Diary of Edward Bates, April 22, 1862

Judge Black⁶ dined with me today. Talked very freely about the latter weeks of Buchanan's adm[inistratio]n. Cobb,⁷ Floyd,⁸ Thompson⁹ &c[.]  Thinks "Jake Thompson" as honest a man as he ever knew — Was very slow to believe in F[loyd]'s rascality but had finally to come to it.

Prest. B.[uchanan] said he would rather suffer death by torture than suffer S.[outh] C.[arolina] to take the Forts in Charleston harbor — and ordered them to be supplied — Floyd pretended to agree to it, but did not do it.

Trescott¹⁰ (Asst. Secy of state) gave information that Floyd had promised the Carolinians that it should no[t] be done. B.[uchanan]  insisted, F.[loyd] flew into arage [sic] and spoke violently and went out in a huff. The Prest then asked Black to go and tell F.[loyd] that he must resign. He, Black, refused — Then some other, Toucey,¹¹ bore the message, and F. [loyd] resigned giving for reason, that he could, no longer, consistently with his honor, serve with such an adm[inistratio]n.! Mr. Black agreed with me that old Buck ought to have kicked him out — Black call[e]d it "spitting in the Presfs face and then resigning^ " Still the Prest. did not strengthen the Forts, and sunk [sic] so low as to assign the reason that he had given the Carolinians reason to think that he wd. not,¹² and because he feared that  war wd. come in his time, if he did —

At night at Senator Wade's¹³ met i. a. Mr. Gurley¹⁴ of Ohio, who is proud of a speech he made some time ago denouncing Genl. McClellan's tardiness. The speech, it seems, has been printed both in England and France, and (as Mr. G[urley] thinks) had great influence in preventing the Govts, both of England and France from acknowledging the C.[onfederate] S.[tates of] A[merica].

Mr. G.[urley] is very open in denouncing Genl. McClellan, believes him a traitor and that he will continue to have his own army beaten, if possible — Says that just before his appointment to command he declared, in presence of his Physician (Dr. [  ] — the famous Homeopath) that the South was right and he wd. never fight against it — that the Southern Democracy had always governed the country and ought to govern it[.]  Gu[r]ley evidently believe[s] him a traitor[.]

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⁶ Supra, Oct. 28, 1859, note 22.

⁷ Supra, Sept. 4, 1860, note 86.

⁸ Supra, Dec. 3, 1859, note 11.

⁹ Jacob Thompson of Mississippi: Democratic congressman, 1839-1851; secretary of the Interior, 1857-1861; governor of Mississippi, 1862-1864; inspector-general of the Confederate Army, 1864; confidential agent in Canada, 1864-1865.

¹⁰ William H. Trescot of Charleston, South Carolina: secretary of Legation in London, 1852-1860; assistant secretary of State, 1860-1861; member of the South Carolina Legislature; officer in the Confederate Army; holder of various minor diplomatic posts, 1876-1889.

¹¹ Isaac Toucey of Hartford, Connecticut: Democratic congressman, 1835-1839; governor of Connecticut, 1847 ; U. S. attorney-general, 1848-1849 ; U. S. senator, 1852-1857; secretary of the Navy under Buchanan, 1857-1861.

¹² On December 8 and 10, 1860, Buchanan had had two interviews with McQueen, Miles, and Bonham, representatives of South Carolina, in which they had assured him that Sumter would not be fired upon so long as Buchanan did not alter the status quo. The President apparently promised nothing, but none the less regarded this interview as creating a tacit understanding between him and the South Carolinians.

¹³ Supra, Aug. 10, 1859, note 77.

¹⁴ John A. Gurley: Universalist minister, 1835-1838; editor of the Cincinnati Star and Sentinel later called the Star in the West, 1838-1854; now a Republican congressman, 1859-1863, who was defeated for reelection in 1862.

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. 252-3