Dr. Joseph T. Webb to Maria Cook Webb, April 20, 1865

[Cumberland, April 20, 1865.]

We are all well. The time passes slow now that there is no work in view. The Rebels all feel disposed to quit; the women, if possible, more insolent than ever. It is a bitter pill for the First Families. Most of the 'Gorillas' have signified their desire to quit, but the Union people who have suffered from their atrocious acts, do not feel exactly disposed to receive the murderers back into their arms. The Union citizens who have suffered everything during this war feel outraged at the disposition evinced by the powers that be to take back as erring brethren these fiendish villains.

"While I think the President a good honest man, none better, I am not so certain that his loss at this time is so great a public calamity as many are disposed to think. He was entirely too forgiving. He appeared to have forgotten the thousands of honest, brave, and true men either in their graves or limping about cripples, etc.

“So we go, the world moves on, one man succeeds another. This country is too great, its aim too holy to fail at this period on account of the death of any one man.”

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 578-9