Longstreet's and A.
P. Hill's divisions crossed to the south side of the Chickahominy to-day, and
have moved eastward down the Darbytown Road. These divisions have not been
engaged to-day.
This afternoon I was
sent back to Featherstone's Brigade Headquarters, near the city, for a farther
supply of rations, as ours were left on the north side of the Chickahominy.
SOURCE: William S.
White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, p. 122
BATTLE OF WILLIS'S CHURCH, OR FRAYSER'S FARM,
MONDAY, JUNE 30TH, 1862.
I was in the saddle
from a little after sunrise yesterday morning until daybreak this morning, and
then, after taking a nap of an hour, had to move on to find my company.
McClellan, having been so terribly punished on his right flank by the fierce
onslaughts of Lee and Jackson, has now concentrated his forces on this (the
south) side of the Chickahominy, and is making his way to his gun-boats on the
James River. We are following him up as rapidly as possible. Our two divisions
moved a few miles farther down the Darbytown Road, when our advanced guard
captured a Yankee picket, who reported their men to be but a short distance in
advance.
Longstreet quickly
disposed his troops, and advanced to meet the enemy; my battery was posted in
an open field, but we could see no enemy, as a heavy wood was between us.
The enemy soon
rained a storm of shot and shell upon us, and we returned the fire with vigor,
but as soon as our infantry charged beyond us, as at Gaines's Mill, we were
compelled to cease firing," our guns being of such short range.
Nevertheless, we
were compelled to receive their fire, and, being unable to return
it, it made our situation anything but pleasant. Nothing is more demoralizing
to troops than to be subjected to a heavy fire from an unseen foe and to remain
perfectly inactive. The wood completely shut us out from sight, yet shielded us
but little from the shot and shell.
Here a member of my
company (Edward F. Cullen) was struck upon the forehead by a piece of shell; we
thought at first he was seriously wounded, but we were mistaken. I also made a
very narrow escape, for a two ounce ball from a Belgian rifle passed through my
gunner's-bag, which was, as is customary during an engagement, thrown over my
shoulder. I had in this bag about 500 friction primers, each and every one a
little miniature cannon of itself, filled with rifle and a poisonous fulminating
powder, the explosion of one of which would have caused the explosion of the
whole. The ball passed through three thick pleats of leather, breaking the
fourth and last pleat. Had it not have been for this leather bag, I would have
received this ball just below my heart. The fighting was still going on in our
front at a terrific rate. Again and again our men charged the enemies' works,
but were as often driven back. At one time Featherstone's brigade had to reform
a few yards to the right of our battery, and could only muster 250 men. One
more grand effort—a dashing charge and our men have carried the entrenchments.
Kemper's men are holding their position without ammunition; Featherstone's
brigade has melted away from 1,200 to 200; still our brave troops hold their
position, and have captured many a piece of artillery. Night comes on, but
still the fight continues—volley after volley of musketry pours its stream of
death into our ranks, but our men cannot be driven back, and McClellan has to
keep moving on. Our field of observation is so extremely limited, we can learn
but little of the general plan of the battle or of the specific results. The
wounded stragglers all pass through our battery and tell the same old tale of
being "cut up," "badly whipped," etc., so that
for a long time we were really in doubt whether we or the Yankees had been
successful. The enemy fought bravely and contested the ground inch by inch. Our
General, Featherstone, has been badly wounded. We have captured many prisoners
and a number of pieces of artillery; also, a Brigadier-General by the name of
McCall.
We spent the night
on the field, and, for the season, it was bitterly cold.
SOURCE: William S.
White, A Diary of the War; or What I Saw of It, pp. 122-4
BINGHAMTON, December 25, 1856.
MY DEAR ROGERS—Myself
and family send to you and to Mrs. Rogers the kindly salutations and wishes of
the season, under a deep sense of friendly obligations: and we all join the
little boys in transmitting their joyous acknowledgments for your kind
remembrance and substantial present. Please drop a line, as early as convenient
to you, when you will return, so that I may arrange to be at home.
I am glad you are
going to Wheatland, for it is as well due to our friends and to our
organization as to Mr. Buchanan himself, that he should be fully, frankly, and
temperately posted in our affairs. So far as I have a right to be heard in the
premises, it is my desire that the explanation be of a general character, and
placed entirely on public grounds. I would under no circumstances have my name
pressed upon Mr. Buchanan as one of his cabinet advisers. Nor would I consent
to sit as one, unless it was given under circumstances where I was sought,
rather than seeking the place, and where the public desired my services. For
your own private information, I will assure you that I have no expectation of a
cabinet appointment. I have no knowledge nor information on the subject, but
intuition teaches me, as I wrote you some time since, and the views then
expressed have received confirmation by subsequent reflection. I am by no means
sure that it will not be better for those of our friends who desire places, if
Mr. Buchanan should pass by the State rather than that he should give me a
cabinet appointment. In case of my appointment, if he should deny any further
appointment to our wing, it would leave me in an awkward and unpleasant
position. But if I am not appointed, he may feel an inclination to look more
carefully after my friends. I am proud to note, however, that so far as I have
been mentioned, it has generally been for Secretary of State, and no one has
placed me below Treasury. The leading papers in Maine, Iowa, &c., &c.,
have been out pretty strong, but there is much intrigue going on by the jobbers
for the places, with a view to the Treasury spoils, and also to 1860.
I do not intend to
be pharisaical in profession, but I am, as years increase, more anxious to
fill my present sphere of usefulness than to enlarge it:—to execute the mission
before me, and train up the little boys that Providence has left to look to me
for protection, and to cherish and console, so far as domestic care and quiet
can accomplish it, one who is dearer to me still, and bound by more tender
ties, and is yet as dependent upon me as a child. These, with others, are
individual reasons why change is not desirable except for strong inducements.
SOURCE: John R.
Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel
S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, pp. 499-500
BINGHAMTON, January 24, 1857.
MY DEAR SIR—My best
acknowledgments are tendered you for numerous favors conveyed with a generous
partiality and friendly devotion. I can only assure you of a high, profound,
and sincere appreciation.
I have full
confidence in Mr. Buchanan's wisdom, and feel sure he will give us a judicious
administration; what will be his "personnel," I have no means of
knowing. He is urged, from both interested and factious sources, to go by this
State, because of our divisions. It may be wise to pass the State or may not
be; but no such question as divisions should control him.
We have some
factious men, though since the main body went off, less than one would suppose
for the encouragement they have received: but so far as our rank and file are
concerned, whether upon men or measures, we have less division than has
Virginia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, or Pennsylvania.
Repeating my thanks
for your kind courtesy—I am,
SOURCE: John R.
Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel
S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 500
BINGHAMTON, March 1, 1857.
MY DEAR JUDGE—Your
favor of the 27th came duly to hand, and, as the merchants say,
"contents noted." I penned you my "incomprehensible" note
while in the tedious attendance upon rather a beggarly circuit. It is said that
when a pun or witticism needs explanation to give it point, it is a sorry
manifestation, and I do not see why what our old and departed friend Judge S.
was wont to call a "sarcasm" does not fall within the same category.
However, at the hazard of coming within the rule, I will translate my Greek.
My eye, at the
moment of writing, fell upon the movements of the Corruption Committee at
Washington, and seeing that the Hon. ——— was to be expelled, reminded me of how
much I had enjoyed, some twenty-three years ago, laughing at you for turning
the same individual out of your law office for stealing a large pane of glass
out of the door of E——'s newly fitted up house over the Chenango Bridge, to
supply one that he had broken out of the door of your office; and to complete
the joke he got a light too large by three inches one way and one the other.
The fun I had at the time over it all came back to me, and hence my revival of
it to you thus obscurely;—not thinking that the brick and mortar, excitement
and turmoil, and judicial care of the city, had shut you out from keeping track
of individuals, as we do in the country.
* *
* *
*
Yes, my dear Judge,
I might wear out life as you do. I have enjoyed some rather gratifying triumphs
in my day, both political and professional; but never anything has so much
drawn out my anxiety and solicitude in advance, has so much mortified and vexed
me when adverse, nor afforded me the same satisfaction in success, as the
matter to which you allude.
I still like
professional pursuits better than official life. If I had money to spend
profusely, I could enjoy myself in rural occupations; but eternal,
like internal improvement, is too
expensive a luxury for a poor man.
I like excitement, and as I also want income, it would work well if we did not have so much mere litigation over subjects where the parties cannot pay very large fees, and, if able, no counsel could have the face to charge them. These cases, as you know, are fought out with a pertinacity almost unknown in the city, or if known, would command a thousand dollars to our one hundred. If you do not engage in them, others will, and hey block up the courts and delay other business at home, and prevent you from going abroad to attend to business of more importance if you have it. The present system is far less pleasant for the country than the former. There is, or rather would be enough good business to engage me constantly if it were not impeded by this profitless litigation, and much time is wasted in this, in working or in waiting, to the prevention of more important business. If I was within four or five hours ride of the city, instead of nine or ten, I would open an office there.
