1Strother Browning and Miss Ella Browning were not near relatives.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 416
Very warm day. Attended Dr Brown's Church in the morning After tea called at Mr Ridgelys, and went to Mr Jennings Church at night
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 416
1 Nanny Browning was probably not a near relative.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 416
1 The salient passages in Bates's letter, above referred to, were as follows:
St. Louis, June 11, 1860.
O. H. Browning, Esq., Quincy, Ill.
. . . It ought not to have been doubted that I could give Mr. Lincoln's nomination a cordial and hearty support. . . .
There was no good ground for supposing that I felt any pique or dissatisfaction because the Chicago convention failed to nominate me. . . . On party grounds I had no right to expect a nomination; I had no claims upon the Republicans as a party for I have never been a member of any party . . . except only the Whig party. . . . Many Republicans honored me with their confidence and desired to make me their candidate. For this favor I was indebted to the fact that between them and me there was a coincidence of opinion upon certain important questions of government. They and I agreed in believing that the national government has sovereign power over the territories, and that it would be impolitic and unwise to use that power for the propagation of negro slavery by planting it in free territory. Some of them believed also that my nomination, while it would tend to soften the tone of the Republican party, without any abandonment of its principles, might tend also to generalize its character and attract the friendship and support of many, especially in the border States, who, like me, had never been members of party, but concurred with them in opinion about the government of the territories. These are . . . I think, the only grounds upon which I was supported at all at Chicago.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Mr. Lincoln's nomination took the public by surprise because, until just before the event, it was unexpected. But really it ought not to have excited any surprise, for such unforeseen nominations are common in our political history. . . . As an individual he earned a high reputation for truth, courage, candor, morals, and amiability so that, as a man, he is most trustworthy, and in this particular he is more entitled to our esteem than some other men, his equals, who had far better opportunities and aids in early life.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I consider Mr. Lincoln a sound, safe, national man. He could not be sectional if he tried. His birth, his education, the habits of his life, and his geographical position compelled him to be national. All his feelings and interests are identified with the great valley of the Mississippi, near whose center he has spent his whole life. That valley is not a section.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I give my opinion freely in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and I hope that, for the good of the whole country, he may be elected, but it is not my intention to take active part in the canvass. For many years past, I have had little to do with public affairs, and have acquired no political office; and now, in view of the mad excitement which convulses the country, and the general disruption and disorder of parties, . . . I am more than ever assured that for me, personally, there is no political future, and I accept the condition with cheerful satisfaction. * * * * * * *
Edward Bates
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 416-7
Quincy. Took tea last evening at Mr Strother Browning's in Springfield At 6 Oclock this morning took the cars for home, and arrived at 9½—Raining quite heavily when I got home.
Found Mr Wise of Maine, and his son of Boston at my house—Have been staying here some days attending Unitarian Convention. I did not go down town to day.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 417
Fine summer day. At work in office. Our friends the Messrs Wises left us to day. Milton Kimball Esqr of Lewiston with us to tea
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 417
Quincy. Fine summer day. At work in office, After tea rode with Mrs Browning to 8th Street
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 417
Fine day. At work in office. Mrs Gilpin with us to dinner
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 417
At Church A. M. & P. M. Warm day.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Warm day. At work in
office.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Warm day. Dr.
Robertson arrived this morning, and we all went to Asburys to tea.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
The warmest day of the season. After breakfast rode out eighth street with Dr Robertson. At 10 A. M. he took the cars on St. Jo: road on his way home.
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Rained a little this morning—Warm, cloudy day—At work in office. Attended Snows Floral Concert at night
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Quincy. Fine rain this morning, and warm day. At work in office After tea rode with Mrs Gilpin to 8th street
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Hottest day of the season. Emma gone to Hannibal with a pick nick party on the Steamer Pike. Thunder storm and rain at night
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 418
Spent this day with
Jimmy.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
Went to Granville. I
rode Jimmy's gray horse and left my mule with his boy. Staid all night with
Capt. Trousdale; had to paddle over the river in a canoe and swim our horses.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
I went on by Duke's
and to Squire Bennett's on Buffalo Creek. Took dinner and remained till near
night. Then crossed the pike at Hogg's Store and up to Billy West's and spent
the night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
Came on to Abel
Smith's and to Widow Ballou's and took dinner. From there to Womac Parker's on
Dixon Creek, and staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
Came to Gifford's
blacksmith shop. Albright had swapped horses, had two shoes put on, got dinner
and came on to Joe Carter's. A. had two more shoes put on, went on to Griggs
and got supper. A. and Maze of Petticord's Company came on. We came four miles
to Joe Sullivan's; left A. there. I and Maze went over to Jordan Carr's. Yanks
all through here yesterday.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
Left Carr's and came
up to John Mitchell's. Came out to Stinson's on to Giles Harris. From there to
Scottsville and Gallatin. Crossed at Coatstown, went on to John Rippy's, got
supper and fed horses. Went on in rain to the Webb's, Maze's uncle, found the
Yanks so close by that we turned and went back to the hills.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
While at John's,
Green Crews and John West came in. I went with them over to Mrs. Dinah Huffey.
A. soon came, said Yanks were about. I staid all night. He went to John West's.
Miss Polly is a fast one.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
I went to John
Mitchell's to meet A.; was not there. I went on to John West; saw Miss Jane Wiley;
came back to D's; found A. there. I came back to John West, and on to Dots
Belt's; staid all night; on to Green Crews this morning.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 15
Start this evening,
six of us, to Allen County, Ky. Went up in eight miles of Scottsville; stay all
night or day in woods. To-night go by Ayres, Will Span's and old man Span's. At
the latter place we got into hot water. Bushwhackers attacked us, killed my
horse, stampeded all. I got separated from the rest, went one mile, got two
horses, came on through to New Row Monday, 11th, and on across to Coatstown.
Find Will at Mrs. Huffey's, shot. Miss Sallie Key there on visit. I stay all
night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
I and Will Rogers
went over to Green's and Bass's; met by John M. Green getting in. Met Albright,
went back to D's and stay all night. S. K. there.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
I met some of
Morgan's men; Harper with them. I joined them and went cross railroad at
Mitchellville over to Wickwire's, eight miles from railroad. Stopped at Mr.
Simpson's and got breakfast. Miss Sue Offutt, Miss Jimmy Wickwire there. After
breakfast went to the woods and staid all day.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
This evening we all
went in and got supper then down to Mr. Wickwire's and got supper and the
supper is a mistake; danced until 12 o'clock. I and Miss Jimmy danced two sets.
I enjoyed it finely, then bid them adieu and came out to Pete Laurence's by
daylight. Birch swapped horses on the way. Pete's sister brought us provisions.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
To-night stopped to
see two Lincolnites; got six shooter from one, single barrel from the other;
stopped at Squire Henry's; got some cherry bounce; played off Yankee on him;
got all the information we wanted and went on to Wickwire's; fed at Mr.
Simpson's; girls got up, chatted them awhile. I, Harper and Gibson then left
the crowd, crossed the railroad and bought two horses and came on to Bracken's
and got breakfast. From there to Ashlock's and got dinner. Came cross the pike
and I left them, went by Bass's and on to Crews and staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
Came to Mrs.
Huffey's, found Albright.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 16
Yesterday went to
Tompson's Shop; not at home. This morning to Hughes; gone to Gallatin. Came
by Jordan Carr's, got dinner and on to Moss's. Found Jim Berryman there. Harper
came soon. Went down to Sullivan's, fed and I left. Went on to John Stewart's,
staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, pp. 16-7
Down to Hughes, got
my horse shod, came back, and nine of us started. Came up near Epperson
Springs, found the Yanks were there and at Scottsville too strong for us. Got
supper at Stinson's, a regular tory. Lamb swapped horses with him. Then started
for New Row. Came across to Bracken's, got breakfast, three of the boys had
left us.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
We came this evening
out to where the others were; Yanks in New Row; so we could not go there. Came
to Widow Hodge's. Five of boys went on; two slept in bushes; I and Jim Berryman
slept in house.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
Came cross the pike
to Meadows, fed our horses. I, Jim and Lamb started back to Kentucky. We came
cross pike to Mr. Hodges and got supper, then cross railroad and out through
Mitchellville to Norris ten miles from railroad; staid all day and to-night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
Went down to
Finche's and got a horse. Mr. Finch came out with us some distance. Came back
to Norris; staid all night; nothing to eat.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
To-night went down
near Redman's; run into Yankee pickets, and started back. Came cross railroad
and out to Sherwin's, got breakfast and on to Boss Meadows. From there to
Hughe's Shop; got two shoes and nails made. Went down to Essick's and got
supper and on top Mountain and staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
This —— got my mare shod, went on, found A. at Henry Mitchell's came back to Hardy Silver's, found the boys and started back to the railroad to get some boots. Took supper with Mr. Hodge and on to Rodimore's; had not the boots; then came back cross pike. I went with Berryman to shop; Hughes not there. I left him, came on to Jack Stewart's. I, Albright and Lamb started back for Granville this evening; came on to Griggs, got supper. From there to Staffords and staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
Met Thompson's and
Staley's men.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 17
Came to
Montgomery's. Lamb left us. We came on to Widow Ballou's. Yanks close at hand.
We staid in bushes to-night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 18
Went to Dixon
Springs to-day to get a Yankee saddle; had to wait until the two Regiments of
Yankee cavalry and train passed out. We then went in, I and Ward. I went up to
Mr. Alexander's; Miss Mollie knew me, Miss Nannie did not. I took supper and
staid till 10 or 11 o'clock and left. Came back to Mrs. Ballou's.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 18
Came to Mr.
Beasley's and staid all night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 18
Met up with Parker as Lieut. Brown. I got a horse for Mason Rector. Came on to Granville, found Company D there, and that we were published as deserters. Came out near Cookville to-night.
SOURCE: Ephraim
Shelby Dodd, Diary of Ephraim Shelby Dodd: Member of Company D Terry's
Texas Rangers, p. 18
GEARY, JOHN WHITE,
soldier, born near Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland Co., Pa., 30th December, 1819;
died in Harrisburg, Pa., 8th February, 1873. His father was of Scotch-Irish
descent. The son entered Jefferson College, but, on account of his father's
loss of property and sudden death, was compelled to leave and contribute toward
the support of the family. After teaching he became a clerk in a commercial
house in Pittsburgh, and afterward studied mathematics, civil engineering, and
law. He was admitted to the bar, but never practiced his profession. After some
employment as civil engineer in Kentucky, he was appointed assistant
superintendent and engineer of the Alleghany Portage Railroad. When war was declared
with Mexico in 1846, he became lieutenant-colonel of the Second Regiment of
Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and commanded his regiment at Chapultepec,
where he was wounded, but resumed his command the same day at the attack on the
Belen gate. For this service he was made first commander of the City of Mexico,
and colonel of his regiment. He was appointed in 1849 to be first postmaster of
San Francisco, with authority to establish the postal service throughout
California. He was the first American alcalde of San Francisco, and a
"judge of the first instance." These officers were of Mexican origin,
the "alcalde" combining the authority of sheriff and probate judge
with that of mayor, and the judge of the first instance presiding over a court
with civil and criminal as well as admiralty jurisdiction. Colonel Geary served
until the new constitution abolished these offices. In 1850 he became the first
mayor of San Francisco. He took a leading part in the formation of the
new constitution of California, and was chairman of the Territorial
Democratic Committee.
In 1852 he retired
to his farm in Westmoreland county, Pa., and remained in private life until
1856, when he was appointed Territorial Governor of Kansas, which office he
held one year. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and at the beginning of the
civil war raised the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania volunteers. He commanded in
several engagements, and won distinction at Bolivar Heights, where he was
wounded. He occupied Leesburg, Va., in March, 1862, and routed General Hill. On
25th April, 1862, he received the commission of Brigadier-General of U. S.
volunteers. He was severely wounded in the arm at Cedar Mountain, 9th August,
1862, and in consequence could not take part in the battle of Antietam. At the
battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg he held the Second Division of the
Twelfth Corps. The corps to which General Geary's regiment was attached joined
the Army of the Cumberland, under General Hooker's command, to aid in repairing
the disaster at Chickamauga, and he took part in the battles of Wauhatchie and
Lookout Mountain, in both of which he was distinguished. He commanded the
Second Division of the Twentieth Corps in Sherman's march to the sea, and was
the first to enter Savannah after its evacuation, 22d December, 1864. In
consideration of his services at Fort Jackson he was appointed Military
Governor of Savannah, and in 1865 he was promoted to be Major-General by
brevet. He was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1866, and held this office
until two weeks before his death. During his administration the debt of the
commonwealth was reduced, an effort to take several millions from the sinking
fund of the State bonds was prevented, a disturbance at Williamsport quelled,
and a Bureau of Labor Statistics established by the Legislature, 12th April,
1872. Governor Geary possessed great powers of application and perception,
force of will and soundness of judgment, and was popular among his troops. In
recognition of his service to the State and Nation, the General Assembly
erected a monument at his grave in the cemetery at Harrisburg.
SOURCE: F. G. Adams,
Editor, Transactions of the Kansas State
Historical Society Embracing the Fifth and Sixth Biennial Reports, Vol. 4 1886-1888, pp. 373-4 which states as its source Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
SHANNON, Wilson, governor of Ohio and of Kansas, b. in Belmont county, Ohio, 24 Feb., 1802; d. in Lawrence, Kan., 31 Aug., 1877. He was graduated at Athens college, Ohio, and at Transylvania university, Ky., and became a lawyer. He began practice at St. Clairsville, Ohio, and in 1835 was prosecuting attorney for the state. He was governor of Ohio in 1838-'40, and again in 1842-'4, and in 1844 he went as U. S. minister to Mexico. He was a representative in congress in 1853-'5, and territorial governor of Kansas in 1855-'6. During Gov. Shannon's administration in Kansas the troubles between the free-state and pro-slavery parties began to assume a threatening aspect. The governor favored the latter, though he tried to be cautious. He succeeded in peacefully terminating the "Wakarusha war" in 1855, but hostilities were resumed in the following year, ending in the burning of the town of Lawrence by a band of "border ruffians" that had been gathered as a U. S. marshal's posse. Shannon was finally removed, and succeeded by John W. Geary. He subsequently practised law in Lawrence.
SOURCE: James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Editors, Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 5, p. 481
COLUMBUS, January 20, 1870.
DEAR SIR: — I am collecting in the Executive Office portraits of the governors of the State. The portraits of sixteen are already on the walls of the office. Those obtained are mainly the pioneer governors — Tiffin, Meigs, Worthington, Morrow, Trimble, McArthur, and others. Some have been presented by relatives and others bought by me with my contingent fund. I am desirous to obtain your portrait. If you have one taken about the time you were governor, a copy of that would be preferred. In some cases originals have been sent by express and copied here and then returned. But, of course, your wishes will control.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 84
COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.
DEAR UNCLE: — I have been in correspondence with Jay Cooke about his new town of Duluth at the head of Lake Superior. It will be the great town of that region. The Northern Pacific Railroad will begin work there next spring, and finish about three hundred miles as fast as work can do it. A railroad to St. Paul will be completed by the Fourth of July. It will then be the lake port of two-thirds of Minnesota. I want to put in five or six thousand dollars if I can raise it in the next sixty or ninety days. It will double by next fall, and may do a great deal better than that. I can buy on the most favorable terms allowed to anybody, and have my own separate property without mixing up with the company. I don't want you to bother about it at all, but if you see where notes secured by mortgage can raise the money, let me know.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 84-5
COLUMBUS, January 31, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR: — The present incumbent of the librarianship is a faithful, painstaking old gentleman with a family of invalid girls dependent on him. His courtesy and evident anxiety to accommodate all who visit the library have secured him the endorsement of almost all who are in the habit of using the books; and under the circumstances I cannot remove him. Old associations, your fitness, and claims draw me the other way; but you see, etc., etc.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 85
COLUMBUS, OHIO, January 31, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR: — Having secured portraits of almost all of the early governors, I began a few weeks ago a correspondence with a view to obtaining the portraits of those who are now living. I found there would be no trouble in getting yours. Mr. L'Hommedieu undertook it, and with your friends Jay Cooke, Carson, Yeatman, Hoadly, and Spooner, proposed to present the State as fine a one as they could get. Last Friday I received by express from Chicago a capital picture, three-fourths length — the work of W. Cogswell, — which is perfectly satisfactory to all of your friends who have seen it. It is given to the State by Jay Cooke, and is the finest of the seventeen portraits in the office.
I write this note with a double object: First, to let you know what your friends intended to do, and what one of them has done; second, to learn from you where the original picture was taken — assuming this to be a copy — and by whom.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 85-6
COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 3, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR: — Your favor of the 31st ult. came duly to hand. I have no information as to the chances of an Insurance Act beyond what the general public possesses. If the appointment you refer to is to be made by me the considerations you suggest will have, as you suppose, due weight. When such qualifications are found, I need hardly say, it will be no objection if the person having them is also a personal friend. Of course, it would be premature to venture on a committal until all sides are heard.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 86
COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR: — The Soldiers' Orphans' Bill has been under consideration one day in the Senate. No serious opposition has been developed and decided support was given in quarters not heretofore relied on. I entertain no doubt of its passage within a week or ten days through the Senate, and in the House its passage is only a question of time. I anticipate the necessity of naming a board about the last of this month.
Your views of General Keifer and General Barnett are also mine. I think I gave you my notions also of Generals Buckland and Coates. Think over the good loyal Democrats for one name. A well known party man, loyal during the war but in the Democratic party, if he can be found, is preferred if friendly to the institution.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 86-7
COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 4, 1870.
DEAR JUDGE: — I am in receipt of your letter of yesterday in relation to the appointment of members of the board of trustees of the Ohio Medical College. Unless there is some reason for delay, the nominations to fill vacancies occurring January 1, 1871, should be sent to the Senate at the present session. In the absence of reason for a change, the present members should be reappointed, and the vacancy filled by a person those actively interested in the institution will name, or at least approve. I take it all this is what you wish. If you have other views as to any member, I will thank you to let me know. You need have no hesitation on account of your own name being in the list. You will be reappointed in any event, so that the only open question is as to your associates. I agree fully with your views about Drs. Wright and Dodge, and Messrs. Ball and Dutton.
Your address is good reading. The short paragraph about the waste of talent and genius in politics is of more account than perhaps you thought. Why not make it the theme of an address? The idea is often seen in sermons or the talk of non-politicians, but with your knowledge of the inside of politics, and with your ability justly to estimate a politician's value, you could make much of it.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 87
COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 5, 1870.
MY DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 4th as to the St. Clair papers. I hope there is a fair prospect of the passage of an act authorizing their purchase, but I am not sanguine. Of course, nobody would think of the State buying them for the Cincinnati or any other local society. If bought they will be deposited in the State Library. I agree with you that your title by discovery, if they are to be given away, would give you a claim to be considered.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88
COLUMBUS, February 5, 1870.
DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your favor of the 3d in relation [to] codifying the laws of Ohio. It is undoubtedly a great inconvenience and a serious evil that our laws are so voluminous. I quite agree with you that a revision as often as once in ten years is necessary. But I fear we shall never see our statutes again in a single volume of proper size for common use. If we can have them in two or three volumes with one index, it perhaps is doing as much as can be expected.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 88
COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 16, 1870.
DEAR LEE: — Your note came during my absence north. A note to Delano from me, if my friends at Cincinnati are well informed, would do you more harm than good. But I send you a note, not addressed, in general but strong terms. I do not feel like interfering with Colonel Powell, and do not wish the note used to procure his removal. But I doubt the wisdom of your using it at all with Mr. Delano.
Captain A. E. Lee, of Delaware, Ohio, is a gentleman whose ability, integrity, and business experience fit him to fill with acceptance and creditably to the Administration any revenue office he is likely to desire. He has a capital record as a soldier, is a Republican whose soundness and effective work are beyond commendation. No worthier appointment could be made.
R. B. HAYES.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 88-9
CINCINNATI, February 20, 1870.
DEAR UNCLE: — I came here to meet the Kentucky Legislature and spoke to them from the same platform with Mr. Pendleton. All satisfactory.
Just before coming Jay Cooke advised me to take my choice immediately of certain Duluth property which he could get me. I dispatched him that I would take one hundred and sixty acres for eight thousand dollars. I know nothing of terms of payment, but am satisfied that it is a great bargain. No doubt the terms of payment can be complied with somehow. It is one and one-fourth miles from the dock and depot and next to the town property.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 89
COLUMBUS, February 22, 1870.
DEAR SIR: — I am in receipt of your "History of the Guilford Branch of the Dickeman Family," and am greatly obliged to you for it. My father came to Ohio in 1817, thus separating from all his New England relatives, and died before my birth, so that I have not had an opportunity to learn much of his family. A Hayes record was published by George W. Noyes, of the Oneida Community in the State of New York, but the fullest account of my grandmother's family I have ever seen is in your pamphlet. There is an impression in the family that Grandmother Chloe Smith Hayes was a very superior woman possessing real genius. The Mead family, all having talent as artists, trace this quality to grandmother. The most distinguished member of the family is Larkin G. Mead, a sculptor of wide reputation. You may have heard of him as the boy who made the snow statue in Brattleboro twelve or fifteen years ago. He is the sculptor and architect of the great Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Illinois, and his studio in Florence probably receives as many orders as that of any artist.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 89-90
warm and clear
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
a snowey day and we
all had to go on picket down at Port Royal.
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
it raind all day
long and the snow nearly all melted of by nite and we still stade on picket
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
cloudy but no rain
and we returned to our Regiment
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
warm and clear
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
warm and clear
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
a very bad day it
snowed and the wind blew all day and at nite the snow was about a foot deep.
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
day was warm and
clear but the snow dident melt no great deal
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
warm and General
Stokes Bregaid and General Lautons (Lawton?) had a snow ballen
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
a warm sunshiney day
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
a raney day and
nearley all of the snow was gone by nite.
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
warm and cloudy and
our Brass Ban got back from Richmond.
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
the last day of
February was coal and cloudy. And Mr. Portland Baley of Company D. 6th Regiment
N. C. Troops was shot to death to day at 2 oclock with musketry.
Now the dark days of
winter is gon And the bright days of Spring is come.
SOURCE: Bartlett
Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 30
Tottenham Park.1—І
came here on Monday and found the Flahaults, Charles Bruces, Lady Ailesbury2,
Granville, Dunkellin, Henry Corry, and George Bruce. The place is much improved
by the alterations already made, and those in progress. Some days ago Lady
Holland wrote to me from Paris, that it was believed there that one of the
objects of King Leopold's visit to England was to advocate an arrangement by
which his son-in-law, the Archduke Maximilian, should be made Emperor of
Mexico, and that the new Empire should be guaranteed by England as well as
France and Austria. I treated this report as an idle canard, though
it was subsequently repeated in the French newspapers. To-day I was surprised,
on mentioning the report to Flahault, to hear from him that the Emperor would
be very willing to lend himself to any such arrangement, provided there were a
strong monarchical party in Mexico, and that His Majesty would not object even
to lend the aid of a French Army if it were necessary. It is now said that the
Archduke declines having anything to do with this project. John Russell's
despatch in answer to Mr. Seward's long rigmarole on the rights of neutrals is
published, and is a well-reasoned document, and will show the Americans that
they will not be allowed to play their tricks with impunity.
1 Tottenham Park.
Now called Savernake. It stands in Savernake Forest. I believe the present
owner has reverted to the former name.—Ed.
2 Lady Ailesbury.
Maria, second wife of the first Marquis of Ailesbury. Known in society as “Lady
A.”—Ed.
SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1861-1872, pp. 13-5
The Federals, under the command of General Grant, have at last achieved a brilliant success, having captured Fort Donnelson after hard fighting, and (according to their own version), have taken 15,000 prisoners and a vast amount of war material, and the Confederates were in full retreat. This success will probably be attended by political consequences of great importance, as Fort Donnelson was the key of a strong position, and its capture will open the road to further advances. Already the New York papers proclaim that the rebellion is on the point of being crushed, and great rejoicings are going on throughout the Northern States. It remains to be seen whether the South will preserve its constancy under the great difficulties which now begin to surround them, and if they will be able to maintain the strife. The Times' says: “The recent triumphs, though they have undoubtedly improved the position of the North as regards any possible negotiation for a division of territory, have scarcely brought the Federal Government any nearer than before to a reconstruction of the Union.” Fanny Kemble complains to me in a letter I received from her to-day, not only of the gross ignorance but the wilful misrepresentation of American affairs by the “Times” newspaper.
Last night at Flahault's I met Lacaita, who is about to start for Turin, by no means in good heart at the state of affairs there, and regretting the fall of Ricasoli, whom he considers to be the most honest public man in Italy.
