Frank Hiscock to Major-General Henry W. Slocum, August 11, 1865

SYRACUSE, N. Y., August 11, 1865.

DEAR GENERAL:

We of the State of New York, of the chosen of the Lord, who are desirous of sustaining the administration of President Johnson, etc., are looking around for candidates for state offices this fall.

And now to the point. I have no doubt a nearly, if not entirely, unanimous nomination for the office of Secretary of State (the head of the ticket) can be secured you. I now think the nomination can be secured by acclamation; but certainly it can be secured so as to be, or appear to be, entirely unsought after by you,—if you desire it. I came from Saratoga yesterday, where together with Belden I talked with several of our friends. To-day, Watson, of Cayuga county, has been here. He is present at this writing and would be most happy to honor you. Therefore you see my judgment is not mere speculation. I believe, also, that you know enough of me to have a fair opinion of my discernment in political matters.

The question now is, What do you desire in the matter? Please write me fully, that your friends may act advisedly. I hardly know whether to advise you or not, but it must be obvious to you that for your own good, if you intend to come back to this State, the sooner you mix in State politics the better, and there can hardly be a better or more propitious way of entering than as a military "Hero," and before all the military heroes have retired to civil life, and have become your rivals for civic honors.

Most truly, your friend,

FRANK HISCOCK.

SOURCE: New York (State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga, In Memoriam: Henry Warner Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 103

Jno. A. Green, Jr. to Major-General Henry W. Slocum, August 22, 1865

SYRACUSE, N. Y., August 22, 1865.

Strictly confidential.

MY DEAR SIR:

The political campaign is about opening, and from present appearances promises many curious combinations. I have just returned from a meeting of our Democratic State Committee at Albany, which called a State Convention for the nomination of State officers to meet on September sixth.

Now to the point. I am authorized by our leading politicians to offer you the place of Secretary of State on our ticket; or if the duties of this are too active for you, to ask you to accept that of Treasurer, where the duties are less active and require but little of your time. We would, however, prefer you to head the ticket.

Mr. Robinson, the present Comptroller, elected by the Republicans two years ago, desires a renomination from us, and he will in all probability get it. Martin Grover, elected by the Republicans to the Supreme Court bench, will be one of our nominees for the Court of Appeals. I mention these facts in order that you may get some idea of the drift affairs are taking.

There is not much doubt in the minds of good politicians but that we shall carry the State this fall. We intend to endorse President Johnson's administration with regard to his treatment of the Southern States, and while we shall endorse it quite generally, we shall avoid finding fault with it upon any question—believing that in a very short time the President's policy will conform to what is desired by the Democratic party. I am also warranted in saying that if you accept our nomination for Secretary of State, the pleasantest office on the ticket, and should be elected, you can have the nomination for Governor next year. The present would be but a stepping stone to the other. Understand me, this offer is not made by any particular interest or clique in the party, but would be given to you unanimously in the Convention. Dean Richmond knows of my writing this, and I shall expect with your permission to show him your reply. You will notice that I have written you very frankly; my acquaintance with you warrants me in doing so.

Regarding you more of a soldier than politician, you will pardon me when I express my belief that everything now indicates the speedy dissolution of the Republican party and the return of the Democracy to power-a result which just laws, equal taxation, and the best interests of the country imperatively demand. You will of course consider my letter as entirely confidential, and favor me with an immediate reply.

Yours very truly,

JNO. A. GREEN, JR.

To Maj. Genl. H. W. SLOCUM.

SOURCE: New York (State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and Chattanooga, In Memoriam: Henry Warner Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 104

Senator James W. Grimes to E. H. Stiles, September 14, 1865

Burlington, September 14, 1865.

I am astonished to learn, as I do by your letter of the 12th inst., that any one has asserted or believed for one moment that I do not fully, freely, and as enthusiastically as I am capable of doing it, support the entire Republican ticket in the pending canvass. You say the report is that I am indifferent to the result “on account of the uncalled-for and unwise action of the Union convention on the suffrage question.” I certainly did regard that action as uncalled for and impolitic, and had I been a member of the convention I would have opposed the introduction into the platform of any new issue upon any subject, however just I might believe the principle to be. I would have opposed it because I believe that there has been no time during the last four years when it was more necessary that the Union party of the nation should present an unbroken front and stand as a unit, than at the present moment, and I would have done nothing, consented to nothing, that would have a tendency to repel a single voter from a support of the Union party, which is the support of the Union itself. I believe every vote withdrawn at this time from the support of the Union ticket withdraws just that much moral support from the Administration, and that that support is just as necessary to the Government in the present crisis as it was necessary to support our armies when in the field.

The very fact that in my view the convention erred by introducing a local issue into the canvass when the minds of the people are very properly engrossed by the transcendently great national issues pressing upon them, so far from begetting “indifference,” would give me much greater anxiety as to the result of the election, and would call forth a corresponding exertion, did not I know that the people of Iowa thoroughly understand the questions before them, and cannot be diverted from their support of the Government by any side-issue like this of negro suffrage in this State.

There is not an intelligent man in the State who does not fully comprehend all the subjects legitimately embraced in this canvass.

The Union party seek simply to fulfill in good faith their obligations assumed during the war, and to secure to the country as the fruits of four years' struggle permanent unity, peace, and prosperity.

We all know that the Democratic party desire and intend to coalesce with the returned rebels from the South. By that means, if they can succeed in distracting the supporters of the Government and secure a few Northern States, they hope to obtain control of the Government, and then will follow the assumption of the rebel debt, the restoration of slavery under a less odious name, and the return of the leaders of the rebellion to power. It was to this end that the farce was enacted a few weeks ago at Des Moines of nominating a Soldiers' ticket By The Democratic Party.

But of this folly it is hardly worth while to speak. I have neither seen nor heard of a man who is likely to be deceived by it. It is only calculated to make the actors in it ridiculous, and its only final result will be to add one disappointed man to the Democratic party.

No, my dear sir, there never was a time in the history of the Government when it was more incumbent upon every good citizen to support the Union ticket, whatever may be his intentions on the subject of universal suffrage, than now; and if I believed that there was the slightest doubt about the result, though I am admonished by my physician that I can no longer safely speak out-of-doors, as I should generally be compelled to do, I would at once enter personally into the canvass, and use what strength I have to urge upon the people the importance of the contest. But there is no need of it. The people will not be deceived or misled on this subject. The jugglery at Des Moines, when Colonel Benton received the nomination of the men who, during the last four years, have thrown every possible impediment in the way of the Union cause, was too transparent to deceive any one.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 280-2

Senator James W. Grimes to William P. Fessenden, July 19, 1865

Burlington, July 19, 1865.

Your letter leads me to think that you may possibly be inclined to come West, though I am quite skeptical on the subject. I do hope you will come; I think you ought to come, not for your own pleasure, or the pleasure of your friends alone, but as a leading public man you ought to see this country for yourself. I am only a few hours' ride from Chicago, but in a far more quiet, respectable, moral, healthy, comfortable place. I cannot promise you the luxuries of a commercial metropolis on the seacoast, but I will feed you on grapes if you are here in September, and intoxicate you with their pure juice. I have between seven hundred and eight hundred vines loaded down with most promising grapes, though we have much wet weather, which is not propitious.

Of course, I always give a hearty support to the Administration, as in duty bound, but we will reserve our quarrel about the Navy Department, the Administration, and Charles Sumner, until you come here. I prefer to fight you in my own barn-yard. Mrs. Grimes says she shall never forgive you, if you do not come to see us, and spend at least two weeks with us.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 280