Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, December 30, 1865

The closing-up of the year, an eventful one. A review of it from my standpoint would be interesting in many respects, and, should God grant me length of days and mental and physical strength, I shall be glad to present my views when my official days have terminated. Senator Dixon called this morning, and we had a long and frank talk. I approved of his course in the Senate, and his reply to Sumner. He is evidently prepared for a breach in the party, and I think desires it. While I do not desire it, I do not deprecate it if the counsels of Sumner, Stevens, and the extreme Radicals are insisted upon and the only alternative. His principal inquiry was as to the course our friends in Connecticut would pursue in case of a breach of the party. I told him I thought they would be disposed to stand by the Administration, yet at the first go-off the Radical element might have the ascendancy in the State convention, which would assemble in about a month. But before that time the lines would probably be drawn. The organization or party machinery will control most of the party, irrespective of the merits of the questions in issue.

I gave Colston, Semmes's son-in-law, a pass to visit him to-day, and take the papers and the report of Winslow to him. Had a conversation with Dr. Lieber, who was at my house yesterday, respecting Semmes's offenses. The Doctor has no question on that point, and thinks Lee and the whole of his army liable for treason, notwithstanding Grant's terms. Advised Solicitor Bolles to call on Dr. L. Bolles thinks the trial of Semmes should be by a military or naval commission instead of by court martial.

The President sends a singular paper for a new trial of Captain Meade, who has already been tried and is under sentence of court martial. I know not how he can be again tried for the same offense, unless he himself petitions for it.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 407

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, September 12, 1867

HEADQUARTERS, OMAHA, NEB., Sept. 12, 1867.

Dear Brother:

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

As to politics, I hardly know if I should approach Grant, as I can hardly judge of the influences that have operated on him since we were together last November. In accepting the acting office of Secretary of War, I doubt not he realized the delicacy of his position, and was willing to risk the chances. It is not for the interest of the United States that in a temporary political office he should sink his character as a military officer. In the former he should be in harmony with the executive, but in the latter he should be simply a high sheriff to execute the process of the court. My belief is that Congress cannot qualify the President's right to command the army and navy. He is the Constitutional Commander-in-Chief. But Congress can make rules and laws for the government of the army and thereby control the President as such Commander-in-Chief. In trying to array the President and General Grant in antagonism, Congress did wrong, and reaction is sure to result. It damages all parties, because few people take the trouble to study out the right, yet time moves along so rapidly and the election of a new President will soon settle these and all kindred questions. Your course has been fair, and you cannot wish to alter or amend it. Our country ought not to be ruled by the extreme views of Sumner or Stevens any more than by the extreme views of Calhoun, Yancey, etc., that have produced our Civil War. There is some just middle course, and events will flow into it whether any one man or set of men is wise enough to foresee it and lay down its maxims. I think Chase is the ablest man of his school, and I would personally prefer him to Wade, Colfax, or any of the men whose names I notice in this connection. Whether the precedent of a Chief Justice being a political aspirant may not be bad, I don't know. This is the Mexican rule, and has resulted in anarchy.

I don't think Grant, Sheridan, Thomas, or any real military man wants to be President. All see that, however pure or exalted their past reputations may have been, it don't shield them from the lies and aspersions of a besotted press. . . . Grant writes me in the most unreserved confidence, and never has said a word that looks like wanting the office of President. His whole nature is to smooth over troubles, and he waits with the most seeming indifference, under false and unjust assertions, till the right time, when the truth peeps out, so as to defy contradiction. . . .

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 294-5

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, December 8, 1865

Sumner called on me with young Bright. We had quite a talk on the policy of the Government, and his own views. Sumner's vanity and egotism are great. He assumes that the Administration is wholly wrong, and that he is beyond peradventure right; that Congress has plenary powers, the Executive none, on reestablishing the Union. He denounced the policy of the President on the question of organizing the Rebel States as the greatest and most criminal error ever committed by any government. Dwelt on what constitutes a republican government; says he has read everything on the subject from Plato to the last French pamphlet. Tells me that a general officer from Georgia had informed him within a week that the negroes of that State were better qualified to establish and maintain a republican government than the whites. He says that Seward, McCulloch, and myself are the men who have involved the President in this transcendent error, I, a New England man, New England's representative in the Cabinet, have misrepresented New England sentiment. McCulloch was imbued with the pernicious folly of Indiana, but Seward and myself were foully, fatally culpable in giving our countenance and support to the President in his policy.

I insisted it was correct, that the country aside from heated politics approved it, and asked if he supposed there was any opposition to that policy in the Cabinet. He said he knew Stanton was opposed to it, and when I said I was not aware of it, he seemed surprised. He asked if I had read his Worcester speech. I told him I had but did not indorse it. He replied, "Stanton does." "Stanton," said he, "came to Boston at that time; the speech was thrown into the cars, and he had read it before I met him. Stanton complimented the speech. I said it was pretty radical or had pretty strong views. Stanton said it was none too strong, that he approved of every sentiment, every opinion and word of it."

I told Sumner I did not understand Stanton as occupying that position, and I apprehended the President did not so understand him. I told him that I well recollected that on one occasion last spring, when I was in the War Department, he and Dawes and Gooch came in there. He said, "Yes, and Colfax was there." "I recollect he was. Stanton took out his project for organizing a government in North Carolina. I had heard it read on the last day of Mr. Lincoln's life, and had made a suggestion respecting it, and the project had been modified. Some discussion took place at the War Department on the question of negro suffrage. Stanton said he wanted to avoid that topic. You [Sumner] wanted to meet it. When that discussion opened I left, for I knew I could not agree with you."

Sumner said he well recollected that meeting; that he and Colfax had proposed modifications of the plan and put it in an acceptable shape, but that we had upset it. One other member of the Cabinet had written him a few days before he left home expressing sympathy with him, and one other had spoken equally cordially to him since he arrived here. "You may have had a letter from Speed," I remarked. "No," said he, "but Speed has had a conversation with me."

I think Harlan must be the man, yet my impressions were that Harlan held a different position. Perhaps Iowa has influenced him. Our conversation, though earnest, was not in anger or with any acrimony. He is confident that he shall carry Stevens's resolution through the Senate, and be able to defeat the President in his policy.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 393-5

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, December 12, 1865

Not a very long session of the Cabinet. Some conversation in regard to the Rebel leaders led me to inquire whether it might not be best to parole Mallory, who has written me personally. He offers to make disclosures and assist in reëstablishing Union feeling. Stanton objected; says Judge Holt advises his trial, etc.

Senator Nye called and had a long talk with me, chiefly in regard to the Rebels. Is pretty strongly touched with the Sumner notions, but seems disposed to recant and consider suggestions. To him and others I have stated my objections to the Stevens resolution. Most of the Members have said their principal object was to have the two houses in perfect accord and of one mind. I have declared this an indirect attempt to defeat or evade the Constitution, which intended separate action. Hence the two branches. This proposed committee, I maintain, is revolutionary and calculated to promote, if not designed to create, alienation and sectional parties. Nye says the resolution will be disemboweled and of little moment, but Nye himself is unreliable.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 395-6

Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, July 2, 1866

UNITED STATES SENATE,

WASHINGTON, July 2, 1866.

Dear Brother: I have read the enclosed letter with a good deal of interest. The feeling of the writer is manly and proper. A man may lose his cause both in law or in war without yielding his sense of right or his pride or honor. If he will only submit to the decision of the tribunal to which he appeals, it is all that can be asked of him. I meet a great many from the South whom I knew before the war, and I confess I am gratified with their sentiments and conduct. If they could now see their manifest interests to accept the recent adjustment or amendments to the Constitution as a reasonable and fair settlement, the South would soon be resurrected into greater wealth and power. I only fear their political alliance with the pestilent Copperheads of the North, and thus perpetuation of sectional enmity. I really fear that Johnson, who is an honest man, will from sheer stubbornness and bitter dislike to Stevens and a few others, lend himself to this faction. The very moment the South will agree to a firm basis of representation, I am for general amnesty and a repeal of the test oaths. But the signs of the times indicate another stirring political contest. I see no way to avoid it. I will have to take part in it, but you can, and I hope will, stand aloof. Don't commit yourself to any political faction, and don't fail to remember that the Republican, or anti-slavery and now anti-rebel feeling, is deeper and stronger than any other in the Northern States. We could surely contend with a manly, fighting rebel like your friend, but never will with those who raised the white flag in the rear.

Affectionately,

JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 271-2

Diary of Gideon Welles: December 3, 1865

Told the President I disliked the proceedings of the Congressional caucus on Saturday evening. The resolution for a joint committee of fifteen to whom the whole subject of admission of Representatives from States which had been in rebellion [should be referred] without debate was in conflict with the spirit and letter of the Constitution, which gives to each house the decision of election of its own members, etc. Then in appointing Stevens, an opponent of State rights, to present it there was something bad. The whole was, in fact, revolutionary, a blow at our governmental system, and there had been evident preconcert to bring it about. The President agreed with me, but said they would be knocked in the head at the start. There would be a Representative from Tennessee who had been a loyal Member of the House since the War commenced, or during the War, who could present himself, and so state the case that he could not be controverted. I expressed my gratification if this could be accomplished, knowing he alluded to Maynard, but suggested a doubt whether the intrigue which was manifest by the resolution, the designation of Stevens, and Colfax's speech had not gone too far.

Congress organized about the time this conversation took place. Maynard was put aside, I think by concert between himself and the Radical leaders. The resolution introduced by Stevens passed by a strict party vote. In the Senate, Sumner introduced an avalanche of radical and some of them absurd-resolutions. These appeared to have absorbed the entire attention of that body, which adjourned without the customary committee to wait upon the President and inform him that Congress was organized. This was not unintentional. There was design in it.

Fogg of New Hampshire, our late Minister to Switzerland, came to see me this evening with Chandler, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

The recall of Fogg was an unwise, unjust, and I think an unpolitic act on the part of Seward, and I shall not be surprised if he has cause to rue it. Fogg was associated with me on the National Executive Committee in the Presidential campaign of 1860, and was brought in particularly intimate relations with Mr. Lincoln at that time. No one, perhaps, knows better than F. the whole workings in relation to the formation of the Cabinet of 1861. These he detailed very minutely this evening. Much of it I had known before. He has a remarkable memory, and all the details of 1860 and 1861 were impressed upon his mind. He was the first to bring me assurance that I was selected for the Cabinet from New England. I thought at the time his, F.'s, original preferences were in another direction, although the selection of myself was, he then and now assured me, acceptable to him. At that time F., listening to Seward's friends, believed he would not accept an appointment in the Cabinet. Such were the givings-out of his friends and of Seward himself. I told F. at the time, as he still recollects, he was deceiving himself, and that Mr. Lincoln was in a strange delusion if he believed it.

Weed tried to induce Mr. Lincoln to visit Mr. Seward at Auburn. Said General Harrison went to Lexington in 1841 to see Mr. Clay, who advised in the formation of that Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln declined to imitate Harrison. The next effort was to try to have a meeting at Chicago, but this Mr. L. also declined. But he did invite Hamlin to meet him there. On his way Hamlin was intercepted by Weed, who said the offer of the State Department was due to Mr. Seward, but S. would decline it. The courtesy, however, was, he claimed, due to Mr. S. and to New York. H. was persuaded, and Mr. L. intrusted him with a letter tendering the appointment to Seward.

Shortly after the commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1860, Fogg says Hamlin, when coming down from the Capitol one afternoon after the adjournment of the Senate, fell in company with Seward, or was overtaken by him. They walked down the avenue together, Seward knowing H. had been to Chicago. On reaching Hamlin's hotel, he invited S. to go in, and a full conversation took place, S. declaring he was tired of public life and that he intended to resign his seat or decline a reëlection and retire, that there was no place in the gift of the President which he would be willing to take. Several times he repeated that he would not go into the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln. Having heard these refusals in various forms, Hamlin then told him he had a letter from Mr. Lincoln, which he produced. Seward, H. says to Fogg, trembled and was nervous as he took it. He read the letter, put it in his pocket, and said, while his whole feelings were repugnant to a longer continuance in public employment, he yet was willing to labor for his country. He would, therefore, consult his friends before giving a final answer. The next, or succeeding, day he left for New York, but before going he mailed a letter to the President elect accepting the appointment. Hamlin repeated all the facts to Fogg last week, so far as he was concerned.

Great efforts were made to secure the Treasury for Cameron. This was a part of the programme of Weed and Seward. I have always understood that Mr. Lincoln became committed to this scheme in a measure, though it was unlike him. Fogg explains it in this way: In the summer and fall a bargain was struck between Weed and Cameron. The latter went to Albany and then to Saratoga, where he spent several days with the intriguers. Cameron subsequently tried to get an invitation that fall to Springfield, but Lincoln would not give it. This annoyed the clique. After the election, Swett, who figured then as a confidential friend and intimate of Lincoln, not without some reason, was sent, or came, East to feel the public pulse. At a later day he went to California and had a finger in the Alameda quicksilver mine. Swett was seized by Weed and Company, open rooms and liquors were furnished by the New York junto, and his intimacy with Lincoln was magnified. Cameron took him to his estate at Lochiel and feasted him. Here the desire of Cameron to go to Springfield was made known to Swett, who took upon himself to extend an invitation in Mr. Lincoln's name. With this he took a large body-guard and went to Springfield. Although surprised, Mr. Lincoln could not disavow what Swett had done. Cameron was treated civilly; his friends talked, etc. After his return, Mr. Lincoln wrote him that in framing his Cabinet he proposed giving him a place, either in the Treasury or the War Department. Cameron immediately wrote, expressing his thanks and accepting the Treasury. Mr. Lincoln at once wrote that there seemed some misapprehension and he therefore withdrew his tender or any conclusive arrangement until he came to Washington. I have heard some of these things from Mr. L[incoln]. Fogg, who now tells them to me, says he knows them all.

Mrs. Lincoln has the credit of excluding Judd of Chicago from the Cabinet. The President was under great personal obligations to Judd, and always felt and acknowledged it. When excluded from the Cabinet, he selected the mission to Berlin.

Caleb Smith was brought in at a late hour and after Judd's exclusion. Weed and Seward had intended to bring in Emerson Etheridge and Graham of North Carolina, and After the President came to Washington, a decided onset was made by the anti-Seward men of New York and others against Chase. An earlier movement had been made, but not sufficient to commit the President. Senator Wade of Ohio did not favor Chase. Governor Dennison was strongly for him, and Wade, who disliked Seward, finally withdrew opposition to C. But about the time I reached Washington on the 1st of March another hitch had taken place. I had remained away until invited, and had been mixed up with none of the intrigues.

The President (Lincoln) told me on Sunday, 3d March, that there was still some trouble, but that he had become satisfied he should arrange the matter. Fogg tells me that Greeley and others who were here attending to the rightful construction of the Cabinet had deputed him to call upon the President and ascertain if Chase was to be excluded. A rumor to that effect had got abroad and Lamon, a close friend of Lincoln (too close), was offering to bet two to one that C. would not have the Treasury. Fogg called on the President, but first Mrs. L. and then Seward interrupted them. On Tuesday, the 5th, at 7 A.M., Fogg and Carl Schurz called on the President to make sure of Chase. Seward followed almost immediately. Lincoln, in a whisper, told F. all was right, and subsequently informed him that he had been annoyed and embarrassed by Seward on the 1st of March, who came to him and said that he, S., had not been consulted as was usual in the formation of the Cabinet, that he understood Chase had been assigned to the Treasury, that there were differences between himself and Chase which rendered it impossible for them to act in harmony, that the Cabinet ought, as General Jackson said, to be a unit. Under these circumstances and with his conviction of duty and what was due to himself, he must insist on the excluding of Mr. Chase if he, Seward, remained. Mr. Lincoln expressed his surprise after all that had takenplace and with the great trouble on his hands, that he should be met with such a demand on this late day. He requested Mr. S. to further consider the subject.

The result was that Mr. Lincoln came to the conclusion if Seward persisted, he would let him go and make Dayton, of New Jersey, Secretary of State. But Seward did not persist.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 387-92

Diary of Gideon Welles: December 5, 1865

The organization of Congress was easily effected. There had been manifestly preliminary arrangements, made by some of the leading spirits. Stevens's resolution was passed by a strict party vote. The new Members, and others weak in their understandings, were taken off their legs, as was designed, before they were aware of it.

In the hurry and intrigue no committee was appointed to call on the President. I am most thoroughly convinced there was design in this, in order to let the President know that he must wait the motion of Congress.

I think the message, which went in this P.M., will prove an acceptable document. The views, sentiments, and doctrines are the President's, not Seward's. He may have suggested verbal emendations; nothing except what related to foreign affairs. But the President himself has vigorous common sense and on more than one occasion I have seen him correct Seward's dispatches.¹

_______________

¹ I became satisfied subsequently that none of the Cabinet had any more than myself to do with it.—G. W.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 392

Major General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, February 23, 1866

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION                

OF THE MISSISSIPPI,        

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 23, 1866.

Dear Brother: The political aspect now is interesting to a looker-on. Sumner and Stevens would have made another civil war inevitably the President's antagonistic position saves us war save of words, and as I am a peace man I go for Johnson and the Veto.

I recollect that Congress is but one of three co-ordinate branches of the Government. I want to hear the Supreme Court manifest itself, and then can guess at the conclusion. . . . Let Johnson fight it out with Sumner, who, though sincere, represents an antagonism as ultra as of Davis himself. Both are representative men, and it will be a pity if the great mass of our people have to go on fighting forever to demonstrate the fallacy of extreme opinions.

The Republican party has lost forever the best chance they can ever expect of gaining recruits from the great middle class who want peace and industry. The white men of this country will control it, and the negro, in mass, will occupy a subordinate place as a race. We can secure them the liberty now gained, but we cannot raise them to a full equality in our day, even if at all. Had the Republicans graciously admitted the great principle of representation, leaving members to take the Ironclad Oath, you would have secured the active cooperation of such men as Sharkey, Parsons, Wm. A. Graham, Johnson, and others of the South, and it would not be many years before some of these States would have grown as rabid as Missouri, Maryland, and Arkansas are now disposed to be. The foolish querulousness of the Secessionists untamed would soon make a snarlish minority in their own States. Now, however, by the extreme measures begun and urged with so much vindictiveness, Sumner has turned all the Union people South as well as of the West against the party. . . . It is surely unfortunate that the President is thus thrown seemingly on the old mischievous anti-war Democrats, but from his standpoint he had no alternative. To outsiders it looks as though he was purposely forced into that category.

I know that the Freedmen Bureau Bill, and that for universal suffrage in the District, are impracticable and impolitic. Better let them slide, and devote time to putting the actual Government into the best shape the country admits of, letting other natural causes produce the results you aim at. Whenever State Legislatures and people oppress the negro they cut their own throats, for the negro cannot again be enslaved. Their mistakes will work to the interests of the great Union party.

I can readily understand what the effect must be in your circle. How difficult it is to do anything, but if Congress does nothing it will be the greatest wisdom; for the business relations opening throughout the South will do more to restore peace and prosperity than all the laws that could be published in six months.

I think Mr. Johnson would consent to a modification of the Constitution to change the basis of representation to suit the changed condition of the population South, but at is all he can or should do. . .

We need the Army Bills¹ to get to work. I will have to abandon all the remote settlements to the chances of the Indians, for even after the bill passes, it will take months to enlist the men, and in the meantime all volunteers are clamorous for discharge, and must be discharged as soon as winter lets them come in.

