Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Thursday, October 3, 1861

Left the picket line again, returned to Camp Jackson, started for Darnestown by six o'clock, and arrived there by eight o'clock P. M. Thus ended our stay at Seneca Mills, the most pleasant period of our three years service. Vegetables and fruit, chickens and pigs, were plenty, for we owned the whole plantation of that old rebel Peters, who was sent to Fort Lafayette for treason. The Thirty-fourth New York, having the picket line on the river, always proved good companions. The view of the surrounding country is really imposing, including Sugar Loaf Mountain, the natural observatory of the signal corps. Some remarkable items must not be forgotten—for instance, novel songs of "The Nice Legs;" "Jimmy Nutt's Measuring the Guard Time by the Moon;" "Griffin's Apple Sauce," and "Doughnuts for Horses."

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 22

Horace Greeley to Abraham Lincoln, August 9, 1864

Office of the Tribune,            

New York, Aug. 9, 1864

(Tuesday)

Dear Sir:

Your dispatch of Saturday only reached me on Sunday, when I immediately answered by letter; yesterday I was out of town; and I have just received your dispatch of that date. I do not venture to telegraph you since I learned by sad experience at Niagara that my dispatches go to the War Department before reaching you. But I will gladly come on to Washington whenever you apprise me that my doing so may perhaps be of use.

But I fear that my chance for usefulness has passed. I know that nine-tenths of the whole American People, North and South, are anxious for Peace — Peace on almost any terms — and utterly sick of human slaughter and devastation.

I know that to the general eye, it now seems that the Rebels are anxious to negotiate, and that we repulse their advances.

I know that, if this impression be not removed, we shall be beaten out of sight next November. I firmly believe that, were the election to take place to-morrow, the democratic majority in this State and Pennsylvania would amount to 100,000, and that we should lose Connecticut also.

Now if the Rebellion can be crushed before November, it will do to go on; if not, we are rushing on certain ruin.

What, then, can I do in Washington? Your trusted advisers nearly all think I ought to go to Fort Lafayette for what I have done already. Seward wanted me sent there for my brief conference with Mr Mercier. The cry has steadily been — No truce! No Armistice! No negotiation! No mediation! Nothing but surrender at discretion! I never heard of such fatuity before. There is nothing like it in history. It must result in disaster, or all experience is delusion.

Now, I do not know that a tolerable Peace could be had; but I believe it might have been last month; and, at all events, I know that an honest, sincere effort for it would have done us immense good. And I think no Government fighting a Rebellion should ever close its ears to any proposition the Rebels may make.

I beg you, implore you, to inaugurate or invite proposals for Peace forthwith. And in case Peace cannot now be made, consent to an Armistice for one year — each party to retain unmolested all it now holds, but the Rebel ports to be opened. Meantime, let a National Convention be held, and there will surely be no more war at all events.

Yours,

Horace Greeley

SOURCE: Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: Horace Greeley to Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday,Peace negotiations and publication of correspondence. August 9, 1864. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal3517100/.

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, February 15, 1864

Mr. Sedgwick on Friday wished a pass to visit Stover, the convict in Fort Lafayette, and would get from him statements that would open frauds and misdeeds upon the government. I disliked to give him such pass, and yet was not fully prepared to deny him, because he might be useful in aiding the Department to bring offenders to light. I therefore put him off with a suggestion that he might consult the marshal, and telegraph me if necessary. I gave a permit, however, to Colonel Olcott, and Baker, the detective. To-day Colonel Olcott telegraphs me that he visited Stover at Fort Lafayette, and found Sedgwick with him by permission of General Dix.

There is evidently a desire among the officials of the War Office to make difficulty, and no disposition to aid the Navy Department in ferreting out offenders. These committees in Congress are like them in many respects.

The movements of parties and partisans are becoming distinct. I think there are indications that Chase intends to press his pretensions as a candidate, and much of the Treasury machinery and the special agencies have that end in view. This is to be regretted. The whole effort is a forced one and can result in no good to himself, but may embarrass the Administration. The extreme radicals are turning their attention to him and also to Frémont. As between the two, Chase is incomparably the most capable and best, and yet I think less of his financial ability and the soundness of his political principles than I did. The President fears Chase, and he also respects him. He places a much higher estimate on the financial talents of Chase than I do, because, perhaps, we have been educated in different schools. The President, as a follower of Clay, and as a Whig, believes in expedients. I adhere to specie as the true standard of value. With the resources of the nation at his disposal, Chase has by his mental activity and schemes contrived to draw from the people their funds and credit in the prosecution of a war to which they willingly give their blood as well as their treasure.

