LIFE 
 
 o CHARACTER 
 
 F(UTHERFOR D B. HAYES 
 WILLIAM D. HOWELL: 
 
SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 RUTHERFOBD B. HAYES. 
 
 BY WM. D. HOWELLS. 
 
 ALSO A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 
 
 WILLIAM A. WHEELER. 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS OF BOTH CANDIDATES 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON. 
 BOSTON: H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 
 : Clje Htterrftte 
 
 1876. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1876, 
 BY W. D. UOWELLS 
 
 RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
 
 H. 0. HOCGUTON AND COMPANY. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 THIS book is my own enterprise, and has been in 
 nowise adopted or patronized by the man whose life 
 and character I have tried to portray. 
 
 It differs chiefly from the biographies already before 
 the public, in the large use made of original letters, 
 diaries, note-books and scrap-books placed at my dis 
 posal without restriction and without instruction. In 
 this use I have been guided solely by my own sense of 
 fitness and my respect for the just limits of personality, 
 on which I hope not to have trenched, though I might 
 have printed every word of his, and only the more com 
 mended Rutherford B. Hayes to the honor and affec 
 tion of the people. 
 
 Written within four weeks after the material came 
 to my hand, the book has, I know, very many faults of 
 haste ; but it was not in the power of any writer, how 
 ever hurried or feeble, wholly to obscure the interest of 
 that material ; and whatever is the result of the political 
 
 414502 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 contest, I cannot think that people will quickly forget 
 the story of a life so true and high. 
 
 I wish distinctly to say that General Hayes is re 
 sponsible for no comment or construction of mine upon 
 any word or act of his ; and whatever is ambitious, or 
 artificial, or unwise in my book is doubly my misfor 
 tune, for it is altogether false to him. 
 
 W. D. HOWELLS. 
 CAMBBIDOE, September 7, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 COLLEGE DAYS , .... 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE STUDENT IN THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL .... 21 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TRAVELS IN NEW ENGLAND AND TEXAS, AND FIRST 
 YEARS IN CINCINNATI 30 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 FIRST PUBLIC SERVICES 47 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE EDUCATION OF A SOLDIER 53 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 THE CAMP ON THE KANAWHA AND THE MORGAN RAID . 71 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 CLOYD MOUNTAIN AND WINCHESTER . 76 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Ma 
 
 OPEQUAN, FISHER S HILL, AND CEDAR CREEK . . . . 87 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 TWICE CONGRESSMAN, THRICE GOVERNOR, AND NOMINEE 
 FOR PRESIDENT 98 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 HAYES S POLITICAL POSITIONS AND OPINIONS .... 121 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 CHARACTER: POLITICIAN, ORATOR, PUBLIC SERVANT, 
 SOLDIER, CITIZEN, MAN 162 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 KUTHEKFOED B. HAYES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 
 
 " THE name of Hayes began by valor," wrote Mr. 
 Ezekiel Hayes, of New Haven, scythe-maker, some 
 time in the last century ; and he goes on to tell how 
 once, in a fight with the Danes, the retreating Scots 
 came upon a husbandman and his two sons at work in 
 the fields. " Pull your plow and harrow to pieces and 
 fight ! " said the father, and with this timely succor 
 more remarkable for quality than quantity the 
 Danes were beaten ; and lands were bestowed upon the 
 father for his bravery. " This man (my father s 
 grandfather, George Hayes)," continues the too zeal 
 ous genealogist, " went from Scotland to Derbyshire, 
 in England, and lived with his uncle. He was anxious 
 to see London, whither he went. Having received 
 some account of America, he took passage and came to 
 this country." 
 
 It was in 1682 that George Hayes settled in Wind- 
 1 
 
. ; .T^JB . CONNECTIC W <,H A Y ESES. 
 
 sor, Connecticut, at which time, according to the ir 
 reverent computations of a modern descendant of Mr. 
 Ezekiel Hayes, the veteran must have been some seven 
 hundred years old, since the battle in question took place 
 about 980. But the brave tradition is well found at 
 least; it was heartily accepted as part of the family 
 annals by the early Puritan Hayeses of Connecticut, and 
 its veracity ought not to be impeached because of their 
 confusion of mind respecting dates. It is, however, of 
 small importance to us who hope to elect General 
 Hayes President of the United States, how his name 
 began in Scotland so long ago. It continues in valor, 
 no matter how it began, and a man of his good New 
 England ancestry has nothing to crave of the Herald s 
 College. We hold rather by the Connecticut Hayeses 
 than by those of Scotland, and we need but briefly con 
 cern ourselves with any of the forefathers of a man 
 who is himself ancestor in the Napoleonic sense. 
 
 Little is known of George Hayes, who emigrated in 
 1682, beyond the fact that he settled first at Wind 
 sor and afterwards removed to that part of Simsbury 
 which is now Granby. His son Daniel was taken by 
 the Indians about the year 1712, and carried captive to 
 Canada, whence he was ransomed by act of the Colo 
 nial Assembly appropriating " seven pounds to be paid 
 out of the public treasury "for that purpose. What 
 claim, if any, he had upon the colony s consideration, 
 by reason of civic prominence or military service, is not 
 asserted even by so ardent a genealogist as his son 
 Ezekiel, whom we have already quoted ; probably he 
 
RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES. <J 
 
 was a plain, brave farmer, fighting in defense of his 
 home, and was ransomed according to a general custom 
 of the time, upon his " praying for some relief." It is 
 known that he came home to Simsbury, and died there 
 in 1756 ; but his son Ezekie.l removed to New Haven, 
 where the first Rutherford 1 Hayes, grandfather of our 
 candidate, was born. This Rutherford was in due 
 time apprenticed to a blacksmith, and, removing from 
 New Haven first to New Hampshire and then to 
 West Brattleborough, Vermont, he wrought at his trade 
 there many years in a forge which the people built 
 to welcome him, and became a man of substance, a 
 farmer and innkeeper, dying in 1836, the father of 
 eleven children. The fifth of these, Rutherford, was 
 an active and enterprising spirit, and he was already 
 a thrifty farmer and merchant when, in 1817, the 
 West, which was even then beginning to be the Great 
 West, tempted his energies. He emigrated to Dela 
 ware, Ohio, bought land, established himself in pros 
 perous business, and five years later died of a typhoid 
 fever, leaving a wife and two children. Some three 
 months after, on the 4th of October, 1822, a son was 
 born to him, and the widow called the child s name 
 RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, in memory of the 
 father whose loss was yet so terribly new, and in grate 
 ful affection for that most loving brother 2 who was 
 
 1 The surname of an ancestor on the female side, who came to New- 
 Haven in 1643, and from whose daughter s marriage proceed the New 
 Haven Trowbridges. 
 
 2 Sardis Birchard, who died a few years since, at Fremont, Ohio. 
 He had lived unmarried, and in the course of a long life had amassed 
 
4 FAMILY NAMES. 
 
 thereafter a tender and devoted guardian of her father 
 less children. 
 
 It is of this Rutherford Birchard Hayes that the 
 present sketch treats, with an inadequacy which the 
 reader may feel, though he cannot know the keen re 
 gret of the writer, whom the rich material in the 
 family records, the letters, and the diaries placed at his 
 service tempts to a work far beyond the scope and 
 limits of this. 
 
 The Hayeses of the colonial times, from whom we 
 have here traced Rutherford B. Hayes s descent in the 
 direct line, were a strong, brave, simple race, following 
 the plow, wielding the hammer, and hewing out their 
 way as plain men must in a new land. After the first 
 emigrant, George Hayes, of Scotland, who may have 
 been of a less rigid faith, they seem to have taken 
 the prevailing tint of Connecticut Puritanism always 
 less blue than it has been painted ; and thereafter, 
 till Rutherford s time, the evangelists, and the judges, 
 the prophets, and the kings of Israel supply the serious 
 names of their Daniels, Ezekiels, Aarons, Joels, Mar 
 thas, Zilpahs, and Rebeccas ; there was, indeed, one 
 Silence Hayes of the third generation, but the conces 
 sion to imagination in her name is not in the liveliest 
 spirit, and, considering that she was a woman, might 
 
 a large property, which General Hayes inherits. He was a man not 
 only of pood heart and of great practical force of character, but of the 
 best public spirit and of cultivated tastes. He gave a library and a 
 park to the town of Fremont, and left to his nephew a gallery of pict 
 ures including works by some of the best American and modern 
 French and German painters. 
 
A NOTED ANCESTOR. 5 
 
 appear a stroke of that grim irony which the auster- 
 est faith permits itself. So far as we can learn, the 
 Hayeses were never in public station and never en 
 joyed uncommon social distinction. /But they had 
 qualities of a sort apt, in an honest and thrifty stock, 
 when the moment comes, to flower into greatness j and 
 they had the gift, not yet extinct in their line, of win 
 ning superior women for their wives, through whom 
 they united themselves with families of worth, learn 
 ing, and piety. Ezekiel married a Russell, of those 
 Russells who, first sojourning in Cambridge after their 
 emigration from England, followed the Reverend Mr. 
 Hooker into the Connecticut wilderness, when its first 
 church troubles distracted our good town. They re 
 mained men of character and of a consideration which 
 their Connecticut descendants still enjoy ; but none has 
 so distinct a claim upon our honor as that son of the 
 original emigrant who concealed the fugitive Regicides 
 at Hadley many years, and of whom it is written by 
 the town historiographer, " He feared not to do what 
 he thought to be right." 
 
 In his turn, Rutherford, the son of Daniel, wedded 
 Chloe Smith, the daughter of Israel Smith, originally of 
 Hadley, Massachusetts, but at the time of his daughter s 
 marriage a principal citizen of Southwestern Vermont. 
 The first of the family out of England was Leftenant 
 Samuel Smith, who left his native town of Ipswich 
 in 1663 and settled in Connecticut, where he was for 
 twelve years a member of the Colonial Assembly. 
 After his removal to Hadley, where he died in great 
 
6 ISRAEL SMITH. 
 
 esteem, he held many public trusts and was often chosen 
 to the General Court. The family was always one of 
 local distinction and unusual culture, and in a later 
 generation one of Chloe s uncles went from college to 
 preach to the Indians in Pennsylvania. He and one 
 of his brothers, from becoming Sandemanians (" I don t 
 know as there is any such in the country now," con 
 fesses Chloe Hayes in her diary, " nor do I know what 
 their belief is ") became loyalists, and fled to Nova 
 Scotia at the outbreak of the Revolution ; but Chloe s 
 father, Israel, was a staunch Whig and served under 
 Washington, by whom he was entrusted with the arrest 
 of certain Tories of that day, suspected of intriguing 
 with the British in Vermont. He had lauds specially 
 granted him for his services, and he was one of three 
 commissioners appointed to take charge of the property 
 of refugee Tories ; he was also a prominent partisan of 
 the State of New York in her disputes with the new 
 State of Vermont ; he was employed on much public 
 business connected with that now forgotten controversy, 
 and he and his son-in-law both received lands from the 
 grateful elder commonwealth. 
 
 Chloe Smith was the eldest of nine children, and, 
 becoming the mother of eleven, lived to so great an 
 age as to have left upon the memory of many surviv 
 ing grandchildren and great-grandchildren the personal 
 impression of her strong and resolute character, and her 
 rugged Puritan virtues, tempered and softened by aes 
 thetic gifts amounting almost to genius. It is to her that 
 her posterity are fond of ascribing in vast measure what- 
 
CHLOE SMITH HAYES. 7 
 
 ever is best in their hereditary traits, and she certainly 
 merits more than passing notice in the most cursory 
 characterization of her grandson. Above all and first 
 of all she was deeply religious, after the fashion of the 
 days that we now think so grim, and she set her duty 
 to God, as she knew it, before "every earthly concern 
 and affection. With a devotion almost as deep, she 
 dedicated her days to incessant work, and her toil often 
 saved the spirit that faltered in its religious gloom. 
 She rose early and wrought late, as the wife of a 
 farmer and innkeeper, and the mother of eleven chil 
 dren, must, and as a woman of her temperament 
 would ; and she was as intolerant of idleness in others 
 as in herself. Even the great-grandchildren had their 
 tasks set them in their visits to this inveterate worker, 
 who could not rest from her labors after eighty years. 
 She was a famous cook, and the triumphs of her skill 
 at Thanksgivings and other sufferable holidays were no 
 less her own pride than the solace of her guests. But 
 she shone even more in needle-work and the now ob 
 solete arts of the wheel and loom. " She knit more 
 stockings, mittens, and gloves, wove more rag carpets, 
 spun and wove more cloth, elaborated more wonderful 
 rugs, lamp-mats, and bags, than any other woman of 
 her generation," writes one of her grandsons ; and the 
 reminiscence of a granddaughter, at once touching and 
 amusing, gives the color of the Puritanism which 
 steeped in fear and misgiving the indulgence of such 
 love of beauty as she permitted herself. " I spoke of 
 her passion for worsted work. I have heard her say 
 
8 A QUAINT DIARY. 
 
 that Saturday afternoon she put it all into her work- 
 basket, and pushed it under the bed as far as she could ; 
 then, taking out her prosy knitting-work, she tried to 
 get it all out of her mind for Sunday ! " Yet she was 
 a true artist in this passion ; her devices in worsted were 
 her greatest delight, and she studied them from nature, 
 going into her garden and copying the leaf or flower 
 she meant to embroider. 1 She had an almost equal 
 passion for flowers, for which, doubtless, she suffered 
 the same qualms. In her old age she kept a diary, 
 which remains to her descendants and completely re 
 flects her stern, resolute, duteous, God-fearing, yet most 
 tender and loving soul. In a sketch of family history, 
 with which she prefaces her journals, she laments, with 
 a simple pathos which no words can reproduce with 
 out the context, her possible error in setting work and 
 duty before some other things. " My husband .... 
 would sometimes say, The horse is standing in the barn, 
 doing nothing. We will go and ride ; it s no matter 
 whether we stop anywhere. But I would say, * I can t 
 leave my work. So he would not go, or go alone. 
 Oh, now I would say to every woman that has a good 
 husband, Enjoy them while they are spared to you, or 
 it will grieve you to the heart when it is too late 
 when all is over ! " But this cry of regret, in a sor 
 row as keen as if the husband she had lost had been 
 
 1 Most of her grandchildren inherited her artistic skill ; among her 
 great-grandchildren are Larkin G. Mead, the sculptor, and his brother, 
 John Mead, who died in his Junior year at Harvard, and had already 
 given promise in art. A series of lithographs illustrating student 
 life were published after his death. 
 
GENERAL HAYES S MOTHER. 9 
 
 cut off in his prime, and not in the fullness of his 
 eighty years, is almost the sole expression of misgiving 
 in a diary to which she confesses everything, commits 
 every hope, fear, doubt, and imparts every mood of her 
 soul. The faded pages, recording so vividly a type of 
 high character which has passed away with the chang 
 ing order of things, are of almost unique interest, but 
 this is not the time or place to explore them. Work, 
 faith, duty, self-sacrifice, continual self-abasement in 
 the presence of the Divine perfection, are the ideal of 
 life which they embody the old New England ideal. 
 It was a stern and unlovely thing often in its real 
 ization ; it must have made gloomy weeks arid terrible 
 Sabbaths ; but out of the true stuff it shaped charac 
 ter of insurpassable uprightness and strength. It is to 
 the indomitable will, the tireless industry, the rectitude, 
 the whole, ever-vigilant conscience, which it fostered 
 in his austere ancestress, that this man of our choice 
 doubtless owes the virtues on which our hopes rest. 
 From other progenitors come the genial traits, the fine 
 and joyous humor, the quick cordiality, the amiable 
 presence, which a superficial observation has mistaken 
 for the whole man ; but from her the keen sarcasm, the 
 active intellect, the ever-present sense of duty, the im 
 movable purpose, the practical religiousness, now no 
 longer bound to creeds but fully surviving in the 
 blameless and useful life. 
 
 The mother of General Hayes was Sophia Birchard, 
 whose family had removed from Connecticut to Ver 
 mont near the close of the last century. She too has 
 
10 EARLY CHILDHOOD. 
 
 left a diary, in which we recognize many of the same 
 religious traits so strongly marked in her mother- 
 in-law. The circumstances of her widowhood, in the 
 strange new country (Mrs. Chloe Hayes, on her daugh 
 ter s departure for the West, speaks of her " leaving her 
 native land," as if " the Ohio," so called in that day, 
 were some unattainable foreign strand) whither she had 
 followed her husband, no doubt tended to deepen the 
 sad aspects of her faith at the expense of those happier 
 hereditary instincts which in her brother became a 
 strong love of art. She and her husband united with 
 the Presbyterian Church, the Western Puritanism, 
 and their children were reared in that faith, but the 
 sole survivor of her family is not now a member of the 
 sect in question, nor of any other, though a regular at 
 tendant, with his wife, at the Methodist services. Not 
 many years after her husband s death, their oldest son 
 was drowned, and there remained to the widowed 
 mother only two of her children: a brother and sister, 
 who grew up in a friendship most tender and affection 
 ate on her part, and of passionate reverence and admi 
 ration on his. In a manuscript memoir of this adored 
 sister, which must be sacred from more than a passing 
 allusion, General Hayes recorded, shortly after her 
 death, the simple facts of their early childhood in Del 
 aware. It is now a pretty town of some eight thousand 
 souls, seat of a Methodist college, and deriving its pros 
 perity chiefly from one of the richest farming regions 
 of Central Ohio. Its situation on the borders of the 
 Olentangy is charmingly picturesque, and the painter 
 
DESIRE FOR BOOKS. 11 
 
 Griswold drew his first inspirations from the surpass 
 ingly lovely country in which it lies. At the early 
 period of which the memoir treats, the land was yet 
 new, though the pioneer period had quite passed. 
 Mrs. Hayes dwelt in a substantial brick house in the 
 village, and drew a large part of her income from a 
 farm left her by her husband in the neighborhood. 
 Besides the guardianship of her brother, she had in 
 the care of her children and house the help of one 
 of those faithful friends whom it is cruel to call serv 
 ants, and whom in this case the children both re 
 garded with filial affection. But life in that time 
 and country was necessarily very simple ; this early 
 home Was in no sense an establishment ; when the 
 faithful Asenath married and set up for herself in 
 life, the mother and the sister did all the work of the 
 household themselves. The greatest joys of a happy 
 childhood were the visits the brother and sister made 
 to the farm in the sugar season, in cherry time, at cider- 
 making, and when the walnuts and hickory-nuts were 
 ripe ; and its greatest cross was the want of children s 
 books, with which the village lawyer s family was sup 
 plied. When their uncle Birchard began in business 
 he satisfied their hearts desire for this kind of litera 
 ture, and books of a graver and maturer sort seem al 
 ways to have abounded with them. They read Hume s 
 and Smollett s English history together ; the sister of 
 twelve years interpreted Shakespeare to the brother of 
 ten ; they read the poetry of Mr. Thomas Moore (then 
 so much finer and grander than now), and they paid 
 
12 HIS SISTER S INFLUENCE. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott the tribute of dramatizing together 
 his " Lady of the Lake," and were duly astonished and 
 dismayed to learn afterwards that they were not the 
 sole inventors of the dramatization of poems, that 
 even their admired " Lady of the Lake " had long been 
 upon the stage. The influence of an elder sister upon 
 a generous and manly boy is always very great ; and it 
 is largely to this sister s unfailing instincts and ardent 
 enthusiasm for books that her brother owes his life-long 
 pleasure in the best literature. She not only read with 
 him ; she studied at home the same lessons in Latin 
 and Greek which he recited privately to a gentleman of 
 the place ; she longed to be a boy, that she might go to 
 college with him; in the futile way she must, so -remote 
 from all instruction, she strove to improve herself in 
 drawing and painting. One of their first school-mas 
 ters was Daniel Granger, " a little, thin, wiry Yankee," 
 of terrible presence but of good enough heart, whom 
 " the love he bore to learning " obliged to flog boys 
 of twice his own bulk, with furious threats of throw 
 ing them through the school-house walls, and of mak 
 ing them "dance like parched peas," which dreadful 
 behavior and menaces rendered " all the younger chil 
 dren horribly afraid of him," and perhaps did not so 
 much advance the brother s and sister s education as 
 their private studies and reading had done: that is 
 frequently the result of a too athletic zeal for letters 
 on the part of instructors. The children were not 
 separated for any length of time until the brother s 
 fourteenth year, when he went away to the Academy 
 
AN IRREPARABLE LOSS. 13 
 
 at Norwalk, Ohio, and after that they were little to 
 gether during his preparation for college in Middle- 
 town, Connecticut, and his college years at Kenyon 
 College, Ohio. But throughout this time they wrote 
 regularly to each other ; she took the deepest interest 
 in all bis studies, their devoted affection continued in 
 their maturer life, and when her death parted them it 
 left him with the sorrow of an irreparable loss. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 COLLEGE DAYS. 
 
 IT was the wish of his preceptor at Middletown that 
 Hayes should enter Yale College. " I was educated 
 there myself," writes the worthy Mr. Isaac Webb, in 
 a letter to the boy s mother, most commendatory of 
 her son, " and feel a strong attachment to the institu 
 tion ; and I know its advantages. .... He says he 
 has perhaps given you an exaggerated idea of the 
 expenses of Yale College. The necessary expenses, in 
 cluding everything except clothing and pocket-money, 
 range from $150 to $200 only," which the frugalest 
 mother would not think very exorbitant even now. 
 Then the writer adds testimony on a certain point in 
 which our candidate has been painfully contrasted 
 with the agricultural simplicity ef Mr. Tilden : " I tell 
 Rutherford that plain, decent dress is as much re 
 spected at New Haven as anywhere else ; and a dandy 
 is as much despised, and as great an object of ridicule 
 and contempt, as he is in Ohio. I think Rutherford 
 is judicious in his taste, and has as little ambition to 
 be a fop as any of the rest of us." That such a man 
 should in after life abandon himself to the excesses 
 of fashion would, if true, be a fact really regrettable, 
 
AT KENYON COLLEGE. lf> 
 
 except as the sole refuge of opponents who have found 
 nothing else to allege against him. 
 
 It was settled, however, that Hayes should enter col 
 lege in his native State, and he was therefore exam 
 ined for the Freshman class at Kenyon College, Gam- 
 bier, Ohio, in November, 1838. Possibly because of 
 his fitness for entering an institution of severer re 
 quirements, he records his passing the examination, 
 and considers his Freshman studies at Kenyon with 
 a coolness approaching nonchalance; and his fellow- 
 students of that day remember his overflowing jollity 
 and drollery more distinctly than his ardor in study, 
 though his standing was always good. Even in the 
 serious shades of Middletown his mirthful spirit and 
 his love of humor bubbled over into his exercise books, 
 where his translations from Homer are interspersed with 
 mock-heroic law-pleas in Western courts, evidently tran 
 scribed from newspapers, and every sort of grotesque 
 extravagance in prose or rhyme. The increased dig 
 nity of a collegian seems to have rebuked this school- 
 boyish fondness for crude humor : a commonplace- 
 book of the most unexceptionable excerpts from classic 
 authors of various languages records the taste of this 
 time, and the reflections on abstract questions in 
 young Hayes s journals are commonly of that final 
 wisdom which the experience of mankind has taught 
 us to expect in the speculations of Freshmen and 
 Sophomores. They are good fellows, hearty, happy, 
 running over with pranks and jests, and joyous and 
 original in everything but their philosophy, which must 
 
16 FIRST STUDIES OF CHARACTER. 
 
 be forgiven them for the sake of the many people who 
 remain Sophomores all their lives. Hayes was a boy 
 who loved all honest, manly sports. He was a capital 
 shot with the rifle, and he allotted a due share of his 
 time to hunting, as well as fishing, to which he was 
 even more devoted, swimming, and skating. Shortly 
 after he went to Kenyon he records that he broke 
 through the ice where the water was eight feet deep, 
 and " was not scared much." His companions helped 
 him out " without much trouble," and he adds, with 
 something like indignant scorn, " I could have got up 
 without any help." At Christmas time he walked forty 
 miles home to Delaware in twelve hours, and after 
 Christmas walked back to Gambier in four inches of 
 snow. 
 
 There are few incidents, and none of importance, 
 set down in these early journals. What distinguishes 
 them from other collegian diaries, and gives them their 
 peculiar value in any study of the man, is the evi 
 dence they afford of his life-long habit of rigid self- 
 accountability and of close, shrewd study of character 
 in others. At the end of his third year he puts in 
 writing his estimate of the traits, talents, and pros 
 pects of his fellow-students ; and in a diary opened at 
 the same time he begins those searching examinations 
 of his own motives, purposes, ideas, and aspirations 
 without which no man can know other men. These in 
 quiries are not made by the young fellow of nineteen 
 in any spirit of dreamy or fond introspection ; him 
 self interests him, of course, but he is not going to give 
 
EARLY ASPIRATIONS AND INTROSPECTIONS. 17 
 
 himself any quarter on that account : he has got to 
 stand up before his own conscience, and be judged for 
 his suspected conceit, for his procrastinations, for his 
 neglect of several respectable but disagreeable branches 
 of learning, for his tendency to make game of a certain 
 young college poet who supposes himself to look like 
 Byron^; for his fondness, in fine, for trying the edge of 
 his wit upon all the people about him. Upon consid 
 eration he reaches the conclusion that he is not a per 
 son of genius, and that if he is to succeed he must work 
 hard, and make the very most of the fair abilities with 
 which he accredits himself. He has already chosen his 
 future profession, and he is concerned about his slip 
 shod style, and his unreadiness of speech, which will 
 never do for an orator. He is going to look carefully 
 to his literature, and he takes an active interest in the 
 literary societies of the college ; about this time also he 
 is one of " a few select friends " who found a club 
 having for its stately object " the promotion of firm and 
 enduring friendship among its members," and though 
 he doubts whether the friendships thus systematically 
 promoted will endure much beyond the graduation of 
 the allies, he will do what he can for the club. He 
 has to accuse himself at the mature age of nineteen of 
 being still a boy in many things ; even after he is 
 legally a man, he shrewdly suspects, the law will have 
 somewhat deceived itself in regard to him. He also 
 finds that he is painfully bashful in society, but that 
 great relief may be found by making fun of his own 
 embarrassments. It is a frank, simple, generous rec- 
 2 
 
18 POLITICAL IDEAS AT NINETEEN. 
 
 ord, unconscious even in its consciousness, and full 
 of the most charming qualities of heart and mind. No 
 where is the trace of any low ideal or sordid motive ; 
 nowhere the self-betrayal of an egoistic or narrow spirit. 
 There is uncommonly little of the rhetoric of youth- 
 fulness ; a good sense, as kindly-hearted as it is hard- 
 headed, characterizes the boy s speculations and aspira 
 tions and criticisms. The ancestral tendency to exam 
 ine, consider, accuse, approve, or blame the springs of 
 thought and action is here in accumulated force, but 
 the trial goes on through all the diaries, not so much 
 with regard to duty to God, as in the case of the Puri 
 tan diarist, but duty to one s self and to other men ; the 
 stand-point is moral, not spiritual ; the aim is to be a 
 good man of this world. Not that the young fellow 
 has any doubts of the theology in which he has been 
 reared ; he writes with large satisfaction of how he has 
 labored to show a fellow-student the folly of skepticism. 
 As for political affairs, he does not, he affirms, take 
 any interest in them. He intends to be a lawyer and 
 to let politics alone. Yet he cannot help saying in 
 1841 that the Whigs " should be careful how they 
 hazard all by casting loose from John Tyler for a con 
 scientious discharge of duty " in vetoing the Bank Bill. 
 " I was never more rejoiced than when it was ascer 
 tained that Harrison s election was certain. I hoped 
 that we should then have a stable currency of uniform 
 value," a hope to which thirty-five years later he is 
 still loyal, " but since Tyler has vetoed one way of 
 accomplishing this, I would not hesitate to try others. * 
 
TAKING A STAND FOR LIFE. 19 
 
 A little later we find that he has " aspirations which he 
 would not conceal from himself," and of which one 
 may readily infer the political nature from what fol 
 lows. But what follows is more important for the re 
 lation it bears to his whole career, than for the light 
 it throws upon any part of it. " The reputation which 
 I desire is not that momentary eminence which is gained 
 without merit and lost without regret," he says with a 
 collegian s swelling antithesis ; and then solidly places 
 himself in the attitude from which he has never since 
 faltered : " Give me the popularity that runs after, not 
 that which is sought for " So early was the principle of 
 his political life fixed and formulated ! Every office 
 that he has held has sought him ; at every step of 
 his advancement popularity, the only sort he cared to 
 have, has followed him ; he is and has always been a 
 leader of the people s unprompted choice. 
 
 He has much to say, from time to time, of the pro 
 fession which he has determined to adopt, and he tries 
 to measure, as a college lad may, the difficulties before 
 him. Success will be hard, very hard, and will come 
 only of long and patient endeavor ; he knows that, but 
 he is not dismayed ; nor when he casually listens to the 
 arguments " of some of the first lawyers of the State," 
 in the United States Circuit Court, is he out of heart. 
 " They did not equal my expectations ; some were in 
 deed most excellent, yet none were so superior as to 
 discourage one from striving to equal them." He 
 never disparages any antagonist or difficulty, but he 
 quietly takes account of his own powers, and decides 
 
20 LAW STUDIES AT COLUMBUS. 
 
 that he can probably stand up against the worst. That 
 is Rutherford Hayes at nineteen, and that is Ruther 
 ford Hayes at fifty-four. 
 
 In spite of the misgivings he has had concerning his 
 scholarship, and in spite of the ridicule which his diary 
 heaps upon college exhibitions, he is the valedictorian 
 of his graduating class ; and then, after a few weeks in 
 terval, he begins his legal studies in the office of Messrs. 
 Sparrow and Matthews, prominent lawyers in Colum 
 bus, in the year 1842. Thereafter his diary is largely 
 concerned with the progress he makes, or fails to make, 
 in Blackstone, Chitty, and the rest ; and with what he 
 is doing in German, which he has taken up with his 
 customary vigor. He has to lament that, besides read 
 ing such good literature as Milton and Shakespeare, he 
 spends his leisure in reading a great deal of trash ; he 
 deplores the unprofitable fascination of the newspapers; 
 and he presently sets down his " rules for the month," 
 which, as he never was a prig in his life, we may 
 safely suppose he regularly violated : 
 
 " First, Read no newspapers. 
 
 " Second, Rise at seven and retire at ten. 
 
 " Third, Study law six hours, German two, and Ch. 
 two. 
 
 " Fourth, In reading Black. s C y, to record my 
 difficulties." 
 
 There is not the slightest record of these difficulties. 
 In fact, the scene abruptly changes from Columbus, and 
 the next entry is made at Cambridge, in August, 1843. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE STUDENT IN THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL. 
 
 HAYES had been ten months in the office of Messrs. 
 Sparrow and Matthews when it was decided that he 
 should enter the Harvard Law School, where the spe 
 cial advantages to which he looked forward were " the 
 instructions of those eminent jurists and teachers, Story 
 and Greenleaf." Within the first week he has found 
 that he likes the institution, professors, and students ; he 
 likes his room-mate, Hedges of Tiffin ; he likes his as 
 sociates, mostly " Buckeyes," like himself. He is in 
 state of hopeful and joyous content with everybody 
 arid everything but himself. His irresolution, his neg 
 lect of opportunities, ought to grieve him, but he is 
 perfectly cheerful in spite of his regrets, and he be 
 gins at once to sketch the lectures and lecturers, and 
 first of all Judge Story and his introductory remarks. 
 " He spoke at some length of the advantage and ne 
 cessity of possessing complete control of the temper, 
 illustrating his view with anecdotes of his own experi 
 ence and observation. His manner is very pleasant,! 
 betraying great good-humor and fondness for jesting.^ 
 His most important directions were : Keep a constant 
 guard upon temper and tongue. Always have in read- 
 
22 GREENLEAF AND STORY. 
 
 iness some of those unmeaning but respectful formula 
 ries as, per ex., l The learned gentleman on the opposite 
 side, 4 My learned friend opposite, etc. When in the 
 library, employ yourself in reading the title-pages and 
 table of contents of the books of reports which it con 
 tains, and endeavor to get some notion of their relative 
 value. Read Blackstoiie again and again incompa 
 rable for the beauty and chasteness of its style, the 
 amount and profundity of its learning." 
 
 " AVe have no formal lectures," he writes after the end 
 of the first week. " Professors Story and Green leaf 
 illustrate and explain as they proceed. Mr. G. is very 
 searching and logical in examination. It is impossible 
 for one who has not studied the text to escape expos 
 ing his ignorance ; he keeps the subject constantly in 
 view, never stepping out of his way for the purpose of 
 introducing his own experience. Judge Story, on the 
 other hand, is very general in his questions, so that per 
 sons well skilled in nods affirmative, and negative shak 
 ings of the head, need never more than glance at the 
 text to be able to answer his interrogatories. He is 
 very fond of digressions to introduce amusing anec 
 dotes, high-wrought eulogies of the sages of the law, 
 and fragments of his own experience. He is generally 
 very interesting, and often quite eloquent. His man 
 ner of speaking is almost precisely like that of Corwin. 
 In short, as a lecturer he is a very different man from 
 what you would expect of an old and eminent judge ; 
 not but that he is great, but he is so interesting and 
 fond of good stories. His amount of knowledge is 
 
STORY S VERSATILITY AND HIGH-MINDEDNESS. 23 
 
 prodigious. Talk of many irons in the fire ! Why, 
 he keeps up with the news of the day of all sorts, 
 from political to Wellerisms, and new works of all sorts 
 he reads at least enough to form an opinion of, and all 
 the while enjoys himself with a flow of spirits equal to 
 a school-boy in the holidays. So ho ! the measures of 
 literature are not so small after all ! " 
 
 He quotes from Judge Story, whose enthusiasm for 
 Chief Justice Marshall all the old graduates of the 
 Harvard Law School remember, the belief that Mar 
 shall was " the growth of a century. Providence 
 grants such men to the human family only on great 
 
 occasions Such men are found only when our 
 
 need is the greatest; " and the diarist gives, from one of 
 Judge Story s discursive addresses, a personal reminis 
 cence which affords a glimpse, too valuable to be lost, 
 of the noble and lofty mind whose ideals and impulses 
 found a quick response in that of his unknown young 
 listener : 
 
 " When a young lawyer, I was told by a member of 
 the bar at which I practiced, who was fifteen years my 
 senior in the profession, that he wished to consult me 
 in a case of conscience. Said he, You are a young 
 man, and I can trust you. I want an opinion ; the case 
 is this : I am engaged in an important cause, my adver 
 sary is an obstinate, self-willed, self-sufficient man, and 
 I have him completely in my power. I can crush his 
 whole case ; it is in my hand, and he does not know it, 
 does not suspect it. I can gain the case by taking ad 
 vantage of this man s ignorance and overweening confi- 
 
24 EFFECT UPON HAYES. 
 
 dence. Now the point is, shall I do it? I answered, 
 * I think not. * I think not, too, he replied. * I have 
 determined to go into court to-morrow, show him his 
 error, and set him right. He did it. This was forty- 
 five years ago, but I have never forgotten that act nor 
 that man. lie is still living, and I have looked upon 
 him and his integrity as beyond all estimate. I would 
 trust him with untold millions, nay, with life, with 
 reputation, with all that is dear." 
 
 Judge Story, indeed, seems to have had a far greater 
 influence than any other professor, at this time, on 
 the young Ohio student, who sets down so diligently 
 the characteristic points of the great jurist s discourses. 
 The two men, with all the vast disparity of their years, 
 traditions, opportunities, and experiences, had so many 
 principles in common that the younger could not but 
 follow the elder mind in quick and admiring sympathy. 
 They had the same high purposes, balanced and ordered 
 by the same cool good sense ; they both regarded noble 
 ideals of their profession in the same practical way, and 
 found them practicable. Whatever law was lost upon 
 Hayes in Story s lectures (and it is certain that he was 
 never the negligent student he too rigorously thinks 
 himself from time to time), no lesson concerning the 
 humanity, the grandeur, the rights and duties of the 
 conscientious lawyer s life, was wasted in his hearing. 
 He is even glad to find that his law library, which cost 
 S300, is sufficient for all legal necessities according to 
 Judge Story, who has been saying that $10,000 would 
 furnish such a library abundantly, and $3000 con- 
 
STORY S ADVICE TO STUDENTS. 25 
 
 veniently ; and he is proud to record all the facts in 
 the professor s knowledge which elevate his vocation. 
 " Lawyers, so far as his observation extended, were 
 more eminent for morality and a nice sense of honor 
 than any other class of men. They have the most im 
 portant and delicate secrets intrusted to them ; they 
 have more power of doing mischief, and are more in 
 strumental in healing family dissensions, neighborhood 
 feuds, and general ill-blood, than any other profession." 
 He gives a synopsis of Story s closing lecture for the 
 term, in which the students were urged to lay a broad 
 and deep foundation of legal reading ; to remember 
 that the law was a jealous mistress, and to have nothing 
 to do with the charmer Politics before forty ; to use 
 their young hopes, desires, confidence, ambition, and en 
 ergy only for useful and noble ends ; and were assured 
 that their master had a pride and interest beyond their 
 conception in their future success. " Pshaw ! " the dia 
 rist feels constrained to add at the close of his entry, 
 " how my haste (indecent !) spoils the Old Man Elo 
 quent ! " 
 
 Life had opened at Cambridge in a richness and 
 variety which was vastly interesting to the eager, 
 quick-witted, whole-hearted young Westerner, and he 
 strove to take in as much of it as he could. The 
 child who had read Shakespeare at eleven with his 
 young sister, out in the new Ohio country, remote from 
 literature, the youth who had nourished his love of 
 letters all through his college-days upon the best En- 
 
26 LONGFELLOW: BANCROFT; SPARKS. DANA. 
 
 glish poets and essayists, the law student who takes up 
 German with his Blackstone and keeps his Shake 
 speare and Milton fresh along with his law -reports 
 and Chitty, and finds even his love of lighter literature 
 allowed and encouraged by the example of Justice 
 Story, now comes, at Cambridge, face to face with au 
 thorship for the first time, and sees and hears the men 
 whose books have been his friends. He has the great 
 pleasure, long denied us Cantabrigians of later times, 
 of hearing Mr. Longfellow lecture/ now on Anglo- 
 Saxon literature, now on Goethe, now on other sub 
 jects in the range of his professorship, and is vastly 
 content with his style, manner, and matter." He 
 hears Mr. Bancroft address a Democratic meeting in 
 Boston ; he hears President Sparks lecture on colonial 
 history, and the younger Dana on American loyalty ; 
 he goes often to hear Dr. Walker, of whose sermons 
 he never fails to give the drift, or to testify to his 
 great enjoyment in them ; going to the theatre for the 
 first time in his life, he sees Macready in Hamlet. 
 
