Chapter Eleven.
VANDERBILT.
"To see a vessel handsomely launched, gives one a feeling akin to the enjoyment of a new poem," wrote a correspondent for the New York Times New York Times. "To stand close enough to feel the wind as she rushes past, especially if she is a magnificently large and beautiful boat, is like hearing the Odyssey Odyssey from the mouth of an expert reader-only at the launch all the thrill and the enthusiasm and enjoyment are compressed into a single brief minute." New York was a great shipbuilding center, so its residents knew that experience well; but they had never seen a launch like the one the reporter described. from the mouth of an expert reader-only at the launch all the thrill and the enthusiasm and enjoyment are compressed into a single brief minute." New York was a great shipbuilding center, so its residents knew that experience well; but they had never seen a launch like the one the reporter described.
As nine o'clock in the morning on December 10, 1855, thousands crowded the waterfront near the Simonson shipyard (which had relocated across the East River to Greenpoint early in the year). Some had come great distances to see the spectacle that was about to unfold; even the Brooklyn ferry paused on its crossing to afford its passengers a view. They cheered in the cold winter air as an immense hull slid down the enormous wooden stocks into the dark waters.
It was the largest steamship ever constructed. A "gigantic steamer," the Brooklyn Eagle Brooklyn Eagle called it; a "monster," said the called it; a "monster," said the Times; Times; a "leviathan of the deep," declared a "leviathan of the deep," declared Scientific American Scientific American. "Four tolerable sized tugs-two on each side-appeared beside her, like dog-fish beside a whale," and towed it to the dock where its hull would be coppered. Its statistics staggered the writers who reported them: with a length of 335 feet, a capacity of well over five thousand tons, and sidewheels of forty-two feet, it carried sixty tons of bolts and ninety-four of wrought-iron straps to bolster its massive wooden beams. Other Atlantic steamers had three decks, but this one had five, looming over every ship in the harbor. It was so enormous, so powerful, so threatening to its competitors, that its owner and builder named it after himself: he christened it the Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt.1 Of all of the Vanderbilt's Vanderbilt's eye-rubbing figures, perhaps the most telling was its cost. The Commodore had spent some $700,000 on its hull, and by the time he installed the plush sofas, carved rosewood, and titanic twin engines, he would pay out more than $900,000. This sum suggests that the Mercantile Agency sorely underestimated his wealth when it guessed that he was worth $5 million-for not even the risk-taking Commodore would have devoted almost 20 percent of his entire fortune to just one ship. eye-rubbing figures, perhaps the most telling was its cost. The Commodore had spent some $700,000 on its hull, and by the time he installed the plush sofas, carved rosewood, and titanic twin engines, he would pay out more than $900,000. This sum suggests that the Mercantile Agency sorely underestimated his wealth when it guessed that he was worth $5 million-for not even the risk-taking Commodore would have devoted almost 20 percent of his entire fortune to just one ship.2 But the great cost of the But the great cost of the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt does reveal his confidence. He constructed this ship to compete on the Atlantic; he was staking a huge sum on his ability to defeat the heavily subsidized Collins and Cunard lines. Then again, no one in the steamship business could calculate the costs, the risks, the profits as accurately as Vanderbilt. does reveal his confidence. He constructed this ship to compete on the Atlantic; he was staking a huge sum on his ability to defeat the heavily subsidized Collins and Cunard lines. Then again, no one in the steamship business could calculate the costs, the risks, the profits as accurately as Vanderbilt.
As 1855 drew to a close, his calculations had grown intricate and vast, as he plotted to take control of America's steamship traffic to Europe and California. Soon he would launch a fresh lobbying campaign in Washington to strip Collins of his mail contract and subsidy. In the California business, he polished his arrangements with Marshall Roberts and William Aspinwall to create a consolidated monopoly that encompassed Panama and Nicaragua. Vanderbilt went to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Marcy who endorsed their proposal to transfer the California mail contract on the Atlantic side to Accessory Transit after Vanderbilt took control and had consolidated it with the U.S. Mail Steamship Company.
Returning to New York, Vanderbilt continued to buy Transit shares, alongside Aspinwall and Roberts, until they controlled forty thousand-a majority of the total of 78,000. Charles Morgan could see his doom more clearly than anyone. On December 21, he resigned as director. Vanderbilt took his seat on the board, and planned to take over as agent after the new year. It seemed like he had accounted for everything.3 CHRISTMAS EVE GAVE VANDERBILT a rare gift: Joseph White on his figurative knees. At half past two in the afternoon, White burst into Vanderbilt's office (now at 5 Bowling Green) and begged for help. Not for the first time, the lawyer's mouth had gotten him into trouble. He had struck a deal with Parker H. French, William Walker's representative, to carry filibuster recruits to Nicaragua-as peaceful emigrants rather than armed soldiers, to avoid an infraction of the neutrality act, which barred private citizens from fighting against countries with which the nation was at peace. Each "emigrant" would count toward the company's debt to Nicaragua at a rate of $20 each. a rare gift: Joseph White on his figurative knees. At half past two in the afternoon, White burst into Vanderbilt's office (now at 5 Bowling Green) and begged for help. Not for the first time, the lawyer's mouth had gotten him into trouble. He had struck a deal with Parker H. French, William Walker's representative, to carry filibuster recruits to Nicaragua-as peaceful emigrants rather than armed soldiers, to avoid an infraction of the neutrality act, which barred private citizens from fighting against countries with which the nation was at peace. Each "emigrant" would count toward the company's debt to Nicaragua at a rate of $20 each.4 On this point, it is difficult to find fault, even with the slippery White, for Walker literally held the transit route hostage. Little did White-or even French-realize that Walker had decided to destroy the company instead. On this point, it is difficult to find fault, even with the slippery White, for Walker literally held the transit route hostage. Little did White-or even French-realize that Walker had decided to destroy the company instead.
White's dealings with the federal government were less defensible. Because of the Crampton affair-an attempt by the British minister to recruit American citizens to fight in the Crimean War-the administration now enforced the neutrality act to the fullest. Despite sympathy in the cabinet for Walker, President Pierce refused to recognize Walker's government, or French as the Nicaraguan minister, and issued orders to block the departure of filibuster reinforcements.5 U.S. Attorney John McKeon had written to White, asking him to prevent one hundred or so men whom French had recruited from boarding the Accessory Transit ship U.S. Attorney John McKeon had written to White, asking him to prevent one hundred or so men whom French had recruited from boarding the Accessory Transit ship Northern Light Northern Light. White had rebuffed him with words that stunned the cabinet. "The Transit Company is a corporate body, created by the law of Nicaragua," he had written. "We owe allegiance to the Government of Nicaragua." McKeon had then presented Pierce's order to hold the Northern Light in Northern Light in port. Arrogant as ever, White had snapped that he didn't "care a damn for the President of the United States, or his dispatches." In that case, McKeon had said, he would impound the ship. port. Arrogant as ever, White had snapped that he didn't "care a damn for the President of the United States, or his dispatches." In that case, McKeon had said, he would impound the ship.
And that brought White into Vanderbilt's office. Just two days before, the Commodore had returned to the Accessory Transit board of directors; though he had not yet assumed any management role, he clearly was taking control. In a state of panic, White presented his dilemma. If he was forced to stop the ship, he fretted, he would strand hundreds of paying passengers and damage the line's reputation. "No, you must not do any such thing," Vanderbilt replied. "Go down and ascertain the nature of the process exactly, and if I can assist you, I will."6 Mayhem reigned at the dock. A mob swarmed the ship and the pier-a mob of men who flocked to join Walker's forces in Nicaragua, a mob of desperate denizens of Five Points. Largely Irish and entirely poor, they reflected sweeping changes in the city over the past ten years, as it had filled with refugees from the potato famine. They came to New York because it had become the primary transportation hub of North America, thanks to geography, economic history, and the diligent efforts of Vanderbilt and other steamboat, steamship, and railroad entrepreneurs. Long gone was the Manhattan of unspecialized countinghouses and striving artisans that Vanderbilt had settled in during the War of 1812; in its place was rising a polarized island of the aristocratic and the laboring poor, who struggled to earn enough for tenement rent and to remit a few shillings back to Europe. French's promise of land, livestock, and wages in Nicaragua had brought them by the score to the Northern Light Northern Light. When McKeon went on deck to search for arms, a riot erupted; at one point, the ship set sail only to be intercepted by a revenue cutter and forced back. In the end, Vanderbilt dispatched Horace Clark to post a $100,000 bond for the steamer, and it was allowed to depart.7 To Vanderbilt, the sailing of the Northern Light Northern Light was a sign not of trouble, but of his ability to settle Accessory Transit's many difficulties. Starting on New Year's Day of 1856, he ticked through a number of steps to set everything right. He convinced his estranged son-in-law, Daniel Allen, to compromise his lawsuit, and advanced $70,000 to the company to meet a cash shortfall. On January 3, he took direct command as general agent. Two days later he finalized his monopoly-making agreement with Roberts and Aspinwall. Amid a howling blizzard that piled up snow in horse-high drifts in the streets, Vanderbilt left for Washington to press for the transfer of the mail contract to Accessory Transit. On his return to New York, he continued to buy shares. "The Commodore does not hesitate to predict that the stock will go as high, if not higher, than it was when he left it, say 32, and that it is worth much more," the was a sign not of trouble, but of his ability to settle Accessory Transit's many difficulties. Starting on New Year's Day of 1856, he ticked through a number of steps to set everything right. He convinced his estranged son-in-law, Daniel Allen, to compromise his lawsuit, and advanced $70,000 to the company to meet a cash shortfall. On January 3, he took direct command as general agent. Two days later he finalized his monopoly-making agreement with Roberts and Aspinwall. Amid a howling blizzard that piled up snow in horse-high drifts in the streets, Vanderbilt left for Washington to press for the transfer of the mail contract to Accessory Transit. On his return to New York, he continued to buy shares. "The Commodore does not hesitate to predict that the stock will go as high, if not higher, than it was when he left it, say 32, and that it is worth much more," the New York Tribune New York Tribune reported. Morgan had been short-selling it, but Vanderbilt's bull campaign now forced him to cover his sales contracts at a loss. reported. Morgan had been short-selling it, but Vanderbilt's bull campaign now forced him to cover his sales contracts at a loss.8 An intense cold followed the snowstorm. Horse-drawn omnibuses (their wheels replaced by sleigh runners) slid through the streets almost empty of passengers as temperatures plunged to two degrees below zero. But Vanderbilt thrived. On January 30, he assumed the company's presidency. He promptly sent a letter to U.S. Attorney McKeon, promising to prevent filibusters from going to Nicaragua. (He was sincere; though he inherited the agreement to carry "emigrants" at $20 each, the best-informed supporters of Walker believed him to be an intractable foe of the filibusters from the beginning.) And he renewed his appeal to Congress for the California mail contract.9 What Vanderbilt did not know was that William Garrison had arrived from Nicaragua in the middle of the month; that he had informed Morgan of the deal with Randolph and Walker; and that Morgan had agreed to join in a new line. Vanderbilt did not know either that, on February 18, President Rivas obediently revoked the Accessory Transit charter and granted the rights to Randolph; and that a copy of the decree was rushed to Morgan by a private messenger, who reached New York a little over a week later. Vanderbilt had walked into a gigantic trap.10 STARTING IN FEBRUARY, Charles Morgan began to act very strangely. He was never a man to repeat a failed strategy, yet again he began to short-sell Accessory Transit stock. He sold it for as little as 21, on terms that gave him up to four months to make delivery. Vanderbilt took every share that Morgan offered. The financial columns of the press found Morgan's strategy mystifying. "As the length of the Commodore's purse is proverbial," wrote the New York Tribune New York Tribune, "the result of such a contest can scarcely be doubted." Vanderbilt carried the share price back up over 23, but Morgan redoubled his campaign, selling ten thousand shares short on March 4 alone. He seemed to have gone insane. Vanderbilt's ring reportedly controlled 68,000 out of a total of 78,000 shares. Morgan, it seemed, had cornered himself.11 Early on the morning of Thursday, March 13, news reached New York that Walker had revoked Accessory Transit's corporate charter, seized its property within Nicaragua, and granted the transit rights to Randolph. It was rumored that a new line would be established by Garrison and Morgan. "The telegraphic despatches from New Orleans fell upon Wall Street like a bombshell," the New York Herald New York Herald reported. Walker's "coup d'etat," the reported. Walker's "coup d'etat," the New York Times New York Times observed, "has created a greater excitement in Wall Street, among stock jobbers, than any event of the past ten years." Everyone rushed to sell, instantly knocking the share price down by a third. At the head of the swarm that scurried off the ship was Joseph White. He had received a private telegram with the news that same morning, and had rushed out to find his broker. "White sold out about $100,000 of his Transit stock the instant he received news," the observed, "has created a greater excitement in Wall Street, among stock jobbers, than any event of the past ten years." Everyone rushed to sell, instantly knocking the share price down by a third. At the head of the swarm that scurried off the ship was Joseph White. He had received a private telegram with the news that same morning, and had rushed out to find his broker. "White sold out about $100,000 of his Transit stock the instant he received news," the Times Times reported. reported.12 Vanderbilt faced the gravest crisis of his life to date. No catastrophe-not the great fires of 1835 or 1845, not the Panic of 1837, not the Schuyler fraud-had been so sudden, so deliberate, so thoroughly beyond his control. And yet, he did not sell out. What distinguished him in the moment of crisis was his self-command; characteristically, he prepared a counterattack on multiple fronts. He began with a trip to Washington. He met with Secretary of State Marcy and urged the administration to intervene in Nicaragua to "sustain the rights of American citizens." He wrote a letter to Marcy for public consumption, refuting Walker's pretext, taken from Randolph, for annulling the Accessory Transit charter. He sent a similar letter to Senator John M. Clayton, the former secretary of state, who took to the Senate floor to denounce Walker and his high-handed acts.13 Despite Vanderbilt's personal lobbying, the administration chose to do nothing. In some respects, its inaction is difficult to understand. This was a national crisis: a private American citizen had seized control of a foreign country, attacked a major corporation, and temporarily shut down a strategically vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. But the cabinet was frozen by its divisions. Like so many other Southerners, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis supported Walker, hoping to increase the territory open to slavery. But even antifilibuster cabinet members refused to help Vanderbilt, because they suspected Accessory Transit of having assisted Walker. Most important, White's insolence remained "fresh in the minds of all," according to the New York Times New York Times. White had claimed that the company owed allegiance only to Nicaragua, the administration grumbled-so let it appeal to Nicaragua.14 Stymied in the capital, Vanderbilt embarked on what can only be called an independent foreign policy. In the months ahead, his negotiations with foreign powers and deployment of secret agents abroad would prove far weightier than the acts of the federal government.
First, the Accessory Transit board voted on March 17 to give him "full powers to conduct all such negotiations and do such acts as in his judgment might be necessary." Next, he announced the closing of this route to California. "THE NICARAGUA LINE IS WITHDRAWN FOR THE PRESENT," he wrote. "I do not consider passengers or the property of American citizens safe on the transit of the Isthmus." Then he went to see Aspinwall and Roberts. In place of their foiled plan for a monopoly, they reached a new agreement: as long as the Nicaragua route remained closed, Pacific Mail and U.S. Mail would pay Accessory Transit $40,000 a month to lay up its ships and forgo competition via Panama. The contract was strictly oral. It would spark outrage when it emerged, but it was in many ways merely an alteration of their existing plans.15 Most important, Vanderbilt opened talks with the republics neighboring Nicaragua. Alarmed by Walker's success-and the threat of further filibustering-they concluded to oust the usurper. Costa Rica's pro-British president, Juan Rafael Mora, proved particularly determined to overthrow Walker. Vanderbilt agreed to cooperate.
Now he had to save and recover the company's property. Save Save would be the operative word for the moment. Walker had seized only the boats and other material within Nicaragua's borders, but the steamships remained vulnerable. Vanderbilt had withdrawn the Atlantic steamers, but he still had to protect those on the Pacific. He ordered son-in-law James Cross to sail immediately for San Francisco to take them out of harm's way. He also sent engineer Hosea Birdsall to Greytown with orders to take possession of the steamboats on the San Juan River-a potentially decisive blow would be the operative word for the moment. Walker had seized only the boats and other material within Nicaragua's borders, but the steamships remained vulnerable. Vanderbilt had withdrawn the Atlantic steamers, but he still had to protect those on the Pacific. He ordered son-in-law James Cross to sail immediately for San Francisco to take them out of harm's way. He also sent engineer Hosea Birdsall to Greytown with orders to take possession of the steamboats on the San Juan River-a potentially decisive blow16 For the moment, the fate of Vanderbilt's company rested in the hands of his two agents. They sailed off to war, armed only with their wits.
SOMEWHERE OFF THE WESTERN COAST of Central America, sometime near the end of March, James Cross intercepted the Accessory Transit ship of Central America, sometime near the end of March, James Cross intercepted the Accessory Transit ship Cortez Cortez as it steamed south toward Nicaragua. He hailed it from the deck of a Pacific Mail steamer heading north from Panama, and transferred over in a small boat. Once on board, he presented his orders to its commander, Captain Collins. He was to land his passengers at Panama, not San Juan del Sur, to prevent Walker from capturing the as it steamed south toward Nicaragua. He hailed it from the deck of a Pacific Mail steamer heading north from Panama, and transferred over in a small boat. Once on board, he presented his orders to its commander, Captain Collins. He was to land his passengers at Panama, not San Juan del Sur, to prevent Walker from capturing the Cortez Cortez.
The trouble was, Cross and Collins still felt obliged to stop at San Juan del Sur. They probably needed to refuel, as the port was the company's only regular coaling station south of San Francisco. Cross also wanted to take that coal out of Walker's reach, for it was highly valuable in this remote region. And William Garrison was aboard the Cortez Cortez, returning to Nicaragua after reporting to his father; Cross did not want to awaken his suspicions. The trick would be to remove the coal without losing the ship.
On April 1, the 220-foot paddlewheeler nosed into the little horseshoe harbor. Captain Collins ordered the pilot to drop anchor near the two sailboats that held the coal. Garrison rowed to shore, where a hundred or so filibuster troops waited. From the other direction came a boat with four of Walker's officers. They boarded the Cortez Cortez and announced that they had come to seize the ship. Collins graciously escorted them down to his cabin, where Cross waited with a luxurious meal and "an unlimited supply of champagne," according to the and announced that they had come to seize the ship. Collins graciously escorted them down to his cabin, where Cross waited with a luxurious meal and "an unlimited supply of champagne," according to the New York Express New York Express. The filibusters popped cork after cork, believing that they were waiting for the passengers to land. As they drank with Cross, Collins ordered lines attached to the two coal hulks. The Cortez Cortez drifted silently out to sea with the ebb tide, its two consorts in tow. Once clear of the bay, the steam engines rumbled to life, and the drunken filibusters learned that they were trapped. The drifted silently out to sea with the ebb tide, its two consorts in tow. Once clear of the bay, the steam engines rumbled to life, and the drunken filibusters learned that they were trapped. The Cortez Cortez sailed to Panama, where Cross arranged for the passengers to complete their journey to New York in a U.S. Mail steamship on the Atlantic. sailed to Panama, where Cross arranged for the passengers to complete their journey to New York in a U.S. Mail steamship on the Atlantic.17 Cross's coup infuriated Walker. Costa Rica had just declared war on his regime, and he had counted on recruits from among the Cortez's Cortez's passengers. William Garrison admitted that Cross had taken him by surprise, and that his father might not be ready to start the new line for another six weeks-a long time to wait for reinforcements. passengers. William Garrison admitted that Cross had taken him by surprise, and that his father might not be ready to start the new line for another six weeks-a long time to wait for reinforcements.18 Cross steamed north in the Cortez Cortez, intercepting the Uncle Sam Uncle Sam on the way and diverting it to Panama. In San Francisco, he delivered a letter from Vanderbilt to Cornelius Garrison. Vanderbilt offered to let Garrison continue as the San Francisco agent for Accessory Transit, "on the condition that neither Mr. Garrison nor any of his family should have anything to do with any other steamships running in a line between New York and San Francisco," Cross reported. Vanderbilt's attempt to co-opt Garrison was cunning. It remained unclear whether the rumors of Garrison's betrayal were true; the offer was meant to prevent his defection or force him to reveal himself. on the way and diverting it to Panama. In San Francisco, he delivered a letter from Vanderbilt to Cornelius Garrison. Vanderbilt offered to let Garrison continue as the San Francisco agent for Accessory Transit, "on the condition that neither Mr. Garrison nor any of his family should have anything to do with any other steamships running in a line between New York and San Francisco," Cross reported. Vanderbilt's attempt to co-opt Garrison was cunning. It remained unclear whether the rumors of Garrison's betrayal were true; the offer was meant to prevent his defection or force him to reveal himself.
Garrison's reply was equally shrewd. "He freely and without any reservation accepted the offer," Cross said, "and seemed to feel-and so expressed himself-very grateful for a continuance of the confidence which Mr. Vanderbilt placed in him when he first took the agency of the company in San Francisco." Thus Garrison bought time to put his new line into operation.
Before Cross returned home, he heard warnings about Garrison. "I was repeatedly cautioned by my friends in that city not to place too much reliance upon Mr. Garrison's professions," he wrote. "Yet... I left San Francisco with the fullest possible assurances from him that he was and would remain faithful to the company."19 DESPITE GARRISON'S SUBTERFUGE, Cross succeeded in his mission. Hosea Birdsall did not. Even worse, by carrying out the Commodore's orders he nearly embroiled the United States and Great Britain in war.
Birdsall arrived at Greytown on the night of April 16 aboard the Orizaba Orizaba, the first Atlantic steamship in Morgan's new Nicaragua line. As the passengers transferred to a riverboat, Birdsall rowed over to Punta Arenas to see the Accessory Transit agent, whom Walker had left in charge of the company's property. The agent was a burly fifty-one-year-old engineer who stood six feet tall and wore an iron-gray beard. His name was Joseph N. Scott. Birdsall had every reason to expect Scott's cooperation. In 1821 Vanderbilt had hired Scott as a deckhand on the Bellona Bellona, and had taught him the ways of steam engines over the succeeding decades. But when Birdsall demanded control of the machine shops, coal, and steamboats, he refused to give them up. Scott had a personal agenda. Years before, he had advanced nearly $20,000 of his own money to purchase a lake steamboat, La Virgen La Virgen, for Accessory Transit; despite his repeated pleas, the company's management had never reimbursed him. Scott had no love for Walker, whose men had threatened to shoot him more than once; but, he told Birdsall, if he wasn't repaid he would never give up the property.20 Scott's recalcitrance would prove decisive for Nicaragua, its neighbors, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Had he complied with Birdsall's order, Garrison and Morgan would have been unable to conduct the transit between the Atlantic and the Pacific. They never would have started a new line, cutting off Walker from any reinforcements.
But Vanderbilt had given Birdsall a means of hurdling this unexpected obstacle. Through talks with Costa Rican diplomats, the Commodore knew that Nicaragua's neighbors were planning to invade. So he had handed Birdsall a letter (over the signature of outgoing Accessory Transit president Thomas Lord), authorizing him to ask for help from the Royal Navy, should the filibusters attack Punta Arenas. "You are authorized to ask for the assistance of the commander of any man of war of her Britannic Majesty's Navy in the port," it read. "The object of the Transit Company is to prevent accessions of filibusters to Walker's force, pending his hostilities with Costa Rica, and to effect this purpose no pains must be spared, no effort left untried." The letter shows how well Vanderbilt had analyzed Walker's vulnerabilities, and how explicitly he had allied himself with Costa Rica. "Unless our boats are seized by the filibusters," it continued, "they cannot get into the interior-and without large accessions Walker must fail, and Costa Rica be saved."
Remembering these instructions, Birdsall rowed out to a British sloop-of-war, the HMS Eurydice Eurydice, anchored nearby. At his urging, its captain, John W. Tarleton, boarded the Orizaba Orizaba, stopped the unloading of passengers, and reviewed the waybook, which listed the passengers' destinations. He could identify no filibusters and refused to intervene. Birdsall had failed.21 For all of Tarleton's diffidence, the affair became an international incident. When it emerged that Vanderbilt had asked the Royal Navy to interfere with an American vessel, the New York Times New York Times called it "almost too incredible for belief." The outrage went to the top. At the time, President Pierce and Secretary of State Marcy were seriously contemplating war with Britain over the Crampton affair. The called it "almost too incredible for belief." The outrage went to the top. At the time, President Pierce and Secretary of State Marcy were seriously contemplating war with Britain over the Crampton affair. The Orizaba Orizaba incident, coming amid this crisis, embarrassed and angered them. "The President and Secretary," the incident, coming amid this crisis, embarrassed and angered them. "The President and Secretary," the Times Times wrote, "are much incensed at this conduct of Vanderbilt & White." wrote, "are much incensed at this conduct of Vanderbilt & White."22 To make matters worse, Pierce had just recognized Walker's government. It was U.S. policy to recognize the de facto government of any state, he declared; and Nicaragua did have a native president, Patricio Rivas. But politics played a role. A presidential election loomed in the fall, and Pierce wished to be renominated by the largely pro-Walker Democratic Party. He would never side with Vanderbilt.23 The aftermath of Birdsall's mission underscored the near impossibility of Vanderbilt's position. He found himself at the center of competing interests, perfectly aligned so that his every action offended every party. Federal officials found it almost impossible to differentiate between legitimate emigrants and volunteers for Walker's army, but they condemned Vanderbilt for the same inability If the company had declined French's terms for carrying those "emigrants," Walker would have revoked the corporate charter; but when Walker revoked it anyway, the federal government refused to intervene.24 Denied U.S. protection, Vanderbilt appealed to the British, only to be blamed for that act as well. The Commodore had learned early on in life that he had to protect his own on his own. Now that lesson was pounded painfully deep. Even in far-off Central America, Vanderbilt could rely on no one but himself. Denied U.S. protection, Vanderbilt appealed to the British, only to be blamed for that act as well. The Commodore had learned early on in life that he had to protect his own on his own. Now that lesson was pounded painfully deep. Even in far-off Central America, Vanderbilt could rely on no one but himself.
IT WAS A YEAR OF REVOLUTION, insurrection, and mayhem.
On April 15, as the hapless passengers of the Cortez Cortez waited in Panama for a train across the isthmus, one of them got into a fight with a Panamanian outside a hotel. The quarrel sparked an explosion of rage and frustration among the native population at the U.S. presence. A mob of hundreds-including many policemen-attacked American citizens wherever they could, forcing them to take refuge in the Panama Railroad depot. U.S. consul Thomas Ward estimated that the rioters killed fifteen and wounded fifty. waited in Panama for a train across the isthmus, one of them got into a fight with a Panamanian outside a hotel. The quarrel sparked an explosion of rage and frustration among the native population at the U.S. presence. A mob of hundreds-including many policemen-attacked American citizens wherever they could, forcing them to take refuge in the Panama Railroad depot. U.S. consul Thomas Ward estimated that the rioters killed fifteen and wounded fifty.25 In Nicaragua, Walker launched a revolution against a revolution against his revolution. President Rivas, long his quiescent puppet, suddenly declared Walker "an enemy of Nicaragua" and fled to the protection of an antifilibuster alliance consisting of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. With Rivas's support, the allied army marched over the northern border and advanced on Leon. Walker responded with a rigged election for the presidency at the end of June. He won by a landslide.26 Bloodshed wracked the United States as well, as tensions over the extension of slavery boiled over in the Kansas Territory, where rival militias of free-soil jayhawkers battled pro-slavery border ruffians from Missouri. On May 21, 1856, David Rice Atchison-recently a U.S. senator from Missouri-led eight hundred of those ruffians in the looting of Lawrence, the jayhawker capital. On May 24, John Brown and his sons murdered five pro-slavery settlers. A low-level civil war broke out, eventually costing two hundred lives.27 And then there was San Francisco. In the few years since the gold rush began, the city's government had fallen under the control of David C. Broderick, a Democratic Party boss. He ruled through fraudulent votes, rampant corruption, and such enforcers as Yankee Sullivan, who (like many of Broderick's men) had relocated from New York. But the city's merchants had grown unhappy as municipal graft and debt damaged their own credit in the East. On May 14, after one of Broderick's men gunned down a crusading newspaper editor, the city's exasperated businessmen revived the Committee of Vigilance. They targeted Broderick's organization, hanging two of his men and banishing twenty-eight more in short order. Broderick escaped, but Yankee Sullivan hanged himself in his cell on June 1, shortly after his arrest.28 Cornelius Garrison thought that this was an excellent moment to leave town. He almost certainly had been elected to his term as mayor with the support of the Democratic machine, and he was not exactly a champion of reform. On June 21, after a political operative named Walter L. Chrysler attempted to blackmail him, Garrison departed for New York-just as the vigilance committee took full power.29 In July, all the leading players in the Nicaraguan transit drama, except Walker, had gathered in New York: Garrison, Morgan, Vanderbilt, and Randolph. Now came the ultimate absurdity in this theater of the absurd. On arriving from Nicaragua, Randolph tried to sell his transit grant twice. First, on July 16, he and Garrison agreed on a price: $10,000 in cash, 50 cents per passenger, and a 2.5 percent commission on nonspecie freight. (The steamboats and other property in Nicaragua, held by the state, would be paid for with credits for carrying filibuster reinforcements.) Ten days later, Randolph brazenly offered Vanderbilt the same same transit contract, in return for various fees that amounted to $300,000. The transit contract, in return for various fees that amounted to $300,000. The New York Tribune New York Tribune aptly characterized Vanderbilt's reaction: "Give three hundred thousand dollars cash for a grant which Walker might find plenty of pretexts for revoking the next day, just as he had revoked the former one!" aptly characterized Vanderbilt's reaction: "Give three hundred thousand dollars cash for a grant which Walker might find plenty of pretexts for revoking the next day, just as he had revoked the former one!"
Rebuffed by Vanderbilt, Randolph fell back on his original plan. Morgan agreed to take the Atlantic half of the transit contract, formalizing the arrangements already in operation. Walker approved all of Randolph's actions; as he wrote on August 20, "The transit business is well settled at last." But Vanderbilt had not yet begun to fight.30 IT WAS A YEAR FOR WILLPOWER. In 1856, the sixty-two-year-old Commodore had to muster all of his famous force of mind to master the crisis-or crises crises, for the Accessory Transit Company represented only one of his many operations. In 1853, for example, he and Marshall Roberts had purchased the Vallecillo silver mine in Mexico, originally discovered by the Spanish but abandoned after Mexican independence. They had put to work a corps of men to reopen it, and in 1856 it produced silver again-at least $1,000 worth per day, with expenses of only $50 per day31 Vanderbilt needed such resources in this year of trouble and strife. On March 23, one of his oldest and most valuable allies, Nelson Robinson, fell dead as he left church. The stock exchange closed early the next day in his honor, and Daniel Drew served as executor of his estate.32 Vanderbilt also suffered a setback in court in his fight to force the New Haven Railroad to acknowledge his "spurious" stock. And lawsuits against the Accessory Transit Company by empty-handed creditors multiplied. The Commodore took extreme measures to keep the company alive. He corresponded with Marcy and Pierce; he bought up $ 118,000 of the company's unpaid bonds (at ninety cents on the dollar); and he expended more than $400,000 of his own money to cover company expenditures. Vanderbilt also suffered a setback in court in his fight to force the New Haven Railroad to acknowledge his "spurious" stock. And lawsuits against the Accessory Transit Company by empty-handed creditors multiplied. The Commodore took extreme measures to keep the company alive. He corresponded with Marcy and Pierce; he bought up $ 118,000 of the company's unpaid bonds (at ninety cents on the dollar); and he expended more than $400,000 of his own money to cover company expenditures.33 Now president, Vanderbilt drove White off the Accessory Transit board and brought in his son-in-law Cross, ally Frank Work, and various other trusted men. Now president, Vanderbilt drove White off the Accessory Transit board and brought in his son-in-law Cross, ally Frank Work, and various other trusted men.
