George Washington Julian (May 5, 1817 “ July 7, 1899) was a nineteenth century politician, lawyer and writer from Indiana.
Biography
Born in Centerville, Indiana, Julian received a common school education. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1840 and practiced out of Greenfield, Indiana. He started to take part in politics and was elected a Whig to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1845. Julian, who was raised a Quaker, started to question slavery. He helped find the Free Soil Party in 1848. He was a delegate to the convention in Buffalo, New York and the same year was elected to the United States House of Representatives, thirty-first congress. In 1852, the free-soilers nominated Julian for the vice-presidency. John P. Hale was the presidential candidate. The two did not win any electoral votes, but did pull in 155,210 popular votes. He was a delegate to the convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and to the 1856 Republican National Convention where he was its vice president and chairman of the committee on organization. In 1860, he was elected a Republican to the thirty-seventh congress, winning reelection to the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth and forty-first.
As early as 1847, Julian espoused the cause of women’ suffrage and in 1868 proposed to congress a constitutional amendment conferring the right to vote on women. He was the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands 1863 to 1871 and chairman of the Expenditures in the Navy Department 1865 to 1867. He joined the Liberal Republicans in 1872 and supported Horace Greeley for the presidency. In the election, Julian received five electoral votes for the vice-presidency. President Grover Cleveland appointed Julian surveyor general of New Mexico in May, 1885 which he served until September, 1889. Afterwards, he settled in Irvington, Indiana and focused on literary pursuits, writing for magazines and newspapers. He died July 7, 1899 in Irvington and was interred in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Julian SEE ADDITIONAL SKETCHES BELOW
General Sol Meredith of Cambridge City, Indiana
GEORGE W. JULIAN, GENERAL MEREDITH’S ELECTION FEUD TURNS VIOLENT:
While (General Solomon Meredith was) still on army duty in mid-1864, Meredith unsuccessfully ran against George Julian for the U. S. House of Representatives. Openly feuding with his opponent, (in November of 1865) Meredith beat Julian unconscious with a whip, but used his political influence to have charges of assault and battery dropped.
Here’s the story detailing the statements made by Geo. Julian that prompted the attack from General Meredith; (extracted from the chapter dedicated to Geo. W. Julian in the book titled “Memoirs of Wayne County & Richmond, Indiana, Vol I; 1912″):
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The “whipping” took place at the RR Depot in Richmond, Indiana. The following story was reported by the Richmond Weekly Telegram; published December 2, 1865 (page 3, col; 7): transcribed as written.
FIRST CLASS COW HIDING—
On Monday evening last, about six o’clock Gen. MEREDITH met Hon. GEO. W. JULIAN at the depot, this city, and addressing him respectfully, read a dispatch that had been sent from Washington City, last spring, and which contained the statement that Gen. MEREDITH had been removed from his command in Kentucky, in consequence of his sympathy with rebels and failure to afford protection to the Union men. After reading the dispatch General MEREDITH charged Mr. JULIAN with its authorship, which the latter denied.
General MEREDITH then seized Mr. Julian, threw him on the floor, struck him with his fist in the face, and drawing a cow-hide held Mr. JULIAN with his left hand and gave him forty or fifty severe stripes over the region covered by the coat-tail. A large crowd was present, among them a number of Mr. JULIAN’S office holders but the latter beat a precipitate retreat, and left their master to his fate. Mr. JULIAN cried out at the top of his voice:
“For God’s Sake, if I have a friend here, take him off. Help me CHEENY, where is ACHILLES WILLIAMS? Send for TULLIDGE; oh! I’ll be murdered. take him off.”
But CHEENY, TULLIDGE and WILLIAMS were not to be seen. They have an abiding love for office, but at the same time a keen regard for their personal safety.
When the attacking party had given what he probably regarded as a proper chastisement for the offense that he wished to have redress for, he ceased the use of the raw-hide- released Mr. JULIAN and the transaction was ended.
The following article also appeared in this same weekly:
MANUFACTURING INDIGNATION—
Some of Mr. JULIAN’S office-holders, in this city, mistaking their own love for the people’s money for public sentiment, canvassed the city for three days. of the past week, obtaining signers to a paper expressing indignation at the treatment of Mr. JULIAN received on Monday evening last. After a thorough canvas the result was sent to the Cincinnati Gazette for publication. The list appeared yesterday morning in that paper and consists of fifty-three names, all told. For a city of twelve thousand inhabitants and which polls over two thousand Union votes, this list is certainly very formidable. The gentlemen whose names appear in the Gazette are among our most worthy and law-abiding citizens, but we would be sorry to think that they comprise all the residents of Richmond who disapprove of Gen MEREDITH’S method of redressing personal wrongs.
We have been told by a number of our best citizens, to whom the paper was presented, that they did not refuse to sign it because they approved of Gen. MEREDITH’S act, but because they were unwilling to append their names to a paper that expressed sympathy for Mr. JULIAN. They think that while Gen. MEREDITH did wrong that Mr. JULIAN deserved all he received.
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Here’s another instance where a politician attacked another politician…in this case, the attack occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate! extracted from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks article;
Preston Smith Brooks (August 5, 1819 “ January 27, 1857) was a Democratic Congressman from South Carolina, known for physically beating Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate;
On May 22, 1856, Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with his Gutta-percha wood walking cane in the Senate chamber because of a speech Sumner had made three days earlier, criticizing President Franklin Pierce and Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas (“Bleeding Kansas”). In particular, Sumner lambasted Brooks’ kinsman, Senator Andrew Butler, who was not in attendance when the speech was read, describing slavery as a harlot, comparing Butler with Don Quixote for embracing it, and mocking Butler for a physical handicap;
…..Two days after the speech, on the afternoon of May 22, Brooks confronted Sumner as he sat writing at his desk in the almost empty Senate chamber. Brooks was accompanied by Keitt and Henry A. Edmundson of Virginia. Brooks said, “Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.” As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks began beating Sumner on the head with his thick gutta-percha cane with a gold head. Sumner was trapped under the heavy desk (which was bolted to the floor), but Brooks continued to bash Sumner until he ripped the desk from the floor. By this time, Sumner was blinded by his own blood, and he staggered up the aisle and collapsed, lapsing into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat Sumner until he broke his cane, then quietly left the chamber. Several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but were blocked by Keitt who was holding a pistol and shouting “Let them be!” (Keitt would be censured for his actions and later died of wounds in 1864 during the US Civil War.)
Sumner was unable to return to his Senate duties for more than three years while he recovered. He later became one of the most influential Radical Republicans throughout the conduct of the American Civil War, and on through the early years of Reconstruction. More on this story here. And here.
VIOLENCE IN POLITICS: 1859; Sitting U.S. Senator killed in duel - 1861; U.S. Senator killed in battle
MORE ON THE NOTABLE LIFE AND CAREER OF GEORGE W. JULIAN
Source for this sketch; Directory & Soldiers Register of Wayne County & Richmond, Indiana; published 1865
Source for this sketch: History of Wayne County; Andrew White Young; 1872
Source for this sketch: History of Wayne County; Inter-State Publishers; 1884
G.W. Julian c: 1860s
George W. Julian’s Wayne County Indiana home was located at 323 East Main Street, Centerville, Indiana. According to the 1865 Soldier’s Register book, he resided on the south side of Main Street, between 2nd & 3rd. (I believe his home has been demolished…and his lot is now combined with the current frontage of the old Dairy Whip ice cream store?)
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