|
MICHIGAN, MY MICHIGAN MAJ. W. C. RANSOM, 1871
There was a strip of swamp along the south boundary of the State, chiefly celebrated in song as the land of small potatoes, to make amends for which, it was claimed that the natives ate them skin and all. This almost worthless piece of country, known as Maumee, nevertheless proved a bone of bitter contention between Michigan and Ohio, and each proceeded to draw up their forces in martial array. The war, however, proved chiefly furious in words, and in a tremendous charge made by the Wolverine
troops on a watermelon patch. This charge cost the State the famous Bailey war horse, whose ghost stalked through the Michigan legislature for years, until it was finally quieted by the sop it had so long demanded from the ungrateful commonwealth. * This charge, second only to that commonly made by Washington boarding-house keepers, was under the lead of Gen. Isaac E. Crary, the first member in congress. His brilliant exploits in that campaign were afterwards rescued from oblivion by Tom Corwin, of Ohio, who so perfectly extinguished the gentleman from Michigan, in a speech made by him before the lower house of congress, that John Quincy Adams spoke of him the next day as the late General Crary. My friends, I know that comparisons are odious, but I trust that it will be attributed to a commendable feeling of State pride if I, in passing, but merely allude to that other (I may truthfully say) weaker sister, that was admitted to the national fold at the same time as Michigan, as a sort of southern offset to the onward strides of northern power. Poor little Arkansas! the forlorn land where, until recently, the women chewed black tobacco, and the men, after the manner of Joe Lane, spelled God with a small g.
MY MICHIGAN
Page 8
|
|
If you find this information helpful please consider making a donation
Thank you
Thank you
|
