The Part Taken by Women in American History/Concerning the Author — Mrs. John A. Logan
Concerning the Author—Mrs. John A. Logan.
Katherine G. Busbey.
America is changing beneath our eyes. Yesterday's books of impressionalistic views concerning her are antiquated; descriptions of ten years ago are hopelessly out of date; between the writing of a book descriptive of America's national psychology and its publication half the conclusions should be changed. The only way, therefore, to really interpret America is through a study of the biographies of those who have lived and wrought and made America what she is.
From the biographies of America's strenuous sons the world would seem to conceive of America as a nation definitely organized for one purpose, straining every nerve and sinew to attain that end, until "business," the foreign critic tells us, is the all-absorbing interest, by the side of which nothing else counts at all. But, interwoven with the history of this nation joyously set out on the commercial conquest of the world, is the life of America's splendid womanhood—not always as the foreign eulogist would extol her for her physical superiority—but the American womanhood working in peace and quietness whether through the fierce energy of the pioneer mother or, later in our history, supplementing now by the subtlety of nature and now by gift of grace, man's material or martial labor for the country's welfare. In speaking of the higher existence above our industrial energy some one has said, "in America the women alone live," and certainly no better vision of what American life stands for with all other interest ruthlessly swept aside, can be gained than that which comes in looking through the biographies of American women. But to make these lives of value as a national interpretation—not a mere unilluminated statistical array—the task must rest in the hands of an American woman with the sympathy and understanding which can come only from having touched at first hand and at various points the typical life of American womanhood. And this is Mrs. John A. Logan's pre-eminent qualification as the author of this volume. With no attempt at eulogy except such expressions as sincere admiration and deepest personal affection must inspire, I shall present such leading phases of Mrs. Logan's bravely wrought, richly-spent career that they may illustrate how, apart from the prominence which the reflected glory of her illustrious husband gives her name, this American woman's mind, vitality, private tragedies, and the strange and varied forces shaping her magnificent character, all bear testimony to a life given to high causes and to her ability unselfishly to appreciate and to portray so that it may survive the inexorable years, the work—brave, influential, patriotic, and imaginative—of other American women in which our national pride exalts.
First then, Mrs. Logan even at an early age played her heroic part as the child of pioneers in Southern Illinois. Her father was often called from the hearthstone to meet the hostile Indians in the northern part of the state, and when the Mexican War broke out this spirited patriot, Captain John M. Cunningham, again gave his good right arm to his country's cause. Mrs. Logan, then Mary S. Cunningham, was the eldest of thirteen children, sheltered and loved in that pioneer homestead, and during the long absences of her father at the front she shared with her mother all the hardships and dangers of frontier life, relieving her parent of every task which was within the range of her strength and forging in her own girlish body the steel fibres of character which were to stand her in such good stead in the stress of military and political life as co-worker with her distinguished husband, and in the temptations of that lighter world of diplomacy and wit into which her personal popularity placed her as a star.
An early biographer of Mrs. Logan has written, "Beyond a fine constitution, a comely presence, a tendency to a highly moral standard in childhood fostered by early beneficent influences, and an abiding faith in the goodness of God, Mary Logan cannot be said to have been specially endowed . . . she was simply a good, honorable girl, who early became imbued with the conviction that the secret of success in life is the faculty of seizing promptly an opportunity . . . Every opportunity for self-help that has passed her way she has been wise enough to improve to its uttermost and the consequence is that Mrs. Logan has played her prominent part in the drama of national life bravely and well, and will remain in the hearts of the many until the inexorable prompter rings down the curtain upon the last act of her well rounded career."
This, though undoubtedly a just estimate, can hardly be judged overgenerous, since it fails to mention the great asset that Mrs. Logan's charming personality has always been. Moreover, the pioneer girl, Mary S. Cunningham, became a strikingly handsome woman, a woman who has always commanded attention by her appearance and bearing as well as through her talents. And yet a glimpse of her earlier public life written by Mrs. Logan herself gives the following modest summary of that period:
"My father being made registrar of the Land Office at Shawneetown, Illinois, under the Pierce administration, we subsequently removed to that place. I attended school at the Convent of St. Vincent, near Uniontown, Kentucky, graduating at that school in 1855. I came home and soon after met my husband, General John A. Logan, who had served during the War with Mexico with my father, and to whom I am said to have been given by father when I was a child. We were married on the twenty-seventh day of November, 1855. My husband was at that time a promising young lawyer, and we removed to Benton, Franklin County, Illinois, when he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the third judicial district of the State of Illinois, which embraced sixteen counties. In those days we were not furnished with official blanks for everything, as is the case to-day, and I began to assist my husband in writing indictments for minor offenses, and in that way gradually drifted into taking part in everything he did. We had the same struggle that all young people without money had in those early days, but the fact that in 1858 my husband was elected to Congress shows that we were not altogether unsuccessful."
What lies between those modest lines is the fact that the young wife immediately on marriage installed herself in the place of companion and helpmeet to her ambitious husband, not only in the housewifely sense, but as secretary and assistant in his office work, and in this work she acquired that marvelous facility for handling large numbers of letters, briefs, etc., which enabled her years later to cope with the enormous correspondence of General Logan while he was representing his country in Congress, and at that critical time when the national crisis made secrecy in regard to the affairs of her public servants an imperative necessity. While, as for the "success" of the political career which it was Logan's ambition to achieve even in these incipient stages, as ever after, Mrs. Logan's personality was an asset too large to be accurately estimated. The superb strength of the young woman and her loyal resourcefulness were nowhere better illustrated than in the way she met the first great crisis of their united lives.
In 1860 General Logan was re-elected to Congress and Mrs. Logan spent that memorable winter of tension and dread in the affairs of state in Washington with him. Scarcely had they returned home when came the news of the fall of Sumter, and, in response to President Lincoln's Proclamation convening an extra session of Congress, General Logan was forced to hurry back to Washington. Mrs. Logan remained at their home in Marion, Williamson County, Illinois, realizing more and more acutely the difficulty, even the danger, of her position in that community, which was settled largely by southerners or persons of southern descent. These constituents were thoroughly in sympathy with the southern cause and grew more and more restive to know what Logan's course would be. His speeches in the House of Representatives revealed his determination to adhere to the Union, and when word was brought that at the Battle of Bull Run instead of remaining in Washington he had joined Colonel Richardson's Michigan Regiment and fought with it all day, these people of Southern Illinois were in a ferment of discontent over their Congressman's action. The day arrived for General Logan to reach home and so great was the excitement in Marion that all business was suspended. The adult population was about one thousand and every one of these people who could get about the streets roved to and fro with loud declamations against any course which would drive them to fight for the negroes. It was known that besides these excited but order-loving citizens, there had been a large accession of desperate characters, drawn thither by their anxiety to join in any sanguinary fray. Passion was at fever heat, and General Logan, speeding there, was the avowed victim. Trembling for the safety of her husband Mary Logan jumped into a buggy and drove to Carbondale, twenty-two miles distant, but the nearest railway station, where her husband must alight. Here she found that his train had missed connections and would not arrive for some hours. Desirous of informing the populace that the cause of delay was accidental, and not dilatory tactics on her husband's part, she turned her tired horse's head and drove rapidly back to Marion. Evening had fallen when she reached there and the crowds of the day had been increased by numbers of farmers from the outskirts. The atmosphere was charged with the dangerous explosive of revolt.
At first sight of her buggy the riotous crowds surrounded it and demanded to know why her husband had failed to appear. Her voice was inaudible above the din and Captain Swindell, Sheriff of the County, and Colonel White, then Clerk of the Court, exerted themselves unavailingly to pacify the mob. It was not until the Sheriff stood up in her buggy and urged the crowd to disperse, assuring them that Logan would be there to address them in the morning, that the deafening clamor could be quelled and Mary Logan released from her position of peril.
