The Admiral and the Ambassador (47 page)

Thanks are also due to my editor (and author in his own right), Jerome Pohlen, as well as Mary Kravenas, publicist Meghan Miller, and the rest of the team at Chicago Review Press; and most of all to agents Jane Dystel and Miriam Goderich of Dystel & Goderich—it's good to have you two in my corner.

Finally, it's fitting that since these acknowledgements began with my wife, Margaret, they shall end with her, too, as my first and best reader. You've made this a better book and, to paraphrase a line from a movie, you've made me a better man.

INTRODUCTION

1
. Details drawn from “Honors to Paul Jones,”
Washington Post,
January 25, 1913; “Crypt Now His Tomb,”
Washington Post,
January 27, 1913; and “Final Resting Place of John Paul Jones, and Persons Attending Ceremony,”
Washington Times,
January 25, 1913.

1. JONES: A HERO DIES

1
. Details of Jones's last days are drawn from a letter by Samuel Blackden to Jones's sister, Janet Taylor, in Scotland, August 9, 1792, reprinted in John Paul Jones,
Life of Rear-Admiral John Paul Jones
(New York: American News, 1883), 388; and
The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris
(New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1888), vol. 1, 555, vol. 2, 45–46.

2
. See Samuel Eliot Morison, “The Empty Wineskin,” chapter 21 in
John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1959).

3
. Details are drawn from later reports after the body was recovered, reprinted in Charles W. Stewart,
John Paul Jones: Commemoration at Annapolis, April 24, 1906
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1907).

2. A NEW PRESIDENT

1
. “Weather Conditions,”
Washington Post,
March 5, 1897.

2
. Details drawn from Elsie Porter Mende's biography of her father, Horace Porter,
An American Soldier and Diplomat
(New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927), 168–69, and contemporary media accounts, including “March Down the Avenue,”
New York Times,
March 5, 1914, and “President McKinley,”
Washington Post,
March 5, 1914.

3
. R. Hal Williams,
Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896
(Lawrence: University of Kansas, 2010), 170.

4
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
5–6.

5
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
9. This and Horace Porter Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, are the main sources for details about Porter's pre-Civil War life.

6
. Richard H. Owens, chapter 1 in
Vigilance and Virtue: A Biography of General and Ambassador Horace Porter, 1837–1921
(Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002). My thanks to Owens for sharing with me a manuscript draft of his hard-to-find book.

7
. Details on Porter's West Point days are drawn from box 1, 1854–1860, West Point Grades, Appointment Papers, Horace Porter Papers.

8
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
16–17. Unless otherwise noted, the details of Porter's Civil War years are drawn from Mende, Owens's
Vigilance and Virtue,
and the Horace Porter Papers at the Library of Congress.

9
. Horace Porter,
Campaigning with Grant
(New York: Century, 1897), 2.

10
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
xviii; Porter,
Campaigning with Grant,
478.

11
. William Baumer Jr.,
Not All Warriors: Portraits of 19th Century West Pointers Who Gained Fame in Other Than Military Fields
(Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1941; repr. 1971); see the last chapter, “Horace Porter, Diplomat.”

12
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
157.

13
. Porter to
Century
magazine, November 16, 1896, box 2, Letter Book, Letters Sent, Horace Porter Papers.

14
.
The Elite of New York, Society List and Club Register,
published annually by Elite of New York.

15
. “General Horace Porter,”
Bismarck Daily Record,
May 16, 1896.

16
. “Gen. Porter Was Host,”
New York Times,
June 1, 1895.

17
. Lewis L. Gould, ed.,
American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy
(New York: Routledge, 2001), 189.

18
. Williams,
Realigning America,
106–108.

19
. Ibid., 42–43.

20
. Porter to Strong, October 21, 1896, and October 28, 1896, box 2, Letter Book, August 5, 1896–October 28, 1896, Horace Porter Papers.

21
. Ibid.

22
. “Greatest of Parades,”
New York Times,
November 1, 1896.

23
. “News at Headquarters,”
New York Times,
November 4, 1896.

24
. Porter to Col. A. A. Woodhull of Denver, Colorado, December 30, 1896, box 2, Letter Book, October 28, 1896–January 16, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

25
. Porter to Colonel H. H. Prettyman in London, Ohio, November 12, 1896, box 2, Letter Book, October 28, 1896–January 16, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

26
. Porter to Woodhull, December 30, 1896, box 2, Letter Book, October 28, 1896–January 16, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

27
. Porter to George M. Smalley of New York City, February 18, 1897, box 2, Letter Book, January 18, 1897–April 2, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

28
. Porter to Gen. W. M. Osborne of Boston, Massachusetts, January 30, 1897, box 2, Letter Book, January 18, 1897–April 2, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

29
. Margaret Leech,
In the Days of McKinley
(New York: Harper, 1959), 116–120.

30
.
Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
(Washington, DC: U.S. General Printing Office, 1989), 101–10.

31
. Details drawn from contemporary news accounts primarily in the
New York Times, Washington Post,
and
Chicago Tribune.

32
. McKinley official inauguration program, Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, Leather by Libraries, Chapman University, Orange, California.

3. MCKINLEY, GRANT, AND AN AMBASSADORSHIP

1
. Porter to Winslow, March 26, 1897, and April 2, 1897, box 2, Letter Book, January 18, 1897–April 2, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

2
. Geoffrey C. Ward,
A Disposition to Be Rich
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), 218; Jean Edward Smith,
Grant
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001), 623–627.

3
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
144; for a full overview of Grant's last days, see Thomas M. Pitkin,
The Captain Departs: Ulysses S. Grant's Last Campaign
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1973).

4
. “Tribute to E.F. Cragin,”
Chicago Tribune,
April 20, 1897.

5
. Cragin, both an activist supporting Cuban rebels and a future investor in a group that sought to build a canal through Nicaragua rather than Panama, had a final exchange of letters and telegrams with Porter just after the dedication ceremony. Cragin's half of the conversation is lost, but Porter's papers include an April 26, 1897, response that implied Cragin had accused Porter of taking more credit for the fundraising than he deserved. “Both telegrams received. Deeply disappointed that commemoration [illegible word] miscarried. You should have come anyhow. Please recall your first dispatch. It is not like you. My address contains full public acknowledgement of your valuable services. You should have trusted me.” But transcripts of Porter's address in newspapers did not include any mention of Cragin.

6
. Details drawn from period maps and photographs, including reproduction no. LC-D4–12680, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

7
. “Shipping and the Mails,”
New York Times,
May 5, 1897.

8
. William Henry Flayhart III,
The American Line,
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2000), 137–144, 174; “America's Largest Vessels,”
New York Times,
September 16, 1894; “The New Ocean Steamers St. Louis and St. Paul,”
Scientific American,
August 11, 1894.

9
. Flayhart,
The American Line,
141.

10
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
176.

11
. “Manton Marble, Publicist, Dead,”
New York Times,
July 25, 1917.

12
. “Dazian's,”
New Yorker,
October 8, 1932.

13
. Nelson A. Miles,
Military Europe: A Narrative of Personal Observation and Personal Experience
(New York: Doubleday and McClure, 1988), 4–7; “Prominent People Sail for Europe,”
New York Times,
May 6, 1897.

4. JONES: THE SCOURGE OF ENGLAND

1
.
Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones, Including the Narrative of the Campaign of the Liman, Drawn from Letters and Papers Kept by His Sister, Janet Taylor
(New York: A. Chandler, 1830), 13–14. This is the collection of Jones letters published by his niece.

2
. There have been many biographies of Jones, and many conflicting versions of key moments in his life. Unless otherwise noted, I rely mostly here on Morison's
John Paul Jones.

3
. Jones's version is included in
Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones,
18–22.

4
. Jones's version is included in a letter to Benjamin Franklin written in March 1779 as Jones was in France outfitting the
Bonhomme Richard
for battle. See Appendix B in Mrs. Reginald de Koven's
The Life and Letters of John Paul Jones,
vol. 2 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913).

5
. See “Ships of the Continental Navy,” Naval History and Heritage Command,
www.history.navy.mil/wars/revwar/contships.htm
.

6
.
Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones,
65.

7
. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Saturday, June 14, 1777.

8
. Morison,
John Paul Jones,
101.

9
. Ibid., 100–110.

10
. Jones's report to Congress is contained, among many other places, in
Life and Correspondence of John Paul Jones,
82–83.

11
. See the
Ranger's
doctor's account in Ezra Green,
Diary of Ezra Green, M.D.
(Boston: private reprinting, 1875).

12
. Additional details drawn from contemporary newspaper accounts collected in Don C. Seitz,
John Paul Jones: His Exploits in English Seas During 1778–80
(New York: E.P. Dutton, 1917).

13
. Letter from Jones to Countess Selkirk, May 8, 1778.

14
. Entry dated July 27, Green,
Diary.

15
.
Fanning's Narrative, Being the Memoirs of Nathaniel Fanning,
ed. John S. Barnes, included in
Publications of the Naval History Society
2 (1912): 23. Fanning's then-anonymous memoirs first appeared in 1806.

16
. Morison,
John Paul Jones,
223.

17
. For details of a long string of such abusive behavior, see
Fanning's Narrative.

18
.
Fanning's Narrative,
45.

19
. Pearson's report to the Lords of Admiralty, October 6, 1779.

20
.
Fanning's Narrative,
42.

5. THE AMBASSADOR ARRIVES

1
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
175–177.

2
. Jane C. Loeffler,
The Architecture of Diplomacy: Building America's Embassies,
2nd rev. ed. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011), 14–16; Mende,
An American Soldier,
176–182, including endnotes.

3
. Porter to Winslow, April 29, 1897, box 2, Letter Book, January 18, 1897–April 2, 1897, Horace Porter Papers.

4
. Porter to Vignaud, April 20, 1897, box 3, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

5
. Porter to Sherman, July 16, 1897, record group 84, Records of Foreign Service Posts, Diplomatic Posts, France, volume 0185, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.

6
. Porter to Cornelius Bliss, August 10, 1897, box 3, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

7
. Porter to Mark Hanna, July 13, 1897, box 3, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

8
. Mende,
An American Soldier,
182.

9
. Sims to his mother, July 8, 1897, Personal Correspondence, box 4, folder JL-DE 1897, William S. Sims Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

10
. Porter to Hanna, July 13, 1897, box 3, Letter Book, May 24, 1897–November 10, 1902, Horace Porter Papers.

11
. Jeremy D. Popkin,
A History of Modern France,
2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001), 132–139; Colin Jones,
Paris: The Biography of a City
(New York: Penguin, 2005), 328–330.

12
. “A History of the Commune,”
Literary World; a Monthly Review of Current Literature,
March 21, 1896, from a review of Thomas March,
The History of the Paris Commune 1871
(London: Swan Sonnenshein, 1896).

13
. Susan Dyer diary, November 24, 1897, box 21, folder D, George Leland Dyer Papers (#340), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.