The Indian Corn, Impromptu Speech of Ex-Gov. Richard J. Oglesby, Made at the Fellowship Club at Chicago, September 9th, 1894, on the Occasion of the Harvest Home Festival;
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Richard James Oglesby was an American soldier, Republican politician and Governor of Illinois.
Background
Richard James Oglesby was born on July 25, 1824, in Oldham County, Kentucky, the son of Jacob and Isabella (Watson) Oglesby. His father was a farmer, owned a few slaves, and was a member of the Kentucky legislature. In 1833 his parents, two brothers, and a sister died of the cholera and the family property was sold, including the slaves. He maintained that it was the sale of these slaves, especially of Uncle Tim, whom he later bought and freed, that made him an abolitionist. An uncle took the orphaned boy to Decatur, Illinois.
Education
Richard Oglesby attended the district school for a few months in Decatur, Illinois. Later he studied law in the office of Silas W. Robbins of Springfield and at Louisville Law School in 1848.
Career
Richard Oglesby was admitted to the bar in 1845, and practised his profession at Sullivan, Illinois, until the outbreak of the Mexican War. During the war he served as first lieutenant in the 4th Illinois Volunteers, participating in the battles of Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo. After the war he resumed his law practice. In 1849, Richard went to California to dig for gold and returned to his profession at Decatur in 1851. Five years later he went abroad for twenty months' travel in Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. On his return to Decatur he entered politics. He had been a Whig and had served as a Scott elector in 1852 but joined the Republican party upon its formation. In 1858 he ran for Congress on the Republican ticket and was defeated by only a small majority in a strong Democratic district. In 1860 he was elected to the state Senate, but he served only one term, resigning at the outbreak of the Civil War to become colonel of the 8th Illinois Volunteers. He served as brigade commander under Grant at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and was severely wounded at the battle of Corinth. In April 1863 he returned to the army and was promoted to the rank of major-general. He resigned in May 1864.
In November 1864, Oglesby was elected governor of Illinois on the Republican ticket. He was an ardent advocate of Lincoln's war policies; however, later he denounced Johnson bitterly and sent a formal demand to Washington for action against him. During his administration, Illinois ratified the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Amendments and repealed her "Black Laws. " Further enactments provided for a home for the children of deceased soldiers, a school for the feeble-minded, the location of the Illinois industrial college at Urbana, and the construction of a southern Illinois penitentiary. At the end of his term he returned to his law practice, but in 1872 he was again the Republican nominee for governor, the party realizing that he was the only Republican who could carry the state. There was an understanding, however, that the lieutenant-governor should succeed to the governorship immediately after inauguration and that Oglesby in turn should receive election to the United States Senate. A few days after his inauguration, therefore, he was elected to succeed Lyman Trumbull. As senator, he served as chairman of the committee on public lands and on the committees of Indian affairs, pensions, and civil service. As a member of the pensions committee, he was an earnest champion of the soldiers' interests.
Oglesby retired at the end of his term in the Senate. In 1884 the Republican party nominated him governor by acclamation, and he was elected, the first man in Illinois to receive that honor three times. During this administration his general policies were carried out in laws providing for a soldiers' and sailors' home, a home for juvenile delinquents, and the creation of various pension funds. In 1889 he retired to his home at "Oglehurst, " Elkhart, Illinois. In 1891 he was nominated for the Senate, but he failed of election. The last years of his life were spent in comparative quiet.
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Membership
Richard Oglesby was a member of the Republican party; the Illinois Senate (1860); the United States Senate from Illinois (1873-1879).
Personality
Richard Oglesby was a fine looking man with a bluff, friendly manner that appealed to the people. This, added to his wit and good humor, his sincerity and enthusiasm, and his ability to speak to the people in the vernacular, made him an excellent stump speaker, and as such he acquired considerable fame. He believed in the people and in their ability to govern themselves; in return, he was dearly beloved by them, to whom he was known as "Uncle Dick. "
Connections
Richard Oglesby was married twice: to Anna White in 1859 and, after her death in 1868, to Emma (Gillet) Keyes in 1873.