Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: May 22, 1863

A letter from Gen. Howell Cobb, declining the offer of the Secretary of War, of the position of Quartermaster-General, was received to-day. His wife is ill, and he prefers to remain with her; besides, he doubts his qualifications — he, who was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States! He says, moreover, referring to the imperfect ordnance stores of his brigade, that there can be no remedy for this so long as Col. G. is the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. So Col. Myers is to be disposed of at last, and Col. G. has but an uncertain tenure.

We have sad rumors from Vicksburg. Pemberton, it is said, was flanked by Grant, and lost 30 guns, which he abandoned in his retreat. Where Johnston is, is not stated. But, it is said, Vicksburg is closely invested, and that the invaders are closing in on all sides. There is much gloom and despondency in the city among those who credit these unofficial reports. It would be a terrible blow, but not necessarily a fatal one, for the war could be prolonged indefinitely.

I met with Robt. Tyler to-day, who offers to wager something that Gen. Stuart will be in Philadelphia in a fortnight, and he said there was a proposition to stop the publication of newspapers, if the President would agree to it, as they gave information to the enemy, and at such a time as this did no good whatever. He thinks they are on the eve of revolution in the North, and referred to Gov. Seymour's letter, read at a public meeting in New York.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 329

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, July 15, 1863

We have the back mails this morning. The papers are filled with accounts of mobs, riots, burnings, and murders in New York. There have been outbreaks to resist the draft in several other places. This is anarchy, — the fruit of the seed sown by the Seymours and others. In New York, Gov. Horatio Seymour is striving — probably earnestly now — to extinguish the flames he has contributed to kindle. Unless speedy and decisive measures are taken, the government and country will be imperiled. These concerted outbreaks and schemes to resist the laws must not be submitted to or treated lightly. An example should be made of some of the ringleaders and the mob dispersed. It is reported that the draft is ordered to be stopped. I hope this is untrue. If the mob has the ascendency and controls the action of the government, lawful authority has come to an end. In all this time no Cabinet-meeting takes place.

Seward called on me to-day with the draft of a Proclamation for Thanksgiving on the 29th inst. With Meade's failure to capture or molest Lee in his retreat and with mobs to reject the laws, it was almost a mockery, yet we have much to be thankful for. A wise Providence guards us and will, it is hoped, overrule the weakness and wickedness of men and turn their misdeeds to good.

I have dispatches this evening from Admiral Dahlgren with full report of operations on Morris Island. Although not entirely successful, his dispatch reads much more satisfactorily than the last ones of Du Pont.

We hear through Rebel channels of the surrender of Port Hudson. It was an inevitable necessity, and the rumors correspond with our anticipations.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 371-2

Diary of John Hay: Sunday, September 25, 1864

Yesterday Nicolay who has been several days in New York telegraphed to the President that Thurlow Weed had gone to Canada, and asking if he (N.) had better return. I answered he had better amuse himself there for a day or two. This morning a letter came in the same sense. The President, when I showed it to him, said, — “I think I know where Mr. W. has gone. I think he has gone to Vermont not Canada. I will tell you what he is trying to do. I have not as yet told anybody.

“Some time ago, the Governor of Vermont came to me ‘on business of importance’ he said. I fixed an hour and he came. His name is Smith. He is, though you wouldn't think it, a cousin of Baldy Smith. Baldy is large, blonde, florid. The Governor is a little, dark sort of man. This is the story he told me, giving General Baldy Smith as his authority.

“When General McClellan was here at Washington, Baldy Smith was very intimate with him. They had been together at West Point, and friends. McClellan had asked for promotion for Baldy from the President, and got it. They were close and confidential friends. When they went down to the peninsula, their same intimate relations continued, the General talking freely with Smith about all his plans and prospects; until one day Fernando Wood and one other politician from New York appeared in camp and passed some days with McClellan. From the day that this took place Smith saw, or thought he saw, that McClellan was treating him with unusual coolness and reserve. After a little while he mentioned this to McC. who, after some talk, told Baldy he had something to show him. He told him that these people who had recently visited him, had been urging him to stand as an opposition candidate for President; that he had thought the thing over, and had concluded to accept their propositions. and had written them a letter (which he had not yet sent) giving his idea of the proper way of conducting the war, so as to conciliate and impress the people of the South with the idea that our armies were intended merely to execute the laws and protect their property, etc., and pledging himself to conduct the war in that inefficient, conciliatory style. This letter he read to Baldy, who, after the reading was finished, said earnestly:— ‘General, do you not see that looks like treason? and that it will ruin you and all of us.’ After some further talk, the General destroyed the letter in Baldy’s presence, and thanked him heartily for his frank and friendly counsel. After this he was again taken into the intimate confidence of McClellan. Immediately after the battle of Antietam, Wood and his familiar came again and saw the General, and again Baldy saw an immediate estrangement on the part of McClellan. He seemed to be anxious to get his intimate friends out of the way, and to avoid opportunities of private conversation with them. Baldy he particularly kept employed on reconnoissances and such work. One night Smith was returning from some duty he had been performing, and seeing a light in McClellan’s tent, he went in to report. Several persons were there. He reported and was about to withdraw when the General requested him to remain. After everyone was gone, he told him those men had been there again and had renewed their proposition about the Presidency:— that this time he had agreed to their proposition, and had written them a letter acceding to their terms, and pledging himself to carry on the war in the sense already indicated. This letter he read then and there to Baldy Smith.

“Immediately thereafter Baldy Smith applied to be transferred from that army.

“At very nearly the same time, other prominent men asked the same; Franklin, Burnside and others.

“Now that letter must be in the possession of Fernando Wood, and it will not be impossible to get it. Mr. Weed has, I think, gone to Vermont to see the Smith’s about it.”

I was very much surprised at the story and expressed my surprise. I said I had always thought that McClellan’s fault was a constitutional weakness and timidity which prevented him from active and timely exertion, instead of any such deep-laid scheme of treachery and ambition.

The President replied:— “After the battle of Antietam I went up to the field to try to get him to move, and came back thinking he would move at once. But when I got home he began to argue why he ought not to move. I peremptorily ordered him to advance. It was nineteen days before he put a man over the river. It was nine days longer before he got his army across, and then he stopped again, delaying on little pretexts of wanting this and that. I began to fear he was playing false, — that he did not want to hurt the enemy. I saw how he could intercept the enemy on the way to Richmond. I determined to make that the test. If he let them get away, I would remove him. He did so, and I relieved him.

“I dismissed Major Key for his silly, treasonable talk because I feared it was staff-talk, and I wanted an example.

"The letter of Buell furnishes another evidence in support of that theory. And the story you have heard Neill tell about Seymour’s first visit to McClellan, all tallies with this story.”

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 224-8; Michael Burlingame and John R. Turner Ettlinger, Editors, Inside Lincoln’s White House: The Complete Civil War Diary of John Hay, p. 230-3.

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, July 6, 1863

There was a special Cabinet-meeting at 9 A.M. on the subject of A. H. Stephens's mission. Seward came prepared with a brief telegram, which the President had advised, to the effect that Stephens's request to come to W. was inadmissible, but any military communication should be made through the prescribed military channel. A copy of this answer was to be sent to the military officer in command at Fortress Monroe by the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy was to send a copy to Admiral Lee. The President directed Mr. Seward to go to the telegraph office and see that they were correctly transmitted. All this was plainly prearranged by Seward, who has twice changed his ground, differing with the President when Chase and Stanton differed, but he is finally commissioned to carry out the little details which could be done by an errand boy or clerk.

The army news continues to be favorable. Lee is on the retreat, and Meade in hot pursuit, each striving to get possession of the passes of the Potomac.

A note from Wilkes stating he had reached home, and would have reported in person but had received an injury. A letter is published in one of the papers, purporting to be from him at Havana, written by himself or at his instigation, expressing a hope that Lardner, his successor, will be furnished with men and more efficient vessels. I hope so too. Wilkes has not had so large a force as I wished; he could not under any circumstances have had so large a squadron as he desired. To say nothing of the extensive blockade, Farragut's detention through the winter and spring before Vicksburg was unexpected, and the operations before Charleston have been long and protracted.

The papers this evening bring us the speeches of the two Seymours, Horatio and Thomas Henry, on the Fourth at New York. A couple of partisan patriots, neither of whom is elated by Meade's success, and whose regrets are over Rebel reverses.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 362-3

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 26, 1863

The conduct and course of Admiral Du Pont leaves no doubt on my mind that he intends to occupy a position antagonistic to the Department. Fox, who has been his special friend, is of the same opinion. He suggested to me yesterday that the capture of the Fingal presented to me a good opportunity to give Rodgers credit, and in turning the subject over, we both concluded that the letter might be so framed as to detach him, and perhaps others whom the Admiral has sought to attach to and make part of his clique. Fox caught the points earnestly and brought me his ideas in the rough form of a letter. His views were very good and I embodied them in a congratulatory commendation to Rodgers on his services.

