2 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook..., By Franklin Parker & Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net

2 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook of the Massachusetts-Born Merchant in the South, London-Based Banker, and Philanthropist's Life, Influence, and Related People, Places, Events, and Institutions. ©2007, By Franklin Parker & Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net

This work updates and expands Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, ©1971, revised with illustrations ©1995), and the authors’ related George Peabody publications. Note: To read on your computer Franklin Parker’s out-of-print George Peabody, A Biography, 1995, as a free Google E-book copy and paste on your browser: http://books.google.com/books?id=OPIbk-ZPnF4C&pg=PP1&lpg=PR4&dq=Franklin+Parker,+George+Peabody,+a+Biography&output=html&sig=6R8ZoKwN1B36wtCSePijnLaYJS8

Background: Why these 1 to 14 blogs on George Peabody? The authors attended George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville (renamed Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ. July 1, 1979). Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” 1956, has been an ongoing research and writing interest for over 50 years. The authors’ intent is to perpetuate public memory of him.

George Peabody, now largely forgotten by scholars and the public, was significant as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South, beginning as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29); then head of Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-43), importing dry goods and other commodities worldwide for sale to U.S. wholesalers. He transformed himself from merchant into: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), which helped finance the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and by choosing Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner Oct. 1, 1854, was a root of the JP Morgan international banking firm.

Merchant-turned-banker George Peabody finally became: 3-the best known U.S. philanthropist of the 1850s-60s, founding the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; founder in the U.S. of 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), a model for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations.

Two tributes to George Peabody:

Historian John Steele Gordon called George Peabody the "Most Underrated Philanthropist.... Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time." Ref.: American Heritage. Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69.

"The Peabody Fund, established in 1867 by George Peabody to assist southern education, is often credited with being the first foundation…." Ref.: Reader's Companion to American History, ed. by Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991). Internet: http://HistoryChannel.com/

End of Background. HTML symbols are intended for blogging (ignore). This 2 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically entries from Buchanan, James 1 to Curry, J.L.M. 10.

Buchanan, James (1791-1868). 1-Was U.S. Minister to Britain. James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president during 1857-61. He was born near Mercersberg, Penn., was a lawyer, served in the Penn. legislature for two terms (from 1814), was U.S. Congressman (1821-31), Minister to Russia (1832-33), U.S. Sen. (1834-45), U.S. Secty. of State (1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1853-56), when his legation secretary Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) created an incident. See: Presidents, U.S., and GP. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.

Buchanan, James. 2-Sickles Affair. At a GP-sponsored July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner super patriot Sickles remained seated and then walked out while others stood when GP toasted Queen Victoria before toasting the U.S. President. Buchanan, who thought Sickles was slack in his work as secretary, was embarrassed because, like GP, he wanted to improve British-U.S. relations. The incident was aggravated when Sickles charged GP in the press as toadying to the Queen. When GP visited Washington, D.C., Jan. 1857, there was a coolness between then-Pres. Buchanan and GP. Ref.: Ibid.

Buchanan, John (1772-1844). 1-Md. Bond Agents Abroad. John Buchanan was one of three commissioners appointed by the Md. Assembly to sell abroad its bonds to raise $8 million for internal improvements. When commissioner Samuel Jones, Jr. (1800-74), resigned to become a state senator, he backed GP to replace him. Despite some opposition, GP was appointed commissioner. Amid the financial Panic of 1837 GP and the other two commissioners, John Buchanan and Thomas Emory, tried unsuccessfully to sell the bonds in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The other two agents returned to the U.S. by Oct. 8, 1837. On this, GP's fifth business trip to Europe, he remained in London for the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: 1-Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, 2-May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, and 3-June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.

Buchanan, John. 2-GP's Delayed Reward. The economic depression hindered GP's sale of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. portion of Md.'s $8 million bonds. Md. and eight other states felt they had to stop their bond interest payments. GP publicly urged Md. officials to resume interest payments and assured British investors that resumed payments would be retroactive. GP finally sold the bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by the Baring Brothers, Britain's largest and oldest banking firm. Not wanting to burden economically depressed Md., GP declined the $60,000 commission due him. Ref.: Ibid.

Buchanan, John. 3-Md. Legislature's Resolution of Praise. By the time Md. had recovered economically and resumed its bond interest payments (1847), GP had withdrawn his capital from Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48) and was in transition from merchant to London-based broker-banker in U.S. securities. The Md. governor's 1847 annual report to the legislative Assembly singled out GP as one, "who never claimed or received one dollar of the $60,000 commission due him...whilst the State was struggling with her pecuniary difficulties." On March 7, 1848, both houses of Md.'s Assembly passed a unanimous resolution of praise to GP. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) sent these resolutions to GP in London, adding: "To you, Sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." It took ten years for GP's efforts in selling Md. bonds to be publicly appreciated. Ref.: Ibid.

Buck, Paul Herman (1899-1978), was a U.S. historian who wrote of the PEF: "As in his [GP's] gifts to England he had hoped to link two nations in friendly bonds, now after the Civil War it seemed to him most imperative to use his bounty in the restoration of good will between North and South.... The Peabody Education Fund...was an experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections.... Not only was the gift of Peabody one of the earliest manifestations of a spirit of reconciliation, but it was also a most effective means of stimulating that spirit in others." Ref.: Buck, pp. 164, 166. See: PEF.

Buddington, Samuel, Capt. 1-GP gave $10,000 for science equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition of 1853-55, led by U.S. Navy Capt. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57, a naval surgeon), searching for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). HMS Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in the decade-long search for Sir John Franklin. Capt. Samuel Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. See: Franklin, Sir John.

Buddington, Samuel. 2-White House Desk. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and gave it to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found the desk in a storeroom in 1961 and had it refurbished for Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) use. Famous photos show President Kennedy's young son John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-99), playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.

Buffalo, NY. For GP's visit to U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) at Fillmore's home in Buffalo, NY, Nov. 4, 1856, and connections with Fillmore, with sources, see Fillmore, Millard. Presidents, U.S., and GP.

CSS Alabama

Bulloch, James Dunwody (1823-1901). 1-Purchased Confederate Ships from England. Confederate Navy Secty. Stephen Russell Mallory (1813-73) sent Commander James Dunwody Bulloch (Bullock, in some sources) to England in May 1861 to purchase ships for the nonexistent Confederate Navy. Bulloch purchased from Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England, the newly built "Hull No. 290," soon named the SS Enrica, which was subsequently outfitted for war and renamed the CSS Alabama at the end of July 1862. See: Adams, Charles Francis. Alabama Claims.

Bulloch, J.D. 2-U.S. Minister C.F. Adams Protested. On June 23, 1862, U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) warned the British Foreign Office that by building the Alabama as a Confederate warship, Britain was breaking its neutrality. Minister Adams attached affidavits from involved seamen as proof of his charge. But British Customs law officials ruled the evidence insufficient. Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 3-Alabama Sunk Union Ships. CSS Alabama was put under the command of Capt. Raphael Harwood Semmes (1809-77), whose first ship, the Sumter, had already severely damaged Union commerce before it was bottled up in Gibraltar in Jan. 1862. In its rampaging two-year cruise (June 1862 to June 1864) covering 67,000 nautical miles, CSS Alabama hijacked or sank 64 Union ships. Her crew were largely pirate-adventurers from many nations, including Britain. Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 4-C.S.S. Alabama Sunk by USS Kearsarge. Needing repairs, the Alabama entered Cherbourg, France, June 11, 1864, where it was intercepted by the USS Kearsarge, under Capt. John Ancrum Winslow (1811-73), June 14, 1864. The Alabama came out to do battle and was sunk, June 19, 1864, in one of the last romanticized gunnery duels in the era of wooden ships, seen by thousands of observers offshore. Capt. Semmes and some of his officers and crew were rescued by the British yacht Deerhound and taken to an English port. Remains of the Alabama were found Oct. 1984 and artifacts were raised from Cherbourg harbor. Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 5-International Alabama Claims Commission. An international Alabama Claims Commission that met in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 187l to Sept. 1872, awarded the U.S. $15.5 million to be paid by Britain for British-built raiders (Alabama and others), which destroyed 257 Union ships. Confederate raider successes compelled Union ship owners to transfer ownership of over 700 vessels to foreign registries. U.S. merchant marine activity was set back for half a century. Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 6-GP's Death. Two years before GP's death, his name was mentioned as a possible arbitrator on the Alabama Claims Commission but was dropped because of age and illness. GP died in London Nov. 4, 1869, at the height of U.S.-British angers over U.S. loss of lives and treasure caused by the CSS Alabama and other British-built ships. When it became known that GP's will stipulated burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., British officials, for political reasons, to ease U.S.-British near-war hysteria, decided to return GP's remains to the U.S. on a royal vessel. Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 7-Remains Returned on HMS Monarch. In a Lord Mayor's Day banquet speech, British PM William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98) said (Nov. 9, 1869): "With Mr. Peabody's nation we will not quarrel." The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) his cabinet offered HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, as funeral vessel. A GP funeral service was held at Westminster Abbey and his remains lay in state in the Abbey for 30 days (Nov. 12 to Dec. 11, 1869). Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 8-Unprecedented Transatlantic Funeral. HMS Monarch, with GP's remains aboard, escorted by USS Plymouth, a U.S. warship from Marseilles, France, crossed the Atlantic, to be met in Portland harbor, Me., on Pres. U.S. Grant's orders by a flotilla of U.S. ships commanded by Adm. David G. Farragut (1801-70). GP's unusual 96-day British-U.S. transatlantic funeral ended with final burial on Feb. 8, 1870, in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. Besides the political motive to ease U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims, there was genuine appreciation for GP's philanthropy, largely in the U.S. but also by Britain for his $2.5 million Peabody model apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862). Ref.: Ibid.

Bulloch, J.D. 9-Bulloch's Sister Married Theodore Roosevelt. An interesting sidelight is that Confederate Navy Commander James Dunwody Bulloch's sister, Martha Bulloch (d. Feb. 12, 1884), married NYC's Theodore Roosevelt (1831-77). Their same-named son, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th U.S. Pres. during 1901-09, was a trustee during 1901-14 of Peabody Normal College (1875-1911), Nashville, Tenn., which became GPCFT (1914-79) and continues as PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). Ref.: (Bulloch-Roosevelt connection): Hendrick, p. 370. Thayer, p. 4. See: persons named.

Bullock, James Dunwody (1823-1901). See: Bulloch, James Dunwody.

Bülow, Hans Guido Freiherr von (1830-94), was a German conductor and pianist, studied with Richard Wagner (1813-83) and Franz Liszt (1811-86), was court musician to Ludwig, King of Bavaria (1786-1868), and teacher of Asger Hamerik (1843-1923), PIB's Academy (Conservatory after 1874) of Music's first director. Director Hamerik enhanced the prestige of the PIB Academy of Music by attracting eminent world musicians, including Hans von Bülow, who performed during Dec.-Jan. 1875-1876. Other famous performers Director Hamerik brought to perform and lecture at the PIB were Russian-born composer Anton Rubinstein (1829-94); British popular composer Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame in late Dec. 1879; and Russian composer Peter Illytch Tschaikowsky (1840-93) in spring, 1891. Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow wrote in a London paper that "Baltimore was the only place in America where I had proper support." See: PIB.

Bulwer-Lytton, Sir Henry (1801-72). Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer) was an English author, MP (1830-36, 1868-71), and Minister to the U.S. (1849-52) when he attended GP's Oct. 27, 1851, London dinner honoring the departing U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London (first world's fair). He was praised at the dinner by the main speaker, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). See: William Wilson Corcoran. Dinners, GP's, London. Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). Lawrence, Abbott.

Bunker Hill, anniversary of battle of. GP gave a dinner in London attended by British and U.S. guests on June 17, 1852, the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston, July 17, 1775). See: Dinners, GP's, London.

Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 1-GP's Donation. GP gave $500 as a patriotic gift in 1845 to help build the Bunker Hill Memorial Monument. Early in the American Revolution, with British ships in command of Boston Harbor, British troops determined to defeat the rebels by taking two high points, Bunker Hill (110 feet high) and Breed's Hill (75 feet high) in Boston's Charlestown district. Under night cover, the Americans seized the heights first, holding off the British until the Americans ran out of gunpowder. Despite having lost the battle (July 17, 1775), the Americans were heartened that their 1,600 ill-trained volunteers had held off 2,400 trained British troops and had caused the enemy 1,054 casualties to their own 100 dead, 267 wounded, and 30 taken prisoners. The Bunker Hill Memorial Monument cornerstone was laid by the Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) July 17, 1825. GP, permanently in London since Feb. 1837, helped pay for the monument's completion. See: GP, Philanthropy. Peabody, Thomas (GP's father).

Bunker Hill Memorial Monument (Boston). 2-Post-Civil War attacks on GP's Loyalty. It is interesting to note, in view of post-Civil War attacks on GP's loyalty to the Union, that his father Thomas Peabody, some of whose forebears had fought in the French and Indian Wars, was one of 54 Peabodys who fought in the American Revolution, and that GP briefly served in the War of 1812. Ref.: Ibid. See: Civil War and GP.

Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina (1814-1906). 1-Lady Philanthropist. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts was a prominent 19th century British philanthropist. England's famous journal of satire, Punch, on July 27, 1867, had a cartoon and long poem praising GP and Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts as the most prominent 19th century philanthropists. British-born Baroness Burdett-Coutts (she was created a peeress in 1871) inherited much land from her banker-grandfather, Thomas Coutts (1735-1822?). She built and endowed churches and schools; endowed three colonial bishoprics in Capetown, South Africa; Adelaide, Australia; and British Columbia, Canada. She aided Australian aborigines and Turkish peasants, built several water fountains in London, and built low-rent model homes for some 300 families at Columbia Square, London. Ref.: Punch (London), July 27, 1867, p. 33.

Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Angela Georgina. 2-Attended GP's July 4, 1851, Dinner. Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts attended GP's July 4, 1851, dinner and ball at Willis's Rooms, London, during the Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair), with the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852) as guest of honor. For her attendance and details of the July 4, 1851, dinner, see Corcoran, William Wilson. Dinners in London, GP's. Great Exhibition in London of 1851 (first world's fair). Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Prince Albert).

Burk, Kathleen, author of Morgan Grenfell 1838-1988: The Biography of a Merchant Bank (London: Oxford University Press, 1989). See: Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).

Burton, Asa (1752-1836), was a well known minister at the church five miles from Post Mills village, near Thetford, Vt., which GP attended in the winter of 1810. GP, then age 15, was visiting his maternal grandmother Judith Spofford Dodge (1749-1828) and grandfather Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824). Ref.: Baldwin, J. A. pp. 12-15. See: Concord, N.H. Internet site (seen) March 18, 2000): http://www.valley.net~conriver/V13-7.htm Persons named. Thetford, Vt.

Bushby, Asa (1834-89), a photographer. Peabody Institute Librarian, Peabody, Mass., Fitch Poole's (1803-73) diary listed under date of Feb. 6, 1870, after GP's funeral service: "Bushby & Hart [photographers] taking views in library room." See: Death and Funeral, GP's.

Business career, GP's. See: Peabody, George. George Peabody & Co. Morgan, Junius Spencer. Peabody, Riggs & Co. Elisha Riggs, Sr. Riggs, Peabody & Co.

Butler, Benjamin Franklin (1818-93), was a U.S. Representative from Mass. (Republican) who spoke at the Dec. 21, 1869, debate on U.S. House Resolution No. 96, which asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a U.S. Navy reception to receive GP's remains at the U.S. receiving port. The resolution, with some objection, was passed in the House that day, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. B.F. Butler was born in Deerfield, N.H., graduated from what is now Colby College, Me. (1838), was a criminal lawyer and politician in Lowell and then Boston, Mass., served in the Mass. Legislature (1852 and 1858) and the Mass. Senate (1859-60), was a harsh and controversial Civil War Union general, a radical Republican in the U.S. House (1866-75) who led in the unsuccessful impeachment of Pres. Andrew Johnson; Mass. Gov. (1882), and nearly always in controversy. See: Death and funeral, GP's.

Butler, Charles (1802-97), is believed to be the NYC banker who gave Delia Salter Bacon (1811-59) a letter of introduction to GP in London. Charles Butler was born in Kinderhook Landing (now Stuyvesant), Columbia County, N.Y., was a lawyer (1824), helped establish Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., was associated with a railroad link to Chicago, helped found and was active in the affairs of Union Theological Seminary, NYC (1836), and was a frequent visitor abroad. Delia S. Bacon, U.S. writer, was an early believer in the theory that William Shakespeare's plays were written by a group consisting of mainly Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618), and Edmund Spenser (1551-99). Ref.: Muzzey, Vol. 2, Part l, pp. 359-360. See Bacon, Delia Salter.

Buttre, John Chester (1821-93), engraver-artist who made an engraving of a GP photo, half-length facing right, taken by photographer Mathew B. Brady (1823-96), perhaps in Brady's NYC studio when the PEF trustees met in NYC on or about March 23, 1867. Copy of the engraving is in the Library of Congress BIOG FILE (b&w film copy neg.). Ref.: Library of Congress BIOG FILE. See: Brady, Mathew. Peabody, George, Illustrations.

C

Cairo, Ill. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Cairo, Ill. (March 24-April 2, 1857), where he owned city bonds. See: Augusta, Ga.

Caldwell, Sally. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) married Sally Caldwell, who died soon after 1815, leaving a son named George Peabody (1815-32) after his uncle. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody). Peabody, David.

Cambridge, Mass. See: Harvard Univ. honorary degree to GP. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Am. Association in London

Campbell, Robert Blair (d.1862). 1-Americans in London. Robert Blair Campbell was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61). He presided over a July 4, 1858, dinner for Americans in London organized by a then newly formed American Association in London, a fraternal club to aid needy U.S. visitors. The club was led by newer American residents in London like Robert Blair Campbell, U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), and others. They feigned respect for but were privately jealous and critical of older American residents in London like GP. Moran, Blair, and a few others sponsored for a few years July 4th Independence Day dinners in London, which GP had initiated from 1850. See: Fell, Jesse Weldon. Persons named.

Campbell, R.B. 2-Career. Robert Blair Campbell was born in S.C., graduated from S.C. College (1809, later the Univ. of S.C.), was a farmer, a commander in the S.C. militia (from 1814), a general of S.C. troops (1833; in his journal Benjamin Moran referred to R.B. Campbell as "Gen. Campbell), a member of the S.C. Senate (1821-23, 1830), and a U.S. House of Rep. member from S.C. (1823-25, 1834-35, 1835-37). He moved to Ala. where he was in the Ala. House of Rep. (1840), was U.S. Consul in Havana, Cuba (1842-50); then moved to Texas where he was appointed a commissioner in determining the U.S.-Mexico border (1853); was U.S. Consul, London, England (1854-61); died in 1862 and was buried in London, July 12, 1862. Ref.: Campbell, p. 94. Wallace and Gillespie, I, p. 9, footnote 12 (many entries in index).

Canada. GP visited Toronto and Montreal, Canada, on Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, 1856 (he suffered gout attacks on this visit). He visited Montreal on July 7-22, 1866, when he traveled on the Saguenay River and fished for salmon on the Marguerite River. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. Montreal, Canada. Quebec, Canada. Toronto, Canada.

Cannes, France. GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), who was Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran's (1798-1888) son-in-law. W.W. Corcoran's only daughter Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis died Dec. 4, 1867, leaving three children. From Cannes on March 16 or 17, 1868, GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) went to Paris, France, where they were received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). For details of GP's visits to Rome, Italy, and Paris, France, during Feb.-Mar. 1868, with sources, see: persons named. San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.

Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881), was a Scottish-born author who, with a few others, gave friendly aid but no encouragement to eccentric U.S. writer Delia Salter Bacon's (1811-59) theory that William Shakespeare's (1554-1616) plays were written by Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and others. For Bacon's inconsequential connection with GP, see: Bacon, Delia Salter. Butler, Charles.

HMS Monarch as Funeral Ship

Carnegie, Andrew (1835-1919). 1-Industrialist-Philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie was the Scottish-born immigrant to Pittsburgh, Penn., who rose from cotton mill bobbin boy, to telegrapher, to Penn. Railroad superintendent, to iron manufacturer, to steel magnate of what became the U.S. Steel Corporation. His various funds and foundations totaled over $350 million, including his well known Carnegie library buildings. His 1889 essay, "The Gospel of Wealth," urged the rich to use their wealth for public good.

Carnegie, Andrew. 2-1869 Connection with GP. In his Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, 1933, he recalled reading of the launching of Britain's largest warship HMS Monarch, publicized in some jingoistic British newspapers as able to level a U.S. port city. Soon after, reading that GP had died in London (Nov. 4, 1869) and that GP's will required burial in Mass., he telegraphed British cabinet member John Bright (1811-99): "First and best service for Monarch, bringing home the body of Peabody." "Strange to say," he wrote, "this was done, and thus the Monarch became the messenger of peace, not of destruction." Ref.: Carnegie, p. 270. See: Bright, John. Death and Funeral, GP's.

Carnegie, Andrew. 3-1913 Connection with GPCFT. PCofVU historian Sherman Dorn described how former U.S. Pres. William Howard Taft (1857-1930, 27th U.S. Pres. during 1909-13) wrote to Andrew Carnegie for funds for GPCFT. Historian Dorn wrote: "In a letter of 15 May 1913, former president William Taft wrote to industrialist philanthropist [Andrew] Carnegie that he should support Peabody College to help supply competent teachers for Southern schools: 'I doubt if you could do anything that would so help the white people of the south in an educational way as to contribute this last $200,000' of the campaign." Carnegie did not respond but others contributed`. Ref.: Dorn, p. 17. See: persons named. PCofVU.

Oxford Honorary Degree

Carroll, Lewis (1832-98). 1-GP's Oxford Honorary Degree, 1867. Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1864. He was born in Daresbury near Warrington, England; graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford (1854); took Anglican Church orders (1861); and taught mathematics at Oxford (1861-81). He was on duty as an Oxford don on Founders' and Benefactors' Day, June 26, 1867, when Oxford Univ. granted GP an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Ref.: Dodgson, I, p. 261.

Carroll, Lewis. 2-Journal Entry. In his journal entry that day (June 26) Dodgson recorded: "I was introduced to the hero of the day, Mr. Peabody." Background: Dr. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-71) of Oxford's Christ Church College wrote asking GP if he would accept an Oxford honorary degree. GP accepted by letter on June 5, 1867. The ceremony was held during Oxford's Encaenia, combining commencement with the celebration of spring, occasioned by readings, poetry, music, lectures, and a full-dress university parade, reflecting centuries of British tradition. Ref.: Ibid.

Carroll, Lewis. 3-Sheldonian Theatre. The honorary degree ceremony was held in the Sheldonian Theatre. Undergraduates, exerting their traditional right of banter, called aloud the names of dignitaries whom they either cheered or hissed. They cheered Lord Derby, groaned at MP John Bright (1811-99), both cheered and hissed PM William E. Gladstone (1809-98), and acclaimed PM Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81). Ref.: Ibid.

Carroll, Lewis. 4-"The lion of the day." GP was one of six individuals granted an honorary degree that day. When GP's name was called and he stood up, undergraduates applauded him, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond a doubt, Mr. Peabody." The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford's famous assembly hall, was designed in 1669 by Christopher Wren, who was then astronomy professor at Oxford Univ. It was Wren's first major architectural commission and was named after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon, who commissioned the theater while he was Oxford Univ.'s chancellor. Ref.: Ibid. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 4-6. See: persons named. Oxford Univ., England. Honors, GP's.

Baltimore Lady to Whom GP Twice Proposed Marriage

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox) (1799-1880). 1-Alleged Romance. PIB Librarian Frank N. Jones's (b. 1906) pamphlet, George Peabody and the Peabody Institute, 1965, reported that in 1958 Mrs. Charles Rieman (formerly Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899) gave the PIB Library an undated manuscript by Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist James Wilson Leakin (1857-1922) entitled "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections." In that manuscript an Oct. 17 1902, letter from James Wilson Leakin to Henrietta Cowman on their Knox ancestry told of a romance between GP and Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson, daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. The relevant part of that letter is given below. Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: Md. Historical Society Reference Librarian Francis P. O'Neill's Aug. 30, 2001, letter to the authors in which he shared the content of J.W. Leakin's Oct. 17 1902, letter (Librarian O'Neill's letter in the authors' possession).

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 2-GP's First Proposal (c. 1815-17). Of GP's first meeting with Elizabeth Carson, his marriage proposal, and her father's disapproval J.W. Leakin wrote: "…Of the younger daughter [of Rev. Samuel Knox] there is a very romantic story told by the daughter of a lady who was very intimate with her: 'When she [Elizabeth Carson] was quite a young girl, a clerk in a banking-house addressed her on a walk across the Long Bridge; that clerk's name was George Peabody. On the return he spoke to her father and he [her father] declined to give his [GP's] suit any encouragement because he had no means to support her and she afterwards married Mr. Carson, who was a man in a comfortable business, but who failed, leaving her with four or five children.'" Ref.: Ibid.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 3-GP's Second Proposal (probably Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857). J.W. Leakin's letter then described GP's second unsuccessful proposal: "When Mr. Peabody heard that she was a widow, after the lapse of years and the attendant incumbrances which it had brought to her, he came back and again addressed her while she was obliged to work for a living, keeping a boarding house. At that time Mr. Peabody was one of the leading bankers of the world, having a house in New York, London and Washington. Mrs. Carson had the old world idea, of those who are strictly brought up, that there was a great deal of deceitfulness in riches, and the story goes that she spent all night in prayer to know whether or not she ought to accept Mr. Peabody and on the next morning she told him that she felt she could not accept him." Ref.: Ibid.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 4-Last Meeting (probably Oct. 24-25, 1866). J.W. Leakin's letter described their third and last meeting: "I remember hearing when I was a very small boy, living with my grandmother who was then a very old lady, that this great-aunt, Mrs. Carson, came to Baltimore and went with my grandmother to a reception which was given Mr. Peabody on the occasion of the opening of the Peabody Institute, which was donated by him to this city, and when Mrs. Carson came onto the stage where he was receiving the people, he left everyone else and advanced to where she was, then an old woman of seventy, and took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'. Afterwards, he dined with Mr. John W. Garrett, and someone said to him, 'Mr. Peabody, I hear that you met your old sweetheart today.' And he said 'Yes', but that it was a subject on which he did not care to talk; that he had had a great many successes in his life, but that that was his greatest disappointment." Ref.: Ibid.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 5-Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, followed by the Newburyport, Mass., fire, May 31, 1811, led GP at 16 (he clerked in his older brother's store, ruined by the Newburyport fire) to migrate with paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826) to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry good store on May 15, 1812. As a War of 1812 volunteer, GP at 19 met older (age 35) fellow soldier and experienced Georgetown, D.C., merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs in 1814 took GP as junior partner in Riggs & Peabody, which imported dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815. See: Great Fire of Newburyport, Mass.(May 31, 1811). Georgetown, D.C. Newburyport, Mass. Riggs, Sr., Elisha.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 6- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). Early in GP's 22 years in Baltimore (1815-37), after which he moved permanently to London, he supported his mother and younger siblings, paid his deceased father's debts, paid the mortgage on the family home (Danvers, Mass.) to restore it to his mother and siblings, and paid for his younger siblings' schooling at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. See: Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. Riggs, Peabody & Co.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 7- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1815-17 (Cont'd). GP most likely first met Elizabeth Knox during 1815-17. When he asked her father, Samuel Knox, for his daughter's hand in marriage, Samuel Knox thought GP unsuitable economically. In 1817, Elizabeth Knox at age 18 (GP was then age 22) married George Carson, a Baltimore bank teller. George Carson is believed to have died about 1841, after the birth of the couple's fourth child. Elizabeth Carson, in reduced circumstances, managed a boarding house, probably with distant relatives as boarders, at 206 West Lombard St., Baltimore Ref.: Jones. Md. Historical Society's Ref.: Libn. Francis P. O'Neill to authors, Aug. 30, 2001. See: Persons named.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 8-GP's Circumstances, 1857. GP in London from 1837 as head of George Peabody & Co., was a rising broker-banker dealing with American securities In 1838, when he was age 42, he met, fell in love with, and was engaged to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905). Strikingly beautiful and unusually mature at age 19, she was in London for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). In 1839, having returned to the U.S., she rekindled an earlier love with Alexander Lardner (1808-48) and broke her engagement to GP. She married Alexander Lardner on Oct. 2, 1840. Her portrait by artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library shows her in all her beauty. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Sully, Thomas. Lardner, Alexander.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 9- Review: GP's Circumstances, 1857 (Cont'd). GP was intensely busy during his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19,1857) after nearly 20 years abroad. He added funds to his Peabody Institute Libraries in North and South Danvers, Mass., and was mainly concerned to establish the PIB. He was in Baltimore Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, during which receptions were held for him by the Md. Historical Society (Jan. 30) and the Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts (Feb. 2).ccccccccc He met with key PIB trustees to plan his Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter. Sometime during Jan. 26 to Feb. 14, 1857, GP, then age 62, made his alleged second marriage proposal to Elizabeth Carson, then 58, when she was a widow in poor circumstances managing a boarding house in Baltimore. The Jones account is that she declined, saying that people would believe she had married GP solely for his money. Ref.: Ibid.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 10-GP's Sister on his Baltimore Receptions. GP's sister, Mrs. Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels (1799-1879), through whom he dispensed family funds, wrote him from Mass. (on Feb. 19, 1857) that the Md. Institute reception (Feb. 2) must have touched him deeply. Among the young ladies he had saluted so "heartily" in Baltimore that night, she teased, "may have been the daughter of...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!'" It was a teasing remark with more than a touch of pity. Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, Feb. 19, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-GP's Sister on His Baltimore Receptions (Cont'd). Judith added, referring indirectly to his 1852 philanthropic motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations" (her underlining): "What...results of good, not only to your contemporaries but to 'future generations,' were pending on that one act of self-denial, practiced by you in the days of youthful romance. Even at this late day, I have given a tear of sympathy for what may be presumed to have been your feelings, when you made the 'wise' decision, and resolved to submit to what you certainly have a right to think a hard lot: and, did I believe that through life you had been less happy, I should most sincerely regret your 'wisdom' spite of generations, present and future--myself and posterity included...." "But my dear brother is not desolate although alone. One affection, at least, deeper, stronger, steadier than that of a wife, clinging to him with a firmer tenacity as age creeps on, and which no circumstances can change, follows him through all his wanderings. And for the children...all the children are his children." See: Daniels, Judith (née Peabody) Russell. Danvers, Mass., Centennial, June 16, 1852.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Comment on Sister Judith's Letter. Judith's letter does not identify Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson or Esther Elizabeth Hoppin or another as "...the beautiful [girl] whom as you remarked one day you would have married, if you had been 'silly enough!" Two other ladies were publicly romantically linked to GP in London during 1852-53: Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (18921-75), niece of U.S. Minister to Britain Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), and Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). GP, then age 58, wrote to an intimate friend: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." See: Romance and GP. Persons named.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-GP's Circumstances, 1866. On GP's second busy U.S. visit during May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867, his main concern was to speak at the dedication of the PIB and to found the Peabody Education Fund. In Baltimore he spoke and greeted visitors at the Oct. 25, 1866, PIB dedication, the likely date he allegedly last saw Elizabeth Carson. In Leakin's words: "…he left everyone else…took her in his arms in that public place and said 'Well, Eliza, is this you?'" Leakin's letter stated that Elizabeth Carson, accompanied by his grandmother "came to Baltimore…" Md. Historical Society Ref.: Libn. O'Neill, who found Elizabeth Carson's death notice in York, Pa. (which was connected by rail with Baltimore), conjectured that she lived there with her daughter and son-in-law D.O. Prince from about the mid 1850s to her death. Ref.: O'Neill See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 11-Conclusion. It is doubtful that GP contemplated marriage after 1850. Publicity which accompanied his fame as a philanthropist in the 1860s mounted enormously at his last illness, Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, and unusual transatlantic funeral honors. Some obituary accounts attributed his philanthropic motive as compensation for a lost love. Such stories persisted long after his death. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Romance and GP.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 12-Conclusion (Cont'd.). Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry's (1825-1903) 1898 book, A Brief Sketch of George Peabody, printed an undated letter from the daughter of a business friend of GP. She wrote that when her father congratulated GP on his amazing philanthropy (probably on GP's arrival in NYC, May 1, 1866), GP reportedly replied: "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.

Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). 13-Conclusion (Cont'd.). There is documentation in GP's papers about Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, Miss Willcocks, and Elise Tiffany but no direct mention of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson. That alleged romance, which rests on the evidence of J.W. Leakin's letter, is possible and even likely. A PIB Art Gallery catalog listing of an 1840 portrait of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson contains the legend: "Lady to whom G. Peabody twice offered his hand." Ref.: Jones, p. 7. See: persons named. Romance and GP. For location of her portrait, see Ref.: g. Internet, under Peabody Art Collection, Md. State Archives.

Carson, George (d.? 1841). See: Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox), (above).

Broken Engagement

Cass, Lewis (1782-1866). 1-GP's Engagement "thoroughly discussed." Lewis Cass was U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42. Amid the vast publicity on GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London and his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral, the story of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (R.I., Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth." See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.

Cass, Lewis. 2-Career. Lewis Cass was born in Exeter, N.H.; was a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio; was U.S. marshal for Ohio (1807-12); fought in the War of 1812; was Mich. Territory governor (1813-31); U.S. Secty. of War (1831-36); U.S. Minister to France (1836-42); U.S. Sen. from Mich. (1845-48); and U.S. Secty. of State (1857-60). Ref.: Ibid.

Castle Connell, Limerick, lreland. In June 1867 and in July 1868 GP rented the Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, on the Shannon River, where he liked to fish. MP John Bright (1811-89) was his guest on both occasions. GP's little known unusual gift (amount and date of gift not known) of a stone-based metal railing in front of the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland, has carved on it: "THIS RAILING IS THE GIFT OF GEORGE PEABODY ESQ." See: Bright, John. Ireland.

GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995)

Catto, Rt. Hon. Lord (Sir Stephen Gordon, 1923-), is the former head of the Morgan Grenfell Group banking firm, lineal descendant of George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. Lord Catto was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge Univ.; he succeeded his father as 2nd Baron Catto (1936); served with the RAF in WW II; and headed Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. (from 1948) and its successor Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group (1980-87). Ref.: New York Times, July 16, 1995, section XIII-CN, p. 17, c. 1. (Career): Seen Dec. 9, 1999: Internet http://www.knowuk.co.uk See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).

Cazenove, Philip (1798-1880), who paid for British artist Henry William Pickersgill's (1782-1875) portrait of GP in the Corporation of London's Guildhall, is listed in Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edn. (1965j), Vol. 1, p. 128, as "of Clapham, Founder of the Girls School at Green Lane and of Bolingbrooke Hospital." Ref.: London Times, April 10, 1866, p. 5, c. 3; and April 11, 1866, p. 5, c. 5. [Cazenove, Philip]. See: Pickersgill, Henry William.

Centennial Celebration, GP's, 1895. For speeches, messages received, and Queen Victoria's cablegram, with sources, see: George Peabody Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1795-1895). Victoria, Queen.

Governor of Maine

Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence (1828-1914), governor of Maine, participated in the Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870, reception of GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch, accompanied by the USS Plymouth, in Portland harbor, Maine. Gov. Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine; graduated from Bowdoin College (1852) and attended Bangor Theological Seminary; taught at Bowdoin College (1855-62); was a Lt. Col. in the 20th Maine Infantry; won the Congressional Medal of Honor for his defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg (1863); was promoted to brig. gen. in the field by commanding Gen. U.S. Grant (1822-85) in June 1864; was Maine governor (1867-71); president of Bowdoin College (1871-83); and active in railroads and industry. Ref.: Boatner, p. 135. See: Death and funeral, GP's.

Chamier, Frederick (1796-1870). In his journal U.S. novelist Herman Melville (1819-91) recorded those present, including GP, when in Nov. 1849 he dined at the London home of Weymouth, Mass.-born head of the Baring Brothers banking firm Joshua Bates (1788-1864): "There was a Baron opposite me and a most lovely young girl, a daughter of Captain Chamier, the sea novelist...." See: Melville, Herman.

Chandler, Charles W. (d. Feb. 9, 1882). 1-Married GP's Niece Julia Adelaide Peabody. Charles W. Chandler was principal of the high school in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio (April 1855-June 1865) and interim school superintendent (Jan. 7, 1862-63). He married GP's niece Julia Adelaide (née Peabody, b. April 25, 1835) Chandler (see immediately below) on Oct. 16, `1861, recorded in the Court of Common Pleas Probate Division, 401 Main St., Zanesville, Oh. 43701-3567. She was the daughter of GP's oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841). Ref.: (High school principal): Everhart, pp. 221-222. (Marriage): Tunis.

Chandler, C.W. 2-Named Executor of GP's U.S. Estate. In his last will of Sept. 9, 1869, GP named two executors of his U.S. estates: nephew-in-law Charles W. Chandler and nephew Robert Singleton Peabody (1837-1904), son of GP's sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Daniels (1799-1879). GP left each U.S. executor $5,000 (ƒ1,000). Ref.: Death and Funeral, GP's, 4. See: Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) below. Wills, GP's.

Favorite Niece

Chandler, Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) (b. April 25, 1835). 1-GP's Niece. During his first U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug 19, 1857) after nearly 20 years' absence as a merchant-banker in London, GP became acquainted with his niece, Julia Adelaide Peabody, then age 21. This daughter of oldest brother David Peabody (1790-1841) became GP's favorite niece. She lived in Zanesville, Ohio, with her mother, David Peabody's second wife, Mrs. Phebe (née Reynolds) Peabody, went to finishing school in Philadelphia at uncle GP's expense, and married Zanesville, Ohio, lawyer Charles W. Chandler (d. 1882), who was an executor of GP's U.S. estate at GP's death.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 2-Background. In April 1811 David Peabody, oldest in the family of 8, employed GP, then age 16, as clerk in a dry goods shop David and partner Samuel Swett managed on State St., Newburyport, Mass. GP's father's death, May 13, 1811, in debt in Danvers, Mass., plus a devastating fire in Newburyport, May 31, 1811, led GP and paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826), whose store was burned, to sail from Newburyport, May 4, 1812, to Georgetown, D.C., where they opened a dry goods store, May 15, 1812. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 3-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. GP managed the store, his uncle having gone into other enterprises. GP also served briefly in the War of 1812. He met older fellow soldier and experienced merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), who took GP, then age 19, as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), importers of dry goods from abroad for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm prospered. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., left the firm in 1829 to become a NYC banker, his place was taken by his nephew, Samuel Riggs (d.1853), in the renamed Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48). See: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 4-Brothers Worked for Riggs, Peabody & Co. Cont'd. GP's three brothers occasionally worked for the firm: David Peabody, younger brothers Thomas Peabody (1801-35), and Jeremiah Dodge Peabody (1805-77, who early left the firm to become a farmer in Zanesville, Ohio). Correspondence from family and the firms detailed below indicated that Thomas and to a lesser extent David were improvident, gambled, drank, and were often in debt. Correspondence also indicated that oldest brother David may have been remiss in dealings with GP, but that GP aided financially David's son by his first wife (mentioned below) and daughter Julia Adelaide by his second wife. See: persons named.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 5-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling. On Jan. 20, 1814, in Newburyport, Mass., David Peabody married Sally Caldwell. She died soon after 1815, leaving a son named after his uncle, George Peabody (1815-32). In Nov. 1816 David transferred to GP, now the main family supporter, title to their late father's mortgaged Danvers, Mass., home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote to GP Dec. 16, 1816, "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent." By Jan. 1817 GP had paid off his late father's debts and restored his mother and younger siblings to their Danvers home (they had been forced to live separately with Spofford relatives in Salem, Mass.). Ref.: Ebon Mosley, Newburyport, Mass., to GP, Baltimore, Dec. 16, 1816, Peabody Papers, PEM.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 6-GP Paid for Relatives' Schooling Cont'd. GP paid for six of his relatives' schooling at Bradford Academy, Mass., during most of the 1820s, and bought a house for the family in West Bradford. Those who attended Bradford Academy were: 1-youngest born brother Jeremiah Peabody in 1819; 2-fourth born child Judith Dodge Peabody (1799-1879) during 1821-27; 3-seventh born and third of four sisters Mary Gaines Peabody (1807-34) in 1822-23; 4-eighth born and fourth sister Sophronia Phelps Peabody (b.1809) in 1827; 5-young cousin Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814, paternal uncle John Peabody's son) during 1827-29; and 6-nephew George Peabody (1815-32, oldest brother David's son who sadly died of scarlet fever at age 17) in 1827. Ref.: (David Peabody married Sally Caldwell): Vital Records...Newburyport, Mass. ...to...1849, Vol. II, p. 360. See: Bradford Academy. Persons named.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 7-Nephew Asked for Aid for College. David's son named after GP wrote to ask if his uncle would help him financially to attend Yale College. GP, back in London after a 15-month commercial buying trip in Europe, replied positively on May 18, 1831. Perhaps the cultural scenes he briefly glimpsed on his commercial travels induced the following poignant letter that helps explain GP's later philanthropy.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 8-"Deprived, as I was." GP wrote his nephew (his underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me." Sadly this nephew died Sept. 24, 1832, in Boston of scarlet fever, his potential unfulfilled. Ref.: GP, London, to nephew George Peabody, May 18, 1831, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 9-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers. In Jan. and Feb. 1827 Elisha Riggs, Sr., then GP's senior partner, wrote in confidence to GP, then working out of Baltimore for the firm, of serious difficulties with younger brother Thomas Peabody and some irritations from oldest brother David Peabody. "My whole time," Elisha Riggs, Sr., wrote to GP, "was employed late & early in attending to various business, While I was also much trouble[d] in Mind, as to what course to take with Thomas P[eabody] who I had nearly lost confidence in, and had to be attentive to every thing in the way of business myself, as but little appeared to be done as it should be without my personal attention." See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 10-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have caused Thomas to remove from his old boarding place to Mr. Devens where I board. [H]e has been here about three days. [H]e promises to be regular in his habits for the future and is generally in the house of nights in good time--As I often have writing for him to do in my room. I have paid all his debts of borrowed money, taylors, shoe bills, etc., with the exception of about 150$ which he borrowed he says of Brokers & Lotter [lottery, i.e. gambling] men, of which David Peabody was also bound. This I told him I would not pay at present. I keep a strick eye over him as well as my business will allow me to do--And have assured him, that if he ever acted again as he has done, that I would certainly get another Clerk--I have taken great pains and talked with him very carefully as to the consequences of his conduct--he appears penitent and I hope will keep his promise hereafter." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 11-Elisha Riggs, Sr. on GP's Difficult Brothers Cont'd.: "I have acted the part of a good friend toward him in every respect, which he appears to feel and acknowledge. A short time will enable him to see and determine--I understand from Thomas that David is now employed in a lottery office. He is occasionally in the Store...." Riggs ended with: "This letter is written in haste for yourself only, as I have never mentioned to any person except yourself anything about T.P. [Thomas Peabody]. You will therefore destroy this letter...." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 12-GP's Mother Ill. Often in financial trouble, David in NYC wrote brother Thomas in Baltimore that he needed money. Thomas replied, Nov. 18, 1828, that he was without a job and could do nothing. Four days later GP sent Thomas $15 which Thomas sent to David. Thomas sought better prospects in South America. He wrote older brother David from Lima, Peru, April 30, 1830, that he was working there as bookkeeper for Alsop, Wetmore & Co.'s agent, that their brother GP was about to sail for England on his second European commercial buying trip (1831-32, 15 months), and that their mother, in poor health, was living with recently married daughter Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh in Lockport, N.Y. On April 30, 1830, Mary wrote David in NYC that their mother was still in poor health, that she had the ague followed by a high intermittent fever. Caleb Marsh (b.1800) also wrote David that mother Peabody was seriously ill and that he did not think she would recover. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 13-GP's Mother Died, June 22, 1830. On June 25, 1830, Mary wrote David that their mother had died on June 22, 1830, a month short of her sixtieth year. David forwarded Mary's letter about their mother's death to GP by the next ship bound for England. He added to GP, in a postscript to Mary's letter: "The above I just recd in time to forward by the Canada [ship]--which sails in an hour. I should have gone to Lockport a month since if it had been in my power to have paid the expense of the journey. Yrs. truly, D. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 14-Thomas Peabody Ill and Unemployed. Thomas Peabody was ill in Lima, Peru; gave up his job there; worked his way back to the U.S. as a ship's clerk, and lost that job when a new crew was hired. GP was out of the country on a European buying trip when Thomas landed in Baltimore without work. He wrote David in NYC: "George being out of the country my necessity for employment is very great & for the present I would be willing to take up with almost any situation." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 15-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835. Peabody family letters hint at rather than detail Thomas Peabody's misdemeanors. He had evidently wronged brother David and begged to be forgiven. Thomas Peabody died April 16, 1835, the day before his thirty-fourth birthday. He had been operating a school and had gone to pay some debts in Buffalo, N.Y. Not having enough money to meet his obligations and overcome with remorse and shame, he died in circumstances not specified in family letters. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 16-Thomas Peabody's Death, 1835 Cont'd. GP, then in Europe, had the sad news in an April 20, 1835, letter, from his brother-in-law, Dr. Eldridge Gerry Little, a physician, married to GP's youngest sister Sophronia Phelps (née Peabody) Little (b.1809). Dr. Little wrote to GP: "It becomes my painful duty to inform you of the death of Thomas. He died in Buffalo on the 16th inst. a victim of his own vices." Four months later sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell in her Aug. 23, 1835, letter to GP, referred to Thomas as their "poor misguided brother." She also relayed news that oldest brother David had married again. He met his second wife when he boarded at her home in Brookline, near Boston, Mass. David and his new family moved to Zanesville, Ohio, where youngest brother Jeremiah had settled on a farm. Maybe, Judith added about David, having a wife again might teach him economy. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 17-GP and Niece Julia, 1856-57. During his 1856-57 U.S. visit GP was busy visiting friends, being honored, fêted, seeing after his institute library in what is now Peabody, Mass., founding a branch library in what is now Danvers, Mass., founding the PIB (Feb. 12, 1857), traveling to see vast changes in the U.S. since his 20-year absence abroad. He was in Zanesville, Ohio, Nov. 1856 with brother Jeremiah's family and became acquainted with niece Julia Adelaide, age 21. He overcame her mother's initial doubts about sending Julia to a finishing school in Philadelphia at his expense. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 18-With Julia in Philadelphia, 1857. GP was in Philadelphia Jan. 10-18, 1857, partly to sit for a portrait in artist James Read Lambdin's (1807-89) Philadelphia studio, partly to be with niece Julia Adelaide, then attending finishing school in Philadelphia. With GP in Philadelphia was Baltimorean and PIB trustee Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93). Eaton, an art collector, was keen to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Artist James Read Lambdin, its director, took the group to visit the art gallery. GP preferred to sit and wait while the others toured the gallery. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 19-"Julia will be a solace to your declining years." On May 20, 1857, sister Judith wrote GP from her home in Georgetown, Mass. She was glad he had taken Julia under his wing, sent her to school in Philadelphia, and had someone to lavish his affections on. She recalled how often Julia's father David, their deceased brother, had been jobless and in debt, how GP had time and again aided David and all the family. "I trust," she wrote, "that Julia will be a solace to your declining years, and by her affection, wipe away the remembrance of the wrongs you have received from her father." Ref.: Mrs. Judith (née Peabody) Russell, Georgetown, Mass., to GP, May 20, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 20-Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, April 1857, published an extensive, laudatory account of GP's life, rise in business, saving Md.'s credit abroad, and philanthropic gifts. The article, reprinted in pamphlet form, was widely circulated. Niece Julia Adelaide had a copy, wrote to tell GP that all her friends said he was quite handsome and that she was making a miniature painting of the GP frontispiece picture. She asked in her letter, "Will 'somebody' please send me a lock of his hair." Ref.: Julia Adelaide Peabody, Zanesville, Ohio, to GP, April 30, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 21-GP & Niece Julia Visit Yale College. In July 1857 GP took Julia with him to New Haven, Conn., to visit Yale College, where nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), son of GP's deceased younger sister Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh, was studying science. While there he had a visit from science Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Sr. (1779-1864). Neither man could foresee that nine years later GP would endow Peabody museums at Harvard and Yale Universities. Ref.: "George Peabody-a."

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 22-Panic of 1857. Having Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner in George Peabody & Co., London, from Oct. 1, 1854, freed GP for his 1856-57 U.S. visit. J.S. Morgan wrote GP frequently about business affairs. On Jan. 30, 1857, Morgan alerted GP to a brewing financial panic: "The drawing upon us for the last two or three mails have been very heavy and the look of our financial business is anything but encouraging for it." Morgan warned GP again on Feb. 27 and Apr. 9: "These are times when we must keep a sharp lookout. We are in a good position and must keep so." See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 23-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. On April 11 GP's cousin Joseph Peabody wrote from NYC of a Paris firm (Greene & Co.) "obliged to suspend...." Alarmed, J.S. Morgan wrote GP, April 17, that money was stringent, and the specie of the Bank of England were down to nine million, "the lowest point in ten years." GP hurriedly left NYC for London on Aug. 19, 1857. He found that hundreds of U.S. and British firms had collapsed, that Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which owed him a large sum, could not repay him, that Baring Brothers of London were pressing George Peabody & Co. for £150,000 ($750,000) owed them. George Peabody & Co. was in trouble. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 24-GP to Julia about the Panic. On Nov. 13, 1857, GP wrote of his distress to niece Julia Adelaide Peabody: "This letter I promised to write you has been postponed because of my constant engagements and the unparalleled gloom of the Panic. What will happen, Heaven only knows. Lack of confidence and distrust is universal here and in the United States. I hope my house will weather the storm. I think it will do so even though so many in debt to me cannot pay. If I fail I will bear it like a man. In my conscience I know I never deceived or injured any other human being." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 25-GP to Julia about the Panic Cont'd : "It is less than three months since I left you in the United States, prosperous and happy. Now all is gloom and affliction. Nearly all the American houses in Europe have suspended operations and nothing but great strength can save them. It is the loss of credit of my house I fear. In any circumstances, only a small part of my private fortune will be lost. I will have enough for all my required purposes." GP held this letter for some weeks, determined not to worry his niece and to secure a Bank of England loan. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 26-Bank of England Loan. Gathering his assets, GP anxiously applied for a $4 million loan from the Bank of England. While the Bank of England considered the loan request, some financiers, seeing an opportunity to force GP out of business, approached GP's partner J.S. Morgan and said that they would guarantee the loan if George Peabody & Co. ceased business in London. Second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) later wrote that GP raged like a wounded lion "and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." The Bank of England made the loan, enabling GP to satisfy his creditors, and by March 30, 1858, GP was able to repay the Bank of England. On April 16, 1858, GP wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), "My business is again quite snug. ....Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 27-GP Explained to Julia . GP held the letter to Julia for three weeks and then added: "My very dear Niece,--The three pages enclosed, as you will see from the date were written three weeks ago when I felt...that the credit of my house was in danger.... I thought to myself, Why should I make my good niece unhappy, however so my miserable self? and consequently declined to send the letter, and I am glad that I did not. "A few days after I felt it to be my duty to apply to the banks for a loan of money sufficient to carry my house through the crisis, proposing security for the full amount required, which was four million dollars. It was a severe test to my pride, but after a week spent with the Committees and Directors of the Banks I finally succeeded, and I doubt not that my house is now free from all danger.... Don't you hold your head less high or your heart worth less than you did before, for your Uncle George had done nothing but what among sensible persons will raise him higher than before." Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 28-J.S. Morgan Visited Julia, 1858. J.S. Morgan was in the U.S. in late 1858 and went to see GP's niece Julia in Oct. He wrote to GP on Nov. 2, 1858, that he had seen Julia and "found her all that I had expected from your description.... I am not surprised at your feelings toward her as she seemed a person uncommonly attractive both in mind and person." GP also wrote his niece Julia in late 1858 that, following attacks of gout in his feet and right hand, he had been to and returned from Vichy, France, where he had taken the mineral water cure under the care of a physician. His illness led him to confide to Julia that when his partnership with J.S. Morgan expired in 1864, or before, he hoped to return to the U.S. and lead a quiet life. Of the Panic of 1857 he wrote: "I am happy also to tell you that although my firm lost some money the business of the year more than made it good, and individually I am now worth much more than I supposed myself when I left the United States and I sincerely feel that what we supposed misfortunes and calamities last year were, so far as regards myself, really 'blessings in disguise.'" Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 29-Julia in Philadelphia School. Julia, in school in Philadelphia, wrote her mother of parties she had attended at Christmas 1857, of lovely clothes her uncle had approved her buying, that she was going to NYC and then to visit GP's business friends the Wetmores in R.I., and that she promised her uncle to write regularly to aunt Judith, who was always in touch with GP. Ref.: Ibid.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 30-Julia Married Charles W. Chandler. Julia Adelaide Peabody married Charles W. Chandler (d. Feb. 9, 1882) in Zanesville, Ohio, on Oct. 16, 1861. He was the principal of the high school in Zanesville during April 1855-June 1865, was acting school superintendent, 1862), and was named by GP before his death as one of the U.S. executives of his U.S. estate (the other U.S. executor was GP's nephew Robert Singleton Peabody [1837-1904]). Ref.: (Julia's marriage) Tunis. (Chandler as high school principal): Everhart, pp. 221-222.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 31-GP's 1866-67 Visit. On May 18, 1866, soon after GP's arrival for his second U.S. visit (May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867), Mrs. George Peabody Russell, wife of GP's nephew (sister Judith Dodge née Peabody Russell's son) wrote Julia Adelaide news of their uncle: "He is a very handsome old gentleman looking as they all say much better than when he left here. He seems perfectly happy and never tires of planning for the good of those who are dear to him, as you will know before long." Ref.: Mrs. George Peabody Russell to Mrs. Julia Adelaide (née Peabody) Chandler, May 18, 1866, Peabody Papers, PEM.

Chandler, J.A. (née Peabody). 32-Last Visits. On Nov. 2-10, 1866, GP was in Zanesville for a family visit and saw Julia and her family (she then had two children). There were later family gatherings during GP's third and last U.S. visit, June 8-Sept. 29, 1869. His weakened condition was evident. Saddest of all was the family gathering at his final funeral service in Peabody, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870. Court of Common Pleas Probate Division, 401 Main St., Zanesville, Oh. 43701-3567, has the marriage record of Julia Adelaide Peabody to Charles W. Chandler in 1862 and of Charles W. Chandler's death on Feb. 9, 1882. See: Chandler, Charles W. (above). Death and Funeral, GP's. Wills, GP's.

Chapman, John Lee (1812-80), was the mayor of Baltimore who, with city council members, greeted GP and guests on arrival, Oct. 24, 1866, to attend PIB dedication and opening ceremonies, Oct. 25-26, 1866. GP's guests included Charles Macalester (1798-1873) of Philadelphia, Capt. Charles H.E. Judkins of the Scotia, GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) and wife, nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), and George Peabody Wetmore (1846-1921) of Newport, R.I. (later R.I. governor, 1885-87, and U.S. senator. 1895-1913); and some PIB trustees. They were taken by carriage to Barnum's City Hotel as guests of the city (GP had lived at Barnum's from its opening [about 1836] until his departure for London in Feb. 1837). Ref.: Coyle, pp. 106-115. See: U.S. Visits, 1866-67. Persons named.

Chapple, William Dismore. Author of George Peabody (Salem, Mass.: Peabody Museum, 1948). See: Peabody, George, Biographies.

Charity Commissioners, London. On March 27, 1862, following GP's letter of March 12, 1862, founding the Peabody Donation Fund (to build and manage model apartments for London's working poor, $2.5 million total gift), trustee James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869) wrote to GP: "I have returned after spending a very long time with the Commissioners of Charities who enter with the most lively interest into the arrangements for our trust. They tell me that in the whole range of charities of England there is nothing to compare with the disinterestedness and magnitude of your gift." See: Peabody Homes of London.

Charles St., and Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore. Site chosen for the PIB. For other sites proposed and discussed, see: PIB.

Charleston, S.C. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Charleston, S.C., March 7, 1857. For details and sources of GP's March-April 1857 travel itinerary, see: Augusta, Ga.

Chase, Salmon Portland (1808-73), was N.H.-born, a Dartmouth College graduate (1826), U.S. Senator (1849-55), Ohio governor (1855-59), Pres. Abraham Lincoln's Treasury Secty. (1861-64), and U.S. Chief Justice (from 1864). GP sent S.P. Chase a copy of his Oct. 27, 1851, dinner book (U.S.-British friendship dinner, London, to departing U.S. exhibitors, Great Exhibition of 1851, London, first world's fair). Chase sent GP a report by Socialist David Dale Owen (1807-60) and a letter introducing the editor of the Washington, D.C., weekly journal National Era. Ref.: Salmon P. Chase to GP, March 17, and April 27, 1853, Peabody Papers, PEM. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).

Cherbourg, France, is the French seaport on the English Channel where the Confederate CSS Alabama was intercepted (June 14, 1864) and sunk (June 19, 1864) by the Union warship, USS Kearsarge, under Capt. John Ancrum Winslow (1811-73). For details and sources on how the Alabama affected GP's funeral, see: Alabama Claims.

Chicago Bank One. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics-18-32.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. For GP's part in selling abroad the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. part of Md.'s $8 million bond sale abroad, from 1837, see: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.

Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, Ill., has New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley's (1811-72) Aug. 24, 1854, letter asking GP to aid his wife if needed on her trip to Sweden. See: Greeley, Horace.

Childers, Hugh Culling Eardley (1827-96). On Dec. 8, 1869, First Lord of the Admiralty Hugh Culling Eardley Childers boarded HMS Monarch, Portsmouth, England, to inspect preparations in progress to receive GP's remains. Born and died in London, Childers was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He emigrated to Australia (1850), rose rapidly in the civil service, became a member of the Australian cabinet (1856), and was founder and first vice chancellor, Univ. of Melbourne. He returned to London (1857) as Queen Victoria's agent general; was elected Liberal MP for Pontefract (1860); was financial secretary, Treasury Dept. (1865-66); was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in PM W.E. Gladstone's cabinet (1868-71); was chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (1872-73); was Gladstone's Secretary for War (1880-82), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1882), and Home Secretary (retired 1892). Ref.: "Hugh Culling Eardley Childers," Vol. 5, pp. 502-503. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.