Troubles mounted. In June, after Garrison finally put his new Nicaragua transit line into operation, Pacific Mail halted its monthly $40,000 subsidy, refusing to pay for a monopoly that no longer existed. Then the U.S. marshal seized the Accessory Transit steamships in San Francisco for alleged indebtedness, forcing Vanderbilt to dispatch an agent to untangle that distant mess. He began to take personal ownership of the steamships as repayment for his advances, rather than let them fall into the hands of other creditors (which would have made them unavailable should he restart the line).34 Remarkably, even in the midst of the Accessory Transit imbroglio Vanderbilt pursued his campaign against the Collins Line on the Atlantic. There, too, he faced enormous obstacles-none larger than the Adriatic Adriatic, launched by Collins on April 7. It was the biggest ship ever built, nineteen feet and eight hundred tons greater than the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt, though late design changes would keep it out of service for over a year. As the New York Times New York Times wrote, it was "at once a source of pride and mortification." wrote, it was "at once a source of pride and mortification."35 By contrast, Vanderbilt gave almost daily attention to his namesake ship as cranes at the Allaire Works lowered into the hull the twin engines, each 2,500 horsepower, and four boilers weighing sixty-two tons apiece. By contrast, Vanderbilt gave almost daily attention to his namesake ship as cranes at the Allaire Works lowered into the hull the twin engines, each 2,500 horsepower, and four boilers weighing sixty-two tons apiece.
Late in July, the Commodore and several members of his family boarded his new steamship and set sail from New York. Despite the enormous size and power of the engines, "the one thing that struck us most strongly was the complete absence of all vibratory jarring jarring," one observer wrote-a testimony to expert construction. "Twenty-four firemen, 18 coal-heavers, 4 engineers, and 3 water-tenders minister to her capacity for the production of steam," the New York Times New York Times reported, "while 8 cooks, 34 waiters, 3 porters, and an efficient steward" tended to the needs of its passengers. Apart from the family, the reported, "while 8 cooks, 34 waiters, 3 porters, and an efficient steward" tended to the needs of its passengers. Apart from the family, the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt carried no passengers, but it probably had its full compliment of cooks and waiters-for this was a lobbying trip. carried no passengers, but it probably had its full compliment of cooks and waiters-for this was a lobbying trip.
On July 22, the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt dropped anchor off Greenleaf Point, where the Anacostia River poured into the Potomac. The next day, William H. Seward stood on the floor of the Senate and invited his colleagues to inspect the ship, to judge whether they should give the Commodore the European mail contract. "Immense crowds visited her," the dropped anchor off Greenleaf Point, where the Anacostia River poured into the Potomac. The next day, William H. Seward stood on the floor of the Senate and invited his colleagues to inspect the ship, to judge whether they should give the Commodore the European mail contract. "Immense crowds visited her," the Times Times reported. Vanderbilt welcomed aboard representatives and senators, as well as President Pierce and his cabinet, who "were treated to a sumptuous entertainment on board." The ship steamed home on July 27 to receive its finishing touches; the Commodore remained behind to press his advantage with Congress. reported. Vanderbilt welcomed aboard representatives and senators, as well as President Pierce and his cabinet, who "were treated to a sumptuous entertainment on board." The ship steamed home on July 27 to receive its finishing touches; the Commodore remained behind to press his advantage with Congress.
The ship made a suitable impression. Congress was growing uneasy over the subsidy for the Collins Line, which failed to float the required number of ships. Collins alienated even his own lobbyists. "I am coming there in season to help defeat defeat Collins this year," wrote former House clerk Benjamin B. French. In August, Congress gave Collins notice that in six months it would roll back the subsidy increase it had previously granted. It was far from a complete victory for Vanderbilt, but it was progress. Collins this year," wrote former House clerk Benjamin B. French. In August, Congress gave Collins notice that in six months it would roll back the subsidy increase it had previously granted. It was far from a complete victory for Vanderbilt, but it was progress.36 BACK IN 1841, Captain William Comstock had observed that Vanderbilt wielded every possible weapon when in combat, that he strove for any possible advantage. This was never more true than in 1856. The war over the Nicaragua transit was proving more complicated, more perplexing, than any he ever had fought or would fight-even more than the struggle that had culminated in Gibbons v. Ogden Gibbons v. Ogden. Cross had failed to prevent Garrison's defection; Birdsall had failed to forestall Morgan's start of the line; and Washington had refused his appeals for help. Indeed, this was far more than a metaphorical war, but a real war of guns and bullets, and it was not going well. Vanderbilt's Costa Rican allies had invaded, occupied the city of Rivas, and defeated another of Walker's frontal assaults on April 11, only to fall victim to a cholera outbreak that forced them to retreat.37 But the Commodore planned counterattacks on both the international level and the personal. But the Commodore planned counterattacks on both the international level and the personal.
On September 4, Garrison found himself under arrest. He was still in New York, where Accessory Transit filed a suit against him "for alleged frauds... amounting to over five hundred thousand" dollars (according to the Chicago Tribune) Chicago Tribune), committed when he was the company's San Francisco agent. In the evening, after he posted the bail of $150,000, Garrison went to 10 Washington Place, where he tried to employ his wiles against the Commodore.
"He insinuated that if I would participate with him and Charles Morgan... [in] the Walker grant... we could make a good business of it, to the exclusion of the Transit Company," Vanderbilt reported. "My reply was, that my action in this matter had been wholly for the benefit of the Transit Company and its stockholders, and nothing could induce me to swerve from that course. At this he recoiled, and observed that he did not mean to make any insinuations of the kind." Vanderbilt's choice of words says everything about his reaction to this proposition. To him, the word insinuate insinuate distinguished the talk of a crooked businessman from a "smart" but honest one. "I then told him he must clear up his character as regarded his conduct towards the company," he wrote, "and when done, then I would be willing to refer his accounts to arbitration." distinguished the talk of a crooked businessman from a "smart" but honest one. "I then told him he must clear up his character as regarded his conduct towards the company," he wrote, "and when done, then I would be willing to refer his accounts to arbitration."38 Vanderbilt's reponse deserves notice, for he has been misunderstood by historians and contemporaries alike as an amoral creature, ready to seize the main chance under all circumstances. "His over-reaching disposition makes people shy of him," R. G. Dun & Co. noted four years later. Undoubtedly he possessed immense personal force, and pursued his personal interests more aggressively than anyone; but he lived by a code, and despised those who did not. As president of Accessory Transit, he held a position of trust, and he drew heavily on his personal resources to fulfill his responsibilities. In his own mind, at least, he was ever a man of honor.39 What is surprising is that so few others understood that. Everyone, it seems, tried to make Vanderbilt buy what had been stolen from him-even a friend of his, Domingo de Goicouria.* The fifty-one-year-old Goicouria belonged to a community of Cuban exiles in New York who plotted to free the island from Spanish rule. He had supplied Walker with Cuban independence fighters; in return, Walker named him minister to Great Britain, and ordered him to raise money in New Orleans on his way to London. Goicouria went to New York instead, where he discovered that Vanderbilt's enmity had frightened the city's merchants away from any connection with Walker. So Goicouria tried to convince the Commodore himself to buy the transit back-only to learn that Randolph had sold it to Garrison, much to Goicouria's outrage. The fifty-one-year-old Goicouria belonged to a community of Cuban exiles in New York who plotted to free the island from Spanish rule. He had supplied Walker with Cuban independence fighters; in return, Walker named him minister to Great Britain, and ordered him to raise money in New Orleans on his way to London. Goicouria went to New York instead, where he discovered that Vanderbilt's enmity had frightened the city's merchants away from any connection with Walker. So Goicouria tried to convince the Commodore himself to buy the transit back-only to learn that Randolph had sold it to Garrison, much to Goicouria's outrage.40 Walker completed the alienation of Goicouria on September 22, when he reinstituted slavery in a blatant attempt to gain money and recruits from the Southern states. The antislavery Goicouria retaliated by publishing Walker's letters in the New York Herald New York Herald. They staggered Walker's supporters, who had always believed that Nicaragua would be absorbed by the United States; now they learned that Walker hoped to forestall forestall annexation, not only of Nicaragua but of Cuba as well. "Oh, no! that fine country is not fit for those barbarous Yankees," he wrote of Cuba. "What would such a psalm singing set do in the island?" annexation, not only of Nicaragua but of Cuba as well. "Oh, no! that fine country is not fit for those barbarous Yankees," he wrote of Cuba. "What would such a psalm singing set do in the island?"41 The revelations also estranged the Pierce administration. Already it had withdrawn its recognition, after Walker named himself president; now the letters eliminated any chance it would reverse course. All this was good news for Vanderbilt. But Walker continued to attract significant support. A famous British soldier of fortune, Charles Henningsen, went to fight for him; Morgan sent artillery and ammunition by sailing ships, which the authorities did not inspect; and hundreds of recruits, many now from the South, still flocked to Nicaragua. But the Commodore had one more weapon to wield, one designed to turn the course of the war itself42 Throughout the autumn of 1856, this drama played out in newspaper headlines and closed-door cabinet debates, in speeches on the Senate floor and noisy rallies. The nation's attention was simply riveted on Walker. But the public did not see Vanderbilt, as he secretly crafted a strategy to bring Walker down. It did not see Vanderbilt, as he quietly met with Costa Rican diplomat Luis Molina. It did not see Vanderbilt, as he quietly interviewed a tall, lean, sharp-chinned young man in a Panama hat, Sylvanus Spencer. It did not see Vanderbilt, as he quietly wrote instructions for Spencer, as he quietly dispatched him on a steamship to Central America in October.
On October 15, the public got one quick glimpse of what went on in Vanderbilt's office. He testified in a lawsuit, one of the many against the Accessory Transit Company, and he spoke of his efforts to restore the corporation to possession of its property and its rights in Nicaragua. "I have corresponded with the Secretary of State and the President on the subject. The correspondence has continued till within the last two weeks, and is still in progress," he said. "I think the property will come out right for the stockholders.... I have had but one opinion on the subject. I am devoting my own means to bring the matter out right."43 IT IS A REMARKABLE FACT that the only foreign conflict involving the United States during the fifty years between the Mexican and the Spanish-American wars was fought by a private army of American civilians. True, they claimed that they were the army of Nicaragua and that Walker was president of that republic; but the charade fooled no one. Indeed, this foreign interloper accomplished a feat that had eluded the victors of countless civil wars: he reconciled Nicaragua's Liberal and Conservative parties, when Tomas Martinez arranged for a unity government under Rivas to fight the filibusters. Their combined forces won their first victory at San Jacinto hill, where they captured and hung Byron Cole-the man who had first convinced Walker to go to Nicaragua. that the only foreign conflict involving the United States during the fifty years between the Mexican and the Spanish-American wars was fought by a private army of American civilians. True, they claimed that they were the army of Nicaragua and that Walker was president of that republic; but the charade fooled no one. Indeed, this foreign interloper accomplished a feat that had eluded the victors of countless civil wars: he reconciled Nicaragua's Liberal and Conservative parties, when Tomas Martinez arranged for a unity government under Rivas to fight the filibusters. Their combined forces won their first victory at San Jacinto hill, where they captured and hung Byron Cole-the man who had first convinced Walker to go to Nicaragua.
In many ways, Walker had been fighting for survival from the moment he executed General Corral. But in the summer of 1856 his situation grew more desperate. The allied army of some eight hundred Salvadorans, six hundred Hondurans, and five hundred Guatemalans had seized Leon on July 12, the very day that Walker declared himself president. There the advance halted as the allies squabbled.44 Walker's own army consisted of the duped, the drunk, and the depraved. The troops lacked blankets, disease ran rampant, wages were nonexistent. Men who finished their terms of service were forced to remain. "Walker even posted sentries at the gangplanks of departing steamers to cut off the possibility of escape," writes historian Robert E. May45 Walker's survival rested on one thing: a steady influx of fresh cannon fodder. Walker's survival rested on one thing: a steady influx of fresh cannon fodder.
In November, the Costa Ricans launched a second invasion in the south. This Walker saw as the paramount danger, since it threatened his access to reinforcements. As he later wrote, "It was all-important to keep the Transit clear." On November 18, he decided to abandon Granada and fortify Rivas, which dominated the transit road.46 He left behind a force under Charles Henningsen with orders to destroy the city When the destruction began, the allies stopped dithering and attacked; close-range fighting raged in the streets for two weeks as the filibusters pillaged and burned. Walker finally returned with a steamboat, landed a relief force, and evacuated the embattled garrison. "Granada has ceased to exist," Henningsen reported. On leaving the smoking metropolis, he erected a sign that read, He left behind a force under Charles Henningsen with orders to destroy the city When the destruction began, the allies stopped dithering and attacked; close-range fighting raged in the streets for two weeks as the filibusters pillaged and burned. Walker finally returned with a steamboat, landed a relief force, and evacuated the embattled garrison. "Granada has ceased to exist," Henningsen reported. On leaving the smoking metropolis, he erected a sign that read, "Aqui fue Granada" "Aqui fue Granada"-"Here was Granada."47 By December 20, Walker had concentrated the bulk of his army at Rivas and garrisoned key points along the transit route: Virgin Bay, San Carlos, Castillo Viejo, and Hipp's Point, where the Sarapiqui River flowed into the San Juan. When he looked over his situation, he felt reassured. True, he had abandoned the northern provinces, but cholera had driven out an invading army once before. Most important, he was expecting large contingents of fresh troops, due at Greytown at any moment. "Walker, keeping his forces concentrated keeping his forces concentrated, can maintain himself in Rivas," reported a U.S. naval officer who visited his encampment. "I have no hesitation in saying that if the external aids he has hitherto relied upon do not fail him, he will repel his enemies."
The key, of course, was the "external aids," the filibuster recruits. On January 2, 1857, the steamboat San Carlos San Carlos departed Virgin Bay, carrying passengers for New York; Walker expected it or departed Virgin Bay, carrying passengers for New York; Walker expected it or La Virgen La Virgen to return with his reinforcements from the east. "In a few days," Walker wrote, "uneasiness was felt on account of the non-arrival of the steamers from the river." There were any number of reasons why the boat might be late, he told himself, as he waited, and waited, and began to dread. to return with his reinforcements from the east. "In a few days," Walker wrote, "uneasiness was felt on account of the non-arrival of the steamers from the river." There were any number of reasons why the boat might be late, he told himself, as he waited, and waited, and began to dread.48 THE MAN WHO MADE WALKER WAIT was Sylvanus Spencer, acting on Vanderbilt's orders. was Sylvanus Spencer, acting on Vanderbilt's orders.
Spencer was a man adrift on the tide of fortune. Orphaned when very young, he was taken in by a family in a tough part of New York's Thirteenth Ward. The New York Times New York Times would write, "His boyhood is presumed to have been a hard one-at least he came out of it a very hard boy." He went to sea early on and rose rapidly in the often brutal society of sailors. As mate, he frequently punched recalcitrant subordinates. He talked freely and often, in a bit of a Yankee accent, as he strode the deck in his customary dark clothes and Panama hat. would write, "His boyhood is presumed to have been a hard one-at least he came out of it a very hard boy." He went to sea early on and rose rapidly in the often brutal society of sailors. As mate, he frequently punched recalcitrant subordinates. He talked freely and often, in a bit of a Yankee accent, as he strode the deck in his customary dark clothes and Panama hat.
The tide that carried Spencer toward Vanderbilt began to rise back on April 25, 1855, at the very moment when Walker was preparing to embark on his invasion of Nicaragua. On that day, the square-rigged Sea Witch Sea Witch sailed out of New York Harbor. It belonged to Howland & Aspinwall, the mercantile house of William Aspinwall, and was bound for Hong Kong "to take a cargo of coolies for Panama," the press reported. Its captain, by the name of Frazier, commanded a crew of twenty-three, and Spencer served as first mate. Once at sea, Frazier abused his mate, picking petty quarrels, giving demeaning orders, and belittling him in front of the men. On June 4, Spencer snapped. "By God, I took more from you this morning at the breakfast table than I ever did from any other man," he shouted. "If I continue the voyage in this ship, or if you do not send me on shore out of this ship, either you or me will have to die." The next morning, Spencer announced to the crew that he had found Captain Frazier bludgeoned to death in his bunk. sailed out of New York Harbor. It belonged to Howland & Aspinwall, the mercantile house of William Aspinwall, and was bound for Hong Kong "to take a cargo of coolies for Panama," the press reported. Its captain, by the name of Frazier, commanded a crew of twenty-three, and Spencer served as first mate. Once at sea, Frazier abused his mate, picking petty quarrels, giving demeaning orders, and belittling him in front of the men. On June 4, Spencer snapped. "By God, I took more from you this morning at the breakfast table than I ever did from any other man," he shouted. "If I continue the voyage in this ship, or if you do not send me on shore out of this ship, either you or me will have to die." The next morning, Spencer announced to the crew that he had found Captain Frazier bludgeoned to death in his bunk.
On December 19, 1855, Spencer stood trial for murder in the U.S. District Court in New York. The jury found him not guilty because no one had witnessed the crime.49 But the incident seems to have made other ship captains reluctant to hire him, so he drifted to Greytown, Nicaragua. "He asked me if I had any employment for him," Joseph N. Scott recalled. "He told me he was a sailor and would turn his hand to anything." First Spencer labored as a stevedore; then Scott made him the mate on one of the river steamboats, the But the incident seems to have made other ship captains reluctant to hire him, so he drifted to Greytown, Nicaragua. "He asked me if I had any employment for him," Joseph N. Scott recalled. "He told me he was a sailor and would turn his hand to anything." First Spencer labored as a stevedore; then Scott made him the mate on one of the river steamboats, the Machuca Machuca. As such, he learned the river and Transit Company operations well. After four months in Nicaragua, Spencer returned to New York.50 At some point in 1856, he went to see Cornelius Vanderbilt. Spencer would later claim that he did so because he had inherited Accessory Transit stock from an uncle, but he may simply have been swimming with fortune's current. The Commodore would say nothing about their talk, but his calculations upon meeting Spencer are all too clear. His strategic assessment of Walker's situation had not changed, despite the failure of Birdsall's mission. If he could seize the steamboats on the San Juan River, he would block reinforcements from the Atlantic side. That also would stop passengers from crossing the isthmus, forcing Morgan and Garrison to withdraw their steamers (as they were not running a charity). He would, with one stroke, cut Walker off on both oceans. In Spencer, he found precisely the man for the mission. He was physically tough, accustomed to command, and, most important, intimately familiar with the terrain, the fortifications, and the steamboat operations. So Vanderbilt placed all his hopes-the fate of millions of dollars, of a critical channel of commerce to California, of a war involving six nations-in the hands of an acquitted murderer.51 On October 9, 1856, Spencer departed New York for Costa Rica. He carried an agreement that Vanderbilt had made with Luis Molina, the Costa Rican charge d'affaires in the United States. In San Jose, Spencer met with President Juan Rafael Mora and explained the plan that Vanderbilt had drafted-and how it would benefit them both. The Commodore would get his property back, and Mora would cripple Walker's army. Mora was no fool; such a plan had occurred to him before. But Spencer offered two things the Costa Ricans lacked: a detailed knowledge of the Transit operations, and $40,000 from Vanderbilt to pay expenses.52 Mora agreed to give Spencer some Costa Rican soldiers to carry out the mission; if he succeeded, General Jose Joaquin Mora, the president's brother, would follow with 1,100 men. If he failed, it would cost Mora little. Mora agreed to give Spencer some Costa Rican soldiers to carry out the mission; if he succeeded, General Jose Joaquin Mora, the president's brother, would follow with 1,100 men. If he failed, it would cost Mora little.
Spencer marched north out of San Jose with a work detachment, crossing the mountains to the headwaters of the San Carlos River, which flowed northeast into the San Juan. He and his carpenters felled trees and lashed together several large rafts to carry his detachment. On December 3, President Mora formally placed 250 troops under the command of "Captain S. M. Spencer," writing that they were "under your orders to carry out the military operations as you will think proper."53 On December 16, Spencer ordered his men into the rafts. They pushed out into the stream, drifting down under the rain-forest canopy that rose some two hundred feet above them, through heavy rain and dense humidity Finally the current carried them into the wide San Juan. On the morning of December 22, he ordered them to pull the rafts into the mouth of a creek near the location of his first target: the filibuster fort at Hipp's Point. Hearing a steamboat churning upstream, he told everyone to lie down flat and be still. The boat chuffed up to their hiding spot, then continued on its way.
Spencer led his men through the forest to the rear of the fort. A Costa Rican scout shimmied up a tree, and scooted back down to report. He saw forty to fifty men, with two cannons-more than enough to defeat an attack, if the Costa Ricans lost the element of surprise. Silently the troops filed into position and crept up behind the unsuspecting filibusters. Spencer drew his revolver to fire the shot that would launch the assault.54 THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS may well be the quiet ones, the private ones. On November 26, for example, Corneil finally did something right in his father's eyes by marrying Ellen Williams of Hartford, Connecticut. It remains unclear how they met, but the Commodore heartily approved of "our dear Ellen," as he called her, and showed genuine warmth for her family. He and Sophia attended the wedding in the Hartford home of Ellen's father, Oliver E. Williams. may well be the quiet ones, the private ones. On November 26, for example, Corneil finally did something right in his father's eyes by marrying Ellen Williams of Hartford, Connecticut. It remains unclear how they met, but the Commodore heartily approved of "our dear Ellen," as he called her, and showed genuine warmth for her family. He and Sophia attended the wedding in the Hartford home of Ellen's father, Oliver E. Williams.55 Vanderbilt's existence was divided into public and private, the carefully concealed and the loudly promoted. In November, Texas newspapers announced that he had formed a steamboat-and-railroad line from New Orleans to Galveston in competition with Morgan's most lucrative business. On December 10, Vanderbilt went to Washington to attend the opening of the new Congress. "Railroad and steamboat robbers crowd the lobbies," the New York Times New York Times wrote. The House postal committee duly reported a bill to grant him the Atlantic mail contract. "A provision of this contract is that, in the event of this line not making as quick time as the Cunard steamships, $1,000 shall be deducted for every twelve hours' deficiency," the wrote. The House postal committee duly reported a bill to grant him the Atlantic mail contract. "A provision of this contract is that, in the event of this line not making as quick time as the Cunard steamships, $1,000 shall be deducted for every twelve hours' deficiency," the Times Times noted. noted.56 Some of the Commodore's secrets were meant to go public. On Christmas Eve he wrote a letter to the stockholders of the Accessory Transit Company to prepare them for an impending revelation. He noted that the Prometheus Prometheus had been attached in one of the many lawsuits and auctioned off that very day, and that he had bought it for the bargain price of $10,011. But he purchased it in their interest, to be ready to reopen the line at a moment's notice. "Present appearances indicate a realization of my hopes," he wrote, "that the company will be speedily restored to their rights." had been attached in one of the many lawsuits and auctioned off that very day, and that he had bought it for the bargain price of $10,011. But he purchased it in their interest, to be ready to reopen the line at a moment's notice. "Present appearances indicate a realization of my hopes," he wrote, "that the company will be speedily restored to their rights."57 THE CRACK OF SPENCER'S GUNSHOT echoed through the rain forest, sending the Costa Ricans surging forward with fixed bayonets. Panic swept the filibusters. They had posted no sentries, never imagining an attack from the rear. The Costa Ricans speared them and shot them as they scrambled over the breastworks and slid down the riverbank. Perhaps half a dozen escaped alive. Spencer detailed a platoon of thirty or forty troops to hold the works; then he and the rest returned to the rafts. echoed through the rain forest, sending the Costa Ricans surging forward with fixed bayonets. Panic swept the filibusters. They had posted no sentries, never imagining an attack from the rear. The Costa Ricans speared them and shot them as they scrambled over the breastworks and slid down the riverbank. Perhaps half a dozen escaped alive. Spencer detailed a platoon of thirty or forty troops to hold the works; then he and the rest returned to the rafts.
At around two o'clock in the morning on December 24, Spencer and his men drifted into Greytown harbor. Silently they boarded four Accessory Transit steamboats anchored in front of the company buildings, and crept onto Punta Arenas. "At daylight an alarm was sounded at Punta Arenas... that the Costa Ricans were there," recalled Joseph Scott. "All the hands were called together to defend ourselves.... We organized into a company, with firearms, to retake the boats."
Though outnumbered ten to one, the iron-bearded Scott organized a counterattack, only to be interrupted by Captain John E. Erskine, commander of a squadron of British warships in the harbor. Erskine announced that he would not tolerate any violence on either side-thereby confirming Spencer's possession of the steamboats-though he did convince the Costa Ricans to evacuate the point.58 After the troops returned to the steamboats, Spencer strolled into Scott's office. It was almost exactly a year since he had first set foot there, begging for work. Now he commanded an armed force that was changing the course of the war. "I asked him what he was going to do with the steamers," Scott reported. "He said he meant to take them up the river.... [He said] I could do no further harm with them, meaning that I couldn't carry any more filibusters up the river."59 Spencer ordered the little fleet to put on steam and head up the river. At the mouth of the San Carlos, he directed the smallest boat to turn into the tributary and notify General Mora of their success. Then Spencer used his knowledge of transit operations to bloodlessly capture the remaining steamboats and Castillo Viejo, one by one, giving the standard signals until he was close enough to surprise the crews and garrison with his Costa Rican detachment. But one target promised to be more difficult: the heavily fortified battery at San Carlos, where the San Juan River met Lake Nicaragua. After Spencer seized La Virgen La Virgen, he loaded it with troops and ordered its engineer, William Wise, to put on all steam for San Carlos. Wise recalled that he nervously remarked that he would rather be put ashore in the wilderness than "risk his life in front of the heavy cannon stationed at the fort. To this Spencer replied that it was useless for [Wise] to talk, that he must get up steam and go up the river."60 On December 30, Spencer stopped the boat just below San Carlos and detailed a detachment of sixty troops. He ordered them to sneak behind the fort, approach as closely as possible, and wait for a signal. He planned to trick the garrison, but if he failed they were to launch an attack. The men rowed to shore in boats, and La Virgen La Virgen continued to San Carlos. Spencer piloted the steamboat to its usual anchorage and gave the customary blast from the whistle. The fort answered in kind. A boat rowed out with a few filibusters and the garrison's commander, Captain Kruger, to pick up mail. continued to San Carlos. Spencer piloted the steamboat to its usual anchorage and gave the customary blast from the whistle. The fort answered in kind. A boat rowed out with a few filibusters and the garrison's commander, Captain Kruger, to pick up mail.
As Captain Kruger's men tied up their boat alongside La Virgen La Virgen, Spencer leaned over the rail. "Is that you, Kruger?" he asked.
"Yes," came the reply.
"Come on board," Spencer said.
Kruger followed him to the top deck, "and was immediately surrounded by Costa Rican officers," he later reported, "who had been lying down flat on deck, concealed from view. Mr. Spencer then told me that he had taken all of the steamers and was in command of all the river." Spencer declared that he had seized the boats in the name of Commodore Vanderbilt, and he demanded the surrender of the fort. Kruger balked, but the steamboat crew told him about the Costa Rican force hidden in the trees. "Mr. Spencer told me (when I hestitated) that the innocent blood of my men would fall on my head, as we would certainly be put to death by the Costa Ricans," Kruger recalled. "I concluded to surrender."61 Spencer's coup was almost complete. Mora's army arrived on December 31, whereupon Spencer and a detachment of troops boarded a small riverboat to go find the San Carlos San Carlos, the largest and last uncaptured lake steamer. On January 3, the two boats encountered each other on the upper reaches of the San Juan River. The result was a repeat of his previous encounters: Spencer gave the correct signals, the boats came alongside, and the Costa Rican soldiers rose from hiding, rifles ready. The San Carlos's San Carlos's captain surrendered without a fight. Spencer went aboard and read aloud a proclamation from President Mora, promising safe passage to the passengers. He also tacked up a notice. "Gentlemen: Do not be deceived or induced to enter into any combination to take this boat out of my possession. I am amply prepared for any emergency that may arise. Keep quiet, behave as gentlemen should, and I pledge you my sacred word and honor to see you safe through to Greytown." The Costa Ricans posted a guard in the main saloon, behind a barricade of piled-up trunks and baggage. captain surrendered without a fight. Spencer went aboard and read aloud a proclamation from President Mora, promising safe passage to the passengers. He also tacked up a notice. "Gentlemen: Do not be deceived or induced to enter into any combination to take this boat out of my possession. I am amply prepared for any emergency that may arise. Keep quiet, behave as gentlemen should, and I pledge you my sacred word and honor to see you safe through to Greytown." The Costa Ricans posted a guard in the main saloon, behind a barricade of piled-up trunks and baggage.
Spencer had carried out Vanderbilt's plan with exceptional skill and courage. Apart from the brutal storming of Hipp's Point, he had used speed and guile to achieve a sweeping-and bloodless-victory. As the San Carlos San Carlos steamed down the river, Charles Morgan's son-in-law, Israel Harris, came forward. "We had you once, now you have us," he said to Spencer. "We are even." steamed down the river, Charles Morgan's son-in-law, Israel Harris, came forward. "We had you once, now you have us," he said to Spencer. "We are even."62 * The modern spelling is "Goicuria," but this book will follow historic sources, both English and Spanish. The modern spelling is "Goicuria," but this book will follow historic sources, both English and Spanish.
Chapter Twelve.
CHAMPION.
"This famous pretended experiment for the spread of Anglo-Saxon enterprise and civilization at the point of a bayonet," declared the New York Tribune New York Tribune, "and for introducing free institutions into Central America through the medium of a military despotism, has ended in blood, murder, rapine." With these words, Horace Greeley succinctly described William Walker's reign in Nicaragua. But it had not ended quite yet. On January 27, 1857, the day this editorial appeared, the final siege of Rivas began.1 After Spencer's capture of the steamers and forts on the San Juan River, General Mora loaded most of his troops onto the steamboats and crossed Lake Nicaragua, where he joined the allied army encircling the filibuster stronghold. Walker would receive no reinforcements or supplies from the Atlantic-or from the Pacific, because Garrison diverted his ships to Panama as soon as he learned of Spencer's exploits.2 February, March, April-the siege of Rivas ground on. Finally an American naval officer, Lieutenant Charles H. Davis, intervened. He shuttled between the two camps and negotiated an agreement. On May 1, Walker surrendered to Davis, who conducted the filibusters through the allied lines. Walker departed Nicaragua. February, March, April-the siege of Rivas ground on. Finally an American naval officer, Lieutenant Charles H. Davis, intervened. He shuttled between the two camps and negotiated an agreement. On May 1, Walker surrendered to Davis, who conducted the filibusters through the allied lines. Walker departed Nicaragua.3 "The most disastrous blunder of Walker," observed the New York Herald New York Herald, "was his coup d'etat coup d'etat against 'the house of Vanderbilt.'" The Commodore's role in Spencer's mission was suspected by the press as soon as the first reports reached New York in January. Then again, the newspapers imagined that the steamship tycoons were behind everything from the start. Ignoring evidence that Walker, Randolph, and the Central Americans had driven events, they called the conflict the "war of the commodores." They even claimed, mistakenly, that George Law intrigued for the Nicaragua route. (The most he did was to sell rifles to Parker French.) In Spencer's case, however, the press was correct. The filibusters themselves stressed Vanderbilt's importance. "Walker owes his defeat not to the natives of Central America, but to his own countrymen," one wrote in 1859, "and had it not been for the malice or revenge of Vanderbilt, he might have reigned in Nicaragua at this day" against 'the house of Vanderbilt.'" The Commodore's role in Spencer's mission was suspected by the press as soon as the first reports reached New York in January. Then again, the newspapers imagined that the steamship tycoons were behind everything from the start. Ignoring evidence that Walker, Randolph, and the Central Americans had driven events, they called the conflict the "war of the commodores." They even claimed, mistakenly, that George Law intrigued for the Nicaragua route. (The most he did was to sell rifles to Parker French.) In Spencer's case, however, the press was correct. The filibusters themselves stressed Vanderbilt's importance. "Walker owes his defeat not to the natives of Central America, but to his own countrymen," one wrote in 1859, "and had it not been for the malice or revenge of Vanderbilt, he might have reigned in Nicaragua at this day"4 The filibusters based their entire movement on contempt for Spanish-speaking peoples, so they naturally underplayed the role of the "natives" in the war. In fact, the isthmian republics had fought hard and paid dearly. One British diplomat estimated that the war cost the lives of forty thousand Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans. The Central American soldiers who survived filibuster gunfire and outbreaks of cholera carried disease home, causing epidemics. The war bankrupted Costa Rica (despite Vanderbilt's aid), which prompted murmurs of dissent against President Mora. But the greatest suffering was inflicted on Nicaragua, where one city embodied the death and destruction that Walker had strewed about him. "Granada... presents, with her demolished houses and masses of ruined citizens, a consummate picture of misery and distress," wrote a correspondent for the New York Herald New York Herald. "Walker, in burning and in the destruction of Granada, has earned a notoriety which for ages to come the historian will chronicle with infamy and horror."5 And yet, it cannot be denied that Vanderbilt played a decisive role in Walker's downfall. He had found the filibuster's weak point, crafted the plan to strike it, selected the agent to carry out the operation, and paid its costs. The Central Americans likely would have won in the long run without his help-but with it, they won in the short run. "Mr. Vanderbilt... has shown the ablest generalship," the London Times Times observed. "Walker's most formidable enemy has conducted the campaign from New York." observed. "Walker's most formidable enemy has conducted the campaign from New York."6 He exacted revenge on Garrison and Morgan as well. Even before Spencer struck, Morgan had complained of the "large expenditures made to organize a line." Morgan was so close-mouthed that it is difficult to know how much he had at stake; as the Mercantile Agency noted, with regard to the Morgan Iron Works, "The extent of their means is a family secret a family secret with Morgan." But once the line collapsed, he could no longer conceal his need for cash. In April, he mortgaged his iron works for $317,500. In 1859, clerk Benjamin Voorhees testified that Morgan and Garrison "suffered a loss of about $300,000. I have been so assured by [Garrison] and from my own knowledge of his affairs. I believe it absolutely true." This was a staggering figure-as large as the entire estates of many of New York's richest men. And Morgan continued to bleed as Vanderbilt competed against his Gulf Coast line, slashing fares by up to 90 percent. with Morgan." But once the line collapsed, he could no longer conceal his need for cash. In April, he mortgaged his iron works for $317,500. In 1859, clerk Benjamin Voorhees testified that Morgan and Garrison "suffered a loss of about $300,000. I have been so assured by [Garrison] and from my own knowledge of his affairs. I believe it absolutely true." This was a staggering figure-as large as the entire estates of many of New York's richest men. And Morgan continued to bleed as Vanderbilt competed against his Gulf Coast line, slashing fares by up to 90 percent.7 Vanderbilt had wrought his revenge by guiding the military operations of a sovereign nation, at a cost of dozens of lives, through the instrument of a murderer on a jungle river a continent away from 10 Washington Place. His blow had captured international attention, alerting enemies present and future to just how far he would go to punish betrayal. But revenge didn't pay the servants. As Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly asked, just before the filibusters surrendered, "When we have got rid of Walker, what next?" asked, just before the filibusters surrendered, "When we have got rid of Walker, what next?"8 ONE FRIGID EVENING IN JANUARY, Vanderbilt, his brother Jacob, and a third man boarded a rowboat in the Hudson River at Hoboken, New Jersey. It may not have been in January of 1857-it may have been 1856 or 1855 or 1854-but what is certain is that the third man circulated the story of what happened that night. They were returning to New York from a corporate board meeting in New Jersey. It was late, and Vanderbilt did not want to wait for a ferry. So he hired the craft and took a seat in the stern as two boatmen pulled on the oars. They rowed into a dense mat of slush. It was rapidly getting darker and colder. The slush was hardening. A chunk of ice floating with the current plowed through and cracked dangerously against the side of the boat.
"The Commodore had from the first sat quiet," reported Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly in 1859, "and his companions, who looked to him as their leader, had followed his example. At length he sprang up. 'Boys,' said he, cheerily, 'this won't do. Give me an oar! Now you two,' he added, addressing his brother and one of his friends, 'take those oars and row'" At first the boatmen refused to give up control of the boat. Vanderbilt glared at them and said, in a low voice, "You keep out of my way, or you'll maybe come to grief." Standing upright in the bitter cold, balancing on the gunwales, he plunged his oar in the water to serve as a rudder and guided the craft through the bombardment of ice floes until finally they docked, sometime around midnight. "One of the parties who shared the Commodore's society on that evening," in 1859, "and his companions, who looked to him as their leader, had followed his example. At length he sprang up. 'Boys,' said he, cheerily, 'this won't do. Give me an oar! Now you two,' he added, addressing his brother and one of his friends, 'take those oars and row'" At first the boatmen refused to give up control of the boat. Vanderbilt glared at them and said, in a low voice, "You keep out of my way, or you'll maybe come to grief." Standing upright in the bitter cold, balancing on the gunwales, he plunged his oar in the water to serve as a rudder and guided the craft through the bombardment of ice floes until finally they docked, sometime around midnight. "One of the parties who shared the Commodore's society on that evening," Harper's Harper's wrote, "has been heard to declare that he grew ten years older in the five or six hours they spent in the boat." wrote, "has been heard to declare that he grew ten years older in the five or six hours they spent in the boat."9 Cornelius Vanderbilt remained a powerful physical presence, even in his sixties, as he prowled the city, straight and tall, his cravat around his neck, a cigar swiveling around in his mouth, wearing an air of profound confidence even in crises that threatened his survival. A mastery of physical danger can breed character, or it can breed a bully; it seems to have done a bit of both in the former boatman. It certainly made him a man whom contemporaries found striking. "One's first impression of Vanderbilt is that he is a man of steel," one writer observed, fifteen years later. "There is a steely glint in his grayish-blue eyes that reinforces the impression."10 Character, judgment, self-possession-these rose in Vanderbilt's values as he gained eminence. More than that, he began to reveal strands of warmth and humanity in his soul; even strangers now remarked on "his extreme courtesy." Such strands were gently pulled into view by Ellen Williams Vanderbilt, Corneil's wife. On February 12, 1857, for example, Vanderbilt did something very unusual: he wrote a letter in his own hand, to the Williams family in Hartford. His fondness for them, especially for his daughter-in-law, overflowed the page. He had sent a letter to "our Dear Ellen," he said, by a messenger "who promised to deliver it with his own hand.... I am in hopes to spend an evening with you shortly when we can talk over matters & things. Please give my best regards to all the ladies. Tell Ellen to send her notes along. I like to read them."
But these threads of warmth were wound around the steel core of a demanding father. The impetus for this letter came from his frustration with his son. "I this moment received a long letter from Cornelius in which he complains of Mr. Bond," he wrote, "for something he dun on my account. All this looks like one of Cornelius visions Cornelius visions." This tantalizing choice of words hints that Vanderbilt still doubted his son's sanity, even after he had won his release from an asylum. The Commodore asserted that Mr. Bond felt great affection for the Williams family, "& if he did not he could not be a friend of mine for a moment. I think these few line should be all sufficient," he added. "They air for the purpose of your correcting Cornl as his judgemint seams not to be mature upon all points. A great fault of his is to take disputes without sufficient cause."11 This letter offers a flash of insight into Vanderbilt's own late-maturing notion of fatherhood. He flared with scorn for his son, yet also demonstrated genuine concern. He wanted to correct the troubled lad, to teach him judgment, coolness, character.
Soon after this note, the Commodore presented Corneil and Ellen with a "fine mansion," together with an orchard, vineyard, garden, and hay-field, on a ridge overlooking Hartford. "There are few country seats in the land possessing equal attractions," the Hartford Courant Hartford Courant observed. "The rooms are uncommonly spacious.... The view of the city, of Hartford Rocky Hill, and of the valleys on both sides of the ridge is charming." observed. "The rooms are uncommonly spacious.... The view of the city, of Hartford Rocky Hill, and of the valleys on both sides of the ridge is charming."12 The Commodore still shook his head over Corneil, but he made sure that Ellen would live in comfort. In fact, he gave the estate not to his son, but to his daughter-in-law, whom he trusted more than his own flesh and blood. The Commodore still shook his head over Corneil, but he made sure that Ellen would live in comfort. In fact, he gave the estate not to his son, but to his daughter-in-law, whom he trusted more than his own flesh and blood.
ON MARCH 9, 1857, the New York Tribune New York Tribune announced the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case. " announced the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case. "THE TRIUMPH OF SLAVERY COMPLETE," declared one of its many headlines. The enslaved Scott had sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had resided in the free Wisconsin territory; Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled against him. Negroes, he wrote, "had no rights which a white man was bound to respect." What shocked the majority of the Northern public was not the blatant racism, but the implication that free states had no power to bar slavery within their borders.13 What Vanderbilt thought of the decision-or if he thought of it at all-is unknown. But his efforts to reopen the Nicaragua transit route would become entangled with the worsening sectional crisis, thanks in large part to two men: his son-in-law and advisor, Horace Clark, and the new president, James Buchanan. Just a few weeks shy of his sixty-sixth birthday, Buchanan was tall and portly, a deft Democratic politician who had leaped from the House to the Senate to posts as minister to Russia, secretary of state, and minister to Great Britain, winning the wry nickname "Old Public Functionary." From beginning to end, his presidency would be defined by slavery. In the election of 1856, the new Republican Party had captured the northernmost tier of states on the pledge to stop its expansion; Buchanan had won only with the support of a nearly solid South. No one knew it better than the president, who sought to appease Dixie at every step.14 Yet the "irrepressible conflict" hardly monopolized Buchanan's attention. The great question for any new administration was patronage-the doling out of federal offices to create a network that would support both the party and the president personally. The most lucrative and nearly the most powerful position he had to fill was the collector of the port of New York. When Buchanan turned to the city's Democratic Party for a candidate, though, he found it divided between the adherents and opponents of Mayor Fernando Wood. The ambitious Wood relied on the support of the infamous Dead Rabbits gang of Five Points, whom he richly rewarded. When a gang leader, Fatty Welsh, was shot in his bar at 7 Mulberry Street, for example, the New York Herald New York Herald revealed that "he holds the office of Inspector of Manure, at a salary of $3 per day." revealed that "he holds the office of Inspector of Manure, at a salary of $3 per day."
Wood assumed that he would control all federal patronage in the city but Buchanan loathed him. So the president chose as collector one of Wood's opponents: Augustus Schell, a man with small, round glasses, a professorial air, and swarms of greasy hair that dripped down the sides of his otherwise bald head. An even-tempered native of Rhinebeck, New York-and brother of stockbroker Richard Schell-he lived a quiet bachelor life as a lawyer in Manhattan. He served as chairman of Tammany Hall and (like the Old Public Functionary himself) valued party loyalty above all else. He had another advantage: the vocal support of his law partner, close friend, and political ally, a newly elected Democratic congressman named Horace F. Clark.15 The fact that Clark was Vanderbilt's son-in-law may have mattered a great deal to Buchanan. Like every president since Polk, he believed that the United States had no greater strategic imperative than securing the Central American transit routes to California. "To the United States these routes are of incalculable importance as a means of communication between their Atlantic and Pacific possessions," he declared in his first annual message to Congress. A solid Jacksonian, he wished to restore competition with Panama. As he later wrote, reopening the Nicaragua route "is an object the accomplishment of which I have much at heart."16 As Walker's downfall played out in the siege of Rivas, a serious question arose: Who owned the transit rights-the transit steamboats and property, and even the geographical route? Costa Rica and Nicaragua both claimed the San Juan River, but after the war Costa Rica remained in possession of it, along with the steamers Spencer had seized. Vanderbilt's final struggle to reopen the transit would center on this simple but weighty question of ownership.
He even had to fight for the Accessory Transit property within the United States. As a major creditor of the bankrupt company, he forced the sale of its steamships to himself and his family, including son-in-law Daniel Torrance and son Billy, who remained a farmer on Staten Island. Vanderbilt was accused of stripping the corporation of its assets, but he argued that he was pursuing the stockholders' interests; if other creditors forced the sale of the ships at auction, they would be unavailable to restart the line. At the annual meeting on May 5, 1857, he assured the stockholders "of his design to re-establish the company and save the property," the New York Herald New York Herald reported. "He expressed a confident belief that everything would work out in the most satisfactory way, and advised that no one should part with a share of stock." reported. "He expressed a confident belief that everything would work out in the most satisfactory way, and advised that no one should part with a share of stock."17 In his fight for the transit route and property in Nicaragua, Vanderbilt faced two opponents, one old, one new. The new adversary was an Englishman named W. R. C. Webster. Webster had met the talkative Spencer in Costa Rica, and drew out of him the details of his mission with the skill of a practiced confidence artist. Webster then passed himself off as Vanderbilt's agent. Vanderbilt repudiated his every act, but Webster fooled President Mora, convincing him of the riches the transit could bring.
On May 6, Vanderbilt sent Spencer back to Central America with written orders. "You will proceed to Nicaragua, and to Costa Rica, if necessary, in the name and behalf of the Accessory Transit Company," he wrote, "and... take possession of the steamboats and all other property." When Spencer met Mora in San Jose on June 5, the president refused to cooperate. "He thought it was better that said steamers and other properties should remain in the possession of the Costa Rican Government until they could consummate some arrangement with the... company in relation to the Transit," Spencer reported.18 Once again, Vanderbilt had been betrayed. Faced with the staggering expense of the war, Mora had been swayed by Webster's talk of Yankee gold into holding the steamboats and transit route hostage. Once again, Vanderbilt had been betrayed. Faced with the staggering expense of the war, Mora had been swayed by Webster's talk of Yankee gold into holding the steamboats and transit route hostage.
Vanderbilt's other adversary would prove even more troublesome. He was Joseph White, the one consistent villain in the Nicaragua tale. Every time Vanderbilt drove him out, he found a way back to preen and pronounce with consummate arrogance. As the New York Times New York Times sarcastically wrote, "Great is the Transit Company, and White is its prophet!" sarcastically wrote, "Great is the Transit Company, and White is its prophet!"19 Now that he was truly locked out of Accessory Transit, he revived the dormant American Atlantic & Pacific Canal Company, drawing in the well-respected Henry G. Stebbins (a past and future president of the New York stock exchange) to serve as financier and president. Then he negotiated for a transit grant with Antonio Yrisarri, Now that he was truly locked out of Accessory Transit, he revived the dormant American Atlantic & Pacific Canal Company, drawing in the well-respected Henry G. Stebbins (a past and future president of the New York stock exchange) to serve as financier and president. Then he negotiated for a transit grant with Antonio Yrisarri,* newly designated as Nicaragua's minister to the United States. On June 19, they agreed to a contract; Yrisarri, it was rumored, received a large gift of stock in return. The document went off to Nicaragua for ratification. newly designated as Nicaragua's minister to the United States. On June 19, they agreed to a contract; Yrisarri, it was rumored, received a large gift of stock in return. The document went off to Nicaragua for ratification.20 On one side, Vanderbilt was pressed by President Buchanan to reopen the Nicaragua route; on the other, he was obstructed by the conniving of confidence men and Central American authorities. Still the Commodore believed he would win out. What he did not count on was the most unpredictable factor of all: William Walker. For all the strategic interests of the United States and isthmian republics, for all the calculations of Vanderbilt and his enemies, Walker's megalomania would rule the day.
THE WAR VANDERBILT WAGED in Nicaragua made him feared on Wall Street, but did not garner him esteem. The merchants of New York were a provincial group in their own way; despite their sway over the national economy, they knew and respected best those businesses located in Manhattan, amid their homes and offices. In early 1857, the Commodore attended to two vast operations rooted in New York, operations that reflected his rising status and would raise it still higher. in Nicaragua made him feared on Wall Street, but did not garner him esteem. The merchants of New York were a provincial group in their own way; despite their sway over the national economy, they knew and respected best those businesses located in Manhattan, amid their homes and offices. In early 1857, the Commodore attended to two vast operations rooted in New York, operations that reflected his rising status and would raise it still higher.
First was his transatlantic line. He had laid up his European steamships for the winter, when weather was especially rough and passengers few. But his competitors began to disappear as well. Collins withdrew his company's steamships for April, claiming that the reduced subsidy of $19,000 per month to carry the mail to Liverpool was insufficient. And the Ocean Steam Navigation Company, the mail line to Bremen, trembled on the brink of failure under the Commodore's pressure.21 He prepared to start the year's operations with his enormous, luxurious Vanderbilt Vanderbilt. On April 27, he threw the ship open to the public, and it "was thronged throughout the day by ladies and gentlemen," according to the New York Times New York Times. On May 5, the great five-deck sidewheeler departed on its maiden voyage, carrying $445,000 in gold and 212 passengers, including Sophia Vanderbilt on her way to Paris. The Vanderbilt Vanderbilt reached England in the fastest first crossing of any ship to date. "While the new steam frigate reached England in the fastest first crossing of any ship to date. "While the new steam frigate Niagara Niagara is eighteen days crawling from New-York to Liverpool, the new passenger steamer is eighteen days crawling from New-York to Liverpool, the new passenger steamer Vanderbilt Vanderbilt skims over in nine," said the skims over in nine," said the Albany Evening Journal Albany Evening Journal. "The Niagara Niagara is the 'crack sailer of the Navy!'" is the 'crack sailer of the Navy!'"22 "The verdict from all competent judges is, that the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt is bound to win the prize of Atlantic ocean popularity," the is bound to win the prize of Atlantic ocean popularity," the Hartford Courant Hartford Courant reported. The London reported. The London Times Times wrote, "Great interest was excited in commercial circles on account of the size and power of this vessel, and the rapid passage she recently made from New York.... She is in many respects the finest steamship we have ever seen." wrote, "Great interest was excited in commercial circles on account of the size and power of this vessel, and the rapid passage she recently made from New York.... She is in many respects the finest steamship we have ever seen."23 It regularly beat its fastest rivals, Collins's It regularly beat its fastest rivals, Collins's Atlantic Atlantic and the Cunard steamship and the Cunard steamship Persia Persia. After its reputation for speed and luxury had been established, Vanderbilt slashed fares-and made a point of departing on the same day as the Collins Line. When the Le Havre and Bremen postal contract expired on June 1, Vanderbilt agreed to carry the continental mail for the postage alone. The Ocean Steam Navigation Company soon went bankrupt. As for the Collins Line, "The result is a very serious curtailment," the New York Times New York Times concluded, "and unless their ships also reduce the price of passage it must inevitably be broken down." concluded, "and unless their ships also reduce the price of passage it must inevitably be broken down."24 When the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt made its maiden voyage, the Commodore did not accompany his wife to Europe. He remained behind to look after his other operation of 1857, involving a venerable project of New York's mercantile elite: the New York & Harlem Railroad, organized in 1831 as the city's first railway. As workmen had extended the tracks up Fourth Avenue, across the Harlem River, into Putnam County and beyond, its directors had positioned the line inland from the Hudson River to avoid competition with steamboats. Unfortunately, the major towns between New York and Albany all lined the river, so the Harlem (as the railroad was called) had had difficulty attracting enough business to pay for its expansion. Finally, in 1852, it had connected to the Western Railroad, which provided access to through traffic from Albany and western New York. It also profited from a connection to the New York & New Haven, made in 1848, which allowed trains to run between Boston and New York at last. But heavy construction debts burdened the line. made its maiden voyage, the Commodore did not accompany his wife to Europe. He remained behind to look after his other operation of 1857, involving a venerable project of New York's mercantile elite: the New York & Harlem Railroad, organized in 1831 as the city's first railway. As workmen had extended the tracks up Fourth Avenue, across the Harlem River, into Putnam County and beyond, its directors had positioned the line inland from the Hudson River to avoid competition with steamboats. Unfortunately, the major towns between New York and Albany all lined the river, so the Harlem (as the railroad was called) had had difficulty attracting enough business to pay for its expansion. Finally, in 1852, it had connected to the Western Railroad, which provided access to through traffic from Albany and western New York. It also profited from a connection to the New York & New Haven, made in 1848, which allowed trains to run between Boston and New York at last. But heavy construction debts burdened the line.25 Fraud pulled together the troubled Harlem and the Commodore-the great fraud of Robert Schuyler in 1854. Schuyler's deep involvement in the railroad (his brother George served as its president until Robert's scandal bankrupted them both) enmeshed Vanderbilt in a pair of bitter disputes with it. First, there was a battle over the dividends owed on the one thousand shares of stock assigned to him by Schuyler. In October 1854, he had sued the railroad to force it to pay; on January 20, 1857, a jury found in his favor.26 Second, there was an ongoing fight over a block of $1 million worth of the Harlem's first-mortgage bonds. Vanderbilt had pledged to buy them from the Schuylers in 1854, paying $100,000 as an installment; after the Schuylers went bankrupt the railroad had declined to refund the down payment, leading to an intractable dispute. Second, there was an ongoing fight over a block of $1 million worth of the Harlem's first-mortgage bonds. Vanderbilt had pledged to buy them from the Schuylers in 1854, paying $100,000 as an installment; after the Schuylers went bankrupt the railroad had declined to refund the down payment, leading to an intractable dispute.27 Make no mistake: the money mattered to Vanderbilt. But the railroad's refusal to honor the acts of its agent struck at the heart of his commercial code. Over this matter, he did not sue; rather, he secured enough stockholders' votes and proxies to win election to the board of directors on May 19, 1857, along with son-in-law Horace Clark and Daniel Drew. Now he had a presence within the company-at a moment when it was highly vulnerable. In early 1857, the money market spasmed, and the company's floating debt (short-term loans, unstructured into bonds, that cost a high rate of interest) threatened to bring the corporation down.28 The railroad's precarious position made the other directors reluctant to meet Vanderbilt's demand-and also desperate for his help. Vanderbilt, too, was in a delicate position: he wanted his money back, but to get it he had to help restore the line to profitability. So the Commodore embarked on a subtle strategy of simultaneously frightening and sustaining the company. On June 15, he stood before the board and explained "the nature and circumstances of his claim," as recorded in the minutes, "after which he and Mr. Clark withdrew." On June 24, he tendered his resignation, terrifying his fellow directors. Yet he also arranged for Clark and Drew to make a large short-term loan to the line. Clark was not wealthy enough to have done so himself; he operated as a false front, disguising Vanderbilt's support for the company29 The hidden carrot and very visible stick worked. The board refused to accept his resignation; instead, it appointed a committee to settle with him-and secure his aid in rescuing the road. A decade later, Vanderbilt recalled how president Allan Campbell told him that the line would go bankrupt; with its assets sold off, his claim might be paid at last. "No," he replied, "I will help you out and lend you what money you want, and am willing to do anything else than that. There will be a time, before a great many years, when this road's whole property will be worth par and it will be a stigma upon the man who will take this course [of bankrupting the company], and I won't take it."30 How intricately his financial calculations interwove with his sense of honor: he foresaw a great future for the benighted railroad, a time when its stock would rise on the exchange to its par value; he was willing to let the situation mature until he could profit from its strengths. Yet he also wanted the credit-and resulting social prestige-for rescuing an enterprise so closely identified with the ambitions of New York's elite.
Daniel Drew said he would join Vanderbilt in endorsing the railroad's notes to see it through the crisis. "We will do it for two and a half percent [commission]," Drew said. "Mr. Drew," the Commodore loftily replied, "I won't do it for two and a half percent! I will do it with you for one-half percent." Drew agreed. As Vanderbilt recalled, the railroad "made the bargain, and they drew up, and drew up, and kept drawing and coming with things to sign-notes, if you please, and acceptances-until we got some [seven] hundred thousand dollars."31 Thus the Commodore forced the Harlem to admit that he was right, even as he saved it from destruction. Within ten weeks, the railroad paid back his $100,000 with interest.32 The line would face further crises in the months to come, but Vanderbilt would be there to meet them. Once in Harlem, he would never leave. The line would face further crises in the months to come, but Vanderbilt would be there to meet them. Once in Harlem, he would never leave.
FIVE POINTS WOULD HAVE its say about William Walker. Despite the deception of his recruiters in New York, despite the scores who died of disease and blundering tactics in his army in Nicaragua, he remained the greatest purveyor of freelance violence of all, and a hero in Five Points. So when Walker arrived at Pier No. 1 on the North River on June 16, a mass of laborers and rowdies cheered him. They followed his carriage to City Hall Park, where he addressed a crowd of thousands. its say about William Walker. Despite the deception of his recruiters in New York, despite the scores who died of disease and blundering tactics in his army in Nicaragua, he remained the greatest purveyor of freelance violence of all, and a hero in Five Points. So when Walker arrived at Pier No. 1 on the North River on June 16, a mass of laborers and rowdies cheered him. They followed his carriage to City Hall Park, where he addressed a crowd of thousands.33 Walker's arrival troubled Vanderbilt, who feared that he was preparing a fresh invasion of Nicaragua. Shortly afterward the Commodore went to Washington to ask Buchanan if he would prevent it. Publicly the president made no comment; he wished to avoid antagonizing the South, which strongly supported the filibuster, especially after Walker had reinstituted slavery in Nicaragua (an act that did not survive his rule). In private, Buchanan seethed. "That man has done more injury to the commercial & political interests of the United States," he wrote, "than any man living." He said as much to Vanderbilt. If Walker moved he would be "crushed out."34 Less reassuring was Buchanan's refusal to commit to the cause of the Accessory Transit Company. Though the president was eager to reopen the Nicaragua route, he didn't particularly care who did it, which meant that Vanderbilt had to race to defeat White's maturing schemes. The Commodore corresponded with General Jose Maria Canas, who commanded Costa Rica's troops on the San Juan River, in an attempt to regain Accessory Transit's steamboats. (Canas hinted that he could carve out a new republic for the company along the transit route, but Vanderbilt thought that was going a bit too far.) He asked Goicouria to write to Nicaragua's new government to persuade them that White could not be trusted. He took Horace Clark on a visit to the White House in an attempt to convince Buchanan to refuse recognition of Yrisarri-White's coconspirator-as Nicaragua's minister. Finally he sent Daniel Allen to Nicaragua as his personal representative. Above all else, Vanderbilt had to secure the property and transit rights before Walker launched a second expedition.35 He failed. On November 25, Walker landed with 270 men on Punta Arenas.36 All calculations regarding the transit route immediately became obsolete. All calculations regarding the transit route immediately became obsolete.
IN THE MID-1850S, George Templeton Strong contemplated the metropolis of New York-from Alexander T. Stewart's gleaming marble department store at Broadway and Chambers to the squalor of Five Points to the domed Crystal Palace up on Forty-second Street-and marveled about it all in his diary. "There is poetry enough latent in the South Street merchant and the Wall Street financier," he wrote; in Stewart's snobby clerk chattering over ribbons and laces; in the omnibus driver that conveys them all from the day's work to the night's relaxation and repose; in the brutified denizen of the Points and the Hook; in the sumptuous star courtesan of Mercer Street thinking sadly of her village home; in the Fifth Avenue ballroom; in the Grace Church contrast of eternal vanity and new bonnets.37 This was the New York that Vanderbilt had helped to create: commercial, mobile, and individualistic-yet increasingly polarized into rich and poor. The age of unspecialized merchants and skilled artisans began to fade as mills, factories, banks, and railroads rose in their place. Most Americans still worked on their own farms, in their own shops, or for small partnerships or personal businesses, but New York (and New England) presaged a future of industrialization and incorporation, of stockholders, managers, and wage workers. Unquestionably the new economy worked wonders, creating a highly productive, exceedingly wealthy society; but in 1857 the great self-directed orchestra of New York threatened to break apart into cacophony and chaos.
In the middle of June, New York's policemen divided into two camps: the Metropolitan Police, organized by the Republican-controlled state legislature, and the Municipal Police, under the control of Mayor Wood. Skirmishes broke out over station houses; then an all-out battle erupted on the steps of the city hall as the largely Anglo-American Metropolitans tried to fight their way through a phalanx of largely Irish Municipals in order to arrest the mayor. On July 4 and again on the 8th, the conflict drew in the city's leading gangs, the Irish Dead Rabbits and the nativist Bowery Boys, the first fighting for the Municipals, the latter for the Metropolitans. Finally the state militia marched into the city to suppress what appeared to be an insurrection.38 Scarcely had this mayhem died away than the nation fell into the greatest financial crisis in twenty years-the Panic of 1857. In retrospect, the warnings of a collapse look all too clear. There was railroad overexpansion: of the twenty thousand miles of line built in the 1850s (tripling the total length of track), 2,500 were constructed in 1857 alone. There was the end of the Crimean War: Russian wheat now flooded the international market, hurting American exports. There was France's need for money: French banks borrowed from those in England, which raised English interest rates, which led British investors to sell off their American securities and invest at home, which undercut stock prices in the United States. And there was the heady effect of nearly nine years of California gold, which had fed speculation and inflated credit. Since the start of the gold rush, the number of banks in America had doubled, to more than 1,500. The monetary expansion reached a peak in early August. "And then there came on a sharp money market," Vanderbilt recalled, "and everything broke down."39 On August 24, the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company announced that it could no longer pay its bills. "The high credit enjoyed by that concern, and the fact that its solvency had hardly been questioned, made the failure a matter of... importance," the New York Herald New York Herald reported. It "opened the first great seal of the revulsion." Constantly borrowing and lending in New York's intricate web of banks and investment houses, it ripped the financial lattice apart when it failed. reported. It "opened the first great seal of the revulsion." Constantly borrowing and lending in New York's intricate web of banks and investment houses, it ripped the financial lattice apart when it failed.40 On September 2, Vanderbilt welcomed his wife back from Europe. It would be the only happy event for many weeks to come, as banks and merchants collapsed. On the 18th, word spread through the city that the U.S. Mail steamship Central America Central America (formerly the (formerly the George Law) George Law) had sunk in a storm on its return from Panama. It was a terrible blow for Vanderbilt's troubled friend and ally Marshall Roberts, who was president of the corporation; already the North River Bank, of which Roberts owned half the stock, had failed and gone into liquidation. Even worse, the had sunk in a storm on its return from Panama. It was a terrible blow for Vanderbilt's troubled friend and ally Marshall Roberts, who was president of the corporation; already the North River Bank, of which Roberts owned half the stock, had failed and gone into liquidation. Even worse, the Central America Central America carried down $1.6 million in gold from California, desperately needed in New York's constricted money market. In the afternoon, Vanderbilt went in person to the U.S. Mail office and asked for the details of the disaster. "He expressed his deep sympathy for the passengers on the ill-fated steamer," the carried down $1.6 million in gold from California, desperately needed in New York's constricted money market. In the afternoon, Vanderbilt went in person to the U.S. Mail office and asked for the details of the disaster. "He expressed his deep sympathy for the passengers on the ill-fated steamer," the New York Times New York Times reported, "and commiserated with the Company [i.e., Roberts] for the heavy pecuniary loss entailed upon them by her loss." reported, "and commiserated with the Company [i.e., Roberts] for the heavy pecuniary loss entailed upon them by her loss."41 "All confidence is lost, for the present, in the solvency of our merchant princes-and with good reason," Strong wrote in his diary on September 27. "It is probable that every last one of them has been operating and gambling in stocks and railroad bonds." Perhaps because he was a Wall Street lawyer, the financial catastrophe brought out the poet in his soul. "O Posterity, Posterity you can't think how bothered, bedeviled, careworn, and weary were your enlightened ancestors in their counting-rooms and offices and bank parlors during these bright days of September, A.D. 1857," he wrote, two days later.
They are fighting hard for a grand, ugly house in the Fifth Avenue; for the gold and damask sofas and curtains that are ever shrouded in dingy coverings, save on the one night of every third year when they are unveiled to adorn the social martyrdom of five hundred perspiring friends. They are agonizing with unavailable securities, and pleading vainly for discount with stony-hearted directors and inflexible cashiers, lest they forfeit the privilege of inviting Joe Kernochan and Dan Fearing [two of the most prestigious leaders of elite society] to gorge and prose and stupefy over the barbaric splendors of an unwholesome dinner; that they may still yawn through the Trovatore Trovatore in their own opera boxes; that they may be plagued with their own carriage horses and swindled by their own coachman instead of hiring a comfortable hack when they want a ride. in their own opera boxes; that they may be plagued with their own carriage horses and swindled by their own coachman instead of hiring a comfortable hack when they want a ride.
The Times Times echoed Strong's thoughts-in fact, it singled out Vanderbilt as a prime exemplar of what had brought the economy so low. "Commodore Vanderbilt, in his steam-yacht excursion, was just a type of the general Yankee who spends his money liberally and is as magnificent as his means will allow, and sometimes a good deal more so. That this extravagance can be carried much too far... a great many people have learned from their own experience." echoed Strong's thoughts-in fact, it singled out Vanderbilt as a prime exemplar of what had brought the economy so low. "Commodore Vanderbilt, in his steam-yacht excursion, was just a type of the general Yankee who spends his money liberally and is as magnificent as his means will allow, and sometimes a good deal more so. That this extravagance can be carried much too far... a great many people have learned from their own experience."42 Vanderbilt survived the great disaster with no sign of suffering. He must have felt some some pain, for he could not levitate entirely above the great river of credit that carried the economy along. Yet it appears that he possessed deep cash reserves, and never failed to pay a bill or debt even in the worst of the storm. In early 1858, when the Mercantile Agency reported on the Allaire Works-a corporation that operated virtually as an extension of Vanderbilt's personal business-it observed, "They are [said] to be in [good] condition & to [have paid] all thro the panic. Have done & are [doing] a [good] bus. & are sold to freely." No doubt all of his other agents, clerks, and companies also paid debts on time and in full. pain, for he could not levitate entirely above the great river of credit that carried the economy along. Yet it appears that he possessed deep cash reserves, and never failed to pay a bill or debt even in the worst of the storm. In early 1858, when the Mercantile Agency reported on the Allaire Works-a corporation that operated virtually as an extension of Vanderbilt's personal business-it observed, "They are [said] to be in [good] condition & to [have paid] all thro the panic. Have done & are [doing] a [good] bus. & are sold to freely." No doubt all of his other agents, clerks, and companies also paid debts on time and in full.43 As the panic purged the city, Vanderbilt went to work each day as usual, down to his office on Bowling Green, behind the ticket desk to his private chamber in the rear, where he put on his reading glasses and reviewed letters and invoices and worried the cigar he kept clamped between his teeth. Sometime in September, Allan Campbell, the Harlem's president, came in to see him. The railroad could not pay its bills. Its own debtors refused to pay it, and its creditors would only take its acceptances (its corporate promissory notes) at the ruinous rate of 5 percent interest per month per month. "Commodore," he pleaded, "how will we get along?"44 At the time, the railroad had large short-term notes coming due, endorsed by Daniel Drew. With the panic at full force, Drew refused to endorse a renewal of the notes. If he didn't sign, the creditors would refuse to extend the time for repayment. "He won't?" Vanderbilt asked Campbell. The railroad president said no. "He will!" the Commodore declared. "Go away, and mind your business, and I will send you the bonds."
Twelve years later, Vanderbilt, with great relish, told a committee of the state legislature the story of what happened next. First, the board of directors put him in charge of managing the railroad's financial crisis.45 Then he called Drew in for a meeting, one that resulted in the Harlem's salvation-and that exposed the stark difference in temperament between these longtime partners and friends. Then he called Drew in for a meeting, one that resulted in the Harlem's salvation-and that exposed the stark difference in temperament between these longtime partners and friends.
"I sent for Drew and he came to the office," he recalled, "and I was signing these acceptances... and he says, 'Commodore!'"
"Mr. Drew," Vanderbilt replied, "how are you? Sit down there and sign these acceptances." Drew was to be the primary endorser, Vanderbilt the secondary.
"Not one of 'em! Not one of 'em!"
"You will sign them all!" Vanderbilt insisted.
"Not one of them!" Drew proclaimed. "Are you crazy?"
"And [he] went on in that kind of strain, you know," Vanderbilt recalled, "and I says, 'No, I am not crazy, Mr. Drew!'"
"My God!" said the distraught Drew. "What are you going to do?"
"I am going to sign all these things, and you are too."
"Where is the money to come from to pay it?"
"You and I will pay, if nobody else will," Vanderbilt said. "Didn't you agree to? You have got one-half percent on the $400,000 that you have already signed. You have had that money, hain't you?"
"Yes," Drew replied.
"I am going to do it, if it takes the coat off my back," Vanderbilt said. "I am going to live up to it." It was a moment that said everything about the Commodore at this stage of his life. His strict code of honor in business mattered more to him now than ever as he attained eminence among New York's merchants. He had promised to support the Harlem's credit, and so he would-and he would browbeat Drew into doing the same. As for Drew, he was a curious fellow: bold when he had every advantage, timid at all other times, he was the sort of financier who tried to run ahead of the changing wind rather than fight it. "I worked him up so that he signed them," Vanderbilt recalled. "The old fellow was almost crying all the while."
"Mr. Drew," Vanderbilt said, when they were done, "you are one of the best receivers I ever knew, but about as bad a payer as I ever knew." In return for Drew's half-percent commission, he offered to indemnify Drew completely and take on himself all responsibility for paying, should the railroad fail. Drew agreed. "He did not dare cheat me!" Vanderbilt recalled.46 The combined names of Drew and Vanderbilt on the company's notes reassured its nervous creditors. The Commodore began to work on a plan to restructure the large floating debt of about $750,000, to allow the Harlem to put its finances in order, and bought a majority of $1 million in third-mortgage bonds (at a 50 percent discount). On February 10, 1858, the directors would pass a resolution, declaring "that the thanks of the Board are due and are hereby tendered to Cornelius Vanderbilt Esq. for the liberal aid afforded by him in the disposition of the new loans of the company"47 Vanderbilt carried the Harlem through the Panic of 1857 with the liquid power of his wealth, his formidable reputation, and his ability to coerce Drew. But he was a man of foresight. Most likely he had no specific plans in mind, but he could sense that the time was coming when he would make a great deal more out of the railroad than one-half of 1 percent.
"THANKSGIVING," a columnist for a columnist for Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly exclaimed on November 21, 1857. "The very word sounds like a blessing. The whole week seems to be covered with plums, and the smell of roast turkey and pumpkin pie. The boys have visions of snow and sliding, or coasting. The parents open their homes and hearts to the long absent. Business stops suddenly on a weekday." It was a traditional holiday, not a legal one, having spread across the country from New England in the 1820s and 30s. In hard-pressed New York, it offered a welcome respite from the Panic. exclaimed on November 21, 1857. "The very word sounds like a blessing. The whole week seems to be covered with plums, and the smell of roast turkey and pumpkin pie. The boys have visions of snow and sliding, or coasting. The parents open their homes and hearts to the long absent. Business stops suddenly on a weekday." It was a traditional holiday, not a legal one, having spread across the country from New England in the 1820s and 30s. In hard-pressed New York, it offered a welcome respite from the Panic.48 This week, like most weeks, Vanderbilt went to his two-story brown-stone stables at 21 and 23 West Fourth Street, at the rear of the block occupied by his double-wide mansion. Approached from Fourth Street, there was a door to the harness room on the right, and on the left a large arched carriage entrance, which led into a cobblestone passage equipped with hydrants for washing the horses and carriages. Passing through, he would enter an enormous room-a "hippodrome," as one newspaper called it-filling the building and rising to the roof, lit by sunshine from the great skylights above. Carriages, wagons, and sleighs were parked in a group in the center; young boys walked the horses around an oblong track on the outside of the room, on sawdust strewn across the cobblestones. Then the Commodore would descend a gradual winding stairway, designed with the horses in mind, to the well-ventilated stalls below, where his prize trotters were brushed and fed.49 This week, like most weeks, Vanderbilt ordered a pair of his fastest horses harnessed to a light, open-air racing rig, then climbed aboard, took the reins in hand, and smartly whipped his team down the cobblestone passage into West Fourth Street. A left turn, then another left onto Broadway, and uptown he went, past aristocratic Grace Church, past Union Square, out of the city to where Broadway became Bloomingdale Road. There "sporting men" liked to challenge each other amid the trees and pastures of upper Manhattan. On this day, as usual, they gathered at Jones's tavern, hoping to set up a race, when they saw Vanderbilt drive up behind his famously swift horses.
"Knowing, as all the sporting men do, that Commodore Vanderbilt likes a good brush, it is a very widespread ambition to pass him on the road," Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly remarked. "But this is not very easily done." On this occasion, as so often, Vanderbilt came with his friend and broker Frank Work, who rattled alongside in his own rig. They pulled up in front of the tavern, but "everybody seemed to hold back. No one cared to lead off." Disappointed, the Commodore and Work whipped their horses onto the road and headed back toward the city. remarked. "But this is not very easily done." On this occasion, as so often, Vanderbilt came with his friend and broker Frank Work, who rattled alongside in his own rig. They pulled up in front of the tavern, but "everybody seemed to hold back. No one cared to lead off." Disappointed, the Commodore and Work whipped their horses onto the road and headed back toward the city.
Immediately ten to fifteen men grabbed their horses' reins and set out after them, hoping to pass them. "If there wasn't some trotting done at that time I never did see any," the correspondent wrote. "There was only one drawback-there were too many in the race, they kept too closely together, and the road was not wide enough." With dozens of horses sprinting down the lane, the spinning wheels cracked against each other, and three wagons were smashed to pieces, "and all tumbled together. The Commodore came out all right." Municipal policemen rushed to the scene from Mayor Wood's nearby home, but no one was hurt.50 In the year ahead, Vanderbilt would need all his coolness, dexterity, and speed in the race for the Nicaragua transit. Walker's landing at Greytown disrupted everything. Not that he remained for long: Commodore Hiram Paulding of the U.S. Navy rushed to the scene and forced Walker to surrender on December 8. Paulding's action caused outrage among Walker's Southern supporters; debate over whether to censure or congratulate Paulding tied up the Senate for weeks.51 Popular or not, Walker doomed all attempts to reopen the transit route with his latest foray. Nicaragua and Costa Rica abruptly settled their differences in order to present a united front against the filibusters. Fear of North Americans in general pervaded Nicaragua's national consciousness. "There is in all this country a deep-seated terror," wrote the U.S. minister, Mirabeau B. Lamar, "that, when the Americans are admitted into it, the natives will be thrust aside-their nationality lost-their religion destroyed-and the common classes be converted into hewers of wood and drawers of water." The most that Daniel Allen could do upon his arrival there was to file a protest over Yrisarri's contract with White's company. Not that he needed to: there was little danger that the Nicaraguans would open their borders ever again.52 As usual, it was White's bluster, not his deeds, that plagued Vanderbilt. White loudly proclamed that his new line would start up on February 20, 1858, which led Pacific Mail to stop paying its monthly subsidy to Vanderbilt (who now pocketed the money, since he had taken possession of the steamships at issue). The Commodore, knowing that White was penniless, viewed this as a breach of their noncompetition agreement. In retaliation, he announced an opposition line via Panama, in partnership with none other than Cornelius K. Garrison. He made just one voyage before Pacific Mail surrendered, raising its payment from $40,000 to $56,000 per month. It could afford the increase: it paid 30 percent dividends in 1857 (that is, $30 per share), even while paying off Vanderbilt. Monopolies were lucrative.53 Vanderbilt's short-lived line was an early sign of a comprehensive reconciliation that he reached with Morgan and Garrison. The deal, which they finalized in April, required Vanderbilt to buy Morgan's share in Garrison's steamers on the Pacific, the Orizaba Orizaba and the and the Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada, and to buy a very large new steamship that Morgan was building in New York, the Ocean Queen Ocean Queen. Morgan purchased Vanderbilt's Gulf Coast line, and he and Garrison promised to never again compete in the California trade. On April 20, Garrison wrote to Joseph Scott at Punta Arenas, ordering him to transfer all transit property to Vanderbilt's control. It seems that once Morgan and Garrison admitted defeat, the Commodore forgave their treachery. He even saved Garrison from the ongoing lawsuit that Accessory Transit had filed against him. The two sides agreed to William K. Thorn, Vanderbilt's son-in-law, as referee in the case. In September, Thorn would rule that Garrison owed nothing.54 Truly April was the weirdest month. On the 15th, the Commodore welcomed to his office Joseph White. A fortune had passed through White's hands since he first had met Vanderbilt. "What he has made has been within the past 6 yrs.," the Mercantile Agency reported at the end of 1853. "Was not [worth] much when he came here [to New York]." At his height, he had accumulated as much as $200,000, purchased a fine house on Madison Square for $40,000, bought the farm of novelist James Fenimore Cooper, kept a private box at the opera house, and rode "in a handsome carriage." But all that had come to an end. Ruined in the fall of Accessory Transit, he held on to the hope that he could convert the canal company's shaky transit contract with Yrisarri into a new pile. In the meantime, he had come to the end of all his resources. And so he asked his sworn enemy for a ninety-day loan of perhaps $10,000-offering as collateral twenty-five shares of the canal company, ostensibly worth $1,000 each. In all likelihood, White could find no one else with money to lend during the ongoing panic.55 Vanderbilt agreed. He certainly doubted that White would be able to repay him. And he couldn't have placed much value on the canal shares. But by lending the money he obtained inside information on White's finances and the state of the company. Perhaps he also took satisfaction in holding the debt over someone who had exuded arrogance for so long.
