last rebel flag struck

Posted on November 6, 2015 by SUMPTER
CSS Shenandoah (Australia, 1865; US Navy: http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-85000/NH-85964.html)

CSS Shenandoah, Australia, February 1865

On November 5, 1865 the CSS Shenandoah docked at Liverpool in England. 150 years ago today:

Lieutenant James I. Waddell surrenders the CSS Shenandoah
to British authorities. His is the final Confederate flag struck. After a few days in confinement, the crew is released to British authorities. Shenandoah is subsequently turned over to U.S. minister Charles F. Adams, who sells the vessel to the Sultan of Zanzibar. Waddell, meanwhile, is reviled by the American government as the “Anglo-American Pirate Captain,” which induces him to remain in England until 1875.[1]

NY Times November 21 1865

NY Times November 21 1865

The Confederacy angled for British and French intervention especially during the first half of the war, something like the original American rebels got bailed out by France. Of course, that never happened, but the last Confederate surrender did occur in Liverpool. A Northern paper editorialized that the British would have to decide if the Shenandoah was privateer or pirate.

From The New-York Times November 21, 1865:

The Pirate Shenandoah.

The Shenandoah, like a good many other rebel curses, has gone “home to roost.” She turned up one fine morning in the port of Liverpool, carrying the rebel flag, and was, surrendered by her Commander to an English man of war.

It will be seen by the extracts from English papers which we publish elsewhere, that her welcome is by no means cordial. It has ceased to be for British interests, and has therefore become immoral, to welcome the rebel flag and fete the Captains of rebel privateers. The English, moreover, feel that the untimely arrival of the Shenandoah involves them in new and somewhat embarrassing responsibilities. It is susceptible of proof, we believe, that the Captain of this vessel, long after he had received authentic information of the termination of the war, pursued his career of plundering and burning peaceful and unarmed vessels, and that fifty or sixty whalers thus fell victims to his cowardly prowess in the Arctic seas. He claims to have received official intelligence of the close of the war only on the 30th of August; but what particular form and style of information is requisite to check the black and bloody cruise of a privateer, it will now become the duty of English law courts to determine.

Commander James Iredell Waddell, CSN (US Navy: http://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/w/waddell-james-iredell/nh-66711.html)

“cowardly prowess”

The responsibility of dealing with WADDELL devolves wholly on the British Government. If he was in command of a privateer, duly exercising belligerent rights, England cannot surrender him, nor shall we ask her to do so. If, on the contrary, he pursued his career of devastation after those rights had ceased to protect him, he became simply a pirate, and violated the laws of Great Britain quite as truly as those of the United States. And it devolves upon the English authorities to hold him responsible. The fact that his depredations were confined to American vessels, and that British commerce suffered nothing at his hands, cannot, of course, alter the principles of justice and of law applicable to his case; though we should hesitate, in view of recent events, to say that it will not alter the actual application of those principles by the British courts of law.

One thing, however, it may be well enough to bear-in mind. The future application of whatever principles may now be laid down by English tribunals is of much more importance to England herself than is the fate of WADDELL to anybody on the face of the earth. We wish the English neutrals joy of the return of their belligerent rover.

The Conquered banner (http://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200002443/)

last lowering in Liverpool

Southern national song. Stars and bars. Tune: Star spangled banner. J. H. Johnson, Card and job printer (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/amss002553/)

“Bar Spangled Banner”

Fate of the rebel flag / painted by Wm. Bauly ; lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N.Y. (September 1861; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2003689293/)

prophecy – September 1861

I was excited when I saw the flag flying on the Shenandoah at Melbourne. The U.S. Navy points out the flag may have been retouched. The Navy also provided the image of Commander Waddell. From the Library of Congress: conquered, tune, afire
  1. [1]Fredriksen, John C. Civil War Almanac. New York: Checkmark Books, 2008. Print. page 599.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Naval Matters, Postbellum Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

poll watchers

Posted on November 3, 2015 by SUMPTER

Men vote today as women watch

Only going back 100 years for this one. On Election Day in 1915 women’s suffrage was on the ballot in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York. It was voted down in all three states.

Pre-election parade for suffrage in NYC, Oct. 23, 1915, in which 20,000 women marched (1915; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2001704302/)

“Pre-election parade for suffrage in NYC, Oct. 23, 1915, in which 20,000 women marched ” (Library of Congress)

NY Times 11-2-1915

NY Times 11-2-1915

NY Times 11-3-1915

NY Times 11-3-1915

________________________________________________________________

I didn’t realize that some states took the lead in adopting women’s suffrage before the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. According to the map below from Wikipedia states in green had approved full suffrage before the federal amendment had been ratified. Here’s a bit about the process in New York.

