Diary of Gideon Welles, Tuesday, August 7, 1866

The President submitted two long telegrams, one from himself to General Sheridan inquiring as to the difficulties at New Orleans and Sheridan's reply, which was no answer.

Seward and Stanbery had much to say. The latter was very earnest to have the President send immediately to Sheridan, telling him the police must be dismissed. There was, he said, great excitement in the country and the President must at once respond.

I inquired to what he was to respond. On Friday he had directed Sheridan to keep the peace and pursue his investigations. Since that inquiries had been made which had procured a feeble and confused response, concluding with a request or suggestion that the Governor of the State and the Mayor of New Orleans be displaced. Sheridan might be told that the President had no authority to displace these officers; but I expressed a hope that he would not at this distance undertake to give detailed instructions to his generals or agents.

I asked who General Baird was that he should be charged with this responsibility, and how it came about that such a man as was now described happened to be at such a place at this juncture. As for Sheridan, I considered him an honest, bold, impulsive officer, without much knowledge of civil government or administrative ability, who obeyed orders, but I apprehended him badly prompted after his first telegram, and regretted that we had not men of different calibre there at this time.

Seward said my estimate of Sheridan he thought correct. As for Baird, he knew nothing of him. The President expressed dissatisfaction with what he heard of Baird. Stanton kept silent.

Stanbery was persistent that the President should instruct Sheridan in regard to the police of the city.

Stanton said application had been made to him for bunting for the building at Philadelphia where the convention was to meet, but he had none for them, and said, with a sneer, he would turn them over to the Navy. I told him that my bunting had always been promptly shown and it would be well were he now to let us have a sight of his.

Stanton, who has skulked, was taken aback, colored, and remarked he had no bunting for them. "Oh," said I, "show your flag."

"You mean the convention," said he. "I am against it." "I am sorry to hear, but glad to know, your opinion," said I.

"Yes, I am opposed to the convention," he continued. "I didn't know it. You did not answer the inquiry like the rest of us."

"No," said he; "I did not choose to have Doolittle or any other little fellow draw an answer from me."

The conversation amused the others, as it did me. Seward looked troubled. Whether he knew Stanton's position, I am in doubt. It is, I am satisfied, very recent that he has concluded to avow himself, although I have never doubted that he was as much opposed as any Radical to the Union movement. I think he would rather have the Government overthrown than that the real Unionists should come in power. He seems to have personal apprehensions.

I called on the President this evening to advise caution in his communications with New Orleans. Expressed my regret that he had not better officers for the business required at this time in that quarter. He concurred with me and said Baird, so far as he could learn, had caused the trouble or might have prevented it.

"Who," inquired I, "placed Baird there? Was it not part of the Radical scheme to bring this difficulty upon us? It certainly is unfortunate that we have these men there." He said he believed Baird was attached to the Freedmen's Bureau. I said this might have been ordered otherwise and should have been; that the Administration could not get along intelligently and well without faithful and reliable agents. I inquired if he noticed the remarks of Stanton to-day respecting the convention, "though probably you knew his opinions previously." The President said he had not known them before, that it was the first intimation he had received, and he noticed the remark. "This is wrong," said I; "we cannot get along in this way." "No," replied he, "it will be pretty difficult."

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 572-4

Diary of Gideon Welles, Thursday, August 9, 1866

A strange dispatch was read to-day from Commodore Winslow, written at Pensacola, exhibiting intense partisan bitterness in the New Orleans disturbances, and reproving Lieutenant-Commander McCann of the Tallapoosa, who was at New Orleans and behaved very discreetly. I am almost induced to believe that Winslow is demented.

Ordered a board for examining volunteer officers, S. P. Lee, President. It will be less acceptable to him than some other position more permanent here in Washington, but he cannot always select the best places.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 575

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Sunday, April 23, 1865

Inspection at 9. A. M. Lt Hook comes to the Regt with the sad intiligence of the Assassination of President Lincoln & Sec Seward which is published in the Mobile paper. The news quickly spreads & groups of men can be seen all arond talking in low tones with a look of sadness never worn by them before, at 10, a. m the Div Brass Band plays the "dead march" & is followed by the bands of Regts in order. It is truly a solemn day & the boys one & all vow to take vengance in Southern blood, many who favored peace this morning now favor utter extermination; about noon we are greeted with the arrival of Luit Sharman looking like altogether a different man from the Luit Sharman we left at Little Rock the 14 of Feb he brings an extra which states that it is thought Seward is not mortally wounded & hopes of his recovery is enertained, he spent the night last night with Capt Lacy & reports that Genl Steeles Corps proceeded up the Alabama river this morning, embarked on 15 transports escorted by a fleet of gun boats, says a very fine Gulf steamer was blown up in the channel in the Bay by a torpedo of which there remain some yet. Luit Seevers s detailed to proceed to New Orleans to bring up our Books & Records. Weather cool.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, pp. 594-5

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Friday, April 28, 1865

A. M. to commissary for stores. The fort is laid out today, & details made to work on it. At noon was detailed for picket to report immediately. The Off of Day did not know where the line of our Brigade was, took us out on the wrong road making a walk extra of about 3 miles, was 4 P. M. when we arrived on our own line, found there the detail of 33 had been sent away to a bayou 1½ miles below the bluffs. Which post was to be relieved, having no place on the line for me The Off of Day ordered me to march my detail to camp. Short picketing that soon after return to camp supper ready. After supper Lt Laughridge & myself go to the river for a bath. talk with a squad of a Sergt of 4 men bearers of dispatch from Mobile & just arrived say a flag of truce from Taylor had been at Whistler for 5 days & rumor said Taylor wished to surrender. Told us of a Reb gunboat running out of Red River past New Orleans & being too closely chased beeched & blew up, saw a little nig. who gathered a mess of ripe haws to make us a pie, we to give him his supper of which he had had none, when we return to camp Lt Sharman says "the dispatch is just reed from Genl Canby announcing the surrender of Genl Taylor & all his forces. & that our men should respect him & his officers enroute to Mobile" as this order is published cheer after cheer rends the air, Lt Stocker 29th Iowa stays with us tonight, he come up from the Arsenal with an escort of 10 men & says that his segt captured 2 men of the squad who captured the teamsters near Fish river & that all the teamsters were sent to Vicksburgh for exchange. The Lt says there is no doubt this is a correct statement, Fleas Fleas. Fleas

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 596

1st Lieutenant William T. Sherman to John Sherman, January 19, 1844

FORT MOULTRIE, S.C., Jan. 19, 1844.

My Dear Brother: It was about the middle of November, and on one of those mornings so peculiar to your atmosphere, that I deposited my bones in the Chilicothe stage. I went to Portsmouth, thence down the Ohio to Cincinnati, where I remained with Lamp a couple of days, and then took my departure for St. Louis in the steamboat Manhattan, loaded with every species of animal from men to Durham cattle. There were more than 200 souls on board a second-class boat, from which circumstance you can readily infer that the bodily comforts were not well cared for. Yet I was much pleased. Louisville, at which we stopped several hours, is a beautiful place; in fact, the whole river realized my wildest conceptions. In six days we reached St. Louis, which, you know, is trying to rival our queen city; but, although it has great merits and beauty beside a population of 30,000 people, it has not that fixed and solid appearance that Cincinnati now wears as an established city of business and manufacture. I spent ten days in and near St. Louis, after which I embarked in a new and very fine boat, called the John Aull, for New Orleans. . . . The trip cannot fail to interest one who has never been in the South, but, as I was familiar there, it could not produce its full effect. Imagine yourself, as I was, at the mouth of the Ohio in a heavy snowstorm, the shores clothed in ghost-like garb; the following day the snow is no longer seen, and before another day passes by the shores are clothed here and there in green corn and grass. Soon the oak appears with its green leaves, then the magnolia, orange, etc., and soon you find yourself down between the rich sugar-fields of Louisiana, the stalks ungathered and waving beautifully and luxuriantly in the breeze. . . . At Mobile I took a steamboat and ascended the Alabama River to a town called Montgomery. There, on a vehicle called a car on what was denominated a railroad to a town called Franklin, from which place I staged it over roads such as you have about Mansfield, except the clay is slipperier, the hills shorter and steeper, and the drivers such as can be had nowhere else. Thus I went 120 miles to a town in Georgia called Griffin. Here I waited twenty-four hours for the cars, which had as usual run off the track. However, they came at last, and we started towards Macon, a distance of only sixty miles, which it took us twelve hours to accomplish. However, at Macon I found a well-finished railroad which led to Savannah, a distance of 190 miles, over which we passed in exactly the same time that it took us the day before to accomplish the sixty. From Savannah to Charleston I had the regular steamboat. Thus it has taken me the whole sheet to give you an outline of my journey, the details of which volumes would scarcely record. At last, on the 27th of December, after an absence of five months and two days, I stood once more in my old quarters at Ft. Moultrie. Since my return the weather has been so bright and delightful that I have almost renounced all allegiance to Ohio, although it contains all whom I love and regard as friends. I have been so busy of late that I have not even been to Charleston to see my old acquaintances, and could only steal time the other day to accept an invitation of some planters on an adjacent island to participate in a fox hunt and the consequent dinner and frolic.

[W. T. Sherman]

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, pp. 24-6

Diary of 5th Sergeant Lawrence Van Alstyne, February 11, 1863

JUST at night, as I had finished the above, the Laurel Hill, the boat that brought us from quarantine to Chalmette, tied up in front of camp and down came our tents and on board we went. We came up the river past New Orleans and between that city and Algiers, which is quite a large place on the left hand shore. New Orleans seems a big city, but lies as low as the river. A high dock all along its front is built up with timber and is so high only the upper parts of the buildings show from the river. No streets are seen at all. We also passed a place called Carrolton and very soon after landed at what is said to be Camp Parapet. There are no tents near the river but there are thousands a short distance back. The outskirts of Carrolton come close up on the down river side, while the up river side has a high bank reaching from the river back as far as I can see. Beyond that is an unexplored country (to me), and away in the distance appears to be just such a forest as was in sight back of Camp Chalmette. A good-looking dwelling house and a few small buildings are near by and the ground is tramped bare of all vegetation, as if soldiers had just moved away. We came down the Levee and put up our tents and crawled in, for it was night by that time. We have had some rain and some sunshine, but the weather is warm and altogether I like our present place of abode the best of any we have yet had since we left Camp Millington. Another case of smallpox has developed, but he was hustled to a tent way back of camp and I suppose our arms will have to be pricked again. Mine looks as if a setting hen had picked it now. Miss Kate Douglass, from Amenia Union, came to camp yesterday and Captain Bostwick and several officers have gone to the city with her. Report says the captain and she are to be married to-night. Six months in the service and I have so far been only an expense to Uncle Sam. But I have seen something of the big farm the Rebs hope to rob him of and I hope I may yet do something to put him in full possession of it again. Letters from home, also one from Walter Loucks, who is in the hospital at New Orleans.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, pp. 87-8

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Thursday, May 1, 1862

News of the capture of New Orleans.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Sunday, March 5, 1865

Morning with major Boydston to Ft Morgan to go to Ft Gaines No boat. All through fort. Near the pier & within 400 yds. of Ft. a pole which is fixed to the turret of the Gunboat Tecumseh sunk by the explosion of a torpedo, shows the watery grave of 100 brave boys, who are yet in the great iron coffin 30 ft below the surface, 1 mile out a smokestack sticks out of the water. a little this side the pier is the wreck of the Reb Gunboat Gaines, crippled & beached during the action P. M. in camp. Service at 3. P. M. News—35 men of our Regt lately exchanged are at New Orleans—Col Benton of 29th Iowa, & Col Glasgow of 23d Iowa appointed Brevet Brig. Genl's by the President, Detailed tonight to take charge of fatigue party tomorrow.

All experienced Rail Road, men called for, to report to Capt Jackson. It is the purpose to make a permanent Rail Road from Ft Morgan to Navy Com & extend around the Bay to Mobile as the Army advances.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 576

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan, Monday, February 20, 1865

Cleared off at night. Any amount of huckster women in camp by day light. A. M. in New Orleans to muster, did not succeed. P. M. in N. O. for order of discharge failed on act of not finding Genl & staff. Regt inspected P. M. clothing cut down. 27th Wis 29th Iowa & 35 Wis leave on board W. Thomas this P. M. Algiers a small place & dirty. New Orleans a fine City streets clean all stone. was in the St Charles Hotel. Orders to start tomorrow

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 575

Diary of Corporal Lawrence Van Alstyne: December 10, 1862

Off the coast of Florida. We must be going to New Orleans as has been reported. I did not believe it at first, as there was a report that Charleston was our destination.

Haight died about sunrise, and his death has cast a gloom over Company B. He was one of the best fellows I have met with in the army. He was a little wild at first but later seemed to change. Talked of the trouble his habits had caused his parents and seemed determined to atone for it by a right about face change. We shall miss his cheery voice. Such is war. It is over thirty-six days since the 128th and two companies of the 114th New York came aboard this vessel. It is a wonder so many are alive to-day. We get on deck now and the nights are so warm some of us sleep there. We suffer for good water to drink. What we have may be good, but it is distilled water, and there are so many of us we use it before it has time to get cold. On the quarter-deck, where we are not allowed to go, are barrels which contain real water, for officers' use only. I was let into a secret last night, how to get some of it, and I drank all I could hold. With a long rubber tube I crawled up behind a barrel and let the end down the bunghole, which is left open for ventilation, and sucked away as long as I could swallow. This will go on until someone is caught at it, and then the game will be up.

SOURCE:  Lawrence Van Alstyne, Diary of an Enlisted Man, pp. 69-70

Louisiana Politics.

We have the authority of the New Orleans Delta for saying that the Douglas movement lately attempted in that city, for its influence upon the State and the South was a sorry fizzle. At the close of the dreary ceremonies, three rousing cheers were given for John Slidell and the seceding delegations, when the meeting adjourned.

SOURCE: “Louisiana Politics,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Monday, May 14, 1860, p. 2, col. 2

Diary of Gideon Welles, Sunday, August 10, 1862

The last two days have been excessively warm. Thermometer on the north porch at 100 on each day. A slight breeze from the west makes this day somewhat more comfortable. News unimportant from the army, and but little from the Navy. Shall have something exciting within a few days. Sensation items are the favorite ones of the press. Alarming predictions delight their readers. Am sorry that better progress is not made in the war upon the Rebels. Our squadrons are paralyzed everywhere by the inactive and dilatory movements of the army. Vicksburg should have been taken by the first of June, but no adequate coöperating military force was furnished, and as a consequence our largest squadron in the Gulf and our flotilla in the Mississippi have been detained and injured. The most disreputable naval affair of the War was the descent of the steam ram Arkansas through both squadrons till she hauled in under the batteries of Vicksburg, and there the two flag officers abandoned the place and the ironclad ram, Farragut and his force going down to New Orleans, and Davis proceeding with his flotilla up the river. I have written them both, briefly but expressively, on the subject of the ram Arkansas. I do not blame them in regard to Vicksburg, though had Farragut obeyed his original orders and gone up the river at once after the capture of New Orleans, I think things might have been different. Butler would not, I presume, give sufficient support from the army, for he has proved prompt as well as fearless.

We have sensation articles in yesterday's New York papers that the steamer Fingal at Savannah has been clad with iron and threatens our army and vessels. Have no word from Admiral Du Pont, who is watchful but slow to express apprehension. Am inclined to believe there is truth in the rumor that the boat has been clad with armor, but have my doubts if there is any immediate intention to attempt to pass outside. She is probably designed for river defense of the city against our gunboats; but may, if there is opportunity, assume the offensive. In the mean time the sensationalists will get up exciting alarms and terrify the public into distrust and denunciation of the Navy Department.

We have similar sensations every few days in regard to Merrimac No. 2, an armored boat at Richmond. As yet she has made no attempt to pass below the obstructions, though two or three times a week we are assured they are in sight, - "Smoke from half a dozen steam-stacks visible." Wilkes writes he is fully prepared for her and her associates at any time, and Rodgers 1 writes to the same 1 Captain, afterwards Rear-Admiral, John Rodgers.

effect. But in a day or two some changes will take place that may affect operations on James River.

Have had to write Wilkes pretty decisively. He is very exacting towards others, but is not himself as obedient as he should be. Interposes his own authority to interrupt the execution of the orders of the Department. Wrote him that this was not permissible, that I expected his command to obey him, and it was no less imperative that he should obey the orders of the Department. He wrote for permission to dismiss from service a class of officers if they did not suit him, and as he thought them inefficient. I told him the suggestion could not be entertained, that the Department must retain the administrative control of the Navy. I have not heard from him in reply, or explanation. It is pretty evident that he will be likely to cause trouble to the Department. He has abilities but not good judgment in all respects. Will be likely to rashly assume authority, and do things that may involve himself and the country in difficulty, and hence I was glad that not I but the President and Secretary of State suggested him for that command. It is the first time that either has proposed a candidate for a command, since taking Stringham from the office of detail in 1861 to go to Pensacola. Seward's intrigue. It was almost a necessity that something should be done for Wilkes. His act, in taking Mason and Slidell from the Trent, had given him éclat, - it was popular with the country, was considered right by the people, even if rash and irregular; but when and how to dispose of Wilkes was an embarrassment to me, until the command of the James River Flotilla was suggested. He was, however, unwilling to report to Goldsborough, and to have done so would have caused delay. But giving him an independent command caused Goldsborough to take offense, and he asked to resign the command of the squadron. To this I had no objection, for he was proving himself inefficient, - had done nothing effective since the frigates were sunk by the Merrimac, nor of himself much before.

The State Department is in constant trepidation, fearing our naval officers do not know their duties, or that they will transcend them. Both points are marked weaknesses in the management of our foreign affairs. We are insulted, wronged, and badly treated by the British authorities, especially at Nassau, and I have called the attention of the Secretary of State repeatedly to the facts, but he fears to meet them. After degrading ourselves, we shall be compelled to meet them. I am for no rash means, but I am clearly and decidedly for maintaining our rights. Almost all the aid which the Rebels have received in arms, munitions, and articles contraband have gone to them through the professedly neutral British port of Nassau. From them the Rebels have derived constant encouragement and support, from the commencement of hostilities. Our officers and people are treated with superciliousness and contempt by the authorities and inhabitants, and scarcely a favor or courtesy is extended to them while they are showered upon the Rebels. It is there that vessels are prepared to run the blockade and violate our laws, by the connivance and with the knowledge of the Colonial, and, I apprehend, the parent, government.

In reorganizing the Department there are some difficulties. I am assailed for continuing Lenthall as Naval Constructor at the head of the bureau. He has not much pliability or affability, but, though attacked and denounced as corrupt and dishonest, I have never detected any obliquity or wrong in him. His sternness and uprightness disappointed the jobbers and the corrupt, and his unaffected manner has offended others. There is an intrigue to prevent his confirmation, in which very great rogues and some honest and good men are strangely mixed up, the last being the dupes, almost the willing victims, of the former.

Admiral Foote reported for duty on Thursday, but his rooms were not prepared, and I advised him, as he was yet lame and on crutches, to delay active duty for a month or so.

It is some forty years since we were school-boys together in the quiet town of Cheshire, and it has been a pleasant opportunity to me to bring out the qualities of my early friend. He left yesterday for a few weeks.

Mr. Faxon, Chief Clerk, is absent, and I am somewhat embarrassed in relation to the true disposition of the clerical force. It seems not to have occurred to Admiral Foote that he could not appoint whom he pleased in his bureau, regardless of the claims and capabilities of older and more experienced clerks on less pay. I told him I wished him to have the selection of his chief or at least one confidential clerk, but that I could not displace old and worthy employees. This he said he did not wish, though he was, I think, a little disappointed.

Davis continues in command of the flotilla on the Mississippi. Had he captured the Arkansas, I would have had him come on immediately and take charge of the Bureau of Navigation.

In reorganizing the Navy under the late act, there were nine admirals to be appointed on the retired list. The names of nine were presented, but the Senate failed to confirm or act upon them. After the adjournment of Congress, commissions were sent them under executive appointment. Of course the men superseded were dissatisfied. Aulick was the first who called, complaining that injustice was done, and desiring to know wherein his record was defective and why he had been set aside. I told him that had it been the intention of Congress that the nine senior officers should be the admirals, the act would doubtless have so stated; that as regarded himself, while, personally, our relations had been pleasant if not intimate, he had not made himself known or felt by the Department or the Government in the hour of peril; that he had, just as the Rebellion commenced, applied for six months' leave to visit Europe, on account of alleged illness of his daughter; that he left about the time of the assault on Sumter; that he remained abroad until notified that his leave would not be extended, and never had made a suggestion for the country, or expressed any sympathy for the cause. Under these circumstances I had felt justified in advising the President to omit his name. He said he had supposed it was other influences than mine which had done him this injustice, that we had been long and well acquainted. I told him I shunned no responsibility in the case, and yet it was due to candor to say that I never had heard a word in his behalf from any one.

Commodore Mervine writes me of his disappointment, feels hurt and slighted. By the advice of Paulding, chiefly, I gave the command of the Gulf Squadron to Mervine in the spring of 1861; but he proved an utter failure. He is not wanting in patriotism, but in executive and administrative ability; is quite as great on little things as on great ones. He was long in getting out to his station, and accomplished nothing after he got there. When I detached him and appointed McKean, he was indignant and applied for a court of inquiry; but I replied that we had not the time nor men to spare, that I had called him to promote the public interest, and recalled him for the same purpose. He is a man of correct deportment and habits, and in ordinary times would float along the stream with others, but such periods as these bring out the stronger points of an officer, if he has them. I had no personal, or political, or general, feeling against him, but as there were other officers of mark and merit superior to him, they were selected. Yet I felt there could not be otherwise than a sense of slight that must be felt by himself and friends, which I could not but regret. Yet any person with whom I consulted commended the course I pursued in regard to him.

Commodore Samuel Breese was a more marked case than Mervine's, but of much the same character. Nothing good, nothing bad, in him as an officer. A gentleman of some scholarly pretensions, some literary acquirements, but not of much vigor of mind. Paulding was his junior, and the slight, as he conceived it, almost broke poor Breese's heart. He came immediately to Washington, accompanied by his wife, a pleasant woman, and called on me, sad and heartsore, his pride wounded, his vanity humiliated to the dust. For three nights he assured me he had not closed his eyes; morning and evening the flag of Paulding was always before him. He said Read would not live long and implored that he might have the place.

Charles Stewart, first on the list and the oldest officer in the service, wrote, requesting the permission of the President to decline the appointment. It is a singular letter, and required a singular answer, which I sent him, leaving the subject in his hands.

The Advisory Board, which had to pass on subordinate active appointments, have completed their labors the past week. I am not altogether satisfied with their action, and perhaps should not be with any board, when so much was to be done, and so many men to pass under revision. The omission of Selfridge and Porter (W. D.) were perhaps the most marked cases, and the promotion of Fleming and Poor the most objectionable.

In the action of this board I have taken no part, but scrupulously abstained from any conversation with its members, directly or indirectly. I did say to Assistant Secretary Fox that I regretted the action in the case of the elder Selfridge and Walke, and I think he must have intimated these views in regard to W., for the action of the board was subsequently reversed. But I know not how this may have been.

Had a letter last evening from Lieutenant Budd, stating that he presented me with a chair rumored to have belonged to General Washington, which was captured on the Steamer Memphis, and asking me to accept it. Admiral Paulding had written me there was such a chair, which he had carried to his house, and asking what should be done with it. The chair was private property and sent by a lady to some one abroad, for friendly feeling to the Rebels.

I sent word to Admiral P. that the captors could donate it or it might be sold with the other parts of the cargo. It is, I apprehend, of little intrinsic value. If it really belonged to Washington, it seemed to me impolitic to sell it at auction as a Rebel capture; if not Washington's, there should be no humbug. My impressions were that it might be given to Admiral P. or to the Commandant's House at the navy yard, and I am inclined to think I will let it take the latter course, at least for the present.

Governor Buckingham was here last week, and among other matters had in view the selection of Collectors and Assessors for our State. There was great competition. The State ticket was headed by Howard, and the Congress ticket headed by Goodman. While personally friendly to all, my convictions were for the State ticket, which was moreover much the ablest. The Secretary of the Treasury gave it the preference but made three alterations.

I met Senator Dixon the next day at the Executive Mansion, he having come on to Washington with express reference to these appointments. He has written me several letters indicating much caution, but I saw at once that he was strongly committed and exceedingly disappointed. He promised to see me again, but left that P.M. to get counter support.

Intelligence reaches us this evening that the Rebel ironclad ram Arkansas has been destroyed. We have also news of a fight yesterday on the Rapidan by forces under General Pope, the Rebels commanded by Stonewall Jackson.

Was told confidentially to-day that a treaty had been brought about between Thurlow Weed and Bennett of the Herald, after a bitterness of twenty years. A letter was read to me giving the particulars. Weed had word conveyed to Bennett that he would like to make up. Bennett thereupon invited Weed to Fort Washington. Weed was shy; sent word that he was engaged the evening named, which was untrue. Bennett then sent a second invitation, which was accepted; and Weed dined and stayed for the night at Fort Washington, and the Herald directly changed its tune.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 71-9

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, July 24, 1863

Nothing of interest doing here. The news is not encouraging. Grant has burned Jackson and evacuated the place, falling back toward Vicksburg. It is also reported that a portion of his army has gone to New Orleans, destined for Mobile. Bragg is at Chattanooga, and the Federal army all over Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. Lee is falling back slowly from Pennsylvania.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 281

Edwin M. Stanton to James Buchanan, March 16, 1861

WASHINGTON, March 16, 1861.

Every day affords proof of the absence of any settled policy or harmonious concert of action in the administration. Seward, Bates and Cameron form one wing; Chase, Miller, Blair, the opposite wing; Smith is on both sides, and Lincoln sometimes on one and sometimes on the other. There has been agreement in nothing. Lincoln, it is complained in the streets, has undertaken to distribute the whole patronage, small and great, leaving nothing to the chiefs of departments. Growls about Scott's "imbecility" are frequent The Republicans are beginning to think that a monstrous blunder was made in the tariff bill, and that it will cut off the trade of New York, build up New Orleans and the Southern ports, and leave the government no revenue; they see before them the prospect of some being without money and without credit. But with all this it is certain that Anderson will be withdrawn.

SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 636

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, end of February 1869

[ST. LOUIS, MO.]

My visit South was in every sense agreeable. My old friends in Alexandria did all they could to make us welcome, and I was not allowed to pay a cent on steamboat, at the hotel, or anywhere. I visited several plantations and saw negroes at work for wages, and seemingly as free and as conscious of their freedom as the blacks of Ohio. Boyd was perfectly grateful for the books you sent him, which were in the library and marked with your name. I found my own portrait, in full uniform, in the main hall, and in the library many books on our side of the war. Boyd asked me for army and navy registers, post surveys, and railroad surveys, and other national books that I have and will send him. Of course they have their old prejudices, and labor to prevent their cause from sinking into one of pure malignity, but as to the future, he promised me to teach his pupils to love and honor the whole country. He preserves all my old letters, and we looked over many, in every one of which I took the highest national grounds and predicted the ruin of their country.

The marble tablet which was built over the main door on which was cut the inscription "By the liberality of the general government. The Union - esto perpetua," was taken out and was found broken in pieces. I saw the deposition to that effect in Boyd's possession, but he could not say if Vallas did it of himself, or on the order of the board of supervisors.

You remember attention was called to that inscription by my original letter of resignation, and it is probable the rebels made Vallas take it out; anyhow Boyd has ordered an iron casting of same size and same inscription, and promised me to place it over the door in lieu of the marble, too much broken up to be replaced.

In New Orleans I was cautioned against going to Alexandria, which was burned down at the time of the Banks expedition, but I never received more marked attention by all classes, and not a word or look reached me but what was most respectful and gratifying. In like manner I had the most pressing invitations to stop at Jackson and Canton, Miss., both of which places were destroyed by me. I do think some political power might be given to the young men who served in the rebel army for they are a better class than the adventurers who have gone South purely for office.

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 327-8

Speech of Jefferson Davis, January 3, 1844

Speech of Jefferson Davis before the State Democratic Convention held in Jackson Mississippi January 3, 1844, for the purpose of sending delegates to the National Convention of the party and for the selection of presidential electors.*

(From The Mississippian, January 12, 1844.)

Mr. Davis remarked in substance—Though instructed by the delegation from Warren to cast the vote of our county, in this convention, for Mr. Van Buren, as the presidential candidate, I hope I will be excused for availing myself of the nomination of Mr. Calhoun, to express some of my opinions, as an individual, in relation to the comparative claims these gentlemen have upon us. I would here premise, that I wish nothing which I may say to be referred to a willingness to depreciate the high, just, and often-acknowledged claims of Mr. Van Buren; a democrat who long and severely tried, has never been found wanting—a democrat, than whom there is none I have more implicit confidence—none to whom I would more freely confide in times of difficulty, of danger, and of personal temptation, the safe keeping of the constitution; and in proof of the correctness of this opinion, I will refer to but a single instance: When the "independent treasury" was opposed by a prejudice so fixed and wide-spread among our people, that it was apparent if one had risen from the dead to bear testimony to its merits, he would not have been believed, still did Mr. Van Buren give it his open, decided and unwavering support. Surely it will not now be contended by those who attribute to him so much political shrewdness as to attach to him the name of magician, that he was ignorant of the danger to which an adherence to this measure exposed his political fortune. Upon us, however, it forces itself as conclusive evidence, that he valued truth and the good of his country above power and place, and the conscientious discharge of his duty above personal advancement.

Mr. President, it is not my purpose to attempt an eulogy of Mr. Calhoun. I should be inadequate to the task, and should deem the labor superfluous in the hand of the most able—a long public life of virtue and intelligence, of active and patriotic devotion to the best interest of his country, having shed around his name a halo which it is not in the power of language to brighten. Neither, sir, is it my intention to review the political principles of that great statesman; for in comparing him with Mr. Van Buren, I find no exception to that proud and generally just boast of the democracy, that the principles of our party are the same throughout the Union. The points of my preference for Mr. Calhoun will be merely indicated to you; because, resting as they do upon basis so well understood by you, any elucidation of them is uncalled for. First, I will mention "free trade," by which is meant, as I understand it, the most liberal principles of commerce, and from which we may anticipate as a consequence, the freest exchange of the products of different soils and climates, the largest amount of comforts for a given amount of labor. Again, as incident to the freest national intercourse, we may expect the extension of amicable relations, until our canvas-winged doves shall bear us across every sea, olive branches from every land. In addressing Mississippians, who rely upon a foreign market for the disposal of their products, an argument in support of unrestricted commerce is surely unnecessary, and I will close the consideration of this point by saying I consider Mr. Calhoun its exponent.

The annexation of the republic of Texas to our Union, is another point of vital importance to the south, and demanding, by every consideration, prompt action. Daily are we becoming relatively weaker, and with equal step is the advance of that fanatical spirit which has for years been battering in breach the defences with which the federal constitution surrounds our institutions.

Would Mr. Calhoun have less zeal than one less intimately connected with the south, or would he support this measure with less ability? I would answer not less but more. The ardent, able and honest support which he gives to all measures having his entire approbation, enables him more successfully than any one I have ever known, to combat prejudice and error; and I would add that among the many I have known who had enjoyed his intercourse, I recollect not one who had not imbibed some of his opinions.

Again, I believe that Mr. Calhoun could reduce the various divisions of the executive department at Washington to such order, and introduce a system of such prompt accountability, by the various agents, that defalcation could seldom reach that point which would result in loss to the government. That he possesses this ability, I conceive to be demonstrated by his administration of the war department; considered, I believe, of the various departments, that which is most difficult and complex in its disbursements. He found it in great confusion—he reduced it to an organization so perfect, that it has received but slight modifications down to the present time, and has been that department which has afforded but few examples of unfaithful depositories of the public money.

With the experience he acquired then, and the knowledge he has acquired since, may we not expect all that I claim for him on this point?

I will, Mr. President, tax the patience of the convention with but one point more, and that is one nearly affecting us: it is the defence of the southern Atlantic and gulf coasts. We have been treated ungenerously and unjustly, in that the majority has, through a long course of years, refused to us, the minority, that protection which it was the duty of the federal government to give us. Having made such appropriations for the benefit of other portions of the Union, inability has not been the cause of this failure in duty towards us—a failure which is aggravated by the recollection that throughout the whole period of our federal existence, we have contributed, as consumers, to the revenue, in a higher ratio than that of our representation in the halls of legislation, (by the number of our unrepresented slave population,) and therefore our claim to a share of those appropriations to which we are all entitled, is something stronger than our representative rate. Sir, if we institute a comparison as to the importance, in a national point of view, between the objects for which we require appropriations and those for which we have been neglected, still do we find nothing to justify the treatment we have received. Whilst the northern harbors and cities have been surveyed, and as far as the ability of the treasury would allow, fortified—whilst navy yards have been erected along the northern coast—whilst surveys have been made of the sinuosities of our northern lakes, sometimes where it required the perspective eye of the engineer to see a harbor, and millions expended year after year, for these joint purposes, there stand the cape and keys of Florida unprotected, though by them flows the whole commerce of the south and west, and though they overlook the straits through which, in peace or war, is the only maritime communication between the different portions of our Union, and around which sweeps a wide curve of circumvallation, extending from the Oronoko to the banks of the Bahama, from various points of which, within signal distance, from the batteries of Great Britain.

Looking further westward, which brings us nearer home here upon our own coast lie, wholly unprotected, the islands upon which the British fleet found a safe anchorage and harbor; where British troops debarked for the attack on New Orleans, an event which, though it brought glory to the American arms, and made this day an American festival, does not the less enforce itself as a warning on our government, and should have proved sufficient reason to all who loved their country more than sectional interest, to have guarded against the recurrence of such contingency.

Mr. President, the South has a delicate and daily increasing interest in the navy. She needs her own sons in the navy to represent that interest; she therefore needs in her own waters navy yards, and squadrons at home, on her own waters, to develope the nautical feeling of our youth. A survey made of the Tortugas, by the recommendation of that great man who directed the glorious event to which I but just now alluded as connected with the day on which we are assembled, exhibits a harbor admirably adapted to the purposes of a navy yard. At Pensacola, we have another favorable point, so recognized by our government in building a dock and giving it the name of "navy yard;" and they both have this great advantage over any northern harbor, they are convenient to "live oak," our most important ship timber.

Sir, I will not detain the Convention farther than to urge upon their consideration the necessity we have for a Southern President to advance these measures. The South has borne long; let her be true to herself, that justice may be done.

Jefferson Davis, of Warren, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted.

Resolved, That our delegates to the national convention, in the event of any contingency which shall defeat the purpose for which they are appointed, viz., the nominations of Martin Van Buren for president, and James K. Polk for vice president, that they shall consider as our second choice, John C. Calhoun for president, and Levi Woodbury for vice-president.

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* This speech brought Mr. Davis into statewide notice and marked the beginning of his political career. As a delegate from Warren county he favored John C. Calhoun for the presidency.

SOURCE: Dunbar Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 6-9

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, December 30, 1866

ST. LOUIS, Sunday, Dec. 30, 1866.

Dear Brother: I came up from New Orleans right through the country that I had been the means of raiding so thoroughly, and did not know but I should hear some things that would not be pleasant, but, on the contrary, many people met me all along the road in the most friendly spirit. I spent a whole day at Jackson, where chimney stacks and broken railroads marked the presence of Sherman's army. But all sorts of people pressed to see me, and evinced their natural curiosity, nothing more. . . .

I expect to have two Indian wars on my hands, and have no time for other things. The Sioux and Cheyennes are now so circumscribed that I suppose they must be exterminated, for they cannot and will not settle down, and our people will force us to it. It will also call for all possible prudence to keep us from war with the Mormons, for there are people that yearn for the farms and property the Mormons have created in the wilderness.

