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![<b>The first Governor of West Virginia
Elected during the War Between The States in 1863!
Later served as United States Senator from West Virginia</b>
(1823-96) Studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and commenced a practice in Parkersburg, Va. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1855-61, and presided over the convention of Union supporters from the counties of northwestern Virginia, held at Wheeling, on June 19, 1861, to form the new state of West Virginia. Elected judge of the circuit court of the 19th circuit of Virginia, serving 1861-63. Served as the first Governor of West Virginia, from 1863-69, when he resigned to accept the nomination as U.S. Senator, serving 1869-75.
<u>Partial Document Signed</u>:
7 1/2 x 2, in ink.
We concur in the above recommendation.
A.I. Boreman
[?] Robertson
Light age toning and wear.](http://www.tias.com/stores/war/thumbs/auto3634a.jpg){kind=small}
![<b>Autograph Letter Signed
Loyal Virginia Unionist</b>
(1802-69) Born in Dumfries, Va., he was a lawyer and politician who stayed true to the Union. The most conspicuous arrest made during the Civil War under the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus was that of this prominent Virginia citizen who had been a large part of the political life of Virginia for 30 years. He had served as a member of the Virginia State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives. He was a staunch opponent of secession declaring his state had no right to secede, and said that the leaders in the South were conspirators. He was arrested on March 2, 1862, in his home in Richmond, and confined in jail for several weeks. Through a personal interview with Confederate Secretary of War, George W. Randolph, he finally obtained permission to remain in his own home in Richmond, upon taking an oath to say nothing more that was prejudicial to the Confederacy. Tiring of confinement in his house, he purchased a farm in Culpeper County, Va., and moved there in January 1863. From there he started up again to denounce secession. His home was always full of Confederate officers and Union generals and he was arrested once again by orders of General J.E.B. Stuart, on October 12, 1863, but was soon released without further molestation.
<u>Autograph Letter Signed</u>: 8 x 10, in ink.
April 11th/42
Dear Sir,
If there is no preferring reason for the action of the Senate Committee in the nomination of the Collector of Norfolk, I would suggest that it might be postponed for a day or two, to give time for an examination of a report recently called for at the instance of a portion of the citizens of Norfolk & Portsmouth which has been [?] but not yet presented & which I cannot at this time lay my hands on.
Very Respectfully,
Yr. Obdt. Svt.,
Jno. M. Botts
Very fine.](http://www.tias.com/stores/war/thumbs/auto3606a.jpg)
![<b>War Date Letter Signed
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts invites a reverend to his 1865 inaugural</b>
(1818-1867) After graduating from Bowdoin College, he practiced law and was one of the organizers of the Free-Soil Party, entering politics to further his anti-slavery ideals. He later joined the Republican Party and sat in the legislature before being elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1860. Re-elected in 1862 and 1864, he brought the state militia to a high state of readiness and the 6th Massachusetts Regiment was the first body of troops to reach Washington after President Lincoln's call for volunteers. This same spirit characterized all his actions throughout the war. He was instrumental in organizing the 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment which was commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
<u>War Date Letter Signed</u>: 8 x 10, in ink, on imprinted letter sheet.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Department
Boston, January 5th, 1865
Written to a Reverend in Brookline, Mass.
My D[ea]r. Sir,
The Inauguration of Governor for the year 1865 will take place on Friday next, in the Representatives Hall. It will give me pleasure to receive you at 11 o/clock at my room in the State House to join Mrs. Andrew and a party of ladies and gentlemen for the purpose of attending the Inaugural Ceremony and Address.
Very truly yours,
John Andrew
Very fine.](http://www.tias.com/stores/war/thumbs/auto3489a.jpg)
![<b>Signature With Title</b>
(1817-81) Born in Lancaster, Pa. During the stirring times of the Civil War era, there was no man at the National Capital more sought after for influence and advice than John W. Forney. His residence at Capitol Hill was daily thronged by the high and the low, the statesman and the soldier, the beggar and the prince, so that an audience with Forney was sought for with as much eagerness as one with the highest dignitary connected with the Government. [From his obituary, December 11, 1881].
John W. Forney was the first Republican Secretary of the Senate. He was the only secretary to have previously served as Clerk of the House. Forney's tenure as Secretary, 1861-68, coincided with the darkest chapter in the nation's history, the politically turbulent era of civil war and reconstruction.
