A Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne Congressman, Secretary of State, Envoy Extraordinary

Download or read book A Biography of Elihu Benjamin Washburne Congressman, Secretary of State, Envoy Extraordinary written by Mark Washburne and published by . This book was released on 2016-11-18 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "About all I know of Grant I have got from you," wrote Abraham Lincoln to Congressman Elihu Washburne in 1864. "I have never seen him. Who else besides you knows anything about Grant?" Elihu Benjamin Washburne was not only the link between President Abraham Lincoln and Union General Ulysses S. Grant, but Washburne himself played a major role in both their lives as they rose to power and throughout their presidencies. An Illinois Whig from Galena, Washburne was active in the anti-slavery movement and became a Republican as soon as that party was organized. In fact, some sources even credit his brother, then Congressman Israel Washburn, with coining the name Republican for the new Northern anti-slavery party. Washburne was an early supporter of Lincoln who advised the future President during the Lincoln-Douglas Senatorial Debates in 1858 and was given the honor of writing Lincoln''s campaign biography for the 1860 Presidential race. Elihu Washburne served eight successive terms (1853 to 1869) and was elected to a ninth in the House of Representatives, where he earned the titles "Father of the House" and "Watchdog of the Treasury." During the Civil War, Washburne was an eyewitness to several battles including the First Battle of Bull Run, Vicksburg, the Wilderness Campaign, Spotsylvania Courthouse, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. During the Second Battle of Bull Run, Congressman Washburne was with President Lincoln on the roof of the White House, where they could hear the action. Washburne was an eyewitness to history when Confederate General Robert E. Lee''s army surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant''s army at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865. Shortly thereafter, he served as a pallbearer at Lincoln''s funeral. After the Civil War, Washburne was a member of the joint Committee on Reconstruction and chairman of the Committee of the Whole in the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868. In 1869, President Grant honored his old friend by nominating him Secretary of State and then Minister to France. Washburne presented his letters of credence to Napoleon III in May 1869, and was present the next year for the Franco-German War. During that war, Minister Washburne distinguished himself as one of the only foreign diplomats to remain in Paris during the German siege of that city and later the Paris Commune. At the start of that war, Washburne took under his protection some 30,000 German residents in Paris who were citizens from the North German Confederation, Saxony, Darmstadt, and Hesse Grand Duchy after the German Ambassadors were expelled from France. "He was practically the German Minister in France for eleven months, and was in constant official correspondence with the Prince de Bismarck." Following the war with the Germans, the people of Paris rose up in revolt and proclaimed a leftist Commune in 1871. The poor response of the French government to feed the people of Paris after the peace treaty contributed to the political turmoil. Despite having just gone through a harrowing experience of war and siege with the Germans, Minister Washburne was faced with a new war, a civil war, and a new siege, this time imposed from within. In 1880, Washburne was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President receiving over forty delegate votes in a losing cause to General James Garfield who later became President. At that same Republican convention, Washburne came in second place in the balloting for Vice President. In the contest for the number two spot, Elihu Washburne lost to Chester Arthur, who replaced Garfield as President after that Chief Executive was assassinated in 1881. In his Civil War generation, Elihu Benjamin Washburne was the Kilroy in Kilroy Was Here. It would be hard to find another person who lived in the middle of the nineteenth century who was at more important events or knew more important people than the Illinois Congressman, Secretary of State, and Envoy Extraordinary. This work explores the life and times of Elihu B. Washburne with special focus on his contributions to the politics of the American Civil War, the Franco-German War, and the Paris Commune. It further explored the famous people Washburne knew -- Abraham Lincoln, U. S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Rutherford Hayes, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Grover Cleveland, Henry Clay, Horace Greeley, Stephen Douglas, William Seward, Salmon Chase, Winfield Scott, Edwin Stanton, John Fremont, William Tecumseh Sherman, Joseph Smith, Otto von Bismarck, Emperor Napoleon III, Emperor Wilhelm I, and many others - and the part he played in their lives. Moreover, this work will also delve into his almost equally famous siblings and the role they played during this critical era in American and European history. Besides Elihu, who was the third born, several of his brothers would also be famous. Among these brothers would emerge one Senator in Congress, one Captain in the Navy, one General in the Army, two Governors from two different states, two Ministers to two different countries, four congressmen from four different states, and a Secretary of State. During the 34th, 35th, and 36th Congresses, Elihu, Israel, and Cadwallader served simultaneously in the House of Representatives. This was an "unprecedented" and "unequaled" family participation in that body. Later, William, the youngest, would be elected to the House making it four brothers from four different states- the most ever from one family to serve in the House of Representatives. One brother, Cadwallader Washburn, eventually became a millionaire, making the bulk of his money in the flour milling industry in Minnesota: "Cadwallader''s major contribution to the country was taking the hard spring wheat, easily raised in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and turning it into good flour, flour which won the first gold medal ever given to a non-European country, thus inspiring the brand name, Gold Medal Flour." The company he founded, Minnesota Mill Company out of Minneapolis, eventually became Washburn Crosby Flour Company. In 1928, Washburn Crosby, along with three other companies, joined forces to form the now, internationally known company of General Mills. Comments received concerning the biography: "Mark Washburne''s study of his ancestor, Elihu Benjamin Washburne, provides a needed study of this significant figure." For the People -- A Newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association. "Certainly, Elihu Washburne was one of the most influential members of Congress just before, during the Civil War, and even after. . . . Elihu Washburne and his family are traced extremely well in this volume. . . . Prof. [Mark] Washburne has made a most significant contribution to Lincolniana and United States history." Dr. Wayne C. Temple, Ph.D., Illinois State Archives Book Review from Lincoln Herald. "Elihu Washburne remained one of the unsung heroes of the Civil War and Reconstruction until his ancestor, Mark Washburne, embarked on his multi-volume biography of this remarkable politician and statesman. Congressman, and later American Minister to France, Washburne was not only the patron of Ulysses S. Grant but a staunch supporter of President Lincoln and his administration''s policies. This accounts for his serving as one of the president''s pallbearers and his appointment to the court of Louis Napoleon. Mark Washburne''s story of his relative needed telling and he does it with glibness and in a highly readable style." Hon. Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island; Chair, the Lincoln Forum; Author of Judging Lincoln. "Few government officials in Civil War Washington knew Abraham Lincoln as well or as long as Congressman Elihu Washburne -- or could boast closer relations with the rising star of the army, Ulysses S. Grant. Author Mark Washburne brings the precision of an historian and the passion of a relative to the task of chronicling his life, and the result is essential biography." Harold