Mrs. Dickinson and
daughters join me in regards to yourself and Mrs. Bosworth and family
SOURCE: John R.
Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel
S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, pp. 500-2
BINGHAMTON, April 14, 1857.
MY DEAR SIR—I should
be more prompt in my correspondence, but it is just now so heavy that if I had
as much clerical force as Byron intimates the recording angel exhausted about
the time of the "crowning carnage—Waterloo," I
should still be as much in arrear as was the head of that overworked
"black bureau."
I should have come
and seen you when at Cortland, but I learned you were ill; and I supposed, too,
that you were so deeply buried in your studies that all you would desire of
your fellow-men would be that they might, as Diogenes said, "get away from
between you and the sun."
The administration
seems to be getting on well, but, I am sorry to learn, is hunted to death by
office-seekers. It is absolutely discreditable to have an administration so
beset that it can do nothing because of office-seeking in a country so full of
undeveloped elements as ours; but so it is.
I am pretty deeply
busied, if not buried, professionally. I would like a little more relaxation
than I find, for I would like to review the poets, from Tasso and Chaucer to
Peter Beebe and Polly Gould; but n'importe.
Mrs. Dickinson joins
me in regards to yourself and family; and especially I desire kind remembrances
to your daughter, who honored me with a note.
PLYMOUTH.
Sunday, and another move at last. We left the barracks about seven o'clock this morning, marched through the town and aboard the "Northerner," by far the most commodious steamer we have been on since we came out. There are awful stories of her having been condemned, and, as a last resort, sold to government for transporting troops. There is plenty of room however; so, as we cannot help it, we content ourselves, and hunt around for our stateroom. Our party was lucky enough to get one, seven of us occupying it; and after a good dinner we turned in, as we had seen all there was to be seen on the river before, and did not know how soon we would be called upon to lose sleep. We steamed at a good rate down the Neuse, and at dark were still at sea. We are having a good time so far; not overcrowded, the vessel clean, and plenty of good stuff to eat, as we had just received boxes by the "Fry," chartered by our friends at home. There was a box for every man, and in some cases two, so our knapsacks and haversacks are filled with home-made eatables, instead of government meat and bread. We have our band with us, so many expect some good times. The band takes two good fellows from "E,”—Park and Ramsay; and all the consolation we get for the loss is an extra onion now and then, and perhaps a little less noise in the barracks from Ned.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, pp. 35-6
Passed Roanoke on our right, about eight o'clock this morning; sea smooth and weather pleasant. Had a good breakfast of dried beef and water. We entered Roanoke river for the second trip on it about noon, and after about four hours' pleasant sail we were alongside the wharf at Plymouth. Since we were here in November the town has become sadly demoralized. The rebels entered it one fine day and drove what troops were there into the Custom House, and then set fire to the place, destroying the larger part. It is decided not to disembark the regiment till to-morrow. The cooks are ashore somewhere, and are making our coffee, while we are lounging round on deck and through the vessel, having a free and easy time, or located in some cosey nook writing up.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 36
Last night was a holiday time. We had dancing on the vessel, and "the band played." This morning was ushered in with a slight change. The ground was covered with snow, and everything had a decidedly Northern outlook, some of the companies came ashore to-day, and are quartered in a granary owned by one J. C. Johnston. We were somewhat crowded on the vessel, but would gladly sacrifice the room for the heat, as it is very cold here. Our company is in the second story, and most all are in their blankets trying to keep warm, as there is no chance to have fires in the building. Athough the town is provost guarded, most anyone can roam round by dodging the officers and sentries. About all our rations, so far, have been obtained away from company quarters, many preferring a change. We find quite a number of natives here; one, for instance, John Fenno, a unionist, was drafted into the rebel service, deserted, ran to our lines, and joined the native cavalry regiment (Buffaloes), and consequently is in a bad predicament. He will have to fight to the death; for if he is taken the rebels will hang him. He is now with his family; but when the town is deserted by the troops, he is liable, with the rest, to another raid such as they had a few weeks ago.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 36
We are having an easy time so far, excepting for the cold weather. We have no guard or drill as yet; a part of the 27th M. V. do provost duty. There are rumors of a regimental guard, around our quarters; so all who could cleared out early and stayed all day. A party of us visited the courthouse, prison, and graveyard. All but the last, with a church close by, show marks of being used as targets. After picking ivy from the graveyard wall, to send home, we started out of town on a private scout. About a mile's walk brought us to a picket; who thought our visit farther had better be indefinitely postponed; so, after a pleasant chat with them, whom we found to be natives, deserters from the rebel army, and, of course, unionists, we took the "right about" and tramped towards camp arriving just in time for inspection and dress parade at half-past four P.M.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 36
Had a ball in our old granary last night. Some who were to go on guard to-day turned in early, and all we know of it is, that those who went had a good time.
