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via Asia [underscored] riots 4th St. – Sunday night 19 July [18]63
Dear Ann
Yesterday morning on my way to the office I met Cha[rle]s Van Ness, & asked him to dine with us today; & he accepted the invi= =tation. – At the office I had abundant employment in writing to James for a steam =er whose mails closed at 2 p.m. – I had al =ready written to him about 5 1/2 quarto pages last Sunday evening & night, & I added 2 1/2
mostly
more yesterday ^ on the events of the week.
I wrote a page to Matthew, which walker took to the Mary Powell, & gave to a private hand. And then we shut up the office soon after 3. –
After I had sent off my letter to James, I rec[eive]d one of 10th inst., [10 July] covering 3 pages, from Rutson. He speaks of his illness as ari= =sing from Pneumonia. He had been con =fined to his bed, but was pretty nearly quite well again & going about. – He mentions the reports that both Vicksburg [Miss.] & Port Hudson [La.] had surrendered, but seemed rather incredulous; tho’ he declines to express any decided opinion because he says it is unlawful to do so!
The condition of affairs at N[ew] Orleans is most unsatisfactory; but I suppose it will mend now, when it is so clear that there is no change of recapture.
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Last night I took a quiet stroll after T[ea]. I went to the corner of 4th St & Broadway, up Broadway to Union Place, down E[ast] 17th St. to Irving Place, past Matthews house (without calling to see the “Grenadiers” as it was 10 o’clock) down 18th St. into 3rd Avenue, and along that Avenue to 4th St. – All was quiet & orderly, & the 3rd Av[enu]e shops were mostly open, & the poorer class of people were doing their marketing for Sunday. The Tompkins market was open, but I did not go inside of it. – The spectacle altogether was pleasant; & it set me to moralising. – I thought how many of those who had been forced, or misled, into the recent rioting were probably completely convinced of their folly & wicked- =ness. –
Sarah did not go out either on Friday or Saturday, because, I suppose, she had much to do indoors, after being so long away. She is busy preparing things to send to Louisa. – Today she had her first talk with the Miss Haddens, as we came home from church. The 3 elder ones were here all last week. Miss Mary was out on Tuesday -that worst day of chaos - & said she was very glad to get home again. – They are going this week to Lake George [NY].
Dr. Morgan was at his post today; & as I expected, he announced a collection, but it
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embraced the relief of the families of policemen & soldiers killed in these riots, as well as the persecuted Coloured people. – Tho’ it was a very fine day, the congregation was small, & I felt it incumbent on me to give the more liber= =ally on that account; so I put a larger sum on the plate than I ever did before in any church.
the
As well as I could see ^ mass of contributions was in the postage currency! - [‘ postage currency’ underscored]
The Dr. preached on the subject of the Riots, but as there were no rioters present, I did not see the use of it. – Had he treated the subject as I should have done, these riots would have furnished a powerful argument against pulling down St. Tho[ma]s Church.
Old Becky was in her usual seat in the gallery, & another coloured woman was seated beside her. – Sarah leans that a [?][struck-through] col- =oured man, called Day, who shakes our carpets, is among the multitude who fled from the city, for fear of their lives; & she adds that he was paid for his job for us almost immediately after he had finished it.
And Bishop Hughes’ speech was a very lame one, & greatly disappoints me.
I think that these Riots ought to set our wealthier class to thinking of their duties to the poor, & of the impropriety of living lives of nothing but luxury
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luxury & self indulgence – or labouring only to amass more worldly goods. – The animos= =ity against the “upper Ten-thousand” – the “Fifth-avenoodles” [‘avenoodles’ underscored] – was very apparent last week. – Fourth St. was much the safe locality.
Walker as well as William dined at home today, & Mr. Van Ness seemed to me to enjoy his dinner, tho’ the sherry I gave him was only the No. 2. [‘2’ underscored]
I rather looked for a letter from Jody today in answer to mine of Friday; but none came. – This even[in]g when I was smoking a cigar in the porch & Walker his pipe, he said that he & W[illia]m & Sarah had been talking on the propriety of proposing to me to invite Miss Lippett to come here now & pay us a visit. – I said that I had not the least objections – quite the contrary indeed; but we must first know whether Jody & his wife were to be our guests or not.
I saw Dr. Wilkes today, & on asking him they all were at Highwood, I was shocked with his reply; - he said “All well ex- “=cept Caroline Duer, & I am afraid “there is no chance of her outliving the “next 48 hours! [’48 hours’ underscored.]
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Monday night 20 July – Your two private letters to Mat- =thew & me under envelope to Maury Bros., which was en- =closed to a third party here, and sent by a Dale st[eame]r of 8 July, were rec[eive]d this morning. – Matthew was at the office before me, & had read his before I came down, but not mine until I had done so, & handed it to him. –
Each contains strange, but not very surprising, revelations & on very different subjects.
The treatment of Miss Dilworth by those to whom she has been so kind – who indeed owe everything [underscored] to her – makes one feel very indignant. It is no affair of mine, however, & I have not had the opportunity of discussing the matter with Matthew; but so long as Mrs. Gilpin is living, I do not see any remedy; as her daughter Sarah is the proper per =son to go to England to call these leeches or vampires to an account; & she would require the aid a [claim?] lawyer.
It certainly is far too heavy a job for you [underscored] to undertake, & I hope you will not enter upon it. Constant residence at Lancaster is necessarily involved in such an undertaking, & you have other & more imperative duties to fulfil. – I suppose Matthew will consult Sarah Gilpin & his wife, & Richard; & that on one point they will be all agreed, vizt. to keep their Mother in ignorance. –
Colo[nel] Gilpin is still here, & was at our office today. He has not yet been to Cornwall unless he went up their this afternoon.
