Adams Family Civil War letters; US Minister to the UK and his sons.

London, May 6, 1864

Meanwhile the specks of war are becoming bigger and bigger on this side. The Germans seem to have made up their minds, as we say, to gobble up little Denmark. Possibly it may stick in their throats a little, especially if the British should put the channel fleet into the dose. The conference from which so much was expected turns out a farce. Lord Russell and Lord Palmerston look before the world rather like greenhorns who have suffered themselves to be completely sold. John Bull is not fond of appearing ridiculous. You may abuse him as much as you like. He will give you as much as he gets. But if you laugh at him, he immediately becomes sheepish. He would rather fight than stay in that position. The fact is not to be disputed that the Germans have made a fool of him. So you may look out for breakers the moment he is fully made sensible of the fact. The conference will meet again on Monday, probably for the last time. . . .

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his father

H.Q. Cav’y Escort, A. of P.
May 1, 1864

It [your letter] finds me contrary to my expectation still at Brandy Station, although expecting to move almost daily. In fact we do not pretend to see more than twenty-four hours ahead, though my mind is not quite clear whether our advanced state of preparation for a move is owing to Grant’s being nearly ready to assume the offensive, or to precaution on his part against an offensive move of Lee’s. I should think that he could hardly as yet be ready, and that every day we delay would probably be of the greatest advantage to him. Meanwhile I have been and still am as busy as I can stick — clothing, equipping, drilling and policing my men, laboring all I know how to transform the dirty, ragamuffin squad I found here when I came, into a handsome soldierly squadron. Hitherto I must say my success has fully satisfied me. I never saw men in the same space of time equally improved. They enjoy their present duty, take great pains and learn surprisingly rapidly. I only need horses now and if I succeed in drawing these, have no fear that General Meade will have any cause to be ashamed of his escort.

I like my present position very much, as a temporary one. Here I can see some results of my labor. I lead a life of tolerable comfort, see some pleasant men, am independent and, finally, am relieved from the eternal and infernal squabbles of the regiment. . . .

My days here, as I told you, are busy enough. I have two drills a day, one on foot and the other mounted, and am besides my own Quarter-Master, Commissary and Adjutant; for I find my name potent at Head Quarters and so do everything myself, that I may have the advantage of it. My camp was a mud-hole. I have had it policed until it is as clean a camp as I ever saw. I have done a good deal and done it all myself, so that, as yet, I have hardly been away from Head Quarters and have seen nothing of the Army. Of course you suppose, as every one does, that an officer living at Head Quarters knows all about the movements of the Army and what is going on. Disabuse yourself at once. Here we know just as much as we did in the line and that was absolutely nothing. They tell me at Head Quarters that there they always know things last, and certainly since I have been here I have heard of nothing but the vaguest surmises. The feeling about Grant is peculiar — a little jealousy, a little dislike, a little envy, a little want of confidence — all in many minds and now latent; but it is ready to crystallize at any moment and only brilliant success will dissipate the elements. All, however, are willing to give him a full chance and his own time for it. If he succeeds, the war is over. For I do assure you that in the hands of a General who gave them success, there is no force on earth which could resist this Army. If Lee is beaten, the rebels are “gone up.” . . .

Charles Francis Adams to his son

London, April 15, 1864

America is not much talked of here. Never so little since I first came. The immediate excitement is Garibaldi. Next the Danish conference. Lastly, the departure of Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. The first is much the most extraordinary demonstration. People say there never was such a turnout of the people as that which received him. Three miles of road packed, before reaching the city. He is evidently the hero of all the unprivileged classes of England and of Europe. It is sentiment, and not action. The peculiarity of the present age is the freedom of the mind, whilst the body remains passive. Revolutions are worked by the steady spread of convictions rather than the sudden impulse of physical force. The existence of the United States as a prosperous republic has been the example against which all reasoning contrary to the popular feeling has been steadily losing strength. It was the outbreak of the war that in an instant gave such revived hopes to all the privileged classes in Europe. For three years they have been making every possible use of the advantage. But it is now manifestly on the wane once more. Napoleon’s Mexican empire, as a bridle upon the movement of American republicanism, is the only practical result of the crisis. What that will amount to, the moment our troubles pass over and we settle down again into a nation, it is not very hard to foresee. An Austrian prince aided by French soldiers three thousand miles from any base, without an aristocracy and with a people little used to respect authority of any kind, in a country which has no sympathy with either Germans or French, has not a very brilliant prospect in the nineteenth century of founding a dynasty. In my opinion Garibaldi would have been a better selection.

