Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President [1 ed.] 9781617286681, 9781604563306

Citation preview

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central,

BENJAMIN HARRISON: CENTENNIAL PRESIDENT

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(A VOLUME IN FIRST MEN, AMERICA’S PRESIDENTS SERIES)

No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, medical or any other professional services.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

OTHER BOOKS IN THE FIRST MEN, AMERICA’S PRESIDENTS SERIES

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Barbara Bennett Peterson, Editor

Theodore Roosevelt: A Political Life Tom Lansford

John Quincy Adams: Yankee Nationalist Paul E. Teed

2004. ISBN 1-59033-990-8

2006. ISBN 1-59454-797-1

Citizen Lincoln Ward M. McAfee

President Herbert Hoover Don W. Whisenhunt

2004. ISBN 1-59454-112-4

2007. ISBN 978-1-60021-476-9

George Washington, America’s Moral Exemplar Barbara Bennett Peterson

Chester Alan Arthur: The Life of a Gilded Age Politician and President Gregory J. Dehler

2005. ISBN 1-59454-230-9

2007. 978-1-60021-079-2

President James K. Polk: The Dark Horse President Louise Mayo

William Henry Harrison: General and President Mary Jane Child Queen

2006. ISBN 1-59454-718-1

2007. 978-1-60021-407-3

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Preserver of Spirit and Hope Barbara Bennett Peterson 2006. ISBN 1-60021-117-8

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

BENJAMIN HARRISON: CENTENNIAL PRESIDENT

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

(A VOLUME IN FIRST MEN, AMERICA’S PRESIDENTS SERIES)

ANNE CHIEKO MOORE AUTHOR HESTER ANNE HALE HONORARY EDITOR

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2009 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter cover herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal, medical or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moore, Anne Chieko. Benjamin Harrison : centennial president / Anne Chieko Moore, author ; Hester Anne Hale, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61728-668-1 (E-Book) 1. Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901. 2. Presidents--United States--Biography. 3. United States--Politics and government--1889-1893. I. Hale, Hester Anne. II. Title. E702.M66 2008 973.8'6092--dc22 [B] 2007049394

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

CONTENTS Foreword

vii

Barbara Bennett Peterson

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Preface

xv

Chapter 1

The Harrison Heritage

1

Chapter 2

Point Farm

15

Chapter 3

Higher Education

19

Chapter 4

Young Lawyer in Indianapolis

25

Chapter 5

The Civil War Years

31

Chapter 6

Successful Attorney and State Politician

47

Chapter 7

United States Senator

59

Chapter 8

Front Porch Campaigner

69

Chapter 9

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

77

Chapter 10

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

123

Chapter 11

Elder Statesman

149

Legacy

159

Bibliography

161

Index

167

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

FOREWORD President of the United States of America is an official title sought by many and won by only a few individuals. Most American Presidents are of high merit and political acumen and reflected wisdom, leadership, and integrity. This series titled First Men, America’s Presidents published by NOVA Science Publishers contains a book length biography of each President of the United States of America. Every book contains information on the President’s early education, professional career, military service or political service prior to the presidency, interpretative discussion of both domestic and foreign policies during each presidency, and the conclusion of their political lives in public service. Every presidential biography in the NOVA series has been written by a professional historian or political scientist well versed in the field of presidential scholarship. The two major themes of this series are the character traits marking success in the presidency, and the changes in the office of the presidency through America’s history. Character matters in all walks of life, but perhaps matters most within the character of the President of the United States. The duties of the President of the United States are delegated through Article II of the Constitution of the United States of America, and from the successive laws passed by Congress over time. Each president takes the Oath of Affirmation:--“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The president’s duties and responsibilities under the Constitution are to serve as “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and the Militia of the several States, when called into actual Service of the United States.” The president may invite the counsel and opinions of his various department heads upon any subject related to the execution of the duties of their offices, either in

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

viii

Barbara Bennett Peterson

writing or orally as has become the custom within the president’s Cabinet. The president “shall have the power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Every president has realized that each must administer through constitutional principles, as each was elected by the voting majority of the people to be their chief executive through the Electoral College. Each president of the United States “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” As the president directs both the domestic and foreign activities of the government, he has the power to “nominate and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate.…appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law.” The president also receives foreign ambassadors and officials on behalf of the American people. The president “shall have the Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.” The president under the Constitution shall give Congress a State of the Union address every year to acquaint them with his policy agenda and plans for the future. Usually in this address to Congress he recommends “to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” Above all, the president of the United States “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.” A strong role for the President had been envisioned by the Founding Fathers who rejected the obsolete Articles of Confederation and replaced the framework of government with the Constitution of the United States. Article II of the Constitution outlining the powers of the presidency provided that the office of the President would be held by one individual. It provided the President with enumerated powers including the power of the veto. And stipulated that the president’s election would be above the control of the Congress to ensure the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances. It stipulated that the president, vice president, and all civil officers of the United States must govern in the name of the American people lest they “be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” From Presidents George Washington through John Quincy Adams candidates for the presidency were selected in caucuses of senators and congressmen and then the state legislatures indirectly chose the president through the selection of Electors to the Electoral College. This system had worked for Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe—they were statesmen who held wide appeal within Congress and the state legislatures and claimed to represent the

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Foreword

ix

people. But as demands for greater democracy in the election process were heard, the process was changed. In the outcome of the election of 1824, John Quincy Adams was chosen president by the Congressional House of Representatives under constitutional law after no candidate had received a majority of the electoral ballots in the Electoral College. Jackson, the candidate who had received the most popular votes was not chosen president and his supporters called for more direct popular participation and worked to introduce changes. Hence, the voting process was altered in the name of democracy. In the election of 1828 President Andrew Jackson triumphed after voting had been given directly to the people and removed from the state legislatures. Democracy further triumphed by the elimination of the congressional caucuses in naming presidential candidates and the holding of national political party conventions to name them instead, allowing greater voice and participation of the people. The institution of the party convention to nominate presidential candidates remains, although winners in various state primaries command party delegates to vote the choice of the people. The Presidency, molded by the character and designs of each president, oversees command, administration, diplomacy, ceremony, legislation, and public opinion. The modern strength of the Presidency is a reflection of the mighty power of the United States within a global world. The majority of America’s presidents have served for one four-year term or less as some died in office. Four presidents served out part of their predecessor’s term and won subsequent re-election in their own right: Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Only one president, Grover Cleveland, was elected to two discontinuous terms of office and thus was both the twenty-second and the twenty-fourth president of the United States. Several outstanding presidents have been elected to two four-year terms or more. They were: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and William Jefferson (“Bill”) Clinton. Only one president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was elected for a third and fourth term. Eight presidents have achieved their office as a result of being the vice-president of a preceding president who died in office or resigned: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Gerald R. Ford. Additionally, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Richard M. Nixon and George H.W. Bush also rose from the office of vice-president to president. Besides the vice-presidency as a stepping stone to the presidency, two thirds of the presidents elected had held congressional office earlier in their political careers. Twenty presidents had served

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

x

Barbara Bennett Peterson

as Governors of states or territories before being elected. They were: Thomas Jefferson (Virginia), James Monroe (Virginia), Andrew Jackson (Florida), Martin Van Buren (New York), William Henry Harrison (Indiana), John Tyler (Virginia), James K. Polk (Tennessee), Andrew Johnson (Tennessee), Rutherford B. Hayes (Ohio), Grover Cleveland (New York), William McKinley (Ohio), Theodore Roosevelt (New York), William Howard Taft (The Philippines), Woodrow Wilson (New Jersey), Calvin Coolidge (Massachusetts), Franklin D. Roosevelt (New York), Jimmy Carter (Georgia), Ronald Reagan (California), William Jefferson Clinton (Arkansas), and George W. Bush (Texas). Some states with larger voting populations and hence more electoral votes have seen their native sons rise to the presidency of the United States. The American Presidents have come from both coasts, east and west, and from both the upper tier and the lower tier of states geographically, north and south. When elected, the president becomes the president of ‘all the people’, not just those of his political party. Since the president acts as America’s commander in chief, the majority of the presidents of the United States have served in the U.S. military. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and Dwight David Eisenhower served in the capacity of generals. James Monroe, John Tyler, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, and George W. Bush also served their country in military service at various ranks, and always with dedication. The youngest elected president was John F. Kennedy (1960) at forty-three. The youngest man to ever serve as president was Theodore Roosevelt who at forty-two assumed the office following William McKinley’s assassination. The average age for an elected president was fifty-four. The oldest elected president was Ronald Reagan at sixty-nine (1980) and seventy-three (1984).1 One of the major features of American constitutional development has been the growth of the presidency both in power and prestige as well as in new Cabinet positions, departments and agencies under the control of the president. The Federal government has grown mightily in comparison with the States’ governments since the inception of the Constitution. Increases in presidential powers have been occasioned by wars, depressions, foreign relations, and the agenda of the presidents themselves. Henry F. Graff, Emeritus Professor at 1

David C. Whitney and Robin Vaughn Whitney, The American Presidents, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1993, pp. v-ix.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Foreword

xi

Columbia University, described the office of the president as “the most powerful office in the world” in The Presidents. The Executive Office of the President (EOP) was created during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt upon passage by Congress of the Reorganization Act of 1939. The EOP originally included the White House Office (WHO), the Bureau of the Budget, the Office of Government Reports, the National Resources Planning Board, and the Liaison Office for Personnel Management. In addition, wrote Henry F. Graff, the 1939 Act provided that an “office for emergency management” may be formed “in the event of a national emergency, or threat of a national emergency.” 2 Today the White House Office has become “the political as well as policy arm of the chief executive.” The larger, all encompassing Executive Office of the President has expanded through time to include a myriad number of departments in addition to the first five listed above and the president is advised by nearly 60 active boards, committees and commissions. During and immediately after World War II the following additional departments within the purview of the EOP were organized: Committee for Congested Production Areas, 1943-1944, War Refugee Board, 1944-1945, Council of Economic Advisers, 1946-, National Security Council, 1947-, and National Security Resources Board, 1947-1953. During the Cold War, additions to the EOP were made adding the following departments: Telecommunications Adviser to the President, 1951-1953, Office of the Director for Mutual Security, 1951-1954, Office of Defense Mobilization, 1952-1958, President’s Advisory Committee on Government Organization, 1953-1961, Operations Coordinating Board, 1953-1961, President’s Board of Consultants on Foreign Intelligence Activities, 1956-1961, Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, 1958-1962, and National Aeronautics and Space Council, 19581993. By the Sixties, some of the earlier departments organized in the 1939 to 1960 decades were allowed to close, with newer agencies with a new focus and expanded technology taking their place. These newer agencies included: President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, 1961-1977, Office of Emergency Planning, 1962-1969, Office of Science and Technology, 1962-1973, Office of Economic Opportunity, 1964-1975, Office of Emergency Preparedness, 1965-1973, National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development, 1966-1971, Council on Environmental Quality, 1969-, Council for Urban Affairs, 1969-1970, and Office of Intergovernmental Relations, 1969-1973. By the mid-Seventies, once again there was a general reorganization with some of the earlier departments and offices being swept away and replaced by newer 2

Henry F. Graff, Editor, The Presidents, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 2nd edition, 1996, Appendix C pp. 743-745.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

xii

Barbara Bennett Peterson

agencies reflecting new presidential agendas. Many of the new agencies reflected the urgencies in domestic policies and included: the Domestic Council, 19701978, Office of Management and Budget, 1970-, Office of Telecommunications Policy, 1970-1977, Council on International Economic Policy, 1971-1977, Office of Consumer Affairs, 1971-1973, Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, 1971-1975, Federal Property Council, 1973-1977, Council on Economic Policy, 1973-1974, Energy Policy Office, 1973-1974, Council on Wage and Price Stability, 1974-1981, Energy Resource Council, 1974-1977, Office of Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, 1974-, Presidential Clemency Board, 1974-1975, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 1976-, Office of Administration, 1977-, and Domestic Policy Staff, 1978-1981. Many of the departments, councils and agencies organized as part of the Executive Office of the President by the late Seventies and early Eighties included: Office of Policy Development, 1981-, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 1981-, National Critical Materials Council, 1984-, Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1988-, National Economic Council, 1993-. By the 21st Century the EOP continued several effective agencies started earlier: Council of Economic Advisers 1946-, National Security Council 1947-, Council on Environmental Quality 1964-, Office of Management and Budget 1970-, Office of Science and Technology Policy 1976-, Office of Administration 1977-, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 1981-, Office of Policy Development 1981-, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy 1988-. In addition to the White House Office of the president, the Office of the Vice President functions and is administered as part of the EOP.3 At the turn of the millennium the department of Homeland Security 2001- was established by presidential Executive Order and administered by the Executive Office of the President that continues to be evolutionary in response to new issues, demands, and events. Capable presidents have responded to America’s changing needs and responsibilities by retooling their administrations to meet new crises, opportunities, and challenges. This series First Men, America’s Presidents published by NOVA explains the personal and public life of each President of the United States. Their qualities of character and leadership are aptly interpreted and offer strong role models for all citizens. Presidential successes are recorded for posterity, as are the pitfalls that should be guarded against in the future. This series also explains the domestic reasons and world backdrop for the expansion of the Executive Office of the President. The President of the United States is 3

Henry F. Graff, Editor, The Presidents, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 3rd edition, 2002, Appendix C pp. 743-747.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Foreword

xiii

perhaps the most coveted position in the world and this series reveals the lives of all those successfully elected, how each performed as president, and how each is to be measured in history. The collective life stories of the presidents reveal the greatness that America represents in the world.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Dr. Barbara Bennett Peterson First Men, America’s Presidents NOVA Series Editor Professor of History, Oregon State University (retired) Emeritus Professor University of Hawaii Former Adjunct Fellow East-West Center

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

PREFACE Benjamin Harrison was an honest, intelligent, hardworking lawyer from Indiana who became the twenty-third President of the United States. During his term in office he signed important legislation and provided leadership in negotiating foreign policy, striving to advance the United States toward becoming a world power. Yet Nathan Miller claims Harrison was one of America’s ten worst presidents. James M. Perry declares him a failure as president; and James McPherson laments that he might be remembered more fondly had his term ended prematurely like his grandfather’s. The textbooks hardly mention Benjamin Harrison. Now Marcus Stadlemann states that Harrison was one of the better presidents of the late nineteenth century. Through the recent forty years, other contemporary historians have been reconsidering Harrison’s presidency. Charles Calhoun, Walter LaFeber, Homer Socolofsky, and Allan Spetter have published their positive insights of the twenty-third president’s character, efforts and accomplishments. Excerpts and information from their publications, from Harry Sievers’ biography, from other publications, from letters and newspapers, have been combined to offer another biography of President Benjamin Harrison. The summary of the extensive Harrison dynasty, beginning in 1633 in Virginia, makes note of its significant political leaders through the generations. Benjamin Harrison was the only president of the United States who was the grandson of another president. He seemed destined to take his place in American political service. I am sincerely grateful to Hester Anne Hale for scrupulous editing of the manuscript, to Oren Cooley for providing useful suggestions for the text, to Ross

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

xvi

Barbara Bennett Peterson

Moore for supplying technical assistance, and to the President Benjamin Harrison Home for access to artifacts and archival collections.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Anne C. Moore

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 1

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

THE HARRISON HERITAGE On the evening of November 6, 1888, at his stately brick home on Delaware Street in Indianapolis, Benjamin Harrison, joined by his wife Caroline, his daughter Mary (also called Mamie), his son Russell, their spouses, as well as his law partners and a few close friends, shared the exciting anticipation of the election results. The men gathered around an oval table in the library, intently tracking election returns received from New York through a telegraphic device installed for the occasion. The general was reported to be “cool and selfpossessed,” 1 often leaving the library to chat with his wife in the parlor, where she entertained the women. Around midnight after most of the guests had left, and assured that he had won in Indiana and New York, Ben calmly retired with Caroline before the returns were completely tabulated. In the morning, he learned that he had defeated the Democratic incumbent, President Grover Cleveland, with a 233 to 168 victory in the electoral college, even though Cleveland had won a majority of 90,000 popular votes.2 The president-elect, a devout Presbyterian, was convinced that his success in the election was due to Divine Providence. As the Republican presidential candidate in 1888, Benjamin Harrison was an effective front porch campaigner. He gave more than ninety campaign speeches without manuscript. By election day, November 6, 1888, his clear high-pitched voice had become familiar to the thousands who had assembled in Indianapolis to hear him speak. A journalist for the Cincinnati Inquirer reported: “Ben Harrison . . . delivered [his speech] with vigor and style. . . . In appearance he does not generally impress people as he goes about the streets . . .but when he rises to 1

Harry J. Sievers. Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Statesman: From the Civil War to the White House 1865-1888 vol. 2 (New York: University Publishers, Inc., 1959), p. 424. 2 Ibid., p. 425.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

2

Anne C. Moore

speak you see that he is broad-shouldered, full-chested, healthy and strong, square-headed, firmly planted on his feet, aggressive, loud and incisive—very much a leader of men.” 3 Similar to many other presidents, Harrison had an Anglo-Saxon background, a rural childhood upbringing, a college education, and military experience. Married younger than any of the other presidents, he brought children and grandchildren to live at the White House. He was one of the fourteen lawyers among twenty-three presidents.4 Harrison was fifty-five years old when he was elected president. He was five feet seven inches tall, stout, with a military bearing; he had light complexion, piercing blue eyes, light brown hair and a full beard. According to Harrison’s Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy: “He was a quiet, undemonstrative man, and was credited with being cold and unsympathetic by those who saw him only in his public capacity, and when acting under stress and strain of public duty. But to those who were on terms of personal intimacy with him . . . Harrison appears in a different light, a genial companion, a tender, great-hearted man . . .” 5 Benjamin Harrison was the twenty-third President of the United States, a United States senator from Indiana, a Civil War general, and a lawyer. He was respected not only for his legal skills and oratorical ability but also for his integrity and personal character. President Benjamin Harrison is one of several distinguished Harrison political leaders who gave years of service to the United States government. He was the son of a two-term Whig congressman, John Scott Harrison; the grandson of the first governor of the Indiana Territory and ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison; and the great-grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and three-time governor of Virginia, Benjamin Harrison V. The ancestors of Benjamin Harrison emigrated to Virginia from England. The search for documented records of the early family history continues. The name Harrison is common in England and causes difficulties in correct identification. Nothing is definitely known of the origin of the Berkeley Harrison dynasty prior to 1633. One retold theory claims that President Harrison’s ancestor was the regicide, Lieutenant-General Thomas Harrison. During the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, as a member of parliament, he was instrumental in the beheading of King Charles I of England. When the royalists returned to power, he was seized, convicted and beheaded in October 1660.

3

Ibid., p. 292. Homer E. Socolofsky and Allan B. Spetter, The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1987), p. 1. 5 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 63. 4

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

3

According to Charles Keith in Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, the claim of direct descent from Thomas Harrison to President William Henry Harrison is untrue.6 Keith states that the earliest known ancestor, Benjamin Harrison, was thirty years old when he emigrated from England to Virginia in 1633. If Thomas had a son, he could not have been thirty years old in 1633.7 “The regicide was a contemporary of Harrison who emigrated to this country and was probably a few years younger. I have been unable to prove any [relationship] between him and the president’s ancestor who came to Virginia. . . . A number of Harrisons settled in Virginia in the XVIIth Century. The connection between but few of them is known.” 8 The town and hundred of Berkeley in Virginia were patented in 1618 by four wealthy Britishers who were related by blood or marriage: John Smythe, Esquire; Sir William Throckmorton; Richard Berkeley; and George Thorpe, Esquire. They wrote a wordy charter covering every item to protect their investment. The plantations were called “hundreds,” perhaps because one hundred settlers was considered an ideal number for a plantation, or because one hundred acres was a share of stock, the additions to which represented a yeoman’s rise in status. The Berkeley partners hired Captain John Woodlief to recruit and supervise a group of Britishers to create a productive plantation. The written charter directed each phase of their early settlement.9 The small group of British men arrived in tidewater Virginia on November 30, 1619. On the ship Margaret from Bristol, after sailing for two and a half months, came urban fugitives with a variety of skills: a carpenter, a cooper, a shoemaker, a gunsmith, a shingler, a cook, but no farmers. The Berkeley Hundred company initially supplied the settlers’ needs without stinting, for a cost of $3,600. “Heading the list of [provisions] were twenty-four muskets, powder and powder casks, matches and . . . swords. . . . Every manner of tool was supplied, every article for equipping buildings; cooking utensils, wooden dishes and spoons, sheets and blankets, pillows and bolsters, and a drum. For food there was fish, bacon, meal, wheat, peas, cheese and butter, bread and water (probably for the voyage), and ‘a ton and a half of beer’.”10 Early in December 1619, the thirty-eight men rowed ashore. Led by Captain Woodlief, the men knelt to pray, according to the charter that commanded that the 6

Charles Keith, Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America 1889-1893 (Philadelphia: L. B. Lippincott Co., 1893), p. 42. 7 Clifford Dowdey, The Great Plantation: a Profile of Berkeley Hundred and Plantation Virginia from Jamestown to Appomatox (Charlestown, VA: Berkeley Plantation, 1980), p. 54. 8 Keith, op. cit., p. 41. 9 Dowdey, op. cit., p. 28. 10 Ibid., p. 33.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

4

Anne C. Moore

day of arrival be celebrated with thanksgiving and ordained that the day “shall yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”11 After their religious ceremony was completed, the colonists worked industriously to build two public houses, one for worship and meals, and the other for storage of supplies and food. Then they unloaded the ship and built their individual small dwellings. The urban men suffered high rates of illness and death and experienced difficulties in adapting to life in the wilderness. In 1621, eighty men, women, and children arrived at the Berkeley Hundred in two boatloads. Some settlers returned to England; an exact population at the plantation is not available. The British financiers, knowing little of the settlers’ living conditions, now insisted that they must become self-sufficient, refused to send requested additional supplies, and fired Captain Woodlief.12 Berkeley Hundred, one of the earliest plantations settled in the New World, was located in Virginia thirty miles west of Jamestown. The property was comprised of 8,000 acres of meadow land and virgin forests along the banks of the James River, which flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. Eventually, ocean-going trading vessels sailed into the tidal river to the wharf called Harrison’s Landing. Boats were built in the shipyards, and the gristmill, sawmill, and blacksmith shop were productively operated. Cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep were raised; and tobacco and food crops were grown. It became a large scale agricultural and commercial self-sustaining plantation. Under British rule, the royal governor appointed members to the Council, a powerful governing group of landowners. Many planters of the ruling class took pride in membership in both the Council and the House of Burgesses. The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of people’s representatives in America, formed in 1619 by the planters. It was permitted and controlled by the British Virginia Company, which supervised all aspects of the Virginia settlements as a private enterprise. The House of Burgesses represented the beginning of selfgovernment with early concepts of democracy. The members were elected and were required to be land owners. It was a training ground for young politicians in the ruling class being groomed for leadership, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, the Lees, and the Harrisons.13 Most of the many resident Native Americans were initially friendly to the settlers but resented their growing numbers and their efforts to control increasing amounts of land. On March 22, 1622, Good Friday morning, groups of Indians arrived quietly on most of the plantations at the same hour and made their way 11

Ibid., p. 34. Ibid., p. 37. 13 Ibid., p. 26. 12

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

5

into the settlements. Suddenly they snatched up the settlers’ muskets, knives, and hatchets and proceeded to kill the men, women and children; some were horribly mutilated. The total deaths of the settlers was 349, close to a third of the entire population of colonists. The Indians also killed cattle, set fire to buildings, and destroyed stores of corn. Through a warning by a loyal Indian who had converted to Christianity, the Jamestown colony was saved from attack. 14 From plantations where buildings and food sources had been destroyed, many survivors were evacuated to Jamestown. Of ninety people, only four women and ten men returned to the burned ruins of Berkeley Hundred, finding it nearly demolished. Records are incomplete regarding the fate of the residents at that plantation. Eleven were listed as “slayne,” forty-eight were listed as dead, eight were unaccounted for, and five were killed at other places. All the leaders were gone. Following the massacre, survivors killed Indians wherever they found them. Some British financiers decided to stop risking capital on the plantations. The Virginia Company closed in 1624. Of the four financiers of the Berkeley Company, Sir William Throckmorton and George Thorpe, Esquire had died, and Richard Berkeley was inactive. The burden of restoration fell to John Smythe, Esquire.15 The Benjamin Harrisons, through five successive generations, from 1633 to 1791, were educated wealthy burgesses. The earliest known Benjamin Harrison, ancestor of President Benjamin Harrison, who came to Virginia from England when he was thirty years old, became clerk of the Council in 1633. A year later, this Benjamin Harrison contacted the aging John Smythe, one of the founders of the Berkeley Hundred. In 1634, when he purchased the first 200 acres of plantation property, he initiated the line of Harrison plantation masters. He was considered a yeoman planter, and in 1642, he was elected to the House of Burgesses. During the following year, he increased his plantation with the purchase of 500 acres on the south side of the river. In 1645, he and his wife Mary had a son they named Benjamin.16 The Berkeley plantation became a political center of distinguished Harrison family leaders. The first sons of the families were named “Benjamin.” Roman numerals are used for historical identification, but were not assigned to them with their birth titles. Records of the Harrisons were preserved in plantation documents. Benjamin Harrison II grew into the power and wealth of a rising ruling class of yeomen planters. He learned to manage his land at an early age and held the 14

Ibid., p. 47. Ibid., p. 49. 16 Ibid., p. 52. 15

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

6

Anne C. Moore

offices of sheriff, speaker of the House of Burgesses, and member of the Council. To acquire additional cash at his plantation, he began to operate a river-front store, primarily for trade items and tobacco sales. In 1673 a son was born to him and his wife Hannah. Benjamin Harrison III was raised in aristocratic surroundings of privilege in the ruling class and was trained to assume the responsibilities of his estate. He acquired additional acreage and one hundred slaves for his plantation and increased shipping by exporting goods to Scotland. He married Elizabeth Burrell, daughter of Colonel Lewis Burwell, a wealthy Councilor, and Anne Carter, daughter of King Carter, one of the affluent American families of the day. Their first-born son was Benjamin Harrison IV. When he completed his studies at William and Mary College, he became the family’s first college graduate. He increased holdings of land on both sides of the James River and was a successful administrator of the plantations. He became a respected militia colonel, county sheriff, and a member of the House of Burgesses. During a thunderstorm at his Berkeley manor house, when he went upstairs to close a window, he was killed by lightning along with two daughters, leaving five sons and two daughters.17 Benjamin Harrison IV left a complete will. The management of six plantations that comprised Berkeley, with all slaves, stock and equipment, and the manor house, became the responsibility of nineteen-year-old first-born son, Benjamin Harrison V. He was finishing his education at William and Mary College. Eight separate working plantations, with slaves and stock, and additional land, were divided among the other sons. The daughters were given cash and personal slaves.18 The young master of Berkeley Hundred was more interested in politics than planting. He was six feet four inches tall and carried himself as a confident aristocratic leader; he possessed good looks and exhibited his training in social courtesies. Benjamin Harrison V began his political career as a member of the House of Burgesses in 1748. In 1774 he was one of the first seven delegates from Virginia to the Continental Congress. When John Adams and other Massachusetts delegates arrived for the First Congress, they were reminded by the Philadelphia patriots that Virginia “was the largest, richest, and most populous of the colonies, and the very proud Virginians felt they had a right to lead.” Harrison became known as a political leader, showing good judgment, decisiveness, and impartiality. He was 17 18

Ibid., p. 133. Ibid., p. 158.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

7

popular as chairman of the Committee of the House. 19 An outspoken champion of American rights, he often declared, “he would have come to Philadelphia on foot if it had been necessary.” 20 The five member Board of War included Benjamin Harrison, Edward Rutledge, Roger Sherman, James Wilson and John Adams, who headed the group. They were responsible for running the war: for ordnance, fortifications, appointment and promotion of officers, pay, provisions, supplies, reports for congressional approval, and much more. John Adams and Benjamin Harrison became political adversaries, but both were accused unfairly of being pro-British. Adams disliked Harrison, and said he was “a profane, impious fool.” 21 On July 4, 1776, Benjamin Harrison voted for the Declaration of Independence. The signers were well aware of the significance of their action. Just after the Continental Congress had finished making revisions to the document, Benjamin Rush, a Philadelphia physician and a signer, reported a conversation he overheard between Benjamin Harrison of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: “I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. (Harrison was a large man.) From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body, you will dance in the air for an hour or two before you are dead.” 22 Most of the delegates signed the document on August 2, 1776, without ceremony. Many years later, Adams and Jefferson would both declare stubbornly and incorrectly that the signing occurred on July 4, 1776. 23 Following the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Harrison V served three terms as the Governor of the State of Virginia. He was praised as a sensible, firm, and conscientious man, with a sense of humor that relieved tensions.24 The delegates from the thirteen colonies worked to plan the central government. The drafting of the constitution was a tedious procedure, with compromises to accommodate divergent conflicting interests among the delegates. Abolition of slave trade was a serious issue among the Virginians and other southern delegates. Harrison’s last outstanding speech was addressed to a large meeting of neo-revolutionists, rumored to be stirring plans of rebellion. He was greatly aged at sixty-two, after forty years of public service and plantation management, and was suffering from 19

Harry Joseph Sievers, Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Warrior 1833-1865 vol. 1 (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1952), p. 13. 20 David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 93. 21 Ibid. 22 Joseph J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Vintage Books, 2002), p. 5. 23 McCullough, op. cit., p. 138. 24 Dowdey, op.cit., p. 284.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

8

Anne C. Moore

gout. He won the audience over with his appeal to seek redress through legitimate amendments to the constitution. George Washington sent his old friend a letter of thanks. Harrison continued to serve in the House of Delegates, originally the House of Burgesses. Washington had been president for two years, when, in April 1791, Benjamin Harrison, pleased to be returned to the Assembly, celebrated with one of his Berkeley-style grand dinners. As soon as the guests left, he turned seriously ill and died the next day.25 He had married Elisabeth Bassett, a niece of Martha Washington. Seven children lived to be adults. William Henry Harrison, the youngest son of Benjamin Harrison V, raised in the luxurious Berkeley manor house, would become the fifth President of the United States born in Virginia. He completed his classical studies at the Hampden-Sydney College. When his father died in 1791, he was eighteen years old. At the time, he was studying medicine under physician Dr. Benjamin Rush, having completed sixteen weeks in a thirty-two week course in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the only president who studied to become a physician. After his father died, he had no money to continue the medical studies. His father had left him a tract of land at the Berkeley Hundred, but William Henry was not interested in becoming a planter.26 Instead, he joined the infantry, beginning his years in military service. On August 16, 1791, he was commissioned ensign in the First Infantry by his father’s friend, President George Washington. Serving under General Anthony Wayne, he was stationed at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, with the rank of second lieutenant, commissioned on June 2, 1792. In 1793 he was aide-de-camp under Wayne, and helped bring control to the territory and force a withdrawal of the British posts. That same year, he received official thanks for an expedition and the erection of Fort Recovery. In 1794, he fought in the battle of Miami Rapids.”27 In the spring of 1795, he was in Lexington, Kentucky, on leave from Fort Washington. At a social gathering, William met Anna Symmes from North Bend, Ohio, who was visiting her sister Maria. The attractive, poised, and graceful twenty year old had been educated at Clinton Academy on Long Island and Miss Isabella Graham’s School for Young Ladies in New York City. She was extremely well-read, interested in politics, and a devout Presbyterian. They were immediately attracted to each other. Anna had only one parent; her mother had died when Anna was one year old. Her father, John Cleves Symmes, was a wealthy influential judge and landowner in Ohio, who had purchased two million acres between Great and Little Rivers, including the sites of Cincinnati and 25

Ibid., p. 285. Ibid., p. 296. 27 Joseph Nathan Kane, Presidential Fact Book (New York: Random House, Inc., 1998), p. 60. 26

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

9

Dayton,and established his residence in North Bend. He was unimpressed with William Henry, a military man without money. On November 25, 1795, Justice of the Peace Dr. Stephan Wood married William Henry and Anna at North Bend, while her father was away.29 For several years, Symmes would not forgive the elopement. He called Anna “Nancy.” He wrote to a friend: “Nancy made rather a run away match of it, though she was married at my house in my absence. However, some people say she has married a worthy man. I hope I shall find him so. My greatest objection was that he was bred to no business, and therefore I can set him none.”30 Anna Harrison is the only first lady to have eloped. On General Wayne’s death in 1796, William Henry Harrison, with the rank of captain, was given command of Fort Washington. Two of his ten children were born there: Elizabeth Bassett, born on September 29, 1796, and John Symmes, born on October 28,1798. 31 While at Fort Washington, William Henry assisted in founding an Episcopal church. In 1798, he resigned from the army. Then, in the same year, he was appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory for $1,200 a year by his father’s old enemy, President John Adams. He resigned the commission in October 1799. From March 4, 1799 to May 14, 1800, he was a delegate from the territory northwest of the Ohio River to the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1800 to 1813, he served as the first governor of the Indiana Territory and superintendent of Indian Affairs, appointed by President John Adams and reappointed by Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.32 He resided with his family in a large house, Grouseland, located in Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory. By 1812, the United States consisted of the original thirteen colonies plus the added states of Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky, with a population of 7,500,000. The regular army had 7,500 men. Anticipating the approach of wars, Congress approved an increase of 50,000, but few men enlisted. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island refused to enlist, and others refused to cross into Canada. Military leadership was nearly non-existent, and President James Madison knew little of warfare.33 During his term as governor of the Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1812, William Henry survived fighting in several battles and was awarded citations for 28

Lew Wallace, Life of Gen. Ben Harrison (Hillsdale, MI: W. E. Allen & Co.,1888), p. 37. Mary J. C. Queen, “Anna Harrison: Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison,” American First Ladies, Robert P. Watson, ed. (Hackensack, N J: Salem Press, 2002), p. 67. 30 Marjorie Byrnside Burress , It Happened ‘Round North Bend: A History of Miami Township and Its Borders (North Bend, OH: Marjorie Byrnside Burress, 1987) p. 57. 31 Kane, op. cit., p. 59. 32 Ibid., p. 60. 33 Hubbard Cobb, American Battlefields (New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1995), p. 97. 29

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

10

Anne C. Moore

his successes. In September 1809, as governor, he persuaded Indians to cede 3,000,000 acres of land, resulting in enmity with Chief Tecumseh and the Shawnees. In 1811, Harrison fought the Battle of Tippecanoe on the Wabash River against the Shawnees, led by Prophet, brother of Chief Tecumseh. In the confrontation between the settlers and the Indians, 108 Americans were killed and wounded, and Tecumseh joined the British. Harrison was complimented by President Madison, and the legislatures of Kentucky and Indiana extended votes of thanks. After the Battle of Tippecanoe, William Henry sent Anna and their nine children to Cincinnati for safety. The frontier setting around Grouseland with frequent battles with Indians had become perilous. Anna also took her ailing father with her to Cincinnati. She dealt with hardships, anxieties, family problems and tragedies, and her deep religious faith sustained her. On August 22, 1812, he was commissioned major general of Kentucky militia in the War of 1812. William Henry Harrison received the rank of brigadier general in the U. S. Army on September 2, 1812. On March 2, 1813, he was commissioned major general in chief command of the Northwest.34 As commander of the Northern armies, he moved north to retake Detroit from the British. During the winter of 1812 and 1813, he had Fort Meigs built on the Maumee River near Detroit. Harrison’s 1,000 men were attacked there at Fort Meigs on May 1 by General Henry Proctor leading about 1,000 British and Canadian militia plus 1,500 of Tecumseh’s Indians. General Clay from Fort Defiance on the lower Maumee River arrived with 1,200 men to assist Harrison. Although many Americans were killed, Proctor gave up the attack and retreated. On September 10, Commodore Oliver H. Perry defeated the British fleet that controlled Lake Erie, and Harrison gained control of Detroit. General Proctor moved his army and 1,000 Indians, including Tecumseh, up the Thames River on the north shore of Lake Erie. On October 5, Harrison became hero of the Battle of the Thames where the British and Indians were defeated and Tecumseh was killed. The United States now controlled Lake Erie and the territories to the west. On May 31, 1814, Harrison resigned from the army and was awarded a gold medal from Congress for his victory at the Battle of the Thames.35 On returning to Ohio, William Henry with Anna and their children moved from Cincinnati to the farm at North Bend. Harrison expanded their small house

34 35

Kane, op. cit., p.60. Cobb, op. cit., p. 100

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

11

to seventeen rooms and called it The Bend.36 Symmes named his son-in-law executor of his estate. Harrison sought election to political offices for employment. He served in the U. S. House of Representatives from October 8, 1816 to March 13, 1819, in the Ohio Senate from 1819 to 1821, and in the United States Senate from 1825 to 1828. Appointed by John Quincy Adams, he served as minister plenipotentiary to Colombia from May 24, 1828 to September 26, 1829. After he retired to his farm in 1829, he held the offices until 1836 of county recorder, clerk of the county court, and president of county agricultural societies in Ohio. In 1822, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives, and in 1836, he lost the United States presidential election as the Whig candidate.37 For the adventurous journey to Colombia in 1828, seventeen-year-old Carter accompanied his father as his private secretary. He was William Henry’s youngest son, who had been enrolled at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, since 1826. After spending Christmas at the Venezuelan port of Maracaibo, they traveled for five weeks by mule train to the remote capital of Bogota. It was a year of revolution for Colombia. On September 26, 1829, Harrison was recalled by President Andrew Jackson. Laden with exotic plants and a macaw in a cage, the general and his son returned to North Bend. They were honored with a four-hourlong banquet at Mrs. Trollope’s bazaar in Cincinnati, and the first talk of Harrison for President of the United States began here. Carter returned to Miami University and retold tales of his observations and unique experiences in South America: “The capture of a privateer in the Leeward Islands, a diplomatic ball with girls from twenty nations, revolutionaries smuggling rifles from the Bogota arsenal, emerald mining in the high Andes, a swirling flatboat journey down the Magdalena River, spies and conspirators in the old walled town of Carthagena.” 38 In 1840, William Henry Harrison was chosen to represent the Whig party for the presidential election. Anna was opposed to his candidacy, wishing her husband’s friends had left him contented in retirement at North Bend. Harrison seemed ideally cast for his role as log cabin president. Set in his frontier environment, he was the simple son of democracy, and “plain as an old shoe.” He had inherited his father’s cheerfulness, forthrightness, self-assuredness and a liking of people.39 He ran his campaign as a man of the people, in contrast to the supposedly aristocratic Martin Van Buren. A detractor claimed, “ Give him a barrel of hard 36

Queen, op. cit., p. 70. Kane, op. cit., p. 61. 38 Walter Havighurst, The Miami Years 1809-1894 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1984), p. 80. 39 Dowdey, op. cit., p. 303. 37

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

12

Anne C. Moore

cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and . . . he will sit the remainder of his days in a log cabin . . . and study moral philosophy.”40 Instead of being insulted, the Whigs used the log cabin and hard cider theme for their campaign symbols. Supporters decided that Harrison, the six-foot-tall, plain frontier man, fit the log cabin/hard cider image. Riverboats began slowing on the Ohio River to give passengers a good glimpse of the large seventeen-room home of the presidential candidate Harrison at North Bend. When John Tyler was chosen for William Henry’s running mate, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” became a famous campaign slogan. The rousing colorful campaign was a success. The Whig supporters were elated when “Old Tippecanoe” won the election over Van Buren. On his way to Washington, the president-elect visited Berkeley plantation and wrote his inaugural address in his mother’s bedroom where he was born. He filled his speech with quotations from the classics. Daniel Webster, his secretary of state, edited the speech, and told a friend, “I have killed seventeen Roman proconsuls as dead as smelts every one of them.”41 William Henry Harrison became the ninth President of the United States. He was sixty-eight years old and observed to be energetic and healthy. On March 4, 1841, on a bitterly cold, blustery, rainy day, without wearing an overcoat, he delivered the longest inaugural speech on record, one hour and forty-five minutes, to a crowd of an estimated 50,000, the largest since the inauguration of George Washington. Then he headed the inaugural parade, a grand procession, waving his hat while riding his favorite horse, Old Whitey. He was followed by marching military men, many log cabin floats carrying cider barrels, and banner-waving supporters wearing coon skin hats. Later he attended three inaugural balls. Although he developed a chest cold, he seemed to recover from it in a few days. Because Anna had not yet arrived in Washington, his daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, widow of William Henry, Jr., served as a temporary hostess at the White House. During those few weeks, President Harrison seemed ill at ease while entertaining dinner guests. When he was alone, he went to shop at the market, he read the scriptures in the evenings, on Sunday mornings he attended services at St. John’s Episcopal Church, and in the afternoons he attended services at a Presbyterian church. No work, including talking politics, was done on the Sabbath. William Henry quickly found that much of the presidential responsibilities were extremely vexing. His brief presidency was filled problems of patronage. As 40

John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb, Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America's Most Famous Residence (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 80. 41 Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Harrison Heritage

13

soon as he was at his desk, he was besieged with office seekers. They crowded at his door and tried to force their way into cabinet meetings. Senator Henry Clay and Secretary of State Daniel Webster, respected leaders of the Whigs, had worked to rally support for Harrison’s election. Now they made demands and tried to dominate the president. Henry Clay, who had long anticipated being elected president, expected his choices of Whig candidates to replace appointments held by Democrats. 42 Harrison’s final illness began three weeks after he became president. On March 26, he complained of fatigue, had a high fever, and was coughing. He called a doctor, who prescribed bed rest. The next day he was stricken with chills. His personal physician used a remedy for “bilious pleurisy,” applying hot cups to his skin, producing blisters. Other physicians bled him and gave him castor oil, ipecac and opium, causing vomiting, constant diarrhea and hepatitis. Political leaders and cabinet members trooped in and out of his bedroom, when he was semi-conscious. He died on April 4, 1841, one month after he became president.43 Washington became a city of solemn mourning. William Henry’s body lay in state in the darkened East Room; black bunting draped mirrors and chandeliers. He was the first president to lie in state at the White House. Taverns, banks, other public buildings, and residences were draped in black. A funeral ceremony held in the East Room was attended by those who received invitations. Accompanied by a large public procession, his body was then taken in a funeral car drawn by eight horses, followed by saddled but riderless Old Whitey, to a vault in the Congressional Cemetery. William Henry’s wife Anna, recovering her health in Ohio, was preparing to journey to Washington to join her husband when she learned that he had died. She was pleased to receive a Congressional award of $25,000 and the franking privilege. This was the first time the government ever awarded a pension to a president’s widow.44 In June, William Henry Harrison’s body was ceremoniously moved to North Bend, Ohio, and buried near a small family cemetery. A sixty-foot tall rectangular gray granite monument was installed near the burial site in 1924.45

42

Ibid., p. 81. Ibid., pp. 82, 83. 44 Kane, op. cit., p. 61. 45 Burress, op. cit., p. 61. 43

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 2

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

POINT FARM John Scott Harrison, often called Scott Harrison, was born in Vincennes while his father was governor of the Indiana Territory. After moving to Ohio, Scott pursued studies in Cincinnati College and was valedictorian of his graduating class. He studied for the bar and then entered the law firm with Nicholas Longworth in Cincinnati. Influenced by his Presbyterain mother, he was a devout Christian. Because his father was required to be away for long periods of time due to political responsibilities, Scott left the law practice to supervise the 2,000 acre Harrison farm property at North Bend, Ohio, and manage home affairs. William Henry rewarded his son for the sacrifice of his law career by giving him two-fifths of the property (600 acres) and by building him a house known as the Point.46 John Scott Harrison had a large family to raise. With his first wife, Lucretia Johnson, he had three children: Betsy who married George Eaton, William Henry who died at age two years, and Sarah Lucretia. His wife Lucretia died in 1830. Scott Harrison’s second wife, Elizabeth Irwin, was a devoutly religious Presbyterian, who taught her children to observe and conform to the church rules. Ten children were born in the second marriage: Archibald Irwin, Benjamin, Mary Jane who married Samuel Morris, Anna Symmes who died as an infant, John Irwin who died as an infant, Carter Bassett, Anna Symmes who married Samuel Morris after sister Mary Jane died, John Scott, James Findlay who died as an infant, and James Irwin who died as an infant. Six survived to become adults. Benjamin was the second son, born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio, at the home of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison. Scott Harrison soon moved 46

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 17.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

16

Anne C. Moore

his family to their newly completed home, The Point, located at the mouth of the Miami River. John Scott Harrison was a poor financial manager, often finding himself in desperate straits. He was usually in debt, due to his generosity and ill-advised endorsements. Frequently he turned for help to his sister Betsy’s husband, John Cleves Short. Years later, the ownership of the Point farm would be in Mr. Short’s hands. through his brother-in-law’s kindness, John Scott Harrison would be permitted to continue to live there until his death. Uncertainties and difficulties were braved by Harrison at the Point. The river adjacent to the farm flooded annually in the early spring, carrying away bottom lands and great trees, making navigation impossible. Storms caused severe losses. Periodic sicknesses among his large family added to the problems. The farm, however, yielded an abundance of produce and stock: corn, wheat and hay, although prices were low on crops; and hogs, cattle and sheep, that were shipped on flatboats to Cincinnati and New Orleans. Fish from streams, and bear, deer and turkey from the forests added food for the family table. The staple was hominy, made on the farm. Much of the family clothing was made on the premises.47 Ben remembered fondly his childhood years at the Point, where he enjoyed a close relationship with his parents and siblings. As a farmer’s son, he had his share of chores. By 5 A.M., he was up to feed hogs, cattle, and sheep. He milked the cows (not his favorite chore), helped plant and harvest crops, rake hay, harnessed the horse, and did other work as expected. When he wasn’t working, he loved to swim, hunt, and fish, always with an elder person, as his father insisted. Frequently, Ben helped the Negro cook by washing dishes, or carrying in wood and water, in order to secure the company of an adult for hunting and fishing. Ben was reputed to be an accurate hunter with the rifle from an early age.48 Along with his siblings Irwin, Carter Bassett, Anna, and John Scott Jr., Ben began his education in a small log house built on the property. The first of their tutors was Harriet Root, niece of a Cincinnati minister. She told her recollections of Benjamin Harrison: “Ben was the brightest of the family, and even when five years old was determined to go ahead in everything. He was very much ahead of his older brother Irwin, but I held him back at his mother’s request. Ben was terribly stubborn about many things. He would insist on having his own way not only with me, but with his mother.”49 The next tutor, Joseph Porter, a college graduate, recommended that Ben be sent to one of the “Yankee colleges” like Harvard or Yale. 47

Ibid., p. 21. Wallace, op. cit., p. 52. 49 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 25. 48

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Point Farm

17

Accepting grandmother Anna Harrison’s invitation to explore his grandfather’s extensive library, Ben became fascinated with biographies and histories of Rome, Greece and America, and read Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and Kenilworth over and over. Scott Harrison was a dedicated member of the Cleves Presbyterian Church. All of his children were baptized there. In fair weather, the family traveled to Cleves, Ohio, to attend church services, and then were usually invited to dinner by Anna Harrison. When poor roads and distance made attending services at the church impossible, the Sabbath was then observed at the Point. The day was spent quietly. Around four o’clock in the afternoon, everyone assembled in the parlor to sing hymns until bedtime.50 When Ben was seven years old, his grandfather William Henry Harrison became President of the United States. Many of the family members, including his grandmother Anna Harrison, were unable to attend the inaugural ceremonies. After his father’s death at the White House one month following the inauguration, John Scott Harrison continued a close relationship with his mother. Years later, on July 25, 1858, in the middle of the night, a vindictive servant who had been dismissed, set fire to William Henry Harrison’s house at North Bend, destroying the large building filled with valuable documents and memorabilia. When the fire occurred, Anna Harrison was residing at this home with daughter Anna, her husband William Taylor and their eleven children. They all escaped the fire with only their night robes.51 The Taylors moved to another house on the property provided by John Short, and Anna Harrison resided with her only surviving son John Scott Harrison until her death on February 25, 1864 at the Point.52

50 51 52

Ibid., p. 28. Burress, op. cit., p. 58. Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 3

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

HIGHER EDUCATION During the fall of 1847, John Scott Harrison was determined to send his sons Irwin and Ben to college. Because he was not able to afford a prestigious eastern school, he decided instead on Farmer’s College, a small school originally named Cary’s Academy, at College Hill, six miles north of Cincinnati.53 The sons never realized, until many years later, the sacrifices their father had made to financially provide their education. The brothers set aside time to share letters with news from home. Their parents corresponded frequently, advising them to concentrate on studies, to avoid the evils of idleness, to choose companions carefully, to stop smoking cigars, and to avoid consumption of cucumbers. His mother wrote to her sons on July 23, 1848: “I intended writing you last evening, but was laid up with a sick headache . . . why has not Benjamin written? . . . we feel constantly anxious about you. I hope you will be prudent in your diet and Benja may abstain from cucumbers. . . . May God bless my sons and take them beneath his kind care.” 54 Letters frequently expressed concerns of Ben’s conduct away at school, and brought news of family members, such as the death of their younger brother Findlay in February 1848. On December 10, 1849, Ben’s father wrote him a letter of advice: “I feel . . . you are now more exposed to many temptations incident to a college life. And yet I believe you have firmness enough to resist evil influences no matter how flattering may be the garb in which they are presented. Let your actions always be governed by the moral influences which were experienced over you when a little

53

Walter Havighurst, Men of Old Miami 1809-1873: A Book of Portraits (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974), p. 112. 54 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 44.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

20

Anne C. Moore

boy at home, and with God’s help you are safe. I hope you never lose sight of your entire confidence in your Maker . . .” 55 Ben remembered his parents’ constant and warm hospitality to relatives and friends at their home. On November 2, 1848, they added to their family by assuming guardianship of two more children, Benjamin and William Henry, from Mary R. Harrison, from Point Coupee in Louisiana.56 In spite of financial problems, illnesses and sorrow, the family gathered together at the Point for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Ben always looked forward to spending the holidays with his family. In 1849, his sister Sallie wrote to Ben about Christmas preparations, telling him that he was expected to play the part of Santa Claus, his brother Carter asked him to purchase sky rockets in Cincinnati, and his sister Anna requested candy to give to some children.57 The 1849 Christmas was memorable and happy, the last holiday celebration with his mother. When she died unexpectedly on August 15,1850, Ben was deeply grieved. He was sixteen years old. He confided his thoughts to his professor, Dr. Bishop, at Farmer’s College: “Your kind letter expressing your sympathy was received some weeks since and I should have returned my sincere thanks for your well-wishes and good advice ere this . . . all my thoughts centered around, as most of my time was spent, around the deathbed of a dear mother, and the curtain of death having at last closed the touching scene, and the first violent outbursts of grief having subsided . . .” 58 In the same letter, he expressed his sadness of the triple deaths of mother, baby and younger brother. “But a short time they were well with a hold upon life which appeared to be strong and now they are gone, gone to tender their account at the bar of God . . . how such events will impress us with the necessity of making our peace with God! In view of these, many are the good resolves I have made for the future.” 59 Ben was influenced in his education at Farmer’s College by three men from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The president of the Farmer’s College was Freeman G. Cary, a graduate of Miami.60 One of the outstanding professors at the school was Dr. Robert Hamilton Bishop, an Edinburgh Scot, who had come to America as a young man. He had served as a professor at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky for twenty years, and as president of Miami University in 55

Ibid., p. 43. Ibid., p. 24. 57 Ibid., p. 43. 58 Ibid., p. 45. 59 Ibid. 60 Havighurst, op. cit., p. 112. 56

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Higher Education

21

Oxford, Ohio for twenty years, before arriving at Farmer’s College.61 Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, a mathematics and science teacher at Miami University, was an outspoken abolitionist who was suspected of using his home to harbor fugitive slaves as part of the underground railroad. Dr. Bishop and Dr. Scott had been dismissed from Miami University because of their support of abolition. Both professors were ordained Presbyterian ministers. In 1846, they accepted Dr. Cary’s invitation to teach at Farmer’s College.62 Ben was most influenced by Dr. Bishop, whom he respected and loved for his considerate attention and expectation of scholarship. Dr. Bishop’s instructions about public speaking were instilled in Ben: “When speaking, say something people will care to remember,” and “use clear, vigorous language and sound thinking.”63 Dr. Scott, a genial professor of mathematics and physics, welcomed visits of students at his home where Ben became a frequent visitor. The serious scholarly student was five feet seven inches tall with piercing blue eyes and blond hair. He was soon charmed by Dr. Scott’s attractive daughter Caroline, also called Carrie. She was vivacious and cheerful, and had a keen sense of humor. She was petite, with warm brown eyes, brown hair, and tiny hands and feet.64 An early advocate of women’s education, Dr. Scott started a women’s school in Cincinnati. In 1849, he moved his family back to Oxford to establish a larger women’s school, Oxford Female Institute, and was the principal of the school, a position he continued for seventeen years. His wife, Mary Neal Scott, served as a house manager and dean of women, and her sister Caroline Neal was hired to teach. He enrolled his daughter Carrie as a student there where she studied literature, language, music and art. In 1850, Ben transferred to Miami University in Oxford, where he continued his friendship with Carrie. However, he felt sadness in leaving Dr. Bishop and wrote him a letter sincerely thanking him for his love, interest in his welfare, and good advice for three years at Farmers College. “Having for some years enjoyed the benefit of your instruction, and being now about to pass from under your care, I would be truly ungrateful were I not to return my warmest thanks for the lively interest you have ever manifested in my welfare and advancement in religious as well as scientific knowledge.” 65

61

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 31. Walter Havighurst, The Miami Years 1809-1984 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons,1984), p. 60. 63 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 35. 64 Ibid., p. 47. 65 Havighurst, op. cit. p. 61. 62

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

22

Anne C. Moore

Upon arrival at Miami University, he learned that the Presbyterian institution with an enrollment of 250 students, had high intellectual standards and expectations. The president, trustees, and professors were all Presbyterians. Harrison made a brief solemn commitment to enter the ministry and faithfully participated in prayer meetings and other devotional exercises, but eventually changed his focus to the legal profession. His father was deeply disappointed that his son did not continue to prepare for the ministry. A serious student, Ben was intensely interested in history, law, and politics. He was remembered for spending long hours in the library and excelling in debates and public speaking. As a tribute of respect from his colleagues, he was elected president of the Union Literary Society.66 He felt honored to be accepted into the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and assumed an active role in the organization. At the beginning of his senior year in 1851, he was elected president of the chapter. During this year, his good judgment and skill were praised in his handling of a crisis. The incident involved two fraternity students from Miami who attended a celebratory event in Cincinnati and were drunk when they returned to Oxford. Although they were reprimanded, the pair continued to drink. As president of the chapter, Ben expelled them from the fraternity. Three other members resigned in sympathy, leaving seven members. Under Ben’s guidance, a standard for exemplary conduct was established for the fraternity, with harmony and unity of effort, and the membership doubled during the next winter.67 Ben’s great diversion from his studies was Carrie Scott, who was staying at a students’ boarding house at Oxford Female Institute, converted from the Old Temperance Tavern. The couple met once a week, spending many evenings together on the porch of the tavern, or on buggy rides and on sleigh rides. Ben endured teasing of his courting of Carrie from his classmates. Caroline loved to dance, although it was against the rules of the school and sometimes lured Ben away from his books to attend off-campus dances, where she gaily danced with other partners while he sat and watched. Before graduation, Ben and Caroline were secretly engaged to be married. He found his “love sickness” was distracting.68 Caroline had a stressful and busy senior year. She was completing her studies as well as teaching in the music department of the institute, due to the illness of her aunt Caroline Neal, one of the music teachers. While providing daily nursing care, Carrie was distraught about her aunt’s condition. Listed among the faculty 66

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., pp. 56-57. “Harrison’s Fraternity Leadership Recalled,” The Scroll of Phi Delta Theta (Spring, 1991), p. 42. 68 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., pp. 54-55. 67

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Higher Education

23

for that year is “Caroline Scott, assistant in piano music.” Her diploma documents her degree in language, music, and art from the Oxford Female Institute on June 22, 1852.69 The family members and friends gathered together to attend the graduation ceremonies at Miami University on June 24, 1852. Ben presented one of the commencement speeches, “The Poor of England” and received his diploma. He was an honors student, graduating fourth in his class. 70 When Ben left the university, he was nineteen years old, well-educated and self-reliant with professional goals to attain. Following graduation, Harrison read law as an unpaid apprentice with the prestigious Storer and Gwynne law firm in Cincinnati. John Scott Harrison had advised his son to interview for the position with his personal friend Bellamy Storer, the senior partner of the firm. Two years of study in a lawyer’s office would make Ben eligible for a license. He worked hard to execute monotonous copy work and wearisome legal studies assigned to him, and Bellamy Storer was pleased with his progress. As the weeks passed, Ben grew to despise city life and longed for the Point farm. He was impatient for letters from Carrie and stopped at the post office regularly. Fortunately, Ben did not need to seek a boarding house. His sister Betty and her husband George Eaton welcomed him to their home in the city and provided a room for him. By his calculations, he saved $300 in a year.71 Caroline accepted a teaching position in music and sewing at a girls’ school in Carrollton, Kentucky. During the year, she became ill with overwork and exhaustion. Ben became extremely concerned and decided he should marry Caroline to relieve her of the necessity to teach. He wrote to his close friend, John Anderson, that he was convinced that she might die if he did not provide his protective care by marriage. Anderson replied, “You are far from able to support Carrie as you will. . . . from Dr. Scott you can expect nothing, and your father will support you as he has done, but will you let him? From my knowledge I should think not. . . . remember the world is not your friend, it is your enemy and . . . it requires hard work to defend yourself. . . .Love is a powerful incentive, but will it pass current for potatoes and beef? Coffee and muffins for two are not paid for by affection existing between the ‘two.’ Hard cash buys! Where will it come from?”72 Ben waited for two days before replying. Then he wrote his friend and explained in detail the plans that he had made. He would take Caroline to the Point where they would live with his family at no cost, and they both would have no clothing expenses for at least the first year. Because the Eatons were moving 69

Oxford Female Institute diploma, Harrison MSS. Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., pp. 63-65. 71 Ibid., p. 69. 72 Ibid., p. 76. 70

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

24

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

out of the city, Ben was no longer able to board with them, even if he were not married. He would commute to Cincinnati to the law firm from the Point farm.73 That August, despite John Anderson’s admonitions and advice, Ben and Caroline decided to marry in October.

73

Ibid., p. 78.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 4

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

YOUNG LAWYER IN INDIANAPOLIS Ben methodically made his preparations for the wedding. He respectfully requested Caroline’s father, Dr. Scott, an ordained minister, to perform the marriage ceremony. In the letter, he also expressed his sincere desire to provide a good marriage and future for Caroline. “For the present I shall offer a place in my father’s home where she will receive the welcome of a daughter and sister. My present design is to migrate to Chicago in the spring, when I will be able to obtain immediate admission to the Bar, and once admitted, the energetic pursuit of my profession will insure success. In a word, I pledge my best efforts for her happiness.” 74 Some responsibilities for his wedding were annoying and worrisome to Ben. Because he was not the legal age of twenty-one years until August 20 of the next year, he was embarrassed by the necessity of asking his father to accompany him to the Hamilton County seat to procure the marriage license three days before the wedding. Ben was twenty years old on August 20, and Caroline was twenty-one on October 1. Finding appropriate wedding garments became a disagreeable task. His older brother Irwin arrived in time to accompany him to the tailors and bootmakers and gents furnishers, to select an all black outfit, deciding on a frock coat and a black satin vest. 75 On the morning of October 10, 1853, Ben and Caroline were married in a simple ceremony officiated by Dr. Scott. Family members and a few friends, including John Anderson, gathered in the parlor of the Scott family home for the wedding. Caroline was modestly attired in a simple gray traveling dress, and Ben wore his new black suit. Following a wedding brunch, the newlyweds traveled to 74 75

Ibid., p. 42 Ibid., pp. 80, 81, 82.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

26

Anne C. Moore

the Point at North Bend, Ohio.76 A week later, Ben wrote to his friend John Anderson: “Carrie is now sitting at the fire plying her needle, while I was writing at the window. Possibly, I may now and then raise my eyes to watch for an instant her busy fingers . . . Her presence and consciousness that she is my wife afford an infinitude of quiet happiness.” 77 Within two months, early in December, John Scott Harrison left for Washington to serve his elected term as congressman for the Whig party. Ben and several siblings left at the Point farm, shared feelings of sadness about the separation from their father, who had always maintained a close relationship with his family. John Scott Harrison was admired and respected in Hamilton County; he had served as the Justice of the Peace for twenty years and as a member of the Hamilton County Board of Control. The young couple enjoyed living at the Point while Ben finished his law readings at Storer and Gwynne law firm. In 1854, after two years of study, Harrison attained his cherished goal, admission to practice before the Ohio bar.78 Ben and Caroline weighed advantages and disadvantages carefully in considering plans for their future. Ben definitely wished to build a practice independently, apart from influences or help from friends or family. Opportunities in Chicago and Indianapolis were both attractive. Following a trip to Indianapolis in March 1854, he received an enthusiastic, persuasive letter from a cousin, William Sheets, a successful paper manufacturer there. Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana, had a population of 16,000 in 1854, with prospects of growth and commerce, supported by a large system of railroads that converged in the city. The decision was made to move to Indianapolis. At the time of need, unexpected monetary gifts made the move to Indianapolis possible through an $800 inheritance from a deceased aunt and a farewell gift of $500 from his father. One large box of worldly goods was shipped for $.91 freight charge to the home of William Sheets. Following a sentimental parting of family and friends, Ben and Caroline traveled pleasantly together for several hours to the city that would become their permanent home.79 Upon arriving at Indianapolis, the young couple gratefully received the hospitality of their cousin, who resided at the corner of Pennsylvania and Ohio Streets, while they looked for a place of their own. Soon they settled into a downstairs apartment of a two-story frame house, further up on Pennsylvania Street. There they met another newly married couple, Dr. and Mrs. John Kitchen, 76

Ibid., p. 82. Ibid., p. 83. 78 Ibid., p. 84. 79 Ibid., p. 89. 77

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Young Lawyer in Indianapolis

27

the second story renters. John Kitchen described Ben as kindly, agreeable, studious, and reserved.80 The first year in Indianapolis was filled with hardships for the Harrisons. A fire forced them out of their residence to seek other lodging. However, the seven dollar weekly board and rent was beyond their means; regardless of the fire, they would have moved to cheaper housing. Within a few months, the young couple faced their first separation. Caroline, who was pregnant, traveled to her parents’ home at Oxford to wait for the birth of the baby. On August 12, 1854, Russell Lord was born, named for Caroline’s sister Elizabeth’s husband. The name was soon changed to “Russell Benjamin.” He arrived just eight days before his father’s twenty-first birthday. Ben agreed with his wife that she and Russell should stay in Ohio until the hot humid “sickly” season in Indianapolis was over, even though he was very lonely for them. Congress had recessed and John Scott Harrison had returned to the Point, when he received the news of the birth of Russell Benjamin. Caroline brought her baby to the proud Harrison grandfather at the Point before traveling to Indianapolis in October. 81 Caroline and Russell came home to a modest house Ben had recently rented for his family in the eastern part of the city on Vermont and New Jersey Streets, with only a kitchen, a dining room, a bedroom, and a shed for summer cooking. Caroline did all her own housekeeping, and Ben kept the wood box filled and carried in pails of water. Waiting for clients at his upstairs office at 32 ½ West Washington Street, Harrison struggled to establish his law practice. His earnings from notarial work, writing deeds, petty cases before the justice of the peace, and probate work were not enough to cover his office and home expenses.82 To augment his income, he worked as a court crier for $2.50 a day. Shortly after their first Christmas, Caroline and Russell returned to Oxford to recuperate from illnesses through medical care and comfort provided by the Scott parents. Ben wrote to Carrie, “I know that you and the babe will be well cared for, both at the Point and at Oxford but no one loves you as I do, so no one will take as good care of you as I would. I wish I were able to send you some money but am now reduced to two dollars myself. I will try to send you some in a day or two, though I am sure I have no idea where it is to come from.” 83 To pay for medical expenses, Harrison borrowed money from John H. Rea, Clerk of the District Court of the United States. Ben’s legal skills, slowly developing through experience, were being recognized. Thanks to John Rea, he 80

Ibid., p. 92. Ibid., pp. 98-99. 82 Ibid., p. 101. 83 Ibid., p. 102. 81

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

28

Anne C. Moore

received the opportunity to assist in the successful prosecution of a burglary case in his first jury trial. Later in March 1855, his financial circumstances improved significantly when William Wallace, an established Indianapolis lawyer with political aspirations, invited Ben to become a partner in his firm, at 30 ½ West Washington Street. The law practice progressed successfully while Ben worked diligently to reduce his personal indebtedness and poverty.84 Soon after Harrison entered this partnership, he was appointed by Judge Stephen Major to prosecute against a hotel servant accused of poisoning a guest’s coffee. Ben had one night to prepare and had no knowledge of poisons. He sought his friend Dr. John Kitchen, who shared an office with Dr. Theophilus Parvin. During the following ten hours, with Dr. Parvin’s assistance and access to his books, Ben mastered numerous facts about the nature of poisons in the human system. The criminal was convicted, and Ben impressed the many physicians and others in the courtroom with his display of knowledge. With his increased financial security, he rented a larger house for his family at 116 North New Jersey Street. 85 Both Ben and Caroline were devout Christians, and their lives were directed by their religious faith. Continuing practices of both the Harrison and Scott families, they made Bible reading and prayers a daily routine in their home. The Sabbath was strictly and quietly observed by attending church services, reading, taking walks, and singing hymns. Ben and Caroline became members of the First Presbyterian Church on the east side of Circle Street in Indianapolis and regularly attended services, occupying pew 106. Ben was a teacher in the Sunday School, worked with young men as a leader of the Y. M. C. A., and became superintendent of the Sunday School. He served as a trustee, a deacon, and was an elder of the church until his death. His voice was heard at prayer meetings, and he freely gave testimony of his faith. Caroline, too, was a leader at the church. She influenced a following of young women with her friendly, vivacious guidance. She taught classes, played the piano and was superintendent of the Primary Department of the Sunday School. Most of their social life centered around the church activities, including oyster dinners, bazaars, and strawberry festivals. Ben enjoyed the gatherings but was reserved and quiet, while Caroline delighted in participating in the events and was often the center of attention.86 The Harrison family increased with the birth of a daughter on April 3, 1858. In his diary, Ben wrote: “Our Little Girl Born About Noon . . . after Carrie had 84

Ibid., p. 104. Ibid., p. 97. 86 Centennial Memorial 1823-1923: Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana (Greenfield, IN: William Mitchell Printing Co., 1925), p. 113. 85

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Young Lawyer in Indianapolis

29

gone through severe labor for about twelve hours . . . doctor had to use forceps.”87 She was named Mary Scott. At grandmother Anna Harrison’s insistence, an old rickety crib was sent from the Point for the new baby. In his account book, Ben recorded a payment of $2.50 to the Tilford Furniture Company for “one crib mattress and repairing crib.” Ben’s sister Jennie claimed the baby was a perfect little beauty, prettier than Russell, “like her Father . . . of course.” 88 The young couple became well-established in their home and community in Indianapolis. Caroline made friends easily and was well-occupied with domestic responsibilities and church activities. She became interested in charity work at the orphan’s asylum, and in 1860 became a member of the Board of Managers, a position she held until her death. Her hands were rarely idle. She often worked on dainty needle projects while she attended meetings, and her items were popular when sold at church bazaars. Harrison became devoted to the new Republican Party in 1856. The deciding issue was the abolition of slavery, which he supported. A painful political separation from his father occurred during this year. When he was told that his son was seeking to be elected the Republican city attorney, John Scott Harrison was genuinely shocked. He protested bitterly and told Ben that joining the Radical Republicans was conduct unbecoming a Harrison. They avoided communicating with each other for several months. On May 5, 1857, Ben was elected Republican city attorney of Indianapolis for one year, a position that paid him $400 for the year. 89 John Scott Harrison retired as a Whig congressman in March 1857, after giving dedicated service through two terms, which had aged him considerably. When his father returned to the Point, Ben took steps in reconciliation by visiting him frequently and corresponding. Caroline gave him affectionate attention when he finally came to visit them in Indianapolis. Warmth and devotion that had been strained by politics were restored. Father and son developed a closer understanding of each other, but neither changed his political views. 90 In 1858 Benjamin Harrison became secretary of the State Central Committee, and in 1860, at the age of twenty-seven, he won the elected position of reporter for the State Supreme Court of Indiana. During his term in office, he published two volumes, Reports XV and XVI, and had nearly completed volume XVII. He gained $4.50 for each bound volume and had a ready market for his work. As Ben’s professional standing and financial security advanced, the demands of legal 87

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 133. Sievers vol.1, op. cit., p. 134. 89 Ibid., p. 127. 90 Ibid., p. 128. 88

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

30

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

and political expectations multiplied. He worked meticulously, engrossed in making thorough preparation for his professional and political responsibilities. As a result, he gradually spent less time with Caroline and his children.91

91

Ibid., pp. 165-167.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 5

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

THE CIVIL WAR YEARS As a loyal supporter of Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Harrison was a popular campaign speaker for the newly-formed Republican Party. Harrison stood with his party to take up arms to preserve the Union, supporting the Republican platform: “We hold in abhorrence all schemes for Disunion, come from whatever source they may.” He regarded Lincoln a “great simple hearted patriot.” Ben actively participated in preparing for the welcoming reception, with detailed arrangements, for Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Indianapolis on February 11, 1861. The city was decorated with patriotic bunting, and throngs gathered on the streets to greet the president-elect. At five o’clock in the evening, the train of eight cars arrived. Following a salute of thirty-four guns, a grand procession made its way to the Bates House, later replaced with the Claypool Hotel on Washington Street. Governor Morton introduced Lincoln, who then spoke to the people about preserving the Union: “I appeal to you . . . to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you is the question: Shall the Union and shall the Liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations?”92 Harrison, in the audience, was deeply impressed by Lincoln’s speech and presence. Later he recalled President Lincoln’s impact on him: “Before us stood our chosen leader, the man who was to be our pilot through seas more stormy and through channels more perilous than ever the old ship went before. . . . The course before him was lighted only by the lamp of duty; outside of its radiance all was dark. He seemed to me to be conscious of all this, to be weighted by it, but so strong was his sense of duty, so courageous his heart, so sure was he of his own 92

Ibid., p. 160.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

32

Anne C. Moore

high purposes and motives and of the favor of God for himself and his people, that he moved forward calmly to his appointed work; not with show and brag, neither with shrinking.”93 Following the firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Harrison felt a duty to join in the effort to preserve the Union, as the first 12,000 volunteer soldiers assembled in Indianapolis to meet the call. Responsibilities at home deterred him, however. In addition to his two children, six-year-old Russell and three-year-old Mary, a third child was expected; Caroline was in her eighth month of pregnancy. Two more dependents were living in his household. His brother John was staying there while attending school, as well as his nephew Harry Eaton, the son of his sister Betsy who lived in Cincinnati. Ben was also sending cash to his brother Carter and his sister Jenny.94 One month later, Ben and Caroline experienced their first intense and prolonged sorrow when their baby daughter died at birth. Caroline wrote in her black leather bound New Testament: “May, 1861. A daughter born./ Death came with friendly care /The opening bud to heaven convey’ed/ And bade it blossom there.” 95 In addition to many messages of condolences from relatives and friends, John Scott Harrison sent an especially warm letter to Ben and Carrie: “I hear with sorrow the loss and disappointment you sustained in the death of your little babe . . .You have lost a little one, too young to know and love you, but God in his mercy is sparing to you two bright and intelligent children who have learned to do this . . . and Carrie has our sincere sympathy.” 96 In his expense account, Ben recorded $10.50 for a child’s coffin and a box for the grave.97 Indianapolis was designated by the War Department as the center for the assembling of troops in Indiana. The convergence of railroads to the city would be essential for dispersing military men and supplies. War preparation began at Camp Morton, named for Governor Oliver P. Morton, the army training site converted from the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The first 6,000 untrained volunteer soldiers crowded into animal barns for shelter and bathed in Fall Creek. Initially, there were no weapons or supplies, but food was plentiful. The soldiers were visited by huge crowds of family members and friends. Four additional army training sites were established in Indianapolis: Camp Carrington, Camp McClellan, Camp Robinson, and Camp Sullivan. To end the shortage of 93

Ibid., p. 161. Ibid., p. 164. 95 The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to the commonly received version (New York: American and Foreign Bible Society, 1840), back fly leaf. 96 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 168. 97 Ibid., p. 167. 94

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

33

ammunition, Governor Morton established the Indiana State Arsenal, located in a rented building south of the State House. In 1863, the federal government purchased land, now the site of Arsenal Technical High School, and constructed the United States Arsenal at 1500 East Michigan Street.98 Reports of the Civil War battles were eagerly read by Ben and Caroline, particularly involving the Indiana troops. Each had a brother in the Eleventh Indiana Volunteers, Lieutenant Irwin Harrison and Private Henry Scott, under the command of Colonel Lew Wallace, brother of Ben’s law partner Will Wallace. Before the war began, Henry had read law at the Wallace and Harrison law firm, providing valuable service, and lived with his sister and brother-in-law. At the end of three months with the Eleventh Indiana Volunteers, Henry became ill and returned to Indianapolis to recuperate under Caroline’s care and was warmly welcomed by Ben.99 During this time, the legal practice changed. Because Wallace’s time and attention were diverted to political campaigning, he was unable to carry on his share of responsibilities at the law firm. As soon as he regained his health, Henry worked at the law office again, and his help filled the void of Wallace’s absences. Early in December 1861, due to Will Wallace’s election as clerk of Marion County, the six year partnership with Harrison was ended on friendly terms. In less than two weeks, on December 11, 1861, Ben entered a partnership with William Pinkney “Pink” Fishback and opened their office located at 62 East Washington Street. The lawyers had known each other from college days at Miami University, and Harrison admired Fishback’s extemporaneous speaking ability and tenacious work habits. With similar skills and aspirations for the law practice, they worked well together. The increased volume of business and success at the law firm resulted in greater income than Ben expected.100 With his increased income, an investment in a larger home for his family became a priority. At this opportune time, his friend Albert G. Porter, aware of the Harrisons’ crowded home, offered to sell him a larger house and property. It was a two-story frame house with a stable on the lot, located on the southeast corner of Alabama and North Streets; the address was 127 North Alabama Street. The purchase was made almost immediately, and moving to the new home was a happy event. Caroline enjoyed gardening in the strawberry patch and the yard full of flowers in more spacious surroundings. She indulged in her natural fondness

98

Tony L. Trimble, “Civil War Camps and Installations,” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, David Bodenhaver and Robert G. Barrows, ed. (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 443. 99 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 169. 100 Ibid., p. 171.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

34

Anne C. Moore

for animals, tenderly caring for pet birds, cats, and dogs, chickens, and a horse.101 She was seen personally driving her horse and carriage to attend meetings and sometimes stopping at the law office located on Market Street to have Ben drive them home. Harrison took pride in his first purchase of a house. However, to meet the new financial obligations to pay for it, he worked twice as hard, risking his health from overwork.102 By the summer of 1862, the people of Indiana were becoming disillusioned and disappointed with the war, however, Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton was dedicated to support the Union cause. When President Lincoln requested more troops, Governor Morton made a strong appeal for volunteers that went practically unheeded. On July 9, 1862, Harrison and his former law partner, Will Wallace, met with the dejected governor who expressed his concern of the prevailing apathy and indifference of the war. Ben immediately offered to volunteer and raise a regiment. The governor told him he would not expect him to go to the field himself, but Ben insisted that he would not recruit and then stay at home. That evening, he announced his decision to Caroline, who accepted the news and encouraged him. Harrison made provisions for his family and asked his law partner William Fishback to provide Caroline with money while he was away. 103 An arrangement was made with a lawyer, John Craven, to serve as his deputy so that Ben would collect royalties from the sale of the court reports that he had worked hard to complete. But the Democrats petitioned the court to declare the court reporter’s office vacant and nominated their candidate, Michael Kerr, Harrison’s opponent in 1860, for the job. Kerr claimed all future royalties from Harrison’s two books already published. Angrily Ben wrote to Carrie, “I would like to give M. Kerr a caning better than anything I know of.”104 Will Wallace and Harrison gave many persuasive speeches and recruited 1,000 men by July 22, 1862. In less than two weeks, Ben’s rank changed from 2nd lieutenant to captain. Then, on August 8, he became Colonel Harrison, the regimental commander of the Seventieth Indiana Volunteers. He chose his brother-in-law Henry Scott, as a 1st lieutenant for the regiment. A novice at military training, Ben studied diligently to learn the details of drill and discipline. On August 13, 1862, the Seventieth Indiana boarded a train for Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ben wrote to his wife, complaining about the ignorance of 101

Kate Scott Brooks, “Memories of Our President General,” National Historical Magazine, Vol. LXXVI, No. 1 (January, 1942), p. 5. 102 Sievers vol.1, op. cit., p. 174. 103 Ibid., p. 185. 104 James M. Perry, Touched with Fire: Five Presidents and Civil War Battles That Made Them (New York: Public Affairs, 2003), p. 222.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

35

firearms among his recruits, and the necessity for strict discipline. He quickly learned that the price of enforced discipline cost him his own popularity and had a sobering effect on the men. Although the first six months passed in monotonous training and waiting, Harrison was nevertheless pleased with the progress of his military training of the Seventieth Indiana. Ben spent much of his time writing letters and studying Hardee’s Rifle and Light Military Tactics. Copperheads (antiwar Democrats) back home tried to persuade soldiers into desertion, claiming that they had not been sworn in properly. To deal with sagging morale, Harrison called a mass meeting and asked the brigade commander, Brigadeer General Eleazer Paine, to speak to the men. Then Ben gave a speech that “riveted the attention of that mass of men,” and he was enthusiastically cheered. “Harrison . . . became truly animated when he was speaking to large audiences.”105 Months later, after many battlefield experiences, Harrison won the respect of his men. They retold stories of his fearless leadership in battles, his protests of unnecessary haste in marches, the sacrifice of his comfort to carry arms for exhausted men, and walking while a wounded or ill soldier rode his horse. Ben also sent wounded men home with gifts of his own money. Over the many months, Caroline anxiously waited for war news and letters. She contributed to the war effort as a leader of the Ladies Patriotic Organization and the Ladies Sanitary Committee and participated in community drives to collect clothing and medicines for soldiers. In Indianapolis hospitals, she extended cheer as she helped nurse wounded soldiers. Caroline journeyed to Ben’s headquarters in Bowling Green to visit him in camp on August 31, 1862, and on October 20, 1862. She told a reporter, “Those were my sad days, but I forced myself to be cheerful and looked after my home and little babies until merciful Providence restored my husband to me.”106 Indianapolis became nationally known for donating services to Civil War soldiers and their families. In two years, the City Hospital provided medical care for 6,114 government patients, including 847 war prisoners. Soldiers traveling through Indianapolis, needing rest, hot meals and medical care, stopped at the Soldiers Home, the largest in the Midwest. A Ladies’ Home was available for needy wives and children of Union soldiers.107 Camp Morton was converted to a Confederate prison in February, 1862. After Governor Morton announced that 3,000 prisoners could be accommodated, 4,800 prisoners arrived. Some of them were sent to Lafayette and Terre Haute. 105

Ibid., p. 223. Phebe A. Hanaford, Daughters of America: or, Women of the Century (Augusta, ME: True and Co., 1889), pp. 124-125. 107 Trimble, op. cit., p. 444. 106

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

36

Anne C. Moore

Indianapolis residents donated food, blankets and money for their needs, and a hospital was improvised for them at the Das Deutsche Haus. The death rate of the prisoners was fifty per month. They were interred at Greenlawn Cemetery and later exhumed and reinterred at Crown Hill Cemetery. In August 1862 when the Confederate prisoners were released in exchange for Union prisoners, the camp was vacated temporarily. Camp Morton prisoners were appreciative of the care they received and collected $3,000 to commission a bust of a prison commandant, Richard Owen. The bust is engraved: “Tribute by Confederate prisoners of war and their friends for his courtesy and kindness.” 108 Harrison’s regiment, included in General William T. Ward’s First Brigade, was setting out to rally with the main army near Nashville for the march to Atlanta. On May 2, the division passed Chickamauga Creek where the raging battle had been fought on September 19 and 20. On May 8, the army arrived six miles from Resaca, Georgia, where they were surrounded by hills, swamps, ravines, and dense brush. Sherman ordered part of the army to Resaca, intending to force General Joseph Johnston’s Confederate army to surrender. Harrison’s regiment was ordered to lead the assault. On the evening of May 13, 1864, Ben wrote a tender letter to Carrie: “I must write you tonight as we look for a battle tomorrow and God only knows who shall come safely through it . . . May God in his great mercy give us a great victory, and may the nation give him the praise. You will perhaps like to know how I feel on the eve of my first great battle. Well, I do not feel in the least excited, nor any sense of shrinking or fear. I am in my usual good spirits, though not at all insensitive to the grave responsibilities and risk which I must bear tomorrow. I am thinking much of you and the dear children and my whole heart goes out to you in tenderness and love and many earnest prayers.” 109 Harrison was ordered to take a hill commanding the approach to Resaca, Georgia. Waving his cap high above his head, he cheered the men on as he led his troops down a hill in plain view of the enemy and up the other side into the wellarmed Confederate position. The enemy was securely entrenched and waiting. A rebel soldier wrote: “To their music we slept, by their thunderings we were awakened and to the accompanying call of the bugle we responded on the morning of May 14 to engage in the death grapple with Sherman’s well-clothed, well-fed and thoroughly rested veterans who moved against us in perfect step, with banners flying and bands playing, as though expecting to charm us.” 110

108

Lloyd A. Hunter, “Camp Morton,” Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, op. cit., pp. 381, 382. Perry, op. cit., p. 235. 110 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 247. 109

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

37

When the Union columns were within seventy-five yards, the Confederates opened fire. Colonel John Coburn, Harrison’s friend from Indianapolis, gave support with his brigade. Ben complained to Carrie of General Ward’s inappropriate commands. Confusion and danger increased when the Seventieth Indiana came under rebel counter attack, experiencing the accuracy of the Confederate sharpshooters. 111 Then, at the same time, the Hoosier troops came under fire from Union soldiers making their way up the hill behind them. Fierce fighting continued all afternoon. Toward the end of the battle, when General Ward was wounded, Ben was placed in command of the First Brigade, of which the Seventieth Indiana was a part. 112 The enemy retreated at nightfall in the darkness. During the night, a fire in the woods horribly burned many of the dead. Harrison’s regiment worked all day to bury the bodies of fifty Union and one hundred Confederate men. Ben wrote that his regiment’s first experience with mass burial was most appalling because of the ghastliness of the burned stiffened corpses. One hundred and thirty Union soldiers were injured.113 After the Battle of Resaca, Harrison valued the warm personal tribute from his troops, when they christened him “Little Ben,” an affectionate nickname connoting respect for courage and daring. 114 His performance at Resaca was published in Cincinnati and Indianapolis papers. He was pleased to receive a letter of praise from his father. To Carrie, Ben wrote: “He seems to be very proud that I have won some distinction in my new profession. I am glad that I have been able to show . . . the family, its famous name is as safe in my keeping as that of any who now bear the name . . . We must not . . . forget that to God who sustains me belongs all the honor.” 115 He added that her brother Henry had behaved with “conspicuous gallantry” at Resaca. However, General Sherman was disappointed that he had not destroyed General Johnston and his Confederate Army. They had out-maneuvered him with the well-organized retreat across Oostenaula River during the night. Nevertheless, according to the recorded statement by Confederate Lieutenant L. D. Young, Resaca was the “first battle of magnitude in the celebrated Georgia campaign.”116 Following the Battle of Resaca, the Seventieth Indiana lived almost daily under fire. The Hoosier regiment fought in more than thirty battles, more than William Henry Harrison had fought during his lifetime.117 Ben told Carrie that he 111

Perry, op. cit., p. 236. Lew Wallace, Life of Gen. Ben Harrison (Hillsdale, MI: W.E. Allen & Co., 1888), p. 197. 113 Perry, op. cit., p. 241. 114 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 253. 115 Perry, op. cit., p. 242. 116 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 247. 117 Ibid., p. 254. 112

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

38

Anne C. Moore

had grown to love his men for their bravery and their shared dangers and would not like to leave his regiment.118 The Seventieth Indiana fought battles at Cassville, New Hope Church, Golgotha Church near Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, and at the Chattahoochie River above Vining’s Station. On May 26, 27 and 28, at New Hope Church, Georgia, the Seventieth Indiana fought with Hooker’s Corps against 5,000 Confederate infantry and deadly canister shot. They fought fierce battles at close range with the enemy, sustaining heavy losses. It was the first large battle for the Seventieth since Resaca. Of the battle at Golgotha Church, on June 15, 1864, near Kenesaw Mountain, Harrison wrote: “My regiment was advanced without any support to within 300 yards of a strong rebel breastwork . . . and we being entirely exposed. We stood there fighting an unseen foe . . . without flinching . . . the enemy’s shells and grapes fell like hail in our ranks, tearing down large trees and filling the air with splinters. Two or three of my men had their heads torn off close down to the shoulders and others had fearful wounds.” 119 The wounded were taken to a deserted house. Because the regimental surgeons were not available, Ben rolled up his sleeves and treated the injured men. He was observed tearing his own shirt and a tent into strips for bandages. He wrote to Carrie: “Our surgeons got separated from us, and putting our wounded in a deserted house, I stripped my arms to dress their wounds myself. Poor fellows. I was but an awkward surgeon, but I hope I gave them some relief. There were some ghastly wounds. I pulled out of one poor fellow’s arm a splinter five or six inches long and as thick as three fingers.” 120 In letters to Carrie, Ben described the difficulties his troops encountered in frontal attacks of well-entrenched Confederate lines. First they had to make their way through a tangle of small tree tops laid cross-wise in their path. Then they were confronted with the abatis, consisting of larger treetops trimmed of leaves with branches sharpened and positioned side by side toward them to impede progress. They advanced on through the breastwork: two lines of sharpened stakes about twelve feet long set breast high, four feet into the ground like rows of inclined bayonets, so close together that a man couldn’t pass in between them. All the while, they were being killed and wounded under enemy fire. 121 On July 7, Ben wrote to his wife that he could see the steeples of churches in Atlanta, and they were four miles away from the city. A few days later, General Sherman and Colonel Harrison walked along a ridge beyond Peach Tree Creek, 118

Perry, op. cit., p. 247. Perry, op. cit. p. 245. 120 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 255. 121 Ibid., p. 248. 119

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

39

two miles north of Atlanta, and plotted to launch an assault that would “bag the fox.”122 On the morning of July 20, the Union brigades crossed the supposedly unfordable stream, Peach Tree Creek, and took positions in lines of battle. General John B. Hood ordered the Confederate troops to move in a surprise attack at a weak spot in the Union line, to split the Union Army in half. Colonel Harrison took command and courageously led his brigade to close the line and forced the rebels to retreat. Colonel Coburn’s brigade supported the Seventieth Indiana to assure success. Many fell in the hand-to-hand combat using bayonets, muskets, and pistols. Later Harrison was praised for the valiant fighting of the Battle of Peach Tree Creek. Colonel John Coburn described Harrison: “The personification of fiery valor, with voice and gesture urging on the furious charge. . . . our advance seemed to give [divisions on our right and left] encouragement-they rallied and retook their lines. . . . I never saw on any battlefield dead and wounded in such numbers and so close together. . . . No man in the army that night stood higher than Harrison for heroism.”123 Next morning General Joe Hooker came riding; he was impressed with Ben’s performance and congratulated him. On October 31, in a letter to Secretary of War Stanton, he called for Harrison’s promotion to brigadier general. “With more foresight than I have witnessed in any officer of his experience, he seemed to act on the principle that success depends upon thorough preparation in discipline and esprit of his command for conflict, more than on any influence that can be exerted on the field itself. . . . In all the achievements of the 20th Corps in that campaign, Colonel Harrison played a conspicuous part . . . .Colonel Harrison is an officer of superior abilities of great professional and personal worth.” 124 Caroline received copious correspondence from her husband that recorded his daily experiences in detail. Between battles, he described reading Dickens’ novels when he was weary of studying military tactics; enduring humid, hot, rainy or freezing weather; finding lice and other insects filling the bedrolls; ministering to the wounded and ill; and leading groups of men in prayers and readings of scriptures. He expressed concern for his brother John who had been wounded in battle, and frequently requested news from home. Harrison remained in good health. His only complaint was a skin poisoning condition he developed during the Atlanta campaign at Marietta, Georgia, resulting in a very itchy rash all over his face, hands, and legs. His hands remained sensitive for the rest of his life and he often wore gloves for protection 122

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 258. Perry, op. cit., p. 252. 124 Ibid., p. 253. 123

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

40

Anne C. Moore

against infection and cold. Political opponents during the 1876 Indiana governor’s election dubbed him the aristocratic “Kid Gloves Harrison,” to turn working class voters against him. He lost the election.125 During these long gloomy weeks, Ben reassessed the priorities of his life. Cherishing memories of his family at home, he regretted neglecting Caroline in recent years, and wrote tender affectionate letters to her. He assured her that he would spend more time with her and their children when he returned. “I know I have the best intentions and the strongest resolutions to devote myself more to your happiness than I have ever done since our marriage. . . . I have a good hope that every asperity may be banished from our family intercourse and that we may always express in our lives the devoted affection which I know we have for each other and must have till death parts us.” 126 On September 2, 1864, the day of the surrender, Harrison wrote to his wife: “Atlanta is ours . . . I send you a piece of cedar plucked from a door yard in Atlanta yesterday.” 127 Colonel Coburn was in command of the first troops entering the city. Henry Scott, Caroline’s brother, was also there. Ben was assigned the command of the post at Chattahochie River, supervising three brigades.128 Two days later, he wrote: “We have just received a congratulatory order from General Sherman over the occupancy of Atlanta and an instruction that the campaign is ended.” 129 On September 12, he was ordered to report to Governor Morton in Indianapolis for special duty. He was warmly welcomed home by Caroline and children, but after a week, he spent most of his time on a stateside speaking tour for the Republican ticket. He also campaigned for the office of Supreme Court reporter, which resulted in his re-election in October. 130 On November 8, 1864, Harrison left Indianapolis to meet his regiment at Atlanta for Sherman’s “march to the sea.” Torn up railroads at Dalton, Georgia prevented Ben from proceeding further. Instead he was given command of a brigade of injured men and raw recruits at Chattanooga; they traveled rapidly by rail to defend Nashville. During the first week in December, while the men were encamped near Nashville, a storm of snow and sleet began, and the freezing weather continued for several days. It was one of the coldest winters on record. Many soldiers were frostbitten and suffered from exposure; some died on the 125

Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 123. Ibid., p. 316. 127 Ibid., pp. 264, 265. 128 Perry, op. cit., p. 254. 129 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 265. 130 Perry, op. cit., pp. 254, 255. 126

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

41

picket lines. The armies of both sides were ice bound and forced to wait for a break in the weather. Private Richard M. Smock, on picket duty on one of the cold nights, retold this appealing story: “I remember one of those cold nights I was on picket, and I saw a man approaching from the direction of the officers’ quarters. I halted him, and when he gave the countersign and advanced, I saw it was General [then Colonel] Harrison. He had a large can filled with hot coffee, and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was afraid some of the pickets would freeze to death, and he knew some hot coffee would help the men to keep alive. He was the most welcome visitor I ever met, for I really believe I would have frozen before morning had not the coffee been brought. After leaving me, the General passed on to all the other pickets to cheer them up with the beverage. His act was one of kindness.” 131 Beginning on December 15, 1864, Harrison led his brigade in a decisive battle at Nashville. At dawn, Harrison’s brigade led the morning battle, joined by General Thomas J. Wood, General James Steedman, and General George Thomas against Confederate General John Hood and Confederate Major General Benjamin F. Cheatham of the Army of the Tennessee. By noon the next day, the Confederate Army was badly battered and retreated in a rout. General Thomas dispatched available infantry to pursue Hood’s army. Harrison’s brigade was ordered to Murfreesboro to take a train to try to reach the Tennessee River before Hood, but the men were delayed by obstacles of burned wood piles and destroyed water tanks and were unable to catch up with the enemy. The rain and ice continued, and the infantry was forced to march on ice-glazed or deep mud roads. Harrison had a confrontation with brave Louisiana troops who stood their ground; he later spoke of admiring their courage. Hood’s Confederates crossed the Tennessee River to safety on Christmas Eve. Steedman and Harrison continued their pursuit to Courtland, Alabama, and fought a remnant of Hood’s army. On New Year’s Eve, the campaign was officially ended.132 Brigadier General Charles Cruft, Harrison’s superior officer, wrote the following to the War Department: “In parting with Col. Benjamin Harrison, 70th Indiana Vols., it affords me much pleasure to say that he has served his country during the recent short but arduous and brilliant campaign (as commander of a Brigade in the Division under my command) most faithfully and creditably. . . . I recommend that he be made a Brigadier General and guarantee that he possesses all the qualities requisite to successful administration of the office.” 133 131

