Dear Brother: I have
read the
enclosed letter with a good deal of interest. The feeling of the writer is
manly and proper. A man may lose his cause both in law or in war without
yielding his sense of right or his pride or honor. If he will only submit to
the decision of the tribunal to which he appeals, it is all that can be asked
of him. I meet a great many from the South whom I knew before the war, and I
confess I am gratified with their sentiments and conduct. If they could now see
their manifest interests to accept the recent adjustment or amendments to the
Constitution as a reasonable and fair settlement, the South would soon be
resurrected into greater wealth and power. I only fear their political alliance
with the pestilent Copperheads of the North, and thus perpetuation of sectional
enmity. I really fear that Johnson, who is an honest man, will from sheer
stubbornness and bitter dislike to Stevens and a few others, lend himself to
this faction. The very moment the South will agree to a firm basis of
representation, I am for general amnesty and a repeal of the test oaths. But
the signs of the times indicate another stirring political contest. I see no
way to avoid it. I will have to take part in it, but you can, and I hope will,
stand aloof. Don't commit yourself to any political faction, and don't fail to
remember that the Republican, or anti-slavery and now anti-rebel feeling, is
deeper and stronger than any other in the Northern States. We could surely
contend with a manly, fighting rebel like your friend, but never will with
those who raised the white flag in the rear.
Saturday, April 8, 2023
Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, July 2, 1866
David F. Boyd to Major General William T. Sherman, May 1, 1866
United States America.
Dear General: Your
most welcome favor of 12 ult. is at hand.
I am glad to know
that you still feel so much interest in the seminary as to use your valuable
time in writing me such wholesome advice regarding its management. None can
appreciate your suggestions more than I do; for them I thank you, both in my
official capacity and personally; and for the personal interest which I know
you have always taken in my welfare I tender you my most sincere thanks. In the
late war through which the country has passed, I was opposed to you; and in my
own feeble and humble way did my best to help secure the secession of the
Southern States.
For you, the great
Federal Commander, I feel as do all good Southerners, not amiably, nor yet
unkindly; for the noble and brilliant manner in which you did your duty
commands our admiration, and now the struggle is over and I am one of the poor,
subjugated band, I can truly say that I have not a particle of ill feeling
towards any man in the Federal Army. On the contrary, I have a few friends whom
I value none the less for whipping me. Understand me rightly. I speak with no
cringing spirit. Though beaten and so poor that none do me reverence, I am
patient and proud. The end of matters has decided that the rights I battled for
were in vain. I have no other, and none will I ask. I have taken the oath of
allegiance in good faith, hoping to be allowed to remain in the country, and if
not a useful citizen to be a harmless one.
Certainly I have no
intention of ever again attempting to say who shall not be President of the
United States. I am cured of that. That question must hereafter be decided by
the faithful and not the rebellious.
For a similar reason
I am addressing these lines not to the General, but to W. T. Sherman, and I
congratulate myself that no one knows the difference between the two characters
better than my friend, the report of whose death at Shiloh gave me great grief,
when I was a poor rebel soldier lying in the Rappahannock mud, and whose
"Union Scouts" (alias Confederate jayhawkers and deserters) two years
after kidnapped me and took me a prisoner to him at Natchez, where he treated
me both like a prisoner of war and his personal friend! And the friendship of
such a man I value, and hope ever to have his confidence and esteem.
Your chair is filled
by Venable, Kirby Smith's topographical engineer. He has extraordinary capacity
and fine character. .
In one way you can
be of great use to the seminary, and I claim the right to call your attention
to the matter. Although I have bought some few books for the boys to read we
are still in great need of a library, and as I have no doubt that you are
showered with patent office reports, military books, maps, etc., much of which
you do not want. Please have your orderly to pack up the rubbish and send them
to us by Adams' express, I to pay all charges. If not in all, at least in the
more important books, put your name as donor. I would like, also, to have a
large picture of you in citizen's dress (unless you prefer your uniform), to be
put in our library as our first superintendent. By sending us the books as
asked for, you can really do us great good. You must know that we outsiders
(not being represented at Washington) can't even get a patent office report.
I must beg pardon
for asking you to read so long a letter, but really, when I sit down to write
to you, the past, so pleasant to recollect, and the present, so changed from
then, make me feel like telling you all I know, and think, and feel. To a
Southern man a conscientious Calhounite as I was and am the present is dark and
sad, and the future gives but little hope. It is all not your fault nor mine.
Present me most kindly to Mrs. Sherman and your children.
Senator John Sherman to Major General William T. Sherman, July 8, 1866
Dear Brother: It is
now wise for you to avoid all expressions of political opinion. Congress and
the President are drifting from each other into open warfare. Congress is not
weak in what it has done, but in what it has failed to do. It has adopted no
unwise or extreme measures. The Civil Rights Bill and constitutional amendments
can be defended as reasonable, moderate, and in harmony with Johnson's old position,
and yours. As Congress has thus far failed to provide measures to allow legal
senators and representatives to take their seats, it has failed in a plain
duty. This is its weakness; but even in this it will have the sympathy of the
most of the soldiers, and the people who are not too eager to secure rebel
political power. As to the President, he is becoming Tylerized. He was elected
by the Union party for his openly expressed radical sentiments, and now he
seeks to rend to pieces this party. There is a sentiment among the people that
this is dishonor. It looks so to me. What Johnson is, is from and by the Union
party. He now deserts it and betrays it. He may varnish it up, but, after all,
he must admit that he disappoints the reasonable expectations of those who
entrusted him with power. He may, by a coalition with Copperheads and rebels,
succeed, but the simple fact that nine tenths of them who voted for him do not
agree with him, and that he only controls the other tenth by power entrusted to
him by the Union party will damn him forever. Besides, he is insincere; he has
deceived and misled his best friends. I know he led many to believe he would
agree to the Civil Rights Bill, and nearly all who conversed with him until
within a few days believed he would acquiesce in the amendments, and even aid
in securing their adoption. I almost fear he contemplates civil war. Under
these circumstances you, Grant, and Thomas ought to be clear of political
complications. As for myself, I intend to stick to finance, but wherever I can
will moderate the actions of the Union party, and favor conciliation and
restoration.
Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, October 20, 1866
Dear Brother: I got
back all safe and well the day before yesterday, having met no trouble
whatever, notwithstanding the many rumors of Indian troubles. These are all
mysterious, and only accountable on the supposition that our people out West
are resolved on trouble for the sake of the profit resulting from military
occupation. I kept the same ambulances, and made the very route I had
prescribed to myself by Garland, Lyon, etc., to Ellsworth, Riley, etc. The
railroad is finished to Riley, so that I came all the way thence in cars.
I see rumors of my
being called to Washington. Of this I know nothing, and if offered I shall
decline. I must keep clear of politics in all its phases, for I must serve any
administration that arises. I am not aware that I have ever on paper expressed
any opinion of this seeming conflict between Congress and the President. I
deplore it as much as you do, and still hope that some solution will be found.
. .
Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, October 26, 1866
MANSFIELD, Oct. 26,
1866.
Dear Brother: Your
letter of the 20th has been received. I thought, and was glad to hear, that you
had a charming trip. I saw enough of the mountain region to give me a new
estimate of its great value. In some respects I regret that I did not go with
you, but situated as I am, it was extremely fortunate that I returned as I did.
My political position ought not to be misunderstood, but unfriendly critics
took occasion of my absence in the canvass to attribute it to duplicity or
cowardice. The President's course on the Civil Rights Bill and constitutional
amendment was so unwise that I could not for a moment allow any one to suppose
that I meant with him to join a coalition with rebels and Copperheads. Besides,
Johnson was elected by a party upon professions before and after his election
and inauguration so pointedly different from his recent course that it appeared
to me a betrayal of those who trusted his professions, and therefore in the
highest sense dishonorable. But worse than all, his turning out good men—sometimes
wounded soldiers merely because they adhered to their party convictions, and
putting in men who opposed the war throughout, is simply an unmitigated outrage
that will stain the name of any man connected with such conduct. This was the
deliberate judgment of nearly every man in the Union party, and the feeling was
intensified by the President's conduct in his recent tour, when he sunk the
Presidential office to the level of a grog-house.
I do trust you will
not connect your name with this administration. You lose in every way by it.
Grant ought not to ask it, for in the common judgment it places you in
equivocal relations with him. You will have all the odium caused by
disappointment in the reorganization of the Army, and will have a most
difficult, delicate, and responsible duty to discharge, in which you can gain
no credit and may lose much. Besides, it connects you as a partisan with
Johnson—just what he wants, but what you ought to dread. What can you think of
the recent telegrams about your private letter? If you wrote a private letter,
what business had they to make it public in the most offensive way by innuendo?
Grant and you are above the ephemera of party politics, and for the sake of the
country I hope will keep so. Let Johnson take Cowan, or some one that left the
Union party with him, but my convictions are so strong that you ought not to play
“Administrator de bonis non” of Stanton, that I write thus freely. If you conclude
otherwise, I can only say I shall deeply regret it. . . .
Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, October 31, 1866
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31,
1866.
Dear Brother: I got
your letter, and have this morning answered by telegraph, but wish to write
more fully. When here last winter, I did not call to say good-by to the
President, and wrote him a good letter of apology, enclosing my good wishes for
his success in his professed desire to accomplish in his term of office the
restoration of Civil Government all over our land. When I got in to Riley I
received a despatch from the President, asking leave to publish it. I answered
that he could publish anything I ever wrote if it would do any good, if Mr.
Stanbury would advise it, but desiring, if possible, to avoid any controversy.
On this he did not publish, and I have not made any request in the premises. I
don't believe he will publish it, and I don't care much, for it contains
nothing more than I thought then; viz., in February last, when I got here,
there was a move to send Grant to Mexico with Campbell in an advisory capacity.
Grant could not then be put to one side in that way, and on my arrival I found
out that the President was aiming to get Grant out of the way, and me in, not
only as Secretary of War but to command the army, on the supposition that I
would be more friendly to him than Grant. Grant was willing that I should be
Secretary of War, but I was not. I would not be put in such a category, and
after much pro and con we have settled down that I shall go with Campbell. The
Secretary of the Navy is preparing a steamer for us, and it will be ready next
week at New York, when we will go forth to search for the Governor of Mexico;
not a task at all to my liking, but I cheerfully consented because it removes
at once a crisis. Both Grant and I desire to keep plainly and strictly to our
duty in the Army, and not to be construed as partisans. We must be prepared to
serve every administration as it arises. We recognize Mr. Johnson as the lawful
President, without committing ourselves in the remotest degree to an approval
or disapproval of his specific acts. We recognize the present Congress as the
lawful Congress of the United States, and its laws binding on us and all alike,
and we are most anxious to see, somehow or other, the Supreme Court brought in
to pass on the legal and constitutional differences between the President and
Congress.
We see nothing
objectionable in the proposed amendments to the Constitution, only there ought
to have been some further action on the part of Congress committing it to the
admission of members when the amendments are adopted; also the minor exceptions
to hold office, etc., should be relaxed as the people show an adherence to the
national cause. I feel sure the President is so in the habit of being
controlled by popular majorities that he will yield—save he may argue against
Congress and in favor of his own past-expressed opinions. Congress should not
attempt an impeachment or interference with the current acts of the executive
unless some overt act clearly within the definition of the Constitution be
attempted, of which I see no signs whatever. Some very bad appointments have
been made, but I find here that he was backed by long lists of names that were
Union men in the war. Of course our army cannot be in force everywhere: to
suppress riots in the South, Indians in that vast region, only a part of which
we saw, where whites and Indians both require watching, and the thousand and
one duties that devolve on us. This army can never be used in the political
complications, nothing more than to hold arsenals, depots, etc., against riots,
or to form the nucleus of an army of which Congress must provide the laws for
government and the means of support. Neither the President nor Congress ought
to ask us of the army to manifest any favor or disfavor to any political
measures. We are naturally desirous for harmonious action for peace and
civility. We naturally resist the clamor of temporary popular changes, but as
each administration comes in we must serve its executive and the War Department
with seeming friendship.
I have called on Mr.
Stanton, who received me with all cordiality, and placed at my disposal ample
means to execute my present task with ease and comfort.
I start from here
to-night, and shall reach St. Louis on Friday night, ready to start for New
York as soon as the vessel is ready and as soon as Campbell is ready, say all
next week. . . . I don't know that I can come by, say way of Mansfield, as, you
see, I must move fast, staying every spare minute I can at home. Write me
fully, and let us all pull together and get past this present difficulty; then
all will be well. . .
Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, November 11, 1866
Dear Brother: I had to make this trip to escape a worse duty, and to save another person from a complication that should be avoided.
I am determined to
keep out of political, or even quasipolitical office, and shall resign before
being so placed, though I cannot afford to resign.
I hope that Congress will not let power pass into the hands of such men as Butler, Phillips, etc. extreme men, as much so as Davis, Cobb, etc. We have escaped one horn of the dilemma, and ought if possible the other. But it is too late to argue anything, but I feel that if we cannot be calm and temperate in our country, we have no right to go to Mexico to offer ourselves as their example and special friends. You can write me, through the Navy Department, as I may run to New Orleans where Sheridan could hold a letter for me, but I expect little the next two months. . . .
Friday, April 7, 2023
Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, December 3, 1866
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3,
1866.
Dear Brother: . . .
I was heartily glad you got out of the War Department. The mission to Mexico is
a very honorable one, and with your views on "annexation" is a very
safe one for the country. We all hope that the French will go out, and that you
will keep the United States out. We want as little to do with Mexico
politically as possible, and as much trade with her as is profitable. She is terribly
in need of a strong government, and if her mixed population would elect you or
some other firm military ruler as emperor or king, it would be lucky for her,
but a bad business for the elected one. I have never seen the elements of a
stable government in Mexico, but she has physical resources that might, under a
firm ruler, make her the second power in America. Self-government is out of the
question. The worst enemies of Mexico are her own mixed, ignorant population.
If Maximilian could have held on, he would have secured them physical
prosperity; but sooner or later the pride of our people aroused against
European intervention would have got us into a quarrel with him. It is
therefore best that he leave. What you can do for or with Mexico we will see.
Your military reputation and aptitude with all classes may help to bring order
out of chaos. . . .
Your reception at
Havana must have been grateful, and the whole Mexican trip will no doubt close
agreeably for you a year of trials and ovations. If they don't make you emperor
down there, we will welcome you back as the "republicanizer" of the
worst anarchy on the globe. If you establish Juarez, come away by all means in
hot haste before the next pronunciamiento.
As for domestic
matters, Congress meets to-morrow, very much irritated at the President. As for
Butler or impeachment, you need not fear we shall follow the one, or attempt
the other. Johnson ought to acquiesce in the public judgment, agree to the
amendment, and we shall have peace. The personal feeling grows out of the
wholesale removal of good Union men from office. Campbell is as responsible for
this as any man in Ohio; while I was under a cloud for being friendly to
Johnson and absent from the State, they turned out all my special friends and
put in Copperheads.
Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, November 7, 1866
SANTIAGO, Nov. 7,
1866.
Dear Brother: We
have nearly completed the circle without finding Juarez, who is about as far as
ever, away up in Chihuahua for no other possible purpose than to be where the
devil himself cannot get at him.
I have not the
remotest idea of riding on mule back a thousand miles in Mexico to find its
chief magistrate, and although the French go away and Maximilian follow, I
doubt if Juarez can be made to trust his life and safety to his own countrymen.
We found Vera Cruz in possession of the French and Maximilian, and we found
Tucapiso in possession of local troops in the interest of Maximilian, but they
had not the remotest idea where we should look for Juarez. We have just reached
here, and shall to-morrow go up to Matamoras to meet General Escobedo, who can
possibly fix some date when Juarez will come within reach of civilization.
The truth is these
Mexicans were and are still as unable as children to appreciate the value of
time. They shrug their shoulders and exclaim "Quien sabe!" (who
knows) and "Poco tiempo" (in a short time), utterly regardless of
combinations with others.
Mr. Campbell can
deal with none but Juarez and the Republican Government he represents, and that
government partakes of the characteristics of Mexicans; viz., indecision and
utter want of combination.
I believe the French
want to leave, but would like to bring us into the scrape. Their scheme of
giving Mexico a stable government has cost them $200,000,000 of gold, and the
whole conception was in hostility to us, to be ready to reabsolve the old
Louisiana purchase, where, as Napoleon calculated, our Union had failed. But
our Union has not failed, and the French are willing to go, but they are
scattered and must collect before they can march for the seacoast to embark. By
reason of the everlasting contest between the rival factions of Mexico, the
property-holders desire some sort of stable government, and these favor
Maximilian. He may attempt to remain after the French go, but I think would
soon be forced to go. Then Mexico must of necessity settle her own
difficulties. Some think she can, some that she cannot without our aid. This
cannot be done without Congress, and on that point I am no advocate. All I can
say is that Mexico does not belong to our system. All its northern part is very
barren and costly. Its southern part is very good tropical country, but not
suited to our people or pursuits. Its inhabitants are a mixture of Indians,
negroes, and Spanish, that can never be tortured into good citizens, and would
have to be exterminated before the country could be made available to us. I am
obeying orders and not carrying out a project of my own, and it is well you
should understand it, though I cannot impart it to others.
I don't know what
policy the Administration has adopted, but I should deplore anything that would
make us assume Mexico in any shape—its territory, its government, or its
people. Still the French occupation designed in hostility to us should be made
to terminate.
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Diary of Gideon Welles: October 1865
Some slight
indisposition and pressing duties have postponed my daily remarks. The
President had expressed to me his intention to go to Richmond and Raleigh on
the 3d inst., and invited me to accompany him, but I doubted if he would carry
the design out, and he said on the 3d he must postpone it for the present,
which I think will be for the season.
A vote was taken in
Connecticut on Monday, the 2d, on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to
erase the word "white" and permit the colored persons to vote. I was
not surprised that the proposition was defeated by a very decided majority, yet
I had expected that the question might be carried on the strong appeal to
party. But there is among the people a repugnance to the negro, and a positive
disinclination to lower the standard of suffrage. They will not receive the
negro into their parlors on terms of social intimacy, and they are unwilling to
put him in the jury-box or any political position. There are probably not five
hundred colored persons who could be made electors, and the grievance is
therefore not very great.
