Life of Walter Quintin Gresham, 1832-1895

Front matter

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CHAPTER I — BIRTH, ANCESTRY, AND EARLY YEARS i

MRS. GRESHAM'S birth AND ANCESTRY— CONDITIONS IN KEN- TUCKY IN THE '40'S AND So'S — HER FATHER'S RELIGION AND POLITICS ^ MEETS WALTER Q. GRESHAM, A LAW STUDENT AT CORYDON — HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY — ACCOUNT OF " OLD UNCLE DENNIS" PENNINGTON, ONE OF INDIANA'S FIRST SET- TLERS AND FOREMOST ANTI-SLAVERY MEN — PENNINGTON's LONG LEGISLATIVE CAREER -^ CHANGE OF INDIANA'S CAPITAL FROM VINCENNES TO CORYDON — HARRISON COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLER, MAJOR JOHN HARBISON — RESCUE OF HARBISON's STEPCHILDREN FROM THE INDIANS — GRESHAm's SCHOOL DAYS, STUDY OF LAW AND ADMISSION TO THE BAR — HIS PARTNER- SHIP WITH T. C. SLAUGHTER — EARLY PRACTICE.

Chapter Ii— The "underground .railroad" . .32

PERSONAL LIBERTY LAWS — THE SOMMERSET OR " NEGRO case" — MAN STEALING ACT AND JOINT RESOLUTION — FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS — PRIGG CASE — CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH — WENDELL PHILLIPS HOLDS MASSACHUSETTS OUT OF THE UNION BUT WEBSTER ENFORCES THE NATIONAL LAW — WALTER Q. GRESHAM NO ABOLITIONIST.

Chapter Iii— The Kansas -nebraska Bill ... 56

"squatter sovereignty" — CORRESPONDENCE WITH SALMON P. CHASE — THE ELECTION OF 1854 — ATTEMPT TO DEFEAT WILLIAM H. ENGLISH, DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF CONGRESS — WALTER Q. GRESHAM ANTI-NEBRASKA CANDIDATE FOR PROSE- CUTING ATTORNEY ^ASIATIC CHOLERA — " KNOW-NOTHING " RIOTS IN LOUISVILLE — BLOODY MONDAY — GRESHAM ON THE STUMP — ^ HELPS ORGANIZE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.

Chapter IV — Marriage— Campaign Of 1858 ... 72

MARRIAGE AND WEDDING TRIP — NEWSPAPERS — BUCHANAN REPUDIATES KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL — ATTEMPTS TO ADMIT KANSAS AS A SLAVE STATE — ^DOUGLAS DENOUNCES AND DEFEATS BUCHANAN — KANSAS REJECTS ENGLISH BILL.

Chapter V— The Brandenburg Affair .... 78

WALTER Q. GRESHAm's LAW BUSINESS — THE BRANDENBURG AFFAIR — HEROISM OF HORACE BELL — ADJUSTMENT OF THE

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XXIV CONTENTS

CONTROVERSY WHICH PROMISED TO END IN WAR — STATUS OF SLAVEHOLDERS AS TO WAR — STANLEY YOUNG KILLS COLONEL MARSH.

Chapter Vi— The Lincoln -douglas Debates . . 92

LINCOLN'S "house DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF " SPEECH, WHICH LED TO THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES — THE PRETEXT FOR SECESSION — THE DRED SCOTT CASE — MR. LINCOLN'S ASSAULT ON CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY — THE DRED SCOTT CASE AS PART OF THE abolitionists' SYSTEM OF AGITATION AND REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER VII — ELECTED TO INDIANA LEGISLATURE . no

GRESHAM A DELEGATE TO REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION — CONTEST BETWEEN LANE AND MORTON — DIVISION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY — CHARLESTON CONVENTION — DEBATE BETWEEN JEFFERSON DAVIS AND STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS — NOMINATION OF DOUGLAS AT BALTIMORE — NOMINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT CHICAGO CONVENTION — GRESHAM REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FOR LEGISLATURE — DEFEATS HANCOCK — LINCOLN ELECTED AS PRESIDENT.

Chapter VIII — Union Speeches In Kentucky . .121

SECESSION — GRESHAM MAKES UNION SPEECHES IN KENTUCKY — RESOLUTIONS DEPRECATING SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA — HENRY clay's SPEECH IN DEBATE ON THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 — USED BY GRESHAM — CRITTENDEN's RESOLUTIONS IN SENATE FOR AMENDMENT OF CONSTITUTION TO SETTLE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH — GEORGE D. PRENTICe'S POSI- TION AND VIEWS AS EXPRESSED IN NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS — KENTUCKY ADOPTS NEUTRALITY AND STAYS IN UNION.

