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 7
 
 A COMPILATION 
 
 OP TUTS, 
 
 HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 William B. Carlock 
 
 ALSO 
 
 Of the Ceremonies attending the Dedication of the Lincoln 
 
 Trail Monument, on the Line between McLean 
 
 and Woodford Counties. 
 
 1923
 
 TO 
 
 MISSOURI McCART CARLOCK 
 
 My ever faithful wife and confi- 
 dant, who has courageously stood by 
 mc in adversity and in success, and in 
 the full appreciation of her good deeds 
 and ivork in life, I lovingly dedicate 
 this book. 
 
 WILLIAM BRYAN CARLOCK
 
 
 WILLIAM B. CARLOCK 
 
 o. 

 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Biographical Sketch of William B. Carlock 5 
 
 Masonic Record of William B. Carlock 8 
 
 Short Biography of T. W. Stevenson I'd 
 
 Biographical Sketch of Abraham W. Carlock 14 
 
 Biographical Sketch of General Robert E. Lee 24 
 
 Principal Battles of the War 1812 4:5 
 
 The Rise, Progress and Culmination of the Abolition 
 
 Party in the U. S. 51 
 
 Biography of Shabbona, Chief of the Potawotamies 74 
 
 The Story of an Indian 84 
 
 Does God Aid Combatants in War? 91 
 
 Peace or War 95 
 
 Some Re flections , 98 
 
 Dedication of Lincoln Trail Monument 101
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Some members and friends of the McLean County 
 Historical Society have requested me to collate in book 
 form, the essays and miscellaneous papers written by me 
 and read at the meetings of said Society. Feeling assured 
 that the historic matters contained in them may be of in- 
 terest to the people of McLean County and the State, I 
 have complied with the request by publishing the more 
 important ones in this little volume, and present the same 
 to the Society and its friends. 
 
 William Bryan Carlock
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF WILLIAM BRYAN 
 
 CARLOCK 
 
 By His Son — Bryan Carlock. 
 
 Ctrr ILLIAM BRYAN CARLOCK was born on March 
 ***** K>, 1842, in Woodford County, Illinois, in a log 
 cabin which stood about one hundred yards over 
 the McLean County line. He was the son of Abraham 
 W. and Mary Goodpasture Carlock, and was the eighth of 
 the twelve children born to them. 
 
 Abraham W. Carlock was born in West Virginia, 
 but went to Tennessee with his parents when a child, and 
 there grew to manhood. There he was married to Miss 
 Alary Goodpasture and emigrated with his wife and two 
 small children to Illinois in 1827, making the trip in a 
 covered wagon by ox team, having before made a trip to 
 Illinois on horseback. William Bryan Carlock passed his 
 childhood and youth on the farm and received a good edu- 
 cation in the country schools and was reared to the habits 
 of industry and economy. He taught school and at the 
 age of twenty-three entered Lombard University at Gales- 
 burg, Illinois, where he pursued a thorough literary and 
 scientific course and graduated with the highest honors of 
 his class in the summer of 18(57. In the meantime he 
 also taught a select school for several terms, to assist in 
 defraying his expenses in college. He then entered the 
 Law Department of the University of Michigan at Ann 
 Arbor, and was graduated therefrom in the Spring of 
 1869. After a short vacation he entered the law office 
 of Williams and Burr of Rlonmin^ton, and was admitted
 
 to the bar in December, 18G9. He soon afterward opened 
 an office of his own and began the practice of his pro- 
 fession, to which he has since devoted his time. He had 
 a large German clientage, having acquired this language 
 while a student at Lombard. Mr. Carlock is also the 
 patentee of a wire device for improving the acoustics of 
 public halls, churches, etc., which netted him handsome 
 returns. 
 
 On October G, 1870, he was united in marriage with 
 Miss Missouri McCart of this city, daughter of Robert 
 McCart, Sr., a prominent contractor and builder of that 
 day, and a sister of Col. Robert McCart, at that time a 
 member of the well known firm of Hughes and McCart, 
 Lawyers, but for many years now a resident of Fort 
 Worth, Texas. They have three children : Bryan Car- 
 lock and Mrs. Madeline Linton, of Bloomington and W. 
 C. Carlock, of Chicago. In politics Mr. Carlock is a 
 staunch democrat, but frequently in local politics votes 
 for the man who is Jbest fitted for the office, and he has 
 always been in favor of accepting the good principles in- 
 culcated in any party. He is a member of the Unitarian 
 Church and his wife of the Christian Church. He is also 
 a member of the Phi Delta Theta, a Greek Letter Frater- 
 nity College Society. 
 
 As a lawyer he has been eminently successful and re- 
 garded as careful and painstaking, and has acquired an 
 enviable reputation among his fellow members of his 
 profession for his legal acumen. His most lucrative prac- 
 tice perhaps was confined to Chancery and Probate, and 
 which he liked best, although he has devoted much time to 
 Common Law and important Criminal cases. He is good 
 as a pleader, and careful and painstaking in preparing and
 
 arranging the evidence in a case and presenting the same 
 to a Court or a Jury. 
 
 He also, as Treasurer of the McLean County His- 
 torical Society, wrote short biographical sketches of each 
 of the Presidents of the United States, including the pres- 
 ent incumbent, Warren G. Harding, giving their political 
 complexion and official acts of each, and measures adopted 
 under each administration, which record was deposited in 
 the corner stone of the McBarnes Memorial Building of 
 Bloomington, May 27, 1922. 
 
 He has long been a member of the McLean County 
 Historical Society, and has taken a keen interest in the wel- 
 fare of the same and done much hard and incessant work 
 in building up and placing it on its present splendid foot- 
 ing. He is now its Treasurer. He is also a member of 
 the State Historical Society. He is a charter member and 
 now president of the Old Peoples' Picnic Association of 
 McLean County. 
 
 He has also delivered many addresses before Masonic 
 bodies and made political speeches, which have been pre- 
 served. In addition to the biographical sketches appearing in 
 this book, he has written biographical sketches of the follow- 
 ing persons, which are now preserved in the archives of 
 the McLean County Historical Society, namely : Major W. 
 Packard, Thos. F. Tipton. Judge O. T. Reeves, Judge Al- 
 fred Sample, James S. Neville. Aaron G. Karr, Capt. J. 
 H. Rowell, John F. Myers, Rev. E. J. Thomas, Dr. Silas 
 Hubbard and Winton Carlock. 
 
 He celebrated his eighty-first birthday anniversary on 
 March 15th last and is still hak and hearty. 
 
 He is much devoted to his home and family ; is a kind 
 and loving husband and indulgent father.
 
 MASONIC RECORD OF WILLIAM BRYAN 
 
 CARLOCK 
 
 By T. W. Stevenson 
 
 tT is with pleasure I write the Masonic record of my 
 J friend and neighbor, Brother William Bryan Carlock. 
 
 He is one of the prominent Masons of Illinois and one 
 in whose life has been exemplified the teachings of this 
 ancient and honored order. A fit subject for biographical 
 honors, his Masonic history is turned to by the writer with 
 no small degree of satisfaction. 
 
 I have been intimately acquainted with him for about 
 forty-five years. He was near the half century mile post be- 
 fore the thought occurred to him to become a Mason. Feel- 
 ing that the principles of Masonry might be of great bene- 
 fit to him in an educational way, he early in the year of 
 1S88, sought the influence of Masonry by petitioning Mo- 
 zart Lodge No. 656, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, 
 for the degrees therein conferred; received the first two 
 degrees in the Lodge, and was raised to the sublime degree 
 of Master Mason on September 18, 1888. At this time 
 Mozart Lodge was a German speaking and working Lodge 
 under a ritual which corresponded in translation to the 
 standard English ritual, which had been adopted by the Ma- 
 sons of the State of Illinois. Some three years ago this 
 Lodge by request of the Grand Master of the State and'by 
 unanimous vote of the Lodge, discarded the German ritual 
 and work and adopted the standard English ritual. 
 
 Mr. Carlock made rapid advances in the higher de" 
 grees of the Order, and soon after received the degrees
 
 in Bloomington Chapter No. 2G, Royal Arch Masons and 
 Bloomington Council No. 43, Royal and Select Masters 
 and DeMolay Commandery No. 24, Knights Templar, 
 thus completing all the degrees in the York Rite. During 
 this period of his advancement in Masonry he petitioned 
 and became a member of Bloomington Chapter No. 50, Or- 
 der of Eastern Star, and also received the Scottish Rite de- 
 grees in Peoria Consistory, and within a short time there- 
 after he was initiated into the mysteries of Mohammed 
 Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic 
 Shrine of Peoria, Illinois. He also became a member of 
 the Masonic Veteran's Association of Chicago. 
 
 Soon after becoming a Master Mason, he was elected 
 Worshipful Master of his Lodge, which he held for two 
 years, and during his official term as Master, conferred all 
 the degrees of the same in the German language, and as- 
 sisted in conferring the degrees in the English language 
 after its adoption of the English ritual. He was also 
 elected High Priest of said Bloomington Chapter, which 
 office he held for two years and presided over all of the 
 convocations of the Chapter, conferring all of the degrees 
 in the same. He was also elected Eminent Commander 
 of DeMolay Commandery No. 24, and presided over the 
 conclaves of the same, and conferred all of the degrees 
 therein. 
 
 He was also elected and held the office for two years 
 of Worthy Patron in said Bloomington Chapter, Order of 
 Eastern Star, during which time he took part in conferring 
 all of the degrees, assisted by the Worthy Matron of said 
 Chapter. 
 
 He was elected Thrice Illustrious Master of said 
 Bloomington Council and held the office for six years and
 
 conferred all of the degrees in the same under the standard 
 ritual of that Order. He served two years as Deputy 
 Grand Lecturer. 
 
 He was elected Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal 
 Arch Chapter of Illinois in October, 1912, and served as 
 such for one year. He was also elected Grand Master 
 of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the 
 State of Illinois and served in same for one year. 
 
 Mr. Carlock has also served on several important 
 Committees in the Grand Bodies of the York Rite, and is 
 at present a member of the Jurisprudence Committee, both 
 in Grand Chapter and Grand Council. Mr. Carlock was 
 also elected Grand Patron of the Grand Chapter, Order 
 of Eastern Star, which office he held for two years. One 
 year of which being the unexpired term of his predecessor 
 who had died. During this term of office he was instru- 
 mental in getting the location of the Masonic and Eastern 
 Star Home at Macon, Illinois, and served for several years 
 as one of the Trustees of this Institution. He also did ef- 
 ficient work in said Chapter, framing its Constitution and 
 By Laws. 
 
 Mr. Carlock received the degree of the Order of High 
 Priesthood in the Grand Council of Illinois, in Chicago, 
 October 24, 1895, and was one of the Officers of that 
 organization. He has also served as Grand Lecturer in 
 both the Grand Chapter and Grand Council. And also in 
 his capacity as Grand High Priest and Grand Master of 
 the above named bodies, he made several addresses before 
 the Grand and Sub-ordinate bodies of this State, including 
 an address made before the Grand Chapter of Royal 
 Arch Masons of Missouri at Kansas City in April, 1913. 
 He was a delegate to the General Grand Chapter, Royal 
 
 10
 
 Arch Masons of the United States at Savannah, Georgia, 
 in 1909. 
 
 He was also a delegate to the Convocation of the Gen- 
 eral Grand Chapter R. A. M. held at Indianapolis in 1912. 
 At the laying of the corner stone of the first building of 
 the Masonic Home at Sullivan. Illinois, he delivered an 
 address in behalf of the splendid gift of land by Robert 
 Miller, set forth in his will to the Masons of Illinois, and 
 same in manuscript form was deposited in the corner stone 
 thereof. 
 
 He also wrote a complete history of Cryptic Mason- 
 ry, with references to its Legends and Symbolisms as adopt- 
 ed and practiced throughout the United States, which was 
 deposited in the corner stone of the Masonic Temple in 
 Bloomington, April 25, 1911. 
 
 At the close of the Convocation of the Grand Chap- 
 ter R. A. M., 1912, he, in his capacity as Grand High 
 Priest, appointed a committee to take into consideration 
 the feasibility of a contribution by the Grand Chapter for 
 the erection of a hospital building at the Masonic Home 
 at Sullivan. At the Convocation of the Grand Chapter 
 of 1913, the aforesaid committee made its report and in 
 the same concluded as follows : "Your Committee con- 
 gratulates this Grand Chapter that M. E. Grand High Priest 
 in his address, has taken such a humanitarian and commend- 
 able view of this matter, and has presented the same in his 
 address before this Grand Chapter." In his address of 
 the latter year he recommended an appropriation which 
 should be fitting and adequate for the creation of a hospital 
 building at the aforesaid Masonic Home, and this was con- 
 curred in by the Grand Chapter and it made an appropria- 
 tion of $50,000 for that purpose. 
 
 11
 
 In conclusion, I wish to say that Brother Carlock 
 made an enviable record as an enthusiastic and hard worker 
 in the various Masonic Orders of the York Rite. It is 
 said that he stands in the foremost ranks of Illinois, in 
 both the ritualism and history of the Orders. He is a 
 faithful, correct and energetic worker in all Masonic bodies 
 and orders to which he belongs, and a constant reader of 
 Masonic literature. He holds Masonic principles and 
 teachings as near and dear to his heart, as those of the 
 Church, and in contact with the world and his fellow men 
 has endeavored to adhere strictly to the tenets of the 
 Mason's profession, namely: "Brotherly Love, Relief and 
 Truth." 
 
 12
 
 SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF T. W. STEVENSON 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Thomas W. Stevenson, the writer of the Masonic 
 record of William Bryan Carlock, was born in Christian 
 County, Ky., August 16, 1851. He was raised to the sub- 
 lime degree of Master Mason, December 13, 1872, in 
 Bloomington Lodge No. 43, A. F. and A. M. In De- 
 cember, 1880 he was elected Worshipful Master of said 
 Lodge and by successive re-elections served the same in that 
 capacity for the years 1881, 1882, 1883 and 1884, and is 
 the oldest Past Master residing in the county. He is also 
 a member of Bloomington Council, No. 43, R. and S. M. ; 
 Bloomington Chapter No. 2<>, R. A. M.; De Molay Com- 
 mandery No. 24, K. T. ; Bloomington Consistory and Ma- 
 hommed Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of Mystic 
 Shrine. He has also served some of the above bodies as 
 Treasurer and Secretary. 
 
 He is perhaps the oldest Mason in point of service 
 in McLean County. It can be safely said that he has of- 
 ficated at more Masonic funerals than any other Mason 
 in the State of Illinois. He has faithfully lived up to 
 the teachings of the institution of Masonry and holds its 
 principles to his heart as religiously sacred in his contact 
 and dealings with his fellow men. 
 
 13
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ABRAHAM W. 
 
 CARLOCK 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Abraham W. Carlock was born April 7, 1800, in 
 Hamphire County, West Virginia, near the Potomac River. 
 He died in Kansas Township, Woodford County, Illinois. 
 February 18, 1884. His paternal grandfather Hawkus 
 Carlock, was born near Glasgow, Scotland and went to 
 Germany with his parents in 1750 and emigrated to this 
 country from Saxony, Germany and settled in Virginia, 
 near the North Carolina and Tennessee lines, shortly be- 
 fore the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was a 
 soldier in the Continental Army under George Washington. 
 In about two years after Abraham's birth, his father and 
 family moved to Overton County, Tennessee, near Living- 
 ston. He was in every sense fitted for pioneer life and 
 became a sturdy farmer in a wild, undeveloped, wooded 
 country. Wild game was very plentiful, including bear, 
 and this man of the forest became a famous hunter. 
 Abraham W. Carlock was one of a family of ten children, 
 and he grew up to be an industrious and frugal young 
 man. This family raised corn, tobacco, sweet potatoes and 
 hogs for the southern markets. Their hogs would stray 
 away from home and become as wild as the wildest deer, 
 and when once wild, they could only be corralled by well 
 trained dogs. 
 
 At the age of twenty-three Abraham W. Carlock was 
 married to Mary Goodpasture, the daughter of John and 
 Margery (Bryan) Goodpasture. She was one of a family 
 of fourteen children, and her father was of English ex- 
 
 14
 
 traction, while her mother was of Scotcrrlrish descent. 
 In the spring of 1827 Abraham W. Carlock with his wife 
 and two children, John and Madison, moved to Morgan 
 County, this state. Their outfit enroute consisted of one 
 ox team, an old covered wagon, necessary bed clothing, an 
 axe, a crowbar and a few cooking utensils. He walked 
 nearly the entire distance. They crossed the Ohio River 
 in a ferry boat at Shawneetown. At the expiration of 
 about two years he left Morgan County and moved to 
 Dry Grove, in McLean County, where the family remained 
 about one year and in 1831 moved to White Oak Grove, 
 locating in Woodford County. 
 
 At the time Mr. Carlock located in White Oak Grove, 
 there were quite a number of Indians camped on the north 
 side of the Mackinaw River, a few miles directly north 
 of his residence. These were principally of the Kickapoo 
 tribe. They showed every disposition to be friendly to the 
 whites, and would trade their trinkets for the necessaries 
 of life. It seems quite certain they took no part in the 
 Black Hawk war. This was also true of the Potawo- 
 tamies as a tribe, and controlled by their Chief Shabbona. 
 But those who were in position to know best, claimed that 
 a few of these warriors, having a blood-thirsty make-up, 
 sneaked away from their peaceful influence and linked 
 their fortunes with old Black Hawk. The burial mounds 
 of the Kicapoos may yet be found in the territory of the 
 Mackinaw. These Kickapoo Indians gradually disap- 
 peared like the Arab of the desert, who "silently folded his 
 tent and stole away," and the settlers did not know where 
 they went. 
 
 A few hundred yards south of the Carlock cabin was 
 located the Indian town of "Lookout Point." It was se- 
 
 15
 
 lected in accordance with the instinct of the Indian char- 
 acter for its high elevation. From this point the human 
 •eye takes a far reach. The vision easily passes over the 
 timber on the west into Tazewell County, while to the 
 southeast, Bloomington with its Standpipe may be seen 
 on a clear day. The trail here was quite distinct, passing 
 to the Mississippi River and east to the "old battleground 
 of Tippecanoe." At this lookout 'point and celebrated 
 Indian rendezvous, the writer has picked up fine arrow 
 specimens and other quaint Indian relics and a few bay- 
 onets were also found and one or two Indian mortars. 
 A more beautiful or secluded spot for the Indian camp 
 ground could not have been found in central Illinois, and 
 while no great tree stood there as the simile of the signal 
 watch tower of Black Hawk, as at Rock Island, yet an en- 
 emy approaching from either direction, would have been 
 seen in apt time to prepare for defense. My father was of 
 the opinion that these Indians were kindly disposed when 
 properly treated and kept from the evil effects of whiskey 
 and that they were not near as treacherous as some of the 
 higher and more prominent races of men. 
 
 In the fall of 1833, Mr. Carlock made a trip on 
 horseback for exploration to the north part of the State, 
 especially traversing the present counties of LaSalle, De 
 Kalb, Kane and Kendall. It was while on this trip he 
 met and shared the hospitality of the celebrated Indian, 
 Shabbona, Chief of the Potawotamies. Shabbona's pos- 
 sessions and his tribe at that time were located at a beauti- 
 ful grove, near the present town of Shabbona in De Kalb 
 County. Some years ago a monument was erected at 
 Shabbona Park, the scene of the Indian Creek massacre, 
 and was unveiled and dedicated in the presence of about 
 
 16
 
 five thousand people. This massacre occurred on May 20, 
 1832, and Shabbona rode all night, May 19th, in order to 
 reach that settlement and also dispatched messengers to 
 that locality to warn the whites of danger but many did 
 not heed the warning of the old Warrior. History re- 
 counts the fact that this worthy Chief had saved the lives 
 of hundreds of white people from the fate of the scalping 
 knife and tomahawk. Mr. Carlock was deeply impressed 
 with the kindness shown him by this wonderful man, for 
 while in camp he was sick and remained all night with 
 Shabbona, and partook of his medicines and other kindly 
 attentions. 
 
 Near the site of the City of Ottawa, Mr. Carlock was 
 joined by one Mr. Hallenbeck, who remained with the 
 prospector three or four days. It was while on this trip 
 Mr. Carlock witnessed the most celebrated and beautiful 
 heavenly phenomena that has ever occured in this State, 
 namely the ''Shooting Stars" or "Falling Meteors." This 
 display occurred on the morning of November 13, 1833, be- 
 ginning about two o'clock and lasting until daylight. It 
 was, so to speak, a display of fireworks of the most impos- 
 ing grandeur, filling the entire vault of the heavens with 
 myriads of fire balls, resembling sky rockets, undefined 
 luminous bodies and phosphoric lines. The point from 
 which they emanated was in the constellation Leo, and they 
 fell as thick as snow flakes in December. The superstitious 
 were alarmed and in some instances reason was dethroned. 
 
 Astronomers have as yet been unable to fully explain 
 this mysterious phenomena. Such was its extent, that it 
 has been traced from the Jongtitude of 61 degrees in the 
 Atlantic Ocean to longtitude 100 degrees in Central Mex- 
 ico, and from the North American Lakes to the West Ind- 
 ies. 
 
 17
 
 My father always considered himself a McLean 
 County man, as his interests were more largely in that 
 County, although his residence was in Woodford County, 
 about one hundred yards from the County line. 
 
 He and his devoted wife were the parents of twelve 
 children and ten of these grew to manhood and woman- 
 hood. I have been fortunate enough to preserve valuable 
 information and data for this historical sketch. 
 
 Abraham W. Carlock's life was one of continual 
 hardships and with it also is coupled many amusing in- 
 cidents. Somewhere in the late forties it was discovered 
 that there was one hundred and sixty acres of land in Sec- 
 tion Thirty-three in White Oak Township in this County, 
 that had not been entered and was still government land. 
 Mr. Franklin Rowell, an early settler, discovered this fact, 
 about the same time my father did. The United States 
 Land Office for this district was then located at Danville 
 and by some strange coincidence, each without the know- 
 ledge of the other, started one morning long before day- 
 light on horse back for Danville to secure by pre-emption 
 the coveted tract. Mr. Rowell had started a little ahead 
 of Mr. Carlock and the ride in the end was an exciting 
 one. They both entered the Land Office about the same 
 time. As they were good friends and neighbors the matter 
 was compromised by Mr. Rowell taking the choicest eighty 
 and Mr. Carlock the other eighty. They rode home to- 
 gether and chatted gleefully over this exciting episode. 
 The price paid was $1.25 per acre. 
 
