Wide Awake in 1860

In 1860, my four-times great-uncle, Servetus Longley, invented and patented a street-sweeping machine. It’s an ingenious device, with brushes attached at an angle to a set of wheels so that the machine can be pushed along a street. It works, as Servetus explained in his patent application, “by sweeping the dirt into windrows from the middle to the sides of the street so that it may be rapidly carried away” (Longley 1860).

Side elevation of Servetus Longley’s street sweeping machine with the driving wheel removed (Longley 1860).

This invention might have made a fortune for Servetus. In fact, in the fall of 1860, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, granted him a three-year contract to use his machine to clean the streets in the city’s western district. They withdrew the contract a few weeks later and therein lies a tale. Here's what (allegedly) happened, according to one of the local newspapers:

“Cleaning the Streets.” October 14, 1860. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Page 2.

There’s a lot to unpack in those few paragraphs. The implication, of course, is that Servetus was only awarded the contract so that he would throw his support behind incumbent U.S. Representative John A. Gurley and the rest of the Republican ticket. [1] However, Servetus was undoubtedly already a Republican. He came from a family of abolitionists, and Gurley was, like Servetus’s own father, a Universalist minister and also the former owner of the Universalist newspaper Star of the West, which was at one time published by Servetus and his brothers (“Biographical” 1865). Given the ties between the two men, it seems unsurprising that Servetus would support Gurley’s campaign and Gurley would support Servetus’s bid for a city contract.

Matthew Brady, photographer. c 1860. Hon. John A. Gurley, Ohio. Image from the National Archives.

Another factor to consider is that this report was published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, which began life as a political broadsheet and, in 1860, remained a dedicated mouthpiece for the Democratic party. As such, its writers might be only too willing to try to make the Republicans look bad.

Nuances aside, this story opens a window on one of the most contentious election years in American history. In 1860, the United States was far from united, with slavery the key issue. Radical abolitionists in the North were pushing for an immediate end to the enslavement of human beings, and while most northerners were less concerned about freeing enslaved people, they were still wary of the political and economic power of Southern enslavers. Those tensions had already led to the creation of the anti-slavery Republican party in 1856, and in 1860, the Democratic party spilt apart, with the northern and southern factions each nominating a candidate for president. Of course, none of the candidates actually advocated the abolition of slavery. Even the Republicans were only trying to prevent any expansion of slavery into the Western territories. The southern Democrats supported slavery while the northern Democrats and members of a fourth party, the Constitutional Unionists, were seeking a compromise. With emotions running high and a presidential race with four candidates and no incumbent, the 1860 election was a powder keg (Potter 1976).

It was in this highly charged atmosphere that the Wide Awakes came into being. In February 1860, a group of young men in Hartford, Connecticut, planned to participate in a torchlight parade honoring a visiting abolitionist. Concerned about dripping coal oil on their clothes, one of their group, a clerk in a dry goods store, quickly created cloaks for them. They were the hit of the parade and decided to form a marching club, calling themselves “Wide Awakes” to emphasize their awareness of the dangers that Southern “slave power” posed to American democracy. With their quasi-military uniforms and demeanor, the Wide Awakes were very visible and were widely covered by the press. Soon, there were Wide Awake clubs in towns and cities across the nation. Scores of young men marched in the streets, shouting in unison the Wide Awake cheer “Hurrah! Huzza!” and providing security for visiting Republican candidates—a real need given the level of political violence that was occurring at the time (Grinspan 2024).

Unknown photographer. 1860. Some of the original Hartford, Connecticut, Wide Awakes in uniform.  In Rathbun, Julis G. 1895. “The ‘Wide Awakes’: The Great Political Organization of 1860.” Connecticut Quarterly 1 (10): 327-35.

The Wide Awakes appeared rather late in Cincinnati. Although there was an attempt to organize a Cincinnati Wide Awake club as early as May 1860 and it seems likely that smaller clubs existed across the city, the group does not seem to have fully taken hold until August of that year. On August 15, a club was formed, a constitution adopted, and officers elected (“Organization” 1860). Once started, interest in the Wide Awakes spread quickly. Local merchants began to advertise the sale of Wide Awake capes and hats and to offer discounts to Wide Awakes who wished to have their picture taken in uniform (“Wide-Awakes, Attention!” 1860).

On August 25, 1860, the Cincinnati Wide Awakes held their first citywide torchlight parade. Local newspapers of varying political persuasions published widely divergent accounts of the march. The Democratic-leaning Enquirer called it “a ridiculous failure” while the Republican-leaning Daily Commercial said, “The display was very handsome and the amount of agitation produced immense” (“We witnessed” 1860; “This political stagnation” 1860). From any perspective, it was clear that Wide Awake fever had reached Cincinnati, and for the next several months, the Republican-leaning papers were filled with announcements for and coverage of Wide Awake meetings, drills, parades, rallies, and at least one grand ball. A final parade before the election attracted Wide Awakes from across the state of Ohio as well as from Louisiana and Kentucky (“Wide-awake Procession” 1860).

