Sunday, August 11, 2019

Anti-Slavery Meeting in Andover, published August 8, 1835

MR. EDITOR — I regret that the former account I was sent of your labors of our excellent brothers Thompson and Phelps, was so meager a statement of their untiring efforts among us.  Circumstances, however, obliged me to compress into a small space, what was worthy of being given at much greater length; and for the benefit of those who have not the privilege of listening to the discussion of a question of so much importance to every American citizen as that of slavery, a fuller sketch of the remaining meetings shall be given.  As my remarks will be confined for the most part to the speeches of Mr. Thompson, it must not be supposed that I can give anything like an adequate idea of the cogency of his arguments or of the power of his eloquence.  To eulogize him as an orator would be idle.  It would be like daubing paint upon a finished portrait, which would only soil it instead of adding to its beauty. Those who would form any just conception of Mr. Thompson as a public speaker and a christian philanthropist, must both see and hear him, and those who have once listened to him, are well aware that even an analysis of a speech of his , so closely joined in all its parts, so replete with profound thought, and so profusely embellished with rhetorical flowers of every hue and ever ordour, cannot be embodied in a single brief paragraph.  I shall therefore not attempt to give his own expressions, but merely a general description of his discourse.

On Sunday evening, July 12th, Mr. Thompson addressed a crowded audience, from Ezekiel xxviii. 14, 15, 16 – “Thou art the anointed the cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of these stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.”

Mr. Thompson remarked that though this was a passage of inimitable beauty, it was one of tremendous and awful import. While it drew the picture of the wealth and grandeur of ancient Tyre, it contained the prediction of its downfall. Mr. Thompson then proceeded to portray in matchless colors the prosperity and glory of the renowned city, whose “builders had perfected her beauty, whose borders were in the midst of the sea, whose mariners were the men of Sidon, and who was a merchant to the people of many islands.” Her fir trees were brought from Hermon, her oaks from Bashan, her cedars from Lebanon, her blue and purple and fine linen from Egypt, her wheat and oil and honey from Judea, her spices and gold and precious stones from Arabia, her silver from Tarsus, her emeralds and coral and agate from Syria, her warriors from Persia, and her slaves from Greece. Her palaces were radiant with jewels, and many kings were filled with the multitude of the riches of her merchandise. But iniquity was found in her. She had kept back the hire of the laborer by fraud. By the multitude of her riches she was filled with violence. She made merchandise of the bodies and souls of men, therefore she should be cast down. Many nations should come up against her and destroy her walls and break down her towers. All this had been literally fulfilled.

Mr. Thompson then applied his subject to America. Your country, said he, is peculiarly an anointed cherub. Heaven smiled upon the self-denying enterprise of your praying, pilgrim fathers, and in two centuries a great nation has risen into being — a nation whose territories stretches from the Canadas to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains — a nation whose prowess by land and by sea is unsurpassed by any people that have a name — a nation whose markets are filled with the luxuries of every clime, and whose merchandise is diffused over the world. The keels of your vessels cut all waters. Your ships lie along the docks of every port of Europe, and are anchored under the walls of China. The deer and the buffalo fall before the aim of your hunters, and the eagle is stricken down from his eyry. Your hardy tars visit the ice-bound coasts of the North, and transfix the monsters of the polar seas. Your coasts are thronged with populous and extended cities, and in the interior may be seen the spires of your churches towering above the beautiful villages that surround them. Above every other nation under heaven, yours is distinguished for its christian enterprise. You can give the Bible to every family within the limits of your own territory, and pledge it to the world. Your missionaries are in all quarters of the globe, and your seventeen thousand clergy are preaching salvation, in the midst of your own population. Other nations of Christendom behold with complacency the good effected by your charitable societies, and would be proud to emulate you. No nation has ever been so peculiarly blessed. You are placed upon the holy mountain of God, and walk up and down in the midst of the stones of fire, but you have sinned. Ye make merchandise of the bodies and souls of men. Ye have torn the African from his quiet home, and subjected him to interminable, bondage in a land of strangers. Violence is in the midst of you, and the oppressor walks abroad unpunished. One-sixth part of your whole population are doomed to perpetual slavery. The cotton tree blooms, and the cane field wanes, because the black man tills the soil. The sails of your vessels whiten the ocean, their holds filled with sugar, and their decks burdened with cotton, because the black man smarts under the driver's lash, while the scorching rays of a tropical sun fall blistering upon his skin. He labors and faints, and another riots on the fruits of his unrequited toils. He is bought and sold as the brute, and has nothing that he can call his own. Is he a husband? the next hour may separate him forever from the object of his affections. Is he a father? the child of his hopes may the next moment be torn from his bleeding bosom, and carried he knows not whither, but at best, to a state of servitude more intolerable than death. He looks back upon the past, and remembers his many stripes and tears. He looks forward, and no gleam of hope breaks in upon his sorrow-stricken bosom. Despair rankles in his heart and withers all his energies, and he longs to find rest in the grave. But his dark mind is uninformed of his immortal nature, and when he dies he dies without the consolations of religion, for in christian America there is no Bible for the slave. Your country being thus guilty, it behoves every citizen of your republic to consider lest the fate of Tyre be yours.

Mr. Thompson closed by expressing his determination to labor in behalf of those in bonds, till the last tear was wiped from the eye of the slave, and the last fetter broken from his heel; and then, continued he, then let a western breeze bear me back to the land of my birth, or let me find a spot to lay my bones in the midst of a grateful people, and a people FREE indeed.

Never did the writer of this article listen to such eloquence; and never before did he witness an audience hanging with such profound attention upon the lips of a speaker. But those who take the trouble to read this article, must not suppose that what I have here stated is given in Mr. Thompson's own words. Perhaps I may have made use of some of his expressions, but my object has been to give a general view of this surpassingly excellent address of our beloved brother.

On Monday evening, Mr. Thompson gave a lecture on St. Domingo. It being preliminary to subsequent lectures, it was mostly statistics from the time of the discovery of the island, down to the year 1789. Mr. Thompson remarked that he had a two-fold object in view in giving an account of St. Domingo. First, to show the capacity of the African race for governing themselves; and, second, to show that immediate emancipation was safe, as illustrated by its effects on that island. St. Domingo, he said, was remarkable for being the place where Columbus was betrayed — for its being the first of the West India Islands to which negro slaves were carried from the coast of Africa — for the cruel treatment of the first settlers in the Island to the aborigines — for the triumph of the liberated slaves over the French, and those of the islanders who joined them — for being the birth place of the noble minded, the gifted, the honored, but afterwards, betrayed Toussaint L’Ouverture, who was born a slave, and a great part of his life labored as a slave, yet as soon as his chains were broken off, he rose at once to a man — to a general to a commander-in-chief, and finally to the Governor of a prosperous and happy Republic.

At the close of the exercises, Mr. Thompson informed the audience, that on the next evening they would be addressed by Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Editor of the Liberator, — the much despised and villified Wm. Lloyd Garrison was to address the citizens of Andover on the subject of slavery.

Tuesday evening arrived, and with it arrived Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Editor of the Liberator. The house was crowded by many, who, we doubt not, came from mere curiosity, to see the man who had been held up to the world as the “enemy of all righteousness — the “disturber of the public peace — the “libeller of his country” — the “outlawed fanatic”—the reckless incendiary, who was propagating his seditious sentiments from one end of the land to the other, and yet in this free country, suffered to live notwithstanding.

After prayer and singing, brother Garrison arose, and said, he stood before them as the one who had been represented to the public as the propagator of discord, and the enemy of his country — that almost every opprobrious epithet had been attached to his name; but since one term of reproval had been spared him — since his enemies had never called him a slaveholder, he would forgive them all the rest, and thank them for their magnanimity. He spoke for some time on the supercilious inquiry so often iterated and reiterated by our opponents; Why don't you go to the South? He remarked, that the very individuals who made this inquiry, and were denouncing us as fanatics, well knew that death would be the lot of him who should broach such sentiments at the South, and should the advocates of abolition throw away their lives by recklessly throwing themselves into the hands of those who were thirsting for their blood, then indeed, might these haughty querists smile over their mangled bodies, and with justice pronounce them fanatics. He touched upon several other important points which I must pass over in silence. His manner was mild, his address dignified and dispassionate, and many who never saw him before, and whose opinions, or rather prejudices were formed from the false reports of his enemies, and confirmed by not reading his paper, were compelled, in spite of themselves, to form an idea entirely the reverse of what they had previously entertained of him. His address did much towards removing the prejudice that many had against him, and proved an excellent catholicon to the stomachs of those who are much given to squeamishness, whenever they hear the name of Garrison mentioned.

On Wednesday evening, Mr. Thompson was to have continued his remarks on St. Domingo, but a heavy rain prevented most of the audience from coming together, and by the request of those present, the address was deferred until the next evening, and the time spent in familiar conversation. An interesting discussion took place, and lasted about an hour and a half. Many important questions were canvassed, to the entire satisfaction, we believe, of all who listened to them.

On Thursday evening, Mr. Thompson resumed his account of St. Domingo. Commencing with the year 1790, he showed that the beginning of what are termed “the horrid scenes of St. Domingo,” was in consequence of a decree passed by the National Convention, granting to the free people of color the enjoyment of the same political privileges as the whites, and again in 1791, another decree was passed, couched in still stronger language, declaring that all the free people of color in the French islands were entitled to all the privileges of citizenship. When this decree reached Cape Francais, it excited the whites to great hostility against the free people of color. The parties were arrayed in arms against each other, and blood and conflagration followed. The Convention, in order to prevent the threatening evils, immediately rescinded the decree. By this act, the free blacks were again deprived of their rights, which so enraged them, that they commenced fresh hostilities upon the whites, and the Convention was obliged to re-enact the former decree, giving to them the same rights as white citizens. A civil war continued to rage in the island until 1793, when, in order to extinguish it, and at the same time repel the British, who were then hovering round the coasts, it was suggested that the slaves should be armed in defence of the island. Accordingly in 1793, proclamation was made, promising “to give freedom to all the slaves who would range themselves under the banners of the Republic.” This scheme produced the desired effect. The English were driven from the Island, the civil commotions were suppressed, and peace and order were restored. After this, the liberated slaves were industrious and happy, and continued to work on the same plantations as before, and this state of things continued until 1802, when Buonaparte sent out a military force to restore slavery in the Island. Having enjoyed the blessings of freedom for nine years, the blacks resolved to die rather than again be subjected to bondage. They rose in the strength of free men, and with Toussaint L’Ouverture at their head they encountered their enemies. Many of them, however, were taken by the French, and miserably perished. Some were burnt to death, some were nailed to the masts of ships, some were sown up in sacks, poignarded, and then thrown into the sea as food for sharks, some were confined in the holds of vessels, and suffocated with the fumes of brimstone, and many were torn in pieces by the blood hounds, which the French employed to harass and hunt them in the forests and fastnesses of the mountains. At length the scene changed. The putrifying carcases of the unburied slain poisoned the atmosphere, and produced sickness in the French army. In this state of helplessness they were besieged by the black army, their provisions were cut off, a famine raged among them so that they were compelled at last to subsist upon the flesh of the blood hounds, that they had exported from Cuba as auxiliaries in conquering the islanders. The French army being nearly exterminated, a miserable remnant put to sea, and left the Island to the quiet possession of their conquerors. Mr. Thompson concluded with the following summary: First, the revolution in St. Domingo originated between the whites and the free people of color, previous to any act of emancipation. Second, the slaves after their emancipation remained peaceful, contented, industrious, and happy, until Buonaparte made the attempt to restore slavery in the Island. Third, the history of St. Domingo proves the capacity of the black man for the enjoyment of liberty, his ability of self-government, and improvement, and the safety of immediate emancipation. Friday evening, Mr. Thompson closed his account of St. Domingo, by giving a brief statement of its present condition. He showed by documents published in the West Indies, that its population was rapidly multiplying, its exports annually increasing, and the inhabitants of the Island improving much faster than could be reasonably expected.

After the address, opportunity was given for any individuals to propose questions. A gentleman slaveholder commenced. He made several unimportant inquiries, and along with them, abused Mr. Thompson, by calling him a foreign incendiary. Mr. Thompson answered in his usual christian calmness and dignity, not rendering reviling for reviling. The discusion continued to a late hour, and when it closed the audience gave evidence of being well satisfied with the answers given, and some who attended that evening for the first time, subscribed their names to the Constitution. Thus closed Mr. Thompson's labors with us for the present, and he left town on Saturday, July 18th. Mr. Phelps remained and addressed us on Sabbath evening, but the small space left to me, will not admit of my giving any account of it. As to the good accomplished by the labors of Messrs. Thompson and Phelps, some further account may be given hereafter. At present, I will only say, that upwards of 200 have joined the Anti-Slavery Society since they came among us.

Yours, in behalf of the A. S. Society at Andover,

R. REED, Cor. Secretary.

SOURCES: Isaac Knapp, Publisher, Letters and Addresses by G. Thompson [on American Negro Slavery] During His Mission in the United States, From Oct. 1st, 1834, to Nov. 27, 1835, p. 77-83; “Anti-Slavery Meetings at Andover,” The Liberator, Boston, Massachusetts, Saturday, August 8, 1835, p. 1.

Friday, August 9, 2019

In The Review Queue: Lincoln, the Law, and Presidential Leadership


Edited by Charles M. Hubbard

From his early years as a small-town lawyer through his rise to the presidency, Abraham Lincoln respected the rule of law. Secession and the Civil War, however, led him to expand presidential power in ways that, over time, transformed American society. In this incisive essay collection, recognized scholars from a variety of academic disciplines—including history, political science, legal studies, and journalism—explore Lincoln’s actions as president and identify within his decision-making process his commitment to law and the principles of the Constitution. In so doing, they demonstrate how wartime pressures and problems required that Lincoln confront the constitutional limitations imposed on the chief executive, and they expose the difficulty and ambiguity associated with the protection of civil rights during the Civil War.

The volume’s contributors not only address specific situations and issues that assisted in Lincoln’s development of a new understanding of law and its application but also show Lincoln’s remarkable presidential leadership. Among the topics covered are civil liberties during wartime; presidential pardons; the law and Lincoln’s decision-making process; Lincoln’s political ideology and its influence on his approach to citizenship; Lincoln’s defense of the Constitution, the Union, and popular government; constitutional restraints on Lincoln as he dealt with slavery and emancipation; the Lieber codes, which set forth how the military should deal with civilians and with prisoners of war; the loyalty (or treason) of government employees, including Lincoln’s domestic staff; and how Lincoln’s image has been used in presidential rhetoric. Although varied in their strategies and methodologies, these essays expand the understanding of Lincoln’s vision for a united nation grounded in the Constitution.

