Justin R. Whiting, F., for State Senator, over James R. McGurk, R., 87. Richard Shutt, F., for County Treasurer, over Edward C. Recor. R., 158. Henry C. Mansfield, R., for Register of Deeds, over William W. Hartson, F., 208. The following is the official canvass of the Seventh District on Member of Congress. The following table, made up from the official returns officers by townships and wards, November, 1882: to the Board of Canvassers of St. Clair County, shows the votes for various Govr'nr. Lt. Gov. Congr'ss Senator. Sheriff. Co. Clr'k Treas'r. Reg'ter. P. Atty. C. C. Commr's. Survy'r. Coroners. 178 135 182 131 180 133 187 128 150 165 202 119 52 92 115 53 38! 44 19 90 233 51 42 65 28 28 187 133 194 129 179 143 189 131 189 131 188 132 189, 131 189 131 32 28 27 209 159 209 160 224 129 227 124 225 126 226 125 68 94 101 61 101 61 101 61 101 61 101 61 88 109 88 109 88 109 98 74 81 116: 89 109; 87 110 93 114 93 114 93 114 98 103 69 98 74 98 74 88 109 88 108 90 107 89 108 88 109 88 109 3400 3519 34653495 3210 3766 3439 3596 3457 3490 3518 3442 3405 3563 3590 3382 3102 3864 3415 349334203565 3467 3487 3459 3499 3458 3514 MILITARY HISTORY. The volunteers for service in Mexico, from this county, who enlisted in Capt. Buel's Company in October. 1847, were Thomas P. Gilman, John Doyle, Samuel McArgg, Hiram Hall, Amos Hall, John Wade, Thomas R. Smith, Horace Cartwright, Stephen Reaves, Jeremiah Hanifan, William A. Woodard, Hiram W. Carpenter, John A. Sanborn, Enoch Jones, Peter Crane, Jacob Spickerman, Lyman Snow, Edwin Snow, David Buel, John Clark, George Whipple, William Stephens, George A. Campbell, George Wheeler. The officers were Capt. Buel, First Lieut. Delos Davis, Second Lieuts. J. E. King and E. Hawes. These soldiers, together with the regulars garrisoning Fort Gratiot at the commencement of hostilities, may be considered the only troops known in Michigan who took part in the war. Only a few volunteers went from Detroit. A supper was tendered to these soldiers at St. Clair, November 9, 1847; speeches were made by Judge Copeland, M. H. Miles, and others. The company was mustered into service November 13, 1847, and left for the front after Christmas. On January 16, the command left New Orleans for Vera Cruz. THE WAR FOR THE UNION. When Pericles was called upon to deliver the oration over the soldiers who had fallen in the first campaign of the Peloponnesian war, he began by extolling Athens, and having expatiated upon her glories, her institutions and her sciences, concluded by exclaiming. "For such a republic, for such a nation, the people whom we this day mourn fell and died." In referring to the roll of honor, which nearly twenty years ago combined to defeat treason in this Republic, it may not be inappropriate to recur briefly to the condition of that country when the mighty arm of military power was invoked that the majesty of the law might be maintained. The Nineteenth Century dawned upon a nation glorious in the promise of a prophetic infancy. Tyranny and oppression, twin offspring of an inhuman parent, had been strangled but a few jears before. In 1860, the development of the resources of the States was but just beginning, and, under an acceptable and wholesome form of government, progressing rapidly. The finances of the country, notwithstanding the panic of 1857, were in a healthy and promising condition. Money was plenty, times "flush," to use a suggestive expression of the day; the factory and the loom made music all the years long, and the voice of the husbandman was heard amid the fields of ripening grain. Everywhere and on every side evidences of prosperity were manifest. In the bleak North Atlantic States and the Sunny South, at the East and in the city beside the bay whose waters ebb and flow through the Golden Gate, comfort, contentment and happiness formed the trinity to be found at every fireside. The commercial and marine interests were second to none on the globe; its paper was "gilt-edged," to express it commercially, and the white sails of America's shipping were almost as numerous on the sesa as the white caps that crested the waves. Immigration from Continental Europe landed on our shores in an endless stream, contributing to the wealth as well as to the horny-handed element of strength and industry, without which nations go down to welcome penury and forgetfulness. At every hearthstone and in every household, when the thoughts of home and country came, a prayer of thanksgiving went up to the Great Father that our love was not lavished in vain, and man was enabled to rise from the sorrows and disappointments of his every-day life as sunset's