 But in spite of many virtuous resolutions and protesta 
 tions to the contrary, Hayes takes a predominant inter 
 est in politics, in public men, and public affairs. He 
 fulfills all the duties of the law student ; he is instant 
 at all lectures, and a conscientious reader of law ; he 
 belongs to a law club and a debating club ; he is busy 
 in the Moot Court ; but he cannot keep away from the 
 political meetings at which Webster, and Choate, and 
 John Quincy Adams, and Winthrop, and Bancroft are 
 
REGRETS UPON CLAY S DEFEAT. 27 
 
 speaking. He listens, sketches, and judges them all. 1 
 But all this interest in politics came to the end which 
 was so tragical with the young Whigs of 1844. Their 
 support of Henry Clay was a generous passion ; his 
 defeat was almost a heart-break. " I would start in 
 the world without a penny," writes Hayes on the 9th 
 of November, " if by my sacrifice Clay could be elected 
 President. Not that the difference to the country is 
 likely to be great, in my opinion ; but then, to think 
 that so good and great a man should be defeated ! 
 Slandered as he has been, it would have been such a 
 triumph to have elected him. But it cannot be," he 
 continues with as hot a regret as if it were a personal 
 sorrow. " Now I must withdraw my thoughts from 
 party politics, and apply my whole energies to the 
 law." 
 
 At Cambridge Hayes had been not only pursuing his 
 law studies ; he had been keeping up his German, and 
 reviewing his French and Greek, as well as widening 
 his acquaintance with literature in all directions. The 
 continual strain began to tell upon his health, although 
 from many self-accusing entries in his journal the 
 reader might infer that he was anything but a diligent 
 student. He proposes, in the six weeks vacation fol 
 lowing the spring of 1844, to throw his books aside en 
 tirely for a season. " Since I commenced the study of 
 the law I have taken no sufficient recreation." He 
 
 1 " I heard some speakers in Marlboro Chapel address the Whigs 
 of Boston," he writes on one occasion. "They were good speakers, 
 but no better than the good s {takers of Ohio." 
 
28 LAW PARTNERSHIP ; FAILING HEALTH. 
 
 spent this vacation at Columbus, with his family, and 
 returned again to Cambridge in the fall. Shortly after, 
 he graduated from the law school and went to begin 
 the practice of his profession in Lower Sandusky, now 
 Fremont. Ohio. There he formed a partnership with 
 Mr. Ralph P. Buckland, since a well-known public 
 man in Ohio, and the colleague of Hayes in Congress. 
 The co-partnership was of brief duration. Hayes had 
 not yet taken the recreation he had so long denied 
 himself, and he began to pay the penalty of overwork. 
 His health gave way entirely ; he had even the pre 
 monitions of consumption, and there was nothing for it 
 but to make an absolute change. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TEAVELS IN NEW ENGLAND AND TEXAS, AND FIRST 
 YEARS IN CINCINNATI. 
 
 IN June, 1847, Hayes had resolved to go to Mexico 
 and take any part in the conduct of the war that could 
 be assigned to the sort of detached volunteer he pro 
 posed to be. His failing health obliged him to give up 
 his profession, and it seems to have been his reluctance 
 to appear idle, rather than his desire to fight in that 
 unjust cause, on which he acted. u I have no views 
 about war other than those of the best Christians," he 
 writes, " and my opinion of this war with Mexico is 
 that which is common to the Whigs of the North, 
 Tom Corwin and his admirers, of whom I am one." 
 He even went so far as to join, or take the first 
 steps towards joining, a company of volunteers going 
 from Fremont. He consented, however, at the urgerice 
 of his friends, to take medical advice before finally de 
 ciding ; his physician in Cincinnati resolutely forbade 
 his enterprise, and ordered him to go not South but 
 North. He very unwillingly gave up the design on 
 which he had set his mind, but he obeyed, and spent the 
 next summer in New England and Canada, camping 
 out in the mountains, and visiting all the scenes of that 
 
30 SOJOURN IN TEXAS. 
 
 family history which attached him so warmly to tin; 
 East. The journey failed to restore his broken health, 
 and he recurred to his former purpose of going South, 
 but he had now relinquished his design of taking part 
 in a war offensive to the political and moral ideas of a 
 Corwin Whig. 
 
 Among the college acquaintance whose characters he 
 had sketched in his first diary was the young Texan, 
 Guy M. Bryan, of whom Hayes recorded, with boyish 
 admiration and tenderness, " He is a real gentleman, 
 holds his honor dear, respects the wishes and feelings of 
 others, is a warm and constant friend. Has good tal 
 ents He will, I trust, figure largely in Texan 
 
 history ; he is a true patriot." The two friends had 
 never lost sight of each other ; and in the Rebellion 
 they met in arms on opposing sides. But in 1847 their 
 friendship was still far from this, and Hayes resolved to 
 visit his old fellow-student in Texas, where his thou 
 sands upon thousands of acres gave a manorial vastness 
 and state to his home. The record of this visit is a 
 continuous story of delights of every kind : balls and 
 parties at Bryan s house, where the troops of guests 
 come at two o clock in the afternoon and stay till the 
 next day at noon ; rides to and fro over the prairies to 
 call upon Texan ladies, who all have the brilliancy and 
 beauty that all ladies have when one is twenty-five ; 
 visits and parties in every direction ; shooting in a land 
 richly stocked with every kind of game, and excursions 
 to the wild Texan towns, picturesque with the admired 
 disorder joi life on the borders of a great war, their 
 
A TEXAN SPORTSMAN. 31 
 
 streets full of backwoodsmen, soldiers, gamblers, advent 
 urers, and dramatic with the occasional exploits of a 
 Texan statesman, who electioneers for the United 
 States Senate by riding through the capital and exhibit 
 ing all the feats of Comanche horsemanship. These 
 amusements, and a long gallop through Northwestern 
 Texas to visit a distant estate of the Bryans , form 
 the perfect change and the entire rest from study 
 needed to accomplish the end desired, and Hayes 
 goes home restored to health which has never since 
 broken. 
 
 He had gone to Texas by way of the Mississippi and 
 the Gulf, and his diary abounds with sketches, slight 
 but graphic, of the life and character on a Western 
 steamboat, which he sees with Dickens-like quickness, 
 but paints as if merely to secure his own sense of it, 
 and not for any literary effect. In Texas he had less 
 time or disposition to write, but here, as elsewhere, he 
 was a keen and constant observer. One s surprise 
 is therefore all the greater not to find in his journal 
 a single expression directly referring to slavery. He 
 may have felt it a sort of disloyalty to his hospitable 
 friend to criticise the institution with which his pros 
 perity was bound up ; he is the man to have obeyed 
 such a chivalrous instinct ; at any rate, the only passage 
 touching slavery, or its influence on either race, occurs 
 in an account of a visit to a remote planter, whom he 
 found " very fond of telling his . own experience and 
 
 talking of his own affairs The haughty and 
 
 imperious port of a man develops rapidly on one of 
 
32 NOT AN ORIGINAL ABOLITIONIST. 
 
 these lonely sugar plantations, where the owner rarely 
 meets with any except his slaves and minions." 
 
 In those reminiscences of Chloe Hayes by her grand 
 children, from which we have already quoted, one of 
 the granddaughters says, " When grandfather would 
 boast that he was not shifted about with every new 
 tide of opinion, she would remind him that he was con 
 verted in one hour from faith in colonization to rank 
 abolitionism. This, I think, was from reading some 
 thing on the subject." Probably Hayes had received 
 the right principles by inheritance ; he showed often 
 enough afterwards what his sympathies had always 
 been ; nevertheless it was long before he became an act 
 ive political opponent of slavery, though he had been 
 a Whig of the Clay and Corwin antislavery school from 
 the first. His mind is essentially legal and conserva 
 tive, and the respect for law and fidelity to the consti 
 tution and its guarantees inherent in him had been 
 strengthened by his admiration for Story and his opin 
 ions. He might think at least one of the constitutional 
 guarantees atrocious, but he did not question its exist 
 ence, and it was not till slavery became openly aggress 
 ive that he began to fight it. He remained, with 
 whatever misgivings, a Whig till the formation of the 
 anti-Nebraska party upon the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise. 
 
 The first indication of what may long have been in 
 his thought upon the subject is in an entry in his jour 
 nal in 1850. Even this is indirect, and is one of many 
 passages he quotes from Mrs. Adams s Letters, which 
 he was then reading : " Speaking of a conspiracy among 
 
COMMENT ON WEBSTER S FALL. 33 
 
 the negroes to aid the British against their masters, she 
 says, * I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in 
 the Province. It always appeared a most iniquitous 
 scheme to me to fight, ourselves, for what we are daily 
 robbing and plundering from those who have as good a 
 right to freedom as we have. " 
 
 A few months later he copies into his journal, as if 
 it had made a deep impression on him, the whole of 
 Whittier s poem of " Ichabod," which he introduces with 
 a significant passage : " There is much discussion in the 
 political circles as to Mr. Webster s recent movements 
 on the slavery question. I am one of those who ad 
 mire his genius but have little confidence in his integ 
 rity. I regret that he has taken a course so contrary 
 to that which he has hitherto pursued on this subject. 
 I saw the following lines by Whittier in * The New Era,^ 
 which can only refer to the godlike Daniel." 
 
 In spite of all this, however, he remained a Whig, 
 and doubtless still hoped good things from a party that 
 had meant so much good. The next year he meets 
 General Scott, and in his fashion describes the person 
 and bearing of the soldier, of whom he pronounces, at 
 the close of his entry, " He II do for President" Un 
 happily, he did not do ; but 
 
 "God fulfills himself in many ways," 
 
 and doubtless the Democratic success was in his prov 
 idence. 
 
 On his way back to his former residence in North 
 ern Ohio, after the Texan sojourn already mentioned, 
 
34 LITERARY CLUB ; EMERSON. 
 
 Hayes had stopped in Cincinnati, and decided to 
 make that city his home. He formed a law partner 
 ship, and in the leisure of waiting for business reviewed 
 his legal studies, and read widely of the current liter 
 ature, comments and criticisms on which occupy a large 
 space in his journal. He early became a member of 
 the Literary Club of Cincinnati, established nearly half 
 a century ago, and including jurists and statesmen like 
 Chase, Cor win, Ewing, Charles P. James, Hoadley, and 
 Matthews, artists like Baird, clergymen like Conway, 
 with journalists, and whoever else loved letters in a 
 city always first in culture in the West. With many 
 registered vows " to speak regularly at the club," 
 Hayes rarely shared in its discussions, but its meetings 
 were always times of the greatest pleasure to him, and 
 for twelve years the club was " an important part of 
 his life," as he wrote one " club-night " in his camp on 
 the Kanawha, fondly recalling the club-nights of the 
 past, and dwelling on their associations and enjoyments. 
 He was, indeed, one of those non-literary men who 
 take a purer and finer delight in literature than is, per 
 haps possible to the professional litterateur ; and such 
 an event as Mr. Emerson s delivery, in Cincinnati, of a 
 course of lectures, in 1850, finds an ampler record in 
 his diary than any other event of the time. He heard 
 every one of the lectures, and he reports the leading 
 points of all in his journal. He had from his college 
 days had a great love of metaphysics, and his reading 
 had embraced the German as well as the English philos- 
 
OBJECT IN READING. 35 
 
 ophy. But his favorite author (liked, however, with 
 his own critical reservations) was Emerson, whom he 
 read with an enjoyment equaled only by the delight 
 he took in another supreme genius, Hawthorne. 
 
 The general reading of this young lawyer, even 
 after business began to accumulate on his hands, was 
 as great as that of most men of literary life ; but the 
 difference was that he never read for a literary pur 
 pose, as men of letters do. He is as far as possible 
 removed from the merely literary temperament. It 
 was to find out what an author had to say, not to see 
 how he said it, that Hayes read books, and his criticisms 
 on what he read, though they show his sensibility to the 
 charms of style, are always more concerned with mat 
 ter than with manner. Men, character, life, are his 
 study, not art ; and it is observable that the books 
 which most interest him are those whose substance is 
 of vastly greater importance than their form. He 
 delights in the novelists, and each new fiction of 
 Hawthorne, Thackeray, Dickens, Bulwer, is a sensa 
 tion marked in his diary ; but when he comes casually 
 and tardily upon the life and writings of Channing, 
 page after page of comment and quotation manifests 
 his intenser interest. He views the whole matter of 
 reading from an unliterary point, yet there is a shrewd 
 suggestiveness in many of his references to it which 
 could not have been more aptly appreciative if he had 
 shall we say ? been writing a book-notice. " I 
 am going to sip a little from Sterne s * Tristram 
 Shandy, " he writes ; " enough to test its qualities. 
 
36 ALWAYS A THOROUGH STUDENT OF POLITICS. 
 
 One ought to read these of-course books, which 
 every one reads, or claims to have read, as Don 
 Quixote, which is good, Gil Bias, which is n t good, 
 etc.," a judgment which evinces a clear, if too se 
 vere, sense of the difference between the solid Spanish 
 silver and the French plate. 
 
 He seems, like Justice Story, to have always es 
 teemed his love of Literature a comparatively guiltless 
 treason to that jealous mistress, the Law; it is the 
 other siren, Politics, that he is always protesting his 
 immovable purpose of having nothing to do with. Yet 
 it requires no great penetration in the reader of his 
 diary to perceive that from first to last his heart was 
 largely given to what must in every republic occupy 
 the natural leader of men. This shows itself in many 
 ways, in none more distinctly than in his very resolu 
 tions against the tendency ; and the note-books, diaries, 
 and scrap-books placed at the present writer s disposal 
 testify that no public man now living has made a fuller, 
 carefuller study of politics which is but another name 
 for contemporary history than this man who has al 
 ways refused to be a professional politician. They tes 
 tify to two qualities more important to us in a Presi 
 dent than any other except that clean conscience and 
 high purpose which all concede to be his : a thorough 
 knowledge of the situation and of the events tending 
 to it during the last thirty years; and the gift, long cul 
 tivated and exercised, of judging men. 
 
 In 1852 Hayes supported Scott with the self-devo 
 tion characteristic of the Whigs in that canvas, but 
 
CONSOLATIONS IN DEFEAT. 37 
 
 with no hopefulness, and with no effort to conceal 
 from himself the fact that it was only a question be 
 tween men. During the summer he made some polit 
 ical speeches, " neither very good nor very bad," accord 
 ing to his thinking, but " enough to satisfy me that 
 with a motive in my heart and work, I could do it 
 creditably. I would like to see General Scott elected 
 President, but there is so little interest felt by the great 
 body of thinking men that I shall not be surprised 
 at his defeat. Indeed, my mind is prepared for such 
 a result. The real grounds of difference upon impor 
 tant political questions no longer correspond with party 
 lines. The progressive Whig is nearer in sentiment 
 to the radical Democrat than the radical Democrat 
 is to fogies of his own party, and vice versa." After 
 the election he writes, " My candidate, General Scott, 
 is defeated by the most overwhelming vote ever re 
 corded in this country. A good man, a kind man, a 
 brave man, a true patriot, General Scott no doubt 
 deserves defeat, if undue anxiety to be elected can be 
 said to deserve such treatment ; " which is not at all 
 the fervent regret with which he had chronicled the de 
 feat of Clay, but sufficiently well reflects the mood of 
 most Whigs of the time. 
 
 Neither then, nor at any time, as we have already 
 expressed, did Hayes cease to care for politics of the 
 higher sort. But at this time his best energies were 
 given to different work. They were devoted to saving 
 from juridical injustice a wretched girl on trial for her 
 life. 
 
38 HIS FffiST GREAT LAW CASE. 
 
 The Nancy Fairer case was one that in its time 
 caused intense sensation throughout Ohio, and its event 
 established in law the principle which medicine had 
 long recognized, that an insane person is not morally 
 responsible for a criminal act, although entirely sen 
 sible of the difference between right and wrong. This 
 hapless creature, wholly in the power of the man who 
 instigated her crimes, poisoned two families ; the really 
 responsible author of her act escaped, never to be 
 found, and she remained, with her helpless admission of 
 all the facts, the subject of the greatest popular ex 
 citement, and the object of a horror that prejudged 
 her from the first, and seemed to make her fate certain. 
 
 By a chance which gave her life, and her advocate 
 reputation and standing among the first of his profes 
 sion, Hayes was appointed by the judge of the criminal 
 court to conduct her defense. He instantly recognized 
 his opportunity. " It is the criminal case of the term," 
 he writes ; " will attract more notice than any other, and 
 if I am well prepared will give me a better opportunity 
 to exert and exhibit whatever pith there is in me than 
 any case I ever appeared in ; " and he goes on at once 
 to sketch the line of his defense, to make memoranda 
 of what he shall read, and how he shall bring to bear 
 on the case his " favorite notions as to the effect of 
 original constitution and early training in forming char 
 acter" and diminishing responsibility. 
 
 In Nancy Farrer, origin, training, and associations 
 were all of the worst sort ; her father had died a sot in 
 the hospital, her mother was insane ; with such parent- 
 
NANCY FARREB AND HER CRIME. 39 
 
 age what must her life, her mind be ? Once under the 
 sway of the real murderer, who had won the wretched 
 creature s love in order the better lo enslave her will, 
 she had no volition of her own, and she had poisoned 
 half a score of persons without compunction or any ap 
 parent sense of the crime. 
 
 In court the popular feeling against her was height 
 ened by the repulsive plainness and brutality of her 
 face. Yet her advocate was firmly convinced that she 
 was not morally a free agent, and he rested her defense 
 entirely upon that fact ; every other fact of the case he 
 fully and freely conceded. Till that time it had been 
 the custom of the courts to demand of the medical ex 
 perts whether they believed the prisoner under trial 
 knew right from wrong, and on the admission of such 
 a belief jurors were charged to find according to the 
 facts. Hayes took his stand with the humaner science 
 upon the higher ground. He studied the whole subject 
 of insanity in its relation to crime, and among the des 
 ultory memoranda of his diary is a passage that seems 
 to have formed the nucleus of his argument : " Dr. 
 Bell, of the McLean Asylum, testifies, * I consider that 
 insane persons generally know the difference between 
 right and wrong. " His argument made a vivid impres 
 sion upon the jury and the public, and gave him name 
 and fame at once. He seems (we infer again from 
 the data mentioned) to have told the jury the pathetic 
 story of Mary Lamb, impelled against her own will to 
 slay her father and mother, and adjured them to see 
 the parity between her case and that of the wretch 
 
40 PLEA BEFORE THE JURY. 
 
 before them. " Awful as are the tragedies which she 
 has been the instrument as I believe, the uncon 
 scious instrument - of committing, their horror sinks 
 into insignificance when compared with the solemn and 
 deliberate execution, by reasoning, thinking men, of 
 such a being as she. On the subject of insanity I have 
 asked more than is sustained by the weight of judicial 
 opinion even in this country. But I suppose that 
 when the facts and principles of any science come to 
 be so well established that they are universally recog 
 nized and adopted by the most intelligent as well as the 
 most conservative members of the profession which 
 deals with that science, it is in strict harmony with the 
 expansive and liberal rules of the common law that 
 courts should also recognize and adopt those facts and 
 principles. The calamity of insanity is one which may 
 touch very nearly the happiness of the best of our citi 
 zens. "We all know that in some of its thousand forms 
 it has carried grief and agony unspeakable into many a 
 happy home ; and we must all wish to see such rules 
 in regard to it established as would satisfy an intelligent 
 man if, instead of this friendless girl, his own sister or 
 his own daughter were on trial. And surely to establish 
 such rules will be a most noble achievement of that in 
 telligence and reason which God has given to you, but 
 denied to her whose fate is in your hands." 
 
 In spite of the sober eloquence and the logic of his 
 plea, the girl was found guilty on the old ground that 
 if she knew right from wrong she was answerable for 
 her crime. He applied for a writ of error, and the 
 
SUCCESS IN THE SUPREME COURT. 41 
 
 question was reserved for decision in the Ohio supreme 
 court, before which Hayes appeared in her behalf, in 
 December, 1853, more than a year after the convic 
 tion. 
 
 He had already argued his first case in the supreme 
 court, on a similar appeal, when an incident occurred 
 which bears witness at once to his power and his mod 
 esty. In that day it was the custom for lawyers argu 
 ing before that court to take their places at a certain 
 table in the centre of the court-room. It is related by 
 one of the eye-witnesses that Hayes laid down his pa 
 pers on a desk in one corner and began to speak. As 
 he went on, the closeness and clearness of his argument 
 fixed the attention of all. Presently one of the judges 
 interrupted him. " Mr. Hayes," he said, " the court is 
 desirous not to lose a word of what you are saying. 
 Will you be kind enough to come forward to the table 
 in the centre of the room ? " The young advocate ad 
 vanced and finished a plea which, though unsuccessful, 
 was pronounced by Thomas Ewing " the best first 
 speech " he had ever heard in the supreme court. His 
 plea in behalf of Nancy Farrer was triumphant, and" 
 convinced the judges while it moved every listener by 
 its profound pathos. The decision of the court estab 
 lished a point to which all similar defenses for insanity 
 have since referred and must refer ; the motion for a 
 new trial was granted. But a new trial did not take 
 place. An inquest of lunacy found Nancy Farrer of un 
 sound mind, and she was sent to an asylum, where she 
 died a few years after. On the day when the result of 
 
42 PRINCIPLE ESTABLISHED BY THE RESULT. 
 
 the inquest was reached, Hayes recorded the fact with 
 modest satisfaction, and his usual temperance of state 
 ment ; and we cannot better indicate the effect upon him 
 self and his interests than by giving his own straightfor 
 ward phrase : " She will now go to a lunatic asylum, 
 and so my first case involving life is ended successfully. 
 It has been a pet case with me ; has caused me much 
 anxiety, given me some prominence in my profession, 
 and indeed was the first case which brought me practice 
 in the city. It has turned out fortunately for me 
 very, and I am greatly gratified that it is so. I argued 
 the case in December, 53, before the supreme court, at 
 Columbus ; made a successful argument. The judgment 
 of the court below was reversed in an opinion fully sus 
 taining my leading positions. The case is reported in 
 2d Ohio State Reps., Farrer versus State." 
 
 Among the notes in Hayes s diary apparently sketch 
 ing the line of his argument before the supreme court, 
 a point is made which we could not leave untouched 
 without doing injustice to his attitude in the case ; 
 an attitude which distinguishes his defense from mul 
 tiplied instances in which the plea of insanity has 
 been made before and since. " There is no fact," 
 he says, "more essential to crime than the posses 
 sion of reason. The existence of this fact the law 
 properly presumes. But if that presumption is denied, 
 if there is evidence tending to overthrow it, why not 
 apply to that evidence the same humane maxim which 
 is extended to every other presumption of the law? 
 The only answer I find to this inquiry is that the safety 
 
ARGUMENT BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT. 43 
 
 and protection of society require this departure from 
 principle, that otherwise the defense of insanity would 
 be successfully interposed in cases where, in truth, de 
 pravity, not insanity, was at the bottom of the crime. 
 It is needless to remark, in reply, that every presump 
 tion for the protection of innocence is liable to be used 
 as a shield for guilt. The question is still to be an 
 swered, Why is the defense of insanity to be treated 
 as odious by the law ? Is it so peculiarly liable to 
 abuse that fundamental rules are to be changed to guard 
 society against it ? On the contrary, I believe it has 
 been shown by those who have investigated the subject, 
 the danger is in the opposite direction ; that until a re 
 cent period there were ten insane, and therefore inno 
 cent, persons who suffered punishment to one criminal 
 who escaped on the pretext of insanity ; and that now, 
 in view of the state of the law and the prejudices of 
 the community, injustice is more frequently done to the 
 insane accused than to the public. I admit that cases 
 are occurring frequently in which this defense is set 
 up and the accused acquitted, when there is in truth 
 very little that looks like permanent and real insanity. 
 But what are these cases ? Are they cases of feigned 
 insanity, cases in which the jury are deceived, and 
 acquit the accused because they are deceived? Far 
 from it. They are cases in which verdicts of acquit 
 tal are rendered against the rigorous requirements of 
 the law, because the juries are satisfied that the acts 
 charged .... do not evince a heart regardless of 
 social duty, and fatally bent on mischief. They are 
 
44 DEFENSE OF INSANITY NOT ODIOUS. 
 
 cases in which the accused has suffered some great 
 wrong for which the law provides no adequate remedy." 
 Then, citing several cases in which women have killed 
 their seducers, he continues : " In all these cases the 
 defense was insanity, the verdict acquittal; but the 
 verdict would have been the same on any other plea. 
 Nobody is deceived by the defense. Insanity is set up 
 because under that defense more conveniently than 
 under any other the story of the wrong suffered by the 
 accused can be spread before the jury. The general 
 sense of the community approves these verdicts of ac 
 quittal, because it is felt that the best person in the 
 community might, under the same circumstances, com 
 mit the same act; because there is no other redress for 
 such a wrong; because, finally, the slain deserves his 
 fate. We submit that the defense of insanity is not 
 to be regarded as odious in the law because of these 
 cases. The same verdict would be rendered in the 
 same cases if the plea of self-defense were set up." 
 
 His success in Nancy Farrer s case not only brought 
 her advocate reputation and much general business, 
 but naturally attracted to him other cases involving 
 life. During the times of the fugitive slave cases Hayes 
 appeared in a good many, and notably in the famous 
 Rosetta case, when he was associated with Chief-Jus 
 tice Chase and Judge Timothy Walker. The former 
 referred to him, in a letter written a friend, as " Mr. R. 
 
 B. Hayes, a young lawyer of great promise I 
 
 was most ably supported by Judge Walker, while Hayes 
 acquitted himself with great distinction in the defense 
 of Rosetta before Pendery." 
 
LAW PARTNERSHIPS ; MARRIAGE. 45 
 
 At the close of the Nancy Farrer case, Mr. Hayes 
 had been five years in the practice of the law at 
 Cincinnati, at first alone and afterwards with various 
 partners. In 1854 he went into partnership with 
 Messrs. R. M. Corwine and W. K. Rogers, both law 
 yers of note ; and with the latter he formed one of 
 those lasting friendships characteristic of a man who 
 has had few intimacies; his friends have been those 
 who valued him for himself, not for what he could do 
 for them ; and such alone know the depth and cor 
 diality of his regard. 
 
 On the 30th of December, 1852, he was united in a 
 marriage which has formed the crowning happiness of 
 a singularly prosperous and happy life, with Miss Lucy 
 Ware Webb, of Cincinnati. Her family was Ken- 
 tuckian, of that sort which seems to assemble in itself 
 whatever is fine and good in the Southern civilization, 
 but she was herself born in Chillicothe, Ohio, where 
 her father, Dr. James Webb, formerly of Lexington, 
 Kentucky, had been long in practice. Her great-grand 
 father had, like her husband s, been an officer of the 
 Revolution ; and other ancestors had been people of 
 note and substance in their native State. Her father 
 was for many years a colonizationist, but he died with 
 out carrying out his plans regarding the slaves on the 
 family estate in Kentucky, and his children, after his 
 death, freed them without conditions. The grateful 
 blacks at once came to Ohio and settled as near their 
 late owners as possible, where they long remained in 
 the performance of all kinds of imaginary services, 
 
46 SURVIVING CHILDREN. 
 
 and the receipt of a substantial support, as no doubt 
 justly happened in many other cases of manumission. 
 
 Of the eight children of Governor Hayes, five are 
 living ; the eldest is now a student of the Cambridge 
 Law School, as his father was before him, though the 
 younger Hayes is a graduate of Cornell. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FIRST PUBLIC SERVICES. 
 
 IT is the recollection of those who best remember 
 Hayes as a lawyer that, though he could rise equal to 
 occasion and make a great argument in a great case 
 like that of Nancy Farrer, he preferably shunned fo 
 rensic displays in the conduct of his cases. I He was 
 one of those lawyers, not at all so rare as the general 
 fame of the profession would imply, who discourage 
 litigation in their clients.! When clients would go to 
 law, he sought if possible to transact their business in 
 court by the plainest statements to the jury, by quiet 
 conferences with the judge and sober argument with 
 the opposing counsel. 
 
 He was a successful lawyer, but the time was coming 
 when, according to the testimony of some in his confi 
 dence, he found mere legal success unsatisfying. From 
 1856 to 1860 were the years when any man conscious 
 of the power to direct and influence the popular feeling 
 for good could hardly remain quiescent without self- 
 reproach. Yet the temperament, the self-education, 
 the inherited and sturdily trained character of Hayes, 
 all forbade him to seek office. He could follow and 
 he could lead without that, and during the days of the 
 
48 THE FREMONT CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Republican party s formation we find him taking part 
 in the general movement, privately and publicly, with 
 out view to any personal result. 
 
 In his journals there is little record of his share in 
 the Fremont campaign of 1856. Nevertheless he very 
 actively engaged in the canvass, and addressed public 
 meetings at Cincinnati and elsewhere, with constantly 
 mounting enthusiasm for the work. Under a wood en 
 graving of Fremont in his diary he briefly writes, " Not 
 a good picture, but will do to indicate my politics this 
 year : free States against new slave States ; " and a little 
 later he says, " I feel seriously the probable defeat of 
 the cause of freedom in the approaching presidential 
 election. Before the October elections in Pennsylvania 
 and Indiana, I was confident Colonel Fremont would be 
 
 elected But after all, the good cause has made 
 
 great progress. Antislavery sentiment has been cre 
 ated, and the people have been educated, to a large 
 extent. I did hope that this election would put an 
 end to angry discussion upon this exciting topic, by 
 placing the general government in the right position in 
 regard to it, and thereby securing to antislavery effort a 
 foothold among those who have the evil in their midst. 
 But further work is to be done, and my sense of duty 
 determines me .... to aid in forming a public opinion 
 on this subject which will mitigate and finally eradicate 
 the evil. I must study the subject, and am now begin 
 ning with Clarkson s History of the Abolition of the 
 Slave Trade/ " Then follow entries showing how thor 
 oughly he does study the subject in the whole history of 
 
A THOROUGH ANTISLAVERY MAN. 49 
 
 the antislavery movement from its commencement in 
 England. " How similar the struggle to that now going 
 on here ! The same arguments pro and con, the same 
 prejudices appealed to, the same epithets of reproach, 
 the same topics ! On one side justice, humanity, free 
 dom ; on the other, prejudice, interest, selfishness, timid 
 ity, conservatism ; the advocates of right called en 
 thusiasts, fanatics, and incendiaries Thousands 
 
 whose hearts and judgment were on the side of aboli 
 tion were silent because loss of trade, of practice, of 
 social or political position, was likely to follow an open 
 avowal of their opinions. In short, the parallel be 
 tween that struggle and this is complete thus far. I 
 shall be content if it so continue to the end. The elec 
 tion of day after to-morrow is the first pitched battle. 
 However fares the cause, I am enlisted for the war." 
 
 Two years after the defeat that gave us Mr. Bu 
 chanan for President and the enemies of the nation for 
 our masters, Hayes was chosen to his first public office. 
 One of the Democratic members of the City Council 
 believed too firmly in Hayes s integrity and ability to 
 vote against him ; he voted for Hayes, and by one ma 
 jority the Council thus elected him City Solicitor, to 
 fill a vacancy occasioned in that office by death. His 
 election was received with expressions of friendly re 
 gard and with acknowledgments of his fitness for the 
 place even by the press of the party desiring his defeat, 
 and one newspaper recorded to his honor a fact which 
 throws a vivid light on his character as a politician : 
 " Though ten years in the city, Mr. Hayes was never 
 4 
 
50 CITY SOLICITOR OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 in the chamber of the City Fathers till the day after 
 his election." " I like the looks of Hayes," said one 
 of the councilmen on the advent of this stranger among 
 them. " He has the appearance of a gentleman, and 
 it is some comfort to talk to him ; " a Democrat as 
 sented that he was " very pleasant for a Black Re 
 publican." In the following April his personal pop 
 ularity was more substantially attested by his reelection 
 to the same office with a majority larger than that 
 given for any other candidate on his ticket. 
 
 He discharged the duties of his office with signal 
 ability, and with a humane sense of his obligations 
 towards the accused, as well as society, novel in a pub 
 lic prosecutor, though the ends of justice were never 
 better served. He treated the office as if it were a 
 finality in his political career, and not merely " a step 
 ping-stone to higher things ; " and when his term ex 
 pired, in 1861, the only place he sought, the only place 
 he would not have scorned to take, was a soldier s place 
 in the field, wherever self-sacrifice might be most useful 
 to his country. 
 
 He had fought the good fight for Lincoln, and he 
 had watched with keen anxiety the effect upon the 
 States threatening to secede. He thought, on the 9th 
 of November, that South Carolina might go out, but 
 that the others would draw back. " But at all events 
 I feel as if the time had come to test this question. If 
 the threats are meant, then it is time the Union was 
 dissolved or the traitors crushed out. I hope Lincoln 
 goes m." On the 4th of January, 1861, " Disunion and 
 
BETTER WAR THAN COMPROMISE. 51 
 
 civil war are at hand, and yet I fear disunion and 
 war less than compromise. We can recover from 
 
 them Crittenden s compromise ! Windham, 
 
 speaking of the rumor that Bonaparte was about to 
 invade England, said, The danger of invasion is by 
 no means equal to that of peace. A man may escape 
 a pistol, however near his head, but not a dose of poi 
 son. " " Six States have seceded," he adds on the 
 27th. " Let them go ! If the Union is now dissolved, 
 it does not prove that the experiment of popular gov 
 ernment is a failure," he makes haste to say, with his 
 abiding faith in the democratic idea. " In all the free 
 States, and in a majority, if not in all the slaveholding 
 States, popular government has been successful. But 
 the experiment of uniting free States and slaveholding 
 States in one nation is perhaps a failure. Freedom 
 and slavery can perhaps not exist side by side under 
 the same popular government. There probably is an 
 irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery. 
 It may as well be admitted, and our new relations 
 formed with that as an admitted fact." 
 
 In April Sumter fell, and Lincoln s call for troops 
 came, and with it came an end of all theories, all spec 
 ulations beyond the question of the hour. At Cincin 
 nati, as throughout the whole North, a wild outburst of 
 the instantly embattled public sentiment answered the 
 call. " I shall never forget," Hayes writes, " that Sun 
 day evening," when the summons came. He was him 
 self a leader of the popular enthusiasm, and wrote the 
 resolutions of the largest of the public meetings held 
 
52 MEMORABLE WORDS. 
 
 to welcome the summons. " Let what evils may follow, 
 I shall not soon cease to rejoice over this event." 
 
 Then on the 15th of May, in words that seem still to 
 burn with the sublime impulses of that hour, he records 
 the purpose from which he never faltered throughout the 
 four years of war that followed : ** Judge Matthews l and 
 I have agreed to go into the service for the war if 
 possible, into the same regiment. I spoke my feelings 
 to him, which he said were his own, that this was a just 
 and necessary war, and that it demanded the whole power 
 of the country; THAT I WOULD PREFER TO GO INTO 
 
 IT IF I KNEW I WAS TO BE KILLED IN THE COURSE 
 
 OF IT, rather than to live through and after it without 
 taking any part in it" 
 
 1 Afterwards a distinguished officer of the Union army, and now 
 one of the leaders of the Ohio bar. He has been renomiiiated for 
 Congress bj the Republicans of Hayes s former district. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF A SOLDIER. 
 
 HAYES was in his thirty-ninth year when the war 
 began. His character, rounded by time and experi 
 ence, embodied the same traits and qualities which had 
 marked it from the years when he first began to think 
 and act for himself. Intellectually of solid rather than 
 rapid growth, he was morally in his ripened manhood 
 what he had always been, neither more nor less than 
 just, honest, and sincere, a man at once circumspect and 
 decided, self-respectfully modest, cautious, and brave, 
 careful as he was hopeful, and sustained in whatever 
 emergency by the indomitable good spirits with which 
 he was born. His wide acquaintance with men had 
 given him keener and deeper insight into himself, with 
 out changing at all the methods or the motives of his 
 action. His conscience was, as it had always been, 
 more alert against what he conceived his own short 
 comings than those of other men, though he never 
 failed to judge others accurately and fairly. He had 
 worked deliberately, with brain as well as heart, into 
 sympathy with the antislavery movement, and had 
 taken his final stand upon the ground that slavery must 
 not become the national principle. When he saw the 
 
54 OFFERED A COLONELCY BY LINCOLN. 
 
 defeated partisans of the system prepared to revenge 
 themselves by the destruction of the nation which they 
 could not rule, the logic of his whole life permitted 
 him but one conclusion. War he abhorred, but there 
 were worse things than war ; and when once he knew 
 that he would rather be killed in the course of the war 
 that was coming that was come than not go into 
 it, there remained but a single question how best to 
 fight in it. He had made up his mind to fight. There 
 were many semi-civil offices, honorable and necessary to 
 the conduct of the war, which he could Jiave performed 
 with credit to himself and advantage to the country, 
 but it was not his idea of duty to accept any of these. 
 With him war meant service in the field, danger, death, 
 if need be : the same chances that the simple country 
 lads, springing to arms all over the country by tens of 
 thousands, accepted, invited, in a rapture of patriotism 
 that now seems incredible. 
 
 There came to him in this mood a colonel s commis 
 sion from President Lincoln, probably at the sugges 
 tion of Secretary Chase, who knew the mettle of the 
 man ; and the quick sense of responsibility in him to 
 which the honor appealed gave him sudden pause. 
 
 Doubtless no one knew better than he his inherent 
 qualities of leadership, but no one knew better his 
 ignorance of war. In a letter to a friend, who has 
 communicated these facts, hitherto unpublished, to the 
 writer, he states that he has considered the case, ques 
 tioned his present fitness, and decided to decline the 
 commission : he could not take in his hands, unused to 
 
MAJOR OF THE TWENTY-THIRD OHIO. 55 
 
 the tremendous responsibility involved, the lives of a 
 thousand men, whom his inexperience might uselessly 
 sacrifice in the first battle, or waste through sickness 
 before they saw the enemy s face. He adds, " I intend, 
 however, to enter the service immediately, but in some 
 capacity less responsible. Meanwhile, I am studying 
 military tactics ; have bought a copy of Hardee, and 
 am drilling with the club company," a company 
 formed almost entirely of members of the Literary Club, 
 who chose him their captain. 
 
 In fine, he declined the colonelcy, and he set about 
 the work of studying war as he had set about 
 studying abolition history when he became a Repub 
 lican, as he had all his life studied the thing, what 
 ever it was, he had to do. He mastered so much of 
 the science as his trained and penetrating mind, aided 
 by energies aroused to the last degree, enabled him 
 to achieve, in a period so brief, and in the beginning 
 of June, 1861, he accepted from Governor Dennison, 
 of Ohio, the majorship of the twenty-third Ohio volun 
 teer infantry. His superior officers were Colonel W. 
 S. Rosecrans, who was in civil life in Cincinnati at the 
 beginning of the war, and Lieutenant-Colonel Stanley 
 Matthews, that friend to whom Hayes had spoken his 
 feelings about going into the army, and who had " said 
 they were his own." 
 
 Two days after the acceptance of his commission, 
 Hayes was in camp with his regiment at Columbus, 
 and writing a letter of excellent content content 
 with his regiment, content with the present, content 
 
56 AT CAMP CHASE. 
 
 with the future of action and danger before him. 
 "I am much happier in this business than I could be 
 fretting away in the old office near the court house. 
 It is living." 
 
 Within ten days after going into camp with his reg 
 iment, Colonel Rosecrans was appointed a brigadier- 
 general, and took command of the Ohio forces in West 
 Virginia, while Colonel E. P. Scammon, an old West 
 Pointer, succeeded him in command of the twenty- 
 third. Hayes could not have desired a better school 
 than camp service under another educated soldier. 
 