Rumors are rife concerning the army. If Hooker has generalship in him, this is his opportunity. He can scarcely fail of a triumph. The President in a single remark to-day betrayed doubts of Hooker, to whom he is quite partial. “We cannot help beating them, if we have the man. How much depends in military matters on one master mind! Hooker may commit the same fault as McClellan and lose his chance. We shall soon see, but it appears to me he can't help but win.”

A pretty full discussion of Vallandigham's case and of the committee from Ohio which is here, ostensibly in his behalf, but really to make factious party strength. Blair is for letting them return, — turning him loose, — says he will damage his own friends. The President would have no objections but for the effect it might have in relaxing army discipline, and disgusting the patriotic sentiment and feeling of the country, which holds V. in abhorrence.

Blair assures me that Seward and H. Seymour have an understanding, are acting in concert. Says Stanton is beholden to Seward, who sustains him. Both he denounces. They are opposed to putting McClellan in position, fearing he will be a formidable Presidential candidate. Their conduct is forcing him to be a candidate, when he has no inclination that way. The tendency of things, B. thinks, is to make McClellan and Chase candidates, and if so, he says, McC. will beat C. five to one. He tells me he visited McC. last winter with a view of bringing him here to take Halleck's place. The President was aware of his purpose. McC. assured him he had no Presidential aspirations; his desire was to be restored to his old military position. When B. returned from his successful mission to New York he found his plans frustrated, and the President unwilling to give them further consideration. Satisfied that Seward, whom he had made a confidant to some extent, had defeated his purpose, he embraced the first favorable opportunity, when returning in Seward's carriage on the night of the 3d of March from the Capitol, to charge Seward with not having acted in good faith in the transaction. B. says Seward sunk down in the corner of the carriage and made no reply.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 344-5

Diary of John Hay: Sunday, November 8, 1863

The President tells me that Meade is at last after the enemy and that Grant will attack to-morrow.

Went with Mrs. Ames to Gardiner’s gallery and were soon joined by Nico and the President. We had a great many pictures taken. Some of the Pres^t the best I have seen. Nico and I immortalised ourselves by having ourselves done in group with the Pres^t.

In the evening Seward came in. He feels very easy and confident now about affairs. He says New York is safe for the Presidential election by a much larger majority, that the crowd that follows power have come over; that the copperhead spirit is crushed and humbled. He says the Democrats lost their leaders when Toombs and Davis and Breckinridge forsook them and went south; that their new leaders, the Seymours, Vallandighams and Woods, are now whipped and routed. So that they have nothing left. The Democratic leaders are either ruined by the war, or have taken the right-about, and have saved themselves from the ruin of their party by coming out on the right side. . . .

He told the Democratic party how they might have saved themselves and their organisation, and with it the coming Presidential election — by being more loyal and earnest in support of the administration than the Republican party — which would not be hard, the Lord knows!

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 118-9; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 117-8.

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 11, 1863

The message of Gov. Seymour, of New York, if I am not mistaken in its import and purposes, will have a distracting effect on the subjugation programme of the government at Washington. I shall look for riots, and perhaps rebellions and civil wars in the North.

Mr. Stanley, ycleped Governor of North Carolina, has written a letter (dated 31st December) to Gen. French, complaining that our soldiery have been guilty of taking slaves from their humane and loyal masters in Washington County, against their will; and demanding a restoration of them to their kind and beneficent owners, to whom they are anxious to return. Gen. French replies that he will do so very cheerfully, provided the United States authorities will return the slaves they have taken from masters loyal to the Confederate States. These may amount to 100,000. And he might have added that on the next day all — 4,000,000 — were to be emancipated, so far as the authority of the United States could accomplish it.

The enemy's gun-boats (two) came up the York River last week, and destroyed an oyster boat. Beyond the deprivation of oysters, pigs, and poultry, we care little for these incursions.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 236

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, January 10, 1863

The President sent for Stanton and myself; wished us to consult and do what we could for the employment of the contrabands, and as the Rebels threatened to kill all caught with arms in their hands, to employ them where they would not be liable to be captured. On the ships he thought they were well cared for, and suggested to Stanton that they could perform garrison duty at Memphis, Columbus, and other places and let the soldiers go on more active service.