The defeat of the
Constitutional Amendment has caused a great howl to be set up by certain
extremists, in the State and out of it. While I might have voted affirmatively
had I been in the State, I have no wailing over the negative results. I regret
to witness the abuse of the Press and other papers on those whom it failed to
convince, and who consequently voted according to their convictions. This abuse
and denunciation will tend to alienate friends, and weaken the influence of the
Union leaders in future elections.
The effect of the
vote elsewhere will be to impair centralization, which has been setting in
strong of late, and invigorate State action, and in this respect the result
will be beneficent. I apprehend our extreme negro advocates are doing serious
injury to the negro in their zeal in his behalf, and they are certainly doing
harm to our system by insisting on the exercise of arbitrary and unauthorized
power in aid of the negro.
Some of the workmen
in the Philadelphia Navy Yard complained that an assessment had been levied
upon them for party purposes. I had written a pretty decisive letter correcting
the evil when I went to the Cabinet-meeting on Tuesday, and had given it out to
be copied. After the general business before the Cabinet had been disposed of,
the President took me aside and said complaints of a similar character had been
made to him. I told him my own conclusion and what I had done, which he
approved. The opportunity is most favorable to correct a pernicious practice,
which I last year would not sanction, and which led Raymond, Thurlow Weed, and
others to try to prejudice President Lincoln against me.
On Wednesday Amos
Kendall called and wished me to go with him to the President. He alluded to old
friendly political associations and relations between us. I was glad of the
opportunity of taking him to the President, whom I was about to call upon with
my letter to the Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, respecting the
improper assessment of workmen. After a brief interview Mr. Kendall left, and I
read my letter concerning the assessment of workmen, which the President
complimented and desired it should go to other yards and be made public. [The
letter follows.]
NAVY DEPARTMENT,
3 October, 1865.
SIR:
The attention of the Department has been called to an attempt recently made in
Philadelphia to assess or tax for party purposes the workmen in the Navy Yard.
It is claimed by those who have participated in these proceedings, that the
practice has prevailed in former years, at that and other Navy Yards, of
levying contributions of this character on mechanics and laborers employed by
the Government.
Such
an abuse cannot be permitted; and it is the object of this communication to
prohibit it, wherever it may be practiced.
From
inquiries instituted by the Department, on the complaint of sundry workmen, who
represented that a committee had undertaken, through the agency of the masters,
to collect from each of the employés in their respective departments, a sum equal
to one day's labor, for party purposes—it has been ascertained that there had
been received from the workmen before these proceedings were arrested, the sum
of $1052.
This
and all other attempts to exact money from laborers in the public service,
either by compulsion or voluntary contribution, is, in every point of view,
reprehensible, and is wholly and absolutely prohibited. Whatever money may have
been exacted, and is now in the hands of the Masters, will be forthwith
returned to the workmen from whom it was received; and any Master or other
appointee of this Department who may be guilty of a repetition of this offense,
or shall hereafter participate in levying contributions in the Navy Yards, from
persons in the Government service, for party purposes, will incur the
displeasure of the Department, and render himself liable to removal. The
organization of the Yard must not be perverted to aid any party. Persons who
desire to make voluntary party contributions, can find opportunities to do so,
at ward or other local political meetings, and on other occasions than during
working hours. They are neither to be assisted nor opposed, in this matter, by
government officials. The Navy Yards must not be prostituted to any such
purpose, nor will Committee men be permitted to resort thither, to make
collections for any political party whatever. Working men, and others in the service
of the Government, are expected and required to devote their time and energies
during working hours, and while in the Yard, to the labor which they are
employed to execute.
It
has been also represented that some of the Masters at some of the Navy Yards
employ extra hands preceding warmly contested elections, and that much of the
time of these superfluous hands is devoted to party electioneering. Such an
abuse, if it exists in any department of any of the Navy Yards, must be
corrected. No more persons should be retained in the Navy Yards than the public
service actually requires. Party gatherings and party discussions are at all
times to be avoided within the Yards. It will be the duty of the Commandants of
the respective Yards, and of all officers, to see that this order is observed.
Very respectfully,
G. WELLES,
Secty. of the Navy.
COMMO.
CHAS. H. BELL,
Commdt. Navy Yard,
New York.
(Also written to all the other Commandants of Navy Yards.)
I called on Seward
on Wednesday in relation to the Stonewall, the Harriet Lane, the Florida, etc.,
as he was about leaving to be absent for a fortnight, and we may wish to send
to Havana before he returns. After disposing of business, and I had left his
room, he sent his messenger to recall me. He seemed a little embarrassed and
hesitating at first, but said he wished to say to me that he had had full and
free and unreserved talks recently with the President; that he had found him
friendly and confiding, and more communicative than Mr. Lincoln ever had been;
that he knew and could say to me that the President had for me, for him
(Seward), and indeed for all the Cabinet a friendly regard; that he had no
intention of disturbing any member of the Cabinet; that I had reason to be
specially gratified with the President's appreciation of me. Some general
conversation followed on past transactions and events. Among other things we
got on to Blair's letters and speeches. He says the original armistice, alluded
to by Blair, was left by Buchanan with other papers on the office table at the
Executive Mansion or with the Attorney-General.
Seward, McCulloch,
Harlan, and Speed were absent from Washington on Friday, the 6th, the day of
the last Cabinet-meeting. No very important questions were presented and
discussed. The presence of the assistants instead of the principals operates, I
perceive, as an obstruction to free interchange of opinion.
At the last
Cabinet-meeting in September, Seward read a strange letter addressed to one of
the provisional governors, informing him that the President intended to
continue the provisional governments in the several insurrectionary States
until Congress assembled and should take the subject in hand with the newly
formed constitutions. I was amazed, and remarked that I did not understand the
question or status of the States to be as stated, and was relieved when the
President said he disapproved of that part of the letter. Speed asked to have
the letter again read and was evidently satisfied with it. Seward made a pencil
correction or alteration that was unimportant and meaningless, when the
President said very emphatically he wished no reference to Congress in any such
communication, or in any such way. Stanton, I observed, remained perfectly
silent though very attentive. It appeared to me that the subject was not novel
to him.
