Upon this subject the following characteristic letter of McClellan is of interest:—
Friday.
My dear Stevens,—The inclosed are the result of a search through the libraries of the War and Eng’r Dep’ts. I hardly feel satisfied that they are precisely what you need.
If they do not suit you, inform me of it, and I will gladly renew the research.
I had another conversation with the general this morning about the sappers. It’s of no use whatever,—his mind is made up to detail fifty men on the Coast Survey. He says the duty I propose for them in Texas is not legitimate and belongs not to them. Amen! I have said my say. I’ve done what I could. Some one of more influence than I possess must convince him,—my words are idle breath and of no avail.
Truly your friend,
George B. McClellan.
It should be remembered that he was undertaking this great task of reorganizing the army, expending so much thought, labor, and time upon it, in addition to the incessant labors of the Coast Survey and the cares of the fortifications in Maine. It was his lofty and patriotic ideals, his noble ambition to do his duty by his profession and his country, that spurred him on, and his untiring energy and power of concentration that enabled him to throw off work so rapidly and effectively. His great ambition was to accomplish results, and he was careless and indifferent as to claiming credit for himself, or pushing himself in any way.
Notwithstanding all these engrossing labors, he responded as promptly and generously as ever to the personal calls of his friends and others. He writes and interviews the War Department and Generals Scott and Totten in behalf of another brevet for Captain G.W. Smith, aids McClellan in regard to the engineer company, obtains information for H.L. Smith, has the accounts of Sergeant Lathrop, of the engineer company, passed, and is ever ready to lend a helping hand to any deserving man or cause.
Early in 1851 Major Stevens moved to Mrs. Janney’s, an excellent and well-known boarding-house on Eighth Street, next the Avenue. Here lived several members of Congress and government officials, and also the Turkish ambassador, a grave, quiet man in a dark red fez, with whom Major Stevens occasionally played checkers in the evening. At this establishment breakfast was served at eight, dinner at four, with a lunch at noon, and at nine in the evening tea and thin sandwiches were handed around in the parlor.
In June Major Stevens carried his family to Newport for the summer, where leaving them, he visited Bucksport to look after the works at Fort Knox, which still remained under his charge. He hastened back to Washington before the month was out. Passing through New York, he again sat to Professor Fowler for his “phrenological character,” but this time was not accused of being a poet. Whether informed by the bumps or other means, the phrenologist seems to have drawn his characteristics pretty accurately, with some glaring exceptions.
Desirous of keeping house, Major Stevens now leased a roomy brick house, one in a block of two, on the west side of Third Street, and only a block north of the Avenue. This house had a large garden fronting on the street, and in the rear of it was a stable opening on an alley behind. Having obtained a position on the Coast Survey for his cousin, George Watson Stevens, a son of uncle William, a young man of nineteen, Major Stevens invited the youth to become a member of his family.
Washington, July 27, 1851.
My dear, good Wife,—I have read your last letter over three times, and it has done me a world of good. I love to have you write so from your heart. You know that in marriage, in my wife and children, are centred all my hopes of earthly happiness. I am conscious it occupies too large a space in my youthful longings. It seems to me, with a devoted, loving, and lovely wife and lovely children, I might shut out the cares of life, and give myself up to happiness and joy. But we have duties to perform, trials to encounter, victories to achieve. Life is a warfare. We must contend with evil. We must accomplish good. I feel that I have done something, but that I have just begun; that I am entering upon the great field of useful exertion. I feel that the past has simply given me the experience and the knowledge to wisely conquer the present, and thus achieve a future. I feel there is something heroic and noble in this view of life. I feel that the greatest support, next to the consciousness of well-doing, is the sympathy and support of you, my dear companion and friend, and the confiding, tender helplessness of our dear babes.
I like George in the house very much, and, so far as I am concerned, I should like to have him a member of our family. I think, moreover, it would be to his advantage. Charging him simply the actual outlay to us, it will diminish his expenditures. Moreover, I shall be absent on inspections more or less, and you will thus have some one to call on.
He is studious, attentive to his duties, is impressing every one favorably with whom he is brought in contact, and is advancing steadily and quite rapidly. I feel highly pleased with his progress. With economy his pay will, the first year, pay his expenses.
I fear, if I am off in August, it will embarrass me very seriously in the fall. Our reports are still coming in, and now is the time to put things in a successful train. I do not wish, by inaction or delay now, to make trouble hereafter. My health is remarkably good. I have never had a better appetite, or more ability to work, than I have now. I am surprised at my vigor. I don’t care how hot the weather is. The perspiration will drop from my face and hands, and I will feel neither languor nor fatigue. The other men in the office complain and have to slacken in their exertions, whilst I seem to have, with every hot day, fresh strength and force.
Give my love to the bairns. I want very much to see them.
Yours affectionately,
Isaac.
Washington, July 28, 1851.
My dearest Wife,—I was very glad to learn that you were so well, and that the visit to Tom’s was so pleasant. The farm is the place for children. On their account I wish I could pass four months every summer in that way. Hazard should go to school seven or eight months. I am delighted with his doings,—learning to swim, and do all kinds of work. Maude, too, learning to walk,—yes, actually walking, little darling. She must have forgotten me, but she will soon recollect me on seeing me again. And Sue learning to ride on horseback! Why, verily, Margaret, you have a hopeful family, one of which you may well be proud. Whether I go on to Tom’s farm this summer is doubtful. I am glad they are doing so well. Daniel is a first-rate business man, and, as he likes farming, why not make it his business? I believe he could in a few years clear from debt a large farm, going upon it without a cent in his pocket. This is my opinion, and in a pecuniary point of view it is much better than a salaried place,—far better.
You may be assured my health is remarkably firm and good. I never knew it better. This warm weather does not affect me in the least. I bear labor better than any man in the office. Not a man in the office can do as much as I can.
Well, as to the book. It is said to sell pretty well. Most of the copies have been disposed of. Very good notices have appeared both in the “Intelligencer” and “Republic.” The notice of the “Intelligencer” I sent you. The notice in the “Republic” was short, but very good. Some of my friends think it will excite a controversy. Others think it will be found a very hard thing to reply to. The fact is, whilst I have endeavored to clearly discern errors, I have sought to look charitably on all that was done. This seemed to me the only true wisdom. Some of my friends think I have carried this spirit too far, and that I have not censured enough. The general criticism is that I am too favorable towards Ripley. I think I have simply done him justice.
Washington, August 8, 1851.
My dearest Wife,—My health is remarkably good, my duties multifarious, and I must not spend time in recreation which my health does not require. I have not had such health for years, and have enjoyed this summer.
We are getting on famously with our housekeeping. The woman is a neat, respectable, honest person, who tries to do her duty, a very respectable washer and ironer as well as cook. I think you will be pleased with her. I shall send a boy whom we have had for a month away in the morning. One of the messengers comes to the house every evening to attend to the garden. So we are getting along. To-day we put six chickens into our coop, and to-morrow eight hens will be admitted. You will find us getting on swimmingly when you come on in October.
Friday morning. I have just received two very gratifying letters, one from General Shields, which I send you. Don’t show it to any one, for he is very extravagant in praise of my book, and his suggestions are made in a corresponding spirit. But I value what he says very much, because he writes from his heart and in the spirit of friendship. I feel, too, there are many points of sympathy between him and me, and I value his friendship and words of encouragement.
The other letter is from Major Pitman. His article on my book in the “Providence Journal” of August 6 is altogether the best that has appeared. He has presented his own views with clearness and force on certain points of difference. This is what I want. I don’t want eulogies, but discriminating notices. I want to see my errors exposed, otherwise I shall not learn to correct them.
Taylor & Maury have sold out all the copies of my book, and in consequence I loaned them half a dozen that I still had on hand. They think they will sell a great many more.
I am pushed exceedingly, and can write no more to-day. Love to the children.
Affectionately.
In the latter part of September Major Stevens made a hasty visit North, spent a few days at Andover and Newport, and brought his family back to Washington. His wife’s youngest sister, Miss Nancy Hazard, accompanied them and spent the winter with them. He still retained charge of the works at Bucksport, although the second year of duty on the Coast Survey was near its close, and writes full and explicit instructions to Mr. A.W. Tinkham, C.E., concerning it. At a later date he obtained a good position for Mr. Tinkham on the Coast Survey, and also secured a situation in the same service for Mr. John E. Lee, whom he had employed in Bucksport as clerk.
The family this winter was increased by George W. Stevens and Miss Nancy L. Hazard. There was the colored cook, and Bridget Sullivan, the children’s nurse, and Sampson Ingraham, a most faithful, capable, and respectable colored man and a free man. Sampson had one cross to bear which sorely tried his devotion to the family, and that was milking the cow and taking care of it, which Major Stevens compelled him daily to do; for Sampson, never having done any farm work, regarded this as derogatory, and was much distressed and mortified thereby. But finally Major Stevens, perceiving his trouble, relieved him from this duty. In the next house, on the south side, lived the family of Captain Simon F. Blount, of the navy. Nearly across the street Senator William Gwin, of California, and family occupied a roomy mansion, where they dispensed a generous hospitality. After breakfast, at eight, Major Stevens usually walked down to the Coast Survey Office, and walked back in time for dinner at four in the afternoon. In the evening there was tea at eight o’clock.
Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, visited Washington this winter, and attracted the greatest attention and admiration. He was a man of noble presence, a finished orator, speaking English with great purity and ease. The Democratic Jackson Club gave a banquet on January 8 in honor of Kossuth, which was attended by Webster and many of the first men of the country. Major Stevens was called upon to respond to the toast of “The Army and Navy,” and spoke as follows:—
Gentlemen,—In the name of the army I return my thanks for the honor of this toast. I speak in behalf of the American army,—that army which presents its breast to the enemy, which pours out its blood, which lays down its life. A weighty significance already attaches to these words, “the American army.” For, first, it achieved the independence of these States against the most powerful nation of modern times; second, it waged against the same power the second war of independence to maintain the freedom of the seas, the war the culminating glories of which we this evening celebrate; and, third, when a contiguous republic interfered with the domestic concerns of one of our States, the vindication of the law of nations, thus trampled under foot, was placed in its hands, and the stars and stripes soon waved over the ancient seats of the Montezumas. The American army will never forget what is due to its past renown and its future glory. We feel that, citizens alike with you, we are the army of a free people. We know, too, that our country possesses elements of military strength scarcely appreciated by the inattentive observer of events,—elements that have been nurtured by the wonderful growth, the trials and vicissitudes, of our young nation struggling into manhood. No other people so combines command and obedience, is so subordinate to law, yet is so much a law unto itself. No other people of ancient or modern times possesses such elements of military power. It is the profound conviction of my heart that in a just cause we could meet the world with a million armed men, each man a tried and true soldier, surpassing even the iron men of Cromwell, those men who feared God but not man; those men stern in fight yet merciful in victory; those men who achieved the great triumph of English independence, and transmitted to us its glorious recollections.
The members of both services, which you have honored to-night, see that the American people are marching forward to mighty destinies, and that upon them heavy responsibilities will rest. We mean to do our whole duty. We mean at all times to be in harness and at our posts. We know not when the time may come,—probably in our lifetime, and perhaps to-morrow. We feel no despondency, but are filled with joy and hope. When our beloved nation, “a power on earth,” shall determine to measure its strength with other powers in the maintenance of right, and in vindication of violated law and outraged humanity, the army and navy will carry their country’s flag in triumph over all seas and through all lands.
Congress was disposed then as now to starve the coast defenses, appropriating scarcely enough to maintain the works already built. Major Stevens, deeply interested in the proper fortification of the coast, both from his professional knowledge and experience and his enlarged and patriotic views, with his accustomed zeal and energy undertook the task of inculcating upon the country and Congress sound ideas in regard to this important subject, and of obtaining the appropriations necessary to keep up and complete existing works. In this, as in everything he undertook, was evinced his prominent characteristic of going to the bottom of a subject, of basing his action upon broad principles; and so, instead of being satisfied with simply securing the needed appropriations for the time being, he treats of the whole system of fortifications required for national defense, both present and future. He had repeated conferences with General Shields on this subject, who in March, as chairman of the Military Committee, brought into the Senate a favorable report and bill. In support of this, and advocating a proper system of coast defenses, Major Stevens wrote a number of articles, which were published in the “National Intelligencer” of Washington, the “Boston Post,” Portland “Eastern Argus,” “Bangor Democrat,” and papers in New York, Richmond, New Orleans, and other places. He caused these articles, with Shields’s report, to be sent to many officers and influential men in different parts of the country, urging them to advocate the matter on patriotic grounds. These articles were much commended, especially by his brother officers of the engineers.
He also at this time published in the “Boston Post” an article on the lighthouse system.
In April, 1852, Major Stevens was appointed a member of the Lighthouse Board, which was considered no slight honor, and which added much to his responsibilities and his duties. His colleagues on the board were all men of talent and reputation, the association with whom was congenial and gratifying. In May he visited Wilmington on this duty.
The Bucksport house had remained on his hands all this time, a source of more care than income; but in April a purchaser was found in Mr. Knox for $1350, evidently quite a sacrifice.
He took his two elder children, Hazard and Sue, to Newport for the summer; but his wife and Maude, the youngest child, remained in Washington.