I certainly wrote to you by the Africa; for I have not
a
failed in ^ single instance to do so by every Cunard [underscored] Steamer, & indeed twice a week, ever since you left. I hope you may yet receive the missing letter, tho’ I
[Marginalia – Top of page]
July Min[imu]m Max[imu]m
7 70 80 1/2 8 73 79 9 68 1/2 81 10 70 73 11 70 82 12 72 1/2 80 13 73 75 14 67 1/2 76 15 72 81 1/2 16 74 83 17 69 76 18 68 1/2 75 19 71 79 20 72 80 21 72
Terrible riots (originating in opposition to the Draft) began at 11 a.m. 13th July & were not finally quelled until the night of the 15th
Weekly Mortality do to 11 July 467, [?] 254
“ 18 “ 663 [?] 326
of the deaths in the week end[in]g 18th . 95 were from the Riots!
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think you will not. – I have not the least recollection of the contents of that letter. –
The only case of letters to me having been tampered with at the P[ost] O[ffice], is those 2 of Mrs. Cox; one of which came to me open, & the other was intercepted.
If you find that my letters to you do not reach you regularly, you will of course continue to write to me under care to a third party, tho’ your letters to me have thus far reached me regularly & promptly.
I shall make no comments upon the private matter in your letter to me rec[eive]d today.
I have not shewn it to any one but Matthew, & shall not – I see that I am not to have a letter via
were
Cunard st[eame]r of the 11th because you ^ busy preparing to go up to London on that day; & I am glad you were going. – Your time has been so much taken up in your very long visit at Sedgwick, & you have so much to do, it has struck me that you might like to spend the winter in England, or even to pro- =long you absence until the autumn [underscored] of 1864, & if so, you have only to consult your own incli= =nations. – If there were any chance of Peace or anything should befal[l] Lewis [Captain William Lewis Maury] – i.e. if he were to die – you would like to be here to [receive?] Nan & her children; but as I have before remarked, I do not see any chance of Peace until Mr. Lincoln’s term shall have expired & the Democratic party shall have supplanted the Republicans; & then we may fairly count upon both Peach & Reunion. But in that case I have a notion that Lewis might decide to take up his abode in England, tho’ I do not see how he could maintain him =self & family there. – I shall be surprised if we even see him in N[ew] York again.
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I have no idea that we are going to capture Charleston [S.C.]. – But I think it not unlikely that Mobile [Ala.] may be captured by & bye: - & I suppose that Gen[era]l [Ulysses. S.] Grant will do it; but both he & G[erera]l [Nathaniel] Banks have plenty to do in sweeping out the guerilla forces on each side the Miss[issipp]i [River], preparatory to the reopening of commercial intercourse on that river. The whole of the valley of the Miss[issipp]i has to be brought under one flag; & then Secession will gradually die out.
The “On to Richmond [Va.]” seems to me to be now en= =tirely abandonned. – Whilst [Robert E.] Lee is retreating it seems that [General] Meade is not following him. –
Gold went down to 123 on Saturday, under the idea that we were soon to capture Charleston. This afternoon it was up to 127. $2,100,000 of Gol d were shipped off last week, partly owing to the low price, & partly owing to the Riots. –
The Consc[r]iption will not answer the expectations of the Gov[ernmen]t – People are sick of the War. If more troops are needed, they must be obtained by Bounty to Volunteers, & the Bounty must be very heavy, because wages are good, & therefore peace= =ful labour is preferred to fighting, & especially fighting for the Negro.
21st – Office – Tuesday afternoon. – I saw Dr. Wilkes this morning at 10 1/4. He had just come over to the City from Highwood, after passing the night there. He said Caroline Duer had rallied considerably since Sun =day & thus she may live some days longer perhaps. There is as I understood him much external swelling around the heart. – He said Mrs. King has taken up
be
he abode at Hawkshart, so as to ^ constantly with
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Caroline up to the last! –
Matthew goes back to Cornwall [NY] this afternoon. He did not name the purport of your letter yesterday during his talk with the Colo[nel] – He intends laying it before his wife. – I told him my notions, & I find they tally with his own. – He says he had no idea if would suit Rich[ar]d to go over to England about this matter.
I enclose Arch B[isho]p Hughes Speech to “the Rioters so called.” The sermons of several of the R[oman] C[atholic] clergymen on Sunday last were infinitely [underscored] better. Today there is an excellent short address by a Democratic working man, dated 18th – It is placarded on the bul= =letin boards & on the walls. It is quite to the point, & the best thing on this subject that I have seen. – The attacks upon the poor inoffen= =sive negroes have roused public feeling among influential men very strongly in their favor. They will not be molested again, I am very sure.
The action of our City Council in voting unani =mously $2,500,000 to pay the $300 for men who are drafted, is in my opinion, most contemptible.
It was passed in a moment of Panic, [underscored] & it only shows what a miserable sett of men we have for our “City Fathers.” – It was just buying off the Mob [‘buying...mob’ underscored] -one of the very last things that City Rulers ought to do. – It has not yet rec[eive]d the Mayor’s assent. I suppose he will veto it, & that the Council will pass it over his head. – Such Acts bring the dom =inant party into contempt; & I think the Democrat =ic party in this City must be weakened thereby -or at least that at the next Elections, we shall have more upright, fearless men nominated & carried. – I have often remarked that I have never known any political party whose principles I would approve of entirely. - \ I send you 2 [NY] Times today.
It seems strange that I get no reply from Jody.
Gold rules steady this afternoon at 126 3/8 & 126 1/4
yours affectionately R[utson] Maury
