Posted on 11/12/2019 5:00:07 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harper’s Ferry, the election of 1860, secession – all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts
First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.
Posting history, in reverse order
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.
CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 12, 1859.
DEAR BROTHER JEREMIAH, — Your kind letter of the 9th inst. is received, and also one from Mr. Tilden; for both of which I am greatly obliged. You inquire, “Can I do anything for you or your family?” I would answer that my sons, as well as my wife and daughters, are all very poor; and that anything that may hereafter be due me from my father's estate I wish paid to them, as I will endeavor hereafter to describe, without legal formalities to consume it all. One of my boys has been so entirely used up as very likely to be in want of comfortable clothing for the winter. I have, through the kindness of friends, fifteen dollars to send him, which I will remit shortly. If you know where to reach him, please send him that amount at once, as I shall remit the same to you by a safe conveyance. If I had a plain statement from Mr. Thompson of the state of my accounts with the estate of my father, I should then better know what to say about that matter. As it is, I have not the least memorandum left me to refer to. If Mr. Thompson will make me a statement, and charge my dividend fully for his trouble, I would be greatly obliged to him. In that case you can send me any remarks of your own. I am gaining in health slowly, and am quite cheerful in view of my approaching end, — being fully persuaded that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose. God Almighty bless and save you all!
• Post Script, November 13, 1859.
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 588
ALEXANDRIA, LA., Sunday, Nov. 12 [1859].
I wrote you a hasty letter yesterday whilst the stage was waiting. General Graham and others have been with me every moment so that I was unable to steal a moment's time to write you. I left the wharf boat at the mouth of Red River, a dirty, poor concern where I laid over one day, the stage only coming up tri-weekly, and at nine o'clock at night started with an overcrowded stage, nine in and two out with driver, four good horses, Troy coach, road dead level and very dusty, lying along the banks of bayous which cut up the country like a net work. Along these bayous lie the plantations rich in sugar and cotton such as you remember along the Mississippi at Baton Rouge. We rode all night, a fine moonlight, and before breakfast at a plantation we were hailed by Judge Boyce who rode with us the rest of the journey. His plantation is twenty-five miles further up, but he has lived here since 1826 and knows everybody. He insisted on my stopping with him at the plantation of Mr. Moore, who is just elected governor of Louisiana for the coming four years, and who in that capacity will be President of the Board of Supervisors, who control the Seminary of Learning, and whose friendship and confidence it is important I should secure. He sent us into town in his own carriage. Alexandria isn't much of a town, and the tavern where I am, Mrs. Fellow's, a common rate concern, as all southern taverns out of large cities are. Still I have a good room opening into the parlor. General Graham came in from his plantation nine miles west of this, and has been with me ever since. At this moment he is at church, the Episcopal. He will go out home tonight and to-morrow I go likewise, when we are to have a formal meeting to arrange some rules and regulations, also agree on the system of study. He is the person who has from the start carried on the business. He was at West Point, but did not graduate, but he has an unlimited admiration of the system of discipline and study. He is about fifty-five years, rather small, exceedingly particular and methodical, and altogether different from his brother, the general.1
The building is a gorgeous palace, altogether too good for its purpose, stands on a high hill three miles north of this. It has four hundred acres of poor soil, but fine pine and oak trees, a single large building. Like most bodies they have spent all their money on the naked building, trusting to the legislature for further means to provide furniture, etc. All this is to be done, and they agree to put me in charge at once, and enable me to provide before January 1 the tables, desks, chairs, blackboards, etc., the best I can in time for January 1, and as this is a mere village I must procure all things from New Orleans, and may have to go down early next month. But for the present I shall go to General Graham's tomorrow, be there some days, return here and then remove to the college, where I will establish myself and direct in person the construction of such things as may be made there.
There is no family near enough for me to board, so I will get the cook who provides for the carpenters to give me my meals.
When I first got here it was hot, but yesterday it changed, and it is now very cold. I have a fire here, but several windows are broken, and the room is as cold as a barn, and the lazy negroes have to be driven to bring in wood.
I expect plenty of trouble from this source, the high wages of servants and the necessity to push them all the time to do anything. I would hire whites, but suppose it would be advisable and good policy to submit to the blacks for the present.
On arrival here I found your and Minnie's2 letters, seven days in coming, which is better time than I expected. Mails come here tri-weekly by stage by the route I came. . .
¬¬
1 General R. B. Mason, Sherman's commanding officer in California. — Ed.
2 Sherman’s eldest daughter.
SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, Editor, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 47-52
The casual cruelty of the brakeman joke on the last page shows the perils of unregulated capitalism and the importance of the 19th century progressive reformers. It was a religious progressive reformer named Lorenzo Coffin who championed the cause of railroad safety which ultimately led Congress to pass a law at the end of the 19th century mandating safety equipment on trains, cutting the fatality rate of brakemen and other railroad occupations by over 75%.
Is that casual cruelty or is Harper’s making the same point as you did (for which thank you)?
It is hard for me to say what point Harper's is making, as that would be trying to divine their intention after 150 years. My guess is they did not think too hard about this, and went with humorizing what they saw as an inevitable part of life, with no more pathos associated with it than any other brutalities of life. But that is just a guess.
Anyway, I always appreciate what you post and it is a joy to read Harper's. Thank you.
NEAR THIBODAUX, LA., November 13, 1859.
MY DEAR SHERMAN: It was a great pleasure to receive your note from Baton Rouge, and I sincerely hope that we may soon meet. I should have written to you at once on seeing your election to the important position you are to fill, but did not know where to find you. The announcement gave me very great pleasure, though my influence to some extent was given against you, never dreaming you could be an aspirant. I had united with many gentlemen in New Orleans to recommend Professor Sears, with whom I have no acquaintance, but simply on the ground of his being a graduate of West Point. Indeed, my letter was general, and might have applied to any graduate. Had I known your application I should have attended personally to forward your wishes. But as it is all is well.
Since seeing your appointment I have taken pains to try and advance the institution, and several friends speak of sending their sons. Whatever is in my power will be most cheerfully done for your personal interest, and for the institution generally. We must meet, but it is impossible for me to leave home now. Until nearly Christmas I shall be overrun with business, or rather confined by it. We are in the midst of [sugar] manufacturing, and a cold spell is now on us which inflicts a heavy loss every day lost. I even work on Sunday from this time to the end.
At home I have leisure, and am most happy to see friends. Kilburn,14 who is stationed in the city, [is] coming tomorrow to spend a few days. Why can't you do so? You can take dinner with me after breakfast in the city. Kilburn can put you in the way, should you have time to come down. I heard something of your misfortunes,15 and sympathised most deeply with you, but it is not too late for a man of your energy and ability to repair such a disaster.
Your institution I hope will prove a success. It is fairly endowed and has strong and enthusiastic friends. Among them you will find the master spirit my friend, General G. Mason Graham. My acquaintance with him was very short, but very agreeable. Friendships formed under the enemy's guns ought to last.16 I knew he liked me, and I admired his gallantry and devotion. Present my regards to him. You may safely trust to his friendship. Our new governor17 will be your friend, too. He is a plain man, but of excellent character, business habits and very large fortune, placing him above temptation and demagogery. Your professor of mathematics, a foreigner,18 is very highly spoken of; the others I do not know.
Mrs. Sherman and the little ones are not with you I suppose from your not mentioning them. We should be most happy to see them when they come to join you. In the meantime, when you can see enough to form any plan, let me hear from you again, and when and where we may meet. About January 1, I expect to be in Baton Rouge.
Accept my cordial wishes for your success, and happiness.
14 An officer in the commissary department, United States Army. — Ed.
15 The failure of the banking firms with which Sherman had been connected. — Ed.
16 Bragg and Graham had served together in the Mexican War. — Ed.
17 Thomas O. Moore who was to take office in January, 1860. — Ed.
18 Dr. Anthony Vallas, an Hungarian. — Ed.
SOURCE: Walter L. Fleming, Editor, General W.T. Sherman as College President, p. 52-4
The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Fascinating. I’d have no idea of this event but for your reprints, and now I find it’s actually quite a story of the time - many entries about it on-line, including Wikipedia.
Crayon? The illustrator’s name is CRAYON? This is awesome!
"One thing can not be too often repeated," said he, earnestly, " if a man expects to succeed in political life he must understand when not to be drunk."
True dat.
Thou womanest of women !" retorted her husband. " Art thou, therefore, no saint because thou pitiest them ?"
No, no ; but because it was not an unmixed pity."
At any rate, it is an unmixed goodness," said her husband.
I'll pass.
Porte Crayon. Must be a pen name.
Bragg is generally regarded as one of the worst Confederate generals. He managed to lose battles even when his forces outnumbered the Union forces he faced.
Sherman and Bragg were both at Shiloh, although it appears they did not face each other. Sherman would face Bragg in the Chattanooga battles; Sherman lead the forces attacking the right flank of Bragg's position at Missionary Ridge. They would face each other again in the Carolinas Campaign after Sherman's March to the Sea.
I imagine they weren't friends after the War.
Assigned as a company commander on a small Western post, Bragg also performed double duty as the post supply officer. As the company commander, he made a supply request to the supply officer. The supply officer denied the supply request in a lengthy justification. The company commander submitted a lengthy rebuttal to the supply officer, again attaching his supply request, whereupon the supply officer informed him that he was again denying the request and would not be accepting further rebuttal from the company commander.
This went on until Bragg, as the company commander, forwarded court-martial charges against Bragg, the supply officer, up the chain of command.
Needless to say, Bragg's superiors were both confused and bemused at such antics and, basically, told him to knock off the silliness. As I recall it, the superior officer's response was, "By God, Captain Bragg, you've argued with everybody else in the Army and now you're arguing with yourself!"
LOL! Great story!
The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, an autobiography
CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 15, 1859.
MY DEAR SIR, — Your kind mention of some things in my conduct here which you approve is very comforting, indeed, to my mind. Yet I am conscious that you do me no more than justice. I do certainly feel that through Divine grace I have endeavored to be “faithful in a few things,” mingling with even these much of imperfection. I am certainly “unworthy even to suffer affliction with the people of God;” yet in infinite grace he has thus honored me. May the same grace enable me to serve him in a “new obedience” through my little remainder of this life, and to rejoice in him forever. I cannot feel that God will suffer even the poorest service we may any of us render him or his cause to be lost or in vain. I do feel, dear brother, that I am wonderfully “strengthened from on high.” May I use that strength in “showing His strength unto this generation,” and His power to every one that is to come! I am most grateful for your assurance that my poor, shattered, heart-broken family will not be forgotten. I have long tried to recommend them to “the God of my fathers.” I have many opportunities for faithful plain-dealing with the more powerful, influential, and intelligent classes in this region, which I trust are not entirely misimproved. I humbly trust that I firmly believe that “God reigns,” and I think I can truly say, “Let the earth rejoice!” May God take care of his own cause, and of his own great name, as well as of those who love their neighbors. Farewell!
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn,
The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 588-9
CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 15, 1859.
REV. H. L. VAILL.
MY DEAR, STEADFAST FRIEND, — Your most kind and most welcome letter of the 8th inst. reached me in due time. I am very grateful for all the good feeling you express, and also for the kind counsels you give, together with your prayers in my behalf. Allow me here to say, notwithstanding “my soul is among lions,” still I believe that “God in very deed is with me.” You will not, therefore, feel surprised when I tell you that I am “joyful in all my tribulations;” that I do not feel condemned of Him whose judgment is just, nor of my own conscience. Nor do I feel degraded by my imprisonment, my chains, or prospect of the gallows. I have not only been (though utterly unworthy) permitted to “suffer affliction with God’s people,” but have also had a great many rare opportunities for “preaching righteousness in the great congregation.” I trust it will not all be lost. The jailer (in whose charge I am) and his family and assistants have all been most kind; and notwithstanding he was one of the bravest of all who fought me, he is now being abused for his humanity. So far as my observation goes, none but brave men are likely to be humane to a fallen foe. “Cowards prove their courage by their ferocity.” It may be done in that way with but little risk.
I wish I could write you about a few only of the interesting times I here experience with different classes of men, clergymen among others. Christ, the great captain of liberty as well as of salvation, and who began his mission, as foretold of him, by proclaiming it, saw fit to take from me a sword of steel after I had carried it for a time; but he has put another in my hand (“the sword of the Spirit”), and I pray God to make me a faithful soldier, wherever he may send me, not less on the scaffold than when surrounded by my warmest sympathizers.
My dear old friend, I do assure you I have not forgotten our last meeting, nor our retrospective look over the route by which God bad then led us; and I bless his name that he has again enabled me to hear your words of cheering and comfort at a time when I, at least, am on the “brink of Jordan.” (See Bunyan's “Pilgrim.”) God in infinite mercy grant us soon another meeting on the opposite shore. I have often passed under the rod of him whom I call my Father, — and certainly no son ever needed it oftener; and yet I have enjoyed much of life, as I was enabled to discover the secret of this somewhat early. It has been in making the prosperity and happiness of others my own; so that really I have had a great deal of prosperity. I am very prosperous still; and looking forward to a time when “peace on earth and good-will to men” shall everywhere prevail, I have no murmuring thoughts or envious feelings to fret my mind. “I’ll praise my Maker with my breath.”
I am an unworthy nephew of Deacon John, and I loved him much; and in view of the many choice friends I have had here, I am led the more earnestly to pray, “gather not my soul with the unrighteous.”
Your assurance of the earnest sympathy of the friends in my native land is very grateful to my feelings; and allow me to say a word of comfort to them.
As I believe most firmly that God reigns, I cannot believe that anything I have done, suffered, or may yet suffer will be lost to the cause of God or of humanity. And before I began my work at Harper's Ferry, I felt assured that in the worst event it would certainly pay. I often expressed that belief; and I can now see no possible cause to alter my mind. I am not as yet, in the main, at all disappointed. I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself in not keeping up to my own plans; but I now feel entirely reconciled to that, even, — for God's plan was infinitely better, no doubt, or I should have kept to my own. Had Samson kept to his determination of not telling Delilah wherein his great strength lay, he would probably have never overturned the house. I did not tell Delilah, but I was induced to act very contrary to my better judgment; and I have lost my two noble boys, and other friends, if not my two eyes.
But “God's will, not mine, be done.” I feel a comfortable hope that, like that erring servant of whom I have just been writing, even I may (through infinite mercy in Christ Jesus) yet “die in faith.” As to both the time and manner of my death, — I have but very little trouble on that score, and am able to be (as you exhort) “of good cheer.”
I send, through you, my best wishes to Mrs. W——.1 and her son George, and to all dear friends. May the God of the poor and oppressed be the God and Savior of you all!
Farewell, till we meet again.
1 The Rev. Leonard Woolscy Bacon, then of Litchfield, Conn., who first printed this letter, said in 1859: “My aged friend, the Rev. H. L. Vail, of this place, remembers John Brown as having been under his instruction in the year 1817, at Morris Academy. He was a godly youth, laboring to recover from his disadvantages of early education, in the hope of entering the ministry of the Gospel. Since then the teacher and pupil have met but once. But a short time since, Mr. Vaill wrote to Brown, in his prison, a letter of Christian friendship, to which he has received this heroic and sublime reply. I have copied it faithfully from the autograph that lies before me, without the change or omission of a word, except to omit the full name of the friends to whom he sends his message. The handwriting is clear and firm, but toward the end of the sheet seems to show that the sick old man's hand was growing weary. The very characters make an appeal to us for our sympathy and prayers. ‘His salutation with his own hand. Remember his bonds.’”
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 589-91
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