Richard Yates (19th-century politician)
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Richard Yates (January 18, 1815 – November 27, 1873) was the Governor of Illinois during the American Civil War and has been considered one of the most effective war governors. He took energetic measures to secure Cairo and St. Louis against rebel attack. Nicknamed the "Soldiers' Friend", he helped organize the Illinois contingent of Union soldiers, including commissioning
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
as a colonel for an Illinois regiment. He supported the
Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
. He also represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives (1851–1855) and in the U.S. Senate (1865–1871). As a Senator, he voted and spoke in favor of removing President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
from office. He was a Whig and then a Republican.


Early life

Yates was born in a log cabin in Warsaw, Kentucky. His family was of
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and moved to Illinois in 1831. He studied at Miami University and Georgetown College and graduated from Illinois College in
Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,446 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the ...
, in 1835. He then studied law at Transylvania University in
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
. He was admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Jacksonville. Yates served as a member of the
Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...
from 1842 to 1845 and 1848 to 1849. In 1850, he was elected as a Whig to the United States House of Representatives, where he was the youngest member of the
Thirty-second Congress The 32nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1851, ...
. He was reelected to Congress in 1852. During Yates' second term in Congress, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise reignited the anti-slavery controversy. He opposed the repeal, which opened the possibility of slavery expanding into Kansas, and became identified with the new
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
. Illinois Democrats redrew the boundaries of his district to favor their candidate, and Yates narrowly lost his bid for a third term in Congress. Yates then worked for a time as president of a railroad company. Remaining politically engaged, he campaigned on behalf of Republican presidential candidate
John C. Frémont John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
in the 1856 election. He was known as an excellent orator. He had a weakness for whiskey, though at times he strove to exercise temperance. In later years, he was often conspicuously drunk, even at public functions. By 1867 he had "resolve to quit drink altogether" but was unable to persist in this resolution.


Governorship

In 1860 he was elected governor as a Republican; he and Abraham Lincoln, with whom he was friendly, supported each other's campaigns in Illinois. Yates's inaugural address denied that states had any right to secede from the Union and declared that "a claim so presumptuous and absurd could never be acquiesced in"; he also predicted that the Union would "in the end, be stronger and richer and more glorious, renowned and free, than it has ever been heretofore, by the necessary reaction of the crisis through which
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passing." Governor Yates continued to be an outspoken opponent of slavery, and at the opening of the Civil War was very active in raising volunteers. He convened the legislature in extra session on April 12, 1861, the day after the attack on Fort Sumter, and took military possession of Cairo, garrisoning it with regular troops. Illinois banks made $1,000,000 available to Yates to equip the new Illinois troops raised in response to Lincoln's call. At Yates's suggestion, Lincoln authorized Illinois troops to protect the federal arsenal in St. Louis. In Governor Yates's office, General
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
received his first distinct recognition as a soldier in the Civil War, being appointed by Yates as mustering officer for the state, and afterward colonel of the 21st Illinois regiment. Yates would also secure military commissions for
John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a stat ...
, John A. McClernand, and John M. Palmer (all prominent Democrats). Lincoln disregarded a hint from Yates that he would accept a commission as brigadier general on the grounds that Yates was too important as a loyal governor. After the
Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...
, Yates personally took hospital supplies to the succor of the wounded from his state, as did the wartime governors of Wisconsin ( Salomon) and Indiana ( Morton). Such humanitarian gestures cemented Yates's popularity, and the governor enjoyed the nickname of the "Soldiers' Friend". In September 1862, Yates attended the Loyal
War Governors' Conference The Loyal War Governors' Conference was an important political event of the American Civil War. It was held at the Logan House Hotel in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on September 24 and 25, 1862. Thirteen governors of Union states came together to dis ...
in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his
Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
. During the Civil War, Yates benefited from his relations with Lincoln to bring significant federal financial resources to the State of Illinois and Chicago in particular. Chicago became the location for the largest prisoner of war encampment, Camp Douglas, which had been erected on the former estate of Lincoln's political opponent, the late Senator
Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...
(similarly, the estate of Confederate General
Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
in Arlington, Virginia was taken over by the government for use as a military cemetery). During this period, Yates enlisted the services of former Chicago Mayor
James Hutchinson Woodworth James Hutchinson Woodworth (December 4, 1804 – March 26, 1869), was a member of the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois State House of Representatives, served as a Chicago Alderman, was elected to consecutive terms as Mayor of C ...
, a Republican with strong anti-slavery views similar to those of Yates, to oversee the disbursement and management of the federal funds received. In his 1863 annual message, Yates denounced the talk among some secession sympathizers that the Union might be reconstructed to the exclusion of New England. After the Emancipation Proclamation, the Democratic-dominated Illinois legislature proved increasingly uncooperative. Yates, fearing that the Democrats had been infiltrated by the pro-secession Knights of the Golden Circle, dissolved the Illinois legislature on June 10, 1863, declaring that "the past history of the Assembly hold out no reasonable hope of beneficial results to the citizens of the State, or the army in the field, from its further continuance".


Senatorial and later career

After his service as governor ended, Yates was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1871. While in the Senate, Yates was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims ( Thirty-ninth and
Forty-first Congress The 41st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1869, ...
es) and Chairman of the Committee on Territories (
Fortieth Congress The 40th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1867, ...
). He was identified as an associate and "disciple" of Charles Sumner, the
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Senator from Massachusetts. During the impeachment proceedings against
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
, Yates spoke in favor of convicting the President, whom he described as a "most pestilent disturber of public peace ... who, through murder succeeded to the chief command and seeks to betray us to the enemy." Yates did not seek reelection to the Senate. After leaving the Senate, he was appointed by President Grant as a United States commissioner to inspect a land subsidy railroad. He died suddenly in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
on November 27, 1873. He is buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery,
Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,446 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the ...
.


Legacy

In 1923 a statue of Yates by Albin Polasek was erected on the Illinois State Capitol grounds. His son, Richard Yates, Jr., was also active in Illinois politics, and also became governor of Illinois.


References


Bibliography

* * The standard scholarly history. *
''Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois,''
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887 – online as part of ''Illinois History'', an ILGenWeb project *


External links


Illinois Blue Book 2005–2006
*Digital collections of th
Yates Family Papers
an
Yates (Wabash College) Papers
at the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum documents the life of the 16th U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln, and the course of the American Civil War. Combining traditional scholarship with 21st-century showmanship techniques, the museum ...
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Richard 1815 births 1873 deaths Republican Party governors of Illinois Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives People of Illinois in the American Civil War People from Morgan County, Illinois Politicians from Jacksonville, Illinois Transylvania University alumni Illinois College alumni Miami University alumni Georgetown College (Kentucky) alumni Republican Party United States senators from Illinois Union (American Civil War) state governors Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois People from Warsaw, Kentucky 19th-century American politicians