241.2–3 “all these things . . . unto you.”] Matthew 6:33.
241.4 I move to recommit] Under the rules of the House, the motion to recommit allowed the debate to continue. On May 10, 1866, the House approved the joint resolution, 128–37.
242.4 National Woman’s Rights Convention] The eleventh National Woman’s Rights Convention was held at the Church of the Puritans on Union Square, New York City, on May 10, 1866.
242.11 My husband] Fenton Harper (1822–1864).
243.32 situation of Ishmael] See Genesis 16:11–12.
244.27–28 Judge Taney . . . my race] In his opinion in Scott v. Sandford (1857), Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (1777–1864) wrote: “They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.”
244.31 Louisiana Second] Two regiments of the black Louisiana Native Guards, the 1st and the 3rd, took part in the unsuccessful Union assault on the Confederate lines at Port Hudson, Louisiana, on May 27, 1863. The combined strength of the two regiments before the attack has been estimated at 1,080 men, and their reported losses in the battle were thirty-six killed and 133 wounded. Contemporary press accounts in the North incorrectly reported that the 2nd Louisiana Native Guards had participated in the attack and lost 600 men.
244.33–35 Olustee . . . Col. Hallowell] The black 54th Massachusetts Infantry, under the command of Colonel Edward N. Hallowell (1837–1871), helped cover the Union retreat following the Confederate victory at Olustee, Florida, on February 20, 1864.
244.38 a woman in our country] Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–1913), an abolitionist and guide on the Underground Railroad who served as a Union nurse and scout in South Carolina.
245.3–4 one of Montgomery’s most successful expeditions] A friend of John Brown, Colonel James Montgomery (1814–1871) led the black 2nd South Carolina Volunteers on a raid up the Combahee River in June 1863 that freed more than 700 slaves. Tubman is credited with gathering intelligence for the raid and served on the expedition.
245.6 conflict with a brutal conductor] Tubman suffered a serious injury to her left arm while traveling through New Jersey on the Camden and South Amboy Railroad in October 1865 when a conductor and two other men dragged her from a regular car into the smoking car.
248.18 John Creighton, recorder of the city] An elected position, the city recorder served as the judge of the city criminal court. Creighton (1834–1868), an Irish immigrant, held the position, 1863–64 and 1865–66.
249.5 editor of the Lewiston Falls Journal ] Nelson Dingley Jr. (1832–1899), a Republican who later served as governor of Maine, 1874–76, and in Congress, 1881–99.
249.6–7 Maine artist SIMMONS] The sculptor Franklin Simmons (1839–1913) made a bust of Grant in 1866. His standing sculpture of Grant in his general’s uniform was placed in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in 1900.
249.19–20 Mr. SWINTON . . . a history] Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (1866) by William Swinton (1833–1892), a correspondent for The New York Times.
249.36–37 failure to capture Petersburg . . . mine explosion.] Union troops failed to break through the Petersburg defenses after crossing the James River, June 15–18, 1864, and after the explosion of a mine under the Confederate lines on July 30.
250.33 JOHNSTON and DICK TAYLOR] General Joseph Johnston (1807–1891) and Lieutenant General Richard Taylor (1826–1879), son of President Zachary Taylor. Johnston had signed the surrender agreement for Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida on April 26, 1865, while Taylor signed the surrender for Alabama, Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana on May 4.
252.3 Elihu B. Washburne to Thaddeus Stevens] On May 14, 1866, the House appointed a three-member select committee to investigate the violence in Memphis. The committee, chaired by Washburne, heard testimony from 164 witnesses in Memphis from May 22 to June 6, and issued two reports on July 25, 1866. The majority report, signed by Washburne and his Republican colleague John M. Brownall, described the riot as “an organized and bloody massacre of the colored people” caused by racial prejudice and hostility toward the federal government. George S. Shanklin, the Democratic member of the committee, concluded that future violence could best be avoided by restoring the political rights of former Confederates and abolishing the Freedmen’s Bureau.
252.19–20 no steps . . . murderers to justice.] No one was ever prosecuted by either the civil or military authorities for crimes committed during the riot.
253.10–11 they took this place.] The Union army occupied Memphis on June 6, 1862.
254.1–2 girl Rachael . . . how old] Rachel Hatcher was fourteen. She attended a Freedmen’s Bureau school that was burned during the riot.
254.37 Dickerson] Fayette Dickerson, a forty-year-old freedman and former Union soldier, died of his wounds a week after being shot.
255.33 name of Harriet] Harriet Armour, who testified on May 31 that “Mr. Dunn” and another man had raped her in her home. She was one of five black women identified as victims of rape in the select committee’s report.
256.18 Mr. BROOMALL] John M. Broomall (1816–1894) was a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, 1863–69.
256.24 Mr. SHANKLIN] George S. Shanklin (1807–1883) was a Democratic congressman from Kentucky, 1865–67.
257.7–8 killed . . . the policeman?] John Stevens, the policeman fatally wounded in the initial confrontation on May 1, 1866, had accidentally shot himself in the leg.
258.2–3 Joint Resolution . . . Fourteenth Amendment] The final version of the amendment was approved by the Senate, 33–11, on June 8, and by the House, 120–32, on June 13. Ratification of the amendment was declared on July 28, 1868.
260.5 improvement of my health] Morton had suffered a stroke on October 11, 1865, that partially paralyzed his legs. He left Indianapolis on November 17, 1865, and traveled to Paris to seek medical treatment, returning Indiana on April 12, 1866.
260.15 this stage] Morton spoke in the Masonic Hall in Indianapolis.
262.20 seizing the military power of the State] The Democrats tried to force the governor to share control of the state militia with a committee of state officers, but were unable to pass the necessary legislation because the Republican minority bolted, preventing the general assembly from achieving a quorum.
262.26–27 locking up the public treasure] The general assembly failed to pass an appropriations bill in the 1863 session, which the Democrats believed would force Governor Morton to call a special session that would then pass the militia bill. Instead, Morton financed state operations by obtaining loans from banks, Republican county commissions, and the War Department in Washington. In the 1864 elections the Republicans regained control of the new general assembly that met in January 1865.
262.37–38 decided by the Supreme Court against the credit] In June 1863 the Indiana supreme court ruled that the state auditor could not pay interest on the state debt without an appropriation by the general assembly. Morton was eventually able to meet the interest payments by obtaining an advance from a New York bank.
263.17 Camp Morton] A Union prisoner of war camp in Indianapolis.
264.22–23 Convention in Chicago . . . a failure] The Democratic national convention met in Chicago on August 30, 1864, and adopted a platform calling for an immediate armistice after “four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war.”
265.14–15 Bowles, Milligan . . . Humphreys] William A. Bowles (1799–1873), Lambdin Milligan (1824–1899), John C. Walker (1828–1883), Harrison H. Dodd (1824–1906), Stephen Horsey (1823–1898), and Andrew Humphreys (1821–1904) were antiwar Indiana Democrats accused of involvement in an aborted plot to stage a
n insurrection in Indianapolis on August 16, 1864 (see pp. 262.39–263.19 in this volume). Walker avoided prosecution by seeking refuge in Canada, while Dodd also fled to Canada after escaping from custody. Bowles, Milligan, Horsey, and Humphreys were tried by a military commission in Indianapolis and convicted in December 1864. While Humphreys was found guilty of lesser charges and eventually paroled, Bowles, Milligan, and Horsey were convicted of treason and sentenced to hang. President Johnson commuted their sentences to life imprisonment at hard labor in May 1865. The defendants appealed their conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered their release in April 1866. On December 17, 1866, the Court released its opinions in Ex parte Milligan, in which a majority of five justices ruled that military trials of civilians were impermissible where the civil courts remain open. The four dissenting justices agreed with overturning the verdicts in the Milligan case, but held that Congress could authorize military trials for civilians in time of war.
265.18–19 John Morgan . . . Booth] Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan (1825–1864), Confederate cavalry commander who led raids through Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio before being killed by Union troops in Greenville, Tennessee, on September 4, 1864; Jerome Clark (1844–1865), known as “Sue Mundy,” Confederate guerrilla in Kentucky who was hanged in Louisville on March 15, 1865; Champ Ferguson (1821–1865), Confederate guerrilla in Kentucky and Tennessee who was hanged in Nashville on October 20, 1865; Henry Wirz (see note 97.24); Lewis Powell alias Payne (1844–1865), co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth and attempted assassin of William H. Seward, who was hanged in Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1865; John Wilkes Booth (1838–1865), assassin of Abraham Lincoln, who was killed by Union troops near Port Royal, Virginia, on April 26, 1865. Clark, Ferguson, and Powell were all tried by military courts.
265.37–38 New York rioter . . . colored asylums] The Colored Orphan Asylum in New York City was evacuated by its staff before it was burned by draft rioters on July 13, 1863. At least 105 people were killed during the riot, including at least eleven black men who were lynched by white mobs.
267.6–7 Lyon . . . Hackleman.] Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon (1818–1861), killed at Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861; Brigadier General Philip Kearny (1815–1862), killed at Chantilly, Virginia, September 1, 1862; Major General James B. McPherson (1828–1864), killed at Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864; Brigadier General Pleasant A. Hackleman (1814–1862), a lawyer and newspaper editor from Indiana, killed at Corinth, Mississippi, October 3, 1862.
267.7–8 fictitious sufferings of Jeff Davis] Davis was kept in solitary confinement during his initial incarceration at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and had his ankles manacled for a period of five days in late May 1865.
268.14–16 the Devil offered . . . worship him] See Matthew 4:8–9.
270.9–10 political body . . . convention of 1864] A provision adopted by the convention that framed the 1864 Louisiana state constitution allowed for it to be reconvened at a future date. A group of former delegates to the 1864 convention met at the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans on July 30, 1866, in an attempt to adopt a new constitution providing for black male suffrage.
270.24 About forty whites and blacks] The army later reported that at least thirty-four black and three white supporters of the convention had been killed, along with one white bystander who was struck by a stray bullet.
271.9 Fort Pillow] See note 98.17–18.
271.13 this bad man.] John T. Monroe (1822–1871) was elected mayor of New Orleans in 1860 and served until 1862, when he was removed and imprisoned by the Union occupation authorities. Monroe was reelected in March 1866 and served until March 1867, when Sheridan used his powers as district commander under the Reconstruction Act to remove him from office.
272.6–7 slavery shot LOVEJOY] Elijah P. Lovejoy (1802–1837), a Presbyterian minister, was killed by a mob in Alton, Illinois, on November 7, 1837, while attempting to defend the press of his antislavery newspaper.
273.13–14 Fenians attempted . . . peaceful neighbor] About 800 members of the Fenian Brotherhood crossed the Niagara River into Canada on June 1, 1866, and fought 850 Canadian militiamen at Ridgeway the next day, an engagement in which ten Fenians and nine Canadians were killed. The Fenians returned on June 3 to the United States, where they were arrested and then released. A second Fenian force crossed the border at St. Albans, Vermont, on June 7 and occupied three Quebec villages for two days before retreating to American territory.
273.29–31 “on application . . . be convened.”] From Article IV, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution.
274.10 he telegraphed to the Attorney-General] On July 28, 1866, Albert Voorhies (1829–1913), the lieutenant governor of Louisiana, and Andrew Herron (1823–1882), the state attorney general, informed Johnson in a telegram that they planned to have the members of the convention arrested under a court order, and asked him if the army would interfere. Johnson replied the same day that the military would “sustain” court proceedings against the convention.
274.17–20 Mayor’s proclamation . . . the President.”] The proclamation issued by Monroe on July 30, 1866, read: “Whereas the extinct convention of 1864 proposes meeting this day; and whereas intelligence has reached me that the peace and good order of the city might be disturbed: Now, therefore, I, John T. Monroe, mayor of the city of New Orleans, do issue this my proclamation calling upon the good people of the city to avoid with care all disturbance and collision; and I do particularly call upon the younger members of the community to act with such calmness and propriety as that the good name of the city may not be tarnished, and the enemies of the reconstruction policy of President Johnson be not afforded an opportunity, so much courted by them, of creating a breach of the peace and of falsifying facts to the great injury of the city and State; and I do further enjoin upon all good citizens to refrain from gathering in or about the place of meeting of said extinct convention, satisfied from recent despatches from Washington that the deliberations of the members thereof will receive no countenance from the President, and that he will sustain the agents of the present civil government and vindicate its laws and acts to the satisfaction of the good people of the city and State.”
274.29–31 President telegraphed . . . not be tolerated”] On July 30, 1866, after learning that a riot had broken out in New Orleans, Johnson sent a telegram to Andrew Herron, the state attorney general: “You will call on General Sheridan, or whoever may be in command, for sufficient force to sustain the civil authority in suppressing all illegal or unlawful assemblies which usurp or assume to exercise any power or authority without first having obtained the consent of the people of the State. If there is to be a convention, let it be composed of delegates chosen from the people of the whole State. The people must be first consulted in reference to changing the organic law of a State. Usurpation will not be tolerated. The law and the Constitution must be sustained, and thereby peace and order.”
274.37–38 “Why did you . . . of the people?”] Johnson had telegraphed James Madison Wells (1808–1899), the governor of Louisiana, on July 28, 1866: “I have been advised that you have issued a proclamation convening the convention elected in 1864. Please inform me under and by what authority this has been done, and by what authority this convention can assume to represent the whole people of the State of Louisiana.” (The president had been misinformed; while Wells supported the recall of the 1864 convention, he had not issued a proclamation reconvening it.)
276.2 Speech at St. Louis] Johnson made this speech as part of his “Swing Around the Circle” (see Chronology, August 28–September 15, 1866). The text is taken from the St. Louis Missouri Democrat, September 10, 1866.
276.27–28 cries for Seward] Secretary of State William H. Seward accompanied Johnson on the tour.
278.3 shed is upon their skirts] See Jeremiah 2:34.
279.4 Fletcher] Thomas C. Fletcher (1827–1899), the National Union (Republican) governo
r of Missouri, 1865–69.
281.30–31 neutrality law . . . faithfully executed.] In a proclamation issued on June 6, 1866, Johnson warned that “certain evil-designed persons” were plotting to violate U.S. and international law, and authorized the army and navy to take measures to prevent future raids.
281.34 introduced a bill] Massachusetts congressman Nathaniel P. Banks, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, reported to the House on July 25, 1866, that the existing Neutrality Act of 1818 “disregards the inalienable rights of all nations” and serves British interests. Banks introduced a new neutrality bill that was passed unanimously the next day, but which was never acted upon by the Senate.
282.1 the heels of the session] The first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress adjourned on July 28, 1866.
282.24 can get $4,000 extra pay.] On July 28, 1866, Congress raised the annual pay of senators and representatives from $3,000 to $5,000, effective December 4, 1865.
284.6 Drake’s Constitution?”] Charles D. Drake (1811–1892), a lawyer from St. Louis, was the principal drafter of the 1865 Missouri constitution that abolished slavery in the state and required all voters, jurors, public officeholders, lawyers, teachers, and clergy to swear an “ironclad oath” that they had never committed any disloyal act during the rebellion. The constitution was approved by the voters, 43,670–41,808, on June 6, 1865.
285.4–6 Judge Chase . . . try him?] Jefferson Davis had been indicted for treason in Virginia on May 8, 1866. If his case had gone to trial, it would have been heard in the U.S. circuit court in Richmond, with Chief Justice Chase presiding along with John C. Underwood (1809–1873), the judge for the Eastern District of Virginia.
288.3 Speech at Lancaster] Stevens spoke at a Republican rally. The text is taken from the Lancaster Evening Express, September 29, 1866.
288.23 Dan Rice] Rice (1823–1900) was a celebrated American circus clown, impresario, and humorist.
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