Wallace, op. cit., p. 227. Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 285. 133 Ibid., p. 286. 132

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

42

Anne C. Moore

Harrison was ordered to rejoin his Seventieth Indiana at Savannah, Georgia. However, while he was packed and waiting, he received a Christmas gift from Major General Thomas, a brief furlough to Indianapolis. From there, he was to travel to New York, then take a steamer to Savannah to rejoin his command. When he returned to Indianapolis, Ben was given a warm reception by fellow citizens. Anxious to rejoin his command, but reluctant to leave his family, he decided to take them to visit relatives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. There they all succumbed to scarlet fever and were quarantined for three weeks. When they recovered from the illness, Caroline returned with the children to Indianapolis. Harrison hurried by train on his journey to New York and then traveled by ship toward his destination to join his troops. On March 2, 1865, he was put in command of the steamer Fulton, on which he sailed from New York to Hilton Head, an important naval base in North Carolina. Then he took a steamer inland up Broad River and dropped anchor over an oyster bed in thick fog and low tide, fifteen miles from Blair’s Landing. In a letter to his wife, Ben wrote of his curiosity about the oyster bed and about becoming expert at opening the sharp shells and relishing eating two or three dozen good-flavored oysters. After reaching Blair’s Landing, he marched with his men for two miles to Camp Sherman, where he expected to receive instructions to join his troops. Instead, at Camp Sherman, Harrison was in placed in command of training thousands of arriving contingents, as he had done in Chattanooga, and soon developed a dislike for the endless swamps, salt marshes and mosquitoes of South Carolina. After waiting for weeks for the general to arrive, he learned that Sherman was on the march to Raleigh, towards Goldsboro, North Carolina, and had ordered the troops to board a steamer arriving at Hilton Head and join him.134 The news of Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox reached Harrison on April 10 in Wilmington, his next stop on his steamship Champion. Throughout that night, Wilmington was a scene of jubilation. Ben and his soldiers were welcome arrivals, who added to the celebration by riding in grand style in a parade that lasted for several hours. The usually sober-minded Ben wrote to Caroline that he then went to General Joseph R. Hawley’s house to enjoy a “collation,” with plenty of wine, speechmaking, and toasting. In the future, General Hawley would join him at the United States Senate. 135 Harrison continued his journey, and when he finally reached his headquarters at Goldsboro, North Carolina, on April 19, he was shocked to learn that President Lincoln had been assassinated four days earlier. On Ben’s return, he was cordially 134 135

Ibid., pp. 294, 295. Ibid., p. 297.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

43

and enthusiastically welcomed by “his boys” of the Seventieth Indiana. He was very pleased to know that they had missed him. Memorial services for President Lincoln were conducted at the camp, where Ben delivered a eulogy. No copy of this speech exists.136 In Indianapolis, a sad day of mourning and prayer was observed on April 15. All business was suspended, flags were hung at half-staff, and buildings were draped in black bunting. On a rainy April 30, 1865, when the funeral train arrived at 7 A.M. in Indianapolis, President Lincoln’s coffin was carried to a hearse drawn by four white horses. Soldiers lined both sides of the streets as Governor Oliver P. Morton and Major General Joseph Hooker led the procession to the State House. The coffin was placed on a dais in the rotunda, and the upper third of the lid was opened. From 8 A.M. to 10 P.M., thousands of visitors came to pay their last respects to the martyred president. At 11 P.M. a solemn procession accompanied President Lincoln’s coffin back to the train.137 The time had come for the Union armies to converge in Washington for ceremonies. When General Ulysses Grant took command of all the Union armies on March 9, 1864, he put his good friend General William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the Western Armies, comprised of Harrison’s army, the Army of the Cumberland led by George Thomas, the Army of the Tennessee led by James McPherson, and the Army of the Ohio led by John M. Schofield. Of 98,000 men, 88,000 were foot soldiers. One of the most celebrated campaigns of the Civil War was Sherman’s march to the sea. Leaving on March 30 in good spirits, General Sherman led a two week march of western troops to Richmond and to Washington. Toward the end of the march, the men suffered from exhaustion due to the intense heat and scarcity of water. Along the way, they met ragged men from General Lee’s army and invited them into their camp. The Confederate men were friendly and shared stories of their experiences long into the night and parted in the morning as friends. 138 On May 23, 1865, the Army of the Potomac, the Eastern army, paraded in the Grand Review. This was the army everyone knew. Throngs of people on Pennsylvania Avenue were thrilled with the military spectacle and cheered wildly as each unit of the troops marched into view. General Sherman competitively felt that his army must outmarch the Easterners the next day. On May 24, 1865, Harrison took pride in his disciplined troops as he rode beside them at the Grand Review of Western Armies. 136

Ibid., p. 299. Leigh Darby, “Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Cortege,” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, op. cit., pp. 917-918. 138 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 302. 137

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

44

Anne C. Moore

He told Carrie, “We took the shine off the Army of the Potomac, and the marching altogether exceeded them . . . the Review was a grand thing for Sherman’s Army.”139 Flags were flying and the cheers of thousands lining the sidewalks were deafening. Also watching the procession were Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield and President Andrew Johnson. 140 Lew Wallace recalled the sentimental parting following the Grand Review: “halting a moment at brigade headquarters we gave three cheers for “Little Ben” (Brevet Brigadier-General Ben Harrison), then looked for the last time at the lone star triangle, the battle-flag which had fluttered before us from Chattanooga to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Savannah, and from Savannah to the last encampment.”141 Benjamin Harrison’s commission of the rank of Brigadier-General by brevet was signed by Abraham Lincoln and countersigned by William Stanton on March 22, 1865, for “ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command of the brigade.” He was to rank as Brevet Brigadier-General from the 23rd day of January, 1865. The certificate of discharge of muster out of service records: “Benjamin Harrison, Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General, 70th Regiment of Infantry Volunteers, enrolled on August 7, 1862 and discharged on June 8, 1865 at Washington, D. C.”142 On the morning of June 9, Harrison was eagerly homeward bound on a Baltimore and Ohio freight train. After traveling through Maryland and West Virginia, he boarded a steamboat, arriving at Lawrenceburg, Ohio, on June 10. John Scott Harrison was ill and unable to join the crowd of local citizens who greeted his son. He wrote later that he was disappointed that he had been unable to present to his son, for the occasion, a Congressional medal awarded to William Henry Harrison for military services.143 Upon arriving at Indianapolis, the Indiana troops were welcomed home by enthusiastic throngs of family, friends, and local citizens. The veterans were escorted to the arsenal to leave their guns, received by United States officials, and then to the Soldiers’ Home for dinner. After a week of receptions, a grand demonstration was held on June 16. Harrison was called upon for a speech. “I remember three years ago, under the shade of these trees, when I made my first appeal to the men of Marion County. Now we are here again, sheltered by these same trees, but oh! how much brighter the skies. . . . Many who went with us are not here. We buried them in Southern soil, but thank God the

139

Perry, op. cit., p. 275. Ibid., pp. 304, 305, 306, 307, 308. 141 Wallace, op. cit., p. 198. 142 Ibid., p. 230. 143 Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 312. 140

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Civil War Years

45

secession flag does not fly over them. They sleep in the soil of the Great Republic.” 144 The war was over. An estimated 600,000 were killed in the American Civil War. Of 2,000,000 Union men, 360,000 died; and of 1,000,000 Confederate men, 260,000 died.145 Harrison’s Seventieth Volunteer Regiment left Indiana with 1,021 men. Nearly 20%, or 188 died; and another 20 %, or 194 were wounded in action.146 The Union physicians treated 250,000 wounds and 7,000,000 cases of disease. More than 1,000,000 patients were treated in 204 hospitals.147 Beginning in 1863, 200,000 African Americans of the North were recruited; of them 1,537 came from Indiana. The only black regiment from Indiana was enrolled at Camp Fremont, near Fountain Square in Indianapolis. Black privates in the infantry were paid seven dollars a month, half the amount paid to white soldiers. In a speech he gave in 1864, Ben, supporting Lincoln and emancipation, spoke about the Negro participation in the war. According to author James Perry: “in coming to the defense of the black man’s contributions to the winning of the war, Harrison was courageously stating a proposition that many Hoosiers had trouble accepting.”148 Harrison declared: “Without black men, he said, Sherman’s victory might never have happened. . . . Not a Negro has escaped and made his way into our camps but has brought more aid to our cause than the entire brood of whining, carping Copperheads, who object, in the interest of treason, to the employment of the black men. If the Democrats should defeat Lincoln in November, he said, the Copperheads would strip the uniforms from the backs of the dusky soldiers and send them back to slavery.” 149 Before he returned to Indianapolis, Ben wrote a sentimental letter to Caroline, “I will bring you a little keepsake when I come home from the war which you shall always wear, never putting it off til [sic] death shall separate us. And when I deliver it to you we will weave a spell about it that I shall make to me a constant reminder of the resolutions and vows I have made in the army. I have good hope that by mutual help and by God’s help, we may live the residue of our lives without having our heart’s sunshine clouded by a single shade of mistrust or

144

Perry, op. cit., p. 276. Ibid., p. xii. 146 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 4. 147 James Rodger Fleming, “Science and Technology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. (Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint, 1996), p. 23. 148 Perry, op. cit., p. 256. 149 Ibid. 145

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

46

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

anger.” 150 It was a gold ring set with three gems that Caroline would always wear behind her wedding band. During the Civil War, Benjamin Harrison’s great-grandfather’s Berkeley plantation in Virginia was occupied by federal troops under General George McClellan. After an unsuccessful attempt to capture Richmond, the 140,000 man Union Army of the Potomac drew back to the fields of Berkeley on a rainy day and were encamped there. The army received supplies from naval vessels anchored off-shore in the James River. The wheat and corn fields, vegetable gardens and flower gardens disappeared within hours of the army’s arrival. The manor house was turned into a temporary hospital for the thousands of wounded. Elegant mahogany chairs and a rosewood piano that had been used by Benjamin Harrison V to entertain George Washington were broken and splintered for firewood. The carpets were covered with mud and human gore. The soldiers cursed the rebels who had lived on the plantation. All the trees were cut down for campfires, except for one poplar. President Lincoln visited Berkeley on two occasions in 1862 to confer with General McClellan and review the troops. There he relieved McClellan of his command. “Taps” was composed at Berkeley in 1862 by General Daniel Butterfield, who was stationed there, and it was first played by bugler O.W. Norton. 151

150 151

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 316. Dowdey, op. cit., pp. 312-315.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 6

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

SUCCESSFUL ATTORNEY AND STATE POLITICIAN Superior industrial technology and production were factors in the North’s victory over the agrarian South in the Civil War. During the post-war years, progress in economy and business resulted from multiple refineries, mills and and factories built throughout the Eastern and Midwestern states, and advanced communications systems and extensive railroads spread across the country. Engineers used new technologies to develop efficient mechanical processes for high volume production, especially in cutting, shaping and assembling metals, using the power of electricity and oil from pipelines. Through the Gilded Age, the enormous variety of manufactured products included textiles, bicycles, telegraph equipment, electric lamps, telephones, reapers, sewing machines, refrigeration, and early automobiles.152 The South began to establish industries in the effort to rebuild the impoverished environment. In Indianapolis, prosperity followed the traumatic war years, with industries and businesses increasing at a rapid rate, along with an influx of job seekers. The city was favorably affected by the resulting economic, social, and cultural growth. Initially, some Union veterans had difficulty being hired for jobs, resuming civilian life, and adjusting to changes in and around the city. Many were embittered, finding their homesteads seized. The citizens who stayed home from the war, having paid men to fight for them, had the better jobs. A number of Indianapolis residents were apprehensive of the returning soldiers, afraid they might cause rioting and bloodshed. In a speech to the people of Indianapolis on 152

Glenn Porter, “Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. op. cit., p. 6.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

48

Anne C. Moore

his return from the war, Harrison spoke for the veterans: “But I tell you these men are just as good as you are, my timid friends. They own property here, and have just as much interest in preserving the peace as you. They will go into business here . . . and they mean to be felt in politics as well as business.” 153 In his speeches to the veterans, he encouraged their patriotism: “Which one of them would exchange today the proud consciousness of having periled his life in defense of his country for all the gain piled up by those who stayed at home? It is better than bank stocks, houses or lands . . . how much more worthy of esteem is he who has assisted in saving a nation, in whose destiny are wrapped up the hopes of the world.” 154 As Ben had ardently promised Caroline in letters from the army camp during the Civil War, he did focus attention on her and on Russell, who was ten, and on Mary, who had just turned eight, after his return to Indianapolis. During the first summer, he purchased a buggy, and the family was often seen riding together about the town and along White River. Sometimes he took Russell fishing. Ben and Caroline chatted with friends at social events such as the church-sponsored festivals and dinners, and occasionally spent evenings at the opera or the theater. In the comfort of their home on Alabama Street, the Harrisons were healthy and contented.155 Then Harrison became concerned about paying debts accumulated during the Civil War. For two years, he worked as both a lawyer and Supreme Court reporter, the position he won through the election of 1864. He fell into his old habit of working feverishly, to complete three books of Supreme Court Reports: volume 23 in 1865, volume 24 in 1866, and volume 25 in 1867. Within five days after volume 23 was published, Harrison sold $925 worth of books, and in two months he sold $2,500 worth. The first edition of over 1,200 copies of Supreme Court Reports was sold before winter.156 In 1867, he suffered a physical collapse from overwork. With the two jobs, Harrison earned well over $10,000 a year, but saved little. He continued to send financial assistance to his father, brothers and sisters, and gave donations to community civic and church groups. By providing for his family and feeling they were living well, he gained much satisfaction. His son Russell was enrolled in the Pennsylvania Military Academy at Chester and his daughter Mary (Mamie) attended a private school in Indianapolis. Ben took pleasure in purchasing a sporty new carriage costing $485 and a second horse. 153

Sievers vol. 1, op. cit., p. 315. Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 13. 155 Ibid., pp. 7-8. 156 Ibid., p. 9. 154

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Successful Attorney and State Politician

49

However, because of his impaired health, he decided to give up the reportership at the end of his term. Following a hunting and fishing trip in Minnesota, he returned refreshed and eager to face new challenges.157 In 1873, Indianapolis was affected by the national panic of the depression that began with the closing of the Jay Cooke and Co. bank and the closing of the New York stock exchange. Locally, the banks closed, manufacturing plants slowed or stopped production, and railway construction ceased. Unemployment, money scarcity, and low farm prices resulted in poverty that frightened the people. Bread lines were long in the larger cities. Stories of dishonesty and corruption in the national government were widespread. Normal financial conditions were not restored nationally for ten years. Harrison’s law business did not suffer; it soon experienced a great increase in defaults, mortgage foreclosures, and bankruptcy cases. And renters increased for his Indianapolis properties. 158 The twenty years following the Civil War became productive ones for the Harrisons. Caroline was an active participant in community groups, including the Fortnightly Club, the Catherine Merrill Club and the Indianapolis Art Association. She served on the board for the orphan asylum, and her work at the Presbyterian church continued. As a leader of the Impromptu Club, she encouraged men and women to enjoy literary work together. While their husbands joined Ben on frequent hunting and fishing expeditions, the young wives, who were members of the missionary society of the church, enjoyed gathering at the Harrison home with Caroline to quilt and produce dainty needlework.159 For several years, Harrison had planned to build a new home in a tree lined, quiet neighborhood. In 1867 at a public sale, he bought property on Delaware Street for his bid of $28 a front foot or a total cost of $4,200, from Judge E. B. Martindale. In 1874, a John Hill offered to buy Ben’s residence and lot on Alabama Street for $7,000, which was agreed to, with a provision that the buyer would not take possession until the Harrisons had a house of their own.160 Herman T. Brandt was retained as architect and superintendent for the building of their stately Italianate Victorian house. The work was closely supervised by the Harrisons. The sixteen-room three-story house, the carriage house, the landscaping and driveway of paving brick would cost $24, 818.67. In 1874, Ben recorded his year’s income as $12,431.33.

157

Ibid., p. 18. Ibid., pp. 66-67. 159 Harriet McIntire Foster, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison: the First President-General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Harriet McIntire Foster, 1908), p. 11. 160 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 67. 158

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

50

Anne C. Moore

The building of the house began in the spring of 1874. A permit was taken out on March 25, and early in April the firm of Petrie and Cummings sent teamsters with their scoop shovels and excavated the full basement. Then a two-foot thick foundation of rough cut Indiana limestone was laid by stone masons, while heavy draft horses pulled in wagonloads of smooth limestone for window sills and decorative work. Bricklayers constructed the exterior and interior walls of brick; a total of 380,550 bricks were mortared for the house at a cost of $4,473.98. Carpenter Henry Aufderheide brought his tools and prepared the lumber for door jambs and window frames. The construction goal for the first year was to enclose the house before winter. In November, the slate roof was hastily installed by Johnston Brothers for $1,400. Contractors and workmen were paid as the work was completed. A mechanic, Mr. Anderson, reported that a contractor, paid in full at the end of 1874, had absconded without paying him or other workmen. When Ben was informed of this occurrence, he paid every man individually. 161 Shover and Christian were contracted in February 1875, to finish the building. Tutweiler and Sutton plastered the walls and did elaborate cornice work and medallions at ceiling centers, for $1,500. Next the artistic parquetry and inlay work bordering the parlor floors were completed. The graceful front and back staircases with balustrades and newel posts were made by the Builders’ and Manufacturers’ Association for $425. French plate glass was set in the tall windows on the first floor. At the recessed front entrance was installed a pair of heavy hand-carved walnut doors, fitted with identical etched glass bearing Benjamin Harrison’s initials in a shield design. Illumination was provided by at least twenty-seven gas fixtures, including fine chandeliers in the dining room and parlors. Fireplaces in nearly all the rooms were completed, as well as ducts and grates to channel heat from a gravity furnace. Plumbing for running water was installed to the kitchen sink, the washroom on the first floor, and the bathroom on the second floor. For security, Ben had a burglar alarm set for $145.162 Caroline planned and supervised the interior decorating, experiences she later applied to renovating the White House. Harrison was especially pleased with his spacious library. For both reading and writing, he used a large oval table in the center of the room near the fireplace. An enormous walnut bookcase that held several hundred of his books was a gift from a grateful German cabinetmaker from Indianapolis, whom Ben had successfully represented in a difficult immigration case. He had taken the cabinetmaker’s case through several trials, and finally won it in the Supreme 161 162

The Indianapolis Star, October 19, 1952. Benjamin Harrison File, Manuscript collection, Indiana State Library.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Successful Attorney and State Politician

51

Court. 163 The library often served as a meeting place with friends and business associates. And during quiet evenings when there were no guests, Caroline joined Ben there to read aloud items in the newspapers. A well-lighted room on the second floor with windows on the north and east walls was Caroline’s art studio. Fellow artists were invited to join her to paint china and watercolors at her home. She sometimes taught them art techniques and generously shared her expensive painting supplies. Sketching flowers from her gardens for long hours inspired her work, and she continued to develop her skills in detailed floral composition.164 She took pride in operating her own ceramic kiln to fire her hand painted china. For several years, Caroline was awarded prizes for her art work at the Indiana Exposition. Russell and Mary (Mamie) were nearly adults when the Harrisons moved to their new home on Delaware Street. Russell was enrolled in Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania; Mary (Mamie) was attending a private school in Indianapolis. Through experiences at home, the vivacious daughter learned social duties by assisting her mother at dinners and receptions. She was dear to her father, who usually consented to her many requests, including fashionable clothing, books and vacation trips. Her skating parties, buggy rides, and strolls along shady lanes reminded her mother of her own pleasant youthful days in Ohio. Several years before moving to Delaware Street, Mary (Mamie) had appealed to her mother for dancing lessons. Although dancing was against the rules of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, Caroline conspired with her Methodist friend, Mrs. Fred Baggs, who hired an instructor and held secret classes in her home.165 Russell attended the classes when he was at home between terms. Mary (Mamie) became a graceful, accomplished dancer. Caroline must have persuaded the change in her husband’s aversion toward dancing by the time they moved to the White House. Caroline kept an organized household and supervised all domestic work done by servants, employed for the first time by the Harrisons. The servants waited to begin their morning chores until Ben had led the daily devotions and prayer after breakfast. He left the house to arrive promptly at 9 A.M. at his law office and returned home again for lunch at 1 P.M. Supper was served punctually at 6:30 P.M. Women servants’ quarters were on the west end of the house on the second floor over the kitchen, and the men servants had living quarters on the second floor of the carriage house. Caroline’s devoted personal maid and seamstress,

163

Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 68. Foster, op. cit., p. 13. 165 Jacob P. Dunn, Greater Indianapolis vol. 1 (Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co., 1910), p. 493. 164

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

52

Anne C. Moore

Josephine Kneipp, served the Harrisons at the Delaware Street home and the White House over many years. Social responsibilities increased at the Delaware Street home. Caroline’s calling days at her home were Thursday afternoons, and she kept her schedule for calling on friends. She entertained with memorable dinner parties, always beautifully presented. Frequent dinner guests were close friends who were fellow members of the Presbyterian church: Elijah Martindale, a Republican Party leader; William H. H. Miller, a law partner; and Thomas McIntire, superintendent of the State Institute for the Deaf; and their wives.166 Caroline’s receptions, such as the annual New Year’s Day Open House, were well attended. Prominent Hoosier friends living within several blocks of the Harrisons included Booth Tarkington, James Whitcomb Riley, Meredith Nicholson, and Charles Fairbanks.167 Harrison returned to Indianapolis from the Civil War with a maturity gained from three years of battle-tested experiences. The war permanently bonded him to the veterans of the Union Army. He organized the Seventieth Indiana veterans to greet other comrades at an Indianapolis reunion on October 14, 1875, where he was chosen president of the newly formed Seventieth Indiana Regiment Association. He would be re-elected at each succeeding reunion. When the Seventieth Indiana veterans met, they retold war experiences about “Little Ben,” of his heroism and constant concern for his men. He became a loyal leader of the Grand Army of the Republic and rarely missed their encampments. His oratorical ability brought requests to speak at numerous meetings. 168 Harrison’s post-war law practice was prosperous, and he established his reputation as an outstanding and respected lawyer. The law firm was now Porter, Harrison and Fishback. In 1869, Ben won fame as public prosecutor in the sensational murder trial that convicted Nancy Clem. Near the intersection of today’s Lafayette Road and Cold Springs Road, on September 18, 1868, the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Young were found shot in the head, and Mrs. Young’s body was partially burned. Nancy Clem had made secretive money transactions with Mr. Young and was deeply in debt. She had planned the murder. The Porter, Harrison and Fishback law firm was appointed to assist in the prosecution by the State of Indiana. The jury trial began on December 1, 1868. After more than 150 witnesses gave contradictory testimonies, the jury’s verdict was “Guilty of murder in the second degree.” On March 29, 1868, Nancy Clem

166

Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 75. Ibid., p. 68. 168 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 31. 167

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Successful Attorney and State Politician

53

was sentenced to life imprisonment. For Harrison, the conviction of Nancy Clem was touted as his greatest courtroom triumph.169 Another courtroom success occurred in 1871, when he was appointed by President Grant to defend the U. S. government in the Milligan case. In Indiana during 1864, conflict between Governor Morton’s Republicans and the Democratic critics of the war became intense. Indiana was divided into four districts of members of the Sons of Liberty, an Indiana society that opposed the liberation of four million blacks. They declared that Lincoln’s national government and Morton’s state government were usurpers of liberty and that independence for states should be achieved through a revolt of the people. Lambdin P. Milligan, a staunch Democrat, was commander of one of the four Indiana districts of the Sons of Liberty. They were blamed for promoting resistance to draft, raiding as bands of outlaws robbing homes and businesses, and for initiating riots around soldiers home on furlough. There were rumors that the Sons of Liberty were planning an armed uprising in Indianapolis. Due to the threat of the armed uprising, Governor Morton, the federal commander of the Military District of Indiana, ordered the military arrest of several prominent Indiana Democrats who were believed to be associated with the Sons of Liberty. Among these was the Huntington lawyer, Lambdin P. Milligan. He was charged before the military commissions with planning treasonable activities in Indianapolis, found guilty on December 10, 1864, and sentenced to be hanged. The conviction was challenged in federal courts and the U. S. Supreme Court. On December 17, 1866, the chief justice stated that civilians could not be tried before a military commission, and Milligan was released from prison. In 1871 he sued the United States Circuit Court for the District of Indiana for damages. Harrison’s job was not to win the case, but limit the damages, which he did using his persuasive oratorical skills to revive wartime images. The jury awarded five dollars to Milligan, and Harrison received national recognition.170 On August 2, 1876, Republican Godlove Orth withdrew his candidacy for governor of Indiana, due to rumors of involvement in a scandal about claims in a treaty between Venezuela and the United States. The Washington News published a four column article that included the following about Orth: “He has aided and abetted one of the most disgraceful swindles ever perpetuated in the name of the National Government, nay, he has become a particeps criminis by partaking of the ill-gotten plunder. He has prostituted his office to that of procurer for thieves and

169 170

Ibid., p. 29. Ibid., p. 45.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

54

Anne C. Moore

swindlers.” 171 The Republicans immediately began their intense search for an alternate candidate. In the meantime, Harrison had gone on a fishing trip to Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, with his law partner Hines and several other friends, leaving on July 6. Caroline and the children joined him later. State chairman George W. Friedley called a meeting of the Republican Central Committee at Indianapolis on August 4, and the Republican leaders decided that Benjamin Harrison should be induced to accept the honor of the candidacy. He was a Civil War veteran, a devout Presbyterian, a family man, a respected lawyer, and a staunch Republican without a taint of scandal. The committee men were concerned that Harrison might refuse the nomination made in his absence, if he learned of it upon returning to Indianapolis. The Harrisons were returning by train to Indianapolis on August 5, when the astonished general received his first urgent telegram at Sturgis, Michigan, and again at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The telegram read: “The Central Committee and Republicans throughout the state demand your candidacy for governor. They feel that this is a time when you should sacrifice private interest for public good. Your friends who justified your declination before now think you should accept. It weakens us to tender the nomination and have it declined. The committee meets at 7 P.M. Give us a favorable answer before that time.” 172 The appeal came to Harrison too late to send a reply. When the train carrying the Harrisons arrived in the Muncie station, Ben was sitting with his family, unaware of a cheering crowd of more that a thousand gathered to welcome him. The Republican Central Committee came aboard and hurried the surprised candidate to the platform to speak to the people. He warmly thanked them for demonstration of loyalty and told them he would “seriously consider the matter.”173 Many telegrams and letters from personal friends encouraged Harrison to enter the race. By the end of the day, on August 6, he decided to accept the nomination.174 The next day, newspapers announced Harrison’s candidacy for governor of Indiana. The Sentinel, supporting the Democrats, attacked “Kid Gloves Harrison,” deriding him for his aristocratic manners and wearing gloves. Democrat James D. “Blue Jeans” Williams gained the favor of farmers and blue collar workers with skillful campaigning. During eight weeks, Harrison energetically campaigned through all parts of the state of Indiana and seemed to be gaining support. The Tippecanoe movement by William Henry Harrison supporters raised responses of 171

Ibid., p. 100. Ibid., p. 101. 173 Ibid., p. 103. 174 Ibid., p. 105. 172

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Successful Attorney and State Politician

55

veterans, and a GAR encampment was held two weeks before state elections. On October 4, 1875, the Greenback candidate, Anson Wolcott, unexpectedly withdrew from the race, and suspicions were raised that he had been bought out by the Republicans. The election on October 10 resulted in a Democratic victory: Williams 213,219 to Harrison 208,080. Although he was defeated in a close election by Democrat Blue Jeans Williams, Harrison gained in prestige and popularity, and his standing increased with the Republican Party. 175 The state election of Harrison-Williams drew national interest as an indicator of growing Republican strength through Benjamin Harrison. The National Committee scheduled Ben to speak in Chicago, Philadelphia and other eastern cities, where he was greeted with enthusiastic applause and warm welcome. In 1878, the Harrison family was confronted with tragic and bizarre events after John Scott Harrison died quite suddenly on May 26. Ben traveled with his family to the Harrison homestead in North Bend, Ohio, for the funeral on May 31. Hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects at the funeral held at the Presbyterian Church in Cleves. At the cemetery, mourners noticed that near the Harrison burial site, the grave of a nephew, Augustus Devin, had been disturbed. When the burial for John Scott Harrison was completed, several of the Harrisons began a search for the body of their nephew. The next day, a newly issued warrant gained entry for John Scott Harrison’s son John Harrison, his nephew George Eaton, Constable Lacey, Detective Snelbaker, and another officer to the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati. The janitor, A. Q. Marshall, showed them some rooms and closets. A windlass connected to a shaft was turned, and Ben’s brother John was shocked to find, instead of the body of the nephew, the naked body of his father, John Scott Harrison, who had been buried less than twenty-four hours before. As soon as he was notified of this news, Ben quickly returned to North Bend. When the janitor of the college was arrested, the entire college faculty rose to support him by posting $5000 bond for his release. The medical college claimed grave robbing was necessary to the school for studies of the human anatomy. The Harrisons were furious and incensed with a college professor’s remark, “The affair matters little, since it would all be the same on the day of resurrection.” 176 In continued investigation, the Harrisons learned that the Ohio Medical College, like other medical schools, contracted grave robbers to furnish cadavers for dissection and anatomical demonstration, and that Cincinnati was a shipping center of this business, moving bodies to smaller cities such as Fort Wayne and 175 176

Ibid., p. 123. Ibid., p. 150.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

56

Anne C. Moore

Ann Arbor. Augustus Devin’s body eventually was found in Ann Arbor. Amid this turmoil, Ben was preparing a speech to address the G. O. P. State Convention on June 5. The next day, on June 6, he prosecuted the grave robbers, Charles O. Morton and his wife, from Toledo, in Cincinnati. Ben’s objective was to protect society from suffering continued hideous outrage as victims of grave robbing. The John Scott Harrison incident resulted in a more effective statute than had previously existed in Ohio against removal of corpses from burial sites for medical study. Within two years, in 1880, an Ohio law increased penalties or body snatching, and legitimate sources for cadavers were found. The Ohio Medical College continued to advance its scientific educational endeavors; and the institution was not closed, as some had demanded.177 Ben’s law firm saw several changes in partners over twenty years. Harrison first became a partner with William Wallace in 1855. After their six-year partnership was terminated in 1861, William P. Fishback became Harrison’s law partner. In 1865, the law firm became Porter, Harrison and Fishback with the addition of Albert G. Porter. When Fishback resigned in 1870 to become editor of the Indianapolis Journal, the firm became Porter, Harrison and Hines. Cyrus C. Hines, from New York, stepped down as judge of Marion County Civil Circuit Court and joined the firm in 1870. In the spring of 1873, Porter retired. William Henry Harrison Miller, a Fort Wayne attorney, replaced him in April, 1874.178 The Harrison, Hines and Miller law firm was respected and successful, producing a steady and considerable income. After Hines retired, the firm became Harrison, Miller and Elam. In 1882, John B. Elam joined the firm after he completed his term as prosecuting attorney. He was a graduate of Miami University and a Phi Delta Thetan. 179 Mr. Miller became Ben’s personal friend, and Mrs. Miller became Caroline’s close friend, sharing her love of art. The Millers became neighbors, residing in the house across the street from the Harrisons. When Harrison went to the White House, Miller served in his cabinet as attorney general. During August 1879, the Harrisons called on President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes at the White House. Earlier in the summer, on June 28, President Hayes had appointed Ben to the Mississippi River Commission, which he at first declined, then accepted on August 4 as a personal favor. In the fall, the president returned the compliment by spending an evening with the Harrisons in Indianapolis. Caroline entertained President and Mrs. Hayes on October 3, 1879, with a lavish lawn party at the Delaware Street home, following a rousing 177

Ibid., p. 158. Ibid., p. 65. 179 Ibid., p. 297. 178

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Successful Attorney and State Politician

57

industrial parade led by dignitaries including General William T. Sherman. President Hayes spoke to the gathered admirers: “What we want is that in every section of the country, whatever is said and done under pressure of public opinion, shall be done by the common people of the whole United States. The people of Indianapolis, each of you, shall have the same share in forming the public opinion that governs Georgia and California that you have in forming the public opinion that governs Indiana. [great applause]. . . . I desire to say to you that your beautiful city has surprised and delighted us all. Your magnificent exhibition of this morning, and your city with its ornamentation, and your hospitable and kindly welcome, we could not . . .ever forget.” [cheers] 180 On the expanse of lawn lighted with Chinese lanterns, Caroline prepared an immense bank of white flowers on which was lettered in heliotrope “Ducet Amor Patria” (Love of Country Will Lead). Admiring, enthusiastic crowds hailed it the social event of the year.181 Caroline performed well her role as a politician’s wife. Harrison served on the Mississippi River Commission for twenty months. In response to the South’s plea for help, Congress had passed a bill to create a Mississippi River Commission, a seven man board to be appointed by the president. The task of the commission was to devise methods of improving navigation on the river and protecting its banks. Each year millions of acres of rich soil were subject to floods due to lack of a system of levees and flood control. Ben was warned that the political plea was a scheme to deplete the Treasury in the interest of Southern politicians. As commissioner, he took trips into many Midwestern and Southern states and down the Mississippi River. After thoroughly researching the situation, he produced an advance report questioning the constitutionality of the initial recommendation in the levee system’s plan for use of public funds more for improvement of land to the benefit of private individuals than for water navigation. Harrison and engineer C. B. Comstock had dissented. Randall Gibson, a Louisiana Democrat, introduced a bill to reduce the commission to six, with only two civilian appointees who would be required to be civil engineers. Ben suspected that this was a method of dropping him from the commission, but Garfield and others told him this would not occur. After he signed the second report, he resigned from the commission on March 3, 1881, but he raised the question again in 1882 when he was a senator from Indiana. 182 Harrison used his oratorical skills to campaign for his friends at national and state levels in the 1880 elections. From June 2 to 10, he attended the Chicago National Republican Convention and, as Indiana chairman, seconded the motion 180

Indianapolis News, October 3, 1879. Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 167. 182 Ibid., pp. 216-217. 181

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

58

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

for James Garfield’s nomination, with a supportive arousing speech. He was Garfield’s steadfast friend and advisor. Ben also gave speeches strongly endorsing support for his former law partner and friend, Judge Albert G. Porter, who easily won the election for governor of Indiana on October 12, 1880. The Republican Party’s national leaders were then counting on Harrison for speeches to influence other elections. Chester Arthur telegraphed Ben that he was needed in New York, and his speaking schedule had already been announced. On behalf of the party, he continued to campaign for Republican victory in the East and Midwest. Ben made so many speeches he said his voice was badly used up.183

183

Ibid., p. 181.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 7

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

UNITED STATES SENATOR In November 1880, Harrison made an announcement of his candidacy for the United States Senate, with many Republicans voicing their support. Stenographer Frank Tibbott sent copies of Ben’s appeal to all parts of the state for the senators to read before meeting in Indianapolis. The Indiana Legislature convened on January 6, 1881, and Senate nominations were scheduled to be decided on the January 17. Ben invited his trusted friends to be his guests at the Grand Hotel for a show of support at the opening of the Legislature. On Tuesday, January 11, 1881, Senator Jesse Spann presented Ben’s name to the senatorial caucus. The nomination was made by acclamation. On Tuesday, January 18, the Indiana legislature cast a of majority votes for Harrison, the new senator. Will Cumback and Godlove Orth had withdrawn from the Senate race on the previous day.184 Harrison had gone on a political speaking tour of Indiana, the Midwest, and the East during 1880. In one speech, he defended the presidential candidate, James Garfield, in response to an attack by Indiana Democrat, Thomas A. Hendricks, Ben’s political adversary who would be appointed Grover Cleveland’s vice-president in 1884. Caroline sent a copy of the speech to the Ohio candidate. After he won the 1880 presidential election, Garfield, invited Ben and Caroline to visit him at his farm in Ohio. A few days before they were to leave Indianapolis, Caroline slipped on the ice across the street from their home, outside the William Henry Harrison Miller residence. At their gate she fell and hit her head; she was stunned and her nose bled. A passerby summoned Mr. Miller to help her into his house. Two days later, she had two black eyes and bruises, and no permanent injury, but she was unable to join her husband on the trip to Mentor, Ohio. On a 184

Ibid., pp. 187-188.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

60

Anne C. Moore

snowy Saturday, January 22, Harrison traveled alone by train to meet Garfield at his farm. The two talked all afternoon, well into the night, and the following morning, discussing national and local politics. Garfield offered Harrison a cabinet position, which he turned down, preferring to go to the Senate. It was a difficult decision. Although other Indiana men were suggested for his cabinet, Garfield’s only Hoosier choice was his friend Harrison.185 Caroline, twenty-six years old son Russell, and twenty-two years old daughter Mary (Mamie) accompanied Ben to Washington for his swearing-in ceremonies held on March 4, 1881, preceding Garfield’s presidential inauguration. The following six years in the Senate gave Harrison experience and education in the processes required for resolutions of national issues, and introduced him to the political leaders. From 1881 to 1887, Caroline gained entry to Washington society as a senator’s wife. She found suitable living quarters in a boarding house on Vermont Avenue, then later moved to a larger apartment on Woodmont and Iowa Avenues, where she gave simple receptions and dinners. Due to frequent illnesses, Caroline missed many social events.186 In 1881, after less than seven months in office, President Garfield met an untimely death at the hand of an assassin. Secretary of State James Blaine had accompanied him to the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Depot in Washington, D. C. on July 2. They were approached by Charles Julius Guiteau who shot the president twice at close range. Guiteau had wanted to be appointed United States consul to Paris and spent many hours at the White House seeking the job, or any job. He wrote and distributed many letters, waited in lines repeatedly to talk to the president, James Blaine, and others who might listen to him. Harrison remembered speaking to him several times. Guiteau was regarded a harmless nuisance. 187 When he learned that President Garfield was critically wounded, Harrison made his way to the executive mansion and spoke to Mrs. Garfield for about thirty minutes. People crowded about outside the White House, anxiously waiting for bulletins about the president’s condition. The president survived eighty days. After he was taken to Elberon, New Jersey, to recuperate, he died of blood poisoning on September 19, 1881.188 Ben participated in a bedside vigil and attended the funeral in Washington on September 20 and the burial in Cleveland, Ohio. 185

Ibid., p. 173. Ibid., p. 195. 187 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 201. 188 Kane, op. cit., p. 131. 186

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

United States Senator

61

Harrison returned to Indianapolis, and at the Grand Opera House, addressed a huge gathering of saddened people from all walks of life. “As I look over this great assembly, I see sorrow in every face. It is not often that a calamity is so widely felt as this. . . . It has cast darkness, not only on the porticos of the rich, but it has come into the humblest home with its shadow. . . .” He quoted a sentence from Garfield’s speech on Lincoln’s death, “God reigns and the government at Washington still lives.” Harrison continued, “. . . . I had once taken pleasure . . . in his nomination. Yesterday . . . I seemed to stand, with all the others, responsible for the shadow that has fallen upon those hearts that were so near to him.”189 He concluded with an appeal to all citizens to support President Chester Arthur. Guiteau was tried on November 14, 1881 and received the death sentence. On June 30, 1882, he was hanged at a jail in Washington, D. C. 190 From January through March 1883, Caroline was hospitalized due to surgery and convalescence at a New York hospital, because the medical care she required was not available in Washington. Russell came from Montana to be with his mother, staying at the Metropolitan Club, and Mary (Mamie) kept house for her father in Washington. Ben visited his wife whenever he could arrange the time to travel to New York. 191 After returning to Indianapolis for a brief rest, Caroline was soon back in Washington with Ben. Work with charities became a continued interest for Caroline. She was an active member of the Board of Lady Managers of Washington’s Garfield Hospital. When Congress was not in session, she worked at the orphanage in Indianapolis, retaining her position as a board member. Russell earned his degree in mechanical engineering from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1877. Then he studied at the Indianapolis College of Law. His first job was as an assayer at the Philadelphia mint, and later he was superintendent of the United States Assay Office in Helena, Montana, from 1878 to 1886. He bought ranches and a gold mine in Montana. In Washington, he became acquainted with Mary (May) Saunders, the lovely daughter of Nebraska Senator Alvin P. Saunders. Russell made frequent visits to Washington because of his developing interest in her. In Omaha, Nebraska, on January 9, 1884, Russell Harrison and Mary (May) Saunders were married in a ceremony at Trinity Church, followed by an elaborate reception at the Hotel Paxton. Russell’s sister Mary (Mamie) and J. Robert McKee participated as bridesmaid and usher. The bride’s wedding ring was fashioned from gold from Russell’s mine in Montana.192 189

Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 202. Kane, op. cit., p. 131. 191 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 227. 192 Ibid., p. 236. 190

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

62

Anne C. Moore

Due to illness, Caroline was unable to attend the wedding, although Ben waited until the last possible train to leave, hoping she would recover her health and accompany him. A few days later, still recuperating from her illness, she welcomed the newlyweds with a lovely second reception at the Delaware Street home, their first stop on their honeymoon trip. Five hundred guests were invited. Ben and Caroline’s gift was a set of silver flatware in a chrysanthemum pattern, and their daughter Mary (Mamie) gave a heavy silver ladle of the same pattern.193 The Harrisons’ daughter Mary (Mamie) attended Chestnut Street Female Seminary, later named Ogontz Seminary, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a finishing school where she studied music, art, Latin, German and French, and she became an accomplished pianist. While her parents enjoyed their daughter’s cheerful presence in Washington, her thoughts were often on a young man back in Indianapolis, J. Robert McKee. On November 5, 1884, Ben and Caroline held a lavish wedding reception in their Delaware Street home for their daughter and Robert McKee, following marriage ceremonies at the First Presbyterian Church. Five hundred guests were invited. The bride and groom received their guests under a canopy of greenery in the front parlor of the house profusely decorated with flowers. The Indianapolis Journal described the wedding and reception as one of the most notable society events this city had ever seen. The newlyweds resided in the Delaware Street home while Ben and Caroline returned to Washington for the remainder of the Senate years.194 Leaving in July 1885, the Harrisons took a memorable trip West, combining pleasure with business. As chairman for the Sub-Committee on Indian Affairs, Senator Harrison was directed to investigate and take testimony related to leasing of Indian lands by cattlemen. Accompanying him were two committeemen and a clerk: Senator James K. Jones of Arkansas, a veteran of the Confederate army; Senator John J. Ingalls of Kansas, a veteran of the Union army; and Elijah W. Halford, editor of the Republican Indianapolis Journal and a Union army veteran. Ben’s law partner, William Henry Harrison Miller, joined them halfway through investigations at an Indian reservation. Ben educated himself about the problems of the natives. By visiting the reservations, he was able to learn on a direct basis about their traditions, living conditions, and the effects of government intervention, and he worked hard to protect their interests.195 The Harrisons carried through their carefully laid plans for this trip. Caroline and their daughter saw Ben briefly at St. Paul; then he left for his Indian Affairs meetings while the women went on to visit Russell and his wife in Helena, 193

Ibid. Ibid., p. 263. 195 Ibid., pp. 275-276. 194

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

United States Senator

63

Montana. After the committee work was concluded, the senator met his family in Helena. Ben and Caroline then traveled alone on their second honeymoon, to the Pacific Coast through the Washington Territory, Oregon, California, then eastward to Yellowstone Park. Some of the same locations were revisited on a presidential trip to the West Coast in 1891. They returned to their home in Indianapolis on September 7, 1885. Back at the Senate, Harrison turned his attention to political issues. He advocated granting and increasing benefits to disabled veterans and their families. He was overwhelmed with touching appeals for help and became passionate in his quest to provide for the disabled soldier and his family. For this purpose, he was willing to endorse $246,000,000. The Committee on Pensions delayed action on this bill. 196 Harrison departed from party line and cast his vote with the minority on the Chinese Exclusion Bill of 1882. Chinese immigrants had been brought to California for cheap labor to the construct transcontinental railroads. In 1868, Anson Burlingame wrote a treaty, approved by the Senate, that guaranteed rights of Americans in China, while providing the same privileges to Chinese in America. As hordes of white immigrants moved westward, the Chinese were no longer welcome. States passed discriminatory laws, nullified by the federal courts, but on November 17, 1880, the American government limited the entry of Chinese laborers, although it could not absolutely prohibit their entry. 197 As an advocate of civil service reform, Harrison criticized the Supreme Court for ruling against equal rights for Negroes. He supported a protective tariff and voted to establish a nine-man tariff commission. Most of his work as chairman of the Committee on Territories produced results after he became president. He made forceful speeches and urged passage of the bills for statehood for the Dakotas, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The largely Democratic Senate and House would not take action. However, on May 13, 1884, his bill providing civil government for Alaska passed the Senate and the House of Representatives. 198 Harrison was determined to protect the nation’s natural resources. He became more aware of the need for conservation as he traveled through the West as chairman of the Committee on Territories. When he introduced a bill to set apart land located in the Arizona Territory, including part of the Colorado River, to be used as a public park, it did not pass.199

196

Ibid., p. 241 Ibid., p. 222. 198 Ibid., p. 242. 199 Ibid., p. 243. 197

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

64

Anne C. Moore

On January 15, 1884, at the unveiling of Civil War Governor Oliver P. Morton’s statue in Indianapolis, Harrison gave a speech including a suggestion to build a stone monument in Indianapolis honoring the Indiana Union soldiers who had died in the Civil War. “We will write no name upon the stone, but the sons and daughters of every soldier who went to battle for the country, as they stand at the base of the monument, may speak of their own dead and be able to say, ‘That is his monument’. ” 200 In 1887, the General Assembly appointed a commission to plan and supervise the construction of the memorial. Among seventy entries in an International competition, the design of German architect Bruno Schmitz, was selected for the Indiana State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. Integrated were terraced steps, fountains, pools, statuary and a tall central obelisk shaft, 284 feet high. It was crowned with a bronze upright statue of Victory, thirty-eight feet high, weighing seventeen tons; she was designed by George T. Brewster, from Massachusetts. The limestone figures were sculpted by Rudolf Schwartz, an Austrian immigrant. The original intention of honoring Indiana Union army men who died in the Civil War was expanded to include all Hoosiers who perished in wars from the Revolution to the Mexican border wars. When the cornerstone was laid on August 22, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison spoke at the ceremonies. The monument was erected on the downtown circle in Indianapolis, in the center of the city’s mile square plat. Of the total cost of $598,318, the first $25,000 was raised by the G.A.R., a group of Union Army veterans. The completed memorial was formally dedicated in 1902, with Lew Wallace as master of ceremonies, a speech by Benjamin Harrison’s secretary of state John W. Foster; music performed by a band directed by Harrison’s bandmaster John Phillip Sousa; and poetry read by Harrison’s friend James Whitcomb Riley. It was the first monument built in the United States dedicated to honor the common soldier and sailor.201 Harrison delivered the keynote address for James Blaine at party ratification ceremonies, on June 19, 1884. And later he campaigned to raise support, especially in Indiana, for Blaine, the Republican candidate for the presidential election. During the week before election, Blaine arrived in New York City for the final push for his campaign. Dr. Samuel Burchard, a passionate anti-Catholic Presbyterian minister, was selected to give a congratulatory address at a meeting of clergymen at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He concluded his address with a statement that doomed Blaine’s election: “We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have 200 201

