Ohio History Journal

STANTON -THE PATRIOT.*       ANDREW    CARNEGIE.   At Gambier, Ohio, April 26, (1906) there occurred an event deserv- ing of more than a passing notice. It was the occasion of the presenta-

tion to Kenyon College, by Col- onel John J. McCook of New York, one of the Ohio Family of the famous "fighting McCooks," of an oil portrait of Edwin M. Stanton, who was a student at Kenyon. The painting was from the brush of the distinguished artist Charles P. Filson, Steuben- ville, Ohio. At the same time formal announcement was made by Mr. Andrew Carnegie of the creation of an endowment by him of the Edwin M. Stanton Chair of Political Economy at Kenyon. Mr. Carnegie was present and delivered the address upon the great war secretary, whom he had known, admired and in his early career served. It was the heartfelt tribute of the "Ameri- can Iron Master," the greatest Captain of Industry of his day to the "Man of Iron Will," the

"right arm" of Lincoln in the time of our nation's greatest peril. It is proper to recall a few items concerning the author of the address. Mr. Carnegie came with his family in 1848 from his Scotch home to Alle- gheny, Pa. He was then ten years of age and began as a bobbin-boy at twenty cents a day. His faithfulness soon promoted him to the engine room, where he had an opportunity to acquire arithmetic and penman- ship and do some clerical work. He was next a telegraph messenger boy at Pittsburgh, with a mother and brother to support from his slender wages. He promptly mastered telegraphy and was given a place as * See Stanton Day, Vol. VI, p 318, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Publications. (290)

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Stanton-   The Patriot.                   291

 

operator and won himself extra earnings and experience in composition

as a newspaper telegraph reporter. Superior fitness brought him to the

post of telegraph train dispatcher to the Pennsylvania Railroad, then

secretary to the general superintendent, Colonel Thomas A. Scott, and

in 1860, when his chief became Vice President, Mr. Carnegie was made

superintendent of the Western Division. Meantime he had invested some

borrowed money and his own saved earnings in the Woodruff sleeping

car system which proved successful and the profits went into oil lands

around Oil City. This proved a sagacious investment. At the outbreak

of the war, Colonel Scott was made Assistant Secretary of War and gave

Mr. Carnegie charge of the eastern military railroads and telegraph lines.

This position brought him in personal contact with Mr. Stanton. In

1862 the Pennsylvania road's experiments in replacing wooden with iron

bridges permitted Mr. Carnegie to forecast the future monopoly of the

iron and steel industries and he organized the Keystone Bridge Works,

which built the first iron bridge across the Ohio River. In 1868 he was

the chief factor in importing the Bessemer steel process to the United

States from  England. The enormous American steel manufacturing

system was the result. In 1899 Mr. Carnegie consolidated all the great

steel companies into one giant structure and in 1901 retired from business

life, transferring his company at the valuation of $500,000,000 into a

combination still vaster, the United States Steel Corporation. Mr. Car-

negie, the second richest man in the United States, decided to devote

his remaining years and the bulk of his fortune to the benefit of humanity.

His benefactions surpass those of anyone in history. He has already

donated in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty millions to the

cause of education and philanthropy, embracing in his gifts a score of

different influences that make for the betterment of mankind.-E. O. R.

 

Stanton, the Patriot, Kenyon's most illustrious son, came

of good kith and kin, born as he was of sturdy Quaker stock.

His grandfather emigrated from Massachusetts to North Caro-

lina before the Revolution in 1774, and he dying there his

widow emigrated in 1800 to the Northwestern Territory because

it was dedicated to freedom. The grandfather wished to man-

umit his slaves before leaving Massachusetts, but this being il-

legal, he left them under the protection of a guardian to see that

they were not misused. The Stantons settled at Mount Pleas-

ant, Ohio. The son David, father of our subject, was an able

physician in Steubenville, a strong abolitionist, laboring even in

that early day to impress his fellows with the wrongfulness

of slavery.

At thirteen, Edwin was fortunately employed in a book-

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store, so that access to books was assured: probably one of the

most important factors in determining his future career. One

of his schoolmates, John Harper, whom I knew well in Pitts-

burg, tells us of young Stanton's fondness for poetry and his

greed for books.

Stanton is, so far as I know, the youngest library-founder

known to history. His schoolfellow, Squire Gallagher, reports

that before he was thirteen he started a circulating library where

books were regularly exchanged among the boys. The boy was

father to the man, for leadership, somewhat imperious, yet never

combative nor abusive, was clearly his.