Chapter IX — Indiana Prepares For War . . . .129

FIRST SESSION OF INDI.\NA LEGISLATURE — RESOLUTIONS ON THE STATE AND THE UNION — GRESHAM REPRESENTS THE "traitor" HEFFRON in KENTUCKY COURTS ^ PEACE CON- FERENCE — WENDELL Phillips's speech — abolitionists

WOULD not compromise — GRESHAM CHAIRMAN MILITARY committee of the house, AND COLONEL ON GOVERNOR'S STAFF — CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS— GRESHAM's BREACH WITH GOVERNOR MORTON — SPECIAL SESSION OF INDIANA LEGISLA- TURE — GRESHAM PUTS THROUGH BILL VESTING APPOINTMENT OF FIELD AND LINE OFFICERS OF REGIMENTS IN HANDS OF GOVERNOR.

CONTENTS XXV

Chapter X— Opening Of The War 146

WALTER Q. GRESHAM ENLISTS AS A PRIVATE — KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS — REBEL VICTORY AT BULL RUN — CRITTENDEN RESOLUTIONS PUT THROUGH CONGRESS — WAR TO PRESERVE THE UNION — KENTUCKY STAYS WITH THE NORTH — END OF NEUTRALITY — GRESHAM COMMISSIONED LIEUTENANT- COLONEL OF THIRTY-EIGHTH INDIANA VOLUNTEERS — LOUIS- VILLE "courier" SUPPRESSED — WAR BEGUN — BUCKNER INVADES KENTUCKY — WHY HE DID NOT GET TO LOUISVILLE — GRESHAM MEETS SHERMAN — KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE CALLS FOR 40,000 SOLDIERS — LETTERS FROM KENTUCKY CAMPS — GRESHAM STUDIES HARD — ON PICKET DUTY — SUFFERING OF WOMEN AT HOME — GRESHAM TENDERED COLONELCY OE FIFTY- THIRD INDIANA REGIMENT.

Chapter XI — Fifty-third Indiana Volunteers . 16s

ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT — GRESHAM FIRST COLONEL — THE FIFTY-THIRD GUARDS PRISONERS CAPTURED AT FORT DONELSON — GOES DOWN MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO JOIN GENERAL GRANT — SICKNESS IN CAMP — REGIMENT GOES UP OHIO AND TENNESSEE RIVERS TOWARD SAVANNAH.

Chapter Xii— The Battle Of Shiloh 175

FIRST MEETING WITH GENERAL GRANT — GRESHAM COMMANDS POST AND BRIGADE AT SAVANNAH — GRANT's ARMY WORSTED BUT NOT DEFEATED IN FIRST DAY's FIGHT — GRANT PROTECTS SHERMAN — GRANT RELIEVED OF HIS COMMAND — RAWLINS' SECRET REPORTS CAUSE MR. LINCOLN TO RESTORE GRANT TO COMMAND — COURT MARTIAL OF COLONEL WORTHINGTON.

Chapter Xiii— Corinth And Memphis 186

SIEGE AND EVACUATION OF CORINTH — MEMPHIS EVACUATED — GENERAL GRANT OPENS UP VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN — SHERMAn'S

movement down the river — fourth of july in the confederacy — gresham does the talking — robert dale Owen's letter to secretary chase on abolition — internal CONDITIONS in GRANT'S ARMY — HOW ABOLITIONISM WAS BROUGHT ABOUT — AT COLLIERVILLE — GRESHAM DEVELOPS TYPHOID — RIFT BETWEEN GRESHAM AND GOVERNOR MORTON WIDENED.

Chapter XIV — Before Vicksburg 218

THE TAKING OF VICKSBURG — COLONEL GRESHAM's LETTERS FROM THE FRONT, WRITTEN FROM MAY 1 5, 1863, TO CLOSE OF THE SIEGE.

xxvi CONTENTS

Chapter XV — Morgan's Raid 229

morgan's reasons for his raid into INDIANA — COUNTED ON AID FROM SYMPATHIZERS NORTH OF THE OHIO RIVER— MORGAN CAPTURES TWO STEAMERS AND CROSSES THE RIVER — THE DEFENSE OF CORYDON — CARE OF CONFEDERATE WOUNDED.

Chapter XVI — Natchez In 1863 239

COLONIAL HOMES OF NATCHEZ — "ROSALIE," GRANT's HEAD- QUARTERS — GRESHAM IN COMMAND OF NATCHEZ — COTTON A CAUSE OF DOWNFALL OF CONFEDERACY — EFFECT OF ENLIST- MENT OF NEGROES — GRESHAM ENFORCES LAW AND ORDER — PRESERVES RIGHTS OF NONCOMBATANTS — PROCLAMATION OF AMNESTY AND PARDON — MORTALITY AMONG CONTRABANDS WHO FLOCKED TO THE TOWNS — RECONSTRUCTION BEGUN.