Lincoln, the Law, and Presidential Leadership shows how the sixteenth president’s handling of complicated legal issues during the Civil War, which often put him at odds with the Supreme Court and Congress, brought the nation through the war intact and led to a transformation of the executive branch and American society.

About the Editor

Charles M. Hubbard is a professor of history and the Lincoln Historian at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. His duties include directing the Abraham Lincoln Institute for the Study of Leadership and Public Policy. He is the author or editor of nine books, including The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy, Lincoln Reshapes the Presidency, and Lincoln and His Contemporaries.

Contributors include Burrus M. Carnahan, Jason R. Jividen, Edna Greene Medford, Ron Soodalter, Mark E. Steiner, Daniel W. Stowell, Natalie Sweet, and Frank J. Williams.

ISBN 978-0809334544, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2015, Hardcover, 224 Pages, End Notes & Index. $34.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Gerrit Smith

As long as Andersonville shall live in the world's memory, (and can its sins and sorrows ever be forgotten?) so long shall it warn men not to trample upon nor forget the rights of their fellow-men. By the way, the guilt of Andersonville rests not alone on the South. The North has countenanced and justified the Southern contempt and denial of the rights of the black man. Nor was this by Democrats only. The Republican Party, though not so extensively, was also involved in the guilt. The doctrine that the black man has no rights, is still virtually subscribed to, not only by the mass of the Democrats, but by multitudes of Republicans also. Many a Northern church is still defiled by it. The religion and politics, the commerce and social usages of the North are all to be held as having a part in fashioning the policy which rules at Andersonville; the policy of ignoring the rights of prisoners of war, and of starving and murdering them. Moreover, many a prisoner there, if his sufferings have sufficiently clarified his vision for it, is able to see that he is himself chargeable with a responsible part in the production of those sufferings; — ay, that he is “hoist with his own petard.” In his political or ecclesiastical party, and elsewhere also, he has contributed to uphold the southern policy of excluding the black man from all rights; and consequently, as events have proved, of excluding himself too from them.

SOURCES: Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Gerrit Smith: A Biography, p. 264-5

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: August 29, 1860

President Felton came after his return from Canada. He speaks well of the Prince of Wales; says he should think he might rank number twenty in a class of eighty if he should study for it; thinks he has been well trained.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 155-6

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: October 8, 1860

Two thousand citizens with torches and bands of music assembled from Boston and the neighboring towns and made me a visit in the evening. I stood in the doorway and received their salutes with my wife and children. I hope that the members of my family will not think more of this kind of applause than it is worth.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 156

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: October 26, 1860

A panic at the South about Lincoln's election. There is no cause for alarm from Mr. Lincoln, even if he had not against him both houses of Congress. The effort at the South for secession may produce anxiety, and they will not cease immediately after the election, if Lincoln should be chosen.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 156

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: November 7, 1860

Lincoln chosen president by immense majorities in almost all the free States. Breckinridge comes next in electoral votes; then Bell, and Douglas last. Andrew chosen governor of Massachusetts by an immense majority.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 156

Diary of to Amos A. Lawrence: November 29, 1860

Thanksgiving. Received notice to meet a town committee on Bradley's Hill, about buying it. Then went to church. Afterwards to see Henry Upham, who is unwell. The children went to James Amory's in the evening. The reminiscences grow too numerous to make such days cheerful ones, except as we should be cheerful in approaching the end of our journey.

God bless my dear ones, and give them all grace to serve Thee all their days. Grant that we may all meet, when this life is over, in heaven.

God bless my distracted country. Turn the hearts of the people toward each other again. Save us from disunion, and save us from shedding fraternal blood.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 156-7

George Fitzhugh to Congressman Robert M. T. Hunter, December 17, 1839

Port Royal, [va.], December 17, 1839.

Dear Hunter: The mail rider brings us the news this morning that you are elected Speaker, and the first information which the papers contain, gives credence to the report. I am more elated and delighted than you can possibly be, for you may be somewhat depressed in thinking of the responsibility you undertake. I suppose now it will be more than ever becoming in you to say nothing about your preferences for president. You undertake in assuming the seat to act impartially, and you have a better chance of doing so whilst untrammelled by pledges to either party. The people too will think a neutral position dignified and becoming in a Speaker, which they would not tolerate in an ordinary member. I sometimes fear that Calhouns friends may run him against Van Buren at [the] next election, if they do, Harrison will certainly be elected. As an original question I should prefer Calhoun, but the only way to make him President is to wait till Van's eight years expire. I enclose a letter I had written yesterday, I do not give to Mr. Speaker the advice I gave to Mr. Hunter. You will excuse, I am sure my familiar mode of addressing you, as you know it does not proceed from want of the respect.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916 in Two Volumes, Volume II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter 1826-1876, p. 30-1

Thursday, August 8, 2019

In The Review Queue: Abraham Lincoln, Philosopher Statesman


By Joseph R. Fornieri

What constitutes Lincoln’s political greatness as a statesman? As a great leader, he saved the Union, presided over the end of slavery, and helped to pave the way for an interracial democracy. His great speeches provide enduring wisdom about human equality, democracy, free labor, and free society. Joseph R. Fornieri contends that Lincoln’s political genius is best understood in terms of a philosophical statesmanship that united greatness of thought and action, one that combined theory and practice. This philosophical statesmanship, Fornieri argues, can best be understood in terms of six dimensions of political leadership: wisdom, prudence, duty, magnanimity, rhetoric, and patriotism. Drawing on insights from history, politics, and philosophy, Fornieri tackles the question of how Lincoln’s statesmanship displayed each of these crucial elements.

Providing an accessible framework for understanding Lincoln’s statesmanship, this thoughtful study examines the sixteenth president’s political leadership in terms of the traditional moral vision of statecraft as understood by epic political philosophers such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. Fornieri contends that Lincoln’s character is best understood in terms of Aquinas’s understanding of magnanimity or greatness of soul, the crowning virtue of statesmanship. True political greatness, as embodied by Lincoln, involves both humility and sacrificial service for the common good. The enduring wisdom and timeless teachings of these great thinkers, Fornieri shows, can lead to a deeper appreciation of statesmanship and of its embodiment in Abraham Lincoln.

With the great philosophers and books of western civilization as his guide, Fornieri demonstrates the important contribution of normative political philosophy to an understanding of our sixteenth president. Informed by political theory that draws on the classics in revealing the timelessness of Lincoln’s example, his interdisciplinary study offers profound insights for anyone interested in the nature of leadership, statesmanship, political philosophy, political ethics, political history, and constitutional law.

About the Author

Joseph R. Fornieri is a professor of political science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the director of the Center for Statesmanship, Law, and Liberty. He is the author or editor of five books, including Abraham Lincoln’s Political Faith and, with Sara Vaughn Gabbard, Lincoln’s America.

ISBN 978-0809333295, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2014, Hardcover, 248 Pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Selected Bibliography & Index. $34.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Ezekiel Webster to Congressman Daniel Webster, April 3, 1823

April 3, 1823.

Dear Daniel,—I received yours this morning. Of all the candidates named for the Presidency, the people of New Hampshire would undoubtedly prefer Mr. Adams. Mr. Adams being out of the question, I think Mr. Calhoun would be their choice. I think neither Jackson, Crawford, nor Clay could ever obtain the votes of this State. They would prefer to have a Northern man for the President, and I think would vote for Mr. Clinton, if there should be any prospect of his being chosen. It seems to me there is among us a pretty strong local feeling, something like a very general wish that the next President should be from the North. There is a kind of presentiment that, after this election, we may give up all further expectation.

Of all the persons named I reply Calhoun. Yet, if a prominent man from New England, New York, or Pennsylvania should /be put in nomination against him, I think he would obtain the electoral vote.

Consulting my own feelings and wishes at this time, I should put the candidates in this order, Adams, Calhoun, Clinton. I am, however, very incompetent to judge correctly of their qualifications.

For the time we had to labor we did something. Every department of the government will be what is called here anti-Hill. Some good will result from the change, not immediately perhaps, but in time.

The result of the election was one of the most unexpected, and yet one of the most natural events that could be imagined. Here is a paradox, I give no more.

I intend to be in Boston the 3d day of May, as I have some engagements after the 10th that will require me to be at home.

Yours affectionately,
Ezekiel Webster.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Volume 1, p. 323-4

Thomas Wentworth Higginson, July 1862

Princeton, July, 1862

Here we are at this most placid of places, just now stirred to its Sunday excitement, the greatest it ever knows. Country wagons with people in their best bonnets go quietly by, or stop to call at our door because we are the Post-Office. During the week scarcely a person passes by day — only an occasional haymaker; the shop opposite with a large sign is a scene of profound repose, and you would only know it to be “business hours” by the door’s being open. At half-past six, however, the mail arrives and the current of life sets in, and from that time till eight we and the shop are in fashion — all manner of vehicles, from boys with wheelbarrows to Mr. Charles Appleton in his barouche; old farmers for the newspaper and young girls for letters from brothers or lovers at the war; and it is quite entertaining. The road is very narrow and turning round very difficult, so that Mary perceives why they have a doctor for postmaster, to provide for the broken bones.

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

George L. Stearns to Mary Hall Stearns, August 17, 1863

Stanton has waked up and ordered me to plump myself down in Tennessee, right in the centre of the accursed institution, and go to work. Having sent Fred Douglas there to stir up, I suppose, he wants me to organize and utilize the batch. Well, it is what I came here to do and as that is undoubtedly the best place to do it, I am most happy to go. McKim said I could not reasonably expect to be obliged “to rough it at the Continental” all the time.

My new place for work is to the South what Buffalo was to the West and East — a centre from which to radiate, and I have determined either to burn slavery out, or be burnt by it myself.

Yesterday I went out to camp with Morris L. Hallowell and stopped a few minutes to see Lucretia Mott. She accepts very gracefully the present state of affairs, but looks forward to a state of society when war will be unnecessary. So do I, but told her that this war was a civiliser, not a barbarism. The use of the musket was the first step in the education of the black man. This she accepted. She is a great woman. If you want to know how great she is draw her out on principles not on specialties.

SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 308

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

In The Review Queue: The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address


By Jared Peatman

When Abraham Lincoln addressed the crowd at the new national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, he intended his speech to be his most eloquent statement on the inextricable link between equality and democracy. However, unwilling to commit to equality at that time, the nation stood ill-prepared to accept the full message of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. In the ensuing century, groups wishing to advance a particular position hijacked Lincoln’s words for their own ends, highlighting the specific parts of the speech that echoed their stance while ignoring the rest. Only as the nation slowly moved toward equality did those invoking Lincoln’s speech come closer to recovering his true purpose. In this incisive work, Jared Peatman seeks to understand Lincoln’s intentions at Gettysburg and how his words were received, invoked, and interpreted over time, providing a timely and insightful analysis of one of America’s most legendary orations.

After reviewing the events leading up to November 19, 1863, Peatman examines immediate responses to the ceremony in New York, Gettysburg itself, Confederate Richmond, and London, showing how parochial concerns and political affiliations shaped initial coverage of the day and led to the censoring of Lincoln’s words in some locales.  He then traces how, over time, proponents of certain ideals invoked the particular parts of the address that suited their message, from reunification early in the twentieth century to American democracy and patriotism during the world wars and, finally, to Lincoln’s full intended message of equality during the Civil War centennial commemorations and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Peatman also explores foreign invocations of the Gettysburg Address and its influence on both the Chinese constitution of 1912 and the current French constitution. An epilogue highlights recent and even current applications of the Gettysburg Address and hints at ways the speech might be used in the future.
By tracing the evolution of Lincoln’s brief words at a cemetery dedication into a revered document essential to American national identity, this revealing work provides fresh insight into the enduring legacy of Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address on American history and culture.

About the Author

Jared Peatman is a leadership development consultant and the director of curriculum for the Lincoln Leadership Institute at Gettysburg.

ISBN 978-0809333103, Southern Illinois University Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 264 Pages, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes, Bibliography & Index. $34.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Samuel Gridley Howe to Senator Charles Sumner, January 16, 1853

Boston, Jan. 16th, 1853.

My Dear Sumner: — You never yet performed the friendly office of criticizing anything of mine that I did not thank you for it, and I do thank you for the black line drawn against an expression in Wednesday's Commonwealth. Almost always I feel the justice of your criticisms, and acknowledge your taste; this time, however, I think you run purity into purism. Surely, in a newspaper squib, meant as an answer to a squib, the use of an expression like that of poking fun, so common, and free from offence to anything but conservative conventionalism, is harmless. As for folks, it should have been marked as a quotation from another paper.

Dear Sumner, are you not illiberal and ultra-conservative in this one matter of style and form of expression? Would you not shut up the “well of English” from the healthy influences of the spirit of the age, and deprive language of the aid and the interest which the use of local and colloquial expressions give it? Writing is an art, a good art; and a good writer is an artist. It does seem to me absurd, however, to suppose it can be removed from that class of things capable of change and improvement; or to hold that we are to be tied down to the forms of expression used by classical writers. However, of one thing I am quite sure; you have so little sense of fun or, to use a less inelegant word, of the ludicrous, that you cannot make allowance enough for those who have more of it, and who stir up that sense in the popular mind by the use of what are considered, by mirthful people, very pleasant and agreeable liberties with language. God made man to be mirthful as well as moral; and Mirth may say to Morals, as Emerson makes the Squirrel say to the Mountain:

“If I am not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry!

However you may have developed many other sides to your character, one is dwarfed and undeveloped, the mirthful side.

So much for fun. Do continue to send me everything that you can, even my Spirit of the Press with one black line against it. It is not likely I shall continue it, however: it is like drumming in a pint pot. And yet, when I think of the five thousand readers of the paper, and reflect upon what I know, that my motives ought to appeal to and strengthen what is good and high in them, I think I ought to do all I can, consistently with other duties.

The Whigs here, Boston Whigs, are moving everything for Everett; they feel however that they may have cause to repent by and by of their success.

As for our friends, they are all dull or indifferent except the “Dalgetties.” They feel sure of carrying the State next year, and Wilson counts certainly upon the Gubernatorial chair. I think however that most of them are quite careless about the modus in quo. They look to the Democrats from a sort of fellow feeling. Now every element in my nature rises up indignantly at the thought of our principles being bartered for considerations of a personal and selfish nature; and all my feelings bid me do what my reason forbids — that is, make open war, cause a clean split; appeal to the “conscience Whigs” who formed the nucleus of our party, and march out of the ranks with a banner of our own.

There are many considerations against it, and not the least is the necessity of condemning severely the course of the party, and so losing the advantage of the real good it has effected.

We shall see. What do you say?
Yours ever,
S. G. H.

SOURCE: Laura E. Richards, Editor, Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe, Volume 2, p. 389-91

William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, January 24, 1860

Seminary, Jan. 24, i860.

. . . Things along here about as I expected. We have had many visitors – ladies with children, who part with them with tears and blessings, and I remark the fact that the dullest boys have the most affectionate mothers, and the most vicious boys come recommended with all the virtues of saints. Of course I promise to be a father to them all.

We now have fifty-one and the reputation of the order, system, and discipline is already spreading and I receive daily letters asking innumerable questions. The legislature also has met and the outgoing Governor Wickcliffe has recommended us to the special attention of the legislature, and a bill is already introduced to give us $25,000 a year for two years, which is as long as the legislature can appropriate. I think from appearances this bill will pass, in which case we can erect two professors' houses this summer.

This sum of money will enable us to make a splendid place of this. In addition it is also proposed to make this an arsenal of deposit, which will increase its importance and enable me to avoid all teaching which I want to do, confining myself exclusively to the supervision and management. Thus far not a soul has breathed a syllable about abolitionism to me. One or two have asked me if I were related to the gentleman of same name whose name figures so conspicuously in Congress. I of course say he is my brother, which generally amazes them because they regard him as awful bad. . .

Professor Smith and Boyd are very clever gentlemen and so are Vallas and St. Ange but these are foreigners with their peculiarities. We have also a Dr. Sevier here, of Tennessee, a rough sort of fellow but a pretty fair sort of man. . .

SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 127-8

Thomas Garrett to William Still, June 9, 1857


WILMINGTON, 6 mo., 9th, 1857.

ESTEEMED FRIEND — WILLIAM STILL: — We have here in this place, at Comegys Munson’s an old colored woman, the mother of twelve children, one half of which has been sold South. She has been so ill used, that she was compelled to leave husband and children behind, and is desirous of getting to a. brother who lives at Buffalo. She was nearly naked. She called at my house on 7th day night, but being from home, did not see her till last evening. I have procured her two under garments, one new; two skirts, one new; a good frock with cape; one of my wife’s bonnets and stockings, and gave her five dollars in gold, which, if properly used, will put her pretty well on the way. I also gave her a letter to thee. Since I gave them to her she has concluded to stay where she is till 7th day night, when Comegys Munson says he can leave his work and will go with her to thy house. I write this so that thee may be prepared for them; they ought to arrive between 11 and 12 o’clock. Perhaps thee may find some fugitive that will be willing to accompany her. With desire for thy welfare and the cause of the oppressed,

I remain thy friend,
THOS. GARRETT.

SOURCE: William Still, The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters &c., p. 394-5

George S. Denison to Salmon P. Chase, February 1, 1863

(Private)
New Orleans, February 1st, 1863.

Dear Sir: Everything is quiet on the Mississippi. There have been no military movements. Appearances indicate that something is to be attempted before long, but I do not know what it will be.

Gen. Banks has authorized the raising of the 4th. Reg’t. “Native Guards” (colored) and it is filling up rapidly. The Lieut. Colonel is Mr. Hill, correspondent of the New York Herald. More regiments will be raised, but I do not know how many. Gen. Banks’ policy in regard to the enlistment of negroes, seems to me timorous and hesitating. He might have 50,000 in the service in three months — yes, 100,000 by energetically adopting the proper means.

An army of negroes could be made most formidable. They could be inspired with a religious enthusiasm as terrible and persistent as that of the followers of Mahomet. Such blind impulses, directed by a controlling mind, have accomplished great things. But no prominent man is here shrewd enough to originate, or smart enough to execute such a project. I say again, what I have often said before, that the negroes will fight this war for us, and succeed, if we will use them, and here is the place to commence. Perhaps you are aware that, for various reasons, the negroes of Louisiana are much superior in all respects to those of Virginia and of the other Atlantic States. One hundred and fifty refugees have arrived from Matamoras. I wish to remind you again, of the growing importance of the trade across the Rio Grande. A Confederate agent named Swisher, left Matamoras last June to buy arms in Europe. He has just returned to Matamoras, and three cargoes of arms bought by him in Europe, are expected to arrive shortly in Matamoras — or rather at the mouth of the Rio Grande. How all this can be stopped I explained in my last letter.

There is a person here of the Jewish persuasion — an Israelite indeed — named Dr. Zachary, who is said lately to have been a healer of corns and bunions, in New York. His vest is of flowered velvet — his hair beautifully oiled — and his presence distills continual perfume sweeter than the winds that blow from Araby the blest. In season and out of season, he fails not to announce himself as the Confidential Agent, or Correspondent, of the President. A smart little lawyer, named Shaw, used to write for him his letters from here to the President, which Zachary copied and forwarded as his own. Shaw was on Gen. Hamilton's staff, but has returned to New York. His address is Charles P. Shaw, 111 Broadway. I don't know who writes Zachary's letters now — perhaps he does it himself. Jews take to trade, as ducks to water. Dr. Zachary could not fulfill his mission without the co-operation of one Simon. That co-operation would be imperfect without Simon took a stock of goods to Baton Rouge for sale, in order to conceal the object of Simon's stay at that place. Notwithstanding these representations, and at the risk of impairing the Doctor's efficiency as Government agent, I refused to let the goods go up the River without a written order from Gen. Banks. The result was, that the order was issued. Simon took up to Baton Rouge nearly $20,000 worth of goods (including quantities of spiritous liquors), and Dr. Zachary will probably have no reason to repent the venture.

SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. ChaseAnnual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 352-3

Joshua Bates to John M. Forbes, August 22, 1863

21 Arlington Street, 22 August, 1863.

Many thanks for your letter of the 4th August. I grieve with you for the loss of good young men in battle; and when taken from the families of intimate friends or relatives, and such noble fellows as young Shaw, it touches every heart.

Cabot did his duty well, and less blood will have been shed by his mode of dealing with the mob than by using blank cartridges first; these may be fired after the mob begins to run, not before. Governor Seymour is a rebel, or as bad as a rebel, for he called the mob “my friends.” I hope something may come out that will enable you to fix his treason upon him. This outbreak at New York was expected by Roebuck here; the defeat of Meade, the rising in New York, and the upset of the Washington government, were mentioned by him to a friend as certain.

SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 2, p. 54-5

Monday, August 5, 2019

Review: The Generals of Shiloh


By Larry Tagg,

American Civil War was painted on millions of individual canvasses. You can mix them up to make larger pictures which feature different aspects, different battles, differing sides and can be viewed from different angles.  Rearrange the canvases again and you have a different picture of the war.  The Civil War is an era of American history, that it is so vast with multiple moving parts, it can never be viewed as a single picture.  Students of the Civil War can be inundated with facts about the people, places and events of the war that they can quite literally sometimes get lost in the fog of war. While looking at one person, aspect or event of the war others must fade into the background. Turn around, look left, look right, look up or look down and the canvasses shift again and other canvasses must fade into the background. Sometimes students of the war need a guide to lead them through the shifting fog of 150+ years since the end of the war.

Larry Tagg is our guide through the two-day Battle of Shiloh which took place on April 6 & 7, 1862. His book “The Generals of Shiloh: Character in Leadership, April 6-7, 1862,” brings order out of chaos by focusing on the generals and colonels (acting brigadier-generals), and the divisions, corps and brigades they led.

Arranged as in an order of battle, the book is divided into three parts, one for each of the armies involved in the battle on the Tennessee River: The Army of the Tennessee, The Army of the Ohio, and The Army of the Mississippi. Starting with the commanders of each Army, Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell for the Union and for the Confederacy Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Tagg follows the structure of the armies chains of command in descending order from division (for the Union Army) and corps (for the Confederate Army) to brigade command.

Sixty-six men make up the leadership structure of the rural Tennessee battle, each is featured with a photograph (when available) and a brief biographical sketch highlighting the lives of each man before the battle, and then a brief paragraph outlining what happened to each of them after the battle.  Each biography is then followed by the pre-battle history of their commands and their participation in the battle.  One could make an argument for titling Tagg’s book “The Brigades of Shiloh.”  However here the fog of war envelopes the reader and obscures the larger picture of the battle, as the author leads his readers through the minutia of the movements of each, division, corps and brigade.  Since this is a nonlinear approach the reader can easily get lost while following each command around the battlefield. There are only two maps in the book.  More maps would certainly have made following the generals and their commands around the battlefield easier to follow and understand.  To readers of “The Generals of Shiloh” I would recommend copying the maps in the beginning of the book and use them as a bookmark as you read through the book.

“The Generals of Shiloh” is a great book for those well versed in the Battle of Shiloh.  It should be used as a quick reference guide to the commanders and their commands.  Its table of contents makes it very easy to find any individual in just a few seconds.  Larry Tagg has written a book that is easily read in short spans of time, and would be a fantastic companion book to any narrative history of the battle.

ISBN 978-1611213690, Savas Beatie, © 2017, Hardcover, 312 Pages, Maps, Photographs, End Notes & Critical Bibliography. $32.95.  To Purchase the book click HERE.