John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[195] secretary was offended and recalled the appointment at once. Whether Stanton and Dana met again at that time, or what passed between them in regard to the incident, has never been stated. Dana certainly had a right to regard himself as badly treated, but without wasting time to set matters right, he returned to New York, where he entered into partnership with George W. Chadwick, of that city, and Roscoe Conkling, of Utica, for the purpose of buying cotton in such parts of the Mississippi Valley as had been occupied by our armies. The strictness of the Atlantic blockade had brought about a great scarcity of cotton in England, and the state of war along the border of the cotton States had cut off the supply of our own mills. There was a great outcry, in consequence of which the government had adopted the policy of allowing the trade in this staple to be carried on through the military lines. As there had already been a great rise in price, the business, where it could be carried on at all, was highly profitable. Dana and Conkling each contributed ten thousand dollars, against Chadwick's services as buyer and manager, and after revisiting Washington, where they obtained letters of introduction and commendation from Stanton to General Grant and other commanders in the field, Dana, accompanied by Chadwick, went to Memphis, where they arrived in January, 1863. They made their headquarters at the Gayoso House, and at once began operations. Dana had already expressed his doubts to the secretary as to the wisdom and propriety of the policy which had been adopted, but it produced no perceptible effect at the time. He had hardly got fairly started in the trade before he became persuaded that the business was bad for the government, and particularly so for the army, and should be stopped. With him to think was to act, and he therefore at once wrote to the Secretary of War, restating his views, and strongly urging their