Chapter Xvii— Minor Campaigns— Re-enlistments 265

HARMFUL PROLONGATION OF THE WAR — AMERICA'S OBLIGATION TO OTHER LANDS — UNION REVERSE AT CHICKAMAUGA — MERI- DIAN EXPEDITION LED BY GENERAL SHERMAN — WARFARE IN MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA — CONFEDERATES THREATEN NATCHEZ — GENERAL GRESHAM COMMANDS EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT ADAMS — DANGERS OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER TRAVEL — THE MERIDIAN EXPEDITION — THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT RATIFIED BY SENATE, BUT OPPOSED IN THE HOUSE — RE-ENLISTMENT OF VETERANS.

Chapter Xviii— The Atlanta Campaign . . . .294

GRESHAM APPOINTED TO TAKE CROCKER's COMMAND — BATTLE OF KENESAW MOUNTAIN^ A SOLDIER'S VIEW OF THE DIFFERence between grant and sherman as commanders — gresham wounded at atlanta — carried to new albany — Mcpherson's death — gresham disabled for five years.

Chapter XIX — Negro Suffrage 313

general gresham's many visitors — thirteenth amendment submitted to states for ratification — eliminate

SLAVERY without COMPENSATION — LINCOLN RECONSTRUCTS LOUISIANA — SUMNER OPPOSES RECOGNITION OF LOUISIANA STATE GOVERNMENT — SOLDIERS OPPOSED TO NEGRO SUFFRAGE — SHERMAN'S OPPOSITION — LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION — GRESHAM FOR COMPLETE AMNESTY — THE FOURTEENTH AMEND- MENT TO THE CONSTITUTION — SOLDIER VOTE RATIFIES IT — GRESHAM A SOLDIER ORATOR — CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS —

CONTENTS xxvii

MORTON AND GRESHAM OPPOSE NEGRO SUFFRAGE — GRESHAM DEFEATED FOR CONGRESS BUT ELECTED STATE AGENT — MORTON ELECTED TO SENATE — MORTON VOTES TO INCORPORATE NEGRO SUFFRAGE INTO RECONSTRUCTION ACTS.

Chapter Xx— Candidate For Congress And De- Clines Senatorship 341

GRESHAM RESUMES PRACTICE OF LAW — AGAIN DEFEATED AS CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS — ADVOCATES RATIFICATION OF FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT — OPPOSES THE FIFTEENTH AMEND- MENT — REFUSES TO BE CANDIDATE FOR UNITED STATES SENA- TOR — DECLINES grant's OFFER TO BE COLLECTOR OF PORT OF NEW ORLEANS.

Chapter Xxi— United States District Judge . . 349

APPOINTED UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR INDIANA — A BELIEVER IN ARBITRATION OF LEG.A.L DISPUTES — EQUITY PROCEDURE — PATENT CASES — THE NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY ACT OF 1867 — UPHOLDS TRIAL BY JURY — JUDGE GRESHAM's METHODS WITH THE JURY.

Chapter Xxii— Railroad Receiverships 366

MONON ROAD DIFFICULTIES — RAILWAY MORTGAGES UNLIKE OTHER MORTGAGES — SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS JUDGE DRUM- MOND's CONCLUSION AS TO RAILWAYS BEING PUBLIC CON- CERNS' — LEGISLATION CONCERNING PUBLIC SERVICE CORPO- RATIONS.

Chapter Xxiii— The Great Railroad Strike Of 77 379

CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE STRIKE — REDUCTION OF WAGES OF RAILROAD EMPLOYEES — STRIKE BEGINS IN WEST VIRGINIA — SPREADS TO PITTSBURGH AND INDIANAPOLIS — JUDGE GRES- HAM PREPARES TO HANDLE THE SITUATION — APPOINTS OLD SOLDIERS UNITED STATES MARSHALS TO PROTECT PROPERTY AND MOVE TRAINS — MILITARY ORGANIZATION EFFECTED TO SUPPORT MARSHALS — POWER OF FEDERAL COURTS CONSIDERED —ARREST OF STRIKERS WHO INTERFERED WITH MOVEMENT OF TRAINS ON ROADS OPERATED BY RECEIVERS.

Chapter XXIV — Trials For Contempt Of Court . 402

JUDGE DRUMMOND TAKES UP OHIO & MISSISSIPPI LINE CASES FIRST — THE TERRE HAUTE CASES — ^CONTROVERSY OVER WAR- REN N. SAYER — PUNISHMENT OF THE STRIKERS.

xxviii CONTENTS

Chapter XXV — Burlington Strike And Debs's Rebellion 409

STRIKE VOTED ON THE BURLINGTON ROAD — OTHER ROADS

REFUSE Burlington's freight — receiver of wabash company INVOLVED — interpretation OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT — GENERAL STRIKE AVOIDED — AMENDMENT OF INTER- STATE COMMERCE ACT — PULLMAN STRIKE, OR "dEBS'S REBEL- LION" — INTERFERENCE WITH MAIL TRAINS — CLEVELAND'S PROCLAMATION AND MILES'S PROMPT ACTION SUPPRESS DIS- ORDER.