PEF Trustee

Childs, George William (1829-94), was elected a PEF trustee to succeed trustee Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93) but died before he could take his seat on the board. Childs's place was taken by George Peabody Wetmore (1846-1921) of Rhode Island. George W. Childs was born in Baltimore, was publisher of the Philadelphia Public Ledger during 1864-94, and as a philanthropist educated over 800 children, gave a Shakespearean memorial fountain to Stratford-on-Avon, a memorial window in Westminster Abbey, and helped establish a home for printers in Colorado Springs. Ref.: Curry-b, p. 105.

Choate, Joseph Hodges (1832-1917), nephew of Rufus Choate (below) was a PEF trustee elected to succeed trustee Hamilton Fish (1809-93). Joseph H. Choate was born in Salem, Mass., was a Harvard Law School graduate (1854), a NYC lawyer who helped expose the Tweed Ring in 1871 and 1894, was U.S. Ambassador to Britain (1899-1905), and the U.S. delegate to the Second Hague Conference (1907). Ref.: Curry-b, p. 107.

Choate, Rufus (1799-1859), uncle of Joseph Hodges Choate (above), was a prominent Mass. lawyer and statesman. He was unable to attend but sent a letter instead extolling the importance on June 16, 1852, of the 100th anniversary of the separation of Danvers from Salem, Mass. This was the occasion when GP, also invited to attend but unable to leave London, had his letter dated London, May 26, 1852, read aloud by boyhood playmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874). This letter contained GP's first gift founding his first Peabody Institute Library to which he ultimately gave $217,000. His letter also contained his motto: Education--a debt due from present to future generations. Rufus Choate was born in Ipswich, Mass., graduated from Dartmouth College (1819), began his law practice in Danvers, served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1830-35), had a large Boston law practice, succeeded Daniel Webster (1782-1852) in the U.S. Senate (1841-45), and was a leading orator of the time. See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June. 16, 1852.

Christ Church College, Oxford Univ. Dr. Henry Longueville Mansel (1820-71) of Oxford Univ.'s Christ Church College wrote asking GP if he would accept an honorary degree. GP agreed on June 5, 1867, to accept. For details on the awarding of the honorary Doctor of Laws degree to GP on June 26, 1867, with sources, see: Oxford Univ., England.

Cincinnati, Ohio. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Cincinnati, Ohio, where he declined a public dinner, met citizens at the Merchants' Exchange, and received and acknowledged resolutions of praise (April 10, 1857). For details and sources of GP's March-April 1857 itinerary, see: Augusta, Ga.

Exclusive Clubs

City of London Club. 1-Basis for Anti-Americanism. In 1844 GP was denied membership (blackballed) at London's Reform Club, although proposed for membership by two members of Parliament. The economic reason for the then anti-U.S. feeling in Britain was that the Panic of 1837 and the severe depression that followed led nine states, including Md., to stop interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. GP had gone to Europe in Feb. 1837, on his fifth business trip abroad, as Md.'s agent to sell the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. part of Md.'s $8 million bond issue. He remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69) moving from dry goods merchant to securities broker to international banker. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.

City of London Club. 2-Basis for Anti-Americanism Cont'd. British and European investors, many retired, their widows and children, were economically hurt and angry at the repudiating states. In this anti-U.S. context, GP was blackballed when proposed for membership in the Reform Club in 1844. Years later when his leadership role in championing resumption of interest payment on U.S. bonds became known, he was accepted without opposition into membership at the Parthenon Club (1848), the City of London Club (1850), and others. Ref.: Ibid. City of London Club, p. 51.

City of London Club. 3-GP's Leadership Role. GP urged Md. state officials to resume interest payments quickly and retroactively. He also publicly assured British and other European investors that repudiation was temporary, that interest payments would resume, and that they would be retroactive. By 1847 news that Md. and other defaulting states had recovered, had resumed interest payments retroactively, and that GP was partly responsible echoed in financial circles on both sides of the Atlantic. The London correspondent of the New York Courier & Enquirer wrote: "...the energetic influence of the Anti-Repudiators would never have been heard in England had not Mr. George Peabody...made it a part of his duty to give to the holders of the Bonds every information in his power, and to point out...the certainty of Maryland resuming [payment].... He...had the moral courage to tell his countrymen the [truth].... [He is] a merchant of high standing...but also an uncompromising denouncer of chicanery in every shape." Ref.: Ibid.

City of London Club. 4-Taken into Clubs. It was in this glow of publicity that GP was taken into the Parthenon Club (1848) four years after being blackballed at the Reform Club (1844). He proudly wrote to a friend, "This Club [Parthenon] ranks much higher than the Reform." Election to the City of London Club (1850) was followed by membership in the prestigious Athenaeum Club (Feb. 3, 1863). Under its Rule Two, the Athenaeum annually admitted nine members who were eminent in science, literature, the arts, or public service. GP's admission came after he established the Peabody Donation Fund (March 12, 1862) which built and managed model apartments for low income London working people (total gift, $2.5 million). Ref.: (Parthenon Club): GP to John Glenn, April 20, 1848, quoted in Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 301. Ref.: (Athenaeum Club): Ward, pp. 195-198.

City of London Club. 5-Other Honors. Other honors that followed from GP's housing gift included the Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862; the first U.S. citizen to accept this honor); membership in two ancient guilds, the Clothworkers' Company (July 2, 1862) and the Fishmongers' Company (April 18,1866); and other honors. See: clubs named.

City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. GP gave $165 to this hospital during 1850-55 (perhaps more but not recorded). Ref.: Parker dissertation, p. 1085.

Civil War (1861-65). See: Civil War and GP (below).

GPAttacked as Confederate Sympathizer

Civil War and GP. 1-Confederate Sympathizer? GP was attacked for alleged Civil War pro-Confederate anti-Union bond sale profiteering. He was also defended as an active Union supporter. This controversy raged from 1861 until well after his Nov. 4, 1869, death. Many European investors, initially uncertain which side would win the Civil War, sold their U.S. securities. European investors did not start buying again until Union victory was assured in 1864.

GP Critic John Bigelow

Civil War and GP. 2-Earliest Charge by John Bigelow. U.S. Consul Gen. in Paris John Bigelow (1817-1911) wrote confidentially to Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72), July 17, 1862, accusing GP of exaggerating Federal reversals in the Civil War in order to cause financial panic and so reap a personal fortune. But John Bigelow did not submit proof. Wallace and Gillespie, editors of U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's (1820-86) journal, who mention John Bigelow's charge against GP, add: "Henry [Brooks] Adams [1838-1918], however in the Education [of Henry Adams] speaks of the loyalty of Peabody and Barings [Baring Brothers banking firm, London]." Ref.: (Bigelow's charge against GP): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., p. 933, note 16.

Civil War and GP. 3-Career. Born in Malden, N.Y., Bigelow graduated from Union College (1835), was a lawyer, then a journalist, an inspector at Sing Sing, N.Y., prison (1845-46), an editor of the NYC Evening Post (1849-61), U.S. Consul Gen. in Paris (1861-64), U.S. Minister to France (1864-67), Secty. of N.Y. State (1875-77), a leading NYC Public Library trustee, an author and editor of the Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin, 1888. Bigelow's unsubstantiated charge was repeated through the years. (Note: For doubt cast about Bigelow's criticism of GP's loyalty, see: Bigelow, John. "Bigelow, John…" in Ref.:, end of book).

Defense of GP

Civil War and GP. 4-New York Times Defense. Other sources just as adamantly declared GP a Unionist. A writer for the New York Times, May 23, 1861, for example, reported: "Dispatches by the Persia state that the agents of the Rebel Government have explored Europe in vain for money, to be had in exchange for their bonds. Mr. Dudley Mann [Ambrose Dudley Mann, 1801-89, Confederate emissary] had sought an interview with Mr. George Peabody in the hope of negotiating a loan, and had been politely, but firmly repulsed. In no case, had they found their securities marketable at the largest discount they could offer as a temptation." Ref.: New York Times, May 23, 1861, p. 1, c. 1; quoted in Moore, ed., I, p. 76.

Civil War and GP. 5-New York Times Defense Cont'd. Reports of GP's alleged southern sympathies surfaced occasionally in the vast publicity at his death and protracted 96-day transatlantic funeral. A writer in the New York Times again sprang to GP's defense, quoting GP's explanation made to a group of NYC friends during his May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867 U.S. visit. One of this group said to GP: "I read in a newspaper today an article about you. It said that you sympathized with the South during the war, that you made money by speculating in Confederate bonds. What is the truth of this?" New York Times, Jan 27, 1870, p. 1, c. 5-7.

Civil War and GP. 6-New York Times Defense Cont'd. GP sprang to his feet and said with some emotion: "I have read paragraphs like that too and am utterly at a loss to know how such an impression got about. Nothing I ever said or did during the war justifies this charge. Let me deny the insinuation in the strongest terms. From the beginning throughout I condemned the cause of the South in taking up arms against the government. In adhering to the cause of the North I injured my reputation with some of my friends who advocated the cause of the South." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 7-New York Times Defense Cont'd.: "As for speculating in Confederate bonds, the only money that I made out of the South during the War was made in this way: Agents of the Confederate government called on me and importuned me to use my influence in negotiating a loan for the Confederacy in England. I immediately and peremptorily refused to have anything to do with it, and told them that in my opinion any American ought to be ashamed to have anything to do with an attempt to break up and destroy such Government as they enjoyed. Finding that I would have nothing to do with their bonds, they sought aid elsewhere." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 8-New York Times Defense Cont'd.: "The sympathies of many English capitalists were with them, and they finally succeeded in enlisting four or five men of large means in their scheme, and a meeting was held, at which time they were to close the negotiations for a loan of $75,000,000 to the Confederacy, receiving its bonds therefor at fifty cents on the dollar. Just before the final papers were to be signed one of the capitalists remarked to the company that, before he affixed his signature, he thought he would go down and consult his friend Peabody, and see what he thought of it. Another of the party said he would do the same thing, and they both came to me, told me what had been done, and asked my advice. Said I, 'Gentlemen, why will you pay 50 cents on the dollar for these bonds, when, by waiting a year, you can get them for 25 or 30 cents on the dollar?'" Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 9-New York Times Defense Cont'd.: "'You do not believe, do you, Mr. Peabody,' replied one of the gentlemen, 'That these bonds can be bought a year hence for that price?' 'I certainly do,' I replied; 'and to prove that I am sincere, I will stipulate to sell you a million dollars worth in one year from today at 25 cents on the dollar.' "They both then agreed that they would have nothing more to do with the loan, but to show that they had no faith in what I said about the future value of the [Confederate] bonds, they were both anxious to accept my offer, and required me to reduce my stipulation to writing. I did so. The year came round, and Confederate bonds were worth less than even I anticipated. But, gentlemen, I held them to their bargain and received $60,000 from them in fulfillment of it, which was all the money I ever made by speculating on the bonds of the Confederacy." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 10-GP's Defense in the Boston Courier. In early March 1861 an anonymous letter writer in Boston and NYC newspapers stated that in his opinion Civil War would be good for business. He wrote that if the North compromised with the South it would ruin the national credit. Because some newspapers inferred that the unknown letter writer might be GP, he wrote to the Boston Courier editor, March 8, 1861: "I do not know who wrote this letter. My remarks would be the opposite. The threat of war has already lost the European market for United States securities. Concession and compromise alone would reinstate our credit abroad. I hope conciliation will prove successful. If not and war comes it will destroy the credit of North and South alike in Europe. Worse, our prestige and pride will disappear. Second rate powers may insult our flag with impunity and first rate powers wipe away the Monroe Doctrine. May Providence prevent this." Ref.: Boston Courier, March 8, 1861; also quoted in New York Herald, March 27, 1861, p. 1, c. 4. For pro-Confederate charge by anonymous writer "S.P.Q." and defense by Thurlow Weed and others, see: "S.P.Q." Weed, Thurlow (both below).

GP Critic Benjamin Moran

Civil War and GP. 11-Benjamin Moran. U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran criticized GP as pro-Confederate in his private journal. This Philadelphia-born printer went to London as a freelance writer, published a travel book (1854), married an English woman in ill health, and worked at the U.S. Legation in London during 1853-75. Moran was aptly described by historian Henry [Brooks] Adams (1838-1918), private secretary to his father, U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86): "On the staff of the American Legation in London was Benjamin Moran, ...a man of long experience at the Legation and one who became a sort of dependable workhorse to fill in for any duty that might come up from the changing personnel. He had an exaggerated notion of his importance; he was sensitive to flattery, and easily offended. He kept an extensive diary and while it must be read from the point of view of his character, it throws an interesting light on the Legation scene." Ref.: Wallace and Gillespie, I, p. 123.

Civil War and GP. 12-Moran's First GP Entry. Moran's first entry on GP's return to London after a Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit: "Monday, 31 Aug ('57)...George Peabody, the puffing American note shaver has returned to London from a tour of self-glorification in the United States. This is the fellow who gives private dinners on the Fourth of July at public taverns to which he invites everyone in a good suit of clothes who will applaud him and then publishes the proceedings, toasts, and all, in the public journals. It is worth noting that he pays his clerks less and works them harder than any other person in London in the same business, and never gave a man a dinner that wanted it. His parties are advertisements, and his course far from benevolent. He never gave away a cent that he didn't know what its return would be. He has no social position in London and cannot get into good Society. He generally bags the new American Minister for his own purposes and shows him up around the town, if he can, as his puppet to a set of fourth-rate English aristocrats and American tuft-hunters who eat his dinners and laugh at him for his pains." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 13-Moran on Saltpeter Purchase. Moran believed GP had interfered in the purchase for the Union of saltpeter, a gunpowder ingredient. He recorded: "Lammont [Lammot] DuPont [1831-84] came here lately to purchase saltpeter, and had a heavy credit on Barings for the purpose. For prudent reasons he transferred his account to another house, & old Peabody hearing this, & finding it did not come to him, induced Samson [Marmaduke Blake Sampson, d.1876, London Times editor] the Traducer of the U.S., who writes the money articles of The Times to get up a cry against the export of the articles & stop it. This has succeeded, as Gov't has issued an order in Council on the subject. The saltpeter was a private speculation, but to make powder for our Govt. and this avaricious old rogue Peabody has prevented it leaving the country through spite." Ref.: (Saltpeter): Ibid., II, p. 918.

Civil War and GP. 14-Moran on Trent Affair. Of the Nov. 8, 1861 Trent Affair (U.S. illegal removal of four Confederates from a British ship), Moran wrote: "George Peabody came in soon after me [with news].... He had met Dudley Mann [Ambrose Dudley Mann, 1801-89, Confederate emissary to get arms and aid from England] in the street.... Peabody either had been to see Mrs. Slidell [wife of one of the seized Confederates], or was going to see her, and was certain there would be no war [with Britain over the Trent]. His whole manner is that of a hypocrite, and he is carrying water on both shoulders, being determined to stand well on both sides, in any event." Ref.: (Trent): Ibid., pp. 932-933. See: Moran, Benjamin. Trent Affair.

Civil War and GP. 15-Moran on J.R. Potter and GP. Moran recorded on Dec. 2, 1863: "We have had a visit this morning from John R. Potter [b. 1815], Esq. of Manchester [merchant and former mayor, 1848-50], a warm friend of ours during this great struggle.... He stated he had been in Scotland during the summer and there he met the inflated Mr. George Peabody. Supposing him to be loyal, as a matter of course, he spoke to him freely in favor of the Government; but was astonished to find him luke-warm and faithless to his country. In fact, his sentiments were of that class that are always indulged in by hypocrites in trying times. His tone was denunciatory of the Government and its policy, and had a greater effect in favor of the rebels than a speech of Slidell or Mason would have had." Ref.: (John Potter): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., II, p. 1241.

Civil War and GP. 16-Moran on GP's Housing Gift.: "His [GP's] late hollow gift to the poor of London has made him an authority with English people, and as they know him to be a New England man, his opinions in favor of secession are regarded as just and adopted by many as conclusive. He did much damage to us in Scotland this summer. But he has been a disguised rebel all the way through.... Mr. Potter says he as an Englishman, was placed in the strange position when in Scotland, of being obliged to defend a loyal president of the U.S. and this great war of freedom, against the attacks and misrepresentations of an American from Massachusetts, who while pretending to be a lover of his country, and a patriot, was by his language a confessed traitor and defender of falsehood, treason, slavery, and piracy.…" Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 17-Benjamin Moran Cont'd. Moran recorded on Feb. 1864: "Wm. Evans has been up to know whether the U.S. Five-twenty bonds are or are not payable in coin. A great fight has been created by Peabody & Morgan putting into circulation a story in the city that they are not. This is part of the conduct of these hypocrites. Peabody is a rebel and does all in his power to destroy the credit of his country, while Morgan practices treason covertly while openly professing loyalty.... So strong is the hold on American belief, that this man Peabody is loyal that no refutation will shake it, and he therefore goes on and does us ten times more injury than a flat rebel; because his intercourse with loyal men is a strong endorsement in the minds of Englishmen of the truth of his opinions on our affairs." Moran's entry for April 1865 recorded: "The famous Geo. Peabody came in and sat an hour talking to me. He is a rebel and don't conceal it." Ref.: Ibid., p. 1411.

Change of Name: South Danvers to Peabody, Mass.

Civil War and GP. 18-Name Change, South Danvers to Peabody, March 13, 1868. Pro-Confederate charge and denial arose in a March 1868 petition sent to the South Danvers, Mass., town council to change the town's name from South Danvers to Peabody, Mass. South Danvers citizens voted their approval which then went to the Mass. legislature in Boston, where the proposal met opposition. The charge was made again in the Mass. legislature--that GP had been pro-Confederate, anti-Union, and a rebel sympathizer in the Civil War. A petition signed by 100 citizens opposed to the change of name was presented at a late March 1868 hearing at the State House, Boston. At the hearing a Mr. H.W. Poole explained that GP was unpopular with some in South Danvers because of his alleged southern sympathies during the rebellion. See: Peabody, Mass.

Civil War and GP. 19-Name Change, South Danvers to Peabody Cont'd. GP was stoutly defended at the hearing, especially by Gen. William Sutton, who said that relatively few in South Danvers objected to the proposed name change. Two years before, the business community particularly wanted a name change. "South Danvers" implied a section of Danvers, when South Danvers was in fact a separate town. Even the U.S. post office had difficulty separating Danvers and South Danvers mail. In fact, "Peabody" was chosen over other suggested names: "Bowditch," after the locally born famed navigator and mathematician Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838); "Antwerp," because the French spelling of that city in Belgium, "D'Anvers," was believed to be the original source for "Danvers"; "Brooksby," the name of the village when first settled in 1626 as part of Salem; "Osborne," after many of that family in South Danvers; and "Sutton" after a prominent citizen, Gen. William Sutton. Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 20-Second Vote, April 30, 1868. To overcome the impasse in the change of name, the hearings committee proposed a compromise: the State of Mass. would recognize the name change to "Peabody" if there was a second favorable vote by South Danvers citizens. In April 1868, before the town's second vote, friends of GP issued a handbill which explained: "At a...town meeting, duly called and legally conducted, we voted to change the town's name to Peabody.... Opponents who failed to defeat it at the ballot box protested.... Rather than have the name change take effect under imputation of 'trickery, wire pulling, and underhand work,' we agreed to a second town vote." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 21-Second Vote, April 30, 1868, Cont'd. The pro-GP handbill then explained his financial record in the Civil War: "The charges against Mr. Peabody are unfounded. He never held a dollar of rebel debt nor dealt in rebel bonds. On the contrary over three million dollars of his own money was in United States bonds on which he drew no interest until the war was over. He used his influence to help sell our bonds when we were hard pressed for money and when other bankers in England invested in the Confederate Loan. The success of the rebellion would have shattered his fortune." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 22-2nd Vote, April 30, 1868 Cont'd. Opposition declined. On the second vote, April 30, 1868, of the 625 votes cast, there were 379 yeas, 246 nays, with change of name advocates winning by 133 votes. Thus, the town first called Brooksby (1626), later known as Salem Village, then Danvers (1752-1852), then South Danvers (1852-68), became Peabody, Mass. (from April 13, 1868, by official Mass. records). Ref.: Ibid.

Critic W.L. Garrison

Civil War and GP. 23-W.L. Garrison. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison's (1805-79) article, "Mr. Peabody and the South," NYC's Independent, Aug. 19, 1869, attacked GP's patriotism: "During the protracted moral and political struggle for the abolition of slavery in this country...Mr. Peabody was with the South in feeling and sentiment... His leanings were toward the South; not indeed to the extent of disunion, but rather for reunion on terms that would be satisfactory to herself." Garrison criticized GP on these six points (Garrison's quotes): 1-GP's PIB gift (total $1.4 million, 1857-69) was "made to a Maryland institution, at a time when that state was rotten with treason." 2-GP's $2 million PEF for aiding public education in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va. Garrison criticized the PEF for giving more to white than to black schools, for going along with racially segregated schools, and for not insisting on aiding mixed white and black schools. Ref.: Independent (NYC), Aug. 19, 1869, p. 1, c. 5-7; and Nov. 11, 1869, p. 4, c. 1. Parker, F.-f, pp. 1-20; reprinted Parker, F.-zd, pp. 49-68.

Civil War and GP. 24-W.L. Garrison Cont'd. Garrison's criticism of GP on six points continued with: 3-GP's not showing public sorrow at Pres. Lincoln's assassination: "When the news of the tragical death of President Lincoln reached England...surely Mr. Peabody owed...in some way to bear an emphatic testimony at such a critical period...but no such testimony is on record." 4-GP, then ill and two months from death, went not to a northern health resort but to a southern mineral spa, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., "the favorite resort of the elite of rebeldom." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 25-W.L. Garrison Cont'd. 5-GP's accepting at the Old White Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, resolutions of praise for his PEF. 6-GP's thanks for these resolutions of praise (Garrison quoted GP as saying: "I shall be glad, if my strength would permit, to speak of my own cordial esteem and regard for the high honor, integrity and heroism of the Southern people!!") [Garrison's underlining]. Garrison commented as follows on GP's response to the resolutions of praise given him in W.Va.: "The record of 'the Southern people' is one of lust and blood, of treachery and cruelty, of robbery and oppression, of rebellion and war; and to panegyrize their 'high honor, integrity, and heroism' is an insult to the civilized world." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 26-W.L. Garrison Cont'd. Garrison's last critical article, "Honored Beyond His Deserts," Independent, Feb. 10, 1870, followed the vast publicity accompanying GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, 96-day transatlantic funeral, and Feb. 8, 1870, burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. Garrison wrote: "The 'pomp and circumstance' attending the burial...of the late George Peabody have been...extraordinary.... Mr. Peabody was simply a quiet, plodding, shrewd, and eminently successful man of business, with the strongest conservative tendencies, and ever careful to avoid whatever might interfere with his worldly interests, or subject him...to popular disesteem.... His sympathies ...were...with a pro-slavery South [more] than with an anti-slavery North; and he carried his feelings in that direction almost to the verge of the Rebellion*." Ref.: Ibid. Independent (NYC), Feb. 10, 1870, p. 1, c. 2-3.

GP Critic Charles Wilson Felt

Civil War and GP. 27-Charles Wilson Felt. The asterisk after "Rebellion*" footnoted for corroboration a GP critic, Charles Wilson Felt (1834-?). The footnote* quoting Felt at the bottom of the page read: "Corroborative of this charge, take the testimony of Charles W. Felt, Esq., as given in a letter to the Evening Post, dated Manchester (Eng.), Jan. 8th last [1870]:" (Note: Born Nov. 18, 1834, in Salem, Mass., the son of Ephaim Felt and Eliza [née Ropes], C.W. Felt was an inventor (believed to have been a promoter of railroads in cities and towns [i.e., trolley cars]). Ref.: Ibid. See: Felt, Charles Wilson. Garrison, William Lloyd.

Civil War and GP. 28-Charles Wilson Felt Cont'd. [Felt wrote]: 'I was in London in October and November, 1861, having a letter of introduction from Edward Everett to Mr. Peabody. I was astonished and mortified to hear Mr. Peabody, in the course of a short conversation, indulge in such expressions as these: [Felt quoted GP as saying to him]: 'I do not see how it can be settled, unless Mr. [Confederate Pres. Jefferson] Davis gives up what Mr. Lincoln says he is fighting for--the forts the South has taken--and then separate.' 'You can't carry on the war without coming over here for money; and you won't get a shilling.' 'Harriet Beecher Stowe [1811-96, in London, 1852] was over here, but I would not go to see her, though I was invited: and now she writes that this is our war! Such things don't go down over here.'...[Felt continued]: I made one other call upon him; but I could only regard him as recreant to his country in the time of her greatest need." [Garrison's italics]. Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 29-Charles Wilson Felt Cont'd. Felt's Jan. 8, 1870, letter from Manchester, England, printed in the NYC Evening Post, Jan. 21, 1870, was written to refute Thurlow Weed's (1797-1882) vindication of GP as a staunch Unionist during the Civil War. Weed's vindication, printed in the New York Times, Dec. 23, 1869, was confirmed publicly by Ohio Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) and others. Felt wrote: "I have seen Mr. Weed's vindication of George Peabody's course in the Civil War. He acknowledges finding Peabody undecided as late as December, 1861. No loyal American could be doubtful after Fort Sumter, Bull Run, and Front Royal. I don't doubt that Peabody ran to Minister Adams with news of Federal success at Fort Donelson for he then saw which would be the winning side. He became a friend of the North when he saw it would win." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 30-Garrison and Felt. The title of Garrison's editorial clearly implied and agreed with what Felt more directly stated: that GP was honored beyond his true merit, that it would have been better if he had remained in the U.S. instead of going to England to die, that GP's return to England was a bid for notoriety. Ref.: (Charles Wilson Felt refuted Weed's vindication): C.W. Felt, Manchester, England, to NYC Evening Post editor, Jan. 8, 1870, published in the NYC Evening Post, Jan. 31, 1870. Felt's letter also in Parker, F.-f, pp. 1-20; reprinted in Parker, F.-zd, pp. 50-68. Ref.: (Weed's vindication): New York Times, Dec. 23, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4; reprinted in Weed-a.

Thurlow Weed's Vindication of GP as Union Supporter

Civil War and GP. 31-Weed's Vindication. Thurlow Weed's vindication of GP carried weight because of Weed's political importance. He was the politically influential owner and editor of the Albany, N.Y. Evening Journal, leading news organ of the old Whig Party and its successor Republican Party. He was a political king maker, having masterminded the election of William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) as ninth U.S. president in 1841, helped get the presidential nomination for Henry Clay (1777-1852) in 1844, and backed Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) as 12th U.S. president during 1849-50. Weed managed William Henry Seward's (1801-72) political career as N.Y. state legislator, governor, and senator; worked for Seward's nomination for the presidency in 1860 but backed Abraham Lincoln after Lincoln won the nomination. Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 32-Weed's Vindication Cont'd. Weed was intimate with GP from 1851, was GP's early philanthropic advisor, and spoke at length to GP about the Civil War in Dec. 1861 when he and Ohio Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) were two of Pres. Lincoln's unofficial emissaries to keep Britain and France neutral in the Civil War. Weed stated that in London in Dec. 1861 he found Britain in a rage over the Trent Affair, the illegal U.S. removal of Confederate emissaries Mason, Slidell, and their male secretaries from the British Trent bound for Liverpool. Britain moved to a war footing and sent 8,000 troops to Canada in case of a U.S.-British war. After leaving U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams, Weed called on GP and recorded their talk about the Civil War. Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 33-Weed's Vindication Cont'd. The Weed-GP conversation (condensed from Weed's "Vindication"): GP: I am surprised and I regret that the United States has become unnecessarily involved in Civil War. Weed: Yes, it is a great calamity but it was forced upon the North. GP: Could not the Federal Government have avoided it? Weed: I would like to explain why the rebellion was both premeditated and inevitable. GP: I would like to hear your views. It will require strong evidence to satisfy me that wise and good men could not have prevented this unnatural war." Weed described to GP the historical incidents leading to South Carolina's secession. Weed said (his underlining): "The avowed purpose of prominent statesmen of the Southern states has been to preserve slavery in the Union or to establish a slave confederacy outside of it. South Carolina has held this attitude for forty years. The Missouri Compromise of 1850 attempted to adjust the extension of slavery in the new territories and the South immediately brought into the union three slave states. You will remember the resistance of the slave states to the admission of California with a constitution prohibiting slavery." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 34-Weed's Vindication Cont'd.: "This was followed by a visit of distinguished Whigs in Congress from Georgia and North Carolina--Stevens [full name not known], [Robert A.] Toombs [1810-85, Ga.], and [Thomas Lanier] Clingman [1812-97, N.C.]--to President [Zachary] Taylor threatening the dissolution of the Union if the rights of the slave states were violated. Mr. Peabody, I passed these gentlemen as they left the White House. I found General Taylor greatly excited by that interview. He told me, Vice-President [Hannibal] Hamlin [1809-91], and a senator from Maine what had occurred ten minutes after the Southern congressmen left him. Nothing, in my opinion, but the fact that General Taylor was himself a Southern gentleman, prevented Civil War then and there." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 35-Weed's Vindication Cont'd.: "You also recall the Kansas conflict which upset the balance between slave and free states. In 1860 a census of Congress showed conclusively that the Congress favored freedom over slavery. I maintain, Mr. Peabody, that this fact precipitated the rebellion. The evidence for my opinion is that the Democratic party was thwarted in electing a Democratic President by the persistent actions of the slave delegates to the Democratic National Convention of 1860. The Southern Democrats refused to nominate a Union Democrat. By their support of [John Calvin] Breckinridge [1821-75] they intended to gain the election of Lincoln. This was a pretext for rebellion sufficient to draw the Southern people into line with their leaders." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 36-Weed's Vindication Cont'd.: "Let me say also that a disloyal Secretary of the Navy [?Isaac Toucey, 1796-1869, of Conn.?] sent nearly all our warships to foreign countries in order to leave the North unprepared for the war forced on the government. Let me add, Mr. Peabody, that in 1859-60 a secessionist Secretary of War [John Buchanan Floyd, 1807-63, from Va. and later a Confederate general] transferred large quantities of arms and ammunition from Northern to Southern arsenals. With all this, I admit and still believe, that but for radical men in Washington the rebellion might have been limited. North Carolina and Tennessee, loyal in the beginning, might have been held in the Union." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 37-Weed's Vindication Cont'd. GP listened; he then spoke with deliberation: "I think now that the Northern side is more in the right than I had thought it was. For several months my talks have been with Americans who presented the question differently. The business years of my life, as you know, were spent in Georgetown, District of Columbia, and in Baltimore. My private sympathies while in England have been against the institution of slavery. But during these many years of excitement on that subject I regarded the extremists of both sides as equally mischievous. This view made me think that extreme men were alike enemies of the Union." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 38-Weed's Vindication Cont'd. In his "Vindication" Weed explained that London had news, March 5, 1862, of Union victory in Tennessee. Gen. U.S. Grant had taken Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. GP had the news a few hours earlier from his NYC agents and rushed to share it with U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams and others. Recalling the event, Weed wrote: "I know of no more unerring test of men's real sentiment and sympathy in a season of war, than their manner of receiving good news.... Tried by this test, Mr. Peabody's sympathies were loyal, for he voluntarily came out of his way to bring news of an important Union victory; though he never ceased as often as he had occasion to speak on the subject, to deplore the war." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 39-Weed's Vindication Cont'd. During Nov. 1861, when the above GP-Weed conversation occurred, GP helped Weed meet such British government leaders as 1-Lord Clarence Edward Paget (1811-95), 2-Foreign Secty. John Russell (1792-1878), 3-MP William W. Torrens McCullagh (1813-94) and 4-MP Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869) representing Belfast, Ireland. Weed's vindication cited above was confirmed by Ohio Episcopal Bishop McIlvaine. Ref.: Charles Pettit McIlvaine to Thurlow Weed, Dec. 24, 1869, quoted in New Haven Daily Palladium (Conn.), Jan. 6, 1870, p. 2, c. 2-3. See: McCullagh, William Torrens.

