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J. B. Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, chapter 3 (search)
Square, Alabama. A skillful surgeon and Christian gentleman, his mission on earth seems to be one of pure beneficence. He had known me before we met, it appears; and I must say he did me many kind offices. In the afternoon I walked to the capitol, a fine structure with massive columns, on a beautiful elevation, where I delivered several letters to the Virginia delegation in Congress. They were exceedingly kind to me, and proffered their services very freely. May 16 Met John Tyler,k there would be a party-among the politicians, not the people — opposed to confederating with the border slave States. Some of his fellow-members tell many jokes on Mr. Hunter. They say every time he passes the marble-yards going up to the capitol, and surveys the tomb-stones, he groans in agony, and predicts that he will get sick and die here. If this be true, I predict that he will get the seat of government moved to Richmond, a more congenial climate. He has a way of moving large bod
William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 8. (search)
stump. rescue of Baker. last canvass for the Legislature. the Thomas skinning. the presidential canvass of 1840. In December, 1834, Lincoln prepared himself for the Legislature to which he had been elected by such a complimentary majority. Through the generosity of his friend Smoot he purchased a new suit of clothes, and entering the stage at New Salem, rode through to Vandalia, the seat of government. He appreciated the dignity of his new position, and instead of walking to the capitol, as some of his biographers have contended, availed himself of the usual mode of travel. At this session of the Legislature he was anything but conspicuous. In reality he was very modest, but shrewd enough to impress the force of his character on those persons whose influence might some day be of advantage to him. He made but little stir, if we are to believe the record, during the whole of this first session. Made a member of the committee on Public Accounts and Expenditures, his name a
William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 16. (search)
two years before, would probably have astonished him. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Taney, whose black robes, attenuated figure, and cadaverous countenance reminded me of a galvanized corpse. Then the President came forward, and read his inaugural address in a clear and distinct voice. It was attentively listened to by all, but the closest listener was Douglas, who leaned forward as if to catch every word, nodding his head emphatically at those passages which most pleased him. There was some applause, not very much nor very enthusiastic. I must not forget to mention the presence of a Mephistopheles in the person of Senator Wigfall, of Texas, who stood with folded arms leaning against the doorway of the Capitol, looking down upon the crowd and the ceremony with a contemptuous air, which sufficiently indicated his opinion of the whole performance. To him the Southern Confederacy was already an accomplished fact. He lived to see it the saddest of fictions.
Mrs. John A. Logan, Reminiscences of a Soldier's Wife: An Autobiography, Chapter 11: (search)
es who are more anxious to please their chief than to disappoint him in not finding material he desires. Three days and three nights we stayed in the back parlor, which was the general's office, working on this case, with the exception of the few hours that General Logan had to go to the Senate to be present during the session. We had our meals served in our rooms, and never went to bed during the three days and nights except for an hour or so in the early morning. While he was at the Capitol I ran over these various cases, wrote on slips of paper what they were and the points upon which they bore, and marked for him the paragraphs that were most important. When he came in, as soon as we had our dinner he would take these volumes and read only the paragraphs which I had marked for him. Notwithstanding the digest which I had prepared, it was almost impossible to have his report ready for the meeting of the committee at the end of the week. We had no such helps in those days as
Judith White McGuire, Diary of a southern refugee during the war, by a lady of Virginia, 1861. (search)
sed, to ask myself what it all meant. Why did we think it necessary to send off all that was so dear to us from our own home? I threw open the shutters, and the answer came at once, so mournfully! I heard distinctly the drums beating in Washington. The evening was so still that I seemed to hear nothing else. As I looked at the Capitol in the distance, I could scarcely believe my senses. That Capitol of which I had always been so proud! Can it be possible that it is no longer our Capitol? And are our countrymen, under its very eaves, making mighty preparation to drain our hearts' blood? And must this Union, which I was taught to revere, be rent asunder? Once I thought such a suggestion sacrilege; but now that it is dismembered, I trust it may never, never be reunited. We must be a separate people-our nationality must be different, to insure lasting peace and good-will. Why cannot we part in peace? May 10, 1861. Since writing last, I have been busy, very bus
John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion, Chapter 8: Washington. (search)
Chapter 8: Washington. In celebrating the attack and the fall of Sumter at Montgomery by a congratulatory speech and an official salute, the rebel Secretary of War ventured to predict that the Confederate flag would float over the capitol at Washington before the first of May. Whether this was to be accomplished by plot, by open military campaign, or through mere insurrectionary reversion, he did not explain. The idea, however, by long nursing and repeating, had become one of the fixed might reclaim and reenter the city as their proper and natural heritage. It was this almost universal Southern feeling which found expression in the prediction of the rebel Secretary of War, that the rebel flag would float over the dome of the capitol before the first of May. There was, therefore, great doubt about the disposition and loyalty of the resident population; and the startling succession of disasters to the Union cause created a profound impression. Virginia's secession on the
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 14: Fort Gibson, 1834. (search)
that it is confusing to attempt to recall how lately the Northwest was redeemed from savagery. The buffalo, in 1842, ranged as far west as Independence, and, in 1836, acres of them were visible at a time. A buffalo hide could then be bought, green, for fifty cents; now the animal is nearly extinct. So much more destructive is the civilized man for sport than the savage for necessity. The past seems very near the present when one is reminded that the St. Genevieve stone, of which the capitol of Iowa is largely built, was quarried from lands which had very little marketable value when granted by the King of Spain to General Henry Dodge's father, Israel C. Dodge. General A. C. Dodge, Henry Dodge's son, remembered Mr. Thomas Hart Benton when he kept a woodyard ten miles from St. Genevieve, and was much elated at Mr. Benton being elected to the Senate, albeit he did not then know what the office was which he and his father were to hold at the same time from contiguous States. The
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 34: first year in the Cabinet. (search)
litary works at the expense of the North and West. No single act of Mr. Davis in office shows the faintest trace of any desire to take advantage of the power entrusted to him for any sectional aggrandizement. Representing in his office the entire Union of States, he was equally mindful and watchful of the interests and rights of every section of it. Under the supervision of the War Department, also during this first year of Mr. Davis's administration, the work for the extension of the capitol was energetically prosecuted, under the special charge of Captain M. C. Meigs, of the Corps of Engineers, detailed by the Secretary for the purpose. The War Department was also intrusted with the work of bringing an adequate supply of water into the city of Washington. It was necessary to bring this supply from the great Falls of the Potomac through a conduit nine feet in diameter. The work was energetically prosecuted, and when finished was found capable of delivering nearly seventy
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events, Diary from December 17, 1860 - April 30, 1864 (ed. Frank Moore), 1861, January (search)
Jan. 9. Mississippi State Convention passed the ordinance of secession. Delegations from South Carolina and Alabama were invited to seats in the Convention. They were greeted with applause. Efforts were made to postpone action, which were voted down. The fifteen delegates who opposed the ordinance will sign it to-morrow, making the vote unanimous. Fireworks were displayed at the capitol in Jackson this evening. The excitement is intense.--New Orleans Picayune, Jan. 10. At half-past 7 A. M. the steamship Star of the West was signalled at the entrance of Charleston harbor. As she made her way toward Fort Sumter, a shot was sent across her bow from a battery on Morris' Island, when she displayed the United States flag, and was repeatedly fired into from the Morris' Island battery and from Fort Moultrie. Her course was then altered, and she again put to sea. Guns were run out at Fort Sumter, but none were fired. At 11 o'clock Major Anderson sent a flag with a commun
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events, Diary from December 17, 1860 - April 30, 1864 (ed. Frank Moore), 1861, January (search)
inance by a vote of 62 to 7, and Alabama by yeas 61, nays 39. The Alabama Convention was far from unanimous; a large part of that State is decidedly opposed to extreme measures. The Alabama ordinance of secession calls upon the people of all the Southern States to meet in convention at Montgomery, on the 4th of February next, for the purpose of forming a provisional or permanent government. Immediately after the passage of the ordinance, an immense mass meeting was held in front of the capitol; a secession flag, presented, by the women of Montgomery, was raised on the State House, cannon were fired, guns fired, etc., and in the evening the whole town was illuminated.--(Doc. 19.)--Evening Post, Jan. 12. Judge Jones, of the United States District Court, this afternoon announced from the windows of the court-room in the custom-house building, at Mobile, that the United States Court for the Southern District of Alabama was adjourned forever. Mr. George M. Brewer, of the same
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