Posted on 11/10/2020 5:52:39 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
To the
Hon. A. Lincoln
Dear Sir,
Though personally a stranger to you, I wish to make one suggestion; that is, be careful that your enemies do not administer Poison to you, they feel desperate & I fear they will resort to desperate measures— What caused the Hon. J. Buchanan to forsake “The Cincinnati platform”? Was it not the poisoning case at Washington soon after his Inauguration, which caused him to face South? I hope my suspicions may be ill founded—
May God enable you to “be as wise as a serpent & as harmless as a dove”; & thus guide & sustain you in your ardious & responsible position; & may He bless this land & nation.
R. C. Carter—
Cin. Nov, 12th 1860.
George Street, No. 112— O.
Private
SOURCES: Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833 to 1916: R. C. Carter to Abraham Lincoln, Monday,Be aware of poison. 1860. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mal0444300/; Mack V. Williams, Williams' Cincinnati City Directory [1874], p. 203; 1860 Federal Census for the 14th Ward, Cincinnati City, Hamilton County, Ohio, taken June 15, 1860 by Bart Smith, Dwelling 689, Family722
CHARLESTON ARSENAL, S. C,
November 12, 1860.
Col H. K. CRAIG,
Chief of Ordnance, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.
Sir: In view of the excitement now existing in this city and State, and the possibility of an insurrectionary movement on the part of the servile population, the Governor has tendered, through General Schnierle, of the South Carolina Militia, a guard, of a detachment of a lieutenant and twenty men, for this post, which has been accepted. Trusting that this course may meet the approval of the Department, I am, sir,
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
F. C. HUMPHREYS,
Military Storekeeper Ordnance,
Commander.
SOURCE: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 121
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
Charleston, 13 November, 1860.
My dear Jane:
You see how saving I am getting to be, as I will not waste a sheet of paper because it is scratched. There is certainly reason for it, and we have fallen on evil days. It is sorrowful to see things that impair our respect for our countrymen, and nothing can be more efficient to produce that feeling than the scenes that are passing. It is barely possible that Georgia may recoil from the [action] that the Secessionists are driving to. The South Carolina men show by their precipitancy that they are afraid to trust the second thought or even their own people, and if the Georgians take time to reflect they will probably come to the conclusion that there is no necessity for action. But that is very uncertain.
* * * Last night the West Point Mill was burnt; the Governor had $5,000 in it. I was commiserating him and Joe under the load of debt that they are caught in this revolutionary day, when this new addition to the Governor's troubles is upon him. * * * Adieu.
YOUR BROTHER
SOURCE: James Petigru Carson, Life, Letters and Speeches of James Louis Petigru: The Union Man of South Carolina, p. 361-2
“It is sorrowful to see things that impair our respect for our countrymen, and nothing can be more efficient to produce that feeling than the scenes that are passing.”
Yep, history rhymes.
5.56mm
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
Part 1.
Part 2.
Bruce Catton, The Coming Fury
Continued from November 10 (reply #4).
David Herbert Donald, Lincoln
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Iowa, Nov. 15, 1860.
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, President-Elect of the United States:
DEAR SIR â Permit me to congratulate you, and I most heartily do, upon the result of the recent Presidential election, and to express the earnest hope that your administration may prove as useful to our country and as honorable to yourself as you yourself can desire.
SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD.
SOURCE: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 104
Link to the source of the previous letter.
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/08/governor-samuel-j-kirkwood-to-abraham.html
Reply #26 is two Bruce Catton excerpts.
#27 is from the David Donald bio.
#28 is from Secretary Nicolay.
#29 is an example of the kind of correspondence they talk about.
#30 Is a link to that letter on civilwarblogspot.com. The migration apparently did something to my links to that site and to the âcontinued fromâ posts. I will ping Jim and admin moderator. Maybe I can fix them.
Continued from November 13 (reply #22).
The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas
The problems I reported earlier with my links have gone away. Good work, folks. And thanks for taking care of business so efficiently.
Continued from November 10 (reply #5).
Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Continued from November 15 (reply #28).
With Lincoln in the White House: Letters, Memoranda, and Other Writings of John G. Nicolay, 1860-1865, edited by Michael Burlingame
Apparently, in 1860 “unity” meant the same thing it means today. Republicans should give Democrats what they want and be quiet about it.
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