Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, March 20, 1861

Dr. Hitchcock, of California, the surgeon of General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista, who saved the life of Jeff. Davis by extracting from the wound he received a piece of steel of a spur and part of its leather strap, brought me direct from Secretary Black a despatch instructing me to oppose any recognition by this Government of a Minister from the Confederate States. . . I immediately asked an interview with Lord John Russell. As this despatch relates to high questions of domestic politics, and is dated as late as the 28th of February, only three days before the Inauguration, it suggests the possibility of its having been sanctioned by Mr. Lincoln, for his inaugural speaks to the same effect.

Macaulay's fifth volume, edited by Lady Trevelyan, is just out, and is a brilliant specimen of picturesque history. His sketch of Peter the Great and his development & of the rival pretensions to the Spanish succession are admirable in every way.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 442

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, May 1, 1861

The America brought me a note from. Mr. Adams. He quits Boston to-day. I may, therefore, look for him at farthest on the 15th inst.

The President's Proclamation against the seceding States as insurrectionary follows quickly upon the fall of Fort Sumter, and firmly accepts the challenge of war involved in that belligerent attack. It calls out seventy-five thousand militia, and will no doubt be enthusiastically responded to in men and money. Thus, then, has sectional hatred achieved its usual consummation,—civil war! Virginia hesitates, but she will join the Confederacy, as will also, finally, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Maryland. My poor country can henceforward know no security or peace until the passions of the two factions have covered her hills and valleys with blood and exhausted the strength of an entire generation of her sons. All Europe is watching with amazement this terrible tragedy.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 443

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 4, 1864

Rained all night; glimpses of the sun between the running clouds this morning. Windy, and likely to be cold.

Our iron-clad “Albemarle” was blown up by a handful of the enemy at Plymouth—surprising the water pickets (all asleep). The manner of the loss of the town, and of the counties east of it, is not known yet; but everything was foretold by Mr. Burgyson to the cabinet, then devoting their attention to the problem how to violate the Constitution, and put into the trenches some fifty delicate clerks, that their places might be filled by some of their own special favorites. Mr. George Davis, Attorney-General, the instrument selected to rend the Constitution, or rather to remove the obstacles out of the way, is from North Carolina; and this blow bas fallen upon his own State!

We learn that gold is rising rapidly in the North, which may be significant of President Lincoln's re-election next week.

We get no news from our armies except through the Northern papers—not reliable just now.

Gov. Allen, of Louisiana, writes a furious letter to the Secretary of War, who ordered the disbandment of the State Battalion. He says the order is a personal offense to him and an insult to his State (he is a native Virginian), and he will resent it and resist it to the last extremity. He gives notice that the 3d battalion has been ordered back from the east side of the Mississippi River. The battalion disbanded numbered but 150 men! A little business—like losing one-fourth of North Carolina, to put out of office fifty clerks, whose tenure, by the Constitution, is for life!

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 323-4

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 5, 1864

Clear and cold.

Grant has attempted nothing this week, and it is probably too late for any demonstration to affect the election. I infer that the government is convinced President Lincoln will be re-elected, else some desperate effort would have been made in his behalf by his generals. Will he float on a sea of blood another four years? I doubt it. One side or the other must, I think, give up the contest. He can afford to break with the Abolitionists now. We cannot submit without the loss of everything.

It is thought Grant will continue to "swing to the left,” making a winter campaign on the coasts of North and South Carolina mean time leaving Butler's army here, always menacing Richmond.

Gen. Beauregard writes from Gadsden, Ala., October 24th, that his headquarters will be at Tuscumbia, Ala.; will get supplies from Corinth to Tuscambia. Forrest has been ordered to report to Gen. Hood, in Middle Tennessee. The railroad iron between Corinth and Memphis will be taken to supply wants elsewhere. Gen. Dick Taylor is to guard communications, etc., has directed Gen. Cheatham to issue an address to the people of Tennessee, saying his and Gen. Forrest's command have entered the State for its redemption, etc., and calling upon the people to aid in destroying the enemy's communications, while the main army is between Atlanta and Chattanooga, when the purpose is to precipitate the whole army upon it, etc. Gen. B. doubts not he will soon be able to announce good tidings, etc. etc. This letter to Gen. Cooper is “submitted to the Secretary of War,” by whom it is "submitted for the information of the President,” and sent back by him—“Read and returned, 4th Nov. '64.-J. D.”

Gen. B. was to leave that day to join Gen. Hood, in vicinity of Guntersville, on Tennessee River. Sherman's army was between Dalton and Gadsden, 15 miles from Gadsden.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 324-5

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Sunday, November 6, 1864

Bright and frosty.

All quiet below. Another day, and if it remains quiet, we may know that Lincoln will be re-elected.

It is said news came from the North last night, that gold sold for $260, and that Governor Seymour had ordered the militia of New York to be in readiness for the protection of the polls on Tuesday next.

G. W. Randolph, late Secretary of War, has sailed for Europe, taking his family with him. Other quondam Confederate States functionaries have gone, or are going. Many have realized fortunes, who were poor, and this country has ceased to be the one to enjoy them in.

A parting letter was written by Mr. Randolph to his friend, R. G. H. Kean, Chief of the Bureau of War-appointed by Mr. R., and from whom I derived the information of the sailing of his patron. Such departures, at a crisis like this, spread additional doubts in the community. Mr. R. was not liable to conscription, if averse to fighting more in our cause, being exempted by Governor Smith as a member of the Common Council.

To-morrow is the day fixed for the reassembling of our Congress, but doubts are entertained whether there will be a quorum.

We shall soon have lively news from Beauregard. If I understand his letter of the 24th ult., he is determined to march the army without delay into Middle Tennessee, leaving Sherman on his right flank and rear. It is a desperate conception, and will probably be a brilliant success—or a sad disaster. Napoleon liked such games. If Beauregard really bas great genius, he has now the field on which to display it. If the Tennesseeans and Kentuckians rise, momentous events may follow; if not, it is probably the last opportunity they will have. They have their choice—but blood is the price of independence.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 325

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 8, 1864

Wet and warm; all quiet below, and much mud there.

Congress assembled yesterday, and the President's message was read. He recommends the employment of 40,000 slaves in the army, not as soldiers, unless in the last extremity; and after the war he proposes their emancipation. This is supposed to be the idea of Mr. Benjamin, for foreign effect. It is denounced by the Examiner. The message also recommends the abolition of all class exemptions, such as editors, etc. The Examiner denounces this as a blow at the freedom of the press.

The message is cheerful and full of hope, showing that the operations of the year, in the field, have resulted in no disadvantage to us.

By the Northern papers we find that a fleet of four or five cruisers is devastating their commerce. They sailed recently from Wilmington, in spite of Gen. Whiting.

No attack was made on Richmond during the last few days. I have no doubt it was deemed unnecessary by the enemy to secure Mr. Lincoln's re-election. To-day, no doubt, the election in the United States will result in a new lease of presidential life for Mr. Lincoln. If this result should really have been his motive in the conduct of the war, perhaps there may soon be some relaxation of its rigors—and possibly peace, for it is obvious that subjugation is not possible. President Lincoln may afford to break with the Abolition party now, and, as has been often done before, kick down the ladder by which he ascended to power. This is merely speculation, however; he may resolve to wield the whole military strength and resources of the United States with more fury than ever.

But there will henceforth be a dangerous party against him in the rear. The defeated Democrats will throw every obstruction in his path—and they may chock his wheels—or even give him employment for the bayonet at home.

Dispatches from Beauregard and Hood, November 4th, at Tuscumbia, say that Sherman is concentrating at Huntsville and Decatur. Part of our army is at Florence. Gen. B. says his advance has been retarded by bad weather and want of supplies, but that he will march into Tennessee immediately. Gen. Forrest is throwing difficulties in the way of Sherman. The armies are equidistant from Nashville, and if Sherman's supplies fail, his condition becomes desperate.

Captain Manico (acting lieutenant-colonel Departmental Regiment) informs me that the enemy will certainly open batteries in a day or two on our troops at Chaffin's Bluff, and will be replied to vigorously, which he thinks will bring on a battle. We shall hear more thunder, as the distance is only seven or eight miles.

It seems to be clearing up, and there may be news before night. When election news arrives per telegraph from the North—if favorable—it is supposed the enemy will celebrate it by shotted salutes, and thus recommence the slaughter.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 326-7

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 9, 1864

Rained last night; clear this morning, and

All quiet below, except the occasional bombs thrown at the canal by our iron-clads.

The press is mostly opposed to the President's project of employing 40,000 slaves in the army, under promise of emancipation. Some indicate the belief that the President thinks the alternatives are subjugation or abolition, and is preparing the way for the latter.

The Enquirer is averse to conscribing editors between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The editor says it would be a violation of the Constitution, etc.

We all believe Lincoln has been easily re-elected.

It is supposed Grant will soon receive large accessions from Sheridan's army, and make another attempt to take Richmond. It will be the most formidable attempt, and will be the most formidably resisted.

A row between Gen. Kemper and Gen. Preston: latter refers papers directly to Col. Shields, Gen. K.'s subordinate. Gen. K. asks to be relieved: Secretary Seddon agrees to it, taking sides with the Bureau of Conscription. But the President does not (yet) agree to it, asks investigation of Gen. K.'s complaints, etc.; and so it rests at the present. The Assistant Secretary of War, his son-in-law Lieut.-Col. Lay, etc. etc. are all on the side of the Bureau of Conscription; but I suspect the President is on the other side. My opinion is that unless the Bureau of Conscription be abolished or renovated, our cause will fare badly. The President states his suspicions of "malpractice” in his indorsement.

Much cheering has been heard this morning in the enemy's lines over election news, probably: whether McClellan's or Lincoln's success, no one here knows; but no doubt the latter.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 327-8

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 11, 1864

Clear and pleasant. All quiet. No doubt, from the indications, Lincoln has been re-elected.

Now preparations must be made for the further “conflict of opposing forces." All our physical power must be exerted, else all is lost.

Mr. Sparrow, Louisiana, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a measure, yesterday, in the Senate, which, if consummated, might put all our able-bodied men in the field. It would equalize prices of the necessaries of life, and produce a panic among the speculators. I append it. But, probably, the press will have to be suppressed, “as a war measure,” too, to pass it:

A bill to extend the assessment of prices for the army to all citizens of the Confederate States:

 

Whereas, the depreciation of our currency is, in a great measure, produced by the extortion of those who sell the necessaries of life; and whereas, such depreciation is ruinous to our Confederacy and to the means of prosecuting the war; therefore

 

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, as a necessary war measure, That the prices assessed for the army by the commissioners of assessment shall be the prices established for all citizens of the Confederate States; and that any person who shall charge any price beyond such assessment shall be deemed guilty of a criminal offense, and be subject to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars and to imprisonment not exceeding one year.

We are now tending rapidly, under fearful exigencies, to the absolutism which, in a republic, alone can summon the full forces into the field. Power must be concentrated, and wielded with promptitude and precision, else we shall fail to achieve our independence. All obstructions in the way of necessary war measures must be speedily removed, or the finances, and the war itself, will speedily come to an ignominious end.

The Secretary recommends, and the President orders, that Gen. Bragg be assigned to the command of North Carolina. The President yields; Bragg is “given up."

The Richmond Enquirer is out, to-day, in an article advocating the employment of 250,000 negroes in our army.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 329-30

Diary of Gideon Welles: October 1865

Some slight indisposition and pressing duties have postponed my daily remarks. The President had expressed to me his intention to go to Richmond and Raleigh on the 3d inst., and invited me to accompany him, but I doubted if he would carry the design out, and he said on the 3d he must postpone it for the present, which I think will be for the season.

A vote was taken in Connecticut on Monday, the 2d, on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to erase the word "white" and permit the colored persons to vote. I was not surprised that the proposition was defeated by a very decided majority, yet I had expected that the question might be carried on the strong appeal to party. But there is among the people a repugnance to the negro, and a positive disinclination to lower the standard of suffrage. They will not receive the negro into their parlors on terms of social intimacy, and they are unwilling to put him in the jury-box or any political position. There are probably not five hundred colored persons who could be made electors, and the grievance is therefore not very great.

The defeat of the Constitutional Amendment has caused a great howl to be set up by certain extremists, in the State and out of it. While I might have voted affirmatively had I been in the State, I have no wailing over the negative results. I regret to witness the abuse of the Press and other papers on those whom it failed to convince, and who consequently voted according to their convictions. This abuse and denunciation will tend to alienate friends, and weaken the influence of the Union leaders in future elections.

The effect of the vote elsewhere will be to impair centralization, which has been setting in strong of late, and invigorate State action, and in this respect the result will be beneficent. I apprehend our extreme negro advocates are doing serious injury to the negro in their zeal in his behalf, and they are certainly doing harm to our system by insisting on the exercise of arbitrary and unauthorized power in aid of the negro.

Some of the workmen in the Philadelphia Navy Yard complained that an assessment had been levied upon them for party purposes. I had written a pretty decisive letter correcting the evil when I went to the Cabinet-meeting on Tuesday, and had given it out to be copied. After the general business before the Cabinet had been disposed of, the President took me aside and said complaints of a similar character had been made to him. I told him my own conclusion and what I had done, which he approved. The opportunity is most favorable to correct a pernicious practice, which I last year would not sanction, and which led Raymond, Thurlow Weed, and others to try to prejudice President Lincoln against me.

On Wednesday Amos Kendall called and wished me to go with him to the President. He alluded to old friendly political associations and relations between us. I was glad of the opportunity of taking him to the President, whom I was about to call upon with my letter to the Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, respecting the improper assessment of workmen. After a brief interview Mr. Kendall left, and I read my letter concerning the assessment of workmen, which the President complimented and desired it should go to other yards and be made public. [The letter follows.]

NAVY DEPARTMENT,      

3 October, 1865.

 

SIR: The attention of the Department has been called to an attempt recently made in Philadelphia to assess or tax for party purposes the workmen in the Navy Yard. It is claimed by those who have participated in these proceedings, that the practice has prevailed in former years, at that and other Navy Yards, of levying contributions of this character on mechanics and laborers employed by the Government.

 

Such an abuse cannot be permitted; and it is the object of this communication to prohibit it, wherever it may be practiced.

 

From inquiries instituted by the Department, on the complaint of sundry workmen, who represented that a committee had undertaken, through the agency of the masters, to collect from each of the employés in their respective departments, a sum equal to one day's labor, for party purposes—it has been ascertained that there had been received from the workmen before these proceedings were arrested, the sum of $1052.

 

This and all other attempts to exact money from laborers in the public service, either by compulsion or voluntary contribution, is, in every point of view, reprehensible, and is wholly and absolutely prohibited. Whatever money may have been exacted, and is now in the hands of the Masters, will be forthwith returned to the workmen from whom it was received; and any Master or other appointee of this Department who may be guilty of a repetition of this offense, or shall hereafter participate in levying contributions in the Navy Yards, from persons in the Government service, for party purposes, will incur the displeasure of the Department, and render himself liable to removal. The organization of the Yard must not be perverted to aid any party. Persons who desire to make voluntary party contributions, can find opportunities to do so, at ward or other local political meetings, and on other occasions than during working hours. They are neither to be assisted nor opposed, in this matter, by government officials. The Navy Yards must not be prostituted to any such purpose, nor will Committee men be permitted to resort thither, to make collections for any political party whatever. Working men, and others in the service of the Government, are expected and required to devote their time and energies during working hours, and while in the Yard, to the labor which they are employed to execute.

It has been also represented that some of the Masters at some of the Navy Yards employ extra hands preceding warmly contested elections, and that much of the time of these superfluous hands is devoted to party electioneering. Such an abuse, if it exists in any department of any of the Navy Yards, must be corrected. No more persons should be retained in the Navy Yards than the public service actually requires. Party gatherings and party discussions are at all times to be avoided within the Yards. It will be the duty of the Commandants of the respective Yards, and of all officers, to see that this order is observed.

 

Very respectfully,

G. WELLES, 

Secty. of the Navy.

COMMO. CHAS. H. BELL,

Commdt. Navy Yard,

New York.

 

(Also written to all the other Commandants of Navy Yards.)

I called on Seward on Wednesday in relation to the Stonewall, the Harriet Lane, the Florida, etc., as he was about leaving to be absent for a fortnight, and we may wish to send to Havana before he returns. After disposing of business, and I had left his room, he sent his messenger to recall me. He seemed a little embarrassed and hesitating at first, but said he wished to say to me that he had had full and free and unreserved talks recently with the President; that he had found him friendly and confiding, and more communicative than Mr. Lincoln ever had been; that he knew and could say to me that the President had for me, for him (Seward), and indeed for all the Cabinet a friendly regard; that he had no intention of disturbing any member of the Cabinet; that I had reason to be specially gratified with the President's appreciation of me. Some general conversation followed on past transactions and events. Among other things we got on to Blair's letters and speeches. He says the original armistice, alluded to by Blair, was left by Buchanan with other papers on the office table at the Executive Mansion or with the Attorney-General.

Seward, McCulloch, Harlan, and Speed were absent from Washington on Friday, the 6th, the day of the last Cabinet-meeting. No very important questions were presented and discussed. The presence of the assistants instead of the principals operates, I perceive, as an obstruction to free interchange of opinion.

At the last Cabinet-meeting in September, Seward read a strange letter addressed to one of the provisional governors, informing him that the President intended to continue the provisional governments in the several insurrectionary States until Congress assembled and should take the subject in hand with the newly formed constitutions. I was amazed, and remarked that I did not understand the question or status of the States to be as stated, and was relieved when the President said he disapproved of that part of the letter. Speed asked to have the letter again read and was evidently satisfied with it. Seward made a pencil correction or alteration that was unimportant and meaningless, when the President said very emphatically he wished no reference to Congress in any such communication, or in any such way. Stanton, I observed, remained perfectly silent though very attentive. It appeared to me that the subject was not novel to him.

In an interview with the President the Monday following (the 2d inst.), I expressed my wish that no letter should be sent defining the policy of the Administration without full and careful consideration. The President said he should see to that, and that Seward's letter as modified by himself was a harmless affair.

I have sent out another circular in relation to the appointment of masters in the navy yards. These appointments have caused great difficulty in the Department, the Members of Congress insisting on naming them, and almost without an exception the party instead of the mechanical qualifications of the man is urged. It is best to be relieved of this evil, and I shall try to cure it.

I see that Senator Grimes by letter expresses his disapproval of the Radical movements in the Iowa State Convention. Doolittle has been still more emphatic in Wisconsin. Things are working very well. The conventions in the Rebel States are discharging their duties as satisfactorily, perhaps, as could be expected. Some of the extreme Republicans, of the Sumner school, are dissatisfied, but I think their numbers are growing less. The Democrats, on the other hand, are playing what they consider a shrewd party game, by striving to take advantage of the errors and impracticable notions of the ultras. Therefore the policy of the Administration appears to be growing in favor, though the machinery of politics is at work in an opposite direction.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 375-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, October 10, 1865

As I went into the President's office this morning and was passing him to enter the library, he took occasion to express his satisfaction with my circulars and his thorough conviction of their rectitude. He was exceedingly pleased with the manner of their reception by the public. Said Preston King, when last there, had advised that we should pursue a straightforward course and leave consequences to themselves.

Leaving the President, I went on to the library. Stanton and Dennison were there, and, I think, Ashton and W. E. Chandler. Harlan soon came in. Dennison almost immediately addressed me on the subject of my circular respecting assessments. He said it was likely to have an effect on other Departments. He had received this morning a petition from the clerks in the New York post-office inclosing my circular, and asking to be relieved of a five per cent assessment which had been levied upon them for party purposes. I remarked that they were proper subjects to be exempt from such a tax in times like these, that I disliked and was decidedly opposed to this whole principle of assessment of employés of the government for party objects,—if not broken up it would demoralize the government and country.

Stanton said if I had issued such a circular one year ago, we should have lost the election. I questioned the correctness of that assertion, and told him that I took the same ground then that I did now, although I issued no circular. He said he was aware I objected to assessments in the yards, but had understood that I finally backed down and consented. I assured him he was greatly mistaken; that Raymond had annoyed President Lincoln with his demands, and that I had been importuned to permit the tax to be levied but that I had never consented or changed my views, or actions, or been ever requested to do so by President Lincoln.

Dennison said that Mr. Harlan's committee—Harlan, being chairman—had made an assessment on all office-holders and he thought it was right. Stanton earnestly affirmed its rightfulness, and said the Democrats raised two dollars for every one raised by us. Asked if I did not pay an assessment. I told him I contributed money, but did not submit to be assessed or taxed. Harlan sat by and said nothing, though occasionally rolling up his eye and showing his peculiar smile. I told the gentlemen that, while differing with them, I was gratified to have the President with me. He came in a few moments after, and the subject was dropped.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 379-81

Diary of Gideon Welles: December 3, 1865

Told the President I disliked the proceedings of the Congressional caucus on Saturday evening. The resolution for a joint committee of fifteen to whom the whole subject of admission of Representatives from States which had been in rebellion [should be referred] without debate was in conflict with the spirit and letter of the Constitution, which gives to each house the decision of election of its own members, etc. Then in appointing Stevens, an opponent of State rights, to present it there was something bad. The whole was, in fact, revolutionary, a blow at our governmental system, and there had been evident preconcert to bring it about. The President agreed with me, but said they would be knocked in the head at the start. There would be a Representative from Tennessee who had been a loyal Member of the House since the War commenced, or during the War, who could present himself, and so state the case that he could not be controverted. I expressed my gratification if this could be accomplished, knowing he alluded to Maynard, but suggested a doubt whether the intrigue which was manifest by the resolution, the designation of Stevens, and Colfax's speech had not gone too far.

Congress organized about the time this conversation took place. Maynard was put aside, I think by concert between himself and the Radical leaders. The resolution introduced by Stevens passed by a strict party vote. In the Senate, Sumner introduced an avalanche of radical and some of them absurd-resolutions. These appeared to have absorbed the entire attention of that body, which adjourned without the customary committee to wait upon the President and inform him that Congress was organized. This was not unintentional. There was design in it.

Fogg of New Hampshire, our late Minister to Switzerland, came to see me this evening with Chandler, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

The recall of Fogg was an unwise, unjust, and I think an unpolitic act on the part of Seward, and I shall not be surprised if he has cause to rue it. Fogg was associated with me on the National Executive Committee in the Presidential campaign of 1860, and was brought in particularly intimate relations with Mr. Lincoln at that time. No one, perhaps, knows better than F. the whole workings in relation to the formation of the Cabinet of 1861. These he detailed very minutely this evening. Much of it I had known before. He has a remarkable memory, and all the details of 1860 and 1861 were impressed upon his mind. He was the first to bring me assurance that I was selected for the Cabinet from New England. I thought at the time his, F.'s, original preferences were in another direction, although the selection of myself was, he then and now assured me, acceptable to him. At that time F., listening to Seward's friends, believed he would not accept an appointment in the Cabinet. Such were the givings-out of his friends and of Seward himself. I told F. at the time, as he still recollects, he was deceiving himself, and that Mr. Lincoln was in a strange delusion if he believed it.

Weed tried to induce Mr. Lincoln to visit Mr. Seward at Auburn. Said General Harrison went to Lexington in 1841 to see Mr. Clay, who advised in the formation of that Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln declined to imitate Harrison. The next effort was to try to have a meeting at Chicago, but this Mr. L. also declined. But he did invite Hamlin to meet him there. On his way Hamlin was intercepted by Weed, who said the offer of the State Department was due to Mr. Seward, but S. would decline it. The courtesy, however, was, he claimed, due to Mr. S. and to New York. H. was persuaded, and Mr. L. intrusted him with a letter tendering the appointment to Seward.

Shortly after the commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1860, Fogg says Hamlin, when coming down from the Capitol one afternoon after the adjournment of the Senate, fell in company with Seward, or was overtaken by him. They walked down the avenue together, Seward knowing H. had been to Chicago. On reaching Hamlin's hotel, he invited S. to go in, and a full conversation took place, S. declaring he was tired of public life and that he intended to resign his seat or decline a reëlection and retire, that there was no place in the gift of the President which he would be willing to take. Several times he repeated that he would not go into the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln. Having heard these refusals in various forms, Hamlin then told him he had a letter from Mr. Lincoln, which he produced. Seward, H. says to Fogg, trembled and was nervous as he took it. He read the letter, put it in his pocket, and said, while his whole feelings were repugnant to a longer continuance in public employment, he yet was willing to labor for his country. He would, therefore, consult his friends before giving a final answer. The next, or succeeding, day he left for New York, but before going he mailed a letter to the President elect accepting the appointment. Hamlin repeated all the facts to Fogg last week, so far as he was concerned.

Great efforts were made to secure the Treasury for Cameron. This was a part of the programme of Weed and Seward. I have always understood that Mr. Lincoln became committed to this scheme in a measure, though it was unlike him. Fogg explains it in this way: In the summer and fall a bargain was struck between Weed and Cameron. The latter went to Albany and then to Saratoga, where he spent several days with the intriguers. Cameron subsequently tried to get an invitation that fall to Springfield, but Lincoln would not give it. This annoyed the clique. After the election, Swett, who figured then as a confidential friend and intimate of Lincoln, not without some reason, was sent, or came, East to feel the public pulse. At a later day he went to California and had a finger in the Alameda quicksilver mine. Swett was seized by Weed and Company, open rooms and liquors were furnished by the New York junto, and his intimacy with Lincoln was magnified. Cameron took him to his estate at Lochiel and feasted him. Here the desire of Cameron to go to Springfield was made known to Swett, who took upon himself to extend an invitation in Mr. Lincoln's name. With this he took a large body-guard and went to Springfield. Although surprised, Mr. Lincoln could not disavow what Swett had done. Cameron was treated civilly; his friends talked, etc. After his return, Mr. Lincoln wrote him that in framing his Cabinet he proposed giving him a place, either in the Treasury or the War Department. Cameron immediately wrote, expressing his thanks and accepting the Treasury. Mr. Lincoln at once wrote that there seemed some misapprehension and he therefore withdrew his tender or any conclusive arrangement until he came to Washington. I have heard some of these things from Mr. L[incoln]. Fogg, who now tells them to me, says he knows them all.

Mrs. Lincoln has the credit of excluding Judd of Chicago from the Cabinet. The President was under great personal obligations to Judd, and always felt and acknowledged it. When excluded from the Cabinet, he selected the mission to Berlin.

Caleb Smith was brought in at a late hour and after Judd's exclusion. Weed and Seward had intended to bring in Emerson Etheridge and Graham of North Carolina, and After the President came to Washington, a decided onset was made by the anti-Seward men of New York and others against Chase. An earlier movement had been made, but not sufficient to commit the President. Senator Wade of Ohio did not favor Chase. Governor Dennison was strongly for him, and Wade, who disliked Seward, finally withdrew opposition to C. But about the time I reached Washington on the 1st of March another hitch had taken place. I had remained away until invited, and had been mixed up with none of the intrigues.

The President (Lincoln) told me on Sunday, 3d March, that there was still some trouble, but that he had become satisfied he should arrange the matter. Fogg tells me that Greeley and others who were here attending to the rightful construction of the Cabinet had deputed him to call upon the President and ascertain if Chase was to be excluded. A rumor to that effect had got abroad and Lamon, a close friend of Lincoln (too close), was offering to bet two to one that C. would not have the Treasury. Fogg called on the President, but first Mrs. L. and then Seward interrupted them. On Tuesday, the 5th, at 7 A.M., Fogg and Carl Schurz called on the President to make sure of Chase. Seward followed almost immediately. Lincoln, in a whisper, told F. all was right, and subsequently informed him that he had been annoyed and embarrassed by Seward on the 1st of March, who came to him and said that he, S., had not been consulted as was usual in the formation of the Cabinet, that he understood Chase had been assigned to the Treasury, that there were differences between himself and Chase which rendered it impossible for them to act in harmony, that the Cabinet ought, as General Jackson said, to be a unit. Under these circumstances and with his conviction of duty and what was due to himself, he must insist on the excluding of Mr. Chase if he, Seward, remained. Mr. Lincoln expressed his surprise after all that had takenplace and with the great trouble on his hands, that he should be met with such a demand on this late day. He requested Mr. S. to further consider the subject.

The result was that Mr. Lincoln came to the conclusion if Seward persisted, he would let him go and make Dayton, of New Jersey, Secretary of State. But Seward did not persist.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 387-92

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, April 15, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 15, 1866.

DEAR UNCLE:— I was at Mount Vernon yesterday for the first time. Washington was a capital judge of fine sites for towns and mansions. His own seat was fitly chosen. The views of the Potomac are beautiful. His farming was on a royal scale. The sentiment merely from "the genius of the place," the tomb, and the like, did not strike me. The truth is, if it were not sacrilege, I should say Lincoln is overshadowing Washington. Washington is formal, statue-like, a figure for exhibition; but both were necessary to complete our history. Neither could have done the other's work.

I bought you a cane which may get to you sometime — a common hickory stick, genuine.

I think some of coming home on a ten days' leave, one of these days. If so will call at Fremont and talk things up with you. I have no plans.

The country will go through all safe. Some dangers ahead, serious dangers, just enough to give interest to what would otherwise be a very dull life.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 23

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, April 15, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 15, 1866.

MY DARLING:—I went to Mount Vernon yesterday. It is a beautiful spot. The extensive views of the Potomac are the great feature. The mere "genius of the place," I hardly thought of. The spot was happily chosen for our great man's home. It was the anniversary of Lincoln's death. It seems to me Lincoln is rather eclipsing Washington. I feel more than ever that, taking him all in all, he was the highest character. But it is like sacrilege to make these comparisons. It is probably

true that neither could have done the other's work, and without the work of both we should have had a different history. Love to all.

Affectionately ever,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 23-4

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: October 25, 1864

Bright and beautiful morning.

All quiet below. Mr. McRae has been permitted by Gen. Butler to return again to the city to await his exchange, pledged not to bear arms, etc. Many more of the government employees, forced into the trenches, would be happy to be in the same predicament. A great many are deserting under a deliberate conviction that their rights have been despotically invaded by the government; and that this government is, and is likely to be, as tyrannous as Lincoln’s. No doubt many give valuable information to the enemy.

The Superintendent of the Bureau of Conscription is at open war with the General of Reserves in Virginia, and confusion is likely to be worse confounded.

Gen. Cooper, A. and I. General (Pennsylvanian), suggests to the President the appointment of Gen. Lovell to the command of all the prisons containing Federal captives. Gen. Lovell, too, is a Northern man.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 315

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, January 5, 1861

Frederick William, whom I saw at the wedding of his son and the Princess Royal, after acting as Regent since November, 1858, has mounted the throne, by the death of the old crazy King William IV., under the name of William V. of Prussia. His politics are more liberal than his predecessor's.

Brougham publishes in the Times of to-day his brief correspondence with Redpath, who invites to a consultation how to extinguish slavery in the United States. The poor old trimmer is backing out, and wants to abdicate his chiefdom of Exeter Hall. This is his second or third effort to wriggle himself out of the humiliation consequent upon his fanatical negrophilism at the Statistical Congress.

On Wednesday last the ceremony of again proroguing Parliament took place in the House of Lords. The day appointed for meeting is the 5th of February, but "for despatch of business" was omitted; inadvertently, or by design?

Mr. Motley, the historian, called and spent an hour in chat. I expressed my great delight with his recently issued work, the "Dutch Republic." Told him I had noted two new spellings, Escorial and Burghley; the first he said was unquestionably correct, the second he took from the Lord Treasurer's uniform mode of signing his name, though it was spelled very variously. In the course of conversation he avowed the opinion that Walsingham, not Burghley, was the great Minister of Queen Elizabeth, and he thought that Elizabeth had taken to herself merit and glory which really belonged to the British people generally. We turned over the distressing condition of American politics. He is for saving the Union at almost any sacrifice; but I thought I could perceive that he entertained the theory that, maintaining the name, the flag, and the Constitution, we should be happier and equally great without the cotton States. He is inveterately hostile to slavery. Now that his two volumes are making him famous, he proposes to be presented with his wife and daughter at Court. Of course I shall be proud to gratify his wish in that respect. I think he remembers that the literary fame of Washington Irving made him chargé at this Court and subsequently Minister at Madrid. Lincoln can give me no more acceptable successor. The foundations for such an appointment are more broad, more durable, and in every way more satisfactory than those of mere political partisanship.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 425-7

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, February 23, 1861

NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 23, 1861.

DEAR MR. BOYD: I fear from our experience here the cadets did not have a good time of it last night. It rained here a part of the day and night and now we are having a sort of postscript in a heavy shower. I have had a good deal of running about to do to-day, because I got here on Thursday after bank hours, and yesterday being a holiday it was closed, and this morning on application I found the book which I had sent down a week ago by mail only got here this morning. So I did not get it till 2:30 p.m. and Dr. Smith wanted to go to Baton Rouge at 5 p.m. so we gave it but a rapid examination, but there being a balance in bank larger than I claimed Dr. Smith was on the safe side in passing it. I have been with him to the boat, and he is off for Baton Rouge, and I have naught to do but be off for home. I shall start to-morrow, Sunday, for St. Louis to reach there Monday evening.

Tell St. Ange that I found Madame Lefevre and got the books entered, though I was bothered by the deputy collector. Still I think he will soon receive the books. I made the custom-house oath without seeing the list invoice of books. I know you will expect me to tell you some general political news. All here is secession on the streets. Indoors they are more reasonable and some have said to me that even yet if the North will give guarantees, this state would return. More than one have said that the leaders were afraid to leave it to a vote of the people. Congress can do nothing. The Peace Conference may report. I don't see what Lincoln or any man can do, when sections are arrayed against each other and will not believe each other.

I still adhere to my old notion that we have to fear anarchy more than a direct conflict on the slavery issue. If any of the Southern States become dissatisfied with the tariff policy of the new combination and I have myself heard merchants talk pretty plainly of the tariff already imposed on northern goods, they will secede a second time and so on to the end of the chapter.

I have seen a good deal of Bragg who goes on quietly but steadily, organizing two regiments of regulars and mark my word when a time of strife comes he will be prepared.

He tells me there is an officer at West Point whose name I now forget, who wants to be your superintendent. But the governor has advertised for one to apply before April 6 — so that no choice will take place till then. In the mean time Dr. Smith has the check book and can draw for money. I really do hope you may have a clever fellow, for your social position is one of isolation and those who are so banished should have respect and even fondness for each other. There is no pleasure or satisfaction in life when one's associate is devoid of feeling, sense, or judgment. With these and a few companions I have never cared much whether my abode was in Wall St., San Francisco, in the Desert, in Kansas, or Ohio.

But the truth is I have socially been too much isolated from my children, and now that they are at an age when for good or ill we should be together I must try and allay that feeling of change and venture that has made me a wanderer. If possible I will settle down – fast and positive. Of a summer eve with my little Minnie and Willy and the rascal Tom I can live over again my Florida life, my ventures in California, and my short sojourn in the pine woods of Louisiana, and I will teach them that there are kind good people everywhere, that a great God made all the world, that He slighted no part, that to some He assigned the rock and fir – with clear babbling brooks but cold and bitter winters, to others the grassy plain and fertile soil, to others the rich alluvium and burning sun to ripen the orange and sugar cane, but everywhere He gave the same firmament, the same gentle moon, and to the inhabitants the same attributes for good and evil.

What a beautiful task in theory, which may all explode the first moment of its realization but still one to dream of – and I know you will believe me sincere when I hope, in that little group, wherever it may be, you will some day drop in and try my hospitality. I assure you.

About the 20th of February, having turned over all property, records, and money, on hand, to Major Smith, and taking with me the necessary documents to make the final settlement with Dr. S. A. Smith, at the bank in New Orleans, where the funds of the institution were deposited to my credit, I took passage from Alexandria for that city, and arrived there, I think, on the 23d.¹ Dr. Smith met me, and we went to the bank, where I turned over to him the balance, got him to audit all my accounts, certify that they were correct and just, and that there remained not one cent of balance in my hands. I charged in my account current for my salary up to the end of February, at the rate of four thousand dollars a year, and for the five hundred dollars due me as superintendent of the Central Arsenal, all of which was due and had been fairly earned, and then I stood free and discharged of any and every obligation, honorary or business, that was due by me to the State of Louisiana, or to any corporation or individual in the state.

This business occupied two or three days, during which I staid at the St. Louis Hotel. I usually sat at table with Colonel and Mrs. Bragg, and an officer who wore the uniform of the State of Louisiana, and was addressed as captain. Bragg wore a colonel's uniform, and explained to me that he was a colonel in the state service, a colonel of artillery, and that some companies of his regiment garrisoned Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the arsenal at Baton Rouge.

Beauregard at the time had two sons at the Seminary of Learning. I had given them some of my personal care at the father's request, and, wanting to tell him of their condition and progress, I went to his usual office in the Custom-House Building, and found him in the act of starting for Montgomery, Alabama. Bragg said afterward that Beauregard had been sent for by Jefferson Davis, and that it was rumored that he had been made a brigadier-general, of which fact he seemed jealous, because in the old army Bragg was the senior.

. . . I recall a conversation at the tea-table, one evening, at the St. Louis Hotel. When Bragg was speaking of Beauregard's promotion, Mrs. Bragg, turning to me, said, “You know that my husband is not a favorite with the new president.” My mind was resting on Mr. Lincoln as the new president, and I said I did not know that Bragg had ever met Mr. Lincoln, when Mrs. Bragg said, quite pointedly, “I didn't mean your president, but our president.” I knew Bragg hated Davis bitterly, and that he had resigned from the army in 1855, or 1856, because Davis, as secretary of war, had ordered him, with his battery, from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, to Fort Smith or Fort Washita, in the Indian country, as Bragg expressed it, “to chase Indians with six-pounders.”

I visited the quartermaster, Colonel A. C. Myers, who had resigned from the army, January 28, 1861, and had accepted service under the new régime. His office was in the same old room in the Lafayette Square Building, which he had in 1853, when I was there a commissary, with the same pictures on the wall, and the letters “U.S.” on every thing, including his desk, papers, etc. I asked him if he did not feel funny. “No, not at all. The thing was inevitable, secession was a complete success; there would be no war, but the two governments would settle all matters of business in a friendly spirit, and each would go on in its allotted sphere, without further confusion.”

I walked the streets of New Orleans, and found business going along as usual. Ships were strung for miles along the lower levee, and steamboats above, all discharging or receiving cargo. The Pelican flag of Louisiana was flying over the Custom House, Mint, City Hall, and everywhere. At the levee ships carried every flag on earth except that of the United States, and I was told that during a procession on the 22d of February, celebrating their emancipation from the despotism of the United States government, only one national flag was shown from a house, and that the house of Cuthbert Bullitt, on Lafayette Square. He was commanded to take it down, but he refused and defended it with his pistol.

The only officer of the army that I can recall, as being there at the time, who was faithful, was Colonel C. L. Kilburn, of the Commissary Department, and he was preparing to escape north.

Everybody regarded the change of government as final; that Louisiana, by a mere declaration, was a free and independent state, and could enter into any new alliance or combination she chose.

Men were enlisted and armed, to defend the state, and there was not the least evidence that the national administration designed to make any effort, by force, to vindicate the national authority. I therefore bade adieu to all my friends, and about the 25th of February took my departure by railroad, for Lancaster,² via Cairo and Cincinnati.

_______________

¹ The 22^nd. — ED.

² Sherman went first to St. Louis, where he stopped for a few days before going on to Ohio. - Ed.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 365-71

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, April 4, 1861

OFFICE ST. LOUIS RAILROAD COMPANY, St. Louis, April 4, 1861.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I promised you all to keep you advised of my whereabouts that we may interchange from time to time the thoughts and feelings of respect and affection which I feel assured still subsists between us. By the caption of this letter you will see me in a rail road office, of which I am the president with a salary of two thousand dollars. I have my entire family in a good house, 226 Locust St., with plenty of room and a hearty welcome for friends who come to me from the four quarters of the globe, and I will believe that you, or Smith, or the Doctor,¹ yea Mr. St. Ange, may some summer come up to this great city, the heart of North America, and see me and mine.

I acted with energy, went to Washington, satisfied myself that Lincoln was organizing his administration on pure party principles, concluded it was no place for me who profess to love and venerate my whole country and not a mere fraction — and forthwith to Lancaster, pulled up stakes, to Cincinnati, and embarked all hands, with carpets, chairs, beds, kitchen utensils, even my household servants, and before one month of my vacating my berth in Louisiana, I was living in St. Louis.

I see my way ahead for one year and must trust to the future, and having an abundance of faith in St. Louis with its vast fertile surrounding country, I feel no uneasiness. My two eldest girls are in a Catholic school and this morning I put my boy Willy in a public school, so that with the exception of some trifling articles of furniture I am settled.

My duties here are clearly within my comprehension, and indeed I think I can actually make myself more than useful to the stockholders by giving personal attention, which heretofore has devolved on hirelings. In politics I do not think I change with country. On the negro question I am satisfied there is and was no cause for a severance of the old Union, but will go further and say that I believe the practice of slavery in the South is the mildest and best regulated system of slavery in the world, now or heretofore. But, as there is an incongruity in black and white labor, I do think in the new territories the line of separation should be drawn before rather than after settlement. As to any guarantees I would favor any approved by Rives, Bell, Crittenden and such men whose patriotism cannot be questioned.

