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Lot 26
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"That creature Lincoln should be hanged!" says Conf. Adm. Buchanan of ironclad fame.
"That creature Lincoln should be hanged!" says Conf. Adm. Buchanan of ironclad fame.
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Description:

Buchanan Franklin 1800 - 1874

"That creature Lincoln should be hanged!"

A spectacular archive of letters by Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan of ironclad fame, revealing new insight into the allegiances and bipartisan attitudes at the onset of the Civil War, and including correspondence while a prisoner of the North.

An Archive of eight detailed letters between the dates of 1841 and 1864, as follows:

1. "Annapollis Md/ Oct 18th, 1841"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "F. Buchanan", 7.75" x 9.75", 4 pages written recto and verso. Toned lined paper with integral docket. Post mark stamp of Oct 20. Expected folds. With a 2.75" x .25" area of paper loss to last page.

2. ""The Rest" near/Easton, Md/ May 24th, 1855"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "Frank. Buchanan, 7.75" x 9.75", four pages written on recto and verso. Pale blue lined paper. Expected folds, thin band of tape along back seam fold.

3. ""The Rest"/ Sept 1st, '61"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "Frank. Buchanan, 7.5" x 9.5", four pages, one page blank. Pale blue lined paper. Expected folds with slight separation along fold. Slight toning to first page along right edge. Last page is blank.

4. "Naval Hospital, Pensacola/Oct 10th, '64"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "Frank. Buchanan, 6.5"x 8", 4 pages. Off-white lined paper. Expected folds, near fine.

5. 5."Pensacola /... December 1st, 1864"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "James C. Palmer", 5" x 8", four pages, written on verso only, with rectos left blank. "W.G. Blockading Squadron" letterhead, expected folds, near fine.

6. "Fort Lafayette/ New York. Dec 12th, '64"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "Frank. Buchanan" 5" x 8", four pages, 2 pages written on recto and verso, third page with one line "I had a kind letter from Gary", and verso left blank. Expected folds, small ink smudges, else near fine.

7. "Fort Lafayette/Dec. 22nd, '64"

ALS to Wm Ed. Coale, signed "Frank Buchanan" , 5.5" x 9', four pages with two pages blank. Pale blue paper. Expected folds, several small slight stains with a tiny corner crease.

8. "Fort Lafayette, Feb. 4th, '65"

ALS to Wm Ed Coale, signed "Frank Buchanan", 7.5" x 9.75", two pages. Expected folds with small 1" separation at fold, else near fine.

It is not everyday that one gets to read the raw emotions of a high ranking Captain and Admiral in the Civil War. And it is even more illuminating when these written expressions directly contradict our historical knowledge and understanding of the times and the part played by the author, Captain and Admiral Franklin Buchanan. This spectacular archive of letters written by Franklin Buchanan (one of the few to have fought for both the North and the South, as an officer in the United States Navy, and then later as a full admiral in the Confederate Navy and commanded the ironclad C.S.S Virginia), follows his life through his letters to his friend, William Edward Coale, an appointed surgeon to the Navy in Boston, from his pre-Civil War period to 1864.

It was believed that as Naval admiral from Maryland, he resigned his commission from the U.S. Navy, expecting Maryland to secede from the Union (Maryland did not secede because the Federal government arrested and imprisoned the governor and the state legislators, who were for secession). Buchanan then proceeded to join the Confederate Navy becoming the Flag officer and Captain of the newly built ironclad, the C.S.S. Virginia. However, according to "history", when Maryland did not secede, Buchanan tried to recall his resignation with only the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles stepping in saying he did not want half-hearted patriots in his Navy and refused to reinstate Buchanan. The historical accuracy could not be further from the truth. In his letter dated Sept 1, it is quite apparent that Buchanan was not only very pro South, but vehemently felt great discourse and hatred with both the government and Lincoln calling him a "creature" whose acts were "unconstitutional, unlawful, and tyrannical, and expects he (should be/will be) hanged".