 The winter of 1830 and 18-31 marks the era of the deep 
 snow. Many were the privations of the early settlers dur- 
 ing that severe winter. The snow continued to fall for 
 
 18
 
 many days and it reached the depth of about four feet on 
 the level and in many places the drifts were five to fifteen 
 feet in depth. After the formation of a thick crust on 
 the top of the snow the settlers drove their teams with 
 safety over it and frequently would drive over staked and 
 ridered rail fences. He had some hogs that were buried 
 so deep under the snow drifts that he had hard work to 
 find them and keep them from smothering to death. The 
 wild deer died of starvation by the hundreds and the wolves 
 and other carniverous animals fared nicely by devouring 
 their dead carcasses. The temperature at times was very 
 low and several people were frozen to death. Ingress and 
 egress was out of the question and close neighbors did not 
 see much of each other for a period of five months. Mr. 
 Carlock, in recounting the stories of this wonderful and 
 most destructive event, said that it was a winter to try 
 men's souls but that the sturdy pioneers stood the shock 
 unflinchingly and complained not. 
 
 He has often recounted the horrors of the so-called 
 "sudden change" which occurred in the month of Decem- 
 ber, 1836. He said the morning was mild and it had 
 rained and there was a slush of snow on the ground. 
 About ten o'clock he had started out for a hunt on horse- 
 back. He reached a point about three or four miles from 
 his home and killed one deer and was wet to the skin from 
 the drizzling rain. Suddenly and almost without warning 
 the wind shifted from the south to the northwest and made 
 a frightful noise in the timber. He put the spurs to 
 his horse and rode towards home at a gallop. On ar- 
 riving at his gate the ice was sufficient to bear his weight 
 and his clothes were frozen upon his body. The wind 
 blew with great velocity and freezing the mist gave the 
 
 19
 
 appearance of clouds of white smoke rising before it. 
 Scores of people lost their lives and he told of an instance 
 where the settler who was so unfortunate as to be many 
 miles away from home, killed his horse, disemboweled it 
 and crawled into the cavity to save his life, but was never- 
 theless frozen to death. He could narrate hair breadth 
 escapes by the score. 
 
 After this terrible change many of the settlers became 
 discouraged and left the country for warmer climes. He 
 also well remembered the spring of 1844, which was known 
 as the wet season. He said it commenced to rain about 
 the middle of April and kept it up until August. The 
 creeks and rivers were all overflowed and the level lands 
 all under water. Crops were almost ruined by the 
 excessive rains; stock became diseased by reason thereof 
 and died. The suffering among the people was also great 
 throughout the state. He also spoke of the fearful wet 
 season of 1858, and that he did not finish planting corn 
 that year, until the fourth day of July, but he added that 
 that season for rainfall was nothing to compare with the 
 one of 1844. During the forties he became a cripple from 
 moving and lifting heavy logs and for several years there- 
 after work to him was very irksome. 
 
 When the "Black Hawk War" was ended he came 
 into possession of the sorrel mare named "Blaze". She had 
 been ridden into battle by one of the volunteer soldiers 
 from this county, Gen. Gridley, and was in the thickest 
 of the fight (rather retreat) of the celebrated encounter at 
 "Stillman's Run", where Captain Adams and a squad of 
 his bravest men lost their lives. This animal was as 
 fleet as a deer and Mr. Carlock prized her so highly that 
 he kept her on his farm until she died, being thirty-two 
 years old. 
 
 20
 
 The Mackinaw River was the fishing ground for the 
 early settlers of that community and the savory Red Horse 
 Fish was quite abundant. He told how in the winter of 
 1840 he killed one cold morning, and at other times during 
 that winter, over one hundred fish with an axe. He had 
 gone in search of some lost stock and in crossing the river 
 at "Wyatt's Ford" discovered that the fish were wedged 
 tightly under the ice at the seep holes in the shallows at 
 the crossing, where they had com-e in large numbers to 
 get air. The ice on the creek was frozen to a great depth, 
 but it was an easy matter to dispatch them with the pole of 
 his axe. having hastily secured it from his home. Wolves 
 were to be found in great abundance and they became very 
 annoying and destructive to young stock and poultry. They 
 were caught in traps and run down by the infuriated 
 settlers and killed with iron rods and bludgeons. 
 
 My father was a man six feet in heighth, fair com- 
 plexion, well built and of a vigorous constitution. He was 
 very active, full of life and good humor and did as much 
 work as any hand on his farm. His industry, sagacity and 
 good management enabled him to accumulate some fairly 
 valuable properties. He was jovial, kind-hearted and hos~ 
 pitable by nature and counted his friends by the score. He 
 never held any public office, except that of School Di- 
 rector. In politics he was an uncompromising Democrat. 
 Cast his first presidential vote for Andrew Jackson. He 
 was known far and near under the sobriquet of "Old Dem- 
 ocrat" and he would have regarded any paper signed by 
 that nickname as absolutely binding upon him ; but his 
 word was as good as his bond and it is said of him that he 
 never himself gave or -exacted a promisory note. He did 
 not get much in debt and scrupulously carried out all his 
 
 21
 
 obligations. The early settlers had implicit confidence in 
 each other and would share the last crumb and make every 
 reasonable sacrifice to assist neighbors and the new- 
 comers. 
 
 When the Illinois Central Railroad commenced oper- 
 ating its cars, Mr. Carlock rode on horseback to Hud- 
 son to witness the passing of the first passenger train, and 
 while he delighted to see the puffing steam engine and the 
 rapid development of the country, he never had the pleas- 
 ure of riding in a railroad car, a steam boat or even an 
 omnibus. He was fond of home and did not travel 
 around much; yet he was courteous to all, just and upright 
 in his dealings with his fellow men. His home was the 
 headquarters for the weary traveler and in it there was al- 
 ways for him good cheer and a hearty welcome, and his 
 hospitality was rendered without money and without price. 
 He was well posted in the rapid changes of progress and 
 important events of the day and was a constant reader of 
 good literature. His memory was tenacious and he could 
 amuse his children and his guests with laughable stories 
 and startling experiences, anecdotes, the rapid progress of 
 the country and the turmoils of the early times. 
 
 In the early forties Abraham Lincoln made my 
 father's home a stopping place for rest and refreshment in 
 his travels to and from Versailles and Metamora. to attend 
 the courts. Frequently they exchanged anecdotes and 
 stories and they talked on politics. Although they did not 
 always harmonize on the political questions of the day, yet 
 they were close friends. Mr. Lincoln was a guest of my 
 father without money or price. He regarded Lincoln as 
 a man who had the courage of his convictions, just in his 
 dealings with humanity, an affable gentlemanu of the "Old 
 
 22
 
 School," and an exemplary type of true Americanism. 
 
 In religion Mr. Carlock was a staunch and consistent 
 C T niversalist. He was a careful reader of the ''Star of 
 the West", an organ of that faith, published in Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, and in support of his views had also formerly read 
 several books. He talked and urged the doctrine of a 
 better life and contended that humanity gets its just re- 
 wards and punishment here, according to the deeds done 
 in the body and that the hoped for hereafter is made bet- 
 ter by living the best possible life in the realms of the 
 known world. That the more of love, truth, honor, jus- 
 tice, charity and all the nobler sentiments of humanity are 
 injected into our natures, the more divinely we become, 
 and in the larger sense reflect the image of God. That the 
 Supreme Being does for us in the elevation of the mind 
 what we willingly do for ourselves, that we should know 
 right from wrong and ever cling to the right, and that the 
 greatest blessings and happiness come to the human race 
 from the highest good and noblest impulses we can be- 
 stow upon our fellow beings and from living the purest and 
 most exemplary life. 
 
 Abraham W. Carlock, though modest and secluded in 
 his make-up and though firmly attached to his home and 
 family, was one of the best known and most respected of 
 the early settlers, and the life he lived could well be imitated 
 by others. He lived to see his dream of the future pros- 
 perity of this country more than fully realized, and carried 
 with him to his death the happy thought of a useful and 
 busy life, and in the visions of a heavenly clime and like 
 Ben Adhem of old, who saw an angel writing in a book of 
 gold, and to its presence in the room he said : "I pray thee 
 write me as one who loves his fellow men." 
 
 23
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GENERAL ROBERT 
 
 E.LEE 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Read by Miss Mary Hansen at the Meeting: of the Virgnians 
 at Miller Park, September 22, 1922. 
 
 It is my delight to speak and write in my opinion of 
 one of the greatest and most remarkable men of modern 
 times whom nearly all Virginians, whether friend or foe, 
 learned to love and admire. 
 
 Gen. Robert Edmund Lee was born in Westmoreland 
 County, Virginia, on the ninth day of January, 1807. He 
 died at Lexington, Virginia, on the twelfth day of October 
 1870, with the simplest ceremony attending his funeral 
 at his request. Nearly all the Lees in Virginia were the lin- 
 eal descendants from the common ancestor, Richard Lee, 
 who emigrated to America in the year 1641, and settled 
 in Virginia. He was the father of Richard Lee II, who 
 was a brother of John Hancock Lee, and the latter was 
 the father of one Stephen Lee, and he was the father of 
 Henry Lee, of Kentucky, who was born in Virginia in 
 the year 1758, and emigrated to Kentucky at a very early 
 date and took an active part in the Constitutional Conven- 
 tion forming Kentucky as a state. He held the position 
 of Circuit Judge of Mason County, Kentucky, for a num- 
 ber of years and died there in the year 1846. 
 
 On the other line of the Lee descendants, Richard II 
 was the father of Henry who Was the father of Henry Lee, 
 dubbed and familiarly known as "Light Horse Harry." He 
 became a noted commander of cavalry in the War of the 
 Revolution, having raised and organized the famous cav- 
 alry troop known as "Lee's Legion." "Light Horse 
 
 24
 
 Harry" was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 
 January, 175G, and died at his home in that county in 
 March, 1818. 
 
 Thomas Lee was a brother of the aforesaid Henry 
 Lee, and the former was the father of six eminent and dis- 
 tinguished sons, namely, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Phillip Lud- 
 well Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Light foot Lee, Wil- 
 liam Lee and Arthur Lee. 
 
 Richard Henry Lee was an orator and statesman of 
 rare ability and was assigned by Congress to write the 
 Declaration of Independence, under his resolution, but ow- 
 ing to the fact that he was sick at the time this duty was 
 to be performed, it devolved upon Thomas Jefferson to 
 write it. He also introduced a resolution in the Legisla- 
 ture of Virginia forever prohibiting the further importa- 
 tion of slaves into that State, which was adopted. Both 
 he and his brother, Francis Lightfoot, were signers of the 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 Robert Edmund Lee, subject of this sketch, was his 
 second son and was about eleven years of age when his 
 father died. A short time after the death of Robert's 
 father his mother with her little family moved to Alex- 
 andria, Virginia, in order to secure better educational fa- 
 cilities for the children, and while there Robert E. was 
 taught his catechism by an Episcopal Bishop of Virginia. 
 We also here mention that General FitzHugh Lee, of Con- 
 federate and Spanish-American War fame, was a nephew 
 of Robert E. Lee. At an early age Robert evinced a de- 
 sire and aptitude for military training. At the age of 
 eighteen he entered the Military Academy at West Point 
 as a cadet and graduated therefrom when he was about 
 twenty-two years of age. Soon after leaving the Academy 
 
 25
 
 he received an appointment in the United States Army 
 as a Captain of an Engineer Corps, the duties of which 
 position took him over a wide scope of territory, including 
 the states of the Great Northwest and one time he was 
 at St. Louis, directing operations for the course of the 
 Mississippi River. 
 
 After serving the U. S. Government for a number of 
 years he went with its army in 1846 in the Invasion and 
 War with Mexico, serving most of the time under Gen. 
 Winifield S. Scott, who was also a Virginian. In the cam- 
 paign in Mexico he was a Captain of the Engineer's Corps 
 and was also Chief of Staff to General Scott, He rendered 
 signal service in the battles won by General Scott, who took 
 part in the battles of Buena Vista, Cerro Gorda, Chapul" 
 tapec, Molino Del Ray, the siege of Vera Cruz, and ac- 
 companied the armies of Generals Scott and Taylor in their 
 triumphal march into the City of Mexico. General Scott 
 was free to admit that had it not been for the efficient serv- 
 ices rendered by Captain Lee and his Corps of Engineers, 
 he might have been loser in some of those engagements. 
 General Scott in his reports alluded to Lee, Beauregard 
 and McCkllan as officers who performed their duties well 
 and with great valor and success, but in these reports he 
 always mentioned Lee first. 
 
 In the year 1831 Robert married Mary Custis, a great- 
 granddaughter and heiress of Martha Custis Washington, 
 thus placing him in close marriage relationship to the 
 "Father of His Country." They raised a family of four 
 children, two boys and two girls. The two sons were con- 
 stantly with him in the Armies of Northern Virginia dur- 
 ing the four years' struggle. 
 
 I have had some correspondence with the oldest son, 
 
 26
 
 George Washington Custis Lee, now deceased. He fur- 
 nished me with some valuable information concerning the 
 genealogy of the Lees in Virginia. 
 
 In this article I have concluded to speak of General 
 Lee in his five-fold character as soldier, citizen, in home 
 life, as Christian, and educator. General Lee had no ad- 
 miration nor taste tor politics and took no part in it, al- 
 though he had been offered positions of trust in the civil 
 capacity at the hands of the people of Virginia. He was 
 eminently a soldier by inclination and nothing else seemed 
 to absorb his mind. In 1852 he was appointed by the 
 United States Government Superintendent of the Military 
 Academy at West Point, which office be held until the 
 year 1855 when he retired from that duty and accepted a 
 command as Colonel of Cavalry in the United States Army 
 and held such position at the outbreak of the Civil War. 
 Recurring to his military career, I wish to note that he was 
 wounded in one of the engagements in Mexico, and after 
 the close of the Mexican War he participated in the engage- 
 ments against the Indians of the West. 
 
 His old home and plantation is at Arlington Heights, 
 which lies on the opposite side of the Potomac River from 
 Washington, and is one of the most picturesque places I 
 ever beheld in the United States. I visited this home and 
 historic spot in the summer of 1876 and in company with 
 a gentleman from Ohio we viewed several places on the 
 plantation, including the National Cemetery and very much 
 enjoyed a look through Lee's mansion with its many rooms 
 and equipments. The custodian of th-e place was a Ger- 
 man weighing about three hundred pounds and we were 
 entertained quite hospitably for two hours in which time 
 he showed us many valuable relics of this historic home. 
 
 27
 
 I think the largest dog I ever saw in my life was there as 
 an alarm-barker to give warning of approaching enemies 
 or friends. I talked with a number of Lee's old slaves, 
 particularly one Auntie darky who spoke about the Old 
 General with tears in her eyes. She said "I thought my 
 heart would break when Massa Lee left for the wah!" 
 She claimed to be 110 years of age. Lee, however, was 
 a hater of slavery and freed the major part of his slaves 
 before the outbreak of the Civil War. His wife, Mary, 
 owned a number of slaves in her own right which she 
 had inherited from her parents and which she, by an ar- 
 rangement with her husband, gradually manumitted before 
 the issuing of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion. 
 
 Richard Henry Lee, Orator and Statesman, was a 
 strong Anti'Slavery Advocate and was also a member of 
 the Virginia Legislature, and introduced a bill into the 
 same to prevent the further shipment of slaves into Vir- 
 ginia. He was a co-worker with Adams and Jefferson and 
 Patrick Henry. He was also the first and prime mover 
 for the Declaration of Independence and undoubtedly 
 would have written the same himself, had it not been for 
 the fact that he was at home and sick at th-e time this 
 most wonderful document was promulgated. 
 
 General Lee believed in the right of secession but he 
 was bitterly opposed to his state seceding. Some half dozen 
 states had gone out of the Union by acts of secession and fi- 
 nally a like ordinance was adopted by the State of Virginia, 
 on April 18, 18G1. General Scott was in command of the 
 Armies of the United States at this time, but he regarded 
 General Lee as the best man to lead the Union forces in 
 the suppression of the rebellion. He importuned the gov- 
 
 28
 
 eminent at Washington, through President Lincoln, to 
 secure at all hazards the services of General Lee in behalf 
 of the United States in the terrible struggle which was 
 then fast approaching. The man who was designated by 
 Lincoln to interview General Lee on this matter was Gen- 
 eral Francis P. Blair, of Missouri. He held a long inter- 
 view with General Lee in his home in Arlington. General 
 Scott urged that Lee be secured to the Federal Govern- 
 ment at all hazards, "For," said he, "Lee will be equal to 
 an army of 50,000 men in the Union cause." 
 
 Lee, after mature deliberation, turned down the ap- 
 peals to enlist in the service of the Union as against seces- 
 sion and decided that honor and duty compelled him to fol- 
 low his state in its course, and in this view of the 
 situation, he was opposed to coercion. He was summoned 
 to appear before the Virginia legislature and by its act ac- 
 cepted the command as General of all the military forces 
 of the State of Virginia. 
 
 General Lee was honest in his convictions of the right 
 of secession but feared and trembled for the consequences 
 that he thought would inevitably come to his state by going 
 out of the Union. He contended that it was inexpedi- 
 ent and ill-advised for his State and the other Southern 
 States to secede, believing, as he said, that such a course 
 would spell utter ruin for the South, either with or without 
 a resort to coercion. He further contended that a Southern 
 Republic founded on the oligarchical rock of slavery would 
 be a decaying one and would not be in a position to com- 
 pete with the nations of the earth. He. like Lincoln, was 
 opposed to the extension of slavery and he had hoped that 
 notwithstanding all the clamour, the Union might be pre- 
 served without bloodshed. And even after the war was in 
 
 29
 
 full progress he said to Jefferson Davis, ''If I owned all 
 the slaves of the South, I would give them their freedom, 
 if by such an act the Union would be preserved." Mr. 
 Davis tersely replied, "A Union with the North is unthink- 
 able.", 
 
 Before proceeding further with General Lee's military 
 career I desire to digress a little further with Lee's attitude 
 on the Union of the States. Let it not be forgotten that 
 there was a large sentiment in the East and particularly in 
 New England before the rebellion that the Doctrine of 
 Secession was justifiable and some took strong grounds 
 that no coercion should be used in bringing the seceding 
 states back into the fold. I here quote from one of the 
 leading and best known men in Massachusetts at that time, 
 Charles Francis Adams, who said : "I hope I should have 
 been filial and unselfish enough myself to have done as 
 Lee did. Finally, if one may quote one's own feelings as 
 perhaps representative of many, I do not hesitate to say 
 that in the certainly most improbable, but perhaps not 
 wholly imposibk contingency of a future sectional sep- 
 aration in the country, however much I might disapprove 
 of such separation and its causes, I should myself be first, 
 last and always a son and subject of New England and of 
 Massachusetts." 
 
 Stonewall Jackson, Lee's greatest chieftain in the 
 struggle, who was killed by his own men at the battle of 
 Chancellorsville, was bitterly opposed to secession and he 
 said, "Whatever grievances or rights that the people of 
 the South might contend for should be amicably adjusted 
 in the Union." Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, met 
 with the convention of that state and addressed it in the 
 most eloquent manner for hours, arguing pleadingly against 
 
 30
 
 the adoption of acts of secession on the grounds that the 
 measure was impolitic, unwise and likely to bring disas- 
 trous results. Not a few other prominent men in different 
 parts of the South held the same view, but the opposite 
 opinion prevailed and secession was readily and enthusi- 
 astically accomplished. Unfortunately, however, the vice- 
 president of the Confederacy was a believer in the right 
 of secession. There can be no doubt that there was a large 
 Union sentiment in the South, even in the cotton states, 
 but the secession work was done in a great part by threats 
 of the fire-eaters, young politicians and the fanatical cotton 
 planters of that section. In going from the Colonial to 
 the State Government, different views were expressed in 
 relation to the durability of the Federation of States. We 
 here quote from the United States Constitution in its pre- 
 amble : ''We, the people of the United States, in order to 
 form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure do- 
 mestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, pro- 
 mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of lib- 
 erty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish 
 this Constitution for the United States." 
 
 The extreme States' Rights advocates artfully con- 
 tended that in the formation of the United States each 
 state was sovereign in itself and by this act gave up no part 
 of its rights of independent sovereignty and could at any 
 time, on any pretext or no pretext at all, withdraw itself 
 from the Federal Union. This was the doctrine advocated by 
 Calhoun, Jefferson C. Davis and other great leaders of the 
 South. 
 
 On the other hand. Lincoln and Douglas clung to the 
 opposite view that the formation of the states under the 
 Constitution was an act intended to be permanent and that 
 
 31
 
 the compact entered into was an indissoluble one. and that 
 no one state had the right to withdraw from the Federation 
 without the unanimous consent of each and every 
 other state in the compact. 
 
 I believe the views of these two great Statesmen were 
 absolutely correct and now that the compact has been sealed 
 in blood, the doctrine of state's rights, so-called, can never 
 again be invoked. 
 
 How, recurring to the great conflict, I wish to say 
 that General Lee was a farsighted man and firmly believed 
 contrary to the idea of thousands of his countrymen, that 
 the war would be one of long duration. He not only or- 
 ganized the troops of his own state in a short time to the 
 number of 50,000, but, those of other states as fast as the 
 volunteers came into Richmond, into a powerful war ma- 
 chine. 
 
 His first campaign was in West Virginia, which lasted 
 only for a short time as the Union sentiment in that sec- 
 tion of Virginia was overwhelmingly large. He then took 
 command of the Army of Northern Virginia. I shall not 
 go into details of the terrible conflict that ensued between 
 the North and the South. Suffice it to say, that the first 
 year of the war was favorable to the Confederates. On the 
 21st of July, 1861, was fought the Battle of Bull Run with 
 a signal defeat to the Union Army and Washington City 
 only twenty-seven miles distant was threatened with in- 
 vasion. Preparations were at once set in motion on a 
 large scale in both sections for the building up and equip- 
 ping of large and effective armies. 
 
 The campaigns of 1862 were likewise favorable to 
 the Confederates. During that year the battles of Ma- 
 nasses Junction, or Second Bull Run ; Antietam or Sharps- 
 
 32
 
 burg and of Fredericksburg were fought with terrible loss 
 of life on both sides and the Peninsula campaign, under 
 General McClellan, was of no particular consequence ex- 
 cept in the great loss of life and army supplies and Rich- 
 mond was still impregnable and defiant. 
 
 The campaigns of 1863 were upon the whole decidely 
 favorable to the Federal Armies. On July 4 of that year, 
 the beleaguered city of Vicksburg capitulated to General 
 Grant with 30,000 prisoners, together with immense stores 
 of provisions, ammunitions and implements of war. On 
 the First, Second and Third of July of the same year the 
 great and bloody battle of Gettysburg was fought and al- 
 though the battle was a drawn one, yet it was very disas- 
 trous to both armies, but more particularly so to the Con- 
 federate Army led by Generals Lee, Longstreet, Pickett 
 and other wonderful fighting marshals of that Army. On 
 the Nineteenth day of September, 1803, was begun the 
 great and bloody battle of Chicamauga, which took place 
 in the northwest corner of Georgia, near the Tennessee 
 line, in the valley between Missionary Ridge and Lookout 
 Mountain. The Union Army under General Rosencranz 
 was defeated and retreated to Chattanooga but the Confed- 
 erate Army was so badly used up that it could not and did 
 not at that time pursue. Yet these three, among the great 
 conflicts were the turning points in the War. From this 
 time until the war was over the Southern Armies began to 
 fade away by desertion, hardships, and other privations in- 
 cident to war. The morale of the Confederate Armies was 
 fast giving away and in the eyes of the best military critics 
 it seemed impossible that the Confederacy would succeed 
 in establishing its independence. 
 
 After the surrender of Vicksburg to General Grant 
 
 33
 
 and his other important victories throughout Tennessee, 
 Georgia and Mississippi, the government at Washington 
 looked upon him as the logical man to confront General 
 Lee's army and end the war. After this matter was care- 
 fully debated and weighed, General Grant was created 
 Lieutenant General and placed in command of all the 
 Union forces engaged in the war. A few months before 
 the war closed, Lee was also created Lieutenant General 
 and placed in command of the military forces in the South- 
 ern Confederacy. General Grant, on taking command, re- 
 quested a sufficient army to crush the rebellion. Accord- 
 ingly, by the middle of April, 1864, he had under him the 
 most magnificent and well equipped army of nearly 200,000 
 men, including detachments within easy supporting dis- 
 tance. This vast army started on its advance to Richmond 
 on or about the first day of May 1864, first engaging Lee 
 in the great and terrible battle of the Wilderness. The 
 next engagement was that of Spottsylvania Court House 
 followed by the attack on Cold Harbor, thence fighting 
 across the Chickahominy swamps, and after successful 
 flanking movements, Gen. Grant reached the James River 
 at City Point with the larger portion of his army, thus 
 compelling Gen. Lee and his army to occupy their formida- 
 ble and impregnable fortifications in and around Richmond 
 and Petersburg. A large portion of Grant's army crossed 
 the James River at the aforesaid point with a view to get- 
 ting around Petersburg and cut all railroad and other com- 
 munications to the south and southwest of that city, and 
 finally place the two cities in a state of siege and force 
 Gen. Lee and his army to surrender. This stragetic move- 
 ment was successful and Lee's army under cover of night 
 evacuated these two cities in the early part of April, 1865. 
 
 34
 
 The blockade of the Southern ports had proven effective, 
 and the vast destruction of foodstuffs and forage all over 
 the South, and the continued depletion of Lee's armies by 
 desertion, and other ravages of war, it was clearly seen 
 that the Confederacy was doomed to die. Np one felt this 
 more keenly than did Gen. Lee, and seeing that further ef- 
 fusion of blood was useless, surrendered the Army of Nor- 
 thern Virginia to Gen. Grant on the ninth of April 1865, at 
 Appomattox. This surrender was perhaps the most re- 
 markable and peculiar one. in all its details that ever took 
 place in this or any other country. I take it that the terms 
 of this surrender are still remembered by many of our old- 
 er people. The terms and conditions of the same were that 
 the private soldiers were to stack their arms, but would be 
 allowed to retain their horses, camp equipments, and pri- 
 vate property, and the officers were to retain their side- 
 arms. The paroles were made out in duplicate and officers 
 were assigned from each army to take charge of them. 
 
 The two Generals talked freely together about their 
 experiences in the Mexican War. As a formality of sur- 
 render, Lee did not tender his sword to Grant, and neither 
 did Grant ask for it. Ely S. Parker, Grant's private secre- 
 tarv, wrote the conditions of surrender as dictated. He 
 was a faithful friend of Grant, and for some time he was 
 Chief of the Seneca tribe of Indians in New York State, but 
 was a resident of Galena, 111., at the outbreak of the war. 
 
 Gen. Lee then called Gen. Grant's attention to the fact 
 that his army had been subsisting on parched corn exclu- 
 sively for many days, and graciously asked Grant if he 
 would issue rations to his starving men. Grant responded 
 cheerfully and asked Lee how many rations he desired. 
 He replied about 25,000. The supply trains were then pull- 
 
 35
 
 ed up as near the scene as possible and the rations distri- 
 buted. 
 
 When the news of the surrender reached Grant's lines 
 his troops began firing a salute of 100 guns in honor of the 
 victory. Gen. Grant at once sent orders to have it stopped. 
 He said that Lee was a brave man and led a brave army and 
 now that the Confederates were our prisoners we did not 
 want to exult over their downfall. There is nothing equai 
 to the magnanimity shown by Gen. Grant in that surrender 
 and his acts in -extending mercy to a fallen foe showed the 
 largeness and purity of his heart and these accredited to 
 him a greater victory than he ever achieved on the field of 
 battle. Grant and Lee had the warmest personal regards 
 for each other and each had more than once complimented 
 the other for efficiency, strategy, and praiseworthy gener- 
 alship in the great conflicts of the war. Gen. Lee had been 
 present and commanded the Army of Northern Virginia 
 and other troops in above astonishing victories which he 
 had won as above mentioned. 
 
 As we all remember, Atlanta had surrendered to the 
 Union army under Sherman and that General, early in Jan- 
 uary, 1865, commenced his daring and famous march to the 
 sea, traversing the entire state of Georgia, and reached Sa- 
 vanah, which together with its forts capitulated. Then his 
 army marched across the state of South Carolina, took 
 Columbia, its capital, thence northward into North Caro- 
 lina and at Goldsboro in that state received the surrender 
 of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and all the forces under his 
 command, on the 13 day of April, 1865. All the other Con- 
 federate armies in the South rapidly dissolved like the melt- 
 ing snows under the rays of a meridian sun. It is laudable 
 praise to the Southern people that both guerrilla and legiti- 
 
 36
 
 mate warfare came speedily to an end and the people as a 
 rule in that section gladly accepted the situation. The peo- 
 ples of both the North and South rejoiced that the war was 
 over, and that the terrible struggle had passed into history. 
 
 Over a half million lives had been sacrificed to say 
 nothing of those wounded and maimed for life. Many 
 millions of dollars of property had been destroyed. 
 
 Xapoleon, in his palmiest days while shaking the foun- 
 dations of the nations of Europe, had not drawn to his aid 
 a Corps of Marshals greater or more effective than were 
 the Marshals grouped around General Lee in his Virginia 
 campaigns. Marshals Bernadotte, Berthier, Brune, Grou- 
 chy, Messena, Murat, Ney and Soult were never superior 
 in any battle to Lee's Marshals, viz : Jackson, Longstreet, 
 Ewell, the Hills, Pickett, Gordon, Stewart and Early. Gen. 
 Lee in battle was superb, calm and self-possessed, and grand 
 and philosophical in defeat. 
 
 LEE AS A CITIZEN. 
 
 Lee as a citizen was exemplary and lawabiding, ever 
 ready and faithful in the performance of civil duties. One 
 of the first things that he did after the war was over, was 
 to ascertain from the proper officials what amount he ow- 
 ed, if any, for taxes, so that he might promptly pay them, 
 notwithstanding that his lands had all been confiscated by 
 the U. S. Government. He was always happy in doing 
 what he thought was right. 
 
 LEE IN HOME LIFE. 
 In his home life he was lovable and was strongly de- 
 voted to his wife and children. He contended that a home 
 without love and filial affection, and one that is not peace- 
 able, quiet and serene, was no home at all. To get the beauty
 
 of happiness out of home life, was his greatest ambition. 
 His home was an ideal one in -every sense of the word, and 
 this was characteristic of most all the Lee families in Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 LEE AS A CHRISTIAN. 
 So far as I can ascertain, he was not a member of any- 
 Church although he clung tenaciously to the teachings of 
 Christ, and claimed that the world had been made better 
 by reason of the fact that the Prince of Peace had lived in 
 it. His fond mother, in his early youth, had instilled into 
 his mind true religion and taught him never to forget that 
 the world was his country, and to do good, his religion. 
 Some people who knew him well thought and believed that 
 he coincided with the Unitarian faith. 
 
 LEE AS AN EDUCATOR. 
 Within less than four months after the close of the 
 war the trustees of Washington College, Va., elected him 
 as its president which position he held up to the time of his 
 death. There were only forty students in the college when 
 he took over its management. Lee's reputation was such, 
 as an educator, that this institution prospered wonderfully 
 under his guidance. 
 
 EULOGIES BESTOWED ON LEE. 
 Gen. Wolsely of England said of him : "He was hand- 
 some, tall, well made, with a graceful figure and a good 
 rider, his manners were at once easy and captivating." He 
 also said, ''I saw him in the autumn of 1862 when at the 
 head of proud and victorious troops he smiled at the notion 
 of defeat by any army that could be sent against him. I 
 desire to make known to the reader not only the renowned 
 soldier whom I believe to have been the greatest of his age, 
 but to give some insight into the character of one whom I 
 
 38
 
 have always considered the most perfect man I ever met." 
 
 Bradford, the historian, said of him : "I have often 
 said since he entered on his brilliant career that, although 
 we all admired him for his remarkable beauty and attrac- 
 tive manners, I did not see anything in him that prepared 
 me for his so far outstripping all his compeers. The idea 
 first presented itself to me during one of my visits to Ar- 
 lington after my marriage. We were all seated around the 
 table at night and Robert was reading. I looked up and my 
 eye fell upon his face in perfect repose, and the thought at 
 once passed through my mind : "You certainly look more 
 like a great man than anyone I have ever seen. If all 
 those who look like great men to their relatives attained 
 Lee's greatness, what a great world it would be." 
 
 "Success is the idol of the world and the world's idols 
 have been successful. Washington, Lincoln and Grant were 
 doubtless very great, but they were successful. Here was a 
 man who remains great, although he failed." 
 
 Gen. Wolsely, in speaking of his military genius, said : 
 "Gen. Lee compared favorably in the roll of military tac- 
 tics and discernment in the art of war with the Duke of 
 Marlborough, Napoleon and Gen. Von Moltke. I have 
 met but two men who realize my ideas of what a true hero 
 should be : My friend Charles Gordon was one, General Lee 
 was the other." 
 
 Gen. Grant said of Lee "All the people except a few 
 political leaders in the South will accept whatever he does 
 as right and will be guided to a great extent by his example." 
 
 Grant thought that Lee was somewhat austere and not 
 easily approached by his subordinates. It would seem to 
 us that in this Grant was mistaken. It is true he was stern 
 and dignified in manner but he was courteous and socia- 
 
 39
 
 ble with all classes where the exercise of those qualities 
 were fitting and proper. 
 
 Col. Swift said: ''All great soldiers before him inherit- 
 ed a ready-made army, but Lee made his own army. None 
 of the others probably encountered as dangerous an adver- 
 sary as Grant and none of them except Hannibal and Na- 
 poleon in the last two years, were opposed to soldiers as 
 good as their own. The odds of numbers were greater 
 against Lee in the Wilderness campaign than they were 
 against Napokon in the Waterloo Campaign." 
 
 Jackson said of Lee: "He is a phenomenon. He is 
 the only man I could follow blindfold." 
 
 Gen. D. H. Hill said: "He was a Caesar without his 
 ambition; a Frederick without his tyranny; a Napoleon 
 without his selfishness; and a Washington without his re- 
 ward." 
 
 Col. Roosevelt said : "As a mere military man Wash- 
 ington himself cannot rank with the wonderful war-chief 
 who for four years lead the Army of Northern Virginia." 
 
 Longstreet said : "It was seldom that he allowed his 
 mind to wander to the days of his childhood and talk of 
 his father and his -early associates but when he did he was 
 far more charming than he thought." 
 
 A noted Northern writer, and a bitter opponent of the 
 South in the war said : "Lee is worthy of all praise. As a 
 man, he was fearless among men. As a soldier, he had no 
 superior and no equal. In the course of Nature my career 
 on earth may soon terminate. God grant that, when the 
 day of my death shall come, I may look up to Heaven with 
 that confidence and faith which the life and character of 
 Robert E. Lee gave him. He died trusting in God as a 
 good man, with a good life, and a pure conscience." 
 
 40
 
 LEE'S PATRIOTIC UTTERANCES. 
 
 A Confederate soldier told General Wise that he had 
 taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. "You have 
 disgraced the family," said Wise. "General Lee told me to 
 do it." "Oh, that alters the case. Whatever Gen. Lee 
 says is all right, I don't care what it is." Lee is reported 
 to have remarked after the war: "I have carefully searched 
 the military records of both ancient and modern history, 
 and have never found Grant's superior as a general." 
 
 One of his university faculty had been criticizing the 
 Union general with some harshness. "Sir," said Lee, "if 
 you ever presume again to speak disrespectfully of General 
 Grant in my presence, either you or I will sever his connec- 
 tion with this university." 
 
 LEE SPURNED NOTORIETY. 
 Many business positions of high trust or dignity were 
 pressed upon him. He uniformly declined them alleging 
 that his training did not lie in that direction and that his age 
 rendered him incapable of performing such arduous labors. 
 When he was told that no labors were expected of him that 
 his name was all that would be required and that a large 
 salary would be paid simply for the use of that, he replied 
 that his name was not for sale. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 In closing this essay on Gen. Lee I merely wish brief- 
 ly to sum up some of my opinions of this great and good 
 man. The opinions of men show that he was stern and de- 
 cisive in the performance of his duties, but neither stern nor 
 stiff in his greetings with his fellowmen. He, however, 
 like Grant, was a man of few words and this may have led 
 to the belief that he was not easily approached. I take it 
 that he carried until the end of his life the regret that the 
 
 41
 
 war was not avoided and that there had been so much loss 
 of life on account of the slavery question; but he accepted 
 the results of the war in good faith and earnestly set to 
 work to help build up the New South which has now become 
 far greater, grander and more influential than the Old 
 South. Notwithstanding the terrible consequences of the 
 war in the loss of life, treasure, and the destruction of pro- 
 perty, yet, a retrospective view of the situation convinces 
 me, and I verily believe thousands of others hold the same 
 view, that all these sacrifices, terrible as they were, were far 
 better than the continued prolongation and further exten- 
 sion of slavery. 
 
 1 conclude from the reading of history that none of the 
 first families of Virginia were superior to the Lee families 
 of Westmoreland County; or in the other counties where the 
 Lees resided. While Lee was eminently a military man, 
 yet he seriously regretted that he had devoted his studies 
 and practices to a military life. Historians say that when 
 he heard that Stonewall Jackson had fallen mortally wound- 
 ed that he sent one of his cavalry officers to see him before 
 he was borne from the field by his comrades and to say to 
 him, ''that while he, Jackson, had lost his left arm, he, Lee, 
 had lost his right." The beautifull eulogy pronounced by 
 "Light Horse Harry," the father of Lee, on Washington, 
 could with equal force have been said of Robert E. Lee. 
 "That he was first in war, first in peace, and first in the 
 hearts of his countrymen." 
 
 It is with pleasure I place the name of Robert E. Lee 
 on the roll of honor in the hall of fame along side those of 
 George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry 
 Lee, James Madison, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, John 
 Marshall, the Randolphs and other noted Virginians. 
 
 42
 
 PRINCIPAL BATTLES OF THE WAR OF 1812 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Read befoire the McLean County Historical Sodiety 
 
 I feel impressed that most of the people of the United 
 States are under the impression that the Declaration of 
 War which led to the conflict of 1812, came from the Par- 
 liament of Great Britian. But such however is not the 
 fact. On the 19th day of June, 1812, our Congress de- 
 clared war against Great Britain, which declaration was 
 heartily supported by James Madison, then President of 
 the United States. Vigorous preparations were made on 
 the part of our Government for the prosecution of the war. 
 Twenty-five thousand regular troops and 50,000 volun- 
 teers were raised and 100,000 militia were called out by 
 the several states. A national loan of $11,000,000. was 
 made and Henry Dearborn of Massachusetts was selected 
 as Commander in Chief of the army. 
 
 The cause of the war resulted from the indignities of 
 the British seamen upon our commerce and the impress- 
 ment of American seamen and the violation of the rights 
 of neutral nations. The battle cry of our American Navy 
 was "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights." The war was pre- 
 cipitated by General William Hull, then Governor of the 
 Michigan Territory. He had collected an army of 1500 
 men and by toiled marches through forests and swamps 
 for over a month reached the vicinity of Detroit, having 
 lost all his baggage by the onslaughts of the enemy. Col. 
 Miller of the General Hull contingent routed a large force 
 of Indians under Tecumseh a short distance from Detroit 
 
 43
 
 about the 20th of July, 1812. General Brock was then 
 in command of the British forces at Maiden. The seige 
 of Detroit was begun by him August 16. The American 
 forces were in good trim awaiting in their trenches the on- 
 coming regulars of England. Historians say they were 
 eager for the battle. But to their great surprise when the 
 British had advanced to within 500 yards of the Fort, 
 Gen. Hull hoisted the white flag, and then resulted one of 
 the most disgraceful and shameful surrenders ever record- 
 ed in this or any other country. All the forces under Hull 
 became prisoners of war, and all of the Michigan territory 
 was surrendered to the British. The cowardly and no 
 doubt treasonable Hull was court martialed and sentenced 
 to be shot, but he received a pardon at the hands of the 
 President, several entreaties having been made for him. 
 
 In this war the principal number of the engagements 
 took place on the waters of our lakes and those of the At- 
 lantic Ocean. The first of these was between our frigate 
 the Constitution, and the British Guerriere off the coast 
 of Massachusetts. After a terrible combat at half pistol 
 shot the British vessel struck her colors and became the 
 prize of the Americans, but on the following morning she 
 became unmanageable and she was blown up by them. 
 Many other sanguinary engagements took place between 
 the navies of the two countries with varying successes; but 
 in the end the advantages rested largely with the American 
 Navy. Before recounting the important battles upon land, 
 I desire to call your attention to Commodore Perry's vic- 
 tory on Lake Erie. This lake was dominated by a British 
 squadron of six vessels. The task of recovering these 
 waters was assigned to Commodore Perry. Commander 
 Barclay a veteran from Europe was his antagonist. Perry 
 
 44
 
 as quickly as possible marshalled his fleet of eight ships and 
 on the 10th of September, the two fleets came together at 
 Put In Bay. The attack was begun by the American 
 Squadron, the flagship Lawrence leading, but in a short 
 time she was ruined and Barclay's flag ship was almost a 
 total wreck. Perry at once got overboard into an open 
 boat, transferred his flag to the Niagara, bore down upon 
 the enemies line, discharging terrible broadsides right and 
 left. In less than fifteen minutes the British fleet was so 
 damaged and helpless that Barclay gave up the fight and 
 Perry returned to the hull of the Lawrence and there re- 
 ceived the surrender. He then sent that memorable mes- 
 sage to Gen. Harrison : "We have met the enemv and thev 
 are ours." Again on the 24th day of February, A. D. 
 1813 off of the coast of Demerara, the sloop of war the 
 Hornet commanded by our Captain James Lawrence at- 
 tacked the British brig the Peacock. A most terrific bat- 
 tle of fifteen minutes ensued, when the Peacock struck her 
 colors. Soon after this incident Captain Lawrence took 
 command of our beautiful vessel the Chesapeake. Capt. 
 Broke was in command of the British Shannon, which 
 challenged the Chesapeake to combat near Cape Ann. The 
 encounter was both brief and dreadful, everv officer of the 
 Chesapeake was either killed or wounded. Capt. Law- 
 rence fell pierced with a musket ball, dying upon the deck. 
 But before his spirit took its flight he gave his last order 
 in a stentorian voice, "don't give up the ship," which words 
 became immortal, and is now the motto of every American 
 sailor. 
 
 INDIANS PARTICIPATE 
 
 Gen. Harrison built Fort Meigs on the Maumee River 
 and which was soon after besieged by Gen. Proctor and the 
 
 45
 
 Indian Chief Tecumseh,, with 2000 British and savages, 
 but in the meantime Gen. Clay with 1200 Kentuckians 
 made a forced march to relieve the fort. The British 
 gave up the siege, the Indians having deserted in large num- 
 bers and retreated to Maiden, but late in July, 1813, these 
 same generals again besieged the fort with 4000 men, but 
 were unsuccessful and Proctor fled with half his forces 
 and attacked Fort Stephenson at lower Sandusky. And 
 now comes the narration of one of the most brilliant war 
 episodes of the entire conflict. This fort was defended by 
 1G0 men under Colonel Croghan, a stripling but twenty- 
 one years of age. On the 2nd day of August, 1813, the 
 British advanced to storm the fort. These troops were 
 crowded into the trenches and were swept away by the 
 fusilade firing of our artillery and riflemen and per- 
 ished almost to a man. The repulse was complete and 
 sickening. General Proctor then raised the siege at Fort 
 Meigs and retreated to Maiden. The Indians were ever 
 present in much of the fighting as the British had offered 
 them tempting bounties for American scalps. In the latter 
 part of August Fort Mims, just north of Mobile, Alabama, 
 was surprised by the savages, who murdered over 400 
 people and destroyed their property. The middle southern 
 states sprang to arms and at once prepared for an invasion 
 of the Creek nation. The Tennesseans under General Jack- 
 son were first to the rescue. General Coffee, one of his 
 generals, reached the Indian town of Tallahatchee, burned 
 everything to the ground and left not an Indian alive. On 
 the eighth of November a fierce battle was fought at Tal- 
 ladega, Alabama, in which the Indians were routed with 
 heavy loss and other engagements followed quickly, in 
 which the Indians were disastrously defeated. By the 
 
 46
 
 27th of March, 1814, the Creek nation was conquered and 
 completely at the feet of the American forces. The battle 
 of Chippewa was fought on the 5th day of July, 1811, and 
 which was easily won by the American forces. On the eve- 
 ning of July 25th, the hardest and most desperate engage- 
 ment of the war took place near Niagara Falls on the field 
 of Lundy's Lane. Generals Scott and Brown were in com- 
 mand of our forces, and to Colonel James Miller was as- 
 signed the duty of storming a battery of the enemy located 
 on the highest elevation of the battle field. The royal army 
 numbering 5000 was driven from the field with a loss of 
 over 800. The American loss was almost as great. Several 
 of our generals were wounded. It might be said that this 
 victory was the turning point of the war. Our troops were 
 again successful at the investment of Fort Erie by the Brit- 
 ish general, and on the 5th of November, 1814, the Fort was 
 destroyed by the American forces, who recrossed the Ni- 
 agara River and went into winter quarters at Black Rock 
 and Buffalo. From this time until near the close of the 
 war, several engagements took place both upon land and 
 water with varying successes to the opposing arms. Some 
 of them were of minor importance. 
 
 On the 24th of August, 1814. Bladdensburg, six miles 
 from Washington. D. C, was taken by the British. The 
 President of the United States with his Cabinet fled for 
 safety, our Capitol fell into the hands of the invaders and 
 by them destroyed by fire. All our Public Buildings, ex- 
 cept the Patent Office were burned, including the unfinished 
 Capitol and the President's Home, which were left a mass 
 of ruins. The act which resulted in the destruction of 
 Washington was one of vandalism, and of which many of 
 the British Parliament were thoroughly ashamed and dis- 
 
 47
 
 gusted, and a reflection of them to this day recalls some of 
 the dreadful scenes of fire and destruction growing out of 
 the present European War. Soon after the Washington 
 event the British squadron bombarded Fort McHenry for 
 the purpose of taking Baltimore, but the Fort held out, was 
 uninjured and the British driven away. During the spec- 
 tacular night of this bombardment our countryman Francis 
 S. Keys, who was held a prisoner on a British ship in the 
 bay, composed the "Star Spangled Banner" a song so dear 
 to the hearts of all true Americans. 
 
 The Spanish authorities in Florida sympathized with the 
 British cause, whereupon General Jackson drove the British 
 out of Florida and the American forces came into complete 
 possession of the State. He next repaired to New Orleans 
 to meet the invaders in the threatened assault of the British 
 upon that city. Engagements of trivial importance took place 
 before the final attack upon New Orleans on the 8th of 
 January, 1815. General Packenham with an army of 
 12000 men from Jamaica led the British troops. Jackson, 
 ever on the akrt, was ready with his hastily constructed 
 breastworks of cotton bales and sand bags. The British 
 troops marched on the double-quick through a dense copse 
 of woods and out onto the plain to beat back the American 
 forces. 
 
 The onslaught was fierce and determined, but Jack- 
 son's men were secure from the enemy's fire and the awful 
 effect of the Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen upon the vet- 
 erans of England was appalling. Charge after charge of 
 their forces were hurled back; the shrieks of the wounded 
 being heard over the din and roar of the battle. General 
 Packenham was killed, and General Gibbs was mortally 
 wounded. The victory of the Americans was complete. The 
 
 48
 
 British lost 700 killed and 1400 wounded, while the Amer- 
 ican loss was nominal, amounting to only eight killed and 
 thirteen wounded. General Jackson marched into New Or- 
 leans and was received with unbounded enthusiasm. He 
 had just before the battle proclaimed martial law in the 
 city, as traitors there were abundant. General Jackson was 
 arrested and brought before one of the Civil Courts and 
 fined fifty dollars, and we all remember that when Stephen 
 A. Douglas was in the Congress of the United States from 
 Illinois, that he introduced a resolution asking for the re- 
 mission of the fine, which was done by almost unanimous 
 vote. General Packenham's body was preserved in a barrel 
 of whiskey and shipped to England. 
 
 By way of digression I wish to say that my grand- 
 father, Abraham Carlock was in that battle, being a vol- 
 unteer soldier from Tennessee. His comrade who stood 
 at his right, Thomas Jones, was struck in the center of the 
 forehead by a spent ball, which knocked him down and my 
 grandfather in relating the incident, said he verily believed 
 that Jones was killed, but in less than ten minutes after he 
 fell he was on his feet again, loading and firing his gun with 
 quick rapidity and cursing the British at every fire. 
 
 One of the singular coincidences of the war was the 
 fact that the two countries had concluded a treaty of peace 
 at Ghent in Belgium, December 24, 1814, just fifteen days 
 before this battle was fought. 
 
 After so much bloodshed arising out of England's 
 wrongs to the United States, the treaty seemed in many re- 
 spects absurd. The wrongs done to the commerce of the 
 United States, the rights of neutral nations, were left un- 
 touched in the articles of the treaty, and of the doctrine of 
 "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights," which had been heralded 
 
 49
 
 far and wide, no mention was made whatever. The prin- 
 cipal articles of the treaty were devoted to the settlement 
 of boundary lines, and the possession of some unimportant 
 island located in the Bay of Passamaquaddy. But it was 
 surmised by many knowing diplomats that at the time of 
 the treaty the British government gave to the United States 
 private assurances that the impresment of our seamen and 
 other wrongs complained of by our people should never 
 thereafter occur. For the period of nearly one hundred 
 years, vessels bearing the United States flag have been se- 
 cure with a very few exceptions, from the insults which 
 caused the war of 1812. 
 
 Although many of our people were opposed to the war, 
 yet the great majority of them stood by President Madison 
 in its prosecution. But as a result of the war a debt of 
 $100,000,000 was fastened upon us. Our trade was para- 
 lyzed for the want of money. In the year 1816 the United 
 States Bank was re-chartered by Congress, business re- 
 vived and prosperity again perched upon our banners, and 
 our commerce became the pride of the nation, as well as the 
 joy and hope of all the people in the United States for 
 future generations. 
 
 In conclusion I might say that we should rejoice that 
 the people of this country and those of England are in a 
 reasonable state of harmony, as to the navigation of the 
 seas, with the exception of a few unimportant questions 
 growing out of the present European war. Also recurring 
 to a few incidents growing out of the War of the Rebellion, 
 chief of which, were the settlement of the well known Ala- 
 bama Claims and the Mason and Sidell affair, which were 
 amically adjusted by the United States and England. 
 
 50
 
 AN ESSAY OX THE RISE, PROGRESS AND CUL- 
 MINATION OF THE ABOLITION PARTY IN 
 THE UNITED STATES AND WHAT 
 IT ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Read before the McLean County Historical Society by Mary L. P. Evans 
 
 In about the year 182 7, my father, Abraham W. Car- 
 lock, emigrated from the State of Tennessee to Illinois, to 
 get rid of the evil influences of slavery. My grandfather 
 Carlock was not a slave-holder and the free population in 
 that part of Tennessee, where the family resided, were in 
 excess of that of the slaves, yet the baneful effects of 
 slavery were felt on free labor, and the non-slave holding 
 element could not compete with cheap slave labor. My 
 grandfather on my mother's side was a slave-holder, but 
 emancipated his slaves before the outbreak of the Civil 
 War. The all devouring scythe of time has swept away 
 nearly all the active participants in the great struggle 
 against slavery. 
 
 In the year 1856, the status of political parties and 
 people of crude political notions on the slavery question, 
 may be classified as follows: (placing them in the order 
 of their numerical strength.) 
 
 1st. The Abolitionists who favored gradual emanci- 
 pation and colonization. 
 
 2nd. The outspoken and uncompromising abolition- 
 ists who advocated the immediate freedom of all slaves, 
 without any compensation to their owners. 
 
 3rd. Those abolitionists, who were opposed to the 
 further extension of slavery to any state or territory of 
 the United States, but advocated confining it within the 
 
 51
 
 limits where it then existed, and by such course, doom its 
 ultimate extinction. 
 
 All the opponents regarded slavery as an evil and op- 
 posed to the law of human rights in the states in which it 
 existed, and a curse to the American people. 
 
 The tirade against slavery in the United States, be- 
 gan as early as 1790, but the well defined, organized agi- 
 tation, against the institution, started about the year 1833. 
 There can be no question that nearly all the fathers of the 
 republic, including the framers of the United States Con- 
 stitution, were on principle opposed to slavery, and hoped 
 and believed it would ere long become a barbaric relic of 
 the past. Certain maurauders of the seas, dealing in the 
 illicit traffic of human beings, had clandestinely foisted 
 upon a number of people of the colonies, without their 
 careful deliberation, the start of slavery, and against the 
 wishes of a large majority of the people. The institution 
 steadily increased, although several of the original thir- 
 teen colonies, including Massachusetts, abolished it. Those 
 opposed to it from year to year, became more and more 
 bitter and pronounced, and this resulted in the formation 
 of anti-slavery societies, throughout the United States, 
 particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, and the New 
 England States. Animosities and jealousies between the 
 sections, were fast multiplying. Fugitive slave laws were 
 enacted and from time to time, made more effective; slaves 
 were induced to leave their masters and escape into the 
 Northern States, or spirited away into Canada, by means 
 of the ironically termed "Underground Railroad systems." 
 Abolition literature was freely circulated throughout the 
 United States and Congress was petitioned to pass a law, 
 prohibiting the use of United States mails, for that pur- 
 
 52
 
 pose, but the petition was denied. Northern governors 
 refused to grant extraditions for persons to answer indict- 
 ments found against them, in the South, for various al- 
 leged crimes, including violations of the fugitive slave 
 laws. 
 
 The further importation of slaves had been prohibit- 
 ed by Act of Congress. A goodly number of slave-owners 
 in the border states, cheerfully freed their slaves, some of 
 whom were colonized, while others sold their slaves to be 
 taken to the cotton states of the south, and many of these 
 owners became avowed abolitionists. Mob violence was 
 frequent in the Northern states; printing presses were de- 
 stroyed, and their proprietors subjected to horrible cruelties 
 and some were killed by the mobs, and much aboli- 
 tion literature was seized and burned. A few instances 
 may here be noted : William Lloyd Garrison of Boston, 
 who had become the acknowledged leader of the ever 
 faithful and onward marching abolition party, was in 1835 
 assaulted by a mob on one of the principal streets of that 
 city and beaten into insensibility; his printing press des- 
 troyed and he was hurried to a prison cell to escape death. 
 A lamentable fact connected with this affair was that the 
 soldier guards of the city joined the mobs in this dastardly 
 crime. They had been delegated to preserve order and 
 dispel rioters. And, our own fair state of Illinois came 
 in for its full share of such disgrace and notoriety. On 
 the 7th day of November, 1837, Reverend Elijah Lovejoy, 
 was pounced upon by an infuriated mob and killed and his 
 press apparatus destroyed, at Alton, while fighting to pro- 
 tect his life and property. He was a brother of the late 
 Owen Lovejoy. A short time previous to this affair, he 
 
 53
 
 had been driven out of St. Louis by similar violence. The 
 citizens of Alton, assisted by the State of Illinois, caused 
 to be erected to the memory of Lovejoy, a large granite 
 monument, in the central part of the city; on the 8th day of 
 November, 1897, it was dedicated, with imposing cere- 
 monies, the date being sixty years after he was murdered. 
 A short time ago, I gazed upon this fitting tribute, and 
 here note some of the inscriptions thereon : 
 
 "Whether on scafold high, 
 
 Or in the battle van, 
 
 The fittest place for man to die, 
 
 Is where he dies for man." 
 
 ''I have sworn Eternal opposition to slavery, and by 
 the blessing of God, I will never turn back." 
 
 "If the laws of my country fail to protect me, I ap- 
 peal to God, and with Him, I cheerfully rest my cause. I 
 can die at my post, but I cannot desert it." 
 
 "As long as I am an American citizen, and as long as 
 American blood runs in these veins, I shall hold myself at 
 liberty to speak, to write, to publish whatever I please on 
 any subject, being amenable to the laws of my Country 
 for the same." 
 
 The above sentiments appeared in the publications of 
 his newspaper shortly before his death. 
 
 The anti-slavery societies rapidly grew in numbers 
 and at the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, there 
 were over thirteen hundred of them located in various 
 parts of the United States. William Lloyd Garrison was 
 born in the State of Massachusetts, settled in Boston, and 
 edited and published from time to time, a number of per- 
 iodicals, his last one being that of "The Liberator," devoted 
 principally to his hatred against and persistent demand of 
 
 54
 
 the abolition of slavery. Soon after the adoption of the 
 13th Amendment, to the Constitution of the United States, 
 the publication of the "Liberator," was discontinued. 
 
 I here quote some of his utterances : 
 
 ''I denounce the Constitution, as a League with Hell 
 and a covenant with the Devil." 
 
 "The twin relic of barbarism is polygamy and slavery" 
 
 "We maintain, that no man has the right to enslave 
 or imbrute his brother — to hold or acknowledge him for 
 one moment as a piece of merchandise; to brutalize his 
 mind, by denying him the means of intellectual, social, and 
 moral improvement. The watchword of "The Liberator" 
 was, 'No Union with slave-holders.' South Carolina 
 shouted back, "No Union with free labor." 
 
 ''My reliance for the deliverance of the oppressed, 
 universally, is upon the nature of man, the inherent wrong- 
 fulness of oppression, the power of truth, and the Omni- 
 potence of God." 
 
 In speaking of the probable secession of the southern 
 states, he said, ''Let them depart in peace, no obstructions 
 should be placed in their way." He, with many other 
 abolitionists, in such an event, were opposed to the use 
 of coercion. 
 
 October 29, 183-3, a great advance was taken by the 
 call of the Convention, for the formation of the "Ameri- 
 can Anti-Slavery Society", and the Society was organized 
 and the declaration of sentiments, prepared by William 
 Lloyd Garrison, was adopted, some of those above named 
 being incorporated therein, at Philadelphia. 
 
 Garrison was born December 10, 1805, at Newbury 
 Port, Massachusetts. He died in New York, in his seven- 
 ty-fourth year, May 24th, 1879, and was buried in Boston.
 
 Wendall R. Phillips, early became an admirer and 
 disciple of Garrison, and his denunciations of the United 
 States Constitution were perhaps, more vehement and 
 drastic than those of Garrison. He said, "that when he 
 came to study the Constitution, and more significantly, 
 when he analyzed it, in the light of its consistent interpre- 
 tation, for the last half century, he discovered that it was 
 a covenant with death and an agreement with hell. It le- 
 galized slavery for twenty years from the date of its adop- 
 tion. There was a clause which allowed their slave mas- 
 ters to count three-fifths of their slaves on the basis of 
 national representation, and a clause which made a provi- 
 sion for the return of fugitives throughout the union, a 
 trinity of evil, as satanic as the orthodox trinity was di- 
 vine. These matters were discussed in every anti-slavery 
 meeting and society. Early in 1844, soon the entire Garri- 
 son phalanx presented a united front. In the platforms of 
 these bodies, the pro-slavery doctrines were dissolved. 
 The anti-slavery organs in Boston and New York display- 
 ed in bold head lines, the obnoxious truth, ''No union 
 with slave-holders." 
 
 The sensation at these meetings dismantled defiance. 
 The "Liberty Party" so called, sprung up on account of 
 dissensions but was really no different from the original 
 abolitionist party. The Garrison party held to the tre- 
 mendous position of disunion. He, in commenting on the 
 life of a constituent said, "Treason to a pro-slavery con- 
 stitution, and infidelity to a pro-slavery religion is the best 
 patriotism and truest Christianity." 
 
 Phillips was the greatest American agitator, but was 
 opposed to a resort to arms. He said, "Nothing is politi- 
 cally right which is morally wrong." He quoted John 
 
 56
 
 Wesley as saying, ''Slavery is the sin of all the universe." 
 Both he and Garrison advocated the abolishment of 
 slavery without physical force; but their hostility against 
 that institution, and their hatred of it was most intense and 
 irritating. Under the teachings and utterances of these 
 noted men, a large disunion sentiment developed through- 
 out Nlew York, Pa., and the New England States. Phil- 
 lips was born November 29, 1811, in Boston Common, 
 Massachusetts, and died February 2nd, 1884. 
 
 In just about thirty years, being in the year 1865, af- 
 ter he was assaulted in the City of Boston, William Lloyd 
 Garrison spoke to a large concourse of people in Charles- 
 ton, South Carolina, under the auspices of the Freedmen's 
 Bureau, the larger portion of the audience being colored 
 people. He told the people there, at that time that he was 
 a friend of the South, but that they had misunderstood 
 him, and that he ought to have spoken as freely in South 
 Carolina, in 1835, as he was then allowed to freely speak 
 his thoughts on that occasion." 
 
 Both Garrison and Phillips attracted to their standard, 
 a long list of noted men, as follows : Lundy, Leavett, Knof- 
 fer, Tappen, Wright, Whittier, May, Shipley, Quincy, 
 Channing, Beecher, Parker, the Lovejoys, and many other 
 prominent men. Harriet Beecher Stowe in her "Uncle 
 Tom's Cabin" played an important part in moulding public 
 sentiment against slavery. 
 
 In 1840, an anti-slavery society was organized in 
 Bloomington, Illinois and in November, 1844. in an at- 
 tempt to hold a meeting in the old frame school building, 
 located near the Corner of Main and Olive streets on the 
 south side of Olive, a disgraceful and lawless act occured. 
 This was used for an audience room and likewise for 
 
 57
 
 school purposes. An outside stairway led to this room, 
 which had a seating capacity of about 175. The officers 
 of the society had arranged to hold a meeting at that place 
 on a Sunday afternoon. Fifty-two Whigs and Democrats 
 about equally divided in numbers, preceded the little band 
 of members of the society. Bullies stationed at the top of 
 the stairway with demonstrations of clubs and pistols, de- 
 fied and denied them admission. One Reverend C. H. 
 Thompson, with Bible under his arm, led his followers, 
 being made up of James Wallace, Henry Adams, George 
 Hayes and about a dozen others. A boisterous exchange 
 of oaths and epithets ensued, but the anti-slavery crowd 
 yielded, and scheduled a meeting to be held at early candle- 
 light in the wagon and blacksmith shop of said Hayes, lo- 
 cated on the exact lot of ground now owned and occupied 
 by our late townsman, Sig Heldman, as a clothing store, on 
 the West side of Main street. The meeting started on 
 time, and in a few, minutes the speaker was lashing and 
 slashing the slave oligarchy with great vigor. The Whig 
 and Democratic crowd pelted the building with eggs, but 
 they were genuine fresh eggs and worth only five cents a 
 dozen. The meeting, however, was not broken up and the 
 speaker held his audience well in hand, without a break un- 
 til near midnight. So far as I can ascertain, the only per- 
 son now living, who attended that meeting was the widow 
 of the late Captain Wilm-eth, now living in Kansas. She 
 lately described to me her recollections of that wild night. 
 She was then about eight years of age and told me how she 
 cringed and held on to her mother's apron. Since the above 
 was written Mrs. Wilmeth has passed away. 
 
 The late James P. Hodge, was also present at the 
 meeting, and to him I am indebted for an accurate account 
 
 58
 
 of this shameful affair. The late James S. Ewing, in 
 talking about the incident, said to me : "I very much re- 
 gret that this outrage should have occurred ; it was an act 
 which trampled upon the rights of free speech, and in no 
 wise hurt the cause of the abolitionists, but it put a black 
 spot upon our town, which was made up of many good 
 law-abiding citizens." Mr. Ewing was not present at that 
 meeting, and was then about ten years of age, while Mr. 
 Hodge was eleven or twelve years of age. 
 
 At this juncture, I will revert to the fight against 
 slavery by political parties. James C. Birney of New 
 York, was twice nominated for the Presidency by the Li- 
 berty or Abolition party, first in 1840, against Harrison, 
 Whig and VanBuren, Democrat, and again in 1844, against 
 Polk, a thorough going upholder of slavery and Clay, the 
 man of compromise. He succeeded in polling just enough 
 votes to defeat Clay and throw the Government directly 
 into the hands of the slave oligarchy. Birney was original- 
 ly a slave holder of Kentucky, and emancipated his slaves. 
 
 In the campaign of 1840, Birney received a total vote 
 of 7,059 ; the Whig candidate, William H. Harrison, re- 
 ceived 1,275,000 votes. In the campaign of 1844, Birney 
 received a total vote of 62,300. The free-soil party met 
 at Buffalo, New York, August 0, 1847 and nominated 
 Martin VanBuren of New York for President. The old 
 so-called "Liberty Party" joined the ''Free Soilers," as al- 
 so did many of the Democrats, who were opposed to slav- 
 ery. VanBuren received of the popular vote, 291, 2G3. 
 The Free Soil Democrat Convention, again assembled at 
 Pittsburg, August 1, 1852. John P. Hale, of New Hamp- 
 shire was nominated for President, and George W. Julian 
 of Indiana for vice-president. 
 
 59
 
 General Winfield Scott, became candidate for Whig 
 party and Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire for that of 
 the Democratic party. As it will be remembered, Pierce 
 was elected by a very large majority, by both a popular and 
 electoral vote. 
 
 In 1848, Zachary Taylor became the standard bearer 
 of the Whig party, and Millard Fillmore was nominated 
 for vice-president. The leader of the Democratic party 
 in that campaign was Lewis Cass of Michigan. Taylor 
 was elected and died soon after his inauguration, and Fill- 
 more filled out his unexpired term. 
 
 Up to this time, both the old parties, Whig and Demo- 
 cratic, had adopted a conciliatory course regarding the slav- 
 ery question, and held in their platforms, to the policy of 
 non-interference and non-agitation of the slavery question. 
 Opinion was rapidly moulding against this institution. 
 Events were occurring, which tended to excite the people 
 of the North and South to animosity. Clouds were gath- 
 ering for the storm and the atmosphere was filled with 
 omens of an on-slaught on the inhuman institution of slav- 
 ery, and especially to stop its further spread. People were 
 taking sides on the burning question and a few were seem- 
 ingly for pacification. As early as 1840, John C. Calhoun 
 enunciated his startling position substantially as follows : 
 Feb. 19, 1847, he offered in the Senate, supported by a 
 speech, resolutions declaring that slavery was national, 
 freedom sectional ; that the Constitution authorized the 
 protection of slavery in all the national domain and that 
 neither Congress nor any territorial Legislature could le- 
 gally prevent a citizen of a slave state from emigrating with 
 his slaves to any territory and there holding them in servi- 
 tude. 
 
 60
 
 He, together with the clergy of the South and many 
 of the North argued, that slavery was right, and was clear- 
 ly sanctioned by the Bible. Both the old parties appeared 
 to be in the hands of the slave oligarchy, and one of these 
 was doomed to death. It fell upon the Whig party to suf- 
 fer dissolution for the reason that between the years 1853 
 and 1856, it was out of power, and because of its attitude 
 on the slavery question its representatives, concurring in 
 the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, went down, nev- 
 er to rise again. 
 
 The Republican party arose from its ruins, — tens of 
 thousands of Northern Democrats joined the Republican 
 standard, while the greater proportion of the Southern 
 Whigs cast their lot with the pro-slavery power. The Na- 
 tional Democratic party was invulnerable and enduring, 
 because it had existed since the adoption of our Federal 
 Constitution, or at least from the date of the formation of 
 the Democratic party by Thomas Jefferson. The Repub- 
 lican party came into existence on the 29th of May, 1856, 
 in our City of Bloomington, as is claimed. This claim, 
 however, has been disputed, and the credit of its formation 
 given to other points. 
 
 Thorton K. Lothrop, in his life sketch of William H. 
 Seward, says that a preliminary convention on the 22nd 
 day of February, 1856 at Philadelphia, announced the or- 
 ganization of the Republicans as a National party. Ohio 
 also lays claim to this distinction. The fight was now on 
 and the prophetic mind could see that slavery was doomed. 
 To the third system of abolitionism early outlined in this 
 article, belonged the Republican party. 
 
 James Buchanan, in the campaign of 1856, was the 
 chosen leader of the Democratic forces. John C. Fremont 
 
 61
 
 of California was the leader' of the' Republican Hosts. 
 Millard Fillmore was the nominee of the so-called "Ameri- 
 can Party," really the "Pacification Party." Buchanan was 
 elected, having received the combined electoral vote of the 
 solid south except Maryland, and also carried five northern 
 states. Fremont received in New York a plurality of 80,000 
 and his majority over Fillmore in that state was greater than 
 the latters entire vote therein. The slogan cry of the Re- 
 publicans in that campaign was "Fremont, free speech, 
 free press, free soil and free men." The Free Soilers adop- 
 ted the declaration in all their platforms, that slavery 
 was a sin against God, and a crime against man, and de- 
 nouncing the compromise of 1850 and the two parties that 
 supported it. 
 
 We pause here to take up and renew the Legislative 
 controversy on the slavery question. In the year 1820, 
 during James Monroe's administration occurred one of the 
 most memorable and exciting discussions on the slavery 
 question that ever took place on the American continent. 
 The North and South were arrayed against each other on 
 this subject. Some of the southern states were threaten- 
 ing disunion by acts of secession. The discussion arose by 
 reason of the territory of Missouri applying for admission 
 into the union. Some of the most learned statesmen of 
 both sections took part in the debate. An amicable settle- 
 ment was concluded and the Missouri Compromise Act 
 passed by Congress, which was to the effect that thereafter 
 slavery should not extend north of 36 degrees and 30 rhin. 
 north latitude. Missouri was admitted into the Union, 
 March 22, 1821, under this act, known as the Missouri 
 Compromise. This compromise remained intact for about 
 thirty years and the compromise of 1850 disannulled it. 
 
 62
 
 This was the work of both Whigs and Democrats, the north 
 and south. Stephen A. Douglas, United States Senator 
 from Illinois introduced into the United States Senate, his 
 so-called substitute bill, known as "The Kansas-Nebras- 
 ka Bill." It embraced his pet scheme of popular sover- 
 eignty. 
 
 Immediately after the clash of 1820 was over, Presi- 
 dent Monroe assembled his Cabinet and requested each 
 member to sign a paper concurring in the enactment of the 
 Missouri Compromise line, — which they did. John C. 
 Calhoun was then Secretary of War. Shortly before his 
 death, he repudiated his action in that matter and stated as 
 an excuse for so doing, that conditions had arisen, prov- 
 ing, that slavery could not be confined within such narrow 
 limits. Yet Calhoun was a man of great intellectual and 
 magnetic force, and had a wonderful influence over the 
 people of South Carolina and the other cotton states. He 
 was born March 18, 1782 in Abbeville District, South 
 Carolina, and died March 31, 1850, in Washington, D. C. 
 
 The pro-slavery representatives had hoped by their ne- 
 farious acts, to make California a slave state, but on the 
 9th day of September 1850, she came into the Union with 
 an anti-slavery Constitution. Thousands of Whigs and 
 Democrats voted for Buchanan, with the belief that he 
 would administer the affairs of the nation with impartiali- 
 ty, and that he would see to it, that troubles in Kansas 
 would be settled without bloodshed. His first act in the 
 Controversy there, was to attempt to force on the people of 
 Kansas, ''The Lecompton Constitution," which was a pro- 
 slavery document. A vote was taken on the same, which 
 resulted in a majority for it, but, owing to irregularities 
 in the preparation for this vote, and gross frauds in casting 
 
 63
 
 the vote, the election was set aside. The Free Soilers gen- 
 erally refused to vote. Other votes on the admission of 
 Kansas were taken, and Buchanan threatened to break up 
 the Legislature at Topeka, with Federal troops. A reign 
 of terror was now on. Border ruffianism was rampant; 
 thousands came from the Eastern states, pistols in belt, 
 and a Bible in one hand and a bowie-knife in the other, to 
 fight to the death, against the enslavement of Kansas. 
 Many were killed on slight provocation, and hence the term 
 "Bleeding Kansas," was applied. The State having pass- 
 ed through the fire, and the valley of death, was finally ad- 
 mitted into the Union, January 29, 1861, as a free state 
 under the "Wyandotte Constitution." 
 
 We turn now, to the consideration of one of the most 
 startling decisions that was ever handed down by a Court 
 of this or any other country. It is known in the Supreme 
 Court Reports, of the United States, as the Dred Scott 
 case. Dred Scott was a negro slave descended from slave 
 parents, and residing in Missouri. In 1834, he was taken 
 by his master to a military post at Rock Island, Illinois, 
 where in 1835, he was married to a negress slave owned by 
 a Major of the United States army. They then removed 
 with their master to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and after- 
 wards returned to Missouri. The master also bought the 
 negress. Involuntary servitude was prohibited, in all the 
 above territory by the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and 
 the Ordinance of 1787, and the Treaty under the Louisi- 
 ana Purchase. The master several years later, sold these 
 slaves to a gentleman of New! 'York City. Scott soon af- 
 ter brought suit for his freedom on the above state of facts 
 which involved his whole family. The Circuit Court of 
 St. Louis rendered judgment in favor of Scott, which was 
 
 64
 
 reversed on writ of error by judgment of the Supreme 
 Court of Missouri, from which an appeal was taken, to the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, which affirmed the 
 position of the higher Court of Missouri. Chief Justice 
 Taney rendered the decision of the Court, which was to 
 the effect that Scott was not a citizen, but a mere chattel, 
 a thing that the owner could take with him, the same as a 
 horse, or any other chattel property, to any state or terri- 
 tory, and still hold him as a slave. For political reasons, 
 the decision was not handed down until two days after 
 Buchanans' inauguration. A majority of the Court agreed 
 with Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion, but two of them 
 gave dissenting opinions which were in their reasoning and 
 conclusion, directly opposite to those of Justice Taney. 
 In view of the fact that the slavery question was fast be- 
 coming the all absorbing one, before the American people, 
 the decision of the Dred Scott case created great excite- 
 ment throughout the Northern States. 
 
 But other things were influencing the public mind, and 
 hastening the event of the clash of arms, and the final end 
 of slavery. 
 
 In the year 1857, Hinton R. Helper, of North Caro- 
 ina completed his book, entitled, "The Impending Crisis," 
 and the same was entered by Act of Congress in that year 
 and its full publication was made in New York City, early 
 in 1860. This work was also known by the name of the 
 "Irrespressible Conflict," and was a terrific attack upon 
 the institution of slavery in the South. No argument has 
 ever been written, so convincing, far reaching and effec- 
 tive as that by him, against slavery. His arguments were 
 unanswerable and his hatred of slavery most intense. 
 
 His argument was based principally on the compara- 
 
 65
 
 tive wealth of the Northern and Southern states. He 
 showed and proved by statistics how the North had out- 
 stripped the South in the race for progress and prosperity, 
 in about everything that goes to make up a good and at- 
 tractive country. That in these two sections, most articles 
 for the benefit of humanity from a toothpick to a steam- 
 engine were manufactured in the North; that lands of 
 equal fertility were worth from four to five times per acre 
 more in the North than in the South; that the educational 
 institutions of the North were far in advance of those in 
 the South, and how young men and women of that section, 
 desiring higher education had to seek our colleges and uni- 
 versities for superior advantages. He further showed by 
 statistics that the amalgamation or mixing of the races was 
 five times greater under the conditions of slavery than un- 
 der conditions of freedom in the Northern states, in pro- 
 portion to the same amount of population. He defied the 
 slave oligarchy and not only requested but demanded 
 the immediate emancipation of their slaves without any 
 compensation to the owner. He predicted the southern 
 states would secede from the Union, but would come back 
 into the fold, stripped of this peculiar and damnable insti- 
 tution. He gave a long list of the early patriot fathers of 
 the northern and southern states and quoted from them 
 what they said regarding slavery, namely, The Jeffersons. 
 Madisons, Randolphs, and Pinckneys for the South, John 
 Adams, Alexander Hamilton, the Quincys, and a long list 
 of others of the North. 
 
 Also quoted to the same effect from some of the great- 
 est men of England, France, Germany and other European 
 Countries. 
 
 He said, "We are determined to abolish slavery at all 
 
 66
 
 hazards — in defiance of all the opposition of whatever na- 
 ture possible for the slavocrats to bring against it; of this 
 they may take due notice and govern themselves according- 
 ly." He further said the Republican party was organized 
 to give the death blow to slavery. He was born near 
 Mocksville, North Carolina, December 27, 1829 and he 
 died in 1909. 
 
 YVe pause to make brief mention of the Senatorial 
 campaign of 1858 between Lincoln and Douglas. Their joint 
 debate was of no especial importance or enlightment to the 
 people, but as a result, tended to fortify the Republican 
 party and make its success more certain for the great bat- 
 tle of 1S60. 
 
 Many Democrats regretted that Douglas stood with 
 Calhoun, Stephens, and other Southern leaders, in the non- 
 sensical and begging idea that the clause in the Declaration 
 of Independence, which says : ''that all men are created 
 equal, etc." had no reference to the negro race, free or 
 slave. There were, at that time, hundreds of free negro 
 citizens in the eastern states and some in North Carolina, 
 who by law, were entitled to vote, and endowed with the 
 same rights as white men. but the southern idea was. that 
 the two races were not equal in any sense and stood pledg- 
 ed against the Doctrine of the natural rights of man, and 
 advocated that the superior race had the right to rule over 
 and subjugate the inferior race. But the slave holders 
 contention was ridiculous and this pet notion of theirs was 
 shot to death in the "Civil War." But Douglas was a 
 patriot and stood manfully by Lincoln in the vigorous 
 prosecution of the war. On August 27th. 1858, in their 
 debate at Freeport, Illinois, Douglas said, "I shall, under 
 no circumstances consent to a dissolution of this Union," 
 
 67
 
 and Lincoln quoted from his Springfield speech, in which 
 he said in effect, "A house divided against its-elf cannot 
 stand. I do not believe this Government can permanently 
 endure half slave and half free. I do not say the Union 
 will be dissolved, but I do say it will cease to be divided. 
 Either the advocates of slavery will push it forward, until 
 it shall become alike lawful in every state and territory of 
 this Union, or else its opponents will confine it where it 
 now exists and thus place it in the ultimate course of ex- 
 tinction." 
 
 My hearers will not lose sight of the fact that all ele- 
 ments and combinations of opposition against slavery were 
 merged into the Republican party at its formation in 1856, 
 and after the year 1853, nothing further was heard of 
 either the "Abolition, Liberty or Free Soil Parties." All 
 these had confidence that the Republican party would ef- 
 fectually dispose of that question. 
 
 The Republican platforms of 1856 and 1860 were 
 substantially the same, on this question. They declared in 
 no uncertain language, against the institution of servitude, 
 and that the further extension of slavery should be stopp- 
 ed, and that Congress had the power to prohibit it in the 
 territories. The Kansas fight was still on and the out- 
 come uncertain. In the campaign of 1860, Lincoln was 
 made the standard-bearer of the Republican party and 
 Douglas for the Northern Democrats, and Breckenridge 
 at Baltimore, was nominated to lead the Southern Demo- 
 crats. The great Democratic party had been rent in twain 
 at Charleston, South Carolina, and the thought of placing 
 Douglas in the Presidential chair was reduced to a mini- 
 mum. Bell of Tennessee became the chosen leader of the 
 so-called "Union Party," which was made up in most part 
 
 68
 
 of *' old line Whigs," and was really the party of concilia- 
 tion. The southern democrats would not support Doug- 
 las because he would not take up the banner for slavery. 
 Thousands of democrats were hostile to him because he 
 aided in breaking down the Missouri Compromise line, 
 which had been held sacred by all parties for thirty years, 
 and attempted to set up in lieu thereof, his favorite scheme 
 of "Popular Sovereignity." Lincoln was elected and in- 
 auguarated President, and the excitement now was at fev- 
 er heat. It became apparent that some of the southern 
 states would try to disrupt the Union, and eleven of them 
 passed ordinances of secession. A Confederate Govern- 
 ment was set up, founded on the oligarchical rock of slav- 
 ery. In the passing of the Union soldiers to the scenes of 
 conflict, riotous demonstrations took place, and many in- 
 nocent people were killed, aside from the combatants. 
 For the purpose of this essay, it will not be necessary to go 
 into the details of the great struggle. Suffice to say, slav- 
 ery went down and the Union was preserved. 
 
 After the invasion of Maryland by the Confederates 
 in 1862, much uneasiness was felt in the North, and that 
 more drastic measures should be taken by our Government 
 against the seceding states, and after their army had been 
 driven out of Maryland, Lincoln determined to issue his 
 Emancipation Proclamation, September 22, 1862 which 
 by its terms was to the effect, that on January 1, 1863, the 
 slaves should be freed and called his cabinet together and 
 read it to them, assuring them that no change in his mind 
 might be made, as he had fully outlined his course. The 
 proclamation was to the effect that in all states, or parts 
 of states in rebellion against the Government of the Unit- 
 ed States, the slaves of such should, on that date be for- 
 
 69
 
 ever free. The Document was issued as a war measure, 
 yet it seemed doubtful in the light of subsequent events, 
 that the paper had such effect as a war measure. Neither 
 the morale, nor the rank and file of the rebel army seemed 
 
 to be shaken. The bloodiest and most terrific battles of 
 the war were fought after the 1st of January, 18G3, namely 
 that of Gettysburg, on July 1, 2, and 3, 18G3, and the sur- 
 render of Vicksburg to Gen. Grant, July 4, 18G3, also that 
 of Cliickamauga fought on the 19, 20, 21 days of Septem- 
 ber 18G3, and these dreadful struggles were the turning 
 points of the war. It became evident that the South was 
 in the fight to the finish ; they were insisting on the right 
 to withdraw from the Union, regardless of the slavery is- 
 sue, and had set up the Doctrine of "States Rights," pro- 
 mulgated by Calhoun and others of South Carolina, and 
 which state in 1831, Governor Hayne threatened to take out 
 of the Union. The grievances of the people of that state 
 were the Acts of Congress on the Tariffs of 1828 and 
 1832 ; they claimed that they were oppressive and violated 
 the Federal Constitution, and by the Nullification Act of 
 that state, resisted the collection of the revenue under those 
 acts. President Jackson very effectually squelched the 
 nullification by his proposal to use force of the army, and 
 Calhoun and Hayne were reminded that they might play 
 an important part in a hanging bee for their treasonable 
 acts. The grievances of the people on the Tariff question 
 of South Carolina were evidently just and the Tariff mea- 
 sures were in consequence, modified, but the Acts of Nulli- 
 fication were uncalled for and Jackson did the right thing 
 at the right time to quell them. The abolitionists reques- 
 ted the President to free the slaves, Union or disunion, 
 and became persistent as the war progressed, but Lincoln 
 
 70
 
 was cautious as there was a large sentiment among the 
 parties of the North, who were opposed to the liberating 
 of the negroes. 
 
 And he did not intend to let the ship of state go down, 
 and he said, "my paramount object in this struggle is to 
 save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slav- 
 ery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves 
 I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, T 
 would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some ana 
 leaving others alone, I would do that. What I do about 
 slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps 
 to save the Union. And what I forbear, I forbear because 
 I do not believe it would help to save the Union." But no 
 one believed more fervently than did Lincoln that slavery 
 would ultimately meet its death, with or without the pres- 
 ervation of the Union. As a matter of morals, and in a 
 humane view of the case, they were right; but as a matter 
 of policy and expediency, they were wrong. 
 
 The seceding states by making war upon our Govern- 
 ment, and the institution of slavery being wrongful, our 
 generals in command could have accepted and declared the 
 slaves free, in the territory conquered and controlled by 
 them. This was the course General John C. Fremont de- 
 sired to pursue, but was prevented. This would be a par- 
 allel case with liberating a convict in prison, if the com- 
 mander of the army found him wrongfully incarcerated 
 therein, in a district still at war. Now looking back for 
 over a half century, we can say with the abolitionists slav- 
 very was destroyed because it was right that it should be, 
 and that the United States could not afford longer, to be 
 a partner in such a crime. 
 
 71
 
 All agitators are at times extremists, and the abolition- 
 ists, were no exception to this rule, and often became un- 
 reasonable and evenly insanely mad. 
 
 Lincoln was denounced by them in bitter terms, be- 
 cause he would not proclaim himself an avowed abolition- 
 ist, and that the Civil War was being waged to destroy 
 slavery. 
 
 With these extremists the preservation of the union 
 was a secondary consideration. The cardinal doctrine was 
 disunion as against slavery. 
 
 Their zealous hatred of slavery led to unwise and 
 dangerous conclusions, but it must be admitted that these 
 agitators led to the downfall of slavery.. Lincoln, how- 
 ever gave the stroke which destroyed it, and at the same 
 time preserved the Union, his paramount object. 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 I here sum up the conclusions I have reached in my 
 study of the Abolition Party, as follows: That the Consti- 
 tution did not extend to the territories, and that Congress 
 had the right to prohibit slavery, in them, and that slavery 
 was a curse to the South and retarded its progress in every- 
 thing that was worthy and humane. That the slaves were 
 generally happy and contented with their lot, but this 
 was no argument for its continuance ; that the immoralities 
 arising from the amalgamation of the races, were far 
 greater in slave localities than those of freedom, in propor- 
 tion to the population ; that the white people of the south 
 would never again vote upon themselves the curse of slav- 
 ery; that the new South is far in advance of the old South 
 
 72
 
 by reason of its destruction. That the doctrine of the so- 
 called ''States Rights" along with the gross iniquities of 
 slavery were shot to death during the "Civil War." 
 
 The downfall of slavery was accomplished by the agi- 
 tation of the Abolition Party in the North and that of the 
 defenders of slavery in the South. But the Abolition Party 
 did not have the opportunity to take part in the Councils of 
 the Nation in this consummation. Our statesmen fore- 
 fathers, both North and South, desired and hoped for the 
 extermination of slavery in the United States, but feared 
 and trembled that civil strife might arise and wreck our 
 republic fabric. 
 
 I conclude by substituting the figure of an elongated 
 triangle, showing the agitation which brought about the 
 destruction of slavery. At one angle of the base of the 
 triangle, there stood the agitators, Calhoun, Stephens, 
 Taney and Jefferson Davis, with a host of followers, de- 
 manding the extension and recognition of slavery in every 
 state and territory of the Union. At the opposite angle 
 of the base, stood Garrison, Phillips, Lovejoy, and Helper, 
 with a large following of enthusiasts, demanding the im- 
 mediate emancipation of the slaves, without compensation 
 to their owners. 
 
 While, at the apex of the triangle, stood the immor- 
 tal Lincoln, who had fought the extension of slavery, so 
 as to place it in the course of ultimate extinction and while 
 President of the United States, gave strokes with his pen, 
 which removed the shackles from four million slaves and 
 millions of freemen stood by, shouting approval, while the 
 nations of the earth looked on and said, 'Amen." 
 
 73
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SHABBONA, CHIEF 
 OF THE POTAWOTAMIES 
 
 By The Author 
 
 Read before the McLean County Historical Sodiety 
 
 tN giving a sketch of the life and character of the most 
 J wonderful Indian of modern times, I am grateful to my 
 
 father for important facts and data. My father emi- 
 grated to Illinois from Tennessee in 1827, first settling in 
 Morgan county, then in McLean county, then in White 
 Oak Grove, Woodford county in 1832. In the fall of 1833 
 he made a prospecting tour of the northern part of the state 
 with a view of securing United States government lands. 
 He started on the morning of November 12, 1833, riding 
 his celebrated mare "Blaze." This mare was ridden by 
 General Gridley in the Blackhawk war. One of his ob- 
 jectives being Shabbona Grove, DeKalb county, with a view 
 of learning more of that celebrated chief. His pathway 
 was mostly along Indian trails and rough roads. He passed 
 over what is now Kappa, El Paso and Minonk, stopping 
 a few miles south of what is now the town of Tonica. His 
 horse was fed and a late dinner served, and he renewed his 
 journey, crossed the Illinois river at what is now known as 
 "Starved Rock Ford" and proceeded to where the Fox 
 river empties in the Illinois. He followed the Fox river 
 passing what is now Ottawa; arriving awhile before night 
 at the Old Fox River Inn, where he ate his supper and 
 turned in for the night. 
 
 Here on the morning of November 13, beginning at 2 
 o'clock was witnessed the most wonderful and as yet unex- 
 plained meteorological phenomenon in the heavens that ever 
 
 74
 
 occurred in this or any other quarter of the globe. It is 
 known or called in the geographies of the heavens as the 
 event or display of the shooting stars. 
 
 My father claimed that he was the first person in the 
 Inn to discover the blazing meteors. In describing the 
 magnificent fiery spectacle he said that the brilliant light in 
 the heavens enabled one to see very small objects on the 
 floor without the aid of other light. The meteors and rock- 
 ets seemed to start a little southeast of the zenith and pro- 
 ceeded to the northwest at great rapidity and at angles vary- 
 ing from 35 to G5 degrees and fell as thick as snowflakes. 
 There was no letup in the magnitude of the blazing pyro- 
 technical scene until the approaching rays of the sun put 
 an end to the beauty of the display. Some twelve or four- 
 teen persons remained over night at the Inn, among whom 
 was a Methodist minister named Duncan, who searched 
 from the Bible, the Book of Revelations fortelling 
 of the event. No one was in fear that the 
 judgment day had come, and it was demonstrated 
 that these wonders were harmless, and that the 
 destruction of either life or property would not 
 ensue. The minister searched the Scriptures for a 
 prophecy of the heavenly disturbance. Passages were read 
 but opinions differed, but using the image employed in the 
 apocalyse, as set forth in the revelation of the opening 
 of the sixth seal, "the stars of heaven fell unto the earth 
 even as the fig tree casteth her untimely figs upon the 
 ground when shaken of a mighty wind." The stars were 
 of three kinds, the straightforward shooter at an angle of 
 35 degrees; the "blazing meteor" and sparkling balls of fire 
 and like appearances of fire that seemed to be fixed in the 
 firmament. The meteors were of various hues and closely 
 
 75
 
 ranging from a white furnace heat to a fiery red, with in- 
 termingling colors of yellow, green and blue. The oblong 
 shapes seemed to reflect the seven colors of the rainbow. 
 
 High up were occasionally seen balls of fire, which 
 trembled for a few seconds and then shot in vertical lines to 
 the earth. Some would apparently reach a point twenty- 
 five to seventy-five feet from the earth, then flicker out and 
 disappear. Some astronomers have argued that these sup- 
 posed distances were optical illusions. Observers of those 
 wonders on the coming of daylight examined the earth for 
 evidences of combustion, and a brownish ash substance in 
 small particles was found. 
 
 Of all meteorological events ever witnessed in modern 
 times, I give it as my opinion that the most tangible thing 
 that can be offered is that the earth at that time was passing 
 through the tail of a comet; and yet this contention is not 
 free from attack. 
 
 After breakfast my father sped away to the home of 
 George L. Hallenbeck in the grove bearing his name on 
 Fox river in what is now Kendall county. It was here 
 that Shabbona's pony dropped dead from a forced ride he 
 was making to warn the white settlers of the impending 
 tomahawk. Mr. Hallenbeck furnished him with a swift 
 horse and he speeded on his journey. My father had the 
 hospitality of this old settler, and both proceeded on horse- 
 back to Shabbona's village, arriving there in the afternoon, 
 where father was introduced by his companion to Shabbona. 
 the beloved chief of the Potawotamies. Mr. Hallenbeck 
 returned home the same day. 
 
 Shabbona was then located on two sections of land in 
 the southwest part of DeKalb county, set apart to him as a 
 reservation under the treaty of July 29, 1829, between the 
 
 76
 
 United States and the Indian tribes at Prairie Du Chien, 
 Wisconsin, by which all the Indian lands in northern Illinois 
 were ceded to the United States. The tribes represented 
 at that treaty were the Ottawas, Chippewas and Potawota- 
 mies. Shabbona was the chief of all those tribes. When 
 father and Mr. Hallenbeck had reached a point within about 
 three miles of the Shabbona village, the latter discovered an 
 Indian boy some six years of age, dressed in true Indian 
 style. He evidently was engaged in picking wild prairie 
 hawes. On being discovered he at once started on a swift 
 run toward some tall slough grass some three hundred yards 
 away. Hallenbeck suggested to give chase and catch him ; 
 they gave chase but all to no purpose. The little fellow 
 was fleet and reached the tall grass some fifty yards ahead 
 of his pursuers and escaped, after the manner of a scared 
 quail. Shortly after reaching the village my father was 
 taken severely ill and for one day and two nights he enjoyed 
 the hospitality of the great Shabbona, receiving food, shel- 
 ter and medicine. My father was a stranger to him, but 
 he took him in and administered to his wants and assigned 
 him a part of his wigwam. Speaking of this experience 
 my father said such generous hospitality he had never seen 
 before, and was an exception to the general make up of the 
 Indian race. The medicine given him was herb teas. The 
 fever was broken and on the morning of November 15, he 
 started on his return trip. He was conducted out of the 
 grove by Shabbona on the trail to Indian Creek and thence 
 to Ottawa, the chief leading the way, with an elastic step 
 and fine physique, erect as he walked, one of the most per- 
 fect athletes in the world. 
 
 The two parted with a warm shake of the hand some 
 three miles from the village. Father crossed Indian Creek 
 
 77
 
 at the scene of the massacre of the white settlers by Sac 
 and Fox Indians on May 21, 1832. Mr. Davis and fifteen 
 other victims of his colony were sleeping the sleep that 
 knows no wakening in a long grave carefully preserved 
 from the ravages of time. In the year 1906 a monument 
 was erected to the memory of those who fell under the blow 
 of the tomahawk. 
 
 He arrived at Fox River Inn about noon where he 
 again rested and dined and met some of the people he had 
 seen on the morning of the 13th. In an hour he renewed his 
 travel, following from that time about the same route as 
 going, except that he deflected some to remain over night 
 with a settler east of the town of Wenona, in order to look 
 at some government land in that vicinity. He left about 
 noon, November 16, and hastened on, arriving at his home 
 a little before nightfall, tired and sore but with a joyful 
 heart to again commune with his family. 
 
 Recurring to the scenes at Shabbona's Grove, father 
 said that his inquiry of the chief as to the place of his birth, 
 left it in doubt. He said he was born in 1775. Some of 
 the early settlers claimed he was born in Canada, but Wat- 
 son in his history of the Blackhawk War, says that he was 
 born on the Kankakee River at or near the present site of 
 Joliet. His squaw, Canoka, was born near Dixon, Illinois, the 
 daughter of a Potawotamie chief, and at his death Shab- 
 bona succeeded to the rule of that tribe. Canoka weighed 
 four hundred pounds. She had a mania for beads and it 
 is said that at times she wore a hundred strands around her 
 neck. In the summer of 1861, she was thrown out of a 
 wagon with her grandchild and both drowned in Nettle 
 Creek in six inches of water a few miles from home. 
 
 Shabbona assured my father that none of his lands
 
 were for sale, that he would hold them to raise fat oxen and 
 drive to Chicago. The account says that he had some fine 
 specimens of the bovine species feeding on matted bluegrass. 
 He, however, sold all of the two sections except about one 
 hundred acres. Under the aforesaid treaty none of his 
 tribe were to share in these lands, except his own family. 
 
 In 1836 the government removed the Potawotamies 
 west of the Mississippi River to a reservation in the 
 state of Iowa. The Sac and Fox Indians also had a 
 reservation several miles away, and the hatred of these 
 tribes against Shabbona and his family was such that they 
 killed a son and nephew of Shabbona soon after his removal 
 to Iowa. Attempts were also made by these savages on the 
 life of the old chieftain, and becoming disheartened and 
 filled with dread, he and his family and a few intimate 
 Indian friends, in the fall of 1837, returned to Illinois. 
 These poor unfortunates numbered about twenty-five. On 
 arriving at his home his heart was again filled with horror 
 and despair. He saw that his lands had been devastated, 
 his fine timber cut down, and large quantities hauled away 
 for lumber; the graves of his twin sons and others dese- 
 crated by the ruthless hand of unprincipled "pale faces." 
 Many of his old white friends called upon him to give con- 
 solation and cheer. He prayed the Good Spirit to give him 
 peace of mind and power to drown his sorrows. Soon 
 after the sale of his lands in 1845, he rejoined his tribe, but 
 this time in Kansas where he remained with his family until 
 1850 when he came back to Illinois. It is said that in 
 1817 that his land was forfeited to the government by the 
 duplicity of his agents, the Gates brothers, and the Commis- 
 sioner of United States Land Office, by their false affidavits 
 that Shabbona had abandoned his lands. They were then 
 
 79
 
 listed as government lands and sold for $1.25 per acre. 
 Nothing has ever equaled the treachery of our government 
 and the agents of the noble chief in the act of forfeiting his 
 lands. That he was robbed of them without the warrant of 
 law or the semblance of justice, there can be no doubt. Dis- 
 consolate and dazed, the old Chieftain wandered about the 
 country pitching his wigwam in secluded spots in Grundy, 
 La Salle, DeKalb and Kendall counties; partaking of the 
 hospitality of his old white friends who reverenced him for 
 his daring in saving the lives of so many white settlers. In 
 1857 the citizens of La Salle and Grundy counties, headed 
 by Lucian Sanger, raised by subscription $500 to purchase 
 a twenty-acre tract of land and the charitable ladies raised 
 enough money to build a house thereon as a permanent 
 home for Shabbona and his family. 
 
 But this child of nature, true to his instincts, he and his 
 squaw, Canoka, would not occupy it, preferring to live in 
 a wig-wam which they erected near by. This location was 
 between Seneca and Morris. Here on July 17, 1859, the 
 great and merciful Shabbona died. His funeral was im- 
 pressive and tearful and largely attended. On the 19th of 
 August, 1897, at Old Settlers Meeting in Ottawa, the pro- 
 ject was started to erect to his memory a suitable monument. 
 It was erected in the cemetery at Morris, Illinois, to mark 
 the resting place of himself, Canoka and other members of 
 his family. 
 
 On October 23, 1903, an appropriate and impressive 
 memorial service was held at the burial place, and the large 
 prairie granite boulder was dedicated to commemorate the 
 memory of one of the most wonderful men of modern 
 times. An immense concourse of people were present to 
 pay the last tribute of respect. Mr. R. C. Jordan, a well 
 
 80
 
 known merchant of Ottawa, delivered the oration, which 
 was beautiful and pathetic and was received with hearty 
 applause. In speaking of this noble and kind hearted man, 
 he said ''Character speaks louder than words. A great man 
 never dies. And great are the people who are great enough 
 to know what is great. Man has shown an innate good- 
 ness by his disposition in all ages to laud the good deeds of 
 his fellows. And that he has ever cherished ideals higher 
 than self is proven by the tributes offered to the memory of 
 his dead. These tributes have pictured the highest ideals 
 of his time." 
 
 The part taken by Shabbona and his valorous deeds 
 shown while fighting in the Indian wars are so fully re- 
 counted in our history that further mention is not necessary. 
 I desire however to recall one instance. Shabbona was sec- 
 ond in command of the Indian forces at the battle of the 
 Thames. Tecumseh, highest in command, fell dead pierced 
 by a bullet, Col. Richard M. Johnson fell badly wounded. 
 Shabbona, who succeeded to the command, rushed to the 
 side of the colonel and showed the magnanimity of his 
 heart towards a fallen foe by preventing an Indian from 
 tomahawking him. Colonel Johnson never forgot this 
 gracious act and years afterwards, while vice-president of 
 the United States, bestowed upon the chivalrous chief, a 
 valuable gift of a gold watch and chain. 
 
 The Sac and Fox Indians derisively dubbed Shabbona 
 as the ''White Man's Friend", and so he was and as such 
 experienced many hair breadth escapes at the hands of the 
 savages. He saved the lives of hundreds of whites by giv- 
 ing them timely warning. Had William Davis heeded his 
 warning, the massacre of himself and band of followers 
 would have been averted. Shabbona gave vent to the fol-
 
 lowing sentiment long before his death, "I hate baby killers 
 and women scalpers and for this I expect to die by the 
 hands of my enemies." But his prediction was not realized. 
 The Great Spirit hovered over him and protected him from 
 all harm. In other words his life seems to have been 
 spared in order that he be a benefit and blessing to the hu- 
 man raoe. 
 
 Shabbona was an Ottawa Indian by birth and it is 
 claimed a nephew of the great Chief Pontiac. By virtue of 
 the Indian marriage rule, when he married Canoka, he be- 
 came a member of the Potawotamie tribe. He was a man 
 of great intellectual force and vital energy, and weighed 
 about 220 pounds. He had the instincts of a great general 
 and leader of men, and had the faculty for the promotion of 
 useful industrial schemes. He was in many respects the 
 superior of Eli S. Parker, the New York Seneca Indian 
 chief, and who for many years resided at Galena, and dur- 
 ing the Civil War was private secretary to General Grant, 
 and at the surrender of General Lee, wrote the terms of the 
 surrender at the dictation of General Grant, and at the close 
 of the war Parker was breveted brigadier general. 
 
 My father on hearing of the death of Shabbona penned 
 the following tribute to his memory, "A great and good 
 man has passed on. No words of mine can fully express 
 my appreciation of his kindness to me. I have often 
 thought that his valuable services to humanity have never 
 been fully appreciated and especially by a large number of 
 white people. He was an Indian, but had the instinct and 
 tenderness of heart of the highest type of the white race. 
 The name Shabbona will live in the hearts of the people as 
 long as time lasts, and long after his dreaded enemies have 
 been forgotten. It was my wish to again take him by the 
 
 82
 
 hand before his death, and look into the face of a man who 
 was as noble and grand as he appeared, and whose thought 
 was to be on terms of peace with all mankind, and serve the 
 world in the capacity of a good Samaritan." 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Recently I stood at the grave of one of the most beauti- 
 ful and lovable characters in the history of this or any other 
 age, and I thought of the wondrous deeds of mercy of one 
 of the greatest examples of true humanity. The world 
 should be blessed with more divinely gifted men of the type 
 of Shabbona. With a good education and sur- 
 rounded with proper environments and opportunities 
 he could have shown himself the equal of some 
 of our leading statesmen of the present time. He was as 
 tender hearted as a child, mild, courteous and loving, and 
 yet he had the courage of a heroic leader. 
 
 His intellect was keen and his foresight correct, but his 
 counsel and advice were unheeded by the hostile and war- 
 like tribes and for this he received anathemas and condem- 
 nation, and risked his life in daring acts for the right. 
 
 When I looked upon that monument, rough as it was, I 
 thought of the noble impulses of that dead chieftain, and 
 again marveled at the base ingratitude of man to man. The 
 •expression "Lo the poor Indian" is not without meaning. 
 That many tribes of Indians throughout the United 
 States on flimsy pretexts were robbed of their 
 lands without just compensation or excuse, there 
 can I think, be no question, yet their atrocities committed 
 upon old men and defenseless women and children were 
 horrible outrages and inexcusable; but these atrocities of 
 the uncivilized aborigines of North America were mild as 
 
 83
 
 compared with those perpetrated by so stykd, enlightened 
 peoples across the seas in the late European war. There- 
 fore let us not misrepresent the Indian savage, cruel as he 
 was, but give him his true place in history, and let us ever 
 remember that the immortal Shabbona was not only a friend 
 of the Indian but also of all races of mankind. 
 
 THE STORY OF AN INDIAN 
 
 By The Author 
 
 t DESIRE to give an -essay on one of the most noted In- 
 J dians of modern times, and a man who gained a wide 
 
 American national reputation, both in governmental 
 and war affairs. I refer to the famous Sachem of the Sen- 
 eca Tribe of New York, and who became a resident of Ga- 
 lena, Illinois, many years ago, and who was a lasting friend 
 and co-worker with General Grant. Very few people know 
 the real history of this famous chief, whose English name 
 was Ely S. Parker. I shall preface this essay by giving a 
 brief sketch of that most celebrated tribe of Indians known 
 as the Senecas. The origin of this tribe is unknown. They 
 were called Tsonondonaka (meaning people of the great 
 hill or mountain). This probably may refer to the lofty 
 peak south of Canadaigua Lake. The Senecas were said 
 to be closely associated with the Mohawks and Onondagas, 
 and in habits and appearance were more like the Oneidas 
 and Cayugas. Their earliest known Council was held south 
 of the above named lake. 
 
 The Senecas extended their boundaries west of the 
 Genesee river and were also scattered along Lake Erie and 
 the Allegheny river. They belonged to what was known 
 
 84
 
 as the famous Iroquois Indian Confederation League. At 
 one time eleven different tribes were banded together with 
 the Senecas. These tribes were admitted to replace the 
 losses in the almost interminable wars of the League, which 
 lasted about seventy-five years. This tribe is now distri- 
 buted over several different reservations in the state of 
 New York, the Tuscorawas being, perhaps, the most impor- 
 tant. Some 300 or 400 so-called Senecas are in the In- 
 dian Territory, but history says it is doubtful if they were 
 ever true Senecas. In the American Revolution they es- 
 poused the cause of Great Britain, as against the Colonies. 
 The Senecas were more progressive in the arts and knowl- 
 edge of civilization than were the majority of all other 
 tribes. Hiawatha, in describing the traits of character of 
 the five nations namely : the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onon- 
 dagas, Cayugas and Senecas, says of the latter in this wise : 
 "And you Senecas, a people who live in the open country 
 and possess much wisdom shall be the fifth nation, because 
 you understand the art of raising corn and beans and 
 making cabins." 
 
 The Allegheny reservation in Cattaraugus county, 
 New York, has wonderful features, both socially and poli- 
 tically, and the Senecas everywhere are highly respected by 
 the whites. Counties, cities and villages have been named 
 in honor of this most wonderful tribe of Indians. It has 
 also given to the world educators, poets, inventors, builders 
 and warriors of much renown, but, perhaps, the most noted 
 is the one of whom we are to speak in detail. Time will 
 not permit me to further elucidate in general on the Seneca 
 people, peculiarly gifted and possessed of genuine progres- 
 sive ideas. They have in a large degree kept pace with 
 civilization. 
 
 85
 
 I will give the traditional story of this great man, as 
 remembered by me from one of Galena's prominent citizens. 
 The mother of an Indian babe dreamed a strange dream. 
 In her vision she saw a rainbow and under it her little son's 
 name in English letters. The Wolf family of the Seneca 
 Indians, residing near Buffalo, said the dream meant that 
 her infant son would some day become a chief among the 
 white people and would gain renown. The child was born 
 at the Tonawanda residence in New York in 1828 (exact 
 date has been lost). His first name was changed to that 
 of Donehagawa, signifying ''holding the open door or 
 guarding the western gate," when he became the eighth 
 chief of the tribe. The boy, from his early boyhood days, 
 heard the prophecy and shaped his life accordingly. In 
 youth he showed talents, courage and strength, and these 
 won him the rank of Sachem of the Senecas. But the Ab- 
 orignee rank and title did not satisfy the ambition of the 
 youth. He remembered the prophecy and determined to 
 see its fulfillment and become renowned as a white man. 
 
 While yet a small boy he took the name of Ely S. Par- 
 ker and began his struggle to reach the standard of his fa- 
 mous white brethren. From this time the traditional ceases 
 and his actual career in life begins. From the first there 
 were unexpected obstacles in his path. When he had ac- 
 quired a fair, common school education, he wished to go to 
 college, but found all avenues closed to him. He studied 
 law, but when he applied for admission to the bar, he was 
 told by the authorities that Indians were not citizens, and 
 that inasmuch as he was not a citizen, he could not become 
 a lawyer. The fact that his ancestors had reigned in Amer- 
 ica centuries before the discovery by Columbus, and the 
 right of possession to lands, could make no difference. But 
 
 86
 
 checked at every point in his ambition, he turned his atten- 
 tion to other fields. He attended a Polytechnical Insti- 
 tute in Troy, New York. There it was that he became edu- 
 cated as a civil engineer. He also took up the calling in Ga- 
 lena of contractor and builder and superintended the struc- 
 ture of many buildings, including the post offices in Ga- 
 lena and Dubuque. His destiny seemed to wane there, for 
 at Galena this taciturn Indian was on all sides balked in his 
 efforts to rise in life. While thus depressed he met the Si- 
 lent Man of Destiny, Ulysses S. Grant, and so attractive to 
 each other did th-ey become that a long life friendship was 
 the result. Each of these peculiarly gifted men, then but 
 little known, saw the opportunity to redeem himself and 
 win lasting honors. 
 
 Parker's chance to become illustrious had now appar- 
 ently arisen. He applied to the governor of New York 
 for a commission in the Federal Army. This was refused. 
 A like request was also refused on his application to the 
 Washington authorities. But Lincoln, the great patriot 
 and humane man. was to be consulted, and early in the year 
 1863, Lincoln issued to Parker a captain's commission in 
 the United States Army, and ordered him to report for 
 duty to General Grant, then in command of some of the 
 western divisions of the Federal troops. Grant cheerfully 
 gave him a position on his staff and soon after made him 
 his military secretary. This appointment was the result 
 of Parker's distinguished services in the Vicksburg cam- 
 paign. In May, 1803, he was created assistant adjutant 
 general. On April 10, 1865, through the recommendation 
 of General Grant, he became brigadier general of volun- 
 teers. In lSilG he was first lieutenant of cavalry in the 
 United States Army, and from March 2, 1807. he took
 
 command of officer's grade of captain, major, lieutenant, 
 colonel and brigadier general in the same Army. 
 
 Parker was such a fine penman, and by reason of this 
 fact and the trust that Grant reposed in him, that he con- 
 tinued him as "secretary, both for his private and official 
 correspondence. 
 
 General Parker was an important personage at the 
 surrender of General Lee at Appomattox. He engrossed 
 the terms of Lee's surrender in duplicate from the original 
 prepared by General Grant, and made some important 
 amendments thereto, by both erasure and interlineation, 
 under Grant's direction. I quote from one who vouches 
 for its correctness, but who seems to be quite zealous, as 
 follows : 
 
 "When Lee entered the room (McLean residence) to 
 sign the document and caught the first glimpse of Parker 
 he thought that Grant had sought to insult him, by having 
 a negro present to witness his official humiliation. But as 
 soon as he learned that Parker was an Indian, the Confed- 
 erate general treated him with extreme courtesy." 
 
 I very much doubt the truthfulness of that account 
 for two reasons. First, because General Grant, in his per- 
 sonal memoirs, which are very complete, does not mention 
 one word about such an incident, but does tell what Par- 
 ker did on that occasion ; and, second, because Gen. Lee 
 knew the peculiarities and general make-up of both the In- 
 dian and negro races so well that with such a striking, re- 
 markable and intelligent character as Ely S. Parker sit- 
 ting before him, he could not be deceived. The entire story 
 of such a thing happening is ridiculous and improbable on 
 its face. 
 
 In 1869, General Parker resigned his commission in 
 
 88
 
 the Army and accepted an appointment from President 
 Grant, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In 1867 Gen. 
 Parker caused much astonishment in Washington society 
 by marrying Miss Minnie Sackett, a belle of that city. Of 
 this union there was a daughter, handsome, modest and 
 accomplished. Nickerson Parker, a brother of the sub- 
 ject of this sketch, also married a white woman. I was 
 informed that the brother is still living in Cattaraugus 
 Reservation of New York. Mrs. Caroline Mountpleasant 
 was a sister of General Parker and was a teacher in the 
 Sunday school of the Baptist church of the Tuscarawas 
 Reservation for many years. She was a woman of culture, 
 education and refinement. She was also sympathetic, 
 benevolent and forbearing and was beloved by all who 
 knew her. Her nephew, Frank Mountpleasant, had charge 
 of the church work. These wonderful people, and those 
 connected with them in the marriage relation, were receiv- 
 ed into good society. 
 
 But prejudice to the inferior races still continued to 
 exist, and Gen. Parker's brilliant career, which seemed des- 
 tined to go with him through life, began to dim soon after 
 the close of President Grant's administration. Then it 
 was that his public life ended. About this time a bank fail- 
 ure swept away Parker's fortune and he was left penniless. 
 The impoverished old chieftain took up his residence in 
 New York City, where for a few years only, he filled the 
 office of supply clerk in the New York police department. 
 
 The city directory recorded the old Sachem general 
 simply as "Parker, Ely S., clerk, 300 Mulberry street, 
 house, 253 West 42nd St." 
 
 Leaving New York City he returned to his summer 
 home in Fairfield, Conn., where he died August 21, 1895. 
 
 89
 
 His funeral obsequies were performed by officers and min- 
 isters of the Seneca tribe, and were of the most imposing 
 order, and were witnessed by many whites, as well as In- 
 dians. Thus it was that this celebrated man, who early 
 in life took on the ambitions of white men and resolved to 
 become noted, talented and powerful, as the fortunate of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race, in death returned to and was claim- 
 ed by his own people. I think, perhaps, no Indian ever 
 attained to such eminent distinction as did Ely S. Parker. 
 Do the foregoing facts warrant the claim that once an In- 
 dian, always an Indian, in the sense that an Indian may 
 not advance and become distinguished, as famous white 
 men? We think not, we should hope not. But with all 
 the education you may lavish upon him, I doubt if his idol- 
 atrous instincts and early traditions of his race ever leave 
 him. But this is not all. General Ely S. Parker frater- 
 nized with the white man in another field than that of sol- 
 dier and comradeship. He was the first Worshipful Mas- 
 ter of Miners Lodge No. 273, Ancient, Free and Accepted 
 Masons; also a member of Jo Daviess Chapter, No. 51, 
 Royal Arch Masons; also a member of Ely S. Parker Coun- 
 cil, No. GO, Royal and Select Masters (named in honor of 
 him), and Galena Commandery, No. 40 Knights Templar, 
 all located at Galena, Illinois, and retained his membership 
 in each until his death. Gen. Parker was an intimate friend 
 of Louis H. Morgan, the Ethnologist, and was his efficient 
 co-worker in preparing the ''League of the Iroquois in the 
 year 1851." The value and recognized instructive features 
 of this book were due to Parker, as well as to Morgan. 
 The Senecas were the most populous, powerful and influ- 
 ential of the tribes of the six nations of New York during 
 the demon like ferocities that prevailed among the savage 
 
 90
 
 races of the Eastern United States and Canada for nearly 
 seventy-five years. They were more progressive than the 
 average tribe in much that tends to build up civilization. 
 
 Parker, although away from his tribe to become in his 
 fondest dream as a white man, never forgot his people, 
 and often visited them. 
 
 He had full knowledge of their institutions and their 
 needs. Having such knowledge and as a man of 'educa- 
 tion, he had both the interest and ability to make those in- 
 stitutions known to the civilized world, as no ordinary in- 
 terpreter could have done. What a remarkable career, what 
 a remarkable ending! Who can show as great and com- 
 mendable record for the Indian character as that of Gen. 
 Ely S. Parker? Millions upon millions of the Anglo Sax- 
 on race cannot, although they may not worship the "Great 
 Spirit" or cling to the traditions of their remotest ances- 
 tors. 
 