While engaged in the book-store he devoted his evenings

under Rev. Mr. Buchanan preparing for admission to Kenyon,

which received him in his seventeenth year (1831). It is mel-

ancholy to read that he was compelled to leave after his junior

year for want of means, but poverty has its advantages in train-

ing men. He returned to his former employer who sent him

to take charge of a bookstore in Columbus, Ohio, where he met

his future wife. Too poor to marry then, the young lovers

waited some years, true to each other. Never was there a more

devoted husband. He owed much to his wife.

The two years spent at college were formative years. When

secession first reared its head and Jackson uttered the immortal

words, "The Union must and shall be preserved," even then

to the young man here at college in his teens, this was the

bugle call.

In 1825, finding the Union endangered, notwithstanding his

father's opposition to Jackson and firm adherence to Clay and

Adams, he sank all other issues and ardently supported Jackson,

much to the regret of many of his best friends. Patriot at

eighteen, patriot always, the needle not truer to the pole than

Stanton to the Union.

He soon qualified for the law, became prosecuting attorney,

and in his twenty-third year had built up a lucrative practice.

He removed to Pittsburg in 1847 and it was there in his early

prime that I, as telegraph messenger boy, had the pleasure of

seeing him frequently, proud to get his nod of recognition, as

I sometimes stopped him on the street or entered his office to

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deliver a message. A vigorous, energetic and concentrated man,

always intent upon the subject in hand, he had nothing of Lin-

coln's humor and ability to laugh; he was ever deeply serious.

None stood higher than he in his profession, but it is in the

realm of statesmanship that his services became so command-

ing as to give him place among the fathers of the Republic.

He remained a Democrat, yet a Free Soiler, true to the anti-

slavery traditions of his family. His removal to Washington

brought him much business and for some years little time was

paid to politics.

The election of Lincoln drew President Buchanan into ser-

ious negotiations with the Southern leaders with whom, as a

Democrat, he was in sympathy. He soon felt the need of a

strong constitutional lawyer to steer the ship of state aright,

since Attorney-General Black had been appointed Secretary of

State to succeed General Cass. His choice fell upon Stanton,

who abandoned a lucrative legal practice at the call of duty.

Dangers were brewing fast around his beloved country, and he

was needed to defend the Union. On the twentieth of Decem-

ber, 1860, the very day Stanton entered the Cabinet South Car-

olina declared the Union dissolved. The boy patriot of eighteen

who had rallied to Jackson's call was revealed to an anxious

country in his manhood as again the Jacksonian apostle, to teach

South Carolina and all the other states that followed her, and

all the world for all time thereafter, that the Union "must and

shall be preserved."

There are many remarkable things in Stanton's life. I ven-

ture to point out what seems to me a wonderful coincidence.

Lincoln, as a youth, saw a slave auction on the Mississippi, and

there and then resolved that if he ever got a chance he would

"hit the accursed thing hard."  His time came and he was

privileged to emancipate the last slaves in a civilized land. So

Stanton, changing his political party while in his teens at the

call of the Union, in manhood changes the policy of his party and

banishes disunion forever. For this he is destined to live in

American history as one whose services to the Republic in her

darkest hour rank in value with those of the foremost early

fathers: Franklin, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson and

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Lincoln. No lower place can be assigned him than in that circle.

Washington must ever stand alone-father among these worthy

sons.

There are few more deeply interesting episodes in our his-

tory than that of Judge Black's conversion to Stanton's views.

It will be remembered that as attorney-general, Nov. 20th, 1860,

he gave the President his opinion that he could not constitu-

tionally use military force for any purpose whatever within the

limits of a state where there were no United States judges, mar-

shals, or other civil officers, and there were none in South Caro-

lina, the Federal officials having resigned. This led to pro-

longed negotiations between the agents of the Southern states

and the President and his Cabinet, all tending to a peaceful dis-

solution of the Union.

General Cass, Secretary of State, loyal to the Union, re-

signed because the president refused to reinforce the Southern

forts. Meanwhile Secretary of State Black, and Stanton, who

was then only a private citizen, had been in deep and earnest

consultation, and Black took Cass's place only on condition

that Stanton be made his successor. The reason was soon clear.

Black had changed his views, as he explained seven years after:

he and Stanton had reached perfect accord on all questions,

whether of law or policy. It is readily seen how this concord

was attained. The true Jacksonian, ever holding as the prime

duty the preservation of the Union as an indissoluble union of

indissoluble states, had shown his elder brother that he was wrong

and inspired him with the intense loyalty he himself possessed.

Black says early in December he "notified the President of his

change of view and handed him a memorandum for his private

use." Here is an extract: "The Union is necessarily perpetual.

No state can lawfully withdraw or be expelled from it. The

Federal Constitution is as much a part of the constitution of

every state as if it had been textually inserted therein." This

is Stantonese. Black had seen a great light between November

and December.

It would have been well had he consulted Stanton before

giving his opinion of the previous month, which brought Bu-

chanan to the verge of treason. Fortunately for our country,

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Stanton - The Patriot.              295   Black remained at Stanton's side in this crisis and rendered great service. He deserves to have his mistake forgiven and forgotten. It was one which a lifelong. Democrat might be pardoned for making. I knew more than one excellent public-

spirited man in the circle of my friends who could not recon- cile himself to the use of force against his fellows of the South, with whom his personal and political relations had been cor- dial. The "depart in peace" policy had many sympathetic ad- herents among such men.

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Major Anderson's removal from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sum-

ter created a contest which raged for three days in the Cabinet.

Was the demand of South Carolina, that he be ordered back

to Moultrie, to be granted or denied? Secretary of War Floyd

claimed that the President had committed himeslf by a promise

that the status quo should not be disturbed, which Anderson's

movement certainly did. He prepared a letter to which Black,

Stanton, and Holt objected. On the following Sunday, Black

informed the President that if the letter was delivered he

would resign. Stanton had never wavered in his position. The

moment the demand that Fort Sumter be evacuated was made,

he told the Cabinet that "its surrender by the Government would

be a crime equal to that of Arnold, and that all who partici-

pated in the act should be hung like Andre." Judge Holt, a

member of. the Cabinet, speaking from his own knowledge, tells

us that Stanton also declared in the face of the President that

a president who signed such an order would be guilty of treason.

The President raised his hand deprecatingly, saying: "Not so

bad as that, my friend, not so bad as that."

Judge Holt's tribute to Stanton reveals what the Republic

owes to its defenders. He says, "His loyalty to the Union cause

was a passion. He could not open his lips on the subject with-

out giving utterance to the strongest expressions. He never

changed from first to last in his devotion to his country nor

in the resolute manner in which he asserted and upheld his

convictions." The decision of the Cabinet, upon which the sov-

ereignty of the Republic over all its ports depended, hung for

several days in the balance. The President finally sided with

the loyalists. Stanton first reclaimed Judge Black, the Sec-

retary of State, before entering the Cabinet, and after he did

enter, the two men, with Judge Holt, Secretary of War, prevailed

upon the President to change his policy. History records in un-

mistakable terms that the chief antagonist of the policy of sub-

mission to the disunionists, and inspirer in the Cabinet of loyalty

to the Union as against secession, was the patriot, Stanton.

His policy having been agreed to, instead of resting content

he began to urge the president to prepare for the worst, hold-

ing that "preparation could do no possible harm in any event,

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Stanton - The Patriot.           297

 

and, in the event of that which seems to be most likely, it is the

country's only chance of salvation."

There was soon thrust upon him the duty of conferring

with the leaders of the Republican party and preparing for a

peaceful inauguration of the newly elected President, Lincoln.

This he no more hesitated to perform than other patriotic duties

required for the preservation of his country.

Interviews took place with Seward, Sumner, and other lead-

ers. There was knowledge of treasonable designs against Lin-

coln's inauguration and of an attempt to induce Maryland to

secede and claim the reversion of the District of Columbia. So

pressing was the danger that the President was persuaded to

order troops to Washington.

The effect of the arrival of United States soldiers under

the national flag was startling. Here was notice at last, after

months of doubt and hesitation, that the Republic was not to

be destroyed without a struggle. All hope of peaceful settle-

ment vanished. Even Mr. Stanton never rendered his country

a greater service than that performed in January, 1861. He

was denounced as no better than an abolitionist by Southern

Democrats who favored the right of secession, and also by

those who did not go so far, but who refused to sustain the

Government under Republican control. To both he was equally

odious, because he stood for maintaining the Government under

all circumstances. He entered the Buchanan Cabinet as a Dem-

ocrat in 1860 and left it a Democrat, but a Democrat who sub-

ordinated every issue to the maintenance of law and the pre-

servation of the Union. Upon this platform he advocated obe-

dience to the Fugitive Slave Law and recognition of slavery,

intensely opposed as he personally was to that system. Here

he stood with Lincoln and the large party who preferred to

keep the constitutional compact with the South rather than

compel the abolition of slavery at the risk of civil war.

Seven states seceded and Jefferson Davis was elected presi-

dent of the Confederate states one month previous to Lincoln's

accession. Like his predecessor, Lincoln's one desire was peace,

and many plans for satisfying the South received his earnest

consideration. Soon did he realize that the men who had elected

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him were of different temper, some preferring disunion to the

continuance of slavery, some for the Union with or without

slavery, as Lincoln himself was. A large portion of the Northern

people, not Republicans, were disposed to blame the Anti-

Slavery people for their attack upon property recognized by the

Constitution. Well did Lincoln know that the opposition in

the North to the use of force against the South under existing

conditions would be serious and powerful; hence his earnest

efforts to avert hostilities. He went so far as to favor the evac-

uation of Fort Sumter, and steps were taken to prepare the pub-

lic for the great sacrifice. The Cabinet approved this by five

to two. The rumor of this action, started to test public opinion,

aroused the North. It was overwhelmingly condemned and in

such terms as made the President and Cabinet pause. Lincoln

never gave the order.

As was to be expected, Stanton, now a private citizen, was

inflexibly opposed to the evacuation of Sumter. His letters at

this time express grave doubts of the capacity of the President

and his Cabinet to preserve the Union, but still he believed that

the Union was stronger than all its foes.

While the Union was thus imperiled and men in all the

various divisions into which public opinion had drifted knew

not what a day was to bring forth nor what the end was to be,

an event occurred which instantly crystallized the divided North

into one solid body. Never can I forget the April morning

when there flashed through the land, "Fort Sumter fired upon

by the rebels."

I was then superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad at

Pittsburg and went to my office every morning on a train

crowded with passengers. That morning the cars resembled a

disturbed bee-hive. Men could not sit still nor control them-

selves. One of the leading Democrats who had the previous

evening assured me that the people would never approve the use

of force against their Southern brethren, nor would he, came

forward, greatly excited, and I am sorry to say some of his

words were unquotable. "What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Didn't I tell you last night what the Secessionists intended?"

"But they have fired on the flag-fired on our flag." In less

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Stanton - The Patriot.             299   than a week I saw my friend one morning drilling to be ready as captain of a company to revenge that unpardonable crime. So with others of like views the night before. Stanton was right: the Union was stronger than all its foes. Ex-President Buchanan wrote General Dix: "The present administration had no alternative but to ac- cept the war initiated by South Carolina or the Southern Con- federacy. The North will sustain the administration almost to a man; and it ought to be sustained at all hazards."

May 6th, to Stanton, he wrote: "The first gun fired by Beauregard aroused the indig- nant spirit of the North as nothing else could have done, and made us a unanimous peo- ple. I had repeatedly warned them that this would be the re- sult." Buchanan proved to be a loyal man. Strong as the Un- ion then proved to be, it is in- finitely stronger to-day, not only in the North, but north, south, east and west, wherever Old Glory floats. The forces in our country to-day are all centripetal. Seventy-five thousand vol- unteers were immediately

called for by the President to fight for the Union. After the repulse at Bull Run, a great army was concentrated around Wash- ington under General McClellan, of whom Stanton expected great things, but as month after month passed and no forward move- ment was made, the nation became impatient and clamored for action. None came. I can speak from personal experience of the condition of affairs in and around Washington immediately after Lincoln's

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call for volunteers, having escorted General Butler and his reg-

iments from Annapolis to Washington after we had repaired

the railroad torn up by the Confederates. I saw General Scott,

then in command, assisted morning and evening into and out

of his brougham and led by two orderlies across the pavement

to and from his office. Upon the old, infirm man, unable to

walk, was thrown the task of organizing and directing the

Army. The heads of other departments under him were mostly

superannuated. There was little or none of any of the requisites

for war. Reorganization of every branch was essential. Gen-

eral Cameron, Secretary of War, labored hard and did well

under the circumstances, and deserved commendation, but he

could not work miracles. Time was needed.

On the 13th of January, 1862, without consultation with Mr.

Stanton, Lincoln nominated him as Secretary of War, and a few

days later he was again a member of the Cabinet. Neither party

nor personal considerations dictated his appointment. The Pres-

ident and Cabinet, disappointed and weary with the paralysis

which had stricken the great army, and alarmed at the intense

clamor of an incensed people, had to take action to prevent dis-

aster. Earnestly searching for the best man to meet the emer-

gency and to bring order out of chaos, there could be but one

selection, the man who had restored President Buchanan to the

Union cause, had convinced Secretary of State Judge Black that

he was wrong in his views of constitutional law, had proclaimed

failure to reinforce Fort Sumter treasonable, and told the Pres-

ident that if he surrendered the fort he would be a traitor and

deserved to be hanged- that was the man the situation required.

The effect of Stanton's appointment upon the country was mag-

ical as the people became conversant with the record of the

new Secretary in Buchanan's Cabinet.

Much was said of Stanton's rude treatment of those having

business with him, but, to judge whether his impetuosity was

excusable, one has to know those who complained and what they

demanded. He was overwhelmed with important affairs and

had neither time nor disposition to waste time upon those who

had personal ends to advance. I witnessed his reception of the

committee from New York City who, fearing consequences, vis-

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Stanton - The Patriot.             301

 

ited Washington to urge a postponement of the draft. That

was delightfully short. No time lost. If there was to be re-

bellion in New York the sooner the Government met and crushed

it the better. "No postponement," was Stanton's reply. We

do not find Lincoln and members of the Cabinet or able mem-

bers of the House or Senate or high military officers complain-

ing of his manner. He had time and patience for them night

or day.

His inherent kindness may be judged by his first act. It

was to send a commission to Richmond to look after prisoners

at the expense of the government. Ten days later came his order

that prisoners of war should receive their usual pay.

Lincoln was reported as saying to a friend who congrat-

ulated him upon Stanton's appointment -"Yes, the army will

move now, even if it move to the devil." Move it did, but not

for some time. Month after month all was quiet on the Potomac.

Even Washington was threatened and Pennsylvania invaded.

The issue seemed to tremble in the balance. The nation was

heart sick, but great news came at last to encourage it. A

brigadier-general named Grant, upon his own initiative and

much to the surprise of his commanding general, had captured

Fort Henry and later Fort Donelson, with fifteen thousand pris-

oners, compelling the evacuation of Nashville. "I propose to

move immediately upon your works" was the secret of victory.

Here was "an auger that could bore," which Lincoln had de-

termined to find.

In estimating Stanton as War Minister, many have been

justly lavish in their praise of his unflagging energy, tenacity,

and unconquerable will in the performance of the ordinary duties

of a war minister, characteristic of an exceedingly able man,

but a just estimate of him can only be made when the work he

did, lying beyond the range of the immediate duties of a war

minister, is known.

In the field of constitution law, for instance, we see that

Stanton converted both President and Secretary of State, and

he was described as "Lincoln's right-hand man" in addition to

being War Minister. There were emergencies when not only

ability, but genius, was shown. Let us recall three of these:

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The Western rivers were patrolled by Confederate steam-

boats, improvised ships of war. The Navy Department had no

plans for destroying these and opening the rivers to the Na-

tional forces. Stanton knew Charles Ellet, builder of the

Wheeling, Fairmount, and other bridges, an engineer of great

ability, who had suggested rams for naval warfare. He wrote

him, March, 1862--

"If this Department had several swift, strong boats on the

Western rivers, commanded by energetic fighting men, I could

clear the rebels out of those waters and recover the Missis-

sippi to the use of commerce and our armies. The Navy seems

to be helpless and I am compelled to execute a plan of my own

to avert the increasing dangers there. Can you not secretly fit

out a fleet of swift boats at several points on the Ohio and

descend on the rebels unexpectedly and destroy them? Please

call at my office at once."

Ellet was called to Washington for conference on March

26th, and although Russia and our own Navy Department had

long before rejected Ellet's idea of rams, Stanton adopted them,

and sent Ellet to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and New Albany to con-

vert ordinary river steamboats into powerful rams. This was

promptly done and the rams approached Memphis June ₅th, de-

stroyed the enemy and captured the city next day. Ellet was

the only National officer lost. Wounded on deck, Nelson-like,

in the hour of his greatest triumph, he can never be forgotten.

Only ten weeks elapsed between the resolve to improvise rams,

and victory.

The second instance: The Confederates early took posses-

sion of Norfolk and the Navy Yard. Secretary Stanton asked

the Navy Department if the fleet could not attack Norfolk, but

was met with the suggestion that the army should assault it by

land. The Merrimac appeared and sunk the frigates Congress

and Cumberland and alarmed the seaboard cities. That night

Stanton called a committee together in New York by telegraph

to devise plans for sinking the terror. He provisioned Fortress

Monroe for six months and advised the navy department he

could not embark the army to attack Norfolk until the navy bot-

tled up or sank the Merrimac. On the following day he wired

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Mr. Vanderbilt to name a price for sinking her. The Com-

modore promptly offered for the purpose the swift and powerful

steamship Vanderbilt as a gift to the government. She was

accepted and immediately sent to Fortress Monroe to lie in

wait. These arrangements made, Stanton induced the president

to accompany him to Fortress Monroe, that he might have the

commander-in-chief at his side to issue such orders as he might

think necessary both to army and navy. There was to be no

failure of co-operation. The attack was a splendid success. The

Merrimac retreated and destroyed herself. The Navy yard, Nor-

folk and Portsmouth were captured and the James River block-

aded, all according to Stanton's plans and under his immediate

direction.

The third instance: There came one serious disaster in the

West-Rosecrans' defeat at Chickamauga, imperiling Chatta-

nooga, the key to the region from which Rosecrans thought he

might have to retreat. Stanton, as usual, had the solution - re-

inforce him from the Army of the Potomac. Upon receipt of

Rosecrans' dispatch he sent for Lincoln, who was sleeping at the

Soldiers' Home.   Startled by the summons, the President

mounted his horse and rode to Washington in the moonlight

to preside over the Cabinet. Hallock opposed the idea, saying

it would take forty days to make the transfer, but Stanton had

already consulted the railroad and telegraph authorities, Eckert

and McCallum, and had them present to assure the Cabinet that

seven days would suffice. Stanton was given his way.

My superior officer and life-long friend, Colonel Thomas A.

Scott, upon whom Stanton greatly relied; was called upon. Scott

traveled the route. Stanton never left his office for three days

and nights during the movement. September 26th the troops

started and twenty-three thousand troops were with Rosecrans in

less than seven days. To Colonel Scott, then at Louisville, Stan-

ton telegraphed, "Your work is most brilliant. A thousand

thanks. It is a great achievement." So my superior in govern-

ment service at Washington and kindest friend of early days,

Thomas A. Scott, lives in history as one who "did the state

some service."

This was not all. Rosecrans' advices were still most dis-

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couraging and indicated retreat. Stanton determined to visit

the field and judge for himself. He wired General Grant to

meet him and then immediately gave him full command of the

Division of the Mississippi, not a moment too soon, for it was

necessary to wire Rosecrans that he was displaced by General

Thomas, the latter receiving orders to hold his position at all

hazards. The result was the defeat of the Confederates and the

capture of Chattanooga. Stanton returned to Washington, but

not until he had seen Rosecrans displaced and Thomas in com-

mand of the Army of the Cumberland, with Grant over all in

the West.

The work of no mere secretary of war achieved these three

triumphs. Stanton appears as a combination of secretary of war,

admiral of the fleet, and commanding general, the president of

the United States a zealous co-operator. We note in these

emergencies intuitive apprehension of the vital points: fertility

of resource, adaptation of means to ends, and, over all, sublime

confidence in himself and certainty of success- all qualities that

pertain to genius. It may be doubted if ever a man displayed

genius of a higher order in affairs of similar character. Cer-

tainly no secretary of war ever approached him.

It was not long before Grant was called to Washington by

Secretary Stanton and placed at the head of the army. He

dined with me at Pittsburg when he passed westward, and told

me he was to become lieutenant-general with headquarters at

Washington. General Thomas being then the popular idol I

said to him, "I suppose you will place Thomas in command of

the West." "No," he said, "Sherman (who had been little heard

of) is the man for chief command. Thomas would be the first

man to say so." Sherman did, indeed, prove that Grant knew

his man.

Great events soon followed, culminating in the surrender of

the Confederates and the assassination of Lincoln in the hour

of victory; Stanton and Seward, like Lincoln, being also marked

for death on the conspirators' list.

Stanton's report of December, 1865, opens as follows:

"The military appropriations by the last Congress amounted

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Stanton - The Patriot.              305

 

to the sum of $516,240,131.70. The military estimates for the

next fiscal year, after careful revision, amount to $33,814,461.83."

The army was reduced to fifty thousand men. The million

of soldiers who had left peaceful pursuits to defend their country

returned to their homes and their former pursuits without the

slightest disturbance. "The future historian is to record," says

Dana, "that this unprecedented transformation in which so many

anxious patriots, soldiers, and statesmen alike, labored together,

was pre-eminently achieved by the heroic genius of Edwin M.

Stanton." So far all was peaceful and satisfactory in the North,

but how the Southern states, recently in rebellion, were to be

reconstructed, became the problem. Two days before his death

Lincoln had said, "We all agree that the seceded states are out

of their proper practical relation to the Union and that the

sole subject of the government, civil and military, is again to

get them into that proper practical relation."

The Southern people held that the old state legislatures re-

turned with peace.

Stanton's connection with the subject began before Lincoln's

death. April 1₄th, at a Cabinet meeting he submitted, at Mr.

Lincoln's request, a mode which he had prepared whereby the

states "should be organized without any necessity whatever for

the intervention of rebel organizations or rebel aid." Lincoln's

last telegram, April 11th, following Stanton's policy, was to

General Weitzel, in command at Richmond, ordering that "those

who had acted as the legislature of Virginia in support of the

rebellion be not allowed to assemble, even in their individual

capacity." President Johnson followed this policy for some time

and all went well, but on the 1₄th of August in a telegram to

the governor of Mississippi he changed his position. When

Congress met it appointed a committee to consider whether any

of the seceding states were entitled to be represented in either

house and provided that, until its report should be acted upon

by Congress, no member should be received from such states.

The fear of the Unionists was that, should the entire South

send disloyal representatives, these, with a few Democratic

sympathizers from the North, might control Congress and pass

such measures as would nullify the Emancipation Proclamation.

Vol. XV-20

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306       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The poisonous root of secession, slavery, not yet quite eradicated,

was ready to germinate again. The President, a Southern man,

brought face to face with the question of granting all the rights

of citizenship to the negro, recoiled, and favored leaving this

question to the states. Stanton stood firmly for the right of

House and Senate to judge of the election returns and qualifica-

tions of their own members. All election for Congress inter-

vened. President Johnson made inflammatory speeches in the

campaign, calling Congress "a body which assumes to be the

Congress of the United States, when it is a congress of only

a part of the United States," the people responded by sending

increased loyal majorities to both houses. The prominent part

played by Stanton singled him out as the object of attack by

the President and those of the Cabinet who sided with him. To

protect him from dismissal, Congress passed the Tenure of

Office bill, which also protected General Grant. Neither could

be dismissed without the previous consent of the Senate. On the

19th of July Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, favored by

Stanton, over the President's veto. Grant and Stanton, in cor-

dial alliance, put it into force and saved the fruits of victory so

seriously imperiled. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Consti-

tution was finally made effective.

Soon after the adjournment of Congress, the President de-

termined to displace Stanton and consulted Grant upon the sub-

ject. Grant expressed strong disapproval and, after pointing

out that the approval of the Senate was necessary, ended with

these words:

"In conclusion, allow me to say, as a friend, desiring peace

and quiet, the welfare of the whole country, North and South,

that it is, in my opinion, more than the loyal people of this

country (I mean those who supported the government during

the great rebellion) will quietly submit to, to see the very man

of all others in whom they have expressed confidence removed."

The President then requested Stanton's resignation, which he

declined to give before the next meeting of Congress.

In this he had the cordial support of the loyal people. At a

later date, the president suspended him and appointed General

• 17
 

Stanton -The Patriot.               307

 

Grant secretary of war ad interim. In acknowledging to Stan-

ton his acceptance, the general wrote;

"In notifying you of my acceptance, I cannot let the op-

portunity pass without expressing to you my appreciation of the

zeal, patriotism, firmness, and ability with which you have ever

discharged the duties of secretary of war."

Stanton knew that Grant had withstood the president reso-

lutely, was true to the Union, and could be trusted, and hence

had less difficulty in submitting under protest.

Upon the meeting of Congress, Stanton was promptly re-

instated. General Grant immediately notified the President he

was no longer secretary of war, since the Senate had reinstated

Stanton. This incensed the President, who had expected Grant

to remain and dispute the Senate's action. That Stanton was

surprised that Grant ever accepted the appointment is clear, but

Grant's letter to the President, February 3rd, explains all:

"From our conversations and my written protest of August

1, 1867, against the removal of Mr. Stanton, you must have

known that my greatest objection to his removal or suspension

was the fear that someone would be appointed in his stead who

would, by opposition to the laws relating to the restoration of

the Southern states to their proper relations to the government,

embarrass the army in the performance of duties especially im-

posed upon it by these laws; and it was to prevent such an ap-

pointment that I accepted the office of secretary of war ad

interim, and not for the purpose of enabling you to get rid of

Mr. Stanton by my withholding it from him in opposition to

law, or, not doing so myself, surrendering it to someone who

would, as the statements and assumptions in your communications

plainly indicate was sought."

 

 

"And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a soldier and

integrity as a man have been so violently assailed, pardon me for

saying that I can but regard this whole matter, from the be-

ginning to the end, as an attempt to involve me in the resis-

tance of law, for which you hesitated to assume the responsi-

bility in orders, and thus to destroy my  character before the

• 18
 

308      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

country. I am in a measure confirmed in this conclusion by your

recent orders directing me to disobey orders from the secretary

of war- my superior and your subordinate - without having

countermanded his authority to issue the orders I am to disobey."

Thus Grant stood immovable, true to the loyal forces as

against the president. The latter now attempted to get General

Sherman to accept, but he resolutely declined. As a last

resort General Thomas was appointed. This led to the im-

peachment of President Johnson by the House and his trial by

the Senate. Upon the failure of the proceedings, through the

lack of one vote only, although two-thirds majority was re-

quired, Secretary Stanton resigned and retired to private life,

to be soon afterwards appointed justice of the supreme court by

President Grant. Resolutions of thanks were passed by both

houses and many were the tributes offered to this remarkable

man who had given six years of his life and undermined his

health in his country's service. Before entering the cabinet, he

had amassed considerable means by his profession, but this was

exhausted. Beyond his modest residence in Washington, he left

nothing. Dispensing hundreds of millions yearly, he lived with-

out ostentation, and he died poor.

Offers of gifts and private subscriptions by those who knew

his wants were uniformly rejected. On the morning of the 2₄th

of December, 1869, he breathed his last.

He had been foremost in urging the abolition of slavery, the

root of secession, and Lincoln's righthand man in preserving

our blessed Union, which secures for this continent an indis-

soluble government so overwhelmingly powerful as to be im-

mune from attack and able to enforce internal peace, in con-

trast to Europe with its huge armies, organized not against

foreign foes but for protection against each other.

Well may we imagine the patriot murmuring as his spirit

fled, "I thank thee, God, that thou hast permitted thy servant

to see slavery abolished and the Union preserved; let him now

depart in peace."

The tributes paid to his memory were many, and his tran-

scendent services were fully extolled, but of all that has been

said or written about him, nothing gives posterity such clear,

• 19
 

Stanton - The Patriot.              309

 

full, and truthful evidence of the man's seemingly superhuman

power of infusing into a whole people the vibrations of his own

impassioned soul, as is supplied by an editorial written by one

by no means predisposed in his favor, Horace Greeley. The

following editorial appeared in the Tribune, February 18th:

"While every honest heart rises in gratitude to God for

the victories which afford so glorious a guaranty of the national

salvation, let it not be forgotten that it is to Edwin M. Stanton,

more than to any other individual, that these auspicious events

are now due. Our generals in the field have done their duty

with energy and courage; our officers, and with them the noble

democracy of the ranks, have proved themselves worthy sons

of the Republic: but it is by the impassioned soul, the sleepless

will, and the great practical talents of the secretary of war, that

the vast power of the United States has now been hurled upon

their treacherous and perjured enemies to crush them to pow-

der. Let no man imagine that we exalt this great statesman

above his deserts, or that we would detract an iota from that

share of glory which in this momentous crisis belongs to every

faithful participator in the events of the war. But we cannot

overlook the fact that, whereas the other day all was doubt, dis-

trust, and uncertainty; the nation despairing almost of its res-

toration to life; Congress the scene of bitter imputations and

unsatisfactory apologies; the army sluggish, discontented, and

decaying, and the abyss of ruin and disgrace yawning to swallow

us: now all is inspiration, movement, victory, and confidence.

We seem to have passed into another state of existence, to live

with distinct purposes, and to feel the certainty of their realiza-

tion. In one word, the nation is saved; and while with un-

grudging hands we heap garlands upon all defenders, let a special

tribute of affectionate admiration be paid to the minister who

organized the victory which they have won."

Nothing is exaggerated here, unduly laudatory as it may

seem. Many like myself can vouch from personal knowledge

for all that is said, having known the man and his work and the

conditions. Stanton deprecated its publication in 1862, and in a

letter to the Tribune disclaimed the credit given him, but stand-

ing here to-day when justice can be done to the real hero without

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310       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

arousing jealousy in others, I solemnly pronounce every word

of Horace Greeley's tribute richly deserved. Our pantheon is

reserved for the fathers of the Republic. To these has recently

been added Lincoln, who has taken his place among the gods.

Two other names from our generation are yet to enter, their

services swelling as events recede: Stanton and Grant.

Thus passed away Kenyon's most illustrious alumnus, but in

the higher sense he is still with us, and distant is the day when

the graduates of Kenyon shall find that his spirit no longer rules

them from his urn. Such an example as he left is one of the

most precious legacies that can be bequeathed to posterity, a

career spent, not in pursuit of miserable aims, which end with

self, but in high service for others. In these days of materialism,

where so many are devoted to the pursuit of wealth as an end,

some pursuing it by underhand and dishonorable means, and in

political life, where personal advancement is so often the aim,

the value of a Stanton, in total abnegation of self, placing before

him as his aim in life, service to his country, regardless of popu-

larity, fame or wealth, cannot be overestimated.

It is for the students of Kenyon and for all men, year after

year, generation after generation, century after century, to emu-

late his virtues, follow his example, and revere his memory.

• 21