Then rejecting all offers of a substitute to convey to her husband the condition of affairs, as well as all her father's pleading to return to her home and rest for the night, Mrs. Logan trembling with fatigue and anxiety, once more set out alone on the long drive to Carbondale, twenty-two miles distant. At two in the morning the train arrived and Mrs. Logan rapidly reviewed the situation to her husband. "Very well," said he quietly as he got into the buggy, "Now, Mary, you get out and stay here and rest in Carbondale with friends for a few days. If there is any danger in Marion I don't want you to be there." But Mrs. Logan was not of that calibre; she smiled up at him, took the whip and reins and started the horse. "My dear, I did not marry you to share in the sunshine of life and desert you when clouds gathered above us," she said simply.
When General Logan rose to speak the next morning there were in the crowd who listened, more than a score of men who had sworn to take his life if he declared for the Union. But John A. Logan mounted the wagon drawn up in the public square and proceeded by the force of his eloquence, his reasoning, his persuasion and by the outpouring of the passionate patriotism to turn so completely the tide of feeling that on getting down he immediately enlisted one hundred and ten men for the first Company of the Regiment which he proposed raising for the defense of the Union. Within ten days one thousand and ten men were enrolled as their country's defenders for three years, or until peace was declared, and he received from Governor Yates a commission as Colonel of the Thirty-first Illinois Infantry Volunteers. During this period and while the regiment was being organized, Mrs. Logan acted as his aide-de-camp, carrying his dispatches from Marion and other points to Carbondale, the nearest telegraph station, alone during the day and at night accompanied by no more formal escort than a village lad named Willie Chew.
Logan saved Southern Illinois to the Union, but what measure of credit for that great exploit should be accorded his plucky wife, women of America may judge!
During his campaigns in the war which followed, Mrs. Logan took every opportunity offered to be near her husband. She followed him to many a well-fought field and endured the privations of camp life as thousands of other patriotic women did, without murmur, only too glad to share her husband's perils or to minister to the sick and wounded of his regiment for the sake of being near him.
When the troops were ordered from Cairo—on the expedition to Fort Donelson and Fort Henry—Mrs. Logan returned to Marion. The pay of our Colonels and Officers of higher rank was at that time small and uncertain and perhaps one of what has been called, "the biggest little things" of Mrs. Logan's noble life was when she, in these hard war times, brought into play all her acuteness and economic skill to respond to the continual demands upon her for the relief of the families who found it impossible to live on the pay of their soldier husbands who had volunteered in defense of their country. With heart and soul, Mary Logan, the woman who had graced Washington society, and who had also known the excitement of war at the front, became a cultivator of the land, raising wheat, corn and cotton on their small farm in South Illinois. And no unusual sight during the cotton picking season was Mrs. Logan riding into town on a load of cotton, thus preventing, by her supervision, the loss by the wayside of a single pound of it, as it was sold in those days at one dollar per pound. Arriving at the cotton gin in town, she would peer over the shoulder of the weigher, and producing her memorandum book, would compare his figures with her own. Nobody ever swindled her and her cotton speculations "panned out" well. This labor was the least of her troubles. The constant anxiety for the safety of her husband during the hazardous campaigns of the war and the tax upon her sympathies in responding to the appeals of the soldiers' families, were burdens almost insupportable for the delicate woman Mrs. Logan then was.
The war over, General Logan returned home and shortly there ensued that exciting canvass for the successor to Governor Yates; John M. Palmer, ex-Governor Richard J. Oglesby and John A. Logan being the rival candidates. Three abler men it would be hard to find. All three had held military commands during the Civil War and all three had distinguished themselves. All three, therefore, had ardent friends who desired their election to the Senate, but, to quote from one of the Springfield, Illinois, newspapers of that day, "'Black Jack' Logan had one surpassing advantage over his competitors, that being Mrs. John A. Logan." Indeed, Mrs. Logan, ever passionately eager to assist her husband, had accompanied him to the Capital and there had begun her career as a potent factor in this, his first candidacy for the Senate. When upon the assembly of the Republican caucus, Logan was found to have more than three to one votes over his rivals and the announcement was made that John A. Logan was Senator, among the first to reach his late opponent's hand was Governor Oglesby and he followed his congratulations with a sly gallantry to the effect that perhaps it was not that the people loved Oglesby less, but Mrs. Logan more.
In 1877 occurred General Logan's next fight for the Senate, and again Mrs. Logan, assisted now by her beautiful and versatile daughter, displayed those admirable qualities of diplomacy, tact, and practicality which had always proved so potent. John A. Logan, himself, made more frequent reference than anyone else to his wife's diplomacy, affection and unwavering loyalty as a devoted wife and helpmate.
Great strength of character was now required on the part of Mrs. Logan to avert an occurrence which she, with her honest, sane view of life, would have regarded as a catastrophe—a severance of her individuality from that of her husband's. Mary Logan proved herself equal to the occasion; her conduct was admirable in its poise and self-effacement. When the public men of the day applauded her wifely enthusiasm, Mrs. Logan quietly remarked that she saw no reason why she should not be with the General in his political campaigns in the same capacity in which she had been near him at Belmont, Fort Donelson and Pittsburgh Landing—as a faithful helpmate and companion. She sent carefully worded regrets to all offers which came to her to lecture, to give readings, to contribute for the press on political subjects, and she indignantly denied that report—before the allure of which many a brilliant woman has fallen a victim to vanity—that she wrote her husband's speeches for him. And yet, despite all protests by Mrs. Logan, the sentiment of her influence in matters political—the General's military career was his own beyond dispute—grew to such an extent that it almost reached the point of a similar situation, a century earlier, when the old Scotchman, Davy Burns, who erected the first house in Washington, said testily to the immortal George:
"And prithee, Mr. Washington, who would you have been if you hadn't been lucky enough to marry the widow Custis?"
Mrs. Logan's life during the General's senatorial career in Washington, full of success, adulation and social prestige as it was, was not without its trials; bores, borrowers and false claimants of relationship being numerous; even cranks and fanatics were not unknown intruders in her home, while the cruel charges of wealth dishonestly obtained by Senator Logan, which often found publication in a certain class of newspapers, were a source of acute suffering to his sensitive and proud wife. But Mrs. Logan's loyalty kept her head high in noble patience and belief, and in seeking his vindication she was one with the General as in every other matter, and when he was triumphantly acquitted of any infamous connection with the Credit Mobilier enterprise even his accuser conceded, "All honor is due to Logan for his truly statesmanlike conduct, and all honor to his wife, who stood staunchly by her husband's side in his scruples of conscience."
It was at Mrs. Logan's suggestion that Senator Logan applied for the back pension for Mrs. Lincoln, which was granted to the martyred President's wife; and it was she who suggested the establishment of Decoration Day. The circumstances attending the issuance of Order No. 11—Commander-in-Chief G. A. R., are as follows: Colonel Charles Wilson, editor of the Chicago Journal, and a party of prominent women from Boston and Chicago, came to Washington in February, 1868, and invited General and Mrs. Logan to go with them to Richmond to visit the historic ground around that city. His duties in Congress prevented General Logan from going, but Mrs. Logan went, and when she returned, she told her husband of the simple decoration on the Confederate graves. This touched him deeply, and he at once alluded to the custom, which prevailed among the Greeks, of honoring the graves of their dead with chaplets of laurel and flowers. As Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R., he immediately issued the order for the annual decoration of the graves of the loyal deceased. He also interested himself in getting the bill through Congress, setting apart a day for the honoring of the graves of dead soldiers as a legal holiday, and he succeeded in accomplishing this design of his patriotic heart.
It was a terrible blow when this strong man, of whom she was so proud, was stricken down with illness, and after a short illness was taken from her, and Mrs. Logan was left alone in the stately colonial mansion which she had struggled so hard to possess, worked so long to adorn and joyfully opened to the public on all occasions in the hospitable régime of this statesman's career which now lay broken. Face to face with the misery of a broken tie, of a lost love, and a severed companionship, Mrs. Logan's strong heart and courage faltered. But quickly came that inspiration for work and constant occupation of mind which had impelled all her moves in life, and her achievements since General Logan's death have been of a character to mark Mrs. Logan one of America's foremost daughters even if naught of distinction had gone before. Mrs. Logan had children; other relatives too were dependent upon her and her financial circumstances were not easy, for General Logan had enriched the nation's honor roll more than her statesman pay roll had enriched him. So Mrs. Logan bravely determined to test her talent in the literary world. While gathering her mental poise after the shock of General Logan's death, she took the two charming daughters of the late George M. Pullman, of Chicago, on a tour of Europe, but her serious work was taken up immediately upon her return. She began her literary career writing for a number of periodicals, and then for six years she edited, in Washington, The Home Magazine, almost a pioneer in that type of helpful, entertaining, literary journals devoted to the interests of the women of the country. In this work Mrs. Logan scored a success which left even her most ardent admirers breathless, working up an ardent patronage of three hundred thousand subscribers and giving it a standing by the absolute reliability of its household information, and literary merit which no magazine of that order has been able to outdo. Into this work Mrs. Logan threw herself with all the ardor of her vital, vigorous nature. In every one of the several departments of the Home Magazine she imprinted the stamp of her brilliant individuality. She herself worked indefatigably to make it a journal of the very highest class in its realm, and she gathered around her a corps of special writers who gave of their varied intellectual gifts to lend a charming variety of knowledge and color to its pages. Mrs. Logan's wonderful executive ability was ably evidenced in the office of the Home Magazine, and to work with and for her became a labor of love and enthusiasm. The Home Magazine was a phenomenal success during the half dozen years she remained at its helm, but when she gave up her place, for good and sufficient reasons, it suffered at other hands the natural reverses of fortune which inevitably attend neglect and mismanagement.
Mrs. Logan's specialty, however, in literary work has been the essays and articles which she has published and is still publishing. These are splendid examples of the way in which a brilliant woman, free from the modern mania for hysterical viewpoint and hyperbolic phrase, can direct public attention to national wrongs and the teachings of history. Her style in these articles is crystal clear and gently didactic and the heart interest of a broad-minded, sympathetic woman lies as the undernote even in her most scathing arraignment of our national foibles.
Mrs. Logan's interest in the soldiers of our Civil War has never lapsed. To many people these soldiers have figured merely as old men in need of charity, but Mrs. Logan, remembering them as the brave, strong boys who went to the front in that terrible conflict to return broken and scarred, has always given them the admiration due exalted heroes as well as the material help which needy cases called for. A member of the Woman's Relief Corps, for many years she made it her sacred duty to attend the reunions of the Grand Army all over the country and her receptions at these gatherings have ever been enthusiastically warm. While visiting Boston to dedicate the post named in honor of her husband, a beautiful jeweled badge was given her and glorious speeches were delivered as sincere tributes to her as well as to her husband. The poet Whittier contributed the following stanza to his poem celebrating the occasion:
"What shall I say of her who by the side
Of Loyal Logan walked in love and pride,
Whose faith and courage gave a double power
To his strong arm in freedom's darkest hour?
Save that her name with his shall always stand
Honored alike throughout a grateful land."
At Milwaukee, August 27, 1889, fifteen thousand Grand Army veterans passed before Mrs. Logan in review and the enthusiasm caused by her presence in the city was so great that the remark was frequently heard to the effect that if Mary Logan were a man civic honors would be easy to her. Beloved of the common soldiers, even the greatest of generals found pleasure in her intellectual companionship. When asked if there was any truth in the story that General Grant had once given her a cigar during a conversation, Mrs. Logan replied with her serene smile and added, "It was as fine a tribute to the feminine intellect as was ever made to a woman. General Grant and I were discussing a political topic from different points of view. The General became absolutely absorbed, but recognizing that I had the best of him in the argument, he suddenly offered me a cigar in an absent-minded sort of way. When he realized what he had done he laughed and apologized, but I thanked him for the compliment and said I should look upon that cigar in the light of a surrender, man to man, as when an officer hands his sword to his captor."
Mrs. Logan's immense reception of the Knights Templars occurred in Washington, October 10, 1889, and it was estimated that between ten and twelve thousand persons passed by her as she stood at the head of a long line of prominent women who assisted her in greeting the honorable Sir Knights.
The great reception in the rotunda of the Capitol to the Union veterans occurred September 20, 1892, and at this wonderful gathering in the historic hall, Mrs. Logan and her family were the centers of attraction.
At the Hamline Church, February, 1893, Mrs. Logan delivered a strong address under the auspices of the colored Y. M. C. A., entitled "The Colored American in Industrial Pursuits." In this speech she urged the colored people to take advantage of their present great opportunities and thus secure good positions in life through their own talent and education.
President Harrison appointed Mrs. Logan one of the women commissioners of the District of Columbia to the Columbian Exhibition held in Chicago, in 1893. She sat in the carriage beside the Duchess of Veragua in the great procession and was warmly received as a member of American Royalty wherever she appeared.
Moreover, Mrs. Logan had found time to carry out successfully the plans of one of the grandest charities of Washington, the Garfield Hospital, having been president of the board for many years, during which time she and the charitable people associated with her built up one of the best hospitals in this part of the country. In fact Mrs. Logan's public activities have been, to quote in all reverence that comprehensive summary, "too numerous to mention."
She was consulted at every step in the erection of the two statues of General Logan, one in Washington and one in Chicago, and they are both worthy expressions of what a nation's pride in a great chief should be. A touching feature of the ceremonies dedicating these memorials was the unveiling of the statues by Mrs. Logan's grandson. It was John A. Logan, 3rd, a tiny lad, then, wearing a sailor's uniform, who was the principal actor in the unveiling of the statue on the beautiful lake front in Chicago. At a given signal the child pulled the cords holding together the eight flags which had concealed the heroic figure, and, amid cheers from thousands of throats, the boy disclosed the statue of his grandfather. The child, a little appalled at the enthusiastic tumult, nestled to his grandmother's side again and asked, "Grandma was he as big as that?"
"Yes," answered Mrs. Logan in a tear-choked voice, "he was as big as that."
The Washington monument surmounting a wonderful base with the scenes of General Logan's life in bas relief, was unveiled by another grandson, little George E. Tucker, who has since passed to join his valiant soldier grandfather in the Great Beyond. The Chicago statue of General Logan is by St. Gaudens, and it is considered by many that the great sculptor, who was, like the great soldier he modeled, of humble origin, put the greatest vitality of his great art into that spirited figure. It was Mrs. Logan who suggested for the pose that psychological moment in the General's career when, having seized a flag from a color bearer, he waved it aloft as he dashed forward to meet the foe, on the 22nd of July, 1864, in the memorable battle in which the gallant McPherson lost his life. One of the greatest memorials to General Logan and his brave son, is the priceless collection of mementos now in the Logan Memorial Room in the Capitol Building, at Springfield, Illinois. The collection comprises General Logan's battle flags, swords, sashes, badges, engraved testimonials, autograph pictures of fellow-statesmen, of historic scenes, and many hundreds of other personal belongings and souvenirs of the great soldier. This collection of wonderful interest to the nation filled, for years, the private Memorial Hall in Mrs. Logan's Washington home. A few years ago, with beautiful generosity, she donated the bulk of this collection to the State of Illinois, and it is now sacredly housed in a memorial room in the Capitol at Springfield.
Mrs. Logan's own monument is the abiding affection and veneration in which she is held by those who have known her friendship in Illinois and Washington. No one who has ever come a stranger to Washington and at once felt Mrs. Logan's right hand of fellowship bidding them enter the enchanting circle of her home and friendship, but has gone forth feeling that the world was perhaps a kindlier place than they had imagined, and that if America can turn out women like Mrs. John A. Logan, American republicanism is a success whatever may be its material future. I know, because I was once one of the many so befriended.
Though many years have passed since the days of girlhood, Mrs. Logan still retains much of the vivacity of her youth; with it is combined a most beautiful and ennobling dignity, the crown of her long active years before the public. The alertness of her carriage and the acuteness of her mentality give one the impression of indomitable youth, but the depth of grief which at times dims her dark sparkling eyes, the yearning sympathy of the lines in her fine face as others tell her of their sorrow, reveal the suffering that the storm of life has brought and that she has weathered so bravely and so well. The death of her only son in the Philippines, leading a gallant charge, tore the mother-heart asunder. But if her toll to the nation's glory seemed at that time ever-heavy, she never for one instant allowed it to depress her patriotic spirit. Strong, alert, sympathetic, Mrs. John A. Logan still dedicates her best thoughts and endeavors to her country and the women of that glorious land.