GP Critic George Francis Train

Civil War and GP. 40-George Francis Train. George Francis Train (1829-1904) was a Boston-born financier of city railway lines who had disappointing experiences introducing street railways in English cities. Pro-Irish, anti-British, and anti-Confederate during the Civil War, he publicly attacked GP after GP's March 12, 1862, founding of model apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). GP learned of this attack from British friend and Peabody homes trustee James Emerson Tennent's June 20, 1862, letter. Four months later, GP heard more of Train from his friend and sometime agent Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), a Newburyport, Mass-born and London resident genealogist. Somerby, visiting in Boston, wrote GP (Oct. 7, 1862) that the day before at Faneuil Hall, he had listened to anti-Confederate speeches by U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74) from Mass. and George Francis Train. Somerby reported that Train, an activist demonstrator, had fought with Boston police and been led handcuffed along State St. and jailed. See: Train, George Francis.

Civil War and GP. 41-George Francis Train Cont'd. After GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death and during the publicity attending GP's transatlantic funeral, George Francis Train gave another speech in Boston, generally regarded as ranting and incoherent. He again railed against GP as follows: "I regard the fact of George Peabody's remains being brought over on a British ship of war [HMS Monarch, accompanied by the USS corvette Plymouth] the greatest insult ever offered to America. George Peabody was a secessionist. The Alabama Claims is still unsettled and American citizens are dying in British prisons." Train was seen as an eccentric, even by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who described G.F. Train as "a notorious charlatan who was exciting the mirth of the country by posing as a self-constituted candidate for President." Ref.: Ibid.

GP's Defense as Union Supporter

Civil War and GP. 42-GP's Defense, PIB, 1866. GP carefully explained his Civil War views at the dedication and opening of the PIB, Oct. 25, 1866. In the nine years and eight months since its Feb. 12, 1857, founding, Civil War differences had aggravated disputes over PIB jurisdiction between the PIB trustees and the Md. Historical Society trustees (PIB planner John Pendleton Kennedy originally wanted the Society to be housed in the PIB and to help guide PIB programs). Civil War differences had also aggravated disputes over the building site at Mount Vernon Place and building costs. Split loyalties over the war, southern resentment over radical Republican military rule, and his own misunderstood position on the Civil War were much on GP's mind when he spoke at the dedication. Ref.: PIB, Founder's Letters and Papers, 1868, pp. 90-97. New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 5, c. 1-2.

Civil War and GP. 43-GP's Defense, PIB, 1866, Cont'd. He said (Oct. 25, 1866): "I have been accused of anti-Union sentiment. Let me say this: my father fought in the American Revolution and I have loved my country since childhood. Born and educated in the North, I have lived twenty years in the South. In a long residence abroad I dealt with Americans from every section. I loved our country as a whole with no preference for East, West, North, or South. I wish publicly to avow that during the war my sympathies were with the Union--that my uniform course tended to assist but never to injure the credit of the Union. At the close of the war three-fourths of my property was invested in United States Government and State securities, and remain so at this time." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 44-GP's Defense, PIB, 1866, Cont'd.: "When war came I saw no hope for America except in Union victory but I could not, in the passion of war, turn my back on Southern friends. I believed extremists of both sides guilty of fomenting the conflict. Now I am convinced more than ever of the necessity for mutual forbearance and conciliation, of Christian charity and forgiveness, of united effort to bind up the wounds of our nation." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 45-GP's Defense, PIB, 1866, Cont'd.: He humbly concluded: "To you, therefore, I make probably the last appeal I shall ever make. May not this Institute be a common ground where all may meet, burying former differences and animosities, forgetting past separations and estrangements. May not Baltimore, the birthplace of religious toleration in America, become the star of political tolerance and charity. Will not Maryland, in place of a battleground of opposing parties, become the field where good men may meet to make the future of our country prosperous and glorious, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from our northern to our southern boundary." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 46-GP's Defense, PIB, 1866, Cont'd.: Blaming himself for jurisdictional disputes between PIB and Md. Historical Society trustees, GP humbly asked the Md. Historical Society as a favor to him to withdraw from PIB management. They acquiesced, harmony returned, and he soon gave a gift of $20,000 for the Md. Historical Society publication fund. Ref.: Ibid.

GP Critic "S.P.Q."

Civil War and GP. 47-"S.P.Q.," 1866. The day GP spoke at the PIB dedication and opening (Oct. 25, 1866), an anti-GP letter appeared in several newspapers. The anti-GP writer, who called himself "S.P.Q.," wrote: "Mr. Peabody goes about from place to place inhaling the incense so many are willing to offer him. While Americans at home gave and did their utmost for their country in wartime, what was Mr. Peabody doing? He was making money, piling up profits, adding to his fortune. And what did he do with his gain?" Ref.: NYC Albion, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 511, c. 1. NYC Evening Post, Oct. 25, 1866, p. 2, c. 2. New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 5, c. 1-2.

Civil War and GP. 48-"S.P.Q.," 1866 Cont'd.: "Did he use money made in war against those seeking to destroy this country? Did he raise and clothe a single recruit? Did he give anything to the Sanitary Commission? Did he lend the government any part of his millions? While making up his mind he did something he thought worthier--gave several hundred thousands to the poor of London and got a letter of thanks from the Queen. Many a poor fellow from simple patriotism gave all he had, his life. That man gave more than George Peabody and all his money. He can yet redeem himself by aiding the disabled veterans who deserve his beneficence as much as the poor of London." Ref.: Ibid.

Defender GP Defender "R.D.P."

Civil War and GP. 49-"R.D.P." Defender. A GP defender against "S.P.Q.'s" attack, who signed his letter "R.D.P.," wrote in the NYC Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1866: "I read with surprise the attack of 'S.P.Q.' on George Peabody. Now, in regard to the Sanitary Commission I remember reading in your newspaper of Mr. Peabody's gifts to that organization [GP gave a total of $10,000 to the U.S. Sanitary Commission to aid the war-wounded]. How could Mr. Peabody send his son to the war when unmarried he had none, or a nephew when no man has that power over his relatives? The intimation that Mr. Peabody made money by speculating on bonds may also be applied to the most patriotic of our bankers. He is not a politician but all who know him know that his patriotism is large and that he loves the whole country. He gives his wealth to public institutions as a permanent source of benefit to all. I am not a personal friend of Mr. Peabody's but come forward in the name of thousands who recognize the noble disposition of his wealth and say he may well enjoy the applause of those who love such deeds." Ref.: NYC Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1866, p. 2, c. 4.

New York Times’s GP Defender

Civil War and GP. 50-New York Times Defender. A more detailed defense came from an unknown letter writer in the New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866: "When Lafayette revisited this country in 1825 amid honors and acclaim one voice was raised against him. Now Mr. Peabody returns to bestow his gifts amid heartfelt thanks and one hoarse voice attacks his patriotism. What charges are made? First, that Mr. Peabody seeks the limelight of universal praise. What is the truth of this? Since his return Mr. Peabody has passed his time quietly with relatives in his hometown. He declined, persistently, tenders for public demonstrations. In New York he declined private dinners. The man who refused a title from the Queen of England has avoided what he could of popular demonstration in this country." Ref.: New York Times, Oct. 27, 1866, p. 5, c. 1-2.

Civil War and GP. 51-New York Times Defender Cont'd.: "The next charge made is that Mr. Peabody deliberately made money at his country's expense. What is the truth of that? He upheld the credit and character of his country. When Englishmen and Secessionists said our people would not pay taxes, our securities would be repudiated, Mr. Peabody not only repelled the imputations, but proved his confidence in and devotion to the Union by purchasing what they were anxious to sell. If he had bought Confederate bonds, he would not now be rich. If he profited by defending our credit by purchasing Government stock, is that cause for reproach? Did we not all do just that?" Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 52-New York Times Defender Cont'd. The same New York Times letter writer then quoted GP's defense of his position given at the Oct. 25, 1866, PIB dedication and opening, followed by the writer's answer to "S.P.Q.'s" third charge against GP: "You ask, thirdly, what does Mr. Peabody do with his money? Implying that as a salve to his conscience he gives to charity that which was dishonorably earned. What is the truth of this? His personal expenses have always been frugal. His manner of life and habits have always been commonplace. Since his return to this country Mr. Peabody has given two-and-a-half million dollars to educational philanthropy. This subjects him to half a column of abuse in the Evening Post," Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 53-New York Times Defender Cont'd. The New York Times letter writer concluded with his answer to "S.P.Q.'s" last attack: "Lastly, you say Mr. Peabody can yet retrieve himself by doing for the disabled soldiers and sailors of this country what he has done for the poor of London. How Mr. Peabody will dispose of the rest of his estate will become known later. When he shall have crowned all his former acts of charity for his countrymen will some other 'S.P.Q.' impugn his motives and traduce his character?" Ref.: Ibid.

BP Critic Samuel Bowles

Civil War and GP. 54-Samuel Bowles. Owner-editor Samuel Bowles's (1826-78) editorial in his Springfield [Mass.] Daily Republican, Oct. 27, 1866, agreed with "S.P.Q.'s" attack on GP. Bowles's anti-GP editorial was damaging because 1-Bowles had made his newspaper (inherited from his father) one of the best in the U.S.; 2-his attack came from GP's home state of Mass.; and 3-Bowles had a favorable reputation for disclosing Civil War financial corruption. GP's gifts, Bowles's editorial began, came from a sense of justice, a feeling of generosity, and a desire to be remembered. Bowles continued: But GP's business heart was also moved to make amends for the injustice he had done to his country. Bowles wrote: "For all who knew anything on the subject knew very well that he and his partners in London gave us no faith and no help in our struggle for our national existence. They participated in the full to the common English distrust of our cause, and our success, and talked and acted for the South rather than for the Nation." For origin, details, and sources of Bowles's charges against GP, see: Bigelow, John.

Civil War and GP. 55-Samuel Bowles Cont'd.: "American-born and American-bred, the financial representatives of America in England, they were thus guilty of a grievous error in judgment, and a grievous weakness of the heart. They swelled the popular feeling of doubt abroad, and speculated upon it. Through no house were so many American securities--railroad, State and national--sent home for sale as by them. No individuals contributed so much to flooding our money markets with the evidences of our debt in Europe, and breaking down their prices and weakening financial confidence in our nationality as George Peabody and Co. and none made more money by the operation." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 56-Samuel Bowles's Longtime Effect. Although an unknown friend sprang to GP's defense (New York Times, Oct. 31, 1866, below) in answer to Bowles's attack, Bowles's criticism had a harmful long-term effect. Bowles was quoted in Carl Sandburg's (1878-1967) Pulitzer prize biography, Abraham Lincoln, 1939: "Of the international bankers Peabody & Morgan, sturdy Samuel Bowles said in the Springfield [Mass.] Republican that their agencies in New York and London had induced during the war a flight of capital from America." Sandburg then quoted Bowles: '"They gave us no faith and no help in our struggle for national existence.... No individuals contributed so much to flooding the money markets with evidence of our debts to Europe, and breaking down their prices and weakening financial confidence in our nationality, and none made more money by the operation.'" See: Bowles, Samuel. Sandburg, Carl.

Civil War and GP. 57-Unsubstantiated Charges Repeated. Thus, John Bigelow made the first unsubstantiated charge in 1862 that GP profited financially by pro-Confederate anti-Union bond sales, a charge repeated by Samuel Bowles in 1866; by Gustavus Myers' History of the Great American Fortunes, 1910, rev. 1936; by Matthew Josephson's The Robber Barons, 1934; and by Leland DeWitt Baldwin's The Stream of American History, 1952--none with proof. See: persons named.

25 Years' Acquaintance Defends GP

Civil War and GP. 58-Reply to Critic Samuel Bowles. The unknown friend who sprang to GP's defense against Samuel Bowles's attack signed his letter in the New York Times, Oct. 31, 1866, "A Twenty-Five Years' Acquaintance." This GP "Acquaintance" wrote that Bowles's accusations in the Springfield Republican were more unjust and injurious than "S.P.Q.'s" lose charges. The allegations were untrue and Bowles was misinformed. GP's "Acquaintance" wrote: "During six of the gloomiest months of the rebellion I was almost a daily visitor at the Peabody Bank in Old Broad-street, London. It was there the friends of our cause--and only its friends--were to be met with. There we waited and watched for telegraphic intelligence, Mr. Peabody and Mr. Morgan deploring any disaster and rejoicing in every success. I remember particularly how warmly they joined in the celebration of our victory at Fort Donelson. Both Mr. Peabody and Mr. Morgan promoted and facilitated every suggestion of our friends in London, for the promotion of our cause." Ref.: New York Times, Oct. 31, 1866, p. 4, c. 7.

Civil War and GP. 59-25 Years' Acquaintance Cont'd: "Messrs. Peabody and Morgan, instead of depreciating American securities and American credit, did all they could to uphold both. The sentiment of England and France was unmistakably against us. Financial 'distrust' pervaded the continent. Messrs. Peabody & Co. could not refuse to 'send home' the securities of their correspondents. Such, indeed, was the 'distrust' at home that many of our capitalists sent their money abroad for safekeeping." The writer continued: "If the charges of the Springfield Republican were true, Peabody & Co. would have taken the 'Confederate loan,' and have been losers thereby. How, if 'they shared in the English feeling of distrust,' could they have 'made millions' by speculating in Federal securities? If they believed in the success of the rebellion would they have invested their millions in Northern securities?" Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 60-25 Years' Acquaintance Cont'd.: "Men are known by the company they keep," stated GP's "Acquaintance," pointing to Sir James Emerson Tennent [1791-1869] Member of Parliament from Belfast and a British government official] and Sir Henry Holland [1788-1873, British government official], both Unionists. Loyal Americans constantly came to George Peabody & Co. while secessionists went elsewhere, he wrote. "So far, the only individual whom the almoner of millions have wronged, is George Peabody, who has not had his fair share of the vast wealth he is distributing. Indeed, but for the happiness he derived while making his money, in conferring happiness upon others, he would have been without compensation, for he lived frugally, in plain lodgings, without a carriage or a servant." Ref.: Ibid.

Civil War and GP. 61-25 Years' Acquaintance Cont'd.: "While, for forty years, Mr. Peabody was habitually liberal with his relatives and his friends, he actually stinted himself. I remember an occasion when Mr. Peabody, quite ill at his lodgings in Cork-street, without an attendant and without the ordinary comforts of a sick room, was maturing his plan for giving away millions. But if Mr. Peabody has been habitually and even severely economical in his personal expenditures, he has been just to his relatives, liberal with his friends, prodigal in his hospitalities, munificent in his charities, and more than princely in his gifts." (The anonymous "acquaintance of 25 years" may have been N.Y. state political leader and newspaper editor Thurlow Weed [1797-1882]). Ref.: Ibid.

Charge and Counter Charge

Civil War and GP. 62-Charge and Counter Charge. Before Thurlow Weed's vindication appeared on Dec. 23, 1869, and Charles Wilson Felt's counter charge appeared on Jan. 21, 1870, a NYC Post journalist who had interviewed GP during the Civil War wrote: "Mr. Peabody was a genuine American. His long residence in London wrought no change in his feelings toward his country. 'The war might have been, should have been prevented,' said he to me one day; 'but the Union is cheap even at this great sacrifice of blood and treasure. Mr. Lincoln erred, at times, in the first part of his administration, and I have spoken against some of his measures:--my so doing has gained for me the reputation of being Southern in feeling. True, I want justice done the South. I want to see the whole country prosperous and happy.'" Thus has charge and counter charge swirled around GP's course in the Civil War. Ref.: (NYC Post): NYC Post correspondent, quoted in Daily Signal (Zanesville, Ohio), Nov. 24, 1869, p. 2, c.5. See: persons named throughout Civil War and GP (above).

Civil War and GP. 63-Historian William Weisberger's Conclusion. Historian William Weisberger concluded: "Peabody became involved in the Civil War in several ways. Despite disruptions caused by the war, he encouraged Morgan [Junius Spencer Morgan] to engage in the financing of exports to and imports from both Northern and Southern firms; Robert Garrett & Sons of Baltimore, one of Peabody's leading accounts for many years, continued during the early 1860s to utilize the services of Peabody & Company to collect bond coupon payments and to purchase and sell British and European currencies. Another aspect of Peabody's life, which was spent in London during the war, concerned Union and Confederate leaders who looked to the elderly financier for political support.

Civil War and GP. 64- Historian William Weisberger's Conclusion (Con'td.). "Peabody, who was privately an abolitionist, adopted a stance of nonalignment, for he believed that the war was destroying American political and economic institutions. On the one hand, Peabody continued to provide personal assistance to his friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888) who was a Confederate supporter. One the other hand, Peabody developed cordial relations with Charles Francis, Thurlow Weed, and other Union leaders." Ref.: Weiberger, pp. 1468-1469.
Civil War and U.S.-British Relations. See: Alabama Claims. Dinners, GP's, London. Trent Affair.

Mass. Governor William Claflin & GP

Claflin, William (1818-1905), was Mass. governor during 1869-71 when he and his staff attended GP's funeral service in Peabody, Mass., on Feb. 8, 1870. He was born in Milford, Mass., educated in the public schools and at Brown Univ. He was a merchant in the shoe and leather business in St. Louis, Mo., for many years; settled in Boston, Mass.; served in the Mass. House of Representatives (1849-53); in the Mass. Senate (1860-61); was a member of the Republican National Committee (1864-72); Mass. Lt. Gov. (1866-68); Mass. Gov. (1869-71); Republican member, U.S. House of Representatives (1877-81); Vice Pres. of Boston Univ. (1869-72); and Pres. of Boston Univ. (from 1872). Ref.: Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds., pp. 709-711. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.

Clarendon, Lord (George William Frederick Villers Clarendon, 1800-70), was British Foreign Secty., mentioned in Benjamin Moran's journal entry (Nov. 12, 1869) as attending GP's funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Ref.: Ibid. See: Moran, Benjamin.

Clark, Thomas D. (1903-2005), U.S. historian, wrote of the influence of the PEF: "Since 1867 the Peabody Fund has worked as an educational leaven, and by the beginning of the twentieth century such matters as consolidation, compulsory attendance, teacher training, vocational education and general lifting of Southern standards received ardent editorial support. Especially was this true in the first decade of this century when the famous education publicity crusades were under way." Ref.: Clark, p. 30. See: PEF.

GPCFT's Fifth President John M. Claunch

Claunch, John M. (1906-d. Nov. 21, 1990). 1-GPCFT's Fifth President. John M. Claunch was GPCFT's fifth president from Aug. 1, 1967 to 1974. Previous presidents: 1-Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937) during 1911-37; 2- Sidney Clarence Garrison (1887-1945) during 1937-44; 3-Henry Harrington Hill (1894-1987) during 1945-60 and interim pres. during 1962-63; and 4-Felix Compton Robb (1914-97) during 1961-66. See persons named.

Claunch, John. 2-Career. Born in Kelly, La., John Claunch graduated from Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College, Nacogdoches, Texas (B.A., 1928), and the Univ. of Texas at Austin (M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1956). He was a one-term state representative from Scury, Texas; school supt., Wright City, for several years; a WWII Capt., U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-46, and helped establish an airmen training program, Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio. At Southern Methodist Univ., Dallas, Texas, he was an Instructor in Government, 1938-1942; Asst. Prof. of Government, 1946-54; Director of Dallas College (SMU's Downtown continuing education branch), 1948-1957; and Prof. of Government, 1956-67. Ref.: Internet Information from SMU Archivist Elizabeth Hinton, Oct. 4, 2000: ehinton@mail.smu.edu. Obit., Dallas, Texas Morning News, Nov. 23, 1990

Claunch, John. 3- GPCFT Retirement. His retirement as GPCFT's president, announced Aug. 20, 1973, became official June 1, 1974, when he was succeeded by John Dunworth (1924-), GPCFT's sixth and last president during 1974-79, before amalgamation as PCofVU, Vanderbilt Univ.'s ninth school, since July 1, 1978. Pres. Claunch lived in Nashville for several years before returning to Dallas, where he died Nov. 21, 1990, age 84. Ref.: "Claunch, John."

Claunch, John. 4-Difficulties at GPCFT. Pres. John Claunch clashed with Director Nicholas Hobbs (1915-83) and other Kennedy Center (created 1965) personnel over research faculty salaries, administrative position support, budgets, research space allocation, and Peabody jobs for Kennedy Center faculty spouses. Peabody-Kennedy Center difficulties remained after Hobbs became Vanderbilt Univ. Provost. Two Center directors asked federal officials to threaten suspension of federal grants unless Peabody's president cooperated with the Kennedy Center. See: persons named.

Claunch, John. 5- Difficulties at GPCFT Cont'd. PCofVU historian Sherman Dorn wrote that .budget deficits during Claunch's presidency limited his ability to raise faculty salaries, that he never had the same faculty rapport achieved by Pres. Henry H. Hill, that he "never established himself as a respected administrator of the college, that he several times rebuked faculty initiatives. Ref.: Dorn, p. 73. See: PCofVU, history of, for GPCFT difficulties before merger with Vanderbilt Univ. (July 1, 1978 ) and for PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators.

Clay, Henry (1777-1852), was U.S. Secty. of State during 1825-29 when he issued GP's first passport dated Oct. 22, 1827. See: Wills, GP's.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) dispute, 1853-54. U.S.-British differences over a possible intercontinental canal across Nicaragua or Costa Rica or other part of Central America where both countries had expansionist designs were partially resolved in the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. But differences and incidents continued. GP was suggested as U.S. arbiter in the dispute but was rejected by the British, with Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) chosen. See: Upham, Nathan Gookin.

Cleveland, Grover (1837-1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. Pres., during 1885-89, 1893-97, was PEF trustee during 1885-99, for fourteen years. See: Conkin, Peabody College, index. Presidents, U.S., and GP.

Cleveland, Ohio. On his U.S. visit during Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, GP was in Zanesville, Ohio, with his youngest brother Jeremiah Peabody's (1805-77) family, Nov. 1-3, 1856, and then went to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873). See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Clifford, John Henry (1809-76), was one of the 16 original PEF trustees. He was born in Providence, R.I., was a lawyer in Bedford, Mass., served in the Mass. legislature (1835), was Mass. Atty. General (1849-53 and 1854-58), was Mass. Governor (1853-54); and president of the Mass. Senate (1862). After retirement (1867), he was president of the Boston and Providence Railroad Company and president of the Board of Overseers of Harvard Univ. He was replaced as PEF trustee by Theodore Lyman (1833-97). Ref.: Curry-b, pp. 19, 46, 64, 75. Fuess, II, pp. 215-216.

GP’s First British Honor

Clothworkers' Co., London. 1-GP's First British Honor, July 2, 1862. Britons were surprised and grateful for GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund to build model apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million, 1862-69). The first honor to GP from his gift came from The Clothworkers' Co., an esteemed medieval guild, which granted him honorary membership in a ceremony on July 2, 1862. Ref.: Peabody Donation, p. 28. London Times, July 4, 1862, p. 5, c. 5.

Clothworkers' Co., London. 2-July 2, 1862, Ceremony. That day GP, accompanied by longtime business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), heard Alderman Sir John Musgrove (1793-1881) of the City of London, move "that the Freedom and Livery of the Company be presented to George Peabody, Esq." Alderman John Humphery (d. 1863) seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Josiah Wilson (c.1793-1862), The Master of the Company, referred to eminent men on whom the same honor had been earlier bestowed: Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) and Queen Victoria's husband Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61). Ref.: "Court Orders of The Clothworkers' Co., London," July 2, 1862, with confirmation generously sent by Archivist D.E. Wickham, Oct. 12, 1999.

Clothworkers' Co., London. 3-GP's First British Honor, July 2, 1862 Cont'd. The Master of the Company then introduced GP and presented him with the Freedom of the ancient guild. After the oath of a Freeman was administered, GP said: "I thank the honorable Company of Clothworkers'. This ancient company is well known in my country. My own countryman and friend, Robert C. Winthrop, is a descendant of a past Master of this Company." GP then spoke about the progress his trustees were making on building model homes for London's working poor. GP was escorted through the Great Hall and the building and sat down with many guests for a large banquet. Ref.: Ibid.

Clothworkers' Co., London. 4-Ancient Guild. The Clothworkers' Co., an ancient guild, is twelfth in rank among London's some 80 livery companies. These guilds, first chartered in King Edward III's (1312-77) reign, originally regulated work conditions, apprenticeship, trade, and membership. Each guild chose their officers who elected the Common Council of the City of London, which in turn elected the mayor, other officials, and members of Parliament for London. Each company chose a "livery" (costume) and distinctive badges. Thus, colorfully attired members have been part of pageants and royal coronations to the present. For details and sources of GP's even greater honor eight days later, July 10, 1862, being granted the Freedom of the City of London, see: London, Freedom of the City of London to GP. Fishmongers' Co. Honors, GP's.
Clubs, London, GP's . See: City of London Club (above).

Coates, Ezra Jenks, was described by economic historian Muriel Emmie Hidy (b.1906) as a former Bostonian merchant, a close friend of GP, with whom he had business relations going back before 1837. They shared a bachelor's apartment at 11 Devonshire St., Portland Place, London. Coates headed a London commission firm; had a Liverpool firm involved in trade in corn; and was a partner in Coates, Hillard & Co., a dry goods firm in Manchester, Nottingham, and NYC. Coates, nearly insolvent in 1837 when GP aided him, hid his continued insolvency from GP who aided him again in 1847. Coates's bankruptcy in 1848 estranged him from GP (and others), who realized that Coates had compromised their friendship by hiding his financial difficulties. Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 255.

Cobden, Richard (I804-65), called the "Apostle of Free Trade," was, along with fellow MP John Bright (1811-99), a friend of GP who favored the North in the U.S. Civil War. He is believed to be the liberal MP who raised funds in 1850 to liberate Hungarian patriot Lajos (Louis) Kossuth (1802-94), imprisoned in Turkey in 1850 by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. GP, when asked for funds, asked for further information, and then gave £50. Kossuth was freed and was enthusiastically received on a tour of the U.S. in 1851-52. See: Kossuth, Lajos (Louis).

Civil War Irritants Affecting GP

Cockburn, Alexander James Edmund (1802-80). 1-U.S.-British Angers Over Alabama Claims. A.J.E. Cockburn was a British jurist who represented England in settling the Alabama Claims controversy (1871-72) by international tribunal in Geneva, Switzerland. Former Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) represented the U.S. There were three other members from neutral countries. This Geneva tribunal determined that Britain pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity for Union losses in ships, lives, and treasure by British-built Confederate ships. Without a navy and with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents evaded the blockade, went to England secretly, bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, and renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others. CSS Alabama, the most notorious Confederate raider ship, alone sank 64 Union cargo ships (1862-64). See: Alabama Claims.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 2-Trent Affair. An earlier U.S.-British irritant during the Civil War, the 1861 Trent Affair, was coupled in angers over the Alabama Claims. On the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, four Confederates seeking aid and arms in England and France evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, S.C., went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent for England. On Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies, by the Union USS San Jacinto’s crew. Confederates James Murray Mason (1798-1871, from Va.), John Slidell (1793-1871, from La.), and their male secretaries were forcibly removed, taken to Boston harbor, and jailed. Anticipating war with the U.S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But Pres. Lincoln diffused U.S. jingoism, allegedly told his Cabinet, "one war at a time" on Dec. 26, 1861, got them to disavow the unauthorized seizure, and released the Confederate prisoners on Jan. 1, 1862. See: Trent Affair.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 3-British Losses from Cutoff of Southern Cotton. Officially neutral in the U.S. Civil War, British aristocrats sympathized with the U.S. southern aristocracy. British cotton mill owners and their workers were economically hurt by the Union blockade of southern ports which cut off raw cotton needed by British cotton mills. Over half of the 534,000 British cotton mill workers lost their jobs. Fewer than one fourth worked full time. Historian Shelby Foote found that two million British workers lost their jobs in cotton-related industries. Ref.: Ibid.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 4-GP Connection with Alabama Claims. A minor GP connection was that about 1868 he was suggested as an Alabama Claims arbiter but being old and infirm was not chosen. A more important GP connection was his Nov. 4, 1869, death in London while U.S.-British angers flared over the Alabama Claims. When GP's will became known, requiring burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., British officials, seeking to diffuse U.S. angers and also in sincere appreciation for GP's philanthropy (particularly his $2.5 million model apartments for London's working poor), made his 96-day transatlantic funeral unprecedented for a plain American citizen. U.S. officials were hard put to match British funeral honors. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 5-GP Funeral Overview. GP's unusual funeral in brief: 1-Westminster Abbey funeral service and temporary burial (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). 2-British cabinet decision (Nov. 10, 1869) to return his remains on HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, for transatlantic funeral voyage. 3-U.S. government decision to send USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to accompany HMS Monarch to the U.S. 4-impressive ceremony transferring GP's remains from Portsmouth dock to the Monarch, specially outfitted as a funeral vessel (Dec. 11, 1869). 5-transatlantic voyage (Dec. 21, 1869-Jan. 25, 1870). See: Alabama Claims. Death and Funeral, GP's.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 6-GP Funeral Overview Cont'd.: 6-the U.S. Navy's decision (Jan. 14, 1870) to place Adm. David G. Farragut in command of a U.S. Navy flotilla to meet the Monarch in Portland harbor, Me. (Jan. 25-29, 1870). 7-lying in state in Portland City Hall (Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 1870); special funeral train to Peabody, Mass (Feb. 1, 1870), and lying in state at Peabody Institute Library (Feb. 1-8, 1870). 8-Robert Charles Winthrop's funeral eulogy at the Congregational Church, Peabody, Mass., attended by several governors, mayors, Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur, and other notables. 9-final burial at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Ref.: Ibid.

Cockburn, A.J.E. 7-Motives for GP's Unusual Funeral. Thus in part did GP's death and funeral play a part in softening U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims and other Civil War differences. Mixed with this motive were admiration for his commercial career, high regard for his philanthropies, and appreciation for his twenty years' effort to promote U.S.-British friendship. Alexander James Edmund Cockburn studied at Cambridge Univ., was called to the bar (1829), was an MP and a distinguished Parliamentary committee leader, was knighted (1850), became solicitor-general (1851-56), was chief justice of common pleas (1856), and lord chief justice (1859). See: Alabama Claims. Adams, Charles Francis. Death and Funeral, GP's. Trent Affair.

Collins, Edgar Knight (1802-78). See: Collins Line.

GP’s Lost Va. Bonds

Collins Line. 1-Atlantic Steamship Line. The Collins Line was a transatlantic steamship line financed in part by GP's former senior partner, Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), when he was a NYC banker. The line was organized by Edward Knight Collins (1802-78), inaugurated in 1849, and had five steamships (Atlantic, Arctic, Baltic, Pacific, and Adriatic) carrying passengers, freight, and mail between NYC and Liverpool. The Collins Line wrested transatlantic voyage leadership from England's mail-subsidized Cunard Line, started in 1840 by Canadian Samuel Cunard (1787-1865), knighted in 1859. When Collins secured a U.S. Congressional mail subsidy, U.S. maritime supremacy seemed assured. Ref.: Gordon, "The Atlantic Stakes," pp. 18, 20. See: Arctic (ship).

Collins Line. 2-Arctic Sunk. On Sept. 27, 1854, the Collins Line steamship Arctic at full speed in the fog collided with the small French vessel Vesta 20 miles off Cape Race, Newfoundland. The Vesta limped to shore but the Arctic sank. Of the 408 aboard, 322 drowned, including Collins' wife and child. Also lost on the Arctic were Va. bonds then worth $35,000 belonging to GP. After waiting for years for the state of Va. to redeem the lost bonds, GP presented their value with accrued interest in Aug. 1869 as a gift for a mathematics professorship to Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-70), then Washington College president (renamed Washington and Lee Univ., 1871), Lexington, Va. In 1883, the state of Virginia honored the value of these bonds with accrued interest in the amount of $60,000. R.E. Lee's biographer C.B. Flood thus wryly described GP's gift of these lost Va. bonds: "It was generosity with a touch of Yankee shrewdness: you Southerners go fight it out among yourselves. If General Lee can't get [this lost bond money] out of the Virginia legislature, nobody can." Ref.: Ibid.

Colt, Samuel (1814-1862). Colt's revolvers were shown at the U.S. pavilion, Great Exhibition of 1851. GP lent U.S. exhibitors $15,000 when the U.S. Congress neglected to appropriate funds to display U.S. industry and art products to advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).

Commemorative stamp, U.S. A GP U.S. commemorative stamp was unsuccessful in Tenn., 1941, and in Mass., 1993, for his birth bicentennial (Feb. 12, 1795-1995). A GP cancellation stamp was achieved in 1999. See: Honors, GP's. U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.

Commerell, John Edmund (1829-1901), was captain of HMS Monarch, the British warship which transported GP's remains from Portsmouth harbor, England, to Portland, Me, Dec. 21, 1869, to Jan. 25, 1870. Capt. John Edmund Commerell was age 40 when he commanded the Monarch's transatlantic transfer of GP's remains. He first distinguished himself at age 16 as a midshipman aboard HMS Firebrand. He was one of the first to receive the Victoria Cross, June 26, 1857, during the Crimean War, and attained the rank of captain in 1859 after leading a division of seamen in a landing force in North China. See: Death and funeral, GP's.

Common Lodging House Act, 1851, was England's first legislative step to improve workingmen's housing. See: Peabody Homes of London.

GP at Age 15

Concord, N.H., where GP, then age 15 in the winter of 1810, stopped at Stickney's Tavern on his return by horseback from visiting his maternal grandparents at Post Mills village near Thetford, Vt. (grandmother Judith Spofford Dodge [1749-1828] and grandfather Jeremiah Dodge [1744-1824]). Among the many news accounts at GP's death (Nov. 4, 1869) and transatlantic funeral, were several about his 1810 visit to Stickney's Tavern, Concord, N.H. The landlord had some boys who helped do chores. The story is told that GP played with the boys and helped them saw and split wood. The next day, ready to pay for his lodging and depart, Mr. Stickney declined payment saying that GP had earned his night's stay. Ref.: Boston Journal, Nov. 5, 1869, p. 4, c. 3-5. Republican and Statesman (Concord, H.H.), Nov. 12, 1869, p. 1, c. 2. Newport Mercury (Newport, R.I.), Nov. 13, 1869, p. 3, c. 1. Independent Democrat (Concord, N.H.), Feb. 10, 1870, p. 2, c. 8. Peabody Press (Peabody, Mass.), Feb. 23, 1870. See: persons and towns named.

Confederate bonds. For GP, Confederate bonds, and the Civil War, with sources, see: Civil War and GP. "S.P.Q."

GP with R.E. Lee in W.Va., Aug. 15-19, 1869

Confederate Generals. 1-White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Aug. 15-19, 1869. Some former Civil War generals, Union and Confederate, were among those who met, spoke to, and were photographed with GP (Aug. 12), then visiting the mineral springs health spa at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were southern and northern political, military, and educational leaders. These included 1-Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-70, then president, Washington College, Lexington, Va., renamed Washington and Lee Univ., 1871); 2-GP's Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888); 3-Turkish Minister to the U.S. Edouard Blacque Bey (1824-95); 4-Tenn. Supt. of Public Instruction and later U.S. Commissioner of Education John Eaton (1829-1906); 5-PEF first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80); 6-Howard College, Ala., Pres. Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903), later the second PEF administrator; 7-seven former Civil War generals; and others. See: Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named. Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Confederate Generals. 2-White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Aug. 15-19, 1869 Cont'd. GP, ill and three months from death, was there to rest and recuperate. But he and Robert E. Lee talked, dined, walked arm in arm, and were publicly applauded. Spurning lucrative offers, Lee became president of a struggling Va. college. GP had just doubled to $2 million his PEF to aid public education in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va. Historic photos were taken and informal talks of later educational consequence took place on southern public education needs. Ref.: Ibid.

Confederate Generals. 3-White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Aug. 15-19, 1869 Cont'd. In the main photograph, taken Aug. 12, 1869, the five individuals seated on cane-bottomed chairs were: GP front middle, Robert E. Lee to GP's right; William Wilson Corcoran to GP's left; at the right end Ambassador Edouard Blacque Bey; at the left end Richmond, Va., judge and public education advocate James Lyons (1801-82). Standing behind the five seated figures were seven former Civil War generals, their names in dispute until correctly identified in 1935 by Leonard T. Mackall of Savannah, Ga., as follows: from left to right: James Conner (1829-83) of S.C., Martin Witherspoon Gary (1819-73) of S. C., Robert Doak Lilley (1836-86) of Va., P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-93) of La., Alexander Robert Lawton (1818-96) of Ga., Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) of Va., and Joseph Lancaster Brent (b.1826) of Md. There is also a photo of GP sitting alone and a photo of Lee, GP, and Corcoran sitting together. Ref.: Ibid. See: Persons named.

Confederate Memorial Hall, PCofVU. To make its campus more welcome to people of all races and ethnicity Vanderbilt Univ. (VU) officials announced plans in Sept. 2002 to remove the word “Confederate” carved in stone on a PCofVU dormitory named Confederate Memorial Hall. The cost of the dormitory, built in 1935, included $50,000 donated by the Tenn. branch, United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) so that the dorm would house students descended from Confederate veterans. To stop removal of “Confederate” from the building the UDC in Oct. 2002 sued VU in Davidson County Chancery Court for breach of contract. The county court dismissed the UDC lawsuit. But on appeal, the Tenn. Court of Appeals on May 3, 2005, viewing the case as a breach of contract, said that if “Confederate” was removed UDC would be entitled to the return of its original donation plus interest, amounting to over a million dollars. To put the dispute to rest, VU officials, who for years had referred to the dorm as simply Memorial Hall, said, “It was time to move on,” allowed the stone-carved word “Confederate” to remain. See: PC of VU. Ref.: Tennessean (Nashville), Jan. 6, 2005, pp. 1Ai-2A; Jan. 9, 2005, pp. 18A-19A; Jan. 10, 2005, p. 6A; Jan. 21, 2005, p. 5A; May 17, 2005, p. 11A; http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/12/63719571.shtml?Element_ID=63719571


Congress, U.S. On Dec. 21, 1869, the U.S. House of Representatives debated a joint Congressional resolution calling for an official U.S. Navy reception for GP's remains at the Portland, Me., receiving port. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP (below).

PEF: Praise & Gold Congressional Medal

Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. 1-PEF. GP's Feb. 7, 1867, letter founding the PEF ($2 million total, 1867-69) was read aloud by PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) in an upper room at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1867, to 10 of the 16 original trustees at their first meeting. This letter received wide favorable press coverage.

Congressional Gold Medal. 2-On Feb. 9, 1867, Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75, 17th U.S. president during 1865-69), his secretary, Col. William George Moore (1829-93), and three others, called on GP at his Willard's Hotel rooms. With GP at the time were PEF trustees Robert Charles Winthrop, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), and former S.C. Gov. William Aiken (1806-87); along with GP's business friend Samuel Wetmore (1812-85), his wife, and their son; GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), George Washington Riggs (1813-81), and three others. Ref.: New York Herald, Feb. l0, 1867, p. 8, c. 1; April 29, 1867, p. 8, c. 2; London Times, Feb. 28, 1867, p. 5, c. 3. Bergeron, ed., p. 23.

Congressional Gold Medal. 3-Pres. Johnson Called on GP. With emotion Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand (GP was age 72 and ill) and said he thought he would find GP alone, that he called simply as a private citizen to thank GP for his PEF gift to aid public education in the South, that he thought the gift would do much to unite the country, that he was glad to have a man like GP representing the U.S. in England. He invited GP to visit him in the White House. Also with emotion, GP thanked Pres. Johnson, said that this meeting was one of the greatest honors of his life, that he knew the president's political course would be in the country's best interest, that England from the Queen downward felt goodwill toward the U.S., that he thought in a few years the country would rise above its divisions to become happier and more powerful. Ref.: Ibid.

Congressional Gold Medal. 4-Pres. Johnson Called on GP Cont'd. Pres. Johnson faced hostile radical Republicans in Congress bent on impeaching him for his conciliatory policy toward the former Confederate states. To avoid impeachment, Pres. Johnson's political advisor, Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), suggested a complete cabinet change with GP as Treasury Secty. and seven others. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this course. Ref.: (Proposed reconstituted Johnson cabinet): Francis Preston Blair, Sr., to Pres. Andrew Johnson, Feb. 12 and 24, 1867, Andrew Johnson Papers, Library of Congress Ms.; quoted in part in Bergeron, ed., pp. 22-23. Oberholtzer, I, pp. 469-470. Sioussat, p. 105. Milton, p. 385. Smith, W.E.-a, II, pp. 332-334. Smith, W.E.-b, II, p. 332. For the eight names proposed in the Cabinet reshuffle, see Andrew, John Albion.

Congressional Gold Medal. 5-GP Visited Pres. Johnson at the White House. On April 25, 1867, before his May 1, 1867, return to London, GP called on Pres. Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House and they spoke of the work of the PEF. With GP were John Work Garrett (1820-84, B&O RR president), and the 16-year-old son of Samuel Wetmore. GP told Pres. Johnson of young Wetmore's interest in being admitted to West Point and Pres. Johnson said he would do what he could for the young man. See: persons named.

Congressional Gold Medal. 6-U.S. Senate, March 5, 1867. U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced his joint Congressional resolutions on March 5, 1867: "Resolved: that both Houses of Congress present thanks to George Peabody of Massachusetts, for his gift for education for the South and Southeastern states.... Resolved: that the President of the United States have a gold medal struck to be given, along with these resolutions, to Mr. Peabody in the name of the people of the United States." Ref.: Sumner, Vol. 14, pp. 317-320.

Congressional Gold Medal. 7-Debate. On March 8, 1867, Sen. Sumner spoke for his resolutions: "...Mr. Peabody deserves the thanks of Congress for an act great in itself and great as an example. I recall no instance in history where a private person during his life has bestowed so large a sum in charity.... Mr. Peabody contributes to education in the most distressed part of our country.... It will serve as an example.... This charity is historic. It stands apart. It commands attention." Raising objections Senators James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa) and Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R-Neb.) asked why the resolutions could not first be looked into by an investigating committee. Ref.: Ibid.

Congressional Gold Medal. 8-GP Defended. Sen. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876, D-Md.) endorsed the resolutions and defended GP against Senators Grimes and Tipton's implications that GP was less than loyal to the Union: "I rise because of my intimacy with the subject of the resolution. He [GP] was born in Massachusetts but came to Baltimore early. I found him there in 1817 and was connected with him as attorney to client. I watched his progress and met him in London in 1845 and 1854. He always exerted his influence for the United States; sustained the credit of the states, particularly Maryland. On our national Independence day he brought together Americans and leading Englishmen, preserving good relations between our countries before and through the Civil War.... During the rebellion he was a friend of the Union. He has taken an unprecedented course of educational help to bring back among us the Southern states...." The Senate voted 36 yeas, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton), with 15 senators absent. Ref.: U.S. Govt.-d, Journal of the U.S. Senate, 1867, pp. 6, 19, 20, 40, 45, 47, 63, and Index 228.

Congressional Gold Medal. 9-U.S. House of Representatives, Mar. 9, 1867. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "To amend the resolution to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and abetted." Harding's amendment failed. The resolutions passed in the U.S. House March 14, 1867, were announced and enrolled in the U.S. Senate March 15, and signed by Pres. Johnson on March 16, 1867. Ref.: U.S. Govt.-c, Congressional Globe...March 4-December 2, 1867, Vol. 89, pp. 28-30, 38-75, 83, 94, 108. New York Times, March 9, 1867, p. 1, c. 5.

Congressional Gold Medal. 10-PEF as a National Gift. Thus in open debate the U.S. Congress recognized GP's PEF as a national gift. GP and Robert Charles Winthrop both thanked Sen. Charles Sumner for introducing the resolutions. Before returning to London at the end of his 1866-67 U.S. visit, GP was invited for a talk with Pres. Johnson in the White House. Ref.: PEF, Proceedings...Trustees, Vol. 1, p. vi. Ref.: (GP visit to the White House): New York Herald, April 29 and May 1, 1867. Baltimore Sun, April 27, 1867.

Congressional Gold Medal. 11-U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner. Boston-born Charles Sumner graduated from Harvard Law School (1830), lectured there, and spent 1837-40 in Europe. As U.S. Sen. (1851-74) he was an aggressive abolitionist, a radical Republican favoring a harsh Reconstruction program for the former 11 Confederate states, and wanted Pres. Andrew Johnson impeached. On May 22, 1856, Sumner's antislavery speech in the Senate, "Crime against Kansas," criticized S.C. Sen. Andrew Pickens Butler (1796-1857) and provoked a near-lethal caning from Butler's nephew Preston Smith Brooks (1819-1857). Sumner favored the release of Confederate emissaries James Murray Mason (1798-1871), John Slidell (1793-1871), and their male secretaries, seeking European arms and aid, illegally removed by officers of a Union warship from the British mail packet Trent, Nov. 8, 1861, in the West Indies Bahama Channel. Ref.: U.S. Govt. Biographical Directory...Am. Congress. Pierce, IV, p. 323, note 4.

Congressional Gold Medal. 12-Congressional Gold Medal Described. NYC silversmiths and jewelers Starr and Marcus finished the Congressional gold medal for GP in May 1868. It was said to be the most unusual gold medal made in the U.S. to that time. The central piece was a round design three inches in diameter and a half inch thick, on which GP's left profile, head and shoulders, was carved in relief. The reverse bore the inscription: "The People of the United States to George Peabody, in Acknowledgment of his Beneficent Promotion of Universal Education." Ref.: Laubat, I, pp. 421-426. New York Times, May 26, 1868, p. 2, c. 2-3; and Jan. 29, 1869, p. 5, c. 5.

Congressional Gold Medal. 13-Congressional Gold Medal Cont'd. The central profile piece was mounted on a base six inches long, three-fourths of an inch thick, and one and one-fourth inches high. Above the base on the left end as GP's profile faced it were palmetto trees under which were carved the figures of two children, one white, the other black, arms outstretched toward a counterpart carved figure of Benevolence to the right of the center piece. The figure of Benevolence held her left hand pointing to GP while her right hand held a spray of laurel. Ref.: New York Herald, May 29, 1868, p. 3, c. 6; and Jan. 31, 1869. London Times, Aug. 25, 1868, p. 8, c. 4; and Feb. 12, 1869.

Congressional Gold Medal. 14-Congressional Gold Medal Cont'd. On the reverse of the base beneath the center medallion was a globe which revolved. Around the globe were etched books, a map of the U.S., a square, compass, and other instruments representing education and the progress of art and science. On the front of the base beneath the two children was the carved work, "Education." Beneath the figure of Benevolence was the word "Knowledge." In the center of the base beneath Peabody's profile was the American national shield in enamel with a laurel and oak branch on either side coming from the bottom center in a V-shape. The medal was made of gold; the whole was eight inches high, six inches wide, one and one-half inches deep. The Congressional medal was enclosed in a handsome open cabinet of ebony and Birdseye maple lined with purple velvet, and placed on its pedestal so it could be revolved and seen from any position. It had not been struck from dies but had been handmade by tools, was more a piece of artistic statuary than a medal, and was reported to have cost $5,000. Ref.: Ibid.

Congressional Gold Medal. 15-Gold Medal Seen, Washington, D.C. When finished, the gold medal was sent to the Department of State, was seen by Pres. Johnson's cabinet on May 26,1868, and was exhibited in the U.S. Capitol Building. GP had designated the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody, Mass., as final depository for the gold medal. Ref.: New York Times, May 26, 1868, p.2, c. 2-3.

Congressional Gold Medal. 16-Seen in London, Christmas Day, 1868. Wanting to see it himself in London, GP wrote to Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) on Sept. 18, 1868: "Knowing the uncertainty of life, particularly at my advanced age, and feeling a great desire of seeing this most valued token my countrymen have been pleased to bestow upon me, I beg...that the medal, with its accompanying documents, may be sent to me here, through our Legation." Seward replied on Oct. 7 that the gold medal was being sent to GP via U.S. dispatch agent in London, Benjamin Franklin Stevens (1833-1902). The gold medal arrived in London in Nov. 1868. GP, away from London then, saw it for the first time on Christmas Day, 1868. He opened the package before gathered friends who admired the delicate workmanship. See: Stevens, Benjamin Franklin.

Congressional Gold Medal. 17-GP Thanked Secty. of State W.H. Seward. In acknowledging receipt, GP wrote to Seward on Jan. 6, 1869: "...It is not possible for me to feel more grateful than I do for this precious memorial...coming as it does from 30 millions of American citizens through their representatives in Congress, with the full accord and cooperation of the President. This medal, together with the rich illuminated transcript of the Congressional resolution, I shall shortly deposit in the Peabody Institution at the place of my birth." GP, with a few months to live, made his last trip to the U.S., June 8-Sept. 29, 1869, returned to London gravely ill, and died there Nov. 4, 1869. Ref.: GP, London, to Secty. of State William Henry Seward, Washington, D.C., Sept. 18, 1868, quoted in New York Times, Jan. 29, 1869, p. 5, c. 5; also quoted in Laubat, p. 426. New York Herald, Jan. 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 3. London Times, Feb. 12, 1869, p. 4, c. 6.

W.Va., 1869

Conner, James (1829-83). 1-Met GP, W.Va., 1869. James Conner was a former Confederate general from S.C. who by chance met, talked to, and was photographed with GP, then visiting the mineral springs health spa at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23 to Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were key southern and northern political, military, and educational leaders. GP, ill and three months from death, was there to rest and recuperate. He and Robert E. Lee talked, dined, walked arm in arm, were publicly applauded, and photographed with other prominent guests. Informal talks of later educational consequence took place on southern public education needs. For GP in W. Va., leaders he met, and photos taken between Aug. 15-19, 1869, See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Confederate generals. Eaton, John. Lee, Robert E. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Conner, James. 2-Career. James Conner was born in S.C., graduated from S.C. College (1849), became a lawyer and an active secessionist, served in the Civil War in which he lost a leg, became a Brig. Gen., June 1, 1864, and was Attorney Gen. of S.C. in 187. Ref.: Boatner, p. 171.

Cook, George Smith (1819-1902), was a Conn.-born photographer who learned daguerreotype photography in New Orleans (1843-45), went on a five-year photographing trip through the South, settled in Charleston, S.C. (1849), operated Mathew Brady's (1823-96) photo studio in NYC (1851-52), and had a photo studio in Richmond, Va. (1880-1902). The photos of GP reproduced in the following book may have been taken by George Smith Cook or an associate on or about Aug. 12, 1869, at, W.Va.: Alfred Lawrence Kocher and Howard Dearstyne, Shadows in Silver, a Record of Virginia, 1850-1900, in Contemporary Photographs Taken by George and Huestis Cook with Additions from the Cook Collection (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1954), pp. 189-190. Ref.: Wilson and Ferris, I, pp. 158-159. See: Peabody, George, Illustrations (under Kocher).

Coolidge, (John) Calvin (1872-1933), 30th U.S. president, during 1923-29. See: Presidents, U.S., and GP.

GP-Peter Cooper Connections

Cooper, Peter (1791-1883). 1-GP-Peter Cooper Contact. GP had minor contact with the industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper. Born in NYC and with little formal schooling (like GP), Cooper had a remarkable career. He invented a cloth-shearing machine, manufactured glue, was an iron maker, was the first to roll wrought iron beams for fireproof buildings, was interested in canals, was president of several telegraph companies, and was connected with the laying of the first Atlantic cable (GP was a director of Cyrus West Field's [1819-92] Atlantic Cable Co.). Peter Cooper founded a free higher education institution in NYC, Cooper Union (1859), and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. presidency in 1876. A minor GP-Peter Cooper connection was at the Oct. 9, 1856, GP celebration in South Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody on April 13, 1868). This visit was GP's first return to the U.S. in nearly 20 years since leaving for London in Feb. 1837. Peter Cooper was among those unable to attend who sent a letter praising GP as an eminent U.S. merchant-banker in London and a promoter of U.S.-British friendship. See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.

U.S. Sanitary Commission

Cooper, Peter. 2-Minor GP-Peter Cooper Contact Cont'd. Another GP-Peter Cooper connection had to do with Cooper Union and the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. NYC Unitarian minister Henry Whitney Bellows (1814-82), who helped Peter Cooper found Cooper Union, met with others at that institution to plan how to aid sick and wounded Civil War soldiers, sailors, and their dependents. This meeting led to the founding of the U.S. Sanitary Commission (1861-65), organized by the federal government on June 12, 1861. Donations were made to the U.S. Sanitary Commission at Westminster Palace Hotel, London, winter 1863-64 by GP, his George Peabody & Co. partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), GP's Vt.-born business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85, who became a naturalized British subject), and others. In May 1864, GP sent $8,000 to the U.S. Sanitary Commission, having previously sent $500 each to U.S. Sanitary Commission fairs in Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. GP's total donation was $10,000. The U.S. Sanitary Commission spent over $5 million in Civil War relief and over $15 million in relief supplies. See: Bellows, Henry Whitney. Civil War. U.S. Sanitary Commission.

N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame

Cooper, Peter. 3-N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame, 1900. GP and Peter Cooper were among the 29 most famous Americans elected to the New York Univ. Hall of Fame in 1900. N.Y.U. Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken (1840-1918) originated the idea of the N.Y.U. Hall of Fame as an educational use for the beautiful 630-foot campus colonnade overlooking the Hudson River. Mrs. Finley J. Shepard's $100,000 gift made the project possible (she was financier Jay Gould's [1836-92] daughter, née Helen Gould). The 29 most famous Americans were elected by 97 well known scholar-judges from over 1,000 names submitted by the public. See: Hall of Fame of N.Y.U.

Cooper, Peter. 4-N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame, 1900 Cont'd. Of the 29 elected to the N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame, GP was 16th from the top of the list, or 15th if placed ahead of Henry Clay [1777-1852], with whom GP tied for 16th place. In the businessmen-philanthropists category, GP received 74 votes and Peter Cooper received 69 votes. Of the other 28 most famous names selected, GP had personal contact with Daniel Webster (1782-1852), U.S. Grant (1822-85), Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82), Washington Irving (1783-1859), S.F.B. Morse (1791-1872), D.G. Farragut (1801-70), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64), Peter Cooper (1791-1883), Robert E. Lee (1807-70), and Asa Gray (1810-88). Ref.: Ibid. See: Persons named.

Cooper, Peter. 5-N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame, 1900 Cont'd. In 1901 a bronze tablet was unveiled in the space allotted to GP with an inscription from his PEF founding letter, Feb. 7, 1867: "Looking forward beyond my stay on earth I see our country becoming richer and more powerful. But to make her prosperity more than superficial, her moral and intellectual development should keep pace with her material growth." On May 12, 1926, a bust of GP by sculptor Hans Schuler (1874-1952, born in Alsace Lorraine, Germany), was unveiled at his assigned place on University Heights overlooking the Hudson River. John Work Garrett (1872-1942) represented the PIB trustees, grandnephew Murray Peabody Brush (b.1872) unveiled the bust, and GPCFT Pres. Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937) gave the address. Ref.:Ibid. See: MacCracken, Henry Mitchell. Payne, Bruce Ryburn. Schuler, Hans.

Peabody Normal College

Cooper, William F. (1820-1909). 1-Tenn. Judge & Trustee, Univ. of Nashville. Before his 1911 retirement as Peabody Normal College president, former Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912) told how he helped first PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) establish the Peabody Normal College on the campus of the Univ. of Nashville: "...I was with Dr. Sears, the first General Agent of [the] Peabody Board in 1875 [PEF], and he said to me, 'If you will furnish the house I will establish a normal college in Nashville. I am satisfied it is the best place in the South.' This was within twenty minutes of my inauguration as Governor of the State."

Cooper, William F. 2-Tenn. Gov. J.D. Porter Cont'd. "I said to him, 'Meet me here tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock and I will inform you whether I can secure the building for you. I am very anxious to see the school established. Before that hour I interviewed Judge William F. Cooper, Edwin H. Ewing [1809-1902], Edward D. Hicks, III [1831-94] and other members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville and obtained from them consent to establish the college in buildings of the University, and when Dr. Sears called I was able to offer him the most eligible building and the best location of any point in the City of Nashville. He accepted the offer, and in the winter following, the school was organized and entered upon a career of the very greatest success." See: PCofVU. PEF. Persons Named.

