Gwin’s Manoevers
Gwin, in hopes of extricating himself, struck a bargain with the Administration. It was agreed that he was to obstruct the Colfax bill and to allow the session to expire without action; afterwards he…
Hockaday Contract for the Benefit of the Army
In April, 1858, the Postmaster General entered into two new contracts applying to the South Pass route. The first, with George Chorpenning, provided for semi-monthly, twenty-day trips between Salt Lake City and Placerville; the…
Three Elements of Brown’s Policy
Brown's writings indicate that he was interested in this aggressive movement on behalf of the South. Three elements entered into his policy: the question of emigration, the problem of the Pacific railroad, and…
Brown’s Defense of the Butterfield Route
Brown now undertook to justify his action, which seemed unlawful, and which had earned for him the hostility of the Northern press, of the contractors, and of the residents of upper California. He…
Postmaster Brown and Southern Politicians
With the passage of this act, the matter went to Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown. Brown was a Tennesseean sympathetic with Buchanan's policies, a leader in the councils of the Democrats, and a…
Mail as Instrument of Empire
As soon as the idea of the overland stage was suggested, the postal feature of it became subsidiary to other interests. The Senate Committee in 1849 recognized then that here was a scheme…
Early Overland Mail Proposals
The idea of carrying mails overland by stage was of early origin. In 1849, a petition embodying a plan for a continental mail was recommended to the Senate by the Committee on the…
1860 Mail Appropriation
In the next try during the spring of 1860 Russell nearly squeaked through with his gamble on the Pony Express. While applause for the equine mail was still ringing in the nation's press,…
Gwin’s Politics
By now Russell's gamble had failed, the Hale bill having run aground in the House. Senator Gwin had fought the proposal—a Republican measure—at every tum. He had what was termed the "most…
Pony Goes Semi-Weekly
They arrived safely on June 22nd and the delayed mail was sent on to San Francisco, where it was received June 25th—the first Pony mail in three weeks. Now, a strange thing…
Gwin’s Conflict of Interest
The majority of the people of Cal., as I have mentioned in the preceding volume, preferred the central to the southern route for mail transit. The central route was gradually opened,…
Senator Gwin on California and the South
Senator Gwin had said, in a speech delivered December 12, 1859, in the senate chamber, "I believe that the slave-holding states of this confederacy can establish a separate and independent government that will be…
Senator Gwin
Strange to say, this stalwart Union senator afterward entered the Confederacy, lost his prestige and large fortune, and, at the close of the war, drifted into Mexico and the service of the unfortunate Maximilian, by…
No Contract for Russell, Majors & Waddell
What had happened was this: the Post Office Department cut off mail service to California via steamer from New York with the expectation that the bill to forward it overland would pass Congress.…
Army Assurance for Pay
Russell had had experience trying to collect losses from the government and was not optimistic. He finally agreed, with the understanding that in the event of loss Captain Brent would assist him in…