A final volume of diaries

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Post-War Years, 1865-1875  (Vol. 4).   Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds.

This is the final volume of the edited and published diaries of George Templeton Strong, a lawyer and social figure in New York City.  Last year I read the first three volumes, covering the years 1835-1865. But I put off reading this last one, in part because I was distracted by other books and in part because I didn't want to read the end of the story.

If the third volume (1860-1865) is naturally the "Civil War" diary, this is the "Reconstruction" diary, and it covers some very grim years in American history.  When the war ended, Strong was exhausted and ill after four years of intense effort as the treasurer of the Sanitary Commission.  The "Sanitary" was a private organization that in effect managed the health and medical care of Union soldiers.  Strong had all but given up his legal practice to devote himself to this work and to other patriotic causes.  His work with the Commission did not end with the war, since there were still soldiers to be cared for.  The Commission also had to prepare a report on its work, the completion of which dragged on for years, a continuing worry and aggravation.

Strong's entries trace the course of "Reconstruction" from the point of view of a Northerner and a loyal Unionist.  "Reconstruction" meant the political process by which the former Confederate states were readmitted to full participation in the Union, the social and political process by which the newly-freed slaves were admitted (or not) as citizens of the southern states and of America, and the rebuilding of the devastated South.  It was a complex situation that would have taxed the leadership even of Abraham Lincoln.  His hapless successor Andrew Johnson could not cope with the demands of Radical Republicans for social and political equality for the freed people of the South, while some former Confederates tried to force former slaves into quasi-slavery or serfdom.  The clash with Radicals led to Johnson's impeachment in 1868 and assured the election of General Ulysses Grant as president that year.  Like many others in the North, Strong enthusiastically supported Grant, the great Union war hero, only to watch in dismay as his administration became mired in corruption.  That corruption was mirrored in New York City itself, where the notorious "Tweed Ring" and Tammany Hall stole millions, assisted by notoriously corrupt judges and city officials.  The legendary greed and corruption of these years, dubbed "The Gilded Age" by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, fed a mania for stock speculation that crashed in the Panic of 1873, setting off a six-year depression.

Like the third volume of the diaries, this final volume also focuses on war, but in this case foreign wars.  While Strong wrote about the war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, he spent much more time discussing the Franco-Prussian War.  It dominates the entries for 1870-1871 (at least those selected by the editors for publication).  According to the editors, Americans tended to favor the Prussians, due in part to the large German immigrant presence and also to dislike of Napoleon III.  It was interesting to read Strong's writings on the war and the American viewpoint, after the very different perspective in the letters of Prussia's Crown Princess Frederick (Princess Victoria of England), which I read last year. Strong also chronicled the Italian unification movement, rejoicing at its success and Pope Pius IX's loss of Rome and the Papal States.  As an Anglican, Strong was unimpressed with the Vatican Council of 1869-1870 that proclaimed the dogma of papal infallibility, as the pope's temporal power in Italy was crumbling.

In addition to domestic and foreign politics, the editors highlighted three themes in Strong's life in these years.  The first is his work as a trustee of Columbia College.  As an alumnus, Strong wanted passionately to see the college prosper and expand, but other more conservative trustees blocked progressive moves.  Nevins and Thomas, the editors, were themselves on the faculty of Columbia, and this was clearly a topic that fascinated them.  It is less interesting to general readers, or at least to me.  A second theme is Strong's involvement with the Anglican Church.  He served for many years as a trustee of Trinity Church, and in 1870 he was elected a warden.  Two years later he accepted a position as Comptroller of the parish, a salaried post for which he gave up his place in the family law firm.  With the long hours given to trustee work for both the college and the church, I'm not sure how much time he had for his law practice anyway.  But he found time for yet more volunteer work in his passion for music, one of the constant themes through the forty years of his diaries. Strong was a founding member of the "Church Music Association," which aimed to introduce New York audiences to the masterpieces of sacred music, and he later accepted the chair of the Philharmonic Society.