Chapter XXVI — The Greenback Contention In Indiana Politics 420

THE MONEY QUESTION — LEGAL TENDER DECISIONS — CONSTI- TUTIONALITY OF GREENBACKS — WHAT IS MONEY? — PASSAGE OF THE "public DEBT ACt" — DEMOCRATIC VICTORY OF 1 874 — HENRY WATTERSON, THOMAS A. HENDRICKS, AND DANIEL W. VOORHEES — RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS — REISSUE OF PAPER — ^ DISCUSSION OF THE LAST LEGAL TENDER DECISION, THAT OF 1884 — A CABINET DINNER PARTY IN WASHINGTON.

Chapter XXVII — "whiskey Ring" Trials . . . .437

BRISTOW MADE SECRETARY OF TREASURY — INTERNAL REVENUE FRAUDS — THE " WHISKEY RING" — GRESHAM BREAKS THE WHISKEY men's DEFENSE — BREACH WITH GENERAL HARRISON

— GRESHAm's PRINCIPLE OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRUCTION NOT APPROVED BY BENJAMIN HARRISON NOR SUPREME COURT

— SUBSEQUENTLY UPHELD — THE COUNSELMAN CASE — BROWN- LEE TRIAL — GRESHAM'S CLEMENCY.

Chapter Xxviii— The Election Of 1s76 454 Gresham Offered Republican Nomination For Governor

— CORRUPTION IN INTERIOR AND WAR DEPARTMENTS — JUDICIAL POWER OF CONGRESS — GRESHAM SUPPORTS GEN- ERAL BRISTOW'S CLAIMS FOR THE PRESIDENCY — POLITICAL TACTICS — OPPOSED TO THE USE OF BAYONETS AT SOUTHERN POLLS — THE HAYES-TILDEN CONTEST.

Chapter Xxix— Reunions Of Army Of The Ten- Nessee 462

ORGANIZATION OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNES- SEE — REUNIONS AT ST. PAUL, INDIANAPOLIS, AND CHICAGO — CIVIL AND MILITARY CELEBRITIES IN ATTENDANCE — GENERAL

GRESHAM DELIVERS ANNUAL ADDRESS IN 1 879 — ENUNCIATES

CONVICTIONS ON SOUTHERN POLITY.

CONTENTS xxix

Chapter Xxx— Election Fraud Cases 472

THE ENFORCEMENT ACTS — POLITICS IN THE JURY BOX — STATE ELECTION CONSPIRACIES — CRIMES AGAINST POPULAR GOVERN- MENT — THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF ENFORCEMENT ACTS UP- HELD — WAR LEGISLATION DID NOT DESTROY THE STATES OR LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT — THE COY AND MACKIN CASES.

Chapter XXXI — In President Arthur's Cabinet . 489

GRESHAM APPOINTED POSTMASTER-GENERAL — AGREEABLE NEIGHBORS IN WASHINGTON — EXCLUDES LOUISIANA LOTTERY FROM UNITED STATES MAILS — SUIT FOR DAMAGES — ADVISES CONGRESS TO AMEND ITS LAWS — LOTTERY SUPPRESSED — BLAINE AND ARTHUR RIVALS — OFFER OF BLAINE TO GRESHAM DECLINED — BLAINE NOMINATED BY REPUBLICANS — GRESHAM MADE SECRETARY OF TREASURY — CUSTOMS DUTIES — WAR TARIFF.

Chapter Xxxii— On The Bench Again 504

BECOMES CIRCUIT JUDGE FOR SEVENTH DISTRICT — INTIMACY WITH PRESIDENT CLEVELAND — MELVILLE W. FULLER'S APPOINT- MENT AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT — CORDIAL RELATIONS OF HARLAN AND GRESHAM — THE SUPREME COURT'S IGNORANCE OF PATENT LITIGATION — THE LAWTHER-HAMILTON CASE.

Chapter Xxxiii— The Pullman Palace Car Pat- Ent Cases 518

THE SESSIONS IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RAIL- ROAD CARS — ADOPTED BY THE PULLMAN COMPANY — THE PULLMAN COMPANY ENJOINS THE WAGNER COMPANY FROM USING THE SESSIONS IMPROVEMENT — HEARING BEFORE JUDGES GRESHAM AND BLODGETT — PULLMAN COMPANY SUES VARIOUS RAILROADS — GRESHAM'S FAMOUS OPINION — CONSOLIDATION OF THE PULLMAN AND WAGNER COMPANIES.

Chapter XXXIV — Is "equity A Roguish Thing?" . 530

THE CELEBRATED ANGLE CASE — H. C. ANGLE UNDERTAKES TO CONSTRUCT THE ST. CROIX RAILROAD FOR THE PORTAGE COM- PANY — PLEDGES HIS PROPERTY TO CARRY OUT HIS CONTRACT — THE OMAHA AND ST. PAUL RAILROAD COMPANIES COVET THE RICH TIMBER LANDS GRANTED TO THE PORTAGE COMPANY BY THE GOVERNMENT — SENATOR SPOONER's VICIOUS ADVICE TO THE OMAHA COMPANY — THE ST. PAUL RAILROAD SUES THE OMAHA COMPANY FOR ITS SHARE OF THE ST. CROIX LANDS —

XXX CONTENTS

ACTION OF THE WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE IN THE MATTER — angle's WIDOW SUES THE PORTAGE COMPANY BEFORE JUDGE GRESHAM — WINS THE SUIT WHICH IS RETRIED BY JUSTICE HARLAN — HIS DECISION.