General Franklin Pierce, having been nominated for the presidency by the Democratic party, was outrageously assailed by the unscrupulous press and partisans of the other side on account of his services in Mexico, and even his personal courage was impugned. Major Stevens, having met Pierce in Mexico, and having been favorably impressed by him, was indignant at these slanders, and felt called upon to aid in refuting them. Accordingly he published six letters in the “Boston Post” and two in the “Republic,” a Washington paper, warmly, but in a temperate and courteous style, vindicating the unjustly assailed public man. He takes pains in these articles to eulogize the military talents of General Scott, the rival candidate nominated by the Whig party, quotes his favorable mention of Pierce in his reports of operations in Mexico, and shows that the rival candidates entertained warm feelings of esteem for each other, thus ingeniously making Scott a witness to refute his own reckless partisans. He concludes the last article as follows:—
“You well know, Mr. Editor, my exalted appreciation of the conduct and services of General Scott in Mexico. It has been a pleasing reflection that the standard-bearers of the two great parties were warm personal friends, each possessing in an eminent degree the respect and confidence of the other. The friends of General Pierce have never claimed that he was a great military man. They concede with pride and gratification that General Scott is, and that he is a judge of military qualities. They simply claim that General Pierce in his service in Mexico did his whole duty as a son of the Republic, that he was eminently patriotic, disinterested, and gallant, and that it has added a laurel to his beautiful civic wreath: as a citizen he has been ready to make sacrifices for his country; as a soldier and commander, he has shown gallantry before the enemy, and was eminently the friend and father of his command.”
Colonel Charles G. Greene, editor of the “Post,” writes that General Pierce was much pleased with, and highly commended, these letters.
Major Stevens always took great interest in public affairs. He was emphatically a national man. He held the Union as the noblest work of our Revolutionary patriots, and as indispensable to liberty and national greatness. An ardent Democrat from boyhood, he regarded the Democratic party as preëminently the national party, the party of progress. He fully justified the Mexican war, the great Democratic measure, and believed with full faith in the future growth and destiny of the Great Republic. The slavery question, destined in a few brief years to wreck that party and so nearly destroy the nation, was still in abeyance, and it was almost universally believed that the compromise of 1850 had averted all danger from that quarter.
Not content with vindicating Pierce in the papers, Major Stevens now concluded to support him on the stump. He wrote Gayton P. Osgood, and other friends in Massachusetts, as to the advisability of this step, but received rather discouraging replies, one correspondent even taking him to task for speaking so highly of General Scott in his articles, and recommending him to become a thoroughgoing partisan if he took the stump. But as usual he held to his own opinion, and in August addressed a large public meeting in Hillsborough, N.H., in support of the Democratic principles and candidate, and later, in October, spoke in Andover, Newport, and Portsmouth. His brother officer and friend, Colonel James L. Mason, also addressed the meeting in Newport, and Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury spoke with him in Portsmouth. In his speeches Major Stevens took pains to do full justice to General Scott as a military man, without disparaging him as a statesman or otherwise. His arguments were drawn from the ideas and objects of the two parties,—a contest of principles, not men.
It appears that the course of the young army officer in stumping for Pierce, and as in Mason’s case even stirring up other officers to do likewise, excited no little commotion in the War Department, for it was a Whig administration. On his return, the Secretary of War, Charles M. Conrad, undertook to take him to task for it, and wrote Major Stevens a severe letter, demanding an explanation of his conduct. This was soon bruited about Washington, and many of his friends and brother officers came anxiously to advise with him about it. They felt that he was in an embarrassing position, and one from which he could hardly hope to extricate himself with credit, and they were not a little troubled as to the outcome.
At length Major Stevens prepared his answer to the Secretary, and, before sending it, read it to a group of his anxious brother officers. In a direct, forcible, but courteous style, he reminded the Secretary that, in becoming an officer of the army, he had not forfeited his rights as a citizen, nor become relieved from his duties as such; that, while he had never failed in the respect due his superior officers, he had the right of an American citizen to advocate such public measures as he deemed best for the country, and to vote for the public servants best fitted to carry them out; and he concluded in a somewhat sarcastic but perfectly respectful way by calling the Secretary’s attention to the fact that General Scott himself was a candidate for the presidency, and was setting the example of that participation in politics which the Secretary so severely reprobated, and suggested that his animadversions would have greater weight with the service, and be more worthy the dignity of the War Department, if launched against the senior major-general of the army instead of a simple lieutenant and brevet major; that they were more applicable to the former than the latter, and might well be deemed an attempt to scourge General Scott over his back.
