Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T05:56:50.200Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Carl Schurz's 1865 Southern Tour: A Reassessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2009

Hans L. Trefousse
Get access

Extract

During the summer of 1865, the German-American leader, Carl Schurz, undertook a fact-finding tour through five Southern states. Although he entered upon the journey at President Andrew Johnson's request, Schurz was highly critical of the administration's Reconstruction policies. Rebuffed by the White House upon his return, he insisted upon incorporating his findings in a detailed report that was printed by Congress. It was widely circulated at the time; because of the persistent popularity of the pro-Southern views of William A. Dunning and his followers, however, only recently did it receive the attention it deserves. As Michael Burlingame has pointed out in his introduction to a modern edition, it is an important historical source. It ought to be reexamined in the light of recent scholarship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Prospects , Volume 2 , October 1977 , pp. 293 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

NOTES

1. Schurz, Carl, Report on the Condition of the South (New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1969), pp. i–viiiGoogle Scholar.

2. Schurz, Carl, The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (New York: McClure Co., 1907–1908), vols. 1 and 2, passim.Google Scholar

3. Schafer, Joseph, ed., Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, 1841–1869 (Madison: Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1928), pp. 308–309.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., pp. 253–54: Schurz, , Reminiscences, III, 221.Google Scholar

5. Trefousse, Hans L., Impeachment of a President: Andrew Johnson, the Blacks, and Reconstruction (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1975), pp. x–xi, 4–16.Google Scholar

6. Sumner, Charles to Lieber, Francis, 05 2, 1865Google Scholar, Sumner Papers, Harvard University; Donald, David, ed., Inside Lincoln's Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase (New York: Longmans, Green, 1954), p. 270.Google Scholar

7. Trefousse, Hans L., The Radical Republicans: Lincoln's Vanguard for Racial Justice (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969), pp. 315ff.Google Scholar

8. Schurz, , Reminiscences, III, 94, 150Google Scholar; Milton, George Fort, The Age of Hate: Andrew Johnson and the Radicals (New York: Coward McCann, 1931), p. 214.Google Scholar

9. Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, p. 335.Google Scholar

10. Schurz, Carl to Sumner, , 05 9, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers, Library of Congress.

11. Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, pp. 335–37.Google Scholar

12. Schurz, to Sumner, , 06 5, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

13. Schurz, to Johnson, , 06 6, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers, Library of Congress; Mussy, A. to Schurz, , 06 8, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz, to Tiedemann, Fritz, 06 11, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers.

14. Bancroft, Frederick, ed., Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers of Carl Schurz (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913), I, 264Google Scholar [hereafter cited as Schurz, Correspondence].

15. Ibid., p. 265; Sumner, to Schurz, , 06 29, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz, to Sumner, , 06 27, July 3, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

16. Schurz, to Sumner, , 06 5, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

17. Sumner, to Chase, , 07 1, 1865Google Scholar, Salmon P. Chase Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

18. Schurz, , Correspondence, I, 260–63.Google Scholar

19. Sumner, to Schurz, , 06 15, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

20. Sumner, to Wade, , 06 9, 1865Google Scholar, June 12, 1865, Benjamin F. Wade Papers, Library of Congress.

21. Stevens, to Sumner, , 06 3, 1865Google Scholar, Sumner Papers; Owen, Robert Dale to Johnson, , 06 21, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers.

22. Welles, Gideon, Civil War and Reconstruction (New York: Twayne, 1959), p. 215.Google Scholar

23. Sumner, to Schurz, , 06 22, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

24. Schurz, to Sumner, , 06 27, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers; Sumner, to Schurz, , 06 29, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

25. “The Sea Islands and Free Labor,” article for Boston Advertiser, in Schurz Papers, dated 07 17, 1865.Google Scholar

26. “Charleston,” article for Boston Advertiser, in Schurz Papers, dated July 21, 1865; Schurz, , Report, pp. 47–49.Google Scholar

27. Schurz, to Johnson, , 07 28, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, pp. 242–44.Google Scholar

28. “Free Labor and Education,” article for the Boston Advertiser, 08 8, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz, to Sumner, , 08 2, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz, to Johnson, , 08 12, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

29. See for example, Chicago Tribune, 08 11, 1865.Google Scholar

30. Schurz, to Johnson, , 07 28, August 18, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; Schurz, to Johnson, , 08 12, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers.

31. Steedman, James B. to Johnson, , 08 15, 1865, Johnson Papers.Google Scholar

32. Memorandum, August 15, 1865; Schurz, to Johnson, , 08 20, 1865Google Scholar (draft), Schurz Papers; Schurz, to Johnson, 08 21, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; unsigned report, Freedmen's Bureau to Brig. Gen. (really Maj. Gen.) Swayne, Wager, 07 29, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

33. Schurz, , Correspondence, I, 268–69Google Scholar; Minger, S. C. to Osterhaus, Gen. P. J., 08 4, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz, to Johnson, , 08 29, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers.

34. Ibid.; telegram, Schurz, to Johnson, , 08 29, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; Harris, William C., Presidential Reconstruction in Mississippi (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1967), pp. 72ff.Google Scholar

35. Ibid.; Johnson, to Schurz, , 08 30, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers.

36. Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, pp. 348–50Google Scholar; Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 1, 1865Google Scholar; September 2, 4, 1865; Johnson, to Schurz, , 09 6, 1865 (acknowledging dispatch of August 30).Google Scholar

37. Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 4, 1865.Google Scholar

38. Ibid.

39. New Orleans Times, 09 5, 1865Google Scholar, in Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 5, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; Milton, , Age of Hate, pp. 239–41.Google Scholar

40. Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 5, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers.

41. Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 15, 1865Google Scholar; Kennedy, Hugh to Johnson, , 09 6, 7, 12, 10, 16, 1865Google Scholar; Wells, J. Madison to Johnson, , 09 23, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 23, 1865, Johnson Papers.Google Scholar

42. Schurz, to Johnson, , 09 15, 23, 26, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers; Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, p. 352.Google Scholar

43. Schurz, , Correspondence, I, 272–76.Google Scholar

44. New York Herald, 10 16, 1865.Google Scholar

45. Schurz, , Correspondence, I, 272–76.Google Scholar

46. Ibid., pp. 276–77; Sumner, to Schurz, , 10 20, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

47. Schurz, to Sumner, , 11 13, 1865, Schurz Papers.Google Scholar

48. Schurz, to Johnson, , 11 22, 25, 1865Google Scholar; Schurz to Col. Johnson, November 25, 1865, Johnson Papers; Schafer, , Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, pp. 353–54.Google Scholar

49. McKitrick, Eric, Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1960), pp. 164–65.Google Scholar Benjamin Truman's report, also friendly to Johnson, did not appear until spring 1866.

50. Cong. Globe, 39 Cong., 1 Ses., 17, 30, 78–80.Google Scholar

51. Schurz, , Report on the Condition of the SouthGoogle Scholar, passim. The original document was entitled, Report of Carl Schurz on the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

52. Sumner, to Schurz, , 12 25, 1865Google Scholar, Schurz Papers.

53. New York Tribune, 12 23, 1865.Google Scholar

54. Chicago Tribune, 12 20, 21, 24, 1865.Google Scholar

55. New York Herald, 12 24, 1865.Google Scholar

56. Trowbridge, J. T., The South: A Tour of Its Battle Fields and Ruined Cities, a Journey through the Desolated States and Talks with the People (Hartford: Stebbins, 1866), p. 189.Google Scholar

57. Reid, Whitelaw, After the War, a Tour of the Southern States, 1865–1866, Van Woodward, C., ed. (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 219–20.Google Scholar

58. Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, H.R. No. 30, 39 Cong., 1st Sess., 1866, Part II, 33–34Google Scholar, 41ff., 95–97, 139–40; IV, 72–73; New Orleans Riots, H.R. No. 16, 39 Cong., 2nd Sess., 1867, 50–51.Google Scholar

59. Bradley, Joseph C. to Johnson, , 11 15, 1865, Johnson Papers.Google Scholar

60. Holden, William W. to Johnson, , 12 6, 1865, Johnson Papers.Google Scholar

61. Clark, F. Y. to Johnson, , 12 4, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers.

62. Howard, Mark to Welles, , 11 13, 1865Google Scholar, Welles Papers, LC.

63. Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Part II, 139–40.Google Scholar

64. Van Lew, Elizabeth to Doolittle, James, 02 7, 1866Google Scholar, Doolittle Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Although Schurz did not visit Virginia, conditions there were similar to those elsewhere in the South.

65. Aughey, J. H. to Stevens, Thaddeus, 02 27, 1866Google Scholar, Thaddeus Stevens Papers, LC; Custer, George A. to Chandler, Zachariah, 01 8, 1866 (misdated 1865)Google Scholar, Zachariah Chandler Papers, LC.

66. New York Herald, 11 6, 1865Google Scholar; New York Times, 06 26, 1865.Google Scholar

67. Lippincott, C. E. to Trumbull, Lyman, 08 29, 1865Google Scholar, Trumbull Papers, LC; Elvis, E. A. to Sumner, 11 1, 1865Google Scholar, Sumner Papers; Flournoy, R. W. to Stevens, , 11 20, 1865Google Scholar, Stevens Papers; Boardman, W. W. to Wade, Benjamin F., 04 16, 1866, Wade Papers, LC.Google Scholar

68. Truman, Benjamin to Browning, William A., 11 9, 1865Google Scholar, Johnson Papers.

69. Lippincott, C. E. to Trumbull, Lyman, 08 29, 1865Google Scholar; Smith, A. A. to Trumbull, , 01 18, 1866Google Scholar, Trumbull Papers; Watson, G. F. to Stevens, , 12 5, 1865Google Scholar; Granger, G. F. to Stevens, , 01 11, 1866Google Scholar, Stevens Papers; Custer, George A. to Chandler, , 01 8, 1866Google Scholar, Chandler Papers; North, J. W. to Chase, Salmon P., 01 1, 1866Google Scholar (misfiled in 1865), Chase Papers, LC; Hamilton, A. J. to Sheridan, Philip, 01 7, 1866Google Scholar, enclosed in Stanton, to Johnson, , 02 16, 1866Google Scholar; Comstock, C. B. to Rawlins, John A., 02 3, 1866Google Scholar, enclosed in Stanton, to Johnson, , 02 15, 1866Google Scholar, Johnson Papers.

70. Covode, John to Wade, Benjamin F., 07 11, 1865Google Scholar, Wade Papers; Thomas A. Conway to Chase, August 8, 1865, Chase Papers, LC; Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, IV, 61, 78–84, 114–16.Google Scholar