Part 17 (1/2)

We had been neighbors in Springfield, and when General Palmer was elected to the Senate, he felt quite free to write to me. I retain the letter and quote it here:

”Springfield, _March 14, 1891_.

”Hon. S. M. Cullom, ”Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

”My dear Sir:--

”I am just in receipt of your kind favor of the eleventh inst., and thank you for its friendly and neighborly expressions. More than once since my election, Mrs. Palmer has expressed the hope that when she meets Mrs. Cullom at Was.h.i.+ngton, or here, they may continue to enjoy the friendly relations that have so long existed between them, to which I add the expression of my own wish that in the future, as in the past, we may be to each other good neighbors and good friends.

”I do not know what the usage is in such cases, but I suppose I might forward my credentials at an early date to the Secretary of the Senate, who is, I believe, my old army friend, Gen. Anson G.

McCook. If such is the proper course I would be glad to do so through you, if agreeable to you. I will depend upon you also for such information as your experience will enable you to furnish me.

I will be glad to know about what time you will probably leave Was.h.i.+ngton.

”I am, very respectfully, ”John M. Palmer.”

While General Sherman and General Palmer were not particularly friendly, General Palmer was always ready to forgive and forget and do the agreeable thing.

On the occasion of a celebration in Springfield, where there was a very large crowd, General Sherman was present, and, with General Oglesby and General Palmer, occupied a seat on the platform.

Looking over the crowd, General Palmer recognized General McClernand in the audience. McClernand and Sherman were not friends, McClernand being bitterly inimical to Sherman. General Palmer, thinking only of doing an agreeable act, at one pushed his way through the crowd to where General McClernand was seated and invited him to come onto the platform. It was only after a great deal of urging that he consented to go, but he finally said, ”I will go, _pro forma_.”

He did go ”_pro forma,_” and paid his respects to General Sherman, but remained only a short time.

General Palmer retired from the Senate at the end of his term, the Legislature of Illinois being Republican.

I recollect that I went home from Was.h.i.+ngton to Springfield, and on arriving there was informed that General Palmer had just died.

I immediately called at the house. He had only just pa.s.sed away, and was still lying on his death-bed. I attended the funeral at his old home in Carlinville, and I do not know that I was ever more impressed by such a ceremony. He was buried with all the pomp attending a military funeral.

CHAPTER XIV GOVERNOR RICHARD J. OGLESBY

I knew the late Governor Oglesby intimately for very many years.

As a young man, he served as a lieutenant in the gallant Colonel E. D. Baker's regiment in the Mexican War, was at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and fought the way thence to the City of Mexico. He remained with the army until he saw the Stars and Stripes waving over the hall of the Montezumas. Returning to Illinois, he took up again the practice of law; but with the gold fever of 1849 he took the pioneers' trail to California, where, in a short time, he was financially successful, then returned home, and later went on an extended tour through the Holy Land, where he remained nearly two years.

On his return home, in 1860, he was elected to the State Senate.

I recall the night the returns came in. He had a fisticuff encounter with ”Cerro Gordo” Williams, in which he came out victorious, having knocked Williams into the gutter. By many of the onlookers this was regarded as the first fight of the Rebellion.

With his military experience in the Mexican War, it was only natural that he should be one of the first to enlist for service in the Civil War. He resigned from the Senate, raised a regiment, was appointed its Colonel, and partic.i.p.ated in a number of important engagements under General Grant, acquitting himself with great honor at Donelson, and was subsequently appointed a Brigadier- General. He was severely wounded at Corinth, and his active service in the Civil War was over. Although he was elevated to the rank of Major-General, he was a.s.signed to duty at Was.h.i.+ngton, where he remained until 1864, and saw no more service on the field of battle.

He enjoyed the distinction of being elected Governor of Illinois three times, first in 1864, again in 1872, resigning the following year, after having been elected to the United States Senate; and after he had served one term in the Senate and retired to private life, he was again elected Governor of Illinois in 1884.

Governor Oglesby was a remarkable man in many respects. Judged by the standards of Lincoln and Grant, he was not a great man. In some respects he was a man of far more than ordinary ability. He was a wonderfully eloquent speaker, and I have heard him on occasion move audiences to a greater extent than almost any orator, aside from the late Robert G. Ingersoll.

I have already referred, in these reminiscences, to the speech he delivered at the Philadelphia Convention of 1872. He produced a greater impression on that a.s.semblage than any orator who spoke.

On rare occasions he would utter some of the most beautiful sentiments. For instance, his speech on ”Corn” at Chicago was a masterpiece in its way. But generally speaking, with all his eloquence, he seldom delivered a speech that would read well in print; hence it was that his speeches were hardly ever reported.

His earnestness, his appearance, his gestures, his personality, all carried the audience with him, as much as, if not more, than the actual words he used, and hence it was that when a speech appeared in print, one was very apt to be disappointed.

His record in the Civil War was honorable, but not exceptional.

He was not the das.h.i.+ng, brilliant soldier that General Logan was, and I may remark here in pa.s.sing that after the war was over there was considerable jealousy between General Logan and General Oglesby.

They were rivals in politics. On one occasion both Governor Oglesby and General Logan made each a splendid address, and each was cheered to the echo by the audience, but Governor Oglesby sat silent and glowering when the audience applauded General Logan, and General Logan occupied the same att.i.tude when the audience cheered Governor Oglesby. I was present, and was glad to cheer them both.