Ibid., p. 237. Build Your Own Historic Indiana Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument (Indianapolis, Indiana: EMERET Enterprises, Inc., 1987), unpaged.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

United States Senator

65

been Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion!” The statement was published in newspapers in all the major cities across the country. In addition, Blaine was criticized for his publicized extravagant political dinner at Delmonico’s three days before election, at the time of a national depressed economy. On election day, many Irish Catholic men in New York and New England registered their anger at the polls. 202 Cleveland won the presidency with 219 electoral votes or 54.61 per cent, and Blaine received 182 electoral votes or 45.39 per cent. Harrison was depressed with Blaine’s defeat in the presidential election and disappointed with Indiana’s support for Cleveland. 203 During the spring of 1886, Ben was suffering anxiety over his son Russell, who had become involved in disastrous financial ventures in his cattle enterprises in Montana. Russell was nearly thirty-two, immature in business but determined to speculate in get-rich-quick schemes. His father wrote many letters with tactful recommendations, guidance, and encouragement that were largely unheeded. The Senate waited while Harrison worried about his son. He forbade Russell’s further speculation without his approval. In spite of his father’s advice, the son was determined to speculate again, this time through Stephen B. Elkins, who was a miner, railroad operator, lawyer, and James Blaine’s chief political lieutenant. William H. H. Miller, who had invested in Russell’s ranch as a stockholder, had no trust in Elkins’ judgment. Russell had set up an office at the Hoffman House in New York City to make a “financial killing,” and intended to turn his Montana Cattle Company into a New York City speculation, despite the disapproval of his stockholders. He stubbornly believed that no one should differ with him. For six years, Ben had made investments in Russell’s name in the ranch and cattle stock and had helped him in other ways financially. He was ready to give up his personal property and give up politics to rescue Russell from failure. Elkins cooperated with Ben’s request to influence Russell, who seemed to be “still wedded to his speculative schemes,” to leave New York. In a letter to Russell, his concerned father sent advice: “My dear son, There is nothing for you except to meet your difficulties bravely and squarely. You had too much courage in going into debt-- and must not lose your pluck when it is needed. As a lawyer I have so often seen men under pressure do things that affected their standing and character that I am anxious for you. You may lose everything you have in the way of property but if no man can say that you have done a tricky or dishonorable thing, you still have a chance to recover. Do not let any pressure of seeming necessity draw you one inch away from the line of honor and duty. . . . I hope you will 202 203

Sievers vol. 2, op. cit.., p. 262. Ibid., pp. 262-263.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

66

Anne C. Moore

renew your Christian faith and duties. It is a great comfort to trust God . . .” 204 When his son finally returned to Montana, Ben was extremely relieved. In a few years, Elkins would become one of Harrison’s cabinet members at the White House. On the political scene, Harrison unexpectedly lost re-election to the Senate to Democrat David Turpie in February 1887. Neither party held the majority until the sixteenth ballot when the Democrat won the election by one vote. Ben found it difficult to accept the defeat.205 However, he scarcely had time to think about his retirement from the Senate during the last few weeks. He attended elaborate receptions organized in his honor at Providence and New York and was called on for speeches. The events were published in the papers, raising his national prestige. As a senator’s wife, Caroline had learned about Washington’s complex social duties and had become acquainted with families in state and diplomatic circles that would prove to be a great advantage to her in two years. During the second week of March, the Harrisons made farewell calls on close friends of the Senate years at Washington. Soon after Ben and Caroline returned to their home in Indianapolis, their daughter Mary (Mamie) McKee gave birth to a son in the early morning hours of March 15, 1887, and named him Benjamin Harrison McKee. His new grandparents were ecstatically joyful and proud of their first grandson, and were delighted to give him constant attention. Ben wrote enthusiastic letters to his cousin Margaret Phelps: “[Mary]continues to get along nicely--no trouble of any sort. As to the baby, I told the mother to say to him that if he would be patient until the snow is gone, we would all move out on the roof and give him the house.” Many congratulatory letters and telegrams soon arrived.206 On January 18, 1888, Russell and his wife Mary (May) contributed to the growing Harrison family with the birth of their daughter Marthena. Since the Montana altitude caused difficulties for May’s health, they were staying at the Saunders home in Omaha, Nebraska. The Harrison grandparents adjusted their schedules to travel to Omaha to meet their first granddaughter at the end of

204

Ibid., p. 309. Ibid., p. 305. 206 Ibid., p. 308. 205

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

United States Senator

67

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

February and returned during the middle of March. It was a happy family gathering. 207

207

Ibid., p. 322.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 8

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

FRONT PORCH CAMPAIGNER In June 1888, Grover Cleveland was renominated by the Democrats, as expected, at the national convention held in St. Louis. Cleveland was a formidable opponent for the other political parties, and the Democrats were united behind their leader. Even the Republicans conceded that Cleveland was a respected president. When the Republicans met in Chicago, there was no front runner. James Blaine, who had lost the previous presidential election to Cleveland, finally announced in a letter written from Florence, Italy, that he would not to run. He insisted that, because he was a defeated candidate, he owed it to the Republican party not to run again. The burden, fatigue and disappointment of the last campaign were still remembered, and he was often complaining of illnesses and depression. For a time, the Republicans hoped that Blaine might accept a draft for the nomination, until they received a second letter of refusal.208 Although Harrison kept silent and was inactive in politics after leaving Washington, his name was brought forward at the Republican Convention by his former law partner, Albert G. Porter. The G. O. P. leaders decided Harrison was an electable Republican presidential candidate. He had a clean record and was known in Indiana where he resided, and in Ohio where he was born. He was a Union army hero with enthusiastic support of the war veterans. As a U. S. senator, Harrison had stood for the veterans, tariffs for U. S. business profits, and statehood for territories. Thanks to his grandfather, former President William Henry Harrison, he had name recognition. Ben entrusted his political interests to the Indiana attorney general, Louis Michener, who was a loyal and devoted 208

Ibid., p. 313.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

70

Anne C. Moore

manager.209 From Scotland, where he was visiting Andrew Carnegie, Blaine sent a message to Elkins, that he endorsed Harrison and Phelps for the Republican ticket.210 Harrison’s son Russell and son-in-law Robert McKee attended the Republican convention to witness the nomination event, and both were confused with the proceedings. Robert wrote to his wife from the Grand Pacific Hotel on June 16, 1888: “If any fellow can make heads or tails out of the grand hubbub of claims, counter claims, lies and few truths that slap him from every side, he is more level headed than I am. I am instructed not to talk politics with anyone for fear of what is said—being misconstrued, hence I can only go around and declare it is a hot day!” 211 Elijah W. Halford, editor of the Indianapolis Journal, as a member of the Platform and Resolutions Committee, designed the planks of the party platform to harmonize with Harrison’s political philosophy. He had special trains bring bundles of the Journal from Indianapolis to Chicago for delegates to read articles about Ben.212 On June 25, 1888, at the Civic Auditorium in Chicago, Benjamin Harrison received the unanimous nomination for Republican presidential candidate on the eighth ballot. Mrs. Halford, sitting on the convention hall platform, suddenly stood up and began loudly singing a church hymn. Soon the crowd joined in the singing, praising God for the nomination of Benjamin Harrison. Then delegates and ladies stood on chairs, waved flags, threw hats, shouted, cheered, and hugged each other. The bands blared “Hail to the Chief.” Levi Morton of New York was appointed Harrison’s running mate. 213 In Indianapolis, Harrison had driven his horse and carriage to his law office, on Market Street in the Wright Block between Pennsylvania and Delaware Streets, to await news of the balloting. William Henry Harrison Miller and Howard Cale of his law firm and other friends were standing over a telegraph machine, installed to receive news from the convention. When the victory flash came from Chicago, Ben was overwhelmed, nearly fainting. A loud shout went up from his supporters inside the building. Harrison made a simple acknowledgment speech to the crowd collected in front of his law office and received enthusiastic congratulations from his friends and associates at the office. Secretary Frank Tibbott ran ten blocks to Harrison’s house on Delaware Street to entertain the 209

George W. Geib, “Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-third President of the United States, 1889-1893,” Buckeye Presidents: Ohioans in the White House, Philip Weeks, ed. (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 2003), pp. 154-155. 210 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., p. 348. 211 Ibid., p. 335. 212 Michael Medved, The Shadow President; the Secret History of the Chief Executive and their Top Aides (New York: Time Books, 1979), p. 89. 213 Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Front Porch Campaigner

71

gathering milling supporters on the lawn until the new presidential candidate arrived to present his first front porch speech. Caroline, at home with her daughter, watched crowds of men, women and children congregating on the front lawn, and knew the results of the balloting.214 On July 4, 1888, twenty members of the Notification Committee arrived in carriages at the Harrison home around noon. Chairman J. N. Huston of the Republican State Committee and Honorable M. M. Estee, chairman of the Notification Committee entered first, and the other members followed them. Many personal friends of the Harrisons were expectantly waiting inside, including Colonel and Mrs. John New, ex-governor Albert G. Porter, Mr. and Mrs. John B. Elam, Mr. and Mrs. William H. H. Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Elijah W. Halford, and Mr. and Mrs. John Scott. Newspaper reporters were standing in the front parlor, and the committee members stood in a half circle in the back parlor. The pocket doors between the rooms had been opened. For the occasion, Caroline had decorated the house patriotically with bunting, flags, and flowers. General and Mrs. Harrison entered the parlor and faced the committee. Dressed in white silk, Caroline stood at her husband’s left, and Russell stood at his father’s right. Mr. Estee officially presented the nomination for the Republican presidential candidacy to Benjamin Harrison, who responded with a short acceptance speech. Then all the members of the nominating committee were individually introduced and each offered his congratulations. The committee members represented many states: Chairman M. M. Estee of California, Colonel George Denny of Kentucky, ex-Governor Foster of Ohio, H. C. Payne of Wisconsin, H. L. Alden of Kansas, General Reeder of Pennsylvania, D. C. Pearson of North Carolina, C. H. Terrell of Texas, Governor P. C. Cheney of New Hampshire, General Barin of Oregon, Colonel S. H. Allen of Maine, Honorable William Marine of Maryland, R. A. Norval of Nebraska, A. H. Hendricks of Alabama, J. C. Daugherty of Tennessee, Logan H. Root of Arkansas, W. W. Brown of Georgia, Thomas Scott of Illinois, W. McPherson of Michigan, R. B. Langdon of Minnesota, and James N. Huston of Indiana. When the proceedings were over, everyone was invited to remain and have lunch. After leaving the Harrison home, some members of the Notification Committee traveled on to New York to officially notify Levi Morton of his vicepresidential nomination.215 That afternoon, waving an old Whig banner, ninety-one veterans of the Tippecanoe Club of Marion County, with an average age of seventy-five, arrived at the home by streetcar in a continuous downpour of rain. They had supported 214 215

Hilton U. Brown, A Book of Memories, (Indianapolis, IN: Butler University, 1851), p. 173. Indianapolis Sentinel, July 5, 1888.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

72

Anne C. Moore

William Henry Harrison in 1840 and came to offer their congratulations to his grandson. General and Mrs. Harrison shook hands with each veteran as he entered the house. They stood in the parlors as Dr. New read the club’s resolutions, promising to support the grandson as they had his grandfather. Ben told the group that he was touched by their respect and confidence in him, thanked them for their kindness extended to him when he first came to Indianapolis, and welcomed them to his home. Then they crowded into the dining room to partake of Caroline’s “simple refreshments.” 216 For the presidential campaign, the Harrisons stayed at home. Caroline stood beside Ben to review huge parades, provided hospitality and beds for numerous visiting dignitaries, and received thousands of well-wishers into their home, keeping the punch bowl filled in the dining room. She noticed the carpets becoming worn and the furniture being damaged. Pickets on the fence were stolen for souvenirs immediately, and the lawn was trampled. Caroline remarked to a friend, “Well, it will either be the White House or the poor house for us now.”217 Harrison was called a front porch campaigner. He gave ninety-three impromptu speeches, most of them from his front door to the enthusiastic crowds; a total of about 300,000 people gathered to hear him speak. On days when Ben gave seven speeches, he was exhausted and irritable. His friends became concerned for his health. When the crowds became too large to be accommodated on the lawn of the Harrison residence on Delaware Street, the Harrison Marching Band, later called the Columbia Club, came to Ben’s assistance and rallied popular support for him. A platform was raised on the east side of University Park where the candidate spoke to delegations of supporters daily without manuscript. Each speech was fresh in purpose and vigorous in discussing issues of his campaign, often addressed toward specific interests of audiences in attendance. 218 Secretary Frank Tibbott recorded Ben’s speeches accurately in shorthand, then transcribed and sent them on Associated Press wires to be published the following morning, reaching a national audience. Campaign programs, music, and parades were organized and scheduled by members of the Harrison Marching Band. Harrison’s slogans and symbols were adapted from his grandfather’s campaign. “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” was changed to “Tippecanoe and Morton too!” Log cabins were raised as campaign headquarters. And a huge campaign ball painted with political slogans, similar to one made for William Henry Harrison, was rolled from Maryland to Ben’s house on Delaware Street in Indianapolis. J. R. 216

Ibid. Dorothy Schneider and Carl J. Schneider, First Ladies: a Biographical Dictionary (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2001), p. 150. 218 Brown, op. cit., p. 174. 217

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Front Porch Campaigner

73

McKee recalled campaign parades in Indianapolis: “Those were the days of Torchlight Processions. We all wore oil cloth capes and hats and carried on the end of a stick, over our shoulders, one of those swinging kerosene lamps. We were known as “The Dudes” and were always followed by the shoe-shine boys in town, although there weren’t many of them at that time.Then the campaign was over and Harrison was elected.” 219 In September, Ben’s good friend, Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur, published a biography of Harrison for the 1888 campaign. When Blaine returned from Europe, he traveled through the Midwest giving dynamic campaign speeches for Harrison to huge audiences. On October 11, 1888, Ben and Caroline watched a crowd of 25,000 gather in Indianapolis for a rally featuring James Blaine speaking for Benjamin Harrison. On November 6, 1888, election night, the Harrisons were at home with their family and friends. Gathered in the library around the large oval table were Ben, Russell, Robert McKee, law partners William Miller and John Elam, and half dozen other friends and neighbors. A telegraph operator stationed near the bay windows received election bulletins from New York. After each bulletin was read aloud, Russell arranged them by states on the table. Ben was reported to be calm, often leaving the library to look in on his wife who was entertaining the women in the parlor. Most of the party left by midnight. After the returns were verified for Harrison from New York and Indiana, Ben and Caroline retired, leaving Russell, Robert, and a few friends in the library to continue to tally the votes. The following morning, Harrison learned that he trailed Grover Cleveland by 90,000 popular votes, but had won the presidential election through the electoral college by 233 to 168. Although Ben had lost Indianapolis and Marion County, he was pleased to know that he had won the state of Indiana. The president-elect told National Chairman Matthew Quay that he earnestly believed that Providence had been on the Republican side. Later, to a Philadelphia journalist A. K. McClure, Quay exclaimed, “Think of the man! He ought to know that Providence hadn’t a damn thing to do with it.’’ He added that Harrison “would never know how close a number of men were compelled to approach the penitentiary to make him President.” 220 The day after the election, Ben began receiving bushels of congratulatory telegrams and letters. While two stenographers helped to sort the mail, Caroline and Mary slipped away to New York for some quick pre-inaugural shopping. Upon returning, Caroline made plans with Ben for the move to Washington. 219 220

Robert McKee to Bernard Batty, August 16, 1942, Harrison MSS. Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., pp. 426-427.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

74

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

On New Year’s Day 1889, the Harrisons held their traditional open house between 2 P.M. and 8 P.M. Nearly 2,000 people came from all social levels. The General and his son Russell headed the receiving line to welcome the visitors.221 On February 25, 1889, the Harrisons had an memorable departure from Indianapolis. After breakfast, Ben led the family devotionals with his usual reading of a chapter of the Bible and prayers. Halford, there to assist the president-elect, observed him spending some thoughtful time alone in his library. Local dignitaries and G. A. R. veterans escorted the Harrisons to Union Station. The fifteen blocks along Pennsylvania Street to the depot were lined with cheering supporters. The Harrison would depart for Washington by a special train from Union Station, compliments of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The president’s car, known as No.120, was offered by the company president, G. B. Roberts. The second car, Maywood, carried relatives and friends, and the press rode the third car, Iolanthe. 222 In his farewell speech, Harrison extended his heartfelt thoughts to the thousands of fellow citizens gathered to see him off: My good friends and neighbors: . . . I love this city. It has been my own cherished home. . . . The memory of your favor and kindness will abide with me, and my strong desire to hold your respect and confidence will strengthen me in the discharge of my new and responsible duties. Let me say farewell to all my Indiana friends. For the public honors that have come to me I am their grateful debtor. . . . There is a great sense of loneliness on the discharge of high public duties. The moment of decision is one of isolation. But there is One whose help comes even in the quiet chamber of judgment, and to his wise and unfailing guidance will I look for direction and safety. My family unite with me in grateful thanks for this cordial good-bye and with me wish that these years of separation 223 may be full of peace and happiness for each of you.

The locomotive bell ringing, Ben and Caroline waved to the cheering crowd until they disappeared from view. 224 Along the route to Washington, the train passed through villages and cities where bands and crowds greeted the presidential party. Harrison spoke briefly from the rear platform at Knightstown, Indiana, and Richmond, Indiana. A crowd of 20,000 welcomed him at Columbus, Ohio. Two other large cities en route were Newark, Ohio and Harrisburg,

221

Harry Joseph Sievers, Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier President: The White House and After vol. 3 (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1968), p. 27. 222 Sievers vol. 2, op. cit., pp. 428, 429. 223 Ibid., p. 429. 224 Brown, op. cit., p. 177.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Front Porch Campaigner

75

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Pennsylvania. 225 At 10 P.M., the bells of fifty locomotives were clanging and factory whistles were blowing as the presidential train rolled through Newark. After breakfast, Harrison spoke briefly to a crowd, but declined a cordial invitation by a committee to visit their capitol building at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

225

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 31.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 9

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

THE PRESIDENCY, 1889 TO 1890 When the Harrisons arrived quietly in Washington, D.C. and were taken to a freight depot at Ninth Street, the disappointed crowds waiting at the passenger station on Sixth Street created a public uproar. Ben had not requested the arrangement and expressed his regrets. Reserved for the Harrisons were rooms at the Johnson House Annex of the Arlington Hotel. On March 2, Harrison made a brief courtesy call at the White House in the morning which was reciprocated with a visit from President Cleveland in the afternoon at the Arlington Hotel.226 The White House became available to the Harrisons after the inauguration. The executive mansion provided furniture and furnishings, including sofas, desks, dining table and chairs, some beds, musical instruments, miscellaneous decorative arts and tableware, and bed linens. The Harrisons shipped many items from Indianapolis, such as the leather topped oval table from the library, the crib from the nursery to be used by a grandchild, and other necessities for their private living quarters. Caroline’s kiln was not forgotten. The president’s own horses and carriages were shipped to the White House. His four Kentucky thoroughbreds, named Lexington, Abdullah, Billy and John, were matched cherry bay horses, sixteen and a half hands high. Two elegant dark green landau carriages costing $1,600 and $1,300 were recent purchases from Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, of South Bend, Indiana. When Democratic newspapers reported that these were political bribes, Studebaker issued a statement that Harrison had paid for the carriages.227 Also shipped to the White House were a runabout buggy and Caroline’s private enclosed brougham, 226

Homer E. Socolofsky and Allen B. Spetter, The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison (Lawrence Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1987), p. 17. 227 Ibid., p. 162.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

78

Anne C. Moore

with a drop seat especially designed to accommodate the grandchildren. Ben’s fine horses and carriages were noticed and admired in Washington. He was known to handle horses skillfully and preferred driving without a coachman, even in the nation’s capital. A stable and a coachman were provided by the government. On March 4, 1889, at 10 A.M., Ben and Caroline rode a carriage from the Johnson House Annex to the meet other family members at the Willard Hotel. In closed landaus, President-elect Harrison and Vice-President-elect Morton went on separately to the White House. As the carriages approached the entrance, 200 survivors of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment presented arms and saluted Harrison. Proceeding immediately to the Blue Room, Harrison and Morton were joined by President Cleveland and his cabinet. Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison then entered an open landau driven by the president’s coachman, Albert Hawkins, for the ride to the Capitol. Mrs. Cleveland and her mother,Mrs. Emma Folsom, watching the proceedings from an upper window, smiled and waved their hands when Cleveland raised his hat to them. Several correspondents saluted Mrs. Cleveland with raised hats as well. The president and president-elect pulled up a thick bearskin blanket for warmth and Cleveland held a large umbrella over them. Large crowds lining Pennsylvania Avenue enthusiastically cheered them as they rode by in the slow procession.228 In spite of torrential rain and fierce winds, incoming Republicans enthusiastically celebrated inauguration day. The grandstand was filled with official dignitaries. At 11:00 A.M. the senators were all in their seats. At 11:05 A. M. James G. Blaine came in from the president’s corridors acknowledging applause. He was wearing a Prince Albert coat, a white four-in-hand scarf, and red gloves. The cabinet members of both presidents took their places. The families of the president and vice-president filed in at 11:45 A.M. Escorted by General George B. Williams to the uncovered inaugural stand, Mrs. Harrison was followed by her father, the Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, her sister Mrs. Russell Lord, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. J. Robert McKee, Mrs. Alvin Saunders of Nebraska, Mrs. R. S. McKee and her daughter of Indianapolis, Mr. and Mrs. John Harrison of Kansas City, Mr. Devin of Iowa, Mrs. Eaton of Ohio, Mrs. Bettie Harrison and son Will of Chicago, and Lieutenant and Mrs. John Parker. J. K. McCammon escorted Mrs. Morton, who was accompanied by her two daughters.229 At Harrison’s request, Levi Morton administered the oath to the newly elected senators, delaying the president’s inaugural ceremonies. To adhere 228 229

The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, March 5, 1889. Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

79

to the tradition of swearing in the president at high noon, Isaac Bassett walked up to the Senate clock and with a long stick, moved back the long hand fifteen minutes, and he did that twice afterward, with the audience reacting with laughter. Grover Cleveland protectively held an umbrella over Harrison before the ceremonies began. Standing beside Chief Justice Melville Fuller, Benjamin Harrison removed his silk top hat and placed his right hand on selected pages of his opened black leatherbound Holy Bible held by the court clerk. The ritual was documented in the Bible at Psalm 121: 1-6, where Harrison wrote in pencil: “My hand was here when the oath was admastred [sic] B H.”230 He repeated the oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”231 Benjamin Harrison was thus inaugurated the twenty-third President of the United States. Then he donned his silk hat and pulled a manuscript from his pocket that had been typed by his secretary Elijah Halford. After adjusting his spectacles, the president delivered his speech with sincere eloquence. He called for effort to achieve a more perfect Union, advocating early statehood for territories, universal education, protectionism, pensions for dependents of Civil War veterans, and increased patriotism. He expressed his concern for Negro voting rights, called for justice against trusts and monopolies, and stated the necessity for a strong navy. Loud applause and shouts from the audience marked his speech when he spoke of a free ballot, and the establishment of a navy. The most overwhelming response came from his statement for a pension policy. The inaugural speech was praised as a document of literary as well as political merit. When the speech was concluded, Harrison turned and kissed his wife and daughter.232 Remembering his grandfather William Henry Harrison’s cold, rainy inauguration day, at Caroline’s insistence, Ben wore chamois skin underwear beneath his suit and a Prince Albert coat on this cold wet day. Caroline was dressed in a dark sage colored silk faille gown embroidered in black silk, with a matching shawl, and wore a small gold and black hat. She carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley. Following the inaugural ceremonies, with a cheering crowd of an estimated 40,000, the new president, his wife and their family joined in the slow procession from the Capitol to the White House for a traditional luncheon. The survivors of

230

The Holy Bible, Sunday School Teacher edition (Oxford: University Press, n.d.) The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, op. cit. 232 Ibid. 231

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

80

Anne C. Moore

the Seventieth Indiana led by Colonel Samuel Merrill, followed the carriages of the president’s party. When President Harrison, Vice-President Morton, and other dignitaries took their places at the front of the reviewing stand, the band played “Hail to the Chief.” They then watched a four-hour-long splendid show of civil, political, and military pageantry, touted as the greatest civic and military display of the century. Leading the procession was the First Division, represented by the United States troops, marines, naval apprentices, and the National Guard. Harrison lifted his hat to every dip of the flag and recognized the salute of each commanding officer. Many regiments of troops from nearly every state in the Union marched past the reviewing stand. The Cowboy Club of Denver, Colorado, with well-mounted men in picturesque western dress, was a colorful feature of the parade. Drum corps, bands, and bugle corps made music in spite of the rain. Hundreds of men representing their civic groups passed the reviewing stand. The last was a black contingent of Harrison and Morton Clubs from Virginia. Houses along Pennsylvania Avenue and buildings around the Capitol were profusely decorated with bunting, banners, flags, and flowers. Along the streets, thousands of orderly men, women, and children waited patiently in the rain and enthusiastically applauded and cheered the procession. The White House was the only undecorated building in the city.233 That night, the brilliant grand inaugural ball was attended by more people than ever for this event. The Washington Post reported 15,000 tickets had been purchased. The Pension Office on 5th and F Streets was transformed into a beautiful ballroom, elaborately decorated with patriotic bunting, flags, fringed silk banners, and large framed portraits of Harrison and Morton. Hundreds of cut flowers brightened huge evergreen garlands, which were draped over balconies and spiraled down enormous columns. On the floor were clusters of tall potted palms. Streams of people poured into the building until 10 P.M. when the doors were closed. The crowds applauded when Harrison arrived with the presidential party; they were escorted upstairs to remove their wraps.234 At 10:30 P.M., to the music of the Marine Band, conducted by bandmaster John Philip Sousa, the grand promenade began. Down the long staircase, first came half of the reception committee of a dozen men, then President Harrison, the remainder of the committee, Mrs. Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Robert McKee, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Harrison, and Mr. and Mrs. Levi Morton and their daughters.

233 234

Ibid. Washington Post, March 5, 1889.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

81

Caroline’s elegant inaugural ball gown received the approval of admiring supporters and newspaper reporters. The silver gray satin gown, with a brocade court train, featured a skirt with alternate panels of brocade burr oak leaf design and apricot crepe covered with lace. Beads of gold, silver, amber, and pearls, crystal fringe, and pessementaries added subdued sparkle. To comply with Ben’s campaign platform favoring protection of American industry, both the fabric and gown were made in America. Mary Williamson, an art teacher from Lafayette, Indiana, designed the oak leaf pattern, and the Logan Silk Mills of Auburn, New York, manufactured the fabric. The gown was styled and created by New York designers. Miss Williamson designed a pattern of goldenrod, the president’s favorite flower, for his daughter Mary McKee’s gown. The made-in-America gowns of Harrison’s daughter and the wife of Vice-President Levi Morton were noticed and appreciated.235 The Pension Hall was so crowded there was no space for dancing. The presidential promenade advanced slowly across the large ballroom through a path forcibly opened for them to proceed. At the special request of the president, no police surrounded him. General McCammon walked beside President Harrison, and Colonel Britton escorted Mrs. Harrison. The president smiled and bowed, acknowledging outbursts of applause that continued as the promenade advanced through the large building. When the procession was escorted to the first balcony, President Harrison and Vice-President Morton stood at the railing overlooking the ballroom and were greeted with lusty cheers from the thousands of attendees beneath them. Eventually, the presidential party returned to their reserved rooms upstairs where they received several hundred callers. The banquet was extensively prepared under the direction of George C. Bolt, proprietor of restaurants in the Belleview and Stratford Hotels and Bullitt building of Philadelphia. He was determined to show the people that his business was competitive to Delmonico’s in New York. Everything for the banquet was prepared in a 160-foot kitchen built behind the supper rooms, especially installed for the event. Bolt brought his own steam engines, coffee boilers, and cooking apparatus, as well as 100 trained employees. Over 5,000 live terrapin were reserved for the occasion, and game birds and meats were stored in lard for freshness.236 The elaborate dinner began with blue points on ice. The hot foods were boullion in cups, steamed oysters, oysters a la poulette, chicken croquettes, sweetbread pate a la reine, and terrapin, Philadelphia style. The cold foods 235 236

Ibid. Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

82

Anne C. Moore

included roll sandwiches, mayonnaise of chicken, lobster salad, cold tongue en Bellevue, cold ham a la Montgomery, boned turkey, breast of quail a la Ciceron, pate de foie gras a la Harrison, terrine of game a la Morton. The variety of desserts were ice cream, orange water ice, Roman punch, a pyramid of nougat renaissance, a beehive of bon-bons Republican, Pavilion Rustic, and assorted fancy cakes. Fruits, other desserts and coffee were also available. 237 When President and Mrs. Harrison left the ball after midnight, they were exhausted and retired immediately. Large numbers of people left the building after the president departed, and the thinned crowd began dancing on the cleared floor. When leaving Indianapolis, Ben and Caroline had casually invited Hoosiers to visit them at them at the White House. Long before noon on the day after the inauguration, crowds of Hoosiers among hundreds of well-wishers arrived to call, and the crush of callers increased by mid-afternoon. Caroline began her own tradition of holding a bouquet of flowers instead of shaking hands. “Ben’s Boys” of the Seventieth Indiana Regiment served as volunteer guardsmen. Eventually, the White House doors were closed to restore order and give the presidential party time to be served an undisturbed dinner. Open house continued for two days, and executive business was not begun. 238 One evening, Harrison reorganized the clerical and domestic staffs. Colonel William Crook, disbursing agent of the White House, administered the oath to swear in appointments: Elijah Halford as the president’s private secretary, Captain E. S. Dinsmore as officer in charge of lower floor at the White House, Frank Tibbott and Alice Sanger as stenographers (from Harrison’s office in Indianapolis), and the domestic servants.239 On March 5, 1889, the Senate met for twenty-three minutes to confirm President Harrison’s eight appointees to his 1889 cabinet. There was no opposition.240 The cabinet members included: Secretary of Treasury, William Windom; Postmaster General, John Wanamaker; Secretary of Agriculture, Jeremiah Rusk; Secretary of Interior, John W. Noble; Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Franklin Tracy; Secretary of War, Redfield Proctor; Attorney General, William H. H. Miller; and Secretary of State, James G. Blaine. From December 1888 through February 1889, potential Republican cabinet members had visited Harrison at his home in Indianapolis. He carefully and personally selected his cabinet appointments. They were all capable Presbyterian Republican men. Six were lawyers, and two were businessmen, five were Union 237

Joseph Nathan Kane, Presidential Fact Book (New York: Random House, Inc., 1998), p. 145. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 39. 239 Ibid. 240 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 29. 238

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

83

army veterans, and several were born in Ohio. Only Wanamaker and Miller were younger than Harrison; the remainder were in their fifties, close in age to the president. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom had served in the same office for President Garfield. Originally from Ohio, Windom moved to Minnesota, then to New York. He was a senator, a congressman, a lawyer, and the president of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway. Blaine had opposed Garfields’s choice of Windom for the cabinet.241 Postmaster General John Wanamaker was the wealthy founder of the Wanamaker Department Store in Philadelphia. He revolutionized retailing in the United States. He was known as founder of the Y. M. C. A. and Sunday School programs. Recommended as a fresh spirit with progressive ideas, he was a political novice. Harrison met him for the first time at his home in Indianapolis in December 1888, and established an instant lasting rapport. 242 Secretary of Agriculture Jeremiah Rusk, had been governor of Wisconsin for seven years. A farmer, a businessman, a banker, a brevet brigadier general, he served served three terms in the House of Representatives. Born in Ohio, he had little formal education.243 Secretary of Interior John Willock Noble, another native of Ohio, was a wealthy railroad attorney, a brevet brigadier general, a district attorney for eastern Missouri. Born in Ohio, he had attended Miami University, before finishing his Degree at Harvard. He had practiced law in St. Louis and Keokuk, Iowa. The secretary of interior position was his before Ben departed for Washington.244 Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Franklin Tracy, was district attorney for the eastern district of New York, a judge for New York Court of Appeals, and a brevet brigadier general. He was a friend of Republican Boss Thomas Platt, from New York.245 Secretary of War Redfield Proctor was governor of Vermont, where he was the wealthy president of the Vermont Marble Company, the largest of its kind in the world. Heading the Vermont delegation, he had seconded Harrison’s nomination at the Republican Convention. Because of illness with tuberculosis, his service in the Civil War had been limited. Harrison invited Proctor to Indianapolis on February 18,1889.246 241

Ibid., p. 23. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 16-17. 243 Socolofsky, pp. 26-27. 244 Ibid., p. 27. 245 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 21-22. 246 Sievers vol.3, op. cit., pp. 18-19. 242

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

84

Anne C. Moore

Attorney General William Henry Harrison Miller was a partner from Harrison’s law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. He formerly had a practice in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Although he was politically unknown, he was Harrison’s trusted advisor and confidential friend. The youngest cabinet member at forty-eight, he was born in New York.247 Secretary of State James G. Blaine had a long political career before taking this office, and was the dominant charismatic leader of the Republican Party. The popular politician was called the “plumed knight” for his ostentatious attire and tastes. He had served as speaker of the House, senator, and secretary of state for Presidents Hayes and Garfield. After failing to win the nomination for president in 1880, he lost the presidential election to Cleveland in 1884.248 James Blaine recommended Harrison’s nomination for president and had rallied support for his election with dynamic campaign speeches. Ben told his private secretary, “Brother Halford, you and I will not have so good a time in Washington with Mr. Blaine out of the Cabinet as with him in it.”249 Although he decided in November to offer Blaine the position of secretary of state, Harrison delayed until January 17, 1889 to contact him. Blaine’s friends had sent much mail with pleas for his appointment. By waiting, Harrison was able to organize his administration independently, and Blaine supporters withheld criticism of Harrison to avoid jeopardizing Blaine’s chances of receiving the appointment. When he offered the position, Harrison told Blaine, “I have another great purpose and duty with which I am sure you will cooperate . . . that is preserving harmony in the party. . . . Each member of my official family will have my full confidence and I expect this.” 250 In the carefully worded letter, he explained his expectations in dealing with Latin American nations: “We have a pretty full understanding of each other’s views as to the general policy which should characterize our foreign relations. I am especially interested in the improvement of our relations with the Central and South American states. We must win their confidence by deserving it. It will not come on demand. Only men of experience, of high character and broad view, should be sent even to the least important of these states. In all this I am sure you will be a most willing coadjutor, for your early suggestions and earnest advocacy have directed public opinion to the subject.” 251 Blaine accepted at once, promising close communication, and said, “Foreign affairs are in their inception and management exclusively Executive and nothing 247

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 29. Ibid., pp. 8-9. 249 Ibid., p. 20. 250 Ibid., p. 21. 251 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 9. 248

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

85

decisive can be done in this important field except with the President’s personal knowledge and official approval.”252 When Blaine’s appointment became known, opinionated comments were voiced from all sides. Supporters of the “plumed knight” were elated, expecting him to exert his influence to control the cabinet and appoint his favorites to positions in the federal government. William Phelps said he was ready to help shop for a house large enough for Blaine, the prime minister. The newspapers were full of instant reactions. An early recorded statement declared: “First and foremost, James G. Blaine will be the Premier of the Harrison administration, and the mugwumps can put it in their pipe and smoke it.” Although Blaine had many loyal supporters, he also had enemies. Rumors tied Blaine to corrupt associations with wealthy patronage-oriented politicians. One anti-Blaine man predicted Harrison’s assassination if Blaine were appointed. “You are a goose. You and your party is [sic] dead to the world.”253 New York World predicted, “Gen. Harrison’s administration is predestined to failure. It will go down in history as a parallel to that of Rutherford B. Hayes.”254 New Jersey’s William J. Sewell told Harrison that “the settled assurance that Blaine is to be made secretary of state has made a great number of men very lukewarm as to the success of the administration. . . . It is difficult to frame a cabinet acceptable to the country with Blaine at its cornerstone.” 255 Harrison held his first cabinet meeting on March 7, 1889. He told the cabinet members that he would rely on each of them to express judgment on any names for further appointments, but he would make the final decisions. Harrison depended on the capable efforts of his appointees, all confirmed by the Senate. William Walter Phelps, a member of House Foreign Affairs Committee in three Congresses, was appointed minister to Berlin. Whitelaw Reid, influential editor of the New York Tribune and fluent in French language, became minister to Paris. Both were Blaine supporters. Robert Todd Lincoln’s appointment to the prestigious position of minister to London was a surprise to many, since he had been a supporter of Gresham against Harrison. President Ulysses Grant’s son, Frederick Dent Grant, was named minister to Vienna, Austria, for which Julia sent a letter of thanks. Albert G. Porter, Harrison’s former law partner who nominated him for the presidency, was appointed minister to Italy. James Clarkson, appointed assistant postmaster general, had served as vice-chairman under Matt Quay of the National Committee. Acting Secretary of State John Foster became 252

Ibid. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 10. 254 Ibid., p. 11. 255 Ibid. 253

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

86

Anne C. Moore

indispensable to President Harrison during Blaine’s long absences. First Assistant Secretary of State William Wharton and Second Assistant of Secretary of State, Alvey Adee, also worked closely with Harrison on foreign affairs. For territories expecting statehood, appointments were all citizens of the future states. In May 1889, Harrison invited Theodore Roosevelt to the White House and offered him the position of civil service commissioner, which he accepted, eager to lead civil service reform. 256 Harrison appointed Judge William Howard Taft of the Ohio Superior Court as Solicitor General of the Justice Department in the Supreme Court.257 Blaine was extremely disappointed when he requested that his son Walter Blaine receive the position of first assistant secretary of state, and Harrison refused. Bitter complaints were voiced against Harrison for his appointments. No Republican boss became a cabinet member, and as a result, Harrison alienated prominent Republican leaders. They disapproved of his independence in making the appointments, ignoring their recommendations and his indebtedness to them for his election. National Republican Chairman Matt Quay, a United States senator from Pennsylvania, proposed a long list of deserving appointees from his state. Although recognizing Quay’s service during the campaign, Harrison declined the request.258 The resulting estrangement would end in open hostility. Walter Gresham, Thomas Platt, Thomas Reed, James S. Clarkson, Samuel Fessenden, and Russell Alger were other Republican leaders who would also turn against Harrison. On April 28, 1889, the president and his family journeyed to New York City for the George Washington Centennial Celebration that lasted for three days, beginning on April 31. For this occasion, Harrison totally surprised his wife with an eighteen-carat gold brooch set with rubies and an enameled shield of the coat of arms of the Washington family. Ben had requested it from the Queen’s jeweler in England to match the Centennial medal that was given to him to wear for the celebration.259 Caroline was delighted with her husband’s thoughtful gift. The presidential party first traveled to Elizabethtown, New Jersey by train. When they arrived at the port, they were greeted by women dressed in white scattering roses beneath large wooden welcoming arches covered profusely with flowers. On April 30, 1889, the Harrisons were conducted across the bay by the Navy. While their families sailed on different vessels, Benjamin Harrison and Levi Morton boarded the U. S. S. Despatch and were escorted to the upper decks by 256

Ibid., p. 75. Ibid., p. 99. 258 Ibid., p. 26. 259 Ibid., p. 62. 257

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

87

Admiral Dixon Porter and General William Tecumseh to view the extensive naval displays. Dipped colors, fired salutes, and whistles from steel cruisers, harbor tugs, merchant ships, steamboats and revenue cutters, honored the president. Caroline wrote in her diary: “The display on the bay was beautiful, the ships were all elegantly decorated with flags and colors . . . but I was uneasy for fear of a collision. Although there was a great deal of steaming about and much crossing of each other’s tracks all passed off without incident. The men of war looked beautiful in their bright flags and arms . . . but the noise of the guns as we passed was very disagreeable.” 260 At 1:00 P. M. Harrison and Morton symbolically re-enacted George Washington’s landing at New York City in 1789. On a white barge, they were rowed to the shore at Pier 16 by twelve oarsmen and a coxswain, all wearing silk top hats. A twenty-one gun salute and whistles from tugs and steamers announced the arrival of President Harrison and Vice-President Morton, welcomed officially by Governor David B. Hill, Mayor Hugh J. Grant and other dignitaries. 261 Honorable Hamilton Fish, President of the Centennial Committee of the Citizens of New York, addressed the president: “In the name of the Centennial Committee, representing the enthusiasm, the gratitude, and the pride of the nation on this centennial anniversary, I tender you the welcome of New York on the very spot where, one hundred years ago, your great predecessor, our First President, planted his foot when he came to assume the duties of the great office which has now devolved upon you, and set in operation the machinery of that glorious Constitution under which the government has prospered and enlarged and extended across the continent.” 262 Patriotic decorations, fireworks, a six-hour-long parade on Fifth Avenue in which 50,000 men marched, concerts, and artillery salutes welcomed the Centennial President, and celebrated the 100 years since the adoption of the federal Constitution. President Harrison delivered his address from the very place where George Washington had been sworn in. In his speech, Harrison started a personal crusade to increase respect for the American flag: “I believe patriotism has been intensified in many hearts by what we have witnessed today. . . . Here may I not ask you to carry these [flags] . . . into the schools of your city, into all the great institutions where children are gathered, and teach them that the eye of 260

Caroline Harrison, White House diary, unpublished, President Benjamin Harrison Home archives, p. 22. 261 The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States (New York: D. Appleton and Company, MDCCCXCCII), pp. 202-203. 262 Ibid., p. 204.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

88

Anne C. Moore

the young and the old should look upon that flag as one of the familiar glories of every American? . . . Have we not learned that no stocks and bonds, nor land, is our country? . . . It is the flag and what it stands for; it is the fireside and the home; it is the thoughts that are in our hearts, born of the inspiration which comes with the story of the flag, of martyrs to liberty.” 263 Before Harrison’s era, the flag was respected, but not displayed frequently. From this day, the display of the flag became a show of true American patriotism. In the afternoon, hundreds gathered for a public reception at the Metropolitan Opera House. At 10:30 P.M., the Harrisons arrived again at the Metropolitan Opera House for the Centennial Ball, also attended by ex-President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland, ex-President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, Vice-President and Mrs. Levi Morton, and Harrison’s cabinet members and their wives. James Blaine was absent due to illness. Supper was served at midnight. The next morning President and Mrs. Harrison, members of the cabinet, exPresident Cleveland, ex-President Hayes and many other distinguished people attended a service and prayer meeting at Trinity Church. Bishop Henry Codman Potter read his sermon, refuting the wealthy men of power sitting before him. They were a menace to personal integrity, he claimed, in comparison to the simplicity of men in George Washington’s day. Caroline noted in her diary: “to the present generation of sinners, there was nothing good. Since Washington lived, all goodness in government had departed. I went away quite crushed in view of the dreadful state the country had come to.”264 Later in the day Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Windom, Mrs. Rusk, Mrs. Harrison, and a number of other ladies joined Mrs. Morton on her veranda to watch the military parade for seven and a half hours. In the evening, as Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Morton entered the banquet together, at the signal from the band, everyone rose. Caroline was embarrassed. When Harrison was seated at the banquet and read the program, he learned for the first time the subject of the speech he was to present. The first lady was assured by her friends that the president’s impromptu speech was better than all of them. The grand banquet was a “scene of revelry.” In her diary, Caroline wrote of lifting her skirts and walking on tip-toe to step over champagne spilled by exuberant attendees of the banquet.265 Caroline and Ben invited four generations of family to live with them at the White House. Ninety-year-old Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, already in Washington working as a clerk in the Pension Office, resigned his job when he 263

Charles Hedges, comp., Speeches of Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-third President of the United States (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1892), p. 210. 264 Caroline Harrison, op. cit., p. 25. 265 Caroline Harrison, op. cit., p. 24.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

89

moved to the executive mansion. Daughter Mary (Mamie), who helped her mother with many official duties, and her husband J. Robert McKee brought their son Benjamin and their daughter Mary Lodge. Robert, at first working in Indianapolis as a partner with his brother in the wholesale shoe business, then later as an executive in the electric company in New York, was usually away from the White House. Son Russell and his wife Mary (May), who helped host events, and their daughter Marthena arrived from Montana. Russell was frequently in Montana to supervise a ranch and a gold mine, and later to work as an editor for a newspaper. In the fall of 1889, Caroline’s sister Elizabeth Lord, gravely ill, was brought to the White House, where she died in December of that year. Her widowed daughter Mary (Mame) Dimmick, was later invited to join the family and help Caroline with secretarial duties. Mary Dimmick’s sister Lizzie and her husband Lieutenant John Parker visited the Harrisons frequently. Since there were four Marys residing at the White House, nicknames were usually used to simplify identification: daughter Mary McKee was called “Mamie”, granddaughter Mary McKee was called “Mary Lodge”, daughter-in-law Mary Harrison was called “May”, and niece Mary Dimmick was called “Mame”. Grandson Benjamin McKee was nicknamed “Baby McKee”. Caroline supervised a well-organized house for her large family, maintaining a daily routine similar to her schedule in Indianapolis. She often took her grandson with her to market at 6 A.M. After 8 A.M. breakfast, the family gathered in an upstairs room, where Ben led the family in thirty minutes of Bible reading and prayer before beginning his office work promptly at 9 A.M. When he was away, Dr. Scott took his place. Lunch was served at 1:30 P.M. and dinner began at 6:30 P.M. Ben frequently invited guests to lunch or dinner without notice. The government provided servants to keep the White House in order. They cleaned the house and laundered the linens without expense to the presidential family. A steward, appointed by the president, was paid by the government to oversee the care and preservation of the house furnishings and the work of the servants. The White House steward from the tenure of the Clevelands, Hugo Zeiman, had hired a French chef, Madame Pelouard, for the Harrisons. She prepared rich pastry and sauces, and the president complained that her cuisine “laid him out,” but she refused to cook plain food. The chef was finally fired and the steward resigned. Madame Pelouard threatened to sue, but it came to nothing. Her replacement was Dolly Johnson, a black woman from Kentucky, and the White House kitchen ran smoothly. The Harrisons were pleased with her plain daily cooking, as well as her artistic state dinners featuring succulent meats and