Corcoran, Louise Morris. See: Eustis, Louise Morris (née Corcoran).

Business Friend Wm. W. Corcoran

Corcoran, William Wilson (1798-1888). 1-GP's Business Friend. William Wilson Corcoran was GP's business associate and personal friend for over 30 years. Their personal contacts and correspondence are detailed because they cover important aspects of GP's life. W.W. Corcoran's Irish-born father migrated to the U.S. in 1783 and settled in Georgetown, D.C., in 1788. W.W. Corcoran was born in Washington, D.C., educated in private schools and attended Georgetown College (now Georgetown Univ.) for one year. In 1815 he went into the dry goods store owned by his two brothers. They established him in the same business in 1817. Although the firm of W.W. Corcoran & Co. failed in 1823, he later reimbursed his creditors. He married Louise Amory Morris, Dec. 23, 1835, daughter of U.S. Naval Commodore Charles Morris (1784-1856), active in the War of 1812. He entered banking in the District of Columbia from 1828 and was increasingly successful, retiring early to devote his remaining years to philanthropy.

Corcoran, W.W. 2-Connection with Riggs and GP. Corcoran formed an important banking firm, Corcoran & Riggs, Washington, D.C. (1840-48), with George Washington Riggs (1813-81), son of Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Elisha Riggs, Sr., was the established Md. merchant who saw promise in GP, a young fellow soldier in the War of 1812. GP, age 17, had newly arrived (May 15, 1812) from economically depressed Newburyport, Mass., with his paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826) to open a dry goods store in Georgetown, D.C. In Riggs's family sources, GP (then age 19) was Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s (then age 35) "office boy" for a short time, and then junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29). Later in London, in 1838-39, GP took Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s son, George Washington Riggs, under his wing and taught him the mercantile trade and broker-banker business. Elisha Riggs, Sr., who became a NYC banker after 1829, helped finance the banking firm of Corcoran & Riggs. Elisha Riggs, Sr., wrote of Corcoran's connections: "He [Corcoran] has the friendship of the government offices at Washington which is very desirable."

Corcoran, W.W. 3-Mexican War Loan. Needing funds to pay for the Mexican War, the U.S. government proposed a $16 million bond sale abroad. In 1848 Corcoran & Riggs bid successfully to sell abroad $14,065,550 of this Second Mexican War loan. This U.S. bond sale abroad enhanced U.S. government credit and was the basis of Corcoran's fortune. GP in London helped sell part of these bonds. Corcoran retired on April 1, 1854, to manage his properties and his philanthropies. Ref.: (Corcoran's career): Curry-b, p. 95. Hidy, M.E.-b, p. 8. King, Vol. II, Part 2, pp. 440-441. Riggs, E.F.

Corcoran, W.W. 4-Basis of the Riggs National Bank, Washington, D.C. George Washington Riggs (educated at Round Hill School, Mass., and at Yale College) left Corcoran & Riggs, headed the banking firm of Riggs & Co., Washington, D.C. (1854-81), and was succeeded by his son Elisha Francis Riggs (1851-1910). When Elisha Francis Riggs retired in 1896, Riggs & Co. became the Riggs National Bank on the original site of Corcoran & Riggs, the corner of 15th St. and N.Y. Ave., Washington, D.C. George Washington Riggs, named by GP as one of the 16 original PEF trustees (during 1867-81), was succeeded as PEF trustee by Philadelphia banker Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93). A.J. Drexel attributed his founding of Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, in 1891, to his PEF trustee experience. Ref.: Ibid. (For more on the Riggs Bank, said to have been founded in 1836, see under References: Ruane, Michael E., "Checks and Balance Sheets of a City's History," Washington Post National Weekly Edition, Vol. 23, No. 40 [July 24-30, 2006], p.34).

Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Corcoran, W.W. 5-Philanthropies. Having amassed considerable wealth, Corcoran, retired since 1854, began constructing the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1859, whose opening was delayed by the Civil War. Sympathetic with the Confederacy but never actively opposed to the Union, Corcoran lived abroad during 1862-65. He founded the Louise Home in 1869 for "gentlewomen...reduced by misfortune" ($550,000) and saw the Corcoran Art Galley inaugurated Feb. 22, 1872, based on his own art collection (total gift, $1.6 million). Ref.: Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 6-Daughter. Corcoran's only child was a daughter, Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67). GP, who helped the Corcorans on their European trips with banking needs, travel plans, and cultural entertainment in London, was fond of daughter Louise. She married George Eustice (1828-72), son of the chief justice of La.'s supreme court. Eustice was one of four Confederate envoys sent to seek funds and arms from Britain and France. Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustice was on the British ship Trent when her husband and the three other Confederate envoys were illegally removed on Nov. 8, 1861, held in Boston Harbor's Warren Prison, and released Jan. 1, 1862. Corcoran's many acquaintances included political and financial leaders of the time. The Trent Affair is described below as it affected GP and Corcoran's daughter. See: persons named. Trent Affair.

Great Exhibition of 1851, London

Corcoran, W.W. 7-Great Exhibition of 1851, London. GP, in frequent mail contact with Corcoran, wrote him of his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London (first world's fair) and of the two Exhibition-connected GP dinners. GP's social emergence in 1851, along with favorable publicity on his two Exhibition-connected U.S.-British friendship dinners, preceded and likely encouraged his subsequent philanthropic gifts. His first gift was made the next year, June 16, 1852. He founded his first Peabody Institute in his hometown, Danvers, Mass. (renamed South Danvers, 1855, renamed Peabody on April 13, 1868).

Corcoran, W.W. 8-Great Exhibition of 1851, London Cont'd. The first world's fair, London, 1851 (official name: "The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, held in London, 1851") catapulted GP, in a small way, and others to fame. The idea occurred to Henry Cole (1808-82), Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art) member, successful children’s book author, editor of several journals, assistant keeper of the Records Office, and British Post Office reorganizer. He attended the Paris Exposition, 1849, which showed only French industrial products. In London, in talks (June 29, 1849) with Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria’s husband, and president (1848) of the Society of Art, Henry Cole found royal support for a first world's fair. Cole later founded the 1-South Kensington Museum, London, and 2-the National Training School, from which came the Royal College of Music, London. Ref.: Gibbs-Smith. Johnson, B.P.

Corcoran, W.W. 9-Early Plans. Backed by Prince Albert, a Royal Commission was appointed (Jan. 3, 1850), approval sought from manufacturers in Britain and other countries, funds were raised, Hyde Park was chosen as the site, and 245 building designs were received. Rejecting these designs and about to choose their own, the Building Committee received from Joseph Paxton (1801-65), the Duke of Devonshire's superintendent of gardens at Chatsworth, a hastily submitted sketch. Paxton's sketch of a large, strikingly handsome crystal-like glass structure supported by barrel-like iron transepts appeared in the Illustrated London News, July 6, 1850, winning public favor and Royal Commission approval. Nine months later the majestic Crystal Palace arose on 20 acres of Hyde Park. Ref.: Dalzell.

Corcoran, W.W. 10-Some Critics. A London Times critic wrote: "The whole of Hyde Park and, we will venture to predict, the whole of Kensington Gardens, will be turned into the bivouac of all the vagabonds of London so long as the Exhibition shall continue." A House of Commons member said: "It is the greatest trash, the greatest fraud, and the greatest imposition ever attempted to be palmed upon the people of this country. The object...is to introduce amongst us foreign stuff of every description.... It is meant to bring down prices in this country, and to pave the way for the establishment of cheap and nasty trash.… All the bad characters at present scattered over the country will be attracted to Hyde Park.... I advise persons residing near the Park to keep a sharp lookout for their silver forks and spoons and servant maids." Many tree lovers complained about cutting down three giant elms on the site. Paxton roofed them in, giving the building one of its distinguishing features. Later knighted, Paxton was later an MP from Coventry, 1854-65. Ref.: Gibbs-Smith, p. 9.

U.S. Exhibitors & GP

Corcoran, W.W. 11-Early Plans. Invited to participate, U.S. Secty. of State John Middleton Clayton (1796-1856) accepted, delegating authority (March 7, 1850) to the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Arts, Washington, D.C. State governors were asked to appoint committees to select exhibits and make needed arrangements. U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) authorized a U.S. Navy ship (U.S. frigate St. Lawrence) to transport U.S. exhibits. Commissioner Charles F. Stansbury (d. 1882) of Washington, D.C., was appointed (without salary) to assemble the exhibits in NYC and place them aboard the St. Lawrence. Commissioner Edward W. Riddle of Boston was appointed (also without salary) to accompany the exhibits, shipped at exhibitors' expense. The St. Lawrence under Capt. Joshua R. Sands left NYC Feb. 8, 1851, for Southampton. On arrival in Southampton, March 1851, a lack of money brought on a crisis. Ref.: (U.S. exhibitors): Griffis, p. 86.

Lack of Funds

Corcoran, W.W. 12-Crisis: Lack of Funds. Federally sanctioned and largely state managed by hundreds of committee members, U.S. exhibitors' need for funds in Southampton and London had been neglected. It was a chaotic laissez faire muddle. No one had thought of funds to pay for shipping the crated exhibits from Southampton to London or to pay to decorate the large (40,000-square foot) U.S. exhibit space in the Crystal Palace. The crated U.S. exhibits lay scattered like rubble. Ref.: Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 13-Lack of Funds Crisis Cont'd. The U.S. Legation, without funds, the U.S. exhibitors, and the U.S. residents in London were all embarrassed. British ridicule appeared in the satirical Punch: "We could not help...being struck by the glaring contrast between large pretension and little performance...of the large space claimed by...America....What was our astonishment...to find that their contributions to the world's industry consists...of a few wine-glasses, a square or two of soap, and a pair of salt-cellars! For a calculating people our friends the Americans are thus far terribly out in their calculations." Ref.: (U.S. exhibitors without funds): Griffis, p. 86. London Times, Jan. 29, 1851, p. 4, c. 4; Feb. 24, 1851, p. 8, c. 6. Punch, quoted in Ffrench, pp. 237-238; also quoted in London Times, May 22, 1851, p. 8, c. 1. NYC Evening Post, July 15, 1851, p. 1, c. 5-6.

Corcoran, W.W. 14-U.S. Exhibitors Ridiculed. The New York Evening Post's London correspondent criticized U.S. Commissioner Edward W. Riddle: "It is a national disgrace that American wares, which are good, are so barely displayed, so vulgarly and ambitiously spread out over so large a space." British disdain for brash Americans was reinforced when U.S. locksmith Alfred C. Hobbs (1812-91) walked into a Piccadilly locksmith shop, pointed to a sign offering a reward to anyone opening the firm's famous lock, picked the lock, claimed the reward, and repeated the performance at another locksmith firm. Without funds, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was at a loss. He knew it would take months to get Congress to appropriate funds, if at all. Ref.: (Alfred C. Hobbs): Ffrench, op. cit., pp. 240-241.

GP's Loan

Corcoran, W.W. 15-GP's Loan. "The whole affair looked like a disgraceful failure," a New York Times writer later recorded. "At this juncture Mr. Geo. Peabody, of whom not one exhibitor in twenty had ever heard, and who was personally unknown to every member of the Commission, offered through a polite note addressed to Mr. Lawrence, to advance £3,000 [$15,000] on the personal responsibility of Mr. [Edward W.] Riddle and his secretary, Mr. [Nathaniel Shattwell] Dodge [1810-74]. This loan, afterward [three years later re]paid by Congress, relieved the Commission of its difficulties, and enabled our countrymen to achieve their first success in industrial competition with the artisans and manufacturers of Europe." Ref.: (GP's loan): New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 2, c. 1. "Proceedings of Thirty-third Congress, First Session, House of Representatives, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 1854," quoted in Washington, D.C., Daily Globe, Aug. 24, 1854, p. 1, c. 6-7. See persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 16-GP Described, 1851. The New York Times article described GP's little known status in 1851: "Mr. Peabody was then 57 years old. A large-framed man, six feet in height, slightly stooping at the shoulders, of easy address, retiring in manner, rather reticent of speech, neat in apparel and dignified in bearing--he appeared rather the English gentleman of leisure than an American merchant.... He had realized a considerable fortune even for London." "Still," the article explained, "he was not widely known. Mr. [Joshua] Bates [1788-1864], Mr. Sturgis [1805-87], Mr. (later Sir) Curtis M. Lampson [1806-85] and twenty other Americans [in London] had a larger commercial reputation." Ref.: Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 17-Over Six Million Visitors. Partly through GP's loan over six million visitors to the first world's fair saw to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The most talked about were Albert C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. The 599 U.S. exhibits won 159 awards, or one award for every four exhibits, a record somewhat better than awards won by British exhibits. Ref.: (GP's loan to U.S. Exhibitors): Griffis, p. 86. New York Times, Aug. 4, 1869, p. 2, c. 1. U.S. Govt. "Proceedings...33rd Cong., 1st Sess., House of Rep., Tues., Aug. 1, 1854," quoted in Daily Globe (Washington, D.C., Aug. 24, 1854), p. 1, c. 6-7. See: persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 18-GP as Genial Host. Despite business affairs, GP hosted many U.S. visitors. He helped get for them tickets to the House of Lords, the opera, and the Botanical Gardens. He urged his Washington, D.C., business friend W.W. Corcoran to come for the exhibit: "I...regret that your business will not permit you to come to London.... I hope you will yet come.... The exhibition is worth coming for... I only regret...I have passed but one hour in it since the first day it opened, although I have a season ticket." To his former senior partner Elisha Riggs, Sr., GP wrote: "To see the buildings alone is worth a voyage across the Atlantic." Ref.: GP, London, to W.W. Corcoran, Washington, D.C., May 23, 1851, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress; also quoted in Corcoran, p. 95.

U.S.-British Friendship Dinner, July 4, 1851

Corcoran, W.W. 19-July 4, 1851, Dinner. GP had hosted smaller scale U.S.-British friendship dinners before 1851. His motive in the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to ease U.S.-British animosities which still rankled over the American Revolution, War of 1812, and the U.S. Maine-New Brunswick, Canada, boundary dispute of 1842. With so many prominent U.S. visitors present, and in the international spirit of the Great Exhibition, GP first thought in June 1851 to host a U.S.-British friendship dinner on July 4, 1851. U.S. visitors would like celebrating Independence Day. Britons might resent it. Would British society attend?

Corcoran, W.W. 20-Minister Lawrence Wary. GP sounded out U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, who discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. On June 26, 1851, Minister Lawrence found a wary reaction to the idea. In a private and confidential letter he warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." (Note: Lady Emily Lamb Palmerston, 1787-1869, wife of British PM Henry John Temple Palmerston, 1784-1865). Ref.: Abbott Lawrence to GP, June 26, 1851, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Corcoran, W.W. 21-Duke of Wellington as Guest of Honor. Prospects looked dim. GP persisted, wanting to build on the Great Exhibition spirit of goodwill. An Independence Day dinner might succeed, he thought, if he had a truly distinguished British guest of honor. Through mutual friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), England's greatest living hero. The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." With the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington as guest of honor, British society eagerly attended. The Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner was an enormous success. Ref.: Chapple, p. 8. Wilson, P.W., p. 45. See: persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 22-800 at Dinner. The July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's, conducted by a professional Bond St. master of ceremonies. The spacious ballroom was decorated with portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington, tastefully arranged flowers, and skillfully blended British and U.S. flags. Over a thousand guests came and went, with eight hundred at dinner, including members of Parliament, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; the Bank of England's junior governor Thomson Hankey (1805-93); the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906); Crystal Palace architect Joseph Paxton; and others. See Persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 23-800 at Dinner Cont'd. An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles set in cut-glass chandeliers. When the Duke of Wellington entered the band played, "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP rose, approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. (By coincidence there is an equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington in front of the Royal Exchange, London, by British sculptor Francis Legatt Chantry [1781-1841]; and nearby on Threadneedle St. is GP's seated statue by U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story [1819-95]). Ref.: New York Times, Aug. 4, 1868, p. 2, c. 2. (Statues mentioned): New York Times, Feb. 28, 1988, Sec. 2, p. 39, c.1. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). Willis's Rooms.

Corcoran, W.W. 24-Praised in the Press. The London Times, reporting that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour, also referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper had a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. The aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. Ref.: London Times, July 9, 1851, p. 5, c. 3. Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times (London), July 26, 1851, p. 43. Sun (London), July 11, 1851, p. 1, c. 5-6. North American and United States Gazette (Philadelphia), July 23, 1851, p. 1, c. 4. NYC Spirit of the Times, July 26, 1851, p. 1, c. 2; and Aug. 2, 1851, p. 279.

Corcoran, W.W. 25-Minister Lawrence Congratulated GP. Totally pleased, U.S. Minister Lawrence wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London.... "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception.... I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Abbott Lawrence to GP, July 5, 1851, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.

Corcoran, W.W. 26-N.Y. State Agent Praised GP. Reporting on the U.S. Exhibition to his superiors, N.Y. State agent Benjamin Pierce Johnson (1793-1869) praised GP's loan and his July 4, 1851, dinner (in part): "…every American connected with the Exhibition owes a debt of gratitude [to Mr. George Peabody of London]…." Ref. Johnson, B.P.

Departing U.S. Exhibitors Dinner, Oct. 27, 1851

Corcoran, W.W. 27-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, Charles F. Stansbury of Washington, D.C., a departing U.S. commissioner to the Great Exhibition, proposed a dinner to honor GP for his loan. Graciously declining, GP instead gave his own Oct. 27, 1851, dinner to the departing exhibitors, grander and even better received than was his July 4, 1851, dinner. The menu, proceedings, and speeches were printed in beautifully bound books. Copies were sent to distinguished attendees and others. Ref. Baltimore Patriot & Gazette, Oct. 28, 1851, p. 2, c. 1. (Proceedings): Stevens.

Corcoran, W.W. 28-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors Cont'd. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as U.S. emissary had met friends to discuss colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851. Ref. Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 29-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851" was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and first toasted, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood. The band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose. Hail Columbia was played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. Ref. Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 30-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors Cont'd. U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted. The band played Yankee Doodle. U.S.-British friendship speeches were given by U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence and former British Minister to the U.S. Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72). GP said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref. Ibid. See: persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 31-Aftermath of GP's Generosity. Corcoran, who read in the press of GP's loan to the U.S. exhibitors and of the praise for his U.S.-British friendship dinners, wrote to GP, "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman." GP answered (Oct. 3, 1851): "However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref. (W.W. Corcoran): GP to Corcoran, Oct. 3, 1851, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms, and quoted in Corcoran, p. 101.

Corcoran, W.W. 32-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Book. GP had his friend and sometime agent Henry Stevens (1819-86), who attended the Oct. 27, 1851, dinner, collect, publish, and distribute in a handsome book the Oct. 27, 1851, dinner menu, proceedings, and speeches. Henry Stevens, born in Barnet, Vt., was a successful London-based rare book dealer and bibliographer. Ref. Stevens (comp.). Parker, W.W., pp. 83, 126. Kenin, pp. 87-94. Lydenberg, VII, pp. 611-612. (Letters about sending and receiving Oct. 27, 1851, dinner proceedings book, compiled by Stevens, are in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.)

Corcoran, W.W. 33-GP's 1851 Successes Springboard to Philanthropy. GP had early told intimates he intended to found an educational or other useful institute in each town and city where he had lived and worked. A year after the Great Exhibition of London of 1851, GP established his first Peabody Institute Library in his hometown of Danvers, Mass. (renamed South Danvers, 1855, renamed Peabody on April 13, 1868). GP was invited but was unable to leave London to attend the June 16, 1852, centennial celebration of Danvers' separation from Salem, Mass. He sent instead a letter, sentiment, and check establishing his first Peabody Institute Library.

Corcoran, W.W. 34-"Education--a debt due from present to future generations." GP's letter from London, May 26, 1852, read aloud by schoolmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874), said in part: "By George Peabody, of London: 'Education--a debt due from present to future generations.' In acknowledgment of the payment of that debt by the generation which preceded me in my native town of Danvers...I give...the sum of $20,000....'" Like the lyceums and chautauquas that followed, his first Peabody Institute had a library, lecture hall, lecture fund, and annual prizes for best pupils. Ultimately, GP gave his hometown Peabody Institute a total of $217,600 (1852-69). For GP's first (1852) Peabody Institute gift, Danvers, now Peabody, Mass., see South Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration. John Waters Proctor. Sylvester Proctor. For GP's earlier (Oct. 31, 1851) $1,000 gift for a chemistry laboratory and school for Baltimore's Md. Institute, see Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore. William H. Keighler. Ref. (Md. Institute): GP to Md. Institute Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, Garrett Papers, Library of Congress Ms. Quoted in American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Baltimore), Nov. 27, 1851, p. 2, c. 1.

Corcoran, W.W. 35-Oct. 12, 1852, Dinner. GP honored departing U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) at an Oct. 12, 1852, London dinner. That dinner also introduced incoming U.S. Minister Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868, minister during 1852-53) and his niece Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Charlotte Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851).

Whiff of Romance

Corcoran, W.W. 36-Miss Wilcox and Elise Tiffany. From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" The Tiffanys had been invited to the May 18, 1853, dinner for the Ingersolls but Elise would not go. Her brother George Tiffany explained in a letter to GP: "Elise knows the entertainment is to the American Minister and Miss Wilcocks. The thing is impossible. Her trunks will not pack, nor her Bills pay.... As to the Scotch trip of a couple of weeks, Elise counts upon your making that sacrifice as a balm to her wounded feelings, caused by the various reports all through the winter." Ref. (George Tiffany to GP): George Tiffany, Paris, to GP, London, June 7, 1853, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass

Corcoran, W.W. 37-No Thoughts of Marriage. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper wrote about a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr. Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show..." GP, then age 58, had no matrimonial intentions, as he explained in a letter to Washington, D.C., business friend W.W. Corcoran: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref. GP, London, to William Wilson Corcoran, Washington, D.C., May 3, 1853, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms. Also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 110-111.

Arctic Exploration

Corcoran, W.W. 38-Lost British Arctic Explorer Sir John Franklin. Corcoran, GP's contact in Washington, helped in GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) and 137 seamen left on May 18, 1845, to search for the legendary Northwest Passage. They were never seen alive again. Lady Jane Franklin's (1792-1874) appeal to Pres. Zachary Taylor and the U.S. Congress led NYC merchant Henry Grinnell (1799-1874) to offer two search ships. This First U.S. Grinnell Expedition, 1850-52, failed to find Sir John Franklin. See: Franklin, Sir John.

Corcoran, W.W. 39-Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition for Sir John Franklin, 1853-55. GP learned through W.W. Corcoran that Grinnell had petitioned Congress through U. S. Sen. Hamilton Fish from N.Y. (1808-93) for U.S. Navy help in a Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. U.S. Navy Secty. John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) coordinated the second U.S. expedition, with Grinnell's two ships and GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment. The second U.S. search expedition was led by U.S. Navy Commander Elisha Kent Kane, M.D. (1820-57), medical officer on the first U.S. search expedition. Navy Secty. Kennedy, a Baltimorean, first knew GP as a fellow solder in the War of 1812. Later, in 1857, Kennedy was the chief planner and trustee of GP's $1.4 million PIB. See: Franklin, Sir John. Kennedy, John Pendleton.

Corcoran, W.W. 40-Initiated U.S. Arctic Exploration. To attract additional aid, Kane publicized GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment. As he hoped, funds and equipment came from the Smithsonian Institution, the Geographical Society of N.Y., and the American Philosophical Society. It fell to later explorers to find conclusive proof that Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847. The two U.S. Grinnell Expeditions initiated U.S. Arctic exploration; led Kane to name Peabody Bay, off Greenland, for GP; and enabled GP to help promote an early instance of U.S.-British international technical cooperation. Ref. Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 41-White House Desk Connection. There was also an interesting later development. The British ship HMS Resolute, abandoned in the Arctic ice in the search for Sir John Franklin, was found and extricated by a Capt. Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry. The U.S. government purchased, repaired, and returned Resolute to Britain as a gift. In turn, when the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made of its timbers as a gift to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found that desk in a storeroom in 1961 and put it in Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) oval office. Famous photos show their small son John playing under that desk. Ref. Ibid. See: persons named. White House, Washington, D.C.

Washington Monument

Corcoran, W.W. 42-Washington Monument, July 4, 1854. W.W. Corcoran wrote to GP in London, June 19, 1854: "Would you like to donate to the Washington Monument now being organized? Donors of $1,000 have their names inscribed on a tablet in the monument." GP replied that he had just returned from a July 4, 1854, British-U.S. friendship dinner he gave at London's Star and Garter Hotel for 150 guests: "While seated beneath the portrait of [George] Washington...it recalled to my mind the magnificent Monument now being erected in your city to the Father of his Country.... That I might have a hand in its construction...I...authorize you to place my name on the subscription list for one thousand dollars." Ref. (GP's gift to Washington Monument): Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. National Archives. Washington National Monument, Board of Managers, "Journal" entry, July 25, 1854. Washington Weekly Reporter (Washington, Penn.), Aug. 9, 1854, p. 2, c. 5.

Corcoran, W.W. 43-Washington Monument, July 4, 1854, Cont'd. The Washington Monument originated in a Congressional resolution (1783) to honor the first U.S. president with an equestrian statue. George Washington demurred about any expense to the national treasury. After Washington's death (1799) U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835) suggested some kind of a George Washington memorial. In 1832 a Washington National Monument Society began to raise funds. The obelisk-style Washington Monument was designed by U.S. Architect of Public Buildings Robert Mills (1781-1855). The cornerstone was laid July 4, 1848. Construction was halted for lack of funds. In 1852 Corcoran, GP, and others responded to appeals. Congress did not appropriate funds until 1876. With donors' names inscribed inside (including GP), the 555 foot and 5/8th inch tall Washington Monument, completed in 1880, opened to the public in 1888. See: Washington Monument, Washington, D.C. Persons named.

GP & the Sickles Affair

Corcoran, W.W. 44-July 4, 1854, Dinner and the Sickles Affair. Corcoran's and GP's donation to the Washington Monument came at the time of GP's frictionable July 4, 1854, Independence Day dinner. He gave the dinner at the Star and Garter Hotel, London, to honor incoming U.S. Minister to Britain James Buchanan (1772-1868, later 15th U.S. President, 1857-61). Controversial new U.S. Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) was a super-patriot at a time of U.S. jingoism over winning the Mexican War and acquiring parts of Texas and California. When GP toasted as usual first the Queen, then the U.S. President, Sickles objected, sat while the other 149 guests rose, then stalked out of the banquet room "stiff and red-gorged." U.S.-British press reports of Sickles' walkout fanned the furor. In a letter to the Boston Post, July 21, 1854 Sickles charged GP as unpatriotic and "toadying" to the British. Letters appeared in the press for a month, mostly anti-Sickles and pro-GP. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.

Corcoran, W.W. 45-Sickles Affair Aftermath. Sickles' later difficulties included his shooting to death the son of Francis Scott Key (Philip Barton Key), Feb. 27, 1859, for alleged inappropriate attention to Sickles' wife. Sickles was acquitted as of unsound mind. On the Sickles affair, Corcoran wrote GP that: "Buchanan had not the slightest respect" for Sickles but for political reasons could not reprove him. Buchanan, with a less controversial new legation secretary, wrote to Sickles: "Your refusal to rise when the Queen's health was proposed is still mentioned in society, but I have always explained and defended you." Two years later, while GP was in Washington, D.C., during his 1856-57 U.S. visit, and when James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president, the two men did not meet. Ref. Ibid. Persons named.

GP Celebration, South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856

Corcoran, W.W. 46-Oct. 9, 1856, S. Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration. W.W. Corcoran could not attend but sent a congratulatory letter when GP's hometown friends (Danvers, renamed South Danvers, 1855, renamed Peabody, Mass. on April 13, 1868) held a GP Celebration Day on Oct. 9, 1856. The occasion marked GP's first U.S. return visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857) in nearly 20 years since settling in London in Feb. 1837. Delegations from Boston, NYC, and elsewhere who met him at NYC dockside offered him public dinners. He declined, explaining that his sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell (1799-1879) had written him that South Danvers people had voted $3,000 for a public welcome for him and that they "will be extremely disappointed if they do not do much more than anybody else and do it first. They are tenacious of their right to you." See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.

Corcoran, W.W. 47-Oct. 9, 1856, S. Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration Cont'd. Some 20,000 people descended on tiny S. Danvers. There were marching bands, marching schoolchildren, dinner for 1,500, and speeches by Alfred Amos Abbott (1820-84), Edward Everett (1794-1865) and others, with responses by GP. Letters from distinguished persons invited but, like Corcoran, unable to attend, included Abbott Lawrence (who died shortly before the Oct. 9, 1856 celebration), jurist Rufus Choate (1799-1859), Edmund Grattan of the British Consulate in Boston, writer Washington Irving (1783-1859), Arctic explorer Elisha Kent Kane, manufacturer and philanthropist Peter Cooper (1791-1883), Mass. statesman and later GP's philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), statesman and college president Josiah Quincy, Jr. (1772-1864), historian George Bancroft (1800-91), educator Henry Barnard (1811-90), and others. The gala day's events, dinner menu, speeches, and letters received were published in a handsome book, copies of which were sent to dignitaries. Ref. Ibid. Proceedings...Reception and Dinner...GP...Danvers, Oct. 9, 1856, pp. 55-109. See: persons named.

