The Marietta Register, July 1, 1864
"Old Marietta Papers" was a series of columns compiled and published in 1863 and 1864 by Rodney M. Stimson, editor of "The Marietta Register."
The Campaign of 1840
The election of the year 1804 is recollected by all old enough at that time to recollect anything. It was one of the most memorable elections ever held in the country, was conducted with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, and there was much excitement throughout all the states. The campaign began early, Gen. Harrison, the Whig candidate for President, being nominated in December 1839. The Ohio Democratic State Convention was held Jan. 8th; the Whig State Convention, which nominated Tom Corwin, to oppose the re-election of Gov. Shannon, on Feb. 22d. The number of Delegates who actually went to the Whig State Convention at Columbus from this county was sixty; and that was before the days of railroads in Ohio.
This campaign is known as the "hard cider and log cabin campaign." It may be a matter of interest to our readers at this day to know how the "hard cider" and "log cabin" business, which attended the tremendous Whig meetings of 1840, took start. The Baltimore Republican, a leading Van Buren paper, immediately after the nomination of Gen. Harrison, contained a long article in which was this in reference to the General:
"Give him a barrel of hard cider, and settle upon him a pension of $2,000 a year, and our word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days in a log cabin."
The Whigs caught at the sneer, and "Hard cider" and "log cabin" rang upon hundreds of thousands of tongues - they drank hard cider, treated their friends with it, and rode to conventions in log cabins on wheels, ornamented with skins of wild animals, deer horns, old rifles, etc.
The campaign was fairly opened in Washington County in February. The Whig Central Committee consisted of Noah L. Wilson, Henry Fearing, William R. Browning, Isaac Maxon, R. H. Dodge, John Cunningham, and John Dodge. The Chairman of the "Central Committee of Vigilance and Correspondence" was James M. Booth, Esq. The papers of the county were the Intelligencer, edited by Beman Gates; the Gazette, by Isaac Maxon; and the Democrat, by Daniel Radebaugh, Jr. The Register of the Land Office here, at that time, was Charles B. Flood, somewhat notorious as a Democratic newspaper editor, and he probably wrote most of the political articles for the Democrat. We have no copy of either it or the Gazette, published during the campaign; but the Intelligencer was conducted with much spirit and influence.
The Whig Senatorial Electors were Deacon William R. Putnam of this county and Reazin Beall of Wayne County. Dr. Perley B. Johnson of McConnelsville and Hon. Samuel F. Vinton of Gallipolis were Whig District Electors in this part of Ohio - Mr. Vinton for this District.
A Tippecanoe Club was formed in Marietta on the 19th of March - James M. Booth, President; John Greinder, Secretary; H. Fearing, Treasurer; E. W. T. Clark, Doorkeeper; George M. Woodbridge, David Barber, and Nahum Ward, Corresponding Committee.
A Tippecanoe Club was also formed at Little Muskingum about this time, and a Flag was presented to it by the ladies of the neighborhood.
April 7, 1840, there was held in Marietta the largest political meeting ever held here to that date - the lowest estimate, 1,500 people. The procession from Little Muskingum and east of that came into town with a log cabin, escorted by the Marietta City Band. The procession from Harmar, Warren and Belpre was headed by the Marietta College Band. The Adams and Waterford people came with a band of their own. Major Alexander Hill was Marshal of the Day; Francis Devol and Levi Barber, Assistant Marshals. Joseph Barker, Jr., President.
The meeting was held in the open air, near the Court House. Dr. Perley B. Johnson of McConnelsville was the principal speaker. Toasts were given, and songs enlivened the occasion.
April 22, a Tippecanoe Pole 87 feet high, with a flag-staff 13 feet long on top, was raised opposite Marietta, in Virginia.
April 27, in the night an attempt was made to destroy the Tippecanoe pole in Harmar, but it failed; it was bored through and through, so that the wind would blow it over, but the Tippecanoe boys discovered and saved it.
May 9, 1840, Tippecanoe pole was raised at the lower end of Front Street, Marietta, in place of one that had been destroyed by the Van Buren men; at Lowell, May 3, a pole 120 feet high was raised.
June 4, 1840, the Intelligencer graced itself with a fine picture of a log cabin, engraved by Joseph Hunter of Marietta.
June 17, 1840, there was held at Chester, Meigs County, the largest political meeting that had then ever been held in Southeastern Ohio. There were large delegations from Athens, Lawrence, Gallia, Washington and other counties. Banners, mottoes, and Bands of Music were very numerous. Among the speakers were Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, Hon. Simeon Nash, and Hiram Walbridge, then a student at Athens and since in Congress from New York City. The people from this county went down upon the steamboat Zanesville to Kerr's Run, then marched to the place of meeting.
June 22, 1840, Hon. John Brough, then Auditor of State, addressed a Van Buren meeting in Marietta. The Intelligencer spoke of him as "a man of talent."
July 9, 1840, the Tippecanoe poles had now become very numerous in this county, and within a week, four had been cut down by their enemies.
The Parkersburg Gazette, heretofore neutral, came out for "Harrison and Reform."
About this time there was a serious affair in Decatur Township. William Johnson among others, had a Tippecanoe pole in his yard, which excited the ire of some of the opposite party. He took it down to raise a taller one, and that night some of them went to his premises, but finding the pole down, they vented their spite by shearing off the mane of one of his horses, maimed a cow, etc. They then went to Abel Dufer's and he hearing them cutting his pole down, went out and followed them, when they threw stones at him and broke two of his ribs.
Arius Nye, Whig, and Isaac Humphreys, Dem., had political discussions at the Court House. Meetings were common all over the county in July.
Aug. 11, 1840, the Whig County Convention was held in Marietta. The speakers were Hon. Cavalry Morris, Whig candidate for re-election to Congress; C. B. Tompkins, of McConnelsville, and George M. Woodbridge. While Mr. Morris was in Marietta, the linchpins of his carriage were all removed; and the axle of the carriage of A. G. Brown of Athens was cut nearly in two, so that it broke down on his return to Athens.
Whig meetings were now very numerous in the county, among the speakers were George M. Woodbridge, Charles Hendrie, David Barber, John Crawford, and Nahum Ward The Democratic meetings were addressed by William A. Whittlesey, R. E. Harte and others.
Sept. 3, 1840, a large number of people went from this vicinity to Wheeling on the steamer Wacousta to attend a Whig meeting. On the return from Wheeling, Saturday night, Gen. Murphy of Chillicothe and a Mr. Penrose of Pennsylvania addressed a large crowd at the Court House.
Songs enlivened all the meetings, many of them written for the occasion. Among the Whig poets was John Greiner, who then was a citizen of Marietta; and since that editor of the Columbus Gazette and Secretary and acting Governor of new Mexico. We believe he now resides in New Mexico.
Sept. 10, 1840, Gov. Shannon, Dem., addressed the people of Washington County at Marietta.
Sept. 15, 1840, under the head of "Our Position Delined," the Intelligencer published an article, signed by 111 Democrats, all of whom voted for Van Buren in 1836, who now declared for Gen. Harrison. Thirty more names were subsequently published.
Sept. 19, 1840, Tom Corwin addressed "by far the largest political meeting ever held in Washington County," near the Court House. The day before he spoke at Newport. Hon. Samuel F. Vinton spoke in Marietta at the Corwin meeting.
The excitement ran high - very high - from this on to the election, Oct. 13, when the Whigs gave Corwin 467 majority in the county. As it was now demonstrated that the Whigs had the power, efforts fell off for the two or three weeks preceding the Presidential election, at which time the vote was 73 less than at the State election, although Harrison's majority was 652 - nearly two hundred larger than Corwin's.
At the State election, the opposing candidates were as follows, the Whigs being those first named: For Governor, Thomas Corwin; Wilson Shannon. For Representative to Congress, Cavalry Morris of Athens; George House of Gallipolis. For Representative to the Legislature, Arius Nye; William A. Whittlesey. For Sheriff, John Test; L. McClenathan. For Recorder, D. P. Bosworth; Joseph D. Beach. For Commissioner, John D. Chamberlain; ____ McIntire. For Prosecuting Attorney, David Barber; C. F. Buell; For Coroner, Lawrence Chamberlain; Warden Willis. The Whig majorities were - Corwin, 467; Morris, 479; Nye, 479; Test, 479; Bosworth, 480; J. D. Chamberlain, 473; Barber, 496; L. Chamberlain, 475.
The following table gives the vote for Governor, and for President, in the several townships of the county.
Adams: Corwin, 95; Shannon, 104; Harrison, 104; Van Buren, 81.
Aurelius: Corwin, 78; Shannon, 57; Harrison, 73; Van Buren, 50.
Barlow: Corwin, 72; Shannon, 56; Harrison, 72; Van Buren, 48.
Belpre: Corwin, 159; Shannon, 71; Harrison, 150; Van Buren, 58.
Decatur: Corwin, 52; Shannon, 20; Harrison, 55; Van Buren, 17.
Fearing: Corwin, 95; Shannon, 53; Harrison, 103; Van Buren, 50.
Grandview: Corwin, 31; Shannon 85; Harrison, 31; Van Buren, 72.
Independence: Corwin, 13; Shannon 45; Harrison, 11; Van Buren, 45.
Jolly: Corwin, 20; Shannon 63; Harrison, 20; Van Buren, 64.
Lawrence: Corwin, 31; Shannon 65; Harrison, 36; Van Buren, 74.
Liberty: Corwin, 21; Shannon, 46; Harrison, 24; Van Buren, 51.
Ludlow: Corwin, 5; Shannon, 89; Harrison, 12; Van Buren, 78.
Marietta: Corwin, 470; Shannon, 188; Harrison, 512; Van Buren, 175.
Newport: Corwin, 105; Shannon, 78; Harrison, 95; Van Buren, 58.
Roxbury: Corwin, 141; Shannon, 94; Harrison, 143; Van Buren, 95.
Salem: Corwin, 72; Shannon, 50; Harrison, 75; Van Buren, 53.
Union: Corwin, 75; Shannon, 78; Harrison, 71; Van Buren, 68.
Watertown: Corwin, 119; Shannon, 104; Harrison, 118; Van Buren, 100.
Waterford: Corwin, 194; Shannon, 113; Harrison,194; Van Buren, 101.
Warren: Corwin, 92; Shannon, 73; Harrison, 89; Van Buren, 68.
Wesley: Corwin, 130; Shannon, 72; Harrison, 138; Van Buren, 68.
Total: Corwin, 2070; Shannon, 1603; Harrison, 2126; Van Buren, 1474.
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