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

90

Anne C. Moore

delicate pastries. 266 Hugo Zeiman was replaced by Phillip McKim. Caroline discussed items on the day’s menu with the steward, who supervised the domestic staff. Frank Carpenter, a Washington correspondent, complimented Caroline for being the best housekeeper of the executive mansion. She knew every detail of the household. Except for one, all former servants remained to work for her. They had developed a great fondness for Mrs. Cleveland, and at first were apprehensive of the expectations of the next first lady.267 On her return from the Washington Centennial, Caroline was determined to prepare the White House for hot weather. She had the carpets taken up and put away and the floors cleaned. This job had previously been completed by the servants in the absence of the family. From Caroline’s observation, it was also done as easily as possible, and the floors probably had not been scrubbed for years. Matting was renewed for the halls. The housekeeping work progressed more efficiently with her supervision, and she was pleased to have the house cleaned and aired for summer. In a letter Mary (Mamie) McKee wrote to her husband, she reported that her mother’s energy and perseverance had made noticeable improvements in brightness and cleanliness in every room of the executive mansion, and the servants were more attentive to their work than they were earlier in the spring. Personal servants for the first family were provided by the president. Josephine Kneipp, a maid and seamstress for the Harrisons at the Delaware Street home in Indianapolis, accompanied them to the White House. A nurse for the children, Agnes, is noted in correspondence and other records. Ben and Caroline thoroughly enjoyed their lively grandchildren and showered them with personal attention. The children were usually left with their grandmother when their parents traveled. At the White House, Caroline supervised most of the care of the grandchildren: Benjamin McKee was oldest at two years in 1889, Marthena Harrison was born in 1888, Mary Lodge McKee was born in 1889. The Harrisons were not prepared for the constant invasion of privacy by curious onlookers and reporters. The grandson and namesake of the president, Benjamin McKee, became nationally famous through reporters who wrote front page stories about him, ignoring Caroline’s pleas for privacy. She eventually made weekly appointments with photographers to take unlimited pictures of Baby

266 267

Sievers vol.3, op. cit., pp. 53-54. Frank Carpenter, Carp’s Washington (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960), p.301.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

91

McKee in exchange for their promise to leave her grandson alone for the rest of the week. The president’s affection for this child was well-publicized. At the dinner table, Baby McKee’s highchair was pulled close to the right of his grandfather’s chair. When the grandson was ill, only grandfather could calm and comfort him, carrying the boy in his arms and walking him for hours during the night.268 When the McKees were away, Ben often wrote inquiries of his grandson in letters to his mother Mary (Mamie), and included notes to him. Benjamin McKee received the following Columbian Valentine created especially for him by his grandfather.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

“My dear little namesake A medal 7 – cornered with a star combine . . . I send you today for a valentine . . . And if 7 is lucky as some grandpas say Cause it numbers the spell of ‘success’ OK And the spell ‘Uncle Sam’ of U. S. fame And the spell of Christopher Columbus name Then a lucky little fellow you must surely be For just 7 U. S. letters I see In the name ‘grandpa’ and ‘B H McKee’ ” 269

The White House Easter event for children was continued by the Harrisons. Hundreds of children came pouring onto the White House grounds for egg rolling on Easter Monday 1889, a bright and beautiful day. After lunch, Baby McKee, taken up in the president’s arms, waved his handkerchief to the cheering crowds. Performing for the first time for this occasion, the Marine Band played from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. On May 31, 1889, Mary Lodge McKee, who was born that year on July fourth, was christened with water from the Jordan River by her great grandfather, Dr. Scott, in the Blue Room of the White House. To avoid publicity, cabinet members who had just attended a meeting with the president, were invited to attend the ceremony. Caroline’s niece, Kate Brown, was an additional witness.270 Caroline and Ben gave a festive fourth birthday party for Baby McKee on March 4, 1891. The children all sat in high chairs waiting for the president to serve them cake. Then the Marine Band provided music while the grandparents led the happy toddlers down the hall in dancing the Virginia Reel. 268 269

Caroline Harrison , op. cit., pp. 10, 44. Benjamin Harrison to Benjamin Harrison McKee, n.d., Harrison MSS

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

92

Anne C. Moore

Many animal pets were brought to the White House as gifts, usually for Baby McKee’s delight. Caroline’s love of animals assured close attention to each one. A beautiful fawn was an early gift to the grandson when he was two years old. One news story featured the pet goat, His Whiskers, trotting down Pennsylvania Street pulling Baby McKee in a cart, with the stout president in frock coat and top hat, waving his cane, running after them and calling to the goat to stop.271 Separate housing was arranged for the goat when the stable hand threatened to resign if he was required to be responsible for the obstreperous animal. An enormous Siberian bloodhound as a watch dog and two opossums, Mr. Protection and Mr. Reciprocity, were gifts with political humor intended. A billing from E. W. Schmid indicates additional pets at the executive mansion: parrot biscuits, canary seed, parrot crackers, sunflower seeds, and one pair of rabbits. On April 16, 1889, Harrison’s daughter Mary (Mamie) McKee returned from a trip to St. Augustine with a young alligator to add to the collection of family pets. For a time a gift pony was a daily companion to Baby McKee, and the family collie Dash was always available for Harrison petting at the White House. During December in 1889, two Harrison family deaths occurred. Caroline had arranged to have her sister Elizabeth Lord moved from a New York hospital to the executive mansion in November. She died there on December 10. Three days later the president’s twenty-five year old nephew William Sheets Harrison died in Chicago. Although it was a sorrowful time for Ben and Caroline, they were determined to have a merry Christmas holiday for their grandchildren at the White House. For the Harrisons, the most important holiday event of the year was the observance of Christmas. During Harrison’s presidency, all four Christmases were celebrated at the White House. Ben declared to a reporter, “I am an ardent believer in the duty we owe ourselves at Christmas to make merry for children at Christmas time, and we shall have an old-fashioned Christmas tree for the grandchildren upstairs; and I shall be their Santa Claus myself. If my influence goes for aught in this busy world, let me hope that my example may be followed in every family in the land.272 It was for the grandchildren that the very first decorated White House Christmas tree was set up in the library on the second floor in 1889. On Christmas Eve, both Ben and Caroline were dressing the large

270

Caroline Harrison, op. cit., p. 29. John Whitcomb and Clare Whitcomb, Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America’s Most Famous Residence (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 202. 272 Albert J. Menendez, Christmas at the White House (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983), p. 111. 271

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

93

tree with flags and ornaments, and stuffing gifts in the branches. Hundreds of gifts sent by friends and presidential admirers were piled around the tree.273 Mary (Mamie) McKee described Christmas morning at the White House in a letter to her husband Robert, who was unable to be with them. “Such a day as yesterday was for all of us. I wished so often for you . . . . After breakfast we lighted the tree . . . and I do wish you could have seen Benjamin and Mary as I took them into the room. We called all the employees and servants in and think they were as much pleased as the children. Papa gave each man who has family a turkey and those who have not – a pair of gloves. We also had some little remembrances for the cooks, laundresses, waiters and those that are immediately around us. . . . I gave Mama a pair of gold side combs for her hair and Papa a pocket piece – it is a silver dollar so arranged that it opens and contains a place for a picture.” 274 Everyone was well-remembered with gifts. The children received heaps of playthings. Mary Lodge received a set of baby doll furniture, dolls, and a piano. Ben had a steam engine, a couple of trains of cars, a full suit of armor and some books. Salt Lake City shipped a crate of potatoes, the smallest one weighing three or four pounds. Installed in a corner of the room was White House electrician Ike Hoover’s handmade gift of a silver wire web featuring a glowing red–bodied spider lit with an electric bulb. In 1889, an upright Fischer piano was Russell’s surprise for his mother. It was placed in the upstairs hallway sitting room, soon piled with Caroline’s favorite sheet music and hymnals. In 1891, Baby McKee and his sister Mary delighted their grandfather and grandmother by reciting Christmas wishes in German, directed by their governess Fraulein Hampke. On the first Christmas, Mary (Mame) Dimmick, her sister Lizzy Parker and her husband Lt. John Parker, and Ben’s close friend John Anderson were guests. Beginning at 4:00 P.M., President Harrison’s Christmas dinner was served. It started with Ben’s favorite Blue Point oysters in the half shell, and consomme royal. The entrées were bouchees a la Reine, roast turkey served with cranberry jelly, and terrapin a la Maryland, followed by potatoes Duchesse, stewed celery, and lettuce salad. Desserts included mince pie, American plum pudding, tuttifrutti ice cream with lady fingers, macaroons and Carlsbad wafers. The dinner ended with black coffee and expensive fresh fruit: apples, Florida oranges, bananas, grapes, and pears.275

273

Ibid., p. 39. Mary McKee to Robert McKee, December 26, 1889. Harrison MSS 275 Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Statesmen’s Dishes; and How to Cook Them (Washington, D.C.: The National Tribune, MDCCCXC), unpaged. Harrison archives. 274

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

94

Anne C. Moore

When the Harrisons took over the White House in March 1889, they found a dilapidated building in need of major repairs and improvement. More than half of the upstairs spaces were being used as offices, and only part of the hallway was available as a private sitting room. There were five bedrooms and one bathroom. Strangers wandered about in the private rooms, handling personal items belonging to the president’s family. Caroline decided that it was an unsatisfactory residence for her family and immediately set about to research and create architectural plans. She became known for her campaign for a new White House. The engineer-architect David Owen, Senator Leland Stanford, and Congressman Seth Milligan met with Caroline at her request. They gave enthusiastic support to the First Lady’s project, calling it “Mrs. Harrison’s Place.” She proposed three architectural plans for a new White House. Owen drew up blueprints and one architectural model and presented them to Congress. The first proposal was a separate private residence to be erected on 16th Street. The second featured the White House grounds as a hollow square with an “Allegorical Fountain” honoring Christopher Columbus in its center. Sections of building would be added to the original White House. The Pennsylvania side of the square would consist of the present mansion, joined by connecting corridors to the “Historical Art Wing” and the “Official Wing.” Conservatories and greenhouses would provide foliage plants and flowers for White House decor. The third plan provided two round buildings at either end of the White House, one to be used for executive offices and the other for entertainment.276 Some critics were derisive of all the plans, calling them palatial and grandiose. However, William Seale, a leading twentieth century American architectural historian, states that Caroline’s plans are “perfectly logical expansion . . . . The plan . . . as tailored to the needs of the house, would work well today.” 277

Although none of Caroline’s plans was approved, instead, Congress appropriated $35,000 for redecorating the White House. When interviewed by the press, Caroline stated: “We are here for four years. I do not look beyond that, as many things occur in that time, but I am anxious to see the family of the President provided for properly, and while I am here I hope to get the present building in good condition. Very few people understand what straits a President’s family has

276

277

Bess Furman, White House Profile: a Social History of the White House, its Occupants and its Festivities (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1951), p. 251. William Seale, The White House: the History of An American Idea (Washington, D.C.: The American Institute of American Architects Press, 1992), p. 153.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

95

been put to at times for lack of accommodations. Really, there are only five sleeping apartments and there is no feeling of privacy. 278 Caroline was the first president’s wife to personally plan and supervise the cleaning, renovation, and restoration of the White House from attic to basement. She energetically and systematically made plans for refurbishing the executive mansion, budgeting the money wisely. Joseph Tiffany, whose New York firm had previously redecorated the White House for President Arthur, was not consulted. He complained to the Public Buildings Commissioner that refurbishing plans for the White House had been made without giving his firm an opportunity to offer plans and bids. Caroline Harrison made arrangements with a specialist in interior decoration, Edgar Yergason of W. H. Post and Company of Hartford, Connecticut, to redecorate the White House. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom negotiated the binding contracts. Yergason’s workmen eventually made great improvements to the building. On July 29, 1890, the Hartford firm presented a successful bid of $5,370.75 for decorating, painting, carpeting, replacing draperies, and upholstering furniture in the Blue Parlor. The cost was reduced by using domestic instead of imported silk and omitting gas brackets.279 On June 6, 1891, in a letter to her daughter Mary (Mamie), Caroline wrote: “They are going to begin repairs on the White House right away. We have contracted the Green Room, State Dining Room, and the vestibule. The corridor needs to be left til next year. The bathroom and laundry and ceiling of the basement will also be done.280 Caroline received four special appropriations which gave her $52,000 for restoration and refurbishing, instead of the original $35,000. The amount would include payment for electrical installation of $13,450, 281 leaving an additional $3,550 to the $35,000 for Caroline’s use. In her White House diary, Caroline notes the problem of infestation of rats: “the rats have nearly taken the building so it has become necessary to get a man with ferrets to drive them out. They have become so numerous and bold they get up on the table in the Upper Hall.” Hundreds of rats were killed. The building was also cleared of ants and cockroaches.282 Two private bathrooms were completed. Faulty plumbing was replaced, mold was removed, and additional walls and doors were installed for privacy. While his wife vacationed at Cape May, New Jersey, waiting for the completion of the 278

Furman, op. cit., p. 251. Betty A. Monkman, The White House: Its Historic Furnishings & First Families (New York: Abbeville Press, 2000), p. 172. 280 Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 6, 1891, Harrison MSS. 281 Charles W. Calhoun, “Caroline (Lavinia) Scott Harrison,” American First Ladies: Their Lives and Legacy Lewis L. Gould, ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996), p. 272. 282 Caroline Harrison, op. cit., p. 42. 279

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

96

Anne C. Moore

bathrooms, Harrison remained at the White House. He wrote, “The greatest beauty of all is the work in the bathrooms. With all the white tile and marble and porcelain-lined tub, they would tempt a duck to wash himself every day.” 283 One bathroom was exclusively for the Ben and Caroline. The other bathroom had several tubs and was shared by everybody else. Each bedroom had a chamber set with running water. Baby McKee delighted in upsetting his portable tub while leaning out to kiss the magnolia blossoms his grandmother had painted on it. The dirty basement with damp floors and moldy walls housed the kitchen, laundry, servants’ quarters, and storage areas. Ike Hoover described the basement and kitchen as he found them when he came to the White House to install electricity. “The floor was covered with damp and slimy brick; dust webs were everywhere. An old heating trough hung the entire length of the long corridor. Everything was black and dirty. Rooms . . . were then used for storage of wood and coal. In the kitchen. . . could be seen the old open fireplaces once used for broiling chickens and baking the hoecakes . . .the old cranes and spits still in place.” 284 Several layers of rotting wood floors were replaced with crushed brick and cement. The wooden heating trough covering the length of the corridor ceiling was removed. The kitchen was completely remodeled and modernized. 285 The entire attic containing eight rooms was scrubbed and cobwebs were removed. Wagon loads of debris were carried away. Caroline personally examined, selected, and supervised restoration of valuable forgotten relics, including pieces of furniture, silver, glass, and china. One of her discoveries was a desk presented to President Hayes by Queen Victoria of England, which was used by Harrison after restoration. Another precious item was a splendid thirteen and a half foot long bronze based mirror featuring fine molded dancing figures affixed along the entire gold border. It had come to James Monroe from Paris. 286 One storage area in the attic was converted into an art studio for Caroline. When an old china cabinet was pulled out, Caroline discovered many pieces of historic china, which she researched, identified and had repaired. From this was initiated her presidential china collection. She drew plans for permanent display cases to exhibit the china of past presidents. Formerly, the steward had made the decisions of what should be saved at the White House, and many valuable 283

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 207. Irwin Hood (Ike) Hoover, Forty-two Years in the White House (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934), p. 5. 285 Furman, op. cit., p. 252. 286 Frank G. Carpenter, Carp’s Washington (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960), p. 303. 284

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

97

treasures had disappeared. The first lady requested an inventory of all items of historic value in the executive mansion.287 Caroline took pride in the extensive restored conservatories. She enjoyed the exotic unusual plants, like the venus flytraps, palms, and ferns; and tropical trees bearing bananas, oranges, lemons, figs and nuts.288 Huge varieties of flowers were blooming in profusion. Hundreds of decorative plants were moved into the White House for receptions, banquets, and other special occasions. Caroline spent many hours studying, drawing and painting exotic plants in her conservatories, especially the orchids, which were new to her.289 During the first hot summer at the White House, Postmaster General John Wanamaker invited Caroline and Ben to visit his cottage at Cape May Point, New Jersey. Caroline notes in her diary, that they declined Mr. Wanamaker’s first invitation to his seaside cottage on June 1, 1889, because the weather was wet and cool and the Johnstown flood disaster had just occurred. On June 11, the Harrisons accepted another invitation to Cape May Point. Around half past nine in the morning they boarded a car on the B and O Railroad to Philadelphia, where they enjoyed lunch then traveled on to the shore. After welcoming the guests to their cottage decorated with grasses and daisies, the Wanamakers left the Harrisons with their grandchildren to vacation at the ocean retreat for an extended visit in the breezy seaside surroundings, away from the summer heat and humidity of Washington. An entry in Caroline’s diary about this vacation indicates that the president returned there with John Wanamaker on the weekend.290 Harrison was surprised when Wanamaker presented Caroline with the deed and keys to a new twenty-room cottage at Cape May Point. With contributions from Philadelphia business friends, Wanamaker had had the house built for her. When newspaper reporters heard of it, they attacked the president for accepting the house as a bribe. Harrison declined to accept the house as a gift and gave his friend a check for $10,000, but the political damage had been done. In spite of the negative publicity, the Harrisons delighted in spending the summers at the cottage at Cape May Point. Caroline invited her family and friends to share the pleasures of boating, crabbing, fishing, and swimming at the seashore. To Robert and Russell, she wrote frequently, describing in detail her grandchildren’s happy experiences

287

Carpenter. op. cit., p. 302. Hoover, op. cit., p. 5. 289 Amy La Follette Jensen, The White House and Its Thirty-Three Families (New York: McGrawHill Book Company, Inc., 1958) p. 143. 290 Caroline Harrison, op. cit., p. 31. 288

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

98

Anne C. Moore

there. In addition, she spent hours painting and drawing, while Ben used an office nearby for his summer White House. 291 Caroline was eager to have the refurbishing of the White House completed. Her calendar was filled, not only with formal dinners and receptions, but also her day classes for painting and French language, and individual appointments. Although she enjoyed supervising her cherished grandchildren, she also valued time for her art work, music, needlework, and reading. Caroline’s involvement in the Washington community included charity work at the hospital, orphanage, and church. During the afternoons, the White House was open for tours all year. Caroline Harrison, Mary (Mamie) McKee or Mary (Mame) Dimmick graciously welcomed dignitaries, friends, and visitors from all walks of life, and showed them through selected areas of the executive mansion. The first lady, interested in the history of the White House, had much to share on her tours. For dinners and receptions, the government provided the house, furniture, and floral decorations. Cut flowers and potted plants were available from the conservatories, and Caroline carefully planned her floral decor, profusely filling the public rooms with her selections for visual effect and fragrance. The president provided all refreshments and food, which was costly. Mary (Mamie) McKee, Mary (May) Harrison and Mary (Mame) Dimmick added their youthful charm and enthusiasm by helping Caroline as hostesses at the well-attended events. The Washington Post wrote: “Mrs. Harrison has mastered the art of entertaining . . . she has a friendliness of manner that is a proof against criticism.” 292 In her diary Caroline wrote: “The evening we gave our first state dinner was said to be the handsomest ever given at the White House. Decorations were said to be finer and more beautiful than some had ever seen. . . . There was one feature in the entertainment which I was very pleased with—that was the lack of stiffness which generally characterized all such dinners and I believe all felt at ease and at home.” 293

President and Mrs. Harrison honored the cabinet members with their first state dinner held on January 7, 1890. The Blue, Red and Green Parlors were filled with exotic plants from the conservatory. Tall potted palms, ferns and other foliage plants were grouped on the floor, ropes of smilax were fastened around doorways and columns, and pots of floral plants and cut flowers decorated mantels and window recesses. The State Dining Room extravagantly displayed potted plants. On the dining table, a large floral ship seemed to be floating on the 291

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 155-157. Whitcomb, op. cit., p. 203. 293 Caroline Harrison , op. cit., p. 46. 292

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

99

large Monroe mirror, and rocks and coral placed along the gold edges were half hidden under foliage and rosebuds. Round vases on each end of the mirror were filled to overflowing with long-stemmed roses, and wax tapers burned in the gold and white candelabra. While dinner was served by all white instead of the usual black waiters, the Marine Band played. After dinner, the guests were invited to stroll through the lighted conservatories. Caroline was gratified with complimentary reviews in the newspapers of her first state dinner.294 Mary (Mamie) McKee and Mary (May) Harrison were responsible for bringing dance to the White House for the first time since Nellie Grant’s ball. On April 23, 1890, Mary McKee’s ball, attended by 300 and held in the East Room, received glowing reviews. “Crash,” a canvas covering, was laid to protect the floor.295 Dancing became a regular part of Harrison receptions. The President was seen dancing the German, a popular dance similar to waltz that ended in hugging. His reservations about the propriety of dance apparently were relaxed by then. For White House entertainment, Caroline selected well-received music and musicians. “Mrs. Harrison’s Musicale” offered a variety of performing artists including singers, child protegees, flautists, chamber ensembles, and bell ringers. Bandmaster John Philip Sousa’s Marine Band performances were ever popular. Some best-remembered concerts featured black opera singers. For a concert on April 18, 1890, attended by 100 guests, elegant programs printed on silk and fastened to embossed presidential seals were designed for the first time by Caroline.296 As an experienced musician and teacher, the first lady was wellqualified to organize and supervise these programs. White House day classes were successful social programs, initiatedby Caroline Harrison. They were well-attended by wives and daughters of cabinet members and society women.297 French language classes were held weekly, taught by a hired professor. Watercolor and china painting classes were also taught weekly by Paul Adolphe Putzki, a talented artist whom Caroline persuaded to move from Indianapolis to Washington, D. C. Putzki, originally from Altwasser, Germany, had trained at Dresden before leaving his country. In 1882 when he was twenty-one years old, he traveled to the United States through a job agreement to work for two years at a pottery in East Liverpool, Ohio. Then he taught painting in Chicago, where he married one of his

294

Washington Post, January 7, 1890. Ibid., April 23, 1890. 296 Elise K. Kirk, Music at the White House: A History of the American Spirit (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), p. 147. 297 Carpenter, op. cit., p. 301. 295

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

100

Anne C. Moore

students, Kate Stirling, from Newfoundland.298 Around 1886, they arrived in Indianapolis, where he established a studio on Senate Street where he produced his own work and taught classes in watercolor and china painting. Caroline enrolled in his water color and china painting classes and worked diligently under Putzki’s instruction, improving her skills while learning his style and techniques. The artist taught his students to draw directly from nature and to adapt their sketches to create finished designs instead of copying lithographs.299 His students followed his example. He constantly filled his sketch books with drawings and watercolors of flowers, birds, and landscapes as he found them in his surroundings. He also shared his extensive knowledge of china painting with his students and fired their pieces in his kiln, usually several times for one piece to achieve the best results. Putzki praised Caroline as one of his excellent students. After Harrison was elected president, Caroline encouraged Paul Putzki, to consider moving to Washington and teach classes at the White House. On May 22, 1889, she wrote: “Mr. Putzki Dear Sir, . . . There is a great desire by many persons that you will come to Washington. A friend of mine has interested herself and secured many scholars for the class. I am only interested in your success be it here or elsewhere. But if you think favorably of the change I will do all I can for your success. . . . If you think it best we will go on and get a class (with a written promise of attendance) as we will not undertake to have you make the change on any uncertainty. We will work up this thing (with your approbation) and perhaps in the fall the outlook will be flattering enough for you to make the change. I have not been able to take up my brush since I came here. The only hope for that pleasure will be to join a class. I hope Mrs. Putzki is well, remember me kindly to her. When I can manage it I am going to have some of your work here in the White House. I want to put in something that will be credible and worthy of you, and therefore shall take a little time to think over and arrange it. Please let me know your desires and thoughts about coming here. Very truly, Carrie S. Harrison” 300 Four months later on October 3, 1889, Caroline wrote a more persuasive letter: “Mr. Putzki Dear Friend, . . . [my friend] returned from Europe a week or two ago and was in this afternoon. She has gotten fifteen scholars that have signed a pledge that they will take lessons and I have four scholars (and five if I can take myself which I shall make great efforts to do). . . . I cannot but think the prospect here is much better than where you are. You have the advantage of a better market for your work and the class will certainly be as full as in Indianapolis. Baltimore 298

vertical file, President Harrison Home library. Portland Telegram, October 20, 1907. 300 Caroline Harrison to Paul Putzki , May 22, 1889. Private collection of Patricia Bishop Gutting. 299

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

101

is only an hour’s ride away from here (and their art is very high). We will do all we can (that is Mrs. Light and myself) to get scholars and help you in showing your work . . . .With kind regards to Mrs. Putzki whom I hope is in a fair way to health. I am truly, Caroline S. Harrison.” 301 Paul Putzki did move with his wife Kate to Washington, D. C. and established his studio at No. 1420 New York Avenue. He was immediately teaching his preregistered weekly art classes at the White House and was soon producing his own work in handpainted china and watercolors. With Caroline’s encouragement at the White House, Putzki’s art reputation grew rapidly. On the wall between the dining room and the adjoining orchid greenhouses, he painted large garlands of orchids, displaying his skill in painting to the many visitors to the executive mansion. As an almost daily guest there, he was given the freedom to explore the extensive conservatories and seemed to share Caroline’s fascination in drawing and painting the exotic plants, especially the orchids. His White House painting classes were popular and appreciated. On April 29, 1890, the Washington Post reported an exhibition of watercolor and china painting at Putzki’s studio on New York Avenue. His students as exhibitors were listed: Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Russell Harrison, Miss Morton, Mrs. Gould, Mrs. Tweedale, Mrs. Reeside, Mrs. Bond, Mrs. Moses, Mrs.Bell, Miss Elliott, Mrs. Edson, Mrs. Adee, Mrs. Scranton, Mrs. Hopkins, and Miss Swan. Putzki’s work was also exhibited. The Harrisons held a public reception at the White House that evening from 9:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M.302 Women’s rights for a medical school at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland were actively supported by Caroline. She agreed to lead a national fundraising effort for the medical school on the condition that women would be enrolled as students on the same basis as men. As president of the Washington committee, she hosted fundraising receptions at the White House, and worked with professional and society women.303 On November 14, 1890, two elaborate receptions were held at Johns Hopkins Hospital honoring Caroline Harrison for her success in helping to raise $500,000 funding for the school.304 When the medical school opened, one woman student, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, was enrolled. At the White House, Harrison put intensive hours into his executive work. After attending to his ceremonial and his official duties, he faced his desk heaped with papers. When the new telephone was installed, he used it frequently. He had 301

Caroline Harrison to Paul Putzki, October 3, 1889. Private collection of Patricia Bishop Gutting. Washington Post, April 29, 1890. 303 Calhoun, op. cit., p. 272. 304 New York Press, November 15, 1890. 302

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

102

Anne C. Moore

a full-time telegraph operator, four messengers, a secretary and two stenographers. All papers, including documents, reports, correspondence, telegrams, and records of interviews, were filed efficiently in his well-organized office. The president provided direction in all branches of his administration, studying documents thoroughly. He took pride in his precise work, obsessed with minor details, and sometimes, when he was exhausted, his temper flared.305 Harrison used the room east of the Cabinet Room for his office, previously used in the same capacity by Lincoln and several other earlier presidents. The president held two weekly cabinet meetings, in addition to individual appointments with cabinet members. He was knowledgable of the responsibilities of each of his cabinet members. His posted hours for business callers were 9:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., except on Mondays. When he arrived at his office at 9:00 A.M., he often found people waiting for him.306 Late in the afternoon, Harrison usually took a long brisk walk or drove around Washington, sometimes accompanied by his secretary, his wife, his daughter, or his niece. In her diary, Caroline wrote of enjoying pleasant carriage rides with her husband, pulled by their beautiful horse John. After dinner, the president was often back at his desk, working until midnight with secretary Elijah Halford working at his side. Usually Harrison had no bodyguards, but a few plainclothes security guards were stationed in the White House. Once a drunk man climbed over the iron fence and approached Ben while he was sitting on the portico. They had a polite conversation, while the president pulled the bell cord for help, but the man was apparently harmless. At another time, a man broke into the White House, knocked down a doorkeeper and threatened to kill Harrison. When he heard the commotion, Ben pinned the man down and helped tie him up.307 Harrison personally made the decisions to fill hundreds of jobs of federal offices, replacing many Democratic employees. During his first year in office, he devoted more than four hours daily to this task. The applicants far outnumbered the available jobs, resulting in many disappointments. The president was deluged with people begging, demanding, and pleading for placement. Persuasive requests came from many directions, including strangers, distant relatives and cabinet members. Sometimes he showed his impatience with his task by drumming his fingers on his desk and hardly seemed to be listening to the applicant. For his brusque manner, he became known as an iceberg.

305

Socolofsy, op. cit., p. 85. Ibid., pp. 84-85. 307 Ibid. 306

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

103

Although Harrison was described as being aloof and reserved, he may not have been conscious of the rudeness he projected. On January 8, 1892, Harrison sent a letter to James Johnston of Rockville, Indiana. Secretary Halford had received a complaint from Johnston that Harrison had been rude to him. Ben wrote apologetically: “I learn with surprise that you have thought that I was guilty of some discourtesy towards you when you called here in Washington . . . or at my hotel in Indianapolis. . . . Now, I cannot recall after this length of time, just what took place; but one thing, I am sure, and I beg to assure you of it, that there was on neither occasion any intentional discourtesy on my part. It could not have been so, for certainly there has been nothing, either in your public life or in your personal relations with me, that could have suggested any disrespect to you.308 Elijah Halford was Harrison’s personal and trusted friend from Indianapolis. He resigned his position as editor-in-chief of the Indianapolis Journal to serve Harrison as his private secretary at the White House. To the president, he was “Lige” for Elijah, or “Brother Halford.” Both men were devout Protestants, Ben was a Presbyterian and Lige was a Methodist. They shared work and relaxation; Halford often accompanied him on afternoon walks of three or four miles, or carriage rides and continued to discuss business, and when it rained they played billiards. During the first year, Halford became exhausted with the demands of his work, and on October 4, 1889, he collapsed at his desk. The specific illness was not recorded, but his condition required painful surgery, performed at the White House, with Ben anxiously waiting. He invited Mrs. Halford to stay with her husband at the executive mansion until he recuperated.309 Harrison depended on Halford in many aspects of the president’s responsibilities for four years. In the Fifty-first Congress from 1889 to 1891, the House and Senate were controlled by Republicans for the first time in fourteen years. These first two years of his term were unusually productive ones for the Harrison administration. The number of laws passed was 531, an unprecedented level of legislative accomplishment. Between 1875 and 1889, when Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, and Republicans held Senate majority, only 317 laws were enacted in each of the Congresses. 310 Cheap land to the west enticed eastern farmers to move to the plains. By presidential proclamation, many acres of heartland in the Indian Territory, were opened to white settlers. President Grover Cleveland had signed the bill just 308

Benjamin Harrison Papers, January 8, 1892. Library of Congress Sieves vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 130-131. 310 Charles Calhoun, “A Political Culture: Public Life and the Conduct of Politics,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America , Charles W. Calhoun, ed. (Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc, Imprint, 1996), p. 188. 309

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

104

Anne C. Moore

before he left office but did not set an opening date. At noon on April 22, 1889, President Harrison officially opened the land for legal settlement, and thousands of prospective settlers rushed in from all four sides. Hundreds of settlers did not wait until noon; they sneaked into the territory during the night and hid in the underbrush for the opening hour; these people were called “sooners.” Within six months the territory had twenty-nine schools, thirty-eight churches, and twentytwo newspapers. There was space for one in ten of the arriving homesteaders, and the new capital, Guthrie, was divided into four separate towns. A scattered group of U.S. marshals and soldiers were hired to maintain order in the territory. Many settlers found life on the plains a desperate struggle. Droughts destroyed crops and caused deaths of thousands of cattle. Wagon trains returned disappointed farmers and their families back to the East. Congress made an appropriation for relief to destitute persons in the Oklahoma Territory.311 Within three months of his presidency, Harrison was forced to deal with a devastating natural disaster. On May 31, 1889, a weakened dam broke during heavy rains, and an enormous wave of raging water ran 128 miles in seven minutes over Johnstown and neighboring villages along the Conemaugh River valley in Pennsylvania. The entire valley was flooded, sweeping away most businesses, homes, a railroad yard, bridges, and large trees, and creating huge masses of moving debris. More than 2,000 people including 99 entire families were killed. Survivors experienced weeks of hardship, misery and horror. Clara Barton and the Red Cross provided aid for five months.312 Secretary Halford’s wife and daughter had departed from Washington to journey in that area, and the White House family shared his anguished concern for their safety. There was no communication beyond Harrisburg. Caroline wrote in her diary: “On Sabbath morning Mr. Halford came in pale and breathless and said “I am afraid they are lost.” The Potomac had risen so all the Fish Houses were covered and we watched the night before to see the Long Bridge swept off. It was a Sabbath of much anxiety. The President sent for a telegraph operator and kept him there all day and late in the day. Word was received that they were safe, having escaped from the train and fled to the hills.” 313 On June 4, President Harrison, who had sent federal aid, addressed a fundraising meeting at the Willard Hotel in Washington, urging public help for the flood victims. “My fellow citizens: Everyone here is distressingly conscious of the circumstances which have convened this meeting. . . . When such 311

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 58 – 60. David McCullough, The Johnstown Flood (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1968), pp. 229231. 313 Caroline Harrison, op. cit., pp. 29-30. 312

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

105

calamitous visitations fall upon any section of our country we can only put about the dark picture the golden border of love and charity. . . . I have today had a dispatch from the governor of Pennsylvania, advising me that communication has opened with Williamsport . . . and that losses in that section have been appalling; that thousands of people are hungry and homeless and penniless, and there is an immediate urgency for food to relieve their necessities. . . . I suggest . . . that a committee should be appointed to speedily collect contributions of food in order that a train loaded with provisions might be dispatched to-night.” 314 In addition, the worried president called for contributions of blankets, clothing, and money to aid the distressed. He personally donated $300 and $10,000 was raised that evening. Newspapers aroused a great outpouring of provisions and money. The nation responded with train cars loaded with food, clothing, and blankets, and many additional items, sent immediately. The people of Pittsburgh gave $560,000, New York gave $516,000, Philadelphia gave $600,000, and Boston gave $150,000; from across the country, school children, convicts, church members and other individuals sent donations, making a total of $3,742,818.78. 315 Three days after the flood, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club came under scrutiny. Fifteen miles from Johnstown, the large earthen dam that collapsed and caused the flood was owned by wealthy club members from Pittsburgh. One end of the large man-made Lake Conemaugh had been enclosed by the dam. The attractive exclusive resort was enjoyed for clean air, and clean water well-stocked with fish, with bright sailboats skimming the surface on sunny days. Around the lake, members resided in three story cottages and made use of a large club house. The earthen dam was not maintained properly; outlet pipes to release water were non-functional, and the dam had been repaired unprofessionally, resulting in a definite sag at the crest. When the heavy rains filled the lake to overflowing, the outlet pipes could not be adjusted to release water, and the weakened dam collapsed at the center, causing the devastating flood. Newspapers published articles featuring the guilt of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club in causing the Johnstown flood. Wealthy members included Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, Andrew Mellon and Henry Phipps, Jr. The power of these millionaires was feared. When lawsuits were filed, nothing was collected in damages and the members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club were declared not guilty. Some members had collectively given $6,000 for relief and 1,000 blankets, and some gave nothing. Carnegie never suggested he had anything to do with the club, but contributed an unannounced amount of money. The 314

Harry J. Sievers, ed. , Benjamin Harrison, 1833-1901: Chronology-Documents-Bibliographical Aids, (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1969), p. 50-51. 315 McCullough, op. cit., pp. 224-225.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

106

Anne C. Moore

people of Johnstown were infuriated and bitter that the wealthy South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club members were never required to pay anything for causing the destruction and suffering of the flood, and the resentment continued through several generations.316 President Harrison’s executive connections with these businessmen were used against him politically. Louis T. Michener, Harrison’s campaign manager, now the elected chairman of the G.O. P. state committee, knew the president was planning a trip to Indianapolis for the dedication ceremony for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in August 1889. He advised the president to include a stop at Cincinnati on his political journey. Harrison brought with him cabinet members Rusk and Miller, and other veterans in federal jobs. In Cincinnati, they received warm hospitality at a public reception at the Burnet House and shook hands with hundreds of Union veterans. After arriving in Indianapolis on August 21, Harrison spent the afternoon watching brass bands, marching veterans, flags and fireworks, and listening to speeches before retiring at the New Denison Hotel. The next day on August 22, 1889, he was downtown for the laying of the cornerstone of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, a memorial he had suggested building in 1884 while he was senator. He was greeted by more than 40,000 cheering people, gathered in the center of Indianapolis to witness the ceremonies. President Harrison recognized old friends among the 8,000 veterans who escorted the presidential party. Without a manuscript, he gave his speech, beginning with a reminder to the crowd that this is one nation: “This is a monument by Indiana to Indiana soldiers. But I beg you to remember that they were only soldiers of Indiana until the enlistment oath was taken; that from that hour until they came back to the generous state that sent them forth they were soldiers of the Union. So that it seemed to me not inappropriate that I should bring to you today the sympathy and the cheer of the loyal people of all the States.” 317 In closing, he said the monument commemorated the united desire to “hold up the dignity and honor of our free institutions, and to see that no harm shall come to our country.” President Harrison received prolonged applause. The next day he attended a nostalgic reunion of the Seventieth Indiana before heading back toward Deer Park, Maryland. During July and August, Harrison rented a cottage at Deer Park in western Maryland from ex-senator millionaire Henry Davis from West Virginia and his son-in-law and business partner Stephen B. Elkins. The Harrisons enjoyed the mountain retreat, a large house that looked like a Swiss chalet, and it was less 316 317

McCullough, op. cit., pp. 254 – 264. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p.122.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

107

expensive than other options. 318 Caroline set aside space for an office for Ben and prepared the upstairs rooms for the servants. She asked Halford to select fishing equipment for the president to use at the Youghiogheny River where trout would be caught. She looked forward to painting the lovely scenery there. Cabinet meetings were sometimes held at Deer Park; the members at this time were all on good terms.319 Earlier in the summer, Harrison received in absentia, honorary degrees in doctor of laws from Princeton University and Miami University.320 A sensational case was brought before the Supreme Court during August 1889. In California, David S. Terry, a former chief justice, had married Sarah Hill, who had been a mistress of Senator William Sharon of Nevada. Sharon died in 1885 and Mrs. Terry claimed she had been secretly married to the senator and was entitled to a share of his estate. The legal case was between Mrs. Terry and the senator’s son and heir. Associate Justice Stephen J. Field, fulfilling his responsibility as circuit judge, read the court decision against Mrs. Terry. Both Terrys began to shout, and Mrs. Terry was relieved of a pistol in her bag and Mr. Terry of a knife he carried. For contempt of court, former Chief Justice David Terry was sentenced to six months and Mrs. Terry was sentenced to thirty days at the Alameda county jail, both threatening revenge against Field. Attorney General William H. H. Miller assigned Deputy Marshal David Neagle to guard Field. One evening while Supreme Court Justice Stephen Field was traveling by night rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the train made a restaurant stop near Fresno. There Field was attacked by Judge David Terry, and Deputy Marshal David Neagle shot and killed Terry in the line of duty. No federal laws protected a United States marshal while performing his duty, and Neagle and Field were both charged with murder. Field was released. Mrs. Terry begged Mrs. Harrison to appeal to the president on her behalf. President Harrison brought the case to the attention of Congress. The Supreme Court sustained the president as “principal conservator of the peace of the United States.”321 The state of California stressed that Neagle should be tried in a state court, but Attorney General Miller declared that a state court could not question Neagle’s conduct as a federal officer. After Miller argued persuasively on the marshal’s behalf before the Supreme Court, Neagle was released. “The Neagle decision was the broadest interpretation, up to that time, of the implied powers of the national government under the

318

Ibid., pp. 83-84. Ibid., pp. 90-91. 320 Ibid., p. 83. 321 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 100. 319

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

108

Anne C. Moore

Constitution.”322 Harrison appointed William Howard Taft as Solicitor General at this time. According to David Muzzy, in his biography of James Blaine, “It was Harrison, not Blaine, who outlined the [foreign] policy of the incoming administration.” Alice Felt Tyler, in Foreign Policy of James Blaine, notes that Blaine was suffering health problems from before he became secretary of state in 1889. Albert Volwiler added that Blaine was a broken man by 1891. Other scholars have stated that Blaine was careless about attending cabinet meetings and said they bored him, and he was forgetful. He spent most of his time while he held the office of secretary of state at his home in Bar Harbor, Maine instead of Washington, D. C. Blaine suffered from a number of illnesses, including Bright’s disease, gout, nervous headaches, lumbago, and rheumatism. Due to Blaine’s long absences, Harrison took more and more responsibility of foreign affairs.323 Because Blaine would not resign, and never publicly acknowledged the president’s work, the secretary received the credit for the programs. Still, Harrison sent copies of documents and messages to Blaine for perusal and response, and maintained a professional relationship. They exchanged amicable visits at Bar Harbor, Maine and at Cape May Point, New Jersey. However, James Blaine and his wife Harriet treated the Harrisons with condescension, regarding them their social inferiors, undeservedly occupying their place in the White House. Harrison increased the role of the United States in global affairs with the First International American Conference, later known as the Pan American Conference. From October 2, 1889, to April 19, 1890, Secretary of State James Blaine presided over the conference, making his most important contribution to the Harrison administration. Claiming illness, he had spent most of the year since he became secretary of state, in Maine. However, he had a personal interest in this endeavor; he had expressed the idea for a Pan American Conference in 1881 under President Garfield. Early in 1888, Congress had authorized a Pan American Conference, under President Cleveland, but the project was not begun.324 Harrison appointed a ten-man bipartisan delegation to represent most sections of the United States: John B. Henderson from Missouri, Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate; Cornelius Bliss from New York; Thomas Jefferson Coolidge from Massachusetts; Morris M. Estee from California; Clement Studebaker from Indiana; Henry Davis, a Democrat from West Virginia; Charles R. Flint, a Democrat from New York; John F. Hanson, a Democrat from Georgia; and

322

Ibid., pp. 93-100. Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 110-113. 324 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 104. 323

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

109

William H. Trescott, a Democrat from South Carolina.325 Latin American nations were represented by delegates from: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaraugua, Costa Rica, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Argentina. The purpose of the conference was to expand United States political and economic influence among the Latin American nations and replace Great Britain’s dominance. Harrison hoped to improve customs regulations, increase arbitration among Latin American nations, increase steamship communication, produce a common silver coin, and create copyright and extradition laws.326 The delegates were taken on a trip across the United States, covering 6,000 miles in forty-two days, to fifty-three towns and cities through New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. Some points of interest included industrial centers, stockyards, meat packing plants, grain elevators, Studebaker manufacturers, Pullman Company, Wanamaker department store, Carnegie Steel Mills, military centers, University of Michigan, and public schools.327 Primary exports to the United States from Latin American countries were cattle, sheep, wool, hides, jute, coffee, cacao, sugar, bananas, oranges, grapes, pineapples, mahogany, rubber, nitrate of soda (for making explosives), asphaltum, tin, copper, silver, gold, emeralds, diamonds, and coal. The International American Conference resumed discussions on November 18, 1889 and continued for seventy meetings. The first two months passed with disputes over rules and procedures. On June 2, 1890, Harrison reported to Congress that the delegates from the American Republics recommended for adoption: a standardized system of customs regulations for classification and valuation of imported merchandise, nomenclature for the description of articles of merchandise imported and exported; and the establishment of an international bureau of information at Washington.328 The delegates from the American Republics decided to establish a LatinAmerican library. Several nations agreed to donate historical, geographical, and literary works, and documents relating to the history and civilization of America. They requested that the government of the United States provide a building suitable for the library in Washington.329 The conference resulted in several 325

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 117. Ibid., p. 118. 327 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 112-113. 328 Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 55. 329 Ibid. 326

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

110

Anne C. Moore

accomplishments. The participants resolved to develop trade agreements. Treaties were established on protection of patents and trademarks. Frequent mail service was instituted through additional vessels in the United States Navy. Regulations were adopted prevent the spread of epidemic diseases.330 When the conference adjourned on April 19, 1890, Harrison addressed the delegates of the conference with these closing remarks: “I find in this parting call of the delegates of the Conference both pain and pleasure. . . . I take pleasure in the knowledge of the fact that your labors have been brought to a happy conclusion. . . . The differences of opinion have been happily reconciled. . . . I remark with pleasure the proposition which will be productive of peace among the American States represented in it will be without excuse if one of them shall lift a hostile hand against each other. . . . In conclusion, I find much to approve in friendly purposes of the Conference toward this Government, and I wish each and every one of you a heartfelt good-bye.” 331 In the midst of the conference meetings, James Blaine experienced personal tragedies with the deaths of his son Walker Blaine, and his daughter Alice Blaine Coppinger. The secretary of state continued to work diligently at the conference, perhaps partly as a diversion from his grief. Harrison praised Blaine for hard and successful work., and the press praised Harrison. “From this day the Monroe Doctrine passes by process of diplomatic evolution into stage of higher development.” 332 The Tribune also stated that “the ground has been leveled, the way has been opened for securing united action on the part of eighteen commonwealths.” The New York Nation, always hostile to Harrison, criticized that little was accomplished at the Pan American conference.333 Protectionism was the leading campaign issue of the Republicans for the 1888 election. William McKinley, Chairman of Ways and Means in the House, was assigned the task of preparing the tariff legislation. Because the existing tariff was producing more income than the government needed in operating the federal government, the Democrats called for tariff reduction. On June 30, 1889, the surplus was $105 billion. The Republicans, favoring protectionism, believed increased surplus was needed to finance new government programs. Higher tariffs on imported items would protect the United States producers. In December 1889, debates on the tariff act began and continued until October 1890. Duty on sugar was disputed for four months. Blaine argued for duty on sugar because many 330

Vertical file, President Benjamin Harrison Home Library. Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 52. 332 Ibid., p. 19. 333 Sievers, vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 114-115. 331

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

111

Latin American products were admitted free already. The Senate majority finally agreed on a free duty list of raw sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides. Higher import tax or duty would be required for butter, barley, hams, bacon, and refined sugar. The countries exporting to the United States would be expected to be equally generous in permitting duty free items from the United States into their countries, in a reciprocal agreement. Because the Pan American Conference had not provided means for the United States to increase exports to Latin America, Harrison lobbied intensively to persuade congressmen of the need for reciprocity to be included in the McKinley Tariff Act. In a message to Congress on June 19, 1890, Harrison said: “It has been so often and so persistently stated that our tariff laws offered an insurmountable barrier to a large exchange of products with the Latin American nations, that I deem it proper to call special attention to the fact that more than 87 percent of the products of these nations sent to our ports are now admitted free. If sugar is placed on the free list, practically every important article exported from the United States will be given untaxed access to our markets except wool. The real difficulty in the way of negotiating profitable reciprocity treaties is that we have given freely so much that would have had value in mutual concessions which such treaties imply.334 The McKinley Tariff and Reciprocity Act was signed into law on September 10, 1890. It raised customs duties an average of 49.5 percent on imports, which aided United States manufacturers, but also raised prices for consumers in the United States. John Foster, acting secretary of state, negotiated individual reciprocity treaties. Foster first targeted Brazil. He reminded Brazil that the United States had bought 310 million pounds of coffee from them in one year, and could easily buy from other countries instead. Brazil signed the first reciprocity treaty on February 5, 1891. Then other countries followed. The Harrison administration secured a total of eight reciprocity treaties: with Spain and the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Great Britain for West Indian possessions, British Guiana, Guatemala, Nicaraugua, Honduras, and El Salvador. It was a record number for one administration during the nineteenth century. When Harrison took office in 1889, he learned that the United States was facing protectionism from European countries. Pork products had been excluded from parts of Europe for a decade. In 1879, the United States had exported $80 million worth of pork products, but since then there had been a steep decline. The Europeans were claiming that trichinosis might be found in pork from the United States. Great Britain, France, and Germany had been the main importers of pork from the United States. Great Britain never stopped buying pork products from 334

Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901. op. cit., p. 56.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

112

Anne C. Moore

the United States. Italy was the first nation to ban United States pork, followed by Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Rumania. In February 1881, France completely prohibited pork and pork products from the United States. By March 1883, Germany banned all pork products from the United States, following several years of partial prohibition. Denmark, under pressure from Germany, was the last to join in the ban. Harrison was eager to see a solution to this problem. He consulted Whitelaw Reid, minister to France, and William Phelps, minister to Germany. Reid advised imposing higher duty on French wine and silk. 335 In August 1890, Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act to remove grounds for prohibiting pork products. The law also permitted the president to exclude products for import from any nation that discriminated against exports from the United States. After the 1890 elections, Reid relayed the message that the French did not believe the United States would enforce the retaliatory bill. Rusk supported Harrison’s increasing intent for aggressive action to retaliate against prohibition of United States trade. France and Germany were made aware of this intent. When First Assistant Secretary of State William Wharton said Germany would discuss a reciprocal agreement, Phelps supported Blaine’s advice to appease Germany with concessions to any reciprocal arrangement. Harrison did not think Germany deserved any concessions, but Blaine believed the United States needed their sugar. Germany exported large amounts of beet sugar to the United States and finally became concerned about the possibility of losing this trade agreement. Harrison had just signed a reciprocity agreement with Spain to buy Cuban sugar. Secretary of Agriculture Rusk agreed with Harrison that it was time to use the new law to retaliate against any nation’s continued prohibition.336 Before the end of August, Acting Secretary of State John Foster announced that Germany would end prohibition of United States pork, and there would be tariff reductions on United States imports of agricultural products, providing retaliatory power would not be imposed, and Germany would sign a decree ending prohibition. Reid reported the end of prohibition of pork in France on December 5. Denmark, Italy, and Austria-Hungary soon ended their bans. The ending of European prohibition against United States pork and farm products was a significant achievement for Harrison. In his annual report to Congress in 1892, Harrison stated: “An enlarged foreign market for these meats will be felt not only by the farmer, but in our public finances and in every branch of trade.”337 The Secretary of Agriculture Jeremiah Rusk reported that the United States had lost 335

Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 131-132. Ibid., p. 133. 337 Ibid., p. 136. 336

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

113

$20 million annually to Europe during the restrictions. In June 1892, exports of pork products were up to 82 million pounds, compared to 46.9 million pounds in May 1891.338 Territories were demanding statehood while Harrison was a senator. As president, he added a record number of six states to the Union. North and South Dakota became the thirty-ninth and fortieth states on October 2, 1889. Aware of competitive jealousies between the leaders of the Dakotas, Harrison signed the proclamations for statehood with only the space for signatures uncovered, so that there was no possibility to see whose document was signed first. Montana became forty-first state on November 8, 1889, and Washington became forty-second state on November 11, 1889. Montana held much interest for Harrison, since his son Russell was secretary of the Montana Stockgrowers Association and owner of the Helena Daily Journal. Montana and Washington, were known for explorers, fur traders, gold miners, Indians and cowboys.339 Idaho became the forty-third state on July 3, 1890, and Wyoming became the forty-fourth state seven days later on July 10, 1890. The new states favored the Republicans, creating an addition of twelve seats in the Senate and seven in the House. In the 1890 election, Republicans retained a majority in the Senate because of seats gained through the new states.340 In June 1890, Harrison signed the Dependent and Disability Pension Bill into law. It provided for minors, dependent parents, and widows of Union soldiers. “Our pension law should give more adequate and discriminating relief to the Union soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. Such occasions should remind us that we owe everything to their valor and sacrifice,” Harrison said. He asked for legislation granting a “pension to such honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the Civil War . . .[who] are now dependent upon their own labor for maintenance, and by disease or casualty are incapacitated from earning it.” 341 By the time Harrison left office, the yearly appropriations for pensions was $135 million for approximately 676,000 pensioners.342 It was the first national welfare plan. The Sherman Antitrust Act was probably the most important law passed by the Fifty-first Congress, signed by Harrison on July 2, 1890. It was the first federal law to protect trade from unlawful monopolies. The United States became one of the few nations to regulate business combinations. Business combinations 338

Ibid., pp. 135-136. Sievers, vol. 3, op. cit., p. 131. 340 George W. Geib, “Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-third President of the United States, 1889-1893,” Buckeye Presidents: Ohioans in the White House (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 2003), p. 159. 341 Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 45. 342 Sievers, vol. 3, op. cit., p. 128. 339

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

114

Anne C. Moore

known as trusts, such as Standard Oil, begun in 1879, claimed larger shares of the market. Although monopolistic enterprises had long been opposed, there was no federal law to restrain them. Senator John Sherman said he was anxious about the control of trusts over production and trade by monopolies, and Harrison considered trusts dangerous. The antitrust act opposed unfair business practices. Harrison declared, “If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal limitations and duties, they would have less cause to complain of the unlawful limitations of their rights or of violent interference with their operations.”343 Most of the statute was written by Harrison’s friends, Senators George F. Edmunds of Vermont, and George F. Hoar of Massachusetts. Senator John Sherman had filed the antitrust measure as Senate Bill No. 1 on December 2, 1889. The law states: “Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared illegal.”344 Attorney General Miller, in his annual report, noted difficulties in enforcing this law, because the process was not clearly understood initially. 345 President Harrison deplored racial prejudice, in the North and the South, and exerted leadership in promoting civil rights for African Americans, no matter how unsuccessful. In most of the country, there was apathy toward this issue. Harrison supported voting rights for blacks, for moral reasons. He believed that Republicans had a responsibility for the southern Negro. In his message to the Congress on December 3, 1889, he made a stern statement: “The colored people did not intrude themselves on us; they were brought here in chains and held in communities where they are now chiefly found, by a cruel slave code. . . .When and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law?” 346 The Republican platform affirmed the “rights and liberties of citizens . . .rich or poor, native or foreign born, white or black, to cast one free ballot in public elections, and have that ballot duly counted.”347 Henry Cabot Lodge submitted a Lodge Elections Bill, which provided for federal supervision of all congressional elections to guarantee Negro voting rights. Democrats in the South reacted with fierce hostile dissent in Congress, labeling it a “Force Bill” directed at the South, although it was written for congressional districts across the United States. Voters 343

Geib, op. cit. p. 158. Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 58. 345 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 53. 346 Ibid., p. 62. 347 Ibid., p. 60. 344

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

115

in the South were controlled by intimidation and threat, and the Democrats did not want their procedures challenged. Although there was no provision for using federal troops implied in the bill, it was interpreted in that light by the Southern delegates. The Southern Democrats projected the negative image of the bill proposing the use of federal troops of the United States army supervising all congressional elections. The House passed the “Force Bill” to guarantee Negro voting rights, but it not pass in the Senate. This election bill was reintroduced several times without success. Only President Harrison and Senators George Hoar, George Edmunds, and William Chandler seemed to be concerned about the fate of the American Negro. Following Harrison’s term, attempts to provide political rights for the American Negro were abandoned for many years.348 Henry W. Blair, a Republican senator from New Hampshire, introduced his bill for federal aid to education, to fight illiteracy, in 1890. The bill was most controversial in the South, but opposition also came from the North and West. The bill would provide federal funds to public schools for eight years, for illiterates above age ten. The state governor and secretary of the interior would sign a statement that no discrimination existed in a school receiving aid. Harrison was supportive. After lengthy debate, the measure did not pass. The real reasons were racial prejudice and lack of interest in providing education for blacks. Senator Blair was criticized for introducing the bill; he had been introducing this bill for ten years without success. The Northerners were abandoning federal aid to education as well as the Southerners, increasing educational restraints on blacks and justifying their discriminatory laws. No one listened to Harrison’s plea for using kindness and education rather than violence.349 In November 1889, President Harrison appointed Frederick Douglass, the most distinguished black leader in the United States, to the post of United States Resident Minister and Consul General to Haiti. Douglass was a skillful orator and writer with access to government officials. He had served as marshal to the District of Columbia (1877-1881) and recorder of deeds of the District of Columbia (1881-1886).350 Harrison regarded the Pacific Islands an important location for a coaling station for fueling ships of his expanding navy. In August 1888, Haiti had experienced a revolution and two leaders, Generals Hyppolite and Legitime, who gained control of opposite sections of the island, were soon fighting each other. President Cleveland had remained neutral in the conflict. Harrison and Blaine then entered into the scene and aided General Hyppolite to take over the government in October 1889. Harrison tried to take possession of Le 348

Ibid., p. 65. Ibid., p. 69. 350 Leslie H. Fishel, Jr., “The African-American Experience,” The Gilded Age op. cit., p. 153. 349

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

116

Anne C. Moore

Mole St. Nicholas naval base as payment for helping in the short civil war. After Douglas had been in Haiti for a one and a half years, Harrison made an unwise decision by sending Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi. Unfortunately, Gherardi immediately disliked Douglass, criticizing him for being too kind to the Haitians. The admiral stated the need for an “able, vigorous, aggressive white man” and refused to work with Douglass. When negotiations failed, Harrison sent five naval vessels into the waters as a threat. Haiti would not give in, and the United States would not use force.351 Harrison inherited the Samoan problem when he took office. The United States, Great Britain and Germany had obtained the right to construct naval bases in the Samoan Islands. During Cleveland’s administration, Germany campaigned to establish exclusive control of the islands. A Washington conference attended by representatives of the three nations had been held in June 1887 to find a solution, but the problem remained unresolved. German ships conducted warfare against the king of Samoa, and the Germans experienced a defeat resulting in the killing of twenty and wounding of over thirty of their men. The Germans threatened allout war. Cleveland sent three ships from the old navy: the Trenton, the Vandalia, and the Nipsic, to show that the United Stated did not intend to withdraw. Although Germany wished to avoid a clash with the United States, the ships from both countries continued to confront each other in Samoan waters. Shortly after Harrison took office, on March 16, 1889, a severe storm destroyed the ships of both countries, and killed fifty men from the United States. Another conference was held in Berlin, beginning on April 29, 1889. On this day, Harrison was in New York City attending the Washington Centennial Celebration. Prior to departing for New York, he had selected a three-man bipartisan delegation to represent the United States for the Berlin conference: Republicans John A. Kasson, and William Walter Phelps, and Democrat George H. Bates. The Republicans had both served as ministers to Austria-Hungary, and Bates had investigated the Samoan situation for Cleveland’s administration. Blaine explained the importance of Samoa to the delegates: “[that]our interest on the Pacific is steadily increasing; that our commerce with the East is developing largely and rapidly; and that the certainty of an early Isthmian transit from Atlantic to Pacific (under American protection) must create changes in which no power can be so directly or more durably interested than the United States.” 352 As soon as he returned from New York, Harrison was actively involved in the negotiations. He refused indemnity to Germany, and British control of Samoa. 351 352

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 128. Ibid., p. 115.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

117

While Blaine was at home with lumbago, Harrison was scrutinizing every piece of correspondence and demanding changes in the agreements of the commissioners. The conference resulted in a restored king, an established three-power protectorate, and a Samoan treaty.353 The confrontation in Samoa brought immediate attention to Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy’s quest for a larger navy. The establishment of the modern navy was one of the great achievements of Harrison’s presidency. General Tracy made the plans for the acquisition of the largest warships then made in the world. In 1889, he warned that the United States would remain the twelfth ranked naval power without battleships. In his “old navy,” President Cleveland had small ships at 5,000 tons displacement and smaller, and three of those were lost in Samoa. In 1889, the Chicago,the Atlanta, and the Boston were the beginnings of the “new navy.” In January 1890, Tracy began a campaign for battleships capable of waging war. The Naval Policy Board recommended a navy second only to Great Britain. On June 30, the Republican controlled House and Senate passed the Naval Act of 1890, and approved the building of the Indiana, the Massachusetts, and the Oregon, at 10,000 tons displacement. Next in line were the New York, with 8,200 tons displacement, and the Brooklyn, with 9,300 tons displacement. Then Tracy and Harrison persuasively appealed for the Minneapolis and the Newark. Before the end of 1890, the Columbia, the Baltimore, the Charleston, the San Francisco, and the Philadelphia would be completed. The Maine and the Texas, two small battleships at 6,600 tons displacement, approved by Congress in 1886, were launched in 1890 and 1892. Bethlehem Steel had agreed to provide the armor for the new ships, and delivered the first partial order in 1890, but Tracy would not accept it. Technology had advanced and he had learned that Great Britain was using a stronger hardened nickel steel alloy for shipbuilding. Tracy turned to Andrew Carnegie, whose company experimented and tested the components before producing their new invulnerable nickel-plate, carbon, and steel alloy. In 1892, Congress authorized the construction of the battleship Iowa, of more than 11,400 tons displacement. For the North American Review, Tracy wrote an article describing the increased power, range and speed of the new ships.354 In the midst of this naval planning, on February 3, 1890 at 7:00 A.M., fire destroyed Tracy’s home and caused the deaths of his wife, a daughter, and a maid. The secretary’s invalid wife, a married daughter and granddaughter, trapped on the second story, all jumped from a window. The wife was killed while the others 353 354

Ibid., p. 116. Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 98 – 103.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

118

Anne C. Moore

survived. On the first floor, the other daughter and maid were overcome with smoke and perished. Rescuers found the unconscious Tracy and carried him out down the ladder. Caroline’s maid Josephine notified the Harrisons that Tracy’s house was on fire. The president immediately dressed and hurried there, only two blocks away. Ben administered artificial respiration to Tracy until he revived. Caroline recorded in her diary: “The President [stayed] with the secretary who was screaming. The President remained all morning with him, helping and comforting him as well as he could. He broke the news of Mrs. Tracy’s death to the Secretary when it could no longer be concealed. It was thought best in consultation with the President that the bodies be brought to the White House . . .as the Tracys belonged to the official family and no roof over their heads it seemed as if the White House was the proper place.” 355 Tracy recuperated at the White House. The caskets holding the bodies of Delina Tracy and daughter Mary were placed in the East Room, where a funeral service was held. Ben was solicitously at Tracy’s side. When Caroline learned that the maid had no relatives in this country, she arranged for her funeral and burial in Mount Olivet Cemetery.356 The tender sympathies extended by both Ben and Caroline were observed and remembered by the political associates and friends.357 Government money, in paper money and checks, was considered stable and recognized by the law. The Silverites, mostly Westerners and farmers, crusaded for production of large quantities of silver coinage in federal currency, expecting high prices and prosperity for silver mining states. Delegates from these states claimed they voted for Harrison because they expected him to support free coinage of silver. Although he was an advocate of using silver in national currency, Harrison did not favor free coinage and never mentioned silver in his inaugural address. Due to Harrison’s position on this issue, the Western members of Congress became unreliable supporters of Republican issues. 358 Speaker of the House Thomas B. Reed, opposed free coinage and led the defeat of a Senate free silver amendment to a House bill passed on June 7, 1890. Senator John Sherman submitted a compromise bill. After Secretary of the Treasury Windom and Senator Sherman assured Harrison that it was a safe bill that would help the silver industry and the federal government, the president personally appealed to the Western senators. Reed gave strong support for the bill in the House. Harrison hoped to end the controversy by signing the bill. On July 14, 1890, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was signed into law. Ben immediately wrote to Caroline who 355

Caroline Harrison, op. cit., pp. 51-52. Sievers, vol. 3., op. cit., p. 143. 357 Ibid. 358 Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 56-57. 356

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

119

was at Cape May, to share with her the significance of the signing.359 Every month the Treasury was required to purchase four and a half million ounces of silver, the entire output of the mines in the United States. In July 1890, the price of silver was $1.04 per ounce, but dropped to $ .98 in December. Silverites had assured the president that silver would be $1.25 per ounce permanently as a result of the Sherman Act.360 Harrison was disappointed. Within three years, President Grover Cleveland would repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, and the bitter struggle for silver standard would end. Cleveland and McKinley both approved of the gold standard. President Harrison and Postmaster General Wanamaker were both religiously and morally opposed to the lottery, a form of gambling. The mail services were being used extensively by the promoters of the Louisiana Lottery. Corruption was reported in the form of bribery in Louisiana and North Dakota and theft from mails. On July 29, 1890, Harrison sent a special message to Congress. “The national capital has become a sub-headquarters of the Louisiana Lottery company, and its numerous agents and attorneys are conducting here a business involving probably a larger use of the mails that of any legitimate business enterprise in the District of Columbia. There seems to be good reason to believe that the corrupting touch of these agents has been felt by the clerks in the postal service and by some of the police officers of the District. Severe and effective legislation should be promptly enacted to enable the Post Office Department to purge the mails of all letters, newspapers and circulars relating to the business.” 361 The Anti-Lottery Act passed by Senate and House on August 16 and was signed into law on September 19, 1890. “It barred all letters, postal cards, circulars, lists of drawings, tickets and other materials referring to lotteries from the mails.” The mail would be returned to sender unopened, and the fine for violation was $500 with possibility of prison term.362 On February 3, 1890, Attorney General Miller sent a telegram to President Harrison stating that the lottery company had obtained, through bribery, a franchise in North Dakota, and the bill had passed the State Senate. Harrison notified leaders of the new state that he would make no appointments for North Dakota until the lottery scheme was removed. As a result, lottery was removed in North Dakota.363

359

Carl Sferrazza Anthony, First Ladies: the Saga of the Presidential Wives and Their Power 17891961 (New York: William Morrow, 1990), p. 269. 360 Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 55-60. 361 Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 64. 362 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 74. 363 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p.159.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

120

Anne C. Moore

Postmaster General John Wanamaker worked hard to improve the efficiency and increase the services of the Postal System. After the president advocated free delivery of mail, millions of miles of postal delivery routes were added during Harrison’s term. Increased post offices and mail delivery routes were expected to encourage the growth of towns and settlements. As a result of the Pan American Conference, greater mail service was provided to South American countries with forty-one mail steamers plus seven swifter vessels. On March 9, 1892, Postmaster General John Wanamaker held a conference for postmasters in Washington, to determine methods to improve services, classify mail, and decrease expenditures.364 By the summer of 1890, voter reaction against Republicans was increasing in the Midwest. The moralistic temperance law and the Sabbatarian law, supported by the Protestants, were met with resistance by the public, and were considered a threat to traditional lifestyles by many European immigrants, newly arrived in the United States. The legislation requiring all private schools to meet state standards and conduct classes in the English language was also strongly protested by the immigrants. Farmers experienced crop failures and were unable to meet payments on farm loans and mortgages and addressed their complaints through Farmers Alliances. All working class people were fearful of the higher prices. The Republicans finally began to realize that they were losing the working class voters. From October 6 to 13, 1890, Harrison, accompanied by Tracy, made a campaign tour of the Midwest covering 3,000 miles and made more than forty speeches. Secretary Halford and stenographer Tibbott also were on the trip. They stopped in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri and were welcomed with festive receptions. The press was complimentary, calling the tour “one continuous ovation.” The highlight of the tour for Harrison was the reunion with Union army veterans of the First Brigade in Galesburg, Illinois. The Seventieth Indiana regiment had been part of the First Brigade during the Civil War.365 On October 1, 1890, the Fifty-first Congress adjourned after passing a record number of 531 bills. Regardless of the achievements, on November 7, the election resulted in a dramatic Republican loss: 235 (from 161) Democrats, 10 Populists and Independents, and 86 (from 175) Republicans. The Senate held a Republican majority of 8. 366 In spite of Harrison’s effort, the Republicans lost where he had campaigned in the Midwest.

364

Anderson Democrat, March 4, 1892. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 180. 366 Ibid., p. 181. 365

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1889 to 1890

121

Under President Harrison’s administration, the last of the Indian wars occurred in South Dakota. The Great Sioux reservation had been reduced drastically, and in the 1880s, a Paiute shaman, Wovoka, began a religious movement, the Ghost Dance, that offered hope to the Indians. They were told that bullets would be harmless, the buffalo would return, and the white antagonists would disappear, if they performed the Ghost Dance ritual. Thousands joined the Ghost Dance movement and under its influence, the Sioux were growing militant. Big Foot had led his followers to Pine Ridge. The Ghost Dance drew the attention of the federal government, and by November, 600 federal troops were on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. On December 29, 1890, nearly 200 men, women and children were killed by federal troops at the Massacre of Wounded Knee. Only twenty-five of the killed were men. The slaughter was led by the vengeful General George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry. Fourteen years earlier in 1876, Custer’s Seventh Cavalry had sought and found a Sioux encampment, and were defeated in the battle of Little Bighorn in Montana. They believed they had government support to avenge the death of Custer and their humiliating defeat, by killing other Indians.367 After being notified of the Wounded Knee Massacre, President Harrison was deeply concerned and sought information. The commanding general contacted Major General Nelson Miles and relayed the message that the president had learned about his failure “. . .to secure the settlement of the Sioux difficulties without bloodshed.” 368 The message continued: “[the president] hoped the report of the killing of women and children in the affair at Wounded Knee is unfounded, and directs you cause an immediate inquiry to be made and report the result to the [War] Department. If there was any unsoldierly conduct, you will relieve the responsible officers, and so use the troops engaged there as to avoid its repetition.” 369 General Miles reported a satisfactory explanation to the president. The dead were buried in a mass grave the next day. By mid-January 1891, 3,500 federal soldiers were concentrated in South Dakota to completely dominate the Indians, and reduced their food rations. In 1890 the Office of Indian Affairs supervised fifty-eight agencies across the United States. The federal government restricted the Native Americans in the reservations, often on lands of no use to the white man. At the reservations, each federal agent was responsible for destroying tribal beliefs and customs, and 367

Cobb, op. cit., pp. 324-340. Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 107. 369 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 107. 368

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

122

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

encouraging integration into American life styles and values. The agents were expected to control the chiefs, teach farming to the men, teach household skills to the women, restrict Indian language and dress, educate the children, teach Christianity, and maintain law and order. 370 Boarding schools were established to separate children from their families to keep them from learning native traditions. English was the language of instruction. 371 For nomadic people who were accustomed to moving across the plains, confinement to reservations was difficult to accept. Widespread despair, depression, and drunkenness became prevalent on the reservations. Some Native Americans who abandoned hope of restoring their traditional lifestyles became resigned to survival by conforming to government expectations.372

370

Edmund J. Danziger, Jr., “Native American Resistance and Accommodation During the Late Nineteenth Century,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America, op. cit., p. 169. 371 Ibid., p. 176. 372 Ibid., pp. 164-169.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 10

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

THE PRESIDENCY, 1891 TO 1893 For President Benjamin Harrison, the year 1891 began with funerals and mourning. On January 29, Postmaster General John Wanamaker was entertaining cabinet members with a festive holiday dinner at his home. Secretary of the Treasury William Windom was speaking to the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, an audience of 200, at a dinner at Delmonico’s in New York, while his family attended Wanamaker’s party. Harrison had left the party early and returned to the White House, and shortly thereafter he received a telegram from Tracy with the message that Windom had collapsed and died at the close of his speech in New York. Harrison hurried back to Wanamaker’s residence, followed the Windoms to their home and broke the sad news to them. Next morning, he escorted Mrs. Windom to the cemetery and selected a burial lot, then went to the train station to wait with cabinet members for the arrival of the coffin holding Windom’s body. Flags were half-staffed in Washington, and all social events were canceled until after the Lenten season. After General William T. Sherman died on February 14, the president journeyed to New York to pay his last respects to his commander of the Civil War’s Georgia campaign. On February 23, Ben appointed Charles Foster of Ohio as Secretary of Treasury to replace Windom. Foster had served eight years in the House of Representatives and four years as governor.373 At the end of the Fifty-first Congress, one of the last problems for consideration was the issue of the need to reform policies governing public domain. The twenty-four section land bill was presented to Congress, after preparations and revisions were made by a conference committee controlled by 373

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 185.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

124

Anne C. Moore

Midwestern conservationists and the Secretary of the Interior John Noble who was also on the committee. Noble told the committee that the president would not sign without a reservation clause. Section 24, a last addition to the Land Revision Act, gave the president power to create national forest reserves, a significant change in the forestry program. Congress approved the Land Revision Act and President Harrison signed it on March 3, 1891. Section 24 was written as: “That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof.” 374 For the first time in the nation’s history, 13 million acres of forest land on public domain was set aside as national forest reserves, by President Benjamin Harrison. He also established Sequoia, Yosemite, and General Grant National Parks. The first forest reserve he authorized was located adjacent to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. He added fourteen additional reserves in Alaska, territories in New Mexico and Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. Including the Alaskan reserve on an island in the Kodiak group, which had been ignored in some reports, the total area in national forests set aside by Harrison was 22 million acres.375 Gifford Pinchot, chief forester, declared section 24 “the most important legislation in the history of Forestry in America.”376 Secretary of the Interior John W. Noble, the Chief of the Division of Forestry Dr. Bernhard Fernow, Edward A. Bowers of the General Land Office, Senators R. F. Pettigrew and Preston Plumb, naturalist John Muir, and numerous others deserve recognition for the success of the national forest reserves. 377 A New York Times editor praised Harrison and Noble for the Forest Reserve Act and published the following statement: “These facts will show the earnestness and success with which the policy of forest reservation has been carried out during the last two years. The value of the services thus performed can hardly be overestimated. The benefit is both local and national -- in securing the sources of water supply and thus insuring irrigation of bountiful crops and in preserving unimpaired the glories and beauties of natural scenery in the West.” 378 374

Ibid., p. 71. Ibid., p. 72. 376 Ibid., p. 73. 377 Ibid., pp. 71-72. 378 Ibid., p. 73. 375

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

125

The West was supportive of section 24, as was the Congress. Area citizens had signed petitions to set aside land for forest reserves. There was little comment in the local newspapers about the forestry law. Immigration to the United States greatly increased in number of people and countries of origin during Harrison’s presidency. Most immigrants came with expectations of opportunity for employment and to escape difficult problems in their homelands. On March 3, 1891, a superintendent of immigration was appointed for the first time, and on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island in New York became a receiving station for immigrants. Laws to restrict immigration were passed in Harrison’s administration. At the island, the first standard procedure was the medical examinations by inspectors who made instant decisions for restricting entry due to physical conditions of the immigrants. In 1891, Congress had established exclusion restrictions against “all idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, polygamists.”379 In 1892, the Geary Act was passed, renewing the Chinese exclusion act, suspending immigration of Chinese for another ten years, for no criminal or health records, but because of race.380 It was significant as a racial restriction. The Statue of Liberty, erected in the New York Harbor during Cleveland’s administration in 1886, greeted millions of immigrants on their arrival to Ellis Island. The earlier immigrants of the nineteenth century had been western Europeans, chiefly Irish, Britons, Germans, and Scandinavians. British skilled workers and professionals were invisible, melting into urban settings. Scandinavians settled in the North Central states. While few people came to America rich, the majority of earlier immigrants were not penniless in their own societies. A large percentage were young male adults, taking a risk to improve their lives. Many intended to work for a season and return home with their savings, although the Irish and Jews rarely returned. In the 1840s, many Irish immigrated to the United States to escape the potato famine and political oppression, and were totally without resources. Most of the canals were dug by Irish; and they later built the Midwestern railroads. They faced job discrimination: work ads often contained an added note: NINA (no Irish need apply). In their communities, they dominated the police and firemen jobs, and participated in local politics. 381 The most numerous 379

Roger Daniels, “The Immigrant Experience in the Gilded Age,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America, op. cit., p. 83. 380 Ibid., p. 81. 381 Harold Evans, The American Century ( New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 88.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

126

Anne C. Moore

group, who comprised twenty-five percent of the immigrants, were the Germans, who brought technological skills and businesses, and established communities, continuing to teach traditions and language to the younger generations. They first settled in the Eastern cities of New York, Newark, and Buffalo; and in the Midwest. When Harrison took office, most Irish and Germans were second and third generation citizens.382 French Canadians had the shortest distance to travel, arrived mostly as families, and saved their money to buy property in Canada. In the Far West, the Chinese had been brought in from Canton, China, for cheap labor to build railroads, work in mines, and clear the land. 383 In the 1880s, a huge influx of unskilled, poor immigrants arrived from southern and eastern Europe: Italians, Poles, Slavs, Jews, and Greeks. They were at the bottom of the social classes, usually were unable to speak English, and sought factory work in large cities. Although the unskilled immigrants were able to find employment in the growing industrialization in the United States, they experienced problems in adjustment, acculturation and discrimination.384 The great increase in immigration brought untried challenges to Harrison’s administration. Legislation seemed to target individual groups. The Germans vehemently protested the Republican legislation passed in 1890, requiring all private schools to meet state standards and conduct all classes in the English language. They believed they had a right to teach their children their cultural traditions using the German language in their schools. Sabbitarian laws, restricting activities on Sundays were also protested, and the temperance law to make the sale of alcoholic beverages a punishable crime was strongly opposed by many immigrant groups. These became volatile issues in Indianapolis, due to the high percentage of German and Irish residents. Anti-immigrant agitants were advocating unrestricted immigration to the superior people of British, German and Scandinavian origin, and excluding all others, including Slavic, Latin, and Asiatic races, who were “down-trodden, atavistic and stagnant.” 385 Reformers were soon attacking the proposed immigration policy limited to Anglo-Saxon white people. In the 1890s, thousands of Italian and Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States faced hostility and discrimination. The Italians were harassed by the Irish police. It was a common practice for the police to round up as many Italians as possible when a crime occurred. After a murder in Buffalo, New York, in 1888, all of the city’s 325 Italian men were arrested.386 382

Daniels, op. cit., pp. 76-77. Ibid., pp. 78-79. 384 Ibid., p. 77. 385 Ibid., p. 83. 386 Evans Harold, The American Century (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), p. 89. 383

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

127

During Harrison’s term, diplomatic problems with threat of war with Italy occurred through an incident in New Orleans where many Sicilian Italian immigrants had settled. On October 16, 1890, a well-liked Irish police chief, David Hennessy, who had traced a number of murders to the work by the Mafia, was killed in New Orleans. His last words were “the dagoes did it.” The city people were outraged and nineteen suspects were arrested. Six men were found guilty and all were sent back to their cells. An advertisement appeared in the New Orleans Times-Democrat, inviting “ all good citizens to a mass meeting to remedy the failure of justice. . . . Come prepared for action.” The angry crowd of 8,000, a lynch mob, broke the prison doors and killed eleven men. 387 The Louisiana newspapers voiced approval of the lynching. The New York Times published a statement reflecting the current attitude toward Italians: “Those sneaking cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins, who have transported to this country the lawless passions, the cut throat practices, and the oath bound societies of their countries, are to us a pest without mitigation.” 388 Because of the lynchings, Italy severed diplomatic ties with United States, but the Mafia was blamed. On March 31, 1891, Baron Francesco Saverio Fava, minister from Italy, returned to his country, and Albert G. Porter, United States minister to Italy, returned to Indianapolis. Antonio Rudini, the premier and foreign minister, demanded guilty parties be turned over to authorities, and punished for the murders and indemnity. The Italian consul in New Orleans, Pasquale Corte, considering himself in danger, warned authorities in Washington of probable additional murders, and requested an Italian war vessel to be sent to New Orleans. After a war scare disappeared, there was diplomatic silence for six months. The president believed the Italians had over-reacted. There would be no negotiation without a minister, and Harrison would not initiate it. James Blaine remained in Bar Harbor, Maine, claiming illness, but requested handling the dispute, although Harrison controlled the decisions. In September, Rudini stated his demands had been made under pressure, Corte was recalled, and the Italian Charge d’affaires Marquis Imperiali visited Blaine at Bar Harbor. Then President Harrison sent a cordial message and $25,000 to families of victims. 389 King Humberto of Italy ordered resumption of diplomatic relations, and the prohibition of United States pork products by Italy was lifted. The jury reported no reason to indict anyone for the lynchings. Italy was satisfied. In March 1892, the Italian premier returned their minister to Washington. In Harrison’s annual message to Congress on December 9, 1891, he reported the incident and explained problems 387

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 186. Evans, op. cit., p. 89. 389 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 189-190. 388

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

128

Anne C. Moore

in dealing with the situation: “The lynching at New Orleans in March last of eleven men of Italian nativity by a mob of citizens was a most deplorable and discreditable incident. . . . It did not have its origin in . . . any disrespect to the Government of Italy. The fury of the mob was directed against these men as . . . participants in the murder of a police officer.” 390 Harrison explained federal restraints of the current law in dealing with this situation. “It would . . . be entirely competent for Congress to make offenses against the treaty rights of foreigners domiciled in the United States cognizable in the Federal courts. This has not, however, been done, and the Federal officers and courts have no power in such cases to intervene either for the protection of a foreign citizen or for the punishment of his slayers.” 391 Harrison advised change in judicial powers in international incidents.392 From April 14 to May 21, 1891, Harrison traveled on an unprecedented presidential speaking tour of the South and the Pacific Coast, almost delayed by the New Orleans incident. On a round trip of 9,232 miles, he made 140 speeches. The train traveled through Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, the territories of New Mexico and Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. On the return trip, the train passed through Idaho, Utah territory, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland to Washington, D.C. Wanamaker had the itinerary printed in a small book. Accompanying the president on this trip West were Caroline Harrison, Russell and Mary (May) Harrison, Mary (Mamie) McKee, Mary (Mame) Dimmick, Postmaster General Wanamaker, Secretary of Agriculture Rusk, Marshal Dan Ransdell, stenographer Frank Tibbott, the president’s military aid Major J.P. Sanger, the manager of the train George W. Boyd and his wife, three newsmen, and Harrison’s younger brother Carter B. Harrison. Secretary Elijah Halford stayed behind because his wife was ill. The five-car passenger train was luxuriously appointed. The president’s car, the New Zealand, was furnished with a blue plush drawing room and a separate sleeping chamber.393 The other cars were named Aztlan, Coronado, Ideal and Vacuna.394 The trip was well-publicized, and crowds greeted the president at each stop. Usually President Harrison spoke from the back of the observation car, and stenographer Tibbott recorded the speeches. Travel on Sundays was avoided. The trip began in the Southern states, then moved West. In Atlanta on April 16, 390

Sievers, Benjamin Harrison 1833-1901, op. cit., p. 66. Ibid. 392 Ibid. 393 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 172. 394 Tacoma News, May 6, 1891. 391

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

129

Harrison congratulated the people for their great prosperity and success in building their city and their industries. He appealed for equal rights before the law, and thanked everyone for their warm hospitality.395 Then the crowd called for Postmaster General John Wanamaker who finally came forward and said, in part: “That man is unfortunate who is called to speak after a President. But at such a moment as this, parting from people who in a single night have shown so much kindness and good-fellowship, it is not difficult to return at least our grateful thanks for your most generous welcome. . . . If we can learn to know each other and understand each other there will be fewer differences than might be supposed. By more frequent intercourse and a fairer consideration of each other we should rise to a higher level of happiness.” 396 The Southern states greeted Harrison with hospitality, but later in July, editor T. Thomas Fortune expressed the resentments he believed to be held by the Southerners against the president. “Let him not lay the flattering unction on his soul that he has won even the smallest place in the hearts of the Southern people. Mr. Harrison came as a distinguished guest and as such was received. But his pleasant speeches, though happy in language and sentiment, deceived nobody. The Southern people remembered that he calumniated them before all the world, and the hollow mockery of his newspaper compliments will not erase the recollection of his efforts to deliver them over as the lawful prey of the Negro barbarian and the scallawag thief.”397 The president was selective of the topics he discussed in the South, avoiding the Lodge force bill and the Blair education bill. He made no stop in Mississippi where the African Americans recently had been disenfranchised. Harrison stopped in towns and states that had never been visited by a president and found himself surrounded by enthusiastic welcoming Americans. Along the entire trip, large arches covered with flowers were displayed to greet him. A week was spent in San Francisco. At a shipyard in San Francisco Bay, Caroline Harrison christened the armored coast-defense vessel Monterey.398 One of the president’s speeches was presented at a banquet at the Palace Hotel on May 1, where he said: “I believe that we have come to a new epoch as a Nation. There are opening portals before us inviting us to enter--opening portals to trade and 395

Ibid. Hedges, op. cit., p. 306. 397 Edward Frantz, “A March of Triumph?” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 100, No. 4 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, December, 2004), p. 315. 397 Socolofsky, op.cit., p. 174. 397 Hedges, op. cit., pp. 387-388. 398 Socolofsky, op.cit., p. 174. 396

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

130

Anne C. Moore

influence and prestige such as we have never seen before. We will pursue the paths of peace; we are not a warlike Nation; all our instincts, all our history is in the lines of peace. Only intolerable aggression, only the peril of our institutions-of the flag--can thoroughly arouse us. With the capability of war on land and on sea unexcelled by any nation in the world, we are smitten with the love of peace.”

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

399

Before arriving in Washington, D. C., Harrison gathered all employees and servants into the observation car of the train and thanked them for their courtesy and attention. He thanked George Boyd of the Pennsylvania Railroad for managing the entire tour without accident, and keeping the trip on schedule, to the minute. Then he addressed the engineer, conductor and each employee individually. When they returned to the White House, President and Mrs. Harrison sorted and displayed at least 400 gifts received on the tour, including rock samples containing gold and silver, and albums of local pressed flowers. 400 Praise for the trip came to Harrison through many congratulatory letters and telegrams. A New York Republican told Harrison, “Your speeches have made a profound impression upon the people. . . . I never saw such a change in sentiment in thirty days. The newspapers seemed to vie with each other in saying kind and complimentary words.” Even the anti-administration New York Evening Post commented positively about Harrison’s speeches, approving his advocacy for “peaceful understanding.” 401 Andrew Carnegie telegraphed a message: “Permit me to express the pleasure we have had in following you on your journey. The whole people irrespective of party are proud of such a Pres[iden]t. There is but one voice and that of Praise and Gratitude for what you have done.” From Indiana, Clem Studebaker praised Harrison for his “splendid” journey. 402 James Blaine suffered serious illnesses during 1891, and he was completely incapacitated for months at a time. Early in March, his secretary told Harrison that Blaine was in bed with a cold; then in April he was suffering from gout. On May 7, while Harrison was on his tour to the Pacific Coast, Blaine collapsed at his friend Andrew Carnegie’s home in New York. Carnegie informed Ben that “absolute rest and freedom from work [is] essential. He speaks little and with some difficulty.” Harrison was told that the time Blaine would return was unknown. 403

399

Hedges, op. cit., pp. 387-388. Socolofsky, op. cit., pp. 176-177. 401 Frantz, op. cit., pp. 313-314. 402 Ibid., pp. 316-317. 403 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 128. 400

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

131

Harrison faced a serious challenge with Chile while he was on his tour to the Pacific Coast, and Blaine was reported to have collapsed. In 1880, while he was secretary of state for President Garfield, James Blaine had created a deep hostility of Chile toward the United States by his intervention in the War of the Pacific. On May 5, 1891, the Chilean revolutionaries, sailing on the Itata, acquired a large supply of American arms and munitions at San Clemente Island, fifty miles out of San Diego where the ship previously had been docked and searched. President Harrison, in Seattle on his Pacific tour, was informed by Attorney General William H. H. Miller, that he had instructed the district attorney in San Diego to detain the ship Itata and its cargo. Harrison endorsed the action. But on May 7, Miller reported that the ship had fled. Four cabinet members, not including Blaine, advised pursuit of the Itata. Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy ordered the Charleston, the San Francisco, and the Baltimore to link up and to use force if necessary to capture the Itata. Within a week, the Itata, loaded with bitterly angry rebels, surrendered their munitions to the United States Navy off the Chilean port of Iquique. The Itata incident was declared an alleged violation of United States neutrality by Chilean revolutionaries, beginning a war fever.404 In the Republic of Chile, during January 1891, a civil war began between a political congress and the established government under President Jose Balmaceda. The United States minister to Chile Patrick Egan granted asylum at the U. S. embassy to eighty refugees, including Balmaceda, and arranged transportation for most of them to Peru for safety. Balmaceda committed suicide. On September 25, Egan was still protecting nineteen refugees in Chile, including seven government ministers.405 On that day, Captain Winfield Scott Schley arrived aboard the Baltimore at Valparaiso, a coaling station. Unfortunately, he changed his original plan to restrict the men on the ship and granted the restless 117 seamen shore leave. Consequently, the sailors were attacked by Chilean rioters: two were killed, and seventeen others were injured. Bayonet thrusts on the sailors were evidence of police participation. Chile’s Minister of Foreign Relations Manuel Antonio Matta, hostile toward the United States, would not express regret or offer reparations. Jorge Montt became the new president of Chile and his brother, Pedro Montt, the new Chilean foreign minister.406 On December 9, 1891, at his third annual message to Congress, Harrison reported details of the Chilean incident in Valparaiso: “The American sailors . . . unarmed and defenceless, are fleeing for their lives, pursued by overwhelming numbers . . . . Eighteen of them are brutally stabbed and beaten. . . . There are 404

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 192. Socolofsky. op. cit., p.146. 406 Ibid., p. 147. 405

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

132

Anne C. Moore

received by our men more than thirty stab wounds, every one of which was inflicted in the back . . . or the back of the head. . . . Seaman Davidson, of the Baltimore, . . . attempted to defend a shipmate against an assailant who was striking at him with a knife. The Chilean police find him guilty of criminal fault. . . .This government is now awaiting the result of an investigation . . . by the criminal court at Valparaiso. . . . I will bring this matter again to the attention of Congress for such action as may be necessary.” 407 On December 12, Chile’s foreign minister, Manuel Antonio Matta, sent an “inexcusable public note which maligned both Egan and Harrison.”408 Matta had the note read in the Chilean Senate, and instructed foreign minister Montt to translate the note into English and send it to a newspaper for publication. It was not delivered to any executive department of the United States government. The United States immediately began to plan for war. Tracy prepared a list of seventeen vessels ready for possible service against Chile and use of naval force against the nitrate port Iquique or coal port Lota. Tracy asked in Callao, Peru, if the United States would be permitted to buy 5,000 to 10,000 tons of coal there, to provide fuel for the warships.409 On December 16, 1891, Stephen Elkins was nominated the new secretary of war to replace Redfield Proctor, who had resigned this post to enter the United States Senate. Early in January 1892, Blaine had received several communications from the minister to Chile, Patrick Egan. On January 2, Blaine told Harrison that he had received a communication from Chile that seemed to include an apology. Harrison replied that the statements did not constitute an apology. The secretary of state launched peace negotiations with Chile without consulting Harrison or others in the administration. He was eager to compromise. First he was willing to prosecute three Chileans and one American sailor in exchange for withdrawal of Matta’s offensive note, ceased interference at the legation, and safe conduct to the remaining refugees. Egan sent a communication to Blaine, indicating that the new foreign minister, Luis Pereira, who replaced Matta, had verbally granted safe conduct to refugees at the now unguarded legation, and would withdraw offensive parts of Matta’s note. Blaine sent word to Egan that the United States wanted every insulting and discourteous part of Matta’s message promptly withdrawn. On January 20, Chile demanded recall of United States minister Patrick Egan. Blaine was willing to recall Egan as demanded by Chile, and arbitrate. Harrison was not interested in making any concessions to Chile. Although all cabinet members

407

Hedges, op. cit., p. 566. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 194. 409 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 149. 408

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

133

were for war, Blaine advised against an ultimatum.410 On January 21, 1892, the United States sent an ultimatum to Chile, personally written by the president. The position taken by Harrison was firm, and he clearly stated the the justice of his claims.“First . . . that of an attack upon the uniform of the United States Navy, having its origin and motive in a feeling of hostility to this government, . . . Second. That the public authorities of Valparaiso flagrantly failed in their duty to protect our men, and that . . . the police and . . . the Chilean soldiers and sailors were themselves guilty of unprovoked assaults upon our soldiers. Third. That he (the President) is therefore compelled to bring the case back to . . . the note of October 23 last . . . and to ask for a suitable apology and for some adequate reparation for the injury done to this government. . . . It will be observed that, unless this note is at once withdrawn and an apology as public as the offence made, I will terminate diplomatic relations.” 411 Harrison would not consent to consider recall of Egan, insistently defending his actions. In conclusion, he stated: “If the dignity as well as prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who in foreign ports display the flag or wear the colors.” In the publication of the Nation, Harrison was accused of delivering his ultimatum after he had already received the apology from Chile. In response, Theodore Roosevelt announced that he had read the original telegram received at the Washington telegraph station containing the apology from Chile, dated January 26. Harrison delivered his ultimatum on January 21. The ultimatum probably surprised the Chileans more than the Europeans. The Chileans took pride in their successful revolution and the strength of their navy. Paris and Berlin joined London in declaring that not one European nation would aid Chile if United States forces invaded. On January 26, 1892, Chile backed down and satisfied every demand of the United States. The foreign minister, now Luis Pereira, who replaced Matta, pledged to withdraw offensive parts of Matta’s message and apologized. An indemnity of $75,000 was distributed among the injured sailors and the families of the slain.412 President Harrison’s handling of the Chilean incident was considered, by Theodore Roosevelt and others, the beginning of a new era in United States foreign policy. Roosevelt claimed that Harrison’s “timely display of firmness . . . produced . . . a change of heart in our opponents.” Lt. Jerrold Kelley, serving in the navy, wrote in an article published in Harper’s Weekly on January 30, 1892: “We can be especially proud . . . of the . . . mobilization of our compact but 410

