Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Enoch Cobb Wines, December 19, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 19, 1869.

DEAR SIR:—I am exceedingly obliged by your prompt reply to my letter as to prison reform and for the volumes of valuable documents on the subject which you forwarded. No sudden or sweeping reform will be attempted here. But we desire to encourage the formation of correct opinions and hope that a gradual but steady advance may be made towards a reformatory system. The principles of the Irish system can I believe be introduced in practice without undertaking to copy in detail a scheme which may in some of its features be unsuited to our conditions.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

E. C. WINES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 77-8

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Brevet Major General Benjamin W. Brice, December 20, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 20, 1869.

DEAR GENERAL:—A scoundrel in Wisconsin is trying to blackmail me. He claims that on the morning of Sheridan's victory of Winchester, October 19, 1864, his son deposited with me from eight hundred to one thousand dollars, money lately received for pay and veteran bounty. The boy was killed in the battle. It is all false, and I now desire to get the amounts paid to the boy between January 1, 1864, and October 19, 1864. I will pay any clerk you may set at the job of digging it up for his trouble and be greatly obliged for a statement or certificate that I can show if necessary. The boy's name was Nelson J. Leroy, private Company I, Twenty-third Regiment O. V. I.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL B. W. BRICE,
        Washington, D. C.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 78

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Benjamin F. Potts, December 21, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 21, 1869.

DEAR GENERAL:—I have your letter of the 20th and am glad to know, what I believed before, that you would stand by the flag notwithstanding the attractions of Montana until the crisis of organization and the Fifteenth Amendment is passed. I am advised, I think authentically, that the Hamilton members have settled to give the pro tempore Speaker of the Senate to the Democrats, Clerk to the Republicans, and so alternate through the offices and committees. In the House, Speaker, Republican, Clerk, Democrat, etc., on down. [The prospect for the ratification of the] Fifteenth Amendment [is] hopeful. Russell's vacancy will be filled in time. There may be an effort to claim that no vacancy existed authorizing a special election, Russell not being a Senator until admitted and sworn. But West says it is all bosh. There was a vacancy, etc., etc. Congratulations and regards to Mrs. Governor Potts.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL B. F. POTTS.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 78-9

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Stephen S. L’Hommedieu, December 23, 1869

COLUMBUS, OHIO, December 23, 1869.

MY DEAR SIR:—I received your dispatch about the Chase portrait. I think it altogether probable that Mr. Cook would like to do the graceful thing in that behalf. But the main question which I now put is, who shall bell the cat? Who shall name the matter to Mr. Cook? In scriptural phrase may I not say: "Thou art the man"?

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

S. C. [sic] L'HOMMEDIEU,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 79

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Governor John White Geary, December 29, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 29, 1869.

DEAR SIR:—I am asked to write you in behalf of young Hosea, now in the State Prison of your State. I have no knowledge of him or of his crime. There is no doubt that his widowed mother is a most estimable woman, and that the gentlemen who take an interest in the case are worthy in all respects. Dr. Wadsworth, who will visit you, is, I know, an upright, conscientious, and truthful gentleman. I bespeak for him and his statements the utmost confidence and consideration.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL J. W. GEARY,
        GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 79

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to D. W. C. Wilson, December 29, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 29, 1869.

DEAR SIR:—I thank you for your kind favor of the 17th inst. I will now give you a few of the facts which I have ascertained bearing upon the merits of Leroy's claim.

I. N. J. Leroy re-enlisted as a veteran January 1, 1864, and was at Cleveland and at home on a veteran furlough in Febuary, 1864, and at the end of his furlough borrowed money of a comrade to enable him to return to his regiment.

2. After his return to his regiment he was paid only once prior to his death, and the amount paid was $169.75.

3. The rest of his pay and bounty due from the Government was paid to his "legal representatives" after his death, amounting to $365.

4. His local bounty due from the town of Youngstown was paid after his death to his mother, amounting to ——.

These facts I have from three sources, viz., the first from his comrades in Cleveland; the second, third, and fourth from certificates of the proper officers of which I enclose you copies.

I think you will now agree with me that the only remaining question in this matter is, whether your townsman, James Leroy, has been himself deceived, or whether he is guilty of an attempt to defraud?

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE D. W. C. WILSON,
        Sparta, Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, pp. 79-80

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Congressman William Lawrence, December 31, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 31, 1869.

DEAR LAWRENCE:—You are perfectly right in your view. We must have a genuine retrenchment and economy. The monthly reduction of the debt is of far more consequence than the reduction of taxation in any form. I hope too you will abolish the franking privilege, and adopt the general principles of Trumbull's bill and Jenckes' bill. It would please the people, and [is] right and wise. I will act on your suggestions.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE WILLIAM LAWRENCE,
        Washington.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 80

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Russell Hastings, December 2, 1869

COLUMBUS, OHIO, December 2, 1869.

DEAR HASTINGS: — I am in receipt of— your note of the 30th ult. It is of course flattering and pleasant to be thought of in that connection, and I appreciate the value of the support suggested, but I do not feel like scheming to that end. Perhaps I may be ready sometime to do what is commonly done, but so long in advance, I am indisposed to make figures, or even to decide the question of giving my own consent to a continuance in public life. I feel now like quitting. I hope for your pocket's sake that the business will be in your hands.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL RUSSELL HASTINGS.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 75

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Thomas Dow Jones, December 4, 1869

COLUMBUS, OHIO, December 4, 1869.

MY DEAR SIR: — Yours of yesterday received. I think there will be small opposition in the committee to keeping the Lincoln out of sight until the inauguration of the complete work. But we do insist upon getting it here away from your tinder-box. I expect to hear you have been burnt out by next mail, and shall continue in that agreeable state of mind until relieved by the happening of that event! It is only the special providence which watches over you and the sparrows which has saved you so long!

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

T. D. JONES, Esq.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 75

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Andrew Hickenlooper, December 6, 1869

COLUMBUS, OHIO, December 6, 1869.

DEAR GENERAL: — I am just in receipt of your note of the third with an article from the Statesman annexed. The article had not attracted my attention, but of course I should not have publicly noticed it. There is not a word of truth in it so far as I am concerned. I have spent but two days in Washington since Grant's inauguration — yes, it was four or five days and took no part against you then or at any time. No assurance was needed that neither you nor your friends are responsible for this sort of insinuation; but I am glad to feel safe that such things can't sow tares between us.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL HICKENLOOPER,
        Cincinnati, Ohio.

Private.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 76

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to DeWitt Clinton Wilson, December 11, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 11, 1869.

DEAR SIR: — I am today in receipt of your letter of the 8th inst., expressing the opinion that Mr. James Leroy is honest in making a claim against me for money left with me by his son. There is no foundation for the claims and to enable me to discover who is the guilty party in getting up the claim, I will be obliged to you if you will give me the names and address of the parties whose statements you refer to, "oral and written," which you have heard and seen.

Respectfully,

R. B. HAYES.

HONORABLE D. W. C. WILSON,
        Sparta, Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 77

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to James Leroy, December 11, 1869

COLUMBUS, December 11, 1869.

DEAR SIR: — I am today in receipt of your letter of the 8th inst., inclosing letters from gentlemen of your acquaintance, showing their opinion that you are acting in good faith in making a claim on me for money deposited with me by your son. Assuming that they are innocent, somebody is guilty of an attempt to impose on you. There is no truth whatever in the story about [Private Nelson J.] Leroy leaving money with me. Your friends can have no objection to giving me the names in full and postoffice addresses of your informants that I may investigate the whole matter.

Yours, etc.,

R. B. HAYES.

JAMES LEROY,
        Sparta, Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 77

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel John Beatty: August 25, 1861

The Twenty-third Ohio, Colonel Scammon, will be here to-morrow. Stanley Matthews is the lieutenant-colonel of this regiment, and my old friend, Rutherford B. Hayes, the major. The latter is an accomplished gentleman, graduate of Harvard Law School, and will, it is said, in all probability, succeed

Gurley in Congress. Matthews has a fine reputation as a speaker and lawyer, and, I have been told, is the most promising young man in Ohio. Scammon is a West Pointer.

SOURCE: John Beatty, The Citizen-soldier: Or, Memoirs of a Volunteer, p. 64-5

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to J. H. Pittenger, November 23, 1869

COLUMBUS, November 23, 1869.

MY DEAR SIR:—I am in receipt of your favor of the 20th as to a recommendation for an office in the revenue service. I am called upon to sign so many recommendations that I have acted upon a rule which practically destroys in a great measure the value of the testimonials I give, viz., to give only general recommendations, and to give those to all who desire it with this qualification, that I state what I know or believe to be true in each case. In this matter I have already given a general testimonial to a gentleman who applied to me before your letter came to hand. If a general letter of the sort indicated will be of service to you I will be glad to furnish it. Should you wish a letter, please send me a specimen of the testimonials you are furnished with.

My kind regards to Mrs. Pittenger.

R. B. HAYES.

MR. J. H. PITTENGER,
        Tiffin, Ohio.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 72-3

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to John J. Hooker, November 23, 1869

COLUMBUS, November 23, 1869.

DEAR H——:—I have been absent or busy moving these last days or I would have said a word in reply to yours of the 10th. I published the article* in the Journal. No reflection was of course intended on you in particular. The general practice you evidently regard just as I do, and I am sure there is no misunderstanding on your part of my motives. I regard you as a man whose soundness of judgment and integrity of purpose in such a case may be implicitly relied on; and the point was made clearer to my mind than it can be to the public.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

JOHN J. HOOKER, ESQ.,
        Cincinnati. 

Private.

_______________

* The article read:—"An illustration of the thoughtlessness with which good men sign important petitions occurred at the governor's office a few days ago. A petition for the pardon of a convict numerously signed was presented to Governor Hayes. Among the signers was a gentleman known to the governor to be a man of integrity and good sense. The gentleman was written to and asked what he knew or could learn as to the merits of the case. A few days afterwards the governor received a reply, marked 'private', in which the writer said: 'I signed the petition for his pardon presented to me by his wife. My tenderness of heart in the case overcame my judgment. As no good would be accomplished by his pardon, I fully investigated the case. I could obtain no redeeming quality in the convict from those familiar with him. He is represented by all as a very dangerous person to run at large, and from reports he is a natural thief and would, no doubt, continue his former career if pardoned.’"

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 73-4

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes to Governor Lucius Fairchild, November 23, 1869

COLUMBUS, November 23, 1869.

DEAR GOVERNOR:—I thank you for your efforts in the Leroy matter. I have no doubt he is deliberately trying to levy blackmail on me. The pretext is a deposit claimed to have been made by his son when a soldier in my command. I find abundant evidence that the claim is a fabrication of Leroy. At first I did not know but he was acting in good faith, and that the fraud was in the informants.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

GENERAL LUCIUS FAIRCHILD,
        Governor of Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 74

Diary of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, November 28, 1869

Columbus, Ohio.—On the 17th we began to move from our late residence, 51 East State Street, to Judge Swayne's residence on Seventh Street, facing west and opposite the centre of East State Street. We are to pay eight hundred dollars per year and to have the use of some articles of furniture. It is a fine, large house with ample grounds. The rent is cheap.

I was re-elected by 7501 majority over Mr. Pendleton, and shall remain in office two years from next January, if nothing occurs to prevent.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 74

Diary of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, December 2, 1869

I now begin to collect materials and set down a few items for my annual message:

I. Fifteenth Amendment - a few words of emphatic recommendation and approval. 2. Soldiers' Orphans' Homes. 3. Reform, improvement, or progress in prison discipline. 4. The Reappraisement. 5. The Geological Survey. 6. Inebriate Asylum. 7. Incurable Insane. 8. Agricultural fund; college to be located, (See 1859, p. 51).— (Mem.:—In my brief inaugural why not suggest topics, improvements, or amendments of the Constitution?)

Take up the benevolent and reformatory institutions; give their condition, number of inmates, cost, etc., etc. (See Governor Chase's message 1860.)

To recommend clearly and briefly the things deemed best without argument or illustration.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 74-5

General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 23, 1886

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 23, 1886.

Dear Brother: I owe you a personal explanation as to why I did not come to Washington during my last visit East. After positively refusing to attend the banquet to the Loyal Legion at Cincinnati (President Hayes the Commander), I was persuaded at the last minute that I ought to go. After I had packed my valise, I heard of General Hancock's death, made one or two despatches to General Whipple as Adjutant-General, my former Aide, asking him to communicate with me at the Burnet House.¹ On arrival, I was met by President Hayes and General Cox and others, who explained that [by] the death of General Hancock, the president of the Order of the Loyal Legion, they had been forced to modify their programme, and that I must respond to the memory of General Hancock. I was kept busy all that day by a stream of visitors, and when the company had assembled for the banquet, full four hundred in the room, without notes or memoranda, I spoke for about ten minutes. My words were taken down and sent off without a chance of revision, but I afterwards learned that Mrs. Hancock was especially pleased. At the Burnet House I got all the notices of the funeral, which compelled me to travel to New York. En route was delayed a couple of hours by the flood in Delaware. It was two o'clock at night before I could lie down, and I had to be up at six to go down to the Battery, where the funeral was to commence. We were kept busy till night, when Miles and I went to Elly's² for dinner, and it was midnight when we got to the Fifth Avenue Hotel....

Affectionately yours,

W. T. SHERMAN.

_______________

¹ Cincinnati.

² His daughter’s.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 369-70

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, November 4, 1869

COLUMBUS, November 4, 1869.

Honorable Richard M. Corwine, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a lawyer of large experience, whose practice in the higher courts of the State and of the United States for many years has given him wide reputation. He has devoted himself to his profession almost without interruption more than twenty-five years. Whatever qualifications for the discharge of important judicial duties can be acquired by a gentleman of intellect, of excellent temper and manners, and of great industry, may be justly claimed for Mr. Corwine.

R. B. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 67