &  Mortality 
always  great  was  unusually  so  last  year.  I  rode  down  two  horses  during  our  Au- 
tumnal sickness  &  in  Jany  &  February  the  Pleaurasy  prevaled  to  an  alarming 
extent.  My  own  general  health  has  improved  since  I  removed  hither.  My  breast 
affection  has  partially,  if  not  totally  subsided.  In  last  May  &  June  I  passed  thr'o 
a  severe  acclimating — having  sixteen  Agues  and  fevers  in  succession:  Since  when 
I  have  enjoyed  excellent  health.  My  good  lady  has  not  been  one  day  unwel 
since  we  removed  hither.  Blessed  be  God,  health  has  been  extraordinary  thr'o 
my  parish  this  year.  W  have  escaped  the  autumnal  fevers.  This  phenomanon 
is  attributable  , so  far  as  human  means  are  concerned,  to  the  uncommon  prudence 
in  dieting  &  cloathing,  which  people  here  practised  as  a  preventive  of  the  Cholera. 


14  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

grace  of  bearing  and  powers  of  address  which  captivated 
those  who  came  within  his  sphere.  College  education, 
legal  studies  and  practice  in  the  courts,  and  editorial 
experience  on  the  Dayton  Empire  failed  to  liberalize 
his  ways  of  thinking,  but  from  their  training  he  develop- 
ed a  power  of  expression,  the  eloquence  of  the  political 
platform,  in  which  few  of  his  generation  surpassed  him. 
In  1857  Vallandigham  entered  Congress.  The  Civil 
War  found  him  among  those  who  first  sought  to  medi- 
ate between  the  forces  in  the  Union  which  were  strug- 
gling with  fixed  purposes,  and,  failing  in  efforts  at  com- 
promise, made  themselves  the  "wilful  obstructionists" 
of  the  time.  But  the  fact  that  the  group  threw  them- 
selves against  the  forces  which  were  struggling  in  Con- 
gress and  out  with  fixed  purposes  does  not  mean  to  im- 


That  fearful  complaint  reached  Port  Tobacco,  our  County  town,  yet  we  have 
been  mercifully  spared.  There  have  been  only  fifteen  cases,  all  however  have 
been  fatal.  I  have  been  advised  of  its  pravalence  in  Cincinnati. ***There  are  some 
differences  between  Penn'  (and  indeed  the  whole  North)  and  Maryland,  to 
the  advantage  of  the  latter.  There  is  an  intelligence,  a  nobleness  of  spirit  &  a 
sentimental  delicacy  found  in  our  Country  Parishes  here  which  are  not  pravalent 
in  the  North.  The  existence  of  slavery  furnishes  time  to  the  rich  to  cultivate 
their  minds  &  to  cherish  fine  feelings.  It  deepens  the  divisional  lines  between  the 
heart  &  the  extremities  of  Society.  It  precludes  associations  with  the  lowest 
class  which  are  calculated,  eminently  so,  to  inspire  those  of  the  higher  class  with 
mean  opinions  of  themselves  &  to  arrest  them  in  the  noble  march  of  honorable 
ambition.  To  descend  to  all  the  menial  offices  of  a  domestic,  must  tend  to  degrade 
a  classical  youth  in  his  own  estimation  &  to  check  his  noble  aspirations  after  dig- 
nified, hallowed  manhood.  How  it  must  subvert  his  idea  of  meritorious  distinc- 
tion, to  behold  the  greasy  cook  &  the  sooty  shoe-black  seated  around  the  family 
board  with  himself?  While  Society  moves  it  must  have  extremities,  as  while  a 
man  walks,  he  must  have  legs,  as,  therefore,  there  must  be  servitude.  I  cannot 
concieve  of  any  species  of  it  so  suitable  to  the  general  wants  particular  &  lasting 
comfort  of  society,  as  slavery  is.  The  bond  &  the  hired  servant  may  one  day  be- 
come a  master  &  an  employer.  This,  each  holds  in  prospect,  which  unfits  him  for 
faithful  service.  Will  he  cherish  the  appropriate  feelings  &  discharge  the  indes- 
pensable  duties  of  his  rank,  when  he  beholds  himself,  thr'  othe  short  vista  of  a  few 
years,  clad  with  all  the  prerogatives  of  authority?  Will  he  reverence  him,  from 
whom  he  considers  himself  nothing  different,  except  in  a  temporary  degradation? 
Will  he  cherish  an  obedient  spirit  toward  him  whom  he  regards  as  dressed  in  the 
brief  authority  of  a  few  years-  Submission,  reverence  &  obedience  to  his  master, 
&  attachment  to  his  person  &  regard  for  his  interest  (  all  indespensible  in  every 
servant)  animate  the  bosom  of  the  slave.  They  are  but  seldom  found  in  bond  or 
hired  servants.  The  expectation  of  future  promotion,  which  their  temporary  ser- 
vitude allows  them  to  entertain,  inflate  their  vanity,  &  therefore,  extinguish  their 
submissive  spirit  &  produce  discontent.  It  is  an  argument  of  inconsiderable  force 
for  the  perpetual  obligation  of  matrimony,  that  it  reconciles  the  contracting  parties 
to  many  inconveniences  which  necessarily  grow  out  of  that  state — so,  inter- 
minable servitude  adapts  its  subject  to  his  condition.  But — enough — I  am  now 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  15 

ply  that  their  movement  was  aimless.  It  was  the  ag- 
gressiveness of  the  Peace  Democrats  which  made  their 
movement  the  potent  force  and  the  menace  which  it 
was.  The  public  policy  of  Vallandigham  and  his  fol- 
lowers was  based  on  a  theory  of  the  economic  section- 
alism of  the  United  States. 

"Sir,  we  of  the  Northwest",  he  exclaimed  in  Con- 
gress during  the  debates  over  compromise,  "have  a 
deeper  interest  in  the  preservation  of  this  government 
in  its  present  form  than  any  other  section  of  the  Union. 
Hemmed  in,  isolated,  cut  off  from  the  seaboard  upon 
every  side;  a  thousand  miles  and  more  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi,  the  free  navigation  of  which  under 
the  law  of  nations  we  demand,  and  will  have  at  every 
cost;  with  nothing  else  but  our  great  inland  seas,  the 


employed  in  collecting  &  arranging  materials  for  the  Latin  controversy,  which 
will  embrace  all  the  points  in  dissimiliarity  in  doctrine  &  practice  between  the 
R.  Catholics  &  Protestants — In  a  recent  sermon  I  encountered  &  combatted  & 
(without  vanity  may  say)  confuted  the  Dogma  of  Purgatory — Of  brother  Robert 
I  hear  nothing.  Were  he  to  duly  revolve  my  circumstances  at  the  time  I  opposed 
him,  he  would  promptly  forgive  any  extravagence  of  which  I  might  possibly  have 
been  guilty.  The  last  letter  I  recd  from  him,  he  very  uncharitably  insinuated  that 
I  had  been  guilty  of  dishonesty  toward  John  Gillespie!  Credat  Judeus  Apello — 
non  ego — 

My  family  now  consists  of  Mri  Laird,  Claudius  Horace  Binney,  John  Henry, 
&  a  daughter  born  the  28*h  Ultimo,  who  is  not  yet  baptised,  therefore  anonymous. 
Let  me  know  if  our  Estate  at  Racoon  has  been  finally  settled  &  what  yet  remains 
for  me.  I  left  a  Note  upon  Mr  Whitacre  calling  for  6$,  with  Mr  George  Graham. 
I  wrote  to  him  respecting  it  but  have  not  recd  an  answer.  Ask  him  of  it.  Let  me 
know  of  yourselves  &  little  ones.  Mri  L.  joins  me  in  expressions  of  affectionate 
regards  for  you  all.  God  bless  you  all. 

Francis  H.  L.  Laird  -  - 

My  address  is  Rev.  F.  H.  L.  Laird  Rector  of  Trinity  Parish  (Charles  Co.)  Char- 
lotte Hall  P.  Office  St  .Marys  Co.  Maryland.  Be  particular  to  use  this  direction. 
Please  write  soon.  P.  S.  A  few  weeks  since  I  saw  your  cousin  &  my  particular 
friend  Mr  Thomas  Beden  of  Prince  George's  Co.  He  is  an  old  but  lively  bachelor- 
He  is  now  in  the  attendence  upon  the  races  at  Port  Tobacco. 

Upon  Monday  I  shall  be  engaged  &  tuesday  is  our  mail  day —  therefore  I  write 
tonight.  Next  tuesday,  I  shall,  God  willing,  marry  a  lady  worth  30,000$  to  a 
brother  Parson.  The  highest  marriage  fee  which  I  have  recd  is  25$  in  gold  &  the 
greatest  for  a  funeral  $50.  Ten  is  the  common  charge  for  each. 

I  have  not  time  to  review  this  hastily  written  letter— Excuse  its  inaccuracies. 
Charlotte  Hall  Md  Affectionately  yYs  &c. 

Nov*     20 

To  the  Rev.  Clement  Vallandigham 
Pastor  of  the  Pre1*  Church 
New  Lisbon 

Columbiana  Co. 
Ohio. 


16  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

lakes — and  their  outlet,  too,  through  a  foreign  country- 
what  is  to  be  our  destiny?  Sir,  we  have  fifteen  hundred 
miles  of  southern  frontier,  and  but  a  little  narrow  strip 
of  eighty  miles  or  less  from  Virginia  to  Lake  Erie 
bounding  us  upon  the  east.  Ohio  is  the  isthmus  that 
connects  the  South  with  the  British  posessions,  and  the 
East  with  the  West.  The  Rocky  Mountains  separate 
us  from  the  Pacific.  Where  is  to  be  our  outlet?  What 
are  we  to  do  when  we  have  broken  up  and  destroyed  this 

Government?  We  are  seven  States  now, and  a 

population  of  nine  millions.  We  have  an  empire  equal 
in  area  to  the  third  of  all  Europe,  and  we  do  not  mean 
to  be  a  dependency  or  province  either  of  the  east  or  of 
the  South;  nor  yet  an  interior  or  second-rate  power 
upon  this  continent;  and  if  we  cannot  secure  a  maritime 
boundary  upon  other  terms,  we  will  cleave  our  way  to 
the  sea-coast  with  the  sword.  A  nation  of  warriors  we 
may  be;  a  tribe  of  shepherds  never". *  8  Such  was  the 
theory  of  the  Peace  Democrats:  the  Northwest  was 
bound  in  economic  interests  more  closely  to  the  South 
by  river  highways  than  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  was 
a  theory  which  had  described  a  condition  a  decade 
earlier,  but  the  construction  of  trans- Alleghany  railroad 
connections  and  a  network  of  lines  throughout  the 
Northwest  had  altered  the  entire  economic  structure  of 
the  United  States. J  9  Of  these  changes  the  leaders  of 
the  Ohio  Valley  Democracy  were  apparently  oblivious. 
On  February  20,  1861,  Vallandigham  attempted  to 
formulate  a  congressional  policy  of  federal  reconstruct- 
ion which  would  peacably  win  back  the  allegiance  of  the 
seceding  states,  satisfy  enough  in  the  North,  and  have 
the  added  merit  of  establishing  his  doctrine  of  economic 
sectionalism.  The  plan  was  to  recognize  in  an  amended 
constitution  four  sections — a  North,  a  West,  a  Pacific, 


18  Congressional  Globe,  Part  I,  2nd  sess.  36th  Cong.,  186061,  December  10,  1860, 
p.  38;  Pallandigham's  Speeches,  p.  258. 

1  •  See  the  article  by  Frederic  L.  Paxson,  The  Railroads  of  the  Old  Northwest 
before  the  Civil  War,  Transactions  of  the  Wisconsin  Academy  of  Science,  Arts  and 
Letters,  Vol.  XVII,  Part  i,  Oct.,  1912. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  17 

and  a  South  section —  and  to  make  the  assent  of  a  maj- 
ority of  the  Senators  of  each  section  requisite  for  the 
passage  of  laws  under  certain  circumstances.  Likewise 
the  Electoral  College  was  to  be  reconstructed  and  a 
majority  of  the  electors  in  each  of  the  four  sections  be 
necessary  for  the  choice  of  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent.  Secession  was  to  be  recognized  as  a  legal  right, 
but  regulated,  as  it  were,  for  the  act  would  be  valid  only 
when  it  had  the  sanction  of  the  legislatures  of  the  states 
constituting  the  section  of  the  seceding  state.  The 
scheme  was  Calhoun's  concurrent  majority  rule  in  a 
new  form. 2  ° 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Vallandigham  pro- 
ject of  federal  reconstruction  as  a  peace-bait  or  as  a  pol- 
itical program  received  more  than  a  passing  consider- 
ation in  Congress.  Unsuccessful  in  his  own  leadership, 
unable  to  accept  that  of  another,  Vallandigham  fell 
back  in  Congress  on  the  natural  recourse  of  his  type. 
His  record  unjil  his  retirement  in  1863,  when  he  was 
defeated  for  re-election,  was  uniformly  that  of  an  ob- 
structionist. 2 1  And  yet  he  and  his  associates  undoubt- 
edly sincerely  thought  of  themselves  as  the  only  real 
Unionists  and  of  Confederates  and  Republicans  and 
War  Democrats  as  disunionists.  But  the  Union  of 
which  they  thought  was  one  the  Democratic  Party  had 
presided  over  for  nearly  a  generation;  it  was  the  union 
of  compromises  with  slavery,  of  weak  nationalism,  and 
of  strong  States'  Rights.  The  Constitution  as  it  is  and 
the  Union  as  it  was  formed  the  watchwords  of  the  Peace 
Democrats.  The  fact  that  the  old  Union  could  not  be 
restored,  that  neither  of  the  radical  forces — the  cotton 
planters,  the  western  Republicans,  nor  the  Abolitionists 
anywhere — would  ever  accept  such  a  restoration,  ex- 

20  Congressional  Globe,  Part  I,  2nd  sess.  36th  Cong.  186061,  p.  794;  Speeches, 
Arguments  Addresses,  and  Letters  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  p.  298. 

2 1  The  Unionist  made  use  of  this  record  for  campaign  purposes.    The  following 
pamphlets  are  typical:  William  A.  Cook,  The  Peace  Democracy,  186^,;  Complicity 
oj  Democracy  with  Treason,  by  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  1865;  The  New  Hampshire 
Peace  Democracy,  n.  d. 


18  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

cept  by  force,  was  beyond  the  ken  of  the  Peace  Demo- 
crats. And  that  other  great  fact  of  democratic  govern- 
ment, that  a  majority  must  rule  and  the  minority  bow 
when  the  decision  has  been  made  by  the  constitutional 
authorities  or  Republican  government  become  the 
weakling  which  autocrats  say  it  is  the  Peace  Democrats 
ignored.  They  held  to  their  peace  illusions,  and  persist- 
ed in  their  assumption  that  the  Confederates  could  be 
brought  back  into  the  Union  by  negotiations  until  the 
end.  In  dealing  with  them  it  is  impossible  to  be  patri- 
otic and  charitable  at  the  same  time.  It  is  too  apparent 
that  they  saw  back  of  the  impending  struggle  an  oppor- 
tunity to  force  on  the  American  people  a  partisan  theory 
of  government.  That  they  believed  in  their  doctrines 
passionately,  even  piously,  only  convicts  them  of  big- 
otry. Like  the  Bolsheviki  of  Russia  in  1917  and  1918 
the  Peace  Democrats  were  willing  to  force  the  accep- 
tance of  a  partisan  policy,  cost  what  it  might. 

To  the  Peace  Democrats  the  Abolitionists  of  New 
England  were  a  peculiar  sort  of  bete  noir.  It  is  true, 
the  Abolitionists  disturbed  the  settled  order  of  historical 
compromises  over  slavery,  and  assailed  the  doctrine  of 
States'  Rights.  But  Confederates  and  Peace  Demo- 
crats alike  greatly  erred  in  exaggerating  the  numbers 
and  influence  of  the  Abolitionists,  and  in  identifying 
their  policy  with  the  homestead  policy  of  the  Republi- 
cans. They  more  greviously  erred  when  they  ignored 
the  readiness  of  the  Republicans  and  the  War  Demo- 
crats to  guarantee  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed 
from  Congressional  interference, 2  2  and  failed  to  appre- 
ciate the  magnanimity  of  the  constructive  policy  which 
Lincoln  formulated  for  the  future  of  slavery. 2  3  The 
confusion  of  the  Republicans  with  Abolition  in  1861  was 
perhaps  inevitable.  There  were  enough  radical  Re- 


2  2  A  thirteenth  amendment  put  forth  with  the  consent  of  Republican  and  Dem- 
ocratic leaders  in  March,  1861  would  have  effectually  blocked  any  attack  on 
slavery  in  a  State  by  Congress. 

23  See  Message  to  Congress,  December  3,  1861.  Richardson,  Messages  and 
Papers,  Vol.  VI,  p.  44. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  19 

publicans  like  Charles  Sunnier  and  John  C.  Fremont  to 
confuse  the  most  clear  headed  on  the  extent  to  which 
Abolition  had  captured  the  Republican  Party.  The 
Peace  Democrats  undoubtedly  believed  that  the  War 
was  one  of  New  England  making.  They  persistently 
charged  that  it  was  a  Capitalists'  War.  And  the 
"Shoddy"work  of  some  wool  manufacturers  gave  them 
an  excuse  for  the  charge. 

"Struck  by  "shoddy",  and  not  by  "shells", 

And  not  by  shot  our  brave  ones  fall; 
Greed  of  gold  the  story  tells, 

Drop  the  mantle  and  spread  the  pall. 
Out  on  the  vampyres!  out  on  those 

Who  of  our  life  blood  take  a  fill! 
"No  meaner  "traitor"  the  nation  knows, 

Than  the  greedy  ghoul  of  the  shoddy  mill!" 

So  the  Copperhead  minstrel  sang. 2  4  As  a  chal- 
lenge to  the  Administration  to  clean  its  stables  it  would 
have  been  a  service  of  high  patriotism,  as  a  statement 
of  the  causes  of  the  War  it  was  stupidly  false,  to  say 
the  least.  The  Peace  Democrats  fitted  their  doctrine 
of  the  cause  of  the  War  into  their  political  program. 
The  War  was  interpreted  as  a  sectional  one.  As  New 
England  business  men  were  forcing  a  war  for  markets 
for  wool,  shoes,  iron,  etc.  in  the  Northwest,  the  section 
should  rise  to  its  own  defense.  The  Peace  Democrats 
gave  themselves  over  to  the  task  of  arousing  the  sec- 
tional consciousness  of  the  Northwest.  How  far  they 
were  self-deceived  and  how  far  they  were  unscrupulous- 
ly fitting  a  situation  to  a  political  program  is  an  insol- 
uble problem.  It  is  probably  wiser  to  give  them  the 
the  benefit  if  the  doubt,  admit  their  sincerity  of  pur- 
pose, and  leave  the  measure  of  their  sanity  of  judgement 
and  statesmanship  to  the  tender  mercies  of  a  charitable 
posterity. 

24  A  Choice  Collection  of  Democratic  Poems  and  Songs,  New  York,  1863,  p.  28. 


20  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

There  is  a  great  similarity  in  all  the  pronounce- 
ments of  the  leaders  of  the  Peace  Democracy.  Vallan- 
digham  spoke  and  wrote  ceaslessly,  and  supplied  his 
followers  with  material  from  which  to  draw  inspiration. 
Samuel  Medary,  editor  of  the  Columbus  Crisis,  con- 
ducted a  weekly  newspaper  in  the  interest  of  the  party. 
That  the  Crisis  survived  the  censor  or  complete  sup- 
pression for  its  billingsgate  attacks  on  the  Government 
and  misrepresentations  of  every  act  is  one  of  the  puz- 
zles of  the  period.  The  Peace  Democrats  propagated 
their  doctrines  through  a  host  of  local  newspapers  and 
party  conventions.  The  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  The 
Chicago  Times,  the  Indianapolis  Sentinel,  and  the  Day- 
ton Empire,  to  mention  only  a  few  of  the  more  conspic- 
uous journals,  continuously  voiced  the  sentiments  of 
the  faction  of  the  Democratic  Party.  Wherever  the 
Peace  Democrats  won  control  of  the  organization  of 
the  Democratic  organization  county  and  district  and 
state  conventions  were  made  to  pass  resolutions  which 
gave  expression  to  the  movement.  There  was  no  dif- 
ficulty in  finding  media  of  communication  between  the 
leaders  and  the  people.  In  February,  1861,  the  Cin- 
cinnati Enquirer  took  its  stand.  "If  Lincoln's  Admin- 
istration wants  money,  it  must  compromise 

Coercion  is  disunion,  now  and  forever".  The  Fairfield 
(Ohio)  county  convention  rang  forth  "millions  for  de- 
fense, but  not  one  cent  for  the  coercion  of  sovereign 
states". 2  5  When  Lincoln  called  for  75,000  volunteers 
the  Ashland  Union  replied,  "Fight  your  own  battles 
We  have  only  to  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  this  is  not  our 
fight;  you  have  followed  your  own  councils;  you  must 
do  your  own  fighting.  .  .  .  The  Administration  leaders 
have  succeeded  in  their  unhallowed  work  of  destroying 
the  Government  and  Union.  They  have  robbed  us  of 
our  National  Union — and  shall  we  (the  Democracy) 


26  A  pamphlet,  Complicity  of  Democracy  with  Treason,  published  by  the  Ohio 
State  Journal,  1865,  is  an  interesting  compilation  of  newspaper  declarations  and 
local  convention  resolutions  in  endorsement  of  the  platform  of  the  Peace 
Democrats. 


THR  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  21 

give  our  blood  to  their  service  to  consecrate  the  crime? 
.  .  .  The  Democratic  newspapers  of  the  country  today, 
refusing  longer,  in  any  manner,  to  pander  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  abolition  traitors  of  the  North,  will  rise  in 
their  might  and  beat  back  the  tide  of  desolation  that 
threatens  the  land." 

The  Coshocton  Democrat  said;  "The  North  is  in 
direct  Rebellion  against  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of 
the  United  States!  ....  We  do  not  believe  Southern 
Generals  ever  had  any  idea  of  attacking  Washington— 
they  desire  only  to  protect  their  own  rights,  liberty, 
and  property.  If  they  cannot  do  it  without  dispersing 
the  scoundrelly  usurpers  in  that  City,  they  may  attempt 
to  take  it."  The  Crisis  harped  on  the  gross"  criminality 
of  New  England  measures  and  New  England  men  in 
fomenting  the  sectionalism  which  has  begotten  this 
most  unhallowed  and  barbarous  war  and  destroyed  the 
nation."  2  6  The  Old  Guard,  a  monthly  magazine,  was 
published  in  New  York  to  promote  the  views  of  the 
Peace  Democrats — devoted,  it  announced  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  1776  and  1787.  "Had  Lincoln",  it  asserts  in 
one  of  its  early  numbers,  "confined  his  acts  within  con- 
stitutional limits,  and  attempted  no  deed  not  author- 
ized by  that  sacred  instrument,  not  only  should  we  have 
been  spared  all  their  bloodshed  and  debt,  but  the  Union 
would  have  been  saved". 2  7  The  same  magazine  de- 
scribed the  War  as  one  of  "Abolition  and  plunder", 
conducted  by  the  "besotted  tyrants  in  Washington". 2  8 
Samuel  Medary  made  the  Crisis  describe  the  "whole 
atmosphere  of  Washington  City"  as  "bedimmed  with 
error,  mischief,  and  ideas  of  a  future  monarchy". 2  9 
The  Cincinnati  Enquirer  again  and  again  referred  to 
King  Lincoln  and  the  Revolution  he  had  selfishly  led. 
The  Democratic  Convention  of  Huntington  County, 


26  The  Crisis,  Columbus,  August  5,  1863. 

27  The  Old  Guard,  Vol.  i,  No.  2.  p.  45. 
2«  Ibid.    Vol.  I  p.  23.  Vol.  II,  p.  i. 

29  The  Crisis,  April  9,  1862. 


22  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

Indiana,  solemnly  resolved  "That  Tyranny  and  Cow- 
ardice are  monsters  of  the  same  birth,  and  now  as  ever 
seek  to  entrench  themselves  behind  the  military;  and 
that  the  keeping  of  the  army  lately  so  wickedly  and  un- 
constitutionally raised,  and  now  under  command  of 
abolitionists  and  unscrupulous  adventurers,  is  incon- 
sistent with  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  already 
presents  the  frightful  proportions  of  a  Military  Despot- 


ism", 


"God  save  our  wretched  land, 
From  Lincoln's  traitor  band, 

From  wo  and  blight; 
Make  all  the  people  brave, 
To  shout  o'er  land  and  wave, 
Arise,  our  homes  to  save, 

In  freedom's  might." 

All  "patriotic  families"  were  asked  to  sing  these 
words  ,set  to  the  tune  of  America,  every  night. 3  °  It 
would  be  better  to  overlook  a  great  part  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  movement  as  the  work  of  disordered  brains, 
of  perverted  imagination,  or  of  opposition  of  a  time 
when  conventional  language  was  more  picturesque  and 
less  considerate  than  modern  journalism  were  it  not 
that  it  formed  the  material  on  which  a  great  popula- 
tion was  fed  and  misled.  The  newspapers  of  Peace 
Democrats  gave  little  space  to  Union  achievements 
and  exaggerated  Union  disasters.  The  whole  nation 
was  represented  as  "in  a  state  of  consternation,  and 
crying  for  peace,  or  something  that  will  put  a  stop  to 
the  awful  waste  of  life  and  property". 3 1  The  Crisis  of 
July  8,  1863,  published  an  article  on  "How  the  Con- 
federates Treat  their  Enemies",  which  gave  concrete 
illustrations  of  the  generosity  of  the  South  toward  the 
wounded  captives.  The  article  was  followed  by  an- 


10  A  Choice  Collection  of  Democratic  Poems  and  Songs,  p.  51. 

81  Official  Records,  Series  II,  Vol.  VII,  p.  724;  The  Old  Guard,  Vol.  I,  no.  I,  p.i; 
The  Crisis,  February   n,    1863. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  23 

other  one  headed — "Barbarism  and  the  War" — which 
charged  the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  a 
"terrible  systematic  ruining  and  beggaring  of  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  innocent,  helpless,  and  unoffending 
women  and  children".  The  silence  of  a  newspaper  on 
the  achievements  of  the  Union  armies  after  a  critical 
engagement  had  been  foreshadowed  was  often  made  to 
serve  the  propaganda  of  the  movement  effectively.  A 
collection  of  democratic  poems  and  songs  was  published 
in  cheap  pamphlet  form  and  widely  circulated  for  the 
use  of  the  faithful  in  political  clubs  and  social  circles. 
They  were  well  calculated  to  break  the  spirit  of  a  peo- 
ple. There  was  a  monotonous  strain  throughout  the 
series.  Defeat,  bloodshed,  and  woe,  senseless  and  hope- 
less strife  echoed  and  re-echoed  from  page  to  page.  A 
stanza  from  the  "Song  of  the  Sword"  as  a  parody  on 
the  "Song  of  the  Shirt"  may  stand  for  the  series. 

"Weary  and  wounded,  and  worn, 

Wounded,  and  ready  to  die, 
A  soldier  they  left,  all  alone  and  forlorn, 

On  the  field  of  the  battle  to  lie. 
The  dead  and  dying  alone, 

Could  their  presence  and  pity  afford 
Whilst  with  a  sad  and  terrible  tone, 

He  sang  the  song  of  the  sword". 

Or  this: 

"We  are  coming,  Abraham  Lincoln, 

From  mountain,  wood,  and  glen; 
We  are  coming,  Abraham  Lincoln, 

With  the  ghosts  of  murdered  men. 
Yes!  we're  coming,  Abraham  Lincoln, 

With  curses  loud  and  deep, 
That  will  haunt  you  in  your  waking, 

And  disturb  you  in  your  sleep." 


24  THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS 

There's  blood  upon  your  garments, 

There's  guilt  upon  your  soul; 
For  the  lust  of  ruthless  soldiers 

You  let  loose  without  control; 
Your  dark  and  wicked  doings 

A  God  of  mercy  sees; 
And  the  wail  of  homeless  children 

Is  heard  on  every  breeze."  3  2 

The  remedy  for  secession  and  Civil  War  was  most 
simple  in  form.  "Withdraw  your  armies,  call  back 
your  soldiers,  and  you  will  have  peace",  Vallandigham 
roared  from  the  platforms  of  the  North.  The  resolu- 
tions of  a  convention  in  Shelby  County,  Indiana,  are 
typical  of  the  constructive  program  of  peace  Demo- 
crats. "That  we  earnestly  recommend  a  cessation  of 
hostilities  for  such  a  period  as  may  be  necessary  to 
allow  the  people  of  the  North  and  the  South  to  express 
through  a  National  Convention,  their  desire  for  peace, 
and  a  maintenance  of  the  Union  as  it  was  and  the  Con- 
stitution as  it  is".  It  was  a  line  of  thought  that  caught 
quite  a  net  full,  what  with  pacifists,  partisans  and 
paltroons.  A  cursory  reading  of  southern  newspapers 
would  have  taught  them  all  the  self-deception  in  the 
remedy.  The  South  scouted  Vallandigham 's  North- 
western mediation  so  far  as  it  had  reunion  as  its  goal. 
They  naturally  encouraged  whatever  of  opposition  to 
the  Administration  of  Lincoln  they  found  in  the  move- 
ment. 3  3 

The  Peace  Democrats  found  nothing  to  praise  in 
the  conduct  of  the  War  by  the  United  States.  To  turn 
the  tables  and  class  the  Peace  Democrats  as  pro-south- 
ern would  be  inaccurate.  Just  as  the  Confederates  and 

32  A  Choice  Collection  of  Democratic  Poems  and  Songs,  New  York,  1863,  pp. 5,  13. 

33  See,  for  example,  The  Augusta  (Georgia)  Daily  Constitutionalist,  Jan  27,  1863; 
March  12,  1863,  May  27,  1863,  The  Knoxville  Daily  Register,  July  7,  1863;   The 
Staunton  Spectator,  July  7,  1863.    The  only  part  of  the  South  where  the  newspa- 
pers show  any  interest  in  reunion  along  the  line  Vallandigham  was  leading  is  in 
those  portions  in  close  economic  bonds  with  the  Northwest,  mainly  the  southern 
half  of  the  Ohio  Valley. 


THE  PEACE  DEMOCRATS  25 

Peace  Democrats  constantly  made  the  error  of  identi- 
fying Lincoln  and  the  Republican  Party  with  Aboli- 
tion during  the  early  years  of  the  war,  the  Republicans 
and  the  Abolitionists  classed  all  Democrats  with  the 
Peace  Democrats,  and  the  latter  as  one  with  Confed- 
erates. The  Peace  Democrats  sought  the  defeat  of 
both  Unionists  and  Confederates.  A  War  without 
victory  was  vital  to  them.  It  was  the  only  manner  in 
which  the  old  Union  could  be  restored.  The  victory 
of  the  South,  they  clearly  saw,  meant  permanent  sep- 
aration. Such  an  alternative  left  the  Peace  Democrats 
in  a  new  United  States  a  hopeless  minority  A  victory 
of  the  North  they  more  clearly  saw  than  did  others  at 
the  time,  meant  a  new  Union-centralized,  nationalized, 
with  slavery  abolished.  If  the  War  could  be  made  a 
stalemate  there  was  a  way  to  make  the  Councils  of  the 
Peace  Democracy  count  in  a  descisive  manner.  A 
patched  up  peace  meant  to  them  a  restored  Union. 
The  cold  clear  logic  of  Vallandigham  is  unimpeachable. 
The  Peace  Democrats  were  approximately  neutral 
on  slavery.  Vallandigham' s  wife  was  the  daughter  of 
a  Maryland  planter.  He  had  seen  slavery  at  its  best. 
He  imagined  the  worst  which  the  human  imagination 
could  conjure  for  society  with  the  negroes  as  freedmen. 
His  friends  claim  that  he  believed  that  slavery  would 
gradually  pass  with  time  as  the  voluntary  work  of  the 
slave  states  without  any  shock  to  our  political  system, 
and  that  this  was  the  only  logical  or  proper  way  for  it  to 
happen. 3  4  There  is  again  in  this  position  a  wisdom  of 
council  which  if  timely  offered  would  have  done  its 
author  credit.  But  once  that  Civil  War  had  begun 
it  made  it  seem  that  the  gospel  of  peace,  which  its 
author  was  preaching,  was  the  cloak  of  indifference  to 
to  the  issues  with  which  cotton  planters  and  anti- 
slavery  people  were  struggling.  Certain  it  is  that 
neither  Vallandigham  nor  any  of  the  others  in  his  party 
saw  any  possibility  for  good  to  come  from  the  life  and 

"  James  L.  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham. 


26  THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

death  struggle  between  the  oligarchic  political  and 
social  system  of  the  South  and  the  democratic  structure 
of  the  Northwest  in  which  the  whole  nation  had  be- 
come involved. 

THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

The  Peace  Democrats  were  not  content  to  depend 
on  the  loose  and  divided  organization  of  the  old  Demo- 
cratic party  for  the  promotion  of  their  purpose.  The 
perpetual  struggle  with  the  War  Democrats  in  party 
councils  easily  turned  the  Peace  Democrats  into  secret 
organizations  which  they  fully  controlled.  There 
were  precedents  for  the  organization  of  secret  oath- 
bound  orders  with  signs,  grips,  passwords,  and  rituals 
in  order  to  accomplish  a  political  purpose.  The  Know- 
Nothing  or  Native  American  Party  had  flourished  for 
a  time  like  a  green  bay  tree  on  the  model  of  the  popular 
secret  orders  of  the  day.  Southern  Rights  Clubs  had 
sprung  up  from  1852  to  1855  in  the  South  as  a  reply  to 
the  Personal  Liberty  Acts  and  the  Underground  Rail- 
way of  the  North.  The  Southern  Rights  Clubs  did 
not  rest  their  case  with  defensive  measures,  but  they 
or  branches  of  them  like  the  order  of  the  Lone  Star, 
undertook  the  Americanization  of  the  neighboring  lands 
around  the  gulf  of  Mexico-Cuba,  Mexico,  and  Nicara- 
ugua  by  means  of  filibustering  expeditions.  About 
1855  some  of  these  secret  societies  of  the  South  took 
the  name  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.  The 
Peace  Democrats  borrowed  the  organization,  ritual, 
name  and  all  of  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle  for 
a  movement  that  would  have  reason  enough  to  resort 
to  the  protection  of  secrecy.  Societies  were  formed  in 
the  North  in  1861;  it  was  not  until  1862  that  the 
spread  of  the  secret  societies  over  the  Northwest 
reached  the  point  where  it  alarmed  the  Unionists  and 
stimulated  in  turn  a  counter  organization  of  Union 


THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES  27 

or  Loyal  Leagues. 3  5  The  organizing  instincts  of  the 
American  were  never  better  illustrated  in  the  rival 
activities  of  the  two  movements.     The  Loyal  Leagues 
were     open,     public,     advertised;     The    Knights    of 
the  Golden  Circle  or  whatever  the  name,  for  there 
were  many,  were  shrouded  in  the  deepest  mystery.  *  • 
Even  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  such  associations 
were  denied  by  the  Peace  Democrats  throughout  the 
early  period  of  the  War. 3  7  As  government  detectives 
gained  entrance  into  the  societies  and  the  evidence 
which  they  gathered  threatened  to  become  the  basis 
of  prosecution  of  the  more  radical  leaders  for  treason 
efforts  were  made  to  eliminate  the  federal  agents  and 
other  undesireable  elements  by  reorganization  under 
new  names,  new  rituals,  and  new  passwords.    In  1863 
the  prevailing  name  in  the  Northwest  was  the  "Order 
of  American  Knights",  in  1864,  the  "Sons  of  Liberty". 
There  was  much  looseness  in  the  use  of  names  by  con- 
temporaries.   Those  who  were  not  initiates  in  the  secret 
orders  commonly  spoke  of  them  as  "butternuts"  or 
"Copperheads",  and  jumbled  Peace  Democrats  and 
Confederates  and  secret  societies  together  in  one  happy 
family. 3  8 

»6  The  name  taken  by  the  organizations  varied  considerably,  the  prevailing 
one  in  the  Northwest  through  the  first  two  years  was  the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle.  On  May  7,  1861,  twenty-five  citizens  of  Bombay,  N.  Y.,  organized  to 
oppose  the  War,  and  took  the  name  Sons  of  Liberty.  See  Official  Records,  Series 
II,  Vol.  2,  pp.95 1-952.  Other  instances  of  early  organization  will  be  found  in  the 
Official  Records,  Series  II,  Vol.  2,  pp.  I93~4>  223,  1247-9,  1253-4.  See  the  excellent 
study  of  Dr.  Mayo  Fesler,  "Secret  Political  Societies  in  the  North  during  the  War  , 
in  Indiana  Magazine  of  History,  Sept.  1918,  p.i83ff. 


tection 

Mighty 

zation"   in   Illinois. 

37  The  Crisis,  Columbus,  August  13,  1862.     The  Crisis  of  February  I 8,  1863 
declared  that  dangerous  secret  union  leagues  were  being  formed,  and  that  the  1 
ocratic  organizations  were  open,  political  bodies. 

There  is  a  mass  of  material,  chiefly  the  reports  of  the  Government  detectives, 


IIIC    JTKJCCCUUlga    Ul     Hie    vxVJin«»io«««»»  --  ,          .-, 

the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  at  the  trial,  and  many  documents  connected  mtl 
the  history  of  the  associations.     Many  articles  were  written  in  the  newspaper 


28  THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

Whatever  the  name,  the  societies  enlisted  as  many 
Peace  Democrats  as  they  could  induce  to  pay  the 
small  admission  fee  of  $1.00.  They  were  never  able 
to  enlist  all  their  numbers  in  such  organizations.  The 
secret  orders  were  in  fact  a  dual  organization —  politi- 
cal and  military.  The  one  was  within  the  other.  The 
political  organization  had  for  its  object  the  political 
success  of  the  Peace  Democracy.  In  so  far  the  socie- 
ties were  merely  Democratic  clubs,  playing  with  the 
rituals  and  passwords  of  secret  societies.  But  within 
the  associations  was  usually  a  military  organization 
composed  of  the  more  radical  and  violent  elements 
that  looked  forward  to  the  use  of  force.  By  1863  the 
societies  had  been  welded  into  a  fairly  homogeneous 
body.  There  was  a  Supreme  Council  of  the  Order, 
composed  of  the  Grand  Commanders  of  the  States  and 
two  delegates  from  each  of  the  States  in  which  the  or- 
der existed.  The  Supreme  Council  chose  the  execu- 
tive officers — the  Supreme  Commander,  a  Deputy 
Supreme  Commander,  Secretary  of  State  and  Treas- 
urer— at  an  annual  meeting  on  February  22nd.  Val- 
landigham  became  Supreme  Commander  in  February, 
1864.  Robert  Holloway  of  Illinois  was  the  Deputy  Com- 
mander, and  Doctor  Massey  of  Columbus,  a  son-in-law 
of  Samuel  Medary  of  Crisis  fame,  was  Secretary  of 
State.  The  Supreme  Commander  was  the  military 
as  well  as  the  political  chief.  Each  state  where  the 
order  could  gain  a  footing  was  organized  in  turn  into 
a  Grand  Council  of  two  representatives  from  each 
County  Temple  and  one  additional  representative  for 
each  thousand  members  in  the  county.  The  Grand 


pretending  to  expose  the  orders,  and  pamphlets  and  books  with  the  same  purpose. 
All  the  evidence  whether  that  of  alarmists,  witnesses  or  Government  detectives 
must  be  sifted  most  carefully.  The  best  contemporary  account  of  the  secret  soc- 
ieties in  the  Northwest  is  the  report  of  the  Judge  Advocate  General,  Joseph  Holt, 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  War  on  the  Secret  Associations  and  Conspiracies  against 
the  Government,  1864.  The  report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Indiana  for  the 
Civil  War,  Vol.  I,  contains  much  material.  Mayo  Fessler,  "Secret  Political  Soc- 
ieties in  the  North  during  the  War", Indiana  Magazine  of  History,  Sept.  1918,  and 
W.  D.  Foulke,  Life  of  Oliver  P.  Morton,  Vol.  I,  chs.  27  and  28,  are  critical  accounts 
of  the  movement. 


THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES  29 

Council  chose  the  state  executive  officers.  There  were 
for  the  state  a  Grand  Commander,  a  Deputy  Grand 
Commander,  a  Grand  Secretary,  and  a  Grand  Treas- 
urer; for  each  military  district  a  Major  General. 
County  or  Parent  Temples  and  township  lodges  car- 
ried the  organization  down  to  the  rank  and  file.  An 
assembly  of  delegates  from  the  township  lodges  formed 
a  parent  Temple.  The  township  lodges  were  the  ulti- 
mate glory  of  the  Order.  The  oaths,  invocations  and 
charges,  signs,  signals,and  passwords,  solemnly  recited 
by  the  galaxy  of  mysterious  officers  must  have  held 
the  faithful  masses  entranced.  The  secrecy  which  the 
ritual  enjoined  satisfied  an  universal  human  foible; 
the  "shameful  death"and  consignment  to  infamy 
"while  this  sublime  order  shall  survive  the  wrecks  of 
time,  and  even  until  the  last  faithful  brother  shall  have 
passed  from  earth  to  his  service  in  the  Temple  not 
made  with  hands,"  pronounced  in  solemn  accents,  for 
those  who  violated  the  vows  of  the  order,  undoubtedly 
served  a  purpose  in  overawing  the  rustics  whom 
curiosity,  or  adventure,  or  doctrines  of  government, 
or  contemplated  treason  brought  together.  The 
rituals  abounded  in  platitudes  of  history  and  religion 
effective  in  satisfying  an  incipient  idealism.  Meetings 
for  the  initiates  were  held  in  the  woods  or  in  half- 
lighted  barns  in  out-of  the  way  places  at  night,  added 
to  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  But  the  military  or- 
ganization of  the  order  was,  contemporary  observers 
said,  the  most  significant  feature  and  the  secret  of  its 
strength.  A  military  hierarchy  was  formed  from  the 
Supreme  Commander's  staff  down  through  those  of 
the  Grand  Commanders,  the  District  Major  Generals, 
the  Brigadier  General  of  the  subordinate  subdivisions 
of  the  districts,  the  Colonel  of  the  county  regiment, 
and  the  Captain  of  the  township  company. 

The  order  recruited  in  its  membership  white  men 
of  18  years  of  age  and  upward.  It  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing Grand  Councils  in  nine  or  ten  of  the  northern 
states  and  scattered  temples  here  and  there  in  the 


30  THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

others.  The  main  strength  of  the  organization  was 
naturally  wherever  the  Peace  Democrats  abounded. 
The  chief  "temples"  were  at  Cincinnati,  Dayton  and 
Hamilton  in  Ohio,  Indianapolis  and  Vincennes  in  In- 
diana, at  Chicago,  Springfield,  and  Quincy  in  Illinois, 
at  St.  Louis  in  Missouri,  Louisville  in  Kentucky,  and 
Detroit  in  Michigan. 3  9  In  some  counties  in  Indiana 
practically  all  Democrats  were  enrolled. 4  °  Contem- 
porary estimates  of  the  membership,  whether  by  the 
Government  agents  or  by  the  officials  of  the  order,  are 
undoubtedly  exaggerated.  The  motives  of  the  indi- 
vidual made  him  see  numbers  in  large.  Some  placed 
the  number  near  a  million.  Vallandigham  claimed  an 
active  membership  in  1864  of  half  a  million.  Joseph 
Holt,  Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  United  States, 
accepted  Vallandigham's  claim  as  near  the  truth,  and 
added  the  opinion  that  340,000  of  them  were  ready  for 
military  service.  On  the  other  hand,  Thompson,  the 
Confederate  Commissioner  in  Canada  placed  the  num- 
ber at  170,000  for  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  The 
total  in  the  Northwest  would  in  that  case  not  exceed 
225,000.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  local  organization 
was  so  loose  and  the  membership  so  shifting  and  in- 
constant that  contemporary  estimates  were  little  more 
than  guesses.  A  half  a  million  there  certainly  was  not. 
The  total  vote  for  McClellan  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Missouri,  and  Kentucky  was  just  over  500,000  in  1864; 
that  vote  was  the  combined  strength  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  War  Democrats  and  all  the  Peace  Democrats. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  anything  like  the  whole  of  the 
Peace  Democrats  were  enrolled  in  the  secret  political 
societies;  much  less  a  number  equal  to  the  combination 
of  the  two  factions  of  the  Democratic  Party.  The  Adju- 
tant General  of  Ohio  reported  from  the  information 
which  the  state  authorities  gathered  with  some  care  that 


39  Report  of  Advocate  General,  Joseph  Holt,  p.  5. 

40  The  Report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Indiana,  Vol.  I,  p.  303,  says  this  was 
true  of  Brown,  Huntington,  Jackson,  Marshall,  Orange,  Putnam,  and  Washing- 
ton   counties. 


THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES  31 

there  were  from  80,000  to  108,000  in  Ohio. 4 1  The  lower 
number  (80,000)  represents  a  little  over  40  per  cent  of 
Vallandigham's  vote  for  Governor  in  1863,  or  less  than 
one  fifth  of  the  voters  in  the  state.  The  estimate  is 
not  unreasonable,  but  the  evidence  in  its  support  is  not 
convincing.  If  one  accepts  the  figure  for  Ohio,  and 
adds  to  it  similar  conservative  estimates  for  the  other 
states  where  the  secret  organization  existed  the  result 
would  give  a  membership  of  325,000  in  1864  when  the 
movement  was  at  its  height.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
one  will  ever  be  able  to  make  a  statement  more  precise 
than  this  that  there  were  two  or  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men  in  the  Northwest  banded  together  in  a  secret 
political  and  military  organization  hostile  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government.  How  far  the  body  was  armed  and 
drilled  is  a  matter  about  which  the  evidence  is  even  less 
trustworthy  than  the  estimates  of  numbers. 4  2 

The  oaths,  rituals,  and  declarations  of  principles 
of  the  secret  societies  laid  stress  on  unswerving  obe- 
dience of  the  members  to  the  leaders  and  on  the  poli- 
tical doctrines  of  the  Peace  Democrats.  And  then 
they  pushed  the  teachings  of  the  more  radical  elements 
of  Peace  Democracy  into  fields  that  party  resolutions, 
platforms,  and  speeches,  being  public,  dared  not  touch. 
The  right  and  duty  of  resort  to  force  against  the  Gov- 
ernment was  freely  taught.  The  old  Democracy  of 
Jefferson  and  Calhoun  had  set  up  the  States  as  the  final 
authority  in  the  place  the  Supreme  Court  came  to 
occupy  when  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government 
were  in  question.  Vallandigham's  movement  in  effect 
set  up  the  assemblies  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  as  the  court 
of  final  appeal.  The  ritual  of  the  order  spread  the  doc- 
trine that  "whenever  the  officials,  to  whom  the  people 

41  Report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Ohio,  1864,  p.  37. 

42  Holt,  Advocate  General,  p.  5:    Official  Records,  (SeriesII),  Vol. VII,  pp.228, 
630,  801;  (Series  III),  Vol.  4,  p.  579;  Thompson  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  509, 
Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  V,  p.  318,  seems  to  place  the  number 
near  200,000;  Fessler,  Indiana  Magazine  of  History,  1918,  p.  230  reaches  the  con- 
clusion that  the  number  was  much  less  than  these  figures;  he  seems  to  doubt  that 
it  ever  exceeded  100,000. 


32  THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

have  intrusted  the  powers  of  the  government,  shall  re- 
fuse to  administer  it  in  strict  accordance  with  its  con- 
stitution, and  shall  assume  and  exercise  power  and  au- 
thority not  delegated,  it  is  the  inherent  right  and  im- 
perative duty  of  the  people,  to  resist  such  officials,  and, 
if  need  be,  expel  them  by  force  of  arms.  Such  resistance 
is  not  revolution,  but  is  solely  the  assertion  of  right". 
Those  who  "exercise  power  not  delegated  .  .  .  should 
be  regarded  and  dealt  with  as  usurpers". 4  3  And  the 
Peace  Democrats  planned  to  appeal  to  force  to  over- 
throw the  Administration  when  the  ballot  appeal  ran 
against  them. 

Both  the  Peace  Democrats  and  the  Secret  Orders 
had  a  perfectly  definite  program.  It  could  not  have 
been  otherwise.  Their  leadership  was  generally  identi- 
cal. They  were  bent  on  the  overthrow  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  as  a  menace  to  the  theory  of  government 
which  they  had  set  up.  To  do  this  it  was  necessary  to 
defeat  the  Union  armies  in  the  field.  The  defeat  of 
Union  candidates  at  the  polls  would  follow.  The  de- 
feat of  the  armies  was  essayed  by  a  propaganda  to 
undermine  the  morale  of  the  soldiers,  to  discourage 
enlistment,  to  encourage  desertion  and  protect  the 
deserters.  This  was  the  program  from  the  first  days  of 
the  Civil  War.  Each  successive  War  measure  of  Cong- 
ress lashed  the  Copperheads  to  a  greater  fury.  The 
Confiscation  Act  of  August,  1861,  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  territories,  1862,  and  the  draft  act  and 
Habeas  Corpus  act  of  March  3,  1863,  were  especially 
condemned  as  acts  of  tyranny.  President  Lincoln's 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  January  1,  1863,  accept- 
ed the  issue  with  the  Peace  Democrats  which  they  had 
expected  from  the  beginning,  and  changed  the  mean- 
ing of  the  War.  The  step  rallied  the  anti-slavery  forces 


43  Indiana  Treason  Trials,  p.  297.  Report  of  the  Union  Congressional  Committee 
under  the  title  "Copperhead  Conspiracy  in  the  Northwest",  p.  3.  Report  of  the  Spec- 
ial Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Kentucky  on  the  Case  of  Joshua  F. 
Bullitt,  Feb.  27,  1865,  p.  i8ff.  Report  of  Joseph  Holt,  Judge  Advocate  General, 
p.  8ff.  Official  Records,  (stroll),  Vol. VII,  p.  289.  Ibid,  (Series  III),  Vol.  VIII, 
pp.  68-9.  Southern  Bivouac,  (New  Series),  Vol.  II,  p.  504. 


THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES  33 

in  the  nation  around  a  moral  issue.  It  did  more.  It 
won  the  sympathy  of  foreign  people,  particularly  the 
British,  and  silenced  all  serious  thought  of  foreign  in- 
tervention. These  were  distinct  assets  for  the  Admin- 
istration. But  there  were  liabilities  as  well.  The  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation  gave  the  Peace  Democrats  an 
opportunity  to  stand  forth  as  true  prophets.  The 
War  was  after  all  what  they  had  said  it  was — an  Abo- 
lition War. 

"What  has  caused  all  our  discontent, 
Our  Union  asunder  rent, 
And  is  on  our  destruction  bent? 
Abolition." 

"Honest  old  Abe,  when  the  war  first  began, 
Denied  abolition  was  part  of  his  plan; 
Honest  old  Abe  has  since  made  a  decree, 
The  war  must  go  on  till  the  slaves  are  all  free. 
As  both  can't  be  honest,  will  some  one  tell  how, 
If  honest  Abe  then,  he  is  honest  Abe  now." 

In  equally  cheap  doggerel  they  appealed  to  the  latent 
race  prejudices  of  the  North.  To  the  air  of  "John  An- 
derson, My  Jo  John"  their  followers  were  urged  to  sing: 

"Old  Abraham,  my  jolly  Abe, 

When  we  were  first  acquaint, 
I  thought  you  were  an  honest  man, 

But  nothing  of  a  saint; 
But  since  you  wore  the  Spanish  cloak, 

You  love  the  negro  so, 
And  hate  the  white  man,  so  you  do, 

My  jolly  Abe,  my  Jo."  4  4 

The  army  was  the  most  vulnerable  point  in   the 
Administrative  agencies  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 

44  A  Choice  Collection  of  Demo.,  .vfc  r -ems  and  Songs,  pp.  46,  47,  59- 


34  THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES 

The  adjutant  general  of  Indiana  reported  in  January, 
1863,  that  the  number  of  arrests  for  desertion  in  the 
Indianapolis  district  alone  in  the  month  of  December 
had  exceeded  2500;  that  officers  sent  to  arrest  men 
accused  of  desertion  were  set  on  by  the  local  popula- 
tion. After  the  inauguration  of  the  draft  system  in  the 
spring  of  1863,  the  Peace  Democrats  and  secret  orders 
centered  their  activities  on  its  defeat.  Local  resorts 
to  force  became  quite  common  in  1863.  A  small  up- 
rising in  Holmes  County,  Ohio,  was  quickly  put  down. 
The  officers  who  dispersed  the  would  be  insurgents 
saw  about  fifty,  "an  ignorant  and  misguided  class  who 
hardly  knew  what  they  wanted  or  why  they  felt  them- 
selves aggrieved."  4  5  The  draft  records  in  Blackford 
County,  Indiana,  were  destroyed  by  a  mob.  Several 
draft  officers  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  were  set  on  by  mobs ; 
in  a  few  cases  the  officers  were  murdered.  It  became 
necessary  in  the  Copperhead  strongholds  to  accompany 
United  States  officials  with  armed  guards.  The  au- 
thorities that  attempted  to  arrest  deserters  were  at- 
tacked by  mobs.  Disloyal  judges  supplemented  the 
work  of  the  mobs  by  discharging  the  deserters  and  those 
who  encouraged  desertion  when  brought  before  them. 
It  is  difficult  to  take  the  measure  of  the  acts  of 
violence  at  this  stage.  Jefferson  Davis  thought  the 
Ohio  Valley  in  1863  the  weak  place  in  the  enemy's 
territory.  It  was  his  mature  judgment  that  the  death 
of  General  A.  S.  Johnston  in  1862  was  a  fatal  event  for 
the  Confederacy.  That  with  a  skillful  commander  like 
him  "Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  would  have 
been  recovered,  the  Northwest  disaffected,  and  our 
armies  filled  with  the  men  of  the  Southwest,  and  per- 
haps of  the  Northwest  also." 4  6  The  Copperheads 
boasted  that  the  Northwest  was  in  a  state  of  insurrec- 
tion. Such  a  statement  was  a  gross  exaggeration,  if 
applied  to  the  whole,  not  so  for  certain  narrow  districts. 


45  Official  Records,  (Series  I),  Vol.  23,  Part  I    p.  396. 

46  Jefferson  Davis,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government,  Vol.  II,  p.  61. 


THE  SECRET  POLITICAL  SOCIETIES  35 

But  to  discourage  and  intimidate  the  Unionists  was  a 
part  of  the  propaganda  of  the  Peace  Democrats.  The 
evidence  of  growing  disorder  in  the  Northwest  alarmed 
the  Unionists.  The  State  authorities  attempted  to 
meet  the  situation  by  the  organization  of  new  militia 
units  for  local  defense. 4  7 

The  failure  of  the  federal  campaign  in  Virginia  in 
1862,  and  the  success  of  the  Peace  Democrats  at  the 
polls  in  the  Northwest  in  the  Fall  of  1862,  the  dis- 
couragement of  the  Unionists  and  the  elation  of  the 
Copperheads,  produced  a  dangerous  situation.  The 
Governors  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  had  their 
hands  full,  to  say  the  least.  The  opposition  to  the  War 
in  Indiana  blocked  every  measure  in  the  legislature  in 
1863  for  the  support  of  the  War,  and  even  prevented 
the  passage  of  the  usual  appropriations  for  the  support 
of  the  State  government.  In  Illinois  at  the  same  time 
the  lower  house  of  the  legislature  voiced  by  resolu- 
tions the  demand  of  the  Peace  Democrats  for  an  armis- 
tice and  a  peace  convention. 4  8  It  is  easy  after  the 
event  to  see  that  the  Copperheads  had  shot  their  bolt 
as  a  political  power  in  the  winter  of  1862-3;  that  those 
who  were  fighting  in  the  thick  of  the  battle  felt  doubts 
and  fears  of  the  outcome  was  inevitable.  The  corres- 
pondence of  the  Administration  from  the  Northwest 
described  with  one  accord  a  dangerous  situation. 4  9 
That  President  Lincoln  shared  the  alarm  is  supported 
by  direct  testimony  and  by  the  growing  severity  of  the 
repressive  measures.  "The  President  tells  me",  Sen- 
ator Sumner  wrote  to  his  friend  Francis  Lieber,  "that 
he  now  fears  the  fire  in  the  rear —  meaning  the  Demo- 
cracy, especially  at  the  Northwest — more  than  our 


47  Ohio  had  a  force  of  40,000  in  militia  organizations  in  1864,  and  Indiana 
nearly  if  not  quite  as  large  a  body,    See  Annual  Report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of 
Ohio,  1864,  p.  39,  and  Operations  of  the  Indiana  Legion  and  Minute  Men,  1863-4, 
Indianapolis,  1865. 

48  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV,  p.  223. 

49  Official  Records,  (Series  II),  Vol.  VII  contains  a  large  mass  of  reports  of 
agents  of  the  Administration. 


36  THE  EXILE  or  VALLANDIGHAM 

military  chances."  The  Senator  adds  the  comment — 
"These  are  dark  hours.  There  are  senators  full  of  de- 
spair,— not  I". 8  °  This  much  is  certain.  By  the  open- 
ing of  1863  the  Peace  Democrats  had  captured  the  en- 
tire Democratic  organization  of  the  Northwest,  and 
were  using  it  to  advance  their  movement.  They  had 
a  large  part  of  the  membership  under  instruction  in 
secret  societies.  And  a  part  of  this  membership  was 
marshalled  in  military  companies,  arming  and  drilling 
after  a  fashion. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

In  March,  1863,  the  President  transferred  General 
Ambrose  E.  Burnside  from  the  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  to  that  of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio 
which  comprehended  the  region  of  Copperhead  strength. 
Burnside  undertook  the  command  in  the  Northwest  at 
almost  precisely  the  moment  that  Vallandigham  re- 
turned to  Ohio,  his  Congressional  term  at  an  end.  A 
clash  was  probably  inevitable  under  the  circumstances. 
Burnside  had  been  humiliated  by  his  terrible  defeat  at 
Fredericksburg,  and  was  now  determined  to  retrieve 
his  lost  fortunes  by  success  in  the  western  field.  Val- 
landigham had  just  closed  his  congressional  career  with 
considerable  eclat.  His  speeches  toward  the  close  of 
the  session,  particularly  that  of  January  14,  had  been 
confident,  daring,  and  forceful. 5 1  He  had  every  reason 
to  believe  that  his  opposition  was  bearing  fruit.  A 
peace  through  the  victory  of  Union  arms  seemed  very 
remote,  as  he  wished  it  to  be.  The  Peace  Democrats 
and  such  War  Democrats  as  clung  to  the  old  organi- 
zation had  together  nearly  swept  the  Unionists  from 
power  in  the  Fall  elections.  Vallandigham's  own  de- 
feat had  been  accomplished  by  the  gerrymander.  His 

6  °  Letter  of  January  17,  1863.    See  E.  L.  Pierce  Memoirs  and  Letters  of  Charles 
Sumner,  Vol.  IV,  p.  114. 

6 1  The  Speech  of  January  14,  1863,  is  an  exceedingly  strong  statement  of  Val- 
landigham's policy.     Congressional  Globe,  Part  II,  1862-3,  Appendix,  p.  52ff. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  37 

return  to  Dayton  meant 'to  him  the  transfer  of  his 
field  of  activities  in  a  winning  political  contest  with  the 
Administration  to  a  more  congenial  environment  than 
Washington. 

General  Burnside  met  the  Peace  Democrats  with 
an  order  for  the  arrest  of  those  committing  certain  of- 
fenses. "The  habit  of  declaring  sympathies  for  the 
enemy,"  he  added  at  the  end  of  the  list,  "will  not  be 
allowed  in  the  department.  Persons  committing  such 
offenses  will  be  at  once  arrested,  with  a  view  to  being 
tried  as  above  stated  (that  is,  as  spies  and  traitors,)  or 
sent  beyond  our  lines  into  the  lines  of  their  friends."  5  2 
Vallandigham  took  the  order  as  a  challenge.  At 
Mt.  Vernon,  May  1.  1863,  he  delivered  two  ad- 
dresses, two  of  them  to  overflow  audiences.  Plain 
clothes  representatives  from  the  military  authorities 
were  present  to  report  Vallandigham's  words.  He  de- 
scribed the  War  as  "wicked  and  cruel,"  "not  being 
waged  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,"  but  "for  the 
purpose  of  crushing  out  liberty  and  erecting  a  despot- 
ism," as  "a  war  for  the  freedom  of  the  blacks  and  the 
enslavement  of  the  whites,"  needlessly  continued.  The 
people  were  urged  to  inform  "the  minions  of  usurped 
power  that  they  will  not  submit  to  such  restrictions  on 
their  liberties"  as  prescribed  in  Burnside's  order,  which 
was  described  as  "a  base  usurpation  of  arbitrary 
authority.  Vallandigham  charged  that  attempts  were 
now  being  made  "to  build  up  a  monarchy  upon  the 
ruins  of  our  free  government". 5  3 

Burnside  did  not  hesitate  in  adopting  a  course  of 
action.  On  the  morning  of  May  5,  1863,  military 
authorities  arrested  Vallandigham  at  his  home  in  Day- 
ton. A  military  commission  was  assembled  in  Cincinnati 
the  following  day,  and  ten  days  later  found  him  guilty 
of  publicly  expressing  sympathy  for  the  rebellion  and 
declaring  disloyal  sentiments  and  opinions  with  the 

62  General  Order  No.  38,  McPherson,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  162;  Report 
of  Trial  of  Vallandigham,  p.  u. 

63  The  Trial  of  Vallandigham,  Cincinnati,  1863;  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham,  ch.  12. 


38  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

object  of  weakening  the  power  of  the  Government  in 
its  efforts  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  The  conclusion 
that  he  had  explicitly  expressed  sympathy  for  the  re- 
bellion was  not  supported  by  the  evidence;  in  fact,  it 
is  certain  he  had  no  real  sympathy  with  the  rebellion. 
The  conclusion  was  however,  a  natural  one  under  the 
circumstances,  and  perhaps  not  unjust.  That  Vallan- 
digham  was  trying  to  weaken  the  Government  at  a 
critical  time,  and  so  was  a  dangerous  citizen,  skating  on 
the  thin  ice  of  near-treason,  will  probably  be  denied  by 
few  today.  The  commission  proposed  close  confine- 
ment in  some  fortress  for  the  duration  of  the  War. 
General  Burnside  approved  the  decision  of  the  military 
court,  and  proposed  confinement  at  Fort  Warren,  in 
Boston  Harbor.  The  federal  district  court  of  southern 
Ohio  refused  to  interfere  when  asked  for  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  and  expressed  approval  of  the  course 
which  the  military  authorities  had  pursued. 5  4 

There  is  direct  testimony  that  the  arrest  and  trial 
of  Vallandigham  for  the  particular  offense  of  May  1, 
was  the  act  of  Burnside  and  not  of  his  superiors. 
Burnside  after  the  Ci^il  War  explained  the  case  and 
virtually  assumed  responsibility.  His  statement  was  a 
defense;  "Soon  after  I  took  command,  I  became  very 
anxious  in  the  contemplation  of  the  great  discontent  and 
despondency  on  the  part  of  many  persons  occasioned  by 
the  disloyal  politicians,  who  at  that  time  were  doing  so 
much  harm  in  the  Northwest.  Letters  were  being  sent 
into  the  army  for  the  purpose  of  creating  discontent 
among  the  soldiers,  newspapers  were  full  of  treason- 
able expression,  and  large  public  meetings  were  held, 
at  which  our  Government  authorities  and  our  gallant 
soldiers  in  the  field  were  openly  and  loudly  denounced 
for  their  efforts  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  Our  military 
prisons  were  full  of  persons  arrested  for  uttering  dis- 
loyal sentiments  and  committing  disloyal  acts."  5  5  The 

64  Report  of  the  Trial  of  Vallandigham,  pp.  259,  272,  full  opinion  of  the  court. 

66  Official  Records,  (Series  I),  Vol.  23,  Part  I,  p.  12.     Report  of  Novenber  13, 
1865,  as  commander  of  the  Department  of  Ohio. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  39 

diary  of  Gideon  Welles  comments  on  the  Cabinet 
conferences  on  the  case  and  confirms  the  view  that  the 
act  was  Burnside's  own. 5  6  Vallandigham's  arrest  was 
but  one  of  a  series  at  the  time.  Among  others  Logan, 
the  editor  of  the  Dayton  Empire,  was  arrested  and 
confined  in  prison. 6  7  They  were  probably  intended  as 
acts  of  warning  to  the  Peace  Democrats.  Whether 
they  accomplished  the  purpose  is  a  matter  the  historical 
student  finds  it  difficult  to  settle.  Such  acts  heartened 
the  loyal  and  stimulated  the  resistance  of  the  oppo- 
sition. The  balance  remains  in  doubt.  That  Burnside's 
policy  had  pushed  the  field  of  military  authority  farther 
into  the  normal  ones  of  civil  agencies  than  the  President 
had  yet  done  or  intended  is  clear.  Most  of  those  ar- 
rested at  this  time  were  soon  released.  Burnside's  or- 
der suspending  the  publication  of  the  Chicago  Times, 
June  1,  1863,  was  revoked  by  President  Lincoln's  order 
three  days  later. 5  8  A  few  weeks  after  the  arrest  of  Val- 
landigham  General  Burnside  consulted  the  Secretary 
of  War  in  advance  on  a  plan  he  had  formed  of  arresting 
Judge  Trimble  of  Kentucky  for  public  statements 
against  the  War.  Stanton's  reply  may  be  taken  as  an 
expression  of  deliberate  policy  of  the  Administration 
at  the  time.  "If  Mr.  Trimble  is  found  encouraging 
desertion  from  your  army",  Stanton  said,  "or  in  any 
way  interfering  with  or  endangering  your  military 
operations  you  will  be  authorized  to  place  him  under 
arrest;  the  mere  declaration  of  his  opposition  to  the 
War  or  that  if  elected  he  will  oppose  furnishing  supplies 
of  any  kind  is  a  good  reason  why  loyal  men  should  not 
vote  for  him  but  is  not  sufficient  ground  for  military 
arrest."  5  9  Stanton's  rule  required  a  direct  word  en- 
couraging desertion;  Burnside's  military  court  accepted 
an  expression  which  indirectly  tended  to  the  same 


66  Diary  of  Welles,  Vol.  I,  pp.  306,  321-3. 

67  Official  Records,  (Series  II),  Vol.  V,  p.  566. 

68  Official  Records,  (Series  I)  Vol.23,  Part  I,  pp.38i-6. 

69  Official  Records,  (Series  II)  Vol.  VI,  p.  23. 


40  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

end  as  sufficient.  The  distinction  is  rather  a  fine 
one,  but  real,  none  the  less. 

At  any  rate,  in  the  case  of  Vallandigham,  the  Pres- 
ident decided  to  support  the  policy  of  Burnside,  except 
that  the  alternative  punishment  which  had  been  sug- 
gested in  Burnside's  order  was  substituted  for  the  sen- 
tence of  the  military  court.  The  President's  commuta- 
tion of  the  sentence  of  Vallandigham  instructed  the  mili- 
tary authorities  to  send  him  into  exile  in  the  Confederate 
States,  subject  to  the  revival  of  the  original  sentence 
of  close  confinement  if  he  returned  within  the  Union 
lines.  Vallandigham  was  sent  from  Cincinnati  to  the 
outposts  of  the  Union  line,  and  thence  under  a  flag  of 
truce  handed  over  to  the  Confederate  pickets  near  Shel- 
byville,  Tennessee.  It  was  President  Lincoln's  purpose 
to  identify  Vallandigham  in  the  mind  of  the  northern 
people  with  treason  and  the  Confederate  cause,  and  so 
discredit  his  movement.  What  happened  can  best  be 
told  by  the  following  reprints  of  manuscripts  from  the 
Bragg  papers  in  Mr.  W.  P.  Palmer's  Civil  War  Collec- 
tion at  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society. 

General  Bragg  in  command  of  the  Confederate 
army  in  middle  Tennessee  reported  the  arrival  of  Val- 
landigham to  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  Confeder- 
acy at  Richmond,  supplied  him  with  a  passport,  and 
an  explanatory  letter. 

Hd.  Qrs  -  Dept.  No.2  - 

Shelbyville  27"  May  1863. 
Sir 

On  the  25"  inst.  the  Hon. .  C.  L.  Vallandigham  of 
Ohio  U.  S.  was  brought  by  an  armed  guard  of  the 
enemy,  to  the  neutral  ground  between  our  pickets,  on 
the  road  f rom Murfreesboro  to  this  place;  and  was  there 
abandoned  by  them — I  have  admitted  him  within  my 
lines,  and  received  him  with  the  courtesy  due  any  un- 
fortunate exile  seeking  a  refuge  from  tyranny — He  de- 
sires to  go  to  the  state  of  Georgia,  and  I  have  granted 
him  permission  for  that  purpose. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  41 

Should  the  government  desire  any  other  policy  in 
similar  cases,  I  shall  be  pleased  to  receive  instructions, 
I  am  Sir 
Very  Respy 

Yr  obt.  Servt 

Adf  Genl  (Sgd)  Braxton  Bragg 

C.S.Army  Genl  Comr 

Richmond 
Va. 


Mr.  Vallandigham,  the  bearer,  a  citizen  of  the  State  of 
Ohio,  is  permitted  to  pass  as  any  Citizen  of  the  Con- 
federacy within  the  limits  of  this  department. 
Shelbyville,  Tenn,  Sgd  Braxton  Bragg 

26th  May,  1863  Genl. 

Headquarters  Dept.  No.fc. 
Shelbyville,  Tenn. 

26  May,  1863. 


Hon.  C.  L.  Vallandigham. 

of  Ohio.        Shelbyville. 
Sir, 

I  enclose  you  the  passport  desired,  and  con- 
gratulate you  upon  your  arrival  in  our  land  of  liberty, 
where  you  will  find  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  con- 
science secured  to  all.  Your  sojourn  amongst  us,  as  a 
private  citizen,  exiled  by  a  foreign  government,  with 
which  we  are  at  war,  will  of  course  impose  some  re- 
straint upon  you,  which  our  people  will  fully  appreciate 
But  I  am  satisfied  you  will  ever  receive  the 
courtesy  due  your  unfortunate  position,  and  the  re- 
spect of  all  who  learn  the  quiet  and  retired  position 
you  have  determined  to  occupy  - 

I  am,  Sir, 

Very  Respectfully 
Yr.  Obt.  Svt. 

Braxton  Bragg 
Genl  C.S.A. 


42  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

The  Confederate  authorities  thought  too  highly  of 
Vallandigham's  services  as  a  leader  of  forces  in  the 
Northwest  which  were  weakening  the  Union  cause  to 
allow  them  to  be  neutralized  in  the  way  Lincoln  intend- 
ed that  they  should  be.  The  southern  newspapers  had 
followed  Vallandigham's  agitation  carefully  and  sympa- 
thetically. His  speeches  were  printed  in  full.  The  point 
of  view  of  the  newspapers  of  the  Southwest  were  partic- 
ularly warm  in  admiration  for  Vallandigham.60  The 
newspapers  exhibited  an  anxiety  to  see  him  in  a  place 
where  he  could  continue  to  foster  the  illusion  of  the 
hour.  The  South  had  looked  to  foreign  mediation  or 
intervention  in  1861  and  1862.  Vallandigham's  peace 
party  aroused  a  new  hope  of  an  easier  road  to  indepen- 
dence than  by  a  military  victory,  or  at  least,  a  way  to 
make  a  military  victory  possible.  They  advocated 
sending  Vallandigham  on  his  way. 6 1  The  scheme  was  a 
logical  one.  It  was  Vallandigham's  own.  The  Con- 
federate authorities  were  equally  anxious  with  the  exile 
that  his  passage  to  neutral  territory  be  expedited. 

High  reasons  of  state  guided  the  Confederate  Ad- 
ministration. It  was  worth  while  to  encourage  dissen- 
sion at  the  North  and  to  checkmate  Lincoln.  Vallan- 
digham might  be  of  service  to  them;  they  had  no  inter- 
est in  his  plan  for  peace  and  reunion.  Moreover  the 
Confederate  authorities  were  constantly  warned  by 
newspaper  writers  against  embarassing  alliance  with 
this  particular  Peace  Party.  The  Confederate  Repub- 
lic was  to  be  a  homogeneous  state,  so  far  as  its  labor 
system  was  concerned;  free  states  were  not  to  be  court- 
ed too  far. 6  2 

VALLANDIGHAM  tarried  a  week  in  Shelby  ville  behind 
the  Confederate  lines,  an  honorary  enemy  alien,  so  to 

60  See  for  example,  Augusta  Constitutionalist,  Jan.  7,  Feb.  14,  Feb.  27,  1863; 
Knoxville  Daily  Register,  May  28,  June  7,  June  13,  July  31,  1863;  Athens    (Tenn). 
Post,  May  29,  1863. 

61  See  Augusta  Cons'i'u'ionalist,  May  31, 1863;  Knoxville  Daily  Register,  May  28, 
1863. 

62  See  for  example,  Knoxville  Daily  Register,  May  28,  June  7,  1863;  Augusta 
Daily  Constutitionalist,  May  31,  1863. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  43 

speak,  while  the  Confederate  authorities  conferred  on 
his  case.  The  conclusion  was  to  treat  him  as  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  on  parole,  secure  what  information 
they  could  from  him,  and  then  send  him  on  his  way  to 
a  neutral  country.  The  following  selections  from  the 
Bragg  Papers  tell  the  story  of  the  decision. 

Head  Quarters  Dep*  No.2. 
Shelby  ville,  Tenn  May  31st  1863 
Hon  C.  L.  Vallandigham 
Dear  Sir 

The  General  Commanding  instructs  me  to 
enclose  you  a  copy  of  a  dispatch  just  received  from 
Hon.  I.  A.  Seddon  Secretary  of  War,  Richmond,  and  to 
request  you  to  give  a  response  in  writing  in  order  that 
he  may  answer  the  inquiry  contained  in  the  dispatch. 
The  General  desires  also  that  you  will  return  the  pass- 
port given  you  as  pending  further  instructions  from 
Richmond  it  is  evident  that  its  issue  is  in  conflict  with 
the  views  which  have  prompted  the  dispatch. 

(Braxton  Bragg  Genl) 
Shelbyville,    Tenn. 
May  31,  1863 

Gen.  Bragg, 

C.  S.  A. 

Com^8  &c,  &c, 
Sir: 

In  answer  to  your  note  of  this  morning,  allow  me  to 
say  that  it  was  my  offer  upon  first  entering  your  lines, 
to  surrender  myself  a  prisoner;  &  the  order  or  suggestion 
of  the  Secretary  of  War,  is  entirely  consonant  to  my 
original  desire  &  purposes,  though  I  sincerely  trust 
that  the  parole  may  allow  my  departure  at  any  time, 
as  this  is  most  important  to  me  every  way. 

Please  report  also,  that  I  came  to  your  lines  upon 
compulsion  &  against  my  consent,  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio 
&  of  the  United  States,  in  exile  banished  from  my 
country  for  no  other  offense  than  love  of  constitutional 
liberty,  my  political  opinions,  &  resolute,  undaunted 


44  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

opposition  to  the  principles  &  policy  of  the  party  & 
Administration  in  power  in  the  United  States.  The 
order  of  the  President  was  absolute,  forbidding  me  to 
return  under  penalty  of  imprisonment  during  the  war; 
&  therefore  left  me  no  alternative;  &  it  was  executed  by 
military  force.  It  is  better  for  me  doubtless  for  sev- 
eral reasons,  to  be  deemed  a  prisoner  on  parole  while 
I  remain  in  the  Confederate  States;  but  my  most  ear- 
nest desire  is  for  a  passport,  if  necessary,  and  permission 
to  leave  as  soon  as  possible,  either  through  some  Con- 
federate port,  or  by  way  of  Matamoras,  for  Canada, 
where  I  can  see  my  family,  communicate  with  my 
friends  &  transact  my  business  as  far  as  practicable, 
unmolested.  I  am  still  a  citizen  of  Ohio  &  of  the  United 
States,  recognizing  my  allegiance  to  both,  and  retaining 
the  same  opinions  &  position  which  I  have  always  held 
at  home.  As  the  President  of  the  United  States  will  cer- 
tainly not  exchange  me,  I  trust  I  may  be  allowed  to  de- 
part on  parole  for  the  place  which  I  have  above  des- 
ignated. 

Very  Respectfully  &c 

C.  L.  Vallandigham 

Shelbyville  1st  June  1863. 
General  S.  Cooper 

Adjutant  General  Richmond. 

Honorable  C.  L.  Vallandigham  is  here  on  Parole.  He 
was  brought  under  Guard  by  the  Enemy  and  Aban- 
doned in  Front  of  my  lines — With  orders  from  his 
Government  Not  to  Return  Under  Penalty  of  Imprison- 
ment for  the  War  Fearing  assassination  from  a  licensed 
Soldiery  he  made  his  Way  to  My  Outpost  &  Surrend- 
ered as  an  alien  Enemy  owing  allegiance  to  the  State 
of  Ohio  and  the  United  States  But  Exiled  by  the  pres- 
ent Government  for  Maintaining  his  Civil  Rights  as  a 
freeman. 

He  Awaits  orders  but  desires  to  make  his  Way  by 
the  most  Expeditious  Route  to  Canada.     I  suggest  a 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  45 

Conference  with  him  personally  or  by  a  Confidential 
Agent. 

Braxton  Bragg 
Despatch 

to 

Genl  S.  Cooper 
Ansrd  1st  June 

South- Western  Telegraph  Company. 

Shelbyville,  June  2nd,  1863. 
By  Telegraph  from  Richmond  2d,  1863. 

To     Genl.  B.  Bragg 

Your  dispatch  to  Adj'*  Gen'l  recd  Send  Hon  C.  L. 
Vallandingham  as  an  alien  enemy  under  guard  of  an 
officer  to  Wilmington  where  further  orders  await  him 

Jeffn  Davis 
(27  pd.) 

(Penciled  note  in  handwriting  of  General  Bragg  on 
bottom  of  telegram  as  follows: 

Upon  Mr.  Vallandigham's  earnest  request  he  was  per- 
mitted to  go  this  morning  to  Lynchburg  to  Confer  with 
a  distinguished  friend  of  Virginia.  He  reports  from 
there  on  parole  to  the  war  department.) 

The  decision  of  the  Confederate  authorities  har- 
monized perfectly  with  the  wish  of  the  exile.  He  was 
ordered  to  report  under  parole  at  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina.  He  journeyed  by  railroad  through  Chatta- 
nooga, Knoxville,  Bristol,  Lynchburg,  and  Petersburg 
to  Wilmington.  The  Confederate  Commissioner  of 
prisoners  joined  him  at  Lynchburg. 6  3  What  confer- 
ences Vallandigham  held  with  Confederate  authorities 
at  the  various  stations  en  route  are  matters  of  specula- 
tion. A  journey  of  a  fortnight  duration  gave  abundant 
time  for  them.  John  Jones,  a  clerk  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  Richmond  has  left  the  record  that  he  saw  the 
memorandum  of  Mr.  Ould,  the  commissioner  of 

63  There  are  some  details  in  the  "Biographical  Memoirs"  by  Vallandigham's 
brother,  published  in  New  York,  1864,  which  do  not  occur  in  the  Life  of  Clement 
L.  Vallandigham  by  the  same  author,  J.  L.  Vallandigham,  Baltimore,  1872. 


46  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

prisoners,  of  a  conversation  held  with  Vallandigham, 
for  file  in  the  archives.  Vallandigham  was  quoted  as 
assuring  the  Confederates  that  if  they  could  hold  out 
for  this  year  "the  peace  party  of  the  North  would  sweep 
the  Lincoln  dynasty  out  of  political  existence".  "He 
seems",  the  clerk  continues,  "to  have  thought  our  cause 
was  sinking,  and  feared  we  would  submit,  which  would 
of  course,  be  ruinous  to  his  party.  .  .  Mr.  Vallandigham 
is  for  restoring  the  Union  amicably,  of  course,  and  if  it 
cannot  be  so  done,  then  possibly  he  is  in  favor  of  recog- 
nizing our  independence.  He  says  any  reconstruction 
which  is  not  voluntary  on  our  part  would  soon  be  fol- 
lowed by  another  separation,  and  a  worse  war  than  the 
present  one."  6  4 

On  the  night  of  June  17  a  blockade  runner  carried 
Vallandigham  safely  through  the  blockading  squadron. 
His  brother  tells  how  the  vessel  avoided  an  unpleasant 
search  with  the  certainty  of  captivity  for  crew  and  pas- 
sengers by  an  American  man-of-war.  On  sighting  the 
war  ship  the  fleeing  ship  put  on  a  bold  front,  dressed  up 
a  body  of  men  in  British  uniforms,  and  paraded  them 
on  deck.  The  ruse  succeeded.  The  man-of-war  saw 
the  brilliant  scarlet  uniform  of  the  British  army,  and 
took  the  vessel  for  a  British  transport  bound  for  the 
West  Indies. 6  5  Vallandigham  sojourned  a  few  days  in 
Bermuda,  and  took  ship  for  Halifax  where  he  landed 
July  5.  Ten  days  later  a  special  train  bore  him  with 
some  signs  of  triumph  to  the  Clifton  House  at  Niagara 
on  the  Canadian  side.  Here  he  seems  to  have  engaged 
quarters  while  still  a  prisoner  in  Cincinnati. 6  6 

In  the  meantime  the  Democratic  party  of  Ohio 
had  held  its  State  Convention,  June  11,  adopted  a 
Peace  platform,  and  nominated  the  exile  as  its  candi- 
date for  Governor.  Vallandigham  took  up  his  cam- 
paign from  his  quarters  at  Niagara  Falls,  little  hindered 


64  John  Jones,  A  Rebel  War  Clerk's  Diary  ^  Vol.  I,  p.  357. 

66  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  pp.  314-5. 

86  Official  Records,  (Series  II,)  Vol.  VII,  p.  725. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  47 

by  the  international  boundary  which  separated  him  from 
his  followers.  His  manifesto  for  the  Ohio  Democracy, 
sent  forth  on  the  day  of  his  arrival  at  the  border,  ac- 
cepted the  nomination  and  skillfully  described  his  exile. 
"Arrested  and  confined",  he  said,  "for  three  weeks  in 
the  United  States,  a  prisoner  of  state;  banished  thence 
to  the  Confederate  States,  and  there  held  as  an  alien 
enemy  and  prisoner  of  war,  though  on  parole,  fairly 
and  honorably  dealt  with  and  given  leave  to  depart, — 
an  act  possible  only  by  running  the  blockade  at  the 
hazard  of  being  fired  on  by  ships  flying  the  flag  of  my 
own  country, — I  find  myself  first  a  freeman  when  on 
British  soil.  And  today,  under  protection  of  the  British 
flag,  I  am  here  to  enjoy  and  in  part  to  exercise,  the  pri- 
vileges and  rights  which  usurpers  insolently  deny  me 
at  home".  His  party  program  was  outlined.  The  peo- 
ple were  told  that  he  had  not  found  "in  all  the  Confed- 
erate States  one  who  did  not  declare  his  readiness,  when 
the  war  shall  have  ceased  and  invading  armies  been 
withdrawn,  to  consider  and  discuss  the  question  of  re- 
union. And  who  shall  doubt  the  issue  of  the  argument? 
I  return  therefore,  with  my  opinions  and  convictions 
as  to  war  and  peace,  and  my  faith  as  to  final  results 
from  sound  policy  and  wise  statesmanship,  not  only 
unchanged,  but  confirmed  and  strengthened.  And 
may  God  of  heaven  and  earth  so  rule  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  Americans  everywhere  that  a  Constitution 
maintained,  a  Union  restored,  a  liberty  henceforth  made 
secure,  a  grander  and  nobler  destiny  shall  yet  be 
ours  than  that  even  which  blessed  our  fathers  in  the 
first  two  ages  of  the  Republic". 6  7  The  address  makes 
amazing  reading  a  generation  after  the  writing,  amazing 
for  its  egotism  and  for  its  misinterpretation,  or,  let  us 
say,  misconception  of  the  purposes  and  ideals  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  An  extensive  popu- 
lation accepted  it  as  almost  a  new  gospel.  The  popu- 
larity of  Vallandigham  with  his  followers,  iffthefcon- 

67  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  pp.3i8,  321. 


48  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

temporary  news  reporters  and  editors  had  any  truth 
in  them,  is  a  significant  phenomenon. 6  8 

In  August,  Vallandigham  moved  his  headquarters 
to  Windsor,  opposite  Detroit,  because  it  was  more  ac- 
cessible to  the  strongholds  of  his  party  in  the  Northwest. 
From  all  appearances  he  had  successfully  defeated  the 
purposes  of  the  Government  in  exiling  him,  and  become 
a  champion  of  free  speech.  The  campaign  of  the  Peace 
Democrats  during  the  summer,  and  the  course  pursued 
by  certain  judges  in  defeating  the  draft  law  by  dis- 
charging drafted  men  under  habeas  corpus  proceed- 
ings worried  President  Lincoln. 6  9  Vallandigham  was 
safely  beyond  reach.  His  political  campaign  must  be 
left  with  the  voters  of  Ohio.  But  the  use  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  to  defeat  a  law  was  another  matter. 
President  Lincoln  called  a  Cabinet  meeting  on  Septem- 
ber 14  for  the  discussion  of  ways  of  combatting  the  in- 
terference of  the  courts.  The  President  was  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Cabinet  members  aroused  to  the 
seriousness  of  the  situation.  Gideon  Welles,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  reported  that  the  operations  of  the 
navy  were  also  embarassed  by  the  same  abuses  of  dis- 
loyal courts,  and  that  the  practice  might  easily  become 
a  national  disaster.  The  evidence  of  the  provost-mar- 
shall  on  the  means  employed  to  defeat  the  draft  con- 
vinced all  members  of  the  Cabinet  with  a  cor- 
dial unanimity,  says  Welles,  that  a  new  policy  should 
be  adopted  by  the  Administration. 

From  time  to  time  President  Lincoln  had  suspended 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  as  though  the  suspension 
were  an  executive  prerogative.  The  Democratic  op- 
position, and  particularly  the  Peace  Democrats,  had 
laid  emphasis  on  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  and 


_  6  8  A  book  of  songs  to  chant  the  praises  of  Vallandigham  in  fashion  to  please 
his  followers  was  compiled  in  Columbus  in  1863.  The  Vallandigham  Song  Book, 
Columbus,  1863. 

69  Gideon  Welles,  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  432-  5;  Warden,  Account  of  the  Private  Life 
and  Public  Services  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  pp.  543-5. 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  49 

bitterly  criticised  his  policy. 7  °  Lincoln's  reply  to  his 
critics  stated  an  important  fact  of  the  situation:  that 
the  enemy  under  the  cover  of  liberty  of  speech,  liberty 
of  the  press,  and  habeas  corpus  "hoped  to  keep  on  foot 
amongst  us  a  most  efficient  corps  of  spies,  informers, 
supplies,  and  aiders  and  abettors  of  their  cause  in  a 
thousand  ways.  They  knew  that  in  times  such  as  they 
were  inaugurating  by  the  Constitution  itself  the  habeas 
corpus  might  be  suspended,  but  they  also  knew  that 
they  had  friends  who  would  make  a  question  as  to  who 
was  to  suspend  it,  meanwhile  their  spies  and  others 
might  remain  at  large  to  help  their  cause". 7 1  In  its 
earlier  form  the  issue  was  whether  the  President  could 
at  his  own  discretion  under  the  constitution  suspend 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  sections  where  the  civil 
courts  were  still  open.  President  Lincoln  was  con- 
vinced that  the  power  was  committed  to  himself  as  one 
of  the  "exceptions  to  the  constitution",  though  within 
his  official  family  there  were  some  dissenters.  Secre- 
tary Chase,  the  chief  of  these  doubters  finally  came  to 
the  President's  conclusion. 7  2 

The  act  of  Congress,  March  3, 1863,  gave  the  Pres- 
ident the  power  to  suspend  the  writ  whenever  in  his 
judgement  the  public  safety  required.  The  Presi- 
dent and  his  advisors  concluded  on  September  15,  1863, 
that  the  interference  with  the  enforcement  of  the  draft 
law  warranted  the  exercise  of  the  powers  committed 
to  the  Executive  by  Congress.  A  proclamation  of  the 
President  suspended  the  writ  for  the  duration  of 
the  War  in  all  cases  throughout  the  United  States 
where  persons  were  held  by  the  military  authorities 


70  See  especially  the  protests  of  the  New  York  and  the  Ohio  Democrats  after 
the  arrest  and  trial  of  Vallandigham.    New  York  protest,  May  16  and  19,  1863. 
Official  Records,  (Series  II,)  Vol.  V,  p.  654;    Ohio  Protest,  Official  Records,  (Series 
II,)    Vol.  VI,   pp.  48-53. 

7 1  Official  Records,  (Series  II,)  p.  4,  Reply  to  New  York  Democrats;  See  pp.  56-9, 
Reply  to  Ohio  Democrats. 

78  Lincoln's  Reply  to  New  York  Democrats,  Official  Records,  (Series  II,)  Vol.  VI, 
p.  5;  Warden,  Life  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  p.  545;  Welles,  Diary,  p.  432. 


50  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

as  "spies,  or  aiders  or  abettors  of  the  enemy". 7  3  The 
proclamation  put  an  end  to  the  issue  as  to  the  powers 
of  the  Presidency;  but  a  new  one  took  its  place:  had 
the  Congress  power  to  authorize  the  suspension  when 
the  civil  courts  were  open?  It  was  an  annoying  issue 
for  the  Administration.  The  Confederate  States  had 
adopted  conscription  in  1862,  and  conferred  on  the 
Executive  the  power  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  in  cases  of  interference  with  conscription  as  well 
as  other  enumerated  offenses.  For  more  than  a  year 
President  Davis  had  been  suspending  the  writ  in  large 
sections  of  the  South. 7  4  Were  the  enemy  to  have  full 
power  to  enforce  universal  service  in  time  of  war,  and 
the  Executive  of  the  United  States  find  his  hands  tied 
by  a  difference  of  interpretation  of  a  clause  of  the  con- 
stitution with  a  minority  party  out  of  sympathy  with 
the  War'?  Or  as  Lincoln  said  on  a  similar  occasion: 
"Are  all  the  laws  but  one  to  go  on  unexecuted  and  the 
Government  itself  go  to  pieces  lest  that  one  be  vio- 
lated?" " 

How  far  the  extraordinary  conditions  of  war  times 
ever  make  necessary  the  interference  with  freedom 
of  speech  and  action  is  one  of  the  problems  of  demo- 
cracies as  well  as  autocracies.  The  interference  does 
not  in  itself  transform  the  authorities  into  an  autocracy 
as  so  many  assume  so  long  as  its  conduct  is  that  of  the 
responsible  agent  of  the  majority  of  the  people  in  free 
elections;  and  so  long  as  the  interference  is  done  in  a 
constitutional  manner.  No  one  has  in  recent  years 
challenged  the  motives  and  spirit  of  President  Lincoln's 
use  of  extra  legal  powers.  But  his  policy  during  the 

73  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Complete  Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  IX,  p.  121. 

74  Moore,  Rebellion  Records,  Vol.X,  p.  227;  Daily  Richmond  Whig,  March  22, 
1862;  October  11,  1862,  Feb,  19,  1864.      The  act  of  the  Confederate  Government 
for  the  suspension  of  the  writ  was  not  so  sweeping  as  that  of  the  United  States; 
nor  its  use  so  extensive;  it  was  severely  criticised  at  the  South;  and  was  abandoned 
in  August,  1864;  but  these  facts  from  the  History  of  a   community  fighting   in 
large  measures  for  States'  Rights  may  well  have  given  those  in  the  North  who  were 
opposing  the  Administration  food  for  thought. 

76  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Complete  Works,  Vol.  VI,  p.  309- 


THE  WXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  51 

early  years  of  the  civil  War  of  suspending  the  writ  in 
emergencies  and  his  later  policy  of  suspending  the  writ 
under  an  act  of  Congress  throughout  large  sections  of 
the  country  have  both  been  condemned. 7  6  The  Su- 
preme Court  by  a  vote  of  five  to  four  in  1866  pronounc- 
ed judgment  against  the  policy  of  President  Lincoln 
during   the   Civil   War. 7  7  The   constitution   provides 
explicitly  that  "the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of  Re- 
bellion or  Invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it". 
The   Congress   and   President  interpreted   the  clause 
freely,  with  the  effect  of  strengthening  the  central  gov- 
ernment; the  Supreme  Court  after  the  crisis  was  passed 
read  into  the  clause  a  strict  construction.    It  is  a  fact 
of  some  significance  that  the  five  justices  who  pronounc- 
ed against  the  suspension  of  the  writ  in  regions  where 
the  civil  courts  were  still  open  or,  in  other  words,  gave 
the  clause  a  narrow  construction  were  all  Democrats; 
while  three  of  the  four  who  favored  a  liberal  construc- 
tion were  Republicans.     A  decision  so  distinctly  on 
party  lines  cannot  be  said  to  have  settled  the  consti- 
tutional issue.    May  it  not  be  said  that  the  policy  of 
the  President  with  regard  to  the  use  of  the  writ  of  ha- 
beas coprus  was,  so  to  speak,  playing  safe  in  meeting 
the  large  responsibilities  which  were  his?  To  a  states- 
man who  had  watched  one  State  after  another  sweep 
away  Federal  Government,  root  and  branch,  and  set 
up  a  new  nation,  while  President  Buchanan  sat  help- 
lessly by,  his  hands  tied  by  strict  construction  doc- 
trines; to  one  who,  later,  had  with  difficulty  managed  in 
1861  by  the  use  of  martial  law  and  arbitrary  arrests  to 
stop  the  spread  of  the  rebellion  in  Maryland  and  the 
isolation  of  the  national  capitol,  the  news  from  the 
Northwest  in  the  summer  of  1863  was  naturally  more 
then  disquieting. 


76  See  Mr.  Rhodes'  discussion,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV,    p.229; 
Willoughby,   Constitutional  Law,   par.   733. 


77 


4  Wallace  3  ex  parte  Milligan,  Dec.  1866. 


52  THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM 

THE  alternative  policy  which  President  Wilson 
adopted  in  1918 — that  of  strengthening  the  powers  of 
the  Administration  to  deal  with  the  disloyal  by  new 
legislation — rests  for  its  success  on  the  loyalty  of  the 
civil  courts.  But  President  Lincoln  was  dealing  with 
cases  where  the  civil  courts  were  the  very  agents  weak- 
ening the  nation's  military  power.  President  Wilson 
has  had  the  support  of  courts  ready  to  sentence  those 
who  violated  the  selective  service  act  to  life  imprison- 
ment or  long  terms.  The  usual  penalties  of  the  Civil 
War  military  courts  were  for  the  duration  of  the  war, 
though  in  many  cases  executive  clemency  shortened 
the  sentence  or  annulled  the  sentence  altogether.  Sen- 
tence of  life  or  twenty  year  periods  were  almost  un- 
heard of. 

THE  historical  problem  of  the  Civil  War  is  to  know 
whether  the  questionable  constitutional  procedure  in 
the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  justi- 
fied by  the  conditions  in  the  North,  though  the  civil 
courts  were  still  open.  In  short,  whether  in  certain 
districts  it  was  safe  to  wait  until  the  process  of  break- 
down had  reached  the  point  of  civil  war.  The  over- 
whelmimg  majority  of  Congress  authorized  the  act  of 
which  the  historians  and  the  majority  of  the  Supreme 
Court  have  been  critics.  The  President  and  his  Cabi- 
net reached  the  unanimous  conclusion  that  the  use  of 
the  power  was  necessary.  The  charge  that  the  Admin- 
istration exaggerated  the  disaffection  in  the  Northwest 
proves  nothing.  The  collapse  of  the  Northwest  conspir- 
acy in  1864  is  only  partly  a  sign  of  inherent  weakness;  it 
is  also  a  striking  evidence  that  the  vigorous  Administra- 
tive policy  adopted  in  1863  was  bearing  fruit.  Was  not 
the  conflict  of  the  peace  Democrats  with  the  administra- 
tion an  attempt  to  stay  a  constitutional  revolution- 
one  which  every  crisis  in  American  History  has  made 
clearer?  That  is,  the  development  of  the  President 
as  the  responsible  representative  of  the  people,  like 
the  English  Prime  Minister.  The  American  constitu- 
tional system,  which  was  derived  from  the  British 


THE  EXILE  OF  VALLANDIGHAM  53 

and  strained  to  an  artificial  system  of  separation  of 
powers  has  been  slowly  swinging  back  nearer  the 
British  practice  whenever  the  moorings  of  peace  times 
are  broken  by  the  unusual  conditions  of  war  time. 
President  Lincoln's  early  suspension  of  the  writ 
was  closely  parallel  to  the  occasional  procedure  in 
emergencies  of  the  British  Prime  Minister.  When 
an  English  Prime  Minister  acting  without  authority 
from  Parliament  suspended  the  writ  as  an  emergency 
measure  he  afterwards  turned  to  Parliament  for  the 
legal  protection  of  an  indemnity  act.  Congress  failed 
to  give  Lincoln  the  endorsement  of  an  indemnity  act 
until  March  3.  1863,  but  the  belated  act  completed 
the  analogy. 

President  Lincoln,  by  his  courage  as  an  executive, 
saved  the  Union.  It  is  true  his  call  for  the  state  militia 
to  repress  state  rebellion  repelled  the  middle  group  of 
slave  states,  but  it  rallied  the  national  forces.  It  is 
true  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  alienated  the  pro- 
slavery  element  on  the  border,  but  it  inspired  with 
moral  courage  the  democratic  instincts  of  the  North. 
It  is  true  the  assumption  of  power  to  suspend  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  in  1861,  and  again  the  use  of  the  power 
authorized  by  Congress  in  1863,  alienated  still  farther 
the  Peace  Democracy,  and  consolidated  it  as  no  other 
act  did,  but  the  same  act  heartened  the  other  elements 
of  the  nation.  Buchanan  by  strict  adherence  to  the 
letter  of  the  constitution  as  it  may  be  interpreted 
without  grave  danger  in  peace  times,  cost  the  nation 
four  years  of  War  and  nearly  lost  the  Union,  con- 
stitution and  all.  A  judicious  student  of  history  may 
find  it  difficult  to  endorse  formally  acts  of  questionable 
constitutionality;  a  grateful  nation  will  in  its  judg- 
ments cleave  through  strict  legalism,  and  endorse  the 
acts  of  an  agent  whose,  like  Lincoln's,  were  so  tempered 
with  justice,  and  served  no  selfish  purpose.  May  it 
not  be  true  that  the  use  of  such  powers  in  an  emer- 
gency which  a  people  cannot  foresee  is  the  supreme  test 
of  statesmanship? 


54  A    NORTHWEST    CONFEREDACY 

A  NORTHWEST  CONFEDERACY  TO  FORCE  PEACE 

The  movement  represented  by  the  Peace  Demo- 
crats slowly  drifted  toward  the  end  of  1863  and  early 
in  1864  under  the  direction  of  the  more  radical  or  re- 
volutionary elements  of  the  party.  The  state  election 
in  Ohio  occurred  October  13,  1863.  It  tested  the 
popular  strength  of  Vallandigham.  The  Union  candi- 
date who  was  himself  a  War  Democrat  drew  together 
the  Republican  and  the  War  Democrat  vote,  and  won. 
It  was  a  substantial  defeat  of  Vallandighamism.  The 
civil  population  was  nearly  evenly  divided  in  the  vote, 
but  the  soldier  vote  was  about  twenty  to  one  against 
Vallandigham. 7  8  The  defeat  of  the  Peace  Democrats 
in  the  choice  of  members  of  the  state  legislature  was 
more  decisive.  No  election  for  local  officers  occurred 
in  1863  in  Indiana  and  Illinois.  General  John  H.  Mor- 
gan's Raid  into  Indiana  and  Ohio  in  July,  1863,  was 
a  more  striking  test  of  the  Peace  Democrats  and  the 
secret  organizations  of  the  Northwest  than  the  elec- 
tion. As  the  events  showed  the  invasion  was  a  reckless 
military  adventure,  but  Morgan  counted  on  a  panic 
among  the  people  and  some  direct  aid  from  the  armed 
bands  of  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle.  In  both  of 
these  expectations  he  was  completely  deceived.  Over- 
whelming forces  of  local  militia  were  mobilized  against 
him,  first  by  Governor  Morton  in  Indiana  and  then  by 
Governor  Tod  in  Ohio.  His  attacks  on  property  of 
friend  and  foe  offended  the  Peace  Democrats  as  well 
as  others  and  rallied  all  in  the  local  militia  in  local  de- 
fense. This  position  was  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the 
Peace  Democratic  movement.  They  exalted  local 
freedom  above  everything  else.  They  resented  the 
invasion  of  the  South  by  northern  armies,  of  Kentucky 
by  Confederate  forces  in  1861,  of  Indiana  and  Ohio  by 


78  The  citizen  vote  for  Brough  was  247,190,  for  Vallandigham,  185,274;  the 
soldier  vote  for  Brough,  41,467,  for  Vallandigham,  2,288.  The  Annual  Cyclope- 
dia, 1863,  p.  731. 


A    NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  55 

Morgan,  of  Pennsylvania  by  Lee  in  1863. 7  9  The 
Peace  Democrats  in  the  summer  of  1863  were  serving 
partisan  ends  and  not  the  Confederacy,  except  in  in- 
direct ways 

Vallandigham  had  intended,  it  seems,  to  return  to 
Ohio  in  September,  1863,  for  an  active  part  in  the  poli- 
tical campaign  in  open  defiance  of  the  Administration, 
but  events  which  he  interpreted  as  providential  turned 
him  from  the  project. 8  °  Finally  in  June,  1864,  after 
an  absence  of  almost  exactly  a  year,  he  brought  his  exile 
to  an  end.  He  passed  the  border  at  Detroit  in  disguise, 
journeyed  by  rail  nearly  across  the  state  of  Ohio,  and 
in  a  dramatic  fashion,  characteristic  of  the  man,  revealed 
himself  to  his  friends  in  a  district  convention  in  session 
in  Hamilton,  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a  de- 
legate to  the  Democratic  convention  in  Chicago.81 
Thereafter  Vallandigham  threw  himself  into  the  Pres- 
idential campaign.  His  speeches  were  as  defiant  as  ever. 
The  Administration  allowed  him  to  bluster  and  scold 
either  convinced  that  he  was  not  a  revolutionist  or 
hopeful  that  his  selfish  partisan  appeal  would  become 
a  boomerang. 8  2  In  fact  by  June,  1864,  the  loyal  ele- 


79  Vallandigham  in  the  South  in  May  and  June  in  1863,  advised  strongly  against 
the  invasion  of  Pennsylvania  by  the  Confederate  armies  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  weaken  the  Peace  Democratic  forces.     President  Davis  endorsed  across 
the  note  which  expressed  Vallandigham's  views  his    own    that   experience    had 
proved  the  contrary.    J.  B.  Jones,  A  Rebel  Clerk's  Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  357. 

80  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,    Vol.  I,  p.  347-9. 

81  Vallandigham,  Life  of 'Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  pp.  351-4. 

82  Two  letters  from  the  Vallandigham  Papers  at  the  Western  Reserve  Historical 
Society  will  throw  some  light  on  Vallandigham's  life  at  this  period. 

Dayton,  Ohio,  July  7/64 
My  Dearest 
Dear  Mother :- 

That  I  cannot  with  safety  start  to  see  you  in  your  present  illness,  is  the 
sorest  of  afflictions.  But  while  I  feel  perfectly  secure  here,  I  think  the  Administra- 
tion would  be  but  too  gjad  to  find  me  alone  at  a  distance  from  home.  ^  .  This 
danger,  too,  will  pass  by  before  long;  but  at  present  it  may  be  too  imminent  to 
risk,  &  I  know,  my  Dearest  Mother,  terrible  as  the  trial  is  to  both,  you  would 
not  want  me  subjected  to  imprisonment  again.  And  besides  I  cannot  help  hoping 
&  indeed  believing,  that  you  will  yet  be  spared  this  time;  so  that  I  can  come  & 
spend  a  happy  time  with  you  yet  in  the  dear  old  (home)  But  give  yourself  no 
uneasiness  in  any  event  about  me.  "The  Lord's  my  Shepherd".  Neither  fear 


56  A    NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

ment  had  regained  confidence;  the  turn  in  the  military 
tide  had  come;  the  preponderance  of  the  Northern 
armies  had  begun  to  tell;  the  newspapers  were  able  to 
find  humor  in  "Vallandigham  redivivus"  and  the 
"Great  Dug  Up". 8 «  A  large  faction  of  the  Peace  Dem- 
ocrats, those  conspicuous  at  the  same  time  in  the  mili- 
tary activities  of  the  secret  orders,  were  convinced  by 
June,  1864,  that  the  movement  to  force  a  peace  with- 
out victory  would  fail  at  the  polls,  and  Lincoln  and  a 
Union  Congress  be  re-elected.  These  elements  saw  no 
hope  of  success  except  in  a  resort  to  force.  The  loss  of 
confidence  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  as  the  orders  called 
themselves  by  this  time,  in  a  political  revolution  was 


for  Elizabeth  nor  Rebecca.  I  will  do  all  for  them  in  my  power,  &  they  will  remain 
at  the  old  Homestead. 

Oh  how  great  is  the  denial  which  keeps  me  away  from  you!    But  Louisa 
and  Charlie  go,  &  she  will  tell  you  all,  &  do  all  for  you  that  I  could.    So  goodbye, 
dearest,  dear  Mother.    Still  hoping  &  expecting  to  see  you  this  Summer  on  earth, 
I  am  yet,  as  all  my  life,  your  devoted,  affectionate  Son 

Clement. 

Mrs.  R.  Vallandigham, 
New  Lisbon, 
Ohio. 
x  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Nov.    14,    1864. 
Miss  Rebecca  Ann  Vallandigham, 

New  Lisbon,  Ohio. 

My  Dear  Sister:  I  find  it  impossible  to  visit  New  Lisbon  this  fall.  I  could  not 
go  between  the  elections,  because  I  was  absent  from  the  State.  But  will  meet 
you  at  Lima  on  the  Pittsburg  Ft.  Wayne  &  Chicago  Road,  any  day  this  week  or 
next,  which  you  may  fix,  giving  me  notice  by  letter,  of  the  day.  You  will  have  no 
change  of  cars  or  baggage  from  Salem  to  Lima,  &  but  one  meal.  The  train  which 
leaves  Salem  between  6  &  8  o'clock  in  the  morning,  reaches  Lima  at  2.34  p.  m. 
&  connects  with  the  down  train  to  Dayton  on  the  Dayton  &  Michigan  road. 

Brother  G.  wrote  me  in  July  that  mother's  outstanding  bills  (funeral  &c  in- 
cluded) amounted  to  about  75$.  I  enclose  a  draft  for  100$  in  the  name  of  John 
Robertson,  which  he  will  get  cashed.  Retain  20$  for  yourself  and  20$  for  sister 
Elizabeth,  &  pay  the  remaining  60$  on  outstanding  bills,  &  bring  me  a  statement 
of  the  balance  due  before  Mother's  death,  &  also  since  due  from  you  and  sister 
E.  for  household  expenses  &c. 

I  am  very  sorry  that  I  cannot  go  on  now,  but  it  so  happens.  My  best  love  to 
sisters  E.  &  M.;  to  Mr.  R's  family  &  brother  George  &  family;  &  kind  regards  to  all 
friends. 

Ellen  Bell  and  Mollie  go  on  to  Cumberland  on  Thursday  &  will  be  gone  some 
two  months.  So  we  shall  be  alone  till  you  come. 

Very  affectionately  your 

brother  Clement 

P.  S.  I  wish  you  would  collect  all  letters  &c  of  mine  about  the  house  &  have 
proper  care  taken  of  them,  so  I  can  have  them  at  any  time. 

83  Ohio  State  Journal,  June  17,  1864. 


A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  57 

probably  a  result  of  a  growing  entanglement  of  the 
same  forces  in  a  conspiracy  for  a  Northwest  Confeder- 
acy. It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  at  the  same  time 
other  elements  of  the  Democratic  Party  were  confident 
and  the  Republicans  despondent.  The  Administration 
needed  a  great  outstanding  victory,  commensurate 
with  the  military  efforts  it  had  expended. 83a  Division 
within  its  own  ranks,  indicated  by  the  nomination  of 
Fremont  by  radical  Republicans  for  the  Presidency, 
and  the  reports  from  the  Northwest  of  a  gathering 
storm  of  violence  were  cause  enough  for  alarm. 

It  WAS  natural  that  the  Confederate  authorities 
should  make  the  most  of  any  revolutionary  turn  among 
the 'Peace  Democrats.84  Such  a  developernent  had 
long  been  expected.  General  Braxton  Bragg  was  led 
on  to  an  invasion  of  Kentucky  in  September,  1862, 
with  visions  of  becoming  the  liberator  of  Kentucky 
and  the  entire  Northwest  "from  the  tyranny  of  a  des- 
potic ruler".  He  carried  along  arms  for  20,000  men 
whom  he  thought  would  rally  to  his  standards.  A  pro- 
clamation was  sent  forth  as  a  broadside  appeal  to  the 
sectional  interests  of  the  Northwest,  emphasizing  the 
defensive  position  of  the  South,  the  community  of 


83*  For  the  despondency  of  the  Republicans  during  the  summer  of  1864,  see 
Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV,  p.  52off.  Thompson's  letter  in 
Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  508;  also  report  of  J.  Thompson,  p.  i. 

84  It  is  possible  to  piece  together  the  narrative  of  the  Revolutionary  Move- 
ment in  the  Northwest  in  1864  from  the  reports  of  the  Government  agents  in 
the  Official  Records,  especially  in  (Series  II),  Vol.  VII,  and  the  testimony  of  detec- 
tives and  prisoners  who  turned  states'  evidence  in  the  various  trials  for  treason 
which  occurred,  especially  that  edited  by  Benn  Pitman,  Recorder  of  theMilitary 
Commission  of  Indiana,  under  the  title,  Trials  for  Treason,  but  all  these  are  vi- 
tiated by  exaggeration  and  passion.  An  account  of  the  conspiracy  was  constructed 
from  these  sources  by  the  Federal  Judge  Advocate  General,  Josiah  Holt,  in  a  report 
to  the  Secretary  of  War.  A  brief,  but  judicious  and  exceedingly  valuable  report 
was  made  by  the  Confederate  Commissioner  in  Canada  to  Judah  P.  Benjamin, 
the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  Confederate  States.  A  longer  account  of  much  inter- 
est was  prepared  some  years  after  the  Civil  War  by  Captain  Thomas  H.  Hines 
who  represented  the  Confederacy  in  the  conspiracy,  and  published  in  the  Southern 
Bivouac,  Louisville,  (new  series,)  Vol.  2,  nos.  7,8,9,  and  n.  For  histories  of  the 


p.  213  ff. 


58  A    NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

interest  with  the  South,  and  throwing  the  blame 
for  the  War  on  the  East. 8  5  Braggs  generalship  was 
faulty,  and  his  army  was  stopped  before  Louisville. 
The  accretion  to  his  army  from  Kentucky  barely 
equaled  a  brigade,  less  than  his  causalties  in  the  under- 
taking. The  proclamation  had  no  appreciable  effect. 
Yet  the  doctrine  that  only  minor  misunderstandings 
separated  the  Southwest  from  the  Northwest  would 
not  down.  It  was  a  common  theme  with  newspaper 
writers  of  the  Southwest  that  the  principle  one  of  these 
was  commercial.  Those  who  held  this  view  urged  that 
the  Confederate  States  remove  the  difficulty  by  pledg- 
ing to  the  Northwest  the  free  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi whenever  the  independence  of  the  South  should 
be  acknowledged. 8  6  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Confeder- 
ate Congress  had  done  so  at  the  beginning  of  the  War. 
But  writers  had  in  mind  a  special  pledge  to  the  North- 
west as  an  allied  republic. 

As  the  Confederate  armies  felt  the  pressure  of  the 
Union  armies  in  1864  the  Peace  Democrats  of  the  North- 
west became  the  last  string  of  the  three  in  the  Confed- 
erate bow. 8  7  The  southern  interest  in  the  possibilities 
of  the  Northwestern  situation  gained  momentum  with 
experience  and  the  increasing  desperateness  of  its 
cause.  A  writer  in  the  Knoxville  Daily  Register  main- 
tained as  early  as  May  12,  1863,  that  the  War  could  not 
be  ended  until  the  Northwest  was  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  United  States.  Some  saw  the  forces  of 


86  The  proclamation  was  published  in  the  newspapers  and  circulated  as  a 
broadside.  (See  inset  in  fac-simile.)  It  was  published  in  the  Chattanooga  Daily 
Rebel,  Oct,  19,  1862.  See  Official  Records,  Vol.  XVI,  part  I,  p.  1088,  part  2  p.  822. 

86  Knoxville   Daily    Register,   March    n;    March    26,    April    24,    1863;    The 
Chattanooga  Daily  Rebel,  March  27,  May  30,  1863;  The  Staunton  Spectator,  July  7, 
1863;  Augusta,  Daily  Constitutionalist,  February  15,   1863;  Athens  (Tenn.)  Post, 
February    13,    1863. 

87  (i)  The  military  resources,  dash,  courage,  and  homogenous  white  popula- 
tion.   The  contempt  of  the  South  for  the  military  qualities  of  the  northern  popu- 
lation was  a  part  of  this  view;  (2)  the  mediation  or  intervention  of  Europe  on 
account  of  a  cotton  famine;     (3)  the  community  of  economic  interest  of  the 
Southwest  and  the  Northwest. 


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A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  59 

the  Northwest  in  truer  proportions.  "Of  all  the  hum- 
bugs of  the  age",  one  southern  iconoclast  wrote,  "this 
Northwestern  hobby  is  the  most  absurd,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  most  dangerous.  Newspapers,  having 
exhausted  themselves  on  the  European  intervention, 
are  now  trying  to  raise  our  hopes  by  the  promise  of  a 
new  alliance". 8  8  An  article  by  a  southern  planter, 
published  in  the  Chattanooga  Daily  Rebel,  attracted 
considerable  attention.  It  outlined  the  plan  of  those 
who  would  nurture  a  new  secession  in  the  United 
States.  The  document  is  here  reprinted  entire  as  a 
type  of  the  point  of  view  of  those  in  the  south  who  were 
looking  to  the  Northwest  with  hope. 

"Hon.  H.  S.  Foote,  Richmond: 

DEAR  SIR:-  Your  efforts  to  suggest  some  plan  by 
which  the  war  might  be  shortened  have  been  praise- 
worthy. So  little  had  been  indicated  north  of  the  Ohio 
river  that  it  left  every  move  open  to  serious  objections. 

Time  and  efforts  produce  by  the  valor  of  our  troops, 
seem  to  have  given  existence  to  a  sentiment  which  de- 
serves a  watchful  attention  from  statesmen  of  the 
South. 

This  sentiment  is  found  among  the  agricultural  in- 
terests in  the  "Northern"  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  mainly  among  the  old  Democrats  of  that 
region.  We  occupy  a  position  now,  and  have  always 
done  so,  that  we  could  not  make  proposals  to  the  Lin- 
coln Government.  That  is  the  true  position  still.  To 
that,  we  bid  defiance;  but  to  the  legislatures  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois,  and  other  states  of  the  Northern  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  may  come  to  their  conclusions, 
I  hold  a  different  policy  to  be  correct.  We  should  meet 
their  resolutions  with  all  the  concessions  which  we  can 
consistently  make  in  trade  and  general  commerce, 
including,  of  course,  the  free  navigation  of  theMississippi 
river,  upon  conditions  thus: 


88  Knoxville  Daily  Register,  May  5,  1863;  a  warning  was  also  published  in  the 
Augusta  Daily  Constitutionalist   Jan.  27,  1863. 


60  A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

1st.  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Kansas  and 
Minnesota,  and  perhaps  Ohio,  shall  form  the  "North- 
ern Confederacy". 

2d.  Both  Confederacies,  "Southern"  and  "North- 
ern", to  be  politically  independent.  All  the  slave  states 
to  belong  to  the  "Southern  Confederacy." 

3d.  A  league  between  the  two,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, and  runaway  slaves  to  be  returned;  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi  river  and  free  trade,  and 
"imports"at  our  tariff. 

Advantages  to  both  "Confederacies,"  The  "South- 
ern Confederacy"  obtains  peace.  A  strong  Ally  in  War 
and  protection  to  slavery.  Her  independence  acknow- 
ledged by  the  Northern  Confederacy,  which  will  be 
be  sufficient.  She  obtains  for  her  seabord  cities  the 
importations  for  both  Confederacies,  and  their  freight 
on  her  rivers  and  railroads. 

The  "Northern  Confederacy"  gets  rid  of  the  re- 
sponsibility of  slavery.  It  may  assume  whatever  por- 
tion of  the  immense  war  debt  now  existing,  they  may 
decide  upon. 

It  secures  importations  at  our  low  tariff.  It  secures 
its  former  market  in  the  South  for  its  agricultural  pro- 
ductions and  the  same  use  of  the  great  Mississippi 
river.  Its  political  independence  gives  position  and 
place  to  its  rising  statesmen.  Its  topography  and 
unity  of  pursuit,  institutions  and  labor;  secure  harmony 
and  legislation,  and  promise  great  prosperity.  The  two 
together  secure  the  adjacent  territories,  a  very  impor- 
tant point;  as  they  cannot  be  united  to  the  remnant 
of  the  old  United  States,  lying  East;  including  New 
England  which  brought  on  the  war.  The  two  Confed- 
eracies would  become  the  great  "powers"of  the  Amer- 
ican Continent. 

The  "Southern  Confederacy,"  based  upon  slave 
labor,  would  always  preponderate  in  intellect;  and 
would  control. 

I  present  this  to  your  well  stored,  prolific  mind,  as 
an  outline  of  what  may  come  out  of  a  wise  course  in 


A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  61 

meeting  the  sentiment  of  the  "North  West",  hereto- 
fore alluded  to. 

It  is  true  they  have  fought  us;  invaded  our  country; 
and  wronged  us  terribly;  but  that  is  done,  and  cannot 
be  recalled.  It  is  a  matter  of  incalculable  advantage 
to  our  Confederacy — to  stop  the  sacrifice  of  life,  and 
of  some  importance  to  limit  the  debt,  and  restore  our 
citizens  to  their  homes.  Concession  can  be  made  to 
the  "Northern  Confederacy"  formed  of  the  States 
named;  which  will  stop  the  war  and  will  benefit  us  at 
the  same  time.  As  a  cotton  planter,  and  slave  owner, 
I  would  greatly  prefer  the  league,  on  the  terms  men- 
tioned, to  separate  independence,  with  the  enemy  of 
that  people,  to  the  institution  of  slavery.  As  soon  as 
they  are  disconnected  from  slavery,  it  will  cease  to  be 
discussed,  everywhere. 

If  we  are  not  strong,  it  may  generate  another  war. 
The  League  gives  great  strength.  Under  this  league, 
can  be  embraced  what  they  mean  by  reconstruction. 
That  is,  their  position  will  be  as  good,  or  better  than 
before,and  22  States  will  be  in  the  league  instead  of  33, 
But  the  New  England  States,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
&c.,  are  of  no  importance  to  them.  They  have  secured 
the  market  and  trade,  and  for  these  they  were  fighting; 
and  are  also  politically  disconnected  from  slavery. 
Indeed  they  thus  obtained  all  they  are  contending 
for.  They  say  they  are  not  fighting  to  free  the  slaves. 
We  obtain  all  we  are  contending  for. 

I  find  ultra  men,  unwilling  to  do  anything,  but 
fight  on.  They  are  not  in  the  army,  I  have  been  with 
the  army  since  its  organization.  I  know  the  opinion 
and  sentiment  of  the  army.  They  have  suffered  suf- 
ficiently, and  desire  peace. 

If  the  North-west  are  met  on  the  basis  proposed 
herein,  I  think  we  will  enter  the  wedge  which  will  sun- 
der the  present  authorities  conducting  the  war.  Lin- 
coln will  carry  on  the  war  during  his  administration, 
if  he  can  get  the  support  of  these  states.  We  then 
should  be  on  the  alert,  and  if  possible,  deprive  him  of 


62  A    NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

this  portion  of  his  army.  The  balance  we  can  whip, 
very  soon,  if  necessary.  We  can  conquer  a  peace  from 
them;  but  that  will  not  be  necessary.  If  Indiana  and 
Illinois  withdraw  the  war  will  close.  With  these  pro- 
posals before  them,  they  won't  fight  longer.  The  other 
States  named  will  follow,  or  some  of  them  at  least. 

If  this  be  neglected  on  our  part,  the  leading  men 
may  be  offered  positions,  which  would  neutralize  their 
efforts. 

These  States  are  a  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 
and  their  true  alliance  is  with  the  South.  They  are  an 
agricultural  people,  and  so  are  we;  but  their  products 
are  different  from  ours,  and  hence  the  advantages  in  a 
commercial  league. 

Negotiations  must  begin  sometime — fighting  alone 
won't  adjust  a  difficulty. 

I  have  seen  so  little  of  the  proceedings  of  Congress, 
that  I  am  ignorant  of  what  has  been  discussed. 

The  prominent  idea  is  this.  We  make  no  proposi- 
tion to  the  Government,  but  we  should  put  in  some 
shape  what  we  will  do  with  certain  States,  so  as  to  in- 
duce them  to  cease  waring."  8  9 


A  considerable  correspondence  arose  between 
those  in  the  Southwest  and  the  Northwest  who  had 
become  interested  in  the  Northwest  Confeder- 
acy. 9  °  Undoubtedly  Governor  Morton  of  Indiana 
had  the  economic  conditions,  which  caused  this  project, 
in  mind  when  he  urged  on  President  Lincoln  a  vigorous 
campaign  on  the  Mississippi  River. 9 1  Political  as  well 
as  military  expediency  prompted  the  campaign  which 
opened  the  Mississippi  to  the  Gulf  by  mid-summer  of 

89  From  the  Chattanooga  Daily  Rebel,  March  13,  1863.     See  also  an  article 
under  the  heading  "A  Grand  Programme  for  Forming  a  Northwestern  Confederacy 
in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  February  16,  1862;  and  General  Beauregard's  letter, 
May  26,  1863,  on  the  proper  policy  of  the  South  in  Official  Records,  (Series  I,) 
Vol.  XIV,  p.  955- 

90  A  collection  of  such  letters  was  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  in 
September,  1865. 

91  Morton  to  Lincoln,  October  27,  1862,  in  Foulke,  Life  of  Oliver  P.  Morton 
Vol.  I,  p.2ii. 


A   NORTHWEST   CONFEDERACY  63 

1863.  The  counter  stroke  of  the  Administration  un- 
doubtedly weakened  the  movement  among  the  Peace 
Democrats  of  the  Northwest  which  was  rising  in  the 
South.  At  the  very  time  when  the  South  was  becom- 
ing anxious  for  a  Northwest  Confederacy,  the  economic 
foundations  of  the  Peace  Democracy  were  crumbling. 
Such  are  the  vicicitudes  of  history. 

Oblivious  of  the  declining  interest  of  the  farmers 
of  the  Ohio  Valley  in  secession  as  a  method  of  recover- 
ing river  markets,  the  radical  leaders  of  the  Peace  Dem- 
ocracy prepared  their  cohorts  during  the  spring  of  1864 
for  revolution.  At  the  same  time  Confederate  author- 
ities yielded  to  the  growing  pressure  of  those  at  the 
South  who  had  confidence  in  the  opportunity  to  em- 
barass  the  United  States  with  a  Northwest  Confeder- 
acy. Three  commissioners,  among  them  Jacob  Thomp- 
son who  was  Buchanan's  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  were 
sent  to  Canada.  One  function  of  the  commission 
was  to  nurture  the  peace  factions  of  the  United  States, 
and  weaken  the  will  to  continue  the  War.  The  ap- 
proaching Presidential  campaign  was  unquestionably 
the  particular  occasion  of  President  Davis'  peace  drive. 
But  the  military  function  of  the  Commissioners  was  in 
no  sense  secondary.  The  loss  of  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Louisiana,  Tennessee,  and  Texas,  as  well  as  the  great- 
er part  of  Mississippi  and  northern  Alabama  had 
seriously  reduced  the  population  from  which  the  Con- 
federacy was  able  to  recruit  its  armies  and  garner  its 
supplies.  The  prison  camps  of  the  Northwest  and  the 
Confederacy  of  the  Northwest  held  out  tempting  pos- 
sibilities. Captain  Thomas  H.  Hines  who  had  been 
captured  in  Morgan's  raid  and  with  his  chief  escaped 
from  prison  was  detached  from  the  Confederate  army 
to  organize  the  military  activities  entrusted  to  the 
commission.  Other  officers  were  detailed  to  co-oper- 
ate with  Captain  Hines. 

The  Confederate  commissioners  achieved  one  result 
from  the  peace  drive.  They  drove  a  wedge  which 
threatened  the  unity  of  the  Union  Party.  Horace 


64  A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

Greeley  had  never  ceased  to  believe  in  a  negotiated 
peace,  one  without  victory.  In  1862  and  1863  his  faith 
was  pinned  to  mediation.  He  corresponded  with  Val- 
landigham  and  the  French  minister  at  Washington  in 
his  efforts  to  "drive  Lincoln  into  it". 9  2  In  July,  1864, 
he  became  interested  in  a  report  that  Confederate  Com- 
missioners were  in  Canada  with  powers  to  negotiate 
for  peace.  President  Lincoln  sent  Greeley  to  Niagara 
Falls  to  look  into  the  matter.  "I  not  only  intend", 
said  the  President,  "a  sincere  effort  for  peace,  but  I 
intend  that  you  shall  be  a  personal  witness  that  it  is 
made". 9  3  Greeley  bore  the  President's  terms. 

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92  See  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Vallandigham,  p.  223;  the  Diary  of 
H.  H.  Raymond,  Scribner's  Monthly,  Vol.  XIX,  March  1880,  pp.7OS,  706,  708; 
The  New  York  Tribune,  Dec.  27,  1862,  Jan.  9,  14,  Feb.  13,  1863;  Nicolay  and  Hay 
Lincoln,  Vol.VI,  p.  83. 

93  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Lincoln,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  185    189.     Holcomb,  one  of  the 
Commissioners,  Report  to  ].  P.  Benjamin,  Nov.  16,  1864,  p.n. 


A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  65 

They  were  reunion  and  the  abandonment  of  slavery. 
The  would-be  peace-maker  found  the  Confederate  com- 
missioners without  authority  to  negotiate  peace.  That 
was  not  their  commission  in  Canada.  The  episode 
alienated  Greeley  still  more;  it  gave  offense  to  those  in 
the  Union  Party  who  thought  the  abandonment  of 
slavery  made  the  terms  of  peace  too  harsh. 9  4  Greeley's 
point  of  view  was  that  of  the  theoretical  pacifist.  He 
followed  the  illusion  that  if  the  Administration  would 
talk  peace,  gently  and  tactfully,  enough,  the  enemy 
would  yield  all.  As  a  matter  of  fact  President  Lincoln 
made  every  reasonable  effort  to  save  needless  warfare. 
If  the  Confederate  Commissioner,  Jacob  Thompson, 
is  a  creditable  witness,  the  Secretary  of  War,  Stanton, 
sent  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  to  Toronto  to  confer  with  him- 
self and  his  associates  on  the  subject  of  peace.  Black, 
Stanton,  and  Thompson  had  all  been  members  of  Bu- 
chanan's Cabinet,  and  intimate  friends.  Black,  like 
Greeley,  was  apparently  trying  to  become  a  mediator. 9  5 
The  report  of  the  two  Agents  from  Lincoln  to  Davis 
directly  in  the  summer  of  1864  showed  how  vain  was 
the  view  that  a  peace  could  precede  a  complete  victory. 9  6 

In  THE  meantime  the  military  project  of  the  Com- 
mission had  not  been  overlooked.  When  Thompson 
and  Captain  Hines  arrived  in  Canada  they  found  Val- 
landigham  still  at  Windsor.  A  conference  with  him 
taught  them  that  he  was  friendly  disposed  but  still  de- 
termined not  to  allow  his  cause  to  be  identified  with 
that  of  the  Confederate  States.  A  year  of  exile  in 
Canada  had  not  moved  him  from  the  resolution  he  had 
taken  when  sent  from  prison  through  the  Confederate 
lines.  Thompson  and  Hines  were  liberally  supplied 
with  money,  and  ready  to  promote  Vallandigham's 


94  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Life  of  Lincoln,  Vol.  IX,  p.  196;  Greeley,  American  Con- 
flict, Vol.  II,  p.664;  See  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  513-4. 

95  Thompson's  Letter,  August  23,   1864  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.   II,  p.  500. 

9  6  For  the  story  of  the  irregular  mission  of  the  President's  agents,  Col.  James 
F.  Jacques  and  J.  R.  Gilmore,  see  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV, 
P-  SIS- 


66  A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

cause.  The  Supreme  Commander  of  the  Sons  of  Li- 
erty  would  accept  none  of  the  Confederate  fund;  sub- 
ordinates among  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  found  who 
were  less  scrupulous. 9  7  Vallandigham  confined  his 
activities,  consistent  with  his  representations,  to  the 
political  phases.  He  never  spoke  of  the  use  of  force  to 
help  the  South;  he  did  to  defend  the  civil  liberty  of  his 
section.  It  was  his  opinion  on  the  eve  of  his  return  to 
the  United  States  in  June,  1864,  that  the  Administra- 
tion would  arrest  him,  and  the  Northwest  rise  in  revolt 
in  his  defense.  So  he  expressed  himself  to  the  Confed- 
erates at  the  conference.  They  had  in  fact  a  delicate 
task  in  using  money  to  promote  the  revolutionary 
movement,  in  the  Northwest.  Thompson  claimed  to 
have  half  a  million  dollars  for  the  purpose,  but  it  seems 
from  his  report  that  he  actually  spent  only  $200,000 
of  it.  Boxes  marked  "pick-axes,"  "hardware,"  "nails," 
"household  goods,"  "Sunday  school  books,"  and  the 
like  carried  revolvers,  rifles,  and  ammunition  from 
Canada  to  the  officers  of  those  bands  of  Sons  of  Liber- 
ty who  could  be  trusted. 9  8  The  Commission  would 
seem  to  have  wasted  no  small  part  of  its  resources  in 
visionary  schemes  of  well  meaning  persons  and  in  satis- 
fying the  claims  of  vicious  unworthy  refugees  about 
the  headquarters  in  Canada. 

The  result  of  the  conferences  between  the  revolu- 
tionary leaders  in  the  Northwest  and  the  Confederate 
agents  in  Canada  finally  took  the  form  of  a  plot  for  an 
uprising  on  July  20,  1864. 9  9 


97  Hines  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  506;  Report  of  J.  Thompson,  p.  i; 
Foulke,  Life  of  Morton,  Vol.  I,  p.  401. 

98  Pitman,  Indiana  Treason  Trials,  p.  41;  Report  of  Judge  Advocate  General,  J' 
Holt,  p.  6;  Repo  t  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Indiana,Vo\.  I,  p.  298;  Official  Records, 
(Series  II,)  Vol.  VII.  pp.  637    646,  728. 

99  A  report  from  a  federal  agent  in  the  Northwest  says  the  Order  of  American 
Knights  had  planned  an  uprising  in  March,  and  another  July   4     1864.     If    so, 
these  were  separate  movements  of  the  secret  societies   and  not  the  larger  project 
of  the  Confederate  agents  and  the  Radical  Peace  Democrats.    See  Official  Records, 
(Series  HI,)  Vol.  IV,    p.  579. 


A   NORTHWEST   CONFEDERACY  67 

The  Confederates  were  to  furnish  a  few  score  from 
the  bands  of  refugees  in  Canada.  These  were  to  make 
their  way  to  the  prison  camps  in  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
and  in  co-operation  with  the  local  revolutionaries  set 
free  the  prisoners.  The  whole  would  then  form  the 
nucleus  of  a  gathering  army.  Provisional  Governments 
take  the  place  of  State  Governments;  a  Northwest 
Confederacy  be  created;  and  alliance  be  made  with  the 
Confederate  States.  Such  was  the  dream  of  the  Con- 
federates and  Sons  of  Liberty.  As  the  date  for  the 
revolt  approached,  the  confidence  of  the  officers  of  the 
Sons  of  Liberty  in  their  own  preparations  sank.  Public 
meetings  held  over  the  Northwest  to  prepare  the  way  only 
emphasized  the  faith  of  the  masses  in  the  ballot  rather 
than  the  rifle.  The  local  orators  said  little  of  an  appeal 
to  force,  and  much  of  a  partisan  victory.  A  new  con- 
ference of  Confederates  and  Copperheads  assembled. 
The  date  for  the  outbreak  was  put  off  until  August  16. 
This  time  an  opportune  seizure  by  federal  authorities 
of  the  arms  intended  for  the  use  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty 
in  Indianapolis;  the  arrest  of  Judge  Bullitt  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Copperheads;  the  outspoken  opposition  in  Indi- 
ana within  the  Democratic  Party  to  revolt;  all  had  a 
share  in  the  failure  of  the  Peace  Democrats  to  become 
revolutionists  when  the  new  crisis  came.  An  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  crudeness  of  the  organization  of  the 
military  side  of  the  movement  was  a  depressing  force. *  °  ° 
The  Confederates  were  getting  desperate  for  results. 
The  Peace  Democrats  still  thought  time  was  with 
them.  "By  patience  and  perseverance  in  the  work  of 
agitation",  one  of  them  said,  "we  are  sure  of  a  general 
uprising  which  will  result  in  a  glorious  success.  :»,We 
must  look  to  bigger  results  than  the  mere  liberation  of 
prisoners.  We  should  look  to  the  grand  end  of  adding 
an  empire  of  Northwestern  States". J  ° 1  The  Confed- 


100  Hines,  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  508.     Report  of  W.  H.  H.  Terrell 
the  Adjutamt  General  of  Indiana,  Vol.  I,  p.  309. 

101  Hines,  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  507. 


68  A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

crates  were  ready  to  depend  on  the  resources  in  sight; 
The  Peace  Democrats,  estimating  these  more  accurate- 
ly, insisted  that  the  movement  could  only  succeed  in 
case  the  Confederate  States  diverted  considerable 
armies  in  co-operation  with  the  revolt  in  the  North- 
west. Information  of  the  new  conditions  imposed  by 
the  Northwestern  leaders  was  passed  on  to  the  Confed- 
erate Government,  but  the  day  was  past  for  a  Confed- 
erate invasion  of  the  Northwest,  whatever  the  promises 
might  have  been. 1  ° 2 

August  16  passed  without  an  outbreak.  A  third 
effort  of  the  parties  to  the  conspiracy  to  get  together 
was  made  under  the  cover  of  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion which  assembled  in  Chicago,  August  29.  The  Con- 
vention adopted  a  Peace  platform  and  nominated  a 
War  candidate,  thus  attempting  to  carry  water  on 
both  shoulders.  The  platform  makers  under  Vallan- 
digham's  influence  declared  the  War  a  failure,  denoun- 
ced violations  of  the  constitution  and  attacks  on  civil 
liberty  under  the  pretense  of  military  authority,  and 
announced  the  Democratic  plan  that  "immediate  efforts 
be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view  to  an 
ultimate  convention  of  the  States  or  other  peaceable 
means,  to  the  end  that  at  the  earliest  practicable  mom- 
ent peace  may  be  restored  on  the  basis  of  the  Federal 
Union  of  States."  1  ° 3  The  nomination,  however, 
of  George  B.  McClellan,  a  popular  Union  General  and 
War  Democrat,  who  promptly  repudiated  the  peace 
plan  of  the  platform,  showed  the  confusion  of  party 
councils  at  Chicago. l  ° 4  The  Compromise  represent- 
ed the  clash  in  leadership  of  Vallandigham  with  Gov- 
ernor Seymour  of  New  York. 

The  Convention  adjourned  and  a  third  time  the 
rumors  of  revolt  died  away.  The  evidence  records  a 


102  Hines,  in  Southern  Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  508. 

103  McPherson,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  419. 

104  McClellan' s  letter  of  repudiation,  September  8,   1864,  Appleton's  Annual 
Cyclopedia,  1864,  p.  794. 


A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  69 

flocking  into  Chicago  hotels  during  the  Convention  of 
Confederate  filibusters  in  the  confidence  of  the 
revolutionary  faction  of  the  Peace  Democrats. 
Captain  Hines  claimed  to  have  sixty  Confederate 
officers  and  soldiers.  The  Copperheads  claimed  they 
could  muster  5000  members  of  secret  societies  in 
and  about  Chicago  for  co-operation.  Estimates 
of  the  number  actually  available  have  little  value 
The  conspirators  met  in  the  Richmond  house  and 
laid  the  plot.  At  Camp  Douglas,  a  sixty  acre  camp 
on  the  Chicago  river,  was  a  body  of  4377  Confederate 
prisoners  guarded  by  2974  Union  soldiers.  According 
to  the  plan  the  conspirators  were  to  charge  the  camp, 
release  the  prisoners,  and  from  Federal  arsenals  nearby 
arm  and  supply  the  whole.  The  project  was  nothing 
less  than  a  foolhardy  one.  A  conference  on  the  night 
preceding  the  appointed  day,  and  a  calm  stock-taking 
sobered  the  architects  of  a  Northwest  Confederacy. 
Federal  detectives  had  dogged  every  step  of  the  con- 
spirators. The  force  on  guard  at  the  camp  had  been 
nearly  doubled  for  the  occasion.  A  disorganized  mob 
however  well  led  was  no  match  for  the  organized  and 
alert  forces  on  guard.  In  short,  the  vigilance  of  the 
Administration  saved  a  costly  encounter,  nothing  more. 
There  never  was  a  chance  of  success,  for  every  step  of 
progress  the  radical  forces  had  made  toward  revolu- 
tion had  been  known  and  met  by  counter  measures  of 
the  Government. 

The  Confederate  authorities  in  Canada  were  con- 
vinced by  the  experience  of  July  and  August,  1864, 
that  no  direct  military  advantage  was  to  be  gained  for 
the  Confederate  cause  from  the  Peace  Democrats  by 
longer  delay  and  devoted  their  efforts  to  embarassing 
the  United  States  through  undertakings  which  were 
based  on  their  own  strength.  Each  was  scarcely  more 
than  a  small  filibustering  expedition  on  a  loosely  guard- 
ed frontier.  In  September  a  gang  of  Confederates  op- 
erating from  Canada  attempted  to  seize  the  single  ship 
of  war  of  the  United  States  on  Lake  Erie,  the  Michigan, 


70  A    NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY 

and  with  it  liberate  the  prisoners  at  Johnson's  Island 
in  Sandusky  Bay,  advance  on  Cleveland  by  land  and 
water,  and  thence  cut  the  way  across  the  state  of  Ohio 
to  Virginia,  spreading  demoralization  on  the  way. 1  ° 5 
The  adventurers  succeeded  in  capturing  two  passenger 
steamboats  as  the  first  steps  toward  the  control  of  the 
naval  forces  on  Lake  Erie.  But,  as  had  been  the  case 
on  earlier  occasions,  detectives  had  pursued  the  tracks 
of  the  leaders,  and  timely  arrests  foiled  the  co-opera- 
tion anticipated.  In  reality  the  crew  of  the  Michigan 
outnumbered  the  conspirators  five-fold,  and  moreover 
were  not  to  be  taken  off  their  guard.  The  Confederate 
crews  took  discretion  to  be  the  better  part  of  valor,  re- 
fused to  risk  a  battle  with  the  Michigan,  destroyed 
their  embryonic  fleet,  and  scattered  in  Canada. 

Confederate  agents  and  lawless  elements  under 
the  cover  of  the  state  of  the  times,  it  is  not  possible  to 
determine  which  it  was,  conducted  a  constant  attack  on 
property  throughout  the  Northwest.  Gunboats  and 
freight  boats  on  the  rivers  mysteriously  took  fire.  Houses 
and  barns  were  burned. 1  ° 6  A  propaganda  was  carried  on 
by  the  Confederates  in  Canada  in  order  to  discourage 
enlistment  in  the  Union  armies  and  the  subscription 
to  federal  bonds.  The  people  were  given  the  gratuitous 
advice  to  convert  greenbacks  into  gold  for  safety. 
Agents  in  New  York  city  bought  gold,  shipped  it  to 
Canada,  and  sold  it  for  sterling  bills  of  exchange,  only 
to  repeat  the  operation,  in  order  to  embarass  Federal 
financing.  But  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  of  these 
efforts  were  significant  factors  in  the  great  struggle. 

THE  danger  of  civil  war  in  the  Northwest  passed  in 
September,  1864.  The  Treason  Trials  of  six  of  the 
leading  Sons  of  Liberty  in  Indiana  in  September  and 
October,  and  the  death  sentence  of  three  demonstrated 

105  Nicolay  an^  Hay,  Life  of  Lincoln'  Vol.  VIII,  p.   18;  Hines,  in   Southern 
Bivouac,  Vol.  II,  p.  699;  Thompson  to  Benjamin,  p.  2. 

106  There  is  a  great  deal  of  testimony  on  this  subject  in  the  Original  Record  /, 
(Series  II,)  Vol.  VII.    See  also  (Series  III,)  Vol.  /V,  pp.  579,  791. 


A   NORTHWEST    CONFEDERACY  71 

the  power  of  organized  society. l  ° 7  The  capture  of  Atlan- 
ta on  September  3  gave  the  lie  in  a  spectacular  manner 
to  the  declaration  of  the  Peace  Democrats  in  Conven- 
tion in  Chicago  that  the  War  was  a  failure.  The  re- 
election of  Lincoln  and  the  decisive  Union  victory  at 
the  polls  in  the  Northwest  in  particular  drove  home  the 
illusion  of  those  who  counted  on  the  overthrow  of  Lin- 
coln by  any  means.  The  Sons  of  Liberty  sought  shelter 
in  the  fall  of  1864  under  new  names  like  the  "Order  of 
the  Star,"  etc.,  but  their  force  was  gone.  The  march 
of  events  in  favor  of  the  Union  went  steadily,  over- 
whelmingly on.  Sheridan's  devastation  of  the  Shen- 
andoah  in  October,  and  Sherman's  in  Georgia  in  De- 
cember foreshadowed  the  approaching  end.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1865,  Vallandigham  made  a  final  appeal  for  a 
negotiated  peace. x  ° 8  He  appealed  to  Horace  Greeley 
who  was  reported  to  have  renewed  his  pressure  on 
Lincoln.  Vallandigham  had  not  changed  his  attitude 
in  the  slightest  in  four  years.  The  war  was  still  de- 
scribed as  the  work  of  a  self-willed,  self-seeking  group 
of  Republican  politicians;  the  South  could  never  be 
subdued.  The  letter  concluded  that  the  suggestion 
that  useless  loss  of  blood  could  be  saved  by  a  combina- 
tion of  the  Peace  elements  of  the  Republican  and  Dem- 
ocratic parties.  But  the  prestige  of  the  leaders  of 
these  elements,  Greeley  and  Vallandigham,  was  waning 
fast,  along  with  the  declining  Confederacy. 

A  few  days  after  Vallandigham  made  his  appeal 
to  Greeley,  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Seward 
met  representatives  of  the  Confederacy  at  Hampton 
Roads.  The  story  of  the  origin  and  temper  of  the 
conference  is  a  striking  record  of  the  genuine  pacific 
purposes  of  Lincoln,  linked  with  sound  national  pol- 


107  Lambdin  P.  Milligan,  one  of  these,  was  the  appellant  in  whose  behalf  the 
Supreme  Court  in  1866  pronounced  the  particular  military  commission  which 
had  tried  him  invalid,  and  against  Martial  Law  when  Civil  Courts  were  open. 

IDS  Vallandigham,  Life  of  Clement  L.  Fallandigham,  p.  402 


72  A   NORTHWEST   CONFEDERACY 

licy. l  ° 9  The  conference  was  of  no  avail.  Jefferson 
Davis  and  his  advisors  were  undismayed  by  the  march 
of  events.  They  were  still  unwilling  to  drink  of  the 
bitter  cup  of  reunion  and  emancipation.  The  terms 
spelled  a  humiliating  defeat.  Davis  assumed  that  the 
conference  was  "for  the  purpose  of  securing  peace  to 
the  two  countries;"  Lincoln,  "to  the  people  of  our  one 
common  country."  It  would  seem  that  peace  on  some 
other  terms  than  those  Grant  gave  Lee  of  uncondition- 
al surrender  were  the  great  phantom  that  pacifists, 
States'  Rights,  partisans,  and  pro-southerns  chased 
throughout  the  Civil  war.  As  a  matter  of  historical 
fact  the  "Union  as  it  was"  disappeared  as  American 
society  adjusted  itself  to  the  freedom  of  the  black  race; 
"the  constitution  as  it  is"  ceased  to  trouble  the  con- 
servatives when  it  became  apparent  in  peace  times  that 
civil  liberty  and  the  new  nationalism  were  not  irre- 
concilable. 


109  Rhodes,  History  oj 'the  United  States,  Vol.  V,  p.  59. 


General  Index 


Abolition 7,  18,  19,  25 

Abolitionists 3,  7,  8,  17,  25 

Abolitionists  of  New  England,  The 18 

Alabama 63 

Arkansas 4,  63 

Army  of  the  Potomac,  The 36 

Arrest  for  Desertion 34 

Arrest  of  Peace  Democrats 37,  39 

Arrest  of  Vallandigham 37 

Ashland  Union,  The 20 

Atlanta,  Capture  of 71 

Beauregard,  General 62 

Beden,  Thomas 15 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward 3 

Benjamin,  Judah  P 57,  64 

Bermuda 46 

Binney,  Claudius  Horace 15 

Black,  Jeremiah 65 

Blackford  County,  Ind 34 

Bolsheviki  of  Russia 18 

Bombay,  N.  Y 27 

Border  States 5.  6 

Bragg,  General  Braxton 40,  41,  43,  45,  57 

Bragg,  General  Braxton,  Broadside  of 58 

Bragg,  General  Braxton,  Papers 40,  43 

Breckinridge,  W.  C.  P. 3,  10 

Breckinridge  Democrats 1 

Bristol,  Tenn 45 

British,  The , 52,  53 

British  Possessions 16 

British  Prime  Minister 52,  53 

Broadside  of  General  Braxton  Bragg 58 

Brough,  John „ 54 

Brown,  John 7 

Brown  County,  Indiana 30 

Buchanan,  James 53 

Bullitt,  Joshua  E.,  Report  in  the  Case  of 67 

Burnside,  General  Ambrose  E 36,  37,  38,  39,  40 

Butternuts 10,  27 

Calhoun,  John  C 17,  31 

Camp  Douglas 69 

Canada 44 

Capitalists'  War 19 

73 


74  INDEX 

Causes  of  the  Civil  War 1,  19 

Chase,  Salmon  P 49 

Chattanooga,  Tenn 45 

Chicago,  111 30,  55 

Chicago  Conspiracy 69 

Chicago  Times,  The 20,  39 

Chillicothe,  Ohio 11 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 11,  30,  46 

Cincinnati  Enquirer  The 20,  21 

Cincinnati  Gazette,  The 12 

Circle,  The 27 

Circle  of  Honor,  The 27 

Civil  War,  The 1,  3,  6,  8,  9.  14,  24,  25,  52 

Civil  War  in  Northwest,  Danger  of 54-70 

Clifton  House,  Niagara 46 

Columbus,  Ohio 28 

Commissioners  of  Confederacy 57,  63,  64,  66 

Compromises  in  Congress 2,  17 

Concurrent  Majority,  Vallandigham's  plan  of 17 

Confederacy,  The 4,  12,  34 

Confederacy  of  Northwest 54,  63,  66,  67,  69 

Confederate  Army 6 

Confederate  Commissioners 57,  63,  64,  66 

Confederate  Commissioner  of  Prisoners 45 

Confederate  States,  The 40,  44,  47,  50 

Confederates   The 1,  6,  10,  18,  25,  27 

Conference  at  Hampton  Roads 71 

Conference  at  Niagara  Falls 64 

Congress 14,  32,  51,  52,  53 

Convention  of  Democratic  Party,  1864,  The 68 

Cooper,  General  S 44,  45 

Copperheads 10,   11,  27,  34,   35,   67 

Corps  de  Belgique 27 

Coshocton  Democrat,  The 21 

Cotton   Planters,   The 1,   2,   4,    17 

Cotton  States 2 

Cuba 26 

Davis,  Jefferson 9,  34,  45,  50,  55,  65,  72 

Davis,  Jefferson,  Peace  Plan  of 63 

Dayton,  Ohio 11,  30,  37,  55,  56 

Dayton  Empire,  The 14,  20,  39 

Delaware 5,  61 

Democratic  Convention,  The  1864 68 

Democratic  Convention,  Chicago 55 

Democratic  Party 7,  10,  20,  57,  67 

Democratic  Party  in  Ohio,  State  Convention  of  the 46 


INDEX  75 

Democrats 51 

Department  of  the  Ohio,  The 36,  38 

Desertion,  Arrest  for 34 

Detroit,  Mich 30,  48,  55 

Draft  Act,  Influence  of 32 

Draft  Law 48 

Draft  System 34 

Economic  Sectionalism 15,  19,  21 

Election  of  1864 71 

Emancipation  Proclamation 32,  33 

England 9 

Exile  of  Vallandigham 40,  65 

Fairfield  (Ohio)  County  Convention,  The 20 

Foote,  H.  S.,  Letter  of 59 

Forces  in  the  Civil  War 1 

Fort  Sumter 3,  4 

Fort  Warren, 38 

France 9 

Fredericksburg,  Va 36 

Freedmen 25 

Freedmen,  Fear  of 11 

Fremont,  John  C 19,  57 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd 3,  7 

Georgia 10,  40 

Gillespie,  John 15 

"Great  Dug  Up" 56 

Greeley,  Horace 2  3  9,  65,  71 

Greeley,  Horace,  Peace  Plan  of .  .22,  64,  71 

Gulf  of  Mexico 26 

Habeas  Corpus,  Writ  of,  Suspension  of 38,  48 

Habeas  Corpus  Act 32 

Halifax 46 

Hamilton,  Ohio 11,  30,  55 

Hampton  Roads,  Conference  at 71 

Henry,  John 15 

Hines,  Capt.  Thomas  H 57,  63,  65,  69 

Holloway,  Robert 28 

Holmes  County,  Ohio 34 

How  the  Confederates  Treat  their  Enemies 22 

Hughes,  Archbishop 9 

Huntington,  County,  Indiana 30 

Huntington  County,  Indiana,  Democratic  Convention  of 21 

Illinois 11,  27,  28,  34,  35,  54,  60,  62,  67 

Indiana 11,  30,  34,  54,  60,  62,  67,  70 

Indiana.  Adjutant  General .  .  34 


76  INDEX 

Indiana  Treason  Trials 32,  70 

Indianapolis,  Indiana 30,  67 

Indianapolis  Sentinel,  The 20 

Iowa 60 

Jackson  County,  Indiana 30 

Jefferson,  Thomas 31 

John  Anderson  My  Jo  John 33 

Johnson's  Island 69 

Johnston  Gen.  A.  S 34 

Jones,  John 45 

Kansas 3,  60 

Kentucky 5,  11,  12,  34,  39,  54,  57,  67 

Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  The 26,  27,  54 

Knights  of  the  Mighty  Host,  The 27 

Know-Nothing  Party,  The 26 

Knoxville,  Tenn 45 

Labor  System,  Rivalry  of 12 

Laird,  Francis  H.  L 15 

Laird,  Mrs 15 

Lake  Erie 16 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E 55 

Lieber,  Francis 35 

Lincoln,  Abraham 1,  2,  3,  4,  5.  7,  8,  9,  11,  18,  20,  21,  23,  25,  32 

33,  35,  39,  40,  42,  44,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52,  53,  56,  64,  65,  71 

Lincoln,  Abraham  Peace  Terms  of 64 

Lincoln  Dynasty 46 

Lincoln,  Re-election  of 71 

Logan,  W.  T 39 

Lone  Star,  Order  of 26 

Louisiana 63 

Louisville,  Ky 30 

Loyal  Leagues,  The 26,  27 

Lynchburg '. 45 

McClellan,  Geo.  B 30,  68 

Manifesto  of  Vallandigham 47 

Marshall  County,  Indiana 30 

Maryland 5,  6,   13,   15,  51 

Massey,  Dr, 28 

Matamoras 44 

Medary.  Samuel 20,  21,  28 

Mexico 26 

"Michigan",  the  War  Ship 69,  70 

Middle  States,  The 4 

Milligan,  Lambdin  P,  Trial  of 71 

Minnesota 60 


INDEX  77 

Mississippi 15,  63 

Mississippi  Valley.  The 62 

Missouri 5,   11,   27,   34,   63 

Morgan,  Gen.  John  H 54,  55 

Morgan's  Raid 54,  55,  63 

Morton,  O.  P.,  Governor  (Indiana) 54,  62 

Mt.  Vernon 37 

Mountain  Whites 8 

Murfreesboro,  Tenn 40 

Mutual  Protection  Society,  The 27 

Native  American  Party,  The 26 

New  England 19,  21,  61 

New  Jersey 61 

New  Lisbon,  Ohio 15,  56 

New  Orleans,  Archbishop  of 9 

New  York,  Archbishop  of 9 

New  York,  Mayor  of 10 

New  York  City 10 

New  York  News 10 

Newspapers,  Attitude  of 42,  59 

Newspapers  of  the  Southwest 42 

Niagara  Falls , 46 

Niagara  Falls  Conference 64 

Nicaragua 26 

Northwest  The 12, 15, 19,  24.  26,  31,  34,  35,  36,  38,  51.  52, 57 

North  Carolina 4,  10,  11,  12 

Northwest  Confederacy .* 54,  57,  63,  66,  67,  69 

Numbers  in  Secret  Societies 30 

Ohio 11,  12,  16,  31,  35,  36,  40,  41,  43,  44  48,  54,  55,  60,  70 

Ohio,  Adjutant  General 30 

Ohio  River 11 

Ohio  River,  Commerce  on 12 

Ohio  Valley,  The .11.  12,  24,  34,  63 

Ohio  Valley  Democracy 16 

Old  Northwest,  The 10 

Oligarchy 6 

Orange  County,  Indiana 30 

Order  of  American  Knights 27,  66 

Order  of  the  Star 71 

Ould,  Mr 45 

Palmer,  Wm.  P.,  Civil  War  Collection 40,  55 

Passport  of  Vallandigham 41,  44 

Paxson,  Frederick  L.,  The  Railroads  of  the  Old  Northwest,  etc 16 

Peace  Democracy 20,  31,  53 

Peace  Democratic  Party 10 

Peace  Democrats 6,  8,  10,  12, 15, 22,  24-28, 30-37, 39,  48, 52-58, 63, 67-69,  71 


78  INDEX 

Peace  Democrats,  Peace  plan  of 35 

Peace  Democrats,  Songs  of 19,  22,  23,  33 

Peace  Organization,  The 27 

Peace  Party,  The 42 

Peace  Plan  of  Horace  Greeley 22,  64 

Peace  Plan  of  Lincoln 64 

Peace  Plan  of  Peace  Democrats 35 

Peace  Plan  of  Vallandigham 42 

Peace  Plan  of  Secret  Societies 32 

Peace  Policy  of  Vallandigham 16,  24 

Pennsylvania 55 

Personal  Liberty  Acts 26 

Petersburg,  Va 45 

Phillips,  Wendell 7 

Pitman,  Ben 57 

Poor  Whites 3,  6,  11,  12 

Pope  Pius  IX 9 

Port  Tobacco 14,  15 

Prince  George  Co.,  Md 15 

Prison  Camps  of  the  Northwest 63,  67 

Putnam  County,  Indiana 30 

Quincy,  111 30 

Radical  Democrats ! 3 

Radical  Republicans 3,  18,  57 

Raid  by  Gen'l  Morgan 54,  55,  63 

Railroads,  trans-Alleghany 16 

Republican  Party 7,   19,   25 

Republicans 1,  7,   18,  51,  57 

Revolutionary  Movement  in  the  Northwest 57,  66 

Richmond  House 69 

Robertson,  John 56 

St.  Louis,  Mo 30 

Secret  Political  Societies,  The 26 

Secret  Societies,  Estimates  of  Number 30 

Secret  Societies,  Peace  Plans  of 32 

Sectional  Economics 15,  19,  21 

Seddon,  LA 43 

Seward,  Wm.  H 3 

Seymour,  Governor,  of  New  York 68 

Shelby  County,  Indiana,  Convention 24 

Shelbyville,  Tenn 40,  41,  42,  43,  44,  45 

Sheridan,  General,  in  Shenandoah  Valley 71 

Sherman's  Campaign 71 

Shoddy,  Use  of 19 

Slavery,  Lincoln's  Policy  on 8,  18 

Slavery  in  Territory 2 


INDEX  79 

Song  of  the  Sword,  The 23 

Songs  of  Peace  Democrats 19.  22,  23    33 

Sons  of  Liberty 27,  31,  56,  65,  66,  67  70,  71 

South  Carolina !»  2 

Southern  Rights  Clubs 2,  26 

Springfield,  111 30 

Stanton,  E.  M 39,  65 

States'  Rights 5,  6,  8,  12,  17,  18 

Sumner,  Charles 19,  35 

Tennessee 4,  8,   11,   34,  40,  63 

Texas 63 

Thompson,  Jacob 30,  57,  63,  65,  66 

Tod,  David,  Governor  (Ohio) 54 

Treason  Trials  of  Indiana 70 

Trial  of  Vallandigham 38 

Trimble,  Judge 39 

Trinity  Parish,  Charles  County,  Maryland 13,  15 

Underground  Railway 26 

Union  Party 63,  65 

Unionists,  The 1.  8,  10  12,  25,  26,  35,  36 

U.  S.  Supreme  Court 50  52 

Uprising  in  Holmes  County 34 

Vallandigham,  Arrest  of 37 

Vallandigham,  Attitudes  to  Confederacy 67 

Vallandigham,  Charlie 56 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L 12-17, 20, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31, 36-48, 54-56, 64-66, 68, 71 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L.,  Arrest  of 37 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L.,  Report  of  the  Trial  of 37,  38 

Vallandigham,  Elizabeth 56 

Vallandigham,  Exile  of 40,  65 

Vallandigham,  Louisa 56 

Vallandigham,  Manifesto  of 47 

Vallandigham,  Mrs.  Clement  L 25 

Vallandigham,  Mrs.  R 56 

Vallandigham,  Passport  of 41,  44 

Vallandigham,  Peace  Plan  of 42,  71 

Vallandigham,  Rebecca 56 

Vallandigham,  Rev.  Clement 13,  15 

Vallandigham,  Trial  of 38 

Vallandigham's  Collection  of  Manuscripts,  etc e 13 

"Vallandigham's  Redivivus" 56 

Vincennes,  Ind 30 

Virginia 4,  8,  11,  12,  16,  35,  45,  70 

War  Democrats,  The   7,  18,  26,  36,  54,  68 

War  Ship  "Michigan" 69,  70 

Washington,  D.  C 21,  37 


80  INDEX 

Washington  County,  Indiana 30 

Welles,  Gideon 48 

West  Indies 46 

Western  Farmers 3 

Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 40 

Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  Collections  of 13,  55 

Whitacre,  Mr 15 

Wilful  Obstructionists 14 

Wilmington '. 45 

Wilson,  President 52 

Windsor,  Canada 48 

Wisconsin 60 

Wood,  Benjamin 10 

Wood,  Fernando,  Mayor  of  New  York 10 

Ye  "sneak"...  ..10 


C  % 


Publication  No.  100 


TRANSACTIONS 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Issued  July  1919 


Articles  of  Corporation 
O  fiicers —  Membership 

Annual  Reports  for  1  9 1 8- 1 9 1 9 


• 

CLEVELAND.  OHIO 
1919 


ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 


STATE  OF  OHIO 

These  Articles  of  Incorporation  of 
THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Witnesseth,  That  we,  the  undersigned,  all  of  whom  are  citizens 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  desiring  to  form  a  corporation  not  for  profit, 
under  the  general  corporation  laws  of  said  State,  do  hereby 
certify: 

FIRST.  The  name  of  said  corporation  shall  be  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society. 

SECOND.  Said  corporation  shall  be  located  and  its  principle 
business  transacted  at  the  City  of  Cleveland,  in  Cuyahoga  Conuty 
Ohio. 

THIRD.  The  purpose  for  which  said  corporation  is  formed  is 
not  profit,  but  is  to  discover,  collect  and  preserve  whatever  relates 
to  the  history,  biography,  genealogy,  and  antiquities  of  Ohio  and 
the  West;  and  of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  including  the  physical 
history  and  condition  of  the  State;  to  maintain  a  museum  and 
library,  and  to  extend  knowledge  upon  the  subjects  mentioned,  by 
literary  meetings,  by  publication  and  by  other  proper  means. 

In  Witness  Whereof,  We  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  this 
seventh  day  of  March,  A.  D.,  1892. 

Henry  C.  Ranney  Charles  C.  Baldwin 

D.  W.  Manchester  David  C.  Baldwin 

Amos  Townsend,  Percy  W.  Rice, 

William  Bingham,  Jas.  D.  Cleveland, 

A.  T.  Brewer 


OFFICERS  3 

The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

OFFICERS  FOR  1918-1919 

President 
WILLIAM  P.  PALMER 

Vice  President  and  Director 
WALLACE  H.  CATHCART 

Honorary  Vice  Presidents 
JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 
JACOB  B.  PERKINS 

Secretary 
ELBERT  J.  BENTON 

Treasurer 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 


Trustees 


ELROY.  M.  AVERT 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 
C.  W.  BINGHAM 
A.  T.  BREWER 
E.  S.  BURKE,  JR. 
W.  H.  CATHCART 
A.  S.  CHISHOLM 
J.  D.  Cox 
WM.  G.  DIETZ 
JAMES  R.  GARFIELD 
C.  A.  GRASSELLI 
WEBB  C.  HAYES 


C.  W.  BINGHAM 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 


S.  S.  WILSON 


Finance  Committee 


F.  F.  PRENTISS 


RALPH  KING 
W.  G.  MATHER 
PRICE  McKiNNEY 
D.  Z.  NORTON 
WM.  P.  PALMER 
DOUGLAS  PERKINS 
JACOB  PERKINS 
F.  F.  PRENTISS 
J.  L.  SEVERANCE 
AMBROSE  SWASEY 
CHAS.  F.  THWING 
J.  H.  WADE 


W.  G.  DIETZ 
D.  Z.  NORTON 


E.  J.  BENTON 


Publication  Committee 
W.  H.  CATHCART 


H.  E.  BOURNE 


4  LIBRARY  STAFF 

LIBRARY  STAFF 

WALLACE  H.  CATHCART Director 

SARAH  LOUISE  WEBB Director's  Secretary 

KATHARINE  B.  JUDSON Cataloguer 

MARIAN  HARKNESS Assistant  Cataloguer 

JESSIE  M.  ALLEN.  .  .Assistant 


WILLIAM  HURBIG  . .  . .  Custodian 


MEMBERSHIP 


The  Society  consists  of  three  classes  of  members. 

(1)  Annual  or  Sustaining  members  have  full  privileges,  use  of 

library,  all  publications,  annual  fee  is  ten  dollars. 

(2)  Controlling  members,  who  alone  have  the  voting  franchise, 

are  life  members,  fee  two  hundred  dollars  (one  payment), 
and  Patrons,  fee  five  hundred  dollars. 

(3)  Honorary  and  corresponding  members  are  chosen  by  vote 

of  the  Trustees. 

PATRONS,  LIFE  AND  ANNUAL  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


PATRONS 


*Dudley  P.  Allen 

M.  Andrews 
*Perry  H.  Babcock 
*Charles  Candee  Baldwin 
*Mrs.  Caroline  P.  Baldwin 
*David  Candee  Baldwin 
*Elbert  Irving  Baldwin 

Mrs.  Lillian  Hanna  Baldwin 

S.  P.  Baldwin 
*James  Barnett 

Charles  W.  Bingham 
*William  Bingham 
*Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bradford 

M.  A.  Bradley 
*Alexander  Brown 

Charles  F.  Brush 

E.  S.  Burke,  Jr. 
*Stevenson  Burke 

W.  H.  Canniff 
*Leonard  Case 

Wallace  H.  Cathcart 

A.  S.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Mary  H.  Chisholm 
*Mrs.  Eliza  Ann  Clarke 


*Mrs.  Maria  B.  Cobb 

J.  D.  Cox 

H.  G.  Dalton 

J.  H.  Dempsey 
*Dan  Parmelee  Eells 
*H.  P.  Eells 
*William  J.  Gordon 

C.  A.  Grasselli 
Truman  P.  Handy 

D.  R.  Hanna 
H.  M.  Hanna 

*Charles  W.  Harkness 
Edward  S.  Harkness 
Mrs.  Stephen  V.  Harkness 

*W.  L.  Harkness 

*Henry  R.  Hatch 

*John  Hay 

*Mrs.  John  Hay 

*Peter  M.  Hitchcock 

*Liberty  E.  Holden 

*  James  H.  Hoyt 

*John  Huntington 
H.  H.  Johnson 
M.  B.  Johnson 


*Deceased 


6 


MEMBERSHIP 


"Oliver  G.  Kent 

H.  W.  King 

Ralph  King 

Mrs.  Mary  Perkins  Lawton 

Warren,  Ohio 
*Isaac  Leisy 

Price  McKinney 

William  McLauchlan 
*Mrs.  Flora  Stone  Mather 

Samuel  Mather 

William  G.  Mather 

D.  Z.  Norton 

E.  W.  Oglebay 
William  P.  Palmer 
Samuel  H.  Parsons 

*Henry  B.  Payne 
*O.  H.  Payne 
Douglas  Perkins 
*Henry  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*H.  S.  Pickands 
*James  Pickands 
*Alfred  A.  Pope 

F.  F.  Prentiss 


Mrs.  F.  F.  Prentiss 
*H.  C.  Ranney 
*R.  R.  Rhodes 

John  D.  Rockefeller 

John  P.  Sawyer 

Mrs.  Mary  Baldwin  Sawyer 

John  L.  Severance 
*H.  A.  Sherwin 
*Mrs.  Margaretta  Stone 

Ambrose  Swasey 
"Isaac  N.  Topliff 
*Amos  Townsend 
*James  J.  Tracy 

Jeptha  Homer  Wade 
*John  F.  Warner 
*Miss  Mary  A.  Warner 

Rollin  C.  White 
"Thomas  H.  White 

William  J.  White 

Windsor  T.  White 
*Mrs.  Mary  E.  Whittlesey 
*John  L.  Woods 
*Charles  O.  Scott 

George  H.  Worthington 


LIFE  MEMBERS 


*Jarvis  M.  Adams 
*John  W.  Allen 

M.  Catherine  Allen, 
Mt.  Lebanon,  N.  Y. 

Miss  Sarah  L.  Andrews 
*Peter  M.  Arthur 

Elroy  M.  Avery 

Mrs.  Brenton  D.  Babcock 
*Mrs.  Lucy  (Mygatt)  Backus 

Chambers  Baird, 

Ripley,  Ohio 
*Dudley  Baldwin 

*Deceased 


*John  D.  Baldwin, 

Worcester,  Mass. 
*Norman  C.  Baldwin 
*Seymour  Wesley  Baldwin 
Ohio  C.  Barber, 

Akron,  Ohio 
*Harley  Barnes, 

Painesivlle,  Ohio 
*Levi  F.  Bauder 
*Clifton  R.  Beach 
George  H.  Beckwith, 

Toledo,  Ohio 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Thomas  S.  Beckwith 

Elbert  J.  Benton 
*Lucius  B.  Bierce 
*Edward  Bingham 
*Jesse  P.  Bishop 

William  K.  Bixby, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  C.  Blossom 
*William  J.  Boardman 

C.  C.  Bolton 

B.  F.  Bourne 
*E.  H.  Bourne 

H.  E.  Bourne 
*N.  P.  Bowler 
*W.  W.  Boynton 

Mrs.  S.  A.  Bradbury 
*Alvah  Bradley 

Luther  A.  Brewer, 
Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa 

A.  T.  Brewer 

W.  J.  Brodie 

Alexander  C.  Brown 
*Fayette  Brown 

Harvey  H.  Brown 

Arthur  Bruce, 

East  Canterbury,   N.  H. 
*John  R.  Buchtel 

A.  E.  Buell 
*Charles  H.  Bulkley 
*Thomas  Burnham, 

Glen's  Falls,  N.  Y. 
*Jonathan  F.  Card 
*W.  S.  Chamberlain 
*Herman  M.  Chapin 
"Oscar  A.  Childs 
*William  Chisholm,  Sr. 
*Wm.  Chisholm 

Arthur  H.  Clark 

*Deceased 


*Edward  W.  Claypole, 

Akron,  Ohio 
*Ahira  Cobb 
William  C.  Cockran 
*John  L.  Cole 
*William  Collins 
*A.  G.  Colwell 
*Joseph  Colwell 
*A.  L.  Conger, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Mrs.  W.  H.  Corning 
*Warren  H.  Corning 
W.  H.  Cottingham 
*David  N.  Cross 
*Stiles  H.  Curtiss 
*Kirtland  K.  Cutler, 

Spokane,  Wash. 
*Wm.  M.  Darlington, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
*J.  H.  Devereaux 
W.  G.  Dietz 
*Wilson  S.  Dodge 
*Lyman  C.  Draper, 

Madison,  Wis. 
*A.  M.  Dyer 
*Harry  R.  Edwards 
H.  C.  Ellison 
Geo.  H.  Ely, 

Elyria,  Ohio. 
*Heman  Ely 
*John  Erwin 
*A.  W.  Fairbanks 
Winchester  Fitch, 

New  York  City 
*William  Perry  Fogg, 

New  York  City 
"Manning  F.  Force, 

Sandusky,  Ohio 


8 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Julius  E.  French 
H.  A.  Fuller 
*Samuel  Augustus  Fuller 

Harry  A.  Garfield 
*James  A.  Garfield 

James  R.  Garfield 
*Theodatus  Garlick 
*George  A.  Garretson 
*Charles  E.  Gehring 

James  G.  Gibbs 

Chas.  F.  Glaser 
*Chas.  Gordon 
*Eugene  Grasselli 
*Miss  L.  T.  Guilford 

Cleveland  C.  Hale 

John  C.  Hale 
*Leonard  C.  Hanna 
*Stephen  V.  Harkness 
*H.  A.  Harvey 

Fitch  Haskell, 

New  York  City 
*Rutherford  B.  Hayes, 

Fremont,  Ohio 
*G.  E.  Herrick 
*Charles  G.  Hickox 

Frank  F.  Hickox 

Miss  Laura  Hickox 
*Ralph  W.  Hickox 
*Addison  Hills 

Miss  Mary  Louise  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Miss  Mildred  Hinsdale, 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Mrs.  P.  M.  Hitchcock 
*O.  J.  Hodge 
*Franklin  B.  Hough, 
New  York  City 


W.  D.  Howells,  Jr., 
Youngstown,  Ohio 
Colgate  Hoyt 

New  York  City 
*George  Hoyt 
*James  M.  Hoyt 
*J.  L.  Hudson 
Mrs.  Mary  Wood  Hunt 
Mrs.  Marrett  L.  Huntington 
*Miss  Mary  E.  Ingersoll 
Kent  Jarvis,  Jr., 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*Henry  N.  Johnson 
Mrs.  Alice  Butterfield  Jones 
M.  M.  Jones, 

Utica,  N.  Y. 
*Mrs.  Frederick  Judson 
*Myron  R.  Keith 
Hermon  A.  Kelley 
*Horace  Kelley 
Thomas  M.  Kelley 
*Jared  Potter  Kirtland 
*Virgil  P.  Khne 
*William  G.  Lane, 
Sandusky,  Ohio 
*Increase  A.  Lapham 
*Benson  G.  Lossing, 

New  York  City 
*O.  H.  Marshall, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
*Samuel  H.  Mather 
*Samuel  L.  Mather 
*Herbert  McBride 
*John  Harris  McBride 
*Leander  McBride 
W.  S.  Metcalf, 
Chardon,  Ohio 


*Deceased 


MEMBERSHIP 


*Lewis  Miller, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Otto  Miller 
Wm.  C.  Mills, 

Columbus,  Ohio 
William  H.  Miner, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
*James  Monroe, 
Oberlin,  Ohio 
E.  W.  Moore 
*Edmund  P.  Morgan 
*George  W.  Morgan 
*William  J.  Morgan 
Miss  Mary  L.  Morse, 

Poland,  Ohio 
*Geor^e  Mygatt 
*Eben  Newton 
*William  S.  C.  Otis 
*George  W.  Pack 
Charles  A.  Paine 
James  Parmelee 
Eugene  H.  Perdue 
*Edwin  R.  Perkins 
*George  T.  Perkins, 

Akron,  Ohio 
Jacob  B.  Perkins 
*Joseph  Perkins 
*L.  Lewis  Perkins 
William  A.  Price 
*William  H.  Price,  Jr. 
*Frederick  W.  Putnam, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
*Rufus  P.  Ranney 
Rollin  T.  Reefy, 

Elyria,  Ohio 
*Harvey  Rice 
*Percy  W.  Rice 

*Deceased 


Franklin  M.  Ritezel, 
Warren,  Ohio 

Mrs.  Maria  D.  Rives, 

Hillsboro,  Ohio 

*George  F.  Robinson, 

Ravenna,  Ohio 

Frederick  P.  Root 
*Henry  C.  Rouse 
*James  F.  Ryder 
*J.  H.  Salisbury 

Charles  Baldwin  Sawyer 

David  Pascal  Sawyer 
*Leonard  Schlather 
*Ferdinand  Schumacher, 
Akron,  Ohio 

George  Scofield 

Mrs.  G.  F.  Scofield 
*W.  C.  Scofield 
*John  F.  Seiberling, 

Chicago,  III. 
*Samuel  W.  Sessions 
*Louis  H.  Severance 

Ernest  J.  Siller 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Smith 
*Stiles  C.  Smith 
*William  H.  Smith, 
Chicago,  III. 

Andrew  Squire 

Oliver  M.  Stafford 
*Silas  M.  Stone 
*Worthy  S.  Streator 

Charles  H.  Strong 

Daniel  R.  Taylor 
*Robert  W.  Taylor 

Mrs.  Sophia  Strong  Taylor 

Henry  Burton  Thompson, 
Hillsboro,  Ohio 

Charles  F.  Thwing 


10 


MEMBERSHIP 


"John  Tod 

*Norton  S.  Townsend 
Lyman  H.  Treadway 
*H.  B.  Tuttle 
*Mrs.  Mary  McArthur  Tuttle, 

Hillsboro,  Ohio 
*Washington  S.  Tyler 
*Randall  P.  Wade 
*Miss  Ann  Walworth 
*Miss  Sarah  Walworth 
W.  R.  Warner 
"Horace  P.  Weddell 


"Charles  Whittlesey 
*George  Willey 
E.  M.  Williams 
Mrs.  J.  D.  Williamson 
"Samuel  E.  Williamson 
"Edwin  N.  Winslow 
Henry  A.  Wise, 
Canton,  Ohio 
"Joseph  Worden, 

Willoughby,  Ohio 
G.  Frederick  Wright, 
Oberlin,  Ohio 


ANNUAL  MEMBERS 


Gardner  Abbott 
Chas.  E.  Adams 
Franklyn  L.  Alcott 
W.  D.  B.  Alexander 
A.  F.  Allen 
Harriet  W.  Andrews 
A.  A.  Augustus 
E.  R.  Bailey 
Charles  Baird 
Charles  W.  Baker 
A.  D.  Baldwin 
H.  G.  Baldwin 

C.  O.  Bartlett 
James  C.  Beardslee 
George  H.  Beaumont 
W.  H.  Becker 
Warren  Bicknell 
Frank  Billings 
William  Bingham,  2nd 
Geo.  T.  Bishop 

M.  F.  Bixler 
Morris  A.  Black 

D.  S.  Blossom 
Ben  P.  Bole 

'Deceased 


Ernest  Boley 
Chester  C.  Bolton,  Jr. 
Fred  S.  Borton 
T.  E.  Borton 
W.  S.  Bowler 
Alva  Bradley 
C.  L.  Bradley 
M.  F.  Bramley 
W.  R.  Breed 

C.  E.  Briggs 
Chas.  T.  Brooks 
T.  H.  Brooks 
Fayette  Brown 

E.  G.  Buckwell 
Robert  J.  Bulkley 
T.  W.  Burnham 
Frank  C.  Caine 
W.  C.  Caine 

G.  D.  Cameron 
Gray  Casement 
W.  T.  Cashman 

F.  M.  Casto 

D.  J.  Champion 
W.  P.  Champney 


MEMBERSHIP 


11 


G.  N.  Chandler 
John  C.  Chandler 
N.  D.  Chapin 
Andre  T.  Chisholm 
W.  M.  Clapp 
J.  A.  Coakley 
E.  C.  Collins 
Wm.  Collins 
A.  E.  Convers 
O.  R.  Cook 
W.  T.  Corlett 
H.  B.  Corner 
Henry  W.  Corning 
James  W.  Corrigan 
Henry  Coulby 
George  A.  Coulton 
W.  H.  Cowdery 
Jacob  D.  Cox,  Jr. 
Mrs.  Clara  J.  Craft 
R.  T.  Cragin 
Geo.  W.  Crile 
J.  B.  Crouse 
Benedict  Crowell 
S.  W.  Croxton 
Henry  S.  Curtis 
H.  P.  Cushing 
Martin  B.  Daly 
D.  Edward  Dangler 
N.  L.  Dauby 
Joseph  David 
Charles  G.  Dawes 
J.  G.  Derricks 

A.  T.  DeForest 

B.  Dettelbach 
H.  K.  Devereaux 
Francis  E.  Drake 
W.  M.  Duncan 
A.  C.  Dustin 
Hayden  Eames 


C.  S.  Eaton 
Charles  Eisenman 
A.  W.  Ellenberger 
L.  H.  Elliott 
F.  A.  Emmerton 
A.  L.  Erlanger 
E.  R.  Fancher 
Julius  Feiss 
Paul  L.  Feiss 
S.  P.  Fenn 

E.  L.  Fisher 

Geo.  E.  Follansbee 
S.  W.  Fordyce 
W.  H.  Foster 
Charles  H.  Gale 
Geo.  H.  Ganson 
A.  L.  Garford 
Kermode  F.  Gill 
Harry  Gillett 
Frank  H.  Ginn 
Christian  Girl 

F.  K.  Glidden 

F.  H.  Goff 
Thomas  Goodwillie 
Harvey  D.  Goulder 

G.  W.  Grandin 
R.  F.  Grant 
E.  R.  Grasselli 
T.  S.  Grasselli 
E.  B.  Greene 
Frank  M.  Gregg 
David  C.  Griese 
E.  S.  Griffiths 
John  M.  Gundry 
H.  E.  Hackenberg 
Alexander  Hadden 
E.  V.  Hale 
Orlando  Hall 
Samuel  H.  Halle 


MEMBERSHIP 


Salmon  P.  Halle 
Charles  A.  Hanna 
H.  M.  Hanna,  Jr. 
L.  C.  Hanna,  Jr. 
A.  F.  Harvey 
P.  W.  Harvey 
Coburn  Haskell 
W.  S.  Hayden 
Webb  C.  Hayes 
Will  L.  Hayes 
Thomas  Henderson 
F.  A.  Henry 
Myron  T.  Herrick 
Parmely  W.  Herrick 
Wilson  B.  Hickox 
H.  A.  Higgins 
F.  A.  Hilliard 
Lawrence  Hitchcock 
Reuben  Hitchcock 
T.  H.  Hogsett 
Mrs.  L.  Dean  Holden 
C.  F.  Hoover 
W.  R.  Hopkins 
A.  C.  Hord 

A.  R.  Horr 

Chas.  W.  Hotchkiss 

B.  W.  Housum 
Elton  Hoyt,  2nd 
A.  T.  Hubbard 
Adella  Prentiss  Hughes 
W.  J.  Hunkin 

A.  S.  Ingalls 
H.  L.  Ingersoll^ 
J.  F.  Ingersoll 
R.  L.  Ireland 
Walter  J.  James 
F.  J.  Jerome 
Homer  M.  Jewitt 
J.  Howard  Johnson 


Isaac  Joseph 
Adrian  D.  Joyce 
Jeanette  P.  Kinney 
L.  H.  Kittredge 
John  A.  Kling 
T.  S.  Knight 
E.  P.  Lenihan 
Wm.  A.  Leonard 
S.  C.  Lewis 
W.  E.  Lewis 
Robert  Lindsay 
Bascom  Little 

E.  S.  Loomis 
Malcolm  L.  McBride 

F.  S.  McGowan 
John  MacGregor,  Jr. 
Geo.  T.  Mclntosh 
H.  P.  Mclntosh 
Arthur  G.  McKee 
H.  H.  McKeehan 
Amos  B.  McNairy 
George  A.  Martin 
Frank  S.  Masten 
Amasa  Stone  Mather 
Miss  Katherine  L.  Mather 
S.  Livingston  Mather 

E.  A.  Merritt 

Mrs.  E.  C.  T.  Miller 

Leonard  B.  Miller 

James  R.  Mills 

C.  J.  Morgan 

C.  R.  Morley 

J.  E.  Morley 

Mrs.  Seville  H.  Morse 

Chas.  L.  Murfey 

L.  A.  Murfey 

S.  T.  Nash 

F.  H.  Neff 
Harry  New 


MEMBERSHIP 


13 


Mrs.  John  E.  Newell 
Robert  W.  Ney 
R.  C.  Norton 
J.  R.  Nutt 
Herbert  K.  Oakes 
George  H.  Olmstead 
H.  C.  Osborn 
W.  A.  Osborn 
C.  A.  Otis 
Ed.  S.  Page 
C.  A.  Paine 
K.  V.  Painter 
J.  J.  Parker 
Proctor  Patterson 
Hosea  Paul 
G.  H.  Peters 
John  Phillips 
Henry  F.  Pope 
Charles  T.  Pratt 
Chas.  H.  Prescott 
W.  H.  Prescott 
W.  A.  Price 
C.  R.  Putnam 
F.  A.  Quail 

B.  D.  Quarrie 

Mrs.  Cornelia  M.  Rees 
Walter  J.  Rich 
F.  B.  Richards 
W.  C.  Richardson 
Louis  Rorimer 
Geo.  S.  Russell 
J.  A.  Rutherford 
Wm.  B.  Sanders 
Henry  L.  Schuler 
Frank  R.  Scofield 
F.  A.  Scott 
J.  K.  Secor 
F.  A.  Seiberling 

C.  A.  Selzer 


A.  D.  Severance 

Belden  Seymour 

Mrs.  Charles  J.  Sheffield 

Henry  E.  Sheffield 

Henry  S.  Sherman 

Miss  Clara  Prentiss  Sherwin 

John  Sherwin 

George  B.  Siddall 

F.  P.  Smith 

Samuel  Louis  Smith 

A.  B.  Smythe 

John  J.  Stanley 

Abraham  Stearn 

F.  A.  Sterling 

A.  L.  Stone 

E.  E.  Stone 
C.  B.  Stowe 
H.  W.  Strong 
J.  J.  Sullivan 
W.  C.  Talmage 
A.  S.  Taylor 
V.  C.  Taylor 
W.  D.  Taylor 

F.  H.  Teagle 
Stephen  W.  Tener 
J.  R.  Thomas 

A.  B.  Thompson 
Thomas  Wingate  Todd 
S.  H.  Tolles 

F.  W.  Treadway 

B.  C.  Tucker 
Geo.  D.  Upson 

M.  J.  VanSweringen 

O.  P.  VanSweringen 

M.  G.  Vilas 

Gustav  Von  Den  Steinen 

John  Whittlesey  Walton 

A.  R.  Warner 

W.  H.  Warner 


14  MEMBERSHIP 

C.  G.  Watkins  J.  D.  Williamson 

J.  H.  Webster  Myron  H.  Wilson 

Geo.  P.  Welch  Sidney  S.  Wilson 

S.  T.  Wellman  George  C.  Wing 

John  Wheeldon  P.  H.  Withington 

E.  L.  Whittemore  Hugh  B.  Wick 

H.  C.  Wick  L.  J.  Wolf 

Elmer  B.  Wight  J.  B.  Zerbe 
E.  P.  Williams 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

In  beginning  our  report  last  year,  attention  was 
called  to  the  Great  War  in  which  we  had  become  en- 
gulfed and  some  of  its  consequences,  also  the  work 
that  this  Society  should  undertake  in  its  connection. 
Little  did  we  then  realize  what  the  war  would  cost; 
how  many  lives  would  be  sacrificed;  how  it  would 
affect  our  institutions  and  industries. 

True,  at  the  time  of  our  last  meeting,  over  a  year 
had  passed  since  the  President  had  declared  war 
(April  6,  1917)  and  within  a  month  from  that  time, 
on  May  4,  1917,  the  first  U.  S.  Navy  Squadron  had 
reached  England.  Conscription  registration  day  had 
soon  followed  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  first  of  the 
United  States  forces  had  landed  in  France,  but  it 
was  not  until  last  spring  that  the  United  States  fairly 
awoke  to  a  realization  of  what  it  had  to  do.  Only 
300,000  men  had  been  up  to  that  time  sent  to  France. 
With  peace  made  with  Russia  by  the  Germans,  re- 
leasing her  vast  forces  for  the  Western  front;  with  the 
disaster  in  Picardy  to  the  Fifth  British  Army  under 
the  leadership  of  General  Gough,  the  United  States 
commenced  to  send  her  men  abroad  at  the  rate  of 
300,000  a  month.  She  did  not  have  the  means  of 
transportation,  nor  the  guns  and  airplanes  necessary, 
but  her  allies,  England  and  France,  supplied  these. 
It  was  only  eleven  months  ago  that  our  boys  of  the 
Fifth  and  Sixth  Regiments  of  Marines  were  put  to  the 
supreme  test  at  Chateau  Thierry,  where  they  repulsed 
the  attack  of  the  Prussian  Guard.  Events  then  fol- 
lowed rapidly  one  after  another,  until  the  Armistice 
was  signed  November  llth,  1918.  Every  effort  of 
the  American  people  was  turned  to  aiding  and  bring- 
ing to  a  successful  termination  this  titantic  struggle. 

Our  various  institutions  curtailed  their  work, 
loaned  their  employees,  and  gave  assistance  in  any 
way  that  would  be  of  aid  to  the  government.  Many 
employees,  either  from  patriotic  reasons,  or  on  account 

15 


16  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

of  the  greater  wage,  offered  by  the  government,  left 
our  public  institutions  short-handed  and  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  fill  their  places. 

When  we  look  back  over  the  work  of  the  year  with 
these  disconcerting  things  happening  on  all  sides,  we 
can  feel  that  we  have  done  reasonably  well,  not  by  any 
means  what  we  would  like  to  have  done,  but  as  much 
as  could  be  expected  when  one  person  was  trying  to 
do  the  work  of  two. 

We  lost  during  the  year  from  our  employees  our 
entire  cataloguing  force.  Miss  Claflin,  who  had  been 
a  most  capable  and  faithful  helper,  and  head  of  our 
cataloguing  department,  left  to  take  a  position  with 
the  Federal  Reserve  Bank.  Miss  Oldham,  who  had 
been  an  admirable  assistant,  left  about  the  same  time 
to  go  back  to  the  Public  Library.  Mr.  Pierce,  our 
custodian,  tempted  by  the  large  wage  offered,  went  into 
munition  work.  This  cut  our  small  force  in  two. 
On  December  4th,  Miss  Minnie  Bushfield,  who  had 
been  our  reference  assistant  for  a  year,  was  stricken 
with  the  "Flu"  and  in  three  days  passed  away. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  Mrs.  Webb  and  Miss  Allen 
who  remained,  not  to  say  a  few  words  of  appreciation. 
The  work  that  fell  on  them  for  the  time  being  was 
greatly  increased,  but  they  willingly  assumed  the 
extra  duties,  and  we  managed  to  get  along. 

In  December,  Miss  Katharine  B.  Judson,  a  woman 
who  has  had  more  than  ordinary  educational  advan- 
tages, and  a  good  cataloguing  experience,  accepted  the 
position  of  cataloguer.  Miss  Harkness,  a  student 
from  Alleghany  College,  was  made  assistant  in  the 
same  work.  Both  Miss  Judson  and  Miss  Harkness 
were  in  governmental  work  during  the  war  and  came 
to  us  on  the  closing  of  their  respective  offices. 

For  some  weeks  the  building  was  closed  on  account 
of  the  "Flu,"  but  the  force  kept  on  working. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  17 

NECROLOGY 

In  the  list  of  the  membership  of  our  Society  each 
year  we  have  to  note  the  death  of  some  one  or  more  of 
its  members.  This  year  we  have  lost  from  our  patrons 
two:  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bradford  and  Howard  P.  Eells; 
from  our  Life  members,  three:  Mr.  H.  R.  Edwards, 
Mr.  Leonard  C.  Hanna,  and  Miss  Mary  E.  Ingersoll. 
Of  the  Annual  members  we  have  lost  Mr.  W.  H. 
Quinby,  who  died  in  October,  191,8. 

MRS.  MARY  S.  BRADFORD 

A  patron  and  interested  friend  in  our  Society 
through  many  years.  Mrs.  Bradford  after  several 
years  of  confinement  on  account  of  poor  health  passed 
away  July  11,  1918. 

Mrs.  Bradford  was  born  in  Cleveland,  October  10, 
1832;  one  of  six  children  that  constituted  the  family 
of  her  parents,  Joel  Scranton  and  Irene  Hickox  Scran- 
ton.  Her  grandfather,  Stephen  Scranton,  lived  in 
Belchertown,  Massachusetts,  and  it  was  there  her 
father,  Joel,  was  born  in  1793.  In  1819  Joel  came  to 
Cleveland.  Ten  years  later,  in  June,  1829,  he  married 
Miss  Irene  P.  Hickox,  the  daughter  of  Da'  id  and  Phoebe 
Post  Hickox.  Irene  was  born  in  ^msman,  Ohio,  in 
1817.  She  received  her  education  in  the  East  at  the 
Female  Academy  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut;  then 
returned  to  Ohio  and  started  a  school  at  Kinsman. 
Later  she  was  persuaded  to  go  to  Warren  where  her 
success  only  increased  and  as  her  reputation  became 
more  widely  known,  her  services  were  eagerly  sought 
for  and  Cleveland  gained  the  prize.  Moving  here 
she  opened  a  school  for  girls  in  a  wooden  building  near 
the  present  site  of  the  American  House. 

Miss  Mary  Scranton's  inheritance  from  her  par- 
ents was  two  fold,  on  the  one  side,  a  deep  interest  in 
Cleveland's  beginnings,  its  business  development  and 
everything  that  pertained  to  its  activities;  on  the 
other  side,  she  received  from  her  brilliant  mother  a 


18  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

still  deeper  interest,  which  became  more  manifest  in 
later  life,  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  uplift  of  the 
people,  especially  the  young  girls  living  here,  not  only 
in  relation  to  their  educational  advantages,  but  also 
to  their  social  betterment.  She  was  deeply  interested 
in  literature  and  accumulated  a  large  library  of  the 
best  that  had  been  published. 

Miss  Scranton  married  William  Bradford  May  3, 
1858.  Her  husband's  death  occurred  in  August,  1873. 
One  child  was  born  to  them  but  died  in  early  infancy. 
Still  she  always  had  the  young  with  her,  adopting  as 
a  daughter  her  cousin  Ella  Bradford,  who  later  became 
the  wife  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  William  Montgomery  Brown, 
Mrs.  Frank  Meade  of  this  city  lived  with  Mrs.  Brad- 
ford from  girlhood,  and  when  married,  both  Mrs. 
Meade  and  her  husband  made  their  home  there. 

Mrs.  Bradford's  sympathy  and  love  for  the  old 
or  homeless  was  manifested  in  the  founding  in  1856 
of  the  Trinity  Church  Home  for  Sick  and  Friendless, 
on  whose  Board  of  Managers  she  was  very  active. 

She  was  equally  interested  in  the  founding  and 
growth  of  the  Western  Reserve  School  of  Design  for 
Women,  now  the  Cleveland  School  of  Art,  and  was 
its  honorary  President  for  many  years. 

In  her  passing,  Cleveland  loses  the  last  of  one  of  its 
early  pioneer  families,  for  all  of  the  eighty-six  years  of 
Mrs.  Bradford's  life  were  spent  here.  Her  life  so  full  of 
sweetness,  sympathy,  and  helpful  suggestion,  made  her 
endeared  to  all  and  although  she  is  not  here,  her  in- 
fluence in  the  shaping  and  planning  of  various  insti- 
tutions she  was  connected  with,  or  aided,  will  be  felt 
as  long  as  they  endure. 

HARRY   RANSOM   EDWARDS 

Harry  Ransom  Edwards,  a  man  loved  by  all  who 
knew  him;  a  successful  merchant,  a  son  of  one  of 
Cleveland's  most  distinguished  families,  passed  away 
January  13,  1919,  leaving  a  sister,  Mrs.  Chas.  A.  Otis, 
a  brother,  General  Clarence  R.  Edwards,  and  a  host 
of  friends  to  mourn  his  departure. 


/afr* 


HARRY  RANSOM  EDWARDS 

ife  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died.  January  13.  1919 


DIRECTORS  REPORT 

deeper  interest,  which  became  more  manifest  in 
life,  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  uplift  of  the 
people,  especially  the  young  girls  living  here,  not  only 
in  relation  to  their  educational  advantages,  but  also 
to  their  social  betterment.  She  was  deeply  interested 
m  literature  and  accumulated  a  large  library  of  the 
best  that  had  been  published. 

Miss  Scranton  married  William  Bradford  May  3, 

1858,   Her  husband's  death  occurred  in  August,  1873. 

O»e  child  was  born  to  them  but  died  in  early  infancy. 

ihe  always  had  the  young  with  her,  adopting  as 

ter  her  cousin  Ella  Bradford,  who  later  became 

of  the  Rt.  Rev.   William  Montgomery  Brown, 

nk  Meade  of  this  city  lived  with  Mrs.  Brad- 

:    girlhood,   and   when   marrie  h   Mrs. 

r  husband  made  their  homt 

>ve  for  the  • 
mding  in  1856 
-ITM!  Friendless, 

aaaAwaa  uoaviAfl  vv&y.  rry  adive. 
:^,oe  i«ohoi8iH  ™^^f ^  ?T'??  ^™ng  and 
growth  of  the  '     y™™*>  •Dg£jloo}  of  Design  for 

Women,  now  the  Cl<  -hool  of  Art,  and  was. 

its  honorary  President  ;y  years. 

In  her  passing,  C  oses  the  last  of  one  of  its 

r  families  of  the  eighty-six  years  of 

Bradford's  life  ^  ont  here.  Her  life  so  full  of 

yrnpat)  helpful  suggestion,  made  her 

endeared  to  all  and  although  she  is  not  here,  her  in- 
fluence in  the  jj  and  planning  of  various  insti- 
tutions she  ected  with,  or  aided,  will  be  felt 
as  long  as  the  re. 

RANSOM   EDWARDS 

H  Edwards,  a  man  loved  by  all  who 

sful   merchant,   a   son  of  one  of 

inguished  families,  passed  away 

Jam  leaving  a  sister,  Mrs.  Chas.  A.  Otis, 

a  br  larence  R.  Edwards,  and  a  host 

his  departure. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  19 

Mr.  Edwards  was  a  life  member  and  ever  a  willing 
supporter  of  this  Society.  He  was  born  December 
25, 1861,  the  son  of  Colonel  William  Edwards  and  Lucia 
Edwards.  No  better  heritage  could  a  man  have  had 
than  Harry  Edwards.  His  mother  was  the  epitome 
of  hospitality,  kindness  of  heart,  and  generous  inter- 
est in  everything  pertaining  to  Cleveland's  welfare. 
His  father  possessed  a  strong  virile  disposition  and 
was  a  good  business  man,  one  who  could  take  a  posi- 
tive stand  through  conviction,  yet  retain  the  friend- 
ship of  those  who  might  be  involved.  It  was  the 
combination  of  these  two  dispositions  that  made  the 
son  the  man  he  was. 

In  private  life  he  was  modest,  kind,  true  to  all  of 
his  friends.  He  never  married  but  gave  all  the  strength 
and  affection  of  his  manhood  to  his  mother,  who 
passed  away  November  12,  1914,  in  her  eighty-second 
year;  his  father  Col.  William  Edwards  having  died 
September  21,  1898. 

Mr.  Edwards  received  his  early  education  at  the 
old  Brooks  Military  Academy  in  this  city,  being  the 
second  son  of  the  Edwards  family  to  go  to  this  school. 
His  brother,  now  General  Clarence  R.  Edwards,  was 
there  about  the  same  time.  Harry,  on  completing 
his  course  in  1879,  went  to  Harvard  where  he  graduated 
in  the  class  of  1883.  In  August  of  the  same  year  he 
entered  his  father's  business,  then  known  as  the 
Edwards,  Townsend  and  Company,  Wholesale  Grocers. 
Later  in  1886  the  firm's  name  was  changed  to  William 
Edwards  and  Company  and  on  its  incorporation  in 
1906,  he  became  its  Vice-President  and  Treasurer, 
which  position  he  retained  until  his  death. 

In  politics  he  was  a  staunch  Republican,  yet  he 
was  truly  democratic,  for  when  the  majority  had 
elected  he  gave  that  man  or  group  of  men  his  support 
in  all  their  good  efforts. 

He  was  a  Director  of  the  Guardian  Savings  and 
Trust  Co.  and  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  the 
Citizens  Savings  and  Trust  Company.  He  was  prom- 


20  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

inent  in  Club  circles,  being  a  member  of  many  of  the 
leading  social  clubs  of  Cleveland. 

In  closing  this  brief  sketch  which  only  inadequately 
portrays  his  fine  nature  and  character,  perhaps  no 
more  fitting  words  could  be  used  than  those  expressed 
in  the  resolution  adopted  at  his  death  by  the  Board  of 
the  National  Commercial  Bank  of  this  City  of  which 
Mr.  Edwards  was  the  director  as  well  as  a  member  of 
its  Executive  Committee.  "His  business  career  was 
one  of  brilliant  success — a  merited  success,  won  by 
untiring  industry  and  devotion  to  the  affairs  of  the 
William  Edwards  Company.  The  growth  of  this 
company  is  in  large  measure  due,  not  only  to  Harry 
Edward's  industry,  but  quite  as  much  to  the  man  him- 
self. He  was  of  retiring,  modest  disposition,  but,  in 
his  quiet  way,  aggressive  and  persistent,  while  his 
charming  personality  attracted  and  retained  social 
and  business  friendships. 

By  hundreds  of  employees  of  the  William  Edwards 
Company  he  was  respected  and  loved  as  a  kind  and 
considerate  employer  and  the  friend  of  each,  ready  to 
rejoice  in  their  successes  and  to  succor  in  their  times  of 
trouble.  When  he  was  taken  from  this  community 
he  left  sorrowing  hearts  in  thousands  of  Cleveland 
citizens. 

There  was  no  company  in  social  or  business  life 
which  Harry  Edwards  did  not  grace.  He  was  an  edu- 
cated gentleman,  a  successful  man  of  business,  a  citi- 
zen interested  in  all  good  works,  an  ideal  neighbor,  a 
charming  social  companion,  a  shining  example  of  all 
which  is  best  in  life.  We  bow  our  heads  in  sorrow  that 
he  is  no  longer  with  us,  and  shall  ever  cherish  in  affec- 
tionate memory  the  loveliness  of  his  life  and  his  loyal 
friendship  in  this  institution  and  the  members  of  this 
board." 

HOWARD  PARMELEE  EELLS 

On  February  11,  1919,  Howard  Parmelee  Eells 
passed  away  after  only  a  few  hour's  sickness.  He  was  a 
patron  of  this  Society  and  a  man  most  active  in  Cleve- 


- 


HOWARD  PARMELEE  EELLS 

Iron  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died,  February  11, 1919 


20  DIRECT 

inent  in  Club  <  ig  a  member  of  mar^ 

ling  social  f  Cleveland. 

In  closim  lef  sketch  which  only  inadequai 

portrays  his  fine  nature  and  character,  perhaps  no 
more  fitting  words  could  be  used  than  those  expressed 
in  the  resolution  adopted  at  his  death  by  the  Board  of 
the  National  Commercial  Bank  of  this  City  of  which 
Mr.  Edwards  was  the  director  as  well  as  a  member  of 
its  Executive  Committee.  "His  business  career  was 
one  of  brilliant  success — a  merited  success,  won  by 
untiring  industry  and  devotion  to  the  affairs  of  the 
William  Edwards  Company.  The  growth  of  this 
company  is  in  large  measure  due,  not  only  to  Harry 
Edward's  industry,  but  quite  as  much  to  the  man  him- 
self. He  was  of  retiring,  modest  disposition,  bn 

quiet  way,   a  e  and  persistent,   while  his 

rning   pers*  tracted    a 

and  business  friendships. 

By  hundreds  of  employ  William  Edwards 

ipany  he  ^  sjjaa  majaMflA^aaA^QS  a  kind  and 
iderate  eigpta  teftioteiH  w^%w™^dfl&t<${?i&Sidy  to 
-e  in  their  5  eiei  <n  ^'^o/Prn  their  times  of 

ble.  When  he  was  'aken  from  this  community 
eft  sorrowing  hearts  in  thousands  of  Cleveland 
ens. 

There  was  no  company  in  social  or  business  life 

h  Harry  Edwards  did  not  grace.     He  was  an  edu- 

i  gentleman,  a  successful  man  of  business,  a  citi- 

erested  in  all  good  works,  an  ideal  neighbor,  a 

ul  companion,  a  shining  example  of  all 

life.     We  bow  our  heads  in  sorrow  that 

longer  with  us,  and  shall  ever  cherish  in  affec- 

e  loveliness  of  his  life  and  his  loyal 

institution  and  the  members  of  this 

boa 

How,, RD  PARMELEE  EELLS 

Or.  ary    11,    1919,   Howard   Parmelee   Eells 

passed  ter  only  .;  few  hour's  sickness.    He  was  a 

patron  ety  and  a  man  most  active  in  Clev 


t  a 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  21 

land's  business,  social  and  philanthropic  life.  Mr.  Eells' 
death  is  and  will  be  felt  keenly  in  many  of  the  larger 
activities  of  Cleveland. 

His  father,  Dan  Parmelee  Eells  was  a  direct  de- 
scendant of  Major  Samuel  Eells,  who  left  England 
about  1630  and  settled  in  Connecticut.  The  family 
later  migrated  from  Connecticut  to  Oneida  County, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  1832  moved  on  to  the  Reserve,  at  Amherst, 
Ohio,  and  in  1847  the  father  moved  to  Cleveland.  In 
a  few  years  Mr.  Eells  married  Miss  Mary  M.  Howard, 
of  Orwell,  Ashtabula  County.  To  this  marriage  came 
two  children,  Howard  Parmelee  Eells,  born  June  16, 
1855,  and  Emma  Paige  Eells  (now  Mrs.  Arthur  St. 
John  Newberry). 

Howard  received  the  best  of  educational  advan- 
tages. He  went  for  his  preparatory  work  to  Grey  lock 
Institute,  South  Williamstown,  Mass.  Later  graduated 
from  Hamilton  College  in  1876,  where  his  father 
had  attended  as  a  member  of  the  class  of  1848,  and 
in  1877  received  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
Harvard  University. 

On  his  return  to  Cleveland,  he  entered  the  employ 
of  the  Republic  Iron  Company.  Mr.  Eells  organized 
in  1896  The  Bucyrus  Steam  Shovel  and  Dredge  Com- 
pany of  Wisconsin,  later  known  as  the  Bucyrus  Com- 
pany, and  was  for  many  years  its  president  and  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  the  chairman  of  its  board.  He 
was  President  of  the  Atchison  and  Eastern  Bridge 
Company,  the  Dolomite  Products  Company,  and  the 
Howard  Realty  Company,  a  Trustee  of  Western  Re- 
serve University,  the  East  End  School  Association, 
the  Cleveland  School  of  Art,  Lakeview  Cemetery 
Association,  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
Cleveland  Humane  Society,  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected since  1882,  serving  many  years  as  a  Director  and 
as  Treasurer  from  1900  till  his  death.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  practically  all  the  leading  social  clubs  of  Cleve- 
land. During  the  years  of  1909-10  he  served  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  National  Metal  Trades  Association.  He 


22  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

was  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Council  and  the  Ac- 
cessions Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Museum  of  Art. 
When  one  reads  over  the  complete  list  of  organiza- 
tions with  which  Mr.  Eells  was  connected,  he  realizes 
how  closely  he  was  identified  with  all  of  Cleveland's 
activities  and  that  he  was  deeply  interested  in  all 
that  pertained  to  its  educational  and  artistic  growth. 
A  man  of  deep  sympathies,  broad  culture,  and 
charm  of  personality  he  won  the  love  and  the  respect 
of  all  who  knew  him.  Mr.  Eells  was  married  on 
April  20,  1881,  to  Miss  Alice  Maude  Overton,  who 
passed  away  May  26,  1885,  leaving  Mr.  Eells  with  two 
small  children,  a  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Cro- 
well,  and  a  son,  Dan  P.  Eells,  II.  On  September  9, 
1889,  Mr.  Eells  again  married,  this  time  to  Miss  Maud 
Stager,  of  Cleveland.  To  this  marriage  came  five 
children,  Frances,  now  the  wife  of  Allan  C.  House, 
Howard  P.  Jr.,  Harriet,  Samuel,  and  Maud.  Mr. 
Eells  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  all  of  his  seven 
children,  also  by  his  sister,  Mrs.  Arthur  St.  John 
Newberry,  and  brother,  Stillman  Witt  Eells,  who  is 
United  States  Consul  at  Mombasa,  East  Africa. 

LEONARD  C.  HANNA 

Leonard  C.  Hanna,  one  of  Cleveland's  most  re- 
presentative business  men,  equally  well  known  in  the 
broader  business  activities  of  this  country,  and  a 
life  member  of  our  Society,  passed  away  at  his  residence, 
2717  Euclid  Ave.,  Sunday  morning,  March  23rd,  1919. 

Born  in  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  Nov.  30,  1850,  the 
son  of  Dr.  Leonard  Cotton  Hanna  and  Samantha 
Converse  Hanna,  he  was  brought  when  a  mere  boy  by 
his  parents  to  Cleveland,  where  they  made  their  home 
in  a  small  house  still  standing  on  Prospect  Ave.,  near 
22nd  street.  His  schooling  was  obtained  in  the  Public 
Schools  of  Cleveland  and  at  Holbrook  Academy,  Os- 
sining,  New  York.  As  a  young  man,  he  was  interested 
and  took  an  active  part  in  athletics,  playing  base  ball 
for  a  number  of  years  on  the  Cleveland  Club,  then 


LEONARD  C.  HANNA 

Life  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 
Died,  March  23.  1919 


22  ACTOR'S 

Tyas  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Council  and 
cessions  Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Museum 
When  one  reads  over  the  complete  list  of  orga 
tions  with  which  Mr.  Eells  was  connected,  he  re</ 
how  closely  he  was  identified  with  all  of  Cleveland's 
activities  and   that  he  was  deeply  interested  in  all 
that  pertained  to  its  educational  and  artistic  growth. 
A   man  of  deep  sympathies,  broad  culture,   and 
charm  of  personality  he  won  the  love  and  the 
of  all  who  knew   him.     Mr.    Eells   was   married   on 
April  20,   1881,  to  Miss  Alice  Maude  Overton,  who 
passed  away  May  26,  1885,  leaving  Mr.  Eells  with  two 
small  children,  a  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Cro- 
well,  and  a  son,  Dan  P.  Eelis  n  September  9, 

>,  Mr.  Eells  again  married,  ti 
Stager,  of    Cle 

children,  Fran  >v  the  wife  of  Allaii 

Howard    P.    J:  riet,    Samuel,    and    Maud. 

s  is  survive  /^KMA^dfe^^W^ll  of  his  seven 

Sfri  «  WnofciH  s^H  n^a?^r3ffi^3^t^John 

berry,  and  br  !  b^^lflfeSari'^Witt  Eells,  who  is 
ed  States  Consul  at  Mombasa,  East  Africa. 

LEONARD  C.  HANNA 

Leonard  C.  Hanna,  one  of  Cleveland's  most  re- 

kntative  business  men,  equally  well  known  in  the 

ier   business   activities   of   this   country,    and    a 

iber  of  our  Society,  passed  away  at  his  residence, 

2717  Euclid  Ave.,  Sunday  morning,  March  23rd,  1919. 

Born  in  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  Nov.  30,  1850,  the 
son  *f  Dr.  Leonard  Cotton  Hanna  and  Samantha 
Con  Ban]  he  was  brought  when  a  mere  boy  by 

his  ]  to  Cleveland,  where  they  made  their  home 

in  a  house  still  standing  on  Prospect  Ave.,  near 

22nd  street.  His  schooling  was  obtained  in  the  Public 
Schools  of  Cleveland  and  at  Holbrook  Academy,  Os- 
sining,  Nev  York.  As  a  young  man,  he  was  interested 
and  took  a*i  ctive  part  in  athletics,  playing  base  ball 
for  a  number  of  years  on  the  Cleveland  Club, 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  23 

known  as  the  "Forest  Citys",  which  team  was  the  pre- 
decessor of  the  later  professional  club,  now  known  as 
the  "Indians." 

In  military  affairs  his  interest  was  manifested  in 
his  connection  with  the  Gattling  Gun  Battery,  of 
which  he  was  a  charter  member,  also  was  its  Captain 
for  some  time. 

In  business  he  was  very  active,  even  as  a  young 
man,  for  soon  after  leaving  his  academy  work,  we 
find  him  serving  as  a  purser  on  a  passenger  steamer 
plying  between  Cleveland  and  Duluth. 

During  the  years  from  1872  to  '74  he  was  located 
in  St.  Paul,  engaged  in  the  coal  business,  but  returned 
to  Cleveland  in  1875  and  became  connected  in  busi- 
ness with  his  brother,  Marcus  A.  Hanna,  and  in  1879 
became  partner  in  the  firm  of  M.  A.  Hanna  &  Company. 
Later  during  M.  A.  Hanna's  activity  in  national  poli- 
tics, first  as  a  leader,  then  as  a  senator,  the  brother  be- 
came the  acting  head  of  the  Company.  But  many 
other  organizations  demanded  a  share  of  his  time  and 
his  great  business  ability. 

In  looking  over  the  long  list  of  organizations  he 
was  actively  connected  with,  we  recognize  some  of  the 
strongest  in  Cleveland.  For  eight  years  from  its  or- 
ganization, Mr.  Hanna  was  the  President  of  the  Besse- 
mer Ore  Association.  He  was  Director  in  the  Kelley 
Island  Lime  and  Transport  Company;  the  Ohio  and 
Western  Lime  Company  The  Lakeside  and  Marble- 
head  Railway  Company;  The  Cleveland  Railway 
Company;  The  Great  Lakes  Towing  Company;  The 
Republic  Iron  and  Steel  Company;  a  Trustee  of  the 
Lakeside  Hospital  and  the  President  of  the  Claire 
Furnace  Company. 

In  1905,  on  retiring  from  active  business,  he  severed 
his  connection  with  all  excepting  two  corporations — 
The  Kelley  Island  Lime  and  Transport  Company,  and 
The  Cleveland  Railway  Company. 

He  was  a  member  of  many  of  the  social  and  busi- 
ness clubs  of  the  city. 


24  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

On  May  17, 1876,  Mr.  Hanna  married  Miss  Fannie  W. 
Mann  of  Buffalo,  having  two  children  by  this  marriage, 
Mrs.  H.  M.  Hanna,  Jr.,  of  this  city  and  Mrs.  Paul  Moore, 
who  resides  in  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  Some  time  after 
the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Hanna  again  married,  this 
time  to  Miss  Coralie  Walker  of  Richmond,  Kentucky. 
One  son  was  born  to  them,  Leonard  C.  Hanna,  Jr. 

Although  naturally  of  a  quiet,  unassuming  disposi- 
tion, he  had  the  faculty  of  winning  the  friendship  of 
those  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Conscientious 
in  all  his  work,  his  advice  was  often  sought  and  none 
more  highly  prized. 

He  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  children,  two 
sisters,  Mrs.  S.  Prentiss  Baldwin,  and  Mrs.  Jay  C. 
Morse,  and  one  brother,  Mr.  H.  M.  Hanna. 

LEONARD  SCHLATHER 

Mr.  Leonard  Schlather,  life  member  of  the  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society,  passed  away  on  the  19th 
of  April,  1918,  at  the  age  of  nearly  eighty-four  years. 
He  was  of  foreign  extraction,  having  been  born  in 
Ebenhausen,  Kingdom  of  Wuerttemberg,  Germany, 
on  June  20,  1834.  Emigrating  in  the  spring  of  1852, 
he  settled  a  year  afterwards  in  the  city  of  Cleveland, 
which  was  to  become  his  home  and  the  place  of  his 
extended  activities.  He  engaged  in  the  brewery 
business,  laying  thereby  the  foundation  of  a  large 
fortune  and  thus  enabling  him  to  branch  out  into  differ- 
ent industrial  and  commercial  enterprises. 

In  the  course  of  time  he  became  a  director  of  The 
Union  National  Bank,  Vice  President  of  the  People's 
Savings  Bank,  and  director  in  a  number  of  various 
industrial  establishments.  As  a  man  of  great  energy, 
fine  intellect  and  keen  foresight,  he  had  a  clear  vision 
of  the  wonderful  future  of  Cleveland,  and  contributed 
to  the  growth  of  the  city  in  many  ways. 

Mr.  Schlather  was  married  about  1855  to  Miss 
Katherine  Backes.  Six  daughters  were  born  to  them, 
only  one  of  whom  is  now  living,  Mrs.  Lena  Parker, 


LEONARD  SCHLATHER 

Life  Member  of  The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Societj 
Died,  April  19.  1918 


24  -R'S  REPORT 

C     On  May  17,1"   6,  Mr.  Hanna  married  Miss  1  j 
Mann  of  Buffalo,  having  two  children  by  this  man 
Mrs.  H.  M.  L,  Jr.,  of  this  city  and  Mrs.  Paul  M< 

who  resides  in  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  Some  time  after 
the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Hanna  again  married,  this 
time  to  Miss  Coralie  Walker  of  Richmond,  Kentucky. 
One  son  was  born  to  them,  Leonard  C.  Hat 

Although  naturally  of  a  quiet,  unassumi; 
tion,  he  had  the  faculty  of  winning  the  friendship  of 
those  who  came  in  contact  with  him.     Conscient 
in  all  his  work,  his  advice  was  often  sought  and  none 
more  highly  prized. 

He  is  survived  by  his  widow  and  children,  two 
Mrs.  S.  Prentiss  Baldwin  Irs.  Jay  C. 

-e,  and  one  brother,  ?  ina, 

.ATHER 

r.  Leonard  uer,  life  m<  <A  the  Western 

H3HXAJH38  aHAWOai^™  ^  jj~e   jg^n 

He  was  of  foreign  extraction,  naving  been  born  in 
Ebenhausen,   Kingdom  of  Wuerttemberg,   Germany, 
on  June  £0,  1834.     Emigrating  in  the  spring  of  ! 
he  settled  a  year  afterwards  in  the  city  of  Cleve 
which  was  to  become  his  home  and  the  place  of  his 
activities.     He    engaged    in    the    brewery 
'-      laying  thereby   the  foundation   of   a   large 
i  thus  enabling  him  to  branch  out  into  differ 
lal  and  commercial  enterprises. 
In  mrse  of  time  he  became  a  director  of  The 

mal  Bank,  Vice  President  of  the  People's 
,  and  director  in  a  number  of  various 
Mishments.     As  a  man  of  great  en< 
fine  int*  :id  keen  foresight,  he  had  a  cle;< 

of  the  v  future  of  Cleveland,  and  *  >uted 

to  the  grc  the  city  in  many  ways. 

r.   Sch  was   married  about   1855   to  Miss 

lerineBac  Six  din)2hters  were  born  to  them, 

only  one  of  w  now  1  Mrs.  Lena  Par 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  25 

wife  of  Dr.  Charles  B.  Parker.  Mr.  Schlather  became 
a  widower  over  twenty-five  years  ago.  In  1897  he  was 
joined  in  wedlock  to  Miss  Anna  K.  Sophy  Schwarz, 
daughter  of  the  deceased  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Schwarz 
of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  who  survives  him,  besides  his 
grandchildren,  Miss  Helen  E.  Hobson,  Miss  Leona 
Wager  and  Mars  Wager. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  to  the  estate  of  the  de- 
ceased belongs  a  large  farm  on  Rocky  River,  situated 
just  south  of  Rocky  River  bridge.  It  was  here  that 
Mr.  Schlather  passed  his  hours  of  leisure  in  the  con- 
templation of  nature  and  in  the  society  of  the  great 
minds  of  all  times  and  all  nations.  He  was  largely 
instrumental  in  the  erection  of  Goethe-Schiller  monu- 
ment in  Wade  Park  and  the  Richard  Wagner  statue 
at  Edgewater  Park.  A  tour  around  the  earth  and  ex- 
tensive travels  in  many  lands  thereon  had  given  him  a 
thorough  understanding  of  humanity  and  a  cosmopoli- 
tan knowledge.  It  was,  too,  this  comprehension  that 
made  him  a  true  and  loyal  American  citizen,  which 
also  means  a  liberal  contributor  towards  the  welfare 
work  of  a  man's  home  town.  The  hospitals  of  Cleve- 
land, the  benevolent  institutions  and  charities  had  a 
helpful  friend  in  him,  though  he  never  let  his  left  hand 
know  what  his  right  hand  was  doing.  The  modesty 
of  his  character  was  remarkable  as  to  its  strength. 
Taken  all  in  all,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  character. 

PUBLICATIONS 

Two  publications  were  issued  by  the  Society  during 
the  year — the  Transactions  of  the  Society,  No.  98, 
issued  in  September,  which  embraced  the  reports  of 
the  Organization,  Necrology,  etc.,  and  in  January,  as 
publication  No.  99,  "The  Movement  for  Peace  with- 
out a  Victory  During  the  Civil  War,"  by  Prof.  Elbert 
J.  Benton.  Many  letters  were  received  expressing  ap- 
preciation for  Dr.  Benton's  painstaking  piece  of  work, 
presenting,  as  it  did  largely,  new  deductions  on  this 
very  important  phase  of  American  history.  We  owe 


26  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

much  to  Dr.  Benton  for  the  time  and  thought  he  put 
into  this  production. 

The  coming  year's  publications  will  embrace  the 
reports  of  the  Society,  which  will  be  issued  as  promptly 
as  possible  after  the  annual  meeting,  and  in  the  Col- 
lections of  the  Society,  will  be  published — The  Western 
Reserve  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,"  an  exhaustive 
publication  on  a  subject  that  we  have  no  doubt  will 
prove  of  great  interest  to  our  members.  This  publica- 
tion has  been  prepared  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Cochran,  of 
Cincinnati,  and  will  be  published  during  the  winter. 

TRIPS 

Owing  to  the  smallness  of  our  force  and  the  pres- 
sure of  work,  our  collecting  trips  have  been  confined 
to  two  or  three  during  the  year,  although  a  number 
of  short  ones  were  made  by  automobile  to  nearby 
towns,  such  as  Elyria,  Akron,  and  Ravenna.  At 
the  last  named  place  we  obtained  the  material  from 
Mrs.  Beebe. 

In  one  trip  to  Granville  a  large  case  of  material 
from  Mrs.  Geo.  E.  Stevens  was  obtained.  Then  a 
trip  of  three  or  four  days  to  Steubenville,  Mt.  Pleasant, 
and  Cadiz  brought  in  splendid  returns. 

The  only  extended  trip  during  the  year  was  one 
made  in  the  late  spring  to  the  east,  stopping  at  Phila- 
delphia, New  York,  New  Haven,  Boston,  Salem, 
Worcester,  the  Shakers  at  Mt.  Lebanon,  and  Albany. 
At  each  stop  all  available  societies  and  libraries  were 
visited  and  the  gift  sheet  will  show  the  results  obtained. 

We  have  been  going  over  the  different  lots  result- 
ing from  this  trip  as  they  have  come  in,  and  we  feel 
inclined  to  think  they  are  equal  to  and  probably  larger 
than  from  any  one  previously  made. 

There  are  a  number  of  places  in  the  state  that  we 
are  planning  to  go  to  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

LIBRARY 

The  library  and  the  various  other  collections  of  the 
Society,  even  in  the  face  of  the  war  and  the  curtail- 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  27 

ments  involved  thereby,  have  shown  very  satisfactory 
accessions. 

We  have  added  some  3164  volumes  and  4848 
pamphlets,  besides  increasing  the  other  collections,  such 
as  manuscripts,  maps,  broadsides,  newspapers,  etc., 
which  are  enumerated  in  other  parts  of  this  report. 

MANUSCRIPTS 

A  valuable  and  interesting  addition  to  our  collec- 
tion of  papers  pertaining  to  the  Ohio  Land  Company 
has  been  received  by  gift  from  Mr.  Kenyon  V.  Painter. 
It  is  a  folio  manuscript  of  four  pages,  entitled  "To  the 
King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty  in  Councel  The  Humble 
Petition  of  the  Ohio  Company,"  beseeching  a  larger 
grant  of  land  in  consideration  for  which  the  Company 
offers  to  increase  the  number  of  families  from  100  to 
300,  which  they  had  agreed  in  their  first  contract  of 
1744  to  send  out  to  occupy  the  land,  and  also  the  agree- 
ment to  erect  two  forts  one  at  Shurlee's  Creek  and  the 
other  at  the  Fork  where  the  Great  Conhaway  enters 
the  Ohio,  said  forts  to  be  maintained  at  the  Company's 
expense. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey.  59  pieces  of  manuscript  material 
bearing  on  early  Baptist  History. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.  A  rather  unusual  gift  in  the  History 
of  First  Methodist  Church  of  Cleveland,  representing  months 
of  correspondence  and  diligent  research  in  bringing  it  to- 
gether. Mr.  Talmage  has  gathered  photographs,  docu- 
ments, deeds,  etc.,  all  pertaining  to  this  church  and  has  had 
them  bound  and  placed  in  a  specially  made  tin  box  for 
preservation. 

It  would  be  of  great  value  if  some  member  of  the 
other  churches  of  Cleveland  would  follow  this  example'. 
A  number  of  our  churches  are  fast  approaching  their 
one  hundredth  anniversary,  and  if  records  could  be 
obtained  they  would  be  of  great  aid  in  the  future. 

Mrs.  Geo.  E.  Stevens.  Records  of  the  Western  Baptist 
Education  Society  from  1834-1845. 


28  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Miss  Lillie  Jenkins.  Records  of  the  Annual  Meetings  of 
the  Free  Produce  Association  of  Friends  of  Ohio,  consisting 
of  several  volumes.  School  Register  of  Mt.  Pleasant  High 
School,  1843-49.  Roll  of  Mt.  Pleasant  District  School, 
1839-40. 

By  purchase.  A  record  of  the  deaths  in  Middlebury, 
County  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  1815. 

Mrs  Fannie  A.  Bissell.  Rev.  Samuel  BisselFs  Day 
Books  from  1825-1875,  6  volumes.  Yale  College  diploma 
issued  to  Samuel  Bissell,  who,  later,  became  President  of  the 
Twinsburg  Institute. 

Mrs.  E.  Boley.  Letter  received  via  the  first  trip  of  the 
Air  Mail  Service,  May  15,  1918. 

Rev.  R.  T.  Cross.  Three  sermons  preached  in  Twinsburg, 
Nov.  1834,  by  Rev.  Samuel  Bissell. 

Dr.  H.  K.  Cushing  Estate.  Franklin  Letters  consisting 
of  two  written  by  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  one  from  Frank- 
lin's grandson. 

Miss  Alice  Hussey.  Grant  of  Land  to  Horace  Potter, 
signed  by  the  President,  James  Madison,  in  1815. 

Mr.  Hosea  Paul.  Manuscript  of  Memorandum  of  the 
Plank  Road  and  Turnpike  Companies  in  Cuyahoga  County, 
taken  from  County  Commissioners'  Records,  April  3,  1918. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  R.  Scofield.  Interesting  collection 
of  early  Cleveland  material — invitations,  announcements, 
etc. 

Mr.  Frank  F.  Starr.  Three  papers  relating  to  the  early 
days  of  Ohio. 

Miss  Wells.  Original  plan  of  Steubenville  (1796).  Con- 
tract between  James  Ross  and  Bezbl  Wells  for  land  pur- 
chased and  for  sale  by  them  jointly  at  Steubenville. 

Two  commissions  issued  to  Bezbl  Wells  by  Winthrop 
Sargent,  dated  July,  1797.  List  of  Sales  of  lots  in  Steuben- 
ville, 1796-1803. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Beebe.  Stage  Office  Record  book,  Ravenna, 
1833-5.  Class  Record  of  M.  E.  Church,  Ravenna,  1857-8. 
Records  of  the  Court  Temperance  Society,  Ravenna,  O.,  1838. 

Mrs.  E.  J.  Donaldson.  Select  School  Book,  1831,  contain- 
ing list  of  students  in  Steubenville  Seminary,  1829-31. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  29 

Mr.  Norman  E.  Hills.  Result  of  the  City  elections  of 
Cleveland  for  March,  1841. 

Mr.  P.  H.  Kaiser.  A  Half  Century  in  Cleveland,  by  Peter 
Henry  Kaiser. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Nutt.  From  the  estate  of  General  J.  J.  Elwell, 
a  large  collection  of  Clara  Barton's  correspondence  with 
General  Elwell. 

Mrs.  Scott  Robinson.    Fifteen  manuscripts — deeds,  etc. 

Mr.  A.  Sperry.  Manuscript  book  of  telegrams  addressed 
to  Secretary  of  War  Seddon,  of  the  Confederate  States 
Army.  A  collection  of  manuscript  records  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, captured  by  the  Union  soldiers  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
including  account  books,  various  letters,  reports  of  the 
Order  department,  etc.  The  Diary  kept  by  Ambrose  C. 
Hinds,  of  the  last  six  months  of  service  of  Company  D,  First 
Regiment,  O.  V.  L.  A.,  from  January  to  June,  1865. 

These  old  diaries,  when  carefully  kept  are  of  great 
value  to  the  historian,  and  our  Society  is  gradually 
forming  a  very  good  collection  of  them. 

A  number  of  years  ago  some  twenty-five  of  the 
Civil  War  diaries  were  received  from  General  Bar- 
nett's  estate.  Many  came  in  the  William  P.  Palmer 
Collection  and  a  large  number  have  been  received 
from  time  to  time,  from  individuals. 

To  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  Collection  a  considerable 
number  of  manuscripts  have  been  added,  including 
several  Rosters  and  Payrolls  of  the  Confederate  States 
Navy,  and  letters  and  correspondence  largely  on  the 
Confederate  side.  Also  the  original  record  book  of 
the  Morgan  Raid  Commission  which  was  in  session 
from  April  4th  to  Oct.  22nd,  1867,  in  Indiana. 

The  collection  of  Shaker  manuscripts  has  received 
some  very  interesting  and  valuable  additions.  The 
Society  should  feel  very  grateful  that  this  important 
Christian  communistic  organization  has  made  it  the 
depository  of  so  much  of  its  history,  and  quite  wisely, 
for  they  recognize  that  if  it  is  scattered,  the  historic 
value  is  greatly  lost  as  one  branch  of  it  is  so  intermin- 


SO  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

gled  with  another  that  it  must  be  considered  as  a  whole 
and  hence  the  importance  of  having  it  gathered  in  one 
place. 

Your  Director  outside  of  office  hours  is  compiling 
from  all  records  available,  a  complete  card  index  of  the 
Shakers  in  all  the  different  Families  from  the  first, 
giving  as  complete  genealogical  data  as  well  as  the 
various  offices  held  in  their  respective  organization. 
This  will  enable  him  to  answer  letters  accurately  and 
quickly  which  are  received  frequently  asking  about 
this  one  or  that  one  among  the  Shakers. 

From  Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss  the  Society  has  received 
several  valuable  donations  including  an  interesting 
letter  from  Marietta,  dated  Jan.  2,  1789,  bearing  on 
Ohio  lands.  Also 

Wheeler,  Amos,  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  Ohio  and 
from  Ohio  to  Missouri,  May  21st  to  July  8th,  1816. 
An  interesting  early  journal  written  in  bright  literary 
style,  giving  sketches  of  Fort  Duquesne,  Pittsburgh, 
Steubenville,  Marietta,  Blennerhassett  Island,  Little 
Miami  and  the  Fort,  Military  lands,  etc.  Mr.  Wheeler 
was  a  native  of  Stonington,  Connecticut,  and  served 
on  the  privateer  "Yankee, "which  captured  a  number 
of  British  boats  during  the  War  of  1812. 

BROADSIDES 

To  our  collection  of  Broadsides  we  have  added 
several  outside  of  the  large  number  that  has  been 
issued  in  connection  with  the  activities  of  the  late 
war. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,  we  have  been  included  in  a  small 
circle  of  libraries  who  will  be  given  the  opportunity 
to  select  from  their  photostat  reproductions  of  Ameri- 
can and  English  Political  Broadsides.  Many  of  these 
early  historical  Broadsides  can  only  be  obtained  at 
extravagant  prices  and  the  reproductions  will  prove  of 
great  aid  to  our  students. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  31 

Thus  far  we  have  received  from  this  source  sixty 
Broadsides. 

Several  broadsides  have  come  to  the  Society  in  both  the 
Palmer  and  Prentiss  collections. 

Mr.  C.  S.  Brigham.     Five  Civil  War  posters. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Beebe.    Fifteen  Ohio  broadsides. 

Mrs.  Whirl.     A  copy  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

ATLASES  AND  MAPS 

Several  interesting  gifts  have  been  made  to  this 
division  of  our  library.  We  mention  the  following: 

The  Bank  of  Commerce.  Rand  McNally  &  Co.'s  Com- 
mercial Atlas  of  America,  1911. 

Mr.  W.  G.  Dietz.  Geological  Atlas  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
by  J.  S.  Newberry,  et  al,  1879. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Simpson.  Atlas  of  Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio. 
Phila.  1874. 

Yale  University.  A  Comprehensive  Atlas,  Geographical, 
Historical  and  Commercial,  by  T.  G.  Bradford. 

A  new  General  Atlas  Representing  the  Grand  Divisions  of 
the  Globe.  Philadelphia,  1824. 

Modern  Atlas  adapted  to  Morse's  New  School  Geography. 
Richardson  and  Lord.  Boston;  1822. 

Atlas  of  the  World  from  the  best  authorities. 

Bradley's  Atlas  of  the  World,  Phila.  1890. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Larwill.    Bradley's  Atlas  of  the  World. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Beebe.    Three  maps. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Bingham.  Map  of  the  City  of  Cleveland  in 
1852.  By  Slatter  &  Callan.  Map  of  Mercer  County,  Penna., 
from  surveys  of  G.  M.  Hopkins;  1860.  Map  of  Cuyahoga 
County  from  surveys  of  Mr.  Hopkins,  1858.  Map  of  Cuy- 
ahoga County.  Harris  B.  Blackmore;  1852.  Map  of  the 
United  States  by  J.  H.  Young,  1831.  Mitchell's  Reference 
and  Distance  Map  of  the  U.  S.,  1835.  Colton's  Township 
map  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  1851. 

Mr  Chas.  E.  Dinkey  Four  maps  of  the  Braddock  battle- 
fields. 

Miss  Lyman.  Map  of  Western  Reserve  including  the 
Fire  Lands.  By  Taylor  &  Co.,  Pittsburgh,  1844. 


32  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Estate  of  Sarah  K.  Ranney.  Early  map  of  Cuyahoga 
County,  Ohio 

Mr.  A.  Sperry.  Manuscript  map  of  the  vicinity  of  Peters- 
burgh  made  by  Maj.  Gen.  J.  E.  Gilmer.  Manuscript  map  of  a 
part  of  the  South  side  of  the  James  River,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Major  Campbell;  1864. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  Map  of  Pittsburgh  and  vicinity  in  1834. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Loomis.     Map  of  Cleveland  in  1835. 

Miss  Wells.  Survey  and  Map  of  land  in  Augusta  County, 
Virginia,  Jan.  15,  1775.  Original  map  of  Gray's  addition  to 
Steubenville,  layed  out  by  Jas.  Gray,  April  12,  1814. 

Mr.  Elroy  M.  Avery.    Ten  maps. 

From  the  F.  F.  Prentiss  Fund  we  have  purchased: 

Everts.  Combination  Atlas  of  Greene  County.  Chicago, 
1874. 

Riddle.    Atlas  of  Greene  County.    Xenia,  1896. 

Stewart.  Combination  Atlas  of  Logan  County.  Phila.  1875. 

Finley.  Atlas  of  Trumbull  County .     1899. 

Atlas  of  Stark  County.     1875. 

Evert.     Combination  Atlas  of  Warren  County.     1875. 

Geauga  County  Atlas.    Cleveland,  1900. 

Lake  County  Atlas.     Cleveland,  1898. 

Finley's  Map  of  Ohio,  1834. 

Burr's  Map  of  Ohio,  1839. 

Colton's  Map  of  Ohio,  1854. 

Ranney's  Map  of  Ohio,  1859. 

A  very  early  manuscript  map  of  Cleveland,  probably  con- 
temporaneous with  its  first  settlement. 

NEWSPAPERS 

The  newspaper  collection  has  received  good  ac- 
cessions this  year.  We  note  the  constantly  increas- 
ing use  and  demands  for  them. 

On  exchange  the  following: 

Dunlap's  Pennsylvania  Packet,  or  the  General  Advertiser, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Dec.  28,  1772.  Dec.  20,  1773. 

New  York  Packet  and  the  American  Advertiser,  Jan.  10,  24, 
Feb.  14,  21,  28,  March  28,  May  2,  23,  June  6,  13,  20,  27,  July 
11,  18,  Aug.  1,  22,  Sept.  12,  Oct.  31,  Nov.  7,  14,  1782. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  33 

New  England  Palladium  &  Commercial  Advertiser,  1820, 
from  April  4  to  June  16th. 

The  Connecticut  Courant,  Hartford,  1799,  Feb.  4th  to  end 
of  the  year. 

Connecticut  Herald,  New  Haven,  1804,  Dec.  4,  11,  18,  24, 
31.  1805,  January  8  to  end  of  the  year,  lacking  5  nos.,  1806, 
Jan.  7  to  Oct.  21. 

Gazette  of  the  U.  S.,  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  1789, 
Sept.  26,  Oct.  14,  April  14,  1790  to  April  27,  1791. 

The  Connecticut  Journal,  New  Haven,  Sept.  19,  1798,  Dec. 
10,  1783. 

Massachusetts  Centinel,  Boston,  Oct.  30,  1784,  November 
13,  1784,  Jan.  1st  to  March  19,  1785,  lacking  3  nos. 

Columbian  Centinel,  Boston,  July  21,  1790,  to  March  12, 
1791,  lacking  2  nos.  1802—1  no.  1812,  all  except  4  nos. 
1815,  all  but  2  nos.  1817,  89  nos.  1819,  92  nos. 

Boston  Gazette,  1806,  82  nos. 

The  New  York  Gazette  or  General  Advertiser,  Nov.  24,  1768. 
Oct.  7,  1773. 

New  York  Evening  Post,  April  4,  July  9,  1816. 

Dunlap  and  Claypoole's  American  Daily  Advertiser,  Phila., 
1793  and  1794 — 31  numbers.  (Making  877  newspapers  in  all.) 

Adelbert  College.  The  New  York  Times  for  1915,  1916, 
1917  and  1918. 

Adelbert  College.  On  permanent  deposit  as  follows: 
Boston  Gazette,  Boston,  V.  13-15;  Jan.  1803— December  1803. 
Boston  Patriot.  Boston,  V.  1-8;  March  1809— March  1813. 
Chicago  Daily  News,  Chicago.  V.  11-15,  Oct.  1885— April 
1891.  Cincinnati  Journal  &  Western  Seminary,  Cincinnati. 
V.  9-11;  1836-38.  Cincinnati  Herald  &  Gazette,  Cleveland. 
V.  20-25.  College  Courant,  New  Haven,  Yale  College. 
V.  4-7;  July  1868— Dec.  1870.  Columbian  Centinel.  Massa- 
chusetts Federalist,  Boston.  V.  36-41,  44-45.  June  1802— 
Dec.  1807.  January  1810— Dec.  1811.  Daily  Graphic, 
New  York.  V.  2-22,  40-46;  August  1873— April  1880;  March 
1886— June  1888.  Independent,  New  York.  V.  2-3,  August 
1850 — December  1851.  Independent  Chronicle  and  Uni- 
versal Advertiser,  Boston.  V.  27-28,  33-36,  September  1795 
—December  1797;  January  1801 — March  1804.  Inter  Ocean, 


34  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Chicago.  V.  1-15;  March  1872— August  1886.  National 
Era,  Washington.  V.  1-4;  1847-52.  New  England  Palla- 
dium &  Commercial  Advertiser,  Boston.  V.  17-22,  30-44, 
64-68;  January  1801— December  1803;  January  1808— 
December  1819;  January  1827— August  1828.  New  York 
Evangelist,  New  York.  V.  10-23;  January  1839— December 
1852.  New  York  Observer,  New  York.  V.  1-25;  January 
1829— December  1847.  New  York  Spectator,  New  York. 
V.  1,  9-26,  33-36,  39-40;  January— December  1798,  June 
1806— December  1823,  January  1830— July  1833,  January 
1836— December  1840.  Ohio  Observer,  Cleveland  and  Hud- 
son. V.  1-28,  July  1827— December  1854.  (Total  146 
volumes) . 

The  Christian  Standard,  1874-1882. 

The  Portage  County  Republican,  1879-83. 

Miss  Foliart.     The  New  York  Times  for  1918-19. 

Mrs.  Askue.  Continuation  of  her  gift  of  last  year  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley  Advertiser,  containing  History  of  East 
Haddam. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Beebe.  2  copies,  Sober  Second  Thought,  Polk 
Campaign,  1844;  1  copy  The  Castigator,  Van  Buren  Campaign, 
1840;  1  copy  Human  Sacrifice,  Vol.  1,  No.  1  (Slavery  under 
ground);  2  copies  True  American,  Cuyahoga  Falls;  4  copies 
Ohio  Review,  19  copies  The  State,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1879;  1 
copy  Democratic  Rasp,  Newark,  1840;  2  copies,  Hickory  Flail, 
Ravenna,  1855;  1  volume,  The  Star  in  the  West,  Cincinnati, 
1878-79.  170  miscellaneous  papers. 

Mr.  Rutherford  Burgher.  "Our  Idle  Times,"  1876-77. 
(Juvenile  Collection.)  This  paper  our  President,  Mr.  Palmer, 
was  one  of  the  editors  of. 

Mr.  Horace  G.  Canfield.     The  American  Democrat,  Vol.  1, 

No.  1— Aug.  10,  1842  to  Aug.  9,  1843. 

The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer.     Bound  volumes  for  1918-19. 

The  Cleveland  Press.     Bound  volumes  for  1918-19. 

The  Cleveland  Sunday  Leader.     Bound  volumes  for  1918-19. 

The  Cleveland  News.     Bound  volumes  for  1918-19. 

The  Lawrence  Publishing  Co.  The  Ohio  Farmer,  bound 
volume  for  1918. 

The  Western  Reserve  Democrat.     Bound  volume  for  1918. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  35 

Dr.  H.  K.  Gushing  Estate.  The  Pittsfield  Sun,  1800-25,  65 
nos.  The  Providence  Gazette,  1796-1800,  22  nos.  The  West- 
ern Star,  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  1797-1803,  7  nos.  Collection 
of  early  Massachusetts  and  other  papers,  15  nos. 

Mr.  J.  J.  Fraser.  The  Ohio  Congregational  News  from 
Jan.  1918  on. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Lane.     "The  Buzzard,"  Akron,  Ohio,  1837-8. 

Mrs.  C.  B.  McLean.  The  New  York  Mirror,  1831,  32,  33, 
36,  37,  38,  6  vols.  The  Albion,  1836-1839,  4  vols.  The 
Genesee  Farmer  and  Gardener's  Journal,  1832,  Vol.  11. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Peck.  The  Cincinnati  Chronicle  and  Literary 
Gazette,  March  20,  1830. 

Rev.  Elmo  Arnold  Robinson.  The  Convention  Circular, 
1889  to  1915.  The  official  newspaper  of  the  Universalists  of 
the  State  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  Geo.  J.  Schwartz,  The  Cleveland  Morning  Leader, 
Oct.  22,  Nov.  6,  Dec.  12,  1860,  Nov.  19,  1862. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Simpson.  The  Cincinnati  Daily  Unionist,  Dec. 
24,  1853— March  13,  1854.  The  Holmes  County  Republican, 
Millersburg,  O.,  May  8,  1862— April  20,  1865.  The  Oberlin 
Evangelist  for  1845. 

Mr.  W.  A.  C.  Smith.  The  Daily  Clevelander,  July  15, 
August  14,  1856. 

Mrs.  G.  E.  Stevens.  Vols.  1  &  2  of  The  Macedonian,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.,  1843-45.  The  Delaware  Gazette,  Jan.  3,  1821. 

"The  Waechter  und  Anzeiger,"  5  volumes,  Jan.  1917 — 
March,  1918. 

Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.  April  1830-1831,  Vol. 
1,  3rd  series. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Larwill.  The  Balance  &  Columbian  Repository, 
Vol.  3  and  5,  1804-5. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Cathcart.  Files  of  the  Vineyard  Gazette,  1893 
and  1894.  The  Inquirer  and  Mirror,  1893  and  1894. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Loomis.     The  Statesman,  Vols.  1,  2,  3,  6-7. 

By  Purchase.  The  Hamilton  Intelligencer  and  Advertiser, 
1821-25.  The  National  Anti-Slavery  Standard,  1840-42;  The 
National  Republican  and  Ohio  Political  Register,  1823-25; 
Photostat  copies  of  The  Boston  News  Letter  for  1704,  5,  6,  7,  8; 
1730,  31,  32.  Photostat  copies  of  the  New  York  Gazette  for 


36  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

1725-1727;  The  Norfolk  Repository,  Dedham,  Mass.,  1805-6. 
About  1000  miscellaneous  Ohio  papers. 

Last  year  we  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  we 
had  added  on  our  Southern  trip  to  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer 
Collection  on  the  Civil  War  a  large  number  of  Con- 
federate newspapers,  the  greater  part  of  which  came  in 
before  last  year's  report.  The  few  that  have  come  in 
since,  are  included  in  this  report.  This  year  there 
has  been  added  to  this  Collection,  of  the  Southern 
papers  issued  during  the  Civil  War  period,  over  900 
issues,  a  number  of  the  Northern  newspapers  for  the 
same  period,  and  The  Colored  American,  New  York, 
1838-41. 

Through  the  F.  F.  Prentiss  fund  a  number  of  vol- 
umes of  early  Ohio  newspapers  and  periodicals  have 
been  obtained. 

The  Steubenville  Herald  for  1806,  '07  and  '08,  the  only 
continuous  run  known  to  have  been  saved;  in  fact 
probably  only  an  odd  number  or  two  could  be  found 
in  any  of  our  libraries.  This  paper  was  later  owned 
and  edited  by  President  Woodrow  Wilson's  grand- 
father, and  as  a  young  man,  President  Wilson's  father 
and  uncles  worked  at  typesetting  on  the  same  paper. 

The  Chillicothean  for  1826,  1827  and  1828.  The  Ashland 
Union,  1850-51.  The  Western  Messenger,  Cincinnati,  1835-41. 
The  Ohio  Gazette,  Marietta,  Ohio,  1808,  five  numbers.  The 
Ohio  Valley  Farmer,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Vol.  1,  1856-7.  The 
Weekly  Recorder,  Chillicothe,  Vols.  1-7,  1814-21.  This  is 
said  to  be  one  of  the  earliest  papers  published,  devoted  to 
religious  literature  in  America.  The  Rose  of  the  Valley, 
Vol.  1,  Cincinnati,  1839.  Critchfield,  A.  The  Northern 
Reformer,  Vol.  1,  1837,  published  at  Middleburg,  Ohio. 
Western  Garland  and  Peoples  Magazine,  Vol.  1,  Cincinnati, 
1846.  Western  Peacemaker,  Vol.  1,  Oxford,  Ohio,  1839. 
Western  Literary  Journal  and  Monthly  Review,  Vol.  1,  1845. 
Western  Medical  and  Physical  Journal,  edited  by  Daniel 
Drake,  Vols.  1-3,  Cincinnati,  1827.  Ohio  Miscellaneous 
Museum,  Vol.  1,  Lebanon,  Ohio,  1822.  Illinois  Monthly 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  37 

Magazine,  1831,  1832,  the  predecessor  of  the  Western  Monthly 
Magazine,  published  in  Cincinnati  by  James  Hall.  The 
Religious  Examiner,  Vol.  5,  1832,  Washington,  Ohio.  The 
Evangelical  Union,  edited  by  Elisha  Bates,  Mt.  Pleasant, 
1845-46. 

WAR  LITERATURE 

Publications  received  on  the  war  have  been  so 
varied  and  extensive  we  can  only  mention  a  portion 
in  this  report. 

Mr.  Ralph  King.  Complete  set  of  "L9  Illustration"  from 
the  commencement  of  the  War  in  1914  down  to  date.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  completely  illustrated  of  the  French  periodi- 
cals bearing  on  the  war.  Many  numbers  went  out  of  print 
and  had  to  be  reprinted.  This  is  a  most  welcome  addition. 

The  American  Helenic  Society .  Persecution  of  the  Greeks 
in  Turkey  before  and  since  the  beginning  of  the  War — Pub- 
lications 5,  6,  7.  Hellenism  in  Asia  Minor.  Pub.  No.  4. 
Greece  and  Tomorrow  by  Z.  D.  Ferriman. 

The  American  Red  Cross,  Lake  Division  Headquarters. 
The  Lake  Division  News.  Also  a  set  of  their  posters  and 
other  material. 

Lithuanian  National  Council.  A  full  set  of  their  publica- 
tion. 

The  U.  S.  Shipping  Board.  File  of  the  Emergency  Fleet 
News.  Also  set  of  the  Bulletins.  Complete  set  of  the  Official 
Posters. 

Mr.  Ralph  Bell.  War  Letter  published  by  the  Western 
Reserve  Chapter  of  Delta  Upsilon,  June  1,  1918. 

Mr.  N.  H.  Boynton,  by  courtesy  of  the  Publicity  Division 
of  the  Cleveland  War  Council.  Portfolio  containing  all  the 
posters,  advertising  matter,  etc.,  put  out  for  the  War 
Fund  Campaign  in  June,  1918. 

Camp  Dix.     File  of  Camp  Dix  Times. 

Also  have  received  most  of  the  "Trench  and  Camp"  and 
other  camp  papers  issued  at  the  various  camps  in  the  United 
States  as  well  as  those  issued  in  France  and  Italy. 

Mrs.  Levi  J.  Burgess.  The  Great  War,  By  Katharine 
Stanberry  Burgess. 


38  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Department  of  Secretary  of  State  of  Canada.  Set  of  their 
Proclamations,  Orders  in  Council,  and  Documents  relating 
to  the  European  War. 

Mr.  Cyrus  S.  Eaton.  Collection  of  Posters  pertaining  to 
the  United  War  Work  Campaign. 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Harris.  Collection  of  miscellaneous  papers  on 
women's  work,  etc.,  connected  with  the  War. 

McKinley  Publishing  Company.  Collected  materials  for 
the  Study  of  the  War,  compiled  by  Albert  E.  McKinley. 
War  Reprint  Nos.  1-6.  Supplements  to  the  History  Teacher's 
Magazine. 

Mrs.  J.  R.  McQuigg.  The  Sentinel's  Hand  Book,  by 
Major  J.  R.  McQuigg. 

Major  Otto  Miller.  A  collection  of  Memorandum  Orders, 
Reports,  Circulars,  etc.  Headquarters  37th  Division,  Camp 
Sheridan,  Montgomery,  Ala. 

Col.  John  P.  Nicholson.  Collection  of  General  Orders, 
Naval  Instructions,  etc.,  1918. 

Mr.  Wm.  Thompson.  The  Common  Cause,  Britain's 
Part  in  the  Great  War. 

U.  S.  Army  Recruiting  Station,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  Col- 
lection of  Posters. 

New  York  Times  History  of  the  War — 15  volumes  purchased 

New  York  Times  Midweek  Pictorial — 8  volumes  purchased. 

The  Times  History  of  the  War,  London — 16  volumes  pur- 
chased. 

War  Department — Set  of  General  Orders,  Bulletins,  etc. 
1917-1918. 

Miss  Annette  P.  Ward.  A  collection  of  miscellaneous 
papers  pertaining  to  the  war. 

Adelbert  College.     23  pamphlets  pertaining  to  the  War. 

Mr.  James  Parmelee.     Four  British  War  Posters  issued 
by  the  British  Government  in  a  limited  edition  of  100  each. 
The  list  includes:  Print  No.  60  by  Maurice  Griff enhagen; 
Print  No.  56  by  C.  Ricketts;  Print  No.  66  by  Charles  Shan- 
non; Print  No.  62  by  Edmund  Dulac. 
It  may  be  known  by  many  of  our  readers  that  Mr. 
Shannon  is  one  of  the  foremost  portrait  painters  of 
London.     Mr.  Dulac,  although  a  Frenchman,  makes 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  39 

his  home  in  London,  and  has  been  known  as  a  charming 
painter,  and  some  of  our  finest  books  have  been  illus- 
trated after  his  drawings  and  paintings. 

Messrs.  Shannon  and  Ricketts  collaborated  in  their 
designs  as  one  can  readily  see  upon  a  cursory  exami- 
nation of  their  two  Posters.  A  very  few  of  these 
posters  reached  America  as  they  were  eagerly  bought 
up  in  England,  and  we  are  very  fortunate  in  having 
a  generous  friend  to  send  them  to  us. 

SPECIAL  FUNDS 

For  several  years  a  few  friends  of  the  Society  have 
expressed  their  willingness  to  finance  purchases  along 
certain  designated  lines.  Too  much  appreciation  can- 
not be  expressed  for  this  generous  help,  for  it  is  helping 
to  round  out  and  increase  collections  already  started 
which  could  not  be  done  if  we  had  to  depend  solely 
on  our  small  endowment. 

WILLIAM  MCLATJCHLAN  FUND 

Last  year  at  the  close  of  the  annual  meeting  after 
listening  to  the  appeal  made  for  funds  to  purchase 
books  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  separate  states, 
Mr.  McLauchlan  presented  the  Society  with  a  fund 
for  the  purchase  of  books  on  one  of  the  Eastern  States 
and  as  he  expressed  the  preference  that  the  state  be 
Maine  (much  to  our  satisfaction),  the  fund  was  de- 
voted to  procuring  local  histories  of  that  State.  Some 
forty  books  were  obtained  and  it  is  hoped  that  this 
fund,  as  it  may  come  in  from  time  to  time,  will  add 
largely  to  our  collection  of  Maine  history. 

F.  F.  PRENTISS  COLLECTION  ON  OHIO 

From  the  funds  furnished  by  Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss 
for  the  purchase  of  Ohio  books,  some  300  volumes  and 
pamphlets  have  been  added  to  the  library,  bearing 
directly  on  Ohio  History.  Some  of  the  volumes  are 
exceedingly  rare  and  for  which  the  Society  has  been 
searching  many  years.  Without  this  fund  many  items 


40  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

that  have  been  offered  to  us,  would  have  gone  to  li- 
braries and  collections  outside  of  Ohio.  We  feel  it  is 
highly  advantageous  to  be  able  to  obtain  all  such  ma- 
terial when  the  opportunity  presents  itself  and  Mr. 
Prentiss'  continued  assistance  has  proved  a  tower  of 
strength  in  this  particular  field. 

We  have  added,  by  means  of  this  fund,  to  our  col- 
lection of  Ohio  County  Histories,  the  following: 

History  of  Ross  County,  2  volumes. 

History  of  Hanging  Rock  Iron  Region  of  Ohio,  2  Volumes. 

History  of  Greene  County,  Xenia,  1908. 

Memoirs  of  the  Lower  Ohio  Valley,  2  volumes. 

Robinson's  History  of  Greene  County,  Chicago,  1902. 

Centennial  History  of  Butler  County,  1905. 

Genealogical  and  Family  History  of  Eastern  Ohio. 

Lorain  County  History,  1916,  2  volumes. 

Bahmer's  Centennial  History  of  Coshocton  County,  2  volumes. 

Stark  County  and  its  Pioneers,  1876. 

Memorial  Record  of  the  Counties  of  Delaware,  Union,  and 

Morrow. 

Hopley's  Crawford  Co.  History,  Chicago,  1912. 

History  of  Clermont  County,  Philadelphia,  1880. 

Among  the  rarer  items  obtained  we  note: 

Mitchell,  Joseph,  The  Missionary  Pioneer,  N.  Y., 
1827.  This  rare  volume  of  which  we  know  of  only  a 
few  copies  (some  four  in  all)  being  in  existence,  is  an 
interesting  record  of  the  formation  of  the  Wyandot 
Mission  at  Upper  Sandusky. 

Records  of  Miami  University,  Oxford,  Ohio,  con- 
sisting of  the  Laws  and  Ordinances  of  the  University 
for  1814;  Report  of  the  President  and  Trustees,  1815, 
and  some  seven  other  items.  This  volume  from  the 
library  of  Mr.  McBride,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  Uni- 
versity, is  quite  unique. 

A  Scrap-book,  containing  the  history  of,  and  many 
local  items  about  Waynesville,  Ohio. 

The  "Second  Journal  of  Charles  Frederick  Post," 
printed  in  London,  1759.  The  first  Journal  of  Post 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  41 

we  have  in  a  very  rare  little  volume  called  "Thomson's 
Enquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  Alienation  of  the  Dela- 
ware and  Shawnee  Indians."  This  second  journal, 
which  we  are  fortunate  in  now  having,  is  the  record 
of  a  journey,  the  result  of  which  was  of  vital  import- 
ance to  Ohio  History.  Post  had  long  been  known  to 
the  Indians,  and  in  his  journal  he  narrates  with  sim- 
plicity the  fatigues  and  hazards  he  underwent.  He 
was  a  German,  a  Moravian,  coming  from  Germany  to 
Pennsylvania  in  1742.  He  was  persuaded  while  at 
Bethlehem  headquarters  to  carry  a  message  to  the 
Western  Indians  and  afterward  attempted  to  con- 
vert the  Indians  in  Ohio.  He  took  up  his  abode, 
about  the  year  1762,  in  Tuscarora  Town,  but  failed 
in  establishing  a  mission  at  that  place.  Field,  the  re- 
nowned authority  and  collector  on  the  history  of  the 
American  Indian,  in  speaking  of  the  second  journal 
says — "Since  the  days  of  Regulus,  no  more  perilous 
mission  has  been  undertaken  by  a  single  man.  Brad- 
dock  had  been  defeated  and  eight  hundred  white  sol- 
diers slain.  Forbes  was  preparing  for  his  invasion  of 
the  Indian  territory.  At  every  step  through  the  wilder- 
ness the  most  appalling  dangers  surrounded  him.  A 
hundred  times  were  savage  arms  raised  to  destroy  him, 
and  a  hundred  times  by  little  less  than  miracles  the 
blows  were  averted.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  the  work  he  accomplished.  By 
his  persuasion  he  detached  the  Ohio  Indians  from  the 
French  interest  and  the  Empire  of  that  nation  in  the 
West  fell." 

Andrew  Miller's  New  States  and  Territories  printed 
for  emigrants  and  others  intending  to  visit  the  Western 
country,  1819.  This  is  exceedingly  rare  and  an  item 
we  have  sought  for  some  time. 

THE  WILLIAM  P.  PALMER  COLLECTION 

The  collection  of  books  and  pamphlets  on  the 
Civil  War  has  grown  considerably  this  year  by  gift 
and  purchase. 


42  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  Palmer  has  presented  to  this  collection,  73 
volumes  and  305  pamphlets  in  addition  to  the  news- 
papers and  other  material  mentioned  elsewhere  in  the 
report.  There  have  been  many  circulars,  small  pamph- 
lets, and  broadsides  added  that  we  cannot  easily 
enumerate.  All  of  them  are  important  and  helpful 
in  filling  in  many  gaps.  A  number  of  regimental 
histories  have  been  secured,  although  the  ones  that 
we  are  lacking  are  quite  difficult  to  find  as  they  were 
issued  in  small  editions  and  scattered  amongst  the 
veterans  in  a  local  way. 

The  books  of  the  Confederate  States,  on  account  of 
their  rarity,  stand  out  perhaps  most  interestingly 
in  the  collection,  and  there  have  been  a  number  of 
valuable  items  obtained  along  this  line  some  of  which 
we  lis^t: 

Message  of  Jefferson  Davis,  Nov.  18,  1861. 
Regulations  for  the  Army  of  the  Confederate  States,  1864, 
Richmond,  1864. 

Scott,  John.  Letters  to  an  Officer  in  the  army  proposing  Con- 
stitutional Reform.  Richmond,  1864. 

Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  adopted 
March  11, 1861.  Milledgeville,  1861. 

Moore,  S.  McD.  Speech  on  Federal  Relations.  Feb.  24, 
1861. 

Goggin,  William  L.  Speech  on  Federal  Relations.  Feb. 
26  &  27, 1861. 

Regulations  for  the  Subsistence  Department  of  the  Confederate 
States.  Richmond,  1862. 

Ordinances  and  Resolutions  passed  by  the  State  Convention 
of  North  Carolina,  at  the  First  Session  in  May  and  June,  1861. 
Raleigh,  1862. 

Jones,  J.  B.     Wild  Western  Scenes.     Richmond,  1863. 
An  Act  for  the  Prevention  and  Repression  of  Outrages  in 
Violation  of  the  Peace  on  the  Frontier  of  this  Province,  and  for 
other  Purposes. 

Confederate  Report  at  Fort  Games,  1862. 
Jackson,  H.  W.  R.     Historical  Register  and  Confederate 
Assistant  to  National  Independence.     Augusta,  Ga.  1862. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  43 

Constitution  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  together  with  the 
Ordinances  and  Resolutions  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 
Raleigh,  1868. 

Southern  Field  and  Fireside,    Augusta,  Ga.  1864 

South  Carolina.  Message  No.  1  of  His  Excellency  F.  W. 
Pickens  to  the  Legislature  at  the  extra  session  of  November, 
1861.  Columbia,  1861. 

Gordon,  Hon.  G.  A.  Speech  delivered  before  the  Senate  of 
Georgia,  Dec.  9,  1862. 

An  Act  for  the  Relief  of  Families  of  Soldiers  and  Sailors 
of  Virginia  within  the  lines  of  the  enemy.  186 Jf. 

Sterling,  Richard,  and  Campbell,  J.  D.  Our  Own  First 
Reader,  3d  ed.  Greensboro,  N.  C.  1863. 

Constitution  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  Alexandria,  1864 . 

GENEALOGIES 

The  interest  in  our  Genealogical  work  is  continuing 
to  increase  and  each  added  Genealogy  is  eagerly  pe- 
rused by  those  interested  in  this  line  of  research. 
The  following  have  been  added: 

Mr.  Alex.  W.  Acheson.  The  Acheson  family  reaching  back 
to  1464.  Typewritten. 

Mr.  Frank  Wesley  Alden.  The  Alden  Genealogy,  1620-1909, 
by  Frank  Wesley  Alden. 

Miss  J.  M.  Ames.  Genealogy  of  the  Steed  Family  of  Utah 
from  1850-1916. 

Mr.  Van  W.  Anderson.  Monograph  of  the  Anderson,  Clark, 
Marshall  and  McArthur  Connection. 

Mr.  Thomas  Willing  Balch.  Batch  Genealogica  by  Thomas 
Willing  Balch.  Phila.  1907. 

Mr.  Alwyn  Ball,  Jr.  Recollections  of  the  Ball  family  of 
South  Carolina  and  the  Comingtee  Plantation,  by  Anne  Simons 
Deas. 

Rev.  Newton  W.  Bates.  Ancestors  and  Descendants  of  Asa 
Bates,  by  Newton  W.  Bates.  Genealogy  of  the  Whitmarsh 
Family.  Revised  ed.  Also  Genealogy  of  the  Whitmarsh  Family, 
original  ed.,  Newton  W.  Bates. 

Mr.  A.  S.  Chisholm.  Copy  of  the  Gregory  Stone  Genealogy, 
by  J.  Gardner  Bartlett. 


44  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  Milo  Custer.  The  Dickey  Genealogy,  by  J.  Dickey 
Templeton.  Beeler  Biography  and  Genealogy,  by  Milo  Custer. 

Prof.  S.  C.  Derby.  Darby-Derby.  John  Darby  of  Marble- 
head,  Mass.,  and  his  Descendants  by  Prof.  Derby. 

Judge  Elbert  H.  Gary.  The  Gary  Genealogy  by  Lawrence 
Brainerd,  Boston,  1918. 

Dr.  W.  H.  Haughey.  History  of  the  Haughey  and  Allied 
Families.  Compiled  by  Dr.  Wm.  Henry  Haughey  and  Dr. 
Wilfrid  Haughey. 

Dr.  N.  W.  Jipson.  History  and  Genealogy  of  the  Descend- 
ants of  John  Jepson  of  England  and  Boston,  1610-1917,  by 
N.  W.  Jipson. 

Mr.  Daniel  Kent.  The  Royal  Ancestry  of  Daniel  Kent  of 
Worcester,  Mass.  Chart. 

Mr.  Henry  Ames  Kimball.  The  John  Elliot  Family  of 
Boscawen,  New  Hampshire,  by  Henry  Ames  Kimball,  1905-13. 

Mr.  J.  Granville  Leach.  John  Redington  of  Topsfield, 
Mass.,  with  Notes  on  the  Wales  Family,  by  Cornelia  M.  Red- 
ington Carter.  Some  Account  of  the  Three  Family.  Ed.  by 
J.  G.  Leach. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Osborn.  Genealogical  Record  of  a  section  of  the 
Paine  Family,  (Typewritten  copy.) 

Mr.  H.  E.  Ravenel.  Ravenel  Records,  By  Henry  Edmund 
Ravenel. 

The  Reynolds  Family  Association.  The  26th  and  27th 
Annual  Reunions,  1620-1918. 

Mr.  Nelson  O.  Rhodes.  Genealogical  Charts — The  Brown- 
Moulthrop  Families. 

Mr.  John  D.  Rockfeller.  The  Transactions  of  the  Rock- 
feller  Family  Association,  1910-191Jf,  with  Genealogy,  by  Henry 
Oscar  Rockefeller,  1915. 

Mrs.  Thos.  L.  Ross.  A  History  of  the  Wm.  Dean  Family  of 
Cornwall,  Conn. 

Mr.  Henry  Stoddard  Ruggles.  Evidence  of  the  Derivation 
of  the  Ruggles  Families  of  England  and  America,  from  that  of 
Ruggeley  of  Staffordshire. 

Elroy  M.  Avery.     A  number  of  Groton-Avery  Genealogies. 

Mr.  F.  F.  Prentiss.  The  Family  Records  of  Bartholomew 
Brown,  in  manuscript. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  45 

By  Exchange.  The  Adams  Family  of  Kingston,  Mass., 
by  George  Adams,  Boston,  1861. 

Allen  Family  of  Medfield,  Sketches  of,  by  Joseph  Allen; 
Boston,  1869. 

Allen,  Lewis,  of  Watertown  Farms  (Weston),  Mass.,  1665, 
and  his  Descendants,  by  Allen  H.  Bent,  Boston,  1900. 

Ammidown  Family,  Memorial  and  Family  Record  of,  by 
Holmes  Ammidown,  New  York,  1877. 

Angell,  Thomas,  Genealogy  of  the  Descendants  of,  by  A.  F. 
Angell,  Providence,  1872. 

The  Axtell  Record,  by  Ephraim  S.  Axtell,  Morristown, 
N.J.,  1886. 

Amory,  The  Descendants  of  Hugh,  by  Gertrude  E.  Mere- 
dith, London,  1901. 

Babcock  Genealogy,  compiled  by  Stephen  Babcock,  New 
York,  1903. 

Batch  Families  in  America,  by  Galusha  B.  Balch,  Yonkers, 
N.  Y.,  1897. 

Barber  Genealogy  in  two  sections,  published  by  John  B. 
White,  Haverhill,  Mass.,  1909. 

Barclays  of  New  York,  The,  by  R.  Burnham  Moffat,  New 
York,  1904. 

Belding  Genealogy.  Comp.  by  Charles  C.  Whitney,  New 
York,  1896. 

Bentley  Gleanings,  by  Mrs.  Julia  Harrison  Lobdell,  Chicago. 

Benedicts  in  America,  The,  by  Henry  Marvin  Benedict, 
Albany,  1870. 

Slakes  of  Somersetshire,  Record  of,  by  Horatio  G.  Somerby, 
Boston,  1881. 

Boardman  Genealogy,  1525-1895,  Comp.  by  Charlotte  Gold- 
thwaite,  Hartford,  1895. 

Boynton,  American  Directory,  1638,  Comp.  by  John  F. 
Boynton,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  1884. 

Brackett,  Descendants  of  Anthony  Brackett,  Portsmouth,  N. 
H.,  by  Alpheus  Brackett,  Everett,  Mass.,  1897. 

Bradlee  Family,  History  of,  by  Samuel  Bradlee  Doggett, 
Boston,  1878. 

Bradford,  Governor  William  and  his  son  Major  William 
Bradford,  by  James  Shepard,  New  Britain,  Conn.,  1900. 


46  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Bradstreet,  Pedigree  of,  Comp.  by  John  Dean  and  Dean 
Dudley.  Chart. 

Brainerd'Brainard  Family  in  America,  1649-1908,  by 
Lucy  A.  Brainard,  1908,  3  vols. 

Brigham,  Thomas,  Descendants  of,  by  Rev.  Abner  Morse. 
Boston,  1859. 

Chamberlain  Family  History,  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Fretz,  Milton, 
N.  J.,  1907. 

Child,  Childs  and  Childe  Families,  Genealogy  of,  by  Elias 
Child,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  1881. 

Clarke,  The  Descendants  of  Nathaniel  and  his  wife  Elizabeth 
Somerby,  by  George  Kuhn  Clarke,  Boston,  1902. 

Clarke,  Records  of  the  Descendants  of  Thomas  Clarke, 
Plymouth,  1623-1697.  Wis.  1884.  Comp.  by  Rev.  William 
W.  Johnson. 

Shepherd-Engle  Reunion  Association.  History  and  Genealogy 
of  the  John  Shepherd  family  (courtesy  of  K.  K.  Hodgman) . 
Compiled  by  R.  N.  Hodgman,  1913. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey.  The  Swasey  genealogy,  by  B.  F. 
Swasey. 

Mr.  Richard  B.  Teachenor.  A  Partial  History  of  the  Tiche- 
nor  Family  in  America. 

Mr.  Frank  Trumbull.  Descendants  of  James  Wilton 
Thomas  and  Eliza  Ann  Johnson.  Maternal  Ancestry  of 
Frank  Trumbull. 

Dr.  J.  J.  Tyler.  The  Descendants  of  Thomas  Gleason  of 
Watertown,  Mass.,  1607-1909. 

Mr.  M.  D.  Vail.  Ancestors  and  Descendants  of  Edwin 
Bishop  Vail. 

Mr.  Edward  Wilson.  Thomas  Wilson  and  his  Descendants, 
by  Edward  Wilson. 

LIBRARY  ACCESSIONS  BY  GIFT 

Among  the  larger  individual  gifts  to  the  Society 
we  call  especial  attention  to  the  following: 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Beebe.  290  books  and  300  pamphlets. 
This  collection  in  the  larger  part  bears  on  the  I.  O.  O. 
F.  and  the  Masonic  organizations  in  Ohio.  This 
gift  also  included  some  early  Ohio  Railroad  reports 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  47 

and  bound  volumes  of  the  Ohio  State  Documents  for 
1824,  '25,  '26,and  '27.  These  latter  are  quite  unique  in 
bound  volumes  as  only  a  few  miscellaneous  reports 
of  these  years  are  in  any  of  the  libraries  of  the  country. 

Another  valuable  collection  consisting  of  75  vol- 
umes and  350  pamphlets  came  from  Miss  Lillie  Jenkins. 
In  this  collection  were  30  early  imprints  of  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Ohio,  and  seven  of  St.  Clairsville.  Perhaps  the  most 
interesting  items  were  the  early  Ohio  periodicals,  em- 
bracing a  set  of  the  Philanthropist,  edited  by  Elisha 
Bates,  1818-22,  also  The  Moral  Advocate,  1821-22, 
The  Miscellaneous  Repositor,  1829-33,  The  Social 
Circle,  1827-28,  and  the  Genius  of  Universal  Eman- 
cipation, 1821-22. 

In  response  to  a  request  for  books  pertaining  to  the 
History  of  the  various  denominations  of  the  state, 
Rev.  Alanson  Wilcox  has  made  an  effort  to  bring  to- 
gether, as  nearly  as  possible,  a  complete  set  of  the 
records  of  the  Disciple  or  Christian  Church.  He  has 
brought  in  many  valuable  books,  too  numerous  to 
mention  in  detail,  amounting  to  eighty  volumes  and 
sixty-five  pamphlets. 

The  Society  is  especially  indebted  to  Mr.  Wilcox 
for  the  great  aid  he  has  given  towards  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  history  of  the  denomination  he  has  served 
faithfully  so  many  years  as  one  of  its  ministers  and 
leaders. 

It  is  our  earnest  hope  that  others  will  become  inter- 
ested in  the  preservation  of  their  special  denominational 
history  and  will  aid  us  in  collecting  along  these  lines. 

A  very  welcome  addition  to  our  library  has  been 
made  by  Dr.  Elroy  M.  A  very,  who  in  preparing  to 
move  to  Florida,  his  future  home,  has  turned  over  to 
us  some  429  miscellaneous  volumes  and  several  hun- 
dred pamphlets  and  periodicals,  besides  a  number  of 
maps,  pictures,  newspapers,  etc.  As  the  material 
has  just  come  in  we  have  had  no  opportunity  of  going 
over  it.  We  must,  however,  speak  of  one  most  inter- 
esting item — a  scrapbook  kept  by  Dr.  Avery  through 


48  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

his  long  connection  with  the  Fresh  Air  Camp,  contain- 
ing almost  a  complete  history  of  the  reports,  various 
activities,  donations,  etc.,  to  this  Cleveland  Institu- 
tion. 

We  fully  realize  the  importance  of  keeping  the  his- 
tory of  these  institutions  as  nearly  complete  as  possible, 
as  there  are  frequent  calls  on  us  for  them. 

MISCELLANEOUS  BOOKS 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania.  A  full  set  of  their  publica- 
tions in  History  and  Political  Economy.  Two  volumes  of 
Schoolmen's  Week  Proceedings,  1917-18.  Set  of  five  volumes 
of  Free  Public  Lectures,  1913-18. 

Canada  Department  of  Mines.  Twelve  of  their  publica- 
tions. 

Rev.  R.  T.  Cross.  Catalogues  of  The  Twinsburgh  Institute 
for  1845-61,  13  nos. 

Mr.  Richard  S.  Bayhan.  Humorous  Tales  of  "Bennington- 
on-the-Hill,"  by  R.  S.  Bayhan,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1918. 

Mr.  Wm.  K.  Bixby.  Two  Letters  from  General  William 
Tecumseh  Sherman  to  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  William 
T.  McPherson,  in  the  Collection  of  W.  K.  Bixby  of  Saint  Louis. 
Privately  Printed,  1919. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Billings.  Willson's  History  of  the  United  States, 
New  York,  1851,  and  four  other  books. 

Mrs.  E.  D.  Billings.  The  American  Crisis,  Thomas  Paine 
London . 

Mr.  Wm.  G.  Dietz.     Miscellaneous  pamphlets. 

From  the  Author.  Causes  that  led  to  the  War  between  the 
States,  by  Mr.  J.  O.  McGehee,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  1915. 

Mrs .  Frank  Masten.  A  complete  set  of  the  Journal  of 
American  History,  with  index.  Narrative  and  Critical  History 
of  America,  Vols.  1-8  incl.  Edited  by  Justin  Winsor. 

Rev.  Charles  Hutchins.  The  Autobiography  of  Levi 
Hutchins.  Cambridge  1865. 

Prof.  W.  H.  Siebert.  The  Tory  Proprietors  of  Kentucky 
Lands,  by  Prof.  Siebert. 

The  American  Numismatic  Society.  A  set  of  their  Pro- 
ceedings, 25  numbers  in  all. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  49 

Mr.  J.  M.  Ackley.     Abel  Flint's  Surveying.  Hartford,  1808. 

Mr.  S.  P.  Baldwin.  161  miscellaneous  periodicals,  pamph- 
lets, etc. 

Bank  of  Commerce,  Cleveland.  33  volumes  and  40 
pamphlets. 

Mr.  John  Candee  Dean.  Journal  of  Thomas  Dean — An 
Account  of  a  Journey  to  Indiana  in  1817. 

Mrs.  Fannie  A.  Bissell.  Eight  copies  of  the  catalogues  of 
Twinsburg  Institute. 

Prof.  H.  E.  Bourne.     Five  volumes  and  14  pamphlets. 

Dept.  of  Archives  of  Canada.  Sixteen  volumes  of  their 
Annual  Reports. 

Mr.  C.  M.  Burton.  Reprint  of  the  Manuscripts  from  the 
Burton  Historical  Collection  Nos.  7  &  8. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Cathcart.  275  miscellaneous  pamphlets.  7 
volumes  of  the  Millenial  Harbinger,  1844-57.  Set  of  the 
Zanesville  Baptist  Ohio  Association  Minutes,  1859-1918. 

Cleveland  Museum  of  Art.     24  books  and  53  pamphlets. 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  Chicago  Chapter 
Year  Book,  1918-19. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Cox.  Representative  Citizens  of  Ohio,by  G.  F. 
Wright. 

Mrs.  C.  J.  Craft.  Current  file  of  The  Independent,  and 
other  miscellaneous  publications. 

Independence  Hall.  Catalogue  of  the  Portraits  and  other 
Works  of  Art,  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia,  with 
Historical  Sketch. 

Mrs.  W.  E.  Gushing.     60  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Mr.  J.  B.  Doyle.  Steubenville,  Past,  Present,  and  Future, 
1872.  Wells  High  School,  Steubenville,  Ohio.  Sermon 
Preached  by  Rev.  John  Boyd,  D.  D.,  on  his  Fftieth  Anniver- 
sary as  Rector  of  St.  Marks  Episcopal  Church,  Marietta,  Ohio, 
Sept.  9,  1900. 

Mrs.  Emelda  J.  Donaldson.  Catalogues  of  the  Steubenville 
Female  Seminary  for  1841,  1846,  1879,  1881,  1888-9,  1889-90. 
Memorial  of  Rev.  Charles  Clinton  Beatty  and  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Hetty  Elizabeth  Beatty.  Printied  in  New  York,  1883. 

Mrs.  H.  Clark  Ford.  Report  of  the  Champlain  Tercenten- 
ary, prepared  by  Henry  Wayland  Hill,  1911. 


50  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Mr.  Emmet  W.  Gans.     A  Pennsylvania  Pioneer. 

The  Giddings  Estate.  Thirteen  Speeches  of  Joshua  R. 
Giddings.  Congressional  Directory,  3d  Session,  27th  Congress, 
Wash.  1S4V-3. 

The  Guaranty  Trust  Company  of  New  York.  Publica- 
tions as  issued,  including  The  Guaranty  News. 

Dr.  Henry  E.  Handerson.  Gilbertus  Anglicus,  by  Henry 
E.  Handerson,  with  biography  of  the  author.  1918. 

Mr.  Willis  T.  Hanson,  Jr.  A  History  of  Schenectady  During 
the  Revolution,  by  Mr.  Hatison,  Jr.,  1916. 

Mrs.  E.  L.  Harris.  40  pamphlets  and  100  miscellaneous 
magazines. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Higbee.  LippincotC  s  Pronouncing  Gazetteer 
of  the  World.  2  vols.  Historic  New  York,  2  vols.  1897. 
The  Capitals  of  Spanish  America,  by  W.  E.  Curtis.  The  Em- 
pire of  Business,  by  Andrew  Carnegie.  Andrew  Carnegie,  the 
Man  and  His  Work.  History  of  the  American  Troops  during 
the  Late  War,  1830.  Five  miscellaneous  volumes. 

Mr.  Norman  E.  Hills.  A  large  collection  of  miscellaneous 
books  and  pamphlets  from  his  father's  library. 

Rev.  Francis  T.  Hoover.  Annotated  copy  of  Enemies  in 
the  Rear-,  or  A  Golden  Circle  Squared. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Hoppin.  "The  Dragon" — Souvenir  edition. 
Issued  by  Edward  Lee  McClain,  High  School,  Greenfield, 
Ohio,  Dec.,  1915.  Catalogue  of  Pictures,  Sculptures,  etc., 
in  the  Edward  Lee  McClain  High;  School,  Comp.  by  F.R. 
Harris,  Principal.  The  Greenfield  Journal  for  Sept.2  and  17th, 
1915. 

Mr.  Ralph  King.  The  History  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Mari- 
etta, Ohio.  Rev.  Waters  Theodore  Edson,  Doctor  of  Divinity. 
All  Saints  Church,  Chelmsford,  Mass.  Chelmsford,  Mass.  250th 
Anniversary,  1905.  History  of  Chelmsford,  Mass.,  by  the 
Rev.  Wilson  Waters,  1917.  (Through  the  courtesy  of  Rev. 
Wilson  Waters.) 

Mr.  J.  W.  Larwell.  The  Handmaid  to  the  Arts.  2  vols.  The 
British  Trident,  London.  2  vols.  The  Holy  Bible,  Vol.  2,  Phila. 
1798.  Ballou's  Pictorial,  1  vol.,  also  Gleason's  Pictorial,  1  vol. 

Miss  Sarah  Fiske  Lee.  The  History  of  New  Ipswich,  New 
Hampshire,  1735-1914. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  51 

The  Lewis  Publishing  Company.  History  of  Cleveland  and 
its  Environs,  3  vols. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Loomis.     66  miscellaneous  volumes,  6  pamphlets. 

Mrs.  Amos  B.  McNairy.  The  Ohio  Valley  in  Colonial 
Days.  By  Berthold  Fernow. 

The  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  by  gift  and  purchase, 
15  volumes  of  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  which  nearly  completes  our  set. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Miller.  30th  Annual  Reunion  of  the  First  Ohio 
Heavy  Artillery. 

Mr.  John  Neely.     Set  of  the  Rosters  of  Ohio  Soldiers,  1861-66. 

Mrs.  R.  W.  Nye.  Copy  of  Naval  Monument  to  the  Officers 
of  the  United  States  Navy. 

Col.  John  P.  Nicholson.  Nearly  500  miscellaneous  pamph- 
lets. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Page.  The  Rowfant  Year  Books  for  1911-1917, 
Rowfantiafor  1912;  A  Lover9 s  Moods,  1914;  Satyrical  Letters 
de  Bergerac,  1914,  completing  the  set  of  Rowfant  publica- 
tions previously  given  by  Mr.  Page  to  the  library. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  The  Voice  of  the  Nation  and  Other 
Verse,  by  Frank  M.  Gregg.  History  of  Bangor  Theological 
Seminary,  by  Calvin  Montague  Clark.  The  Hakluyt  Society 
publications,  1917  and  1918.  History  of  Castine,  Penobscot, 
and  Brooksvitte,  Maine,  by  George  Augustus  Wheeler. 
Bangor,  1875.  Marietta  College  Historical  Collections,  edited 
by  Archer  Butler  Hulbert,  Vol.  3.  Our  Inns  from  1718  to 
1918  in  their  relation  to  the  General  Development  of  our  Com- 
munity,  by  Paul  Mange.  History  of  Beaver  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 2  vols.,  by  Rev.  Jos.  H.  Bausman.  Edition  de  luxe, 
full  Morocco  binding. 

Mr.  James  Parmelee  Volume  3  of  the  Iconography  of 
Manhattan  Island,  by  I.  N.  Phelps  Stokes. 

Miss  Lydia  Pennington.  History  of  the  Great  Lakes,  2  vols. 
Appleton's  Journal,  19  vols. 

Mr.  Daniel  Pratt.  History  of  Company  K,  First  Alabama 
Regiment,  by  Daniel  P.  Smith. 

Mr.  A.  S.  Chisholm.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Union,  by 
Nathaniel  W.  Stephenson. 


52  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Public  Library,  London,  Ontario.  Transactions  of  the 
London  and  Middlesex  Historical  Society,  Parts  3-8, 1907-1917. 
Historic  Sketces  of  London  and  Middlesex,  Part  2.  Historic 
Sketches  of  London,  Ontario,  1908. 

Estate  of  Sarah  K.  Ranney.     38  books  and  371  pamphlets. 

Mrs.  Scott  Robinson.  Eight  miscellaneous  books,  and 
two  scrap  books  containing  early  Cleveland  material. 

Mrs.  Thos.  L.  Ross.     Five  miscellaneous  books. 

Mrs.  C.  H.  Smith.  Collection  of  Civil  War  Material— Re- 
unions, clippings,  badges,  etc.  Encyclopedia  of  Free  Masonry, 
by  A.  G.  Mackey,  Phila.  1874. 

Miss  Evelyn  Smith.  The  Manual  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Ridgefield,  Connecticut,  1904» 

Mr.  A.  Sperry.  History  of  the  Ninth  Regt.  New  York  Vol. 
Cavalry,  War  of  '61-65,  by  Newel  Cheney.  Poland  Center, 
1901.  History  of  the  First  Wisconsin  Battery  Light  Artillery, 
1907.  History  of  Hampton  Battery  F.,  Independent  Penna. 
Light  Art.  General  Orders  from  Adjt.  and  Inspector  Generals 
Office,  Con/.  States  Army,  from  Jan.  1862-Dec.  1863.  This  was 
the  personal  copy  of  Secretary  of  War,  Seddon.  History  of 
the  104th  Regt.  0.  V.  I.,  1862-65,  by  N.  A.  Pinney.  Also  12 
other  volumes. 

Mr.  John  Meloy  Stahl.  The  Battle  of  Plattsburg;  A  Study 
in  and  of  the  War  of  1812.  The  Invasion  of  Washington,  by 
John  Meloy  Stahl,  1918. 

Mrs.  G.  E.  Stevens.  100  pamphlets  and  25  volumes.  Also  a 
large  collection  of  Baptist  Association  Minutes  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey.  History  of  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
Exeter,  N.  H.,  by  B.  F.  Swasey.  Historical  Sketch  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Cleveland,  written  by  Mary  E.  Adams. 
New  England  Society  of  Cleveland  and  the  Western  Reserve. 
Union  Club  of  Cleveland,  1910.  John  Fritz  Medal  book, 
giving  the  recipients  of  the  John  Fritz  medal. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage  a  few  years  ago  presented  to  the  mus- 
eum a  very  fine  collection  of  beaver  cuttings,  photographs 
of  the  beavers  working,  etc.  This  year  he  has  presented  to 
the  library  his  collection  of  books  and  pamphlets  which  em- 
braces practically  all  of  the  more  important  works  on  the 
beaver.  He  has  also  given  a  copy  of  the  Catalogue  of  Lock- 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  53 

woody  Van  Dorn  &  Miller  Hardware  Company,  the  first  hard- 
ware catalogue  published  in  America;  also  a  copy  of  the 
firm's  successors,  last  issue,  1918. 

Mr.  Wm.  Thompson.  One  of  John  Brown's  Men,  by  John 
W.  Wayland.  The  Liberty  Bell,  Boston,  1843. 

The  University  of  Toronto,  Canada.  Vols.  5-7,  Review 
of  Historical  Publications  Relating  to  Canada. 

Mrs.  A.  F.  Weaver.     34  Miscellaneous  Text-books,  etc. 

Mr.  S.  S.  Wilson.     8  miscellaneous  books  and  pamphlets. 

The  Filson  Club.  The  Anti-Slavery  Movement  in  Kentucky 
prior  to  1850,  by  Asa  Earl  Martin,  1918.  (Filson  Club  Pub- 
lication, No.  29.) 

Ontario  Bureau  of  Archives,  Toronto,  Canada.  Reports 
of  the  Bureau  of  Archives  for  the  Province  of  Ontario,  from  Vol. 
1-13  incl.  1903-1916. 

Hon.  Myron  T.  Herrick.  Eight  miscellaneous  volumes. 
A  file  of  Harper's  Weekly  for  1880. 

Mrs.  Whirl.  A  file  of  "Punch,"  or  the  "London  Charivari" 
for  1857  and  '58. 

Mrs.  Frank  Meade.  Catalogues  of  the  Cleveland  Female 
Seminary— 2nd,  4th,  llth,  12th,  13th,  14th,  15th,  17th,  19th, 
1855-1873.  Circulars  of  the  Cleveland  Female  Seminary,  1849. 
The  National  Geographic  Magazine,  1912-1917,  12  vols. 
The  Living  Church  Annual,  1907-1918,  lacking  1913,  11  vols. 
One  volume  American  Heraldica.  One  set  The  Book  of 
Ohio,  in  25  parts.  Also  40  miscellaneous  books  and  pamphlets. 

Mrs.  Carl  H.  Rust.  A  Brief  History  of  the  Town  of  Nor- 
folk, from  1738-1844,  by  Auren  Roys. 

MUSEUM 

The  space  allotted  in  our  building  to  the  museum 
is  becoming  more  congested  every  year,  so  much  so, 
that  many  do  not  appreciate  the  various  collections 
that  we  have.  In  attempting  to  group  objects  together, 
for  an  intelligent  display,  they  have  to  be  so  crowded 
that  much  of  the  value  of  the  display  is  lost.  However, 
this  need  will  be  brought  up  more  in  detail  in  another 
part  of  the  report. 


54  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

To  the  museum  this  year  have  come  several  early 
specimens  of  lamps,  candlesticks,  fireside  lights,  etc. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Ackley.  Surveys,  level  and  tripod  used  by  Mr. 
Ackley's  father,  John  Anson  Ackley,  in  the  first  surveying 
of  the  Ohio  Canal.  One  home-made  wooden  globe  used  in 
the  schools  over  seventy-five  years  ago.  One  hand-made 
gouge  for  tapping  maple  trees.  Pair  of  hand-made  wrought 
fire  shovel  and  tongs. 

Mrs.  A.  F.  Weaver.  Trunk  nearly  one  hundred  years 
old,  the  property  of  Mrs.  Lyman  Strong's  grandmother, 
Elizabeth  Bemiss.  This  contained  a  boy's  suit  of  clothes 
of  the  period  and  other  articles  of  wearing  apparel. 

Mrs.  A.  Sperry.    Nine  pieces  of  old  china. 

Mrs.  T.  W.  Hill.  Two  pheasants  and  one  white  owl, 
mounted. 

Mr.  A.  E.  Merkel.  Silk  flag  of  "Troop  A,"  First  Ohio 
Cavalry  in  the  Spanish  American  War.  Silk  flag  presented 
by  the  Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  First  Ohio 
Volunteer  Cavalry,  in  the  Spanish  American  War. 

Mr.  M.  A.  Sperry.     Collection  of  Civil  War  relics. 

Mrs.  Chas .  W .  Wason.  A  large  collection  of  historic  walk- 
ing sticks.  One  pewter  stein  dated  1708. 

Mrs.  Dudley  S.  Blossom.  Small  lap  desk  used  by  the 
Bronte  sisters. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage.  Teapot  and  base  of  English  Windsor 
Ware,  owned  and  used  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  G.  Talmage,  the 
parents  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Talmage. 

Mrs.  W.  E.  Gushing.     A  very  fine  totem  pole  from  Alaska. 

Mr.  George  Dautel.  One  surveyor's  compass  and  tripod 
used  by  Hon.  J.  M.  Rickey  in  surveying  the  Pennsylvania 
and  Ohio  boundary  line. 

Mr.  C.  A.  Otis.  Electric  lamp,  the  base  of  which  was  made 
from  the  spindles  of  the  stairway  in  the  old  City  Hall  of 
Cleveland,  erected  at  the  time  Mr.  Otis'  father  was  Mayor 
in  1873. 

Dr.  H.  K.  Cushing  Estate.  One  large  bust  of  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

Mrs.  Frank  Meade.  A  very  early  home-made  wax  doll 
that  was  the  property  of  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Bradford.  A  unique 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  55 

wooden  collection  box  used  in  one  of  the  early  New  England 
churches. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Walton.     A  wrought  iron  spike  taken  from  the 
"Niagara,"  flagship  of  Commodore  Oliver  H.  Perry. 

PRINTS  AND  PORTRAITS 

This  collection  as  it  becomes  enlarged  and  better 
known  is  growing  in  interest  and  additions  are  ear- 
nestly desired.  The  only  regret  is  that  we  have  not 
the  proper  means  of  displaying  it  for  the  benefit  of 
the  public. 

A  very  complete  and  valuable  addition  has  been 
received  in; 

THE  H.  K.  GUSHING  FRANKLIN  COLLECTION 

It  is  by  far  the  most  representative  collection  that 
we  have  received  for  some  time  and  came  to  us  by  gift 
from  his  estate. 

Dr.  Gushing  had  formed  a  unique  and  very  com- 
prehensive collection  of  portraits  of  this  famous 
American.  Practically  all  the  authentic  types  of 
Franklin  portraiture  is  represented.  In  the  collection 
there  was  all  told,  something  like  one  hundred  prints. 
The  rare  ones  are  framed  and  have  been  carefully 
catalogued. 

Dr.  Gushing  went  at  his  collecting  in  the  same  me- 
thodical and  painstaking  manner  that  you  would 
expect  of  a  physician  of  his  high  standing,  and  brought 
together,  without  regard  to  cost,  the  best  types  of 
prints  made  by  the  most  famous  artists  from  the  few 
oil  paintings  of  Franklin  that  are  known  to  be  authen- 
tic. 

Mr.  Bowen,  one  of  the  foremost  authorities  on 
Franklin  portraiture  in  this  country,  and  the  author 
of  an  extensive  work  on  the  subject,  said,  in  looking 
it  over,  the  collection  is  very  representative  and  one 
of  the  best  on  Franklin. 

Mr.  Myron  T.  Herrick,  from  the  portraits  of  President 

McKinley  in  his  own  private  collection,  has  presented  the 


56  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

Society,  eighteen  portraits.  Also  portraits  of  President 
and  Mrs.  Hayes.  This  collection  of  portraits  of  one  of  Ohio's 
greatest  statesmen  is  most  welcome,  as  we  hope  to  complete 
as  near  as  possible,  the  portraiture  of  the  outstanding  men  of 
this  state. 

A  remarkable  collection  of  contemporaneous  photos 
of  members  of  the  39th  Congress,  all  bearing  auto- 
graphs, has  been  received  from  Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer, 
also  a  number  of  other  photographs  and  prints  of 
prominent  men  and  women  connected  with  the  Civil 
War  and  Slavery. 

PICTURES 

R.  C.  Parsons.  Framed  oil  painting  of  Samuel  Starke- 
weather,  Mayor  of  Cleveland  in  1844.  Twenty  large  photo- 
graphs of  prominent  Americans. 

Mrs.  Scott  Robinson.  Framed  Oil  painting  of  George 
Faucette  Marshall,  painted  by  Churchill  in  1862.  Mr. 
Marshall  died  in  Cleveland  in  1904  at  the  age  of  87  years. 

Group  of  Editors  and  Reporters  of  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer. 

Dr.  H.  K.  Gushing  Estate.  Framed  portrait  of  Joc-O-Sot, 
the  "Walking  Bear,"  who  was  buried  in  the  Erie  Street  ceme- 
tery. Twelve  other  American  portraits. 

Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer.  Framed  portrait  of  Major  General 
Geo.  H.  Thomas,  engraved  by  Buttre,  in  1865.  Framed  por- 
trait of  the  Lincoln  Family,  by  Dainty.  Album  containing 
photographs  of  graduating  class  of  1861  from  the  TJ.  S. 
Naval  Academy. 

Mr.  Andrew  Squire.  The  Bench  and  Bar  of  Cleveland 
in  1918.  Framed. 

Bank  of  Commerce.  Tile  plaque  portrait  of  D.  W.  Cald- 
well,  President  of  the  "Lake  Shore  Railway  Company"  in 
1895.  Through  its  President,  Mr.  Geo.  S.  Russell,  large 
framed  photographs  of  its  Board  of  Directors,  which  was  made 
up  of  some  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Cleveland,  as  follows- 
Jeptha  H.  Wade,  William  Chisholm,  James  Pickands,  Charles 
H.  Bulkley,  John  H.  McBride,  Amasa  Stone,  J.  P.  Robinson, 
Joseph  Perkins,  Henry  Chisholm,  Joseph  K.  Boole,  Hiram 
Garretson,  D.  W.  Caldwell,  Geo.  B.  Ely,  Stillman  Witt, 
and  Henry  B.  Payne. 


TWO  NINI  MEDALLIONS 
Prom  the  H.  K.  Gushing  Franklin  Collection 
Reduced:  the  size  the  1779  medal  is  6  inches  and  the  1777  medal 
diameter. 


inches 


REPORT 

•\i:.o    portrait*    of   P       ^iu 
[shj*  collection  of  portraits  of  one  of  OL 
is  most  welcome,  as  we  hope  to  complete 
;>ortraiture  of  the  outstanding  men  of 

llection  of  contemporaneous  photos 
•  39th  Congress,  all  bearing  auto- 
eceived  from  Mr.  Wm.  P.  Palmer, 
al>     a  number   of  other  photographs  and  prints  of 
at  men  and  women  connected  with  the  Civil 
\V      and  ? 

PICTURES 

R.  C.   PMJ-O  imed  oil  painting  of  Samuel  Starke- 

weather    U»>*or  of  C  it-  y  eland  in  184 
nent  Americans. 

'vinson.     Framed  Oil  pa) 
Fan  -hall,    p  hill    in    1862. 


mm  f 

notolloO  oibb»A  8nid8oD  .3  .H 

89dooif  y^  labsin  TTVr  9rfi  bn«  ^cfoni  »  EI  Ubsra  6VT 

*  (ate.     Framed  p 

as  buried  in  the  Erie  Street  ceme- 
^merican  portraits. 

trier.     Framed  portrait  of  Major  General 

engraved  by  Buttre,  in  1865.     Framed  por- 

Family,  by  Dainty.     Album  containing 

aduating  class  of  1861  from  the  U.   S. 

Mr  Andrew  Squire.  The  Bench  and  Bar  of  Cleveland 
in 

Bank  el  Commerce.  Tile  plaque  portrait  of  D.  W.  Cald- 
wei  'Lake  Shore  Railway  Company"  in 

1895.  President,  Mr.  Geo.  S.  Russell,  large 

fra  phs  of  its  Board  of  Directors,  which  was  made 

up  ;»c  forcnioet  citizens  of  Cleveland,  as  follows- 

Jeptha  H,  W«d<  ,<isholm,  James  Pickands,  Charles 

H.  Bui  \masa  Stone,  J.  P.  Robinson, 

Joseph  sfaolm,  Joseph  K.  Boole,  Hiram 

Garretson,  eo.  B.  Ely,  Stillman  Witt, 

and  Henty  B.  Payne. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  57 

Mrs.  R.  H.  Fetterman.  Large  framed  picture  of  the  Battle 
of  Gettysburg  taken  from  the  original  painting  hung  in  the 
State  House  at  Harrisburg.  Framed  oil  painting  of  an  early 
view  of  Cleveland's  harbor. 

Mrs.  Fannie  Bissell.  Framed  portrait  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Bissell,  founder  of  Bissell  Institute  at  Twinsburg.  Also  his 
diploma  from  Yale,  framed.  Photograph  album  with  sig- 
natures of  the  Class  of  1823  of  Yale. 

Mr.  Norman  E.  Hills.  Eighteen  photographs  of  Kelley's 
Island,  including  the  residences  of  Norman  and  Ira  Kelley. 

Col.  John  P.  Nicholson.  A  large  collection  of  Civil  War 
pictures. 

Mrs.  Ella  Bradford  Brown.  Framed  oil  paintings  of 
Joel  Scranton  and  wife  Irene  Hickox  Scranton,  father  and 
mother  of  Mrs.  Mary  Bradford.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scranton 
were  early  pioneers  of  Cleveland,  and  Scranton  Avenue  was 
named  after  them. 

MEDALS 

Of  the  various  medals  brought  out  as  a  result  of, 
or  bearing  on  the  late  war,  we  have  as  yet  only  two, 
the  first  of  these  a  medal  issued  by  the  Belgian  Govern- 
ment in  honor  of  the  services  of  Honorable  Brand 
Whitlock,  U.  S.  Minister  to  Belgium.  It  is  exquisitely 
designed  by  C.  Devreese,  one  of  the  foremost  model- 
lers of  Belgium,  size  48  or  3  inches  in  diameter.  The 
obverse:  full  bust  of  Mr.  Whitlock,  facing  left,  with  the 
legend  BRAND  WHITLOCK  MINISTREDES 
ETATS-UNIS  D'AMERIVUE  A.  BRUXELLES 
with  the  artist's  name  C.  DEVRESSE  in  small  raised 
letters  to  right  of  bust.  The  reverse:  a  wreath  of  wheat 
and  oak  stems  crossed  at  the  bottom  and  tied  with  a 
ribbon.  In  center  of  wreath  the  legend :  A  SON  EX- 
CELLENCE BRAND  WHITLOCK  LA  BELGI- 
QUE  RECONNAISANTE  1914-1915.  On  ribbon  at 
the  bottom  RELIEF. 

This  beautiful  medal  was  received  from  Mr.  Whit- 
lock through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Kermode  F.  Gill, 
a  member  of  this  society. 


58  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

The  other  medal  referred  to  is  one  issued  by  the 
American  Numismatic  Society,  in  bronze,  size  40, 
commemorating  the  aerial  crossing  of  the  English 
channel  by  King  Albert  and  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the 
Belgians.  Obverse:  Busts  of  King  Albert  and  Queen 
Elizabeth  facing  left.  Around  the  outer  edge  of  the 
medal  the  legend  KING -ALBERT -AND -QUEEN 
ELIZABETH-OF-THE-BELGIANS-  On  scroll  below 
busts  FORTISSIMI-SUNT-BELGAE-  To  the  left 
near  bottom,  a  small  monogram  of  the  designer's  initials 
T.  S.  Reverse:  on  lower  part  water  and  clouds,  repre- 
senting the  English  channel,  above,  a  sea  gull  and  an  air 
ship  flying.  Around  the  outer  edge  the  legend  COM- 
MEMORATING •  THEIR  -  AERIAL  -  CROSSING 
OF  •  THE  •  ENGLISH  •  CHANNEL;  JVLY  •  MDCCCC- 
XVIII.  Below  the  waves,  the  designer's  name. 

With  the  H.  K.  Gushing  Franklin  Collection,  seven 
rare  Franklin  medals  were  received.  The  most  promi- 
nent of  these  are  probably  the  ones  designed  by  J.  B.  Nini 
at  the  time  Franklin  was  abroad,  one  dated  1777,  the 
other  1779.  The  earlier  one  bears  the  bust  of  Franklin 
wearing  his  fur  cap,  which  created  so  much  comment 
abroad;  the  other  represents  Franklin  without  hat 
and  shows  his  head  very  bald.  These  two  were  issued 
in  red  clay.  (See  illustration.) 

In  the  same  collection,  one  similar  to  the  1777  Nini 
medal  struck  in  bronze.  Still  another  is  the  F.  Dupre 
medallion  which  bears  a  most  striking  likeness  of 
Franklin. 

In  addition  to  the  Franklin  medals,  the  following 
were  received  from  Mr.  Gushing:  one  each  of  Fremont, 
Clay,  Pierce,  McClellan,  two  of  General  Grant,  four 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  three  of  Washington. 

The  collection  of  Civil  War  and  Lincoln  medals, 
which  is  a  part  of  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  Collection,  has 
received,  through  the  gift  of  its  donor,  a  large  in- 
crease of  about  200  medals,  during  the  year;  the  ma- 
jority of  these  bearing  upon  Lincoln,  although  there 
is  being  built  up  gradually,  in  this  collection,  a  very 


WASHINGTON  MEOALLIC  PORTRAITS 
From  the  J.  D.  Cox  Colfection 


58  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

The  other  meda  to  is  one  issued  by  the 

American    Numisi?  ;ety,    in   bronze,    size   40, 

commemorating    the    aerial    crossing   of   the    En 
channel  by  King  Albert  and  Queen  Elizabeth  of  the 
Belgians.     Obverse:  Busts  of  King  Albert  and  Queen 
Elizabei  ^  left.     Around  the  outer  edge  of  the 

medal    the  •!    KING  -ALBERT  -AND  -QUEEN 

ELIZABETH  OF  THE-BELGIANS-  On  scroll  below 
busts  FORTISSIMI-SUNT-BELGAE-  To  the  left 
near  bottom,  a  small  monogram  of  the  designer's  initials 
T.  S.  K  :  on  lower  part  water  and  clouds,  repre- 

senting the  English  channel,  above,  a  sea  gull  and  an  air 
ship  flying.  Around  the  outer  edge  the  legend  COM- 
MEMORATING •  T  I  :  RIAL  •  CROSSING 

OF  -iLISH  MDC( 

XVIII  feTI/jaOMKKI  3UJAQaM  HOT0MIH8AW 

noi*»IIoO  xoO  .a  . 


rare  umi- 

nent  >ly  the  ones  designed  by  J.  B.  Nini 

at  the  "  was  abroad,  one  dated  1777,  the 

other  1  7  arlier  one  bears  the  bust  of  Franklin 

wearing  j>,  which  created  so  much  comment 

abroad;  th<  -  represents  Franklin  without  hat 

and  shows  his  head  very  bald.  These  two  were  issued 
in  red  clay  5  illustration.) 

In  the  same  collection,  one  similar  to  the  1777  Nini 
medal  struck  in  bronze.  Still  another  is  the  F.  Dupre 
medallion  which  bears  a  most  striking  likeness  of 
Franklin. 

In  addition  to  the  Franklin  medals,  the  following 
were  received  from  Mr.  Gushing:  one  each  of  Fremont, 
Clay,  Pierce,  McClellan,  two  of  General  Grant,  four 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  three  of  Washington. 

The  collection  of  Civil  War  and  Lincoln  medals, 
which  is  a  part  of  the  Wm.  P.  Palmer  Collection,  has 
received,  through  the  gift  of  its  donor,  a  large  in- 
crease of  about  200  medals,  during  the  year;  the  ma- 
jority of  these  bearing  upon  Lincoln,  although  there 
is  being  built  up  gradually,  in  this  collection,  a  very 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  59 

strong  division  of  political  medals  bearing  on  the  war 
period. 

J.  D.  Cox  COLLECTION  OF  WASHINGTON  MEDALS 

In  the  report  of  last  year,  the  J.  D.  Cox  Collection 
of  Medallic  Portraits  of  Washington  was  estimated 
over  1000.  During  the  year  121  more  have  been  added 
to  this  collection,  making  the  J.  D.  Cox  collection,  as 
far  as  we  know,  the  largest  collection  of  Washington 
medals  in  any  library  in  America.  This  addition  con- 
tains 72  medals  not  in  Baker's  catalogue.  Among 
those  that  Baker  lists  there  are  several  that  are  ex- 
ceedingly rare  and  one  or  two  unique.  It  will  be  of 
interest  to  speak  of  a  few. 

Baker  No.  61  in  silver,  known  as  the  "Manly 
Medal,"  is  the  first  medal  issued  in  this  country  bear- 
ing the  portrait  of  Washington.  It  was  the  work  of 
Samuel  Brooks,  a  goldsmith  and  seal  cutter  living  in 
Philadelphia  during  the  last  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
It  was  struck  by  J.  Manly,  March,  1790.  At  the  time 
of  the  announcement  of  the  issuance  of  this  medal, 
Governor  Thomas  Mifflin  of  Pennsylvania,  Richard 
Peters,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  Christo- 
pher Febiger,  Treasurer  of  the  State,  and  Francis 
Johnston,  Colonel  of  the  Army,  made  the  statement 
that  the  portrait  on  the  medal  to  be  "a  strong  and  ex- 
pressive likeness,  and  worthy  the  attention  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  of  America."  The  head  on 
this  piece,  according  to  Baker,  was  from  a  model 
furnished  by  Joseph  Wright,  who  painted  a  portrait 
of  Washington  from  life  at  Philadelphia  in  1784.  The 
medal  rather  rude  in  execution,  represents  Washing- 
ton as  quite  aged.  We  possess  this  medal  now,  in  sil- 
ver, bronze,  and  in  a  gold  colored  metal.  One  in  gold  is 
in  the  Appleton  Collection  in  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society.  (See  illustration.) 

Baker  No.  288  in  brass.  A  masonic  medal.  It  is 
commonly  known  that  Washington  just  before  he 
became  of  age,  joined  the  Masons  in  the  Fredericks- 


60  DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 

burgh  Lodge,  Virginia,  November  4,  1752.  This 
lodge  is  one  of  the  earliest  in  America.  After  passing 
the  fellowcraft  degree  in  1753,  he  was  raised  Master 
Mason,  August  4,  1754.  After  the  war  he  served  as 
Master  of  Alexandria  Lodge  No.  22,  which  after  his 
death  changed  its  name  to  Washington  Lodge  No.  22. 
In  1780  he  was  elected  Grand  Master  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Pennsylvania,  but  this 
action  failing  to  be  sanctioned  by  the  other  Grand 
Lodges,  the  office  was  never  established.  This  led 
to  confusion,  for  many  thought  the  office  was  created 
and  that  Washington  was  elected,  hence  the  initials 
on  the  reverse  of  this  medal.  G.  W.,  G.  G.  M.  (George 
Washington,  General  Grand  Master).  The  medal  of 
English  origin  probably  was  issued  in  1797.  The  head 
in  low  relief  after  Du  Simitere,  is  similar  to  that  on 
the  Half  Dollars  issued  by  Peter  Getz  of  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1792.  The  medal  was  issued  in 
brass  and  is  exceedingly  rare.  (See  illustration.) 

Baker  No.  338  in  silver.  The  membership  badge 
of  the  Washington  Market  Chowder  Club,  1818,  is 
another  exceedingly  rare  medal,  although  of  less  ar- 
tistic merit. 

Baker  No.  169  in  gold.  One  of  the  Funeral  Medals 
and  is  perhaps  the  most  valued  of  all  the  earlier  Wash- 
ington pieces,  and  the  copy  that  we  have  is  the  only 
one  known  to  be  in  existence  issued  in  gold,  although 
one  other  in  the  same  metal  was  issued,  and  there 
was  one  in  bronze,  the  latter  being  now  in  the  Apple- 
ton  collection.  It  was  issued  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
and  the  obverse  bears  the  bust  facing  to  the  left,  in  an 
olive  wreath,  immediately  below,  the  intials  G.  W. 
with  the  following  legend:  HE  IN  GLORY  THE 
WORLD  IN  TEARS.  OB.  D.  14.  '99  JE.  '68.  (See 
illustration.) 

Many  of  the  other  medals  are  equally  interesting 
from  an  historical  and  artistic  point. 


6 
I 


SWEDISH  PLATE  MONEY 

GIFT  OF  MR.  AMBROSE  SWA8EY 

4  Daler  Coin — 

Inscription:  SILF(OER)  MYNT  F  R  S  (Frederik  Rex  Sue^ia)  1730. 
Coined  during  the  reign  of  King  Adolf  Frederik  and  Queen  Ulrika  Elenora 

1  Daler  Coin- 
Inscription:  on  verso,  FLINK  OCH  FARDIG  (Alert  and  ready)  1718. 
Coinage  was  first  introduced  into  Sweden  by  King  Olof  in  1019.  The 
earliest  coins  were  made  of  silver  by  Anglo  Saxons  who  settled  in  the  city  of 
Sigluna,  and  resembled  closely  the  Anglo  Saxon  coins  of  the  same  period.  Upon 
the  return  to  Sweden  from  his  foreign  wars,  King  Charles  XII  found  Sweden 
in  terrible  financial  condition.  During  the  last  years  of  his  reign  (1715-1718)  he 
took  no  advice  from  Swedish  men.  Foreign  adventurers  and  schemers  were  in 
charge  of  the  affairs  of  State,  principal  among  whom  was  a  German,  Baron 
George  Henrik  Goertz.  (This  Hun  proved  to  be  a  traitor  to  Carl  XII.)  King 
Charles  granted  him  authority  to  act  in  his  name  in  almost  every  branch  of  the 
government,  interior  as  well  as  foreign.  Goertz  was  a  genius,  but  utterly  reck- 
less. For  his  acts  the  King  was  responsible,  not  he.  He  tried  to  make  loans 
abroad,  made  compulsory  loans  within  the  country;  placed  a  tax  on  articles  of 
luxury,  and  put  in  circulation  coins  of  copper  which  were  a  kind  of  "promissory 
note,"  worthless  in  themselves,  but  each  representing  a  Swedish  dollar.  At  first 
these  "coins  of  need"  were  issued  to  the  amount  of  a  sensible  sum,  but  were 
soon  increased  in  number  at  the  command  of  Charles  XII  himself,  so  that  they 
lost  their  value.  The  people  refused  to  take  them,  while  prices  of  everything 
rose  to  an  astounding  aeight,  which  made  it  necessary  to  make  a  change  Th  th£ 
coinage.  It  was  finaly  decided  to  have  a  coin  of  value  and  the  large  square 
copper  coins  were  adcpted.  Each  coin  represented  its  value  in  copper.  They 
were  issued  in  denomnatiosn  of  ^,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5.  8  and  10  dalers.  The  value  of 
the  4  daler  coin  is  abut  $1.06. 

Large  coin,  (4  <aler)  weighs  6%  pounds  or  45433.6  grains.    Size  9x9  inches. 
Small  coin,  (1  <aler)  weighs  58  grains  and  4  would  weigh  232  grains.     Size 
Y|  inches  in  diamefer 

45433  6 

—       '     =  19.8  ratio  between  the  4  daler  coin  and  the  4,  1-daler  coins. 


60 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 


burgh    Lodge,    Virginia,    November    4,    1752, 
lodge  is  one  of  the  earliest  in  America.     After  pa 
the  fellowcraft  degree  in  1753,  he  was  raised  Master 
Mason,  August  4,  1754.     After  the  war  he  served  as 
Master  of  Alexandria  Lodge  No.  22,  which  after  his 
death  changed  its  name  to  Washington  Lodge  No.  22. 
In  1780  he  was  elected  Grand  Master  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Gran^^c^^gij^gi^  but  this 

action  failing  to  De  sanctioned  T>y  the  other  Grand 
Lodges,  the  office   \^^w5iW%¥£A^s¥aBfisned.     This  J< 
to  confua 


aciJ 


on  I 

<»riT     .6101    m  loIO  snDI   v;d   nobo^  olni   M,™.™-.   .— 
\o  yJb   sdJ   fli   tebtea  afar   ZNOTJ&  olgnA  V(f  ny/I^  1o  obiiai 
in    l*10^     .bojieq  soiBa  ari*  Ip^nioo,.noyji6  o 
nsbawS  bauol  IIX   aslierlO   Sn^  XIKA 
sd  (8IVI-6fTI)  flgm  aid  to  aiaa^  tafil  $fli  fepn 

noiB^I    .nurrmO    B   aaw   modw   snontB   Umon 

^niX      ^  TTY  h«D  oi  loiiBiJ  B  sd  oi 
a111-" 


.nioo 


^ 

drn  M.I 
on  Joo 


^ 


one 

one 

was 

ton  coll 

and  th^flioo 

olive  wi 

^4th    the   fc 

WORLD    i 

illustra' 

Many  <•} 
from  ai 


It  was  issued  at  the  time  ofnis 


o 

mmediately  below,  the  intials  G.  W. 

legend:     HE  IN  GLORY  THE 

RS.     OB.  D.  14.  '99  M.  '68.    (See 

5  other  medals  are  equally  interesting 
vai  and  artistic  point. 


i  M 


Is 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  61 

NUMISMATICS 

The  Numismatic  collections  are  not  growing  as 
fast  as  we  would  like,  owing  to  the  fact  that  we  have 
no  special  funds  for  this  purpose,  the  increase  has  come 
entirely  through  gifts.  There  are  many  numismatics  in 
Cleveland  and  in  the  State  who  could  add  greatly  to 
the  collections  if  they  became  interested  hi  our  work. 
We  are  sure  the  day  will  come  when  the  Society  will 
possess  a  worthy  collection  in  this  line.  The  gifts  this 
year  have  been  both  interesting  and  valuable. 

Mr.  Ambrose  Swasey.  A  four  daler  plate  money  of 
Sweden  and  also  a  one  daler  coin,  with  interesting  corres- 
pondence concerning  the  same.  (See  illustration  with  de- 
scription.) 

Mrs.  T.  W.  Hills.  Three  bills  of  the  Bank  of  Brest, 
Michigan. 

Miss  Alice -Hussey.     Five  early  bank  bills. 

Mr.  George  S.  Russell.  A  series  of  bills  issued  by  the 
Bank  of  Commerce,  Cleveland,  1856. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Nutt. 

16  American  silver  dollars,  1798-1869. 
40  Half  Dollars  1806-'65. 

7  Quarter  dollars,  1806-'39. 

8  U.  S.  dimes,  1798-'34. 
4  Columbian  half  dollars. 

12  Miscellaneous  American  coins. 

22  French,  Italian,  Mexican,  Spanish, 

and  English  coins. 

Mrs.  Frank  Meade.     A  small  collection  of  coins. 
Mrs.  Chas.  Wason.     A  small  collection  of  coins. 
Mr.  J.  W.  Simpson.     Two  colonial  bills  of  Rhode  Island. 
To   the   issues   of   the   Colonial   and   Continental 
periods  we  have  added  107  different  issues,  making 
our  collection  in  this  particular  field,   344  different 
bills.     To  our  Confederate  States  issues  we  have  added 
92  bills,  and  to  the  issues  of  individual  Southern  states, 
46  pieces. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT 


CATALOGUING  REPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR 
May  1,  1918  to  April  30,  1919. 


Year 
1918-19 

Total 
to  date 

New  titles  catalogued  

2698 

20,  984 

Volumes  catalogued  (incl.  sets,  etc.)  

2522 

20,  613 

Pamphlets  catalogued  

585 

8,086 

Newspaper  volumes  catalogued 

3 

92 

Total  volumes,   pamphlets,   newspapers, 
catalogued 

3110 

32,  681 

Cards  added  to  catalogue 

14,  067 

79  767 

Temporary  slips 

4,505 

Depository  cards  delivered  to  Cleveland  Pub- 
lic Library  .... 

2,146 

There  was  in  addition  to  the  above  1934  guide 
cards  and  410  cross  reference  cards  typed  and  in- 
serteduin  the  catalog.  No  cataloguing  was  done  for 
some  three  months. 


DIRECTOR'S  REPORT  63 

STATISTICAL  REPORT  OF  THE  LIBRARY 

ACCESSIONS 
May  1st,  1918,  to  April  30,  1919. 

Bound  Volumes 

Accessioned  during  the  year 2562 

Withdrawn  during  the  year 55 


2507 

Total  number  accessioned  volumes  re- 
maining May  1st,  1918 44,575 


Total  volumes  in  Library  May  1st,  1919 47,082 

Pamphlets 

Accessioned  during  the  year 899 

Withdrawn 67 

832 

Total  accessioned  pamphlets  remaining 

May  1,  1918 15,250 


Total  pamphlets  in  Library  May  1st,  1919 16, 082 

Newspapers  bound 

Accessioned  during  the  year 97 

Total  accessioned  newspaper  remaining  May 

1st,  1918 1448 

Total  number  of  bound  volumes  of  newspapers, 

May  1st,  1919 1, 545 


Total  number  of  volumes,  pamphlets,  and  news- 
papers accessioned  to  date 64, 709 

It  is  only  fair  to  the  Society  to  state  that  less  than 
one  third  of  our  newspapers  are  bound  and  these  only 
are  accessioned.  We  feel  safe  in  saying  if  our  col- 
lection of  books,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers  were 
fully  accessioned,  the  number  would  exceed  125,000. 
We  cannot  well  avoid  this  difference  between  the 
accession  record  and  the  actual  number  of  books  in 
the  library  until  a  large  amount  of  binding  is  done,  and 
our  cataloging  force  largely  increased. 

W.  H.  CATHCART,  Director. 


64  TREASURER'S  REPORT 

TREASURER'S  REPORT 

WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

RECEIPTS  AND  DISBURSEMENTS 

Year  Ending  April  30,  1919 

RECEIPTS 

Cash  on  hand  May  1st,  1918 $3,  484.96 

Subscriptions,  May  1,  1918  to  April  30,  1919 3,  360.  00 

Special  Contributions 3,  801 . 79 

Income  from  Endowment 6, 110 . 71 

Hodge  Fund 1,  969.72 

Miscellaneous  Receipts 52 . 27 

Interest  on  Deposits  to  April  30,  1919 58 . 07 

Total $18,837.52 

DISBURSEMENTS 

May  1,  1918,  to  April  30,  1919 $16,768.30 

Balance  on  hand  May  1st,  1919 2,069.22 

DISBURSEMENTS 

Subscriptions  to  Periodicals $        64 .50 

Printing  and  Stationery 1,  390 ,21 

Salaries 9, 110.20 

General  Expense  660.72 

Light  and  Heat 814.40 

Travelling 248. 16 

Building  Account 33.67 

Additions  to  Collections 4,196.44 

Hodge  Fund _     250.00 

$16,768.30 
SUBSCRIPTIONS 

1  at  $250.00 , $     250.00 

2  at  150.00  each 300.00 

1  at  100.00  each 100.00 

2  at    50.00  each 100.00 

3  at    25.00  each 75.00 

1  at    20.00 20.00 

1  at    15.00 15.00 

250  at    10.00  each 2,  500. 00 

$3,360.00 


TREASURER'S  REPORT 


Special  contributors  during  the  year  were  Messrs. 


C.  W.  Bingham 
C.  C.  Bolton 
A.  S.  Chisholm 
H.  Coulby 
J.  D.  Cox 


H.  A.  Fuller 
F.  F.  Hickox 
H.  H.  McKeehan 
Wm.  McLauchlan 
Samuel  Mather 
E.  M.  Williams 


Kenyon  V.  Painter 
Wm.  P.  Palmer 
James  Parmelee 
F.  F.  Prentiss 
Daniel  R.  Taylor 


A.  S.  CHISHOLM,  Treasurer. 


WILLIAM  C.  COCHRAN.  L.L.D. 


Publication  No.  101 


COLLECTIONS 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


Issued  January  1920 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE 

AND 

THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW 

A  PRELUDE  TO  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


WILLIAM  C.  COCHRAN.  LL.D. 

Honorary  member  of  the  Literary  Club  of  Cincinnati,  Life  Member  of 

The    Western  Reserve  Historical  Society,  Member  of    the 

Mississippi  Valley  Historical  Association 


CLEVELAND,  OHIO 
1920 


OFFICERS 
The  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 

OFFICERS  FOR  1919-1920 

President 
WILLIAM  P.  PALMER 

Vice  President  and  Director 
WALLACE  H.  CATHCART 

Honorary  Vice  Presidents 
JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 
JACOB  B.  PERKINS 

Secretary 
ELBERT  J.  BENTON 

Treasurer 
WM.  THOMPSON 


Trustees 


ELROY.  M.  AVERT 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 
C.  W.  BINGHAM 
A.  T.  BREWER 
E.  S.  BURKE,  JR. 
W.  H.  CATHCART 
J.  D.  Cox 
WM.  G.  DIETZ 
JAMES  R.  GARFIELD 
C.  A.  GRASSELLI 
WEBB  C.  HAYES 
RALPH  KING 


W.  G.  MATHER 
PRICE  McKiNNEY 
D.  Z.  NORTON 
WM.  P.  PALMER 
DOUGLAS  PERKINS 
JACOB  PERKINS 
F.  F.  PRENTISS 
J.  L.  SEVERANCE 
AMBROSE  SWASEY 
CHAS.  F.  THWING 
J.  H.  WADE 
S.  S.  WILSON 


C.  W.  BINGHAM 
S.  P.  BALDWIN 


E.  J.  BENTON 


Finance  Committee 

F.  F.  PRENTISS 

Publication  Committee 
W.  H.  CATHCART 


W.  G.  DIETZ 
D.  Z.  NORTON 


H.  E.  BOURNE 


ARTICLES  OF  INCORPORATION 


STATE  OF  OHIO 

These  Articles  of  Incorporation  of 
THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

Witnessethy  That  we,  the  undersigned,  all  of  whom  are  citizens 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  desiring  to  form  a  corporation  not  for  profit, 
under  the  general  corporation  laws  of  said  State,  do  hereby 
certify : 

FIRST.  The  name  of  said  corporation  shall  be  The  Western 
Reserve  Historical  Society. 

SECOND.  Said  corporation  shall  be  located  and  its  principle 
business  transacted  at  the  City  of  Cleveland,  in  Cuyahoga  County 
Ohio. 

THIRD.  The  purpose  for  which  said  corporation  is  formed  is 
not  profit,  but  is  to  discover,  collect  and  preserve  whatever  relates 
to  the  history,  biography,  genealogy,  and  antiquities  of  Ohio  and 
the  West;  and  of  the  people  dwelling  therein,  including  the  physical 
history  and  condition  of  the  State;  to  maintain  a  museum  and 
library,  and  to  extend  knowledge  upon  the  subjects  mentioned,  by 
literary  meetings,  by  publication  and  by  other  proper  means. 

In  Witness  Whereof,  We  have  hereunto  set  our  hands,  this 
seventh  day  of  March,  A.  D.,  1892. 

Henry  C.  Ranney  Charles  C.  Baldwin 

D.  W.  Manchester  David  C.  Baldwin 

Amos  Townsend,  Percy  W.  Rice, 

William  Bingham,  Jas.  D.  Cleveland, 
A.  T.  Brewer 


7, 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 


At  this  time,  when  the  whole  world  is  consider- 
ing the  possibility  of  a  League  of  Nations,  which 
shall  secure  even  the  feeblest  from  the  aggressions 
of  the  strong,  which  shall  afford  a  means  for  settling 
disputes  between  nations  without  war,  and  which 
shall  relieve  all  from  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
huge  armies  and  armaments  for  self  protection;  we 
can  gain  much  by  studying  anew  the  history  of  the 
Confederation  once  formed  between  the  thirteen 
colonies  established  on  our  Atlantic  seaboard,  the 
causes  for  its  early  failure,  the  difficulties  attending 
the  formation  of  "a  more  perfect  Union,"  and  the 
provisions  embodied  in  the  new  Constitution  which 
constantly  disturbed  the  relations  of  the  component 
States  and  finally  led  to  internecine  war,  the  elimi- 
nation of  the  disturbing  elements  and  the  perfection 
of  a  Union  unparalleled  for  its  strength  and  freedom 
from  militarism. 

In  addition  to  the  works  of  former  historians, 
the  sources  of  their  information,  the  reports  of  United 
States  and  State  courts  and  the  Statutes  of  Ohio, 
the  author  has  had  access  to  the  valuable  collection 
of  newspapers,  pamphlets  and  documents  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society, 
at  Cleveland,  and  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  officers 
of  that  Society  for  the  facilities  they  have  afforded 
for  conducting  his  investigation.  This  fine  col- 
lection might  (and  should)  be  further  enriched,  if 
individuals,  who  have  preserved  files  of  local  news- 
papers and  periodicals,  pamphlets,  diaries,  and  private 
correspondence  concerning  public  affairs,  would  give 


8  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

them  to  the  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society  to 
be  classified,  catalogued,  preserved  and  made  easily 
accessible  for  students  and  historians.  To  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  collector,  such  individuals  will  thus  add 
the  satisfaction  of  contributing  to  the  public  welfare 
and  having  their  names  identified  with  an  institution 
which  will  outlive  most  families  and  village  com- 
munities. W.  C.  C. 

Cincinnati,  March  29,  1919. 


THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  and 
THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

ARTICLE  I. 

"SECTION  2.  Representatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included 
within  this  Union  according  to  their  respective  Numbers,  which 
shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  Number  of  Free  Per- 
sons, including  those  bound  to  Service  for  a  Term  of  Years,  and 
excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  Persons." 

ARTICLE  II. 

"SECTION  1.  Each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  Manner  as 
the  Legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors  equal 
to  the  whole  number  of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which 
the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress." 

ARTICLE  IV. 

"SECTION  2.  No  person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one 
State,  under  the  Laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in 
Consequence  of  any  Law  or  Regulation  therein,  be  discharged 
from  such  Service  or  Labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  Claim 
of  the  Party  to  whom  such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due.' ' l 

Any  one,  who  would  fully  understand  the  atti- 
tude of  the  people  on  the  Western  Reserve  previous 
to  the  Civil  War  and  during  Reconstruction,  should 
acquaint  himself  with  the  origin  and  history  of  the 
above  clauses  of  the  Constitution  and  the  various 
laws,  Federal  and  State,  enacted  in  accordance  there- 
with. 

At  the  time  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  slavery 
had  been  abolished  or  was  in  process  of  extinction 
in  all  but  six  of  the  States,  and  in  three  of  these, 
Maryland,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  there  was 
persistent  agitation  by  leading  citizens  for  its  gradual 
abolition.  There  was,  however,  no  disposition  to 
subject  slaveholders  to  immediate  pecuniary  loss. 
The  general  expectation  was  that  slavery  would  cease 

»  Ben  Perley  Poore,  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  I,  pp.  14,  17,  19. 


10  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

to  exist  in  all  the  States,  except  possibly  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia,  before  twenty-one  years  had  elapsed. 
This  expectation  is  reflected  in  Section  9,  Article  I, 
of  the  Constitution,  which  fixes  the  year  1808  as  the 
period,  prior  to  which  Congress  may  not  prohibit 
"The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons  as 
any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper 
to  admit"  2 — in  other  words,  slaves.  This  prospect 
made  the  non-slavery  delegates  acquiesce  more  readily 
in  the  above  provisions,  insisted  upon  by  the  extreme 
pro-slavery  men.  At  the  same  time,  it  made  them 
particular  that  the  system  which  they  detested  should 
not  be  mentioned  by  name  in  the  great  charter  of 
the  Union. 

The  apportionment  of  taxes  and  representation 
based  on  the  number  of  all  free  persons,  plus  three- 
fifths  of  those  who  were  not  free,  was  an  arbitrary 
measure  which  had  no  consistent  theory  to  support 
it.  In  the  thought  of  pro-slavery  men,  a  negro  was 
nothing  but  a  domestic  animal,  a  chattel,  which  could 
be  bought  and  sold  and  set  to  work  in  the  fields  like 
any  other  animal.  He  had  neither  character  nor 
intelligence  and  was  in  no  wise  to  be  considered,  or 
treated  as  a  man — much  less  as  a  citizen. 

Why,  then,  should  he  not  be  excluded  from  the 
enumeration  on  which  "Representation  and  direct 
Taxes"  were  to  "be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States,"  just  as  "Indians  not  taxed"  were? 

Was  the  enslaved  African  considered  higher  in 
the  social  and  political  scale  than  a  free  Indian? 

Was  it  because  a  slave  is  property,  and  property 
should  be  considered  when  taxes  are  to  be  appor- 
tioned and  levied? 

If  so,  why  was  not  all  property,  north  and  south, 
taken  into  consideration  at  its  true  value  in  money? 

Slaves  were  not  taken  into  consideration  in 
apportioning  representation  among  the  counties  in 

»  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  I,  p.  16. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  11 

a  slave  State.  Then,  why  should  they  have  been 
considered  in  apportioning  representation  among  the 
States? 

If  slaves  were  to  be  counted  at  all,  why  should 
not  all  be  counted?  Why  three-fifths,  rather  than 
one-half,  one-third,  or  one-tenth? 

These  and  many  other  questions  have  puzzled 
students  of  our  national  Constitution  in  the  past, 
and  will  continue  to  puzzle  students  in  the  future; 
the  more,  as  it  is  being  held  up  as  a  model  after  which 
all  future  republics  should  be  formed.  The  excuse, 
rather  than  justification,  commonly  offered  is  like 
that  advanced  by  Von  Bethmann  Hollweg  and  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  for  invading  Belgium  in  August,  1914.  It 
was  wrong,  but  it  was  thought  necessary  to  carry  out 
the  object  which  the  delegates  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  had  in  view — a  Union,  "perfect"  or  other- 
wise, of  all  the  States. 

GENESIS  OF  THE  THREE-FIFTHS  RULE  AND  FUGITIVE 
SLAVE  PROVISION. 

A  Confederation  of  States  had  been  formed  a 
little  over  nine  years  before,  but  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation contained  no  provisions  like  those  above 
quoted  from  the  first  and  fourth  Articles  of  our  present 
Constitution. 

"Article  5.  *  *  *  No  State  shall  be  represented  in  Con- 
gress by  less  than  two  nor  more  than  seven  members.  *  *  * 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  each  State  shall  have  one  vote." 

"Article  8.  All  charges  of  war  and  all  other  expenses 
that  shall  be  incurred  for  the  common  defence  or  general 
welfare  *  *  *  shall  be  defrayed  out  of  a  common  treas- 
ury, which  shall  be  supplied  by  the  several  States,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  value  of  all  land  within  each  State,  granted 
to  or  surveyed  for  any  person,  as  such  land  and  the  buildings 
and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  estimated  according  to 
such  mode  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall, 
from  time  to  time,  direct  and  appoint."  3 


» Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  I,  pp.  8-9. 


12  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

Thus,  the  troublesome  question  of  apportion- 
ment for  representation  and  taxation  was  settled  in 
the  Constitution  adopted  by  the  Constitutional  Con- 
gress, November  15,  1777,  and  ratified  by  the  signa- 
tures of  delegates  from  the  several  States,  at  Phila- 
delphia, July  9,  1778.  Thus,  too,  the  "Sovereignty " 
of  the  respective  States  was  protected  against  a 
national  power  created  by  themselves. 

It  was  not  settled  without  debate.  In  the  original 
draft  of  a  Constitution  it  was  proposed  that  the 
Treasury  "should  be  supplied  by  the  several  colonies 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  every 
age,  sex  and  quality,  except  Indians  not  paying  taxes, 
in  each  colony." 

Samuel  Chase,  of  Maryland,  moved  that  the 
quotas  should  be  fixed,  not  by  the  number  of  inhabi- 
tants of  every  condition,  but  by  that  of  the  "white 
inhabitants."  He  admitted  that  theoretically  taxa- 
tion should  always  be  in  proportion  to  property; 
but  maintained  that  it  could  never  be  carried  out  in 
practice,  because  of  the  difficulties  in  discovering  and 
fixing  the  value  of  property.  Negroes  are  property 
and,  as  such,  cannot  be  distinguished  from  lands  or 
personalty  held  in  those  States  where  there  are  few 
slaves.  There  is  no  more  reason  for  taxing  the  South- 
ern States  on  a  slave's  head,  than  for  taxing  Northern 
ones  on  their  heads  of  cattle.  There  spoke  the  logi- 
cian; but  his  logic  was  sharpened  by  the  interest  of 
his  State  in  shifting  the  burden  of  taxation  from 
Southern  to  Northern  States. 4  John  Adams,  of 
Massachusetts,  argued  that  the  numbers  of  people 
were  taken  as  a  fair  index  of  the  wealth  of  a  State, 
and  not  as  subjects  of  taxation;  that  it  was  of  no 
consequence  by  what  name  you  called  your  people, 
whether  by  that  of  free  men  or  of  slaves.  "Suppose," 
he  said,  "one  half  the  laborers  of  a  State  could,  in  the 
course  of  one  night  be  transformed  into  slaves,  would 

« Elliott,  Debates  on  the  Federal  Constitution,  Vol.  I,  70  up. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  13 

the  State  be  made  poorer,  or  the  less  able  to  pay 
taxes?" 5  There  also  spoke  the  logician.  But  it 
is  quite  probable  that,  if  the  question  had  been  one 
of  apportioning  representation  instead  of  taxation, 
Chase  would  have  advocated  the  enumeration  of  all 
slaves  on  the  ground  laid  down  by  Adams,  and  Adams 
would  have  argued  that  slaves  should  not  be  counted 
as  freemen.  Chase's  motion  to  amend  was  defeated 
by  the  votes  of  the  seven  Northern  States — Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  South 
Carolina  voting  aye,  Georgia  divided. 6 

Dr.  John  Witherspoon,  of  New  Jersey,  President 
of  Princeton  College,  was  of  opinion  that  the  value 
of  lands  and  houses  was  the  best  estimate  of  wealth 
and  that  it  was  practicable  to  obtain  such  a  valua- 
tion 7  and  his  suggestion  was  finally  adopted.  Before 
the  vote  was  taken,  however,  Benjamin  Harrison, 
of  Virginia,  proposed,  as  a  compromise,  that  two 
slaves  should  be  counted  as  one  freeman. 8  But  little 
notice  was  taken  of  it,  at  that  time. 

The  article  in  regard  to  giving  each  State  an  equal 
vote  was  opposed  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unjust 
to  the  States  having  a  large  population.  Why  should 
little  Delaware  offset  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania,  or 
little  Rhode  Island  offset  the  vote  of  Virginia?  James 
Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  thought  that  taxation  should 
be  in  proportion  to  wealth,  but  that  representation 
should  accord  with  the  number  of  freemen.  "It  is 
strange,"  he  said,  "that  annexing  the  name  of  'State' 
to  ten  thousand  men  should  give  them  an  equal  right 
with  forty  thousand.  *  .*  *  Shall  two  millions 
of  people  put  it  in  the  power  of  one  million  to  govern 
them  as  they  please?"  9  But,  in  the  end,  the  "State 
Sovereignty"  idea  prevailed  and  the  States  confed- 
erated on  the  basis  of  equality. 

When  the  delegates  of  the  several  States  came 


*  Elliott,  I..  71.  •  Ibid..  73-4.  'Ibid.,  73. 

« Elliott,  I.,  72.  •  Ibid.,  77,  78. 


14  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

together  to  act  on  the  proposed  Constitution,  Penn- 
sylvania moved  to  expunge  the  word  "white"  in  the 
paragraph  of  the  9th  article,  fixing  the  quota  of  land 
forces  to  be  furnished  from  each  State  "in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  white  inhabitants  in  such  State." 
But  the  motion  was  defeated  by  3  ayes,  7  noes,  and 
1  divided. l  ° 

In  practice,  the  scheme  of  a  Confederacy  of 
independent  "Sovereign  States,"  each  having  an 
equal  vote  in  Congress  without  reference  to  popula- 
tion or  wealth,  and  each  retaining  within  itself  the 
power  of  laying  and  levying  taxes  for  national  pur- 
poses, failed  to  work.  Congress  designated  from 
time  to  time  the  number  of  troops  and  the  sums  of 
money  necessary  for  carrying  on  the  war,  but  the 
"Sovereign  States"  were  slow  in  responding.  The 
State  legislatures  could  not  be  always  in  session  and 
it  was  no  light  matter  to  call  them  together  between 
sessions.  The  several  legislatures  indulged  in  debates 
about  certain  requisitions,  as  if  each  had  the  right  to 
decide  for  itself  whether  they  were  just  or  necessary, 
and  whether  Congress  had  made  a  fair  apportion- 
ment. Many  of  the  States  claimed  that  they  had 
contributed  so  many  more  men  and  so  much  more 
money  and  supplies  than  others  that  they  ought  to 
be  exempt.  Congress  was  without  power  to  enforce 
the  filling  of  any  quota,  or  the  payment  of  any  assess- 
ment. "Sovereign  States"  were  not  to  be  coerced. 
The  legislatures  of  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut  had 
expressly  refused  to  comply  with  requisitions  of  Con- 
gress and  had  transmitted  copies  of  such  resolutions 
to  Congress. 1 1  In  December,  1782,  Virginia,  by 
resolution  of  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature,  limited 
its  contribution  to  £50,000,  Virginia  currency,  toward 
the  demands  of  Congress. 1 2 

The  legislature  of  New  York  in  the  summer  of 
1782  passed  resolutions  declaring  that:— 

» «  Elliott,  I.,  90. 

1 1  Elliott,  V.;  32,  36,  119,  207,  264.          i  zBancroft,  United  States,  VI.,  63. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  15 

"the  Confederation  was  defective  in  not  giving  Congress 
power  to  provide  a  revenue  for  itself,  or  in  not  investing 
them  with  funds  from  established  and  productive  sources; 
and  that  it  would  be  advisable  for  Congress  to  recommend 
to  the  States  to  call  a  general  convention,  to  revise  and 
amend  the  Confederation."  *  3 

On  February,  1783,  Congress,  in  committee  of 
the  Whole,  decided  by  a  vote  of  eight  to  one,  (1)  that 
a  valuation  of  land  within  the  United  States  as  directed 
by  the  Articles  of  Confederation  should  be  immediately 
attempted;  (2)  that  each  State  should  be  called  on 
to  make  a  return  of  the  number  of  acres  granted  to 
or  surveyed  for  any  person  and  also  the  number  of 
buildings  within  it;  but,  by  a  vote  of  5  to  4,  (3)  that 
the  States  should  not  be  called  upon  to  return  an 
estimate  of  the  value  of  their  lands,  with  the  build- 
ings and  improvements  therein.  In  the  discussion 
of  these  propositions  it  was  pointed  out  that  great 
inequalities  and  dissatisfaction  were  sure  to  result, 
as  had  already  been  demonstrated  in  an  experiment 
in  Virginia,  and  that  a  comparison  of  average  valua- 
tion of  land  for  State  taxation  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia  showed  the  latter  to  amount  to  fifty  per 
cent  more  than  the  former,  although  the  real  value 
of  land  in  the  former  was  confessedly  thrice  that  of 
the  latter. 1 4  Every  one  familiar  with  local  appraise- 
ments of  land  for  taxation  and  the  work  of  State 
and  municipal  boards  of  equalization  knows  the 
difficulty  to  be  encountered  and  the  complaints 
which  follow.  But  these  difficulties  are  small  as 
compared  with  those  encountered  in  the  attempt 
to  secure  returns  and  proper  valuation  of  personal 
property. 

It  was  proposed  that  each  State  should  nominate 
one  commissioner  and  the  thirteen  should  act  as  a 
board  to  settle  the  valuation.  This  was  objected 
to  on  the  ground  that  such  commissioners  would 
regard  themselves  as  agents  for  their  respective 


i »  Elliott,  V.,  1 17-18.  1 4  Elliott,  V.,  46-47. 


16  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

States,  and  it  was  argued  that  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  Congress  would  be  more  impartial.  Sev- 
eral members  declared  themselves  as  opposed  to  the 
whole  scheme  of  valuation  of  land  and  in  favor  of 
substituting  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  as  the  rule 
for  apportioning  taxes.  The  whole  matter  was  re- 
ferred to  a  special  committee  to  draw  up  a  proper 
act. 1 6  On  March  6,  1783,  this  committee  reported 
making  the  following  recommendation,  among  others  :— 

"11.  That  as  a  more  convenient  and  certain  rule  of 
ascertaining  the  proportions  to  be  supplied  by  the  States, 
respectively,  to  the  common  treasury,  *  *  *  it  shall  be 
supplied  by  the  several  States  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  inhabitants,  of  every  age,  sex  and  condition,  except  In- 
dians not  paying  taxes  in  each  State;  which  number  shall 
be  triennially  taken  and  transmitted  to  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  in  such  mode  as  they  shall  direct 
and  appoint;  provided  always  that  in  such  numeration  no 
persons  shall  be  included  who  are  bound  to  servitude  for 
life,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  State  to  which  they  belong, 
other  than  such  as  may  be  between  the  ages  of  - 
years."16 

This  recommendation  was  discussed  on  March  27. 
Bland  and  Lee,  of  Virginia,  still  thought  the  value 
of  land  the  best  rule.  Madison,  thought  the  value 
of  land  could  never  be  justly  or  satisfactorily  ob- 
tained; that  it  would  be  ever  a  source  of  contentions 
among  the  States.  Gorham,  of  Massachusetts,  rep- 
resented in  strong  terms,  the  inequality  and  clamors 
produced  by  valuations  of  land  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  probability  of  the  evils  being  in- 
creased among  the  States  themselves,  which  were 
more  likely  to  be  jealous  of  each  other.  Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  said  he  was  in  Congress  when  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  directing  a  value  of  land 
were  agreed  to;  that  the  impossibility  of  compromis- 
ing the  different  ideas  of  the  eastern  and  southern 
States,  as  to  the  value  of  slaves  as  compared  with 


* » Elliott.  V..  48,  49.  » •  Ibid.,  62  to  64. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  17 

whites,  led  to  its  adoption.  Clark,  of  New  Jersey, 
said  he  also  was  in  Congress  when  that  rule  was 
adopted,  that  the  southern  States  would  have  agreed 
to  numbers  in  preference  to  land,  if  half  their  slaves 
only  had  been  included,  but  that  the  eastern  States 
would  not  concur  in  that  proposition.  It  was  finally 
agreed  that  instead  of  fixing  the  proportion  of  negroes 
to  be  counted  by  ages,  it  should  be  fixed  by  absolute 
numbers  and  the  clause  was  recommitted  so  as  to 
have  that  done. 1 7 

On  Friday,  March  28,  the  committee  reported 
that  two  blacks  should  be  rated  as  one  freeman. 
Carroll,  of  Maryland,  thought  four  to  one  a  better 
ratio,  but  four  members,  Wolcott,  Higginson,  Holton 
and  Osgood,  favored  four  to  three,  and  Rutledge, 
of  South  Carolina,  thought  three  to  one  the  correct 
ratio.  A  motion  for  rating  slaves  as  three  to  two 
failed  to  carry — New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  aye,  5;  Massa- 
chusetts, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  no,  5;  and  Rhode  Island,  divided.  After 
some  further  discussion,  in  which  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  two  slaves  were  not  equal 
to  one  freeman,  Madison,  who  was  adept  in  framing 
compromises,  seized  the  psychological  moment  and 
proposed  that  slaves  should  be  rated  as  five  to  three, 
and  the  article  was  thus  amended  by  a  vote  of  New 
Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  aye,  7; 
Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  no,  2;  Massachusetts, 
divided,  1.  On  the  adoption  of  the  article  as  amended 
the  vote  was  a  tie,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
South  Carolina,  Connecticut  and  Delaware  voting,  no; 
and  Pennsylvania  not  voting. 1 8 

On  April  1,  1783,  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  who 
had  been  absent  when  these  votes  were  taken,  moved 
a  reconsideration  and,  as  it  was  now  quite  apparent 

> »  Elliott,  V.,  78-9.  i «  Ibid.,79-8o. 


18  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

to  all  that  some  change  in  the  manner  of  apportioning 
taxes  was  necessary,  and  that  the  rule  of  five  to  three 
came  nearer  to  "splitting  the  difference"  than  any 
that  had  been  suggested,  the  article,  as  so  amended, 
was  adopted  without  opposition. x  9 

An  ADDRESS  TO  THE  STATES  drawn  up 
by  Mr.  Madison  was  passed  nem.  con.  on  April  26, 
1783,  and  sent  out  with  the  proposed  amendments 
to  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  asking  them  to 
instruct  their  respective  delegates  to  agree  to  the 
same.  The  Address  said  of  the  rule  for  supplying 
the  common  treasury  "by  the  several  States  in  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  number  of  white  and  other  free 
citizens  and  inhabitants,  of  every  age,  sex  and  con- 
dition, including  those  bound  to  servitude  for  a  term 
of  years,  and  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons 
except  Indians  not  paying  taxes :"  *  ° 

"Although  not  free  from  objections,  [it]  is  liable  to  fewer 
than  any  other  that  could  be  devised.  The  only  material 
difficulty  which  attended  it  in  the  deliberation  of  Congress, 
was  to  fix  the  proper  difference  between  the  labor  and  in- 
dustry of  free  inhabitants  and  all  other  inhabitants.  The 
ratio  agreed  on  was  the  effect  of  mutual  concessions." 2 1 

Nothing  but  criticism  and  objections  to  these 
proposed  amendments  and  the  suggestion  of  numerous 
others  resulted  from  this  "Address."  Things  went 
from  bad  to  worse.  A  convention  of  delegates  met 
at  Annapolis  in  September,  1786,  and  recommended 
the  calling  of  a  convention  of  all  the  States  to  revise, 
amend  or  alter  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  so  as 
to  make  the  government  more  efficient.  The  dele- 
gates from  New  York  were  instructed  by  its  legislature 
to  move  in  Congress  for  the  calling  of  such  a  conven- 
tion. 2  2  This,  in  the  opinion  of  Madison  "conduced 
much  to  decide  the  point,"  and  on  February  21,  1787, 
Congress  adopted  a  resolution  calling  a 

»•  Elliott,  V..8i.  "Elliott.  I..  95. 

» i  Elliott,  I.,  98-9.  » *  Elliott,  I.,  1 19;  V.,  96. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  19 

"convention  of  delegates,  who  shall  have  been  appointed 
by  the  several  States,  [to]  be  held  at  Philadelphia,  for  the 
sole  and  express  purpose  of  revising  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation, and  reporting  to  Congress  and  the  several  legis- 
latures such  alterations  and  provisions  therein  as  shall, 
when  agreed  to  in  Congress,  and  confirmed  by  the  States, 
render  the  federal  Constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies 
of  government  and  the  preservation  of  the  Union." 2  3 

The  urgent  need  for  such  a  convention  was  set 
out  in  a  letter  by  James  Madison  to  Edmund  Ran- 
dolph, Governor  of  Virginia,  dated  February  £5, 1787. 

"Our  situation  is  becoming  every  day  more  and  more 
critical.  No  money  comes  into  the  federal  treasury;  no 
respect  is  paid  to  the  federal  authority;  and  people  of  reflec- 
tion unanimously  agree  that  the  existing  Confederacy  is 
tottering  to  its  foundation.  Many  individuals  of  weight, 
particularly  in  the  eastern  district,  are  suspected  of  leaning 
toward  monarchy.  Other  individuals  predict  a  partition 
of  the  States  into  two  or  more  confederacies.  It  is  pretty 
certain  that,  if  some  radical  amendment  of  the  single  one 
cannot  be  devised  and  introduced,  one  or  the  other  of  these 
resolutions — the  latter  no  doubt — will  take  place."24 

Another  letter  from  Madison  to  Randolph,  dated 
April  8,  1787,  sets  forth  some  of  the  evils  to  be  cor- 
rected and  some  of  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome. 
He  says: — 

"I  hold  it  for  a  fundamental  point  that  an  individual 
independence  of  the  States  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the 
idea  of  an  aggregate  sovereignty.  *  *  * 

The  first  step  to  be  taken  is,  I  think,  a  change  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  representation.  According  to  the  present  form  of 
the  Union,  an  equality  of  suffrage,  if  not  just  towards  the 
larger  members  of  it,  is  at  least  safe  to  them,  as  the  liberty 
they  exercise  of  rejecting  or  executing  the  acts  of  Congress 
is  uncontrollable  by  the  nominal  sovereignty  of  Congress. 
Under  a  system  which  would  operate  without  the  inter- 
vention of  the  States,  the  case  would  be  materially  altered. 
A  vote  from  Delaware  would  have  the  same  effect  as  one  from 
Massachusetts  or  Virginia. 

Let  the  national  government  be  armed  with  a  positive 
and  complete  authority  in  all  cases  where  uniform  measures 

»» Elliott..  I.,  120.  »« Ibid.,  V..  106. 


20  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

are  necessary,  as  in  trade,  &c,  &c.  *  *  *  Let  this 
national  supremacy  be  extended  to  the  judiciary  depart- 
ment. 

The  change  in  the  principle  of  representation  will  be 
relished  by  a  majority  of  the  States,  and  those  too  of  most 
influence.  The  Northern  States  will  be  reconciled  to  it  by 
the  actual  superiority  of  their  populousness;  the  Southern,  by 
their  expected  superiority  on  this  point.  This  principle 
established,  the  repugnance  of  the  large  States  to  part  with 
power  will  in  a  great  degree  subside,  and  the  smaller  States 
must  ultimately  yield  to  the  predominant  will."  25 

In  another  place  he  says: 

"But  the  radical  infirmity  of  the  *  Articles  of  Confedera- 
tion* was  the  dependence  of  Congress  on  the  voluntary  and 
simultaneous  compliance  with  its  requirement  by  so  many 
independent  communities,  each  consulting  more  or  less  its 
particular  interests  and  convenience,  and  distrusting  the 
compliance  of  others."  2  6 

The  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention was  the  second  Monday  in  May,  1787,  but  the 
25th  was  the  first  day  upon  which  a  sufficient  number 
of  members  appeared  to  represent  a  majority  of  the 
States.  They  then  elected  George  Washington  their 
President  and  proceeded  to  business. 2  7  The  sessions 
lasted  from  May  25  to  Nov.  17,  when  the  Constitution 
in  its  final  form  was  signed  by  delegates  representing 
a  majority  of  the  States  and  sent  to  the  respective 
States  for  ratification.  There  were  well-nigh  ir- 
reconcilable differences  of  opinion  on  many  points, 
and  the  debates,  always  animated,  seem  to  have  been 
marked  at  times  with  ill  temper. 2  8 


» •  Elliott,  V.,  107.  * « Ibid.,  112.  » 7  Elliott,  I.,  120. 

» s  It  is  interesting  at  this  time,  when  it  is  seriously  proposed  to  form  a  League 
of  Nations,  to  settle  international  disputes  and  secure  peace,  to  follow  these  de- 
bates and  study  with  care  the  solution  of  questions  which  are  bound  to  arise  in 
any  such  attempt.  The  first  and  most  important  question  will  be  in  what  pro- 
portions shall  the  respective  nations  be  represented  in  such  a  League.  Shall  the 
greatest  have  only  the  same  vote  in  determining  questions  arising  as  the  least; 
or  shall  representation  be  apportioned  to  the  nations  on  the  basis  of  comparative 
populations,  or  comparative  wealth?  How  shall  the  League  arrive  at  and  enforce 
its  decrees?  How  shall  it  be  provided  with  funds,  ships,  armies,  etc.,  to  carry 
out  any  of  its  objects?  Shall  it  be  through  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the 
constituent  nations?  The  failure  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  to  secure 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  21 

The  delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Convention 
were  all  impressed  with  the  weakness  of  the  existing 
Confederation  and  the  necessity  of  strengthening 
the  central  government,  but  they  were  divided,  by 
conflicting  interests  and  jealous  fears,  into  many 
hostile  groups  and  it  seemed,  at  times,  as  though  it 
would  be  impossible  to  reach  an  agreement.  The 
majority  of  the  delegates,  like  Madison,  came  to  the 
Convention  with  the  settled  purpose  of  doing  away 
with  the  Confederacy  of  "independent  sovereign 
States"  and  of  framing  a  central  government,  which 
should  have  supreme  control  in  regard  to  raising 
revenues,  armies,  etc.,  and  an  independent  executive 
and  judiciary  to  compel  the  people  of  the  respective 
States  to  respect  its  laws.  A  strong  minority,  how- 
ever, wished  only  to  patch  up  the  old  Articles  of 
Confederation  and  still  retain  the  feature  of  inde- 
pendent State  action  on  all  matters  recommended 
by  Congress.  They  also  were  very  determined  to 
adhere  to  the  existing  system  of  voting  by  States — 
each  State  to  have  an  equal  vote,  regardless  of  size, 
wealth,  or  population.  This  was  the  attitude  of  the 
small  States,  generally. 2  9  One  may  infer,  with  reas- 


money,  arms  and  men  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution;  and  the  failure  of  the 
German  Diet,  in  1866,  to  restrain  its  most  powerful  member,  Prussia,  in  its  open 
defiance  of  the  Diet's  decision  of  its  dispute  with  Austria  over  Schleswig-Holstein, 
furnish  instructive  object  lessons.  Much  also  can  be  learned  from  the  debates 
in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787.  The  delegates  may  not  have  been 
infallible,  but  they  were,  probably,  the  wisest  and  most  experienced  statesmen 
of  their  day  and  they  went  about  their  work  with  all  due  seriousness.  That 
their  views  were  influenced  largely  by  the  interests  of  the  respective  states  they 
may  have  represented,  is  apparent,  and  the  same  thing  may  be  expected  of  any 
assembly  of  delegates  convened  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  a  League  of  Nations. 

2 'Rhode  Island,  the  smallest  of  the  States,  having  an  area  of  only  1,248  square 
miles,  refused  to  send  delegates  to,  or  have  anything  to  do  with,  the  Convention. 
New  Hampshire,  with  an  area  of  only  9,341  square  miles,  much  of  it  mountainous 
and  sparsely  settled,  was  not  represented  until  the  Convention  had  been  in  session 
two  months.  Oddly  enough,  a  majority  of  the  delegates  from  New  York,  with 
its  area  of  58,768  square  miles  (then  including  Vermont)  and  its  great  agricultural 
and  commercial  advantages,  sided  with  the  little  States  and  vigorously  opposed 
the  substitution  of  representation  in  proportion  to  numbers,  for  the  existing 
method  of  voting  by  States,  regardless  of  size,  or  population.  When  the  prin- 
ciple of  representation  in  proportion  to  numbers  was  finally  adopted,  Yates  and 
Lansing,  of  New  York,  left  the  Convention,  never  to  return,  as  did  Luther  Martin, 
of  Maryland. 


22  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

enable  certainty,  whether  a  delegate  came  from  a 
large  or  a  small  State,  by  his  attitude  on  this  question, 
which  was  the  first  one  to  be  settled  by  the  Con- 
vention. 3  ° 

» o  Mr.  Brearly,  of  New  Jersey,  said,  "It  had  been  much  agitated  in  Congress 
at  the  time  of  forming  the  Confederation  and  was  then  rightly  settled  by  allowing 
to  each  sovereign  State  an  equal  vote.  *  *  *  There  will  be  three  large 
States,  and  ten  small  ones.  The  large  States,  by  which  he  meant  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  will  carry  everything  before  them.  *  *  *  When 
the  proposition  for  destroying  the  equality  of  votes  came  forward,  he  was  as- 
tonished, he  was  alarmed."  Mr.  Patterson,  also  of  New  Jersey,  "considered  the 
proposition  for  a  proportional  representation  as  striking  at  the  existence  of  the 
lesser  States.  *  *  *  He  said  there  was  no  more  reason  that  a  great  indi- 
vidual State,  contributing  much,  should  have  more  votes  than  a  small  one  con- 
tributing little,  than  a  rich  individual  citizen  should  have  more  votes  than  an 
indigent  one.  '  He  alluded  to  the  point,  thrown  out  by  Mr.  Wilson, 

of  the  necessity  to  which  the  large  States  might  be  reduced,  of  confederating 
among  themselves,  by  a  refusal  of  the  others  to  concur.  Let  them  unite  if  they 
please,  but  let  them  remember  that  they  have  no  authority  to  make  others  unite. 
New  Jersey  will  never  confederate  on  the  plan  before  the  committee.  She  would  be 
swallowed  up.  *  '  He  would  not  only  oppose  the  plan  here,  but.  on  his 

return  home,  do  everything  in  his  power  to  defeat  it  there."  Mr.  Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  *  *  entered  elaborately  into  the  defence  of  a  proportional 
representation,  stating,  for  his  first  position,  that  as  all  authority  was  derived 
from  the  people,  equal  numbers  of  people  ought  to  have  equal  numbers  of  repre- 
sentatives. *  *  *  Are  not  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  equal  to  those  of 
New  Jersey?  Does  it  require  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  former  to  balance 
fifty  of  the  latter?  *  *  *  If  the  small  States  will  not  confederate  on  this 
plan,  Pennsylvania,  and  he  presumed  other  States,  would  not  confederate  on  any 
other.  If  New  Jersey  will  not  part  with  her  sovereignty,  it  is  vain  to  talk  of  gov- 
ernment." (Elliott,  V.,  175  to  177  incl.) 

Two  days  later,  Mr.  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  "proposed  that  the  pro- 
portion of  suffrage  in  the  first  branch  should  be  according  to  the  quotas  of  con- 
tribution. The  justice  of  this  rule,  he  said,  could  not  be  contested.  Mr.  Butler, 
also  of  South  Carolina,  urged  the  same  idea;  adding,  that  money  was  power;  and 
that  the  States  ought  to  have  weight  in  the  government  in  proportion  to  their 
wealth.  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  Delaware,  contended  for  the  actual  contributions 
of  the  States  as  the  rule  of  their  representation,  and  suffrage  in  the  first  branch. 
By  thus  connecting  the  interests  of  the  States  with  their  duty,  the  latter  would 
be  sure  to  be  performed.  (Ibid.  p.  178.) 

"The  question  being  about  to  be  put,  Dr.  Franklin  said,  he  had  thrown 
his  ideas  of  the  matter  on  a  paper;  which  Mr.  Wilson  read  to  the  committee,  in 
the  words  following: — 

'Mr.  Chairman:  It  has  given  me  great  pleasure  to  observe,  that  till  this 
point — the  proportion  of  representation— came  before  us,  our  debates  were  car- 
ried on  with  great  coolness  and  temper.  If  anything  of  a  contrary  kind  has  on 
this  occasion  appeared,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  repeated;  for  we  are  sent  here  to 
consult,  not  to  contend,  with  each  other,  and  declarations  of  a  fixed  opinion,  and 
of  determined  resolution  never  to  change  it,  neither  enlighten  nor  convince  us. 
Positiveness  and  warmth  on  one  side  naturally  beget  their  like  on  the  other,  and 
tend  to  create  and  augment  discord  and  division,  in  a  great  concern  wherein 
harmony  and  union  are  extremely  necessary  to  give  weight  to  our  councils,  and 
render  them  effectual  in  promoting  and  securing  the  common  good. 

*  *  *  'I  now  think  the  number  of  representatives  should  bear  some  pro- 
portion to  the  number  represented,  and  that  the  decisions  should  be  by  the  majority 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  23 

In  order  to  bring  the  question  to  a  point,  King 
of  Massachusetts,  and  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  moved 
(June  11,  1783);— 

"that  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the  first  branch  of  the  national 
legislature  ought  not  to  be  according  to  the  rule  established 
in  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  but  according  to  some  equit- 
able ratio  of  representation." 

and  on  that  question,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia,  voted  aye,  7;  New  York,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Delaware,  no,  3;  Maryland,  divided. 31 

It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Rutledge,  seconded 
by  Mr.  Butler,  both  of  South  Carolina,  to  add  to  the 
words  "equitable  ratio  of  representation,"  at  the  end 
of  the  motion  just  agreed  to,  the  words  "according 
to  the  quotas  of  contribution." 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania, 
seconded  by  Mr.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  this 
was  postponed  in  order  to  add,  after  the  words  "equit- 
able ratio  of  representation"  the  words  following — 
"in  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  white  and 
other  free  citizens  and  inhabitants  of  every  age,  sex 
and  condition,  including  those  bound  to  servitude 
for  a  term  of  years,  and  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons 

of  members,  not  by  the  majority  of  the  states.  This  is  objected  to  from  an  appre- 
hension that  the  greater  states  would  then  swallow  up  the  smaller.  I  do  not  at 
present  clearly  see  what  advantage  the  greater  states  could  propose  to  them- 
selves by  swallowing  up  the  smaller,  and  therefore  do  not  apprehend  they  would 
attempt  it.  *  *  *  But,  sir,  in  the  present  mode  of  voting  by  states,  it  is 
equally  in  the  power  of  the  lesser  states  to  swallow  up  the  greater;  and  this  is 
mathematically  demonstrable.  * 

'The  greater  states,  sir,  are  naturally  as  unwilling  to  have  their  property  left 
in  the  disposition  of  the  smaller,  as  the  smaller  are  to  have  theirs  in  the  disposition 
of  the  greater.  *  *  !  I  beg  leave  to  propose,  for  the  consideration  of  the 
committee,  another  mode,  which  appears  to  me  to  be  as  equitable,  more  easily 
carried  into  practice,  and  more  permanent  in  its  nature. 

'Let  the  weakest  state  say  what  proportion  of  money  or  force  it  is  able  and 
willing  to  furnish  for  the  general  purposes  of  the  Union; 

'Let  all  the  others  oblige  themselves  to  furnish  each  an  equal  proportion; 

'The  whole  of  these  joint  supplies  to  be  absolutely  in  the  disposition  of  Congress; 

'The  Congress,  in  this  case,  to  be  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  delegates 
from  each  State; 

'And  their  decisions  to  be  by  the  majority  of  individual  members  voting.'  " 

(Ib.  pp.  179-80). 
•  i  Elliott.  V..  1 8 1. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  25 

Was  it  probable  that  the  states  would  adopt  and  ratify  a 
scheme  which  they  had  never  authorized  us  to  propose  *  *  * 
We  see  by  their  several  acts  in  relation  to  the  plan  of 
revenue  proposed  by  Congress  in  1783  *  *  *  what  were 
the  ideas  they  then  entertained." 3  3 

Mr.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  said:  "The 
whole  comes  to  this  *  *.  Give  New  Jersey  an 
equal  vote  and  she  will  dismiss  her  scruples  and 
concur  in  the  national  system."  3  4 

Mr.  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  could,  by  no  i3e"ahs, 
accede  to  the  sentiments  of  his  colleagues. 3  5 

Criticising  Mr.  Patterson's  plan  of  government 
he  said,  among  other  things: 

"Another  destructive  ingredient  in  the  plan  is  that  quality 
of  suffrage  which  is  so  much  desired  by  the  small  States. 
It  is  not  in  human  nature  that  Virginia  and  the  large  States 
should  consent  to  it;  or,  if  they  did,  that  they  should  long 
abide  by  it.  It  shocks  too  much  all  ideas  of  justice." 3  6 

Mr.  Madison,  of  Virginia,  observed,  regarding 
Mr.  Patterson's  plan,  that  the  violators  of  the  Federal 
Articles  had  been  numerous  and  notorious.  Among 
the  most  notorious  was  an  act  of  New  Jersey  herself; 
by  which  she  expressly  refused  to  comply  with  a  con- 
stitutional requisition  of  Congress.  Connecticut  had 
to  be  bribed  by  a  donation  of  public  land  (The  Wes- 
tern Reserve)  to  acquiesce  in  a  decree  constitutionally 
awarded  against  her  claim  on  the  territory  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 3  7 

He  begged  them  to  consider  the  situation  in 
which  they  would  remain,  in  case  their  pertinacious 
adherence  to  an  inadmissible  plan  should  prevent 
the  adoption  of  any  plan.  He  said: 

"Let  the  union  of  the  states  be  dissolved  and  one  of  two 
consequences  must  happen.  Either  the  states  must  remain 
individually  independent  and  sovereign;  or  two  or  more  con- 
federacies must  be  formed  among  them.  In  the  first  event, 
would  the  small  states  be  more  secure  against  the  ambition 

»» Elliott.  V..  193.  ««Ibid.,  197.  »»Ibid.  198. 

•  •  Ibid.,  201.  » » Ibid..  207-208. 


24  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

*  *  *  except  Indians  not  paying  taxes," — this  being 
the  rule  recommended  to  the  States  by  Congress  in 
April,  1783. 

Mr.  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  thought  property 
not  the  rule  of  representation.  Why,  then,  should 
the  blacks,  who  were  property  in  the  South,  be  in  the 
rule  of  representation,  more  than  the  cattle  and 
horses  of  the  North? 

On  the  question, — Massachusetts,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  voted  aye,  9; 
New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  no,  2. 

Mr.  Sherman,  seconded  by  Mr.  Ellsworth,  both 
of  Connecticut,  moved  that  each  State  shall  have 
one  vote  in  the  second  branch.  Everything,  Mr. 
Sherman  said,  depended  on  this.  The  smaller  States 
would  never  agree  to  the  plan  on  any  other  principle 
than  an  equality  of  suffrage  in  this  branch. 

Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
and  Maryland,  voted  aye,  5;  Massachusetts,  Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
no,  6.  It  was  then  moved  that  the  ratio  of  repre- 
sentation in  the  second  branch  be  the  same  as  in  the 
first  and  carried  by  the  same  vote. 3  2 

All  this  was  in  committee  of  the  Whole  and  not 
binding  until  reported  to  and  formally  confirmed  by 
the  Convention.  So  the  discussion  went  right  on 
as  if  nothing  had  been  settled.  Mr.  Patterson,  of 
New  Jersey,  and  Mr.  Lansing,  of  New  York,  made 
the  point  that  the  call  for  the  Convention  and  the 
commissions  of  the  delegates  limited  the  delegates 
to  amendments  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation. 

Mr.  Lansing  said: 

"New  York  would  never  have  concurred  in  sending  dep- 
uties to  the  Convention,  if  she  had  supposed  the  delibera- 
tions were  to  turn  on  a  consolidation  of  the  States  and  a 
national  government. 


•  »  Elliott,  V.,  1 8 1-2. 


26  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

and  power  of  their  larger  neighbors,  than  they  would  be  under 
a  general  government  pervading  with  equal  energy  every 
part  of  the  empire,  and  having  an  equal  interest  in  protecting 
every  part  against  every  other  part?  In  the  second,  can  the 
smaller  expect  that  their  larger  neighbors  would  confederate 
on  the  principle  of  the  present  Confederacy,  which  gives 
to  each  member  an  equal  suffrage;  or  that  they  would  exact 
less  severe  concessions  from  the  smaller  states,  than  are 
proposed  in  the  scheme  of  Mr.  Randolph? 

The  great  difficulty  lies  in  the  affair  of  representation,  and 
if  this  could  be  adjusted,  all  others  would  be  surmountable. 
It  was  admitted  by  both  the  gentlemen  from  New  Jersey, 
(Mr.  Brearly  and  Mr.  Patterson,)  that  it  would  not  be  just 
to  allow  Virginia,  which  was  sixteen  times  as  large  as  Delaware, 
an  equal  vote  only.  Their  language  was,  that  it  would  not 
be  safe  for  Delaware  to  allow  Virginia  sixteen  times  as  many 
votes."38 

On  the  question  moved  by  Mr.  King,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, whether  Mr.  Randolph's  plan  for  a  national 
government  should  be  adhered  to,  as  preferable  to 
those  of  Mr.  Patterson  for  a  modified  confederacy, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  voted 
aye,  7;  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  no,  3; 
Maryland  divided. 3  9 

The  questions  discussed  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole  were  then  transferred  to  the  Convention,  and 
reargued  at  great  length. 

After  a  particularly  tedious  debate  participated 
in  by  Luther  Martin  who  occupied  nearly  two  whole 
days,  and  Messrs.  Lansing,  Williamson,  Madison, 
Wilson,  and  Sherman,  Dr.  Franklin  said  that  it 
was  time  to  apply  humbly  "to  the  Father  of  lights 
to  illuminate  our  understandings"  and  proposed  that 
"prayers  imploring  the  assistance  of  Heaven  and  its 
blessings  on  our  deliberations  be  held  every  morning 
before  we  proceed  to  business."  He  uttered  a  solemn 
warning  that  if  they  remained— 

"divided  by  little  partial  local  interests ;  our  projects  will  be  con- 
founded; and  we  ourselves  shall  become  a  reproach  and  by- 

»•  Elliott,  V.,  210-1 1.  "Ibid..  2ii. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  27 

word  down  to  future  ages.  And,  what  is  worse,  mankind 
may  hereafter,  from  this  unfortunate  instance,  despair  of 
establishing  governments  by  human  wisdom,  and  leave  it 
to  chance,  war  and  conquest."40 

Mr.  Madison: — 

"prayed  them  to  ponder  well  the  consequences  of  suffering  the 
Confederacy  to  go  to  pieces.  *  *  *  The  weakness  and 
jealousy  of  the  small  states  would  quickly  introduce  some 
regular  military  force,  against  sudden  danger  from  their 
powerful  neighbors.  The  example  would  be  followed  by 
others,  and  would  soon  become  universal  *  *  *  Through- 
out all  Europe,  the  armies  kept  up  under  the  pretext  of 
defending,  have  enslaved,  the  people." 4 1 

Mr.  Hamilton  pointed  out  another  consequence 
"of  a  most  serious  nature": — 

"Alliances  will  immediately  be  formed  with  different  rival 
and  hostile  nations  of  Europe,  who  will  foment  disturbances 
among  ourselves,  and  make  us  parties  to  all  their  own  quar- 
rels. Foreign  nations  having  foreign  dominion  are,  and 
must  be,  jealous  of  us.  •  *  *  *  It  had  been  said,  that 
respectability  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  nations  was  not  the  object 
at  which  we  aimed;  that  the  proper  object  of  republican 
government  was  domestic  tranquility  and  happiness.  *  *  * 
No  government  could  give  us  tranquility  and  happiness  at 
home  which  did  not  possess  sufficient  stability  and  strength 
to  make  us  respectable  abroad.  This  was  the  critical  moment 
for  forming  such  a  government." 4  2 

Mr.  Bedford,  of  Delaware,  said: — 

"the  little  states  are  willing  to  observe  their  engagements,  but 
will  meet  the  large  ones  on  no  other  grounds  but  that  of 
the  Confederation.  We  have  been  told  with  a  dictatorial 
air,  that  this  is  the  last  moment  for  a  fair  trial  in  favor  of 
a  good  government.  It  will  be  the  last,  indeed,  if  the  prop- 
ositions reported  from  the  committee  go  forth  to  the  peo- 
ple. He  was  under  no  apprehensions.  The  large  states  dare 
not  dissolve  the  Confederation.  If  they  do,  the  small  ones 
will  find  some  foreign  ally,  of  more  honor  and  good  faith, 
who  will  take  them  by  the  hand  and  do  them  justice. 4  3 


« o  Elliott,  V.,  253-4.  « *  Ibid.,  257. 

« *  Ibid.,  258-9.  « » Ibid.  V.,  268. 


28  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

Big  talk  from  a  little  state,  threatening  to  take 
the  very  course  which  Hamilton  had  pointed  out  as 
one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  disunion ! 

A  suggestion  of  compromise,  first  thrown  out  by 
Mr.  Sherman  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  June  11, 
and  repeated  in  Convention,  June  20,  was  taken  up 
on  June  29th  and  elaborated  by  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mr. 
Ellsworth,  the  latter  of  whom  moved  its  adoption. 
As  stated  by  Dr.  Johnson: — 

"in  some  respects,  the  states  are  to  be  considered  in  their  polit- 
ical capacity,  and,  in  others,  as  districts  of  individual  citizens. 
The  two  ideas  embraced  on  different  sides,  instead  of  being 
opposed  to  each  other,  ought  to  be  combined — that  in  one 
branch  the  people  ought  to  be  represented,  in  the  other,  the 
States."** 

Mr.  Ellsworth  said,  inter  al\— 

"We  were  partly  national,  partly  federal.  The  propor- 
tional representation  in  the  first  branch  was  conformable 
to  the  national  principle  and  would  secure  the  large  states 
against  the  small.  An  equality  of  voices  was  conformable 
to  the  federal  principle  and  was  necessary  to  secure  the  small 
states  against  the  large.  He  trusted  on  this  middle  ground, 
a  compromise  would  take  place.  He  did  not  see  that  it 
could,  on  any  other,  and  if  no  compromise  should  take  place, 
our  meeting  would  not  only  be  in  vain,  but  worse  than  in 
vain."46 

A   vote   on   Mr.    Ellsworth's   motion   resulted— 
Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware  and 
Maryland,  ay,  5;  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia,   North   Carolina   and   South   Carolina,   no,   5; 
Georgia,  divided,  1. 4  6     Mr.  Sherman  said: — 

"We  are  now  at  a  full  stop;  and  nobody,  he  supposed,  meant 
that  we  should  break  up  without  doing  something.  A  com- 
mittee he  thought  most  likely  to  hit  on  some  expedient." 

Mr.  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  said:— 

"If  we  do  not  concede  on  both  sides,  our  business  must 
soon  be  at  an  end.  He  approved  of  the  commitment.  On 

« «  Elliott,  V.,  255.  « *  Ibid..  260.  « •  Ibid.,  270. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  29 

the  question  for  committing  it  'to  a  member  from  each 
state,'  the  motion  was  carried  ten  to  one — Pennsylvania 
alone  voting  'no.*  " 4  7 

This  committee  brought  in  a  report,  July  5, 
recommending,  that  the  first  branch  should  be  or- 
ganized on  the  principle  adopted  in  the  Committee 
of  the  Whole,  and  that  all  bills  for  raising  or  appro- 
priating money  should  originate  in  that  branch,  and 

2.  That,  in  the  second  branch,  each  state  could 
have  an  equal  vote. 

The  debate  began  all  over  again,  the  same  argu- 
ments being  used  pro  and  con  as  before. 4  8  But  on 
July  7,  the  2d  recommendation  was  carried,  Connec- 
ticut, New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland 
and  North  Carolina  voting  aye,  6;  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, South  Carolina,  no,  3;  Massachusetts  and 
Georgia,  divided,  2. 4  9 

This  point  having  been  established,  debate  began 
on  the  basis  of  apportionment  for  the  first,  or  popular, 
branch. 

Mr.  Patterson,  of  New  Jersey: — 

"could  regard  negro  slaves  in  no  other  light,  but  as  property. 
They  are  no  free  agents,  have  no  personal  liberty,  no  faculty 
of  acquiring  property,  but  on  the  contrary  are  themselves 
property,  and,  like  other  property,  entirely  at  the  will  of  the 
master.  Has  a  man  in  Virginia  a  number  of  votes,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  his  slaves?  If  negroes  are  not 
represented  in  the  states  to  which  they  belong,  why  should 
they  be  represented  in  the  general  government?"60 

Mr.  Butler  and  Mr.  Pinckney,  both  from  South 
Carolina,  insisted  that  blacks  be  included  in  the  rule 
of  representation  equally  with  the  whites;  and  for 
that  purpose  moved  that  the  words  "three-fifths"  be 
struck  out. 

Mr.  Gorham,  of  Massachusetts : — 
"This  ratio  was  fixed  by  Congress  as  a  rule  of  taxation. 

Then  it  was  urged,  by  the  delegates  representing  the  states 

having  slaves,  that  the  blacks  were  still  more  inferior  to 

"Elliott,  V.,  273.  « «Ibid.,  274  to  285.  «»Ibid.,  286. 

id.,  289. 


SO  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

freemen.  At  present,  when  the  ratio  of  representation  is  to 
be  established,  we  are  assured  that  they  are  equal  to  freemen." 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia: — 

"Could  not  agree  to  the  motion,  notwithstanding  it  was 
favorable  to  Virginia,  because  he  thought  it  unjust.  It  was 
certain  that  the  slaves  were  valuable,  as  they  raised  the 
value  of  land,  increased  the  exports  and  imports,  and,  of 
course,  the  revenue;  would  supply  the  means  of  finding  and 
supporting  an  army;  and  might,  in  cases  of  emergency,  be- 
come themselves  soldiers.  As  in  these  important  respects 
they  were  useful  to  the  community  at  large,  they  ought  not 
to  be  excluded  from  the  estimate  of  representation.  He 
could  not,  however,  regard  them  as  equal  to  freemen,  and 
could  not  vote  for  them  as  such." 

Mr.  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina: — 

"reminded  Mr.  Gorham,  that,  if  the  Southern  States  con- 
tended for  the  inferiority  of  blacks  to  whites  when  taxation 
was  in  view,  the  Eastern  States,  on  the  same  occasion,  con- 
tended for  their  equality.  He  did  not,  however,  either  then 
or  now,  concur  in  either  extreme,  but  approved  of  the  ratio 
of  three-fifths." 

Mr.  Butler's  motion  to  strike  out  three-fifths 
was  lost — Delaware,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
voting  aye,  3;  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
lina, no,  7;  New  York,  not  on  the  floor. 5 1 

"On  the  question  on  the  first  clause  of  Mr.  Williamson's 
motion,  as  to  taking  a  census  of  ihefree  inhabitants,  it  passed 
in  the  affirmative, — Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  aye  6;  Delaware, 
Maryland,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  no,  4. 

The  next  clause,  as  to  three-fifths  of  the  negroes, 
being  considered : — 

Mr.  KING,  [Mass.]  being  much  opposed  to  fixing  numbers 
as  the  rule  of  representation,  was  particularly  so  on  account 
of  the  blacks.  He  thought  the  admission  of  them  along  with 
whites  at  all  would  excite  great  discontents  among  the  states 
having  no  slaves." 5  2 

• »  Elliott,  V.,  296.  •  'Ibid..  300. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  31 

"MR.  WILSON  did  not  well  see  on  what  principle  the  ad- 
mission of  blacks,  in  the  proportion  of  three  fifths,  could  be 
explained.  Are  they  admitted  as  citizens — then  why  are 
they  not  admitted  on  an  equality  with  white  citizens?  Are 
they  admitted  as  property — then  why  is  not  other  property 
admitted  into  the  computation?  These  were  difficulties, 
however,  which  he  thought  must  be  overruled  by  the  necessity 
of  compromise." 

"MR.  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS  was  compelled  to  declare 
himself  reduced  to  the  dilemma  of  doing  injustice  to  the 
Southern  States,  or  to  human  nature,  and  he  must  therefore 
do  it  to  the  former;  for  he  could  never  agree  to  give  such 
encouragement  to  the  slave  trade  as  would  be  given  by  allow- 
ing them  a  representation  for  their  negroes;  and  he  did  not 
believe  those  states  would  ever  confederate  on  terms  that 
would  deprive  them  of  that  trade." 

On  the  question  for  agreeing  to  include  three- 
fifths  of  the  blacks,  Connecticut,  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
line, Georgia,  aye,  4;  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  no.53 

On  July  12,  Gouverneur  Morris,  of  Pennsylvania, 
moved  to  add  to  the  clause,  empowering  the  legisla- 
ture to  vary  the  representation  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  wealth  and  numbers  of  inhabitants,  a  proviso 
"that  taxation  shall  be  in  proportion  to  representa- 
tion." 6  4  As  he  had  been  consistently  opposed  to 
the  blacks  being  enumerated  in  apportioning  repre- 
sentation, and  as  he  was  familiar  with  the  opposition 
of  Southern  States  to  their  being  enumerated  as  a 
basis  of  taxation,  it  must  be  inferred  that  he  thought, 
by  coupling  taxation  with  representation,  he  would 
induce  the  Southern  delegates  to  abandon  their 
demand  that  the  slaves,  or  any  portion  of  them,  should 
be  counted  in  apportioning  representation.  He  must 
have  been  surprised  at  the  alacrity  with  which  Butler 
and  Pinckney,  both  of  South  Carolina,  accepted  his 
amendment. 

Mr.  Butler  contended,  again,  that  representa- 
tion should  be  according  to  the  full  number  of  inhabi- 


• »  Elliott,  V.,  301.  « « Ibid.,  302. 


32  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

tants,  including  all  the  blacks,  admitting  the  justice 
of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris's  motion. 

Gen.  Pinckney  liked  the  idea.  He  thought  it 
so  just  that  it  could  not  be  objected  to;  *  *  *  He 
was  alarmed  at  what  was  said  yesterday,  concerning 
the  negroes.  He  was  now  alarmed  again  at  what 
had  been  thrown  out  concerning  the  taxing  of  ex- 
ports. *  *  *  He  hoped  a  clause  would  be  in- 
serted in  the  system,  restraining  the  legislature  from 
taxing  exports. 

Mr.  Morris,  still  believing  that  future  legislatures 
might  reduce,  or  do  away  entirely  with,  the  enumera- 
tion of  blacks  as  a  basis  of  taxation  and  representation, 
was  induced  to  make  his  motion  still  more  acceptable 
by  inserting  the  word  "direct"  before  "taxation" 
and  thereupon  his  motion  passed  nem.  con.  as  follows: 
"provided  always  direct  taxation  ought  to  be  pro- 
portioned to  representation."  He  did  not  foresee, 
what  actually  came  to  pass,  that  direct  taxation  was 
almost  never  resorted  to,  by  Congress,  and  that  the 
slave  states  got  the  benefit  of  increased  representation 
based  on  three-fifths  of  their  slaves,  without  any 
corresponding  obligation.  Direct  taxes  were  "laid 
on"  the  respective  States  by  Acts  of  Congress,  dated 
August  2,  1813,  and  January  9,  1815,  to  pay  the 
extraordinary  expenses  attending  and  following  the 
War  of  1812.  Ohio's  quota  under  the  first  act  was 
$88,527.62,  (12  O.L.,  3-4);  under  the  second,  $175,000 
(13  O.L.,  304-5)  and  $200,000  (14  O.L.,  185-6). 

Some  of  the  delegates  from  Southern  States 
evidently  shared  Morris's  belief. 

Mr.  Davie,  of  North  Carolina,  who  was  seldom 
heard  in  the  Convention,  said: — 

"it  was  high  time  now  to  speak  put.  He  said  that  it  was 
meant  by  some  gentlemen  to  deprive  the  Southern  States  of 
any  share  of  representation  for  their  blacks.  He  was  sure  that 
North  Carolina  would  never  confederate  on  any  terms  that 
did  not  rate  them  at  least  as  three-fifths.  If  the  Eastern 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  33 

States  meant,  therefore,  to  exclude  them  altogether,  the 
business  was  at  an  end."  5  5 

Mr.  Randolph  was  not  satisfied  with  the  motion: — 

"the  ingenuity  of  the  legislature  may  evade  or  pervert  the  rule, 
so  as  to  perpetuate  the  power  where  it  shall  be  lodged  in  the 
first  instance.  *  He  urged  strenuously,  that  express 

security  ought  to  be  provided  for  including  slaves  in  the 
ratio  of  representation.  *  *  *  It  was  perceived  that  the 
design  was  entertained  by  some  of  excluding  slaves  altogether; 
the  legislature  therefore  ought  not  to  be  left  at  liberty." 5  6 

Mr.  Pinckney  moved  to  amend  Mr.  Randolph's 
motion  so  as  to  make  "blacks  equal  to  the  whites  in  the 
ratio  of  representation."  Playing  on  Morris's  hopes,  he 
added,  "It  will  also  be  politic  with  regard  to  the 
Northern  States  as  taxation  is  to  keep  pace  with 
representation. ' ' 

Mr.  Pinckney's  motion,  for  rating  blacks  as  equal 
to  whites  was  lost — only  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
voting  for  it. 6  7 

On  the  question  of  the  whole  proposition,  as  pro- 
portioning representation  to  direct  taxation,  and 
both,  to  the  white  and  three-fifths  of  the  black  in- 
habitants, and  requiring  a  census  within  six  years 
and  within  every  ten  years  thereafter, — 

Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina  and  Georgia  voted  aye,  6;  New  Jersey 
and  Delaware,  no,  2;  Massachusetts  and  South  Caro- 
lina divided. 5  8 

The  whole  subject  was  opened  up  again  on  July 
13th  (a  day  to  be  remembered),  by  a  motion  of  Mr. 
Randolph  to  reconsider.  Mr.  Butler  said: — 

"The  security  the  Southern  .States  want  is,  that  their 
negroes  may  not  be  taken  from  them,  which  some  gentlemen 
within  or  without  doors  have  a  very  good  mind  to  do." 5  9 

Mr.  Madison  said: — 

"It  seemed  now  to  be  pretty  well  understood,  that  the  real 
difference  lay,  not  between  the  large  and  small,  but  between 

» »  Elliott,  V.,  302-3.  •  •  Ibid.,  303-4.  * » Ibid.,  305. 

» *  Ibid.,  305-6.  « •  Ibid.,  309. 


34  THE  ELEMENTS  or  DISCORD 

the  northern  and  southern  states.  The  institution  of  slavery, 
and  its  consequences,  formed  the  line  of  discrimination."60 

July  16,  on  the  question  for  agreeing  to  the  whole 
report,  as  amended,  and  including  the  equality  of 
votes  in  the  second  branch,  it  passed  in  the  affirmative. 

Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
North  Carolina,  aye,  5;  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  no,  4;  Massachusetts,  divided.61 

Mr.  Randolph  thought,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  small  states  persisted  in  demanding  an  equal 
vote  in  all  cases;  that  they  have  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing it;  and  that  New  York,  if  present,  would  prob- 
ably be  on  the  same  side. 

"that  we  were  unprepared  to  discuss  the  subject  further.  It 
will  probably  be  in  vain  to  come  to  any  final  decision,  with  a 
bare  majority  on  either  side.  For  these  reasons  he  wished 
the  Convention  to  adjourn,  that  the  large  states  might  con- 
sider the  steps  proper  to  be  taken,  in  the  present  solemn 
crisis  of  the  business." 

Mr.  Patterson  thought,  with  Mr.  Randolph, 
that:— 

"it  was  high  time  for  the  Convention  to  adjourn;  that  the  rule 
of  secrecy  ought  to  be  rescinded;  and  that  our  constituents 
should  be  consulted.  No  conciliation  could  be  admissible, 
on  the  part  of  the  smaller  states,  on  any  other  ground  than 
that  of  an  equality  of  votes  in  the  second  branch.  If  Mr. 
Randolph  would  reduce  to  form  his  motion  to  adjourn  sine 
die  he  would  second  it  with  all  his  heart." 

Mr.  Broome,  of  Delaware-— 

"thought  it  his  duty  to  declare  an  opinion  against  an  ad- 
journment sine  die,  as  had  been  urged  by  Mr.  Patterson. 
Such  a  measure,  he  thought,  would  be  fatal.  Something  must 
be  done  by  the  convention,  though  it  should  be  by  a  bare 
majority." 

Mr.  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  could  see  no 
need  of  an  adjournment.  The  little  states  were 
fixed.  They  had  repeatedly  and  solemnly  declared 


•  •  Elliott,  V.,  315.  • » Ibid.,  3 16. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  35 

themselves  to  be  so.  All  that  the  large  states,  then, 
had  to  do  was,  to  decide  whether  they  would  yield 
or  not. 6  2 

July  23d,  John  Langdon  and  Nicholas  Gillman, 
from  New  Hampshire,  took  their  seats. 6  3  Mr.  Gerry, 
of  Massachusetts,  moved  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
Convention  for  the  establishment  of  a  national  gov- 
ernment (except  the  part  relating  to  the  executive) 
be  referred  to  a  committee  to  prepare  and  report  a 
constitution  conformable  thereto. 

Gen.  Pinckney  reminded  the  Convention  that 
if  the  committee  should  fail  to  insert  some  security 
to  the  Southern  States  against  an  emancipation  of 
slaves  and  taxes  on  exports  (cotton,  tobacco  and  sugar) 
he  should  be  bound  by  duty  to  his  State  to  vote  against 
the  report. 

The  appointment  by  a  committee  as  moved  by 
Mr.  Gerry,  was  agreed  to  nem  con. 6  4 

The  next  day  Mr.  Morris  said  naively:— 

"he  hoped  the  committee  would  strike  out  the  whole  of 
the  clause  proportioning  direct  taxation  to  representation. 
He  had  only  meant  it  as  a  bridge  to  assist  us  over  a 
certain  gulf.  The  object  was  to  lessen  the  eagerness  on  one 
side  for,  and  the  opposition  on  the  other  to,  the  share  of 
representation  claimed  by  the  Southern  States  on  account 
of  the  negroes." 

On  a  ballot  for  a  committee  to  report  a  Con- 
stitution conformable  to  the  resolutions  passed  by 
the  Convention,  the  members  chosen  were — Mr. 
Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Randolph,  of  Vir- 
ginia, Mr.  Gorham,  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Ellsworth, 
of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania. 6  5 

The  committee  reported  on  August  6.  The 
number  of  representatives  at  the  first  formation  of 
the  House,  from  each  State,  was  definitely  fixed.  The 
legislature  was  empowered  to  regulate  the  number 


•  2  Elliott,  V.,  317-8.  •  3  Ibid.,  351. 

« « Ibid.,  357.  « « Ibid.,  362-3. 


36  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

of  representatives  by  the  number  of  inhabitants, 
according  to  provisions  hereinafter  made.  The  three- 
fifths  rule  as  to  slaves  was  made  the  basis  of  appor- 
tionment for  direct  taxation.  It  was  provided  that— 

"No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  by  the  legislature  on  articles 
exported  from  any  State;  nor  on  the  migration  or  importation 
of  such  persons  as  the  several  States  shall  think  proper  to 
admit;  nor  shall  such  migration  or  importation  be  prohibited." 

Which  sanctioned  the  slave  trade  and  made  it 
free  of  duties  or  tax  of  any  kind. 6  6 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  nothing  said 
about  run-a-way  slaves,  or  "fugitives  from  labor" 
and  the  committee's  report  was  silent  on  that  subject. 

Mr.  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  to 
strike  out  "according  to  the  provisions  hereinafter 
made"  and  to  insert  the  words  "according  to  the  rule 
hereafter  to  be  provided  for  direct  taxation." 

Carried  by  the  votes  of  New  Hampshire,  Connec- 
ticut, Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  9; 
New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  no,  2. 

Mr.  King  said:— 

"The  admission  of  slaves  was  a  most  grating  circumstance 
to  his  mind  and  he  believed  would  be  so  to  a  great  part  of  the 
people  of  America.  *  *  *  In  two  great  points,  the 
hands  of  the  legislature  were  absolutely  tied.  The  impor- 
tation of  slaves  could  not  be  prohibited.  Exports  could  not 
be  taxed.  Is  this  reasonable?  *  *  *  If  slaves  are  to 
be  imported  shall  not  the  exports  produced  by  their  labor 
supply  a  revenue  the  better  to  enable  the  general  govern- 
ment to  defend  their  masters?  *  *  *  At  all  events 
either  slaves  should  not  be  represented,  or  exports  should  be 
taxable."67 

Mr.  Sherman,  of  Connecticut,  regarded  the  slave 
trade  as  iniquitous;  but  the  point  of  representation 
having  been  settled,  after  much  difficulty  and  delibera- 

• «  Elliott,  V.,  376-7,  379.  •  1 1bid.,  391-2. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  37 

tion,  he  did  not  think  himself  bound  to  make  opposi- 
tion. 6  8 

Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  moved  to  insert  "free" 
before  the  word  "inhabitants."  Much,  he  said,  would 
depend  on  this  point. 

"he  never  would  concur  in  upholding  domestic  slavery.  It 
was  a  nefarious  institution.  It  was  the  curse  of  heaven  on  the 
States  where  it  prevailed.  *  *  *  The  moment  you  leave  the 
Eastern  States,  and  enter  New  York,  the  effects  of  the  institu- 
tion become  visible.  *  *  *  Proceed  southwardly  and 
every  step  you  take,  through  the  great  regions  of  slaves, 
presents  a  desert  increasing  with  the  increasing  proportion 
of  these  wretched  beings.  Upon  what  principle  is  it  that  the 
slaves  shall  be  computed  in  the  representation?  Are  they 
men?  Then  make  them  citizens,  and  let  them  vote.  Are 
they  property?  Why,  then,  is  no  other  property  included? 
The  houses  in  this  city  (Philadelphia)  are  worth  more  than 
all  the  wretched  slaves  who  cover  the  rice  swamps  of  South 
Carolina.  *  *  * 

"Let  it  not  be  said  that  direct  taxation  is  to  be  proportioned 
to  representation.  It  is  idle  to  suppose  that  the  general 
government  can  stretch  its  hand  directly  into  the  pockets 
of  the  people,  scattered  over  so  vast  a  country.  They  can 
only  do  it  through  the  medium  of  exports,  imports,  and 
excises.  For  what  then  are  all  the  sacrifices  to  be  made? 
He  would  sooner  submit  himself  to  a  tax  for  paying  for  all 
the  negroes  in  the  United  States,  than  saddle  posterity 
with  such  a  Constitution."69 

Mr.  Morris's  eyes  were  opened  at  last,  but  too 
late.  The  Convention  having  come  so  near  to  an 
agreement,  would  refuse  to  throw  aside  their  work 
and  begin  all  over  again.  His  motion  to  insert  "free" 
before  "inhabitants"  was  defeated  1  to  10,  Pennsyl- 
vania, itself,  voting  no. 7  ° 

Messrs.  Morris,  Madison,  Wilson,  and  Mercer, 
of  Maryland,  argued  that  the  legislature  should  be 
allowed  to  tax  exports.  Messrs.  Mason,  Williamson, 
Gerry,  that  it  should  not.  Mr.  Sherman  thought  that 
to  examine  and  compare  the  States  in  relation  to 
imports  and  exports,  would  be  opening  a  boundless 


•  •  Elliott.  V.,  392.  •  •  Ibid.,  392-3.  *  •  Ibid.,  394. 


38  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

field.  He  thought  the  matter  had  been  adjusted  and 
that  imports  were  to  be  subject,  and  exports  not, 
to  be  taxed. 7 1 

In  other  words,  Mr.  Sherman  was  weary  of 
interminable  discussions  and  anxious  to  reach  a  speedy 
conclusion,  and  he  undoubtedly  spoke  for  a  large 
majority  of  the  delegates.  The  provision  that  no 
tax  should  be  laid  on  exports  was  carried  by  votes 
of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Maryland,  Virginia 
(Gen.  Washington  and  Mr.  Madison,  no),  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  7;  New  Hamp- 
shire, New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  no,  4. 

Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland,  proposed  to  vary 
the  report  so  as  to  allow  a  prohibition  or  tax  on  the 
importation  of  slaves. 

"In  the  first  place,  as  five  slaves  are  to  be  counted  as 
three  freemen  in  the  apportionment  of  representatives,  such 
a  clause  would  leave  an  encouragement  to  this  traffic.  In 
the  second  place,  slaves  weakened  one  part  of  the  Union, 
which  the  other  parts  were  bound  to  protect;  the  privilege 
of  importing  them  was  therefore  unreasonable.  And  in  the 
third  place,  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
revolution,  and  dishonorable  to  the  American  character,  to 
have  such  a  feature  in  the  Constitution." 

Mr.  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina,  said,  inter  al:— 

"Religion  and  humanity  had  nothing  to  do  with  this 
question.  Interest  alone  is  the  governing  principle  with 
nations.  The  true  question  at  present  is  whether  the 
Southern  States  shall  or  shall  not  be  parties  to  the  Union." 

Mr.  Pinckney:— 

"South  Carolina  can  never  receive  the  plan  if  it  prohibits 
the  slave  trade.  In  every  proposed  extension  of  the  powers 
of  Congress,  that  State  has  expressly  and  watchfully  excepted 
that  of  meddling  with  the  importation  of  negroes.  If  the 
States  be  all  left  at  liberty  on  this  subject,  South  Carolina 
may  perhaps,  by  degrees,  do  of  herself  what  is  wished,  as 
Virginia  and  Maryland  already  have  done."  7  2 


'  i  Elliott,  V.,  432-3.  1 2  Ibid.,  456-7. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  39 

Mr.  Sherman,  speaking  for  himself  and  the 
majority  of  delegates,  as  before,  was  for  leaving  the 
clause  as  it  stands.  He  disapproved  of  the  slave 
trade,  yet,  as  the  States  were  now  possessed  of  the 
right  to  import  slaves  *  *  *  and  as  it  was  ex- 
pedient to  have  as  few  objections  as  possible  to  the 
proposed  scheme  of  government,  he  thought  it  best 
to  leave  the  matter  as  we  find  it.  He  observed,  that 
the  abolition  of  slavery  seemed  to  be  going  on  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  the  good  sense  of  the  several 
States  would  probably  by  degrees  complete  it.  He 
urged  on  the  Convention  the  necessity  of  despatching 
its  business. 

Col.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  vigorously  denounced 
slavery  and  added: — 

"Maryland  and  Virginia  have  already  prohibited  the 
importation  of  slaves  expressly.  North  Carolina  had  done  the 
same  in  substance.  All  this  would  be  vain,  if  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  be  at  liberty  to  import.  *  *  *  Slavery  dis- 
courages arts  and  manufactures.  The  poor  despise  labor  when 
performed  by  slaves.  They  prevent  the  emigration  of  whites, 
who  really  enrich  and  strengthen  a  country.  They  produce 
the  most  pernicious  effect  on  manners.  Every  master  of 
slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.  They  bring  the  judgment  of 
heaven  on  a  country.  As  nations  cannot  be  rewarded  or 
punished  in  the  next  world,  they  must  be  in  this.  By  an 
inevitable  chain  of  causes  and  effects*  Providence  punishes 
national  sins  by  national  calamities."73 

Mr.  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  said,  inter  al.— 

"Let  us  not  intermeddle.  As  population  increases,  poor 
laborers  will  be  so  plenty  as  to  render  slaves  useless.  Slavery 
in  time  will  not  be  a  speck  in  our  country.  Provision  is 
already  made  in  Connecticut  for  abolishing  it.  And  the 
abolition  has  already  taken  place  in  Massachusetts."74 

Mr.  Pinckney  said,  inter  al. — 

"If  slavery  is  wrong,  it  is  justified  by  the  example  of  all  the 
world.  *  *  *  In  all  ages,  one-half  of  mankind  have 
been  slaves.  If  the  Southern  States  were  let  alone,  they 


3  Elliott,  V.,  457-8.  » « Ibid.,  458. 


40  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

will  probably  of  themselves  stop  importations.  He  would 
himself,  as  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina,  vote  for  it.  An 
attempt  to  take  away  the  right,  as  proposed,  will  produce 
serious  objections  to  the  Constitution,  which  he  wished  to 
see  adopted." 7  5 

Gen.  Pinckney  said,  inter  al. — 

"South  Carolina  and  Georgia  cannot  do  without  slaves. 
As  to  Virginia  she  will  gain  by  stopping  the  importations. 
Her  slaves  will  rise  in  value,  and  she  has  more  than  she  wants. 
It  would  be  unjust  to  require  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
to  confederate  on  such  unequal  terms.  *  *  *  He  ad- 
mitted it  to  be  reasonable,  that  slaves  should  be  dutied  like 
other  imports;  but  should  consider  a  rejection  of  the  clause 
as  an  exclusion  of  South  Carolina  from  the  Union.*' 

Mr.  Wilson  observed: — 

"if  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  themselves  disposed  to 
get  rid  of  the  importation  of  slaves  in  a  short  time,  as  had 
been  suggested,  they  would  never  refuse  to  unite  because  the 
importation  might  be  prohibited.  As  the  section  now  stands, 
all  articles  imported  are  to  be  taxed.  Slaves  alone  are  ex- 
empt. This  is,  in  fact,  a  bounty  in  that  article." 7  6 

Mr.    King,    of    Massachusetts,    took    the    same 
view. 

Mr.  Langdon,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  strenuous 
for  giving  the  power  to  the  general  government. 

"He  could  not  with  a  good  conscience,  leave  it  with  the 
States,  who  could  then  go  on  with  the  traffic,  without  being 
restrained  by  the  opinions  here  given,  that  they  will  them- 
selves cease  to  import  slaves." 

Mr.  Rutledge  said : — 

"If  the  convention  thinks  that  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  will  ever  agree  to  the  plan,  unless  their 
right  to  import  slaves  be  untouched,  the  expectation  is 
vain.  The  people  of  those  States  will  never  be  such  fools 
as  to  give  up  so  important  an  interest." 7  7 

Mr.  Sherman  said  it  was  better  to  let  the  South- 
ern States  import  slaves  than  to  part  with  them  if 

' »  Elliott,  V.,  458-9.  i  •  Ibid.,  459.  » » Ibid..  460. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  41 

they  made  that  a  sine  qua  non.  He  was  opposed  to 
a  tax  on  slaves  imported,  as  making  the  matter  worse, 
because  it  implied  they  were  property. 

Mr.  Randolph  was  for  committing,  in  order  that 
some  middle  ground  might,  if  possible,  be  found. 

On  the  question  for  committing:  Connecticut, 
New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  aye,  7;  New  Hampshire, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  no,  3;  Massachusetts 
absent. 7  8 

August  24,  the  committee  of  eleven  reported, 
recommending  the  following  substitute : 

"The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  the 
several  States,  now  existing,  shall  think  proper  to  admit, 
shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  legislature  prior  to  the  year 
1800;  but  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  migration  or 
importation  at  a  rate  not  exceeding  the  average  of  the  duties 
laid  on  imports." 7  9 

Gen.  Pinckney  moved  to  strike  out  1800  and 
insert  1808.  Mr.  Madison  opposed  the  motion  but 
it  was  carried  7  to  4. 

Weariness  was  becoming  more  and  more  apparent. 

Gouverneur  Morris  was  for  making  the  clause 
read  at  once: 

"The  importation  of  slaves  into  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  shall  not  be  prohibited,  etc/* 

Col.  Mason  was  not  against  using  the  term 
"slaves,"  but  against  naming  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  lest  it  should  give  offence  to 
the  people  of  those  States ! 

Mr.  Sherman  liked  a  description  better  than  the 
terms  proposed,  which  had  been  declined  by  the 
old  Congress  and  were  not  pleasing  to  some  people. 

Mr.  Clymer,  of  Pennsylvania,  concurred  with 
Mr.  Sherman. 

The  first  part  of  the  report  was  then  agreed  to, 
amended,  as  it  now  stands  in  the  Constitution. 8  ° 


' » Elliott,  V..  461.  i  •  Ibid.,  470-1.  •  *  Ibid.,  477. 


42  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

After  some  further  debate  it  was  finally  agreed 
nem.  con.  to  make  the  last  clause  read,— -"but  a  tax 
or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not 
exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  person."  8  x 

And  now,  after  three  months  of  strenuous  debate 
over  almost  every  line  of  the  Constitution,  which  was 
carefully  scrutinized  before  it  was  admitted  in  its 
final  shape,  on  August  29,— 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  moved  to  insert 
after  the  clause  respecting  fugitives  from  justice:— 

"If  any  person  bound  to  service  or  labor  in  any  of  the 
United  States  shall  escape  into  another  state,  he  or  she  shall 
not  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  in  consequence 
of  any  regulations  subsisting  in  the  State  to  which  they  es- 
cape, but  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  person  justly  claiming 
their  service  or  labor." 8  2 

And  it  was  agreed  to  at  once — no  one  objecting! 

The  springing  of  this  motion  just  as  the  goal 
was  in  sight,  for  which  all  had  been  striving,  and  when 
all  were  tired  out,  was  a  masterpiece  of  parliamentary 
strategy.  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  in  urging  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Constitution  by  South  Carolina,  said: 

"By  this  settlement  we  have  secured  an  unlimited  impor- 
tation of  negroes  for  twenty  years.  The  general  government 
can  never  emancipate  them,  for  no  such  authority  is  granted, 
and  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  general  government 
has  no  powers  but  what  are  expressly  granted  by  the  con- 
stitution. We  have  obtained  a  right  to  recover  our  slaves 
in  whatever  part  of  America  they  may  take  refuge,  which  is 
a  right  we  had  not  before.  In  short,  considering  all  cir- 
cumstances, we  have  made  the  best  terms  in  our  power  for 
the  security  of  this  species  of  property." 8  3 

South  Carolina  ratified  the  Constitution  May  23, 
1788,  but  with  the  significant  understanding  that 
Congress  "ought  never  to  impose  direct  taxes,  but 
where  the  moneys  arising  from  the  duties,  imports, 
and  excise  are  insufficient  for  the  public  exigencies, 

s  i  Elliott,  V.,  478.  s  >  Ibid.,  492.  » » Ibid.,  286. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD  43 

nor  then  until  Congress  shall  have  made  a  requisition 
upon  the  States  to  assess,  levy,  and  pay,  their  respec- 
tive proportions  of  such  requisitions."  8  4. 

On  July  13,  1787,  heretofore  noted  as  an  important 
date, 8  5  the  Confederate  Congress,  then  in  session 
at  New  York,  passed  "AN  ORDINANCE  FOR 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  TERRITORY 
NORTHWEST  OF  THE  RIVER  OHIO."  This 
Ordinance  contained  the  following  important  clauses: 

SEC.  14.  It  is  hereby  ordained  and  declared,  by  the  au- 
thority aforesaid,  that  the  following  articles  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  articles  of  compact,  between  the  original  States 
and  the  people  and  States  in  the  said  territory,  and  forever 
remain  unalterable  unless  by  common  consent,  to  wit: — 

*  *  *  * 

ARTICLE   II. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  shall  always  be  en- 
titled to  the  benefits  of  the  writs  of  habeas  corpus,  and  of 
the  trial  by  jury. 

*  *  *  * 

No  man  shall  be  deprived  of  his  liberty  or  property,  but 
by  the  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the  law  of  the  land." 

*  *  *  * 

ARTICLE  VI. 

There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of 
crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted: 
"Provided  always,  That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same, 
from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any  one  of 
the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed 
and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her  labor  or 
service  as  aforesaid." 8  6 

Here  will  be  observed  the  same  hostility  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  to  the  territories,  or  new  States 
to  be  formed  therefrom;  the  same  consideration  for 
vested  rights,  limited,  however,  to  persons  living 
in  the  original  thirteen  States;  and  the  same  unwilling- 
ness to  have  slaves  or  slavery  mentioned  by  name 


» *  Elliott,  I.,  325.  • 8  Supra,  p.  33. 

««  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  I.,  431-32. 


44  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  DISCORD 

in  a  document  of  historical  importance,  that  we  noted 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
— an  entirely  different  body. 

It  is  probable  that  the  discussions,  attending 
the  passage  of  this  Ordinance  through  Congress, 
were  what  caused  the  expressions  of  apprehension — 
real  or  pretended — made  by  General  Pinckney,  Ran- 
dolph and  Butler  in  the  Constitutional  Convention 
on  the  12th  and  13th  of  July. 8  7 

April  30,  1802,  Congress  passed  an  act  to  enable 
the  people  of  the  eastern  division  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory  to  form  a  constitution  and  State  govern- 
ment, and  for  the  admission  of  such  State  into  the 
Union.  The  convention,  assembled  at  Chillicothe 
for  this  purpose,  was  composed  of  thirty-five  repre- 
sentatives, only  two  of  whom  were  from  the  Western 
Reserve. 8  8  The  boundaries  of  the  State  were  fixed 
by  the  enabling  act.  The  only  other  restriction 
upon  the  powers  of  the  Convention  to  adopt  such  a 
constitution  as  might  be  agreeable  to  the  majority 
is  found  in  Section  5 : — 

"provided  the  same  shall  be  republican,  and  not  repug- 
nant to  the  ordinance  of  the  thirteenth  of  July,  one  thous- 
and seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  between  the  original 
States  and  the  people  and  States  of  the  territory  northwest 
of  the  river  Ohio."89 

This  shows  that  the  Seventh  Congress  of  the 
United  States  was  just  as  much  opposed  to  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  to  new  States  as  the  Continental 
Congress  which  passed  the  Ordinance  for  the  North- 
western Territory,  nearly  fifteen  years  before. 

The  Constitution,  adopted  by  the  Ohio  Conven- 
tion, November  29,  1802,  did  two  things  which  the 
Convention  which  framed  the  Federal  Constitution 
was  unable  to  do:  1.  It  apportioned  representation 

• »  Supra,  p.  33.  •  •  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vo.  II.,  p.  1453. 

"Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol  II.,  p.  1454. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793  45 

among  the  several  counties,  on  the  basis  of  "white 
male  inhabitants;"90     2.  It  provided  that: 

"There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  this  State,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment  of  crimes 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted;  *  *  * 
Nor  shall  any  indenture  of  any  negro  or  mulatto,  hereafter 
made  and  executed  out  of  this  State,  or,  if  made  in  the  State, 
where  the  term  of  service  exceeds  one  year,  be  of  the  least 
validity,  except  those  given  in  the  case  of  apprenticeships." 9 1 

Article  VIII  of  the  Constitution  further  provided: 

SEC.  8.    That  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  inviolate. 

SEC.  9.  That  no  power  suspending  the  laws  shall  be  exer- 
cised, unless  by  the  legislature. 

SEC.  12.  That  all  persons  shall  be  bailable  by  sufficient 
sureties,  unless  for  capital  offenses,  where  the  proof  is  evi- 
dent or  the  presumption  great;  and  the  privilege  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when,  in  case 
of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it."  9  2 

February  19,  1803,  Congress  passed  an  "ACT 
RECOGNIZING  THE  STATE  OF  OHIO"  and 

provided : — 

"That  all  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  are  not 
locally  inapplicable  shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect 
within  the  said  State  of  Ohio,  as  elsewhere  within  the  United 
States."93 

THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793. 

After  the  Constitutional  Convention  had  com- 
pleted its  labors,  and  the  delegates  of  a  majority 
of  the  States  had  signed  the  Constitution  and  trans- 
mitted copies  to  the  Confederate  Congress  and  the 
Governors  of  the  thirteen  States  for  ratification, 
things  went  on  pretty  much  as  before,  as  regards 
fugitive  slaves.  If  an  owner  pursued  his  run-away 
slave  promptly,  and  caught  him  before  he  had  gained 

« « Article  I,  Sec.  2,  of  the  Constitution.      Charters  and  Constitutions,  II.,   1455 . 

•  i  Article  VIII,  Sec.  2.     Ibid.  p.  1461. 

• »  Article  VIII,  Sec.  2.     Ibid.  p.  1462. 

» •  Charters  and  Constitutions,  Vol.  II.,  p.  1464. 


46  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  or  1793 

a  settled  residence  in  any  northern  community,  he 
generally  had  little  or  no  difficulty  in  carrying  him 
back.  There  was,  however,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  of  the  free  States  an  unwritten  statute  of 
limitation  which  barred  the  claim  of  a  dilatory  owner; 
and  a  slave  who  had  settled  and  proved  himself  a 
useful  and  law  abiding  resident  of  such  a  community 
could  not,  as  a  rule,  be  retaken  without  considerable 
opposition. 

So,  on  February  12,  1793,  Congress  passed  "An 
act  respecting  fugitives  from  justice,  and  persons  escap- 
ing from  the  service  of  their  masters"  9  4  which  remained 
in  force,  without  alteration  or  amendment,  for  more 
than  fifty-seven  years.  It  was,  by  resolutions  of 
the  Ohio  Legislature,  printed,  with  the  Constitution 
and  other  laws  of  that  State,  in  volumes  3,  8,  17, 
18  and  29,  so  as  to  advise  all  citizens  of  Ohio  that 
that  particular  statute  was  part  of  the  law  of  the 
land. 


» «  Public  Statutes  at  Large  of  the  United  States,  published  by  Little  &  Brown, 
Boston,  1845,  Vol.  I,  302  to  305  inch  Sections  3  and  4  read  as  follows: 

Sec.  3.  And  be  it  also  enacted,  That,  when  a  person  held  to  labour  in  any  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  either  of  the  territories  on  the  northwest  or  south  of  the  river 
Ohio,  under  the  laws  thereof,  shall  escape  into  any  other  of  the  said  States  or  terri- 
tory, the  person  to  whom  such  labour  or  service  may  be  due,  his  agent  or  attor- 
ney is  hereby  empowered  to  seize  or  arrest  such  fugitive  from  labour,  and  to  take 
him  or  her  before  any  judge  of  the  circuit  or  district  courts  of  the  United  States 
residing,  or  being  within  the  State,  or  before  any  magistrate  of  a  county,  city  or 
town  corporate,  wherein  such  seizure  or  arrest  shall  be  made,  and  upon  proof  to 
the  satisfaction  of  such  judge  or  magistrate,  either  by  oral  testimony  or  affidavit 
taken  before  and  certified  by  a  magistrate  of  any  such  state  or  territory,  that  the 
person  so  seized  or  arrested,  doth,  under  the  laws  of  the  state  or  territory  from 
which  he  or  she  fled,  owe  service  or  labour  to  the  person  claiming  him  or  her,  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  such  judge  or  magistrate  to  give  a  certificate  thereof  to  such 
claimant,  his  agent  or  attorney,  which  shall  be  sufficient  warrant  for  removing  the 
said  fugitive  from  labour  to  the  state  or  territory  from  which  he  or  she  fled. 

Sec.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  who  shall  knowingly  and 
willingly  obstruct  or  hinder  such  claimant,  his  agent  or  attorney,  in  so  seizing  or 
arresting  such  fugitive  from  labour,  or  shall  rescue  such  fugitive  from  such  claim- 
ant, his  agent  or  attorney,  when  so  arrested  pursuant  to  the  authority  herein 
given  or  declared;  or  shall  harbor  or  conceal  such  person  after  notice  that  he  or 
she  was  a  fugitive  from  labour,  as  aforesaid,  shall,  for  either  of  the  said  offences, 
forfeit  and  pay  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars.  Which  penalty  may  be  recov- 
ered by  and  for  the  benefit  of  such  claimant,  by  action  of  debt,  in  any  court  proper 
to  try  the  same:  saving  moreover  to  the  person  claiming  such  labour  or  service,  his 
right  of  action  for  or  on  account  of  the  said  injuries  or  either  of  them. 

APPROVED:  February  12,  1793. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793  47 

For  the  first  thirty  years,  there  was  little  litiga- 
tion over  escaped  slaves,  or  the  cases  were  considered 
as  too  trivial  to  report.  Pennsylvania,  being  almost 
surrounded  by  States  where  negroes  were  still  held 
in  bondage, — New  York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  and  the  "Pan  handle"  of  Virginia — had 
the  most  troublesome  experience  of  any,  down  to 
1840.  The  disposition  of  the  Courts,  at  first,  was 
to  construe  the  statute  strictly;  and  persons  accused 
of  obstructing  claimants  often  escaped  conviction, 
or  punishment,  on  some,  technicality.  A  bad  statute 
may  remain  on  the  books  a  long  time  if  no  general 
attempt  is  made  to  enforce  it. 

There  were  objections  to  this  law,  both  on  the 
part  of  slave-owners  and  those  who  sympathized 
with  the  blacks.  The  former  thought  it  was  drawn 
too  loosely  and  could  be  violated  in  many  ways  with 
impunity;  the  latter,  that  it  was  drawn  so  as  to  give 
a  man,  claiming  ownership,  summary  possession  of 
the  alleged  fugitive  upon  making,  or  producing  an 
ex  parte  affidavit,  and  without  any  fair  judicial  test 
as  to  the  status  of  the  negro  claimed.  Where  two 
different  persons  laid  claim  to  the  same  piece  of  prop- 
erty the  Constitution  and  laws  provided  for  a  trial 
by  jury.  The  question  of  ownership  could  be  raised 
in  a  suit  against  a  person  obstructing  or  hindering 
a  claimant  in  retaking  his  slave,  and  the  defendant 
in  such  a  suit  was  entitled  to  a  jury  trial.  But  if 
there  was  but  one  claimant  for  a  negro,  the  latter, 
being  considered  nothing  but  property,  was  given  no 
chance  to  set  up  and  prove  a  claim  to  himself  and 
no  right  to  a  jury  trial. 

Three  cases  decided  in  1822,  1823  and  1824,  by 
Bushrod  Washington,  a  Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  and  a  nephew  of  George  Washington, 
show  a  disposition  to  construe  the  law  strictly.  In 
the  first, 9  5  a  suit  by  a  claimant,  who  had  seized  a 


•  •  Hill  v.  Low,  4  Wash.;  327. 


48  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793 

negro  and  was  taking  him  before  a  magistrate,  against 
a  person  who  objected  to  the  proceeding  and  by  his 
talk  and  actions  caused  an  assemblage  of  people 
forcing  the  claimant  to  go  out  of  his  course  and  thus 
give  the  negro  an  opportunity  to  escape; — Judge 
Washington  held;  (1)  that  the  claimant  must  prove 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  jury  that  he  was  the  owner 
of  the  negro  in  question,  or  that  he  was  the  agent 
of  the  real  owner,  or  he  could  not  recover;  and  (2) 
that  it  was  not  a  violation  of  the  statute  to  hinder 
or  obstruct  the  owner  or  agent  in  taking  the  alleged 
fugitive  before  a  magistrate  after  the  arrest,  unless 
the  negro  escaped.  A  judgment  in  favor  of  the 
claimant  for  $500  damages  was  reversed. 

In  the  second 9  6  he  denied  the  application  for 
a  certificate  of  ownership  to  a  resident  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  who  had  brought  a  slave  with  him 
to  Philadelphia,  kept  him  there  as  a  servant  for  over 
ten  months  and  then  left  him  there  when  he  returned 
to  Charleston.  He  held  the  slave  was  not  a  fugitive 
from  one  State  to  another  within  the  meaning  of  the 
act,  and  the  owner  could  not  reclaim  him  as  such. 
The  laws  of  Pennsylvania  alone  applied  to  the  case, 
and  under  those  laws  the  alleged  fugitive  was  free. 

In  the  third  case97  the  claimant  of  an  alleged 
fugitive  slave,  Tom,  after  seizing  him,  taking  him 
before  a  magistrate  and  securing  a  certificate  auth- 
orizing him  to  remove  Tom  to  Maryland,  delivered 
him  to  a  jailer  at  Doylestown,  Pa.,  for  safe  keeping. 
The  jailer  took  him  into  the  jail  yard  surrounded  by 
a  wall  nineteen  feet  high  and  locked  him  in  there 
with  other  prisoners,  while  he  went  into  the  house 
to  get  supper.  Tom's  fears  must  have  lent  him 
wings,  for  he  got  over  that  nineteen  foot  wall  and 
escaped.  The  claimant  sued  the  jailer  for  damages 
for  allowing  the  escape,  and  the  case  was  tried  to  a 


•  •  Ex  parte  Simmons,  4  Wash.,  396. 

•»  Worthington  v.  Preston,  4  Wash.,  461. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793  49 

jury.  Judge  Washington  charged  the  jury  that  the 
authority  of  the  magistrate  was  limited  to  examining 
into  the  claim  of  the  alleged  owner  and  to  granting 
him  a  certificate  of  ownership  if  satisfied  as  to  the 
fact.  The  certificate  was  not  a  warrant  for  commit- 
ting the  fugitive  to  jail  and  the  jailer  was  under  no 
legal  obligation  to  receive  him,  by  virtue  of  such 
certificate. 

The  jailer  was  not  liable  as  a  bailee  unless  guilty 
of  gross  negligence.  There  was  a  verdict  for  the 
defendant.  The  judge  said  inter  al;— 

"An  attempt  has  been  made  in  congress  to  correct  these 
glaring  defects  in  the  act,  without  which  correction  the  act 
is  found  to  be  practically  of  little  avail;  but  the  attempt 
has  not  as  yet  succeeded.  As  it  now  stands,  the  magistrate 
had  no  authority  to  command  the  gaoler  in  this  case  to  re- 
ceive and  safe  keep  the  fugitive." 

But,  as  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  and  sugar  crops 
became  more  profitable,  the  slaves,  by  whose  labor 
they  were  raised,  became  more  valuable.  While  a 
slave,  worth  $200  or  $300  at  most,  might  not  be 
pursued  very  energetically,  one  worth  $1,000  or  $1,200 
was  much  more  liable  to  seizure  by  the  owner,  or  by 
any  one  tempted  by  the  prospect  of  a  reward. 

The  rise  in  price  of  negroes  was  largely  due  to 
the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade,  and  the 
consequent  demand  for  native-born  negroes,  which 
could  only  be  met  by  the  border  states.  The  sale 
"down  South"  of  negroes  raised  in  Maryland,  Vir- 
ginia or  Kentucky,  proved  a  very  convenient  way  of 
securing  a  little  ready  cash.  The  very  thought  of 
being  sent  to  the  rice  swamps  of  South  Carolina,  the 
canebrakes  of  Louisiana,  or  the  cotton  fields  of  the 
Gulf  States,  filled  the  negroes  with  terror  and  the 
number  of  fugitives  increased.  Their  prospective 
sufferings,  if  caught,  appealed  to  the  sympathies  of 
humane  men  in  the  north,  and  there  was  a  growing 
disposition  to  aid  their  escape.  The  resentment  of 
slave  catchers,  cheated  of  their  prey,  led  to  more 


50  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793 

frequent  prosecutions  of  those  who  in  any  way  inter- 
fered with  the  chase.  The  courts  became  less  rig- 
orous in  their  construction  of  the  law  and  more  in- 
clined to  favor  the  claimant.  Conviction  became 
more  certain  and  penalties  more  severe.  This,  how- 
ever, only  increased  the  hatred  of  slavery  among 
the  masses  in  every  free  community,  and  we  read  in 
the  charges  of  judges  to  juries,  impaneled  to  try  such 
cases,  apologies  for  the  law  which  the  Courts  must 
nevertheless  enforce,  and  admonitions  to  suppress 
feelings  and  conscientious  scruples  which  the  judges 
confessed  were  quite  natural  and  right. 

Chief  Justice  Tilghman,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Pennsylvania,  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  humane 
of  men,  told  the  jury  in  Wright  v.  Deacon,  5  Serg. 
&  Rawle,  63, 

"Whatever  may  be  our  private  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  it  is  well  known  that  our  Southern  brethren  would 
not  have  consented  to  have  become  parties  to  a  constitution 
under  which  the  United  States  have  enjoyed  so  much  pros- 
perity, unless  their  property  in  slaves  had  been  secured." 

Mr.  Justice  Baldwin,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  in  the  case  of  Johnson  v.  Tompkins  et  a/,  1 
Baldwin,  571,  tried  in  the  Circuit  Court,  said  to  the 
jury:— 

"It  is  not  permitted  to  you  or  us  to  indulge  our  feelings  of 
abstract  right  on  these  subjects;  the  law  of  the  land  recognizes 
the  right  of  one  man  to  hold  another  in  bondage,  and  that 
right  must  be  protected  from  violation,  although  its  existence 
is  abhorrent  to  all  our  ideas  of  natural  right  and  justice. 

"As  a  consequence  of  this  right  of  property,  the  owner  may 
keep  possession  of  his  slave;  if  he  absconds,  he  may  retake  him 
by  pursuit  into  another  State;  *  *  *  he  may  arrest 
him  by  the  use  of  as  much  force  as  is  necessary  to  effect 
his  reclamation;  *  *  *  taking  care  to  commit  no  breach 
of  the  peace  against  third  persons.  But  it  is  no  breach  of 
the  peace  to  use  as  much  force  or  coercion  towards  the  fugi- 
tive as  sufficies  for  his  security,  as  without  such  force  no 
slave  could  be  retaken,  without  his  consent. 

If  this  is  unjust  and  oppressive,  the  sin  is  on  the  heads  of 
the  makers  of  laws  which  tolerate  slavery,  or  in  those  who 
have  the  power,  in  not  repealing  them." 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793  51 

The  jury  in  this  case  brought  in  a  verdict  for 
$4,000  damages  against  persons  who  had  obstructed 
the  reclamation  of  Jack,  who  ran  away  from  his 
owner's  place  near  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  crossed  the 
Delaware  into  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Judge  entered 
a  judgment  on  the  verdict,  although  the  owner  had 
succeeded,  after  some  difficulty,  in  carrying  off  his 
slave. 

Mr.  Justice  McLean,  in  overruling  a  motion  for 
a  directed  verdict  for  defendant  at  the  close  of  plain- 
tiff's testimony  in  Jones  v.  Van  Zandt,  %  McLean, 
596,  said:— 

"The  counsel  for  the  defendant  admit  that,  in  a  given 
case,  the  plaintiff  has  a  remedy  under  the  act  of  Congress. 
If  this  be  so  what  have  we  to  do  with  slavery  in  the  abstract? 
It  is  admitted  by  all  who  have  examined  the  subject,  to  be 
founded  in  wrong,  in  oppression,  in  power  against  right. 
But  in  this  case  we  have  only  to  inquire  whether  the  acts 
of  the  defendant,  as  proved  under  the  law  of  Congress, 
subject  him  to  a  claim  for  indemnity  by  the  plaintiff." 

The  case  was  then  argued  and  submitted  to 
the  jury  who  brought  in  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff 
and  assessed  his  damages,  for  the  escape  of  one  slave, 
at  $1,200. 

On  a  motion  for  a  new  trial  the  Judge  gave  an 
elaborate  opinion  overruling  the  motion.  Among 
other  things,  he  said: — 

"I  was  not  prepared  to  hear,  in  a  Court  of  Justice,  the  broad 
ground  assumed  as  was  assumed  in  this  case  before  the  jury, 
that  a  man,  in  the  exercise  of  what  he  conceives  to  be  a  con- 
scientious duty,  may  violate  the  laws  of  the  land.  That  no 
human  laws  can  justly  restrain  the  acts  of  men,  who  are  im- 
pelled by  a  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  their  fellow  creature. 
We  are  not  here  to  deal  with  abstractions.  We  cannot  theor- 
ize upon  the  principles  of  our  government,  or  of  slavery.  The 
law  is  our  only  guide.  *  *  *  If  the  law  be  wrong  in 
principle  or  oppressive  in  its  exactions,  it  should  be  changed 
in  a  constitutional  mode."  (Ib.  p.  616.) 

In  Morris  v.  Newton  et  al.,  5  McLean,  92,  known 
as  the  "South  Bend  Rescue  Case,"  four  negroes  who 


52  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793 

had  been  living  near  Cassopolis,  Michigan,  for  nearly 
two  years,  were  captured  Sept.  27,  1849,  by  the  claim- 
ant and  a  party  he  had  organized  for  that  purpose,  who 
placed  them  in  a  wagon  and  started  south  with  them, 
without  taking  them  before  any  judge  or  magistrate 
or  securing  a  certificate  of  ownership.  Passing  through 
South  Bend,  Indiana,  they  halted  a  mile  or  two  from 
the  village  for  refreshments  and  were  overtaken  by 
the  sheriff  of  the  county  who  had  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  to  serve  on  the  claimant.  A  crowd  soon 
gathered  numbering  more  than  one  hundred  and  forty, 
and  the  claimant  returned  with  the  negroes  to  South 
Bend.  The  judge,  before  whom  the  negroes  were 
brought,  discharged  them,  on  the  ground  that  the 
claimant  had  no  right  to  take  them  out  of  the  State 
where  the  arrest  was  made,  but  should  have  taken 
them  before  some  judicial  officer  of  that  State  or  of 
the  United  States.  Immediately  after  their  dis- 
charge the  claimant  arrested  them  again  under  a  writ 
issued  under  a  State  law  of  Indiana.  The  crowd  had 
by  this  time  become  highly  excited  and  to  prevent 
a  collision  it  was  agreed  that  the  negroes  should  be 
placed  in  jail  for  safe  keeping.  The  next  day  (Satur- 
day) the  streets  were  crowded  with  people,  the  greater 
part  of  whom  were  colored.  Some  had  firearms  and 
almost  all  had  clubs.  Many  of  them  came  from 
Cass  county,  Michigan. 

On  Monday  another  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was 
allowed  by  the  judge,  and  the  plaintiff  under  the 
circumstances  declined  any  further  attempt  to  take 
the  fugitives  but  said  that  his  rights  had  been  violated 
and  he  should  claim  compensation  from  those  who 
had  injured  him.  The  fugitives  were  discharged  by 
the  judge  and  went  off  surrounded  by  a  great  number 
of  colored  persons.  Suit  was  brought  in  the  United 
States  Court  against  a  number  of  citizens,  including 
the  judge  who  discharged  the  fugitives.  On  the 
trial  of  the  case,  Justice  McLean  charged  the  jury 
inter  al.9— 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1793  53 

"The  legal  custody  of  the  fugitives  by  the  master  being 
admitted  as  stated  in  the  return  on  the  habeas  corpus,  every 
step  taken  subsequently  was  against  law  and  in  violation  of 
his  rights.  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  inquire  into  the  pro- 
cedure subsequently.  It  was  wholly  without  authority. 
The  forms  of  law  assumed  afford  no  protection  to  any  one. 
The  slaves  were  taken  from  the  legal  custody  of  their  master, 
and  he  thereby  lost  their  services."  (Ibid.  p.  101.) 

"Every  person  of  the  large  crowd  in  the  court-house,  or  out 
of  it,  who  aided,  by  words  or  actions,  the  movement  which 
resulted  in  the  escape  of  the  fugitives,  is  responsible.  On 
such  an  occasion,,  liability  is  not  incurred  where  no  other 
solicitude  is  shown  by  words  or  actions,  than  to  obtain  an 
impartial  trial  for  the  fugitives."  (Ibid.  p.  102.) 

"In  these  matters,  the  law,  and  not  conscience,  constitutes 
the  rule  of  action.  You  are  sworn  to  decide  this  case  accord- 
ing to  the  law  and  testimony.  And  you  become  unfaithful 
to  the  solemn  injunctions  you  have  taken  upon  yourselves, 
when  you  yield  to  an  influence  which  you  call  conscience, 
that  places  you  above  the  law  and  the  testimony.  Such  a 
rule  can  apply  only  to  individuals;  and,  when  assumed  as  a 
basis  of  action  on  the  rights  of  others,  it  is  utterly  destructive 
of  all  law.  What  may  be  deemed  a  conscientious  act  by 
one  individual,  may  be  held  criminal  by  another.  In  the 
view  of  one,  the  act  is  meritorious;  in  the  view  of  the  other, 
it  should  be  punished  as  a  crime.  And  each  has  the  same 
right,  acting  under  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  to  carry 
out  his  own  view.  This  would  overturn  the  basis  of  society. " 
(Ib.  pp.  104-5.) 

"It  is  expected  that  the  citizens  of  the  free  States  should 
be  opposed  to  slavery.  But  with  the  abstract  principles  of 
slavery  we  have  nothing  to  do.  As  a  political  question 
there  could  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  us  on  the  sub- 
ject. But  our  duty  is  found  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Union, 
as  construed  by  the  Supreme  Court.  The  fugitives  from 
labor  we  are  bound,  by  the  highest  obligations,  to  deliver 
up  on  claim  of  the  master  being  made;  and  there  is  no  state 
power  which  can  release  the  slave  from  the  legal  custody  of 
his  master."  (Ibid.  p.  105.) 

"If  the  law  be  unwise  or  impolitic,  let  it  be  changed  in  the 
mode  prescribed;  but,  so  long  as  it  remains  the  law,  every 
good  citizen  will  conform  to  it.  And  every  one  who  arrays 
himself  against  it,  and  endeavors  by  open  or  secret  means  to 
bring  it  into  contempt,  so  that  it  may  be  violated  with  im- 
punity, is  an  enemy  to  the  interests  of  his  country. 

"The  jury  returned  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff,  for  $2,850  in 
damages."  (Ibid.  p.  106.) 


54  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

OHIO  FROM  1802  to  1851. 

THE  BLACK  LAWS — THE  THREE-FIFTHS  RULE — FUGI- 
TIVE SLAVE,  AND  ANTI-KIDNAPPING  LAWS. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
Ohio  may  well  have  been  termed  the  "melting  pot 
of  the  colonies."  In  no  other  State  of  the  Union  was 
the  immigration  from  the  original  thirteen  States 
so  evenly  distributed.  To  the  Connecticut  Western 
Reserve  came  settlers  from  all  New  England,  New 
York,  and  northern  Pennsylvania.  To  the  east- 
central  portion,  comprising  the  counties  of  Columbi- 
ana,  Stark,  Wayne,  Jefferson,  Belmont,  Carroll,  and 
Tuscarawas,  came  settlers  from  middle  and  western 
Pennsylvania,  including  Moravians  and  "Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch."  To  Marietta  and  the  Muskingum 
Valley  came  settlers  from  Massachusetts.  All  the 
rest  of  Southern  Ohio  was  dominated  by  settlers 
from  States  in  which  slavery  still  existed  when  Ohio 
became  a  State — New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 9  8 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  only  political 
party  in  Ohio  which  had  a  State  organization  and 
any  considerable  following  was  the  Democratic  party, 
and  its  policy  was  shaped  by  men  from  these  slave 
States.  They  showed  no  disposition,  at  any  time, 
to  ignore,  or  evade,  the  anti-slavery  clauses  of  the 
Ordinance  for  the  Northwestern  Territory  and  the 
Constitution  of  Ohio.  Indeed,  the  motive  which 
actuated  many  of  them  in  coming  to  Ohio,  was  the 
prospect  of  escaping  from  the  evils  of  slavery  and 
the  degrading  influences  of  a  servile  community. 

•  8  In  taking  the  census  of  1850,  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  ascertain  the 
nativity  of  the  citizens  of  the  respective  States.  This  showed  that  529,208  whites 
and  12,662  blacks,  then  residing  in  Ohio,  were  born  in  other  states.  New  England 
contributed  66,032;  New  York,  83,979;  New  Jersey,  23,532;  Pennsylvania,  200,634 
Virginia,  85,762;  Maryland,  36,698;  Kentucky,  13,829;  and  all  other  States, 
31,404.  As  many  of  the  early  settlers  had  died  and  many  had  passed  on  to  other 
States  in  the  West  or  Southwest,  this  is  but  an  imperfect  showing  of  the  com- 
mingling of  the  people  in  the  first  State  of  the  Central  West. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  55 

They  brought  with  them,  however,  their  natural 
antipathy  to  the  black  race;  their  inability  to  recog- 
nize as  man  any  person  covered  with  a  colored  skin; 
their  consequent  unwillingness  to  grant  him  the  rights 
of  citizenship;  and  their  settled  conviction  that, 
with  few  exceptions,  negroes  were  only  fit  for  slaves, 
and  should  be  used  as  such  wherever  their  labor  was 
profitable  and  masters  could  be  found  willing  to  take 
the  trouble  of  supporting  them  and  forcing  them  to 
work.  They  soon  made  it  apparent  that  negroes, 
bond  or  free,  were  not  wanted  in  Ohio. 

January  5,  1804,  the  Legislature  passed  "AN 
ACT  TO  REGULATE  BLACK  AND  MULATTO 
PERSONS,"  9 »  by  the  terms  of  which,  no  such  per- 
son was  permitted  to  settle,  or  reside  in  the  State, 
unless  he  should  first  produce  a  certificate  from  some 
Court  within  the  United  States  of  his  actual  freedom, 
and  residents  were  prohibited  from  employing  any 
black  or  mulatto  person  unless  he  had  such  certifi- 
care  "under  pain  of  forfeiting  and  paying  any  sum 
not  less  than  ten  nor  more  than  fifty  dollars  *  *  * 
for  every  such  offence,  one  half  thereof  for  the  use 
of  the  informer."  Any  person  harbouring  or  secret- 
ing any  black  or  mulatto  person,  the  property  of  any 
person  whatever,  or  in  any  wise  hindering  or  obstruct- 
ing the  owner  in  retaking  his  black  or  mulatto  servant 
or  servants  was  liable  to  the  same  penalty.  Any 
person  claiming  that  any  black  or  mulato  person 
was  his  property,  on  making  satisfactory  proof  of 
ownership,  before  any  associate  justice,  or  justice  of 
the  peace  within  the  State,  was  entitled  to  a  warrant 
directing  the  sheriff  or  constable  to  arrest  such  black 
or  mulatto  person  and  deliver  him  to  the  claimant. 
To  prevent  kidnapping,  any  person  who  should 
attempt  to  remove  any  black  or  mulatto  person 
from  this  State  without  proving  property  was  liable, 
on  conviction,  to  forfeit  and  pay  $1,000,  one  half  to 


••  Ohio  Laws,  II,  63  to  66  incl.;  reprinted  in  O.  L.,  VIII,  489  to  492  inch 


56  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

the  use  of  the  informer  and  the  other  half  to  the  use 
of  the  State  and  moreover  should  be  liable  to  the 
action  of  the  party  injured. 

This  act  was  followed  by  another,  January  25, 
1807  10°  reenacted  and  reprinted  in  1811,  and  again 
in  1816,  1824  and  1831,  making  the  additional  re- 
quirement that  no  negro  or  mulatto  should  be  per- 
mitted to  emigrate  into  and  settle  within  this  State 
unless  he  should 

"within  twenty  days  thereafter  enter  into  bond  with  two  OP 
more  sureties,  in  the  penal  sum  of  $500  *  *  *  con- 
ditioned for  the  good  behavior  of  such  negro  or  mulatto,  and 
moreover  to  pay  for  the  support  of  such  person  in  case  he, 
she,  or  they  should  thereafter  be  found  within  any  township 
in  this  State,  unable  to  support  themselves." 

Any  person  employing,  harboring,  or  concealing 
any  such  negro  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act 
shall  forfeit  and  pay  not  exceeding  $100 — one  half 
to  the  informer  and  the  other  half  for  the  use  of  the 
poor  of  the  township  in  which  such  person  may  reside. 
This  act  further  provided:— 

"SEC.  4.  *  *  *  That  no  black  or  mulatto  person  or 
persons  shall  hereafter  be  permitted  to  be  sworn  or  give 
evidence  in  any  court  of  record,  or  elsewhere,  in  this  State,  in 
any  cause  depending,  or  matter  of  controversy,  where  either 
party  to  the  same  is  a  white  person,  or  in  any  prosecution 
which  shall  be  instituted  in  behalf  of  this  State  against  any 
white  person." 

These  laws  were  not  repealed  until  February  10, 
1849  x  ° 1  when  Townshend,  of  Lorain,  and  Morse,  of 
Painesville,  at  the  head  of  thirteen  Free  Soilers  from 
the  Western  Reserve,  held  the  balance  of  power  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  The  Democrats  and 
Whigs,  elected  to  this  General  Assembly,  were  so 
nearly  equal  in  numbers  that  neither  could  command 
a  quorum  without  the  Free  Soilers.  The  latter,  con- 


100  o.  L.  V.,  53-4;  O.  L.,  IX,  109-111  inch;  O.L.,  XXII,  334-5;  O.  L.,  XXIX, 
440-1. 

'oiO.  L.,  XLVII,  17-18. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  57 

scious  of  their  power  and  determined  to  use  it  to 
advance  the  cause  they  had  at  heart,  refused  to  join 
with  either  until  certain  demands  were  complied  with. 
Townshend  dickered  with  the  Democrats,  and  Morse, 
with  the  Whigs.  Both  demanded  the  repeal  of  the 
"Black  Laws,"  and  some  suitable  provision  for  the 
education  of  the  colored  children.  Townshend  de- 
manded of  the  Democrats  the  election  of  Salmon 
P.  Chase  as  United  States  Senator,  and  Morse  de- 
manded the  election  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings.  The 
first  party  to  yield  to  these  demands  would  receive 
the  support  of  the  Free  Soilers.  Amid  storms  of 
obloquy  and  the  passionate  outcries  of  their  fellow 
members  and  the  Press  throughout  the  State,  they 
held  to  their  purpose  for  weeks.  It  was,  perhaps, 
the  most  exciting  session  the  Ohio  Legislature  ever 
held.  At  last  the  Democrats,  many  of  whom  were 
so-called  Free  Democrats,  opposed  to  the  further 
extension  of  slavery,  came  to  terms,  and  the  House 
was  organized  by  the  election  of  a  Democratic  Speaker 
and  other  officers.  Salmon  P.  Chase  was  sent  to  the 
United  States  Senate  and  the  Black  Laws  were  re- 
pealed. l  ° 2  It  is  a  commentary  on  the  courage  of 
the  Democratic  politicians  that  this  repeal  is  hidden 
away  in  the  6th  section  of  an  Act  "To  authorize  the 
establishment  of  separate  schools  for  the  education 
of  colored  children,"  and  nothing  in  the  table  of  acts 
passed,  or  the  "Index"  to  the  volume  of  statues  would 
give  one  an  inkling  that  such  a  repeal  had  been  effected. 

This  same  section  reveals  the  existence  of  another 
Black  Law,  passed  February  9,  1831, 103  which  was 
not  repealed.  It  appears  as  a  "joker"  in  Section  2 
of  "AN  ACT  relating  to  Juries."  By  this  section, 
clerks  of  the  courts  of  common  pleas  in  their  respec- 
tive counties  are  required  "on  the  first  Monday  of 
September  next,  and  on  the  first  Monday  of  Septem- 


102  Warden,  Lift  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  pp  ^20,  321,  322. 
IO.Q.  L.,  XXIX.  94. 


58  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

ber  annually  thereafter  [to]  cause  the  proportion 
of  jurors  to  be  ascertained  from  the  number  of  white 
male  inhabitants  of  the  age  of  twenty-one,"  etc.  The 
further  duties  of  the  clerks  are  prescribed  in  minute 
detail.  Black  and  mulatto  persons  are  nowhere  men- 
tioned in  the  act;  but  the  act  is  so  drawn  that  none 
but  white  persons  could  be  placed  in  the  jury  box. 

But  the  blacks  were  handicapped  in  many  other 
ways.  While  their  property  was  liable  to  taxation 
for  all  public  purposes  they  had  no  voice  in  deter- 
mining how  public  funds  should  be  expended.  The 
Constitution  and  laws  limited  the  franchise  to  "white 
male  inhabitants  above  twenty-one  years  of  age."  1  ° 4 
They  were  not  allowed  to  gain  a  "legal  settlement" 
in  any  townships  of  the  State  so  as  to  receive  any 
benefit  from  the  poor  laws. 1  ° 5  No  relaxation  of 
this  rule  was  permitted  until  March  14,  1853, 1  °  * 
when  Sec.  2  of  "AN  ACT  For  the  relief  of  the  poor," 
declared — 

"That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  enable 
any  black  or  mulatto  person  to  gain  a  legal  settlement  in 
this  State.  Provided  that  nothing  in  this  section  shall  be 
so  construed  as  to  prevent  the  directors  of  any  county  or 
city  infirmary  in  their  discretion  from  admitting  any  black 
or  mulatto  person  into  said  infirmary." 

The  Legislature  passed  many  laws  for  the  or- 
ganization and  maintenance  of  common  schools,  but 
the  benefits  of  such  schools  were  expressly  limited 
to  white  unmarried  persons  between  the  ages  of  five 
and  twenty-one. l  ° 7  The  children  of  black  and  mu- 
latto persons  would  seem  to  be  excluded  by  necessary 
inference  from  attending  public  schools;  but,  that 
there  might  be  no  room  for  doubt  or  evasion,  the 

io«  Charters  y  Constitutions,  II,  1455;  Ohio  Laws,  I,  72;  V,  55;  XXV,  16; 
XXIX.  428;  XXX,  5;  XXXIII,  356;  XLII.  3;  XLIX,  109. 

i  o«  Q.  L.,  V.  53;  IX,  109;  XXVII,  54;  XXIX,  320. 

i » «  O.  L.,  LI,  469. 

107  O.  L.,  XXIII,  ;  XXVII,  33.  355  Ibid.,  72;  XXIX,  414;  XXXII. 

25;  XXXIV,  19,  31;  XXXVI,  21. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  59 

Legislature  in  an  act  passed  in  February,  1829, 108 
"for  the  support  and  better  regulation  of  Common 
Schoools"  used  this  language: — 

"Provided;  That  nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  permit  black  or  mulatto  persons  to  attend 
the  schools  hereby  established,"  etc. 

A  show  of  fairness  was  made  in  these  acts  by 
provisions  excepting  the  property  of  black  or  mulatto 
persons  from  taxation  for  school  purposes,  and  ap- 
propriating taxes  assessed  on  their  property  for  the 
education  of  black  or  mulatto  persons,  but  it  was  a 
hollow  mockery.  All  other  children  could  gain  an 
education  at  public  expense,  no  matter  how  indigent 
their  parents  might  be.  Colored  children  could  gain 
no  education  unless  their  parents,  who  had  almost 
no  opportunity  to  engage  in  lucrative  pursuits,  should 
establish  and  maintain  private  schools,  at  their  own 
expense.  The  blacks  and  mulattoes  did  not  demand 
separate  schools,  or  special  instruction  for  their  chil- 
dren; and  the  segregation  of  black  and  white  children 
was  not  made  in  their  interest.  Their  children  could 
have  been  taught  in  any  school  and  by  any  teacher 
competent  to  teach  white  children,  without  any 
additional  expense  to  the  public.  If  the  segregation 
was  demanded  by  the  whites  and  was,  as  claimed, 
in  the  interest  of  the  general  public,  it  would  seem 
to  be  only  fair  that  the  general  public  should  bear 
the  expense. 

The  unfairness  of  saddling  the  cost  of  instruction 
in  separate  schools  upon  the  blacks  was  made  still 
more  apparent  by  the  passage  of  various  laws  provid- 
ing for  the  teaching  of  German,  at  the  request  of 
German  parents,  in  common,  or  separate,  schools 
established  and  maintained  at  public  expense,  and 
by  teachers  who  must  have  qualifications  other  than 
those  required  for  teaching  in  English  schools. 


O.  L.,  XXVII,  72. 


60  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

The  act  of  March  7,  1838  (O.  L.,  XXXVI,  21  to 
37,  incl.)  provided:— 

"SEC.  9.  *  *  *  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so 
construed  as  to  prevent  any  other  language  in  addition  to 
the  English  from  being  taught  in  the  common  schools,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  directors." 

The  act  of  March   16,   1839,   (O.  L.   XXXVII, 

61  to    67,    incl.)    limited   the   privileges   of   common 
schools  to  white  children  but  provided:— 

"SEC.  6.  That  the  directors  shall  have  power  to  deter- 
mine what  branches  and  language,  or  languages,  shall  be 
taught  in  their  several  districts:  Provided,  That  branches 
taught  shall  be  such  as  are  generally  taught  in  common 

schools. 

*  *  *  * 

SEC.  18.  That  in  any  district  where  the  directos  keep 
an  English  school,  and  do  not  have  branches  taught  in 
German  it  shall  be  lawful  for  youths  in  such  districts  who  de- 
sire to  learn  in  the  German  language,  to  attend  at  a  district 
German  school  *  *  *  and  the  same  rule  shall  be  adopted 
and  privileges  allowed  in  favor  of  those  wishing  to  learn  the 
English  who  reside  in  districts  where  the  German  language 
is  taught,  and  so  of  any  other  language. 

*  *  *  * 

SEC.  20.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  county  assessors 
when  taking  a  list  of  taxable  property  of  the  county,  when  he 
takes  in  the  property  of  a  black  or  mulatto  person,  to  note 
the  fact  opposite  to  his  or  her  name  in  the  abstracts  he  makes 
out  for  the  county  auditor."108*. 

But  what  was  to  be  done  about  such  "tainted 
property"  was  not  made  clear  in  the  act;  although 
the  Act  of  March  7,  1838,  (O.  L.,  XXXVI,  21),  pro- 
vided that; 

"If  any  tax  for  school  purposes  shall  be  levied  on  the  prop- 
erty of  any  black  or  mulatto  person  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  county  treasurer  or  other  person  charged  with  the  col- 
lection of  the  same  to  abate  said  tax." 


IDS*  The  extent  to  which  German  schools  and  the  study  of  German  in  English 
common  schools  was  fostered  by  the  Ohio  legislature — all  at  public  expense — may 
be  appreciated  by  a  study  of  the  following  acts: — Ohio  Laws,  XL,  52;  XLV,  26-7; 
XLVII,  22-26;  LI.  506;  and  LVIII,  90-1. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  61 

Common  school  education  seems  to  have  been 
a  fascinating  subject  for  Ohio  legislators,  for  acts 
were  passed  nearly  every  year  for  revising,  amending, 
or  repealing  former  acts  regulating  the  schools,  or 
making  entirely  new  provisions.  Sometimes  the  acts 
authorizing  levies  of  taxes  for  school  purposes,  ex- 
cepted  property  owned  by  blacks  and  mulattoes, 
and  sometimes  they  did  not.  It  was  too  much  trouble 
for  the  average  county  official  to  ascertain  just  what 
real  estate  and  other  property  belonged  to  blacks 
and  what  did  not,  and  just  what  law  applied.  It 
was  inconvenient  to  use  two  different  rates  in  figuring 
out  the  taxes  which  the  respective  classes — black 
and  white — should  pay;  and  so,  in  practice,  the  blacks 
generally  paid  their  full  proportion  of  the  school 
taxes  and  derived  no  benefit  whatever  from  the  schools. 
This  abuse  of  the  color  line  became  so  notorious 
that  the  Whig  legislature  of  1838  adopted  a  "RESO- 
LUTION, Relating  to  School  Taxes,  improperly  paid 
by  black  and  mulatto  persons"109  as  follows: — 

"Whereas,  by  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  passed  March  10th,  1831,  entitled  'An  act  to  provide 
for  the  support  and  better  regulation  of  Common  Schools/ 
the  property  of  black  and  mulatto  persons  was  exempted 
from  taxation  for  school  purposes,  and  by  the  same  act,  the 
children  of  such  persons  were  prohibited  from  a  participa- 
tion in  the  school  fund  raised  under  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  and  consequently  denied  the  privileges  and  benefits 
arising  from  our  common  school  system:  And,  whereas,  it 
is  represented  to  this  General  Assembly,  that,  in  many  of  the 
counties  in  this  State,  taxes  have  been  collected  for  school 
purposes,  of  such  black  and  mulatto  persons,  since  the 
passage  of  the  above  mentioned  act,  contrary  to  its  true 
meaning  and  intent,  as  well  as  justice  and  equity:  Therefore, 
Resolved  *  *  *,  That  the  auditors  of  the  several  counties 
in  this  State,  be  required  to  examine  the  tax  duplicates  of 
their  respective  counties,  each  year  since  the  passage  of  the 
above  mentioned  act,  and  ascertain  the  amount  of  tax  thus 
collected  from  black  and  mulatto  persons  each  year,  for  school 
purposes,  and  cast  the  interest  on  the  same  annually,  and 

109Q.L.,  XXXVI.  412-13. 


62  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

report  the  amount  of  such  tax  and  interest,  thus  collected  of 
such  persons,  and  report  the  same  to  the  Auditor  of  State  on 
or  before  the  first  day  of  December  next. 

"And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  Auditor  of  State  be 
required  to  report  the  same  to  the  next  General  Assembly, 
within  thirty  days  from  the  commencement  of  its  session, 
to  the  end  that  the  Legislature  may  have  such  action  thereon 
as  to  it  may  appear  just  and  right. 

March  13,  1838." 

There  was  a  see-saw  in  politics  about  this  time, 
and  the  legislative  power  passed  from  the  Democratic 
to  the  Whig  party,  and  vice  versa,  with  almost  every 
election.  The  legislature  of  1839  was  Democratic 
and  nothing  came  of  this  feeble  attempt  to  do  justice. 

While  there  might  be  some  show  of  reason  in 
the  law  limiting  the  privileges  of  the  common  schools 
to  the  children  of  those  who  paid  the  taxes,  if  the 
rule  was  consistently  applied  and  all  those  whose 
parents  did  not  pay  taxes  were  excluded,  there  was 
no  basis,  except  racial  prejudice,  for  distributing 
annually  some  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  arising 
from  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  "swamp  lands"  granted 
to  the  State,  by  Act  of  Congress,  for  purposes  of 
education,  among  the  several  counties  according  to 
the  number  of  white  youth  resident  in  each  county, 
as  provided  by  Section  3,  of  the  act  of  March  7, 1838  1 1  ° 
and  for  making  the  schools  supported  by  such  public 
moneys  free  only  to  white  children,  as  provided  by 
Section  9,  of  the  same  act. 1 1 1  Such  funds  were  not 
raised,  and  such  support  to  the  schools  was  not  pro- 
vided by  white  tax  payers,  and  the  rule  for  limiting 
benefits  received  to  those  who  contributed  to  the 
fund  could  not  apply. 

A  small  band  of  so-called  "theorists,"  mostly 
from  the  Western  Reserve  in  several  successive  Legis- 
latures, pressed  home  upon  the  minds  and  consciences 
of  their  fellow  members  the  want  of  logic,  of  justice, 
of  humanity,  and  of  intelligent  regard  for  the  interest 

1 1  o  O.  L..  XXXVI,  21 ;  XLIX,  40.  '  * '  Ibid.,  25. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  63 

of  the  general  public,  involved  in  the  exclusion  of 
colored  children  from  the  common  schools  and  the 
absence  of  any  provision  for  educating  such  children. 
At  last  the  Legislature  of  1848  was  moved  to  pass 
"AN  ACT  for  the  establishment  of  Common  Schools 
for  the  children  of  black  and  mulatto  persons,"  x  1 2 
etc.  This  provided: — 

SEC.  1.  *  *  *  That  all  such  property  belonging  to 
black  or  colored  persons,  as  is  liable  to  taxation  when  owned 
by  white  persons,  and  the  taxes  thereon  assessed  be  collected 
in  the  same  manner  as  similar  taxes  are  by  the  acts  to  which 
this  is  an  amendment,  a  separate  account  of  which  shall  be 
kept  by  the  several  county  officals,  and  shall  be  paid  out  for 
the  support  of  schools  for  black  or  colored  persons  in  any 
district  in  which  such  schools  may  be  organized;  but  in  any 
such  district  in  which  the  children  of  black  or  colored  persons 
are  permitted  to  attend  the  common  schools  with  the  children 
of  white  persons,  then  such  fund  shall  be  added  to  the  com- 
mon school  fund  of  the  district  from  which  it  is  collected, 
and  paid  over  to  the  treasurer  of  said  district  on  the  order 
of  the  directors  of  said  district. 

SEC.  2.  That  every  city,  incorporated  town,  or  village,  seat 
of  justice  or  organized  township  in  this  State,  containing 
twenty  or  more  black  or  colored  children,  of  any  age,  and 
desirous  of  attending  school,  shall  constitute  a  school  district 
for  such  children;  and  it  shall  be  lawful  for  colored  persons 
residing  in  such  school  district  as  aforesaid,  to  assemble 
and  organize  said  district,  appoint  school  directors  of  their 
own  number,  to  erect  and  repair  a  suitable  school  house  of 
their  own,  to  procure  suitable  teachers,  and  in  all  respects 
for  such  purposes  only,  to  possess  the  same  powers,  and  enjoy 
the  same  benefits  that  are  possessed  and  enjoyed  by  white 
persons,  by  virtue  of  the  acts  to  which  this  is  an  amendment. 
*  *  *  * 

SEC.  5.  That  in  every  city"  [etc.]  "containing  a  less  num- 
ber than  twenty  black  or  colored  children,  desirous  of  at- 
tending school  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  school  directors  of 
any  school  district  organized  for  the  education  of  white 
children,  to  admit  said  black  or  colored  children  upon  the 
same  terms,  and  they  shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  benefits 
as  they  would  be  if  they  were  white  *  *  *  Provided  no 
yyritten  objection  be  filed  with  the  directors  signed  by  any  person 


Ibid.  XLVI,  81  to  83  incl. 


64  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

having  a  child  in  such  school,  or  by  any  legal  voter  of  such 
district. l  *  3 

SEC.  6.  *  *  *  [Where]  "the  white  inhabitants  will 
not  permit  them  to  attend  said  schools,  and  in  all  other  re- 
spects be  entitled  to  the  same  privileges,  and  governed  in 
the  same  manner  as  they  would  be  if  they  were  white,  under 
the  acts  to  which  this  is  an  amendment,  in  all  such  districts, 
no  black  or  colored  person's  property  shall  be  taxed  for  school 
purposes. 

*  *  *  * 

SEC.  9.  That  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  so  construed  as 
to  tax  the  property  of  white  persons  for  the  purpose  of 
building  school  houses  for  black  or  colored  children,  or  pur- 
chasing sites  for  such  houses,  or  for  tuition  purposes  con- 
trary to  the  wishes  of  such  tax-payers. 

SEC.  10.  *  *  *  in  no  case  shall  the  property  of  black 
or  colored  persons  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  schools  organ- 
ized to  educate  white  youth,  except  as  herein  provided." 

A  curious  specimen  of  local  option  law,  which 
put  it  in  the  power  of  one  person  in  each  school  dis- 
trict, whether  he  had  children  of  his  own  or  not,  to 
prohibit  the  education  of  colored  children  in  that 
district,  though  all  other  persons  in  such  district 
should  agree  that  they  ought  to  have  it ! 

The  next  Legislature — the  one  that  repealed  the 
"Black  Laws"  and  sent  Salmon  P.  Chase  to  the  United 
States  Senate — embodied  such  repeal  in  a  new  "Act, 
To  authorize  the  establishment  of  separate  schools 
for  the  education  of  colored  children  and  for  other 
purposes."  1 1 4 

By  the  terms  of  this  act  the  school  authorities 
of  each  incorporated  township,  city,  etc.,  were:— 

"authorized  and  required  respectively,  in  case  they  shall  not 
deem  it  expedient  to  admit  the  colored  children  resident  in 
any  such  township,  city,  town  or  village,  into  the  regular 
common  schools  therein  established,  to  create  one  or  more 
school  districts,  for  colored  persons  in  every  such  township, 
city,  town  or  village" — 

and  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  colored  tax  payers  of  said 
district  for  the  purpose  of  electing  school  directors 

1 1  s  Not  italicized  in  the  original.  » » «  O.  L.,  XLVII,  17-18. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  65 

for  such  district  who  should  exercise  the  same  powers 
in  such  district  as  were  exercised  by  white  directors 
in  other  school  districts.  Such  districts  were— 

"held  to  include  for  school  purposes  only  the  colored  persons 
resident  within  its  territorial  limits  and  from  and  after  the 
establishment  of  the  same,  the  colored  youth  resident  therein 
shall  attend  the  schools  organized  under  the  directors  of 
such  district.*' 

The  option  of  admitting  colored  children  to  the 
common  schools,  or  excluding  them,  was,  by  this  act, 
transferred  from  the  solitary  and  possibly  childless 
voter  of  a  district,  to  the  school  authorities,  who 
may  be  fairly  presumed  to  represent  the  majority  of 
the  voters  in  such  district;  but  in  other  respects  it 
was  hardly  an  improvement  on  the  colored  school 
law  of  1848.  Section  3,  of  the  Act  provided: — 

"no  property  of  any  colored  tax  payers  within  said  districts 
shall  be  charged  with  any  special  tax  for  district  purposes, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  schools  in  any  regular  district,  composed 
wholly  or  in  part  of  the  same  territory;  and  no  property  of  any 
white  person  in  any  regular  district  shall  be  charged  any 
such  tax  for  the  benefit  of  the  schools  in  any  separate  district 
composed  wholly,  or  in  part,  of  the  same  territory." 

In  other  words,  the  colored  children  could  still 
enjoy  only  such  schools  as  could  be  erected  and  main- 
tained by  levy  of  a  school  tax  on  the  property  of 
black  and  mulatto  residents  of  the  district  in  which 
they  lived.  Under  this  act,  however,  the  colored 
children  were  generally  permitted  to  attend  the  com- 
mon schools  on  the  Western  Reserve  and  in  many 
other  portions  of  the  State. 

Racial  antipathy  to  the  blacks  was  shown  in 
many  other  public  acts  and  resolutions.  For  instance, 
on  January  29,  1818,  the  Legislature  adopted  a  reso- 
lution (O.  L.  XVI,  198-9),  reciting  that,- 

"  WHERE  AS  a  number  of  the  good  people  of  this  State  have 
by  memorial  expressed  their  most  ardent  wishes  for  the 
emancipation  and  colonization  of  the  people  of  colour  of 
the  United  States:  Therefore 


66  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

Resolved  *  *  *  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be 
instructed,  and  our  representatives  be  requested,  to  use  their 
best  endeavors  to  procure  the  passage  of  a  law  which  will 
effect  the  purpose  aforesaid." 

On  January  24,  1828,  the  Legislature  (O.  L., 
XXVI,  177),- 

"  Resolved  *  *  *  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be 
instructed,  and  our  representatives  be  requested,  to  use  their 
efforts  to  induce  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  aid 
the  'American  Colonization  Society'  in  effecting  the  object 
of  their  institution  which  is  so  eminently  calculated  to  ad- 
vance the  honor  and  interest  of  our  common  country." 

On  March  23,  1849,  the  Legislature  adopted 
the  following  "JOINT  RESOLUTION,  relative  to 
the  oppressed  people  of  color  in  the  United  States 
(O.  L.  XLVII,  395-6),— 

"WHEREAS,  the  people  of  color  of  the  United  States  have 
been  oppressed  and  enslaved,  by  the  several  States,  and 
thereby  degraded,  and  believing  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
general  government  to  do  something  for  their  elevation  to 
that  position  nature's  God  designed  for  all  men,  therefore, 

Be  it  resolved  *  *  *  That  our  Senators  be  instructed, 
and  our  Representatives  in  Congress  be  requested  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  procuring  the  passage  of  a  law,  au- 
thorizing the  survey  and  appropriation  of  a  portion  of  the 
territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  for  the  benefit  of  all  free 
persons  of  color  who  may  become  actual  settlers  of  the 
same,  and  a  title  of  eighty  acres  of  land  delivered  to  each  of 
said  persons,  free  of  charge,  and  also  to  establish  schools, 
and  provide  for  them  a  government  for  protection." 

On  February  5,  1850,  the  Legislature  passed  a 
"RESOLUTION,  Instructing  our  Senators  and  Rep- 
resentatives in  Congress  in  relation  to  the  independence 
of  Liberia,  and  for  other  purposes."  (O.  L.,  XL VIII, 

714),- 

*  *  *  to  use  their  best  influence  to  induce  the  general 
government  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the  repub- 
lic of  Liberia;  that  they  also  be  requested  to  use  all  honorable 
means  to  induce  the  free  blacks  of  the  United  States  to  emigrate 
to  that  country"115 

1 J  6  The  italics  are  mine. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  67 

On  March  23,  1850,  the  Legislature  adopted  the 
following  JOINT  RESOLUTION  Relative  to  Colon- 
ization." (O.  L.  XLVIII,  713),- 

"WHEREAS,  the  settlement  of  the  African  coast  with  colo- 
nies of  civilized  colored  men,  is  the  cheapest  and  best  plan 
of  suppressing  the  African  slave  trade,  being  likewise  calcu- 
lated to  further  the  work  of  colonizing  our  people  of  color,  as 
well  as  civilizing  and  christianizing  the  African  race,  which 
plan  of  suppressing  the  slave  trade  is  true  American  policy: 
Therefore, 

Be  it  resolved,  That  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress  be,  and  they  are  hereby  requested,  in  the  name  of 
the  State  of  Ohio,  to  call  for  a  change  of  National  Policy 
on  the  subject  of  the  'African  Slave  Trade/  and  that  they 
require  a  settlement  of  the  coast  of  Africa,  with  colored  men 
from  the  United  States  and  procure  such  changes  in  our 
treaty  relations  with  other  nations  as  will  enable  us  to  trans- 
port colored  men  from  this  country  to  Africa  with  whom  to 
effect  such  a  settlement." 

Such  resolutions  cannot  be  attributed  to  personal 
hostility  to  the  blacks  or  a  desire  to  do  them  harm. 
They  were  entirely  consistent  with  a  determination 
to  suppress  the  slave  trade,  and  strong  opposition  to 
the  extension  of  slavery,  and  a  disposition  to  secure 
its  abolition  whenever  that  could  be  effected  by  moral 
suasion,  or  constitutional  laws;  but  they  indicated 
clearly  that  the  majority  of  the  people  of  Ohio  hoped 
and  desired  that  the  blacks  should  not  continue  to 
dwell  among  them. 

When  North  Carolina  first  proposed  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  empower- 
ing Congress  to  pass  a  law  to  prevent  further  importa- 
tion of  slaves  or  people  of  colour  into  the  United 
States, 1 1 6  the  Ohio  Legislature  resolved,  February 
22,  1805,  (O.  L.  III.,  471-2)  that,— 

"as  that  period  will  shortly  arrive,  when  Congress  will  possess 
the  power  to  act  as  they  may  think  proper  on  this  subject; 
and  notwithstanding  that  this  inhuman  practice  is  impolitic 
in  the  extreme,  and  altogether  repugnant  to  the  principles 

1 i  •  North  Carolina  Laws. 


68  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

on  which  our  government  is  founded,  yet,  as  it  was  a  mutual 
agreement  between  the  states  forming  the  federal  compact, 
that  Congress  should  not  possess  the  power  of  preventing 
any  of  the  states,  then  existing,  from  carrying  on  a  traffic 
of  this  kind  for  a  given  period." — 

such  proposed  amendment  was  inexpedient  at 
that  time;  but  also  resolved  that  the  senators  and 
representatives  from  Ohio  be  requested  to  use  their 
best  endeavors  to  have  a  law  passed  laying  a  tax  of  ten 
dollars  on  every  slave  imported  into  the  United  States, 
and  also  to  prohibit  their  importation  into  any  of 
the  territories  thereof.  On  December  25,  1806,  how- 
ever, the  Legislature  adopted  a  "Resolution  requesting 
our  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  to  use 
their  exertions  to  procure  the  passage  of  a  law,  pro- 
hibiting the  importation  of  slaves  into  the  United 
States  or  the  territories  thereof  *  *  *  so  soon 
as  the  constitution  will  admit  of  the  same."  x  l  7 

In  1804,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  passed  a 
resolution  instructing  their  Senators  in  Congress  to 
take  all  proper  measures  to  obtain  an  amendment 
*  so  that  representatives  may  be  appor- 
tioned among  the  several  States  according  to  the 
number  of  their  free  inhabitants  respectively,  and 
requested  the  legislatures  of  other  States — Ohio  in- 
cluded— to  take  similar  action. 

On  December  26,  1804,  the  Ohio  Legislature 
adopted  a  resolution  (O.  L.,  Ill,  466-7),  reciting, 
among  other  things: — 

"that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  some  of  its 
leading  features,  is  the  result  of  compromise  and  mutual 
balancing  of  interests  between  the  several  States,  particularly 
that  clause  which  admits  a  partial  representation  of  slaves; 
that  the  inequality  of  representation  complained  of 
does  not  exist  at  present;  and  that  to  interfere,  at  this  time, 
with  that  part  of  the  constitution  which  may  be  viewed  as 
securing  privileges  to  particular  States,  would  tend  to  excite 
State  jealousies,  destroy  that  confidence  and  good  under- 

i » » O.  L.,  V.  142 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  69 

standing  which  now  prevails,  and  endanger   the   union  of 
the  States,  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  said  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  is  inexpedient,  and  does  not  meet  the 
approbation  of  this  legislature." 

In  1815,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  pro- 
posed seven  amendments  to  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  among  them: — 

1st.  Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  appor- 
tioned among  the  several  States  which  may  be  included  within 
this  Union,  according  to  their  respective  numbers  of  free 
persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  excluding  Indians,  not  taxed,  and  all  other  persons." 

On  January  17,  1916,  the  Ohio  Legislature — 

"Resolved,  uananimously,  *  *  *  That  it  is  inconsistent 
with  good  policy  to  adopt  the  said  amendments,  and  that 
this  general  assembly  do  not  concur  therein."  1 1 8 

By  such  resolutions  of  State  legislatures  and  the 
obiter  dicta  of  judges,  in  cases  which  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  apportionment  of  taxes  or  representation 
among  the  several  States,  the  * 'three-fifths  rule" 
came  to  be  invested  with  a  peculiar  sanctity  which 
protected  it  from  amendment,  although  there  is  not  a 
word  in  the  Constitution  itself  which  exempts  it  from 
the  liability  to  amendment  which  attaches,  with  two 
exceptions,  to  every  other  provision.  Article  V,  of 
the  Constitution,  which  authorizes  amendments  and 
prescribes  the  steps  necessary  to  be  taken  to  validate 
them,  contains  this  proviso: — 

"Provided  that  no  Amendment  which  may  be  made  prior 
to  the  year  one  thousand  and  eight  hundred  and  eight  shall 
in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  Clauses  in  the  Ninth 
Section  of  the  First  Article;  and  that  no  State  without  its 
Consent  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage  in  the  Sen- 
ate."119 

On  the  familiar  principle,  expressio  unius,  ex- 
clusio  alterius,  any  amendment  to  the  first  clause  of 

ii«  O.  L.,  XIV.,  460-1.  n»  Charters  y  Constitutions,  I.,    19. 


70  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

the  ninth  section  of  the  first  article  could  be  made  at 
any  time  after  January  1,  1908.  The  wording  of 
the  entire  article  shows  that  the  Convention  knew 
how  to  make  any  provision  immune  against  amend- 
ment, either  temporarily,  or  for  all  time.  The  fact 
that  no  such  provision  was  made  with  regard  to  the 
three-fifths  rule  demonstrates  that  the  ability  to 
amend  that  rule  was  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  com- 
promise as  the  rule  itself. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Article  in  the  United 
States  Constitution  providing  for  the  reclamation 
of  fugitives  from  labor.  The  Ordinance  for  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Northwestern  Territory,  enacted  more 
than  two  months  prior  to  the  signing  of  the  Con- 
stitution by  the  delegates  from  the  several  States, 
recited  that  certain  Articles  should  "be  considered 
as  articles  of  compact,  between  the  original  States 
and  the  people  and  States  in  the  said  territory,  and 
forever  remain  unalterable  unless  by  common  consent. 1 2  ° 

Article  VI  provided:— 

"That  any  person  escaping  into  the  same,  from  whom 
labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in  any  one  of  the  original 
States,  such  fugitive  may  be  lawfully  reclaimed  and  conveyed 
to  the  persons  claiming  his  or  her  labor  as  aforesaid."  1 2 

It  was  contended  by  persons,  who  wished  to  in- 
troduce slaves  into  the  Indiana  Territory  after  Ohio 
had  become  a  State  of  the  Union,  that  this  Ordinance, 
being  merely  a  Congressional  enactment,  could  be 
altered,  amended  or  repealed  by  any  subsequent  Con- 
gress, and  therefore  that  the  recital  that  it  should 
"forever  remain  unalterable  unless  by  common  con- 
sent" was  a  brutum  fulmen.  In  December,  1805,  a 
petition  was  presented  to  Congress  praying  for  a 
suspension  of  the  first  part  of  Article  VI,  "There 
shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  the  said  territory"  etc.,  and  on  February  14,  1806, 

*  2  o  Charters  &  Constitutions,  I.,  431.  1  * *  Ibid.,  432. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  71 

the  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
whom  the  petition  was  referred,  reported  in  favor  of 
granting  it.  No  action  having  been  taken  by  that 
Congress,  William  Henry  Harrison,  Governor  of  the 
Territory,  transmitted  certain  resolutions  which  he 
said  had  been  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Territorial 
Council  and  House  of  Representatives,  in  favor  of 
suspending  the  obnoxious  anti-slavery  clause.  This 
communication  was  laid  before  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives by  the  Speaker,  January  20,  1807.  A 
committee  of  the  House,  to  whom  they  were  referred, 
again  reported  favorably  and  the  House  passed  a 
bill  suspending  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  but  it 
failed  in  the  Senate.  It  seemed  that  no  one  in  the 
Northwestern  Territory,  or  in  Congress,  regarded 
Article  VI  as  "forever  unalterable;"  and,  if  the  first 
clause  could  be  suspended,  or  set  aside,  by  a  mere 
Act  of  Congress  and  the  consent  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature,  the  proviso  relating  to  the  reclamation 
of  fugitives  from  labor  could  also  be  suspended  or 
set  aside.  Anti-slavery  men  in  Ohio  could  well  afford 
to  accept  the  reasoning  and  conclusions  of  the  pro- 
slavery  men,  but  for  one  stubborn  fact.  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  had  been  adopted 
after  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  and  had  become  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land.  This  Constitution  con- 
tained a  provision  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitives 
from  labor;  it  did  not  contain  a  prohibition  of  slavery 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Northwestern  Territory, 
or  any  of  the  States  organized  therein. 

The   Constitution   of    Ohio,    adopted   November 
29,    1802,   provided  :- 

"ARTICLE  VII 

"SEC.  5.  *  *  *  But  no  alteration  of  this  constitution 
shall  take  place,  so  as  to  introduce  slavery  or  involuntary 
servitude  into  this  State."122 

1 2  2  Ohio  Laws,  I.     Appendix,  p.  16. 


72  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

"ARTICLE  VII. 

"SEC.  2.  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  in  this  State,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment 
of  crimes."  etc.123 

The  act  of  Congress,  known  as  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  passed  February  12,  1793,  was  accepted 
as  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land  and  reprinted  in  at 
least  five  volumes  of  Ohio  Laws  between  1804  and 
1831%>as  before  stated.124  The  so-called  "Black 
Laws"  of  Ohio  were  intended  to  conform  to  it,  so  far 
as  they  relate  to  the  reclamation  of  run-away  slaves. 
There  seems  to  have  been  little  difficulty  at  first  in 
the  enforcement  of  either;  perhaps,  because  there 
was  little  occasion  for  such  enforcement  until  the 
increase  in  the  value  of  slaves  and  the  steady  demand 
for  them  "down  the  river."  This  condition  of  things 
resulted  in  more  escapes  from  Kentucky  into  Ohio, 
more  energetic  pursuit,  more  attempts,  by  force  or 
fraud,  to  carry  off  free  negroes,  and  more  collisions 
between  slave  catchers  and  white  sympathizers  with 
the  persecuted  blacks,  whether  fugitives  or  freemen. 

Kentucky,  probably,  lost  more  slaves  by  flight 
than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  because  of  its 
extensive  northern  frontier. 

In  1817,  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  adopted 
resolutions  complaining  of  the  States  north  of  the 
Ohio  river  for  not  passing  and  enforcing  laws  for  the 
more  effectual  reclamation  of  "fugitives  from  labor." 
To  a  letter  of  the  Kentucky  Executive  transmitting 
a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to  be  laid  before  the  Legis- 
lature of  Ohio,  Governor  Thomas  Worthington  re- 
plied, October  23,  1817:- 

"I  can  assure  you,  Sir,  that  so  far  as  I  am  informed  there  is 
neither  a  defect  in  the  laws  nor  want  of  energy  on  the  part  of 
those  who  execute  them.  That  a  universal  prejudice  against 
the  principles  of  slavery  does  exist  and  is  cherished,  is 
to  be  expected,  and  that  a  desire  as  universal  to  get  rid  of 


1  *  •  Ibid.,  p.  22.  i  * *  Supra,  p.  46. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  73 

every  species  of  negro  population  exists,  is,  in  my  opinion, 
as  certain.  The  fugitive  act  is  fully  executed.  You  know, 
Sir,  that  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  cannot  be  denied,  and 
that  it  too  often  happens  that  the  proofs  of  the  right  of 
property  are  defective.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
judge  must  act  according  to  the  facts."  * 2  5 

On  the  other  hand,  Ohio  had  complaints  to  make 
of  the  operations  of  slave-catchers  in  her  borders, 
and,  on  January  25,  1819,  the  General  Assembly 
passed  "AN  ACT  to  punish  Kidnapping"  1 2  6  directed 
at  the  lawless  operations  of  these  gentry.  The  pre- 
amble refers  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1793,  and 
proceeds:— 

"Whereas,  It  has  been  represented  to  this  general  assembly, 
that  upon  pretence  of  seizing  fugitives  from  service,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  before  recited  act,  unprincipled  persons 
have  kidnapped  free  persons  of  colour  within  this  State, 
and  sell  them  into  slavery;  and  whereas  it  is  necessary  and 
proper  to  put  a  stop  to  this  nefarious  and  inhuman  practice: 
Therefore, 

SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  *  *  *,  That  if  any  person,  or 
persons,  under  any  pretence  whatsoever,  shall  by  violence, 
fraud  or  deception,  seize  upon  any  free  black  or  mulatto 
person,  within  this  state,  and  keep  or  detain  such  free  black 
or  mulatto  person  in  any  kind  of  restraint  or  confinement, 
with  intent  to  transport  such  free  black  or  mulatto  person 
out  of  this  State,  contrary  to  law,  or  shall  in  any  manner  at- 
tempt to  carry  out  of  the  state  any  black  or  mulatto  person, 
without  having  first  taken  such  black  or  mulatto  person 
before  some  judge  of  the  circuit  or  district  court,  or  justice 
of  the  peace,  in  the  county  wherein  such  black  or  mulatto 
person  was  taken,  agreeable  to  the  provisions  of  the  above 
recited  act  of  congress,  and  then  prove  his  right  to  such 
black  or  mulatto  person,  every  such  person  so  offending, 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor;  and  on  convic- 
tion thereof  before  any  court  having  competent  authority 
to  try  the  same,  shall  be  confined  in  the  penitentiary  of 
this  state  at  hard  labour,  for  any  space  of  time  not  less  than 
one  nor  more  than  ten  years,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court." 


**•  Mss.  quoted  in  William  Henry  Smith,  Political  History  of  Slavery,  I.,  21. 
i 2  •  Ohio  Laws,  XVII.,  56  to  58  incl. 


74 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 


This  act  was  reenacted  and  reprinted  in  1824  1 2  7 
and  1831.  128 

The  more  numerous,  and  the  more  valuable,  the 
"fugitives"  became,  the  more  profitable  the  chase, 
and  slave  catchers  became  more  and  more  reckless 
as  to  whom  they  seized  and  how  they  carried  them 
off.  They  naturally  preferred  to  avoid  the  delay 
and  expense  of  appearing  before  Judges  and  justices 
with  their  prey  and  proving  ownership  in  themselves, 
or  their  employers.  They  were  very  willing  to  act 
on  the  principle,  "When  in  doubt  take  the  trick." 
If  they  could  get  out  of  the  State  with  a  colored  man, 
it  would  be  easy  to  find  or  improvise  an  owner  for 
him,  even  if  he  had  never  seen  his  "property"  before. 

The  extremes  to  which  man  stealers  were  willing 
to  go  in  making  gain  out  of  the  sale  of  human  flesh 
is  indicated  in  "AN  ACT,  To  prevent  the  Forcible 
Abduction  of  the  Citizens  of  Ohio,"  passed  June  19th, 
1835,  which  provided:— 

"That  any  person  or  persons,  who  shall  kidnap,  or  forcibly 
or  fraudulently  carry  off,  or  decoy  out  of  this  State,  any  white 
person,  or  persons,  with  an  intention  of  having  such  person 
or  persons  carried  out  of  the  State,  unless  it  be  in  pursuance 
of  the  laws  thereof;  and  shall  be  thereof  duly  convicted 

*  *  *  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
shall  be  confined  in  the  Penitentiary  at  hard  labor,  for  any 
space  of  time  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  seven  years, 
at  the  discretion  of  the  Court;  and  shall,  moreover,  be  liable 
for  the  costs  of  prosecution." 

On  March  9,  1838,  the  Legislature  passed  the 
following  "PREAMBLE  AND  RESOLUTION:—130 

"Whereas,  It  is  represented  to  this  General  Assembly 
that  Eliza  Jane  Johnson,  a  free  woman  of  color,  was  lately 
carried  by  force,  and  without  legal  authority,  from  her 
home  in  Brown  county,  Ohio,  into  Mason  county,  Kentucky, 
on  the  pretence  of  being  a  slave  of  Arthur  Fox,  of  said  county 
of  Mason,  and  though  the  said  Arthur  Fox  disclaims  any 


12  7  o.  L.,  XXII.,  338. 
i»»O.L.,  XXXIII.  5. 


.L.,  XXIX..  442. 
.  L..  XXXVI,  410-11. 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  75 

title  to  said  Eliza,  she  is  still  detained  in  confinement  in  the 
jail  of  said  county:  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  his  Excellency  the  Governor  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  requested  to  open  a  correspondence  with  the  Gover- 
nor of  Kentucky,  in  relation  to  the  illegal  seizure  and  forcible 
removal  of  said  Eliza  Jane  Johnson,  from  Brown  county, 
Ohio,  to  Mason  county,  Kentucky,  where  she  is  detained 
in  prison,  and  that  he  respectfully  insist  on  the  restoration 
of  said  Eliza  Jane  Johnson  to  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  and 
friends." 

The  complaints  of  the  Kentucky  legislature  de- 
rived some  support  from  the  fact,  revealed  by  the 
United  States  Census  Reports,  that  in  1810  there  were 
but  1,899  blacks  in  Ohio;  that  in  1820  there  were 
4,723;  in  1830,  9,568;  in  1840,  17,342,  and  in  1850, 
25,279.  Of  the  latter  more  than  half  were  born 
outside  of  the  State.  We  must  attribute  much  of 
the  gain  in  the  black  population  to  immigration 
from  slave  States.  Still,  it  would  be  far  from  just 
to  say  any  large  proportion  of  those  who  remained 
in  the  State  were  "fugitives  from  labor."  Many, 
like  the  Langston  brothers,  were  manumitted  by 
their  masters.  Statistics  are  not  available  to  show 
how  many  passed  through  the  State  on  the  "under- 
ground railroad,"  bound  for  Canada. 

On  February  26,  1839,  the  Legislature  passed 
a  very  elaborate  "ACT  Relating  to  Fugitives  from 
labor  or  service  from  other  States."  1 3 1  The  pre- 
amble recited  among  other  things  that:— 

"the  laws  now  in  force  within  the  State  of  Ohio  are  wholly 
inadequate  to  the  protection  pledged  by  this  provision  of 
the  constitution  to  the  southern  States  of  this  Union;" 

As  the  Act  of  Congress  of  February  12,  1793, 
was  a  law  in  force,  within  the  State  and  so  recog- 
nized, the  criticism  extends  to  that  also;  but  it  was 
for  Congress — not  the  Legislature  of  Ohio — to  make 
good  the  deficiencies  of  that  law.  * 3  2  The  Ohio  law 
prescribed  the  mode  of  procedure  to  be  followed  by 


i » i  O.  L.,  XXXVII,  38  to  43  incl.  » « »  Prigg  v.  Pennsylvaniea,  16  Pet.  539 


76  OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851 

the  claimant  of  any  alleged  fugitive,  and  contained 
provisions  tending  to  protect  colored  people  from 
being  spirited  away  by  false  claimants,  without  a 
hearing.  For  instance,  the  claimant  was  required 
to  take  the  alleged  fugitive  "before  some  judge  of  a 
court  of  record  in  this  State  residing  in  the  county  in 
which  such  arrest  is  made"  and  "no  such  arrest  shall 
be  made  by  any  sheriff  or  constable  of  this  State  without 
the  limits  of  his  own  proper  county"  No  certificate 
of  ownership  "shall  be  deemed  a  sufficient  authority 
for  the  removal  of  such  fugitive  *  *  *  unless 
the  official  character  of  the  officer  giving  the  same 
be  duly  authenticated,"  by  his  hand  and  official  seal. 
//  the  person  so  arrested  and  brought  before  the  judge 
should  file  an  affidavit  that  he  does  not  owe  labor  or 
service  to  the  claimant  and  that  he  believes  he  will  be 
able  to  produce  evidence  to  that  effect,  the  judge  was  to 
give  him  time,  not  exceeding  sixty  days,  within  which 
to  produce  such  evidence  and  meanwhile  he  would  be 
committed  to  the  county  jail,  there  to  be  kept  at  the 
expense  of  the  claimant,  unless  he  could  give  bond 
in  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  with  sufficient 
sureties,  to  be  approved  by  the  judge  conditioned 
on  his  appearance  at  the  time  and  place  appointed 
for  the  trial  and  that  he  would  abide  by  the  decision 
of  the  judge  who  should  try  the  case. 

The  following  provisions  are  of  interest:— 

"SEC.  9.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  officers  proceeding 
under  this  act  to  recognize,  without  proof,  the  existence  of 
slavery,  or  involuntary  servitude  in  the  several  states  of 
this  Union  in  which  the  same  may  exist  or  be  recognized  by 
law." 

"SEC.  11.  If  any  person  or  persons  shall  in  any  manner 
attempt  to  carry  out  of  this  State,  or  knowingly  be  aiding 
in  carrying  out  of  this  State,  any  person,  without  first  ob- 
taining sufficient  legal  authority  for  so  doing,  according  to 
the  laws  of  this  State  or  of  the  United  States,  every  person 
so  offending  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and 
upon  conviction  thereof  shall  be  imprisoned  in  the  peniten- 
tiary and  kept  at  hard  labor,  not  less  than  three  nor  more 
than  seven  years." 


OHIO  FROM  1802  TO  1851  77 

All  of  the  provisions  noted  were  reasonable  and 
not  in  contravention  of  the  rights  of  a  real  owner  to 
reclaim  a  run-away  slave  really  belonging  to  him; 
but,  January  19,  1843,  this  last  act  was  repealed 
and  the  second  section  of  "AN  ACT  to  prevent  kid- 
napping," passed  February  15,  1831,  was  revived. 133 
This  action  was  brought  about  by  the  decision  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  in  Prigg  v.  Pennsyl- 
vania, at  the  January  ^term,  1842, 1 3  4  holding  that— 

"The  clause  relating  to  fugitive  slaves  is  found  in  the 
national  constitution,  and  not  in  that  of  any  State.  *  *  * 
The  natural,  if  not  the  necessary,  conclusion  is,  that  the 
national  government  in  the  absence  of  all  positive  provisions 
to  the  contrary,  is  bound,  through  its  own  proper  depart- 
ments, legislative,  executive,  or  judiciary  as  the  case  may  re- 
quire, to  carry  into  effect  all  the  rights  and  duties  imposed 
upon  it  by  the  Constitution. 

*  *  *  * 

It  would  seem,  upon  just  principles  of  construction,  that 
the  legislation  of  Congress,  if  constitutional,  must  supersede 
all  State  legislation  upon  the  same  subject;  and  by  necessary 
implication  prohibit  it;  *  *  *  it  cannot  be  that  the 
State  legislatures  have  a  right  to  interfere."  1 3  5 

This  decision  was  hailed  as  a  welcome  relief, 
on  the  part  of  the  Ohio  Legislature,  Courts  and  Execu- 
tive, from  all  responsibility  for  the  return  of  fugitive 
slaves  and,  thenceforth,  no  effort  was  put  forth  by 
either  to  assist  claimants  in  recovering  their  alleged 
"property."  What  was  done  in  that  line,  from  1843 
to  1850,  was  done  through  United  States  courts  and 
officials.  The  acts  respecting  kidnapping  remained 
in  force. 


133  O.  L.,  XLI,  p.  13. 

n*  16  Peters,  529  to  674  incl.  »«•  Ibid.,  541. 


78  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  AND  THE  FUGITIVE 
SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850. 

In  the  Convention  which  framed  the  original 
Constitution  of  Ohio,  two  delegates  were  seated 
from  Trumbull  County,  which  was  then  co-extensive 
with  the  Western  Reserve.  This  representation  was 
based  on  an  estimate  that  the  population  of  the 
Reserve  was  about  one  eighteenth  of  the  whole. 
From  1802  to  1850  the  settlement  of  the  Reserve 
proceeded  more  rapidly  than  that  of  most  other  por- 
tions of  the  State,  and  its  representation  in  the  State 
Legislature  increased  from  one-eighteenth  in  1802 
to  one-tenth  in  1820,  two-seventeenths  in  1830, 
two-thirteenths  in  1840,  and  about  one-sixth  in  1850. 
The  settlers,  up  to  this  time,  were  almost  wholly  of 
New  England  stock,  even  when  their  last  point  of 
departure  was  in  New  York  or  Pennsylvania.  It 
was  an  enterprising,  virile,  intelligent  and  homo- 
geneous community  of  farmers  with  just  enough 
millers,  manufacturers,  merchants  and  professional 
men  to  supply  the  local  demand.  The  local  laws  of 
Ohio  show  the  incorporation  on  the  Reserve  of  schools, 
academies,  institutes,  colleges,  libraries,  literary 
societies,  lyceums,  etc.,  in  proportion  to  population, 
far  in  excess  of  that  shown  by  any  other  portion  of 
the  State.  The  colonists  intended  that  their  children 
should  have  the  benefits  of  a  liberal  education.  The 
parents  themselves  were  generally  readers  of  the 
county  newspapers,  and  of  weekly  or  semi-weekly 
papers  1 3  6  published  in  New  York  or  Boston.  The 
editors  and  professional  men  were  readers  of  the 
Federalist  and  the  Madison  Papers..  The  Constitution 
was  the  subject  of  constant  study  and  individual 
interpretation. 

One  or  more  weekly  papers  were  published  at 

i3«  The  Independent  and  the  Semi-weekly  Tribune  (Commonly  pronounced 
Try-bune)  had  a  wide  circulation;  but  the  latter  lost  favor  in  1858  to  1860  when 
it  advocated  support  of  Douglas  by  the  Republican  party. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  79 

every  county  seat.  The  editors  were  generally  well 
educated  and  took  an  active  part  in  local  politics, 
serving  on  State  and  county  executive  committees, 
attending  political  conventions,  and  often  being  sent 
to  represent  their  respective  districts  in  the  Legis- 
lature. The  typography  and  general  appearance  of 
their  weekly  issues  might  successfully  challenge  com- 
parison with  any  similar  publications  of  the  present 
day.  The  editorials  were  generally  well  thought 
out  and  well  expressed,  and  the  selection  and  arrange- 
ment of  reading  matter  was  calculated  to  interest 
and  inform  the  readers  about  all  political,  religious 
and  social  topics  of  the  day.  It  would  be  hard  to  find 
any  superiors  to  the  Western  Reserve  Chronicle, 
published  at  Warren;  the  Portage  Democrat,  pub- 
lished at  Ravenna;  the  Mahoning  Register,  published 
at  Canfield  and  Youngstown,  the  Ash  tabula  Sentinel, 
published  at  Jefferson,  the  Summit  County  Beacon, 
of  Akron,  and  the  Painesville  Telegraph. 

One  peculiarity  of  the  population  of  the  Reserve 
down  to  1850  was  that  it  contained  almost  no  persons 
of  foreign  birth,  until  the  building  of  railroads  and 
opening  of  mines  brought  in  numbers  of  Irishmen 
and  Welshmen.  In  1850,  Cleveland  had  only  17,034 
inhabitants  and  nearly  all  were  native  born.  Very  few 
blacks  were  found  on  the  Reserve  prior  to  1850.  The 
following  table  shows  the  number  of  such  people  found 
in  the  respective  counties  at  five  successive  censuses : — 

County                               1820  1830  1840  1850  1860 

Ashtabula 4  11  17  43  25 

Cuyahoga 54  21  121  359  894 

Erie not  organized  97  202  149 

Geauga 6  21  3  7  7 

Huron 7  7  106  39  79 

Lake not  organized  21  38  36 

Lorain not  organized  3  62  264  549 

Mahoning not  organized  90  61 

Medina 14  12  13  35  38 

Portage 32  66  39  58  76 

Summit not  organized  42  121  88 

Trumbull..                              50  43  70  65  80 


Totals 167  184  591         1,321        2,082 


80  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

The  rapid  increase  of  the  black  population  in 
Cuyahoga  and  Erie  between  1840  and  1850  was  due 
to  the  growth  of  the  cities  of  Cleveland  and  Sandusky 
and  the  opportunities  for  employment  about  the 
docks,  railroad  terminals,  hotels  and  barber  shops. 
The  increase  in  Lorain  County  was  due  chiefly  to 
the  opportunities  for  obtaining  an  education,  which 
were  given  to  the  blacks  on  the  same  terms  as  to  the 
whites,  at  Oberlin.  The  increase  from  1850  to  1860 
was  mostly  confined  to  Cuyahoga  and  Lorain  coun- 
ties, and,  in  five  of  the  twelve  counties,  there  was  a 
decline  in  the  negro  population. 

The  interest  of  the  politicians  in  such  counties 
as  Ashtabula,  Geauga,  Medina  and  Portage  in  all 
questions  concerning  the  welfare  of  the  black  race 
seems  to  have  been  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  numbers  of 
such  race  found  in  their  respective  counties. 

The  blacks  were  not  numerous  enough  in  any 
Western  Reserve  community  to  excite  racial  hos- 
tility. Attempts  to  awaken  fears  that  their  sons  or 
daughters  might  marry  negroes — so  potent  elsewhere 
—only  provoked  laughter  on  the  Reserve.  Abstract 
theories  of  right  and  wrong  were  not  distorted  by 
self  interest.  To  the  student  and  philosopher  this 
was  an  advantage;  but  to  the  politician,  in  search 
of  a  sure  foundation  on  which  to  build,  it  was  a  dis- 
advantage. Selfish  interest  exerts  an  influence  over 
political  and  legislative  action,  far  more  persistent 
and  powerful  than  any  abstract  idea.  The  success 
of  slave  owners  in  the  South  and  of  protectionists 
in  the  North,  in  controlling  Congressional  legislation 
and  executive  action  for  three  quarters  of  a  century, 
is  a  striking  demonstration  of  this  theorem.  Down 
to  1826,  people  of  the  Western  Reserve  generally 
voted  the  Democratic  State  ticket,  because  there 
was  no  other.  The  Independent  Democrat,  of  Elyria, 
the  Portage  Democrat,  of  Ravenna,  the  Jeffersonian 
Democrat,  of  Chardon,  and  many  other  "Weekly 
Democrats"  were  projected  when  almost  all  men 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  81 

were  content  to  be  called  Democrats;  and  the  pro- 
prietors saw  no  reason  for  changing  the  names  of  the 
papers  and  losing  their  good-will,  when  they  ceased 
to  adhere  to  that  party. 

The  people  of  the  Western  Reserve  turned  toward 
the  Whig  party,  as  they  saw  the  Democratic  party 
come  more  and  more  under  the  control  of  the  slave 
power.  They  did  not  propose  to  interfere  with  slavery 
in  any  of  the  States  where  it  was  established,  but 
they  were  opposed  to  its  extension  to  any  other  States 
or  Territories,  and  they  intended  to  abolish  it  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  as  soon  as  they  had  the  power 
to  do  so.  Their  votes  decided  the  State  elections 
in  favor  of  the  Whigs  in  1826,  1828,  1830  and  1836. 
In  November,  1838,  Henry  Clay  wrote: — 

"In  Ohio,  the  Abolitionists  are  alleged  to  have  gone  agains  t 
us  [the  Whigs]  almost  to  a  man."  "The  introduction  of  this 
new  element  of  abolition  into  our  elections  cannot  fail  to 
excite  with  all  reflecting  men  the  deepest  solicitude." 1 3  7 

They  helped  elect  Corwin,  Whig  candidate  for 
Governor,  and  Harrison,  Whig  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent, in  1840,  but  their  apathy  enabled  the  Demo- 
crats to  win  the  State  election  in  1842.  Ohio  gave 
Clay,  Whig  candidate  for  President,  a  plurality  of 
5,940  in  1844;  but  8,050  votes  were  cast  for  James 
G.  Birney,  the  candidate  of  the  Liberty  party. 

Our  two  party  system  has  its  advantages;  but 
an  element  in  both  parties  was  becoming  greatly 
dissatisfied  with  the  dominating  element.  There 
were  "Free  Democrats"  and  "Independent  Demo- 
crats" in  the  one,  and  "Progressive  Whigs"  and  "Free 
Soilers"  in  the  other — all  opposed  to  the  extension 
of  slavery  to  new  territory,  to  the  annexation  of  the 
slave  State  Texas,  to  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  to 
every  effort  of  the  slave  owners  to  extend  and  national- 
ize their  "peculiar  institution."  There  was  little  to 
be  gained  by  changing  from  one  party  to  another, 


i » »  Schurz,  Henry  Clay,  II.,  163. 


82  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

and  effective  protests  against  the  aggressions  of  the 
slave  power  could  only  be  registered  by  throwing 
away  votes.  Henry  Clay,  personally  very  popular 
with  the  masses,  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  trying 
to  hold  the  pro-slavery  Whigs  of  the  South  in  line, 
by  a  series  of  so-called  "Alabama  Letters"  in  which 
he  announced  that  he  should  not  object  to  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas,  provided,  etc.  It  is  not  likely  that  he 
gained  a  single  electoral  vote  in  the  South  by  his 
qualified  acquiescence  in  annexation  and  it  is  certain 
that  he  alienated  large  numbers  of  the  anti-slavery 
Whigs  of  the  North  who  either  did  not  vote  at  all, 
or  voted  for  Birney. 

One  of  the  popular  campaign  songs,  sung  by  the 
"Hutchinson  Family,"  at  many  political  meetings 
on  the  Reserve,  had  this  refrain; 

"Clear  the  track  for  Emancipation! 
Cars  cannot  run  on  a  Clay  Foundation." 

The  65,608  votes  cast  for  James  G.  Birney  would, 
if  cast  for  Henry  Clay,  have  given  him  a  popular 
majority  of  27,433,  and  an  electoral  vote  of  146  to  129. 
Birney  received  15,812  votes  in  New  York  State, 
one-third  of  which,  if  cast  for  Clay,  would  have  given 
him  the  36  electoral  votes  of  that  State  and  made 
him  President. 1 3  8 

Birney's  vote  was  an  evidence  of  sheer  despera- 
tion on  the  part  of  anti-slavery  men  and  a  warning 
signal  that  should  have  been  heeded  by  those  who 
were  running  the  Whig  party. 

The  attitude  of  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Ohio, 
at  this  time,  is  shown  by  the  election  of  Thomas 
Corwin,  an  eloquent  and  outspoken  opponent  of 
Texas  Annexation  and  the  Mexican  War  of  Conquest, 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  by  the  "PREAMBLE 
AND  RESOLUTION  Relative  to  the  annexation  of 
Texas,"  adopted  by  the  Legislature,  January  17,  1845, 
in  which  the  following  langauge  was  used: — 

> » 8  McKee,  National  Conventions  13  Platforms,  56  and  57. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  83 

"We  do  solemnly  and  earnestly  protest  against  any  pro- 
ceeding of  the  government  of  the  United  States  or  any 
branch  or  department  thereof,  having  for  its  object  the  an- 
nexation of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  *  *  *  fourth, 
because  it  would  involve  us  in  the  guilt,  and  subject 
our  country  to  the  reproach  of  cherishing,  sustaining  and 
perpetuating  the  evils  of  slavery — fifth,  because  an  union 
between  the  United  States  and  Texas,  with  the  guaranty,  or 
understanding,  that  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  territory 
of  Texas  shall  be  formed  into  a  state  or  states  where  slavery 
shall  be  permitted  to  exist,  and  where  slaves  shall  be  counted 
in  determining  the  relative  weight  of  such  states  in  the 
Federal  Union,  would  still  farther  extend  the  undue  ad- 
vantage which  the  citizens  of  the  slaveholding  states  have 
over  those  of  the  states  in  which  slavery  is  not  permitted."  1 3  9 

On  February  8,  1847,  the  Legislature  adopted 
Joint  Resolutions  demanding  that  Slavery  be  excluded 
from  Oregon  Territory  and  any  other  territory  which 
may  hereafter  be  annexed  to  the  United  States. 1 4  ° 

On  February  24,  1848,  the  Legislature  adopted 
"RESOLUTIONS  Relative  to  the  acquisition  and 
control  of  foreign  territory  by  the  United  States," 
in  which  the  following  language  was  used: — 

"Resolved  *  *  *  That  whatever  difference  of  opinion 
may  exist  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  prohibit  the  forma- 
tion of  slave  States  out  of  the  territory  belonging  to  the 
federal  government,  and  entitled  to  admission  to  the  Union, 
there  cannot  be  any  rational  ground  for  such  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  territory  that  may  be  hereafter  obtained  by 
conquest  or  by  purchase"  and — 

"Resolved,  That  the  present  war  with  Mexico  was  neither 
sought  nor  advised  by  the  State  of  Ohio.  *  *  *  her  citi- 
zens have  been  with  the  national  flag,  and  have  attested 
their  devotion  to  it  on  many  fields  and  through  divers  perils 
*  *  *  She  hereby  protests  by  every  drop  of  blood  that 
has  been  spilt  by  her  citizens,  by  every  flag  that  has  been 
enrolled  from  her  borders,  by  the  spirit  of  her  sisterhood 
with  the  American  States,  that  any  territory  acquired  either 
by  purchase  or  by  conquest,  as  the  result  of  this  war,  shall  be 
national  territory;  and  the  State  of  Ohio  must  be  heard,  and 
will  have  a  share  in  determining  the  character  of  the  institu- 
tions by  which  such  territory  shall  be  governed." 1 4 1 


i » •  O.  L..  XLIII,  437.         i  *  o  0.  L.,  XLV,  214.         i  «i  O.  L.,  XLVI,  300. 


84  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

On  February  22,  1848,  a  Whig  legislature  en- 
dorsed the  course  of  Senator  Thomas  Cor  win  in 
opposing  the  Mexican  War,  and  resolved,  among 
other  things: — 

"That  the  State  of  Ohio  repudiates,  as  a  libel  upon  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  the  degrading  and  pernicious 
dogma,  which  asserts,  that  when  the  nation  is  once  involved 
in  a  war  with  a  foreign  country,  no  matter  by  what  means  or 
for  that  ends,  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the  president  to  de- 
termine the  purpose  for  which  it  shall  thenceforth  be  carried 
on,  and  the  measure  of  its  duration. 

That  congress  does  possess  and  may  exercise  the  right  to 
interfere  with  this  kingly  attribute,  when  asserted  or  claimed 
by  the  president;  and  that  it  can  never  be  the  duty  of  the 
representatives  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  tamely  and 
submissively  to  bow  to  the  dictates  of  executive  will,  and 
humbly  to  subserve  its  behests,  by  transcribing  into  the 
form  of  legal  enactment  the  imperious  requisitions  of  the 
President  for  supplies  of  money  and  of  men."  1 4  2 

On  February  25,  1848,  the  Legislature  adopted 
a  "RESOLUTION  Declaring  that  so  much  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  as  relates  to  slavery,  should  be 
extended  to  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico."  1 4  3 

On  March  24,  1849,  the  Legislature  adopted  a 
JOINT  RESOLUTION  Relative  to  Slavery  and  the 
Slave  Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  instructing 
"our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  : 
to  use  all  constitutional  means  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia."  1 4  4 

It  was  this  Legislature  which  was  forced,  by  a 
few  Western  Reserve  men,  to  elect  Salmon  P.  Chase 
as  United  States  Senator  by  the  Democratic  party, 
although  he  was  not  the  choice  of  that  party  and  had 
really  acted  with  the  Liberty  Party  in  1843  and  1844. 1 4  5 
The  Western  Reserve  men  were  again  potent  in  elect- 

i « '  O.  L.,  XLVI.,  299.         i  *  3  ibid.,  314.         i « «  O.  L.,  XLVII,  396. 

» * » At  a  memorial  meeting  held  by  the  Cincinnati  Bar,  after  the  death  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  Judge  H.  C.  Whitman  said  among  other  things:  "Standing  as  Mr. 
Chase  there  did,  as  the  representative  of  thirteen  delegates  of  a  small  portion  of 
the  State,  representing  as  he  did  neither  the  Democracy  nor  the  Whigs,  neither 
party  liking  him,  if  it  had  not  been  for  his  manly  course  from  beginning  to  end 

*     *     he  never  would  have  been  elected."     Warden,  Chase,  324. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  85 

ing  Benjamin  F.  Wade  as  United  States  Senator, 
in  1851,  to  succeed  Thomas  Corwin,  who  had  not 
measured  up  to  their  expectations. 

These  extraordinary  achievements  of  a  resolute 
minority  of  Ohio  voters  presaged  a  disintegration 
of  one  or  both  of  the  old  parties  and  the  formation  of 
a  third  party  which  should  be  stronger  than  either. 
The  process,  which  might  otherwise  have  proved 
gradual  was  hastened  by  the  so-called  "Compromise 
Measures"  carried  through  Congress  in  1850  by  the 
combined  action  of  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster, 
the  two  great  leaders  of  the  Whig  party. 

The  Democratic  party  had  succeeded  in  their 
program  of  annexing  Texas;  of  wresting  from  Mexico 
an  immense  tract  of  land  between  the  Nueces  River 
and  the  Rio  Grande,  which  the  Texans  claimed  but 
had  never  organized  or  occupied;  of  defeating  Mexico 
in  the  war  which  ensued;  and  of  acquiring  from  Mexico, 
by  forced  treaty,  additional  territory  out  of  which 
have  since  been  formed  the  six  great  States  of  Cali- 
fornia, Nevada,  Utah,  Colorado,  Arizona  and  New 
Mexico,  and  all  of  which  had  been  free  from  slavery 
under  the  laws  of  Mexico. 

The  avowed  purpose  of  the  administration  in 
prosecuting  annexation  and  war  on  Mexico  was  to 
acquire  additional  territory  to  be  carved  into  slave 
States  and  secure  to  the  slave  power  full  control  of 
the  United  States  Senate  with  at  least  an  even  chance 
of  controlling  the  House  of  Representatives.  Texas 
was  to  be  carved  into  four  States  and  the  rest  divided 
as  circumstances  might  require. 

This  program  was  not  at  all  to  the  liking  of  a 
majority  of  the  Northern  people,  and  every  step 
was  taken  contrary  to  resolutions  of  protest  in  North- 
ern State  legislatures  and  in  spite  of  the  determined 
opposition  of  northern  members  of  Congress — chiefly 
Whigs.  The  Whigs  had  elected  General  Zachary 
Taylor  their  candidate  for  President  in  1848  by  a 
plurality  of  139,557  in  the  popular  vote  and  a  majority 


86  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

of  36  1 4  6  electoral  votes  over  Lewis  Cass,  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate.  The  Whigs  adopted  no  nationa 
platform,  relying  on  the  popularity  of  their  candidate 
and  the  unpopularity  of  the  measures  set  forth  in 
the  Democratic  platform.  They  succeeded  this  time, 
but  it  was  their  last  victory  in  national  politics.  The 
American  voter  with  firm  convictions,  does  not  long 
remain  attached  to  a  party  which  has  no  principles 
which  it  dares  avow.  The  "Free  Soil"  party  nom- 
inated Martin  Van  Buren  on  a  platform  boldly  de- 
claring:— "a  common  resolve  to  maintain  the  rights 
of  free  labor  against  the  aggression  of  the  slave  power, 
and  to  secure  free  soil  to  a  free  people;"  that  the  old 
parties  had  stifled  the  will  of  a  great  constituency 
and,  "under  the  slave  holding  dictation,"  nominated 
"candidates  neither  of  whom  can  be  supported  by 
the  opponents  of  slavery  extension  without  a  sacrifice 
of  consistency,  duty  and  self-respect;"  that  "the 
entire  history  of  that  period,"  preceding  and  follow- 
ing the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  "clearly  shows 
that  it  was  the  settled  policy  of  the  nation  not  to 
extend,  nationalize,  or  encourage,  but  to  limit,  localize 
and  discourage  slavery;  and  to  this  policy,  which 
should  never  have  been  departed  from,  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  return;"  "that  in  the  judgment  of 
this  convention  Congress  has  no  more  power  to  make 
a  slave  than  to  make  a  king;  no  more  power  to  in- 
stitute or  establish  slavery  than  to  institute  or  estab- 
lish a  monarchy;"  "that  the  true  and,  in  the  judgment 
of  this  convention,  the  only  safe  means  of  preventing 
the  extension  of  slavery  into  territory  now  free  is  to 
prohibit  its  extension  in  all  such  territory  by  an  act 
of  Congress;"  "that  we  accept  the  issue  which  the 
slave  power  has  forced  upon  us;  and  to  their  demand 
for  more  slave  States  and  more  slave  territory,  our 
calm  but  final  answer  is;  No  more  slave  States  and 
no  more  slave  territory.  Let  the  soil  of  our  extensive 

1 « « McKee,  National  Conventions  fcf  Platforms,  71,72. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  87 

domain  be  kept  free  for  the  hardy  pioneers  of  our 
own  land  and  the  oppressed  and  banished  of  other 
lands;"  "that  we  inscribe  on  our  banner,  Tree  Soil, 
Free  Speech,  Free  Labor,  and  Free  Men/  and  under 
it  we  will  fight  on,  and  fight  forever,  until  a  triumphant 
victory  shall  reward  our  exertions."  *  4  7 

On  this  platform  Van  Buren  polled  291,263 
votes— 120,510  in  New  York  State  and  38,058  in 
Massachusetts,  largely  contributed  by  dissatisfied 
Democrats,  and  35,354  in  Ohio  and  10,389  in  Michi- 
gan, contributed  almost  wholly  by  dissatisfied  Whigs.*4  a 
The  Democrats  retained  control  of  the  Senate  by  a 
majority  of  8  over  all,  and  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives by  the  narrow  majority  of  5. 1 4  9 

The  growth  of  the  dissenting  element  in  both 
parties  had  its  significance;  but  the  whole  scheme  of 
the  slave  power  was  wrecked  by  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  California  and  the  rush  of  men  from  the  free 
States  to  that  El  Dorado.  The  greed  for  gold  over- 
whelmed and  defeated  the  greed  for  more  slave  terri- 
tory. No  statesman  could  claim  credit  for  this  extraor- 
dinary and  unforeseen  emigration  of  the  free  to  the 
newly  acquired  Mexican  territory.  And,  as  events 
proved,  no  political  combination  could  long  postpone 
the  ine  vital)  e  consequences. 

Congress  had  been  unable  to  pass  any  law  for 
the  territorial  government  of  the  newly  acquired 
territory,  or,  in  the  language  of  General  Taylor,  "to 
substitute  law  and  order  there  for  the  bowie  knife 
and  revolvers,"  owing  to  the  insistence  of  Northern 
men  upon  the  "Wilmot  Proviso,"  providing  that 
in  all  such  territory  slavery  should  be  forever  pro- 


1 * 7  McKee,  National  Conventions  &  Platforms,  67,  68. 

148  Ibid.,  71.  Chase  wrote  in  March,  1849,  "In  Massachusetts  and  in  the 
northern  counties  of  Ohio,  the  profound  anti-slavery  convictions  of  the  people 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  support  national  nominees  without  any  declara- 
tion against  the  extension  of  slavery."  Warden,  319. 

»<•  Ibid.,  73. 


88  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

hibited. 1 6  °  So,  immediately  after  his  inauguration 
as  President,  Taylor  sent  a  confidential  agent  to 
California  to  act  with  the  military  governor  in  pro- 
moting the  formation  of  a  State  government. 1 5 1  A 
constitutional  convention  was  assembled  at  Monterey, 
by  order  of  General  Riley,  September  1,  1849,  and 
after  deliberating  about  six  weeks  completed  a  con- 
stitution, which  was  submitted  to  the  people  and 
ratified  November  13,  1849,  by  a  vote  of  12,061  for 
to  811  against.  This  constitution  followed  closely 
those  of  the  eastern  and  central  western  States  and 
provided  among  other  things: — 

"Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  unless  for 
the  punishment  of  crimes,  shall  ever  be  tolerated  in  this 
state."  1 5  2 

The  application  for  admission  of  the  whole  of 
California  as  a  State  in  the  Union,  with  such  a  con- 
stitution, was  received  by  the  pro-slavery  men  with 
consternation.  The  whole  edifice  built  upon  the 
annexation  of  Texas,  the  extension  of  its  borders, 
the  war  with  Mexico  and  the  acquisition  of  more 
territory,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  slavery  and 
securing  the  preponderance  of  the  slave  power  in 
national  affairs,  was  rudely  shattered.  The  admission 
of  the  State,  with  its  designated  boundaries  and  free 
constitution,  was  violently  opposed.  All  the  sup- 
posed grievances  of  North  and  South  were  aired  in 
the  ensuing  debate  and  nearly  all  the  arguments 
of  the  pro-slavery  men  threatened,  or  predicted,  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union  unless  the  Constitution 
was  so  modified  as  to  give  Southern  men  what  were 
termed  "equal  rights"  in  the  new  State.  By  "equal 
rights"  they  meant  the  right  of  Southern  slave  holders 


» » °  A  motion  instructing  the  committee  on  Territories  to  bring  in  a  bill  for 
organizing  California  and  New  Mexico  with  the  least  possible  delay  and  exclud- 
ing slavery  therefrom  was  made  by  Joseph  M.  Root,  of  Sandusky  .and  carried 
by  108  to  80. 

»•»  Messages  of  the  Presidents.  Vol.  V.,  27.  41. 

i  • *  Charters  y  Constitutions,  I.,  195,  196.  207. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  89 

to  take  their  slaves  there  and  establish  and  maintain 
slavery.  There  was  more  passion  than  logic  in  most 
of  the  arguments.  It  did  not  seem  to  occur  to  them 
that  Southern  men  could  go  to,  and  reside  in,  such 
a  State  just  as  every  other  man  did  or  could — with- 
out slaves. 1 5  3 

Calhoun's  last  speech  was  made  during  this 
debate.  To  meet  the  argument  that  California  al- 
ways had  been  free  territory  and  that  the  clause  in 
the  State  Constitution  prohibiting  slavery  was  adopted 
without  dissent,  he  formulated  the  dogma  that,  the 
moment  the  treaty  with  Mexico  was  signed,  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  ipso  facto,  imported 
slavery  into  the  newly  acquired  territory,  and  to 
exclude  it,  later,  was  a  wanton  violation  of  the  rights 
of  the  South — by  which  he  always  meant  slaveholders 
of  the  South.  In  order  to  give  any  plausibility  to 
his  argument  he  had  first  to  import  into  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  a  provision,  which  was  not 
expressed  in  words,  making  slavery  a  national  and 
not  merely  a  local  institution.  As  one  of  the  debaters 
said,  "In  the  estimation  of  John  C.  Calhoun  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a  mere  nose  of 
wax  to  be  twisted  into  any  shape  desired  by  the 
South."  When  he  went  outside  of  the  Constitution 
to  find  support  for  his  thesis  he  was  met  by  a  mass 
of  contemporary  argument  and  elucidation  to  show 
that  slavery  was  in  process  of  extinction  everywhere, 
except  in  four  or  five  Southern  States,  and  it  was 
confidently  believed  that  it  would  soon  be  abolished 
in  all  except  possibly  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

Judging  from  the  arguments  used  by  other 
Southern  men,  two  other  principles  had  become 
firmly  imbedded  in  the  Constitution,  though  not 


» • »  Senator  Toombs  declared  that  the  Mexican  law  prohibiting  slavery  was  still 
valid  and  would  so  remain;  that  Congress  and  not  the  courts  must  change  the  law. 
He  demanded  that  what  was  recognized  by  law  as  property  in  the  slave-holding 
States  should  be  recognized  in  the  Mexican  territory.  "We  can  permit  no  dis- 
crimination against  our  section  or  our  institutions,  in  dividing  out  the  common 
property  of  the  republic."  Stovall,  Robert  Toombs,  61-2. 


I 


90  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

expressed  in  its  language,  or  imported  by  Constitu- 
tional amendment.     These  were: — 

1.  The  line  of  36  degrees  and  30  minutes  north 
latitude  extended  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  all  States  north  of  that  must  be 
free  and  all  States  south  of  that  must  be  slave.     This 
required  that   California  should  be  divided  by  that 
line  into  two  States,  one  free  and  one  slave.     This 
rested  on  the  so-called   "Missouri  Compromise,"   of 
1820. 

2.  No  new  free  State  can  be  admitted  to   the 
Union  if  that  would  give  the  free  States  a  majority 
in    the    United    States    Senate.     This    rests,    it    was 
claimed,    on   uniform   practice   ever   since   the   State 
of   Vermont   was   admitted   in    179 1.164    It   is   true 
that  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  thirteen  States, 
seven  of  which  were,  or  soon  became,  free,  and  that 
the  free  States  were  in  the  majority  after  the  admis- 
sion of  Ohio  in  1803,  and  it  was  nine  years  before  the 
balance  was  restored  by  the  admission  of  Louisiana. 
It  is  true  that  the  slave  States  were  in  the  majority 
after  the  admission  of  Arkansas  in  1836,  and  again 
after  the  admission  of  Florida  and  Texas  in    1845, 


1  * «  The  following  table  shows  the  order  in  which  new  States  were  admitted , 
the  dates  of  admission  and  to  which  column,  free  or  slave,  they  belonged. 

Name  of  State  Date        Free  Slave 

Vermont 1791  I 

Kentucky 1792  i 

Tennessee 1796  I 

Ohio 1803  i 

Louisiana 1812  i 

Indiana 1816  I 

Mississippi 1817  I 

Illinois 1818  I 

Alabama 1819  i 

Maine 1820  I 

Missouri 1821  I 

Arkansas 1836  I 

Michigan 1837  I 

Florida 1845  I 

Texas 1845  I 

Iowa 1846  I 

Wisconsin 1848  I 

Totals..  8  9 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  91 

and  that  it  was  three  years  before  the  balance  was 
restored  by  the  admission  of  Wisconsin. 

What  a  convenient  Constitutional  provision, 
which  may,  or  may  not,  remain  in  force,  as  circum- 
stances may  require! 

The  "Missouri  Compromise,"  which  gave  signifi- 
cance to  the  parallel  of  36°  30',  related  specifically 
to  the  Louisiana  Purchase  and  could  ;  pro- 

longed, by  interpretation,  to  the  east  or  west  of 
its  boundaries.  The  South  had  already  organized 
three  slave  States  in  the  Purchase,  south  of  that  line, 
and  but  one  free  State  had  been  admitted  north  of 
that  line. 

There  was,  however,  a  cry  from  all  parts  of  the 
South  against  the  admission  of  California  with  a 
Constitution  prohibiting  slavery.  Newspapers,  legis- 
latures, and  local  conventions  demanded  that  the 
right  of  slaveholders  to  take  their  slave  property 
with  them  into  all  of  the  newly  acquired  territory 
be  expressly  recognized  and  secured.  On  the  other 
hand,  Northern  Legislatures — Ohio's  among  them— 
newspapers  and  local  conventions  demanded  the 
immediate  admission  of  California  with  its  free  Con- 
stitution, and  the  organization  of  territorial  govern- 
ments for  all  the  rest  of  the  land  acquired  from  Mex- 
ico, with  the  Wilmot  Proviso  excluding  slavery  there- 
from. A  call  was  issued  for  a  Southern  popular 
convention  to  be  held  at  Nashville,  June  20,  1850, 
to  consider  the  interests  of  the  South  and  take  such 
action  as  may  seem  necessary,  and  open  threats 
of  disunion  were  uttered  all  through  the  South.  How 
much  of  this  was  mere  bluff  and  chatter,  designed 
to  force  Congress  to  take  action  satisfactory  to  the 
slave  interest,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

Henry  Clay,  however,  was  greatly  alarmed  and 
believed  that,  now  if  never  before,  extreme  Southern 
men  meant  exactly  what  they  said  and  that  the 
Union  was  in  imminent  danger  of  being  destroyed. 
He  took  into  consideration  all  the  complaints  and 


92  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

demands  made  and  arguments  used  by  both  Northern 
and  Southern  men  and  evolved  a  series  of  resolutions, 
intended  to  give  some  satisfaction  to  all  and  to  call 
for  such  concessions  on  the  part  of  each  as  could  be 
reasonably  hoped  for  in  return  for  similar  concessions 
by  the  other.  These,  with  various  other  resolutions 
on  the  same  general  subject,  were  referred,  April  18, 
1850,  to  a  select  committee  of  thirteen,  with  Clay  as 
chairman,  and  such  men  as  Daniel  Webster  and 
Lewis  Cass  from  the  North,  and  William  R.  King, 
James  M.  Mason  and  John  Bell  from  the  South.  On 
May  8,  1850,  the  committee  submitted  a  report 
consisting  of  three  bills  and  an  elaborate  argument. 

To  the  North  was  conceded  (?)  the  admission 
of  California;  but  this  was  coupled  with,  and  con- 
ditioned upon,  the  organization  of  territorial  govern- 
ments in  Utah  and  New  Mexico  without  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  and  the  fixing  of  the  west  and  north  boun- 
daries of  Texas  so  as  to  exclude  any  part  of  New 
Mexico,  for  which  Texas  was  to  be  duly  compensated 
in  money.  The  bill,  combining  these  various  meas- 
ures, was  aptly  termed  the  "omnibus  bill'  by  Presi- 
dent Taylor. 

Another  concession  to  the  North  was  the  pro- 
posed bill  prohibiting  the  slave-trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  thus  removing  from  the  Capital  one 
of  the  most  odious  features  of  slavery,  though  slavery 
itself  was  to  remain  until  Maryland  chose  to  abolish  it. 

Another,  wholly  illusory,  concession  to  the  North 
was  the  declaration  that  the  admission  of  any  new 
State,  or  States,  carved  out  of  Texas  should  be  post- 
poned— until  some  such  State  was  organized  and 
wanted  to  come  in,  when  it  would  be  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  admit  it ! 

In  return  for  these  concessions  (?)  to  the  North, 
the  South  was  to  be  given  a  more  effective  law  for 
the  return  of  fugitive  slaves,  three  new  States  to  be 
carved  out  of  Texas,  and  an  even  chance  to  make 
slave  States  out  of  New  Mexico  and  Utah. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  93 

The  scheme,  as  a  whole,  satisfied  nobody.  Presi- 
dent Taylor  agreed  with  anti-slavery  men  that  Cali- 
fornia was  entitled  to  immediate  admission,  without 
any  reference  to  what  was  done  with  the  rest  of  the 
territory  acquired  from  Mexico.  He  thought  the 
rest  should  be  kept  under  military  rule,  until  some 
portion  had  population  and  intelligence  enough  to 
do  as  California  had  done. 

President  Taylor,  who  had  gradually  won  the 
confidence  of  both  Union  and  anti-slavery  men  and 
announced  that  he  would  suppress  any  attempts 
at  dis-union,  had  a  severe  attack  of  cholera  morbus 
after  eating  dinner  July  4th,  1850,  and  passed  away 
on  the  9th.154*  His  successor,  Millard  Fillmore, 
reorganized  the  Cabinet  by  appointing  Daniel  Web- 
ster, Secretary  of  State,  Thomas  Corwin,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  and  John  J.  Crittenden,  Attorney 
General.  Fillmore,  himself,  and  every  one  of  the 
new  appointees  favored  the  compromise. 

But  it  was  not  until  August  that  it  was  discovered 
that  by  separating  the  compromise  measures,  the 
objectors  to  one  or  two  might  be  induced  to  vote 
for  the  others  and  that  a  majority  could  thus  be 
obtained  for  each,  although  the  several  majorities 
would  be  differently  constituted.  In  this  manner, 
every  one  of  the  measures  passed  the  Senate,  although 
in  somewhat  modified  form.  The  fugitive-slave  law 
was  far  more  drastic  than  the  bill  reported  by  the 
committee. 

In  September,  all  passed  safely  through  the 
House  of  Representatives  and  the  Union  was  saved 
once  more.  The  North  was  thoroughly  satisfied 
with  the  admission  of  California  as  a  Free  State, 
and  the  South,  as  thoroughly  dissatisfied.  The  South 


i « * •  The  deaths  of  the  two  Whig  Presidents,  General  Harrison  and  General 
Taylor,  by  similar  intestinal  troubles,  just  after  it  became  apparent  that  they  could 
not  be  controlled  by  the  extreme  pro-slavery  men,  created  a  strong  suspicion  in 
the  minds  of  anti-slavery  men  that  both  had  been  maliciously  poisoned,  to  make 
room  for  more  yielding  successors. 


94  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

was  greatly  pleased,  and  the  North  as  greatly  dis- 
pleased, with  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 

The  spectre  of  four  new  slave-States  instead  of 
Texas  and  eight  new  Senators  instead  of  two  from 
that  region,  was  sufficiently  disturbing  to  the  North, 
but  everything  else  paled  into  insignificance  when 
attempts  were  made  to  enforce  the  new  Fugitive 
Slave  Act.  The  features  which  made  this  so  obnox- 
ious to  Northern  people  were,  (1)  that  a  small  army 
of  commissioners  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  United 
States  Circuit  Courts  who  should  have  jurisdiction 
in  all  matters  relating  to  the  capture  and  removal 
of  alleged  fugitives;  (2)  that  these  commissioners 
were  to  receive  a  fee  of  five  dollars  if  they  decided 
that  a  claimant  was  not  entitled  to  a  certificate  giving 
authority  to  take  and  remove  the  alleged  fugitive, 
and  ten  dollars  if  he  decided  in  favor  of  the  claimant; 
(3)  that  these  commissioners  were  authorized  to 
appoint  persons  from  time  to  time  to  execute  such 
warrants  as  might  be  issued  for  the  arrest  of  alleged 
fugitives;  (4)  that  such  impromptu  officers  were 
empowered  to  summon  to  their  aid  bystanders  or  a 
posse  comitatus  of  the  proper  county,  and  all  citizens 
were  commanded  to  aid  and  assist  in  the  prompt  and 
efficient  execution  of  this  law  whenever  their  services 
should  be  required;  (5)  that  warrants  issued  by  any 
commissioner  should  run  and  be  executed  by  said  officers 
anywhere  in  the  State  within  which  they  are  issued; 
(6)  that  any  person  having  a  power  of  attorney  from 
a  claimant,  duly  executed  and  acknowledged  before 
some  legal  officer  or  court  of  the  State  where  the 
claimant  resided,  was  thereby  empowered  to  seize  or 
arrest  the  alleged  fugitive,  without  process,  and  bring 
him  before  a  court  or  commissioner  of  the  proper 
circuit,  district  or  county,  whose  duty  it  should  be 
to  hear  and  determine  the  case  of  such  claimant 
in  a  summary  manner;  (7)  that  an  affidavit  of  owner- 
ship under  the  seal  of  the  proper  court  or  officer, 
and  another  affidavit  as  to  the  identity  of  the  person 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  95 

whose  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due  and  that 
he  had  escaped,  should  be  sufficient  to  entitle  the  claim- 
ant  or  his  agent  to  a  certificate  authorising  him  to  arrest 
and  remove  such  alleged  fugitive  to  the  State  or  Terri- 
tory whence  he  was  alleged  to  have  escaped',  (8)  "In  no 
trial  or  hearing  under  this  act  shall  the  testimony  of 
such  alleged  fugitive  be  admitted  in  evidence,  and  the 
certificates  *  *  *  mentioned  shall  be  conclusive  of 
the  right  *  *  to  remove  such  fugitive  to  the  State 
or  Territory  from  which  he  escaped  and  shall  prevent 
all  molestation  of  such  person  or  persons  by  any  process 
issued  by  any  court,  judge,  magistrate,  or  other  person 
whomsoever;"  (9)  "That  any  person  who  shall  know- 
ingly and  willingly  obstruct,  hinder,  or  prevent  such 
claimant,  his  agent  or  attorney  *  *  *  from  ar- 
resting such  a  fugitive  *  *  *  either  with  or  with- 
out process  as  aforesaid,  or  shall  rescue,  or  attempt  to 
rescue,  such  fugitive  *  *  *  from  the  custody  of 
such  claimant,  *  *  *  or  other  persons  lawfully 
assisting;  *  or  shall  aid,  abet,  or  assist  such 

person    so    owing    service,  *     *     directly    or    in- 

directly, to  escape  *  *  *  or  shall  harbor  and 
conceal  such  fugitive  so  as  to  prevent  the  discovery  and 
arrest  such  person  *  *  *  shall  for  either  of  said 
offenses,  be  subject  to  a  fine  not  exceeding  $1,000  and 
imprisonment  not  exceeding  six  months  and 

shall  moreover  forfeit  and  pay  by  way  of  civil  damages 
to  the  party  injured  by  such  illegal  conduct  the  sum  of 
$1,000  for  each  fugitive  so  lost  as  aforesaid,  to  be  re- 
covered by  action  of  debt,"  etc.;  (10)  The  claimant 
of  any  alleged  fugitive  could  apply  to  any  court  of 
record,  or  judge  thereof,  in  the  State  where  he  lived 
and  on  proof  of  ownership  and  escape  have  a  record 
made  of  such  facts  and  also  a  general  description 
of  the  person  escaping,  with  such  convenient  cer- 
tainty as  may  be,  and  a  transcript  of  such  record 
authenticated  by  the  *  *  *  clerk  and  the  seal  of 
the  said  Court  *  *  *  shall  be  held  and  taken  to 
be  full  and  conclusive  evidence  of  the  fact  of  escape  and 


96  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

that  the  service  or  labor  of  the  person  escaping  is  due 
to  the  party  in  such  record  mentioned.  And  upon 
the  production  by  the  said  party  of  other  and  further 
evidence,  if  necessary,  either  oral  or  by  affidavit 
of  the  identity  of  the  person  escaping,  he 
or  she  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  claimant."  *  *  * 
Provided  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be 
construed  as  requiring  the  production  of  a  transcript 
of  such  record  as  evidence  as  aforesaid.  But  in  its 
absence  the  claims  shall  be  heard  and  determined  upon 
other  satisfactory  proofs." 

The  above  abstract  and  excerpts  point  out 
the  objectionable  features  of  a  law  which  was  so 
long  that  it  would  fill  seven  pages  in  an  ordinary 
8vo  volume. 1 5  5 

A  wave  of  indignation  swept  over  the  entire 
North,  as  soon  as  the  provisions  of  the  new  fugitive 
slave  law  became  known. 1 5  6  The  Whig  party  suf- 
fered most,  because  its  leaders  had  been  most  promi- 
nent in  bringing  forward  and  advocating  the  various 
compromise  measures  and  the  Whig  administration 
had  used  all  its  influence  to  promote  their  enactment 
into  law. 


i*»  William  Henry  Smith  in  A  Political  History  of  Slavery,  128-9,  Sa7s:  "The 
bill  reported  by  Mr.  Clay  from  the  special  committee  of  thirteen  proposed  to 
effect  this  in  a  way  that  would  have  been  a  safe  guard  to  free  colored  persons 
beyond  anything  in  the  original  law,  and  without  disturbing  the  peace  of  com- 
munities where  arrests  should  be  made.  *  *  *  As  passed,  the  fugitive  slave 
law  was  a  very  different  measure,  without  safe  guard  for  the  slave,  harsh  and  re- 
pugnant to  the  sentiments  of  humanity.  *  *  *  If  Northern  representatives 
had  not  shirked  their  duty  it  would  have  been  defeated  or  amended  to  conform 
to  the  original  report."  Clay  was  absent  on  account  of  ill  health  when  this  bill 
was  passed.  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  182-3,  says:  "On  August 
2$d  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading,  which 
was  equivalent  to  its  passage,  buy  a  vote  of  27  to  12.  The  nays  were  eight  North- 
ern Whigs,  *  *  *  three  Northern  Democrats,  and  Chase;  there  were  fifteen 
Northern  senators  who  did  not  vote.  *  *  *  On  September  I2th,  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law  was  carried  through  the  House,  under  the  operation  of  the  previous 
question,  by  109  to  76.  *  *  *  Thirty-three  representatives  from  the  North 
were  either  absent  or  paired  or  dodged  the  vote." 

1  * « In  a  letter  to  J.  T.  Trowbridge,  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  quoted  in  Warden,  p. 
336,  Senator  Salmon  P.  Chase  said  they  were  "opposed  by  a  majority  of  the  Ohio 
Representatives.  They  were  almost  universally  denounced  by  the  Democratic 
press  in  Ohio,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  possible  that  they  might  be  repudiated  by 
the  northern  Democracy." 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  97 

On  October  11,  1850,  a  little  over  three  weeks 
after  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  a  large 
meeting  of  citizens  of  Cleveland  was  held  in  Empire 
Hall,  at  which  a  committee  on  Resolutions  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Joel  Tiffany,  Reuben 
Hitchcock,  H.  V.  Willson,  then,  a  partner  of  Henry 
B.  Payne,  two  years  later,  Democratic  candidate  for 
Congress,  and  later  still  Judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court  for  the  Northern  District  of  Ohio, 
O.  H.  Knapp,  and  G.  A.  Benedict,  editor  of  the  Cleve- 
land Herald.  They  reported  as  follows:  — 

"1.  Resolved,  That  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Law  was  an 
act  unauthorized  by  the  constitution,  hostile  to  every  prin- 
ciple of  justice  and  humanity,  and,  if  persevered  in,  fatal 
to  Human  Freedom. 

"2.  Resolved,  That  that  law  strikes  down  some  of  the 
dearest  principles  upon  which  our  fathers  predicated  their 
right  to  assert  and  maintain  their  independence,  and  is  char- 
acterized by  the  most  tyrannical  exercise  of  power;  and  that 
it  cannot  be  sustained  without  repudiating  the  doctrines 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  principles  upon 
which  all  free  governments  rest. 

"3.  Resolved,  That  tyranny  consists  in  the  wilfully  violating 
by  those  in  power  of  man's  natural  right  to  personal  security, 
personal  liberty,  and  private  property;  and  it  matters  not 
whether  the  act  is  exercised  by  one  man  or  a  million  of  men, 
it  is  equally  unjust,  unrighteous,  and  destructive  of  the  ends 
of  all  just  governments. 

"4.  Resolved,  That  regarding  some  portion  of  the  Fugitive 
Law  as  unconstitutional,  and  the  whole  of  it  as  oppressive, 
unjust,  and  unrighteous,  we  deem  it  the  duty  of  EVERY 
GOOD  CITIZEN  to  denounce,  oppose  and  RESIST,  by  all 
proper  means,  the  execution  of  said  law,  and  we  demand  its 
immediate  and  unconditional  repeal,  and  will  not  cease  to 
agitate  the  question  and  use  all  our  powers  to  secure  that 
object,  until  it  is  accomplished."  1  5  7 

In  October,  1850,  an  indignation  meeting  was 
held  at  Canfield,  Mahoning  County,  Ohio,  addressed 
by  B.  F.  Wade,  Whig,  afterwards  Senator  from  Ohio, 
Rufus  P.  Ranney,  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress 


157  Cleveland  Leader,  April  14,  1859.     Cleveland  Herald,  Aprifis,  1859.     West- 
ern Reserve  Chronicle,  April  20,  1859. 


i 


98  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

in  1848,  afterwards  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio 
and,  later  still,  elected  Judge  of  the  Ohio  Supreme 
Court;  Matthew  Birchard,  Democrat,  afterwards 
Judge  of  the  Ohio  Supreme  Court;  Milton  Sutliff, 
Democrat,  afterwards  Judge  of  the  Ohio  Supreme 
Court,  John  Hutchins,  Whig,  afterwards  Member  of 
Congress,  and  Eben  Newton,  Free  Soiler.  These 
men  were  all  prominent  citizens  and,  between  them, 
represented  all  political  parties  and  most  of  the  people 
of  the  Western  Reserve.  The  following  account  of 
the  meeting  and  the  resolutions  adopted  are  copied 
from  the  Ohio  Republican,  of  November  8,  1850. 

"The  assembled  multitude  listened  with  great  attention, 
to  the  thrilling  eloquence  and  burning  indignation  of  the 
several  speakers,  and  repeatedly  gave  evidence  of  their 
approbation  by  shouts  of  applause. 

The  resolutions  reported  by  the  committee  were 
as  follows,  and  were  unanimously  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  "fugitive  act,"  passed  by 
Congress,  not  only  as  a  gross  outrage  upon  humanity,  but 
as  a  direct  infringement  upon  the  principles  upon  which  our 
government  is  founded,  and  which  should  ever  be  maintained 
by  a  free  people. 

Resolved,  That  in  striking  down,  as  the  makers  of  this  law 
fain  would  do,  at  a  blow,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  habeas 
corpus,  the  right  of  appeal,  the  privilege  of  counsel,  and  cross 
examination  of  witnesses,  they  have  attempted  to  annihilate 
the  work  of  progress  in  the  civil  history  of  the  world,  and  to 
bring  back  the  dark  ages  of  despotism  and  absolute  rule, 
against  which  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  meant 
effectually  to  guard  by  its  explicit  and  solemn  guarantee  of 
these  inestimable  rights. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  unceasingly  agitate  the  question, 
which  this  act  was  designed  to  settle,  till  the  act  is  repealed 
and  slavery  abolished  in  all  places  within  the  constitutional 
authority  of  the  general  government. 

Resolved,  That  the  acceptance  of  the  office  of  Commissioner 
or  Marshal  under  this  act,  by  any  person  claiming  the 
privileges  of  American  citizenship,  and  brotherhood  with 
men,  will,  as  it  deservedly  should,  brand  him  as  a  traitor  to 
humanity;  and  we  hope  that  no  man  can  be  found  in  our 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  99 

community  base  enough  and  bold  enough   to  accept  the 
work  of  infamy. 

Resolved,  That  we  will  not,  under  any  political  necessity 
whatever,  vote  for  any  man  for  any  office  of  trust,  profit  or 
honor,  who  voted  for  or  aided,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the 
passage  of  the  act,  or  approves  of  its  infamous  provisions, 
or  aids  in  its  execution. 

The  following  resolution  was  offered  by  Judge 
Brownlee,  and  unanimously  passed  with  a  hurricane 
of  shouts: 

Resolved,  That,  come  life  or  come  imprisonment — come 
fine  or  come  death — we  will  neither  aid  nor  assist  in  the  return 
of  any  fugitive  slave,  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  will  harbor  and 
secrete,  and  by  all  just  means  protect  and  defend  him,  and 
thus  give  him  a  practical  God  speed  to  liberty. 1 5  8 

The  Congressional  elections  in  the  fall  of  1850, 
resulted  in  sending  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
140  Democrats — a  gain  of  22,  88  Whigs — a  loss  of 
23 — and  5  Free  Soilers — a  gain  of  3. 1 5  9  Although 
the  Whig  party  had  always  contained  more  abolition- 
ists than  the  Democratic,  the  Wilmot  Proviso  had 
its  origin  among  the  Democrats  and  was  looked  upon 
with  no  favorable  eye  by  many  leading  Whigs. 1 6  ° 
The  Wilmot  Proviso  was  drafted  by  Judge  Brinkerhoff , 
Democratic  congressman  from  the  Mansfield  District, 
Ohio,  and  presented  by  David  Wilmot,  a  Democratic 


i  •  *  Reproduced  in  Ohio  State  Journal,  July  18, 1859;  See  also  Mahoning  Register, 
July  — ,  1859.  Norwalk  Reflector,  July  26,  1859;  and  Painesville  Telegraph,  July 
14,  1859.  The  following  is  an  extract — italics,  capitals  and  all — from  a  report 
of  the  meeting,  published  in  the  Mahoning  Index,  of  Canfield,  O.,  November  I, 
1850,  and  republished  in  the  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  of  Warren,  O.,  October  5, 
1859;  and  Mahoning  Register,  September  22,  1859. 

"Next  upon  the  forum  was  called  by  the  united  voice  of  the  meeting  Rufus  P. 
Ranney,  of  Trumbull,  a  distinguished  delegate,  to  make  our  Constitution — one 
of  the  brightest  minds  in  Ohio,  and  an  old  Democrat  and  nothing  else  in  politics! 
He  exposed  not  only  the  INFAMOUS  MANNER  in  which  the  bill  was  rushed 
through  the  House  under  the  gag  rule  of  the  Southern  and  infamous  oppressors  but  in 
SCATHING  AND  BLISTERING  CURSES  denounced  the  whole  bill  as  UN- 
CONSTITUTIONAL(!)  and  the  miscreants  who  assisted  in  its  passage  by  their 
votes,  or  fleeing  when  God  and  their  duty  required  their  aid  in  behalf  of  liberty  and  th  e 
rights  of  blood  and  life  as  unworthy  of  our  regard— AS  UNWORTHY  OF  OUR 
SUFFRAGE — now  or  hereafter." 

189  McKee,   National  Conventions  &  Platforms,  73. 

1 6  o  Chase  to  Trowbridge,  Warden,  Life  of  Chase,  3 14. 


I 


100  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

Congressman  from  Pennsylvania.  The  Southern 
wings  of  both  parties,  while  differing  upon  such 
matters  as  internal  improvements  at  national  ex- 
pense, protective  tariffs,  etc.,  were  in  accord  in  all 
matters  touching  slavery.  In  Ohio,  the  Democrats 
were  apparently  quite  as  much  opposed  to  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  as  the  Whigs,  until  it  was  made  plain 
that  northern  Democrats  could  not  hope  for  recogni- 
tion from  a  Democratic  administration  and  appoint- 
ment to  office,  while  they  entertained  such  sentiments. 
At  a  Democratic  State  Convention  held  in  Columbus, 
January  8,  1848,  Allen  G.  Thurman,  afterwards 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  of  Ohio,  offered, 
among  other  resolutions  which  were  adopted,  the 
following: — 

"Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Ohio,  now,  as  they  always 
have  done,  look  upon  the  institution  of  slavery  in  any  part 
of  the  Union,  as  an  evil  and  unfavorable  to  the  full  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  and  practical  benefits  of  free  institutions; 
and  that  entertaining  these  sentiments  they  will,  at  all  times, 
feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  use  all  power,  clearly  given  by  the 
terms  of  the  National  compact,  to  prevent  its  increase,  to 
mitigate,  and  finally,  to  eradicate  the  evil." 1 6 1 

This  resolution  was  re-adopted  by  the  Democratic 
State  Conventions  of  1850,  1852,  1853,  1854  and 
1855,  thus  justifying  to  some  extent  the  hope  ex- 
pressed by  Chase  that  the  Democratic  party  might 
become  the  great  opponent  of  the  slave  power.  In 
1850,  that  party  elected  their  candidate  for  Governor, 
Reuben  Wood,  by  a  plurality  of  26,106,  over  Samuel 
F.  Vinton,  and  a  majority  of  9,126  over  all.  16,918 
votes  were  cast  for  Samuel  Lewis,  Free  Soiler.  The 
Whigs  had  elected  their  candidate  for  Governor  in 
1848  by  a  vote  of  29,118  greater  than  they  gave  to 
Vinton  in  1850.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the 
decline  in  the  Whig  vote  was  due  to  the  passage  of 

» •  i  Warden,  Life  of  Chase,  3 16-7;  Painesville  Telegraph,  Aug.  4, 1858;    Guhrnsey 
Times,  Sept.  16,  1858. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  101 

the  Fugitive  Slave  law  for  which  the  Whig  adminis- 
tration was  held  responsible. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1852  both  Demo- 
cratic and  Whig  parties  endorsed  the  "Compromise 
Measures"  including  "the  act  for  reclaiming  fugitives 
from  service  or  labor,"  and  both  agreed  to  abide  by 
and  insist  upon  the  strict  enforcement  of  all  acts 
passed  in  pursuance  of  the  compromise  and  to  resist 
all  attempts  to  reopen  the  slavery  question. 1 6  2  The 
anti-slavery  Democrats,  who  revolted  in  1848,  re- 
turned to  their  allegiance  being  satisfied  that  peace 
with  compromise  was  better  than  continual  wrang- 
ling, but  the  "Progressive  Whigs"  and  Free  Soilers 
either  refrained  from  voting  or  voted  for  John  P.  Hale. 
The  result  was  an  overwhelming  victory  for  the 
Democrats — Pierce  having  a  plurality  of  214,896 
in  the  popular  vote  and  receiving  the  electoral  vote 
of  all  but  four  States — Massachusetts,  Vermont, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 1 6  3  The  Democrats  secured 
a  majority  of  14  over  all  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
and  a  two  to  one  majority  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. The  Whig  party  had  perished  in  its 
attempt  to  "save  the  Union." 

In  his  message  to  Congress,  December  5,  1853, 
President  Pierce  ushered  in  the  era  of  harmony  and 
good  feeling  with  the  following  words: — 

1  • »  The  Democrats  resolved  to  "abide  by,  and  adhere  to  a  faithful  execution 
of  the  acts  known  as  the  'compromise'  measures  settled  by  the  last  Congress — 
'the  act  for  reclaiming  fugitives  from  service  or  labor'  included,"  and  further  to 
"resist  all  attempts  at  renewing,  in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  the  agitation  of  the 
slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape  or  color  the  attempt  may  be  made." 
McKee,  76.  The  Whigs  proclaimed  "that  the  series  of  acts  of  the  Thirty-second 
Congress,  the  act  known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  included,  are  received  and  ac- 
quiesced in  by  the  Whig  party  *  *  *  as  a  settlement  in  principle  and  sub- 
stance of  the  dangerous  and  exciting  questions,  which  they  embrace,  and  *  *  * 
will  maintain  them  and  insist  upon  their  strict  enforcement  until  time  and  ex- 
perience shall  demonstrate  the  necessity  for  further  legislation  *  *  *  and  we 
deprecate  all  further  agitation  of  the  question  thus  settled  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  will  discountenance  all  efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation, 
whenever  or  however  the  attempt  may  be  made."  McKee,  79,  80.  The  striking 
similarity  in  the  language  of  these  resolutions  indicates  a  common  origin,  or  that 
the  Whig  Convention  had  copied  this  part  of  its  Platform  from  that  adopted  by 
the  Democrats  less  than  two  weeks  before  in  the  same  city — Baltimore." 

»•»  McKee,  Conventions  y  Platforms,  84,  85. 


102  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

"the  year  1850  will  be  recurred  to  as  a  period  filled  with  anx- 
ious apprehension.  A  successful  war  had  just  terminated. 
Peace  brought  with  it  a  vast  augmentation  of  territory.  Dis- 
turbing questions  arose  bearing  upon  the  domestic  institu- 
tions of  one  portion  of  the  Confederacy  and  involving  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  States.  But  notwithstanding 
the  differences  of  opinion  and  sentiment  which  then  existed 
in  relation  to  details  and  specific  provisions,  the  acquiescence 
of  distinguished  citizens,  whose  devotion  to  the  Union  can 
never  be  doubted,  has  given  renewed  vigor  to  our  institutions 
and  restored  a  sense  of  repose  and  security  to  the  public  mind 
throughout  the  Confederacy.  That  this  repose  is  to  suffer 
no  shock  during  my  official  term,  if  I  have  power  to  avert 
it,  those  who  placed  me  here  may  be  assured."  1 6  4 

In  the  fall  of  1848,  Rufus  P.  Ranney,  one  of  Ohio's 
lawyers,  then  a  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress, 
wrote  as  follows,  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  Judge  B.  F. 
Hoffman,  of  Warren,  asking  him  to  define  his  posi- 
tion on  the  questions  of  the  day:— 

"I  am  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  freedom  of  the  terri- 
tories of  New  Mexico  and  California  in  their  whole  extent, 
and  UTTERLY  OPPOSED  to  authorizing  slavery  or  involun- 
tary servitude  of  any  kind  within  them,  or  to  any  compromise, 
which  shall  doom  any  part  of  them  to  the  curse  of  human  bond- 
age. *  *  *  It  is  conceded  that  these  territories  are  now 
free.  They  must  remain  so  until  changed  by  positive  law 
of  the  sovereign  power.  No  question  is  better  settled  in  this 
country  than  that  slavery  exists  in  a  country  by  virtue  of  the 
local  law.  It  is  clear  that  it  can  no  more  exist  in  a  territory 
without  such  law,  than  a  man  can  breathe  without  air. 
Neither  Congress  nor  a  territorial  Legislature,  in  my  opinion, 
possess  the  power  to  establish  it.  It  can  only  be  done  by  the 
people  when  admitted  as  a  State  under  the  general  principles 
of  the  Constitution.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  power  of  Congress 
to  erect  a  Territorial  Government,  and  to  provide  for  the  pro- 
hibition of  slavery  within  the  territories,  AND  I  AM  IN  FAVOR 
OF  AND  WOULD  SUPPORT  SUCH  PROHIBITION." 1 6  5 

The  Cleveland  Plaindealer,  the  leading  Demo- 
cratic paper  in  Northern  Ohio,  set  forth  the  views 

* « «  Messages  13  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  V.,  222. 

»••   Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  Oct.  4,    1848  and   Sept.   3,    1856.     Ohio  State 
Journal,  July  8.  1859,  Mahoning  Register,  July  — ,  1859. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  103 

of  the  Democratic  party  as  to  the  Compromise  Meas- 
ures in  the  following  language:— 

"By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  (art  5  of  amend- 
ments,) no  person  can  be  'deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law.'  Every  person  in  this  State  is 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  this  provision,  and  there  is  a 
similar  provision  in  our  State  Constitution. 

"  'Due  process  of  law'  is  not  a  summary  proceeding  before  a 
Commissioner  appointed  under  an  act  of  Congress.  The 
judicial  power  under  the  United  States  Constitution  is  vested 
in  one  Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  Congress 
may  establish.  Commissioners  cannot  exercise  judicial 
function  over  life  and  liberty.  That  is  not  'due  process  of 
law.'  If  any  person  is  arrested  under  this  act,  upon  the  war- 
rant of  any  commissioners,  he  should  be  immediately  taken 
before  a  State  Judge  upon  habeas  corpus,  by  whom  some  of 
the  provisions  of  the  act  can  be  adjudicated  to  be  unconstitu- 
tional. Congress  cannot  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  except  in  cases  of  rebellion,  or  invasion.  It  is 
the  right  of  every  man  to  have  this;  and  no  judge  can  refuse 
to  allow  it,  without  the  most  severe  penalty."  1 6  6 

'"Out!  d d  Spot!' 

This  quotation  from  Macbeth  will  apply  with  as  much  ap- 
propriateness to  the  late  fugitive  law,  as  it  did  in  its  original 
utterance  to  that  black  spot  of  guilt  which  the  wicked  mur- 
derer in  the  play  could  not  wash  out. 

*  *  *  * 

"The  institution  of  slavery  is  an  anomaly  in  civilized  gov- 
ernments, an  exception  to  liberty  everywhere,  and  a  most  out- 
rageous contradiction  to  our  pretensions  as  a  Model  Republic. 
It  was  barely  sufferable  in  this  country  sixty  years  ago,  and 
unfortunately  recognized  in  one  of  the  compromises  of  the 
Constitution.  *  *  *  But  no  framer  of  that  Constitu- 
tion, no  indorser  of  its  compromises  ever  dreamed  that 
slavery  would  exist  in  this  country  at  this  day.  Every  act 
of  Congress  that  has  tended  to  support  or  perpetuate  in  the 
least  this  institution,  has  been  in  violation  of  the  intent  of 
the  original  framers  of  that  instrument.  This  fugitive 
Slave  Law  is  one  of  that  character,  and  were  its  operations, 
like  most  other  slave  laws,  confined  to  the  slave  States,  it 
might  escape  repeal.  But  this  is  not  the  case;  its  operations 
are  wholly  in  the  free  States,  and  to  be  executed,  if  executed 


i « «  Cleveland  Plaindealer,  October  23,  1850. 


104  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

at  all,  by  free  men.    The  service  it  requires  is  not  the  kind 
we  owe  to  either,  God,  man,  or  the  devil." 1 6  7 

The  annexation  of  Texas  opened  a  new  market 
and  greatly  increased  the  demand  for  slaves.  An 
able  bodied  negro  would  bring  from  $1,000  to  $1,500; 
able  bodied  women,  from  $800  to  $1,200;  and  children 
from  $200  to  $1,000  according  to  age  and  condition. 1 6  • 
Men  who  captured  negroes  in  free  territory  and 
delivered  them  to  claimants,  true  or  false,  in  slave 
territory,  were  well  paid — more  if  the  claim  was  a 
false  one  than  if  it  was  true.  The  usual  commission 
was  one-half  the  value  of  the  negro,  or,  if  sold,  one- 
half  the  price  received.  Man  stealing  was  rendered 
by  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  easy  of  accomplishment 
and  it  was  much  more  profitable  and  far  less  dangerous 
than  horse  stealing.  The  United  States  protected 
him  against  any  interference  on  the  part  of  anybody. 
This  law  was  a  direct  incentive  to  crime  and  slave 
hunters  were  soon  plying  their  trade  in  Ohio,  as  in 
other  Northern  States. 

On  March  20,  1851,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio 
adopted  a  "RESOLUTION  Relative  to  the  abduction 
of  the  children  and  grandchild  of  Peyton  Polly," 
which  illustrates  the  evil  wrought  by  the  Act: 

"WHEREAS,  it  has  been  represented  to  this  General  As- 
sembly, that  on  the  night  of  the  sixth  of  June  last,  seven  of 

»•'  Cleveland  Plaindealer,  October  30,  1850. 

»•  *  The  following  item  from  the  Louisville  Courier;  November  15,  1858,  copied 
in  the  Painesville  Telegraph,  November  25,  1858,  is  illuminating: 

"SALE  OF  FARM  AND  NEGROES— The  farm  of  the  late  Isaac  Owings,  in 
Jefferson  county,  on  Harrod's  creek,  about  ten  miles  from  the  city,  together  with 
several  negroes,  a  quantity  of  stock,  etc.,  were  sold  at  public  sale  on  Thursday 
last  by  order  of  the  administratrix.  The  farm,  containing  about  200  acres 
of  good  land  sold  at  $60  per  acre,  Ralph  Tarlton,  Esq.,  being  the  purchaser.  The 
stock,  etc.,  generally,  brought  good  prices.  The  negroes  brought^  the  following 
round  sums: 

boy  aged  13 $1,3 10 

boy  aged  19 1,475 

man  aged  28 1,400 

man  aged  30.  .  ..  . 1,015 

woman  aged  32  with  3  children  under  6  years.  .  .  .  1,850 

woman  aged  37  with  3  children  under  7  years ....  1,900 

The  slaves  were  sold  on  a  credit  of  twelve  months,  and  were,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  we  believe,  bought  by  the  heirs. — Louisville  Courier.  I5th." 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  105 

the  children  and  one  grandchild  of  Peyton  Polly,  all  said  to 
be  free  colored  persons,  residing  in  Lawrence  county,  in  this 
State,  were  forcibly  seized  and  carried  into  Kentucky,  and 
are  there  now  held  in  slavery,  contrary  to  law;  and  whereas, 
it  is  also  represented  that  said  Peyton  Polly  is  poor,  and  un- 
able to  raise  the  pecuniary  means  necessary  to  procure  coun- 
sel to  test,  in  a  court  or  law,  the  right  of  his  said  children 
and  grandchildren  to  their  liberty;  Therefore, 

"Resolved,  *  *  *  That  the  Governor  be,  and  is  hereby 
directed  to  inquire  into  the  facts  of  said  alleged  seizure  and 
abduction;  and  if  on  such  inquiry,  he  shall  become  satisfied 
that  said  representations  are  probably  true,  that  he  shall 
employ  counsel,  and  adopt  such  other  measures  as  shall  con- 
duce most  speedily  to  restore  said  persons  to  their  liberty; 
and  that  the  costs  and  expenses  be  paid  from  his  contingent 
fund."169 

A  sequel  to  this  interesting  case  is  found  in  a 
"JOINT  RESOLUTION  Relative  to  the  Kidnapping 
of  the  Polly  Family,"  adopted  by  the  Ohio  Legisla- 
ture, March  10,  I860:— 

"WHEREAS,  On  the  night  of  the  6th  of  June,  1850,  seven 
of  the  children  and  one  grandchild  of  Peyton  Polly,  all  free 
persons  of  color,  residing  in  Lawrence  county,  were  forcibly 
seized  with  a  view  of  reducing  them  to  slavery,  that  four  of 
them  were  arrested  in  the  state  of  Kentucky  on  their  way  to 
a  southern  slave  market,  and  after  protracted  litigation  were 
declared  free  persons  by  the  courts  of  that  state,  and  re- 
turned to  their  homes;  and  whereas,  four  of  said  persons  of 
color  were  sold  into  slavery  in  the  county  of  Wayne,  in  the 
state  of  Virginia,  and  are  now  held  in  bondage  there;  and 
whereas,  suit  was  instituted  in  the  county  of  Cabell,  in  said 
state  of  Virginia,  for  the  freedom  of  said  last  mentioned  col- 
ored persons,  and  were  delared  free  by  the  judgment  of  the 
circuit  court  of  Cabell  county,  which  judgment  was  after- 
wards reversed  by  the  court  of  appeals,  on  the  ground  that 
the  actual  residence  of  the  defendant  was  in  Wayne  county, 
and  the  Cabell  county  court  had  no  jurisdiction  of  the  cause; 
that  said  proceedings  were  removed  to  the  county  of  Wayne, 
and  are  now  pending;  Therefore, 

"Be  it  resolved  *  *  *,  That  the  governor  be  and  he  is 
hereby  authorized  to  expend  any  sum  not  exceeding  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  expenses  of 

i"0.  L..  XLIX..  811-12. 


106  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

said  litigation;  that  the  standing  committee  of  finance  be  in- 
structed to  provide  for  the  same  in  the  general  appropriation 
bill;  and  that  the  governor  be  requested  to  take  such  meas- 
ures as  he,  in  his  judgment,  may  deem  necessary  for  the 
speedy  and  successful  termination  of  said  proceedings."  1 7  ° 

In  the  winter  of  1849-50,  the  Ohio  Senate  adopted 
the  following  Joint  Resolution  by  a  vote  25  to  3  in 
the  Senate,  only  two  Democrats  and  one  Whig  voting 
in  the  negative:— 

"Resolved,  That  the  sentiment  of  the  freemen  of  Ohio  is, 
No  More  Slave  Territory;  that  Congress  has  the  power,  and 
should  apply  the  Ordinance  of  Congress  of  1787,  so  far  as  it 
relates  to  slavery,  to  all  the  territories  of  the  United  States; 
that  Congress  has  the  power,  and  should  immediately  exer- 
cise it,  and  abolish  slavery,  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  the  coast- wise  and  inter-state  slave  trade;  that 
the  government  of  the  United  States  should  cease  to  legislate 
for,  and  to  promote  slavery,  but  legislate  for,  and  promote 
liberty;  and  upon  this  subject  there  should  be  no  compromise." 

Among  those  voting  for  this  resolution  were 
Henry  B.  Payne,  of  Cleveland,  afterwards  Demo- 
cratic Senator  from  Ohio,  and  Henry  C.  Whitman, 
of  Cincinnati,  afterwards  Democratic  candidate  for 
Supreme  Court  Judge. 1  7 1 

In  the  session  of  the  Ohio  Legislature  following 
the  enactment  of  the  Compromise  Measures,  Milton 
Sutliff,  Senator  from  Warren,  afterwards  Supreme 
Court  Judge,  offered,  December  11,  1850,  a  series 
of  resolutions,  among  which  were  the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  among  the  powers  delegated  to  the  General 
Government,  by  the  Constitution,  that  of  legislating  upon 
the  subject  of  Fugitives  from  justice  is  not  to  be  found; 
while  that  of  depriving  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law,  is  expressly  denied. 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  General  Assembly 
the  act  of  Congress  in  relation  to  Fugitives  from  service, 
approved  Sept.  18th,  1850,  is  unconstitutional;  not  merely 
for  want  of  power  in  Congress  to  legislate  upon  the  subject, 


Q.  L.,  LVIL,  320-1. 

Ohio  State  Journal,  June  I,  1859. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  or  1850  107 

but  because  the  provisions  of  the  act  are,  in  several  important 
particulars,  repugnant  to  the  express  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  several  courts  of  this 
State,  to  allow  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  all  persons  apply- 
ing for  the  same  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  this  State, 
and  to  conform  in  all  respects  in  subsequent  proceedings  to 
the  provisions  of  the  same." 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  they  were 
taken  up  and  two  additional  resolutions  added, 
declaring  the  fugitive  law  "further  objectionable, 
because  of  its  inhumanity — its  disregard  of  the  natural 
arid  inalienable  rights  of  man,  and  its  hostility  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age  of  progress  in  which  we  live," 
and  instructing  our  Congressmen  to  use  "their  best 
endeavors  for  its  immediate  repeal."  1 7  2 

These  resolutions  were  discussed  at  length  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  after  various  amend- 
ments were  proposed,  were  adopted  by  both  Houses, 
March  24,  1851,  in  the  following  form — Henry  B. 
Payne  and  other  good  Democrats  voting  for  them : — 

"Resolved,  *  *  *  That  while  this  General  Assembly 
would  urge  the  faithful  observance  of  law  upon  all  the  people 
of  this  State,  and  of  her  sister  States  of  the  Union,  as  the  most 
effectual  mode  of  promoting  their  best  interests,  as  well  as  a 
high  duty  they  owe  alike  to  themselves  and  their  common 
country,  would  most  earnestly  recommend  to  Congress,  the 
necessity  of  so  amending  and  modifying  the  provisions  of 
the  'Fugitive  Slave  Law/  that  while  it  secures  a  faithful 
compliance  with  all  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  it  will,  as  becomes  a  free  govern- 
ment, guard  with  a  zealous  care  the  rights  of  the  freeman. 
And  if  said  law,  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  cannot  be  so 
amended  as  to  give  to  persons  claimed  as  Fugitives  from  labor, 
the  benefit  of  every  legal  defence  of  their  liberty,  we  then 
recommend  the  repeal  of  said  law. 

"Resolved,  That  the  law  commonly  called  the  'Fugitive 
Law.'  being  a  law  that  makes  ex  parte  evidence  conclusive 
of  the  master's  right  to  recapture  and  return  his  slave; 
that  denies  a  jury  trial  here  or  elsewhere;  that  provides 
for  the  appointment  of  swarms  of  petty  officers  to  execute  it; 

1*2  Ohio  State  Journal,  June  i.  1859. 


108  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

that  gives  a  double  compensation  to  find  every  claim  set  up 
in  favor  of  the  master;  and  pays  the  expenses  in  any  case 
from  the  public  treasury;  ought  never  receive  the  voluntary 
co-operation  of  our  people,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  immedi- 
ately repealed."  1 7  3 

The  Democrats  had  contrived,  by  their  early 
acceptance  of  the  "Compromise"  and  declaration 
against  any  renewal  of  slavery  agitation,  to  secure 
credit  for  the  promised  rest  from  sectional  strife, 
while  casting  upon  the  Whigs  all  the  odium  for  its 
objectionable  features. 

In  the  fall  election  of  1853,  the  Ohio  Democrats 
elected  their  candidate  for  Governor,  William  Medill, 
by  a  plurality  of  61,806  over  Nelson  Barrere,  the 
Whig  candidate,  and  secured  a  large  majority  in 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  which  they  utilized 
by  electing  George  E.  Pugh  to  the  United  States 
Senate  to  succeed  Salmon  P.  Chase.  Thousands  of 
Whigs  did  not  vote  at  all.  Those  who  did,  gave  to 
Barrere  only  85,857  votes,  and  to  Samuel  Lewis, 
Free  Soiler,  50,346.  Notwithstanding  this  over- 
whelming victory  over  a  disheartened  and  divided 
enemy,  the  Democratic  party  of  Ohio  did  riot  suc- 
ceed in  electing  another  Governor  for  twenty  years. 

At  the  next  gubernatorial  election  in  1855, 
Governor  Medill,  renominated  by  the  Democrats, 
was  defeated  by  Salmon  P.  Chase,  the  candidate  of 
the  Republican  party,  which  then  made  its  first 
appearance  in  Ohio  State  politics.  To  appreciate 
the  extent  of  this  reversal  one  must  add  to  Chase's 
plurality  of  15,751  over  Medill,  24,276  votes  cast 
for  Allen  Trimble,  the  American  (Know-nothing)  can- 
didate, making  the  total  opposition  majority  40,027. 

In  the  Congressional  elections  of  1854  the  Re- 
publicans had  elected  108  members,  and  the  Ameri- 
cans, 43,  making  an  opposition  majority  in  the 
House  of  68. 1 7  4 

i"  O.  L.,  XLIX.,  814. 

i»«  McKee,  Conventions  and  Platforms.  86. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  109 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1856,  James 
Buchanan,  Democratic  candidate,  polled  377,629  less 
votes  than  John  C.  Fremont,  Republican,  and  Millard 
Fillmore,  American. 1 7  5  Ohio  gave  Fremont  187,497, 
Fillmore  28,126,  and  Buchanan,  only  170,874— a 
minority  of  44,749.  Buchanan  was  elected  by  a 
majority  of  52  electoral  votes,  but  the  Democrats 
did  not  elect  another  President  for  twenty-eight 
years. 

What  caused  this  sudden  and  long  continued 
loss  of  public  favor? 

The  "Compromise  Measures"  had  been  approved 
— theoretically;  but  every  attempt  to  enforce  the 
Fugitive  Slave  law,  with  its  harsh  and  unjust  fea- 
tures, in  any  northern  State,  created  indignation 
in  the  community  where  the  attempt  was  made. 
The  spectacle  of  a  non-resident  coming  into  a  State 
and  carrying  off  a  colored  resident  of  the  State, 
without  giving  him  any  chance  to  prove  his  right  to 
liberty  before  a  court  or  jury  in  the  place  where  he 
resided,  without  even  giving  him  a  chance  to  testify 
in  his  own  behalf,  was  too  much  for  the  Anglo-Saxon 
love  of  fair  play.  Democratic  administrations  and 
all  their  officials  were  afflicted  with,  what  is  now 
termed,  "defective  psychology." 

The  things  they  did,  with  a  view  to  awing  the 
people  into  a  strict  observance  of  this  law,  simply 
exasperated  them  and  led  to  determined  opposition. 
When  the  Democratic  mayor  of  Boston  used  three 
hundred  armed  police  to  escort  the  poor  negro,  Sims, 
from  the  office  of  U.  S.  Commissioner  George  Ticknor 
Curtis,  to  the  Long  Wharf  and  put  him  on  a  vessel 
bound  for  Savannah,  and  filled  Faneuil  Hall,  that 
"Temple  of  Liberty,"  with  State  militia  to  assist 
the  police,  if  necessary,  in  sending  one  negro  back 
to  slavery,  natural  inquiries  arose  in  the  minds  of 
spectators.  Is  Massachusetts,  then,  a  slave  State? 

i'«  McKee,  Conventions  and  Platforms,  103. 


110  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

Are  all  the  resources  of  a  city  government,  supported 
by  taxes  levied  upon  our  property,  to  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  any  Southern  planter  who  may  choose 
to  claim  a  negro  residing  in  our  midst?  That  night, 
bells  were  tolled  in  the  churches  of  Boston  and  many 
of  the  neighboring  cities.  Public  meetings  were  held 
in  which  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  was  denounced  in 
unmeasured  terms  and  opposition  to  an  administra- 
tion and  a  party  which  would  lend  itself  to  such  base 
uses  grew  with  tremendous  rapidity.  Similar  scenes 
were  enacted,  with  similar  results,  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  latter  state  a  United  States 
marshal  employed  a  force  of  United  States  Marines  to 
secure  the  delivery  of  an  alleged  fugitive. 

Most  of  the  Ohio  cases  arising  under  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law  of  1793  originated  in  Southern  Ohio,  and 
the  Western  Reserve  was  not  vexed  with  seizures  of 
alleged  fugitives  or  suits  against  philanthropic  in- 
dividuals for  hindering  and  obstructing  such  seizures, 
until  February,  1845,  when  a  man  named  Mitchell, 
claiming  to  have  a  power  of  attorney  from  one  Dris- 
kell,  appeared  with  Driskell's  son  at  the  house  of 
Francis  D.  Parish,  a  prominent  lawyer  and  much 
respected  citizen  of  Sandusky,  Ohio,  and  sought  to 
take  Jane  Garretson,  a  colored  woman  working  as 
a  servant  in  Parish's  house,  and  her  five  year  old 
boy.  Parish  said  that  a  power  of  attorney  was  not 
sufficient  and  that  he  must  have  some  judicial  auth- 
ority before  he  would  let  them  take  Jane  and  her 
boy.  All  he  wanted,  was  a  fair  trial  in  some  court 
of  the  question  of  the  claimant's  ownership.  On 
this,  Mitchell  and  Driskell  withdrew,  and  suit  was 
brought  against  Parish  "for  hindering  and  obstruct- 
ing the  arrest  of  Jane  Garretson,  a  colored  woman, 
and  her  son,  slaves  of  the  plaintiff,  and  for  harboring 
or  concealing  them." 

On  the  first  trial  of  the  case  at  the  July  Term  of 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  before  Mr.  Justice 
McLean  and  a  jury,  the  plaintiff  was  represented  by 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  111 

Henry  Stanbery,  the  Attorney  General  of  Ohio  and 
afterwards  Attorney  General  in  President  Johnson's 
Cabinet,  and  Mr.  Parish  was  represented  by  Ebenezer 
Lane,  ex-Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  and 
Salmon  P.  Chase.  Justice  McLean  charged  the 
jury  that  the  claimant  or  his  agent  might  lawfully 
arrest  fugitives  for  the  purpose  of  taking  them  out 
of  the  State  without  judicial  sanction — 

"according  to  the  doctrine  laid  down  by  a  majority  of  the 
judges  in  the  case  of  Prigg  v.  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania, 
16  Peters,  539.  *  *  *  It  sweeps  aside  State  laws  and 
State  sovereignty,  and  enables  an  individual  who  claims  to 
act  as  agent  to  take  any  person,  white  or  colored,  as  a  fugitive 
from  labor,  without  any  exhibition  of  his  personal  authority, 
or  of  the  claims  of  the  master.  *  *  *  If  he  act  without 
authority  no  person  who  'hinders'  the  arrest  incurs  the  pen- 
alty."176 

And,   on  the  second  ground,  the  jury  were  in- 
structed that: — 

"To  harbor  or  conceal  a  fugitive  from  labor,  within  the 
meaning  of  the  statute,  it  must  be  done  with  a  view  to  elude 
the  claim  of  the  master.  If  a  shelter  be  afforded  to  the 
fugitive  for  an  hour,  a  day,  or  a  week,  when  there  is  mani- 
festly no  design  to  conceal  him  from  the  pursuit  of  the  master 
or  his  agent,  or  in  any  way  to  defeat  the  legal  right  of  the 
master  to  his  service,  there  is  no  violation  of  the  statute." 


The  jury,  after  being  out  several  hours,  dis- 
agreed and  were  discharged. 1 7  7 

On  a  second  trial  before  TJ.  S.  District  Judge 
Leavitt  and  a  jury  at  the  November  Term,  1849, 
Henry  C.  Noble  was  associated  with  Attorney  Gen- 
eral Stanbery,  and  Thomas  Corwin  and  J.  W.  An- 
drews assisted  Judge  Lane.  The  Judge  charged  the 
jury  that: — 

"it  is  clear  that  the  penalty  of  the  statute  may  be  incurred, 
without  a  resort  to  violence,  in  hindering  or  obstructing  an 
arrest.  *  *  *  If,  after  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  a 

i7«  Driskil!  v.  Parrish,  3  McLean,  634-5.  177  Ibid.,  653-4. 


112  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

person  is  a  fugitive,  a  demand  is  made  to  arrest  on  the  premises 
of  another  and  refused,  such  refusal  subjects  the  party  to  legal 
liability."178 

In  conclusion  the  judge  said: — 

"If  the  plaintiff  has  suffered  a  wrong,  for  which  the  law 
gives  him  redress,  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  the  court  and  jury  to 
aid  him  in  obtaining  that  redress.  It  cannot  be  disguised, 
that  the  subject  of  slavery  is  at  this  time  a  fruitful  source 
of  public  agitation.  Unfortunately,  it  has  become  a  chief 
element  of  political  excitement  in  our  country.  Whatever 
may  be  our  individual  views  of  this  subject,  it  is  clear,  we 
shall  best  acquit  ourselves  of  the  responsibility  now  resting 
upon  us,  by  taking  care  that  the  rights  of  the  parties  to  this 
action  are  in  no  way  affected  by  the  existing  state  of  public 
feeling,  on  the  question  of  slavery.  In  Ohio,  popular  senti- 
ment is  no  doubt  strongly  against  that  institution;  and, 
there  are  few,  if  any,  of  her  citizens  who  do  not  rejoice,  that 
its  admission  into  the  State  is  precluded  by  a  barrier,  that 
may  well  be  deemed  insurmountable." x  7  9 

The  jury  returned  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff 
on  the  count  for  "hindering  and  obstructing  the 
arrest" — assessing  the  damages  at  $500,  and  for 
the  defendant  on  the  count  "for  concealing  and  har- 
boring." 

Numerous  cases  arose  in  central  and  southern 
Ohio,  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850 — among 
them  that  of  the  wholesale  kidnapping  of  the  Polly 
family  in  Lawrence  county,  heretofore  noted. 1 8  ° 
Another  which  attracted  much  attention  was  that 
of  the  minor  negro  girl,  Rosetta,  who  was  taken 
from  an  agent  of  a  Kentucky  master  under  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  issued  by  a  Franklin  county  judge 
and  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  a  citizen  of 
Columbus,  and  then  taken  from  the  custody  of 
th  egally  appointed  guardian,  under  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  issued  by  Justice  McLean  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  This  case  was  argued  on 
behalf  of  Rosetta  by  ex-Senator  Chase,  ex-Judge 

»»•  Driskill  v.  Parrish.  5  McLean,  72-3.  179  Ibid.,  75. 

»•«  Supra,  pp.  104-5. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  113 

Timothy  Walker  and  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  whom 
Chase  described  in  a  letter  to  J.  T.  Trowbridge  as 
"a  young  lawyer  of  great  promise,"  and  who  "ac- 
quitted himself  with  great  distinction  in  the  defense 
of  Rosetta  before  Pendery,"  the  U.  S.  Commissioner. 
The  claimant  was  represented  by  Senator  George 
E.  Pugh,  ex- Judge  Flynn  and  a  Mr.  Wolf,  of  Louis- 
ville. 1 8 1 

Another  case  was  that  of  the  Garner  family, 
besieged  by  slave-hunters  in  a  cabin  in  Storrs  town- 
ship, Hamilton  county.  The  mother,  crazed  at 
the  prospect  of  her  children  being  condemned  to  a 
life  of  slavery,  seized  a  butcher  knife  and  tried  to 
kill  them  all — succeeding  as  to  one.  The  survivors 
were  arrested  and  taken  to  the  Police  Station  and 
thence  removed  under  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  issued 
by  a  county  judge  and  placed  in  the  custody  of  the 
Sheriff  of  Hamilton  county.  A  few  days  later  the 
parents  were  indicted  for  the  murder  of  their  child. 
Before  trial,  they  were  taken  from  the  custody  of  the 
Sheriff  under  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  issued  by  United 
States  Judge  Leavitt.  The  various  proceedings  re- 
sulted in  two  persons,  indicted  for  murder  and  in 
the  hands  of  the  proper  State  officer  awaiting  trial, 
being  taken  away  from  that  officer  and  carried  off 
to  the  State  of  Kentucky  by  agents  of  the  alleged 
owner.  The  "property"  of  a  slave-holder  could  not 
be  punished  for  crime,  and  his  rights  were  declared 
to  be  superior  to  all  State  laws  and  the  rights  of 
society. 1 8  2 

Another  case  grew  out  of  the  arrest,  by  deputy- 
Marshals  and  Kentuckians  engaged  in  a  slave-hunt 
in  Champaign  county,  of  four  citizens  of  that  county 
accused  of  hindering  and  obstructing  them  in  their 
enterprise.  The  friends  of  the  prisoners  secured  a 

s 
181  Warden,  Life  of  Chase,  344-5.     A  very  noticeable  feature  of  all  these  caser 

is  the  high  professional  standing  of  the  counsel  engaged  and  the  fact  that  poo 

ignorant  negroes  could  command  the  services  of  such  men. 
isz  Warden,  Life  of  Chase,  346  to  350  incl. 


114  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
the  Sheriff  who  undertook  to  serve  it,  but  was  beaten 
and  shot  at  by  the  slave-hunters.  Another  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  was  sued  out  in  Greene  county  and 
the  Sheriff  of  this  county,  being  forewarned,  took 
with  him  a  posse  large  enough  to  overcome  the  deputy- 
marshals  and  slave-hunters  after  a  brief  fight  in  which 
pistols  were  again  used.  The  deputy-Marshals  gave 
bail  for  their  appearance  and  the  slave-hunters  were 
lodged  in  the  Xenia  jail.  United  States  Judge 
Leavitt  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  brought  the 
slave-hunters  before  him  and  discharged  them.  Sen- 
ator George  E.  Pugh  and  Clement  L.  Vallandigham 
argued  the  case  for  the  Kentuckians  and  the  Attor- 
ney General  of  Ohio  appeared  for  the  Sheriff.  Again 
it  appeared  that  the  Courts  of  Ohio  could  issue  no 
writs  which  a  wandering  slave-hunter  was  bound 
to  respect. 1 8  3 

Another  hard  case  arose  in  Ross  county,  where 
a  colored  man  named  Lewis  Early,  a  former  slave  of 
G.  Kilgour  of  Cabell  county,  Va.,  brought  free  papers 
with  him  to  Ohio  and  deposited  them  for  safe  keeping 
with  J.  Robinson,  who  gave  him  employment.  In 
October,  1856,  Robinson's  house  was  burned  and 
Early's  papers  were  destroyed,  which  fact  became 
known  in  the  neighborhood.  On  March  25th,  Early 
was  seized  by  U.  S.  officials  and  hurried  before  U.  S. 
Commissioner  C.  C.  Browne  at  Cincinnati,  who 
ordered  him  to  be  delivered  to  J.  Kilgour,  as  son 
and  agent  of  G.  Kilgour,  although  Robinson  testified 
as  to  the  free  papers  and  their  loss  by  fire.  Applica- 
tion for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  made  to  Judge 
Leavitt,  but  before  the  papers  could  be  made  out, 
the  claimant  and  his  friends  carried  Early  over  into 
Kentucky  and  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court. *  8  4 

iss  Warden,  Life  of  Chase,  350-1. 

i« «  Cleveland  Leader,  April  8,  1859.  The  Leader  adds,  "No  person  of  reputed 
African  descent'  is  safe  for  an  hour  so  long  as  known  man-stealers  are  tolerated 
on  free  soil." 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  115 

He  was  sold  in  Louisville  for  $1,150,  out  of  which 
Kilgour  received  only  $425.  The  Louisville  Courier 
said:  "He  will  go  to  the  South  and  exercise  himself 
a  while  in  the  empire  of  King  Cotton."  1 8  6 

The  Ohio  Legislature  elected  in  the  fall  of  1856 
made  several  efforts  to  at  least  mitigate  the  evils 
now  apparent  in  the  practical  operation  of  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law.  They  passed  "AN  ACT  To  pro- 
hibit the  confinement  of  fugitives  from  slavery  in 
the  jails  of  Ohio,"  1 8  6  "AN  ACT  To  prevent  Slave- 
holding  and  Kidnapping  in  Ohio," 1 8  7  and  "AN 
ACT  To  prevent  Kidnapping."  1 8  8  The  second  act 
was  intended  to  cover  cases  like  the  Rosetta  case, 
where  a  slave  is  brought  into  Ohio  by  an  owner  or 
his  agent  and  held  there  indefinitely.  In  such  a 
case,  as  the  earlier  decisions  declared,  the  Constitu- 
tional provision  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitive  slaves 
and  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof  did  not  apply. 
The  third  act  provided: — 

"That  no  person  or  persons  shall  arrest  and  imprison,  or 
kidnap,  or  forcibly  or  fraudulently  carry  off  or  decoy  out  of 
this  State  any  free  black  or  mulatto  person,  or  attempt"  [to 
do  so]. 

"That  no  person  or  persons  shall  kidnap  or  forcibly  or 
fraudulently  carry  off  or  decoy  out  of  this  state  any  black  or 
mulatto  person  *  *  *  claimed  as  fugitives  from  service 
or  labor,  or  shall  attempt"  [to  do  so]  "without  first  taking 
such  black  or  mulatto  person  or  persons  before  the  Court, 
judge  or  commisioner  of  the  proper  circuit,  district  or  county 
having  jurisdiction,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  *  *  *  and  there,  *  *  *  establishing  by  proof 
his  or  her  property  in  such  person." 

"That  any  person  or  persons  offending  against  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor, 
and  on  conviction  thereof  *  *  *  shall  be  confined  in  the 
penitentiary  at  hard  labor  for  any  space  of  time  not  less  than 
three  years  nor  more  than  eight  years  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court  and  moreover  be  liable  for  all  costs  of  prosecution." 

»•»  Cleveland  Leader  t  April  13,  1859. 

i  •  •  O.  L..  LIV.,  170.  » « » Ibid.,  1 86.  » • » Ibid.,  221-2. 


116  THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850 

This  Legislature  also  passed  a  series  of  joint 
resolutions,  one  calling  for  a  re-formation  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  of  which  a 
majority  of  the  Judges  were  then  appointees  from 
slave-holding  States,  and  requesting  our  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  Congress:— 

"to  use  their  influence  and  votes  to  procure  the  adoption  of 
such  amendments  of  the  laws  organizing  the  federal  judiciary, 
as  will  give  to  the  several  States  of  the  Union  that  just  pro- 
portion of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  which  they 
are  entitled  by  population  and  business  and  the  equality  of 
weight  in  the  several  departments  of  the  government  of  right 
belonging  to  the  people  of  these  States."  1 8  9 

Another,  "Relative  to  Slavery  and  the  Exten- 
sion thereof,"  declaring: — 

"That  the  people  of  Ohio  now,  as  they  always  have  done, 
look  upon  the  institution  of  slavery  as  an  evil  unfavorable 
to  the  full  development  of  the  spirit  and  practical  benefits 
of  free  institutions;  and  that  entertaining  these  sentiments 
they  will  feel  it  their  duty  to  use  all  their  power  consistent 
with  the  national  compact  to  prevent  the  increase,  to  miti- 
gate, and  finally  to  eradicate  the  evil."  1 9  ° 

"That  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  of  Congress  of  1787, 
so  far  as  the  same  relates  to  slavery,  should  be  extended  to 
all  territory  of  the  United  States  not  yet  organized  into 
States. 

"That  our  Senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  are 
hereby  requested  to  vote  against  the  admission  of  any  State 
in  the  Union,  unless  slavery  or  involuntary  servitude,  ex- 
cept for  crime,  be  excluded  in  the  constitution  thereof."  x  9 l 

Another,  "Relative  to  the  decision  in  the  Dred 
Scott  case;  declaring: — 

"1st.  That  this  general  assembly  has  observed  with  re- 
gret, that,  in  the  opinion  lately  pronounced  by  Chief  Justice 
Taney  *  *  *  in  the  case  of  Dred  Scott  against  J.  H. 
Sanford  occasion  has  been  taken  to  promulgate  extra  ju- 
dicially certain  doctrines  concerning  slavery,  not  less  con- 


">.0.  L.,  LIV.,  297. 

i » o  This  will  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  planks  in  the  Democratic  platform 
adopted  in  1848-1850,  1852,  1853  and  1855. 
i«iO.  L.,  LIV.,  298. 


THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW  OF  1850  117 

tradictory  to  well  known  facts  of  history,  than  repugnant  to 
the  plain  provisions  of  the  constitution  and  subversive  of 
the  rights  of  freemen  and  free  States. 

"2d.  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  general  assembly,  every 
free  person,  born  within  the  limits  of  any  State  of  this  Union, 
is  a  citizen  thereof  and  to  deny  any  such  person  the  right 
of  sueing  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  in  those  cases 
where  that  right  is  guaranteed  by  the  constitution  to  all 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  is  a  palpable  and  unwarranted 
violation  of  that  sacred  instrument. 

"3d.  That  the  doctrine  announced  by  the  chief  justice 
*  *  *  that  the  federal  constitution  regards  slaves  as  mere 
property,  and  protects  the  claims  of  masters  to  slaves,  to  the 
same  extent,  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  rights  of  owners 
in  property,  foreshadows,  if  it  does  not  include  the  doctrine 
that  masters  may  hold  slaves  as  property  within  the  limits  of 
free  States,  during  temporary  visits,  or  for  purposes  of  tran- 
sit, to  the  practical  consequences  of  which  doctrine  no  free 
State  can  submit  with  honor. 

"4th.  That  the  doctrine  also  announced  in  behalf  of  a 
majority  of  the  court  that  there  exists  no  power  in  the  gen- 
eral government  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  territories  of 
the  United  States  subverts  the  spirit  of  the  constitution, 
annuls  the  just  authority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
over  their  own  territories,  and  contradicts  the  uniform 
practice  of  the  government. 

"5th.  That  the  general  assembly,  in  behalf  of  the  people 
of  Ohio,  hereby  solemnly  protest  against  these  doctrines,  as 
destructive  of  personal  liberty,  of  State's  rights,  of  consti- 
tutional obligations  and  of  the  Union;  and,  so  protesting, 
further  declares  its  unalterable  convictions  that 
the  fathers  of  the  republic  *  *  *  in  the  constitution, 
by  the  comprehensive  guaranty  that  no  person  shall  be  de- 
prived of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of 
law,  designed  to  secure  these  rights  against  all  invasion  by 
the  federal  government,  and  to  make  the  establishment  of 
slavery  outside  of  slave  States  a  constitutional  impossi- 
bility."192 

These  last  resolutions  command  careful  perusal 
by  a  lawyer-like  precision  and  clarity  of  statement 
and  a  regard  for  fundamental  principles  quite  ex- 
ceptional in  legislative  fulminations.  They  did  not 
carry  the  weight  and  have  the  influence  on  public 

i  •  *  O.  L.,  LIV.,  301. 


l 


118  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

opinion  which  they  deserved;  because,  in  the  fall 
election,  which  was  held  less  than  six  months  after 
their  adoption  and  before  they  were  printed  and  in 
general  circulation,  the  Administration  Democrats 
gained  a  majority  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature 
and  proceeded  to  undo  the  work  of  the  preceding 
legislature. 

The  reversal  was  not  due  to  any  change  in  the 
sentiments  of  a  majority  of  the  people,  but  to  the 
apathy,  commonly  observed  in  the  year  following 
an  exciting  Presidential  campaign,  and  to  the  tend- 
ency of  reformers  to  regard  their  work  as  complete 
when  they  have  once  succeeded  in  incorporating 
their  views  in  public  laws  and  resolutions.  They 
pat  themselves  on  the  back  and  go  to  sleep  while  men 
stimulated  by  self  interest  and  political  ambition 
return  to  the  charge  and  annul  all  the  disinterested 
reformers  have  accomplished. 

The  new  Democratic  Legislature  promptly  re- 
pealed the  act  prohibiting  the  confinement  of  fugitives 
from  slavery  in  the  jails  of  Ohio,  and  the  act  to  pre- 
vent slaveholding  and  kidnapping  in  Ohio.  This 
was  notice  to  all  slave-hunters  that  the  Ohio  field 
was  again  open  for  the  pursuit  of  negroes  and  that 
no  obstacles  would  be  placed  in  their  way.  The 
fact  that  the  third  Act  above  mentioned,  relating 
to  kidnapping  only,  had  not  been  repealed,  seems  to 
have  escaped  general  observation. 

THE   OBERLIN— WELLINGTON 
RESCUE  CASES. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  there  was  renewed 
activity  during  the  summer  of  1858  in  the  profitable 
business  of  capturing  negroes,  hustling  them  out 
of  the  State,  selling  them  for  the  $1,000  to  $1,500 
which  each  would  bring,  and  dividing  the  proceeds. 
There  was  no  way  in  which  a  brutal  man,  with  little 
education,  could  make  so  much  money  as  in  slave 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  119 

hunting  or  man  stealing,  and  the  "law"  had,  now, 
no  terrors  to  restrain  him. J  9  3  After  the  case  of 
Driskell  v.  Parish, 1 9  4  the  Western  Reserve  had  not 
experienced  the  rigors  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Laws, 
of  either  1793  or  1850,  and  there  was  an  unusual 
influx  of  colored  immigrants  from  other  sections  of 
the  State,  as  well  as  from  the  South,  who  believed 
that,  there,  they  would  be  comparatively  immune 
from  capture,  or  annoyance.  In  the  decade  1850 
to  1860,  there  had  been  a  45%  increase  in  the  colored 
population  of  Ohio;  and  in  two  counties  of  the  Western 
Reserve  the  increase  had  been  more  than  100  per 
cent.  According  to  the  census  of  1860,  there  were 
894  blacks  in  Cuyahoga  county,  most  of  whom  were 
concentrated  in  the  city  of  Cleveland  where  con- 
cealment was  easy  and  where  it  was  easy  to  get 
away  on  a  Lake  vessel  in  case  of  a  raid  by  slave- 
catchers.  There  were  549  blacks  in  Lorain  county, 
a  large  percentage  of  whom  were  settled  in  and  about 
Oberlin  on  account  of  its  educational  advantages 
and  philanthropic  spirit. l  9  5  The  Cleveland,  and 
various  county  newspapers  boasted  of  the  immunity 
of  colored  residents  from  capture  and  reported  with 
defiant  satisfaction  the  passage  through  the  Reserve 
to  such  Lake  ports  as  Conneaut,  Ashtabula,  Fair- 


»••  Portage  County  Democrat.  Sept.  29,  1858,  said,  "Our  National  Government 
is  an  engine  of  oppression — James  Buchanan  is  the  head  slave-catcher.  His 
subordinate  co-workers,  the  agents  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  are  remarkably 
active  in  Ohio,  the  present  season."  The  Guernsey  Times,  Dec.  23,  1858.,  said, 
"Ohio  has  become  the  arena  for  slave  hunts."  See  also,  Ashtabula  Sentinel, 
Aug.  12,  1858,  and  Painesville  Telegraph,  Sept.  9,  1858. 

i  •  *  Supra,  pp.  1 10  to  1 12  incl. 

»••  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  September  10,  1858,  "It  is  now  ten  years  since 
any  attempt  has  been  made  to  get  possession  of  fugitives  from  service  in  Oberlin. 
The  effort  then  failed.  From  that  time  the  few  fugitives  settled  there  have  dwelt 
in  comparative  peace  and  safety.  They  have  made  themselves  pleasant  homes, 
accumulated  property,  improved  their  minds  and  educated  their  children,  and 
have,  in  all  respects,  been  good  citizens;"  and  again,  April  19,  1859,  "During  the 
M  arshalship  of  Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Fitch,  the  latter  the  immediate  predecessor 
of  Marshal  Johnson,  not  a  fugitive  was  seized  in  Northern  Ohio."  and  again 
April  30,  1859,  "During  the  whole  of  President  Pierce's  and  the  half  of  Mr.  Buchan- 
an's Administration  no  efforts  were  made  in  these  parts,  in  a  business  so  odious 
to  the  people,  and  so  disreputable  to  the  actors  therein." 


120  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

port,  Cleveland,  Lorain,  Huron  and  Sandusky,  of 
colored  travelers  on  the  safe  and  well  equipped 
"Underground  Railroad."  1 9  6 

In  the  summer  of  1858,  one  Anderson  Jennings, 
of  Maysville,  Ky.,  made  his  third  trip  to  Ohio  in 
search  of  "likely"  negroes,  who  either  had  been,  or 
would  make,  useful  slaves.  He  visited  Cleveland, 
Sandusky,  Elyria,  and  Painesville,  Ohio,  but  did  not 
stay  long  in  either  place.  He  had  with  him  on  his 
visits  to  Sandusky,  Elyria,  and  Painesville,  United 
States  Deputy  Marshal  A.  P.  Dayton,  of  the  North- 
ern District  of  Ohio,  who  was  then  a  resident  of 
Oberlin.  Their  errand  in  Painesville  being  sus- 
pected, they  were  questioned  and  warned  to  leave 
the  place  in  twenty  minutes  and  they  left. 1 9  7  Dayton 


»••  The  Portage  County  Democrat,  August  4,  1858,  said: 

"UNDERGROUND  R.  R.— Some  little  interest  was  awakened  in  Salem, 
Columbiana  County,  last  week  by  the  appearance  of  a  Virginia  slaveholder 
in  that  town,  in  search  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  property  recognized  in  that  State 
[a  colored  woman,  wife  of  a  free-born  native  of  Ohio]  *  '  *  Some  of  the  en- 
terprising officers  of  the  U.  G.  R.  R.  took  the  matter  in  charge  and  passed 
the  young  woman  over  the  road  to  the  dominions  of  Queen  Victoria.  The  young 
husband  tarried  a  day  or  two  and  passed  through  this  place  on  Conductor  Swayne's 
train  on  Monday,  to  join  his  wife  in  a  land  where  slave-drivers,  slaveholders'  laws 
and  United  States  Marshals  cannot  interrupt  the  peace  or  infringe  upon  the 
rights  of  free  citizens."  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  Aug.  21,  1858,  "U.G.R.R.— 
We  are  informed  by  one  who  is  in  the  secret  that  no  less  than  seven  slaves,  three 
men  and  their  wives  and  one  child,  all  the  way  from  Maryland,  passed  through 
this  city  day  before  yesterday  on  their  way  to  the  Canadas,  where  they  are  by 
this  time  safely  landed." 

The  Painesville   Telegraph  said,  August  26,   1858: — 

"The  U.  G.  R.  R. — The  travel  on  this  line  is  constant  and  increasing.  Last 
Monday  night  some  six  or  seven  thousand  dollars  worth  of  passengers  passed  over 
on  the  underground  track  not  a  thousand  miles  from  these  parts."  The  Medina 
Gazette  said,  Sept.,  1858,  "Last  Friday  night  three  fugitives  from  slavery, 
Kentucky,  a  man  and  two  women,  arrived  in  this  town  on  their  way  to  Canada 
They  were  very  intelligent.  Had  been  about  four  weeks  on  the  road.  *  *  * 
Quite  a  sum  of  money  was  raised  here  for  their  relief,  and  they  left  Saturday 
morning  rejoicing."  The  Conneaut  Reporter,  January — ,  1859,  said,  "ANOTHER 
PASSENGER— A  'likely'  thousand  dollar  nigger  from  Maysville,  Ky.,  passed 
through  here  last  Saturday  evening,  toward  the  North  Star.  Several  of  our 
citizens  endangered  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  to  aid  his  escape."  See  also 
Ashtabula  Sentinel,  Aug.  12,  Aug.  26,  and  Sept.  3,  1858,  and  Jan.  6  and  Jan.  27, 
1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  Aug.  18  and  25,  1858;  and  Cleveland  Herald,  Aug. 
21  and  23,  1858. 

»•»  Painesville  Telegraph,  Sept.  9,  1858;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  Sept.  8,  1858; 
Cleveland  Leader,  Sept.  3,  1858.  Jennings  himself  testified  in  open  court  about 
this  visit.  He  said:  "Heard  my  boy  Henry  was  at  Elyria;  got  there,  and  heard 
he  had  gone  to  Painesville.  Went  there  and  found  a  worse  place  than  Oberlin. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  121 

took  up  his  residence  in  Oberlin  just  after  his  appoint- 
ment as  Deputy.  He  soon  became  persona  non  grata, 
as  he  was  suspected  of  espionage  on  the  colored  popu- 
lation and  being  in  close  touch  with  would-be  captors. 
He  was  implicated  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
capture  the  Wagoner  family  about  the  middle  of 
August,  1858,  was  recognized  and  driven  off  by 
Wagoner,  carrying  a  shot-gun  in  his  hand  and  shout- 
ing to  rouse  the  neighborhood.  On  Friday  night, 
August  20,  1858,  an  attempt  was  made  by  four  men, 
Dayton  among  them,  to  seize  and  carry  off  a  negro 
woman  and  her  children.  The  shrieks  of  the  woman 
aroused  the  neighborhood  and  there  was  such  a  rapid 
gathering  of  the  citizens  that  the  kidnappers  aban- 
doned their  prey  and  disappeared.  On  Monday 
night  of  Commencement  week,  August  23,  1858, 
just  as  President  Hitchcock  of  Western  Reserve 
College  had  closed  his  address  to  the  College  societies, 
the  attempt  was  renewed.  The  fire-bell  was  rung 
and  the  students  rushed  to  the  scene  of  action  and 
again  the  would-be  captors  hurried  off  without 
their  prey.  If  Dayton  had  a  warrant  for  the  arrest 
of  these  persons,  he  chose  a  very  sneaking  and  sus- 
picious way  of  executing  it.  A  mulatto  stone-cutter, 
James  Smith,  was  advised  by  a  correspondent  in 
North  Carolina  that  he  had  better  look  out,  for 
Dayton  had  written  to  parties  there  describing  him 
and  offering  to  arrest  him  if  they  would  send  him  a 
power  of  attorney.  Smith  met  Dayton  a  few  days 
after  getting  this  letter,  accused  him  of  treachery 
and  chased  him  into  the  Palmer  House,  striking 
him  with  a  hickory  cane. 1 9  8 

Never  see  so  many  niggers  and  abolitionists  in  any  one  place  in  my  life!  Dayton 
was  with  me.  They  give  us  twenty  minutes  to  leave,  and  then  wouldn't  allow  us 
that!  There  was  a  crowd  of  fifty  or  sixty,  armed.  Might  as  well  try  to  hunt  the 
devil  there  as  to  hunt  a  nigger.  Was  glad  to  get  away  as  fast  as  I  could.  Kept 
very  close  at  Oberlin.  Didn't  tell  my  business  to  many.  Dayton  and  Warren 
were  at  my  room." 

»»8  Cleveland  Leader.  Sept.  10  and  21;  and  Dec.  14,  1858;  Sandusky  Register. 
August  — .  1858;  Cleveland  Herald.  Aug.  28,  1858;  Je/ersonian  Democrat.  Chardon, 


\ 


122  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  for  the  writer  to 
record,  here,  some  personal  recollections  of  a  visit 
made  to  Oberlin  in  August,  1858.  One  day  as  he 
was  walking  by  Wack's  Hotel  on  South  Main  Street 
with  a  cousin,  he  saw  two  or  three  rough  looking 
men  sitting  on  the  porch,  who  were  pointed  out  as 
"slave-catchers."  It  was  impressed  upon  him  that 
"slave-catchers"  were  the  most  depraved  of  human 
beings — worse  than  thieves,  burglars  or  murderers 
— and  he  gave  Wack's  Hotel  a  wide  berth  after  that, 
not  only  on  this  visit,  but  on  one  he  made  three 
years  later.  I  attended  some  of  the  Commencement 
exercises  and  remember  particularly  speeches  by 
John  C.  Hutchins,  afterwards  a  prominent  lawyer 
and  judge  in  Cleveland,  and  William  D.  Scrimegeour, 
a  fiery  Scotchman,  who  used  plain  Anglo-Saxon 
language  and  some  striking  similes.  He  brought 
down  the  house  by  saying,  in  regard  to  slavery, 
"The  day  for  soft  speeches  is  past.  The  time  for 
action  has  come.  You'd  as  well  try  to  knock  down 
this  meeting  house"  (which  still  stands)  "with  a 
pancake  as  to  destroy  slavery  by  a  string  of  resolu- 
tions." 

I  spent  the  latter  part  of  August  at  the  home 
of  my  aunt  Elizabeth  Cochran,  wife  of  Stephen 
W.  Cole,  about  2  miles  northeast  of  Oberlin.  My 
uncle  seemed  to  have  a  good  deal  of  business  with 
a  colored  blacksmith,  named  Augustus  Chambers, 
whose  smithy  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east 
of  Mr.  Cole's  house.  He  took  me  along  on  three 
occasions,  once  when  he  had  a  horse  to  be  shod, 
once  when  he  had  a  wagon-tire  to  be  reset,  and  once 
when  he  seemed  to  have  nothing  in  particular  to  do, 


Sept.  3  and  17, 1858;  Norwalk  Reflector,  Sept.  21.  1858;  The  Oberlin  Evangelist,  Sept. 
29,  1858,  said:  "Our  community  has  been  excited  at  various  times  during  a  few 
weeks  past  by  attempts  to  capture  fugitives  in  this  place.  These  efforts  have  been 
made,  as  we  understand,  by  men  from  Kentucky.  *  *  *  It  is  not  necessary 
to  say  that  these  efforts  have  stirred  up  intense  feeling  on  the  part  of  our  citizens. 
*  *  *  In  these  undertakings  there  was  no  approach  to  success  until  stratagem 
and  treachery  were  resorted  to." 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  123 

but  talked  to  Chambers  in  a  low  tone  of  voice.  Cham- 
bers became  highly  excited.  He  brought  his  hammer 
down  on  his  anvil  with  a  mighty  crash,  then  threw 
it  in  the  corner.  He  paced  about  his  smithy,  ges- 
ticulating violently  and  talking  in  a  loud  voice, 
which  was  still  musical  and  pleasing,  and  his  eyes 
flashed  fire.  "So  they  tried  to  steal  that  mammy 
and  her  children  right  under  your  noses!  So  they 
rang  the  firebells  and  got  out  the  fire  company  and 
the  hooks  and  ladders  to  stop  it,  did  they?  Well! 
how  long  are  you  going  to  let  these  man-stealers 
lie  around  Oberlin?  I  don't  call  them  slave-catchers; 
there  are  mighty  few  slaves  around  here.  I  call  them 
man-stealers — devilish  thieves!" 

My  uncle  tried  to  quiet  him  and  suggested  that 
he  should  go  into  hiding  for  a  few  days.  There  was 
a  swamp  and  dense  forest  in  those  days  (since  drained 
and  cleared)  which  stretched  from  a  point  not  far 
from  Chambers'  smithy  nearly  to  Elyria  and,  while 
I  did  not  understand  it  clearly  at  the  time,  I  became 
convinced,  later,  that  many  negroes  were  in  hiding 
in  that  swamp  and  that  Chambers  was  in  close  com- 
munication with  them,  and  that,  through  Chambers, 
my  uncle  was  extending  aid  to  the  poor  refugees. 
"No,  Sir!"  thundered  Chambers,  "/  stay  right  here. 
And  if  any  one  of  those  men  darkens  my  door,*  he 
is  a  dead  man."  He  then  showed  my  uncle  how 
impossible  it  was  for  him  to  be  taken  unawares, 
how  he  had  a  hammer  here  and  a  bar  of  iron  there, 
and  a  sharpened  poker  lying  in  the  forge  red  hot 
most  of  the  time.  He  took  us  into  a  lean-to  in  the 
rear  and  showed  us  a  double-barrel  shot  gun  "loaded 
with  buck"  over  the  door,  and  knives  and  a  pistol 
hung  on  the  siding  near  his  bed.  "But,  Chambers!" 
said  my  uncle,  "you  wouldn't  kill  a  man,  would  you?" 
"Kill  a  man?  No.  But  kill  a  man-stealer?  Yes! 
Quicker 'n  a  dog.  As  God  is  my  judge,  the  man  who 
tries  to  take  my  life  will  lose  his  own."  My  uncle 
looked  at  me  and  then  said  to  Chambers,  "Sh-h-h, 


124  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

little  pitchers  have  big  ears."  Chambers  said,  "I 
don't  care  how  big  his  ears  are,  or  his  mouth.  I 
don't  care  who  hears,  or  how  many  he  tells.  Cham- 
bers will  never  be  taken  alive."  "But,"  my  uncle 
said,  "we  all  know  you  are  a  freeman  and  have  your 
'papers,  so  that  any  court  or  judge  will  clear  you— 
even  if  they  do  take  you." 

"I  will  never  trust  them.  A  man  with  a  drop 
of  colored  blood  in  his  veins  has  no  show.  Any 
white  man  who  wants  to  make  a  few  hundred  dollars 
can  swear  away  my  rights.  They  will  not  let  me 
say  a  word.  My  papers  are  all  right,  but  how  can 
I  hold  on  to  them  or  prove  they  are  'jinuine.'  These 
men-stealers  are  just  lying  around  Oberlin  until 
they  can  spot  a  likely  negro,  get  his  description 
down  pat — size,  marks  and  all — then  get  some  fellow 
down  South  to  claim  him  and  give  them  his  affidavy 
and  then  they  will  sail  in  and  take  him.  An  average 
negro  in  good  condition  is  worth  $1,000.  On  account 
of  my  blacksmithing,  I  s'pose  I  would  be  worth 
$2,000  on  a  big  plantation,  and  if  this  thing  goes  on 
much  longer  they  will  try  to  get  me." 

His  voice  was  tremulous  with  emotion  and  a 
sense  of  wrong. 

"But  we  will  testify  for  you,"  my  uncle  said. 
"Think  they  are  going  to  have  me  tried  here?"  Cham- 
bers said.  "They  will  take  me  way  off  somewheres 
where  you-uns  can't  come  and  more'n  likely  they 
won't  try  me  at  all.  They'll  slip  me  over  the  Ohio 
river  if  they  can  and  say  nothing  to  nobody.  If 
they  do  try  to  prove  up  it  will  be  in  the  back  office 
of  some  Commissioner  appointed  by  a  Democratic 
judge,  with  no  one  present,  but  the  men  who  get  me, 
who  say  their  say,  and  I  am  not  allowed  to  say  any- 
thing. For  fear,  even  then,  that  a  C'missioner 
might  let  me  off,  the  law  says  to  him — send  him 
down  South  and  you  get  $10 — set  him  free  and  you 
only  get  $5.  And  that  isn't  all.  When  you  pick  up 
a  negro  worth  $1,000  or  $2,000,  there  is  money  to 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  125 

divide  among  all  concerned.  There  is  nothing  coming 
to  anybody  if  you  set  him  free." 

I  think  his  words  would  have  made  a  lasting 
impression  on  my  mind  anyway;  but  the  capture 
of  John  Price,  a  fortnight  later,  by  the  very  men 
he  was  talking  about,  the  subsequent  indictment 
and  trial  of  Price's  rescuers,  and  the  excited  talk 
I  heard  in  Warren,  Ohio,  to  which  I  returned  soon 
after  the  first  of  September,  1858,  made  them  indelible. 
And  I  never  heard  any  one  state  the  objections  to 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  more  clearly  and  more  elo- 
quently than  this  colored  man,  who  "had  no  rights 
that  a  white  man  was  bound  to  respect." 

It  was  a  significant  thing  that  when  Jennings 
came  to  Northern  Ohio,  looking  for  slaves  of  his 
own  and,  incidentally,  for  slaves  belonging  to  others, 
he  should  go  right  to  Dayton,  at  Oberlin,  and  keep 
in  touch  with  him  until  he  had  accomplished  the 
object  of  his  visit.  The  following  account  is  con- 
densed from  the  sworn  testimony  of  witnesses  given 
at  two  trials  in  the  United  States  District  Court 
at  Cleveland,  during  the  months  of  April  and  May, 
1859,  as  reported  daily  in  the  Cleveland  Leader  and 
Cleveland  Herald. 

Jennings  arrived  in  Oberlin  late  in  August, 
1858,  and  went  to  Wack's  hotel,  which  he  made 
the  base  for  operations.  Dayton  and  a  man  named 
Warren  met  him  at  the  hotel.  He  himself  kept  out 
of  sight  most  of  the  time  while  they  scouted  around 
and  made  inquiries  for  him.  It  was  on  clues  fur- 
nished by  them  that  he  visited  the  places  above 
mentioned,  ostensibly  looking  for  a  run-away  slave 
of  his  own.  He  did  not  find  him,  but  he  wrote  to 
John  G.  Bacon  of  Maysville,  Ky.,  that  he  had  "dis- 
covered a  nigger  near  Oberlin  answering  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  his  run-away  slave,  John,  and  that  if  he 
would  send  him  a  power  of  attorney  he  would  get 
him.  He  then  went  to  Sandusky  and  from  there 
went  to  his  home  near  Maysville  to  urge  Bacon  to 


126  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

give  him  the  power  of  attorney.  This  follow-up 
move  seems  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  knowledge, 
gained  before  he  wrote,  that  a  man  named  McMillen 
already  had  a  power  from  Bacon  to  take  John.  He 
must  have  learned  this  from  Dayton,  with  whom 
McMillen  had  been  working  before  Jennings  came. 1 9  9 
Bacon  told  Jennings  that  he  had  executed  a  power 
of  attorney  and  given  it  to  Richard  P.  Mitchell. 1 9  ** 
to  take  to  him  at  Oberlin,  and  that  he  must  have 
passed  Mitchell,  on  the  Ohio  river.  The  power  of 
attorney  was  not  Bacon's  only,  and  did  not  apply 
to  "John"  alone.  Richard  Loyd  joined  in  it  and  it 
described  his  negro  "Frank."  It  was  dated  Septem- 
ber 4,  1858.  Jennings  hurried  back  to  Oberlin  and 
met  Mitchell  who  had  been  waiting  there  for  him 
two  days.  Mitchell  gave  him  the  power  of  attorney 
and  said  he  had  seen  "John"  and  he  was  the  boy 
wanted.  Jennings  said,  to  make  things  doubly  sure, 
he  would  get  a  warrant  from  a  United  States  Com- 
missioner and  a  United  States  Deputy  Marshal  to 
execute  it.  Oberlin  is  in  the  Northern  District  of 
Ohio  and  less  than  35  miles  from  Cleveland,  where 
there  was  a  United  States  Judge,  a  United  States 
Marshal,  and  a  United  States  Commissioner.  Cleve- 
land was  the  natural  and  proper  place  to  apply  for 
a  warrant  and  the  Cleveland  Marshal,  or  one  of  his 
deputies,  was  the  proper  person  to  make  the  arrest. 
A  Cleveland  judge,  or  U.  S.  Commissioner,  was  the 
proper  person  to  hear  and  decide  whether  John 
Price  was  Bacon's  slave,  and  whether  he  was  a 
"fugitive  from  labor"  within  the  meaning  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  warrant  could  have  been 

1  •  •  When  quizzed  about  this  apparent  breach  of  confidence,  on  the  second  of  the 
trials  above  mentioned,  Jennings  made  a  characteristic  explanation.  "McMillen 
had  a  power  of  attorney  to  take  John  when  I  wrote  for  one.  Don't  know  whether 
Bacon  knew  he  had  one  or  not.  S'pose  McMillen  went  and  got  it  for  his  own 
use,  without  Bacon's  knowledge!"  This  interesting  letter  was  conveniently  miss- 
ing at  the  trial. 

»••»  Richard  P.  Mitchell  may  well  be  termed  a  professional  slave-catcher. 
He  figured  in  the  Sandusky  case  of  Driskill  v  Parrish,  supra,  pp.  1 10  to  1 12.  He  had 
twice  before  visited  Ohio  in  search  for  the  Maysville  runaways. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  127 

procured  and  the  arrest  made  within  a  day.  John's 
friends  and  neighbors  could  have  attended  the  hear- 
ing without  great  inconvenience  and  satisfied  them- 
selves that  he  had  a  fair  trial.  Jennings  knew  all 
this  and  had  been  in  constant  communication  with 
Dayton,  to  whom  the  warrant  would  naturally  have 
been  delivered  for  execution.  But  Jennings  did  not 
go  to  Cleveland.  He  went  to  Columbus,  which  is 
in  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio,  and  hunted  up 
Jacob  K.  Lowe,  a  U.  S.  Deputy  Marshal  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Ohio,  and  the  two  went  before 
Sterne  Chittenden,  a  TJ.  S.  Commissioner  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Ohio,  who  issued  a  warrant 
to  any  deputy-Marshal  of  that  District  for  the  arrest 
of — not  John  Price  of  Oberlin  but — "John,  a  fugi- 
tive and  person  escaped  from  service  by  him  owed 
to  John  G.  Bacon"  and  commanding  him  to  forth- 
with "have  his  body  before  some  United  States 
Commissioner,  within  and  for  the  Southern  District 
of  Ohio." 

The  warrant  was  handed  to  Lowe,  and  Jennings 
returned  to  Oberlin  with  Lowe  and  Davis,  the  latter 
a  jailer  and  deputy  sheriff  of  Franklin  county — ar- 
riving there  late  Friday  night,  September  10,  1858. 
Jennings,  Mitchell,  Lowe  and  Davis  had  a  conference 
with  Dayton  and  Warren  at  Wack's  hotel.  Both 
Dayton  and  Warren  said  that  it  would  be  dangerous 
to  attempt  to  arrest  John  Price  in  Oberlin;  that 
some  scheme  must  be  contrived  for  getting  him 
out  of  town  so  that  he  could  be  seized  and  carried 
off  without  raising  a  disturbance.  To  Jennings' 
question,  "if  he  knowed  of  any  one  a  man  could 
put  confidence  in,"  old  Mr.  Warren  told  him  he 
could  trust  Lewis  D.  Boynton,  who  lived  about 
two  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Oberlin.  Jennings 
and  Lowe  went  to  Boynton's  house  Saturday  night 
and  stayed  there  until  late  Sunday  night.  They 
fared  better  than  they  would  have  fared  at  the  hotel, 
and  before  coming  away,  arranged  with  Boynton's 


128  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

son,  Shakespeare,  to  drive  into  town  and  get  John 
Price  to  go  out  with  him  to  dig  potatoes,  and,  if  he 
consented,  to  let  them  know  so  that  they  could 
follow  and  arrest  him.  John  was  not  anxious  to 
work,  himself,  but  offered  to  go  with  Shakespeare 
and  hunt  up  "a  nigger  down  at  New  Oberlin  that  he 
thought  would  go  and  dig  potatoes."  This  was 
reported  and  Shakespeare  took  John  in  his  carriage 
and  drove  slowly  eastward  until  about  two  miles 
from  Oberlin,  when  Lowe,  Mitchell  and  Davis  in  a 
two-seated  carriage  overtook  them  and  transferred 
John  to  their  own  carriage  and  started  for  Wellington 
by  a  diagonal  road  from  Elyria  which  passed  to 
the  east  of  Oberlin  and  struck  the  road  from  that 
place  to  Wellington  about  two  miles  south  of  Oberlin. 
The  seizure  was  effected  without  any  outcry  or  dis- 
turbance. Shakespeare  returned  to  Wack's  tavern— 
not  the  "Mermaid" — reported  the  capture  to  Ander- 
son Jennings,  the  leader  in  the  enterprise,  and  re- 
ceived $20  for  his  morning's  work — not  too  much, 
considering  that  Jennings  was  to  receive  $500  for 
delivering  the  negro  to  the  claimant  in  Maysville, 
Kentucky. 

Jennings  then  started  for  Wellington  to  join 
the  captors.  Two  young  men,  driving  from  Pitts- 
field  to  Oberlin,  met  the  three  men  with  the  negro, 
John,  and,  later,  Jennings.  They  knew  at  once 
what  it  meant,  and,  hurrying  to  Oberlin,  spread 
the  news  that  the  "Southerners"  had  caught  John 
Price  and  were  carrying  him  off  to  Wellington- 
nine  miles  away — with  the  evident  intention  of 
taking  the  train  South  which  went  through  about 
5  o'clock.  There  was  great  excitement  and  in  a 
short  time  numbers  of  students  and  towns-people 
started  for  Wellington  in  buggies,  spring  wagons, 
hay  wagons  and  any  old  rig  they  could  get.  Some 
of  these  were  borrowed  for  the  occasion,  without  the 
formality  of  consulting  the  owners.  The  speed  limit, 
as  fixed  by  custom,  was  exceeded  by  almost  every 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  129 

outfit.  One  man  said  he  made  the  distance  in  three 
quarters  of  an  hour,  another  testified  that  his  party 
made  it  in  40  minutes.  Simeon  Bushnell,  who  started 
late,  because  he  wanted  "a  good  rig  and  a  man  with 
a  gun,"  passed  nearly  everybody  on  the  road.  As 
no  tickets  were  sold,  it  is  impossible  to  tell  how 
many  went  down  to  Wellington  on  this  excursion, 
but  there  were  some  50  or  60  in  all.  They  had  no 
organization  and  no  leader.  Many  went  from  mere 
curiosity  and  Mr.  Wack  went  to  get  Jennings  to 
give  him  a  good  ten  dollar  bill  for  one  which  Jennings 
had  paid  him,  and  which  the  bank  said  was  counter- 
feit. There  were  perhaps  20  guns  in  the  crowd, 
very  few  of  which  were  loaded.  The  first  thought 
of  those  who  were  in  earnest  was,  they  must  prevent 
the  kidnappers — for  that  is  what  all  believed  the 
Southerners  to  be — from  taking  the  afternoon  train 
South,  and  so  they  surrounded  the  Wads  worth 
House, 2  °  °  the  hotel  to  which  the  captors  had  taken 
John,  and  blocked  the  doors  and  every  avenue  of 
escape.  It  was  doubtful  even  then  if  they  could 
have  effected  their  purpose,  except  for  a  fortuitous 
circumstance  which  added  greatly  to  their  apparent 
numbers.  A  building  in  Wellington  near  the  hotel 
took  fire  that  morning  and  rumor  spread  by  tele- 
graph and  otherwise  that  the  town  was  burning  up. 
People  came  in  from  Grafton,  La  Grange,  Rochester 
and  New  London,  on  the  railroad,  and  from  the 
surrounding  country  in  buggies  to  see  the  fire,  and 
when  the  fire  was  out,  joined  the  crowd  around  the 
hotel,  hoping  to  see  something  exciting. 2  ° 1  The 
crowd,  thus  reinforced,  varied  from  150  to  300  in 
number.  Knowing  nothing  of  the  composition  and 
motives  of  this  crowd,  the  captors  thought  they 


2  °  o  This  hotel  was  a  frame  building  of  two  stories  and  an  attic,  facing  the  public 
square  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Library  which  ex-Governor  Herrick  pre- 
sented to  his  native  town.  It  had  a  two-story  porch  in  front. 

201  Cleveland  Leader,  Sept.  13,  1858;  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  Sept.  15, 
1858;  Lorain  County  Eagle,  Sept.  15,  1858. 


\ 


130  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

were  all  after  John  Price,  and  were  thoroughly 
overawed.  They  backed  up  stairs  to  the  second 
story  and  when  a  ladder  was  put  up  outside  and 
people  began  climbing  to  the  second  story  porch, 
they  backed  up  to  the  attic,  and  retired  to  a  room 
which  had  a  small  fan-shaped  window  and  one  door 
with  a  rope  fastening.  Jennings  was  a  Kentucky 
giant,  about  6  feet  4  inches  high,  and  with  proportions 
to  correspond.  Mitchell  was  another  big  Kentuckian. 
Lowe  and  Davis  were  used  to  handling  prisoners, 
and  all  were  armed  with  revolvers — the  Kentuckians 
carrying  two  apiece  and  knives  in  addition. 

Before  retiring  to  the  last  ditch,  i.  e.,  the  attic 
of  the  Wadsworth  House,  John's  captors  parleyed 
with  the  crowd,  invited  them  to  appoint  a  committee 
to  inspect  the  papers  and  report  on  the  regularity 
of  their  action.  The  "papers"  were  in  fact  exhibited 
to  several  persons,  among  them  the  Democratic 
Postmaster  of  Rochester,  who  had  come  up  to  see 
the  fire,  a  Democratic  lawyer,  of  Wellington,  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace  at  Wellington,  and  two  or  three  students. 
The  paper  relied  on  was  the  warrant  issued  by  U.  S. 
Commissioner  Chittenden  and  this  was  the  only 
paper  exhibited  to  most  of  the  witnesses.  The 
Justice  said  it  was  defective  because  it  had  no  seal 
and  because  it  was  not  issued  by  an  officer  of  "the 
proper  district;99  but  disclaimed  any  jurisdiction  in 
the  case  and  said  they  would  have  to  go  to  Elyria— 
18  miles  away,  and  sue  out  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 
Jennings  offered  to  let  a  committee  accompany  him 
to  Columbus  and  said  if  he  failed  to  make  out  a  case 
they  might  bring  the  negro  back  with  them.  The 
crowd  hooted  at  this  and  said  "Columbus  was  a 
little  too  far  South."  The  fact  that  the  warrant 
was  issued  by  an  official  in  the  Southern  District 
of  Ohio  and  was  being  executed  by  officials  from 
that  district  who  intended  to  take  John  there  before 
any  inquiry  was  made,  was  a  suspicious  circumstance 
which  confirmed  the  impression  that  it  was  a  case 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  131 

of  kidnapping.  If  there  had  been  any  provision  for 
a  trial  by  a  jury  in  Lorain  County,  or  by  a  U.  S. 
official  in  Cleveland,  and  they  were  taking  John  there, 
there  would  have  been  no  attempt  at  rescue. 

The  train  came  in  and  went  on,  minus  its  in- 
tended passengers;  it  began  to  grow  dark,  and  at 
last  the  cry  went  up,  "We  must  get  him  out  of 
there."  "Get  him  out!" 

Richard  Winsor,  a  little  Englishman,  of  rather 
dark  complexion,  had  gone  up  with  a  citizens'  com- 
mittee to  examine  the  "papers"  and  decided  to  stay 
when  the  rest  retired.  Jennings  was  busy  keeping 
the  door  closed  against  the  crowd  outside,  and  the 
others,  noting  the  insignificant  appearance  of  Winsor, 
paid  little  attention  to  what  he  was  doing.  He  took 
John  off  to  one  side,  tried  to  put  heart  into  him  and 
instructed  him  just  what  to  do  when  the  door  was 
opened.  Then  he  wrote  instructions  on  a  slip  of 
paper  and  passed  them  through  a  pipe  hole  in  the 
wall  to  students  whom  he  heard  in  the  adjoining 
room. 

His  instructions  were  to  ask  for  another  con- 
ference, get  the  door  open  in  some  way,  and  then 
all  crowd  in  and,  in  the  confusion,  he  and  John  would 
edge  around  and  get  out.  This  communication 
having  been  delivered,  some  one  from  the  adjoining 
room  managed  to  punch  Jennings'  head  through 
the  pipe  hole  and,  as  he  let  go  the  rope  fastening, 
they  forced  the  door  open  and  entered  the  room, 
and  as  they  crowded  in,  Winsor  worked  his  way  out, 
the  colored  boy  stooping  down  behind  him  and 
clasping  him  tightly  around  the  waist.  He  was 
hurried  down  stairs  and  thrown  into  the  spring 
wagon,  in  which  Simeon  Bushnell  was  waiting,  and 
driven  to  Oberlin.  Not  a  shot  was  fired,  nor  a  blow 
struck,  except  the  slight  punch  to  Jennings'  head. 


202 


202  Winsor  himself  gives  an  account  of  the  rescue  in  Oberlin  Jubilee  1883,  pp. 
251  to  255. 


\ 


132  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

The  thing  was  managed  so  cleverly  that  not 
one  of  the  captors  was  able  to  tell  just  how  John 
disappeared  from  the  attic,  and  no  one  in  the  crowd 
identified  Winsor.  Several  persons  testified  that 
Bushnell  drove  off  with  John  and  another  negro. 

The  facts  about  this  part  of  the  rescue  and  the 
further  fact  that  John  was  stored  for  24  hours  in 
the  attic  of  Professor  James  H.  Fairchild's  2  ° 3  house 
were  not  known  to  more  than  three  or  four  persons 
until  25  years  later.  Professor  Fairchild's  attic 
was  chosen,  much  against  his  will,  because  he  was 
about  the  last  man  in  town  who  would  be  suspected 
of  violating  any  law,  no  matter  how  bad  the  law 
might  be.  The  next  day,  after  dark,  John  was 
taken  to  the  black  swamp,  made  his  way  from 
there  to  a  Lake  port,  crossed  to  Canada,  and  Oberlin 
saw  him  no  more. 

While  this  rescue  created  great  excitement  in 
Oberlin  and  Wellington,  it  would  have  attracted 
little  attention  outside  of  those  places  except  for 
what  followed.  The  Cleveland  Herald,  Sept.  14, 
1858,  had  a  brief  paragraph  concerning  it.204  The 
Cleveland  Leader,  Sept.  13,  1858,  mentioned  the 
fire,  which  burned  out  part  of  the  business  street 
of  Wellington  on  the  morning  of  the  rescue,  but  said 
not  a  word  about  the  rescue  itself  until  eight  days 
later. 2  ° 5  The  Independent  Democrat,  and  Lorain 
County  Eagle  (Dem.)  of  Elyria,  September  15,  1858, 
gave  brief  accounts  of  it,  the  latter  concluding 
with  the  following: — "We  have  heard  of  many 
foolish  things  being  attempted  in  this  world,  but 
to  think  of  carrying  off  a  fugitive  from  Lorain  County 
seems  to  us  to  cap  the  climax  in  the  line  of  folly,"  The 
Painesville  Telegraph,  Sept.  16,  1858,  published  a 


2<>3  James  H.  Fairchild  was  at  this  time  Professor  of  Theology  and  Moral 
Philosophy.  He  was  elected  President  of  the  college  in  1866. 

204  This  paragraph,  still  further  condensed,  appeared  in  the  Ashtabula  Tele- 
graph, Sept.  18,  1858;  and  Norwalk  Reflector,  Sept.  21,  1858. 

zo5  Cleveland  Leader,    Sept.  21,  1858;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  Sept.  22,  1858. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 


133 


brief  item  furnished  by  Ralph  Plumb.  The  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrat,  Chardon,  Sept.  17,  1858,  contained 
a  rather  detailed  account  of  it  written  by  an  Oberlin 
student  from  Geauga  County.  Other  Western  Re- 
serve papers  do  not  appear  to  have  heard  of  it,  until 
the  United  States  District  Attorney  at  Cleveland 
brought  it  into  prominence  by  proceedings  to  indict 
the  participants. 2  ° 6 

The  Cleveland  papers,  of  November  9,  10  and 
11,  mentioned  the  empanneling  of  a  Grand  Jury 
and  Judge  Hiram  V.  Willson's  charge  to  the  Grand 
Jury 2  ° 7.  The  Western  Reserve  papers  generally 
noted  this  move  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
authorities. 2  ° 8  If  the  proposed  indictments  had 
been  confined  to  those  who  took  an  active  part  in 
the  rescue,  such  as  Bushnell,  Winsor,  and  the  few 
men  with  guns  who  surrounded  the  hotel  in  Welling- 
ton, there  would  have  been  little  public  comment, 
but  the  Plain  Dealer's  announcement  that  "some 
forty  citizens  of  Oberlin  and  Wellington  will  be 
indicted"  indicated  a  purpose  to  do  something  more 
than  punish  active  offenders  against  the  law.  Judge 
Willson  was  not  content  to  declare  the  law,  in  his 
charge  to  the  Grand  Jury,  and  explain  what  would 
and  what  would  not,  constitute  a  violation  of  its  pro- 
visions, but  lowered  the  dignity  of  the  Court  and 
betrayed  the  animus  of  the  whole  proceeding  by  an 


»o«  The  Cleveland  Plaindealer  said,  Sept.  24,  1858:  "We  understand  that  those 
citizens  of  Oberlin  and  Wellington  who  assisted  in  rescuing  a  fugitive  slave  from 
the  U.  S.  officers  a  short  time  since,  are  to  be  immediately  prosecuted.  See  also 
Lorain  County  Eagle,  Oct.  13,  1858. 

o?  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  Nov.  9,  1858:  "The  witnesses  subpoenaed 
are  all  in  this  city,  some  twelve  in  number,  and  will  shortly  be  examined  by  the 
Grand  Jury  of  the  United  States  Court,  now  in  session.  Oberlin  is  in  a  foam. 
It  is  thought  some  forty  citizens  of  Oberlin  and  Wellington  will  be  indicted  for 
aiding  fugutive  slaves."  which  shows  that  the  District  Attorney  had  taken  the 
Plain  Dealer  into  his  confidence.  The  Cleveland  Herald,  said,  Nov.  10,  1858: 
"In  the  course  of  his  charge  he  alluded  to  the  recent  rescue  case  at  Wellington, 
impressing  the  necessity  of  sustaining  the  provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law." 
2  o  s  See  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  Nov.iy,  Dec.  8,  and  Dec.  15,  1858;  Ashtabula 
Sentinel,  Dec.  16;  Guernsey  Times,  Dec.  23,  1858;  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  Chardon, 
Dec.  10,  1858;  Norwalk  Reflector,  Dec.  14,  1858;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  Dec.  22.  1858; 
Painesville  Telegraph,  Nov.  n,  1858;  Portage  County  Democrat,  Dec.  15  and  29, 1858. 


134  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

intemperate  assault  upon  the  character  and  motives  of 
conscientious  objectors  to  that  law,  although  he  had 
to  admit  later  in  the  charge  that  "The  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  may,  and  unquestionably  does,  contain 
provisions  repugnant  to  the  moral  sense  of  many 
good  and  conscientious  people."  He  said:— 

"There  are  some  who  oppose  the  execution  of  this  law 
from  a  declared  sense  of  conscientious  duty.  There  is,  in 
fact,  a  sentiment  prevalent  in  the  community  which  arro- 
gates to  human  conduct  a  standard  of  right  above,  and 
independent  of,  human  laws;  and  it  makes  the  CONSCIENCE 
of  each  individual  in  society  the  TEST  of  his  own  AC- 
COUNTABILITY to  the  laws  of  the  land. 

"While  those  who  cherish  this  dogma  claim  and  enjoy  the 
protection  of  the  law  for  their  own  lives  and  property,  they 
are  unwilling  that  the  law  should  be  operative  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  constitutional  rights  of  others.  It  is  a  senti- 
ment semi-religious  in  its  development,  and  is  almost  invar- 
iably characterized  by  intolerance  and  bigotry.  The  LEAD- 
ERS of  those  who  acknowledge  its  obligations  and  advocate 
its  sanctity  are  like  the  subtle  prelates  of  the  dark  ages.  They 
are  versed  in  all  they  consider  useful  and  sanctified  learn- 
ing— trained  in  certain  schools  in  New  England  to  manage 
words,  they  are  equally  successful  in  the  social  circle  to  man- 
age hearts;  seldom  superstitious  themselves,  yet  skilled  in 
practising  upon  the  superstition  and  credulity  of  others — 
FALSE,  as  it  is  natural  a  man  should  be  whose  dogmas  im- 
pose upon  all,  who  are  not  saints  according  to  HIS  CREED, 
the  necessity  of  being  hypocrites." 

The  presumption  of  impartiality  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Grand  Jury  was  negatived  by  the  fact 
that  one  of  the  number  was  Lewis  D.  Boynton, 
the  "reliable  citizen"  at  whose  house  the  plot  for 
capturing  John  Price  was  arranged  and  whose  son, 
Shakespeare,  was  one  of  the  principal  witnesses  for 
the  prosecution.  It  was  also  announced  that  he  had 
been  appointed  Postmaster  at  Oberlin  to  succeed  a 
Douglas  Democrat,  Munson. 2  ° 9  Otis  Reed,  another 
of  the  number,  was  Democratic  Postmaster  at  Roots- 

J0»  Cleveland  Leader,  Oct.  29,  1858;  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  Oct.  7,  1858; 
Lorain  County  Eagle,  Oct.  27.  1858. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  135 

ville,  0. 2 1  °  Although  the  Western  Reserve  was 
overwhelmingly  Republican  in  sentiment,  none  but 
Democrats  were  drawn  for  this  service.  An  Ad- 
ministration measure  was  to  be  carried  through, 
under  the  forms  of  law,  by  Administration  appointees 
and  supporters.  It  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  singular 
coincidence,  that,  out  of  the  thousands  of  voters  in 
Lorain  County,  Ohio,  the  U.  S.  Marshal  should  have 
selected  the  only  man  who  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  capture  of  John  Price,  and  been  paid  for  the 
same  through  his  minor  son. 

Thirty-seven  men  were  indicted  for  violation 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — 21  from  Oberlin  and  16 
from  Wellington.  Among  the  Oberlin  men  were 
Henry  E.  Peck,  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philos- 
ophy, Ralph  Plumb,  the  town  lawyer  and  banker, 
and  James  M.  Fitch,  the  college  bookseller  and  sup- 
erintendent of  the  largest  Sunday  School  in  Northern 
Ohio.  Not  one  of  them  had  been  to  Wellington, 
or  incited  any  one  else  to  go,  or  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  rescue.  They  were,  however,  outspoken 
anti-slavery  men,  and  they  were  indicted,  mainly, 
with  a  view  to  fixing  a  stigma  on  the  town  and  college 
and  to  suppressing  liberty  of  speech  there  and  else- 
where. 

On  the  7th  of  December  the  U.  S.  Marshal 
appeared  in  Oberlin  with  warrants  for  the  arrest  of 
21  of  the  persons  indicted,  and  went  first  to  the 
house  of  Professor  Peck,  who  received  him  civilly 
and  went  with  him  to  help  him  find  and  serve  the 
others.  Fifteen  were  served  that  day  and  all  agreed 
to  go  up  to  Cleveland  the  next  morning,  and  appear 
in  Court.  It  was  a  very  polite  affair  all  around — 
quite  unusual  in  criminal  procedure.  The  Oberlin 
people  appeared  next  morning  as  agreed,  pleaded 
4 'not  guilty"  and  announced  that  they  were  ready 
for  trial.  The  District  Attorney  stated  that  he  was 


»»o  Portage  County  Democrat,  Dec.  29,  1858. 


136  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

not  prepared,  although  he  had  had  all  his  witnesses  before 
the  Grand  Jury  and  had  drawn  up  the  indictments. 
After  some  debate  and  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  the 
now  "prisoners"  to  furnish  bail  or  even  to  go  bail 
for  each  other,  they  were  released  on  their  own  recog- 
nizances to  appear  when  their  cases  were  called  for 
trial,  and  returned  to  their  homes  and  usual  occu- 
pations. 2 1 1 

Five  others,  when  they  learned  that  they  had 
been  indicted,  voluntarily  appeared,  pleaded  not 
guilty  and  were  released  on  the  same  terms.  William 
E.  Lincoln  was  teaching  school  at  Dublin,  twelve 
miles  from  Columbus,  when  the  indictments  were 
found.  He  was  arrested  there,  January  14,  1859, 


211  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  Dec.  9,  1858:  "This  announcement"  [that  the 
Rescuers  were  ready  for  trial]  "staggered  the  Federal  Attorney,  Judge  Belden, 
who  did  not  dream  but  that  these  men  like  other  criminals  would  ask  postponement. 
He  was  then  put  on  the  defense  and  asked  for  delay.  What  other  proof  need  the 
public  have  that  this  prosecution  is  merely  for  effect  at  Federal  headquarters, 
than  the  fact  that  the  District  Attorney,  who  has  had  the  whole  matter  under 
his  control,  who  knows  all  the  secrets  of  the  Grand  Jury  room,  who  can  lay  his 
finger  upon  every  witness  for  the  prosecution,  and  who  can  hold  such  witnesses 
by  the  whole  Federal  force,  asks  a  postponement  of  the  trial.  The  Cleveland 
Leader  said,  Dec.  10,  1858:  "The  circumstances  attending  the  rescue  of  kidnapped 
John  at  Wellington  have  been  published.  Democrats  were  present  and  active 
in  a  cause  which  roused  the  nobler  feelings  of  man  and  made  all  eager  to  redress 
an  outrage  which  all  decent  slaveholders  reprehend.  Not  one  of  these  has  been 
indicted."  The  Western  Reserve  Chronicle  said,  Dec.  15,  1858,  "We  learn  from  the 
Cleveland  papers  of  Friday  that  the  indicted  citizens  of  Oberin  appeared  in  Court 
on  Thursday  and  demanded  an  immediate  trial.  The  U.  S.  Attorney  faltered, 
stammered,  looked  confused,  but  finally  said  he  was  not  ready  for  trial.  *  *  * 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  they  will  never  be  tried."  And  this  proved  to  be 
true  as  to  all  but  two.  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  had  a  very  flippant  article, 
Dec.  7,  1858,  with  staring  headlines: 

"THE  SIEGE  OF  OBERLIN.    THIRTY-SEVEN  OBERLINITES 
INDICTED   BY  THE   U.   S.   GRAND   JURY.    FOR 
RESCUING  A  FUGITIVE  SLAVE.    CARRYING 
THE   WAR  INTO  AFRICA." 

The  animus  of  the  prosecution  was  so  clearly  revealed  by  this  article  that  it  was 
reproduced — headlines  and  all — in  the  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  Dec.  16,  1858.  Again 
the  Plain  Dealer  said,  Jan.  13,  1859,  "The  right  to  reclaim  fugitives  from  labor 
is  in  the  Constitution.  ''  ''  A  law  has  been  passed  whose  main  provisions 

are  in  accordance  with  that  clause  of  the  constitution.  The  details  of  the  law  we 
never  liked"  [Important  admission!]  "but  with  these  Higher  Law  gentlemen  it  is 
the  essence  of  the  law,  that  power  which  reclaims  the  fugitive,  which  they  resist  *  *  * 
We  are  not  prepared  for  a  Theocracy  just  yet.  These  Priests  and  Professors 
of  Oberlin  are  no  doubt  good  Christians  and  sincere  men,  but  they  are  very  bad 
politicians.  'Much  learning  hath  made  them  mad.'  "  An  unfortunate  parallel! 
The  Oberlin  men  were  quite  content  to  be  likened  to  St.  Paul  and  to  have  the 
Plain  Dealer  assume  the  role  of  Festus. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  137 

by  deputy-Sheriff  Davis  of  Franklin  County,  who  had 
helped  to  kidnap  John  Price.  Davis  had  with  him 
an  able-bodied  constable  and  Lincoln  was  a  thin, 
pale  student,  who  made  no  resistance  but  merely 
asked  time  to  change  his  clothes.  Davis  proceeded 
to  put  hand-cuffs  on  him  in  the  presence  of  his  fright- 
ened and  crying  pupils,  drove  him  to  Columbus 
and  threw  him  into  jail  with  criminals  of  the  lowest 
type,  kept  him  there  over  night,  and  took  him  next 
day  to  Cleveland,  where  he  was  released  on  the  same 
terms  as  the  others  and,  after  going  to  Oberlin  to 
borrow  money  enough  to  pay  expenses,  returned  to 
his  school.  This  exhibition  of  wanton  brutality 
again  stirred  up  public  feeling,  which  had  begun  to 
subside  after  the  release  of  the  first  prisoners  on 
their  own  recognizances.212  The  people  of  Dublin, 
without  distinction  of  party,  held  an  indignation 
meeting  before  Lincoln's  return  and  expressed  their 
opinion  of  the  brutal  treatment  he  had  received  in 
the  following  series  of  resolutions,  which  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  January  — ,  1859; 
and  the  Cleveland  Herald,  January  20,  1859:— 

"Resolved,  That  in  this  outrage,  prompted  mainly  by  per- 
sonal revenge,  we  see  our  own  liberties  attacked,  and  hereby 
express  our  unqualified  disapprobation  of  this  illegal,  coward- 
ly and  insulting  use  of  official  authority. 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  spirit  expressed  by  our  forefathers 
in  their  motto  'Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God,» 


2 1 2  Cleveland  Leader,  Jan.  18  and  20,  1859;  Cleveland  Herald,  Jan.  19,  20,  21  and 
April  13,  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  Jan.  19.  1859;  Ashtabula  Sentinel, 
Jan.  20.  1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  Jan.  26,  1859;  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  Jan. 
22,  1859.  The  Ohio  Statesman,  Columbus,  Jan.  — ,  1859,  published  a  card  from 
Davis  and  attempted  to  justify  his  action.  It  said,  "The  officer  was  perfectly 
right  in  putting  hand-cuffs  on  Lincoln  *  *  *  The  truth  is,  that  the  sight  of  such 
officers  as  him  handcuffing  their  prisoners  and  walking  them  off  through  pale 
crowds  of  abolitionist  sympathizers  will  very  soon  bring  the  Oberlin  people, 
negroes  and  all,  to  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  law."  Another  manifestation  of 
"defective  psychology!"  The  "moral  effect"  of  such  an  exhibition  was  simply 
to  make  the  blood  of  every  humane  man  boil.  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said, 
Jan.  18,  1859,  "All  there  was  wrong  about  it,  the  deputy  overacting  his  part,  as 
Zealots  in  law  as  well  as  in  religion  always  will  do,  put  the  arrested  in  irons  to 
bring  him  here.  This  was  entirely  wrong,  but  the  Deputy  alone  was  to  blame 
for  it,  and  he  would  not  be  considered  to  blame  anywhere  South  of  the  National 
Road." 


138  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

we  do  heartily  sympathize  with  said  Lincoln  and  his  fellow 
accused,  and  consider  the  charge  laid  against  them  an  honor 
rather  than  a  disgrace  to  all  true  Americans. 

"Resolved,  That  we  also  express  our  disapprobation  of  that 
law  which  compels  us  against  the  dictates  of  conscience  and 
humanity,  to  assist  in  sending  back  a  fellow  citizen  to  slavery. 

"Resolved,  That  we  hereby  pledge  ourselves,  hereafter  to 
oppose  any  such  illegal  use  of  official  authority  in  our  com- 
munity by  either  kidnappers,  deputy  marshals,  or  deputy 
marshals'  deputies." 

A  Dublin  correspondent  of  the  Herald  wrote, 
4 'We  feel  more  deeply  grieved  in  regard  to  the  affair, 
because  Davis,  before  he  became  turnkey  of  the 
county  jail,  was  a  citizen  here." 

Prominent  lawyers  in  Cleveland  and  Elyria 
volunteered  to  defend  the  Rescuers,  (as  we  shall  call 
them  hereafter),  free  of  charge,  and  the  services  of 
Albert  G.  Riddle,  Rufus  P.  Spalding,  S.  O.  Griswold, 
and  F.  T.  Backus,  of  Cleveland,  and  Stevenson 
Burke,  then  practising  law  in  Elyria,  were  accepted. 
The  cases  were  continued,  in  January,  to  March, 
and  again,  in  March,  to  April  5.  At  each  contin- 
uance, the  Plain  Dealer  fulminated  against  the 
"Higher  Law  Apostles;"  the  Democratic  county 
papers  gave  back  faint  echoes;  and  the  impression 
was  confirmed  that  the  cases  were  kept  alive  only 
for  political  effect  and  never  would  be  tried. 

But  at  last  the  stage  was  prepared;  the  witnesses 
were  summoned;  the  government  elected  to  try 
Simeon  Bushnell  first,  and  on  April  5th  the  trial 
began.  Public  interest  in  the  case  had  been  steadily 
growing.  The  Court  room  was  packed  with  a  very 
intelligent  and  attentive  body  of  spectators.  Report- 
ers were  in  attendance  for  the  four  Cleveland  papers 
and  for  the  New  York  Tribune,  Worcester  (Mass.) 
Spy,  Pittsburgh  Commercial  Journal  and  Bailey's 
Free  South,  "the  only  free  paper  in  Kentucky."218 


2 1 »  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  April  4,  6  and  7,  1859;  Cleveland  Leader,  April  6  , 
1859;  Cleveland  Herald,  April  5,  1859. 


THE  OBEBLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  139 

All  the  leading  papers  of  the  Western  Reserve  had 
correspondents  in  attendance  and  the  editors  of  such 
papers  as  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  Painesville  Tele- 
graph, Portage  County  Democrat,  Independent  Demo- 
crat, of  Elyria,  and  Western  Reserve  Chronicle  were 
frequent  visitors  and  recorded  their  impressions  of 
Court  and  counsel,  of  the  prisoners,  and  of  witnesses 
and  their  testimony. 2  l 4  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer, 
on  April  4,  in  the  usual  flippant  style  of  "Artemus 
Ward"  (Charles  F.  Brown)  the  associate  editor, 
announced  the  setting  of  the  case  for  April  5,  under 
the  flaring  headlines  "THE  OBERLIN  RESCUE 
CASE.  FREEDOM  SHRIEKS,"  etc.,  etc.  The 
daily  reports  of  the  testimony  taken,  arguments  of 
counsel,  etc.,  filled  columns  of  the  Cleveland  dailies, 
the  editors  commented  thereon  in  leading  editorials,  a 
column  or  more  in  length,  and  the  local  reporter  con- 
tributed his  little  squibs  describing  the  appearance  of 
the  witnesses,  humorous  incidents,  etc.  No  case  had 
ever  before  attracted  such  universal  attention  on 
the  Western  Reserve,  or  was  watched  with  such  a 
critical  spirit. 2 1 5 

A  struck  jury  had  been  demanded  and  the  Clerk 


214  See  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  April  14,  1859,;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  April  20, 
1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  April  21.  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  April 
13.  1859. 

* i  '  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  April  4,  1859,  after  giving  the  names  of  the 
indicted,  "Some  of  the  above  are  negroes  and  some  are  not.  Those  that  are  not 
are  apparently  sorry  that  they  ain't.  :  We  look  for  lively  times  during 

this  important  trial.  It  is  understood  that  the  friends  and  admirers  of  the  Res- 
cuers will  be  here  in  large  numbers  from  all  over  the  'Preserve.'  The 
matter  is  creating  a  tremendous  sensation  all  over  the  country.  Exciting  times  are 
upon  us."  And,  on  April  6,  1859,  "The  United  States  Court  room  was  densely 
packed  yesterday  and  this  forenoon  with  spectators,  some  of  whom  have  come 
hundred  of  miles  to  hear  the  trial."  And  on  April  7.  1859,  "The  United  States 
Court  Room  continues  to  be  crowded  with  spectators,  many  of  whom  are  ladies 
and  the  Slave  Rescue  case  grows  daily  more  and  more  interesting."  The  an- 
nouncements in  the  other  papers  were  less  facetious.  The  Cleveland  Leader  said, 
April  6,  1859,  "The  trial  is  exciting  great  interest.  The  Court  Room  was  crowded 
during  the  day,  yesterday,  with  citizens  and  strangers.  Reporters  are  here  from 
the  East  and  a  detailed  report  is  being  taken  for  the  Law  Monthly.  The  indicted 
gentlemen  came  into  Court  yesterday  morning  and  a  more  respectable  body  of 
prisoners  have  never  appeared  at  a  bar."  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  April  5, 
1859,  "We  think  no  criminal  court  ever  had  a  more  respectable  class  of  prisoners 
in  the  criminal  docks." 


140  THE  OBERLIN-WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

got  up  a  list  of  40  names  from  which  each  side  struck 
out  12,  leaving  16  persons  from  which  to  select  the 
12  who  were  to  try  the  case.  In  a  district  where 
Republicans  were  largely  in  the  majority,  only  ten 
of  the  forty  selected  by  the  Clerk  were  Republicans 
and  those  were  struck  off  by  the  District  Attorney. 
Even  the  Democrats,  left  after  striking,  were  sub- 
jected to  inquiry  as  to  whether  or  not  they  approved 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  result,  as  intended, 
was  an  ultra  partisan  jury  prejudiced,  to  a  man, 
against  any  person  entertaining  anti-slavery  views. 
The  only  man  from  the  Western  Reserve  on  the 
jury,  as  made  up,  was  Daniel  P.  Rhodes,  of  Cleveland, 
father  of  J.  F.  Rhodes,  the  historian.  It  was  dis- 
covered by  counsel  for  the  defendants,  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  trial  that  one  of  the  jurors,  Charles  N. 
Allen,  of  Cadiz,  O.,  was  an  officer  of  the  Court — a 
deputy  Marshal!  The  fact  was  announced  in  open 
court,  but,  as  no  motion  was  made  to  discharge  the 
jury,  the  Court  made  no  order  in  the  matter.  Partisan 
feeling  was  more  intense  in  the  fifties,  than  it  is  at 
present,  and  came  little  short  of  personal  enmity 
against  those  of  the  opposite  party.  This  fact  was 
much  commented  on,  during  and  after  the  trial,  and 
the  verdict  was  discounted  in  advance  and  carried 
no  more  weight  than  a  political  manifesto.  As 
there  was  real  ground  for  complaint  of  the  "hand- 
picked"  juries  empanneled  in  United  States  Courts, 
and  as  there  is  always  danger  that  such  juries  will 
be  made  up  of  strongly  biased  partisans,  although 
there  is  marked  improvement  in  present  procedure, 
it  may  be  well  to  note  the  protests  made  at  this 
time. 2 1 6 


818  The  Oberlin  Evangelist  said,  March  16,  1859,  "The  jury  which  is  to  try  the 
first  case  is  already  struck  and  is  geographically,  and  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  po- 
litically a  singularity.  Gathered  from  the  Northern  half  of  Ohio,  it  exhibits  out 
of  the  sixteen  names  on  the  panel,  only  one  from  the  Reserve.  Taken  from  a  dis- 
trict, the  population  of  which  numbers  tens  of  thousands  of  anti-slavery  men,  and 
which  is,  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  Republican  in  politics,  it  has,  so  far  as  we 
have  ascertained,  neither  an  Abolitionist  nor  a  Republican  on  the  list.  We  will  not 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  141 

Most  of  the  facts  narrated  were  proved  on  the 
trial  which  occupied  ten  days  and  was  hard-fought 
frohi  start  to  finish.  The  Judge  and  District  Attor- 
ney knew  that  the  administration  at  Washington 
expected  them  to  do  their  duty  and  that  a  failure 
to  convict  and  sentence  would  probably  be  visited 
with  displeasure.  There  were  many  clashes  be- 
tween opposing  counsel  and  some  ill  temper  was 
shown,  the  judge  himself  occasionally  seeming  ruffled. 
The  tension  was  relieved,  now  and  then,  by  a  humor- 
pus  incident,  which  was  laughed  at,  all  the  more  heart- 
ily, because  of  the  previous  strain. 

When  the  Kentucky  giant,  Jennings,  took  the 
stand  he  testified  that  he  meant  to  take  the  nigger 
before  Commissioner  Chittenden  at  Columbus.  He 
added,  "Didn't  take  him  there,  however.  There 

yet  say  that  justice  is  to  be  mocked  in  the  trial.  We  will  say,  however,  that  the 
present  appearance  is  that  such  will  be  the  fact."  The  Western  Reserve  Chronicle 
said,  April  20,  1859,  "The  organization  of  the  Federal  Courts  has  often  been  the 
subject  of  comment;  but  never  has  such  bitterness  been  felt  on  this  subject  as  now, 
when  it  is  seen  that  for  the  trial  of  political  offences,  juries  are  systematically 
packed  so  as  to  exclude  any  but  partizans  of  the  administration  from  the  jury 
box.  '  all  such  attempts  to  enforce  a  hated  and  unconstitutional  law 

among  the  people  of  Ohio  *  *  *  will  rebound  upon  the  head  of  the  party 
which  makes  them  and  upon  the  accursed  pro-slavery  cause,  which  is  at  the  bottom 
of  them  all."  The  Portage  County  Democrat  said,  April  20,  1859,  "The  Cleveland 
papers  bring  to  light  the  fact  that  a  'struck  jury'  was  summoned  to  try  the  Rescue 
cases.  The  Marshal  selected  forty  names.  The  small-minded,  infamous  and 
vindictive  District  Attorney  struck  off  every  Republican  and  thus  the  jury  was 
composed  of  twelve  Democrats"  The  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  said  April 
20,  1859,  under  the  heading  "A  BURLESQUE  OF  JUSTICE."  "The  offence 
assumes  a  political  character,  inasmuch  as  the  infamous  law  which  they  are  ac- 
cused of  violating  is  despised  by  one  party  and  cherished  by  another.  To  try 
these  men  a  Grand  Jury  was  empannelled,  every  man  of  whom  was  a  Judas  Taney 
Democrat  and  one  of  them  was  the  father  of  the  boy  who  was  hired  to  decoy  the 
negro  into  the  hands  of  his  kidnappers.  Such  men  would  have  no  difficulty  in 
finding  an  indictment,  let  the  facts  be  what  they  might.  With  the  hope  of  secur- 
ing a  fair  traverse  jury  to  try  the  case,  the  defendants  asked  for  a  struck  jury. 
This  was  granted  and  the  names  of  forty  men  were  put  on  the  list,  every  man 
of  whom  were  Taney  Democrats  except  twelve,  and  these  were  immediately 
struck  from  the  list,  leaving  the  defendant  to  choose  his  men  from  that  array  of 
office-holders  and  office  expectants.  The  result  was  just  what  the  Marshal  and 
the  Clerk  desired — a  jury  who  would  feel  delighted  at  the  opportunity  of  punishing 
the  violators  of  their  favorite  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said, 
April,  1859,  "Under  a  bill  of  indictment  found  by  a  packed  grand  jury,  thirty- 
seven  citizens  of  Ohio  have  been  put  upon  their  trial  before  another  packed  jury 
and  one  of  their  number,  Simeon  Bushnell,  had  been  found  guilty  of  a  violation  of 
the  infamous  Fugitive  Slave  Law." 


142  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

was,  as  I  thought,  as  much  as  a  thousand  people 
around  and  in  the  house  *  *  *  should  think 
there  were  500  guns  in  the  crowd." 

The  magnifying  power  of  his  fears  provoked 
much  laughter. 

Bacon,  the  claimant,  testified  that  he  told  Jen- 
nings if  he  brought  his  boy,  John,  back,  he  would 
give  him  one-half  of  what  the  nigger  would  sell  for. 
Jennings,  who  had  not  heard  his  testimony,  swore 
that  he  "niver  made  no  bargain  with  Bacon  about 
pay  for  ketchin  the  nigger,"  and  that  what  he  did 
was  done  "out  of  pure  neighborly  regard"  which 
produced  another  laugh.  Being  recalled  later,  after 
he  had  had  an  opportunity  to  become  posted,  he 
admitted  that  Bacon  told  him  he  would  pay  $500 
to  any  one  who  would  bring  back  his  boy  John. 

When  asked  how  he  came  to  go  to  Boynton's 
the  Sunday  before  the  capture,  he  answered: 

"Wai,  we  was  told  that  it  would  be  dangerous 
to  undertake  to  arrest  the  nigger  in  that  town;  so 
I  went  to  old  Mr.  Warren  and  asked  if  he  knowed  of 
any  one  in  Oberlin  a  man  could  put  confidence  in" 
(great  laughter)  "and  he  told  me  I  could  trust  Boynton." 

When  asked  where  he  found  and  took  possession 
of  John,  he  said,  at  Wadsworth's  hotel  in  Wellington. 
"Saw  the  people  crowding  in  with  guns  asking  for 
the  men  that  had  John  and  didn't  stop  to  talk  long." 

Mitchell  proved  a  very  swift  witness  and  taxed 
the  credulity  of  the  audience  to  the  breaking  point 
by  saying  that  John  wanted  to  go  back  to  his  master. 
"I  ast  him — Don't  you  want  to  see  your  Mammy?" 
and  he  said  "yes,  but  he  would  much  rather  see  his 
old  missus"  (Laughter.) 

"He  told  me  that  he  started  to  go  back  to  Ken- 
tucky once;  got  as  far  as  Columbus  and  the  folks 
from  Oberlin  overtook  him  and  brought  him  back!" 
(Great  laughter.) 

When  asked  to  describe  his  movements  after 
they  reached  the  hotel  at  Wellington,  he  said: 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  143 

"Took  John  up  stairs  while  waiting  for  dinner. 
Took  John  down  and  had  him  eat  dinner  with  us. 
That  was  the  first  time  I  ever  eat  with  a  nigger, 
though."  (More  laughter.) 

Asked  to  describe  Bacon's  boy,  John,  he  went 
off  into  quite  a  dissertation  on  the  varieties  of  negroes, 
and  wound  up  by  saying  to  the  District  Attorney: 
"I  have  seen  a  great  many  niggers  whiter  than  you. 
Call  them  light  mulattoes,"  which  turned  the  laugh 
on  the  District  Attorney. 

A  witness  for  the  prosecution,  being  asked  if 
anything  was  said  in  the  crowd  about  the  "HIGHER 
LAW,"  answered: 

"I  don't  know,  unless  that  was  what  they  meant 
to  send  to  Elyria  about,"  which  produced  a  laugh, 
in  which  the  District  Judge  heartily  joined. 

A  witness  for  the  defense  kept  calling  the  cap- 
tors, "Southerners."  "Why  do  you  call  them  South- 
erners?" asked  the  District  Attorney. 

"Because  Southerners  are  the  men  that  usually 
carry  off  people." 

One  witness  said  he  staid  in  the  crowd  until 
the  final  rush  was  made.  "Then  I  expected  there 
would  be  some  shootin'  going  on,  and  I  didn't  want 
to  die  just  then,  so  I  left." 

There  could  be  no  dispute  about  Bushnell's 
participation  in  the  rescue  of  John  Price,  so  the 
defense  turned  on  a  question  of  fact,  whether  John 
Price  was  Bacon's  long  lost  slave,  John,  and  ques- 
tions of  law,  whether  he  was  properly  in  the  custody 
of  his  captors,  and  whether,  if  so,  Bushnell,  having 
no  personal  notice  or  knowledge  that  John  was  a 
fugitive  from  service,  and  believing,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  he  was  not,  was  guilty  of  violating  the 
law. 

On  the  question  of  identity,  Bacon  described 
his  boy,  John,  in  the  Power  of  Attorney  which  he 
gave  Jennings,  as  "about  5  feet  6  or  8  inches  high, 
heavy  set,  copper  colored  and  will  weigh  about  140 


144  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

or  150  pounds,"  and  on  the  witness  stand  described 
him  as  "eighteen  years  old,  about  5  feet  8  inches 
high,  copper  color  and  heavy  built."  He  had  not 
seen  John  Price  and,  of  course,  could  not  swear  that 
John  Price  was  his  slave. 

Jennings  described  Bacon's  boy  as  "21  or  22 
years  old.  Think  he  would  weigh  165  or  170  Ibs. 
Some  would  call  John  copper  color.  Copper  color 
is  between  black  and  light  mulatto." 

Mitchell  described  Bacon's  boy  as  "about  5  feet 
8  or  10  inches  high;  weighs  about  150  or  160  pounds. 
I  should  call  him  dark  copper  color." 

While  the  witnesses  do  not  agree  very  well  in 
their  descriptions,  this  much  seemed  to  be  certain, 
that  Bacon's  slave  was  at  least  5  feet  8  inches  high, 
heavy  set,  weighed  at  least  150  Ibs.  and  was  copper 
colored. 

Five  witnesses  from  Oberlin,  who  had  known 
John  Price  well,  described  him  as  5  ft.  4  or  5  inches 
high,  weighing  not  over  125  or  130  Ibs.  and  "black," 
"very  black,"  "decidedly  black." 

On  the  question  of  identity  the  verdict  should 
have  been  for  the  defense.  Thousands  of  negroes 
in  the  northern  states  would  have  fitted  the  descrip- 
tion of  Bacon's  slave  John,  better  than  John  Price 
did,  and  one  of  them  might  have  been  taken  just  as 
well.  Should  honorable  citizens  be  fined  $1,000  and 
imprisoned  six  months  for  objecting? 

What  probably  turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  the 
prosecution  was  the  admission  of  testimony  by 
Jennings  and  Mitchell,  against  the  objections  of 
defendant's  counsel,  that  John  Price  told  them  that 
he  was  Bacon's  slave  and  that  he  wanted  to  go  back. 
John  Price,  himself,  would  not  have  been  allowed 
to  testify  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  on  the 
probable  theory  that  no  one  could  believe  a  negro 
under  oath.  But  what  any  one  else  says  he  said 
when  he  was  not  under  oath,  is  perfectly  admissible. 
Such  was  the  logic  of  a  court  bound  to  convict! 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  145 

It  was  called,  in  argument,  an  "admission," 
but  John  Price  was  not  on  trial  and  Simeon  Bushnell 
had  made  no  admissions  and  the  alleged  "admission" 
ot  John  was  not  made  in  his  presence.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  day  will  never  come  when  an  American 
citizen  may  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary  on  the  admis- 
sion of  a  third  party  that  he  ought  to  be  there. 

Admitting,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  John 
Price  was  Bacon's  slave,  was  he  properly  arrested, 
and  did  the  defendant  know  or  have  reason  to  believe 
that  he  was?  The  only  paper  deputy  Marshal 
Lowe  had  when  he  arrested  John,  and  the  only 
paper  shown  to  the  Oberlin  men  who  asked  to  see 
his  authority,  was  the  warrant  issued  by  Commissioner 
Chittenden  at  Columbus.  It  had  no  seal— Lowe 
said  it  did  not  need  any — and  it  was  not  issued  by 
a  commissioner  of  the  "proper  district,"  and  there- 
fore had  no  validity.  This  was  practically  admitted 
by  the  prosecution,  who  rested  their  case  on  the 
power  of  attorney  given  by  Bacon  to  Jennings. 
This  power  of  attorney  may  have  been  shown  to 
some  of  the  Wellington  men,  but  was  not  shown  to 
the  Oberlin  men.  Why?  Manifestly  because  the 
description  of  the  tall,  heavy,  copper-colored  slave 
of  Bacon  did  not  fit  the  short,  light-weight,  very 
black  negro,  John  Price,  and  any  of  the  men  who 
knew  John  Price  would  have  detected  the  discrepancy 
at  once.  So  the  invalid  warrant  was  flourished  at 
Wellington,  to  avoid  the  question  of  identity,  and 
the  power  of  attorney  was  used  in  the  trial  to  convict 
Bushnell,  who  had  no  knowledge  of  it  at  the  time  of 
the  rescue.  Jennings  and  Mitchell  both  swore  that 
John  Price  was  Bacon's  slave,  John;  but  their  credi- 
bility was  greatly  shaken.  Both  were  interested 
parties;  both  were  indicted  under  the  laws  of  Ohio 
for  kidnapping  John  Price  and  might  be  tried  soon; 
both  made  such  incredible  statements  on  the  witness 
stand  as  to  provoke  the  derisive  laughter  of  the  large 
audience;  and  Jennings  was  flatly  contradicted  by 


146  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

Bacon  in  the  matter  of  agreed  compensation  for  his 
services  in  capturing  and  delivering  Bacon's  John. 

While  four  attorneys  appeared  for  the  defense, 
but  two  were  allowed  to  argue  the  case — A.  G.  Riddle 
and  R.  P.  Spalding.  They  did  not  make  the  most 
of  these  points  for  the  defense.  In  fact,  Riddle 
began  by  stating  the  case  "most  strongly  for  the 
government,"  by  way  of  introduction  to  a  very 
rhetorical  argument  which  amounted  to  nothing 
if  that  statement  was  correct.  He  said:— 

"As  they"  [Jennings]  and  party  "thus  held  him  in  his 
agony,  the  defendant  and  his  associates  approached;  and, 
knowing  John  was  a  slave  in  Kentucky,  and  how  and  by 
whom  he  was  there  held,  that  he  had  escaped,  and  how  and 
for  what  purpose  he  was  then  seized  and  held;  and  knowing 
all  this,  they  put  forth  their  strong  hands,  wrenching  John 
from  the  grasp  of  his  captors,  consigned  him  to  the  boundless 
realm  of  freedom !  This  is  what  they  did  and  all  they  did, 
and  in  so  doing  they  obeyed  the  laws  of  God,"  etc. 

Almost  any  jury,  after  such  a  statement,  would 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  main  question  of 
fact  had  been  settled  adversely  to  defendant  and  that 
the  rest  was  an  argument  on  the  law,  addressed  to 
the  Court — or  the  public — but  not  to  them.  What 
did  they  care  about  legal  quibbles?  And  how  could 
facts  be  altered  by  Riddle's  rhetorical  finish:— 

"I  have  sunk  the  lawyer — I  have  sunk  the  advocate, 
that  I  might  stand  before  you  in  my  unsullied  manhood  and 
appeal  to  you  as  men. 

"I  have  forgotten  party  prejudices  that  I  might  remember 
and  remind  you  of  issues  involving  the  common  rights,  fran- 
chises, and  liberties  of  us  all  as  citizens  of  a  great  free  State. 

"I  have  sunk  the  individual  interest  of  the  Defendant,  that 
I  might  appeal  to  you  to  protect  the  interest  of  all  living 
things,  and  vindicate  the  dignity  and  sovereignty  of  our 
glorious  commonwealth." 

Almost  the  only  question  of  fact  argued  by 
Judge  Spalding  was  that  Jennings  and  Lowe  relied 
upon  the  warrant  as  their  authority  for  arresting 
John  Price  and  their  attempt  to  take  him  out  of  the 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  147 

District  to  Columbus,  and  that  this  warrant  was  the 
only  thing  shown  at  Wellington.  He  began  a  lengthy 
argument  on  the  Constitutionality  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  as  follows:— 

"Although  I  am  not  so  vain  as  to  imagine  that  I  can,  in 
this  Court,  procure  a  reversal  of  those  decisions  which  have 
been  made  in  other  Federal  Courts  of  this  Union,  I  hold 
it  to  be  none  the  less  my  duty  to  argue  with  the  same  ac- 
curacy, fidelity  and  fullness  the  questions  involved,  as 
though  a  sound  argument  would  certainly  influence  the 
Court  in  coming  to  a  right  decision.  *  Agitate!  agitate! 
agitate!'  is  my  motto,  and  my  duty  always,  until  the  occasion 
for  agitation  is  removed." 

He  argued  that  the  law  was    unconstitutional, 
because : — 

1.  It    provides    pains    and    penalties    for    free 
citizens  of  Ohio,  for  acts  concerning  which  they  are 
not  amenable  to  Congress. 

2.  It  overrides  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,   the 
right  to  which  is  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution. 

3.  It    violates     the     Northwestern     Ordinance 
which  limits  the  reclamation  of  slaves  in  Ohio  to  such 
as  escape  from  the  "original  States." 

4.  It  denies  to  the  person  arrested  as  a  fugitive 
from  service  the  right  of  trial  by  jury. 

He  argued  also  that  the  law  required  that  the 
fugitive  should  be  taken  before  a  Court,  Judge  or 
Commissioner  of  the  Northern  District  of  Ohio, 
and  that  the  captors  were  not  protected  in  an  attempt 
to  carry  John  to  the  Southern  District  of  Ohio.  In 
conclusion,  he  said: — 

"I  know  full  well  *  *  *  what  the  decisions  of  the 
highest  tribunal  in  the  Nation  have  been  with  reference  to  it; 
and  I  know  as  well  the  deference  which  in  all  ordinary  cases 
is  due  from  tribunals  of  inferior  jurisdiction  to  its  rulings. 
But,  sir,  I  hold  that  so  glaringly  unjust  a  decision  as  the 
affirmation  of  the  constitutionality  of  this  act  can  bind  no 
one;  and  had  I  the  distinguished  honor  to  occupy  the  seat 
which  is  so  eminently  filled  by  your  Honor  *  1 

should  feel  bound  to  pronounce  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  of 
1850  utterly  unconstitutional,  without  force,  and  void;  though 


148  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

in  thus  doing,  I  should  risk  an  impeachment  before  the 
Senate  of  my  country;  and,  Sir,  should  such  an  impeach- 
ment work  my  removal  from  office,  I  should  proudly  embrace 
it  as  a  greater  honor  than  has  yet  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any 
Judicial  officer  of  these  United  States !" 

The  District  Attorney  was  justified  in  saying, 
as  he  rose  to  make  the  final  argument:  "Are  we  in 
a  Court  of  Justice?  Or  are  we  in  a  political  hustings?" 
Willson  disposed  of  most  of  the  arguments  by  saying, 
in  his  charge  to  the  jury: — 

"Much  has  been  eloquently  said  by  learned  counsel  that 
would  be  entitled  to  great  weight  and  consideration  if  ad- 
dressed to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or  to  an  eccle- 
siastical tribunal,  where  matters  of  casuistry  are  discussed 
and  determined." 

The  truth  is  that  both  Riddle  and  Spalding  were 
ambitious  for  political  honors,  and,  while  both  sym- 
pathized sincerely  with  the  defendants  when  they 
offered  their  services,  they  valued  the  opportunity 
for  self-advertisement,  and  worked  it  for  all  it  was 
worth.  21«*  Riddle  was  elected  to  Congress  in  the  fall 
of  1860,  and  Spalding,  who  had  been  a  "Free  Demo- 
crat" until  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  a  Judge  of  the  Ohio  Supreme  Court,  was  elected 
to  Congress  in  1862,  1864  and  1866. 

On  the  other  hand,  counsel  for  the  Government 
were  not  free  from  political  ambition  and  both  Judge 
Bliss,  who  made  the  opening  argument  for  the  prose- 
cution, and  District  Attorney  Belden,  who  closed, 
wandered  from  the  real  issues  in  the  case  and  in- 
dulged in  coarse  vituperation  of  the  "Saints  of  Ober- 
lin,"  Peck,  Plumb  and  Fitch,  who  had  been  indicted 
but  were  not  then  on  trial,  and  in  sneering  allusions 
to  Christian  precepts  and  practice.  Judge  Bliss 
argued  that  the  fact  that  John  was  a  fugitive  was 
"proved  by  his  being  found  in  the  common  resort 


»i«»  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  April  14,  1859,  "The  three  Oberlin  At- 
torneys engaged  in  the  Rescue  cases  are  killing  two  birds  with  one  stone  each. 
They  are  defending  the  Rescuers  and  running  for  Congress  at  the  same  time." 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  149 

of  fugitive  slaves,  to-wit,  in  Oberlin."  There  was  no 
testimony  in  the  case  on  which  to  base  such  a  state- 
ment. Belden  said,  "Here  are  the  Saints  of  Oberlin, 
Peck,  Plumb,  Fitch,  to  which  are  to  be  added  Saints 
Spalding  and  Riddle  and  sub-Saint  Bushnell— all 
saints  of  the  Higher  Law.  *  *  *  Don't  talk 
of  Higher  Law  as  God's  Law,  it  is  Devil's  law,  and 
it  would  make  a  Hell  upon  earth."  "Christ  denounced 
idolatry,  polygamy,  but  not  a  word  against  slavery." 
"Higher  law  people  run  into  the  predicament  of  free 
love  and  infidelity."  "Do  you  teach  the  Bible  at 
Oberlin,  or  do  you  point  out  the  spires  of  the  churches 
as  Hell  poles?"217 

The  dignity  of  the  court  was  preserved  in  the 
charge  to  the  jury;  but  the  identity  of  John  Price 
with  Bacon's  slave,  John,  was  assumed  by  the  court, 
instead  of  being  submitted  to  the  jury,  and  all  the 
technical  defenses  were  ruled  out.  As  to  the  defense 
of  want  of  knowledge  as  to  whether  John  Price  was 
a  fugitive  from  labor,  the  Court  charged  the  jury; 
"But  that  dark  complexion,  woolly  head,  and  flat 
nose,  with  possession  and  claim  of  ownership,  do 
afford  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  slavery  and  owner- 
ship charged." 

The  verdict  was  "Guilty." 

Having  secured  this  verdict  in  one  case,  the 
District  Attorney  thought  all  he  had  to  do  was  to 
multiply  it  by  21  and  convict  the  whole  batch.  He 
proposed  to  try  the  case  of  Charles  Langs  ton  to  the 
same  jury.  Counsel  for  the  defendants  objected 
that  the  jury  had  just  formed  and  expressed  an 
opinion  and  that  no  one  of  them  was  qualified  to  act 
as  a  juror  in  Langston's  case.  The  court  overruled 
the  objection  and  said  it  was  proper  that  this  jury 
should  try  all  the  cases. 

Thereupon   counsel   for   the   defense   lost   their 

»i»  The  Cleveland  Leader  said.  April  16,  1859,  "The  language  and  spirit  of  the 
address  were  in  the  worst  possible  taste,  and  evoked  the  indignation  of  the  aud- 
ience, evinced,  in  an  instance,  by  unmistakeable  hisses." 


150  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

tempers  and  said  that  they  would  not  stultify  them- 
selves by  attempting  a  defense  before  such  a  jury. 
They  called  the  ruling  "a  villainous  outrage,"  "a 
mockery  of  justice,"  "a  monstrous  proceeding,"  and 
used  other  language  which  savored  of  contempt 
of  court  .217a 

Then  the  District  Attorney  got  mad  and  asked 
that  all  of  the  defendants  be  ordered  into  the  custody 
of  the  Marshal,  and  it  was  so  ordered.  Then  Judge 
Spalding  requested  that  their  recognizances  be  can- 
celed and  muttered  something  about  a  gratuitous 
insult  to  men  who  had  been  in  constant  attendance 
and  scrupulously  obedient  to  every  order  of  the 
court. 

It  was  a  fierce  squall  while  it  lasted,  but  the 
Judge  and  District  Attorney  soon  recovered  their 
equipoise  and,  perceiving  that  the  rulings  and  com- 
mitment were  "bad  politics"  —say  nothing  of  the 
law — now  proposed  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
released  from  the  custody  of  the  Marshal  on  renew- 
ing their  personal  recognizances.  But  the  prisoners, 
having  felt  much  aggrieved  at  the  wanton  insult 
and  having  also  a  keen  instinct  as  to  what  was  and 
what  was  not  good  politics,  refused  to  execute  new 
recognizances  and  left  it  to  the  Judge  and  District 
Attorney  to  back  down  and  apologize,  or  send  them 
to  jail.  The  Judge,  feeling  that  it  was  better  that 
20  innocent  men  should  suffer  than  that  one  guilty 
judge  should  admit  his  mistake,  let  them  go  to  jail, 
where  they  remained  for  85  days,  every  one  of  which 
was  fruitful  in  converting  thoughtful  Whigs  and 
Democrats  into  good  Republicans. 

When  the  case  of  Charles  Langston  was  called, 
on  the  following  Monday,  the  judge  did  reverse 


'I*'  Counsel  might,  if  they  had  known  about  it,  have  cited  the  case  of  the 
Regicides,  who  were  implicated  in  the  beheading  of  Charles  I,  King  of  England. 
A  separate  jury  was  impanneled  for  each  one  of  the  alleged  conspirators  who  de- 
manded it,  as  a  matter  of  right.  This  was  in  1660.  Howell's  State  Trials, 
V.  ion,  1036,  1050,  1061,  1078,  1117,  1146,  1177,  1185  and  1196. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  151 

himself,  to  the  extent  of  ordering  a  new  jury  to  be 
empaneled,  and  the  trial  proceeded. 

This  time  it  took  fifteen  days  to  convict.  A 
new  point  made  by  the  District  Attorney  in  this 
case  was  taken  up  and  pressed  to  its  logical  but 
absurd  conclusion  by  the  attorneys  for  the  defense, 
i.  e.,  when  Jennings  came  into  the  state  of  Ohio 
armed  with  a  power  of  attorney  from  Bacon,  he 
acted  as  the  representative  of  the  United  States, 
and  interference  with  him  was  levying  war  against 
the  United  States  (!)  Thus  easily,  under  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  could  a  slave  owner  make  a  great  nation 
out  of  a  very  common  man! 

Langston  took  no  part  in  the  actual  rescue  of 
John  Price,  but  did  insist,  in  talking  with  deputy 
Marshal  Lowe,  whom  he  knew  personally,  that 
the  question  of  Bacon's,  or  as  he  then  understood 
the  claim,  Jennings'  ownership  of  John  Price,  should 
be  settled  by  some  court  in  the  District  in  which  he 
was  found.  The  Court  again  assumed  that  John 
Price  was  Bacon's  slave,  John,  and  charged  the  jury, 
on  the  point  raised  by  Langston,  "But  when  a  fugi- 
tive from  labor  is  captured  and  held  in  any  of  the 
modes  and  under  the  authority  designated  by  the 
Act  of  Congress  of  1850,  any  interference  by  the  State 
authorities  has  no  justification,  nor  can  those  be  justi- 
fied who  invoke  their  interference,  when  they  know  the 
fugitive  is  thus  held.9'  The  jury  in  this  case  stood 
10  to  2  for  conviction,  on  the  first  ballot,  and  in  the 
course  of  an  hour  the  two  were  convinced  that  the 
Judge's  charge  left  them  no  ground  to  stand  on 
and  they  joined  in  the  verdict  of  "guilty." 

Bushnell  and  Langston  were  sentenced  on  May 
llth,  the  former  to  60  days'  imprisonment,  and  to 
pay  a  fine  of  $600;  the  latter,  owing  to  his  impassioned 
plea  on  behalf  of  the  poor  and  oppressed,  which 
stirred  the  emotions  of  all  present,  drawing  a  fine 
of  only  $100  and  imprisonment  for  20  days.  Lang- 
ston's  plea  was,  in  the  estimation  of  all  who  heard  it, 


152  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

the  most  eloquent  and  effective  speech  made  during 
the  entire  proceedings.  It  was  published  in  full 
in  most  of  the  Western  Reserve  papers  and  special 
attention  called  to  it  by  leading  editorials. 2 1 8 

To  fully  appreciate  such  a  speech  one  must  have 

"8  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  May  13.  1859,  "Charles  H.  Langston  yesterday 
proved  himself  worthy  of  his  Anglo-Saxon,  Native  American,  African  and  Revo- 
lutionary blood.  He  stood  respectful  but  unawed  in  the  presence  of  Federal  Court 
despotism  and,  like  Paul  of  old,  spoke  the  'words  of  truth  and  soberness.'  It  will 
live  in  history.  The  children  of  the  Free  will  read  it  in  their  school  books  and 
will  execrate  the  memory  of  the  Court  and  the  Jury  who  consigned  such  a  man 
to  fine  and  imprisonment  for  a  crime  so  God  like!"  *  *  "The  remarks  of 
the  defendant,  Charles  Langston,  were  noticeable  for  their  force,  clearness,  earnest- 
ness, rhetoric,  logic  and  truth.  No  speech  has  been  made  in  the  long  course  of 
these  trials,  that  so  appealed  in  itself  to  the  hearts  of  the  hearers  as  his.  There 
was  a  power  and  solemnity  to  it  which  could  not  but  be  felt  by  all,  whether  friends 
or  enemies  to  the  colored  race.  He,  at  least,  was  a  MAN."  The  Cleveland  Plain 
Dealer,  said,  May  12,  1859,  "On  the  opening  of  Court  Mr.  Langston  appeared  for 
sentence,  and  was  asked  if  he  had  anything  to  say  in  mitigation  of  his  sentence. 
To  which  Mr.  Langston,  who  is  a  fine  looking,  light  mulatto,  responded  both  cour- 
teously and  eloquently  in  manner  and  matter."  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said, 
May  4,  1859,  "Before  the  Judge  passed  sentence  upon  him,  He  made  one  of  the 
most  manly  and  eloquent  speeches  we  ever  read.  We  will  publish  this 

speech."  The  Ashtabula  Telegraph  said,  May  14,  1859,  "he  addressed  the  Court 
for  half  an  hour  riveting  the  attention  of  the  audience  and  called  out  marks  of 
applause  and  admiration,  and  we  should  think,  from  the  report  of  it  in  the  Herald 
that  it  was  characterized  by  more  good  sense,  good  temper,  force  and  dignity, 
than  anything  that  has  proceeded  either  from  the  Bench  or  the  Prosecuting 
Attorneys  since  the  commencement  of  these  trials."  The  Independent  Democrat, 
Elyria,  said,  May  18,  1859,  "He  stood  up  before  the  Judge  and  Jury  and,  in  the 
presence  of  as  many  people  as  could  crowd  into  the  room,  delivered  the  speech 
which  will  be  found  in  another  column.  It  was  a  scorching,  withering,  and  elo- 
quent expose  of  the  whole  farcical  trial  and  a  complete  annihilation  of  the  soph- 
istry and  arbitrary  power  of  the  Court  and  District  Attorney,  to  procure  a  con- 
viction under  an  unjust  and  inhuman  law.  '  Let  it  be  read  by  every 
person.  The  Judge  was  so  affected  by  the  truths  he  uttered  that  he  could  scarcely 
proceed  to  pass  sentence  upon  him."  The  Painesville  Telegraph  said,  May  19, 
1859,  "We  publish  it"  [2  %  columns  on  the  editorial  page]  "because  it  is  so  noble 
and  manly  a  vindication  of  himself.  It  is  an  eloquent  contrast,  both  in  aim  and 
language,  with  that  conduct  which  others  connected  with  these  trials  have  evinced. 
It  is  worth  handing  down.  Read  it  and  then  reflect  that,  by  the  decision  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  he  is  one  of  those  who  have  'no  rights  that  white 
men  are  bound  to  respect.'  "  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel  said.  May  19,  1859,  "These 
trials  were  brought  to  a  temporary  close  on  Thursday  last  by  the  sentence  of 
Langston,  whose  speech  and  the  proceedings  of  that  morning  we  give  in  full.  Let 
us  here  say  to  the  reader,  you  will  miss  a  treat,  if  you  overlook  that  speech.  It  is 
a  masterly  effort,  *  *  *  The  spectacle  of  a  man  standing  up  in  the  face  of 
tyranny,  and  telling  the  withering  truths  uttered  in  this  speech  is  grand  at  any 
time;  but  when  the  effort  is  made  under  such  circumstances  as  surround  this 
case  it  is  sublime.  Judge  Willson  evidently  quailed  under  it."  See  also  Cleveland 
Herald,  May  12,  1859;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  May  18,  1859;  Summit  County 
Beacon,  May  18,  1859;  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  Chardon,  May  20,  1859;  Portage 
County  Democrat,  May  25,  1859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  May  25,  1859;  Guernsey  Times, 
May  26.  1859;  Norwalk  Reflector,  May  24,  1859. 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  153 

seen  the  actor  and  heard  the  rich,  musical  voice, 
charged  with  deep  feeling  with  which  the  words 
were  uttered.  A  few  extracts  may  be  permitted 
here,  as  they  portray,  vividly,  the  pitiful  condition 
of  the  colored  man,  bond  or  free,  "under  the  law" 
in  the  fifties. 

"I  know  that  the  courts  of  this  country,  that  the  laws  of 
this  country,  that  the  governmental  machinery  of  this 
country,  are  so  constituted  as  to  oppress  and  outrage  colored 
men,  men  of  my  complexion." 

"Some  days  prior  to  the  13th  of  September,  1858,  happen- 
ing to  be  in  Oberlin  on  a  visit,  I  found  the  country  round 
about  there,  and  the  village  itself,  filled  with  alarming 
rumors  as  to  the  fact  that  slave-catchers,  kidnappers,  negro- 
stealers,  were  lying  hidden  and  skulking  about,  waiting  some 
opportunity  to  get  their  bloody  hands  on  some  helpless 
creature  to  drag  him  back — or  for  the  first  time — into  help- 
less and  life-long  bondage.  These  reports  becoming  current 
all  over  that  neighborhood,  old  men,  and  women  and  inno- 
cent children  became  exceedingly  alarmed  for  their  safety. 
It  was  not  uncommon  to  hear  mothers  say  that  they  dare 
not  send  their  children  to  school,  for  fear  they  would  be 
caught  up  and  carried  off  by  the  way.  Some  of  these  people 
had  become  free  by  long  and  patient  toil  at  night,  after 
working  the  long,  long  day  for  cruel  masters,  and  thus  at 
length  getting  money  enough  to  buy  their  liberty.  Others 
had  become  free  by  means  of  the  good-will  of  their  masters." 
[This  had  been  the  case  with  the  Langston  brothers  and 
Augustus  Chambers]  "And  there  were  others  who  had 
become  free — to  their  everlasting  honor  I  say  it — by  the 
exercise  of  their  own  God-given  power — by  escaping  from 
the  plantations  of  their  masters."  *  *  * 

"These  three  classes  were  in  Oberlin,  trembling  alike  for 
their  safety,  because  they  well  knew  their  fate  should  those 
men-hunters  get  their  hands  on  them.  In  the  midst  of  such 
excitement,  the  13th  day  of  September  was  ushered  in — 
a  day  ever  to  be  remembered  in  the  history  of  that  place, 
and  I  presume  no  less  in  the  history  of  this  Court — on  which 
those  men,  by  lying  devices,  decoyed  into  a  place  where  they 
could  get  their  hands  on  him — I  will  not  say  a  slave  for  I  do 
not  know  that —  but  a  man,  a  brother,  who  had  a  right  to 
his  liberty  under  the  laws  of  God,  under  the  laws  of  Nature, 
and  under  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence." 

"Being  identified  with  that  man  by  color,  by  race,  by  man- 
hood, by  sympathies,  such  as  God  has  implanted  in  us  all,  I 


154  THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

felt  it  my  duty  to  go  and  do  what  I  could  toward  liberating 
him.  *  *  *  I  went  to  Wellington,  and  hearing  from  the 
parties  themselves  by  what  authority  the  boy  was  held  in 
custody,  I  conceived  from  what  little  knowledge  I  had  of  law 
that  they  had  no  right  to  hold  him." 

"It  is  said  that  they  had  a  warrant.  Why  then  should 
they  not  establish  its  validity  before  the  proper  officers? 
And  I  stand  here  to-day  sir,  to  say,  that  with  an  exception, 
of  which  I  shall  soon  speak,  to  procure  such  a  lawful  investi- 
gation of  the  authority  under  which  they  claimed  to  act,  was  the 
part  I  took  in  that  day's  proceedings,  and  the  only  part.  I 
supposed  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio — excuse  me 
for  saying  that,  sir — as  an  outlaw  of  the  United  States 
[much  sensation],  to  do  what  I  could  to  secure  at  least  this 
form  of  Justice  to  my  brother  whose  liberty  was  in  peril. 
Whatever  more  than  that  has  been  sworn  to  on  this  trial,  as 
an  act  of  mine,  is  false,  ridiculously  false." 

"I  did  say  to  Mr.  Lowe,  what  I  honestly  believed  to  be  the 
truth,  that  the  crowd  was  very  much  excited,  many  of 
them  averse  to  longer  delay  and  bent  upon  a  rescue  at  all 
hazards;  and  that  he  being  an  old  acquaintance  and  friend 
of  mind,  I  was  anxious  to  extricate  him  from  the  dangerous 
position  he  occupied,  and  therefore  advised  that  he  urge 
Jennings  to  give  the  boy  up.  Further  than  this  I  did  not 
say,  either  to  him  or  to  any  one  else. 

"The  law  under  which  I  am  arraigned  is  an  unjust  one, 
one  made  to  crush  the  colored  man,  and  one  that  outrages 
every  feeling  of  Humanity,  as  well  as  every  rule  of  Right. 
*  *  *  I  remember  the  excitement  that  prevailed  through- 
out all  the  free  States  when  it  was  passed;  and  I  remember 
how  often  it  has  been  said  by  individuals,  conventions,  com- 
munities and  legislatures,  that  it  never  could  be,  never  should 
be,  and  never  was  meant  to  be,  enforced." 

"But  I  have  another  reason  to  offer  why  I  should  not  be 
sentenced  *  *  *  I  have  not  had  a  trial  before  a  jury  of 
my  peers.  *  *  *  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
guarantees — not  merely  to  its  citizens — but  to  all  persons 
a  trial  before  an  impartial  jury.  I  have  had  no  such  trial. 
The  colored  man  is  oppressed  by  certain  universal  and 
deeply  fixed  prejudices.  Those  jurors  are  well  known  to  have 
shared  largely  in  these  prejudices,  and  I  therefore  consider 
that  they  were  neither  impartial,  nor  were  they  a  jury  of  my 
peers.  And  the  prejudices  which  white  people  have  against 
colored  men  grow  out  of  this  fact;  that  we  have,  as  a  people, 
consented  for  two  hundred  years  to  be  slaves  of  the  whites. 
We  have  been  scourged,  crushed,  and  cruelly  oppressed, 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  155 

and  have  submitted  to  it  all  tamely,  meekly,  peaceably;  I 
mean  as  a  people,  and  with  rare  individual  exceptions. 
And  while  our  people  as  a  people  submit,  they  will 
as  a  people  be  despised.  *  *  *  The  jury  came  into  the 
box  with  that  feeling.  They  knew  that  they  had  that  feel- 
ing and  so  the  Court  knows  now,  and  knew  then.  The 
gentlemen  who  prosecute  me  have  that  feeling,  the  Court 
itself  has  that  feeling  and  even  the  counsel  who  defended  me 
have  that  feeling. 

"I  was  tried  by  a  jury  who  were  prejudiced;  before  a  Court 
that  was  prejudiced,  and  defended,  though  ably,  by  counsel 
that  were  prejudiced." 

"One  word  more,  sir,  and  I  have  done.  I  went  to  Well- 
ington, knowing  that  colored  men  have  no  rights  in  the 
United  States  which  white  men  were  bound  to  respect; 
that  the  courts  had  so  decided;  that  Congress  had  so  enacted; 
that  the  people  had  so  decreed.  There  is  not  a  spot  in  this 
wide  country,  not  even  by  the  altars  of  God  *  *  *  no, 
not  in  the  old  Philadelphia  Hall,  where  any  colored  man 
may  dare  to  ask  a  mercy  of  a  white  man.  *  *  *  When  I 
appeal  to  Congress,  they  say  he  has  a  right  to  make  me  a 
slave,  and  when  I  appeal  to  your  Honor,  your  Honor  says  he 
has  a  right  to  make  me  a  slave,  and  if  any  man,  white  or 
black,  seeks  an  investigation  of  that  claim,  they  make  them- 
selves amenable  to  the  pains  and  penalties  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act,  for  BLACK  MEN  HAVE  NO  RIGHTS  WHICH 
WHITE  MEN  ARE  BOUND  TO  RESPECT.  [Great 
applause.]  I,  going  to  Wellington  with  the  full  knowledge 
of  all  this,  knew  that  if  that  man  was  taken  to  Columbus, 
he  was  hopelessly  gone,  no  matter  whether  he  had  ever 
been  in  slavery  before  or  not.  I  knew  that  I  was  in  the  same 
situation  myself,  and  that  by  the  decision  of  your  Honor, 
if  any  man  whatever  were  to  claim  me  as  his  slave  and  seize 
me,  and  my  brother"  [John  M.  Langston]  "being  a  lawyer, 
should  seek  to  get  out  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  expose  the 
falsity  of  the  claim,  he  would  be  thrust  into  prison 
for  interfering  with  the  man  claiming  to  be  in  pursuit  of  a 
fugitive,  and  I,  by  the  perjury  of  a  solitary  wretch,  would, 
*  *  *  be  helplessly  doomed  to  lifelong  bondage,  without 
the  possibility  of  escape. 

"Some  persons  may  say  that  there  is  no  danger  of  free  per- 
sons being  seized  and  carried  off  as  slaves.  No  one  need  labor 
under  such  a  delusion,  sir,  four  of  the  eight  persons  who  were 
first  carried  back  under  the  act  of  1850,  were  afterwards 
proved  to  be  free  men.  The  pretended  owner  declared  that 
they  were  not  his,  after  his  agent  had  'satisfied  the  Com- 


156  THE  OBERLIN-WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES 

missioned  that  they  were  by  his  oath.  They  were  free  per- 
sons, but  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  oath  of  one  man.  *  *  * 
A  letter  was  not  long  since  found  upon  the  person  of  a  counter- 
feiter when  arrested,  addressed  to  him  by  some  Southern 
Gentleman  in  which  the  writer  says:  'Go  among  the  niggers; 
find  out  their  marks  and  scars;  make  good  descriptions  and 
send  to  me,  and  I'll  find  masters  for  'em.' 

"That  is  the  way  men  are  carried  'back'  to  slavery. 

"But  I  stand  up  here  to  say,  that  if  for  doing  what  I  did 
on  that  day  at  Wellington,  I  am  to  go  in  jail  for  six  months 
and  pay  a  fine  of  a  thousand  dollars,  according  to  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law,  and  such  is  the  protection  the  laws  of  this 
country  afford  me,  I  must  take  upon  myself  the  responsi- 
bility of  self -protection;  and  when  I  come  to  be  claimed  by 
some  perjured  wretch  as  his  slave,  I  shall  never  be  taken 
into  slavery. 

"I  stand  here  to  say  that  I  will  do  all  I  can,  for  any  man 
thus  seized  and  held,  though  the  inevitable  penalty  of  six 
months  imprisonment  and  one  thousand  dollars  fine  for 
each  offence  hangs  over  me.  We  have  a  common  humanity. 
You  would  do  so;  your  manhood  would  require  it;  and  no 
matter  what  the  laws  might  be,  you  would  honor  yourself 
for  doing  it;  your  friends  would  honor  you  for  doing  it;  your 
children  through  all  generations  would  honor  you  for  doing 
it;  and  every  good  and  honest  man  would  say,  you  had  done 
right'" 

[Great  and  prolonged  applause,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of 
the  Court  and  the  Marshal.] 

On  the  very  day  Langston  made  his  eloquent 
plea  and  received  his  sentence,  three  of  the  Rescuers 
living  in  Wellington,  appeared  in  Court  by  their 
attorney,  Sherlock  J.  Andrews,  and  entered  a  plea  of 
nolo  contendere  and  were  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of 
$20  each,  to  pay  the  costs  of  the  prosecution  and  to 
be  committed  to  jail  for  twenty -four  hours.  They 
were  persuaded  to  do  this  by  the  apparent  hopeless- 
ness of  making  a  successful  defence  and  by  the  assur- 
ance of  the  District  Attorney,  that  he  did  not  con- 
sider them  in  reality  responsible  for  the  rescue;  and 
that  "The  Oberlinites  are  the  ones  the  Government 
wishes  to  punish.  *  *  *  We  shall  convict  all 


THE  OBERLIN- WELLINGTON  RESCUE  CASES  157 

the  Oberlinites."  *  *  *  This  was  confirmation  from 
an  official  source  of  the  opinion  which  had  been 
generally  formed  and  expressed  that  the  main  object 
of  the  prosecution  was  political  rather  than  remedial. 
Oberlin  (College  and  town)  was  singled  out  for 
attack,  because  of  its  freely  expressed  anti-slavery 
views  and  its  sympathy  for  a  mistreated  and  oppressed 
race.  Free  speech  and  humanitarian  action  were 
to  be  suppressed  in  Oberlin  and  that  would  bring 
about  universal  acquiescence  in  the  extension  of 
slavery  and  the  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  The  Republican  party  would  be  pilloried, 
as  advocating  violations  of  law  and  of  a  solemn  com- 
pact entered  into  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
Its  speedy  dissolution  must  inevitably  follow. 2  2  ° 

« *  •  The  Norwalk  Reflector  said.  May  17,  1859,  "Thus  it  is  we  are  told  by  this  too. 
of  a  slavery-ridden  administration  that  it  is  not  the  violation  of  the  infamous 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  that  is  regarded  with  horror  by  him  and  his  masters,  but  the 
love  of  liberty  manifested  by  the  men  of  Oberlin."  The  Oberlin  Evangelist  said, 
May  25,  1859,  "Oberlin  stands  conspicuous  for  its  hatred  of  oppression  and  its 
love  of  liberty.  Now  this  bitter  war  against  Oberlinites  is  only  a  deadly  blow 
aimed  at  the  very  vitality  of  liberty.  Pro-slavery  Federal  usurpation  cares  noth- 
ing for  Oberlin  as  such.  It  is  her  love  of  liberty  and  hatred  of  oppression  that  must 
be  crushed  out."  See  also,  Cleveland  Leader,  May  13,  1859;  Cleveland  Herald,  May 
12,  1859;  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  May  12,  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  May  18,  1859; 
Portage  County  Democrat,  May  18,  1859;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  May  18.  1859. 
The  Ohio  State  Journal  said,  May  9,  1859,  "It  would  seem  then,  that  it  is  not  so 
much  a  violation  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  which  is  to  be  punished  by  the  United 
States,  as  the  anti-slavery  sentiment.  That  is  the  thing.  It  is  Oberlin  which 
must  be  put  down.  It  is  freedom  of  thought  which  must  be  crushed  out." 

» »»  The  Ohio  Statesman  (Dem.)  said  April  — ,  1859,  "The  conviction  of  Bushnell 
at  Cleveland  for  the  rescue  of  a  fugitive  slave  from  the  custody  of  the  United 
States  officers  at  Oberlin  will  have  a  very  salutary  effect  upon  the  ferocious  aboli- 
tionists of  that  classic  vicinity.  Presuming  upon  the  perverted  sentiment  of  the 
majority  of  the  people  of  their  village,  and  instigated  by  the  harangues  of  political 
promoters  and  Professors,  the  Oberlinites  have  long  defied  the  law.  They  have 
now  found  that  it  is  not  altogether  powerless  to  vindicate  itself.  '  The 

Republican  Party  has  seen  the  day  of  its  utmost  fervor  and  strength,  and  its  decline 
will  now  be  rapid."  [The  italics  are  ours].  This  was  reprinted,  with  approval, 
in  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  April  20,  1859;  and,  by  way  of  exposure,  in  the 
Painesville  Telegraph,  April  28,  1859.  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  Jan.  19. 
1859,  "The  law  we  have  always  contended  would  be  much  less  obnoxious  and 
more  effective  were  it  shorn  of  certain  useless  and  highly  objectionable  features;" 
but  said,  April  7,  1859,  "Oberlinism  was  Abolitionism  boiled  down  to  the  quintes- 
sence of  bitterness.  Its  reputation  in  this  respect  has  been  world-wide.  ' 


158  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

HOTHOUSE    GROWTH   OF   ANTI-SLAVERY 
SENTIMENT. 

EXTREME   STATE-RIGHTS    DOCTRINE 
ADVOCATED  ON  THE  RESERVE. 

The  thought  that  anti-slavery  men  could  be 
forced,  by  prosecution  and  imprisonment,  to  give  up, 
or  suppress,  their  honest  convictions  was  another 
instance  of  "defective  psychology."  Oberlin  simply 
expressed,  in  words  and  action,  feelings  common 
to  all  humane  persons  who  were  unaffected,  directly 
or  indirectly,  by  selfish  considerations  or  political 
ambition.  It  is  hard  for  the  present  generation  to 
understand  how  Democratic  officials,  editors  and 


We  hope  that  this  Rescue  case  will  open  their  eyes  to  their  obligations  to  the 
Government  under  which  they  live  and  make  them  better  and  wiser  citizens." 
The  Lorain  County  Eagle  (Dem.)  said,  Jan.  12,  1859;  "We  have  believed  and  still 
believe  that  the  Republican  party,  as  a  party  attained  and  passed  its  zenith  during 
the  Kansas  embroglio  of  1856,  and  but  for  the  exciting  nature  of  that  game,  so 
high  a  point  of  numerical  strength  could  never  have  been  reached,  and  now  it 
will  require  some  new  infusion  of  the  Divine  to  kindle  the  smouldering  embers 
of  that  decaying  faction  to  that  energy  and  strength  which  it  manifested  in  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1856."  'The  Portage  Sentinel  (Dem.)  said,  Oct.  7,  1858: 
"The  Republican  party  is  unmistakeably  approaching  its  dissolution.  *  *  *  Its 
platform  now  lies  like  an  unsightly  pile  in  the  gutter,  and  the  party  which  made  it 
is  'passing  away — passing  away.'"  And  again,  April  21,  1859,  after  announcing 
the  verdict  in  the  Bushnell  case,  "We  hope  Judge  Willson  will  put  the  sentence 
at  such  fine  and  imprisonment  as  will  satisfy  the  'higher-law'  gentlemen  of  Oberlin 
that  while  among  mortals,  the  laws  must  be  obeyed.  When  a  class  of  divines, 
professors  and  other  learned  men  teach  resistance  to  law  as  a  Christian  duty,  if 
any  of  them  are  convicted,  they  ought  to  be  punished  to  the  utmost  extent  of  the 
law.  It  will  do  them  good.  The  Cleaveland  Leader  said,  April  — ,  1859,  "No 
intelligent  man  can  resist  the  conviction  that  this  is  a  political  trial,  with  no  other 
object  than  to  make  political  capital  for  a  set  of  fellows  in  Northern  Ohio  who  use 
this  as  a  means  of  advancing  their  party  against  the  Republicans  generally.  * 
The  fugitive  slave  act  is  felt  by  the  people  of  Northern  Ohio,  to  be  so  repugnant  to 
every  principle  of  right  and  to  good  government  that  they  have  treated  it  as  a 
dead  letter."  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel  said,  April  14,  1859,  "In  order  more  effect- 
ually to  crush  out  all  free  principles  in  Northern  Ohio,  and  to  establish  the  full 
and  undisputed  reign  of  Locofocos  and  kidnappers,  warrants  were  issued  for  and 
indictments  found  against  men  who,  by  the  very  nature  of  known  circumstances 
and  facts  could  have  had  no  possible  connection  with  the  rescue  of  the  said  John. 
*  *  Nor  was  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Plumb  was  guilty  of  the 
offense  laid  to  his  charge.  He  is  a  lover  of  free  principles,  and  an  unflinching,  un- 
compromising opponent  of  the  spurious  'Democracy'  taught  by  the  official  tools 
of  the  Legrees  of  the  rice-swamps  and  cotton  fields  of  the  extreme  South.  This 
is  the  way  the  public  treasure  is  to  be  expended  with  a  lavish  hand  in  attempting 
to  compass  his  injury  by  the  confiscation  of  his  property  and  the  incarceration  of 
his  person," 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  159 

politicians  ever  hoped  to  make  political  capital 
out  of  a  vigorous  enforcement  of  a  law  which  "shocked 
the  moral  sense  of  a  majority,"  to  use  Judge  Willson's 
own  language,  and  which  nearly  all  Judges  felt 
obliged  to  apologize  for,  when  charging  juries  of 
fellow-citizens  of  the  same  political  faith  as  them- 
selves. 22°a 

How  could  any  man  hope  that,  in  the  long  run, 
injustice  and  inhumanity  would  win  in  a  battle 
against  conscience  and  humanity?  The  vindictive 
assaults  of  counsel  for  the  prosecution  upon  Oberlin 
men  and  ideas,  in  general,  were  resented,  not  merely 
by  them  but,  by  all  who  were  prompted  by  like 
feelings,  and  furnished  just  the  stimulus  needed 
to  revive  "the  utmost  fervor  and  strength"  and  "to 
kindle  anew  the  smouldering  embers"  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  The  Fugitive  Slave  law,  which  had 
escaped  criticism  in  Northern  Ohio,  after  its  first 
condemnation  in  1850  and  1851,  because  no  attempt 
had  been  made  to  enforce  it,  was  now  denounced 
anew  in  the  pulpit,  the  press,  in  political  conven- 
tions and  public  gatherings  throughout  the  Re- 
serve. 2  2 1  Judge  Willson  and  the  Democratic  news- 


22°  Supra,  pp.  50  to  53  incl.;  106,  108.  In  charging  the  jury  in  the  Langston 
case,  Judge  Willson  said,  "Congressional  legislation  often  becomes  distasteful  to 
a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  country.  It  is  so  at  the  South  with  reference  to  laws 
enacted  to  suppress  the  slave-trade,  and  peculiarly  so  at  the  North  with  reference 
to  the  fugitive  slave  law  of  1850.  *  *  *  It  is  the  first  duty  of  a  jurior,  who  is 
sworn  to  determine  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  one  charged  with  crime  to  divest  him- 
self of  any  and  all  prejudices  he  may  have  against  the  law  itself,  or  of  any  partiality, 
or  ill-will,  he  may  have  towards  the  accused.  *  *  *  This  caution  is  given, 
Gentlemen,  not  because  it  is  feared  that  you  will  intentionally  swerve  from  a  true 
and  just  line  of  duty,  but  simply  that  you  may  guard  and  brace  yourselves  against 
any  undue  influence  while  considering  and  weighing  the  evidence  in  the  case." 

*  2 i  Rev.  James  A.  Thome,  pastor  of  the  West  Side  Congregational  Church  in 
Cleveland,  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Education,  a  native  of  Kentucky  and  the 
son  of  a  slaveholder  who  had  emancipated  his  slaves,  said  in  a  sermon  preached 
April  17,  1859,  speaking  of  the  District  Attorney,  Judge  and  Jury  in  the  Rescue 
cases,  "They  have  awakened  the  indignation  of  the  people  against  themselves; 
and  have  concentrated  their  sympathies  upon  the  prisoners.  They  have  done 
what  they  could  to  exasperate  the  citizens  of  Northern  Ohio  against  slave-catchers, 
and  against  their  Federal  allies,  the  subalterns  of  a  corrupt  administration,  sta- 
tioned on  this  free  soil  to  enforce  an  intolerable  law.  They  have  scattered  fire- 
brands in  every  part  of  this  Reserve  and  they  will  have  enough  to  do  to  quench 
the  flames,  especially  if  they  persist  in  a  course  which  can  only  add  fuel  and  fury 


160  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

papers  and  politicians  were  confronted  with  their 
own  records  made  just  after  the  enactment  of  the 
law  and  before  the  Northern  wing  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  had  become  sub-servient  to  the  slave 


to  them."  The  Independent  Democrat,  Elyria,  said,  April  27,  1859,  'These  case 
are  creating  an  unprecedented  excitement  throughout  the  North.  From  Maine 
to  Iowa  comes  up  the  deep  and  earnest  protest  of  a  wronged  and  injured  people 
who  justly  regard  this  case  as  a  cool  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  override  all  State  authority  and  compel  the  Freemen  of  the  North  to 
become  the  menial  servants  of  those  who  hunt  human  chattels.  The  response  to 
such  mandates — we  will  never  submit"  The  Oberlin  Evangelist  said,  April  27,  1859, 
"But  the  general  government  is  under  the  control  of  slave  holders.  Of  this  fact, 
the  nation  perhaps  needs  more  stirring  proof.  To  bring  out  this  proof,  suffering 
and  wrong  must  fall  heavily  somewhere  on  the  friends  of  freedom  and  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  well  that  it  has  fallen  on  those  who  shrink  not  from  meeting  the  sacri- 
fice." The  Faculty  and  Trustees  of  Oberlin  College  issued  a  statement  "To  their 
Friends  and  Patrons  throughout  the  Country,"  in  which  they  said,  among  other 
things,  "How  long  this  persecution  is  to  continue  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
If  the  extreme  penalty  should  be  executed  upon  all  of  the  accused  and  other  vic- 
tims should  follow,  it  would  have  no  tendency  to  convince  us  of  the  righteousness 
of  the  fugitive  act,  nor  can  we  give  any  guaranty  that  it  would  render  man-hunting 
in  our  community  more  safe  or  more  successful.  *  *  *  Our  trials  will,  we 
trust  be  borne  with  cheerful  patience,  if  by  that  means  we  can  see  the  country 
aroused  to  shake  off  the  tyranny  now  resting  upon  her.  In  this  view  of  the  case 
we  cannot  overlook  the  remarkable  coincidence,  that  at  the  same  moment  when  the 
Federal  Courts  at  the  North  are  inflicting  severe  penalties  on  those  who,  under 
the  impulses  of  humanity,  have  rescued  a  fellow-man  from  bondage,  at  the  South 
the  same  Courts  are  acquitting  the  pirates  engaged  in  stealing  men  from  their 
native  land.  '  What  can  be  more  apparent  than  that  the  struggle  be- 

tween Slavery  and  Freedom  in  this  country  must  soon  terminate  in  the  downfall 
of  one  or  the  other?"  This  was  published  in  the  Oberlin  Evangelist,  May  25,  1859. 
with  this  editorial  comment,  "Now  this  bitter  war  against  Oberlinites  is  only  a 
deadly  blow  aimed  at  the  very  vitality  of  Liberty.  Pro-slavery  Federal  usurpation 
cares  nothing  for  Oberlin  as  such.  It  is  her  love  of  Liberty  and  hatred  of  oppression 
that  must  be  crushed  out.  It  is  the  first  great  act  in  the  tragedy  of  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  in  Ohio,  which  purposes  to  crush  out  liberty  everywhere,  if  the  people 
will  only  submit."  The  Painesville  Telegraph  said,  May  12,  1859,  "He  must  be 
shortsighted  indeed  who  cannot  see  that  such  partisan  decisions  as  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Washington  and  such  transactions,  as  the  Dis- 
trict Court  in  Cleveland  have  been  engaged  in  for  several  weeks  past,  must  have 
the  effect  to  awaken  a  sense  of  destestation  and  contempt  with  the  people  for  all 
such  malformation  in  the  way  of  a  Judiciary.  These  transactions  are  the  sure 
precursors  of  revolution  in  these  departments  of  our  Government  system."  And 
again,  July  28,  1859,  "If  our  country  ever  frees  herself  from  the  crushing  weight  of 
the  slave  power,  it  must  be  by  a  determination  of  the  people  in  the  proper  way 
to  resist  all  unconstitutional  efforts  to  compel  them  to  sustain  it;  and  to  do  this 
the  people  must  know  what  their  rights  are,  and  how  they  have  been  invaded. 
The  trial  of  the  Oberlin  Rescuers  has  done  more  than  anything  that  has  ever  before 
transpired  in  this  part  of  Ohio  to  inform  the  people  upon  the  subject  of  State 
Rights  and  Federal  encroachments.  *  *  *  The  battles  of  Liberty  must  be 
fought  again  and  again;  and  we  may  hope  that  an  agitation,  brought  about  by  this 
and  similar  trials,  will  bring  to  the  block  of  public  opinion,  and  relieve  from  the 
cares  of  office,  all  who  are  for  subverting  our  liberties  and  rights  through  uncon- 
stitutional federal  legislation." 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  161 

power. 2  2  2  In  answer  to  the  argument  frequently 
advanced  that  the  act  was  an  essential  part  of  the 
Compromise  Measures  of  1850  and  that  its  enact- 
ment and  strict  enforcement  were  necessary  to  pre- 
vent a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  men  began  to  inquire 
whether  the  Union  was  worth  saving  at  any  such 
sacrifice  of  principle  and  such  individual  and  com- 
munity degradation.223  The  attempt  to  enforce 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  at  the  North  excited  all  the 
more  indignation  because  of  the  contemporaneous 
failure  of  United  States  Courts  and  juries  at  the 
South  to  convict,  or  even  indict  men  guilty  of  open 
and  notorious  violation  of  the  laws  to  suppress  the 

» » « Supra,  pp.  97  to  104, 106  to  108  incl.  2.  Judge  Spalding,  at  the  beginning  of  his 
argument  in  the  Bushnell  case,  read  to  the  Court  the  resolutions  drawn  up  by  the 
committee  of  which  Judge  Willson  was  a  member  and  passed  at  a  meeting  of 
Cleveland  citizens  in  Oct.  1850. 

•«»  Joshua  R.  Giddings  said,  in  answer  to  threats  of  secession  made  by  Mr. 
Bryant  of  Texas  in  the  winter  of  1858-9,  "These  threats  have  lost  their  effect  either 
upon  gentlemen  in  this  Hall,  or  upon  the  country.  *  *  *  We  are  not  alarmed 
at  threats  of  a  dissolution  of  this  Union.  And  when  I  said  that  I  would  vote  for  a 
resolution  of  repeal  of  the  Texas  annexation,  if  the  gentlemen  would  bring  it  for- 
ward, I  meant  that  he  should  understand  me  as  candid  and  sincere  in  that  declara- 
tion. And,  sir,  we  have  done  for  Texas  what  we  have  done  for  no  other  State  in  this 
Union.  We  have  paid  her  debts,  and  that  to  the  disgrace  of  the  men  who  took 
the  money  from  our  pockets  to  do  it.  *  *  *  We  conquered  that  territory 
by  the  force  of  our  arms  and  conferred  it  upon  Texas."  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel 
published  this  speech,  Jan.  20,  1859,  with  the  comment  "That  is  the  way  to  meet 
these  fire  eaters.  Tell  them  to  go  whenever  they  talk  of  dissolving  the  Union." 
The  Painesville  Telegraph  said,  March  31,  1859,  "We  have  been  thinking  for  some 
time  that  one  thing  must  be  done  or  this  Union  will  be  dissolved,  and  that  is, 
Slavery  must  be  abolished  in  this  land."  The  Akron  Beacon  said,  April  — ,  1859, 
"It  is  about  time  the  question  was  made  whether  white  men  in  the  free  States 
have  any  rights  which  the  negro-catchers  are  bound  to  respect,  and  whether  the 
State,  or  the  kidnappers,  are  sovereign  upon  the  soil  of  Ohio."  [Quoted  in  Cleve- 
land Leader,  April  22,  1859.]  In  a  letter  to  Ralph  Plumb,  dated  May  4,  1859, 
Giddings  wrote,  "The  people,  finding  this  government  to  have  become  'destructive 
of  the  lives,  the  liberties  and  the  happiness  of  its  citizens,  will  Alter  or  Abolish  it  and 
organize  its  powers  in  such  form  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  Ikikely  to  effect  their 
SAFETY  and  HAPPINESS."  [Quoted  in  Cleveland  Leader,  May  6,  1859.]  A 
Republican  County  Convention  held  at  Salem,  O.,  in  May,  1859,  passed  the  fol- 
lowing resolution,  among  others: — 

"Resolved,  That  if  the  unheard  of  doctrine  of  that  court  is  to  prevail  as  a  sanction 
of  law,  that  for  one  to  counsel  a  legal  and  open  investigation  of  the  right  of  kidnap- 
pers to  enter  our  borders  and  capture  whomsoever  their  cupidity  prompts — con- 
stitutes an  offense,  punishable  under  the  provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act, 
then,  have  we  reached  the  utmost  verge  of  patience  and  meek  submission,  and  are 
constrained  with  Patrick  Henry  to  exclaim,  'is  life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as 
to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains  and  slavery.'  "  [Quoted  in  Ohio  State  Jour- 
nal, May  28,  1859.] 


162  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

African  slave  trade.  The  cases  of  the  slaver  Echo, 
the  yacht  Wanderer,  and  other  vessels  landing 
slaves  in  Georgia,  South  Carolina  and  Florida  were 
closely  watched  by  Northern  editors  and  politicians 
and  the  various  failures  of  justice,  pointed  out  and 
commented  upon. 2  2  4  Even  Democratic  papers  called 

21«  The  Cleveland  Herald,  Aug.  13,  1858,  quoted  from  the  Savannah  Republican, 
Savannah  News  and  Charleston  Courier,  accounts  of  the  landing  of  a  number  of 
Africans,  variously  stated  at  from  450  to  750,  from  the  bark  E.  A.  Rawlins.  The 
Cleveland  Leader,  and  Herald  reported,  Aug.  31,  the  capture  of  the  Slaver  Echo 
and  landing  of  over  300  negroes  near  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  followed  up  the  an- 
nouncement with  further  particulars  as  to  the  seizure,  the  disposition  made  of  the 
Africans  and  the  prosecution  of  the  guilty  parties,  quoting  freely  from  Southern 
papers  Sept.  I,  3,  7,  8,  n,  13,  22  and  25,  1858.  A  Charleston  correspondent  of  the 
N.  Y,  Herald  said: —  "The  slave  crew  were  carried  to  our  District  jail  this  day 
handcuffed.  Think  of  that! — Twenty  men  carried  handcuffed  through  the 
streets  of  a  slave-holding  city  by  the  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation! And  for  what?  For  purchasing  negroes  in  Africa  and  bringing  them 
to  the  New  World.  For  rescuing  undying  souls  from  the  night  of  the  heathen 
barbarism  and  transporting  them  to  the  full  blaze  of  the  Christianity  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century."  [Quoted,  with  similar  passages  from  the  Charleston  Courier, 
and  Mercury  in  the  Herald,  Sept.  3,  1858;  and  from  the  Charleston  News  and 
Richmond  Enquirer,  Sept.  7,  1858.]  The  philanthropy  of  the  captors  and  the 
Southern  planters  was  re-enforced  by  the  facts,  also  stated  in  the  Southern  papers 
quoted,  that  the  negroes  were  worth  about  $500  apiece  and  could  be  delivered  on 
the  coast  of  Cuba  or  Florida,  at  a  cost  of  $10  or  £15.  They  were  sent  to  Liberia 
by  the  U.  S.  Government.  [Cleveland  Herald,  Dec.  16.  1858.]  The  Cleveland 
Leader,  Dec.  17,  and  Herald,  Dec.  18,  1858,  announced  the  landing  of  a  cargo  of 
350  negroes  from  the  yacht,  Wanderer,  near  Brunswick,  Georgia,  and  gave  further 
particulars,  quoting  from  the  Savannah  Republican,  Augusta  (Ga.)  Chronicle  and 
Sentinel,  Macon  (Ga.)  Journal,  Augusta  Dispatch,  Columbus  (Ga.)  Enquirer,  Dec. 
18,  23,  24,  29,  30  and  31,  1858.  These  negroes  were  scattered  through  the  South — 
some  being  taken  as  far  as  Memphis — and  sold  for  from  $250  to  $750  apiece,  while 
slaves  raised  in  Virginia  brought  from  $  1,000  to  $1,500  each.  The  authorities 
succeeded  in  capturing  but  two  of  the  lot,  and  the  Savannah  Republican  [quoted 
by  the  Herald,  March  I,  1859]  proposed  that  the  Governor  of  Georgia  should  take 
them  and  sell  them  at  auction  on  the  humane  pretext  that  "this  will  be  much  better 
for  the  negroes  than  to  be  sent  back  to  Africa  by  the  Government."  The  Wash- 
ington correspondent  of  the  N.  Y.  Post,  under  date  of  March  28,  1859,  said  : — 
"African  importations  continue  at  the  South,  and  evidence  is  before  the  govern- 
ment showing  that  a  large  amount  of  capital  is  invested  in  the  business  ' 
defenders  of  the  Administration  say,  'Measures  have  been  taken  by  the  govern- 
ment to  enforce  the  laws.'  Whereas  the  simple  truth  is  that  the  government  has 
not  and  will  not  enforce  the  laws  at  the  South.  It  will  do  it  by  force  of  arms  in 
Boston,  or  New  York,  but  not  in  a  single  slave  State."  [Quoted  in  Cleveland 
Herald,  April  I,  1859.]  The  Memphis  Avalanche  said,  April  9,  1859,  "Three  of  the 
six  native  Africans  brought  here  a  few  days  since  were  sold  yesterday  ' 
and  brought  respectively  $750,  $740  and  $515.  '  These  negroes  are  a 

part  of  the  cargo  of  the  yacht  Wanderer,  landed  some  months  since."  The  Cleve- 
land Leader,  May  7,  1859,  quoted  this  and  said,  "Mr.  Buchanan  gives  his  personal 
attention  to  trials  of  citizens  of  Ohio  for  violating  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  but 
has  no  information  regarding  the  slave  trade  opened  between  the  coast  of  Africa 
and  the  South."  The  Southern  Guardian,  Columbia,  S.  C.,  said  July  29,  1859, 
"A  gentleman  at  Tallahassee,  Florida,  received  a  letter  from  Jacksonville  on  Sunday 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  163 

attention  to  the  utter  disregard  of  these  laws  on  the 
part  of  their  Southern  brethren,  and  warned  them 
that  they  could  not  expect  the  North  to  comply 
with,  or  enforce  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  at  the  North, 
while  they  persisted  in  the  South  in  ignoring  the 
laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade. 2  2  5 


last,  postmarked  i8th,  on  the  back  of  which  was  endorsed  'a  cargo  of 
six  hundred  Africans  has  been  landed  on  the  Florida  coast,  near  Smyrna."  [Quoted 
in  Cleveland  Herald,  August  4,  1859.]  The  Washington  correspondent  of  the 
N.  Y.  Herald  said,  "The  African  slave  trade  is  meeting  with  great  success  on  the 
coast  of  Florida  and  the  Government  has  not  taken  the  first  efficient  step  to  arrest 
it.  '  '  during  the  past  year  a  large  number  of  slaves  have  been  landed  and 

successfully  transported  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  he  estimates  the  late 
increase  of  slave  population  by  importation  since  1848  at  over  fifteen  thousand!" 
[Quoted  in  Cleveland  Leader,  July  15,  1849.]  See  also  Cleveland  Leader,  March  8  and 
25;  April  26;  May  5,  9;  June  25;  July  30,  and  August  9,  1859;  Ohio  State  Journal, 
June  4,  1859;  Summit  County  Beacon,  May  — ,  1859;  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  Dec.  30 
1858;  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  Sept. 4and  11;  Dec.  18, 1858;  Feb.  26  and  May  14,  1859; 
Guernsey  Times,  March  24, 1859;  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  Dec.  17  and  24,  1858,  and 
Jan.  7, 1859;  Independent  Democrat,  Dec.  22  and  29,  1858,  and  June  8,  1859;  Norwalk 
Reflector,  Sept.  21,  and  Dec.  28,  1858;  and  March  8,  1859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  May 
25,  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  Dec.  23  and  30,  1858;  April  7  and  14,  May  19  and 
June  9,  1859. 

»»»  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said.  Dec.  15,  1858,  "Slaves  in  the  South  are 
selling  at  an  average  of  $1,000  per  head.  They  can  be  procured  from  the  African 
coast  for  about  $125  per  head,  securing  to  the  trade  a  profit  of  over  700  per  cent. 
The  money  making  mad-men  of  the  South  are  getting  not  only  numerous 
and  powerful,  but  methodical.  They  call  conventions  and  pass  resolutions  de- 
nouncing the  law  of  the  United  States  prohibiting  the  Slave  Trade  as  unconsti- 
tutional' In  this  way  they  commence  creating  a  public  opinion  to  sustain  their 
future  action.  Then  comes  the  case  of  the  slaver  Echo,  a  full  narrative  of  its  cap- 
ture being  found  in  this  day's  paper,  in  which  a  South  Carolina  Jury  refused  to 
indict  the  crew,  although  there  could  not  have  been  a  doubt  as  to  the  evidence  of 
their  guilt.  Lastly,  a  vessel  makes  its  appearance  freighted  with  Slaves  from  the 
African  coast  and  meets  with  no  difficulty  in  landing  them  where  they  are  spirited 
away  almost  without  observation.  *  *  * 

This  is,  undoubtedly,  but  the  commencement  of  this  nefarious  traffic.  The 
tocsin  has  been  sounded  throughout  the  South  that  the  law  prohibiting  it  is  un- 
constitutional. The  owner  of  the  slaver  Echo  has  been  set  at  liberty  by  a  Southern 
jury,  and  there  is  now  no  law  to  punish  the  offense.  One  cargo  has  been  success- 
fully landed,  and  others  will  follow  fast."  The  Nashville  Banner  in  speaking  of 
these  cases"  [Echo  and  Wanderer]  says,  "We  of  the  South  complain  of  the  North 
because  the  fanatics  of  that  section  rescue  fugitive  slaves  from  the  custody  of  the 
U.  S.  officers.  *  *  *  Our  fanatics  are  even  worse  than  the  fanatics  of  the  North, 
for  they  add  the  crime  of  perjury  to  their  want  of  respect  for  the  law."  [Quoted  in 
Cleveland  Leader,  April  26,  1859.]  The  Logan  Gazette  (Dem.)  said  May  — ,  1859, 
"But  the  Federal  Courts  which  have  refused  to  punish  the  murderous  man-stealers 
of  the  South,  have  not  only  violated  law;  they  have  outraged  our  common  hu- 
manity and  deserve  the  execration  of  mankind.  It  is  idle  and  worse  than  idle  for 
Southern  men  to  ask  or  to  hope  for  a  permanent  continuance  of  this  State  of 
things.  If  they  will  not  punish  the  remorseless  villain  whom  the  civilized  world 
has  agreed  to  designate  a  pirate,  because  the  language  offers  no  word  more  sugges- 
tive of  the  infernal,  the  North  will  cease  to  punish  as  criminals  those  who  spit  upon 
the  Fugitive  law  and  who,  in  the  name  of  God,  infract  and  disregard  its  require- 


164  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

The  Weekly  News,  Enterprise,  Miss.,  April  14th, 
1859,  published  an  advertisement,  signed  by  eighteen 
persons  who  refer  to  firms  in  Mobile,  offering  to  pay 
$300  per  head  for  one  thousand  native  Africans 
between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and  twenty. 2  2  6  Not  one 
of  the  officers  or  crews  of  these  slavers  was  punished 
for  his  violation  of  the  laws  against  the  African 
slave  trade.  And  no  attempt  was  made,  after  the 
deportation  of  the  negroes  brought  in  by  the  Echo,  to 
return  other  imported  Africans  to  their  native  land. 2  2  7 

ments.  That  law  was  always  odious  to  the  North,  and  to  the  whole  North. 
'  But  if  the  South  will  do  nothing  for  the  enforcement  of  law,  the  pres- 
ervation of  harmony  and  the  propitiation  of  a  sentiment,  which  ought  to  be  as 
native  to  the  South  as  to  the  North,  why,  then  let  us  henceforth  bid  the  fugitive 
God-Speed!  on  his  way  to  Canada,  and  vex  no  more  with  onerous  prosecutions 
the  men  who  aid  him  on  his  perilous  road."  The  Cincinnati  Enquirer  said,  April — , 
1859,  speaking  of  the  acquittal  of  the  Echo  slaves,  "The  Charleston  Mercury,  the 
leading  disunion  paper  of  the  South,  supposes  :  *  every  other  case  will  be 

Echo  to  this.  Suppose  like  considerations  would  influence  juries  and  U.  S.  Com- 
missioners at  the  North,  on  the  hearing  of  the  fugitive-slave  cases?  How  would 
the  Mercury  like  it?  How  would  the  South  like  it?" 

»»•  Cleveland  Leader,  and  Herald,  May  5,  1859.  Ohio  State  Journal,  June  27, 
1859. 

*»»  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  Oct.  13,  1858,  quoted  an  editorial  from  the 
Columbia  (S.  C.)  Guardian,  under  the  heading  "A  NOVEL  VIEW  OF  THE 
SLAVER  ECHO'S  CASE,"  as  follows:  "The  slaves  on  board  the  Echo  were  regu- 
larly sold  by  the  Africans  and  purchased  by  the  captain  of  the  Echo.  They  were 
therefore  his  bonafide  property,  and  we  think  the  officers  of  the  Dolphin  committed 
piracy,  if  there  be  piracy  in  the  matter  by  forcibly  taking  possession  of  property 
that  did  not  belong  them.  *  *  *  The  crew  of  the  Echo  will  be  here  in  a  few 
days.  Let  them  come.  We  hazard  the  assertion  that  not  a  hair  of  their  heads 
will  be  harmed."  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said,  April  26,  1859,  "If  the  negro  is 
rescued  a  United  States  Marshal  packs  the  Grand  Jury  to  indite  the  rescuer  and 
the  Petit  Jury  to  try  them,  and  regards  it  as  his  first  duty  to  secure  a  conviction. 
*  *  *  But  the  slaver  Echo  was  captured  with  a  cargo  of  slaves  on  board;  the 
officers  and  crew  taken  to  Charlestion  and  tried  in  the  District  Court;  the  evidence 
was  conclusive  and  not  contested  at  all  *  :  but  the  parties  were  acquitted. 

In  Savannah  a  similar  trial  is  pending.  Mr.  Lamar,  of  the  Wanderer,  admits 
having  been  engaged  in  the  slave  trade,  declares  that  he  shall  continue  in  it,  and 
defies  the  Government.  No  one  expects  his  conviction."  And  again,  May  13, 
1859,  "United  States  Laws  against  a  traffic  that  is  revolting  to  the  humanity  of  the 
civilized  world  are  treated  as  a  mere  farce.  But  at  the  North  a  failure  to  convict 
of  a  trespass  on  the  fugitive  slave  law  would  cost  the  federal  officers  their  places . 
The  Mississipian  said.  May  — ,  1859,  "Under  these  enactments  the  Echo  prisoners 
have  be**n  indicted,  tried  and  fount  not  guilty.  We  rejoice  at  this  result.  It  es- 
tablishes the  unavailability  of  the  laws  interdicting  the  African  slave  trade  so  far  as 
their  enforcement  depends  upon  the  public  sentiment  of  the  South."  [Quoted  in 
Ohio  State  Journal,  May  17,  1859.]  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  May  23,  1859, 
under  the  heading  "THE  UNION  SPLITTERS,"  "At  both  ends  of  this  Confed- 
eracy the  Union  splitters  are  at  work.  An  American  vessel,  a  slave  trader,  is  caught 
in  the  very  act  of  piracy  upon  the  high  seas.  She  is  taken  into  a  Southern  port, 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  165 

The  Summit  County  Beacon  said,  May  — ,  1859: 

"Men  naturally  ask,  how  is  it  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act 
of  1850  has  swallowed  up  all  other  penal  legislation  of  Con- 
gress? Why  is  it  that  the  whole  energies  of  the  Government 
are  put  forth  for  the  enforcement  of  this  law,  so  that  its  in- 
fraction, in  one  jot  or  title,  is  visited  with  instant  pursuit; 
while  the  pirates  who  bring  slaves  from  the  coast  of  Africa 
into  our  Southern  ports,  are  subjected  to  the  faintest  and 
most  languid  'make  believe'  prosecution,  and  discharged  to 
new  criminal  enterprises  of  the  same  nature?  *  *  * 

"It  is  not  without  abundant  grounds  one  may  assert  that 
a  prime  object  of  these  rescue  prosecutions  is  to  awe  the 
refractory  men  of  Northern  Ohio — who  have  a  way  of 
thinking  for  themselves  and  speaking  as  they  think — to  awe 
them  into  abject  submission  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — and 
more  than  that,  to  the  demands  of  insolent  slave  hunters,  like 
this  miserable  Kentucky  bloat,  Anderson  Jennings.  *  *  * 
The  slave  importing  pirates  go  unwhipt  of  justice,  because 
slave  traders  like  slave  breeders  are  friendly  to  'the  institu- 
tion.' But  five  and  thirty  God  fearing  citizens  of  Ohio,  men 
devoted  to  peaceful  pursuits  and  of  unblamed  life  and  con- 
versation, are  to  be  pursued,  harrassed,  imprisoned  and 
despoiled  of  their  goods,  because  in  the  exercise  of  ordinary 
Christian  charity  they  rescued  a  black  man  from  a  gang  of 
ruffians,  whom  they  had  every  reason  to  believe  bloody, 
lawless  kidnappers.  *  *  *  In  one  point  of  view  these 
Government  trials  are  not  without  useful  results.  The 
Fugitive  Slave  law  has  always  been  odious,  but  nothing  short 
of  a  trial  under  it  could  fully  exemplify  its  devilish  atrocity. 
That  has  been  effectually  done  now.  *  *  *  Men  utter 
their  indignation  against  the  infamous  law  and  the  officials 
who  administer  it,  in  tone  of  hearty  indignation.  Such 
expressions  come  from  quiet  men,  not  noisy  politicians." 
Quoted  in  Leader,  May  10,  1859. 


her  crew  arrested,  tried  by  a  Southern  jury  and  acquitted.  The  law  against  piracy, 
which  has  been  sanctioned  by  all  parties  and  most  scrupulously  observed  for  half  a 
century,  is  set  aside  as  a  thing  of  nought.  *  *  *  In  the  North,  a  law  as  old  as 
the  government,  passed  by  the  first  Congress,  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
signed  by  Washington  and  approved  by  Jefferson,  is  resisted  on  the  ground  that  it 
conflicts  with  God's  Higher  Laws  *  *  *  thus  the  work  of  disunion  goes  on." 
And  again,  April  20,  1859.  "The  Telegraph  says  a  verdict  of  '  not  guilty'  has  been 
found  in  this  case."  [Slaver  Echo]  "What  other  verdict  could  be  expected  in 
such  a  case  in  such  a  country?  What  Oberlin  is  to  the  North,  Charleston  is  to  the 
South.  The  former  has  a  law  Higher  than  the  Constitution,  the  latter  a  law  lower 
than  the  Constitution."  Also.  Cleveland  Leader,  May  3,  19,  1859;  Ashtabula 
Telegraph.  April  2.  and  June  II,  1859;  Guernsey  Times,  April  28,  1859;  Lorain 
County  Eagle.  April  6.  1859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  May  25.  1859;  Western  Reserve 
Chronicle,  May  1 8,  1859. 


I 


166  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

Not  only  was  there  a  failure  of  justice  in  cases 
of  African  importations,  but  a  very  general  protest 
in  Southern  newspapers  against  any  attempt  to 
enforce  the  laws  interfering  with  the  African  slave- 
trade,  and  a  general  demand  for  the  repeal  of  all 
such  laws. 2  2  8 

Southern  Conventions  and  public  meetings  lis- 
tened to  speeches  and  passed  resolutions,  demanding 
the  reopening  of  the  slave  trade  and  denouncing 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  interfered  with 
the  same,  as  unconstitutional,  opposed  to  the  material 
and  political  progress  of  the  South  and  not  deserving 
respect  or  obedience. 2  2  9 

»28  The  Mississippi  Democrat  said,  Dec. — ,  1858,  "The  repeal  of  the  unconsti- 
tutional laws  prohibiting  the  African  Slave  Trade  is  becoming  a  necessity  in  the 
South.  Everywhere  in  the  South  we  hear  the  cry.  'More  Slaves!'  Without  an 
increase  of  slave  labor  the  South  cannot  progress.  With  a  large  increase  of  slaves 
the  South  will  progress  and  grow  too  powerful  to  heed  the  threats  of  the  Northern 
dis-Unionists.  No  new  territory  can  be  of  use  to  the  South  unless  the  present 
number  of  her  negro  slaves  is  greatly  augmented,  which  can  be  done  only  by  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  against  the  slaves,  and  the  free  importation  of  African  negroes" 
Quoted  in  the  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  Dec.  24,  1858.  The  Guernsey  Times  said, 
March  24,  1859,  "The  Southern  Citizen  proposes  a  remedy  for  the  high  price  of  ne- 
groes as  follows :  'We  know  a  way  to  remedy  that  state  of  things.  Advertise  for  a  con- 
tract to  land  some  forty  thousand  Africans  at  some  point  between  Savannah  and 
the  Sabine  River  within  twelve  months.  There  will,  of  course,  be  a  risk  of  capture 
by  the  philanthropic  pirates;  and  some  of  the  negroes  will  be  lost;  but  that  is  the 
whole  risk;  as  for  felony,  piracy,  and  hanging,  that's  all  over.'  "  The  Apalachi- 
cola  (Fla.)  Advertiser,  a  prominent  journal  of  the  Southern  Democracy,  said,  April 
— ,  1859,  "Until  the  slave  trade  is  opened  and  made  legal,  the  South  will  push 
Slavery  forward  as  a  seasoning  for  every  dish  and  whether  the  North  likes  it  or  not, 
like  the  Spanish  with  the  garlic,  it  will  have  to  be  tasted  in  every  course  on  the  table. 
This  is  the  settled  and  determined  policy  of  the  party  at  the  South."  Quoted  in 
Ohio  State  Journal,  April  14,  1859.  The  West  Point  (Miss.)  Broad  Axe  said,  May 
— ,  1859,  "The  re-opening,  or  rather  the  legitimizing,  of  the  African  Slave  Trade 
along  with  the  acquisition  of  Cuba  are  the  very  least  results  that  the  States  Rights 
Party  of  the  South  will  think  of  being  contented  with.  *  *  The  exigencies 
of  the  times  demand  that  it  should  be  re-opened — every  principle  of  justice  and 
humanity  concur  with  the  practice."  Quoted  in  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  18,  1859. 

*»•  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said,  May  17,  1859,  "A  meeting  at  Edgefield  Court 
House,  S.  C.,  ' Resolved,  That  the  opening  of  the  slave  trade  is  a  measure  essential 
to  the  material  progress,  political  power  and  social  advancement  of  the  South 

*  *  That  the  laws  in  restriction  of  the  foreign  slave  trade  are  dictated  by  a 
false  and  foreign  sentiment,  and,  are  not  deserving  therefore,  of  our  obedience  as  a 
law  abiding  people.'  A  meeting  in  Claiborne  County,  Miss.,  resolved  essentially 
the  same.  The  following  resolution  was  passed  at  a  Democratic  convention  in 
Parker  County,  Texas,  'Resolved,  That  we  demur  to  any  law  of  Congress  making 
the  foreign  slave  trade  piracy  as  a  usurpation  of  power,  not  warranted  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  ought  to  be  repealed.'  The  Southern  Con- 
vention at  Vicksburg  adopted  a  resolution  that  the  laws  prohibiting  the  slave 
trade  ought  to  be  abolished."  See  also  Ohio  State  Journal,  June  4,  1859. 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI  SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  167 

In  a  4th  of  July  (1859)  address  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  who  had  always 
been  regarded  at  the  North  as  a  moderate  and  con- 
servative Whig  not  disposed  to  make  extreme  de- 
mands, boasted  of  the  great  progress  already  made 
by  the  slave  power  in  the  sixteen  preceding  years 
and  advocated  the  acquisition  by  purchase  or  con- 
quest of  Cuba,  Chihuahua,  Sonora,  and  other  Central 
American  countries.  Among  the  gains  for  slavery 
he  mentioned  the  annexation  of  Texas  which,  he 
said,  could  be  divided  so  as  to  make  five  slave  States; 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  defeat 
of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  and  the  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  which  made  it  possible  for 
Southern  men  to  settle  in  all  the  Territories  with 
their  slave  property  and  be  protected  by  the  Con- 
stitution against  interference  by  the  Courts  or  Legis- 
latures; and  the  passage  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
of  1850,  which  facilitated  the  reclamation  of  run- 
away slaves.  He  had  been  asked  what  were  the 
prospects  for  the  future.  He  would  repeat  what  he 
had  said  in  1850,  that  there  was  very  little  prospect 
of  the  South  settling  any  Territory  outside  of  Texas, 
*  'unless  we  increase  our  African  stock.  *  *  *  You 
cannot  make  States  without  people;  rivers  and  moun- 
tains do  not  make  them  and  Slave  States  cannot  be 
made  without  Africans.  Every  restriction  has  been 
taken  off  of  slavery,  a  fugitive  slave  law  has  been 
granted.  There  are  more  men  at  the  North,  today, 
who  believe  in  the  sound  and  moral  condition  of 
slavery  than  when  he  went  into  Congress."  [sixteen 
years  before.]  His  address  was  reported  in  the 
Augusta  Constitutionalist  and  copious  extracts  from 
it  appeared  in  the  Western  Reserve  newspapers. 2  3  ° 

«*»  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  July  19,  1859,  "What  he  said  becomes  important 
from  the  fact  that  it  undoubtedly  presents,  substantially,  the  slavery  platform 
upon  which  the  nominees  of  the  Charleston  Convention  will  be  placed,  and  between 
which  positions  and  those  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
will  have  to  determine  at  the  next  Presidential  election."  The  Guernsey  Times 
said,  July  28,  1859,  "The  Southern  system  of  breeding  negroes  for  the  market 


168  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

Mr.  Stephens'  address  is  mentioned  first  because 
it  presented,  what  might  be  termed,  the  "irreducible 
minimum"  of  pro-slavery  demands.  The  Savannah 
News,  June  — ,  1859,  reported  a  speech  by  Col. 
Gaulden,  made  to  "one  of  the  largest  and  most  atten- 
tive audiences  ever  assembled  in  that  city,  met  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  into  consideration  the  repeal 
of  all  laws  prohibiting  the  African  Slave  Trade." 
The  News  said : — 

"He  showed  most  conclusively  that  both  the  negro  and 
Southern  white  men  would  be  benefitted  by  the  revival  of  the 
African  slave  trade — the  former  in  a  moral,  social  and  re- 
ligious aspect,  and  the  latter,  in  political  and  pecuniary 
advantages  *  *  *  and  clearly  exhibited  to  his  appreci- 
ative auditory  the  entire  unconstitutionality  of  the  laws 
prohibiting  the  slave  trade  as  was  evinced  in  the  unani- 
mous and  enthusiastic  adoption  of  the  resolutions  published 
below." 

Col.  Gaulden  offered  the  following  resolutions, 
which  were  adopted  unanimously,  viz: 

Resolved,  As  the  sense  of  this  meeting,  That  African  slavery 
is  morally  and  legally  right;  that  it  has  been  a  blessing  to 
both  races;  that  on  the  score  of  religion,  morality  and  in- 
terest, it  is  the  duty  of  the  Southern  people  to  import  as 

many  blacks  direct  from  Africa  as  convenient. 

*  *  *  * 

Resolved,  In  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  the  laws  of  the 

does  not  meet  the  wants  and  demands  of  these  trafficers  in  human  flesh  and  bones, 
and  there  is  but  one  way  left  to  supply  the  deficiency,  which  is,  to  revive  the  slave 
trade  and  import  them  in  sufficient  quantities  fresh  from  their  native  land,  Africa. 
This  is  now  the  policy,  open  and  avowed,  of  the  whole  Democratic  party 
of  the  Union.  Will  the  free  people  of  the  free  States  sustain  them?"  The  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrat  said,  July  22,  1859,  "No  better  evidence  than  this  speech  of 
Mr.  Stephens  is  needed  to  show  that  the  present  political  agitation  in  our  country 
arises  from  a  conflict  of  two  entirely  irreconcilable  principles,  and  that  it  must  con- 
tinue until  one  of  those  principles  shall  prevail  and  'crush  out  the  other.'  "  The 
Independent  Democrat,  July  27,  1859,  said,  quoting  Jacob  Collamar  of  Vermont, 
with  approval,  "There  is  a  set  of  men  *  who  say  the  way  to  get  out  of  all 

the  difficulty  on  the  subject  of  slavery  is  for  us  to  stop  talking  about  it.  But  can 
the  talk  stop?  Did  we  make  the  occasion  for  talk?  Did  we  annex  Texas,  and 
on  purpose  to  add  power  to  the  slave  States?  Did  we  repeal  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise Act?  Did  we  go  in  for  Cuba  and  for  filibustering  generally,  wherever 
there  is  a  chance  to  get  slave  territory?  Do  we  go  in  for  having  the  slave  trade 
opened  again?  Our  action  has  been  and  is  wholly  on  the  defensive.  The  ag- 
gressive movements  come  all  from  the  other  side." 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  169 

general  Government  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves 
from  Africa,  are  all  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  of  no 
effect  except  as  a  foul  blot  on  the  most  cherished  institution 
of  the  South,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  repealed  by  immediate 
legislation. 

A  similar  meeting  was  held  at  Waynesboro, 
Georgia,  a  similar  address  made  by  Judge  Shaw- 
make,  and  similar  resolutions  adopted. 2  3 1 

The  Savannah  News,  July  12,  1859,  gave  a  full 
report  of  a  speech  made  by  Hon.  L.  W.  Spratt  in  favor 
of  opening  the  slave  trade.  It  sets  forth  in  such 
glowing  terms  the  superior  "Kultur"  of  the  South, 
and  the  glorious  nature  of  the  "super-man,"  en- 
gendered thereby,  that  a  few  extracts  should  be 
inserted  here,  to  enable  readers  of  this  generation 
to  understand  more  fully  what  led  to  civil  war  in 
1861,  and  to  its  final  outcome. 

"In  every  State  beyond  the  South,  whose  political  action 
I  have  been  allowed  to  look  into,  there  have  been  causes  to 
disturb  correct  opinion.  At  the  North,  there  is  a  responsi- 
bility to  the  masses;  and  political  actors  there  can  have  no 
opinions  but  those  the  masses — necessarily  of  humble 
capacities  and  tastes — permit  them  to  express.  But  here 
there  is  the  perfect  possibility.  *  *  *  That  which, 
among  foreign  men,  distinguishes  the  noble  and  the  peer, 
distinguishes  the  people  in  all  the  States  and  cities  of  the 
South.  They  are  of  a  ruling  race,  they  feel  the  responsibilities 
of  that  position,  they  are  braced  by  the  sentiments  of  that 
condition — and  among  men  so  situated — among  men  without 
a  master,  but  with  the  tone  and  temper  of  a  master  class,  it  is 
that  we  may  justly  look  for  centres  of  correct  opinion." 

"My  first  reason  for  the  advancement  of  this  measure  is, 
in  the  belief  that  it  will  give  political  power  to  the  South  and 
it  is  my  firm  conviction,  that  without  political  power  there 
is  no  security  for  social  and  political  right.  The  Constitu- 
tion is  insufficient  to  protect  them,  for  a  sectional  majority 
may  pass  what  acts  they  please,  regardless  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. The  Courts  give  no  protection,  for  judges  wear  the 
ermine  of  that  power  whose  acts  they  are  to  question,  and 
they  will  be  found,  or  they  will  be  made,  to  hold  accordant 
with  the  constitution,  whatever  acts  a  dominant  majority 

»«»  Cleveland  Herald.  June  17,  1859. 


170  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

may  pass.  *  *  *  For  minorities  there  is  no  other  right 
but  revolution." 

"But,  as  equality  was  lost  to  the  South  by  the  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade,  so,  would  it  seem,  that  the  slave  trade, 
would  of  necessity  restore  it.  That  trade  reopened,  slaves 
would  come  if  not  to  the  sea  board,  at  least  to  the  Western 
frontier,  and  for  all  who  come,  there  would  be  a  direct  increase 
of  representation  in  the  national  legislatures.  There  would 
also  be  a  broader  base  for  the  ruling  race  to  stand  on.  3,500,000 
slaves  support  6,000,000  masters  now.  Still  more  would 
give  a  basis  for  still  more  and  every  slave  that  comes,  therefore, 
might  be  said  to  bring  his  master  with  him,  and  thus,  to  add 
more  than  twice  his  political  value,  to  the  importance  of 
the  South. 

"But  to  political  power  there  is  a  necessity  for  States,  as 
well  as  men,  and  slaves  would  quite  as  surely  give  them  to  us. 
Ten  thousand  masters  failed  to  take  Kansas,  but  so,  would 
not  have  failed  ten  thousand  slaves.  Ten  thousand  of  the 
rudest  Africans  that  ever  set  foot  upon  our  shores,  imported, 
if  need  be,  in  Boston  ships,  and  under  Boston  slave  drivers, 
would  have  swept  the  free  soil  party  from  the  land.  There  is 
not  an  abolitionist  there,  who  would  not  have  purchased  a 
slave,  at  a  price  approaching  the  cost  of  importation,  and  so 
purchasing  a  slave,  there  is  not  an  abolitionist  there  who  would 
not  have  become  as  strong  a  propagandist  of  slavery  as  ever 
lived:9 

"To  an  increase  of  power  there  must  be  population  and  of 
such  a  population  as  is  necessary  to  extend  the  institutions 
of  the  South,  there  is  no  other  source  than  Africa.  Euro- 
peans will  not  come  *  *  *  into  competition  with  our 
slaves,  and  while,  therefore,  they  drift  in  millions  to  the 
North,  they  will  not  come  to  us.  But  if  they  should,  it  is 
to  be  feared  they  would  not  come  to  strengthen  us,  or  to 
extend  slavery,  but  to  exclude  the  slave." 

"I  venture  to  affirm  that  there  are  no  men,  at  any  point 
upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  so  favored  in  their  lot,  so  elevated 
in  their  natures,  so  just  in  their  duties,  and  so  ready  for  the 
trials  of  their  lives,  as  are  the  six  million  masters  in  the 
Southern  States." 

"When  France  shall  reel  again,  as  reel  she  doubtless  will, 
into  the  delirium  of  liberty — when  the  peerage  of  England 
shall  have  yielded  to  the  masses — when  Democracy  at  the 
North  shall  hold  its  carnival — when  all  that  is  pure  and  noble 
shall  have  been  dragged  down — when  all  that  is  low  and 
vile  shall  have  mantled  to  the  surface — when  women  shall 
have  taken  the  places  and  habiliments  of  men — when  Free 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  171 

Love  unions  and  phalansteries  shall  pervade  the  land — when 
the  sexes  shall  consort  without  the  restraints  of  marriage, 
and  when  youths  and  maidens,  drunk  at  noon  day,  and  half 
naked,  shall  reel  about  the  market  places,  the  South  will  be 
serene  and  erect  as  she  stands  now — the  slaves  will  be  re- 
strained by  power,  the  masters  by  the  trusts  of  a  superior 
position.  and  if  there  be  a  hope  for  the  North — 

a  hope  that  she  will  ever  ride  the  waves  of  bottomless  perdi- 
tion that  roll  around  her — it  is  in  the  fact  that  the  South 
will  stand  by  her  and  will  lend  a  helping  hand  to  rescue 
her!"232 

On  the  other  hand,  conventions  and  public 
meetings  were  held  in  almost  every  county  on  the 
Western  Reserve  at  which  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
was  denounced  in  speeches  and  resolutions  as  un- 
constitutional, contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature  and 
the  laws  of  God,  and  not  to  be  obeyed.  The  speakers 
and  resolutions  took  extreme  States  Rights  ground, 
that  the  Constitution  was  a  Federal  Compact,  con- 
ferring strictly  limited  powers  on  the  government 
of  the  United  States ;  that  the  Courts  of  the  United 
States  were  not  the  sole  judges  of  the  Constitutionality 
of  an  act  of  Congress;  that  the  citizens  of  Ohio  were 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  State  Executive 
and  Courts  in  all  matters  touching  their  personal 
rights  and  liberty;  and  defiantly  proposed  to  treat 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  as  utterly  void  and  of  no 
effect.  At  the  so-called  "Felons'  Feast,"  a  banquet 
tendered  January  11,  1859,  by  the  citizens  of  Oberlin 
to  the  persons  indicted  for  the  rescue  of  John  Price, 
to  which  many  prominent  citizens  of  Lorain  County 
and  Cleveland  were  invited,  George  G.  Washburn, 


2 " 2  Quoted  in  Cleveland  Herald,  July  20, 1859.  A  Prussian  junker  could  not  have 
put  the  issue  between  autocracy  and  democracy  more  bluntly.  The  editor  adds, 
"The  respectable  confidence  gentlemen  of  the  North  who  believe  with  the  General 
Whig  Committee,  that  there  is  no  danger  of  the  opening  of  the  Foreign  Slave  Trade, 
should  subscribe  for  a  few  Southern  papers,  Hardly  a  paper  comes  from  the  Southern 
cities  without  more  or  less  on  this  subject,  showing  that  there  is  no  play  in  this 
matter,  but  a  sober  earnestness  that  should  set  the  people  of  the  Free  States  to 
thinking."  And  again,  July  26,  1859,  "Will  the  North  mark  the  progress  of  this 
question?  The  South,  in  two  years,  will  present  an  undivided  front  in  favor  of 
the  repeal  of  laws  against  slave  piracy.  *  *  *  And  mark  further,  the  Demo- 
cratic party  will  espouse  the  cause  of  the  South." 


172  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

editor  of  the  Independent  Democrat,  of  Elyria,  offered 
the  following  sentiment  which  met  with  a  hearty 
response  :— 

"THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  ACT— Making  war  as  it  does 
upon  all  that  is  manly  in  man,  we  will  hate  it  while  we  live, 
and  bequeath  our  hatred  to  those  who  come  after  us  when  we 
die.  No  fines  it  can  impose,  or  chains  it  can  bind  upon  us, 
will  ever  command  our  obedience  to  its  unrighteous  behests." 

Ralph  Plumb  responded  to  the  toast,  "THE 
ALIEN  AND  SEDITION  LAW  OF  1798  AND 
THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  ACT  OF  1850— Alike 
arbitrary,  undemocratic  and  unconstitutional"  and, 
as  part  of  his  speech,  read  from  the  Kentucky  Reso- 
lutions the  following: — 

"therefore  the  act  of  Congress  passed  July  14th,  1798,  entitled 
'An  Act  in  addition  to  an  Act  for  the  punishment  of  certain 
crimes  against  the  United  States,  and  all  other  of  the  acts 
which  assume  to  create,  define,  or  punish  crimes,  other  than 
those  enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  are  altogether  VOID 
and  of  NO  FORCE,  and  that  the  power  to  create  and  define 
such  other  crimes  is  reserved  and  of  right  appertains  solely 
and  exclusively  to  the  respective  States,  each  within  its  own 
territory." 

and  added,  "Our  country  needs  deliverance  from 
the  galling  yoke  of  the  slave  power  and  it  is  near  at 
hand."  2  3  3 

At  a  public  meeting  at  Oberlin,  April  13,  1859, 
Prof.  James  Monroe,  Principal  E.  H.  Fairchild 
and  John  M.  Langston,  brother  of  Charles  Langston, 
made  the  principal  speeches.  The  Cleveland  Leader 
gave  a  report  of  the  proceedings,  April  26,  1859, 
and  said,  "Any  outline  of  J.  M.  Langston's  speech, 
as  indeed  is  true  of  all  the  speeches,  would  fail  to 
give^an  adequate  idea  of  its  thrilling  effect." 

The  following  were  among  the  resolutions 
adopted  :— 

»•»  Cleveland  Leader.  Jan.  — .  1859;  Cleveland  Herald,  Jan.  — .  1859;  Independ- 
ent Democrat,  Jan.  — ,  1859.     The  italics  are  ours. 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  173 

"3d.  Resolved,  That  we  hold,  with  Jefferson  and  .Jackson, 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  not  made 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  nation  the  ultimate  arbiter  of  the 
Government,  whether  State  or  National,  and  every  private 
citizen  must  decide  for  himself  whether  any  legitimate  enact- 
ment or  judicial  decision  be  in  accordance  with  or  opposed 
to  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land. 

"4th.  Resolved,  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  is  contrary 
to  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  our  national  Constitution,  the 
principles  of  Christianity  and  the  dictates  of  genuine  Democ- 
racy. 

"5th.  Resolved,  That  we  rejoice  in  the  noble,  humane  and 
constitutional  position  assumed  by  the  State  of  Wisconsin 
in  her  late  conflict  with  the  Federal  usurpation — a  posi- 
tion nobly  maintained  and  reasserted  by  her  people  in  the 
recent  State  election,  and  we  earnestly  desire  and  confidently 
believe,  that  our  own  Executive  and  Judicial  officers  in 
Ohio,  will  afford  the  same  protection  to  our  persecuted  fellow 
citizens,  and  thus  vindicate  the  honor  and  sovereignty  of  the 
State." 

At  a  meeting  in  Painesville,  April  25,  1859, 
called  TO  CONSIDER  THE  TREATMENT  OF 
CITIZENS  OF  LORAIN  COUNTY  BY  THE 
FEDERAL  COURT  AT  CLEVELAND,  Hon.  John 
R.  French  said: — 

"In  the  midst  of  these  accumulating  outrages  upon  the 
Sovereignty  of  the  State,  it  is  not  strange  that  men  are  for- 
getting the  true  nature  of  our  Federal  Government.  They 
forget  that  Government  is  Federal,  in  contradistinction  from 
National.  That  it  sprang  from  the  States  and  not  from  the 
People,  that  it  is  a  confederation  of  independent  and  sovereign 
States,  for  few  and  special  purposes  and  those  purposes 
clearly  defined  and  carefully  set  forth  in  the  written  compact." 

Hon.  Wm.  L.  Perkins  said: — 

"The  Constitution  as  now  administered  was  made  just  for 
the  purpose  of  catching  run-away  slaves.  There  is  no 
power  in  the  Government  to  enforce  the  law  against  piracy 
in  the  South;  but  if  we,  at  the  North,  in  any  manner  aid  the 
fleeing  slave  over  this  puddle  of  water  (pointing  to  the  North) 
*  *  *  the  whole  power  of  the  Government,  the  Courts 
with  political  juries,  and  the  Army  are  brought  into  requisi- 
tion to  bring  the  offender  to  account." 


174  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

Among  the  resolutions  adopted  were  the  follow- 
ing:— 

"The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  is  not  only  clearly  unconstitutional, 
but  is  also  so  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  Justice  and 
Humanity  that  no  Constitution  or  Compact  can  make  it 
binding;  and  so  derogatory  to  the  moral  sense  and  self  re- 
spect of  a  free  and  honorable  people,  that  it  deserves  no  argu- 
ment, but  only  execration  and  contempt."234 

At  a  public  meeting,  held  April  28,  1859,  at 
Alliance,  Ohio,  the  following  resolutions,  inter  al., 
were  adopted:— 

"2d.  Resolved,  That  upon  the  soil  of  Ohio,  the  citizen  is 
indebted  to  the  authority  of  the  State  for  protection  to  person 
and  to  property,  and  the  advantages  generally  accruing  from 
civil  government. 

"3d.  Resolved,  Therefore  that  by  every  consideration  which 
imposes  allegiance  to  civil  government  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
individual  in  any  conflict  of  jurisdiction  between  a  State  and 
the  Federal  Government  to  uphold  the  sovereignty  of  the  State 
in  which  he  resides  against  interference  of  the  Federal  authori- 
ties.*** 

"5th.  Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  our  fellow  citizens 
throughout  the  State,  through  primary  meetings  like  the 
present  to  give  expression  to  public  sentiment,  that  not  only 
our  own  official  servants,  but  the  Nation  and  the  world  may 
learn  whether  they  prefer  to  be  the  submissive  slaves  of  the 
despotism  which  assails  us,  or  live  as  freemen,  or  die  in  the 
attempt  to  do  so."236 

The  Lorain  County  Republican  Convention, 
held  at  Elyria,  May  28,  1859,  adopted  the  following 

t»^ko^v  1 11  4"i  s*w\  o     o  T"irfc  ^"\t"»  rf    /^^"  r"»  ^\Y»O  • 


iiciu   at   JLjryiict,   u-L<vy    *o,    AO« 

resolutions  among  others: — 


"3.  It  is  absurd  to  contend,  that  the  State  Government  is 
just  as  Sovereign  within  its  sphere  as  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment is  within  its  sphere,  and  yet  make  the  latter  the  sole 
judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  both." 

"5.  The  law  of  1850  is  further  unconstitutional  because  it 
denies  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  because  it  creates  a 
swarm  of  petty  judicial  officers,  the  mode  of  whose  appoint- 

»»«  Painesville  Telegraph,  April  28,  1859;  Cleveland  Leader,  April  28,  1859. 

*  •  •  The  italics  are  ours. 

>»•  Cleveland  Leader,  May  2,  1859;  Jeffersonian  Democrat,  May  6,  1859. 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  175 

ment  and  compensation  is  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution;  and  said  law  is  not  only  clearly  unconstitutional 
but  it  is  exceedingly  partial,  oppressive  and  inhuman. 

"6.  We  agree  with  Henry  B.  Payne  and  the  Democratic 
Legislature  of  1851  that  such  a  law  can  never  receive  the  vol- 
untary co-operation  of  our  people."237 

Similar  meetings  and  conventions  were  held, 
and  similar  resolutions  adopted,  in  Columbiana, 
Erie,  Medina  and  Portage  counties. 2  3  8  Perhaps 
the  most  sensational  of  all  was  one  held  at  Jefferson, 
Ashtabula  County,  May  7th,  1859,  called  "To 
take  into  consideration  our  duty  in  relation  to  the 
trials  now  in  progress  before  the  United  States 
Court  at  Cleveland,  for  an  alleged  violation  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act,  and  take  such  measures  as  may 
seem  proper  to  protect  the  rights  of  our  fellow  citi- 
zens and  ourselves  against  the  tyrannies  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government."  Mr.  Kellogg,  who  long  repre- 
sented this  District  in  the  State  Legislature,  made  a 
stirring  speeech,  saying  among  other  things: — 

"The  great  question  is  now  being  determined  by  the  people 
of  this  nation,  and  especially  by  the  people  of  Ohio,  whether 
or  not  a  few  slave  holders  shall  not  only  lord  it  over  the  pros- 
trate and  down-trodden  African,  but  shall  also  be  permitted 
to  place  the  iron  hand  of  despotism  upon  the  necks  of  the 
free  men  and  women  of  Ohio,  and  especially  of  this  Thermo- 
plyae  of  Freedom,  the  Western  Reserve." 

After  analyzing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  and 
pointing  out  its  objectionable  features,  he  gave  an 
account  of  the  seizure  of  John  Price  and  his  rescue 
at  Wellington,  and  put  the  question:— 

"And  now  what  say  you,  men  and  women  of  Jefferson? 
Shall  the  slave  driver,  or  his  more  infamous  hireling,  the  U.  S. 
Marshal,  be  permitted  to  take  from  your  village  by  virtue 
of  that  infamous  enactment  any  individual,  white  or  black, 
for  the  purpose  of  consigning  such  person  to  slavery?  You 
say,  NO!  NO!  and  so  said  the  men  and  women  of  Oberlin 


237  Independent  Democrat,  June  I,  1859. 

2«s  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  28,  1859.     Cleveland  Leader,  April  25  and  May  25 
and  30,  1859.     Cleveland  Herald,  May  24,  1859. 


176  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

and  Wellington.  Aye!  and  so  acted  the  men  and  women  of 
Oberlin  and  Wellington,  and  for  so  saying  and  so  acting,  these 
free  men  and  citizens  of  Ohio  are  now  incarcerated,  like 
common  felons,  in  the  jail  of  Cuyahoga  County. 

*,The  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  to  whom  we  have  heretofore 
looked  with  confidence  to  interpose  the  time-honored  writ 
of  right,  the  Habeas  Corpus,  and  discharging  our  friends 
from  an  unlawful  and  unconstitutional  imprisonment,  has 
failed  to  meet  our  expectations. 

"And  now,  fellow  citizens,  these  are  some  of  the  reasons 
that  have  brought  us  together  this  evening,  and  it  behooves 
us  to  consider  well  our  responsibilities  as  free  men  and 
citizens,  for  upon  the  action  taken  by  us  on  this  occasion 
may  and  probably  does  depend  consequences  of  great  mo- 
ment, not  only  to  ourselves  but  to  those  that  shall  come 
after  us." 

He  was  followed  by  State  Senator  Darius  Cad- 
well,  who  said,  among  other  things: — 

"Do  we  look  upon  these  men"  [the  rescuers]  "as  criminals? 
No !  Every  man  here  respects  them  the  more  for  what  they 
have  done.  Which  of  you  will  not  say  with  me,  I  would  have 
done  it,  and  as  God  is  my  helper,  I  will  do  it  whenever  an 
opportunity  presents  itself. 

"Hiram  V.  Willson  is  Judge  of  the  Northern  District  of  Ohio. 
In  1850,  he  could  denounce  the  Fugitive  Act,  as  unchristian 
and  unconstitutional  and  ought  not  to  be  obeyed  or  respected 
*  *  *  yet  now,  dazzled  with  the  glittering  of  official  gold, 
he  presides  over  these  trials,  in  a  manner  that  makes  the 
reputation  of  Scroggs  and  Jeffries  respectable.  And  District 
Attorney  Belden  persecutes  with  the  malignity  of  a  viper, 
to  atone  for  his  apostacy  to  the  Democratic  party  in  1848 — a 
jury  is  packed  to  aid  them,  composed  of  just  such  men  as 
are  sent  up  there  for  jurors  from  this  County,  men  who  are 
never  deemed  worthy  of  any  trust  in  the  community  where 
they  live,  and  thus  more  credit  is  given  to  Jennings  as  a 
witness — when  he  stands  there  confessing  his  infamous  oc- 
cupation— than  to  a  score  of  as  pure  and  truthful  men  as 
ever  breathed  the  air  of  heaven.  *  *  * 

"The  Slave  Power  construes  the  Constitution  for  us,  and 
its  tools  among  us  seek  to  enforce  their  construction.  Every 
law  of  Congress  that  conflicts  with,  or  in  any  degree  interferes, 
with  slavery  is  held  to  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and 
is  utterly  set  at  defiance  by  the  South,  if  not  formally  pro- 
nounced void  by  the  Federal  Judiciary  *  *  The  law 
which  declares  those  engaged  in  the  foreign  slave  trade, 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  177 

pirates  and  worthy  of  death,  is  treated  as  nullity.  Its  open 
violators  go  unpunished  and  even  unindicted,  and  respon- 
sible and  influential  traders  and  planters  flauntingly  offer 
through  their  public  prints,  to  pay  $300  a  head  for  native 
born  Africans,  and  when  they  do  it,  they  know,  as  we  know, 
that  this  government  will  not  molest  them,  whatever  they 
may  do  in  that  direction." 

Commenting  on  the  refusal  of  the  Ohio  Supreme 
Court  to  grant  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  in  the  case 
of  Simeon  Bushnell,  convicted,  and  held  in  jail,  but 
not  yet  sentenced,  for  a  violation  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  on  the  ground  that  the  District  Court 
had  not  taken  final  action  and  that  such  action 
might  render  habeas  corpus  superfluous,  he  added: — 

"The  great  object  of  Habeas  Corpus,  is  to  restore  the  im- 
prisoned to  the  freedom  of  which  he  is  unjustly  deprived, 
and  I  would  not  postpone  his  delivery  from  captivity  for 
comity's  sake,  did  I  believe  that  the  individual  or  the  tribu- 
nal illegally  held  him.  Almost  every  application  for  a  Habeas 
Corpus  is  made  by  a  person  who  is  held  by  some  other  under 
color  of  law;  and  I  would  not  stop  for  a  discourse  on  cour- 
tesy with  a  tribunal  that  thus  persecutingly  tramples  under 
foot  the  dearest  rights  of  our  citizens.  If  it  be  true  that  the 
National  Government  intends  to  resist  the  execution  of  a 
writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  granted  by  our  State  Courts,  then  in 
my  opinion,  the  time  has  come  to  fight.  We  have  been  ac- 
customed to  think  that  we  Lad  rights  independent  of  the 
Federal  Government.  //  we  have  not,  then  we  want  no  Fed- 
eral Government,  unless  we  want  a  monarchy." 

Among  the  resolutions  adopted  were  the  follow- 
ing:— 

"Resolved,  That  we  deeply  sympathize  with  our  friends 
now  in  prison  at  Cleveland,  for  their  devotion  to  liberty; 
and  assure  them  that  when  the  Judiciary  of  our  State  shall 
refuse  relief  the  necessity  for  action  by  the  people  will  become 
obvious  and  no  prison  shall  hold  them. 

"That  the  enactment  known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
was  conceived  by  the  enemies  of  the  Union;  it  violates  the 
spirit,  as  well  as  the  express  language  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, in  its  terms;  it  is  wantonly  insulting  to  a  free  people; 
it  violates  the  rights  of  the  States  and  is  intolerably  tyranical 
and  oppressive  in  its  character.  No  person  possessing  the 
spirit  of  freedom  will  respect  or  obey  it. 


178  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

"That  if  the  people  of  the  Western  Reserve  submit  to  such 
intolerance  they  deserve  the  name  of  Slaves. 

"That  in  view  of  the  circumstances  by  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded, we  call  upon  the  people  of  our  several  townships, 
to  hold  meetings  and  take  measures  for  an  efficient  organiza- 
tion of  those  who  are  willing  to  act  in  this  hour  of  Freedom's 
peril — by  reviving  the  ancient  Order  of  the  'Sons  of  Liberty,' 
or  adopting  such  other  measures  as  shall  best  prepare  us  to 
meet  the  impending  emergencies."  2  3  9 

The  threat  of  forcible  resistance  to  the  United 
States  authorities  in  these  resolutions  was  unmistak- 
able. But,  not  satisfied  with  that,  as  soon  as  they 
were  adopted,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  "the  old  war 
horse"  as  people  of  the  Reserve  delighted  to  call 
him,  mounted  the  stand,  explained  that  the  "Sons 
of  Liberty"  was  an  organized  body,  in  the  days 
preceding  the  Revolution,  who  resisted  the  Stamp 
Act  and  forced  the  British  Commissioner  to  resign 
his  Royal  Commission,  and  afterwards  enacted  the 
"Boston  Tea  Party,"  thus  settling  for  the  American 
colonies  the  principle  of  "No  taxation  without 
representation."  He  concluded  by  presenting  a  char- 
ter and  by-laws  of  such  a  society,  and  after  signing  it 
himself  asked  all  who  valued  their  freedom  to  join 
him.  Nearly  a  hundred  names  were  enrolled  on 
the  spot.  W.  C.  Howells,  editor  of  the  Ashtabula 
Sentinel  and  father  of  the  novelist  and  literary  critic, 
William  D.  Howells,  wrote  to  the  Cleveland  Leader, 
"These  men  will  be  heard  from  when  wanted."  2  4  ° 

This  feeling,  that  a  resort  to  force  would  be 
necessary  to  stop  the  intolerable  execution  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  in  Ohio  was  spreading  rapidly. 
The  Portage  County  Democrat  said,  May  11,  1859, 

"We  are  approaching  the  conclusion,  that  the  peaceful 
influence  of  the  ballot  box  will  never  restore  our  Govern- 
ment to  the  principles  of  freedom,  just  ice  and  equity  on  which 


«»»  Cleveland  Leader,  May  10,  1859;  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  May  12,  1859;  Ashta- 
Telegraph,  May  14,  1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  May  25,  1859;  Guernsey 
Times,  May  19,  1859;  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  — ,  1859. 

2*0  Cleveland  Leader,  May  10,  1859. 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  179 

it  was  founded,  and  from  which  it  has  so  far  departed  by  the 
infusion  of  the  tyrant  power  of  the  South  aided  by 
miserable,  corrupt  doughfaces  of  the  North,  and  the  scarcely 
less  criminal  conservative  timidities. 

"From  the  days  of  Magna  Charta  *  *  down  to  the 
bloody  strife  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  where  freemen  have 
triumphed  what  important  advantage  has  been  gained  for 
freedom,  what  enlarged  enjoyment  of  inalienable  rights 
has  been  secured  without  direct  or  positive  force,  either  in 
attack  or  defense? 

"Let  no  cheek  pale  then,  at  the  prospect  in  the  not  distant 
future,  of  a  revolution  not  bloodless !  The  time  has  not  yet 
come,  but  the  doughfaced  servility,  and  conservative  timidity, 
and  corrupt,  cringing  sycophancy  of  the  times  are  fast  has- 
tening the  day.  Let  the  day  come  and  God  speed  the 
right.  RESISTANCE  TO  TYRANTS  IS  OBEDIENCE 
TO  GOD!" 

And  in  another  place: — 

"Let  no  man  recklessly  throw  away  his  life  or  liberty. 
When  the  conviction  becomes  fastened  universally  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people  that  the  ballot  box  has  failed  as  a  remedy, 
another  remedy  will  be  sure  to  be  applied.  What  that 
remedy  will  be,  time  will  develop.  A  forcible  writer  has 
said,  'Revolution  is  the  Genius  of  the  World.'  ' 

On  this  same  date  the  Democrat  published  a 
letter  from  Cleveland  one  and  a  quarter  columns 
long,  signed  LIBERTY,  describing  the  Court,  counsel 
and  prisoners  and  concluding  as  follows:— 

"The  shortest,  best  and  most  practicable  method  of  dis- 
posing of  men  thieves  who  come  prowling  around  our  homes 
is  to  set  them  dangling  at  the  end  of  a  rope  four  feet  from  the 
ground.  We  must  no  longer  submit  to  the  despotism  of  the 
Federal  government.  Our  wrongs  we  must  right,  if  we  can, 
through  the  Ballot  Box,  and  if  this  fail  us,  then  through  the 
Cartridge  Box." 

The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  May  — ,  1859, 
ridiculed  these  bellicose  expressions,  but  the  depth 
and  sincerity  of  the  feeling  back  of  them  was  no 
longer  to  be  disguised.  Thoughtful  men  saw  that 
to  prevent  dangerous  collisions  between  local  organ- 
izations and  Federal  authorities  on  some  slight  provo- 


180  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

cation,  the  public  sentiment  must  find  orderly 
expression  in,  and  be  regulated  by,  a  central  organi- 
zation, representing  the  whole  Western  Reserve. 
A  call  was  issued,  therefore,  for  a  mass  meeting  to 
be  held  at  Cleveland,  May  24,  1859,  addressed  to 
"the  foes  of  slavery  and  Despotism  and  the  friends 
of  State  and  Individual  Rights,"  signed  by  over 
500  prominent  citizens,  and  published  in  all  the 
Republican  papers  and  such  others  as  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  movement. 

On  the  appointed  day  an  immense  crowd  thronged 
the  streets  and  public  square  of  Cleveland.  Thousands 
came  on  special  trains  over  the  Lake  Shore,  Cleveland 
&  Pittsburg,  Cleveland  &  Toledo,  Cleveland  & 
Columbus,  and  Cleveland  &  Mahoning  railroads, 
and  other  thousands  came  in  carriages  or  on  horse- 
back. It  was  an  orderly  crowd,  and  not  the  slightest 
disturbance  occurred  to  discredit  the  assembly  [or 
injure  the  cause  which  was  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  all.  The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Judge 
R.  P.  Spalding,  who  concluded  his  address  with 
these  words  of  admonition: — 

"We  have  not  met  to  set  at  defiance  either  the  law  or  the 
officers  of  the  law.  We  have  met  to  manifest  the  will  and 
determination  of  the  people  in  a  peaceful  and  constitutional 
manner.  *  *  *  Let  us  make  known  our  rights  and  our 
determination  to  maintain  those  rights,  even  to  the  last 
issue;  but  as  you  value  your  position  as  Republicans,  as 
members  of  that  great  party  of  the  right,  let  good  order  char- 
acterize your  doings  and  keep  you  from  any  illegal  acts." 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  contained  such 
representative  men  as  Senator  B.  F.  Wade,  James 
Monroe,  W.  H.  Upson,  J.  R.  French,  Peter  Hitch- 
cock, William  T.  Bascom,  and  James  M.  Ashley. 
The  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  con- 
tained men  of  nearly  equal  prominence,  and  one 
young  man,  thirty  years  of  age,  who  was  to  dis- 
tinguish himself  equally  in  war  and  in  peace,  and 
who  possessed,  in  rare  degree,  the  qualities  of  a 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  181 

scholar,  a  military  leader  and  an  executive  officer- 
Jacob  D.  Cox,  of  Trumbull. 

Letters  were  read  from  William  Dennison,  the 
Republican  candidate  for  Governor,  Thomas  Spo  on- 
er, of  Cincinnati,  Philip  Dorsheimer,  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  Cassius  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  and  others. 
Thos.  Spooner  wrote:— 

"It  is  time  that  we  had  declared  against  a  further  exten- 
sion of  Slavery  and  that  while  we  will  not  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  the  States,  we  are  determinedly  fixed  in  our 
resolution,  that  the  territories  of  our  country  shall  be  con- 
secrated to  free  labor.  *  *  *  that  we  will  hold  sacred 
and  inviolable  the  rights  of  all,  to  life  and  liberty  who  may 
obtain  a  foothold  in  the  Northwest — that  no  longer  will  we 
countenance  a  Judiciary  who  will  'under  safe  precedents'  give 
up  to  slavery  those  who  are  seeking  freedom." 

Mr.  Dorsheimer  wrote: — 

"I  agree  with  you"  [signers  of  the  call]  "that  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  Slave  power,  'are  sufficient  to  alarm  every  true 
patriot.'  Every  concession  the  North  has  made  seems  to 
have  emboldened  the  South  to  make  new  demands  *  *  * 
and  finally  Southern  statesman  seek  to  engage  the  Republic 
in  an  infamous  and  piratical  traffic  by  the  repeal  of  the  exist- 
ing laws  against  the  slave-trade." 

Cassius  M.  Clay  wrote: — 

"I  always  hated  and  denounced  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — 
not  only  because  it  violated  the  United  States  Constitution — 
the  return  of  fugitives  from  labor  being  a  duty  imposed  upon 
the  Sates  only  *  *  *  but  because  it  violated  all  the 
safeguards  of  freedom,  jeoparded  the  life,  liberty  and  happi- 
ness, not  only  of  the  humble  and  hated  African,  but  of  every 
proud  Saxon  in  the  land  and  made  justice  a  mockey  in  all 
its  forms,  and  because  it  humiliated  and  degraded  our  manhood, 
and  fitted  us  to  be,  ourselves,  slaves,  which  our  masters  long 
since  designed." 

"What  think  you  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
that  the  black  man  has  no  right  which  a  white  man  is  bound 
to  respect?  What  think  you  of  their  dicta  that  citizens  of 
the  free  States  are  not  citizens  of  the  United  States?  What 
think  you  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision  in  its  real  purpose — that 
slavery  is  the  only  sovereignty  in  these  States — in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Kentucky  and  Kansas  laws — a  man's  right  to 


182  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

his  slave  'is  higher  than  all  laws  and  constitutions?'  What 
think  you  of  that  sort  of  a  'Higher  Law?' 

"You  intend  to  'resolve,'  to  'protest,  'to  'denounce.'  Is  that 
all?  Then  go  home  and  wear  your  chains!  I  say,  are  you 
ready  to  fight?  Not  to  fight  the  poor  Judge  at  Cleveland— 
not  to  fight  the  Marshal — not  to  fight  the  miserable  packed 
jury — not  to  fight  the  tools  of  the  Despots — but  the  Despots 
themselves!  *  *  *  Are  you  ready  for  that?  If  not,  give 
it  up  now!" 

"The  'Democracy'  intend  to  rule  the  Union,  or  ruin  the 
Union.  I  don't  intend  so  far  as  I  can  prevent — so  far  as  I 
can  control  or  influence  the  Republican  party,  that  they 
shall  be  allowed  to  do  either.  I  want  a  man  at  the  head  of 
the  party,  who  will  be  the  platform  of  the  party.  I  want  no 
corn-stalk  general,  but  a  real  general. 

"When  the  slave-holders  say  if  you  elect  a  Republican 
President,  we  will  dissolve  the  Union,  I  don't  want  any  one 
to  put  off  the  evil  day  which  would  follow  such  event  by  say- 
ing, 'let  it  slide !'  but  some  one  who  would  stand  by  the  tomb 
of  Andrew  Jackson  and  become  infused  to  such  extent  with 
the  spirit  of  that  old  patriot,  that  he  would  be  ready  to  cry 
out  *  *  *  By  the  eternal — the  Union  shall  be  preserved 
*  *  *  That's  what  I  mean,  by  asking  you  are  you  ready 
to  fight !  If  you  have  got  your  sentiments  up  to  that  manly 
pitch,  I  am  with  you  all  through  to  the  end!" 

Many  speeches  were  made  which  interested 
the  crowd,  and  moved  them  to  laughter  or  applause. 
Mr.  Giddings  made  one  of  his  characteristic  speeches 
and  appeared  more  than  any  other  to  voice  the 
sentiments  of  the  assembled  people  when  he  said:— 

"I  would  have  a  committee  appointed  to-day  to  apply 
to  the  first  and  nearest  officer  who  has  the  power,  that  he 
shall  issue  a  writ  for  the  release  of  those  prisoners  [pointing 
to  the  jail] — not  the  men  who  have  now  been  summoned  to 
Columbus,  but  those  who  have  not  been  sentenced.  And  I 
want  to  be  appointed  on  that  committee  and  if  so,  I  will 
promise  you  that  no  sleep  shall  come  to  my  eyelids  this  night 
until  I  have  used  my  utmost  endeavors  to  have  these  men 
released." 

There  was  immense  applause,  and  still  more 
when  he  added: — 

"If  it  was  not  for  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  for  which 
I  have  the  utmost  respect,  I  would  ask  for  no  judicial  process, 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  188 

but  those  men  should  be  brought  before  you  today.  *  *  *  I 
know  that  the  Democratic  press  throughout  the  country 
has  represented  me  as  counselling  forcible  resistance  to  this 
law  and  God  knows  it  is  the  first  truth  they  have  ever  told 
about  me. 

"Now  let  all  those  who  are  ready  and  resolved  to  resist 
when  all  other  means  fail — when  your  rights  are  trampled 
into  the  dust — when  the  yoke  is  fixed  upon  your  necks — 
and  when  the  heel  of  oppression  crushed  your  very  life  out — 
all  those  who  are  thus  ready  to  resist  the  enforcement  of 
this  infamous  Fugitive  Slave  Law — Speak  out!  [The  roar 
which  now  arose  from  thousands  of  voices  was  deafening.]" 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  reported  a  pre- 
amble and  seven  resolutions.  The  preamble  recited, 
inter  al.: 

"That  the  history  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
as  recently  administered,  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries 
and  usurpations,  all  having  in  direct  object  the  Africaniza- 
tion of  this  continent  by  the  diffusion  and  establishment 
of  slavery  and  the  restriction  and  limitation  of  freedom. 
That  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  reversing  all  the  well-estab- 
lished rules  which  for  ages  have  been  the  bulwark  of  personal 
liberty,  yields  its  legitimate  fruit  in  the  recent  atrocities  on 
the  Western  Reserve." 

The  first  resolution  sets  out  that  the  Constitu- 
tion and  its  amendments 

"constituted  a  general  government  for  special  purposes,  and 
delegated  to  that  government  certain  definite  powers,  reserv- 
ing to  each  State  for  itself  the  residuary  mass  of  right  to  their 
own  self-government;  and  that  whensoever  the  general  govern- 
ment assumes  undelegated  powers,  its  acts  are  unauthora- 
tive,  void,  and  of  no  force,  and  being  void,  can  derive  no 
validity  from  mere  judicial  interpretation;  *  *  *  that 
this  government  created  by  this  compact,  was  not  made  the 
exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated 
to  itself  *  *  *  but  that,  as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact 
between  parties  having  no  common  judge  each  party  has 
an  equal  right  to  judge  for  itself,  as  well  of  infractions,  as  of 
the  mode  and  measure  of  redress." 

The  others,  in  part,  set  out:— 

"2d.  That  the  law  commonly  known  as  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850  was,  in  the  opinion  of  this  assembly,  passed 


184 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 


by  Congress  in  the  exercise  of  powers  improperly  assumed; 

"3d  That  one  of  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of  democracy 
in  the  General  Government,  is  the  pliant  subserviency  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  the  objects  of 
party  politics,  thus  greatly  diminishing  that  public  confi- 
dence in  the  judiciary  so  essential  to  good  order"  [and  this] 
"renders  it  incumbent  upon  the  people  to  consider  what 
measures  are  necessary  to  restore  that  tribunal  to  its  ancient 
estate." 

"4th.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  assembly,  an  amendment 
of  the  federal  judiciary  system  is  indispensably  necessary, 
so  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  States  may  be  respected  and 
individuals  guarded  from  oppression.  *  *  it  is  strongly 

recommended  that  the  life  tenure  of  judges  be  abolished, 
and  that  the  judicial  office  be  limited  to  a  term  of  years; 
that  Congress  so  remodel  the  judicial  circuits  that  a  majority 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  have  a  majority  of  the 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court."241 


2  *  »  To  appreciate  the  feeling  which  prompted  this  resolution  and  others  similar 
to  it,  passed  by  county  and  State  Conventions,  one  should  study  the  personnel 
of  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court.  At  the  close  of  Jackson's  administration,  March  4, 
1837,  the  Court  consisted  of  seven  Justices,  four  from  the  free  States  and  three 
from  the  slave  States.  By  act  of  Congress,  two  more  Justices  were  authorized, 
and  soon  after  his  inauguration,  Van  Buren  appointed  Catron,  of  Tennessee,  and 
McKinley  of  Alabama.  As  thus  constituted,  the  Court  consisted  of  four  justices 
from  the  free  States  and  five  from  the  slave  States  and  this  division  of  appoint- 
ments between  free  and  slave  States  was  maintained  with  brief  intervals,  from 
1837  to  1861.  John- McLean  was  the  only  justice  appointed  from  the  Northwest 
prior  to  the  inauguration  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1861.  Such  apportionment 
could  not  be  based  upon  population,  wealth,  or  the  volume  and  importance  of 
litigation  originating  in  the  respective  sections.  Its  composition  was  such  as  to 
guarantee  that  the  interests  of  slavery  should  be  at  all  times  protected.  All  but 
Benj.  R.  Curtis  were  appointed  by  Democratic  Presidents.  It  was  while  such 
composition  persisted  that  the  important  cases  of  Prigg  v.  Pennsylvania,  16  Pet. 
539;  Jones  v.  Van  Zandt,  5  How.  215;  Moore  v.  Illinois,  14  How.  13;  Dred  Scott 
v.  Sandford,  19  How.  393;  and  Ableman  v.  Booth,  21  How.  506,  were  decided.  See 
the  following  table  for  list  of  Justices  appointed  from  181 1  to  1861 : — 


Name  of 

State 

By  Whom 

Date  of 

Termination 

Succeeded 

Justice 

Appointed 

Commission 

Joseph  Story 

Mass. 

Madison 

Nov.  18,  '11 

Died,  1845 

Gushing 

Gabriel  Duvall 

Md. 

Madison 

'11 

Ret.   1833 

Smith  Thomspon 

N.Y. 

Monroe 

Dec.  8,  '23 

Died,  1843 

Livingston 

Robert  Trimble 
John  McLean 

Ky. 
Ohio 

Adams 
Jackson 

May  9,  '26 
March  7,  '29 

Died,  1828 
Died.  1861 

Todd 
Trimble 

Henry  Baldwin 

Pa 

Jackson 

Jan.  6,  '30 

Died,  1844 

Washington 

James  M.  Wayne 

Ga. 

Jackson 

Jan.  9,  '35 

1867 

Johnson 

Roger  B.Taney 

Md. 

Jackson 

March  15,  '36 

Died,  1864 

Marshall 

Philip  P.  Barbour 

Va. 

Jackson 

March  15,  '36 

Died,  1841 

Duvall 

John  Catron 

Tenn. 

Van  Buren 

March  8,  '37 

Died,  1864 

Original 

John  McKinley 
Peter  V.  Danie! 

Ala. 
Va. 

Van  Buren 
Van  Buren 

Apil  22,  '37 
March  3,  '41 

Died,  1852 
Died,  1860 

Original 
Barbour 

Samuel  Nelson 

N.Y. 

Tyler 

Feb.  14,  '45 

Res.   1872 

Thompson 

Levi  Woodbury 

Mass. 

Tyler 

'45 

Died, 

Story 

Robt.  C.  Grier 

Penn. 

Polk 

Aug.  4,  '46 

Res.   1870 

Baldwin 

Benj.  R.  Curtis 

Mass. 

Fillmore 

Sept.  22,  '51 

Res.   1857 

Woodbury 

John  A.  Campbell 

Ala. 

Pierce 

March  22,  '53 

Res.   1861 

McKinley 

Nathan  Clifford 

Me. 

Buchanan 

Jan.  12,  '58 

Died,  1881 

Curtis 

GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  185 

The  5th  condemns  the  recent  proceedings  in 
the  Federal  Court  of  this  District  as  an  "employ- 
ment of  the  most  disgraceful  partisan  means,"  to 
secure  conviction,  and  as  "without  a  parallel  even 
in  the  modern  history  of  despotism;"  and  proposed 
that  a  fund  be  raised  by  individual  subscriptions 
of  one  dollar  each  to  be  collected  and  applied  by 
"three  commissioners  appointed  by  this  assembly 
to  be  called  Commissioners  of  the  Liberty  Fund'9 
for  the  relief  of  the  prisoners. 

"6th.  That  our  fellow  citizens  of  Lorain  County,  who  are 
now  in  jail  *  *  *  are  entitled  to  their  liberty,  and  must 
have  it,  peaceably  and  in  conformity  with  the  rules  of  law;" 
[and  constitutes]  "Joshua  R.  Giddings  of  Ashtabula  County, 
Herman  Canfield,  of  Medina  County,  and  Robert  F.  Paine, 
of  Cuyahoga  County  *  *  *  a  Committee  to  sue  out  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  behalf  of  said  prisoners  without  un- 
necessary delay. 

"7th.  *  *  *  that,  stimulated  as  well  by  the  wrongs 
and  outrages  which  were  the  immediate  occasion  of  this  vast 
assemblage,  *  *  *  it  is  the  manifest  duty  of  Republi- 
cans everywhere  to  renew  their  united  efforts  with  an  energy 
not  to  be  remitted  until"  [every  branch  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment be  restored  to  the]  "pristine  purity  of  Jeffersonian  Re- 
publicanism" 

The  formal  work  of  the  convention  having  been 
thus  completed,  Governor  Chase  was  introduced 
and  received  with  tremendous  cheers.  Much  de- 
pended upon  the  tone  of  his  remarks.  The  resolu- 
tions adopted  were  too  tame  to  suit  men  of  the  stamp 
of  Giddings  and  Clay,  and  some  hoped  for  something 
more  radical  from  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  State. 
They  were  disappointed.  With  great  dignity  and 
soberness  he  stated: — 

"That  he  had  not  come  to  counsel  any  violence.  The 
American  people,  having  the  control  of  all  power  by  the  ballot 
boxes,  it  was  for  them  to  do  it  in  their  legitimate  way. 

"It  was  not  necessary  that  we,  the  sovereigns  of  the  land, 
should  resort  to  any  measures  which  could  not  be  carried 
out  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  We 

exist  under  a  State  Government  and  a  Federal  Government, 


186  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

and  if  the  Government  does  wrong,  turn  it  out.  Dismiss 
the  unworthy  servants  and  put  in  those  who  will  do  your 
will." 

Speaking  of  habeas  corpus  proceedings  for  the 
release  of  Bushnell  and  Langston,  then  pending 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  he  said:— 

"If  the  process  for  the  release  of  any  prisoner  should  issue 
from  the  Courts  of  the  State,  he  was  free  to  say  that  so  long 
as  Ohio  was  a  Sovereign  State,  that  process  should  be  executed. 

"We  can  reform  the  Judiciary,  the  Congress  and  the  Ad- 
ministration, and  although  the  process  may  be  too  slow  to 
suit  some  of  the  more  excited  of  the  audience,  yet  none  of 
them  were  so  old  that  they  might  not  see  the  operation  of 
this  remedy.  He  did  not  counsel  revolutionary  measures, 
but  when  his  time  came  and  his  duty  was  plain  he,  as  Governor 
of  Ohio,  would  meet  it  as  a  man. 

"His  deliberate  judgment  was  that  no  person  could  be 
seized  and  captured  while  he  was  a  citizen  of  any  sovereign 
State,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"Let  the  courts  be  appealed  to,  and  let  them  act  in  accord- 
ance with  their  consciences  and  their  duty  between  themselves 
and  their  God.  The  great  remedy  is  in  the  people  themselves, 
at  the  ballot  box.  Elect  men  with  back  bone  who  will  stand 
up  for  their  rights,  no  matter  what  forces  are  arrayed 
against  them." 

Peter  Hitchcock  and  Columbus  Delano  being 
called  on,  also  counseled  against  violence  of  any 
sort.  The  latter  said:— 

"We  must  try  law  first — law  and  patience — but  with  it  all,  a 
patience  and  perseverance  that  shall  never  die,  for  the  sup- 
pression of  wrong.  If  you  have  not  such  a  Court  as  you 
want,  make  such  a  court  by  the  ballot  box,  and  your  laws  will 
be  executed.  You  are  here  in  solemn,  thoughtful,  earnest, 
manly,  and  solid  determination  to  do  right  and  naught  but 
right.  Go  on  in  that  course  and  God  will  be  with  you." 

John  M.  Langston,  a  lawyer  practicing  in 
Oberlin,  was  introduced  and  said:  "He  hated  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  as  he  did  the  Democratic  party, 
with  a  deep,  unalterable  hatred."  He  then  went  on 
with  a  clear,  noble,  bold  utterance  of  sentiments 
which  were  clothed  in  as  eloquent  language  as  is. 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  187 

often  heard  upon  the  floors  of  the  halls  of  Congress. 
The  listeners  forgot  that  he  was  a  black  man — he 
spoke  a  white  language  such  as  few  men  can  speak : — 

"If  you  can't  hate  slavery  because  it  oppresses  the  black 
man  in  the  Southern  States,  for  God's  sake,  hate  it  for  its 
enslavement  of  white  men.  Don't  say  it  is  confined  to  the 
South,  here  it  is  on  our  neighbors  and  citizens.  *  *  *  As 
we  love  our  friends,  as  we  love  our  God-given  rights,  as  we 
love  our  homes,  as  we  love  ourselves,  as  we  love  our  God, 
let  us  this  afternoon  swear  eternal  enmity  to  the  law.  Ex- 
haust the  law  first,  for  these  men,  but  if  this  fail,  for  God's 
sake,  fall  back  upon  our  own  natural  rights,  and  say  to  the 
prison  walls  'come  down,  and  set  these  men  at  liberty.'" 
[Cheers.] 

Asa  Mahan,  former  President  of  Oberlin  Col- 
lege, said  he 

"liked  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  [sensation]  He  liked  it 
because  it  could  not  be  executed;  and  again  because  it  was 
political  death  to  the  party  that  originated  and  executed  it." 

The  number  of  persons  present  upon  the  square 
to  listen  to  the  speakers  was,  at  the  lowest  estimate, 
from  ten  thousand  to  twelve  thousand.  From  the 
speakers'  stand  an  almost  unbroken  sea  of  heads 
covered  the  space  all  over  that  section  of  the  Park 
from  the  fountain  to  the  fences.  The  trees,  fences, 
windows  and  steps  of  the  custom  house  were  crowded 
with  interested  spectators,  the  whole  forming  a  con- 
gregation equal  to  several  Fourth  of  July  celebra- 
tions. 

The  proceedings  were  reported  at  length  in  the 
Cleveland  Republican  papers, 2  4  2  and,  with  more 
or  less  fulness,  in  other  city  and  county  newspapers. 2  4  3 
The  importance  of  the  meeting  was  generally  recog- 


"<»  Cleveland  Leader,  May  25,  1859;  Cleveland  Herald,  May  24  and  25,  1859. 

»<»  Cincinnati  Gazette,  May  26,  1859;  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  25  and  26,  1859; 
Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  May  24  and  25,  1859;  Ashtabula  Sentinel,  May  26  and  June 
2,  1859;  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  May  28,1859;  Guernsey  Times,  June  2,  1859;  Jeffer- 
sonian  Democrat,  May  27,  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  June  I,  1859;  Norwalk 
Reflector,  May  31,  1859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  June  8,  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph, 
May  26,  1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  June  I,  1859;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle, 
June  i,  1859. 


188  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

nized  and  the  speech  of  Governor  Chase,  and  the 
resolutions  adopted,  were  generally  commended.  2  4  4 
Some  of  the  more  radical  papers  were  not  content 
with  their  moderate  tone  and  with  the  slow  process 
recommended  for  righting  recognized  wrongs. 2  4  5 


»<«  The  Cincinnati  Gazette  said,  May  26,  1859,  after  quoting  from  the  editorial 
of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  "The  grounds  of  all  this  excitement  are,  first,  an  odious 
statute,  very  widely  deemed  unconstitutional  in  many  of  its  provisions,  for  the 
reclamation  of  runaway  slaves  on  free  soil,  and  secondly  an  intolerably  tyrannical 
method  of  enforcing  the  law,  in  the  particular  cases  recently  arising  on  the  Western 
Reserve.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  was,  of  purpose,  made  as  offensive  as  possible 
to  the  North.  It  has  never  done  slave-holders  any  real  good,  and  it  never  will. 
:  But  when  enforced  by  federal  officials,  after  the  manner  Willson,  Belden 
&  Co.,  have  chosen  to  adopt,  it  cannot  fail  to  awaken  intense  popular  indignation. 
It  ought  to  do  so."  [Quoted  with  approval  in  Cleveland  Leader,  May  27,  1859.] 
The  Cleveland  Herald,  said.  May  25,  1859,  "The  African  Democracy  have  our 
sympathy  in  their  disappointment  at  the  result  of  the  doings  of  the  Convention, 
but  it  was  deemed  utterly  impossible — even  to  accomodate  them — to  tear  down  a 
jail,  or  'groan'  Federal  officials.  The  'Declaration'  adopted  by  the  meeting;  the 
letters  read  from  invited  guests;  the  speeches  made  by  the  different  orators;  the 
respectability  and  good  behaviour  of  the  mass  of  thousands  collected  together 
under  circumstances  of  Federal  oppression  and  arrogance  having  no  parallel  in 
the  history  of  Ohio,  speak  for  the  character  of  the  meeting,  the  forbearance  of  the 
people  of  the  Reserve,  and  the  determination  of  the  Republican  party  to  'right 
their  wrongs'  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions.  * 
The  slave  States  could  not  present  such  a  gathering  of  law-abiding  men,  and  let 
the  case  be  reversed,  and  not  a  stone  of  a  jail  in  a  slave  State  would  have  remained 
one  upon  the  other."  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said,  May  28,  1859,  "The  proceedings 
were  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  determined  resistance  to  the  legal  outrage  that  is 
being  perpetrated  against  free  citizens  of  Ohio,  under  the  assumed  sanction  of 
the  Constitution;  yet  that  resistance  is  to  be  made  effective  through  the  just  opera- 
tion of  law,  and  a  resort  to  the  Republican  remedy,  the  ballot  box.  Never  was 
there  a  more  sublime  moral  spectacle  than  that  presented  by  this  assemblage  of 
freemen.  *  *  *  Amidst  all  these  incentives  to  violent  and  extreme  action, 
amidst  all  these  appeals  of  strong  emotion  and  deep  conviction  of  their  wrongs, 
they  looked  beyond  the  impassioned  hour,  upon  the  clear  future.  They  saw  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  THE  RIGHT;  and  the  sight  inspired  them  with  patience 
and  forbearance,  while  it  nerved  them  with  fresh  energy  and  determination."  The 
Ashtabula  Sentinel  said,  May  26,  1859,  "The  best  possible  order  prevailed,  though 
a  deep  feeling  of  the  wrong  that  called  the  people  together  was  manifest.  The 
meeting  proved  that  the  people  of  the  Reserve  are  sound  to  the  core,  determined 
to  defend  their  rights;  yet  careful  of  preserving  order."  The  Oberlin  Evangelist 
said,  June  8,  1859,  "The  tone  and  temper  of  the  meeting  was  fervid,  yet  consider- 
ate, true  to  freedom,  yet  true  also  to  good  order.  The  doctrine  maintained  by 
the  resolutions  and  by  all  the  speakers  is  this — The  Fugitive  Slave  act  unconstitution- 
al and  void,  to  be  never  obeyed,  but  to  be  resisted  by  all  legal  means  until  those  means 
shall  have  been  fully  exhausted.  Beyond  this  point  no  definite  action  is  taken.  Evi- 
dently the  speakers  all  felt  a  good  degree  of  confidence  that  these  means  would 
?rove  effective."  See  also  Toledo  Blade,  May  — ,  1859;  Norwich  (Conn.)  Courier, 
une  — ,  1859;  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  May  28,  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  June 
I,  1859;  Norwalk  Reflector,  June  7,  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  May  26,  1859. 

»«»  The  Portage  County  Democrat  said,  June  i,  1859,  "Not  many  communities, 
so  highly  and  justly  excited  by  flagrant  wrongs,  would  have  refrained  from  exe- 
cuting summary  vengeance  upon  the  authors  of  so  much  mischief,  would  have 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  189 

One  fact,  that  tended  to  tranquilize  the  meeting 
was  that,  in  pursuance  of  the  policy  of  first  exhaust- 
ing all  legal  remedies,  an  application  had  been  made 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  for  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  and  the  release  of  Simeon  Bushnell  and 
Charles  H.  Langston,  who  had  been  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  in  the  Cuyahoga  jail,  as  well  as  to 
fines  and  Court  costs.  The  case  had  been  very 
ably  argued  on  behalf  of  the  prisoners  by  Hon.  A.  G. 
Riddle  and  by  Christopher  P.  Wolcott,  Attorney 
General  of  the  State,  the  latter  acting  under  instruc- 
tions of  Governor  Chase.  The  Government  was 
represented  by  U.  S.  District  Attorney  Belden  and 
by  Noah  H.  Swayne  of  Columbus,  later  a  Justice  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  who  submitted 
the  case  on  their  brief.  A  decision  was  expected 
soon.  All  of  the  Judges  of  that  Court  had  been 
elected  as  Republicans  and  were  known  as  anti- 
slavery  men,  and  there  was  a  general  belief,  shared 
by  the  Democrats,  that  the  Court  would  grant  the 
writ  and  discharge  the  prisoners. 2  4  6  The  Supreme 
Court  of  Wisconsin  had  granted  a  similar  writ,  in 
the  case  of  Sherman  M.  Booth  v.  U.  S.  Marshal 
Ableman,  3  Wise.  13,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that 


refrained  from  relieving  innocent  friends  from  unjust  restraint  of  their  personal 
freedom.  But  the  day  of  vengeance  was  postponed.  No  prisons  fell,  no  Hamans 
hung.  But  the  day  of  reckoning  will  not  always  tarry." 

»*«  The  Ohio  Statesman  (Dem.)  said,  May  26,  1859,  in  anticipation  of  such  a 
decision, — "And  what  then?  We  apprehend  the  U.  S.  Marshal  will  at  once  take 
Bushnell  and  Langston  into  custody  and  proceed  to  carry  out  the  order  of  the 
United  States  District  Court.  Gov.  Chase  must  then  come  to  the  rescue  and  a 
collision  will  at  once  ensue.  *  *  *  The  Democratic  party  of  Ohio  and  all  the 
Union-loving  men  of  other  parties  will  be  found  on  one  side,  and  the  treasonable 
squad  of  Abolitionists  and  Disunionists  on  the  other.  The  law  of  Congress  will 
be  sustained,  and  the  traitors  to  their  country,  to  law,  order  and  good  government, 
will  be  overwhelmed."  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  May  21.  1859,  "We  are 
prepared  to  see  the  Judges,  raised  into  power  by  their  subservience  to  the  treason- 
able elements  of  the  country,  prostitute  the  sacred  authority  with  which  they  are 
invested,  to  base  purposes,  to  keep  in  the  favor  of  those  to  whom  they  are  indebted 
for  their  official  position."  And  May  30,  1859,  "If  Langston  and  Bushnell  are 
released,  they  will  be  immediately  re-arrested  by  the  Marshal  of  this  District, 
who  has  gone  to  Columbus  for  that  purpose.  This  will  bring  on  the  long-dreaded 
collision  of  authority,  between  the  State  and  General  Government,  and  force 
must  meet  force,  and  might  make  right." 


190  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

the  Ohio  Supreme  Court  would  have  discharged  the 
prisoners,  except  for  the  fact  that  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  had  decided  in  the  case  of  Prigg  v. 
Pennsylvania,  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793 
was  constitutional,  and  had,  only  two  months  before, 
reversed  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin  in  the 
Booth  case,  holding  that  no  State  Court  could  take 
a  prisoner  from  the  custody  of  a  Marshal,  or  Sheriff, 
holding  him  by  orders  of  a  Federal  Court,  acting 
under  authority  of  both  laws,  relating  to  fugitives 
from  labor. 

The  decision  of  the  Ohio  Supreme  Court  was 
announced  on  May  30,  1859.  Three  Judges,  Swan, 
Scott  and  Peck,  held  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
or  such  portion  thereof  as  the  prisoners  were  charged 
with  violating,  was  constitutional  and  that  the 
prisoners  must  be  remanded  to  the  custody  of  the 
United  States  Marshal.  Judge  Swan  delivered  the 
opinion  of  the  Court,  but  Judge  Peck,  wrote  a  separate 
opinion.  Judges  Brinkerhoff  and  Sutliff  dissented 
and  wrote  opinions,  the  first  distinguished  by  its 
brevity,  and  the  last  by  a  very  elaborate  analysis 
of  the  Constitution  and  its  spirit  based  upon  con- 
temporary evidence  and  early  decisions  of  the  Courts. 
The  statement  of  the  case,  arguments  of  Counsel, 
and  opinions  of  the  Court  occupy  249  pages  of 
Volume  9  of  the  Ohio  State  Reports.  The  decision 
was  naturally  very  disappointing  to  the  majority 
of  the  people  on  the  Western  Reserve,  but  they 
accepted  it  as  final,  and  immediately  turned  their 
attention  to  securing  through  political  action  what 
the  Courts  had  denied  them. 2  4  7 


««»  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  May  31,  1859,  "It  is  the  end  of  the  legal  contro- 
versy at  this  time.  The  free  people  can  only  take  an  appeal  through  the  ballot 
boxes,  State  and  National.  This  they  will  do.  The  struggle  between  Freedom  and 
Slavery,  Liberty  and  Despotism,  is  but  begun."  [Quoted  with  approval  in  the 
Ashtabula  Sentinel,  June  2,  1859.]  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  "On  a  question 
bristling,  as  this  does,  with  so  many  difficulties,  all  should  obey  the  scripture  well 
and  be  'slow  to  speak.'  It  is  too  grave  a  question  to  be  disposed  of  on  street 
corners  and  it  is  one  in  which,  in  forming  an  opinion  upon,  impulse  should  have 
no  agency.  Res  adjudicata — the  bulwark  behind  which  the  profession  is  so  prone 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  191 

The  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  31,  1859,  expressed 
the  almost  universal  feeling  of  Republicans,  thus: — 
"Whatever  may  be  the  conflicting  popular  opinions 
upon  the  decision  rendered  by  a  majority  of  the 
Court,  the  people  of  Ohio  will  doubtless  regard  it 
as  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  highest  tribunal 
of  the  State  and  will  respect  it  accordingly."  Wade, 
Giddings,  Langston,  and  some  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve editors  could  not  suppress  their  ill  feeling.  2  4  8 
The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  took  delight  in  quoting 
the  fiery  language  of  these  men  before  the  decision 
was  announced  and  calling  on  them  to  do  as  they 


to  skulk — has,  evidently,  controlled  the  majority  of  the  Judges.  As  an  original 
question  it  has  not  been  met  by  the  majority,  for  Judge  Brinkerhoff,  in  his  opinion, 
says,  'A  majority  of  my  brethren,  as  I  understand  them,  admit  that,  if  this  were 
a  new  question  they  would  be  with  me,  and  they  yield  the  strong  leanings  of  their 
own  minds  to  the  force  of  the  rule  of  res  adjudicataV  *  *  *  Why  should  our 
Supreme  Court  yield  the  'strong  leanings  of  their  own  minds'  to  any  other  tribu- 
nal ?  *  *  The  decision  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  should  not  control  a 
State  Supreme  Court,  for  each  Court  is  of  the  highest  dignity.  The  melancholy 
truth  is  the  majority  did  not  do  their  own  thinking."  And  on  June  I,  1859, 
"How  can  the  tyranny  of  prior  decisions  be  more  glaringly  shown  than  by  point- 
ing to  such  able  and  honest  lawyers  as  Judges  Swan  and  Peck,  who  bow  in  obedi- 
ence to  prior  decisions  which,  were  the  questions  original  ones,  would  not  receive 
their  assent?"  and  quote  with  approval  from  the  opinion  of  Judge  Brinkerhoff, 
"  'So  surely  as  the  matured  conviction  of  the  mass  of  intelligent  mind  of  this  country 
must  ultimately  control  the  operations  of  the  government  in  all  its  departments, 
so  surely  is  this  question  not  settled.  When  it  is  settled  right,  then  it  will  be 
settled,  and  not  till  then.'  "  The  Norwalk  Reflector  said,  June  7,  1859,  "Over  the 
result  the  'nigger  driving  democracy'  will,  of  course,  exult  as  they  would  at  the 
enforcement  of  any  other  law  that  has  for  its  object  the  crushing  out  of  freedom. 
*  *  *  Though  the  fugitive  slave  law  and  the  tools  who  execute  it  in  the  most 
oppressive  manner,  are  odious  in  the  extreme,  to  every  man  possessing  a  single 
spark  of  the  genuine  love  of  liberty  in  him,  yet  the  power  that  makes  and  moves 
them  must  be  met  and  punished;  and  it  will  be  done,  if  the  Republicans  prove 
true  to  the  cause  they  have  espoused.  Thank  heaven  the  ballot-box  is  left  us. 
Let  us  stand  firm  and  united  then,  and  in  1860  we  shall  conquer  the  combined 
forces  of  tories  and  dough  faces." 

2*8  The  Summit  County  Beacon  said,  June  — ,  1859,  "A  cowardly  and  miser- 
able sham  conservative,  speaking  through  the  mouth  of  Joseph  R.  Swan,  the  voice 
of  THREE  base,  timid,  judges  has  remanded  Bushnell  and  Langston  to  their  illegal 
prisonment.  Be  silent  who  will,  we  choose  to  utter  the  honest  indignation  of  one 
freeman  in  the  State.  The  people  of  Ohio  will  REMAND  those  three  Judges  to 
their  original  and  deserved  obscurity,  made  more  disreputable  because  of  the 
opportunities  thrown  away  to  achieve  a  decent  judicial  fame."  [Quoted  in  Cleve- 
land Plain  Dealer,  June  3,  1859.]  The  Painesville  Telegraph  said,  June  2,  1859, 
"We  do  not  censure  the  judgment  of  these  three  men  who  remanded  Bushnell 
and  Langston  to  prison  if  it  is  their  conscientious  opinion.  But  God  help  them  in 
their  blindness." 


192  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMEFT 

had  threatened; 24  9  but,  again,  the  Ohio  State  Journal 
gave  expression  to  the  quiet  determination  of  the 
masses. 2  5  ° 

The  Republican  State  Convention  was  held 
at  Columbus,  June  2,  1859,  just  four  days  after 
the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  habeas 
corpus  case.  The  attendance  was  larger  than 
at  any  previous  convention.  All  felt  the  importance 
of  nominating  a  strong  ticket  and  building  a  strong 
platform.  William  Dennison  was  nominated  for 
Governor.  He  was  a  most  affable  man  with  a  charm- 
ing manner  and  a  fine  presence  and  he  had  had  the 
double  training  of  a  successful  lawyer,  and  a  highly 
successful  business  man.  Probably  no  better  choice 

»«•  The  Cleveland  Palin  Dealer  said,  June  3,  1859,  "The  last  Ashtabula  Sentinel 
contains  the  proceedings  of  a  great  banner  presentation  by  the  ladies  (God  bless 
them)  of  Ashtabula,  to  a  committee  of  the  'Sons  of  Liberty*  *  *  *  Among 
many  other  revolutionary  declarations  made  by  Mr.  Wade,  we  select  the  following: 

'Ladies:  I  stand  before  you  to-night,  to  say  that  those  men  of  Oberlin  and 
Wellington  acted  just  as  I  should  have  acted,  and  will  act  whenever  occasion 
presents  itself.  And  more — I  will  seek  opportunities  to  violate  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Act.  *  *  * 

'Ladies  and  Fellow  Citizens:  The  hour  of  trial  has  come.  Twenty  of  our  neigh- 
bors are  in  custody,  for  helping  'John'  on  to  Canada.  Now  shall  we  tamely  submit 
in  the  face  of  all  our  boasting  and  threats?  In  the  name  of  God  let  us  be  true  to  our 
words.  Let  us  be  true  to  our  professions  and  principles.  IF  THE  SUPREME 
COURT  OF  OHIO  DOES  NOT  GRANT  THE  HABEAS  CORPUS,  THE 
PEOPLE  OF  THE  WESTERN  RESERVE  MUST  GRANT  IT— sword  in  hand 
if  need  be.' 

