15

Asylum in Canada

CLEMENT L. VALLANDIGHAM’S plans were now clear, even if seemingly insurmountable barriers stood in the way. He intended to go to Canada, secure housing near Niagara Falls, and renew his campaign for the governorship of Ohio.

He had to wait several days before a Halifax-bound steamer came into St. George’s harbor, Bermuda. Time hung heavy on the exile’s hands, for he was most anxious to get on with his campaign. Every day that passed was a day lost. Finally, on July 2, Vallandigham boarded the Harriet Pinckney, bound for Halifax with 600 bales of cotton.

While the Harriet Pinckney plowed through the waves, Vallandigham had time to think about the past and plan for the future. He had gained his party’s gubernatorial nomination while waiting in Wilmington to board a blockade-runner. His bid for martyrdom had given him the party’s nomination—this he had expected. He hoped to realize the second half of his dream on October 13, when he faced the Union Party nominee at the polls. He had reason to be optimistic. Popular demands for peace had never been higher than in the closing months of June 1863. The public reaction to his arrest, trial, and exile seemed to become more intense with each passing week. Democratic dreamers hoped that the public reaction might put Vallandigham in the governor’s chair and sweep the Lincoln administration from power.

As the ship was approaching Halifax, two portentious events elsewhere affected the exile’s roseate dreams. General Ulysses S. Grant captured Vicksburg and cut the Confederacy in two. Then, in a dramatic climax, the Army of the Potomac turned back the rebel challenge and General Lee’s best troops on the slopes at Gettysburg. These two titanic victories helped to squelch the peace movement, to make the Lincoln administration respectable again, and to make many citizens forget the treatment Clement L. Vallandigham had received at the hands of General Burnside and President Lincoln.

Although Vallandigham arrived unannounced in Halifax, he received a friendly greeting, for he symbolized opposition to the Lincoln administration. Several Halifax merchants had invested heavily in blockade-runners, and two of their ships had been captured by Yankee warships a short time before. Then, too, several days before the Harriet Pinckney arrived in Halifax, a Yankee gunboat had visited the port to take on coal. The captain and his crew received a hostile reception from the local citizens. As the unpopular Yankee captain took his gunboat out to sea, he heard the crowd on the wharf give three resounding cheers for Jefferson Davis and the Southern Confederacy.¹

As soon as Vallandigham arrived in Halifax, he booked passage on the Daniel P. King, scheduled to leave next day for Pictou with mail and a general cargo. After securing hotel accommodations for the night, he hurried down to the telegraph office to inform his friends and his wife that he had arrived safely in Halifax and to instruct them to meet him at the Clifton House, Niagara, Canada West, on July 14. Finally he went down to the express office to send $170 to Mrs. Jonas P. Levy of Philadelphia, wife of an imprisoned Union captain who had given him the money for safe-keeping. Later that evening the exile wrote a long letter to his wife and several shorter ones to friends in Dayton.²

The American consul in Halifax dutifully reported Vallandigham’s arrival to the State Department. Playing the detective, he noted with whom the exile talked and walked. “His intimate associates here,” the concerned consul wrote, “were the most violent secessionists and supporters of the Confederate cause.” He also reported on Vallandigham’s departure from Halifax and his plans. “Vallandigham left this morning via St. Johns, N. B., for Canada,” he added, “where he designs to remain and await the results of the Ohio election.”³

The trip to Pictou was uneventful. When the Daniel P. King arrived, Vallandigham was lucky to find the Lady Head in port being readied for a trip to Quebec, and he quickly made arrangements for passage. After the transfer of mail to the Lady Head, the passengers filed aboard and the ship raised anchor. Wearisome stops at Shediac, Chatham, Newcastle, Dalhousie, Paspebiac, and Gaspé tested the patience of the passengers and delayed the arrival of the 168-ton steamship in Quebec Bay.⁴

Early on the morning of July 11 the Lady Head finally arrived in Quebec. Vallandigham disembarked and walked up Palace Street to the Russell Hotel to secure a room and inquire about train transportation to Niagara. Several Cincinnati citizens happened to be staying at the luxurious hotel, so the exile had a chance to inquire about the reaction to his arrest and the chances of his election as governor. He also announced his intention to hurry on to Niagara and take up residence at the Clifton House.⁵