On the question of secession however I am ultra. I believe in coercion and cannot comprehend how any government can exist unless it defend its integrity. The mode and manner may be regulated by policy and wisdom, but that any part of a people may carry off a part of the common territory without consent or purchase I cannot understand. Now I know as well as I can know anything uncertain that Louisiana cannot belong to a string of Southern States. She must belong to a system embracing the Valley States. It may be those Valley States may come to Louisiana, but ultimately one way or another, the Valley of the Mississippi must be under one system of government. Else quarrels, troubles, and confusions, worse than war, will be continuous.

My brother John is now senator, and quite a man among the Republicans, but he regards me as erratic in politics. He nor politicians generally can understand the feelings and opinions of one who thinks himself above parties, and looks upon the petty machinery of party as disgusting. There are great numbers here who think like me, and at the election here a few days ago the Black Republicans were beaten, because the country expected of Mr. Lincoln a national and not a party government. Had the Southern States borne patiently for four years, they could have had a radical change in 1864 that might have lasted twenty years. Whereas now, no man is wise enough to even guess at future combinations.

I hope you are all well, that the Seminary continues to prosper, that you have a clever superintendent, and that one day not far distant we may sail under the same flag. My best respects to the Jarreaus and all friends.

_______________

¹ Dr. Clarke.—ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 375-7

William T. Sherman to David F. Boyd, May 13, 1861

St. Louis, May 13, 1861.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I have been intending for a long while to answer your last very kind letter. I suppose you still receive papers from New Orleans and Virginia giving tolerably fair versions of the events which are now passing all around us. We are now by Declaration of the Confederate Congress and by act of our own constituted authorities enemies, and I can not yet realize the fact. I know that I individually would not do any human being a wrong, take from him a cent, or molest any of his rights or property, and yet I admit fully the fact that Lincoln was bound to call on the country to rally and save our constitution and government. Had I responded to his call for volunteers I know that I would now be a Major-general. But my feelings prompted me to forbear and the consequence is my family and friends are almost cold to me, and they feel and say that I have failed at the critical moment of my life. It may be I am but a chip on the whirling tide of time destined to be cast on the shore as a worthless weed.

But I still think in the hurly burly of strife, order and system must be generated, and grow and strengthen till our people come out again a great and purified nation.

Lincoln is of right our president and has the right to initiate the policy of our government during his four years, and I believe him sincere in his repeated declarations that no dismemberment shall be even thought of. The inevitable result is war, and an invasive war.

I know that masses of men are organizing and discipling to execute the orders of this government. They are even now occupying the key points of our country; and when prepared they will strike. Not in detached columns battling with an excited people, but falling on exposed points. Already is Missouri humbled; I have witnessed it; my personal friends here, many of them southern, admit that Missouri's fate is sealed. There was a camp of about one thousand five hundred young men, who though seemingly assembled by state authority were yet notoriously disaffected to the government and were imprudent enough to receive into their camp a quantity of the arms from Baton Rouge, brought up as common merchandise. This justified the government forces here, regulars and militia, to surround and capture the whole. For a time intense excitement prevailed, but again seeming peace has come. The governor and state authorities are southern by birth and feeling and may make some spasmodic efforts to move, but they will be instantly overcome. Superior arms and numbers are the elements of war, and must prevail.

I cannot yet say if Lincoln will await the action of his Congress in July. I think he will as to any grand movement, but in the meantime Virginia, Louisiana, and Missouri, will be held or threatened, I have no doubt a hundred thousand disciplined men will be in Louisiana by Christmas next. The Mississippi River will be a grand theater of war, but not till the present masses are well disciplined. It is horrible to contemplate but it cannot be avoided.

No one now talks of the negro. The integrity of the Union and the relative power of state and general government are the issues in this war. Were it not for the physical geography of the country it might be that people could consent to divide and separate in peace.

But the Mississippi is too grand an element to be divided, and all its extent must of necessity be under one government. Excuse these generalisms — we have said them a thousand times.

I was sorry to hear from Dr. Smith that further disaffection had crept into your institution. I fear for the present it will be swept by the common storm. ——— was not the man, and it is well he has declined. Certainly there must be within reach, some good man to manage so easy a machine. I think the machine should be kept together, even on the smallest scale. Joe Miller writes me that the arms¹ have been sent off and therefore his occupation gone. I will write if he cannot stay to return to his brother in Ohio and not go to California as he seems to think about.

I am still here with this road and my family living at 226 Locust St. No matter what happens I will always consider you my personal friend, and you shall ever be welcome to my roof. Should I be wrong in my conclusions of this terrible anarchy and should you come to St. Louis, I know you will be pleased with the many objects of interest hereabouts. Give to all the assurance of my

kindest remembrance and accept for yourself my best wishes for your health and success in life.

_______________

¹ Stored in the Seminary Arsenal. - ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 381-3

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, December 25, 1860

Christmas. Fahrenheit stood this morning eighteen degrees below freezing point. A rare degree of cold in England, exceeding any we have felt during our residence in London.

Mr. Cobb resigned the Treasury on the 10th instant. He will greatly strengthen the secession movement in Georgia. A dissolution of the Union seems imminent, and, should it occur, will attest and perhaps permanently establish the supremacy of abolitionism; for it will be seen that by the withdrawal of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, let alone the other slave-holding States, Lincoln and the Republican party will at once be placed in an overwhelming Congressional majority, and have a clear field to push their principles to extreme practice. Markoe and Hutchinson, writing on the same day, agree in drawing a most melancholy picture of the condition of the country, politically and financially.

SOURCE: George Mifflin Dallas, Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, While United States Minister to Russia 1837 to 1839, and to England 1856 to 1861, Volume 3, p. 425

Diary of Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes: January 12, 1866

General Banks introduced me to Mrs. Ames, of Massachusetts (artist). She has made a bust of Lincoln (miniature) which seems to be exceedingly good. Seward, Grant, and others praise it. She talked long and well of her experience as nurse and her acquaintance with Lincoln. She wants to have a marble full-size Lincoln ordered. Cost five thousand dollars.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 14