586 lines
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586 lines
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9 page printout, page 21 to 29
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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CHAPTER 3
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FROM EIGHTEEN FIFTY-EIGHT TO
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EIGHTEEN SIXTY-SIX.
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Ingersoll's reputation for brilliancy having preceded him,
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success in Peoria was his from the start. His services were eagerly
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sought. But he did not on that account neglect the theoretical side
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of his profession: he continued, as he had done even after entering
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practice at Shawneetown, the assiduous study of law. He was
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intensely enthusiastic. He was enthusiastic on other subjects also;
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but he did not allow them to occupy his attention to the jeopardy
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of his immediate purpose. He knew that if he was to accomplish what
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he hoped some time to accomplish in other fields, -- the field of
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rationalism particularly, -- he must stand upon a firm and broad
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economic and intellectual foundation; and he felt that the
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realization of this prerequisite would be coincident with a
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thoroughly established legal practice and reputation.
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The "bench and bar" of Peoria, during Ingersoll's residence
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there, included, at various times, many men of national fame or
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local eminence -- Lincoln, Douglas, Davis, the Puterbaughs,
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Pinckney, Purple, Breeze, Manning, Merriam, McCune, O'Brien, and
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others. Ingersoll himself was wont to say, in after-years, that he
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never knew of another local legal aggregation of such ability.
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To shine in so brilliant a galaxy, implied a star of no mean
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magnitude; and this Ingersoll assuredly did. As partners (beside
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his brother), he had, at different periods, McCune, George
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Puterbaugh, and Judge Sabin D. Puterbaugh, the author of Common Law
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Pleading and Practice and Chancery Pleading and Practice. He was
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always associated with the ablest men, and was the central figure
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in the most noted trials. He was preeminently successful, seldom
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losing a case. His practice, being of general character, offered
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fitting opportunity for the exercise of his wonderful powers and
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resources; and within a few years from his arrival in Peoria, he
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was recognized not only as the leader of his profession there, but
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as the peer in every respect, and the superior in most respects, of
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any lawyer who ever belonged to the bar of Illinois.
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In 1860 Ingersoll was Democratic candidate for representative
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in Congress from the Fourth Congressional District of Illinois, his
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opponent being Judge William Kellogg, a Republican. The campaign in
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which Ingersoll and Kellogg were opponents is on record as the most
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exciting, aggressive, and bitterly contested, in the political
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history of Illinois. "The people of the State," says Hon. Clark E.
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Carr, (The Illini, A Story of the Prairies, p. 300) a lifelong
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resident thereof, "seemed to give themselves up entirely to this
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political campaign. As I look back upon the struggle, I wonder now
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that lands were cultivated or that anyone found time for any of the
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ordinary avocations of life." From the standpoint of age and
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experience, as compared with those of his opponent, Ingersoll was
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at great disadvantage. He was only twenty-seven years old, and had
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never been a candidate for an office of any considerable
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importance, while Judge Kellogg was many years his senior, and an
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experienced and successful politician, having assisted in
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organizing the Republican party, and having served two terms in
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Congress, to which he was seeking reelection. But, despite his
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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great disadvantages, Ingersoll out-talked, outreasoned, and worsted
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his antagonist at every turn. However, Lincoln swept the state, to
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the perfect satisfaction of Ingersoll himself less than a year
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later, as we shall see; and the young candidate, with many others,
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was sorely defeated.
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But the supreme fact to be noted in connection with this
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period of Ingersoll's life is, that, notwithstanding the party with
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which he was then allied, he went much further in the denunciation
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of slavery than did his very opponent in "the party of Lincoln."
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While Judge Kellogg admitted that he would enforce the law in favor
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of slavery, Ingersoll declared that he would break the law, in
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favor of liberty. While Judge Kellogg admitted, that, as a law-
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abiding citizen, he would enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, Ingersoll
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declared: --
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"Rather than interfere between any human being and his
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liberty, I would be condemned to be chained in the lowest depths of
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hell!"