Ibid. Hedges, op. cit., p. 569. 412 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 151. 411

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

134

Anne C. Moore

effective fleet. . . . Now that there are guns and ships fit for our officers and men to handle, we can reasonably expect that the successes of our memorable sea wars will be repeated even against so gallant a foe as Chili [sic].413 In a report to Tracy after a goodwill mission to Chile, Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi stated: “Our demonstration brought home to Chile [the] fact that the United States as a government is no longer to be trifled with.”414 On December 9, 1891, in his message to Congress, in addition to discussing the Chilean crisis, Harrison enthusiastically promoted a plan for the construction of a Central American canal in Nicaragua. He included a plea for a guarantee for bonds of the Maritime Company of Nicaragua to finance the construction. He told Congress: “I deem it to be a matter of the highest concern to the United States that this canal, connecting the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and giving us a short-water communication between our ports upon those two great seas, should be speedily constructed.”415 Congress refused to approve Harrison’s plan. The importance of a canal across Central America was discussed over many years. Financial backing was a foremost issue. In 1879, American investors had sought but were unable to obtain a financial guarantee from Congress for a canal across Nicaragua. In 1881, as President Garfield’s secretary of state, Blaine notified Great Britain that the United States was not interested in the ClaytonBulwer treaty, to construct jointly a Central American canal.416 Canada and United States had provoked antagonism in each other over fishing rights since 1854, and increased hostilities in successive years. In the 1880s, hunting for seals in the Bering Sea became an issue. President Cleveland had not been able to negotiate a settlement after the United States seized Canadian vessels engaged in pelagic (on open sea) sealing in 1886 and 1887. As part of the Alaska purchase, the United States controlled the Pribilof Islands and the right to hunt seals on the islands. The seals spent four or five months on the islands, and then migrated out to sea, as far as 150 miles from the islands. The United States claimed that pelagic sealing would destroy the herd, and Canada disagreed. Canadians became interested in seal hunting when the pelts became valuable for fashionable hats, coats and other garments. They used shotguns and rifles and lost many seals that sank in the sea before they could be retrieved. In addition, the hunters were using explosives, killing hundreds of immature male and female seals, fish, and other wildlife. At one time, one hundred vessels, some from Nova Scotia, gathered to kill seals in the Bering Sea. 413

Ibid., p. 152. Ibid. 415 Ibid., p. 145. 416 Ibid., p. 110. 414

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

135

In 1886 a notice was published announcing that water east of the Bering Sea was prohibited for hunting of fur bearing animals. Canadian and American schooners were seized in 1889. One issue was whether there should be a closed season on sealing. The Canadians said it was unnecessary, and the British agreed. Harrison inherited this controversy. Secretary of the Navy Tracy advised him that the United States had property rights of the seals. On March 21, 1889 the following proclamation was issued: “I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, pursuant to the above-recited statutes, hereby warn all persons against entering the waters of Bering Sea within the dominion of the United States for the purpose of violating the provisions of said section 1956, Revised Statutes; and I hereby proclaim that all persons found to be or have been engaged in any violation of the laws of the United States shall be punished as above provided, and that all vessels so employed, their tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargoes, will be seized and forfeited. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.” 417 Henry Elliott investigated the seal conditions for Secretary Windom and the Treasury department in 1890. Elliott was shocked to discover the depletion of the seal herds and feared extinction unless seal hunting was halted. James Blaine was eager to suppress this report. The North American Commercial Company, backed by a small group of shareholders, had a twenty year lease to hunt seals on the islands. Negotiation was necessary to permit the killing of a limited number of seals. One shareholder Darius Mills, one of the wealthiest men in the country, was father-in-law of Whitelaw Reid, who was a close friend of Blaine. Another shareholder, Stephen B. Elkins, a business and political associate of the secretary of state, controlled the company. According to author James T. Gay, Blaine granted the North American Commercial Company a secret permit to kill 60,000 seals during the arbitration efforts between the United States and Great Britain. 418 Second Assistant Secretary of State Alvey Adee became involved in communications between the United States and Great Britain, since Blaine was ill. Robert Lincoln, United States minister to Great Britain, confirmed the introduction of a bill that would prohibit sealing by an order in council, in London. In 1891, Lord Salisbury, minister from Great Britain, had refused to extend modus vivendi by which seals could be protected during arbitration, as proposed by Harrison. After long delayed communications, Great Britain stated

417

418

A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents vol. XI, (New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897), p. 544 9. James Gay, “Bering Sea Controversy: Harrison, Blaine and Cronyism,” Alaska Journal, (1973 3(1), pp. 12-19.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

136

Anne C. Moore

the rights of the United States in the territory discussed. The Senate was united in responding to a resolution that Harrison was expected to protect the seals. At the opening of the pelagic sealing season, the terms of the treaty were accepted. Negotiations had been carried through Sir Julian Pauncefote, British prime minister to the United States. Harrison sent strong communications to complete negotiations, impatient with the delaying tactics. The reason for the urgency was to complete negotiations before the opening of the pelagic sealing season. The regulations stated: “closed season on sealing from 1 May to 31 July, no sealing within sixty miles of the islands, and no use of firearms or explosives.” 419 The United States prohibition of the hunting of fur seals in the Bering Sea was submitted to international arbitrators on August 15, 1893, now in Cleveland’s term. The tribunal agreed in the need to preserve the seals, but required the United States to pay $473,151.26 to Great Britain for damages.420 Harrison apparently discussed the Bering Sea problem with Caroline, who was annoyed that the newspapers were writing that Blaine was doing the work. She wrote an opinionated letter to her daughter: . . . “He has the Bering Sea matter about settled. It has come upon your father to attend to. Mr. Blaine has been too unwell to even read the state papers that were prepared and sent to him. I am rather disgusted with the way he and his friends act in the matter. They claim all the credit when your father has done all the work. . . .Your father thought it a courteous thing to send the papers prepared under his care to Mr. B. to read. Mrs. B. wrote that he was unable to read them. Blaine is a genius but he is not a manly man by any means. Such conduct as your father has shown him would make a noble disposition speak out.”421 While the Bering Sea problem was being negotiated, Harrison was notified of another Alaskan problem. In 1890, he received the first documented protest by Alaskan natives of appropriation of Alaska salmon by canneries. The Wrangell leader Chief Shakes sent a letter through a lawyer to President Benjamin Harrison, requesting “recognition of tribal status, self-governing powers and protection of Indian fishing and other rights.” Salmon, the chief ritual object and food source for Tlingit and Haida Indians, was being taken unlawfully by the canneries, who were placing fencing across the mouths of streams during salmon runs. Although Congress had enacted a law against this, the canneries were violating it. The government enforced the law. 422

419

Anderson Democrat, March 11, 1892. Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 143. 421 Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 30, 1891. Harrison MSS. 422 Anchorage Daily News, January 28, 2001. 420

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

137

Installation of electricity for the first time at the White House was a significant accomplishment of the Harrison era. On May 6, 1891, Ike Hoover from the Edison Company began to install the first electric lights and bells throughout the executive mansion. The gas chandeliers were converted into combination fixtures to use electricity or gas, and all wall brackets were replaced with electric lights. The mechanical bell system was removed and replaced with a complex electrical system. Painting and wall papering were delayed until the completion of Hoover’s work. While performing his difficult job in all the rooms of the White House, the electrician sometimes felt surrounded by the Harrisons, who were curious about the unusual electrical installations. 423 At this time, electricity was not entirely dependable and was considered a supplement to gas. The entire White House was illuminated with electric lights on September 15, 1891 for $13,450.424 During September 1891, while the electrical installation and refurbishing of the White House were unfinished, the Harrisons rented a mountain cottage at Cresson, in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. The Halfords stayed in a small building nearby. For Harrison, it became a political vacation, visiting towns and giving speeches. At nearby Clearfield, he descended a coal mine shaft and greeted miners, and later met their wives and children. He also visited a Catholic community at Loretto, established in 1799, and inspected a 100 year old convent and its chapel.425 In the meantime Caroline Harrison was focusing her attention on White House china. After identifying the presidential china that she found in the executive mansion, and supervising the cleaning and repair for future display, she concentrated on creating a symbolic patriotic design for a set of Harrison china. In a letter to her daughter Mary McKee, she described her design. “I take the Lincoln china set for a guide. Instead of . . . spots on the border, I have 44 stars” to represent the states in the Union. She decided to use corn for the dominant subject because “it is a crop indigenous to the American soil. I think they will be right pretty.”426 One of Caroline’s original sketches, a pencil drawing of corn on a plate rim, is preserved at the President Benjamin Harrison Home. The white porcelain plate features a cobalt blue rim overlapped gilt tracery of corn cobs, stalks and tassels. In the center is the representation of the Arms of the United States, adapted from the eagle and shield design on the Lincoln china, surrounded by a 423

Irwin Hoover, Forty-two Years in the White House (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1934), p. 6. Charles Calhoun, “Caroline (Lavinia) Scott Harrison”, American First Ladies: Their Lives and Legacy Lewis Gould, editor (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996), p.272. 425 Sievers, op. cit., p. 169. 426 Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 23, 1891. Harrison MSS. 424

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

138

Anne C. Moore

ring of small gold stars, placed close together along the inside rim. Caroline asked Paul Putzki to execute the finished design, adapted from her sketches and ideas. Although Caroline was a firm supporter of Ben’s “America first” policy on most items, she was determined to have the finest china for the Harrison service and looked to France. She asked artists in Limoges to submit samples of her plate design and personally selected Tressmannes and Vogt to produce the whiteware with the Harrison design on the entire service. On the reverse of each piece, the china is marked, “T and V, France” in green; “T and V” in a bell; “France decore pour M. W. Beveridge Washington, D. C.” in gold; and “Harrison 1892” in gold. The Washington firm of M. W. Beveridge supervised the orders for Tressmannes and Vogt. 427 On October 21, 1891, Oswald H. Ernst from the Office of the Commissioner of Buildings and Grounds, placed the first order to the Beveridge firm, importers of French china, at 1215 F Street NW, Washington, D.C.

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Six dozen soup bowls according to sample A @ $31.00 Six dozen dinner plates according to sample A @ $31.50 Six dozen breakfast plates according to sample B @ $31.00 Six dozen tea plates according to sample B @ $28.50 Total

$186.00 $189.00 $186.00 $171.00 $732.00

The first order of Harrison china was received on December 30, 1891. The billing was paid on January 21, 1892. The breakfast and tea plates of the original order had double borders. William Martin, part owner of the firm of M.W. Beveridge, who was handling the order, advised the change in design. Caroline was pleased with the china. 428 Unfortunately, she never saw the after dinner cups and saucers, ordered on July 27, 1891, because they were delivered on January 3, 1893, two and a half months after her death. The William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt administrations continued to use and reorder the Harrison dinnerware. Isaac Knowles of East Liverpool, Ohio, complained that the Harrison White House china commission to France a “very public snubbing of the American pottery industry.” He was irked that Caroline Harrison trusted her own taste to design her china, but did not trust an American pottery to produce it. Knowles was proud of his successful porcelain plant at his pottery, Knowles, Taylor and Knowles, in East Liverpool, and was convinced that his fine china was 427

Margaret Brown Klapthor, Official White House China: 1789 to the Present (Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975), pp. 127-131. 428 Ibid.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

139

competitive with European porcelain. Proving his claim, he stated that the Knowles, Taylor and Knowles porcelain lotus ware won every award in fine porcelain competition at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.429 The New Year’s Day reception of 1892 was Caroline’s most successful event at the White House. It featured the opening of the newly decorated Blue Parlor installed with electric lights. Hundreds of orchids and other exotic plants grown in the conservatory were extravagantly displayed in each room. The state room floors were propped up from the basement to bear the weight of the large crowd, and the guests exited through a window in the East Room on a temporary bridge. On the centennial anniversary of the United States Constitution in 1889, the Sons of the American Revolution was organized in New York. Its membership was restricted to male descendants of Revolutionary War veterans. After the Sons of the Revolution reneged on their promise to include women in their group, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized at Washington.430 On October 11, 1890, Caroline Harrison was unanimously elected the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution at their first meeting. She saw political potential for women to lobby for women’s influence in government. Her acceptance of the position was an official statement of approval that added prestige to the organization as the wife of the President of the United States. Although the title was honorary, she worked diligently as president-general. The society was organized for the following purposes: to promote institutions for education; to preserve artifacts, documents and records; and to foster patriotism and love of country. While Vice-President Mrs. Fred Cabell handled much of the office affairs, Caroline worked tactfully to neutralize the many personal rivalries and controversies among the members, a monumental and unexpected challenge. She invited the society to the White House and presided over meetings and luncheons in the Blue Room. Politely resisting persistent pressures to buy property outside the city, she initiated a building campaign for Continental Hall in Washington.431 Because Caroline frequently wore orchids from the conservatory to D.A.R. functions, the orchid was adopted as the symbol for the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The First Continental Congress of the National Society of the Daughter of the American Revolution was held from February 22 to 24, 1892, at the Church of Our Father at Thirteenth and L Streets, N. W., Washington, D. C.

429

http: //www. themuseumofceramics.org/lotus.html Washington Landmark: A View of the DAR-The Headquarters, History and Activities (Washington, D.C.: National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1976), p. 97. 431 Ibid., pp. 97, 98. 430

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

140

Anne C. Moore

The church was crowded to overflowing with approximately 700 attendees. 432 President-General Caroline Harrison personally prepared her speech for a session of the First Continental Congress. She stated, in part:

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

We have within ourselves the only element of destruction; our foes are within, not without. It has been said ‘that men to make a country are made by self-denial, and is it not true, that this Society, to live and grow and become what we desire it to be, must be composed of self-denying women? Since this society has been organized, and so much thought and reading directed to the early struggles of this country, it has been made plain that much of its success was due to the character of women of that era. The unselfish part they acted constantly commands itself to our admiration and example. 433

At the close of the Congress, Caroline Harrison held an evening reception and later a supper for 136 guests in the private dining room at the White House. The president also attended. Jackson, Lincoln, and Grant china was used, and also, for the first time, the plates designed by Caroline Harrison.434 The first lady took an active part in supporting women’s rights at Johns Hopkins Medical School. When she was asked to raise funds for the school, she agreed to lead a national fund raising effort on the condition that women would be enrolled on the same basis as men. As head of the Washington group, she lent the prestige of her name and hosted fundraising receptions at the White House, and worked with professional and society women. Johns Hopkins Hospital held two elaborate receptions to honor Caroline Harrison for success in helping to raise $500,000. When the school opened, one woman, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, was enrolled.435 An unusual number of members of the Harrison administration experienced illness, tragedies and death; and the president did their work in their absences. At one point, with his secretary Elijah Halford’s help, Harrison was executing the responsibilities of four cabinet members. When fire destroyed Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy’s house and caused the deaths of his wife and daughter, the secretary was nearly asphyxiated and required time to recuperate. Halford, Harrison’s secretary, was incapacitated due to surgery for three weeks. Secretary 432

Ibid., p. 100. Dorothy Schneider and Carl J. Schneider, First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2001), p.152. 434 Washington Landmark, op. cit., p. 102. 433

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

141

of State James Blaine complained of a variety of illnesses constantly, and was in Maine more than he was at his desk. He was also deeply grieved over the deaths of his son and daughter early in 1890. Temporary vacancies occurred in the cabinet when the Secretary of the Treasury William Windom died in January 1891, and Secretary of War Redfield Proctor resigned, although not due to illness, but to become a senator from Vermont. When Secretary of the Interior John Noble became ill, he considered resigning, but stayed on after Harrison persuaded him to take a leave of absence to recover his health. Early in 1892, Ben wrote to William McKinley, “the President is a good deal like the old camp horse that Dickens described; he is strapped up so he can’t fall down.” 436 The weary president told his secretary Halford that he sometimes wondered that he was still alive and that the White House was his jail.437 Harrison’s staff and his wife Caroline were wellaware of the intelligence, great patience, endurance, and intensive labors he gave to his presidential responsibilities. On May 7, 1892, the Democratic newspaper, the New York World, claimed the president’s son Russell Harrison had stated the following in the Fifth Avenue Hotel: “Mr. Blaine’s condition is such that all talk of his nomination, even if he should be candidate, is out of the question. He is completely broken down both mentally and physically. He cannot remember the simplest things, and all the work has been on my father’s shoulders for over two years. It is simply absurd to talk of nominating Mr. Blaine. He can scarcely more than sign his name to documents . . . and rarely, if ever, reads any of them. He is almost as helpless as a child and it is downright cruelty to be continually bringing his name to the front as a presidential candidate.” 438 Russell wrote a denial to the newspaper and to Mr. Blaine, who insisted that it be published in the World. The newspaper refused to publish the denial. The president wrote to Blaine, who remained angry. Although Harrison and Blaine had maintained a respectful relationship, the attitude changed to rivalry and finally to enmity.439 In May 1892, President Harrison traveled to New York to lay the cornerstone for Grant’s tomb on Riverside Drive. After giving a speech, Harrison applied mortar with a gold trowel on the twelve ton cornerstone. In the waters nearby were gathered a fleet of steam and sailing vessels flying colorful flags, and the battleship Miantomonomoh which fired salutes. Mrs. Harrison, Halford, Tibbot, 435

Charles Calhoun, “Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (1832 1892), First Lady: 1889 1892,” American First Ladies: Their Lives and Legacy, Lewis L. Gould, ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996), p. 272. 436 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 204. 437 Whitcomb, op. cit., p. 205. 438 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., pp. 216, 217. 439 Ibid., p. 218.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

142

Anne C. Moore

General and Mrs. Schofield, Wanamaker, Rusk, Noble, Elkins, Tracy, and Charles Foster also attended.440 Two weeks later when Ben, Caroline, Mary (Mame) Dimmick and Lt. Parker were on a weekend cruise on the Chesapeake Bay and stopped at Fortress Monroe, the first lady’s health became a serious concern. 441 Although Harrison was not planning to seek reelection, he decided to fight for renomination on May 23, when his political enemies forced the decision by rallying behind Blaine. “No Harrison has ever retreated in the presence of a foe without giving battle.” Party bosses Platt, Quay, Clarkson, Senator Payne from Wisconsin and Senator Fessenden from Connecticut were organizing to stop Harrison’s nomination. Although Blaine was passive and plainly in frail health, the Republican bosses were determined to manipulate him to win the nomination. Louis Michener, as campaign manager, was ready to work for Harrison’s reelection. The day after attending a cabinet meeting on June 4, Secretary of State James Blaine resigned, three days before the Republican National Convention of 1892. Harrison returned a written acceptance within a half hour. Acting Secretary of State, John Foster, received the appointment to replace Blaine.442 Harrison expressed relief. The Republican National Convention was held at Minneapolis from June 7 to June 11, 1892. Harrison was nominated on first ballot with 904 votes; 453 votes were necessary for nomination. For vice-president, Whitelaw Reid of New York was nominated, although Harrison would have preferred Levi Morton. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the candidates for president and vice-president were Grover Cleveland and Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. General James B. Weaver ran for president on a third party Populist party ticket.443 During the summer of 1892, labor unrest and strikes brought violence in the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. On July 1, the contract expired between the steel company and the union of Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers. The company reduced wages and refused to negotiate a new contract with the union. The workers’ strike began on June 26. Peace loving and fearful of violence, Andrew Carnegie retreated to Scotland and left his partner, Henry Clay Frick, to deal with the crisis. On July 6 at 3:45 A.M., 300 Pinkerton guards arrived on barges in heavy fog to protect the plant. As they approached the river banks, they were immediately attacked with firearms by men 440

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 179. Ibid. 442 Ibid., p. 88. 443 Ibid., p. 198. 441

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

143

on the shore. Hundreds of strikers crowded the bank to the water’s edge. At least twenty deaths and many injuries resulted on both sides. The Pinkertons retreated. Approximately 5,000 locked-out workers controlled the mill; they had at least 500 rifles and ammunition secured in a room. The Homestead strike dragged on for five months. President Harrison advocated obedience to the law. “If injustice of his employer tempts the workman to strike back, he should be very sure that his blow does not fall upon his own head or upon his wife and children.”444 He advised Carnegie Steel to recognize the Amalgamated Association. After Frick somehow survived an assassination attempt by a Polish-Russian immigrant who shot and stabbed him, he was not moved to negotiate with the workers. Arrival of 600 state militia and arrest of the strike leaders brought Frick and Carnegie victory. The union was defeated, working conditions deteriorated, strikers lost their jobs, managers crushed dissent, and unions in steel were wiped out for forty years.445 The strike taught the labor movement that it could not survive the power of the modern corporation. Carnegie’s close association with the Republican party had a negative impact on Harrison’s 1892 election. Homestead was the most famous labor problem of 1892. On July 30, a violent strike by silver miners erupted at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Miners fought non-union help and at least thirty died. To restore order, Harrison did not hesitate to send federal troops at the governor’s request.446 Other labor strikes arose at the waterfront of New Orleans, the coal mines of East Tennessee and Birmingham, and railroad switching yards of Buffalo. The battles were over wages, work conditions, work rules, and union recognition. In most cases the employers were victorious and hundreds of strikers lost their jobs. As the corporate sector of industry became more powerful, the workers were the losers. Workers’ grievances persisted and remained unresolved in the Gilded Age.447 In 1892, for the first time in the history of the United States, both candidates maintained the dignity of the office of the presidency and did not campaign. Harrison gave up initial plans of speechmaking to stay beside his wife Caroline, who was terminally ill. Cleveland, respectful of this, would not campaign. They both felt the odd predicament of running for the presidency without the support of the political leaders. The new third party, the Populists, were demanding free and unlimited coinage of silver. Harrison’s Republican adversary from Indiana, 444

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 238. Eric Arnesen, “American Workers and the Labor Movement in the Late Nineteenth Century,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. op. cit., p. 56. 446 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 198. 447 Arnesen, op. cit., p. 56. 445

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

144

Anne C. Moore

Walter Gresham, had crusaded for tariff reform, and battled for control of Indiana against Harrison unsuccessfully in the early 1880s. In mid-October 1892, he abruptly left the Republican party, joined the Democrats, and became Cleveland’s secretary of state.448 While Harrison was dealing with serious executive problems, his thoughts were also on his wife Caroline, suffering a long illness of tuberculosis. During the winter of 1891 and 1892, while she tried to fulfill her social obligations, she was frequently ill with bouts of respiratory ailments. Her illness was first diagnosed as nervousness, due to her uncharacteristic listlessness. During March, she developed pneumonia, followed by hemorrhages in the lungs. In July, on the recommendation of the family physician, Dr. Frank Gardner, Ben accompanied Caroline, along with maid Josephine Kneipp and niece Mary (Mame) Dimmick, by train to Loon Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. A threebedroom cottage was rented, with huge boughs of evergreen hung over windows and doorways to support the theory that fragrance from the sap would enhance healing of lung diseases. Ben was encouraged by the initial improvement of Caroline’s condition and returned to the White House.449 New York specialist Dr. Doughty, Dr. Trudeau from Saranac, and Dr. Gardner, were summoned when Caroline’s condition worsened. Because of accumulation of fluid in the chest cavity, a tapping operation was performed on September 14 and 16. The operation consisted of inserting a needle between the ribs and withdrawing fluid with a suction piston. The procedure resulted in reduced strength, but provided temporary relief. She was roused if she became drowsy to keep up action on her heart. As soon as Congress recessed in August, Harrison departed for Loon Lake. He was at Caroline’s bedside constantly, tenderly and solicitously providing part of the nursing care. The president censored all medical bulletins, consequently, the public knew nothing of her critical illness until a few weeks before her death. The medical diagnosis of incurable tuberculosis was finally announced. Family members gathered at the cottage, with the exception of Mary (May) Harrison, who remained at the White House with her daughter and Dr. John Scott, who was not informed of his daughter Caroline’s condition. The final weeks took their toll on the president. A reporter wrote, “His eyes red from weeping, with dark rings under them, told the tale of his deep distress and sleepless nights at the bedside of

448 449

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 199. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 241.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

145

his wife.” 450 At her urgent request, Caroline was removed to Washington on September 20 by train. She died at the White House on October 26, 1892.451 The flag was not raised at the White House and the fountains were quiet. In Washington, W. R. Speare provided the undertaker’s services. Russell Harrison, Robert McKee and Elijah Halford selected a cedar casket. C. E. Kregelo and Whitsett supervised funeral arrangements and burial in Indianapolis. Funeral services were held in the East Room of the White House on October 27. Long branched palms stood on either end of the bier. Love and respect were conveyed in the many floral tributes surrounding the casket. At the head of the casket was placed a large cross of white chrysanthemums sent by the Republican State Committee of California, and at the foot rested a crown of flowers from the D. A. R. of New York City. Queen Victoria sent a wreath of white chrysanthemums. The White House conservatory prepared a wreath of white orchids and roses. All members of the government were represented at the funeral. The president was accompanied by his immediate family. Dr. Hamlin, pastor of the Church of the Covenant, conducted a simple service, “Lead Kindly Light,” Caroline’s favorite hymn, was sung by the church choir.452 Then her body was brought to Indianapolis on the funeral train. Along the route, great numbers of people stood quietly with uncovered heads. In Indianapolis, services were conducted by Reverend Dr. Matthias L. Haines and Reverend N.A. Hyde at the First Presbyterian Church where Caroline Harrison had been a member. The funeral cortege of more than one hundred horse-drawn carriages trailed for five miles to Caroline’s burial place in Crown Hill Cemetery. Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley wrote this tribute, in part, to his dear friend Caroline Scott Harrison on October 25, 1892: “Yet with the faith she knew We see her still, even as here she stood— All that was pure and good And sweet in womanhood— God’s will her will.”453

Harrison was observed to be deeply grieved. Before departing by train on the same afternoon, he wrote the following letter of thanks to the city: “I cannot leave without saying that the tender and gracious sympathy which you have today 450

Ibid., p. 242. Indianapolis Sentinel, October 25, 1892. 452 Harper’s Weekly, November 1, 1892. 453 Harriet McIntire Foster, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison: First President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (1908), p. 27. 451

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

146

Anne C. Moore

shown for me and for my children, and much more the touching evidence you have given of your love for the dear wife and mother, have deeply moved our hearts. We yearn to tarry with you and to rest near the hallowed spots where your loving hands have laid our dead; but the dear children watch in wondering silence for our return and need our care, and some public business will no longer wait upon my sorrow. May a gracious God keep and bless you all! Most gratefully yours, Benjamin Harrison” 454 Two weeks later on election evening, returns were awaited by Harrison and his family and friends in the Cabinet Room: Mrs. Mary (Mamie) McKee, Mrs. Mary (Mame) Dimmick, Russell Harrison, Lieutenant and Mrs. John Parker, and cabinet members William Miller, Benjamin Tracy, and Charles Foster. 455 At 3 A.M., Harrison knew he had been defeated. Cleveland won decisively. The popular votes were: 5,556,918 for Cleveland, 5,176,108 for Harrison, and 1,029,846 for Weaver. Electoral college votes were: 277 for Cleveland, 145 for Harrison, and 22 for Weaver. 456The doubtful states all went to Cleveland. The outcome may have reflected protests of labor unrest, the McKinley tariff and the Force bill. The labor vote went to the Democrats due to the Homestead strikeand other labor problems. And the farmers’ discontent of low prices turned votes away from the Republicans. Harrison said, “For me there is no sting in it. Indeed after the heavy blow the death of my wife dealt me, I do not think I could have stood the strain a re-election would have brought.”457 The last months of Harrison’s presidency until March 1893 progressed quietly at the White House. Mary McKee took her mother’s place to carry on the first lady’s responsibilities for the remainder of Harrison’s term in office. With Josephine’s help, she carefully packed away her mother’s garments and personal items in trunks. After a month, Caroline’s father Dr. John Scott died, and the family journeyed by train to Washington, Pennsylvania for another burial. Over Christmas, the White House was quarantined when Marthena, Russell’s daughter, became ill with scarlet fever. There was no New Year’s Day reception. Mourning for Caroline continued, and during January, funerals for ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes and ex-Secretary of State James G. Blaine were attended. Harrison’s last effort in Congress was to attempt to secure the annexation of Hawaii, to establish United States presence in the northern Pacific. In 1891, James Blaine had worked with the new Hawaiian Minister to the United States John Mott Smith to create a treaty. The Hawaiians wanted complete free trade, and the 454

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 243. Ibid., p. 248. 456 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 199. 457 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 250. 455

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Presidency, 1891 to 1893

147

United States would have a naval station at Pearl Harbor, built within five years. Harrison was interested in the naval station, but would not consent to free trade. By 1890, Hawaii had been exporting exclusively to the United States, but the increased duties through the McKinley Tariff Act were causing difficulties in the trade agreements. White American and European sugar farmers owned sixty-five percent of the Hawaiian land in 1891. When the tariff threatened their control and prosperity, they organized the “revolution.” In 1890, King Kalakaua died and his sister Liliuokalani became queen of Hawaii.458 On January 14, 1893, the assertive Queen Liliuokalani, who was perceived as hostile to United States interests, was unseated by the revolutionaries. After receiving orders from United States minister John Stevens, on January 16, 1893, one hundred and fifty marines were sent to the island from the cruiser Boston, waiting in the waters, presumably to protect the Americans. The rebels proclaimed a new government on January 17 and Hawaii was declared a United States protectorate. 459 Although President Harrison denied that the United States had sought Queen Liliuokalani’s overthrow, he stated that annexation would serve the interests of the people of Hawaii. On February 16, 1893, he sent a treaty before the Senate asking for annexation of Hawaii. The divided Senate would not act on it before President Harrison’s term was over. 460 In March, Walter Gresham, who became Cleveland’s secretary of state, condemned the treaty and President Grover Cleveland withdrew it. Five years later on July 7, 1898, Hawaii would become the first island territory to be annexed to the United States by the act of Congress, under President William McKinley.461

458

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 203. Sievers vol.3, op. cit., p. 252 460 Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 205. 461 Kane, op. cit., p. 155. 459

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Chapter 11

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

ELDER STATESMAN When Benjamin Harrison left the White House in March 1893, a winter storm with cold and snow chilled the inaugural for Cleveland. Following farewells, the outgoing cabinet escorted Harrison to the train station. On arriving at Indianapolis, he was heartened by the warm enthusiastic welcome of cheering crowds. He later told Russell: “I made no mistake in coming home at once—there are no friends like the old ones.” 462 To ease the lonely homecoming without her mother, Mary (Mamie) McKee and her children Benjamin and Mary boarded the train with her father and traveled to Indianapolis. While Mary (Mamie) unpacked and worked to make the home attractive and comfortable for him, Harrison enjoyed the presence of his daughter and grandchildren. The goat, His Whiskers, brought back from the White House, attracted gatherings of neighborhood children. A burro would arrive in May, a gift of John Wanamaker. Although Mr. Tibbott came to help unpack papers, Harrison said “I find myself exceedingly lazy, unable yet to do much of any work.”463 Two months after leaving the White House, Harrison said, “There is nothing further from my mind or thought or wish than resumption of public office. I was thoroughly tired and worn out.”464 He turned down most requests for speeches, because the newspapers inferred that he was seeking reelection. On April 25, 1890, President Harrison had signed into law the act that created the World Columbian Exposition. It was: “an act to provide for celebrating the 462

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 254. Ibid., p. 255. 464 Charles W. Calhoun, “The Political Culture: Public Life and the Conduct of Politics,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America, op. cit., p. 197. 463

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

150

Anne C. Moore

400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufacturers, and the products of the soil, mine, and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois.” The grand groundbreaking ceremony, held on October 21, 1892, rescheduled from October 12, was attended by Levi Morton, substituting for President Harrison, whose wife was fatally ill at the White House. The patriotic historic international event was important to Harrison. He had issued a proclamation to set aside October 12 as the National Celebration of Columbus Day and National Columbian Public School Celebration Day. At 9:00 A.M. central time, children at schools were directed to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag, written for the occasion by Francis Bellamy to honor Columbus’ discovery of the Americas, followed by singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” It was a new method of teaching patriotism to schoolchildren.465 May 1, 1893 marked the beginning of the World Columbian Exposition, with President Cleveland opening the ceremonies and turning on the electricity, provided by Westinghouse. As mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison, a distant relative of Benjamin Harrison, participated in the ceremonies. The 200 fair buildings, representing 38 states and 70 foreign governments, were erected at Jackson Park, on 633 acres along the shore of Lake Michigan. Washington Park served as the entranceway to the exposition; an admission fee of $.50 was charged. The fair was called “The White City” due to the impressive Beaux Arts architecture of the buildings, created by designer Charles Atwood, architects Daniel Burnham and John Root, and landscaper Frederick Olmstead. Basins and lagoons, fountains, sculptures and murals enhanced the architecture. From May to October 1893, the World Columbian Exhibition was attended by 27,529,400 visitors. It was the first American international exposition with a profit at closing.466 On dedication day at the Indiana building, June 15, 1893, Benjamin Harrison gave an impromptu speech, and keys were presented to the President of the State Board Clement Studebaker. Governor Matthews, Executive Commissioner B. F. Havens and others gave speeches extolling Indiana. A collection of hand painted china by Caroline Harrison, late wife of ex-President Harrison, was displayed with the fine arts and decorative arts. The inaugural gown of this first lady was featured among an exhibit of applied arts of America in the Women’s building, featuring costumes. Attention was called to the Chicago Museum of Art, which 465 466

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/legacy.html Stanley Applebaum, The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980), pp. 3, 5-6.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Elder Statesman

151

had been constructed entirely of Indiana limestone. On another day in June, Harrison spoke at a reception in the Ohio building, attended by several thousand people.467 Upon his return to Indianapolis, Harrison began making improvements on his property on Delaware Street, including major work of additional building and refurbishing on his house, and a new stable, and installation of electricity. Across the front of the house facing Delaware Street, a large colonial porch was added.468 On October 11, 1894, he wrote to his daughter, “The porch drags along and the 1st of Nov. will be as early a day as I may look for its completion.” 469 A two-story section was added on the north side of the house to enclose a pantry extension on the first floor and bathroom above it on the second floor. Electricity was installed with considerable structural difficulty because the brick walls inside and out needed channels cut into them. Typical of installations of electricity of this time, the house was not generously supplied with outlets. The house was showing wear from the 1888 campaign and needed painting, wall papering, and new carpets. Ben wrote weekly chatty letters to his daughter Mary (Mamie), discussing the grandchildren, friends, health problems, weather, and seeking her advice about refurbishing his house. He asked whether he should lay linoleum or paint the floor in the pantry, and what colors would be best for wallpaper- decisions Caroline would have made. He clearly was not enjoying dealing with house renovating and redecorating. On September19, 1895, he wrote, complaining: “The work on my bathroom is not done. The wash stand is not here yet and there is still a good deal to be done on the pantry. . . . the door from the back is too wide and has no transom above it, as I specially directed. It does not correspond with the other doors and will make the hall dark. Then he has failed to introduce heat into the little back rooms, or into the butler pantry-things I especially mentioned. The kitchen sink is without any place to sit or drain dishes in.” 470 The refurbishing continued through the following month. In October 1895, he wrote to his daughter about painting and wallpapering: “The painters are at work varnishing in the pantry and on the new doors upstairs -- and will go right on painting the walls of the pantry and kitchen. Nan will be at home tomorrow and I will get her to help me [find] some paper for the little bed room and try to settle about the matter of the hall paper--If I hear from you--what do you think of having a lighter paper for 467

Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Book of the Fair: an Historical and Descriptive Presentation of the World’s Science, Art, and Industry, as Viewed Through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893 (Chicago: The Bancroft Company, Publishers, 1893), ch. 23, p. 1. 468 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 255. 469 Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, October 11, 1894. Harrison MSS. 470 Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee , September 19, 1895. Harrison MSS.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

152

Anne C. Moore

the narrow part of the hall. I am dreadfully tired of this bother. . . . I think the heat in the bathroom will be sufficient.”471 On October 26, he reported that the work on the house was finished except for papering the two bedrooms and another coat of paint on the pantry floor. Eastman Johnson was selected by Harrison to paint his official portrait. Another artist, John Colin Forbes, recommended by Robert McKee, had been considered also. In October 1894, arrangements were made for his sittings in the Johnson studio in New York. Harrison told his daughter that he was not looking his best after an illness, and he had not had a serene expression since the Republican committees had been talking to him. The following June, he wrote that he had been sitting for Johnson for several days and noted, “He was wearing the most fantastic Turkish bloomer costume I ever saw.” 472 Complaining of the heat, Ben said he wanted to get home to his new porch. Before Harrison left the White House, Senator Leland Stanford invited him to present six law lectures at Stanford University during the spring of 1894. The summer of 1893 was spent at Cape May, where he devoted many hours each day to research, write, and prepare the lectures. His stipend would be $25,000. The lectures were later published in a book, Views of an Ex-President. Daughter Mary (Mamie) and the grandchildren accompanied Ben to Stanford University to enjoy sight-seeing and visiting friends on the West Coast when his lectures were over.473 One afternoon Harrison attended a Stanford baseball game, and failing to notice a student collecting a twenty-five cent admission fee, he walked in without paying. When seventeen-year-old engineering student, Herbert Hoover, politely asked him to pay, Ben gave him a dollar and told him to keep the change. Because the student declined the tip, Harrison bought more tickets instead.474 Hoover was wellaware that he was confronting the ex-president. Harrison was interested in only limited employment. He was selective in resuming his law practice, accepting no retainer for less than $500, and usually as associate counsel. Edward Bok, editor for Ladies Home Journal, paid him $5,000 to write nine articles. They were later published in a book, This Country of Ours, and translated into five languages. Ben refused offers to become president of a bank and a professor at the University of Chicago. From 1894 to 1895, he earned nearly $50,000 from hi s law practice and other sources, and felt financially secure. 475 His donations continued to the Presbyterian Church, the Indianapolis 471

Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, October 1895. Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, June 1895. Harrison MSS. 473 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 255. 474 Indianapolis Magazine, February 1977, p. 30. 475 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 256. 472

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Elder Statesman

153

Orphan Asylum, and other institutions, and family members received gifts of money as usual. Harrison spent a relaxing summer in 1894, staying in a “rude primitive board shanty house” at Old Forge in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and wrote articles, hunted, fished, and entertained his grandchildren. By the following summer, he had bought property on the Fulton Chain of Lakes in Herkimer County and had Berkeley Lodge built on Second Lake.476 In July of 1895, Ben wrote to his daughter Mary (Mamie) McKee about preparations before meeting at the newly built lodge. He wanted her to know he just learned that there was a bowl and pitcher in each room but no bath, and added, “The camp rule is that if anybody complains of anything the grumbler shall do the thing that is not being well done.” 477 Harrison’s maid Josie Kneipp had made a list of supplies and Harrison asked Mary (Mamie) for a list of food, wine or books that he should buy. He advised her to bring warm clothes and rubber boots for his grandson Ben. Puzzled that Josie and the cook did not wish to go to the camp, he said he would look for a maid and cook in New York. In a reception book were recorded comments by the many friends who thoroughly enjoyed their vacation experiences at Berkeley Lodge with the Harrisons. Caroline Harrison’s niece and Mary (Mamie) McKee’s cousin, Mary (Mame) Dimmick, would become Benjamin Harrison’s second wife in 1896. She was the daughter of Caroline’s sister Elizabeth Scott Lord and Russell Farnum Lord. Following her father’s death when Mary (Mame) Lord was nine years old, Dr. John Scott, Caroline’s father, gathered his daughter Elizabeth Lord and two granddaughters into his home. After one year at Elmira College, in October 1881, Mary (Mame) Lord married Walter Dimmick who died of typhoid fever after only three months of marriage. In 1889, Mame was on a trip to Germany, not realizing that her mother Elizabeth Lord had become seriously ill. Her Aunt Caroline had her sister Elizabeth moved from New York to the White House where she died in December 1889. Several months following her mother’s death, Mame accepted her Aunt Caroline’s invitation to serve as her secretary and help hostess the social events at the White House. Her help and presence were welcomed by Aunt Caroline and Uncle Ben. During Caroline’s final illness of tuberculosis, Mary (Mame) Dimmick accompanied her aunt to the Adirondack retreat at Loon Lake. During the Christmas season of 1895, Benjamin Harrison and Mary (Mame) Dimmick announced that they were planning to be married. Harrison was surprised at the disapproval of his son and daughter. He wrote to Russell: “It is 476 477

Ibid., pp. 259-260. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, July 1895. Harrison MSS.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

154

Anne C. Moore

natural that a man’s former children should not be pleased ordinarily, with a second marriage. It would not have been possible for me to marry one I did not very highly respect and very warmly love. But my life now, and much more as I grow older, is and will be a lonely one and I cannot go on as now. A home is life’s essential to me and it must be the old home. Neither of my children live here--nor are they likely to do so, and I am sure they will not wish me to live the years that remain to me in solitude.”478 Through the recent years, Mary (Mamie) and Robert McKee had developed a strong dislike for Mary (Mame) Dimmick. A letter written by Mary (Mamie) McKee on February 26, 1896 is indicative of Robert McKee’s influence on his wife that ended her close relationship with her father. Mary apparently felt compelled to comply with her husband’s demands. Although she was against the marriage, she was extremely troubled and hesitant to cut her ties with her father. She wrote to her husband: “Your letter this morning fills me with absolute despair. I beg of you, let us take the advice of such friends as Mr. Elkins and Mr. Michener, for both (I firmly believe they have our real interest at heart) have given me me the same advise—go to your Father’s home . . . and be dignified and kind to your Father, but you need have nothing to do with Mrs. Dimmick. Now my dear husband, I love you, and will stand by you, if you are still firm, but I beg you to remember that I still down in my heart have some love for my Father and I cannot entirely disregard the call of love, for in the future, I might have untold regret. . . . I received a letter . . . from Russell and he begs me . . .to start West at once and begs you to let me do this.” 479 On April 6, 1896, Mary (Mame) Dimmick and Benjamin Harrison were married in a private ceremony at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City. She was thirty-eight and he was sixty-three years old. Former Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy was best man. 480 Among the forty guests attending were most of the members of Harrison’s cabinet and Governor Levi Morton, his former vice-president Although some friends urged Russell and Mary (Mamie) to attend the wedding, their absence expressed their displeasure of their father’s marriage to their cousin. They never reconciled with their father before his death. Benjamin Harrison apparently enjoyed domestic life with his wife Mary (Mame) at his Delaware Street home. On February 12, 1897, their daughter Elizabeth was born. She was named for Mame’s mother Elizabeth Lord and Ben’s mother Elizabeth Irwin Harrison. Ben cherished his time with Mary (Mame) and Elizabeth and complained when professional work required him to be away from 478

Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 256. Mary McKee to J. Robert McKee, February 26, 1896. Harrison MSS. 480 Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 257. 479

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Elder Statesman

155

Indianapolis. He began using the library in his home for his law office. As a family, they vacationed at Berkeley Lodge in the Adirondacks, and at Cape May Point in New Jersey, and took an extended trip to the West to visit Yellowstone National Park and other places of interest. After his marriage, Ben was pleased to be socially obligated to attend dinner parties, flower shows and concerts. Newspaper reporters wrote that the lecturer, author, and lawyer, Benjamin Harrison, now had a “greater geniality of manner.” He claimed the secret was freedom from work and worry.481 The five years until his death in 1901 were happy and rewarding, and Harrison became a respected elder statesman. His law cases were plentiful and he was one of the highest paid lawyers in the country. On June 23, 1896, one hundred and twenty-one Indiana lawyers met at the State House to organize the Indiana State Bar Association and elected him their first president, to serve two terms. Harrison was a participating member several local organizations: First Presbyterian Church, the Indianapolis Literary Club, the University Club, Indianapolis Country Club, and the Columbia Club. Memberships beyond Indianapolis included the Grand Army of the Republic, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Society of the Army in Cumberland, and the Virginia Historical Society. He also served as a board member for Purdue University. A great legal accomplishment occurred for Harrison when he represented Venezuela against Great Britain in a border dispute over British Guiana. From 1897 to 1899, Harrison prepared extensively for the arbitration case. Assisted by three other attorneys, he suspended all other business and drove himself to prepare his case. The Harrison team prepared an 800-page brief. In May 1899, Harrison sailed to Paris with his wife and two-year-old daughter; it was his first and only trip to Europe. He presented a twenty-five hour address over five days; however, the verdict was decided before he began. He made a strong effort for Venezuela, but Great Britain was awarded ninety percent of the disputed territory. The tribunal “paid no heed to the arguments of the two parties . . . conceding the lion’s share to the strongest.” 482Although Harrison was extremely disappointed, he achieved fame as an international lawyer. 483 Before departing Paris, he gave a speech at the American Chamber of Commerce on July 4, 1899. His statement about United States policy has been remembered: “Her policy has always been, and I am sure we will not depart from it, to preserve the most friendly relations with all the nations of the world, and to 481