Map of US Suffrage, 1920 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_US_Suffrage,_1920.svg)

green’s a go for female voting

By 1910 the suffragettes were committed to an aggressive campaign that was as spectacular as it was effective. The old methods were not abandoned, but many new ones were added. Suffragette societies were organized along the lines of political parties; huge parades were held in New York City; motorcades toured the state distributing literature; street-corner speakers urging the vote for women became a commonplace in large cities; a one-day strike of women was threatened; and almost any stunt that would attract publicity was used. These tactics and the long campaign of education that had been carried on by earlier suffragettes finally produced results. A bill for amending the state constitution was passed by the legislature in 1913 and repassed in 1915, but was rejected by the voters at the polls. The process was immediately repeated, and this time it proved successful. The legislature passed the bill in 1916 and 1917, and the voters approved it in the fall of 1917. …[New York ratified 19th amendment in 1919] [1]

Suffragettes - U.S. - Margaret Vale (Mrs. George Howe), niece of Pres. Wilson in Suffrage parade, New York. Oct. 1915. (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2001704320/)

“Suffragettes – U.S. – Margaret Vale (Mrs. George Howe), niece of Pres. Wilson in Suffrage parade, New York. Oct. 1915.” (Library of Congress)

Suffrage parade, NYC, Oct. 23, 1915 (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2003675329/)

“Photograph shows four women carrying ballot boxes on a stretcher during a suffrage parade in New York City, New York.” (October 1915, Library of Congress)

Casting the Suffrage "Liberty Bell" at Troy (between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2005018804/)

“Casting the Suffrage “Liberty Bell” at Troy ” (ca.1910-1915, Library of Congress)

The map is licensed by Creative Commons. From the Library of Congress: Pre-election parade, Ms. Alaska, four women, Suffrage Liberty Bell
  1. [1]Ellis, David M., James A. Frost, Harold C. Syrett, and Harry J. Carman. A Short History of New York State. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1957. Print. page 391.↩
Posted in American History, American Society | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

the serious, the somber, the sullen …

Posted on October 31, 2015 by SUMPTER
Abraham Lincoln, the martyr, Victorious. (W. H. Hermans, Penn Yan Yates Co., New York, 1866; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000688/)

welcome to eternal summertime

the South.

Interested in reading a 115 stanza poem about Abraham Lincoln? You can browse on over to Project Gutenberg and delve into The Atlantic Monthly, VOL. XVI.—OCTOBER, 1865.—NO. XCVI.. Although I did not read it all, one part of the poem reminded me of “Rock and Roll Heaven”. President Lincoln is now standing “In the fairest of Summer Lands” surrounded by his staff and with many others who died for the Stars and Stripes:

There they are all at his side,
          The noble hearts and true,
          That did all men might do,—
Then slept, with their swords, and died.

The long list of those who died for the Union cause includes Elmer Ellsworth, Senator Edward Dickinson Baker, and Ulric Dahlgren.

Big Lincoln Horner (London Punch May 24, 1862; Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38056/38056-h/38056-h.htm#n134)

grinning Abraham

I also noticed that one of Abraham Lincoln’s qualities the poem praised was his sense of humor. He was even compared to William the Silent, who was apparently quite a funny guy, as explained in the poem’s only footnote:

How much he cared for the State,
          How little for praise or pelf!
A man too simply great
         To scheme for his proper self.

But in mirth that strong heart rested
         From its strife with the false and violent,—
A jester!—So Henry jested,
         So jested William the Silent.

Orange, shocking the dull
          With careless conceit and quip,
Yet holding the dumb heart full
          With Holland’s life on his lip![D]

Running the "machine" (Published by Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St. N.Y., c1864; LOC: LC-USZ62-9407)

“A jester!”

FOOTNOTES:

[D] “His temperament was cheerful. At table, the pleasures of which in moderation were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry; and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. In the darkest hours of his country’s trial, he affected a serenity he was far from feeling; so that his apparent gayety at momentous epochs was even censured by dullards, who could not comprehend its philosophy, nor applaud the flippancy of William the Silent. He went through life bearing the load of a people’s sorrows with a smiling face.”—Motley’s Rise of the Dutch Republic.

Perhaps a lively national sense of humor is one of the surest exponents of advanced civilization. Certainly a grim sullenness and fierceness have been the leading traits of the Rebellion for Slavery; while Freedom, like a Brave at the stake, has gone through her long agony with a smile and a jest ever on her lips.

Yankee volunteers marching into Dixie (Waashington City : Published by C.F. Morse ; Boston G.A. Morse c1862; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2008661637/)

jesting Yankee braves with smiles on their lips

I read recently that Abe Lincoln’s sense of humor was appreciated by some Easterners well before he was elected president. William H. Seward spoke at Boston’s Tremont Temple during the 1848 campaign:

He was followed by a speaker from Illinois, a young congressman who spoke in what one paper called a “humorous strain of Western eloquence.” When Abraham Lincoln finished, the audience “gave three cheers for ‘Old Zack,’three more for Governor Seward, three more for Mr. Lincoln, and then adjourned.”[1]

Lincoln in Mass (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000686/)

“A 100th anniversary map of Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Massachusetts, September 11-23, 1848.” (Library of Congress)

But the footnote seemed to be kind of a broad generalization. The Mason-Dixon line was made into an impermeable wall, and only the humorless lived south of it. Wasn’t that mindset one of the South’s issues? – the elite stereotyped all Africans as being too inferior to be anything other than slaves. Slavery was, therefore, a just if peculiar institution in the South’s antebellum society.

Apparently, even the eventual hotbed of fire-eating secession could appreciate humor. When William Seward was doing legal work in Charleston, South Carolina in 1849 he was somewhat snubbed socially because he was considered an abolitionist, but “one local paper commended his courtroom argument as ‘lucid and logical, replete with happy illustrations, and interspersed with … refined humor.'”[2]

I guess my prejudices were aroused when I read the second part of the footnote. However, here’s something else I read recently:

There are only two ways to be quite unprejudiced and impartial. One is to be completely ignorant. The other is to be completely indifferent. Bias and prejudice are attitudes to be kept in hand, not attitudes to be avoided.

Charles P. Curtis: A Commonplace Book, Simon & Schuster, 1957.[3]

Life mask and plaster hands of Abraham Lincoln, preserved at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., where assassin John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded the president in 1865 (by Carol M. Highsmith; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2011633885/)

“Life mask and plaster hands of Abraham Lincoln, preserved at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C., where assassin John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded the president in 1865 ” (Library of Congress)

Abraham Lincoln bronze life mask and hands and what was in his pockets the night he died in 1865, kept at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C. (by Carol M. Highsmith; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2011634247/)

“Abraham Lincoln bronze life mask and hands and what was in his pockets the night he died in 1865, kept at Ford’s Theatre, Washington, D.C. ” (Library of Congress)

Well, it’s Halloween 2015, and earthly Death would seem to be about the most unprejudiced of entities, maybe not ignorant but probably indifferent.

From Project Gutenberg: Big Lincoln Horner from the May 24, 1862 issue of London’s Punch
From the Library of Congress: Messrs. Washington and Lincoln in heaven; cartoon; invading Yankees; you can get a much more detailed look at the Boston map, including an image of Tremont Temple, “spoke here with W.H. Seward Sept 22.”; Carol M. Highsmith’s photos of life mask and hands, with pocket contents
  1. [1]Stahr, Walter Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man. 2012. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2013. Print. page 110. with note 62 on page 575.↩
  2. [2]ibid., page 119. with note 8 on page 577.↩
  3. [3]Seldes, George, compiler. The Great Quotations. 1960. New York: Pocket Books, 1967. Print. page 758.↩
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Society | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

outside base ball

Posted on October 30, 2015 by SUMPTER
Base-ball match between the "Athletics", of Philadelphia, Pa., and the "Atlantics", of Brooklyn, N.Y., played at Philadelphia, October 30, 1865 / sketched by J.B. Beale. (Harper's Weekly, 11-18-1865; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2008676717/)

“Base-ball match between the “Athletics”, of Philadelphia, Pa., and the “Atlantics”, of Brooklyn, N.Y., played at Philadelphia, October 30, 1865 / sketched by J.B. Beale. ” (Library of Congress)

150 years ago today the Brooklyn Atlantic base ball club extended its undefeated season down in Philly with what appears to be small ball, lots of small ball. From The New-York Times October 31, 1865:

THE GREAT BASE BALL MATCH.; The Atlantics Against the Athletics The Atlantics the Victors.

PHILADELPHIA, Monday, Oct. 30.

The first game in the great base ball match between the Atlantic and Athletic Clubs was played to-day.

The Atlantics were the victors.

The following is the score:

Atlantics………………………………..21 runs

Athletics……………………………….15 runs

Mr. T.C. KNIGHT, of the Camden Club, acted as Umpire.

The second game between these two famous clubs will be played on Monday next, on the Capitoline Grounds, Brooklyn.

SECOND DISPATCH.

Notwithstanding the short notice given, the base ball match between the Athletics and Atlantics this afternoon was witnessed by an immense number of spectators. The weather was very pleasant. The game lasted nearly three hours and a half. The Atlantics made eleven fly-catches and two home runs, and the Athletics eight fly-catches and one home run. The Atlantics were skunked once, and the Athletics four times. The Atlantics were put out at the bases eighteen times, and the Athletics ten times. The following is the score:

          ATHLETICS.           ATLANTICS.

                   Outs. Runs           Outs. Runs.

Kleinfelder……..4 2 Pearce…………..2 5

McBride ………..1 1 C.J. Smith……..1 3

Reach…………..4 1 Norton…,……….4 2

Wilkins…………5 0 Pratt……………4 2

Berkenstock…….2 2 Crane…………..2 1

Laugene…………3 2 S. Smith………..3 2

E.A. Gaskill…….3 2 Start……………4 1

Smith…………..2 3 Galvin…………..3 3

Potter…………..3 2 Chapman……….4 2

Total……….27 15 Total……….27 21

INNINGS.

1st. 2d. 3d. 4th. 5th. 6th. 7th. 8th. 9th.

Atlantics……..3 2 0 2 2 1 4 3 4 — 21

Athletics……..4 2 3 0 0 0 5 0 1 — 15

Champions of America / Williamson, Brooklyn. (1865; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/92514548/)

“Early baseball card prototype showing ten members of the Atlantics of Brooklyn baseball club. ” (Library of Congress)

Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ; lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York. (1863; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/94508290/)

inside baseball? “Union prisoners at Salisbury, N.C. / drawn from nature by Act. Major Otto Boetticher ; lith. of Sarony, Major & Knapp, 449 Broadway, N. York. ” (1863, Library of Congress)

"On the fly" / The Major & Knapp Eng. Mfg. & Lith. Co., 71 Broadway, N.Y. (c.1867; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/94514611/)

advertisement c.1867

Baseball images from the Library of Congress: today’s game (from Harper’s Weekly, November 18, 1865); the champs; Salisbury prison; advertisement from the 1860’s.
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Northern Society, Postbellum Society | Tagged , | Leave a comment

American Union Commission report

Posted on October 25, 2015 by SUMPTER

In October 1865 the American Union Commission, “organized to aid in the restoration of the Union upon the basis of freedom, industry, education, and Christian morality,” published a report of its work helping destitute Southerners. It is a 33 page document that covers the commission’s work in several Southern states – and in New York City. Here are a few cut-outs with a focus on the refugees who spent a short time in Gotham. The report begins with a complimentary letter from General O.O. Howard, leader of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Another well-known Civil War general also wrote a note:

Burnside to Commission (preface)

Burnside to Commission (preface)

[Framed photographs of General Ambrose Everett Burnside and Abraham Lincoln with a manuscript signed note in Lincoln's hand.] (M Brady, December 22, 1862 ; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/scsm001051/)

big fans of the Commission

Lyman Abbott (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24356/24356-h/24356-h.htm#Lyman_Abbott)

Commission’s General Secretary Lyman Abbott

origin - page 1

approved by Andrew and Abraham (page 1)

Union refugees / Baker. (1860-1870; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/90714047/)

“Union refugees” (Library of Congress)

Refugees leaving the old homestead (LOC:http://www.loc.gov/item/2011660065/)

“Refugees leaving the old homestead ” (Library of Congress)

refugees - page 1

refugees (page 1)

refugees and relief - page 2

refugees and relief (page 2)

education - page 4

education (page 4)

Lloyd's new military map of the border & southern states (April 1865; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/99447178/)

that Sherman swath in blue

[Atlanta, Ga. Boxcars with refugees at railroad depot] (1864; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003000879/PP/)

“Atlanta, Ga. Boxcars with refugees at railroad depot” (Fall 1864, Library of Congress)

NYC - page 17

NYC (page 17)

refugees in NYC - page 18

refugees temporarily in NYC (page 18)

Arrival of Union refugees at Kingston, Georgia (Harper's Weekly 12-10-1864; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2003669743/)

“Arrival of Union refugees at Kingston, Georgia” (Library of Congress)

The above image was published in the December 10, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly at Son of the South, where you can also read some background:

UNION REFUGEES.

WE give on our first page an illustration representing UNION REFUGEES AT KINGSTON, GEORGIA, on their way North. The number of these arrivals is daily increasing. Since SHERMAN with the main body of his army advanced southward, abandoning Northern Georgia, this region has become one not very safe and pleasant to those who have by the presence of our army been emboldened to declare their preference for the old Union. The Richmond journals dwell upon the departure of these loyalists with peculiar satisfaction, on the ground that it diminishes that opposition in Georgia which has always been an element of danger to the Confederacy.

150 years ago today Alexander H. Stephens observed Georgia’s desolation (from an addendum to his prison diary page 539):

AHS 10-25-1865 (Page 529)

AHS 10-25-1865 (Page 529)

It appears that the Commission joined into The Freedmen’s Union Commission by May 1866.

Images from the Library of Congress: Ambrose and Abe; Union Refugees; Refugees leaving the old homestead (the back of card talks about Unionist families being persecuted by rebels and bushwhackers); map; leaving Atlanta; at Kinston.
The image of General Secretary Lyman Abbott comes from a book about Brooklyn’s Plymouth Church at Project Gutenberg
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Month, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alexander meets Andrew

Posted on October 20, 2015 by SUMPTER
AH Stephens

AH Stephens

After being paroled, ex-CSA Vice President Alexander H. Stephens had a rather leisurely trip back to confinement in his home state of Georgia. He had stops in Boston, New York, And Washington D.C. 150 years ago today met with US President Andrew Johnson.

From The New-York Times October 21, 1865:

FROM WASHINGTON.; INTERVIEW BETWEEN ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON. A LONG CABINET SESSION. CORRECTION.

Special Dispatch to the New-York Times.

WASHINGTON, Friday, Oct. 20.

It being generally known that rooms had been taken in a prominent hotel, yesterday, for Mr. STEPHENS and his party, quite a gathering of the curious and wonder-loving was in waiting at the hour of the arrival of the party last evening, and the numbers increased up to 10 o’clock, the sight-seekers, hoping to get a good view of Mr. STEPHENS. He was only visible, however, as he passed from the vehicle into the hotel. During the evening he was called upon by Gens. HOOKER and TERRY, and other distinguished persons. This morning at about 10 o’clock Mr. STEPHENS called at the White House and gained an audience with the President. There was no official matter involved in the visit, but Mr. STEPHENS called to express his gratitude for the Executive clemency recently extended to him, and to assure the President that he might hereafter rely upon him as a faithful and sincere supporter of the Government of the United States, and that he would do all in his power to cultivate fraternal feelings and devotion to the Union among the people of all sections. The meeting was cordial, dignified and most respectful.

The cabinet session to-day was of unusual duration, and was attended by all the members except Mr. SEWARD, who is yet absent from the city. …

When Mr. Stephens got home to Georgia he filled in his diary with details of his trip from Fort Warren. According to his prison diary (edited by Myrta Lockett Avary; pages 536-537) during the meeting with President johnson, Mr. Stephens said he thought blacks who met some qualifications should be allowed to vote, although it was up to the individual states. He got the impression that President Johnson wanted the Thirteenth Amendment to pass so that the freed people could be removed like the Indians???

AJ-AHS1

from page 536

AJ-AHS2

from page 537

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“hermetically sealed” no more?

Posted on October 15, 2015 by SUMPTER
James_Dunwoody_Brownson_DeBow_04

labor deficiency in the South

Thanks to Seven Score and Ten, during the Civil War Sesquicentennial I learned about DeBow’s Review, a Southern economic and commercial journal that supported slavery. It advocated secession after Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. 150 years ago this month the journal’s publisher, J. D. B. De Bow, was apparently spending some time up in New York City. He wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin Perry, the provisional governor of South Carolina, that made the case that the South needed more workers to realize its economic potential. It was a very long letter. Here are some excerpts from The New-York Times October 15, 1865:

THE FUTURE OF THE SOUTH.; Necessity of Emigration Letter from J. D.B. De Bow, Esq., to Gov. Perry.