 No part, indeed, of his brief experience in camp at 
 Columbus was lost upon Hayes, who would so willingly 
 have gone through a longer training for his new duties. 
 The anomaly of his position in some things struck 
 him as it must have struck many other sincere and 
 modest officers, suddenly called from civil life to the 
 strange responsibilities of military leadership in war. 
 " All matters of discretion, of common judgment," he 
 writes four days after first going into camp, " I get 
 along with easily ; but I was for an instant puzzled 
 when a captain of the twenty-fourth, of West Point 
 ( duration, asked me formally, as I sat in my tent, for 
 
 his orders, he being officer of the day I men-lv 
 
 remarked that I thought of nothing requiring special 
 attention ; that if anything was wanted out of the 
 usual routine I would let him know ! " 
 
 The news of the calamitous defeat at Bull Run came 
 with crushing effect to the novices at Camp Chase, who 
 could hardly have been less amazed by the tranquillity 
 
THE COOLNESS OF THE VETERANS. 57 
 
 with which the intelligence was received by those of 
 their superiors to whom war was business. " Last 
 evening Adjutant-General B. took tea with Colonel S, 
 My mind was full of the great disaster ; they talked 
 of school-boy times at West Point, gave the bill of fare 
 of different days, beef on Sunday, fish on such a 
 day, etc., with anecdotes of Billy Cozzens, the cook 
 and steward, never once alluding to the events just an 
 nounced, of which we were all full ; " and we may be 
 sure that Major Hayes was not the man to mention 
 them, with his humorous sense of the not altogether 
 amusing contrast. The universal, kind-hearted unfa- 
 miliarity with all things military in those first warlike 
 days found infinitely various expression, and one phase 
 of it was hardly more absurd than another : " The 
 mother of one of our officers, at Camp Chase, seeing a 
 boy walking upon his sentinel s beat, took pity on him, 
 sent him out a glass of wine and a piece of cake, with 
 a stool to sit on while he ate and drank. She told him 
 not to keep walking so, to sit down and rest ; she 
 also advised him to resign ! " 
 
 But the time for preparation was cut very short, 
 and on the 25th of July, some six weeks after going 
 into camp, the regiment, with all its imperfections on 
 its head, was ordered to West Virginia to help drive out 
 the rebel General Floyd. Raw as were the officers and 
 men of the twenty-third, they were probably marvels of 
 discipline and experience in the eyes of the loyal West 
 Virginians, to whose succor they had come. " Every 
 where, in the cornfields and hayfields," runs one of the 
 
58 THE TWENTY-THIRD IN WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
 major s letters home, " in the houses, in the roads, on 
 the hills, wherever a human being met us, we saw such 
 honest, spontaneous demonstrations of joy as we never 
 beheld elsewhere. Old men and women, boys and chil 
 dren, some fervently prayed for us, some laughed, 
 and some cried; all did something that told the story. 
 The secret of it is, the defeat at Washington and the 
 departure of some thousands of three months men of 
 Ohio and Indiana had led them to fear that they were 
 to be left to the rebels of Eastern Virginia : we were 
 the first three years men filling the places of those who 
 
 had left Our men enjoyed it beyond measure. 
 
 Many " from the long Ohio levels bordering and 
 stretching back from the lake " had never seen a 
 mountain ; none had ever seen such a reception. They 
 stood on top of the cars, and danced and shouted with 
 delight." War had begun like a holiday for the brave 
 poor fellows who were to leave their bones on many 
 a battle-field and in the graves of hospital grounds and 
 prison-pens ; but the cool-headed, steady-hearted leader 
 whose fame was to be forever identified with theirs 
 never lost sight, for a moment, of the wrinkled front 
 beneath the smiling mask. He shared, with a subtler 
 sense, their wild rapture in the beauty of the land ; 
 letters and journals glow with his joy in the magnifi 
 cent scenery, the delicious weather ; and he likes the 
 life in that first camp at Weston immensely. " The 
 effect is curious of this fine mountain air ; everybody 
 complains of heat, but everybody is in a laughing hu 
 mor ; " " the soldiers fare very well here, and stand in 
 
LIFE AND CHARACTER IN WEST VIRGINIA. 59 
 
 little need of sympathy, but when I have an opportu 
 nity to smooth matters for them, I try to do it, always 
 remembering how you " the reader will know to 
 whom this must have been addressed " would wish 
 it done." There is little or no sickness in camp, the 
 men are gay and full of high hopes ; but the major 
 is not so gay for them as he feigns, and in a few days 
 he has to write home of the first blood they have shed, 
 in a fight with guerrillas, who infest the beautiful 
 hills, and " rob and murder the Union men " in the 
 charming valleys. "Nevertheless, these marchings and 
 campings in the hills of Western Virginia will always 
 be among the pleasantest things I can remember. I 
 know we are in frequent perils, that we may never 
 return, and all that, but the feeling that I am where I 
 ought to be is a full compensation for all that is sin 
 ister, leaving me free to enjoy as if on a pleasure 
 tour." In the mean time he is interested, as usual, by 
 the character about him, in the officers and men, and 
 in the local life : in a settlement of Yankees, who had 
 come to Weston forty years before, and had kept 
 intact the thrift, morality, and loyalty of their native 
 Massachusetts ; in the admirable stuff among the native 
 Union men ; in the simple-heartedness and good nat 
 ure among the better class of the Floyd soldiers taken 
 prisoners, u friendly, civil fellows, whom it seems so 
 absurd to be fighting ; " in the cowardice, cunning, and 
 laziness of the baser sort of rebels, whose " highest am 
 bition is to shoot a Yankee from some place of safety." 
 The little army of Western Virginia had on the 
 
60 FLOYD ATTACKED AT CARXIFEX FERRY. 
 
 1st of September, after a succession of slight brushes 
 with the enemy, marched upon Carnifex Ferry, where 
 Floyd s force was strongly posted, 1 and on the evening 
 of the 10th attacked him. The same night Floyd 
 abandoned his post and fled with all his army across 
 Gauley River, sharply pursued, in spite of heavy rains 
 rendering pursuit almost impossible, by the Union 
 troops, who took a large number of the rebels. Noth 
 ing but the approach of night saved Floyd s army 
 from capture, and his rout left all Western Virginia 
 in the possession of our troops. 
 
 In this first affair Major Hayes was ordered, half an 
 hour after the attack began, to follow an aid of Rose- 
 crans, and form with four companies of the twenty-third 
 the extreme left of the attacking force. Pushing on 
 over a hill and through a cornfield they arrived within 
 three quarters of a mile of the enemy s work, when the 
 aid took a friendly leave of them. He had no orders to 
 give Major Hayes ; Major Hayes was an officer, and 
 would know what to do in circumstances and localities 
 of which the aid frankly confessed himself entirely ig 
 norant. The situation might have been embarrassing; 
 Major Hayes simplified it in the only possible way by 
 leading his men forward against the enemy. They had 
 a tough scramble through the dense laurel thickets of the 
 hillside, and the major reached the bottom at the head 
 
 1 For a clear and succinct history of the twenty-third Ohio, see Mr. 
 \\liitclaw Reid s admirable work on "Ohio in the War," a really 
 monumental work which is yet to be fully appreciated. The writer 
 gladly acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Reid s volumes for the out 
 line of the present sketch of General Hayes s career. 
 
HAYES UNDER FIRE THE FIRST TIME. 61 
 
 of four or five men. As soon -as others could join him, 
 he formed his little force and followed his skirmishing 
 line in the enemy s direction, arriving in time, near 
 the close of the fight, to be exposed to the rebels fire. 
 Some of the men were wounded ; it had been growing 
 dark ; the firing now ceased, and the major s com 
 mand made its way back to the rest of the twenty-third 
 through confused and broken regiments and companies 
 straggling about over the field, and talking of the 
 slaughter, thirteen killed and some seventy wounded, 
 as it afterwards appeared. At dawn loud shouts pro 
 claimed the flight of the enemy from his works, and the 
 pursuit began. 
 
 The victory was greater than the battle, and Major 
 Hayes s part, useful and difficult as it was, gave him 
 but a slight foretaste of war. What was better, it 
 enabled him to test himself in doing a duty which he 
 had to discover for himself ; and holding himself coolly 
 in hand, as he has always done in every crisis of life, 
 he perceived that he went into action with the same 
 sensations that he commonly experienced on entering 
 upon an exciting law case. With him, too, war had 
 become business. The affair also taught our troops self- 
 reliance, and showed them that such at least of the 
 enemy as were under Floyd were no match for them, 
 even with the odds in the rebels favor. 
 
 The twenty-third went into camp on New River, 
 after its return from the .pursuit, and there lost many 
 by sickness. At this time Major Hayes was detached 
 from the regiment, and ordered to join General Rose- 
 
62 HAYES JUDGE ADVOCATE. 
 
 crans at his head-quarters as judge-advocate. The 
 appointment was by no means to the taste of a man 
 who had gone into the war to fight. He submitted 
 with reluctance, comforting himself with the hope of 
 release after a few weeks, but going diligently about 
 the duties of his office, reducing them to system, keep 
 ing a record of cases, and studying the whole business 
 as was his wont with whatever he took hold of. Six 
 weeks later he was, to his high satisfaction, relieved 
 from the office, in which he had in the mean time done 
 most acceptable service, and allowed to rejoin his regi 
 ment in Camp Ewing, on New River. 
 
 Important changes had recently taken place in it. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Matthews had been appointed to 
 the command of another regiment, and Hayes succeeded 
 to the vacancy, his own place being filled by another 
 brave soldier, now General J. M. Comly, who had re 
 signed the lieutenant-colonelcy of a regiment in Camp 
 Chase and taken the majorship of the twenty-third, 
 that he might get at once into active service. His 
 fortunes were thereafter closely united with those of 
 Hayes, and when the latter became brigadier-general, 
 Major Comly succeeded him in command of the twen 
 ty-third, and was himself brevetted brigadier-general 
 at the close of the war, for his able and gallant sol 
 diership. 
 
 The rest of the winter was spent at Camp Ewing 
 and the subsequent camp of the regiment at Fayette- 
 ville, in duties whose faithful performance endeared 
 Colonel Hayes to his men as much as his bravery in 
 
CARE FOR HIS REGIMENT. 63 
 
 battle. He was very diligent in drill and parade, but 
 he was as constant in his attention to the comfort of 
 the men as to their discipline. That humane and un 
 selfish heart, to which all suffering and helplessness 
 irresistibly appealed, was sensitively alive to the rights 
 of the brave fellows who were in some sort his chil 
 dren to everything that could be done for their wel 
 fare. At the same time he wrote home indignant de 
 nunciations of the exaggerated reports of suffering in 
 the army. " I am satisfied that our army is better fed, 
 better clad, and better sheltered than any other army 
 
 in the world I am now dressed as a private, 
 
 and I am well dressed ; I live habitually on soldier s 
 
 rations, and I live well It is the poor families 
 
 at home, not the soldiers, who can justly claim sympa 
 thy. I except, of course, the regiments which have 
 
 bad officers Government is sending enough, if 
 
 colonels would only do their part We have 
 
 sickness, which is bad enough, but it is due to causes 
 inseparable from our condition." He early taught 
 himself to relieve the needjess ills of the soldiers con 
 dition, and he was consequently successful in teaching 
 them to bear those which could not be helped. The 
 only complaint which escapes him on his own account 
 
 is amusingly characteristic : " If J comes, let him 
 
 get an assortment of late papers, Harpers, Atlantics/ 
 etc., and keep them till he gets to our camp. We are 
 the outermost camp, and people are coaxed out of their 
 literature before they get to us." 
 
 Hayes was never one of the Union soldiers who COM- 
 
64 SLAVERY THE ONLY ENEMY OF THE UNION. 
 
 ceived it his business to enforce the fugitive slave law 
 in favor of the rebels ; his mind was clear in regard to 
 the slavery question from the start. No contrabands go 
 back to their masters from the army of West Virginia, 
 he is glad to know ; and again and again his letters 
 and journals bear witness to his conviction that " the 
 deadliest enemy the Union has is slavery, in fact, its 
 only enemy, and that to strike at slavery is to strike 
 at the life of the rebellion." He recurs from time to 
 time, with the anxiety of a man used to watch public 
 affairs, to the changing attitude of the government in 
 respect to the institution, and hails with deep satisfac 
 tion, as a step towards the final result, Lincoln s recom 
 mendation that the federal aid be pledged to States 
 taking measures for gradual emancipation. But for the 
 most part his mind is on the business in hand, requiring 
 from day to day a more vigilant devotion, and soon to 
 absorb every energy. 
 
 Early in November the twenty-third left Camp Ewing 
 to join another movement against Floyd, returning from 
 which they went into winter quarters at Fayetteville. 
 Under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes they 
 quitted these quarters on the 17th of April, and led the 
 advance upon the enemy, who evacuated Princeton be 
 fore them, but attacked the twenty-third with four regi 
 ments on the 8th, and forced it to retire to East River. 
 It fell back in good order, and after great sufferings and 
 privations, its supplies having been cut off, abandoned 
 Princeton, and, returning to Flat Top Mountain, re 
 mained in camp there till the 13th of July. On the 
 
BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN. 65 
 
 15th of August it was ordered from its next station, at 
 Green Meadows, to Camp Piatt on the Great Kanawha, 
 and made the march of one hundred miles in three days. 
 Embarking in transports for Parkersburg, the regiment 
 there took the cars for Washington, joined McClellan s 
 force in driving the Confederates from Frederick City, 
 reached Middletown on the 1 3th of September, and took 
 part in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. 
 
 The battle of South Mountain was fought on the day 
 after the arrival of the twenty-third in Middletown, and 
 three days before the battle of Antietam. It began early 
 on a lovely Sunday of September, with the advance 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes s command. McClellan s 
 army with Burnside in front was pressing up the mount 
 ain by the National Road. General Cox s division of 
 Ohio men led General Burnside s corps, and the twenty- 
 third formed the van of that division. At seven o clock, 
 Hayes was % ordered to take one of the mountain paths 
 and get round the right of the rebels, who were be 
 lieved to be posted there with two guns, and he started 
 up the hill on this by-road, throwing out one company as 
 skirmishers and two others as flankers. At nine o clock 
 he drove in a rebel picket ; he pushed forward and in 
 a few minutes saw the rebels coming down upon him in 
 strong force from a hill in front. These men were, 
 as he afterwards learned, two regiments, the twelfth 
 South Carolina and twenty-third North Carolina, who 
 were thus opposed to the twelfth and twenty-third Ohio. 
 Hayes hurriedly formed his men in the woods and charged 
 over rocks and broken ground and through under- 
 
66 HAYES SEVERELY WOUNDED. 
 
 brush, while the enemy poured in a heavy fire at short 
 range ; but he succeeded in driving them, after a fierce 
 engagement, out of the woods into an open field near the 
 top of the hill. His men stopped at a fence in the border 
 of the woods and opened a brisk fire on the enemy, who 
 took shelter behind the stone walls and fences along the 
 crest of the hill, and returned the fire of the Ohioans 
 across the field. At this juncture Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Hayes, urging his men to charge the Carolinians (who 
 were supported by a large rebel force with artillery, 
 probably the two pieces Hayes had been sent to take), 
 left the shelter of the woods. As he gave the com 
 mand, a minie ball struck him with stunning, shattering 
 force in the left arm, above the elbow, crushing the bone 
 to fragments and carrying part of it completely away. 
 He called to a soldier near him to tie his handkerchief 
 above the wound, fearing an artery might have been 
 severed. Then, turning suddenly faint, he fell. His 
 men pressed beyond him, and when he regained con 
 sciousness he found himself some twenty feet in their 
 rear, under a heavy fire, with the balls pelting the earth 
 all about him. He listened anxiously, as he lay there, 
 for the approach of reinforcements, and directed the 
 movements of his men. Once, seeing what appeared to 
 him a false movement on their part, he struggled to 
 his feet and began to countermand it, when he was 
 again overcome by weakness and sank down, where he 
 remained for twenty minutes exposed to the enemy s 
 fire, while the wounded men staggered past him or 
 were carried to the rear. His men were gradually 
 
RESCUE OF THE WOUNDED COLONEL. 67 
 
 forced back to cover, and he was left lying between 
 them and the rebels. He thought that they were re 
 treating, and called out, " Hallo, twenty-third men ! are 
 you going to leave your colonel here for the enemy ? " 
 Half a dozen good fellows sprang from the woods, and 
 the enemy, who had suspended their fire for a moment, 
 opened on them, and the battle began to rage again as 
 hotly as ever. Hayes ordered the men back, and then 
 Lieutenant Jackson came to him and insisted on taking 
 him out of range of the fire. The command now fell 
 to Major Comly, who led the regiment with his accus 
 tomed bravery through the rest of the day. Reenforce- 
 ments coming up at last, the twenty-third again charged 
 the enemy and drove them from the hill into the woods 
 beyond,, killing large numbers with the bayonet. The 
 regiment then rejoined its division, making three suc 
 cessful bayonet charges during the fight, and losing 
 nearly two hundred men. "The colors of the regi 
 ment were riddled," says Mr. Reid, " and the blue field 
 almost completely carried away by shells and bullets." 
 
 Lieutenant Jackson led his colonel beyond the 
 enemy s fire, and Hayes then growing faint from his 
 wound, the lieutenant left him behind a log, with a can 
 teen of water, and in company with many wounded of 
 both sides. The man nearest him was a Confederate, 
 and the two fell into talli of that friendliness which 
 seems to have always been the natural condition of 
 the men of both armies when they were not actually 
 killing each other. " What regiment do you belong to, 
 and where are you from ? " asked the Northerner ; and 
 
68 FRIENDLY ENEMIES. 
 
 the Southerner answered that he was major of a North 
 Carolina regiment. " "Well, you came a long way to 
 fight us." " Where are you from ? " asked the major 
 in his turn. " I am from Ohio." " Well, you came a 
 good ways to fight MS," rejoined the major ; and the 
 enemies " talked on in that pleasant, friendly way, nei 
 ther of us at that time suffering much." The South 
 erner told the Northerner that he had been a Union 
 man, and saw no reason for secession, but went out with 
 his section. 
 
 The firing again died away ; Lieutenant Jackson re 
 turned and led his colonel to the regimental surgeon, 
 who dressed his wound. Hayes then walked half a 
 mile to a point where he found an ambulance, and 
 was carried to Middletown. Here he remained, restive 
 and helpless, while the army marched by under the 
 windows of the house where he lay. He heard them 
 going all night long and all day long, the men sing 
 ing as they marched ; and he gained what small ease 
 he could, as he impatiently listened afterwards to the 
 sounds of the battle of Antietam, by hiring two boys 
 to stand at the window and describe the men who rode 
 by from the field, striving to guess from this report of 
 their looks how the battle was going. 
 
 A curious circumstance in regard to Hayes at the 
 battle of South Mountain is the fact that at the time 
 he received his wound he was not in the pay or service 
 of the United States. He had been appointed colonel 
 of the seventy-ninth Ohio, and had been mustered out 
 as lieutenant-colonel of the twenty-third without his 
 
HAYES PROMOTED TO BE COLONEL. 69 
 
 knowledge. His wound prevented his taking com 
 mand of his new regiment, and on the 30th of Novem 
 ber he rejoined, as colonel, the twenty-third, Colonel 
 Scammon having been appointed a brigadier-general, 
 and Major Comly having received the recognition his 
 conduct merited, in promotion to the lieutenant-colo 
 nelcy. 
 
 During his convalescence in Ohio, Colonel Hayes, 
 resisting the friends who thought he had " had his 
 share " and counseled him to remain out of the service, 
 gladly returned to the command of his old regiment. 
 Of his affectionate pride in it his letters and journals 
 give constant proof, and the men returned his regard 
 with equal devotion. 
 
 While yet in West Virginia, the regiment was or 
 dered against a rebel force near Princeton, and, the 
 1st of May, seventy -five of them were attacked by three 
 hundred cavalry and guerrillas, and lost a third of their 
 number in killed and wounded ; but they beat the 
 enemy, who fled, leaving his wounded with them. " As 
 I rode up they saluted with a present arms ; several 
 were bloody with wounds as they stood in their places ; 
 one boy limped to his post who had been hit three 
 times. As I looked at the glow of pride on their faces 
 my heart choked me ; I could n t speak ; but a boy said, 
 All right, colonel ; we know what you mean ! 
 
 Their colonel was always writing home praises of 
 their prowess or their discipline, and his letters abound 
 in their jokes. They were humorists in their way, as 
 all unspoiled Americans are, and in their march through 
 
70 HIS LOVE FOR HIS MEN. 
 
 a friendly section of Maryland, where the admiring 
 women, children, and negroes called out from every 
 house to know what troops they were, their drollery 
 bubbled out in such answers as " The twenty-third 
 Utah," "The twenty-third Bushwhackers," "Drafted 
 Men," "Home Guards," "Peace Men," "The Lost 
 Tribes," and so forth. It was men of the Kanawha 
 division who, being at home on furlough, took from its 
 bearer and trampled under foot a transparency in a 
 Democratic procession a brutal and shameless cari 
 cature of their leader dodging the bullets they had seen 
 him brave ; and Hayes had more than once been as quick 
 in the defense of their honor. One evening a corps 
 commander dashed furiously into their camp, where he 
 found them taking straw from a stack for bedding, and, 
 assailing them in the atrocious language which even a 
 brave and skillful general could suffer himself to use to 
 wards men as good as he, demanded to see their colo 
 nel. Lieutenant-Colonel Hayes presented himself and 
 respectfully but firmly defended them, saying that they 
 had always taken forage and other necessaries, and that 
 in a friendly country they were ready to pay for them. 
 Then after some further angry words from the general 
 he added, " I trust our generals will exhibit the same 
 energy in dealing with their foes that they do in the 
 treatment of their friends." As the general rode away 
 the men cheered their colonel, a little rueful, per 
 haps, about his sarcasm, but glad to have defended the 
 brave fellows unjustly assailed and forbidden to speak 
 for themsehrs. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CAMP ON THE KANAWHA AND THE MORGAN RAID. 
 
 EARLY in October of 1862, the twenty-third was 
 ordered with the rest of the Kanawha division to re 
 turn to West Virginia, and went into winter quarters 
 near the falls of the Great Kanawha. Here, on the 
 30th of November, a party of officers welcomed back 
 their colonel, and they had a jovial meeting, " fighting 
 over again the battle of South Mountain, with many 
 anecdotes, much laughter and enjoyment." 
 
 The colonel had come home to them reestablished 
 in health from the general effect of his wound, 1 but his 
 arm was still very weak, and easily hurt ; he could not 
 raise his hand above his head. With any severe exer 
 tion, the whole limb was very painful. Under the cir 
 cumstances, Lieutenant- Colonel Comly and Major Mcll- 
 rath relieved him of drill duty, and he interested himself 
 chiefly in the superintendence of the sanitary arrange 
 ments of the camp matters which he always looked 
 to personally if possible. The men had built them- 
 
 1 He had had the best of nursing in the family of Mr. Jacob Rudy 
 at Middletown, before his wife could join him, and her coming only 
 intensified the care he received. Three weeks after he was shot he 
 walked over the battle-field with Mrs. Hayes on his fortieth birth 
 day. 
 
72 MRS. HAYES IN CAMP. 
 
 selves cabins of planks and logs, and prepared to pass 
 the winter in as much comfort as can fall to the sol 
 dier s lot. They took peculiar pride in fitting up the 
 colonel s quarters, and when, late in January, his wife 
 came with her three boys to visit him, it was matter of 
 rejoicing for the whole regiment. Other ladies joined 
 their husbands in camp, and the winter passed gayly 
 in such amusements as the life afforded : rides, fishing, 
 boating, and pleasure excursions of every sort. The 
 little ones became the children of the regiment so far as 
 the soldier s love could adopt them ; with the colonel s 
 wife and boys in camp each good fellow was nearer the 
 wife and boys so far away at home. 
 
 But these gentle women could not suffer their so 
 journ in camp to be merely a pleasure to themselves, 
 and Mrs. Hayes, who remained longest, had the privilege 
 of doing the most kindness to the men so proud of her 
 presence. " His wife is a noble woman " (we are 
 letting one of the soldiers speak for himself); "there 
 was not a morning that she omitted going through 
 the hospital, and she did everything she could for the 
 sick and wounded." " Into our midst," writes another, 
 " sitting at our camp fires, putting new heart into 
 many a homesick boy, banishing the fever from many 
 a bronzed cheek with her gentle touch, came this fair 
 lady and her boys. "We named our camp, in her honor, 
 Camp Lucy Hayes, and not a man in all those thou 
 sands, but would have risked his life for her." 
 
 Mrs. Hayes s visit ended in March. A second visit 
 which she paid her husband in June, when his regiment 
 
MORGAN S RAID. 73 
 
 was encamped at Charlestown, Virginia, was saddened by 
 the death of their youngest boy whom she had brought 
 with her. From this sorrow Colonel Hayes was shortly 
 summoned to take part in the pursuit and capture of 
 John Morgan, after his famous raid through Ohio. 
 
 On the 2d of July Morgan crossed the Cumberland at 
 Burkesville with twenty-four hundred and sixty men, 
 and struck through the State of Kentucky to the Ohio 
 River. In five days he reached the river, sixty miles 
 below Louisville, seized two steamers in which he set 
 his men across, and then resumed his rapid ride, push 
 ing through Southern Indiana towards Cincinnati. He 
 rode fifty and sixty miles a day, leaving bridges burnt, 
 telegraph wires cut, and general consternation behind 
 him. By the 12th it was known that he was aiming at 
 Cincinnati, where navigation and business were stopped 
 and martial law proclaimed. The governor called out 
 the militia of the southern part of the State, but Morgan 
 came so swiftly and so secretly that, when on the morn 
 ing of the 14th he passed through the suburbs of the 
 city, he met not so much as a hostile picket, and by 
 four o clock in the afternoon he had reached a point 
 twenty-eight miles east of Cincinnati, having ridden 
 ninety -eight miles in thirty-five hours. Desertions had 
 reduced his numbers to two thousand, and any mili 
 tary object which the expedition might have had was 
 defeated by the insubordination of his followers, who 
 abandoned themselves to plundering. But the people 
 made all haste to hide their horses, cattle, and silver, 
 and Morgan s men seem to have been chiefly terrible to 
 
74 HAYES MEETS MORGAN AT POMEROY. 
 
 shops abounding in calicoes. With the best disposi 
 tion in the world to steal everything, they had no time 
 for research. Fifty thousand militia had taken the 
 field against them, but having fully supplied themselves 
 with dress goods the raiders dashed on, and outrode or 
 outgeneraled the militia, and reached the Ohio River at 
 Pomeroy on the 19th, having met with very little fight 
 ing in their course, and only such molestation as inde 
 pendent sharp-shooters or small bodies of militia could 
 offer them in passing. But by this time a body of the 
 regular cavalry, under Judah, and a division of the mili 
 tia were close upon him, and at Pomeroy he first en 
 countered a disciplined force. 
 
 On the 16th of July, Colonel Hayes heard of Mor 
 gan s presence in Ohio and prepared to head him off. 
 He ordered the steamboats lying at Charleston to be 
 sent on to Luke Creek on the Kanawha, the highest 
 point to which boats go in that river, and prevailed on 
 his commanding officer to allow him to take men for 
 his enterprise. He chose two regiments and a section of 
 artillery, and embarking his force, reached Gallipolis, 
 Ohio, on the 18th. On the 19th, Sunday, he had pushed 
 on to Pomeroy, where he found the militia in position, 
 waiting for Morgan, who came about noon from Buffing- 
 ton Island. Hayes s force went out to meet him, and 
 after a slight skirmish Morgan fled, pursued by the 
 twenty-third. The next morning at daylight he was 
 attacked by Judah s cavalry and the gunboats, together 
 with the force under Hayes, and after a brief engage 
 ment entirely routed. More than half his command 
 
HONOR TO WHOM HONOR. 75 
 
 was captured, and, pursued and attacked in all his 
 doublings and turnings, he shortly afterwards surren 
 dered with the remnant of his men, and was sent to the 
 Ohio penitentiary. 
 
 Colonel Hayes s letters describe his share in Mor 
 gan s discomfiture as " the liveliest and jolliest little 
 campaign we ever had," "a jolly time." " The 
 cavalry, gunboats, militia, and our infantry, each claim 
 the victory as their peculiar property. The truth is, 
 all were essential parties to the success." This is the 
 verdict of a just man who could always afford to be 
 generous, and we can easily render full credit to the 
 other forces engaged in Morgan s defeat (he was finally 
 run down by a body of Michigan cavalry), while recog 
 nizing the military insight and the personal vigor and 
 decision with which Hayes planned his share of the 
 movement against Morgan, and was enabled first of all 
 to strike him. 
 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CLOYD MOUNTAIN AND WINCHESTER. 
 
 THE twenty-third returned, with the rest of Hayes s 
 command, to Charleston, where it lay in camp till 
 April 29, 1864. The interval was a season of prepara 
 tion and expectation for various services ; and in the 
 mean time Colonel Hayes was more than once called 
 upon to consider the subject of promotion for himself, 
 which could have been easily secured if he had been 
 more ambitious to advance his own interests than to do 
 his duty in the station where he found himself. His 
 feeling seems to have been that he would " rather be 
 one of the good colonels than one of the poor generals." 
 He knew very well that the colonel of a regiment had 
 one of the most agreeable positions in the service, and 
 one of the most useful, and he liked a good colonel s 
 ability to make a good regiment Only two things 
 made him anxious : that he might have a stupid briga 
 dier put over him, or that through losses his regiment 
 might disappear or be consolidated with others and that 
 thus he might lose his colonelcy. But he was not very 
 anxious. He did not seek promotion, and as usual pro 
 motion was seeking him. 
 
 When the twenty-third finally moved in April, it 
 
RAID UPON A RAILROAD. 77 
 
 was to join the forces under General Crook in a raid 
 on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. " This ex 
 pedition," says the writer in " Ohio in the War," " was 
 something worthy of their mettle. Their long inac 
 tion had not hardened their sinews or made them 
 impervious to fatigue. But, as was their custom, the 
 rank and file of the twenty-third entered into the expe 
 dition with cheerfulness and a determination if possible 
 to make it signally successful. Without detailing their 
 daily marches, it is sufficient to say that the regiment 
 toiled on over the rugged mountains, up ravines and 
 through the dense woods, meeting with snows and rain 
 in sufficient volume to appal the stoutest hearts ; but 
 they toiled patiently, occasionally brushing the enemy 
 out of their way until, on the 9th of May, 1864, the 
 Battle of Cloyd Mountain was fought." 
 
 In this affair Colonel Hayes commanded a brigade, 
 including of course his own regiment ; the other regi 
 ments and parts of regiments were mainly Ohio troops, 
 used to service under him, and eager as the twenty- 
 third for the fight. Apparently the great object of the 
 expedition was to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee 
 Railroad bridge on New River, which would cut the 
 great line of communications between Richmond and the 
 Southwest ; and General Crook, whom the Sioux now 
 call the Gray Fox, brought his peculiar shrewdness to 
 the undertaking. As he marched up the Kanawha he 
 sent his music with one regiment towards Leesburg in 
 the direction of Richmond, while he made his way in 
 an entirely different direction toward the New River 
 
78 THE ENEMY S POSITION AT CLOYD MOUNTAIN. 
 
 bridge, ordering the bands thus detached to play as if 
 the whole army were with them. The first feat of the 
 expedition was the bloodless capture of Fort Brecken- 
 ridge, out of which the enemy fled at the approach of 
 Crook s force. On the parapet of this fort the rebels 
 had handsomely carved the words Fort Breckenridge, 
 for which the Ohio men immediately substituted Fort 
 Crook. When too late, the enemy found out their mis 
 take in abandoning the fort and hurried back, and 
 gathered finally with a considerable force under General 
 Jenkins, formerly a Democratic member of Congress. 
 Jenkins placed his army across the track of Crook s 
 men fifty miles southward, where they had to traverse 
 a high mountain ridge. At this point there was a good 
 road, a creek, and a broad, beautiful meadow stretching 
 before it The ridge was called Cloyd Mountain, and 
 here the enemy intrenched themselves. Crook s men 
 arrived at about eleven o clock on the 9th, and as soon 
 as they came within cannon shot the enemy opened fire 
 upon them, and they formed in the woods on either side 
 of the road. It was plain that Jenkins was very 
 strongly fortified, and that his position could not be 
 carried without severe fighting. An attack was made 
 and repulsed, when General Crook came to Colonel 
 1 laves and ordered him with his brigade and the brig 
 ade on its right to cross the meadow and charge up the 
 hill upon the batteries, adding that he would himself 
 accompany him. The two brigades formed in the bor 
 ders of the woods and marched out in perfect line. 
 They were fresh from camp, where they had been 
 
A GALLANT CHARGE. 79 
 
 thoroughly drilled and could march well. The enemy s 
 fire opened heavily, but not a great number of men 
 fell. The rest quickened their pace, keeping their line 
 good until they got to the edge of the woods. They 
 could not yet see the fortification, which was on a 
 woody hill, and at the foot of the hill was the creek, not 
 very wide or deep, which had remained equally unseen. 
 They dashed through the creek, the bed of which was 
 some four feet below the level of the meadow, and 
 started up the hill at a point so steep that the curva 
 ture of the ground protected them from the enemy s 
 fire. Here they stopped to take breath and shake the 
 water out of their boots, and then they charged up the 
 hill again. As they passed the protecting curve, they 
 faced a murderous fire. Men and officers fell in aw 
 ful slaughter on all sides. The whole line seemed to 
 go down, but the men who were not hit did not stop. 
 There was no straggling ; the men responded cheer 
 fully to the encouragement of their officers, and were 
 soon at the fort. It was an earthwork hastily thrown 
 up and strengthened with fence-rails thrust endwise 
 into it and through it, forming an embankment ex 
 tremely difficult to surmount, and held by the enemy 
 in perfect confidence. But Hayes s men scrambled 
 over at once, the first being brave Private Kosht, a boy 
 of eighteen, a new recruit, who sprang from the line 
 with a shout, and hung his hat on the muzzle of a can 
 non. The fight in the fort lasted only ten minutes, 
 but it was desperate while it lasted, a wild hand-to-hand 
 combat, which ended by the Ohioans beating the rebels 
 
80 CHARACTERISTIC COMMENTS BY HAYES. 
 
 out and taking prisoners all who could not run away. 
 Then they pushed swiftly after the fugitives to keep 
 them from re-forming, which they attempted at a 
 second ridge of the mountain. The rebels yielded to 
 the second charge here made upon them, but formed 
 again, reenforced by a body of the men who had been 
 raiding under Morgan, and had lived to fight another 
 day by taking care of themselves in time. They were 
 promptly broken to pieces by the third terrific charge, 
 and the fight was over. Our men hurried on eight miles 
 further to Dublin Depot, on the railroad line, where 
 they burned the bridge aimed at, and destroyed the 
 road, rails, ties, and bed, for several miles, so that the 
 rebels were unable to use the line for six weeks. 
 
 In a letter written home ten days later, Colonel 
 Hayes says: This is the most completely successful 
 and by all odds the pleasantest campaign I have ever had. 
 Now it is over," he adds, he was not only a bayo 
 net that thought, but a bayonet that pitied, and he never 
 loved war but as a means, "I hardly know what I 
 would change in it, except to restore life and limb to the 
 killed and wounded" Then a sentence that follows is 
 peculiarly like Hayes in its manly modesty : " My com 
 mand in battles and on the march behaved to my entire 
 satisfaction ; none did, none could have done better. 
 We had a most conspicuous part in the battle of Cloyd s 
 Mountain, and were so lucky ! " Lucky, indeed, as 
 true and valiant men are in whatever they set their 
 hands to, and lucky as Hayes has always been, through 
 being simply worthy and capable of everything he has 
 undertaken in his most prosperous career. 
 
CONTINUAL FIGHTING. 81 
 
 Crook s army proceeded on its course after destroy 
 ing the New River bridge, and, with some slight en 
 counters with the enemy, who constantly harassed our 
 men on their march over roads rendered almost impass 
 able by the heavy rains, arrived at Staunton on the 8th 
 of June, where Hayes s brigade joined General Hunter s 
 command. On this march the army was encumbered 
 by multitudes of contrabands, men, women, and children, 
 and suffered from privation amounting almost to famine. 
 
 On the llth, the corps arrived before Lexington, 
 which was taken after an artillery and sharp-shooter 
 fight of three hours. Hayes s brigade had the advance, 
 and nearly all the casualties fell to him. His brigade 
 had now become as dear to him as his own regiment, 
 and he was proud of it as one of the best in the army. 
 On the 14th he led it within two miles of Lynch- 
 burg, and drove a body of the* enemy as many miles 
 up the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The army 
 camped for the night near Lynchburg, and so near a 
 body of rebels, in the dark, that the men of both sides 
 took rails from the same fence for their fires. 
 
 On the 18th, Crook s command set out to cross the 
 James, and take Lynchburg in the rear, when news 
 came that the enemy, heavily reenforced, was about to 
 attack Hunter s centre. Crook s force met and repulsed 
 the attack, a very sharp one, and the same evening re- 
 enforcements for the enemy continuing to pour in from 
 Richmond, the retreat of our side began. " The men," 
 says Mr. Reid, " had had no sleep for two days and 
 nights, and scarcely anything to eat. In this condition 
 
82 A TERRIBLE MARCH. 
 
 they marched, frequently falling down asleep in the 
 road, it being with great difficulty that they could be 
 kept on their feet." The whole retreat, which continued 
 till Charleston was reached t>n the 1st of July, was 
 attended with immense suffering, suffering borne, as the 
 journal of one of the officers testifies, with the most 
 heroic patience. " The men had nothing to eat, the 
 trains having been sent in advance. It is almost in 
 credible that men should have been able to endure so 
 much, but they never faltered, and not a murmur es 
 caped them. Often they would drop out silently, ex 
 hausted, but not a word of complaint was spoken." 
 During whole days they pushed on, skirmishing heavily 
 with the enemy, who hung upon their rear, and neither 
 eating nor sleeping. At last, "on the 27th, a supply 
 train was met on Big Sewell Mountain, men all 
 crazy, stopped and* ate, marched and ate, camped 
 about dark, and ate all night." 
 
 Of this expedition and retreat, Colonel Hayes him 
 self wrote in one of his letters home, " "We have had 
 altogether the severest work I have yet known in the 
 war. We have marched almost continually for two 
 months, fighting often, with insufficient food and sleep ; 
 crossed the three ranges of the Alleghanies four times, 
 the ranges of the Blue Ridge twice ; marched several 
 times all day and all night without sleeping. We all 
 believe in our general [Crook]. He is a considerate, 
 humane man, a thorough soldier and disciplinarian." 
 