As one reads the sequence of letters to Coale, the reader can see the development of the close relationship between Coale and Buchanan leading up to the war, and then the complex onslaught of emotions in Buchanon's letter dated "Sept 1st, 1861". This letter gives the reader pause and questions our accounting of history, as written in part:

"I regret not seeing you when in Bal. (Baltimore) a few weeks since, I was anxious to have a long conversation with you on the present state of affairs in the country. When I resigned from the navy, I did so in good faith to my native state under the impression she was virtually out of the union, my sympathies and feeling here with the South and I was ready to (illegible) her cause and offered my services by letter to that old rascal Hicks, he never replied to my letter. When I found the state did not secede, and my resignation had not been accepted but "was held under consideration", I asked to recall it with a hope of being (illegible) on a foreign station where I could remain until Congress reconciled matters, I was not permitted to recall it, nor did Congress settle matters, after that I had no desire to return to the Navy I would not war against the South, and since the Presidents proclamations + the acts of Congress, and they still later side acts of the President, I would not serve this government if they would make me a Lord High Admiral. I am now thoroughly disgruntled and can not any longer remain neutral ... no man or woman's life or property is safe, cause for imprisonment is of no consequence, suspicion only is necessary ... all the unconstitutional, unlawful, tyrannical, apprehensive acts of that creature Lyncoln (Lincoln) + his advisors, ..., the day of retribution is at hand, the South must succeed nothing can prevent it and before many months Lyncolns own party will take him out of the White house + hang him; the revolution of our forefathers was for grievances very trifling compared to those by the North towards the South, and the present "irresponsible conflict" party ... tis folly for any one to talk of "Union + the stars and stripes "that old flag I honor as much as anyone, but it no longer exists, the present government is not entitled to it, 12 states have been removed from it for months, and the whole world knows it, that old flag is (illegible) disgraced by being in the hands of those ... creatures who now display it, those who fought under that flag now war against those who are disgracing it, that flag is now held up as an emblem of tyranny + oppression, not the flag of the union, for there is no union, nor can there ever be between the North and South, the hatred is too intense, the Almighty is with the South in this unnatural, unholy war, for you see the south victories in every battle, nearly and such will be the case where men are fighting for their homes + firesides ..."

By the next letter in sequence, written from "Marsh Hospital, Pensacola" and dated "Oct, 10th 1864", Buchanan had handed the U.S. Navy the worst defeat it would take until the attack on Pearl Harbor and in the process became wounded. In one of the most iconic Naval battles of the Civil War, Buchanan had lead the attack at Mobile Bay, Alabama using ironclads. Perhaps of greatest irony is that the admirals commanding the North and South sides in this battle, Buchanan and Farragut, also shared the rather curious distinction of having switched sides. Buchanan, born in Baltimore and appointed as a midshipman from Pennsylvania, fought for the South; Farragut, born in Tennessee, raised in New Orleans and married to a Virginian, fought for the North. Thus it was that at Mobile Bay the northern-born southerner Franklin Buchanan awaited an attack by the Southern born Northerner David Farragut.

By the date of this letter, Buchanan had already been wounded with a shot to the leg and taken prisoner. He writes of "improving daily" and "hopes soon to be on my crutches if not on both legs, the wound is entirely healed and the bones (illegible) but are not yet sufficiently strong to justify the removal of the splint and bandages".

He was eventually sent to New York to Fort Lafayette as demonstrated by his letters dated in Dec '64 - Feb '65 which are all written from "Fort Lafayette". Of interesting note in those letters ..."I am in a small (illegible)... with others, and live principally on the prisoners rations". In his subsequent letters from Fort Lafayette, Buchanan repeatedly addressed his leg, and his health, and stated that they are improving.

In the final letter from this archive, dated "Feb 4th '65", Buchanan writes (in part):

"I am now convinced that it ... has been the intention of the authorities in W. (Washington) to remove me from this prison until I am exchanged therefore I hope you will not take further steps in my behalf ... Gen Hart and Cap Burke in strong letters to the authorities in W., urged my being sent to a Hospital but it was not done ... so my mind is now made up to remain here until the order for my exchange is carried out. Our worthy friend, Dr. Palmer informed me by letter ... that the order for my exchange had reached them some time since and he supposed I would soon be South, the President told a friend of your aunt that he had given three orders for my exchange, as friends of the persons who are to be exchanged for me 'were pushing him'".

Only weeks later, the wounded prisoner, Buchanan, would finally be released and exchanged. In a sad final twist of irony, shortly before Appomattox, he made his way back to Mobile, arriving there just as the war came to an end. As for Farragut, Congress voted him a $50,000 bonus - serious money in those days, equivalent to several million dollars today - and in December, Farragut was promoted to the rank of vice admiral. After the war was over, on July 26, 1866, Congress created the rank of full admiral and named David Glasgow Farragut to fill it. Just as Franklin Buchanan, the northerner who fought for the South, had been the first Confederate admiral, Farragut, the Southerner who fought for the North, became the first admiral of the U.S. Navy.

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