THE CABINET CABAL
Very soon after the effort to unite the Cotton-State governors in the
revolutionary plot, we find the local conspiracy at Charleston in
communication with the central secession cabal at Washington. James
Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, was still President of the United States,
and his Cabinet consisted of the following members: Lewis Cass, of
Michigan, Secretary of State; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of
the Treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; Isaac
Toucey, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Jacob Thompson, of
Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior; Joseph Holt, of Kentucky,
Postmaster-General; and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania,
Attorney-General. It was in and about this Cabinet that the central
cabal formed itself. Even if we could know in detail the successive
steps that led to the establishment of this intercourse, which so
quickly became "both semi-official and confidential," it could add
nothing to the force of the principal fact that the conspiracy was in
its earliest stages efficient in perverting the resources and
instrumentalities of the Government of the United States to its
destruction. That a United States Senator, a Secretary of War, an
Assistant Secretary of State, and no doubt sundry minor functionaries,
were already then, from six to eight weeks before any pretense of
secession, with, "malice aforethought" organizing armed resistance to
the Constitution and laws they had sworn to support, stands forth in
the following correspondence too plainly to be misunderstood. As a
fitting preface to this correspondence, a few short paragraphs may be
quoted from the private diary of the Secretary of War, from which
longer and more important extracts appear in a subsequent chapter.
Those at present quoted are designed more especially to show the names
of the persons composing the primary group of this central cabal, and
the time and place of their early consultations and activity.
EXTRACTS FROM FLOYD'S DIARY.[1]
November 8, 1860 ... I had a long conversation to-day with General
Lane, the candidate for Vice-President on the ticket with
Mr. Breckinridge. He was grave and extremely earnest; said that
resistance to the anti-slavery feeling of the North was hopeless, and
that nothing was left to the South but "resistance or dishonor"; that
if the South failed to act with promptness and decision in vindication
of her rights, she would have to make up her mind to give up first her
honor and then her slaves. He thought disunion inevitable, and said
when the hour came that his services could be useful, he would offer
them unhesitatingly to the South. I called to see the President this
evening, but found him at the State Department engaged upon his
message, and did not see him. Miss Lane returned last evening from
Philadelphia, where she had been for some time on a visit. Mr. W.H.
Trescott, Assistant Secretary of State, called to see me this evening,
and conversed at length upon the condition of things in South
Carolina, of which State he is a native. He expressed no sort of doubt
whatever of his State separating from the Union. He brought me a
letter from Mr. Drayton, the agent of the State, proposing to buy ten
thousand muskets for the use of the State....
November 10 ... Beach, Thompson, and Cobb came over with me from
Cabinet and staid, taking informally a family dinner. The party was
free and communicative; Toucey would not stay for dinner. Mr. Pickens,
late Minister to Russia, came in after dinner with Mr. Trescott,
Assistant Secretary of State, and sat an hour, talking about the
distracted state of public feeling at the South. He seemed to think
the time had come for decisive measures to be taken by the South.
November 11 ... I spent an hour at the President's, where I met
Thompson, Robert McGraw, and some others; we sat around the tea-table
and discussed the disunion movements of the South. This seems to be
the absorbing topic everywhere.
November 12 ... Dispatched the ordinary business of the department;
dined at 5 o'clock; Mr. Pickens, late Minister to Russia, Mr.
Trescott, Mr. Secretary Thompson, Mr. McGraw, Mr. Browne, editor of
the "Constitution," were of the party. The chief topic of discussion
was, as usual, the excitement in the South. The belief seemed to be
that disunion was inevitable; Pickens, usually very cool and
conservative, was excited and warm. My own conservatism seems in these
discussions to be unusual and almost misplaced.
[Sidenote] Benson J. Lossing, "The Civil War in America," Vol. I.,
p. 44. (Note.)
W.H. TRESCOTT TO E. BARNWELL RHETT.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 1860.
DEAR RHETT: I received your letter this morning. As to my views or
opinions of the Administration, I can, of course, say nothing. As to
Mr. Cobb's views, he is willing that I should communicate them to you,
in order that they may aid you in forming your own judgment; but, you
will understand that this is confidential--that is, neither Mr. Cobb
nor myself must be quoted as the source of your information. I will
not dwell on this, as you will, on a moment's reflection, see the
embarrassment which might be produced by any _authorized_ statement of
his opinions. I will only add, by way of preface, that after the very
fullest and freest conversations with him, I feel sure of his
earnestness, singleness of purpose, and resolution in the whole
matter.
Mr. Cobb believes that the time is come for resistance; that upon the
election of Lincoln, Georgia ought to secede from the Union, and that
she will do so; that Georgia and every other State should, as far as
secession, act for herself, resuming her delegated powers, and thus
put herself in position to consult with other sovereign States who
take the same ground. After the secession is effected, then will be
the time to consult. But he is of opinion, most strongly, that
whatever action is resolved on should be consummated on the 4th of
March, not before.
That while the action determined on should be decisive and
irrevocable, its initial point should be the 4th of March. He is
opposed to any Southern convention, merely for the purpose of
consultation. If a Southern convention is held, it must be of
delegates empowered to _act_, whose action is at once binding on the
States they represent.
But he desires me to impress upon you his conviction, that any attempt
to precipitate the actual issue upon this Administration will be most
mischievous--calculated to produce differences of opinion and destroy
unanimity. He thinks it of great importance that the cotton crop
should go forward at once, and that the money should be in the hands
of the people, that the cry of popular distress shall not be heard at
the outset of this move.
My own opinion is that it would be well to have a discreet man, one
who knows the value of silence, who can listen wisely, present in
Milledgeville, at the meeting of the State Legislature, as there will
be there an outside gathering of the very ablest men of that State.
And the next point, that you should, at the earliest possible day of
the session of our own Legislature, elect a man as governor whose name
and character will conciliate as well as give confidence to all the
men of the State,--if we do act, I really think this half the
battle,--a man upon whose temper the State can rely.
I say nothing about a convention, as I understand, on all hands, that
that is a fixed fact, and I have confined myself to answering your
question. I will be much obliged to you if you will write me soon and
fully from Columbia.
It is impossible to write to you, with the constant interruption of
the office, and as you want Cobb's opinions, not mine, I send this to
you.
Yours,
W.H.T.
[Sidenote] MS. Confederate Archives.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
CHARLESTON, 3d Nov., 1860.
On the 22d of last month I was in Washington, and called upon the
Secretary at War, in company with Senator Wigfall, of Texas, to make
inquiries as to the efficiency and price of certain muskets belonging
to the United States, which had been altered by the Ordnance
Department from flint to percussion. They will shoot for 200 yards as
well as any smooth-bored gun in the service, and if _rifled_ will be
effective at 500 yards. But if the conical ball will be made lighter
by enlarging the hollow at the base of the cone, the effective range
may be increased to seven hundred yards. Should your Excellency give a
favorable consideration to the above, I can have the whole of what I
have stated authenticated by the board of ordnance officers, who
inspected and reported to the Secretary at War upon these muskets. If
ten thousand or more of these muskets are purchased, the price will be
two ($2) dollars each; for a less quantity the charge will be $2.50
each. If a portion or all of them are to be rifled, the Secretary says
he will have it done for the additional cost of one ($1) dollar per
barrel. As this interview with Mr. Secretary Floyd was both
semi-official and confidential, your Excellency will readily see the
necessity, should this matter be pursued further, of appointing an
agent to negotiate with him, rather than conduct the negotiation
directly between the State and the Department ... I unhesitatingly
advise purchasing several thousand of them ... There are many other
important facts in connection with the above that I could disclose,
but will reserve them for some other occasion, that I may give them
verbally as soon as I can find a day to wait upon your Excellency in
Columbia.
The State of Texas has engaged twenty thousand (20,000) of these
muskets, and the State of Kentucky purchased several thousand last
summer.
[Sidenote] Ibid.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
CHARLESTON, 6th Nov., 1860.
