Diary of John Hay: October 30, 1863

. . . The President and Mrs. Lincoln went to see “Fanchon.” About midnight, the President came in. I told him about Dennison’s note and asked if D. had not always been a Chase man. He said: — “Yes, until recently, but he seems now anxious for my reelection.”

I said Opdyke was expected here to-day, and told the President the story of Palmer and Opdyke. He went on and gave me the whole history of the visit they made to Springfield, — Barney, Opdyke, and Hopboon, — of the appointment of Barney, — of the way Opdyke rode him — of his final protest, and the break.

I said “Opdyke now was determined to have the Custom House cleaned out.”

“He will have a good time doing it.”

He went on telling the history of the Senate raid on Seward, — how he had and could have no adviser on that subject, and must work it out by himself, — how he thought deeply on the matter, — and it occurred to him that the way to settle it was to force certain men to say to the Senators here what they would not say elsewhere. He confronted the Senate and the Cabinet. He gave the whole history of the affairs of Seward and his conduct, and the assembled Cabinet listened and confirmed all he said.

“I do not now see how it could have been done better. I am sure it was right. If I had yielded to that storm and dismissed Seward, the thing would all have slumped over one way, and we should have been left with a scanty handful of supporters. When Chase sent in his resignation I saw that the game was in my own hands, and I put it through. When I had settled this important business at last with much labor and to my entire satisfaction, into my room one day walked D. D. Field and George Opdyke, and began a new attack upon me to remove Seward. For once in my life I rather gave my temper the rein, and I talked to those men pretty damned plainly. Opdyke may be right in being cool to me. I may have given him reason this morning.

"I wish they would stop thrusting that subject of the Presidency into my face. I don't want to hear anything about it. The Republican of to-day has an offensive paragraph in regard to an alleged nomination of me by the mass-meeting in New York last night.”

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 113-5; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 111-2.

Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, March 9, 1863

Had a call from Senator Dixon. Is depressed and unhappy. Regrets that he opposed the confirmation of Howard. Says if the subject was to be gone over again his course would be different. I did not attempt to soften or excuse his conduct, but told him I was sorry he did not listen to my suggestions. He proposed several names for the place. I had no other candidate than my old friend James G. Bolles, and he, though naming two or three others, fell in with it.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 246

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, February 19, 1863

A special Cabinet-meeting. The President desired a consultation as to the expediency of an extra session of the Senate. Chase favored. Seward opposed. No very decided opinion expressed by the others. I was disinclined to it. The President has been invited to preside at a meeting for religious Christian purposes on Sunday evening. Chase favored it. All the others opposed it but Usher, who had a lingering, hesitating, half-favorable inclination to favor it. Has been probably talked with and committed to some extent; so with Chase. The President on Tuesday expressed a wish that Captain Dahlgren should be made an admiral, and I presented to-day both his and Davis's names.¹

I wrote Senator Dixon a note, remonstrating against his misuse of power by opposing in secret session the appointment and confirmation of Howard as Collector; that it was not only wrong, officially, for he was not clothed with authority to revenge private grievances, but it would close the door to any reconciliation, and make lifelong enmities between those who were neighbors and should be friends; that he admitted, and every one knew, Howard was a good and correct officer. All, it seems, was unavailing, for I hear the Senate has failed to confirm the nomination. An inexcusable and unjustifiable act on the part of the Senate, a wrong to the country, a gross wrong and outrage on an American citizen of character and worth who is discharging his duty with fidelity, the peer of the Senators who are guilty of this prostitution of honor and trust. This act and this practice of the Senate are as repugnant to good government and as degrading as anything in the corrupt days of Roman history, or the rotten aristocracy of modern Europe.

_______________

¹ Charles Henry Davis, who had defeated the Confederate fleet off Fort Pillow, and captured Memphis.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 238-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, February 17, 1863

The President read to the Cabinet a correspondence between himself and Fernando Wood. The latter wrote the President on the 8th of December last that he had good reason to believe the South desired a restoration of the Union, etc. The President replied on the 12th of December that he had no confidence in the impression, but that he would receive kindly any proposition. Wood's letter was confidential; the President made his so. All was well enough, perhaps, in form and manner if such a correspondence was to take place. Wood is a Representative and his letter was brought to the President by Mayor Opdyke.¹ Mayor Opdyke and ex-Mayor Wood are on opposite extremes of parties, — so opposite that each is, if not antagonistic, not very friendly inclined to the President. Wood now telegraphs the President that the time has arrived when the correspondence should be published. It is a piece of political machinery intended for certain party purposes.

Chase says that Howard and Trumbull of the Senate were dissatisfied with their vote in favor of his bank bill, which they had given under the impression it was an Administration measure, but they had since understood that Usher and myself were opposed to it. I told him that my general views were better known to him than them, that I had no concealment on the subject; I had, however, no recollection of ever exchanging a word with either of those Senators concerning his measures; that I had given his financial questions little or no attention, had never read his bill, had but a general conception of his scheme; that, so far as I was informed, it was not in conformity with my old notions, as he well knew, for I had freely communicated with him early, though I had not been consulted recently and matters had taken such a shape I was glad I had not been, and that the whole subject had been committed to him and Congress. I had neither time nor inclination to study new theories, was wedded to old doctrines and settled principles. Usher said he had electioneered for the measure with sundry Congressmen, whom he named. I told him I had not with any one and did not intend to.

_____________

¹ George Opdyke, Mayor of New York.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 237-8

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, January 16, 1863

Little of interest in the Cabinet. Chase, who has been absent a week, was present; Stanton did not attend. No navy or army matters discussed. Chase says the New-Yorkers are generally coming into his financial views, that all in Philadelphia approve them; thinks they should be made a party test. No one responded to this, — an indication that they were not prepared to have him set up a standard of financial, political, or party orthodoxy for them.

A flurry in the Senate to-day over a letter from General Meigs, who had been coarsely assailed a day or two since by Wilkinson of Minnesota. The Senatorial dignity was ruffled by the manly rebuke of the soldier. There is an impotent and ridiculous attempt at self-sufficient and presuming airs, an exhibition of lame and insolent arrogance, on the part of many Senators towards men who are, to say the least, their equals in every good quality. Not long since J. P. Hale undertook to vent his personal spite in the Senate on Admiral Smith, who regards the public interest more than the wordy, personal, and selfish schemes of the New Hampshire Senator. The dignity of the Senator was bruised by the old sailor's blunt honesty, who demanded a committee with power and an investigation to whitewash the Senator or blackwash the Admiral.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 223-4

Salmon P. Chase to Senator John P. Hale,* June 15, 1848

June 15, [1848.]

My Dear Sir: 1 have recd. several letters from you lately for which I feel greatly obliged to you. I can appreciate Mrs. Hales unwillingness to trust you out here in the west: for if we once get you among us you will find it very difficult to get away. Still I hope that you will come & bring her with you also. Mrs. Chase, whose grandfather was one of the original proprietors of Cincinnati & who herself was born in Missouri, & has never been east of Columbus, will be very glad to make proof to her of the qualities of western hospitality.

In reference to Slavery in the District of Columbia I have made up my mind after being somewhat troubled, in a legal way, with the difficulty you refer to. I found it impossible to resist the conviction that the general rule that the laws of ceded or conquered territories remain in force after coercion or conquest must be qualified with the limitation that such laws be not incompatible with the fundamental law or policy of the acquiring state, in other words, that such laws be not such as the legislature of the acquiring state is itself incompetent to enact. I send herewith an article of mine on the subject which states my views with tolerable clearness.

The signs of the times seem to me auspicious. The N. Y. Democracy will certainly remain firm. We had a tremendous gathering of the people here last night in opposition to the nominations of Cass & Taylor old & tried Whigs & young & enthusiastic Whigs & firm & consistent democrats, with Liberty men took part in the proceedings. If a popular candidate with any fair prospect of success could be brought out on the Free Territory platform we would have a fair chance of carrying Ohio.

I recd. a letter to day from Mr. Hamlin of Cleveland, who says that nineteen out of twenty of the Whigs of Cuyahoga refuse to support the nomination. Our meeting last night sent a delegate to the Utica convention & we shall endeavor to cooperate with the New Yorkers. I shall never cease to regret that the Liberty Convention at Buffalo last fall nominated when it did, or that you deemed it your duty to accept the nomination. I remonstrated ag^t it in the Convention & out of it, for I thought I could foresee something of what has actually taken place, & I wished you to go into the senate as an Independent Democratic Senator, occupying very nearly the same relation to the Democratic Party, on the Antislavery side of it, as Calhoun on the proslavery side. I felt certain that in that event the growing opposition to slavery would naturally find its exponent in you and that antislavery men of all parties, in case both parties should prove false to freedom would concentrate public sentiment to nominate a non slave holder favorable to Anti Slavery principles: but I wanted to be prepared for the contingency which has actually occurred. Your nomination by the Liberty Party, although in yr. letter of acceptance you stated very frankly your real position, has identified you with us & compelled you to share the undeserved opprobrium, which has attached to many of the noblest names of the land, & which, I fear, may not be dispelled until death shall remove all inducements to Slander. It is very true that your senatorial career has attracted the general admiration of all true hearted [patriots] men, and, I verily believe, that if N. Y. democracy would now place you in nomination all objections would disappear and this state could be carried for you.