To His Excellency B.F. Perry, Provisional Governor of South Carolina:

SIR: I shall make no other apology for addressing you this communication than is to be found in the fact that you are understood, from recent publications, to have committed yourself publicly and actively in favor of opening the State of South Carolina, and with it the entire South, to the introduction of emigrants upon a liberal and enlarged scale, and the further fact that you are in a position from which a most important influence over the whole question may be exerted.

It has been evident to thoughtful men at the South for a number of years that her career in prosperity and wealth, in comparison with other sections, was greatly retarded by a deficiency of labor; and many among us went so far, even, as to theorize upon the reopening of communications with the coast of Africa and with Asia for the purpose of securing laborers, either as coolies, apprentices, or under some other name. It occurred to scarcely any one that it was practicable, or even desirable, to open the doors to free white immigrants, a prejudice being understood to exist in the minds of such everywhere against coming into competition with slave labor; and even if such prejudice did not exist, influences adverse to existing institutions upon which the prosperity of the South was believed mainly to rest, was likely to be exerted by that competition.

It followed that whilst the Northern and Western States, from the constant stream of hardy and industrious immigrants who were pouring in, exhibited miracles of progress and development, the South, with vast natural resources for mining, manufactures and agriculture, advanced in but the slow ratio of its natural increase, and immense dominions capable of contributing untold treasures to the commerce of the world remained hermetically sealed. …

The slavery question having been settled, by the military power of the United States, and the South having accepted in good faith the solution (slavery being recognized as an issue of the war in which she has lost,) and so framed her legislation as to recognized the negro, in the future, as a freedman, under no other obligation to labor than those which bind every other freeman, of whatever color, it becomes a matter of very anxious inquiry, outside of the social and political questions involved, what effect may be expected upon the great questions of labor and production already disturbed by previously existing causes.

Before going further, it is well to remark, what your own judgment and information will bear me out fully in, that the people of the South, universally, are willing to give a fair and honest trial to the experiment of negro emancipation, which has been forced upon them, and that if let alone, to manage affairs in their own way, and with their intimate knowledge of negro character, and that sympathy with him and his fortunes which is but the natural result of long and close association, everything possible will be done, in good time, for the social, physical and political advancement of the race; clashing as little as practicable at the same time with the great material interests of the country. Those of us who are familiar with the South are well advised that the restoration of slavery within its limits, even were it desired, would now be an impossibility, for reasons induced by the war, and by the subsequent action of the authorities, both State and Federal.

Having adverted to the great deficiency of labor at the South, prior to the breaking out of hostilities, as indicated in the small per centage of lands actually under cultivation, and their low average value, I am sure that no advocate of negro emancipation, however ardent, will expect me to look for my prospect of immediate relief as likely to result from that act. Whether the negro will at all, or with greater energy and productiveness, under the stimulus of freedom, are questions to be determined in the future; but whotever the eventual determination, there must, it is evident, be a period of transition, in which, even under the most favorite circumstances, decline rather than improvement, may be, everywhere expected to manifest itself at the South.

While it must be admitted that experiments in negro emancipation have resulted unfavorably in other counties similarly situated, I cannot but derive hope from the consideration, that there were causes at work in most of those countries which do not exist in our own, which may modify and control the result. I refer to the inferior civilization of the blacks in the case[s] referred to, their small contact with the whites, the great disproportion between the colors, the nature of the climate, requiring little clothing and producing food spontaneously, etc. Taking these facts into account I am not despondent of the result, when time and judicious measures have been allowed to mature a system.

But what is to be done in the meanwhile is a point of grave interest, and one which will occupy a prominent place at the meeting of the State Legislatures during the present Winter. Is there anything to be accomplished, and what, beyond the adoption of such local measures as relate to the status of the negro and his character as a producing agent?

There is but one answer, and that may be condensed into a few words:

The South must throw her immense uncultivated domain into the market at a low price; reduce the quantity of land held by individual proprietors, and resort to intelligent and vigorous measures at the earliest moment, to induce an infl[u]x of population and capital from abroad, This is entirely practicable.

[Charleston, South Carolina (vicinity).] Steamers at wharf (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/cwp2003005353/PP/)

blockaded no more; open to immigrants? (Charleston Wharf, Library of Congress)

That the landed properties of the South have been, in general, too large, and that great benefit would result to the proprietors by disposing at low rates of the surplus, can scarcely be considered open to argumentation. Several years since, I caused the returns of the United States Census, of which I was then in charge, to be examined upon the point, and the result for the number of farms, which were selected, a random, was as follows:

Farms. Over 1,000 Acres.

Kentucky……………………… 943 33

Louisiana………………………. 1,553 467

South Carolina…………………. 9,400 2,718

Michigan………………………. 3,181 80

Ohio………………………….. 1,055 19

Pennsylvania…………………… 1,044 17

Rhode Island…………………… 2,250 16

The staples of the South are of such inestimable value to the commerce of the world, that they have, in the past, and promise beyond all contingency in the future to, come into triumphant competition with those of every other country upon the face of the earth. …

In what manner, then, shall we proceed to invite capital and population to the South? I answer: Consult and abide by the experience of those States and communities which have grown populous and rich by the success which attended their efforts to secure immigration. …

Feeling convinced that the German States will be the chief source from which any large number of immigrants can be expected, I addressed a note recently to CHARLES L. FLEISHMAN, Esq., a gentleman well known to the country for his agricultural and scientific labors in the service of the Patent Office, who has spent much of his life in Europe, and written several works upon the United States in his native German, which have exercised a wide influence upon the immigration question, and in reply have received a lengthy letter which will appear in the next number of my Review, but from which I will briefly extract at present. Mr. FLEISHMAN says:

“You put to me the question, ‘What is the best plan for drawing the attention of the German emigrants to the advantages which the South offers to settlers?’ In answer, I say that the Southern States should, as soon ai possible, publish a detailed and full account of their various resources; of the weather and its influence on the constitutions of men coming from northern latitudes; of the lands, and their present condition as to fertility and titles; of the various products which can be raised; of the best locations for the culture and fruit in general; and an account of the existing, railroads and canals, and also of the commerce, and the various branches of industry, to be carried on there, &c.”

Mr. FLEISHMAN says, further, that the Germans do not aim to become merely day laborers, but landowners; that, in general, they prefer to go where other Germans have gone before, and where their own language is spoken; that they never cease to be Germans; that they love the soil they cultivate, love freedom and independence, hate aristocracy, and are not only good formers, but mechanics and artisans. They all have more or less money and personal property, with which they buy lands or undertake trade. He says:

“The South must establish similar institutions to those that we find in the North for the protection and assistance of emigrants; they must protect them from runners and rapacious boarding-house keepers. The South must establish hospitals and almshouses for the sick and needy; it must establish cheap and regular rates on railroads and canals to emigrants, and do everything to show that it is not only anxious to see the Germans come among them, but they must also satisfy their former governments that the South is in earnest to fulfill the obligations which a call for settlers imposes upon any government or society.

The States engage in an enterprise entirely new to them. It will require wise measures not to begin wrong. Should they displease the first settlers, they may rest assured it will be long before they succeed again to get them away from the old Western track. …

The whole subject, Sir, is one of so much interest to us all, that it would afford me great pleasure upon this creation to elaborate it more at length, but I am admonished that the time and space are not at my control. At an early day I will resume the subject, and illustrate is with a variety of statistical data, which I have collected with some care.

With great regard, your obedient servant,

J.D.B. DE BOW.

No. 40 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK, Thursday, Oct. 12, 1865. …

You can indeed read the whole letter in DeBow’s Review
Once again a Southern man states that the war put an end to the slavery question once and for all, sort of like duel.
According to the Wikipedia link in the first paragraph, Benjamin Franklin Perry served as governor of South Carolina from June 30, 1865 until November 29, 1865, when the new state constitution was adopted.
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

freed from Fort Warren …

Posted on October 11, 2015 by SUMPTER

but confined to Georgia

[Alexander Hamilton Stephens, half-length studio portrait, sitting] / John Goldin & Co. photographers. (between 1860 and 1870); LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2009634258/)

Alexander Hamilton Stephens

On March 21, 1861 new Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens delivered his well-known Cornerstone Speech in which he praised the Confederate Constitution and maintained that the new government was based on racial inequality:

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science.

After four years of Civil War, Mr. Stephens was arrested at his home in Georgia on May 11, 1865 and imprisoned in Fort Warren from May 27th. 150 years ago today President Andrew Johnson paroled him and other ex-Confederates, including Postmaster General John H. Reagan after they submitted to United States’ authority.

NY Times 10-12-1865

NY Times 10-12-1865

From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, by James D. Richardson:

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, October 11, 1865.

Whereas the following-named persons, to wit, John A. Campbell, of Alabama; John H. Reagan, of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, of South Carolina, and Charles Clark, of Mississippi, lately engaged in rebellion against the United States Government, who are now in close custody, have made their submission to the authority of the United States and applied to the President for pardon under his proclamation; and

Whereas the authority of the Federal Government is sufficiently restored in the aforesaid States to admit of the enlargement of said persons from close custody:

It is ordered, That they be released on giving their respective paroles to appear at such time and place as the President may designate to answer any charge that he may direct to be preferred against them, and also that they will respectively abide until further orders in the places herein designated, and not depart therefrom, to wit:

John A. Campbell, in the State of Alabama; John H. Reagan, in the State of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, in the State of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, in the State of South Carolina; and Charles Clark, in the State of Mississippi. And if the President should grant his pardon to any of said persons, such person’s parole will be thereby discharged.

ANDREW JOHNSON,
President.

According to his prison diary (edited by Myrta Lockett Avary; September 1865 from page 500) during September 1865 Alexander H. Stephens wrote President Johnson about a possible meeting and wrote to Ulysses Grant asking that the general exert his influence to get him released on parole or on bail. On September 20th Mr. Stephens wrote to Secretary of State Seward that it was ridiculous that he was being kept locked up because as CSA Vice President he was a threat until all rebel states had been restored. On September 26th Mr Stephens read an abstract of a Henry Ward Beecher sermon in The New-York Times and was surprised that the abolitionist preacher shared his own views on white superiority:

AH Stephens prison diary 9-26-1865

From AH Stephens prison diary 9-26-1865

Mr. Stephens reminds me that the Times report was an abstract. We are kind of relying on the reporter and the media filter. No tape recorders back then. The image of A.H. Stephens is found at the Library of Congress.
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

don’t make ’em bite off too at once

Posted on October 7, 2015 by SUMPTER

[Andrew Johnson, half-length portrait, facing left] / A. Bogardus & Co., 872 B'way, cor. 18th St., N.Y. (New York : A. Bogardus & Co., [between 1865 and 1880]) (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2004678590/)

Andrew Johnson

150 years ago this week abolitionist George L. Stearns met with President Andrew Johnson to discuss Reconstruction in the South. Mr. Stearns wrote up his recollection of the meeting, had the president fact-check the summary, and then sent the document out for publication. President Johnson was hoping that the Southern states would reconstruct themselves, although the federal government did have the power if the process went awry. He definitely wanted to go slow on negro suffrage because it would be such a huge change in Dixie (and it wouldn’t have been accepted in the North as late as 1858). The president believed that he had no more right to dictate election law in the South than he did in Pennsylvania. He saw an ominous result: “It will not do to let the negroes have universal suffrage now. It would breed a war of races.”