Charles S. Ogden, the excitable U.S. consul stationed in Quebec, sent a terse telegram to Secretary of State Seward: “C. L. Vallandigham is here.”⁶ Ogden, who thought a consul’s chief responsibilities were to act as spy and clip local newspapers, made a determined effort to keep track of the exile’s activities. He noticed that prominent Quebec residents called upon Vallandigham at his hotel and gave him a warm reception. It galled Ogden to have to report that Edward W. Watkin, prominent London financier linked to various Canadian railroad and commercial interests, and Charles J. Brydges, superintendent of the Grand Trunk Railroad and a member of the elite Stadacona Club, escorted Vallandigham about the city to look at scenic spots and to visit places of historical interest.⁷

Watkin and Brydges convinced Vallandigham to tarry a day in Quebec so they could give a dinner in his honor at the Stadacona Club. Although the exile was anxious to hurry on to Niagara, he consented to stay over for the hurriedly planned affair. Quite a number of notables attended the dinner, including John A. Macdonald, former head of the Canadian government. Watkin, entrepreneur extraordinary, presided. Neither he nor other Canadians who spoke briefly made any mention of the American civil war nor indicated by what they said that their sympathies were with the South. They viewed the dinner as “mere hospitality to a refugee” who had arrived in Canada “in distress.” Eventually, Watkin invited the noted guest to say a few words.

Vallandigham began his short speech with an apology for appearing in a wrinkled suit and for the poverty of his dress. “I can only explain,” he stated with an apparent bid for sympathy, “that I am standing in the clothes I was allowed to put on, after being taken out of my bed, in my own house, without warning and without warrant, and have not the means to clothe myself.” Then, in a few appropriate sentences, Vallandigham thanked his hosts for their kindness and their country for extending him rights and liberties which the Lincoln administration had denied him.⁸

Later that evening Watkin and Brydges escorted C.L.V. down to the Grand Trunk Railroad depot. Watkin, who held the presidency of the railroad, offered Vallandigham “a friendly loan,” though the exile declined the gesture of good will. Brydges then offered him “a free railroad pass,” which he accepted. Vallandigham thanked his friends and expressed a wish to return to Quebec at some future date for another visit. But he was anxious to get to Niagara for a rendezvous with Ohio political friends and a reunion with his family.⁹

Vallandigham’s presence in Canada received less newspaper space than he had expected, for the Canadian papers were filled with news of the climactic battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Yet Vallandigham received the sympathy of many Canadians. In the first place, the English practice of extending hospitality to exiles had rubbed off on the Canadians. In the second place, Canadians were tempted to view the exile as a martyr to free speech and the traditional rights of Englishmen. Then, too, Joshua R. Giddings, United States Consul General in Canada, had alienated public opinion by suggesting that the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, drafted for a ten-year period, be terminated as “a lesson” to Canadian and British commercial and maritime interests and had shown even poorer judgment by talking of annexation of Canada by the United States. Rumors continued to persist that the United States armies would march northward and conquer Canada after the collapse of the Confederacy. It was not surprising, therefore, that some Canadian newspapers expressed editorial sympathy for Vallandigham.¹⁰

Despite Giddings’ foolish comments, the late summer of 1863 witnessed the development of a “tranquil period” in United States-Canadian relations. Economic prosperity, due in part to the needs of the American civil war, helped soothe ruffled feelings. Time had healed the injury to United States-British relations caused by the Trent affair and other incidents of 1861–1862. Most Canadian newspapers supporting the John Sandfield Macdonald ministry favored rapprochement with the United States and felt obligated to discredit Vallandigham and belittle his presence. George Brown of the Toronto Globe, for example, was critical of Vallandigham, and this influential politician-newspaperman gave the cue to other newspapers supporting the Macdonald government.

After an exhausting journey, Vallandigham arrived at the Niagara railroad depot in the early hours of July 15.¹¹ After securing a room at the Clifton House, he retired to get some rest. Later on the fifteenth he met members of the welcoming party who had gathered across the border, some of whom had grown rather impatient awaiting the exile’s arrival. The Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, Indiana congressman and a bold critic of the Lincoln administration, had arrived on the thirteenth and secured a room at the Stephenson House. The Hon. Richard T. Merrick, a self-styled “peace man” from Illinois, had arrived on the fourteenth, bearing a message from the crusty editor of the Chicago Times. Joseph Warren, editor of the Buffalo Courier, had crossed the border to greet Vallandigham and write copy for his newspaper. Then there were some friends from Dayton and Cincinnati. Altogether they comprised a good-sized reception committee.¹²

After members of the party finished the hand-shaking and greetings, they turned to the subject of the gubernatorial campaign in Ohio. The exile pulled a copy of another “Address to the Democracy of Ohio” out of his pocket. Dated July 15, 1863, this document formally accepted the nomination tendered him on June 11 by the Democratic State Convention. It enumerated the basic issues of the campaign and wrapped the cloak of martyrdom around the exile. It criticized President Lincoln for trampling upon civil rights, for trespassing beyond constitutional bounds, and for establishing a military despotism. Vallandigham’s address referred to Lincoln and his agents as “usurpers” and “weak despots.” It also referred somewhat vaguely to peace and reunion, expecting both to be achieved “through compromise.”¹³

In effect, the newest address served as Vallandigham’s personal political platform. It stated his case admirably, without any apparent rancor or trace of bitterness. It also revealed the exile’s firm faith in the future, for it repeated C.L.V.’s favorite phrase that time would vindicate him and incriminate his enemies.

After Warren and Merrick completed their visit with Vallandigham, they shuffled off to Buffalo, the first to his newspaper office and the latter to the telegraphic headquarters. While Warren started to set Vallandigham’s address in type, Merrick tried to relay it over the telegraph to the Chicago Times. The Republican-minded telegraph operator, however, considered Vallandigham’s address a treasonable and mischievous document and refused to send it over the wires. Merrick, somewhat indignant, put the address back in his pocket, hurried to the railroad depot, and took the next train to Cleveland. The telegrapher in Cleveland also acted as a censor and refused to transmit the document. Even more indignant now, Merrick caught the next Chicago-bound train and personally delivered Vallandigham’s address to the Times’s editorial office. The incident was indicative of the obstacles Vallandigham faced. Telegraph operators not only acted as censors, but also circulated rumors and outright lies about the exile who sought the governorship of Ohio. Vallandigham’s friends believed that the telegraphers, the Lincoln administration, and Ohio Republicans constituted an unholy alliance to defeat C.L.V.¹⁴

In the weeks that followed, the exile had hundreds of visitors. Mrs. Vallandigham and her ten-year-old son hurried to Niagara as soon as they received word that the exile had arrived at the Clifton House. The Dayton party also included Mrs. Vallandigham’s sister, Dr. Jefferson A. Walter, and Judge Harvey A. Blanchard. Those who had heard reports that Mrs. Vallandigham was “not well” were pleasantly surprised that she was once more self-composed, personable, and quite cheerful. “Mrs. V. is a comely, pleasant-looking lady,” wrote one Canadian observer, “and betrays no evidence of insanity or even unhappiness.” The same observer noticed that young “Master Charlie” was “a bright lively youth of ten summers” and possessed of Young America proclivities.¹⁵

Ohio Democrats occasionally visited Vallandigham at his Canadian retreat to discuss political strategy or to refill their cup of hope. George E. Pugh, campaigning for the lieutenant-governorship, took time out from speech-making to visit the exile and discuss their chances of winning the October 13 election. Even some Pennsylvania Democrats called to pay their respects and to express a wish for victory at the polls. Judge John C. Fulton of New York led a party of pilgrims from Erie County to the Clifton House. After imbibing Canadian whiskey “in frequent and ponderous potations,” they talked of hanging Lincoln, Seward, “and other abolitionists.” They took their turns visiting “the great Martyr,” perhaps embarrassing him by their conduct, and left Niagara to make room for other callers. Occasionally visitors from the States fell afoul of the law because of their liking for Canadian whiskey. (A high excise tax made the price of United States whiskey prohibitive.) Several visitors from Cleveland got drunk after visiting Vallandigham, were arrested, and spent the night in jail. Next morning, after paying a fine, they headed back home, poorer and perhaps wiser. An observant Canadian newsman wrote, “Yankees can’t stand Canadian whiskey. There is too much fight in it.”¹⁶

Canadians who stopped at the Clifton House were anxious to see the fellow who had stirred up such a fuss in his own country and who styled himself a martyr to free speech. The sympathetic editor of the Toronto Leader had a lengthy visit with Vallandigham and left most favorably impressed, finding him “exceedingly intelligent, . . . amiable in disposition, . . . [and] refined in manner and language.”¹⁷

Vallandigham’s growing popularity galled George Brown of the Toronto Globe. Earlier he had criticized those Canadians who had feted Vallandigham in Quebec, “fawning over him” and paying him homage. Now he sought to undermine Vallandigham’s popularity by depicting him as an enemy of Canada. The tradition of civility to exiles should be practiced, Brown wrote, but the right of asylum did not require fussing over them or courting them. He insisted that during the crisis over the Trent, Vallandigham had tried to bring on war with England. His “scurrilous tongue” and “anti-British tirades” of earlier years ought to convince Canadians that he deserved neither sympathy nor honor. “If it had been possible to bring on a war between England and America,” Brown concluded, “Vallandigham is the man who would have done it.”¹⁸

Vallandigham resented Brown’s attack and wrote a letter to defend himself. This anonymous letter, signed “An American,” chided Brown for misquoting Vallandigham and for quoting out of context to pervert meaning. The letter also accused the editor of taking the side of Lincoln and the abolitionists and of assailing a man of courage who was a martyr for civil liberties.¹⁹

Brown refused to retreat. He restated his contention that the exile should not be “feted, caressed, and petted.” Then he quoted extensively from Vallandigham’s speeches in Congress of December 1861 and January 1862. He dropped quotation marks within one of Vallandigham’s statements in order to make a better case against him, crediting the Ohio congressman with a quotation from somebody else. “He is a well-known Anglophobiac,” editor Brown insisted, “who never missed a chance of libelling Great Britain, until he had to fly to her dominions for safety.”²⁰ Other pro-government papers joined the Globe in trying to discredit the exile and undercut his popularity. The editor of the Chatham Patriot, for example, wrote that Vallandigham should have shown his true colors by enlisting in the Confederate army and admitting publicly that he was lined up on the side of secession, slavery, and Satan.²¹

Vallandigham tried to counter with still another anonymous letter. Having secured a printed copy of the speeches he had given in Congress a year and a half earlier, C.L.V. wrote his rebuttal. With his sources at his elbow, he conclusively proved that Brown and the Toronto Globe had been guilty of unfair practices—misrepresenting, omitting quotation marks, and selecting words and phrases out of context. These practices, the exile wrote, “created prejudices” against a stranger and an exile who had sought no more than the protection of a foreign flag.²²

Vallandigham’s argument reflected unfavorably upon Brown of the Globe, and several antigovernment editors seized the opportunity to rebuke one of Canada’s most powerful political figures. The editors of the Toronto Patriot and St. Catharines Journal lauded the exile for pinning Brown to the mat. The Globe, they said, had been guilty of untrue statements and grossly unfair to a helpless exile who wore well the halo of martyrdom.²³

Brown neither apologized to Vallandigham nor retracted his statements. Instead, he continued to insist that Vallandigham deserved neither favor nor respect. He ended his effort at self-justification with several parting shots. Vallandigham, Brown stated dogmatically, was “a traitor to his own people” as well as “a bitter enemy of England.”²⁴

While Vallandigham was carrying on his feud with Brown and the Globe, he decided to seek new quarters. He and the owner of the Clifton House had had several heated exchanges. Too many callers drifted into the noted hotel, some to visit Vallandigham and express their admiration for his courage, others to gape at him as if he were a monkey in a cage and to see if he possessed the horns and the forked tail which some Republicans attributed to him. Sometimes these pilgrims drank too much liquor and embarrassed both Vallandigham and the proprietor. Then, too, it was reported that Lord Lyons, British ambassador to the United States, and Secretary of State William H. Seward planned a joint visit to Niagara Falls and Toronto. The proprietor hoped that Lord Lyons and Seward might be his guests, but it was unthinkable that Seward and Vallandigham would stay under the same roof.²⁵

On August 1 the unwanted tenant and his family moved from the Clifton House to the Table Rock Hotel, an inn and curio shop operated by Saul Davis on the outskirts of Niagara. The exile, however, was not fully satisfied with his new quarters and decided to investigate Windsor as a possible place of residence. He took a hurried trip to Windsor, opposite Detroit, and decided that he would move his base of operations to that community of about 3,000 inhabitants.²⁶

Early in August, Vallandigham had an opportunity to meet and mingle with some of the most famous Canadians of his day and to be where dreams for a “new” Canada were being discussed. Edward W. Watkin, the entrepreneur who had co-sponsored the famous dinner for Vallandigham in Quebec, evidently arranged for the gathering of notables at the Clifton House. Watkin’s contingent from Quebec included Charles J. Brydges and Thomas D’Arcy McGee, an expatriated Irishman who had parlayed excellence in literature, oratory, and politics into a remarkably successful career. When the Quebec trio arrived in Niagara, Canada West, they found Alexander G. Dallas, once chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company but now governor of Prince Rupert’s Land, awaiting them. Professor Henry Y. Hind, whose reports on the land between Winnipeg and the Rockies had stirred the imagination of all Canadians, had not yet arrived from Toronto. Nor had Charles Mackay, correspondent for the London Times, yet arrived from New York City. The real purpose of the get-together was to acquaint Mackay with several “new schemes,” including one to transfer the Hudson’s Bay Company’s extensive land holdings to Canada. Watkin and McGee wanted Mackay to use his pen and position to prepare Englishmen for the transfer of lands and for the promotion of a Canadian federation.²⁷

While awaiting the arrival of Hind and Mackay, Watkin, Brydges, and McGee paid a social call upon Vallandigham at the Table Rock Hotel. Watkin and Brydges renewed their acquaintance while the talkative McGee expressed his views on the American civil war and asked Vallandigham dozens of questions. McGee, who had edited newspapers in Boston and New York before moving to Canada, asked about Irish-Americans in Ohio and the upper Midwest. He had a younger brother serving in the Union army, and he knew that most Irish-Americans in the States voted the Democratic ticket, opposed Lincoln’s emancipation policy, and sympathized with Vallandigham. Watkin and McGee intended to visit a Canadian political rally next day near Drummondville and invited Vallandigham to accompany them. He readily agreed.²⁸

The next morning Watkin, McGee, and Dallas called for Vallandigham in a carriage and the four drove to Drummondville to attend a rally sponsored by the “Clear Grits,” critics of the Macdonald government. They saw 2,000 carriages and wagons, some decorated and bearing huge signs or slogans, take part in a three-mile-long procession which ended in Kerr’s Grove. McGee and Vallandigham shared places of honor on the speakers’ platform and listened with interest as several antigovernment men recited the shortcomings of the Macdonald ministry. After the speech-making, they heard a dozen bands and enjoyed a sumptuous barbecue.²⁹ Perhaps the affair reminded the exile of happier days, when he had so often been the lion of the occasion at political rallies in Ohio.

The next day Vallandigham had a chance to meet and visit with Charles Mackay, the Times correspondent. Mackay developed a favorable impression of the exile, but noticed that United States spies, both amateur and professional, were “as thick as flies” in the area. They hung around the hotels, some sitting “Yankee fashion,” leaning backward and balancing on their chairs. They jotted down the names of those with whom Vallandigham talked or with whom he took his walks. They also took down the description of those he dined with, and they relentlessly sought the name of everyone who came within ten feet of the exile.³⁰

Watkin and his compatriots called upon Vallandigham after their get-together and urged him to accompany them on the return trip. He declined the invitation but promised to visit Quebec later during the month.

Since his gubernatorial campaign seemed to be progressing satisfactorily, C.L.V. arranged for a leisurely trip down the St. Lawrence to while away the hours which imprisoned his patience. The party included Mrs. Vallandigham, young Charlie, Miss McMahon, and Irving S. Vallandigham, a great uncle from Newark, Delaware. There were also some friends from Dayton and Cincinnati, including Mr. and Mrs. George H. Pendleton. The rugged rocks along the shoreline and the expansive green forests entranced the travelers, taking them out of the harsh world of reality. The trip proved relaxing and the delightful scenery and pleasant conversation made it seem much shorter than it actually was.

The travelers arrived in Quebec on the evening of August 18 and secured comfortable quarters at the St. Louis Hotel. The exile soon had a call from Thomas D’Arcy McGee, who invited him to attend a parliamentary session as his guest the next day. He accepted the invitation with alacrity.

On the evening of August 19 Vallandigham occupied a seat on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, to the left of the Speaker. He witnessed a long and lively session, one which had begun at three o’clock in the afternoon and would continue until after midnight. McGee had challenged the ministry relative to a contested election in Essex. In presenting his case for the opposition, McGee made one of the finest speeches of the entire session. Cheers, laughter, and applause punctuated his oratorical effort, and shouts of “No! No!” or “Hear! Hear!” came more often than usual. Despite McGee’s ardent effort, Macdonald’s party successfully postponed action on the question.³¹ Perhaps Vallandigham’s thoughts drifted back to 1856-1858 when he had contested an election and had run into delay after delay before he finally gained a seat in the Thirty-fifth Congress.

