My Reason for Taking Part in the Civil War--The Dignity of Labor--The
Firm Mattson & Webster--_Svenska Amerikanaren_, its Program and
Reception--The State Emigration Bureau of Minnesota--Its Aim, Plan and
Work.
The war which closed with the events narrated in the last chapter was
one of the most important of modern times, and proved the greatness and
the resources of the American people never properly appreciated before.
But it revealed a still greater nobility of character when our immense
army, after four years' service, suddenly disbanded, its soldiers
quietly and peacefully returning to their common daily toil without the
least disorder or disturbance of any kind. The swords were turned into
plowshares as quietly and naturally as if they never had been steeped in
blood.
For my own part--and that was undoubtedly the case with most of our
volunteers--I entered the service because I considered it to be my duty
to do my little part in defending the country which had adopted me as a
citizen, and not, as many have supposed, on account of ambition or for
the sake of gain; in fact, as has been shown already, I resigned a more
important and remunerative position in the civil service than the one I
first accepted in the army; hence it was quite easy for me to exchange
the uniform for the plain garb of the citizen and hang my sword among
the reminiscences of the past.
One day shortly after my arrival home, while walking along a street in
Red Wing, I noticed a former professor of a university, who had been a
captain in the Sixth regiment working in his shirt sleeves with a plane
and helping to build a house. After saluting him I asked how he liked
this kind of work, to which he answered that another professor had been
appointed in his place while he was in the war, and being through with
the service, he neither liked nor could afford to be idle. Having
acquired some skill in handling carpenter's tools in his youth, he said
he found it easy to get work at two dollars a day, and meanwhile he
could be on the look-out for a position as professor of mathematics at
some college or university.
Here is the key to the greatness of this country: Labor is respected,
while in most other countries it is looked down upon with slight. The
former professor and Capt. Wilson was soon thereafter appointed state
superintendent of schools, while, if he had remained idle and dependent
upon his relatives and friends for assistance, too proud to work, he
would most likely have been looking around for something to turn up to
this day.
Another little incident, which occurred about this time may interest the
Swedish reader. The great Gen. Sherman visited St. Paul, and a banquet
was given to him at which I was present. During the conversation I asked
about the Swedish Gen. Stohlbrand. "Do you know him?" Gen. Sherman
inquired. "Yes, sir; he is my countryman, and we served in the same
regiment in Sweden," I said. "Then," said he, "you may be proud of your
old comrade, for a braver man and a better artillery officer than Gen.
Stohlbrand could not be found in our entire army."
At the same time the general told the following: Stohlbrand had served
in his corps for some time with the rank of major, and performed such
services as properly belong to a colonel or brigadier-general without
being promoted according to his merits, because there had been no
vacancy in the regiment to which he belonged. Displeased with this,
Stohlbrand sent in his resignation, which was accepted, but Sherman had
made up his mind not to let him leave the army, and asked him to go by
way of Washington on his return home, pretending that he wished to send
some important dispatches to President Lincoln. In due time Stohlbrand
arrived in Washington and handed a sealed package to President Lincoln
in person. Having looked the papers through the president extended his
hand exclaiming: "How do you do, General!" Stohlbrand, correcting him,
said; "I am no general, I am only a major." "You are mistaken," said
Lincoln, "you are a general,"--and he was from that moment. In a few
hours he received his commission and returned to the army with a rank
three degrees higher than that he held a few days before.
The subject of the conversation thus being Swedish officers, several
honorable deeds were told of some of them, among others, how Col.
Vegesack, his regiment making a charge with leveled bayonets, and his
color-bearer receiving a mortal wound, himself seized the colors and led
his regiment to victory.
Soon after the close of the war a well-known lawyer and myself opened a
law office in Red Wing, the name of the new firm being Mattson &
Webster. I had successfully practiced law but a few months when it was
announced that a new Swedish newspaper, to be called _Svenska
Amerikanaren_, was to be established in Chicago. This enterprise was
backed by a number of prominent Swedes of Illinois, who appointed me
editor in chief without my knowledge or solicitation. At that time there
was only one Swedish newspaper in this country, viz., _Hemlandet_, which
was more of a church than a political paper, hence this was an open and
large field for me. I accepted the appointment on condition that I
should not move to Chicago, but simply help to start the paper and put
it on a firm footing, and that I should be allowed to resign in case I
found this kind of work unfavorable to my health, which had been very
seriously affected by the hardships and sufferings of the war.
On September 18, 1866, the first number of the _Svenska Amerikanaren_
was published. I quote from the article announcing my having assumed
editorial charge of the paper as follows: "It shall be my ambition to so
write as to advance the interest of the laboring people of our
nationality, and to guide them in becoming good American citizens. I am
one of that class myself, and during my residence in the settlements of
the West I have learned to know their wants." The paper was very
favorably received both in this country and in Sweden, and, under the
name of _Svenska Tribunen_, is still exercising a great and good
influence among the Swedish Americans.
The following winter (1867) the legislature of Minnesota established a
state bureau with the purpose of inducing immigrants to settle in the
state, and I was appointed by Gov. W. R. Marshall to be secretary of the
board of emigration, with the governor and secretary of state as
_ex-officio_ members; the Rev. John Ireland, now Catholic Archbishop of
Minnesota, was also for a time a member of that board.
The St. Paul _Press_ for March 14, 1867, contained the following
concerning the new board:
"The state board of emigration, composed of Gov. Marshall, Col. Rogers
and Col. Mattson, was organized yesterday, and a general plan of
operation agreed upon. We learn that the board concluded that, with the
limited means at their disposal, it was not advisable to employ agents
to work in Europe, but to use every practicable effort to turn
immigrants to Minnesota, after their arrival in this country. Efforts
will be made to procure the publication of facts in regard to the state,
in eastern and European journals; to make arrangements with railroads,
more advantageous to emigrants than, heretofore and to afford them
through interpreters and otherwise reliable information in regard to the
best routes to the state from eastern parts. To give the emigrant a
general idea of the characteristics of every locality in Minnesota, it
is proposed to procure a map or chart of the state, showing its
boundaries, streams, lakes, navigable rivers, timber and prairie
sections, etc."
One of my first and most pleasant duties as secretary of the board was
to secure aid for the settlers along the Minnesota river. This locality
had suffered from drought the previous year, and the settlers, most of
whom were Swedes, Norwegians and Finlanders, were almost entirely
destitute, and had no grain left for seed. Having secured an order from
the government in Washington for provisions from the commissary
department at Fort Ridgely, and being furnished with a letter of credit
from our own state, I left for the stricken territory in the beginning
of April, passing through the counties of Redwood, Renville, Yellow
Medicine and Chippewa. At New Ulm several hundred sacks of flour were
purchased, and at Fort Ridgely large quantities of provisions were taken
out of the United States military stores. Agents were appointed to
distribute these among the people, seed wheat and corn were shipped
there from the South, and the settlers were thus relieved.
Soon after my return to St. Paul the board of emigration was again
called together, and I was authorized to appoint Swedish, Norwegian and
German agents and interpreters to meet our emigrants in New York and
Quebec, and be their guides and protectors on the journey through the
country to our state. Temporary homes were also secured until the
commissioners in the service of the board could get work for those who
wanted to work out, and direct the rest to the interior of the state,
where they could settle on government land or buy cheap land from
private parties.
Arrangements were made with newspapers in different languages for
publishing articles written by myself and others, which contained
descriptions of Minnesota and its resources. Pamphlets and maps with
more detailed accounts, were printed in Swedish, Norwegian and German,
and distributed in the respective countries, on board the ocean
steamers, at the railroad stations and at other convenient places. I was
the author of nearly all of this literature, in which great pains were
taken to describe everything in detail; how the chests or boxes ought to
be made and marked before leaving the old country; what articles ought
to be taken along; what kind of provisions were most suitable; what
measures ought to be taken with reference to cleanliness and behavior
during the long and tedious journey, etc. On my visits among our western
farmers years afterwards I have often seen pamphlets in Swedish and
Norwegian with my name as author standing in the little bookshelf side
by side with the Bible, the prayer-book, the catechism, and a few other
reminiscences from the old country. I also spent some time attending to
the needs of the emigrants in the sea-ports and in Chicago, made
arrangements with railroad companies for securing better accommodations
and even free tickets for hundreds of emigrants, who would otherwise
have been compelled to part with their companions before reaching their
place of destination.
While performing my duty as secretary of the board of emigration I also
acted as land agent for one of our greatest railroad companies, whose
line went through Wright, Meeker, Kandiyohi, Swift and Stevens counties,
and near Lake Ripley, in Meeker county. I purchased some eight hundred
acres of land for myself, on which I made extensive improvements and
spent some time as a farmer.
[Illustration: LAKE RIPLEY.]
In the above-named localities there were only a few widely scattered
families when I went there in 1867, while it is now one continuous
Scandinavian settlement, extending over a territory more than a hundred
miles long and dotted over with cities and towns, largely the result of
the work of the board of emigration during the years 1867, 1868 and
1869. The board of emigration did not show partiality toward any
portion of the state, but did all its work with a view to the interest
of the whole community. Our efforts, however, in behalf of Minnesota
brought on a great deal of envy and ill-will from people in other states
who were interested in seeing the Scandinavian emigration turned towards
Kansas and other states, and this feeling went so far that a prominent
newspaper writer in Kansas accused me of selling my countrymen to a life
not much better than slavery in a land of ice, snow and perpetual
winter, where, if the poor emigrant did not soon starve to death, he
would surely perish with cold. Such was at that time the opinion of many
concerning Minnesota. I would be more than human if I did not, in
recalling these incidents, point with pride and satisfaction to the
condition of the Scandinavians in Minnesota to-day, but will return to
this further on.
The position which I held enabled me to be of service to countrymen in
more ways than one. Thus the interests of the church were by no means
neglected, and I think my readers will excuse me for inserting the
following lines from the minutes of the eighth annual council of the
Swedish Augustana Synod, held in Berlin, Ill., June 13, 1867:
"Whereas, The same conference reports that Col. Mattson has offered to
procure sites for churches, parsonages and burial grounds for Lutheran
churches in the new Scandinavian settlements in Western Minnesota,
"Therefore Resolved, That the synod express its thanks to Col. Mattson,
and request him to get deeds on said property to be given to the
different churches of the Augustana Synod, as soon as they are organized
at the different places."
It has always been admitted that during those years the emigrants
destined for Minnesota received better care, guidance and protection
than was ever accorded to a like class before or after that time. It is
also acknowledged that the state received great benefits in return by
being settled by a superior class of emigrants from the northern
countries. As for my own share in that work, although my efforts were
sometimes misunderstood and I myself blamed, as any one will be who has
to deal with newly-arrived emigrants, I felt much pride and satisfaction
in the work, knowing that not only the state, but the emigrants
themselves, and even the serving and laboring classes remaining in the
old countries, were very greatly benefited thereby. While laboring hard
for immigration to Minnesota my chief object was to get the emigrants
away from the large cities and make them settle on the unoccupied lands
in the northwest, where the climate was suitable to them, and where it
was morally certain that every industrious man or family would acquire
independence sooner and better than in the crowded cities of the east. I
never attempted to induce anyone to immigrate, but tried to reach those
only who had already made up their minds to do so, and the only people
that I ever induced to leave their mother country were a number of poor
servants and tenants among my own or my parents' acquaintances for whom
I myself paid partly or wholly the cost of the journey.