COLONEL WILLIAM A. HOWARD - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 05/31/1861 - HFSID 174716

COLONEL WILLIAM A. HOWARD (CIVIL WAR)
Over a month into the Civil War, the Colonel has finally reached Washington. To his misfortune, however, rumors have been spread about him amongst Naval officials.
Autograph Letter signed: "W.A. Howard", 2 pages (separate sheets), 8½x10. Washington, D.C., 31 May 1861. To "Dear Fessenden" [U.S. Senator] William Pitt Fessenden, Washington, D.C. In full: "I arrived here this morning from New York where I am from this city in Thursday night & I'll be around Friday. I would meet you at the Astor Fort Capt if you had not left. I came on for the purpose of conferring with the Pay Master and Eilum tonight. I was to your old quarters & learned you were not there this Winter. As I have aspirin which I much enjoy . I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you. Mr. Chase has involved the purposes of Harrington and some days linear. One did me to find are my Resignation as a Captain in the Rev. Marine which I declined doing. I happen to have some letters which I enclose you. Please preserve them, You would be astonished to know the intermpible [sic] means adopted to me at fault. But without effect. Even to the suggesting to the scout Investigating Committee [illegible] my accounts and compare them with [illegible] of a person who paid black mail of course mine were much lower as I had no claim on the prospects. There never was such scrutiny exercised before & that Dept. I am custom I learned yesterday from General Burnside that the war & Navy Dept. had been approached and that & had been spoken harshly of. Even Gen. Mc Cullen of Marcy Missp. Learned the Secy of Was. What has been said of course have no means of knowing. I shall endeavor to ascertain. I cannot believe Mr. Chase would do such a thing. Also he has from secret information acted against me. Without giving me the slightest opportunity of explanation Henry [illegible] such a course legitimate. I am not. I can't anyway into every act of mine and they know that say as much & I won't claim the want of judgment' in any act of mine. Hardly a person of my acquaintance that transacts business with Harrington and I am spoken of but he makes some remark injuries to me. I intended laying these facts before Mr. Chase but as an interview can be 'of no advantage to me' I may as well save his & my time of the country. The treasury Dept. to the contrary notwithstanding but the last attack on me as the War dept. I did not expect. Your kind appreciation of me I hope that you will not stand by Mr. Chase. I hope you won't be mortified. So much for position. I signed exceedingly my dear Pitt I could not see you to shake you by the hand but hope to do so before the winter has passed. You shall again be proud of me. If these decisions do not destroy my opportunity. If they do this will answer to that's all. I am striving to go with Burnside who at so tiredly regime some sailor men at his expectation may fail. If I don't go with him, well for the in the Mississippi who wants me. Trusting you will have good health all that you regain to ascend still higher in the Ester Mason of our country. Yours. " William A. HOWARD (1807-1871) was a veteran Coast Guard officer who commanded a detachment of marine artillery during battles on the Carolina coast during the Civil War. At the beginning of the war, he was commissioned as a Colonel of the 1st New York Heavy Artillery in the defenses around Portsmouth & Norfolk. Earlier in his career, when he commanded the revenue cutter Jackson, he was said to look so resplendent in his Coast Guard uniform that naval officers pressured Navy Secretary Levi Woodbury to remove epaulettes from Coast Guard uniforms. In the years before the Civil War, he was in private business as a shipbuilder. William Pitt FESSENDEN (1806-1869) had resigned a seat in the U.S. Senate to assume, at the personal behest of President Lincoln, the Cabinet post of Treasury Secretary after the resignation of Secretary Chase. Fessenden, who as Chairman the important Senate Finance Committee (1861-1864) had played an important role in raising revenues for the Union cause, but he served at Treasury for only eight months (July 5, 1864 - March 3, 1865). Thereafter he returned to the Senate, becoming chairman of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. Lightly creased. File holes at left edge. Toned. Smudged and blotted at signature, but legible. 1x1 inch paper loss at lower margin. Ink note (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.