The Papers of Andrew Johnson . Vol. 10: February-July 1866 (review)

Abstract

266CIVIL WAR HISTORY Any student with more than a passing interest in Civil War soldier life will find all three of these personal narratives worthy of their attention and will find Berry Benson, Silas Grisamore, and Hiram Williams worthy of their respect. J. Tracy Power South Carolina Department of Archives and History 7"Ai Papers of Andrew Johnson. Vol. 10: February-July 1866. Edited by Paul H. Bergeron. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. Pp. xxxii, 798. $49.50.) This tenth volume of The Papers ofAndrew Johnson, like its predecessors, does credit to its editor and his assistants. Carrying on the great tradition established by LeRoy P Graf and Ralph W. Haskins, who edited the first set of books in this series, Professor Bergeron has given us a volume well arranged , expertly annotated, and sufficiently inclusive to satisfy all serious scholars. Unlike Graf and Haskins, who largely covered Johnson's career before he assumed the presidency, Bergeron is concerned with the presidential period, an awesome task in view of the great mass of material accumulated. It is to his credit that he has succeeded in weeding out the large number of requests for pardons and positions, which would only have cluttered up the volume, while still retaining enough material of this type to retain the integrity of the collection. Following a custom he established previously, the editor has written a relatively brief introduction. It is well done and authoritative, so it is perhaps to be regretted that he has not continued his predecessors' practice of including extensive introductory material. But this is a minor fault. In nearly eighthundred pages of letters, documents, and speeches, the story of Andrew Johnson during much of the first half of 1866 is fully developed. The period under consideration happens to be the time of the final break between the president and Congress. Clearly tracing the unfolding of the controversy , the editor has included enough material to render intelligible Johnson's trend of thought. It is easy to see from the letters he received how he continued to expect support from the country at large. As he said on February 22, "The American people will speak, and by their instinct, if not otherwise , they will know who are their friends and who are their enemies" (151). Letter after letter from admirers all over the United States, North as well as South, did indeed express extreme admiration for his course, praise for his magnanimity, and scorn for his radical opponents. Johnson evidently relied on these sentiments. The editor's inclusion of the vetoes of the two Freedmen's Bureau bills, the Civil Rights bill, and the Colorado statehood bill help materially in tracing the history ofJohnson's estrangement from the Union party, as does his qualified acceptance of Tennessee's restoration to full statehood. If some of his BOOK REVIEWS267 vetoes of less important measures are left out, their omission does not substantially affect the story. Just as this collection highlights Johnson's estrangement from Congress, it also clarifies his efforts to establish a new party of conservative Republicans and moderate Democrats. The preparations for the Philadelphia National Union Convention and the advice of various well-wishers concerning a reorganization of political factions furnish a clear illustration ofJohnson's vain attempts at a political realignment. Another subject elucidated in this volume is the president's hesitant use of the patronage during the summer of 1866. The difficulty of maintaining some loyalty to the Republican party while making use of supporters who were largely Democrats becomes evident in the perusal of these letters, enough of which have been included to illustrate the point. Although most of the reports from Johnson's emissaries to the South were included in a special volume of the Papers of Andrew Johnson in 1987, that publication did not contain the interesting account of Benjamin C. Truman. Its inclusion in the present collection is to be welcomed. All in all, the completion of Volume 10 of The Papers ofAndrew Johnson gives promise of further excellent material to follow. Although the task will not be made easier by the ever-increasing complications of Johnson's administration and his impeachment, we may be confident that...