USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Historic homes in Washington : its noted men and women and a century in the White House > Part 16
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"Just at that instant the gun was fired and the ex- plosion took place. Gov. Gilmer was instantly killed; several others also were killed. Col. Benton, in relating this circumstance, said: 'It seems to me, Mr. Webster, as if that touch on my shoulder was the hand of the Al- mighty stretched down there, drawing me away from what otherwise would have been instantaneous death. I was only prostrated on the deck and recovered in a short time. That one circumstance has changed the whole current of my thoughts and life. I feel that I am a differ- ent man, and I want in the first place to be at peace with all those with whom I have been so sharply at variance. And so I have come to you. Let us bury the hatchet, Mr. Webster.'
"'Nothing,' replied I, 'could be more in accordance with my own feelings.' We shook hands and agreed to let the past be past. From that time our intercourse was pleas- ant and cordial. After this, there was no person in the Senate of the United States of whom I could ask a favor, any reasonable and proper thing, with more assurance of its being gratified."
There can be no doubt that the nomination of Gen. Scott at the Whig Convention in Baltimore was a bitter disappointment to Mr. Webster, but his midnight speech after the Convention, when his friends called upon him, gave no sound of his disquietude.
Mr. Boutwell, in "The Lawyer, the Statesman and the Soldier," says: "He was then impaired seriously in health, and in spirits he was broken completely. His speech is worthy of notice as a singularly graceful effort and as the last brilliant spark of his expiring genius:
"'I thank you, fellow-citizens, for your friendly and respectful call. I am very glad to see you. Some of you have been engaged in an arduous public duty at Balti- more, the object of your meeting being the selection of a
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fit person to be supported for the office of President of the United States. Others of you take an interest in the result of the deliberations of that assembly of Whigs. It so happened that my name among others was presented on that occasion. Another candidate, however, was preferred.
"'I have only to say, gentlemen, that the Convention did, I doubt not, what it thought best and exercised its discretion in the important matter committed to it. The result has caused me no personal feeling whatever, nor any change of conduct or purpose.
"What I have been I am, in principle and character, and what I am, I hope to continue to be.
"'Circumstances or opponents may triumph over my fortunes, but they will not triumph over my temper or my self-respect.
"'Gentlemen, this is a serene and beautiful night. Ten thousand thousand of the lights of heaven illuminate the firmament. They rule the night. A few hours hence their glory will be extinguished.
"'"Ye stars that glitter in the skies,
And gaily dance before my eyes, What are ye when the sun shall rise ?"
"'Gentlemen, there is not one among you who will sieep better to-night than I shall. If I wake I shall learn the hour from the constellations, and I shall rise in the morn- ing, God willing, with the lark; and though the lark is a better songster than'I am, yet he will not leave the dew and the daisies, and spring upward to greet the purpling east with a more jocund spirit than I possess. Gentle- men, I again repeat my thanks for this mark of your respect, and commend you to the enjoyment of a quiet and satisfactory repose. May God bless you all."
Mr. Boutwell adds: "His career as a politician was ended. He returned to Massachusetts, broken in spirit, if not altogether crushed.
"In the case of Mr. Webster, death did not destroy nor even qualify the physical marks of his intellectual great- ness. When he lay in his coffin under the elms at Mans-
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field his form appeared as majestic as when he stood upon the rostrum in Faneuil Hall.
"His brow was massive, his eyes were large, deep- sunken and surrounded by a dark circle. His face was emaciated, but the engraved lines of toil and care re- mained. He seemed a giant in repose."
Persons who visit Washington and have seen only the Capitol, strolled through the public buildings, sailed down the Potomac, taken the drive to the Soldiers' Home and Arlington, been crushed at a Presidential reception and gazed at dignitaries to their hearts' content, and feel that Washington has nothing more to offer, know very little of the personnel of the unofficial social life.
In the not-far-away past the official life was paramount. The prestige of high orders carried the palm in the social world, and many who were socially unknown at home have been surprised upon their advent here into public life, to find themselves suddenly courted and flattered by an itinerant population who had favors to ask, in the way of private entertainments, social dissipations, or influ- ence for some position in office. The axes to grind are many, the turners comparatively few.
