American Historical Ephemera and Photography

[ENSLAVEMENT]. POMEROY, Samuel C. (1816-1891). Autograph letter signed ("S.C. Pomeroy"), as US Senator, regarding a conversation with Lincoln about "slaves in the hands of the offices of the U.S." Washington, D.C., 1 February [1862].

2pp, 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 in., creased along folds, few spots, minor wear. Addressed to Mr. William Tyler. Accompanied by cover in the hand of Pomeroy, with Pomeroy's free frank signature and Washington, DC cancel stamp.

In response to a letter from Tyler, Pomeroy writes that "The Report of our conversation with the President, is substantially correct: He said that slaves in the hand of the offices of the U.S. were per free the moment they got into our possession - and we had no power to return them to slavery - either to loyal or disloyal masters."

"Genl. Lane (my colleague) was to have had a command, but the old proslavery Army officers will not stand it, and they have defeated him. Poor Lincoln is ruined by proslavery office holders. The 'border state' have got this administration. I would to God they had gone out with the others! For they are loyal only on condition that slavery is protected! The men who prefer slavery to their country are traitors."

Interestingly, two years after this letter was written, the infamous "Pomeroy Circular" would appear. The curious circular bore the signature of Pomeroy and spread through influential Republicans in Congress. The document argued against the re-nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, claiming that Lincoln's proposed leniency towards the Confederate States alone made him unfit to continue prosecution of the Civil War. In his stead, Pomeroy proposed the nomination of Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, whose animosity toward Lincoln's reconciliation policies was well-known and who had spent much of his time in office stealthily building up support for a primary run against Lincoln in the 1864 election.

Samuel C. Pomeroy was born in Massachusetts and attended Amherst College. He became a strong opponent of slavery and helped New Englanders who opposed slavery move into Kansas Territory through the New England Emigrant Aid Company in 1854. Having helped found and settle the city of Lawrence, Kansas, he was elected as a federal senator by that state in 1861. It is in that capacity that he wrote the letter featured in this lot.