Autobiography of Mark Twain (130 page)

77.9–13 bill to restore to General Grant . . . Fitz-John Porter Bill by President Arthur] Major General Fitz-John Porter (1822–1901) was convicted by a court martial in January 1863 of disobeying orders at the second battle of Bull Run. Many believed he was innocent of the charges, arguing that the orders were based on false information, and would have resulted in a doomed assault. In 1879 Porter was exonerated by a board of inquiry, and in early 1880 his supporters began a long campaign to restore him to his army rank on the retired list, either by legislation or by executive action. Late in 1880 a bill authorizing the president to similarly reinstate Grant was introduced in Congress. These were the first of a series of “relief” bills for both men that were debated in Congress over the next several years. When at last a bill for Porter passed both houses, President Arthur vetoed it in July 1884, claiming that it was unconstitutional because it named a specific person, a power not granted to Congress. Meanwhile, after the failure of Grant and Ward in May 1884, a second bill to reinstate Grant had been introduced in Congress. President Arthur, who wanted to avoid contradicting his earlier position in the Porter case, asked Congress to confer a pension upon Grant without presidential action—a form of charity that Grant “indignantly declined to receive” (Badeau 1887, 432). In January 1885 a final bill was proposed, authorizing the president to place one former general on the army retired list with the corresponding “rank and full pay.” The Porter bill and the Grant bill both passed the Senate, but were stalled in the House, in part because some congressmen wanted to retaliate against Arthur by forcing a veto. Finally, less than half an hour before Congress was to adjourn
sine die
at noon on 4 March, the last bill was passed. The timing was so close that at 11:45 the assistant doorkeeper “stood upon a chair and pushed the hands of the Senate clock back six minutes, while everybody laughed at the cheating of time.” The bill was signed at once, and at “11:53 by the corrected time” the president proffered Grant’s nomination, which was unanimously approved. Clemens, who was present when Grant heard the news, sent a telegram to his wife: “We were at General Grants at noon and a telegram arrived that the last act of the expiring congress late this morning retired him with full Generals rank and accompanying emoluments. The effect upon him was like raising the dead” (“Gen. Grant’s Retirement,” New York
Times
, 5 Mar 1885, 1; 4 Mar 1885 to OLC, CU-MARK). Unfortunately, the result of these efforts was essentially honorary. Grant died less than five months later, and his pay, $13,600 a year, was not continued to his widow. In December 1885, however, Congress awarded Mrs. Grant her own pension of $5,000 a year. Porter’s case was not resolved until July 1886, when he was restored to his former rank by a special act of Congress and awarded an annual pension of $3,375 (New York
Times
: “Fitz John Porter Whitewashed,”
29 Mar 1879, 2; “Gen. Grant’s Former Salaries,” 14 Dec 1880, 1; “Fitz John Porter’s Case,” 12 Jan 1880, 1; “In Vindication of Porter,” 3 Jan 1882, 5; “Porter’s Last Hope Gone,” 16 Apr 1882, 1; “Still Seeking a Pardon,” 1 Jan 1884, 1; “The Fitz John Porter Bill Killed,” 4 July 1884, 1; “For Gen. Grant’s Benefit,” 8 May 1884, 1; “Mrs. Grant’s Pension Approved,” 27 Dec 1885, 1; “Army and Navy News,” 7 July 1886, 3;
Annual Cyclopaedia 1883
, 236–48;
Annual Cyclopaedia 1884
, 207–8;
Annual Cyclopaedia 1885
, 203–4, 225–27; Badeau 1887, 340–41, 432, 443; Jean Edward Smith 2001, 624–25; Los Angeles
Times
: “The Retired List,” 22 Oct 1893, 9; “Current Notes,” 22 May 1885, 2; “Will Mrs. Grant Have a Pension?” Utica
Observer
, undated clipping in Scrapbook 22:59, CU-MARK).

77.27–31 I was reading . . . going to write a fourth] In the winter of 1884–85, Clemens was on a lecture tour with George Washington Cable. Olivia was present at the first of their two performances in New York at Chickering Hall, on 18 and 19 November. Grant’s four war articles (“The Battle of Shiloh,” “The Siege of Vicksburg,” “Chattanooga,” and “Preparing for the Wilderness Campaign”) were published in the
Century
between February 1885 and February 1886. They were part of “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,” a series of articles by dozens of authors, including generals from both sides of the conflict, which appeared from November 1884 to October 1887 and was then collected in four volumes (Ulysses S. Grant 1885a, 1885b, 1885c, 1886; Johnson and Buel 1887–88).

77
footnote
*Aug.’85 . . . Gilder himself] Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909) was a poet and the influential editor of the
Century Magazine
from its first issue in November 1881 until his death (see Johnson 1923, 88–96). This footnote is one of several comments that Clemens added in August 1885 to the text he had dictated in May.

79.21–22 Charles L. Webster & Co. . . . one-tenth interest] Charles L. Webster (1851–91), a surveyor and civil engineer from Fredonia, New York, had married Annie Moffett, the daughter of Clemens’s sister, Pamela, in 1875. Clemens hired him as his general manager in 1881, giving him broad responsibility for both his business and personal affairs. In 1884, when Clemens established his own publishing company, he relied on Webster to run the business, at a salary of $2,500 a year, supplemented (starting in 1885) by one-third of the profits up to $20,000 a year, and one-tenth of earnings beyond that (contracts dated 10 Apr 1884 and 20 Mar 1885, NPV). Webster and Company published all of Clemens’s books from
Huckleberry Finn
(1885) to
Tom Sawyer Abroad
(1894), as well as other works. Clemens forced Webster to retire, ostensibly because of ill health, in 1888; he returned to Fredonia, where he died at age thirty-nine. The publishing firm, which had been losing money for several years, declared bankruptcy on 18 April 1894 (“Mark Twain’s Company in Trouble,” New York
Times
, 19 Apr 1894, 9).

80.22 George W. Childs] Childs (1829–94) was the editor and publisher of the Philadelphia
Public Ledger
from 1864 until his death. He was a highly respected and admired businessman and philanthropist, as well as a good friend of Grant’s (
N&J3
, 100 n. 111).

80.30–31 Clarence Seward’s was one] Clarence A. Seward (1828–97) established the firm of Seward, Da Costa and Guthrie in 1867; it became one of the most prominent and successful law practices in New York.

80.35 the contract was drawn . . . in my hands] Clemens delegated Webster to negotiate
with Grant. On 27 February 1885, Grant agreed to allow the firm to issue his book in return for 70 percent of the net profits. The amount of money ultimately paid to Mrs. Grant has not been determined, but Webster Company records show that by 1 October 1887 she had received checks totaling about $397,000 (Fred Grant to Charles L. Webster and Co., 22 July 1887, CU-MARK; “Cash Statement | Oct. 1
^st
1887 | Chas. L. Webster & Co.,” CU-MARK;
N&J3
, 94–97, 142, 312–13, 316 n. 47). Clemens estimated that she received between $420,000 and $450,000; the Webster Company’s portion was therefore at least $180,000. These amounts are equivalent—by some estimates—to $8 million and $3.4 million, respectively, in today’s dollars. In 1908 Fred Grant placed the figure even higher, claiming that the “first checks received for royalties on the sale of the book amounted to $534,000” (“Gen. Frederick Dent Grant’s Recollections of His Famous Father,” Washington
Post
, 3 May 1908, SM4, 8). On 6 July 1885, Clemens drafted a letter to the editor of the Boston
Herald
in response to a letter from its New York correspondent, published on 20 June. Clemens protested the claim that he had made an offer to Grant

”which no regular publisher felt like competing with.” I merely offer
double as much
for General Grant’s book as the Century Co had offered—that is all. I suggested to Gen. Grant that he submit my offer to the Century & other great publishing houses, &
close with the one that offered him the best terms
. He did it, & my offer was duplicated by
several
“regular publishers,” the Century among the number; & two firms
exceeded
my offer. But none of them could exceed
my facilities
for publishing a subscription book—nor
equal
them, either—a fact which I proved to the satisfaction of General Grant’s lawyer; & that is why I got the book. (MS draft in CU-MARK)

80.39 Roswell Smith’s remark] Smith (1829–92), publisher of the
Century Magazine
, had been one of the journal’s founders in 1870, when it was called
Scribner’s Monthly
. The change of name took place in 1881, when the magazine severed its connection with the Scribner firm, but Smith continued as its publisher (Mott 1957, 457, 467).

82.7–8 annual in London had offered little Tom Moore] The diminutive Irish writer Thomas Moore (1779–1852) published his first poetry collection under the pen name “Thomas Little.” The “annual in London” has not been identified.

82.30 Dr. Douglas] John H. Douglas was a leading New York throat specialist; in October 1884 he diagnosed Grant’s affliction as cancer of the throat (“Sinking into the Grave,” New York
Times
, 1 Mar 1885, 2).

83.9 Mt. McGregor] On 16 June 1885 the Grants traveled to a cottage owned by a friend, financier Joseph W. Drexel, on Mount McGregor, a summer resort near Saratoga Springs, New York. Grant stayed there, attended by his family and Dr. Douglas, until his death on 23 July (New York
Times
: “Resting at Mount McGregor,” 17 June 1885, 1; “A Hero Finds Rest,” 24 July 1885, 1).

83.11–12 Marine Bank man . . . sent up for ten years] James D. Fish was sentenced in June 1885 to ten years in Auburn State Prison (“On the Way to Auburn,” New York
Times
, 28 June 1885, 7).

83.22 President of the Erie Railroad] Hugh J. Jewett (1817–98) served as president of the Erie Railroad from 1874 to 1884, and was credited with rescuing it from insolvency. He was one of the largest creditors of the Marine Bank when it failed (“The Marine Bank Failure,” New York
Times
, 14 May 1884, 1).

83.30 ex-Senator Chaffee] Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., married Fannie Josephine Chaffee, the daughter of Jerome B. Chaffee, in 1880. Chaffee became wealthy from mining, land speculation, and banking in Colorado, and served as one of the state’s first senators in 1876–79. Chaffee himself was another of Ward’s victims: he lost about $500,000 in bonds that he had given to Ward to use as securities on loans (McFeely 1981, 489; “Senator Chaffee’s Bonds,” New York
Times
, 28 Dec 1884, 12).

85.24 I was talking to General Badeau there one day] Badeau recalled a conversation with “one of the greatest wits of this generation” that took place when they met on a visit to Grant as he “lay lingering in his final illness”:

The visitor was a personal friend as well as an admirer of Grant, and he and I talked of the great revulsion in popular feeling which had occurred—the sympathy and affection that had revived as soon as the hero was known to be dying. It made me think of Lincoln, reviled and maligned for years, but in one night raised to the rank of a martyr and placed by the side of Washington. “Yes,” said the other, with the terrible sententiousness almost of Voltaire: “The men that want to set up a new religion ought always to get themselves crucified.” (Badeau 1887, 590)

86.11 I will make a diversion here, and get back upon my track again later] Albert Bigelow Paine published this “diversion” (86.11–91.18) in
Mark Twain’s Autobiography
under the title “Gerhardt and the Grant Bust”; he placed it after his incomplete text of “About General Grant’s Memoirs,” which ends with “that sort of thing” (93.41–42;
MTA
, 1:57–68). Physical evidence in the typescript as well as several references and dates in the text itself show, however, that Clemens dictated the text as it is presented here (see the Textual Commentary,
MTPO
).

86.12 away with G. W. Cable, giving public readings] George Washington Cable (1844–1925), a New Orleans native, was known for his stories of Creole life. He and Clemens became friends in 1881, and from November 1884 through February 1885 they joined in a lecture tour. Billed as the “Twins of Genius,” they spoke in more than sixty cities in the East, Midwest, and Canada. Clemens gave readings from his forthcoming
Huckleberry Finn
(which issued in February) and other works, and Cable read from several of his books and sang Creole songs (Cardwell 1953, 1–3, 12;
HF 2003
, 578).

86.18 the Presidential election] Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, defeated James G. Blaine in the 1884 election.

87.7–11 J. Q. A. Ward . . . no true artist could bring himself to do] On 5 April 1884, before Gerhardt returned from Paris, Clemens wrote to him, “I would strongly advise that you now write A. St Gaudens & J. Q. A. Ward, & ask them if they can give you employment & wages in their establishments in New York. If they can & will,
that
is a certainty; it is sure bread &
butter; & is of course better & wiser than setting up for one’s self without capital” (CtHMTH). Gerhardt replied on 27 May that he strongly preferred to work independently, and pleaded, “Don’t make me be a second fiddle that would kill me” (CU-MARK).

88.8–9 We reached the General’s house . . . to see the family] Clemens wrote an account of this visit in his notebook on the day it took place, 20 March 1885 (
N&J3
, 106–7).

88.16 Jesse Grant’s wife] Elizabeth Chapman Grant (known as “Lizzie”) married Jesse in San Francisco in 1880 (McFeely 1981, 484).

89.5 Mrs. Fred Grant] Ida Honoré married Fred Grant in 1874 (Goldhurst 1975, 117).

90.20 Harrison, the General’s old colored body-servant] Harrison Tyrrell had been Grant’s devoted valet for many years (McFeely 1981, 519). In a letter of 11 September 1885 Clemens wrote to Henry Ward Beecher about Grant’s loyalty to him: