Samuel Jordan Kirkwood

Front matter

IOWA BIOGRAPHICAL SERIES

SAMUEL xIGRDAN KIRCTO^I^

CLARK

Author's Preface

Tpie life of Samuel Jordan Kirkwood is a part of the history of three Commonwealths. His boyhood and youth were spent in Maryland. In Ohio from 1835 to 1855 he practiced law, became prosecuting attorney of Richland County, and served in the convention which revised the State Constitution. Coming to Iowa at a time of great political upheaval, he was soon elected State Senator, and in 1860 was elevated to the position of Chief Executive. Subsequently he was United States Senator and Secretary of the Interior. But it is his service as the "War Governor" of Iowa from 1860 to 1864 that gives his name an assured place on the honor roll of the State and Nation.

In the pages which follow an attempt has been made to tell the story of Governor Kirkwood's life as far as possible by the use of his own letters and papers and those of his contemporaries. Hence the frequent quotations. This plan has been made possible by the great abundance of material. In fact, the problem with regard to sources was largely one of selection.

X AUTHOR'S PREFACE

The manuscript sources are voluminous. Seven large Military Letter-Books for the Civil War period and three letter-books for the time when Kirkwood was Secretary of the Interior are in the possession of The State Historical Society of Iowa at Iowa City. In the Historical Department at Des Moines there is a large collection of letters written to Kirkwood, covering the period between 1850 and 1890. The Public Archives at Des Moines likewise contain a great mass of material bearing on his administrations as Governor. The printed sources are no less plentiful, as is indicated in the Notes and References at the close of the volume. It was of interest to the writer that most of the printed sources which he used were copies of books and pamphlets donated to The State Historical Society of Iowa by Mr. Kirkwood and bearing his name.

Special mention should be made of The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, by Mr. Henry W. Lathrop, published in 1893. The manuscript of this volume was read and approved by Mr. Kirkwood before it was sent to the printer. Mr. Lathrop 's work was therefore of no little assistance to the writer.

Among the persons to whom the writer is

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xi

indebted for help and information, his gratitude is first of all due to Mrs. Kirkwood, who is still living in the old home at Iowa City. Although nearly one hundred years of age her memory is remarkably keen and trustworthy. She generously placed valuable materials at the writer's disposal and furnished much personal information concerning her husband elsewhere unavailable.

The writing of this volume was suggested by the editor of the series, Dr. Benj. F. Shambaugh. To him the writer is under obligation, not only for his careful editing of the manuscript, but also for advice and encouragement throughout the preparation of the book. Miss Ruth Gallaher of the staff of The State Historical Society assisted in verifying the manuscript. Acknowledgments are due to Mr. Edgar R. Harlan, Curator of the Historical Department of Iowa, for facilitating the writer's researches in the materials at Des Moines.

Dan Elbert Claek

The State Historical Society of Iowa Iowa City Iowa

Contents

I. Boyhood and Youth in Maryland

AND Washington City .... 1 II, Westward over the Cumberland

Road 11

II Westward Over the Cumberland Road

The reasons which caused Jabez Kirkwood to seek a new home in the West were not altogether of his own making, nor did they spring primarily from any yearning for an abode in a place less densely peopled. Financial embarrassment was the real cause of his decision, for he had been the victim of misplaced generosity and of later misfortune. First, he had furnished security for a friend, a merchant, who desired to borrow a considerable sum of money. In time the friend failed in business, thereby shifting to the shoulders of his bondsman such a burden that nearly all of Kirkwood 's accumulated savings were swept away and he was left with little more than the farm with which he had started. Rallying from this severe blow, he turned to raising fine horses for the Baltimore market — a business that offered large returns. Success in this undertaking was just beginning to replenish the empty family treasury when there suddenly came another calamity: a fatal disease broke out among his horses and when it had run its course scarcely one out of a goodly herd was left alive. ^'^

To a man who was nearing three score years these reverses of fortune could have been little less than disheartening. The soil on a portion of the Maryland farm had long since become so exhausted that it had been allowed to lie uncultivated;^^ while the patronage of country blacksmiths had greatly diminished as more and more manufactured tools and iron articles came into use. The prospect of again accumulating a comfortable competency in the home where he had lived so long seemed small indeed. And so, in the year 1835, at the age of fifty-nine, Jabez Kirkwood turned his face toward the West — the land of new hope for myriads of discouraged men — and determined to seek a more favorable home in the State of Ohio.

After disposing of his property, the elder Kirkwood secured the necessary equipment for the four hundred mile overland journey.^^ A large, strong wagon was procured, possibly of the type called "mountain ship", with broadtired wheels, curved bottom, and white canvas cover.^^ Into this vehicle were loaded all of the goods which the family could take, and to it were hitched as many horses as were necessary to haul it to its destination. Then the emigrants — consisting of Jabez Kirkwood and certain of his sons including Samuel — bade

OVER THE CUMBERLAND ROAD 13

farewell to the Harford County home ; the word was given to the horses, and the heavy wagon rolled out on the road that led westward.

From Baltimore there was a much traveled thoroughfare extending to the northwestward. After a space it joined another highway coming up from Alexandria and Washington City to the south ; and thence followed very closely the path marked many years before by the ill-fated Braddock through forests and mountains until at last it emerged at Cumberland in the western end of the State.^" Marylanders bound for the Ohio Valley in 1835 found this road to be the best and most direct. Hence it would be natural for the Kirkwood party to prefer as soon as possible to strike this well-known highw^ay rather than to seek their way over less frequented roads. But by w^hatever route they traveled they at last found themselves at the town of Cumberland on the Potomac, the eastern terminus of the great Cumberland or National Road which ''carried thousands of population and millions of wealth into the West ; and more than any other material structure in the land, served to harmonize and strengthen, if not save, the Union. "^^

The Cumberland Eoad in those days was no mere wilderness trail through an uninhabited country. It was a highway the like of which was never again built in America until the automobile worked a revolution in the character of the roads. Stretching like a ribbon from the Potomac through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, it eventually reached the banks of the Mississippi ; and throughout the greater part of this distance it was macadamized with a surface of crushed stone several inches thick. "Leaping the Ohio at Wheeling", the road extended "across Ohio and Indiana, straight as an arrow, like an ancient elevated pathway of the gods, chopping hills in twain at a blow, traversing the lowlands on high grades like a railroad bed, vaulting river and stream on massive bridges of unparalleled size."^''

Nor did the traveler over this highway suffer from loneliness : at least in Pennsylvania and Ohio the National Road was a busy thoroughfare. It was traversed by regular stage lines carrying mail and passengers, both local and long distance, to and from the West in gaily decorated and richly upholstered coaches. Heavy freighters, drawn by six or eight horses, carried the manufactured goods of the East to the growing settlements in the Ohio Valley, and returned laden with the produce of western farms. Emigrants by the thousands also traveled over the road to find new homes in the West. Farmers hauled their wheat or corn or tobacco or drove large herds of cattle or hogs along the road to eastern markets. And finally,

OVER THE CUMBERLAND ROAD 15

the traveler along the National Road might expect to meet persons of note riding in stylish conveyances — capitalists, literary lights, Congressmen, and even the President of the United States.2«

Along this lively roadway Jabez Kirkwood and his sons journeyed after leaving the town of Cumberland on the Potomac. At first the road wound upward toward the west through the rugged, mountainous country of western Maryland. Then, finding a pass between the hills it turned into Pennsylvania, crossing the first westward-flowing water — the Youghiogheny River — at the town of Somerfield. A short distance further to the northwest the road passed close by the grave of General Braddock, the man who had blazed the trail which had now grown into a great highway. Thence, descending gradually into the fertile, smiling valley of the Monongahela, crossing the ponderous stone bridge at Big Crossings (now Smithfield), and passing through Uniontown, the route led at length to Brownsville, the village on the Monongahela River which in early years had attained prominence under the name of Redstone Old Fort. Crossing the river at this historic point the thoroughfare ran through the prosperous farms of Washington County across the West Virginia line to Wheeling, whence after crossing the Ohio it continued its way almost in a direct line to the westward.^ ^

How the Kirkwood party fared on the journey, whether they put up at night in taverns or in less pretentious road-houses which lined the way or slept in the open in the shelter of their wagon, how long they were on the road — all these and other details which would be of interest must be left to the imagination. Only one incident of the long trip apparently remained firmly fixed in the memory of the youngest member of the party. All the money belonging to the family had been put in a common purse and entrusted to the care of John, the oldest son. One morning upon arising and preparing for another day's travel it was discovered to their great consternation that the bag of money was missing. Here, indeed, was a pretty situation ! Not only had they lost their small accumulations with which they had planned to buy land and the things necessary to set up a new home, but even on the Cumberland Road they could not travel far without at least a little money. There were tolls to pay and they must have food for themselves and their horses. Robbery of course was feared, but nevertheless a diligent search was made. The contents of the wagon were feverishly ransacked, but to no avail. At length the precious bag was found in the very bottom of the wagon, where it had fallen through the

OVER THE CUMBERLAND ROAD 17

chinks between the articles which made up the load.-" It is needless to say that thereafter the purse was guarded with even more jealous care.

Doubtless Jabez Kirkwood and his sons had already definitely determined upon the region where they would seek for land. In 1835 the country in north-central Ohio, somewhat back from the lake and aw^ay from the principal lines of travel, still offered better opportunities to settlers than were to be found in the more developed portions of the State. To reach this region the Kirkwoods would have the clioTce of at least two well-defined courses after crossing" the Ohio Eiver at Wheeling. From Bridgeport, across the river from Wheeling, there was a road running to the northwest through Cadiz and New Philadelphia to Wooster; and thence another road led westward to Mansfield in the heart of the region toward which the travelers w^ere wending their way. Or they might proceed along the National Road across the State of Ohio until they reached a point about midway between Zanesville and Columbus, where they would strike a road running north through Newark and Mt. Vernon to Mansfield.-'^

Although there is no way of telling which of these two routes the Kirkwoods adopted, they found themselves in Richland County, where the father w^as to spend the remainder of his days, and where Samuel was to live for twenty years — years which gave to him the maturity and wide experience which fitted him later to assume a position of leadership in another western Commonwealth.

Ill

First Years in Richland County

Richland County, Ohio, had long ceased to be a frontier region before the Kirkwoods arrived : it was a well settled community in which nearly all the public land had been taken up and covered with prosperous farm homes. Indeed, the population of the county in 1835 must have been upwards of thirty thousand, for this was the period of the flood tide of emigration to Ohio.-^ Along the forks of the Mohican there were settlements as early as the year 1809, and during the following years there poured in a stream of pioneers, chiefly from Pennsylvania. Of these early settlers some were of German origin, while large numbers were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians ;2^ and thus it goes without saying that they were a thrifty lot. At the same time it was remarked that the inhabitants were somewhat ''behind the age in enterprise and public spirit", the assigned reason being that they lived so far ' ' distant from any of the public improvements of the day". But in 1837 it was predicted that this handicap would soon be removed by the building of railroads and canals, several of which were even then projected.- °

The character of the soil was indicated by the name of the county. Its surface was gently rolling, though in the southern part it might be called hilly; and throughout its length and breadth there was scarcely any waste land. Wheat, at that time the principal agricultural product, was manufactured into flour within the county and hauled overland to Lake Erie or to the Erie and Ohio Canal, whence it was shipped by boat to eastern markets. During the grainhauling season ' ' the highway was often blocked with long trains of wagons that would not give way for other vehicles. At night the wagons would be parked on the roadside near a creek, and the farmers and their boys would have a regular joyous picnic on provisions brought from home." The county was "also famed for its fine horses and neat cattle."-'^