Chapter Xxxv— The Wabash Case 55°

ITS EFFECT ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW — JAY GOULD'S WRECKING SCHEMES — REMOVAL OF RECEIVERS OF THE WABASH RAILROAD — WABASH DECISION MAKES A GREAT STIR — RE- BATES, PREFERENCES, AND DISCRIMINATIONS PUT UNDER BAN OF STATUTE LAW.

Chapter XXXVI — Events Prior To '88 Convention 561

BLAINE AGAIN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT — REDUCING THE TREASURY SURPLUS — CLEVELAND'S TARIFF MESSAGE — EDITOR JOSEPH MEDILL's POSITION ON THE TARIFF — BLAINE WITH- DRAWS AS CANDIDATE — GRESHAM BOOM — JUDGE GRESHAM REFUSES TO MAKE TERMS WITH PLATT AND QUAY — PLATT'S POWER IN THE CONVENTION.

CHAPTER XXXVIl— THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION

CONTEST FOR TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN— MR. THURSTON ELECTED — ESTEE MADE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN — JUDGE GRESHAM DISLIKES PLATFORM ADOPTED — " TIN BUCKET" PARADE FOR GRESHAM — LEONARD SWETT PRESENTS GRESHAm's NAME TO THE CONVENTION — INGERSOLL's SPEECH FOR GRESHAM — OTHER NAMES PRESENTED — PLATT "DEMONSTRATES HIS power" — QUAY ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL COM- MITTEE —HARRISON'S STRENGTH — GENERAL HARRISON NOMI- NATED.

CHAPTER XXXVIII -THE "BLOCKS OF FIVE" CASE . . 602 Harrison's campaign for votes — Dudley's "blocks of five" letter — need for reform of election laws —

BLAINE MADE SECRETARY OF STATE — FRICTION WITH THE

PRESIDENT— Dudley's threats to expose campaign secrets — reasons why he was not indicted — claypool made district attorney— he soon resigns— criticism of judge WOODS — legislation repealed.

CHAPTER XXXIX— THE WABASH CASE AGAIN . . .619

HARRISON ASKED TO APPOINT GRESHAM TO VACANCY ON THE supreme BENCH — refuses TO MAKE THE APPOINTMENT —

CONTENTS xxxi

DAWN OF "populist" PARTY — JUDGE BREWER MADE A JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT — THE "NARROW GAUGE" CASE — JUDGE GRESHAM's DECISION REVERSED BY JUSTICE BREWER — THE PEOPLE'S PARTY FORMALLY ORGANIZED — VICTORIOUS IN FIRST STATE ELECTION — SENDS "SOCKLESS jerry" SIMPSON TO CONGRESS — THE CHICAGO AND ATLAN- TIC CASE.

CHAPTER XL— SHERMAN ACT AND McKINLEY BILL 632

THE SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT — THE CASE OF RICHARDSON VS. ALGER — -THE SHERMAN SILVER BILL — THE MCKINLEY BILL — THE WHISKEY TRUST — THE "INFERNAL MACmNE " PLOT —

POST OFFICE INSPECTOR JAMES E. STEWART — WHY THE

PROSECUTION OF THE WHISKEY TRUST FAILED — THE SUGAR TRUST CASE — OTHER PROSECUTIONS.

CHAPTER XLI— JUDGE GRESHAM'S VIEWS ON POPU- LAR GOVERNMENT 655

SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF THE GRANT MONUMENT, CHIC.4G0 — POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT OF THE TIMES DENOUNCED — BANQUET OF THE SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE — NOTED SPEAKERS — PLAN TO DEFEAT HARRISON'S RENOMINA- TION — people's party WANT GRESHAM AS A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT — HE DECLINES.

CHAPTER XLII — DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF 1892 . 664

GROVER CLEVELAND NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT — THE PLAT- FORM — THE TARIFF " PLANK " CAUSES MAJORITY AND MINORITY REPORTS — THE MINORITY REPORT ADOPTED AS THE PLATFORM.

CHAPTER XLIII — SECRETARY OF STATE 669

GRESHAM VOTES FOR CLEVELAND — AGREES WITH HIM ON TARIFF — CRAWFORD FAIRBANKS ASSEMBLES COMPETING MANU- FACTURING PLANTS — GRESHAM PUBLICLY STATES POLITICAL POSITION — ^DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE AND PEOPLE'S PARTY GET IN TOUCH — CLEVELAND ELECTED — FINANCIAL PANIC — CLEVE- LAND OFFERS GRESHAM SECRETARYSHIP OF STATE — GRESHAM DECLINES, THEN ACCEPTS — CONFERENCE AT LAKEWOOD — POPULARITY WITH SOUTHERNERS.

