Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy

by David O. Stewart

  “Here in the South”: Quoted in Hans L. Trefousse, “The Acquittal of Andrew Johnson and the Decline of the Radicals,” Civil War History, 14:155–56 (1968). A Mississippian wrote to Butler: “Impeachment is not only peace—it is Reconstruction. These people [Southern whites] are supercilious and servile in the presence of power, but cruel and inhuman when they have the advantage.” J. Tarbell to Butler, March 15, 1868, in Butler Papers, Box 44.

  No other manager: The Philadelphia Press on March 23, 1868, described the group photograph as “imperial”; Vinnie Ream to Nathaniel Banks, March 23, 1868, in Nathaniel Banks Papers; Butler’s Book, p. 928; New York Herald, March 30, 1868.

  For Johnson, the parallel: Moore Diary/AHR, March 29, 1868, p. 130; Moore Diary/Large Diary, March 28, 1868, p. 10. Johnson’s self-education left him with an intimate knowledge of specific works. He sometimes recited long passages from poems, such as Gray’s Elegy, and from famous orations. Moore Diary/AJ, January 10, 1867, p. 27.

  Navy Secretary Welles judged: Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 324 (March 27, 1868); Barlow to R. Taylor, March 20, 1868, in Barlow Papers, Box 64.

  16. BEN BUTLER’S HORSE CASE

  Waiting to give: Butler’s Book, p. 929.

  Cowed by the significance: G. A. Townsend, Washington, Outside and Inside, p. 371; Zion’s Herald, April 16, 1868; Riddle, Life of Wade, p. 283; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, March 31, 1868; Cincinnati Commercial, March 31, 1868.

  Johnson should remain: Butler’s Book, p. 929; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, March 31, 1868; Briggs, p. 60; Samuel Sullivan Cox, Union—Disunion—Reunion: Three Decades of Federal Legislation, 1855 to 1885 (1886), pp. 586–87; Moore Diary/AHR, March 30, 1868, p. 130; Cincinnati Commercial, March 31, 1868.

  The manager admitted: Briggs, p. 60; Schurz to Mrs. Schurz, April 4, 1868, in Schurz, Intimate Letters, p. 432; Charleston (SC) Courier, April 4, 1868; Globe Supp., p. 32 (March 30, 1868).

  The senators, he continued: Globe Supp., pp. 29–30 (March 30, 1868).

  “[T]hat peril”: The Federalist, No. 77; Globe Supp., pp. 34–36 (March 30, 1868).

  On the Senate’s verdict: Globe Supp., pp. 40–41 (March 30, 1868). The New York Times complained in its editorial the next day about Butler’s “unnecessary violence of language” and “appeals that might be very effective in a stump speech.”

  When Butler announced: Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, April 6, 1868; Philadelphia Press, April 1, 1868; New York Herald, April 4 and 5, 1868; New York Times, April 5, 1868; Globe Supp., 40th Cong., 2d sess., p. 120 (April 4, 1868); Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 6, 1868; New York Times, April 6, 1868, reprinting report from Baltimore Sun, April 4, 1868.

  President Johnson’s unfortunate addresses: A correspondent wrote on the opening day of the trial: “the excitement that would have been occasioned by each fresh development has been, to a certain extent, anticipated, and the great trial no longer arouses that exciting interest that manifested itself when impeachment became a fixed fact, and for a fortnight thereafter.” New York Herald, April 1, 1868.

  Another Republican congressman: Globe Supp., pp. 56–57 (March 31, 1868) (testimony of Rep. Burt Van Horn; Rep. James Moorhead).

  “We have had a Johnson”: Globe Supp., pp. 59–61 (March 31, 1868).

  Adjournment at 6:30 P.M.: Globe Supp., pp. 62–63 (March 31, 1868); New York Times, April 1, 1868.

  The motion lost: Globe Supp., p. 63 (March 31, 1868); Archives, Managers’ Journal, pp. 32–33 (April 1, 1868).

  Butler had used: Globe Supp., p. 71 (April 1, 1868).

  Having been advised: Cincinnati Commercial, April 2, 1868; New York Times, April 2 and 4, 1868; Petersburg (VA) Index, April 3, 1868. The correspondents scored the lawyers as though they were prizefighters, and agreed that Evarts v. Butler was a worthy matchup. New York Times, April 2, 1868.

  It became a catchphrase: Globe Supp., p. 76 (April 1, 1868); Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1868. The New York Herald on April 3 applauded Karsner’s “rustic humor [which] diverted the dullness of the court yesterday..

  As one Radical wrote in dismay: New York Times, April 3, 1868; Storey to his father, May 17, 1868, in Howe, Portrait of an Independent, p. 112.

  The Senate agreed: Globe Supp., pp. 86–89 (April 2, 1868).

  With this modest flourish: Chicago Tribune, April 6, 1868; New York Times, April 5, 1868.

  Stanberry, maintaining the defense position: Philadelphia Press, April 6, 1868; New York Herald, April 7, 1868; Cincinnati Commercial, April 5, 1868.

  Thad Stevens, who “uses stimulants”: Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 1, 1868; New York Times, April 5, 1868; New York Herald, April 3, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1868.

  One rummaged through: Archives, Managers’ Journal, pp. 31–38; testimony of T. C. Westerly, April 2, 1868; testimony of H. H. Van Dyck, April 4, 1868, in Archives, Impeachment: Various House Papers. Butler to Hugh McCulloch, April 6, 1868, Butler Papers. In fact, many government clerks were engaged in exactly the process described in Butler’s letter, to assist the president’s defense. They were examining all presidential appointments and firings since 1789 to find examples that might support Johnson’s legal arguments. Cincinnati Commercial, April 8, 1868; Hoar, p. 343.

  Evarts matched Butler’s whimsical mood: Morefield Storey to Susan Storey, April 6, 1868, in Howe, Portrait of an Independent, p. 91.

  Moore despaired: Moore Diary/AJ, April 4, 1868, p. 17; Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 8, 1868, p. 4. Johnson’s hostility toward blacks relaxed in individual cases. In mid-March, he attended the funeral of the black former steward at the White House, William Slade. Philadelphia Press, March 19, 1868.

  He seemed to take comfort: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 9, 1868, p. 5; Cowan, pp. 12–13.

  “If I used any rough expressions”: Cincinnati Commercial, April 6, 1868.

  Then he blamed the reporter: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 7, 1868, p. 3.

  He finally concluded: Moore Diary/AHR, pp. 131–32, April 4 and 7, 1868. General Sherman confirmed to Colonel Moore that Grant never made the statements attributed to him, which had been printed to try to draw him into making a public statement on the impeachment. Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 7, 1868, p. 2; New York Times, April 4, 1868.

  Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax: North American and United States Gazette, April 24, 1868.

  This time, Johnson: Diary, April 5, 1868, in Gustavus Fox Papers, New York Historical Society; Welles Diary, vol. 3, pp. 338–39.

  17. DEFENDING THE PRESIDENT

  The president either: Clemenceau, p. 175 (April 10, 1868).

  He cautioned his audience: New York Tribune, April 10, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 10 and 11, 1868; Globe Supp., p. 123 (April 9, 1868).

  After Curtis’s speech: New York Times, April 10, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1868; New York Herald, April 11, 1868; Butler’s Book, p. 930 (emphasis in original).

  Accordingly, the Tenure of Office Act: Globe Supp., pp. 122–25 (April 9, 1868).

  If Lincoln’s term: “The Evidence Against the President,” Harper’s Weekly, April 18, 1868, p. 242.

  Holding the president: Globe Supp., p. 129 (April 9, 1868).

  The Boston lawyer: Globe Supp., p. 135 (April 10, 1868).

  Though many other factors: Streichler, p. 173; Browning Diary, vol. 2, p. 192 (April 10, 1868).

  Managers Butler and Bingham: New York Herald, April 11, 1868; Globe Supp., p. 140 (April 10, 1868); New York Times, April 11, 1868.

  When Thomas left the stand: Globe Supp., pp. 146 (April 10, 1868), 150 (April 11, 1868); Cincinnati Commercial, April 12, 1868; Philadelphia Press, April 11, 1868; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 11, 1868; Briggs, p. 63.

  The House managers erupted: New York Herald, April 14, 1868; Cincinnati Commercial, April 12, 1868; Globe Supp., pp. 150–51 (April 11, 1868).

  Stanberry brought Sherman back: Globe Supp., pp. 151–60 (April 11, 1868), 164–66 (April 13, 1868).

  The defense
contrived: New York Herald, April 13, 1868.

  Wisely, the managers: Globe Supp., p. 170 (April 13, 1868).

  These arbitrary changes: Globe Supp., pp. 171–73 (April 11, 1868); New York Herald, April 14, 1868; New York Times, April 14, 1868; Storey to Miss Helen Appleton, April 20, 1868, in Howe, Portrait of an Independent, p. 98. The New York Herald said the Senate allowed the question to be put to Sherman out of “pity for the President’s counsel.” New York Herald, April 14, 1868.

  Stanberry would not be able: New York Times, April 15, 1868; Browning to Seward, April 14, 1868, in Seward Papers, LOC.

  After a lifetime: Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 330 (April 13, 1868); Cox, pp. 591–92; Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 12, 1868, April 13, 1868, pp. 8–10.

  The next day: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 15, 1868, p. 11.

  Department heads reported: Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 16, 1868; New York Herald, April 16, 1868; Cincinnati Commercial, April 15, 1868.

  Johnson complained that a military display: Cincinnati Commercial, April 17, 1868; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 18, 1868; Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 16, 1868, pp. 11–12.

  A message on a window shutter: Allen W. Trelease, White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press (1971), pp. 27–116; New York Herald, April 9, 1868; New York Times, April 7 and 8, 1868; Ku Klux Klan to Stevens, April 4, 1868, Stevens Papers, Box 4; undated paper, Butler Papers, Box 45.

  He brought General Sherman: Archives, Managers’ Journal, April 10–14, pp. 41–45.

  The Senate ducked: New York Herald, April 9, 10, and 11, 1868; Globe Supp., p. 251 (April 22, 1868).

  Stanton continued to provide: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 7, 1868, p. 2; Thomas and Hyman, p. 601; Stanton to Butler, March 11, 1868; Stanton to Butler, March 17, 1868; Butler to Bingham, March 21, 1868, in Butler Papers, Box 44; Stanton to Butler, April 1, 1868, and Stanton to Butler, April 11, 1868, in Butler Papers, Box 45.

  He was proving: Globe Supp., pp. 181–94 (April 15, 1868).

  Defense lawyer Evarts calmly disparaged: Globe Supp., pp. 208–9 (April 16, 1868); Cincinnati Commercial, April 18, 1868.

  He considered telling: New York Herald, April 18, 1868; Cincinnati Commercial, April 18, 1868; Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 19, 1868, p. 15.

  They also were expected: Browning Diary, vol. 2, pp. 189–90 (March 31, 1868).

  That argument over the president’s intent: New York Times, April 19 and 20, 1868.

  With a tart New England outlook: Cincinnati Commercial, April 18, 1868.

  In his sober and ingratiating manner: New York Times, April 19, 1868.

  Though other Cabinet members: Globe Supp., pp. 225–34 (April 17, 1868); Cincinnati Commercial, April 19, 1868.

  By muzzling some: New York Herald, April 22, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1868; Blaine, vol. 2, p. 365.

  They talked too much: New York Times, April 19, 1868; Brockway, p. 4.

  “[T]he evidence sheds”: Globe Supp., pp. 239–47 (April 22, 1868); The Nation 6:324 (April 23, 1868).

  For Frenchmen: Washington Daily National Intelligencer, May 11, 1868, reprinting from the London Times of April 23, 1868; New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, April 14, 1868, reprinting from Constitutiennel.

  18. COUNTING TO SEVEN

  [I]t is certain that no man: Lady Trevelyan, ed., The Works of Lord Macaulay, New York: Longmans, Green & Co. (1897), pp. 634–35.

  It was all conjecture: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 19, 1868, p. 14.

  The Petersburg Index in Virginia: Chicago Tribune, April 11 and 17, 1868; New York Herald, April 16, 1868; Springfield Republican, April 20, 1868, reprinted in New York Herald, April 21, 1868; New York Independent, April 23, 1868; Petersburg (VA) Index, April 22, 1868. “There are 12 Democrats and conservatives certain and seven out of the Republican ranks wanting,” wrote old Thomas Ewing to his son in Europe. “These we think we can count, but it is not at all certain.” Thomas Ewing to Hugh Ewing, April 3, 1868, in Thomas Ewing Family Papers.

  Barlow remained skeptical: William Shaffer to Barlow, April 4, 1868, and Jerome Stillson to Barlow, April 19, 1868, Barlow Papers, Box 68; Barlow to Stillson, April 21, 1868, Barlow Papers, Box 64.

  Grimes insisted: Curtis to George Ticknor, April 10, 1868, in Curtis, vol. 1, pp. 416–17; John Sherman’s Recollections, vol. I, p. 427; William Salter, Life of James W. Grimes, New York: D. Appleton & Co. (1876), p. 336 (Grimes to H. W. Starr, March 6, 1868). The New York Herald correspondent agreed that the Democratic senators and the Radical Republicans knew how they would vote before the trial was held, but insisted on March 25 that “the greater number” of senators would “judge of Andrew Johnson’s acts as charged in the articles of impeachment in a spirit of fairness.”

  The senator told a companion: New York Herald, April 11, 1868.

  Colfax named four more Republicans: Colfax to Barlow, April 16, 1868, in Young Papers.

  Colfax, like several newspapers: Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1868; The Independent, April 23, 1868 (letter dated April 17, 1868).

  A half-million dollars: Milwaukee Sentinel, April 16, 1868 (letter of April 11, 1868).

  Bent collectors: Thurlow Weed to Seward, January 28, 1868, in Seward Papers; Jeremiah Jenks, “The Development of the Whiskey Trust,” Political Science Quarterly 4:296, 298–99 (1889); New York Times, October 4, 1867, December 31, 1867, May 20, 1868, May 30, 1868, June 30, 1868, October 23, 1868; Hearings before the House Committee on Ways & Means, 40th Cong., 2d sess., January 6, 7, 13, 15, 23, and March 12, 1868, 40 HWAY .T1 through .T6 (handwritten records of testimony in the Law Library, Library of Congress).

  Colonel Moore at the White House: Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 25, 1868, reprinted from New York Times; New York Herald, April 22, 1868; Philadelphia Press, April 18, 1868; Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 21, 1868, p. 16.

  Wade’s disposition: Though Wade did not preserve much of his correspondence, throughout the impeachment season another Radical congressman, Elihu Washburne of Illinois, was besieged with requests for appointments in the new Wade administration. Edwin Johns to Washburne, March 23, 1868; John Shank to Washburne, March 24, 1868; L. H. Whitney to Washburne, March 31; S. S. Patterson to Washburne, April 8, 1868; James Rowen to Washburne, April 30, 1868, in Washburne Papers, vols. 58 and 59; Garfield to Rhodes, May 7, 1868, in Smith, Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, vol. 1, p. 425.

  “The set of men”: Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, April 6, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1868; Sumner to Lieber, May 1868, in Edward L. Pierce, The Life and Public Services of Charles Sumner, Boston: Roberts Brothers (1893), vol. 4, p. 351; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, April 24, 1868; Washington Herald, April 22, 1868; Colfax to Young, April 28, 1868, in Young Papers.

  For Republicans who preferred: Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1868; New York Herald, April 25, 1868; New York Herald, May 4, 1868.

  “I prefer tar and feathers”: J. R. Briggs, Jr., to Young, April 17, 1868, in Young Papers; Fessenden, p. 185 (letter to cousin, dated April 12, 1868).

  Two more years of misrule: Salter, p. 323 (Grimes to Mrs. Grimes, March 12, 1867).

  In early April: Fox Diary (April 5, 1868). Some who were skeptical of impeachment nevertheless feared Johnson’s reaction to an acquittal. The Nation, April 30, 1868, p. 344.

  Republicans might vote: Colfax to Young, April 9, 1868, in Young Papers.

  The president, he assured them: Cox, pp. 592–94.

  Johnson could be acquitted: Cincinnati Commercial, April 16, 1868.

  The president did not care: Sefton, p. 102; Donald B. Connelly, John M. Schofield and the Politics of Generalship, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press (2006), p. 207.

  When Evarts objected: John McAllister Schofield, Forty-Six Years in the Army, New York: Century Co. (1897), pp. 413–18 (memorandum prepared by Schofield in May 1868, reflecting conversations with Evarts).

  This time, Evarts nodded
yes: Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1868.

  The press reported: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 23 and 24, 1868, pp. 18–19; Cincinnati Commercial, April 26, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 27, 1868.

  In reply, Schofield: Grant to Schofield, April 12, 1868, in Grant Papers 18:235; John M. Schofield, “Controversies in the War Department,” Century 54:581 (1897).

  Because Grant’s commission: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 26, 1868, p. 21.

  The news must have: Moore Diary/Large Diary, April 21 and 24, 1868, pp. 17, 18.

  Though he deplored: Cullom, Fifty Years of Public Service, p. 154; New York Herald, April 19, 1868; Mark M. Krug, Lyman Trumbull, Conservative Radical, New York: A. S. Barnes & Co. (1965), pp. 266–67.

  Uncertainty also surrounded: J. R. Briggs, Jr., to Young, April 17, 1868, in Young Papers; R. W. Bayless, “Peter G. Van Winkle and Waitman T. Willey in the Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson,” West Virginia History 12:79 (1952).

  19. AN AVALANCHE OF TALK

  [W]e have been wading: Garfield to Rhodes, April 28, 1868, in Smith, Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, vol. 1, p. 424.

  Nevertheless, the number: Globe Supp., pp. 251–68 (April 22, 1868).

  The ladies turned: Briggs, p. 69; New York Herald, April 23, 1868.

  If this earth: Globe Supp., pp. 274, 284–85 (April 22 and 23, 1868); New York Herald, April 24, 1868.

  Of the managers: Globe Supp., pp. 306–7 (April 23, 1868); Bowen, p. 98; Temple, pp. 167–80; Briggs, p. 72; Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1868; New York Herald, April 24, 1868; New York Times, April 25, 1868; Philadelphia Press, April 24 and 25, 1868; Chicago Tribune, April 24 and 30, 1868.

  In truth, the letter: Globe Supp., pp. 295–96 (April 24, 1868).

  One listener claimed: New York Herald, April 26 and 27, 1868; New York Times, April 26, 1868; Cox, p. 589; Welles Diary, vol. 3, p. 193 (April 25, 1868); Chicago Tribune, April 30, 1868.