Our regiment is to help the 27th in their guard-duty. Our guard-house is a grocery store, close to the granary, and the duty is very light. It rained about all day, and the snow is consequently gone, leaving the roads in a fearfully bad condition.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, pp. 36-7
HAM FAT.
Freedom of the town for to-day, and all over town we went; had a dug-out race, and about all who were in it got a ducking. Our party went up the shore of the river some distance. We saw the ways where a ram had been started, but was destroyed to keep our gunboats from taking her. We then branched off into the woods and finally found a picket-post, where we got some good cider and had a chat, arriving home just in time to get our guns and "fall in."
It seemed our right wing was "on a march." Quartermaster Bush said we were going for wood, but we could not understand why it took four or five companies to escort an equal number of wagons a few miles from town, unless there was a large force of the enemy about; and if there was, why had we heard nothing from them for five days? Our orders were "light marching order," nothing but guns and ammunition; but most of "E" took haversacks and dippers, and were glad we did. We started about two o'clock this afternoon, and after marching about two miles we struck an "obstacle." The road was completely barricaded by large trees felled across it; and as cutting would delay us the rest of the day, we turned into the woods and went through a swamp, and soon found ourselves in the road again, marching towards "Long Acre." We left "B" and "C" at the junction of two roads, near a blacksmith shop. We soon left the wagons also, they probably stopping for the wood which was piled up by the roadside. We still kept "marching on," and by dark we were tired as well as hungry. There was worse for us in store, however. The boys ahead began to scatter and growl, and soon we were in the water. It was icy-cold and waist deep. Some tried the runway on the side, but it was slippery with ice. One of the boys made fruitless attempts to keep both feet on the rail. His efforts on that parallel bar were edifying; but being the youngest member of "E" (sweet seventeen), he will have more time than the rest of us to improve. After much struggling, down he went, gun and all. The water was three feet deep; and after fishing up his rifle he concluded to wade with us the rest of the way. We know "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." He was not in a beautiful or joyous mood then, but will probably be a JOY forever.
The ford seemed to us about a mile long. It was probably only a quarter, if that; but it came to an end at last, and we footed the rest of the way on dry land; varying the monotony by private details for forage at every house we came to; striving to get ahead of the officers in their attempts to save the cider from us.
Between ten and eleven o'clock P.M. we halted, and were informed that the "object, &c., was accomplished," "about faced," which brought "E" to the front, and started for home. Twelve of our men went ahead as advance guard, under command of Lieut. Newell, and another twelve of us as support. A short distance behind came the column. We were on the same road, and knew we had the same ford to recross, and suffered torments until it was over with, and we fairly out of its sight. We foraged right and left; hardly a man of us without two or three old hens, dipper full of honey, and a few with a ham or two. The advance and support had the most and fattest pickings of course. We rejoined the other companies, "B" last, at the blacksmith shop; and about five o'clock A M. came in sight of the picket and saw Plymouth.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, pp. 37-8
Then Lieut. Newell told us to "go," and we went, as well as we could, for quarters. Arriving at the granary, and having left our chickens at a negro shanty to be cooked, we turned in, all booted and muddy, and slept through everything till nearly noon. When we started up for breakfast it was a comical sight. Nearly all had turned in their wet clothes, and of course were about as wet when they got up, and very stiff. We found our chickens and ate them. While eating, the 27th guard called us, saying the regiment was under orders and we were to leave immediately. The way those chickens disappeared made those darkies laugh. We went back happy, as we knew when once on board the steamer we could sleep for a while and get rested; for after being on an all-night march of twenty-five miles at least, we were tired out, and felt we would be safer from another trip, for a day or two, than if on shore. We were all on board by half-past four o'clock, and soon after dropped down stream, leaving Plymouth and the 27th in all their glory. The boys who had bunks coming up are forbidden that pleasure now, so a dozen of us congregated together on the deck, outside the cabin, with shelter tents tacked up as roofs ; and we think we are having a better time than those inside, and no "sour grapes" in the mess either.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 38
We managed to get clear of the Roanoke river some time in the night, but ran aground in the Sound at noon, thinking we were opposite Roanoke, but did not reach there till nearly night, when the officers went on shore, while the steamer took on coal. The steamer which came out to us here was the "Halifax," recognized by many as the boat which was formerly on Charles river at home as a pleasure boat. She brought rumors of defeat at New Berne, and that we could not get up the river, so were going to Charleston, or Fort Munroe and the Potomac. But we kept on in the direction of Brant Isle and New Berne' just the same.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 38