The next day Vallandigham again visited the Legislative Assembly as McGee’s guest. This time the exile heard McGee defend him and castigate his Canadian critics. Earlier McGee had written to the editor of the Montreal Gazette about rumors of an invasion plot in the United States. He was fully aware that the New York Herald had engaged in fist-shaking at Canada and that the United States seemed to be in an unusual hurry to complete Fortress Montgomery at Rouse’s Point, only forty-five miles south of Montreal. McGee’s letter to the Gazette brought the rumors above board. “The plan contemplated at Washington for the invasion of Canada,” the articulate Irishman had written, “is to march 100,000 men up to the district of Montreal to cut the connection between Upper and Lower Canada . . . and to force a separation of the provinces.” McGee’s chief motive for airing the rumor was really to embarrass the government and to pressure the ministry to reconsider the Militia Bill, the very measure upon which the Macdonald ministry had fallen the previous May. George Brown, who had repeatedly used the Toronto Globe to prop up the government and defend the ministry, had seized upon McGee’s letter to the Gazette to ridicule and lambast the letter-writer and to take another hefty slap at Vallandigham. Brown had sarcastically suggested that the exile must have served as McGee’s chief informer and rumor monger. Did Vallandigham possess a surreptitious pipeline to Washington, D.C.?³²

With the exile sitting at his elbow in the legislature McGee explained why he had written his letter of August 8 to the Gazette. Next he stated that his “informer” was “a minister in the cabinet of the government”—not Vallandigham. The intent speaker turned to pay his respects to “the honorable exile” sitting nearby. And finally McGee spanked George Brown and the Toronto Globe for violating the time-honored principles of “hospitality and decency.” The Globe, McGee asserted, was guilty of an “unfair, ungenerous attack upon a stranger seeking a secure and quiet refuge in Canada.” “He has come within our gates,” the orator told his audience, “asking only a peaceful home which his country had denied.”³³ It must have been sweet music to the exile to hear one of the most brilliant orators who ever graced Canadian public life befriend and defend him.

McGee’s friends and some antigovernment newspaper editors took the cue, scolding Brown and criticizing the Globe. “Il ressort donc de tout cela,” wrote McGee’s friend who edited Le Journal de Québec, “que M. Vallandigham n’est pas un délateur et que le Globe est un calomniateur.”³⁴

Clement L. Vallandigham, 1862. Reproduced from a carte de visite made by Thomas W. Cridland, Dayton, Ohio.

Courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society Library, Columbus

The Curtis Hotel, Mt. Vernon, Ohio, before which Vallandigham made the speech that led to his arrest.

The Hirons House, Windsor, Ontario, where Vallandigham stayed during part of his Canadian exile. The site is now occupied by the British-American Hotel.

Courtesy of the Hiram Walker Historical Museum, Windsor

Vallandigham’s desk and study in his Dayton home.

Courtesy of Lloyd Ostendorf, Dayton, Ohio

Vallandigham’s home, 323 First Street, Dayton, no longer standing.

Courtesy of Lloyd Ostendorf, Dayton, Ohio

A pumpkin (Vallandigham) among the Canadian thistles. Cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, October 31, 1863.

“The Copperhead Party—In Favor of a Vigorous Prosecution of Peace!” Cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, February 28, 1863.

Jeff Davis and Lincoln playing “Shuttlecock.” Cartoon in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 20, 1863.

McClellan and Pendleton, the Democratic team in the presidential contest of 1864. Cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, October 8, 1864.

After his public vindication, Vallandigham and his party headed for Windsor, the small city he had selected as his new Canadian base, and arrived there early in the evening of August 24, unheralded and almost unnoticed. With carpetbag in hand and accompanied by his wife, son, sister-in-law, and the Pendletons, he walked to the Hirons House, less than a block south of the small depot. A Canadian editor who recognized Vallandigham and happened to witness his arrival in Windsor described him as “an ordinary looking fellow,” one whom a phrenologist would have judged to possess little “caution, conscientiousness, or veneration. . . . On the whole,” the inquisitive editor wrote, “Vallandigham looks more the foreigner than the Yankee.”³⁵

The exile found Windsor to be a friendly city. Its proximity to Detroit meant that Michigan Democrats would come to call; and its nearness to Toledo gave Ohio Democrats a chance to communicate readily with him. He rented a two-room suite on the second floor of the Hirons House. His reception room faced the river, affording a splendid view of Detroit. He could see the U.S.S. Michigan, a gunboat, moored in the middle of the river. The warship’s shotted Dahlgren seemed to bear upon the windows of his suite. The Michigan symbolized the armed might of the United States, bent upon keeping him from setting foot again upon his country’s soil.

Vallandigham’s arrival in Windsor alarmed federal authorities assigned the task of watching the Michigan-Canadian border. Military authorities in Detroit excitedly asked their superiors what to do if the exile crossed the river onto United States soil. “If Vallandigham crosses,” replied one superior, “he is to be at once arrested and sent under strong guard direct to Fort Warren.” “Get all the information you can about Vallandigham’s movements,” another superior ordered, “and communicate it to General Burnside.”³⁶

Some of the bolder Democrats of the Midwest wanted Vallandigham to defy Federal authorities and return to Ohio to claim the rights and privileges to which he was entitled. By tarrying in Canada and failing to claim his rights, wrote Wilbur F. Storey of the Chicago Times, he really forfeited the support of the Ohio Democracy. After consulting with a number of Ohio Democrats, including George E. Pugh, the exile decided to ignore Storey’s advice and stay in Canada. He renewed his campaign for the governorship of Ohio and decided to await the election returns of October 1.³⁷ If he won the office he would return and Lincoln’s legions dared not challenge the wrath of Ohio Democrats.

¹ Nova Scotian (Halifax), 1, 3, 13 July 1863; Montreal Gazette, 21 July 1863.

² C.L.V. to Hon. H. M. Phillips, 24 October 1863 (asking about the $170 he had sent from Halifax on July 5), Simon Gratz Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Mrs. Thomas O. Lowe to her husband, 14 July 1863, Thomas O. Lowe Papers, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Library.

³ Melville M. Jackson to William H. Seward, 7 July 1863, Consulate Files, State Department Section, National Archives. Jackson erred in believing Vallandigham’s ship would go to St. John. Instead, the ship sailed eastward, along the coast of Nova Scotia, through the Straits of Canso, and on to Pictou, at the eastern end of Northumberland Strait.

⁴ Nova Scotian, 13 July, 5 October 1863; Quebec Morning Chronicle, 13 July 1863.

⁵ Courrier du Canada (Quebec), 13 July 1863; Journal de Québec, 12 July 1863; Quebec Morning Chronicle, 13 July 1863. The Cincinnati residents, evidently not friends of Vallandigham, were Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Bowman and Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Hand.

⁶ 13 July 1863, William H. Seward Papers, Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester.

⁷ Ogden to Seward, 15 July 1863, Consulate Records, State Department Section.

⁸ Quoted in Edward W. Watkin, Canada and Her States: Recollections, 1851-1866 (London, 1887), p. 455.

⁹ Ibid., pp. 455-56; Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, 14 July 1863. Both the Quebec Mercury, 13 July 1863, and Charles S. Ogden (report, Ogden to Seward, 15 July 1863, Consulate Records) reported that Vallandigham left Quebec via a special train, a courtesy of Brydges and Watkin. On the other hand, Watkin later wrote that Vallandigham “accepted a free pass to Niagara.” Another passenger, one who recognized Vallandigham, offered evidence substantiating Watkin and contradicting Ogden. The American consul, even at best, was a most inept reporter. He even credited Mr. William Walker, who had died two months earlier, with being at the Quebec dinner in Vallandigham’s honor. Robin Winks, Canada and the United States (Baltimore, 1960), p. 143, states that Vallandigham traveled from Quebec to Niagara in “a special coach.” Winks also has the deceased Walker attending the dinner.

¹⁰ Quebec Morning Chronicle, 11 July 1863; Nova Scotian (Halifax), 13 July 1863; Journal de Québec, 16 July 1863.

¹¹ Vallandigham, Vallandigham, p. 316, errs in transferring the Stadacona Club dinner from Quebec to Montreal. Winks erroneously states that C.L.V. received a public reception in Montreal. Neither Giddings, the consul general in Montreal, nor any Montreal newspaper mentions Vallandigham’s stopping in the city.

¹² St. Catharines Evening Journal, 15 July 1863; Toronto Daily Leader, 16, 17 July 1863; Buffalo Morning Courier, 16 July 1863.

¹³ Dated 15 July 1863, published in Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, 20 July.

¹⁴ Buffalo Morning Courier, 16 July 1863; Buffalo Morning Express, 18 July 1863; Chicago Daily Times, 18 July 1863; report of A. Stager to Stanton, 15 July 1863; published in Official Records, ser. 2, 5:122; Illinois State Register (Springfield), 19 July 1863.

¹⁵ Toronto Daily Globe, 28 July 1863; Crisis (Columbus), 15 July 1863; Daily Ohio State Journal (Columbus), 4 August 1863.

¹⁶ St. Catharines Evening Journal, 31 July 1863; Toronto Daily Globe, 28 July 1863.

¹⁷ 25 July 1863.

¹⁸ 21 July 1863.

¹⁹ C.L.V. to editor of the Toronto Daily Leader, 21 July 1863, published 25 July.

²⁰ Toronto Daily Globe, 27 July 1863.

²¹ 30 July, 13 August 1863; London Free Press, 28 July 1863.

²² Letter to editor of the Toronto Daily Leader, 7 August 1863, signed “An American,” published 11 August.

²³ St. Catharines Evening Journal (n.d.), quoted in Toronto Daily Leader, 8 August 1863; Toronto Patriot, 19 August 1863; Journal de Québec, 24 August 1863.

²⁴ Toronto Daily Globe, 12 August 1863.

²⁵ Montreal Daily Transcript, 27 August 1863; New York Daily News (n.d.), quoted in Crisis, 12 August 1863; St. Catharines Evening Journal, 31 July, 1 August 1863; Toronto Daily Globe, 28 July 1863.

²⁶ Buffalo Morning Courier, 1 August 1863; Hamilton Evening Times, 8 August 1863; Milwaukee Sentinel, 15, 26 August 1863; Vallandigham to Manton Marble, 2 August 1863, Manton Marble Papers, Library of Congress.

²⁷ Hamilton Evening Times, 6 August 1863; Watkin, Canada and Her States, pp. 455-56.

²⁸ Vallandigham’s stay in Canada is treated in Frank L. Klement, “Vallandigham as an Exile in Canada, 1863-1864,” Ohio History 74 (Summer 1965): 151-68; and idem, “Exile across the Border: Clement L. Vallandigham at Niagara, Canada West,” Niagara Frontier 11 (Autumn 1964): 69-73.

²⁹ St. Catharines Evening Journal, 6 August 1863; Chatham Weekly Patriot, 20 August 1863.

³⁰ Charles Mackay, in London Times, 24 August 1863.

³¹ Quebec Morning Chronicle, 20 August 1863; Toronto Daily Leader, 20 August 1863; report, Charles S. Ogden to William H. Seward, 19 August 1863, Consulate Records.

³² McGee to editor of the Montreal Gazette, 8 August 1863, published 11 August; Montreal Daily Transcript, 14 July, 12 August 1863; Toronto Daily Globe, 19 August 1863.

³³ “Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly of August 20, 1863,” published in Toronto Daily Leader, 21 August 1863. McGee later identified his “informer” in the cabinet as Luther H. Holton.

³⁴ “It is evident, therefore, that Mr. Vallandigham is not an informer and that the Globe is a slanderer.” Journal de Québec, 24 August 1863. Also see Toronto Daily Leader, 22 August 1863, and Toronto Patriot, 26 August 1863.

³⁵ Chatham Weekly Planet, 3 September 1863; Rochester (N.Y.) Union & Advertiser, 27 August 1863. The Hirons House stood at the corner of Sandwich and Quellette streets. Sandwich Street was later renamed Riverside Drive. The British-American House now occupies the ground where the Hirons House stood.

³⁶ Telegrams, Col. B. H. Hill to Gen. James B. Fry, 27 August 1863, W. P. Anderson to J. R. Smith, 27 August 1863, J. R. Smith to Burnside, 27 August 1863, and Fry to Hill, 27 August 1863, in Official Records, ser. 2, 5:231-32.

³⁷ Chicago Times (n.d.), quoted in Dayton Daily Journal, 24 October 1863.