A Governors Gift 



on a certain memorable occasion, was 

 the Civil War Governor of the state of 

 Nebraska, one of a strong group of 

 Unionist executives that included such 

 towering figures as Samuel Kirkwood 

 of Iowa, Richard Yates of Illinois, and 

 Oliver P. Morton of Indiana men 

 who held their respective states firmly 

 in line for the policies for which Abra- 

 ham Lincoln stood, in the face of the 

 under-currents of opposition set in 

 motion by sympathizers with the 

 Southern Confederacy residing in these 

 and adjacent states, well organized 

 under the name of Knights of the 

 Golden Circle. The Nebraska Gover- 

 nor had retired to private life after 

 the close of the War of Secession; and 

 it was not many years after Grant 

 had handed back Lee's sword at 

 Appomattox that there was placed in 

 boyish hands the symbol of honorable 

 service represented by the tiny garden 

 tool already mentioned, and at a later 

 date Governor Saunders was sent by 



[53] 



