call for troops to defend the nation's capital and was so soon to become the first conspicuous victim of the war.

Shortly after the convention was called to order, John Hanks, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln, carried two weather-beaten fence rails, which Lincoln had split, onto the platform, where they were received with tremendous enthusiasm; Lincoln thereupon became the "rail-splitter" candidate, as the first Harrison had been the "log cabin" and Jackson the "Old Hickory" candidates years before.

When the platform of principles was read, it was noticed that while it repudiated the theories of the slave-holder, as well as the Douglas Squatter Sovereignty doctrine, it failed specifically to mention the great principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence as our political creed and as the moral basis of our institutions. Whereupon Joshua R. Giddings, whom everybody knew as one of the champions of the antislavery cause, arose and expressed himself as painfully surprised that the platform did not contain a word of recognition of the Declaration of Independence, and moved that a clause embodying such recognition be inserted. No sooner had he stopped speaking than a tumult of voices burst forth, with noisy clamor, for the immediate adoption of the platform; and the amendment was rejected with a boisterous vote. Mr. Giddings then took his hat and started toward the door, his great white head towering above the crowd. Before he could leave the place, George W. Curtis of the New York delegation sprang from his seat, leaped into his chair, and asked to be heard. The impatient and noisy crowd undertook to interrupt him, but he stood firm saying, "This is a convention of free speech, and I have the floor, and I will stand here until to-morrow morning unless you give me an opportunity to say what I am going to say." The persistent crowd seemed determined to cry him down, but he held his ground firmly, and they finally yielded to his courage. He then went on to argue in favor of the amendment suggested by Mr. Giddings, and closed by renewing the motion, in parliamentary form. It was carried with an overwhelming shout of enthusiasm, after which Mr. Giddings moved back to his seat in the convention.

When the convention first assembled it seemed evident that William H. Seward would be chosen. But the first ballot revealed the fact that Seward's chief competitor was the "railsplitter" from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, the first vote standing 173 for Seward; 1021⁄2 for Lincoln; scattering 1902. This surely presaged Lincoln's ultimate victory. The second ballot stood Seward 1862; Lincoln 181; scattering 992. The result was received with tremendous applause by the Lincoln supporters, while the Seward men looked on silently, many of them with blanched faces. The handwriting on the wall seemed perfectly plain, except to those who would not see. The third ballot was begun amid breathless suspense. All over the wigwam, delegates and spectators were keeping their own tallies. Throughout the whole of that ballot the vast assembly was strangely quiet, except when there were changes to Lincoln. Long before the official tellers had footed up their tally sheets the audience knew that Lincoln was in the lead. Four hundred and sixtyfive votes were cast, of which Lincoln received 2311⁄2 and Seward 181. Two hundred and thirty-three votes were necessary to a choice, and Lincoln lacked only a vote and a half. Then came the crucial moment. The silence was painful. Then a delegate from Ohio sprang upon his chair and announced a change of four votes from Chase to the Lincoln column. "Lincoln," shouted the teller, waving the tally sheet; and at a signal, a cannon which had been placed on the roof of the wigwam for that purpose boomed the news to the waiting multitude outside.

I was also present in 1858 at one of the celebrated discussions between Lincoln and Douglas, at Freeport. Lincoln and Douglas were the opposing candidates for the United States Senate, and a series of joint discussions at seven different points in the State had been arranged. Meetings were held in advance, by each party, at every hamlet and cross road within a radius of forty miles of the place where the joint discussion was to take place, in order to awaken its adherents to the importance of being present and supporting its champions. They organized themselves into great delegations which rallied at convenient points, and formed into processions of men and women, in wagons and carriages-but few of the latter as they were not as

E

common then as they became later. Many, too, were on horseback, and usually starting the night before, headed by bands of music, with flags and banners, hats and handkerchiefs waving, proceeded to the place of meeting. Many of these processions were half a mile in length. As they advanced the air was rent with cheers in the Republican processions, for "Honest Old Abe," and in the Democratic, for "The Little Giant." The sentiments painted in great letters on the banners carried in each of these processions left no one in doubt as to which party its participants belonged. Over the banners of the Douglas processions were "Squatter Sovereignty"; "Let the People Rule"; "This is a White Man's Country"; "No Nigger Equality"; "Hurrah for the Little Giant." On the other hand, the Republicans carried banners with such mottoes as "Hurrah for Honest Old Abe"; "Lincoln the Rail-Splitter and Giant Killer"; "No more Slave Territory"; "All men are created equal"; "Free Kansas"; "No more compromise."

Douglas arrived on the scene in a coach drawn by four gaily caparisoned horses, which had been placed at his disposal by his admirers; his coming was greeted by a rousing welcome. Scarcely had the cheering occasioned by his appearance ceased when an old-fashioned Conestoga wagon, drawn by four horses, was driven to the stand. On one of the seats sat Lincoln, accompanied by half a dozen farmers in their working clothes. The driver was mounted on the near rear horse and guided his team with a single rein attached to the bridle of one of the lead horses. The burlesque was as complete as possible and the effort was greeted with a good-natured roar.

The contrast between Lincoln and Douglas could hardly have been more marked. Lincoln was six feet four inches tall. He was swarthy as an Indian, with wiry, jet black hair, which was usually in an unkept condition. He wore no beard, and his face was almost grotesquely square, with high cheek bones. His eyes were bright, keen, and a luminous gray color, though his eyebrows were black like his hair. His figure was gaunt, slender, and slightly bent. He was clad in a rusty-black Prince Albert coat with somewhat abbreviated sleeves. His black trousers, too, were so short that they gave an appearance of

exaggerated size to his feet. He wore a high stove-pipe hat, somewhat the worse for wear. He carried a gray woolen shawl, a garment much worn in those days instead of an overcoat. His manner of speaking was of a plain, unimpassioned character. He gesticulated very little with his arms, but moved his body from one side to the other. Sometimes he would bend his knees so they would almost touch the platform, and then he would shoot himself up to his full height, emphasizing his utterances in a very forcible manner.

The next time I saw Lincoln was in the summer of 1860, after he had been nominated for the Presidency. It was at a great Republican mass-meeting at Springfield, Lincoln's home, and was said to have been the largest political meeting ever held in this country. It was held in the Fair Grounds, and half a dozen stands were erected in different places for as many speakers. I took a position on a side hill where I could have full view of one of the stands. While I waited, there was a commotion in the vicinity of the stand, and then some men removed the roof from over the desk. A carriage drove up and Lincoln was escorted into the stand. Being assisted, he mounted the desk. There he stood on top of the desk, his tall form towering far above, his hands folded in front of him, and the multitude cheering to the echo. When quiet was restored he told the audience that he did not come to make a speech; that he had simply come there to see the people and to give them an opportunity to see him. All he said did not occupy two minutes, after which he entered his carriage and was driven to other portions of the grounds.

M. P. RINDLAUB

VITAL STATISTICS OF THE FIRST WISCONSIN

CAVALRY IN THE CIVIL WAR

The following statistics are compiled from the original muster-out rolls of this regiment, of which I was a member. These rolls were made out by the various company commanders at the time of the regimental muster-out, Edgefield, Tennessee, July 19, 1865, and are now on file in the Adjutant General's office at Madison.

It is interesting to know that more than two-thirds of the regiment were farmers before the Civil War. Being thus thoroughly familiar with horses, they learned the cavalry drill very quickly. According to these old records, the regiment was made up of 1828 farmers, 48 carpenters, 35 saddlers, 60 laborers, 30 lumbermen, 43 blacksmiths, 21 millers, 13 shoemakers, 49 students, 22 teachers, 15 clerks, 27 sailors, 20 merchants, 7 doctors, 10 painters, 8 printers, 5 hotel keepers, 2 engineers, 1 actor, 1 telegrapher, 5 architects, 10 masons, 2 editors, and 6 preachers. One of these preachers was promoted from the ranks to be regimental chaplain, succeeding Chaplain G. W. Dunmore, who was killed in battle. Two other preachers were southern Union men, who joined us in Missouri in 1862. The regiment also had in its ranks lawyers, musicians, confectioners, weavers, daguerreotypists, mail carriers, and stage drivers.

It is also interesting to learn that of our 2541 men, 984 were born in the state of New York; 92 were born in Vermont, 35 in Massachusetts, 20 in Connecticut, 45 in Maine, 16 in New Hampshire, two in Rhode Island-altogether 1194 from New York and New England. This is explained by the heavy emigration from those states to Wisconsin from 1840 to 1860. We had also 155 natives of Ohio, 77 from Pennsylvania, 40 from Indiana, 31 from Illinois, 10 Michiganders, 8 from New Jersey, 3 from the District of Columbia, and many southern-born men. The states of Alabama, Maryland, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Mississippi altogether furnished 52 of their own sons to our regiment-Union men who enlisted under the old flag at the first opportunity. These were but part of the 272,820 southern-born men who fought under the Stars and Stripes. What if they had all fought under the "Stars and Bars"?

We also had a goodly number of foreign-born comrades, most of whom came to Wisconsin as children with their parents. There were 228 born in Germany (including Austria and Hungary), 71 born in England, 67 in Ireland, 18 in Scotland, 65 in Canada, 17 in Holland, 17 in Norway, 11 in France, 8 in Switzerland, 6 in Denmark, and one each in Cuba, Mexico and Poland. Two were recorded as "born on the ocean." The total of foreign