THE
STATE OF OHIO—SOURCES OF HER STRENGTH.
A paper read at the annual meeting of the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio
Historical Society, November, 1881, by its President,
COL. CHARLES WHITTLESEY
NOT long before the President left Mentor for Washington, he is reported to have said to a New York politician that Ohio had about all the honors to which she is entitled. The response was “that she had about all the other States could stand.” This sentiment appears to be a general one, not in an offensive sense, but as a widespread opinion, honestly entertained. Whitelaw Reid, in a recent address at Xenia, Ohio, showed conclusively from the blue books, that as to the number of citizens from this State who have held Federal offices, they are not in excess of her share, and are not proportionally equal to those from Massachusetts and Virginia. If it be a fact that our representative men have attained a leading influence in national affairs, it cannot be because of numbers alone, and it should be remembered that they have been raised to place and power, principally by the suffrages of the whole people. If their influence at the Capital is overshadowing, and it is exercised for the good of the nation, there should not be, and probably is not any feeling of jealousy.
If our representative men are prominent, it may be a source of honorable State
pride; for while great men do not make a great people, they are signs of a
solid constituency. Native genius is about equally distributed in all
nations, even in barbarous ones; but it goes to waste wherever the surroundings
are not propitious. Intellectual strength, without cultivation, is as
likely to be a curse as a blessing. If it has cultivation and good moral
qualities, it cannot even then become prominent without great occasions; and in
republican communities, without the backing of a people equal to the
emergency. Leaders are not the real power, only its exponents. Storm
signals are not the storm, they are only indications. History clearly
shows that in free or partly free communities, great men rise no higher than
the forces behind them. It also informs us that those nations which have
been the most powerful, have become so by a mixture of
races. Cross-breeding, by a law of nature fortifies the stock physically,
on which mental development greatly depends
Why the mingling of certain races, like the Teutonic and the Celtic, produces
an improved stock, while the same process between Caucasian and Negro or the
North American Indian results in depreciation and decay, is one of those
numerous mysteries, as yet unfathomed by man. Also, why the greatest
unmixed races, such as Mongolian, Tartar, Japanese, Chinese, Hindoo, Arab and Hebrew, soon reach the limits of their
improvement. A portion of the Aryan family migrated northwestwardly,
mingling with the Caucasian, reaching Europe by the north of the Black
sea. They acquired strength as they spread out on the waters of the
Danube, the Elbe and the Rhine, becoming powerful and
even dominant under the general name of Goths, having a language from which the
Saxon and English were derived. This might be attributable to the medium
climate between the Baltic and the Mediterranean, if other people had not
enjoyed as temperate climes, and had not gone on increasing, either in mental, physical or political power. When the Celtic and
Scandinavian people had pushed forward to the Western sea, and met in the
British Islands, they were for a long time unable to go farther, and thus had
the best of opportunities to coalesce. The Atlantic was finally overcome, and their
propensity to migrate was gratified by crossing the
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sea to North America. This great stream of
humanity kept the line of a temperate climate, the central channel of which, as
it crossed the continent, occupied the State of Ohio.
In King John’s time, an English people existed who exhibited their power
through the barons at Runymede. Cromwell was
endowed with a mental capacity equal to the greatest of men; hut he would not
have appeared in history if there had not been a constituency of Roundheads,
full of strength, determined upon the overthrow of a licentious king and his
nobility. The English stock here proved its capabilities on a larger
scale than in the days of King John.
