The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 100
332 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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100 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
representatives were excluded. Reverdy Johnson had made a
speech to the same effect. It was strongly anticipated that these
views of his (the President's) known friends promulgated at and
near Washington City indicated in advance the course to be
adopted by the President at the opening of the second session of
the Thirty-ninth Congress in December, 1866. But the Radicals
had anticipated this, and immediately after the first intimation
of this doctrine (in his speech to the committee of the Conservative
Philadelphia Convention that waited on him with the address and
resolutions, headed by Reverdy Johnson, Senator from Maryland),
they commenced organizing "The Grand Army of the Republic"
pledged to the support of Congress, and by the time of the meet-
ing of Congress in December, 1866, it had, as I learned from both
parties at Washington, been fully organized with officers num-
bering, rank and file, 1,200,000, as alleged by the Radicals, and
half a million as admitted by the Conservatives. This organiza-
tion extended all over the North, into the regular army, into
Washington City and even into the department employes of the
capitol. This Grand Army of the Republic simply by its known
existence settled the question of the repudiation of Congress by
the President. They were in condition to turn him out of doors,
instead of being turned out of doors by him, as the British Par-
liament was turned out by Cromwell.
A week or two after getting to Washington I met with Governor
A. J. Hamilton and we had a two hours' conversation in the ante-
room of the Senate at the capitol, much of which was not very
agreeable, though nothing disrespectful occurred on either side.
He, at my request, was telling me his designs and those of his
Southern coadjutors in reference to the south, the substance of
which was that the Southern States in some shape or other should
and would be placed in the hands and under the control of loyal
Southern men, without respect to color. In this conversation I
derived the impression that this Grand Army was relied on to
neutralize the President and his friends at the capitol, or at least
to render them powerless. I will only say in reference to this
interview further that he seemed to entertain a most bitter per-
sonal and political hostility towards President Johnson; so much
so that I remarked that he seemed to dislike President Johnson
more than President Davis, whereupon he said with great em-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/118/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.