CHAPTER XLIV— CABINET LIFE IN CLEVELAND'S SEC- OND ADMINISTRATION 688

MR. GRESHAM WARMLY WELCOMED IN WASHINGTON — MATTERS OF PRECEDENCE — MRS. CLEVELAND'S INFORMALITY — THE

XXxii CONTENTS

nation's royal SPANISH GUESTS — DELIGHTFUL RELATIONS WITH DIPLOMATS AND THEIR WIVES — RIVALRY BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH MINISTERS — CHINESE MINISTER'S WIFE APPEARS IN PUBLIC — MR. CLEVELAND OPENS WORLD's FAIR.

CHAPTER XLY— SILVER AND THE TARIFF 701

REPEAL OF SHERMAN SILVER ACT — VOLNEY T. MALOTT, INDI- ANAPOLIS BANKER, URGES PRESERVATION OF INTEGRITY OF THE TREASURY — CONGRESS PROVIDES FOR COINAGE OF NINE MILLION DOLLARS OF SILVER BULLION IN TREASURY — BRYAN MAKES BRILLL\NT DECORATION DAY ADDRESS — DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION AT CHICAGO —BRYAN'S GREAT SILVER SPEECH — CLEVELAND AUTHORIZES SALE OF UNITED STATES BONDS TO REPLENISH THE GOLD RESERVE — WILSON-GORMAN TARIFF ACT.

CHAPTER XLVI — BERING SEA ARBITRATION . . . .717

FUR SEAL RIGHTS ON PRIBILOF ISLANDS — BLAINE AND HARRISON NOT IN ACCORD — MR. BAYARD's WISE COURSE OF ACTION — NEUTRAL ARBITRATORS DECIDE THE BERING SEA CASE — THE UNITED STATES DEFEATED — SECRETARY GRESHAM TAKES STEPS TO GET RID OF THE PARIS TRIBUNAL REGULATIONS.

CHAPTER XLVII— HAWAII 738

HOUSE BILL PASSED REPEALING ENFORCEMENT ACTS AND OTHER FEDERAL STATUTES — REVOLT IN HAWAII — INTERFERENCE WITH NATIVE GOVERNMENT PROHIBITED — ANNEXATION TREATY TRANSMITTED AND WITHDRAWN — QUEEN REFUSES CONDI- TIONAL RESTORATION— FINALLY ACCEDES TO AMNESTY — CON- DEMNATION OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT — UNITED STATES ADOPTS POLICY OF NON-INTERVENTION — GRESHAM'S STATES- MANSHIP — FIRST TO ST.A.ND FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE LITTLE NATION.

CHAPTER XLVIII— BRAZIL, NICARAGUA, AND CUBA . 777 insurrection in brazil — naval revolt — united states intervenes — monarchy prevented — great britain withdraws pretensions to sovereignty in nicaragua — revolution in the mosquito strip against nicaraguan authority — united states enforces payment of great Britain's claims upon Nicaragua — investigation of Venezuelan QUESTION — SPANISH GUNBOAT FIRES ON UNITED states mail ship OFF CUBA — .SPAIN APOLOGIZES — CHINESE- JAPANESE WAR.

CONTENTS xxxiii CHAPTER XLIX — THE END 7qo

LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH — INTERMENT IN ARLINGTON CEME- TERY — DISPOSITION OF STATE MATTERS PENDING — SETTLE- MENT OP THE VENEZUELAN CONTROVERSY FOLLOWS LINES LAID DOWN BY SECRETARY GRESHAM — HIS POLITICAL CONVICTIONS- OPPOSED TO IMPERIALISM AND ITS ACCOMPANIMENT, WAR — NOT A NON-RESISTANT — FIRST TO STAND FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE LITTLE NATION— BELIEVED JUSTICE THE END AND AIM OF GOVERNMENT — LIFE PLANS ENDED BY HIS DEATH.

APPENDICES 8i8

INDEX 841

LIFE OF

WALTER QUINTIN GRESHAM

1832—1895

VOLUME I

Chapter I Birth. Ancestry. And Early Years

MRS. GRESHAM's birth AND ANCESTRY — CONDITIONS IN KENTUCKY IN THE '40's AND '50's — HER FATHER'S RELIGION AND POLITICS — MEETS WALTER Q. GRESHAM, A LAW STU- DENT AT CORYDON — HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY — ACCOUNT OF "old UNCLE DENNIS " PENNINGTON, ONE OF INDIANA'S

first settlers and foremost anti-slavery men — Pennington's long legislative career — change of Indiana's capital from vincennes to corydon — Harrison county's first settler, major JOHN HARBISON

— RESCUE OF Harbison's stepchildren from the

INDIANS — GRESHAM's SCHOOL DAYS, STUDY OF LAW AND admission to the bar — HIS PARTNERSHIP WITH T. C. SLAUGHTER — EARLY PRACTICE.