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A graphic account of the Ingersoll-Kellogg contest is given by
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Colonel Carr, whose Illini has already been quoted, and who was an
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active participant in the campaign in which that contest occurred.
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After setting forth Judge Kellogg's position on the question of
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slavery, Colonel Carr states, in another important historical work:
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(My Day and Generation, p. 332) --
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"We Republicans, therefore, regarded Kellogg as the champion
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of freedom and supposed that, as a matter of course, his opponent
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would appear as the champion of slavery. Never was a people more
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astonished than were we in Galesburg when we then, for the first
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time, heard Robert G. Ingersoll.
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"Immediately upon his nomination Ingersoll challenged Judge
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Kellogg to join discussion, face to face, throughout the district.
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"The first joint debate * * * was held in the old Dunn's Hill
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at Galesburg. Galesburg was the most enthusiastic Republican town
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in all that region. Most of the people were really abolitionists.
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One of the fundamental tenets of the founders of the town was
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earnest and eternal antagonism to human slavery. The town was known
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and recognized throughout the West, especially in the adjoining
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slave States of Missouri, as an 'abolition hole.' * * * In the
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debate in our city, Judge Kellogg had the opening and closing.* *
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"After * * * giving the audience to understand that he was not
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an abolitionist, and that he favored the Fugitive Slave Law, Judge
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Kellogg went on to show what a sacred compact the Missouri
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compromise was * * * and intimated that this young gentleman who
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was running against him would have difficulty in persuading the
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people of Galesburg and that Congressional District to vote for him
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and by so doing favor the extension of slavery into new
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Territories.
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"I remember with what interest I looked at that young man,
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whom we had regarded up to that moment as a pro-slavery Douglass
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Democrat, apparently unconsciously listening to what seemed to all
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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of us to be beyond the power of any one to answer. I shall never
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forget how he looked as he commenced speaking, and as he warmed
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into his subject. It seems to me now after the lapse of all these
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years, that even then he was the most brilliant, the most
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inspiring, the most majestic, and, withal, the most convincing of
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orators. As the years went by while he and I was young, and as we
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advanced to and beyond middle life, it was my fortune to hear him
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frequently, and from that hour at Galesburg I have always believed
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that Robert G. Ingersoll was the greatest orator who ever stood
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before a public audience.
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"His first sentence, as he commenced speaking, was 'The
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Fugitive Slave Law is the most infamous enactment that ever
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disgraced a statue book;' then he exclaimed -- 'The man who
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approves of or apologizes for that infamy is a brute!'
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"This [the author continues, later] was only one of the
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appalling pictures the young orator painted of slavery and the
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Fugitive Slave Law, after which he exclaimed:
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"'Judge Kellogg favors and approves all these horrors, for he
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distinctly avows himself to be in favor of the Fugitive Slave Law.
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And yet he is no worse than are all the trusted leaders of your
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boasted Republican party. Your Abe Lincoln himself, whose name is
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at the head of your ticket, distinctly declares himself in favor of
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the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, as do all the Old Line
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Whigs who make up the warp and woof of the Republican party.'"
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In concluding his account of this the first of about twenty
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similar debates, Colonel Carr thus comments upon Ingersoll's
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effort: --
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"It may be doubted whether there was ever pronounced by any
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human being so terrific a philippic against human slavery and the
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Fugitive Slave Law. I myself had heard Beecher and Garrison and
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Wendell Phillips and Lovejoy and Giddings, but I never heard it
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equalled"
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Even had we only the preceding indications of Ingersoll's
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political and sociological views at the time, the question of how
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truly he would have reflected the ideals of his Democratic
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constituents had he been elected, might be safely left to the
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inference of an intelligent public. But no trusting to inference is
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here required. Indeed, the published record of events just
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subsequent to the campaign in question, -- a record which,
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moreover, is vividly written in the memories of many surviving
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participants, -- provides us with the strongest evidence that
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Ingersoll, as a Democratic congressman, would have stood for
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precisely what he had stood, among other things, as a candidate --
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human liberty and the sublime integrity of the Great Republic.
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In this immediate connection not only, but by way of
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furnishing an authentic historic version of his change of political
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affiliations, and, incidentally, further indications of his power
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and influence as an orator, long before he achieved national
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renown, I again quote The Illini, -- page 302: --
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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23
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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"In that campaign [1860] there first appeared upon the
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hustings and before public assemblages in Illinois a man who became
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known as the greatest of American orators * * *. This wonderful man
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was none other than Robert G. Ingersoll, then the Democratic
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candidate for Congress in our District. Douglas man although he
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was, no one was so eloquent in denunciation of human slavery and of
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those who were plotting against the Union. To those of us who knew
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and heard Robert G. Ingersoll at that time, it was not surprising
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that on the day of the firing upon Fort Sumter he declared himself
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for his country and against her enemies, and that from that day
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forward he was a Republican in politics. No man can estimate the
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power and influence of Ingersoll in arousing the American people to
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a sense of their solemn responsibilities when the war came upon
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them, or in awakening them to a sense of justice and a proper
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appreciation of the rights of men. One must have heard him before
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a great audience in the open air, as we in Illinois so often did,
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to appreciate his great power. Every emotion of his soul, every
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pulsation of his heart, was for his country and for liberty; and no
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other man has ever been able in so high a degree to inspire others
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with the sentiments that animated him. No just history of Illinois
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can be written without placing high upon the scroll of fame the
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name of Robert G. Ingersoll."
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It will accordingly be seen, at least on the face of events,
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that Ingersoll was a Democrat until the attack upon Fort Sumter,
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April 12, 1861, and a Republican thence to the day of his death.
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But to those who have alike the capacity and the candor to see
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beneath the superficiality of a mere political denomination, it
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will be convincingly evident, more especially as we proceed, that,
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as a matter of actuality, he was, from first to last, not primarily
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either a Democrat or a Republican, but an unfaltering champion of
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both physical and intellectual liberty, of justice, and of the
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American Republic, as the best means of achieving and maintaining
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them.
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In the same year (1860), Ingersoll delivered at Pekin, Ill.,
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the first of his anti-theological lectures of which any report has
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been preserved. It was entitled Progress. This lecture, which,
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naturally with some slight additions, was again delivered at
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Bloomington, Ill., in 1864, defines the meaning and the goal of
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progress, discusses the conditions essential to the latter, and
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presents a masterly arraignment of superstition, and of both
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physical and mental slavery in all their forms. Those present must
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have recognized in this peroration, -- coming with the grace and
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ardor of flame from the heart and brain of early manhood, -- a
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harbinger of him who, just twenty years later, was "unflatteringly"
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pronounced, by another great orator, "the most brilliant speaker of
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the English tongue of all men on this globe: -- (See Chapter 5 of
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this work.)
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"We are standing on the shore of an infinite ocean whose
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countless waves, freighted with blessings, are welcoming our
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adventurous feet. Progress has been written on every soul. The
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human race is advancing.
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Forward, oh sublime army of progress, forward until law is
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justice, forward until ignorance is unknown, forward while there is
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a spiritual or temporal throne, forward until superstition is a
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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24
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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forgotten dream, forward until the world is free, forward until
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human reason, clothed in the people of authority, is king of
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kings."
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4.
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Biography is replete with accounts according to which, in the
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immutable succession of cause and effect, occurrences of great
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import have followed the most trivial incidents, -- according to
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which the lives of very great individuals have been influenced, for
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good or for evil, by the acts of very small ones. But of all men of
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genius, Ingersoll is probably the only one the supreme event of
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whose life hinged solely on the wanton pranks of perhaps the most
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despised of the animal kingdom. Nor does the shadow of tragedy that
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regrettably darkens the brief narrative now to be related detract
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from its romance.
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In the autumn of 1861, in Peoria County, Ill., some pigs
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belonging to a farmer, got astray and were impounded. Their owner,
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endeavoring to free them, ripped some boards off the pound,
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whereupon the pound-master interfered and was shot. An indictment
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for murder followed; and Ingersoll was retained as counsel for the
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defense. There being much public feeling over the case, a change of
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venue was made in favor of Groveland, in Tazewell County.
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Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Weld Parker then resided at Groveland,
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whence, after their marriage, in 1836, they had removed from
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Boston. -- But before proceeding with our story, it is necessary,
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in order that the event which it relates may appear in its actual
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significance, to introduce what might otherwise seem like
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irrelevant biographical and genealogical facts. Mr. and Mrs. Parker
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had been preceded to Groveland by Mr. Parker's brothers and mother.
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The latter, Mrs. Sarah Buckman Parker, was then the widow of a
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wealthy shipping merchant -- a descendant of Captain John Parker,
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who opened the Battle of Lexington with the words: "Stand your
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ground; don't fire unless fired upon; but if they mean to have a
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war, let it begin here." Another descendant of Captain Parker was
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Theodore Parker, the Unitarian. The Buckman Tavern at Lexington,
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where met the minute-men, where the wounded were taken, and where
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marks of the battle are still visible, was kept by the father of
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Mrs. Sarah Buckman Parker. The latter was a remarkably intelligent
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and liberal-minded woman. At least one of her ancestors was
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unusually liberal for his day. Joseph Weld, of England, was a
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Protestant when all the rest of his family were Catholics. He came
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to America with his brother; and when, in 1637, Anne Hutchinson was
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tried for heresy and sentenced to banishment from the Massachusetts
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Colony, Joseph Weld gave her refuge for two or three months, or
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until the wintry elements had abated sufficiently to permit of her
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departure. Sarah Buckman Parker had made a study of the different
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religions, including Christianity, with its several creeds, and had
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rejected all, becoming a disciple of Thomas Paine. Naturally,
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therefore, at Groveland, in the thirties, she was one of the first
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"infidels" of the "West"; and among her many direct descendants,
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there has never been a single orthodox believer. Even the wife of
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her son Benjamin Weld Parker, who was Miss Harriene E. Lyon,
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daughter of a prominent resident and paper manufacturer of Newton
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Lower Falls, Mass., was not a Christian. In fact, if Huxley had
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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25
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INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
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been present to offer it, both Mr. and Mrs. Parker doubtless would
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readily have accepted, as the best-fitting intellectual garment,
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his title of "Agnostic." And not only were they intellectual: they
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were mentally and socially hospitable. The latter seems well
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evidenced by the fact that one Boston friend came for a visit and
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remained forty years, another nine years, and still another three
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years. Many persons came long distances to converse with Mrs. Sarah
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Buckman Parker, who frequently visited her son. At the Parkers' was
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such a library as very few possessed in those days; and Plato says
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that "a house with a library in it has a soul." Certainly there was
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soul of strongly magnetic quality in this house; for the latter was
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the center of a very brilliant and influential circle. It stood on
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the post-road between Springfield and Peoria; and many of the best-
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known men of the time, such as Leonard Swett, David Davis, and
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Abraham Lincoln, often partook of the rare social and intellectual
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delights that were served within its ever-welcoming portals.
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Mr. and Mrs. Parker had long been ardent admirers of the young
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oratorical genius in Peoria. They recognized that he was beginning
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to utter thoughts worthy of the men whose works consecrated the
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front most shelves of their library. When, therefore, he visited
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Groveland on the legal mission already mentioned, it was inevitable
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(Mr. Parker having been an eager listener to the eloquent defense)
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that he should receive an invitation to dinner.
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At the Parkers' that evening, Robert G. Ingersoll was
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impressed by two incidents -- by one far more deeply than the
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other: He saw some books on which were the names "Volney,"
|
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|
"Voltaire," and "Thomas Paine," and he looked, for the first time,
|
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|
into the eyes of the woman he loved. On the 13th of the following
|
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|
February, in the same house, Eva A. Parker, "a woman without
|
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|
superstition," became his wife.
|
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|
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|
Referring, in after-years, to the circumstances under which
|
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|
they met, -- to the shooting of the pound-master, and the
|
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|
consequent trial at Groveland, -- Ingersoll was wont to say, in
|
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|
characteristic epigram: "In the echo of that shot was the cry of my
|
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babes."
|
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|
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|
5.
|
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|
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|
Meantime, with all his hatred of slavery, with all his love of
|
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|
liberty -- his veins thrilled with the blood that had made the
|
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|
Declaration a reality -- it was natural that the young orator
|
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|
should relinquish, for the moment, the golden thread of eloquence,
|
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|
to grasp that which was then far "mightier," for the sacred cause
|
|||
|
of "Union and Liberty" at least, than either tongue or "pen."
|
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|
Accordingly, he was one of the first to respond to the Nation's
|
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|
call, being instrumental in raising three regiments of volunteers,
|
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|
during the summer and autumn of 1861. But we are concerned chiefly
|
|||
|
with the last of these organizations.
|
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|
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|
Having obtained (in conjunction with Mr. Basile D. Meek)
|
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|
permission to form a regiment of cavalry, Ingersoll "Joined for
|
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|
service" on September 16th, and began recruiting in October. He was
|
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|
commissioned colonel, to rank from the 22d of the latter month, by
|
|||
|
Richard Yates, governor of Illinois. Recruits for the regiment
|
|||
|
began to arrive at Camp Lyon, Peoria, about November 1st; and on
|
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|
|
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|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
26
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
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|
|
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|
December 20th, the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry Volunteers, consisting
|
|||
|
of twelve full companies, Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll commanding,
|
|||
|
was mustered into the service of the United States and mounted. It
|
|||
|
remained at Camp Lyon until February 22, 1862, when it broke camp
|
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|
and marched overland to Benton Barracks, Mo., near St. Louis. --
|
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|
|
|||
|
"We see them all as they march away under the flaunting flags,
|
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|
keeping time to the grand, wild music of war -- marching down the
|
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|
streets of the great cities -- through the towns and across the
|
|||
|
prairies -- down to the fields of glory, to do and to die for the
|
|||
|
eternal right" (From 'A VISION OF WAR') It may be doubted whether
|
|||
|
there ever was another aggregation of officers and men more
|
|||
|
absolutely devoted to their commander.
|
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|
|
|||
|
March 26th mast have furnished a "crowded hour" of mingled
|
|||
|
sadness and patriotic devotion for Colonel Ingersoll; for on that
|
|||
|
day the last of his regiment departed, by boat, from St. Louis, for
|
|||
|
Pittsburg Landing, near the seat of war; and only since February
|
|||
|
13th had "the one of all the world "been" wooed and won." Mrs.
|
|||
|
Ingersoll had accompanied her husband to St. Louis,' whence she was
|
|||
|
to return home. --
|
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|
|
|||
|
"And some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave
|
|||
|
words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts the
|
|||
|
awful fear." (From 'A VISION OF WAR')
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
On April 1st the regiment landed, the first battalion at
|
|||
|
Crump's Lauding, where it joined the forces of General Lew Wallace;
|
|||
|
the remainder of the regiment, at Pittsburg Landing, about two
|
|||
|
miles from which it encamped. It was in the heat of the Battle of
|
|||
|
Shiloh, on the 6th and 7th, meeting with severe losses in both
|
|||
|
killed and wounded. In that battle, the greatest that had thus far
|
|||
|
been fought on land, Colonel Ingersoll, although it was his first
|
|||
|
experience under fire, won great admiration for his soldierly
|
|||
|
conduct and courage. His regiment was on duty between Pittsburg
|
|||
|
Landing and Corinth until the capture of the latter, and
|
|||
|
Participated in the celebrated raid in its rear. It took part in
|
|||
|
the engagements at Bolivar, Tenn., on August 30th, and at Davis
|
|||
|
Bridge, on the Hatchie River, Tenn., on September 25th, sustaining
|
|||
|
severe loss at the latter. In the Battle of Corinth, on October 3d
|
|||
|
and 4th,' Colonel Ingersoll exemplified the same admirable
|
|||
|
qualities the possession of which he had demonstrated on the field
|
|||
|
of Shiloh. In addition to his services in these two memorable
|
|||
|
battles, and in the less memorable engagements indicated, he of
|
|||
|
course performed his full share of the extremely active and arduous
|
|||
|
duties of reconnoitring, scouting, and skirmishing that ordinarily
|
|||
|
devolve upon cavalry in the field.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
During the winter of 1862-'63, his regiment was stationed at
|
|||
|
Jackson, Tenn. Having been advised that Brigadier-General
|
|||
|
(subsequently Lieutenant-General' Nathan B. Forrest, of the
|
|||
|
Confederate army, who was on an expedition into West Tennessee, was
|
|||
|
crossing Tennessee River at Clifton, with a large force, Colonel
|
|||
|
Ingersoll's immediate superior, Brigadier-General Jeremy C.
|
|||
|
Sullivan, of the Federal army, commanding the District of Jackson,
|
|||
|
ordered Colonel Ingersoll to proceed toward that river. Forrest's
|
|||
|
immediate objective point, apparently, was Jackson, which is about
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
27
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
fifty miles to the northwest of Clifton. Accordingly, Colonel
|
|||
|
Ingersoll left Jackson on the evening of December 16th, taking with
|
|||
|
him two hundred of his own regiment and one section (two guns) of
|
|||
|
the Fourteenth Indiana Battery. On the morning of the 17th, he
|
|||
|
arrived at Lexington, which is a few miles north of the middle of
|
|||
|
a direct line between Jackson and Clifton, and where he was joined
|
|||
|
by two hundred and seventy-two of the Second West Tennessee. Having
|
|||
|
resumed his march, he halted, soon after noon, about five miles
|
|||
|
east of Lexington. At nightfall, his cavalry scouts having reported
|
|||
|
the appearance of the enemy in large force a few miles in front, he
|
|||
|
fell back to within half a mile of Lexington. Here he was joined by
|
|||
|
two hundred of the Fifth Ohio, making his total force, including a
|
|||
|
reconnoitring party which had been sent ahead three days before,
|
|||
|
about eight hundred officers and men. Of these, about three hundred
|
|||
|
were poorly equipped, and had never been under fire, while two
|
|||
|
hundred more were raw recruits, having never been under fire, nor
|
|||
|
even drilled. Colonel Ingersoll's total effective force was
|
|||
|
therefore scarcely more than three hundred officers and men,
|
|||
|
including only two guns.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
About daybreak of the 18th, four and one-half miles east of
|
|||
|
Lexington, the advance pickets of the enemy were sighted; and,
|
|||
|
after considerable skirmishing, an engagement ensued. In his first
|
|||
|
assault, the enemy, who was now seen to be in great numbers, was
|
|||
|
gallantly repulsed; but Colonel Ingersoll deemed it best for the
|
|||
|
main part of his force to fall back and concentrate its efforts in
|
|||
|
another direction, in which the enemy was reported to be
|
|||
|
approaching in even greater numbers, by means of a bridge,' (over
|
|||
|
Beech Creek) which, contrary to Colonel Ingersoll's orders, one of
|
|||
|
the officers under his command had failed to destroy during the
|
|||
|
previous evening. No sooner had Colonel Ingersoll gained his new
|
|||
|
position than he found that the enemy was pouring in from all
|
|||
|
directions. It was then that Colonel Ingersoll exhibited, even more
|
|||
|
admirably than he had done at Shiloh and Corinth, soldierly
|
|||
|
judgment, remarkable coolness, and bravery. Sending a detachment to
|
|||
|
hold the bridge, he planted his two guns in the Lexington road,
|
|||
|
deployed the remainder of his little handful of men in a single
|
|||
|
line at right angles to the road, on either side, and awaited the
|
|||
|
assault. Nor did he wait long; for, in a moment, the forces of
|
|||
|
General Forrest -- a column not only longer than his own single
|
|||
|
file, but five and six ranks deep -- bore quickly down upon him,
|
|||
|
sweeping before them, on the full run, the detachment which Colonel
|
|||
|
Ingersoll had sent to hold the bridge. The members of this
|
|||
|
detachment had never before been under fire, nor felt the
|
|||
|
terrifying potency of the "rebel yell"; and it was impossible to
|
|||
|
stop them. Meanwhile, a part of Colonel Ingersoll's own cavalry, in
|
|||
|
the rear of the guns, was ordered to advance and, as soon as those
|
|||
|
on the retreat were out of the way, charge the enemy, which was
|
|||
|
then and again repulsed. About this time, Colonel Ingersoll
|
|||
|
dismounted and stood by the guns, encouraging his men, and
|
|||
|
personally directing their fire, until a desperate cavalry charge
|
|||
|
was transformed into a hand-to-hand encounter, and until the enemy
|
|||
|
swept over and around him. But as well might a child have attempted
|
|||
|
to arrest the progress of an avalanche. For, despite Colonel
|
|||
|
Ingersoll's personal gallantry, and that of many of his officers
|
|||
|
and men, particularly those of his own cavalry and of the
|
|||
|
artillery, many others, when most imperatively needed, could not be
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
28
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
INGERSOLL, A BIOGRAPHICAL APPRECIATION
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
successfully rallied; and even had the conduct of the latter been
|
|||
|
just the opposite, the outcome of the engagement could hardly have
|
|||
|
been different from what it was. For the enemy was in overpowering
|
|||
|
numbers -- variously estimated, in official Federal reports, at
|
|||
|
from five thousand to twenty thousand, including eight twelve-
|
|||
|
pounder guns. Thrice repulsed, his fourth assault (having
|
|||
|
succeeded, in spite of Colonel Ingersoll's efforts to prevent, in
|
|||
|
sending a flanking detachment on either side) was a complete
|
|||
|
victory, twenty-two officers and men being either killed or
|
|||
|
wounded, and one hundred and forty-eight others, including Colonel
|
|||
|
Ingersoll, being taken prisoners.It is significant that General
|
|||
|
Forrest, reporting to General Bragg, six days later, concerning
|
|||
|
this and the several other engagements in West Tennessee, commends
|
|||
|
his officers "for their gallantry in the fight at Lexington," one
|
|||
|
of them, Captain Frank B. Gurley, of the Fourth Alabama Cavalry,
|
|||
|
who captured the guns, having lost "his orderly-sergeant by the
|
|||
|
fire of the gun when within 15 feet of its muzzle." General Forrest
|
|||
|
mentions, in this connection, only one other fight.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is thoroughly characteristic of Ingersoll, that, even at
|
|||
|
the frightful crisis of his capture, his wit was in active
|
|||
|
evidence. "Stop firing!" he shouted to Major G. V. Rambaut, of
|
|||
|
General Forrest's command. "I'll acknowledge your d---- old
|
|||
|
Confederacy." Immediately after this, the General himself rode up,
|
|||
|
and substantially the following colloquy occurred: --
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"Who's in command of those troops?" cried Forrest, pointing
|
|||
|
toward some of the flying cavalrymen.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"I don't know," replied Ingersoll, joculady. "Who was in
|
|||
|
command?" amended the General.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"If you'll keep the secret," said Ingersoll, blandly, "I'll
|
|||
|
tell you. I was."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At that moment began a warm friendship, which terminated only
|
|||
|
with the life of General Forrest. He never lost an opportunity to
|
|||
|
visit the Federal colonel who, "in the great days," unwillingly but
|
|||
|
wittily became his guest.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Three days after his capture, Colonel Ingersoll was paroled by
|
|||
|
General Forrest, and sent to St. Louis, to command a camp of other
|
|||
|
paroled prisoners. There, despairing of exchange and return to
|
|||
|
active duty, he resigned his commission, and was honorably
|
|||
|
discharged, on June 30, 1863. But the Republic by no means lost his
|
|||
|
services; for, returning to civil life in Peoria, he embraced, with
|
|||
|
ardent and patriotic devotion, every opportunity to further, with
|
|||
|
his incomparable eloquence and great prestige, the cause of "Union
|
|||
|
and Liberty."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
**** ****
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
|||
|
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
|||
|
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
|||
|
us, we need to give them back to America.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|||
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|||
|
29
|
|||
|
|