Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Oliver Perry Morton
One of the "war governors" of the nation was Oliver Perry Morton, of Indiana. At the period when the country was in the throes of civil war, upon the chief executives of the states rested a responsibility second only to that of the president. The course of the governor at this crisis largely shaped the conduct of his people, and his unswerving allegiance and determined loyalty, or his strong opposition to the Union, were either greatly instrumental in securing the support of the commonwealth for the national government or in causing the development of secessionist principles. No governor throughout the entire country manifested greater patriotism or fidelity to the cause of liberty and union, or more courageously upheld the hands of the president, than Oliver Perry Morton, and under his guidance Indiana won as a loyal state honors exceeded by none of her sister states.
Mr. Morton was born in Saulsbury, Wayne county, Indiana, August 4, 1823, and died in Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 1st of November, 1877. His father, a native of New Jersey, whose ancestors came from England with Roger Williams, dropped the first syllable in the family name of Throckmorton. At the age of fifteen the son was taken from school and indentured to a brother who was a hatter. After working at his trade for four years he determined to fit himself for the bar, spending two years in Miami University and studying law in Centerville, where he began practice in 1847. He soon attained professional eminence, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852, but at the end of a year, when his term expired by the adoption of a new state constitution, he willingly left the bench, and before resuming practice spent a year in a law school in Cincinnati. Having been a Democrat with antislavery convictions, he entered into the people's movement in 1854, took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, and was a delegate to the Pittsburg convention the same year, and the candidate of the new party for governor. In a joint canvass with Ashbel P. Willard, the Democratic nominee, he established a reputation for political ability, but was beaten at the polls and returned to his law practice.
In 1860 Mr. Morton was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Henry S. Lane, and during the canvass took strong ground in favor of exacting from the southern states obedience to the constitution. Upon convening, the legislature elected Governor Lane to the United States senate, and on the 16th of January, 1861, Mr. Morton took the oath as governor. He opposed every compromise with the secessionist party, nominated to the peace congress men of equally pronounced views, began to prepare for the coming conflict before Fort Sumter was fired upon, and when President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers he offered to send ten thousand from Indiana. The state's quota was raised at once. He reconvened the legislature on the 24th of April, obtained authority to borrow two million dollars, and displayed great energy and ability in placing troops in the field and providing for their care and sustenance. He gave permission to citizens of Indiana to raise troops in Kentucky, allowed Kentucky regiments to be recruited from the population of two of the southern counties, procured arms for the volunteer bodies enlisted for the defense of Kentucky, and by thus co-operating with the Union men in that state did much toward establishing the ascendancy of the national government within its borders. When the question of the abolition of slavery arose, the popular majority no longer upheld the governor in his support of the national administration.
In 1862 a Democratic legislature was chosen, which refused to receive the governor's message, and was on the point of taking from him the command of the militia, when the Republican members withdrew, leaving the house without a quorum. In order to carryon the state government and pay the state bonds, Governor Morton obtained advances from banks and county boards, and appointed a bureau of finance, which, from April, 1863, until January, 1865, made all disbursements of the state, amounting to more than one million dollars. During this period he refused to summon the legislature. The supreme court condemned this arbitrary course, but the people subsequently applauded his action, and the state assumed the obligations he incurred. The draft laws provoked the secessionists in Indiana to form secret organizations and commit outrages on Union men. They plotted against the life of Governor Morton and arranged a general insurrection, to take place in August, 1864. The Governor discovered their plans and arrested the leaders of the Knights of the Golden Circle, or Sons of Liberty, as the association was called.
In 1864 Mr. Morton was nominated for governor, and defeated Joseph E. McDonald by twenty thousand eight hundred and eighty-three votes, after an animated joint canvass. He resigned in January, 1867, to take his seat in the United States senate, to which he was re-elected in 1873. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on privileges and elections and the leader of the Republicans, and for several years he exercised a determining influence over the political course of the party. On the question of reconstruction he supported the severest measures toward the southern states and their citizens. He labored zealously to secure the passage of the fifteenth amendment to the constitution, was active in the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, and was the trusted adviser of the Republicans of the south. After supporting the Santo Domingo treaty he was offered the English mission by President Grant, but declined, lest his state should send a Democrat to succeed him in the senate. At the Republican national convention in 1876 Mr. Morton, in the earlier ballots, received next to the highest number of votes for the presidential nomination. He was a member of the electoral commission of 1877. After a paralytic stroke, in 1865, he was never again able to stand without support, yet there was no abatement in his power as a debater or in the effectiveness of his forcible popular oratory. Immediately after his return from Europe, whither he had gone to consult specialists in nervous diseases, he delivered, in 1866, a political speech, of which more than one million copies were distributed in pamphlet form. After visiting Oregon in the spring of 1877, as chairman of a senatorial committee to investigate the election of Lafayette Grover, he had another attack of paralysis, and died soon after reaching his home.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899