Nathaniel Peabody Rogers: Colonization, June 23, 1838

There is either a most strange delusion, or an obstinate wickedness in men, in relation to this matter of expatriating our colored people — probably both — for delusion — “strong delusion” generally attends a long course of transgression. We believe, if there is any one crime in this land, on which the Father of the human family looks down with more displeasure than on any other, it is on this deliberate and malicious wrong and insult entertained by a portion of the proud people of this country towards their humbler brethren — a deliberate, premeditated, cool-blooded plot to banish them from their native land, and to send them to the most undesirable spot on earth. God commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Christ our Lord tells us in the story of the good Samaritan, who is our neighbor, and what loving him is, in practice. We ask the reverends and honorables, who compose the official list of New Hampshire Colonization, if the good Samaritan would have joined the Colonization Society. The question need only be asked. The idea of such a man as he, entering into a conspiracy like this, is so absurd, as to be almost ludicrous on the very face of it. Colonization is hate of one's neighbor, of the very deepest and most far-reaching kind.

But the organization is getting to be matter of form merely — it can't act. It may raise contributions of some amount—but no widows' mites — and not from many hands. It is impotent malice now — and kept up, probably, as a set-off effort versus anti-slavery. We are loath to speak severely of the names who compose this benevolent enterprise, but cannot help it. If we feel justly towards the plot, we feel severely, and must speak as we feel. It is not only a wicked plot against our innocent and injured (ah, injured beyond reparation) brethren, but it is a most mean and dishonorable service, done at the bidding of the slaveholder of the South. He wants to get the free man of color away, so that he can the more securely grind down the colored bond man. Poor Mr. Observer remarks that “the colored man must have a soil of his own, before he can rise.” Pray, what does he mean by a soil of his own? soil that he owns? or a sort of black soil? Can't he own soil in this country? Truly he can, if these Observers will only get out of the way, and let us win him his liberty, and let him work for wages. Free colored people are rising now as rapidly and as palpably as water ever rose in a freshet. They rise, as fast as such philanthropists as the Observer fall. The Observer's fall is their rise, and his rise their fall. Colored men can earn money and buy and own soil, and do now buy and own it. They need not go to Africa for soil. The land they own here is their soil, and the country they are born in is their native country. A man's native country (this is said for the especial benefit of Observers and colonizationists) is the country a man is born in. He can't have but one. He can't be born in one country, and have a native land somewhere else — in some other country. The land he is born on, and no other, is his native land, and it is equally so with colored people, and those who have less or no color. No American, United States-born man can have two native lands, or can have one without the limits of America. He can no more be born here and have him a native land in Africa, than an African, born on the Gold Coast, can make him out a native land here in New England. This is really so — there is no mistake — there is no two ways about it. This is a cardinal point, and it ought to be settled and made clear to the minds of our colonization brethren. They have a strong notion of restoring colored people to their native Africa — to their own soil, as the Observer calls it — where they can rise. The soil of Africa is supposed to be theirs by a kind of nativity, though they were born here, and their fathers and grandfathers before them, and their fathers not only American-born, in some cases, but “as white,” as the African prince said of the Dane — the first creature of that complexion he ever saw — “as white as the very devil,” — not only white, but white slaveholders, owners of their own children — sellers of their own blood and bones. What soil have they in Africa then, on which they can rise? None, unless they go and buy it, which they will never do. And what does the Observer mean by rising? He means getting to be governor, councillor, general court man, deputy secretary, dancing master, clerk in a store, dandy, — any of these elevations, which whiteness of outside and total lack of inside, will give folks here.

Now colored people don't want this sort of elevation; all they want is common liberty — common humanity — a common sort of human chance for their lives. They don't care about rising very high. As to rising out of the dust and dunghill, into which this inhuman people have trodden them that they will do, as soon as colonizationists will take their feet off of their necks and breasts, where they are now planted. They stand on the very breasts of the colored people, and look down and taunt them with incapacity to rise; and wickedly say to them, I'll step off of you, if you will creep away to Africa before you rise. You may go freely — with your own consent — mind that; you are not to be forced away; but unless you do most voluntarily and freely consent, I shall stand here, with both my Anglo-Saxon hind-feet plump on your breast bone, where the night-mare plants her hoof, shod all round with palsy, and you never can rise till you rise to the judgment. It is a pity you can't rise in this country; but you see how it is. God has placed you in an inferior position; you are evidently beneath me, and I above you. I am your friend. I belong to an “American Union for your race's relief,” and also to a “Liberian association, auxiliary to said Union;” and besides, your people, when they stand up straight here, and we are not standing on them, have an unpleasant fragrance which annoys our noses exceedingly; but as you lay now, right under our noses, somehow or other we do not seem to smell you. And moreover we are in the way of evangelizing the world; we've got that work on our hands, and are in a hurry about it — and we must take in Africa, and we don't want to go there. The climate is deadly, the people black and inferior, and we are not exactly on terms with them, and we want you to do what is to be done there; in the way of evangelizing. You can do it well enough for black people, though you can't rise to human level here. We want to colonize you for the sake of Africa — the millions of Africa. Oh, how our hearts bleed (now we think on't) for poor, benighted Africa! And then, that accursed, bloody slave trade — we want that stopped. Why, our Congress declares it piracy. We wont have the market stopped. We'll keep up slavery here, in an improved state. We'll ameliorate, and have it done "kindly;" but that traffic on salt water must be stopped, and you must go to Africa and put it down there. Q. E. D.

SOURCE: Collection from the Miscellaneous Writings of Nathaniel Peabody Rogers, Second Edition, p. 48-51 which states it was published in the Herald of Freedom of June 23, 1838.

Review: The Vicksburg Campaign, March 29—May 18,1863

The Vicksburg Campaign,

March 29-May 18, 1863

Edited by Steven E. Woodworth

and Charles D. Grear

Prologue:

During the Civil War one of the first objectives in Winfield Scott’s “Anaconda Plan” was control of the Mississippi River.  Confederate control of the Mississippi River made shipping the crops of Midwestern farmer’s to eastern markets more difficult and more expensive.  If the Federal Government could gain control of the River it would not only give farmers easier access to the markets by making shipping cheaper, but it would also sever the Confederacy in two.

Starting on the last day of February 1862, Union forces slowly made their way down the river, with the capture of Island No. 10 on April 8th and Memphis, Tennessee surrendered to Union forces on June 6, 1862. At the same time Union forces worked their way up the river from the Gulf of Mexico.  New Orleans on surrendered to Union forces April 28th. At the end of 1862  much of the Mississippi River was under the control of the Union. Only two strong holdouts remained in Confederate hands, Port Hudson, Louisiana and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Holding the Mississippi river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson was a military necessity for the Confederate government. It was the linchpin that held the two halves of the Confederacy together.  Vicksburg, on high bluffs on the eastern bank of the river was the citadel that guarded against a Yankee invasion from the river.

Major-General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army of the Tennessee, after his victories of Forts Henry & Donelson, Shiloh and Corinth set his sites on breaking the Confederate stronghold, Vicksburg, Mississippi. Grant assigned his friend Major-General William T. Sherman to work finding a route of attack from the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg. In late December 1862 Sherman probed Chickasaw Bayou but failed to defeat the Confederate forces there.

During the first quarter of 1863 Grant continued to explore the option of a northern approach to Vicksburg and an alternate route on the western side of the Mississippi River to bypass the city’s  strong fortifications high up on the bluffs on the eastern side of  the river. During the same period the Yazoo Pass Expedition led by Brigadier-General Leonard F. Ross & Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith continued to probe the probed Yazoo Pass from the north but was repulsed by Confederate forces lead by Major-General William  W. Loring at Fort Pemberton.

The Williams Canal across De Soto Peninsula on the western side of the river offered a possibility for Grant to bypass the Confederate guns and pass ships around Vicksburg to approach the city from the south. In January 1863 Sherman’s men resumed digging on the trench which was previously abandoned by Admiral Farragut and General Williams the previous July. By late March work on the canal had to be abandoned after the dam at the head of the canal burst and flooded the project.

Grant concurrently ordered the Brigadier-General James B. McPherson to dig another canal from the Mississippi River to Lake Providence north of the city which would allow passage to the Red River and allow Grant’s forces to bypass the Vicksburg defenses and join with Banks at Port Hudson.

Grant had run out of options to reach Vicksburg from the North.  This is all prologue to Southern Illinois University Press’ “The Vicksburg Campaign: March 29—May 18, 1863,” edited by Steven E Woodworth and Charles D. Grear.

The Review:

“The Vicksburg Campaign,” the first of five projected volumes, starts with a brief seven page introduction before diving into second phase of a multifaceted campaign to capture the “Gibraltar of the South.”

Garry D. Joyner’s essay “Running the Gauntlet,” explores the effectiveness of using a combined army and navy force in the campaign. And detailing how Grant worked closely with acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter on a “Hail Mary” attempt to run ships of the “Brown Water Navy” down the Mississippi River and passed the Confederate forces watching from above on the Vicksburg Bluffs on the eastern banks of the river. Meanwhile Grant marched his troops south on the western side of the river to meet up with the ships that passed by the gauntlet of Vicksburg guns.  Joyner also chronicles Porter’s attack of the Brown Water Navy on Confederate forces at Grand Gulf and the crossing of Grant’s troops to the east bank of the river.

“Through the Heart of Rebel Country,” by Charles D. Grear, is the second essay in the book and highlights the contribution of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson and his men’s diversionary raid through middle Mississippi form the Grand Junction to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The third essay, “In the Enemy’s Country,” penned by Jason M. Frawley, covers the battle of Port Gibson which he names “the turning point of the Vicksburg Campaign.”

J. Parker Hills’ essay “Roads to Raymond,” covers the northeastern trajectory of Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign and the Battle of Raymond.

In the fifth essay, “The First Capture and Occupation of Jackson,” by Stephen E. Woodworth highlights the Battle of Jackson & Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s evacuation of the city, and the destruction of the railroads in and out of the city.

John R. Lundberg follows that up with an essay entitled “I am too Late,” discussing Johnston’s lackluster performance during Grant’s campaign.

“Grant, McClernand and Vicksburg” by Michael B. Ballard covers the tempestuous relationship between Grant and Major-General John A. McClernand and the events that lead up to McClernand’s dismissal.

William B. Feis’ essay “Developed by Circumstances,” illuminates Grant’s use of Brigadier-General Grenville M. Dodge’s developing intelligence network during the Vicksburg Campaign.

The ninth essay in the book, penned by Timothy B. Smith, is “A Victory Could Hardly Have Been More Complete,” examines the Battle of Big Black River Bridge.

“The ‘Stealing Tour,’” by Steven Nathaniel Dossman, discusses the not always chivalrous interactions between the soldiers of the Army of the Tennessee and the Mississippi civilians with which they came in contact.

In the final essay of the book, “Politics, Policy and General Grant,” Paul L. Schmeltzer discusses Grant’s war strategy and tactics in comparison with those of Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz.  Clausewitz was the author of “On War,” an unfinished work edited and published by his wife in 1832. Originally published in German “On War” was largely unknown in the United States during Grant’s time, and did not become widely available until its first English translation in 1873. Though unfamiliar with Clausewitz, Schmeltzer states Grant’s approach to the problem of Vicksburg was “intuitional and largely an outgrowth of his common sense.”

I highly recommend “The Vicksburg Campaign: March 29–May 18, 1863” as book for both those unfamiliar with Grant’s campaign and those well read students of the campaign and the war itself.   Each essay is well written on its own merit and could stand alone without the others in the volume, but arranged together they present a multifaceted look at the most complicated campaigns of the Civil War.

ISBN 978-0809332694, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 272 Pages, Photographs, Maps, Chapter End Notes & Index. $32.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Speech of George Thompson: Published August 8, 1835

In Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery in the British West India Islands, on the First Anniversary of that event, by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society.

_______________

I shall not advert prospectively, nor retrospectively, to the emancipation of Englishmen. We who are engaged in a struggle similar to that of the British advocates of outraged humanity, are to take up their example. Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Brazil, and the French, will emulate the deed. The day of triumph is certain; — there is no human power which can prevent it, or prescribe its limits; no impiety shall say to the bounding wave “Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther.” The irresponsible spirit, the sublimity and moral prowess of Columbia, are the guarantees of the great achievement. We may be misrepresented and vilified; but be not disturbed at this. The same epithets now bestowed upon us, were bestowed upon a Clarkson and a Wilberforce, when one in Parliament, and the other out of it, devoted time, and talents, comfort, and reputation, to the noble work. All the filthy channels of the dictionary were turned upon a Wilberforce, and they fell like water upon the back of the swan, leaving its purity and loveliness unspotted and unruffled.

We learn by the event, which we commemorate, the folly of striving for less than the whole: we must struggle for complete justice; we must ask nothing, and acquiesce in nothing short of that. The planters from the West Indies, and from the Cape of Good Hope, all respectable men, besought the British nation to be moderate in doing right. O, we must cut off only the claws of the monster, leaving his jaws to crush the bodies and bones of our brethren. They said we must mitigate, mitigate, mitigate; we beseech you, be not rash, but mitigate; and in 1822, Mr. Canning, the Lords and Commons, the King and the Church, men and women, combined to mitigate. What was the result? The planters of Jamaica burned, in the public square, the mitigating act, at 12 o'clock at night. And twelve o'clock it was with the hopes of the abolitionists; for the hour approached when the dawn streaked the dark horizon, and grew brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. No matter how much we mitigate and soften; no matter whether truth come as a tomahawk, or in the form of an instrument of cupping, to a delicate lady, if the truth come at all, we are still fanatics. Wilberforce was called, to the day of his death, a hoary-headed fanatic by the whole pro-slavery phalanx, but when he died, the illustrious and the lowly, thronged around his bier. I saw with these eyes, the deep religious reverence which his memory inspired, and the heartfelt homage which his virtues drew from a vast and splendid train. Royalty, nobility, bishops, Parliament and people, pressed to pay the great tribute of tears to the pure and exalted of the earth, whose spirit had returned to its Father in heaven.

How sleep the good who sink to rest,

With all their country’s wishes blest!

The spring, with dewy fingers cold,

Returns to deck their hallowed mould.

She there shall dress a sweeter sod,

Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung,

By forms unseen their dirge is sung.

There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,

“To bless the turf that wraps their clay;

And Freedom shall awhile repair,

To dwell a weeping hermit there.

Who does not now wish to struggle for the mantle of Wilberforce : Who is not ambitious to be folded in its bright amplitude:

In this cause, you cannot escape calumny. Here is our brother, who has addressed us to day, (referring to Mr. May.) Do his mild and persuasive words, which one would think might soften the hardest heart, save him from the tongue of slander? Is not he a mark as well as I, who am rough and unspun, and not afraid to stir up the bile, so that men may see it, and detest it.

I accuse the press of the United States of dishonesty. There is Antigua, and there are the Bermudas, free as the air above, and the waters around them, and serene and peaceful, and prosperous as free; and what press has spoken — what daily or weekly vehicle of intelligence, has presented this prominent fact, by which the age itself will be quoted in times to come? Is it told in Charleston? No. Is it told in Richmond? Is it told in New York or New Haven? No. In Boston? No. A tempest in a slop basin has been got up in Jamaica; and a scene of desolation, and hanging slaves, has been painted for the gaze of the good people throughout the length of the land.

My friend did not mention the Cape of Good Hope and the Mauritius. More than twenty British colonies, subsisting in peace, and maintaining order in the transit of an unparalleled revolution, without crime, without violence, without turbulence or tumult! ’Tis the death knell of American slavery. American slavery cannot last ten years longer. Let who will sink or swim, American slavery perishes. The monster reels and will down, and we shall tread upon his neck.

But it is said to be presumptuous and wrong in me to meddle with this question in the United States, because I am ignorant of it; and yet those who say this have never thought proper to show any of my errors !

It is, they say, an unconstitutional question. Ay, it is unconstitutional to feel for human suffering; it is unconstitutional to be generous to the abject, or indignant at crime; it is unconstitutional to preach, to pray, to weep. Hold, weeping mother there; your tears are unconstitutional. It is unconstitutional to print, to speak, to say that two and two make four, in the country where the ashes of George Washington lie! They say we shall not prove that two and two are four.

Are the friends of abolition enemies of the Union? The fastest, firmest, fondest friends of the Union, are abolitionists. I have thought that the constitution might stand, and slavery fall; that slavery might die, and the constitution live-live healthy and perennial. I have thought it might live, and the black man and the white man rejoice under its broad and protecting banner.

But I will not dwell upon this, as our friends have gone, for whose special benefit it was intended. [The speaker was supposed to allude to a few persons, who had appeared rather restless, for some time, and had at this stage simultaneously retreated below the stairs.]

Abolition was unconstitutional in the West Indies. It was an infringement of their charter, as my friend, Mr. Child, who has shown such an intimate acquaintance with the West India colonies, knows.

But go to the hut of a free Antigonian, live with him, see a Bermudian toss up a free child, and say if there be aught unconstitutional in these. Look to them of Jamaica, when the three and five years, (a paltry chandler shop business,) have expired; and declare of those regenerated men, if the genius of emancipation have committed anything unconstitutional there.

For the present, you must be prepared to be libelled. When slavery shall have fallen, out of the ruins you may dig a pretty fair reputation. You must not expect your portraits to be-excellently drawn, especially by southern limners. You may be represented with hoofs, and horns, and other appendages of a certain distinguished personage, who shall be nameless. It is in vain to regret, or strive to eschew this. Your reputation is already gone. You are in the case of poor Michael Cassio. ‘O reputation, reputation, reputation, I’ve lost my reputation. But yesterday, rich men bowed, and bade me good morning in State street. The periodicals were delighted with my articles, and returned substantial proofs of approbation. Now my paragraphs of an inch long are suspected; and I seldom see the sunshine of a smile.

But never mind, reputation will come by and by. We have as good a reputation as the Gallileans had, or as their Master had, and who could have a better? Take it inversely, and you will hit it about right (at least if you have all given as little cause as I have.) We have the testimony of the Most High for our principles. In the language of the Declaration of sentiment, man may fail, but principles never. The mustard seed is sown, or to change the figure, the acorn is planted; nay it is not an acorn the oak is set and shall grow, and spread over the black and the white its strong and ample boughs, and when cut down it shall be the bulwark of your glory, and the guarantee of your safety. (Mr. Thompson sat down amidst great applause.)

[The reporter does not pretend to do justice to Mr. Thomson in the above sketch: to take down the thunder and lightning in short hand, expresses his idea of the impossibility of reporting Mr. Thompson aright.  If those who heard shall be unsatisfied, he hopes they will consider this.]

SOURCES: Isaac Knapp, Publisher, Letters and Addresses by G. Thompson [on American Negro Slavery] During His Mission in the United States, From Oct. 1st, 1834, to Nov. 27, 1835, p. 84-7; “First of August, 1835,” The Liberator, Boston, Massachusetts, Saturday, August 8, 1835, p. 3. 

Gerrit Smith: Destroy Not Man's Faith In Man!, June 12, 1862

DESTROY NOT MAN'S FAITH IN MAN!

ACCEPT THE RIGHT MAN, WHICHEVER PARTY NOMINATES HIM!

A people are demoralized by being trained to the ready entertainment of charges of corruption against those, whom they select to be their rulers, teachers and exemplars. For, when they can easily suspect such ones of baseness and crime, their faith in man is destroyed. It scarcely need be added that, when they have no longer faith in man, they will be quick to acquiesce in the application of a very low standard of morality to their leaders, and a still lower one to themselves. I say a still lower one, inasmuch as they will, naturally, expect a less degree of moral worth in the masses than in the individual, who is, here and there, selected from the masses on account of his superior wisdom and virtue. How much better it would be to persuade the people that it is their duty to hold sacred the reputation of those, whom they elevate to posts of honor! For how much more like would they, then, be to elevate those only, whose reputation is worthy to be held sacred! Moreover, what could be more elevating to themselves than such carefulness in selecting their guides and representatives!

I have been led to make these remarks by seeing the recent calumnious and contemptuous treatment of the Chief Justice and such Senators as Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull. The flood-gates of defamation were opened upon Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull, because they voted for the acquittal of the President. I wish they had voted for his conviction. For, although I had not, previously, taken much interest in the proposition to impeach him, nevertheless, after reading those parts of his last Annual Message in which he traduces the colored citizens of our country, I was quite willing to have him removed from office. Were Victoria to take such an outrageous liberty with the Irish or Scotch or Welsh, she would quickly be relieved of her crown. I do not forget that insulting the negro is an American usage. But not with impunity should the President of the whole American people insult, in his official capacity, any of the races, which make up that people — least of all the race, which is, already, the most deeply wronged of them all. This gross violation of the perfect impartiality, which should ever mark the administration of the President's high Office — this ineffable meanness of assailing the persecuted and weak, whom he might rather have consoled and cheered, should not have been overlooked, but should have been promptly and sternly rebuked. How petty the President's affair with Mr. Stanton, compared with his unrelenting wicked war upon these black millions, to whose magnanimous forgiveness of our measureless wrongs against them, and to whose brave help of our Cause we were so largely indebted for its success!

I said that I wish Mr. Fessenden and Mr. Trumbull had voted for the conviction of the President. Nevertheless, in the light of their life-long uprightness, I have not the least reason to doubt that they voted honestly. Nay, in the light of their eminent wisdom, I am bound to pause and inquire of my candid judgment whether they did not vote wisely as well as honestly.

This clamor against the Chief Justice was not, as is pretended, occasioned by his conduct in the Impeachment Trial. That this conduct was wise and impartial, scarcely one intelligent man can doubt. This clamor proceeded from the purpose of preventing his nomination to the Presidency. It is said that he desires to be President. But a desire for this high Office is not, necessarily, culpable. Instead of being prompted in all instances by selfishness, it may in some instances be born of a high patriotism and a disinterested philanthropy. For one, I should rejoice to see the Chief Justice in the Presidency; — and I say this, after a-many-years intimate acquaintance with him — after much personal observation of the workings of his head and heart. I, however, expect to vote for Grant and Colfax. I like them both; and, in the main, I like the platform on which they stand. Nevertheless, if contrary to my expectations, the Democrats shall have the wisdom to nominate the Chief Justice, and along with him a gentleman of similar views and spirit — a gentleman honest both toward the Nation's creditors and toward the negro — I shall prefer to vote for the Democratic Candidates. And why, in the case of such nomination by the Democrats, should not every Republican be willing, nay glad, to sustain the nomination? If the Democrats, at last sick and ashamed, as I have no doubt tens of thousands of them are, of ministering to the mean spirit of caste — prating for “a white man's government,” and defying the sentiment of the civilized world — shall give up their nonsense and wickedness, and nominate for office such men as Republicans have been eager to honor — how wanting in magnanimity and in devotion to truth, and how enslaved to Party, would Republicans show themselves to be, were they not to welcome this overture, and generously respond to these concessions!

By all means should the Republicans let, ay and help, the Democratic Party succeed at the coming Election, provided only that its candidates be the representatives of a real and righteous, instead of a cutaneous and spurious, Democracy. That success would bring to an end this too-long-continued War between Republicans and Democrats. That success would turn us all into Republicans and all into Democrats. The old and absorbing issues about Slavery and its incidents would, then, have passed away. The “everlasting negro,” having gained his rights, would then have sunk out of sight. Doubtless, new Parties would, ere long, be formed. But they would be formed with reference to new questions or, more generally, to old ones, which, by reason of the engrossing interest in the Slavery Battle, have been compelled to wait very long, and with very great detriment to the public weal, for their due share of the public attention.

And, then too, when the quarrel between the Republican and Democratic Parties had ended, Peace between the North and the South would speedily come. Hitherto, the Republican Party has been so anxious to keep a bad Party out of power, that it has not been in a mood to use or study all the means for producing Peace between the North and South. It should, immediately on the surrender of the South, have inculcated on the North the duty of penitently confessing her share of the responsibility for the War—a share as great as the South's, since the responsibility of the North for Slavery, out of which the War grew, was as great as the South's. Quickly would the South have followed this example of penitent confession. And, then, the two would have rivalled each other in expressions of mutual forgiveness and mutual love. Amongst these expressions would have been the avowal of the North to charge no one with Treason, and to open wide the door for the return of every exile, who had not, by some mean or murderous violation of the laws of war, shut himself out of the pale of humanity. And amongst these expressions would have been the joyful consent of the North to let fifty or a hundred millions go from the National Treasury toward helping her War-impoverished sister rise up out of her desolations. The heart of the South would, now, have been won; and she would have manifested the fact by tendering to the North a carte blanche — feeling no fear that there would be any designed injustice in the terms of “Reconstruction,” which her forgiving and generous foe should write upon it. Yes, there would, then, have been Peace between the North and the South — a true and loving and enduring Peace. Ashamed of their past, they would unitedly and cordially have entered upon the work of making a future for our country as innocent and as happy as that past had been guilty and sorrowful. It is not, now, too late to have, by such means, such a Peace. We should, surely, have it, were there to be, at the coming Election, that oneness between Republicans and Democrats, which good sense and good feeling call for.

Is it said that the money, which in loans or (preferably) gifts to the South, I ask to have used in effecting this Peace would make the Peace cost too much? I answer that it would be returned tenfold. The improvement in our National credit, resulting from such a Peace, would, very soon, enable our Government to borrow at an interest of four per cent. Comparatively small, then, would be our taxes, and, by the way, comparatively small, then, would be the temptation to cheat the Nation's creditors.

Peterboro JUNE 12 1868.

G. S.

Bottom of Form

SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 266-7; Smith, Gerrit. Destroy not man's faith in man! Accept the right man, whichever party nominates him! ... G. S. Peterboro. Peterboro, 1868. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.12703100/. 

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: January 21, 1858

Over to Cambridge by arrangement with President Walker. Found him at breakfast (eight o'clock), rode round to the unfinished Appleton Chapel, where he soon met me and took me inside. There is no wood-work yet: nothing but the bare stone walls. He described to me the proposed arrangement of the interior, which I remarked as quite like an Episcopal church. He replied: “There is such a thing as church architecture; and as long as we have undertaken to build a church we may as well have a real one. It shall not belong to any sect. Here all sects must unite.”

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 157-8

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: June 12, 1858

Professor Agassiz came to see me about his additional salary. He says he wishes to create the most complete collection of natural history in the world; so that it shall command students not only from all parts of this country, but from Europe. I said to him, “We shall draw students if we have the right man,” pointing to him. “Yes,” he added, “the man may draw students, but he cannot teach forever. He must go; and then if you have not some other inducement, the students will go. It is such a collection of objects as I will make which will perpetuate the school.” He is a frank, hearty-looking man.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 158

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: November 17, 1858

President Walker, Chief Justice Shaw, Judge G. T. Bigelow, Rev. Dr. Putnam, Professors Agassiz and Longfellow, Messrs. David Sears, W. Appleton, E. Rockwood Hoar, Jared Sparks, and J. A. Lowell dined here at four o'clock. They had an agreeable meeting. Chief Justice Shaw took Mrs. Lawrence in to dinner, though I asked Dr. Walker to do so; the former (who is seventy-eight) being more active than Dr. Walker, who is lame. The dinner was cooked by our own cook, Marion, and they all were cheerful and even gay; nor did they leave the dining-room until they went away. Mr. Agassiz sat next to me and talked all the time. I asked him whether some anecdotes about him in the newspapers to-day were true, but he had not seen them. Then I repeated one about his replying to a person who offered him a large sum for some lectures, “that he was too busy to waste his time in making money;” and this he pronounced to be true.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 158-9

Congressman Thomas Henry* to Congressman Robert M. T. Hunter, January 2, 1840

(Confidential.)

Washington City, January 2, 1840.

My Dear Sir: My position on the Committees is to me a little mortifying. I do not profess to be worthy of much consideration; but you have undoubtedly placed me in a situation, the last but one on the last and least important Committee. Which will give occasion to political enemies to reproach me and to reproach my friends in the highly respectable district I have the honor to represent.

I shall feel more sensibly the taunts of enemies, because I was among the first, who broke away from the Marshalled forces of the Whigs, and sustained you to the end, for the highly honorable station you occupy. What still adds to, and makes my position more peculiar, was the manner in which the whig papers of Penn[sylvani]a and of my own district, approbated my course.

It may hereafter, be in your power to remedy, I will not say the wrong, but the injury you have unconsciously inflicted on me.

_______________

* Representative In Congress from Pennsylvania, 1839-1843; died 1849.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916 in Two Volumes, Volume II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter 1826-1876, p. 31

Congressman Daniel Webster to Mr. Mason, April 10, 1823

Washington, April 10, 1823.

Dear Sir, — Mr. John D. Williams of Boston informs me that he has written requesting you to go to Portland, at the Circuit Court, and argue his cause against Mr. Reed. I hope you will be able to go. He is a very worthy man, and an exceeding good client. He will satisfy you well; and his case you will easily understand. Mr. Greenleaf, who is in the cause for the plaintiff, Williams, is a very correct and able lawyer of his age, and will have the case duly prepared. It is a case of some importance and some expectation; and I would not for a good deal, as we say, that any thing should prevent your attention to it. I cannot be home in season to rest and then go to Portland. I have no other engagements there, and do not intend practising in that court. You are sixty miles nearer the court than I am, and I am sure you would find it much to your advantage to attend regularly.

When you see Judge Story, ask him to show you a letter which I wrote him about the appointment of a judge.

I grow very anxious to get home. The commissioners are here yet, and will remain probably ten days longer.

I have got through the bulk of all the cases committed to my care, and hope now to have a little repose. I shall be ready for any scheme of play which you can get up.