From The New-York Times October 23, 1865:

IMPORTANT CONVERSATION WITH THE PRESIDENT.; Frank Expression of His Views on Reconstruction in the South He Favors a Conciliatory and Patient Policy What He Says of Negro Suffrage.

BOSTON, Saturday, Oct. 21, 1865.

To the Editor of the New-York Times:

SIR: I send the following documents for publication. They will need no comment. Yours,

GEO. L. STEARNS.

MEDFORD, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 8, 1865.

MY DEAR SIR: I was so much impressed with our conversation of last Tuesday, that I returned immediately to m[y] room and wrote down such of the points made as I could remember, and having pondered them all the way home, am to-day, more than ever convinced that, if corrected by you and returned to me for either public or private use, it will go far to produce a good understanding between you and our leading men.

It will also unite the public mind in favor of your plan, so far at least as you would carry it out without modification.

Universal and equal suffrage, tariff, internal revenue, currency. Boston, September, 1865. (LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.07104200/)

drumming up support for President Johnson in his arduous duties (Library of Congress)

You are aware that I do not associate much with men in political life, but rather with those who, representing the advanced moral sense of the country, earnestly labor for the good of our people, without hope of, or even desire for, office or other immediate reward. The latter class desire earnestly to understand your plans, and, if possible, support your administration.

I think the publication of your process of reconstruction, with the reasons for your faith in it, will commend itself to their candid judgment, and, as I told you, inspire our whole Northern people with confidence in your administration.

The report is meagre and unsatisfactory, but I think it conveys, for the most part, the spirit of our conversation. Therefore, although the whole tenor of your words led me to believe it was not intended to be kept private, I have refrained from answering the specific inquiries; of anxious friends, whom I met on my way home, lest I might, in some way, leave a wrong impression on their minds.

Truly your friend,

GEORGE L. STEARNS.

To the President of the United States.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 3, 1865 — 11 1/2 A.M.

I have just returned from an interview with President JOHNSON, in which he talked for an hour on the process of reconstruction of rebel States. His manner was as cordial, and his conversation as free, as in 1863, when I met him daily in Nashville.

His countenance is healthy, even more so than when I first knew him.

I remarked, that the people of the North were anxious that the process of reconstruction should be thorough, and they wished to support him in the arduous work, but their ideas were confused by the conflicting reports constantly circulated, and especially by the present position of the Democratic party. It is industriously circulated in the Democratic clubs that he was going over to them. He laughingly replied, “Major, have you never known a man who for many years had differed from your views because you were in advance of him, claim them as his own when he came up to your stand-point?”

I replied, I have often. He said so have I, and went on; the Democratic party finds its old position untenable, and is coming to ours; if it has come up to our position, I am glad of it. You and I need no preparation for this conversation; we can talk freely on this subject for the thoughts are familiar to us; we can be perfectly frank with each other. He then commenced with saying that, the States are in the Union which it [is?] whole and indivisible.

Individuals tried to carry them out, but did not succeed, as a man may try to cut his throat and be prevented by the bystanders; and you cannot say he cut his throat because he tried to do it.

President Andrew Johnson pardoning Rebels at the White House / sketched by Mr. Stanley Fox. Andrew Johnson's tailor-shop in Greenville, Tennessee / photographed by J.B. Reef. (Illus. in: Harper's weekly, v. 9, no. 459 (1865 October 14), p. 641 (title page); LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2008680257/)

“President Andrew Johnson pardoning Rebels at the White House” (Harper’s Weekly, October 14, 1865)

Individuals may commit treason and be punished, and a large number of individuals may constitute a rebellion and be punished as traitors. Some States tried to get out of the Union, and we opposed it, honestly, because we believed it to be wrong; and we have succeeded in putting down the rebellion. The power of those persons who made the attempt has been crushed, and now we want to reconstruct the State’ Governments and have the power to do it. The State institutions are prostrated, laid out on the ground, and they must be taken up and adapted to the progress of events. This cannot be done in a moment. We are making very rapid progress; so rapid I sometimes cannot realize it; it appears like a dream.

We must not be in too much of a hurry; it is better to let them reconstruct themselves than to force them to it; for if they go wrong, the power is in our hands and we can check them at any stage, to the end, and oblige them to correct their errors; we must be patient with them. I did not expect to keep out all who were excluded from the amnesty, or even a large number of them, but I intended they should sue for pardon, and so realize the enormity of the crime they had committed.

You could not have broached the subject of equal suffrage, at the North, seven years ago, and we must remember that the changes at the South have been more rapid, and they have been obliged to accept more unpalatable truth than the North has; we must give them time to digest a part, for we cannot expect such large affairs will be comprehended and digested at once. We must give them time to understand their new position.