I have a despatch from Mr. Stanton, saying that my action in the delicate mission to Mexico meets the approval of the President, the Cabinet, and himself, so I got out of that scrape easily. I do not want to come to Washington, but to stay here quietly as long as possible. When Grant goes to Europe, then I shall be forced to come. The longer that is deferred the better for me. Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 287

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.

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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 George Mason Graham, January 16, 1861

ALEXANDRIA, Jan. 16, 1861.

DEAR GENERAL: It was my purpose to wait patiently for the development of events, with my mind firmly resolved to do no act hostile to the United States. I had given full notice of such resolution to Dr. Smith and Governor Moore. The seizure of the forts, and worse still the capture of the company of U.S. soldiers at Baton Rouge, where they were stationed by invitation of the state authority for the protection of the arms and munitions of war placed there for the safety of the state, are regarded by me as acts of war and a breach of common decency. I forthwith repaired to Alexandria and notified Dr. Smith of my opinion and that my longer stay here was wrong. He thinks Governor Moore had reasons for his conduct not known to the public and as he is on the point of going to Baton Rouge he asked me to forbear till he could consult, and see what is to be done. He says he has consulted with many, and that all understand my opinions, that as I am entrusted with the moneys and management of the institution he cannot arrange for my relief till time is given to provide a successor. He is unwilling that Vallas should succeed to my power as superintendent — or that any one else to the care of the moneys. But he pledged me his word that I should in no wise be compromised in any act of hostility to the general government.

If I had in view any occupation, by which I could maintain my family I would not stay, but as I have no such employment in view, and as I cannot receive the compensation fixed by law for me as superintendent of the central arsenal, and as I have laid by little or nothing I have consented to await awhile, to allow the legislature to appropriate the five hundred dollars due for last year* and for a little salary to accumulate to give me the means of retiring to Ohio, and cast around for some means of support.

These are my reasons. They may be improper and unsuited to the occasion, but such they are. But I do think that the haste with which this revolution is pushed must produce sad and bitter fruits. I feel no wish to take part in the civil strife that seems inevitable. I would prefer to hide myself, but necessity may force me to another course. Here in Louisiana you must sustain a large army, and its commander will soon dispose of your governor and legislature, and will keep them to the simple task of providing "ways and means.” Then Governor Moore will maybe see that it is not so simple a game to play. Our friend Bragg seems to be alert, and most likely he will soon be your king. You could not have a better. However secession may be regarded as to South Carolina, it becomes a far more serious matter when we know that some of the most populous states are on the tributaries of the Mississippi whose mouth is now held by a foreign and hostile state. This of itself will turn their commerce by lakes and railroads eastward, and moreover a new feeling of interest will arise in New York and Baltimore to embarrass the exports from New Orleans. The facility of closing the Mississippi by a single frigate, or by the possession of Key West or Tortugas will and must paralyze the trade of New Orleans. It may be that Louisiana honor compelled her to this course, but I see it not and must think it is the rash result of excited men. Men have ceased to reason and war seems to be courted by those who understand not its cost and demoralizing results. Civilians are far more willing to start a war than military men, and so it appears now.

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* For the salary of superintendent of the Arsenal. - Ed.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 338-40

William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 20, 1861

SEMINARY, Jan. 20, 1861.

Here is another Sunday. I have written you often enough of late to keep you in a perfect state of uneasiness, but it does seem that each day brings forth something new. I now have official notice that three thousand three hundred muskets, seventy thousand cartridges, etc., are sent here from Baton Rouge, which must be a part of those seized by the state or otherwise stolen, and I must make provision for their storage. I must move to the new house in order to afford room for them in my present quarters.

But my stay here much longer is impossible. My opinions and feelings are so radically opposed to those in power that this cannot last long. I send you a copy of a letter I wrote to Governor Moore on the 18th, on the receipt of which he will be forced to act. I hate to lose that five hundred dollars but I guess it can't be helped. I know all about the forms of reports, returns, money accounts, etc., and no one here does, and I know of no one in the state that Moore can find. Still I think he will feel bound to place the custody of these arms in the hands of one more faithful to Louisiana than I profess to be.

I shall expect a definite answer in a week, when I propose to go to New Orleans and settle the bank account. I would then ship in some Cincinnati boat such traps as would not bear railroad transportation and thence by railroad to Cincinnati, so that it is not impossible I may be in Lancaster early in February. I must leave here with a clean record, and this can only be done in the manner I have pointed out to Governor Moore. He may endeavor to throw obstacles in my way, but I think not. He is too fair a man.

I feel no desire to follow an army necessarily engaged in Civil War, and as we could start out of debt, it may be we can keep so.

Those now in debt will suffer most, or least, for they will likely repudiate all debts. Down here they think they are going to have fine times. New Orleans a free port whereby she can import goods without limit or duties and sell to the up-river countries. But Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore will never consent that New Orleans should be a free port and they subject to duties. The most probable result will be that New Orleans will be shut off from all trade, and the South having no money* and no sailors cannot raise a blockade without assistance from England, and that she will never receive.

I have letters from General Graham and others who have given up all hope of stemming the tide. All they now hope for is as peaceable a secession as can be effected. I heard Mr. Clay's speech in 1850 on the subject of secession and if he deemed a peaceable secession then as an absurd impossibility, much more so is it now when the commercial interests of the North are so much more influential. . .

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* So written but probably Navy is meant.—ED.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 347-8