This letter was written by Calvin Anderson Mann (1833-1902) of Perryville, Perry county, Missouri, who was a Captain in the 5th Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War. He wrote the letter to his older brother, John Preston Mann (b. 1822) who served with him in the 5th Illinois Cavalry and, after mustering out of the regiment, began practicing law in Rockwood, Randolph county, Illinois. Calvin wrote this letter in March 1866 while in Washington D. C. during which time he was attempting to resolve some pay disputes he had with the War Department. While there, he stayed with his former friend and comrade, Thomas Henry Barnfield [see 1865-66: Thomas Henry Barnfield to John Preston Mann letters].

Calvin’s letter details his first impressions of Washington D.C. and his time at the US Capitol, where he watched senators debate the Civil Rights Act of 1866 after Congress failed to override the President’s veto of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. The Civil Rights Act aimed to declare that all people born in the U.S. (except American Indians) were citizens, granting them equal rights to contract, sue, and own property, and to counteract the “Black Codes” in some states. Meanwhile, in late February 1866, House Representatives were discussing the 14th Amendment. Mann’s letter reveals Republicans’ disappointment and sense of betrayal regarding President Andrew Johnson’s actions.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Washington City, D. C.
March 1, 1866

Mr. John P. Mann,

Dear brother, I am in this “metropolis of the nation.” I think my accounts with the Government are all settled and I expect to get my pay tomorrow.

I have “been to Congress” with [Thomas Henry] Barnfield once or twice. Judge [Lyman] Trumbull is a “trump.” I heard him take the starch out of Mr. [James H.] Lane of Kansas in a very few words. In fact, when Old Lyman looks up over his spectacles, you may expect to hear someone get a “satisfactory” explanation. [Charles] Sumner and [Benjamin] Wade look heavy but I have had but one good look at the former. When he gets up to speak, they all listen. [Garrett] Davis of Kentucky is an old fool of the Old Bob Moore stripe. I seen Mr. [Daniel] Clarke of New Hampshire call him to order four times in ten minutes. Dick [Richard] Yates looks a little “swelled” but never so drunk but what he can vote right.

[Benjamin Gratz] Brown of my state [Missouri] is an active rising man. His hair and whiskers are red enough to make a head light for a western steamboat. [Henry] Wilson of Massachusetts is [a] fine, fat, noble specimen of a “yank”—all right on the goose. [John] Sherman of Ohio favors the General [in appearance] and wants to heal the break between Congress & the President but in my opinion the ointment has not bee discovered that will do it. The fact is the President has gone back on us. I did think I would go to one of his levees but a good, loyal lady told me that they were so crowded with Democrats, Rebels, and pickpockets that I contented myself with walking through the grounds and trying to think of it as the Old Home of Washington and our dear old departed Lincoln.

The President’s Mansion is a superb marble building. The grounds are in the most perfect order at all times. Beautiful shade trees and evergreens are planted all through it and in fact, it is something that every true American must be proud of.

The Capitol Building is the largest, finest I ever beheld and the grounds surrounding are so much beautified that in walking round and through them you would almost feel that you was in paradise were it not that you are constantly meeting some conservative Democratic politician.

I have not yet visited the Smithsonian Institute but expect to do so tomorrow in company with my old devoted T[homas] H[enry] B[arnfield]. Tom seems to have a “fat thing” of it here. He has to copy two or three letters per day and the remainder of the time he can do as he pleases [and] is allowed to go anywhere inside of the District of Columbia.

I seen Mr. [Jehu] Baker. He is all right and very kind and if your district wants an earnest good loyal representative in Congress, keep “Jehu there.”

I will be at home soon. Yours, — C. A. Mann