But they are afraid to do so, on account of the advantage which would be taken of this movement by the Hunkers, advantages which could not be taken had you not recd. the Liberty nominnation. Perhaps I am wrong in my estimate of the influence which the fact of yr. nomination, as our Candidate will have upon the action (of) Free Territory men coming from other parties. I shall be very glad if they will meet in General Convention and nominate you. I hope at all events they will meet in General Convention, and agree if possible. But suppose they meet. Suppose the N. Y. democracy, about to assemble at Utica, calls a National Convention of all who are willing to go into the Battle for Free Territory under the Democratic Banner — what then? Would it not be expedient for you to write a letter to Mr. Lewis the President of the State Liberty Convention,—state your original position as a Democrat — that fidelity to your democratic faith compelled you to assume, with your Democratic friends in New Hampshire the position now occupied so gloriously by the New York Democracy,—that you desire most earnestly the union of Freemen for the sake of Freedom, withdraw your name & urge those who put you in nomination to attend the convention there called & govern their action by its decisions? Then if that convention should nominate you all will be well; if not, you will be still in the Senate, where you can do good service to the cause and await events, — and after the adjournment, by your eloquence before the people, [you will] be a most important auxiliary in the near at hand campaign:

Our Free Territory Convention will, I think, nominate an electoral ticket to support the nominees of the Convention called under the auspices of the New York Democracy, if such a convention be called — otherwise to vote for you. I shall send you a paper containing last nights proceedings.

I have conversed with Mr. Lewis this afternoon. He has had an interview with Judge King who is very anxious for such an union as I mention. I have also a letter from him to the same effect, which I send herewith for your perusal asking you to return it. You observed I suppose, Judge K's name among the signers to our Free Territory call.

_______________

* Letter-book 6, pp. 89. John Parker Hale, 1806-1873, member of Congress from New Hampshire 1843-1845; United States Senator 1847-1853; candidate for President of the Free-soil Party 1852; United States Senator 1855-1865; minister to Spain 1865-1869. In connection with the contents of this letter see Hart's Chase, 94ff.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 134-6

Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett: June 14, 1864

Went to Halleck's office. Found my papers had been returned to Secretary of War. . . . . Went up to Senate. Saw Sumner, Anthony, etc., Perley Poore. Received a document printed from Pomeroy. Nomination of W. F. B. for Brigadier-general Volunteers, to my great surprise. So I am at last really appointed. Now if I am confirmed it will give me new heart. Saw Wilson, evening. Will put it through this week. Vive la Guerre!

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 106

Diary of Colonel William F. Bartlett: June 21, 1864

I was waked this morning by James, coming in and reading to me that the Senate last night confirmed W. F. B. to be Brigadier-general Volunteers. Thank God! Went to Baltimore, evening.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 106

Resolution of Senator Lyman Trumbull, Thursday, March 28, 1861

Mr. Trumbull submitted the following resolution; which was ordered to be printed:

Resolved, That, in the opinion of the Senate, the true way to preserve the Union is to enforce the laws of the Union; that resistance to their enforcement, whether under the name of anti-coercion or any other name, is encouragement to disunion, and that it is the duty of the President to use all the means in his power to hold and protect the public property of the United States, and enforce the laws thereof, as well in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, as within the other States of the Union.

The Senate proceeded by unanimous consent to consider the said resolution; and,

On the question to agree to the resolution,

On motion by Mr. Sumner, that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive business,

It was determined in the affirmative,

Yeas 25

Nays 11

On motion by Mr. Bright, The yeas and nays being desired by one fifth of the senators present,

Those who voted in the affirmative are,

Messrs. Anthony, Baker, Chandler, Clark, Collamer, Cowan, Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harris, Howe, Johnson, King, Lane, Morrill, Sherman, Simmons, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wilmot, Wilson.

Those who voted in the negative are,

Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, Clingman, Douglas, Kenuedy, Mitchel, Nesmith, Nicholson, Powell, Trumbull, Wade.

So the motion was agreed to; and,

After the consideration of executive business,

The doors were opened.

SOURCE: Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Being the Second Session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress; Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 3, 1860, p. 431

Leonard Swett to Abraham Lincoln, November 30, 1860

Bloomington

Nov 30, 1860

Dear Lincoln

I received, yesterday the enclosed letter from Sanderson I suppose it was intended for your eyes, more than mine, and therefore I forward it to you. I am annoyed, a little, that these applications of Cameron's friends are made so prominently through Judge Davis & myself. Yet, on the whole, from what occured at Chicago I think they have a right to do it. My objection is that it seemingly puts us in the advocacy of Cameron and leaves the inference of our interest to do so This is not the truth about it The truth is, at Chicago we thought the Cameron influence was the controlling element & tried to procure that rather than the factions The negotiations we had with them, so far as I can judge was one of the reasons, which induced the Cameron leaders to throw the bulk of that force to you. That having been done and a correspondence having been kept up by us with them, during the summer, they naturally seek the same channel to get back to you. This is all the only reason I know of, why they write to us.

While I arrogate to myself no might to my opinion, yet if they want it, opinions are cheap & in this instance certainly wont do harm.

This flurry at the South it seems to me can be got along with, but I dont think it ought to be helped with. The Country wants firmness & justice Cameron has the negative merit of not being offensive to them the South.

If it is conceded Penn. should have a Cabinet officer the weight of party there, all other things equal, should, I think, indicate him. Cameron would seem to satisfy the majority Reed, or any other man, only a minority A reason for this may be, that in adition to Cameron's real strength the politicians can heal their local differences by having two vacancies in the Senate to fill.

My belief is that no man, other that C. can be selected there without considerable dissatisfaction There is also the argument too that the Cameron influence, as much as any thing nominated you, while the other influences there did & could do you no considerable good The arguments against him I dont fully know, for my intercourse has been with his fends The only exception to this is Joseph Lewis of West Chester & I think he is a fussy old fellow who doesn't amount to much

Is not the fact that Seward may be satisfied with a mission to England worthy of consideration Tis true he undertands the foreign relations of the Gov & would be of great service but the domestic relation are the ones most complicated—

I understand that Cassius Clay is anxious to get into the Cabinet Does not this complicate matters It seems to me, he would be more odious to the South than any man but Seward[.] Putnam has written me two very long letters. He wants a second class foreign mission & has asked me at a proper time to name it to you

Yours Truly

Leonard Swett

SOURCE: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

Congressman Charles B. Sedgwick to John M. Forbes, December 22, 1862

Washington, 22d December, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Forbes, — I have shown your letter (copy) to Mr. Fessenden to several conservative gentlemen of my acquaintance. They all agree in saying that it would be well to send on a strong delegation of clergy and laity to urge on the President. Some doubt his intention to issue the proclamation of 1st January; I do not. Many assert, more fear, that it will be essentially modified from what is promised. I do not fear this; but what I do fear is, that he will stop with the proclamation and take no active and vigorous measures to insure its efficacy. I say he will issue it, because it is his own offspring, which Seward tried hard to strangle at its birth, and failed to do it. If the President don't tell you all about it some time, I will, as I heard the story from the chief himself. Judge Kelly told me this evening he had just come from Stanton, who told him that the President and Burnside had been there but a little while before, and this subject coming up, the President said “that he could not stop the Proclamation if he would, and he would not if he could; that just as soon as the first of January dawned it would be issued.” So I cannot doubt that it will be issued. There are other facts within my knowledge which convince me that it will certainly go forth. Every conceivable influence has been brought to bear upon him to induce him to withhold or modify, — threats, entreaties, all sorts of humbugs, but he is firm as a mule.

Now if Banks can start from Mobile or New Orleans with a sufficient army, or send Butler, which will be equally well, perhaps, armed with this proclamation, and enlist every able-bodied, willing, loyal negro, as he progresses into the country, until he has 100,000 of them under arms, the great work will be accomplished. If Banks was sent South for some such purpose, the expedition is a sensible one; if not, it is pure strategy, and not worth, in the aggregate, so much as one of the rotten ships in which it was embarked. I say by all means come on and be here in force the last of this month. Be ready to shout Hallelujah on the morning of 1st January, and let the President know that he is to have sympathy and support. By all means, put him up to practical measures to make it successful. Tell him the world will pardon his crimes, and his stories even, if he only makes the proclamation a success, and that if he fails he will be gibbeted in history as a great, long-legged, awkward, country pettifogger, without brains or backbone.

We have had a nice row in the cabinet. The Senate had a secret caucus and resolved to get rid of the President's evil genius, Seward. Preston King, fearing Seward, loose, would endanger his prospects for senator, slipped out and told Seward all about it. Seward tendered his resignation Wednesday evening. By Thursday morning his friends began to pour in, to threaten the President if he accepted it. The world in general only found it out on Friday. Chase, like a good boy, on Saturday went out to bring little wandering Willie back. The telegraph is forbidden to carry the startling news to the country, except, now, to my Lord Thurlow¹and some others; and on Monday all goes “merry as a marriage bell” again. So the Senate is snubbed, Seward is more powerful than ever, Chase's radical friends are disgusted that he has been used to save Seward from his folly, and the great chasm into which the administration was to fall is bridged. Vive la Humbug!

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¹ Thurlow Weed, editor of the Albany Journal, Mr. Seward's right-hand man. — Ed.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 344-6

Governor John A. Andrew to John M. Forbes, September 13, 1862

Boston, September 13, 1862.

My Dear Sir, — I like your suggestions very much, but I venture to suggest: 1st, that having perused the report of the testimony . . . printed . . . by order of the Senate, I do not think any part of the disaster of Bull Run was due to Colonel M., and I think that on the weight of the evidence he was sick, but not intoxicated. . . .

2d, as to contractors. I think the department can do nothing in the direction you propose; Congress might. And I think General Meigs might properly be appealed to for an opinion. Stanton can know but little about the matter directly. And I think a part of the rage against him is due to the contractors who like a long war and were angry that Stanton tried to shorten it.

3d, as to skulkers and spies. Unless the Generalin-Chief is in earnest, these reforms are impossible. The department may fulminate regulations, but in vain, as long as imbecility, disobedience, evasion of duty, neglect of duty, coldness towards the cause itself, distinguish the General-in-Chief.

The department is powerless for reform while the army is led as it now is led and has been led hitherto. It can only give rules and orders, but it remains for the officers in command to enforce them. The President persists in retaining those who will not do what you and I think zeal and faithful service demand. The reform is only possible by a new commander in the field. Thus believing, I have not the heart to write of these details to the Secretary.

I am ever faithfully and most respectfully yours,

John A. Andrew.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 331-2

Senator Charles Sumner to Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler, April 21, 1861

NEw YoRK, Metropolitan Hotel, 21st April, 1861

MY DEAR GENERAL: I am happy that you are where you are, but regret that I am not at Washington to welcome you and yr. troops. Before leaving I proposed to the Secretary of War that you should occupy the Senate Chamber. But my present purpose is to offer to you to the full extent of my power the use of my committee-room, that of For. Relations. You will find a pleasant sofa, which will make an excellent couch for a soldier, and other conveniences, with maps and books on the law of Nations, all at your service.

I assure you that when I return to it I shall have especial satisfaction in knowing that this room has been turned to so good a use. Use it, then, as your own, and believe me, dear General,

Ever faithfully yours,

CHARLES SUMNER

Should there be any question, please show this letter to the officers of the Senate, and I am sure they will do all they can to make you comfortable.

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 21

Congressman Charles B. Sedgwick to John M. Forbes, June 28, 1862

Washington, 28th June, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Forbes, — Well, by Jove, if this isn't the luckiest escape I ever had! I have been swearing at myself the last fortnight for abusing you like a pickpocket, taking no notice of your friendly letters which by way of penance I have kept on my table where I should see them on coming in or going out, on lying down and rising up, expecting every day to hear that you had denied on ’Change having ever seen me, and now comes your letter offering an apology. Good! make it! it shall be accepted, although your last letter was abusive. The truth is I vowed never to write you until I had settled for you the inclosed account,¹ which you sent me just twenty-seven days ago. They tried to send it back, but I said no, I wanted it paid, and I have only just got it, although it appears to have been made out several days. Please sign it in all the places where you see room for your name and return it to me, and I will hand over the money to the Sanitary, if you still remain charitably inclined.

. . . I showed H. your letter about generals giving certificates to loyal blacks who had served the government, which would serve as manumission deeds to them and their families. It seemed to go through his feathers as a good practical idea, and he has taken the letter home to Ohio to consider of it and sit on it!

I have yet some hopes; I think the tone of Congress is improving, but very slowly. If Mallory don't succeed in hanging me, as he proposes, I may bring them up to something practical yet.

Grimes is crowding the principle of your suggestion in the Senate and says he shall pass it. There is a scriptural objection, however, to success; it is written that “you may bray an ass in a mortar, she will not be wise.” How would firing them out of Porter's mortar answer? After we have been whipped a few times, as we were on James Island, I think our ideas on the subject of natural allies will be improved. Do you see that your friend Fremont has been kicking out of the traces again? I fear J. has been putting him up to this folly. You will have to give him up as one of the impracticables, and go in for some more steady and less mercurial general.

About Naushon; I should like to swing a hammock under a beech in the forests there about 15th August and sleep for two weeks. I am tired out; we have pretty much reorganized the whole Navy Department. I have worked hard upon it and am fatigued. After making it all over new, would it not be well enough to give it a new head?  . . . After being home three or four weeks I want to come down to your kingdom by the sea to rest. I will bring my wife down to talk. Please let me know what time in the last half of August it will be convenient for you to see us.

I am very sorry for that reverse in Charleston. I shall try and make a row about it, but I suppose it will do no good until Richmond is taken. If you find money hard to be got let us know and we will get out another batch of greenbacks. The next bill will make provision for a large government paper-mill, and so we will save all the profits. With kind regards to Mrs. F. and the children.

