Senator John J. Crittenden to Orlando Brown, May 18, 1850

 FRANKFORT, May 18, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—Your letter of the 9th inst. was duly received, and, by the telegraph, we already know that all you taught me to expect has come to pass. The Republic has changed hands, and Mr. Hall has succeeded the former editors. It is to be greatly regretted that there should be any motive or cause for such a movement. Not that Mr. Hall is not very competent and worthy, but the regret is that there should have been any disagreement between the retiring editors and the administration. I had hoped that Burnley's mediation might have reconciled all differences, and that our friend Bullitt's known attachment to the President would have made him forego all his objections to the cabinet. The extent of his objections I do not know, nor do I mean to blame him, for I am very certain that he has acted from honest convictions and motives. But I must say, at the same time, that for myself I am not sensible of any objections that require such an opposition to the cabinet. Indeed, I doubt very much whether General Taylor could select another cabinet of more ability, or character, or personal worth. But I do not mean to make comments on the subject. The storm that has just passed by will be followed, I hope, by that calm that usually compensates for its ravages; and I trust that we shall yet see the administration emerging successfully from the difficulties that now surround it.

I shall be delighted to see you at home, but this is overcome by the absolute sadness I feel at your quitting old Zack at such a time, when, perhaps, he most requires the comfort and assistance of your society and counsel. I received Robert's letter yesterday. You may tell him so, and his children and all are well. I have not another word to say about his affairs and solicitations at Washington. Under a first impulse I said and wrote much more than I ought. Hereafter he can only have my good wishes, and must depend on himself. I must not be mixed up with any office-seeking for my own family.

I have written to our friend Mr. Richard Hawes, apprising him of your views and wishes, and inquiring whether he would be willing, in the event of your resignation, to accept your present office. I have not yet received his answer, but I anticipate, from many conversations with him, that he will not accept it. If he will, he is the very man, and the man of my choice. Without much acquaintance with Mr. Alexander McKee, I had formed a kind opinion of him, and supposed, from information, that he was very much a man of business. In a conversation last winter, I mentioned that it was not expected by your friends that you would continue long in office, and suggested to him the vacancy as one that would very well suit him. But little more was then said on the subject, and nothing since has passed between us about it. I am told that he went through the place a few days ago, on his way to the East, but he did not call on me, and I know not his object. I have heard that his thoughts have been turned of late towards California, and an office at Washington may not now be desirable to him; and in the present uncertainty I have no more to say about it. He is not apprised of what I lately wrote to you in his behalf.

I wish that before you leave Washington you would especially take it upon yourself to have something clever done for our friend, Mr. George W. Barbour, a senator in our General Assembly from the Princeton district. You recollect him, I hope. He is a fine-looking, high-spirited, and noble-hearted fellow, a lawyer by profession, and of fair capacity. He is poor, and too modest and proud to seek for office, though he wants it. He is an ardent and thorough Taylor-man. Now, what can be done for such a man? I have undertaken to be his intercessor, and have written in his behalf time and again to Clayton, and perhaps to others, but, so far, have not got even any answer relating to him. A chargé-ship to anywhere in South America would be very acceptable to him; so would a judgeship in any of our territorial governments, or the office of secretary in those governments. Now, this is a wide range; there are many offices in it, and mighty few such clever fellows anywhere as Barbour. The place that that fellow Meeker was slipped into, and ought to be slipped out of, would suit poor Barbour exactly, and he is worthy of it. I have told Barbour that he must be patient, and that I was certain something would, sooner or later, be done for him. It begins to be the "later," and nothing is yet done. The last alternative is to try and get you to make up this business and do something in it.

Your friend,

J. J. CRITTENDEN.

O. BROWN, Esq.

P.S.—I can do nothing more with Clayton in Barbour's case but quarrel with him, and that I don't want to do,—first, because he is a stout fellow and might whip me; secondly, I like the fellow.

J. J. C.

SOURCE: Ann Mary Butler Crittenden Coleman, Editor, The Life of John J. Crittenden: With Selections from His Correspondence and Speeches, Vol. 1, p. 371-2

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, February 23, 1861

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 23, 1861.

DEAR MR. BOYD: I fear from our experience here the cadets did not have a good time of it last night. It rained here a part of the day and night and now we are having a sort of postscript in a heavy shower. I have had a good deal of running about to do to-day, because I got here on Thursday after bank hours, and yesterday being a holiday it was closed, and this morning on application I found the book which I had sent down a week ago by mail only got here this morning. So I did not get it till 2:30 p.m. and Dr. Smith wanted to go to Baton Rouge at 5 p.m. so we gave it but a rapid examination, but there being a balance in bank larger than I claimed Dr. Smith was on the safe side in passing it. I have been with him to the boat, and he is off for Baton Rouge, and I have naught to do but be off for home. I shall start to-morrow, Sunday, for St. Louis to reach there Monday evening.

Tell St. Ange that I found Madame Lefevre and got the books entered, though I was bothered by the deputy collector. Still I think he will soon receive the books. I made the custom-house oath without seeing the list invoice of books. I know you will expect me to tell you some general political news. All here is secession on the streets. Indoors they are more reasonable and some have said to me that even yet if the North will give guarantees, this state would return. More than one have said that the leaders were afraid to leave it to a vote of the people. Congress can do nothing. The Peace Conference may report. I don't see what Lincoln or any man can do, when sections are arrayed against each other and will not believe each other.

I still adhere to my old notion that we have to fear anarchy more than a direct conflict on the slavery issue. If any of the Southern States become dissatisfied with the tariff policy of the new combination and I have myself heard merchants talk pretty plainly of the tariff already imposed on northern goods, they will secede a second time and so on to the end of the chapter.

I have seen a good deal of Bragg who goes on quietly but steadily, organizing two regiments of regulars and mark my word when a time of strife comes he will be prepared.

He tells me there is an officer at West Point whose name I now forget, who wants to be your superintendent. But the governor has advertised for one to apply before April 6 — so that no choice will take place till then. In the mean time Dr. Smith has the check book and can draw for money. I really do hope you may have a clever fellow, for your social position is one of isolation and those who are so banished should have respect and even fondness for each other. There is no pleasure or satisfaction in life when one's associate is devoid of feeling, sense, or judgment. With these and a few companions I have never cared much whether my abode was in Wall St., San Francisco, in the Desert, in Kansas, or Ohio.

But the truth is I have socially been too much isolated from my children, and now that they are at an age when for good or ill we should be together I must try and allay that feeling of change and venture that has made me a wanderer. If possible I will settle down – fast and positive. Of a summer eve with my little Minnie and Willy and the rascal Tom I can live over again my Florida life, my ventures in California, and my short sojourn in the pine woods of Louisiana, and I will teach them that there are kind good people everywhere, that a great God made all the world, that He slighted no part, that to some He assigned the rock and fir – with clear babbling brooks but cold and bitter winters, to others the grassy plain and fertile soil, to others the rich alluvium and burning sun to ripen the orange and sugar cane, but everywhere He gave the same firmament, the same gentle moon, and to the inhabitants the same attributes for good and evil.

What a beautiful task in theory, which may all explode the first moment of its realization but still one to dream of – and I know you will believe me sincere when I hope, in that little group, wherever it may be, you will some day drop in and try my hospitality. I assure you.

About the 20th of February, having turned over all property, records, and money, on hand, to Major Smith, and taking with me the necessary documents to make the final settlement with Dr. S. A. Smith, at the bank in New Orleans, where the funds of the institution were deposited to my credit, I took passage from Alexandria for that city, and arrived there, I think, on the 23d.¹ Dr. Smith met me, and we went to the bank, where I turned over to him the balance, got him to audit all my accounts, certify that they were correct and just, and that there remained not one cent of balance in my hands. I charged in my account current for my salary up to the end of February, at the rate of four thousand dollars a year, and for the five hundred dollars due me as superintendent of the Central Arsenal, all of which was due and had been fairly earned, and then I stood free and discharged of any and every obligation, honorary or business, that was due by me to the State of Louisiana, or to any corporation or individual in the state.

This business occupied two or three days, during which I staid at the St. Louis Hotel. I usually sat at table with Colonel and Mrs. Bragg, and an officer who wore the uniform of the State of Louisiana, and was addressed as captain. Bragg wore a colonel's uniform, and explained to me that he was a colonel in the state service, a colonel of artillery, and that some companies of his regiment garrisoned Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the arsenal at Baton Rouge.

Beauregard at the time had two sons at the Seminary of Learning. I had given them some of my personal care at the father's request, and, wanting to tell him of their condition and progress, I went to his usual office in the Custom-House Building, and found him in the act of starting for Montgomery, Alabama. Bragg said afterward that Beauregard had been sent for by Jefferson Davis, and that it was rumored that he had been made a brigadier-general, of which fact he seemed jealous, because in the old army Bragg was the senior.

. . . I recall a conversation at the tea-table, one evening, at the St. Louis Hotel. When Bragg was speaking of Beauregard's promotion, Mrs. Bragg, turning to me, said, “You know that my husband is not a favorite with the new president.” My mind was resting on Mr. Lincoln as the new president, and I said I did not know that Bragg had ever met Mr. Lincoln, when Mrs. Bragg said, quite pointedly, “I didn't mean your president, but our president.” I knew Bragg hated Davis bitterly, and that he had resigned from the army in 1855, or 1856, because Davis, as secretary of war, had ordered him, with his battery, from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, to Fort Smith or Fort Washita, in the Indian country, as Bragg expressed it, “to chase Indians with six-pounders.”

I visited the quartermaster, Colonel A. C. Myers, who had resigned from the army, January 28, 1861, and had accepted service under the new régime. His office was in the same old room in the Lafayette Square Building, which he had in 1853, when I was there a commissary, with the same pictures on the wall, and the letters “U.S.” on every thing, including his desk, papers, etc. I asked him if he did not feel funny. “No, not at all. The thing was inevitable, secession was a complete success; there would be no war, but the two governments would settle all matters of business in a friendly spirit, and each would go on in its allotted sphere, without further confusion.”

I walked the streets of New Orleans, and found business going along as usual. Ships were strung for miles along the lower levee, and steamboats above, all discharging or receiving cargo. The Pelican flag of Louisiana was flying over the Custom House, Mint, City Hall, and everywhere. At the levee ships carried every flag on earth except that of the United States, and I was told that during a procession on the 22d of February, celebrating their emancipation from the despotism of the United States government, only one national flag was shown from a house, and that the house of Cuthbert Bullitt, on Lafayette Square. He was commanded to take it down, but he refused and defended it with his pistol.

The only officer of the army that I can recall, as being there at the time, who was faithful, was Colonel C. L. Kilburn, of the Commissary Department, and he was preparing to escape north.

Everybody regarded the change of government as final; that Louisiana, by a mere declaration, was a free and independent state, and could enter into any new alliance or combination she chose.

Men were enlisted and armed, to defend the state, and there was not the least evidence that the national administration designed to make any effort, by force, to vindicate the national authority. I therefore bade adieu to all my friends, and about the 25th of February took my departure by railroad, for Lancaster,² via Cairo and Cincinnati.

_______________

¹ The 22^nd. — ED.

² Sherman went first to St. Louis, where he stopped for a few days before going on to Ohio. - Ed.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 365-71