Panic of 1857

Corcoran, W.W. 48-Panic of 1857. Hundreds of U.S. and British business firms failed during the financial Panic of 1857. George Peabody & Co. was severely threatened. The crisis was brought on by over speculation in western U.S. lands, poorly managed railroads needing large capital, and overbuying of goods in eastern U.S. cities. The crisis was furthered by poor U.S. wheat sales abroad, the sinking of a packet ship with $1.6 billion in California gold bullion aboard, and the failure of some railroads, banks, and insurance companies. GP had given large credit to Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which could not repay him. Meanwhile, Baring Brothers pressed GP for $750,000 (£150,000) he owed them. Gathering all his assets, GP applied for a $4 million loan. The Bank of England, which seldom made such loans, did so for GP. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer. Panic of 857.

Corcoran, W.W. 49-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903) is the source for reporting that during the loan negotiations some unscrupulous financiers tried to force GP out of business. GP's partner Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) was told that a loan would be guaranteed to George Peabody & Co. if it ceased business in London at the end of 1858. J.L.M. Curry reported that, "When Mr. Morgan brought this message to Mr. Peabody, he was in a rage like a wounded lion, and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." After repaying the Bank of England loan on March 30, 1858, GP wrote W.W. Corcoran: "My business is again quite snug.... Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref. (J.L.M. Curry): Curry-b, p. 7 (Italics added). Ref. (GP to Corcoran): GP, London, to W.W. Corcoran, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1858, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms, also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 168-169. For U.S. Legation in London's Secty. Benjamin Moran's (1820-86) Nov. 6 and 21, 1857, comments on GP's Panic of 1857 difficulties, See: Moran, Benjamin (Ref. Wallace and Gillespie, pp. 162, 175, 181).

N.Y. Herald's False Reports

Corcoran, W.W. 50-N.Y. Herald's False Reports. Editor James Gordon Bennett's N.Y. Herald article, Sept. 20, 1859, stated: "There is a rumor that the firm of George Peabody & Co. is to be dissolved or remodeled. The cause I have not heard, but I know that the head of the house has never been pleased nor satisfied since certain events during and previous to the great crisis of 1857. Before that disgraceful failure in Boston, connected with Lawrence, of Lawrence, Stone & Co., a draft was actually drawn amounting to some £80,000 [then equivalent to $400,000] and some real or fanciful security offered. This draft was accepted, and the negotiation had been about completed when the senior partner, Mr. Peabody, came in and put a veto on the whole transaction. As matters turned out the securities were not worth a straw. Lawrence failed and but for the timely appearance of Mr. Peabody, his firm would have been seriously damaged by the stroke of the pen." Ref.: New York Herald, Sept. 20, 1859, p. 2, c. 2.

Corcoran, W.W. 51-N.Y. Herald's False Reports Cont'd. Another N.Y. Herald article, Oct. 12, 1859, accused GP of using his influence with the London Times financial writer to attack business rivals. The article read: "...Money articles in the Times follow what George Peabody favors or opposes, reflecting his personal enmities, piques, quarrels...." Asked to comment on Editor James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald anti-GP articles, GP wrote the Baltimore American editor to say that they were false. Ref. New York Herald, Oct. 12, 1859, p. 2, c. 2. Ref. (GP's denial letter to Baltimore American, Dec. 23, 1859, reprinted): New York Times, Jan. 12, 1860, p. 1, c. 6.

Corcoran, W.W. 52-N.Y. Herald's False Reports Cont'd. W.W. Corcoran wrote GP and scoffed at the charge: "I read a letter in the Herald some time since alluding to your influence with the London Times which if true, makes you more potential than Lord Palmerston [Henry John Temple Palmerston (1784-1865), British Prime Minister during 1855-58]." GP's distant cousin in NYC Joseph Peabody wrote GP that N.Y. Herald Editor James Gordon Bennett deliberately provoked controversy to sell newspapers, that he published "falsehood[s] expressly to provoke a reply.... He makes it a system to attack some prominent person, it matters little who that person may be!..." Ref. W.W. Corcoran, Washington, D.C., to GP, Dec. 20, 1859, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Ref. Joseph Peabody, NYC, to GP, Montreal, Canada, Oct. 18, 1856, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. For criticism of GP in the N.Y. Herald during GP's 1856-57 U.S. visit, reasons for Bennett's criticism, and sources, see Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Corcoran, W.W. 53-GP, Gout, March 1859. Often ill with gout in 1858-59, GP sought relief in health spas in southern France. He wrote to Corcoran: "I have been a great sufferer by rheumatic gout in my knees and arms, as also my right hand, for several months. I have been here for three weeks for the benefit of the waters, and may remain a fortnight longer. I am now quite well, except my right hand, which is painful when I write, and I fear you will hardly be able to make out what I have written." Ref. GP to W.W. Corcoran, March 22, 1859, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, p. 178.

Trent Affair

Corcoran, W.W. 54-1861 Trent Affair. The Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair affected GP in two minor ways. Because it threatened near-war hysteria between the U.S. and Britain, it delayed to March 12, 1862, announcement of the Peabody Donation Fund for model homes for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). It also affected W.W. Corcoran's only child, daughter Louise Morris (Corcoran) Eustice, married to and accompanying her husband, George Eustice (1828-72), one of four Confederates illegally removed from the British ship Trent. Despite a Union blockade of southern ports, on the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, Confederate emissaries James Murray Mason (1798-1871), his secretary J.E. McFarland, both from Va., John Slidell (1793-1871), his secretary George Eustice, both from La., and some of their families, sailed from Charleston, S.C., to Havana, Cuba. In Havana they boarded the British mail ship Trent, bound for Liverpool, England, to seek arms and aid for the Confederacy in Britain and France. See: Trent Affair.

Corcoran, W.W. 55-1861 Trent Affair Cont'd. On Nov. 8, 1861, in the Bahamas, Union warship San Jacinto's Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) seized and forcibly removed the four envoys from the British ship Trent and took them to Boston Harbor's Fort Warren Prison. When Louise Morris (Corcoran) Eustice reached England, GP's partner Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) went to see about her welfare. Britain, which sent troops to Canada in case of a U.S.-British war, demanded release of the four prisoners. U.S. jingoism calmed. At his cabinet meeting (Dec. 26, 1861) Pres. Lincoln allegedly cautioned in a jocular vein: "one war at a time, gentlemen," got the cabinet to disavow Capt. Wilkes's action as independent and unauthorized, and got the four Confederates released on Jan. 1, 1862. For details of GP and the Trent Affair, with sources, see: Trent Affair. Persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 56-GP to Corcoran, Dec. 2, 1862. GP suffered painful attacks of gout in his left knee in late 1862, went to Brighton for the sea air, and wrote to W.W. Corcoran that the Queen's physician Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873) had advised him to try the warm sun of southern France. GP wanted Corcoran to be his traveling companion to Nice, Florence, and Rome. He wrote this to Corcoran and, with some gloom, asked about Civil War news. GP wrote (Dec. 10, 1862): "I left my bed on Friday, after a confinement of thirteen days with a very painful attack of gout in my left knee, and came here [Brighton] on Sunday to try the effect of sea air in restoring me again to health and strength. I have greatly improved in three days, and hope to return to town on Monday, quite well." Ref. GP, Brighton, to William Wilson Corcoran, Dec. 2, 1862, Corcoran Papers, VIII, Accession Nos. 8570 and 8571, Library of Congress Ms.; also quoted in Corcoran, p. 200.

Corcoran, W.W. 57-GP to Corcoran, Dec. 2, 1862, Cont'd.: "In reply to your note dated 2d, I have pretty much made up my mind (under advice of Sir Henry Holland) to pass about three months of the winter at Nice, making a short visit to Florence and Rome, and I need not say how happy I shall be if you will be my traveling companion for a part or all the time." Ref. Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 58-GP ill, late 1862-63 Cont'd.: "I expect to leave here about the 10th of January, and probably may be accompanied to Paris by some friends, in which case I shall remain till about the 20th, and then proceed South." "If you can see any indication of light through the clouds that now so badly darken our once happy country, don't fail to drop me a line, as I think your position at present much better than mine for that purpose." "Please give my warm regards to Loula [Corcoran's only child, a daughter] and Mr. Eustice [her husband, George Eustice, 1828-72]. Don't forget to kiss the baby--for yourself." Ref. Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 59-GP to Corcoran, Nice, France, 1863. GP described his trip from Marseilles to Nice to Corcoran (Feb. 11, 1863): "The last day from Marseilles is through a most interesting country, and for several hours after you take the diligence [stagecoach] you will see, on one side, the olives and mulberry trees in their summer costume--the fruit trees in blossom--and in the distance, on the other, the Alps covered with snow. I mention these particulars because I think you will 'tear yourself'' from the baby [Corcoran's grandchild] in the course of next week and join me here. It is full of English and Americans, and the climate is most beautiful; there has not been any rain for twenty-seven days, and ever since my arrival there has been hot, sunny, cloudless weather--so much so that no fire has been required, night or day." Ref.: GP, Nice, France, to William Wilson Corcoran, Feb. 11, 1863, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms.; also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 201-202.

Corcoran, W.W. 60-Corcoran Unable to Join GP, Nice, France. GP had a courier (messenger) whom he wrote Corcoran he would continue to pay and share with Corcoran. "If you join me," he wrote Corcoran, "you need bring no letter of credit." Corcoran wrote that he could not leave Washington, D.C. GP replied jokingly: "My dear Corcoran: I see by your letter of the 15th that you mean to cut me as a traveling companion; those Confederates of the right kind being better than one not exactly defined." Ref.: GP, Nice, France, to William Wilson Corcoran, Feb. 18, 1863, Corcoran Papers, IX, Accession No. 8705, Library of Congress Ms.; also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 202-203.

GP’s Dinner & Concert, Nice, France, March 1863

Corcoran, W.W. 61-GP's Dinner & Concert, Nice, France, March 1863. In Nice in March [17?], 1863, GP gave a lavish dinner and concert in honor of the marriage of the Prince of Wales (Albert Edward, 1841-1910, reigned as King Edward VII, 1901-l0). [Note: The Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria's eldest son, would on July 23, 1869, unveil GP's seated statue by U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story (1819-95) on Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange]. Ref.: (GP's dinner and concert, Nice, France, March 1863): NYC Albion, April 11, 1863, p. 178, c. 2; Hare, pp. 191-192.

Corcoran, W.W. 62-GP's Dinner & Concert, Nice, France, March 1863 Cont'd. Attending this dinner in Nice were King Louis [Ludwig] of Bavaria (1786-1868), Lord Brougham [Henry Peter Brougham, 1778-1868], and William Slade (1817-1901), U.S. Consul in Nice. Always careful, GP conferred in advance with Consul Slade about toasts to avoid offending anyone. The affair was expensive, one bill being 12,000 francs. Ref.: William Slade, U.S. Consulate at Nice, to GP, March 10, 16, 17, 23; (also letter and bill): Adam Hay, Nice, to GP, March 18, 1863, all in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. For U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's criticism of this dinner, See: Benjamin Moran. Slade, William.

GP In Ireland, 1865

Corcoran, W.W. 63-GP in Ireland, 1865. In the summer of 1865 (June to Aug.), seeking relief from gout attacks, GP fished for salmon on a lake he rented on the Standish O'Grady estate, County Limerick, Ireland, then believed to be managed by 4th Viscount, Paget Standish (1835-77). Ref.: (Standish O'Grady): NYC Albion, June 17, 1865, p. 271, c. 3. [Standish, Paget].

Corcoran, W.W. 64-GP Wrote to Corcoran. From Ireland on Aug. 5, 1865, GP wrote W.W. Corcoran, then in Paris, France: "I cannot remain in London a week without risk of gout, and when I left, 1st June, I did not expect to return for five months, and I shall probably carry out my intention. With the exception of ten days in London, I have been here since 1st of May, very hard at work fishing for salmon six or ten hours a day, and living on a plain diet, which has kept me free of gout and in excellent health. I feel assured that nothing but this hard exercise in the open air will do so, and I have leased a fine fishery on the Shannon to commence lst April, 1867, and end 1st April, 1872, and hope we may both live to meet there even to the last date." Ref.: GP, Ireland, to William Wilson Corcoran, Aug. 5, 1865, Corcoran Papers, XII, Accession Nos. 9704 and 9705, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, pp. 209-210.

Corcoran, W.W. 65-GP to Corcoran Cont'd. (GP did not know that these plans were not be, that in April 1872 he would be dead two years and three months, and that his last four years of life would see his greatest philanthropic gifts and bring his last great honors). GP's Aug. 5, 1865, letter to Corcoran concluded: "If I live till March, it is my intention to go to the United States for a year, and work hard to endeavor to place 'my house in order' there, and then to pass the time that may allotted me in quiet, and, in a measure retired from the world. "I am now on my way to Scotland, and shall reach Invergarry about the 12th. Shall you come to Scotland this season?" Ref.: Ibid.

GP Critic Abolitionist Wm. Lloyd Garrison

Corcoran, W.W. 66-GP Joined Corcoran, W.Va., summer 1869. During GP's last U.S. visit, June 8-Sept. 29, 1869, abolitionist extremists and radical Republicans, bent on punishing the Confederate South, mistakenly charged GP as a rebel sympathizer. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-79) faulted GP's $1.4 million for the PIB (1857-69) as "made to a Maryland institution, at a time when that state was rotten with treason." Even more criticized was GP's $2 million (1867-69) PEF to promote public education in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va. because of its poverty. Ill and two months before his death (in Aug. 1869) GP went, at W.W. Corcoran's urging, to join Corcoran at the White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. health spa. See: Lee, Robert E. PEF. White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Corcoran, W.W. 67-W.L. Garrison's Attack on GP, 1869-70. Of GP's July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., visit, Garrison wrote: "Mr. Peabody is now laboring under increasing bodily infirmities... [Instead of going to a Northern mineral spring] true to his Southern sympathies, he hastens to the White Sulphur Springs in Virginia,...the favorite resort of the elite of rebeldom, who...collectively welcomed his presence by adopting a series of congratulatory resolutions.... [to which GP replied with his] 'own cordial esteem and regards for the high honor, integrity and heroism of the Southern people!'" Ref.: NYC Independent, Feb. 10, 1870, p. 1, c. 2-3. Parker, F.-f, pp. 1-20.

Corcoran, W.W. 68-W.L. Garrison's Attack on GP, 1869-70 Cont'd. Four months after GP's death, Garrison wrote: "During his [GP's] long years in England he never once aided popular liberty or spoke against slavery. His sympathies were with the pro-slave South right to the outbreak of the Rebellion. His patriotic record cannot be examined with any pride or pleasure.... He did not want the Union dissolved; neither did he want the South conquered. He wanted peace which would satisfy the South, leaving slavery intact." Ref.: Ibid. See: Civil War and GP. Garrison, William Lloyd.

Thurlow Weed's Defense of GP

Corcoran, W.W. 69-Weed Defended GP as Pro Union. Longtime friend and N.Y. state political leader Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), confirmed by Ohio Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), defended GP as pro Union. Early in the Civil War Pres. Lincoln sent Weed and McIlvaine as emissaries to explain the Union cause to British leaders and to keep Britain from helping the Confederacy with arms and aid. Weed reported and McIlvaine confirmed that GP in London helped them contact British leaders and that GP turned away Confederate agents seeking through his firm to raise European loans for the Confederacy. Ref.: New York Times, Dec. 23, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4; reprinted Weed, T., "The Late George Peabody....," pp. 9-15.

Corcoran, W.W. 70-Weed Defended GP as Pro Union Cont'd. Weed wrote: "Some of Mr. Peabody's accusers discern, or think they discern, evidence of rebel sympathies in his great educational gift for the poor of the formerly slave States; but even in this they err. That money, until some time after the conclusion of the war, was intended for the City of New York.... He [GP] had told me fifteen years earlier about his intention to do something for the industrious poor of New York.... But the [Civil] war and its consequences changed his views...." Ref.: Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 71-Weed Defended GP Cont'd.: "[GP] had not decided his action when he arrived [GP's U.S. visit, May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867], nor until he had conversed with several Northern friends, all of whom approved of the effort to educate and elevate the masses in ignorance and poverty, black and white, which pervades the whole South.... When he arrived here, in 1866, he communicated his then immature programme for the education and elevation of the Southern poor, and consulted with me in relation to suitable men for trustees. And it may be proper to say here, that the beneficent plan finally adopted, was the suggestion of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston." Ref.: Ibid. See: PEF. Weed, Thurlow.

"…the South is ruined…”

Corcoran, W.W. 72-S.C. Gov. Aiken on a Devastated South. The ruined South GP saw personally early in his May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit convinced him to aid public education in the southern states. Intimate friends who confirmed to him the national value of the PEF idea included Thurlow Weed, R.C. Winthrop, others, and particularly former S.C. Gov. William Aiken (1806-87). Gov. Aiken had agreed to be one of the few prominent southerners on the 16-member PEF board of trustees. GP wrote Aiken to meet him in Washington, D.C., at the end of Jan. 1867.

Corcoran, W.W. 73-S.C. Gov. Aiken Cont'd. Aiken's reply, sent via W. W. Corcoran, underscored the plight of the South: "Mr. Peabody invites me to meet him in Washington the end of January. I wrote to him at Salem that I would but he may be with you now. "I am now so bound down here, trying to nurse what remains of my property, that I cannot command my time. I have been laboring hard the whole summer, and shall scarcely make both ends meet. I intended to persevere and see what can be done...." Ref.: Aiken, S.C., to Corcoran, Jan. 25, 1867, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms, quoted in Corcoran, pp. 224-225.

Corcoran, W.W. 74-S.C. Gov. Aiken Cont'd.: "I think the South is ruined…. Nothing...can save the South from absolute want; ...its destruction is certain. What a terrible change from plenty and happiness to poverty and ruin, and the question naturally occurs to my mind. Who has been benefited by it? Certainly not the white or black man of the South. It is the first step taken toward the destruction of this once great and glorious Republic." Ref.: Ibid.

Corcoran, W.W. 75-S.C. Gov. Aiken's Career. William Aiken was born in Charleston, S.C., was a graduate of South Carolina College at Columbia (1825), was a S.C. state representative (1838-42), S.C. state senator (1842-44), S.C. governor (1844-46), and S.C. member of the U.S. House of Rep. (1851-57). He opposed S.C.'s secession. Ref.: Curry-b, pp. 19, 51, 97, 98-10l. Easterby, I, pp. 128-129. See: Aiken, William. Eaton, John. PEF.

Corcoran, W.W. 76-Death of Corcoran's Daughter, 1867. Corcoran was with his only child, daughter Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis (1838-67), when she died in Cannes, France, Dec. 4, 1867, after a long illness. She left three children. GP shared Corcoran's grief: "My Dear Corcoran, I received your note of the 4th, announcing the death of your angelic daughter on that day. Although anticipated (and you must have been prepared for the afflicting event), no power but that of God can assuage the grief and affliction of a father at the loss of such a child, and an only child, in which, for more than a quarter of a century, a large portion of your happiness has been centered. Be assured, my dear friend, that I sincerely sympathize and condole with you in this severe dispensation of Providence." Ref.: GP, London, to Corcoran, Dec. 14, 1867, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, p. 249.

GP and Winthrop in Rome & Paris

Corcoran, W.W. 77-GP and Winthrop, Rome, Feb. 1868. GP lost 20 pounds during his year-long U.S. visit (May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867), which he never fully regained. He traveled in Europe in 1868, next to the last year of his life, with philanthropic advisor and PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop. During Feb. 19-27, 1868, GP wrote Corcoran about sitting in U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story's (1819-95) Rome studio for a GP seated statue to be placed on Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange (unveiled July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales). Ref.: (GP to Corcoran): GP, London, to Corcoran, Jan. 14, 1868, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms., and Motley, III, p. 204. Ref.: (GP's Feb. 1868 Rome visit): Parker, "George Peabody..." dissertation, 1956, pp. 776, 783-786. New York Herald, March 22, 1868, p. 4, c. 5. NYC Albion, March 21, 1868, p. 140, c. 2. PEF-c, II, p. 309. Mass. Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 10 (1867-1869), p. 339.

Corcoran, W.W. 78-GP and Winthrop, Audience with Pope. About Feb. 24-25, 1868, GP and Winthrop had an interview in Rome with Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, pope during 1846-78). It was GP's only audience with the Pope and Winthrop's second audience (his first audience with the Pope was in 1860). GP gave a gift of $19,300 to San Spirito Hospital, a Vatican charitable hospital in Rome, probably on Feb. 24-25, 1868. Ref.: (GP's audience with Pope Pius IX): South Danvers Wizard (South Danvers, Mass.), March 25, 1868, p. 2, c. 5. Ref.: (R.C. Winthrop's account): Winthrop-c, pp. 97, 100. Ref.: (A.D. White's account): White, A.D., II, p. 424. Ref.: (GP's gift via Cardinal Antonelli to San Spirito Hospital): New York Herald, March 21, 1868, p. 4, c. 4, listed GP's gift as 1,000 francs. New York Herald. April 22, 1868, p. 7, c. 4, listed GP's gift as 5 million francs to the pontifical treasury. Baltimore Times, Nov. 6, 1869, p. 4, c. 3-5, listed GP's gift as $1 million for pontifical charities.

Corcoran, W.W. 79-False Report of GP Statue in Rome. GP's audience with the Pope and gift to the San Spirito Hospital may have been the basis for a press item from Rome on GP's death (Nov. 4, 1869) and transatlantic funeral: "A statue of Mr. Peabody is to be erected at Rome by order of the Pope." But no GP statue in Rome ever materialized. Ref.: (False report of GP statue in Rome): Dundee Courier and Argus (Dundee, Scotland), Nov. 9, 1869, p. 3, c. 5. Catholic Opinion (London), Nov. 20, 1869, p. 462, c. 1.

Corcoran, W.W. 80-GP and Winthrop, in France. GP left Rome Feb. 27, 1868, for Genoa, then went by boat to Nice, France, arriving March 3, 1868, where Baltimorean friend John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), on his way to Rome, briefly visited him. GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), Corcoran's son-in-law, and W.W. Corcoran's grandchildren. From Cannes, about March 17, 1868, GP and Winthrop went to Paris, France, where they were received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). Ref.: (GP received by Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie): GP, Nice, to R.C. Winthrop, Rome, March 15, 1868, Winthrop Papers, Mass. Historical Society, Boston. Mass. Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 10 (1867-69), p. 340. For other details of GP's visits to Rome, Italy, and Paris, France (Feb-Mar. 1868), See: Eustis, Louise Morris (née Corcoran). Eustis, George. Eugénie, Empress. San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.

GP’s Last Illness

Corcoran, W.W. 81-Holmes on GP's Illness. GP was greatly weakened during his final four-month U.S. visit, June 8-Sept. 29, 1869. He saw family, friends, and made last visits to his Peabody Institutes in New England and Baltimore. Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94), who read a poem he composed about GP at the July 14-16, 1869, dedication of the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers, Mass., referred to GP's appearance in a letter to historian-statesman John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), as "...the Dives who is going to Abraham's bosom and I fear before a great while...." Ref.: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston, to John Lothrop Motley, Rome, July 18, 1869, quoted in Morse, pp. 180-181.

Corcoran, W.W. 82-Toward White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (July 23-Aug. 30, 1869). W.W. Corcoran urged GP to join him at the White Sulphur Springs health spa in W.Va. GP's nephew, George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), wrote to Corcoran: "...Mr. Peabody...is weaker than when he arrived.... He has...decided to go to the White Sulphur Springs...[and asks you to] arrange accommodations for himself, and servant, for Mrs. Russell and myself." Ref.: George Peabody Russell, Salem, to W.W. Corcoran, July 6, 1869, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress, quoted in Corcoran, p. 299 (with date believed erroneously listed as June 6, 1869).

Corcoran, W.W. 83-McIlvaine on GP's Illness. Ohio Episcopal Bishop C.P. McIlvaine also remarked to R.C. Winthrop how ill GP looked: "The White Sulphur Springs will, I hope, be beneficial to our excellent friend; but it can be only a very superficial good. [His] cough is terrible, and I have no expectation of his living a year." Ref.: C.P. McIlvaine, Cincinnati, to R.C. Winthrop, July 22, 1969, quoted in Carus, ed., pp. 298-299.

GP’s Last Hurrah

Corcoran, W.W. 84-John Eaton on GP, W.Va. GP arrived at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on July 23, 1869. Also at the springs was Tenn.'s superintendent of public instruction John Eaton (1829-1906). He wrote in his annual report: "Mr. Peabody shares with ex-Gov. Wise the uppermost cottage in Baltimore Row, and sits at the same table with General Lee, Mr. Corcoran, Mr. Taggart, and others....Being quite infirm, he has been seldom able to come to parlor or dining room, though he has received many ladies and gentlemen at the cottage.... His manners are singularly affable and pleasing, and his countenance one of the most benevolent we have ever seen." Ref.: (Eaton on GP): Eaton, Appendix T, pp. 1-liii, also quoted in Dabney, I, p. 107, footnote 10.

Corcoran, W.W. 85-W.Va. Resolutions, July 27-28, 1869. GP's presence, publicity on the doubling of his PEF to $2 million, his illness, and confinement to his cottage prompted a meeting on July 27 at which former Va. Gov. Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) drew up resolutions read publicly in GP's presence amid a crowd on July 28 in the "Old White" hotel parlor: The resolutions stated in part: "On behalf of the southern people we tender thanks to Mr. Peabody for his aid to the cause of education...and hail him 'benefactor.'" GP, seated, replied, "If I had strength, I would speak more on the heroism of the Southern people. Your kind remarks about the Education Fund sound sweet to my ears. My heart is interwoven with its success." Ref.: New York Times, July 31, 1869, p. 4, c. 7.

Corcoran, W.W. 86-Peabody Ball, W.Va. Merrymakers at the "Old White" decided to hold a Peabody Ball on Aug. 11, 1869. GP, too ill to attend, from his cottage heard the gaiety. Historian Perceval Reniers wrote of this Peabody Ball: "The affair that did most to revive [the Southerners'] esteem was the Peabody Ball...given to honor...Mr. George Peabody.... Everything was right for the Peabody Ball. Everybody was ready for just such a climax, the background was a perfect build-up. Mr. Peabody appeared at just the right time and lived just long enough. A few months later it would not have been possible, for Mr. Peabody would be dead." Ref.: Richmond Daily Whig (Va.), Aug. 13, 1869, p. 2, c. 3-4. Ref.: Reniers, pp. 218-219.

Corcoran, W.W. 87-Sears on GP's Presence. With GP at the springs that July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, was first PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80), who wrote: "Yesterday he [GP] went to the public dinner-table (about 1500 persons are here and dine in a long hall) and then sat an hour in the parlor, giving the ladies an opportunity to take him by the hand...." Sears also wrote why GP's presence at White Sulphur Springs was important: "...both on account of his [GP's] unparalleled goodness and of his illness among a loving and hospitable people [he received] tokens of love and respect from all, such as I have never before seen shown to any one. This visit...will, in my judgment, do more for us than a long tour in a state of good health...." Ref.: Undated letter from Barnas Sears, quoted in Curry-b, pp. 52-53.

GP’s Last Photos

Corcoran, W.W. 88-Famous Photos, W.Va. GP, Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-70), and others were central figures in noteworthy photos taken at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on Aug. 12, 1869. In the main photograph, the five individuals seated on cane-bottomed chairs are: GP front middle, Robert E. Lee to GP's right; W.W. Corcoran to GP's left; at the right end Edouard Blacque Bey (1824-95), Turkish Minister to the U.S.; at the left end Richmond lawyer James Lyons (1801-82). Standing behind the five seated figures were seven former Civil War generals, their names in dispute until correctly identified in 1935 by Leonard T. Mackall of Savannah, Ga., from left to right: James Conner (1829-83) of S.C., Martin Witherspoon Gary (1819-73) of Penn., Robert D. Lilley of Va., P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-93) of La., Alexander Robert Lawton (1818-96) of Ga., Henry Alexander Wise (1806-76) of Va., and Joseph Lancaster Brent (1826-1905) of Md. There is also a photo of GP sitting alone and a photo of Lee, GP, and Corcoran sitting together. See: persons named.

Corcoran, W.W. 89-Famous Photos, W.Va. Cont'd. Ref.: (W.Va. Photos): Conte, pp. 69-71. Dabney, Vol. 1, facing p. 83 (Lee, GP, and Corcoran seated in one group). Freeman-a, Pulitzer Prize Edition 1935, appendix (incorrectly listed John White Geary [1819-73] of Penn., John Bankhead Magruder [1810-71] of Va., and Lewis Wallace [1827-1905] of Ind., who were not in the photo; and omitted Martin Witherspoon Gary [1831-81] of S.C. and Alexander Robert Lawton [1818-96] of Ga., who were in the photo). Freeman-b, 1947, Vol. 4, p. 438 [correct identification]. Kocher and Dearstyne, pp. 189-190 (Title of this book attributed photos as "taken by George and Huestis Cook with Additions from the Cook Collection"). Lanier, R.S., ed., Vol. 5, p. 4. Meredith, pp. 84-85. Miller, ed., Vol. 10, p. 4. Murphy, p. 58. New York World, Sept. 14, 1869, p. 12, c. 2 (Recorded Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder as stating that the main photo was taken after GP consented to be its central figure). Richmond Daily Whig (Va.), Aug. 20, 1869, p. 3, c. 2 (Stated that the photos were taken by Anderson and Johnson of Anderson's Richmond photographic establishment). See: Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named. Visits to the U.S. by GP.