In an interview with
the President the Monday following (the 2d inst.), I expressed my wish that no
letter should be sent defining the policy of the Administration without full
and careful consideration. The President said he should see to that, and that
Seward's letter as modified by himself was a harmless affair.
I have sent out
another circular in relation to the appointment of masters in the navy yards.
These appointments have caused great difficulty in the Department, the Members
of Congress insisting on naming them, and almost without an exception the party
instead of the mechanical qualifications of the man is urged. It is best to be
relieved of this evil, and I shall try to cure it.
I see that Senator
Grimes by letter expresses his disapproval of the Radical movements in the Iowa
State Convention. Doolittle has been still more emphatic in Wisconsin. Things
are working very well. The conventions in the Rebel States are discharging their
duties as satisfactorily, perhaps, as could be expected. Some of the extreme
Republicans, of the Sumner school, are dissatisfied, but I think their numbers
are growing less. The Democrats, on the other hand, are playing what they
consider a shrewd party game, by striving to take advantage of the errors and
impracticable notions of the ultras. Therefore the policy of the Administration
appears to be growing in favor, though the machinery of politics is at work in
an opposite direction.
Gideon Welles to Commodore Charles H. Bell, October 3, 1865
SIR: The attention
of the Department has been called to an attempt recently made in Philadelphia
to assess or tax for party purposes the workmen in the Navy Yard. It is claimed
by those who have participated in these proceedings, that the practice has prevailed
in former years, at that and other Navy Yards, of levying contributions of this
character on mechanics and laborers employed by the Government.
Such an abuse
cannot be permitted; and it is the object of this communication to prohibit it,
wherever it may be practiced.
From inquiries
instituted by the Department, on the complaint of sundry workmen, who
represented that a committee had undertaken, through the agency of the masters,
to collect from each of the employés in their respective departments, a sum
equal to one day's labor, for party purposes—it has been ascertained that there
had been received from the workmen before these proceedings were arrested, the
sum of $1052.
This and all other
attempts to exact money from laborers in the public service, either by
compulsion or voluntary contribution, is, in every point of view,
reprehensible, and is wholly and absolutely prohibited. Whatever money may have
been exacted, and is now in the hands of the Masters, will be forthwith
returned to the workmen from whom it was received; and any Master or other
appointee of this Department who may be guilty of a repetition of this offense,
or shall hereafter participate in levying contributions in the Navy Yards, from
persons in the Government service, for party purposes, will incur the
displeasure of the Department, and render himself liable to removal. The
organization of the Yard must not be perverted to aid any party. Persons who
desire to make voluntary party contributions, can find opportunities to do so, at
ward or other local political meetings, and on other occasions than during
working hours. They are neither to be assisted nor opposed, in this matter, by
government officials. The Navy Yards must not be prostituted to any such
purpose, nor will Committee men be permitted to resort thither, to make
collections for any political party whatever. Working men, and others in the
service of the Government, are expected and required to devote their time and
energies during working hours, and while in the Yard, to the labor which they
are employed to execute.
It has been also
represented that some of the Masters at some of the Navy Yards employ extra
hands preceding warmly contested elections, and that much of the time of these
superfluous hands is devoted to party electioneering. Such an abuse, if it
exists in any department of any of the Navy Yards, must be corrected. No more
persons should be retained in the Navy Yards than the public service actually
requires. Party gatherings and party discussions are at all times to be avoided
within the Yards. It will be the duty of the Commandants of the respective
Yards, and of all officers, to see that this order is observed.
Commdt. Navy Yard,
New York.
Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, October 10, 1865
As I went into the
President's office this morning and was passing him to enter the library, he
took occasion to express his satisfaction with my circulars and his thorough
conviction of their rectitude. He was exceedingly pleased with the manner of
their reception by the public. Said Preston King, when last there, had advised
that we should pursue a straightforward course and leave consequences to
themselves.
Leaving the
President, I went on to the library. Stanton and Dennison were there, and, I
think, Ashton and W. E. Chandler. Harlan soon came in. Dennison almost
immediately addressed me on the subject of my circular respecting assessments.
He said it was likely to have an effect on other Departments. He had received
this morning a petition from the clerks in the New York post-office inclosing
my circular, and asking to be relieved of a five per cent assessment which had
been levied upon them for party purposes. I remarked that they were proper
subjects to be exempt from such a tax in times like these, that I disliked and
was decidedly opposed to this whole principle of assessment of employés of the
government for party objects,—if not broken up it would demoralize the
government and country.
Stanton said if I
had issued such a circular one year ago, we should have lost the election. I
questioned the correctness of that assertion, and told him that I took the same
ground then that I did now, although I issued no circular. He said he was aware
I objected to assessments in the yards, but had understood that I finally
backed down and consented. I assured him he was greatly mistaken; that Raymond
had annoyed President Lincoln with his demands, and that I had been importuned
to permit the tax to be levied but that I had never consented or changed my
views, or actions, or been ever requested to do so by President Lincoln.
Dennison said that
Mr. Harlan's committee—Harlan, being chairman—had made an assessment on all
office-holders and he thought it was right. Stanton earnestly affirmed its
rightfulness, and said the Democrats raised two dollars for every one raised by
us. Asked if I did not pay an assessment. I told him I contributed money, but
did not submit to be assessed or taxed. Harlan sat by and said nothing, though
occasionally rolling up his eye and showing his peculiar smile. I told the gentlemen
that, while differing with them, I was gratified to have the President with me.
He came in a few moments after, and the subject was dropped.
Diary of Gideon Welles: October 11, 1865
The elections in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Iowa come in favorable, though the vote and the
majorities are reduced from the Presidential election. I am glad that the Union
party has done well in Philadelphia, for if we had lost the city or given a
small vote, there would have been a claim that it was in consequence of my
circulars. As it is, I get no credit, but I escape censure for doing right.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 381
Diary of Gideon Welles: October 12, 1865
General Banks has received
the nomination for Congress from the Middlesex district, made vacant by the
resignation of Gooch, appointed Naval Officer. Stone and Griffin were
competitors for the nomination, neither of them known abroad. If I mistake not,
Stone has a musty reputation as a politician. While they were struggling, Banks
came home from New Orleans and succeeded over both. He will probably be
elected, for I see by his speech he classes himself among the Radicals and
foreshadows hostility to the Administration.
The Radicals of
Massachusetts are preparing to make war upon the President. This is obvious,
and Sumner has been inclined to take the lead. But there is no intimacy between
Banks and Sumner. They are unlike. Sumner is honest but imperious and
impracticable. Banks is precisely the opposite. I shall not be surprised if
Banks makes war upon the Navy Department, not that he has manifested any open
hostility to myself, but there is deep-seated animosity between him and Admiral
Porter and other naval officers of his command who were on the Red River
expedition.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 381
Diary of Gideon Welles: October 13, 1865
Met General Thomas
of the Army of the Tennessee at the President's. He has a fine, soldierly
appearance, and my impressions are that he has, intellectually and as a
civilian, as well as a military man, no superior in the service. What I saw of
him to-day confirmed my previous ideas of the man. He has been no courtly
carpet officer, to dance attendance at Washington during the War, but has nobly
done his duty.
Little was done at
the Cabinet. Three of the assistants being present instead of the principals,
there was a disinclination to bring forward measures or to interchange views
freely. Stanton took occasion before the President came in to have a fling at
my circular against party assessments, which seems to annoy him. I told him the
principles and rule laid down in that circular were correct; that the idea
which he advocated of a tax upon employés and office-holders was pernicious and
dangerous, would embitter party contests and, if permitted to go on, would carry
the country to the devil. Stanton said he then wished to go to the devil with
it; that he believed in taxing officeholders for party purposes, compelling
them to pay money to support the Administration which appointed them. Weed and
Raymond are in this thing, and mad with me for cutting off supplies.
Diary of Gideon Welles: October 21, 1865
Have been unable to
write daily. The President has released A. H. Stephens, Regan, Trenholm, and others
on parole, and less dissatisfaction has manifested itself than I expected.
The Episcopal
convention at Philadelphia is a disgrace to the church, to the country, and the
times. Resolutions expressing gratification on the return of peace and the
removal of the cause of war have been voted down, and much abject and
snivelling servility exhibited, lest the Rebels should be offended. There are
duties to the country as well as the church.
Montgomery Blair
made a speech to a Democratic meeting at Cooper Institute, New York. As much
exception will be taken to the audience he selected as to his remarks. Although
he has cause for dissatisfaction, it is to be regretted that he should run into
an organization which is hostile to those who have rallied for the Union. True,
they profess to support the President and approve his course. This is perhaps
true in a degree, but that organization was factious during the War, and was in
sympathy with the Rebels prior to hostilities. Their present attitude is from
hatred of the Republicans more than sympathy with the President. Those of us
who are Democrats and who went into the Union organization ought to act in good
faith with our associates, and not fly off to those who have imperilled the
cause, without fully reflecting on what we have done, and are doing. Perhaps
Blair feels himself justified, but I would not have advised his course.
Wendell Phillips has
made an onset on the Administration and its friends, and also on the
extremists, hitting Banks and Sumner as well as the President. Censorious and
unpractical, the man, though possessed of extraordinary gifts, is a useless member
of society and deservedly without influence.
Secretary Seward has
been holding forth at Auburn in a studied and long-prepared speech, intended
for the special laudation and glory of himself and Stanton. It has the artful
shrewdness of the man and of his other half, Thurlow Weed, to whom it was
shown, and whose suggestions I think I can see in the utterances. Each and all
the Departments are shown up by him; each of the respective heads is mentioned,
with the solitary exception of Mr. Bates, omitted by design.
The three dernier
occupants of the Treasury are named with commendation, so of the three
Secretaries of the Interior and the two Postmasters-General. The Secretary of
the Navy has a bland compliment, and, as there have not been changes in that Department,
its honors are divided between the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary. But Stanton
is extolled as one of the lesser deities, is absolutely divine. His service
covers the War and months preceding, sufficient to swallow Cameron, who is
spoken of as honest and worthy. Speed, who is the only Attorney-General
mentioned, is made an extraordinary man of extraordinary abilities and mind,
for like Stanton he falls in with the Secretary of State.
It is not
particularly pleasing to Seward that I, with whom he has had more controversy
on important questions than with any man in the Cabinet, — I, a Democrat, who
came in at the organization of the Lincoln Cabinet and have continued through
without interruption, especially at the dark period of the assassination and
the great change when he was helpless and of no avail, it is not pleasing to
him that I should alone have gone straight through with my Department while
there have been changes in all others, and an interregnum in his own. Hence two
heads to the Navy Department, my Assistant's and mine. Had there been two or
three changes as in the others, this remark would probably not have been made.
Yet there is an artful design to stir up discord by creating ill blood or
jealousy between myself and Fox, whom they do not love, which is quite as much
in the vein of Weed as of Seward. I have no doubt the subject and points of
this speech were talked over by the two. Indeed, Seward always consults Weed
when he strikes a blow.
His assumptions of
what he has done, and thought, and said are characteristic by reason of their
arrogance and error. He was no advocate for placing Johnson on the ticket as
Vice-President, as he asserts, but was for Hamlin, as was every member of the
Cabinet but myself. Not that they were partisans, but for a good arrangement.
Diary of Gideon Welles: December 1, 1865
It is some weeks
since I have had time to write a word in this diary. In the mean time many
things have happened which I desired to note but none of very great importance.
What time I could devote to writing when absent from the Department has been
given to the preparation of my Annual Report. That is always irksome and hard
labor for me. All of it has been prepared at my house out of the office hours,
except three mornings when I have remained past my usual hour of going to the
Department.
My reports are
perhaps more full and elaborate than I should make them; but if I wish anything
done I find I must take the responsibility of presenting it. Members of
Congress, though jealous of anything that they consider, or which they fear
others will consider, dictation, are nevertheless timid as regards
responsibility. When a matter is accomplished they are willing to be thought
the father of it, yet some one must take the blows which the measure receives
in its progress. I therefore bring forward the principal subjects in my report.
