FAMILY. DUTY. SACRIFICE.

And if I am spared, I will hand down to my posterity a name that they will have no cause to laugh at and one that you all may be proud of when I am gone.

In the spring of 1861, Daniel Stearns was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, working as a machinist for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. He was young, full of life, and didn’t have a care in the world. He came from a family of dedicated entrepreneurs in the small town of Berea, Ohio. From humble beginnings, they achieved remarkable wealth, and he too held ambitious aspirations for his own future. The abrupt passing of his older brother in February 1861, coupled with the outbreak of the Civil War in April of that same year, marked the beginning of a troubling unraveling. Driven by a strong sense of duty, Daniel Stearns joined the Federal Army of the United States on April 24, 1861. This book chronicles his experiences with two Union regiments during the Civil War: the 8th Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps and the 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Additionally, it details his efforts to adapt to civilian life in the aftermath of the war, both in the immediate days and the subsequent years. He never enjoyed a carefree life again. 

There were many lost opportunities for the Union army to win the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862 and thereby potentially begin the path to winning the war that year. The failures of leadership that day by Union commander General George McClellan are well known. Among the most important was his reneging on his promise to support Generals Jacob Cox and Ambrose Burnside when their IXth Corps was on the verge of sweeping Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from the field and winning the battle. This book theorizes that that event has been immortalized in downtown Cleveland, Ohio’s “Soldiers and Sailors Monument,” which honors Civil War Union veterans from the northern Ohio region. In one of the monument's bronze bas reliefs, “The Beginning of the War in Ohio,” (the cover image of this book) General Cox is portrayed as a dignified and self-confident military man looking off into the distance while pointing to a document which is in General George McClellan’s hands. McClellan is portrayed as looking at Cox in a perplexed and chagrined manner. While there is no "official" explanation for this tableau, it seems clear that Cox is pointing at the orders in which McClellan promised support and demanding an answer as to why McClellan failed him and the Union. McClellan, it seems just as clear, has realized his mistake and has no answer.

Levi Scofield, the Cleveland architect and builder who designed the monument, created this tableau to immortalize this key moment, the lost opportunity which could have ended the Civil War in September 1862. Scofield never documented this, but it seems clear from the evidence compiled in this book that that was his intention. The reader is invited to read this account and make his own decision. 

A governor embraces patriotism over partisanship in a crucial Union state

Before his election to the state’s executive office in 1861, David Tod was widely regarded as Ohio’s most popular Democrat. Tod rose to prominence in the old Western Reserve, rejecting the political influence of his well-known father, a former associate justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court, a previous member of the Federalist Party, and a new, devoted Whig. As a fierce Democratic Party lion, the younger Tod thrilled followers with his fearless political attacks on Whig adversaries and was considered an unlikely figure in the battle to keep the Union intact.

However, the Civil War and the serious consequences of its potential outcome came to outweigh his loyalty to the Democratic Party. Placing the restoration of the Union above all else, Tod eagerly shed his partisan identity to take up the Union cause. As governor, he quickly pledged Ohio’s support to the nation’s leader, President Abraham Lincoln. Tod rallied Ohioans to support the war and equipped scores of physicians and nurses with medical supplies to tend to Ohio’s wounded soldiers. He also had to protect the state’s borders from invasion by developing defenses at home.

Despite his patriotic service, partisan politics and political intrigue denied Tod a second term. The Political Transformation of David Tod chronicles Tod’s unwavering support for the Union and describes the importance of a politician’s loyalty to country over partisanship.