Neal Dow The Father of Prohibition
No other life-long citizen of Maine is
more widely known than Neal Dow. His name is honored the world
over wherever thought is given to human progress and hopes are
cherished for the uplift of man. It is the name of one who made
deep and lasting impression upon the legislation of this and
other lands. The Maine Law of which he was the author became
famous wherever the English language was spoken, and it was
printed and discussed in other tongues.
To a great extent it directed the
thought of statesmen throughout Christendom to a matter of great
social import. Certain it is that, through the well-deserved
fame of Neal Dow, the name of his native State became familiar
and honored where otherwise it had been unknown.
Neal Dow was born in Portland, March 20,
1804, and died there October 2, 1897. He retained physical
strength far into the last year of his life, and mental power
almost to his last hour. After he had passed his 90th birthday,
he acceptably addressed large audiences with much of the vigor
which characterized the efforts of his prime. He attributed his
longevity to his regular habits, to his abstinence from liquor
and tobacco, to moderation at the table, and last, but not
least, to his well-considered, constant activity, mental and
physical, which protected him from the degenerating ennui and
enervation with which idleness saps the health of its votaries.
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General Neal Dow |
In his youth and young manhood Neal Dow
was an all-round athlete in what he called useful lines of
recreation. In horsemanship, in swimming, in rowing and sailing
boats, in fencing, in shooting, in boxing, he was as skilled as
the average amateur of his time. As a swimmer, he was able to
save two men from drowning, plunging in one case from a wharf,
and in the other from a boat. His skill in the "manly art of
self-defense" enabled him to expose to ridicule tools of the
liquor traffic, hired to assault him. His courage was never
questioned. It was commonly said of him that he knew no fear.
Some incidents may throw light upon this
phase of his character. When a boy too young to know better, he
accepted a challenge, declined by the other boys present, of the
owner of a large monkey, to enter, armed with a stick, a yard
where the vicious simian was wont to reign supreme. He came out
of the fight with torn and draggled clothing, face and hands and
legs scratched and bitten, but leaving behind him a cowed and
submissive monkey, whose owner was as glad to call the fight off
as he had been ready to start it.
As a young man he was chief engineer of
the Volunteer Fire Department of Portland, which included
hundreds of the leading young men of the city. A fireman on
trial for insubordination pleaded, as an excuse for his
disobedience, that "the Chief ordered him to undertake an
altogether too dangerous task," but admitted that, upon his
refusal to obey, the Chief himself performed it.
A crowd of turbulent men had assembled
about the Court House in Portland, intent upon mobbing a witness
from the country, who had testified against a rum-seller on
trial. Neal Dow took the witness under his personal protection
and escorted him unharmed through the jeering rioters, who held
his calm, cool courage in too much respect to dare to attack the
man he had taken under his care.
The burly mate of a coaster, temporarily
in Portland Harbor, hired by some liquor sellers to horse-whip
Neal Dow in the public streets, afterwards complained at his
trial in Court that the pain inflicted upon him by his intended
victim was punishment enough for what he had tried, but failed
to do.
As Mayor of Portland, Neal Dow, passing
through a street one evening, was attracted by a crowd to a spot
where a drink-crazed man, armed with pistol and bludgeon, was
holding four policemen at bay. Instantly the Mayor sprang upon
the ruffian and delivered him harmless into the hands of the
police.
A highly respected citizen of Portland,
now nearly eighty years of age, said to the writer, "When a lad
of seventeen, I saw Major Dow alight from a carriage in front of
the old city hall. Just as his foot touched the curbing a tough
looking rowdy, who was avowedly waiting there for the purpose,
aimed a blow at him. Mr. Dow parried it, and with a counter on
the chin knocked his assailant to the sidewalk, where he lay
helpless, while Mr. Dow walked quietly about his business as
though nothing had happened. I then and there conceived an
admiration for Neal Dow which I have cherished ever since."
Such incidents might be multiplied.
Trifling in themselves, they would be unworthy of note, save as
indicative of a characteristic which secured for Neal Dow a
large following among young men, who, attracted by his strenuous
personality, lent support, because he had espoused it, to a
cause for which otherwise they cared but little.
Other characteristics, qualifications
and acquirements attracted other friends and supporters, and
commanded respect and admiration from many who were not always
ready to accept his views or approve his methods.
He was a constant and discriminating
reader and delighted in the retirement of his choice and
extensive library. He was a student of the Bible, drawing from
that Book of books the inspiration and mental and moral strength
which served him well in his chosen life work.
He was a clear, forcible writer and an
eloquent, vigorous speaker. He was welcomed by large audiences
in all of the Northern States, in Canada, Nova Scotia, Prince
Edward's Isle, England, Scotland and Ireland.
Although he had passed, by some years,
the military age, he tendered his services in the Civil War to
Governor Washburn, and was appointed Colonel of the Thirteenth
Maine Regiment. He was soon after made Brigadier-General. He was
twice wounded at the battle of Port Hudson.
On the day of General Dow's death a
letter was received at his residence, from Col. T. G. Reid, late
of the Twelfth Arkansas Infantry. Col. Reid wrote: "On the
morning of the assault on Port Hudson, you, with one or two
mounted officers in the midst of your brigade, columns of
regimental front, in the broad, open field of Slaughter's
Plantation, were directing the deploying of your regiments into
line of battle, about four to six hundred yards from my
position. I observed closely your movements until I was enabled
to know that you were the commanding officer.
''I assembled a small number of my
sharp-shooters and singled you out to them and ordered them to
fire continuously at you. After a short time your line of battle
was formed, and a general advance on my position was commenced,
with drums beating and flags flying, presenting a magnificent
line, grandly marching to time in perfect order. It was a
picture never to be erased from my mind, for with all the
military pomp and display in formidable battle array I knew the
dreadful fate I held in hand to turn it into defeat with the
terrible slaughter of that day's battle.
''The scattering fire of my
sharp-shooters continued, while the roar of your cannon sent
shells over our heads. When about three hundred yards from my
position I saw you fall, or lean down to your horse's neck, and
a number of your hospital corps ran and lifted you from your
horse.'' (His bridle arm was then disabled, and he proceeded on
foot until a shot in the leg made him helpless.)
''Your command never faltered, but swept
on in splendid line until within eighty yards of my position,
when I ordered my battalion to fire. You directed the charge of
your brigade, and it swept along like an avalanche until forced
to retreat from the galling fire of my command, so well
protected by our strong breast-works. But the retreat of your
brigade was orderly."
Col. Reid's sharp-shooters did their
work well. Besides the two bullets that struck him, the blouse
that he wore had holes in it which showed that four other
bullets came very near their mark.
Before General Dow had recovered from
his wounds he was taken prisoner, and was held as such for nine
months. On the 23d day of March, 1864, after an absence of more
than two years, he returned to Portland, where he was accorded a
great reception, the public buildings and many dwellings and
stores being decorated.
Of a meeting held in his honor the next
evening, a Portland morning paper said: "In the annals of
Portland there has never been such a gathering of people on any
occasion, as there was last evening at the City Hall to welcome
General Dow. The doors of the hall were thrown open at six
o'clock, and, although proceedings were not to commence before
half-past seven, in half an hour the spacious hall, ante-rooms
and passage-ways were solidly packed with human beings, and, for
an hour or more, crowds were wending their way to the hall, only
to find when they arrived that it was impossible for them to
obtain an entrance. So great was the crowd that it was with
difficulty the police forced a passage-way for the entrance of
the city authorities with General Dow.''
Fred. N. Dow
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