SOURCE: Alice Countess of Stratford, Leaves from the Diary of Henry Greville: 1861-1872, pp. 25-6
News of the capture of New Orleans.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41
Camp "Winfield Scott." Steady cannonading all day.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41
The rebels are preparing to evacuate Yorktown. Heavy firing, day and night.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41
Evacuation of Yorktown. Our lines advanced at daybreak, and found the fortifications deserted by the rebels, leaving most of the siege-guns behind. Stoneman's cavalry is following up the enemy's rear-guard. Our whole army ready to march.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41
A battle going on at Williamsburgh since morning. Our division marched into Yorktown towards afternoon, under a heavy rain. Explosions of torpedoes very frequent. We commenced to camp inside the fortifications, but we were ordered to march towards Williamsburgh immediately. The column started; halted shortly after on the turnpike road, and remained during the night, under an incessant rain. This was one of the most horrid nights we ever saw in the service. At two o'clock in the morning orders came for us to retire to our camps to rest.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, pp. 41-2
Our battery moved to the river, close to Yorktown, ready to be shipped. General Franklin's corps is embarking already. We loaded ammunition all day.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
Our guns were put aboard the steamer Delaware. We started for West Point, at the mouths of the Pamunkey and Mattapony rivers. Arrived there at five o'clock P. М., and dropped anchor for the night. General Franklin's corps had a fight with the enemy's rear-guard.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
Captain Arnold, of the regular artillery, inspected the unloading of our battery. We camp close to the Pamunkey.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
West Point. The horses were landed to-day. By five o'clock P. M., we marched two miles, and camped at Elkhorn, on the Pamunkey.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
General McClellan arrived here to-day. He brought the news of the destruction of the Merrimac.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
At Elkhorn. Inspection of the division.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 42
Marched towards New Kent Court House, fifteen miles from Elkhorn. Our camp five miles from Cumberland Landing.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Camp Stumps, near New Kent Court House.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Marched through the last mentioned place, and went to camp after having proceeded two miles. Remained there till [Wednesday, May 21st.]
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
BLOG EDITORS NOTE: George Washington married Martha Washington on January 6, 1759, at the White House Plantation in New Kent County, Virginia. The wedding took place at Martha's estate, known as the "White House," where she had lived with her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis. After their marriage, George and Martha Washington moved to Mount Vernon, which became their lifelong home. The White House Plantation stood on the Pamunkey River near present-day White House, Virginia. Although the original mansion no longer survives, it is remembered as the site of one of the most famous marriages in American history.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Remained in camp near Bottoms' Bridge, on the York River Railroad. During the afternoon, a heavy hailstorm occurred. Pieces of ice, two inches in diameter, were found.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
We marched across the railroad to Coal Harbor, to camp. We seem to be held as a reserve corps, ready to reinforce both wings of the army.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Camp at Coal Harbor. Fighting is going on near the Chickahominy. The balloon is up.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
At Coal Harbor. All quiet.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Orders came to be ready to march. Everything was packed up; but we remained.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 43
Coal Harbor. Fitz John Porter's corps, fighting near Hanover Court House. Great excitement amongst the troops.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 44
The Second corps marched four miles this morning, to support Fitz John Porter's corps, near Mechanicsville. Went in line of battle near New Bridge, and remained there all day.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 44
Our corps returned to Coal Harbor by four o'clock P. M. Seven hundred prisoners were brought in.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 44
Near Coal Harbor. Heavy rain.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 44
Commencement of the battles of the Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. At two o'clock P. M., the battle began on the south side of the Chickahominy. The enemy attacked Casey's division. The Second corps got ready immediately, the Second division, General Sedgwick, leading to the Chickahominy. We crossed at Grape Vine Bridge, built by the First Minnesota, Colonel Sully, Battery I, First United States Regulars, being the first artillery to cross, under great dificulties, the guns sinking in up to the axle. Our battery followed next. Great excitement seemed to prevail about getting artillery forward. But for the timely arrival of the Second and Thirty-fourth New York, Fifteenth Massachusetts, and First Minnesota Regiments, the day would have been lost especially, the two New York regiments, fought with great determination. Not until night set in, the battle ceased. Our battery stood in the middle of the road all night. The order was to be in line of battle by two o'clock A. M.
SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, pp. 44-5
I THANK GOD for John Calvin. To be sure, he burned Servetus; but the Puritans, or at least, their immediate descendants, hung the witches; George Washington held slaves; and wherever you go up and down history, you find men, not angels. Of course, you find imperfect men; but you find great men; men who have marked their own age, and moulded the succeeding; men to whose might, daring, and to whose disinterested suffering for those about them, the succeeding generations owe the larger share of their blessings; men whose lips and lives God has made the channel through which his choicest gifts come to their fellow-beings. John Calvin was one of these — perhaps the profoundest intellect of his day; certainly, one of the largest statesmen of his generation. His was the statesmanlike mind that organized Puritanism, that put ideas into the shape of institutions, and in that way organized victory, when, under Loyola, Catholicism, availing itself of the shrewdest and keenest machinery, made its reactive assault upon the new idea of the Protestant religion. If in that struggle Western Europe came out victorious, we owe it more to the statesmanship of Calvin than to the large German heart of Luther. We owe to Calvin — at least it is not unfair to claim, nor improbable in the sequence of events to suppose, that a large share of those most eminent and excellent characteristics of New England, which have made her what she is, and saved her for the future, came from the brain of John Calvin.
Luther's biography is to be read in books. The plodding patience of the German intellect has gathered up every trait and every trifle — the minutest — of his life, and you may read it spread out with loving admiration on a thousand pages of biography. Calvin's life is written, in Scotland and New England, in the triumphs of the people against priestcraft and power. To him, more than to any other man, the Puritans owed Republicanism — the Republicanism of the Church. The instinct of his own day recognized that clearly distinguishing this element of Calvinism. You see it in the wit of Charles the Second, when he said, "Calvinism is a religion unfit for a gentleman." It was unfit for a gentleman of that day; for it was a religion of the people. It recognized — first since the earliest centuries of Christianity — that the heart of God beats through every human heart, and that when you mass up the millions, with their instinctive, fair-play sense of right, and their devotional impulses, you get nearer God's heart than from the second-hand scholarship and conservative tendency of what are called the thoughtful and educated classes. We owe this element, good or bad, to Calvinism.
Then we owe to it a second element, marking the Puritans most largely, and that is — action. The Puritan was not a man of speculation. He originated nothing. His principles are to be found broadcast in the centuries behind him. His speculations were all old. You might find them in the lectures of Abelard; you meet with them in the radicalism of Wat Tyler; you find them all over the continent of Europe. The distinction between his case and that of others was, simply, that he practised what he believed. He believed God. He actually believed him, just as much as if he saw demonstrated before his eyes the truth of the principle. For it is a very easy thing to say; the difficulty is to do. If you tell a man the absolute truth, that if he will plunge into the ocean, and only keep his eyes fixed on heaven, he will never sink you can demonstrate it to him — you can prove it to him by weight and measure — each man of a thousand will believe you, as they say; and then they will plunge into the water, and nine hundred and ninety-nine will throw up their arms to clasp some straw or neighbor, and sink; the thousandth will keep his hands by his body, believing God, and float — and he is the Puritan. Every other man wants to get hold of something to stay himself; not on faith in God's eternal principle of natural or religious law, but on his neighbor; he wants to lean on somebody; he wants to catch hold of something. The Puritan puts his hands to his side and his eyes upon heaven, and floats down the centuries Faith personified.
These two elements of Puritanism are, it seems to me, those which have made New England what she is. You see them every where developing into institutions. For instance, if there is any thing that makes us, and that made Scotland, it is common schools. We got them from Geneva. Luther said, "A wicked tyrant is better than a wicked war." It was the essence of aristocracy: "Better submit to any evil from above than trust the masses." Calvin no sooner set his foot in Geneva than he organized the people into a constituent element of public affairs. He planted education at the root of the Republic. The Puritans borrowed it in Holland, and brought it to New England, and it is the sheet-anchor that has held us amid the storms and the temptations of two hundred years. We have a people that can think; a people that can read; and out of the millions of refuse lumber, God selects one in a generation, and he is enough to save a State. One man that thinks for himself is the salt of a generation poisoned with printing ink or cotton dust. The Puritans scattered broadcast the seeds of thought. They knew it was an error, in counting up the population, to speak of a million of souls because there were a million of bodies — as if every man carried a soul! — but they knew, trusting the mercy of God, that by educating all, the martyrs and the saints — that do not travel in battalions, nor ever come to us in regiments, but come alone, now and then one — would be reached and unfolded, and save their own times. Puritanism, therefore, is action; it is impersonating ideas; it is distrusting and being willing to shake off, at fitting times, what are called institutions. They were above words; they went out into the wilderness, outside of forms. The consequence was that, throughout their whole history, there is the most daring confidence in being substantially right. They asked not of safety; they never were frightened by appearances; they did the substantially right thing, and left the statesmen of a hundred years after, at a safe distance, to find out the reasons why they were right. The consequence is that, when conservatism comes together to-day, whether in the form of a "Union meeting" — dead men turning in their graves and pretending to be alive — whether it be in this form or any other, its occupation is to explain how, a hundred years ago, the course taken was right, and not to see the reflection of a hundred years ago staring them in the face to-day. Like the sitting figure on our coin, they are looking back-they have no eyes for the future. The souls that God touches have their brows gilded by the dawn of the future. A man present at the glorious martyrdom of the 2d of December, said of the hero-saint who marched out of the jail, "He seemed to come, his brow radiant with triumph." It was the dawn of a future day that gilded his brow. He was high enough, in the providence of God, to catch, earlier than the present generation, the dawn of the day that he was to inaugurate.
This is my idea of Puritan principles.
Nothing new in them. How are we to vindicate them? Eminent historians and patriots have told us that the pens of the Puritans are their best witnesses. It does not seem to me so. We are their witnesses. If they lived to any purpose, they produced a generation better than themselves. The true man always makes himself to be outdone by his child. The vindication of Puritanism is a New England bound to be better than Puritanism; bound to look back and see its faults and meet the exigencies of the present day, not with stupid imitation, but with that essential disinterestedness, that faith in right and God, with which they met the exigencies of their time. Take an illustration. When our fathers stood in London, under the corporation charter of Charles, the question was, "Have we a right to remove to Massachusetts?" The lawyers said, "No." The fathers said, "Yes; we will remove to Massachusetts, and let law find the reason fifty years hence." They knew that they had the substantial right. Their motto was not "Law and Order"; it was "God and Justice" — a much better motto. Unless you take "Law and Order" in the highest meaning of the words, it is a base motto — if it means only recognizing the majority. "Crime," says Victor Hugo, "comes to history gilded and crowned, and says, 'I am not crime; I am success." And history, written by a soul girded with parchments and stunned with half a dozen languages, says, "Yes, thou art success; we accept thee." But the faithful soul below cries out, "Thou art crime! Avaunt!" There is so much in words.
This is the lesson of Puritanism—how shall we meet it to-day? Every age stereotypes its ideas into forms. It is the natural tendency; and when it is done, every age grows old and dies. It is God's beneficent providence — death When ideas have shaped themselves and become fossil and still, God takes off the weight of the dead men from their age, and leaves room for the new bud. It is a blessed institution — death! But there are men running about who think that those forms, which the old and the experience of the past have left them, are necessarily right and indispensable. They are Conservatives. The men who hold their ears open for the message of the present hour, they are the Puritans.
I know these things seem very trite; they are very trite. All truth is trite. The difficulty is not in truth. Truth never stirs up any trouble mere speculative truth. Plato taught— nobody cared what he taught; Socrates applied truth in the streets, and they poisoned him. It is when a man throws himself against society that society is startled to persecute and to think. The Puritan did not stop to think. He recognized God in his soul, and acted. If he acted wrong, our generation would load down his grave with curses. He took the risk. He took the curses of the present, but the blessings of the future swept them away, and God's sunlight rests upon his grave. That is what every brave man does. It is an easy thing to say. The old fable is of Sysiphus rolling up a stone, and the moment he gets it up to the mountain top, it rolls back again. So each generation, with much trouble, and great energy and disinterestedness, vindicates for a few of its sons the right to think; and the moment they have vindicated the right, the stone rolls back again — nobody else must think! The battle must be fought every day, because the body rebels against the soul. It is the insurrection of the soul against the body-free thought. The gods piled Ætna upon the insurgent Titans. It is the emblem of the world piling mountains—banks, gold, cotton, parties, Everetts, Cushings, Couriers — every thing dull and heavy—to keep down thought. And ever again, in each generation, the living soul, like the bursting bud, throws up the incumbent soil, and finds its way to the sunshine and to God; and is the oak of the future, leafing out, spreading its branches, and sheltering the race and time that is to come.
I hold in my hand the likeness of a child of seventeen summers, taken from the body of a boy, her husband, who lies buried on the banks of the Shenandoah. He flung himself against a State for an idea; the child of a father who lived for an idea; who said, "I know that Slavery is wrong; thou shalt do unto another as thou wouldst have another do to thee" — and flung himself against the law and order of his time. Nobody can dispute his principles. There are men who dispute his acts. It is exactly what he meant they should do. It is the collision of admitted principles with conduct which is the teaching of ethics; it is the Normal school of a generation. Puritanism went up and down England and fulfilled its mission. It revealed despotism. Charles the First and James, in order to rule, were obliged to persecute. Under the guise of what seemed government, they had hidden tyranny. Patriotism tore off the mask, and said to the enlightened conscience and sleeping intellect of England, "Behold! that is despotism!" It was the first lesson; it was the text of the English Revolution. Men still slumbered in submission to law. They tore off the semblance of law; they revealed despotism. John Brown has done the same for us to-day. The Slave system has lost its fascination. It had a certain picturesque charm for some. It called itself "chivalry," and "a state." One assault has broken the charm—it is Despotism! Look how barbarous it is! Take a single instance. A young girl throws herself upon the bosom of a Northern boy, who himself had shown mercy, and endeavors to save him from the Christian rifles of Virginia. They tore her off, and the pitiless bullet found its way to the brave young heart. She stands upon the streets of that very town, and dare not avow the motive—glorious, humane instinct—that led her to throw herself on the bosom of the hapless boy! She bows to the despotism of a brutal State, and makes excuses for her humanity! That is the Christian Virginia of 1859. In 1608, an Indian girl flung herself before her father's tomahawk on the bosom of an English gentleman, and the Indian refrained from touching the traveller whom his daughter's affection protected. Pocahontas lives to-day, the ideal beauty of Virginia, and her proudest names strive to trace their lin eage to the brave Indian girl. That was Pagan Virginia, two centuries and a half ago.
What has dragged her down from Pocahontas in 1608 to John Brown in 1859, when humanity is disgraceful, and despotism treads it out under its iron heel? — who revealed it? One brave act of an old Puritan soul, that did not stop to ask what the majority thought, or what forms were, but acted. The revelation of despotism is the great lesson which the Puritan of our month has taught us. He has flung himself, under the instinct of a great idea, against the institutions beneath which we sit; and he says, practically, to the world, as the Puritan did, "If I am a felon, bury me with curses. I will trust to a future age to judge betwixt you and me. Posterity will summon the State to judgment, and will admit my principle. I can wait." Men say it is anarchy; that this right of the individual to sit in judgment cannot be trusted. It is the lesson of Puritanism. If the individual, criticising law, cannot be trusted, then Puritanism is a mistake; for the sanctity of individual judgment is the lesson of Massachusetts history in 1620 and '30. We accepted anarchy as the safest. The Puritan said, "Human nature is sinful"; so the earth is accursed since the Fall; but I cannot find any thing better than this old earth to build on; I must put up my corner-stone upon it, cursed as it is; I cannot lay hold of the battlements of heaven." So Puritanism said, "Human nature is sinful; but it is the best basis we have got. We will build upon it, and we will trust the influences of God, the inherent gravitation of the race towards right, that it will end right."
I affirm that this is the lesson of our history: that the world is fluid; that we are on the ocean; that we cannot get rid of the people, and we do not want to; that the millions are our basis; and that God has set us this task: "If you want good institutions, do not try to bulwark out the ocean of popular thought—educate it. If you want good laws, earn them." Conservatism says, "I can make my own hearthstone safe: I can build a bulwark of gold and bayonets about it high as heaven and deep as hell, and nobody can touch me, and that is enough." Puritanism says, "It is a delusion; it is a refuge of lies; it is not safe. The waters of popular instinct will carry it away. If you want your own cradle safe, make the cradle of every other man safe and pure. Educate the people up to the law you want." How? They cannot stop for books—show them manhood—show them a brave act. What has John Brown done for us? The world doubted over the horrid word "insurrection," whether the victim had a right to arrest the course of his master, and, even at any expense of blood, to vindicate his rights; and Brown said to his neighbors in the old school-house at North Elba, sitting among the snows—where nothing grows but men—wheat freezes—"I can go South, and show the world that he has a right to rise and can rise." He went, girded about by his household, carrying his sons with him. Proof of a life devoted to an idea! Not a single spasmodic act of greatness, coming out with no background, but the flowering of sixty years. The proof of it, that every thing around him grouped itself harmoniously, like the planets around the central sun. He went down to Virginia, took possession of a town, and held it. He says, "You thought this was strength; I demonstrate it is weakness. You thought this was civil society; I show you it is a den of pirates." Then he turned around in his sublimity, with his Puritan devotional heart, and said to the millions, "Learn!" And God lifted a million hearts to his gibbet, as the Roman cross lifted a million of hearts to it, in that divine sacrifice of two thousand years ago. To-day, more than a statesman could have taught in seventy years, one act of a week has taught these eighteen millions of people.
What shall it teach us? "Go thou and do likewise." Do it, by a resolute life. Do it, by a fearless rebuke. Do it, by preaching the sermon of which this act is the text. Do it, by standing by the great example which God has given us. Do it, by tearing asunder the veil of respectability which covers brutality, calling itself law. We had a "Union meeting" in this city a while ago. For the first time for a quarter of a century, political brutality dared to enter the sacredness of the sick chamber, and visit with ridicule the broken intellect, sheltered from criticism under the cover of sickness. Never, since I knew Boston, has any lip, however embittered, dared to open the door which God's hand had closed, making the inmate sacred, as he rested in broken health. The four thousand men who sat beneath the speaker are said to have received it in silence. If so, it can only be that they were not surprised at the brutality from such lips. And those who sat at his side—they judge us by our associates—they criticise us, in general, for the loud word of any comrade—shall we take the scholar of New England, and drag him down to the level of the brutal Swiss of politics, and judge him indecent because his associates were indecent? Gladly do I seize the opportunity of protesting, in the name of Boston decency, against the brutal language of a man,—thank God, not born on our peninsula,—against the noble and benighted intellect of Gerrit Smith, whom God bless with new health.