In his youth, he worked for the Lancaster Journal, and by the time he reached his early twenties he was the newspaper's editor and owner. Forney established a close relationship with Lancaster's most prominent son, then U.S. Senator James Buchanan. When Buchanan became Secretary of State in the Polk administration, he used his influence to secure Forney a coveted position as Surveyor of the Port of Philadelphia. For the next 25 years, Forney had a dual career, which was not uncommon in that era, of publishing newspapers while holding government jobs.
When Forney moved to Philadelphia he sold his Lancaster newspaper and became editor and owner of the Philadelphia Pennsylvanian. When the Democrats lost the presidency in 1848, Forney lost his surveyorship and he moved to Washington, D.C., where he went to work as an editorial writer for the Washington Daily Union. In 1851, he won election as Clerk of the House of Representatives, a congressional position he had long desired. He later purchased part ownership in the Union, and as clerk used his influence with House leaders to obtain financially rewarding contracts for printing House documents. In his most visible role as Clerk, he presided successfully during a rancorous two month House speakership contest in 1855-56.
In 1856, Forney resigned his House position to campaign for James Buchanan's during his presidential election, and for that of his own election to one of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seats. After Buchanan won election, and Forney lost, he asked the new president for a high profile administration appointment. When it wasn't forthcoming, Forney moved back to Philadelphia and established a new paper called the Press. He soon broke from Buchanan over the president's proslavery policies and the administration's inability to steer lucrative government printing contracts his way. In 1860, as Buchanan's failed policies were leading to southern secession and the breakup of the Democratic party as a significant political force, Forney shifted his political allegiance to the recently established Republican party. He then won election again as Clerk of the House.
When Abraham Lincoln became president in March 1861, he helped Forney gain the necessary votes to become Secretary of the Senate. While settling into his new responsibilities, Forney established the Washington Sunday Chronicle. The following year, he agreed to President Lincoln's suggestion that he convert the Sunday Chronicle to a daily newspaper. Soon, nearly forty thousand copies of the Chronicle were being distributed to the Army of the Potomac, responding to Lincoln's desire that a pro-administration newspaper be available to these troops.
When Forney was not prowling the chamber floor, or perched in his seat at the mahogany desk directly in front of the presiding officer, he might have been found in his private office. Adjacent suites under Forney's jurisdiction housed the legislative and financial clerks, the executive clerk, the chief clerk, and the engossing clerk. As Secretary Forney enjoyed good relations with Tennessee Senator Andrew Johnson, it was to Forney's spacious Capitol Hill lodgings that Johnson had gone on the night of March 3, 1864, for a stag party celebrating his impending swearing in as Vice President. On the morning of March 4, the after effects of typhoid fever, the previous evening's party, and a couple of drinks of whiskey contributed to Johnson's unsteady and hostile demeanor as Forney guided him into the Senate Chamber to take his oath of office and deliver an inaugural address best described as harangue.
Following Lincoln's assassination, Forney's paper strongly supported President Johnson. By February 1866, however, when Johnson vetoed the Freedman's Bureau Act, Forney joined Republican moderates in declaring the president's honeymoon with Congress at an end. When a group of Johnson supporters gathered outside the White House and shouted, "Give it to Forney!" Johnson responded, "I do not waste my ammunition upon dead ducks."
Secretary Forney spared none of his own editorial ammunition, however, in his paper's relentless attack on the increasinglyy beleagurered president. In April 1868, at the time of Andrew Johnson's impreachment trial, the president bitterly told an Associated Press reporter that Forney had always been after some favor. He recalled that the Secretary had begun to grumble following the 1864 presidential election because he felt the Lincoln administration had not rewarded his support with sufficient patronage. "The first thing he did," said Johnson, "was write me a letter, hoping that when I came to the Vice Presidency, I would give him the control of some patronage that he said belonged to the office of the Secretary of the Senate, but had of late years been given to the Sergeant-at-Arms. He hoped I would change that."
Forney left office on June 4, 1868, several weeks after the conclusion of Johnson's impeachment trial. He sold his Washington paper and returned to Philadelphia where he continued his journalistic pursuits. In his final years, he once more shifted political loyalties, moving again to the Democratic party.
<u>Signature With Title</u>: 3 1/2 x 1 1/2, in ink, J.W. Forney, Sec. Senate U.S. Light age toning.
Biographical Source: History of the U.S. Senate](http://www.tias.com/stores/war/thumbs/auto3368a.jpg)
