CHAPTER XLVII

THE OFFER OF SWORD AND SERVICES

Immediately after the inauguration of President Lincoln, Governor Stevens hastened to return to the Territory. General Miller wrote:--

"I believe that the National Democracy can easily keep possession of the Territory. As to your own prospects, they seem as good to me as ever they were. Now that you have won a national fame, you will always be looked upon as the leading man of the Northwest. Should you be thrown out of the delegateship at the next election, in two years you would be the strongest man on the coast. But you cannot be beaten even at the next election."

General Lane, however, had just been defeated in Oregon by a coalition of the Republicans and Douglas Democrats, and Colonel J.W. Nesmith was chosen his successor.

Breaking up the Twelfth Street establishment, and leaving Mrs. Stevens and the three girls in Newport and his son at Harvard, Governor Stevens sailed from New York on the steamer Northern Light, March 12, by the Isthmus route, and arrived in Olympia the last of April. There he denounced secession, took strong ground in favor of supporting the government, and recommended organizing and arming the territorial militia. Accordingly a company was raised in Olympia, known as the Puget Sound Rifles; he was elected captain, accepted the command without hesitation, and was duly commissioned and sworn in. This was before the news of the attack on Fort Sumter and the grand uprising of the nation had reached the Pacific slope, and the minds of many were still in doubt.

The Democratic convention was held at Vancouver in May. Untiring efforts had been made by the faction opposed to Governor Stevens to defeat his renomination, and the showy and oratorical Garfielde headed the opposition. The governor's friends felt too secure in his well-earned and undiminished popularity, and the prestige of his successful career in Congress, just crowned by the payment of the war debt, and neglected the active work and support the occasion called for. Notwithstanding this, a clear majority of the delegates were elected as Stevens men; but when the convention met, the opposition were found well organized, active, and bitter; they won over a number of delegates, several of them by bribery, as was publicly charged, and rendered the governor's nomination doubtful, and only to be made at the cost of a protracted contest. Indignant at such unworthy treatment at the hands of the party he had served so faithfully and well, and disdaining such a contest at such a time, for the news of the firing on Sumter had just been received, and he had resolved to tender his service to the country, Governor Stevens at once withdrew his name as a candidate before the convention. Garfielde was then nominated, and the governor accepted the situation in the following manly and magnanimous speech:--

MR. PRESIDENT, GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION, AND FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE TERRITORY OF WASHINGTON,--I congratulate you on the harmonious termination of your labors. Notwithstanding great differences of judgment as to the admission of delegates and the fairness of the organization of this convention, you have at length, with almost entire unanimity, agreed upon a platform and a candidate. By your action I shall abide. The choice of this convention is my choice, and shall receive my cordial and unwavering support. For one, I shall not look mournfully into the past. This, the hour of agony of our country's life, is no time for recrimination and the indulgence of selfish feeling. It appeals to whatever is noble and patriotic in behalf of that country's cause. Our beloved Union is in most imminent peril. The sad spectacle of civil and fratricidal strife is being exhibited to the world, and doubt has arisen as to the capacity of man for self-government. No longer devotion to our whole country, no longer an enlarged view of the liberties and progress of mankind, shapes the policies of parties and prevails in the councils of the government, but the strife of jarring sections and an insane grasp after ascendency has precipitated upon the country a cruel, internecine war. It is the duty of the Democracy to unite for the sake of the union of these States. The sundered Democracy of the States has already come together. Let not our hitherto united Democracy now separate.

I most heartily indorse the platform of the convention that secession is revolution. There is no such thing, indeed, as peaceable secession. From the beginning of this controversy, not only have I deprecated, but I have denounced secession. I have deemed it the worst possible remedy for the redress of the grievances of the South. I have considered it an aggravation ten-thousand-fold of all their wrongs. I feel that, as the representative of the most northwest Territory, I have been true and unfaltering to my constituency and my country. For during the entire winter past I have used every exertion of my nature in behalf of the union of these States and against secession.

Gentlemen, it is our duty as patriots, and as true lovers of liberty, to stand by our government and our country in this its great emergency. The aggressions of the South upon the property and the forces of the general government must be sternly repelled. The government must be maintained as well against domestic as foreign foes. Let these States become the prey of revolutionary schemes, let the doctrine be admitted that one of the parties can alter or break up the compact without the consent of the others, and anarchy will reign throughout the land and all hopes of regulated liberty will come to an end. We must, I repeat, stand steadfastly by the constituted authorities in their efforts to sustain the government.

Fellow citizens and fellow Democrats, I am profoundly grateful for the confidence which, during eight long years of labor, you have placed in me. I am especially grateful for the marks of confidence which I have received in this hour of uncertainty and doubt. My own views and opinions are known to you. I have nothing to explain, to retract, or to apologize for. I have sought faithfully, under all circumstances, to do my duty. I feel that at my hands the honor of the Territory has been sustained, and I can look every man in the face, knowing, as I do, that I have done no man intentional injustice.

But many of his friends were so indignant at the rascally methods employed to compass his defeat that they refused to support Garfielde, and he was badly defeated in the election.

The day the convention adjourned, Governor Stevens tendered his services to the government in the following letter:--

PORTLAND, OREGON, May 22, 1861.

HON. SIMON CAMERON, _Secretary of War_.

_Sir_,--I have the honor to offer my services in the great contest now taking place for the maintenance of the Union in whatever military position the government may see fit to employ them.

For my services in the war with Mexico I will respectfully refer you to General Scott, on whose staff I served as an officer of engineers during that war.

For my services in the subsequent Indian wars of the country, I will refer you to the Hon. J.W. Nesmith, one of the senators from Oregon.

I need not add that, throughout this unhappy secession controversy, I have been an unwavering and steadfast Union man.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant, ISAAC I. STEVENS.

The same day, from Vancouver the governor wrote Senator Nesmith, requesting him to see the Secretary and--

"let him know that the offer is made from the earnest purpose and desire to do my duty in this great emergency of our country's history.... I am afraid there is to be a protracted contest. I want to see the rebellion crushed out. The policy of conciliation, to which I adhered as long as it presented the least hope, has not only been exhausted, but it has been contemptuously rejected by the South. The war ought to be prosecuted with the utmost vigor. Let us see if we have a government. Nothing can be worse than anarchy."

The governor was anxious to reach Washington at the earliest possible moment in order to renew in person his tender of services, but was detained in Portland over the sailing of one steamer by a severe though brief fit of sickness. At this time he was obliged to borrow $600 of Judge Seth Catlin,--a warm personal and political friend,--for his expenses in Washington had been heavy and he had nothing laid up. He was always too much engrossed in public affairs to give due attention to his private interests, but he was always careful to meet his bills and expenses. He was able to take the next steamer down the coast, the Cortez, and on board of her he wrote General Totten as follows:--

STEAMER CORTEZ, June 19, 1861.

MY DEAR GENERAL,--I am on my way to the States to offer my services in a military capacity to the government, and for the war.[15] I feel and know that I can do good service. Educated at the public expense, my country has a right to my services. This secession movement must be put down with an iron hand. Anarchy and interminable civil wars will be the inevitable, logical consequence of yielding to it.

I do not propose a permanent return to the service, but simply service for the war. Whilst I shall accept any military position the government may tender me, I take it for granted proper regard will be had to my somewhat large military experience since I left the army, and my position before the public.

I want, therefore, the confidence of those in authority. You can render good offices in the matter. I want the confidence of General Scott. I have ever been his discriminating friend. Last winter I sustained his entire course. I personally urged the President to give his entire confidence to General Scott. I approved and defended the bringing of regular troops to the city, the organizing, arming, and promptly officering the District militia, of which, except the late President and Secretary of War, the inspector-general, Colonel Stone, is more cognizant than any one else. I had frequent conferences with him about the District militia, and was able to be of some service to him in consequence of my relations with Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Holt.

It has been most fortunate that, notwithstanding my intimate relations with most of the secession leaders, in consequence of the