Edwin M. Stanton, ALS informing Welles of the time and place of the first cabinet meeting after Lincoln's death

Stanton, Edwin M.

Autograph letter signed ("Edwin M. Stanton") to secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, announcing the first cabinet meeting of the Andrew Johnson administration

One page (203 x 134 mm) on a bifolium of War Department letterhead, Washington, 21 April 1865, docketed by Welles on the integral leaf, "Edwin M. Stanton | April 1865 | Cabinet meeting | (Sherman)"; creased at central fold with marginal separation and repair, small stain and tiny marginal chip to integral leaf.

A tumultuous start to the Johnson administration. Although the cabinet had hurriedly met the night of President Lincoln’s assassination, 15 April, the first regular meeting, memorialized in this letter from the Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Navy, was called by Stanton to address a critical misstep by General William Tecumseh Sherman: “By direction of the President, a meeting of the Cabinet will be held this evening, 8 oclock, at the President’s residence, corner of H & 15th Streets (Mrs. Hoopers House). Your attendance is requested.”

Stanton had learned earlier that day from a special courier sent by Ulysses S. Grant that Sherman, negotiating a cession of hostilities with Confederate commander Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, had grossly exceeded his authority in agreeing to allow Southern troops to place their weapons under the control of their respective states and providing a mechanism for voting and property rights to be restored to the states in rebellion. The cabinet unanimously rejected Sherman’s agreement and he was ordered to withdraw it.

Stanton exacerbated the matter by taking it to the press, earning the enmity of Sherman’s many supporters and putting Johnson in an awkward position. The eventual fallout from this episode would lead to Johnson’s demand for Stanton’s resignation, which he refused, Stanton’s suspension, the appointment of Grant as Secretary of War ad interim, Stanton’s reinstatement, and—in no small part—President Johnson’s impeachment.