As Major Stevens read aloud this letter, the faces of his friends cleared up; soon they began to applaud it, and as he finished they crowded around him with cheers and laughter and exclamations,—“That’s good! that covers the ground!” “You are right, Stevens. You are perfectly right.” “He can’t answer it,” etc. Sure enough, the Secretary did not answer it, and attempted no further action.
In fact, Major Stevens had now become quite a leader among the able young officers. They were constantly calling at his house, and discussing with him the measures he was pushing forward for the improvement of the army, fortifications, etc. He was always ready to assist any of them, too, and it was known that his aid was frequently effective. He obtained a detail on the Coast Survey for his friend, Captain J.C. Foster, and secured for several others lighthouse inspectorships. He also had a number of the engineer company detailed on the Coast Survey, although his friends Cullum, G.W. Smith, and McClellan strenuously opposed it.
Writes a young man on the survey, whose pay Major Stevens had tried to increase but without success:—
“Having been informed to-day that you did not succeed in your efforts to make my compensation $1500 per annum from October 1, 1851, and consequently was obliged to pay out of your own pocket $50 to make your word good, I believe it unbecoming a gentleman to remain a moment longer in possession of said money. The inclosed check will indemnify you for your loss sustained for my sake, and joyfully I return my heartfelt thanks for the efforts you have made in my behalf.”
Writes Cullum from West Point:—
“Your feeling and commendatory remarks on the death of private Logan were read to the company [engineer], and will doubtless produce an excellent impression.”
In truth, these personal demands grew to be a grievous burden upon his time and energies, yet he never refused his aid to any claim of friendship or desert. Among others a lady, who had long prosecuted a claim before Congress in vain, was introduced by his corps chief, General Totten, to Major Stevens, as the only man who could win her cause. Although the latter felt that this was a task altogether outside of his sphere of duty, and one which should not have been thrust upon him, he cheerfully undertook it, and succeeded in having it allowed by Congress.
The friendship between Major Stevens and Professor Bache grew stronger the longer they were associated together. They appreciated and admired each other. Both were gifted with uncommon powers of mind, uprightness and purity of character, and disinterestedness. Bache was more the philosopher, the student; Stevens, the man of action. Major Stevens also saw much of Professors Henry and Baird, of the Smithsonian. He took pains to meet the able men in Congress, and other men of talent and reputation who visited Washington. Occasionally of an evening he would take his little boy by the hand, and make the rounds of Willard’s and other hotels, meeting and chatting with old army and other friends and acquaintances.
With but little intermission, Major Stevens was an indefatigable worker, and never so well content as when driving his work at high pressure; and his sound judgment guided his energy so well that he would throw off an enormous load with astonishing rapidity. He had the faculty of getting a great deal of work out of his subordinates. But, not realizing that others lacked equal ability and power of labor, he was at times too exacting and severe. He was also inclined to overrate both the good qualities and the ability of others, and too often had cause to regret having done so from the ingratitude of many whom he befriended.
The two elder children, Hazard and Sue, returned to Washington in October, and Miss Mary W. Hazard, Mrs. Stevens’s sister, also came on and spent the winter with them.
The youngest daughter, Kate, was born in the Third Street house on November 17, 1852.
In September Major Stevens with Professor Bache was appointed on a commission for the improvement of the James, Appomattox, and Cape Fear rivers, and in November visited Richmond and Wilmington on this duty.
But all these additional duties and pursuits made no impairment of his vigorous hold upon, and improvement of, the Coast Survey. The character and standing of the office was steadily rising, and able young officers were glad to accept details in it under Major Stevens. Lieutenant John G. Foster became his principal assistant. Professor H.E. Hilgard, who afterwards rose to be chief of the Coast Survey, had charge of the computing; Lieutenant Richard C. Rush, and afterwards Lieutenant A. A. Gibson, of drawing; and Lieutenant E.B. Hunt, of engraving. The field work, as fast as it came in, was given to the public in preliminary sketches, or charts, which served as a great incentive both to parties in the field, who saw at once the fruits of their labors, and to the office force in affording a better opportunity to train the younger members, and prepare them for the finished charts; and for the first time the annual report was illustrated by these sketches, giving all the field work done to date. He greatly facilitated the sale and distribution of Coast Survey maps, declaring that “they should be carried to every man’s door having an interest in commerce, navigation, geography, or science.” He took every means to encourage and reward the deserving, and opened the office to young men to learn the art of engraving, for there was a scarcity of skillful engravers, most of whom were foreigners. He reports:—
“The system of teaching the art of engraving to youths of promise is succeeding admirably. By combining lessons in drawing, instructions at night schools, with engraving, the best spirit is excited, and the greatest excellence attained. There are now six lads in the office, whose terms vary from two to nineteen months.
“During the past year there has been a visible improvement of the office in all its branches, and it is my pleasure and duty to bear unqualified testimony to the zeal and efficiency of the several assistants in charge of the departments, and of the numerous employees under them. Each man has shown an honest purpose to do his duty, and I have been much oftener obliged to moderate exertion than to rebuke indifference and neglect.”
And Professor Bache in his reports declared:—
“The office under the charge of Major Stevens has improved in the system and order of every one of its divisions; and the zeal and ability of the assistant in charge has been reflected in the spirit of the officers under him, and in the general diligence of the employees. The office is characterized by a very marked spirit of industry, of working to results, and of progress. Every encouragement, as it should be, is afforded to those who endeavor to advance in their several occupations.
“The office work has, by great diligence on the part of the persons employed, and by the excellent administrative arrangements of Major Stevens, been kept close to the field work. In no former year have so many preliminary sketches been promptly issued, and so much information of various kinds been published, or furnished to the officers of government or to individuals.”
The triumph of the Democratic party in November, 1853, and the election of General Franklin Pierce as the next President insured a more vigorous policy of exploration and settlement of the vast domain stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Major Stevens was strongly attracted to this field. It appealed to his ambition. It afforded a greater opportunity for public service and achievement. Prominent and gratifying as was the position and standing he held in Washington, he realized its limitations. He knew, too, that with the army on a peace footing and filled with young officers, no promotion in his corps could be expected for years. In brief, feeling the powers and ambition of a leader, he was not content to remain longer a subordinate.
In March Congress formed the new Territory of Washington out of the northern half of what was then Oregon, being the territory extending from the Columbia River and the 46th parallel northward two hundred and fifty miles to the British Possessions and the 49th parallel, and from the crest of the Rocky Mountains westward six hundred miles to the Pacific, an area larger than New England and New York combined. Save a handful of settlers on the lower Columbia and the shores of Puget Sound, and a few missionary and trading posts in the interior, the whole vast region was unsettled, and much of it unexplored by civilized man. It contained many thousands of Indians, some of whom had lately been at war with the whites, and regarded their approach with jealous and hostile eyes; the Indian title to the land had not been extinguished; and there were troublesome questions with the Hudson Bay Company, which still held its posts in the Territory, and claimed extensive rights as guaranteed by treaty.
On March 3 Congress appropriated $150,000 for the exploration and survey of railroad routes from the Mississippi to the Pacific, to be expended by the Secretary of War under the direction of the President. Jefferson Davis entered the new cabinet as Secretary of War, and it was early determined to survey four principal routes to the Pacific.
Early in the year Major Stevens applied for the governorship of the new Territory, to which was attached, ex officio, the superintendency of Indian affairs, and also for the charge of the exploration of the Northern route. Either of these fields was enough to fully task the most able and energetic man, but his ambition reached for both. Equally characteristic was the high ground upon which he based his application. He asked the appointment, not as the reward of political services, nor for the sake of personal or political friendship, but because he was the fittest man for the place, the one who could best serve the public interests. He told General Pierce that if he could find any one else better qualified for the position, who would accept it, it was his duty to appoint him. There was no question on that score. But his wife and many of his friends thought that he was making a great personal sacrifice in relinquishing the enviable position he had attained in Washington for the toils, hardships, and dangers of the Western exploration and governorship. Professor Bache was of this opinion, and deeply regretted to lose his efficient assistant and friend.
One of the first acts of the new President was to send the name of Isaac I. Stevens to the Senate as governor of Washington Territory; he was confirmed, and his commission was issued March 17. He was just thirty-four years old, in the prime of life and of mental and physical powers.
Major Stevens’s letter of resignation from the army and General Totten’s reply show the cordial and appreciative feelings of both.
Washington, D.C., March 21, 1853.
Brigadier-General Joseph G. Totten,
Chief Engineer.
Sir,—I herewith resign my commission of lieutenant of engineers and brevet major United States army, to take effect on Wednesday, the 16th instant.
This resignation is tendered with a profound sense of the high honor, intelligence, and sentiment of duty which is characteristic of the officers with whom I have been associated the best years of my life, whom I have known and honored in peace and war, in sunshine and in storm, and whose equals I can scarcely expect to find in the new career upon which I have entered. I shall carry into civil life the conviction that the country owes the army a debt of gratitude, and is yet to receive signal benefits at its hands.
This conviction, rest assured, will show itself both in words and deeds whenever the service has to be vindicated or maintained.
To yourself, both personally and officially, as a friend and as a superior officer, permit me to acknowledge the kindness and confidence which I have received at your hands. It has had no hindrance or interruption during the period of nearly fourteen years, many of them years of weighty responsibilities and perplexing cares, during which I have served under your command.
And to me, sir, not only my commanding officer, but my honored friend, it is the completest of satisfactions to be able to say that during my service in the army I have not had a serious difficulty with a brother officer, and that I am not aware that between me and any officer in or out of the service there is the slightest feeling of unkindness.
Very truly and respectfully,
Your friend and obedient servant,
Isaac I. Stevens.
Writes General Totten in reply:—
While regretting that the corps of engineers are thus deprived of the future services of an officer whose high traits of character have, both in peace and war, so fully vindicated its position, I anticipate the more unhesitatingly that these characteristic qualities will continue to procure for you, in the new and wider scenes on which you have now entered, all the rewards which they so justly merit....
For myself, I have to make acknowledgment for great assistance rendered in every form, and under all the circumstances that your military duties admitted,—at all times fulfilling my wishes, abridging my cares, and exalting the usefulness and reputation of the corps. And in all our personal relations you have observed a kind consideration which I have fully appreciated. These things have created a warm interest in your welfare, and make me feel that, while the service is losing a most valuable officer, I am parting from a friend.
I remain with high respect,
J.G. Totten,
Bvt. Brig.-Gen. and Col. Engineers.
Major Stevens turned over the charge of Fort Knox to Colonel John L. Smith, and was succeeded on the Coast Survey by Captain H.W. Benham. Major Stevens had long since overcome the ill feelings excited by the vigorous and drastic way in which he had reformed the office, and had long since won the confidence of the force, and their admiration as well. They deeply regretted his departure, and in token of their esteem presented him with a beautiful service of plate, consisting of a large silver pitcher and salver, with two goblets, in repoussé work.
PRESENTED TO
ISAAC I. STEVENS,
GOVERNOR
OF THE TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON,
LATE BREVET MAJOR, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S. A.,
AND ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF THE OFFICE OF THE
U.S. COAST SURVEY,
AS A TOKEN OF ESTEEM, BY HIS
FRIENDS ON THE SURVEY,
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
MARCH, 1853.
In his next annual report after Major Stevens had left the Coast Survey, Professor Bache remarks:—
“The gain to the country in his appointment, and especially to that new region to which he has been called, will no doubt be great, but our loss is proportionably great. An administrative ability of a high order was joined to unceasing activity and great force of character; varied general and professional knowledge to great clearness in discerning ends, and fixedness of purpose in pursuing them; remarkable knowledge of men, and easy control of those connected in business with him, to personal qualities which rendered official intercourse agreeable to those about him. The system with which he followed up plans, complicated as well as simple, insured success in his administration, and was felt in every department of the office, of which he had thoroughly mastered the details as well as the general working. The experience acquired by such an officer is invaluable to the work, and not soon to be replaced, whatever may be the resources of his successor.”
A remark of Benham’s, soon after he assumed charge, well illustrates his egotistic and assuming character: “Major Stevens grew up with the office from its infancy, but I grappled the lion when full-grown.” Benham did not long remain on the survey.
Scarcely was the ink dry on his commission, when Governor Stevens set to work to obtain charge of the exploration of the Northern route, and the rapid and masterly way in which he effected it, and planned the survey and increased its magnitude and importance, must have astonished the red tape officials of Washington. As usual, all his recommendations were based upon the highest grounds of public welfare and public service. On March 21 he writes the Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, a strong letter, proposing to conduct an exploration to determine the emigrant route, and the route for a railroad from the sources of the Mississippi to Puget Sound, and submits a memoir for accomplishing it by means of three parties, with estimates of organization and cost in detail, and concludes, “Should an expedition be intrusted to my charge, I pledge the devotion of all my force, energy, and judgment to its accomplishment.”
The following day he addresses the Secretary of State, William L. Marcy, submitting his project, and showing that he could best promote the interests of the new Territory by exploring the route to it, obtaining a large amount of useful information in relation to the agricultural, mineral, commercial, and manufacturing resources, and publishing the information thus obtained, thereby inviting emigrants, filling up the Territory, and developing its resources. He shows that this duty need not greatly delay the organization of territorial government, and calls attention to—
“the great influence which this exploration will exercise over the Indian tribes, the exceeding efficiency which it will give to me in discharge of my duties as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the interesting information which it will enable me to collect in regard to their numbers, customs, locations, history, and traditions. This I design making the subject of a special communication to the Department of the Interior. Should my views meet the approbation of the department, I will earnestly request that the necessary communication be had with the War Department to arrange the exploration in conformity with the plan which I have thus rapidly sketched. I ask that it be done with the least possible delay, so as to insure its complete success. I think it important that my arrangements here should be brought to a close in sixteen days, that previous to that time competent men be dispatched to the Mississippi River to assure the expedition, and thus we shall all be hard at work in the field the first week of May.”
As governor he was under the jurisdiction of the State Department. On the same day he addresses a similar letter to the Secretary of the Interior, Robert McClelland, for, as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, he came under that department. Governor Stevens enforced his views by personal interviews with the secretaries and the President; and his earnestness, zeal for the public service, sound judgment, and strong, convincing way of expressing his views, carried all before him. Within four days his proposal to lead the expedition was accepted, and all his suggestions adopted. The administration were only too glad to find such a man to head the most important of the explorations and insure its success. Perhaps no part of his career more clearly stamped Governor Stevens as a born leader of men than this. At a time when the new President and cabinet were overwhelmed with the pressing questions and personal claims ever engrossing the incoming administration, a mere subordinate, not content to simply await the instructions of his superiors, surveys the whole field of Western exploration intrusted to him, and its attendant problems of white settlement, Indians, etc., with comprehensive and far-sighted vision, decides upon the measures and action required by the needs of the country and the public service, and then so impresses his views upon the President and three great departments by sheer force of character, earnest patriotism, and sound, good sense, that all his recommendations are adopted without delay, and he is given carte blanche to carry them out. The bare conception, if broached in March, when the new administration assumed charge, of obtaining both the governorship of Washington Territory and the charge of the Northern Pacific exploration, of inducing three secretaries to adopt his measures, of completely organizing and outfitting and starting in the field a great expedition for the survey of two thousand miles of wilderness, and all to be accomplished within two months, would have seemed not merely bold, but visionary and presumptuous, and nothing could have relieved Governor Stevens from such reproach but the fact that all this he actually accomplished.
The following letter to Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, shows how energetically Governor Stevens was already gathering information and assistance for the exploration. The last part touches upon a delicate question, the placing army officers under the command of a civilian, as Governor Stevens now was, a thing repugnant to all military ideas and usages, and almost without precedent. But Governor Stevens held that his case was altogether exceptional, and found no difficulty in securing the voluntary services of as many able officers as he needed. It is believed that there is no similar instance in our history where twelve army officers came under the command of a civilian:—
Washington, March 25, 1853.
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War.
Sir,—I am now quite certain that a sufficient number of army officers will volunteer to go with me on the proposed exploration from the headwaters of the Mississippi to Puget Sound, as will much reduce the force of civilians to be employed. Several accomplished officers would be glad to be detailed, and would do effective service as astronomers, engineers, artists, naturalists, draughtsmen, etc. I can make arrangements both with the American Fur and Hudson Bay Company for active coöperation and assistance. The distinguished geologist, Dr. J. Evans, who has gone over the greater portion of the country between the Mississippi and the Pacific, has explored two of the passes in the Rocky Mountains north of the South Pass, and has received much information of the topography of the country, has kindly given me much valuable information, and is ready to coöperate with all his energy in a plan whereby each shall render to the other every possible facility, and best promote the public service without an unnecessary expenditure of means.
I think it exceedingly important that the whole exploration from the Mississippi River to Puget Sound, including a thorough examination of the passes of the Cascade Range, should be placed under the charge of the same person, he, under general instructions from the department, giving the necessary direction to the several parties, thus securing united and energetic action, and guarding against the almost certain failure of the expedition should it be divided into two independent commands. As soon as the department shall decide upon the scale of the operations, and shall issue its orders assigning me to the duty, which I presume from the correspondence with the Department of State to be definitely decided upon, I will at once submit a more detailed plan of operations, and make the necessary requisition for the detail of officers, and for the various facilities which may be extended by the administrative branches of the service. As in the Coast Survey, I propose no assignment of officers except by their own desire, and of officers who have especial adaptation to the particular duty.
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
Isaac I. Stevens.
Among his first acts Governor Stevens, on March 31, applied for Brevet Captain George B. McClellan, then in Texas, to be “at once assigned to duty with me as my principal officer. I design to put him in charge of the exploration of the Cascade Range, and I can not only speak with confidence of his great ability for the particular duty, but as his friend can say that the duty will be in the highest degree agreeable to him.”