Senator John C. Calhoun to Duff Green, March 28, 1847*

Fort Hill, 28th March 1847

MY DEAR SIR, I see by the contents of your letter, that you have misunderstood me on a point, where I had supposed my meaning was very obvious. By private relations, I had no allusion to our personal relations, either of confidence, or friendship. It would, indeed, be absurd to make either of them a cause of delicacy in giving a preference to you. I alluded to our family connections through the tie of marriage.

Nor do you seem to understand, what I intended by the expression of my position to the party, who support me. It is not that of a leader aspiring to the presidency, but that of an individual, who, in the discharge of his publick trust, looks only to his duty and only expects their support from their concurrence in opinion with him. Occupying that position towards them, as associates and equals, and not as partisans, or followers, I assume no right to dictate, nor do I admit the right on their part to dictate to me. It is the relation of independence on both sides; and I feel it to be a matter of delicacy, to respect it especially when they stand in the relation of contributors to the support of a cause, which I would advocate without reference to their support, or opposition.

Having explained my meaning, I deem it proper to repeat, that I neither doubt your friendship, or capacity. On the contrary, I place a high estimate on both. I know of no one, who in my opinion, would conduct a paper with more ability, or greater fidelity. I go further. As you lost an honorable and profitable position by your adherence to the cause, I would rejoice to see you again in the same position and in the conduct of a paper of the same name. The triumph would be that of truth and justice; and as far as I can contribute to it, consistently with a due sense of propriety, and the success of the cause, I will do so. Further I cannot go. I cheerfully yield my own claims to such consideration, and no friend can ask me to go further. I ask no sacrifice of any friend, which I would not cheerfully make myself. Indeed, I would much rather make the sacrifice, than ask a friend to make it.

But when the funds are raised, it will, then, be the time to consult as to the editorship of the paper. Whether they will be or not, I fear is doubtful, from the reason I alluded to in my letter. I have not yet heard from my Charleston friends with whom I conversed on the subject. A word as to myself. You seem to think, that I permit other persons to prejudice me against you, and that I have not given you the support I ought. As to the first, you greatly mistake. When I know a man, no one can influence my opinion, and what is more, very few undertake to do so. I take care to check it at once, when attempted, as I know to what unfounded conclusions, the jealousy of the mutual friends of a prominent individual will lead them. In addition, I am of that temper that I would rather be betrayed, than to suspect on light grounds. Besides, I feel, that I may be deserted, but cannot be betrayed: having, as I always have, had truth for my only guide; and no motive for concealment. I entertain not a thought, which I am not willing should be known to the world; and have not ever written a letter, which I am not willing it should be published. It is hard to betray one, who can with truth say as much.

As to my want of giving you due support, I know not when I have had the power of doing so, and abstain[ed] from doing it, when it could be done with propriety. Indeed I might ask when have I ever had the power to wield any portion of the patronage of the Government, since the termination of Mr Monroe's administration! During the short period, I was in Mr Tyler's administration, he engrossed the whole; and I came in under circumstances, which did not permit me to take a stand against it.

The only instance you allude to, is that of 1840, when by uniting with the Whigs, I might have made you in connection with Gales and Seaton the printers, against Blair and Rives.¹ I now think as I did then, that standing opposed to the Whigs on all the great questions of the day, as I did, that I could not without loss of character and confounding my position, do other than I did; and had hoped that such would be your own conclusion, when you came coolly to reflect. I deeply regretted to be placed in the position, but thinking as I did, and still think, had you been my brother, I would have acted as I did. I acted on my own conception, uninfluenced by any others. As highly, as I value friendship, and as much disposed, as I am, to support my friends, I cannot yield my conception of what is right, or wrong to either, while I would cheerfully make any personal sacrifice for the purpose. Had I withheld my support on the occasion, from any motive on my part of personal ambition or advancement, I would have been inexcusable; but that I suppose, you can hardly think, although I [am] forced to infer, that as long as you have known me, you have never fully realized how subordinate I hold such considerations, when they come into conflict with what I believe to be right. Even in early manhood, when I felt their impulse far stronger, than I now do, they could never over rule my sense of right. I regret, that one, who ought to know me, as well as you ought, should under estimate my character, as I am forced [to] think you do, on such a point.

Let me add in conclusion, that while I think, there is a great opening for a truly independent and able paper at Washington (never greater in my opinion) and that no one is more able to conduct such an one than yourself, I would be very sorry to see you undertake editing a paper there, unless on calculations founded on the prospect of its ultimate profit. But if you can see your way looking to it, clearly, and can find the means to start one, even a weekly sheet at first, on your own independent hook, avowing your object to be, to restore the principles of the party, which brought Gen' Jackson into power, but which were defeated by the introduction of the spoils principle and the party machinery of the Albany Junto, and the treason of Mr Ritchie and others like him, and assuming the old name of the Telegraph, you would preoccupy the ground, and rally the whole South and a large potion [sic]of the old party everywhere to your support. The prospectus you prepared, would be the proper basis, modified to suit the suggestions made. Place it on the high ground of an independent press, holding principle paramount and never subordinate. In my opinion, it would stir up the South, and hasten its efforts to raise funds to establish on a firm foundation, a press at Washington.

You ask me if I read the Union. I do not take it and rarely see it. I expect him to do his best in the way of abuse. He sees, that my overthrow is necessary to save the hunkers.

_______________

* Original lent by Mr. R. P. Maynard. For General Green's reply of April 6, see Part II, post.

1 See the letters of January 17, 18, 1840, supra,

SOURCE: J. Franklin Jameson, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1899, Volume II, Calhoun’s Correspondence: Fourth Annual Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Correspondence of John C. Calhoun, pp. 722-5

Abraham W. Venable's Remarks on the Death of President John Tyler, January 20, 1862

MR. PRESIDENT After a short interval we are called upon again to recognize the hand of death doing his work amongst us. Another of our colleagues has obeyed the summons. Clothed in his robes of office, he has finished the work assigned him and sleeps amongst the fathers, himself one of that patriarchal host. "The hand of the reaper took the ear that was hoary," ripe, matured and perfect. A long, distinguished, useful life, filled with the service of his country, always forming a portion of its proudest history, has closed amidst its continuous duties closed amidst scenes of domestic endearment, varied by obedience to the call of his country in her hour of need, and at the last illuminated by the radiance of that friendship which legitimately surrounds the great and good man at the end of his life. When I saw him in this hall, a reverential feeling pervaded and possessed me. I listened to his counsels, learned from his experience, and never before so fully realized the conception of the poet who assigned to Nestor the office of composing the difficulties and solving the perplexities which beset the Grecian council before the walls of Troy. We have all been impressed with the unimpaired vigor of his mind, as well as his kind and dignified concession on measures where there was no sacrifice of principle to expediency. None of us have forgotten the Roman dignity with which he changed his vote upon a great measure in order that the law might go forth to the country with the prestige of unanimity.

The son of a revolutionary sire, whose life constitutes so much of the history of that struggle, the fire of patriotism early kindled upon the altar of his heart, continued to glow and burn with increasing intensity, until his name, now enrolled with that of his distinguished father; will descend with renewed claims to the gratitude of posterity.

Of the political history of President Tyler it is not my purpose to extend my remarks; we have already heard most interesting details, as far as time would permit; for should anything more than a reference be made to a career of fifty years, with small intermission, in the service of a country which delighted to honor him, it would protract these proceedings to an undesirable length. To the biographer and the historian this work must be assigned. From the year 1811, as a legislator, a lawyer, and the chief magistrate of the State, in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the presidential chair, he filled all the offices in the gift of the people until he attained the highest which they could bestow. Educated in and belonging to the Republican State-rights school, he never failed in all his public acts to recognize those doctrines, reserving for the close of his honored and useful life the crowning act which made those doctrines practical and operative. Retiring from the presidency, like Cincinnatus, to his farm, within the circle of a loving family, he was cheered by the hope, which all wise men cherish, of that greatest of earthly blessings, that he might close his course in peace and quietness. This realization was denied him, for his country called for him again, and he once more responded to her call, in the last, the noblest service of his life. For whilst we admire the stern consistency of his public life; his resistance of the Missouri compromise upon the broad grounds of its unconstitutionality; his solitary vote in the Senate against the Force bill; the sagacity which he displayed in the great measures of his administration; the wisdom with which, in utter disregard of party tactics, he surrounded himself with the greatest and best of councillors; the moral courage with which he emancipated the people from the thraldom of the money-changers, whose fetters were well nigh fastened upon them; the separation of the Treasury from the banks, and the annexation of the vast domain of Texas, they all pale before the history of the last year of his life.

Troubles, which many feared and some anticipated with the certainty of conviction, came upon us, and the veteran once more, in armor of proof, led his countrymen to resistance. He saw that honor and independence were perilled, and his great soul knew not how to hesitate. As an ambassador of Virginia to the President of the United States, he demanded, with a dignity becoming his mission, why it was that the guns of Fortress Monroe, built upon Virginia's soil for her protection, were turned against her bosom—a fact which, although existing, was by that functionary denied. As a member of the State Convention, and as President of the Peace Congress, his high purpose and continual claim of the rights of the South marked him as the "Chief of the Fathers," on whose firmness we could rely and in whose wisdom we could confide. The masterly speech delivered on his return to the convention from the Peace Congress, which exposed the impotent and degrading conclusions proposed by that body to his State, will be long remembered. It was the great point in that discussion, it was a triumph over the last effort at submission, and our lamented colleague, looking secession and its consequences in the face, feared not to advise and to lead in the consummation which now presents us to the world as the Confederate States of America. The great master of English poetry has said of glory, "that, like a circle in the water, it never ceases to enlarge itself till by broad spreading it disperses to naught." However beautiful and true this illustration may be in general, it fails in describing the glory won by our illustrious colleague; the centrifugal force increased with the extent of the surface of its influence, each succeeding circle stronger and more distinct, until the last, rising into a wave, reflected a light which adorned its whole circumference with the radiance of the bow of promise. Our eyes have been refreshed by that light; we have witnessed the vigor of his thoughts and the power of his eloquence, equalling, if not surpassing, his best days. His name will be venerated as long as civil liberty and national honor is cherished by the South. To say more of this great passage of his life would be to attempt to "add fragrance to the violet, to gild refined gold, to give smoothness to ice." His name is embalmed in the record of these events, and their irresistible logic will establish his claims to the reverence of mankind.

But, sir, I must be allowed a few remarks upon the high social and moral qualities of President Tyler. This is a theme on which it is delightful to speak; it is impressed upon my heart by the recollection of early kindness, the origin of a friendship of more than forty years—the value of which is more justly appreciated when cut off by the cold hand of death. I am not alone in the sadness with which this event, connected with similar circumstances, has filled my bosom. The same acknowledgment of kindness, and a similar sense of obligation, is made and felt by many who now listen to me. The number who thus feel is limited only by the extent of his vast acquaintance with the generations which have grown up around and about him. It was often said of him by some of those who reviewed his unprecedented success in securing the confidence of his countrymen and the high positions to which he attained, to have been a fortunate, a lucky man. This is an unphilosophical, a contracted view of his character and the current of events in which he mingled. Luck and fortune, sir, are heathen words, and the want of them is usually the excuse for failures when the cause was to be found in those who have failed. His kind heart and generous instincts, combined with a thorough knowledge of human nature, taught him that it was as necessary to happiness and usefulness to increase his stock of friends as for a merchant to enlarge his capital when he extended his business. Time and death were continually curtailing the number of those who were young when he was young; and he renewed his strength by generous and disinterested attentions to the rising generation. To inspire them with hope when launching upon the ocean of life, to aid virtuous enterprise, to cheer the desponding, and give the light of his experience to those who sought it, was his peculiar delight. He wisely, benevolently regulated his intercourse with the young. “Age is dark and unlovely," and the verdure which may adorn it, and the flowers which may relieve its barren aspect, must be borrowed from them. He who, conscious of the advantages of age and experience, withdraws himself from those to whom he might be a benefactor, repelling their efforts to conciliate his regard and his confidence, must expect a lonely old age. He will stand like some solitary tree in an extensive plain, the sport of every blast, the victim of the storm, whilst the friend and counsellor of the young will, like the monarch of the woods, be surrounded by a young forest which shelters and protects it, reflecting the brightness of their foliage, borrowing vitality from their proximity, and, at the appointed time, sink so gracefully that we are scarcely conscious of its decay. Our lamented friend appreciated all this, and, during his long and distinguished life, often felt the support of hosts who, won by former kindness, rallied to his support when fiercely assailed and almost overcome. Such events were of necessity connected with such a political life as his.

Universally bland and conciliatory in his intercourse with the people, he scorned the artifices and the aims of the demagogue, regarding him as the worst, the most dangerous and unprincipled enemy of human liberty. Fixed in his opinions of constitutional law and the sound principles of its administration, he was sometimes constrained to abandon party associations, always avowing, as the reason for such an abandonment, that the party with which he was associated had departed from the principles of their organization. He was thus unjustly reproached with a disregard of party allegiance and that adherence to its discipline which, in the eyes of many, is worse than treason to the State. He looked above such paltry calculations, and was thus more than once in a minority,—a word, the very thought of which carries dismay to a trading politician,—a word which had no terrors for him. Sustained by the truth and the conviction that he was right, the hour of desertion by those in high places was the moment of his triumph, when, looking above and beyond the clamors which surrounded him, he, by a talismanic power, surrounded himself with an impregnable array of wisdom, talent and statesmanship which secured more and greater advantages to the South than any administration within the last half century. With no party, either in the Senate or House of Representatives, he conducted the affairs of the Republic with unexampled success, and has lived to silence all complaint and unite all hearts in a common mourning at his death.

President Tyler was not vindictive, he was not unjust, he was not even harsh in his judgment when he might complain of wrong. He outlived all misconstruction of his motives, and his last days were illuminated by the undivided admiration of his countrymen. He knew the value of kindness and loved to speak kind words. "Kind words are the brightest flowers of earth's existence; they make a very paradise of the humblest home this world can show. They are jewels beyond price, and more precious to heal the wounded heart and make the weighed down spirit glad than all the blessings earth can give." Here was the secret of his luck, the cause of his good fortune. His hosts of friends increased with his years; here his wealth was inexhaustible; he drew upon a bank that always honored his drafts-the love, the gratitude of those endeared by kind offices, "for gratitude is the music of the heart when its cords are touched by the breezes of kindness." From associations like these he has sunk gracefully to the tomb, and in this view of the subject, why should we grieve?-sorrow we may, but murmur we dare not.

For him was not reserved physical decay to combine compassion with our reverence; no twilight of the mind, like a polar sunset, making darkness visible. But with form erect and step elastic, he moved amongst us, and was of us, while his mind, like the tropic sun, retained its size and brightness, until it sunk beneath the wave of death. We have none of those painful recollections which often intrude themselves upon us, when the great and good sink into senility and vegetate out of existence.

"Life ebbs from such old age unmark'd and silent

 As the slow neaptide leaves yon stranded galley.

 Once she rock'd merrily at the least impulse

 That wind or wave could give her; but now her keel

 Is settling in the sand. Her mast has ta'en

 An angle with the sky from which it shifts not.

 Each wave receding, shakes her less and less,

 Till bedded on the strand, she shall remain

 Useless as motionless."

No such sad finale awaited him. Like a gallant ship returning home after a long and prosperous passage over the ocean, the haven is reached, the anchor let go, and life's voyage is ended.

Sir, this scene is to me a painful but instructive lesson. As we advance in years, the loss of those long regarded as friends is indeed irreparable. To the older of us it announces that the time is short, our duties urgent; what we do must be done quickly and done well, remembering our duty to God and to posterity; to us all, that we are strangers, pilgrims, travellers for a short season, surrounded by fearful responsibilities, and the certainty of death. Let us look above and beyond every consideration, but that which we profess to represent, the interests and welfare of our bleeding country. Let our fortune be hers; her safety and honor our highest aim. Rejecting all lower motives, let us emulate his patriotism, who, with all the endearments of his family around him, could cheerfully die in her service, leaving his widow and infant children to his country and his God. Two of our number, after a brief illness have bowed their heads and died; let us seek the Christian's hope as the assurance of the Christian's heaven.

Sir, a great light has been extinguished in this hall; but there is a home once brightened by it which has lost much of its brilliancy. The mild, the lovely ray, which softened and relieved that stronger light, now in sadness shines alone. I witnessed its genial influence in the face of the sick, the dying statesman. I heard him speak of his wife and his young children, and commit them to God and his country. May he who has said "leave your father. less children to me smile upon and bless the bereaved household with his blessing, which maketh rich and addeth no sorrow therewith.

SOURCES: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, pp. 676-81; Congress of the Confederate States of America, Proceedings on the Announcement of the Death of Hon. John Tyler, January 20, 1862, pp. 25-33.

Proceedings Of Congress, published January 21, 1862

Congress sat yesterday with open doors, devoting their entire session to suitable tributes to the virtues and services of their late fellow-member, the venerable and lamented ex-President Tyler. All day long his honored remains lay in state, in the draped Hall of Congress, covered with the flag of his country, with a wreath of evergreens and white roses on his breast; and multitudes of both sexes visited the chamber to take a last look at his well-known features, and testify by their presence their sense of the public loss. As the hour for the meeting of Congress drew near, the space allotted to spectators rapidly filled with ladies and gentlemen. At twelve o'clock President Cobb took the chair, and an earnest and touching prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Hoge.

Mr. Macfarland, of Virginia, rose and said:

Mr. President: My colleagues have been pleased to assign to me the sad duty of preparing resolutions, to express the sense of Congress of the great bereavement it is summoned unexpectedly to mourn and lament. I wish it were in my power to perform the mournful duty in a manner satisfactory to the sensibilities of Congress and the country. Any announcement of the decease of the Hon. John Tyler is imperfect and inadequate, fails of giving utterance to the nation's lamentation, if it do not present him as a statesman and patriot in whom his countrymen delighted to repose their confidence, and who failed not to derive fresh incentives to honor and revere him from the faithfulness and ability with which he administered every trust.

John Tyler is an historical name. He was himself permitted to hear the judgment of his generation, and I might say, of posterity, upon the labors and motives of his life, pronouncing that they were alike elevated and successful. He was the venerable representative of the memories of a past age, with its renounced alliances and associations, and zealous and efficient in the reforms and progress which have made the period of his latter days forever memorable. His fame is indissolubly blended with the history of his times, and shall survive the most enduring memorials of personal affection, or of public esteem. Live, he still does, and will, in his example, his deeds, the purity of his public and private life, in his matured counsels and inflexible devotion to Constitutional and Republican Government. However profoundly the blow smote upon our own feelings, "where else could he have been relieved of the yoke of his labors so well as in the field where he bore them?"

The time in which he lived was characterized by fierce political and party divisions; and Mr. Tyler was ever intrepid in avowing his opinions, and resolute in defending them. His career as chief-magistrate of the United States exposed him to painful collisions, and demanded of him the exercise of the highest fortitude and intrepidity. He met his trials then, as he did all others, as a good and brave man may, with patience and confidence, in the ultimate vindication of his motives. It was reserved for him, here in his own State, and in her august convention, to receive the unanimous vote of the entire body, on being proposed as a delegate to this Provisional Congress—an emphatic and deserved tribute to the fidelity of his eventful life, and to the weight of his character.

Mr. President, it is not alone for his statesmanship, and the length and variety of his public services, that Mr. Tyler will be gratefully remembered, and that admiring memories will fondly revert to, and recall him. As in his successive elevation from one high trust to another, until he had compassed the entire round of political preferment, an increase of reputation, fame, homage, met him at every advance, so in private life it was his privilege to secure the respect, confidence and esteem of all who approached him. Of the most obliging courtesy, genial, generous and confiding; and withal, so engaging for his copious eloquence, his sympathy for his fellow man, and his profound views of the questions which engaged the public attention, all persons were instinctively attracted to him, nor did any go away without admiring him. You remember, sir, how the gentlemen of this House were accustomed to cluster around him, and how engaging and attractive he was always found. Nothing now remains for us, but the last and sad office of mourning friends, to commemorate the afflicting dispensation.

I move the adoption of the following resolutions:

Resolved, That Congress has heard, with the deepest sensibility, of the death, in this city, on the morning of Saturday, the 18th instant, of the Hon. John Tyler, a member of this Congress from the State of Virginia.

Resolved, That as a testimonial of respect for the memory of this illustrious statesman and honored patriot, the members of the Congress will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days, and will attend the funeral of deceased at twelve o'clock to-morrow.

Resolved, That a committee of one member from each State be appointed to superintend the funeral solemnities.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this body, in relation to the death of the Hon. John Tyler, be communicated by the President of Congress to the family of deceased.

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, that Congress do now adjourn.

Eulogies on the deceased were then pronounced by Messrs. Hunter and Rives, of Virginia Wigfall, of Texas; Venable, of North Carolina; and Rhett, of South Carolina.

The resolutions were then adopted, but the adjournment was stayed to enable the Speaker to present a copy of the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia, on Saturday, in relation to the death of Mr. Tyler.

On motion of Mr. Bocock, of Virginia, a committee to make arrangements for the funeral obsequies was appointed.

The Speaker announced the committee as follows: Messrs. Bocock, of Virginia; Smith, of Alabama; Johnson, of Arkansas; Ward, of Florida; Crawford, of Georgia; Burnett, of Kentucky: Conrad, of Louisiana; Harris, of Mississippi; Bell, of Missouri; Morehead, of North Carolina; Boyce, of South Carolina; Atkins, of Tennessee; and Oldham, of Texas.

On motion, Congress adjourned.

SOURCES: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 674-6; “Proceedings of Congress,” Daily Richmond Whig, Richmond, Virginia, Tuesday Mornigh, January 21, 1862,p. 2, Columns 1-2.

The following are the lists of the committees of arrangements and conference appointed in both branches of the [Virginia] State Legislature:

In the House of Delegates. — Messrs. Barbour, Newton, Robertson, Hunter, Sheffey, Grattan, Anderson, of Botetourt; Blue, McCamant, Rives, Jones, Saunders, of Franklin; Mallory.

In the Senate. — Messrs. Branch, Robertson, Collier, Wiley, Isbell, Newman, Johnson.

The remains of the deceased were, on the 19th of the month, Sunday, removed to the Capitol, where, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the solemn ceremony of laying the remains in state was performed, the body being disposed by Lieutenant-Governor Montague, Mr. Isbell, of the State Senate, and Mr. Bocock, member of Congress; the members of Congress, of the Senate of Virginia, and of the House of Delegates attending in procession.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 674

Resolutions of the Virginia General Assembly on the Death of John Tyler, Saturday, January 18, 1862

The mournful intelligence of the decease of John Tyler, after a brief illness, has cast a gloom over this General Assembly. The sad news will spread throughout his native State with painful effect. It will be heard throughout the Southern Confederacy with deep and abiding sorrow. He has filled a large space in the history of his country. Heaven has blessed him with length of days, and his country with all her honors. He has secured, we believe, a blissful immortality.

For the page of history his fame is destined to occupy, it is proper briefly to recount the many offices he has filled. From youthful manhood to green old age he has served his country faithfully, as a member of the House of Delegates, where his ripening intellect displayed the promise of usefulness and attracted attention; as a member of the Executive Council, where his wholesome advice lent wisdom to authority; as the Governor of this Commonwealth, where his administrative powers gave efficacy to law, and his execution of the will of the people expressed by their representatives was rendered pleasant by kindness and courtesy; as a member of the first convention called to amend the State Constitution, in which body his ripened experience gave his counsel the force of wisdom and prudence; as a member of the House of Representatives of the United States, standing firm amid the rage of party spirit, and remaining true to principle and to right; as a Senator representing this State in the Senate of the United States, in which he shone conspicuous for his strict adherence to constitutional obligation and for his manly defense of the rights of the States and the honor of the country. As Vice-President of the United States, presiding over the deliberations of the Senate with dignity and impartiality, preserving the decorum of a body that then was a model for legislative assemblies; as President of the United States, when the national honor and reputation were acknowledged unimpeached and unimpaired in every land, and the powers of the earth looked up to the new government as an exemplar of morals and of power worthy of respect and imitation. He thus, step by step, ascended to the eminence from which he surveyed his country, peaceful and glorious, and calmly retired in dignity to a private station, happy in the contemplation of a bright career, happy in a refined and prosperous home, happy in the circle of family and friends.

His State called him again into her service. She was to be assembled in convention to resist oppression, and to withstand a galling tyranny against which her best men chafed. His services were invoked to aid in maintaining the high position she had heretofore occupied. He came from his retirement. He advised separation in peace, or war to vindicate her honor. He was again selected a commissioner to tender to the government at Washington the terms upon which Virginia would remain united with her former sisters. He was honored with the presidency of that Peace Conference. His manly appeals for justice were uttered and unheeded. He returned and recommended separation and independence. His advice was taken. It became necessary to form and establish another government for the new Confederacy. He was appointed by the Sovereign Convention of Virginia a member of the Provisional Congress. While occupying a conspicuous place in the eyes of the Confederacy, and the new government was assuming its permanent basis, he was elected by the people a member of the first House of Representatives of the Confederate States, with a fair promise still of usefulness, to stamp his wisdom upon the enduring monuments of a new national existence.

But it pleased the Almighty to check his career, and take him to himself. Such is the brief outline of the career of John Tyler. In private he was the perfect gentleman, the warm-hearted, affectionate, social, and delightful companion; it may be said of him, his kind hand ministered to the wants of the distressed.

Resolved, by the General Assembly, as the testimonial of a nation's sorrow for the death of a great and good man, that a joint committee of the Senate and House of Delegates be appointed to confer with a committee of the Congress of the Confederate States to make arrangements for his funeral and burial.

Resolved, That with the consent of his family his remains be deposited in Hollywood Cemetery, in the city of Richmond, near the remains of James Monroe, and that the Governor of this State be authorized to cause a suitable monument to be erected to his memory.

Resolved, That these resolutions be forthwith communicated by the Speaker of the House of Delegates to the Congress of the Confederate States, with a request that they concur therein.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, pp. 673-4

Julia Gardiner Tyler Gives Details of John Tyler’s Last Hours

It was through a singular dream I had that I came to Richmond in time to be with Mr. Tyler during all his illness, which ended with his death, January 18, 1862. He had gone on before, in his usual health, and I was to follow with the baby, Pearl, for a stay of a few weeks, after visiting my friends at Brandon and Shirley on the river, which I intended should consume at least a week; but I awoke the morning I had proposed to leave with a troublesome dream. I thought I had risen to dress, but on looking back to the bed, observed Mr. Tyler lying there, looking pale and ill. I remarked it to Nancy, the maidservant, who had come in to assist me in dressing. It seemed he heard me speak, and said: "Are you awake, darling; come and hold my head." My feelings were so sad that he should have waited until I awoke before telling me he felt ill, that I really awoke, much distressed, and as I did so, Nancy entered the room, and warned me it was time to dress for the boat. I surprised her by saying that I intended going right on to Richmond, without stopping anywhere on the river, and narrated my dream. She knew I had looked forward with pleasure to making the visits to my friends, and begged I would not be influenced by my dream, saying: "You know, mistress, dreams always go by contraries;" but none of the family could dissuade me from going direct to Richmond; and so, with old nurse, Fanny, and the baby, I arrived at the Exchange Hotel on Friday, January 10th, after dark, and entirely unexpected. On alighting from the carriage, I was recognized by Col. Edward C. Cabell, who assisted me. My first enquiry was in regard to the President, and my anxiety was allayed on hearing he was quite well. He said I was taking my husband by surprise, as he had just left his room, and heard from him that I would not be in Richmond for some time. He proposed to go in search of him, as they had left his room together, and had parted at the reading-room. I knew the location of his room, and said we would await him there. In a few moments I heard his hurried steps on the bridge, which, you know, joins the Exchange to the Ballard House. The baby clapped her little hands on seeing him. As he took her from the nurse he said, gleefully, "I really believe she knows me"—he had been away from her two or three weeks; and then he wanted to know what all this change in my plans, since my letter of the day before, meant. I told the dream, which quite amused him. The next day, the parlor was filled with our visitors, and all were remarking on the health and cheerfulness of the President. Mr. Boulware said to him, "how becoming is your new suit!" The President laughed heartily, and replied, "I wear it in honor of my wife's arrival; but I had always thought until now that there was no use in my having a new suit of clothes, for no one ever noticed it." That night (Saturday) I awoke in the night suffering from headache. The President placed his hand on my head, and said "your forehead is so cold; shan't I send for the doctor? You see your dream is out; it is your head that I am holding, and not you mine." I asked for morphine. He arose, weighed some, and gave it to me, and very soon I was entirely relieved. The next morning when I awoke, quite early, I observed him standing before the fire nearly dressed. Then he said, "your dream now is out, for I believe I have had a chill, and I have determined to go down to the breakfast table and take a cup of hot tea." I begged he would have it sent for, and lie down again; but he preferred to go for it, and so I, not thinking his illness was serious, remained where I was, to sleep off the effects of the morphine. I was aroused by the entrance of the President returning, and alarmed to see him with collar open, and cravat in hand. He exclaimed, "I would not have had it happen for a great deal; it will be all around the town!" and then went on to tell me he had risen to leave the table, staggered and fell. He was lifted and carried to the parlor, where, lying on the sofa, he recovered consciousness, and then insisted upon coming alone to his room, lest I should be alarmed. His friends began surging into the room before I could rise to attend him. They were very solicitous, and extended him on the sofa; but he assured them he was better, and would send for his doctor, and then he could not help relating my dream, saying, "her dream is a true one, and I leave my wife and her children to God and my country." The gentlemen left the room, expressing wishes soon to hear from him, and to be of service. Dr. Peachy arrived, and pronounced his case a billious attack, united with bronchitis, as he was soon troubled with a cough. He did not take to his bed entirely, and desired to receive and converse with the friends who called upon him; but as his symptoms did not improve, and he had much headache, his physician insisted he should go home and have perfect quiet for a few days, for his mind was constantly exercised over the situation of the country, and he could talk of little else, except to express such tender love and anxiety for his family. How I will treasure all his loving expressions! The doctor gave him a morphine mixture for his cough, which soothed it, but caused him to make wandering remarks when half asleep.

Mr. Rives had an interview with him on Thursday (the 16th) in regard to his son residing in New York, whose property he feared might be in danger of confiscation. He took occasion to request that Mr. Rives would ask the permission of Congress to his absence for a few days, according to the wish of his physician. He was always so scrupulous in his obedience to rules. He said we would go to Sherwood on Saturday; but alas! on Friday night, just after he had retired to bed, expressing the hope that he was better, and would have a good sleep, and had slept for an hour, he suddenly awoke with a feeling of suffocation, which immediately aroused me. Robert Tyler, who had determined to spend the night, and be of any assistance if needed, and had arranged himself to sleep upon the sofa, hastened for Dr. Brown, whose room was upon the same floor. By my side of the bed was a cot for the baby. He threw himself across to it in his restlessness, which awoke the child, who whimpered a little. He raised himself up, saying: "Poor little thing, how I disturb her," and laid back on his pillow. I bathed his head and chest with spirits, while the nurse hushed the little one. He asked to have her brought to him that he might kiss her. Dr. Brown came in without delay, and prescribed mustard plasters and brandy. The President said: "Doctor, I think you are mistaken," but took the stimulant. Dr. Peachy entered, to whom he said: "Doctor, I am going." Dr. Peachy answered: "I hope not, sir." The President added: "Perhaps it is best," (his last words). I held again the stimulant to his lips; his teeth chattered on the glass; he looked forward with a radiant expression, as if he saw something to surprise and please, and then, as if falling asleep, was gone! The bedstead on which he died was exactly like the one I saw him upon in my dream, and unlike any of our own.

"So passed the strong, heroic soul away.”

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, pp. 670-2

Henry A. Wise’s Anecdote about John Tyler and Colonel John Brown Baldwin

His (Baldwin's) politics differed widely from Mr. Tyler's. Mr. Tyler from his youth up was a Democrat of the order of Jefferson, whilst Judge Baldwin had educated his son in the ultra school of Alexander Hamilton. He abided not any school or schoolmen of Democracy; was opposed to secession; was for peace, or prevention of war, on almost any terms; made a speech for which he was crowned by a Boston woman with flowery wreaths as the champion of the Union in the convention; and uttered sentiments and arguments which bound him, it was thought, on principle, to unite himself with the Northern cause against his native valley land of Virginia. He especially opposed Mr. Tyler's views on the report of the Commissioners of Virginia respecting the results of the Peace Conference at Washington. His Whig prejudices, indeed, against Mr. Tyler, for long-past bitterness of his party, for reason of his Bank vetoes and other matters of difference, kept him aloof from his society. He had avoided personal contact with him. But at last the ladies of the two houses met at the hotel where they messed and brought them together. Mr. Tyler had observed Colonel Baldwin's avoidance of him, if not his aversion to him; and one morning he walked up to him, and drew a paper from his bosom and asked him to read it. It was a letter to Mr. Tyler from Colonel Baldwin's father, written late in life. It proved that Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin knew, loved and honored John Tyler, and it subdued the son's aversion, and made him honor and respect the man of whom his honored father was proud to be a friend.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, pp. 669-70

John Tyler to the people of Charles City, and the Other Counties and Cities Composing the Third Congressional District, October 21, 1861

To the people of Charles City, and the other counties and cities composing the Third Congressional District:

The resolutions adopted by the people of Charles City on Thursday last, expressive also, as I have reason to know, of the wishes of many citizens in other portions of this congressional district, are highly appreciated by me, and are entitled to a frank and candid reply. The times are full of peril and of profound interest. A government composed of States whose separate independence and sovereignty was acknowledged by the Treaty of Peace of 1783 (the said treaty being made with each State separately by name, and with all collectively), is now claimed, in opposition to the unobscured lights of history, to have been popular in its origin and altogether so in its construction and operation. This doctrine, as if to make it more flagitious, is asserted by the man who was elected to his high office by the votes of States as States, conferred by their several electoral colleges, and who wanted nearly a million of votes of the people to constitute a popular majority. This is doubtless done to impress the world with the belief that the Southern States have been and are guilty of a most base and infamous revolt, and at the same time to induce the misled masses of the Northern people to maintain in power the unprincipled Catalines who, for long years, for their own emolument, have stirred up the bitter waters of hatred and ill will on the part of the North against the South. That government, a mere agency of the States, whose territorial possessions, as if to indicate its true character, were limited to an area of but ten miles square, created by the States, each acting separately and for itself, is now, without the shadow of right, seized upon by States composing a section, and is made to war upon a part of its principals, who have quite as much right to annul it as others to perpetuate it.

If Virginia or her co-States have broken their compact or covenant, then let the offended or injured States avenge their wrong, not through the agency created by all for all, but in their character of sovereigns, through their own means and appliances. Massachusetts, forsooth, undertakes to preach to Virginia long homilies upon constitutional obligations, and sends her armies to enforce her teachings upon us. And even Rhode Island, of whom we had hoped better things, who stood out two years before she would give her assent to the agent government, now, under the lead of her wealthy manufacturing governor, who is still anxious, doubtless, to fill his coffers to further and greater repletion by high taxes on imports, sends the elite of her people with splendid batteries of artillery to crush out rebellion in Virginia. It looks rather unseemly that a State which, in 1812, did not believe that she could constitutionally send her militia beyond her State line to repel an invasion of other States by a foreign power, with whom the then United States were at war, should now, all of a sudden, come to the conclusion that there was no constitutional barrier in her way when the conquest and subjugation of a once sister State was the game on foot; or that another, who could not adopt the government, from extreme aversion to it, for two whole years, should so have fallen in love with it that she sends forth her armed brigands to assist in crushing the State which originated, but who has become heartily disgusted with it, because of its perversion from its original objects into an engine to be used by a majority section for the oppression of a minority. These demonstrations are accompanied, on the part of the agent government, by proceedings gross, tyrannical and revolting to all who have heretofore worshipped at the now desecrated shrine of public liberty.

It was once fondly believed that there were certain great principles which the Revolution in England of 1688, and our ever glorious Revolution of 1776, had canonized and rendered sacred; but we live to see the day when those principles are derided and trampled upon. In vain does the victim of oppression demand, in the language of our Bill of Rights and of the Constitution, a fair and impartial trial. In vain that he invokes the principles of Magna Charta, which are as dear to him as they were to any lordly baron at Runnymede or any Englishman since. In vain that he appeals to the judges and the courts. The venerable Chief-Justice,1

 in his attempt to restore the reign of the law and the Constitution, is mocked at, and his authority despised. A provost marshal usurps the place of the judge, and some unfledged general announces an irreversible decree of banishment or imprisonment. Equally vain that the citizen claims his house to be his castle. Armed men, without authority of law, arouse him from his slumbers at midnight, and hurry him away from home and family, to be immured in gloomy and distant dungeons; the freedom of speech and of the press, along with the freedom of elections, the guardians, as heretofore fondly supposed, of public freedom,—have been crushed out; legislatures are dispersed, their members consigned to prisons, and those citizens who have had the nerve to write or speak a word in opposition to such galling tyranny are to be found immured in modern bastiles, where no ray of light emanating from mind or conscience is permitted to enter.

Such is in brief the night of despotism which now holds its gloomy reign over all the North. Those very people who basely submit to a despotism so unrelenting and cruel invade our soil without a shadow of right, and declare it to be their purpose to force us back into a union which they have destroyed, under a Constitution which they have rendered a mockery and made a nullity. Dream they of the blood that flows in our veins, derived from a glorious ancestry, when they talk of subjecting us to the same tyranny to which they themselves are even now subjected? A renewal of their acquaintance with our history would instruct them to regard our subjugation as a day dream, and nothing more. That history will inform them that this noble old State, through nearly three centuries of existence, has in no instance yielded to force or coercion. Unless I overestimate the character of her people, they would sooner, to use the language of an Irish patriot, "raze every house, burn every blade of grass, and make the last entrenchments of liberty their graves," than submit to the wrong and oppression with which they are threatened. Formidable armies are sent to crush her proud spirit and to impose manacles on her free limbs. Through a great misapprehension, as I think, of their duty, but as they conceived, in a lofty spirit of honor, our naval officers resigned the ships which they commanded at the time of resigning their commissions into the hands of Northern officers, who carried them into Northern ports. Thus have we been deprived of our just proportion of a navy which our means assisted to build, and which is now to be used in efforts to ravage and plunder our coasts, and burn and destroy our cities. Surrounded thus and threatened thus, I hold it as an axiom that no man is at liberty to decline any position which the State or its people may, by their unsolicited suffrages, confer upon him. For myself, while I seek nothing and aspire to nothing. I will decline no service which Virginia, or any portion of her people, may require me to render. If, then, the people of this district shall elect me to Congress, I shall accept the station, and devote my best energies to a successful termination of the war, and to advance the permanent interests of this great, and, as I doubt not it is to be, victorious Confederacy of States, under whose parental sway I wish, for one, to live and die. If, however, either of my distinguished friends -for each of whom I entertain the highest regard—who have been announced as candidates shall be elected, I shall be quite content, and shall give to his useful and patriotic labors in the holy cause that engages us my most hearty applause and approval.

JOHN TYLER.

October 21, 1861.

_______________

¹ Roger B. Taney.

SOURCES: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 662-3; “To the people of Charles City, and the other counties and cities composing the Third Congressional District,” Daily Richmond Whig, Richmond, Virginia, Friday Morning, October 25, 1861, p. 3; “To the people of Charles city and the other counties and cities composing the Third Congressional District,” The Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, October 29, 1861 a transcription of this article appears HERE, and states the date of this document is October 21, 1861; “The address of Mr. Tyler…” The Richmond Examiner, Richmond, Virginia, Tuesday, October 29, 1861, p. 1

John Tyler to John Rutherford, November 1, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, Nov. 1, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter has been duly received, and I have read with the highest pleasure your article in the Enquirer of the 29th October. It does me full justice, and is the more agreeable to me as proceeding from one whose past life has been without reproach of any the slightest kind, and whose name is everywhere and by every person repeated with honor. I know not what will be the termination of the approaching election. My own motives are faithfully set forth in my card to the public. At my time of life, with all my personal surroundings, the place of ease and comfort would be my own fireside; but when I look to the condition of the State, and how greatly she is threatened, I can take no counsel from my own desires, remembering that on another occasion even the "widow's mite" was esteemed the most valuable. So I feel that I have no right to withhold any particle of service from the public cause which others may esteem me capable of rendering. Express to Mrs. Rutherfoord [sic] my constant and most sincere regard, and believe me to be always, most truly and faithfully, your friend,

J. TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 665

Lewis E. Harvie to Lyon G. Tyler, May 15, 1885

CHULA P. O., May 15, 1885.

MY DEAR SIR: I regret that I am unable to give you the information you wish. Your honored father, my friend, and myself were on the commission to treat with Mr. Stephens, and the whole committee were unanimous, and reported in favor of uniting under one government with the other Confederate States. Who prepared the report I have forgotten. I regret that I cannot give you the information.

I esteemed your father as highly as any man I ever knew. I may say that I reverence his memory. He had the entire trust and confidence of every member of the Virginia convention, and exercised and wielded more influence and control over its deliberations and acts than any man in it. He won its confidence in a speech in reply to Mr. Summers, who made a report of the proceedings of the "Peace Congress" held in Washington, and secured the admiration and confidence of the whole convention, when he was so weak that he could speak only at intervals and the convention adjourned again and again to hear him. His influence, and, I may say, control, over the convention, during its whole term, was irresistible. It would be a labor of love to recite to you evidences of the esteem in which he was held, and the estimate placed on his patriotism and love of Virginia, by men of all parties, however conflicting and diversified and distinct their views and sentiments.

I recollect one among other occasions when he changed by the force of his eloquence and patriotism the action of the convention by a defense of General Scott and Mr. Clay, who were assailed; and how he triumphantly carried the proposition through the convention (almost by acclamation) to invite General Scott to come to the rescue of his State. It was the most masterly and triumphant appeal to which I ever listened, and left us who opposed it in a minority of sixteen, all told. General Scott and Mr. Clay were both Virginians, and, while he had differed with them both, they had reflected honor and lustre on her, their common mother, and he made an appeal to the convention of Virginia that electrified the whole body.

He was subsequently elected to the Confederate Congress, almost by acclamation, over two of the ablest and most popular men in the Richmond district, after he had been subjected to obloquy and vituperation for strangling the Bank of the United States and admitting Texas into the Union. His devotion to Virginia and her confidence in him were commensurate.

Such and so sincere was my appreciation of his character, and the estimate that I placed on his valuable and brilliant career that characterized his public conduct, that I invariably paid my respects to him as soon as he took his seat in convention.

It gives me pleasure now to recur to my past intercourse with him. I trust that his son will ascribe the prolixity of my reply to the sincerity of my esteem for one who loved and was beloved by Virginia with equal fervor.

Respectfully and truly yours,

LEWIS E. HARVIE.

Lyon G. Tyler, Esq., Richmond, Va.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 668-9

Julia Gardiner Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner, June 16, 1861

RICHMOND, June 16, 1861.

I rejoice in an opportunity to write you through the kindness of a gentleman who has some means of communication with Baltimore. The convention met again on the 12th, and I accompanied the President up. Shall return home on Tuesday. In the meantime the children left behind are in good hands. Mrs. R. Tyler and family of four children are at Sherwood. Gardie is with me here enjoying the military excitement, and Julia is at Mrs. Pegram's. All are well. You have heard of the battle in the vicinity of Hampton and Bethel (that is around the location of Bethel church). The fight on the Southern side was more wonderful than the taking of Sumter—only 1,100 troops (eleven hundred) were there, eight hundred of whom were engaged against a force of Northern troops amounting to four or five thousand; but one killed and four slightly wounded on the Southern side; loss larger on the other. How can it be otherwise than that? The hand of Providence should assist this holy Southern cause. The Northern papers give garbled accounts, but this is the true statement. Hampton and the vicinity have suffered all sorts of depredations from Lincoln's army—inoffensive people, and their private residences have been disturbed in every possible way; but the Villa I hear has been treated with more respect as yet.

More and more we have the realization of war; from day to day the people, the entire people, are making up their minds to it, until every family of high and low degree are seeing their male members don the soldier's dress and shoulder their musket to go forth for the protection of their invaded firesides. It makes the heart beat and the eyes fill to witness such noble resolution and bravery on the part of all, but in particular on the part of those who, bred in ease and luxury, still cheerfully accept every and any hardship that comes with a soldier's life, whether as officers or in the ranks, for the latter are thick with accomplished gentlemen, than permit the unresisted invasion of their dearest rights. The men have become heroes-all, from youths of seventeen to those far advanced in years; but one common feeling swells their bosoms, deep indignation against those who should have been their best friends, and not their worst enemies. An unlawful war has been waged against them, and if the possession of every warrior trait will enable them to "conquer a peace," there will soon be one for us. Every way I turn I see an acquaintance and friend, either in the flannel shirt of a private, or the braided jacket of the zouave, or the plumed cap of the calvary officer. It is women and children only that are not in arms all ready for a moment's notice. A large body of noble, brave Marylanders have found it impossible to waît, and have resigned with a feeling of relief their homes to fight side by side with their Southern brethren. By all sorts of stratagems they are slipping over fully armed, and joining their companions without delay.

Subjugate or bring to terms such a people! little do you dream at the North of what stuff they are made. Why, even Gardie and Alex.¹ mourn that they cannot at once be of them; they are fired up with enthusiasm for what they consider such a sacred cause as the defense of their soil from the wicked and cruel invader. It is a thrilling, melting sight to see the entrances into the city of troops by the trains from all parts of the Southern country, coming. as they appear to feel, to the rescue of old Virginia. The fatigue of travel makes no impression upon them, and they joyfully march off to their encampments, apparently congratulating themselves they are so near the scene of action. "Still they come." At church to-day Gen. Davis was introduced to me. He mentioned that Mrs. D. and himself would be to see me to-mor row. He is a splendid man, fine manners, and the bearing of one good and great. Gen. Lee called upon us after church; rather grayer than when I last met him some years ago, but still the elegant officer, looking animated and full of vigor. He spoke very calmly and indifferently of the desecration of his home at Arlington, and the flight of his invalid wife. She has moved out of the way of the enemy twice, and now she says they will have to take her— she will move no more. The General laughed, as he repeated what she said, but added, as her health was much affected by rheumatism, it was quite a trial to her to be deprived of her home.

And now adieu, dear Mamma. Continue perfectly at ease about me. All I ask is, take care of yourself, and don't get sick..

Your affectionate daughter,

JULIA.

_______________

¹ David Gardiner and John Alexander, oldest sons of President Tyler by his second marriage, entered the Confederate army as privates at the ages respectively of sixteen and fifteen. The former is now a member of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic party, and practices law in Charles City. The latter died in New Mexico, in 1883, while pursuing his profession as engineer. He and his brother were students in Germany, after 1865, and Alexander served as Uhlan in the German army during the Franco-Prussian war, winning the badge of honor from the Emperor.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 651-2

Julia Gardiner Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner, July 24, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, July 24, 1861.

You cannot think what a happiness your letter was to me yesterday. I had also received that one sent by express; but as I had written several times and you did not mention the receipt of one of my letters, I thought I would wait until I heard from you again before I trusted to any source. The notice you inclosed would avail me nothing. It could transmit letters to the seceded States, but not from them. A new advertisement has appeared in the papers of yesterday by which I see there is a promise of certain communication between the two sections. I enclose it. The President tells me to give you his best love, and say how much he admires you for the bright and intellectual view you take of things-the only true view; and all I have to say is, that those who take the opposite one have no conscience, or have never informed themselves upon the question.

Dr. Donnavant may talk now of the revival of feudal times, for never in the days of chivalry were there such knights as this infamous Northern war has made of every Southern man. Never was the thought of Union or of surrender farther removed from their bosoms. Nothing but evil has yet come of this war, and nothing but evil will come of it while it continues, unless it be of good to the South in uniting it in its one great resolve more thoroughly. You need never trust to Northern accounts of Southern defeat or conquest. Great conquest that of McClellan's to boast of, truly-20,000 to 5,000; but I doubt whether another defeat against any odds will occur again—where every man falls two will rise in his place. What a brilliant victory for the South has been the battle at Manassas! I wish I could send you a true account of it as it is given in the Richmond papers, and by Gen. Jefferson Davis' dispatches. I see even the Northern account admits a terrible defeat, aud great losses of all sorts. . .  .

Your affectionate daughter,

JULIA.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 652-3

Julia Gardiner Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner, April 18, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, VA., April 18, 1861.

By my last letter from the President the convention was sitting with closed doors. The vote was probably taken yesterday, and it must have been for secession, as we have heard a great cannonading all day in the direction of Richmond. Who can wish it otherwise? I assure you, judging from the country, such is the exasperated feeling of wrong that every able-bodied man from every family is ready to shoulder his musket and will do so at the call. Mr. Douthat is the captain of our volunteer troopers here. It numbers eighty well-horsed, well-armed, and well-drilled and brave, true, high-toned gentlemen, who love the right and scorn the wrong. Captain Douthat says he expects to be the first to fall, but he is ready to die, if needs be, in the defense of his rights.

There is such a determined spirit of resistance throughout the South that, with the secession of the Border slave-States, I hope Lincoln will change his course and acknowledge the Southern Confederacy. It rests with him to prevent or urge a most unnatural and bloody war. The idea of any State meeting his demand! It is disgraceful.

The sentiments you express are so generous and becoming, and so like those of the boasted matrons of the Revolution, that I take every occasion to repeat them, and you are admired accordingly. I should think the citizens of New York who are opposed to this onslaught on their Southern kinsmen would now make a demonstration and form a party against coercion where States are concerned.

I enclose you Gov. Pickens' despatch to the President. It will make you realize the occurrences at Charleston. Return it at once, as I wish to preserve it. John Tyler, Jr., is a clerk in the War Department at Montgomery. We knew nothing of it until the President received through him those telegraphic despatches from the Secretary of War (Mr. Walker), announcing the commencement of hostilities, which you may have seen in some of the newspapers. Mr. Semple intends to resign the instant the State secedes, or before if ordered upon any secret or avowedly hostile expedition. Gen Scott was expected in Richmond yesterday, to offer, it is said, his services to Virginia. But the papers tell you all this. I have no time for more. The children are well. Julia is still in Richmond and quite well. My cough, I am glad to say, has passed away. I hope Harry is well and very studious.

Your affectionate daughter,

Julia.

Only to think who became aids to Gen. Beauregard at Charleston,—the senators who retired from their seats in Washington on the secession of South Carolina. Gov. Manning, and even Senator Wigfall, of Texas, on his way home, stopped to assist. They all exposed themselves to the fire, and Mr. Wigfall received the surrender. He is a splendid fellow-all spirit and bravery and intellect. I met him at Washington; and his wife is the kind of noble, high-spirited woman you would most admire. Think of the enthusiasm of old Edmund Ruffin,¹ our noted agriculturist!

_______________

¹ He fired the first gun at Charleston, and, when the Confederacy went down, wrapped himself in the Confederate flag and blew his brains out.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 646-7

Julia Gardiner Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner, April 25, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, CHARLES CITY CO., April 25, 1861.

In these times you must write often, if only a few words. I have no letters to-day from you, but if I continue to be disappointed, I will consider it owing to the mail obstructions, and not torture myself with doubts of your health and safety. I want you to write me what the people of Staten Island are doing, and whether they think themselves in danger of the mob, which I should think might well be feared in New York.

The President came down on Saturday and remained until yesterday (Tuesday). He brought Julia with him, and also carried her back. Matters are rapidly coming to the point; whether they will reach it or stop short of so unnatural a battle as that waged between the two sections will be depends upon the action of the President in Washington. I see no prospect of a change in his course, and so fighting will be the order of the day. This whole country is now under arms, and the whole South will soon be one vast camp of brave men, whose rallying cry will be, “Fight for your homes and your firesides." The South is invaded, and all effort for peace must now come from the North.

It is a real disappointment to me to see New York city so ready to engage in this wicked war. We hear the famous seventh regiment has been destroyed ere it reached Washington. And so it will be. I do not think Providence will suffer the unoffending to fall. Rumors, however, that want confirmation do not occupy much our thoughts. I suppose that rumor will prove a false one. "Fuss and Feathers" has distinguished himself. You ought to hear how he is spoken of by his family and State.¹

Col. Lee, a splendid man every inch of him, is in command of the Virginia forces. He married, you remember, the daughter of G. W. Parke Custis. He can only lead to victory, if this shocking war continues.

The President writes me to-day Mrs. Clopton and daughter, from Old Point, were on board the boat yesterday, fleeing from their home. Their furniture will be sent after them in a few days. They said that the Massachusetts company that landed at Old Point for the Fort were the scum of the earth. We have not decided what we shall do about the Villa. The measles has now gone through my family. Aleck, the last to have it, is now rapidly recovering. He was a very sick child for two or three days, but the disease has now left him, and he will leave his bed to-morrow. I have recovered entirely from my cold, and the family are all well. The President is in firmer health than for many past years. He is full of business now.

I would like to write you more freely, but I suppose it would not be prudent. I do not wish to write anything that would excuse a delay of my letters. We are very much concerned as to Robert Tyler; have had threatening letters in regard to him anonymously, and we see in the papers that Southerners are sought for by the mob at Philadelphia. He wrote to his father every few days; the letters have ceased, and I hear to-day that none are found on returning to Richmond. Strange! if there is no foul play, he has found it necessary to be silent and secret. We hear he is in Baltimore, from one of our neighbors, to which place he fled, literally chased by the mob away from his home. What next we shall hear, who can tell? . . .

Your affectionate daughter,

Julia

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¹ "The general-in-chief of the army, in 1860, stood by the Union and made war on his State; and so did other officers, both of the land and sea service; for the soldier's and sailor's household gods commonly are found with his regiment or in his ship."—Fears for Democracy, p. 239.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 647-8

Julia Gardiner Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner, May 7, 1861

SHERWOOD FOREST, VA., May 7, 1861.

MY DEAR MAMMA: Mr. Clopton goes to Richmond in the morning (by land), and it is a good opportunity to write you a few lines. By yesterday's mail we received your letters of the 29th April and 2nd of May, also a letter from D., and newspapers. . . . . I think D. has been bitten by the rabid tone of those around him and the press. It seems he belongs to a different school of politics from his experienced friend, the President, and is ready to deny State-sovereignty, therefore he opposes the movement of the South to save itself from destruction through an abolition attack, and sympathizes with the dominant power of the North. I was so unprepared for his views that I read his letter aloud to the President without first perusing it, which, if I had done, I should not have committed so decided a mistake. He says the government at Washington will not invade, but will only reclaim its property, and take by force the forts now in the possession of Southern States. What is that but invasion, I should like to know? The government at Washington has no business with the forts that were built for the protection of the States that have seceded, and as for the other property, the South will certainly hold all that she has until a just arrangement is generally made, with a peaceful separation. The Northern people are very easily duped if they do not see their President means to invade the South, and commence the "irrepressible conflict," so long the favorite of himself, Mr. Seward and party. Those who have started upon a tour to defend Washington and the flag, will find themselves sent on a new errand, perhaps just as acceptable, to attack and destroy, if possible, their Southern friends. For my part, I am utterly ashamed of the State in which I was born, and its people. All soul and magnanimity have departed from them—"patriotism" indeed! A community sold to the vilest politicians.

The President tells me while I am writing to ask D. if he does not recognize in the existing blockade a positive war upon the South? All commerce is stopped by vessels of war at the mouths of our rivers. Even our river boat would be fired at and taken, if that impudent war steamer lying off Newport News could get the chance. All communication with Norfolk is thus prevented, and we hear the Baltimore Bay—boats have all been seized. The last was seized on yesterday after a passport to induce her to venture on had been given. Our Northern brethren will, however, stand by and see in all this no invasion—only a defense of Washington!

Your information of Robert was the last we have received. Perhaps he did not leave New York when he intended. It is to be hoped he will reach Virginia in safety, but by means certain. I pity exceedingly his poor wife, and her health is far from good. I understood all Mrs. Semple's furniture was seized on its way to the South. By the way, Mrs. Semple overheard in the cars on her way to Virginia that John Brown's son was active in this Southern crusade, and will be at the head of a company in pursuit of Governor Wise. A Massachusetts set have offered, these persons in the cars were heard to say, $20,000 for his head. I imagine Governor Wise's head will be as safe as any other person's, but his health at this time is very much affected. He has been very sick with pneumonia, but is now recovering.

When next you see Mrs. Bromley do give her my best love. I dreamt of her last night; thought I had hurried to New York and gone there[.] I awoke in brisk conversation with her and Mr. Bromley.

I could continue with my pen without fatigue, but it is a late hour, and little Pearl has awakened. I enclose you a letter from Julia, by which you can judge of her improvement. I am glad to hear from you Sarah is doing so well. Tell Harry the boys wish him here to join the Junior Guard, of which Alex is second lieutenant. They won't have anything to do with him if he countenances the invasion of Southern homes; but they believe him true as brave.

The P—— sends best love with that of your affectionate daughter.

JULIA.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 649-50

John Tyler to Julianna MacLachlan Gardiner,* May 2, 1861

RICHMOND, May 2, 1861.

MY DEAR MRS GARDINER: I have but a moment ago received your letter from the hands of Mrs. Pegram, and regret to perceive the nervous concern you feel in relation to the safety of our dear Julia and the children. Be assured that they will always be in safety. The vaunts and terrible boasts of the North are one thing-the execution of them another. In mustering their troops in the large cities, they, of course, are more expeditious than it can be done in the country; but we are ready for them, and number in Virginia at this moment more troops under arms and in the field, panting for the conflict, than they can arm, provision, and support for a campaign.

The whole State is clad in steel, under the command of the most accomplished leaders. General Scott is too old and infirm to take the field, while our commander, General Lee, a son of Harry Lee of the Revolution, the most accomplished officer and gentlemen, will lead our armies. The volunteers have come in such numbers that thousands are ordered home. Our fighting men in the State number 120,000. North Carolina and Tennessee have followed our lead, while the further South sends us succours. Our people are filled with enthusiasm. I had never supposed it possible that so much enthusiasm could prevail among men. In a week from this time, James River will bristle with fortifications, and Charles City will be far safer than Staten Island.

No one of all these hosts is boastful; none blood-thirsty; all generous and brave. Why, my dear Mrs. Gardiner, judging from the tone of the papers, the North has fallen back on the age of barbarism. The era of Robespierre was never more savage. I would not trust any one bearing my name, even our little Pearl, to New York, if the Herald, Tribune, Courier, and Enquirer, and Times are the true exponents of Northern sentiments.¹ No, my family and myself here are safe. The mob sent out relieves your cities, it is true, but other mobs will rise up to overthrow order. If I find our situation dangerous on the river, we will go to the mountains, or other retreats in Virginia.

Little Julia is well and happy. All are well at Sherwood Forest. With my congratulations to the Colonel on account of his boy, and affectionate regards to his wife.

I am, most truly yours,

JOHN TYLER.

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* Mrs. Gardiner's residence was on Staten Island, New York. She had, annually exchanged visits with her daughter, Mrs. Tyler, who was wont to visit her in the summer.

¹ The New York Courier and Enquirer advised the most rigid system of blockade on the South, that the negroes should be let loose on the whites, men, women and children indiscriminately, and to prostrate the levees of the Mississippi, so as to drown the rebels on the lower Mississippi, “just as we would drown out rats infesting the hull of a ship." The New York Tribune said that "Virginia was a rich and beautiful State, the very garden of the Confederacy," and advised that her lands should be parcelled out among the pioneers who are on their way to Washington at this moment in regiments." The Philadelphia Transcript bellowed that desolation must be "carried from the Potomac to the Rio Grande." "If necessary, myriads of Southern lives must be taken; Southern bodies given to the buzzards; Southern fields consigned to sterility, and Southern towns surrendered to the flames." The Southerners "should not be permitted to return to peaceful and contented homes. They must find poverty at their fireside, and see privation in the anxious eyes of mothers, and the rags of children." The Westchester Democrat, in urging on the Pennsylvania troops, said that Baltimore had "always been celebrated for the beauty of its women; that the fair were ever the reward of the brave, and that Beauty and Booty had been the watchword of New Orleans."—See Howison's History of the War.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 643-4

John Tyler to Julia Gardiner Tyler, April 16, 1861

RICHMOND, April 16, 1861.

Well, dearest, your letter received this morning placed me much at ease relative to the dear children. I hope you will still keep an eye upon them, and not suffer them to expose themselves to the weather. Our noble boys are of high spirit, and if God spares them, I think they will reflect honor on our names.

The prospects now are that we shall have war, and a trying one. The battle at Charleston has aroused the whole North. I fear that division no longer exists in their ranks, and that they will break upon the South with an immense force. Virginia will deserve much credit for boldness, if in face of all this, in debt and without disciplined, troops, she throws herself into the melée, taking upon trust the action of the Border slave-States; but events press so rapidly on each others heels that we have, I think, no alternative. Submission or resistance is only left us. My hope is that the Border States will follow speedily our lead. If so, all will be safe. The convention is sitting with closed doors. Another day may decide our course. To-morrow night is fixed for a great torch-light procession and illumination for the battle at Charleston. If to this is added an ordinance of secession, there will be an immense outburst. I wish the boys could be here. But do not understand me as saying an ordinance will be passed. On the contrary, it will be in doubt until the vote. General Scott has resigned. It is as I always thought it would be. He comes to offer his sword to Virginia. I propose to offer suitable resolutions. We learn that the government has sent five hundred troops to the navy yard at Portsmouth.

These are dark times, dearest, and I think only of you and our little ones. But I trust in that same Providence that protected our fathers. These rascals who hold power leave us no alternative. I shall vote secession, and prefer to encounter any hazard to degrading Virginia. If the ordinance passes, it is to be submitted to the people.

Love and kisses to all.

Always your devoted,

J. TYLER.

After 8:30 P. M.—Just adjourned without taking the question.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 640

John Tyler to Julia Gardiner Tyler, April 18, 1861

RICHMOND, April 17,¹ 1861.

Well, my dearest one, Virginia has severed her connection with the Northern hive of abolitionists, and takes her stand as a sovereign and independent State. By a large vote she decided on yesterday, at about three o'clock, to resume the powers she had granted to the Federal government, and to stand before the world clothed in the full vestments of sovereignty. The die is thus cast, and her future is in the hands of the god of battle. The contest into which we enter is one full of peril, but there is a spirit abroad in Virginia which cannot be crushed until the life of the last man is trampled out. The numbers opposed to us are immense; but twelve thousand Grecians conquered the whole power of Xerxes at Marathon, and our fathers, a mere handful, overcame the enormous power of Great Britain.

The North seems to be thoroughly united against us. The Herald and the Express both give way and rally the hosts against us. Things have gone to that point in Philadelphia that no one is safe in the expression of a Southern sentiment. Poor Robert is threatened with mob violence. I wish most sincerely he was away from there. I attempted to telegraph him to-day, but no dispatch is permitted northward, so that no one knows there, except by secret agent, what has transpired here. At Washington a system of martial law must have been established. The report is that persons are not permitted to pass through the city to the South. I learn that Mrs. Orrick and her children, on her way here to join her husband, who is on the convention, has been arrested and detained. There is another report that General Scott resigned yesterday and was put under arrest. I hope it may be so, but I do not believe it. I have some fear that he will not resign. Reports are too conflicting about it.

Two expeditions are on foot,—the one directed against the Navy Yard at Gosport, the other Harper's Ferry. Several ships are up the river at the Navy Yard, and immense supplies of guns and powder; but there is no competent leader, and they have delayed it so long that the government has now a very strong force there. The hope is that Pickens will send two thousand men to aid in capturing it. From Harper's Ferry nothing is heard. The city is full of all sorts of rumors. To-morrow night is now fixed for the great procession; flags are raised all about town.

If possible I shall visit home on Saturday. Tell Gill that I shall send or bring down the sturgeon twine and six bushels of potatoes, which should be planted as soon as they reach home. I wish much to see you after so long an absence, and the dear children, since they have had the measles. Do, dearest, live as frugally as possible in the household,—trying times are before us.

Kisses to all.

Your devoted,

J. TYLER.

Julia is quite well.

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¹ As the ordinance was passed on the 17th, this date ought to be 18th.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 641-2