1865 October 14: Little Piece of Secret History–How the Confederates Got Lee to Join Their Side

The following article comes from The Polk County Press of October 14, 1865.

A Little Piece of Secret History.

Mr. Montgomery Blair has published in Washington a letter, from which we get at another reason for the sudden order of Jeff. Davis to Beauregard [P.G.T. Beauregard] to open on Fort Sumpter.  General, then Colonel, Lee [Robert E. Lee], it seems, was offered the command of the armies of the Union.  He hesitated.  Mr. Blair writes :

“My father¹ was authorized by the President [Abraham Lincoln] and Mr. Cameron [Simon Cameron], Secretary of War, to converse with General Lee, and ascertain whether he would accept the command of our army in the field.  The latter was written for, and he met my father at my house, where they conversed for an hour or more.  It was a few days before the ordinance was passed.  General Lee concluded the conversation by saying secession was anarchy, and, added if he owned the four million slaves in the South, he would cheerfully sacrifice them to the union ;  but he did not know how he could draw his sword on his native State.  He said he would see General Scott [Winfield Scott] on the subject before he decided.”

But he was caught up by some Virginia friends, who lay in wait for him, and he did not get to see Gen. Scott :

“A committee from the Virgina convention, while the General and my father conversed, were hunting for him through the city.  They met on his leaving the house.  He repaired with them, to consult with the convention, as I have since learned, about some mode of settlement. “

The secessionists on this committee, who were determined to have no settlement, and were also anxious to secure Lee, saw that action was necessary and telegraphed to that effect to the rebel leaders.  The result was Davis’ order to open fire on Sumter ;  and that crazy-headed old hanger-on of Calhoun [Calhoun], Edmund Ruffin, of Virgina fired the first gun.  As Lee’s Virgina confidents [sic] foresaw, he went over immediately.  General Scott and General Thomas [Thomas], who are also Virginians, did not go over to the enemies of their country.  Neither did General Philip St. George Cooke.  Neither did General John W. Davidson nor General L. P. Graham, nor General William Hays, nor General John Newton, all of whom were Virginians by birth and education.  Nor did scores of other officers of lower rank, all Virginians, and all faithful to the Union.  But Edmond Ruffin’s first gun brought down Lee—as his last gun brought down himself.

1.  Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876) personally conveyed Lincoln’s offer to Robert E. Lee to command all the Union armies, which Lee rejected, as we see here. After Lincoln’s re-election, Blair organized the abortive Hampton Roads Conference, where peace terms were discussed with the Confederates, but no substantial issues resolved.  Francis Preston Blair, Jr., was Montgomery Blair’s brother.

1865 October 14: Telegraph Summary

Once again The Prescott Journal and The Polk County Press of October 14, 1865, both have inside pages from a Milwaukee paper.  The following news summary appeared in both of our local newspapers.

TELEGRAPH SUMMARY.

Jefferson Davis was removed Monday from the casement in which he has been confined to quarters in Carroll Hall.

The State Convention of Georgia unanimously adopted an ordinance declaring the act of Secession null and void.

The veteran reserve corps will be disbanded in a few days, the regular army having been recruited sufficiently to supply its place.

General Conner [sic], commanding the expedition against the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arraphoes, has returned to Fort Laramie.  He has fought four pitched battles with the Indians, suffering a loss of only 27, while the savages had 400 or 600 killed and a large number of wounded.  [Patrick E. Connor]

Proposals are out for a government loan of $50,000,000,—5-30’s—payment to be made in compound interest notes, treasury notes, and certificates of indebtedness.

At Paducah, recently, white soldiers attacked negro troops and killed five or six of them.

The provisional governor of Mississippi has issued a proclamation accepting a proposition from the freedmen’s bureau to transfer all negro cases to the civil courts of the State, on condition that the freedmen shall be accorded all the rights and privileges extended to whites.  Orders have been issued from the freedman’s bureau in Louisiana to a similar effect.

Chaplain Callahan,¹ of the Freedman’s [sic] Bureau in Louisiana, has been arrested by General Canby [Edward Canby], on account, among other things, of his recent arrest and trial of Judge Weems.²

The United States district court, at St. Louis, Tuesday announced that the oath prescribed by the act of Congress of January 24th, 1865, was a rule of the court ;  whereupon several attorneys who had refused to take the state constitutional oath subscribed to the federal obligation.

The President [Andrew Johnson] is said to be strongly disposed to set aside the Louisiana constitution, of 1864, and to appoint a provisional governor ;  but Gov. Wells [James M. Wells] does not meet with favor in his eyes.

The democratic State convention of Louisiana have nominated J. M. Wells for governor.

It has been decided gradually to muster out the colored troops stationed in the Northern States, including Kentucky.

Accounts from Mexico continue to be of a most contradictory character.  According to one statement, the imperialists are sweeping everything before them ;  while other statements give tidings of uninterrupted republican success.

It is believed that a large portion of the military forces congregated on the north-western frontier, will soon be withdrawn.

