Washington July 26 1861
My dear Wife
The best way to keep an account of my “daily walk and conversations” is to write you very often and trust that my letters to you may serve as a continuance of my journal which I can not carry about the country.
At ½ past 4 I repaired to General Scotts quarters and accompanied him and his aids to his humble residence between 17th & 18th streets.
The party surrounded a very plain table and consisted of Genl Scott Col Van Rentzeler my old classmate acting as volunteer aid and Col Schyler Hamilton of the 7th N York Regt. Also acting as volunteer aid Senator Rice1 of Minn and myself
The dinner was neat but decidedly plain. Three courses of meat, and a finish of ice cream. Good wines–sherry. Champaign, and Claret closing with coffee and finishing with some very choise wine which the General said had been sent him by Mr Aspinwell to be drunk after Coffee. The General said he had often lived in excessive affluence but he did not enjoy it. At one time he was a guest at Mr Prestons when 200 dollars a week was expended in mushrooms and other imported vegitables. But on a certain day he accidentally dined with another friend when he found bacon and beans–good side bacon– : and he thinks he disposed of over a half pound of it with greater relish than he did imported viands.
In speaking of Keokuk he said “I am going to give you a chapter of miricles. In 1813 I traveled by the falls of the Genesee when there were three chimnies. One attached to a mill one to a tavern and to a store. Now there is the city of Rochester with 60 or 80 thousand people backed up by vast cities in the rear of N York In 1832 he carried the cholera to Chicago when there were half a dozen houses; now there is a city of over two hundred thousand. Keokuk was fired into as an Indian camp and St Louis was a place of only 6 or 8 thousand” Speaking of the Chief Keokuk he said he made him chief. Made him kneel and receive a meddle suspended by a gay ribbon He said Keokuk was a good man and opposed Black Hawk in the war measures against the U S
Speaking of the Cabinet, he said he was on the most agreeable terms with Chase. Considered him a most valuable man Sound head and heart. He had also been well treated by Cameron who thought was a very active and energetic Secretary. Blair2 he regarded as a man of great will and too obstinate. As to the President he thought him a most worthy honest and excellent President. The General spoke of the battle with pain. He said that he was guilty of cowardice, and should be reproached for he yielded his better judgement to popular clammer and suffered men to go into battle before they were properly prepared.
We had many passing jokes and current events discussed and the Genl, seemed in all things quite sound in mind and fresh in memory. But physically he is very unwell for he rises from his chair with great difficulty cannot ride on horseback and cannot ride in a carriage but with great pain.
I have not time to dwell on all the little incidents that occurred although hereafter everything concerning our great General will [be] of interest to humanity. General Scott cannot survive many years but his head seems to be as sound as it was when I saw him in Mexico.
To show how well he recollects men and periods without any reference to the subject he said “Col (no General now) I was 61 when I met you on the Rio grande but 14 years have since transpired and I am now 75”
It happened to be the anniversary of “Lundys Lane” and the General spoke of the incidents of that battle with great pleasure and accurate recollection.
General McClelland3 is expected today and we hope he will re animate the drooping hopes of our troops. New regiments are beginning to arrive and are filling the place of the 3 months men who seem delighted to leave although the enemy is only a few (4) miles in front and the Capitol is in danger.
I was urged by General Scott and staff not to start homewards till the military bills have passed the house This will probably be within a day or two and I hope to get off soon.
Affectionately yours
Saml R. Curtis
[an “Address of Hon. Samuel R. Curtis to the People of the 1st Congressional District of Iowa” dated Washington, July 28, 1861, announced his intention of resigning his seat in Congress and reviewed briefly the conditions which preceded his elevation to that rank with the 2nd Iowa and the country at large.
[In letter to Galusha A. Grow,4 Speaker of the House of Representatives, dated Washington, July 29, 1861, Curtis announces that he had tendered his resignation to Governor Kirkwood, to take effect from and after August 4.]
1. Henry M. Rice, resident of Fort Snelling since 1839, and prior to that, of Ft. Atkinson and Prairie du Chitin, was influential in the passage of the Territory of Minnesota bill, 1849. A delegate in Congress 1853-1855, he was U. S. Senator from 1858-1863. He was a potent power in the Indian affairs and political life of his state.
2. Montgomery Blair, eldest scion of Francis P. Blair, was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy, 1835, soon settled in St. Louis to practice law. A Democrat under Pierce and Buchanan, his Free Soil sympathies led him into the Republican ranks in 1860, he later returned to the Democratic party in 1868. An obstinate and determined man.
3. George B. McClellan, U. S. Military Academy, 1846, veteran of the Mexican War, was later prominent in railroad surveys of the west and southwest. In 1857 he became the chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad. First appointed in command of Ohio troops at the outbreak of the war, he was shortly made a major general in the regular army. Appointed chief of staff to succeed Gen. Scott in Nov., 1861, he led the drawn campaign against Richmond in 1862, later, after being deposed: he was again briefly returned to that post in the fall of 1862. In 1864 he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president.
4. Galusha A. Grow, entered Congress in 1851 as a compromise Democrat when D. Wilmot was opposed in his Penn. district. Grow was identified with liberalization of the public land policies, notably securing the Homestead Art of 1862. Serving in the Congress from 1851-1863, he once again served from 1893-1903.