red glories, or the moon's silver hair floating down the broad-breasted mountains. The rumbling of the coming storm had been heard at intervals in the halls of Congress, on the stump, in the pulpit, at the hustings, when a Toombs or a Yancey lifted up a voice in defense of the slave power and its extension into the Territories. But its admonitions came and went as the idiosyncrasies of radical intolerance. As a result, many have gone before, and wait upon the threshold of Paradise for the coming of those loved ones left behind, who have exchanged the feeble pulses of a transitory existence for the ceaseless throbbings of eternal life. Faithless and fearless on the march, in the strife and at the victory or defeat, they at last laid down at the mysterious frontier, leaving the exalted hope behind that, though the world was lost forever, there would be unfurled another realm of unimaginable glory, where they and all whom they loved on earth, might realize the promise which the Great Ruler of the universe has made unto the just. These idiosyncrasies, as will be remembered, culminated on the 12th of April, 1861, when Fort Sumter, off Charleston, was fired into by the rebels. Nothwithstanding this overt act of treason, this first act in the bloody reality which followed, was looked upon as mere bravado; but when, a day later, Maj. Anderson's surrender was announced, the patriotic people of the North were startled from their dream of the future, from undertakings half completed, and made to realize that behind all there was a dark, deep and well-determined purpose to destroy the Government, and upon its ruins erect an oligarchy, the corner-stone of which should be slavery. But the dreams of these marplots were doomed to disappointment. Their plans for the establishment of a Southern Confederacy were to be overthrown, if not in their inception, before realization. Immediately upon the promulgation of the news of the surrender, President Lincoln, who but a few short weeks before had taken the oath of office, issued his call for troops in the following PROCLAMATION. WJwreas, The laws of the United States have been, and now are, violently opposed in several States by combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way; I, therefore, call for the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000 to suppress said combination and execute the laws. I appeal to all lawful citizens to facilitate and aid in this effort to maintain the laws and the integrity of the perpetuity of the popular government, and redress wrongs long enough endured. The first service assigned to the forces, probably, will be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union. Let the utmost care be taken, consistent with the object, to avoid devastation, destruction, interference with the property of peaceful in any part of the country; and I hereby command the persons composing the aforesaid combination to disperse within twenty days from date. I hereby convene both Houses of Congress for the 4th day of July next, to determine upon measures of public safety, which the interest of the subject demands. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, President of the United States. The gauntlet cast down by the traitors of the South was thus accepted in a firm, determined spirit of patriotism and love of country. The world knows with what ready assent the people of the North responded to the call for the defense of that Union they hoped to preserve. The world knows how they, in the strength of this hope, struggled and fought with the legions of wrong until the armor of many was caught in the glint and sunlight of eternity, ere the dews had gone to heaven or the stars had gone to God. There was no wavering, if there had been a disposition to waver. The people were united in sentiment and prompt in action. The pen could be employed for months in sketching the uprising of the people, the formation of companies, and telling of the deeds of valor and heroism of the "boys in blue." From this county there is material here for volumes upon volumes, and it would be a pleasing task to collect and arrange it, but no word our pen could employ would add a single laurel to their brave and heroic deeds. Acts speak louder than words, and their acts have spoken—are recorded in pages already written. The people of no county in any of the States of the Freedom and Union-loving North, made a better record during the dark and trying times of the great and final struggle between freedom and slavery—patriotisia and treason than the people of St. Clair. Monuments may crumble, cities may fall into decay, the