If they fail, I have done my duty. If they are carried, I shall contend with no
one for the credit of paternity. I read the last proof pages of my report this
evening.
Members of Congress
are coming in fast, though not early. Speaker Colfax came several days since.
His coming was heralded with a flourish. He was serenaded, and delivered a
prepared speech, which was telegraphed over the country and published the next
morning. It is the offspring of an intrigue, and one that is pretty extensive.
The whole proceeding was premeditated.
My friend Preston
King committed suicide by drowning himself in the Hudson River. His appointment
as Collector was unfortunate. He was a sagacious and honest man, a statesman
and legislator of high order and of unquestioned courage in expressing his
convictions and resolute firmness in maintaining them. To him, a Democrat and
Constitutionalist, more than to any other one man may be ascribed the merit of
boldly meeting the arrogant and imperious slaveholding oligarchy and organizing
the party which eventually overthrew them. While Wendell Phillips, Sumner, and
others were active and fanatical theorists, Preston King was earnest and
practical. J. Q. Adams and Giddings displayed sense and courage, but neither of
them had the faculty which K. possessed for concentrating, combining, and
organizing men in party measures and action. I boarded in the same house with
King in 1846 when the Wilmot Proviso was introduced on an appropriation bill.
Root and Brinkerhoff of Ohio, Rathbun and Grover and Stetson [sic]1
of New York, besides Wilmot and some few others whom I do not recall, were in
that combination, and each supposed himself the leader. They were indeed all
leaders, but King, without making pretensions, was the man, the hand, that
bound this sheaf together. From the day when he took his stand King never faltered.
There was not a more earnest party man, but he would not permit the discipline
and force of party to carry him away from his honest convictions. Others
quailed and gave way but he did not. He was not eloquent or much given to
speech-making, but could state his case clearly, and his undoubted sincerity
made a favorable impression always.
Not ever having held
a place where great individual and pecuniary responsibility devolved upon him,
the office of Collector embarrassed and finally overwhelmed him.
Some twenty-five
years ago he was in the Retreat for the Insane in Hartford, and there I knew
him. He became greatly excited during the Canadian rebellion and its disastrous
termination and the melancholy end of some of his townsmen had temporarily
impaired his reason. But it was brief; he rapidly recovered, and, unlike most
persons who have been deranged, it gave him no uneasiness and he spoke of it
with as much unconcern as of a fever. The return of the malady led to his
committing suicide. Possessed of the tenderest sensibilities and a keen sense
of honor, the party exactions of the New York politicians, the distress, often magnified,
of those whom he was called upon to displace, the party requirements which
Weed, who boarded with him, and others demanded, greatly distressed him, and
led to the final catastrophe.
1 There was no Stetson in Congress at the
time. Perhaps Wheaton of New York, who was one of the supporters of the
Proviso, was the man whom Mr. Welles had in mind.
Diary of Gideon Welles: December 3, 1865
Told the President I
disliked the proceedings of the Congressional caucus on Saturday evening. The
resolution for a joint committee of fifteen to whom the whole subject of
admission of Representatives from States which had been in rebellion [should be
referred] without debate was in conflict with the spirit and letter of the
Constitution, which gives to each house the decision of election of its own
members, etc. Then in appointing Stevens, an opponent of State rights, to
present it there was something bad. The whole was, in fact, revolutionary, a
blow at our governmental system, and there had been evident preconcert to bring
it about. The President agreed with me, but said they would be knocked in the
head at the start. There would be a Representative from Tennessee who had been
a loyal Member of the House since the War commenced, or during the War, who
could present himself, and so state the case that he could not be controverted.
I expressed my gratification if this could be accomplished, knowing he alluded
to Maynard, but suggested a doubt whether the intrigue which was manifest by
the resolution, the designation of Stevens, and Colfax's speech had not gone
too far.
Congress organized
about the time this conversation took place. Maynard was put aside, I think by
concert between himself and the Radical leaders. The resolution introduced by
Stevens passed by a strict party vote. In the Senate, Sumner introduced an avalanche
of radical and some of them absurd-resolutions. These appeared to have absorbed
the entire attention of that body, which adjourned without the customary
committee to wait upon the President and inform him that Congress was
organized. This was not unintentional. There was design in it.
Fogg of New
Hampshire, our late Minister to Switzerland, came to see me this evening with
Chandler, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
The recall of Fogg
was an unwise, unjust, and I think an unpolitic act on the part of Seward, and
I shall not be surprised if he has cause to rue it. Fogg was associated with me
on the National Executive Committee in the Presidential campaign of 1860, and
was brought in particularly intimate relations with Mr. Lincoln at that time.
No one, perhaps, knows better than F. the whole workings in relation to the
formation of the Cabinet of 1861. These he detailed very minutely this evening.
Much of it I had known before. He has a remarkable memory, and all the details
of 1860 and 1861 were impressed upon his mind. He was the first to bring me
assurance that I was selected for the Cabinet from New England. I thought at
the time his, F.'s, original preferences were in another direction, although
the selection of myself was, he then and now assured me, acceptable to him. At
that time F., listening to Seward's friends, believed he would not accept an
appointment in the Cabinet. Such were the givings-out of his friends and of
Seward himself. I told F. at the time, as he still recollects, he was deceiving
himself, and that Mr. Lincoln was in a strange delusion if he believed it.
Weed tried to induce
Mr. Lincoln to visit Mr. Seward at Auburn. Said General Harrison went to
Lexington in 1841 to see Mr. Clay, who advised in the formation of that Cabinet.
Mr. Lincoln declined to imitate Harrison. The next effort was to try to have a
meeting at Chicago, but this Mr. L. also declined. But he did invite Hamlin to
meet him there. On his way Hamlin was intercepted by Weed, who said the offer
of the State Department was due to Mr. Seward, but S. would decline it. The
courtesy, however, was, he claimed, due to Mr. S. and to New York. H. was
persuaded, and Mr. L. intrusted him with a letter tendering the appointment to
Seward.
Shortly after the
commencement of the session of Congress in December, 1860, Fogg says Hamlin,
when coming down from the Capitol one afternoon after the adjournment of the
Senate, fell in company with Seward, or was overtaken by him. They walked down
the avenue together, Seward knowing H. had been to Chicago. On reaching
Hamlin's hotel, he invited S. to go in, and a full conversation took place, S.
declaring he was tired of public life and that he intended to resign his seat
or decline a reëlection and retire, that there was no place in the gift of the
President which he would be willing to take. Several times he repeated that he
would not go into the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln. Having heard these refusals in
various forms, Hamlin then told him he had a letter from Mr. Lincoln, which he
produced. Seward, H. says to Fogg, trembled and was nervous as he took it. He
read the letter, put it in his pocket, and said, while his whole feelings were
repugnant to a longer continuance in public employment, he yet was willing to
labor for his country. He would, therefore, consult his friends before giving a
final answer. The next, or succeeding, day he left for New York, but before
going he mailed a letter to the President elect accepting the appointment.
Hamlin repeated all the facts to Fogg last week, so far as he was concerned.
Great efforts were
made to secure the Treasury for Cameron. This was a part of the programme of
Weed and Seward. I have always understood that Mr. Lincoln became committed to
this scheme in a measure, though it was unlike him. Fogg explains it in this
way: In the summer and fall a bargain was struck between Weed and Cameron. The
latter went to Albany and then to Saratoga, where he spent several days with
the intriguers. Cameron subsequently tried to get an invitation that fall to
Springfield, but Lincoln would not give it. This annoyed the clique. After the
election, Swett, who figured then as a confidential friend and intimate of
Lincoln, not without some reason, was sent, or came, East to feel the public
pulse. At a later day he went to California and had a finger in the Alameda quicksilver
mine. Swett was seized by Weed and Company, open rooms and liquors were
furnished by the New York junto, and his intimacy with Lincoln was magnified.
Cameron took him to his estate at Lochiel and feasted him. Here the desire of
Cameron to go to Springfield was made known to Swett, who took upon himself to
extend an invitation in Mr. Lincoln's name. With this he took a large
body-guard and went to Springfield. Although surprised, Mr. Lincoln could not
disavow what Swett had done. Cameron was treated civilly; his friends talked,
etc. After his return, Mr. Lincoln wrote him that in framing his Cabinet he
proposed giving him a place, either in the Treasury or the War Department.
Cameron immediately wrote, expressing his thanks and accepting the Treasury.
Mr. Lincoln at once wrote that there seemed some misapprehension and he
therefore withdrew his tender or any conclusive arrangement until he came to
Washington. I have heard some of these things from Mr. L[incoln]. Fogg, who now
tells them to me, says he knows them all.
Mrs. Lincoln has the
credit of excluding Judd of Chicago from the Cabinet. The President was under
great personal obligations to Judd, and always felt and acknowledged it. When
excluded from the Cabinet, he selected the mission to Berlin.
Caleb Smith was
brought in at a late hour and after Judd's exclusion. Weed and Seward had
intended to bring in Emerson Etheridge and Graham of North Carolina, and After
the President came to Washington, a decided onset was made by the anti-Seward
men of New York and others against Chase. An earlier movement had been made,
but not sufficient to commit the President. Senator Wade of Ohio did not favor
Chase. Governor Dennison was strongly for him, and Wade, who disliked Seward,
finally withdrew opposition to C. But about the time I reached Washington on
the 1st of March another hitch had taken place. I had remained away until
invited, and had been mixed up with none of the intrigues.
The President (Lincoln) told me on Sunday, 3d March, that there was still some trouble, but that he had become satisfied he should arrange the matter. Fogg tells me that Greeley and others who were here attending to the rightful construction of the Cabinet had deputed him to call upon the President and ascertain if Chase was to be excluded. A rumor to that effect had got abroad and Lamon, a close friend of Lincoln (too close), was offering to bet two to one that C. would not have the Treasury. Fogg called on the President, but first Mrs. L. and then Seward interrupted them. On Tuesday, the 5th, at 7 A.M., Fogg and Carl Schurz called on the President to make sure of Chase. Seward followed almost immediately. Lincoln, in a whisper, told F. all was right, and subsequently informed him that he had been annoyed and embarrassed by Seward on the 1st of March, who came to him and said that he, S., had not been consulted as was usual in the formation of the Cabinet, that he understood Chase had been assigned to the Treasury, that there were differences between himself and Chase which rendered it impossible for them to act in harmony, that the Cabinet ought, as General Jackson said, to be a unit. Under these circumstances and with his conviction of duty and what was due to himself, he must insist on the excluding of Mr. Chase if he, Seward, remained. Mr. Lincoln expressed his surprise after all that had takenplace and with the great trouble on his hands, that he should be met with such a demand on this late day. He requested Mr. S. to further consider the subject.
The result was that
Mr. Lincoln came to the conclusion if Seward persisted, he would let him go and
make Dayton, of New Jersey, Secretary of State. But Seward did not persist.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Diary of Gideon Welles: December 5, 1865
The organization of
Congress was easily effected. There had been manifestly preliminary
arrangements, made by some of the leading spirits. Stevens's resolution was
passed by a strict party vote. The new Members, and others weak in their
understandings, were taken off their legs, as was designed, before they were
aware of it.
In the hurry and
intrigue no committee was appointed to call on the President. I am most
thoroughly convinced there was design in this, in order to let the President
know that he must wait the motion of Congress.
1 I became satisfied subsequently that none of
the Cabinet had any more than myself to do with it.—G. W.
Diary of Gideon Welles: December 6, 1865
Seward, apprehending
a storm, wants a steamer to take him to Cuba. Wishes to be absent a fortnight
or three weeks. Thinks he had better be away; that the war will be pretty
strong upon us for the first few weeks of the session and he had better show
the Members that we care nothing about them by clearing out.
A court martial of
high officers in the case of Craven, who declined to encounter the Stonewall,
has made itself ridiculous by an incongruous finding and award which I cannot
approve. It is not pleasant to encounter so large a number of officers of high
standing, but I must do my duty if they do not.