Covode called at my house this evening and wanted the President's card. Said he was likely to get into difficulty and wished his name not to be used in the matter of removing the Navy Agent which he had urged. Would himself see Chambers and advise him what to do. He expects, he says, to be candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania. Covode is shrewd but illiterate, a match and more than a match for men of higher culture, reputation, and acquirements; but I hardly think his gubernatorial expectations will be realized, though they sometimes take strange material for Governor in Pennsylvania.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

The great problem which is being solved in these days seems to be scarcely realized by our public, and really great, men. It is sad to witness in this period of calamity, when the nation is struggling for existence, and the cause of good government and civil liberty is at stake, the spirit of party overpowering patriotism. The Governors in several of the States have presented their messages during the week. Tod of Ohio exhibits a manly, wholesome, and vigorous tone, others also do well, but the jesuitical and heartless insincerity of Seymour of New York is devoid of true patriotism, weak in statesmanship, and a discredit to the position he occupies. Unhallowed partisan and personal aspirations are moving springs with him. That such a man, at such a time, should have been elected to such a place does no credit to popular intelligence or to public virtue. When Seward, himself, I think, rightly disposed, acquiesced in the debased partisanship of his friend Weed, who in spite wanted Wadsworth, the gallant and patriotic citizen, defeated, he committed a fatal error.

In the insurgent States patriotism seems extinguished, the flag and country are hated. There is great suffering on the part of the people from all the direful calamities which war can bring, yet there is no evidence of returning sense or affection for that union which conferred upon them happiness and prosperity. Greater calamities, greater suffering, must be endured.

Some things have taken place which will undoubtedly for a time exasperate the Southern mind, for they will affect Southern society, habits, labor, and pursuits. For a period emancipation will aggravate existing differences, and a full generation will be necessary to effect and complete the change which has been commenced.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 218-20

Abraham Lincoln to Governor Horatio Seymour, —, 1863.

Executive Mansion, Washington,  —, 1863.

His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York:

Whereas, by reason of unlawful combinations against the authority of the Government of the United States, it has become impracticable, in my judgment, to enforce, by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, the laws of the United States within —

Therefore: I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do call forth the Militia of the State of New York, to aid in suppressing said combinations and opposition to said laws. And I do respectfully request and direct that, for this purpose, your Excellency do forthwith order Major-general Sandford, with his command, to report for orders to Major-general John A. Dix.

Abraham Lincoln.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 87

EDITOR’S NOTE: See Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General John A. Dix, August 15, 1863 for explanation.

Edwin M. Stanton to Major-General John A. Dix, August 15, 1863

War Department, Washington City, August 15, 1863.

General, — Enclosed herewith I send you, by the hands of Colonel Fry —

1. A proclamation by the President to be used by you in case of any necessity arising for the employment of military force to overcome unlawful combinations against the authority of the general Government in executing the act of Congress to enroll and call out the National force. Of this necessity you are authorized to be the judge; and, if it arises, you will fill up the blanks and promulgate the proclamation. The original, with the great seal, remains with the archives of the Government in the State Department.

2. A call upon the Governor of New York by the President notifying him that the Militia are called forth, and requesting him to issue orders to Major-general Sandford.

The use of this paper is left to your discretion. It has occurred to the President that it may be proper and serviceable to put upon Governor Seymour a call for assistance, and let him render it, or shoulder the responsibility of refusing. It is not supposed that this call is essential to the authority of the President, or that the assent or obedience of Governor Seymour affects the right or power of the President to issue an order to General Sandford directly. But it may be an expedient courtesy, of which you are to judge, and which you should have the means of employing, if you think proper.

A blank is left for you to fill up with the State of New York, or any specific districts, as the case may require, and also a blank for date to be filled.

3. An order by the President upon General Sandford to report to you.

The date, and also the blank for State or specific districts, are to be filled up by you.

You will be apprised by the Provost-marshal General what re-enforcements will be sent forward. He will confer with you. Any farther aid or direction you may require will, on notice, be given, if in the power of the Government. In your energy, courage, and discretion the utmost confidence is placed by the Government.

Yours truly,

Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War.

Major-general Dix

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 86-7


SEE ALSO:

• Abraham Lincoln to Governor Horatio Seymour, —, 1863
• Abraham Lincoln to Major-General Charles W. Sandford, —, 1863.

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, October 14, 1862

The Secretary of State sends me an important dispatch from Stuart, British Chargé d'Affaires during the absence of Lord Lyons, in which he undertakes to object, unofficially, to the purchase by the Government of the steamer Bermuda, a prize captured last April, until the judgment of the court shall have been pronounced. Seward gives in, cringes under these supercilious and arrogant claims and assumptions. It sometimes appears to me there is a scheme among some of the legations to see how far they can impose upon our Secretary of State by flattery and pretension. I have written a reply which will be likely, I think, to settle Mr. Stuart, and possibly annoy Mr. Seward, who, since the affair of the Trent, when at first he took high and untenable ground, has lost heart and courage, and is provokingly submissive to British exactions. I hope he will let Stuart have my letter. It touches on some points which I wish to force on the attention of the English Government.