I have only within a few hours received yours of the 5th inst.,
authorizing me to purchase from the War Department at Washington ten
thousand rifles of pattern and price indicated in my letter to your
Excellency of the 3d inst.
I accept the appointment and will discharge the duty assigned to the
best of my ability and with the least possible delay. For I feel that
the past and present agitation are ruinous to our peace and prosperity
and that our only remedy is to break up with dispatch the present
Confederacy and construct a new and better one. I will communicate
with Mr. Secretary Floyd to-night and have the rifles put in
preparation so as to have them for use at an early day....
I would wish that my agency in this transaction be kept private _until
I reach Washington_, or indeed till I write to say the arms are on
their way to Columbia....
[Sidenote] Ibid.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
CHARLESTON, 8th Nov., 1860.
I have just received your letter of the 7th inst., and I think I can
render you all the information you desire, without resorting to any
agent. If my ability can only be made to keep pace with my zeal, I
hope yet to render some service to the dear old State of South
Carolina.
[Illustration: THE WIGWAM AT CHICAGO IN WHICH LINCOLN WAS NOMINATED.]
[Sidenote] MS. Confederate Archives.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
CHARLESTON, 16th Nov., 1860.
I have been most reluctantly detained here by an accidental fall, and
also by business of an urgent kind associated with the railroad. My
absence from Washington, however, has not delayed the execution of
your order for the rifles; the Secretary of War has had the preparation
of them in hand for some time.
When I write to you from Washington, had I not better address you
through your private secretary ... Please address me at Washington to
the care of Wm. H. Trescott, Esq. ... I will give strict attention to
your letter of the 7th inst., and hope to furnish you with much of the
information you desire, for I am quite sensible of the importance of
knowing the views and policy of the President at this juncture.
[Sidenote] MS. Confederate Archives.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
WASHINGTON, 19th Nov., 1860.
... I called this morning upon the Secretary of War to make
arrangements for the immediate transmission of the rifles to Columbia,
but much to my astonishment he informed me that since he had looked
over the report of "Small Fire-arms" (now inclosed) that he found he
had labored under an error in stating to me that the ten thousand
rifles I had engaged were ready for delivery when called for by me. He
said he could have them rifled, but it would take three or four months
to execute the contract, but suggested that we should purchase the
10,000 smooth-bored muskets instead, as a more efficient arm,
particularly if large-sized buckshot should be used, which, put up in
wire case capable of containing 12 of them, would go spitefully
through an inch plank at 200 yards. I was much astonished at the
result of my interview with Governor Floyd to-day, for he had not only
informed me that the rifles would be ready for me on my arrival, but
told Mr. Trescott so likewise, and that if I had been in Washington
last Saturday I could have got them.... If you will be satisfied with
the smooth-bored muskets like the specimen forwarded to you, I will
purchase them. Better do this, although not the best pattern, than be
without arms at a crisis like the present. Colonel Benjamin Huger can
give you much information about these muskets. This is derived not
only from Mr. Floyd, but also from General J.E. Johnston,
Quartermaster-General, who was President of the Ordnance Board who had
these muskets changed from flint to percussion, and also from
smooth-bore to rifle, and he says that for our purposes the
smooth-bored musket is preferable to the altered rifle. The why I
cannot explain to-day.... I also send you a letter from Mr. Trescott,
in reply to certain inquiries from me. I am unable to make any
comments upon them nor to add other facts which I will forward you
more leisurely to-morrow....
[Sidenote] MS. Confederate Archives.
W.H. TRESCOTT TO THOS. F. DRAYTON.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 1860.
(Private, Confidential.)