_______________

¹ Of expenses incurred on the Ship Commission.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 320-2

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, September 27, 1862

Governor Tod¹ called on me to-day. Is hopeful and earnest. Thinks delay is necessary. His confidence in McClellan is unimpaired, and in the President it is greatly increased. Has full, unwavering confidence the country will be extricated and the Union maintained. The Republican State Convention of New York, which met at Syracuse, has nominated General James S. Wadsworth for Governor. There has been a good deal of peculiar New York management in this proceeding, and some disappointments. Morgan, who is, on the whole, a good Governor, though of loose notions in politics, would, I think, have been willing to have received a third nomination, but each of the rival factions of the Union party had other favorites. The Weed and Seward class wanted General Dix to be the conservative candidate, — not that they have any attachment for him or his views, but they have old party hate of Wadsworth. The positive Republican element selected Wadsworth. It is an earnest and fit selection of an earnest and sincere man. In bygone years both Wadsworth and Dix belonged to the school of Silas Wright Democrats. It would have been better had they (Seward and Weed) taken no active part. I am inclined to believe Weed so thought and would so have acted. He proposed going to Europe, chiefly, I understand, to avoid the struggle, but it is whispered that Seward had a purpose to accomplish, — that, finding certain currents and influences are opposed to him and his management of the State Department, he would be glad to retreat to the Senate. Seymour, the Democratic candidate, has smartness, but not firm, rigid principles. He is an inveterate partisan, place-hunter, fond of office and not always choice of means in obtaining it. More of a party man than patriot. Is of the Marcy school rather than of the Silas Wright school, — a distinction well understood in New York.

_______________

¹ David Tod, Governor of Ohio.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 153-4

John M. Forbes to Senator Charles Sumner, June 27, 1862

Boston, June 27, 1862.

My Dear Mr. Sumner, — The inclosed¹ will explain itself. If you don't object, you may think it worth sending to the “Evening Post,” with our names struck out! I do not see how the Senate can sit with a member who acknowledges such operations, unless a majority of the senators are rotten. Even then I should think the honest ones could stuff it down their throats. If you don't do something, the public verdict will be that you dare not denounce what has been a senatorial custom.  . . . Whoever it hits, Republican, Hunker, or pro-slavery Democrat, the knife ought to be applied, and all the sooner because the immediate sinner is a soidisant Republican.

_______________

¹ A squib in the form of a supposed letter from a business firm to Senator Sumner, referring to the acknowledged acceptance of a bribe by a United States senator, and frankly proposing to bribe Mr. Sumner into obtaining government contracts for them. — Ed.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 318-9

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, September 26, 1862

At several meetings of late the subject of deporting the colored race has been discussed. Indeed for months, almost from the commencement of this administration, it has been at times considered. More than a year ago it was thrust on me by Thompson and others in connection with the Chiriqui Grant, a claim to title from the Government of Central America of a large part of Costa Rica. Speculators used it as a means of disposing of that grant to our Government. It was a rotten remnant of an intrigue of the last administration. The President, encouraged by Blair and Smith, was disposed to favor it. Blair is honest and disinterested; perhaps Smith is so, yet I have not been favorably impressed with his zeal in behalf of the Chiriqui Association. As early as May, 1861, a great pressure was made upon me to enter into a coal contract with this company. The President was earnest in the matter; wished to send the negroes out of the country. Smith, with the Thompsons, urged and stimulated him, and they were as importunate with me as the President. I spent two or three hours on different days looking over the papers, — titles, maps, reports, and evidence, — and came to the conclusion that there was fraud and cheat in the affair. It appeared to be a swindling speculation. Told the President I had no confidence in it, and asked to be released from its further consideration. The papers were then referred to Smith to investigate and report. After a month or two he reported strongly in favor of the scheme, and advised that the Navy Department should make an immediate contract for coal before foreign governments got hold of it. Mr. Toucey had investigated it. Commodore Engle had been sent out to examine the country and especially in relation to coal. The President was quite earnest in its favor, but, satisfied myself it was a job, I objected and desired to be excused from any participation in it. Two or three times it has been revived, but I have crowded off action. Chase gave me assistance on one occasion, and the scheme was dropped until this question of deporting colored persons came up, when Smith again brought forward Thompson's Chiriqui Grant. He made a skillful and taking report, embracing both coal and negroes. Each was to assist the other. The negroes were to be transported to Chiriqui to mine coal for the Navy, and the Secretary of the Navy was to make an immediate advance of $50,000 for coal not yet mined, — nor laborers obtained to mine it, nor any satisfactory information or proof that there was decent coal to be mined. I respectfully declined adopting his views. Chase and Stanton sustained me, and Mr. Bates to an extent. Blair, who first favored it, cooled off, as the question was discussed, but the President and Smith were persistent.

