The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-10-14

all over. 1t crazed HIN. BefOr
that we got on well. After that b
would hardly speak to me. I wa
working to enforce the laws of Con
gress, and he was working for th
| Presidency. Perhaps he though
/ 1 did not praise him enough
but any way he hardly spok
to me. It was on my nOmina
tion that he was made a Brigade
| General in the regular army. Whe1
I was made General, Stanton tOlC
me it was a compliment to me, anC
that 1 could name the men to fill tht
vacancies in Lieutenant General
ship and Major Generalship caused
by my promotion. I nominated hin
for the vacant Major GeneraIship Il
the regular army. He acknowledged
it manfully. He was a very fail
! corps commander, but was never
thought of for any great place
When the Army of the Potomac
was bunting for a commander it tool
almost everybody-even came Oyel
into the West for oficers-but nc
one ever even suggested Hancock
for the place After he received that
vote in 1864 he had the bee in his
bonnet, and shaped everything tc
/ gain Democratic and Southern favor
He has watched, and planned, and
waited, till at last he has received
the Democratic nomination
General, do you think he is in
! sympathy with the South 2"
'sHe is crazy to be President. He
is ambitious, vain, and weak, They
will easily control him"
'Do you think, General, that his
celebrated Order No. 40 represents
the direction of his sympathies?"
"WeII, I will give you the true
inner history of Order No 40. Con
gress was striving to prevent An
drew johnson from undOing the re-
construction laws. Whenever Con
gress passed a law johnson bent his
| energies to defeat its enforcement,
and would find pretexts to dodge
aroand it. Then Congress would
pass another law to hedge him up
there. So it went on until Congress
had taken from him all control of
the Generals commanding the seven
districts of the South, except the
power to recall them and appoint
others in their places. These com
manders could remove any civil Off
Ger of any grade, Judge or Governor.
When was made General, and they
were determining my powers and
duties, they gave the General, by
accident, l think, or without seeing
all it involved, coordinate power
with these district commanders, and
as I was senior it gave me authority.
"Gen. Sheridan was sent to the
Department Of Louisiana, covering
Louisiana and Texas. He is very
shrewd and very able. If he is in
charge of any field, and if there is
anything in that field he ought to
know, he is sure to know it. He is
as able and vigilant an officer as the
country has. He kept his eyes open,
learning rapidly the men who were
not worthy to occupy their places,
and discovering worthy and compe-
tent men to put in their places. He
had a good list, and a black list of
unworthy officers, ready to change
them in an hour when the time
should come. He consulted me pri-
vately about it, and did nothing
rashly.
"The Legislature of Louisiana
passed law authorizing the issue Of
$1,000, 900 Of levee bonds, Ostensibly
for the Ievee. They conditioned
their sale on their bringing to the
State not less than SO per cent. of
their face. The Governor and three
Commissioners were to. place the
bonds on the market. But they soon
found that the bonds would not bring
more than 40 per cent. To avoid
the law they invented the plan of
borrowing money and using the
bonds as collateral. They could
borrow about "a or IS per cent of
the face of the bonds. Just at this
juncture, to prevent these men from
defrauding the State, Gen. Sheridan
took off the heads Of the Governor
and Commissioners so quick that
they did not know what allied them,
and appointed good men in their
places.
"FOr some reason. the removed
men were very anxious to be reap
pointed. They employed Reverdy
Johnson and another lawyer to work |
for them, agreeing to pay them $780, |
900 if they were reinstated. This is |
a great deal of money for four men
to pay for positions, unless there is |
some special gain in the case. Rev |
erdy Johnson came to me, but I was
so stupid and stubborn that I could |
not be induced to reaPpOint them. |
He then went to Andrew Johnson |
and made his case and Andrew John /
son sent for me, and asked me to re-
.nstate those men. I refused to do |
so. He said, 'Reinstate them even
# it is only for one day. I will prom |
se that they will resign.
81 thought johnson might not
know Of the motive why they were
so anxious to be reinstated, and .
thinking would do him a great ser
7ice in keeping him from a great
1 told him that 'Oue hour
would do those men as well as one
day. and I unfoIded their intent.
But Johnson insisted on their being
1 refused, and excused
myself.
johnson then removed Gen.
Sheridan and appointed Gen. Han
,OCk. He called Hancock to Wash
ngtOn to instruct him in defeating
he laws Of Congress concerning re-
As soon as I learned |
hat Hancock was in town, 1 called