Stanton read a dispatch from General Pope, stating that the Indians in the Northwest had surrendered and he was anxious to execute a number of them. The Winnebagoes, who have not been in the fight, are with him, and he proposes to ration them at public expense through the winter. He has, Stanton says, destroyed the crops of the Indians, etc. I was disgusted with the whole thing; the tone and opinions of the dispatch are discreditable. It was not the production of a good man or a great one. The Indian outrages have, I doubt not, been horrible; what may have been the provocation we are not told. The Sioux and Ojibbeways are bad, but the Winnebagoes have good land which white men want and mean to have.

The evening papers contain a partisan speech from John Van Buren,¹ in which he introduces a letter of General Scott, dated the 3d of March, 1861, addressed to Seward. It was familiar. I have heard it read twice by General S. himself, the first time, directly after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, in the War Department, but I had the impression it was addressed to the President instead of Seward. For what reason it was placed in the hands of John Van Buren I do not understand. The General thought much of this letter, and wrote it, as I supposed, to influence the then incoming administration, but it was wholly inconclusive when decision was wanted. He was in those days listened to by both the President and Secretary of State, and his indecisive policy had probably an effect on them as well as others. I have since come to the conclusion that the General's own course was shaped by Seward, and that, after Seward put him aside, took Meigs into his confidence, and got up the military expedition to Pickens without his knowledge, General Scott, in justification of himself and to show his own views independent of the Secretary of State, was decidedly for the Union.

His influence in the early months of the Administration was, in some respects, unfortunate. It was a maze of uncertainty and indecision. He was sincerely devoted to the Union and anxious that the Rebellion should be extinguished, yet shrank from fighting. Seward had brought him into his policy of meeting aggression with concession. Blockade some of the worst cities, or shut up their ports, guard them closely, collect duties on shipboard, or “let the wayward sisters go in peace.”² His object seemed to be to avoid hostilities, but to throw the labor of the conflict on the Navy if there was to be war. He still strove, however, as did Seward, to compromise difficulties by a national convention to remodel the Constitution, though aware the Democrats would assent to nothing. General Scott inaugurated the system of frontiers, and did not favor the advance of our armies into the rebellious States. The time for decisive action, he thought, had passed, and those who were for prompt, energetic measures, which, just entering on administrative duties, they desired, were checked by the General-in-Chief.

_______________

¹ A son of Martin Van Buren and a lawyer of ability. The speech was made in the Cooper Institute, New York, at a meeting to ratify the nomination of Horatio Seymour as Governor of New York by the Democrats.

² General Scott's expression as given in the letter referred to was, "Wayward sisters, depart in peace."

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 170-2

Governor Horatio Seymour to Major-General John A. Dix, August 20, 1863

State of New York, Executive Department,

Albany, August 20,1863.

To Major-general John A. Dix, commanding Department of the East:

sir,—I have received yours, without date, in answer to my letter of the 15th instant. You are already advised of the causes of my delay in answering the suggestions in your communication of the 30th of July. It is also proper I should state to you that no notice was given to me of the time when the draft would be made in the city of New York, neither was I advised of the draft which was begun in July and interrupted by riotous proceedings. I learned from the New York journals received here on Monday that the draft would be made on Wednesday, which gave me but one day's time in an unofficial notice on which to consult with the Generals commanding militia in the counties of New York and Kings.

The notices sent to me by Colonel Fry advise me of the completion of the enrolment in the several districts, the number to be drafted, and the fact that the draft is ordered.

I send you herewith a copy of one of these letters; they are all substantially alike. They do not state when the draft will be made; and in most cases several weeks, and in some instances more than a month, elapse before the draft is made. I therefore expected some interval between the notice and the draft. In the case of the Sixth District in New York the letter of Mr. Fry was received the day before the draft commenced.

You will see that no time was allowed for getting credits for volunteers, for making suggestions or preparations. I do not know that the fault rests with Colonel Fry, but it is proper for me to state these facts.

Truly yours, etc.,

Horatio Seymour.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 83-4

John M. Forbes to Senator William P. Fessenden, November 15, 1862

Boston, November 15, 1862.

My Dear Sir, — Your note received. I must differ from you about the President. He has been in the hands of a vacillating, undecided man like Seward!

With your decided opinions, if you were once in the cabinet, he and all the political aspirants there would form into line and march to your music. Even Chase would be glad to see some one else put at the head to take the responsibility. His opinions are firm enough, but he lacks your uncompromising directness of will. The only possible doubt is your health, and you may as well die at the head of the nation a few months hence, after saving it, as at the head of the Senate a few years hence, fighting the compromisers and rebels combined.

A prominent New York man ascribes, in a private letter, the late failure there¹ to Seward and his friends, and says the President ought to know and act upon it. He adds, “The accession of Mr.W. P. F. would delight me.” He [my correspondent] is a man who, perhaps, next to you, ought to be there himself, though known at the bar rather than in public life.

_______________

¹ Referring to the defeat of the Republican party in New York, and the election of Seymour, the Democratic candidate for governor. — ED.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 338

Major-General John A. Dix to Governor Horatio Seymour, August 18, 1863

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City,

August 18, 1803.

His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York:

Sir,—I did not receive until last evening your letter of the 15th instant.

Immediately on my arrival in this city on the 18th ultimo I called on you with General Canby; and in a subsequent interview with you at my head-quarters I expressed the wish that the draft in this State should be executed without the employment of troops in the service of the United States. In a letter addressed to you on the 30th ultimo I renewed, more formally, the expression of this wish, and stated that if the military power of the State could be relied on to enforce the draft, in case of forcible resistance to it, I need not call on the Secretary of War for troops for that purpose. In the same spirit, when some of the Marshals in the interior applied to me for aid against threatened violence, I referred them to you, in order that they might be protected by your authority. It was my earnest wish that the Federal arm should neither be seen nor felt in the execution of the law for enrolling and calling out the national forces, but that it might be carried out under the ӕgis of the State, which has so often been interposed between the general Government and its enemies.

Not having received an answer from you, I applied to the Secretary of War on the 14th instant for a force adequate to the object. The call was promptly responded to, and I shall be ready to meet all opposition to the draft. I trust, however, that your determination, of which your letter advises me, to call into requisition the military power, if need be, to put down violations of good order, riotous proceedings, and disturbances of the public peace, as infractions of the laws of this State, will render it unnecessary to use the troops under my command for the purpose, and that their only service here may be to protect the public property and the officers of the United States in the discharge of their duties, and to give to those who intend to uphold the Government, as well as those who are seeking to subvert it, the assurance that its authority will always be firmly and effectually maintained.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

John A. Dix, Major-general.*

_______________

* See Appendix, No. VII.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 83

Governor Horatio Seymour to Major-General John A. Dix, August 15, 1863

Executive Department, Albany, August 15,1863.

To Major-general John A. Dix, U.S.A.,

Commanding Department of the East:

Sir, — I have received the final answer of the President to my suggestions with regard to the draft in this State. I regret that he did not see fit to comply with my requests, as I am confident that a generous reliance upon the patriotism of the people to fill the thinned ranks of our armies by voluntary enlistments would hereafter, as it has heretofore, prove more effectual than any conscription. As I have fully expressed my views on this subject in my correspondence with the President, of which I send you a copy, it is not necessary to refer again to those topics.

I had hoped the same opportunity would be afforded New York that has been given to other States, of showing to the world that no compulsory process was needful to send from this State its full quota of men to re-enforce our armies. As you state in your letter that it is your duty to enforce the act of Congress, and as you apprehend its provisions may excite popular resistance, it is proposed you should know the position which will be held by the State authorities. Of course, under no circumstances can they perform duties expressly confided to others, nor can they undertake to relieve others from their proper responsibilities. But there can be no violations of good order, no riotous proceedings, no disturbances of the public peace, which are not infractions of the laws of the State, and those laws will be enforced under all circumstances. I shall take care that all the executive officers of this State perform their duties vigorously and thoroughly, and if need be the military power will be called into requisition.

As you are an officer of the general Government, and not of the State, it does not become me to make suggestions to you with regard to your action under a law of Congress. You will, of course, be governed by your instructions and your own views of duty; and it would be unbecoming in me to obtrude my opinions upon one who is charged with high responsibilities, and who is in no degree subject to my direction, or responsible to me for anything which he may do in accordance with his own judgment and in pursuance of his convictions of propriety.

Yours truly, etc.,

Horatio Seymour.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 82

Major-General John A. Dix to Governor Horatio Seymour, August 8, 1863

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City, August 8,1863.

His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York:

Sir, — I had the honor to receive on the evening of the 5th instant your letter of the 3d, in reply to mine of the 30th ultimo, informing me that you had made a communication to the President of the United States in relation to the draft in this State, and expressing your belief that his answer would relieve you and me from the painful questions growing out of an armed enforcement of the Conscription Act, etc.

Your Excellency promises to write me again on the subject when you shall have received the President's answer. It will afford me great pleasure to hear from you, and to receive an affirmative answer to the inquiry contained in my letter. But I owe it to my position as commander of this Military Department to anticipate his reply by some suggestions arising out of your answer to me.

You are, no doubt, aware that the draft has been nearly completed in the nine Western Districts, and that it has also been completed in several districts and is in successful progress in others in the central part of the State, under the orders of the Provost-marshal General. It is my duty now, as commanding officer of the troops in the service of the United States in the Department, if called on by the enrolling officers, to aid them in resisting forcible opposition to the execution of the law; and it was from an earnest desire to avoid the necessity of employing for the purpose any of my forces which have been placed here to garrison the forts and protect the public property, that I wished to see the draft enforced by the military power of the State in case of armed and organized resistance to it. But, holding such resistance to the paramount law of Congress to be disorganizing and revolutionary — leading, unless effectually suppressed, to the overthrow of the Government itself, to the success of the insurgents in the seceded States, and to universal anarchy — I designed, if your co-operation could not be relied on, to ask the general Government for a force which should be adequate to insure the execution of the law, and to meet any emergency growing out of it.

The act under which the draft is in progress was, as your Excellency is aware, passed to meet the difficulty of keeping up the army, through the system of volunteering, to the standard of force deemed necessary to suppress the insurrection. The service of every man capable of bearing arms is, in all countries — those specially in which power is responsible to the people—due to the Government when its existence is in peril. This service is the price of the protection which he receives, and of the safeguards with which the law surrounds him in the enjoyment of his property and life. The act authorizing the draft is entitled “An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces.” I regret that your Excellency should have characterized it as “the conscription act” — a phrase borrowed from a foreign system of enrolment, with odious features from which ours is wholly free, and originally applied to the law in question by those who desired to bring it into reproach and defeat its execution. I impute to your Excellency no such purpose. On the contrary, I assume it to have been altogether inadvertent. But I regret it, because there is danger that, in thus designating it and deprecating “an armed enforcement” of it, you may be understood to regard it as an obnoxious law, which ought not to be carried into execution, thus throwing the influence of your high position against the Government in a conflict for its existence.

The call which has been made for service is for one-fifth part of the arms-bearing population between twenty and thirty-five years of age, and of the unmarried between thirty-five and forty-five.

The insurgent authorities at Richmond have not only called into service heretofore the entire class between eighteen and thirty-five, but are now extending the enrolment to classes more advanced in age. The burden which the loyal States are called on to sustain is not, in proportion to population, one-tenth part as onerous as that which has been assumed by the seceded States. Shall not we, if necessary, be ready to do as much for the preservation of our political institutions as they are doing to overthrow and destroy them — as much for the cause of stable government as they for the cause of treason and for the disorganization of society on this continent? I say the disorganization of society, for no man of reflection can doubt where secession would end if a Southern Confederacy should be successfully established.

I cannot doubt that the people of this patriotic State, which you justly say has done so much for the country during the existing war, will respond to the call now made upon them. The alacrity and enthusiasm with which they have repeatedly rushed to arms for the support of the Government and the defence of the National flag from insult and degradation have exalted the character and given new vigor to the moral power of the State, and will inspire our descendants with magnanimous resolution for generations to come. This example of fidelity to all that is honorable and elevated in public duty must not be tarnished. The recent riots in this city, coupled as they were with the most atrocious and revolting crimes, have cast a shadow over it for the moment. But the promptitude with which the majesty of the law was vindicated, and the fearlessness with which a high judicial functionary is pronouncing judgment upon the guilty, have done and are doing much to efface what, under a different course of action, might have been an indelible stain upon the reputation of the city. It remains only for the people to vindicate themselves from reproach in the eyes of the country and the world by a cheerful acquiescence in the law. That it has defects is generally conceded. That it will involve cases of personal hardship is not disputed. War, when waged for self-defence, for the maintenance of great principles, and for the national life, is not exempt from the suffering inseparable from all conflicts which are decided by the shock of armies; and it is by our firmness and our patriotism in meeting all the calls of the country upon us that we achieve the victory, and prove ourselves worthy of it and the cause in which we toil and suffer.

Whatever defects the act authorizing the enrolment and draft may have, it is the law of the land, framed in good faith by the representatives of the people; and it must be presumed to be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution until pronounced to be in conflict with them by competent judicial tribunals. Those, therefore, who array themselves against it arc obnoxious to far severer censure than the ambitious and misguided men who are striving to subvert our Government, for the latter are acting by color of sanction under Legislatures and conventions of the people in the States they represent. Among us resistance to the law by those who claim and enjoy the protection of the Government has no semblance of justification, and becomes the very blackest of political crimes, not only because it is revolt against the constituted authorities of the country, but because it would be practically striking a blow for treason, and arousing to renewed efforts and new crimes those who are staggering to their fall under the resistless power of our recent victories.

