from the town of lavonia who gave their lives in armed conflict. and if you added up all of those who died in the korean conflict and the first and second world war and vietnam, they do not equal half of those who died in the civil war from that same little town in upstate new york. the degree to which pain of this nation permeated rural communities in upstate new york was very, very deep. and the society in the north was not uniform. there were riots in new york, there was a great deal of resistance on a lot of discussion, so the country was not of one mind even with regard to the union's effort. but in terms of 1861, the suspension of the writ, merriman being the very first case lost, he got out of prison shortly thereafter. not too long thereafter. canney made sure that food and furniture was provided to merriman while he was housed at ft. mchenry and, indeed, named one of his children, he had 11, roger b. tanney merriman. so he was appropriately grateful for the chief justice's effort. the other fellow i want to talk to you about is milligan. b

it's within lavonia, he's from hemlock and when you're from hemlock, lavonia is the big apple. so i got to know dick wesley when -- before the new york court of appeals building was reconfigured. at that time, we were the two new kids on the block and we were on the third floor and the other five were on the second floor. they're now all on the second floor. but i got to know him pretty well, and not only was he a great judge, sage, wise, hardworking, scholarly, but he left me with one thing i'll share with you, that has resonated with me for a long, long time. every once in a while he would say this, maybe once or twice a year as we were going around the table, each of us giving our impression of a particular case and giving our input, seeing what we agree and how the court breaks down and so forth. once in a while, dick would sort of hesitate and one of us would say, what is it, dick? he would say, i'm thinking about the people in the lavonia post office. what do you mean by that? he did not mean that he's going to hold up his finger to the wind and see what the popular thing

joining us from lavonia, michigan, bret baier, anchor of "special report". vote, huh bret? >> it really will, jon. first of all that story out of ohio has put a lot of things in perspective, the campaigns reacting to that horrible story and the one student who was killed and many people out here saying it puts things in perspective on a day like this, ahead of, as you mentioned, a big, big primary. here in michigan, and in arizona. not as big as far as the number of delegates, but really big as you mentioned about momentum, and the top two frontrunners, mitt romney and rick santorum, battling it out, really event by an event. i'm head to go an event in alvia, michigan, i went to a santorum event last night, i caught up with the former pennsylvania senator, i asked him about his status in the polls and what he thinks about his chances here in michigan. >> look, when you get outspent as much as we've been outspent by the superpacs and everything else, you're the underdog whether you're ahead in the polls or not because once you pop your head up they're going t

patti ann: and a live look at lavonia, michigan.romney speaking to the crowd as the folks head to the polls to vote. romney accusing rick santorum of dirty tricks. we'll have that next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of the country's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before" simply bemes consider it solved. emerson. ♪ since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first wee.. i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it redu