War Clouds Gather While Patronage Appointments Proceed

August 23, 1862

Across the North, many Republicans are concerned with patronage appointments in the Treasury.  At the White House, President Lincoln must deal with one supplicant, Mrs. Gabriel R. Paul directly. “To-day, Mrs. Major Paul, of the Regular Army calls and urges the appointment of her husband as a Brig– Genl.  She is a saucy woman and I am afraid she will keep tormenting till I may have to do it,” writes the president, who will eventually appoint her husband as a brigadier general the next month.

New York Republican boss Thurlow Weed writes his friend, Secretary of State William H. Seward about President Lincoln’s response to New York Tribune Horace Greeley: “I take heart and hope from the Presidents Letter to Greely [sic]. It clear[s[ the atmosphere, and gives ground to stand on.  The ultras were undermining. They were getting the Administration into false position.   But it is all right now.”