I WAS born in Louisville, Kentucky, February ii, 1839. Thomas McGrain, my father, was a native of Dubhn, Ireland. After the execution of Robert Emmet, my grandfather kept up his opposition to the British government until he learned that if he would escape prosecution, and perhaps the fate of his leader, he must leave his native land, SO he fled to America. He brought with him his two sons

— Thomas, my father, then seven, and James, two years younger — and settled at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was planned that my grandmother, Catherine Bacon McGrain, and the two daughters, Ehza and Marie, who were older than the boys, should follow when a home had been prepared. But they never came. Instead, on the death of my grandfather, which occurred a few years after his arrival in Pittsburgh, they accepted the invitation of my grandmother's only brother. Major Matthew Bacon, an unmarried man. to make their home with him in Dublin.

Matthew Bacon had entered the British army in early youth as an ensign, served his crown loyally through many grades, mostly in India, until retired as a major, and then lived to a ripe old age. He died in 1867, at No. 3 Hume Street, Dublin, surviving his sister and nieces. After their death my Uncle Matthew wrote, in 1862, that while he would liberally remember his church (the Roman Catholic), he did not propose to leave it his all, and he wanted my sister. Lyde, to come and cheer his declining days. She went to Dublin, lived Math him until he died, and then remained there. My father said he was glad to have my sister go because it closed the family breach that had existed since Emmet's time. Matthew Bacon's sympathies, like those of many British subjects, whether Englishmen or Irish, during our family quarrel, as I prefer to call "The War of the Rebellion" or "The War between the States," went with the American government, and he was much gratified that my husband went into the "Yankee" army. Thus he ran counter not only to the views of his government, but also to the views of his nephew, my father, and of his grandniece. I early learned that we should be tolerant of the opinions of others and that pohtical views never should, as they too often do, mar social relations.

My grandfather left some money to his two sons, which their guardian appropriated to his own use. That inbred Irish spirit of revolt and his strong trait of self-reHance prompted my father, while yet in his early teens, to lead his brother from the guardian's home. They went to work for a tinner, the first opening that presented itself. They soon learned the trade, and before his majority my father had a shop of his own. He prospered, and in due time married Matilda Reed, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister from the north of Ireland. From Pittsburgh, with his young wife, he moved to Frankfort, Kentucky, where he established a tin and hardware store. His business prospered at Frankfort, but he wanted a larger field, so he moved to Louisville, where he built a foundry for the manufacture of stoves. The Louisville venture succeeded from the start. We first lived on Second Street, in the house still standing next to Christ Church on the north. It was there I was born.

My father was born a Roman Catholic, but had become a Methodist. Later on he became a Presbyterian, through the influence of my maternal grandmother, Jane Gray, who lived with us. But with all my father's changes of religion, he never entirely lost his predilection for and connection with the Roman Catholic church. Every Christmas he gave a present to all the Catholic orphans in town. For a time he sent several of my sisters and myself to a Roman Catholic convent at Bardstown, Kentucky.

One day my father brought home with him, from the Catholic orphan asylum, a boy named Daniel G. Grifiin, who had come to work in the store. His parents were Irish immigrants, who had settled for a time in Nova Scotia, but died soon after they reached Louisville. I remember my mother saying, "We have eight children now; don't you think we have enough without adopting others?" His answer was Irish: "But, my dear, I was an orphan once myself." That settled it. Dan was received into the family, educated with the rest of us, and sent to the Kentucky MiHtary Institute along with my brother Tom. The only time he ever crossed my father was when he "went in" as Adjutant of the 38th Indiana Volunteers. Before his death and before the close of the war, he was a brevet brigadier general of volunteers.

While my father was a pro-slavery man, he was not, at least at the start, wedded to the system. He early took to other kinds of property than the few slaves he owned. I only remember Horace, the porter in the store, and a few household servants — Winnie Johnson, the cook, her son, Booze, and a couple of maid servants. I called Winn "Mammy." She was always my friend, and made me the confidant of all her secrets, except who was Booze's father. My mother with her Pennsylvania training never could comprehend the negro character, and was not unlike many a woman who had even been reared among them, no match for them in finesse.

In politics my father was a Whig and a great admirer of Henry Clay. On the occasion of one of Mr. Clay's visits to Louisville — it was before 1850 — my father took my eldest brother, one of my sisters, and myself to a reception at the Louisville Hotel to see him. I still remember how gracious Mr. Clay was to me, a small girl. When the Whig party broke up and the American or Know-Nothing party took its place in Kentucky, my father became a Democrat, and later, after the assaults of the Abolitionists, an extreme pro-slavery man and Secessionist.

One summer we occupied the country place of General, afterwards President, Zachary Taylor, a few miles east of Louisville on the Ohio River. It was considered an old place even then. It was built in 1790 by Richard Taylor, a Virginian by birth, one of Kentucky's early leading citizens and the father of Zachary Taylor. It still stands well preserved.