Yours very sincerely,

D. Webster.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Volume 1, p. 324-5

From the Notebook of Thomas Wentworth Higginson

It is a severe test of the mental health of a busy man to stay a few weeks by the seashore, without regular work. I have sometimes found it almost impossible to endure it.

SOURCE: Mary Potter Thacher Higginson, Editor, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846-1906, p. 146

George L. Stearns, writing from Nashville, Tennessee, September 5, 1863

Left Louisville on Friday morning and arrived here at 6.30 p.m. Have seen Governor Andy Johnson. He is well disposed, understands the subject, and will co-operate and advise me. His aid will be very valuable. From him and others I got the following information. For years a large number of persons in this state, many of them wealthy slaveholders, have entertained feelings hostile to slavery, but did not dare to share their thoughts with any man. Many were afraid to think on the subject.

SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 309

George L. Stearns, writing from Nashville, Tennessee, September 6, 1863

I had a long talk with several influential men here last evening — I think it will result in an effort on their part to destroy slavery in Tennessee. They are in terrible earnest.

SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 309

Samuel Gridley Howe to Senator Charles Sumner, July 5, 1853

July 5, 1853.

My Dear Sumner: — You well know what a babe I am in politics, and how little versed in the tactics of party; my views therefore can be nothing worth to you; my instinct, however, and my friendly interest will not be disregarded. You are in what merchants call a crisis; and you can come out of it not only with great credit to yourself (that is a small matter), but in a way to promote the honour and the dignity, and therefore the efficiency of our party.

The leaders at the House and elsewhere — the managers —  pooh-pooh at you — they say you are counted as nothing — have little influence, and will have but little; that you will go to Washington, make one or two brilliant speeches and there will be the end of you. Well! as far as you are interested personally—as far as those who love you best are interested — so be it; the leaders in the Convention are misrepresenting our party. We are a party of principle; they are for expediency; we go into the Convention to amend the principles of right, with a view to the good of the whole people, and future generations of people; they go to potter and tinker, with a view to local interests, local prejudices, and party interests. We ought to be represented by statesmen; we are represented by mere politicians.

Now you, and you alone among them, are able to be the exponent and defender of the principles and the morals of the Free-soil party — of the free Democracy. Depend upon it, that party is sound at the core, and it will answer from the heart and from the conscience to an appeal from you, in a way that will astonish those who imagine that they are not only the leaders but the owners of the party. The great mass of our party would say amen to any declaration like this — let our basis of representation be respect for man, as man, and not as villager, townsman or city man; let other things be considered duly, but let no considerations of expediency, no thought of how the coming elections may be affected, no regard for temporary effect, induce us to violate a plain rule of right. All men are equal as well as free, and let us not ask what advantages or what disadvantages of wealth or position a man may have; as poverty shall not disfranchise him, so wealth shall not.

I have read most of what our side has said upon this matter of electoral basis, and (I am sorry to say) I have not read what the other side has said; nevertheless I have an instinct arising from my faith in a broad principle, that tells me our side is further from the right than the other is. But I will do no more now than strive to strengthen what your instinct must tell you—that the great mass of our party will rise up and support you in any declaration of adhesion to a great principle of right, though it should cost us what of apparent political discomfiture and rout might follow. I see danger to you only in your calculating too nicely upon the manner of being most useful in your day and generation. Remember, you are part not only of this but of other days and generations. . . .

Ever thine,

s. G. h.

SOURCE: Laura E. Richards, Editor, Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe, Volume 2, p. 391-3

William T. Sherman to George Mason Graham, January 24, 1860

Seminary Of Learning, Alexandria, Jan. 24, 1860.

Dear SIR: . . . There are two cadets that may call for action on my part, unless you think different: D— and one of the L—'s are so ignorant and evince so little effort to learn, that labor on them seems lost. I might construe the first month as a preliminary examination, and being disqualified let them return home. This only after all possible means to excite ambition or industry are exhausted.

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 128

William J. Berry’s advertisement for the return of David Green, a Fugitive Slave, June 19, 1857

$200 REWARD. — Ran away from the subscriber, living near Upper Marlboro’, Prince George’s county, Md., on the 29th of April, Negro man DAVID GREEN, about 27 years of age; 5 foot 6 inches high, a dark mulatto.  He has a bushy head and whiskers around his face, and a down look.  He may hire himself in Washington city, where he has relatives, or make his way to some free State.  As he left without any provocation I will give $200 if taken out of the State of Maryland, and $100 if in the State or the District of Columbia.  In either case he must be secured so I may get him again.

WILLIAM J. BERRY.

J12-tf)

SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, June 19, 1857, p. 3

Francis Hoover’s Advertisement for the Return of Alfred, a Fugitive Slave, June 19, 1857

$200 REWARD. — Ran away from the subscriber, living in the city of Baltimore, on Monday, June 15th, Negro Man ALFRED, calls himself ALFRED GOUGH, a butcher by trade[.]  Said negro is 26 years of age, black, about five feet four and a-half inches high, broad shoulders, very thick set, has thick bushy hair, carries himself erect, walks very quick, and has rather a down look when spoken to.  He had on when he left a black Alpaca frock coat, striped summer vest, black pants[,] fine boots and a light colored cloth cap.  He also took with him numerous other clothing not recollected.  I will give the above reward for his apprehension.

FRANCIS HOOVER,                      

Gen. Wayne Inn.

J16-6t*‡

SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, June 19, 1857, p. 3

John E. Bowie’s Advertisement for the Return of “Jim Reeves, a Fugitive Slave, June 19, 1857

FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD. — RAN AWAY from the subscriber, living near Nottingham, Prince George’s county, Md., on Monday, April 13 [sic], NEGRO “JIM REEVES,” about 22 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, light copper color, full suit of hair; very polite when spoken to.  He has a mother living near Alexandria ferry; also, relations living in Washington city.  I will give the above reward, no matter where taken, if he is secured in jail or brought home to me.

JOHN E. BOWIE.

m8-2awtf†

SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, June 19, 1857, p. 3

John T. Gordon’s Advertisement for the Return of Montgomery & Oscar, Fugitive Slaves, June 19, 1857

$400 REwARd. — Ran away from the owner in Alexandria, Va., on the night of the 13th inst., two young Negro Men, from twenty to twenty-five years of age. montgomery is a very bright mulatto, about five feet, six inches in height, of polite manners and smiles much when speaking or spoken to. OSCAR is of a tawny complexion, about 6 feet high, sluggish in his appearance and movements, and of awkward manners.

One Hundred Dollars each will be paid for the arrest an[d] delivery of the above Slaves if taken in a slave State, or $200 each if taken in a free State. One or more Slaves belonging to other owners, it is supposed, went off in their company.

Address        JOHN T. GORDON,

Alexandria, Va.

j’9 3t‡

SOURCE: William Still, The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., p. 399; The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Friday, June 19, 1857, p. 3

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, February 4, 1863

(Private.)

New Orleans, February 4th, 1863.

Dear Sir: Your letter of the 19th. Jan. is just received. The steamer is about to leave and I have time to reply only partially and in haste. You wish me to be “Sp. Agt. and Acting Surveyor”, or “Commissioner of Internal Revenue.” Please put me in the place where you want me most, and where I can be most useful to you. I shall write more fully by next mail.

I wish to call your attention to the importance of Special Agent in reference to Regulations of August 28th. If you make me Sp. Agt. and Acting Surveyor, I should think all that business had better be managed and controlled by me, as I am familiar with it, having devoted much attention to it — and as my system is the only one, whereby, without benefit to the enemy, the wants of the country can be supplied. I know nothing of the character of the second office mentioned by you, and shall defer speaking of it until the next mail. I cannot refrain from asking that no general change be made in the subordinate officers, to make places for the New Collector's friends. Those selected by me, and now holding the important positions, accepted office when it was not pleasant or very desirable — and are skilled, honest, efficient and of tried loyalty. Some of them relinquished good places in New York, and came here at your request. Mr. Gray the D'y. Collector, who is brother in law of Mr. Godwin of the Evening Post, is one of these.

I think it the duty of the Government to see that these men be not dismissed without cause.

By the next armed transport for New York, I shall forward what specie is in my hands.

Mr. Walton (New City Treasurer) of whom Mr. Flanders spoke to you, is an excellent man for any place.

To whatever place you assign me, I ought to have an opportunity for a few days or weeks of conferring with Mr. Bullitt, that he may be informed concerning the thousand details peculiar to this position, which otherwise he will be months in learning.

I thank you again and again for the kind expression of your approval. This alone repays any amount of labor and effort.

A great military movement commences shortly — in three or four days perhaps. An advance will be made up the Teche with a large force, and right through to Red River. I know no more of it than this. Port Hudson will not be troubled, as this movement is on the west side of the Mississippi. This comes direct from Gen. Banks.

As I have to settle up, please let me know what my compensation is that no mistake may occur. Twenty words will inform me, and I never yet knew.

Pardon the imperfect manner in which I am obliged to write.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 354-5

John M. Forbes to Thomas Baring, September 11, 1863

Yacht Azalea, Off Naushon, September 11, 1863.

I have yours of the 19th of August. The issue of 5-20's is not officially announced. . . .

The editorial of the “Times” on ironclads works well; when you see that question settled, I think you can make money by buying the bonds left with you.

I have no fear of any early collision with your country, if the North succeeds, without compromise, in whipping the scoundrels. If we could ever be so weak as to give in to them and degrade our present government in the eyes of the people, — the slaveholders, coming back with their power for mischief remaining, might join the tail of the sham democracy who have always been willing to coalesce with the sham aristocracy, and this combination might use the joint armies and the Irish to pitch into you. If we put the slaveholders under, as we mean to do, with their beautiful institution destroyed, there will be no danger of war with England until some new irritation comes up; we shall be sick of war. . . .

I wish you would pull up in time! Then we could join you in putting Napoleon out of Mexico, and in stopping French colonization in that direction. We ought to be allies! and Mexico gives us another chance to become so.

With best regard to Mr. Bates, and others round you.

N. B. My young soldier continues well, thank you. I have just sent him his eighth horse, so you may judge he has not been idle!

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 2, p. 55-6