A springtime of tragic foreboding
There are some travelers I’d like you to meet. They are from an antique land: America in the spring of 1861.
It was April, normal in many ways for the residents of Uniontown. Merchants, such as Calvin Springer, proprietor of the McClellan House hotel on Main Street, and C.S. Seaton and George E. Hogg of the Cash Store near Pittsburgh Street, were advertising their “best” in town services and wares.
Babies were being born, couples were being wed, and old men were being robbed. Among the latter was William Morris, who was relieved of his life savings of $158 by a holdup man at Uniontown’s west toll gate.
Otherwise, things were as out of whack as they could possibly be. A little earlier in the year, Congressman William Montgomery of Washington County called on Congress to resign. A special election would follow.
“Before we begin a bloody civil war,” Montgomery declared, “let us consult the people and hear their voice.”
On April 12, the civil war came with the cannonading of Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., harbor. The secession of the Southern states over the issue of slavery galvanized the Northern states. On the eve of the war, Uniontown businessman T.S. Gorley later recalled (with some artful enhancements, no doubt) his mother telling him, “In the morning, my child, flags will be unfurled in the breeze and men will be enlisted to fight for their homes.” When he awoke he did indeed spy Old Glory floating, unusually so, “from the corner of a frame house” on Main Street.
The Uniontown Genius of Liberty newspaper editorialized, “Amidst the civilizations of the 19th century, we are on the brink of ruin, despotism, and destruction.”
The man who wrote these words was Genius editor Edward G. Roddy, a Democrat and a fierce opponent of the new Republican president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln’s election the previous November kicked off the secessionist movement. In conformity with his party’s platform, Lincoln vowed to stop the spread of slavery to states and territories outside the South. Southerners were so incensed that they chose to split the nation apart rather than abide the Republican design for the country.
Stopping in Pittsburgh on his way to Washington for his inauguration, Lincoln tried calming words to ease Southern fears, “There is no crisis excepting that gotten up by turbulent men aided by designing politicians.”
Roddy countered, “It is evident that the ‘Prince of Rails’ is not the man for the place or times.”
The editor became a marked man. On April 16, he received two threatening messages, one against the Genius office, the other against his life. He recalled, “We were prepared for the worst.”
Pastor R.M. Wallace of the Presbyterian Church in Brownsville thundered from the pulpit, “It is the duty of all citizens to aid the Constitutional authorities in maintaining the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws. The national government is being assailed and the [national] capital menaced by traitors.”
Roddy got into the swing of things, “We owe allegiance to the Federal Government and are duty bound to sustain, protect and defend it without any reference whatsoever to the person who may administer it. It behooves every citizen to prepare for the defense of his Government and State.”
This is exactly what community leader F.H. Oliphant had in mind. Oliphant urged township officials to form so-called “home” guards as a first line of defense against possible invading rebels.
Among the first to answer the call was Georges Township, where “every Union man that can mount a horse or carry his gun” was urged to meet at the William Hiller residence at noon on April 25.
Uniontown burgess (mayor) James D. Johnston asked city of Pittsburgh officials to supply his town with enough arms for two military companies, until such time as the state of Pennsylvania stepped in to help.
As April stretched into May and then into summer, Uniontown attorney Joshua Howell stepped up to recruit a regiment of local volunteers. The regiment was later designated the 85th Pennsylvania. It was soon in the thick of the fighting.
Ex-congressman Andy Stewart commended Howell’s efforts to Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Howell, he wrote, was “the very man for the work he proposes to do. His whole heart is in it.”
By then an acting general, Howell would die during the siege of Petersburg, Va., in 1864, practically on the eve of Union victory.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.