A NEW ACCOUNT OF THE FORENSIC "SEVEN DAYS' BATTLE" JUST fifty years have passed since Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas closed their great forensic contest in Illinois, and to-day a vast body of writing attests its historic importance. Nevertheless, the record is strangely incomplete. There is no complete file of the local newspapers; very few persons are living who remember the distinctive features of the meetings; and the published reminiscences are scattered and chary of detail. Save for the dates of the events, the names of the towns where the combatants met, the text of their speeches, and the general impressions of a few spectators, there is no authoritative data, and those in charge of the recent celebrations of the semicentennial have had no little difficulty in ascertaining the facts. To preserve the local color of this unique episode in American history, the material essential to a proper visualization of the scenes is assembled in these pages, which are mainly based on the testimony of eye-witnesses and documentary evidence. sand inhabitants, lay in the northern part of the State, only about seventy miles from Chicago, in a region strongly in sympathy with the antislavery movement and certain to accord its champion a friendly reception. Yet it is doubtful if Lincoln regarded this as an advantage. Illinois cessions of people on foot, on horseback, in hay-carts, and in canvascovered wagons, occupied every turnpike and country lane leading to Ottawa, and by nightfall their camp-fires were plainly visible from the town. Despite its political differences, it was a friendly, good-natured crowd that spread itself over the bluffs and rolling prairie. Family groups and neighborhood parties fraternized with one another, hospitality was proffered, provisions were shared, and the coming event was discussed without bitterness or hard feeling of any kind. Thus passed the eve of the momentous duel. WASHINGTON PARK, OTTAWA, ILLINOIS was a Democratic State, and his main object in challenging Douglas was to gain the ear of Democratic voters who would not attend Republican meetings and could not otherwise be reached. He therefore probably hoped that "the Little Giant's" admirers would appear in full force, and he was not to be disappointed. On Friday, August 20, 1858,1 work was virtually suspended in the outlying districts, and all the local world was in holiday mood. Under clouds of dust and a burning summer sun, straggling pro 1 The writer's authorities on the Ottawa debate are the New York "Tribune," August 26, 1858; the New York "Evening Post," August 27, 1858; and Mr. Saturday dawned clear, and before the sun was fairly up, the advance-guard of the audience began to pour into the little town. Ottawa was not without experience in handling holiday crowds, for each Horace White the representative of the "Chicago Press and Tribune" in 1858, who courteously supplied the writer with many important details. session of the court made it a market where all the countryside had something to buy or sell or "swap," and fakirs and peddlers did a flourishing business; but never before had it attracted such a swarm of visitors as took possession of it on the morning of August 21, 1858. On the court-house green a rough, undecorated, pine-board platform had been erected, but no seats had been provided for the audience, and the square itself was without sufficient trees to protect them from the sun. Not discouraged by this uninviting prospect, many of the first-comers sat down on the grass in front of the speakers' stand and settled themselves for a long wait rather than lose the advantage of their early start, and others manoeuvered their carts into favorable positions at the edge of the square, where they formed a sort of improvised gallery. Meanwhile the throng was steadily increasing, and before noon a long procession of Douglas's admirers, headed by a fine band, started for Buffalo Rock, a short distance from the city, where they met their champion arriving from La Salle and escorted him down the Peru Road to the Geiger House, his advent being announced by a salute from two brass twelvepounders posted near the center of the THE HON. JOSEPH O. GLOVER, MOD. ERATOR OF THE DAY, ALSO MAYOR OF OTTAWA, ILLINOIS though the noise was deafening and the confusion almost hopeless, no disorder of any kind occurred. By this time the vicinity of the courthouse was virtually impassable, and it is conservatively estimated that no fewer than twelve thousand people, almost a tenth of the whole population of Illinois, were in attendance. Meanwhile Lincoln and the congressional candidate, Owen Lovejoy, had taken refuge with the Mayor, Joseph O. Glover, who had offered them the hospitality of his house for the occasion, and the reception committee proceeded to perfect their arrangements. When they arrived at the square, it was discovered It was half-past two before a great shout announced the arrival of the champions, and in a few moments a small procession, headed by the reception committee, the moderators, and other officials, forced its way through the crowd. At the left of the platform were three or four tables reserved for reporters, and these were soon occupied by Robert R. Hitt, the official reporter for the "Chicago Press and Tribune," and his associate, Horace White; Chester P. Dewey of the New York "Evening Post"; Messrs. Henry Binmore and James B. Sheridan of the "Chicago Times," and Henry Villard of the New York "Staats Zeitung." Behind the table that some enterprising spectators had taken possession of the speakers' platform, and these intruders were no sooner ejected than others took their places. Finally some youngsters climbed to the roof of the flimsy structure and brought part of it down on the heads of the officials, who thereupon organized an effective force, which dislodged all the invaders and protected the stand from further attack. placed in the center of the platform 1 This arrangement was substantially maintained at all the joint debates. Mr. Hitt was regarded as White, Dewey, and Villard were not stenographers. BOULDER ERECTED AT FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, UPON THE LOCATION There was confidence in every line of Douglas's clear-cut, clean-shaven face as he stepped to the front of the platform. and bowed to the cheering multitude, and when his awkward rival stood beside him, he had no reason to distrust the effect of the inevitable comparison. No time was lost in initiating the contest. Neither speaker required any introduction, and Douglas began by outlining the rules of the debate. He was to open with a speech of one hour, and close with another of half an hour after Lincoln had replied for an hour and a half, and at the next meeting these conditions were to be reversed. Only a small proportion of the mighty assemblage could possibly hope to hear the speakers, and those in wagons at the outskirts of the crowd, finding themselves at a disadvantage, soon abandoned their positions and edged their way into |