Some late remarks in the Senate have a mischievous tendency, and there is no mistaking the fact that they have their origin in the Treasury Department. The Administration is arraigned as a departmental one in its management of affairs, and unfortunately the fact is so, owing chiefly to the influence of Seward. But Chase himself is not free from blame in this matter. He did not maintain, as he should have done, the importance of Cabinet consultations and decisions at the beginning, but cuddled first with Cameron, then with Stanton, but gained no strength. Latterly his indifference is more manifest than that of any other one, not excepting Stanton. This being the case, it does not become his special friends to assail the President on that score. Chase himself is in fault.

The President commenced his administration by yielding apparently almost everything to Seward, and Seward was opposed to Cabinet consultations. He made it a point to have daily or more frequent interviews with the President, and to ascertain from him everything that was being done in the several Departments. A different course was suggested and pressed by others, but Chase, who should, from his position and standing, have been foremost in the matter and who was most decidedly with us then, flinched and shirked the point. He was permitted to do with his own Department pretty much as he pleased, and this reconciled him to the Seward policy in a great degree, though he was sometimes restless and desired to be better informed, particularly in regard to what was doing in the War Department. Things, however, took such a course that the Administration became departmental, and the result was the President himself was less informed than he should have been and much less than he ardently craved to be, with either the War or the Treasury. The successive Generals-in-Chief he consulted constantly, as did Seward, and, the military measures being those of most absorbing interest, the President was constantly seeking and asking for information, not only at the Executive Mansion, but at their respective offices and headquarters. Scott, and McClellan, and Halleck, each influenced him more than they should have done, often in a wrong direction, for he better appreciated the public mind and more fully sympathized with it than any of his generals. Neither of the three military men named entered into the great political questions of the period with any cordiality, or in fact with any correct knowledge or right appreciation of them. Yet they controlled and directed military movements, and in some respects the policy of the government, far more than the Cabinet.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 524-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: February 1, 1864

I had a call from Mr. Sedgwick, who yesterday proposed visiting Stover in Fort Lafayette and getting from him a confession as to those who have participated in, or been cognizant of, frauds on the government. Gave him a letter to Marshal Murray. An hour or two later Provost Marshal Baker called on me and related the particulars of conveying Stover after arrest. Says Stover is alarmed and ready to make disclosures; told him many facts; many persons implicated. Says Henderson, clerk in Treasury, has been arrested; that Clarke will be to-morrow. Thinks Sedgwick will not do well with Stover. Was going to New York to-morrow, to-day will attend to it. I sent Fox to withdraw letter from Sedgwick to Murray.

To-day Baker called on me at the Department and had a sprawling mass of suspicions which he says were communicated by Stover, implicating persons above suspicion. I told him I gave no credit to the statement, but authorized him to satisfy himself as regarded the person (F.) whom he chiefly criminated.

Late in the day, Jordan, Solicitor of the Treasury, called upon me in relation to Baker, from which I come to the conclusion, after what I have seen of B., that he is wholly unreliable, regardless of character and the rights of persons, incapable of discrimination, and zealous to do something sensational. I therefore withheld my letter for him to visit Fort Lafayette.

Mr. Rice, Chairman of Naval Committee in the House, informs me that the trip of the Eutaw on Saturday was highly satisfactory. The efforts of strangely unprincipled men to create prejudice against the Navy and impair public confidence in its efficiency are most surprising and wholly incompatible with either patriotic or honest intentions.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 518-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, January 23, 1864

Hiram Barney, Collector at New York, called on me. Is feeling depressed. The late frauds, or lately discovered frauds, annoy him. . . .

Chase sends me a letter in relation to Pensacola and the suggestions I made to open Trans-Mississippi to trade and commerce. In each case he fails to respond to my propositions favorably. Although late, I am for means that will bring peace and kindly feeling. Commerce and intercourse will help.

The trial of Stover, a contractor, by court martial at Philadelphia has come to a close. He is found guilty on three charges and is fined $5000, and is to suffer one year's imprisonment in such prison as the Secretary of the Navy may select. It is, in my opinion, a proper punishment for a dishonest man, but the law is in some of its features of a questionable character. Likely it will be tested, for Stover has money, obtained by fraudulent means from the government. I have deliberated over the subject and come to the conclusion to approve the proceedings, and send Stover to Fort Lafayette instead of a penitentiary. Captain Latimer writes that Stover has left Philadelphia and gone to New York. I have therefore written to Admiral Paulding to arrest and send him to Fort L. The President concurs.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 514-5

Simon Cameron to Major-General John E. Wool, September 20, 1861

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, September 20, 1861.