The Capital is the Winter residence of families of cul- ture, wealth, position and leisure from all the States. The importance of this unofficial element is steadily increas- ing, and it exercises a marked influence. The prestige of rank is no passport to polite society, unless backed by true worth.
George Bancroft, the historian, stood out pre-eminent among those in unofficial society. Although he filled many offices under the Government, having been a mem- ber of Mr. Polk's Cabinet as Secretary of the Navy, and subsequently changed to Minister to England, and in 1867 Minister to Prussia, yet it was as a man of letters that his name was on the lips of every true American.
His "History of the United States" has been the "most successful attempt yet made to reduce the chaotic but rich materials of American history to order, beauty, and moral significance."
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Almost any pleasant afternoon he could be seen taking his usual exercise, either in a carriage, on horseback, or walking. Picture a man slender in figure, of medium hight, with a venerable covering of silvered hair and whiskers surrounding the thin, classic face, soft blue eyes that had done service through the years, and yet undimmed, and you see the patriarchal historian as he was in the later years of his life.
His home was a spacious mansion not far from that of the President's, and here in his pleasant workshop, in the . second story of this house, he lived among his books, his pictures and the memories of a century nearly gone.
He lived in the very atmosphere of this history-making Republic. Within sight of his windows are the homes of Commodores Decatur and Rodgers, the latter where the attempt was made to assassinate Secretary Seward. On the opposite side of the Square is the house in which Dan Sickles lived, and on the north side the house out of which Slidell stepped into the Southern Confederacy.
And when Mason and Slidell had been, at the demand of the English Government, released from Fort Warren and sailed for Europe, and recognition of the Confederate States by England and France was imminent, it was from the old Seward house that the Secretary telegraphed to his Fidus Achates, Thurlow Weed, to come to Washington; and in this house the personnel of the commission that was to represent the side of the Union was discussed.
Archbishop Hughes, a Roman Catholic, of New York; Bishop McIlvaine, an Episcopalian, of Ohio, and Thurlow Weed went abroad and quietly and effectively presented their side of the question. By their influence, earnest- ness and powerful argument they made such an impres- sion that Mason and Slidell soon discovered their mission was doomed-that the Confederate States would not be recognized.
A short distance to the east is the house in which Charles Sumner lived, and on the corner, diagonally across, is the house in which Dolly Madison, in regal turbans, kept pace with the new regime in receiving her friends.
Mr. Bancroft lived to see one of the political giants
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succeeded by another-old men pass away and new men take their places. He saw slavery's dark pall hang over Washington, and in the dissolving view, when slavery disappeared, he saw the beautiful city of to-day emerge from the mist-cloud.
He saw Stephen A. Douglas, Charles Sumner, Ben- jamin F. Wade, William H. Seward, John C. Breckin- ridge, Robert Toombs, John Slidell, and Andrew John- son, each the leader of men and of contending theories, floating on the sea of public opinion that stranded slavery. And this venerable spectator, alone, survived them all, and with the iron pen of history is recorded the parts they played in imperishable pages.
He saw free labor organized and rewarded, and with it the popular cry for improvement. He saw the years pass by that brought Grant forward to succeed Johnson, and he saw men come to the front who were willing to take responsibility, that Washington City might be placed on the high plane of her municipal sisters.
With Alexander Shepherd at the head, this chronicler of events noted that within a few months a magical tran- sition was wrought, that the miserable mockery of a metropolis was "bossed" into one of the magnificent cities of the world. The Argus eye of this historian had from his windows watched this progress, and he gave honor to whom honor is due.
The little plots of green in front of his time-honored mansion, filled with tulips and hyacinths, brought many visitors to feast their eyes on the harmony of color, the product of Mr. Bancroft's love of flowers.
This garden plot was as much in keeping with his nature as the books which were his companions, and the friends which surrounded him with a congenial, social atmosphere.
When you took the hand of this man of years and ex- perience, you were transported without effort over the way he had traveled. He took you through the quaint old streets of Weimar, and when you touched the hand that touched Goethe's, Faust and Marguerita are realities before you. He was intimate with Humboldt and Se-
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vigny; the great jurist was his friend. Manzoni was his acquaintance at Milan and Chevalier Bunsen at Rome; and in Italy, Byron sang him the songs he wove. In Paris, Guizot, Lamartine- and De Tocqueville were his companions. He survived them all, and no greater honor could be paid to George Bancroft than to say that he was the honored citizen of this glorious Republic that he had helped to immortalize.
But a few doors to the east of Mr. Bancroft's, on the corner of H and 16th streets, is the home of John Hay. By virtue of its age it has no place among the historic homes of Washington, yet its Romanesque architecture gives it the appearance of a home that will become historic in the generations to come.
Among the homes of the literati it has a place, and the genius within its walls has but to look out of the windows across Lafayette Park to the home of the Presidents, to touch the spring of memory and recall pages of history with which he was closely connected, and which must ever be an inspiration to his work on the "History of Abra- ham Lincoln," wherein he sifts out of the waste wreck of time the records of human experience.
The poetic genius of "Pike County Ballads," or "Castil- ian Days," was laid aside when, with the co-operation of Mr. Nicolay, late Marshal of the Supreme Court, he be- gan the task of writing the Memoirs of Abraham Lin- coln for the "Century Magazine."
It is well for America, where no faithful scribes like Boswell, Pepys, or Crabbe. Robinson have kept a daily record of events, that these men, out of the inner recesses of memory and daily life, can chronicle what bids fair to be the most exhaustive memoirs ever written of any man and period since the Mayflower landed at Ply- mouth Rock.
Mr. Hay's intimate relations with Mr. Lincoln and his Administration fitted him admirably for the high places he has been called upon to fill by President McKinley-namely Minister to the Court of St. James,
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and to be recalled to take the portfolio of Secretary of State.
Among the many historic homes in Washington, there is none within whose hospitable walls more distinguished people have resided than the mansion No. 1651 Penn- sylvania Avenue. It is situated opposite the White House grounds, and has a familiar look to every observ- ant citizen.
It was built about the year 1810 by Joseph Lovell, then Surgeon-General of the Army. Dr. Lovell was born in Boston, Dec. 20, 1788, a century ago. He was appointed Surgeon in the War of 1812.
From these windows were witnessed the depredations of the British, the hurried flight of Dolly Madison, and the lighting of the torch that sent the lurid flames curling and mounting through beam and rafter until a blackened ruin was all that was left of the Nation's home.
Dr. Lovell died Oct. 17, 1836, and soon after his death the property was purchased by Francis Preston Blair, sr. This house was his home during the period that he was editor of the Globe, at one time a Democratic paper of great influence.
With Jackson's and Van Buren's Administrations his influence was unbounded, and by many he was regarded as the power behind the throne greater than the throne itself.
When Van Buren was candidate for the Free Soil party for the Presidency Mr. Blair supported him. In 1855 he became a member of the Republican party, with which he continued to affiliate until after the close of the war, when he drifted back to the party of which he had been so dis- tinguished a member, and with which he had become so prominently identified in the early part of his life.
He died at his country seat, Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Md., Oct. 18, 1876, at the advanced age of 85 years.
More than half a century ago this ancient knight and lady were often seen, mounted, riding along Pennsylvania
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Avenue toward their old home, in which their son, Mont- gomery Blair, was living.
We have shown what a power Mr. Blair was in the land for two generations. He was always the firm friend and strong admirer of "Old Hickory," and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to stroll into Lafayette Square and gaze upon the equestrian statue of Jackson, which he pronounced the best likeness of the old hero extant, no matter what adverse criticism might be given. He was the father of Frank P. Blair, jr., whose early youth was spent in this house.
The Blair mansion was rented to the Hon. George Ban- croft during the short period that he was Secretary of the Navy, from 1845 to 1846. Mr. Bancroft was for several years the only surviving member of Mr. Polk's Cabinet. The next prominent person to occupy this house was Hon. John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, from 1846 to 1849. Mr. Mason, prior to that time, had been a member of the Constitutional Convention of Virginia, from 1831 to 1837, when he was appointed Judge of the United States Court for Virginia. He was Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Tyler and Polk. He was appointed Minister to France by President Pierce, where he remained until his death, in 1859.
During the latter portion of Taylor's Administration Hon. Thomas Ewing occupied this house, he having been appointed by President Taylor to a seat in his Cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. Gen. Thomas Ewing, who dis- tinguished himself during the civil war upon the side of the Union, was his son.
It was in this house, June I, 1850, that Gen. W. T. Sherman, at that time a Lieutenant, was married to Miss Ellen Bayles Ewing, daughter of Tom Ewing, by Rev. James Rider, President of Georgetown College.
After the death of Charles R. Sherman, in 1829, W. T. Sherman was adopted by Thomas Ewing and by him appointed to a cadetship to West Point.
When the Mexican War broke out, he was sent to Cali- fornia, to meet Kcarny's expedition crossing the plains. He was at that time First Lieutenant in the zd Art. On
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his return he was married to Miss Ewing. There were present at the ceremony President Fillmore and his Cabi- net, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and a host of other celebrities then residents of Washington.
During President Fillmore's Administration, in 1850, he invited the gifted, silver-tongued Tom Corwin into his Cabinet, and while he held the position of Secretary of the Treasury he too occupied this house, adding one more name to the illustrious list that have called it their home.
Since 1853 this historic mansion has been occupied by the family of Montgomery Blair. Mr. Blair was a mem- ber of President Lincoln's Cabinet. The Winter of 1869 will be long remembered for its brilliant receptions, for the elegance of fashion and social magnificence everywhere exhibited. During the gay season Admiral and Mrs. Lee issued a thousand cards of invitation for a bridal party, the bride a daughter of Montgomery Blair. This party is said to have been in point of numbers and dis- tinction of the guests, and the grand scale of all its ap- pointments, one of the most magnificent given in the Capital.
. Montgomery Blair, though a member of President Lin- coln's Cabinet, was one of the most prominent and able supporters of Mr. Tilden in his efforts to have his claim to the Presidency recognized. When Mr. Blair died he left a name unsullied.
Among the many prominent citizens of Pennsylvania who have filled Cabinet positions during the history of the Government-and the list contains many notable names -none has surpassed that of the Hon. Richard Rush in power and dignity and purity of private life.
He was Secretary of the Treasury from 1825 to 1829, and during this time he built the house No. 1710 H street, afterward occupied by Admiral Porter. When first built it was a two-story structure with an attic, but it was after- wards carried up another story and many other improve- ments added, including a large ball-room built by the Hon. Hamilton Fish, who subsequently purchased the property.
Mr. Rush came of good Revolutionary stock, his father
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being the Hon. Benjamin Rush of the Continental Con- gress. In the Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania he was Chairman of the Committee which reported that it had become expedient for Congress to declare independ- ence. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Richard Rush graduated at Princeton at the age of 17. In 1816 he was sent as Minister to Eng- land, where he remained eight years, and while there negotiated several treaties.
- When he went to England the late Benjamin Ogle Tavloe; of Washington, accompanied him as Secretary of Legation.
: While abroad Mr. Rush, through his high social and diplomatic position, was brought frequently into the presence of his fair countrywomen, the three Misses Caton, who, for their wit, beauty and accomplishments, were called the "Three Graces." They were from An- napolis, Md. One of them became the Duchess of Leeds, another the Marchioness of Wellesly, and the third Lady Stafford. They were the granddaughters of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and was known as the last surviving signer.
Mr. Rush's wife also came from Annapolis, Md. She was Miss Eliza Murray, a cousin of James D. Murray, Paymaster of the United States Army. It was very natural that there should be a cordial friendship existing between them and the Caton sisters. The following anecdote is told apropos of the administration of Richard Rush at. the Court of London: "At a small dinner many years afterwards, at the King's-then William IV .- a gentleman of the household was disposed to be a little pleasant with one of these accomplished sisters on ac- count of her nationality, and at length said: 'Now, do pray tell us, lady, do you come from that part of America where they reckon or calculate?' 'She comes from neither, said the King slowly; 'she comes from that part of America where they fascinate.'"
In 1828 Mr. Rush was the candidate for Vice-President, on the ticket with John Q. Adams, and received the same
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number of electoral votes. He negotiated a loan in Hol- land for the Corporations of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria. Jackson appointed him commissioner to obtain the Smithsonian legacy, then in the English Court of Chancery. In due time he returned, bringing the whole amount.
President Polk appointed him Minister to France, and in 1848 he was the first of the foreign Ministers at the French Court to recognize the new Republic in advance of instructions from his Government. At the close of Presi- dent Polk's term he asked to be recalled, and spent the remainder of his life in comparative retirement. He had a large family of sons and daughters, and during their residence in Washington he entertained elegantly.
Miss Eliza-Rush married John Calvert, esq., of Prince George's County, Maryland, a lineal descendant of Lord Baltimore, and the uncle of the wife of R. F. Kearney, of Washington, D. C.
The next prominent personage to reside in this man- . sion was the Hon. Hamilton Fish, then Senator from New York. During the war he was one of the United States Commissioners· to visit soldiers confined in Con- federate prisons. In 1869 he was appointed Secretary of State in the Cabinet of Gen. Grant, which position he creditably filled eight years.
Other occupants of this mansion have been Sir Frederic Bruce, Lord Napier and Lord Lyons, representing Great Britain at Washington. Lord Lyons, previous to coming here, had been an attache of the English Legation at Athens and Dresden, respectively, Secretary of the Eng- lish Legation at Florence, and Envoy at Tuscany.
During his long residence here he gave many brilliant entertainments, especially those in honor of the birthday of his sovereign. He afterwards became the British Embassador to France.
A later occupant and owner was the gallant Admiral of the Navy, David D. Porter, who was born June 8, 1814, in Pennsylvania. His father, the gallant Porter of Essex fame, having left our service and accepted the position of Commander-in-Chief in Mexico, obtained an appoint-
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ment for his son in the Mexican Navy, sent him to sea in the Guerre, a 22-gun brig, having a complement of 189 officers and men, and commanded by his nephew, an enterprising officer but 21 years of age, who, like his . uncle, had been in the American service.
The Guerre sailed from Vera Cruz, April 17, 1827, and a few weeks thereafter fell in with a Spanish frigate, fully manned and carrying 64 guns. Finding it impossible to get away from the frigate, Capt. Porter resolutely gave battle and maintained the unequal fight for nearly four hours, not striking his colors until the brig was filled with the dead and dying and her spars and sails were so torn to pieces as to make her utterly unmanageable.
As soon as the Spaniards saw the Mexican flag come down, they put their helm up and ran down to the Guerre, delivering two heavy broasides when within 100 yards. During this cowardly firing, Capt. Porter, one of the brav- est men that ever trod a ship's deck, was cut in two by a cannon-shot, and his remains, instead of being interred with military honors, according to the usage of war, were barbarously thrown overboard by the victors in plain view of the land.
Two years after this rough experience David D. Porter entered the American Navy as a Midshipman, and as a Lieutenant, 18 years later, we find him actively engaged in all our naval operations on the coast of Mexico, and adding new luster to a name already regarded in the United States as a synonym of valor.
When the war broke out Porter, then a Commander, was dispatched in the Powhatan to the relief of Fort Pickens, Florida, for whose beleaguered garrison the President felt great solicitude. This duty accomplished, he went vigorously to work fitting out a mortar fleet for the reduction of the forts guarding the approaches to New Orleans by the lower Mississippi, to gain . possession of which the Government considered of vital importance.
After the fall of New Orleans, the mortar flotilla was actively engaged at Vicksburg, and in the Fall of 1862 Porter was placed in command of all the naval forces on
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the Western rivers at New Orleans, with the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
His ability as a Commander-in-Chief was now con- spicuously exhibited, not only in the battles which he fought, but also in the creation of a formidable fleet out of river steamboats, which he covered with such plating as they could bear.
By his example to his officers and his men, he dis- played a heroism which has never been surpassed, and wherever there was water enough to float a gunboat, there the old flag was considered and respected.
In 1864 Porter was transferred to the Atlantic coast to command the naval forces destined to operate against the defenses of Wilmington, N. C .; and on Jan. 15, 1865, the fall of Fort Fisher was hailed by the country as a glorious termination of his arduous war services In 1866 he was made Vice-Admiral and appointed Superintendent of the Naval Academy, which institution is still reaping the benefit of his able administration of four years. At the death of Farragut, in 1870, he succeeded that illustrious man as Admiral of the Navy ..
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