MY DEAR DRAYTON: It is difficult to reply specifically to your
inquiries, partly because I do not believe that the exact course of
the Administration has been yet determined on, and partly because my
knowledge, or rather my inference, of its intentions is derived from
intercourse with its members which I am bound to consider
confidential. I do not regard it of serious importance to you to know
the individual opinions of either the President or the Cabinet. No
action of any sort will be taken until the message has been sent
indicating the opinions of the Executive, and that message, whatever
it be, will find our Legislature in session, and the convention on the
point of meeting. I think it likely that the President will state
forcibly what he considers the grievances of the South, that he will
add that he does not think, if the right of secession existed, it
would be a wise policy for the State to adopt, and that he does not
think the right to secede does exist, and then refer the whole matter
to Congress; what he will do when the State does secede, he has not
said, and I do not know, nor any man, I believe. He will do, as we
will, what he believes to be his duty, and that duty, I suppose, will
be discharged in full view of the consequences following any line of
action that may be determined on. But I think that, as long as Cobb
and Thompson retain seats in the Cabinet, you may feel confident that
no action has been taken which seriously affects the position of any
Southern State.
I think that I may safely rely upon my knowledge of what will be done,
and you may rely upon my resignation as soon as that knowledge
satisfies me of any move in a direction positively injurious to us, or
altering the present condition of things to our disadvantage. When you
pass through on Wednesday, however, I will speak to you more fully.
Yours,
W.H.T.
[Sidenote] Ibid.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
WASHINGTON, 19th Nov., 1860.
Mr. Buchanan, while he can discover no authority under the
Constitution to justify secession by a State, on the other hand he can
find no power to coerce one to return after the right of secession has
been exercised. He will not allow entry or clearance of a vessel
except through the Custom-house, to be established as soon as
secession is declared, upon the deck of a man-of-war off the harbor of
Charleston. He will enforce the collection of duties, not by navy, but
by a revenue cutter, as our collector now would do if his authority
was resisted. I will write to you more fully when I return from New
York, where I go to-morrow at daylight, at the suggestion of the
Secretary of War, who deems it important that I should go there to
make arrangements for shipping the arms (should you still want them)
from that point instead of this city ... Do send a copy of the list of
arms at the arsenals to H.R. Lawton, Milledgeville, Ga. I am getting
some smooth-bored muskets for Georgia, like the specimen I sent you.
[Sidenote] MS. Confederate Archives.
THOS. F. DRAYTON TO GOVERNOR GIST.
WASHINGTON, 23d Nov., 1860.
I arrived here at 6 A.M. from New York, where I had gone at the
suggestion of Mr. Floyd to engage Mr. G.B. Lamar, President of the
Bank of the Republic, to make an offer to the Secretary for such a
number of muskets as we might require. The Secretary at War was
reluctant to dispose of them to me, preferring the intermediate
agency. Mr. Lamar has consented to act accordingly, and to-day the
Secretary has written to the commanding officer [at] Watervliet
Arsenal to deliver five or ten thousand muskets (altered from flint to
percussion) to Mr. Lamar's order. Mr. Lamar will pay the United States
paymaster for them, and rely upon the State to repay him. I have been
most fortunate in having been enabled to meet the payments for the
arms through Mr. L., for I feel satisfied that without his
intervention we could not have effected the purchase at this time....
I expect to return at daylight to-morrow to New York, for I am very
anxious about getting possession of the arms at Watervliet, and
forward them to Charleston. The Cabinet may break up at any moment, on
differences of opinion with the President as to the rights of
secession, and a new Secretary of War might stop the muskets going
South, if not already on their way when he comes into office.
I will write to you again by the next mail. The impression here and
elsewhere among many Southern men is, that our Senators have been
precipitate in resigning; they think that their resignations should
have been tendered from their seats after they had announced to the
Senate that the State had seceded. Occupying their seats up to this
period would have kept them in communication with Senators from the
South and assisted very powerfully in shaping to our advantage coming
events.
If any further quotation be necessary to show the audacity with which
at least three Secretaries and one Assistant Secretary of Mr.
Buchanan's Cabinet engaged in flagrant conspiracy in the early stages
of rebellion, it may be found in an interview of Senator Clingman with
the Secretary of the Interior, which the former has recorded in his
"Speeches and Writings" as an interesting reminiscence. It may be
doubted whether Secretary Thompson correctly reported the President as
wishing him success in his North Carolina mission, but the Secretary
is, of course, a competent witness to his own declarations and acts.
