The following letter was written by Senator Thomas McMillan whose biographical sketch appears in the Iowa Official Register as follows:

“Born in Scotland, on the twentieth day of February, 1809, and learned the trade of baker in his youth. In 1832 he decided to emigrate to the United States and settled first in Cincinnati, Ohio, and then removed to Dayton, in that State, and while living here was married to Miss Mary Breckenridge, in 1835, a native of the same town in Scotland. After a residence of three years in Dayton he removed to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he remained eighteen years, working at his chosen occupation. In 1854 he came to Iowa and settled in Marion County on a farm, and for twelve years was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1864 he was elected to the Senate of the State Legislature, and the manner in which he filled this position is evinced from the fact that he was reelected in 1868, and served with great credit. His private character and public record are alike untarnished. Mrs. McMillan died in 1872, leaving five children.”

Thomas wrote the letter to his son-in-law, Alexander Morrison Clark (1832-1926). Alexander married Sarah Jane McMillan in 1864. He enlisted in the Iowa 8th Infantry in 1861 and rose in rank steadily until named the captain of Co. E in March 1865. He mustered out at Selma, Alabama, in April 1866.

In his letter, Thomas expresses deep disappointment with President Johnson’s decision to veto the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill which would have extended funding for the Freedmen’s Bureau created during the Lincoln Administration.

Transcription

DesMoines, Iowa
March 14th 1866

Dear Son,

Your kind letter from Selma was received a week ago. I am glad to hear of your welfare. How wonderfully you have been preserved in the 4½ years you have been in the service of your country. Surely we have great reason for gratitude and thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for His mercy & goodness in preserving you all through so many dangers. Col. Ryan is now a Representative from Jasper County, calls on me frequently and enquires kindly after you. Also a Mr. McConnell from Keokuk County who was hospital steward in your company. He asks to be remembered to you.

This is the tenth week of the session. We have passed a resolution to adjourn on the 3d of April. This is an exciting place. We have often very warm and animating discussions. We have spent nearly a week on a series of resolutions instructing our Senators and Representatives in Congress to use their influence to prevent the Southern members from taking their seats until they grant the right of suffrage to the Negro. No doubt you have seen President [Andrew] Johnson’s veto of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill which passed Congress by a large majority. The Bill called for an Act to protect and educate the poor blacks, but the President has by his veto turned them over to the tender mercies of their oppressors. We are sadly deceived & we are betrayed in the President.

He has opposed the express will of the people in vetoing the Freedmen’s Bill. The Copperheads throughout the land are now his friends. What the end will be, God only knows. The President’s course has cast a gloom over the friends of the Union all over the North. I fear the work of reconstruction is far from being complete. The future looks gloomy. Still I trust that [the] Providence that has led us thus far, will in the end work all well. It can not be that all our sacrifices have been made in vain, but we, like the Israelites after having been safely brought through the Red Sea, may have to wander in the wilderness before we reach the Canaan of Liberty, Justice, and equal rights.

I hope, for one, the true Union men will stand firm to the position of our faithful Representatives in Congress if it takes ten years to finish up the work. The President promised the colored men of Tennessee that he would be their Moses to lead them out from bondage, but we all fear he has turned a Pharaoh, and left the poor of the land to their task masters. The Judge of all the Earth will do right. We are in His hands. He can do with us as seemeth good in His sight. Though He slay us, we will still trust in HIm. But what a sad calamity it would be for our beloved land if those opposed to Negro suffrage and the Copperheads should be successful at the next election. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Let us leave the future in the hands of a Merciful Providence, praying and laboring for His interposition in our behalf.

Three members of the President’s Cabinet have gone over with him and sustain his course. And a great many Republicans cannot go negro suffrage. In all probability, a new party will be formed of Copperheads, Democrats and disaffected Union men. Time alone can tell the result. My family moved into Knoxville on the 6th but I have not heard from Mother or Sarah since. I had a letter from Tom today stating the fact that Gov. Stone has got into trouble. His private Secretary has appropriated some 30 thousand dollars to his own use, investing the funds in property in this city. It is thought the governor and State will lose nothing, but the transaction will give a handle to the opposition and enemies of the Party and the governor. A committee of both houses have been investigating the fraud for weeks. It will soon be printed. This and several other questions before us create quite an excitement. I feel that a more retired life will suit me better than this noise and excitement. I will, however, soon be through. I will be glad to hear from you at your convenience. Address to Knoxville [Marion county, Iowa].

Affectionately your father, — Thomas McMillan