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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01772 1652
GENEALOGY 975.302 W27wiL v.2
WASHINGTON : THE CAPITAL CITY SECOND EDITION
By Rufus Rockwell Wilson
RAMBLES IN COLONIAL BYWAYS
Illustrated with photogravures and half-tones. 12mo. Two volumes in a box, $3.00
" It would be difficult to chance upon a more engaging and instructive cicerone than Mr. Wilson. Throughout these at- tractive volumes, which are appropriately illustrated after drawings and photo- graphs, the author offers an exquisite fusion of historic fact and intimate per- sonal impression." - Critic, New York
FRONT VIEW OF THE CAPITOL AT THE PRESENT DAY
WASHINGTON THE CAPITAL CITY
AND ITS PART IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATION
BY Rufus Rockwell Wilson
AUTHOR OF " RAMBLES IN COLONIAL BYWAYS"
VOL. II.
ILLUSTRATED
PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1 902
Copyright, 1901 By J. B. Lippincott Company
Electrotyped and Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S. A.
TO MY MOTHER
IN WHOSE DEAR COMRADESHIP THE GREATER PART OF THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. A NEW ISSUE AND NEW LEADERS
9
II. FOUR EVENTFUL YEARS .
36
III. TAYLOR'S BRIEF TERM
62
IV. THE PASSING OF THE WHIGS
90
V. ENTRANCE OF THE REPUBLICANS
17
VI. THE END OF AN ERA
144
VII. THE APPEAL TO ARMS
172
VIII. CAMPS AND HOSPITALS
198
IX. LINCOLN IN THE WHITE HOUSE .
226
X. LAST DAYS OF THE WAR
254
XI. LINCOLN'S DEATH AND AFTER
282
XII. REBUILDING A NATION
310
XIII. THE PRESIDENCY OF GRANT
341
XIV. A NEW ERA AND A NEW CITY
371
5
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
FRONT VIEW OF THE CAPITOL AT THE PRESENT
DAY Frontispiece
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 40 THE STATE, WAR, AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS BUILDING 116 WASHINGTON AND ITS VICINITY IN IS62 229
THE HOUSE IN WHICH PRESIDENT LINCOLN DIED . .
293
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
391
7
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WASHINGTON : THE CAPITAL CITY +
CHAPTER I
A NEW ISSUE AND NEW LEADERS
T HROUGH an issue undreamed of by the men who made it possible, Tyler's fortu- itous accession had had its logical result, for it was his pro-slavery inclining that in 1840 had made him available to strengthen the Whig ticket, and in his hands, backed by Calhoun's determined efforts, the pro-slavery policy had been advanced until it now dominated all others. Again political conditions had developed a new stage, and this found the men who were to deal with it already in the arena of active politics. Indeed, the six years which saw the consum- mation of Tyler's Texan programme, and the harvesting of its fruits by his successor, also witnessed the entrance into Congress of most
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Washington : The Capital City
of the leaders at whose hands the slavery ques- tion was to have final and irrevocable solution.
Well up on the roll of this new group of statesmen stands the name of Stephen A. Doug- las, of Illinois, who in 1847, after four years of service in the House, took the seat in the Senate which he was to occupy until his death. He was its youngest member when he entered the Senate, a short, thick-set man of thirty-four, with a swarthy, clean-shaven face, and eyes which, in moments of excitement, became as large and impressive as those of Webster. His also was a mind capable of grasping, analyzing, and elucidating the most complex and difficult subjects, either in the science of law or that of government, and to these qualities he added a gift for strong and simple speech, a courageous vigor, and a manly boldness which quickly made him a leader on the floor and a foremost figure in the councils of his party.
Benton once said of Douglas that he could never be President because his coat-tails came too near the ground, yet no orator of his time seemed of such imposing stature as Douglas did when in the fury and passion of one of his stump addresses, and Blaine asserts that
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A New Issue and New Leaders
he was in some respects, perhaps in most, the ablest campaigner the Democratic party has produced. That opinion will doubtless receive the assent of every politician of a generation or more ago who heard the Little Giant on the stump. None surpassed him in personal influence over the masses of the people. Nor did any inspire more devoted friendship.
John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, entered the Senate on the same day as did Douglas. As a Democrat he had previously served a single term in the House, but, breaking with his party on the annexation of Texas, failed of re-election. He then made a memorable canvass of his State as a candidate for Sena- tor, and at its close won the seat which, save for a brief interregnum, he held for eighteen years. A magnetic speaker, Hale possessed a voice singularly adapted for oratory, and he had carefully cultivated it so that it was pos- sible for him, without seeming effort, to speak so that he could be heard by immense throngs with perfect distinctness. His voice was mel- low and charming, and so were his manners. Though for several years the only avowed anti- slavery man in the Senate, a fact which made
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him the frequent target for violent abuse and passionate assault, he had perfect command of his temper, and possessed in the highest degree the art of making a soft answer turn away wrath.
Thus those who most violently assailed Hale in debate were often in private life his devoted friends, as a pleasant anecdote recited by Nathan Sargent bears witness. In 1850 Hale was prompted by the presence of a pro-slavery mob in Washington to introduce a resolution pro- viding for the reimbursement of persons whose property should be destroyed by riotous as- semblages. Henry S. Foote, a quick-tempered Irishman who then represented Mississippi in the Senate, denounced this resolution as in- tended to protect " negro-stealing," adding that if Hale came to Mississippi he would be hanged to the nearest tree, and that he (Foote) would cheerfully assist his executioner. It was a most unfortunate speech for Foote, who was on intimate terms with Hale, and he himself con- fessed it. His mail, in less than forty-eight hours, was burdened with letters filled with caustic revilement, and within a week he was known all over the North as Hangman Foote.
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. A New Issue and New Leaders
One morning, a month later, a young woman from New Hampshire called upon Hale and asked him to intercede for her brother, who had been arrested for some offence. Hale told her that he could do nothing, but that he had a friend who might, and he took her to Foote. When the girl had told her story, Foote said that he thought he would be able to help her, and that he would see the Secretary of the Treas- tiry the next day. He did so, and came away with a pardon for the young woman's brother. She went with Hale to Foote's committee-room, and he told her of his success. Then Hale, turning to her, said, "My dear young lady, when you go back to New Hampshire and tell the people there that your brother is out of his trouble, just say to them, will you? that he was released through the intercession of no other person than the Senator who is called in New Hampshire Hangman Foote, and who promised to hang me if I went to Mississippi. What he has done for you and your brother is the kind of hangman he is." Here Hale put his arm around Foote's shoulder, and the Mississippi Senator was affected to tears.
Jefferson Davis was also a Senator from Mis-
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Washington : The Capital City
sissippi from 1847 till 1851, but resigned in the latter year to enter upon an unsuccessful canvass for governor of his State. During the same period and for eight years longer Texas was represented by General Sam Houston, whose romantic career and picturesque appear- ance made him from the first a marked figure in the Senate chamber. Always unconventional in dress, it was his wont to appear at the Capitol garbed in a vast and showy sombrero and a Mexican blanket, a sort of ornamental bed- quilt with a slit in the middle, through which the wearer's head was thrust, leaving the blan- ket to hang in folds around the body. How- ever, Houston soon proved himself capable of adding his quota of sound and patriotic advice to the deliberations of the Senate,-no passage in his career was nobler than the heroic stand against secession which marked its close,-while of his kindliness of nature and generous help- fulness to those in distress innumerable stories are, after the lapse of fifty years, still current in Washington.
Near Quincy, Illinois, there was a stretch of country known as the " Indian tract," to which Houston held title,-a fact many of the settlers
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A New Issue and New Leaders
thereon, a careless pioneer brood, failed to search out. One of them called upon William A. Richardson, long member of the House from the Quincy district and subsequently a member of the Senate, and asked if he knew Houston. Richardson said he did, whereupon his visitor confided to him that he had in- advertently settled upon one hundred and sixty acres of Houston's land, and that all he was worth stood in improvements on the land. He wanted Richardson to see Houston and make the best terms he could. Richardson, upon his return to Washington, told Houston the story, and asked what he would take for a quit-claim deed to the one hundred and sixty acres. " What sort of a man is this constituent of yours who has blundered upon my land?" asked Houston. " Good, square, honest man,"
was the reply. " When I turn him off my land I reckon he and his family will be beggars." Richardson nodded. "What's this farm worth now?" asked Houston. " Improvements and all, about six thousand dollars," was the re- sponse. " What was the bare place worth when your fellow went on it?" inquired Houston. " About five dollars an acre; eight hundred
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Washington : The Capital City
dollars in all," answered Richardson. " Good fellow, this man of yours, Richardson?"-this after a moment's thought. " Best in the world,"
said Richardson. " Tell him to send me eight hundred dollars and I'll make him a deed."
In due time the eight hundred dollars reached Washington in the shape of a New York draft. Richardson sought Houston, who, having made a deed, took the draft and endorsed it. " You say this man of yours is a good fellow?" he asked, thoughtfully. "Couldn't be a better one," was the emphatic answer. "Send him back this draft and tell him Sam Houston has changed his mind. What can you buy a good saddle- horse for out in that country?" He was told that two hundred dollars would do it. " Well, then," said Houston, " write to your friend and tell him to buy a first-class saddle-horse, about four years old, and keep him for me. I will go home with you when Congress adjourns and ride the horse down to Texas." The man in Illinois without delay received back his draft and bought a saddle-horse, the best he could find. Just before adjournment Houston sought Richardson. " You say the fellow who's got my horse is a tip-top, good man?" Richardson
16
A New Issue and New Leaders
again pronounced him one of the best in his district. " Well," said Houston, with a sigh, " I would have liked first-rate to see him and also my horse, but as affairs turn out I must go straight to Texas. When you get home, go over and see this man, and tell him to sell the horse and do what he pleases with the money. And, by the way, Richardson, I wish you would write and tell me if it was a good horse or not."
When Houston entered the Senate, Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York, and Reverdy John- son, of Maryland, had lately begun brief pe- riods of service in that body. Dickinson as a debater was clear, profound, and logical, with a capacity for scathing satire that made him dreaded by his opponents, but he is, perhaps, best remembered as one of the most effective stump-speakers of his time, a rôle in which he gained such repute that wherever he was an- nounced to speak the day of his appearance was a holiday. The talents of Johnson were of a higher, but different order. Law was his delight, and he was not a politician. Pre-emi- nent as a lawyer, could he have been placed on the bench of the Supreme Court he would II .-- 2
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Washington : The Capital City
have proved one of the ablest judges who ever graced that high tribunal. His service in the Senate, marked by unusual independence of thought and speech, ended in 1849, when he resigned to become Attorney-General in Tay- lor's Cabinet.
Among the new members of the Senate whose periods of service dated from the Twenty-eighth or the succeeding Congress were Thomas Cor- win, of Ohio, fresh from a term as governor of his State; Walter T. Colquitt, of Georgia, and David L. Yulee, both lately advanced from seats in the House; and John A, Dix, of New York ; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania; Lewis Cass, of Michigan; David R. Atchison, of Missouri; and Thomas J. Rusk, of Texas. Dix, a man of sound culture and considerable gifts as an orator, was afterwards Secretary of the Treasury and governor of his State. Cam- eron was rarely, if ever, heard in debate, but early took place among the most adroit politi- cians of his period. Cass, a solid, serious man without brilliant qualities, had been Secretary of War and minister to France under Jackson, and at the end of his second term in the Senate was to become Buchanan's Secretary of State.
IS
A New Issue and New Leaders
Atchison was active and prominent in all of the legislation preceding the Civil War, but his public career ended with his retirement from the Senate in 1856. The last years of Rusk, who had played a gallant part in the struggle for Texan independence, were clouded by mental infirmity, and he died by his own hand near the close of his second Senatorial term.
John Davis, of Massachusetts, and John M. Clayton, of Delaware, returned to the Senate in 1845, and were quickly followed by Webster and Calhoun. Henry and Augustus Dodge, in 1847, were transferred from the House to the Senate, which at the same time received as new members John Bell, of Tennessee, who had been Speaker of the House and Secretary of War under Harrison; Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, an orator and jurist of repute; and Pierre Soulé, of Louisiana, the last named the hero of a novel and strangely eventful career. The son of an officer of high rank in the army of the first French republic, Soulé made his appearance in America in 1826, driven hence because of the bitter attacks which, as editor of a Paris newspaper, he had made upon the ministers of Charles X. Settling in New Or-
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Washington : The Capital City
leans, he studied law, was admitted to practice, and soon gained eminence at the bar in the State of his adoption. He became at the same time a leader of the Democratic party, which honored him by his appointment as Senator, in 1847, to fill an unexpired term. He was elected two years later for a full term, but resigned in 1853 to become minister to Spain.
Soulé, during his six years in the Senate, filled a large place in the public eye. A ready and often eloquent debater, the effect of his brilliant periods was quickened by a strong, clear, mellow voice, an imposing and mas- sive form, a noble head, with long, glossy black locks, flashing black eyes, and a mobile, olive-tinted face cast in the Roman mould. Forney describes him as " sparkling in repar- tee, yet subject to fits of melancholy ; impetuous, yet reserved; proud, but polite,-in one word, such a contradiction as Victor Hugo, with a vast fund of knowledge, and a deposit of vanity which was never exhausted." In all measures affecting his section Soulé, while in the Sen- ate, espoused the extreme Southern view, and was one of the first to openly advocate secession. His light shone feebly, however, when the con-
20
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A New Issue and New Leaders
flict came, and his last days were passed in neglect and obscurity.
John W. Jones, of Virginia, was Speaker of the House in the Twenty-eighth Congress. He was followed by John W. Davis, of Indiana, and by Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, each of whom served a single term. During the six years covered by these three Speaker- ships more than half a hundred men, who were to play important and some decisive parts in the stirring events of the next two decades, first gained seats in the popular branch of Congress. New members of the Massachusetts delegation were George Ashmun, a clear-headed and sturdy Whig of the Webster school; Daniel P. King, another devoted follower of Webster, whose period of service was to end only with his death; and John G. Palfrey, whose earlier and heroic labors as an anti-slavery leader have been overshadowed by his later fame as an historian. From Vermont came Jacob Collamer and Solo- mon Foot, soon to become and to remain for many years the able representatives of that State in the Senate, and George P. Marsh, then in the morning of a distinguished career as leg- islator, diplomat, and scholar. Connecticut sent
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Washington : The Capital City
bland and courteous Thomas H. Seymour, in after-days four times governor of that State and minister to Russia, and James Dixon, in whom an unusual aptitude for public affairs was enhanced by the habits of a bookman and the gracious, winning address of a citizen of the . world.
New York's representation now included Hamilton Fish, Washington Hunt, and Preston King. Fish, a descendant of the last Dutch governor of New York, whose " character pos- sessed no salient points, but presented a mixture of all good qualities," served only a single term in the House, but subsequently became governor of his State, in 1851 succeeded Dickinson in the Senate, and during Grant's two terms held the post of Secretary of State. Hunt had been a lawyer and judge before he entered the House, and soon after the close of his third term was elected governor of his State,-the last Whig to hold that office. King, a man of sterling sense and keen and pungent wit, entered the House as a Democrat, but soon joined the Re- publican party, which, in 1857, promoted him to the Senate. His death by suicide from in- sanity, while holding the position of collector
22
A New Issue and New Leaders
of the port of New York, occurred a few years after the expiration of his Senatorial term.
New-comers from Pennsylvania were Richard Brodhead, afterwards for a single term a mem- ber of the Senate, Lewis C. Levin, Edward Joy Morris, James Pollock, Alexander Ramsey, William Strong, James Thompson, and David Wilmot. Levin, a fervid speaker and nervous writer, -- some of his speeches in the House were models of popular oratory,-lives in his- tory as the founder and directing spirit of the Native American party, an organization which long exercised an inflammable and disturbing influence in social and political affairs. Mor- ris, after leaving the House, served as minister to Naples and Constantinople, Pollock as gov- ernor of his State, and Ramsey as governor of and Senator from Minnesota and as Secretary of War under Hayes. Both Strong and Thomp- son, each a lawyer of sound learning and keen analytical powers, voluntarily retired from Con- gress to resume the practice of their profession ; and both in time found seats on the bench, the one as associate justice of the Federal Supreme Court and the other as chief justice of his State.
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Washington : The Capital City
Wilmot holds a permanent place in the minds of men as the author of the famous proviso which bears his name. The son of humble parents and bred in the school of poverty, he early won his way to a commanding place at the bar of his section, and in 1845, when he was thirty-one years old, was sent to the House, where he quickly gained repute and influence as one of the ablest and most fearless of all the pioneer anti-slavery leaders. As a speaker he was at once bold, logical, and convincing, clothing his arguments in the simplest language, and using illustrations that never went wide of their mark. Wilmot's determined stand against slavery cost him his seat at the end of his third term. Six years later he was the first Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. He failed of election, but in 1860 was sent to the Senate, passing at the end of his term to a seat in the Court of Claims, where he served until his death.
William Wright, of New Jersey, who entered the House in 1843, was to be twice elected a member of the Senate, serving there until the end of his life, while Robert M. McLane, who two years later came to Congress from Mary-
2.4
A New Issue and New Leaders
land, was to become in turn minister to China, Mexico, and France. Before two other new members, Columbus Delano and Allen G. Thur- man, of Ohio, also lay luminous careers, the one as Cabinet minister and the other as jurist and Senator. Ohio also returned Samuel F. Vinton, while among the lately elected members from Indiana were Robert Dale Owen, a seer of visions and dreamer of dreams, whose gen- uine talent was obscured by his eccentricities, and Caleb B. Smith, who as a debater was excelled by few either in wealth of resources or in fluency or force of language. Three other prominent new-comers from the West were John Wentworth, a tall and brainful son of New Hampshire transplanted to the prairies of Illinois; John J. Hardin, of the same State, who was to fall at Buena Vista fighting des- perately at the head of his regiment; and John S. Phelps, for eighteen years a Representative from Missouri.
The South, true to its time-honored prac- tice of keeping only strong men at the front, now counted among its younger Representatives in the House James McDowell, of Virginia, an eloquent advocate of States'-rights, and, at
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the same time, vehement opponent of slavery; Garrett Davis. of Kentucky, a boy in stature and appearance, but a master of sarcasm and biting invective; John Slidell, of Louisiana, a Northern-born convert to Southern ideas, adroit, supercilious, and the implacable foe of all who dared to disagree with him; Thomas L. Clingman, of North Carolina, a tireless and often forceful debater, soon, like Slidell, to win a seat in the Senate; and Howell Cobb, of Georgia, a strong man of patriotic impulses, who was to become Speaker, governor of his State, and Secretary of the Treasury under Buchanan.
Nor does this complete the list of notable accessions to the House during the period under review. Detailed mention remains to be made of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine; Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio; Edward D. Baker, of Illi- nois; Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee; Alex- ander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs, of Georgia; and William L. Yancey, of Alabama. Hamlin entered the House in 1843, and there- after for forty years was almost continuously in the service of the State. From the first his course in Congress was marked by vigorous
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A New Issue and New Leaders
opposition to slavery. Five years in the House ended with his promotion to the Senate, and there he continued to serve until chosen Vice- President in 1860. Nine years later he was again elected to the Senate, and remained there until 1881, when he was sent as minister to Spain. A wise, cautious, reflective man, Ham- lin made no pretensions to oratory, but when he did speak, which was rarely, it was always with uncommon force and skill, his style being terse and crisp, with a good deal of the Yankee in the quaintness and aptness of his way of putting things. In all legislative matters, more- over, he ranked among the first, and as a political adviser and strategist he has had few, if any, superiors. Much of the credit of making Lincoln the Republican candidate for President in 1860 belonged to Hamlin, and it was he, more than any other man, who, as leader of the Blaine forces in the Republican national convention of 1880, brought about Grant's de- feat for a third term and the nomination of Garfield.
In private life Hamlin was a striking and delightful personality. A little under six feet in height, he was stocky in his build, and so
27
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Washington : The Capital City
swarthy was his complexion that he was often called " Black Hannibal." For half a century he never changed the style or quality of his clothes. His invariable garb included a black swallow-tail coat and a tall silk hat of antique design, and he clung to the old-fashioned stock long after it had been discarded by the rest of mankind. Only on the coldest days in winter did he wear an overcoat. Born a Democrat, he remained through life democratic in every fibre and impulse. All who came into his presence were made to feel that he, by the accident of popular favor, was placed, in his own estima- tion, in no way above them. This, with his abiding honesty and sincerity, made him strong in the people's regard, and he never abused their trust, habitually rejecting offers to use for his own profit information that had come to him in his official capacity. When he finally went back to his people, it was with an income just sufficient to support himself and family in a plain way during the balance of his days.
Hamlin came of unmixed English stock, but General Schenck-" Bob" Schenck, as he was familiarly known-could trace the history of his ancestors in the robust and rollicking canvases
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