 DOES GOD AID COMBATANTS IN WAR? 
 
 By The Author 
 
 \^VER since old Joshua, at the claimed sanction of the 
 <^*) Lord, commanded the sun to stand still upon Gideon 
 
 and the moon in the Valley of Ajalon, thus giving him 
 time to finish the slaughter of his enemies, the Amorites, 
 Monarchs have been persuaded to believe that God gives 
 them support in time of war. 
 
 The Joshua account says "that the sun hasted not to 
 go down for about a whole day." 
 
 It is evident that if Joshua had been learned in the 
 science of astronomy he would have commanded the earth 
 to stop its diurnal motion. 
 
 91
 
 Joshua in his great anxiety to be victorious and des- 
 troy the lives of his enemies, may have believed the Lord 
 obeyed his commands — that they did stand still or the 
 earth stop its motion, for such dastardly work, thus con- 
 travening the laws of the movements of celestial bodies, 
 no intelligent, sane person in this time believes. History 
 must reckon with the facts as they are, which have been 
 written in disgraceful letters of blood from the earliest 
 periods of the human race. Joshua believed as emperors 
 and kings at this time believe that Almighty God answers 
 the prayers and obeys the behests of the captain of the 
 hosts in battle. 
 
 The children of Isreal were zealous in their faith, that 
 the Lord was with them in their onslaughts against their 
 enemies. In the biblical account we find such or similar ex- 
 pressions as these. "The Lord mighty in battle"; "the Lord 
 will help us smite our enemies" ; "God will fight on the side 
 of Israel" ; "the Lord delivered our enemies into the hands 
 of Israel." "The Lord your God, He is it that fighteth for 
 you ; the Lord hath driven out before you great nations and 
 strong." But it seems that in several of their contests God 
 failed them — the Philistines fought against them and rout- 
 ed them. Also in the year of the world 3405 Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, King of Babylon, captured Jerusalem and its king 
 after terrible carnage, took many thousand prisoners and 
 large spoils of war. In some of the defeats of the Israe- 
 lites the accounts say that God allowed their foes to chas- 
 tise them because of their sins. 
 
 The contention that "the law of might makes right" 
 has resulted in the crushing of many weak, though useful 
 and peaceable nations. The doctrine of "the Divine Right 
 of Kings" along with the idea that God mixes in battles, or 
 
 92
 
 takes part in the jealous disputes of men and nations has 
 long since exploded. It had its origin in the desire for us- 
 urpation of power, the love of conquest and the brutal in- 
 stinct of man for killing his fellow men. It is sacrilegious 
 to place God on the side of any country, which thinks it has 
 been wronged, and expects that He will assist in righting 
 the alleged wrong in battle. 
 
 It can scarcely be contended that when two dogs dis- 
 pute over a bone, and it results in a fight, that God allies 
 himself with either canine. Then why should God be on 
 the side of men, who are more brutal than dogs, in slash- 
 ing each other's throats in mortal combat, and after the 
 smoke of battle has cleared away boast of the number of 
 their victims. If God looks upon the scenes of butchery, 
 devastation, sadness, wretchedness, misery and all the hor- 
 ors of war as seen in Europe, it would be both incom- 
 prehensible and silly to insist or expect that he desired to 
 cast his mighty power on the side of either ruler or nation 
 in that great combat. If God is all-wise, all gracious, all 
 powerful, and controls the destinies of nations in their 
 strifes for expansion and power He would have put a 
 stop to that accursed and most disgraceful war that has 
 ever devastated Europe. If He is the possessor of the 
 attributes, above named. He could interpose to prevent war 
 and save the lives of millions of good, conscientious men. 
 But all such arguments fail because of the erroneous con- 
 ception of what God is, or in the nature of things, what 
 He cannot be, and the part He plays in our great and won- 
 derful universe. 
 
 Napoleon was seemingly convinced that God was on 
 his side, when his mighty armies shook the earth and the 
 notables of Europe were trembling at his feet. But on the
 
 J 8th day of June, A. D. 1815, at the crimsoned field of 
 Waterloo, God deserted him, and in his solitude on the is- 
 land of St. Helena, he had ample time to think over his 
 errors and misdeeds and soften his murderous heart — as 
 a man of real destiny God was not with him, neither is 
 He with any other would be man of destiny. The ma- 
 chinery of this universe is too vast and its workings too 
 charming for an all-wise and loving God to leave its steer- 
 ing wheel even for the fraction of a second to help any na- 
 tion in a silly and inexcusable war. 
 
 Whatever our opinions may be of the supreme grand 
 architect of the mystic world; the divine power; the omni- 
 potent influence, the infinite intelligence, or that wonder- 
 ful and mysterious force in nature under any other name, 
 it is never exerted to suit the whims or prayers of men 
 in unprovoked bloody work. 
 
 God or the divine power moves in a mysterious way, 
 His wonders to perform — but the operations of all the 
 forces of the universe are in accordance with natural laws 
 and never otherwise. Almighty God, so to speak, has 
 nothing to do with the wicked instincts of or foolish con- 
 tentions of men. So long as kings and potentates cling to 
 the belief that God will aid them when called upon in their 
 desperate struggles for supremacy, just so long will wars 
 continue to drench the earth with blood. If the time ever 
 comes when swords shall be beaten into plowshares, and 
 spears into prunning hooks and the nations shall practice 
 wars no more (now the greatest and most laudable desid- 
 eratum throughout the world) it will be accomplished 
 from an adherence to the teachings of the meek and lowly 
 Nazarene who proclaimed peace on earth and good will 
 to men. 
 
 94
 
 PEACE OR WAR 
 (By the Author) 
 
 Any movement looking to a lasting peace among the 
 nations of the earth, ought to be encouraged by every lover 
 of peace and deprecator of war. 
 
 The universal depression now existing in the business 
 and agricultural marts of the world argues forcibly and 
 pleadingly for a perpetual Peace Conference or League of 
 Nations. 
 
 All the nations of the earth are looking to the United 
 States for advice, relief, and the future avoidance of wars. 
 Therefore, if the United States should join the League of 
 Nations, this action on her part would be a sufficient guar- 
 antee of permanent peace among them. In such an event 
 she would become the leading factor in the League. 
 
 As the recent European War was world wide, so 
 there should be a world wide Peace Conference or League, 
 arising from the smoke of the conflict to prevent its re- 
 currence. 
 
 The U. S. should join the League for the reason that 
 by so doing, she would dictate, manage and control the 
 markets of the world, and this is an important question for 
 the farmers of the country to consider. Likewise, such 
 action on her part would undoubtedly result in her con- 
 trolling the financial interests of the world. 
 
 If the rights and claims for the Four-Power Treaty 
 are correct and beneficial, so likewise, the principles 
 •evolved in the League of Nations are correct and beneficial 
 to humanity. 
 
 95
 
 It is fair to presume that if the United States and two 
 of the leading nations of Europe had cast their fortunes 
 with the League of Nations, the economical and financial 
 questions now under discussion by the European powers, 
 would in a great measure at least have been quieted and 
 settled, favorably and satisfactorily, to all the nations there 
 concerned. 
 
 Probably the greatest and most absorbing thought be- 
 fore the peoples of the civilized nations of today, is that 
 of the subject of peace, or the avoidance of wars among 
 nations of the earth. 
 
 As one who earnestly gave thought to this subject, T 
 was in favor of the ratification by the United States Senate 
 of Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. Nations 
 like individuals are not infallible in their decisions and 
 judgments, and I firmly believe that this government of 
 ours, as represented by the United States Senate made a 
 grievous error in defeating ratification of that treaty and 
 league submitted to them for approval by President Wil- 
 son. I think it would have been conducive of a better 
 understanding among the leading nations of the world, and 
 arbitration and mutual discussion of disputes would have 
 taken the place of hasty and ill-advised declarations of 
 war. 
 
 A court of the leading nations, meeting regularly, in 
 my judgment, would have obtained only justice and right 
 for themselves and not have dared to do otherwise by the 
 smaller and weaker nations. 
 
 The danger of future wars certainly would have been 
 lessened and not enhanced by the operations of such a 
 league. 
 
 But the United States Senate did not see fit to ratify, 
 
 96
 
 and as a substitute, forced by necessity, the Four Power 
 Treaty has come into being. I am heartily in accord with 
 this pact, and the administration of President Harding will 
 doubtless be remembered by generations to come for this 
 notable achievement in diplomacy and peace attainment, 
 when other measures of its time have long been forgotten. 
 
 There should be no partisanship in matters so fraught 
 with human interest and I pride myself in being a citizen 
 first and partisan afterwards. 
 
 One of the greatest curses in the United States today 
 is the resort to petty politics, and the utter disregard of 
 wholesome pledges and promised acts on the part of would- 
 be statesmen. 
 
 By reason of the foregoing statements and conclusions, 
 I heartily 'endorse the so-called Four Power Treaty and the 
 League of Nations. 
 
 The United States got mixed up in the European War 
 by reason of repeated outrages upon our citizens and com- 
 merce, and at no time during the same was she imbued with 
 the spirit of gain or conquest, or sought remuneration for 
 her great outlays. She also fought to make the principles 
 of democracy safe for the world. The fact that in her 
 action she was actuated with no selfish motives, places her 
 as the guiding star in the galaxy of nations to prevent greed, 
 conquest and fiendish bloodshed and to restore lasting, 
 amicable relations among the nations of the earth. 
 
 97
 
 SOME REFLECTIONS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Christianity is not founded on supposed miracles, or 
 the Crucifixion, but upon the pure principles and correct 
 teachings of Jesus. 
 
 The most important religious question of the age is — 
 "If a man die, shall he live again?" 
 
 We should not dispute with people on religious matters 
 because religion is a sacred thing. Beliefs may or may 
 not be erroneous, yet it is not wise for us to set up our 
 standard of faith and argument as the correct one. 
 
 I do not believe there is any such a thing as a miracle. 
 Things which seem miraculous are easily explained under 
 the operation of natural and physical laws, or the law of 
 cause and effect. 
 
 We do not go to Heaven. Heaven comes to us if we 
 want it. 
 
 The more people economise, the less the danger of 
 panics. A reckless credit system is the sure precursor for 
 ruin to those who adopt it. 
 
 The mixing of languages, like the confusion of ton- 
 gues, is harmful to the Government and the people. There- 
 fore, all languages, other than the standard language of the 
 country, except in the use of the Postal Service, etc., ought 
 to be abolished, and never revived, except in cases of emer- 
 gency, and then only by special act of Legislation. 
 
 to 
 
 98
 
 Quarrels between individuals, as between nations, of- 
 ten are the result of misunderstandings of the true rela- 
 tions of each to the other. 
 
 The desire of war and conquest is an ambitious craze 
 which has deprived kings, emperors, and imbecile rulers of 
 their thrones. 
 
 The Scriptural definition of religion is a good one, 
 viz : "True and undefiled religion before God and 
 man, is to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- 
 tions, and keep one's self unspotted from the world." 
 
 In speaking of religion, Lincoln said, "When I do 
 good, I feel good ; and when I do bad, I feel bad, and that 
 is my religion." 
 
 The stability of any nation is made more secure by the 
 purity of its citizenship. 
 
 Disraeli of England said "War is never a solution; it 
 is always an aggravation." 
 
 I believe that all the peoples of the earth are looking 
 forward to the near solution of a prophesy, which says : 
 ''Our swords shall be beaten into plowshares, and our spears 
 into pruning hooks, and the nations shall practice war no 
 more." 
 
 99
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN
 
 Dedication Lincoln Trail 
 Monument
 
 r~ 
 
 1 
 
 LINCOLN TRAIL MARKER 
 
 McLEAN-WOODFORD COUNTY LINE
 
 DEDICATION OF THE LINCOLN TRAIL MONUMENT. 
 
 Dedication of Lincoln Trail Monument, on the line 
 between McLean and Woodford Counties, two miles north 
 of Carlock, on the farm of W. B. Carlock, July 11, 1923. 
 
 12 M. picnic dinner in Walnut Grove. 
 
 Presidents for the occasion, Mrs. J. W. Riggs, Direc- 
 tor of L. C. M. A. for McLean County, and L. J. 
 Freese, Director, L. C. M. A., for Woodford County and 
 too much praise cannot be accorded them for the efficient 
 and courteous manner in which they performed their duties. 
 
 During the exercises, Miss Gladys Sims of Pontiac 
 sang several patriotic selections in a charming and impres- 
 sive manner. 
 
 2 P. M. Called to order in the grove, song, "America" 
 by the audience. 
 
 Invocation, Rev. Jesse Moore. 
 
 A fine Recital Apostrophe to the Flag, by Miss Ruby 
 Painter of Eureka. 
 
 "Hail to thee, flag of our fathers, flag of the free! 
 With pride and loyalty and love we greet thee, and prom- 
 ise to cherish thee forever. How wonderful has been thy 
 onward progress of conquest through the years. How 
 marvelous the triumph of thy followers over the vicis- 
 situdes of fortune that met them on their way! Daring 
 men have reverently placed thee on the icy crags of the 
 
 1C3
 
 frozen north, and have as reverently stationed thee on the 
 cloud swept wastes of the far-off frozen south. They have 
 followed thee in willing service over the wastes of every 
 ocean, into the depths of the impenetrable blue. Stal- 
 wart, stronghearted men have willingly laid down their 
 lives at thy command to guard the outposts of freedom. 
 Millions of men, women and children have stood at atten- 
 tion, listening for the first sound of thy call, willing to 
 give all they have, if need be in thy defense. Thousands 
 on thousands of our bravest and our best followed thee 
 across the seas for the glorious privilege of defending the 
 weak and the helpless. 
 
 Our flag! It has long been known as the emblem of 
 strength and power. Yet stricken nations of the earth 
 have learned sweeter attributes : they have received kindly 
 sympathy, loving service, generous helpfulness. For these 
 gifts thou art welcome throughout the 1 world. 
 
 Glorious and beautiful is the flag of our fathers, the 
 Star Spangled Banner — beautiful in its own waving folds, 
 glorious in the memory of the brave deeds of those who 
 chose it for their standard, but more beautiful, more glor- 
 ious will be the nation which has inherited their land and 
 their flag — more if we who boast our lineage from those 
 heroes gone — if we inherit not alone their name, their 
 blood, their banner, but their nobler part, their spirit, 
 their love of liberty, their devotion to justice, their inflex- 
 ible pursuance of righteousness and truth. 
 
 Most beautiful and most glorious, shalt thou be O 
 flag, as the messenger of such a nation, bearing to the ends 
 of the earth glad tidings of the joy and the glory and 
 the happiness of a people where freedom shall be linked 
 with justice, liberty restrained by law, and where "peace 
 
 104
 
 on earth good will to men" shall be the living creed. 
 
 Press on, press on, O glorious banner, bearing this 
 message to all the peoples — 
 
 ''Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee — 
 
 Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears ; 
 
 Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears, 
 
 Are all with thee, are all with thee." 
 
 Salute to the Flag, audience, led by Mrs. Charles 
 Herrick, Chicago, State Regent, D. A. R. 
 
 Introductory address paying a justly merited tribute 
 to the world renowned American as follows, by Judge 
 Franklin H. Boggs, Urbana, Illinois, President L. C. M. A. 
 Mr. Chairman, State Regent of the Daughters of the 
 
 American Revolution, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 We all know it is a matter of tremendous importance 
 that a nation shall have back of it a great history. It stead- 
 ies the life of the present, elevates and up-holds, lightens 
 and lifts it up by the memory of the great deeds, the noble 
 sufferings and the valiant achievements of its men of old. 
 
 We are met today on this historic spot to do honor 
 to one of the great characters in American History. In 
 the brief space of time allotted me, I have felt I might best 
 use the same by giving you an insight into the character of 
 President Lincoln by quoting characteristic statements 
 made by him at different periods in his eventful history 
 making career. 
 
 First of all, Mr. Lincoln held in tender reverence the 
 memory of his mother. While he was only nine years of 
 age at the time of her death, yet the impression made on 
 his young life by his mother were never effaced. Refer- 
 
 105
 
 ring thereto he said : "All that I am and all that I ever hope 
 to be I owe to my angel mother." 
 
 Then, too, Mr. Lincoln recognized the guiding hand 
 of Providence in the performance of his duties as the chief 
 executive of the nation. This was clearly exemplified in 
 the address made by him to his friends and fellow citizens 
 in Springfield as he was leaving for Washington for his 
 inauguration as President. Among others, this he said: 
 "Friends, I, go to assume a task more difficult than de- 
 volved on President Washington. Unless the Great God 
 who assisted him shall be with me, and aid me, I shall fail, 
 but if the great omnicient mind and Almighty arm that di- 
 rected and protected him; shall guide and support me, I 
 shall not fail, I shall succeed. 
 
 As illustrating the political wisdom and statesmanship 
 of Mr. Lincoln and his ability to foresee the logical re- 
 sults of slavery on the national existence, I want to quote 
 from his address known as, "A House Divided Against 
 Itself," made in 1858 accepting the nomination for United 
 States Senator. "A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand. I do not believe this Government can permanently 
 endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union 
 to be disolved. — I do not expect the house to fall, — but 
 I do expect that it shall cease to be divided." 
 
 The advisability of making the "House Divided" 
 speech was questioned by some of Mr. Lincoln's friends 
 and they advised against making it. Mr. Lincoln replied : 
 "The time has come when these sentiments should be ut- 
 tered, and, if it is decreed that I should go down because of 
 this speech, then let me go down linked with the'truth." 
 
 Another phase of Mr. Lincoln's character which is 
 tremendously interesting, in view of the fact that he was 
 
 106
 
 born in obscurity, of humble parentage and had in 
 actual school privileges less than one year, was his ability 
 to deal and cope with the strongest men of the nation. In 
 his cabinet were Secretaries Seward, Chase and Staunton. 
 They were men of education and learning and had 
 had long time training in governmental affairs. Two 
 of these men had been active candidates for the Presidency 
 in competition with Mr. Lincoln, and as it developed, they 
 were not entirely in accord with his policies and were 
 more or less jealous of one another. With this situation 
 on hand there had arisen in the Cabinet a movement on 
 the part of certain of the Cabinet officers to have one of 
 the members removed. Mr. Lincoln learning of this, 
 stated in a Cabinet meeting in connection therewith: '1 
 must myself be the judge of how long to retain and when 
 to remove any of you from his position. It would great- 
 ly pain me to discover any of you endeavoring to procure 
 another's removal, or in any way to prejudice him before 
 the people. Such endeavor would be a great wrong to 
 me and much more a wrong to the country. My wish is 
 on this subject, that no remark be made, nor any ques- 
 tions be asked by any of you here or elsewhere, now or 
 hereafter." I submit that it takes a man of strong in- 
 tellectual mind and of strong moral fiber to make a state- 
 ment of that character to men of the caliber composing his 
 Cabinet. 
 
 Another phase of his character that has always been 
 interesting and one much discussed, was his wit and hu- 
 mor. One or two illustrations of this will suffice. On 
 one occasion a party applied to him for a pass through the 
 lines to Richmond, to which request Mr. Lincoln replied: 
 "I would be glad to give it to you, but my passes are not 
 
 107
 
 held in very high respect. Why! do you know I have 
 already issued passes to 250,000 men to go to Richmond 
 and as yet not one of them has ever arrived there." 
 
 On another occasion a committee of ministers called 
 on Mr. Lincoln to give advice touching the conduct of 
 the war and among other things said to him : "They hoped 
 that the Lord was on our side." Mr. Lincoln replied in ef- 
 fect : ''That he wasn't bothered about which side the Lord 
 was on for he knew that would be the right side, but he 
 was tremendously interested that we should be on the 
 Lord's side." 
 
 As illustrating the attitude of Mr. Lincoln to the men 
 of the South, who were threatening to secede from the 
 Union, and the magnanimous spirit which he manifested 
 in his dealings with them, I would quote from Mr. Lin- 
 coln's first inaugural address: "In your hands my dissat- 
 isfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momen- 
 tous issues of Civil War. The Government will not as- 
 sail you. You can have no conflict without being your- 
 selves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in 
 heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have 
 the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect and defend' 
 it. I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
 We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 
 strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
 mystic -chord of memory, stretching from every battle 
 field and hearth-stone all over this broad land, will yet 
 swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely 
 they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 
 
 It would seem that an address of this character should 
 
 108
 
 have caused a thoughtful man of the South to have 
 stopped and paused before assuming the responsibility of 
 disrupting the Union, but they failed to heed the advice. 
 
 Then in closing, I want to quote from Mr. Lincoln's 
 last inaugural address in which he was seeking to instill 
 into the People of this Country the spirit that should guide 
 them in the closing period of the War. 
 
 "With malice toward none, with charity toward all, 
 with firmness in the right as God gives us power to see the 
 right, let us finish the work we are in. To bind up the Na- 
 tion's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the 
 battle, and for his widow and orphans. To do all which 
 may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among 
 ourselves and with all nations. 
 
 A pleasing feature of the occasion was the magnificent 
 address of Governor Fifer, subject: — Lincoln, the Greatest 
 Leader in All History. He spoke as follows : 
 
 Friends : We are here to dedicate the simple tablet 
 which we see before us. It is erected to mark the place 
 where Abraham Lincoln crossed the line between the two 
 counties when traveling the old Eighth Judicial Circuit. 
 Tradition tells us that he sometimes travelled alone but was 
 frequently in the company of brother lawyers. 
 
 This is historic ground for it was in this neighborhood 
 that Lincoln stopped many times for rest and refreshments, 
 both at the Bensons and at the home of Abraham W. Car- 
 
 109
 
 lock, the father of W. B. Carlock, now an honored member 
 of the Bloomington Bar. Mr. Carlock's home consisted of 
 a rude log cabin such as were generally seen on our frontier 
 at that time. The latch string was always on the outside, 
 and no charge was ever made for accommodations. Mr. 
 Lincoln would at times stop only long enough to take a 
 single meal, but many times be remained over night with 
 Mr. Carlock and was always a welcome guest. While dif- 
 fering in their political views they were personal friends 
 and Mr. Carlock entertained a high regard for Mr. Lincoln 
 so long as he lived. 
 
 Woodword County was organized by an act of the 
 Gentral Assembly passed in 1841. Versailles was the first 
 county seat of Woodford, but it was in 1843 removed to 
 Metamora, and the court house at that place was completed 
 in 1845. In going and coming Lincoln and his party 
 usually crossed the Mackinaw river at Wyatt's Ford, but 
 when the waters were high they were ferried over at Slab- 
 town or Faneysville. 
 