Major Generals Casey and Heintzelman, of the volunteer service, have been ordered to rejoin their regiments in the regular army.  The former is colonel of the 4th regiment of infantry and the latter of the 17th.  [Silas Casey, Samuel P. Heintzelman]

Dr. Gwin, and ex-Governor Clark of Missouri have been arrested and committed to Fort Jackson.³

Dr. Gwin and ex-Governor Clark, of Missouri, are on their way to Washington from New Orleans, under arrest.

An Augusta paper states that a dispatch has been received at Atlanta announcing that Alexander H. Stephens has been pardoned, and will return to his home.

A Philadelphia dispatch asserts that Gen. Grant, a few days ago, declared that our government would vindicate the Monroe doctrine ;  that Maximilian must leave Mexico ;  and that President Johnson would take open ground in the matter on the meeting of Congress.  [Ulysses S. Grant]

Gen. Slocum’s resignation has been accepted by the President.  [Henry W. Slocum]

About 1,600 additional French troops have lately arrived in Mexico.  Some negro troops are expected there from Egypt ;  apprehensions are felt that they will bring cholera with them.

A Louisiana delegation, in an interview with the President on Wednesday, sustained Governor Wells, praised Gen. Sheridan, and blamed General Canby for the disorder and dissatisfaction prevalent in that State, alleging that his interference with civil matters had been the cause of all the difficulties.  [Philip H. Sheridan]

Little Six⁴ and Medicine Bottle,⁵ the Sioux chiefs, are to be hung on Wednesday of next week.

Ex-Governor Clarke [sic: Charles Clark], of Mississippi, who has for some months past been imprisoned at Fort Pulaski, has been set at liberty by order of the President.

Dick Turner, the keeper of the Libby prison, who is to be tried on the charge of maltreatment of Union prisoners, has engaged Marmaduke Johnson as his counsel ;  and strong hopes are expressed by that gentleman of a disapproval of the charges against his client.  [Richard “Dick” Turner]

Judge Caton⁶ denies the truth of the statement made “on the authority of William H. Smith,”⁷ that General Grant, in a conversation with him (Judge C.) declared that the Monroe Doctrine would be enforced by our government, and that Maximilian must leave Mexico.  The General, who arrived in Washington Friday morning is said to be “much annoyed at the publication of expressions erroneously attributed to him.”

A meeting of 60,000 freedmen was held at  Edgefield, Tennessee, on Thursday Brig. General Fisk made an address.  “He wanted to put the black man in the jury box and on the witness stand.”  It is expected that, within a few weeks, there will be a general cleaning out of the negroes at Nashville, arrangements having been perfected to procure work for them in various localities.

Dr. Mudd recently made an attempt to escape from Dry Tortugas, by secreting himself in the coal bunker of the steamer Thomas A. Scott.  He was detected and put to work wheeling sand.  [Samuel Mudd]

General Carl Schurz is at St. Louis, and intends, it is reported, to establish a radical (English) newspaper at that point.

General Conner [sic] has issued a circular announcing “war to the knife” against the Indians, and advising officers in command of expeditions never leave a trail until the savages are overtaken and punished.

The 3rd Illinois cavalry, after a march of 1,500 miles, have reached Fort Snelling, whence they will leave for home in about a week, to be mustered out of service.

Count Joannes⁸ has volunteered to act as consul for General Lee in case of the trial of the latter ;  and the general has accepted his offer.  [Robert E. Lee]

The total number of pardons thus far granted by the President is 2,658.  Among the parties who have recently been recipients of executive clemency is L. Pope Walker, the first rebel secretary of war.  [L. P. Walker]

The work of re-establishing lighthouses along the southern coast is in course of vigorous prosecution.

1.  Thomas Callahan, assistant superintendent of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was chaplain for the 48th U.S. Colored Infantry.
2.  Judge James J. Weems (1796-1872) was arrested on September 8, 1865.
3.  William M. Gwin, ex-senator of California, and ex-Governor Clark of Texas, were involved in a scheme to settle colonists from the Confederacy in Mexico. The colonists would be protected by veteran Confederate soldiers. The scheme fell apart.
William McKendree Gwin (1805-1885) was well known in California, Washington, DC, and in the South as a determined southern sympathizer. He served as a U.S. Representative from Mississippi (1841-43), and was one of California’s first two U.S. senators—John C. Fremont being the other, serving from 1850-61. After the the colonization scheme failed and the war ended, Gwin returned to the United States, and, after being arrested briefly, he retired from public life..
Edward Clark (1815-1880) was the 8th governor of Texas, serving from March to November 1861. He had previously been the lieutenant governor under Sam Houston (1859-61) and secretary of state under Elisha M. Pease. Clark became governor when Sam Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. After losing the governor’s race by 124 votes to Francis Lubbock, Clark joined the 14th Texas Infantry as colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general after being wounded in battle. Clark fled to Mexico at the end of the War, staying only briefly.
4.  Medicine Bottle (1831-1865) was a Mdewakanton Dakota warrior, who played a part in the Dakota Conflict of 1862. His Dakota name was “Wa-Kan’-O-Zan-Zan” or Wakanozanzan, and he was also known as Rustling Wind Walker. In 1863 Medicine Bottle fled to Canada, and during the winter of 1864 he was captured there and brought to Fort Snelling (Minnesota). There he was tried and convicted by a military commission for his participation in the Dakota Conflict and sentenced to death. President Andrew Johnson confirmed the sentence. A crude gallows for two was built and, on November 11, 1865. Medicine Bottle was hanged at Fort Snelling, alongside his friend, Chief Shakopee (III).
5.  Little Six (1811-1865), also known as Chief Shakoppe (Shakopeela), was the third Mdewakanton Dakota chief of that name. He was a leader in the Dakota Conflict of 1862, during which he said he killed 13 women and children. Like Medicine Bottle, he fled to Canada in 1863 and was captured in 1864, returned to Minnesota, tried and convicted, and hanged on November 11, 1865.
6.  John Dean Caton (1812-1895) was lawyer in Illinois. Governor Thomas Carlin appointed Caton as an associate justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in August of 1842. He became chief justice when Samuel H. Treat resigned from the post in 1855. Caton himself resigned from the bench in 1864.
7.  Possibly William Henry Smith (1833-1896), a newspaper editor and Republican politician who was the 16th Ohio secretary of state (1865-68), or William Hugh Smith (1826-1899) who will become the 21st governor of Alabama (1868-70).
8.  George, Count Joannes (born George Jones, 1810-1879) was an English-American actor, author, journalist, and litigator best known for his eccentric behavior later in life. The Count’s many letters and other interactions with the famous became fodder for the newspapers, particularly after his return to America in 1859. He filed lawsuits against Horace Greeley, Edward Sothern, Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew, writer Francis Henry Underwood, The New York Times, and others. His correspondence with General Robert E. Lee offering to defend him against charges of treason was reported in the newspapers, as we see here.

1865 September 30: Telegraphic Summary

The following summary of news comes from the September 30, 1865, issue of both The Prescott Journal and The Polk County Press.  Both papers have identical inside pages, with Milwaukee advertisements.

Telegraphic Summary.

A delegation from Texas is in Washington, urging the release of Jeff Davis.  [Jefferson Davis]

The South Carolina convention has repealed the ordinance of succession—there being three votes in the negative.

The trial of the rebel burners of steamboats commenced in St. Louis, before a military commission, Tuesday.  The counsel for one of the defendants gave notice that he should summon, among his witnesses, Jeff. Davis, the rebel secretaries Seddon [James Seddon] and Mallory [Stephen R. Mallory], and Admirals Farragut [David G. Farragut] and Porter [David D. Porter].

Champ Ferguson’s¹ trial, at Nashville, was closed Tuesday, and the decision of the court has been forwarded to General Stoneman.  [George Stoneman]

In the Indian council at Fort Smith, on Monday, the treaty was signed by the rebel Creeks, Cherokees, Osages, Comanches, Choctaws and Chickasaws.

The late rebel Gen. Pillow is in Washington seeking pardon.  [Gideon J. Pillow]

The total number of colored troops enlisted in the army was 180,000.  Of these, 50,000 have died or been killed, and 60,000 of the remainder have been ordered mustered out.

The Secretary of the Treasury has addressed addressed [sic] a letter to officers of customs, allowing the shipment to the Southern States of firearms and ammunition for sporting, and blast powder for mining purposes, the amounts to be left at their own discretion.

The notorious John H. Surratt, one of the assassination conspirators, and son of Mrs. Surratt [Mary Surratt] who was executed, was recently seen in Montreal where he has been concealed.  He is on the eve of leaving for Scotland.

Private letters from the 12th Illinois cavalry, of September 3d, announce the arrival of Custar’s [sic] Division at Hempshead, Texas,  on the Texas central railroad, forty miles north of Houston, where the command would remain three weeks.  The division is composed of the 5th and 12th Illinois, 7th Indiana, 2d Wisconsin [emphasis added], and 1st Iowa, all cavalry, in two brigades.  It left Alexandria, La., August 8th, and performed the march of nearly 350 miles in nineteen days.  It was expected next to proceed to Austin, 175 miles, stay several weeks, and afterwards to San Antonio, 80 miles, at which latter place Gen. Merritt’s cavalry division is already arrived.   [Wesley Merritt]

In the Alabama State Convention, on the 20th, the provisional Governor was requested, by resolution, to call out the militia for the suppression of prevalent lawlessness.  The consideration of the ordinance abolishing slavery was postponed, after debate, till the following day.

A dispatch from Washington says it is understood that the President regards with disfavor the extent of power exercised by agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau; and he is expected to make some changes in this regard.

The report that Jeff. Davis’ quarters at Fortress Monroe had been changed is contradicted.

Hannibal Hamlin, Horace Greeley, General Fremont and other notabilities, are expected to arrive at Detroit to-day, on board the revenue cutter Commodore Perry.  [Horace Greeley, John C. Fremont]

Fayette McMullen, of Virginia, who was formerly a member of the federal, and latterly of the rebel congress, has received a pardon.

Kenneth Raynor and Alfred Dockery, of North Carolina, and John McQueen, of South Carolina, all formerly members of the United States congress, have also been pardoned.

General Blair, who is in temporary command of the department of the Missouri, during the temporary absence of General Pope, has been assigned to the command of the cavalry in that department.  [Francis P. Blair, John Pope]

Iowa is credited by the provost marshal general with 76,000 troops—3,000 less than she claims.

In the case of the steamboat burner Murphy, at St. Louis, Friday, the motion of his cou[n]sel to summon Jeff. Davis and his cabinet as witnesses, was overruled.

A mutiny has occurred among the troops at Fort Rice, and some of them decamped on government horses.

General Sully’s force has returned from Devil’s lake to Fort Rice.  Nothing was accomplished by the expedition.  [Alfred Sully]

1.  Irregular guerrilla forces under the notorious Champ Ferguson murdered white and black Union soldiers who had been wounded and captured. Ferguson was tried after the War for these and other non-military killings and was found guilty and executed.

1865 September 16: More Soldiers Returning Home, Freedman H. H. Thomas Speaks in Osceola, and Other News

The small, many local, news items for this week come from The Polk County Press of September 16, 1865.

— The First Minnesota Heavy Artillery is expected home in a few days.

— The Third Minnesota arrived home on the 12th inst.

GONE.—“HICK” CLARK [Andrew J. Clark] and JOHN BAKER, have gone to report themselves, their furloughs having nearly expired.  They report first at Madison, we believe, where they anticipate getting discharged under the order recently issued by the War Department, discharging all absentees from their respective regiments.

— Mr. H. H. THOMAS,¹ a colored gentleman from Kansas, and before residing there, for twenty-five years a slave in six or seven Slave States, addressed an audience in this village [Osceola, Wisconsin] on Thursday evening last, giving a spirited description of his experience while in bondage, and also as a freedman.  The house was well filled and all were pleased with the entertainment.

— News is expected daily of a battle between General Conner’s [sic] forces and the Indians, on or near Big Horn river, a branch of the Yellowstone, in the Rocky Mountains.  [Patrick E. Connor]

— Provost Marshal General Fry reports to the State officers that Indiana has furnished 103,337 men to the Government between the 17th of April, 1861, and the 30th of April, 1865.  [James B. Fry]

— Alexander H. Stephens is said to advocate giving the freedmen a fair chance and favors in trusting them with political power as soon as increased manhood and self-respect enable them to wield it intelligently.

PROCLAMATION.—Gov. Lewis [James T. Lewis] has issued a very pleasant Proclamation, an acknowlagement [sic] of the great services rendered the cause of the Union by the Soldiers of Wisconsin.  It is published elsewhere.

1.  A possibility is the H. H. Thomas listed in the 1870 federal census in Lawrence, Kansas. He is 40 years old, born in Virginia, and working as a real estate agent. His wife is Frances Thomas. In the 1880 census, he is listed as Henry Thomas, still married to Francis, still living in Lawrence, now working as a barber.

1865 September 16: Bushwhackers and Guerrillas, and Other News

The following news items come from the “Gleanings” column and the end of the “Telegraphic Summary” column of the September 16, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.

Gleanings.

— One of the London theatres is still playing to enthusiastic audiences “The Confederate Daughter; or, the Tyrant of New Orleans.”

— Capt. Kirk,¹ the notorious guerrilla, who was to have been tried at Nashville, for the murder of Gen. McCook [Robert L. McCook], was shot in prison by his guard.

— The work of repairing the Virginia railroads progresses steadily, and it is thought that, in a few weeks, communication will be complete with New Orleans.

— William Moss, a rebel bushwhacker, who had taken up his residence at St. Louis, where he was coolly arranging to go into business, has been convicted at Jersey City [sic: Jerseyville], Missouri [sic: Illinois], of murders committed during the war, and sentenced to be hung.²

— President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] has introduced into the White House the largest family circle that ever occupied the Executive Mansion.  His family consist of his wife, a son, son-in-law, two daughters, and a number of grand-children.—The son-in-law is Judge Patterson,³ recently elected a Senator form [sic] Tennessee.  Mrs. P., who is to be the lady of the house, was educated at Georgetown, during Mr. Polk’s administration, and was then a frequent guest of his family.

— A correspondent of the Maine Democrat says that the father of Jeff. Davis [Jefferson Davis] was born in Maine, and went South when he had nearly arrived at manhood.  He was not afterward heard of until Jeff. Davis visited Maine some years ago, when he stated in conversation with a friend, that his father was born in Buxton, and had arrived in Mississippi a poor boy.  The writer says Davis’ parents were not married.

Telegraphic Summary.

Henry A. Wise has written a letter to General Grant [Ulysses S. Grant], covering thirty sheets of foolscap, appealing against General Terry’s [Alfred H. Terry] transfer of Wise’s abandoned property to the Freedmen’s bureau.

President Johnson has telegraphed Governor Holden [W. W. Holden] that, in case of his visiting Richmond, he will extend his trip as far as Raleigh, the place of his nativity.

The death sentence of Thomas Wilson, bushwhacker, has been commuted by Governor Oglesby [Richard J. Oglesby] to imprisonment for twenty-five years.

Mr. Hall, clerk of the circuit court at Knoxville, Tennessee, was killed on Tuesday, by a man named Baker, formerly of the rebel army.  Baker was taken from the jail by a mob, and hung in the street.⁴

Francis Pickens, of South Carolina, has made applications for pardon.

General Steele [Frederick Steele], commanding the Union forces in Texas, is represented as being very friendly towards the Mexican imperialists,—having lately been present at a ball given in honor of one of Maximilian’s ministers, and having, at a recent banquet, proposed a toast in honor of “his imperial majesty.”

The provisional governor of Alabama [Lewis E. Parsons] recommends all local Magistrates in that State to accept the position, which has been proffered them, of agents of the freedmen’s bureau, for the purpose of administering justice in cases where negroes constitute one or both of the opposing parties.

Permission has been given to Jeff. Davis to have epistolary communication with his wife.  Jeff. is convalescent from his attack of erysipelas.

1.  Lewis M. Kirk (1828-1865) was captain of Company D, 19th Tennessee Cavalry. Before the Civil War, Kirk—a Mexican War veteran—worked as a blacksmith in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. On November 9, 1858, Kirk killed Thomas J. Westmoreland, a farmer from neighboring Giles County. When the Civil War started, Kirk was serving a 15-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. When he filed a pardon request with Governor Isham G. Harris, he pledged to join the Confederate army if the governor would pardon him. The governor did, and Kirk joined the local Lawrenceburg Invincibles and later raised a Confederate cavalry unit that became part of the 19th Tennessee Cavalry. Kirk supposedly murdered General McCook during a skirmish in northern Alabama in early August of 1862. Kirk’s enemies also accused him of a lot of other atrocities during the War, including the murder of countless contraband slaves. The 19th Tennessee Cavalry surrendered on May 11, 1865, in Alabama and Kirk returned to Lawrenceburg, where, two months later, he was arrested and taken to the Federal headquarters in Pulaski, Tennessee. Kirk was killed—executed by a firing squadron, according to some accounts—on July 26, 1865, and is buried in the Lynnwood Cemetery in Pulaski, Tennessee. For more details on the Westmoreland murder, see Clint Alley’s April 16, 2014, post “The Blacksmith and the Farmer: A Tale of Slander, Bacon, and Murder in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee,” on the History of Lawrence Co. Tennessee blog (accessed September 17, 2015).
2.  Tom Moss, an alias for William A. Brown, along with a man named Henderson, murdered three men on November 7, 1864, in Fidelity, Illinois (Jersey County). Moss escaped, but was later arrested and jailed in Jerseyville. He was tried in August 1865, convicted, and hanged on September 1, 1865, at the Jersey County courthouse.
3.  David Trotter Patterson (1818-1891) married Martha Johnson in 1855. He was appointed as a judge in the first circuit court of Tennessee in 1854, serving to 1863. A Unionist from East Tennessee, Patterson was elected by the Tennessee General Assembly to the U.S. Senate in 1866, serving to March 4, 1869. (Tennessee was the first Confederate state to be re-admitted to the Union on July 24, 1866). He did not run for re-election and returned to East Tennessee to manage his substantial agricultural interests.
4.  Former Union soldier William S. Hall (1838-1865) was shot in the head by ex-Confederate soldier Abner Baker (1843-1865) on September 4, 1865. One possible motive is that Baker’s father, Dr. Harvey Baker, was killed in the family home during the Civil War by a Union soldier and he may have been seeking to avenge his father’s death.

1865 September 16 : Freedmen’s Bureau Helping to Provide Employment for Destitute Freedmen, All Colored Troops to be Immediately Mustered Out

The following comes from the September 16, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.

Telegraphic News. 

NEW YORK, Sept. 14.— The Tribune’s Whashington [sic] special says :

Only 130 partial rations are issued to destitute freedmen of this city, and the number is rapidly decreasing, owing to the efforts of the freedmen’s bureaus to provide colored citizens of this class with self-sustaining employment.

Lieut. Clark, of Gen. Howard’s staff, has just returned from Harper’s Ferry, for the purpose of investigating freedmen’s affairs in that vicinity, and reports very encouragingly of present prospects.  [O. O. Howard]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13.— There were issued orders to commanding officers in the departments of North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Alabama and Arkansas, directing them to immediately muster out of service all organizations of colored troops which were enlisted in Northern States and are now serving in their respective commands.