On that occasion, too, a noble island was calumniated. The New England scholar, bereft of every thing else on which to arraign the great movement in Virginia, takes up a lie about St. Domingo, and hurls it in the face of an ignorant audience—ignorant, because no man ever thought it worth while to do justice to the negro. Edward Everett would be the last to allow us to take an English version of Bunker Hill, to take an Englishman's account of Hamilton and Washington, when they ordered the scaffold of Andre, and read it to an American audience as a faithful description of the scene. But when he wants to malign a race, he digs up from the prejudice of an enemy they had conquered a forgotten lie—showing how weak was the cause he espoused, when the opposite must be assailed with falsehood, for it could not be assailed with any thing else. I said that they had gone to sleep, and only turned in their graves — those men in Faneuil Hall. It was not wholly true. The chairman came down from the heart of the Commonwealth, and spoke to Boston safe words in Faneuil Hall, for which he would have been lynched at Richmond, had he uttered them there that evening. I rejoice that a hunker cannot live in Massachusetts, without being wider awake than he imagines. He must imbibe fanaticism. Insurrection is epidemic in the State; treason is our inheritance. The Puritans planted it in the very structure of the State; and when their children try to curse a martyr, like the prophet of old, half the curse, at least, turns into a blessing. I thank God for that Massachusetts! Let us not blame our neighbors too much. There is something in the very atmosphere that stands above the ashes of the Puritans, that prevents the very most servile of hearts from holding a meeting which the despots of Virginia can relish. It is a hard task to be servile within forty miles of Plymouth. They have not learned the part; with all their wish, they play it awkwardly. It is the old, stiff Puritan trying to bend, and they do it with a marvellous lack of grace. I read encouragement in the very signs—the awkward attempts made to resist this very effort of the glorious martyr of the Northern hills of New York. Virginia herself looks into his face and melts; she has nothing but praises. She tries to scan his traits; they are too manly, and she bows. Her press can only speak of his manhood. One must get outside the influence of his personal presence before the slaves of Virginia can dig up a forgotten Kansas lie, and hurl it against the picture which Virginian admiration has painted. That does not come from Virginia. Northern men volunteer to do the work which Virginia, lifted for a moment by the sight of martyrdom, is unable to accomplish. A Newburyport man comes to Boston, and says that he knows John Brown was at the massacre of Pottawattomie. He was only twenty-five miles off! The Newburyport orator gets within thirty miles of the truth, and that is very near — for him! But Virginia was unable—mark you!—Virginia was unable to criticise. She could only bow. It is the most striking evidence of the majesty of the action.
There is one picture which stands out in bright relief in this event. On that mountain-side of the Adirondack, up among the snows, there is a plain cottage — "plain living, and high thinking," as Wordsworth says. Grouped there are a family of girls and boys, hardly over twenty; sitting supreme, the majestic spirit of a man just entering age—life one purpose. Other men breed their sons for ambition, avarice, trade; he breeds his for martyrdom, and they accept serenely their places. Hardly a book under its roof but the Bible. No sound so familiar as prayer. He takes them in his right hand and in his left, and goes down to the land of bondage. Like the old Puritans of two hundred years ago, the muskets are on one side and the pikes upon the other; but the morning prayer goes up from the domestic altar, as it did from the lips of Brewster and Carver, and no morsel is ever tasted without that same grace which was made at Plymouth and Salem; and at last he flings himself against the gigantic system, which trembles under his single arm. You measure the strength of a blow by the force of the rebound. Men thought Virginia a Commonwealth; he reveals it a worse than Austrian despotism. Neighbors dare not speak to each other; Courts cannot wait for the slow step of Saxon forms and safeguards; startled Judges have no time to take notes of testimony; no man can travel on the highway without a passport; the telegraph wires are sealed, except with a permit; the State shakes beneath the tramp of cannon and armed men. What does she fear? Conscience. The apostle has come to torment her, and he finds the weakest spot herself. She dares not trust the usual forms of justice. Arraigned in what she calls her court, is a wounded man, on a pallet, unable to stand. The civilized world stands aghast. She says, "It is necessary." Why? "I stand on a volcano. The Titans are heaving beneath the mountains. Thought—the earthquake of conscience—is below me." It is the acknowledgment of defeat. The Roman thought, when he looked upon the Cross, that it was the symbol of infamy — only the vilest felon hung there. One sacred sacrifice, and the cross nestles in our hearts, the emblem of every thing holy. Virginia erects her gibbet, repulsive in name and form. One man goes up from it to God, with two hundred thousand broken fetters in his hands, and henceforth it is sacred forever.
I said, that to vindicate Puritanism, the children must be better than the fathers. Lo, this event! Brewster, and Carver, and Bradford, and Winthrop faced a New England winter and defied law for themselves. For us, their children, they planted and sowed. They said, "Lo! our rights are trodden under foot; our cradles are not safe; our prayers may not ascend to God." They formed a State, and achieved that liberty. John Brown goes a stride beyond them. Under his own roof, he might pray at liberty; his own children wore no fetters. In the catalogue of Saxon heroes and martyrs, the Ridleys and the Latimers, he only saw men dying for themselves; in the brave souls of our own day, he saw men good as their fathers; but he leaped beyond them, and died for a race whose blood he did not share. This child of seventeen years gives her husband for a race into whose eyes she never looked. Braver than Carver or Winthrop, more disinterested than Bradford, broader than Hancock or Washington, pure as the brightest names on our catalogue — nearer God's heart, for, with a divine magnanimity he comprehended all races - Ridley and Latimer minister before him. He sits in that heaven of which he showed us the open door, with the great men of Saxon blood ministering below his feet. And yet they have a right to say, "We created him."
Lord Bacon, as he takes his march down the centuries, may put one hand on the telegraph and the other on the steam engine, and say, "These are mine, for I taught you to invent." So the Puritans may bless John Brown, and say, "You are ours, though you have gone beyond us, for we taught you to believe in God. We taught you to say, God is God, and trample wicked laws under your feet." And now, from that Virginia gibbet, he says to us, "The maxim I taught you, practise it! The principle I have shown you, apply it! If the crisis becomes sterner, meet it! If the battle is closer, be true to my memory! Men say my act was a failure. I showed what I promised, that the slave ought to resist, and could. Sixteen men I placed under the shelter of English law, and then I taught the millions. Prove that my enterprise was not a failure, by showing a North ready to stand behind it, I am willing, in God's service, to plunge with ready martyrdom into the chasm that opens in the forum, only show yourselves worthy to stand upon my grave!"
It seems to me that this is the lesson of Puritanism, as it is read to us to-day. "Law" and "order" are only names for the halting ignorance of the last generation. John Brown is the impersonation of God's order and God's law, moulding a better future, and setting for it an example.
_______________
* A Discourse delivered before the Twenty-eighth Congregational Society, (Rev. Theodore Parker's,) in the Music Hall, Boston, on Sunday, December 18, 1859.
SOURCE: James Redpath, Editor, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry, pp. 105-18
