Protecting The West

Officially established on October 26^th 1862, Camp Douglas in Utah was named for Stephen A Douglas.

It was necessary to recall regular army troop back from frontier duty when the Civil War started.  This left the overland mail route and telegraph open to attack from Indians.  Camp Douglas was a small garrison located about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Union Colonel Patrick Edward Conner of the 3^rd California Infantry was chosen to set up a camp in the Utah Territory, and he selected the site.  The Camp was named after late Illinois Senator Stephen A Douglas by Abraham Lincoln and was formally established on October 26^th 1862.  The first winter the post was made up of quickly built dugouts.  Connor had troops from California and Nevada posted at the Camp during the Civil War.  It became the headquarters of the Department of the Pacific and the District of Utah.

A Speech That Stands

Abraham Lincoln gave his “House Divided Speech” June 16th 1858 in Springfield, Illinois.


Abraham Lincoln accepted the nomination of the Illinois Republican Party to run as their United States senator on June 16th 1858 in Springfield, Illinois. He gave his “House Divided Speech” as this acceptance. Lincoln would be campaigning for the Senate seat against Stephen A Douglas. The speech painted a clear picture of the coming disunion caused by slavery, and differentiated between Lincoln and Douglas who believed in popular sovereignty for the states.

Most people felt Lincoln’s speech was to radical. William H Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner believed he was taking the moral high ground but was politically flawed. Leonard Swett, another lawyer claimed the “House Divided Speech” caused Lincoln’s loss in the Senate campaign. Swett wrote to Herndon of the speech in 1866, saying “Nothing could have been more unfortunate or inappropriate; it was saying first the wrong thing, yet he saw it was an abstract truth, but standing by the speech would ultimately find him in the right place."

To read the whole speech check this web site a House Divided Speech

The Harlot Slavery

United States Senator Charles Sumner gave his “Crime Against Kansas” speech May 19th 1856 on the floor of the United States House.

United States Senator Charles Sumner, an antislavery Massachusetts Republican rose from his seat to address the Senate on May 19th 1856 as to whether or not Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a free or slave state. Sumner’s speech a “Crime Against Kansas” identified two fellow senators, Andrew Butler of South Carolina and Stephen A Douglas of Illinois as the main culprits of the crime. Sumner called Douglas a "noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American senator." Andrew Butler was charged by Sumner as having "a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean, the harlot, Slavery."

Andrew Butler’s relation, United States Congressmen Preston Smith Brooks entered the Senate after adjournment where he found Sumner at his desk. Brooks took his metal topped cane and repeatedly beat Sumner with it. When the beating ended Sumner was carried out of the chamber bleeding heavily, and Brooks walked away calmly. Both would become heroes of their causes.

A Compromise

The Compromise of 1850 presented to Congress on January 29th 1850 defused the confrontations between non slave and slave states for a time.

The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, which passed in September 1850 after eight months of politicking. It help to sooth the resistance between the Southern slave holding states and the Northern non-slave states. The Compromise was presented on January 29th 1850. The Compromise became possible after the death of President Zachary Taylor, it was drafted by Senator Henry Clay a prominent Whig from Kentucky, and pushed through congress by Illinios Democrat Stephen A Douglas. Although neither side was truly happy with all the provision of the Compromise, it was met with relief. Texas gave up its claim to New Mexico, but received the Panhandle and debt forgiveness. The south gave up Southern California, but got possible popular sovereignty slave states in the Utah and New Mexico Territories. The Compromise also included a tougher Fugitive Slave Act which did not make the Northern states happy.

Wife, Mother, Hellcat

Mary Todd Lincoln the First Lady of the United States died July 16th 1882.



Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was born December 13th 1818, the daughter of Robert Smith and Elizabeth [Parker] Todd in Lexington Kentucky. Her mother died when she was seven and Mary’s father remarried in 1826 to Elizabeth Humphreys. Mary and her step-mother did not get along. She grew up with 14 siblings in an upper-class home in Lexington. She left home at a young age to attend a finishing school where she learned dance, French, and social graces. When Mary was twenty she went to live with her sister Elizabeth [Todd] Edwards where she became popular among Springfield Illinois’ young men; among them Stephen A Douglas. Mary was twenty-three when she married Abraham Lincoln November 4th 1842 at her sister’s home.


Mary supervised their growing family in Springfield Illinois in a several rent homes and a small cottage, alone quite often while Lincoln traveled Illinois as a circuit lawyer. All of the Lincoln children where born in Springfield, Robert Todd in 1843, Edward Baker in 1846, William Wallace in 1850, and Thomas “Tad” in 1853. By all accounts Mary was a indulgent, loving mother.


As First Lady, Mary found herself criticized in the newspapers as being plain and plump. She spoke her mind on political matters and the White House staff called her the “Hellcat”. Following the years after her husband’s death Mary traveled, and in 1875 was committed to an asylum by her oldest son. In the 1880’s Mary moved in with her sister Elizabeth again in Springfield, rarely leaving her room. She was sixty-three when she died there July 16th 1882. Mary is buried with her husband and children in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield Illinois.


Another web site of interest on this subject First Lady Biography: Mary Lincoln

Splitting The Democrates

Breaking with other Democrats on December 9th 1857, Stephen Douglas come out against the Lecompton Constitution.

The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed Kansas state constitutions. It was written as a reaction to the 1855 Topeka Constitution’s anti-slavery position. The Kansas territorial legislature, which was mostly made up of slave owners made Lecompton Kansas the capital in September 1857 with the intent to write a rival constitution. Free State’res who made up the majority of settlers boycotted the vote. President James Buchanan appointed Robert J Walker the territorial Governor, and although her was pro-slavery he refused implement the Lecompton Constitution and resigned.

The Lecompton Constitution upheld slavery in the future state of Kansas and protected at rights of slave owners. It went even further by adding a referendum to allow more slave to be brought into the territory, while barring free backs from living in Kansas. Both the Lecompton and Topeka Constitution were placed for a vote before the people of the Kansas Territory. The vote came down to the issue of a Constitution with Slavery or without. Both sides boycotted the vote for differing reasons, and there were quite a few irregularities in the vote with over 3,000 ballets being thrown out. So both constitutions were sent to the United States Congress for approval.

The President supported the Lecompton Constitution before Congress. The Southern Democrats supported President Buchanan, but the Northern Democrats; who were led by Stephen A Douglas sided with the Republicans in Congress. The defeat of the Lecompton Constitution split the Democratic party which lead to Abraham Lincoln being elected President in 1860.