It was in the hilly region in the southern part of the county, sixteen or seventeen miles by road southeast from Mansfield, the county seat and principal town, that the Kirkwoods halted. The father soon afterward filed on eighty acres of wild government land which was covered with a dense growth of timber; while John bought an adjoining quarter section scarcely less in readiness for cultivation. On John's land there was a log cabin in the midst of a small clearing- — the work no doubt of a pioneer of the type that could not abide close neighbors and soon pressed on again to the frontier, selling his claim for what he could get. Into this cabin were moved the contents of the wagon, and the Kirkwoods entered upon a life that was new to them. Not far away was the great north and south road from Columbus to Cleveland with its busy traffic. Well-improved farms were all about them; and it was only four or five miles to the post village of Newville, where once each week they received their mail. In at least two respects, however, they were confronted with the conditions of pioneer life : practically every foot of their land must be subdued and their home was at first as rude and primitive as that of the first pathfinder.

The first years in Ohio, therefore, were years of hard toil. To clear heavily-timbered land was a task for the strong, and to prepare an area large enough to permit of the raising of crops worth while meant long and tedious labor. The undergrowth must be cleared away and burned, the trees felled and disposed of, and the stumps blasted and dug out of the ground. Eventually, however, some sixty acres were cleared and placed under cultivation. Meanwhile the cabin was improved and made more habitable, and a lean-to addition was built in the rear to serve as sleeping rooms.-^ The hard times of 1837, which followed the bursting of the bubble of land speculation and the partial subsidence of the public improvement fever, pressed heavily upon the Kirkwoods; but they had gained a foothold which they were able to maintain through this period of adversity.

During the winters Samuel earned a little ready money by teaching district schools. In that part of the country the schoolhouses were mostly constructed of logs, but glass had replaced oiled paper in the windows and there were desks made of rough boards, although the seats were likely to be of the old split-log type. The wages received by teachers varied from eight to ten dollars a month for men, and from six to eight dollars for women, though there were comparatively few of the latter in those days. Of expenses there were almost none, for the teacher boarded around in the homes of the patrons of the school, staying about a week with each family. Nor w^as he an unwelcome guest in these homes, for to have the teacher at the table and in the family circle around the fire during the long winter evenings was a privilege much cherished by children and grown-ups alike. He was often the sole connecting link between the lonely, monotonous routine of farm life and the great world of learning. Sometimes, of course, the teachers by holding aloof and "putting on airs" succeeded only in antagonizing the sturdy, democratic people among whom they labored; but Samuel Kirkwood was not of this type. Instead, he was able to enter into their lives in such a way as to learn much from them while giving of his own knowledge.^*^

The album of verse, begun in Washington City and carried to the new home, received numerous additions during these years. Newfound friends inscribed in it sentiments or words of advice; while Samuel wrote lines to this or that young lady. But it was not maidenly charms alone that inspired him; for when he read the famous '^People's Charter" drawn up in 1838 by the Chartists in England his democratic spirit was deeply stirred, and he wrote a poem of which the following are the first, fourth, and fifth stanzas:

What sound comes over the mighty deep?

Do the fierce, wild winds its bosom sweep?

Is the Demon of death from his whirhvind car

Whence that deep sound ? Does the earthquake shock

Shiver and scatter the mountain and rock,

The castle of noble and cottage of swain,

AHke undistinguished afar on the plain?

It comes from the land whence sprang our sires, Whose hands first kindled those beacon fires, Whose broad, bright light by the blessing of Heaven

Now reaches the land from which they were driven, Has dispelled the deep darkness by tyranny cast O'er the souls of men in times long past. God grant that its beamings may brighten and spread Till no slave stains the earth with his desolate tread.

They will — aye they must — for that fire from above, While fed with the patriots devotion and love. Neither princes of earth nor the powers of Hell Its light or its increase can darken or quell. It will stream to the sky ; 'twill encircle the earth, 'Twill blaze on the altar, 'twill cheer the rude hearth, God's mockers, Earth's Kings, from their proud seats

be hurl'd.

And Freedom 's fair sunbeam will gladden the world."^'

It was while teaching that Kirkwood met and became acquainted with Abram Armentroiit, the assessor of Richland County, who apparently took a great liking to the young man. The upshot was that in 1840 Samuel was appointed as Armentrout's deputy and assigned the duty of assessing the property in thirteen townships of the county. In performing this task he tramped on foot most of the time, going from farm to farm, meeting the people and learning the extent of their worldly possessions. The compensation was one dollar and a half a day, a truly munificent sum when compared with the wages of a country school teacher; and besides, young Kirkwood thus began an acqiiaintance among the inhabitants of the county which was helpful to him in later years.

The work of assessment was completed in due time, and then Abram Armentrout had other employment to offer his deputy. He had purchased a store and tavern, evidently at some small cross-roads village, possibly at the post town of Newville. Here for about a year Samuel Kirkwood exchanged merchandise for the money and farm produce of the settlers and helped minister to the wants of such travelers as stopped at the tavern for meals or to pass the night.^^

But this was not the kind of a life for a young man with ambition and a taste for the society of keen minds. Neither did school teachingappeal to him as a life work. Farming, while reasonably agreeable to him, seemed to lead nowhere, since during those years of financial stringency he saw no hope of earning sufficient money as a farm-hand to buy a farm of his own. Soon, however, a way was opened to a career which offered many attractions; and so, in the year 1841, Kirkwood left the tavern and the farm and established himself in the county seat town which was to be his home for nearly fifteen years.

Mansfield, the seat of justice of Richland County, was beautifully located "upon a commanding elevation, overlooking a country handsomely disposed in hills and valleys", nearly in tlie center of the county.^- Commercially it was also well situated, for it was the axis from which radiated, like the spokes of a wheel, well graded pikes and roads running in all directions to the principal towns and cities of the State.^^ Seventy miles to the southwest lay Columbus, the capital city; while off in the opposite direction at about an equal distance was the growing lake port of Cleveland at the north end of the Erie and Ohio Canal. It only needed a canal or, better, a railroad, to make Mansfield a place of considerable importance.

The town, at the time when Kirkwood first knew it, contained about fourteen hundred people. The business houses, consisting in 1837 of fifteen stores, five taverns, two apothecary shops, two printing offices, and a market house, faced a public square in the center of which was a two-story brick court house. Six church denominations, each with its own building, looked after the spiritual interests of the people; and four physicians and eight lawyers found patronage in the town and surrounding country. While the railroad had not yet reached its iron arms that far, four different stage coaches arrived and departed three times each week, carrying the mail and passengers; and besides, four mails each week were carried on horseback.^'* The town, therefore, did not lack for frequent and regular communications with the outside world. Altogether, Mansfield was just the sort of a place for a young man entering upon a professional career.

Among the lawyers of the town there was none more prominent and successful than Thomas W. Bartley, one of the early settlers of the county and a man of sound common sense who enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. It was the offer of an opportunity to study law in the office of this medium-sized, gruff-spoken lawyer that brought Samuel Kirkwood to Mansfield in 1841. Bartley at that time had represented the people of Richland County for one term in the lower house of the General Assembly, and had given such satisfaction that in 1841 he was elected to a seat in the State Senate, where he served for two years.^^

A rather uncertain prospect faced Kirkwood as he settled himself at a desk in Bartley 's office in a small, one-story building facing the public square. His small supply of money would by no means cover his expenses during the two years which would expire before he could take the examinations and be admitted to the bar. But again fortune favored him. He had in Mansfield a friend. Dr. E. W. Lake,^^ who happened at that period to be clerk of the court of Richland County. Not wishing to spend much of his time in the office, Dr. Lake virtually left Barnabas Burns, his deputy, in charge ; and oftentimes there was more work of a clerical nature than one man could well perform. And so occasional employment for part time was offered to Kirkwood, such as copyingrecords and doing a part of the large amount of writing required in the office — work which he was glad to accept. In this way he not only earned sufficient money to enable him to continue his studies, but was placed in a position to gain a knowledge of court procedure which was of great value to a prospective attorney. Furthermore, during these months of companionship there began a close and lastingfriendship between Kirkwood and Barnabas Burns.^"

The two years in the office of Thomas W. Bartley passed without notable incident. Kirkwood no doubt found abundant inspiration to impel him to hard and serious study, for the Mansfield bar, in addition to Bartley, embraced some able and eminent lawyers. In the first place, there was Jacob Brinkerhoff, who shortly afterwards was sent to Congress where he attained fame by drafting the Wilmot Proviso, and who later served with distinction for fifteen years on the Supreme Court of Ohio. Another was Thomas H. Ford, a man who gained sufficient prominence throughout the

Commonwealtli to be elected Lieutenant Governor. James Stewart and Jacob Parker were scarcely less well known. And finally, there was Charles T. Sherman, to whose office there came as a student about this time his younger brother John, whose name, along with those of his illustrious brothers, has a safe place in the annals of American history. These two Mansfield law students, Samuel J. Kirkwood and John Sherman, were destined to sit for a time as colleagues in the Senate of the United States and to become trusted counsellors of Presidents.

Late in life John Sherman recalled how, in order to prepare themselves in a practical way for future contests at the bar, the students in the various offices at Mansfield "organized a moot court, presided over by Joseph Newman, then in active practice as a partner of Mr. Stewart. We held famous moot courts in which cases Avere tried with all the earnestness, industry and skill that could have been evoked by real cases. In these trials Mr. Kirkwood and I were usually pitted against each other. . . . I have always regarded our contests in this moot court as the most important part of my legal training. "^^

Other friendships made by Kirkwood during these years were likewise significant. With Barnabas Burns, the deputy clerk, he later formed a congenial and lucrative partnership.

Between him and Frank Barker, another young law student, there sprang up a warm friendship which was brought to a sudden end by a tragedy that gave Kirkwood his most important case before the court. But even more fortunate was the attachment which he formed for John Clark, a fellow reader of law in Bartley's office. It was through this young man that Kirkwood came to know the one who was to be his companion through life.

Social life among the young people of Mansfield was notable for its freedom and democracy. There were ''social meetings, parties, dances, and an occasional ball during the winter, but in summer, riding in carriages and on horseback was the recreation of the day. Fleming's Ravine, about five miles from Mansfield, was the general gathering place for young and old. A small stream had cut a deep ravine with rocky banks on either side. An old mill with its overshot wheel spanned the ravine and filled it with noisy rattle. The adjacent woods, where the fire was lit and the coffee made, and the farm lands stretching beyond, made a picturesque scene often described and always admired." Here there were "dances, frolics, speeches and fun, with healthy exercise in the open air. "^^

At length the time came when Kirkwood was ready to take the examinations for admission to the bar. This involved a journey of more than one hundred and fifty miles across the State to Cincinnati, where the examinations were held. Frank Barker also desired to present himself before the examining board, and the two men decided to make the trip on horseback rather than to pay the charges and suffer the inconveniences of travel by stage. Doubtless they followed the direct route which lay first to Columbus and thence by the turnpike to the ''Queen City" and metropolis.^*^ The applicants were successful in passing the examinations ; and thus in the year 1843 Samuel Jordan Kirkwood was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Ohio. Shortly afterward he returned to Mansfield, secured an office room, hung out his shingle, and sat down to await the coming of clients.