SENATOR OLIVER P. MORTON AND HISTORICAL MEMORY OF THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION IN INDIANA Timothy C. Rainesalo Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of History, Indiana University February 2016 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Master's Thesis Committee __________________________________ Anita Morgan, Ph.D., Chair __________________________________ Stephen E. Towne, M.A. __________________________________ A. James Fuller, Ph.D. ii © 2016 Timothy C. Rainesalo iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No one completes a lengthy writing project alone and I would like to thank a few of the people that helped with this one. I would not have finished this project without the help of my thesis committee, which has read each of my chapter drafts and helping me to reach my scholarly goals. Many thanks go to my thesis advisor, Dr. Anita Morgan, whose edits, patience, guidance, and suggestions provided clarity and sometimes much-needed direction for this project. Mr. Stephen E. Towne and Dr. A. James Fuller consistently provided new ideas and resources and suggested new and illuminating questions that have helped to strengthen my work. Words do not describe how grateful I am for their help, insight, patience, and encouragement. Several other professors provided support and deserve my thanks, including Drs. Kevin C. Robbins, Philip V. Scarpino, and Rebecca K. Shrum. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Indiana Historical Society, and Indiana State Library for their research assistance. Finally, I must thank my family, especially my parents, whose constant words of encouragement and willingness to listen meant more to me than they will ever realize. I dedicate this work of scholarship to them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Morton the Senator (1865-1877) .................................................................16 Chapter Two: Morton’s Legacy in the Nineteenth Century (1877-1884) .........................50 Chapter Three: Morton in Twentieth Century Memory (1890-1907) ...............................87 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................122 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................127 Curriculum Vitae v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Bronze monument of Oliver P. Morton by Frank J. Simmons, 1884.................85 Figure 2: Marble statue of Oliver P. Morton by Charles H. Niehas, 1900 ......................100 Figure 3: Bronze monument of Oliver P. Morton by Rudolf Schwarz, 1907 ..................113 Figure 4: Bronze relief on proper left of Oliver P. Morton Monument, 1907 .................114 Figure 5: Bronze relief on proper right of Oliver P. Morton Monument, 1907 ...............114 vi Introduction When I arrived in Indianapolis in August 2012, I knew I wanted to add something to the analysis of Indiana’s Civil War history. My topic changed several times, but Oliver P. Morton remained a constant thread in every narrative. For a man with such a colorful, divisive history, his commanding presence in Indiana’s history of the Civil War is second perhaps only to the common Hoosier Union soldier. Why was such a prideful partisan held in such high regard—and why was he so closely tied to the veterans who claimed ownership of Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis? How did he establish himself—and how did memories of his deeds and actions change over time? This thesis examines Indiana’s Governor and Senator Oliver P. Morton, using his postwar speeches, public commentary during and after his life, and the public testimonials and monuments erected in his memory to analyze his role in defining Indiana’s historical memories of the Civil War and Reconstruction from 1865 to 1907. Morton became famous for his wartime Republican governorship of Indiana from 1860 to 1866. He commanded more national influence as a Senator from 1867 to 1877 advocating for African American suffrage, but the monuments honoring his memory in Indianapolis and Washington, D. C., reflect Indiana funders’ desire to remember Morton as a Civil War Governor and to reinforce viewers’ awareness of the sacrifices and results of the war. I argue that the combined efforts of Morton’s friends, family, political colleagues, and Union veterans—especially influential members of the Indiana Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—emphasized Morton’s governorship to use his legacy as a rallying point for curating and promoting certain partisan memories of the Civil War and, to a lesser extent, Reconstruction, in Indiana. 1 This analysis highlights the importance of Morton’s reciprocal relationship with Union veterans during and after the war, especially the Indiana GAR. As this fraternal organization’s political influence increased from 1884 to 1907, its members erected monuments in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., and held ceremonies to honor Morton’s memory. These occasions also allowed them to shape and evoke memories of Morton to reinforce the values and ultimate lessons they thought Hoosiers needed to remember about the Civil War’s causes and veterans’ services. The editorials, eulogies, and correspondence produced by Morton’s friends, family, political colleagues, African Americans and especially journalists during and long after Morton’s life capture differing audiences’ memories of Morton’s deeds and creeds. Together these accounts and monuments contextualize Morton’s importance to Hoosiers looking for recognizable figureheads to represent Indiana, and to serve as touchstones in partisan debates about Hoosiers’ memories of the Civil War and Reconstruction from 1865 to 1907. While not the most popular Reconstruction era politician, Morton’s important role in Reconstruction politics is well-established in the historical literature. After arriving in Congress in 1867, Morton quickly became the Republican Party’s most outspoken Midwestern representative. Three dissertations – Leslie H. Schultz’s “Oliver P. Morton and Reconstruction, 1866-1877,” Everett O. Johnson’s “The Political Speaking of Oliver P. Morton,” and Edwin C. Carpenter’s “Political Rhetoric of Oliver P. Morton”—have all cogently outlined Morton’s major rhetorical themes and explored his motivations for altering his views on the controversial topics of African American emancipation and suffrage, southern Reconstruction, United States currency, and conditions for southern states’ reentry into the Union. They also summarize and identify the major rhetorical 2 themes that defined his speaking: distrust of southern-sympathizing Democrats, the righteousness of the Republican Party, and the need to protect Union sacrifices through appropriate (punitive) southern Reconstruction policies. Schultz, Johnson and Carpenter are also useful for analyzing the rhetorical structure and lines of argumentation inherent in Morton’s most influential political addresses.1 William Dudley Foulke’s 1899 two- volume biography helpfully divides Morton’s life according to the Governor and Senator’s most prominent political actions. Foulke’s account is thorough, but perhaps too one-sided and paints him as an eminently selfless political mastermind.2 These works also have limitations in their usefulness. While Johnson’s study is the most helpful for those interested in Morton’s Senatorial career, it typifies the limited understanding of Morton’s place in historical scholarship.3 Although immortalized as the “Great War Governor” in the public consciousness, the above studies have not analyzed in depth the importance of Morton’s senatorial actions, policies, and speeches in shaping the way different audiences (African Americans, civilians, veterans and politicians) remembered him. In particular, Morton’s lifelong ties to Civil War veterans provide ample opportunity to probe and question the reciprocal relationship between Morton and 1 Leslie H. Schultz, “Oliver P. Morton and Reconstruction: 1867-1877” (PhD. diss., University of Chicago, 1935); Everett Orville Johnson, “Oliver P. Morton: a study of his career as a public speaker and of his speaking on slavery, civil war, and reconstruction issues,” (PhD. diss., University of Michigan, 1957); Edwin Cecil Carpenter, “The Political Speaking of Oliver Perry Morton,” (PhD. diss., University of Illinois, 1966). 2 William Dudley Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton, 2 vols. (Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1899). This study (necessarily) relies somewhat heavily on Foulke’s work to contextualize Morton’s past, but I have attempted to avoid painting Morton in the same heroic terms. 3 Johnson’s analysis of Morton’s rhetoric, while well-executed and researched, artificially limits the discussion of Morton’s political career by ending in 1868, when Morton reached his political ‘peak’ with his great defense of congressional Reconstruction. Few of the speeches Morton delivered during his second term from 1872 to 1877 have the same unique, galvanizing effect of his previous speeches, but they are still very important. In the wake of the economic Panic of 1873, Morton maintained his aggressive attacks against the Democrats and the South. This commitment to his central ideals of Republican power and oversight—and