The Republican Party eventually became known as the party of Lincoln, but in Springfield, in October of 1861, The Republican was certainly the newspaper of Abraham Lincoln.
Samuel Bowles, editor of the newspaper, helped found the party in 1855, backed its first candidate for president in 1856, Gen. John Charles Fremont, and was instrumental in support of Lincoln in the election of 1860. Bowles’ close friend, Springfield Congressman George Ashmun, was chairman of the convention that nominated Lincoln and he and Bowles were part of the group that delivered the news to the future president at his Illinois home.
The newspaper supported the president through the months leading up to the war, the fall of Fort Sumter in April and the terrible defeat at Bull Run in July. In October, The Republican had to decide between the tentative course Lincoln had taken on slavery, which was to appease the border states and let them keep their slaves if they remained loyal to the Union, or follow the growing chorus of radical Republicans calling for emancipation.
Two Union generals had already tested Lincoln’s patience on the issue, Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts in the Virginia area and John C. Fremont commanding the federal troops in Missouri. The same Fremont who was the Republican candidate in 1856.
In May of 1861 Butler refused to send three fugitives back into the bonds of slavery and classified them as “contraband of war.” This term meant that once the fleeing slaves crossed Union Army lines, they were classified as property. All enemy property that fell into Union hands constituted contraband and would not be returned. A federal policy was instituted on August 6, 1861 – fugitive slaves were declared to be “contraband of war” if their labor had been used to aid the Confederacy in anyway. If found to be contraband, they were declared free.
In late August of 1861, Harper’s Weekly ran an illustration entitled “Slave Stampede” which showed hundreds of blacks fleeing slavery in Hampton, Va., and heading for Fort Monroe and Butler’s protection.
On August, 30, 1861, Fremont proclaimed that all slaves owned by Confederates in Missouri were free. A furious Lincoln feared that Fremont’s proclamation would force slave-owners in border states to join the Confederate forces. He asked Fremont to modify his order and free only slaves owned by Missourians who sided with the rebels. Fremont said, “it would imply that I myself thought it wrong and that I had acted without reflection which the gravity of the point demanded.” He refused Lincoln’s request.
The debate landed on the pages of The Republican which had a history of anti-slavery the reached back to its beginnings in 1824. On Oct. 2, 1861, The Republican ran a lengthy commentary under the headline: “Shall It be a War of Emancipation.”
The newspaper cautioned against “rashly” accepting the abolition of slavery as the main reason for the war.
“If we adopt it the war is no longer a war for the constitution and the Union...It throws Missouri, Maryland and Kentucky into the hands of the rebels. Are we ready to complicate our national difficulty by this radical and revolutionary measure?”
The words and reasoning could have been formulated by Lincoln himself.
Despite the newspaper’s backing of the president’s policy, it ran a lengthy article and a copy of the speech given by Sen. Charles Sumner at the Massachusetts Republican Convention in Worcester. It was an impassioned plea for turning the war into a fight against slavery and backed the efforts of Generals Fremont and Butler.
Sumner asked for a vote of the convention to support his contention. The newspaper was quick to point out that the delegates voted with the president’s line of thinking.
The great debate over slavery would continue as the war progressed but it was not going to be solved in these early months that were still being spent building up arms and armies. The 10th Massachusetts Regiment composed of Springfield area troops was already at the front outside Washington and the 27th Massachusetts had established “Camp Reed” on the road to Wilbraham about a mile from the Armory (across the road from the present site of American International College). Nearly 1,000 men had pitched their tents and were awaiting word to march off to war.
Hardly a day went by when there wasn’t a story in The Republican of well-wishers holding ceremonies in which individual soldiers were presented swords from the Ames Company, or pistols from Smith & Wesson, or even horses.
The Springfield Armory was hiring and churning out thousands of rifled muskets. An item in the newspaper said the government had paid the monthly wages at the arsenal which amounted to $50,000 in gold.
October started out unseasonably warm. It wasn’t until the 20th of the month that “Jack Frost” made his first appearance, which was the latest in 80 years of keeping records. The year before, the first frost had been on Sept. 20th.
The fair season was winding down as the city hosted the Hampden County Agricultural Fair, the biggest of the season, at Hampden Park, which had been the site of the rendezvous for the 10th Massachusetts boys. The presence of the fair at Hampden Park was probably the reason a new encampment had been set up on the outskirts of the city.
The finishing touches were being put on the magnificent Catholic church on State Street. The Republican reported, “two new frescoes have been completed this past week on the ceiling. The easterly one represents St. Michael driving Satan from Heaven and the one on the west is Christ blessing little children...”
Not all of the war effort consisted of soldiering or gunsmith work, there were bills to be paid and the citizens of Springfield were being asked to help out by buying United States Treasury Notes. Local banks were advertising over $200,000 of the notes paying “7 3-10ths” interest were available.
On October 15, Pearson & Co’s Grand Mirror on the War, began a five-day engagement at City Hall. Thousands would attend the performances that included huge murals of the Battles of Bull Run, and Great Bethel. A late entry was the storming and fall of Fort Hateras, complete with light flashes and sound effects. The battle was led by Gen. Benjamin Butler, a frequent visitor to Springfield.
On October 22, news arrived in The Republican from Virginia of the horrific battle of Ball’s Bluff in which hundreds of soldiers, many from Massachusetts, were either killed or taken prisoner. General Edward D. Baker, the Union commander and a sitting U.S. senator from Oregon, was killed in the battle. He was the only senator killed in the Civil War. He was also a close personal friend of President Lincoln.
Rumors had been swirling for weeks about a massive naval expedition, but it wasn’t until Oct. 31 that it was confirmed that a huge fleet of 50 ships had sailed from Fortress Monroe in Virginia the day before. Speculation was rampant, but the fleet’s destination was not known.
And in Springfield, after weeks of delays and false starts, the 27th Massachusetts under the command of former city clerk Horace C. Lee would be leaving the city in two days to began an odyssey of war to such places as Roanoke Island, Newbern, Andersonville, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Of the nearly 1,500 men who would serve from 1861-1865 in this regiment, 401 never returned home.