They are to muster out the entire organizations, including all additions thereto by recruits and other causes.  Another order directs the muster out of 3,000 additional white troops in the department of Arkansas.

Maj. Gen. Auger has also been ordered to reduce the volunteer force in his command to 6,000 commission officers and enlisted men.  [Christopher C. Augur]

The Herald’s Washington special says, last evening Secretary Seward [William H. Seward] had a reception, when, in addition to the numerous other visitors, the principal part of the southern delegation, which called upon the President [Andrew Johnson] during the day, were present.  They were received by Mr. Seward and other members of the cabinet in manner equally as frank and affable as that with which they were greeted at the executive mansion.  The tone of remarks by the Secretary of State were similar to those made by the President.  He said the policy was to make the Union firm and equaitable [sic], but at the same time to make sure work of reconstruction.

1865 September 16: Official Thanks to Wisconsin’s Soldiers

This proclamation by James T. Lewis, Wisconsin’s governor, thanks the volunteer soldiers of the state for their service in the War.  It was published in the September 16, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.

Official Thanks to Wisconsin Soldiers.

STATE OF WISCONSIN 

BY JAMES T. LEWIS, GOVERNOR 

A   P R O C L A M A T I O N.

An all-wise Creator has permitted us to triumph over treason.  As the smoke of battle clears away and we behold the great work which has been accomplished by the Army of the Union ;  when we consider that it has stood as our bulwark in the darkest hour of the Republic, and when we remember that Wisconsin’s sons formed a part of this great army, and view the honorable and important position taken by them in it, the record they have made, our hearts swell with pride, and we feel that the gratitude and thanks of our people are due and should be tendered to the noble men who have taken part in the greatest struggle the world has ever known—a struggle involving not alone the interests of this nation, but the interests of all mankind ;  a struggle every day of which was crowded with momentous events.

For the bravery which has distinguished Wisconsin soldiers in every battle in which they have been engaged ;  for the patriotism displayed by them on all occasions ;  for the gallantry with which they have borne the Stars and Stripes, and the noble manner in which they have sustained the State and Nation, I, James T. Lewis, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, do therefore, in behalf of the State, hereby tender to all Wisconsin officers and soldiers of every grade, the heartfelt thanks and gratitude of its people.  And while we remember with gratitude the living , we will not forget the heroic dead.  Their heroic memories will be honored and cherished by our people.  Their fame survives—they will live in the hearts of their countrymen.

In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed.

( L. S. )                     .Done at Madison, this 2nd day of September,
.                                 .in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred
.                                 .and sixty five.

JAMES T. LEWIS.

By the Governor.
LUCIUS FAIRCHILD, Secretary of State.

1865 September 16: Wisconsin’s Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Black Suffrage

The following proposed amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution appeared in the September 16, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press, and the September 23, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

Proposed Constitutional Amendment.

CHAPTER 414.

AN ACT to extend the right of suffrage.

The People of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :

Section 1.  The right of voting is hereby extended to male persons of African blood, who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years or upwards, with the same qualifications and restrictions now imposed upon other voters in section one of the article on suffrage, in the constitution.

Section 2.  This act, before it takes effect, shall be submitted to the people, at a general election, to be held on the Tuesday next, succeeding the first Monday of November, 1865, when if such majority of votes as is required by the constitution, be cast for it, it shall be of force and effect under the requirements hereinafter prescribed ;  but if such majority be not cast for it, it shall have no force or effect.

Section 3.  The ballot to be used on this occasion, shall be for the affirmative, “for extension of suffrage,” for the negative, “for the extension of suffrage, no,” which shall be on the general ballot used at the said election and deposited in the same box, and all persons qualified by law to vote at any election in this State, shall be deemed voters on this question.

Section 4.  These votes shall be counted and returned by the inspectors of the election, in all respects as votes for state officers are counted and returned.

Section 5.  The officers now delegated by law to canvass the returns of votes for the state officers shall canvass the return on this question, at the same place and under the same regulations and restrictions now provided by law for canvassing and declaring the returns of elections for state officers.

Section 6.  Within three days after the determination of such canvass, it shall be the duty of the canvasser to certify the result of the said canvass to the governor, who shall, thereupon, without delay, make proclamation of the result, and publish the same daily and weekly for two weeks, in all newspapers printed in the state ;  when, if the results shall be in favor of the extension of suffrage, this act shall immediately after publication, be of force and effect ;  but if not in favor of it, then this act shall have no force or effect.

Section 7.  This act, immediately after its passage, shall be published, and at least three months previously to said general election, the secretary of state shall send or cause to be sent, a correct copy of it to every newspaper in the state, which newspaper, upon the publication of the same shall be entitled to pay for the same out of the state treasury, at the rates paid for other legal advertising.

Approved April 10, 1865.

____________

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE, }
MADISON, July 18, 1865. }

The publisher of each paper in this state, will please publish the above act once each week for three months prior to the next general election, and send his bill to this office for payment.

