Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I denounce Democrat devilry. April 27th 1874, Louisiana Democrats created a terrorist organization called the White League, also called the White Man's League. Their first leader, Christopher Nash, was a county sheriff and Confederate veteran.  Red Shirts, Knights of the White Camellia, Klansmen – they shared its white supremacist ideology. In contrast to the Ku Klux Klan, the White League operated openly. They held rallies and publicly vowed to "teach the blacks to beware of further insolence...in an earnest effort to re-establish a white man's government in the city and the State." White League thugs targeted white Republicans as well as African-Americans. Murder victims included six GOP officials and a teenage African-American teacher. September 1874, a White League mob defeated the New Orleans police in a bloody battle. President Grant deploy...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I admire Farragut Square, a downtown park in the nation's capital. It features a statue of Civil War hero David Farragut. The courageous admiral is best remembered for "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Bronze for the statue and four accompanying mortars came from the propellers of his flagship, USS Hartford. The statue had been authorized by the GOP-controlled 42nd Congress. It was cast at the Washington Naval Yard. April 25th 1881, President James Garfield keynoted the magnificent dedication ceremony: "This Capital is silently being filled up with the heroes of other times. Men of three wars have taken their place in silent eloquence as guardians and guards of the Nation they love so well. And as the years pass on these squares and public places will be rendered more and more populous, more and more eloquent by the presence of the heroes ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I commemorate the first convention of the Maryland Republican Party. April 26th 1860, thirty delegates gathered at an auditorium in Baltimore. Presiding was state chairman William Coale, a prominent physician. Montgomery Blair, a GOP co-founder, delivered the keynote address. He observed what "a great and holy cause the Republicans have undertaken to sustain." Democrat thugs surrounded the building and shut down the meeting before a platform could be adopted. Nonetheless, delegates were able to accomplish their most important task – selecting delegates for the upcoming Republican National Convention. During the Lincoln administration, Coale supervised a military hospital and Blair served as Postmaster General. Republicans held their 1864 national convention in Baltimore. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my c...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute John Routt, born April 25th 1826. Growing up in Illinois, he was a carpenter before being elected county sheriff. Outbreak of civil war, the patriotic Republican enlisted as captain with the state’s 94th Volunteer Infantry. His regiment fought at Vicksburg. Ulysses Grant promoted him to colonel. Peace restored, Routt won two terms as county treasurer. President Grant appointed him second assistant postmaster general, then U.S. Marshal. In 1875, he was named territorial governor of Colorado. The new governor oversaw preparations for statehood. Routt also promoted economic development and contended with lawlessness. In favor of women’s suffrage, he invited Susan B. Anthony on a speaking tour. Statehood achieved, Routt won the first two gubernatorial terms. He was delegate for three Republican National Conventions. Later, as a private citizen, investments in sil...

Grand Old Partisan salutes Benjamin Franklin Tracy, born in western New York, April 26th 1830. He began his career as a county prosecutor, and after establishing his local GOP, was re-elected. In 1862, Tracy won a state house seat. He recruited the 109th New York Infantry and commanded it at Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. He later commanded the 127th (Colored) Infantry and then a prisoner of war camp. Union restored, Tracy served eleven years as a U.S. Attorney. In 1881, a Republican Governor appointed him to the court of appeals. President Benjamin Harrison named him Secretary of the Navy. His foremost achievement was advocating a two-ocean navy that could conduct operations around the world. As a result, the GOP-controlled 51st Congress authorized construction of four modern battleships. In 1898, Tracy chaired the commission to create a five-borough Greater New York City. He lost the subsequent m...