Team of Rivals

  Blair and Meigs delivered: Entry for September 18, 1861, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 67.

  “is determined…Missouri”: MB to FPB, October 1, 1861, box 7, folder 6, Blair-Lee Papers, NjP-SC.

  “more damage…can do”: EB to SPC, September 11, 1861, reel 17, Chase Papers.

  “distressed & mortified”: EB to James O. Broadhead, September 28, 1861, Broadhead Papers, MoSHi.

  “Immense mischief…place of action”: EB to Hamilton Gamble, October 3, 1861, Hamilton Rowan Gamble Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Mo. [hereafter Gamble Papers, MoShi].

  “I think God…in his Cabinet”: FB to MB, October 7, 1861, quoted in Smith, The Francis Preston Blair Family in Politics, Vol. II, pp. 83–84.

  “a letter directing…and conduct”: Simon Cameron to AL, October 12, 1861, Lincoln Papers.

  “was very much mortified”…talked with the president: Simon Cameron to AL, October 14, 1861, Lincoln Papers.

  “constitution…with its management”: NYT, October 31, 1861. For the report, see Lorenzo Thomas to Simon Cameron, October 21, 1861, in OR, Ser. 1, Vol. III, pp. 540–49.

  “yielded to delay…deserve it”: Entry of October 22, 1861, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, pp. 198–99.

  Lincoln dispatched…Swett: Entry for October 24, 1861, in Lincoln Day by Day, Vol. III, p. 73.

  “the most remarkable”…publication: NYT, October 31, 1861.

  When Swett reached Missouri: Leonard Swett to AL, November 9, 1861, Lincoln Papers.

  “frown came over…‘my lines?’”: General T. I. McKenny, quoted in Ida M. Tarbell, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. III, Sangamon Edition (4 vols., n.p.: S. S. McClure Co., 1895; New York: Lincoln History Society, 1924), pp. 122–25 (quote p. 124).

  “justified…is possible”: NYT, November 7, 1861.

  “Slowly…our judgment”: Philadelphia Inquirer, October 31, 1861.

  “Lincoln…the whole story”: NYH, November 7, 1861.

  “I am…publ[ic] duty”: SPC to Richard Smith, November 11, 1861, reel 18, Chase Papers.

  the Confederacy had dispatched…Mason and Slidell: Van Deusen, William Henry Seward, p. 308.

  Charles Wilkes…Fort Warren in Boston: NYT, November 17 and 19, 1861.

  “We do not believe…been found”: NYT, November 17, 1861.

  Wilkes was fêted…a great banquet: NYT, November 26 and 27, 1861.

  “three cheers…Wilkes”: Smith, Francis Preston Blair, p. 315.

  “great and general satisfaction”: Entry for November 16, 1861, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 202.

  Chase reportedly…seized the British ship: NYT, November 19, 1861.

  “the items…Mason & Slidell!”: AL to Edward Everett, November 18, 1861, in CW, V, p. 26.

  “intelligence…Mail Steamer”: The Times (London), quoted in the NYT, December 13, 1861.

  “reparation and apology”: Morning Post (London), quoted in the NYT, December 14, 1861.

  Fabricated details: Charles Francis Adams to Henry Adams, December 19, 1861, A Cycle of Adams Letters, 1861–1865, Vol. I, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920), p. 86.

  “acted without…directed by us”: WHS to Charles Francis Adams, undated, quoted in Frederick W. Seward, Seward at Washington, as Senator and Secretary of State. A Memoir of His Life, with Selections from His Letters, 1861–1872 (New York: Derby & Miller, 1891), p. 21.

  The first public response should come from the British government: WHS to Charles Francis Adams, undated, quoted in ibid., p. 24.

  “if the taking…it means war”: TW to WHS, December 2, 1861, quoted in ibid., pp. 27, 28 (quote).

  “fanning the popular flame…manufactures”: NYT, December 16, 1861.

  “certainly jubilant”: TW to WHS, December 5, 1861, quoted in Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 28.

  in “high places”: TW to WHS, December 6, 1861, quoted in ibid., p. 29.

  “to provoke…getting Canada”: TW to WHS, December 2, 1861, quoted in ibid., p. 27.

  “how created…your dismissal”: TW to WHS, December 6, 1861, quoted in ibid., p. 29.

  Seward burst…“so foolish a thing”: Entry for December 15, 1861, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 515.

  “I know…will not bite?”: AL, quoted in Monaghan, Diplomat in Carpet Slippers, p. 187.

  both he and Lord Lyons…remained silent: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 187; Lord Thomas Newton, Lord Lyons: A Record of British Diplomacy, Vol. I (New York: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1913), p. 55.

  “Her Majesty’s…for the aggression”: Earl Russell to Lord Lyons, November 30, 1861, quoted in John G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln: A History, Vol. V (New York: Century Co., 1917), pp. 29–30. While the letter was dated November 30, it did not arrive in Washington until December 19, 1861.

  If the United States…return to Britain: Ibid., p. 30; Newton, Lord Lyons, p. 62.

  Lyons carried the document…consider their response: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 24.

  “You will perhaps…side of peace”: Newton, Lord Lyons, p. 69.

  “devoted one entire day”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 24.

  “With England…‘crushed out’”: TW to WHS, December 10, 1861, quoted in ibid., p. 30.

  “They can never…such a surrender”: Quoted in ibid., p. 24.

  Lincoln himself…considered humiliating: Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 205.

  “the British side…cheerfully”: WHS to Lord Lyons, December 26, 1861, in The Works of William H. Seward, Vol. V, ed. George E. Baker (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1884; New York: AMS Press, 1972), pp. 295–309 (quotes pp. 307–09).

  “There was great…power of England”: Entry for December 25, 1861, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 216.

  “gall and wormwood…I possess”: Entry for December 25, 1861, in Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 320.

  Only Monty Blair…with Seward: Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 206.

  Charles Sumner…“the North’s problems”: Monaghan, Diplomat in Carpet Slippers, p. 191.

  “Governor Seward…on each side”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 25.

  Seward finished…read it to Chase: Monaghan, Diplomat in Carpet Slippers, p. 191; entry for December 26, 1861, Fanny Seward diary, Seward Papers.

  “I am consoled…simply doing right”: Entry for December 25, 1861, in Chase Papers, Vol. I, p. 320.

  “a great point…Government”: Carpenter, “A Day with Governor Seward,” Seward Papers.

  “an argument…the right one”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 26.

  Seward hosted a dinner party: Entry for December 27, 1861, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 519; entry for December 27, 1861, Fanny Seward diary, Seward Papers.

  “a great homely…iron grey”: Entry for December 27, 1861, Fanny Seward diary, Seward Papers.

  The conversation at dinner…“on the floor cloth”: Ibid.

  “swore vehemently”: Entry for December 27, 1861, in Browning, The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. I, p. 519.

  “doom [Seward] to unpopularity”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 26.

  “The general…domestic treason”: Entry for December 29, 1861, Diary of George Templeton Strong, Vol. III, p. 198.

  “Presidents and Kings…unselfish heart”: Seward, Seward at Washington…1861–1872, p. 26.

  “Houses are being…life in the Capital”: “Miriam,” Iowa State Register, Des Moines, November 13, 1861.

  a mansion transformed: Randall, Mary Lincoln, pp. 258–63, 266; Monkman, The White House, pp. 123–33.

  the new rugs…“roses at your feet”: Mary Clemmer Ames, Ten Years in Washington. Life and Scenes in the National Capital, as a Woman Sees Them (Hartford, Conn.: A. D. Worthington & Co., 1871), p. 171.

  “The President’s…comparative
beauty”: Daily Alta California, May 12, 1862, quoted in Monkman, The White House, p. 132.

  “elegant fitting up…in the least arrogant”: George Bancroft to his wife, December 12 and 14, 1862, in M. A. DeWolfe Howe, The Life and Letters of George Bancroft, Vol. II (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), pp. 144–45.

  she had overspent…extra money over to her: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, pp. 187, 191.

  She had replaced…the manure account: Entry for November 3, 1861, in William Howard Russell’s Civil War: Private Diary and Letters, 1861–1862, ed. Martin Crawford (Athens, Ga., and London: University of Georgia Press, 1992), p. 162.

  She exchanged her patronage…wealthy donors: For a general discussion of MTL’s financial finagling, see Michael Burlingame, “Mary Todd Lincoln’s Unethical Conduct as First Lady,” appendix 2 in At Lincoln’s Side: John Hay’s Civil War Correspondence and Selected Writings, ed. Michael Burlingame (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000).

  she asked John Hay…“the Steward’s salary”: JH to JGN, April 4 and 5, 1862, in ibid., pp. 19–20.

  She had no recourse…to speak with her husband: Entry for December 16, 1861, in Benjamin Brown French, Witness to the Young Republic: A Yankee’s Journal, 1828–1870, ed. Donald B. Cole and John J. McDonough (Hanover, N.H., and London: University Press of New England, 1989), p. 382.

  after he returned home…Edward Baker: NR, December 14, 1861.

  “inexorable…his own pocket!”: Entry for December 16, 1861, in French, Witness to the Young Republic, p. 382.

  “better and better…will defend her”: Entry for December 22, 1861, in ibid., p. 383.

  hide a deficiency appropriation: Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln, p. 190.

  “I need hardly…his own expences”: SPC to KCS, October 25, 1861, reel 17, Chase Papers.

  a questionable relationship…investment account for Chase: Belden and Belden, So Fell the Angels, pp. 36–37.

  “I will take…working as you do”: Jay Cooke to SPC, quoted in ibid., p. 37.

  growth in size of the Union army: Simon Cameron to AL, December 1, 1861, OR, Ser. 3, Vol. I pp. 669, 700.

  “incapable…general plans”: “A Private Paper. Conversation with the President, October 2d, 1861,” memorandum, container 2, Nicolay Papers.

  “he would look…in the other”: Albert Gallatin Riddle, Recollection of War Times: Reminiscences of Men and Events in Washington, 1860–1865 (New York and London: G. P. Putman’s Sons, 1895), p. 180.

  accusations of corruption…in the War Department: NYT, July 3 and 9, and August 28, 1861.

  Congress appointed…Cameron was not charged: Thomas, Abraham Lincoln, p. 293; Macartney, Lincoln and His Cabinet, pp. 35–36; Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, pp. 222–23.

  “It is better…with dissolution”: NYT, July 7, 1861.

  Cameron sought…Republicans: Williams, Lincoln and the Radicals, p. 59.

  “We agreed…in that opinion”: SPC to Trowbridge, March 31, 1844, quoted in Schuckers, The Life and Public Services of Salmon Portland Chase, p. 420.

  “extremist measures…absolute ruin”: National Intelligencer, Washington, D.C., November 14, 1861.

  heated arguments with Bates, Blair, and Smith: Entry for November 20, 1862, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 203; Niven, Gideon Welles, p. 392.

  Cameron maintained…“nigger hobby”: MB, paraphrased in entry of September 12, 1862, Welles diary, Vol. I (1960 edn.), p. 127 (quote); Bradley, Simon Cameron, p. 203.

  Each department customarily presented: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. V, p. 125.

  Cameron read his draft: Henry Wilson, “Edwin M. Stanton,” Atlantic Monthly 25 (February 1870), p. 238; Bradley, Simon Cameron, p. 203.

  “I sought out…Edwin Stanton”: Simon Cameron, quoted in Henry Wilson, “Jeremiah S. Black and Edwin M. Stanton,” Atlantic Monthly 26 (October 1870), p. 470.

  “read the report…hearty support”: Ibid.

  he suggested his own provocative logic: Bradley, Simon Cameron, p. 203; Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, p. 134 n7.

  “It is clearly a right…from the enemy”: “From the Report of the Secretary of War, Dec. 1, 1861,” in Edward McPherson, The Political History of the United States of America, During the Great Rebellion, 1861–1865, 2nd edn. (Washington, D.C.: Philp & Solomons, 1865; New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), p. 249 (quote). For the official version of the annual report of the secretary of war sent to Congress, see OR, Ser. 3, Vol. I, pp. 698–708 (esp. p. 708).

  It remains unclear: See Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, pp. 134–35; Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, pp. 236–37, 260.

  “an abolitionist at heart”: Jeremiah S. Black, “Senator Wilson and Edwin M. Stanton,” Galaxy 9 (June 1870), p. 822.

  his boyhood pledge to his father: Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, p. 25.

  “my personal friend…war against Slavery”: CS to Francis Lieber, December 19, 1861, reel 64, Summer Papers.

  when Stanton talked with fellow Democrats: Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, p. 135.

  his approval emboldened Cameron…to the president: Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, p. 116.

  “This will never do!”…copy already sent: AL, quoted in Carpenter, Six Months at the White House, p. 136.

  “must be provided for in some way”: AL, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1861, in CW, V, p. 48.

  “otherwise unconstitutional…necessity”: AL to Albert G. Hodges, April 4, 1864, in CW, VII, pp. 281–82.

  Lincoln informed Cameron…the vetoed language: Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, Vol. V, p. 127.

  he complained…“dreaded most”: Niven, Gideon Welles, pp. 394–95 (quote p. 395).

  “have sought our ships…a livelihood”: NYT, December 4, 1861, p. 3.

  Welles resolved that…into the Confederacy: Niven, Gideon Welles, p. 395.

  he outlined his ideas…“new beginner to help him”: AL, “Annual Message to Congress,” December 3, 1861, in CW, V, pp. 48, 49, 52.

  “Away with…free as the white man”: Worthington G. Snethen to SPC, December 10, 1861, reel 18, Chase Papers.

  “his attachment…than iron”: “The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered: An Address Delivered in Hudson, Ohio, on 12 July 1854,” The Frederick Douglass Papers, Series One: Speeches, Debates, and Interviews. Vol. II: 1847–54, ed. John W. Blassingame (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982), p. 524.

  “Give him wages…by hard work”: Douglass’ Monthly (January 1862), p. 579.

  “One black regiment…free colored people”: Douglass’ Monthly (May 1861), p. 451.

  “We are striking…the loyal North”: Frederick Douglass, “The Reasons for Our Troubles,” ed. Philip S. Foner, The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass. Vol. III: The Civil War, 1861–1865 (New York: International Publishers, 1952), p. 204.

  “It appeals to the judgment…aspirations”: NYT Supplement, December 4, 1861.

  “the moderate men…with popularity”: Ibid.

  “country and the world…railing accusations”: NYTrib, December 4, 1861.

  CHAPTER 15: “MY BOY IS GONE”

  “unusually beautiful…than January”: NYT Supplement, January 3, 1862.

  “For the first time…in old times”: FAS to LW, January 1, 1862, reel 119, Seward Papers.

  “All the world”…opened at noon: Entry for January 1, 1862, in The Diary of Edward Bates, 1859–1866, p. 221.

  The Marine Band…cabinet officials: Poore, Perley’s Reminiscences, Vol. II, pp. 105–06; NYT Supplement, January 3, 1862.

  “a compact little…head arrangement”: Entry for January 1, 1862, Fanny Seward diary, Seward Papers.

  Lincoln cordially greeted every guest: Leech, Reveille in Washington, pp. 122–23.

  “the bottom…out of the tub”: AL, quoted in Montgomery C. Meigs, “General M. C. Meigs on the Conduct of the Civil War,” American Historical Review 26 (January 1921), p. 292.

  “If the new year…to be expected”: Entry
for January 1862, in Gurowski, Diary from March 4, 1861 to November 12, 1862, p. 137.

  Seward questioned whether…“to Mr. Cameron”: Maunsell B. Field, Memories of Many Men and of Some Women: Being Personal Recollections of Emperors, Kings, Queens, Princes, Presidents, Statesmen, Authors, and Artists, at Home and Abroad, During the Last Thirty Years (New York: Harper & Bros., 1874), pp. 266–67.

  Lincoln’s initial preferences…Joseph Holt: Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton, p. 116.

  West Point graduate Montgomery Blair…“sound judgment”: Gideon Welles, “Narrative of Events,” in “Three Manuscripts of Gideon Welles,” comp. A. Howard Meneely, American Historical Review 31 (April 1926), p. 491.

  Seward would never forget: Wilson, “Jeremiah S. Black and Edwin M. Stanton,” Atlantic Monthly (1870), p. 465.

  “to be loved…power to express”: EMS to SPC, December 2, 1847, reel 6, Chase Papers.

  “He puts his whole…upon the issue”: Philadelphia Press, January 20, 1862.

  an uncharacteristically brusque letter: Memorandum of conversation between SPC and J. W. Schuckers, January 22, 1871, Papers of Jacob William Schuckers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

  “expressed a desire…minister to Russia”: AL to Simon Cameron, January 11, 1862, reel 8, Papers of Simon Cameron, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress [hereafter Cameron Papers, DLC].

  to have wept…“personal degradation”: Recollection of Alexander McClure, in Hendrick, Lincoln’s War Cabinet, p. 234.

  Chase drove Cameron…“to all concerned”: Entry for January 12, 1862, Chase Papers, Vol. I, pp. 325–26.

  Lincoln agreed to withdraw his terse letter: A. K. McClure, Abraham Lincoln and Men of War-Times: Some Personal Recollections of War and Politics During the Lincoln Administration, 4th edn. (Philadelphia: Times Publishing Co., 1892; Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), p. 165.

  “gratify…could render at home”: AL to Simon Cameron, January 11, 1862, reel 8, Cameron Papers, DLC. For Cameron’s resignation letter, see Simon Cameron to AL, January 11, 1862, Lincoln Papers.

  Cameron expressed his fervent opinion: Simon Cameron to Frank A. Flower, March 6, 1887, reel 16, Cameron Papers, DLC.