 McLean County was organized in 1830 by an act of 
 the General Assembly. The country rapidly increased in 
 population by reason of its natural beauty and the fertility 
 of its soil. Bloomington, the county seat, has grown from 
 a small country village to be one of the most beautiful and 
 prosperous cities in our state. It was at Bloomington that 
 Lincoln loved to visit. It was there that he had more 
 friends than he had in any other section of the state. 
 David Davis, Jesse W. Fell, Leonard Swett, W. W. Orme, 
 Hudson Burr, W. H. Hanna and Isaac Funk were among 
 his warm personal and political friends, and these men did 
 much to shape and mould the political fortunes of the great 
 emancipator. Jesse W. Fell was the first to approach Mr. 
 
 no
 
 Lincoln on the presidency. He obtained from him a snort 
 biographical sketch and scattered it throughout the east, 
 which had much to do with Mr. Lincoln's first nomination. 
 Bloomington was the home of David Davis, who was Judge 
 of the old Eighth Circuit practically all the period of Mr. 
 Lincoln's legal career. Soon after taking the presidency 
 Lincoln showed his appreciation of the great abilities of Mr. 
 Davis by appointing him a member of the supreme court of 
 the United States, the greatest judicial body in the world, 
 and it may be said that the wisdom of this appointment was 
 abundantly justified by the career of Mr. Davis on the 
 bench, who proved to be a great man and a great judge. 
 Judge Weldon. a stalwart friend of Lincoln, then lived at 
 Clinton but afterwards removed to Bloomington. 
 
 The Daughters of the American Revolution, under 
 whose auspices these exercises are being held, are entitled 
 to the everlasting gratitude of the good people of this coun- 
 trv for their great work in keeping alive the memories of 
 the Revolution which resulted in establishing free institu- 
 tions in the American wilderness. They have also empha- 
 sized and kept alive the most important political events of 
 recent times, and for this they also deserve the thanks of 
 our people. We wish them well and hope they will continue 
 the noble work in which they are engaged. 
 
 This strange man, whose memory we honor today, 
 came among us, strode across this little grain of sand on 
 which we live and disappeared, leaving the world dazzled 
 and amazed at his great achievements. 
 
 When approached by a would-be biographer for the 
 important facts of his life he replied, that the whole of it 
 could be summed up in a single line of Gray's Elegy — "The 
 short and simple annals of the poor." Born down here in 
 
 ill
 
 the Beechwoods of Kentucky with only three months school- 
 ing, he wrote the best English of any man of his time. 
 Some of his writings now hang in the great University of 
 Cambridge, England, as a model of good English. Not 
 long ago a friend of mine and a graduate of that University 
 told me that when on a visit there one of the professors 
 pointed to this writing and said : "There is the best English 
 that was ever written." Think of it, this plain man of 
 the people reared on the frontier of this new land, prac- 
 tically without schooling, writing English that is hung up in 
 one of the great universities of the world as a model for the 
 youth of a land that produced Shakespeare, Hume, Ma- 
 cauley and Tennyson. The writing referred to is a letter 
 written to a mother, living in Massachusetts, who had lost 
 five sons in the War. Lincoln wrote to her a letter of sym- 
 pathy and said : 
 
 "Dear Madam — 
 
 I have been shown in the files of the War Department 
 a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that 
 you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously 
 on the field of battle. I know how weak and fruitless any 
 words of mine should be which would attempt to mitigate 
 the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain 
 from tendering to vou the consolation that may be found in 
 the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that 
 our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your be- 
 reavement and leave you only the cherished memory of 
 the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours 
 to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the Altar of Freedom." 
 
 In the closing words of his second inaugural we are 
 given a clear insight into the real character of the man. 
 These words do honor both to his head and his heart : 
 
 112
 
 "Earnestly do we hope; fervently do we pray that this 
 mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. But if it 
 be God's will that it continue until the wealth piled by the 
 bondsmen's two hundred fifty years of unrequited toil is 
 sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash is 
 repaid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three 
 thousand vears ago. still it must be said that the judgments 
 of the Lord are true and righteous all together." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's lasting fame, however, will not rest alone 
 upon the fact that he wrote good English. He was a sure- 
 footed, clear-headed statesman and the greatest leader of 
 men that the world has ever known. As he lay on his 
 bloody bier Secretary Staunton pointed to him and truth- 
 fully said : ''There lies the greatest leader of men that ever 
 lived." It was these qualities in Mr. Lincoln that enabled 
 him to save the American L'nion. 
 
 The two greatest events in our history are the Ameri- 
 can Revolution and the Great Civil War. The first gave 
 us our free institutions. In the second it was demon- 
 strated that these institutions could be successfully defended 
 and preserved. The Revolution was a new experiment in 
 government and we might know that in its success some 
 names would be sent to the Pantheon of Fame and so we 
 have Washington. Hamilton. Jefferson. Marshall and the 
 rest. For nearly a hundred years after that period we 
 prospered a<= no nation had ever prospered before. We 
 grew in population and we grew in wealth beyond the 
 dream of avarice. Finally, however, in 1861 we were 
 called up as a nation before the Judgment Bar of the Al- 
 mighty and our free institutions went on trial before the 
 civilized opinion of mankind. It was indeed a supreme 
 crisis, for if this free government failed what others could 
 
 11:
 
 ever hope to endure. This was the darkest hour our na- 
 tion ever saw. At first our armies were repeatedly driven 
 back in defeat and disaster, and at this time we were paying 
 seven per cent on our bonds. As Lincoln surveyed the sit- 
 uation he truthfully exclaimed: "The occasion is indeed 
 piled high with difficulty." And so it was, but through 
 the wise leadership and assisted by the brave boys in blue 
 our Union was saved, and so the name of Abraham Lincoln, 
 with others of that period was sent to the Pantheon. 
 
 I am glad that I knew and heard this great man. As 
 we contemplate his life we do not wonder that more has 
 been written and said of him than was ever written or said 
 of any man that ever lived. His speeches and writings 
 have been translated into all the languages of the world, 
 and he is justly regarded by the people of all lands as the 
 greatest exponent of democracy the world has yet pro- 
 duced. No incident of his life should be lost to posterity. 
 His pure exalted and unselfish life will help teach the world 
 the great lesson that the basis, the indispensable basis, of all 
 true greatness is integrity of character and that without it 
 all our seeming successes will in the end turn to ashes in our 
 hands. He, in his solitary greatness, walked alone and com- 
 muned with himself. He stood unawed in the presence of 
 great men. He cared nothing for great wealth and his ex- 
 ample is a rebuke to the fierce commercialism of our age. 
 The church and the school, however, are doing their 
 beneficent work, which gives some hope of a better day to 
 come. 
 
 Lowell has sung of him : 
 "Nature they say, doth dote 
 And cannot make a man 
 
 114
 
 Save on some worn-out plan. 
 
 Repeating us by rote; 
 
 For him her Old World moulds aside she threw, 
 
 And, choosing sweet clay from the breast, 
 
 Of the unexhausted West, 
 
 With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, 
 
 Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 
 
 New birth of our new soil, the first American." 
 
 Address, Reminiscenses of Lincoln, by Prof. B. J. 
 Radford, Eureka. 
 
 Prof. Radford is now eighty five years of age, and 
 was six years old when he first saw Lincoln, and met with 
 him frequently thereafter in his attendance at Court at 
 Metamora. At the age of twenty years he said, he at- 
 tended the joint discussion between Lincoln and Douglas 
 on October 7, 1858 at Galesburg. His recollection of that 
 memorable event was very vivid. He recounted the an- 
 ecdotes and stories which Lincoln told at the Hotel in Met- 
 amora, where the lawyers would congregate in the even- 
 ing, and there gathered such men as Judge, Samuel H. 
 Treat, Asahel Gridley, Stephen Logan, David Davis and 
 others who became known all over the country. The ad- 
 dress was a most interesting one throughout, and the /vu- 
 thor is sorry to say that he was unable to secure same in 
 full for publication. 
 
 Address, including a recital of Lincoln's famous Get- 
 tysburg speech, by W. B. Carlock. 
 
 Madam President, Neighbors and Friends: 
 The first Circuit Court in Woodford County was held 
 at Versailles, September 24, 1841. Mr. Lincoln, then 
 
 115
 
 unknown to fame, and without a unique history, was pres- 
 ent and participated in the business of the Court. 
 
 At the April term, 1842, he tried on behalf of the 
 defendant, the first criminal case appearing on the dockets 
 of the Court. Hon. Samuel H. Treat was the presiding 
 judge. Lincoln on his trips to attend said terms of Court 
 enjoyed the hospitality of my parents in their log cabin 
 home, which stood a short distance southeast of the present 
 homestead dwelling. He was a frequent guest of my 
 father for several years thereafter. My friends, we 
 have witnessed with loving appreciation the impressive 
 ceremonies attending the dedication of yonder monument. 
 It has been erected in memory of the greatest man, perhaps, 
 that has ever been given to the world in the cause of human 
 freedom and the sacredness of the natural, inherent and in- 
 alienable rights of man. The name of the great com- 
 moner, Abraham Lincoln, will be lauded by the generations 
 which are to follow us and these; will build and occupy, but 
 we will not be here. Yet the spirit of the immortal Lin- 
 coln will continue, as the ages decay, to live with love and 
 praise* in the hearts of all the peoples of this earth, because 
 of his commendable deeds in behalf of humanity. 
 
 Lincoln's largeness of heart, his gentle simplicity, his 
 lovable democratic demeanor and his dogged determination 
 ever to do the right, without fear or favor, appealed to the 
 admiration of mankind. In his heart there was no malice. 
 While at the head of our great nation in the dark hours of 
 her troubles, he pleaded "charity for all and malice towards 
 none." And these noble impulses of his heart were em- 
 bodied in his last inaugural address. And when 
 fanatics importuned him to resort to revengeful tactics 
 against certain prisoners, he rebuked them by saying: "I 
 
 116
 
 shall do no malice. The things that I do are too vast for 
 malicious dealing." 
 
 The time may come when another grave crisis will 
 arise in our history, bringing forth an inspired American, as 
 great, good and grand as the one whose virtues we here 
 commemorate. If so, the world will again look on and 
 marvel and the people of all lands will rise up with exulta- 
 tion and praise and call him blessed, as they did the Saviour 
 of our country, the man of destiny, Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 GETTYSBURG 
 
 The battle of Gettysburg was fought on the first, sec- 
 ond and third days of July, 18G3, and was the most desper- 
 ate and bloody of the Civil War. The Union Army was 
 commanded by General George G. Meade, while the invad- 
 ing Confederate forces were led by General Robert E. ivee. 
 In this gigantic struggle Cemetery Hill was occupied, de- 
 fended and held to the end of the fight by the center of 
 Meade's Army. Here on the 19th day of November, 
 1863, occurred the dedication of the National Cemetery in 
 honor and memory of the Federal dead who fell in that 
 great battle. 
 
 Edward Everett, a Unitarian minister and popular 
 orator of the City of Boston, delivered the oration, speak- 
 ing about two hours. The great Lincoln was present to 
 hear it, and incidentally to make a short talk, if he so de- 
 sired. He did make a talk and now nearly all students of 
 American history know it by heart. I will now give a re- 
 cital of his famous Gettysburg speech: 
 
 "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
 forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty 
 and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created 
 equal. Now we are engaged in a great Civil War, test- 
 
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 ing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
 dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battle- 
 field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of 
 that field as a final resting place for those who here gave 
 their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fit- 
 ting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger 
 sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
 hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who 
 struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power 
 to add or detract. The world will little note nor long re- 
 member what we say here, but it can never forget what they 
 did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here 
 to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have 
 thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here 
 dedicated to the great task remaining before us; that from 
 these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause 
 for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that 
 we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in 
 vain; that this nation under God shall have a new birth of 
 freedom, and that government of the people, by the people 
 and for the people shall not perish from the earth." 
 
 At the conclusion of the ceremonies Mr. Everett 
 grasped the hand of Lincoln and said ''I congratulate you 
 on your success", and then added with emphasis, "Mr. 
 President, I would gladly give my one hundred pages to be 
 the author of your twenty lines." 
 
 The next day after the dedication, he wrote the Presi- 
 dent as follows : "Permit me to express my great admiration 
 of the thought expressed by you with such eloquent simpli- 
 city and appropriateness at the consecration of the Cem- 
 etery. I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came 
 
 118
 
 so near the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you 
 did in two minutes." 
 
 Yet all lovers of good literature should read and study 
 the Everett oration. In it are gems of elegant thought, 
 rhetorical beauty and expressions of true patriotism. 
 
 Before the opening of hostilities in the Civil War, far- 
 seeing statesmen of the South regarded as a mistake that 
 the wisdom of Lincoln had not been more fully appreciated 
 by her people, at a period when his timely advice and warn- 
 ing should have been heeded by the secession element. Yet 
 the course pursued by the Southern States brought about a 
 more speedy destruction of slavery, which had been from 
 the foundation of our Colonial government the blighting 
 curse of the American people. Let us rejoice that the 
 world has been made better by reason of the influence re- 
 flected from the exemplary life and teachings of the Great 
 Emancipator. 
 
 Remarks, by Miss Lottie Jones. Chairman, Executive 
 Committee L. C. M. A.. 
 
 Miss Jones spoke pleasingly and encouragingly of 
 the good work that is being accomplished by the D. A. R. 
 and the L. C. M. A. organizations. She referred to the 
 different places where the Lincoln memorial markers have 
 been and are to be placed. She complimented the officers 
 engaged in the work and spoke feelingly of her high appre- 
 ciation of the success of the occasion. 
 
 A splendid eulogistic address was made by J. Bernard 
 Murphy as follows : — 
 
 Fellow Citizens and Friends : 
 
 Todav we are assembled to review the life of 
 
 119
 
 Abraham Lincoln; to pay solemn tribute to his im- 
 mortal name and to unveil a tablet perpetuating his 
 memory and the glories of his achievements. If affords 
 me much happiness to have the privilege of participating in 
 these ceremonies and to have the honor of being here as a 
 representative of the American Legion. 
 
 The men who fought under the Stars and Stripes dur- 
 ing the recent World War were inspired to victory by the 
 deeds of their forefathers recorded in the history of the Re- 
 public. Their determination to conquer was animated by 
 the courage, the unwavering conviction and the deep sin- 
 cerity of such patriots as Abraham Lincoln. Their brav- 
 ery finds its counterpart in the valor displayed on American 
 battlefields in every war in which the nation has ever been 
 engaged. Their loyalty to the cause which they repre- 
 sented and their devotion to the institutions which were es- 
 tablished by the framers of our constitution and preserved 
 by succeeding generations are re-affirmed in the purposes 
 of the American Legion. 
 
 Though the war has been over for more than four 
 years and the nation has gradually turned to the pursuits of 
 peace, the spirit of service still prevails. Men and women 
 who responded to the Country's call in the years 1917 and 
 1918 have banded themselves together in order that they 
 may be better able, in time of peace, to continue their mis- 
 sion of Service and to be a power for constructive good. 
 The founders of the American Legion are men who believe, 
 as Lincoln believed, in Union and in Liberty, in Right and 
 Equality, in God and in their Country. 
 
 Their purpose was to construct an organization ded- 
 icated to the ideals that have made America the haven of 
 
 120
 
 refuge for the oppressed and the temporal savior of hu- 
 manity. An organization ordained to serve America by 
 upholding and defending the constitution of the United 
 States; by assisting to Americanize and assimilate the immi- 
 grants who come to our shores; by inculcating a sense of 
 individual obligation to the community, state and nation; 
 by fostering true democracy; by striving to make right the 
 Master of Might and to promote peace and good will on 
 earth. The fundamentals of the American Legion are not 
 the fruits of new-born thoughts but are basic American 
 principles which originated in the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence and which have stood the test of time and strife. 
 
 As we turn aside for the moment from our daily busi- 
 ness cares and devote a little time to matters of public con- 
 cern, and particularly to the life of a great statesman and 
 servant of the people, we are impressed how incomplete 
 their national life would have been without such patriotic 
 organizations as the Daughters of the American Revolution 
 and The Grand Army of the Republic. They have stood 
 before the eyes of rising generations as living examples of 
 true American citizenship. They have taught us the les- 
 sons of service and of sacrifice. They have typified the 
 ideals of Washington and Lincoln. And now the Amer- 
 ican Legion, is here to carry on the work which they began 
 and which they have so nobly done. Our generation ac- 
 cepts the duty and honor of giving to the world unsullied 
 and unchanged, the ideal of right, of freedom, of liberty un- 
 der law. 
 
 As the years roll on and the march of progress con- 
 tinues, with our rapid commercial and industrial develop- 
 ment, our complicated international relations and foreign 
 intrigue, we are continually being confronted with innumer- 
 
 121
 
 able new problems which present themselves for solution. 
 
 Many of these are highly socialistic and revolutionary 
 in character and strike at the very vitals of America. In 
 order to safeguard our liberties and to preserve the bless- 
 ings which have been handed down to us as a priceless heri- 
 tage from preceding generations, it is necessary for us to 
 keep faith with the ideals of our forefathers, for which 
 they struggled and died ; to keep faith with the traditions 
 that are found only in American history and that are con- 
 secrated in blood sacrificed in freedom's holy name; to 
 keep faith with ourselves, our neighbors and our posterity. 
 In a Democracy, where faith is dead there hope is lost. 
 Without faith there can be no Government by the people, 
 of the people and for the people; without faith in our fel- 
 low men and in tomorrow there can be no economic devel- 
 opment, no industrial prosperity and no national security. 
 There are some within our borders who would break the 
 faith and see our natoin 1 drift onto the rocks of destruction. 
 There are those shortsighted individuals who live only in 
 the present; who declare that our civilization is crumbling 
 and that the progress of today will be followed by disaster 
 and calamity tomorrow. Then there are others who for 
 their own self aggrandizement roam back and forth across 
 our land preaching false doctrines calculated to encourage 
 sedition, to agitate industrial strife, to foster race prejudice, 
 to stir up religious hatred and to establish widespread dis- 
 respect for law and order. Such disturbing influences are 
 un-American and have no proper place within the domin- 
 ions of our Country. Happily the promoters of these de- 
 structive elements are greatly in the minority and their la- 
 bors will remain unavailing so long as the love of freedom, 
 of justice and equality is nourished in American hearts. 
 
 122
 
 Fortunately, the great mass of our people are men and 
 women who cherish the sanctity of the home and family; 
 who have confidence in the institutions which have made 
 our liberties, our civilization and progress possible. Men 
 and women who believe in the stability of America; who 
 have an abiding faith in posterity and in the nation's future. 
 
 To me it seems that one of the most solemn duties of 
 citizenship devolving upon us is to teach to our children 
 and to our immigrant population a deeper respect for law 
 and constituted authority. Today there is too much vio- 
 lation of the law; too much mob rule; too many murders 
 and other offences are being committed for paltry gold and 
 selfish gain; too many men charged with crime, real or 
 imaginary, have been mistreated, punished or even slain by 
 outlaw bands, without the interposition of judge or jury 
 and without the sanction of legal authority. This sort of 
 thing constitutes a lurking danger which strikes at the 
 foundation of the Republic and which must be dealt with by 
 appropriate means. It must be met by a revival of patriot- 
 ism, by a renewed and more intensive educational training 
 aryJ by more fearless administration of the criminal law. 
 The task is not an easy one, but it will be done, because 
 American determination for equity and justice has willed 
 it so. 
 
 The life of Abraham Lincoln constitutes a noble and 
 wholesome example of patriotic devotion and can be used as 
 a powerful influence in thei educational phase of this work, 
 because it inspires truer citizenship and actuates more 
 zealous service for democracy and freedom under law. The 
 name of Lincoln will always stand as a bulwark for the 
 preservation of these ideals. We shall always cherish his 
 memory. In his language : "The mystic chords of mem- 
 
 123
 
 ory, stretching from -every battlefield and patriot grave to 
 every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land, 
 will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, 
 as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 
 
 Here orders were given to repair to monument. 
 
 The monument was gracefully unveiled by Mrs. 
 Charles Herrick and Mrs. F. W. Wilcox of the D. A. R. 
 
 Presentation of marker to McLean County by Letitia 
 Green Stevenson Chapter D. A. R. and L. C. M. A., by 
 Mrs. S. E. Sims, Past State Regent. 
 
 Mr. Graves, Hon. Acting Chairman of the Board of 
 Supervisors of McLean County. 
 
 I deem it an honor as well as a great privilege on 
 behalf of the Lititia Green Stevenson Chapter D. A. R. 
 and the Lincoln Circuit Marking Ass'n., to present this 
 beautiful Memorial Marker to the care and keeping of 
 the County. 
 
 It marks the highway over which Abraham Lincoln 
 passed from Woodford into McLean County, when he 
 rode the Circuit of the Eighth Judicial District, when prac- 
 ticing law in the Courts of Central Illinois. 
 
 It is erected for the purpose of keeping the influ- 
 ence of Abraham Lincoln alive, and perpetuating his 
 memory, not only for this generation but for generations 
 yet to come. 
 
 I; present it, Hon. Chairman, with the hope that we 
 may so live that it may be said of us, as it is said of our 
 beloved Lincoln, We traveled this way. 
 
 124
 
 Presentation of marker to Woodford County by Mr. 
 L. J. Freese, Director, L. C. M. A. 
 
 Madame President and Mr. Chairman of the Board of 
 Supervisors of Woodford county: 
 
 The committee of the Lincoln Circuit Marking As- 
 sociation for Woodford county has performed its task 
 of tracing the public highway over which Lincoln trav- 
 eled, entering Woodford county from Tazewell county 
 about three miles north of Washington it follows the an- 
 gling road into Metamora, the former county seat, thence 
 southeasterly through old Versailles, the first county seat, 
 and Bowling Green both now off the map, and thence 
 across the Mackinaw at Wyatt's Ford at the foot of yonder 
 slope, and up the road and across these fields into McLean 
 county. 
 
 Lincoln traveled this trail with other attorneys and 
 the Circuit Judge of the Eighth Judicial District. To mark 
 the place where the trail leaves Woodford county and en- 
 ters McLean county this beautiful marker has been placed 
 by the committee, jointly with the committee from Mc- 
 Lean county. This completes the work of our committee. 
 
 Now, Mr. Chairman of the Woodford county Board 
 of Supervisors I present to you the Woodford county half 
 of this marker for your care and keeping as the years 
 go by. I am sure it will be looked after by you with as 
 much interest and devotion as this attentive audience 
 manifests in the dedicatory exercises today. 
 
 This marker as the generations come and go will 
 say to those who pass by that a great man traveled this 
 way in his vocation as a lawyer; Lincoln, the rail splitter; 
 Lincoln, the surveyor; Lincoln, the congressman; Lin- 
 coln, the President ; our martyred President ; the immortal 
 
 125
 
 Lincoln who lives in the hearts of the people, and whose 
 name will forever shine in the constellation with that of 
 Washington, Grant and Logan; Blaine and Theodore 
 Roosevelt. 
 
 Both of these talks were very beautiful and highly 
 appreciated. 
 
 The acceptance of the care and keeping of monument 
 C. E. Graves, Acting Chairman of the Board of Supervisors 
 of McLean County, and Joseph Welte, Chairman of the 
 Board of Supervisors of Woodford County. 
 
 The remarks of acceptance by these gentlemen were 
 very appropriate and well chosen. 
 
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