previous next

[149] and he has promised to have the naval inspectors examine the ‘Cambridge’ to-morrow, and to see if he can take her. I put the matter upon all the public grounds I could urge, and upon the claim which our State has for consideration from what she has done and what she is doing; and I am sure Mr. Welles feels personally friendly to our purpose. The ‘Pembroke’ I do not believe you can sell to either department, and think you had better put her freight charge, and make your plans for her future employment upon that supposition.

I have the promise, that the duplicate orders for our troops to be mustered into service in Boston shall be immediately transmitted. I received your telegram too late to have it done to-day. I must leave Washington to-morrow morning, and shall leave Mr. Lowell in charge of the affairs of the ‘Cambridge’ until he is superseded by some one else. I trust he may receive express and direct authority, addressed to him personally from you, or by your order, which I think will facilitate his action and communication with the authorities.

Dr. Howe prefers he should go on with the business, as he understands and has begun it; and it requires a great deal of running about and personal hard work. I think it will be done to your satisfaction. The captain of the ‘Cambridge’ thoughtlessly omitted to make any bargain for the transmission of the guns and shells from Fortress Monroe, and that will make some trouble, but will be carefully looked after. Senator Wilson will do all he can to forward the sale of the vessel; and he and Dr. Howe will advise with Mr. Lowell.

Faithfully your Excellency's obedient servant,


The letters of Mr. Boutwell and Judge Hoar describe the duties with which they were charged by the Governor. They were to consult with the President and his Cabinet and with General Scott respecting the exigencies of the occasion, and keep up a communication with the authorities of the State. They had also charge of the provisions, clothing, and munitions of war, forwarded from the State to the Massachusetts soldiers. Judge Hoar, who was in Washington about the time when the proclamation of the President was issued for regiments of three years volunteers, made, by direction of the Governor, urgent efforts to induce the Government to accept of all the regiments which Massachusetts was prepared to furnish. On the 8th of May, a proposition was made by him in writing, to the Secretary of War, offering, on behalf of the State, to “furnish six regiments ”

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)
hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
Charles R. Lowell (2)
Samuel G. Howe (2)
E. R. Hoar (2)
Henry Wilson (1)
William V. Welles (1)
Winfield Scott (1)
E. Rockwood Hoar (1)
George S. Boutwell (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
May 8th (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: