CHAPTER IX

PATRIOTISM OF SENECA COUNTY

"REMEMBER THE ALAMO❞—FREMONT'S FAMOUS CHARGE"SENECA COUNTY IN THE WARS, BY CAPTAIN FRANK R. STEWART -THE MEXICAN WAR-THE CONFLICT OVER SLAVERY-THE CIVIL WAR'S FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS THE COUNTY'S FIRST SOLDIER AND COMPANY-GENERAL GIBSONS'S APPEAL OFFICERS OF THE FIFTYNINTH INFANTRY-GREAT RECORD OF THE FORTY-NINTH THE FIFTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT THE SEVENTY-SECOND AND THE TWENTY-FIFTH-THE FIFTY-FIFTH INFANTRY-THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIRST (1862)-THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-THIRDNINETY-DAY VOLUNTEERS-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.

Patriotism has ages for its own; and the history of patriotic deeds live after nations perish.

The graves of soldiers are, in a certain sense, like those of the saints, on an equality. The place where an officer is buried, like that of a private, is simply the grave of a soldier. Death obliterates all class, distinction and rank. The grave of an humble Christian is on an equal with that of a prelate, for-"The graves of all His saints He blessed." While in death all are equal, each while living has an individual part and place.

Upon a bloody page of history is a record of American bravery and devotion to principle excelled no where else in the annals of the world. It is the story of the Alamo. For several days the Mexican army under Santa Ana had bombarded the fortress and on February 23. (1836) the Alamo was stormed-four thousand infuriated Mexicans against one hundred and eighty-three Americans, (Texan patriots). Charge after charge had been repelled, and for every patriot killed a dozen Mexicans bit the dust. When the Mexicans entered the last enclosure, but six of the defenders of the Alamo were alive-Crockett and five of his comrades. Santa Ana's chief of staff then implored Crockett to surrender and thus spare the lives of his comrades and himself. But Crockett would not surrender. And when the Mexicans made the final charge, the last

man of the little band of patriots was shot down. The Alamo was taken, but its capture cost Santa Ana four thousand men. Every man of the little American band of the defenders of the Alamo died at his post. Thermopylae had its messenger of defeat-the Alamo

had none.

"Remember the Alamo," was the rallying cry of the Texan patriots. When General Houston defeated Santa Ana at Jacinto, which victory assured the independence of Texas and its annexation to the American union.

General Sam Houston, in after years, in a speech at San Antonio said that, "Whatever state gave us birth, we have one native land and one flag." This patriotic sentiment struck a responsive chord in the vast audience before him, and as the American flag was displayed from the Alamo, thousands of smaller flags were waved-the greatest flag scene in American history. The thunder of cannon was answered by the thunder of voices and the clapping of hands. In answer to this demonstration, General Houston said: "Far off, far off, yet louder than any noise on earth, I hear from the dead years and the dead heroes of the Alamo the hurrahing of spirit voices and clapping of unseen hands."

There was a law in ancient Greece that "He who receives his death while fighting in the front of battle shall have an annual oration spoken in his honor." But Americans need no decree to honor their soldier dead. Prompted by the fullness of grateful hearts, the graves of American soldiers are decorated each returning May time. No matter if those graves are beneath the sweeping shadows of the pines, or in the sun-kissed verdure of the unsheltered sod, whether in the beautiful cemeteries of the north, or whether they are simply unmarked graves in the chastened south, or in the islands of the sea, whether the storms rage over them or whether the birds fill the air with the melody of their songs, the hallowed graves of American soldiers are everywhere revered and honored.

The famous charge of General John C. Fremont's Body Guard, under the leadership of Colonel Zagonyi at Springfield, Mo.. October 25, 1861, is referred to by some writers as being almost equal to the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. The guard engaged in the famous charge numbered but a hundred and sixty men, while the rebel force was over three thousand. The dash, daring and bravery of the guard is pointed to with pride by every American patriot. The loss of the guard was fifty-three out of one hundred and forty-eight men actually engaged in the charge. The rebel loss, was very great, but the number was never definitely ascertained. The march of the guard has been referred to as follows: "With lips compressed, firmly clenching their sword-hilts, with quick tramp of hoof and clang of steel, honor leading and glory awaiting them, the young soldiers flew forward, each brave

rider and each strange steed members of one huge creation, enormous, terrible, irresistable."

"Twere worth ten years of peaceful life,

One glance at their array."

SENECA COUNTY IN THE WARS.

(By Captain Frank R. Stewart.)

A history of Seneca county would be incomplete that did not take cognizance of the loyalty and patriotism of its citizens. Since the organization of Seneca county in 1820, the nation as well as the state and county have passed through military conflicts, both at home and abroad, some of which have taxed to the utmost the loyal and patriotic devotion of her people. In all these conflicts the people of Seneca county have ever been ready with their treasury and lives in the cause of liberty, of justice and the relief of the oppressed.

Seneca county came into the sisterhood of counties too late to participate in the Indian wars of the northwest, or in the war with Great Britian in 1812 to 1814. And yet the early settlers who afterward were instrumental in organizing the county were active participants in both of these wars. The first call to arms, after the organization of Seneca county, was in the Mexican war in 18461848.

The majority of the people of Ohio were opposed to the course of the government in inaugurating and carrying out the measures which precipitated the Mexican war. The vexed question of slavery entered very largely into the action of the government. Iowa and Florida-the one a free and the other a slave state-had just been admitted into the Union, Florida in March, 1845, and Iowa in December, 1846. The balance of power which the two sections of the country watched with jealous eyes was thought to be nicely adjusted. If admitted to the Union Texas would become a slave state, by far the largest in the Union and capable of being subdivided into two or three slave states, thus giving increased power to the pro-slavery party. The Whig party in the northern and western states held that a war to annex Texas would be a war for the extension of slavery. The feeling of this party was eloquently voiced by Ohio's Senator, Thomas Corwin.

However, when the fiat of the nation was known, the state of Ohio was not behind others in cheerful compliance with war's necessities. And in proportion to her population Seneca sent its full share of volunteers. From Monterey to Chapultepec they

shared in that singularly brilliant record, where not one defeat for the American arms was chronicled, and where the victories were always against odds, a record unparallelled in the history of wars. It is a matter of regret that sixty-two years have elapsed since that memorable epoch without any executive or legislative action being taken to gather a record of either of the company or individual service of these soldiers.

The fears of the majority of the northern people regarding the annexation of additional slave territory were justified by the intolerant attitude of the pro-slavery people of the southern states. The admission of Texas to the Union lent new impetus to their zeal for the extension of slavery and led to an uncompromising contest through all political and legislative avenues of the nation for the admission of slavery into the new states of Kansas and Nebraska, when these territories applied for statehood in the Union.

It would be impossible to embody in the history of Seneca county anything approaching a detailed account of the bitter controversy between the two great political parties of the nation, which led up to the pro-slavery element of the Democratic party making the election of Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1860, the occasion, not the cause, of the attempted secession of the slave states of the south. While the sectional feeling, both north and south, had been running at high tension during the fall and early winter of 1860, no one, except the most radical leaders of the south, had any conception of the magnitude to which the secession sentiment of the south would grow. The John Brown raid, with his execution on the gallows and the firing on Fort Sumter, like a volcanic shock, startled the nation from ocean to ocean, and awoke the people to the danger of the storm clouds which had been gathering around the national horizon. Everybody realized that war was on. The time had now arrived when the great issues, which had been under discussion and which had created such intense excitement in the political arena, had passed the point of national debate and must now be settled, not in the halls of congress, but by the stern arbiter of

arms.

The whole nation was aroused as never before in the history of any people. Great men, leaders of the various political parties, heretofore had differed in their opinions in their interpretation of the constitution. Their opinions now began to crystalize. The time had now arrived when the question whether the institution of slavery was or was not to become a National Institution, could no longer remain as a matter of painful controversy. Whether the constitution adopted by our forefathers was a mere compact-a plastic league, or a permanent union of states-one and indivisible, was now to be determined by the oblation of blood. Every intelligent man and woman in the United States is more or less familiar with

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the history of the fearful struggle that followed. Very few realized at the beginning of the struggle the magnitude of the conflict. one then believed that for four long years the whole continent would resound to the tread of mobilized armies; that devastation and death would reign from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A few realized that the nation was now about to pay the penalty of violated moral laws with the best blood of the land.

When the first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers was issued by President Lincoln the unanimity of the response was marvelous. From every village and cottage home; from every hillside and farm the tender loyal youths of the north impelled by a spontaneous patriotic impulse hurried to the nation's rescue. More than double the number asked for and offered their services to the government. Seneca county was not a whit behind the most enthusiastic in her willingness to contribute to the preservation of the Union and the integrity of the flag. In harmony with the call of the president Governor Dennison issued a call, on April 15, 1861, for volunteers to fill Ohio's quota of the seventy-five thousand. On the 19th, four days after the call of Governor Dennison, the organization of a military company was commenced at Fostoria by B. L. Caples, an old state militia general.

Frederick Werner, a young German tailor, has the honor of being the first man enrolled, a distinction and an honor of which he is justly proud.

After serving his three months' enlistment, Comrade Werner re-enlisted in the Forty-ninth Ohio for three years in the initial organization of that regiment. He was severely wounded in the battle of Stone River December 31, 1862. Although badly crippled and a great sufferer during all these years, he still takes an active and intelligent interest, not only in the history of the rebellion, but in the marvelous development of the nation, as the result of the triumphs of the Union armies.

This first company raised in Seneca county was composed entirely of the boys of Fostoria and the immediate vicinity, with Dr. A. M. Blackman as captain; M. H. Chance, first lieutenant and Jonas Foster, second lieutenant, and, with one hundred enlisted men, was assigned as Company H, Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was organizing in Camp Taylor, near Cleveland, with Jesse S. Norton as colonel.

The military record of Company H, Twenty-first O. V. I., Seneca county's first contribution to the suppression of the rebellion, was a most creditable one serving through their three months enlistment along the Kanawha valley in West Virginia, under the command of General Cox. Seneca county furnished a few recruits to the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry which was also at Camp Taylor, with Herman G. Daprey as colonel. Among these was

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