It came out that the governments and rival parties in Central America denied the legality of the Chiriqui Grant and Thompson's claim, — declared it was a bogus transaction. The President concluded he ought to be better satisfied on this point, and determined he would send out an agent. At this stage of the case Senator Pomeroy appeared and took upon himself a negro emigrating colonization scheme. Would himself go out and take with him a cargo of negroes, and hunt up a place for them, — all, professedly, in the cause of humanity.

On Tuesday last the President brought forward the subject and desired the members of the Cabinet to each take it into serious consideration. He thought a treaty could be made to advantage, and territory secured to which the negroes could be sent. Thought it essential to provide an asylum for a race which we had emancipated, but which could never be recognized or admitted to be our equals. Several governments had signified their willingness to receive them. Mr. Seward said some were willing to take them without expense to us.

Mr. Blair made a long argumentative statement in favor of deportation. It would be necessary to rid the country of its black population, and some place must be found for them. He is strongly for deportation, has given the subject much thought, but yet seems to have no matured system which he can recommend. Mr. Bates was for compulsory deportation. The negro would not, he said, go voluntarily, had great local attachments but no enterprise or persistency. The President objected unequivocally to compulsion. Their emigration must be voluntary and without expense to themselves. Great Britain, Denmark, and perhaps other powers would take them. I remarked there was no necessity for a treaty, which had been suggested. Any person who desired to leave the country could do so now, whether white or black, and it was best to leave it so, — a voluntary system; the emigrant who chose to leave our shores could and would go where there were the best inducements.

These remarks seemed to strike Seward, who, I perceive, has been in consultation with the President and some of the foreign ministers, and on his motion the subject was then postponed, with an understanding it would be taken up to-day. Mr. Bates had a very well prepared paper which he read, expressing his views. Little was said by any one else except Seward, who followed up my suggestions. But the President is not satisfied; says he wants a treaty. Smith says the Senate would never ratify a treaty conferring any power, and advised that Seward should make a contract.

The Governors of the loyal States called to-day on the President. They have had a meeting at Altoona, for what purpose I scarcely know. It was an unauthorized gathering of State Executives, doubtless with good intent; but I dislike these irregular and extraordinary movements. They must tend to good or evil, and I see no good. These officials had better limit their efforts within their legitimate sphere.

Admiral Gregory came to see me in relation to the ironclads which are being constructed under his superintendence. Enjoined upon him to have them completed by November at farthest. A demonstration is to be made on Charleston, and it will not do to depend upon the army even for cooperation there.

It is now almost a fortnight since the battle near Sharpsburg. The Rebels have recrossed the Potomac, but our army is doing nothing. The President says Halleck told him he should want two days more to make up his mind what to do. Great Heavens! what a General-in-Chief!

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 150-3

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 23, 1861

J. C. Breckinridge and Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, have been here; and both have been made brigadier-generals, and assigned to duty in the West. Although the former retained his seat in the Senate of the United States for many months after the war began, no one doubts that he is now with us, and will do good service.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 95

James Buchanan to Major-General John A. Dix, April 19, 1861

Wheatland, near Lancaster, April 19,1861.

My Dear General, — I need scarcely say I was much gratified with your letter to Major Anderson, as well as with his answer. You placed in an eloquent and striking light before him the infamous conduct of General Twiggs and others. His response was manly and loyal. By-the-bye, I some time since received an insulting letter from General Twiggs, dated in Mississippi, on the 30th ultimo. Its conclusion is as follows: “Your usurped right to dismiss me from the army might be acquiesced in, but you had no right to brand me as a traitor: this was personal, and I shall treat it as such—not through the papers, but in person. I shall most assuredly pay a visit to Lancaster for the sole purpose of a personal interview with you. So, Sir, prepare yourself. I am well assured that public opinion will sanction any course I may take with you.”

I have paid no attention to this note, and entertain but little apprehension from the threats of this hoary-headed rebel. My fate, however, is in some respects hard. After my Annual Message of the 3d of December, in which I made as able an argument as I could against secession, and indicated my purpose to collect the revenue and defend the Federal forts in South Carolina, etc., etc., the Southern friends of the administration fell away from it. From the line prescribed in this Message I am not conscious that I have departed a hair's breadth so far as it was practicable to pursue it. I was ready and willing at all times to attempt to collect the revenue, and, as a necessary preliminary, I nominated a Collector to the Senate. You know the result.

After my explosition (sic) with the Commissioners of South Carolina at the end of December, the Southern Senators denounced me on the floor of the Senate; but after my Message to Congress of the 8th of January, one of them at least abused me in terms which I would not repeat. In that Message I declared that “the right and the duty to use military force defensively against those who resist the Federal officers in the execution of their loyal functions, and against those who assail the property of the Federal Government, is clear and undeniable’ — and more to the same purpose.

Warning was repeatedly given that if the authorities of South Carolina should assail Fort Sumter this would be the commencement of a civil war, and they would be responsible for the consequences. The last and most emphatic warning of this character is contained in the concluding sentence of Mr. Holt's final and admirable answer to Mr. Hayne of the 6th of February. It is as follows: “If, with all the multiplied proofs which exist of the President's anxiety for peace, and of the earnestness with which he has pursued it, the authorities of that State shall assault Fort Sumter and peril the lives of the handful of brave and loyal men shut up within its walls, and thus plunge our common country into the horrors of civil war, then upon them and those they represent must rest the responsibility.” This letter has been published, but seems to have been forgotten. I perceive that you are to be President of the great Union meeting. Would it not be well, in portraying the conduct of South Carolina in assailing Fort Sumter, to state that this had been done under the most solemn warnings of the consequences, and refer to this letter of Mr. Holt? Nobody seems to understand the course pursued by the late administration. A quotation from Holt's letter would strengthen the hands of the present administration. You were a member of the Cabinet at its date, and I believe it received your warm approbation. Hence it would come from you with peculiar propriety.

Had I known you were about to visit Washington on the business of the Treasury, I should have urged you to call at Wheatland on your return. You would then, as you will at all times, be a most welcome visitor.

They talk about keeping secrets. Nobody seems to have suspected the existence of an expedition to re-enforce and supply Fort Sumter at the close of our administration.

The present administration had no alternative but to accept the war initiated by South Carolina or the Southern Confederacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man: and it ought to be sustained at all hazards.

Miss Hetty feels very much indebted to you, and you are frequently the subject of kindly remembrance in our small family circle. Please to present my kind regards to Mrs. Dix.

From your friend always,

james Buchanan.

General John A. Dix.

SOURCE: Morgan Dix, Memoirs of John Adams Dix, Volume 2, p. 5-6

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, December 6, 1864

December 6, 1864

There arrived Captain Alden, with 253 brevets, of all grades, for the Army of the Potomac. Do you know what a brevet is, and the force thereof? A brevet commission gives the dignity, but not always the pay or the authority, of the rank it confers. If, for example, a colonel is breveted general, he may wear the stars and may rank as general on courts-martial, but, unless he be specially assigned by the President, he has only the command of a colonel, just as before. A colonel brevetted general in the regular army draws the pay of a general when assigned to duty by the President; but a brevet in the volunteers can under no circumstances bring additional pay. Brevets, like other appointments by the President, must be confirmed by the Senate before they become permanent. At any rate, however, they last from the time of appointment to the time of their rejection by the Senate. The object of brevets is to pay compliments to meritorious officers without overburdening the army with officers of high rank.

As aforesaid, there came a grist of these papers in all grades, from 1st lieutenant up to major-general. All the Headquarters' Staff, with few exceptions, were brevetted one grade, in consequence of which I should not wonder if the Senate rejected the whole bundle! Barstow is Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel; Biddle, ditto; Duane has two brevets, which brings him to a full Colonel, and will give him a colonel's pay, if he can be assigned, as they are in the regular army. We are all very melancholy over General Williams, who, though one of the most deserving officers in the whole army, could not be brevetted because that would make him rank the Adjutant-General of the whole army, Brigadier-General Thomas. They were not so careful to except Barnard, whom they formerly made a Major-General though his chief, Delafield, was only a Brigadier. It is to be considered, however, that Major-General Barnard had found leisure from his military duties to publish a criticism on the Peninsular Campaign, or, in other words, a campaign document against McClellan, which is a circumstance that alters cases. I should say, that the statement that General Meade was only a Brevet Major-General in the regular service was a mistake naturally arising from the confusion with the other letters of appointment. . . .

General Grant was at the Headquarters for about an hour. He brought with him Captain de Marivault, a French naval officer and a very gentlemanly man. I took him as far as Fort Wadsworth, and showed him it and the neighboring line. He has had great chances of seeing this war, as he was at New Orleans, and, later, Admiral Dahlgren allowed him to go into Charleston, where he even went about in the city. Oh! I forgot to mention, in particular, that Rosencrantz is brevetted a Major, at which he is much pleased. There followed much merriment in the camp over shoulder-straps, those who had been promoted giving theirs to the next grade below. Majors' straps were scarcest and were in great demand. The General was in high spirits (as he might well be, with a letter of appointment in his pocket) and stood in front of his tent, joking with his aides, a very rare performance with him. “Now here's Lyman,”¹ said he, looking like Mephistopheles in good humor, “he has no brevet, but I am going to write to the Governor of Massachusetts to make him a Field Marshal.” Whereat he rubbed the side of his long nose, as he always does when he laughs.

_______________

¹ Lyman, being a volunteer aide, was not eligible for a brevet.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 289-91