Washington would not have been known in history if the people of the American
colonies had not been stalwarts in every sense, who selected him as their
representative. In these colonies the process of cross-breeding among
races had then been carried further than in England, and is now a prime factor
in the strength of the United States
I propose to apply the same rule to the first settlers of Ohio, and to show
that if she now holds a high place in this nation, it is not an accident, but
can be traced to manifest natural causes, and those not alone climate, soil and
geographical position
There were five centres of settlement in Ohio by people of somewhat different
stock; four of them by people whose social training was more diverse than their
stock. Beginning at the southwest, the Symmes’ Purchase, between the
Great and Little Miami rivers, was settled principally from New Jersey, with
Cincinnati as the centre. Next, on the east, between the Little Miami and
the Scioto rivers, lay the Virginia Military District, reserved by that State
to satisfy the bounty land warrants, issued to her troops in the war of the
Revolution. It was like a projection of Virginia (except as to slavery),
which then included Kentucky, across the Ohio river to
the centre of the new State. Chillicothe was the principal town of this
tract. The pioneers came on through the passes of the Blue Ridge, their
ancestors being principally English and Episcopal, but claiming without much
historical show, a leaven of Norman and Cavalier. With Marietta as a
centre, the Ohio Company was recruited from Massachusetts and other New England
States. In colonial times, their ancestors also came from England, but of
opponents to the Church of England, in search of religious freedom. One
hundred and fifty years had wrought great differences between them and the
Virginians. Next, west of the Pennsylvania line, lies the “seven ranges”
of townships, extending north of the Ohio to the completion of the fortieth
parallel of latitude, being the first of the surveys and sales of the public
land of the United States. Most of the early settlers here came over the
Alleghenies from the State of Pennsylvania; some of Quaker stock, introduced by
William Penn; and more of German origin, in later days. North of them to
Lake Erie lay the Western Reserve, owned and settled by inhabitants of
Connecticut, with Cleveland as the prospective capital of a new State, to be
called “New Connecticut.” This tract extended west from Pennsylvania one
hundred and twenty miles. West of the seven ranges to the Scioto, and
south of Wayne’s treaty line, is the United States Military Reservation, where
the first inhabitants were from all the States, and held bounty warrants issued
under the resolution of 1776. They were not homogeneous enough to give
this tract any social peculiarity. The
north-western part of the State was, until the war of 1812, a wilderness
occupied by Indians.
The New Jersey people brought a tincture of Swedish and Hollander blood,
mingled with the English. Those from Pennsylvania had a slight mixture of
Irish, Scotch and Scotch-Irish. The settlers of
new communities leave their impress upon the locality long after they are
gone. in Ohio these five centres were quite isolated, on account of broad
intermediate spaces of dense unsettled forests, through which, if there were
roads or trails, they were nearly impracticable. They all had occupation
enough to secure the bread of life, clear away the trees around their cabins,
and defend themselves against their red enemies. Though of one American
family, their environment delayed their full social fusion at least one
generation. There differences were principally those of education, and
including their religious cultus, were so thoroughly
inbred that they stood in the relation of different races, but without
animosity. A large part of them had
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taken part in the war of the Revolution, or they would
have been lacking in courage to plant themselves on a frontier that was
virtually in a state of war until the peace of 1815. The expeditions of
Harmar in 1790, St. Clair in 1791 and Wayne in 1792—94
embraced many of them as volunteers. Full one thousand whites and more
Indians were killed on Ohio soil before peace was assured. Nearly every
man had a rifle and its accoutrements, with which he could bring down a
squirrel or turkey from the tallest tree, and a deer, a bear or an Indian at
sixty rods. They had not felt the weakening effect of idleness or luxury.
Their food was coarse, but solid and abundant. In spite of the malaria of
new countries the number of robust, active men fit for military duty was
proportionally large. As hunters of wild animals or wild men, they were
the full equals of the latter in endurance and the art of success. They
were fully capable of defending themselves. The dishonorable surrender at
Detroit, August 16, 1812, became known on the Western Reserve, where the
settlements were wholly unguarded, between the 20th and 22d; probably at
Washington not before the 25th or 26th. General Wadsworth, commanding the
Fourth Division of the State Militia, ordered the Third Brigade (General
Perkins) to rendezvous at Cleveland. On the 23d, the men of the Lake
counties were on their way, each with his rifle, well-filled powder-horn, bullet-pouch and butcher-knife, in squads or companies, on
foot or mounted; and on the 26th, one battalion moved westward. By the
5th of September, before any orders from Washington reached them, a post was established
on the Huron river, near Milan, in Huron county.
Nothing but these improvised troops lay between General Brock’s army at Detroit
and the settled portions of the State. The frontier line of settlements
at that time turned south, away from Lake Erie at Huron, passing by Mansfield
and Delaware to Urbana, in Champaign county.
The war of 1812 brought nearly all our able-bodied men into the field, which
had the effect to hasten a closer relationship between the settlements. In 1810, there were 230,760 inhabitants in Ohio. The
vote for Governor in 1812 was 19,752. Probably the enrolled militia was
larger than the vote. It is estimated that for different terms of service
20,000 were in the field. War has many compensations
for its many evils, especially a war of defense or for a principle in which the
people are substantially unanimous. Few citizens volunteer for military
service and go creditably through a campaign, its exposures
and dangers, whose character is not strengthened. They acquire sturdiness,
self-respect and courage. These qualities in
individuals affect the aggregate stamina of communities and of states.
The volunteers in 1812—14, with a variety of thought, manners and dress,
engaged in the common cause of public defense, coalesced in a social sense,
which led to a better understanding and to intermarriages.
At that time very few native-born citizens were of an age to participate in affairs. Tiffin, the first governor, was a native of England. Senator, and then Governor Worthington was born in Virginia. Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., senator, governor and postmaster-general, in Connecticut; Jeremiah Morrow, sole member of Congress from 1803 to 1813, then senator and governor, in Pennsylvania; General Harrison, afterwards president of the United States, in Virginia; General McArthur in New York; and General Cass in New Hampshire. Nearly all the generals of the war of the Rebellion in command of Ohio troops were natives.
When the State had recovered from the sacrifices of the war of 1812, the native
element showed itself in public affairs. The Legislature, reflecting the
character of its constituents, took high ground in favor of free schools,
canals, roads and official integrity. To this
day no disgraceful scandal or corruption has been fastened upon it, or the
executive of the State. Two generations succeeded, their blood more
completely mingled, their habits more thoroughly assimilated, their
intelligence increased, public communication improved, and in 1861 wealth had
not made the people effeminate. Such are the processes which, by long and
steady operation in one direction, brought into existence the constituency
which rose up to sustain the Federal government. Three hundred thousand
men were found capable of filling all positions, high and low, especially that
of efficient soldiers in the ranks. For commanders, they had Gilmore,
Cox, Stanley, Steedman, Sill, Hazen, McCook, Rosecrans, McDowell, McPherson, Sheridan, Sherman and
Grant, all raised, and except three, born on Ohio soil, and educated at West
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Point. Was it fortuitous? I think I perceive sufficient causes
working toward this result, not for one generation, or for a century, but
reaching back to the English people of two or three centuries since.
Nations, races and families decay, and it is possible it may be so here; but
wherever the broad political foundations laid in Ohio are taken as a
pattern, and there is a general mixture of educated Anglo Saxon stocks, the
period of decline will be far in the distance.
On the 4th of March, 1881, three men of fine presence advanced on the platform
at the east portico of the Federal capitol. On their right is a solid,
square-built man of an impressive appearance, the Chief-Justice of the United
States [Morrison R. Waite]. On his left stood a tall, well-rounded,
large, self-possessed personage, with a head large even in proportion to the
body who is President of the United States [James A. Garfield]. At his
left hand was an equally tall, robust and graceful
gentleman, the retiring president [Rutherford B. Hayes]. Near by was a
tall, not especially graceful figure, with the eye of an eagle, who is the
general commanding the army [William Tecumseh Sherman]. A short, square,
active officer, the Marshal Ney of America, is there
as lieutenant-general [Philip Sheridan]. Another tall, slender,
self-poised man, of not ungraceful presence, was the focus of many thousands of
eyes. He had carried the finances of the nation in his mind and in his
heart, four years as secretary of the treasury, the peer of Hamilton and Chase
[John Sherman]. Of these six, five were natives of Ohio, and the other a
life-long resident. Did this group of national characters from one State
stand there by accident? Was it not the result of a long train of
agencies, which, by force of natural selection, brought them to the front on
that occasion?