Thurlow Weed to William H. Seward, August 22, 1864

New-York, Aug 22

Dear Seward,

When, ten or eleven days since, I told Mr Lincoln that his re-election was an impossibity, I also told him that the information would soon come to him through other channels. It has doubtless, ere this, reached him. At any rate, nobody here doubts it; nor do I see any body from other States who authorises the slightest hope of success.

Mr Raymond, who has, just left me, says that unless some prompt and bold step be now taken, all is lost.

The People are wild for Peace. They are told that the President will only listen to terms of Peace on condition Slavery be “abandoned.”

Mr Sweatt is well informed in relation to the public sentiment. He has seen and heard much. Mr Raymond thinks Commissioners should be immediately sent to Richmond, offering to treat for Peace on the basis of Union. That something should be done and promptly done, to give the Administration a chance for its life, is certain.

Truly

T. W.

SOURCE: Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: Thurlow Weed to William H. Seward,Lincoln will not be reelected. 1864. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal3549000/.

William H. Seward to Abraham Lincoln, January 13, 1861

Washington Jan. 13. 1861

My Dear Sir,

I regret to say that Mr Cameron is very much grieved, by the result of the proposition to him of a cabinet place. I have conversed with Mr Swett freely on the subject and he will communicate my views more fully than I care to write.

But I will say these two or three things,

1st. That Mr Cameron will insist that neither N Jersey, nor Pa. shall now have a place in the Cabinet.

2d. That Mr Cameron claims that by some explanation to be made to him he shall, so far as indications of your confidence in and respect for him, may go, be put before the public in a position as strong as he was before he was invited to go to Springfield.

Mr Swett will explain to you that I am willing to be the mediator of conversation between you and Mr Cameron as a mutual friend, acting confidentially, and at the same time cooperating to make the matter as honorable to both parties as possible while I [reafirm?] my relations to him as enjoying and giving mutual confidence—

Very respectfully

Your friend

William H Seward

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln to Simon Cameron, January 13, 1861

(Private and confidential.)

Springfield, Illinois, January 13, 1861.

Hon. Simon Cameron.

My dear Sir: At the suggestion of Mr. Sanderson, and with hearty good-will besides, I herewith send you a letter dated January 3 — the same in date as the last you received from me. I thought best to give it that date, as it is in some sort to take the place of that letter. I learn, both by a letter from Mr. Swett and from Mr. Sanderson, that your feelings were wounded by the terms of my letter really of the 3d. I wrote that letter under great anxiety, and perhaps I was not so guarded in its terms as I should have been; but I beg you to be assured I intended no offense. My great object was to have you act quickly, if possible before the matter should be complicated with the Pennsylvania senatorial election. Destroy the offensive letter, or return it to me

I say to you now I have not doubted that you would perform the duties of a department ably and faithfully. Nor have I for a moment intended to ostracize your friends. If I should make a cabinet appointment for Pennsylvania before I reach Washington, I will not do so without consulting you, and giving all the weight to your views and wishes which I consistently can. This I have always intended.

Yours truly,

A. Lincoln.

[Inclosure.]

SOURCE: John G. Nicolay & John Hay, Abraham Lincoln Complete Works, Volume 1, p. 665

Leonard Swett to Abraham Lincoln, January 8, 1861

Washington Jan 8, 1861

Hon A Lincoln

Dear Sir

When Gen'l Cameron returned from Springfield he showed me your letter When the appointment was made known it created some talk may many taking the ground it was a good one & others unfit to be made Friday I think your telegraph came He showed it to me but did not suppose it changed your intention Saturday he was sent for & went to Harrisburg By Monday the two Senators were agreed upon – Cowan for the long term & some one I dont know who for the short term To day in pursuance of that agreement they probably elect Cowan This morning Cameron called on me & showed your letter. He complains he has been badly treated says he only consented to take the place to please his friends. He complains of the form of your letter He thinks it contains an intimation of imputation of upon his character and mortifies him I have had a long talk with him & he finally agreed he would say to every one that he would not go in to the cabinet & that I might telegraph to that effect

I assured him your motives were good & if you could have an interview you would satisfy him He said if you had written him a kind letter, setting forth that you had contemplated calling him into the Cabinet & had invited him to S. with that view but in the condition of the country you had for motives of no unkindness to him but for reasons of state had changed your mind & had asked him to relieve you, he would most cheerfully have done so.

He agreed I might copy the letter which I send. He also agreed he would not act badly but would sustain you & be friendly to you but thought you ought to explain fully the reason of your action at some full future time He said he would as leef have an enemy at home as in N Jersey & did not want Dayton to be appointed. I think from his talk if you should appoint no one in Penna. or N. Jersey the matter might be reconciled If you should I think it could not be but would lead to open hostility He seemed to wish the patronage of Penn. should not be given to his foes I think he cares more about this than about going into the Cabinet

Considering the whole affair he talk nobly & manly about the whole affair McClure came home & has been trying to bargain with Cameron to consent to his appointment upon condition that he might be returned to the Senate Things look fearfully here If Virginia goes Maryland is very doubtful Within a day or two, I have heard very little objection to Cameron & think in a day or two it would have been all undid. I think you will hear complaint about all appointments.

Yours Truly

Leonard Swett

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Joseph Casey to Leonard Swett, November 27, 1860

Harrisburg, 27 Nov. 1860.

Hon. Leonard Swett,

Dear Sir,

From some things that occurred when I was at Springfield, my mind has since been in doubt, as to whether Mr. Lincoln has been made fully acquainted with the conversations and understandings had between you & Judge Davis on the one side, & myself, on the other, at the Tremont House, the night before the nomination. That understanding of course, I was compelled to communicate to a few of Genl. Cameron's most initmate and confidential friends, in order to counteract other schemes, and overcome other inducements, proceeding from different quarters. Should the assurances I then gave, fail to be realized I should be utterly ruined, in the estimation of many of my most valuable friends. As some of them would probably prefer to believe that I had deceived them, instead of being disappointed in my own expectations. Feeling, as you may suppose, a nervous anxiety on this matter, I submit it, to the better judgment of yourself and Judge Davis, whether it would not be better, that Mr. L. if he is not now, should be put in possession of the whole matter before he finally acts in the premises. Having unlimited confidence in the honor and integrity of you both, as well as your prudence and discretion, I merely make the suggestion, leaving you to act in such way as you may deem best.

Since my return, I have been constantly occupied in Court, and will be for some weeks to come. But I can assure you, that outside of Phila. there is but one sentiment in this State, and even in the City, outside of a small, noisy, powerless clique the same feeling prevails

Let me hear from you soon —

Yours very truly

Jos Casey

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Leonard Swett to Abraham Lincoln, November 30, 1860

Bloomington

Nov 30, 1860

Dear Lincoln

I received, yesterday the enclosed letter from Sanderson I suppose it was intended for your eyes, more than mine, and therefore I forward it to you. I am annoyed, a little, that these applications of Cameron's friends are made so prominently through Judge Davis & myself. Yet, on the whole, from what occured at Chicago I think they have a right to do it. My objection is that it seemingly puts us in the advocacy of Cameron and leaves the inference of our interest to do so This is not the truth about it The truth is, at Chicago we thought the Cameron influence was the controlling element & tried to procure that rather than the factions The negotiations we had with them, so far as I can judge was one of the reasons, which induced the Cameron leaders to throw the bulk of that force to you. That having been done and a correspondence having been kept up by us with them, during the summer, they naturally seek the same channel to get back to you. This is all the only reason I know of, why they write to us.

While I arrogate to myself no might to my opinion, yet if they want it, opinions are cheap & in this instance certainly wont do harm.

This flurry at the South it seems to me can be got along with, but I dont think it ought to be helped with. The Country wants firmness & justice Cameron has the negative merit of not being offensive to them the South.

If it is conceded Penn. should have a Cabinet officer the weight of party there, all other things equal, should, I think, indicate him. Cameron would seem to satisfy the majority Reed, or any other man, only a minority A reason for this may be, that in adition to Cameron's real strength the politicians can heal their local differences by having two vacancies in the Senate to fill.

My belief is that no man, other that C. can be selected there without considerable dissatisfaction There is also the argument too that the Cameron influence, as much as any thing nominated you, while the other influences there did & could do you no considerable good The arguments against him I dont fully know, for my intercourse has been with his fends The only exception to this is Joseph Lewis of West Chester & I think he is a fussy old fellow who doesn't amount to much

Is not the fact that Seward may be satisfied with a mission to England worthy of consideration Tis true he undertands the foreign relations of the Gov & would be of great service but the domestic relation are the ones most complicated—

I understand that Cassius Clay is anxious to get into the Cabinet Does not this complicate matters It seems to me, he would be more odious to the South than any man but Seward[.] Putnam has written me two very long letters. He wants a second class foreign mission & has asked me at a proper time to name it to you

Yours Truly

Leonard Swett

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, November 7, 1862

La Grange, Tennessee,

November 7, 1862.

NOT having much of special note to write you since your visit to Jackson, and knowing that you were fully engaged, I have not troubled you with a letter. I write now a little on selfish grounds. I see from the papers that Mr. Leonard Swett is to be called near the President in some capacity. I believe him to be one of my bitterest enemies. The grounds of his enmity I suppose to be the course I pursued whilst at Cairo toward certain contractors and speculators who wished to make fortunes off of the soldiers and government, and in which he took much interest, whether a partner or not.⁷  He called on me in regard to the rights of a post sutler for Cairo (an appointment not known to the law) whom he had appointed. Finding that I would regard him in the light of any other merchant who might set up there, that I would neither secure him a monopoly of the trade nor his pay at the pay table for such as he might trust out, the sutler never made his appearance. If he did he never made himself known to me. In the case of some contracts that were given out for the supply of forage, they were given, if not to the very highest bidder, to far from the lowest, and full 30 per cent, higher than the articles could have been bought for at that time. Learning these facts, I immediately annulled the contracts.

Quite a number of car-loads of grain and hay were brought to Cairo on these contracts, and a change of Quartermaster having taken place in the meantime the new Quartermaster would not receive them without my order, except at rates he could then get the same articles for from other parties. This I refused to give. The contractors then called on me, and tried to convince me that the obligation was binding, but finding me immovable in the matter, asked if General Allen’s approval to the contract would not be sufficient. My reply was, in substance, that General Allen was Chief Quartermaster of the Department, and I could not control him. They immediately left me, and, thinking over the matter, it occurred to me that they would go immediately to St. Louis and present their contract for approval without mentioning the objection I made to it. I then telegraphed to General Allen the facts, and put him on his guard against these men. For some reason, however, my dispatch did not reach St. Louis for two days. General Allen then replied to it, stating that those parties had been to him the day before, and knowing no objection to the contract he had approved it.

The parties then returned to Cairo evidently thinking they had gained a great triumph. But there being no money to pay at that time, and because of the bad repute the Quartermaster's Department was in, they were afraid to take vouchers without my approval. They again called on me to secure this. My reply to them was that they had obtained their contract without my consent, had it approved against my sense of duty to the government, and they might go on and deliver their forage and get their pay in the same way. I would never approve a voucher for them under that contract if they never got a cent. I hoped they would not. This forced them to abandon the contract and to sell the forage already delivered for what it was worth.

Mr. Swett took much interest in this matter and wrote me one or more letters on the subject, rather offensive in their manner. These letters I have preserved, but they are locked up in Mr. Safford’s safe in Cairo. I afterwards learned from undoubted authority that there was a combination of wealthy and influential citizens formed, at the beginning of this war, for the purpose of monopolizing the army contracts. One of their boasts was that they had sufficient influence to remove any general who did not please them.

The modus operandi for getting contracts at a high rate, I suppose, was for a member of this association to put in bids commencing at as low rates as the articles could be furnished for, and after they were opened all would retire up to the highest one who was below any outside person and let him take it. In many instances probably they could buy off this one for a low figure by assuring him that he could not possibly get the contract, for if he did not retire it would be held by the party below. You will see by the papers that I am on the move. If troops are furnished me to keep open my lines of communication, there will be no delays in this department. Once at Grenada I can draw supplies from Memphis, and save our present very long line.

I do not see my report of the battle of Iuka in print. As the papers in General Rosecrans’s interest have so much misrepresented that affair, I would like to see it in print. I have no objection to that or any other general being made a hero of by the press, but I do not want to see it at the expense of a meritorious portion of the army. I endeavored in that report to give a plain statement of facts, some of which I would never have mentioned had it not become necessary in defense of troops who have been with me in all, or nearly all, the battles where I have had the honor to command. I have never had a single regiment disgrace itself in battle yet, except some new ones at Shiloh that never loaded a musket before that battle. . . .

__________

⁷Leonard Swett (1825-1889), a successful Illinois lawyer and an intimate friend of President Lincoln, made the nomination speech for the latter in the Chicago Convention of 1860, which the writer happened to hear, and in 1887 he delivered the oration at the unveiling of the Lincoln Statue in Chicago. During the war Mr. Swett had charge of a large number of cases for the Government, earning a high reputation both as a civil and as a criminal lawyer. He said to Grant at Cairo, “We are the lowest bidders and insist upon having the contract; if not, the matter will be placed before the President;” to which the General calmly replied, “I shall buy the hay in open market at a lower rate than you offer it, and will transport the hay on your road [the Illinois Central], of which I shall take immediate possession.” Grant then added, “If I find you in this military district at the expiration of twenty-four hours, you will be imprisoned and probably shot.” Hastening to Washington the indignant lawyer laid the matter before Lincoln, who said, “Well, Swett, if I were in your place, I should keep out of Ulysses Simpson's bailiwick, for to the best of my knowledge and belief Grant will keep his promise if he catches you in Cairo. In fact, Leonard, you had better ‘take to de woods,’ as the colored brother remarked.” Mr. Swett, who in later years became one of the General's greatest admirers, and who was one of the 306 that strongly urged Grant’s nomination for a presidential third term, told this story as here related by the present writer.

SOURCE: James Grant Wilson, Editor, General Grant’s Letters to a Friend 1861-1880, p. 18-22, 114-5