 Remaining at Charleston till the 10th, Crook s com 
 mand was ordered east to meet Early, then invading 
 
DEFEAT AT WINCHESTER. 83 
 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania. On the 18th, Hayes s 
 brigade was sent, without cavalry and with but two 
 sections of a howitzer battery, to attack more than 
 twenty thousand of Early s men some ten miles beyond 
 Harper s Ferry. They were surrounded by two divis 
 ions of rebel cavalry, but cut their way through and 
 got safely back to camp, joining Crook at Winchester 
 011 the 22d. Here, two days afterwards, Hayes shared 
 in the first defeat he had known. His brigade was 
 sent out to meet what was supposed to be a recon- 
 noissance in force on the part of the enemy, with 
 orders to join his right to that of another brigade, and 
 charge with it. This brigade was commanded by 
 Colonel Mulligan. Hayes rode out to the right of his 
 line in an open valley, and made himself known to 
 Mulligan, whose orders he found were to fight with 
 him and keep the two lines together ; also to attack 
 whatever was in front. These coincided with Hayes s 
 instructions, and the brigade prepared to attack. Two 
 lines of rebels, fighting as skirmishers, were alone vis 
 ible, but there were reports of the enemy on the hills 
 to the right and left, inclosing the valley in which the 
 brigades were drawn up. A little closer inspection 
 now developed the enemy on these hills in immense 
 force. The two colonels perceived that they were in a 
 trap, but they pushed forward according to orders, and 
 in five minutes Colonel Mulligan fell, pierced with five 
 balls. The enemy came to meet the attack, and closing 
 upon our vastly inferior force, easily drove it before 
 them, Hayes s brigade retreating till it struck a rough, 
 
84 A RETREAT IN GOOD ORDER. 
 
 wooded hill. Here he formed his men, Colonel Comly 
 of the twenty-third being wounded at this point, and 
 held the hill while the enemy pressed him hard on all 
 sides. His resistance threw them into some confusion. 
 He cleared his line of them, and continued his retreat 
 in good order, although attacked continually for twelve 
 miles. When the enemy pressed his men too hard, they 
 turned and beat them back, and so made good their 
 escape. They presently joined Crook s force, and the 
 retreat continued till midnight, when the enemy ceased 
 to pursue. From the peculiar nature of the ground, and 
 the position of the opposing forces, Hayes was probably 
 then in greater danger than he had ever been before, 
 all the officers being exposed to the fire of the enemy s 
 sharp-shooters, who could easily pick them off at short 
 range ; but he lived to retrieve the disastrous fortunes 
 of that day on the same field a little later. His horse 
 was shot under him, and he was struck in the siioulder 
 by a spent ball. His brigade, after being in the hottest 
 of the fight, was in condition to cover the retreat as 
 rear guard, which it did successfully for twenty-four 
 hours. " We are queer beings," he writes from his 
 camp near Sharpsburg, two days after ; " the camp is 
 now alive with laughter and good feeling more so 
 than usual the recoil after so much toil and anx 
 iety." 
 
 For almost a month Hayes s brigade was engaged in 
 daily skirmishing, with varying fortune, up and down 
 the Shenaudoah Valley, till at Halltown, on the 23d 
 of August, he repulsed an attack, dashing out and 
 
A BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENT. 85 
 
 picking up "a small South Carolina regiment entire." 
 " This charge was brilliantly executed," says Mr. Reid, 
 " and excited astonishment among the rebel prisoners," 
 who expressed their surprise in the characteristic de 
 mand, "Who the are you uns? " 
 
 On the evening of the 3d of September, at Berry- 
 ville, an engagement of uncommon fierceness took place 
 between the South Carolina and Mississippi division 
 under Kershaw and the Kanawha division, Hayes s 
 brigade sustaining the hardest of it. At ten o clock the 
 fighting ceased without decided victory, though the 
 rebels were killed and taken in large numbers. They 
 were of Longstreet s crack division, and had charged 
 with wild yells, confident of victory, but Hayes s men 
 drove them back with tremendous slaughter. The 
 battle had begun an hour before sunset with the at 
 tempt of the Union forces to hold a piece of turnpike 
 road, by which a body of cavalry, sent to cut off the 
 supplies in the rear of Early s army, were to rejoin our 
 Kanawha division. Hayes posted his men behind a ter 
 race wall for quarter of a mile along the road, remain 
 ing himself on horseback in full sight, while the enemy 
 charged. The enemy came within a few yards. Hayes s 
 men rose with a yell, and struck them with a deadly 
 fire, every shot of which told, and then charged in their 
 turn. The rebels, thrown into wild disorder, turned 
 and ran, pursued to their reserve line, where they ral 
 lied and repulsed their pursuers, who took cover in a 
 piece of woods. Now ensued a strange conflict. The 
 commanders on either side were desirous to withdraw 
 
86 A STRANGE CONFLICT. 
 
 their men. Crook sent Hayes word to let the fire die if 
 he could (and the rebels for their part were willing), 
 but not to stop till the enemy stopped. So the men 
 were ordered to let the fire drop, and they fired more 
 and more infrequently, till it came to only a shot at a 
 time ; then suddenly three or four would fire by chance 
 together, and on this the whole of both sides would en 
 gage again. At last, without the retirement of either 
 army, the surgeons and burying parties from both sides 
 began to mingle together with lanterns, looking for the 
 wounded and the dead between the hosts. Only at the 
 apparition of these spectral lights, flitting hither and 
 thither over the bloody field, and hovering where death 
 or anguish lay, did the battle cease. 
 
 Speaking of the engagement afterwards, and especially 
 of the moment when he sat his horse exposed to the 
 full fire of the enemy, while his men lay crouched be 
 hind the terrace wall by the roadside, Hayes recognized 
 the peril in which he had been. " But," he added, 
 " I enjoyed the excitement more than ever, my men 
 behaved so well ! " 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 OPEQUAN, FISHER S HILL, AND CEDAR CREEK. 
 
 THE battle of Opequan was fought on the 19th of 
 September, in the neighborhood of Winchester, where 
 two months before Hayes had so gallantly sustained 
 his first and only defeat. Mr. Reid s vivid and stir 
 ring account of the battle gives the highest honor to 
 Hayes, who had the extreme right of Crook s command 
 in making a flank attack. " The position was reached 
 under cover of an almost impenetrable growth of cedar, 
 crossing a swampy stream. Here the division was 
 halted and formed. First brigade (Hayes s) in front, 
 and second (Johnson s) in rear. Throwing out a 
 light line of skirmishers, the brigade advanced rapidly 
 to the front, driving the enemy s cavalry. The national 
 cavalry at the same time advanced out of the woods on 
 the right. After advancing in this way across two or 
 three open fields under a scattering fire, the crest of a 
 slight elevation was reached, when the enemy s infantry 
 line came into view off diagonally to the left front, and 
 he opened a brisk artillery fire. Moving forward 
 double-quick under this fire, the brigade reached a thick 
 fringe of underbrush, dashing through which it came 
 upon a deep slough forty or fifty yards wide, and nearly 
 
88 HAYES AT OPEQUAN. 
 
 waist-deep, with soft mud at the bottom, overgrown 
 with a thick bed of moss nearly strong enough to bear 
 the weight of a man. It seemed impossible to get 
 through it, and the whole line was staggered for a mo 
 ment. Just then Colonel Hayes plunged in with his 
 horse, and under a shower of bullets and shells, with his 
 horse sometimes down, he rode, waded, and dragged his 
 way through, and after a pause long enough to partially 
 re-form the line, charged forward again, yelling and 
 driving the enemy. Sheridan s old cavalry kept close 
 up on the right, having passed around the slough, and 
 every time the enemy was driven from cover charged 
 and captured a large number of prisoners. This plan 
 was followed throughout the battle, by which the cavalry 
 was rendered very effective. In one of these charges, 
 Colonel Duvall, the division commander, was wounded 
 and carried from the field, leaving Colonel Hayes in 
 command. He was everywhere, exposing himself reck 
 lessly, as usual. lie was the first over the slough, he 
 was in advance of the line half the time afterwards. 
 Men were dropping all around him, but he rode through 
 it all as if he had a charmed life. 
 
 " No reinforcements, no demonstration as promised ; 
 something must be done to stop the murderous, concen 
 trated fire that is cutting the force so dreadfully. Se 
 lecting some Saxony rifles in the twenty-third, pieces 
 of seventy-one calibre, with a range of twelve hundred 
 yards, Lieutenant McBride was ordered forward with 
 them to kill the enemy s artillery horses in plain sight. 
 They movrd forward under cover as much as possible. 
 
THE FIRST MAN OVER THE BOG. 89 
 
 At the first shot a horse drops ; almost immediately 
 another is killed ; a panic seems to seize the artillery, 
 and they commence limbering up. The infantry take 
 the alarm, and a few begin running from the intrench- 
 ments. The whole line rises, and with a tremendous 
 yell our men rush frantically from the breastwork, and 
 thus, without stopping to fire another shot, the enemy 
 ran in utter confusion that terrible cavalry which 
 had been hovering like a cloud on the flanks, sweeping 
 down on the rebels and capturing them by regiments." 
 Another account of the battle states that the fight 
 began at daylight, and that at noon the tide was rather 
 against the Union forces. It was at this moment, while 
 the rebels in Winchester were rejoicing over the vic 
 tory, that Hayes s brigade led the charge through the 
 slough. It was in fact a deep creek, with high banks, 
 very boggy margins, and some twenty-five yards in 
 width. The rebel fire burst out in all its fury as the 
 line reached this formidable obstacle. The men wa 
 vered, but it was death to stop now. Hayes was the 
 first to take the plunge, and his horse was mired under 
 him midway of the slough. He dismounted, and throw 
 ing himself forward on his hands and knees managed, 
 while the shot and shell struck all round him in the 
 morass, by crawling, swimming, and floundering on, to 
 reach the other shore alone. When he reached the 
 shore, the bank was so steep that the enemy s fire could 
 not strike him, and when he had regained his feet, he 
 turned about.to see who was coming next. Captain Ben 
 jamin F. Stearns, of the thirty-sixth Ohio, a very brave 
 
90 HAYES S INFANTRY AND SHERIDAN S HORSE. 
 
 and gallant officer, was coming next. He was just at 
 hand as Hayes turned, and his presence undoubtedly 
 brought great comfort to his commander, there within 
 twenty -five feet of the rebel line. Hayes raised his 
 cap, Stearns lifted his, and smiling, the comrades shook 
 hands. Then Hayes beckoned to his men with his 
 cap ; at once the morass was full of them, swarming 
 over as they could ; and when some two score had 
 landed, they charged up the bank upon the enemy, 
 who, never dreaming of an attack at this point, had 
 left his artillery unsupported. The batteries were 
 taken, and the whole of Crook s command having 
 crossed, his men charged a strongly posted rebel line 
 five hundred yards beyond the first. Their charge was 
 made in the teeth of a destructive fire ; at times they 
 wavered under the storm of grape and musketry, but 
 the flags were pushed on, and the straggling crowd 
 followed. The affair began to look dark, when, " at 
 the most critical moment," writes Hayes, in a letter 
 dated two days after the battle, " that splendid cavalry, 
 with sabres drawn, moved slowly around our right, 
 beyond the creek, then at a trot, and finally, with 
 shouts and a gallop, charged right into the rebel lines. 
 We pushed on, and away broke the rebels." 
 
 The battle of Fisher s Hill occurred the day after 
 that of Opequan. It was, in fact, rather a victory than 
 a fight, and consisted simply of a wholesale capture of 
 artillery by our forces, without the loss of a man. The 
 enemy had retreated some twenty-five miles up the 
 valley of the Shenandoah to a point where the valley, 
 
FIRST AT THE REBEL LINES. 91 
 
 narrowing to a breadth of three miles, is traversed by 
 the mountain ridge called Fisher s Hill ; and here they 
 had fortified a naturally strong position, and were ap 
 parently impregnably intrenched. After consultation 
 between Crook and Sheridan, it was, upon Crook s in- 
 sistance, resolved not to attack them in front, though it 
 was believed that an army demoralized by so recent 
 defeat could be broken even in that position, but to 
 turn their left. Crook took Hayes s division (by the 
 wounding of Duvall, Hayes was in command of both 
 brigades), and the general and colonel rode together 
 at the head of the men. As the steeper ascent began, 
 all the officers dismounted except Hayes, but he had 
 replaced the charger mired in the slough at Opequan 
 with a teamster s horse, whose surefootedness enabled 
 him to carry his rider anywhere. The force clambered 
 up and down mountain sides and through ravines till 
 they struck the gorge in which the rebels were posted, 
 when Hayes led the charge by galloping right down 
 upon the rebel lines. The whole division followed 
 with a yell, and the rebels men of Jackson s old 
 corps and Early s veterans broke and ran in hope 
 less panic, losing every gun. 
 
 Early on the 19th of October the famous battle of 
 Cedar Creek began with the disastrous defeat of our 
 troops under General Wright, who commanded in Sher 
 idan s absence, and suffered himself to be surprised by 
 Early and Longstreet. Anxious for his right flank, he 
 found himself suddenly struck on the left, under cover 
 of a heavy fog, in which his assailants had all the ad- 
 
92 WINNING BACK THE BATTLE. 
 
 vantages. In fifteen minutes the enemy was in his 
 camps, and his force thrown into utter confusion and 
 in flight towards Winchester. A few miles from that 
 place the first fugitives met a major-general on a black 
 horse gayly trotting down the road, who at sight of 
 them quickened his trot to a gallop. He swung his 
 cap, smiled cheerily, and said, " Face the other way, 
 boys. We are going back to our camps ; " and as he 
 met regiment after regiment, " Boys, this never would 
 have happened if I had been here. And now we are 
 going back to our camps." It was Sheridan, and the 
 rout became a march to victory. The beaten army 
 turned, drove the enemy from their camp, and broke 
 him to atoms along the whole line, capturing nearly all 
 his transportation, and retaking their lost artillery. 
 This is the story in brief, but it cannot be too fully 
 told, nor too often. Mr. Reid s accounts of it in his 
 sketch of Sheridan s life, and his narrative of the 
 twenty-third regiment, are, like all the battle-pieces of 
 his " Ohio in the War," graphic and dramatic, and at 
 the same time admirably clear. " The situation," he 
 says, " in a few minutes after the attack, was about 
 this : Crook s command, overpowered and driven from 
 their advanced position, were forming on the left of 
 the nineteenth corps, which corps was just getting into 
 action, the left being hotly engaged, but not so much 
 so as Crook s command yet. The right of the line had 
 not been engaged at all, and was not for some time 
 after. While the line was in this situation, the trains 
 were all slowly moving off. A desperate stand was 
 
ENTER SHERIDAN. 93 
 
 made by the shattered lines of Crook s command to 
 save the head-quarters train of the army, which came 
 
 last from the right, and it succeeded From 
 
 this time the whole line fell slowly back, fighting stub 
 bornly, to a new position which had been selected. 
 There they halted, and the enemy seemed content with 
 shelling us. 
 
 " General Crook lay a couple of rods away from tho 
 line, in a place which seemed more particularly exposed 
 than any other part of the line. Colonel Hayes lay close 
 by, badly bruised from his fall, and grumbling because 
 the troops did not charge the enemy s line instead of 
 waiting to be charged. Suddenly there is a dash in the 
 rear, on the Winchester pike ; and almost before they 
 are aware, a young man in full major-general s uniform, 
 and riding furiously a magnificent black horse, literally 
 flecked with foam, reins up and springs off by Gen 
 eral Crook s side. There is a perfect roar as everybody 
 recognizes SHERIDAN ! He talks with Crook a little 
 while, cutting away at the tops of the weeds with his 
 riding-whip. General Crook speaks half a dozen sen 
 tences that sound a good deal like the crack of the 
 whip ; and by that time some of the staff are up. They 
 are sent flying in different directions. Sheridan and 
 Crook lie down and seem to be talking, and all is quiet 
 again, except the vicious shells of the different batteries, 
 and the roar of artillery along the line. After a while 
 Colonel Forsyth comes down in front, and shouts to the 
 general: "The nineteenth corps is closed up, sir! 1 
 Sheridan jumps up, gives one more cut with his- whip, 
 
94 HAYES S STAND AT THE HEAD-QUARTERS. 
 
 whirls himself round once, jumps on his horse, and 
 starts up the line. Just as he starts off he says to the 
 men, We are going to have a good thing on them 
 now, boys ! and so he rode off." 
 
 In this battle Hayes commanded the Kanawha divis 
 ion, and being in reserve a mile back from the main line, 
 did not share in its disaster when the rebels attacked. 
 In the stand made by his division to save the head-quar 
 ters, the fighting was very severe, though the men were 
 disheartened by the belief that the enemy were in the 
 rear, and were held to their work with difficulty. At a 
 certain moment of the fight Hayes saw his right break 
 ing, and rode rapidly down to rally his men, but they 
 melted away from around him, and left him exposed 
 alone to the fire of the enemy, who filled the air with a 
 hail of lead. He was galloping forward at full speed, 
 when his horse, struck with a score of balls, was killed 
 under him ; as the horse dropped, the rider was flung 
 over his head and terribly bruised from crown to heel, 
 while the ankle of his left foot, catching in the stirrup, 
 was dislocated. He lay conscious, but perfectly still, 
 well knowing that the slightest movement would bring 
 him a shower of bullets ; then at length, watching his 
 chance, he leaped to his feet and regained his own lines, 
 after a sharp chase, and mounted his orderly s horse. 
 He kept his men in some order and shook off the en 
 emy, till the fog lifted, when they began to fight with 
 more confidence, continually pressed by the enemy, but 
 retreating slowly and in good order. After retiring 
 three -or four miles, Hayes joined his force with another 
 
HAYES A BRIGADIER-GENERAL. 95 
 
 body and succeeded in checking the enemy s advance ; 
 his men took rails from the fences and made fires for cof 
 fee, and he lay down on the creek bank with Crook and 
 other officers, and talked of the shame of defeat by forces 
 they had beaten so often. Crook wished to attack them, 
 but Wright being in command, nothing was done. At 
 this juncture Sheridan came up, and after a brief parley 
 with Crook, said, " Boys, we will have a good thing, 
 for we will be in our camp before night. Set your 
 watches," and he fixed the minute when they were to 
 move out. At three o clock they attacked the enemy 
 and surprised him in turn, and the victory followed. In 
 spite of his dislocated ankle and the injuries received in 
 his fall, Hayes was able to keep the saddle throughout 
 the day ; before the close he received another wound, 
 but it was slight ; he was struck in the head by a spent 
 ball. 
 
 That night, Sheridan, denouncing the manner in 
 which his army had been used by having so many 
 divisions commanded by colonels, said to Hayes, " You 
 will be a brigadier-general from this time." When 
 the promotion actually came, he wrote home a letter 
 so like himself, in due sense of the honor and in de 
 cent self-respect, that we shall need no excuse, with the 
 reader at least, in giving it here in full. 
 
 " General Crook gave me a very agreeable present 
 this afternoon a pair of his old brigadier-general 
 straps. The stars are somewhat dimmed with hard 
 service, but will correspond pretty well with my rusty 
 old blouse. Of course, I am very much gratified with 
 
96 ODDS IN BRIGADIERS. 
 
 the promotion. I know perfectly well that the rank 
 has been conferred on all sorts of small people, and so 
 cheapened shamefully, but I can t help feeling that 
 getting it at the close of a most bloody campaign, on 
 the recommendation of fighting generals like Crook 
 and Sheridan, is a different thing from the same rank 
 conferred well, as it has been in some instances." 
 
 Whilst he was doing all that hard fighting in the 
 valley of the Shenandoah, he had been elected to 
 Congress from the second Ohio district, and he got the 
 news after the battle of Cedar Creek. In one of his 
 admirable letters home he expresses his gratification, but 
 adds : " My particular gratification is much less than it 
 would be if I were not so much more gratified by my 
 good luck in winning golden opinions in the more 
 stirring scenes around me here. My share of notoriety 
 here is nothing at all, and my real share of merit is 
 also small enough, I know ; but the consciousness that I 
 am doing my part in these brilliant actions, is far more 
 gratifying than anything the election brings me." 
 
 Between the beginning of May and end of October, 
 1864, Hayes was under fire on sixty days, and he was 
 under fire on se ven hundred days in the course of the 
 war. He was four times wounded, the severest wound 
 being that received at South Mountain. Yet the 
 wound from which he has suffered most is hardly to 
 be called a wound at all. A fragment of shell struck 
 so close to his knee as to cut his pantaloons clean 
 away at that point ; he rode through the day, and never 
 made anything of the affair, but now, after twelve 
 
A WOUND THAT WILL NOT DISABLE. 97 
 
 years, this merely approximate hurt troubles him more 
 than all the rest, especially in going up stairs. 
 
 It is believed, however, that it will not prevent hia 
 ascent of the Capitol steps, on the 4th of March next. 
 
 7 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 On page 96, eighth line from bottom, for. " seven hun 
 dred days," read " about one hundred days." 
 
96 ODDS IN BRIGADIERS. 
 
 the promotion. I know perfectly well that the rank 
 has been conferred on all sorts of small people, and so 
 cheapened shamefully, but I can t help feeling that 
 getting it at the close of a most bloody campaign, oil 
 the recommendation of fighting generals like Crook 
 and Sheridan, is a different thing from the same rank 
 conferred well, as it has been in some instances." 
 Whilst he was doing all that hard fighting in the 
 
 here is ii6Ulilig 111 mi, mm iuj 
 
 also small enough, I know ; but the consciousness that I 
 am doing my part in these brilliant actions, is far more 
 gratifying than anything the election brings me." 
 
 Between the beginning of May and end of October, 
 1864, Hayes was under fire on sixty days, and he was 
 under fire on tBven hundred days in the course of the 
 war. He was four times wounded, the severest wound 
 being that received at South Mountain. Yet the 
 wound from which he has suffered most is hardly to 
 be called a wound at all. A fragment of shell struck 
 so close to his knee as to cut his pantaloons clean 
 away at that point ; he rode through the day, and never 
 made anything of the affair, but now, after twelve 
 
A WOUND THAT WILL NOT DISABLE. 97 
 
 years, this merely approximate hurt troubles him more 
 than all the rest, especially in going up stairs. 
 
 It is believed, however, that it will not prevent his 
 ascent of the Capitol steps, on the 4th of March next. 
 
 7 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 TWICE CONGRESSMAN, THRICE GOVERNOR, AND NOMI 
 NEE FOR PRESIDENT. 
 
 HAYES was first nominated for Congress by the Re 
 publicans of the second Cincinnati district in August, 
 and elected in October, 1864, in the very hottest of 
 the Shenandoah Valley fighting, when nearly every day 
 brought its battle, and every day was full of suffering 
 and danger. The letter which he wrote when the 
 news of his nomination reached him, with a hint that 
 his presence in Cincinnati would secure his election, is 
 as magnanimous as Clay s " I would rather be right 
 than be President," and its words are such as deserve 
 to live long after this political campaign, whatever its 
 results may be, is forgotten. He confesses that though 
 he had cared very little about being a candidate, he pre 
 fers now to succeed after having consented to the use 
 of his name, but as to the matter of going home OH fur 
 lough, he adds : " An officer Jit for duty, who at this 
 crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for Congress, 
 omjht to be scalped. You may feel perfectly, sure I shall 
 do no such thing? 
 
 He had not, of course, sought the nomination, but at 
 the urgence of his friends he had let the matter take 
 
ELECTED TO CONGRESS WHILE IN THE FIELD. 99 
 
 its course, and he was elected by a majority which 
 showed that no other Republican could have carried the 
 district. But he did not take his seat in Congress till 
 after the war was over, and the faithful troops he had 
 so long commanded no longer had a foe to face. 
 
 After the Shenandoah Valley campaign, his command 
 went into winter quarters and was not engaged after 
 wards. In the comparative quiet of this time he felt free 
 to ask leave of absence, and he went to Washington to 
 see Lincoln inaugurated, on the 4th of March, 1865 (hav 
 ing first paid a brief visit to his family in Ohio), and then 
 returned to camp. The news of the President s murder 
 came to him with shocking force after so recently wit 
 nessing his entry upon a second term of beneficent 
 power, and Hayes immediately wrote to his wife a let 
 ter too good in itself, and too significant in many ways, 
 to be omitted from this record. It is not merely a testi 
 mony to character and feeling on his part, but it is sug 
 gestive of her enlightened sympathy with him in mat 
 ters of public concern, and hints of qualities of mind 
 and heart in her more common to the White House in 
 the days of Mrs. Washington and of Mrs. Madison than 
 in our own. 
 
 "NEW CREEK, WEST VIRGINIA, 16^ April (Sunday), 1865. 
 
 " When I heard first, yesterday morning, of the awful 
 tragedy at Washington, I was pained and shocked to a 
 degree I have never before experienced. I got on to 
 the cars, then just starting, and rode down to Cumber 
 land. The probable consequences, or rather the pos 
 sible results, in their worst imaginable form, were pre- 
 
100 LETTER ON LINCOLN^ DEATH. 
 
 sented to my mind, one after the other, until I really 
 began to feel that here was a calamity so extensive 
 that in no direction could be found any, the slightest 
 glimmer, of consolation. The nation s great joy turned 
 suddenly to a still greater sorrow ! A ruler tested and 
 proved in every way, and in every way found equal to 
 the occasion, to be exchanged for a new man whose 
 ill-omened beginning made the nation hang its head ! 
 Lincoln for Johnson ! The work of reconstruction, 
 requiring so much statesmanship, just begun ! The 
 calamity to Mr. Lincoln in a personal point of view 
 so uncalled for a fate ! so undeserved, so unpro 
 voked ! The probable effect upon the future of pub 
 lic men in this country, the necessity for guards ; our 
 ways to be assimilated to those of the despotisms of 
 the old world and so I would find my mind filled 
 only with images of evil and calamity, until I felt a 
 sinking of heart hardly equaled by that which op 
 pressed us all when the defeat of our army at Manassas, 
 almost crushed the nation. But slowly, as in all cases 
 of great affliction, one comes to feel that it is not all 
 darkness ; the catastrophe is so much less, happening 
 now, than it would have been at any time before, since 
 Mr. Lincoln s election. At the period after his first 
 inauguration ; at any of the periods of great public 
 confusion ; during the pendency of the last presiden 
 tial election ; at any time before the defeat of Lee, 
 such a calamity might have sealed the nation s doom. 
 Now, the march of events can t be stayed, probably 
 can t be much changed. It is possible that a greater 
 
ESTIMATE OF LINCOLN S CHARACTER. 101 
 
 degree of severity in dealing with the rebellion may 
 be ordered, and that may be for the best. As to Mr. 
 Lincoln s name and fame and memory, all is safe. 
 His firmness, moderation, goodness of heart ; his quaint 
 humor, his perfect honesty and directness of purpose, 
 his logic, his modesty, his sound judgment and great 
 wisdom ; the contrast between his obscure beginnings 
 and the greatness of his subsequent position and 
 achievements ; his tragic death, giving him almost the 
 crown of martyrdom, elevate him to a place in his 
 tory second to none other in ancient or modern times. 
 His success in his great office, his hold upon the confi 
 dence and affections of his countrymen, we shall all 
 say are only second to Washington s ; we shall prob 
 ably feel and think that they are not second even to 
 his." 
 
 In April, Hayes, to his own regret and the grief of 
 his old brigade, was transferred to a new command 
 under Hancock, 1 and he was the leader of that expedi- 
 
 1 Hayes bade his old command farewell in terms expressive of the 
 strong affection existing between them : 
 
 "It is with very great regret that I have been compelled to part 
 with the officers and men of the first brigade. With many of you 
 I have been associated in the service almost four years; with three 
 of the regiments of the brigade more than two years, and with all the 
 regiments during the memorable campaign of 1864. The battle of 
 Cloyd Mountain ; the burning of New River bridge, and the night 
 march over Salt Pond Mountain under General Crook in May; the 
 days and nights of marching, fighting, and starving on the Lynch- 
 burg raid in June; the defeat at Winchester, and the retreat on the 
 24th and 25th of July; the skirmishing, marching, and countermarch 
 ing in the Shenandoah Valley in August; the bloody and brilliant 
 victories in September; the night battle at Berry ville ; the turn- 
 
102. , . AETJNG-F$OM BIS OLD BRIGADE. 
 
 tion against Lynchburg which was given up after Lee s 
 surrender and the ruin of the Confederacy. Shortly 
 after, the work being done and other work calling him, 
 he sent in his resignation, which took effect on the 
 1st of June. But before he left the army he had the 
 glory of participating in the grand review at Wash 
 ington ; and no one in all those hundred thousands 
 had a better right to the triumph of that great day 
 than this honest man, this faithful soldier, this stain 
 less patriot. 
 
 ing of the enemy s left at Sheridan s battle of Winchester; the ava 
 lanche which swept down North Mountain upon the rebel stronghold 
 at Fisher s Hill; the final conflict in October; the surprise and defeat 
 of the morning, and the victory of the evening at Cedar Creek, 
 these and a thousand other events and scenes in the campaign of 1864 
 form part of our common recollections which we are not likely ever 
 to forget. As long as they are remembered, we shall be reminded of 
 each other and of the friendly and agreeable relation which so long 
 existed between us. 
 
 " It is very gratifying to me that I was allowed to serve with you 
 until we received together the tidings of the great victory which ends 
 the rebellion. Whatever may be your fortune, I shall not cease to 
 feel a lively interest in everything which concerns your welfare and 
 reputation." 
 
 Hayes himself afterwards came to acquiesce in the change, but his 
 old brigade was not so easily consoled. One of his officers wrote : 
 
 "WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA, April 20, 1865. 
 
 "When I learned that you were taken away from us, I was so in 
 dignant I could hardly refrain from language considered highly un- 
 military ; not that I have aught against our present brigade com- 
 inaiulrr f<>r ho has my confidence and respect but because I think 
 that by a just and equitable title, sealed with blood, dearlv bought, 
 and fairly won, this is your briyade. In this war men become attached 
 to each other by more than common ties. I have been clear through 
 the mill, from Washington to Chattanooga; you are my choice of all 
 the brigade commanders I have been under, save and except Crook." 
 
NOT A CONGRESSIONAL ORATOR. 103 
 
 In October, Hayes returned to Cincinnati and re 
 opened his old house, and in December he took his seat 
 in Congress, where he at once made himself quietly 
 felt as a thorough and diligent worker. Two or three 
 ingrained habits of his life forbade him to make him 
 self conspicuous on the floor. In the first place, as 
 we have already repeatedly shown, it was Hayes s cus 
 tom to study any new business and fit himself for suc 
 cess in it, and congressmanship was an entirely new 
 business to him. Then he is a man whose inherent 
 modesty and self-respect are at one in keeping him 
 aloof from any mere noisy exhibition of himself, or from 
 attempting anything which he believes the greater ex 
 perience of others will enable them to perform better. 
 Above all, his army life had given him an ever-increas 
 ing contempt of unnecessary and intrusive eloquence, 
 and he wrote to a friend, one of many eager that he 
 should distinguish himself in the usual congressional 
 way, "I am disgusted at the shameful waste of time 
 and patience the so-called orators of Washington make," 
 and he refused to " distinguish himself " accordingly. 
 He went to work as chairman of the library com 
 mittee, and urged the extension and increase of the 
 library. Chiefly by his efforts, the space and material 
 were increased threefold ; the Force Historical Library 
 was added to that of Congress, and the Smithsonian 
 Library transferred to it. He was instrumental in the 
 purchase of many valuable works, and on the com 
 mittee, his artistic taste as well as his literary knowl 
 edge were felt. No vote of his ever favored the pur- 
 
104 WORK IN CONGRESS. 
 
 chase of trashy pictures or sculptures, and he constantly 
 advocated the selection of known and able artists for 
 government commissions. 
 
 On other committees he was a conscientious worker, 
 knowing that the real business of legislation is done 
 across the committee tables, and not by the speechifyers 
 on the floor of the House. 
 
 His first vote was given for a resolution requiring the 
 maintenance of the public faith " sacred and inviolable " 
 from " any attempt to scale or repudiate " the national 
 debt ; and he early introduced and carried through a 
 resolution to provide for the special punishment of 
 agents or attorneys defrauding soldiers and sailors in 
 the matter of their pensions and bounties. Renomi- 
 nated by acclamation in 1866, and reflected by a ma 
 jority which showed a gain while the rest of the ticket 
 showed a loss, he continued especially to interest him 
 self in behalf of the soldiers, and as a commander 
 singularly beloved and trusted by his men he was, of 
 course, overwhelmed with their claims and applica 
 tions. 
 
 He refused here, as always, to make his office a means 
 of office ; he did his duty, and let his future take care 
 of itself. He was always in his seat ; he never shirked 
 responsibility or dodged a vote ; he voted with his 
 party on all the measures of reconstruction, and he was 
 incessantly active in a personal as well as public way in 
 securing the passage and ratification of the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth amendments. 
 
 Even before taking his seat in Congress, he was 
 
ELECTED AND REFLECTED GOVERNOR. 105 
 
 meditating retirement from public life, either to his 
 uncle s farm in Fremont, or his own law practice in 
 Cincinnati, and nothing but the sense of public duty pre 
 vailed with him to accept the nomination for governor 
 of Ohio, offered him in 1869. He gave up his place 
 in Congress, however, to meet an emergency of national 
 significance, and in a campaign conducted with all the 
 fire of a nature kindled through and through by his 
 experiences in fighting the same ideas on the battle-field, 
 he beat his opponent, the present Senator Thurman, by a 
 majority that no one else could have commanded. The 
 questions at issue were the reconstruction measures, 
 which the Democrats assailed, taking their stand upon 
 a platform prepared by the late Mr. Vallandigluim. 
 (whose course, only more open than that of Mr. Tildenpf" 
 in the war it is merciful not to remember,) and prac 
 tically in favor of State supremacy. The canvass was 
 very excited, and Hayes and Thurman spoke daily 
 throughout the State, alternately attacking each other s 
 positions, and replying and rejoining almost for the 
 hundredth time. Hayes s personal popularity gave the 
 Republicans their governor, but the legislature and the 
 constitutional amendment was lost by fifty thousand ma 
 jority. That legislature, therefore, refused to ratify 
 the amendments, and it elected Mr. Thurman to the 
 United States Senate. 
 
 In 1869 Hayes was renominated in the Republican 
 convention by acclamation ; and the Democrats nomi 
 nated General Rosecrans. That gallant soldier refused 
 to stand on a platform declaring that the whole bonded 
 
106 REFUSAL TO TAKE THE SENATORSHIP. 
 
 debt should be paid in greenbacks, and embodying what 
 ever existed of enmity to the cause for which he had 
 fought, and the nomination was passed on to Mr. Pen- 
 dleton, who hesitatingly accepted, and was duly beaten 
 at the October elections. 
 
 It has been well known in Ohio that Hayes could 
 have been easily elected United States Senator in the 
 place of Mr. Sherman in 1872, if he had been the man 
 to profit by prosperous chances at the expense of a 
 friend whom he honored and admired. The Republican 
 majority in the legislature was small, and enough of 
 the Republicans were disaffected to form with the will 
 ing Democrats (always personally fond of Hayes) the 
 number requisite to choose him. But he promptly 
 and severely discouraged the movement, and the man 
 who ought to have been elected, and who was the choice 
 of the greater part of the Republicans, succeeded where 
 a sordid or selfish rival could have secured his defeat. 
 
 At the end of his second term as governor, Hayes 
 wished to retire from political life. " I, too," he wrote 
 to a friend, " mean to be out of politics. The ratifica 
 tion of the fifteenth amendment" (this had in the mean 
 time taken place) "gives me the boon of equality be 
 fore the law, terminates my enlistment, and discharges 
 me cured." His letters and journal entries are to the 
 same effect. His interest in public affairs was still in 
 tense, but personally he did not care any longer to take 
 part in them. 1" In spite of his protests," as the dis 
 patch announcing the fact ran, he wa s nominated in his 
 old Cincinnati district in 1872 by the Republicans, who 
 
RETIREMENT TO FREMONT. 107 
 
 had not ceased to ask for the use of his name, and who 
 had used it against his express desire. He went down 
 and made the canvass, delivering some of his best 
 speeches, but the reaction against Republicanism had 
 set in so strongly that he was beaten, though by a ma 
 jority not half so great as that which defeated his fellow 
 Republican in the other Cincinnati district. He de 
 clined the appointment of Assistant United States Treas 
 urer at Cincinnati, offered him by Grant, and retired to 
 Fremont. His uncle Birchard, his life-long benefactor 
 and friend, died in 1874, leaving him a handsome for 
 tune, and Hayes made the good old man s house his 
 home, planning to live there a life of leisure and of 
 books, not unmindful of good citizenship, but no longer 
 troubled by the cares and responsibilities of active pol 
 itics. 
 
 His journals of this period form a curious study of 
 such a man in the fulfillment of such a purpose. His 
 keen delight in nature is oddly mingled with his inex 
 tinguishable interest in public affairs. He sets down 
 in the same entry the aspects of the weather and the 
 probable effects of such and such measures upon the 
 party and the country. He records the - fact that he 
 has put away his sleigh for the season, but we find that 
 he has not put away his uneasiness about the currency. 
 A robin who steals a whole spool of thread for his nest, 
 and hopelessly entangling himself, hangs dangling by 
 the neck in one of the dooryard trees, does not affect 
 him more than the spectacle of the Democratic pol 
 iticians who promise themselves prosperity on an excess 
 
108 THIRD NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR. 
 
 of greenbacks. Nevertheless the domestic and agri 
 cultural interests do finally prevail, and there are long 
 spaces in the diaries where politics are never men 
 tioned where the thermometer completely displaces 
 the President. 
 
 In 1875 Ohio had had for one term a Democratic 
 governor for the first time in nearly twenty years 
 a very good governor, as far as economical administra 
 tion went, and a very bad governor, as far as ideas on 
 the currency went : William Allen, namely, of un 
 tainted personal character, but politically besotted with 
 seventy years of unmitigated Democracy. He was 
 strong with his party, he was strong with the people, 
 and how to get rid of a man so much worse than any 
 worse man was a vital question with the Republicans. 
 
 Hayes had been approached in his philosophical re 
 tirement at Fremont, but though flattered with the 
 prospect of being a third time governor, as an honor 
 never before conferred on any citizen of Ohio, he had 
 thought the matter over, and he decidedly refused to 
 let his name go before the convention. It became day 
 by day more apparent that the Republicans could suc 
 ceed with no other name, and that without it the cause 
 of honest money and of public self-respect must be lost. 
 Still Hayes refused, and upon the knowledge of his 
 determined refusal, his old friend. Judge Taft, of Cin 
 cinnati, afterwards Secretary of War, allowed himself 
 to be proposed in the convention. The convention 
 nominated Hayes, and then made his nomination unani 
 mous. A dispatch was sent to Hayes, who, considering 
 
NO DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL FUND. 109 
 
 the circumstances under which his friend had suffered 
 himself to appear as a candidate for nomination, felt 
 doubly bound to decline. He stood reading over the 
 form of his refusal with a friend, when a second dis 
 patch arrived, saying that Judge Taft s name had been 
 withdrawn by Mr. Taft, his son, and that it was upon 
 Mr. Taft s motion that Hayes s nomination had been 
 made unanimous. Hayes tore up his refusal and ac 
 cepted ; and now ensued the famous campaign of 1875, 
 which made Ohio the national battle-ground, where / 
 Hayes, Schurz, Sherman, Woodford, Morton, Dawes, 
 Oglesby, Garfield, Taft, and Windom supported the 
 cause of good sense and good faith in currency against 
 the inflationists, who are now the friends of that emi 
 nent and disinterested hard-money man, Mr. Tilden. 
 
 Another very important element in the canvass, es 
 pecially urged by Hayes, was the question of secular 
 against ecclesiastical education. The Democratic party, 
 always prompt to make use of whatever is reactionary 
 in our civilization, had already in its brief term of power 
 in Ohio made haste to truckle to the priest-led foreign 
 ers, who demanded a division of the school-fund. Hayes 
 insisted upon the political recognition of the fact known 
 to us all, that our system of free secular schools, with 
 all its errors and short-comings, was the very basis of 
 our liberties, and that any division of the school-fund 
 meant chaos come again. He thoroughly aroused peo 
 ple and politicians to a sense of this ; the liberal Ger 
 mans and the freedom-loving voters of all the churches 
 made common cause against the priests, and the tri- 
 
110 STATE DEBT REDUCED. 
 
 umph that ensued was owing, far more than has been 
 realized, to the abhorrence excited by the attempt 
 upon the public schools. If any reader here fancies 
 himself beguiled with a travesty of Italian story, let 
 him turn to the Catholic journals of Ohio, and see how 
 bold was the assault, and how real the danger. Of 
 Catholics as religionists, Hayes is no enemy,- but he is 
 the relentless enemy of Catholics as Catholic politicians, 
 just as he would be the enemy of Methodists as Metho 
 dist politicians. 
 
 Hayes has now been some five years governor of 
 Ohio, and though often thwarted by Democratic leg 
 islation, has succeeded in reducing the State debt 
 $2,773,406, and the State tax from 3.5 mills on the 
 dollar to 2.9, with an annual saving of $914,593. By 
 continued pressure upon the legislature he reduced 
 the local taxation throughout the State more than 
 $17,000,000, and through his influence local authorities 
 were forbidden by law to make any large expenditure 
 without the sanction of a popular vote wherein the 
 people of Ohio are much freer than those of Massa 
 chusetts. He also secured the passage of a law pro 
 hibiting municipalities from incurring debts beyond the 
 amounts actually in their treasuries. These measures 
 he has urged in the prime of a life whose dearest ac 
 tion was spent in the tented field, and was never for a 
 moment sullied by association with ring-thieves. His 
 principle of retrenchment is not a mere twelvemonth 
 old, nor his patriotism the growth of the years since 
 the nation was made. He helped to make it, and his 
 
A PRACTICAL CIVIL SERVICE REFORMER. Ill 
 
 public economies are the expression of a life-long pri 
 vate honesty. 
 
 So, also, his devotion to civil service reform is not 
 merely a profitable novelty. Eight years ago he sup 
 ported Jenckes s bill, and six years ago he recom 
 mended in one of his messages the amendment of the 
 Ohio constitution, so as to make civil service reform a 
 part of the organic law. He did more ; he showed his 
 faith by his works. When he became governor, he was 
 importuned by old and dear friends, to turn out the 
 Democratic State librarian, and give the office, one of 
 the few in the governor s gift, to a most worthy and 
 competent Republican. He refused. 
 
 " The present incumbent " (he wrote) " of the libra- 
 rianship is a faithful, painstaking old gentleman with a 
 family of invalid girls dependent on him. His courtesy 
 and evident anxiety to accommodate all who visit the 
 library have secured him the indorsement of almost all 
 who are in the habit of using the books, and under the 
 circumstances I cannot remove him. Old associations, 
 your fitness, and claims draw me the other way, but 
 you see, etc., etc. Very sincerely, R. B. HAYES." 
 
 Of course the pressure brought to bear upon a gov 
 ernor in such a case is as nothing compared to the 
 pressure brought to bear upon the President, but it is 
 the same in kind though so dinerent x in quantity, and it 
 would be very interesting indeed to know whether Mr. 
 Tilden can point to a single Republican whom he has 
 kept in office because he was " painstaking, faithful, and 
 courteous." 
 
112 A DEMOCRATIC INVESTIGATION. 
 
 Among other reforms, Hayes has repeatedly urged 
 upon the legislature the adoption of some/form of mi 
 nority representation, and the passage of registration 
 laws to secure the purity of elections, and he has never 
 ceased to urge the punishment of malfeasance in office. 
 The highest testimony to the purity of his administra 
 tion is to be found on the lips of his enemies his 
 political enemies ; he has only friends, personally. At 
 the end of his second term, the Democrats appointed a 
 committee to investigate the administration of affairs 
 under him. This was the chairman s report : 
 
 " The special committee appointed under House reso 
 lution No. 113 report as follows: The examination has 
 taken a wide range. One hundred and nine witnesses, 
 residing in various parts of the State, have been sub 
 poenaed and examined touching public contracts and 
 expenditures, construction of public buildings, conduct 
 of public institutions, etc. All matters, without refer 
 ence to the date of their occurrence, coming to the knowl 
 edge of the committee, that seemed to promise any prob 
 ability of throwing any light upon the subjects of inquiry, 
 or any of them, have been diligently inquired into. 
 
 " Your committee take pleasure in reporting that, so 
 far as elective officers and their subordinates are con 
 cerned, very commendable honesty and fidelity have 
 been observed, and that in the official conduct of no 
 public officer, whether elective or appointive, has cor 
 ruption been disclosed." 
 
 As governor, Hayes has been tireless in the promo 
 tion of schemes of public beneficence and advantage, such 
 
PHILANTHROPIC PROJECTS. 113 
 
 as the removal of the incurably insane from the jails 
 and poorhouses to fitting quarters in the State asylums, 
 the establishment of a reform school for girls and a 
 reform farm for boys, greater humanity as well as 
 greater economy in the management of the State prison, 
 and above all the founding of a soldiers and sailors 
 orphans home. His heart, never insensible to the 
 claim of friendless sorrow, quick to the misery alike 
 of the incurable insane and of the curable depraved, 
 was most deeply touched by the condition of the chil 
 dren of those who died for freedom and nationality. 
 " During the war for the Union," he wrote in his sec 
 ond annual message, " the people of this State ac 
 knowledged their obligation to support the families of 
 their absent soldiers, and undertook to meet it, not as a 
 charity, but as a partial compensation justly due for 
 services rendered. The nation is saved, and the obli 
 gations to care for the orphans of the men who died to 
 save it still remain to be fulfilled. It is officially esti 
 mated that three hundred soldiers orphans, during the 
 past year, have been inmates of the county infirmaries of 
 the State. It is the uniform testimony of the directors 
 of county infirmaries that those institutions are wholly 
 unfit for children ; that in a majority of cases they are 
 sadly neglected, and that even in the best infirmaries 
 the children are subject to the worst moral influences. 
 Left by the death of their patriotic fathers in this de 
 plorable condition, it is the duty of the State to assume 
 their guardianship, and to provide support, education, 
 and homes to all who need them." 
 
114 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF OHIO. 
 
 i 
 
 Again, in his second inaugural he said : " Under the 
 providence of God the people of this State have greatly 
 prospered. But in their prosperity they cannot forget 
 him who hath borne the battle, nor his widow nor his 
 orphan, or the thousands of other sufferers in our midst 
 who are entitled to sympathy and relief. They are to 
 be found in our hospitals, our infirmaries, our asylums, 
 our prisons, and in the abodes of the unfortunate and 
 the erring. The Founder of our religion, whose spirit 
 should pervade our laws, and animate those who enact 
 and those who enforce them, by his teaching and his 
 example has admonished us to deal with all the victims 
 of adversity as the children of our common Father." 
 
 It is not alone in the gentle and sober feeling of 
 passages like this that Hayes reminds us of Lincoln ; 
 much also in the essential modesty, the quiet firmness, 
 the unaggressive self-respect of our leader recalls the 
 man who had a genius for^being singly great. 
 
 A very important public work recommended and 
 urged to completion by Hayes is the geological sur 
 vey of Ohio, which has not only been of great use to 
 science, but of incalculable material advantage to Ohio, 
 in the development of her mineral resources. In fine, 
 every project for the enlightened advancement of the 
 public interest, morals, or taste, during the years since 
 Hayes has been governor, has had him for its author 
 or its powerful and effective friend. 1 
 
 1 For a full account of Hayes s gubernatorial services and adminis 
 trations, we refer the reader to the conscientious and painstaking chap 
 ters in Mr. J. Q. Howard s Life of Hayes. (Robert Clarke & Co., 
 Cincinnati.) 
 
FIRST NAMED FOR PRESIDENT. 115 
 
 But we can no longer dwell upon this period of his 
 history, for we now approach the moment when from 
 being a man of national importance he became also a 
 man of national note. He had not been elected gov 
 ernor in 1875 before he began to be President in Ohio. 
 As soon as his election was known, a newspaper of 
 the old G-iddings and Garfield district, representing the 
 perennial political right-mindedness of the " Western 
 Reserve," printed his name as candidate, and through 
 out the whole vast State the prophetic instinct of his 
 supreme fitness began to possess the people, though at 
 first the Republican and the conditionally Republican 
 press were by no means united upon him. 
 
 As for himself, he seems to have given himself no 
 concern about the presidency, but to have gone qui 
 etly about his business of governor. No man could 
 hear himself much talked of for the chief place in a 
 nation like this without feeling some share of the pop 
 ular excitement, but no man was less capable of pushing 
 himself for such a place than Hayes. We have seen 
 many letters of his, written during the period when 
 the movement in his favor was gathering strength and 
 form (a fact which every Ohioan felt in his bones, 
 however insensible the osseous structure of Eastern 
 Republicans remained), and they all point to the fact 
 that, while he was not indifferent to it, he was firmly 
 resolved to have nothing to do with it. 
 
 In one of these letters, shown us by his correspond 
 ent, he wrote: "I am not pushing, directly or indi 
 rectly. It is not likely that I shall. If the sky falls 
 
116 A MANLY EXPRESSION. 
 
 we shall all catch larks. On the topics you name, a 
 busy seeker after truth would find my views in speeches 
 and messages, but I shall not help him to find them. I 
 appreciate your motives and your friendship. But it 
 is not the thing for you or me to enroll ourselves in 
 the great army of office-seekers. Let the currents 
 alone." 
 
 This was the tenor of all his expressions. From his 
 diary we permit ourselves a single paragraph, which 
 not only shows his mind in March last, but also shows 
 the man as he has been all his life: tranquilly self- 
 reliant, high-purposed, and resolute never to act from 
 personal ambition. " With so general an impression in 
 my favor in Ohio, and a fair degree of assent elsewhere, 
 especially in States largely settled by Ohio people, 1 
 have supposed that it was possible I might be nomi 
 nated. But with no opportunity and no desire to make 
 combinations or to lay wires, I have not thought my 
 chances worth much consideration. I feel less diffidence 
 in thinking of this subject than perhaps I ought. It 
 seems to me that good purposes, and the judgment, ex 
 perience and firmness I possess would enable me to 
 execute the duties of the office well. I do not feel the 
 least fear that I should fail ! " 
 
 After the Ohio State convention met and instructed 
 its delegates to vote for Hayes in the national conven 
 tion, his attitude changed only so far as was involved in 
 a feeling of allegiance to his friends, and a sense of his 
 obligation not to embarrass their efforts in his behalf. 
 This is not the time, and this is not the place to say 
 
THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION. 117 
 
 whom Hayes expected to be nominated at Cincinnati, 
 but we know upon the authority of those constantly 
 about him at the time that he did not at all expect the 
 nomination for himself until the sixth ballot, and then 
 when the result came on the seventh ballot he could 
 scarcely accept the fact a s true. 
 
 We need not weary the reader with the twice-told tale 
 of the convention s proceedings, but we cannot deny 
 ourselves the pleasure of reproducing entire in this 
 place the exquisitely fitting speech in which ex-Gov 
 ernor Noyes of Ohio presented Hayes s name. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : On behalf of the forty-four delegates 
 from Ohio, representing the entire Republican party of 
 Ohio, I have the honor to present to this convention 
 the name of a gentleman well known and favorably 
 known throughout the country ; one held in high re 
 spect, and much beloved by the people of Ohio ; a man 
 who, during the dark and stormy days of the rebellion, 
 when those who are invincible in peace and invisible in 
 battle were uttering brave words to cheer their neigh 
 bors on, himself, in the fore-front of battle, followed 
 his leaders and his flag until the authority of our gov 
 ernment was established from the Lakes to the Gulf, 
 and from the river round to the sea ; a man who has 
 the rare good fortune since the war was over to be 
 twice elected to Congress from the district where he 
 resided, and subsequently the rarer fortune of beating 
 successively for the highest office in the gift of the peo 
 ple of Ohio, Allen G. Thurman, George H. Pendleton, 
 
118 EX-GOVERNOR NOYES S SPEECH. 
 
 and William Allen. He is a gentleman who has some 
 how fallen into the habit of defeating Democratic aspi 
 rants for the presidency, and we in Ohio all have a 
 notion that from long experience he will be able to do 
 it again. In presenting the name of Governor Hayes, 
 permit me to say we wage no war upon the distin 
 guished gentlemen whose names have been mentioned 
 here to-day. They have rendered great service to 
 their country, which entitles them to our respect and 
 to our gratitude. I have no word to utter against 
 them. I only wish to say that General Hayes is the 
 peer of these gentlemen in integrity, in character, in 
 ability. They appear as equals in all the great quali 
 ties which fit men for the highest positions whicb the 
 American people can give them. Governor Hayes is 
 honest ; he is brave ; he is unpretending ; he is wise, 
 sagacious, a scholar, and a gentleman. Enjoying an 
 independent fortune, the simplicity of his private life, 
 his modesty of bearing, is a standing rebuke to the ex 
 travagance the reckless extravagance which leads 
 to corruption in public and in private places. 
 
 Remember now, delegates to the convention, that 
 a responsible duty rests upon you. You can be gov 
 erned by no wild impulse. You can run no fearful 
 risks in this campaign. You must, if you would suc 
 ceed, nominate a candidate here who will not only carry 
 the old, strong Republican States, but who will carry 
 Indiana, Ohio, and New York, as well as other doubt 
 ful States. We care not who the man shall be, other 
 than our own candidate. Whoever you nominate, men 
 
ADVANTAGES AS A CANDIDATE. 119 
 
 of the convention, shall receive our heartiest and most 
 earnest efforts for their success. But we beg to sub 
 mit that in Governor Hayes you have those qualities 
 which are calculated best to compromise all difficulties, 
 and to soften all antagonisms. He has no personal ene 
 mies. His private life is so pure that no man has ever 
 dared assail it. His public acts throughout all these 
 years have been above suspicion, even. I ask you then 
 if, in the lack of these antagonisms and with all of these 
 good qualities, living in a State which holds its election 
 in October, the result of which will be decisive, it may 
 be, of the presidential campaign, it is not worth while 
 to see to it that a candidate is nominated against whom 
 nothing can be sard, and who is sure to succeed in the 
 campaign ? 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to say that, if the wisdom 
 of this convention shall decide at last that Governor 
 Hayes s nomination is safest and is best, that decision 
 will meet with such responsive enthusiasm here in Ohio 
 as will insure Republican success at home, and which 
 will be so far-reaching and wide-spreading as to make 
 success almost certain from the Atlantic to the Pa 
 cific. 
 
 With his name thus presented, and with the forty- 
 four Ohio delegates faithfully, ballot after ballot, throw 
 ing in his favor the weight of what was best in the 
 sentiment of a State so eminent in war, so wise in the 
 uses of peace, his final success was, in the opinion of those 
 skilled in judging such matters, only a question of time. 
 
120 NOMINATED FOB THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 This history is by no means too dignified to tell how 
 the news came to the lady who, we hope, is soon to 
 renew the best traditions of the White House. She 
 was absent from home on a visit of mercy at one of th,e 
 State asylums, and a carriage was sent to recall her. 
 The driver was charged with no message except that 
 she was to return home at once, and she drove back 
 in alarmed expectation of some domestic calamity, 
 merely to find that her husband had been nominated 
 for the presidency. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 HAYES S POLITICAL POSITIONS AND OPINIONS. 
 
 THE sum of all these positions and opinions is the 
 now famous letter of acceptance, which the whole party 
 joyfully ratified and made its political creed. It shall be 
 given in full, and then we shall show how it is merely 
 the final expression of principles and ideas long since 
 expressed by its author. 
 
 THE LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 COLUMBUS, OHIO, July 8, 1876. 
 Hon. Edward McPherson, Hon. Wm. A. Howard, Hon. 
 
 Joseph H. Rainey, and others, Committee of the 
 
 Republican National Convention. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, In reply to your official communica 
 tion of June 17th, by which I am informed of my nomi 
 nation for the office of President of the United States 
 by the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, I 
 accept the nomination with gratitude, hoping that under 
 Providence I shall be able, if elected, to execute the 
 duties of the high office as a trust for the benefit of all 
 the people. 
 
 I do not deem it necessary to enter upon any 
 extended examination of the declaration of principles 
 
122 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 made by the convention. The resolutions are in accord 
 with my views, and I heartily concur in the principles 
 they announce. In several of the resolutions, however, 
 questions are considered which are of such importance 
 that I deem it proper to briefly express my convictions 
 in regard to them. 
 
 The fifth resolution adopted by the convention is of 
 paramount interest. More than forty years ago, a sys 
 tem of making appointments to office grew up, based 
 upon the maxim, " To the victors belong the spoils." 
 The old rule the true rule that honesty, capacity, 
 and fidelity constitute the only real qualifications for 
 office, and that there is no other claim, "gave place to 
 the idea that party services were to be chiefly considered. 
 All parties, in practice, have adopted this system. It 
 has been essentially modified since its first introduction. 
 It has not, however, been improved. 
 
 At first, the President, either directly or through the 
 heads of departments, made all the appointments. But 
 gradually the appointing power, in many cases, passed 
 into the control of members of Congress. The offices, 
 in these cases, have become not merely rewards for 
 party services, but rewards for services to party leaders. 
 This system destroys the independence of the separate 
 departments of the government; it tends directly to ex 
 tras ugance and official incapacity ; it is a temptation to 
 dishonesty ; it hinders and impairs that careful super 
 vision and strict accountability by which alone faithful 
 and efficient public service can be secured; it obstructs 
 the prompt removal and sure punishment of the un- 
 
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 123 
 
 worthy. In every way it degrades the civil service and 
 the character of the government. It is felt, I am confi 
 dent, by a large majority of the members of Congress, 
 to be an intolerable burden, and an unwarrantable 
 hindrance to the proper discharge of their legitimate 
 duties. It ought to be abolished. The reform should 
 be thorough, radical, and complete. 
 
 We should return to the principles and practice of 
 the founders of the government, supplying by legisla 
 tion, when needed, that which was formerly established 
 custom. They neither expected nor desired from the 
 public officer any partisan service. They meant that 
 public officers should owe their whole service to the 
 government and to the people. They meant that the 
 officer should be secure in his tenure as long as his per 
 sonal character remained untarnished and the perform 
 ance of his duties satisfactory. If elected, I shall con 
 duct the administration of the government upon these 
 principles ; and all constitutional powers vested in the 
 executive will be employed to establish this reform. 
 
 The declaration of principles by the Cincinnati con 
 vention makes no announcement in favor of a single 
 presidential term. I do not assume to add to that 
 declaration ; but, believing that the restoration of the 
 civil service to the system established by Washington 
 and followed by the early presidents can be best accom 
 plished by an executive who is under no temptation to 
 use the patronage of his office to promote his own re 
 election, I desire to perform what I regard as a duty, in 
 stating now my inflexible purpose, if elected, not to be 
 a candidate for election to a second term. 
 
124 THE CURRENCY QUESTION. 
 
 On the currency question I have frequently ex 
 pressed my views in public, and I stand by my record 
 on this subject. I regard all the laws of the United 
 States relating to the payment of the public indebted 
 ness, the legal tender notes included, as constituting a 
 pledge and moral obligation of the government, which 
 must in good faith be kept. It is my conviction that 
 the feeling of unce~ ainty inseparable from an irre 
 deemable paper currency, with its fluctuations of values, 
 is one of the great obstacles to a revival of confidence 
 and business, and to a return of prosperity. That un 
 certainty can be ended in but one way the resump 
 tion of specie payments ; but the longer the instability 
 connected with our present money system is permitted 
 to continue, the greater will be the injury inflicted 
 upon our economical interests and all classes of so 
 ciety. 
 
 If elected, I shall approve every appropriate measure 
 to accomplish the desired end, and shall oppose any 
 step backward. 
 
 The resolution with respect to the public school 
 system is one which should receive the hearty support 
 of the American people. Agitation upon this subject 
 is to be apprehended, until, by constitutional amend 
 ment, the schools are placed beyond all danger of sec 
 tarian control or interference. The Republican party 
 is pledged to secure such an amendment. 
 
 The resolution of the convention on the subject of 
 the permanent pacification of the country, and the com 
 plete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment 
 
THE CONDITION OF THE SOUTH. 125 
 
 of all their constitutional rights, is timely and of great 
 importance. The condition of the Southern States 
 attracts the attention and commands the sympathy of 
 the people of the whole Union. In their progressive 
 recovery from the effects of the war, their first neces 
 sity is an intelligent and honest administration of gov 
 ernment, which will protect all classes of citizens in all 
 their political and private rights. What the South most 
 needs is peace, and peace depends upon the suprem 
 acy of law. There can be no enduring peace if the 
 constitutional rights of any portion of the people are 
 habitually disregarded. A division of political parties 
 resting merely upon distinctions of race, or upon sec 
 tional lines, is always unfortunate, and may be disas 
 trous. The welfare of the South, alike with that of 
 every other part of the country, depends upon the at 
 tractions it can offer to labor, to immigration, and to 
 capital. But laborers will not go, and capital will not 
 be ventured, where the constitution and the laws are 
 set at defiance, and distraction, apprehension, and alarm 
 take the place of peace-loving and law-abiding social 
 life. All parts of the constitution are sacred, and must 
 be sacredly observed, the parts that are new no less 
 than the parts that are old. The moral and material 
 prosperity of the Southern States can be most effect 
 ively advanced by a hearty and generous recognition of 
 the rights of all by all, a recognition without reserve 
 or exception. 
 
 With such a recognition fully accorded, it will be 
 practicable to promote, by the influence of all legiti- 
 
12G THE ISSUES OF THE HOUR. 
 
 mate agencies of the general government, the efforts of 
 the people of those States to obtain for themselves the 
 blessings of honest and capable local government. 
 
 If elected, I shall consider it not only my duty, but 
 it will be my ardent desire, to labor for the attain 
 ment of this end. 
 
 Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern States 
 that if I shall be charged with the duty of organizing 
 an administration, it will be one which will regard and 
 cherish their truest interests the interests of the 
 white and of the colored people both, and equally ; and 
 which will put forth its best efforts in behalf of a civil 
 policy which will wipe out forever the distinction be 
 tween North and South in our common country. 
 
 With a civil service organized upon a system which 
 will secure purity, experience, efficiency, and economy; 
 with a strict regard for the public welfare, solely, in 
 appointments ; with the speedy, thorough, and unspar 
 ing prosecution and punishment of all public officers 
 who betray official trusts ; with a sound currency ; with 
 education unsectarian and free to all ; with simplicity 
 and frugality in public and private affairs, and with a 
 fraternal spirit of harmony pervading the people of all 
 sections and classes, we may reasonably hope that the 
 second century of our existence as a nation will, by the 
 blessing of God, be preeminent as an era of good feel 
 ing, and a period of progress, prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 Very respectfully, Your fellow-citizen, 
 
 R. B. HAYES. 
 
OPPOSED TO THE SPOILS DOCTPJNE. 127 
 
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 
 
 In this letter the first and most important matter 
 touched is that of the civil service, in which, as we 
 have already seen, Hayes had long before been a prac 
 tical reformer. He had also constantly urged the re 
 form in private and in public, officially and personally. 
 Jenckes s and Trumbull s bills had received his vote and 
 hearty approval, and to a friend he had written early 
 in March, 1870, " I agree with you perfectly in the 
 spoils doctrine. This you would know if you had read 
 my last inaugural. I am glad you do not bore your 
 self with such reading generally, but you are in for it 
 now, and I shall send you a copy." " For many 
 years," he said, addressing a legislature of that Demo 
 cratic party which invented the present infamous sys 
 tem, " political influence and political services have 
 been essential qualifications for employment in the civil 
 service, whether State or national. As a general rule, 
 such employments are regarded as terminating with the 
 defeat of the political party under which they began. 
 All political parties have adopted this rule. In many 
 offices the highest qualifications are only obtained by 
 experience. Such are the positions of the warden of 
 the penitentiary and his subordinates, and the superin 
 tendents of asylums and reformatories and their assist 
 ants. But the rule is applied to these as well as to 
 other offices and employments. A change in the polit 
 ical character of the executive and legislative branches 
 of the government is followed by a change of the offi- 
 
128 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM PRACTICABLE. 
 
 cers and employees in all of the departments and institu 
 tions of the State. Efficiency and fidelity to duty do 
 not prolong the employment ; unfitness and neglect of 
 duty do not always shorten it. The evils of this sys 
 tem in State aifairs are, perhaps, of small moment com 
 pared with those which prevail under the same system 
 in the transaction of the business of the national gov 
 ernment. But at no distant day they are likely to 
 become serious, even in the administration of State 
 affairs. The number of persons employed in the va 
 rious offices and institutions of the State must increase, 
 under the most economical management, in equal ratio 
 with the growth of our population and business. 
 
 " A radical reform in the civil service of the general 
 government has been proposed. The plan is to make 
 qualifications, and not political services and influence, 
 the chief test in determining appointments, and to give 
 subordinates in the civil service the same permanency 
 of place which is enjoyed by officers of the army and 
 navy. The introduction of this reform will be at 
 tended with some difficulties. But in revising our 
 State constitution, if this object is kept constantly in 
 view, there is little reason to doubt that it can be suc 
 cessfully accomplished." "]( 
 
 In his annual message of January, 1871, he recurred 
 to the subject of civil service, and urged its reforma 
 tion through the prompt punishment of frauds. " What 
 the public welfare demands," he said, " is a practical 
 measure which will provide for a thorough and impar 
 tial investigation in every case of suspected neglect, 
 
A PLAN SUGGESTED. 129 
 
 abuse, or fraud. Such an investigation, to be effective, 
 must be made by an authority independent, if possible, 
 of all local influences. When abuses are discovered, 
 the prosecution and punishment of offenders ought to 
 follow. But even if prosecutions fail in cases of full 
 exposure, public opinion almost always accomplishes the 
 object desired. A thorough investigation of official cor 
 ruption and criminality leads with great certainty to 
 the needed reform. Publicity is a great corrector of 
 official abuses. Let it therefore be made the duty of 
 the governor, on satisfactory information that the pub 
 lic good requires an investigation of the affairs of any 
 public office or the conduct of any public officer, 
 whether State or local, to appoint one or more citizens 
 who shall have ample powers to make such investi 
 gation. If by the investigation violations of law are 
 discovered, the governor should be authorized, in his 
 discretion, to notify the attorney-general, whose duty it 
 should be, on such notice, to prosecute the offenders. 
 The constitution makes it the duty of the governor to 
 * see that the laws are faithfully executed. Some such 
 measure as the one here recommended is necessary to 
 give force and effect to this constitutional provision." 
 
 Again, in a speech which he made in 1872, he advo 
 cated a complete reform in almost the exact terms of 
 the letter of acceptance. 
 
 " There are," he declared, " several questions relating 
 to the present and the future which merit the attention 
 of the people. Among the most interesting of these 
 is the question of civil service reform. 
 
130 GROWTH OF THE SPOILS SYSTEM. 
 
 " About forty years ago a system of making appoint 
 ments to office grew up, based on the maxim, * To the 
 victors belong the spoils. The old rule the true 
 rule that honesty, capacity, and fidelity constitute the 
 highest claim to office, gave place to the idea that par 
 tisan services were to be chiefly considered. All par 
 ties in practice have adopted this system. Since its 
 first introduction it has been materially modified. At 
 first the President, either directly or through the heads 
 of departments, made all appointments. Gradually, by 
 usage, the appointing power in many cases was trans 
 ferred to members of Congress to senators and rep 
 resentatives. The offices in these cases have become 
 not so much rewards for party services as rewards for 
 personal services in nominating and electing senators 
 and representatives. What patronage the President 
 and his cabinet retain, and what offices congressmen are 
 by usage entitled to fill is not definitely settled. A 
 congressman who maintains good relations with the ex 
 ecutive usually receives a larger share of patronage 
 than one who is independent. The system is a bad 
 one. It destroys the independence of the separate de 
 partments of the government, and it degrades the civil 
 service. It ought to be abolished. General Grant has 
 again and again explicitly recommended reform. A 
 majority of Congress has been unable to agree upon 
 any important measure. Doubtless the bills which 
 have been introduced contain objectionable features. 
 But the work should be begun. Let the best obtain 
 able bill be passed, and experience will show what 
 
AN EARLY FRIEND OF REFORM. 131 
 
 amendments are required. I would support either 
 Senator TrumbulPs bill or Mr. Jenckes s bill, if nothing 
 better were proposed. The admirable speeches on this 
 subject by the representative of the first district, the 
 Hon. Aaron F. Perry, contain the best exposition I 
 have seen of sound doctrine on this question, and I 
 trust the day is not distant when the principles which 
 he advocates will be embodied in practical measures of 
 legislation. We ought to have a reform of the system 
 of appointments to the civil service, thorough, radical, 
 and complete." 
 
 It is not necessary to expatiate on these positions, so 
 distinct and so explicit that there is no mistaking them. 
 Taken in connection with the expressions of the letter 
 of acceptance, and the facts of Hayes s gubernatorial 
 administrations, they show that civil service reform has 
 been his settled conviction and his practice for the last 
 eight years. He was one of the very first friends of 
 the reform, and it is simply absurd to compare with him 
 on this ground a man who was the political ally of 
 public plunderers when Hayes was urging administra- 
 tional purity and efficiency by precept and example. 
 
 CURRENCY. 
 
 In regard to honest money, the duty of the gov 
 ernment to keep its promises to pay to the last mill, 
 Hayes now stands where he has stood ever since his 
 political thinking began, ever since his boyhood. For 
 the last year, his success has been the expression of the 
 people s will in this direction ; he is, in fact, the most 
 
132 THE CURRENCY QUESTION. 
 
 eminent exemplification of the public sense of honor 
 on this point. No other man represents as he does at 
 this moment the popular idea that just debts should be 
 fully paid, and in nowise shirked or evaded. His 
 speeches and letters and private diaries so abound with 
 opinions to this effect, that it is hard to choose from 
 them. 
 
 In a speech delivered at Glendale in 1872. from 
 which we have already given some passages on civil 
 service reform, he handled the no less vital question 
 with as frank a touch. " We want a financial policy so 
 honest that there can be no stain on the national honor 
 and no taint on the national credit ; so stable that 
 labor and capital and legitimate business of every sort 
 can confidently count upon what it will be the next 
 week, the next month, and the next year. We want 
 the burdens of taxation so justly distributed that they 
 will bear equally upon all classes of citizens in propor 
 tion to their ability to sustain them. We want our 
 currency gradually to appreciate until, without financial 
 shock or any sudden shrinkage of values, but in the 
 natural course of trade, it shall reach the uniform and 
 permanent value of gold. With lasting peace assured, 
 and a sound financial condition established, the United 
 States and all of her citizens may reasonably expect to 
 enjoy a measure of prosperity without a parallel in the 
 world s history." 
 
 He was not only always right in this matter, but he 
 always felt sure of the people s good sense and honesty, 
 and he entered upon the famous campaign of 1875 in 
 
SPEECH AT MARION. 133 
 
 the full confidence that " if the party in power were op 
 posed to a sound, safe, stable currency .... the peo 
 ple would make a change." He conducted the canvass 
 upon the principle that there was a sense of justice and 
 of self-respect in the popular heart which would finally 
 respond to his own, and while his opponents appealed 
 to the people s self-interest and all the sordid motives 
 that prompt human nature, he steadily addressed their 
 reason and their consciences. 
 
 A few passages from one of the many speeches he 
 made on the currency question will serve to show the 
 simple, direct, quiet fashion in which he dealt with 
 hearers whom he assumed to be equally willing with 
 himself to think and to do right. The speech in ques 
 tion was made at Marion, Ohio, on the 31st of last 
 July. " The most important part," he said, " in fact 
 the only important part of the Democratic platform in 
 Ohio this year, which receives or deserves much atten 
 tion, is that in which is proclaimed a radical departure 
 on the Subject of money from the teachings of all of 
 the Democratic fathers. This Ohio Democratic doc 
 trine inculcates the abandonment of gold and silver as 
 a standard of value. Hereafter gold and silver are to 
 be used, as money only where respect for the obliga 
 tion of contracts requires payment in coin. The only 
 currency for the people is to be paper money, issued 
 directly by the general government, its volume to be 
 made and kept equal to the wants of trade, and with 
 no provision whatever for its redemption in coin. The 
 Democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor, who 
 
184 EVILS OF AN INFLATED CURRENCY. 
 
 opened the canvass for his party, states the money issue 
 substantially as I have. General Gary, in his Barnes- 
 ville speech, says : 
 
 " Gold and silver, when used as money, are redeem 
 able in any property there is for sale in the nation, 
 will pay taxes for any debt, public or private. This 
 alone gives them their money value. If you had a 
 hundred gold eagles, and you could not exchange them 
 for the necessaries of life, they would be trash, and you 
 would be glad to exchange them for greenbacks or any 
 thing else that you could use to purchase what you 
 require. With an absolute paper money, stamped by 
 the government and made a legal tender for all pur 
 poses, its functions as money are as perfect as gold or 
 silver can be ! 
 
 "This is the financial scheme which the Democratic 
 party asks the people of Ohio to approve at the elec 
 tion in October. The Republicans accept the issue. 
 Whether considered as a permanent policy or as an ex 
 pedient to mitigate present evils, we are opposed to it. 
 It is without warrant in the constitution, and it violates 
 all sound financial principles. 
 
 " The objections to an inflated and irredeemable 
 paper currency are so many that I do not attempt to 
 state them all. They are so obvious and so familiar 
 that I need not elaborately present or argue them. All 
 of the mischief which commonly follows inflated and 
 inconvertible paper money may be expected from this 
 plan, and in addition it has very dangerous tendencies, 
 \vhirh are peculiarly its own. An irredeemable and in- 
 
NO LIMIT TO ITS VOLUME. 135 
 
 flated paper currency promotes speculation and extrava 
 gance, and at the same time discourages legitimate busi 
 ness, honest labor, and economy. It dries up the true 
 sources of individual and public prosperity. Over-trad 
 ing and fast living always go with it. It stimulates the 
 desire to incur debt ; it causes high rates of interest ; 
 it increases importations from abroad ; it has no fixed 
 value ; it is liable to frequent and great fluctuations, 
 thereby rendering every pecuniary engagement pre 
 carious, and disturbing all existing contracts and expec 
 tations. It is the parent of panics. Every period of 
 inflation is followed by a loss of confidence, a shrink 
 age of values, depression of business, panics, lack of 
 employment, and widespread disaster and distress. The 
 heaviest part of the calamity falls on those least able to 
 bear it. The wholesale dealer, the middle-man, and 
 the retailer always endeavor to cover the risks of the 
 fickle standard of value by raising their prices. But 
 the men of small means and the laborer are thrown out 
 of employment, and want and suffering are liable soon 
 to follow. 
 
 " When government enters upon the experiment of 
 issuing irredeemable paper money, there can be no 
 fixed limit to its volume. The amount will depend on 
 the interest of leading politicians, on their whims, and 
 on the excitement of the hour. It affords such facility 
 for contracting debt that extravagant and corrupt gov 
 ernment expenditure are the sure result. Under the 
 name of public improvements the wildest enterprises, 
 contrived for private gain, are undertaken. Indefinite 
 
136 THE GOVERNMENT S PLEDGE. 
 
 expansion becomes the rule, and in the end bankruptcy, 
 ruin, and repudiation. 
 
 " During the last few years a great deal has been 
 said about the centralizing tendency of recent events 
 in our history. The increasing power of the govern 
 ment at Washington has been a favorite theme for 
 Democratic declamation. But where, since the foun 
 dation of the government, has a proposition been seri 
 ously entertained which would confer such monstrous 
 and dangerous powers on the general government as 
 this inflation scheme of the Ohio Democracy ? During 
 the war for the Union, solely on the ground of neces 
 sity, the government issued the legal-tender or green 
 back currency. But they accompanied it with a solemn 
 pledge, in the following words of the act of June 30, 
 1864: 
 
 " Nor shall the total amount of United States notes 
 issued or to be issued ever exceed four hundred millions, 
 and such additional sum, not exceeding fifty millions, 
 as may be temporarily required for redemption of tem 
 porary loans.* 
 
 " But the Ohio inflationists, in a time of peace, on 
 grounds of mere expediency, propose an inconvertible 
 paper currency, with its volume limited only by the 
 lix.-retion or caprice of its issuers, or their judgment 
 as to the wants of trade. The most distinguished gen 
 tleman whose name is associated with the subject once 
 said, The process must be conducted with skill and 
 caution, .... by men whose position will enable them 
 to guard against any evil, and using a favorite illustni- 
 
DANGERS OF INFLATION. 137 
 
 tion he said, * The secretary of the treasury ought to 
 be able to judge. His hand is upon the pulse of the 
 country. He can feel all the throbbings of the blood 
 in the arteries. He can tell when the blood flows too 
 fast and strong, and when the expansion should cease. 
 This brings us face to face with the fundamental error 
 of this dangerous policy. The trouble is, the pulse of 
 the patient will not so often decide the question as the 
 interest of the doctor. No man, no government, no 
 Congress is wise enough and pure enough to be trusted 
 with this tremendous power over the business and 
 property and labor of the country. That which con 
 cerns so intimately all business should be decided, if 
 possible, on business principles, and not be left to de 
 pend on the exigencies of politics, the interests of 
 party, or the ambition of public men. It will not do 
 for property, for business, or for labor to be at the 
 mercy of a few political leaders at Washington, either 
 in or out of Congress. The best way to prevent it is 
 to apply to paper money the old test sanctioned by the 
 experience of all nations let it be convertible into 
 coin. If it can respond to this test, it will, as nearly 
 
 as possible, be sound, safe, and stable 
 
 " The credit of the nation depends on its ability and 
 disposition to keep its promises. If it fails to keep 
 them, and suffers them to depreciate, its credit is 
 tainted, and it must pay high rates of interest on all of 
 its loans. For many years we must be a borrower in 
 the markets of the world. The interest-bearing debt 
 is over seventeen hundred millions of dollars. If we 
 
138 COST OF IMPAIRED CREDIT. 
 
 could borrow money at the same rate with some of the 
 great nations of Europe, we could save perhaps two 
 per cent, per annum on this sum. Thirty or forty 
 millions a year we are paying on account of tainted 
 credit. The more promises to pay an individual issues, 
 without redeeming them, the worse becomes his credit. 
 It is the same with nations. The legal-tender note for 
 five dollars is the promise of the United States to pay 
 that sum in the money of the world, in coin. No time 
 is fixed for its payment. It is therefore payable on 
 presentation on demand. It is not paid ; it is past 
 due ; and it is depreciated to the extent of twelve per 
 cent. The country recognizes the necessities of the 
 situation, and waits, and is willing to wait, until the 
 productive business of the country enables the govern 
 ment to redeem. But the Columbus financiers are not 
 satisfied. They demand the issue of more promises. 
 This is inflation. No man can doubt the result. The 
 credit of the nation will inevitably suffer. There will 
 be further depreciation. A depreciation of ten per 
 cent, diminishes the value of the present paper currency 
 from fifty to one hundred millions of dollars. Its ef 
 fect on business would be disastrous in the extreme. 
 The present legal tenders have a certain steadiness, 
 because there is a limit fixed to their amount. Public 
 opinion confides in that limit. But let that limit be 
 broken down, and all is uncertainty. The authors of 
 this scheme believe inflation is a good thing. When 
 this subject was under discussion, a few years ago, the 
 * Cincinnati Enquirer said, The issue of two millions 
 
INFLATION MEANS REPUDIATION. 139 
 
 dollars of currency would only put it in the power of 
 each voter to secure $400 for himself and family to 
 spend in the course of a life-time. Is there any voter 
 thinks that is too much more than he will want ? 
 This shows what the platform means. It means infla 
 tion without limit ; and inflation is the downward path 
 to repudiation. It means ruin to the nation s credit, and 
 to all individual credit. All the rest of the world have 
 the same standard of value. Our promises are worth 
 less as currency the moment you pass our boundary line. 
 Even in this country, very extensive sections still use 
 the money of the world. Texas, the most promising 
 and flourishing State of the South, uses coin. Cali 
 fornia and the other Pacific States and Territories do 
 the same. Look at their condition. Texas and Cali 
 fornia are not the least prosperous part of the United 
 States. This scheme cannot be adopted. The opin 
 ion of the civilized world is against it. The vast ma 
 jority of the ablest newspapers of the country is against 
 it. The best minds of the Democratic party are against 
 it. The last three Democratic candidates for the pres- 
 idencv were against it. The German citizens of the 
 United States, so distinguished for industry, for thrift, 
 and for soundness of judgment in all practical money 
 affairs, are a unit against it. The Republican party is 
 against it. The people of Ohio will, I am confident, 
 decide in October to have nothing to do with it." 
 
 After all, however, in this matter of honest money, 
 as in all others, the nearer you can come to Hayes, the 
 more of a man you find him, and a letter of his, not 
 
140 LETTER TO GENERAL GARFIELD. 
 
 written for the public eye, shows better than any med 
 itated utterance how sturdily steadfast he continues in 
 the principles of common sense and of common justice. 
 
 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF OHIO, COLUMBUS, j 
 March 4, 1876. > 
 
 MY DEAR GENERAL GARFIELD, I have your 
 note of 2d. I am kept busy with callers, correspond 
 ence, and the routine details of the office, and have 
 not therefore tried to keep abreast of the currents of 
 opinion on any of the issues. My notion is that the 
 true contest is to be between inflation and a sound cur 
 rency. The Democrats are again drifting all to the 
 wrong side. We need not divide on details, on meth 
 ods, or time when. 
 
 The previous question will again be irredeemable 
 paper as a permanent policy, or a policy which seeks a 
 return to coin. My opinion is decidedly against yield 
 ing a hair s breadth. 
 
 We can t be on the inflation side of the question. 
 We must keep our face, our front, firmly in the other 
 direction. " No steps backward" must be something more 
 than unmeaning platform words. " The drift of senti 
 ment among our friends in Ohio," which you inquire 
 about, will depend on the conduct of our leading men. It 
 is for them to see that the right sentiment is steadily 
 upheld. We are in a condition such that firmness and 
 adherence to principle are of peculiar value just now. 
 I would " consent " to no backward steps. To yield or 
 compromise is weakness, and will destroy us. If a 
 better resumption can be substituted for the present 
 
THE RECONSTRUCTION MEASURES. 141 
 
 one, that may do. But keep cool. We can better af 
 ford to be beaten in Congress than to back out. 
 
 Sincerely, B. B. HAYES. 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION AND PACIFICATION. 
 
 On all the measures of reconstruction, Hayes, while 
 in Congress, constantly voted with the Republican 
 party, and his judgment and heart were alike in their 
 favor. Outside of Congress he was active in securing 
 the adoption of the constitutional amendments; as gov 
 ernor, " believing that the measure was right, and that 
 the people approved of it," he recommended the ratifi 
 cation of the fifteenth amendment ; and he duly had the 
 pleasure of certifying to the general government the 
 fact of its adoption. He held that " the United 
 States were not a confederacy bound together by a 
 mere treaty or compact, but a nation," in which equality 
 was " an equality of rights." It was his firm belief 
 that " the first and highest duty of the people of the 
 North to themselves, to the South, to their country, 
 and to God, was to crush the rebellion," and that " after 
 the suppression of the rebellion, the next plain duty of 
 the national government was to see that the lives, lib 
 erty, and property of all classes of citizens were secure, 
 and especially to see that the loyal white and colored 
 citizens who resided, or might sojourn in those States, 
 did not suffer injustice, oppression, or outrage because 
 of their loyalty." 
 
 In a speech made during his campaign against Thur- 
 man in 18G7, he dealt with fallacies which are as impu 
 dently proposed to-dny as they were then : 
 
142 THE LOST CAUSE NOT ABANDONED. 
 
 " Our adversaries are accustomed to talk of the re 
 bellion as an affair which began when the rebels at 
 tacked Fort Sumter in 1861, and which ended when 
 Lee surrendered to Grant in 1865. It is true that the 
 attempt by force of arms to destroy the United States 
 began and ended during the administration of Mr. Lin 
 coln. But the causes, the principles, and the motives 
 which produced the rebellion are of an older date than 
 the generation which suffered from the fruit they bore, 
 and their influence and power are likely to last long after 
 that generation passes away. Ever since armed rebel 
 lion failed, a large party in the South have struggled 
 to make participation in the rebellion honorable, and 
 loyalty to the Union dishonorable. The lost cause 
 with them is the honored cause. In society, in busi 
 ness, and in politics, devotion to treason is the test of 
 merit, the passport to preferment. They wish to return 
 to the old state of things, an oligarchy of race and the 
 sovereignty of States. 
 
 " To defeat this purpose, to secure the rights of man, 
 and to perpetuate the national Union, are the objects 
 of the congressional plan of reconstruction. That plan 
 has the hearty support of the great generals (so far as 
 their opinions are known) of Grant, of Thomas, of 
 Sheridan, of Howard who led the armies of the 
 I nion which conquered the rebellion. The statesmen 
 most trusted by Mr. Lincoln and by the loyal people of 
 the country during the war also support it. The 
 supreme court of the United States, upon formal ap 
 plication and after solemn argument, refuse to interfere 
 
ENFRANCHISEMENT OF THE BLACKS. 143 
 
 with its execution. The loyal press of the country, 
 which did so much in the time of need to uphold the 
 patriot cause, without exception are in favor of the plan." 
 
 In the same effort so nobly free from the arts of 
 the rhetorician and the clap-trap of the politician 
 he said of the proposal to enfranchise the blacks : 
 
 " There are now within the limits of the United 
 States about five millions of colored people. They are 
 not aliens or strangers. They are here not by the 
 choice of themselves or of their ancestors. They are 
 here by the misfortune of their fathers and the crime 
 of ours. Their labor, privations, and sufferings, unpaid 
 and unrequited, have cleared and redeemed one third 
 of the inhabited territory of the Union. Their toil has 
 added to the resources and wealth of the nation untold 
 millions. Whether we prefer it or not, they are our 
 countrymen, and will remain so forever. 
 
 " They are more than countrymen they are citi 
 zens. Free colored people were citizens of the colonies. 
 The constitution of the United States, formed by our 
 fathers, created no disabilities on account of color. By 
 the acts of our fathers and of ourselves, they bear 
 equally the burdens, and are required to discharge the 
 highest duties of citizens. They are compelled to pay 
 taxes and to bear arms. They fought side by side with 
 their white countrymen in the great struggle for inde 
 pendence, and in the recent war for the Union. In the 
 revolutionary contest colored men bore an honorable 
 part, from the Boston Massacre, in 1770, to the sur 
 render of Cornwallis, in 1781. Bancroft says : Their 
 
144 COLORED MEN AS SOLDIERS. 
 
 names may be read on the pension rolls of the country 
 side by side with those of other soldiers of the Revolu 
 tion. In the war of 1812, General Jackson issued an 
 order complimenting the colored men of his army en 
 gaged in the defense of New Orleans. I need not 
 speak of their number or of the war of the rebellion. 
 The nation enrolled and accepted them, among her de 
 fendants to the number of about two hundred thousand, 
 and in the new regular army act, passed at the close of 
 the rebellion by the votes of Democrats and Union 
 men alike, in the Senate and in the House, and by the 
 assent of the President, regiments of colored men, 
 cavalry and infantry, form part of the standing army 
 of the republic. 
 
 " In the navy, colored American sailors have fought 
 side by side with white men from the days of Paul 
 Jones to the victory of the Kearsarge over the rebel 
 pirate Alabama. Colored men will, in the future as in 
 the past, in all times of national peril, be our fellow- 
 soldiers. Tax-payers, countrymen, fellow-citizens, and 
 fellow soldiers, the colored men of America have been 
 and will be. It is now too late for the adversaries of 
 nationality and human rights to undertake to deprive 
 these tax-payers, freemen, citizens, and soldiers of the 
 right to vote. 
 
 " Slaves were never voters. It was bad enough that 
 our fathers, for the sake of union, were compelled to 
 allow masters to reckon three fifths of their slaves for 
 representation, without adding slave suffrage to the 
 other privileges of the slave-holder. But free colored 
 
NOT A WHITE MAN S GOVERNMENT. 145 
 
 men were always voters in many of the colonies, and 
 in several of the States, North and South, after inde 
 pendence was achieved. They voted for members of 
 the Congress which declared independence, and for 
 members of every Congress prior to the adoption of the 
 federal constitution; for the members of the conven 
 tion which framed the constitution ; for the members 
 of many of the State conventions which ratified it, and 
 for every President from Washington to Lincoln. 
 
 " Our government has been called the white man s 
 government. Not so. It is not the government of 
 any class, or sect, or nationality, or race. It is a gov 
 ernment founded on the consent of the governed, and 
 Mr. Broomall, of Pennsylvania, therefore properly calls 
 it the government of the governed/ It is not the 
 government of the native born, or of the foreign born, 
 of the rich man, or of the poor man, of the white man, 
 or of the colored man it is the government of the 
 freeman. And when colored men were made citizens, 
 soldiers, and freemen, by our consent and votes, we 
 were estopped from denying to them the right of suf 
 frage." 
 
 Up to the present moment Hayes has receded from 
 none of his positions upon reconstruction, and as to the 
 pacification of the South he has never ceased to desire 
 and promote it. But as the French philosopher said 
 in assenting to the proposition that capital punishment 
 should be abolished : " Very well ; let the murderers 
 begin." No white man throughout the whole length 
 and breadth of the South, no matter how rebellious he 
 10 
 
146 A SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT S TESTIMONY. 
 
 may have been ; no ex-Confederate steeped in North 
 ern blood, will be molested by President Hayes in the 
 rights of his restored citizenship ; no Southerner who 
 does not fear justice need fear him. And this fact 
 Southerners understand as well as we. It is the banded 
 murderers who slay in secret and openly, who violate 
 the rights of other men to life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness it is these alone who have cause to 
 dread his election, not such true men as the writer of 
 the following letter, who differs from tens of thousands 
 of others in the South only in publicly avowing what 
 they privately feel to be true. 
 
 GALVESTON, April 18, 1876. 
 HON. A. B. NORTON : 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am indebted to your kindly feeling 
 for the intelligence of the 18th inst, containing your 
 article on Governor R. B. Hayes and " old Kenyon," 
 the alma mater of each of us. 
 
 I have seen with much pleasure and satisfaction that 
 Governor Hayes has been frequently mentioned by the 
 press, and unanimously nominated by the Republican 
 convention of Ohio, for the presidency of the United 
 States. 
 
 Although I am, and have long been from principle, 
 a Democrat, and expect to support and vote the Dem 
 ocratic ticket at the next presidential election, yet I 
 hope Governor Hayes will receive the nomination of 
 the Republican party ; for, if your party should be 
 successful, there is no distinguished member of it I 
 would rather see President than Rutherford B. Hayes, 
 
WHAT THE SOUTH NEEDS. 147 
 
 for I know him well, and I believe that he is honest, 
 that he is capable, and that he will be faithful to the 
 constitution. Having been in Congress four years, 
 and governor of Ohio the third time, he has experi 
 ence, and is a statesman of incorruptible integrity, 
 besides being a genial and dignified gentleman, a 
 scholar, a sound lawyer and patriot one who, if 
 elected, would be President for the whole country, and 
 not for a section. What the South most needs is good 
 local government, and one in the presidential chair who 
 will do all he can under the constitutions, Federal and 
 State, to promote it. I believe, if elected, Hayes will 
 do this. 
 
 In addition to what I have said, I will add that he 
 has, of my own knowledge, a personal interest in our 
 State. He spent the winter and part of the spring of 
 1848 and 1849 in Texas. Since then he has kept up 
 his interest in our State, and to-day has a better Texan 
 library than many of our own educated citizens. In 
 the first speech of his late political campaign (which he 
 sent me), he spoke of Texas in the most compliment 
 ary manner. I can most truthfully say that my old 
 classmate, and almost life-long friend, Rutherford B. 
 Hayes, deserves all and more than all that you have 
 said of him ; and I believe, if he should be chosen 
 President, that he will make such a President as to se 
 cure the confidence of the South as well as the North ; 
 and if any one of your party can bring back the Mon 
 roe era of good feeling in politics, it is R. B. Hayes. 
 Very truly, etc., GUY M. BRYAN. 
 
148 SECULAR FREE EDUCATION. 
 
 The reader will remember the writer of this letter, 
 and will honor his frankness and loyalty to his old 
 friend in a section where the terror of social ostracism, 
 quite as much as political conviction, will reduce the 
 white vote for Hayes to a minimum. Southerners like 
 him have the sympathy and compassion of all right- 
 thinking Northern men, and they may rest secure in 
 Mr. Bryan s confidence. But neither they nor any one 
 could make a greater mistake than to suppose that 
 Hayes is one of the vulgar sentimentalists who would 
 barter the sacred and terrible memories of the past for 
 a moment of unmeaning effusion ; one of the witless 
 and heartless milksops who befoul, in their brutal 
 phrase of the "bloody shirt," the fame of those who 
 died on battle-field and in prison : pen during the war, 
 and have since perished in the same cause by assassina 
 tion all over the South. 
 
 SECULAR FREE EDUCATION. 
 
 On this point, as on all others, Hayes has had per 
 fect confidence in the people. At a serenade given him 
 in Columbus after his last nomination for governor, he 
 said : " If it shall turn out that the party in -power is 
 dangerously allied to any body of men who are opposed 
 to our free schools, and have proclaimed undying hos 
 tility to our educational system, then I doubt not the 
 people will make a change in the administration." 
 And in his speech at Marion in the same canvass he 
 treated the question at length. " Altogether the most 
 interesting questions in our State affairs," he said, " are 
 
THE WAR AGAINST FUBLIC SCHOOLS. 149 
 
 those which relate to the passage, by the last legisla 
 ture, of the Geghan bill [to provide Catholic books for 
 prisoners in the pententiary], and the war which the 
 sectarian wing of the Democratic party is now waging 
 against the public schools. In the admirable speech 
 made by Judge Taft at the Republican State conven 
 tion, he sounded the key-note to the canvass on this 
 subject. He said, * Our motto must be universal liberty 
 and universal suffrage, secured by universal education. 
 Before we discuss these questions, it may be well, in 
 order that there may be no excuse for further misrep 
 resentation, to show by whom this subject was intro 
 duced into politics, and to state explicitly that we at 
 tack no sect and no man, either Protestant or Jew, 
 Catholic or unbeliever, on account of his conscientious 
 convictions in regard to religion. Who began the agi 
 tation of this subject ? Why is it agitated ? All parties 
 have taken hold of it. The Democratic party in their 
 State convention make it the topic of their longest res 
 olution. In their platform they gave it more space 
 than any other subject except the currency. Many 
 of the Democratic county conventions also took action 
 upon it. 
 
 " The Republican State convention passed resolu 
 tions on the question. It is stated that it was con 
 sidered in about forty Republican county conventions. 
 The State Teachers Association, at their last meeting, 
 passed unanimously the following resolution. Mr. Tap- 
 pan, from the committee on resolutions, reported the 
 following : 
 
150 DIVISION OF THE SCHOOL FUND. 
 
 " Resolved, That we are in favor of a free, impartial, 
 and unsectarian education for every child in the State, 
 and that any division of the school fund or appropria 
 tion of any part thereof to any religious or private 
 school would be injurious to education and the best in 
 terests of the church/ 
 
 " The assemblies of the different religious denomina 
 tions in the State which have recently been held have 
 generally, and I think without exception, passed similar 
 resolutions. If blame is to attach to all who consider 
 and discuss this question before the public, we have 
 had a very large body of offenders. But I have not 
 named all who are engaged in it. I have not named 
 those who began it ; those who for years have kept it 
 up ; those who in the press, on the platform, in the 
 pulpit, in legislative bodies, in city councils, and in 
 school boards, now unceasingly agitate the question. 
 Everybody knows who they are ; everybody knows that 
 the sectarian wing of the Democratic party began this 
 agitation, and that it is bent on the destruction of our 
 free schools 
 
 "The sectarian agitation against the public schools 
 was begun many years ago. During the last few years 
 it has steadily and rapidly increased, and has been en 
 couraged by various indications of possible success. It 
 extends to all of the States where schools at the com 
 mon expense have been long established. Its triumphs 
 are mainly in the large towns and cities. It has already 
 divided the schools, and in a considerable degree im 
 paired a*id limited their usefulness. The glory of the 
 
I 
 
 THE AMERICAN IDEA OF EDUCATION. 151 
 
 American system of education has been that it was so 
 cheap that the humblest citizen could afford to give his 
 children its advantages, and so good that the man of 
 wealth could nowhere provide for his children anything 
 better. This gave the system its most conspicuous 
 merit. It made it a republican system. The young 
 of all conditions of life are brought together and edu 
 cated on terms of perfect equality. The tendency of 
 this is to assimilate and to fuse together the various 
 elements of our population, to promote unity, harmony, 
 and general good-will in our American society. But 
 the enemies of the American system have begun the 
 work of destroying it. They have forced away from 
 the public schools, in many towns and cities, one third 
 or one fourth of their pupils, and sent them to schools 
 which it is safe to say are no whit superior to those 
 they have left. These youth are thus deprived of the 
 associations and the education in practical republican 
 ism and American sentiments which they peculiarly 
 need. Nobody questions their constitutional and legal 
 right to do this, and to do it by denouncing the public 
 schools. Sectarians have a lawful right to say that 
 these schools are l a relict of paganism that they are 
 godless, and that * the secular school system is a so 
 cial cancer. But when, having thus succeeded in di 
 viding the schools, they make that a ground for abol 
 ishing school taxation, dividing the school fund, or 
 otherwise destroying the system, it is time that its 
 friends should rise up in its defense. 
 ."We all agree that neither the government nor 
 
152 DEMOCRATIC ATTACK ON THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 political parties ought to interfere with religious sects. 
 It is equally true that religious sects ought not to in 
 terfere with the government or with political parties. 
 We believe that the cause of good government and the 
 cause of religion both suffer by all such interference. 
 But if sectarians make demands for legislation of po 
 litical parties, and threaten that party with opposition 
 at the elections in case the required enactments are 
 not passed, and if the political party yields to such 
 threats, then those threats, those demands, and that 
 action of the political party become a legitimate sub 
 ject of political discussion, and the sectarians who thus 
 interfere with the legislation of the State are alone 
 responsible for the agitation which follows. 
 
 " And now a few words as to the action of the last 
 legislature on this subject. After an examination of 
 the Geghan bill, we shall perhaps come to the conclu 
 sion that in itself it is not of great importance. I 
 would not undervalue the conscientious scruples on the 
 subject of religion of a convict in the penitentiary, 
 or of any unfortunate person in any State institution. 
 But the provision of the constitution of the State 
 covers the whole ground. It needs no awkwardly 
 framed statute of doubtful meaning, like the Geghan 
 bill, to accomplish the object of the organic law. 
 
 " The author of the bill wrote, the members claim 
 that such a bill is not needed. The same opinion 
 prevails in New Jersey, where a similar bill is said to 
 have been defeated by a vote of three to one. Uuf 
 the sectarians of Ohio were resolved on the passage of 
 
PRIESTLY THREATS. 153 
 
 this bill. Mr. Geghan, its author, wrote to Mr. Mur 
 phy, of Cincinnati : 
 
 " * We have a prior claim upon the Democratic party. 
 The elements composing the Democratic party in Ohio 
 to-day are made up of Irish and German Catholics, and 
 they have always been loyal and faithful to the inter 
 ests of the party. Hence the party is under obligations 
 to us, and we have a perfect right to demand of them, 
 as a party, inasmuch as they are in control of the State 
 legislature and State government, and were by both 
 our means and votes placed where they are to-day, that 
 they should, as a party, redress our grievances. 
 
 " The organ of the friends of the bill published this 
 letter, and among other things said : 
 
 " The political party with which nine tenths of the 
 Catholic voters affiliate, on account of past services that 
 they will never forget, now controls the State. With 
 draw the support which Catholics have given to it, and 
 it will fall in this city, county, and State as speedily 
 as it has risen to its long lost position and power. 
 That party is now on trial. Mr. Geghan s bill will 
 test the sincerity of its professions. 
 
 " That threat was effectual. The bill was passed, 
 and the sectarian organ therefore said : 
 
 " The unbroken solid vote of the Catholic citizens 
 of the State will be given to the Democracy at the fall 
 election. 
 
 " In regard to those who voted against the bill, it 
 said : l They have dug their political grave ; it will not 
 be our fault if they do not fill it. When any of them ap- 
 
154 PASSAGE OF THE GEGHAN BILL. 
 
 pear again in the political arena, we will put upon them 
 a brand that every Catholic citizen will understand. 
 No defense of this conduct of the last legislature has 
 yet been attempted. The facts are beyond dispute. 
 This is the first example of open and successful sec 
 tarian interference with legislation in Ohio. If the 
 people are wise, they will give it such a rebuke in Octo 
 ber that for many years, at least, it will be the last. 
 
 " But it is claimed that the schools are in no danger. 
 Now that public attention is aroused to the importance 
 of the subject, it is probable that in Ohio they are safe. 
 But their safety depends on the rebuke which the peo 
 ple shall give to the party which yielded last spring at 
 Columbus to the threats of their enemies. It is said 
 that no political party desires the destruction of the 
 schools. I reply, no political party desired the pas- 
 sage of the Geghan bill ; but the power which hates 
 the schools passed the bill. The sectarian wing of the 
 Democratic party rules that party to-day in the great 
 commercial metropolis of the nation. It holds the bal 
 ance of power in many of the large cities of the coun 
 try. Without its votes, the Democratic party would 
 lose every large city and county in Ohio, and every 
 Northern State. In the presidential canvass of 1864, 
 it was claimed that General McClellan was as good a 
 Union man as Abraham Lincoln, and that he was as 
 much opposed to the rebellion. An eminent citizen of 
 this State replied : * I learn from my adversaries. 
 Whom <Ii> the enemies of the Union want eleelnl? 
 The man they are for, I am against. So 1 would say 
 
ONE TERM; ELECTIVE JUDICIARY. 155 
 
 to the friends of the public schools : < How do the 
 enemies of universal education vote ? If the enemies 
 of the free schools give their * unbroken, solid vote to 
 the Democratic ticket, the friends of the schools will 
 make no mistake if they vote the Republican ticket." 
 
 ONE TERM FOR PRESIDENT. 
 
 We find nothing in Hayes s published writings or 
 speeches, before the letter of acceptance, bearing upon 
 this point. But there are other evidences that he was 
 deliberately arriving at it, and we take leave to think 
 that a man who has dwelt so long, so closely, and so 
 penetratingly upon all questions bearing upon admin 
 istration has probably considered it more thoroughly 
 and wisely than any of his critics. 
 
 In regard to reforms not spoken of in the letter of 
 acceptance, the reader will be glad to see that Hayes s 
 progress had been constant and in the right direction. 
 His views upon the chief of these must suffice. 
 
 ELECTIVE JUDICIARY A FAILURE. 
 
 " Our judicial system is plainly inadequate to the 
 wants of the people of the State. Extensive alterations 
 of existing provisions must be made. The suggestions 
 I desire to present in this connection are as to the 
 manner of selecting judges, their terms of office, and 
 their salaries. It is fortunately true that the judges of 
 our courts have heretofore been, for the most part, law 
 yers of learning, ability, and integrity. But it must bc % 
 remembered that the tremendous events and the won- 
 
156 ECONOMY IN ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 derful progress of the last few years are working great 
 changes in the condition of our society. Hitherto, pop 
 ulation has been sparse, property not unequally dis 
 tributed, and the bad elements which so frequently 
 control large cities have been almost unknown in our 
 State. But with a dense population crowding into 
 towns and cities, with vast wealth accumulating in the 
 hands of a few persons or corporations, it is to be ap 
 prehended that the time is coming when judges elected 
 by popular vote, for short official terms, and poorly 
 paid, will not possess the independence required to pro 
 tect individual rights. Under the national constitution, 
 judges are nominated by the executive and confirmed 
 by the Senate, and hold office during good behavior. 
 It is worthy of consideration whether a return to the 
 system established by the fathers is not the dictate of 
 the highest prudence. 1 believe that a system under 
 which judges are so appointed, for long terms and with 
 adequate salaries, will afford to the citizen the amplest 
 possible security that impartial justice will be admin 
 istered by an independent judiciary." (Inaugural of 
 1870.) 
 
 ECONOMICAL STATE AND LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS. 
 
 " One of the most valuable articles of the present 
 State constitution is that which prohibits the State, 
 save in a few exceptional cases, from creating any debt, 
 and which provides for the payment at an early day oi 
 the debt already contracted. I am convinced that it 
 would be wise to extend the same policy to the creation 
 
TAXES BY THE TAXED. 157 
 
 of public debts by county, city, and other local author 
 ities. The rule, Pay as you go, leads to economy in 
 public as well as in private affairs ; while the power to 
 contract debts opens the door to wastefulness, extrava 
 gance, and corruption." (Annual Message, 1871.) 
 
 TAXES TO BE VOTED BY TAX-PAYERS. 
 
 " The constitution makes it the duty of the legis 
 lature to restrict the powers of taxation, borrowing 
 money, and the like, so as to prevent their abuse. I 
 respectfully suggest that the present laws conferring 
 these powers on local authorities require extensive 
 modification, in order to comply with this constitutional 
 provision. Two modes of limiting these powers have 
 the sanction of experience. All large expenditures 
 should meet the approval of those who are to bear 
 their burden. Let ail extraordinary expenditures 
 therefore be submitted to a vote of the people, and 
 no tax be levied unless approved by a majority of all 
 the voters of the locality to be affected by the tax, at a 
 special election, the number of voters to be ascertained 
 by reference to the votes cast at the State election 
 next preceding such special election. Another mode is 
 to limit the rate of taxation which may be levied and 
 the amount of debt which may be incurred. It has 
 been said that with such restrictions upon the powers 
 of local authorities, the legislature will be importuned 
 and its time wasted in hearing applications for special 
 legislation. The ready answer to all such applications 
 by local authorities will be to refer them to their own 
 
158 MUNICIPAL OUTLAYS TO BE CONTROLLED. 
 
 citizens for a decision of the question. The facility 
 \vitli which affirmative votes can be obtained under the 
 pressure of temporary excitement upon propositions 
 authorizing indebtedness may require further restric 
 tions upon the power to borrow money. It is therefore 
 suggested, for your consideration, to limit the amount 
 of debt for a single purpose, and the total amount for 
 all purposes which any local authority may contract to 
 a certain percentage of the taxable property of such 
 locality." (Annual Message, 1869.) 
 
 " The attention of the legislature has often been 
 earnestly invoked to the rapid increase of municipal 
 and other local expenditures, and the consequent aug 
 mentation of local taxation and local indebtedness. 
 This increase is found mainly in the cities and large 
 towns. It is certainly a great evil. How to govern 
 cities well, consistently with the principles and methods 
 of popular government, is one of the most important 
 and difficult problems of our time. Profligate expendi 
 ture is the fruitful cause of municipal misgovernment. 
 If a means can be found which will keep municipal ex 
 penses from largely exceeding the public necessities, 
 its adoption will go far towards securing honesty and 
 efficiency in city affairs. In cities, large debts and bad 
 government go together. Cities which have the lightest 
 taxes and smallest debts are apt, also, to have the 
 purest and most satisfactory governments. 
 
 " It is not enough to require in every grant of special 
 authority to incur debt, as a condition precedent, that 
 the people interested shall approve it by their votes. 
 
PUKITY OF THE FRANCHISE. 159 
 
 It is well known how easily such elections are carried 
 under the influence of local excitement and local rival 
 ries. If the rule of the State constitution which forbids 
 all debts except in certain specified emergencies is 
 deemed too stringent to be applied to local affairs, the 
 legislature should at least accompany every authority 
 to contract debt with an imperative requirement that a 
 tax sufficient to pay off the indebtedness within a brief 
 period shall be immediately levied, and thus compel 
 every citizen who votes to increase debts to vote at the 
 same time for an immediate increase of taxes sufficient 
 to discharge them." (Inaugural, January, 1876.) 
 
 PURITY OF THE FRANCHISE. 
 
 " The most important subject of legislation which, in 
 my judgment, requires the attention of the General As 
 sembly at its present session, relates to the prevention 
 of frauds upon the elective franchise. Intelligent men 
 of all parties are persuaded that at the recent impor 
 tant State and national elections great abuses of the 
 right of suffrage were practiced. I am not prepared to 
 admit that the reports commonly circulated and believed 
 in regard to such abuses would, so far as the elections 
 in Ohio are concerned, be fully sustained by a thorough 
 investigation of the facts. But it is not doubted that, 
 even at the elections in our own State, frauds were per 
 petrated to such an extent that all good citizens ear 
 nestly desire that effective measures may be adopted 
 by you to prevent their repetition. No elaborate at 
 tempt to portray the consequences of this evil is re- 
 
160 MINORITY REPRESENTATION. 
 
 quired. If it is allowed to increase, the confidence of 
 the people in the purity of elections will be lost, and 
 the exercise of the right of suffrage will be neglected. 
 To corrupt the ballot-box is to destroy our free institu 
 tions. Let all good citizens, therefore, unite in enact 
 ing and enforcing laws which will secure honest elec 
 tions." (Annual Message, November, 1868.) 
 
 MINORITY REPRESENTATION. 
 
 " All agree that a republican government will fail, un 
 less the purity of elections is preserved. Convinced 
 that great abuses of the elective franchise cannot be 
 prevented under existing legislation, I have heretofore 
 recommended the enactment of a registry law, and also 
 of some appropriate measure to secure to the minority, 
 as far as practicable, a representation upon all boards 
 of elections. There is much opposition to the enact 
 ment of a registry law. Without yielding my own 
 settled convictions in favor of such a law, I content 
 myself, in this communication, with urging upon your 
 attention a measure of reform in the manner of con 
 ducting elections, the importance and justice of which 
 no one ventures to deny. The conduct of the officers 
 whose duty at elections it is to receive and count the 
 ballots, and to make returns of the result, ought to be 
 above suspicion. This can rarely be the case where 
 they all belong to the same political party. A fair rep 
 resentation of the minority will go far, not only to pre 
 vent fraud, but, what is almost of equal importance, to 
 remove the suspicion of fraud. I do not express any 
 
FAVORED BY HAYES. 161 
 
 preference for any particular plan of securing minority 
 representation in the boards of judges and clerks of 
 elections. Various modes have been suggested, and it 
 will not be difficult to adopt a means of attaining the 
 desired result which will harmonize with our system of 
 election law." (Annual Message, 1869.) 
 11 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CHARACTER : POLITICIAN, ORATOR, PUBLIC SERVANT, 
 SOLDIER, CITIZEN, MAN. 
 
 WE should have written to little purpose if we had 
 not already given the reader some distinct idea of the 
 sort of man of whom we have been treating : a man 
 who, if you look at him from the side of motive, is as 
 grandly simple a figure as any of " the simple great 
 ones gone forever and ever by," but who on his intel 
 lectual side has the due modern complexity. One of 
 the anomalies which most strikes the observer of his 
 character is the iron fight which instantly replaces what 
 seems the normal repose, almost indifference, of his 
 nature, when once he is called into action of any sort. 
 Before battle, when not actually charging the enemy, 
 he was perfectly tranquil ; but when the moment came, 
 his tranquillity was found heated through, and till the 
 end arrived his ardor knew no abatement. In his after 
 political life the same traits appeared, and the man who 
 never sought an office, who rigidly refused to advance 
 himself before a convention, had no sooner accepted a 
 nomination and become responsible for. the success of 
 a principle, than he threw himself into the work with 
 a fury that at first astonished, and always dismayed his 
 enemies. 
 
METHODS OF POLITICAL WARFARE. 163 
 
 Some life-long habits of his peculiarly fit him for 
 success in a political campaign. He has been, as we 
 have already shown, a constant student of men from 
 his boyhood, and he has been as thoroifgh a political 
 observer for as long a time. Every political event of 
 the smallest significance, every politician of whatever 
 calibre, has a place in his relentless memory ; he knows 
 the whole country politically, with only less fullness 
 than he knows Ohio. In addition to this, he has had 
 the habit of compiling history from the newspapers as 
 it was made, and from these collections he has been 
 able at any time to confront an opponent with the rec 
 ord of that opponent s political life from the outset. In 
 certain formidable little books, Mr. Thurman, and Mr. 
 Pendleton, and Mr. Allen successively found that he 
 had full and accurate trace of their political turns and 
 windings ; that a man who had nothing to regret in 
 his own past had forgotten nothing in theirs. When 
 these little books were opened on the stump, and their 
 contents supplemented from his unfailing memory, it 
 was like the opening of the books of doom for any 
 hapless politician anxious about his record. 
 
 Whoever met Hayes in political conflict knew that 
 his warfare would be unsparing ; yet such has always 
 been the personal charm of the man, the quality of 
 his high and blameless character, that the bitterest of 
 his political enemies has been glad to have him for his 
 friend in social life. At the end of a campaign of 
 unwonted fierceness, when, last autumn, his success 
 threw into retirement a man too old to hope for any 
 
164 CHARACTERISTICS ON THE STUMP. 
 
 future triumph, the election of Hayes was confessedly 
 more acceptable to Mr. Allen than that of any other 
 Republican could have been. " If we must have a 
 Republican, I am glad it is Hayes," said the ex-gov 
 ernor to the enterprising interviewer at once set upon 
 him. Let us hope that Mr. Tilden will be able to con 
 sole himself with equal magnanimity, when his turn 
 comes. 
 
 On the stump, Hayes is grave, simple, and earnest. 
 He is no great teller of stories, no maker of laughter; 
 the fine, rather delicate humor of his intimate life rarely 
 appears in arguments pressed solidly home to his listen 
 ers sense of right. We shall give some idea of his 
 method of dealing with an opponent by quoting passages 
 from a speech delivered in the campaign against Thur- 
 man, but these can convey but a fragmentary impression 
 after all. If the reader will substitute another name 
 for Thurman s, he can hardly fail to believe that Hayes 
 was prophetically arraigning Mr. Tilden eight years ago. 
 These are the passages from his speech. 
 
 "I will quote also from Judge Thurman himself. 
 In a speech lecturing one of his colleagues, who thought 
 the Mexican war was unnecessary, he says : 
 
 " * It is a strange way to support one s country right 
 or wrong, to declare after war has begun, when it exists 
 both in law and in fact, that the war is aggressive, un 
 holy, unrighteous, and damnable on the part of the 
 government of that country, and on that government 
 rests its responsibility and its wrongfulness. It is a 
 strange way to support one s country right or wrong in 
 
ARRAIGNMENT OF THURMAN. 165 
 
 a war, to tax one s imagination to the utmost to depict 
 the disastrous consequences of the contest ; to dwell on 
 what it has already cost and what it will cost in future ; 
 to depict her troops prostrated by disease and dying 
 with pestilence ; in a word, to destroy, as far as possi 
 ble, the moral force of the government in the struggle, 
 and hold it up to its own people and the world as the 
 aggressor that merits their condemnation. It was for 
 this that I arraigned my colleague, and that I intend to 
 arraign him. It was because his remarks, as far as 
 they could have any influence, were evidently calculated 
 to depress the spirits of his own countrymen, to lessen 
 the moral force of his own government, and to inspire 
 with confidence and hope the enemies of his country. 
 
 " He goes on further to say : 
 
 " What a singular mode it was of supporting her in 
 a war to bring against the war nearly all the charges 
 that were brought by the peace party Federalists against 
 the last war, to denounce it as an unrighteous, unholy, 
 and damnable war; to hold up our government to the 
 eyes of the world as the aggressors in the conflict ; to 
 charge it with motives of conquest and aggrandizement ; 
 to parade and portray in the darkest colors all the hor 
 rors of war ; to dwell upon its cost and depict its ca 
 lamities/ A 
 
 " Now, that was the doctrine of Judge Thurman as 
 to the duties of citizens in time of war in time of 
 such a war as the Mexican war even, in which no vital 
 interest of the country could by possibility suffer. 
 Judge Thurman says that General Hayes, in his speech, 
 
166 A TELLING ATTACK. 
 
 has a great many slips cut from the newspapers, and 
 that he must have had some sewing society of old ladies 
 to cut out the slips for him. I don t know how he 
 found that out. I never told it, and you know the 
 ladies never tell secrets that are confided to them. I 
 hold in my hand a speech of Judge Thurman, from 
 which I have read extracts, and I find that he has in it 
 slips cut from more than twenty different prints, ser 
 mons, newspapers, old speeches, and pamphlets, to show 
 how, in the war of 1812, certain Federalists uttered 
 unpatriotic sentiments. I presume he must have ac 
 quired his slips on that day in the way he says I ac 
 quired mine now. 
 
 " Now, my friends, I propose to hold Judge Thur 
 man to no severe rule of accountability for his conduct 
 during the war. I merely ask that it shall be judged 
 by his own rule : * Your country is engaged in war, 
 and it is the duty of every citizen to say nothing and 
 do nothing which shall depress the spirits of his own 
 countrymen, nothing that shall encourage the enemies 
 of his country, or give them moral aid or comfort. 
 That is the rule. Now, Judge Thurman, how does 
 your conduct square with it ? I do not propose to 
 begin at the beginning of the war, or even just before 
 the war, to cite the record of * Judge Thurman. I am 
 willing to say that perhaps men might have been mis 
 taken at that time. They might have supposed in the 
 beginning a conciliatory policy, a non-coercive policy, 
 would in some way avert the threatened struggle. 
 But I ask you to approach the period when the war 
 
THE NATURE OF THE GREAT STRUGGLE. 167 
 
 was going on, when armies to the number of hundreds 
 of thousands of men were ready on one side and the 
 other, and when the whole world knew what was the 
 nature of the great struggle going on in America. 
 Taking the beginning of 1863, how stands the conflict ? 
 WQ have pressed the rebellion out of Kentucky and 
 through Tennessee. Grant stands before Vicksburg, 
 held at bay by the army of Pembert6n ; Rosecrans, 
 after the capture of Nashville, has pressed forward to 
 Murfreesboro , but is still held out of East Tennessee by 
 the army of Bragg. The army of the Potomac and 
 the army of Lee, in Virginia, are balanced, the one 
 against the other. The whole world knows that that 
 exhausting struggle cannot last long without deciding 
 in favor of one side or the other. That the year 1863 
 is big with the fate of Union and of liberty, every in 
 telligent man in the world knows that on one side it 
 is a struggle for nationality and human rights. There 
 is not in all Europe a petty despot who lives by grind 
 ing the masses of the people, who does not know that 
 Lincoln and the Union are his enemies. There is not 
 a friend of freedom in all Europe who does not know 
 that Lincoln and the loyal army are fighting in the 
 cause of free government for all the world. Now, in 
 that contest, where are you, Judge Thurman ? It is a 
 time when we need men and money, when we need to 
 have our people inspired with hope and confidence. 
 Your sons and brothers are in the field. Their success 
 depends upon your conduct at home. 
 
