The Washington herald., 1914-11-30
Death Note Recalls Reconstruction Days
GoI KELLOGG TELLS Of POLITICAL. STORMS
Harry Conquest Clarke. His Friend

horseback riding last year because Of
the asphalt pavements which make the
jolts pretty hard for an old man"
Gov. Kellogg can recite more personal
"reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln than
any man living. As collector Of the port
Of New Orleans he received his commits
sion signed by President Lincoln on the
night before the great President was
sassinated.
He was born December s, 1880. In the
little village of Orwell, Vermont His
father was a Congregational clergyman.
When a young boy. Kellogg found him.
self thrown upon his own resources In
Peoria, ILL.,, where his father had moved
and died.
From teaching school he got into poll
tics. He was a member OF the conyen-
tion which met in Bloomington May p,
1856, and organized the Republican party
Of Illinois. Mr.. Lincoln was chairman of
the delegation from Sangamon, at the
same convention. At that convention Mr..
Lincoln made his famous speech in which
he declared:
you can fool all the people some of
the time, and some OF the people all the
time. but you can't fool all the people
all the time"
Fought Under Grant.
And in referring to the secession OF the
South. Mr.. Lincoln made the often
quoted remark:
I'VE won't go out of the Union and
they shan't"
Gov. kellogg later was Presidential
elector and cast his vote for Abraham
Lincoln for President.
He saw military service as colonel
mndaF (,an Ora n N he West and p
ticlpated in such battles as Island No
10 and Shiloh. After the battle of the
Corinth he was stricken with typhoid
fever and was for months an invalid. He
resigned, returned to Nebraska and re-
sumed his duties as chief justice of that
territory, to which position he had been
appointed just previous to the outbreak
Of the war
However, his duties on the bench were
broken by the performance of important
commissions for the government, on one
OF which he ran the blockade at Vick5-
burg. bearing important papers from
Gen. Grant to Washington.
In 1865. being still chief justice of
Nebraska, he was appointed collector Of
the customs at New Orleans under the
following circumstances:
President Lincoln had made a speech
of great significance in front OF the
White House, April II. wherein he out
lined to some extent his policy regarding
the Southern States. and especially re-
gardIng the case OF Louisiana. At thrt
time there were two Senators from
Louisiana seeking admission to the Sen
ate from that State. 1t was in this speech
that Mr.. Lincoln referred 10 negro suf
frage, saying:
II would prefer that II were now con-
ferred on the intelligent and on those
who served our cause as soldiers
In the course Of this speech he said:
'Concede that the new government OF
Louisiana is only what II should be, as
the egg is to the fowl. We shall sooner
have the fowl by Matching the egg than
by crushing it."
Long Political Record.
The next morning Kellogg had an in
terview with President Lincoln, when he
was offered the position as the first COL
lectOr OF customs to be appointed at New
Orleans after the war.
On the following morning. April Il, Kel-
logg again saw the President, and il was
agreed that he should go TO New Orleans.
His commission was signed late that day.
On the evening of April Il Kellogg saw
President Lincoln for a few moments
and bade him good-by. That night Lin
coin was shot.
Gov. Rellogg's record in Louisiana is
too long TO repeat TO any extent. 1t all
is a matter of history. He served as
collector until July, 1858. when he was
elected United States Senator He served
in the Senate until November, 1872, when
he was elected governor from January,
1873, to January. 1877, when he was again
elected to the Senate. serving six years
after which he was elected to the House
Of Representatives serving two years.
He was a delegate-at-large from Louis
lana in the national convention OF 1868
which nominated Gen. Grant, and in
every succeeding Republican convention
up to and including the st. Louis con-
vention OF 1896, which nominated Presi-
dent Mckinley.
There are few men, either in public
life or retired from public life. who have
seen as much Of life and have done as
much as Gov. Kellogg. Now after many
years Of activity, many OF them years of
stormy strife under a strain that would
have broken the spirit and physique of
a man less admirably equipped with both,
he Is living a quiet. peaceful life
Between here and New Orleans he
makes his home. His apartments in the
Highlands. here, where he resides most
Of the time, are filled with old photo
graphs OF the nations strong men. He's
going to New Orleans next month to
spend his eighty-fifth Christmas and
renew old acquaintance.
One Of his stanchest friends was a
member of the Democratic State legis-
lature, which met in defiance to the es-
tRblished Republican administration OF
Gov. Kellogg. Gov. kellogg ordered out
100 police and dispersed the legislature.
About twenty of the members were
locked One IF fhnaa Nph
the night in the police cell. Gov. Kel-
logg will see when he goes to New Or
leans and probably they both will have
a hearty laugh