I appreciate how important all these aspects were in Strong's life.  I also appreciate the monumental task that the editors faced, in editing Strong's voluminous writings for publication.  But I have to take issue again with some of their editorial choices.  They write in their introduction,  "Many interesting personal entries, dealing with the diarist's family circle, have been left out; but these would make another kind of story."   It is not just that they have excised entries dealing with personal matters in favor of college or church politics (as I noted in my review of the second volume).  Prioritizing the public over the personal means that the men in Strong's life would get more attention, appear more frequently, than the women.  The editors have exacerbated that situation by themselves ignoring or sidelining the women that do appear.  To take one example, Strong's niece Lucy came to live with his family, becoming it seems almost a surrogate daughter (the Strongs' first child, their only daughter, was stillborn).  "Lucy" is never identified or given a last name, even in a footnote, unlike Strong's nephew Richard Henry Derby, an opthamologist who settled in New York City, who is introduced in the "Dramatis Personae" yet also rates several footnotes.  Finally, in the "Genealogical Note" that closes this volume, I learned that Lucy was Richard's sister, the daughter of Strong's sister Eloise.  It was only in the same genealogy that I learned that Strong's wife Ellen Ruggles Strong died in Paris in 1891 (she is listed under her parents, by the way).   The editors provide no information about her life after her husband's death, while outlining the careers of her three sons.  How did she end up in Paris?  Still, Ellen and Lucy fare better than "Miss Rosalie Ruggles," who appears constantly in three of the four volumes yet is never identified (she may have been Ellen's aunt or cousin).  If I ever win the lottery, I intend to offer Columbia University a substantial grant for a new edition of Strong's diaries, one that will better balance his personal life and public career.

That rant aside (and I do feel better for saying it), I still enjoyed this volume and Strong's company even in these difficult years, so crucial in American and European history.  Strong was a man of his times, with conservative views of women; as a trustee of Columbia, he opposed the admission of women students and he derided the "strong-minded women" of the suffrage movement.  He continued to refer to African Americans by the n-word, and he despised the Irish immigrants who flooded New York City (in part of course because of their support for the Democrats and Tammany Hall).  To balance that, he showed great concern for the poor, Irish immigrants included, and for the freedmen and women of the South.  He had a reputation for honesty, for public service, and for scholarship, particularly in music.  He loved his family, taking great pride in Ellen and their sons.  The last months of his life were haunted by a break with the middle son, Templeton.  The editors claim that they cannot explain what happened "because the pertinent passages have been obliterated from the diary."  This may be editorial discretion, since they presumably could have asked the family members who helped in the editing of the diary.

Strong's entries always make entertaining reading.  He had an acid and a witty turn of phrase. Reporting a new enthusiasm among New York Anglicans for building a cathedral, he noted that his father-in-law Samuel Ruggles was "cathedral-mad, as though bitten by a rabid transept" (October 1872).  He left one concert early "for nobody offered me fifty dollars to stay and listen to Berlioz's "Dramatic Symphony," Romeo and Juliet, and I would not undergo that majestic work for a cent less" (May 1868).  Though not a fan of the later books of Charles Dickens, he noted the author's death in June of 1870: "I feel [his] death as that of a personal friend, though I never even saw him . . ."  I felt the same way after reading the last page of diary entries, and the note that George Templeton Strong died on July 21, 1875.

Meeting Anthony Trollope

I am working my way through the fourth and final volume of the diary of George Templeton Strong, covering the years 1865-1875.  There are frequent references to what he is reading, and I was happy to come across praise of Anthony Trollope and Charlotte M. Yonge (I actually discovered Yonge through a reference in the third volume of the diaries).

In July of 1868, Strong accepted an invitation to join his brother-in-law on a two-months' tour of Britain and Europe.  They sailed out of New York on a Cunard steamer, and among the fifty passengers was Anthony Trollope!  I remember from Trollope's Autobiography that he visited America after the Civil War, to negotiate a postal treaty and to address copyright issues. Strong, who met him returning at the end of the visit, described him as a "dogmatic noisy John Bull whom I got to like afterwards," which seems to have been a pretty common reaction to him.  Trollope apparently could be a bit overwhelming, until people discovered his warm heart.

The ship landed in Liverpool, and Trollope travelled with Strong and his brother-in-law to London, and even recommended a restaurant there, the "Blue Posts."  At this time he was writing Phineas Finn, according to the Autobiography, one of my favorite of the Palliser novels.

I was delighted at this unexpected convergence - and almost envious of Strong.  It's not enough that he got to meet Abraham Lincoln several times, he also got to spend quality time with one of my favorite authors at the peak of his writing career.  Literary serendipity, and such fun to read about.

In London, Strong stayed at the Golden Cross Hotel at Charing Cross, "vide David Copperfield," but he was unimpressed with Dickens' American tour in 1867.  He was still holding a grudge for the "abuse and sarcasm" of the American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit, and for Dickens' silence during the Civil War, when support for the Union "from the most popular living writer of prose fiction would have been so welcome, and though it would have come so fitly from a professional 'humanitarian.'"  Strong did admit, though, that he "should like to hear him read the Christmas Carol . . ."

Day by day through the Civil War

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, The Civil War, 1860-1865  (Vol. 3).   Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds.

This is not exactly Christmas reading, though it does cover four very different Christmas.  I had read George Templeton Strong's Civil War diary a few years ago.  It is considered one of the most important contemporary accounts of the war years, with quotations and citations showing up in all kinds of books about the Civil War.  I originally read a stand-alone edition, but it is actually the third of four published volumes of Strong's diaries.  I read Volumes 1 and 2 of the diaries earlier this year (the first covers the years 1835-1849 and the second 1850-1859).  I wanted to re-read the Civil War volume in its proper place, before going on to the fourth and final volume (covering the years 1865-1875).  But I also wanted to re-read it in light of some of the other books on the Civil War that I have read this year, all of which cite the diaries, including Eric Foner's The Fiery Trial, Amanda Foreman's A World on Fire, and Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising.

When 1860 opened, George Templeton Strong was living in New York City with his wife Ellie and two sons (and another on the way).  He was a lawyer with a busy practice in his Wall Street office, his free time devoted to the vestry at Trinity Church and the Board of Trustees of Columbia College, and a social life among the city's best families.  He was also a passionate musician, attending rehearsals and performances of the Philharmonic and local opera companies, as well as musical evenings with friends.  Like many Northerners, he believed slavery was wrong but held racist ideas about African Americans (generally referring to them by the n-word).  He felt abolitionists were the real danger, because their agitation about slavery was driving a wedge between the free north and the slave south.  If everyone just ignored slavery, it would not be an issue.  But the rising tension over whether new territories, like Kansas, would be slave or free put the issue of slavery front and center.  With the Republicans, Strong came to agree that slavery must be protected under the Constitution but confined to where it already existed, and he reluctantly voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, on a Republican platform of containment. 

Many Southerners were convinced that, whatever the Republicans said, Lincoln's election meant an attack on slavery. Before 1860 ended, South Carolina had seceded; by the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March 1861, five other states had followed, forming a Southern Confederacy.  Like many others in the North, Strong reacted with passionate patriotism to the possible division and demise of the United States.  Over the next four years, he would devote himself to the Union cause.  His greatest work was with the United States Sanitary Commission, a private relief organization.  The army's medical bureau, dealing with a peace-time army of 15,000, was unable to cope with a volunteer force of more than a million, where a single battle might leave 30,000 casualties on the Union side alone.  These volunteer soldiers, many fresh off the farm, were also vulnerable to disease, and most had no idea how to lay out a camp or even dig a latrine.  The Commission raised funds for supplies, doctors, camp inspectors, hospitals, and convalescent homes.  Strong served as treasurer throughout the war, overseeing the collection and disbursement of more than $4 million dollars (an estimated $108 million in 2011 dollars).  As treasurer, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and generals from George McClellan to Ulysses Grant.  This access to the political and military centers, with his visits to army camps and hospitals, solidified Strong's devotion to the Union cause and particularly to the soldiers who fought for it.

At the same time, his attitude toward slavery changed completely, as he came to see it as the root cause of the war.  One of his main objections to slavery had been the forced separation of enslaved families by sale.  Now there were constant references to sale of children and the abuse of women, including sexual assaults.  Like the abolitionists he had previously despised, and with black Americans themselves, Strong argued for the enlistment of black soldiers long before the Lincoln administration made it federal policy, and he frequently reported the bravery of the black regiments in combat.  It is also notable that Strong began using the words "Negro" and "black" to refer to African Americans, though he continued to use the n-word as well.  Even more than the South, he would come to blame the North for the war, for its acquiescence in the evils of slavery.

Strong's place in society and his position with the Sanitary Commission meant that he met everyone of importance in New York and Washington, and he reported on it all.  He served on the committee organizing the visit of the Prince of Wales to the city in 1860, where he met the British ambassador Lord Lyons.  (His diary perfectly reflects the anti-British feeling in the North, charted in Amanda Foreman's book.)  In the last pages of this volume, he attended the funeral service of Abraham Lincoln at the White House: "I count it a great privilege to have been present. There will be thousands of people ten years hence who would pay any money to have been in my place" (April 19, 1865).

In the end, I feel almost as though I have lived through the four years of the Civil War, through this extraordinary diary and the man who kept it.

The Turbulent Fifties - the 1850s, that is

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, The Turbulent Fifties, 1850-1859  (Vol. 2).   Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds.

This, as you will have deduced, is the second volume in the series of George Templeton Strong's diaries, published in 1952. I posted about the first volume back on April 27th, and I was very excited to get the next volume.  I was much less excited by the time I finished it.

I expected "The Turbulent Fifties" to focus on the rising political tensions in the United States over slavery, as the old Whig party fell apart, as the new Republican party formed to oppose the extension of slavery into the new territories being formed.  Strong did record these events, including his own conversion to the Republican Party.  Though there is not one single mention of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, we do get the furious debate over Kansas, the attack on Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate, John C. Fremont's selection as the first Republican presidential candidate, and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.  We also get detailed entries on the Panic of 1857, which make uncomfortable reading in these uncertain economic times.

On the increasingly dominant issue on the decade, Strong parsed slavery more than once: he didn't believe slave-owning a sin; like Anthony Trollope he believed the slaves might not be capable of life as freed peoples; he believed the Constitution and the laws protected slavery where it existed.  But on the other hand he believed that slavery was evil in its effects on both master and slave, especially in the separation of slave families, and that it should be prohibited from expansion into the territories.

However, much of the volume is focused on different kinds of conflict: in the Episcopal Church, particularly the Diocese of New York; and in Columbia College.  Strong served on the vestry of Trinity Church in New York, and the vestry meetings were very well-documented.  Strong was also a Trustee of Columbia, a position he valued greatly, and he documented countless board and committee meetings, as well as fights over curriculum and faculty appointments. Nevins and Halsey, both on the faculty at Columbia University at the time they were editing the diary, were clearly very interested in the history of the proto-university.

The diary also includes many entries on music.  Strong, who had an organ built for his home, was passionate about music, and he attended every opera, concert and musical performance he could.  He had strong opinions, consistently praising Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms but dismissing other composers such as Verdi.  It was a bit startling to realize that Strong could only have heard music performed live, and unplugged (unamplified).  No wonder he attended some performances three nights in a row, hearing the same music each time.

The endpapers of this volume include a facsimile copy of one page of the diary.  It is clear from that how much was excised in the editing.  I can just decipher one charming entry about his wedding anniversary and the "Sevres china tea set" he got at Tiffany's that afternoon. He was waiting for a chance to sneak it onto Ellen's dressing table to surprise her.  That didn't make it into the published diary - who knows what else was sacrificed, so that we could know more about the fight over a chemistry professor at Columbia?  At least the birth of two sons and his parents' deaths - all in that decade - made the cut.

A young man in New York

The Diary of George Templeton Strong. A Young Man in New York, 1835-1849 (Vol. 1).  Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas, eds.

Every book on the American Civil War that isn't strictly military history seems to cite the third volume of George Templeton Strong's diary, which covers the years 1860-1865.  Some of the military histories do as well.  Even if Strong hadn't played a key role in the Sanitary Commission, meeting with President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Union military leaders, his diary would still give us a day to day record of life in New York City during the war - a city with strong Democratic, pro-south tendencies, where riots broke out in 1863 over the draft.

I read the Civil War diary a couple of years ago, and I finally got around to getting the first through interlibrary loan earlier this month.  Each volume apparently has the same introduction, with an overview of Strong's life and career as a lawyer.  The introduction also explains how the diary was discovered, edited, and published in 1952.  I believe if it were to be re-edited and re-published today, it would be a very different diary.  The editors state right off the bat that "Many interesting personal entries, dealing with the diarist's family circle, have been left out; but these would make another kind of story."  Well, yes, and it would be a more complete story of George Templeton Strong the human being, as well as a better social history.  I've noticed this before in diaries edited by men, like William Plomer's edition of the diaries of Rev. Francis Kilvert.  The editors also provide biographical notes only on the male characters; not even footnotes identify many of the women.

Strong began his diary in October of 1835, when he was a fifteen-year old sophomore at Columbia College.  I found the first years a bit dull, a record of classes and college pranks in which GTS generally didn't join.  Then, suddenly, as with Trollope's' North America, GTS found his voice.  I think he would have been great company - with a strong sense of humor, an acridly entertaining turn of phrase, a love of books, a deep faith.  Counterbalancing that, he was completely unsympathetic to African Americans, free or slave, with a frequent and contemptuous use of the "N" word.  He also had nativist tendencies, especially towards Irish immigrants, though the excesses of the "Know Nothings" turned him away from nativist politics.  His attitude toward women was typically paternalistic.  An outline of his ideal woman's characteristics includes "talent for obedience, and submission to conjugal authority," and his wife Ellen is frequently referred to as "Little Ellie," at least in the first two years after their 1847 marriage.  On the other hand, he nursed her personally through the still-born birth of their first child and her collapse from puerperal fever, which must be credited to him as righteousness.

I can't help but like him, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next volume, which covers the critical years of 1850-1859.  I look forward to watching this turbulent decade unfold through his eyes.