This gentleman is the guest of the Duke of Sutherland at Stafford House. He is a young man with no particular political character, but the family, as you know, is identified with the liberal or Whig side. We all regretted that you were not with us on Wednesday when Stafford House, the only real palace in London, was thrown open to receive guests invited to meet the Italian hero. The only thing I was struck with about him was his great simplicity and quietness of manner. There was an air of dignity in it which had no factitious support in dress or in any outward demonstration what, ever. I know of no nobleman here whose deportment marks rank so strongly. Yet it is very doubtful to me whether he ever was bred to it in any way. Neither as a soldier has he had any but irregular commands, over volunteer forces. The splendor around him, and the many distinguished persons assembled to meet him seemed to produce not the smallest change in his manner. This is perhaps the most difficult of all things to do. It indicates a very sluggish temperament or a great command of nerves.

His lameness from his wound still troubles him, so, presently, he went to bed, escorted to his room by the Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke himself and the Dowager, his mother, the band playing in the centre of the hall on which the grand staircase opens, and many of the company looking down from the corridor above, as they descended. No royal personage would have been more honored. . . .

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his father

Inspector General’s Department
Washington, April 8, 1864

I arrived in New York and got through the Custom House at about eight o’clock Wednesday evening (6th inst.) and took the midnight train to Washington. On the passage I neither saw nor heard anything of Mr. Yeatman. He may have been on board, perhaps as a second cabin passenger; or I may have met him under an assumed character; but he certainly did not approach me, and, of course, beyond carefully examining the list of passengers I made no effort to discover him. There was one Confederate lady on board, but I could not discover that any gentleman in particular seemed to have acquaintance with her.

I got to Washington at noon and delivered your letter to Mr. Seward in person an hour later. He read it attentively and as he did so I carefully observed him, in hopes of being able to catch some expression. I might as well have watched the walls of the Treasury building. He finished it and I told him that I was cognizant of its contents; that I had not seen anything of Mr. Yeatman on the passage and accordingly had nothing to report on that head, and offered to give him any further information in my power. He asked if a Mr. Lumkin had come over with me. I said I thought not. He then remarked generally, that he had but little faith in the matter, that he had made some inquiries about Mr. Yeatman and the result was that he found that Yeatman had borne in Washington the reputation of a flighty, visionary character, and his impression was that, though doubtless well enough intentioned himself, he was being made a tool of by the Confederate agents abroad. “However,” said he, “I last night got a telegram from some one calling himself a Mr. Lumkin, and I never knew any one of that name who did n’t come from Georgia, stating that he had arrived in Baltimore and asking me to send down an appointment for him at the Department to the National Hotel, and this may be Yeatman’s other agent referred to in this letter.” I then told him that the agent who was to call on Judge Catron was named Ellitson. He then remarked that everything in this matter must come from the rebels and that he should neither pay money nor make any advances. As he talked he walked up and down the room with his hands in his pockets, and I could not tell at all how far he expressed his real sentiments, or how far he meant to give me impressions.

He certainly seemed in excellent spirits and to talk with great confidence. I thought too that he looked less old, thin and anxious than when I last saw him. He finally said : “Well, come and dine with me at six o’clock and we will discuss this matter. I don’t now think of anything which I want to ask you.” He made no reference to Mr. Scott Russell, nor did I speak of him; but as I was leaving he asked if the Ministry was going out, and I told him what you said on the subject, in regard to a crisis being egged on by the Emperor which was not likely to be followed by a change of policy, but that the party coming into power would probably contain a large element disposed in our matters to follow the lead of the Emperor. Of the national course as regards France he then spoke with great confidence, saying that if the Emperor desired it we were now as ready for a war as we ever should be, although, he added, that he was doing his best to restrain, the feeling in Congress. I then left. Mr. George Thompson dined with him as well as myself, and nothing further passed on the subject of your letter, except that he stated that he had read it again, and believed there was nothing about which he desired to question me. This ends my connection with this business.

The impression left on my mind is that Mr. Seward, influenced by what he had heard of Yeatman, by no means gives to this matter the weight which we hoped belonged to it. Still he is so very wary in his policy that I do not pretend to detect it. Meanwhile he waits for advances on this side, evidently ready himself to meet any one. He tells me that Judge Catron is dying, so that Ellitson will find himself afloat. Judge Wayne he intimated was unexceptionable as a medium. I can only say that you have clearly now opened a way for discussion, if there is anything in this, a way to which no exception can be taken. Now, on this side, where the matter now rests I am only clear on one point, and that is that Seward neither means to be tricked or to take a low tone with his opponents. He clearly means to make them act on the square or he will refuse to act at all. Thus the bona fides of this discussion on their part is the next matter to be tested. Clearly, though your part is done, we have not heard the last of this matter yet. . . .

I find unexampled military confidence prevailing in Washington, under an impression that Grant means to be, in fact as well as name, the head of the Army. I like much the deliberation and amazing secrecy of his contemplated movements, so far as I can get glimpses of them.

London, April 8, 1864

We go on much as ever. I never worked harder at my despatches than I have done this week. At my table for nearly seven hours and a half yesterday with little intermission. Then out to dinner only once this week, with the customary receptions at Mrs. Gladstone’s and Lady Waldegrave’s. You know both places and can well comprehend our feelings.

The Ministry still hold on. The great campaign planned prior to Easter has failed even more lamentably then General Sherman’s. The object of attack, Mr. Stansfeld, very prudently resigned his post. Lord Palmerston was nobly heroic in his eulogy and equally philosophical in pocketing the advantage of the sacrifice. So the opposition must try again. As yet no programme has been substituted. But chance may favor them when strategy fails. The majority is ready. All that is needed is an occasion.

Meanwhile great efforts have been making to induce the Queen to come out of her solitude, and take her accustomed part at the head of society. The only effect has been to induce her to hold what one calls two “Courts,” at which she will receive first, the principal members of the Corps Diplomatique, and next, the chief of the nobility. This is a novelty indeed. Nobody knows what to make of it. The first of the two was fixed for Wednesday at three P.M. But late on Tuesday night I got a card from the Chamberlain announcing that a slight indisposition of Her Majesty had made a postponement necessary until tomorrow at the same hour. We are then to go — i.e., your mother and I. The Queen is to go round and speak to each of us, which will be a good deal more than she has ever been called to do before. Yet she thinks this easier than to hold Drawing rooms! Apropos to this a very curious article appeared in the Times on Wednesday, evidently from headquarters, announcing that the sooner the idea was dispelled that she should return to that sort of work, the better would it be for all parties. The conclusion is inevitable, that society is to do as well as it can without her. The field will be open for the Prince and Princess of Wales. . . .

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his father

Camp of 1st Mass. Cav’y
January 16, 1864

As I wrote in my last my company has re-enlisted. It is the only one in the regiment which has done so, and it did it in a way inexpressibly gratifying to me. Under these circumstances I am privileged to take it to Massachusetts for thirty-five days and I expect to receive my orders every day. They can hardly fail to come by tomorrow, in which case I should leave here on Monday and push right through to Boston. In case my leave does not arrive by the time I am forced to start, I shall at once, on getting my Company home, turn round and come back here and put my leave through myself. At any rate rest assured I mean to be with you in February and I shall allow no trifling obstacle to turn me from my purpose. Getting my leave through will be child’s play compared with the difficulty of getting my Company home and I succeeded in tiding over the many shoal places which perplexed me through that operation. . . .

Meanwhile the re-enlistment question has destroyed all discipline and nearly broken our hearts. It has reduced our regiment to a Caucus and finally three quarters did not re-enlist. My Company alone has kept up to the mark. I told them that I expected myself to go to Europe for sixty days and that I would therefore have nothing to do with individual re-enlistments, but that if the whole Company would re-enlist I would remain here and see them home, if I had to remain here all winter. The result was highly satisfactory and more than three-quarters of my men have been mustered into the service for three years from the first of this month. I cannot express how gratified and yet how pained I am at this, as well as almost innumerable little evidences lately of the great confidence in, rather than attachment to me, of the men of my Company. They seem to think that I am a devil of a fellow. They come to me to decide their bets and to settle questions in discussion; they wish to know before they re-enlist whether I am going to remain in the regiment; and finally they came to the conclusion that it would be safe to recruit if I promised not to go away until I saw them home for their furloughs. To be egotistical, I think I see the old family traits cropping out in myself. These men don’t care for me personally. They think me cold, reserved and formal. They feel no affection for me, but they do believe in me, they have faith in my power of accomplishing results and in my integrity. . . .

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., to his father

Warrenton, Va.
Christmas evening, 1863

This evening finds me in reality in winter quarters. To-night for the first time this year I feel comfortable in my new house, the admiration of all who see it, with a fire-place, candles, chairs and table. I must describe it even if I am verbose, for not even Mrs. John D. Bates, on moving into No. 1. Boston, experienced half the satisfaction I feel in this offspring of my undeveloped architectural talent. It cost me twelve dollars in money. I bought half of a roof of a building from which the soldiers had stripped the sides. This was divided at the ridge-pole and the two sides constitute the two sides of my house, six feet high by fourteen long, the front and rear logged up, with an open fireplace in the rear, the whole covered with an old hospital tent fly, and with a floor of boards — warm, roomy and convenient, two beds, three chairs and a table, and every thing snug. Don’t talk to me of comfort! Bah!! Everything is relative. I have more real, positive, healthy comfort here than ever I did in my cushioned and carpeted room at home! So much for my room and now for my letter.

My last was from here and a week ago last Monday. It was well I wrote then, for if I had n’t, you would n’t have heard from me yet. The truth is this Brigade is in an absurd position and doing most unnecessary work. We are here at Warrenton — one brigade of cavalry — the army is at Brandy Station and Rappahannock Bridge. We have nothing near us and seem to be here theoretically to cover the railroad, practically to tempt the enemy to attack us. It is wicked to put troops in such a position. Every day I thank God we are safe so far. Every day increases our danger and, as a natural consequence, we are being worn out with incessant picket and scout, scout and picket. The simple truth is we are wretchedly officered, Brigade, Division and Corps. Pleasonton is a perfect humbug and has and does, unnecessarily, cost the Government 20,000 horses a year. Gregg and Taylor are both — Pennsylvanians, and I — well, I suppose I’m a confirmed grumbler. . . .

Speaking of the war, do you see the “Army and Navy Journal,” a new weekly publication in New York. If you do not, you had best at once subscribe for it. It is the only American paper which treats calmly and intelligibly of military questions. It would afford you in England immense information and insight into things which newspapers only muddle. It would furnish you as Minister many solutions of problems over which you must puzzle, and before which the English stand amazed. As to Meade, be assured he has the confidence of this army. He is a brave, reliable, conscientious soldier and under him we need fear no heavy disaster, and may hope for all reasonable success. He is not Grant or Rosecrans, but he is ten times Hooker and twice McClellan. He is an able and formidable General of the Fabian school, more of the Marshal Daun than the Frederick the Great. My great wish is for no more changes.

Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams, Jr.

London, December 11, 1863

The success at Chattanooga has had a very considerable effect here, and the English papers acknowledge it to be an important advantage in a military point of view, though of course it only makes the ultimate independence of the South more certain than ever. A better test is the state of the Confederate loan, which under the pressure of the news and the tightness of the money market, has fallen to 35-40. It is only some eight months ago that it was brought out at 92. So that we may at length conclude that the opinion among capitalists is fairly become that the chances are against the independence of the rebels. Meanwhile the financial pressure that I mentioned last week has been checked. I don’t see much reason to suppose that this is more than a lull, and I’m quite sure that if our armies could suddenly release and send over here a million bales of cotton or so, half England would be ruined. Of course our own position here is now as comfortable as could be wished, and a victory or so more will set us in a position to put the grand finishing stroke to our work. I hope that before next September the English Government will have seen fit to recall its belligerent proclamation, and all our ports will be open again, or occupied. When this point is reached, I think our return to peaceful and private pursuits would be graceful and opportune.

Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams, Jr.

St. Leonards on Sea December 3, 1863

Things are going on politically here from complication to confusion. Not that our own affairs are essentially changed, though this last week has been more lively than usual, owing to the rebs having bought a Government war-steamer and sent her out of a Government dockyard to cruise against us. This was cleverly done but I doubt whether it was good policy, any more than the other measures they’ve adopted of late towards England, which are calculated to throw the Ministry a good deal onto our side. I fancy this performance will only strengthen Lord Russell’s hands, should he come before Parliament with his new neutrality bill.

But meanwhile the devil only knows what will happen on the Continent. Certain it is that there is already a violent pressure in the money market, which approaches a panic, and I should not be surprised if something were to blow up before long. People are uneasy enough, and with reason. . . .