John Tyler to Robert Tyler, July 22, 1860

VILLA MARGARET,¹ July 22, 1860.

MY DEAR ROBERT: . . . We begin to have more numerous calls by visitors to this region, and I become daily better informed of the status of public opinion. The effort is making in Virginia to concentrate the Democratic vote by running the same ticket for Breckenridge and Douglas, the electors to cast their vote according to the sense of the majority. Breckenridge would lead the ticket by a large majority, and the Democratic ascendency would be secure. Without some such arrangement, the divisions in the Democratic ranks may, and most probably will, lead to conferring on the Bell ticket the plurality vote. I find with many a positive aversion to Douglas,—so great that they denounce all fraternity with him, while similar feelings are ascribed to very many Douglas men. I have much doubt whether any harmony of action can be brought about. There were for the Southrons at Charleston but two courses to pursue, and they adopted neither. The first was to press the nomination of some one whose name would have constituted a platform in itself, or universally to have seceded and proceeded at once to the declaration of their platform and the nomination of candidates. My own feelings ran strongly in favor of Lane, and Bayard of Delaware; the first as the pioneer of the West, the last as coterminous in more than mere residence with New Jersey and Pennsylvania. By splitting up at Charleston they lost the prestige of victory; in other words, they played the game badly by throwing away their trump card.

The consequences of Lincoln's election I cannot foretell. Neither Virginia, nor North Carolina, nor Maryland (to which you may add Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri) will secede for that. My apprehension, however, is that South Carolina and others of the cotton States will do so, and any attempt to coerce such seceding States will most probably be resisted by all the South. When such an issue comes, then comes also the end of the Confederacy. I know the value of the Roman maxim "never to despair of the Republic,” but confess to the gloom which overspreads and enshrouds the country. I can now do nothing more than fold my arms and pray for deliverance of the country from the evils which beset it. Does not every day render the difficulties which assail a confederacy of States in the selection of their chief magistrate more and more conspicuous?

The President, in his late speech, has acquitted himself well. You did right to preserve silence. He has been uniformly polite to you, and for that I thank him; but he is altogether your debtor. No one has been so true to him or rendered him greater service. Heretofore he could not have spared you from your position in Pennsylvania; but now his political days are numbered, and his sand nearly run. He might now reciprocate by rendering you service. Will he volunteer to do it? or, having squeezed the orange, will he throw the rind away? Nous verrons. I may do him injustice in regarding him as a mere politician without heart. I hope I am mistaken.

On Thursday next I propose going to Sherwood Forest, where I may remain for some weeks. Give my devoted affection to all your family.

Your father,

JOHN TYLER.

_______________

¹ Mr. Tyler's summer residence at Hampton, Virginia.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 559-60

John Tyler to Henry S. Foote, August 26, 1860

SHERWOOD FOREST, August 26, 1860.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of August 21st was forwarded to me from the summer residence of my family, near Hampton, to this place, and only reached me an hour ago, asking of me a declaration in writing expressive of the opinion that the Breckenridge and Lane ticket should not be run in the Free States, and that the Northern field should be left exclusively in the possession of their adversaries. Pardon me, my dear sir, for declining the public expression of such an opinion on a subject with which I am so little acquainted as the relative strength of the several candidates in the unfortunate quadrangular contest which now prevails. It may very well be that in some of the Northern States Mr. Breckenridge is stronger than either Mr. Douglas or Mr. Bell, in which event it would be altogether out of place to advise his withdrawal from the canvass in those States. My remarks to Mr. Withers, to which you refer, had exclusive reference to the State of New York, where, according to the newspaper editors, Mr. Breckenridge has no available force, and where it is said a combination of all the conservative forces is necessary to defeat Mr. Lincoln. To detach New York from his support, or some other of the Free States, is supposed to be the only "open sesame" to the hopes of the other candidates. Whether it is necessary for any one of the other candidates to withdraw, you will much better understand than myself. The rivalry between Messrs Breckenridge, Douglas, and Bell, in the Southern States, is not so much for majorities as puralities, which count as majorities in the end." Non nostrum componere lites." In the midst of faction I should only meet with ridicule for interposing my opinions. Excuse me for preferring the profound quiet which I desire to enjoy.

You do me no more than justice in ascribing to me conservative opinions. The expanding power of these States has been the subject of my warmest contemplation. The future glory of the Union has wrapped me in a vision of ecstasy. Exeter Hall for a season was not permitted by its impertinent interference in our affairs to cast a shadow over so bright a vision. The separation between this country and Great Britain, I flattered myself, had been completed, alike in opinion and government, by the surrender at Yorktown. It is only in these latter days, when that Hall has sent over its agents to foment sectional divisions among us, and American citizens have crossed the ocean to enter into its conferences, esteeming themselves as honored by the plaudits they have received, that I have painfully felt for the condition of the country. The English sentiment engendering bitterness and enmity has to a great extent superseded the American of harmony and love. However, my dear sir, every free government has had its Catalines, and it is hoping against hope to expect that we should escape the fate of other nations. My only reliance is on the good sense of the American people to crush out all wicked designs and put their heels on the necks of the workers of mischief. With high respect and esteem, faithfully yours,

JOHN TYLER.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 560-1

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, September 16, 1860

LANCASTER, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1860.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I came up from Cincinnati last evening, whither I had gone to prove the sheets of our regulations of which I will have one thousand copies fifty of which with a blank leaf at the end of each article, so that amendments may be made and noted as they arise. I will not have them bound but covered with stiff paper. I doubt if I can send any till about the 1st of October when or soon after I will have all boxed and shipped from Cincinnati to New Orleans, where about October 15 I will meet them and our other stores.

By the way on my arrival last night I found your letter of September 3, which put me in possession of a correct knowledge of the status of things on that day, enabling me to prepare: the bedding, 80 mattresses, cases, etc., 500 volumes of books, 1000 of text-books, arms, accoutrements, etc., about 8 boxes of 150 lbs. each, etc., will have to be transported up before November 1. The clothing can follow. If Red River be dead low as you say and on my arrival at New Orleans my information confirm it, I will write you to hire from four to five wagons under one leader if possible, to meet me at the mouth (of Red River) on a certain day say about the 20th, with my horse all saddled, when I can load the wagons and conduct them to the Seminary. See Coats and agree on a price per hundred pounds, but don't close a bargain till the last moment. Baden who has the crapshop in Pineville has a fine team and wagon, the very thing for a load of mattresses.

We have hit on an unfavorable year—low river, undefined powers, unfortunate political crisis, unlimited expectations on the part of the community, but all these must only stimulate us to more strenuous exertions. I know this year will decide our fate, another the fate of the institution confided to us, and I will give it all my best energies and experiences, but I confess the combination of ill influences are calculated to damp my ardor.

I cannot take my family from their present comfortable and bounteously supplied home, for those desolate pine woods, but I will try and cause the coming session to pass off as smoothly and harmoniously as the past, which can only be done by making the studies and duties flow in an uninterrupted current, from the first to the last day of the session.

J. has not the requisite energy and I fear he will be so cramped with debt as to impair what little efficiency he does possess. His department is all important, but as I regard it, he is independent of me. He is steward by lawful appointment. I am only as superintendent or kind of supervisor. "Supervision” is the word, and if any failure occur in his department, I shall claim to be absolved from all responsibility. By a personal introduction to my personal friend in New Orleans, I gave him credit, which I fear he has abused, and it shall not occur again. I cannot incur personal liability in that manner again.

I think the three boys can get out enough wood for the winter and if the fallen timber encumber the ground too much we can make heaps or burn it up, so as to be ready next spring for embellishment. I will try to have one or two white boys for drummer and fifer who can clean the section rooms, tend the lamps, and do some writing. I have not got them yet but will try at Cincinnati and New Orleans on my way down. I could get them here, but I feel a delicacy in taking white men from here lest they should excite undue suspicion.

I admit I am uneasy about political causes or rather local prejudices. Reason can be combated, but suspicion cannot. Here I must resist the opinion that the South is aggressive, that they have made compacts of compromise of 1821 and 1850 which are broken and slavery made national instead of local – in the South that the North are aggressive endangering southern safety and prosperity, both factions argue their sides with warmth and an array of facts, that is hard to answer and I must content myself with awaiting the result.

I send you a speech made by my brother John in Philadelphia a few days ago. I heard him here and had much talk with him, and he told me he should prepare his speech for Philadelphia with care and stand by it. Therefore this speech is the Republican view of this section of the Confederacy.

An unexampled prosperity now prevails here and it is a pity that so much division pervades the Democratic Party, as it enables the Republicans to succeed. Even Bennett's Herald admits the probability of Lincoln's success. But I would prefer Bell to succeed because it would give us four years truce, but I fear it is not to be. But I am equally convinced that Lincoln's success would be attended with no violence. He is a man of nerve, and is connected by marriage and friendship with the Prestons of Kentucky and Virginia, and I have no doubt he will administer the government with moderation. No practical question can arise, whereby men of the South would be declared on the statute book as unequal to their northern brethren. There is now abundant slave territory and we have no other land fit for it, but Texas, and that is all slave territory by treaty.

If we go to Civil War for a mere theory, we deserve a monarch and that would be the final result, for you know perfectly well the South is no more a unit on that question than the North – Kentucky and Carolina have no sympathy. I heard Leslie Combs speak at Circleville a few days ago, and his language would have been Republicanism in Carolina. He has been elected clerk by twenty-three thousand majority in Kentucky.

In Ohio here we have all sorts of political parties and clubs, but it is admitted that it will vote the Republican ticket. My brother has no opposition at all in his district, and is therefore helping others in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He resides at Mansfield, seventy-five miles north of this. I will go up to visit him and my sister in about ten days; but as to modifying his opinions further I cannot expect it.

I wanted him to repudiate openly the “irrepressible conflict” doctrine—but he has not done so, though he made a left handed wipe at Seward and Giddings as extremists. These men represent the radicals of that party but John laughs at me when I tell him in the nature of things that class of men will get control of his party. He contends that they – the Republicans – are the old Whig Party, revived solely by the unwise repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Of course you and I are outside observers of political events, and can influence the result but little, but this is no reason why we should not feel a deep and lively interest in the development of a result that for better or worse must interest us all.

At Cincinnati I attended the U.S. Agricultural Fair. Joe Lane was there and I esteem him a humbug, from his Mexican War reputation; other notorieties were there, among which fat hogs, calves, pumpkins, apples, etc., competed for prizes, and I think on a fair unbiased opinion the pumpkins were entitled to the first premium over vain conceited men.

I wish however we had Cincinnati near us at the Seminary. We should not then be troubled to get provisions, books, or furniture. If Red River were navigable, and I would find a boat for Alexandria or Shreveport direct, which often occurs in season, I would buy a full outfit of everything for my house at a blow. As it is I now must wait, as transportation by wagon must be out of all reason.

SOURCES: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 277-82

Brooks and Wilson—Dueling, Street-Fights, or Personal Abuse, published June 2, 1856

The New York Courier has the following dispatch:

“WASHINGTON, THURSDAY NIGHT.

Mr. Brooks, by Mr. Lane of Oregon, sent today a note to Gen. Wilson, demanding that Gen. Wilson should either retract the words “murderous, brutal, and cowardly,” used by him in characterizing Mr. Brooks’ assault on Mr. Sumner, or indicate where he would receive a hostile message from Mr. Brooks. Gen. Wilson, in answer refused to retract or qualify his words, declined receiving a challenge, but said he would defend himself from personal violence. For some hours after this correspondence had passed, a street fight was expected, as General Wilson was well armed, and was surrounded by armed friends.—Mr. Brooks left for Cincinnati this afternoon, and General Wilson will go North tomorrow. General Wilson proposes to address a Republican meeting at Newburgh on Saturday night.”

General Webb adds the following telegraphic item:

“General Wilson’s refusal to fight Mr. Brooks, on the ground that dueling is contrary to the laws of God and man, is approved, but there are those who condemn him for inviting the challenge, while entertaining such sentiments, and think he has lost ground by the affair, and that Mr. Brooks has benefitted in the same ration. There will be no more bullying and blustering, and the peace will not be disturbed by the principals or the friends.”

We are not advised by whom Wilson’s refusal to fight is approved, and it is rather unintelligible, on connexion with what follows, that he had lost ground for refusing a challenge after having defied it. We suppose the meaning of it to be that Wilson was unwilling to engage in a fair fight, but was not adverse to a row, surrounded by armed friends, in which he might hope for some undue advantage. Whatever be the fact, we are not surprised to hear that even his own section is ashamed of him. Wherever English blood flows, and the English language is spoken, a man who acts the bully, or indulges in personal abuse of others, must suffer in public estimation, if, when called on for honorable satisfaction, he refuses to accord it. It is proper it should be so. It is the right of society to make those suffer who outrage the recognized laws of good breeding. We may say what we will of the absurdity and immorality of dueling, and of its ineffectiveness as a mode of personal redress; but, as human nature is constituted, there is no alternative, except street fights, or secret associations, or a disgraceful system of vilification and calumny, attended by slander suits. Poisoning, or some other secret mode of murder, was the system in earlier times, and continued to a quite late day in Italy. The duello superseded it among all the chivalrous nations of modern times, and wherever the “code of honor” has been established, it has maintained, speaking generally, a high and courteous bearing between man and man. Many individuals may have lost their lives by it; but society reaped the benefit. This was the mode of adjusting private wrongs, which prevailed throughout our Republic in its earlier days. It then knew no North or South—it bore sway everywhere. But in later times, a great change has taken place. Mercantile caution, purantic hypocrisy and the spirit of knavish attorneys at the North, have combined to ignore this mode of adjustment, and substituted slander suits. Our intercourse with the North as affected us some what, and, under its influence, we have enacted anti-duelling laws; though popular opinion continues to damn a man if he does not fight, and then doubly damns him if he does. Society, however, still exacts its dues here, and insists that those who outrage its prerogatives shall pay the penalty of their crimes, and from Gen. Webb’s despatch it appears that they cannot escape altogether undamaged even at the North.

SOURCE: Richmond Daily Whig, Richmond Virginia, Monday Morning, June 2, 1856, p. 2

Mr. Sumner — published May 30, 1856

WASHINGTON, May 29.—Hon. Mr. Brooks of S. C., sent a challenge to-day to Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, for having, in the Senate, charged him with having made a “cowardly and murderous assault upon his colleague, Mr. Sumner.” Gen. Lane, Oregon, was the bearer of the note to Mr. Wilson. He replied that he was not a duelist, but would use such language as he thought proper in debate, and if assailed, he knew how to defend himself.—Mr. Brooks expressed himself satisfied with Gen. Webb’s letter in the courier and Enquire.

SOURCE: Richmond Daily Whig, Richmond Virginia, Friday Morning, May 30, 1856, p. 3

William Brimage Bate

William Brimage Bate, Governor of Tennessee, 1883-1887, was born near Castalian Springs, in Tennessee, October 7, 1826. His educational advantages were limited. In early manhood he was a clerk on a steamboat plying between Nashville and New Orleans. When the Mexican war came, he enlisted in a Louisiana Regiment, and is said to have been the first Tennessean to reach the front. He reenlisted in the Third Tennessee Infantry, and was made a First Lieutenant of Company I. At the close of the war he went to Gallatin and established a paper called The Tenth Legion. In 1849 he was elected to the Legislature. In 1852 he entered the Lebanon Law School, and two years later was elected Attorney-General for his district. In 1860 he served as elector on the Breckinridge and Lane ticket. When the Civil war broke out, Bate enlisted as a private in a company raised at Gallatin; of this company he was elected Captain and later Colonel of the regiment. He came out of the war as a Major-General, having won as much distinction for bravery as any man on either side. He was three times wounded and had six horses killed under him in battle. In 1863, while on the battlefield, he was tendered the nomination of Governor but declined in a letter which has become historic. In 1882 he defeated Governor Hawkins for Governor and Judge Frank Reid two years later. During his administration a settlement of the State debt was reached. On March 4, 1887, Governor Bate became United States Senator, which position he filled with great credit to his State, until his death in 1905.

SOURCE: John Trotwood Moore and Austin Powers Foster, Tennessee: The Volunteer State, 1769-1923, Volume 2, p. 28

1860 Presidential Election: The Candidates

	Party	Home State	Running Mate
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	Illinois	Hannibal Hamlin
Stephen A. Douglas	Northern Democratic	Illinois	Joseph Lane
John C. Breckinridge	Southern Democratic	Kentucky	Edward Everett
John Bell	Constitutional Union	Tennessee	Herschel V. Johnson