'The  Court  has  refused  to  release  these  prisoners  and  now  the  Ashtabulians 
have  got  to  make  good  their  word."  And,  on  June  2,  1859,  quoted  from  Giddings' 
letter  to  Ralph  Plumb,  dated  May  6,  1849,  "  'In  disregarding  this  law  the  prisoners 
did  right.  Their  error  consisted  in  SPARING  THE  LIVES  OF  THE  SLAVE 
CATCHERS.  THOSE  PIRATES  SHOULD  HAVE  BEEN  DELIVERED 
OVER  TO  THE  COLORED  MEN  AND  CONSIGNED  THE  DOOM  OF 
PIRATES,  WHICH  SHOULD  HAVE  BEEN  SPEEDILY  EXECUTED.'  ' 
And,  on  May  31,  1859,  "A  dispatch  from  Painesville  last  evening,  says,  'The  bells 
of  this  city  are  now  tolling  on  account  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  today 
at  Columbus.'  So  the  end  is  'not  yet.  'Revolutions'  says  the  Leader  'never  go 
backwards.'  Well,  then,  let  the  Revolution  go  on.  *  *  *  There  is  a  Revolu- 
tion going  on  in  Italy,  another  threatened  in  Hungary  *  There  is  also  a 
Revolution  going  on  in  Mexico,  another  in  Central  America,  and  one  prayed  for 
in  Cuba.  It  is  a  pity  that  Black  Republicans  and  Red  Republicans  in  this  freest 
of  all  countries  cannot  revolt  if  they  choose  to  do  so." 

»»o  The  Journal  said,  June  14,  1859,  "The  idea  that  the  Republicans  of  Ohio 
have  sought  or  intend  to  seek  redress  for  the  palpable  wrongs  that  have  grown  up 
under  a  perversion  of  law,  based  upon  a  misconstruction  of  the  Constitution,  in 
any  other  way  than  through  the  operation  of  constitutional  remedies  is  absurd. 
The  mass  meeting  at  Cleveland  about  which  so  great  ado  has  been  made,  proposed 
no  other  plan  of  action." 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  193 

could  have  been  made  at  this  time.  William  Y. 
Gholson,  of  Cincinnati,  was  nominated  for  Supreme 
Court  Judge.  He  was  a  Mississippian  by  birth, 
had  inherited  slaves,  manumitted  them  and  moved 
to  Ohio,  where  he  had  made  a  fine  record  as  a  lawyer 
and  as  one  of  the  trio  of  able  Judges  who  first  con- 
stituted the  Superior  Court  of  Cincinnati  and  gave 
it  a  high  reputation,  extending  far  beyond  the  bounds 
of  city  and  State.  The  nomination  of  Judge  Swan, 
who  four  days  before  had  delivered  the  opinion  of 
the  Court  in  the  habeas  corpus  cases,  was  urged  by 
his  friends  contrary  to  his  own  judgment.  He  was 
complimented  by  a  large  vote;  but,  as  he  himself 
foresaw,  his  nomination  was  rendered  impossible 
by  his  decision,  which  ran  counter  to  the  wishes 
and  hopes  of  the  majority  of  his  party.  His  reputa- 
tion as  lawyer  and  jurist  was  of  the  highest,  his 
character  unblemished,  and  he  was  personally  a 
lovable  man.  Under  ordinary  conditions,  his  re- 
nomination  would  have  been  a  matter  of  course; 
but  the  majority  of  the  delegates  present  felt  that 
to  renominate  him  then,  was  equivalent  to  endorsing 
his  views  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  which  the 
Republican  party  had  determined  to  make  the 
principal  point  of  attack. 2  5  *  In  the  light  of  subse- 

2"  The  vote  stood  Gholson  217,  Swan,  140  and  blank  8.  The  Ashtabula 
Sentinel  said,  "Brinkerhoff  and  Sutliff  had  ably  and  nobly  maintained  the  con- 
stitutional rights  of  the  people,  and  the  re-nomination  of  Judge  Swan  would  have 
been  a  reproof  to  those  two  Judges.  *  *  *  Had  they  submitted  to  the  de- 
cision, and  re-nominated  Swan,  the  party  in  Ohio  would  have  disbanded  and  the 
old  Guard  who  have  for  twenty-five  years  maintained  the  doctrines  of  Liberty 
amid  defeat  and  persecution,  would  at  once  have  reorganized  upon  their  present 
doctrines."  And  again,  July  21,  1859,  "And  if  it  will  be  of  any  satisfaction  to  the 
Statesman,  we  will  assure  it  that  whether  the  refusal  to  discharge  Bushnell  and 
Langston  worked  the  defeat  of  Judge  Swan  before  the  Convention  or  not,  it  made 
his  defeat  certain  before  the  people.  Enough  of  Delegates  were  very  free 
to  say  that  he  could  not  be  elected."  *  *  *  "This  will  be  the  case  with  all  who 
concur  with  him."  The  Oberlin  Evangelist  said,  June  8,  1859,  "A  supreme  judge 
is  to  be  elected  next  fall  in  the  place  of  Judge  Swan  when  the  people  will  be  called 
upon  to  sustain  or  reverse  this  decision."  The  Portage  County  Democrat  said, 
June  i,  1859,  "With  the  people,  under  God,  is  the  residuum  of  power, — with  them 
is  the  remedy — that  remedy  is  the  ballot  box — let  that  remedy  be  faithfully  ap- 
plied while  a  reasonable  hope  is  left  in  that  direction.  Let  Judges  Brinkerhoff 
and  Sutliff  have  an  associate  worthy  of  them."  See  also  Western  Reserve  Chronicle, 
June  22,  1859. 


194  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

quent  events,  it  may  well  be  said  that  Judge  Swan 
did  more  by  his  unpopular  decision,  for  his  party, 
for  his  State  and  for  the  Union,  than  any  other  man 
in  the  year  1859. 

The  Cleveland  and  Cincinnati  papers  and  Ohio 
State  Journal  ignored  the  real  cause  of  Judge  Swan's 
defeat,  and  rather  attributed  it  to  geographical 
considerations  and  dwelt  on  the  undoubted  merits 
of  Judge  Gholson. 2  5  2 

Among  the  resolutions  adopted  were  the  fol- 
lowing:— 

"2.  That  the  people  of  Ohio  demand  a  reorganization  of 
the  Judicial  Circuits  of  the  United  States,  and  that  they  be 
so  constituted  as  to  give  every  section  of  the  Confederacy 
its  just  and  equal  voice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States;  that  provision  be  made  for  reviewing  the  decisions 
of  the  District  and  Circuit  Courts  of  the  United  States,  by 
appeal  or  writ  of  error  and  for  securing  fair  and  impartial 
juries  in  prosecutions  for  alleged  violations  of  the  laws  of  the 
United  States. 

"3.  That,  proclaiming  our  determination  rigidly  to  respect 
the  constitutional  obligations  imposed  upon  the  States  by  the 
Federal  compact,  we  maintain  the  Union  of  the  States,  the 
rights  of  the  States,  and  the  liberties  of  the  people;  and  in 
order  to  attain  these  important  ends,  we  demand  the  repeal 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850,  as  subversive  of  both  the 
rights  of  the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  as 
contrary  to  the  plainest  duties  of  humanity  and  justice,  and 
as  abhorrent  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized  world. 

"6.  That  we  regard  all  suggestions  and  propositions  of 
every  kind,  by  whomsoever  made,  for  a  revival  of  the  African 
slave  trade,  as  shocking  to  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  en- 
lightened portion  of  mankind;  and  that  any  action  on  the 
part  of  the  government  or  people  conniving  at,  or  legalizing 
that  horrid  and  inhuman  traffic,  would  justly  subject  the 
government  and  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  the  reproach 
and  execration  of  all  civilized  and  Christian  people  through- 
out the  world." 


s « *  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  June  3,  1859,  "The  nomination  of  Judge  Gholson 
is  one  of  the  best  that  could  be  made.  The  location  is  right;  Hamilton  County, 
by  its  size  and  the  amount  of  law  business,  is  entitled  to  one  of  the  five  Judges. 
*  *  *  His  nomination  will  give  enthusiasm  and  satisfaction  in  the  Southwest 
part  of  the  State,  while,  under  all  the  late  excitements  on  the  Reserve  his  nomi- 
nation will  ensure  him  the  full  Republican  vote  of  the  North." 


GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT  195 

The  Democratic  party  nominated  for  Governor, 
Rufus  P.  Ranney,  the  strongest  candidate  they  could 
have  named,  an  able  lawyer  and  debater,  and  ex- 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  the  more  accept- 
able with  the  masses  because  he  had  not  of  late 
years  been  at  all  prominent  in  politics. 2  5  3  The 
rest  of  the  ticket  was  comparatively  weak,  and  a 
blunder  was  made,  when  Charles  N.  Allen,  of  Cadiz, 
was  nominated  for  School  Commissioner,  "an  office 
of  all  others,  requiring  mental  cultivation,  high 
literary  acquirements  and  talent  as  an  educator. 
Mr.  Allen  was  a  good  party  man  and  served  well 
as  Deputy  TJ.  S.  Marshal  and  juror  in  a  nigger 
case."  2  5  4  He  was  the  man  who  served  on  the  Bush- 
nell  jury  while  at  the  same  time  an  officer  of  the 
United  States  Court. 

The  Democrats  tried  to  make  capital  out  of 
the  refusal  of  the  Republicans  to  renominate  Judge 
Swan,  but  the  issue  was  so  clearly  drawn  between 
the  Republican  demand  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
should  be  repealed  and  the  Democratic  demand 
that  it  should  be  obeyed,  that  this  side  issue  cut 
no  figure. 2  5  5 

The  Democratic  platform  opposed  the  revival 
of  the  African  slave  trade,  but  ignored  the  fact 

253  The  Western  Reserve  Chronicle  said,  June  8,  1859,  "Our  opinion  of  Judge 
Ranney  is  that  he  possesses  more  talent  than  any  man  belonging  to  the  Demo- 
cratic party  in  this  State,  and  that  his  personal  popularity  is  great  and  deservedly 
so.  In  fact  we  know  of  no  man  belonging  to  the  fugitive  law  party,  whom  we  should 
prefer  to  see  in  the  Gubernatorial  Chair." 

264  Cleveland  Herald,  May  27,  1859;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  June  8,  1859. 

285  The  Ohio  State  Journal  said,  June  7,  1859,  "For  the  Columbus  Democracy 
to  get  up  indignation  meetings  because  Judge  Swan  was  not  nominated  by  a 
Republican  convention,  when  every  one  of  them  would  have  used  their 'worst 
efforts  to  defeat  him  if  he  had  been,  and  when  they  have  a  candidate  of  their  own 
whom  they  will  persist  in  running  against  Judge  Swan,  in  any  shape,  would  be 
a  very  cheap  style  of  indignation.  *  *  *  But  it  is  said  by  a  few  shallow  Demo- 
crats, who  would  scalp  Judge  Swan  much  sooner  than  they  would  vote  for  him,  that 
the  independence  of  the  judiciary  is  assailed  because  he  was  not  renominated  by 
the  convention  in  order  to  sustain  his  decision  on  the  constitutionality  of  the 
fugitive  slave  law.  This  truly  would  be  a  most  singular  way  of  preserving  the 
impartiality  of  the  Judiciary."  And  on  June  8,  1859,  "We  deny  the  justice  of  any 
claim  that  a  judge  should  be  renominated,  or  not  renominated,  because  of  a  par- 
ticular decision. 


196  GROWTH  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  SENTIMENT 

that  it  was  already  open  and  that  offenders  were 
not  being  punished. 2  5  6  The  3d  Resolution  read 
as  follows:— 

"Resolved,  That  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  upon 
demand  of  the  persons  entitled  to  their  services  or  labor,  is  a 
duty  imposed  on  every  State  of  the  Union  by  the  terms  of 
the  Federal  compact;  that  laws  passed  by  Congress  to  secure 
such  rendition  in  1793  and  1850,  ought  to  be  promptly  and 
faithfully  executed;  and  that  the  leaders  of  the  self-styled 
Republican  party,  in  Ohio,  by  a  persistent  disregard  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  this  particular,  have 
shown  themselves  unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  well  dis- 
posed, patriotic  and  peaceable  citizens." 

The  10th,  as  follows  :- 

"Resolved,  That  we  are  opposed  to  conferring  upon  negroes, 
mulattoes,  or  other  persons  of  visible  admixture  of  African 
blood  the  right  of  suffrage,  or  any  other  political  right,  de- 
siring that  the  laws  of  Ohio  be  made,  and  her  destinies  con- 
trolled, by  white  men  exclusively,  and  for  the  paramount 
interests  of  the  white  race." 

Thus  the  issue  was  squarely  presented,  and  the 
campaign  hinged  on  the  question,  shall  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  be  enforced,  or  repealed.  One  of  the 
telling  arguments  in  favor  of  repeal  was  the  fact 
that  fourteen  of  Ohio's  most  reputable  citizens 
were  still  languishing  in  a  Cleveland  jail  for  yield- 
ing to  a  charitable  impulse  to  rescue  a  negro  from 
the  hands  of  rough  men  whom  they  believed  to  be 
kidnappers. 


256  Painesville  Telegraph,  June  2,  1859. 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  197 

THE   CAPTORS   OF  JOHN  PRICE   INDICTED 
FOR  KIDNAPPING 

PROSECUTION     OF     OBERLIN-WELLINGTON 
RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

But  legal  remedies  had  not  all  been  exhausted. 
Judge  Carpenter  of  the  Lorain  County  Common 
Pleas  Court,  had  called  the  attention  of  his  Grand 
Jury  to  the  Ohio  Statute  to  prevent  kidnapping. 2  5  7 
He  said,  inter  al. — 

"The  misdemeanor  here  defined,  is  the  claiming  of  any 
black  or  mulatto,  within  Ohio,  whether  free  or  not  free,  to 
be  a  fugitive  from  service,  or  labor,  and  the  getting,  or  at- 
tempting to  get  him  out  of  Ohio  before  such  claim  can  be 
legally  proved,  with  intent  to  enforce  the  claim. 

"The  Constitution  of  Ohio  inhibits  slavery,  and  regards 
all  persons  as  free  except  criminals.  *  *  *  Who  then  is 
presumed  to  be  free?  Everybody!  Every  man,  woman  and 
child,  in  Ohio,  of  whatever  birth,  descent,  parentage,  com- 
plexion, or  comformation,  is  presumed  to  be  free.  *  *  * 
In  this  position  *  *  *  I  am  upheld  by  the  Constitution  of 
this  State  as  well  as  by  that  of  the  United  States.  Our  Bill 
of  Rights  begins*  Sec.  1.  All  men  are  by  nature  free  and  in- 
dependent.' *  *  *  Does  any  caviller  pretend  that  the 
words,  'all  men'  *  *  *  were  meant  to  exclude  blacks 
and  mulattoes?" 

He  then  went  on  to  show  that,  whenever  the 
Constitution  was  intended  to  exclude  blacks  or 
mulattoes,  e.  g.,  from  the  privilege  of  voting,  or  the 
duty  of  serving  in  the  militia,  the  word,  "white," 
was  used  before  the  words,  "male  citizens."  The 
necessary  inference  was  that,  when  such  a  qualifying 
word  was  left  out,  all  persons  were  included.  He 
then  proceeded  to  show  that,  admitting  for  the  sake 
of  argument  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  Con- 
stitutional, it  was  a  penal  statute  and  must  be  strictly 
construed;  that  any  person  claiming  its  protection, 
while  engaged  in  seizing  and  carrying  off  any  resident 

*«'  Act  of  April  17,  1857,  Ohio  Laws,  LIV.,  221-2. 


198  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

of  Ohio,  must  comply  strictly  with  its  terms  and 
any  defect  in  the  authority  under  which  he  claimed 
to  act,  would  deprive  him  of  the  benefit  of  the  law 
and  justify  interference  on  the  part  of  any  one  sus- 
pecting that  he  was  acting  illegally. 2  5  8 

On  February  15th,  the  Grand  Jury,  thus  charged, 
returned  true  bills  against  Rufus  P.  Mitchell,  Ander- 
son Jennings,  Jacob  K.  Lowe,  and  Samuel  Davis, 
for  kidnapping  and  attempting  to  carry  out  of  the 
State,  in  unlawful  manner,  a  negro  boy  named  John 
Price. 2  5  9  A  warrant  was  issued  to  the  Sheriff  of 
Lorain  County  on  the  same  day  and,  acting  under  it, 
he  arrested  Jacob  K.  Lowe,  at  Grafton,  April  4, 
1859,  and  the  others,  at  Cleveland,  May  11,  1859. 2  6  ° 
A  mistake  having  been  made  in  the  first  name  of 
Mitchell,  a  new  indictment  was  found  against  the 
four,  May  17,  1859,  Mitchell  being  correctly  named, 
in  this,  Richard  P.,  and  on  the  same  date  all  were 
rearrested  and  released  on  giving  a  bail  bond  in  the 
sum  of  $3,200,  with  O.  S.  Wadsworth,  of  Wellington, 
Joseph  L.  Whiton,  of  Amherst,  and  Malachi  Warren, 
of  Oberlin,  as  sureties. 2  6 1  On  May  19th,  the  Judge 
set  the  cases  for  trial  on  July  6th,  next.  United 
States  Attorney  General  Black  instructed  District 
Attorney  Belden  to  defend  these  men  indicted  for 
kidnapping,  and  he  appeared  for  them  on  May  19th, 
an  act  which  called  forth  more  indignant  protests. 2  6  2 


»*8  This  charge  was  published  in  the  Medina  Gazette,  July  — ,  1859,  and  copied 
from  that  paper  in  the  Cleveland  Leader,  July  7,  1859. 

*'•  Cleveland  Leader,  and  Herald,  Feb.  24,  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  March 
3,  1859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  March  16,  1859;  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  March  16,  1859. 

J«°  Cleveland  Leader,  April  21,  22  and  28;  May  13,  14  and  17,  1859;  Cleveland 
Herald,  April  21  and  25;  May  5,  12,  and  14,  1859.  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  April  21, 
1859;  Independent  Democrat,  April  6,  and  May  18,  1859;  Lorain  County  Eagle, 
May  18  and  25,  1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  April  27,  1859;  Western  Reserve 
Chronicle,  April  27,  1859. 

* « *  Cleveland  Leader,  May  18,  20  and  21,  1859;  Cleveland  Herald,*May  18  and  19, 
1859;  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  May  20,  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  May  19,  1859; 
Je/ersonian  Democrat,  May  27,  1859;  Lorain  County  Eagle,  May  25,  1859. 

*«*  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  May  16,  1859,  "Look  at  the  thing!  Jennings 
comes  from  Kentucky  on  a  private  matter  for  his  employer — a  most  disgraceful 
private  matter — and  gets  into  difficulty.  Why  should  the  United  States  so  prompt- 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  199 

Were  the  funds  and  power  of  the  United  States  to 
be  employed  in  defending  all  men  indicted  for  violat- 
ing the  laws  of  Ohio?  If  not,  why  were  man-stealers 
exalted  above  all  other  persons  accused  of  crime? 

The  defendants  were  not  willing  to  trust  en- 
tirely to  District  Attorney  Belden  for  their  defense 
and  engaged  R.  H.  Stanton  of  Kentucky.  D.  K. 
Cartter  was  engaged  to  assist  the  Prosecuting  Attor- 
ney of  Lorain  County,  W.  W.  Boynton,  afterwards 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  and  not  to  be 
confused  with  Lewis  D,  Boynton.  It  was  morally 
certain  that,  on  the  same  evidence  which  was  given 
at  Cleveland,  a  Lorain  county  Judge  and  jury  would 
convict  all  four  defendants  of  kidnapping.  The 
invalidity  of  both,  the  warrant  given  to  Lowe  and 
the  Power  of  Attorney  given  to  Jennings,  and  the 
lack  of  resemblance  between  Bacon's  slave  John, 
as  described  in  the  latter,  and  John  Price  of  Oberlin, 
would  have  been  argued  with  telling  effect  before 
a  Court  and  jury,  free  from  bias  in  favor  of  the 
Administration  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  the 
defendants  were  unwilling  to  risk  a  trial  with  a  possi- 
ble sentence  of  from  three  to  eight  years  at  hard 
labor  in  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  staring  them  in  the 
face. 2  6  3 

Their  Kentucky  attorney  seeing  that  his  clients 
had  nothing  to  gain  by  going  to  trial,  or  by  further 
prosecution  of  the  Rescuers,  negotiated  with  Mr. 
Cartter  a  settlement  of  all  litigation,  by  the  terms 
of  which,  the  United  States  was  to  enter  nolle  prosequi 

\y  rush  to  his  rescue,  tendering  to  him  the  use  of  government  lawyers  and  govern- 
ment money  in  his  defence?  Is  this  the  parental  care  that  the  Government  exer- 
cises over  all  private  citizens  who,  in  the  pursuit  of  private  objects,  overstep  the 
bounds  of  criminal  law  and  find  themselves  lodged  in  jail?  Or  is  the 

business  of  slave-catching  *  *  :!  of  such  a  character  as  to  entitle  its  followers, 
above  all  other  men,  to  the  care  and  protection  of  our  government?"  See  also 
Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  May  II,  1859;  Cleveland  Leader,  May  20,  1859;  Ashtabula 
Sentinel  May  19,  1859;  Ohio  State  Journal,  May  19,  1859;  Ashtabula  Telegraph, 
May  14  and  21, 1859;  Norwalk  Reflector,  May  24,  1859;  and  Independent  Democrat, 
May  25  and  July  20,  1859. 

*««  Cleveland  Leader,  July  6,  1859;  Cleveland  Her  aid,  July  5  and  6,  1859;   Ohio 
State  Journal,  July  8,  1859;  Independent  Democrat,  July  13,  1859. 


200  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

in  all  the  remaining  cases  against  the  Rescuers 
and  the  Prosecuting  Attorney  of  Lorain  County 
was  to  do  the  same  in  the  kidnapping  cases.  Belden, 
at  first,  refused  to  agree.  He  had  sworn  to  "put 
Oberlin  through"  and  was  intending  to  do  so,  cost 
what  it  might.  But  on  an  intimation  from  Stanton 
that  if  he  persisted,  his  Kentucky  witnesses  would 
probably  be  non  est  inventus,  when  the  next  case 
was  called  in  Cleveland,  he  yielded,  on  condition 
that  a  statement  and  correspondence  should  be 
framed  up  showing  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  negotiations  and  only  consented  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  his  witnesses.  On  July  5th,  1859, 
the  papers  were  all  drawn  up  and  signed.  The 
District  Attorney  nollied  the  remaining  cases  against 
the  Rescuers  and  the  Kidnapping  cases  were  dis- 
missed. So  ended  what  at  the  beginning  had  been 
trumpeted  in  the  Plain  Dealer  as  "THE  FIRST 
SIEGE  OF  OBERLIN."  2  6  * 

The  Democratic  papers  made  loud  moan  over 
what  they  called  "compounding  of  felony,"  a  betrayal 
of  his  trust  on  the  part  of  Belden,  a  failure  of  duty, 
etc.;  but  consoled  themselves  with  the  thought 
that  the  Rescuers  had  been  punished  as  much  by 
their  eighty-five  days  imprisonment  in  the  Cleve- 
land jail  as  if  they  had  been  duly  convicted  and 
sentenced. 2  6  5 


*• «  Cleveland  Herald,  and  Plain  Dealer,  July  6.  7  and  8,  1859;  Cleveland  Leader, 
[uly  7  and  1 1. 1859;  Ohio  State  Journal,  July  7,  8  and  9,  1859;  Independent  Democrat, 


July  6  and  13,  1859;  Portage  Sentinel,  July  7, 1859;  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  July  9,  1859; 
Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican,  July  — ,  1859;  Portage  County  Democrat,  July 
I3»  1859;  Painesville  Telegraph,  July  14,  1859;  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  July 


»  l859;  Oberlin  Evangelist,  July  20,  1859. 

» « »  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  July  6,  1859,  "So  the  Government  has  been 
beaten  at  last,  with  law.  Justice,  and  facts  all  on  its  side,  and  Oberlin,  with  its  re- 
bellious Higher  Law  creed  is  triumphant.  The  precedent  is  a  bad  one."  The 
Portage  Sentinel  (Dem.)  said  July  7,  1859,  "We  regret  to  learn,  as  we  do  from  the 
Cleveland  papers  of  last  night,  that  U.  S.  Attorney  Belden  has  nollied  the  indict- 
ments against  the  Oberlin  Rescuers  now  in  jail,  on  condition  that  the  Oberlinites 
will  nollie  the  indictments  against  the  Kentucky  witnesses  who  were  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  kidnapping.  This  arrangement,  which  was  made  at  the  solicitation  of 
the  witnesses,  is  in  very  bad  taste  and  unbecoming  a  Federal  Officer."  The  Mt. 
Vernon  Banner  (Dem.)  said,  July  — ,  1859,  "This  arrangement,  or  compromise, 
we  regard  as  nothing  better  than  a  disgraceful  compounding  of  felony."  [Quoted 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  201 

The  Republican  papers  exulted  in  the  final 
triumph  of  the  Rescuers,  condemned  anew  the 
whole  proceedings,  and  predicted  that  never  again 
would  there  be  an  attempt  to  enforce  this  odious 
and  inhuman  law. 2  6  6  Before  leaving  the  jail,  after 


in  Independent  Democrat,  July  20,  1859.]  The  Lorain  County  Eagle  (Dem.)  said, 
July  13,  1859,  "The  Republicans  are  making  some  very  silly  attempts  to  con- 
vince somebody  that  the  Oberlinites  have  achieved  a  great  triumph,  and  that  the 
Government  has  'backed  down,'  or  something.  *  *  *  The  law  was  enforced, 
Bushnell  and  Langston  were  tried,  convicted  and  imprisoned.  Thus  far  the 
triumph  seemed  to  be  altogether  with  the  Government.  *  *  *  The  Gov- 
ernment has  succeeded  in  punishing  them  all  in  the  same  degree  as  far  as  imprison- 
ment is  concerned  and  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  such  a  miserable  set  of  hair- 
brained  fanatics  have  nothing  to  pay  fines  with  *  *  *  Then  where  is  the  back- 
ing down?" 

28«  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  July  6,  1859,  "All  this  shows  the  virtue  of  self 
respect.  The  State  of  Ohio  had  rights  and  Lorain  county  was  determined  that 
these  rights  should  be  respected.  This  has  put  an  end  to  nigger-ctaching  in 
Northern  Ohio.  *  *  *  It  is  exceedingly  fortunate,  we  think,  for  all  concerned, 
that  the  Kentucky  men  brought  on  their  own  counsel  who  had  no  axe  to  grind 
save  the  cause  of  his  clients  and  who  was  unseduced  by  Federal  pap,  or  unawed 
by  Federal  frowns."  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  July  7,  1859,  "Never  were  a  set 
of  men  worse  used  than  have  been  Jennings,  Bacon  and  Mitchell,  the  Kentucky 
slave  owner  and  slave-catchers  who  tried  to  seize  a  negro  in  Oberlin,  by  the  Govern- 
ment officials  who  sought  to  make  a  good  thing  out  of  it  for  themselves  and  for 
Democracy.  The  prosecutions  were  commenced  without  the  knowledge  or  con- 
sent.of  those  who  claimed  to  have  a  running  interest  in  'John,'  and  they  have  been 
obliged  to  leave  their  homes  repeatedly  at  the  call  of  these  officials,  for  the  purpose 
of  working  the  conviction  of  the  objects  of  their  political  hatred  and  unrelenting 
prosecution.  *  *  these  same  valorous  officials,  who  had  been  to  Washing- 
ton for  orders  and  had  pledged  themselves  to  carry  them  out,  are  seen  the  day 
before  the  Court  opens  at  Elyria,  making  the  proposition  to  'cry  quits;' — to  take 
back  all  their  threats,  and  enter  nollies  agains*  some  twenty  Lorain  citizens,  if  by 
that  means  they  could  get  their  Kentucky  friends  put  of  the  scrape  and  them- 
selves too."  The  Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican  said,  July  7,  1859,  "But  what 
becomes  of  the  sacredness  of  the  fugitive  slave  law  and  the  safety  of  the  Union, 
In  the  presence  of  such  a  humiliating  surrender  of  the  lower  law  as  this?  *  *  * 
So  ends  the  famous  rescue  cases  and  it  may  be  safely  set  down  as  a  fixed  fact  that 
they  are  the  last  of  the  sort  in  Ohio.  The  persecution  of  Christian  men  for  showing 
kindness  to  runaway  negroes  is  a  losing  operation  socially  and  politically." 
[Quoted  in  Ashtabula  Telegraph,  July  9,  1859.]  The  Portage  County  Democrat 
said,  July  13,  1859,  "These  suits  were  instituted  and  prosecuted  from  the  begin- 
ning with  a  spirit  that  would  not  damage  the  reputation  of  the  Evil  one  for  Devil- 
ishness — and  that  they  are  abandoned  now  says  plainly  and  beyond  the  point  of 
controversy,  that  the  aim  designed  to  be  accomplished  has  been  defeated.  The 
Democratic  party  have  sunk  capital  instead  of  making  it,  the  Federal  officers 
have  covered  themselves  with  infamy  and  disgrace,  instead  of  being  able  to  enforce 
the  infamous  enactment  they  sought  to  do,  on  the  Western  Reserve.  Instead  of 
getting  money  out  of  the  persecuted,  the  United  States  foots  the  bills."  The 
Painesville  Telegraph  said,  July  28,  1859,  "The  trial  of  the  Oberlin  Rescuers  has 
.done  more  than  anything  that  has  ever  before  transpired  in  this  part  of  Ohio  to 
inform  the  people  upon  the  subject  of  State  Rights  and  Federal  encroachments; 
and  the  men  who  have  suffered  in  purse  and  person,  to  disseminate  that  informa- 
tion should  be  sustained  by  us." 


202  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

their  discharge  the  Rescuers  passed  Resolutions 
thanking  the  Sheriff  of  Cuyahoga  county,  and 
Jailer  Smith  and  his  family  for  the  kindness  which 
had  mitigated  their  troubles,  and  to  the  Attorneys 
who  had  nobly  defended  their  cause  and  to  the  friends, 
far  and  near  who  by  prayer  and  act  had  remembered 
them,  and  to  the  Press  "which  has  given  us  constant 
and  valuable  aid."  They  further  "Resolved, 

"That  after  all  the  pains  and  penalties  inflicted  upon  us  by 
Government  officials  in  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  fugitive 
Slave  Act,  we  feel  it  to  be  our  duty  to  say  that  our  hatred 
and  opposition  to  that  unjust  and  unconstitutional  law  are 
more  intense  than  ever  before. 

"No  fine  or  imprisonment  however  enforced,  by  whatever 
Court,  can  induce  us  to  yield  it  obedience.  We  will  here- 
after, as  we  have  heretofore,  help  the  panting  fugitive  to 
escape  from  those  who  would  enslave  him,  whatever  may  be 
the  authority  under  which  they  may  act." 

They  then  presented  the  wives  of  the  Attorneys, 
the  Sheriff  and  the  Jailor,  with  some  beautiful 
pieces  of  silver  and  Mr.  Plumb,  speaking  for  the 
prisoners,  "requested  them  to  place  the  gifts  before 
their  husbands,  at  meals,  three  times  a  day  while 
they  lived,  that  they  might  at  such  times,  when 
surrounded  by  their  families  and  those  dear  to  them, 
when  noble  and  generous  feelings  were  sure  to  come, 
look  upon  the  mementoes  and  remember  the  exciting 
scenes  through  which  they  had  just  passed." 

The  prisoners  were  not  allowed  to  depart  un- 
noticed and  unattended.  In  the  afternoon,  about 
5  o'clock,  a  hundred  guns  were  fired,  and  several 
hundred  citizens  of  Cleveland  gathered  at  the  jail 
to  escort  the  Rescuers  to  the  depot.  At  half  past 
five,  the  whole  company,  headed  by  Becker's  Band, 
marched  two  and  two,  to  the  depot  through  Superior 
and  Water  Streets.  As  the  train  started,  the  Band 
played  that  appropriate  air, ' 'Home,  Sweet  Home." 

At  Oberlin    the  entire  town  was  out  to  greet 

»•'  Cleveland  Leader,  July  7,  1859. 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

them;  Professor  Monroe  welcomed  them  in  an  appro- 
priate speech  and  then,  headed  by  the  Oberlin 
Band,  the  Fire  Company  and  the  Hook  &  Ladder 
Company  in  uniform,  all  marched  to  the  First  Church 
where  the  return  of  the  martyrs  was  celebrated  with 
prayers  and  thanksgiving,  music  by  the  choir  of 
150  voices  and  speeches  by  the  venerable  Father 
Keep  on  behalf  of  the  home  folks,  and  by  Ralph 
Plumb,  Professor  Peck  and  James  M.  Fitch  on 
behalf  of  the  Rescuers.  Then  others  from  Cleveland, 
Elyria  and  Wellington  spoke  and  the  vast  audience 
did  not  adjourn  until  midnight. 2  6  8 

The  last  and  crowning  ovation  to  the  Rescuers 
came  off  on  Monday,  July  llth,  when  Bushnell, 
having  completed  his  term,  was  released  from 
imprisonment.  As  the  hour  approached  for  his 
departure  an  immense  crowd  gathered  in  and  about 
the  jail  to  see  him  off.  A  procession  was  formed, 
headed  by  a  guard  of  colored  men,  followed  by 
Hecker's  Band  and  a  long  line  of  friends  on  foot, 
a  carriage  in  which  Bushnell  and  his  baggage  were 
placed  and  then  a  long  line  of  carriages.  The  Cleve- 
land Artillery  Company  preceded  him  to  Oberlin 
and  saluted  him  on  arrival  with  a  hundred  guns. 
Another  procession,  more  music,  more  speeches, 
prayers  and  thanksgiving.  The  procession  was  en- 
livened by  the  Hecker  Band,  of  Cleveland,  the 
Wellington  Band,  the  Elyria  Band  and  the  Oberlin 
Band,  the  Cleveland  Artillery  Company,  the  Oberlin 
Fire  Company,  and  the  Hook  and  Ladder  Company, 
all  in  uniform.  The  First  Church  was  again  filled 
with  an  enthusiastic  audience,  speeches  were  made 
by  Prof.  Monroe,  Ralph  Plumb,  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  D.  K.  Cartter,  A.  G.  Riddle  and  R.  P.  Spald- 
ing,  of  Cleveland,  Mr.  Goodwin,  of  Sandusky,  Profes- 
sor James  Fairchild  and  John  M.  Langston. 

The    feature    of    these    public    exercises    which 


» •  a  Cleveland  Leader,  July  8,  1859. 


204  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

most  impressed  visitors  was  the  noble  choir  of 
150  voices.  Cleveland,  Sandusky,  Elyria  and  Wel- 
lington had  their  Bands.  Speakers  could  be  heard 
everywhere  during  political  campaigns,  although 
the  one  who  made  the  most  eloquent  speech  at 
Oberlin  had  been  but  seldom  heard  elsewhere  before 
that  day.  But  there  was  no  body  of  singers  any- 
where in  the  State,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
Cincinnati,  which  could  compare  with  the  Oberlin 
choir  in  freshness  and  volume  of  sound  and  in  the 
finish  and  effect  of  its  singing.  Music  had  been  a 
specialty  in  Oberlin  from  the  time  when  Charles 
G.  Finney  first  went  there  in  1834  and  insisted  that 
one  of  the  eight  professorships  should  be  devoted 
to  Sacred  Music.  Professor  George  N.  Allen  was 
appointed  to  fill  that  chair.  Reporters  from  the 
Cleveland  Leader,  and  Herald,  had  been  in  Oberlin 
before  and  knew  something  of  the  good  things  to 
be  seen  and  heard,  there;  but  reporters  from  the 
Plain  Dealer  and  National  Democrat  were  there 
for  the  first  time,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  how 
greatly  they  were  impressed.  The  more  so,  as  they 
went  to  Oberlin  strongly  prejudiced  against  the 
place  and  the  people. 2  6  9 


*«•  The  Cleveland  Leader  said,  July  12,  1859,  "Of  all  the  features  of  the  day, 
there  was  nothing  that  was  of  more  interest  than  the  singing  by  the  vast  and 
well  trainted  choir.  It  was  without  exception  the  most  grand  and  glorious  sing- 
ing— the  nearest  to  our  conception  of  a  grand  choral  harmony  of  anything  we  ever 
heard.  A  lady  remarked  to  us  on  the  homeward  passage,  that  she  'didn't  believe 
we  would  hear  better  singing  in  the  other  world.'  We  do  believe  there  is  no  choir 
like  that  one  in  the  country.  No  words,  no  language  can  express  the  beauty  and 
sublimity  of  the  execution  of  the  Marseilles  Hymn,  or  [Professor  Allen's]  'Gathering 
of  the  Free,'  and  so  will  not  attempt  it.  It  was  beyond  all  praise."  The  National 
Democrat  (both  editors  b  eing  present),  said,  July  12,  1859:  "They  [the  Oberlin 
people]  said  their  meeting  pleased  them — it  certainly  pleased  ns  and  we  felt 
it  was  good  for  us  to  be  there.  The  choir,  composed  of  near  two  hundred 
persons,  sang  the  Marseilles  with  thrilling  effect  —  better,  far  better  than 
we  ever  heard  itjor  anything  else  sung."  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer 
said,  July  12,  1859,  "John  Langston,  the  colored  man  and  brother  of  Charles 
who  was  convicted,  was  the  most  eloquent  speaker  of  the  occasion.  * 
But  the  dessert  of  the  feast,  which  we  purposely  reserve  to  speak  of  last,  was  the 
Choir,  led  by  C.  H.  Churchill,  Esq.  Talk  of  Sontag  and  her  supporters,  or  Picco- 
lomini,  or  Jenny  Lind,  or  Strakosch,  we  have  heard  them  all  with  stoic  composure, 
but  yesterday  we  surrendered  at  discretion  on  hearing  the  first  piece."  [The  Gather- 
ing of  the  Free]  by  the  choir.  We  pondered  long  on  how  we  could  get  the  piece 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  205 

During  the  campaign,  the  Republican  papers 
and  speakers  called  attention  to  the  record  of  Judge 
Ranney  with  reference  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
made  in  1850  and  1852,  and  used  his  speech  at 
Canfield,  in  October,  1850,  and  his  letter  to  Judge 
Hoffman  in  1852,  as  campaign  documents. 2  7  ° 
Democratic  newspapers  and  orators,  on  the  other 
hand,  pointed  to  the  record  of  Mr.  Dennison  when 
as  a  delegate  to  a  Whig  State  Convention  and  as  a 
member  of  the  State  Legislature,  in  1852,  he  voted, 
with  his  party,  that  the  Compromise  measures, 
including  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  should  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  final  settlement  of  the  slavery  question 
and  be  rigidly  enforced. 2  7 1 

Ranney  was  rather  helped   than   hurt   by  this 
reference  to   his   past    history.     His   old   associates 


repeated  for  we  were  sure  they  could  sing  nothing  else  that  way.  At  length, 
solitary  and  alone,  in  the  midst  of  the  Choir  a  beautiful  lady  arose  and  struck  the 
glorious  Marseilles  *  *  *  ancj  when  she  approached  the  chorus  the  whole 
galaxy  of  stars  arose  and  sang  together.  Well,  this  sent  us  kiting  to  France,  so 
that  we  hardly  knew  how  the  song  ended.  When  we  got  back  we  distinctly  recol- 
lect our  resolution  that  if  we  ever  went  to  Oberlin  again  it  would  be  to  hear  the 
choir."  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  July  12,  1859,  "The  choir  then  sang  the 
Marseilles  Hymn.  The  solo  was  performed  by  Miss  Church,  who  has  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  exquisite  voices  that  ever  came  from  human  lips.  Standing 
alone  she  sang  until  the  burst  of  'To  arms,  to  Arms,'  when  the  whole  choir  rose  as 
one  person,  giving  the  Hymn  an  effect  that  at  the  head  of  the  Franco-Sardinian 
army  would  lead  that  army  over  the  walls  of  every  city  of  the  'Historic  Square.' 
The  music  by  this  choir  was  a  treat  seldom  enjoyed,  but  never,  when  enjoyed,  for- 
gotten *  *  *  *  and  as  we  saw  a  number  of  the  devotees  of  the  Federal  Ad- 
ministration wrapped  in  admiration  at  the  music,  we  mentally  exclaimed  'Music 
hath  charms  to  sooth  a  savage.'  ^  The  Independent  Democrat  said,  July  13,  1859, 
"Not  less  than  five  thousand  citizens  of  Lorain  were  on  the  ground,  *  *  *  No 
language  is  adequate  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  which  prevailed,  and  the  cheers 
which  greeted  the  eloquent  orators  fairly  shook  the  walls  of  the  old  Church." 
The  Oberlin  Evangelist  said,  July  1859,  "Once  more,  organ  peals  and  song  joined 
the  universal  joy,  and  perhaps  the  celebrated  Oberlin  Choir  never  before  won  such 
laurels  as  it  did  while  rendering  the  classic  'Marseilles'  and  the  piece  entitled 
'Gathering  of  the  Free.'"  The  Ashtabula  Sentinel  said,  July  14,  1859,  "Mr. 
Giddings,  who  attended  by  special  invitation,  informs  us  that  it  was  one  of  the 
occasions  to  be  spoken  of  but  not  described." 

a  7  o  Supra,  pp.  97  to  99  inch,  102. 

**»  The  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  said,  June  30,  1859,  "In  '52  Mr.  Dennison  said 
that  the  Fugitive  Slave  act  was  essential  to  the  'integrity  of  the  Union.'  In  '59 
he  says  'it  is  abhorrent  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized  world.'  When  a  man 
ceases  to  be  consistent  he  ceases  to  be  honest."  But  see  Plain  Dealer  in  1850. 
Supra  pp.  102  to  104  incl.  and  Cleveland  Leader,  July  6,  1859;  Painesville  Tele - 


2  pp 
i,  Ju 


graph,  June  9,  1859. 


206  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

and  acquaintances  in  the  Reserve,  felt  that,  regard- 
less of  the  platform  on  which  he  stood,  Ranney, 
himself,  was  at  heart  opposed  to  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  and  its  most  odious  features.  Indeed, 
he  said,  when  twitted  with  his  apparent  inconsistency, 
that  if  he  were  in  Congress  he  would  vote  to  eliminate 
all  such  features  and  to  so  amend  the  law  as  to 
provide  for  a  trial  of  the  right  of  property  in  an 
alleged  fugitive  from  slavery  by  a  Court  and  jury 
of  the  District  in  which  he  resided  and,  to  secure 
that,  would  grant  him  the  constitutional  right  of 
every  free  person,  the  benefit  of  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  Dennison  suffered  more,  because  the  Re- 
publican party  was  composed  largely  of  Whigs 
who  bolted  their  party  in  1852,  because  of  its  en- 
dorsement of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law.  Such  persons 
could  not  heartily  support  one  who  had  compromised 
at  that  time,  no  matter  what  his  opinions  might  be 
at  the  present.  Ranney  ran  ahead  of  his  ticket 
and  Dennison  ran  behind,  as  a  result  of  this  com- 
parison of  records.  The  vote  on  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor, which  was  a  true  measure  of  party  strength, 
as  distinguished  from  individual,  showed  a  Republi- 
can majority  of  14,747.  Dennison's  majority  was 
13,236,  but  he  polled  23,925  more  votes  than  Gov- 
ernor Chase  did  two  years  before. 

Nominations  for  the  Legislature  were  made 
with  great  care,  as  the  election  of  a  United  States 
Senator  to  succeed  George  E.  Pugh,  would  devolve 
upon  it.  The  people  of  the  Western  Reserve  cared 
more  about  this  than  they  did  about  the  governor- 
ship. They  sent  to  the  Senate  such  old  and  ex- 
perienced veterans  and  such  sturdy  opponents  to 
slavery  extension  as  John  F.  Morse,  of  Painesville, 
who  in  connection  with  Townshend  had  forced  the 
repeal  of  the  Black  Laws  and  the  election  of  Salmon 
P.  Chase  to  the  U.  S.  Senate  in  1849,  Francis  D. 
Parish,  of  Sandusky,  the  victim  of  the  Fugitive 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  207 

Slave  Law  in  the  case  of  Driskell  v.  Parish, 2  7  2 
and  Prof.  James  Monroe  of  Oberlin,  who  had  served 
several  terms  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  To 
these  were  added  two  young  men,  J.  D.  Cox,  of 
Warren,  and  James  A.  Garfield,  of  Hiram,  neither 
of  whom  were  candidates  for  the  position  and  neither 
of  whom  had  had  any  legislative  experience. 

Jacob  D.  Cox  was  but  thirty  years  old  when 
elected  Senator  to  represent  the  Trumbull  and 
Mahoning  District.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Oberlin 
College;  went  to  Warren  as  Superintendent  of  the 
Public  Schools  in  the  fall  of  1851;  and  began  the 
practice  of  law  in  1853,  first  as  a  partner  of  M.  D. 
Leggett,  and  then  as  a  partner  of  John  Hutchins, 
who  was  elected  to  Congress  in  the  fall  of  1858. 
Mr.  Cox  had  been  active  as  a  stump  speaker  in 
the  Presidential  campaign  of  1856,  and  the  Con- 
gressional campaign  of  1858,  and  the  people  of 
Ashtabula  and  Mahoning  counties,  as  well  as  Trum- 
bull, had  become  well  acquainted  with  him  as  a 
speaker  and  as  a  man.  Upon  his  election  as  Con- 
gressman, Mr.  Hutchins  retired  from  active  prac- 
tice, and  Mr.  Cox  was  engaged  in  1859  in  establishing 
for  himself  a  leading  position  at  a  bar,  which  em- 
braced such  lawyers  as  Matthew  Birchard  and 
Milton  Sutliff,  ex-Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
Ezra  B.  Taylor,  Frank  Hutchins,  and  Joel  W.  Tyler. 
He  had,  as  junior  partners,  Robert  B.  Ratliff, 
and  William  T.  Spear,  afterwards  Common  Pleas 
Judge  and  for  twenty-seven  years  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Ohio.  He  had  no  thought  of 
entering  politics  as  a  candidate  for  any  office,  and 
had  declined  to  allow  his  name  to  be  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  Senatorship.  The  Republican 
Senatorial  Convention  was  held  at  Niles,  August 
22,  1859.  Six  candidates  were  formally  presented 
—Samuel  Quinby,  Levi  Sutliff,  George  F.  Brown, 

»*»  Supra,  pp.  no  to  112  incl. 


208  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

Charles  W.  Smith,  Jesse  Baldwin  and  Cyrus  Bos- 
worth,  but,  on  the  first  ballot,  seven  delegates 
from  Mahoning  County  voted  for  J.  D.  Cox,  and 
on  the  third,  he  was  nominated  by  a  majority  of  19 
over  all.  Niles  is  only  about  five  miles  from  War- 
ren, and  Mr.  Spear,  who  was  attending  the  Conven- 
tion, drove  rapidly  to  Mr.  Cox's  house  in  Warren 
and  said,  "Mr.  Cox,  you  are  wanted  at  Niles,  right 
away,"  and  they  were  well  on  their  way  there, 
before  Mr.  Cox  knew  why  he  was  wanted. 2  7  3 

James  A.  Garfield  was  a  graduate  of  Williams 
College  (class  of  1856)  and  returning  to  Hiram  was 
elected  teacher  of  Ancient  Languages  in,  and  two 
years  later,  President  of,  the  Western  Reserve 
Eclectic  Institute,  at  that  place.  He,  too,  had  no 
thought  of  entering  public  life  and  was  not  a  can- 
didate for  any  office. 

Lyman  W.  Hall,  editor  of  the  Portage  County 
Democrat,  received  the  support  of  most  of  the 
Portage  County  men,  but  could  not  be  nominated 
without  help  from  Summit  County  which  had 
candidates  of  its  own.  After  several  ballots  with- 
out result,  Mr.  Hall  asked  his  supporters  to  throw 


*»•  The  Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  Aug.  24,  1859,  reported  the  proceedings  of 
the  convention  with  the  details  of  the  balloting  and  the  editor  said:  "The  nomi- 
nation of  J.  D.  Cox,  Esq.,  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  State  Senator  has  taken 
both  the  people  and  nominee  somewhat  by  surprise.  He  has  reason  to  feel  highly 
flattered  by  this  testimonial  of  the  estimate  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  people  of 
this  District,  for  it  was  the  spontaneous  act  of  the  delegates,  themselves,  without 
any  solicitation  whatever  on  his  part,  or  that  of  his  friends.  He  had  refused 
some  weeks  since,  to  permit  his  name  to  be  used  by  the  press  in  connection  with  the 
office,  on  account  of  his  private  business,  (which  must  suffer  by  his  nomination) 
and  the  matter  was  supposed  to  be  at  an  end.  *  *  *  Mr.  Cox  is  comparatively 
a  young  man,  but  he  has  well  and  fairly  earned  a  popularity  second  to  that  of  no 
man  in  this  District.  *  *  *  A  finished  scholar,  an  eloquent  orator,  well  versed 
in  the  political  history  of  the  country,  a  ready  debater,  ^  with  wit  as  keen  and 
trenchant  as  a  Toledo  blade;  of  indefatigable  industry,  quick  and  accurate  in  the 
transaction  of  business,  and  last  but  not  least,  a  true  Republican — ever  ready  to 
labor  for  the  cause,  he  cannot  fail  to  add  strength  to  the  ticket.  $  The  Cleveland 
Herald  said,  August  25,  1859,  "The  Senatorial  Convention  to  nominate  a  Repub- 
lican candidate  for  Senator  to  represent  the  District  composed  of  Trumbull  and  Ma- 
honing  counties  assembled  at  Niles  on  the  22d  inst.,  and  nominated  J.  Dolson  Cox, 
of  Warren.  Mr.  Cox  is  a  young  man  and  was  a  hearty  and  sincere  member  of  the 
Old  Whig  Party.  He  is  very  popular  wherever  known,  and  will  be  elected  by  a  large 
majority."  See  also  Cleveland  Leader,  August  24,  1859. 


PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED  209 

their  vote  to  a  dark  horse,  James  A.  Garfield,  who 
had  attracted  his  attention  as  a  public  speaker  and 
won  his  favor  as  a  man.  While  Mr.  Garfield  had 
not  been  prominent  in  politics  he  had  actively 
canvassed  Portage'  and  the  adjoining  counties  of 
Trumbull,  Summit,  Ashtabula,  Geauga  and  Lake, 
in  the  interests  of  his  "Institute,"  had  preached 
in  most  of  the  Disciple  Churches  in  those  counties, 
had  addressed  Teachers'  Institutes  and  other  gather- 
ings on  various  subjects,  and  had  thus  become  com- 
paratively well  known.  He  had  then,  as  later  in 
life,  the  gift  of  presenting  any  subject  he  chose  to 
discuss  in  a  most  interesting  way,  riveting  the 
attention  of  an  audience  and  leaving  a  lasting  im- 
pression. 2  7  4  The  delegates  gladly  welcomed  the 
suggested  way  of  ending  the  dead-lock  and  Garfield 
was  started  on  his  eventful  career.  These  two 
young  men  had  become  firm  friends  before  either 
was  nominated  for  the  Senate  and  they  roomed 
together  during  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature. 

To  the  lower  House  the  Reserve  sent  such 
veterans  as  Peter  Hitchcock  and  Richard  C.  Par- 
sons, the  latter  being  elected  Speaker. 

The  Republicans  secured  a  majority  of  15  in 
the  Senate  and  of  12  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  elected  Salmon  P.  Chase  as  United  States 
Senator,  to  succeed  George  E.  Pugh  as  the  associate 
of  Ben  Wade.  This  may  be  considered  as  the  direct 
result  of  the  Democratic  effort  to  enforce  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  in  Ohio,  and  the  revelation  of  all  its 


***  The  author  heard  Mr.  Garfield  preach  at  the  Church  of  the  Disciples, 
Warren,  O.,  in  the  summer  of  1858,  taking  for  his  text  the  first  verse  of  the  first 
chapter  of  St.  John.  Although  he  remembers  nothing  of  any  sermon  he  heard 
before  this,  he  has  retained  to  the  present  day,  a  vivid  impression  of  Mr.  Gar- 
field's  manner  of  speaking  and  line  of  argument.  The  Cleveland  Herald  said,  Aug. 
25,  1859,  "The  Republicans  of  the  Ohio  Senatorial  District,  comprising  Portage 
and  Summit  Counties,  have  nominated  Prof.  J.  A.  Garfield,  President  of  the 
Western  Reserve  Eclectic  Institute  at  Hiram,  as  a  candidate  for  Senator.  No 
better  nomination  could  have  been  made.  Mr.  Garfield  is  a  live  man,  and  his 
intelligence  and  progressive  character  will  secure  him  a  prominent  position  in  the 
Senate." 


210  PROSECUTION  OF  RESCUERS  ABANDONED 

enormities,  through  six  months  of  persistent  nagging 
of  the  Oberlin- Wellington  Rescuers.  Cincinnati  was, 
as  usual,  apprehensive  of  losing  its  Kentucky  and 
Southern  trade  and  Hamilton  County  sent  a  solid 
Democratic  delegation  to  the  Legislature.  Southern 
Ohio,  generally,  was  lukewarm,  but  the  northern 
counties  were  almost  unanimous  in  their  endorse- 
ment of  the  Republican  candidates  and  Platform. 

The  delegation  from  the  Western  Reserve  re- 
mained firmly  opposed  to  making  further  concessions 
of  any  sort  to  the  slave-power. 

While  peace  commissions  from  the  several  States 
had  been  appointed,  on  the  invitation  of  Virginia, 
to  meet  similar  commissioners  from  the  South  and 
were  discussing  more  "Compromise  Measures"  with 
a  view  to  placating  slaveholders  and  preserving  the 
Union,  the  young  Senators,  Cox  and  Garfield, 
were  preparing  themselves  for  the  war  which  they 
felt  was  inevitable.  Their  evenings  during  the 
winter  of  1860-61  were  spent  in  the  study  of  army 
regulations,  infantry  tactics  and  the  great  works 
on  military  strategy  with  their  maps  and  plans  of 
battle.  Both  believed  that  the  limit  of  endurance, 
under  the  aggressions  of  the  Slave-Power  had  been 
reached;  that  unless  slavery  was  to  be  completely 
nationalized  and  protected,  not  merely  in  the  terri- 
tories but  in  the  free  States,  a  stop  must  be  put  to 
its  further  extension  either  by  legislation  or  judicial 
interpretation;  that  the  slave-trade  in  Africa  must 
not  be  reopened  and  that  slave-hunting  in  Ohio 
must  be  closed;  that  no  more  slave  territory  should 
be  acquired;  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  must  be 
so  modified  as  to  allow  any  resident  of  a  free  State, 
claimed  as  a  slave,  the  right  to  a  trial  by  jury,  and, 
if  deprived  of  his  liberty  without  such  trial,  the 
right  to  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  bring  him  and 
his  claim  to  be  a  freeman  before  a  proper  court  in 
the  District  where  he  resided  or  was  seized.  Both 
believed  that  the  campaign  just  closed  had  awak- 


POSTSCRIPT 

ened  the  people  to  the  necessity  for  sturdy  resistance 
to  any  further  aggressions.  During  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1860-61,  both  perceived  the  growing 
resentment  among  the  people,  of  all  parties  and  all 
stations  in  life,  at  the  secession  of  State  after  State 
and  the  seizures  by  State  militia  of  forts,  arsenals, 
custom  houses,  mints,  etc.,  belonging  to  the  United 
States,  and  both  believed  that  an  act  of  war,  which 
could  not  be  misunderstood  or  explained  away, 
would  be  regarded  as  a  call  to  arms  and  would 
meet  with  ready  and  enthusiastic  response.  Such 
an  act  of  war  was  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter  and  the 
response  was  instantaneous.  Cox  was  commissioned 
as  a  Brigadier  General  and  Garfield  as  Lieutenant 
Colonel  of  the  42d  Ohio,  and  both  displayed  mili- 
tary ability  of  a  high  order  and  attained  the  rank 
of  Major  General.  But  their  subsequent  history 
does  not  belong  to  this  paper.  It  is  doubtful  if 
either  would  have  entered  public  service,  and  it  is 
certain  that  neither  would  have  entered  the  military 
service,  except  for  the  attempts  to  enforce  the  Fugi- 
tive Slave  Law  in  the  Western  Reserve  in  the  fall 
of  1858  and  the  year  1859. 

POSTCRIPT. 

Sixty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  events 
described  in  the  above  paper.  The  progress  of 
time  enables  us  to  make  a  more  dispassionate,  and, 
probably  more  correct,  view  of  the  things  said  and 
done,  than  was  possible  at  the  time.  The  anti- 
slavery  man,  when  he  found  the  Administration, 
Congress,  the  Law,  and  the  Courts  all  against  him 
and  against  what  he  believed  to  be  right,  was  forced 
to  exclaim  "O  miserable  man  that  I  am,  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?"  It  is  not 
surprising  that  he  proposed  desperate  remedies 
and  sometimes  took  the  wrong  course  in  trying  to 
find  a  way  out  of  his  difficulties.  Unless  we  can 
put  ourselves  in  their  place,  we  can  hardly  under- 


POSTSCRIPT 

stand  how  men  of  the  Western  Reserve  could  ever 
believe  or  assert  that  each  man,  or  each  community, 
was  to  judge  for  himself,  or  itself,  whether  a  law 
was  constitutional  or  not,  and  obey  it,  or  refuse 
obedience,  accordingly.  That  was  the  direct  road 
to  anarchy.  We  can  hardly  understand  how  any 
men — much  less  lawyers — could  expect  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Ohio  to  reverse  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  on  a  question  of  the  Constitutionality 
of  a  law  passed  by  Congress,  or  how  they  could 
expect  a  State  Court  to  take  from  the  prison  a  man 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  by  a 
District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  violating 
a  law  of  the  United  States.  That  road,  followed 
a  little  further,  would  have  led  to  judicial  chaos 
and  contempt  for  all  Courts.  How  could  they 
have  ignored  the  plain  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, that  "the  laws  of  the  United  States  which 
shall  be  made  in  Pursuance  thereof  *  shall 

be  the  supreme  Law  of  the  Land;  and  the  Judges 
in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby  anything  in 
the  Constitution  of  Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Con- 
trary notwithstanding;"  that  Congress  shall  have 
power  "to  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary 
and  proper  for  carrying  into  Execution  the  fore- 
going powers  and  all  other  Powers  vested  by  this 
Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
or  in  any  Department  or  officer  thereof;"  and  that 
"The  Judicial  Power"  of  United  States  Courts  "shall 
extend  to  all  cases  in  law  and  equity  arising  under 
this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States" 
etc.,  and  "between  citizens  of  different  States," 
e.  g.,  Kentucky  slave-catchers  and  Ohio  Rescuers? 
How  could  they  have  overlooked  the  fact  that  the 
government,  the  legislature  and  the  Courts  of  the 
United  States  are  ours,  as  well  as  the  government, 
the  legislature  and  the  courts  of  Ohio?  All  may  be 
changed  from  time  to  time,  for  better  or  for  worse. 


POSTSCRIPT  213 

How  could  they  have  adopted  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798-'99  and  the 
South  Carolina  doctrine  of  Nullification,  which 
could  only  lead  to  early  disintegration  and  disunion? 
How  could  they  have  thought  it  possible — granting 
that  such  a  course  was  desirable — for  the  State  of 
Ohio  with  a  poorly  organized  militia  and  without 
arms  and  equipment,  to  challenge  the  United  States 
to  an  armed  contest  over  the  custody  of  prisoners 
committed  to  jail  by  one  of  its  Courts?  The  United 
States  then  had  a  standing  army  well  equipped  and 
largely  officered  by  Southern  men  under  the  command 
of  a  Southern  Secretary  of  War.  How  long  would 
it  have  taken  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Joe  Johnston, 
with  two  brigades  of  infantry,  two  regiments  of 
cavalry  and  two  batteries  of  artillery  to  have  dis- 
persed Giddings'  "Sons  of  Liberty"  and  any  other 
force  which  Governor  Chase  could  have  mustered? 
Ohio  could  not  count  on  the  assistance  or  even  the 
sympathy  of  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  and — 
what  was  still  worse — a  majority  of  her  own  people 
would  have  been  found  opposed  to  the  violence 
and  disturbance  of  the  peace,  occasioned  by  what 
they  would  surely  have  regarded  as  the  aggressive 
and  irresponsible  action  of  fanatics  and  men  of  one 
idea.  There  were  indications  that  Democratic  parti- 
sans would  have  welcomed  an  outbreak  which 
would  have  called  for  the  interposition  of  the  Federal 
power.  The  result  of  such  a  contest — if  initiated 
by  volunteers  or  State  militia — would  almost  surely 
have  strengthened  the  Administration  and  established 
complete  control  of  the  Government,  in  all  its 
branches  by  the  slave-power,  who  could  then  have 
carried  out  their  entire  program  in  the  United 
States  and  avoided  the  resort  to  secession.  If 
Judge  Swan  had  joined  Judges  Brinkerhoff  and 
Sutliff,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  had  ordered 
the  release  of  Bushnell  and  Langston,  Governor 
Chase  would  either  have  had  to  use  force  and  thus 
bring  on  a  conflict  with  the  United  States,  or  would 


214  POSTSCRIPT 

have  been  obliged  to  back  down.  In  either  case, 
the  State  would  have  suffered  and  the  prestige  of 
the  Republican  party  would  have  been  damaged 
beyond  repair.  It  would  have  been  impossible 
then  for  that  party,  or  any  other  formed  on  similar 
lines,  to  have  commanded  any  large  following  and 
made  successful  opposition  to  a  victorious  and 
exultant  slaveocracy.  Judge  Swan  by  his  decision 
saved  his  State  from  humiliation,  his  party  from 
ruin,  and  his  country  from  the  chains  of  an  oppressive 
oligarchy  which  it  was  just  beginning  to  loosen  and 
was  destined  to  cast  off.  Even  those  who  rejected 
him  as  unworthy  to  be  a  Judge  of  our  Supreme 
Court,  must  have  rejoiced,  later,  that  Judge  Swan 
spoke  "the  words  of  truth  and  soberness,"  and  that 
the  odium  of  inaugurating  civil  war  in  this  country 
was  cast  upon  the  South,  when  his  advice  was  fol- 
lowed : — 

"The  sense  of  justice  of  the  people  of  Ohio  has  been  shocked 
by  some  of  the  unjust  provisions  of  the  fugitive  acts.  It  is 
not  the  authority  of  Congress  to  legislate  that  they  deny, 
but  it  is  the  abuse  of  the  power.  That  abuse  may  be  reme- 
died by  Congress,  and  if  the  power  to  legislate  is  denied,  the 
question  can  be  put  an  end  to  by  repeal — it  is  the  only  consti- 
tutional mode  left;  the  other  alternative  is  intestine  war  and 
resistance  of  our  national  government. 

"All  must  admit  that  the  owner  of  escaped  slaves  is  entitled 
to  their  reclamation.  Good  faith  to  sister  States  demands 
it;  and  there  would  be  no  resistance  in  Ohio  to  a  fair  and  just 
law  effecting  that  object.  No  intense  public  feeling  could  be 
excited  upon  the  question  as  to  who  should  legislate,  Congress 
or  the  States,  if  a  proper  law  were  passed  by  Congress. 

"/  must  refuse  the  experiment  of  initiating  disorder  and 
governmental  collision^  to  establish  order  and  even-handed 
justice"2'16 

But,  while  we  may  criticise  the  various  methods 
for  curing  the  evils  inherent  in  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  of  1850,  we  cannot  fail  to  see  the  force  of  their 
objections  to  the  law  itself  and  to  the  manner  of  its 

» » « 9  Ohio  State  Reports.  198.     The  italics  are  mine. 


POSTSCRIPT  215 

enforcement.  We  wonder  how  any  set  of  men  of 
Anglo-Saxon  descent  could  have  conceived  and 
enacted  such  an  unfair,  unjust  and  inhuman  law. 
Was  there  no  man  in  that  Congressional  majority 
capable  of  putting  himself  in  the  place  of  a  colored 
resident  of  a  free  State,  liable  at  any  time  to  be 
captured  and  reduced  to  slavery  on  a  false  affidavit 
of  ownership?  Was  there  no  man  who  thought  it 
unjust  to  deprive  a  man  of  the  right  to  testify  in 
his  own  behalf  on  a  question  involving  his  personal 
liberty?  Was  there  no  man  who  thought  it  unfair 
to  take  a  man  hundreds  of  miles  away  from  neigh- 
bors, who  had  known  him  for  years,  before  allowing 
any  inquiry  as  to  his  status  in  life?  Was  there  no 
man  who  thought  it  important  that  a  man,  denying 
that  he  was  the  slave  of  another,  should  have  the 
right  of  a  trial  before  a  Court  and  Jury?  Was  there 
among  them  any  man  who,  if  jailed  on  an  insufficient 
warrant,  would  not  have  sued  out  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  in  order  to  secure  his  release?  It  is  almost 
inconceivable.  Not  one  of  that  Congressional  major- 
ity would  have  submitted,  without  a  fight,  to  such 
treatment  and  disregard  of  his  natural  rights,  as 
was  prescribed  by  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Not 
one  of  that  majority  would  have  suffered  one  of 
his  friends  to  be  so  treated  if  he  could  possibly 
prevent  it.  The  trouble  was  that  pro-slavery  men 
were  so  accustomed  to  seeing  blacks  and  mulattoes 
treated  as  brutes,  that  they  could  not  conceive  of 
them  as  men,  or  entitled  to  the  rights  of  men. 

The  pro-slavery  Justices  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  were  blinded  in  the  same  way,  and 
so  placed  a  false  construction  on  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  converting  it  into  an  instrument 
of  oppression  which  it  was  never  intended  to  be. 
They  denied  to  the  colored  man  the  rights  which 
the  Constitution,  properly  construed,  secured  to 
all  men. 


216  POSTSCRIPT 

In  their  eagerness,  and  supposed  ability,  to 
settle  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  the  Justices 
of  that  court  departed  from  the  rule,  of  answering 
only  such  questions  as  were  essential  to  a  disposition 
of  the  case  before  them,  and  discussed  every  question, 
social,  political  and  moral,  which  ingenious  counsel 
might  raise  in  the  course  of  an  argument,  and  they 
could  raise  a  good  many  in  the  course  of  the  eight 
days  (including  hearing  and  rehearing)  allowed 
for  argument  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  In  that  case, 
it  was  necessary  to  decide  only  one  question.  Was 
Dred  Scott,  the  plaintiff,  entitled  to  maintain  an 
action  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  Missouri 
against  Sandford,  the  defendant,  a  citizen  of  New 
York?  He  sued  as  a  citizen  of  Missouri,  under 
Article  III,  Sec.  2,  of  the  Constitution  which  pro- 
vides that  ''The  Judicial  powers  shall  extend  to 
controversies  between  *  *  *  citizens 
of  different  States."  If  Scott  was  a  citizen  of  Missouri 
and  Sandford  was  a  citizen  of  New  York,  the  Court 
had  jurisdiction.  If  Scott  was  not,  as  he  claimed, 
a  citizen  of  Missouri,  the  Court  could  do  nothing 
but  dismiss  his  action  for  want  of  jurisdiction.  There 
was  an  agreed  statement  of  facts,  covering  less 
than  a  page  of  the  reports,  from  which  it  appeared 
that  Scott  and  his  wife  and  two  children  were  resi- 
dents of  Missouri,  but  were  held  there  as  slaves, 
under  the  laws  of  Missouri,  by  an  army  surgeon 
who  sold  them  to  Sandford  just  before  the  suit  was 
filed.  The  Court  below  charged  the  jury  "that 
upon  the  facts  in  this  case,  the  law  is  with  the 
defendant"  and  thereupon  the  jury  found  the  de- 
fendant "not  guilty,"  and  made  a  special  finding 
that  the  plaintiff,  his  wife  and  children  were  "negro 
slaves,  the  property  of  the  defendant."  Under  the 
laws  of  Missouri  a  slave  was  not  a  "citizen"  of  that 
State;  therefore,  the  United  States  Court  did  not 
have  jurisdiction,  and  the  case  should  have  been 
dismissed.  But  counsel  argued,  and  the  Chief  Jus- 


POSTSCRIPT  217 

tice  and  most  of  the  Associate  Justices  discussed, 
all  sorts  of  questions  which  were  irrelevant  and 
immaterial,  if  the  Court  had  no  power  to  try  the 
case,  such  as  the  status  of  the  negro  in  all  ages  and 
countries;  the  fact  that  he  had  always  been  regarded 
by  the  whites  as  an  inferior  being;  questions,  whether 
or  not  a  free  negro  could  become  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States;  whether  or  not,  if  he  could  become 
a  citizen  of  one  of  the  States  under  the  laws  thereof, 
he  would  be  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  Article  IV, 
Sec.  2  of  the  Constitution,  "The  Citizens  of  each 
State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  Privileges  and  Im- 
munities of  Citizens  in  the  several  States;"  the 
horror  with  which  the  people  of  a  slave  State  would 
regard  the  presence  of  a  free  negro,  citizen  of  another 
State,  etc.,  etc.,  for  240  pages  of  the  report.  A 
majority  of  the  Court  decided,  not  merely  that  Dred 
Scott,  under  the  agreed  statement  of  facts  and  the 
special  verdict  of  the  jury,  was  not  a  citizen  of 
Missouri  and  therefore  his  suit  must  be  dismissed, 
but,  that  free  negroes  were  not  and  never  could 
become  citizens  of  the  United  States;  that  he  must 
be  not  merely  a  citizen  of  a  State  but  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  in  order  to  entitle  him  to  main- 
tain his  action;  that  the  rights  and  privileges  con- 
ferred by  the  Constitution  did  not  and  never  could 
apply  to  free  negroes;  that  the  Constitution  expressly 
affirms  the  right  of  property  in  slaves;  that  slave- 
holders could  go  into  and  remain  in  any  territory 
of  the  United  States,  taking  their  slave  property 
with  them;  that  the  Act  known  as  the  "Missouri 
Compromise,"  of  1820,  was  unconstitutional  and 
void,  etc. — in  fact  deciding,  in  advance  of  any 
case  before  them  requiring  such  a  decision,  that 
every  claim  made  by  Southern  slave-holders  looking 
to  the  extension  of  their  "peculiar  institution," 
and  all  of  the  objectionable  features  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  were  Constitutional  and  "righteous  al- 
together." And  from  the  time  that  decision  was 


218  POSTSCRIPT 

announced,  Senators  and  Representatives  from  the 
Southern  States  and  pro-slavery  Democrats  in  the 
North,  insisted  that  these  obiter  dicta  were  a  part 
of  the  law  of  the  land  and  must  be  respected  by  all ! 

Now,  there  is  not  a  word  in  the  Constitution 
that  limits  citizenship  of  the  United  States  to  white 
persons;  or  that  prescribes  the  qualifications  of 
citizenship  in  the  several  States.  There  is  not  a 
word  that  limits  the  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  in  the  several  States  to  white  citizens  of  an- 
other State.  There  is  not  a  word  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, or  the  first  twelve  amendments,  which  limits 
the  rights  of  a  trial  by  jury  and  of  habeas  corpus, 
to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  either  white  or 
black.  The  word  "person,"  is  used  sixteen  times 
in  the  Constitution  and  nine  times  in  the  first  twelve 
amendments.  The  "persons"  mentioned  in  Article 
1,  Section  2,  may  be  black  or  white,  bond  or  free. 
When  enumerated  for  the  purposes  of  representation 
and  direct  taxation,  "the  whole  number  of  Free 
persons"  without  any  restriction  as  to  race  or 
color,  except  "Indians  not  taxed,"  are  to  be  counted, 
and  "three-fifths  of  all  other  persons" — again  with- 
out restriction  as  to  race  or  color.  This,  and  the 
provisions  of  Art.  I,  Sec.  9  and  Article  IV,  Sec.  2, 
make  it  clear  that  a  negro  is  at  least  a  "person" 
and  entitled  to  all  the  rights,  immunities  and  privi- 
leges of  "persons"  except  as  specifically  pointed 
out  in  these  or  the  other  sections  and  amendments 
where  "persons"  are  mentioned.  There  is  nothing 
within  the  four  corners  of  the  instrument  which 
declares,  or  even  intimates  that  negroes  were  not 
at  the  time,  or  might  not  become,  citizens  of  the 
United  States  or  any  of  the  several  States,  or  that 
Articles  of  Amendment,  V,  VI,  and  VII  should  not 
apply  to  them.  Article  V  says  "NO  PERSON 
shall  be  *  *  *  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  prop- 
erty without  due  process  of  law"  and  due  process 


POSTSCRIPT  219 

of  law  must  mean  such  process  as  is  due  alike  to 
all  persons. 

The  whole  argument  of  the  Chief  Justice  is 
devoted  to  reading  into  the  Constitution  and  several 
Amendments,  exceptions,  restrictions  and  limita- 
tions that  are  not  expressed,  and  cannot  be  implied 
from  anything  contained  therein.  He,  then,  ami- 
cably suggests  "If  any  of  its  provisions"  [i.  e.9  those 
he  has  read  into  the  Constitution]  "are  deemed 
unjust,  there  is  a  mode  prescribed  in  the  instrument 
itself  by  which  it  may  be  amended."  How  can  one 
amend  by  striking  out  something  that  is  not  there? 
How  could  the  language  employed  in  defining 
rights  be  made  more  general  and  comprehensive 
than  it  was?  One  sample  of  his  reasoning  must 
suffice.  He  argued  that  because  New  Hampshire 
expressly  limited  enrollment  in  the  militia  to  "free 
white  persons"  the  makers  of  the  TJ.  S.  Constitution 
must  have  intended  to  limit  all  privileges  of  citizen- 
ship, etc.,  to  "free  white  persons."  Many  of  the 
early  State  Constitutions  (including  that  of  Ohio) 
did  limit  citizenship,  enumeration  for  representa- 
tives, etc.,  to  "white  males."  People  of  ordinary 
intelligence  seem  to  have  understood  that  if  they 
wished  to  limit  the  duties  and  privileges  of  citizen- 
ship to  white  persons  they  must  use  the  qualifying 
word  "white."  In  asserting  that  persons  who  did 
not  use  such  qualifying  word  meant  exactly  the 
same  as  people  who  did,  the  Chief  Justice  announced 
a  new  rule  of  construction  which  makes  the  use  of 
language  to  express  ideas  quite  unimportant. 

But  faulty  and  oppressive  as  were  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  erroneous  as  were  the  deci- 
sions of  the  Federal  Courts,  when  those  Courts 
pronounced  a  Federal  state  constitutional,  there 
were  but  two  remedies  open  to  law-abiding  citizens. 
(1)  To  get  control  of  Congress  and  repeal  the  law, 
or  (2)  To  elect  a  President  who  would  appoint 
suitable  persons  as  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 


220  POSTSCRIPT 

and  then  ask  the  Court  in  a  new  case  to  overrule 
former  erroneous  decisions,  as  was  done  in  the  Legal 
Tender  Cases. 

The  agitation  over  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
on  the  Western  Reserve,  while  at  times  threatening 
lawless  or  revolutionary  procedure,  was  kept  under 
wise  control  and  resulted  in  a  settled  determination 
to  cure  the  evils  of  Congressional  legislation, 
Judicial  interpretation  and  Executive  enforcement 
of  that  hated  statute,  through  the  ballot  and  strictly 
Constitutional  procedure.  Southern  leaders,  fore- 
seeing the  inevitable  (though  deferred)  outcome 
of  this  growing  spirit  in  the  North,  hastened  the 
glad  day  of  deliverance,  by  seceding  and  making 
war  on  the  United  States.  The  Western  Reserve 
and  the  whole  Northwest  were  united  in  a  patriotic 
and  successful  effort  to  save  the  Union.  In  the 
mighty  struggle  which  followed,  slavery  and  all 
constitutional  provisions  and  Congressional  laws 
intended  for  its  protection,  perpetuation  and  ex- 
tension, and  all  pro-slavery  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  were  swept  away,  and  North  and  South 
became,  once  more,  a  free,  homogeneous  and  united 
people. 


General  Index 


"An  Act  to  Prevent  Forcible  Abduction  of  the  Citizens  of  Ohio" 74 

"An  Act  to  Punish  Kidnapping" 73 

"An  Act  to  Regulate  Black  and  Mulatto  Persons  in  Ohio" 55 

"An  Act  Relating  to  Fugitives  from  Labor  or  Service  from  other  States" . .  75,  76,  77 

"An  Act  Relating  to  Juries 57 

"  Adams,  John 12,  13 

"Address  to  the  States,  An,"  by  J.  Madison 18 

African  Slave  Trade  Laws  Ignored 164-166 

Alabama  Letters 82 

Allen,  Charles  N 140,  195 

Allen,  George  N 204 

Alliance,  Ohio,  Public  Meeting  at 174 

Amherst,  Ohio 198 

Andrews,  J.  W Ill 

Andrews,  Sherlock  J 156 

Annapolis 18 

Anti-Fugitive  Slave  Law  Meetings 97,  98,  99 

Anti-Fugitive  Slave  Laws 97 

Anti-Slavery  Democrat 101 

Ashley,  James  M 180 

Ashtabula,  Ohio 119 

Ashtabula  Sentinel,  The,  Ashtabula,  Ohio 79,  139,  178 

Augnsta  Constitutionalist,,  The 167 

Backus,  F.  T 138 

Bacon,  John  G 125,  126,  142,  145,  146,  151,  199 

Bailey's  Free  South 138 

Baldwin,  Jesse 208 

Baldwin,  Henry 50 

Barre,  Nelson 108 

Bascom,  Wm.  T 180 

Bedford,  Gunning,  Jr 27 

Belden,  George  W 148,  149,  176,  189,  199,  200 

Bell,  John 92 

Belmont  County,  Ohio 54 

Benedict,  G.  A 97 

Birchard.  Matthew 98,  207 

Birney,  James  G 81,  82 

Black,  Att'y.  Gen 198 

Blacks  and  Mulatto  Persons,  Education  of  in  Ohio 59-66 

Law  against 55,  57,  58,  59 

Not  wanted  in  Ohio 55 

Rapid  increase  in  numbers  on  Western  Reserve  after  passage  of  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850 119 

221 


222  INDEX 

Resolutions  of  Ohio  Legislature  urging  their  deportation  and  coloniza- 
tion in  Africa 65-67 

Restrictions  on  right  to  enter  and  reside  in  Ohio 55-6 

Black  Laws 64,  72 

Black  Laws  of  Ohio 54 

Black  Laws  of  Ohio,  Demand  for  Repeal  of 57 

Bland,  Theodoric 16 

Bliss,  George 148 

Booth,  Sherman  M.,  Case  Against  U.  S.  Marshal 189 

Bosworth,  Cyrus 208 

Boynton,  Lewis  D 127,  134,  142,  199 

Boynton,  Shakespeare 128,  134 

Boynton,  W.  W 199 

Brinkerhoff,  Jacob 99,  190 

Broom,  Jacob 34 

Brown,  Charles  F 139 

Brown,  Geo.  F 207 

Brown  County,  Ohio 74 

Browne,  C.  C 114 

Brownlee,  Judge 99 

Buchanan,  James 109 

Burke,  Stevenson 138 

Bushnell,  Simeon 129,  131, 132,  138, 143, 145, 148,  151,  177,  186, 189 

Butler,  Wm 23,  29,  30,  31,  33,  42,  44 

Cabell  County,  Va 114 

Cadiz,  Ohio 140 

Cadwell,  Darius,  Speech  of 176,  177 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  last  speech 89 

California 88,  93 

Admission  of,  as  a  State 88,  89 

Demand  for  Admission  of  Without  Slavery  from  the  North 91 

Opposition  from  the  South  on  Admission  of  California  Without  Slavery .  91 

Canada 132 

Canfield,  Ohio 97 

Carpenter,  Judge 197 

Carroll,  Charles 17 

Carroll  County,  Ohio 54 

Cartter,  D.  K 199,  203 

Cass,  Lewis 86,  92 

Cass  County,  Mich 52 

Cassopolis,  Mich 52 

Chambers,  Augustus 122,  123,  124 

Champaign  County  Arrest  of  Four  Citizens  in,  for  Opposing  Slave  Hunters  1 13,1 14 

Charleston,  S.  C 48 

Chase,  Salmon  P 57,  64,  100,  108,  111,  112,  185,  188,  206,  209,  213 

Election  as  Governor  of  Ohio 108 

Election  to  U.  S.  Senate. . .  .  .57,  64,  84,  209 


INDEX  223 

Chase,  Samuel,  Views  of  Respecting  Taxation  of  Slaves 12,  13 

Chihuahua 167 

Chillicothe,  Ohio 44 

Chittenden,  Sterne 127,  130,  141,  145 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 114,  210 

Clark,  Abraham 17 

Clay,  Cassius  M 181,  185 

Clay,  Henry 81,82,85.91,92 

"Alabama  Letters" 82 

Cleveland,  Ohio 80,   119,   120,  126,  127,  171,  180-9 

Population  of 79 

Resolutions  of  Citizens  Against  Fugitive  Slave  Law" 97 

Cleveland  Herald,  The 97,  125,  132,  137,  162,  204 

Cleveland  Leader,   The 125,  132,  162,  172.  178.  204 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  The 102,  133,  136,  139,  179,  180,  191,  200,  204 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer  s  Statement  of  the  Position  of  the  Democratic  Party  on 

Compromise  Measures 103,  104 

Clymer,  George 41 

Cole,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Cochran 122 

Cole,  Stephen  W 122 

Columbiana  County,  Ohio 54,  175 

Columbus,  Ohio 127,  130 

Commissioners  to  have  Jurisdiction  over  Fugitives,  duties  of 94,  95,  96 

How  appointed 94,  95,  96 

'Compromise  Measures"  Carried  when  separately  voted  on 93 

Endorsed  by  both  Whig  and  Democratic  National  Conventions  in  1852. .  101 

Pleased  nobody  as  a  whole 93-4 

Proclaimed  by  President  Pierce  as  final  settlement  of  all  disputes  between 

North  and  South 101-2, 109 

Proposed  by  committee  of  thirteen 92 

See  Fugitive  Slave  Law  infra. 

Conneaut,  Ohio 119 

Connecticut. ...  14,  17,  23,  24,  25,  26,  28,  29,  30,  31,  33,  34,  35,  36,  38,  39,  41,  69 

Connecticut  Western  Reserve  (see  Western  Reserve) 

Constitution  of  the  U.  S.,  "A  nose  of  wax" 89 

Calhoun  discovers  (?)  that  it  carries  slavery  into  free  territory  acquired 

by  the  U.  S 89-90 

U.  S.  Supreme  Court  discovers  (?)  that  it  divides  "persons"  into  white 
and  colored  and  that  the  latter  have  no  rights  under  i    ....  1 16-17, 215,  219 

Constitutional  Convention,  called  by  Continental  Congress 18-19 

Differences  on  the  inclusion  of  slaves  in  representative  population 29-36 

Difficulties  of  adjusting  representation  of  States 21-29 

Meets  at  Philadelphia 20 

Continental  Congress,  Calls  a  Convention  to  change  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation   18, 19 

Powerless  to  enforce  contributions  of  men  and  money  by  any  of  the 
States 14,  15.  18-20 


224  INDEX 

Corwin,  Thomas 82,  83,  84,  85,  111 

Appointment  as  Secretay  of  the  Treasury 93 

Election  of,  as  Governor  of  Ohio 81 

Election  as  U.  S.  Senator 82 

Cox,  Jacob  D.,  Commissioned  Brigadier  General  in  1861 211 

Foresees  and  prepares  for  Civil  War 210 

Nominated  for  Ohio  Senate  in  1859 207-8 

On  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization  at  Cleveland  Mass  Meeting, 

q.v 180 

Crittenden,  John  J.  Appointment  as  Attorney  General 93 

Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio 119 

Causes  of  Increase  in  Black  Population 80 

Cuyahoga  County  Jail 150,  189 

Cuba . . .167 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor 109 

Davie,  Wm.  R 32 

Davis,  Samuel 127,  130,  137,  198 

Dayton,  A.  P 120,  125,  127 

Delano.  Columbus 186 

Delaware 13,  17, 19,  23,  24,  26,  27,  28,  29.  30,  31,  33,  34,  36,  38, 41,  47,  51,  54 

Democratic  Party,  Adopts  resolutions  against  slavery  extension 100 

Elects  Buchanan  President  in  1860 109 

Endorses  Compromise  Measures  including  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 101 

Endorses  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850 196 

Gains  from  Whig  promotion  of  Clay's  Compromise  Measure.  .96,  99, 101, 108 

Loses  Congressional  Elections  in  1854 108 

Opposes  political  rights  to  any  person  having  a  visible  admixture  of 

African  blood 196 

Demcratic  Party  and  its  Policy  in  Ohio 54 

Dennison,  William 181,  205,  206 

Nomination  for  Governor 192 

Dorsheimer,  Philip 181 

Doyleston,  Pa 48 

Dred  Scott  Case,  Decision  of,  in  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  criticised .  .  116-117,  215-219 
Driskell  v  Parrish,  Suit  for  damages  for  obstructing  arrest  of  colored  woman 

and  child. 110-112,  119 

Dublin,  Ohio 136, 137 

Early,  Louis,  Free  Papers  of,  Destroyed  by  Fire 114 

Sale  of,  in  Louisville 115 

Seized  as  Former  Slave 114 

"Echo,"  The  Slaver 162 

Ellsworth,  Oliver 24,  28,  35,  39 

Elyria,  Ohio 120,  123 

Empire  Hall,  Cleveland 97 

Erie  County,  Ohio 175 

Causes  of  Increase  of  Black  Population 80 

Fairchild,  E.  H 172 


INDEX  225 

Fairchild,  James  H 132,  203 

Fairport,  Ohio 119 

Federalist,  The 78 

"Felons  Feast,"  (Oberlin) 171 

Fillmore,  Millard 93,  109 

Finney,  Charles  G 7 204 

Fitch,  James  M 135,  148,  149,  203 

Florida 162 

Flynn,  Judge 113 

Fox,  Arthur 74 

Franklin,  Benjamin 22,  23,  26 

Franklin  County,  Ohio 112,  137 

Free  Democrats  in  Ohio 57,  81 

Free  Soilers,  Elected  Salmon  P.  Chase  as  U.  S.  Senator 57 

Forced  Repeal  of  Black  Laws 57 

Hold  balance  of  power  in  Ohio  legislature  in  1849 56 

Increasing  Power  of 81-87 

Nominate  Van  Buren  for  President  and  defeat  Clay  in  1852 86-7 

Opposed  to  Mexican  War  and  annexation  of  Texas 82-85 

Their  platform 86-7 

Fremont,  John 109 

French,  John  R 173,  180 

Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1793  Construed  in  favor  of  claimants 50 

Defects  pointed  out 47-49 

Objections  to 47 

Recognition  of  by  the  Ohio  Legislature 46 

Resolution  Against,  Adopted  by  Ohio  Legislature  in!851 106, 107 

Strictly  construed  at  first 47 

Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  Democratic  party  retired  from  power  in  State  and 

Nation 209-10 

Denounced  anew  after  the  Oberlin- Wellington  Rescue  cases 171-179 

Denounced  by  Ohio  Democrats  in  1850-51 96-104 

Exasperating  practices  under 109 

Forcible  resistance  the  only  remedy  left  to  the  black  man 123-4,  155-6 

Forcible  resistance  to  its  execution  advised.  .97,  99,  137-8,  174,  176-179,  182 
How  Southern  Men  and  pro-slavery  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  were 

blinded  to  evils  of 214-15 

Issues  for  and  against  squarely  made  in  Ohio  Campaign  of  1859 194-196 

More  drastic  than  bill  reported  by  Clay 93 

Objectionable  features  of 94-96 

One  of  the  "Compromise  Measures" 92 

Renders  man  stealing  easy 104,  118-19 

Republicans  win  and  elect  Chase  as  U.  S.  Senator 205-6 

Scathing  review  of,  by  Charles  Langston 153-156 

Stirs  up  wave  of  indignation  in  North 96-101 

Fugitive  Slaves,  Cause  of  Increase  in  Number 49 

Fugitive  Slaves,  Clause  in  constitution,  requiring  delivery  of  to  claimants .  .      .  .  42 


226  INDEX 

Practice  concerning 45.5 

Gar  field,  James  A.,  Nominated  for  Ohio  Senate  in  1859 208-9 

Studies  Art  of  War  with  J.  D.  Cox,  1860-61 210 

Commissioned  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  42d  Ohio 211 

Garner  Family,  Besieged  by  Slave  Hunters 113 

Garretson,  Jane,  Attempt  to  take 110 

Gaulden,  Col.  Speech  of 168 

Georgia 10,  13,  23,  24,  26,  28,  29,  30,  31,  33,  34,  36,  38,  39,  40,  41,  89,  162 

Gerry,  Eldridge 24,  35,  37 

Gholson,  William  Y.,  Nomination  for  Supreme  Court  Judge 193 

Giddings,  Joshua  R 57, 178, 182, 185, 191, 203 

Gillman,  Nicholas 35 

Goodwin,  Mr 203 

Gorham,  Nathaniel 16,  29,  35 

Grafton,  Ohio 129,  198 

Greene  County,  Ohio,  Arrest  of  Deputy  Marshals  and  Slave  Hunters  in. ....  114 

Griswold,  S.  O 138 

Habeas  Corpus,  Ohio  Legislature  resolves  that  it  is  the  duty  of  courts  to  allow 

writs  of,  to  all  persons  complying  with  State  laws 106-7 

Writs  of,  freely  granted  by  U.  S.  Courts  in  aid  of  claimants  under  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850 112-114 

Ohio  Supreme  Court  denies  writ  of,  to  Bushnell  and  Langston 176-7 

Writ  of.  granted  by  Wisconsin  Supreme  Court  to  take  prisoner  from 
U.  S.  Marshal 173,  189 

Ohio  Supreme  Court  issues  writ  of.  for  release  of  Bushnell  and  Langston 
after  sentence,  but  on  final  hearing  remands  them  to  custody  of  U.  S. 

Marshal 189-90 

Hale,  John  P 101 

Hall,  Lyman  W 208 

Hamilton,  Alexander 17,  25,  27 

Hamilton  County,  Ohio 113 

Harrison,  Benjamin 13 

Harrison,  William  Henry 70 

Election  of 81 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B .  .113 

Higginson,  Stephen 

Hitchcock,  Peter 180,  186,  209 

Hitchcock,  President,  Western  Reserve  College 121 

Hitchcock,  Reuben 97 

Hoffman,  B.  F .  .102 

Holton,  Samuel 17 

Howells,  W.  C 178 

Howells,  Wm.  D •  •  178 

Huron  County,  Ohio 12° 

Hutchins,  Frank 207 

Hutchins,  John 98,  207 

Hutchins,  John  C.  .  122 


INDEX 

Hutchinson  Family,  songs  by 82 

Independent  Democrat,  The .80, 132, 139,172 

Independent  Democrats 81 

Indiana  Territory 70 

Jefferson,  Ohio 175 

Jefferson  County,  Ohio 54 

Jeffersonian  Democrat,  The,  Chardon,  Ohio 80,  133 

Jennings,  Anderson.  . .  .120,  125,  126,  127,  128,  130,  141,  142,  145,  146,  151,  154 

165,  198,  199 

Jennings,  Anderson,  Third  Trip  to  Ohio  for  Negroes 120 

Johnson,  Eliza  Jane,  Forcible  Abduction  of 74 

Jones  v  Van  Zandt.  Judgement  against  defendant  for  $1200  affirmed  in  U.  S. 

Supreme  Court 184 

Juries,  An  Act  Relating  to  Ohio 57 

Keep,  Father 203 

Kellogg,  Abner 175-177 

Kentucky 49,  54,  73,  101,  113 

Losses  from  Fugitive  Slaves 72 

Kentucky  Legislature,  Justification  of  Complaints  of  the 75 

Kentucky  Resolutions  of  1798,  adopted  on  the  Western  Reserve 172,  213 

Kidnapping,  Ohio  Laws  against 55.  73-4,  115-16 

Ohio  laws  against,  disregarded  by  U.  S.  District  Judge  Leavitt  and  U.  S. 
Justice  John  McLean 51-53,  112-114 

Ohio  laws  against,  repealed  by  Democratic  Legislature  in  1859 118 

Resolutions  authorizing  Governor  of  Ohio  to  procure  return  of  kidnapped 

women  and  children 74-5 

Kilgour,  G 114 

King,  Rufus 23,  26,  30,  36,  40 

King,  William  R 92 

Knapp,  O.  H 97 

LaGrange,  Ohio 129 

Lands  and  houses,  as  a  basis  of  taxation 13,  15-16 

Lane,  Ebenezer Ill 

Langdon,  John 35,  40 

Langston,  Charles 172,  186,  189 

Speech  of  in  Defense 153-156 

Trial  of 149-153 

Langston,  John  M 155,  172,  186,  191,  203 

Langston  Brothers 75 

Lansing,  John 24,  26 

Lawrence  County,  Ohio 112 

Leavitt.  Humphrey,  U.  S.  District  Judge 114 

Lee,  Richard  Henry 16.17 

Leggett,  M.  D 207 

Lewis,  Samuel 100.  108 

Liberty  Party 81.  84 

Lincoln,  William  E 136 


228  INDEX 

Lorain,  Ohio 56 

Lorain  County,  Ohio 119,  120,  135,  171 

Causes  of  Increase  in  Black  Population  of 80 

Lorain  County  Eagle,  The,  Elyria,  Ohio 132 

Lorain  Co.  Republican  Conv.,  "Resolutions  adopted  at" 173,  174 

Louisiana 49 

Louisville  Courier 115 

Lowe,  Jacob  K 127,  130,  145,  146,  151,  154,  198,  199 

McLean,  John 51-53,  110-112,  184 

Madison,  James 16,  17,  18,  21,  25,  26,  27,  33,  37,  38,  41 

Madison  Papers,  The 76,  78 

Mahan,  Asa 187 

Mahoning  Register,  The,  Canfield,  Ohio 79 

Mansfield  District  of  Ohio 99 

Marietta,  Ohio 54 

Martin,  Luther 26,  38 

Maryland 9,  12, 13, 17,  24, 26,  28-31,  33,  34, 36-39,  41,  47,  48,  49,  54 

Mason,  George 30,  37,  39,  41 

Mason,  James  M 92 

Mason  County,  Kentucky 74 

Massachusetts.  .12,  16,  17,  19,  23,  24,  26,  28-31,  33-35,  38,  40,  41,  54,  68,  69, 

87,  101,  110 

Maysville,  Kentucky 120,  125 

Medill,  William,  Election  of 108 

Medina  County,  Ohio 175 

Mercer,  John  Francis 37 

"Mermaid,"  The 128 

Mexican  War,  Opposed  by  Ohio 82-84 

Mexico 85 

Missouri  Compromise 90,  91 

Mitchell,  Richard  P 126,   127,   130,   142,   145,  198 

Mitchell,  Rufus  P 198 

Monroe,  James 172,  180,  203,  207 

Monterery,  State  Constitutional  Conventions  at 88 

Moravians 54 

Morris,  Gouverneur 31,  32,  33,  35,  37,  41 

Morse,  John  F 56,  57,  206 

Muskingun  Valley 54 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Call  for  a  Southern  Popular  Convention 91 

National  Democrat,  Cleveland 204 

Negroes,  Allowed  to  maintain  separate  schools 64-5 

Not  allowed  to  testify  in  any  case  to  which  a  white  person  was  a  party; 
to  sit  on  a  jury;  to  send  their  children  to  the  public  schools  in  Ohio. 

prior  to  1846 56-65 

Prejudice  against,  portrayed  by  Charles  Langston 154-5 

New  England 54 

New  Hampshire 17,  35,  36,  38,  40,  41 


INDEX  229 

New  Jersey 13,  14, 17,  23,  24,  25,  28,  29,  30,  31,  33,  34,  36,  38,  41,  47,  54 

New  London,  Ohio 129 

New  Mexico 92 

New  York 14,  17,  23,  24,  25,  26,  28,  29,  30,  34,  37,  47,  54,  82,  87,  110 

New  York  Tribune,  The 138 

Newspapers 

Augusta  Constitutionalist,  The 167 

Ashtabula  Sentinel,  The,  Ashtabula,  Ohio 79,  139,  178 

Bailey's  Free  South 138 

Cleveland  Herald,  The 97,  125,  132,  137,  162 

Cleveland  Leader,  The 125,  132;  162,  172,  178,  200 

Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  The 102, 139, 179, 180, 191,  200,204 

Federalist,  The 78 

Independent  Democrat,  The,  Elyria,  Ohio 79,  80, 132, 139, 172 

Jeffersonian  Democrat,  The,  Chardon,  Ohio 80,  133 

Lorain  County  Eagle,  The,  Elyria,  Ohio 132 

Louisville  Courier,  The 115 

Mahoning  Register,  The,  Canfield,  Ohio 79 

National  Democrat,  The,  Cleveland 204 

New  York  Tribune,  The 138 

Ohio  Republican,  The 98 

Ohio  State  Journal,  The,  Columbus,  Ohio 137,  191,  192 

Painesville  Telegraph,  The,  Painesville,  Ohio 79,  132,  139 

Portage  County  Democrat,  The,  Ravenna,  Ohio.  .79,  80,  139,  178,  179,  208 

Pittsburgh  Commercial  Journal 138 

Savannah  News,  The 168,  169 

Summit  Beacon,  The,  Akron,  Ohio 79,  165 

Weekly  News,  The,  Enterprise,  Miss 164 

Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  The,  Warren,  Ohio 79,  139 

Worcester  Spy,  The,  (Mass.) 138 

Newspapers  of  the  Western  Reserve 78,  79 

Newton,  Eben 98 

Noble,  Henry  C Ill 

North  Carolina. 9,  13,  17,  23,  24,  26,  28,  29-34,  36,  38,  39,  40,  41,  54,  67 

Northwest  Territory,  An  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the 43 

Nullification,  South  Carolina  doctrine  advocated  by  Western  Reserve  anti- 
slavery  men 213 

Oberlin,  Ohio,  Author's  recollections  of  excitement  in,  owing  to  presence  of 

slave  catchers  in   1858 122-125 

Citizens  of,  indicted  for  violation  of  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850 133 

Disturbed  by  efforts  to  seize  and  carry  off  Negroes 121,  153 

Educational  Advantages  Offered  to  Colored  People 80 

Pursuit  of  captors  of  John  Price  and  his  rescue 128-9 

Town  and  college  especially  aimed  at,   in  indictment  and  prosecution  of 

prominent  citizens 135, 149,  156-7 

Oberlin  Chorus,  excellence  of,  and  impressive  singing  by 204-5 

Oberlin  College 187 


230  INDEX 

Oberlin- Wellington  Rescue  Cases,  After  two  trials,  cases  against  all  the  others 

nollied 199-200 

Correspondents  of  many  newspapers  in  attendance 138-9 

Enthusiastic  demonstrations  at  Cleveland  and  Oberlin  when  prisoners 

released 202-204 

Facts  of  rescue  stated 1 18-132 

Fully  reported  in  Cleveland  daily  papers 139 

Manner  of  prosecution  denounced 159-161 

Partisan  character  of  juries  empanneled  to  try 139 

U.  S.  Court  room  crowded  during  trials 138 

Ohio,  Act  repealed  after  decision  of  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  in  Prigg  v  Pennsyl- 
vania    77 

Complaint  Against  Slave  Catchers 73 

Declines  to  join  Massachusetts  in  proposing  Constitutional  Amendment 

basing  representation  on  number  of  free  inhabitants  only 68-9 

Declines  to  join  North  Carolina  in  proposing  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment prohibiting  slave-trade 67 

Formation  of  Stale  and  adoption  of  Constitution  prohibiting  slavery.  .  .  .44-5 

Melting  pot  of  the  colonies 54 

Number  of  Blacks  in 75 

Passes  a  Fugitive  Slave  Act  to  supplement  Congressional  Act  of  1793.  .75-77 

Passes  resolutions  favoring  a  tax  of  $10  on  every  slave  imported 68 

Ohio  Convention,  The,  1802 ' 44 

Ohio  Democratic  State  Convention.  1848,  "Resolutions  Adopted  by," 100 

Ohio  Increase  in  Colored  Population  1850-1860 119 

Ohio  Legislature,  "An  Act  relating  to  Fugitives  from  Labor  or  Service  from 

other  States" 75,    76,    77 

Ohio  Legislature,  "An  Act  to  Prevent  Forcible  Abduction  of  the  Citizen  of  Ohio"74 

"An  Act  to  Punish  Kidnapping" 73 

"An  Act  to  Regulate  Black  and  Mulatto  Persons  in  Ohio" 55 

"Enactment  of  1856  Against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law" 115,  116,  117,  118 

"Preamble  and  Resolution  Adopted  March  9,  1838" 74 

"Repeal  of  Act  Prohibiting  the  Confinement  of  Fugitives" 118 

"Repeal  of  the  Act  Relating  to  Fugitives  from  Labor  or  Service  from  Other 

States" 77 

"Resolution  Against  Acquisition  and  Control  of  Foreign   Territory  in 

the  U.  S" 83 

"Resolution  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  Adopted  by,  in  1851".  .106,  107 
"Resolutions  Relative  to  the  Abduction  of  Children  and  Grandchild  of 

Peyton  Polly" 104,  105,  106 

"Resolutions  relative  to  the  Dred  Scott  case 116 

Ohio  Republican,  The 98 

Ohio  Supreme  Court  "Decision  Relative  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law" 190 

Ohio  Supreme  Court,  Denies  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  release  Bushnell  and 

Langston 176-7 

Grants  writ,  but  on  final  hearing,  remands  them  to  custody  of  U.  S. 
Marshal..  ..189-90 


INDEX  231 

Republicans  disappointed,  but  Democrats  exultant  at  decision 190-2 

Ohio  State  Journal,  The 137,  191,  192 

'Omnibus  Bill,  The" 92 

Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Territory  North  West  of  the  River  Ohio . .  43 

Oregon  Territory,  "Resolutions  Against  Slavery  in 83 

Osgood,  Samuel 17 

Painesville,  Ohio,  Citizens  order  slave  catchers  to  leave  in  twenty  minutes ....  120 

Mass  meeting  to  denounce  prosecution  of  Oberlin- Wellington  rescuers .  .  173-4 

Painesville  Telegraph,  The,  Painesville,  Ohio 79,  132,  139 

Parish,  Francis  D 110,  206 

Parsons,  Richard  C 209 

Patterson,  William 24, 25, 26, 29,34 

Payne,  Henry  B 97,  106,  175 

Peck,  Henry  E 135,  148,  149,  203 

Pennsylvania.  .13-17,  23,  24-26,  28-31,  33-36,  38,  41,  47,  48,  50,  51,  54,  100,  110 

Pennsylvania  Dutch 54 

Perkins,  Hon.  Wm.  L 173 

Philadelphia,  Pa 48 

Pierce,  Franklin 101 

Pinckney,  Charles 23,  25,  29,  31,  32,  33,  35,  38,  39,  40,  41,  44 

Pinckney,  Charles  Cotesworth 42 

Pittsburgh  Commercial  Journal 138 

Pittsfield,  Ohio 128 

Plumb,  Ralph 133,  135,  148,  149,  172,  203 

Polly  ,  Peyton,  Abduction  of  Children  and  Grandchild  of. ....  .104, 105, 106,  112 

Portage  County,  Ohio 175 

Portage  County  Democrat,  The,  Ravenna,  Ohio 79,  80,  139,  178,  179,  208 

Price,  John 125, 126, 127, 128, 145, 146, 148, 151, 171, 175, 197, 198, 199 

Capture  of 125 

Departure  to  Canada 132 

Rescue  of 131,  132 

Prigg  v  Pennsylvania,  Case  in  which  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  denies  right  of 

States  to  legislate  in  regard  to  fugitive  slaves 77 

Princeton,  N.  J 51 

Princeton  College,  President  of 13 

Progressive  Whigs 81,  101 

Pugh,  Geo.  E 113,  114,  206,  209 

Election  to  U.  S.  Senate. 108 

Quinby,  Samuel 207 

Randolph,  Edmund 18,  26,  33,  34,  35,  41,  44 

Ranney,  Rufus  P 97,  101,  195,  205,  206 

Statement  of  Position  on  the  Question  of  the  Day 102 

Ratliff,  Robert  B 207 

Rawlins,  E.  A.  Slaver,  Lands  African  slaves  in  Georgia 162 

No  one  punished  for  it 164 

Reed,  Otis 134 

Republican  Party,  Carries  Ohio  by  large  majorities  in  1859 206 


232  INDEX 

Carries  State  for  Fremont  in  1856 109 

Dissolution  of,  expected  by  Democrats  as  a  result  of  prosecution  of  Oberlin- 

Wellington  rescuers 157-8 

Elects  Chase,  U.  S.  Senator  in  1860 209 

Elects  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Governor  of  Ohio  in  1855 108 

First  appearance  in  Ohio  politics 108 

Saved  from  disaster  by  decision  of  Ohio  Supreme  Court  in  habeas  corpus 

cases,  re  Bushnell  and  Langston,  in  1859 214 

Rescuers  indicted,  the 133,  134 

Rhode  Island 13,  17 

Rhodes,  Daniel  P 140 

Rhodes,  J.  F 140 

Riddle,  Albert  G 138,  146,  148,  149,  189,  203 

Robinson,  J 114 

Rochester,    Ohio 129 

Root,  Joseph  M 88 

Rootsville,  Ohio 134 

Rosetta,  taken  by  writ  of  habeas  Corpus 112 

Ross  County,  Ohio 114 

Rutledge,  John 17,  23,  34,  35,  38,  40 

Sandusky,  Ohio 80, 110, 120,  125 

Savannah  News,  The 168,  169 

Scott,  Josiah 190 

Scrimegeour,  Wm.  D 122 

Shawmake,  Judge,  Address  of 169 

Sherman, Roger. 24,26,  28,  36-41 

Sims,  Negro,  sensational  arrest  and  deportation  of,  from  Boston 109 

Slave  hunters,  arrest  of,  in  Greene  County,  0 114 

Slave-laws  Ignored 164-166 

Slave  population,  as  a  basis  for  apportioning  direct  taxes  and  representation 

among  the  States 10,  12-13,  16-17 

Slave  power  construes  Constitution  so  as  to  protect  slavery  and  its  extension 

to  the  territories 176-7, 181-2,  183-4 

Maintains  control  of  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  from  1837  to  1861 1£4 

Slave  Trade,  Compromise  on  provision  that  it  shall  not  be  prohibited  before 

1808 41-2 

Denounced  by  Northern  papers  including  Democratic 162-165 

Efforts  to  change  U.  S.  Constitution  so  it  should  never  be  prohibited.  .36,  40 

Encouraged  by  representation  based  on  number  of  slaves 31 ,  38 

Evil  consequences  of  its  continuance  pointed  out 38-40 

Ohio  refuses  to  join  North  Carolina  in  proposing  Amendment  allowing 

prohibition  of 67 

Prohibited  by  Maryland  and  Virginia 39 

Reopened  in  defiance  of  law 161-163 

Republicans  alone  demand  vigorous  enforcement  of  the  laws 194-196 

Republican  and  Democratic  State  Conventions  in  Ohio  condemn,   in 
1859..  ..194-196 


INDEX 


233 


South  Carolina  and  Georgia  threaten  not  to  join  Union  if  prohibited 40 

Southern  politicians,  newspapers  and  conventions  demand  repeal  of 

"unconstitutional  laws"  prohibiting 166-171 

Violations  of  act  to  suppress,  go  unpunished 162-165 

Slaver,  The  Echo 162 

Slaver,  The  Wanderer 162 

Slavery,  Opposition  to  Introduction  in  New  Territories 82,  83 

Slavery,  Abolition  of.  in  District  of  Columbia  demanded 38-9,  41 

Conscientious  objections  to,  recognized  by  Judges 50-1 

Differences  between  North  and  South  in  constitutional  convention 33-4 

Early  abolition  of  expected 9,  39,  103 

General  opposition  to  extension  of 43, 50,  83,  99-101, 106, 108,116-7 

Smith,  Chas.  W 208 

Smith,  James 121 

Sonora 167 

'Sons  of  Liberty,"  Formation  of 178,  213 

South  Bend,  Ind 52 

South  Bend  Rescue  Case 51 

South  Carolina 10,  13,  17,  23-26,  28-31,  33-36,  38-42,  48,  49,  89,  162 

Spalding,  Rufus  P 138,  146,  148,  149,  150,  180,  203 

Spear,  Win.  T 207,  208 

Spooner,  Thomas 181 

Spratt,    Hon.  L.  W 169,  170,  171 

Stanbery,  Henry Ill 

Stanton,  R.  H 199 

Stark  County,  Ohio 54 

State  Rights  Doctrine  Advocated  on  the  Reserve 158 

Stephens,  Alexander  H 167 

Address  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  July  4, 1859 167 

State  Sovereignty,  Doctrine  of,  invoked  in  opposition  to  fugitive  Slave  Law 

and  its  enforcement 171-174 

Majority  of  delegates  to  Philadelphia  Convention  favor  doing  away  with  it .  21 

Protected  by  original  Articles  of  Confederation 12-13 

Recognized  as  inimical  to  National  strength  and  perpetuity 12,  14.  19 

Storrs  Township 113 

Summit  Beacon,  The,  Akron 79,  165 

Sutliff,  Levi 207 

Sutliff,  Milton 98,  106,  207 

Swan,  Judge 190,  193,  194 

Swayne,  Noah  H 189 

Taylor,  Ezra  B 207 

Taylor,  Zachary 85,  87,  88,  92,  93 

Tennessee 54,  101 

Texas 92,  104,  167 

Annexation  of  opposed 82-84 

Annexation  of  accomplished 85 

Opens  new  market  and  increases  demand  for  slaves 104 


234  INDEX 

Plan  to  divide  into  four  slave  states 85,  92,  167 

Plan  to  divide  Displeasing  to  the  North 92,  94 

Three-fifths  rule 9. 17-18,  29-33,  36,69-70 

Thurman,  Allen  G 100 

Tiffany,  Joel 97 

Tilghman,  Mr.  Chief  Justice  of  Penna 50 

Toombs,  Robert 89 

Townshend,  Norten  S 56,  57 

Trimble,  Allen 108 

Trowbridge,  J.  T 113 

Trumbull  County,  Ohio 78,  181 

Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio 54 

Tyler,  Joel  W 207 

"Underground  Railroad,"  Increased  travel  over  after  passage  of  Fugitive 

S^ave  Law  of  1850 119-20 

Union,  The.  Endangered  by  aggressions  of  Slave-Power  and  apparently 

saved  by  various  compromises  up  to  1860 90-1,  93,  101-2,  164-5 

Made  secure  by  attempted  succession  and  abolition  of  slavery 220 

United  States  Supreme  Court;  Constitution  make  it  supreme  in  all  cases  arising 

under  Constitution  and  Laws  of  the  U.  S 212 

Decision  in  Dred  Scott  case  severely  criticised 116-17,  184.  194 

Its  supremacy  over  State  Supreme  Courts  denied 173 

Ohio  Republican  Convention  of  1859 194 

Provisions  and  limitations  read  into  U.  S.  Constitution  which  are  nowhere 

expressed 218-19 

Re-formation  of  Court  demanded  by  Ohio  Legislature 116 

What  led  to  obiter  dicta  hi  Dred  Scott  case 215,  218 

Upson,  W.  H 180 

Utah 92 

Vallandigham,  Clement  L 114 

VanBuren,  Martin,  Nomination  of 86 

Platform  of 86,  87 

Votes  poled  by 87 

Vermont 101 

Vinton,  Samuel  F 100 

Virginia 9,  13-19,  23-26, 28-31, 33-36,  38,  39,  41,  47,  54 

Wack,  Mr 129 

Wack's  Hotel,  (Oberlin) 122,  125 

Wack's  Tavern 128 

Wade,  B.  F 97, 180, 191, 209 

Election  of 85 

Wadsworth,  O.  S 198 

Wadsworth  House 129 

Wagoner  Family,  Attempt  to  Capture 121 

Walker,  Timothy 113 

Wanderer,  The  Slaver 162 

Ward,  Artemus 133,  186,  139 


INDEX  235 

Warren,  Malachi 127,  198 

Warren,  Ohio 102,  125 

Washburn,  Geo.  G 171 

Washington,  Bushrod 47,  48,  49 

Washington,  George 20,  38 

Wayne  County,  Ohio 54 

Waynesboro,  Ga 169 

Webster,  Daniel 85,  92,  93 

Appointment  as  Secretary  of  State 93 

Weekly  News,  The,  Enterprise,  Miss 164 

Wellington,  Ohio 128,  145,  147,  198 

Western  Reserve,  The 25,  110 

The,  Character  of  its  People  and  Institutions 78 

Educational  Facilities  of  the  Colored  Children 65 

Immigration  to 54 

Opposition  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 171 

Population  of 78,  79 

Provisions  for  Liberal  Education,  in  the 78 

Western  Reserve  Chronicle,  The,  Warren,  Ohio 79,  139 

Western  Reserve  Historical  Society 7,  8 

Whig  Party,  The 81,  85,  99,  100,  101 

Death  of ' 101 

The  Effect  of  the  Fugitive  Law  upon 96 

Whitman,  Henry  C 106 

Whiton,  Joseph  L 198 

Williamson,  Hugh 26,  28,  30,  36.  37 

Willson,  Hiram  V 97, 133, 148, 159,176 

Wilmot,  David 99 

'Wilmot  Proviso,"  Delays  organization  of  Territories  in  land  wrested  from 

Mexico 87 

Nature  of 87 

Opposed  by  the  South , 91 

Rejected  in  Clay  "Compromise  Measures." 92 

Wilson,  James 13,  16,  23,  26,  31,  35,  37,  40 

Winsor,  Richard 131,  132 

Wisconsin  Supreme  Court,  Declares  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850  unconstitu- 
tional and  void  and  grants  writ  of  habeas  corpus  taking  prisoner  from 

custody  of  U.  S.  Marshal 173,  189 

Witherspoon,  Dr.  John 13 

Wolcott,  Christopher  P 189 

Wolcott,  Oliver 17 

Wolf,  Mr.  of  Louisville,  Ky 113 

Wood,  Reuben,  Election  of 100 

Worcester  Spy,The,  (Mass.) 138 

Worthington,  Governor  Thomas 72,  73 


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