Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, June 17, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 17, 1866.

MY DARLING: I don't believe I told you my feelings when I got your letter that you were not coming to be with me the rest of this session. I feel more and more the desire to be with you all the time. Oh, an occasional absence of a week or two is a good thing to give one the happiness of meeting again, but this living apart is in all ways bad. We have had our share of separate life during the four years of war. There is nothing in the small ambition of Congressional life, or in the gratified vanity which it sometimes affords, to compensate for separation from you. We must manage to live together hereafter. I can't stand this, and will not. Don't you want to be with me? Love to all the boys.

Affectionately ever,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 27

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, [July 1, 1866]

WASHINGTON, D. C., [July 1, 1866].

MY DEAR ONE:— We missed you so much at Gettysburg [June 28-30]. It was cool, fine weather. The company good. "All things lovely." The battle-field must be one of the finest in the world. We had for guide and chaperon a gentleman who has made it a study for a long while, and I now feel that I know the battle as if I had seen it. There was nothing more in the generalship than I had supposed, but the stubbornness and good conduct of the army, of men and officers generally, was worthy of the cause. The Rebel attack was a very brilliant but rash thing.

Pick a cool day to go to Fremont. Every week or two, even in this weather, there is a little cool spell.

I shall not come home until the end of the session, now supposed to be on the 16th. - Love to all.

Affectionately, your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 28

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, July 12, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., July 12, 1866.

MY DARLING: We are in a very exciting caucus. Hot as blazes. Senator Wilson is speaking in an excited, earnest way. Dennison has resigned—others are going. We may be in session a month or more longer. It is likely I will have to come to see you. It is perhaps too hot for you to come here.

Affectionately, yours ever,

H.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 29

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, August 6, 1866

CINCINNATI, August 6, 1866.

DEAR UNCLE:— Our convention* went off just to my taste. There seems to be no doubt as to the result in my district. Lucy is at Chillicothe, or rather is at her Aunt Boggs'.

A good deal of cholera here and increasing. I shall go to Lucy the latter part of the week. Will not come to Fremont for ten days or a fortnight. Love to the boys [Birchard and Webb].

HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

_______________

*The Republican Congressional convention, at which Hayes was renominated for Congress without opposition.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 29

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

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, April 19, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 19, 1866.

DEAREST: The colored procession celebrating their freedom just passed. It was a curious and pretty sight—many bands, flags, etc., etc. Their cheering for the House and Senate as they passed the east front was peculiarly enthusiastic. Their bands. were good—the weather very fine.

I see General and Mrs. Crook almost daily. Love to all the boys.

Affectionately, ever your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 24

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, May 10, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 10, 1866.

DEAREST: We had good speaking in the House yesterday and the day before. The look of things is very favorable.

I sat this morning at breakfast opposite an agreeable lady-like-looking young woman with a rather unmanageable, troublesome four-year-old. I was interested in her and it set me to thinking. The result was an impression that I am really more in love with my wife than I ever was before! Object? . . . Love to the bairns all.

Affectionately ever, your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 24

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, May 13, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 13, 1866.

MY DARLING:— Looking around at dinner today, the changes are chiefly in the ladies. The Members of Congress all now wifeless are the same you knew and a few added. We (the Schenck Military Committee), Crook, etc., visited Arlington. It is all right. Lee-his is the severest punishment of any Rebel. Expelled from such a paradise, and it made a graveyard for twelve thousand Rebel and loyal dead!

Last week's work on Reconstruction was very interesting and things are looking well. Some doubts as to the Senate. But if, as I think they will, they merely amend a little by striking out a part, all will come out right. Love to all.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 24-5

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, May 16, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 16, 1866.

MY DARLING:— I send you a paper marked about Fullerton. I am inclined to think my party friends are more than half wrong, and that Fullerton is more than half right of men who are in charge of the freedmen is not very likely to be correct in conduct. They are weak men of small experience, or corrupt men in too many instances.

We are getting on finely here now. Andy is less violent and we are more harmonious.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 25

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, June 6, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 6, 1866.

MY DARLING:— I knew you would feel more keenly the loss of the dear boy when you got home, and in the quiet hours were reminded of his loss. My chief consolation is found in thinking of the good ones we have left. . . .

Andy is thought to be more conciliatory in his feelings, but nothing is very certain in that quarter. There are certainly some good indications. . . .

Affectionately, ever yours,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 26

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, February 28, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 28, 1866.

DEAR UNCLE: — I don't know whether I have written to you since the veto* or not. Many of our good men still hope that we may retain the President, but it is a very faint hope, scarcely more than a wish that he may return "to the bosom of his family," as Lucy says. The general impression is, however, that Rebel influences are now ruling the White House and that the sooner Johnson is clear over, the better for us. Almost all are for going forward with business and measures in the usual and proper way without excitement or abuse.

We had a pleasant excursion on Saturday to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, which was in every way enjoyable. At the old capitol of Maryland and the academy, there was an abundance to see and the company was good. Lucy expects to leave this week.

Yours,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

_______________

* Of "An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands."

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 18

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, February 28, 1866

WASHINGTON, February 28, 1866.

DEAREST:— You left me last evening, and I am already half homesick about it. Possibly I would not have thought of it so feelingly, but the sight of these gloves put me in mind of it. What a happy time we have had! Six weeks of real, genuine, old-fashioned love. Love to Grandma and the boys all.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 19

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sardis Birchard, March 2, 1866

WASHINGTON, March 2, 1866.

DEAR UNCLE:— With a party, Generals Schenck, Crook, Smith, and their ladies, I went to see the picture of "The Storm in the Rocky Mountains" by [Albert] Bierstadt. It is very beautiful and wonderful. By gaslight the effect is incomprehensible, such brilliancy and light and shade! Mr. Bierstadt says it is better by daylight. I shall see.

R.

We are not quite sure yet whether Andy is with us or against us—in a party sense, I mean. Doctrinally, he is against us on many things and with us on a few.

Love to Mother. Lucy is at home.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. BIRCHARD.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 19

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, March 22, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 22, 1866.

MY DARLING:— I am happy in getting yours of the 18th this morning. Mr. Blow of St. Louis had a small fuss with Green Clay Smith. Smith found Blow kissing Mrs. Smith! Bad again. Queen Esther still pretty, talks louder than ever and too much and too fast for a public dining-hall.

A. J. [the President] is now being tried by another test—the Civil Rights Bill. If he signs it he gets into the bosom of the family again. If not, more worry.

Affectionately, ever your

R. B. HAYES.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 20-1

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, March 29, 1866

WASHINGTON, [March] 29, 1866.

DARLING:— . . . A. J. [the President] getting into a bad row of stumps; not in the bosom of his family any longer, I suspect.*

Yes, it is lonely and bad. I begin to think that I ought to quit a “biz" which separates me from you so much.

Love to all.

Yours,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

_______________

*The President vetoed the Civil Rights Bill March 27.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 21

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, March 30, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 30, 1866.

MY DARLING:— I send you the sermon on Senator Foot's death.* Grandma Webb and Mrs. Davis will read it with great satisfaction, I am sure. You remember the Senator. He was the handsome man you heard me speak of. The most senatorial looking of anybody and a genuine good man. His deathbed commission, or rather confession of faith, and triumphant end. is really a very beautiful death. The Senators and Cabinet Ministers and all were much affected by the story.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

_______________

* Solomon Foot, of Vermont. He died March 28, and was succeeded by George F. Edmunds.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 21

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, April 4, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 4, 1866.

MY DARLING:— I hope the election of General Hawley in Connecticut has sustained your drooping spirits. A. J. is about as he was, neither worse nor better.

Hassaurek is, I think, about right. Halstead is so decided against Radicals that he is in more danger of getting off the track. Love to boys.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 21-2

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, April 8, 1866

WASHINGTON, April 8, 1866.

MY DEAR DARLING:— The last week is the only one since you left that you would have enjoyed here particularly. The Connecticut election early in the week was an enjoyable thing. The passage of the Civil Rights Bill in the Senate over the veto was a most exciting and delightful thing-such enthusiasm was manifested. Things have improved here. The general feeling is hopeful, loyal, and patriotic. A great change from that [of February] 22nd, when treason crept out an d triumphed. The next thing was the great party at Grant's the night of the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. All our side was there in great spirits, Trumbull, Stevens, and all. The President stood between General and Mrs. Grant. Vice-President (Rebel) Stephens stood near. Montgomery Blair, etc., etc. Old Thad shook hands cordially with Andy. Andy presented him to Mrs. Grant. It was the happiest gathering I have seen. Andy looked and behaved very well indeed.

R.

Judge Kelley introduced me to his daughter, telling her if she ever saw my wife she would see the image of her mother. (Her mother was a first wife.) He said she looked like the daughter except as she departed from her mother in some resemblance to him all an injury. The daughter is a good-looking young person. Love to the bairns.

Affectionately ever, your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 22

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, January 21, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 21, 1866.

DEAR MOTHER:— Lucy got here Thursday evening and is, in a quiet way, enjoying life here very much. We have been as yet to no receptions or parties, but find plenty to interest and amuse in the public buildings, courts, and Congress. The weather is bright and bracing. Lucy and I went to the preaching of Mr. Boynton at the Capitol today and heard a good sound talk to a large fine audience. The House makes a beautiful place for worship.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. SOPHIA HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 14-5

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Sophia Birchard Hayes, January 28, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 28, 1866.

Dear Mother:—Lucy is still with me. She is very happy. We do not go to parties or receptions much. Went to one. They are all alike; rather a bore generally. We sit at the same table with Vice-Admiral Farragut. A sociable, fine old gentleman — not old in manner, talk, or looks, but near seventy, I think, in fact. He has a kind and polite way and everybody likes him. We mean to go to the President's and General Grant's this week. All well at home when I heard last.

Affectionately,

R.

MRS. SOPHIA HAYES.
        Private.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 15