Ibid. Sievers vol. 3. op. cit., p. 272. 483 Ibid., pp. 267-272. 482

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

156

Anne C. Moore

extend her commerce, not by force of arms, but by the enticements and advantages of her superior products. She has never failed . . . to let it be known that she reprobated cruelty and persecution, but she has not felt she had a commission to police the world.” 484 As a result of Harrison’s effort on the Venezuelan Arbitration, President McKinley appointed him to a Permanent Court of Arbitration, but he died before he could serve. Following a brief illness of pneumonia, Benjamin Harrison died on March 13, 1901. On March 7, 1901, a Thursday morning, he went down to breakfast as usual, then at 9 A.M. in the library, he was taken with a violent chill. Dr. Henry Jameson, the family physician, was called to the house. At that time Ben described himself as chilly and in much misery. Dr. Jameson diagnosed Harrison as having a cold, pain in the chest, and in no danger. Later in the evening, he complained of pain and fever, and on Friday morning he was greatly disturbed with pains in his chest and congestion, but there was a complete absence of coughing. 485 On Sunday, the physicians began to fear that Harrison would not recover. Dr. Francis Dorsey and Dr. Evan Hadley were called to attend Harrison. On Tuesday, before he became unconscious, the General’s four-year-old daughter Elizabeth came to her father and offered him a small apple pie that she had made herself. He smiled and thanked her. Later that day, his condition became alarming due to delirium, rapid respiration, and inflammation of the lungs. The strain affected his heart, and circulation failed. Administration of oxygen was begun on Monday to keep the blood pure and decrease inflammation and congestion. On Wednesday, the oxygen tube was removed. He was unconscious and his breathing labored. Mrs. Harrison, kneeling by the bed, took his head in her arms; he died at 4:45 P.M. on March 13, 1901. He was sixty-seven years old. Rev. Haines gave a brief prayer.486 Harrison’s body was embalmed on Wednesday evening by James Baily and Robert Adams from the C. E. Kregelo undertaking establishment. Sculptor John Mahoney took a plaster cast of the features and head of the president. 487 Chapin Foster and S. D. Miller stayed at the home to guard the body. Betsy Eaton, Ben’s sister from Cincinnati, and Caroline Stroud, a friend from New York, stayed with Mary (Mame) Harrison. The house was soon filled with floral tributes. A magnificent large wreath came from the White House conservatory; pink and 484

Benjamin Harrison, Views of an Ex-President (Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill Co., 1901), p. 493. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 275. 486 New York Times, March 14, 1901. 487 Indianapolis News, March 15, 1901. 485

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Elder Statesman

157

white roses were surrounded by lilies of the valley with a background of green leaves. Harrison’s open casket was placed in the front parlor surrounded with flowers. Large bouquets of red American roses from school children were placed at the head of the casket, and an American flag was laid across the foot. Russell and Mary (May) Harrison arrived and were guests of the Millers across from the Harrison home on Delaware Street. Robert and Mary (Mamie) McKee went to the McKee home on Meridian Street. At President McKinley’s request, mourning for ex-President Harrison was to be observed for one month, and flags flew at half-mast on federal buildings, at army posts, and on U.S. ships everywhere. Indiana Governor Winfield Durbin requested flags at half-staff at state buildings, and all public business was suspended. The city of Indianapolis was draped with black bunting and decorated with flags.On Saturday, Harrison’s old regiment, the Seventieth Indiana, was the guard of honor to escort the body at 11:30 A.M. from the Harrison residence to the State Capitol, to lie in state in the rotunda. The metal casket was placed in a hearse drawn by four black horses. The streets were lined with subdued respectful onlookers. On Sunday afternoon, after removing the heavy casket from the house to the funeral car, the pallbearers marched beside it to the First Presbyterian Church. Due to the formality of the ceremonies, the men all wore tall silk hats.488 President William McKinley accompanied the procession from the Harrison house on Delaware Street. The funeral service, held at 2 P.M. at the Presbyterian Church, was officiated by Rev. Dr. Matthias L. Haines, the General’s pastor and personal friend. Because of the limited capacity of the church, cards were issued to family and friends by Chapin Foster and E.F. Tibbot, Harrison’s secretary. Distinguished men from other states and hundreds of Indiana mourners were in attendance. Prayers and eulogies were presented by many, including the Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley: “My father was an earnest admirer of the man as a statesman, soldier, humanitarian, lawyer and as an element of force for the betterment of the world. For the opinions of my father I have the greatest respect . . . . One of the characteristics of General Harrison always commanded my profound respect--his fearless independence and stand for what he believed to be right and just. . . . A fearless man inwardly commands respect, and above everything else Harrison was fearless and just.” 489

488 489

Brown, op. cit., p. 178. Sievers vol. 3, op. cit., p. 276.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

158

Anne C. Moore

Harrison was Riley’s best friend. The poet was not displeased to hear praise for the deceased, but he seemed to be impatient with the lengthy proceedings. En route to the cemetery, however, Riley was full of animated talk about Harrison as a soldier and a statesman.490 Following a brief service conducted at Crown Hill Cemetery by Rev. Haines, Benjamin Harrison was buried beside his wife Caroline in plot 13. Later William Henry Harrison Miller read Harrison’s will to the family. Hundreds of notes, cards, telegrams and cablegrams arrived at the Harrison home from all parts of the United States and other countries. He was praised as a man of principle, and as a distinguished lawyer and statesman. Mr. Tibbott filed them away. The following tribute to Benjamin Harrison was written by his friend, James Whitcomb Riley:

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

“Loved of all men--we muse--yet ours he was— Choice of nation’s mighty brotherhood-Her soldier, statesman, ruler..…Aye, but then We knew him--long before the world’s applause-And after--as a neighbor kind and good, Our common friend and fellow citizen!” 491

490 491

Ibid., p. 180. Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley vol. 9 (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, Co., 1916), pp. 2270-2271.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

LEGACY President Benjamin Harrison was an honest, hardworking, intelligent leader. He had no major scandals and no major war during his term in office. A skilled orator and a devout Presbyterian, he appealed directly and boldly for respect for the law, patriotism, equality, spiritual hope, peaceful order, and representational government. Harrison’s personal priorities for accomplishment were to increase patriotism and to increase respect for the flag. During the fifty-first Congress with a Republican majority, he pushed for the passage of major legislation, and signed 531 bills into laws. In domestic policies, the important Sherman Anti-trust Act gave the federal government power to break up monopolies. The Forest Reserve Act, section 24, gave the president authority to set aside land for forestry conservation, and he established the first 22 million acres of forest reserves. Due to his Civil War experiences, Harrison felt a responsibility for the Dependent and Disability Pension Bill that provided pensions for disabled Union veterans and their dependents. He signed six statehood bills for federal territories in the Northwest: North and South Dakota, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Against the majority of Congress and the American people, Harrison took a courageous stand to support African Americans, their education and voting rights. President Harrison took the lead in directing foreign affairs, working toward making the United States a world power. 492 He held the first Pan American Conference with Latin American nations, to expand United States influence and to increase trade. The McKinley Tariff Act raised customs duties on foreign goods, resulting in economic advantage for American businesses. The successful reciprocity policy secured eight treaties in the first year. He settled a lengthy 492

Socolofsky, op. cit., p. 126.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

160

Anne C. Moore

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

dispute with Great Britain and Canada to prevent over-harvesting of seals in the Bering Sea. To protect American interests in the Pacific, Harrison provided leadership in establishing the first three-power protectorate for Samoa, with Germany and Great Britain. He firmly dealt with the crisis created by the killing of two American sailors in Chile. The development of the two-ocean navy was Harrison’s major accomplishment. The battleships commissioned and built during his term in office were the largest in the world, encouraging respect from other nations. Harrison advocated and made detailed plans for the acquisition of several basic strategies for the United States: to obtain the first naval base in the Caribbean, to construct a Central American canal, and to annex Hawaii. They were accomplished in the future under other presidents. According to historian Walter LaFeber, “Many of the administration’s ambitious, expansive policies which have been ascribed to James Blaine should in fact be more rightly credited to the President. Harrison has never received proper recognition as a creator of the new empire.” 493

493

Ibid., p. 112.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power 1789-1961. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1990. Applebaum, Stanley. The Chicago World’s Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980. Arneson, Eric. “American Workers and the Labor Movement in the Late Nineteenth Century.” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint, 1996. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Book of the Fair: An Historical and Descriptive Presentation of the World’s Science, Art, and Industry, as Viewed Through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Chicago: The Bancroft Company, Publishers, 1893. Brooks, Kate Scott. “Memories of Our President General.” National Historical Magazine vol. LXXVI, no. 1. January 1942. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents vol. XI. New York: Bureau of National Literature, Inc., 1897. Frantz, Edward, “A March of Triumph?” Indiana Magazine of History vol. 100, No. 4. December 2004. Gay, James. “Bering Sea Controversy: Harrison, Blaine and Cronyism” Alaska Journal, 1973 3 (1). “Harrison’s Fraternity Leadership Recalled,”The Scroll of Phi Delta Theta, Spring 1991. Indianapolis Magazine, February 1977. Anchorage Daily News, January 28, 2001. Anderson Democrat, March 4, 1892. Anderson Democrat, March 11, 1892. The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, March 5, 1889. Harper’s Weekly, November 1, 1892. Indianapolis News, March 15, 1901 Indianapolis News, October 3,1879. Indianapolis Press, March 14, 1901. Indianapolis Star, October 19,1952. Indianapolis Sentinel, July 5, 1888. Indianapolis Sentinel, October 25, 1892. New York Press, November 15,

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

162

Anne C. Moore

1890. New York Times, March 15, 1901. Tacoma News, May 6, 1891. Washington Post, March 5, 1889. Washington Post, April 29, 1890. Brown, Hilton U. A Book of Memories. Indianapolis, IN: Butler University, 1951. Burress, Marjorie Byrnside. It Happened Round North Bend. North Bend, OH: Marjorie Byrnside Burress, 1987. Calhoun, Charles W. “A Political Culture: Public Life and the Conduct of Politics.” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint, 1996. Calhoun, Charles W. “Caroline (Lavinia) Scott Harrison.” American First Ladies: Their Lives and their Legacy. Lewis L. Gould, ed. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1996. Carpenter, Frank. Carp’s Washington. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960. Centennial Memorial 1823-1923 Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. Greenfield, IN: William Mitchell Printing Co., 1925. Cobb, Hubbard. American Battlefields. New York: Konecky and Konecky, 1995. Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley vol. 9. New York: P. F. Collier and Son, Co., 1916. Daniels, Roger. “The Immigrant Experience in the Gilded Age,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources, Inc. Imprint, 1996. Danziger, Edmund J. “Native American Resistance and Accommodation During the Late Nineteenth Century,” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources, Inc. Imprint, 1996. Darby, Leigh. “Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Cortege.” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. David D. Bodenhaver and Robert G. Barrows, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994. Dowdey, Clifford. The Great Plantation: a Profile of Berkeley Hundred and Plantation Virginia from Jamestown to Appomatox. Charles City, VA: Berkeley Plantation, MCMLVII. fifth printing 1980. Dunn, Jacob P. Greater Indianapolis vol. 1. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1910. Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation. New York: Vintage Books, 2002. Evans, Harold, The American Century. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Fleming, James Roger. “Science and Technology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century.” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origins of Modern

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

163

America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint, 1996. Foster, Harriet McIntire. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison: the First President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Harriet Foster, 1898. Furman, Bess. White House Profile: A Social History of the White House, its Occupants and its Festivities. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1951. Geib, George. “Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-third President of the United States, 1889-1893. Buckeye Presidents: Ohioans in the White House. Philip Weeks, ed. Kent, OH: The Kent State University, 2003. Hanaford, Phoebe. Daughters of America, or, Women of the Century. Augusta, ME: True and Co., 1889. Harrison, Mary Lord, comp. Views of an Ex-President by Benjamin Harrison. Indianapolis: the Bowen-Merrill Company, 1901. Havighurst, Walter. Men of Old Miami 1809-1873: a Book of Portraits. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974. Havighurst, Walter. The Miami Years 1809 – 1894. New York: G. P. Putnum’s Sons, 1984. Hedges, Charles, comp. Speeches of Benjamin Harrison: Twenty-third President of the United States. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971 (first pub. 1892). The History of the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. New York: D. Appleton and Company, MDCCCXCCII. The Holy Bible. Sunday School Teacher’s edition. Oxford: University Press, n.d.. Hoover, Irwin Hood (Ike). Forty-two Years in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934. Hunter, Lloyd A. “Camp Morton.” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. David D. Bodenhaver and Robert G. Barrows, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994. Jensen, Amy La Follette. The White House and Its Thirty-Three Families. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1958. Kane, Joseph Nathan. Presidential Fact Book. New York: Random House, Inc., 1998. Keith, Charles. Ancestry of Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America 1889-1893 Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1893. Kirk, Elise K. Music at the White House; a History of the American Spirit. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986. Klapthor, Margaret Brown. Official White House China: 1789 to the Present. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

164

Anne C. Moore

Mary McKee to Robert McKee, December 26, 1889. Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Benjamin Harrison McKee, n.d., Harrison MSS. Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 6, 1891. Harrison MSS. Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 23, 1891. Harrison MSS. Caroline Harrison to Paul Putzki, May 22, 1889. Private collection of Patricia Bishop Gutting. Caroline Harrison to Paul Putzki, October 3, 1889. Private collection of Patricia Bishop Gutting. Caroline Harrison to Mary McKee, June 30, 1891. Harrison MSS. Mary McKee to Robert McKee, February 26, 1896. Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, October 11, 1894. Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, June 1895. Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, July 1895.Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, September 19, 1895.Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison to Mary McKee, October 1895.Harrison MSS. Robert McKee to Bernard Batty, August 16, 1942.Harrison MSS. Benjamin Harrison Papers, January 8, 1892. Library of Congress. Benjamin Harrison File, Manuscript Collection, Indiana State Library. Build your own Historic Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. Indianapolis: EMERET Enterprises, Inc., 1987. McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. McCullough, David. The Johnstown Flood. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc.1968. Medved, Michael. The Shadow President: the Secret History of the Chief Executive and Their Top Aides. New York: Time Books, 1979. Menendez, Albert J. Christmas at the White House. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983. Monkman, Betty A. The White House: Its Historic Furnishings and First Families. New York: Abbeville Press, 2000. Oxford Female Institute diploma. Harrison archives. Harrison, Caroline. White House diary, 1889-1890. unpublished. Harrison archives Perry, James M. Touched With Fire: Five Presidents and the Civil War Battles that Made Them. New York: Public Affairs, 2003. Porter, Glenn. “Industrialization and Rise of Big Business.” The Gilded Age: Essays on the Origin of Modern America. Charles W. Calhoun, ed. Wilmington, DE: A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint, 1996. Queen, Mary J. C. “Anna Harrison: Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison.” American First Ladies. Robert P. Watson, ed. Hackensack, N. J.: Salem Press, 2002. Schneider, Dorothy and Schneider, Carl J. First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2001. Seale, William. The White House: the History of an American Idea. Washington, D.C., The American Institute of American Architects Press, 1992.

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

165

Sievers, Harry J., ed. Benjamin Harrison; 1833-1901: Chronology-DocumentsBibliographical Aids. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1969. Sievers, Harry Joseph. Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Warrior: through the Civil War Years 1833-1865, vol. 1. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1952. Sievers, Harry Joseph. Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Statesman; from the Civil War to the White House 1865 – 1888, vol. 2. New York: University Publishers Inc., 1959. Sievers, Harry Joseph. Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier President: the White House and After, vol. 3. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1968. Socolofsky, Homer E. and Spetter, Allan. The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Statesmen’s Dishes; and How to Cook Them. Washington, D.C.: The National Tribune, MDCCCCXC. The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to the Commonly Received Version. New York: American and Foreign Bible Society, 1840. Timble, Tony. “Civil War Camps and Installations.” The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. David D. Bodenhaver and Robert G. Barrows, ed. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994. Wallace, Lew. Life of Gen. Ben. Harrison. Hillsdale, MI: W. E. Allan and Co., 1888. Washington Landmark: A View of the DAR-The Headquarters, History and Activities. Washington, D.C.: Daughters of the American Revolution, 1976. Whitcomb, John and Whitcomb, Clare. Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America’s Most Famous Residence. New York: Routledge, 2000. http://www.themuseumofceramics.org/lotus.html http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/legcy.html

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

INDEX

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

A acceptance, 71, 139, 142 access, xvi, 28, 111, 115 acculturation, 126 accumulation, 144 accuracy, 37 achievement, 112 Adams, John, 7 adjustment, 126 adults, 8, 15, 51, 125 Advice and Consent, viii advocacy, 84, 130 African Americans, 45, 114, 129, 159 age, x, 5, 15, 16, 25, 29, 71, 83, 115 agent, 82, 121 aggression, 130 aging, 5 ambassadors, viii amendments, 8 anatomy, 55 Anderson, John, 23, 24, 25, 26, 93 anger, 46, 65 animals, 34, 92, 135 antagonism, 134 anti-lottery act, 119 antitrust, 114 anxiety, 65, 104 apathy, 34, 114 arbitration, 109, 135, 155

Argentina, 109 arrest, 53, 143 assassination, x, 85, 143 assault, 36, 39 association, 143 asylum, 29, 49, 131 Atlanta campaign, 39 attacks, 38 attention, 21, 28, 29, 33, 35, 48, 63, 66, 90, 92, 107, 111, 117, 121, 130, 132, 137 Attorney General, 84, 107, 114, 119, 131 Austria, 85, 112, 116 authority, 159 automobiles, 47

B Baggs, Mrs. Fred, 51 bankruptcy, 49 banks, 4, 13, 49, 57, 142 Battle of Peach Tree Creek, 38, 39 Battle of Resaca, 36, 37, 38 Berkeley Lodge, 153, 155 beverages, 126 binding, 95 birds, 34, 81, 100 birth, 5, 27, 28, 66 Bishop, Robert Hamilton, 20, 21 Blaine, James G., 60, 64, 65, 69, 70, 73, 78, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 108, 110, 112, 115, 116,

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

168

Anne C. Moore

117, 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 141, 142, 146, 160 Blaine, Walker, 110 Blair education bill, 129 blocks, 52, 70, 74, 118 blood, 3, 60, 156 bloodshed, 47, 121 Blue Room, White House, 78, 91, 139 body, 7, 13, 52, 55, 56, 123, 145, 156, 157 Bolivia, 109 bonds, 88, 134 Bowling Green, Kentucky, 34, 35 boys, 43, 73 Brandt, Herman T., 49 brass, 106 Brazil, 109, 111 breakfast, 51, 74, 75, 89, 93, 138, 156 breathing, 156 Britain, 111, 117, 135, 155, 160 brothers, 19, 48 buildings, 3, 5, 13, 43, 80, 94, 150, 157

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

C Camp Morton, 35 Camp Sherman, 42 campaigns, 43 Canada, 9, 126, 134, 160 canals, 125 candidates, viii, 13, 142, 143 Cape May Point, 97, 155 carbon, 117 Caribbean, 160 Carnegie, Andrew, 70, 105, 108, 117, 130, 142, 143 cast, 11, 59, 61, 63, 114, 156 ceramic, 51 certificate, 44 channels, 31, 151 charm, 36, 98 Chestnut Street Female Seminary, 62 Chicago, 25, 26, 57, 69, 70, 78, 99, 117, 139, 142, 150, 152 chicken, 81 Chief Justice, 79, 107

childhood, 2, 16 children, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 30, 32, 35, 36, 40, 42, 54, 71, 80, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 105, 121, 122, 126, 137, 143, 146, 149, 150, 154, 157 Chile, 109, 131, 132, 133, 134, 160 China, 63, 126, 138, 163 Christianity, 5, 122 Christmas, 11, 20, 27, 41 Christmas at the White House, 92, 93, 146 Cincinnati, 1, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 37, 55, 56, 106, 156 circulation, 156 civil rights, 114 civil service, 63, 86 civil service reform, 63, 86 civil war, 116, 131 classes, 28, 51, 98, 99, 100, 101, 120, 126 classification, 109 clean air, 105 cleaning, 95, 137 Clem, Nancy, 52, 53 Cleveland, Frances, 78, 90 Cleveland, Grover, 1, 59, 65, 69, 73, 77, 78, 79, 84, 88, 108, 115, 116, 117, 119, 134, 136, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 149 Cleveland, Ohio, 60 clients, 27 clusters, 80 coal, 96, 109, 132, 137, 143 cobalt, 137 Coburn, John, 37, 39, 40 Cold War, xi colleges, 16 Colombia, 11, 109 Columbia Club, 72 Columbia Cub, 155 commitment, 22 communication, 84, 104, 105, 109, 132, 134 community, 29, 35, 48, 49, 98, 137 competition, 64, 139 components, 117 composition, 51 conduct, 19, 22, 29, 107, 120, 121, 126, 132, 136

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography conductor, 130 confidence, 20, 72, 74, 84 confinement, 122 conflict, 39, 53, 115 confrontation, 10, 41, 117 consciousness, 26, 48 consent, 133, 147 conservation, 63, 159 conspiracy, 114 constitution, 7 construction, 49, 50, 64, 117, 134 consulting, 132 consumers, 111 consumption, 19 control, viii, x, 4, 8, 10, 57, 85, 114, 115, 116, 122, 144, 147 convergence, 32 conviction, 53 cooking, 3, 81 copper, 109 Coppinger, Alice Blaine, 110 corn, 5, 16, 46, 137 corporate sector, 143 corporations, 114 corruption, 49 coughing, 13, 156 counsel, vii, 152 covering, 3, 96, 99, 109, 120 credit, 108, 136 Cresson Springs, Pennsylvania, 137 crime, 125, 126 criticism, 84, 98 crops, 4, 16, 104, 124 Crown Hill Cemetery, 36, 145, 158 Cruft, Charles, 41 curiosity, 42 currency, 118

D

169

death, 4, 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 32, 36, 40, 41, 45, 60, 61, 118, 121, 138, 140, 144, 146, 153, 154, 155 death rate, 36 debt(s), 16, 48, 52, 65 decisions, 85, 96, 102, 125, 127, 151 Declaration of Independence, 7 defense, 45, 48, 129 delirium, 156 delivery, 120 demand, 54, 84, 133 democracy, ix, 4, 11 denial, 140, 141 Denmark, 112 depression, 49, 69, 122 designers, 81 desire, 25, 57, 74, 100, 106, 140 destruction, 106, 140 diamonds, 109 diarrhea, 13 diet, 19 dignity, 106, 133, 143 Dimmick, Mary Scott Lord (Mame), 89, 93, 98, 128, 142, 144, 146, 153, 154 Dimmick, Walter, 153 disappointment, 32, 69 disaster, 97, 104 discipline, 35, 39 discrimination, 115, 125, 126 displacement, 117 disposition, 136 distress, 144 division, 36 dogs, 34 domain, 123, 124 dominance, 109 Dominican Republic, 111 donations, 48, 105, 152 Douglass, Frederick, 115, 116 draft, 50, 53, 69

damage, 97 danger, 37, 127, 156 Daughters of the American Revolution, 139

E earnings, 27

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

170

Anne C. Moore

East Room, White House, 13, 97, 99, 118, 139, 145 eating, 42 Eaton, Betsy, 15, 23, 78, 156 Eaton, George, 55 Eaton, Harry, 32 Ecuador, 109 egg, 91 El Salvador, 109, 111 Elam, John, 56, 71, 73 election, viii, ix, 1, 11, 12, 13, 33, 40, 48, 55, 58, 59, 64, 65, 66, 69, 73, 84, 86, 110, 113, 115, 120, 142, 143, 146 electricity, 47, 96, 137, 150, 151 Elkins, Stephen B., 65, 66, 70, 106, 132, 135, 142, 154 emergency management, xi employees, 81, 93, 102, 130 employment, 11, 45, 125, 126, 152 encouragement, 39, 65, 101 endorsements, 16 endurance, 141 England, 2, 3, 4, 5, 23, 65, 86, 96 enrollment, 22 enthusiasm, 98 environment, 11, 47 epidemic, 110 equality, 159 equipment, 6, 47, 107 estrangement, 86 Europe, 73, 100, 111, 113, 126, 155 evidence, 131, 146 evil, 19 evolution, 110 examinations, 125 exclusion, 125 excuse, 110 execution, vii expectation, 21 expenditures, 120 exports, 109, 111, 112, 113 exposure, 40 expression, 152 extinction, 135

F fabric, 81 failure, xv, 65, 85, 121, 127 fainting, 70 faith, 10, 28, 66, 145 family, 2, 5, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, 40, 42, 44, 48, 54, 55, 63, 66, 73, 74, 78, 79, 84, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 97, 104, 118, 123, 144, 145, 146, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158 family history, 2 family members, 17, 19, 23, 32, 78, 153 famine, 125 farmers, 3, 54, 103, 118, 147 fatigue, 13, 69 fear, 36, 70, 87, 156 federal courts, 53, 63 federal funds, 115 feelings, 26 feet, 2, 6, 21, 38, 64 Fernow, Bernhard Eduard, 124 fever, 13, 42, 131, 146, 156 finance, 110, 134 firearms, 35, 136, 142 First Christmas tree, 92 First Presbyterian Church, 28, 62, 145, 155 fish, 3, 16, 105, 134 Fishback, William, 33, 34, 52, 56 fishing, 16, 48, 49, 54, 97, 107, 134, 136 flood, 57, 97, 104, 105 fluid, 144 focusing, 137 food, 3, 4, 5, 16, 32, 36, 89, 98, 105, 121, 136, 153 Force bill, 114, 115, 146 foreign policy, xv, 133 forests, 4, 16, 124 formal education, 83 Fort Washington, 8, 9 Foster, Charles, 123, 142, 146 Foster, John Watson, 85, 111, 112 France, 111, 112, 127, 138 franchise, 119 free trade, 146

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Bibliography freedom, 101, 130, 155 freezing, 39, 40 friends, 1, 11, 20, 23, 25, 26, 29, 32, 36, 43, 44, 48, 51, 52, 54, 57, 59, 66, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 84, 88, 93, 97, 98, 106, 114, 118, 136, 146, 149, 151, 152, 153, 154, 157 friendship, 21 fuel, 132 funding, 101 fundraising, 101, 104, 140 furniture, 72, 77, 93, 95, 96, 98, 135

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

G gambling, 119 Gardner, Frank, 144 Gardner, Frank., 144 Garfield Hospital, 61 Garfield, James, 44, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 83, 84, 131, 134 Garfield, Mrs. James, 60 generation, 88, 126 George Washington, ii Georgia, x, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 57, 71, 108, 123, 128 Germany, 99, 111, 112, 116, 153, 160 Gherardi, Bancroft, 116, 134 gift, 26, 42, 50, 62, 86, 92, 93, 97, 149 girls, 11 goals, 23 God, 4, 19, 20, 32, 36, 37, 44, 61, 66, 70, 146 gold, 10, 46, 61, 79, 81, 86, 89, 93, 96, 99, 109, 113, 119, 130, 138, 141 government, viii, x, 4, 13, 33, 35, 49, 53, 61, 62, 63, 87, 88, 89, 98, 107, 109, 110, 115, 121, 131, 132, 134, 136, 145, 147, 159 government intervention, 62 Grand Review of Western Armies, 43 grasses, 97 gravity, 50 Great Britain, 109, 111, 116, 117, 134, 135, 136, 155, 160 Greece, 17, 112 greed, 112 green land, 77

171

grief, 20, 110 groups, 4, 39, 48, 49, 80, 126 Grouseland, 9, 10 growth, x, 26, 47, 120 Guatemala, 109, 111 guidance, 22, 28, 65, 74 guilt, 105 guilty, 53, 103, 105, 127, 132, 133

H Halford, Elijah, 62, 70, 71, 74, 79, 82, 84, 103, 104, 107, 120, 128, 140, 141, 145 hands, 16, 21, 29, 39, 72, 77, 78, 82, 106, 146 happiness, 25, 26, 40, 74, 129 harm, 22, 84, 106 harmony, 22, 84 Harrison V, Benjamin, 2, 6, 7, 46 Harrison, Caroline Scott, 95, 101, 137, 138, 139, 140, 145 Harrison, John Scott, 2, 15, 16, 17, 19, 23, 26, 27, 29, 32, 44, 55, 56 Harrison, Mary (May), 101 Harrison, Mary Scott, 29 Harrison, Russell, 78, 145, 146 Harrison, William Henry, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 37, 44, 72, 79 harvesting, 160 Hawaii, xiii, 146, 160 Hawaii annexation, 146, 147 Hayes, Rutherford B., 44, 56, 57, 84, 85, 88, 96, 146 headache, 19 healing, 144 health, 13, 33, 34, 39, 49, 62, 66, 72, 101, 108, 125, 141, 142, 151 health problems, 108, 151 heat, 43, 50, 97, 151, 152 heating, 96 heroism, 39, 52 hogs, 4, 16 Homestead strike, 143, 146 Honduras, 109, 111 Honesdale, Pennsylvania, 42 Hooker, General Joe, 38, 39

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

172

Anne C. Moore

Hooker, Joseph, 43 Hoover, Herbert, 152 Hoover, Ike, 93, 96, 137 host, 89 hostility, 86, 126, 131, 133 housing, 27, 92 Hungary, 112 hunting, 16, 49, 134, 135, 136 husband, 13, 17, 23, 35, 39, 59, 89, 93, 103

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

I ideas, 83, 138 identification, 2, 5, 89 immigrants, 63, 120, 125, 126, 127 immigration, 50, 125, 126 imports, 111, 112 Impromptu Club, 49 income, 27, 33, 49, 56, 110 independence, 53, 86, 157 Indians, 4, 5, 10, 113, 121, 136 indigenous, 137 industry, 81, 118, 138, 143 infection, 40 inflammation, 156 influence, 39, 58, 65, 85, 92, 109, 121, 130, 133, 139, 154, 159 inheritance, 26 injury, 59, 133 insane, 125 insects, 39 inspectors, 125 inspiration, 88 institutions, 87, 106, 130, 139, 153 instruction, 40 instruments, 77 integration, 122 integrity, vii, 2, 88 intelligence, 141 intent, 1, 112 intentions, 40 interest, 21, 45, 48, 54, 55, 57, 61, 108, 109, 113, 115, 116, 154, 155 interference, 114, 132 international law, 155

interpretation, 107 intervention, 131 interview, 23 intimacy, 2 intimidation, 115 invasion of privacy, 90 investment, 33 investors, 134 iron, 102 isolation, 74 Italy, 69, 85, 112, 127, 128 Itata, 131

J James K. Polk, ii Jameson, Henry, 156 Jamestown, 3, 4, 5, 162 jobs, 47, 48, 102, 106, 125, 143 Johnson, Dolley, 89 Johnston Brothers, 50 Johnston, James, 103 Johnston, Joseph, 36 Jordan, 91 judgment, 6, 22, 65, 74, 85 judicial power, 128 justice, 27, 53, 79, 133

K Kitchen, John, 26, 27, 28 Kneipp, Josephine, 52, 90, 144 knowledge, 21, 23, 28, 85, 100, 110

L labeling, 114 labor, 29, 63, 113, 126, 142, 143, 146 Lafayette College, 51, 61 land, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 33, 57, 63, 88, 92, 103, 123, 124, 125, 126, 130, 147, 159 landscapes, 100 language, 21, 23, 85, 98, 99, 120, 122, 126, 129

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography Latin America, 84, 109, 111, 159 laws, vii, 63, 103, 107, 109, 111, 115, 126, 135, 159 lawyers, 2, 33, 82, 155 lead, 6, 36, 86, 101, 140, 159 leadership, vii, xii, xv, 4, 9, 35, 114, 160 learning, 100, 122 legislation, ix, xv, 110, 113, 119, 120, 124, 126, 159 levees, 57 liberation, 53 lice, 39 lifetime, 37 Lincoln, Abraham, 31, 34, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 53, 61, 85, 102, 137, 140 Lincoln, Robert, 135 listening, 102, 106 Little Ben, 37, 44, 52 living conditions, 4, 62 loans, 120 location, 115 loneliness, 74 Loon Lake in the Adirondacks, 144, 153 Lord, Elizabeth Scott, 153 Louisiana, 9, 20, 41, 57, 119, 127 love, 21, 22, 32, 36, 38, 56, 74, 92, 105, 130, 139, 146, 154 loyalty, 54 lung disease, 144

M machinery, 87 major cities, 65 management, 6, 7, 84 manners, 54 manufacturing, 49 marches, 35 market(s), 12, 29, 89, 100, 111, 112, 114 markets marriage, 3, 15, 23, 25, 40, 62, 153, 154, 155 mass, 35, 37, 121, 127 mathematics, 21 McKee, Mary (Mamie), 81, 93, 98, 128, 146 McKee, Mary Lodge, 91

173

McKinley Tariff, 111, 147 McKinley, William, 110, 111, 138, 146, 147, 156, 157 meals, 4, 35 meat, 109 melting, 125 membership, 4, 22, 139 memory, 74 men, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 12, 20, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 51, 52, 54, 60, 64, 65, 71, 73, 80, 82, 84, 85, 87, 88, 101, 103, 116, 121, 122, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 140, 142, 157, 158 metals, 47 Mexico, 109, 124, 128 Miami, 8, 9, 11, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 33, 56, 83, 107, 163 Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 56, 83 military, vii, x, 2, 8, 9, 12, 32, 34, 35, 39, 43, 44, 53, 80, 88, 109, 128 military aid, 128 Military Order, 155 Miller, S. D., 156 Miller, William Henry Harrison, 52, 56, 59, 62, 65, 70, 71, 73, 82, 83, 84, 106, 107, 114, 119, 131, 146, 158 Milligan, Lambdin P., 53 Milligan, Seth, 94 mining, 11, 118 minority, 63 minors, 113 Mississippi River, 56, 57 Mississippi River Commission, 56, 57 models, xii molasses, 111 mold, 95 money, 8, 9, 27, 34, 35, 36, 49, 52, 95, 105, 118, 126, 153 morale, 35 Morton, Levi, 70, 71, 78, 80, 81, 86, 150, 154 mosquitoes, 42 motion, 57 motives, 32

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

174

Anne C. Moore

movement, 54, 121, 143 Muir, John, 124 murals, 150 murder, 52, 107, 126, 128 music, 21, 22, 23, 36, 62, 64, 72, 80, 91, 93, 98, 99 musicians, 99

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

N National Security Council, xi natural resources, 63 needs, xii, 3, 94, 95 negotiating, xv, 111 negotiation, 127 nervousness, 144 New Zealand, 128 newspapers, xv, 51, 54, 65, 77, 85, 99, 104, 119, 125, 127, 130, 136, 149 Nicaragua, 134 nickel, 117 Noble, John Willock, 82, 83, 88, 124, 141, 142 noise, 87 North America, 117, 135 North Bend, Ohio, 15, 55 Notification Committee, 71 nursing, 22, 144 nursing care, 22, 144

O obedience, 143 observations, 11 oil, 13, 47, 73 Oklahoma, 104 operator, 65, 73, 102, 104 oppression, 125 organization, 22, 139 organizations, 155 Orth, Godlove, 53, 59 output, 119 Owen, David, 94 Owen, Richard, 36

ownership, 16 Oxford, OH, 11, 21 oxygen, 156 oyster, 28, 42

P Pacific, 63, 70, 83, 115, 116, 128, 130, 131, 134 pain, 110, 156 Pan American Conference, 108 paper money, 118 parents, 16, 19, 27, 62, 90, 113 partnership, 28, 33, 56 passive, 142 patents, 110 patriotism, 48, 79, 87, 139, 150, 159 Pelouard, Madame., 89 penalties, 56 Pennsylvania Railroad, 74, 130 pensioners, 113 pensions, 79, 113, 159 permit, 50, 135 perseverance, 90 personal relations, 103 Peru, 109, 131, 132 Phelps, Margaret, 66 Phelps, William Walter, 70, 85, 112, 116 Philippines, x physics, 21 Pinchot, Gifford, 124 planning, 53, 106, 117, 142, 153 plants, 11, 49, 94, 97, 98, 101, 109, 139 pleasure, 41, 48, 61, 62, 100, 110, 130 police, 81, 119, 125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 132, 133, 156 political leaders, xv, 2, 60, 143 political parties, 69 politics, 6, 8, 12, 22, 29, 48, 60, 65, 69, 125 pools, 64 poor, 16, 17, 38, 72, 114, 126 popular vote, ix, 1, 73, 146 population, 4, 5, 9, 26 Porter, Albert G., 33, 52, 56, 58, 69, 71, 85, 127

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography Porter, Dixon, 87 Porter, Joseph, 16 ports, 111, 133, 134 Portugal, 112 potatoes, 23, 93 poverty, 28, 49 power, viii, ix, x, xv, 2, 5, 47, 88, 105, 112, 116, 117, 124, 128, 143, 159 prayer, 22, 28, 43, 51, 88, 89, 156 pregnancy, 32 prejudice, 114, 115 preparation, 30, 32, 39 presidency, vii, viii, x, xv, 12, 65, 85, 92, 104, 117, 125, 143, 146 pressure, 57, 65, 112, 127 prestige, x, 55, 130, 133, 139, 140 prices, 16, 49, 111, 118, 120, 146 principle, 39, 158 prisoners, 35 prisoners of war, 36 privacy, 90, 95 Proctor, Henry, 10 Proctor, Redfield, 82, 83, 132, 141 producers, 110 production, 47, 49, 114, 118 profits, 69 program, 88, 124 property rights, 135 proposition, 45, 110 prosperity, 47, 118, 129, 147 protectionism, 79, 110, 111 public finance, 112 public opinion, ix, 57, 84 public schools, 115 punishment, 128 Putzki, Kate, 101 Putzki, Paul, 99, 100, 101, 138

Q Quay, Matthew, 73, 85, 86, 142 questioning, 57

175

R race, 54, 55, 59, 125 rain, 41, 71, 78, 80 range, 38, 60, 117 rash, 39 Rea, John, 27 reading, 28, 39, 50, 74, 89, 98, 140 recall, 103, 132, 133 reception, 31, 42, 61, 62, 80, 88, 101, 106, 139, 140, 146, 151, 153 reciprocity, 92, 111, 112, 159 recognition, 53, 69, 124, 136, 143, 160 reconciliation, 29 reduction, 110 reelection, 142, 149 reflection, ix refugees, 131, 132 regulations, 109, 136 Reid, Whitelaw, 85, 112, 135, 142 relationship, 3, 16, 17, 26, 108, 141, 154 relatives, 20, 32, 42, 74, 102, 118 rent, 27 repair, 137 reparation, 133 replacement, 89 Republican Party, 29, 31, 52, 55, 58, 84 Republicans, 29, 53, 54, 55, 59, 64, 69, 78, 103, 110, 113, 114, 116, 120, 146 reputation, 52, 101 resentment, 106 reserves, 124, 125, 159 resistance, 53, 120 resolution, 136 resources, 125 respiration, 118 respiratory, 144 responsibility, 6, 107, 108, 114, 159 retirement, 11, 66 returns, 1, 73, 146 revenue, 87 rights, 7, 63, 79, 101, 114, 128, 129, 134, 136, 140, 159 Riley, James Whitcomb, 52, 64, 145, 157, 158 risk, 36, 125

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

176

Anne C. Moore

Roosevelt, Theodore, 86, 133, 138 rubber, 153 Rusk, Jeremiah, 82, 83, 88, 106, 112, 128, 142

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

S sacrifice, 15, 35, 54, 113 sadness, 20, 21, 26 safety, 10, 41, 74, 104, 131 sales, 6 Samoa, 116, 117, 160 Samoan islands, 116, 117 sample, 138 satisfaction, 48 savings, 125 scandal, 53, 54 scarcity, 43, 49 scattering, 86 Schley, Winfield Scott, 131 scholarship, vii, 21 school, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 32, 48, 51, 55, 62, 87, 101, 104, 105, 109, 115, 120, 122, 126, 140, 150, 157 Scott, Caroline, 22, 23 Scott, Henry, 33, 34, 40 Scott, John Witherspoon, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28, 71, 78, 88, 89, 91, 144, 146, 153 Scott, Sir Walter, 17 search, 2, 54, 55 Secretary of the Treasury, 83, 95, 118, 123, 141 security, 28, 29, 50, 102 seed, 92 self, 1, 4, 11, 23, 136, 140 Senate, viii, 11, 42, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 79, 82, 85, 100, 103, 111, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 132, 136, 147 separation, viii, 26, 27, 29, 74 series, vii, xii services, 12, 17, 28, 35, 43, 44, 119, 120, 124, 145 Seventieth Indiana, 38 Seventieth Indiana Regiment, 52, 78 shade, 44, 45 shaping, 47

shareholders, 135 shares, 114 sharing, 56 sheep, 4, 16, 109 Sheets, William, 26 shelter, 32 Sherman Act, 119 Sherman Antitrust Act, 113 Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 118 Sherman, John, 113, 114, 118, 119 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 36, 38, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 57 shortage, 32 shoulders, 38, 73, 141 siblings, 16, 26 sign, 112, 115, 124, 141 silver, 62, 81, 93, 96, 109, 118, 130, 143 sites, 8, 32, 56 skills, 2, 3, 27, 33, 51, 53, 57, 100, 122, 126 skimming, 105 skin, 12, 13, 39, 79 slaves, 6, 21 smoke, 85, 118 smoking, 19 social class, 126 social events, 48, 60, 123, 153 social life, 28 solitude, 154 Sousa, John Philip, 64, 80 Spain, 111, 112 speculation, 65 speech, 1, 7, 12, 31, 35, 43, 44, 45, 47, 56, 58, 59, 61, 64, 70, 71, 72, 74, 79, 87, 88, 106, 123, 140, 141, 150, 155 speed, 117 standards, 22, 120, 126 Stanford, Leland, 94, 152 stars, 137 State dinner, 93 statehood, 63, 69, 79, 86, 113, 159 statutes, 135 steel, 87, 108, 117, 142 stock, 3, 6, 16, 49, 65 stock exchange, 49 storage, 4, 96

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Bibliography strain, 2, 146, 156 strategies, 160 streams, 16, 136 strength, ix, 55, 133, 144 stress, 2 Studebaker, Clement, 77, 108, 130 students, 21, 22, 100, 101 sugar, 109, 110, 112, 147 suicide, 131 summer, 27, 34, 48, 56, 90, 97, 107, 120, 142, 152, 153 supervision, 90, 114 supply, 124, 131 Supreme Court, viii, 29, 40, 48, 51, 53, 63, 86, 107 surplus, 110 surprise, 39, 85, 93, 103 survival, 122 survivors, 5, 78, 79 suspects, 127 swamps, 36, 42 switching, 143 symbols, 12, 72 sympathy, 20, 22, 32, 106, 145 systems, 47

T tactics, 39, 136 tariff, 63, 110, 112, 144, 146, 147 teachers, 22 teaching, 22, 23, 101, 150 technical assistance, xvi technology, xi, 47 telephone, 101 tenure, 89 terminally ill, 143 textbooks, xv textiles, 47 theft, 119 theory, 2, 144 thinking, 21, 36 threat, xi, 53, 115, 116, 120, 127 Tibbott, Frank, 59, 70, 72, 82, 120, 128, 149, 158

177

timber, 124 time, vii, xi, 2, 8, 13, 15, 19, 20, 25, 26, 30, 33, 35, 37, 40, 43, 44, 51, 54, 61, 65, 66, 69, 73, 74, 82, 83, 84, 88, 91, 92, 94, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 107, 108, 112, 113, 124, 125, 130, 134, 137, 140, 143, 150, 151, 154, 156 tobacco, 4, 6 toddlers, 91 Tracy, Benjamin Franklin, 2, 82, 83, 117, 118, 120, 123, 131, 132, 134, 140, 142, 146, 154 Tracy, Delina, 118 trade, 6, 7, 110, 112, 113, 114, 129, 147, 159 trade agreement, 110, 112, 147 trademarks, 110 trading, 4 tradition, 79, 82 training, 4, 6, 32, 34, 35, 42 traits, vii transactions, 52 transportation, 131 treaties, 111, 159 trees, 16, 38, 44, 46, 97, 104 trial, 28, 52 trichinosis, 111 trust, 65, 114, 138, 159 tuberculosis, 83, 144, 153 Turkey, 112 typhoid fever, 153

U U.S.S. Despatch., 86 uncertainty, 100 uniform, 133 unions, 143 United States, vii, ix, xii, xv, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 27, 33, 42, 44, 53, 57, 59, 60, 61, 64, 70, 79, 80, 83, 86, 87, 88, 99, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 143, 146, 150, 155, 158, 159, 160, 163 Uruguay, 109

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest

178

Anne C. Moore

V vacancies, 141 values, 122 Venezuela, 53, 109, 155 vessels, 4, 46, 86, 110, 116, 120, 132, 134, 135, 141 victims, 56, 104, 127 violence, 115, 142 voice, ix, 1, 28, 39, 58, 130 voicing, 59 voters, 40, 120 voting, viii, ix, 79, 114, 159

Copyright © 2008. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

W wages, 142, 143 walking, 35, 88, 91 Wanamaker, John, 82, 83, 97, 119, 120, 123, 128, 142, 149 war, 7, 33, 34, 35, 45, 47, 52, 53, 69, 87, 116, 117, 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 159 war years, 47 Washington, 63, 113, 124, 128 Washington Centennial, 86, 90, 116 Washington News, 53 Washington Park, 150 Washington Post, 80, 98, 101 Washington Street, 28, 31, 33 Washington, D. C., 12, 13, 26, 43, 44, 60, 61, 62, 66, 69, 73, 74, 77, 78, 83, 84, 88, 90, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 109, 116, 120, 127, 128, 130, 133, 138, 139, 140, 145 Washington, George, 4, 8, 12, 46, 86, 87, 88, 116 Washington, Martha, 8 Washington, Pennsylvania, 146 Washington, Territory, 63 water, 3, 16, 27, 41, 43, 50, 57, 82, 91, 96, 100, 104, 105, 124, 134, 135 wealth, 5

weapons, 32 wear, 45, 86, 133, 151 web, 93 weeping, 144 welfare, 21, 113 wheat, 3, 16, 46 White House, xi, 1, 2, 12, 13, 17, 50, 51, 52, 56, 60, 66, 70, 72, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 108, 113, 118, 123, 130, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 144, 145, 146, 149, 150, 152, 153, 156, 163, 164, 165 wholesale, 89 wilderness, 4 wildlife, 134 Williams, Blue Jeans, 54, 55 Williams, George B., 78 Windom, William, 82, 83, 88, 118, 123, 141 winter, 10, 22, 48, 50, 144, 149 wires, 72 withdrawal, 8, 132 witnesses, 52 wives, 35, 49, 52, 88, 99, 137 women, 1, 4, 5, 21, 49, 62, 71, 73, 80, 86, 99, 101, 121, 122, 139, 140 wood, 16, 27, 41, 96 work, 12, 16, 23, 27, 29, 32, 33, 49, 50, 51, 63, 89, 90, 94, 96, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 108, 110, 116, 125, 126, 127, 130, 136, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, 149, 151, 154 workers, 54, 125, 143 working conditions, 143 World War I, xi worry, 155 writing, viii, 19, 26, 27, 35, 50, 136

Y Yergason, E.S. for W. H. Post, 95 young men, 28 young women, 28

Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President : Centennial President, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest