Rumors are
circulating that we are to be ordered away from here. I am glad of it as I like
to be kept active. Still this garrison duty is necessary as it gives us all
time to learn our business. There is nothing like practical experience; it is
the best school one can have. Marching orders have just come and we leave for
Columbus, Ky., in the morning.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton,
War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier
General Joseph Stockton, p. 2
was sloppy day And I hird today that peas was made between the North and South and I hird that our men sunk a vessel down on the Potomac last night But indeed I dont beleave a word of it.
SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett
Yancey Malone, p. 13
Rumors are flying
that we will soon get hard fighting. Nothing more up to the 4th.
SOURCE: Louis
Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 59
Enslaved at the Cumberland Iron Furnace in Dickson County, Tennessee, Thomas Driver had a wife and four children. In 1840, 100 slaves—mostly men between age 24 and 54—labored there. Whites feared insurrection by this large workforce. In 1856 rumors of a slave revolt led to several slaves being hanged.
SOURCE: Information Panel at the Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, Tennessee
Snowed a few inches
in depth during the night clear and cool morning.
The new year begins
with the new rumor that Gen. Hood has turned upon Gen. Thomas and beaten him.
This is believed by many. Hood's army was not destroyed, and he retreated from
before Nashville with some 20,000 men. Doubtless he lost many cannon; but the Federal
accounts of his disaster were probably much exaggerated.
The cabinet still
remains.
The President is
considered really a man of ability, and eminently qualified to preside over the
Confederate States, if independence were attained and we had peace. But he is
probably not equal to the role he is now called upon to play. He has not the
broad intellect requisite for the gigantic measures needed in such a crisis,
nor the health and physique for the labors devolving on him. Besides he is too
much of a politician still to discard his old prejudices, and persists in
keeping aloof from him, and from commanding positions, all the great statesmen
and patriots who contributed most in the work of preparing the minds of the
people for resistance to Northern domination. And the consequence is that many
of these influential men are laboring to break down his administration, or else
preparing the people for a return to the old Union. The disaffection is intense
and wide-spread among the politicians of 1860, and consternation and despair
are expanding among the people. Nearly all desire to see Gen. Lee at the head
of affairs; and the President is resolved to yield the position to no man
during his term of service. Nor would Gen. Lee take it.
The proposition to
organize an army of negroes gains friends; because the owners of the slaves are
no longer willing to fight themselves, at least they are not as "eager for
the fray" as they were in 1861; and the armies must be replenished, or
else the slaves will certainly be lost.
Thus we begin the
new year—Heaven only knows how we shall end it! I trust we may be in a better
condition then. Of one thing I am certain, the PEOPLE are capable of achieving
independence, if they only had capable men in all departments of the
government.
The President was at
St. Paul's to-day, with a knit woolen cap on his head. Dr. Minnegerode preached
a sermon against the croakers. His son has been appointed a midshipman by the President.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 371-2
Bright, clear, and
cold.
It is said the
government depot at Charlotte, N. C., has been burned (accidentally), consuming
a large amount of corn.
We have nothing
further of the movement of Grant's troops. We have Hood's acknowledgment of
defeat, and loss of 50 guns before Nashville.
The papers contain
the proceedings of a meeting in Savannah, over which the Mayor presided,
embracing the terms of submission offered in President Lincoln's message. They
have sent North for provisions—indicating that the city was in a famishing
condition. Our government is to blame for this! The proceedings will be used as
a "form," probably, by other cities—thanks to the press!
The Examiner is out
this morning for a convention of all the (Confederate) States, and denouncing
the President. I presume the object is to put Lee at the head of military
affairs.
The rumor of the
death of Gen. Price is not confirmed. Gen. Pemberton has been relieved here and
sent elsewhere. The Piedmont Railroad has been impressed. A secret act of
Congress authorizes it.
Miers W. Fisher
writes that if the cabinet indorses the newspaper suggestions of giving up
slavery and going under true monarchies, it is an invitation to refugees like
himself to return to their homes, and probably some of the States will elect to
return to the Union for the sake of being under a republican government, etc.
He says it is understood that the Assistant Secretary often answers letters
unseen by the Secretary; and if so, he can expect no answer from Mr. S., but
will put the proper construction on his silence, etc.
Flour is $700 per
barrel to-day; meal, $80 per bushel; coal and wood, $100 per load. Does the
government (alone to blame) mean to allow the rich speculators, the
quartermasters, etc. to starve honest men into the Union?
JUNE 18, 1850.
Yesterday Mr.
Webster made his last and special declaration. A motion was pending, that it
should be no objection to the admission of any State hereafter to be formed out
of the territory ceded by Mexico, that is, California, Utah, or New
Mexico,—that its constitution should recognize or provide for or establish
slavery. The present Congress, it is admitted on all hands, has no power to act
on that subject; but the movement was designed to give some moral power to the
claims of slavery hereafter, should such claims be made. Mr. Webster took a
retrospect of his whole course since the 7th
of March speech, his Newburyport letter, &c., and declared that he had
seen, heard, and reflected nothing which had not confirmed him in the soundness
of his opinion; and so, in the most solemn manner, he declared his purpose to
go for the bill. I think it will pass the Senate beyond all question. I fear it
will also pass the House. It is said that Mr. Clay put in the provision about
buying out the claims of Texas at some eight or ten or twelve millions of
dollars, for the very purpose of securing a sufficient number of votes to carry
it.
The Texan debt
consists of bonds or scrip, which, at the time the Compromise Bill was brought
in, was not worth more than four or five cents on the dollar: but the same
stock is said to be now worth fifty per cent; and, should the bill pass, the
stock will be worth a premium. Now, where so many persons are interested, will
they not influence members? May not members themselves be influenced by
becoming owners of this stock? It affords at least a chance for unrighteous
proceedings; and, should the bill pass, there are members who will not escape
imputation and suspicion.
A rumor has reached
us from New Mexico, that the people are taking steps there to call a convention
for the formation of a State Constitution. Should this prove authentic, as most
people here think it will, and should they put a proviso against slavery in
their constitution, would it not look like a godsend, like a special
providence, notwithstanding all we say about that class of events?
Oh, may it turn out
to be so!
SOURCE: Mary Tyler
Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 303-4
Washington, July 12,
1850. Friday morning.
MY DEAR SIR,—You
will hear various rumors respecting appointments to the Cabinet, but none of
them will deserve credit any further than they rest on general probability.
Nothing is decided as yet. The present Cabinet have all tendered their
resignations, but they will not be answered till after the funeral.
The three important
departments are State, Treasury, and Interior. I have no doubt some man known
to be thoroughly sound in revenue matters, will be appointed to the Treasury.
As to the State Department, I have no idea who will have it, although, if the
power were with me, I think I could find a man1 without going out of
Massachusetts, who has talent enough, and knowledge enough; but whether he is
at this moment so fresh in the minds of the people that his appointment would
strike the public mind favorably, may be a doubt. Nobody can well be Secretary
of State who has not fortune, unless he be a bachelor. The Secretary of State
is the head of the administration, and he must have a house, sometimes to
receive guests in. He is of course necessarily in daily communication with the
diplomatic corps, which I believe is twice as numerous now as it was twenty
years ago.
My dear Sir, you see
the spirit of good-will which is manifesting itself here. This is the golden
hour of opportunity, be assured. The opposition gentlemen are determined, all
the conservative part of them at least, to give the administration fair play;
and Mr. Fillmore is well-intentioned and discreet. He will meet with annoyances
from the rather overbearing spirit of a certain quarter, but I hope he will
stand stiff. If he is successful in forming his administration, I verily
believe a prospect is before us for a better state of things than we have
enjoyed for twenty years. Yours truly,
1 Mr. Everett.
SOURCE: Fletcher
Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol.
2, p. 376-7
Clear and cold. Ice
half an inch thick.
Gen. Longstreet is
again in the old lines on this side of the river. The reconnoissance, however,
is said to have been successful. Only a few were killed and wounded on either
side.
And Grant's column
was turned back from Meherrin bridge. Results of the movement unimportant, and
the supposition is that both armies will now go into winter quarters, after a
taste of this rigorous weather.
It is rumored and
believed (though I have seen no dispatch to that effect) that Sherman has
beaten and out-manoeuvred our generals, and got into communication with the
Federal fleet.
I read President
Lincoln's message carefully last night. By its commissions and omissions on
Mexican affairs, I think he means to menace Louis Napoleon, who may speak out
January 1st, 1865. Lincoln says:
"Mexico
continues to be a theater of civil war. While our political relations with that
country have undergone no change, we have at the same time strictly maintained
neutrality between the belligerents."
And his reference to
England is so equivocal, and his grouping of the Central and South American
Republics so prominent, and the boastful allusion to the
"inexhaustible" resources of the United States, may be considered as
a premeditated threat to Great Britain.
A
"confidential" letter came in to-day from Mr. Benjamin to the
Secretary of War.
Dr. Powell has sent
us a dozen rutabaga turnips, and a couple of quarts of excellent persimmons, which
the family enjoys most thankfully.
Dispatches from Lee:
"HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
'December 10th, 1864.
"HON.
JAMES A. SEDDON, SECRETARY of War.
"Gen.
Hampton, after driving the enemy's cavalry upon his infantry, on the afternoon
of the 8th, recrossed the Nottoway and reached Bellfield at daylight yesterday.
"In
the afternoon the enemy attacked the position, but were successfully resisted.
This morning the enemy is reported retiring and Hampton following.
"The
bridge over the Meherrin was saved. Our loss, as far as known, was small. The
garrison, under Garnett, and the reserves, behaved well. R. E. LEE."
"HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
"December 10th, 1864.
"HON.
JAMES A. SEDDON, SECREetary of War.
"About
noon yesterday the first division of the Second Corps of the enemy, supporting
their cavalry, forced back our cavalry pickets on the Vaughan Road, south of
the Appomattox, and advanced toward Dinwiddie Court House.
'To-day
our cavalry, reinforced by infantry, drove them back across Hatcher's Run,
capturing a few prisoners and re-establishing our lines. R. E. LEE."
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 352-3
Cloudy and cold, but
wind southeast.
The sullen sound of
cannon heard this morning as usual down the river. I hear of no active
operations there, although the ground is sufficiently frozen to bear horses and
artillery.
Rumors of successes
on the part of Sherman near Savannah are still in circulation.
The rich men are
generally indignant at the President and Gov. Smith for proposing to bring a
portion of the negroes into the army. They have not yet awakened to a
consciousness that there is danger of losing all, and of their being made to
fight against us. They do not even remove them beyond the reach of the enemy,
and hundreds are daily lost, but still they slumber on. They abuse the
government for its impressments, and yet repose in fancied security, holding
the President responsible for the defense of the country, without sufficient
men and adequate means.
The following
dispatch from Gen. Bragg was received to-day at 10 P.M.:
"AUGUSTA,
Dec. 12th. "The telegraph having been cut, we get nothing from Savannah. A
dispatch from Wheeler gives a copy of enemy's order for the line of investment
around Savannah. It is about eight miles from the city, and was to have been
reached on the 9th.
"B. BRAGG."
I have at length
succeeded in getting a suit of clothes; it was made at the government shop for
$50, the trimmings having been found (in the house) by my wife. The suit, if
bought of a merchant and made by the city tailors, would cost some $1000. A
Yankee prisoner (deserter) made the coat at a low price. The government means
to employ them, if they desire it, in this manner. I am very thankful for my
good fortune.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 353-4
Cloudy and cool.
A dispatch from the
West states that the enemy have made a heavy raid from Bean's Station, Ky.,
cutting the railroad between Abingdon and Bristol, destroying government
stores, engines, etc. Breckinridge and Vaughan, I suppose, have been ordered
away. Dr. Morris, Telegraph Superintendent, wants to know of the Secretary if
this news shall be allowed to go to the press.
The President is
ill, some say very ill, but I saw indorsements with his own hand on the 13th
(day before yesterday).
Our affairs seem in
a bad train. But many have unlimited confidence in Gen. Beauregard, who
commands in South Carolina and Georgia, and all repose implicit trust in Lee.
A writer in the
Sentinel suggests that if we should be hard pressed, the States ought to repeal
the old Declaration of Independence, and voluntarily revert to their original
proprietors― England, France, and Spain, and by them be protected from the
North, etc. Ill-timed and injurious publication!
A letter from G. N.
Sanders, Montreal, Canada E., asks copies of orders (to be certified by
Secretary of War) commanding the raid into Vermont, the burning, pillaging,
etc., to save Lieut. Young's life. I doubt if such written orders are in
existence—but no matter.
It is said the enemy
have captured Fort McAlister, Savannah Harbor.
Mr. Hunter is very
solicitous about the President's health-said to be an affection of the head;
but the Vice-President has taken his seat in the Senate.
It was rumored
yesterday that the President would surely die, an idle rumor, perhaps. I hope
it is not a disease of the brain, and incurable.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 355
Warm and cloudy.
Quiet below.
The President was
reported better, yesterday, to my wife, who called.
It is said Gen.
Cooper, R. Ould, etc. etc. have never taken their compensation in Confederate
States Treasury notes, hoping at a future day (which may not come) to draw
specie or its equivalent!
It was reported on
the streets, to-day, that the President was dead. He is much better; and will
probably be at his office today.
The following
telegram was sent over by the President this morning:
"SAVANNAH,
GA., December 16th, 1864.—Sherman has secured a water base, and Foster, who is
already nearly on my communications, can be safely and expeditiously
reinforced. Unless assured that force sufficient to keep open my communications
can be sent me, I shall be compelled to evacuate Savannah.—W. J. HARDEE,
Lieut.-Gen."
Alas for President
Davis's government! It is now in a painful strait. If reinforcements be sent
from here, both Savannah and Richmond may fall. Gen. Bragg will be crucified by
the enemies of the President, for staying at Augusta while Sherman made his
triumphant march through Georgia; and the President's party will make
Beauregard the scape-goat, for staying at Charleston for sending Hood North—which
I am inclined to think he did not do, but the government itself.
Capt. Weiniger
(government clothing warehouse) employs about 4000 females on soldiers'
clothes.
Some people still
believe the President is dead, and that it is attempted to conceal his death by
saying he is better, etc. I saw his indorsements on papers, to-day, dated the
15th, day before yesterday, and it was a bold hand. I am inclined almost to
believe he has not been sick at all! His death would excite sympathy and now his
enemies are assailing him bitterly, attributing all our misfortunes to his
incompetence, etc. etc.
SOURC E: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 356-7
Christmas eve! Clear
and cold.
A dispatch from Hon.
J. L. Orr and H. V. (on their way home) informs the Secretary that
from the delay in the transportation of troops over the Piedmont Railroad,
there must be either criminal neglect or treachery concerned in it.
Again it is rumored
that Savannah has been evacuated. There is something in the air that causes
agitation in official circles. Mr. Secretary Seddon's room was locked nearly
all day yesterday.
If troops cannot be
transported expeditiously over the Piedmont Road, fears may be entertained for
Wilmington, when, the gale subsiding, the enemy's fleet has reappeared.
There is a rumor on
the street that the government is to be removed to Lynchburg.
Gen. Lee has induced
the President and Secretary of War to call for the clerks (detailed ones) to
repair to the trenches again this weather. The emergency must be great, as
these soldiers get, as clerks, $4000 per annum, and rations, etc.
A dispatch from Gen.
Bragg.
WILMINGTON,
N. C., December 23d, 1864.-The fleet, which drew off in the rough weather, is
again assembled; seventy vessels now in sight on the coast. The advance of the
troops (C. S.) only reached here to-night.—B. B.
The clerks are
drawing lots; one-half being ordered to the trenches. Of two drawn in this
bureau (out of five) one is peremptorily ordered by the Secretary to remain,
being sickly, and the other has an order to go before a medical board "to
determine whether he is fit for service in the trenches for a few days."
Great commotion naturally prevails in the departments, and it is whispered that
Gen. Lee was governed in the matter by the family of the President, fearing a
Christmas visit from the negro troops on this side the river.
The following note
was received to-day from the Vice-President:
RICHMOND,
VA, December 23d, 1864.—Hon. Jas. A. Seddon, Secretary of War: Will you please
send me, through the post-office, a passport to leave the city? I wish to
depart in a few days. Yours respectfully,
ALEX. H. STEPHENS.
The President is
hard at work making majors, etc.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 363-4
We receive orders this morning to move, which are hailed with cheers from the Seventh. We proceed to the Chattanooga depot where we take the cars and are soon moving towards Atlanta. We are all expecting that ere it is night we will be away down in Georgia, but alas we are disappointed. The train stops at Griggsville and the regiment is ordered off. Many rumors are now flying about the railroad being cut. About Wheeler's demonstration, all seems dark and mysterious to the soldier.
Rained hard in the
night; clear and pleasant in the morning.
A letter from John
T. Bourne, St. Georges, Bermuda, says he has some 1800 barrels government
gunpowder under his care, of which he desires to be relieved.
Gen. Lee sent to the
Secretary the following dispatch this morning:
2d
and 5th corps, Gregg's division of [enemy's] cavalry, are moving South, on
Jerusalem Plank Road. Cavalry reached Sussex Court House at 7 P.M. yesterday.
Hill and Hampton [Confederate States generals] are following. Appearances
indicate they are moving against Weldon, where I am concentrating all the depot
guards I can.
R. E. LEE, General.
PETERSBURG,
Dec. 8th, 1864
There are rumors of
the enemy having effected a lodgment on the south side of the river, between
Howell and Drewry's Bluff. This may be serious. I do not learn (yet) that the
Dutch Gap Canal is finished; but the enemy landed from barges in the fog. Gen.
Lee, some weeks ago, designated such a movement and lodgment as important and
embarrassing, probably involving the holding of Petersburg.
Nothing from Bragg.
One of Gen. Early's
divisions is passing through the city toward Petersburg.
Cloudy and melting—snow
vanishing rapidly. The thousand and one rumors of great achievements of Gen.
Longstreet on the north side of the river seem to have been premature. Nothing
official of any advantage gained over the enemy near the city has been received
so far as I can learn. Gen. Lee, no doubt, directed Longstreet to make
demonstrations on the enemy's lines near the city, to ascertain their strength,
and to prevent more reinforcements being sent on the south side, where the
struggle will occur, if it has not already occurred.
There is no doubt
that the enemy's column sent toward Weldon has been checked, and great things
are reported of Gen. Hampton's cavalry.
A battle must
certainly occur near Savannah, Ga. Sherman must assail our lines, or perish
between two fires.
President Lincoln's
message to the Congress of the United States, republished in our papers,
produces no marked effect. His adherence to a purpose of emancipation of the
slaves, and his employment of them in his armies, will suffice for an
indefinite prolongation of the war, and perhaps result in the employment of
hundreds of thousands of slaves in our armies. The intimation, however, that
all applications for "pardon," etc. have been and are still favorably
entertained, will certainly cause many of our croakers who fall into the lines
of the United States forces to submit. Others, though so disposed, have not an
opportunity to signify their submission. But everything depends upon events in
the field.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 351-2
To the Governor of the State of Virginia:
DEAR SIR,
SHERWOOD FOREST,
January 31, 1861.
I received your communication notifying me of my appointment by the concurrent vote of the two houses of the General Assembly, as a commissioner to the President of the United States, with instructions respectfully to request the President to abstain, pending the proceedings contemplated by the action of the General Assembly, from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms between the States which have seceded or shall secede, and the government of the United States, on the afternoon of Monday, the 21st instant, by the mail of that day, and in disregard of a severe state of indisposition under which I had labored for some time previous, I resolved at all hazards to myself personally to carry out, so far as I could, the patriotic wishes of the Legislature. By the earliest conveyance, I reached Richmond on the evening of the succeeding day (Tuesday, 22d), and having had an interview with your excellency and my co-commissioner, proceeded by the morning train of cars the next day (Wednesday, 23d) for the city of Washington, which I reached on the afternoon of the same day. I am thus particular in giving precise dates, so that the Legislature may perceive that with all possible promptitude and dispatch I obeyed their wishes; and also to show that I was duly sensible of the importance of time in the whole proceeding. Immediately after reaching Washington, I addressed a note (marked No. 1) to the President of the United States, informing him of my arrival and asking an early hour to be designated by him, to enable me to place him in possession of the wishes and feelings of the Legislature of Virginia, and the instructions which, in the form of her legislative resolves, all having direct reference to the disturbed and painful condition of public affairs, I was desirous of laying before him. He responded promptly by note, and left it optional with myself to select 8 o'clock of that evening, or an early hour the next morning, for the time of the proposed conference. My note (No. 2), for reasons therein set forth, informed him that I would wait upon him in the morning of the ensuing day. My note announcing my arrival, if the objects which had brought me to Washington had any consideration in the mind of the President would, I did not doubt, suspend any hostile movement against any seceding State in the interval of time between its date and the hour at which I should wait upon him the next morning, and supersede the necessity of a night visit.
On the next morning, at the hour of ten, I repaired to the President's mansion, and met from him a warm and cordial reception. I lost no time in handing to him your letter of appointment, attested by the seal of the State, and legislative resolutions. He said that they were the first full copies of the resolutions which he had seen, and after reading them he remarked, that he considered them very important, and was good enough to add, that being borne by myself, he should feel it his duty to make them the subject of a special message to Congress. Either I suggested or he voluntarily remarked, most probably the latter, that he should accompany them with a strong recommendation to Congress, with whom, he said, rested the entire power over the subject of war or peace, to abstain from all action of a hostile character, until Virginia should have had a fair opportunity to exert all her efforts to preserve the public peace and restore harmony to the Union. I said to him, that my mission was to him; that he was commander-in-chief of the army and navy—could regulate the movement of soldiers and ships in peace and war, and that everything that Virginia desired was that the statu quo should be observed. I represented to him that the people of Virginia were almost universally inclined to peace and reconciliation. That I need not inform him of the sacrifices the State had made for the Union in its initiation, or of her instrumentality in the creation of the Constitution. That her efforts to reconstruct or preserve depended for their success on her being permitted to conduct them undisturbed by outside collision. He replied, that he had in no measure changed his views as presented in his annual message; that he could give no pledges; that it was his duty to enforce the laws, and the whole power rested with Congress. He complained that the South had not treated him properly; that they had made unnecessary demonstration by seizing unprotected arsenals and forts, and thus perpetrating acts of useless bravado, which had quite as well been let alone. I suggested to him, that while these things were, I admitted, calculated to fret and irritate the northern mind, that he would see in them only the necessary results of popular excitement, which, after all, worked no mischief in the end, if harmony between the States was once more restored; that the States wherein the seizures had been made, would account for all the public property; and that in the mean time the agency for its preservation was only changed. He repeated his sense of the obligations which rested upon him; could give no pledges but those contained in his public acts, and recurred again to the proceedings of the Legislature and his intention to send them to Congress in a special message, accompanied with a strong recommendation to avoid the passage of any hostile legislation. I asked if I might be permitted to see the sketch of the message, to which he unhesitatingly replied that he would take pleasure in showing it to me next morning. Much more occurred in the course of our interview, which lasted for an hour and a half; all, however, relating exclusively to the above topics, and I left him entirely satisfied with the results of my interview. The President was frank and entirely confiding in his language and whole manner. A moment's reflection satisfied me that if the message contained the recommendation to Congress to abstain from hostile legislation, I was at liberty to infer a similar determination on his part of a state of quietude.
Friday, 25.—I waited on him again the following morning, and he lost no time in reading me so much of the sketch of the proposed message as related to the recommendation to Congress. I suggested no change or alteration, believing it to be amply sufficient, and I became only anxious for its presentation to Congress. He said he should have it all prepared to be submitted to his Cabinet on that day, and would send it in the next day. On the afternoon of the same day—Friday, 25—I was waited upon by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, who stated that they had called upon me at the request of the President, to express his regret that in consequence of the adjournment over to Monday, he would not be able to send in his message until Monday. While in conversation with those gentlemen, which chiefly turned on the condition of public affairs, I was startled by the receipt of a telegraphic despatch from Judge Robertson, my co-commissioner, dated at Charleston, South Carolina, enquiring into the foundation of a rumor which had reached that place, that the steamship Brooklyn, with troops, had sailed for the South from Norfolk. I immediately handed over the despatch to the gentlemen, with the suitable enquiries. The Attorney General said, in substance: "You know, sir, that I am attached to the law department, and not in the way of knowing anything about it." The Secretary of State said that he had heard and believed that the Brooklyn had sailed with some troops, but he did not know either when she sailed or to what point she was destined. I then said, "I hope that she has not received her orders since my arrival in Washington." On this point the gentlemen could give me no information, but expressed no doubt but that the President would give me the information if requested. I excused myself to them, and immediately withdrawing to the adjoining room, I addressed to the President note No. 3, which Mr. Staunton, the Attorney General, kindly volunteered to bear in person, and without loss of time, to the President. In a short time afterwards, Mr. Staunton returned, to inform me that he had carried the note to the President's house, but for a reason not necessary here to state, he could not see the President, but had placed it in the hands of his servant, to be delivered at the earliest opportunity. The reply of the President, No. 2, reached me at half after eleven o'clock that night. In the interim, I had despatched by telegraph, to Judge Robertson, the information I had collected, and upon the opening of the telegraph office the next morning (Saturday), the material parts of the President's reply relating to the sailing of the Brooklyn, viz: that she had gone on an errand "of mercy and relief," and that she was not destined to South Carolina. The orders for the sailing of the ship, as will be seen, were issued before I reached Washington. After receiving the letter, and willingly adopting the most favorable construction of its expressions, I resolved to remain in Washington until after Monday, when the message would go to the two houses. I listened to its reading in the Senate with pleasure, and can only refer to the newspapers for its contents, as no copies were printed and obtainable by me, before I left Washington, on Tuesday morning, the 29th instant. On Monday afternoon I bade my adieu to the President in the accompanying letters, marked No. 4, to which I received his reply, marked No. 3.
The morning newspapers contained the rumor that the proceeding had been adopted of mounting guns on the land side of Fortress Monroe, and in my letter I deemed it no way inappropriate to call the attention of the President to those rumors.
Thus has terminated my mission to the President under the legislative resolutions. I trust that the result of the Brooklyn's cruise may terminate peacably. No intimation was given me of her having sailed in either of my interviews with the President, and all connected with her destination remains to me a State secret. I had no right to require to be admitted into the inner vestibule of the Cabinet, however much I might complain should the results prove the errand of the ship from the first to have been belligerent and warlike.
I am, dear sir,BROWN'S HOTEL, January 28, 1861.
MY DEAR SIR: I leave the city to-morrow morning for the brief interval that elapses between this and the meeting of the commissioners on the 4th of February. In making my adieu, which I should do in person but for engagements which prevent, I desire to express my pleasure at hearing your message read to-day in the Senate, and to tender my acknowledgments for the facilities you afforded me of acquitting myself of the mission with which my State entrusted me. I feel but one regret in all that has occurred, and that is the sailing of the Brooklyn under orders issued before my arrival in this city. I hope, however, she sailed with such instructions as, if followed, will prevent any collision. There is nothing I more sincerely desire than that your administration may close amidst the rejoicings of a great people at the consummation of the work of a renewed and more harmonious confederacy.
Will you pardon me for calling your attention to the rumors current in the newspapers of the morning, which state that active proceedings are in course of execution at Fortress Monroe, in planting cannon on the land side of the fort, with their muzzles pointing landward and overlooking the country? If this be so, Mr. President, is such a proceeding either appropriate or well-timed? I shall do no more than call your attention to the circumstance, and leave it without comment, with this single remark, that when Virginia is making every possible effort to redeem and save the Union, it is seemingly ungenerous to have cannon levelled at her bosom.
With my most cordial wishes for your success in steering the ship of State amid the critical relations of the country, I am, my dear sir, truly and faithfully yours,
WASHINGTON, January 28, 1861.
MY DEAR SIR: I have received your note of this evening, and am happy to learn that you were pleased at hearing my message read to-day in the Senate. It expresses my sincere and cordial sentiments. My best wishes attend you on your journey home, and for your safe return to this city on the 4th February. I shall then hope to see more of you.
I shall make it a point to enquire to-morrow morning into the rumors in the newspapers to which you referred in relation to Fortress Monroe.
SOURCE: Lyon Gardiner Tyler, The Letters and Times of the Tylers, Volume 2, p. 592
April 17.
Last night our Colonel forgot the importance of his present position and visited the wreck of the George Washington. He saw how the remaining gun was situated, and gratified his love of adventure without being fired upon. It is a shame that no gunboat had yet been sent to protect the men who might have taken off those guns. The rumor comes to us from town tonight that the troops are ordered back to Charleston and that reinforcements are to meet them there from the North. We shall be left here on picket a while longer, and for this last I am thankful. General Hunter has been consulted about the picket shooting, and writes to General Saxton to "give them back as good as they send."
SOURCE: Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 43, October, 1909—June, 1910: February 1910. p. 389
