Francis Lieber to Major-General Henry W. Halleck, August 2, 1863

New York, August 2, 1863.

My Dear General, — Doubtless you agree with me that now, the Mississippi being cleared, we shall have prowling assassins along its banks, firing on passengers from behind the levees. You share, I know, my opinion, expressed in my Guerilla pamphlet, regarding these lawless prowlers. Will it not be well to state distinctly, in a general order, that they must be treated as outlaws? Or would a proclamation touching this point —and the selling or massacring of our colored soldiers, as well as the breaking of the parole — be better? I cannot judge of this from a distance, but it reads very oddly that a rebel officer who has broken his parole was among the prisoners that recently arrived at Washington, as all the newspapers had it. I hope it is not true; and if not true, Government should semi-officially contradict it. That Government has too much to do, would be no answer. Napoleon even wrote occasionally articles for the “Moniteur.”  . . . I have pointed out a most important military position, near my house, in case of repeated riot. It is the highly elevated crossing of Fourth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street. It has been adopted. Did I tell you that I, too, patrolled for three nights during that infamous, fiendish, and rascally riot. To be sure, wholly unprotected as we were, our patrolling was hardly for any other purpose than to take away in time our wives and children. The one good feature in this riot was that no blank cartridges were fired. The handful of troops we had — invalids and full combatants, as well as the police — behaved well, I believe, and did what was possible. My son Hamilton was in the midst of it during the whole time with his invalids. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 335-6

Francis Lieber to Edward Bates, April 8, 1862

New York, April 8, 1862.

Sorry as I was to see your note of the 5th instead of yourself, I was nevertheless glad to hear once more from you. I agree with you regarding the absolute necessity of having the Mississippi. From the very beginning of the Civil War I have been convinced that the two main problems immediately to be solved were the possession of the whole Mississippi, and the conquest of Virginia and North Carolina. That done, the rest of the military work would soon and naturally follow. When I was lately in the West in search of one of my sons, wounded in the capture of Fort Donelson, I found the spirit of the soldiers excellent. The idea that the Mississippi belongs to them, in the fullest sense of the term, pervaded all, officer and private; and every one seemed fully to rely on General Halleck for the execution of that great work. General Halleck is a man. Why, however, every one asks, can we not keep step with the Western people? It would have been delightful to me to be able to converse with you on some points not belonging to the military portion of the history of this war, but not the less important, perhaps far more important. But it was not to be. Have you observed that I am attacked on the Habeas Corpus topic? Mr. Binney informs me that he is going very shortly to publish his No. II. on the suspension of the Habeas Corpus privilege. Many pamphlets have been published against him. I do not know whether he wishes this to be known, but the pamphlet will soon be out. My son Hamilton lost his left arm at Fort Donelson; and you may have observed that General Halleck has nominated him aid on his staff, with the rank of captain, for distinguished services in the capture of Fort Donelson, in which he was twice wounded. . . .

. . . His bravery is very highly spoken of. Of course his wound is not yet healed, but he does well. I have written to Mr. Childs to send me, if he can, a copy of the article “Lieber” in the forthcoming volume of Dr. Allibone's Dictionary. It contains a pretty full list of my works, for which you inquire in your letter. As soon as I receive it, it will be sent to you. The great question, what is to be done after we shall have taken possession of the revolted portions of our country, must present itself daily more seriously to the mind of the President, and to all his advisers. I have told my friend Charles Sumner that I cannot agree with his first position; there is too much State Rights Doctrine in it for me. But I am far from agreeing with those who seem to think that a revolted State, after such a catastrophe, may Jump back into the old state of things, like that famous old man, you will remember, who

. . . jumped into a bramble bush

And scratched out both his eyes;

And when he saw his eyes were out,

With all his might and main

He jumped into another bush,

And seratched them in again.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 326-8

Francis Lieber to Charles Sumner, May 24, 1861

New York, May 24, 1861.

Dear Sumner, — I have hesitated a long time whether I ought to write to you in an affair, trifling for every one except myself and my son. I think, however, that I ought not to hesitate, and thus I write. My son Hamilton is among the Illinois troops at Cairo; for my son Norman, the youngest, I have solicited a lieutenant's commission in the army. Papers have been sent to the President, to Mr. Cameron, and to Mr. Seward, from presidential electors and several well-known citizens here. But if the ancients said, “Letters do not blush,” moderns may with equal correctness say, “Letters do not push.” My presence at Washington would not be of any use either. A professor has no influence in America; a literary man, even a publicist, has no more; and a New York professor or writer the least of all. Should you think it worth your while, in case you see Mr. Cameron, to say a word to him?

Norman is an admitted lawyer, a young man of strictly honorable principles, gentlemanly, and, like his father, ardent for the Union and for freedom. I say it as an old soldier, that he is in every way competent to do justice and honor to a commission in the army. If this reaches you, I should like to have a word from you.

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 318-9

Francis Lieber to George S. Hillard, May 11, 1861

New York, May 11, 1861.

I must write to you, my dear Hillard, although I have nothing to state, to give, or to ask, except, indeed, whether you are well, bodily of course — for who is mentally well nowadays? Behold in me the symbol of civil war: Oscar probably on his march to Virginia under that flag of shame, Hamilton in the Illinois militia at Cairo, Norman writing to-day to President Lincoln for a commission in the United States army, we two old ones alone in this whole house; but why write about individuals at a time like this!

Mr. Everett sent me for perusal a pamphlet written in 1821, by McDuflle, so hyper-national in tone and political concepts that it confuses even an old student of history and his own times, like myself.  . . . There are two things for which I ardently pray at this juncture: that there be soon a great and telling battle sufficient to make men think again, and somewhat to shake the Arrogantia autlralis out of the Southerners; and secondly that, if we must divide, we change our Constitution and shake the absurd State-sovereignty out of that. All, there are other things, too, for which I pray. I bite my lips, that Italy has stolen such a march over Germany. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 318