 " The men who are to advise you what to do have 
 
168 ATTITUDE OF A PEACE DEMOCRAT. 
 
 upon them a dreadful responsibility to give you wise 
 and patriotic advice. Judge Thurman, in the speech I 
 am quoting from, says : 
 
 " * But now, my friends, I shall not deal with obscure 
 newspapers or obscure men. What a private citizen 
 like Allen G. Thurman may have said in 1861 is a 
 matter of indifference.* 
 
 " Ah, no, Judge Thurman, the Union party does not 
 propose to allow your record to go without investiga 
 tion because you are a private citizen. I know you 
 held no official position under the government at the 
 time I speak of ; but, sir, you had for years been a 
 leading, able, and influential man in the great party 
 which had often carried your State. You were acting 
 under grave responsibilities. More than that, during 
 that year, 1863, you were more than a private citizen. 
 You were one of the delegates to the State convention 
 of that year ; you were one of the committee that 
 forms your party platform in that convention ; you 
 were one of the central committee that carries on the 
 canvass in the absence of your standard-bearers ; and 
 you were one of the orators of the party. No, sir, 
 you were not_a private citizen in 1863. You were 
 one of the leading and one of the ablest men in your 
 party in that year, speaking through the months of 
 July, August, September, and October, in behalf of the 
 candidate of the peace party. You cannot escape as a 
 private citizen. 
 
 " Well, sir, in the beginning of that eventful year, 
 there rises in Congress the ablest member of the peaco 
 
AID AND COMFORT TO THE ENEMY. 169 
 
 party, to advise Congress and to advise the people, and 
 what does he say ? 
 
 " * You have not conquered the South. You never 
 will. It is not in the nature of things possible, espe 
 cially under your auspices. Money you have expended 
 without limit ; blood you have poured out like water. 
 
 " Now, mark the taunt the words of discourage 
 ment that were sent to the people and to the army of 
 the Union : 
 
 " 4 Defeat, debt, taxation, sepulchres, these are your 
 trophies. Can you get men to enlist now at any 
 price ? 
 
 " Listen again to the words that were sent to the 
 army and to the loyal people : 
 
 " Ah, sir, it is easier to die at home. 
 
 " We knew that, Judge Thurman, better than Mr. 
 Vallandighatn knew it. We had seen our comrades 
 falling and dying alone on the mountain side and in the 
 swamps dying in the prison-pens of the Confederacy 
 and in the crowded hospitals, North and South. Yet 
 he had the face to stand up in Congress, and say to the 
 people and the world, Ah, sir, it is easier to die at 
 home/ Judge Thurman, where are you at this time ? 
 He goes to Columbus to the State convention, on the 
 llth of June of that year, in all the capacities in which 
 I have named him as a delegate, as committee-man, 
 and as an orator and he spends that whole summer 
 in advocating the election of the man who taunted us 
 with the words, Defeat, debt, taxation, sepulchres, 
 these are your trophies/ " 
 
170 MUTATO NOMINE, DE TE, MR. TILDEN ! 
 
 Was it Mr. Thurman, or was it really Mr. Tilden 
 whom General Hayes meant ? And is it really of Mr. 
 Thurman that he goes on to speak ? 
 
 " This, my friends, is a part of that record which we 
 are invited to examine by my friend, Judge Thurman. 
 I ask you to apply to it the principle that whoever, 
 during the great struggle, was unfaithful to the cause 
 of the country is not to be trusted to be one of the 
 men to harvest and secure the legitimate fruits of the 
 victory which the Union people and the Union army 
 won during the rebellion. . . . 
 
 " It is not worth while now to consider, or undertake 
 to predict, when we shall cease to talk of the records of 
 those men. It does seem to me that it will for many 
 years to come be the voice of the Union people of the 
 State that for a man who as a leader as a man having 
 control in political affairs that for such a man, who 
 has opposed the interests of his country during the war, 
 * the post of honor is the private station. When shall 
 we stop talking about it ? When ought we to stop 
 talking about that record, when leading men come be 
 fore the people ? Certainly not until every question 
 arising out of the rebellion, and every question which is 
 akin to the questions which made the rebellion, is set 
 tled. Perhaps these men will be remembered long after 
 these questions are settled ; perhaps their conduct will 
 long be remembered. What was the result of this ad 
 vice to the people ? It prolonged the war ; it made it 
 impossible to get recruits ; it made it necessary that we 
 should have drafts. They opposed the drafts, and that 
 
A POLITICIAN " WISE WITHOUT A PLAN." 171 
 
 made rioting, which required that troops should be called 
 from all the armies in the field to preserve the peace 
 at home. From forty to a hundred thousand men in 
 the different States of this Union were kept within the 
 loyal States to perserve the peace at home. And now, 
 when they talk to you about the debt and about the 
 burden of taxation, remember how it happened that the 
 war was so prolonged, that it was so expensive, and 
 that the debt grew to such large proportions." 
 
 As a politician, in the sense of a successful candidate 
 for office, Hayes has been, as Mr. Lowell says of Lin 
 coln, " wise without a plan." His only schemes, prac 
 ticed after he came to power, have been for the public 
 advantage. How to come to power never gave him an 
 hour s unrest. It would be idle to pretend that such a 
 man has not felt honored by the honors done him ; he is 
 neither so ungrateful, so obtuse, nor so arrogant as not 
 to have deeply felt them; but he has always felt that 
 honesty was better than honor, and he has never sought 
 the one at the cost of the other ; he has asked no favors 
 and has used no arts. 
 
 As a public orator, a speaker for occasions, Hayes 
 has little of the ready eloquence that goes to the mak 
 ing of a brilliant speech. His political and legal argu 
 ments strike us as far better, with their weighty and 
 solid movement, their stalwart grace, their deep con 
 viction just touched and not more than touched with 
 poetry. Yet even in those slighter efforts in which he 
 does not shine, he satisfies with his sense and serious 
 fitness. Here, for example, is a little speech made at 
 
172 HAYES AS AN ORATOR. 
 
 the dedication of the beautiful Davidson fountain iu 
 Cincinnati : 
 
 " FELLOW CITIZENS, It is altogether fitting that 
 the citizens of Cincinnati should feel a deep interest in 
 the occasion which has called together this large assem 
 blage. It is well to do honor to this noble gift, and to 
 do honor to the generous giver. This work lends a 
 new charm to the whole city. 
 
 " Longfellow s lines in praise of the Catawba that 
 grows on the banks of the Beautiful River give to the 
 Catawba a finer flavor, and render the Beautiful River 
 still more beautiful. When art and genius give to us 
 in marble or on canvas the features of those we admire 
 or love, ever afterward we discover in their faces and 
 in their characters more to admire and more to love. 
 
 " This work makes Cincinnati a pleasauter city, her 
 homes more happy, her aims worthier, and her future 
 brighter. 
 
 " But this fountain does not pour out its blessings 
 for Cincinnati, or for her visitors and guests alone. 
 Cincinnati is one of the central cities of the nation 
 of the great continent. It is becoming the convention 
 city. Witness the national assemblies in the interest of 
 commerce, of industry, of education, of benevolence, of 
 progress, of religion, which annually gather here from 
 the most distant parts of America. This monument is 
 an instructor of all who come. Whoever beholds it 
 will carry away some part of the lesson it teaches. 
 The duty which the citizen owes to the community in 
 which and by which he has prospered, that duty this 
 
DUTY OF RICH MEN TO THE PUBLIC. 173 
 
 work will forever teach. No rich man who is wise 
 will, in the presence of this example, willingly go to 
 his grave with his debt to the public unpaid and unpro 
 vided for. Many a last will and testament will have 
 a beneficent codicil, suggested by the work we inaugu 
 rate to-day. Parks, fountains, schools, galleries of art, 
 libraries, hospitals, churches, whatever benefits and ele 
 vates mankind, will here receive much needed encour 
 agement and support. 
 
 " This work says to him who, with anxious toil and 
 care, has successfully gathered and hoarded, Do not 
 neglect your great opportunity. Divide wisely and 
 equitably between the few who are most nearly of your 
 own blood, and the many who in kinship are only a 
 little farther removed. If you regard only those 
 reared under your own roof, your cherished estate will 
 soon be scattered, perhaps wasted by profligate heirs in 
 riotous living, to their own ruin, and you and your for 
 tune will quickly be forgotten. Give a share, pay a 
 tithe, to your more distant and more numerous kindred 
 to the general public, and you will be gratefully re 
 membered, and mankind will be blessed by your having 
 lived ! 
 
 " Many, reflecting on the uncertainty of the future, 
 will prefer to see their benefactions distributed and ap 
 plied while they are still living. Regarding their ob 
 ligations to the public as sacred debts, they will wish to 
 pay as they go. This is commendable. Perhaps it is 
 safest. 
 
 " But at some time and somehow the example here 
 
174 A TOUCHING SPEECH. 
 
 presented will and must be followed. All such deeds 
 are the parents of other similar good deeds. And so 
 the circle within which the blessings flowing from this 
 fountain are enjoyed will forever grow wider and 
 wider, and the people of distant times and places will 
 rejoice to drink, as we now do, healthful and copious 
 draughts in honor of its founder." 
 
 A far nobler effort, one that has deeply impressed 
 us with the strange qualities of its power, is the address 
 which Hayes delivered at the dedication of a soldiers 
 monument in Findlay, Ohio, last year. Here, perhaps 
 more strongly than anywhere else, his manner has re 
 minded us of that of Lincoln ; yet Lincoln s eloquence 
 had much more of the oratorical movement. In this 
 singularly touching speech of Hayes s, there is no art. 
 It is almost as helpless in this respect as the utterance 
 of some able, slow-languaged Englishman. The dic 
 tion in the most pathetic passages is plain and blunt al 
 most to uncouthness ; yet word by word the speaker 
 draws nearer to you till, as if in the silence of the 
 pathos-stricken crowd, you seem to hear the very 
 throbbing of his heart. It is the supreme triumph of 
 pure and deep feeling that will have none but the 
 simplest expression. 
 
 " I know not," he said, speaking of the fallen sol 
 diers, " how many of them have been gathered into the 
 cemeteries near their home ; I know not how many 
 others have been gathered into the beautiful national 
 cemeteries near the great battle-fields ; I know not how 
 many are lying in swamps, along the mountain-sides. 
 
HOW SOLDIERS WERE BURIED. 175 
 
 in nameless graves, the unknown heroes of the Union : 
 but wherever they are, and however many there may 
 be, you people of Hancock County have erected your 
 monument to all who fell, who left your county. All 
 soldiers, I am sure, feel like thanking you for this. I 
 remember well that one of the saddest days of my life 
 was after one of our great battles in the early period 
 of the war. Recovering from wounds, with other com 
 rades who had been wounded there, we passed near the 
 battle-field, as soon as we felt able to do so ; and, when 
 we came there, what did we learn ? Passing up the 
 mountain, charging the line of the enemy, they fell ; 
 and everywhere were the shallow graves in which were 
 deposited the remains of our seven hundred companions 
 who had fallen. And how were they buried ? and how 
 was their last resting-place marked ? Hastily, tenderly, 
 no doubt, the parties detailed to bury them had gath 
 ered up their remains. You soldiers know how it was 
 done. They placed upon the face of each man who 
 died, whenever they could ascertain his name, a piece of 
 an envelope, or a scrap of a letter, or something of the 
 kind, containing his name, his company, his regiment, 
 fastening it there, hoping that some day his friends 
 might come and find him, and learn who was there 
 buried. And then, you remember, there were no coffins, 
 nothing of the sort ; but they took the blue overcoat, 
 and placed it around the man, and took the cape, and, 
 bringing it over the face, fastened it down. This was 
 his shroud ; this was his coffin ; and he was placed away 
 to rest until the resurrection morn. That was the man- 
 
176 
 
 ner of his burial. And strange, I may say, was the re 
 sult of that woollen material over the face : saturated 
 with water, and covered with the earth, it did so protect 
 them from decay, that months afterwards many were 
 recognized by their friends, preserved as they were by 
 the overcoat cape. And how was the grave marked ? 
 With a pencil they scratched upon a piece of pine 
 board a thin piece of cracker-box the name and 
 company, which was placed at the grave. This was all 
 then ; and we did not know what the result would be. 
 We did not know what friends would do, what monu 
 ments would be reared. 
 
 " As we left that field, talking to each other, we said 
 there must be a soldiers monument for the soldiers of 
 our regiment. I would not claim that this was the first 
 regiment that built a monument ; that the twenty-third 
 Ohio, to which I had the honor to belong, built the 
 first monument : but I will say it was the first I heard 
 of. After the famous An tie tarn campaign was fought, 
 we called the men together, four hundred and fifty 
 or five hundred men, and from the scanty pay which 
 was to support the men, and to some extent their fami 
 lies, the majority of the remainder subscribed at least 
 one dollar, and others more, according to their ability, 
 and raised in the regiment two thousand dollars to 
 build a monument, on which, it was agreed, should be 
 inscribed the name of every man in the regiment who 
 had fallen, and every man who should fall during the 
 continuance of the war. We had it placed in the 
 cemetery at Cleveland, where more of our number 
 
WHAT THE SOLDIERS DIED FOR. 177 
 
 came from than from any other place. Many a monu 
 ment has been built since, far grander than that, taller, 
 and finer, and more expensive ; but that, so far as I 
 know, was the first soldiers monument. 
 
 " We are glad to know that you of Hancock County 
 have not neglected your duty in that regard. You 
 mean that those men shall have their monument, and 
 be remembered forever. It will be a monument that 
 will have its value to you and your children. It will be 
 an instructor, a teacher of lessons to all who look on it. 
 What is it ? Why did these men perish ? Why was 
 this monument built ? Here is a great nation : here is 
 a country stretching from ocean to ocean, over the fin 
 est part of the best continent on the globe. On the 
 day that they volunteered, the only enemy that the 
 American nation could know, could fear, could dread, 
 was in war against us. We cared nothing for foreign 
 nations ; they were too far, too distant ; and anyway, 
 with the North and South united, as I believe they now 
 are, in feeling, we can meet the world in arms against 
 us. A bouse divided against itself there was the 
 danger ; and that was the danger that these men went 
 out to meet. And now, how is it to-day ? How stands 
 the matter now ? We know every acre of that beauti 
 ful land belongs only to the stars and stripes, and be 
 longs to the flag forever. 
 
 " And not only that lesson does it teach ; but it 
 teaches, also, that this Union is dedicated to the princi 
 ples of the Declaration of Independence. I hardly 
 know what others may think about that ; but I believe 
 
178 QUALITY OF OUR SOLDIERS. 
 
 that in fifty years past there never was a time when 
 there was that prospect of complete and enduring har* 
 mony among all classes of people, in all sections of this 
 country, that there is to-day. Why, think of it ! On 
 the 17th of June, the hundredth anniversary of the 
 battle of Bunker Hill, we had Maryland Confederate 
 regiments and soldiers saluting in the streets of Bos 
 ton, and on Boston Common and Bunker Hill the 
 men of Massachusetts : we had South Carolina and 
 Massachusetts shoulder to shoulder, as in the days 
 when their fathers beat the British a hundred years 
 ago. All this, I think, is due, in a great measure, 
 to the success of our men to whom this monument is 
 erected, and their comrades in other States and other 
 organizations, living and dead. Think of the men 
 themselves who were there, citizen soldiers, not one, 
 perhaps, of whom, was ever* acquainted with war, or 
 ever bred to war. Here and there one had been in the 
 Mexican war ; here and there one had been in some 
 Indian war ; but, as a rule, they all came from civil 
 life : they all came from where they were sovereigns, 
 to be, for three years, obedient to men who were not 
 better than themselves. 
 
 " Why, they tell us our bayonets could think. Yes, 
 and often and often it was the glory, in my judgment, 
 of the private soldier that the bayonet thought more 
 truly, more wisely, more accurately, than the sword. 
 A celebrated English statesman said, * I can understand 
 why these Americans, to the number of millions, rushed 
 to arms to defend the government they had made. 
 
LESSONS OF THE MONUMENT. 179 
 
 There is no mystery in that. Now, I do not under 
 stand how it was, that, at the end of that war, a million 
 of men quietly disbanded, and returned to the walks of 
 peaceful life, and went back about their old occupa 
 tions, and became again good citizens. There was one 
 great advantage we had, a people so educated, and 
 so intelligent in all classes, that we could raise an army 
 of that sort. 
 
 " Our monument, then, stands and teaches us of the 
 importance of the Union, the importance of the princi 
 ples of the Declaration of Independence, and the im 
 portance of universal education. My friends, what is 
 a monument, however costly and beautiful, if it does 
 not teach us some of the duties of practical life, how 
 the living shall deal with the living ? When you shall 
 see the widows of the soldiers, the parents and orphans 
 of the soldiers, every man whose heart is in the right 
 place feels his sympathies warmed towards them. There 
 is no .doubt as to that, I am sure, in any Christian com 
 munity. But there is another lesson. The men who 
 fell, the men who lost an arm or leg, the widows and 
 orphans who are left, are not the only victims of the 
 war. There must always be another class. "We rejoice 
 to know that the great body of young men who went 
 out to the war returned to their homes, more manly, 
 braver, and better than when they left them, but they 
 were gone, many of them, at the critical period of life, 
 from sixteen to twenty years of age, just the period 
 when they must learn habits of thrift, and the knowledge 
 of occupations and trades that shall enable them to get 
 
180 HAYES AS A SOLDIER. 
 
 that independence which every man in America ought 
 to have or try to have. They were during that period 
 in the army ; and some came back with habits to which 
 we regret to allude. But, my friends, when we look at 
 that monument, we should be reminded that that man 
 who may have thus formed any pernicious habits in the 
 army is always one of the victims of the war. He has 
 lost that which is better than life in trying to save the 
 republic. Avert not your gaze, patriotic men, from 
 that man. Lift him up, help him, never give him up. 
 Give him occupation, give him good words ; save him, if 
 you can. At any rate, treat him as one of the victims 
 of the war." 
 
 What Hayes was as a soldier, the reader can best 
 learn from his history in the war a history only too 
 slightly and inadequately sketched in these pages. To 
 his regiment he was one of the good colonels, and to his 
 brigade one of the good generals, looking to the com 
 fort, the health, the honor, and the morality of his men 
 with literally the same studied care, the same enlight 
 ened vigilance, that a father bestows upon his children ; 
 and in return he enjoyed from them a devotion that 
 knew no limit; wherever he led they followed ; what 
 ever he said they did. A private of the twenty-third, 
 writing of his colonel, says: "A braver or better man 
 was not in the army. He had an abundance of grit. 
 If he had a fault, it was that in battle he was too eager. 
 On a long, dusty march I could always tell Colonel 
 Hayes s horse, as it was always loaded with the guns 
 and knapsacks of the boys who were giving out, the 
 
A FELLOW-OFFICER S OPINION. 181 
 
 colonel himself walking by its side, no matter how great 
 the heat. Yes, sir, he was a kind man, but we had to 
 do our whole duty as soldiers." 
 
 When he was removed from the command of the first 
 brigade, " The boys looked upon you," wrote one of his 
 officers, " more in the light of a father than a military 
 commander, and while we all regret that old associa 
 tions must be broken off, yet we feel assured that what 
 ever station you may be called upon to fill in the future, 
 you will acquit yourself with like honors to those now 
 attending you as the commander of the old first brig 
 ade." 
 
 The testimony of officers and those competent to 
 judge of his professional qualities as a soldier, is of but 
 one effect. " In military life," writes General Comly, 
 who served under him throughout the war, and was 
 himself a soldier of heroic temper and achievement, 
 " he was noted among army men for his coolness, firm 
 ness, and daring. No emergency ever came upon him 
 that he was not equal to. The West Point men re 
 garded him as one of the very best officers in the vol 
 unteer service, and attributed to him a very high order 
 of military genius. His courage, though of the most 
 undemonstrative sort, was absolutely sublime, and was 
 attested by three or four wounds received in the very 
 front of battle. His charge at Winchester, where he 
 led his brigade through a deep slough in the face of 
 the enemy, plunging his horse into the mire up to the 
 saddle-bow, and being the first man over, though a per 
 fect storm of bullets swept about him, was scarcely ex- 
 
182 AN EASTERN WEST POINTER S OPINION. 
 
 celled during the whole war as a feat of personal 
 daring. Yet this was but one incident of a dozen sim 
 ilar ones in his army career that might be named. Had 
 he been as clamorous for promotion, and as impatient 
 for popular appreciation as some officers were, he would 
 have been placed at the head of a corps, or one of the 
 grand armies, instead of a division." 
 
 Not only do Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and all the 
 other great Ohio soldiers of West Point education, or 
 of native military genius developed in the volunteer 
 service, esteem and praise his soldiership, but wherever 
 scientific soldiers of Eastern origin came in contact with 
 him they acknowledged his capacity and power. We 
 have just been shown a private letter from a New En 
 gland officer, a general of volunteers in West Virginia, 
 a graduate of West Point, and now holding very high 
 rank in the regular army, who speaks of Hayes in terms 
 no less cordial and unstinted than these : 
 
 " September 4, 1876. 
 
 " I am glad to assure you, not only of my full and 
 undoubted conviction of the success of General Hayes, 
 but still more the further conviction that from week to 
 week comes over me, that he as fully merits that suc 
 cess. And though I was not so much brought in con 
 tact with him as if he had been in my own brigade, I 
 recollect very distinctly his quiet, unobtrusive, gentle 
 manly manner, and his faithful attention to duty in the 
 West Virginia campaign, from Carnifex Ferry to its 
 close. It was of the same iypc exactly with the modest 
 
THE SAME TYPE OF SOLDIER AS THOMAS. 183 
 
 worth and quiet, reserved power of Grant and of 
 
 Thomas, since so well known to the country I 
 
 firmly believe his administration is to be our political 
 and national salvation. 
 
 " I have always felt that the daily letters, the record 
 of events written at the time by those engaged in them, 
 were the most valuable papers ever to be had, either as 
 to the truth of the events or to show the characters of 
 the writers ; and I doubt not the most interesting and 
 important articles for the national (I do not call it polit 
 ical) contest now coming on will be those which give 
 most fully the very words and thoughts of the moment 
 (as the great events of the war were passing), of this 
 brave, honest man, whom the people will delight to 
 honor, as his fellow soldiers now do; this modest 
 Bayard, in war or in peace as the whole country 
 finds, and will ever find sans peur et sans reproche" 
 
 It is superfluous to multiply these testimonies, as we 
 might to any extent, from rank and file alike. They 
 are as unanimous a hater of Aristides might say as 
 monotonous as the witnesses to the purity, efficiency, 
 and economy of Hayes s civil administrations. What his 
 character as a congressman was, we have already seen ; 
 and as governor of a great State we have allowed him 
 to speak for himself in extracts from his messages. On 
 some points he was necessarily silent. He could not 
 say what we know from examination of his letters 
 and diaries, that his smallest official act followed only 
 upon the most careful and conscientious deliberation. 
 His appointments have been made after the closest 
 
184 HIS IDEAS OF A GOVERNOR S DUTIES. 
 
 possible inquiry into the character and qualifications of 
 the persons appointed ; and no fault has been found 
 with them except by Republicans who have blamed him 
 for the impartiality with which he has named Democrats 
 for places in which he judged that purely partisan ap 
 pointments might be to the public disadvantage. We 
 have yet to know of a single instance in which that 
 eminent civil service reformer, Mr. Tilden, has laid 
 himself open to reproach by giving office to a political 
 opponent. 
 
 As governor, Hayes has conceived it his business to 
 attend to State affairs, and only to notice national ques 
 tions as they concern citizens of Ohio. He has not 
 been putting out feelers for the presidency, nor manu 
 facturing a reputation on which he could lift himself 
 into partisan prominence ; and he has not, like Gov 
 ernor Tilden, lugged into his messages the discussion of 
 every sort of .irrelevant affair. He has applied himself 
 closely to the study of the sources of Ohio s prosperity, 
 and probably no man in the State knows them so well 
 as he. A gentleman who recently talked with him on 
 such matters confessed his astonishment at the extent 
 and minuteness of his knowledge relating to the agri 
 culture, manufactures, and mines of the State ; but 
 Hayes seemed to think it was part of his duty, as the 
 first citizen, to be second to none in this knowledge. 
 
 He has not only bestowed unusual attention upon 
 the condition of the asylums and prisons, but he has 
 been extremely careful in the exercise of the pardon 
 ing power. whi-h he has used according to principles 
 
HIS TEMPER AS A EULER. 185 
 
 arrived at through diligent study of the results in cases 
 coming within his own experience or observation. In 
 clining always towards mercy, he has suffered no per 
 sonal feeling to cloud his judgment in such matters, 
 and in more public affairs, involving disturbances of 
 order or violations of law, he has acted with instant 
 vigor. His promptness in quelling the riots of the 
 striking coal-miners in Ohio, during the present year, 
 is an earnest of what his action would be on a larger 
 theatre in any greater emergency, and the following 
 letter to his adjutant- general, who was sent with troops 
 to crush out the riots, shows the temper of a ruler not 
 disposed to dally with his duty, or to address a murder 
 ous mob as his " friends." 
 
 DEAR GENERAL, I still feel that there is doubt 
 as to the sufficiency of your force. Be sure to have it 
 ample. If you call out too many men, I will be re 
 sponsible, but if you fail for want of enough, it will 
 be your fault. It now looks as if this trouble would 
 last a long time. I wish you to make preparations to 
 hold your men in camp near Massillon, until all danger 
 from lawless violence is at an end ; therefore let your 
 arrangements be of a more permanent character ; let 
 it be understood that you mean to stay until lawless 
 ness ceases, or is plainly controllable by the civil au 
 thorities. Sincerely yours, R. B. HAYES. 
 
 " Hayes s capacity for civil affairs," says a journal 
 ist of the State which knows him best, "has been 
 
186 HAYES S RECORD WITHOUT A FLAW. 
 
 severely tested, and the tests have developed executive 
 abilities of the very highest order. With a rare knowl 
 edge of men and affairs, he has shown a genius for 
 doing the right thing in the right way and at the right 
 time. In prudence, moderation, and sturdy good sense, 
 he bears a striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln, 
 as he does also in his simplicity, and keen, almost un 
 erring sagacity. Few men have, with such caution, 
 such strength of will and power of decision." 
 
 Not more, but not less valuable than the praise of an 
 impartial friend, is that of an impartial enemy, and Mr. 
 Dana, of the "New York Sun," may now speak for 
 the man whose defeat he desires.: 
 
 " Hayes is a man of talent ; he is a gentleman ; he 
 is rich and independent ; he served with credit as a 
 soldier in the war, and his record as governor of Ohio 
 is without flaw or spot." 
 
 Of Hayes as a citizen and a man, what remains to be 
 said ? Nothing truly that will not make him even more 
 hateful to those already weary of hearing Aristides 
 called just. Some of his moral and intellectual quali 
 ties have been admirably given by an old acquaintance 
 of his in a letter printed by " The Nation." " He is 
 not a magnetic man ; he is not audacious, he is not a 
 leader, he does not impress one as a great force, and 
 all that. But when he has a duty to perform he first 
 proceeds to throw aside all nonsense, and, with a pecul 
 iar singleness and simplicity, sees just what the matter 
 is. After that, the devil can t scare him. I never 
 knew a man who listened with a franker willingness to 
 
HAYES S INTELLECTUAL " COLOR." 187 
 
 learn, and I have known very few men who were so 
 sure to end with an opinion of their own, which nothing 
 could shake. I observe that the little people of the 
 * Herald and World speak of him as a colorless 
 candidate. Well, his color is not loud, but what they 
 actually mean is nonsense. They had better encounter 
 him some time when he has a duty to perform, and try 
 to turn him aside, and then tell us whether he has color. 
 I have seen him tried, and noticed that his color was a 
 
 good deal like steel I need say nothing about 
 
 his honesty ; you ve seen that mentioned by every 
 paper that names him, though perhaps I had as well 
 add that he is just absolute integrity. My main pur 
 pose was to speak of his capabilities, since that must be 
 the chief point of curiosity just now. For whatever it 
 is worth, my clear conviction is that he is a very able 
 man, very well informed, of a good deal of culture, of 
 rare soundness of judgment, and of a courageous and 
 high character." 
 
 Mr. Henry B. Blackwell, a friend of equally long 
 standing with the writer of the foregoing, has published 
 his impressions of Hayes s character in a letter to the 
 " Boston Advertiser," from which we transcribe a few 
 passages : 
 
 "Mr. Hayes has a calm, cool, intellectual temper 
 ament, which is not easily roused, but which when 
 roused, moves promptly and with singular precision. 
 He has a clear, judicial intellect. He is not want 
 ing in enthusiasm, but he never gushes. There is a 
 certain magnanimity, a stately and dignified repose of 
 
188 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES. 
 
 character, which nuderlies his frank and genial tem 
 per, and which keeps his generous impulses from run 
 ning away with him. He is always and everywhere 
 a gentleman. During our six or seven years of weekly 
 meetings, 1 I never knew him to use a harsh or coarse 
 expression, nor ever knew him to indulge in a per 
 sonality. He never made an enemy, nor lost a friend. 
 Nothing sordid or selfish was ever associated with his 
 character. Always cheerful, kind, frank, and sym 
 pathetic, he took a keen interest in every question, 
 and occasionally spoke, when roused, effectively and to 
 the purpose. But he seldom was roused to speak ex 
 cept in conversation. There he was always ready, 
 bright, and animated. It was a common remark in 
 those days, at the club, * Hayes is capable of rising to 
 any distinction, if he could only be impelled to seek it. 
 But he seemed totally devoid of personal ambition, and 
 unwilling to take any of the ordinary steps to attain no 
 toriety ; yet this very coolness and indifference to per 
 sonal aggrandizement has proved the secret of his sub 
 sequent political success. He has never sought position. 
 He has never lifted his hand to become a candidate for 
 any place. The office has always sought the man, not 
 the man the office." 
 
 Some reminiscences, sketchily jotted down by an old 
 friend of Hayes s college days, and kindly transferred 
 to the present writer by Mr. J. Q. Howard, for whose 
 careful work 2 they came too late, present traits of 
 
 1 In the Cincinnati Literary Club. 
 
 2 Life of Rutherford B. Hayes. (Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati.) 
 
HAYES AT COLLEGE. 189 
 
 the man too essential to a good portrait to be lost. We 
 think the reader will enjoy these all the better, if given 
 without our manipulation. " Hayes was the champion 
 in college, in debate class section, and in the foot-path ; 
 cheerful, sanguine, and confident of the future, never 
 seeing cause for desponding ; was a young man of sub 
 stantial physique; in my whole acquaintance, I never 
 knew of his being sick one day, and so free from any 
 weakness as to seem indefatigable. His greatest amuse 
 ments were fishing and chess. In company he was 
 humorous to hilarity, told quick, pungent stories, many 
 of which I remember with laughter to this day ; took 
 things as they came ; used to lau^h at the shape of our 
 boarding-house roast beef, but still ate. 
 
 " I grew from boyhood, knowing him as a good friend, 
 to whom I went whenever too lazy to study, or found 
 ered by my problems, and I always found help and 
 good cheer. Do not think he had many intimate 
 friends ; those with whom he was intimate were, and 
 are now, the best men of my acquaintance. I don t 
 remember a single man with whom he was intimate 
 but that has been successful in his vocation, showing 
 that Hayes either had an intuitive disgust for mean 
 spirits and rejected them, or else changed them. He 
 had all the appearance of a fighting man, and I think 
 in all college scrimmages was let alone. Have often 
 heard it said that he did nothing for his friends ; 
 perhaps not, but his real friends generally needed no 
 help, or were not of that class who attached themselves 
 for selfish interests. Even in his political labors, I am 
 
190 THOROUGHLY INDEPENDENT. 
 
 sure he never entangled himself by promises or by sucli 
 intimacies as to bind him, but never shrank from tack 
 ling any subject or measure of policy when brought to 
 him. He never walked around anything, but took it 
 by the horns and shook it, or was shaken. I think him 
 a square specimen of an Anglo-Saxon, honest man ; 
 stubbornly square in his views ; of simple ideas of life ; 
 that is, he had such ideas as would make him prefer 
 heaping, round measure of good to pretension and false 
 appearances. 
 
 " The independence of his character was shown on 
 commencement day at Kenyon. He was valedictorian, 
 and I remember how grand he looked in my boy eyes 
 because he was n t able to have splendid new clothes, 
 and was independent enough to do without. That was 
 the first impression made on my mind, evidencing a 
 pure, thorough self-sacrih ce. I was but sixteen years 
 old, and think I see him now, with what we knew then 
 as a box-coat with side pockets, when all the rest were 
 dressed in new black cloth frock-coats. 
 
 "I spent the summer of 1844 with him at Cam 
 bridge, Mass., as a law student ; I as an amateur (". e. 
 a listener who never studies), he as a regular stu 
 dent. He then showed himself thoroughly independent 
 of everything and everybody. Judge Story always 
 noticed him especially, as he came into the lecture 
 room. In the practice of law his advice was always 
 against litigation. "When offered the city solicitorship, 
 we talked it over, and I urged him to take it for its in 
 troduction to the public. He always refused to do any- 
 
NO ENTANGLING ALLIANCES. 191 
 
 thing to advance his own interests ; but, don t try to 
 make him a saint ; he was n t ; he was nothing but a 
 good honest specimen of a man. 
 
 " Three months ago I wrote to him about his presi 
 dential prospects, and his reply was emphatically, * I 
 cannot do anything to aid myself. And on June 7, 
 1876, he writes, I am luckily constituted, or the things 
 you allude to would be vexations ; the truth is, I am in 
 no way complicated, entangled, or committed with the 
 parties you name, or anybody else. And I believe if he 
 is elected President of the United States, no man ever 
 went into office so free from obligations as he will be. 
 The head-quarters of the Hayes movement in this sec 
 tion during the campaign were projected by his per 
 sonal friends ; not one cent was contributed by an 
 office-holder or politician." 
 
 It was a good usage of the old-fashioned biogra 
 phers, with whom we would fain ally ourselves in some 
 sort, to delineate the persons of their heroes ; and the 
 reader, we hope, would not be content without some 
 such picture of Hayes. The material for such a pict 
 ure is vast enough, but the authorities upon his looks 
 are not so well agreed as those upon his morals. In 
 its way, a sketch by Judge Johnston, in an address to 
 a ratification meeting at Avondale, Ohio, is, we are 
 told, quite trustworthy : 
 
 " Place him on a platform together with one hun 
 dred distinguished men, and call in an able connoisseur, 
 who has neither seen nor heard of any one of them, 
 and he will point him out as a model man ; neither too 
 
192 PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 
 
 large nor too small, nor too tall nor too short, nor too 
 fat nor too lean, nor too old nor too young. A man 
 in the prime and vigor of healthful manhood, with 
 blood in his veins and marrow in his bones ; able to en 
 dure any labor, either of body or of mind, which may 
 devolve upon him. His face seems made to match his 
 form. No painful, care-worn wrinkles, indicative of 
 infirmities or misfortunes, to provoke a grudge against 
 nature, or engender sourness toward mankind. Nor 
 does he wear a smirking face, as if he were a candi 
 date for admiration ; but a fine, sunny countenance, 
 such as men and women respect, and children love. 
 His manners, like his countenance, are simple and sin 
 cere. He don t run to meet you, and call you My 
 VERY DEAR sir He takes you by the hand, with a 
 cordial kindness which recognizes the universal broth 
 erhood of man, and impresses you that he is a man 
 who gets above nobody, and nobody gets above him." 
 
 If this is not enough, there is a yet closer portraiture 
 also said to be faithful by Mr. Keenan, writing 
 for one of the Chicago newspapers. It is well to pre 
 mise that Hayes s complexion is of the true Scotch 
 sandiness, and that his once tawny beard and hair are 
 both now touched with gray. " His complexion," says 
 Mr. Keenan, " has the ripe tinge of health. He is 
 much in the open air, and has cheeks like a reaper s 
 fresh, brown, and thickly bearded. He has no gift of 
 music evidently, for his bright, frank, blue eyes are set 
 closely together, under a fair, clear, shapely forehead. 
 The nose is a column of strength, if physiognomy s laws 
 
A NOBLE LETTER. 193 
 
 are to be trusted. It is not the hooked beak of the 
 Caesars, but the complex formation which marks the 
 stronger type of the Anglo-Saxons. The lower face, 
 where the lines can be seen, is symmetrical, strong, and 
 reassuring. In repose or animation the face is a fine 
 one." 
 
 And now that we stand, as it were, in the very 
 presence of the man, let him speak once more for him 
 self, and let his final utterances be those magnanimous 
 words which are truest to his broad and generous na 
 ture. Here is a letter written home in the very midst 
 of the Shenandoah Valley campaign, which we com 
 mend to the perusal of the whole country, North and 
 South : 
 
 " CHARLESTON, CAMP ELK, July 2, 1864. 
 
 " You wrote one thoughtless sentence, complaining 
 of Lincoln for failing to protect our unfortunate pris 
 oners by retaliation. All a mistake ! all such things 
 should be avoided as much as possible. We have done 
 too much rather than too little. You use the phrase 
 brutal rebels. Don t be cheated in that way. There 
 are enough brutal rebels, no doubt, but there are 
 plenty of humane rebels. I have seen a good deal of it 
 on our late trip. War is cruel business, and there is 
 brutality in it on all sides, but it is very idle to get up 
 anxiety on account of any supposed peculiar cruelty on 
 the part of rebels." 
 
 The man who could feel so justly towards enemies 
 from whom he was in daily, hourly peril, wrote home 
 13 
 
194 THE PROPORTIONS OF OUR LEADER. 
 
 yet one other letter which we must give to show how 
 tolerantly he could feel toward one consenting to repre 
 sent a cause which he abhorred : 
 
 " CAMP SUMMIT POINT, VIRGINIA, September 9, 1864. 
 " Speaking of politics, it is quite common for young 
 sters, adopting their parents notions, to get very bitter 
 talk into their innocent little mouths. I was quite 
 
 willing W. [his son] should hurrah for , last 
 
 summer with the addition, and a rope to hang him, 
 but I feel quite different about McClellan. He is on 
 a mean platform, and is in bad company ; but I do not 
 doubt his personal loyalty ; and he has been a soldier, 
 and what is more, a soldier s friend. No man ever 
 treated the private soldier better. No commander was 
 ever more loved by his men. I therefore want my 
 boys taught to think and talk well of General Mc 
 Clellan." 
 
 This, then, is our leader. The proportions are he 
 roic, but the figure is not larger than life ; and the 
 nearer we draw to it, the more august and benign are 
 the lineaments. A scholar, and a lover of letters and 
 the arts ; fine by nature and refined by culture, careful 
 self-study, and wide knowledge of both men and books ; 
 a soldier of dauntless bravery and approved genius ; 
 a statesman and public servant of the best principles 
 and of irreproachable performance, his highest com 
 mendation to our honor and our trust is still that he 
 is a true and good man. 
 
THE LEGEND OF A SHIELD. 195 
 
 Among the escutcheons of the old Scottish borderers 
 which hang on the walls of Sir Walter Scott s library, 
 at Abbotsford, are those of the Rutherfords and the 
 Hayeses. The arms of the Hayeses are a shield with 
 a Greek cross and four stars, surmounted by a dove, 
 and having for legend one word a word which has 
 always been the instinct and the principle of the man 
 whose life we have so imperfectly portrayed 
 
 RECTE ! " 
 
SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 WILLIAM A. WHEELER. 
 
^^x^/ 
 
SKETCH OF THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 WILLIAM A. WHEELEK. 
 
 THE writer of this sketch, though counting himself 
 among the friends of Mr. Wheeler, does not feel at 
 liberty to indulge in mere eulogy of him, regarding him 
 only from the standpoint of personal friendship. The 
 attitude of Mr. Wheeler as a candidate for one of the 
 highest offices in the gift of the people, gives them a 
 right to exact and impartial information respecting both 
 his public career and his personal character as bearing 
 on the question of his fitness for the high position to 
 which he has been named. For in this canvass, more 
 perhaps than in any previous one, personal integrity as 
 the surest guaranty of official rectitude, is emphasized 
 beyond all other qualifications. And most happily both 
 for Mr. Wheeler and the nation, the more both his 
 public career and his personal character are known, 
 the more deserving of the confidence of the people at 
 this critical time, will he be proved. " Let them turn 
 their calcium light on me," he said to one who rallied 
 him on his calmness under public scrutiny just before 
 
4 PARENTAGE. 
 
 the Convention, " they will find nothing which will 
 make my friends ashamed of me." To this proud as 
 sertion of the consciousness of right, limiting itself to 
 modest self-acquittal, may be added by those who know 
 the man and have watched his career, that " the fiercest 
 light which beats upon " a candidate can reveal in him 
 only new traits to admire and new virtues to honor. 
 And more : Mr. Wheeler s character is such that it not 
 only endures this strong light, but needs it in order to 
 be brought out into observation. Some men show to 
 advantage in the shade of common-place events, but 
 wilt under the glare of great responsibilities. Mr. 
 Wheeler belongs to the class of men who are greatest 
 on great occasions and under the stress of great de 
 mands. This sketch the writer must stipulate with 
 his readers that this be understood will not do him 
 justice ; no written life can, because the best part of his 
 life is as yet unrevealed. He has spoken many brave 
 and wise words which have had their influence in shap 
 ing memorable events ; but what he has done is greater 
 than what he has said ; and he is greater than all he 
 has said and done. If the people confirm him in the 
 position of leadership to which one of the great na 
 tional parties has designated him, it will be found that 
 he has still in reserve resources of greatness and good 
 ness upon which neither his party nor the nation has 
 yet drawn. 
 
 PARENTAGE. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler comes of good stock. Three great 
 New England principles are traceable in the family for 
 
EDUCATION. 5 
 
 several generations : love of freedom, love of knowledge, 
 and the fear of God. The grandfather Wheeler was 
 in the first Concord fight. The maternal grandfather, 
 William Woodward, was a soldier all through the 
 Revolution. The Wheeler branch of the family, from 
 Massachusetts, and the Woodward branch, from Con 
 necticut, came together in Vermont, where Almon 
 Wheeler, father of William, was born, and where he 
 lived till two months before his son s birth. It thus 
 appears that both the Republican candidates are of 
 Vermont parentage. We may be permitted to hope 
 that this fact is no bad omen either for the character 
 of the men or the success of the candidates. Mr. 
 Wheeler at least seems not to augur ill of his origin. 
 " I have Vermont blood in my veins," he said at Mont- 
 pelier, " and Vermont ideas in my head. My father 
 was a Highgate man and my mother a Castleton 
 woman, and in my early days I lived in the town of 
 Fairfax, where under the shadow of old Fletcher 
 Mountain, I learned from a valued uncle, in the inter 
 vals of the toil which was the common lot of almost all 
 men in those days, those lessons which only the true 
 New Englander could inculcate." 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 There runs through the Wheeler family the story, so 
 common in New England families of those times, of 
 struggles with poverty and hardship in the pursuit of 
 education. In this case it was the old story in its most 
 pathetic form, ambition saddened by ill health and ar- 
 
6 EDUCATION. 
 
 rested short of the hoped-for success. Almon Wheeler, 
 obliged by sickness to suspend his studies in the Uni 
 versity of Vermont, at Burlington, entered upon the 
 practice of law, in which he gave promise of eminence, 
 but died at the early age of thirty-seven. His son, 
 William Almon, born at Malone, New York, June 30, 
 1819, was but eight years old at his father s death. 
 For the support of the family, consisting of William 
 and two sisters, the widowed mother found herself in 
 possession of an estate valued at about $300, and 
 encumbered by a mortgage. But this mother, Eliza 
 Woodward Wheeler, her name deserves to be writ 
 large, was a woman of great force of character, con- 
 , cealed under the gentlest exterior. By taking boarders 
 for the academy at the rate of $1.25 a week, she con 
 trived to keep her little family from want, and to give 
 William the chance to attend the district schools until 
 he was old enough to earn something for himself while 
 pursuing his studies preparatory to college. During 
 this time he taught schools and " boarded round," in 
 winters, and worked at farming in the laboring season, 
 sometimes for months wages, sometimes for the tenth 
 bushel of corn husked, the tenth basket of potatoes 
 dug, according to the custom of the region. If ever 
 his ambition flagged or his hope grew dim, in view of 
 all that lay between him and the great prize of a liberal 
 education, the mother s heroic spirit came to the rescue 
 and helped him through the momentary lull of his own 
 aspirations. And as Providence would have it, in all 
 this brave, patient, strenuous battle with the hardships 
 
LEGAL PRACTICE. 7 
 
 of his life, the lad was not only knitting his physical 
 and moral frame into condition for manly work, but was 
 drawing the attention of many to himself as one whom 
 they might well put in the way of promotion when the 
 opportunity should come. At the age of nineteen, with 
 a capital of $30 lent him by a former friend who 
 had more faith in William than in himself, he entered 
 the University of Vermont and pursued the course of 
 study for two years, absent from the classes much of the 
 time to work and teach. His college contemporaries 
 speak of him as a good scholar, studious, thoughtful, 
 and having a great many ideas of his own. At the 
 end of two years, the family necessities and an affection 
 of the eyes compelled him, though with great reluc 
 tance, to leave college. Mr. Wheeler did not, however, 
 cease to be a student. He has always been a thought 
 ful reader of the best books, especially in English litera 
 ture. His style and utterance are those of an educated 
 man. The writer does not remember to have ever 
 heard him misconstruct a sentence or mispronounce a 
 word, and this is much to say of the most finished 
 scholar. 
 
 LEGAL PRACTICE. 
 
 Immediately on leaving college, Mr. Wheeler entered 
 upon the study of law with Asa Hascall, a leading law 
 yer of Malone, and after four years study, three of the 
 seven years then required being remitted on account of 
 his classical discipline, was admitted to the bar and 
 " soon acquired," says a former legal brother, " an en 
 viable position as a keen advocate and wise counsellor, 
 
8 LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 
 
 which brought him clients, friends, and competence." 
 A throat trouble which seriously interfered with his 
 practice as an advocate, finally compelled him to aban 
 don the profession of the law, which he did in 1851. 
 
 LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 
 
 From his early manhood, Mr. Wheeler has held a 
 succession of offices, the variety and importance of which 
 attest the confidence of those who know him best. 
 During his early struggles to maintain himself and his 
 family, .his neighbors seemed to have bestowed all 
 their offices on him, one after another, as fast as he grew 
 up to them. While studying law, he was made town 
 clerk, school commissioner, and school inspector. At 
 the first election under the Constitution of 1846, by 
 which the county judges and district attorneys were 
 made eligible by popular vote, Mr. Wheeler, who was a 
 pronounced Whig, was elected district attorney, and 
 his partner, a Democrat, was elected judge, on a Union 
 ticket, it being then the desire of both parties to keep 
 judicial elections free from party strifes. In 1849, and 
 again in 1850, Mr. Wheeler was elected by the Whigs 
 a member of the New York Assembly, and in 1859 and 
 1860, was State senator for his district. Although he 
 was always an active, and was at times an ardent party 
 man, and was outspoken in the advocacy of the meas 
 ures he approved, it is the testimony alike of his 
 political friends and opponents, that he had a delicate 
 sense of official responsibility ; that he was broad and 
 catholic in his sympathies and acts as a legislator ; and 
 
LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 9 
 
 severely just in giving or refusing his great influence 
 to the many interests that appealed to him. This may 
 explain the high respect which he has always enjoyed 
 from men of all parties, and his singular exemption 
 from that partisan calumny which is the disgrace of 
 American politics. 
 
 How Mr. Wheeler felt toward those who had ad 
 vanced him to so many honors is touchingly mani 
 fested by an impromptu address made to them shortly 
 after his nomination to the Vice-Presidency, which we 
 give at length, because it fills in with warmer touches 
 our meagre outline of his early life, and shows in 
 what estimate he holds the mere honors and rewards 
 of office as compared with the esteem of good men and 
 the approbation of his own heart : 
 
 TOWNSMEN AND FRIENDS : Of the many congrat 
 ulations proffered me since my nomination by the Re 
 publican Convention for the second place in the gov 
 ernment of the United States, none have so stirred me 
 and come so near my heart as yours. If this nomi 
 nation be an honor and who shall gainsay it ? it is 
 your honor and not mine ; I am the simple instrument 
 through which it is reflected. For what am I, and 
 what have I, that I have not received from you ? It 
 was in the early confidence of the people of Malone, 
 in their cheering words of encouragement, and in their 
 unwavering support, that the foundations of whatever 
 success I have achieved in life were laid. In boy 
 hood, in manhood, and now that the sun of life is well 
 
10 LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 
 
 past the meridian, these have been, and are now, my 
 refuge and strength. 
 
 No honor, however exalted, shall ever dim my grat 
 itude to those who extended to me the helping hand 
 in my early struggles, and who have honored me with 
 life-long trust and substantial acts of kindness. Nor 
 can the glare and glitter of life at the national capital, 
 or the blandishments and hollow arts of its society, 
 ever efface the simple tastes and early habits learned 
 by me from the New England pioneers of this goodly 
 town, to which I always return with renewed pleasure 
 and gratitude. How many of those pioneers whose 
 memory is hallowed by me, would, if they could speak, 
 this morning join in your congratulations ! 
 
 From the people of Malone I received my first po 
 litical recognition. Even before I had attained my 
 majority they made me clerk of the town, an office in 
 which I magnified myself more than in all the offices I 
 have since possessed, and whose pecuniary emoluments 
 $30 for the year for recording the estrays of the 
 town and the laying out of new roads, were of more 
 value to me than the thousands I have since attained. 
 
 And right here I want to say a word especially to 
 the young men, so many of whom I see before me 
 a class in whom I always take the deepest interest, 
 and with whose efforts in life to achieve honorable suc 
 cess I am always in deep sympathy. It is said that 
 a fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind. There are 
 few phases in the struggles of the boy or young man 
 to make his way in life in which I have not had severe 
 
LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 11 
 
 experience. When, forty years ago, on a cold Decem 
 ber morning, before the dawn of day, I emerged from 
 the humble home which then stood upon the site from 
 which I now address you, to make my way on foot 
 through the falling snow to an adjoining town to teach 
 my first district school at ten dollars a month, " half 
 store pay ; " and when, during that winter, in the 
 progress of boarding around, in the chambers of the 
 log houses, through the shrunken roof boards, I was 
 literally a " star gazer," had any one predicted to me 
 that at some future period of my life I should be nom 
 inated by a great party to the second office in the gift 
 of forty millions of people, it would have been deemed 
 stranger to me than any of the tales of the " Arabian 
 Nights " which so stirred my boyish wonder. With an 
 imagination naturally vivid, I built many air castles in 
 those days, but this nomination was not among the 
 structures. My nomination has this lesson for you, 
 young men. In this beneficent people s government of 
 ours, every man, without regard to the accidents of 
 birth or fortune, is, with character, industry, and per 
 severance, the equal of every other man, and honest 
 efforts to make an honorable name in life are sure of 
 recognition and reward. And despite the hard things 
 we say of the world, my own experience is that it 
 never withholds a helping hand from a young man who 
 shows an upright, stern determination to help himself. 
 Doing this, though he fail of political distinction, he 
 will obtain the respect and confidence of his fellow 
 men, which is far better. 
 
12 LOCAL AND STATE OFFICES. 
 
 "Honor and shame from no condition rise; 
 Act well your part, there all the honor lies." 
 
 To be selected from this great, imperial common 
 wealth as its exponent of that party whose achievement* 
 for liberty and unity, and for the advancement of the 
 great cause of human brotherhood, have no parallel in 
 the annals of the world, is an honor which ought to 
 gratify any man s ambition. But it is an honor which 
 comes to me unexpectedly, which I did not seek, and 
 which I say in all frankness I did not desire. So long 
 as I might remain in the public service my preference 
 was to remain in the House of Representatives. But 
 how utterly empty and meaningless is the honor to me, 
 standing in the shadow of this desolate home, you all 
 well know. 
 
 To the great tribunal of the American people, in 
 which issue is again joined by the two great leading 
 parties which divide the country, we can safely leave 
 the argument and the verdict. In the meantime, how 
 ever our party relations may be ruffled, I trust our per 
 sonal relations may remain undisturbed. And when 
 the verdict shall be rendered in November, we shall 
 all, as good citizens, desiring only the prosperity of our 
 common country, cheerfully acquiesce in it, whatever 
 it may be. And whatever the result shall be as to my 
 self, I shall hope to remain secure in your personal 
 confidence. That is my highest purpose and ambition. 
 And when, in obedience to universal and inevitable 
 law, after the fitful fever of life, its weary wheels shall 
 at last stand still, and I shall go to the rest which, 
 
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 13 
 
 thank God, beyond the conflicts and bereavements of 
 this life " remaineth" I know I shall be followed by that 
 charity with which our better nature covers the short 
 comings and imperfections of those who lay aside life s 
 armor, and cross the flood to join the great, silent ma 
 jority. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Wheeler was chosen one of the dele 
 gates at large to the Constitutional Convention of the 
 State of New York. This body was one of the ablest 
 ever assembled in the State, embracing a large number 
 of such men as Wm. M. Evarts, George W. Curtis, 
 Horace Greeley, Sanford E. Church, Ira Harris, Sam 
 uel J. Tilden, Edwards Pierrepont, representatives of 
 the best legal, financial, and administrative talent of the 
 Empire State. Over this imposing body Mr. Wheeler 
 was called to preside by the highly complimentary vote 
 of 100 over 49, no competitor receiving over 9 votes. 
 He took no part in the debates, " having to undergo " 
 as Mr. Erastus Brooks, his colleague, expressed it, " a 
 severe ordeal for a man of ability, literally putting a 
 padlock upon his mind, being unable in consequence of 
 his position to mingle in the debates." In making up 
 the committees of this body, with characteristic magna 
 nimity he put leading Democrats into several important 
 positions. " I came to the chair," said he in his closing 
 speech, " with the single purpose of administering its 
 duties fairly and impartially ; remembering that the 
 trust confided to us was neither for majorities nor mi- 
 
14 AS A PRESIDING OFFICER. 
 
 norities, but for all alike as citizens of a common State." 
 Some of his ultra Republican friends were at first of 
 fended by this course of action, but afterward acknowl 
 edged both its justice and policy. 
 
 AS A PRESIDING OFFICER, 
 
 there can be no question that Mr. Wheeler would 
 bring preeminent ability to the position of President of 
 the Senate. His mental characteristics, his quick per 
 ception of the real issue through all perplexities, his 
 promptness of utterance and action, his habit of im 
 partial judgment, mark him out for a presiding officer. 
 The Senate of New York discovered his parliamentary 
 ability and chose him its speaker pro tempore. Speak 
 ing to a resolution of thanks tendered to the president 
 at the close of the Constitutional Convention, Mr. San- 
 ford E. Church said : " I have had some experience in 
 deliberative bodies, and I can say without qualification 
 that for impartiality, fairness, and ability, I have never 
 seen a presiding officer excel the presiding officer of this 
 body." And to this high testimony Mr. George W. 
 Curtis added : " I shall carry from this Convention the 
 profoundest impression of the dignified deliberation 
 which is possible for gentlemen in a period of great 
 political excitement, but who are called together to ad 
 minister a great public trust. As for the gentleman 
 who has presided over our deliberations, we shall all, I 
 am sure, to the latest hour of our lives, bear his image 
 in our memories, as that of a most able, a most urbane, 
 and most skillful officer." 
 
IN CONGRESS. 15 
 
 IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler has sat as Representative in the thirty- 
 seventh, forty-first, forty-second, forty-third, and forty- 
 fourth Congresses. During most of this time, while 
 he has been recognized as one of the leading men 
 in Congress by those within, he has been one of the 
 least conspicuous in the eyes of those without. He 
 has been a working rather than a talking member. 
 His oratory, which is vigorous and effective, has been 
 devoted to advocating and defending measures which 
 came from his committees. During his whole career 
 he has never made a volunteer speech. Our constitu 
 encies are coming slowly to understand that the men 
 who are the most valuable in Congress, the men who 
 influence legislation most effectually, are those who 
 work hard in committees, talk but seldom on the floor, 
 and then with business-like point and directness. Mr. 
 Wheeler belongs to this class. When ordinary men 
 have confused and muddled a question beyond any ap 
 parent hope of a settlement, a few words of clear good 
 sense from Mr. Wheeler often closes the dispute. He 
 has also another method of influencing votes, which is 
 quite effective, but does not seem to be emulated by as 
 piring Congressmen as much as might be wished. He 
 keeps such a vigilant watch over measures in progress, 
 and forms his opinions on them so honestly and care 
 fully, that men who want to rely on a sound judgment, 
 and who distrust their own, find out how Mr. Wheeler 
 intends to vote, and act accordingly. He is thus a kind 
 
16 IN CONGRESS. 
 
 of legislative conscience to a considerable number of 
 members. His standing with his political opponents is 
 shown by his being unanimously selected in the Demo 
 cratic caucus as a member of the Belknap Impeach 
 ment Committee. With regard to the measures in 
 Congress by which so many fair names have been 
 smirched, let his colleague, Hon. Robert H. Ellis, 
 speak for him : 
 
 " No inquiry has ever connected his name with any 
 transaction depending in the most remote degree on 
 his legislative action. When it was the fashion for all 
 men to dabble in railroad stocks and bonds, and his 
 own training might have induced him to invest in such 
 securities, Mr. Wheeler never bought or sold a share of 
 stock or a single bond in any of the Pacific roads. His 
 experience on his local railroad would have rendered 
 his services of rare value to any one of the great en 
 terprises with which he was brought into contact ; and 
 the cases are many where legislators have by such re 
 lations been introduced to remunerative employment. 
 Mr. Wheeler is free from even such imputation upon 
 his disinterestedness. 
 
 " Other men have not accounted it an offense to use 
 knowledge obtained by them as legislators as a basis for 
 investments and business transactions. Such knowl 
 edge Mr. Wheeler often had, but his sense of right and 
 his instincts of fair play forbade his taking any such 
 advantage. He has served his country in Congress for 
 ten years, without adding to the moderate competence 
 with which he first went to Washington. With simple 
 
ECONOMY IN EXPENDITURE. 17 
 
 tastes, he has never been greedy of gain either for its 
 own sake or the luxury it would buy. As a legislator, 
 the thought never occurred to him that his influence 
 could bring riches, and not the shadow of a stain rests 
 on his name. 
 
 " In the last Congress he was chairman of the Com 
 mittee on Commerce, and a member of the Committee 
 on Appropriations, and in the present Congress ho 
 serves on the same committees. In these positions, he 
 has never been self-asserting. His leadership has not 
 been that of push; he has never sought notoriety. He 
 has walked modestly in the path of duty, without self- 
 seeking, and fearing no consequences." 
 
 ECONOMY IN EXPENDITURE. 
 
 A short specimen of Mr. Wheeler s style of speak 
 ing in Congress is here appended. Let the reader 
 note the ring of sincerity in this plea for economy, and 
 make his own contrasts. 
 
 " In presenting the regular appropriation bill for the 
 support of the army for the next fiscal year, the 
 committee on appropriations invite for it close atten 
 tion and examination. Economy in public expendi 
 ture is now the profession of every lip ; its practice is 
 the universal, imperative demand of the hour. The 
 time has passed, for a while at least, when millions of 
 the public funds can, as at some former periods, flow 
 safely through *,he open sluice-ways of legislation with 
 out careful consideration and critical scrutiny. The 
 specter of renewed and increased taxation now haunts 
 
18 ECONOMY IN EXPENDITURE. 
 
 every hamlet in the land, and upon us, as possessing 
 the power, and in the exercise of a wise prudence and 
 discretion, the people rely to beat back from their 
 homes the unwelcome reality. 
 
 " Probably there has been no period in our history 
 when the people were more sensitive upon the subject 
 of taxation, or more keenly inquisitive as to its neces 
 sity. The great and, until quite recently, steady re 
 duction of our national indebtedness, and the removal 
 of the greater portion of the burdensome taxation im 
 posed by the war, led our people to believe, with rea 
 son, that their long-fettered energies and industries 
 were at length unloosed, and the country once more 
 placed upon the sure road to permanent prosperity. 
 The sudden dissipation of these hopes surprises and 
 disheartens them, and all the more, as they are now 
 suffering from severe monetary derangements and the 
 great reduction of values ever, in time, inseparable 
 from an inflated paper currency. 
 
 " The people are now ill able and ill disposed to bear 
 burdens not demanded by palpable, immediate, pressing 
 necessity. They demand of us to practice here the 
 economy to which they are forced, and to bend to the 
 necessity which overpowers them. 
 
 " We ought now and here to accept and legislate for 
 the future upon the fact that certain great questions, 
 which have for the past few years overshadowed all 
 others, and to which, for the time, all others were 
 justly subordinated, have been substantially settled. 
 In a certain sense we are called upon to take, in leg- 
 
ECONOMY IN EXPENDITURE. 19 
 
 islation, what our Democratic friends style a new de 
 parture. The questions of slavery, of the integrity 
 of the Union, of reconstruction, and the like, are 
 hereafter to live mostly, if not wholly, in the memory, 
 soon, we trust, to be erased even from its tablet, in the 
 closer, more cordial fraternity, the better civilization, 
 the general prosperity and high advancement in every 
 thing which exalts and refines a nation, for all which, 
 with wise and just government to foster and aid, the 
 costly experience of the last few years has laid the 
 sure foundation. 
 
 " With the adjustment of old difficulties comes the 
 era of peace, leaving the people free for the pursuit of 
 avocations which respect their material interests. He 
 is a poor statesman who imagines for a moment that 
 the record of the past, however brilliant or beneficent, 
 can cover present dereliction of duty, or atone for 
 want of fidelity, capacity, and adaptation to grapple 
 successfully with the questions which now confront us. 
 No party can or ought to command the confidence and 
 support of the people which is not equal and faithful 
 to current duties and responsibilities, and whose rep 
 resentatives do not demonstrate by wise action that they 
 exercise their trust broadly, intelligently, effectively, 
 and honestly in the interest of the whole people. He 
 scans the political horizon to little purpose who does 
 not discern this sure sign of the times." 
 
20 THE SALARY GRAB. WAR RECORD. 
 
 THE SALARY GRAB. 
 
 A few days after the passage of the act known as 
 the " Salary Grab Law," Mr. Wheeler wrote to the 
 Secretary of the Treasury: "As this measure was op 
 posed by my vote in all its stages, it does not comport 
 with my views of consistency or propriety to take the 
 above sum to my personal use. I desire, therefore, 
 without giving publicity to the act, to return it to the 
 treasury, which I do by enclosing herewith five-twenty 
 bonds of the United States, purchased with said funds 
 and assigned by me to you for the sole purpose of can 
 cellation." Mr. Wheeler is said to have been the first 
 to adopt this mode of returning his extra pay into the 
 treasury. 
 
 WAR RECORD. 
 
 When the old Whig party wavered, and finally broke 
 in the onset with slavery, Mr. Wheeler was among the 
 first to hail the new party of freedom. Pie threw him 
 self with characteristic vigor into the campaign of 1856, 
 with the loss of which by the friends of freedom went 
 out the last hope of averting civil war. His sympathy 
 with the victims of border ruffianism in Kansas, was due 
 in part to the conviction that they were in reality the 
 picket line in the great conflict shortly coming on be 
 tween slavery and freedom. But his sympathy and his 
 conviction are revealed in this letter : 
 
WAR RECORD. 21 
 
 TREMONT HOUSE, CHICAGO, June 2, 1856. 
 Editors of the Chicago Daily Tribune : 
 
 Herewith I send draft on Metropolitan Bank, New 
 York, for one hundred dollars, which I will thank you 
 to hand to the appropriate committee for distributing 
 material aid to our hunted and oppressed brethren in 
 Kansas. Residing in the State of New York, to which 
 I shall not return for several days, I am induced to 
 contribute my mite here, that it may be made available 
 as soon as possible. I shall always number among the 
 cherished events of my life, that I had the opportunity 
 of attending the meeting in this city on Saturday even 
 ing last. To see here, in the residence of Douglass, 
 such a breaking away from party trammels ; such a 
 spontaneous and hearty outburst of sympathetic free 
 dom, and of determined resistance to oppression and 
 wrong, makes one more hopeful for the future, and is 
 an encouraging indication that the free North is at last 
 aroused, and will assert and maintain its just rights in 
 
 the government Now that the banner is 
 
 thrown to the breeze, there will be no faltering in its 
 support. Kansas will inevitably become free. Slavery 
 
 has made its last stride I 
 
 W. A. WHEELER. 
 
 A few days after the firing on Sumter, a meeting of 
 the citizens of Malone was held, at which Mr. Wheeler 
 made a stirring appeal to his fellow-citizens to sustain 
 the government, and headed a subscription for the re- 
 
22 THE LOUISIANA ADJUSTMENT. 
 
 lief of soldiers families with $1000. During the two 
 following years he was in Congress, where he was 
 among the foremost in devising and urging ways and 
 means for the successful prosecution of the war. He 
 also gave a large amount of time and attention to car 
 ing for the soldiers from his State, making use of his 
 extensive banking connections to forward their earnings 
 to their families, and in every possible way, contribu 
 ting to their comfort and looking after their interests. 
 If soldiers gratitude could be quarried, Mr. Wheeler s 
 bundles of letters contain enough to make a pyramid. 
 
 THE LOUISIANA ADJUSTMENT. 
 
 Probably the one act of Mr. Wheeler s life which 
 comes nearest to furnishing a measure of the real power 
 and greatness of the man, is his management of the 
 Louisiana difficulties in 1875. This is often referred to 
 as the " Wheeler compromise." But it was not in the 
 ordinary sense of the term a compromise ; Mr. Wheeler 
 himself does not so style it ; but an adjustment, a plan 
 which aimed first to determine what was just between 
 the two contending parties and then to bring both 
 parties to accept it. The situation was one of the an 
 griest and most threatening among all the scenes which 
 have attended the progress of reconstruction at the 
 South. Intimidation and proscription of the colored 
 voting population on the one side, false returns and 
 military interference on the other ; two hostile factions 
 with inflammable Southern passions already heated to 
 madness ; leaders on both sides eager to head, but nn- 
 
THE LOUISIANA ADJUSTMENT. 23 
 
 able to guide their followers ; the semblance of a legis 
 lature in session and therefore no colorable pretext ex 
 isting for calling in Federal aid to meet the progress of 
 sedition ; here were all the elements of a revolution in 
 which violence. and atrocity would have run full riot. 
 Where was the hand that could stay the disaster, and 
 bring these wild elements into harmony ? "Was there a 
 man in the nation who, answering Virgil s description, 
 revered for his piety and services, could " soothe with 
 sober words their angry mood," and lay this storm of 
 sectional and political passion ? It would be hazardous 
 to say that there was more than one : one, happily, there 
 was. Mr. Wheeler, having by means of his position on 
 the Committee on Southern Affairs become thoroughly 
 informed of the facts in the case, first decided in his 
 own mind upon a plan of adjustment, and then went 
 to New Orleans and laid it before the most ultra men 
 of both parties, urging it upon them with all the force 
 of cogent reasoning and strong appeal. Having secured 
 the assent of the leaders, his next and harder task was 
 to bring over the masses of the two parties to accept 
 the plan proposed. While this was in process, Mr. 
 Wheeler remained in New Orleans during a long month 
 of toil and peril, exposed to popular insult, threatened 
 with assassination, on one occasion actually fired on, 
 but holding firmly to his original scheme against all 
 appeals for modifications urged upon him, now by one 
 side, now by the other, until the adjustment was finally 
 effected, and Louisiana had peace. And be it under 
 stood that in all this Mr. Wheeler, though a member of 
 
24 AS RAILROAD MANAGER. 
 
 the Committee of Congress on Southern Affairs, was 
 clothed with no authority to enforce his views. The 
 settlement he effected cannot even be called an arbitra 
 tion, for the contending parties had not agreed to sub 
 mit their differences to him. It was the case of a citi 
 zen of the United States going to the rescue of his 
 fellow citizens involved in difficulty and persuading 
 them to accept deliverance at his hands. And never 
 before in our history has one man so changed the con 
 dition and prospects of a whole State as did Mr. Wheeler 
 in Louisiana, though acting unofficially, and carrying his 
 measures by sheer force of character. It is pleasant to 
 be able to add that during a subsequent visit to New 
 Orleans, made for the purpose of aiding the execution 
 of his plan, Mr. Wheeler found himself the applauded 
 and feted hero of that brilliant city, the two parties 
 vying with each in doing him homage. 
 
 AS RAILROAD MANAGER. 
 
 In endeavoring to give some continuity to the ac 
 count of Mr. Wheeler s political career, we have passed 
 by a large section of his life during which he devoted 
 himself to business pursuits. He was cashier of the 
 Malone Bank from 1851 to 1865. In 1854, he was 
 appointed one of the trustees of the second mortgage 
 bonds of the old Northern Railroad, which has since 
 been merged in the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain 
 Railroad. As president of the Board of Trustees, he 
 was virtually manager of the road for eleven years. 
 When it first came into his hands, the bonds were sell- 
 
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. PERSONAL TRAITS. 25 
 
 ing for four and five cents on the dollar ; but obtaining 
 a decree of the court allowing the trustees to bid in 
 the road, he raised the property for the benefit of the 
 bondholders, until every dollar of the bonds was pay 
 ing a fair interest to the holders. Mr. Wheeler him 
 self never owned a dollar of the securities of the road. 
 On laying down his trust in 1865, his accounts for the 
 total period of his trusteeship were audited and allowed 
 by the Supreme Court, and he was fully discharged by 
 decree of the court, to which all persons interested 
 were made parties. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 
 
 For many years past, Mr. Wheeler has been a mem 
 ber of the Congregational church in Malone. He 
 maintains worship in his family, takes part in the de 
 votional meetings of his church, and is earnest in all 
 Christian activities and benevolences. As, however, he 
 is broader than his party in politics, so his religious 
 sympathies extend beyond his own denomination in the 
 Church. A few years ago, when the Methodists of 
 Malone .built a new church edifice, Mr. Wheeler gave 
 $1000 to aid the enterprise. Other denominations 
 have also had from him liberal testimonials of his in 
 terest in their prosperity. 
 
 PERSONAL TRAITS. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler has a dignified and commanding pres 
 ence ; his manners are cordial ; his conversation is un 
 usually interesting, as that of a man who has seen and 
 
26 A REPRESENTATIVE MAN. 
 
 thought much, and who takes pleasure in sharing his 
 views with others. His face has an expression of min 
 gled sternness and sweetness, saying to you at the first 
 look, " Here is a man whom no one would dare ask to 
 do wrong," and at the second look, " Here is a man of 
 whom any one may ask a kindness." 
 
 A REPRESENTATIVE MAN. 
 
 Take him for all in all, Mr. Wheeler is a representa 
 tive American. His political principles are grounded 
 in the fundamental ideas of American Republicanism. 
 He is in cordial sympathy with the people and is an 
 exponent of their best spirit and purpose. Endowed 
 with faculties whose combination begets that rarest in 
 telligence which in private life we call good sense and 
 in a statesman wisdom ; raised by education to the level 
 of our ablest men in self-respect and in the power to 
 maintain opinions in their presence, and yet not lifted 
 out of the associations and sympathies of the common 
 people ; a man of such rare purity of character that 
 although he has been in public office nearly all his life, 
 his reputation, even in these scandalous time?, is unsul 
 lied by even the breath of suspicion ; a " plain man," 
 a true gentleman, a wise statesman, a sincere Christian, 
 Mr. Wheeler is a man singularly fitted, in this time of 
 revived national spirit, to represent the American peo 
 ple and the results of a century of American institu 
 tions, in one of the two national offices directly in the 
 gift of the people. May they not lose their opportu 
 nity ! 
 
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 27 
 
 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 MALONE, July 15, 1876. 
 
 Hon. Edward McPherson, and others of the Com 
 mittee of the Republican National Convention : 
 GENTLEMEN : I received, on the 6th inst., youi 
 communication advising me that I had been unani 
 mously nominated by the National Convention of the 
 Republican party, held at Cincinnati on the 14th ult., 
 for the office of Vice-President of the United States ; 
 and requesting my acceptance of the same, and asking 
 my attention to the summary of Republican doctrines 
 contained in the platform adopted by the convention. 
 
 A nomination made with such unanimity implies a 
 confidence on the part of the Convention which in 
 spires my profound gratitude. It is accepted with a 
 sense of the responsibility which may follow. If elect 
 ed, I shall endeavor to perform the duties of the office 
 in the fear of the Supreme Ruler, and in the interest 
 of the whole country. 
 
 To the summary of doctrines enunciated by the 
 Convention I give my cordial assent. The Republican 
 party has intrenched in the organic law of our land 
 the doctrine that liberty is the supreme, unchangeable 
 law for every foot of American soil. It is the mission 
 of that party to give full effect to this principle by 
 " securing to every American citizen complete liberty 
 and exact equality in the exercise of all civil, political, 
 and public rights." This will be accomplished only 
 when the American citizen, without regard to color, 
 
28 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 shall wear this panoply of citizenship as fully and as 
 securely in the cane brakes of Louisiana as on the 
 banks of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 Upon the question of our Southern relations, my 
 views were recently expressed as a member of the 
 Committee of the United States House of Represen 
 tatives upon Southern Affairs. Those views remain 
 unchanged, and were thus expressed : 
 
 " We of the North delude ourselves in expecting 
 that the masses of the South, so far behind in many 
 of the attributes of enlightened improvement and civil 
 ization, are, in the brief period of ten or fifteen years, 
 to be transformed into our model Northern communi 
 ties. That can only come through a long course of 
 patient waiting, to which no one can now set certain 
 bounds. There will be a good deal of unavoidable fric 
 tion, which will call for forbearance, and which will 
 have to be relieved by the temperate, fostering care of 
 the government. One of the most potent, if not in 
 dispensable agencies in this direction, will be the de 
 vising of some system to aid in the education of the 
 masses. The fact that there are whole counties in 
 Louisiana in which there is not a solitary school- 
 house, is full of suggestion. We compelled these peo 
 ple to remain in the Union, and now duty and interest 
 demand that we leave no just means untried to make 
 them good, loyal citizens. How to diminish the fric 
 tion, how to stimulate the elevation of this portion of 
 our country, are problems addressing themselves to our 
 best and wisest statesmanship. The foundation for 
 
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 29 
 
 these efforts must be laid in satisfying the Southern 
 people that they are to have equal, exact justice ac 
 corded to them. Give them, to the fullest extent, 
 every blessing which the government confers upon the 
 most favored give them no just cause for complaint, 
 and then hold them, by every necessary means, to an 
 exact, rigid observance of all their duties and obliga 
 tions under the Constitution and its amendments to se 
 cure to all within their borders manhood and citizen 
 ship, with every right thereto belonging." 
 
 The just obligations to public creditors, created when 
 the government was in the throes of threatened disso 
 lution, and as an indispensable condition of its salva 
 tion guarantied by the lives and blood of thousands 
 of its brave defenders are to be kept with religious 
 faith, as are all the pledges subsidiary thereto and con 
 firmatory thereof. 
 
 In my judgment the pledge of Congress of January 
 14, 1875, for the redemption of the notes of the United 
 States in coin, is the plighted faith of the nation, and 
 national honor, simple honesty, and justice to the peo 
 ple whose permanent welfare and prosperity are de 
 pendent upon true money, as the basis of their pecuni 
 ary transactions, all demand the scrupulous observance 
 of this pledge, and it is the duty of Congress to sup 
 plement it with such legislation as shall be necessary 
 for its strict fulfillment. 
 
 In our system of government intelligence must give 
 safety and value to the ballot. Hence the common 
 schools of the land should be preserved in all their 
 
30 LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 
 
 vigor, while in accordance with the spirit of the con 
 stitution, they and all their endowments should be 
 secured by every possible and proper guaranty against 
 every form of sectarian influence or control. 
 
 There should be the strictest economy in the ex 
 penditures of the government consistent with its effec 
 tive administration, and all unnecessary offices should 
 be abolished. Offices should be conferred only upon 
 the basis of high character and particular fitness, and 
 should be admistered only as public trusts, and not for 
 private advantage. 
 
 The foregoing are chief among the cardinal principles 
 of the Republican party, and to carry them into full, 
 practical effect is the work it now has in hand. To 
 the completion of its great mission we address our 
 selves in hope and confidence, cheered and stimulated 
 by the recollection of its past achievements ; remem 
 bering that, under God, it is to that party that we are 
 indebted in this centennial year of our existence for a 
 preserved, unbroken Union ; for the fact that there is 
 no master or slave throughout our broad domains, and 
 that emancipated millions look upon the ensign of the 
 Republic as the symbol of the fulfilled declaration that 
 all men are created free and equal, and the guaranty 
 of their own equality, under the law, with the most 
 highly favored citizen of the land. 
 
 To the intelligence and conscience of all who desire 
 good government, good will, good money, and universal 
 prosperity, the Republican party, not unmindful of the 
 imperfection and short-comings of human organizations, 
 
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. 31 
 
 yet with the honest purpose of its masses promptly to 
 retrieve all errors and to summarily punish all offenders 
 against the laws of the country, confidently submits 
 its claims for the continued support of the American 
 people. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 WILLIAM A. WHEELER. 
 
Political and Philosophical Works. 
 
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