tooth of time may leave ite impress on all the works of man, but the memory of the gallant deeds of the army of the Union in the war of the great rebellion, in which the sons of their country bore such conspicuous part, will live in the minds of men so long as time and civilized governments endure. The people were liberal, as well as patriotic, and while the men were busy enlisting, organizing and equipping companies, the ladies were no less active. Committees were appointed to look after the necessities and to secure comfort to the families of those who enlisted. The spirit of the resolutions of the Board of Supervisors, adopted in 1861, and carefully fostered by the board throughout the years of the war, pervaded almost the entire community, which was divided into committees, and each committee assigned a duty. Ear nestly and honestly did each committee do its work. There were no laggards, no niggards. Men and money were given by tens and hundreds and thousands. No one halted to count the The life of the nation was at stake, and the people were ready to sacrifice all, everything for the preservation and maintenance of the Union. costs. "A union of lakes, a union of lands— A union that none can sever— A union of hearts, a union of hands, It would be interesting to record the money contributions—voluntary as well as by means of taxation—made by the people during the years of the rebellion, but that would be impossible. Of the former, no accounts were kept. People never stopped to reckon the cost, or to keep account of what they gave. Whenever money was needed for any purpose, and purposes and needs were plenty, it was given and paid on demand. There were no delays, no excuses, no "days of grace, no time for consideration demanded. People were ready and willing. Husbands and fathers abandoned homes and their comforts, their wives and little ones for the dangers of tented fields of battle, assured that, in their absence, plenty would be provided for their loved ones. Because of this knowledge, their dreams were none the less sweet, nor their slumbers less refreshing, even if their beds were made upon mother earth, and their covering only that of the starry dome above. MILITARY STATISTICS OF ST. CLAIR. The number of men enrolled by assessors in June, 1862, and the number enrolled September 10, 1862, with the number subject to draft and to exemption, in St. Clair County, are given as follows: Returned in June, 4,042; returned in September, 4,006; exempt, 972; subject to draft, 3,034. The number of troops furnished was 2,581, of whom 779 enlisted under enrollment system, 199 veterans re-enlisted, twenty enlisted for naval service; 20 drafted men commuted, and 185 were produced by draft, aggregating 1,203 which, together with 1,378, who enlisted previous to September 19, 1863, brings the total number of troops up to 2,581. The aggregate expenditure of St. Clair County for war purposes, up to the close of the year 1866, was $233,291.90. The amount expended in aiding soldiers' families was $89,428. The official army vote, as gleaned from the official returns of the Secretary of State, 1864, is as follows: For Sheriff—Cummings, 260; Russell, 84; Cummings' majority, 176. For Judge of Probate Harris, 219; Walker, 70; Harris' majority, 149. For Clerk--Odell, 249; Collins, 81; Odell's majority, 168. For Register—Fish, 255; Waterloo, 85; Fish's majority, 170. For Treasurer—Herzog, 255; Johr, 78; Herzog's majority, 177. For Prosecuting Attorney—Owen, 251; Atkinson, 94; Owen's majority, 157. For Senator Sanborn, 188; Bancroft, 69; Sanborn's majority, 119. For Representative, Second District--White, 67; Miles, 31; White's majority, 36. St. Clair was represented in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Association by W. L. Bancroft and T. C. Owen. John McNeil, Port Huron, was appointed one of the Commissioners for taking the vote of Michigan troops in 1864. His services were rendered near Franklin, Tenn., where the Second Michigan Cavalry was serving with the First Division Cavalry Corps. Marcus H. Miles was appointed Commissioner to superintend the draft, and C. M. Stockwell commissioned Surgeon. On account of the efforts made by the people to supply the quota required from the county, without having recourse to the draft, the product of such draft was merely nominal. GENERAL OFFICERS. Albert Harteuff, Port Huron, First Lieutenant, and Assistant Surgeon U. S. A., August 5, 1861; Brevet Captain and Major, March 13, 1865; Captain and Assistant Surgeon, July 28, 1866; Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, November 26, 1866; Surgeon, June 26, 1876. |