We have had nothing of interest to-day, except a very pleasant sail up the river, once in a while shooting at ducks; but the officers soon stopped that fun. We arrived at New Berne about four o'clock in the afternoon, crossed the long bridge, marched through the city, and are once more in our old barracks.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 38
Drill, drill, all day, for a change. Our band has received the new pieces from Boston, and is now expected to shine. Among our many visitors from home is ex-Sergeant Wheelwright who came out on the schooner "Fry." He went on the Plymouth or "Ham Fat" tramp, and took to foraging naturally. He stole a mule the first thing, but had to give it up to an officer. Next we saw him on a horse, which he managed to keep. He does not take kindly to quinine or hard-tack; he likes the colonel's fare better. It is a mere matter of taste, though! There is not much doing, except drilling and trying each day to be the cleanest company, as then we get off guard for twenty-four hours, the greatest inducement that could be offered us. We have succeeded in being both the dirtiest and cleanest. At the first inspection we thought we were clean, but a mouldy milk-can condemned us, and we had to furnish double guard, but since then have carried off the honors once or twice.
SOURCE: John Jasper Wyeth, Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass. Dep’t of North Carolina from September 1862 to June 1863, p. 39
RICHMOND, [VA.], June 16th, 1856.
MY DEAR HUNTER: On
my way back from Cincinnati I called to see you in Washington. I had much to
say to you not only of the past but the future. I have thought much since we
met last and now that I can look back calmly at all that has occurred I write
the result of my reflections not without the hope that you may be somewhat
influenced by them. You have heard and know how utterly Bright and Douglas
disappointed our expectations and how false and hollow were their professions.
That they were fair as long as it was their interest and false as soon as that
bond was broken. And you must have come to the conclusion that the Presidency
is not to be won simply by combinations and arrangements with men and that
least of all are men seeking high place influenced by gratitude. It is only
necessary to look to Wise to come to that conclusion. Even with the help of
friends, such as few men have had, the battle has been lost. I am now coming to
the object of my letter which is to urge upon you to adopt a
different line of policy altogether from what you have heretofore pursued and
which to some extent I know to be somewhat foreign to your tastes and nature. I
want you my dear friend, to discard altogether, if possible, all thought of the
Presidency from your mind, at all events so far as to be uninfluenced by it in
your future course in the Senate. I want you to put yourself at the head of the
South and where you ought to stand and strike hard and heavy and frequent blows
and that at once.
The South has no
leader and sadly wants one. It is a post that has been waiting your acceptance
since Mr Calhoun's death. It is your duty to fill it and your interest too. Men
say you are too timid, overcautious, that you wish nothing and thus it is that
you have lost friends, power and influence. You must launch out into the sea of
strife, your safety requiring it, your hope of renown depends on it, your own
interest and that of the country demands it, and your 'ability to pay the just
debts that you owe to Messrs. Wise, Bright, and Douglas and Co. is dependent on
it. Leave the dull routine of your former Senatorial life, wean yourself from
your Committee and throw yourself into the patriotick current and be as you
ought to be the champion of the South in the Senate of the U[nited] States and
you will have the power to control and make presidents. You can earn more true
glory in the Senate, you can be more useful to the country, and wield a more
powerful influence over the destinies of your race than in the Presidential
chair. In addition to this I am confident that the course I recommend is the
only one to lead to the Presidency. That must be won by you if at all,
unsought. I have written to you more freely than any one else will, my dear
friend, because perhaps I have been more enlisted in what has concerned
you and your promotion. I know I write however, what all your true friends feel
and while these are my decided convictions and therefore communicated, at the
same time they are the opinions of all your friends with whom I have conversed
and have been for years. Of such men as Seddon and Mr Old, whom you know I
think the wisest, as he is the fairest, man that I have ever known. In order to
take the position you are entitled to and ought to occupy you ought to launch
out and strike so as to make your position, your own peculiar property and give
us a Hunter platform to stand on, in order to keep down the huckstering traders
who have so foully betrayed you at home and abroad. Write to me upon the
receipt of this and let us hereafter keep up a more uninterrupted
correspondence. I will only add that your friends in Cincinnati did all that
could be done and like me look to the Senate for a justification of their
confidence.
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), pp. 199-8
CHESTERTOWN, [MD.], October 17, 1856.
MY DEAR SIR: I fear
that I shall not be successful in the money affair. There is a shyness about
all investments not promising immediate returns and profits. Indeed money is
scarce in proof of which I may mention that one of the wealthy men in
Balt[imore] is taking deposits on call at 5 percentium. One great difficulty is
that the mortgage for the proposed loan is not preferred but comes in for paper
with so much more. I will make one more trial and if that do not succeed will
abandon any further effort.
I cannot give much
hope of our political matters. There will be gains for B[uchana]n in some of
our counties but the old Whigs generally swallow with a blind faith the resolves
of the convention, Donaldson and all. They are besides confident that Filmore
will be elected if not by the people at least by the H[ouse of] R[epresentatives]
in which they say democrats and republicans will prefer him each to the other.
The success of the former ticket in Penn[sylvani]a encourages them, they say
that the Fremont men there will fall into Filmore's support being satisfied of
their inability to elect a ticket of their own and consequently will nominate
none. They say the proposed plan of "Thad" [Thaddeus] Stevens will
not prevail but will be scented by the Filmore men and that the Black
republicans will surrender at discretion to them, as they have to the K[now]
Nothings. I have made several speeches and shall make two more but I do not
think that I can accomplish much except to alienate old friends and make
my social as well as political relations anything but pleasant. The Whigs here
are talking strongly of Virg[ini]a as likely to go for Filmore.
The Florida election
gives them encourage[men]t in the South and the Mayors election in Balt[imore]
gives them exulting confidence of success in this State. Shortsighted they seem
to me and blind to their own interests. What think you of all these
calculations which I have mentioned? We do not know the condition of things at
the West. Ohio is of course fanatical in the extreme and Indiana seems
doubtful. Can you give us any hopes in that quarter. The most we can hope for
with confidence is that the election will go to the H[ouse] R[epresentatives]
and what then? There's the rub. It is a fortunate thing that the democrats have
carried so many members of Congress in P[ennsylvani]a and the legislature and
that some gains have also been made in Ohio. This will enable us to hold the
moody heads in check in Congress until perhaps the delusion may abate.
I read with pleasure
y[ou]r speech at Poughkeepsie. They called on me to report one of mine made in
Worcester C[ount]y, [Md.], but I cannot remember a two hours speech made
without notes and tho' I might write a speech it w[oul]d not
be the speech. This state would I believe submit quietly to
the repeal of the Kansas act and only growl a little at the essential
modification of the fugitive slave law. If I were a young man I should sell my
property here and look for a new home among a more southern people. The
labouring men of our City sustain the Know Nothings because they wish to banish
the competition of foreign labourers, So I am told.
* A Representative
in Congress from Maryland, 1835-1839 and 1840-1843; in the United States Senate
from 1843 to 1862.
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), pp. 198-9
NEW YORK, [N. Y.], October 18, 1856.
MY DEAR SIR: The
glorious results of the elections of the 14th Inst in Pennsylvania, Indiana and
even Ohio have made the calling and election of B[uchanan]
and B[reckinridge] by the people next month "a fixed
fact!"
Permit me to offer
my hearty congratulations to one who will have contributed in such large
measure to such "consummation devoutly to be wished"; not only by a
long and brilliant career as a Statesman, but particularly by his masterly and
profound exposition of national, democratic truths in this State. I sent you a
copy of the Daily News (with which I am now connected)
commenting upon this effort at Poughkeepsie.
Such has been the
inspiriting effect upon the people of New York that truly I should not be
surprised to find them following the example of P[ennsylvani]a and Indiana.
The Herald in its leader gives up the contest!
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), pp. 199-200
LAFAYETTE, INDIANA, November 10, 1856.
MY DEAR SIR: The
smoke of the battle has cleared away and we are victorious. I congratulate you
and the country on this glorious result and I sincerely hope that Mr. Buchanan
may call you to the head of his Cabinet for I know of no man more worthy or
better qualified. I expressed to you similar views before the formation of Mr.
Pierce's Cabinet and do not wish to flatter you, but this is my honest desire.
If I can serve you, intimate in what way.
* A Representative
in Congress from Indiana, 1843-1849; a Senator, 1853-1855. He was not
successful in his efforts for a reelection in 1856.
SOURCE: Charles
Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of
Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 200