In conclusion, I renew the expression of my anxiety to be assured by your Excellency at the earliest day practicable that the military power of the State will, in case of need, be employed to enforce the draft. I desire to receive the assurance because, under a mixed system of government like ours, it is best that resistance to the law should be put down by the authority of the State in which it occurs. I desire it also because I shall otherwise deem it my duty to call on the general Government for a force which shall not only be adequate to insure the execution of the law, but which shall enable me to carry out such decisive measures as shall leave their impress upon the mind of the country for years to come.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours,

John A. Dix, Major-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 78-81

Governor Horatio Seymour to Major-General John A. Dix, Monday, August 3, 1863

Albany, Monday, August 3,1863.

To Major-general John A. Dir, Commanding Eastern Department, etc.:

Sir,—I received your letter on Saturday. I have this day sent to the President of the United States a communication in relation to the draft in this State. I believe his answer will relieve you and me from the painful questions growing out of an armed enforcement of the conscription law in this patriotic State, which has contributed so largely and freely to the support of the National cause during the existing war. When I receive the President's answer I will write to you again upon the subject of your letter.

Truly yours, etc.,

Horatio Seymour.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 78

Major-General John A. Dix to Gov. Horatio Seymour, July 30, 1863

Head-quarters, Department of the East, New York City,

July 30, 1863.

His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Governor of the State of New York:

sir,—As the draft under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1863, for enrolling and calling out the National forces, will probably be resumed in this city at an early day, I am desirous of knowing whether the military power of the State may be relied on to enforce the execution of the law, in case of forcible resistance to it. I am very anxious that there should be perfect harmony of action between the Federal Government and that of the State of New York; and if, under your authority to see the laws faithfully executed, I can feel assured that the act referred to will be enforced, I need not ask the War Department to put at my disposal for the purpose troops in the service of the United States. I am the more unwilling to make such a request, as they could not be withdrawn in any considerable number from the field without prolonging the war and giving aid and encouragement to the enemies of the Union at the very moment when our successes promise, with a vigorous effort, the speedy suppression of the rebellion.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

John A. Dix, Major-general.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 77-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, September 27, 1862

Governor Tod¹ called on me to-day. Is hopeful and earnest. Thinks delay is necessary. His confidence in McClellan is unimpaired, and in the President it is greatly increased. Has full, unwavering confidence the country will be extricated and the Union maintained. The Republican State Convention of New York, which met at Syracuse, has nominated General James S. Wadsworth for Governor. There has been a good deal of peculiar New York management in this proceeding, and some disappointments. Morgan, who is, on the whole, a good Governor, though of loose notions in politics, would, I think, have been willing to have received a third nomination, but each of the rival factions of the Union party had other favorites. The Weed and Seward class wanted General Dix to be the conservative candidate, — not that they have any attachment for him or his views, but they have old party hate of Wadsworth. The positive Republican element selected Wadsworth. It is an earnest and fit selection of an earnest and sincere man. In bygone years both Wadsworth and Dix belonged to the school of Silas Wright Democrats. It would have been better had they (Seward and Weed) taken no active part. I am inclined to believe Weed so thought and would so have acted. He proposed going to Europe, chiefly, I understand, to avoid the struggle, but it is whispered that Seward had a purpose to accomplish, — that, finding certain currents and influences are opposed to him and his management of the State Department, he would be glad to retreat to the Senate. Seymour, the Democratic candidate, has smartness, but not firm, rigid principles. He is an inveterate partisan, place-hunter, fond of office and not always choice of means in obtaining it. More of a party man than patriot. Is of the Marcy school rather than of the Silas Wright school, — a distinction well understood in New York.

_______________

¹ David Tod, Governor of Ohio.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 153-4

Francis Lieber to Judge Thayer

Is it not possible to formulate the idea that government interference in elections is a nefarious thing into a law? We shall suffer here greatly from the contributions which every custom-house, navy-yard and post-office man is assessed to pay. I spoke of the illogical character of the thing in my “Political Ethics;” also in my “Civil Liberty” — a passage which Governor Seymour quoted in one of his messages.  . . . I know it is very difficult to prevent it — as difficult as to forestall false naturalization papers; but can nothing be done? And is there not always something gained when a society puts its legislative frown on an offence? The case of an executive using the power given by the people, and the money taken from them, against a free and correct expression of their opinion, is a monstrosity, and, in a polity in which everything depends on election, an act of high treason against the sovereign. So it seems to me.  . . . Why not make every officer of the government, when he assumes the office, take an oath that he will not allow himself to be assessed, or otherwise deprived of portions of his salary or other money he possesses, directly or indirectly, by his superiors, for election purposes? Elaborate such a law. . . .

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 353