 Maj. Gen. JOHN E. WOOL, Commanding, Fort Monroe, Va.:

GENERAL: Your communications of the 17th* and 18th are received. In regard to the letters sent or received by flags of truce, I would suggest that for the present they be examined by volunteer officers whom you might detail for that purpose. I would much prefer that this examination should be made under the direction of the Post-Office Department, and will endeavor to effect some arrangement that will relieve you from this labor.

I am also informed by the Adjutant-General that he has already sent you two aides-de-camp. Ordnance officers are much needed, and for this reason I cannot consent to the appointment of Lieutenant Harris as your aide, unless it is absolutely necessary that you should have his services in that capacity. I send herewith the appointment of William P. Jones as an aide, in accordance with your recommendation. Captain Whipple has been assigned to you as assistant adjutant-general.

The state prisoners now in your custody should be sent at once to Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor. You will, as early as practicable, send to General McClellan at this place all negro men capable of performing labor, accompanied by their families. They can be usefully employed on the military works in this vicinity.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 SIMON CAMERON,

 Secretary of War.

____________________

* Not Found.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 615

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 17, 1863

Gen. Lee has left the city. His troops, encamped thirty miles north of Richmond, marched northward last night. So it is his determination to cross the Rappahannock? Or is it a demonstration of the enemy to prevent him from sending reinforcements to North Carolina? We shall know speedily.

North Carolina, one would think, is soon to be the scene of carnage; and it is asked what can 16,000 men do against 60,000?

The enemy began the attack on Fort Caswell yesterday; no result. But one of his blockaders went ashore in the storm, and we captured the officers and crew.

All the conscripts in the West have been ordered to Gen. Bragg.

Shall we starve? Yesterday beef was sold for 40 cts. per pound; to-day it is 60 cts. Lard is $1.00. Butter $2.00. They say the sudden rise is caused by the prisoners of Gen. Bragg, several thousand of whom have arrived here, and they are subsisted from the market. Thus they injure us every way. But, n'importe, say some; if Lincoln's Emancipation be not revoked, but few more prisoners will be taken on either side. That would be a barbarous war, without quarter.

I see that Col. J. W. Wall, of New Jersey, has been nominated, and I suppose will be elected, U. S. Senator. He was confined for months in prison at Fort Lafayette. I imagine the colonel is a bold, able man.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 239-40

Major-General John A. Dix to Edwin M. Stanton, May 20, 1864

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City,

May 20,1804.

Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

I have arrested and am sending to Fort Lafayette Joseph Howard, the author of the forged Proclamation. He is a newspaper reporter, and is known as “Howard of the Times.” He has been very frank in his confessions — says it was a stock-jobbing operation, and that no person connected with the Press had any agency in the transaction except another reporter, who manifolded and distributed the Proclamation to the newspapers, and whose arrest I have ordered. He exonerates the Independent Telegraphic Line, and says that the publication on a steamer-day was accidental. His statement, in all essential particulars, is corroborated by other testimony.

John A. Dix, Major-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 100

Major-General John A. Dix to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, December 15, 1863

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE EAST,

New York City, December 15, 1863.

Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief:

GENERAL: In your report of the 15th November, to the Secretary of War, I find the following paragraph:

When the rebel army was moving north upon Maryland and Pennsylvania, General Dix sent all of his available force from Norfolk and Fort Monroe up the York River, for the purpose of cutting off Lee's communications with Richmond, and of attacking that place, which was then defended by only a handful of militia. The expedition, however, failed to accomplish a single object for which it had been fitted out, the failure resulting, it was alleged, from the inefficiency of one of the generals commanding. General Dix therefore ordered its return, and sent the troops of which it was composed to re-enforce the army of General Meade north of the Potomac.

As there seems to be a misapprehension on your part in regard to two or three of the most essential particulars, I desire to call your attention to them in connection with the subjoined statement of facts.

1. That I sent all my “available force, * * * up the York River, for the purpose of cutting off Lee’s communications with Richmond, and of attacking that place.”

The following is your order, under which I acted:

Lee's army is in motion toward the Shenandoah Valley. All your available force should be concentrated to threaten Richmond by seizing and destroying their railroad bridges over the South and North Anna Rivers, and do them all the damage possible. If you cannot accomplish this, you can at least occupy a large force of the enemy. There can be no serious danger of an attack on Norfolk now.

It will be perceived that an attack on Richmond was not a part of the plan. That city is understood to be nearly as strongly fortified as Vicksburg, and only to be taken by regular siege.

2. That Richmond “was then defended by only a handful of militia.”

An intercepted letter from Jefferson Davis to General Lee, dated the 28th of June, the day the last of my troops arrived at the White House, states that there were three brigades in Richmond, and part of Hill’s division, besides Wise's brigade on the east side of the city. These were all regular troops and not militia; there was, in addition, a body of trained artillerists in the intrenchments, the Home Guards, and a convalescent brigade.

3. That the “expedition failed to accomplish the object for which it had been fitted out.”

The objects of the expedition, as stated in your order, were threefold: (1) To threaten Richmond; (2) to destroy the railroad bridges over the South and North Anna Rivers, and do the enemy as much damage as possible; and (3) to occupy a large force of the enemy. The first and last of these objects were effectually accomplished, the second partially, and, I may say, substantially. One of the bridges over the South Anna was destroyed. Although the other was not destroyed, the railroad track between it and Richmond was-torn up for a considerable distance, and the bridge at Ashland, on the same road, 11 miles out of Richmond, was completely demolished and burned, as well as the depot at that station.

Colonel Spear's expedition, sent out under written instructions, was a most successful and creditable one. He destroyed the first-mentioned bridge and the quartermaster's depot at Hanover Station, bringing back 35 army wagons, 700 horses and mules, and General Fitzhugh [W. H. F.] Lee, the son of the rebel general-in-chief, now in confinement at Fort Lafayette as a hostage, and over 100 prisoners.

I had only been three days at the White House when my forces were ordered back to re-enforce General Meade. At that time I had completely cut off General Lee's communications with Richmond by way of the two railroads crossing the South Anna, and had control of the whole country from the Pamunkey to the Rappahannock.

To myself, this correction of a statement, which I am sure is inadvertent, is of less consequence than to the gallant troops under my command. For their sake I ask permission to give publicity to this letter, or to my report of the expedition, dated the 16th of July last.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

 JOHN A. DIX,

 Major-General.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 57, 8-9; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 27, Part 1 (Serial No. 43), p. 18-9

Major-General John A. Dix to Major-General George B. McClellan, September 5, 1861

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA,

Baltimore, Md., September 5, 1861.

Maj. Gen. G. B. MCCLELLAN,

Commanding Army of the Potomac.

GENERAL: Fort McHenry which has not sufficient space for the convenient accommodation of the number of men necessary to man its guns is crowded with prisoners. Beside our own criminals awaiting trial or under sentence we have eleven State prisoners. To this number six more will be added to-morrow. I do not think this a suitable place for them if we had ample room. It is too near the seat of war which may possibly be extended to us. It is also too near a great town in which there are multitudes who sympathize with them who are constantly applying for interviews and who must be admitted with the hazard of becoming the media of improper communications, or who go away with the feeling that they have been harshly treated because they have been denied access to their friends.

It is very desirable that an end should be put to these dangers on the one hand and annoyances on the other. If as is supposed Fort Lafayette is crowded may they not be provided for at Fort Delaware? There are several prisoners here who are under indictment. The Government decided that they should not be sent away. I concur in the correctness of the reasoning, but is there any impropriety if their safety requires it in taking them temporarily beyond the jurisdiction of the court by which they must be tried to be remanded when the court is ready for their trial? I confess I do not see that any principle is violated. I certainly do not think them perfectly safe here considering the population by which they are surrounded and the opportunities for evading the vigilance of their guards.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant.

 JOHN A. DIX,

 Major-General. Commanding.

[Indorsement.]

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2, Volume 1 (Serial No. 114), p. 592-3; Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 29 which dates this letter as September 5, 1861;

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 15, 1861 - 2nd Entry

To-day the secession fires assumed a whiter heat. In the Convention the Union men no longer utter denunciations against the disunionists. They merely resort to pretexts and quibbles to stave off the inevitable ordinance. They had sent a deputation to Washington to make a final appeal to Seward and Lincoln to vouchsafe them such guarantees as would enable them to keep Virginia to her moorings. But in vain. They could not obtain even a promise of concession. And now the Union members as they walk the streets, and even Gov. Letcher himself, hear the indignant mutterings of the impassioned storm which threatens every hour to sweep them from existence. Business is generally suspended, and men run together in great crowds to listen to the news from the North, where it is said many outrages are committed on Southern men and those who sympathize with them. Many arrests are made, and the victims thrown into Fort Lafayette. These crowds are addressed by the most inflamed members of the Convention, and never did I hear more hearty responses from the people.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p.19-20

The Jones Family

One would naturally suppose that Geo. W. Jones, after his arrest for treasonable correspondence with the arch traitor Jeff. Davis and incarceration at Fort Lafayette and release only on taking the oath of allegiance to support the Government and the capture of his son in arms against the Government at Fort Donelson, would not have the temerity to show his face to the people of Iowa, let alone traveling among them and trying to reorganize the Democratic Party.  But the brazen impudence of the man is only exceeded by the fact that loyal Iowa should contain enough disloyalists to give a show of success to his efforts.  Another item has leaked out to show the treason of the Jones family.  A Shiloh correspondent of the N. Y Times, who was in the battle at Wilson’s Creek, picked up a letter from another son of the notorious George W., introducing to a Captain in the rebel army a citizen of Dubuque, who wished to fight against his Government.  But the letter and extract will explain the matter, and show the traitor propensities of the family:

In roaming about the woods I found a well worn letter, whose contents may prove of interest.  It is dated:

DUBUQUE, Iowa, July 1, 1861.

DEAR HUNTER: By this I introduce to you my friend, Daniel O. C. Quigly, of this town, and bespeak your kindness and attention toward him.  I believe he will prove himself worthy of your friendship.  With every wish for your prosperity and happiness, your friend.

CHARLES D. JONES.

To Captain S. E. Hunter, Hunter’s Rifles,

Clinton, Louisiana.

The particularities of this document consist in the fact that the writer is a son of Gen. Geo. W. Jones, of Dubuque, (late Minister to Bogota, Fort Lafayette, &c.,) and a brother of the Lieut. Jones who was bagged at Fort Henry.  The Quigly spoken of, is a son of a prominent citizen of Dubuque, and one who, soon after the war commenced, bolted to the South and offered his services to the scoundrels who are trying to break up this government.  I offer the letter for publication from the fact that the writer now lives in Dubuque, and pretends, as he ever has pretended since the war began, to be loyal.  How far such loyalty will be tolerated by a Government whose burdens are already heavy enough, should be tested.  The letter was given, and for a treasonable purpose, at a time when the gallant Lyon was struggling against the traitorous uprisings in Missouri – at a time when hundreds of Jones’ townsmen in the First Iowa, were toiling and suffering beneath the burning sun of Missouri, inspired only by motives of patriotism, by a wish to preserve intact their beloved Constitution – it was at such a time that Jones chose to perpetrate his treason and assist in the work of breaking up the Government.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1862, p. 2

See Also:

• The Jones Family of Dubuque, Iowa

General Robert E. Lee to Mary Custis Lee, November 21, 1863

CAMP, November 21, 1863.

I see by the papers that our son has been sent to Fort Lafayette. Any place would be better than Fort Monroe with Butler in command. His long confinement is very grievous to me, yet it may all turn out for the best.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 295

Diary of Edward Bates, November 1, 1861

A memorable day.  C.[abinet] C.[ouncil] called at the unusual hour of 9 a. m. to consider of Gen. Scott’s letter to sec: [of] War, declaring his wish by reason of age and increased ill health, to retire from active military duty, under the recent act of Congress.²⁵

The order was drawn up by the President himself (the retirement of the general being his absolute right, under the act) and was done chastely and in excellent taste.²⁶

– In the afternoon the Prest: and all the heads of D[e]p[artmen]ts. Waited upon  Genl. Scott at his quarters and had a very touching interview. The Prest. made a neat and feeling address, and the Genl. briefly replied, from the depths of his heart — I told the Genl. (what was told me by Revd. Dr. Halsey²⁷ of Norristown Pa.) that there were many religious associations, formed for the very purpose of daily praying for his health and happiness; and he seemed deeply moved.

At the suggestion of Mr. Seward, it seemed to be hastily agreed (tho' I never consented) that Genl. Stone should be deprived of his command for imputed misconduct in the matter of the battle of Balls [sic] bluff (Leesburg) in which Baker rashly threw away his life.²⁸ <note, at an other [cabinet council] some time after, Stone fully vindicated him self before the P[r]est: in council>

It was agreed that Genl. McClellan²⁹ should succeed Scott. Still the President doubted as to the manner of it, not being certain that there is any such Officer as “General in chief” — I said “the General in chief — or chief General — is only your lieutenant. You are constitutional “Commander in chief,” and may make any general you please, your second, or lieutenant, to command under you.”  It was so done[.]

__________

²⁵ “An Act Providing for the Better Organization of the Military Establishment,” Aug. 3, 1861 (Statutes at Large . . . of the United States, XII, chap. XLII, sec. 15, p. 289), provided that any officer who had served forty consecutive years might be retired with pay upon application to the President.

²⁶ See J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, VI, 40.

²⁷ Luther Halsey, former professor of theology at Western Theological Seminary in Alleghany, Pennsylvania, at the Seminary in Auburn, New York, and at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, now living in retirement at Norristown.

²⁸ Supra, Oct. 22, 1861. On January 28, 1862, Secretary of War Stanton gave an order for Stone's arrest on unfounded conspiracy charges made by a Committee of Congress. Stone was imprisoned in Fort Lafayette for six months.

²⁹ Supra, Oct. 22, 1861, note 17.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, The Diary of Edward Bates, published in The Annual Report Of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930 Volume 4, p. 199-200

Politics in Indiana

At the election to be held in Indiana next October, Congressmen are to be chosen with minor State officers (Secretary, Treasurer, &c.,) and a Legislature upon which it will devolve to fill Mr. Wright’s seat in the Senate.  Some months since the Jesse D. Bright Democracy held a convention and nominated candidates, opening a canvass that was avowedly to give the expelled Senator a new lease of power. – Their disgusting fondness for a branded traitor, and their leniency toward the seceded States, has driven off many Democrats, and there are several old Democratic organs that refuse to support the ticket, while the ticket itself has begun to break up.  Hon. Milton B. Hopkins, nominated for Superintendent of Schools, withdraws his name with a very pointed letter of rebuke for the disloyal combination which is trying to steal the name of Democracy to serve treason in.  Mr. Hopkins but reflects the intentions of thousands of honest democrats who intend to vote against the concern. – Exchange paper.

The Indiana convention and platform got up last winter, was hailed by the Vallandigham press throughout the country and by the Mahony press of Iowa, as a glorious revival of the Democratic party.  It was followed up by the Vallandigham Congressional caucus, and the leading Mahony presses of Iowa, including Mahony’s Herald, the Davenport Democrat, defaulter Babbitt’s Council Bluffs Bugle, and Claggett’s Constitution, have enlisted in the scheme.  Dodge of Burlington, has also bestirred himself, and another of the same stripe of papers is about to be established in Burlington.

Bright, it will be remembered, was expelled from the Senate on the charge of treason, and our Bright, – Geo. W. Jones, – who seems now to be on a mission to reorganized the Mahonyites, was imprisoned on a similar charge in Fort Lafayette.  Will the Iowa traitor have any better success than he of Indiana? – Gate City

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 2

George W. Jones . . .

. . . Ex-Minister, etc., it appears did not fail to call on the editor of the Democrat, while in this city, and receive a little of his sympathy.  The Democrat says, that “Jones spoke of his Ft. Lafayette experience freely, and places the proper estimates upon the unauthorized and tyrannical acts of the great Mogul of the Department of State.”  Secretary Seward arrested Jones for complicity with treason.  He wrote a letter to Hon. Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy, in which he expressed his sympathy with the rebellion, and promised to give the South all the aid in his power.  This letter fell into the possession of Secretary Seward, and as it was strong evidence of Jones’ traitorism, he had him arrested and sent to Fort Lafayette.  Had it not been for that arrest, we firmly believe Jones would have at this day held some position among the rebels, had he not sooner met his deserts.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, May 6, 1862, p. 1

Conspiracy Against the Government

In the Senate, March 25th, Mr. LATHAM said:

I have a resolution that I shall offer, and I beg the indulgence of the Senate while I make a brief preliminary statement, as I shall ask for its immediate consideration.  In the Boston Journal of Saturday evening, March 22, 1862, appeared the following article:

“TREASONABLE PLOT IN MICHIGAN. – The Detroit Tribune publishes a curious document revealing an attempt that in that State last fall to organize a league for the purpose of overthrowing the Federal Government.  This object is plainly avowed in a secret circular, which declares the purpose of the movement to be ‘to rise and unite if necessary, with the a--- (army) and the S----, (South,) overrun the N---- (North) like a hurricane, sweeping the A------------- (Administration) into eternity, or at least, driving them into complete and unconditional submission.’  The document is dated October 5, 1861, and says the league is doing a noble work in Maryland and among the soldiers at Fortress Monroe and that ‘President P----- (President Pierce) in his passage has drawn many brave and influential men to the league.’  The Tribune says the original of the document is now in the State Department at Washington, and that it led to the arrest and imprisonment of several persons in Fort Lafayette.  It was discovered that secret organizations existed in many towns in Michigan, and in numerous places in Canada West.”

This morning I received the following letter from ex-President Pierce:

CONCORD, N. H., March 24, 1862.

MY DEAR SIR:  I inclose a short notice from the Saturday evening edition of the Boston Journal, (March 22,) the substance of which it is quite probable you may have seen before.  Having originated in Michigan, and been reproduced in Boston, it can hardly be doubted that it has already secured a wide circulation.

The subject is not new to me.  It was the occasion of a correspondence between the Secretary of State and myself as early as December last.  I thought it reasonable to suppose, at the close of that correspondence, that the matter would cease to attract notice.

This expectation not having been realized, and the offensive charge alleged to be based upon a document, the original of which “is now in the State Department at Washington,” having been revived and extensively published, will you do me the favor to introduce in the Senate a resolution calling for the correspondence to which I have referred.

It will strike you, I am sure, both upon public and personal grounds, that such imputations should not be permitted thus to circulate unchallenged, especially when an answer to them, at least so far as I am concerned, has been for months upon the files of the first Department of the Government.

I am, very truly, your friend, &c.,

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

Hon. MILTON S. LATHAM, United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

Mr. President, I shall offer the resolution in my hand, and I trust the Senate will permit its consideration now, for I deem it nothing more than proper not only to this distinguished individual, but to the country.  That the truth in relation to this charge should be known, and if a malignant and base calumny, that it should be branded as such:

            Resolved.  That the Secretary of State be requested to transmit to this body copies of any correspondence which may have taken place between Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Hon. Franklin Pierce, ex-President of the United States having reference to a supposed conspiracy against the Government.

Mr. CHANDLER.  Mr. President –

The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator will allow the Chair first to ascertain whether there is any objection to the consideration of the resolution.

Mr. CHANDLER.  I wish to make some remarks in regard to the resolution.

The VICE PRESIDENT.  They are not in order unless the resolution is before the Senate.

Mr. HOWARD.  I hope there will be no objection to it.

Mr. CHANDLER.  A copy of that letter was furnished by me to the State Department, I think as early as November last, and it has been in my hands since the 7th or 8th day of October.  I should desire to read to the Senate the whole of the letter which that is an extract, but it is at my room, and I have not got it with me at this time.  The organization was most treasonable and infamous; it was wide spread; and it received the attention of the State Department, as I think it should have done.  The writer of that identical article – a Dr. Hopkins – was on his way to accept a commission as surgeon in the Federal Army when he was arrested and sent to Fort La Fayette.  About that time “the Knights of the Golden Circle,” as I was informed and believe, came to the resolution that they would be more patriotic than anybody else; that they would rush into the Federal army; that they would put men, if possible, in every regiment of the Federal army; and to my certain knowledge, they did succeed in getting a large number of the worst traitors in the United States into the Federal army; and they are there now.  This man Hopkins acknowledged the writing of this letter, but undertook to call it a joke.  Well, sir, it was a pretty serious joke.  I have, perhaps, more information than it is necessary for me to divulge at this time in reference to this matter.

Mr. LATHAM.  I do not wish to gainsay anything the gentleman has said.  What I wish, and what I feel is due to the Government and the country is to know whether a person who has filled the highest office within the gift of the American People, an ex-President of the United States, was in any manner connected with such an organization.  It is due to him, and it is due to the country, that it should be known whether such is the fact; and that is simply the object of my resolution.

Mr. HOWARD.  I am very glad, Mr. President, that the Senator from California has presented this resolution.  I think it is alike due to ex-President Pierce and to the country that the facts, so far as they are attainable at the State Department, should be obtained by the Senate and spread out before the country.  I do not undertake to say, nor to intimate, that the papers to which allusion is made by the Senator from California, will in any way implicate ex-President Pierce.  I do not know how that may be; I will not undertake to say.  That there is such a letter has been referred to by my colleague is certainly true; for I have seen the original with my own eyes; or that which is called the original.  I believe, however, that the resolution of my friend from California does not require a copy of that particular letter – the letter of Dr. Hopkins.  I would inquire of him whether it is broad enough to cover that letter.  It calls simply for any correspondence that may have taken place between ex-President Pierce and the State Department, and I think stops there; but I may be mistaken.

Mr. LATHAM.  At the suggestion of the Honorable Senator from Michigan, I will amend my resolution, so as to add at the conclusion of it, “and all other papers relating to the same.”

Mr. HOWARD.  I hope that amendment will be made, so that we may have all the documents before the Senate.  I will go further. – I do not know that my friend form California will – and suggest to him to extend his resolution so far as to require the production of any written or printed document in the possession of the executive department of this Government relating to the organization and purpose of a secret combination known commonly as the Knights of the Golden Circle.  I will not move such an amendment now myself; but I suggest it to him, and if he will move it, I shall be very glad to have him do that also.

Mr. LATHAM.  I think the resolution is broad enough as it is.  That might involve matters which the State Department might not deem conducive to the public interest to lay before this body.  I should certainly vote for such a resolution if that were brought in independently of my own; but I think it is embarrassing the resolution I now offer.

Mr. HOWARD.  I will not offer it myself, I am quite satisfied with the extent of the resolution as amended by my friend from California.  I hope it will pass.

Mr. CHANDLER.  Will the Secretary read the resolution as it now stands.

The Secretary read it as follows:

            Resolved.  That the Secretary of State be directed to transmit to this body copies of any correspondence which may have taken place between Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Hon. Franklin Pierce, ex-President of the United States, having reference to a supposed conspiracy against the Government, and all other papers relating to the same.

The resolution was agreed to.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 5, 1862, p. 2

The Rebel Jones

The ex-Hon. Geo. W. Jones, having been released from Fort Lafayette, by a recent decision affecting that class of rebels, is expected home at Dubuque this week.  There are enough rebels in that city to turn out and give him a warm reception for the distinguished part he has recently played in behalf of rebeldom.  Whether they will be permitted to make any open demonstration of their sympathy with the secession proclivities of the gentleman who has cast a stain upon the fair name of Iowa, remains to be seen; but we hope there is enough Union sentiment in Dubuque to forbid the public manifestation of any such feeling.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 28, 1862, p. 1

An Iowa Traitor among the Fort Henry Prisoners

Among the rebel officers captured at Fort Henry is a young man named Geo. R. G. Jones, who commanded an artillery company.  He is a renegade Northerner, a resident of Dubuque, Iowa, and a son of Hon. George W. Jones, late Minister to Bogota, and now a prisoner at Fort Lafayette.  The Fort Henry correspondent of the New York Times says the son is a young man who never did anything in particular, except to use a subsistence from the fortunes which his father earned, or rather gained from the people of Iowa; yet the moment the war broke out, he, together with a half dozen other fellows from Dubuque, bolted South, and offered his service to the rebel Government.  He has always lived North, has been supported by the North, (through his father,) and turns against the country which has fed him at the very first opportunity to raise his hand against his patron and supporter.  A large number of his townsmen are among the soldiers who captured him, and they became so indignant at finding this young ingrate at this place,  ready to train his guns upon his former associates, that they discussed the propriety of shooting him.  Wiser counsels, however, prevailed, and he is left to enjoy his infamy undisturbed. – Chicago Journal.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Friday Morning, February 21, 1862, p. 2

The Traitor Jones

Geo. W. Jones, the Iowa traitor, is now in Fort Lafayette.  A few feeble remonstrances against his incarceration were made by some of the newspapers at the time of his arrest.  We have never had any doubt that he merited the punishment he is receiving.  He was not only disloyal himself, but he encouraged his sons to be disloyal too.  One of them G. W. G. Jones, went south and joined the rebel army at Nashville, and was made a captain.  He was under Tilghman at Fort Henry, and is the Captain Jones who was taken by General Grant.

We learn that a number of young men in Dubuque, Iowa have been written to by rebel officers to come south and get positions.  It is not a compliment to any man to be written to by a traitor; but in this instance, probably, the persons thus addressed had no agency in the matter.  Their names were, no doubt, placed in the possession of the rebels by one of the Joneses – father or son. – Chicago (Ill.) Post.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday Morning, February 18, 1862, p. 2