[Sidenote] T.L. Clingman, "Speeches and Writings," pp. 526, 527.
About the middle of December [1860] I had occasion to see the
Secretary of the Interior on some official business. On my entering
the room, Mr. Thompson said to me, "Clingman, I am glad you have
called, for I intended presently to go up to the Senate to see you. I
have been appointed a commissioner by the State of Mississippi to go
down to North Carolina to get your State to secede, and I wished to
talk with you about your Legislature before I start down in the
morning to Raleigh, and to learn what you think of my chance of
success." I said to him, "I did not know that you had resigned." He
answered; "Oh, no, I have not resigned." "Then," I replied, "I suppose
you resign in the morning." "No," he answered, "I do not intend to
resign, for Mr. Buchanan wished us all to hold on, and go out with him
on the 4th of March." "But," said I, "does Mr. Buchanan know for what
purpose you are going to North Carolina?" "Certainly," he said, "he
knows my object." Being surprised by this statement, I told Mr.
Thompson that Mr. Buchanan was probably so much perplexed by his
situation that he had not fully considered the matter, and that as he
was already involved in difficulty, we ought not to add to his
burdens; and then suggested to Mr. Thompson that he had better see Mr.
Buchanan again, and by way of inducing him to think the matter over,
mention what I had been saying to him. Mr. Thompson said, "Well, I can
do so, but I think he fully understands it." In the evening I met Mr.
Thompson at a small social party, and as soon as I approached him, he
said, "I knew I could not be mistaken. I told Mr. Buchanan all you
said, and he told me that he wished me to go, and hoped I might
succeed." I could not help exclaiming, "Was there ever before any
potentate who sent out his own Cabinet ministers to excite an
insurrection against his Government!" The fact that Mr. Thompson did
go on the errand, and had a public reception before the Legislature,
and returned to his position in the Cabinet is known, but this
incident serves to recall it.
To this sketch of the Cabinet cabal it is necessary to add the testimony
of his participation, by one who, from first to last, was a principal
and controlling actor. Jefferson Davis records that:
[Sidenote] Jefferson Davis, "Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government," Vol. I., pp. 57, 58, 59.
In November, 1860, after the result of the Presidential election was
known, the Governor of Mississippi, having issued his proclamation
convoking a special session of the Legislature to consider the
propriety of calling a convention, invited the Senators and
Representatives of the State in Congress to meet him for consultation
as to the character of the message he should send to the Legislature
when assembled.... While engaged in the consultation with the Governor
just referred to, a telegraphic message was handed to me from two
members of Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, urging me to proceed "immediately"
to Washington. This dispatch was laid before the Governor and the
members of Congress from the State who were in conference with him,
and it was decided that I should comply with, the summons ... On
arrival at Washington, I found, as had been anticipated, that my
presence there was desired on account of the influence which it was
supposed I might exercise with the President (Mr. Buchanan) in
relation to his forthcoming message to Congress. On paying my respects
to the President, he told me that he had finished the rough draft of
his message, but that it was still open to revision and amendment, and
that he would like to read it to me. He did so and very kindly
accepted all the modifications which I suggested. The message was,
however, afterwards somewhat changed.
In the documents we have presented, though they manifestly form but
the merest fragment of the secret correspondence which passed between
the chief conspirators, and of the written evidence recorded by them
in various forms, then and afterwards, we have a substantial unmasking
of the combined occult influences which presided over the initiatory
steps of the great American Rebellion--its central council--the master
wheel of its machinery--and the connecting relation which caused all
its subordinate parts to move in harmonious accord.
With the same mind to dictate a secession message to a Legislature and
a non-coercion message to Congress--to assemble insurrectionary troops
to seize Federal forts and withhold Government troops from their
protection--to incite governors to rebellion and overawe a weak
President to a virtual abdication of his rightful authority, history
need not wonder at the surprising unity and early success of the
conspiracy against the Union.
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[1] Printed on pages 791 to 794 in "The Life and Times of Robert E.
Lee," etc. By a distinguished Southern journalist. (E.A. Pollard,
author of "The Lost Cause.")