Lincoln’s Northern Nemesis

Clement Vallandigham, an Ohio opponent of the Civil War and of abolition, was thrown out of the country by Abraham Lincoln because of his political views. As a result of his banishment, Vallandigham became a martyr to his cause and was nominated for governor by the Democratic Party in 1863. He ran the race from exile. The stakes in this colorful campaign were enormous, and Lincoln was highly involved, worrying that a Vallandigham victory would be seen as a rejection of the war by voters. That could have been devastating to the Union cause. It also would likely have made Vallandigham—a former congressman from Dayton—a presidential prospect. This book tells the story of a unique event in American history: a president—significantly, Lincoln—banishing a leading opponent, with that opponent then being nominated by a major party for high office in an important state.

Martin Gottlieb retired after 27 years as an award-winning editorial writer and—sometimes nationally distributed—columnist for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.

Martin Gottlieb

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 278
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8629-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4371-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction: Claims to Fame 5
1. The Making of a ­Pro-Slavery Northerner 9
2. Onto the National Stage 27
3. Seeing John Brown (In the Mirror) 31
4. The Westerner 37
5. Response to Sumter: Founding Fatherhood Denied 42
6. Defending Himself 50
7. Love Among the Polarized 55
8. The 1862 Fight for Freedom and Slavery 62
9. Tom Lowe, Vallandighammer 87
10. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off 94
11. Exiled, Welcomed and Removed 99
12. Lincoln vs. Vallandigham 138
13. The Campaign from Exile 149
14. Lincoln’s Election Night and the ­Post-Election Spin 190
15. Literary Immortality 197
16. Canadian Winter 200
17. Vallandighammizing the Democrats 209
18. After the War 219
19. Wrong Gun in His Pocket 236
20. What Ever Happened To…? 242
Chapter Notes 251
Bibliography 263
Index 267

• “Gottlieb is a highly entertaining writer…a gripping story-teller and has done much research into period sources, particularly Ohio newspapers. The result is a fresh, nuanced, and illuminating portrait.”—HistoryNet

• “Gottlieb is a pro whose book reads like the kind of popular newspaper column he used to write. He also has some sharp reporter’s instincts for digging up good material, especially from around the Dayton area, where both he and Vallandigham lived.”—Civil War Book Review

• “Deftly moves the reader through Vallandigham’s prewar years…impressive…Lincoln’s Northern Nemesis is an admirable study underscoring how one of the more polarizing figures of the mid-19th century might not seem so out of place in our 21st century politics.”—Emerging Civil War