R.E. Lee & GP

Corcoran, W.W. 90-Gift to Lee's Washington College. GP made two gifts to Robert E. Lee at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., that Aug. 1869: a small private gift of $100 to Lee's Episcopal church in Lexington, Va., in need of repairs (W.W. Corcoran also gave $100). GP also gave to Lee's college (Lee was president of Washington College, Lexington, Va., 1865-70, renamed Washington & Lee Univ., 1871) Va. bonds worth $35,000 when lost on the Arctic, a Collins Line steamer, sunk Sept. 27, 1854, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, with the deaths of 322 of the 408 persons aboard. GP had petitioned the Va. legislature to reimburse him for the lost bonds, but this had not been done in Aug. 1869 when he gave Lee's college the value of the bonds for a mathematics professorship. In 1872 the value of the bonds and in 1881 the interest accrued, $60,000 total, were paid by Va. to Washington and Lee Univ. See: Arctic (ship). Collins Line. Lee, Robert E. Riggs, Sr., Elisha. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education. Washington and Lee Univ.

Corcoran, W.W. 91-Gift to Lee's Washington College Cont'd. Lee's biographer C.B. Flood wryly described GP's gift: "It was generosity with a touch of Yankee shrewdness: you Southerners go fight it out among yourselves. If General Lee can't get [this lost bond money] out of the Virginia legislature, nobody can." Ref.: Flood, p. 287.

Corcoran, W.W. 92-Leaving W. Va. On Aug. 30, 1869, GP left White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on a special railroad car provided by B&O Railroad Pres. John Work Garrett. Robert E. Lee rode a short distance with him. This was GP's last summer of life, his only contact with R.E. Lee, and his last contact with Corcoran. For Lee it was next to the last summer of life (R.E. Lee died Oct. 12, 1870).

Corcoran, W.W. 93-GP's Last Days, U.S. GP headed north from White Sulphur Springs, recorded his last will (Sept. 9, 1869), arranged for his burial at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., and boarded the Scotia in NYC for London, Sept. 29, 1869. He landed at Queenstown, Ireland, Oct. 8, 1869, and hastened to rest at the London home of longtime business friend Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), where he died Nov. 4, 1869.

Corcoran, W.W. 94-Lee Sent Photos. On Sept. 25, 1869, at the request of Peabody Institute Librarian Fitch Poole (1803-73, Peabody, Mass.), Lee sent Poole a photo of himself, adding "and shall feel honoured in its being placed among the 'friends' of Mr. Peabody, who can be numbered by the millions, yet all can appreciate the man who has [illumined] his age by his munificent charities during his life, and by his wise provisions for promoting the happiness of his fellow creatures." Ref.: (R.E. Lee to Fitch Poole), Lee, p. 370.

Will Lee Attend GP's Funeral?

Corcoran, W.W. 95-R.E. Lee at GP's Funeral? The last GP-Corcoran connection was a controversy over Lee's attending GP's final funeral service in Peabody, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870. Lee was invited to attend but ill health forced him to decline. He explained in a Jan. 26, 1870, letter to Corcoran: "I am sorry I cannot attend the funeral obsequies of Mr. Peabody. It would be some relief to witness the respect paid to his remains, and to participate in commemorating his virtues; but I am unable to undertake the journey. I have been sick all the winter, and am still under medical treatment. I particularly regret that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you. Two trustees of Washington College will attend the funeral. I hope you can join them." Ref.: Robert E. Lee to William Wilson Corcoran, Jan. 26, 1870, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, p. 311.

Corcoran, W.W. 96-R.E. Lee at GP's Funeral? Cont'd. That same day (Jan. 26, 1870), one of the two trustees of Washington College who planned to attend wrote Corcoran: "I first thought that General Lee should not go, but have now changed my mind. Some of us believe that if you advise the General to attend he would do so. Use your own discretion in this matter." Ref.: Trustee Boliver Christian to W.W. Corcoran, Jan. 26, 1870, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms.

Corcoran, W.W. 97-R.E. Lee at GP's Funeral? Cont'd. Robert Charles Winthrop, who was to deliver GP's funeral eulogy Feb. 8, 1870, was also concerned that Lee might attend. Friends feared that a demonstration against Lee might mar the ceremony. On Feb. 2, 1870, Winthrop wrote two private and confidential letters, the first to Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy: "There is apprehension here, that if Lee should come to the funeral, something unpleasant might occur, which would be as painful to us as to him. Would you contact friends to impart this to the General? Please do not mention that the suggestion came from me." Ref.: R.C. Winthrop, Brookline, Mass., to W.W. Corcoran, Feb. 2, 1870, Kennedy Papers, PIB.

Corcoran, W.W. 98-R.E. Lee at GP's Funeral? Cont'd. Winthrop's second letter to Corcoran read: "I write to you in absolute confidence. Some friends of ours, whose motives cannot be mistaken, are very anxious that Gen'l. Lee should not come to the funeral next week. They have also asked me to suggest that. Still there is always apprehension that from an irresponsible crowd there might come some remarks which would be offensive to him and painful to us all. I am sure he would be the last person to involve himself or us, needlessly, in a doubtful position on such an occasion. The newspapers at first said that he was not coming. Now, there is an intimation that he is. I know of no one who could [more] effectively give the right direction to his views than yourself. Your relation to Mr. Peabody & to Mr. Lee would enable you to ascertain his purposes & shape his course wisely.... I know of no one else to rely on." Ref.: R.C. Winthrop to W.W. Corcoran, Feb. 2, 1870, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms.

Corcoran, W.W. 99-R.E. Lee at GP's Funeral? Cont'd. Lee wrote his daughter Mildred Lee the same day as Winthrop's letters (Feb. 2, 1870) that he was too ill to attend: "I am sorry that I could not attend Mr. Peabody's funeral, but I did not feel able to undertake the journey, especially at this season." Corcoran replied to Winthrop that Lee had no intention of coming. He could not imagine, he wrote, that so good and great a man as Lee would receive anything but a kind reception. Corcoran himself was ill and regretted that he could not attend to pay his respects to "my valued old friend." Corcoran missed GP's funeral but no doubt read of Winthrop's eulogy and GP's burial at Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. Ref.: (R.E. Lee to Mildred Lee): R.E. Lee to daughter Mildred Lee, Feb. 2, 1870, quoted in Lee, p. 383.

Corné, Michele Felice (c1752-1845), marine artist. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education (Peabody Essex Museum). 64-Collections.

Cornell Univ. Library, Ithaca, N.Y. The Ezra Cornell (1807-74) Papers, Cornell Univ. Library, have letters pertaining to GP.

Cosmopolitan Club, London. U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86) was at the Cosmopolitan Club, London, Nov. 15, 1869, and recorded in his journal: "Peabody was discussed and Mr. Hughes said he was the only foreigner ever buried in Westminster Abbey. Others were naturalized." For details of Moran's private journal entries on GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death and subsequent funeral events, with sources, See: Moran, Benjamin.

Court of Common Council, City of London, is the governing body of the Corporation of the City of London. It was Charles Reed (1819-81), a member of the Court of Common Council, who first introduced his resolution on May 22, 1862, proposing that GP be granted the Freedom of the City of London. This honor was bestowed on GP on July 10, 1862. See: London, Freedom of the City of London, to GP. Reed, Charles.

Covington, Edward J., engineer-research of Millfield, Ohio. See: Starr, John W.

GP & the PEF

Coulter, E. Merton (1890-1981), historian, wrote of the PEF: "The greatest act of help and friendship that came to the South during the Reconstruction originated with George Peabody, Massachusetts-born English banker and benefactor.... The South was deeply moved by this beam of light piercing their blackest darkness." Ref.: Coulter, p. 327. See: PEF.

Courtenay, William Ashmead (1831-1908), was a PEF trustee (from 1887). He was born in Charleston, S.C., was a manufacturer, bookseller, publisher, Confederate officer (1861-65), mayor of Charleston (1879-87), editor of the Charleston Year Books, and involved in proposing a GP statue in the U.S. Capitol Building. Ref.: "Courtenay-c," p. 265. See: PEF.

Covey, William H., was the medical attendant who, under attending physician William Withey Gull, M.D. (1816-99), cared for GP during his final illness (from Oct. 1869) and death (Nov. 4, 1869) at Curtis Miranda Lampson's (1806-85) home, 80 Eaton Sq., London. Dr. Covey supervised the embalming of GP's remains for the unusually long 96-day transatlantic funeral voyage. See: William Withey Gull. Curtis Miranda Lampson.

GP & Pres. Andrew Johnson

Cowan, Edgar (1815-85). 1-Suggested in a Pres. Andrew Johnson Cabinet Reshuffle. Edgar Cowan was a U.S. Sen. from Penn. during 1861-67. When GP established the PEF, Feb. 7, 1867, U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) faced impeachment by hostile radical Republicans in Congress angered by his conciliatory policy toward the former Confederate states. To avoid impeachment, Pres. Andrew Johnson's (1808-75) political advisor, Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), advised a complete change of cabinet, with Mass. Gov. John Albion Andrew (1818-67) as Secty. of State, GP as Treasury Secty., and six others. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this course. For GP's two visits with Pres. Johnson, Feb. 9 and April 25, 1867, with sources, see Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. PEF. For the eight names proposed in the Cabinet reshuffle, see Andrew, John Albion.

Cowan, Edgar. 2-Career. Edgar Cowan was born in Westmoreland County, Penn.; graduated from Franklin College, Ohio (1839); practiced law in Greensburg, Penn.; was in the U.S. Senate (Penn., Republican, 1861-67); was appointed U.S. Minister to Austria by Pres. Johnson, but was not confirmed by the Senate; resumed law practice in Greensburg, Penn. Ref.: U.S. Govt.-f, p. 834.

Cox, Jacob Dolson (1828-1900), Ohio governor was, like U.S. Sen. from Penn. Edgar Cowan (1815-85) above, proposed as a cabinet officer (U.S. Interior Secty.) in a reconstituted Pres. Andrew Johnson cabinet. For GP's two visits with Pres. Johnson, Feb. 9 and April 25, 1867, with sources, see Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. PEF. For the eight names proposed in the Cabinet reshuffle, see Andrew, John Albion.

GPCFT Novelist & Historian

Crabb, Alfred Leland (1884-1979). 1-GPCFT Historian. Alfred Leland Crabb was GPCFT English professor (1927-49) who taught English and writing courses. He was Peabody Journal of Education editor for 38 years (1932-70), was a GPCFT historian, a historian of Nashville, and a regional novelist of note. He frequently guided and lectured visitors about historic Nashville ante-bellum homes and Civil War scenes and incidents. He was born in Warren County near Bowling Green, Ky.; attended Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn., Southern Normal School, and Western Kentucky State College, Bowling Green, Ky. He taught and was principal of several rural public schools in Ky. and La.; and taught and was dean at what is now Western Ky. Univ. Ref.: Bain, et al., eds., pp. 101-102. Harwell-a, p. 215. Harwell (on A.L. Crabb), p. 215. Windrow, ed. Conkin, Peabody College, index.

Crabb, A.L. 2-Novels A.L. Crabb entered GPCFT in 1914 when it opened adjacent to Vanderbilt Univ. following its rechartering from Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) to GPCFT. He earned the bachelor's degree from GPCFT in 1916; a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia Univ.; and the doctorate degree from GPCFT in 1925. A.L. Crabb's first book with colleagues (Alsletter and Newton) was Genealogy of George Peabody College for Teachers, 1935. His doctoral student John Edwin Windrow (1899-1984), also a longtime GPCFT professor and administrator, edited Peabody and Alfred Leland Crabb: The Story of Peabody As Reflected in Selected Writings of Alfred Leland Crabb (Nashville: Williams Press, 1977) A.L. Crabb obituary, Nashville Tennessean, Oct. 3, 1979. (Note: A.L. Crabb was a doctoral committee member of co-author Franklin Parker and advised him on his GP dissertation). Ref.: Ibid. Parker, Franklin. "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy" (Ed.D., GPCFT, 1956), three vols.

Crabb, A.L. 3-Novels and other Writings. A.L. Crabb's historical novels are set in Nashville, Chattanooga, and elsewhere in Tenn. and Ky., all published by Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, Ind. His Nashville trilogy covers 40 years of Nashville's history, from the eve of the Civil War to 1897, the year of the Tenn. Centennial Exposition, years of upheaval for that city, Tenn., and the U.S.: 1-Dinner at Belmont; A Novel of Captured Nashville (1942); 2-Supper at the Maxwell House: a Novel of Captured Nashville (1943); and 3-Breakfast at the Hermitage; A Novel of Nashville Rebuilding (1945). A.L. Crabb's Civil War trilogy that followed include: 3-Lodging at the St. Cloud: A Tale of Occupied Nashville (1946); 4-A Mockingbird Sang at Chickamauga: A Tale of Embattled Chattanooga (1949); and 5-Home to Tennessee: A Tale of Soldiers Returning (1952).

Crabb, A.L. 4-Novels and other Writings Cont'd.. A.L. Crabb's novel 6-Home to The Hermitage: A Novel of Andrew and Rachel Jackson (1948) was dramatized on the "Cavalcade of America" radio program in 1948. His book 7-Journey to Nashville (1957) described the adventures of the parties led by James Robertson and John Donelson as they trekked through Tenn. to establish Nashborough (present Nashville). He wrote 8-Reunion at Chattanooga: A Novel of Chattanooga Rebuilding (1950); 9-Home to Kentucky (1953); and 10-Peace at Bowling Green (1955). His Nashville: Personality of a City (1960) described the people, places, and subjects he depicted in his novels. He also wrote 11-Andrew Jackson's Nashville (1966), Acorns to Oak (1972), and many articles. For PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of.

Predecessors to PCofVU

Craighead, Thomas Brown (c.1750-1825). 1-First Principal, Davidson Academy. Thomas Brown Craighead was the founder and first principal of 1-Davidson Academy (1785-1806), chartered in Nashville by the N.C. legislature eleven years before Tenn. statehood. Davidson Academy was rechartered as 2-Cumberland College (1806-26); and rechartered again as the 3-Univ. of Nashville (1826-75). At PEF's first administrator Barnas Sears's (1802-80) urging, helped by newly inaugurated Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912), and through PEF financial support, the Univ. of Nashville's moribund literary department became 4-State Normal School (1875-89), officially renamed 5-Peabody Normal College (1889-1911) and jointly financed by PEF and the Tenn. legislature. See PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.

Craighead, T.B. 2-Transition to PCofVU. Peabody Normal College was moved from its south Nashville location next to Vanderbilt Univ. and rechartered as 6-GPCFT (1914-79); which was rechartered as PCofVU since July 1, 1979. Thomas Brown Craighead was thus the founder and first administrator of the first collegiate institution in Nashville, Tenn. (Davidson Academy), which through six name changes, nearly two centuries later, is currently PCofVU. Ref.: Ibid.

Craighead, T.B. 3-Nashville's Early Minister. Thomas Brown Craighead was a graduate of the College of New Jersey, chartered in 1746 by the "New Light " (evangelical) Presbyterians, and renamed Princeton Univ. after 1896. The College of New Jersey under Pres. John Witherspoon (1723-94) imbued many graduates with missionary zeal to preach and teach on the frontier. Two other graduates who started schools on the Tenn. frontier (statehood, 1796) were (besides Thomas Brown Craighead) Samuel Doak (1749-1830), founder of Martin Academy (incorporated 1783, renamed Washington College, 1795); and Hezekiah Balch (1741-1810), founder of Greeneville College (1794), later renamed Tusculum College. Rev. Craighead preached in S.C., N.C., and Va. He was then invited to become Nashville's first minister by Tenn. pioneer James Robertson (1742-1814). Rev. Craighead arrived in Nashville in 1785, mounted a stump, and preached to all who would listen.

Craighead, T.B. 4-Administrators, Davidson Academy and Successors. Chief administrators include: 1-Thomas Brown Craighead was Davidson Academy's principal during its 1785-1806 existence plus three years (to 1809) of its rechartered successor, Cumberland College (1806-26). Craighead was succeeded by 2-Pres. James Priestley (1760-1821) from Oct. 24, 1809, to Feb. 4, 1821. Pres. James Priestley was succeeded by 3-Pres. Philip Lindsley (1786-1850), at whose suggestion Cumberland College was rechartered as the Univ. of Nashville from Nov. 27, 1826, to 1875. Pres. Philip Lindsley resigned, 1850, and was succeeded by his physician son, 4-Dr. John Berrien Lindsley (1822-97), chancellor during 1850-72, succeeded in turn by 5-Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-95), Univ. of Nashville chancellor during 1872-75. Ref.: Connelly, p. 216. Corlew, pp. 119-120. Dykeman, pp. 161-162. Wooldridge, pp. 386, 615-619. For PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of.

Crampton, John Fiennes Twistleton (1805-86), was British Minister to the U.S. at the time of the Crimean War (1855-56). See: Crimean War (below).

Crimean War

Crimean War (1855-56). 1-Indiscreet Recruit of U.S. Volunteers for British Army. During the Crimean War, which pitted Russia against England, France, and other countries, British Minister to the U.S. John Fiennes Twistleton Crampton (1805-86) indiscreetly tried to recruit U.S. volunteers for the British army. U.S. Secty. of State William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) objected and demanded Crampton's recall. Ref.: (Crimean War): Bailey, pp. 298-299.

Crimean War. 2-GP's June 13, 1856, U.S.-British Friendship Dinner. Just after the Crimean War, with U.S.-British relations strained, GP sponsored a June 13, 1856, U.S.-British friendship dinner to introduce the new Minister to Britain, George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864). The dinner was held at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, eight miles from London on the Thames. Former British Minister to the U.S. Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72) was to have proposed the health of U.S. Minister Dallas. But Bulwer-Lytton, being Crampton's colleague, explained to GP that to appear at this dinner and propose the health of U.S. Minister Dallas would be unfair to his colleague and predecessor John F.T. Crampton, whom the U.S. had asked to be replaced. Ref.: (June 13, 1856, dinner): New York Daily Times, July 4, 1856, p. 2, c. 4-5. Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper (London), June 22, 1856, p. 5, c. 3. John Pendleton Kennedy's journal, IX, "Travel in England, May 10-Oct. 20, 1856" entry dated Friday, June 13, 1856, Kennedy Papers, PIB, Baltimore.

Crimean War. 3-Effect on GP. It was a tribute to GP that he could succeed in sponsoring this U.S.-British friendship dinner at this particular time of tension and misunderstanding. Two years before, at GP's July 4, 1854, U.S. Independence Day dinner, at the same Star and Garter Hotel, an anti-British incident had marred the occasion. Objecting to a toast to Queen Victoria before one to the U.S. President, jingoistic U.S. Legation Secty. in London Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) refused to stand, walked out, and charged GP in letters to the press with toadying to the British. GP's role in trying to promote U.S.-British friendship was not easy, although he generally won approbation from all sides. See: Dinners, GPs, London. Persons named.

Critics. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics.

Croft, William (1678-1727) and Henry Purcell (1659-95) were English music composers whose works were sung at GP's funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 12, 1869. Participant U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's (1820-86) journal entry thus recorded his impression of this music: "The grand music of Purcell and was sweetly sung by deep voiced men and silvery voiced boys, the heavy tones of the organ blending with the human music and all rising like incense over the benevolent man's grave." See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Persons named.

Crowe, William J., Jr. (1925-), U.S. Navy Admiral, was U.S. Ambassador to Britain (1994-97) who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. Ky.-born and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Adm. Wm. J. Crowe commanded the U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and the Pacific; and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dept. of Defense, 1985-89. Ref.: New York Times, July 16, 1995, section XIII-CN, p. 17, c. 1. (Career): Seen Dec. 9, 1999: Internet http://www.knowuk.co.uk See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).

Cryder, John, was GP's NYC business friend who, knowing of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) about Jan. 1839, wrote him nine years later of the death of her husband Alexander Lardner (1808-48). Cryder wrote to GP, Jan. 27, 1848: "Poor Lardner died in Phila. a few days since leaving his young & interesting widow with two children & about $20,000. He was an excellent man & his death is much lamented." Esther Elizabeth (Hoppin) Lardner outlived GP by 35 years and her husband by 57 years. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.

Crystal Palace Exhibition. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).

Cubitt, William (1791-1863), was the Right Hon. Mayor of the City of London who officiated when GP was granted the Freedom of the City of London, July 10, 1862. See:: London, Freedom of the City of London, to GP.

Predecessors of PCofVU

Cumberland College, Nashville, Tenn. (1806-26). 1-Predecessor, PCofVU. Cumberland College was rechartered from its predecessor, Davidson Academy (1785-1806). Cumberland College was later rechartered as the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75). It was from the Univ. of Nashville's moribund Literary Dept. that PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80), helped by newly inaugurated Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912), created Peabody Normal College (1875-1911), renamed GPCFT (1914-79), and renamed PCofVU, since 1979. Ref.: Folmsbee, et al., pp. 24-25. Corlew. See: Sears, Barnas. Conkin, Peabody College, index.

Cumberland College, Nashville, Tenn. 2-Fifteenth U.S. College. GPCFT historian Alfred Leland Crabb (1884-1980) wrote that its lineage (now, PCofVU's lineage), despite some closures for lack of funds, made it the 15th collegiate institution since the founding of Harvard College in 1636. Cumberland College was closed six years because of financial problems (1816-22). Philip Lindsley (1786-1855) was Cumberland College president two years after its reopening (1824). The Univ. of Nashville (1826-75) was closed temporarily in 1850; its medical department began operation in 1851. The Univ. of Nashville reopened in 1855, the year Pres. Philip Lindsley died, with Lindsley's physician son, John Berrien Lindsley, M.D. (1822-97), as chancellor. For PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of.

Cunard, Sir Edward (1816-69), was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; was for 30 years the NYC agent of the British-owned Cunard Lines; and succeeded to his father's title. Edward Cunard was one of the NYC delegation (including Washington Irving, 1783-1859; August Belmont, 1816-90; and others) which greeted GP on his arrival on the Atlantic, NYC, Sept. 15, 1856, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). The NYC delegation, along with delegations from Boston and other cities, offered a public reception dinner to GP, which he graciously declined, stating his obligation to first attend a public reception in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856. See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856. Visits to the U.S. by GP.

Cunard Steamship Co. (British transatlantic line). See: Scotia.

2nd PEF Administrator J.L.M. Curry

Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe (1825-1903). 1-Southern Educator. J.L.M. Curry, a leading statesman and educator of the South, was the second PEF administrator during 1881-85 and 1888-1903. He succeeded first PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80). Sears daughter, Elizabeth Corey (née Sears) Fultz (b. Oct. 14, 1838; died 1900; she married John Hampden Fultz [1840 or 1845-1912?) on Oct. 12, 1874), assisted her father in his last illness. On his death, July 6, 1880, she was acting PEF administrator, prepared the 1880-81 PEF annual report, until the appointment of second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) on Feb. 2, 1881. Curry was born in Lincoln County, Ga., attended an "old field" school near his home (unused barn or building on a fallow field used as a school), a Presbyterian parson's school, and an academy at Willington, S.C. In 1834 when he was age nine his father moved to Talladega, Ala., where he was a slave-owning planter. Young Curry graduated from the Univ. of Ga. (1839-43), at age 18; and graduated from Harvard Univ.'s Dale Law School (1845), where future U.S. Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-93, 19th U.S. Pres., 1877-81) was his classmate. Refs. (Elizabeth Corey [née Sears] Fultz): May. (Curry): Dabney, II, p. 124. Conkin, Peabody College, index.

Curry, J.L.M. 2-Dedicated Educator. While in Cambridge, Mass., he eagerly heard speeches by such luminaries of the time as former slave Frederick Douglass (c.1817-95), Wendell Phillips (1811-84), statesman-historian George Bancroft (1800-91), Rufus Choate (1799-1859), John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852), and educators Henry Barnard (1811-1900) and Horace Mann (1796-1859). Curry later wrote, "Mann's...earnest enthusiasm and democratic ideas fired my young mind and heart; and since that time I have been an enthusiastic and consistent advocate of Universal education." Ref.: Dabney, II, p. 124.

Curry, J.LM. 3-Statesman, Soldier, College President. In Ala. Curry read law, wrote for a newspaper, and when the Mexican War started in 1846 he joined a regiment in Texas and was made a second sergeant. Returning to Ala. he practiced law, was elected to the Ala. legislature (1847-56) and served on a committee that created the Ala. public schools. A firm believer in states rights, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1857-61). With Lincoln's election he resigned from the U.S. Congress, served in the Confederate Congress (1861-62), was a cavalry officer and aide to Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston (1807-91) and Joseph Wheeler (1836-1906). Arrested on May 30, 1865, his property confiscated in Sept. 1865, he took the oath of allegiance to the U.S., Oct. 1865. Finding it difficult to make a living, he assisted his Baptist pastor in Talladega until he became president of Howard College, Ala., a Baptist college, during 1865-68. He was professor of English and public law, Richmond College, Va. (1868-81). Here he had friendly contact with first PEF administrator Barnas Sears, who lived in Staunton, Va. Ref.: Flexner, pp. 14-21, 29.

Curry, J.L.M. 4-Second PEF Administrator. Accepting the outcome of the Civil War, Curry put aside animosity and was among the first southerners to encourage black education. Learning early of GP's intended PEF gift, Curry wrote PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) in Jan. 1867 to praise the fund's intended aid to southern education. Barnas Sears developed a high regard for Curry, considered in 1873 that Curry should succeed him, and shared with Curry in 1877 in Sears's home at Staunton his thoughts on PEF policy. Ref.: Dabney, I, pp. 124-130.

Curry, J.L.M. 5-Second PEF Administrator Cont'd. Knowing that Sears wanted Curry to succeed him, Winthrop and the trustees after considering others, unanimously chose Curry on Feb. 2, 1881. Curry was welcomed by political leaders, both South and North. He interrupted his service as second PEF administrator (1881-85) to become U.S. Minister to Spain during 1885-88. The PEF trustees replaced Curry for these three years with Samuel Abbott Green (b.1830), a PEF trustee from 1883. Ref.: Ibid.

Curry, J.L.M. 6-Second PEF Administrator Cont'd. Curry returned as PEF administrator during 1885-1903. In the PEF's first phase Sears focused on public elementary schools and normal schools. In the PEF's second phase Curry focused on teacher education, using three-fifths of its expenditures for that purpose. During his last few years Curry did triple duty as PEF administrator, head of the John F. Slater Fund for Negro Education (1890-1903), and director of the Southern Education Board (1901-03). Ref.: Ibid.

"…halo of romance…"

Curry, J.L.M. 7-Mr. Humphreys' Daughter. In his GP biography and PEF history, J.L.M. Curry printed an undated letter he received from the daughter of a Mr. Humphreys. She wrote that when GP arrived during a U.S. visit (no date given but probably May 1, 1866, in NYC), her father, a commercial friend of GP of long standing, went to see GP and congratulated him on his amazing philanthropy. GP, then a very old man, said quietly, "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." She added in her letter to J.L.M. Curry: "These expressions made to my father, and so far as I am aware, to him alone, referred to an incident which has had its day and among the circle of Mr. Peabody's friends, its halo of romance. Mr. Peabody's own touching reference to it can, after the lapse of so many years, be recorded without incrimination, as showing his own reading of an important page in his life history." Ref.: (Mr. Humphreys' daughter): Curry-b, p. 12. Ref.: Parker, F.-b, pp. 215, 224-225; reprinted in Parker, F.-o, pp. 10-14; reprinted in Parker, F.-zd, pp. 33-37. For Mr. Humphreys' daughter's complete letter, see Humphreys.

Curry, J.L.M. 8-Mr. Humphreys' Daughter Cont'd. GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," may or may not refer to his broken engagement about Jan. 1839 to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905). If so, this alleged remark is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Humphreys. Lardner, Alexander. Sully, Thomas. Romance and GP.

Curry, J.L.M. 9-At White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. J.L.M. Curry, Barnas Sears, Robert E. Lee (1807-70, then president of Washington College, Va.), and John Eaton (1829-1906, then Tenn. Supt. of Public Instruction) were educators present during GP's visit to White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. The informal talks which took place on the public education needs of the South set a significant precedent for later Conferences on Education in the South (1898-1903). J.L.M. Curry was heavily involved in these conferences which led to large and significant foundation aid for southern education. For names of prominent participants, and sources, including historic W.Va. photos taken between Aug. 15-19, 1869, see Corcoran, William Wilson. Confederate generals. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named. Visits to the U.S. by GP.

No GP Statue in Statuary Hall

Curry, J.L.M. 10-No GP Statue in Statuary Hall. J.L.M. Curry tried unsuccessfully to get a statue of GP in Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol Bldg., Washington, D.C., where each state has two statues of its greatest citizens. The first such proposal was made in a conference of Va. Superintendents of Education and recorded in the 1885 annual report of Va.'s Superintendent of Public Instruction. This report came to PEF second administrator J.L.M. Curry's attention. In Curry's 1891 PEF annual report he wrote: "As 1892 will be a quarter of a century since the foundation of the Trust, would it not be a most fit and graceful recognition of Mr. Peabody's unparalleled bounty, if the states which have been the beneficiaries of the Fund should, by combined action, contribute a bronze or marble statue to be placed by consent of Congress, in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, where are collected the images of so many renowned Americans." •Ref.: Farr, II, p. 29. •Curry-b, p. 111. •PEF, Vol. V, pp. 131-132, 175, 293.

End 2 of 14. Continued on 3 of 14. Send corrections, questions to: bfparker@frontiernet.net