There was a path the darkies had, near to and up and down the river, with by-paths which they traveled at night from one place to another. The whole family, including the darkies, lived well. My father's business often took him to New Orleans. He sent us thence oysters by the barrel, bananas by the bunch, and venison by the quarter. Many were the midnight suppers old Winn had in the kitchen. While my father was a most liberal provider, he insisted on young girls eating light suppers. Often I would get up in the night and partake of Winn's spread. "Just starvin' the chilun to death," she would say. And then when I would not want to get up in the morning and could eat nothing, my father was sure I had eaten too much supper. But he never knew about the second supper. Old Winn was an excellent cook but never had a recipe. After I was grown I asked her for one. Her answer was, "I ain't got no receipt." "How do you cook without a recipe?" I inquired. "I jest makes things accordin' to what I'se got," was her reply. We liked the Taylor place so well we stayed there a year. I remember that at Christmas I saw and enjoyed eggnog for the first time.

The taste for countr}^ life thus acciuired led my father, on October 10, 1849, to trade with Colonel Peter Kintner for the Cedar Glade Farm, near Corydon, Indiana. A store on Main Street in Louisville was given for the farm. Of course, the Colonel got the better of the bargain. He was able to live in ease in Paris on the rental of the store, which enhanced in value as the years went by, while we lived in Louisville and on the farm, and kept open house at both places.

By the middle of the '50's we gave up our Louisville residence, but my father continued in business there until 1862. My father was not a sharp trader; he never made money that way. He was an easy master. He made it possible for Horace to buy his freedom. Horace was an educated darke3^ and the superintendent of a colored Sunday school in Louisville. Before his freedom I often went with him to teach a class of eight httle mulatto girls, pretty and almost white. Several were the daughters of their masters.

There was not much severity or physical cruelty visited on the slaves in Louisville or in that part of Kentucky with which I was familiar. The fear of being sold down the river was a great deterrent influence on the slave, and pubhc opinion had its restraining influence on the master. A sale "down the river" always created a great commotion among the slaves and the children. The slaves never protested to the masters, but the latter always heard of it, for the white children never failed to carry the statements made by the slaves to the elders, would ask questions, and avow their sympathy in terms that hurt more than the assaults of the Abolitionists, who, we were taught, were fiends incarnate.

Winnie, our cook, and her son Booze went with us to Indiana. The boy remained there and thus secured his freedom. While Winnie was in Indiana she was free, but a slave when she returned with us to Kentucky — a status that illustrates the Dred Scott case. But Winnie was only a nominal slave; when she tired of Corydon she would go to Louisville. She died there shortly before the breaking out of the war. One day, when he was making a fire, Booze showed me the inside of his hand and said: "See, Miss Tillie, I'se getting white. I '11 be white same as you when I gets to heaven." Flint indeed would have been the heart that would not have been touched by such a plaint! And the generous sentiments of the child were reflected in the utterances of the early Southern jurists.

The Massachusetts Abolitionists like Wendell Phillips were not the only men who at that time realized that slavery was a mistake from an economic standpoint. My father saw it, and it was partly to get away from slavery that he bought his Indiana farm; and yet he became a violent Secessionist. There were men in Kentucky who had inherited slaves, but who, aside from the question of morals, preferred other kinds of property because they regarded it as more profitable and safer. They converted their marketable darkies into other property. The movement down the river was narrowing slave property. And in the Cotton States the negroes were as well cared for as in Kentucky. They were too valuable animals not to have the best of medical attention. The aged and infirm the Kentuckians could not sell, and they could not emancipate them without giving a bond that they would not become pubhc charges. The bond involved Habilities that young men did not Hke to incur. They coined the expression "nigger man," which they applied to the man who owned large numbers of slaves. But the great mass of the large slaveholders outside of South Carolina were not Secessionists. They called themselves Cooperationists. "Cooperate and compromise," was their platform.'

October 12, 1832, Mississippi prohibited, after May i, 1833, the importation of slaves to be sold as merchandise, and after January i, 1845, even actual settlers could no longer bring their slaves with them into the State. But the "unconditional and immediate emancipation" of the Abohtionist platform terrified them, and so "riled" the hotheads that Beauregard fired on the flag at Sumter before Jefferson Davis gave the word. I believe Mr. Davis did not want that shot fired. Recognized as one of the most capable mihtary men of the South, the httle Frenchman never afterwards was a favorite of the President of the Confederate States of America. The bombardment of Fort Sumter illustrates the folly of leaving to the discretion of a mere mihtary man the decision as to whether or not a nation shall be plunged into war. Since the war many a Southern man and woman, in the privacy of the home, has made this criticism of Jefferson Davis. At times he left too much discretion to subordinates, at others not enough. Over and over I have heard them say that that shot at Sumter was a mistake. Surely a whole people should not be punished for the mistakes of a few leaders.