In September 1836, a special election was held to select delegates to a convention in Ann Arbor to determine if the Michigan Territory should become a state, especially considering recent federal legislation requiring the Michigan Territory’s concession of the Toledo Strip to achieve statehood.1 Among those in attendance was the territory’s lieutenant governor, Edward Mundy.2
It’s remarkable that Edward Mundy was residing in Michigan, let alone serving as one of the territory’s prominent leaders, in 1836. He was — as so often follows in the stories of Michigan’s earliest settlers — a native-born East Coaster who had moved west several times.3 In Mundy’s first westward excursion, he left his home state of New Jersey and overshot Michigan entirely, ending up in Illinois, where an older brother resided.4 There, as the first resident-attorney of Wabash County, he practiced law, and had the first two of his five children with his wife, Sarah.5 He likely would have stayed in Illinois if not for a number of unfortunate events, including his house burning down. That prompted Mundy to return to New Jersey, where the Rutgers University alum briefly dropped his college-educated profession and worked as a merchant.6
After a few years, Mundy recognized what so many others have discovered before and since — there’s no place like the Midwest. Once again, he moved west, this time to Michigan. He settled in the beautiful Washtenaw County seat of Ann Arbor. Within a year of migrating to the state, he was hosting political party meetings at his house7 and by 1835, Mundy was elected delegate to the territory-wide convention that drafted Michigan’s first Constitution,8 served as president of the county convention,9 and elected territorial lieutenant governor under “Boy Governor” Stevens T. Mason.10
And if things were getting busy for Mundy, it was nothing compared to what was going on in Michigan Territory. The constitutional convention signaled to the powers in Washington, D.C., that the territory was interested in statehood. Unfortunately, there was a massive snag holding up the process — both the state of Ohio and Michigan Territory staked claims to a 468-square-mile piece of land known as the Toledo Strip. In 1835 alone, both Ohio and Michigan Territory moved troops to the Strip, the federal government ordered the Strip to be resurveyed, tensions rose among citizens on both sides of the Maumee River, and the popular and defiant territorial Gov. Mason was removed from office – and then reelected.
By early 1836, President Andrew Jackson had had enough. That summer, he signed “An Act to establish the Northern Boundary line of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union.”11 The territory was more than welcome to join the Union, but it had to give up all rights to the Toledo Strip beforehand. In exchange, the territory could have the entire Upper Peninsula.12
Michigan was none too pleased with the ultimatum, prompting the territory to call a convention to be held in Ann Arbor to discuss the president’s order. As delegates were being elected, discussions about the situation were taking place. Some — like Edward Mundy — were in favor of the exchange. Others were not.
One dissenter was Mark Howard, a man who did not mince words and did not speak softly. Howard called the act giving the Toledo Strip to Ohio “fake news,” an “electioneering story got up to deceive the people by office holders,”13 adding that those office holders — particularly the lieutenant governor,14 who was standing nearby at the time — were lying in order to “keep themselves in power.”15 Those who gave up the Toledo Strip in opposition to the will of the people, Howard said, were traitors no better than Benedict Arnold.
Mundy confronted Howard, saying to him the 19th century version of, “Why don’t you say that to my face?”16 Then, as Howard repeated himself, Mundy kicked him in the “hind quarters” — twice. Howard had Mundy charged with assault.
If you thought the Toledo War was a little bit ridiculous, this just adds to it. Apparently, there were at least two depositions in the case and several news articles about the incident. And even though several bystanders reportedly said Mundy’s response was well-merited and he should have kicked Howard much harder,17 Mundy was fined $5.18
While all this was taking place, the territorial convention in September voiced its opposition to the presidential act, only to support it three months later. The Toledo War officially ended on Dec. 14, 1836, and a little more than a month later, Michigan Territory became the state of Michigan. The new state was minus the Toledo Strip but had in its possession the exceptionally beautiful, mineral-rich Upper Peninsula.
Edward Mundy remained lieutenant governor and even served as acting governor for a period while Mason was out of the state. Later, he served as state prosecuting attorney and attorney general. Finally, in 1848, he was appointed to the state Supreme Court as Michigan’s first fifth justice (the court previously only had four justices).19 It was in this position that he died on March 13, 1851.
Mundy is generally remembered in this state as a Supreme Court justice, but his involvement in the Toledo War of 1835-1836 was a key to the statehood of Michigan.
Special thanks to Lori Buiteweg for her suggestion and assistance with review and research.