Franklin Archibald Dick Franklin Archibald Dick ( May 2 , 1823 – February 18 , 1885 ) was a St . Louis , Missouri attorney . He was assistant adjutant general to Nathaniel Lyon at Camp Jackson ( the first Missouri Civil War incident ) ; Missouri provost marshal general under Major General Samuel Curtis ; law partner with Montgomery Blair at the Blair House in Washington D C after the Civil War . Biography . Dick was born in Philadelphia on May 2 , 1823 , the only son of Archibald Thomas Dick and Hannah Rogers . Dick entered the University of Pennsylvania at the age of sixteen in 1839 as a law student . He graduated in 1842 and moved to the frontier town of St . Louis , Missouri , where he practiced law in St . Louis from 1844 to 1861 . He married Myra Madison Alexander , ( January 12 , 1832 - December 22 , 1919 ) on November 25 , 1851 . Myra ’ s sister , Apolline , was married to Dick ’ s close friend , Frank Blair , the son of Francis P . Blair Sr . , a journalist and politician who had been an advisor to President Andrew Jackson , and who was an organizer of the Republican Party . Civil War years . Franklin Dick actively supported Frank Blair ’ s efforts to keep Missouri in the Union by serving on committees , and at his urging later became provost marshal general . President Lincoln used Frank Blair as an unofficial advisor on Missouri affairs during the war . Frank ’ s brother , Montgomery , was President Abraham Lincoln ’ s Postmaster General . Dick kept private journals during the Civil War , recording events he observed in St . Louis . He describes a meeting on January 10 , 1861 in his law office in which the St . Louis Committee of Safety monitored actions by the Southern sympathizers , and many private meetings with Nathaniel Lyon . In St . Louis , after Camp Jackson was filled with secret rebels anxious for control of the St . Louis Arsenal , Dick told Frank Blair , borrowing their blind mother - in - law ’ s dress , veil and hat for Nathaniel Lyon to use for a disguise . Lyon was driven in Mira Alexander ’ s carriage into Camp Jackson to observe General Frost and his troops , along with other visitors . That night Lyon , Blair , and other Unionists met in Dick ’ s law office and decided to capture Camp Jackson . At Lyon ’ s urging , Franklin Dick served as his assistant adjutant general during the Camp Jackson affair on May 10 , 1861 . He writes of riding his horse in the midst of the fracas in front of the troops firing , and ordering them to stop in the name of Captain Lyon , when Lyon was on the ground He also describes Lyon ’ s pity and emotion as “ almost womanly ” on seeing the dead and wounded after the incident , and how they had to gallop around the city back to the arsenal to avoid an ambush . Next , Dick was sent by Frank Blair to Washington to convey Blair ’ s concerns about General William S . Harney ’ s lenient ways of dealing with secessionists . Montgomery Blair took Franklin Dick to meet with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Simon Cameron . Dick had been directed to lobby for Nathaniel Lyon ’ s ideas for the protection of St . Louis , ask for Lyon ’ s confirmation as brigadier general , and request Harney ’ s removal . Dick returned to St . Louis with Lincoln ’ s promotion for Lyon effective May 17 , and an order for Blair to remove Harney at his discretion . When Harney met with Southern sympathizer General Sterling Price to cooperate for peace together , events finally led to Frank Blair delivering the orders on May 30 , 1862 , opening the way for Lyon to take control of troops in Missouri . From then on , Dick wrote long letters to Lincoln about his concern with the state of affairs in Missouri . After Camp Jackson was disbanded , Missouri was under martial law , and remained so for the entire Civil War . Dick served on the Board of Assessments which identified and fined Southern sympathizers . Through his participation in the seizure of goods and banishment of Rebels and their families , he earned the hatred of many old St . Louisans , Conditional Unionists , and Rebels . On November 5 , 1862 , Dick became a lieutenant colonel and Provost Marshal General under Major General Samuel Curtis , the new Commander of the Department of Missouri . In this position , Franklin Dick had to keep order in the state and oversee the local provost marshals , enforce Curtis ’ s orders for the Confiscation Act , banish and assess disloyal persons , and supervise prisons and prisoners . In a letter dated January 26 , 1863 to Montgomery Blair about his problems acting as Provost Marshal General , Franklin Dick says , … The only semblance of the U . S . authority in a large part of the State , is the Provost Marshal system – it is an important matter to determine whether or not it shall be preserved . In a long letter forwarded by Gen . Curtis to Wash ’ n . some days ago , I gave some facts to show its operation … As I consider these matters of importance , I make them known to you and hope that you will present them to the President . One more matter it is important to me to speak of - & that is , that St . Louis is the seat and centre of the rebel plots & Schemes , and spies revel here . The women , & several of them of the better class act as mail carriers – at no time have the rebel sympathizers & secret workers been so active and bold as now – their course , of that of treason – These People ought to be sent South – Our Union People here know this , & urge it constantly upon Genl . Curtis – I assure you that the authority of the Govt . here , before our face is despised & set at naught … In his journals , Dick talks of the time before the war in St . Louis when . . . we felt as if we were forever safe , ” and contrasts that with his perspective in 1865 , when “ the People in the North have become accustomed to the war – here in Phil ’ a . the People go on just as in ordinary times – They gay [ ly ] continue their giddy amusements – the errands go on with business as usual , & the war is an interesting topic , which they keep more or less in mind . Dick did not feel safe in St . Louis . He moved his family back and forth from St . Louis to Philadelphia for safety during the war , though he had to return to his law practice in St . Louis to earn a living . While in Philadelphia , he was involved in a cartridge business with his wife ’ s brother , George Alexander , until the factory exploded . Dick , upset by the dead and wounded , contributed money to the families , and withdrew his investment . After the war . After the Civil War ended , at the urging of Francis P . Blair Sr . , Dick practiced law with Montgomery Blair , working out of offices in the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House . The Blair House is now the official guest house for the White House . Franklin Dick died on February 18 , 1885 , and was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Ancestry . The Dick family was descended from William de Dick , the first magistrate of Edinburgh in 1296 . The family crest shows two unicorns surrounding a sinking ship and the motto , “ At Spes Infracta , Via Tuta Virtus , ” which means “ But hope is unbroken , virtue is a safe path . ” Generations later , Archibald Dick was born in 1715 and immigrated to America , where he served in the Revolutionary War . In his will , he freed his slaves , giving each a legacy . One of his sons , Elisha C . Dick , was a friend of George Washington ’ s and the only doctor attending his last illness who disagreed with the diagnosis and spoke against using leeches . The second son , Thomas Barnard Dick , drowned while fishing , leaving his son , Archibald Thomas Dick , who practiced law and served in the War of 1812 . Archibald Thomas Dick ’ s only son was Franklin Archibald Dick .