Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-21
Grant and Hancock.

ton Of mine one not intended for publication,
was reported in one OF the papers and report
ed incorrectly What l said and what was true
at the time-although ! do not pretend TO re-
member my exact phraseology-was In sub
stance that when General Sheridan was In
command of the district of which Louisiana
was a part he discovered that an attempt was
being made 10 foist levee bonds upon the peo-
pie of Louisiana from which they would TO
ceiEe no benefit. He removed the 6oyernor
and Board OF Levee Commissioners: he re-
ported what he had done to me, together with
al the facts / sustained his action. when ne
was relieved and General Hancock appointed
to his place, I called upon General hancock
with view OF advising him about his com.
nnsnd and intended informing him Of what /
had learned about the Board OF Levee
Commissioners But for reasons which
were Explained in the conversation al
luded TO above, / did not so inform him,
so that he was never aware, to
my knowledge, of what / believed was
an attempted fraud upon the people OF Louisl-
ana When he took the command published
an order which prevented him from reappoint-
inc anv one who had been removed by his pre-
decessOr thus preventing the possibility or MS
being made even innoceRtly in any way party
to this fraud. President johnson wss anxious
to have the persons so removed restored. out
refused. When General Hancock was appoint
ed to the command of the Department or the
Gulf, started for his hotel for the purpose OF
warning him about the officials who had been
DISCHARGED and telling him the reasons Tor
specify here did not tell him. but returned 20
my hotel and unless he has learned the fact
rom others, he is In ignorance TO TINS DAY OF
the reasons for the discharge or those men.
At least I never had any CONVEX sation with him
on the subject This is the only possible orl-
gin, So far as ] know, of the story puollsned IN
the Evening Post ! repeat that l never
charged nor had any reason to charge deneral
Hancock with corruption in any form; nor do
know OF any one who has"
In an interview published simultane-
ously by the Cincinnati Gaz6tte and the
New York Times on the 5th of October,
1890, the Rev. c. II. Fowler, d. D., re-
ported a conversation between himself
and General Grant on the 21st of Sep
TENDER, 1890. This is what General
Grant then said, according to DR.. Fowl
er. in relation to General Hancock and
the Governor and Levee Commissioners
of Louisiana:
General Sheridan was sent to the Depart
ment OF Louisiana. covering Louisiana and
Texas He is very shrewd and very able. he
kept his eyes open. learning rapidly the men
who were not worthy to occupy their places,
and discovering competent and worthy men 10
nut in their places. The Legislature OF Louis
iana paSsed a law authorizing the issue Of 81
roo 600 OF levee bonds. ostensibly for the levee
Thew conditioned their sale on their bringing
to the State not less than 50 per cent, or their
face. The Governor ard three Commissioners
were to place the bonds on the market. but
they soon found out that the bonds would not
bring more than 40 per cent. To avoid the law
they invested the plan OF borrowing money
and using the bonds as collateral They could
borrow about "a or IS per cent. OF the face or
the bonds Just at this 1uncture to prevent
these men from defrauding the State. General
Sheridan took on the heads OF tne Governor
and Commissioners so quick that they did not
know what allied them, and appointed good
men in their places. For some reason. the re-
moved men were very anxious to be re-
johnson and another lawyer TO work
for them. agreeing to pay them S250. 900 IL they
were reinstated. This is great deal OF money
for four men TO pay for positions, unless there
is some special gain in the case. Reverdy John
son came to me, but was so stupid and stub
born that l could not be induced to reappoint
them He went to Andrew Johnson and made
his case, and Andrew johnson sent Tor me ans
asked me to reinState these men. refused to
do So He said: 'Reinstate them even IL 1t is
only for one day. l will promise that they
will resign thought johnson might not
know OF the motive why they were so anxious
10 be reinstated. and thinking l would do him
a great service In keeping him from great
blunder l told him that one hour would do
those men as well as one day, and unfolded
their intent But johnson insisted on theiT
being refustated refused and excused my
self Johnson then removed General Sheridan
and appointed General Hancock He called
Hancock to Washington to instruct him IN
defeating the laws Of Congress concern
| ing reconstruction AS soon as learned that
| Hancock WAC in town | called at his hotel
| instead of sending for him wanted to see
| him privately in his own room l found him
| in his room. perhaps before he had his break
| fast ] said: General, you end are s7idiers-
| army officers We have life posi- rs We
serve under successive administratloH. without
II Sc a fvv m k4r7f a
laws of Congress. We are not responsible 1oF
the wisdom Of the laws; Congress bears that
responsibility. We simply enforceThem.' He
said well. am oppossdt0 niger DONNA
ton said: General, it is not a question OF
| nigger dSfn1 nsTion. Four millions Of exslaves
y-sIThout education or property, can hardIy
dominate thirty million OF whites with all the
education and property. 1t is question o.
| doing our sworn duty He said: Well, I'm
| opposed to niger domination l saw that my
| only chance to influence him was by the rem
nant of authority left in my hands de was
determined to please the temperate party an9
the South. He went South, and removed
the Governor and Commissioners that Gen
eral Sheridan had appointed. l instantly tele-
graphed him not to appoint to ofnce any men
who had been removed. and TO give me ms
reasons, by mail, for removing the men. He
teIegraphed. in long reply, costing the gov
eminent $3.50 his reasons. telegrapheo MIN
that the reasons were not sufficient; TO SEND
by unsil other reasons. lie again telegraphed
about the same points. only not quite so long,
costing only $3.50 He telegraphed that il he
could not have freedom to act. his usefulness
would be destroyed, and that ne woul /, nave 70
ask to be relieved. / telegraphed him to re-
woke his order. He asked johnson 70 reheve
him, as no one else could
In an interview published simultane-
ously in the Chicago Inter Ocean and the
New York Times on the 9th of October,
1880, General Grant corrected some in
accuracies in Dr. Fowler's report. The
following is what he then said in rela-
ton to General Hancock and the Cover
nor and Levee Commissioners:
"Dr. Fowler quotes me as saying that the
Louisiana Legislature passed a law authorizing
the issue of 1000 900 OF levee bonds. This
may have said, but il / did it was mistake,
| the amount being 100000. In regard to the
| statement also that the Louisiana Commits
| sioners agreed to pay Reverdy johnson and
other lawyers $250, 600, stated what under
stood and not a fact within my own personal
knowledge"
"a mistake also occurs in the following para
| graph wherein / am made to to say: He
| Hancock went South and removed the Gov
! ernor and Commissioners that General Sher1-
dan had appointed. instantly telegraphed
| him not to appoint to Office shy man who had
been removed and to give his reasons by mail
/ for removing the men, When General Han
/ cock went South published an order prohibit
ing him from appointing any BODY 10 once
| who had been removed by his predecessors.
| This. suppose, he did not like, but my object
was to prevent the possibility OF the men
/ being put in place who had arranged for the
negotiation Of those bonds even for one hour.
/ had intended to tell General Hancock all
| about it, as | had President johnson, but
| seeing. during my interview with him. that he
was not disposed to listen 10 my advice, did
not tell him. After he had been down South
some time he made a pretty clean sweep OF
the officers who had been appointed by General
| Sheridan. then teiegraphed TO him TO sus-
/ pend his orders OF removal, and report 20 me
| BY mail There was an order existing, II re-
member Alright, prohibiting the use OF me tele-
graph when the mail could be employed. he
replied in q very long dispatch, costing, If
remember correctly. about $3.50. l informed
him was not satisfied, but IL he had any fur-
Their reasons to communicate TO de so by mail.
He again replied by telegraph, but gave moth
ing new, saying simply that bis usefulness
would be destroyed il he was not left free TO
act and that unless ne was not left free TO act
he should ask to be relieved ordered him TO
revoke his order making removals and TO MAKE
no more. He then asked to be relieved, and
relieved him"
A few days later the New York
World published as complete refuta-
ton of all the charges and innuendoes
against General Hancock, both those in
the Fowler interview and those of the
Inter Ocean interview, the full text of
the official correspondence which led to
General Hancock's retirement from the
command at New Orleans. The facts
shown by the correspondence were that
General Sheridan had ordered, under