Kewaunee County & the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

One hundred fifty years ago this week, Kewaunee County was in the midst of the tumult enveloping the nation. But communications as they were, the county was not on the cusp of breaking news. Perhaps that’s why it took the Enterprise* so long to announce the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. By then most had heard the president was shot. Newspapers arriving via the schooners contained more information than the Enterprise ever did. When the Enterprise did carry news two weeks later, it was not headline news, however the columns on interior pages were edged with heavy black lines.

Although Abraham Lincoln won the popular vote in Wisconsin’s 1860 presidential election by a few tenths over 56% and 55% of Wisconsin’s vote in 1864, he was not popular in Kewaunee County. In May 1860 the Enterprize* reprinted an article from the Green Bay Advocate saying Lincoln’s nomination at the Chicago convention astonished everyone, even the party. The paper editorialized commenting that the nomination put a “wet blanket” on Republican election hopes and said that within a day’s drive, the paper could find 20 Wisconsin farmers who were equal to Lincoln.

As it was, Stephen Douglas carried Kewaunee County by 362 votes in 1860. Lincoln’s opponent – and one of his Civil War generals – George McClellan carried the county 753 to 157 in 1864. When Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, both Democrats and Republicans attended a celebration at James Slausson’s in Kewaunee. Guests came from Ahnapee and Carlton as well as Kewaunee. A few weeks earlier, a ball on George Washington’s birthday was designed improve the county's political discord. Whether the paper didn’t note attendees from the other towns or whether those from other towns just didn’t show up to toast Lincoln remains a question. Mr. Lincoln was even less popular in 1864 when he received 1 vote to McClellan’s 89 in the Casco precinct. Franklin wasn’t much better at 3 votes to McClellan’s 82. In 1862 Wisconsin was the only state allowing soldiers to vote outside of their state districts, or vote by what today is an absentee ballot. By 1864, 19 other states offered the same privilege.

Kewaunee County’s population was largely immigrant in 1860 and it had grown by 1864. The county was young, made up of families with young children. Few of the immigrants were Naturalized by 1860 and many of the new arrivals had yet to take out first papers called Declaration of Intent. This blogger’s first two immigrant families arrived in Wolf River (Ahnapee and now Algoma) in 1854. They were among the Germans fleeing conscription. One of Euren's settling families was said to have bribed border guards for the same reason. They weren’t alone. German immigrants knew much about subservience and could at least guess about the horrors of slavery. Most had never seen person of any other color so could not really identify themselves with others, however they knew they did not want war. They were new to American and the war was not theirs, yet my German ancestors and thousands of others were drafted and did go, willingly and unwillingly. My French Canadian ancestors were in Manitowoc County at Statehood, having arrived in Quebec in 1660, One great-grandfather fought on the side of the British in the War of 1812. His father was on the Plains of Abraham in the French and Indian War.They were awarded Canadian bounty land. Their sons and grandsons dressed as women by day to work the fields on their Manitowoc County farms and hid in the woods of when conscription gangs were around. They weren’t alone either.

When the men of Ahnapee got the news about Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, it was said they'd worked all day in Eveland’s swamp (today Perry Field) to cut and trim a victory pole to be used in celebration. After carrying the pole down Steele Street to Franz Swaty’s store at the corner of South Water(today Navarino) and Steele, the men were just ready to raise the flag when the Two Rivers mail carrier got to town with the news that President Lincoln had been assassinated. The flag was raised, but to half mast.

The April 12^th Enterprise ran a small article about Lee’s surrender, saying it was good news and that recruiting and drafting would cease. There were no headlines proclaiming the end of the war, nor headlines about the assassination. Since the first page of the paper was pre-printed, maybe that was why. The second page of the April 24^th paper had thick black lines between the columns with a column title announcing “Terrible News.” The president was shot on April 14th, dying in the morning of the 15th.

The Advocate ran a short article on April 20th telling about the president being shot at Ford’s Theater by “Q. Booth,” an actor. Calling him a desperado, the paper said he called on Secretary Seward who was ill. Gaining entrance to the home by indicating he was from the ailing secretary’s physician, he attacked the secretary’s son, “cut down” two attendants at the secretary’s door and cut the secretary’s throat. The paper went on to mention the wild excitement in Washington and how the vice president and the various secretaries were being guarded. An addendum to the article said the president died at 6:22 AM, that Secretary Seward died at 9:30 and that his son Fred had also died. That same paper ran letters between Generals Lee and Grant and notice of the surrender. There were no screaming headlines, and the brief article appeared near the bottom of page 2.

Once again on April 27 the Advocate carried an article near the bottom of page 3. The piece discussed “a nation’s bereavement for the Savior of the Country.” It was just under an article about the first vessel of the season!

History tells us that that the “facts” in the papers following the assassination were often incorrect. As the months and years rolled on, much more information came to light, some of which was chronicled by the papers. One hundred fifty years later, one could spend a lifetime researching Abraham Lincoln, his life and its ramifications.

*The Enterprize became the Enterprise in 1865.

Sources: An-An-api-sebe, Where is the River?, c. 2001; Ahnapee Record, Door County Advocate, Kewaunee Enterprize/Enterprise, Wisconsin Blue Books online at http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIBlueBks