PROSPECT OF WAR--A.D. 1835.
The dark portentous cloud seemed to hang above our horizon. It looked
dark and threatening, (and more terrible because the disputants were
members of the same family). We thought it might break upon our heads at
any time. The seat of war being so near us, the country so new and
inhabitants so few, made it look still more alarming to me. I asked
father how many inhabitants we had in our territory and how many the
State of Ohio contained. He said there were as many as fifteen or twenty
to our one. I asked him if he thought the Michigan men would be able to
defend Toledo against so many. He said that Michigan was settled by the
bravest men. That almost every man owned a rifle and was a good shot for
a pigeon's head. He thought they would be able to keep them at bay until
the government would interfere and help us. He said, to, that Governor
Mason was a fearless, brave, courageous man. That he had called for
militia and volunteers and was going himself with General Brown, at the
head of his men, to defend the rights of Michigan.
One day, about this time, I was at Dearbornville; they had a fife and
drum there and were beating up for militia and volunteers. A young man by
the name of William Ozee had volunteered. I was well acquainted with him;
he had been at our house frequently. Sometimes, in winter, he had chopped
for us and I had hunted with him. He had a good rifle and was certainly a
sharp shooter. I found that he beat me handily, but I made up my mind it
was because he had a better rifle and I was considerable younger than he.
I saw him at Dearbornville just before he went away. He told me to tell
my folks that he was a soldier and was going to the war to defend them;
that Governor Mason had called for troops and he was going with him. We
heard in a short time that he was at Toledo. We also learned that
Governor Lucas, of Ohio, with General Bell and staff, with an army of
volunteers, all equipped ready for war, had advanced as far as Fort
Miami. But Governor Mason was too quick for the Ohio Governor. He called
upon General Brown to raise the Michigan militia, and said that his bones
might bleach at Toledo before he would give up one foot of the territory
of Michigan; said he would accompany the soldiers himself, to the
disputed ground. He, with General Brown, soon raised a force of about a
thousand men and took possession of Toledo; while the Governor of Ohio,
with volunteers, was fooling away the time at Fort Miami. When we heard
that Governor Mason had arrived at Toledo, we wondered if we should hear
the roar of his cannon. Sometimes I listened. We thought if it was still
and the wind favorable, we might hear them, and we expected every day
there would be a battle.
But when Governor Lucas learned how determined Governor Mason was, and
that he had at his back a thousand Michigan braves, and most of them
with their rifles in their hands, ready to receive him, he made up his
mind that he had better let them alone. We afterward learned that
Governor Lucas only had six or eight hundred men. The conclusion was,
that if they had attacked the Michigan boys at Toledo, they would have
gotten badly whipped, and those of them left alive would have made good
time running for the woods, and would have wished that they had never
heard of Michigan men. Perhaps the Ohio Governor thought that discretion
was the better part of valor. He employed his time for several days,
watching over the line. May be he employed some of his time thinking if
it could be possible that Governor Mason and General Brown were going to
subjugate Ohio, or at least a part of it, and annex it to the territory
of Michigan.
Let this be as it may; while he seemed to be undecided, two commissioners
from Washington put in an appearance and remonstrated with him. They told
him what the fearful consequences, to him and his State, would be, if he
tried to follow out his plan to gain possession of the disputed
territory. These commissioners held several conferences with both
Governors. They submitted to them several propositions for their
consideration, and for the settlement of the important dispute. Their
proposition was this: that the inhabitants, residing on the disputed
ground, should be left to their own government. Obeying one or the other,
as they might prefer, without being disturbed by the authorities of
either Michigan or Ohio. They were to remain thus until the close of the
next session of Congress. Here we see the impossibility of man being
subjected to and serving two masters, for, "He will love the one and hate
the other, or hold to the one and despise the other."
Governor Lucas was glad to get out of the scrape. He embraced the
proposition, disbanded his men and left the disputed ground. Governor
Mason considered himself master of the situation; Toledo and the disputed
territory were under his control. He would not compromise the rights of
his people, and he considered that it rightly belonged to Michigan. He
disbanded a part of his force and sent them home, but kept enough
organized so that he could act in case of emergency. He kept an eagle eye
upon the "Buckeyes" to see that our territorial laws were executed
promptly and they were executed vigorously. In doing it one Michigan man
was wounded, his would-be murderer ran away to Ohio and was protected by
Governor Lucas. The man who was wounded was a deputy-sheriff of Monroe
County. He was stabbed with a knife. His was the only blood spilled. Some
few surveyors and Ohio sympathizers were arrested and put into jail at
Monroe. But Uncle Sam put his foot down, to make peace in the family. He
said if we would submit, after awhile we might shine as a star in the
constellation of the Union. So we were promised a star in a prominent
place in the old flag and territory enough, north of us, for a State. To
be sure it is not quite so sunny a land as that near Toledo, and our
Governor and others did not like to acquiesce in the decision of the
government, yet they had to yield to Uncle Sam's superior authority.
Then they did not imagine that the upper peninsula was so rich a mining
country. They little knew at that time that its very earth contained, in
its bosom and under its pure waters, precious metals, iron, copper and
silver enough to make a State rich. Finally our people consented and the
Territory of Michigan put on her glory as a State. Became a proud member
of the Union; her star was placed in the banner of the free. It has since
sparkled upon every sea and been seen in every port throughout the
civilized world, as the emblem of the State of Michigan.
In the excitement of the Toledo war we looked upon the Ohio men
unfavorably. We were interested for ourselves, and might have been
somewhat selfish and conceited, and, maybe, jealous of our neighbors, and
thought them wrong in the fray. We had forgotten that there were then men
living in Ohio, in log houses and cabins, some of them as brave men as
ever walked the footstool; that they came to Michigan and rescued the
country from the invaders, the English and savages, long before some of
us knew that there was such a place as Michigan. When Michigan was almost
a trackless wilderness they crossed Lake Erie, landed at Malden, drove
the redcoats out of the fort and started them on the double quick. They
made for the Canadian woods, and the British and Indians, who held
Detroit, followed suit. They were followed by our brave William Henry
Harrison, accompanied by Ohio and Kentucky men to the Thames. There, at
one blow, the Americans subjected the most of Upper Canada and punished
the invaders of Michigan, who had the hardihood to set their hostile feet
upon her territory. It seems as though it must have been right that the
strip of country at Toledo was given to the brave men, some at least of
whom long years before, defended it with their lives and helped to raise
again the American flag at Detroit.
In about five years from the time of the Toledo War, William Henry
Harrison, of Ohio, was nominated, by the Whig party, for President, and
John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice President, of the United States. The
intelligence spread like wild-fire. It went from town to town and from
county to county, through the brand-new State of Michigan. General
Harrison appeared to be the coming man. The Whigs of Ohio and Michigan
met and shook hands, like brothers, over the difficulties of the past;
now they had a more patriotic undertaking before them. In union with the
rest of the Whig party of the United States, they were to elect the old
farmer of the West, the good man who loved his country. In its defence he
had won imperishable honors. After he laid down his armor he resided in a
log house and was often clad in the habiliments of a husbandman. Now he
was nominated for President of the United States. With such a candidate
for the presidency men's hearts leaped for joy in anticipation of a
victory at the ballot-box in the fall of 1840.
The nomination of General Harrison raised quite an excitement throughout
the entire country. Even in Dearborn, what few Whigs there were in the
town united as one man, entered upon the campaign and banded themselves
together to work for the good of the Whig party. Alonzo T. Mather was one
who stood at the head of the party in Dearborn. He was a man noted for
his good religious principles, and was one of the most prominent and
influential citizens of the town. He was sent to the Legislature, at
Detroit, for Wayne county, one term and held other offices of trust and
honor. He was the chieftain of his party and one of the prime movers in
getting up a log cabin in Dearborn. This log cabin was built on large
truck wheels. When finished it appeared somewhat the shape of a log car.
It was thought necessary to have something on board to eat and drink. It
was desired to make all typical and commemorative of the veteran,
pioneer, farmer and general who had escaped the bullets of the savages at
Tippecanoe, although he was a special mark for them, without a scar and
the loss only of a lock of hair, which was clipped off by a bullet. This,
too, was the man who shared his own supplies with his soldiers when they
were reduced to the necessity of eating horse flesh. Now, in honor to
such a man, the Whig bakers of Dearborn made a "Johnny cake" at least ten
feet long and the width of it was in proportion to the length. They
patted it with care, smoothed it over nicely and baked it before the
fire. It was a good, plump cake, and nothing like it was ever seen in
Dearborn, before or since. Careful hands put it on board the log cabin,
also a barrel of hard cider was put on board.
At this time, although the country was new, politics ran high in
Dearborn. A friendly invitation was sent around to the farmers to come,
at a certain time, with their ox-teams and help draw the log cabin to its
destination and accompany the Whig delegation with it to Detroit. I knew
one Democrat who, when invited, refused to go. He appeared to be rather
eccentric. He said, "I allow that my oxen are not broke to work on
either side, and they are too Democratic to pull on both sides of the
fence at one and the same time." He considered the excitement of the
people, their building log cabins and baking such "Johnny cakes" boyish
and foolish. He said, in fact, that those who were doing it were "on the
wrong side." Many of the Democratic frontier men admired General Harrison
for his great worth as a man and liked his having a national reputation
for bravery. They said he was an honor to America as an American citizen
and soldier, but that he was on the wrong side.
At that time I was in my teens and looking anxiously forward for time to
help me to the elective franchise. Perhaps, I should state here that
father was a Democrat as long ago as I can remember. In York State he was
a strong Jackson man and coming into the woods of Michigan did not change
his political principles. He was an irrepressible Democrat and remained
one. Jackson was his ideal statesman. When he went to Dearbornville to
attend town meeting or election, he almost invariably carried a hickory
cane, with the bark on it as it grew, in honor of "Old Hickory." He was
always known by his townsmen as a staunch Democrat. It was natural for
his young family, to claim to be Democrats in principle, in their
isolated home.
The first settlers in our neighborhood, on the Ecorse, were Democrats,
with one exception, and that one was Mr. Blare. He often visited at our
house, and to tease my little brother, then five or six years old, told
him that he must be a Whig, he would make a good one, that he was a Whig,
he appeared like one and so forth. Brother denied it stoutly and said
that he would not be a Whig for any one. This amused Mr. Blare very much
for some time. Finally, when he called one day, he said he was going to
have company, he could see plainly that J.S. was changing to a Whig very
fast. J.S. denied it as strongly as ever, but it was evident that the
idea of being a Whig troubled him greatly. One morning (a short time
after Mr. Blare had been talking to him) he was crying bitterly. Mother
said she thought it very strange that he should cry so and tried
sometimes, in vain, to persuade him to tell her what the trouble was.
Finally she threatened to punish him if he did not let her know what the
difficulty was. At last he said he was afraid he was turning to be a
Whig. Mother assured him that it was not so. She said there was no danger
of her little boy changing into a Whig, not in the least. J.S. has often
been reminded, since he became a man, of the time Mr. Blare came so near
making a Whig of him.
But back to that cabin. There were plenty of men who volunteered and took
their teams. They hitched a long string of them, I think twenty-two yoke
of oxen, to the trucks. Quite a large crowd, for Dearborn, of old and
young, were on hand to witness the start. Most of them appeared very
enthusiastic. Each gave vent to some expression of admiration like the
following: "The General is the man for me;" or, "He is one of the people,
one with the people, one for the people, one with us and we are for him."
That's my sentiment, said one and another. After such exclamations and
the singing of a spirited campaign song, the order was given to start the
teams. The large wheels rolled and the log cabin began to move. Nearly
all appeared to be excited and there was some confusion of voices. Cheer
after cheer arose clear and high for the honest old farmer of North Bend.
I learned afterward that the march to Detroit was one continued ovation.
As a matter of course, I didn't go with them. I was too busy, at that
time, taking lessons and studying my politics, and all that sort of thing
at home in the woods.