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From painting sketched in Dayton on occasion of his visit there, by Charles W. Nickum, now in the possession of Mrs. Charles W. Nickum,

Dayton, Ohio.

OHIO

Archæological and Historical

PUBLICATIONS.

INTRODUCTION

A wide interest attaches to everything that is said or written of Abraham Lincoln. Ohioans will be pleased to review the authentic historic record that links his name and fame with the Buckeye state.

The monograph on the following pages presents for the first time in chronological order Lincoln's contact with Ohio and the relation of our state and its prominent public men to the crisis through which our Nation passed in the Civil War, under the leadership of the Martyr President whose fame, increasing with the passing years, has become to the civilized world a sacred heritage and hallowed memory. Abraham Lincoln is and will continue to be a beneficent, living influence in our Republic.

Without the effective support given Lincoln by followers in Ohio, he could not have been nominated for the presidency. This will be the conclusion of those who read the chapter on the following pages entitled "Ohio's Part in Lincoln's Nomination." Especially interesting will be found the attitude of the Ohio delegation at the Chicago convention of 1860. With so able and deserving a candidate from their own state as Salmon P. Chase it required on the part of delegates cour

age and pronounced preference to sway them from support of the home candidate.

The proceedings of that convention to which attention is invited exhibit contrasts with national political conventions of today. Sixty-three years ago political speeches and partisan contributions to newspapers as a rule were much longer than they are today. Nominating speeches in party conventions were then very brief, limited often to one sentence. Lincoln was fortunate in the statement with which his name was presented by a member of the Ohio delegation. The nominating speech of a single sentence by Columbus Delano, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was one of the most effective ever delivered in a party convention. Those who appreciate the "rare, strange virtue" of effective brevity in speech should read what Delano said in presenting the name of Lincoln.

It was left for another Ohio man- the leader of the delegation at the critical moment to do the dramatic thing and throw to Lincoln the votes necessary to assure his nomination.

Not only did Ohio lend decisive aid in assuring his nomination, but it gave Lincoln a substantial majority in the November election.

It would be pleasing to record that our state never wavered in his support, but that in truth could not be said. The days that in a very special sense “tried the soul" of Abraham Lincoln were between September 22, 1862, and October 13, 1863. On the former of these two dates he issued what is generally called his "preliminary Emancipation Proclamation" in which he declared that if the southern states in rebellion did not

lay down their arms, he would, by virtue of the war power vested in him by the constitution, liberate all their slaves.

Lincoln was elected on a platform pledge to oppose the extension of slavery into the territories. The proposal to end that institution where it already existed was new and at first encountered violent opposition, even in the loyal North. At the fall elections following the issue of the "preliminary proclamation," New York, Pennsylvania, the President's state, Illinois, and our own Ohio registered their votes against his party, and of course inferentially against his emancipation policy.

Think of the position of Abraham Lincoln then. The South in arms against him and winning victories on the field of battle; the North arrayed against him at the ballot box and organizing in secret societies to destroy his administration and aid the enemies of the Republic. With threatening clouds on every hand growing darker with each passing day; with foes exulting in his discomfiture; with faltering friends advising that the promised emancipation proclamation be postponed, Abraham Lincoln moved onward in his course with conscience uncompromised and courage sublime to the accomplishment of his mission. On the first day of January, 1863, he issued his Emancipation Proclamation and linked his name with the immortals. The closing lines express the spirit and unfaltering faith with which this instrument was written:

"And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God."

The proclamation was issued and upon his broad shoulders fell heavily the responsibility to make it good. Dark days were ahead. Mr. Ryan has graphically described the Vallandigham campaign of the summer and autumn following. It is difficult for us at this day to understand how thoroughly the people of Ohio were aroused and how bitterly the contending parties hurled denunciation at each other. A single stanza from a popular song of the followers of Vallandigham gives but an inadequate glimpse of the spirit of the time:

We are coming, Abraham Lincoln,
From mountain, wood and glen;
We are coming, Abraham Lincoln,
With the ghosts of murdered men.
Yes! we're coming, Abraham Lincoln,
With curses loud and deep,

That will haunt you in your waking,
And disturb you in your sleep.

The fate of the Nation turned upon the result of this election in Ohio. Lincoln and his followers felt this. The result at times seemed involved in doubt. The description of that campaign on the following pages will grip the interest of the reader. No one can without a thrill picture Abraham Lincoln in Washington anxiously receiving from John Brough, candidate for governor in Ohio, the telegraphic returns of that fateful election. Early in the evening following the close of the polls the President was cheered with the assurance that Ohio had sustained him. At midnight he was further encouraged on learning that the majority was a substantial one. At five o'clock in the morning following, on receiving word from Brough that the majority was more than one hundred thousand, Abraham Lincoln

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