Governor Rutherford B. Hayes and the Lincoln and Soldiers Monument at the Ohio Statehouse

Guest Post by

David Boling, Ohio Statehouse Tour Guide

In early January,1872  Rutherford B. Hayes was completing his term as Ohio's governor. He wrote in his diary a list of what he believed were his most important acts of legislation and accomplishments since coming into office in 1868. Nestled between the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and creation of an ''Asylum for the Inebriate"  in Mansfield, he lists item number 12,   The Lincoln Memorial - T. D. Jones (See Diary entry, January 9, 1872)

What memorial to Lincoln? Where is it? Does it still exist? What role did Governor Hayes have in its creation? Perhaps most important why was this so important to Governor Hayes?

I am a tour guide at the Ohio Statehouse. On our daily tours of the Ohio Statehouse, one of our stops in the Rotunda is a large marble tableau (pictured below) that honors Abraham Lincoln and the soldiers who fought at the battle of Vicksburg in the summer of 1863.

Standing 14 feet tall, from floor to the top of the bust of Abraham Lincoln, the Lincoln and Soldiers Monument stands in the same spot as it did when it was dedicated on the evening of January 19, 1871. The dedication itself was quite the event, Here is how it was described in the Cincinnati Enquirer the next day. 

                                                                            

'An immense crowd attended the unveiling, music by the Quintet Choir of First Presbyterian Church was magnificent. Governor Hayes presided. Mr. Galloway, representing the Association spoke first, followed by General William H. Enochs of the House and General Durbin Ward of the Senate. When Mr. Jones unveiled the monument, the crowd gave unequivocal demonstrations of applause.'

'

Governor Hayes presided. As chairman of the Ohio Monument Association, the contracting agent for the memorial. As governor and as a veteran he would have been within his rights to give his own speech, but as Hayes writes the next day in his diary, he chose 'a meritorious thing'.

Hayes Diary Entry

January 20, 1871, -- I did an unusual, and, I think, a meritorious, thing last night, Tom Jones' memorial to Lincoln and the Ohio Soldiers was to be inaugurated in the rotunda of the Capitol. I presided, I had a fairish little opening speech, which with my good lungs I could make go off well.  But there were three speakers to give addresses. I knew that the little, pretty, pet things to be said were not numerous, and that my speech would more or less interfere with the success of theirs. I accordingly swallowed my speech and introduced the various actors without an extra word. Who has beaten this? 

The Speech I Didn't Make 

Fellow Citizens: -- We have assembled this evening to witness the inauguration, the unveiling of the Memorial -- the work of an Ohio sculptor, Thomas D. Jones, of Cincinnati -- placed here in the rotunda of the State House,  to remain, we trust, as long as the building itself shall stand in honor of the brave sons of Ohio who in more than a thousand conflicts on land and water poured out their lives for Liberty and Union; and in honor also of him who "strove for the fight as God gave him to see the right," and who "with charity for all and malice towards none," "Ascended Fame's ladder so high from the round at the top he stepped in the sky.  

The Lincoln and Soldiers Monument stands in the southeast niche of the Statehouse  Rotunda where it was originally placed, although it was moved to other locations, and the monument and bust were displayed removed and stored for some time. Starting at the top of the 14-foot monument, there stands a bust of Lincoln, done by T.D. Jones in Springfield, Illinois, during the winter months of 1861 after Lincoln's election, but before his inauguration in March. It is one of five known to be in existence for which Lincoln sat. .

 

The surrender of the Confederate army at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 fills the center tableau (shown below) of the monument.  On the left, General John S. Bowen, Colonel M. C. Montgomery and General John C. Pemberton, who is seen handing over a list of his troops to General Ulysses S. Grant. Standing next to Grant on the right, is General James B. McPherson and General William T. Sherman. All three of the Union generals were from Ohio. On each side there is an orderly holding the reins of a horse to honor all those on both sides who had served.

Just below this scene is a quote from Lincoln's second inaugural address, "Care for him who shall borne the battle and for his widow and his orphans." Use of the words appear to have been a compromise as Governor Hayes had written to his Uncle Sardis Birchard on February 3,1868 that not enough money had been collected to include the 'uprising of the people when Fort Sumter was taken.'

Personally, I think the words are a better choice for they cause us to pause and remember the more than 620,000 Americans, from the North and the South, who lost their lives in the Civil War, and especially the 35,475 who were from Ohio.

The Ohio Statehouse in Columbus offers free tours of the capitol building and of the grounds during the summer. Open seven days a week, I hope you will come and view the monument yourself and learn more about 'the people's house.'

Colonel Everton J. Conger and Lincoln's Assassin

In the early morning hours of April 27, 1865, Colonel Everton J. Conger, a Secret Service agent, raced through the streets of Washington, D. C., heading for the War Department to report the capture and death of John Wilkes Booth. A relieved and grateful Secretary of War Edwin Stanton announced to a grieving nation that President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin was dead.

Everton J. Conger was the son of Rev. Enoch Conger, Presbyterian minister of Lyme Church. In 1856, Conger moved to Fremont, Ohio, where he established a dental practice. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the twenty-five-year-old Conger immediately enlisted in Company F of the 8th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Intelligent, highly-organized, and a natural leader, Conger’s early military service impressed Rutherford B. Hayes when the two met in West Virginia. After returning to Fremont to marry Kate Boren, the postmaster’s daughter, Conger joined the Third West Virginia Cavalry.

By war’s end, Conger had suffered three severe wounds, but had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel with the First District of Columbia Cavalry. No longer well enough for field command, Conger accepted detached duty as an agent serving secretly under the direct command of the War Department.

Stanton ordered Conger and a cavalry unit of 25 men to join the search for John Wilkes Booth. Tipped off by a former slave whom he had befriended, Conger discovered Booth at Garrett’s barn near Port Royal. Conger fired the barn to force Booth and his accomplice to surrender. He stated that Booth “knew that the end was near. Righting himself on his feet, he plunged for the door…” Against all orders, Sgt. Boston Corbett shot Booth through the neck. As Booth lay dying, Conger, carrying Booth’s weapons and notebook as evidence, raced for Washington where he reported Booth’s capture to Stanton.

Justly proud of their fellow townsman, the citizens of Fremont presented Col. Conger with an inscribed pair of silver-handled pistols. Congress wrangled over the division of the reward money. At the “eleventh hour,” Representative Rutherford B. Hayes put forth a compromise bill that Ohioan John Sherman rammed through the Senate. Hayes’ plan awarded Conger the largest share of the reward - $15,000. Hayes reasoned that it was Conger who had commanded the unit, developed the leads, and successfully orchestrated Booth’s capture.

Conger eventually moved to Carmi, Illinois where he practiced law. The home he built with the reward money still stands. The Illinois Historical Society erected a marker at the “Colonel Conger House” that recounts Conger’s unique place in history.

Everton J. Conger
Dillon, Montana

(Courtesy of Find A Grave)

In 1880, President Rutherford B.Hayes, once more, played a prominent role in the courageous colonel’s life. He appointed Conger the first associate judge of Montana Territory. Throughout the remainder of his life, Conger would relate the events of the capture of John Wilkes Booth for newspaper reporters and magazines editors across the nation.