LUCIUS FAIRCHILD,
.         .Secretary of State.

1865 September 16: More on the Henry Wirz Trial, Various Post-War Issues, Indian Negotiations

The following summary of the week’s news comes from the September 16, 1865, issue of The Polk County Press.

Telegraphic Summary.

Alexander Dudley, president of the New York River railroad, has had his pardon restored to him.

It is believed that a proclamation will soon be issued by the President, restoring the writ of habeas corpus in the loyal states.

All sentences of death in cases of soldiers convicted of desertion, have been commuted by the President to imprisonment for a term of years.  [Andrew Johnson]

 No prominent rebel generals have as yet applied for permission to leave the country, and it is asserted that General Lee has no thought of making such application.  [Robert E. Lee]

The commission to negotiate treaties of peace with the Sioux and Cheyennes will hold a council with those tribes at Fort Rice, on the 15th proximo.  The commission consists of Governor Edmonds [sic],¹ of Dakotah ;  Edward B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern superintendency ;  Generals Curtis and Sibley ;  Henry H. Reed, of Iowa ;  and Owen Guernsey of Wisconsin.  [Samuel R. Curtis, Henry Hastings Sibley]

Generals John C. Robinson, John F. Miller, and Joseph R. Hawley have been stricken from the list of general officers, mustered out by the recent order from the war department.²

The report that the records of the Andersonville prison had been stolen had its origin in the following circumstances ;  they were originally sold for $300 to the war department by one Dorrance [sic: Dorence] Atwater, who, while a prisoner at Andersonville, managed to abstract them from the rebel officials.  He was afterward detailed to accompany Captain Moore’s party to Andersonville, and during his absence, secretly made a copy of the original, with the presumable intention of repeating their sale in another quarter.  He is now undergoing court-martial for the offense.  Captain Moore has the original copy still in his possession.  [for more on this, see footnote 1 in the September 2, 1865, post on Moore’s expedition]

Major General Wilson was recently attacked by four highwaymen, near Macon.  He captured one, and put the others to flight.  [James H. Wilson]

Judge Advocate Chipman³ has classified the witnesses for the prosecution in the Wirz case, so as to shorten the time of the trial by two or three weeks.  [Henry Wirz]

Several of the hitherto hostile Indian tribes, on the plains, are beginning to manifest a desire for peace.  The government is anxious to come to an arrangement with them, and, if one be made, will hold time rigidly to their agreements.  If the attempts at pacification shall fail, military movement against the savages will be prosecuted with relentless vigor.

The testimony in the trial of Wirz, Thursday, was of a character similar to that on previous days.  The prisoner is looking very badly, and the opinion is expressed by some that his life will not last beyond another month.

Henry S. Foote, the rebel congressman, has been allowed to return to his home, in Nashville, on condition that he shall not interfere in politics.

President Johnson refuses to release Mallory [Stephen R. Mallory], ex-secretary of the rebel navy, but allows him to have communication with his family.

All the white infantry troops in the department of the Tennessee have been ordered mustered out.

President Johnson, in his letter, sustaining the Governor of Mississippi [William L. Sharkey], in his call for the organization of the State militia, gives, as his main reason therfor [sic], the statement that he is desirous to induce the people to come forward in defense of the State and Federal Governments ;  and declares that, in case of any insurrectionary movement by such organization, national troops will be on had [sic: hand] to suppress it immediately.

During the past four years of the rebellion, Indiana furnished 193,337 troops, and Wisconsin 96,000.  In the latter State, over $10,000,000 was raised for bounties to soldiers.

1.  Newton Edmunds (1819-1908) was part of the New York Edmunds family that was involved with politics, associating with the Free Soilers before affiliating with the Republican Party. Newton Edmunds’ brother, C. E. Edmunds, was Commissioner of the United States Land Office. Newton Edmunds was appointed as chief clerk in the surveyor-general’s office, resulting in Edmunds’ arrival in Dakota Territory in 1861. In August of 1862, Edmunds was elected as eighth corporal of Company A of the Dakota Militia, following the Santee uprising. On October 17, 1863, Edmunds was appointed governor of Dakota Territory by President Abraham Lincoln. Edmunds received strong support from former Governor William Jayne. Edmunds believed that the Indian wars in the territory impeded white settlement by creating a negative public perception of Dakota Territory. In October 1865, Edmunds and the commission mentioned here began to negotiate with Indian tribes located along the Missouri River. The commission eventually reached treaty agreements with thirteen tribes.
2.

• John Cleveland Robinson (1817-1897) Robinson remained in the army following the cessation of hostilities and was assigned command of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Federally occupied North Carolina. On April 10, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Robinson for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general in the regular army, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on May 4, 1866. In July 1866, he was promoted to full colonel in the regular army. On July 17, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Robinson for appointment to the brevet grade of major general in the regular army, to rank from March 13, 1865. Robinson was mustered out of the Volunteer army on September 1, 1866. In 1867, Robinson was assigned to command of the Military Department of the South. The following year, he was again reassigned, this time to lead the Department of the Lakes. Robinson retired from the U.S. Army on May 6, 1869, receiving a commission to the full grade of major general in the regular army on the date of his retirement
• John Franklin Miller (1831-1886) Miller was brevetted as a major general on March 13, 1865. He declined a commission as a colonel in the Regular Army and resigned from the Volunteers on September 29, 1865. He later served as a U.S. senator from California (1881-1886).
• Joseph Roswell Hawley (1826-1905) was brevetted as a major general in September 1865, and mustered out of the army on January 15, 1866. He later served as a U.S. senator from Connecticut (1881-1905).

3.  Norton Parker Chipman (1834-1924) enlisted in the 2nd Iowa Infantry and fought courageously in the Battle of Fort Donelson, where he was wounded and reported dead. Chipman survived and was promoted to colonel in 1862. Chipman was later appointed as a member of General Henry W. Halleck’s and then Samuel R. Curtis’s staff. He later became a member of the Judge Advocate General’s staff. Chipman successfully prosecuted Captain Henry Wirz, the commander of the Confederacy’s infamous Andersonville prison camp. Chipman published his recollections of the famous Andersonville Trial in his 1911 book, The Tragedy of Andersonville Prison: The Trial of Captain Henry Wirz [online edition available to UWRF students and staff; check the catalog]. After the War he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1871-75) from the District of Columbia.

1865 September 2: Webb Seavey, Fred Dresser, and David Caneday Home from the War; and Other Bits of News

Following are smaller news items from The Polk County Press of September 2, 1865.

A JOKE.—The Prescott Journal has a lengthy account of Gen. Grant’s reception at Prescott and the leading spirits are all hugely complimented for the masterly manner in which they performed their different parts.  The fun of it is, the General was asleep when the boat passed Prescott, and they did not see him at all.  [Ulysses S. Grant]

HOME FROM THE WAR.—Captain WEBB S. SEAVEY, 5th Iowa Cavalry, and Quartermaster FRED. A. DRESSER., 30th Wisconsin Volunteers, arrived home on Tuesday evening.

Capt. SEAVEY has been mustered out with his regiment, after four years hard and faithful service for the Government, and was unfortunate enough to serve part of his time in the rebel slaughter pen at Andersonville.  We are sorry to say that his health is quite poor.

Quartermaster DRESSER is home on furlough, and returns in a few days.  His regiment is stationed at Louisville, and will be mustered out some time during the month of October.  [Frederick A. Dresser]

GEN. GRANT.—GEN. ULYSSES S. GRANT and party visited St. Paul, St. Anthony, Minneapolis, Minnehaha, and Fort Snelling last Saturday.  He met with a grand reception.

—DAVID CANEDAY, formerly of the “Monitor” dropped in upon us Thursday.  DAVE is the same old “David” of old, notwithstanding the hard campaigns of the Southwest.  [David A. Canaday]

TO OUR READERS.—With this number of the PRESS we bid “good-bye” to our readers for a short time, while with the aid of the “iron horse” we journey East and visit again our old New England home.  During our absence the PRESS will be in charge of our brother and junior publisher, who will, no doubt, assume our duties in a manner satisfactory to all.  [former soldier Henry O. Fifield is the brother and junior publisher]

DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT ST. PAUL.—During the passage of GEN. GRANT through Third Street St. Paul, last Saturday, an iron balcony containing about twenty men, women and children, was precipitated from the second story of a building to the stone side-walk below, severely injuring,—some of them fatally,—seventeen persons.  The balcony was a shabbily built affair, and broke down from being overloaded.

—The latest report from Gov. Brough says that one of his limbs have [sic] been amputated above the ankle.  He is much worse, and no hopes are entertained of his recovery.  [John Brough]

WOODEN MORTAR.—We saw at the historical society room, the other day, a wooden mortar, which was used in the bombardment of the forts around Mobile. It is simply the section of a gum log, about eighteen inches long and ten inches in diameter, hooped with three iron bands.—They are quite light, and can be easily carried from place to place to suit convenience.  This one belonged to the Seventh Regiment, and was presented by them to the historical society.—St. Paul Press.

The Southern Church.

At the outbreak of the rebellion and long previous to it, the slavery question had been a source of as much dissension in church as in State.  Several of the leading church denominations had divided or were utterly at variance among their membership on this inevitable question.—All the churches in the South argued the divinity of slavery, supporting, supported succession and encouraged rebellion.  Almost all the former ecclesiastical organizations there, are now broken up, and under the influence of the liberal ideas of the North, the reconstruction of the churches is beginning.  Slavery, the sole cause of contention and seperation [sic], is now virtually abolished, and the re-union of the churches, or rather their reorganization on the principles which all their members North and South, once held in common, is already taking place.  The elimination of every element of discord from the powerful and widely extended church organizations of the country, will be very effective in promoting harmony among the people of every State and section, and will do much in the way of uniting indissolubly those who were so lately at enmity towards each other.