I have nothing to conceal in these matters, and have no desire or willingness to take indirect courses to obtain what we want.

Our government is a grand and lofty structure; in searching for its foundation we find it rests on the broad basis of popular rights. The elective franchise is not a natural right, but a political right. I am opposed to giving the States too much power, and also to a great consolidation of power in the central government.

If I interfered with the vote in the rebel States, to dictate that the negro shall vote, I might do the same thing for my own purposes in Pennsylvania. Our only safety lies in allowing each State to control the right of voting by its own laws, and we have the power to control the rebel States if they go wrong. If they rebel we have the army, and can control them by it, and, if necessary by legislation also. If the General Government controls the right to vote in the States, it may establish such rules as will restrict the vote to a small number of persons, and thus create a central despotism.

For president Abraham Lincoln -- For vice president Andrew Johnson (1864; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2008680235/)

no longer in Tennessee, no longer Veep

My position here is different from what it would be if I was in Tennessee.

There I should try to introduce negro suffrage gradually; first those who had served in the army; those who could read and write, and perhaps a property qualification for others, say $200 or $250.

It will not do to let the negroes have universal suffrage now. It would breed a war of races.

There was a time in the Southern States when the slaves of large owners looked down upon non-slave-owners because they did not own slaves; the larger the number of slaves their masters owned, the prouder they were, and this has produced hostility between the mass of the whites and the negroes. The outrages are mostly from non-slavebolding whites against the negro, and from the negro upon the non-slaveholding whites.

The negro will vote with the late master whom he does not hate, rather than with the non-slaveholding white, whom he does hate. Universal suffrage would create another war, not against us, but a war of races.

Another thing. This Government is the freest and best on the earth, and I feel sure is destined to last; but to secure this, we must elevate and purify the ballot. I for many years contended at the South that slavery was a political weakness, but others said it was political strength; they thought we gained three-fifths representation by it; I contended that we lost two-fifths.

If we had no slaves, we should have had twelve representatives more, according to the then ratio of representation. Congress apportions representation by States, not districts, and the State apportions by districts.

Many years ago, I moved in the Legislature that the apportionment of Representatives to Congress, in Tennessee, should be by qualified voters.

The apportionment is now fixed until 1872; before that time we might change the basis of representation from population to qualified voters. North as well as South, and in due course of time, the States, without regard to color, might extend the elective franchise to all who possessed certain mental, moral, or such other qualifications, as might be determined by an enlightened public judgment.

BOSTON, Oct. 18, 1865.

Tke above report was returned to me by President JOHNSON with the following endorsement.

GEORGE L. STEARNS.

“I have read the within communication and find it substantially correct.

I have made some verbal alterations.

(Signed,) A.J.”

In The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns (1907) George’s son, Frank Preston Stearns, wrote that a group of abolitionists including Charles Sumner were opposed to George publishing the report of the meeting with President Johnson. However, Mr. Stearns

argued that his statement would serve as an entering wedge for negro suffrage; for which the general public was not yet altogether prepared. It would pin Andrew Johnson down to a definite policy, and in course of six months they might get something better from him. Sumner, however, did not agree to this. He foresaw that he was going to have a hard
tussle, and he considered any action that tended to make the President popular would be so much to his own disadvantage. He was not to be blamed
for this ; but at the same time it would seem that Mr. Stearns saw the situation more clearly. He published the account of his interview … (page 361)

George Luther Stearns was a member of the Secret Six, the group that funded John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry. Mr. Stearns also was instrumental in raising black Civil War regiments in Massachusetts, including the 54th: “Excepting Governor Andrew, the highest praise for recruiting the Fifty-fourth belongs to George L. Stearns, who had been closely identified with the struggle in Kansas and John Brown’s projects.”

[John Brown, 1800-1859, bust portrait, facing right in memorial frame] (1897; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/item/2005690015/)

his raid funded by Stearns, et al.

Storming Fort Wagner (Chicago : Kurz & Allison-Art Publishers, 76 & 78 Wabash Ave., c1890 July 5.; LOC: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012647346/)

54th recruited by Stearns, et al.

Images from the Library of Congress: Andrew Johnson, Stearns’ letter, pardon (get a better look at Son of the South), campaign button, John Brown, Fort Wagner
Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

concord in Lexington

Posted on October 2, 2015 by SUMPTER

On October 2, 1865 Robert E. Lee was inaugurated as president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia – and signed an amnesty oath pledging allegiance to the United States and all its laws, including those regarding the emancipation of slaves.

NY Times 10-17-1865

NY Times 10-17-1865

Lee's Amnesty Oath (http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/spring/piece-lee.html)

an example of submission to authority for his new students

______________________________________________________________

Mr. Lee’s amnesty oath can be found at the National Archives: the National Archives discovered the amnesty oath in 1970; General Lee was restored to full (U.S.) citizenship in 1975.

Here’s some sound from Mr. Lee, according to Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee by Captain Robert E. Lee, His Son. The ex-rebel generalissimo wrote to his invalid wife on October 3, 1865:

The college opened yesterday, and a fine set of youths, about fifty, made their appearance in a body. It is supposed that many more will be coming during the month. The scarcity of money everywhere embarrasses all proceedings. … The ladies have furnished me a very nice room in the college for my office; new carpet from Baltimore, curtains, etc. They are always doing something kind. … The scenery is beautiful here, but I fear it will be locked up in winter by the time you come. Nothing could be more beautiful than the mountains now….

Most affectionately, R. E. Lee.

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Society, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment