The scene was intensely dramatic, and after the lapse of nearly forty years, the picture in my memory, though somewhat dimmed by the dust of time, is still so well preserved that it can never be effaced. There stood the man of destiny as unconscious of his own great future as any of his auditors, and around him were grouped many of the prominent men of the city whose serious iaces reflected the solemn utterances of the inspired seer or prophet who had given voice to their own convictions. All felt that coming events were casting shadows before, and that we were on the verge of civil war! Many of those present deeply pondered upon Mr. Lincoln's solemn prediction as they walked homeward that drizzly November night. "I do not believe that this Union can permanently endure, half slave and half free." Nearly all those who heard the great man on that occasion have passed away. Among them were Asahel Finch, Sherman M. Booth, E. B. Wolcott, Alexander Mitchell, W. H. Metcalf, Mr. Strickland, George Dyer, General James H. Paine, Byron Paine, C. L. Sholes, W. W. Coleman, Harrison Ludington, Daniel Newhall, David Atwood, Cicero Comstock, Jackson Hadley, Rufus King, Hans Crocker, J. A. Noonan, E. H. Goodrich, S. S. Merrill, J. A. Bryden, A. J. Aikens, P. Van Vechten, J. J. Orton, Ed. Sanderson, William A. Prentiss, A. L. Kane, Halbert E. Paine, John Plankinton, T. A. Chapman, E. D. Holton, Rev. C. A. Staples, John R. Sharpstein, John H. Tweedy, Arthur McArthur and E. H. Brodhead. What a fine opportunity for some local Carl Marr to make himself famous by painting a picture of the scene so imperfectly described above, that would forever link the immortal name of Abraham Lincoln with the proud city of Milwaukee!

CHAPTER XIV.

THE POLITICS OF THE WAR TIME.

The first year of Randall's second term, 1860, was attended with the usual excitement incident to a presidential campaign. The aggressions of the slave power had thoroughly aroused the freedom-loving spirit of the North, and the Republicans of Wisconsin determined to cast the electoral vote of the State for Lincoln and Hamlin-as it had been cast for Fremont four years before. There was unusual interest everywhere manifested on both sides. All the speaking talent among Democrats and Republicans was called into requisition, and the canvass was very thorough. In November the vote stood, Lincoln, 86,110; Douglas, 65,021; Breckenridge, 881, and Bell, 161. Lincoln's majority over Douglas was over 20,000. For the second time in the history of the State all the Republican candidates for Congress were elected, namely, John F. Potter, Luther Hanchett, and A. Scott Sloan. Potter had already served two terms in Congress and had attracted wide attention by offering to fight a duel with Roger A. Pryor with bowie-knives. Hanchett and Sloan were new faces in Washington, but both had made their mark in State politics. The defeated candidates were J. E. Arnold, J. D. Reymert and Charles H. Larrabee.

Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President March 4, 1861, and Fort Sumter was fired upon April 12 of that year.

This overt act on the part of the rebels began the most cxpensive and destructive civil war of modern times, and a call for troops was made by the President on the 16th of April. Thirtysix companies tendered their services to Governor Randall in one week, and during the last year of his administration he placed sixteen regiments of infantry in the field. During the next four years the people of Wisconsin did not bend all their energies to

help the administration to put down the Rebellion, but gave some attention to politics. Party organizations and party discipline were kept up, political conventions were held as usual, and the policy of the administration in conducting the war was fiercely discussed.

The choice for United States Senator that year took place on the 23d of January, and fell upon Timothy O. Howe, who succeeded Charles Durkee. His Republican competitors were Governor Randall and Cadwallader C. Washburn. The Democrats cast their votes for Henry L. Palmer. Judge Howe had been a candidate for the Senate against James R. Doolittle four years before, and would undoubtedly have been elected then if it had not been that he was opposed to the State rights doctrine that had been enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Booth case. Now that the blaze of civil war had illuminated that theory of State sovereignty so that "he who runs might read"— if he was not running away from the draft-Judge Howe's position was better understood and he became more popular, so popular in fact that Wisconsin kept him in the Senate for eighteen years. He was the close personal friend and adviser of Abraham Lincoln all through the critical period of the Civil War, and made the name of Wisconsin respected in Washington by his ability, high moral character, patriotism and devotion to the good of the whole people. His loyalty to the Republican party was often put to the test and never found wanting. While he was in the Senate he was offered a position on the Supreme bench of the United States, a place that he had always coveted, but if he had accepted it at that time, a Democrat would have succeeded him, and he declined the tempting offer. He was appointed Postmaster-General by President Arthur. He died suddenly at Racine March 25, 1883, while a member of the cabinet.

Judge Howe was in some respects a peculiar man. He was not popular with common people, and nobody ever called him "a good fellow.". Many thought him a cold-blooded man with which any sort of intimacy was impossible, but those who knew him personally thought him exceedingly agreeable, companionable and lovable. He won his way to eminence by his fine ability, his high

moral courage, his clean private and public life, his unyielding integrity, and his determination to do right as he saw it. The record that he made during the eighteen years he served the State and the country through the most critical period in the history of the nation will remain a monument to his memory as long as sincerity in a public servant is admired.

It was in the dark days of 1863, when the life of the nation hung tremblingly in the balance, during a debate in the Senate on the proposition to employ the negroes in the Union army, which Howe was advocating, that he was interrupted by Browning of Illinois, who declared that there was no authority in the Constitution for doing it. Howe immediately replied: "Let us do it, then, in the name of God!"

At the close of Governor Randall's administration in 1861, he announced his intention of entering the military service, and there was much speculation as to his successor in the executive office. There was a disposition among a large class of Republicans to ignore party lines, and to make the preservation of the Union the only test of loyalty; but this generosity met with only a feeble response. Accordingly, a slimly attended Union convention was held in Madison September 24, to nominate State officers, and L. P. Harvey, then Secretary of State, a Republican, was nominated for Governor, and Henry L. Palmer, a prominent Democrat, was nominated for Lieutenant-Governor, who subsequently declined, and James T. Lewis was substituted in his place; W. C. Allen for Secretary of State; S. D. Hastings for Treasurer; J. H. Howe for Attorney General; John Bracken for Bank Comptroller; Hans C. Heg for State Prison Commissioner, and J. E. Pickard for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Two days later the regular Republican State Convention put the following ticket in nomination: Governor, L. P. Harvey; Lieutenant-Governor, Edward Salomon; Secretary of State, James T. Lewis; Treasurer, S. D. Hastings; Attorney General, J. H. Howe; Bank Comptroller, W. H. Ramsey; Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. L. Pickard; State Prison Commissioner, A. P. Hodges. This ticket was elected by a majority ranging from 5,000 to 10,000.

On the night of the 21st of April Governor Harvey fell over

board from a steamboat at Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River, and was drowned. He had finished his work among the sick and wounded soldiers at Shiloh and was ready to start for home. No event ever occurred in the State that caused such uni

versal sorrow. He was a man greatly beloved by all who knew him, and public meetings were held in all parts of the State to give expression to the feelings of the people. He was the son of poor parents and had to make his own way in the world, like Lincoln, Garfield, and other noted and useful citizens. He entered the Western Reserve college at Hudson, Ohio, but ill health compelled him to leave before graduation. He then devoted himself to the honorable and useful occupation of teaching, which he followed for some years with much success. Locating in Kenosha in 1841, he opened a select school, and amused himself by employing his leisure time in writing editorials for the Southport (Kenosha) American. This gave him a taste for public affairs. He soon began to make political speeches for the edification of the country people, who flocked to the school houses at the cross roads to hear the brilliant young teacher and editor discourse upon the issues that divided the two parties. He was a man a little above medium height, of pleasing address, winning in his conversation, and made friends readily. In 1847 he removed to Rock county and at once took a leading part in the affairs of that splendid locality. The same year he was elected to help in the important work of framing a second constitution for the State, and after Wisconsin was admitted into the Union he served two terms as a member of the State Senate, and was president pro tem, of that body. In 1860-1 he was Secretary of State, and in January, 1862, he was transferred from the State department to the executive office. No man in Wisconsin ever took the gubernatorial chair with a brighter prospect of an honorable career before him than Louis P. Harvey. He had superior ability, a clear insight into public affairs, a natural adaptation ícr political life, backed by incorruptible integrity and a conscientious fidelity to truth and duty. His premature death was sincerely mourned by all parties.

Governor Harvey's untimely death opened the way, by virtue. of the constitution, for Edward Salomon, the Lieutenant-Governor,