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Document 4987
FRANKLIN PIERCE. Black-bordered ALS:
"Franklin Pierce", 4p, 5x8, front and verso. Concord, N.H., 1865 July
7. To Mrs. Sarah F. Webster, City of New York. In full: "I was
glad to receive your note and altho applications for autographs have become so
numerous that I rarely answer them nowadays, I find true pleasure in complying
with your request for your cousin. Sidney writes less frequently than I could
desire, and I should have known nothing of his cruise off the coast of Maine but
for an accidental meeting with his Brother in Boston on the 5th. I hope
he may touch our coast and move his yacht in the Piscataqua on the 18th. His
friend Colo George is to be married at Portsmouth that day to Miss Salvadora M.
Graham daughter of Colo Graham of the U.S. Engineer Corps. I have little
doubt that this yachting trip will do Sidney good in all respects, tho the
account he gave me of his experience at Sea would have led me to infer that he
was not likely to commit himself to its restless bosom for pastime. His
enjoyment of the scenery along the coast is conclusive evidence that he is
becoming a better sailor. When he proposed some time ago to make the trip to
England with me and I intimated a disposition to accept the proposition, I
laughed heartily at the promptness with which he hastened to tell me that so far
from going he was quite startled by the report of his own grit. I am glad that
Hamilton enjoys the freedom of Country life and do not object at all to his
fondness for horses. I hope he will come here sometime to critisize (sic)
and possibly to pass an approving judgment upon mine. Dear little fellow! I
think of him very often. With kindest regards to yr Father & Mother - to the
boys - that were - I should say young Gentlemen now and to your Sisters I am
always & affectionately yours." The stationery is black-bordered
because of the death of Pierce's wife, JANE MEANS APPLETON PIERCE, on
December 2, 1863. The only President to be denied renomination, Pierce left for
a tour of Europe in November 1857, eight months after leaving office. He and
Jane made another lengthy trip to the Continent before settling down in Concord.
"COLONEL GEORGE" was Pierce's former law partner. COLONEL CHARLES K. GRAHAM,
whose daughter Salvadora was getting married to George at Portsmouth, had
been severely wounded at Gettysburg, where a New Hampshire regiment also
suffered heavy losses. He later became Chief Engineer of the Dock Department
(1873-1875) and surveyor of the Port of New York (1878-1883). Pierce died
just four years after this letter (October 8, 1869) and is buried in
Concord's Old North Cemetery along side his wife and three sons. No children
survived him. Light vertical fold touches the "an" in "Franklin". Ink smudge
affects 2 words. Fine condition.
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