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

_______________

¹ The bills providing for the reorganization of the army.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 263-5

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

WASHINGTON, April 8, 1866.

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

R.

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

Affectionately ever, your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

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

Diary of Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes: December 4, 1865

We organized the House according to programme. Mr. Brooks, [Democrat,] of New York, undertook to make some opposition but the previous question settled him. Brooks is a pleasant speaker, and a gentlemanly, agreeable man, judging by appearances. Thad Stevens, grim-looking, cool, with a ready wit, perfect courage, and the sort of independence which long experience, assured position, and seventy years of age gives an able man. He seems to be leader of the House.

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

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes: December 7, 1865

WASHINGTON, D. C. December 7, 1865.

MY DARLING: Thanksgiving morning before breakfast. So far I have no very decided feeling about the life I am leading.

With my family here, pleasantly homed, I would like it well. As it is, I find nothing very gratifying in it and nothing decidedly the contrary. My quarters are well chosen. I do not yet mess anywhere in particular. I eat two meals a day wherever hunger overtakes me. I shall probably soon mess with Delano, Buckland, Welker, and Hubbell—a quiet regular set.

My old college chum Trowbridge and I naturally crony together a good deal. We called together at Governor Dennison's the other evening. Miss Lizzie was alone. Her cordial, unaffected manners, with some wit and a good disposition, make her a favorite here. She said the Ohio set were counting on "Aunt Lu" to be one of them with pleasant anticipations.

We called at Governor Chase's. He is more fleshy, an improvement rather, and more free and good-natured. He does not show any uneasy ambition—or rather, he seems to have made up his mind that his political career is ended; that it is of no use to worry about it, and yet that it is not by any means his choice. His little daughter is not at all handsome, and no longer little, but she is natural and kindly, perhaps bright. I saw no other of the family, but think Governor Sprague's family are with him.

Mussey is soon to have to be mustered out with his regiment of colored troops and then ordered to report to his regiment as captain. He is under a cloud—such a cloud that one hates to meet him or be seen with him. His unlucky military career has been much ventilated since he rose so high, chiefly because he did not bear himself "meekly" in his prosperity. Fortunately he seems not to feel or know it.

Thus far the noticeable men on our side of the house are Thad Stevens, Judge Kelley, and Roscoe Conkling, and on the Democratic side, James Brooks. Stevens is over seventy, sharp-faced, grim-looking, as Wilder Joy would have been if he hadn't fattened as he grew old. The only blemish in his puritanical, severe appearance is a brown wig. He is witty, cool, full of and fond of "sarcasms," and thoroughly informed and accurate. He has a knack of saying things which turn the laugh on his opponent. When he rises everyone expects something worth hearing, and he has the attention of all. You remember his speech on confiscation. He is radical throughout, except, I am told, he don't believe in hanging. He is leader.

Judge Kelley of Philadelphia talks often; has studied rhetoric and elocution, and, I am told, is theatrical overmuch, but so far his little short speeches have been exceedingly well delivered.

Roscoe Conkling of New York State delivers measured sentences in a grave, deliberate way that is good.

James Brooks, former Know-nothing leader, speaks pleasantly and is the leader of the Democrats; has, of course, to talk for Buncombe.

Delano has talked a little and is a good specimen of the lively, earnest style of Western talkers.

No doubt abler men have not yet showed themselves Banks and others. The House is a more orderly and respectable body so far than I had expected. The reading of the President's message was an imposing thing. The members, all attentive, looked like the thing we imagine. Mr. Boynton [of Cincinnati] was elected chaplain. Contrary to my wish and preference, I voted for Bonte, Judge Storer's son-in-law, to keep with the other Ohio members, but changed to Boynton, thus electing him before the vote was declared.

Tell me all about the boys and Grandma. My love to all. I shall want you to come back with me if convenient to you. You will be in time for the sights.

Affectionately ever, your

R.

MRS. HAYES.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 8-10

Diary of Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes: January 10, 1866

Wilson, Chairman Judiciary [Committee], called up Kelley's bill, providing for universal suffrage (colored) in [the] District of Columbia. Several speeches [were] made. Judge Schofield, of Pennsylvania, made a shrewd and pithy speech. Judge Kelley delivered an offhand brilliant speech. Elocution and rhetoric have evidently been pet studies with him. A very effective, fine thing.

Evening. Caucus decided against the bill of Kelley, preferring qualified to universal suffrage. Universal suffrage is sound in principle. The radical element is right. I was pleased, however, that the despotism of the committees and the older members was rebuked. The Suffrage Bill ought not to have been pressed in advance of other and far more important business. The rights of the majority as against committees and leaders have gained. Much confusion and some feeling. Mr. Stevens quite angry; said he would vote against qualified suffrage; preferred no bill at all! The signs of harmony are more hopeful.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 12-13

Diary of Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes: December 2, 1865

The Ohio members generally dined with General H. B. Banning of Mount Vernon at his headquarters at Alexandria. Visited the soldiers' cemetery with its three thousand graves, neatly arranged, and its rustic gothic building. A fine specimen of the work. Pine with the bark on the lumber.

Fort Rogers with its two hundred-pound rifled Parrotts and its fifteen-inch columbiad attracted our attention.

The general caucus [of Republican members] tonight a pleasant thing. Mr. Morrill of Vermont, an intelligent merchant who put the vote, "Contrary-minded will say no," presided. Thad Stevens made the important motions. A committee of seven reported resolutions to be submitted to the Senate and House, providing for the appointment of a Joint Committee of Fifteen, nine for the House, six for the Senate, to report as to the status of the Rebel States and whether they were in a condition to be represented; and in the meantime all members from those States to be kept out.

Colfax, McPherson, and ——— nominated by acclamation for their present places viz., Speaker, Clerk, ———. Then for doorkeeper, Goodenow [sic] of New York, and Hawkins Taylor, of Iowa or Kansas, stood sixty-six to fifty-seven. Bad for the West, was the feeling of our men. King, of Minnesota (nominally, really New York), the present incumbent was named [for postmaster], also others, all having printed tickets. Here we seemed caught; we had no tickets ready. Spalding nominated Colonel Given in a proper speech, Roscoe Conkling sustained King in a speech delivered in a distinct, clear tone, with great deliberation and in language fitted to print. Spalding's best point was that Colonel Given was a soldier. Phelps, of Maryland, nominated a soldier an officer of colored troops of his State, one of two who from that State led black men, who lost a leg at the mine at Petersburg. Phelps is young, did his part well. The best speech, best delivered and all, was by our Mr. Delano (in favor of Colonel Given).

[The caucus] adopted, on a test vote the Ohio idea. Stevens angry, resisted, threatened to leave the caucus. Finally carried his point as stated, viz., a Joint Committee of fifteen.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 7-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, June 30, 1865

The weather for several days has been exceedingly warm. For some time there have been complaints of mismanagement of affairs in the storekeeper's department at Boston, and on Monday last I made a change, appointing an officer who lost a leg in the service. Mr. Gooch comes to me with an outcry from the Boston delegation wanting action to be deferred. Told G. if there was any reason for it I would give it consideration. He wished to know the cause of the change. I told him the welfare and best interest of the service. It is not my purpose in this and similar cases to be placed on the defensive. I do not care to make or prefer charges, yet I feel it a most unpleasant task to remove even objectionable men.

The President is still indisposed, and I am unable to perfect some important business that I wished to complete with the close of the fiscal year. There are several Radical Members here, and have been for some days, apparently anxious to see the President. Have met Senator Wade two or three times at the White House. Complains that the Executive has the control of the government, that Congress and the Judiciary are subordinate, and mere instruments in his hands; said our form of government was on the whole a failure; that there are not three distinct and independent departments but one great controlling one with two others as assistants. Mentions that the late President called out 75,000 men without authority. Congress, when it came together, approved it. Mr. Lincoln then asked for 400,000 men and four hundred millions of money. Congress gave him five of each instead of four. I asked him if he supposed or meant to say that these measures were proposed without consulting, informally, the leading members of each house. He replied that he did not, and admitted that the condition of the country required the action which was taken, that it was right and in conformity with public expectation.

Thad Stevens called on me on business and took occasion to express ultra views, and had a sarcastic hit or two but without much sting. He is not satisfied, nor is Wade, yet I think the latter is mollified and disinclined to disagree with the President. But his friend Winter Davis, it is understood, is intending to improve the opportunity of delivering a Fourth-of-July oration, to take ground distinctly antagonistic to the Administration on the question of negro suffrage.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 324-6

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, February 4, 1865

There was yesterday no meeting of the Cabinet. This morning the members were notified to meet at twelve meridian. All were punctually on hand. The President with Mr. Seward got home this morning. Both speak of the interview with the Rebel commissioners as having been pleasant and without acrimony. Seward did not meet or have interview with them until the President arrived. No results were obtained, but the discussion will be likely to tend to peace. In going the President acted from honest sincerity and without pretension. Perhaps this may have a good effect, and perhaps otherwise. He thinks he better than any agent can negotiate and arrange. Seward wants to do this.

For a day or two, the naval appropriation bill has been under consideration in the House. A combination, of which H. Winter Davis is the leader, made it the occasion for an onset on the Department and the Administration. The move was sneaking and disingenuous, very much in character with Davis, who is unsurpassed for intrigue and has great talents for it. He moved an amendment, having for its object a Board of Admiralty, which should control the administration of the Department. The grounds of this argument were that the Department had committed errors and he wanted a board of naval officers to prevent it. He presents the British system for our guidance and of course has full scope to assail and misrepresent whatever has been done. But, unfortunately for Davis, the English are at this time considering the question of abandoning their system.

Mr. Rice, Chairman of the Naval Committee, a Boston merchant, is reported to have made a full and ample and most successful reply to Davis, who was voted down. I have not doubted the result, but there was a more formidable effort made than was at first apparent. The Speaker, who is not a fair and ingenuous man, although he professes to be so, and also to be personally friendly to me, is strictly factious and in concert with the extremists. In preparation for this contest he had called General Schenck to the chair. Schenck is one of the Winter Davis clique, and so far as he dare permit it to be seen, and more distinctly than he supposes, has the sympathy of Colfax. Stevens, Chairman of the Ways and Means, is of the same stripe. It is a combination of the radicals prompted and assisted by Du Pont and Wilkes. Hitherto hating each other, and invidiously drawing in others, the miserable wretched combinations of malcontents and intriguers, political and naval, had flattered themselves they should succeed. But they were voted down. I am told, however, that under the rulings and management of the hypocritically sanctimonious Speaker the subject is to be reopened.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 235-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, January 23, 1865

There was a smart brush in the House to-day between Brooks and Stevens, the cause of controversy General Butler, or rather a letter which Brooks had received and construed into a challenge. It will serve for a day or two to divert attention from the Wilmington affair, which must annoy Butler, who is still here under the order of the summons of the Committee on the Conduct of the War.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 230

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, December 16, 1864

Met Attorney-General Speed today at Cabinet-meeting and was introduced by the President. Mr. Seward read the correspondence with the Brazilian representative in relation to the capture of the Florida. It is quite diplomatic, but Seward has the best of it thus far, for the Brazilian commenced too strong and has overshot the mark. What ground Seward will ultimately occupy is uncertain. He does not know himself, I apprehend; indeed, he has more than once said as much to me. I desire him to maintain our rights while doing justice to Brazil. Why has she given shelter and refuge and aid and supplies to Rebel pirates who are depredating on the commerce of a nation with which she is on terms of amity? Put her on the defensive.

Preston King dined with me to-day. Had a couple of hours' very agreeable conversation with him. He is a man of wonderful sagacity; has an excellent mind and judgment. Our views correspond on most questions. On the suppression of the Rebellion, on the rights of the States, on the reestablishment of the Union, on the extinguishment of slavery, there was entire concurrence of opinion. I did not doubt our agreement on these points before we met. I had touched on them with some others and found great bewilderment. There is, I think, no man in the Cabinet but Dennison who agrees with me on the subject of State rights. Seward on two or three occasions has had flings against what he calls “the damned doctrine”; but how he can have a Union without the distinctive States he has never intimated or explained. He has, I think, no sound views, substantial principles, perceptions, or settled convictions on the subject of national or State rights. Trained in the school of expedients, his tendencies are those of a large majority of Congress as to centralism. Conservatives and radicals each move in that direction, whatever disagreements they may have in other respects. Chase as much as Seward disregards the rights of the State on certain matters affecting personal rights where he has a theory of his own. Hence my chief regret that he should have received his present appointment. His one idea is the extinguishment of slavery, and to accomplish that end he would not be restrained by any reserved rights of the States.

We have intelligence of the release of the robbers and murderers who fled into Canada after their work at St. Albans. The Governor-General and the Canadian authorities denounce and disavow the act of the judge, which is an outrage that cannot be acquiesced in, or submitted to for a moment, yet I fear Seward will hesitate.

Senator Wade called on me yesterday, and was, as he always has been with me, very pleasant and affable. I think, however, the old man is a little acrimonious towards the President. He is Chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, with Chandler, Gooch, etc. It is a convenient machine to cover up what the War Department wishes to have covered up, and it can be directed against those that the War Department would assail. It is a child of Stanton's.

H. Winter Davis made an attack on Seward in the House and got defeated, which evidently disturbed him. He and Thad Stevens and others had an opportunity to ventilate their feelings, They do not like Seward and are running their heads and putting their hands into all sorts of mischief and indiscretion to relieve their hostility. Both Stevens and Davis have talents but lack wisdom.

Had a call yesterday and to-day from Spencer of New York, who wishes to have Scofield, the imprisoned contractor, released. Scofield was convicted and is now in Fort Lafayette. Has been confined about six months since he was sentenced. Was to be imprisoned for one year and pay a fine of $20,000. Is ready to pay the fine, claims to have been imprisoned three months before sentence. Wants remission of the rest of his term. Spencer says Mr. H. J. Raymond, Mr. Darling, and others, good Administration men, desire S. released and have petitioned to that effect. Spencer says that he has taken a very active part, presided at the Cooper Institute meetings, never before asked a favor.

I inquired of him whether he was here as a friend of Scofield, as a politician and friend of the Administration, or professionally for his client. He admitted it was the latter, did not know Scofield. I inquired why he then spoke of it as a favor, a favor to himself. He appeared a little discomposed for a moment, but said it was to him a favor in this way: if he was successful in this case, it would be of some pecuniary benefit and lead to additional business. “Tavors from the government," said I.

I informed him, both yesterday and to-day, that I could not favor any remission; that I considered Scofield a bad man, of loose and demoralizing motives, whose association with yard employees was pernicious; that his punishment was light. Our conversation was full and long. He said yesterday he wished to present the case to the President, but did not desire to do this without first informing me. To-day he told me that he had been waiting six hours with Judge Anthon of New York for an interview, but, desiring to get off this evening, he called again on me while Judge A. was waiting.

About half an hour after he left me, the President sent for Fox, and I have no doubt it is to get his views and opinions in regard to Scofield. Thinks I am prejudiced, or it is so represented, Spencer having seen me. Not infrequently, when parties fail with me, they go to the President, and of course state their ill success, but, claiming to have a case, press him to act, and he, knowing from them my decision, sends for Fox to get the facts. It is not a very satisfactory way, but is the President's peculiarity. He sometimes has excused himself on the ground that he did not wish to disturb me to come over when he only wished to make a simple inquiry, etc., -supposed Fox might know the facts. Weed and his set have Scofield in hand; want his money for electioneering purposes. Thinks he would succeed if I were away or not consulted.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Stanton came in this morning to tell me he had just got a telegram from General Thomas, announcing the defeat and annihilation of Hood's army. Present indications are an early closing of the Rebellion. If we have tolerable success the next ten days, they will have no formidable army but Lee's at Richmond.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 197-200

Review: Thaddeus Stevens, Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice

ThaddeusStevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice

by Bruce Levine

For too long Thaddeus Stevens has been relegated to the wings of the great historical drama of the American Civil War.  Hidden in the shadows of other more prominent politicians and military figures who take center stage, he was destined to appear only as a bit player or part of the chorus of Radical Republicans, seldom featured in the playbill and rarely if ever as the star of the show.

In 2012 Stevens’ star rose significantly higher to co-star billing in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” written by Tony Kushner. After watching the Academy Award winning film a search of Amazon.com revealed the dearth of works in which Stevens features as the star; that is until now.

Bruce Levine has written an anxiously awaited vehicle starring our favorite curmudgeonly Radical Republican, “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice.”  A narrative political biography, Levine’s womb to tomb treatment follows the our star’s rise from the horizon of local Pennsylvania politics to his zenith as a member of the United States House of Representatives and his chairmanships of its powerful Ways and Means and House Appropriations committees. Levine traces the evolution of Stevens from being an Anti-Mason, to a Know Nothing, a Whig and finally a Republican, and his transformation as an abolitionist to his radical agenda to abolish slavery forever from the soil of the United States. As a member of the House of Representatives he helped lead American through the deepest depths of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Filled with quotations “Thaddeus Stevens: Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice” is a well written, and thoroughly researched narrative tour de force biography of Thaddeus Stevens.  The only fault I find with Levine’s work is it is a strictly political biography; precious little appears in regard to Stevens’ personal life, which would have made a fuller rounder biography. But taken as it is Thaddeus Stevens shines in his time in the spotlight at center stage.

Bruce Levine is the bestselling author of four books on the Civil War era, including The Fall of the House of Dixie and Confederate Emancipation, which received the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship and was named one of the top ten works of nonfiction of its year by The Washington Post. He is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Illinois

ISBN 978-1476793375, Simon & Schuster, © 2021, Hardcover, 320 pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes & Index. $28.00.  To purchase click HERE.

Salmon P. Chase to Congressman Thaddeus Stevens,* Washington, January 9, 1861

Columbus, O. Jany. 9. [61.]

My Dear Sir. Your note came when I was in Springfield at Mr. Lincoln's request. I arrived after your Pennsylvanians had all gone. Mr. Lincoln conversed frankly & fully. He is a man to be depended on. He may, as all men may, make mistakes; but the cause will be want of sufficient information, not unsoundness of judgment or of devotion to principle. It is the business of Republicans occupying responsible positions or possessing in private stations, the confidence of their fellow citizens, to give him that information which is indispensible to right conclusions. I am glad to find your course in opposing concessions of principle approved throughout the North west. Why can't Republicans await the coming in of their own administration, and then act generously as well as justly.

I shall always be glad to hear from you & you may be sure your confidence will be respected.

_________________

* From letter book 7, pp. 79-80. Thaddeus Stevens, 1792-1868. Member of Congress 1849-1853; 1859-1868.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 295

Congressman Thaddeus Stevens: In the United States House of Representatives, July 5, 1862

I am no sycophant, no parasite. What I think I say. These acts have been perpetrated over and over again by our generals, and without rebuke; from the appointing power; and I leave the House and the world to determine world determine where the responsibility rests.

I charge it upon the management of the war upon the different branches of the Administration. I believe the President – is as honest a man as there is in the world; but I believe him to be too easy and amiable, and to be misled by the malign influence of Kentucky counselors — and, following that advice, that he has permitted the adoption of the policy which I have just stated without rebuke.

SOURCE: Beverly Wilson Palmer, Editor, The Selected Papers of Thaddeus Stevens, Volume 1: January 1814 – March 1865, p. 310