James M. Winchell

JAMES M. WINCHELL was born at Avon, Livingston county, New York, in 1823, and died at Hyde Park, N.Y., February 2, 1877. In 1848 he graduated from the State Normal School, at Albany, and began teaching in the public schools of Syracuse, giving some attention to journalism. In 1853 he removed to New York city, and in 1854 to Council City, now Burlingame, Kan. He was delegate to the first national republican convention, at Philadelphia, a member of the Leavenworth and president of the Wyandotte constitutional conventions. He was a member of the territorial house of representatives in 1860 and 1861. He was correspondent of the New York Times during the Kansas troubles, and war correspondent during the rebellion, having charge of the Times bureau in Washington in 1862 and 1863. He was then connected with the management of the Kansas Pacific railroad for a short time, and in 1864 was secretary of the national committee organized to urge the nomination of Salmon P. Chase for the presidency. He then engaged in mining, until, in 1867, he retired from active pursuits, and purchased the estate at Hyde Park, on the Hudson. He was connected editorially with the New York Times at his death. His wife has given the Society many of his Kansas manuscripts.

SOURCE: Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, Volume 7, p. 408

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, May 23, 1864

A late dispatch on Saturday night from Cairo informs me that a dam at Alexandria has been constructed and our fleet is passing the falls. Lieutenant-Commander Phelps had left my house only about an hour before the dispatch was received. We had passed most of the evening in discussing Red River affairs. The news of the passage of the whole fleet is since confirmed. It is most gratifying intelligence.

The author of the forged proclamation has been detected. His name is Howard, and he has been long connected with the New York press, but especially with the Times. If I am not mistaken, he has been one of my assailants and a defamer of the Department. He is of a pestiferous class of reckless sensation-writers for an unscrupulous set of journalists who misinform the public mind. Scarcely one of them has regard for truth, and nearly all make use of their positions to subserve selfish, mercenary ends. This forger and falsifier Howard is a specimen of the miserable tribe. The seizure of the office of the World and Journal of Commerce for publishing this forgery was hasty, rash, inconsiderate, and wrong, and cannot be defended. They are mischievous and pernicious, working assiduously against the Union and the Government and giving countenance and encouragement to the Rebellion, but were in this instance the dupes, perhaps the willing dupes, of a knave and wretch. The act of suspending these journals, and the whole arbitrary and oppressive proceedings, had its origin with the Secretary of State. Stanton, I have no doubt, was willing to act on Seward's promptings, and the President, in deference to Seward, yielded to it. These things are to be regretted. They weaken the Administration and strengthen its enemies. Yet the Administration ought not to be condemned for the misdeeds of one, or at most two, of its members. They would not be if the President was less influenced by them.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 37-8

The Prisoners in Chicago

From the Nashville Patriot, April 1.

The following letter was received at this office yesterday, with a request to publish:

CAMP DOUGLAS,

CHICAGO, ILL., Thursday, March 6.

MR. EDITOR: In behalf of the prisoners captured at Fort Donelson, composing the two companies from Dixon County, I ask permission, through your columns, to say to their friends that they are generally well and properly cared for. Only one (A.L. CUNNINGHAM) has died since we have been here. W.E. WINFREY and M.L. BAKER, of Capt. GRIGSBY's Company, were killed in the fight at the fort. Capt. CORDING lost none. We want to say to our wives, fathers, mothers, and children, not to run away from homes and firesides, as others have done, even if the Federal forces should come in their midst; nor grieve themselves unnecessarily on our account. We know not (if we are detained long) how our wives and children will live; but we are prisoners of hope, and have formed a better opinion of the Northern people and the army than we were accustomed to hear. We are short of clothing, and particularly of money.

JACOB LEECH.

– Published in The New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, April 11, 1862