432 



McKINLEY, WILLIAM. 



the enemy's works and every piece of their artillery. 

 Nothing was more brilliant or decisive during the 

 entire war, considering the numbers in the affair." 



Soon after this battle the regiment was detailed 

 as train.guard to Martinsburg and marched to Win- 

 chester, where a brigade of the enemy's cavalry was 

 reported to be. On the march (Oct. 11) the men 

 voted in the election that decided whether the war 

 should be continued to success or abandoned and ac- 

 knowledged a failure. Capt. McKinley's first ballot 

 was cast for Lincoln. He voted in an old cracker 

 box, which served for a ballot box, in company with 

 Gens. Sheridan, Crook, and Hayes, the latter of 

 whom was chosen to Congress at this election. The 

 other two generals never had voted, and consider- 

 able amusement was afforded the clerks of the elec- 

 tion by their efforts to decide in what townships in 

 Perry and Montgomery Counties, Ohio, their votes 

 ought to be recorded. 



On the morning of Oct. 19, 1864, the National 

 forces at Cedar Creek were surprised by Early's 

 army and for a time were thrown into confusion 

 and routed. Gen. Sheridan had been at Win- 

 chester, "20 miles away," but, hearing the roar of 

 the artillery down the valley, mounted his horse 

 and rode rapidly to the scene of action. On work- 

 ing to the front, he met Capt. McKinley, who, with 

 other officers, had been striving to keep the men in 

 line and establish a position. He had just returned 

 from planting a battery of Col. Henry A. Dupont, 

 of the Fifth United States Artillery, part of Gen. 

 Crook's corps, by his orders. " Where's Crook '. " 

 asked Sheridan. " Capt. McKinley turned, and to- 

 gether they rode off to find the general, and as 

 Sheridan dashed down the line he yelled to the 

 troops, amid their enthusiastic cheers: "Never 

 mind, boys, we'll whip them yet. We'll sleep in 

 our quarters to-night." Evidently " the wave of 

 retreat checked its course then because the sight of 

 the master compelled it to pause." Gens. Crook 

 and Wright soon came up and briefly described the 

 events of the morning to Sheridan, and under his 

 leadership the National forces eagerly attacked and 

 badly defeated the confident enemy. It was sug- 

 gested to Sheridan during the fight that he take 

 off his great coat, which was covered with dust, 

 and ride down the line, and he did so. Capt. Mc- 

 Kinley helped him remove it, when it was seen that 

 Sheridan had on a bright new major general's uni- 

 form, which he had just obtained on his trip to 

 Washington. " He looked every inch a soldier," 

 said McKinley, in a speech before the Grand Army 

 of the Republic Ohio State Encampment of 1804, 

 "and proved the hero that day we had all along 

 believed him to be." 



A short time after this battle a successful cavalry 

 raid by the enemy on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 

 road, at New Creek, caused Gen. Crook to move one 

 of his divisions to that place. He admired Capt. 

 McKinley and took him along. Here Gens. Crook 

 and Kelley were captured, and Gen. Hancock took 

 charge of the department. He retained McKinley 

 on his staff for several months. McKinley was 

 then assigned as acting assistant adjutant general 

 on the staff of Gen. Samuel S. Carroll, command- 

 ing the Veteran Reserve Corps at Washington, 

 where he remained through that exciting period 

 which included the surrender of Lee to Grant at 

 Appomattox and the assassination of Lincoln. 

 Just a month before this tragedy, or on March 14, 

 1865, he had received from the President the docu- 

 ment he most values of any of his papers. It is a 

 commission as major by brevet in the volunteer 

 United States army, ' for gallant and meritorious 

 services at the battles of Opequan, Cedar Creek, 

 and Fisher's Hill," signed "A. Lincoln." He par- 

 ticipated in the last great act of the war, the final 



grand review in Washington, where the armies of 

 Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan were united in May, 

 1865, with the same modest deportment that had 

 characterized his entrance into the service in 1861. 

 "He was urged to remain in the army, but, wisely 

 deferring to the judgment of his father, he availed 

 himself of the opportunity to return home, and was 

 mustered out with his regiment July 26, 1865, and 

 returned to Poland, where the family was again re- 

 united, his younger brother, Abner, having, like 

 him. been a volunteer in the National army. He 

 never was absent a day from his command on sick 

 leave ; he had only one short furlough in his four 

 years of service ; he never asked or sought promo- 

 tion ; he was present and active in every engage- 

 ment in which his regiment participated ; and he 

 performed bravely and well every duty assigned 

 him. His career as a soldier was in the highest 

 degree creditable and gained for him the lifelong 

 respect, confidence, and good will both of his supe- 

 rior officers and of his comrades in the ranks. On 

 his return to Poland with his old company, a com- 

 plimentary dinner was given them, and "he was se- 

 lected to respond to the welcoming address, which 

 he did in a speech of rare eloquence and beauty. 



He at once began the study of law under the pre- 

 ceptorship of Judge Charle's E. Glidden and his 

 partner, David M. Wilson, of .Youngstown, Ohio, 

 applying himself diligently during the week at Po- 

 land, and going to their office on Mondays for re- 

 view and examination. After a year of such drill, 

 during which he made astonishing progress, he 

 completed his course at the law school in Albany, 

 X. Y., and in March. 1807, was admitted to the bar 

 at \Varren, Ohio. On the advice of his elder sister, 

 Anna, to whom he frequently and tenderly ac- 

 knowledges his obligations, he settled in Canton, 

 Ohio, where she was then and for many years after 

 a beloved teacher in the public schools. Here he 

 soon attracted attention, and by his exemplary life 

 and devotion to his profession achieved success at 

 the bar and great popularity. He was already an 

 ardent Republican, and did not forsake his party 

 because he was now a resident of an opposition 

 county. On the contrary, in the autumn of 1867 

 he made his first political speeches in favor of ne- 

 gro suffrage, a most unpopular doctrine throughout 

 the State. Nominations on the Republican ticket 

 in Stark County were considered empty honors; 

 but when, in 18G9. he was placed on the ticket for 

 prosecuting attorney he made so energetic a can- 

 vass that he was elected. He discharged the duties 

 of this trust with fidelity and fearlessness, but in 

 1871 he failed of re-election by 45 votes. He there- 

 upon resumed his increasing private practice, and 

 during the next five years made rapid strides at 

 the bar. As an advocate and in the studious prepa- 

 ration of cases he had few superiors, and he was 

 remarkably successful. 



He would undoubtedly have attained eminence 

 and affluence in his profession but for the pressing 

 demands of his party and the general public, whose 

 appeals he felt he could not deny. Consequently 

 his voice was heard in every campaign, and his serv- 

 ices were so eagerly sought that he spoke more fre- 

 quently in his county and district than even the 

 principal candidates on the ticket. He was thor- 

 oughly informed on every issue ; he presented his 

 arguments with moderation and earnestness : and 

 then, as in all his subsequent career, both restrained 

 those of his own party who were wavering in their 

 devotion to the cause and won men to it at every 

 meeting. In the gubernatorial campaign between 

 Hayes and Allen, in 1875. at the height of the 

 greenback craze, he made numerous effective 

 speeches in favor of honest money and the resump- 

 tion of specie payments. Hon. Stewart L. Wood- 