In November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. He received a majority of the votes across Ohio but took Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, by only a small plurality. It’s impossible to know how much of an impact the Wide Awakes had on the election, but they brought to the streets—and to the polls—many young men who had not previously engaged in politics. They also had a lasting impact on American culture, with the militarism they pioneered visible in both political and fraternal organizations throughout the rest of the century, including the Masonic Knights Templar I wrote about in my last post (Grinspan 2024).

Alschuler, Samuel G., photographer. November 25, 1860. Abraham Lincoln: President-elect. Image from the Library of Congress.

The Wide Awakes may also have unintentionally precipitated the Civil War. Newspapers in the South covered the movement just as much as newspapers in the North, and what Southerners saw of the Wide Awakes looked to them a lot like an unofficial army. In September 1860, for example, the Richmond Enquirer wrote:

Several months ago, the New York ‘Tribune’ informed us that already more than 100,000 able bodied young men were enrolled in the ‘Wide Awake’ clubs…So large a body of men, composed of the rowdy materials of Northern cities, rejoicing in such a nomenclature, and compacted in military organization, drill, and discipline, will doubtless furnish a very ready arm (“The ‘Wide Awakes’” 1860).

The writer of this article wasn’t wrong. When the Civil War began, Wide Awakes volunteered for the Union Army in large numbers. The Commandant General of the Cincinnati Wide Awakes, R. Delavan Mussey, in fact, served as an officer in the Union Army and went on to become Colonel of the 100th U.S. Colored Infantry regiment. What began as a quasi-military political organization ended with its members serving in the actual military to preserve the Union and defeat “slave power” (Grinspan 2024).

“Grand procession of Wide Awakes at New York on the evening of October 3, 1860.” October 13, 1860. Harper’s Weekly 4 (198): 648-9.

To end on a lighter note, what really happened with Servetus Longley’s street-sweeping contract? Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know. The Enquirer article excerpted above goes on to say that Gurley and Carnes abandoned their support for Servetus because they learned from the Board of City Improvements that he was likely to lose money on the deal and they did not want to be held responsible (“Cleaning” 1860). Servetus, too, seems to blame the Board, saying in his letter to them:  

In bidding for your street-cleaning contracts, I did so in good faith and presented supposed friends of mine of twenty years standing. They were induced to go on my bond understandingly, but have since been induced, from representations made to them by members of your Board, to withdraw (“Board” 1860).

I wonder what exactly those members of the board said to Gurley and Carnes. Perhaps there was some sort of attempted bribery, or perhaps they simply objected to Servetus’s political activism. Perhaps the street-sweeping machine didn’t actually work, and Gurley and Carnes really would have been liable for the money paid out by the city. Whatever the case, I hope that Servetus continued to “shoulder his oil torch” as the Cincinnati Wide Awakes marched for the election of Abraham Lincoln.

[1] The election in question, held in Ohio on October 9, 1860, was for the U.S. House of Representatives and a variety of state and local offices. Multiple elections in a given year were common at the time. In 1860, only eight states held their congressional elections in conjunction with the presidential election on November 6.

Membership certificate for the Wide-Awake Club. 1860. New York: Gavit & Co. Image from the Library of Congress.

Works Cited

“Biographical: Rev. John A. Gurley.” 1865. The Universalist Register. Boston, MA: New  England Universalist Publishing House. Page 29.

“Board of City Improvements.” October 13, 1860. The Cincinnati Daily Press. Page 4.

“Cleaning the Streets.” October 14, 1860. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Page 2.

Grinspan, Jon. 2024. Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Longley, Servetus. November 13, 1860. Street Sweeping Machine. Patent No. 30644. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent Office.

“Organization of a Central Wide-Awake Club.” August 16, 1860. The Cincinnati Daily Press. Page 3.

Potter, David. 1976. The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. New York: Harper & Row.

“The ‘Wide Awakes’.” September 14, 1860. The Richmond Enquirer. Page 1.

“This political stagnation of the season was energetically stirred.” August 25, 1860. The Cincinnati Daily Commercial. Page 2.

“We witnessed last evening the turn-out of the Wide-Awakes.” August 27, 1860. The Cincinnati Enquirer. Page 2.

“Wide-awake Procession—Large Delegation from the Country—Grand Display--Illumination.” November 3, 1860. The Cincinnati Daily Press. Page 3.

“Wide-Awakes, Attention!” August 25, 1860. The Cincinnati Daily Press. Page 2.