Democratic newspapers called him "His Fraudulency." His wife was nicknamed "Lemonade Lucy" because she refused to serve alcohol in her White House. But this is not a political column. It is a love story of a gallant lady who stood by her man through some terrible times. By the time she reached the White House, she had buried three of her eight children and had once spent two weeks searching for her dead husband.
The election of 1876 was contested. Governor Hayes of Ohio received 166 electoral ballots; Governor Tilden of New York received 184. Nineteen votes from South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida were contested. After months of wrangling, Congress gave all 19 to Republican Hayes, making him Chief Executive by one vote. Tilden did not contest the decision.
Henry Watterson of Kentucky announced that he was raising a regiment to march on Washington. President Grant said he would hang him and the plot died. Grant wanted an orderly transition. On his last day in office, he invited Hayes and his cabinet to dinner. At one minute past midnight, Hayes was secretly sworn in. He repeated his oath of office later in a public inauguration.
The state of Oregon almost made Tilden president. Hayes won all three electors but J.W. Watts was a postmaster and Article II, Section I of the Constitution disqualified him. The democratic governor named a Democrat elector. Watts solved the impasse by resigning his postmastership.
Hayes's wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, was the first First Lady who was a college graduate. She and Hayes were married in 1852, soon after she graduated from Ohio Wesleyan College.
For the next decade, she was a typical housewife. Then in 1861, the Civil War broke out. Hayes was almost 40, a father and a state official. Nevertheless, he joined the Third Ohio Volunteer Regiment. He was wounded several times and had four horses shot from under him.
Then, on October 20, 1864, she read the official casualty list in the newspaper. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes had been killed in action at the Battle of Cedar Creek, West Virginia. Later, she received a telegram. He had been badly wounded.
She asked a cousin to care for the children. "If the telegram is correct, I will nurse him back to health. If the newspaper is correct, I will give him a decent burial."
She rented an ambulance in Baltimore and spent two weeks searching the battlefield, sleeping in the ambulance while going from camp to camp. One soldier said the Colonel was dead, another reported he was a prisoner. Lucy kept up her search. Finally, she found him in a hospital. When his horse was shot, he fell on the rider, crushing Hayes' right leg.
"Now that you've lost four horses, maybe they won't trust you with another one, and you can come home and hug the little son you've never seen," she said hopefully.
They celebrated their 25th anniversary by repeating their vows in the White House on December 30, 1877. The next day they hosted a reception for all of official Washington. When they descended the stairs, they asked the band to play "The Wedding March" instead of "Hail to the Chief."
Hayes did not seek a second term. They returned to Ohio and lived quietly, surrounded by family and friends until Lucy's death in 1889 and Rutherford's in 1893.
Lucy often prepared his favorite dish, Scalloped Oysters.
INGREDIENTS:
3 dozen canned oysters
1 and a half cups bread crumbs
Half a stick of butter
Half a cup of oyster juice
PREPARATION: Place a layer of oysters in buttered casserole. Cover with bread crumbs, dot with butter, and sprinkle with oyster juice. Repeat until oysters appear to be gone and there is a bread crumb top. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes; then broil until the top is light brown. Serve hot.
By Jeff Cheek