Another enemy succumbed in April as well. The Collins Line finally collapsed and sold off its last steamers-the Atlantic Atlantic, the Baltic Baltic, and the Adriatic Adriatic (larger than any ship except the newly launched English leviathan, (larger than any ship except the newly launched English leviathan, Great Eastern) Great Eastern). The New York Times New York Times blamed Vanderbilt for "driving too sharp a competition." That brought an anonymous friend to his defense. "I know him well, and am well satisfied that he asks the sympathy of no nation and of no man, beyond that to which his merit may justly entitle him," the advocate wrote. "I have always found him bold, energetic, upright, and honorable." blamed Vanderbilt for "driving too sharp a competition." That brought an anonymous friend to his defense. "I know him well, and am well satisfied that he asks the sympathy of no nation and of no man, beyond that to which his merit may justly entitle him," the advocate wrote. "I have always found him bold, energetic, upright, and honorable."56 Perhaps he was-but he could never claim to be omnipotent. His grand Nicaragua venture, the single most original enterprise of his long career, slipped irretrievably beyond his grasp. First, he lost control of the Accessory Transit Company. A lawsuit by the Pennsylvania Coal Company, one of many unpaid creditors, resulted in the appointment of a receiver, David Colden Murray, on May 31. Murray prepared to sue the Commodore over the steamships he had taken from the company, for a total of $261,541.30.57 Next, "the inevitable W. R. C. Webster" (as the Next, "the inevitable W. R. C. Webster" (as the New York Times New York Times called the confidence man) arrived in New York, bearing yet another transit contract that he claimed to have negotiated in Nicaragua on Vanderbilt's behalf. Vanderbilt spurned him, but his claims led the Commodore to make one last grasp for the prize. called the confidence man) arrived in New York, bearing yet another transit contract that he claimed to have negotiated in Nicaragua on Vanderbilt's behalf. Vanderbilt spurned him, but his claims led the Commodore to make one last grasp for the prize.58 In the middle of June he sent Daniel Allen to Nicaragua with a final proposal and $80,000 in gold. On arriving in Greytown, Allen encountered Joseph Scott, who still guarded the Accessory Transit ruins on Punta Arenas, refusing to let go until he was repaid his advances of years before. Scott was fierce: when one of White's agents had tried to seize a steamboat, he had forced him off. "Webster afterwards attempted to take possession," Scott recalled. "I prevented him by threatening to shoot him, and he retreated." He threatened to shoot Allen too, but Allen merely asked for a lift in one of the few functioning steamers. On his arrival at Managua, the new capital, President Tomas Martinez exploded any notion of reopening the transit. Allen returned home with the gold and without a contract.59 PRESIDENT BUCHANAN SENT WORD to Congressman Horace Clark that he would like to see him at the White House. Clark's political senses had been honed in a decade of infighting in New York's treacherous Democratic Party; surely he knew that the president wished to speak to him about Lecompton. to Congressman Horace Clark that he would like to see him at the White House. Clark's political senses had been honed in a decade of infighting in New York's treacherous Democratic Party; surely he knew that the president wished to speak to him about Lecompton.
In the political jargon of 1858, "Lecompton" stood for the proposed constitution for Kansas, now petitioning to join the Union as a slave state. It was in the town of Lecompton that a convention of delegates had written the document, which had been submitted to the voters for ratification. The election of delegates had been "rigged," however, as historian James M. McPherson writes, to ensure a pro-slavery majority; and the referendum on the constitution had seen thousands of illegal pro-slavery ballots. Free-soil voters (who were a majority) had boycotted both elections, and Lecompton had passed, against the will of the electorate. Outrage swept the North. Senator Stephen Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, railed against Lecompton as a rape of democracy. Even Kansas's governor Walker, a Southerner himself, denounced the constitution and its so-called ratification as "a vile fraud."
President Buchanan chose to make Lecompton a test of party loyalty. Southern Democrats insisted that Kansas be admitted as a slave state, and he believed that the survival of the Union might well depend upon appeasing them. On February 2, 1858, he asked Congress to accept Lecompton and admit Kansas as a slave state.60 Clark loudly opposed him. So he answered the president's call and endured the full weight of Buchanan's displeasure. In his high, thin voice, the president warned "that it would be impossible impossible for Mr. Clark to be reelected if the federal patronage in his District were arrayed against him," it was later reported. Clark replied that he "was not a professional politician; that he was an independent man, not hoping for anything from place or patronage; and that therefore, if his Excellency wished to obtain his support, he... must use arguments more pertinent to the for Mr. Clark to be reelected if the federal patronage in his District were arrayed against him," it was later reported. Clark replied that he "was not a professional politician; that he was an independent man, not hoping for anything from place or patronage; and that therefore, if his Excellency wished to obtain his support, he... must use arguments more pertinent to the merits merits of the measure." of the measure."61 Clark's principled stand made him one of a handful of influential "antiLecompton Democrats" who blocked Kansas's admission as a slave state. But his claim to care nothing for patronage did not ring true. He stood at the center of an interwoven lattice of business and politics that trembled with every decision in Washington. Clark's rival in New York's Democratic Party, Congressman Daniel E. Sickles, wrote to Buchanan that Vanderbilt-in defiance of the president's wishes-wanted the Nicaragua transit to remain closed in order to retain the subsidy paid by Pacific Mail. "This interest is represented by his son-in-law H. F. Clark, one of my colleagues," he added.62 Clark's defiance also compromised his close friend and ally, Collector of the Port Augustus Schell. Schell steadily worked his way into Vanderbilt's circle (which already included his brother Richard), and was seen socializing with the Commodore at Saratoga Springs. The collector had allowed Clark to name many of the officers at the Custom House, which gave him a valuable patronage network. In the storm over Lecompton, though, Schell had to save himself from Buchanan's wrath, which required "the sacrifice of Horace F. Clark and his numerous appointees in the Custom House," the Times Times reported. reported.63 Clark's alienation from the administration gravely complicated his father-in-law's life. Until this dispute, his political position and connections had been immensely useful to the Commodore. Vanderbilt's vast interests constantly intersected government affairs; he needed friendly relations with policy makers, but he also tried to remain above partisan politics. He took no part, for example, in Fernando Wood's fall from power in 1857, when Tammany Hall rejected him as a gang-connected rabble-rouser and replaced him with Daniel F. Tiemann. Yet Vanderbilt also called on the aid of the police in August 1858 to bring nonunion men onto his steamships.64 As if Vanderbilt's relationship with government were not delicate enough, his brother Jacob dragged him indirectly into a gruesome incident known as the Quarantine War. For years, the people of Staten Island had resented the presence of a hospital, near Vanderbilt's Landing, where sick immigrants were quarantined. In January, William H. Vanderbilt had served on a committee that petitioned for the Quarantine's removal. An outbreak of yellow fever on the island proved to be the final provocation. On the nights of September 1 and 2, a large body of Staten Island's most distinguished citizens-led by Jacob Vanderbilt, among others-burned the hospital to the ground. Jacob was arrested, and William and his father came to the jail to bail him out. Augustus Schell secured the services of one hundred U.S. Marines to stand guard on the island; Governor John A. King declared Richmond County to be in a state of insurrection, and dispatched militia to the scene. But no aspersions were cast on the Commodore; he was far too important a businessman for politicians to slight. When the governor began to look for a new location for the Quarantine, he asked for Vanderbilt's advice.65 For all his efforts, Buchanan would not be rid of Clark. Clark won reelection in 1858 as an independent, anti-Lecompton Democrat.66 In time, the president would realize that he could not afford a grudge against Clark's father-in-law-not when the Commodore was needed to protect the strategic interests of the United States. In time, the president would realize that he could not afford a grudge against Clark's father-in-law-not when the Commodore was needed to protect the strategic interests of the United States.
"TEN YEARS AGO," the the New York Herald New York Herald asked in 1859, "who would have said that San Francisco, when but seven years old, would on the score of tonnage rank as the fourth city of this Union?" With a population of nearly 57,000, San Francisco had grown into a true metropolis, thanks to the gold that poured out of California's mountains to the value of tens of millions of dollars each year. Loaded onto steamers at the city's piers, the precious metal flowed down to Panama and up to Manhattan, where it helped power the American economy and reinforce New York's dominance over the financial nation. asked in 1859, "who would have said that San Francisco, when but seven years old, would on the score of tonnage rank as the fourth city of this Union?" With a population of nearly 57,000, San Francisco had grown into a true metropolis, thanks to the gold that poured out of California's mountains to the value of tens of millions of dollars each year. Loaded onto steamers at the city's piers, the precious metal flowed down to Panama and up to Manhattan, where it helped power the American economy and reinforce New York's dominance over the financial nation.
Vanderbilt had done much to build up both New York and San Francisco, but he had never attained the lucrative postal contract to California. That contract finally would expire on September 30, 1859. On April 7, Postmaster General John Holt announced that he would accept bids for a new, temporary contract, lasting only nine months. The federal subsidy was in play again at last.67 Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, he was barred from the bidding for it by his noncompetition agreement with Pacific Mail and U.S. Mail, which paid him $56,000 per month to keep his ships at their moorings. But the siren call of Nicaragua obsessed both President Buchanan and Joseph White, and that would force Vanderbilt to enter the business for the last time.
After all his calumnies and lies, White had finally started his Nicaragua line under the Yrisarri contract. On November 6, 1858, he had dispatched a creaking old steamship from New York for Greytown. Vanderbilt knew that it was just another fraud. For one thing, White was broke; he had never repaid Vanderbilt's loan, and he would never pay for the lease of the ship. For another, the Nicaraguans would never reopen the transit as long as Walker remained free to plot a fresh invasion. Most of all, they had learned to detest White. President Martinez told Alexander Dimitry, the latest U.S. minister, "that the government could not entertain any proposition from the 'White... company'" Dimitry reported "that Nicaragua had been hum bugueado hum bugueado-the word is his-humbugged by them." Nothing could say more about the Nicaraguans' experience with White than their adoption of the slang verb "humbug"-to swindle. When his steamship arrived, they refused to let the passengers land.68 But Pacific Mail saw White's latest gambit as a reason to stop paying $56,000 per month to Vanderbilt. The Commodore disagreed; indeed, the dispute went to arbitration, resulting in an award to Vanderbilt of $30,000. But this time there would be no renewal of the subsidy. Rather, in March 1859, Vanderbilt launched his final war for the steamship traffic to California. In partnership with Cornelius Garrison, he dispatched the Northern Light Northern Light for Aspinwall and readied the ships not otherwise occupied on the line to Europe: the for Aspinwall and readied the ships not otherwise occupied on the line to Europe: the North Star North Star, the Daniel Webster Daniel Webster, the Uncle Sam Uncle Sam, the Orizaba Orizaba, the Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada, and the Cortez Cortez. He also ordered the first iron steamship ever built in the United States, the fittingly named Champion Champion. The London Times Times saw "every prospect of the contest, owing to the wealth and tenacity of Mr. Vanderbilt, being carried to a most damaging extent." This war would not end until one side accepted the other's terms for good. saw "every prospect of the contest, owing to the wealth and tenacity of Mr. Vanderbilt, being carried to a most damaging extent." This war would not end until one side accepted the other's terms for good.69 By midsummer Vanderbilt's California line was operating at full capacity Together with Marshall Roberts, Moses Taylor, sons-in-law James Cross and Daniel Allen, and his old enemy Charles Morgan, he incorporated the Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Company to conduct the business. The Panama Railroad happily sold tickets to his passengers, but it joined with Pacific Mail to form the North Atlantic Steamship Company to run against him on the Atlantic. Both sides slashed fares; despite a dramatic rise in the number of passengers, both sides lost money. But Vanderbilt lived up to his reputation for controlling costs, economizing in everything from coal consumption to amenities for the passengers. He lost less.70 White's gambit, then, drove Vanderbilt back into the California steam ship trade just in time to compete for the postal contract. His beleaguered friend Roberts planned to shut down U.S. Mail upon the expiration of the old contract, so the Commodore put in his own bid-though he found himself at a disadvantage. With Nicaragua closed, his only means of crossing the isthmus was the Panama Railroad, but it shared many stockholders and directors with Pacific Mail and the railroad's directors refused to speak to him. Instead the railroad and Pacific Mail made a joint bid of their own.
In the end, the decisive factor in awarding this rich prize was Buchanan's intense desire to break the Panama monopoly. On May 9, to everyone's surprise, Postmaster General Holt gave the contract to Daniel H. Johnson, primarily because he claimed to possess a transit grant from Nicaragua. But who was Johnson? He owned no steamers and had no experience in shipping. And how did he get this supposed grant?
Vanderbilt quickly learned that Johnson was a dummy-the last dummy in the dummy-filled history of the California mail-of Joseph White. The Commodore must have found White's maniacal persistence infuriating; on a human level, though, it was pathetic. Nicaragua had given White his only real taste of wealth and importance. In a meteoric flash of success, he had enjoyed the confidence of ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, and presidents as he indulged in luxury, only to fall into irrelevance, poverty and disrepute. And so he came back to Nicaragua again and again, long past the point of plausibility. For this latest ploy he formed a new company, the U.S. & Central America Transit, hoping that the mail contract (which Johnson duly assigned to him) would give him the credit he needed to obtain ships to restart the transit route, and trusting that his ties to Yrisarri would assuage President Martinez.71 Vanderbilt quietly explained all this to Holt, hoping to convince him that Johnson should not be allowed to flip the contract to White. His words carried great weight with the postmaster general. For one thing, the Commodore already had agreed to carry the mail to Europe, from April to November, for no more compensation than the sea and inland postage. (Not that the business was very lucrative: in June, Vanderbilt offered to sell his Atlantic steamships-the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt for $800,000, the for $800,000, the Ocean Queen Ocean Queen for $500,000, and the for $500,000, and the Ariel Ariel for $300,000.) for $300,000.)72 And Vanderbilt enjoyed a direct connection to the White House. He negotiated personally with Buchanan, writing of "my willingness and desire to carry out your views as to opening Nicaragua," and blaming White for "keeping this much desired route closed." And Vanderbilt enjoyed a direct connection to the White House. He negotiated personally with Buchanan, writing of "my willingness and desire to carry out your views as to opening Nicaragua," and blaming White for "keeping this much desired route closed."73 Vanderbilt knew that it would remain closed, of course, but he managed to get a conditional contract: if Johnson could not come up with ships of his own by October 5, then Vanderbilt would carry the mail instead. Encouraged, he bought Garrison's interest in the Pacific steamers for $450,000 and spent another $50,000 repairing them. In September, the Champion Champion steamed to New York from the Delaware River, where it had been built. The great iron sidewheeler measured 1,850 tons and 250 feet in length, and could carry 738 passengers. Vanderbilt claimed that it could be run as cheaply as any other ship afloat. The Pacific Mail directors began to reveal their anxiety by spreading patently false rumors on Wall Street. They claimed to be making a profit, while Vanderbilt lost money, and said they would carry the mail after all on October 5. steamed to New York from the Delaware River, where it had been built. The great iron sidewheeler measured 1,850 tons and 250 feet in length, and could carry 738 passengers. Vanderbilt claimed that it could be run as cheaply as any other ship afloat. The Pacific Mail directors began to reveal their anxiety by spreading patently false rumors on Wall Street. They claimed to be making a profit, while Vanderbilt lost money, and said they would carry the mail after all on October 5.74 On the fated day, the Post Office loaded the mail onto Vanderbilt's Northern Light Northern Light. White was left sputtering about "a certain damned old sea pirate" who had taken away the contract "by some hocus pocus." Vanderbilt would receive $187,500 for his nine months of postal service. And Pacific Mail continued to lose money75 ON DECEMBER 18, 1858, Mrs. Nancy Dobley asked Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly "to say a word to the ladies "to say a word to the ladies exclusively... exclusively... [in] reference to the mud-to walking in the mud and slush-to crossing the streets in the mud and slush.... Are we aware, ladies, that we have a habit, in these days, of lifting our skirts very high indeed when we cross the street?" All this flashing of ankles was unseemly. "To watch a well dressed and careful woman wade across Broadway is a favorite occupation of men whose admiration is not flattering." [in] reference to the mud-to walking in the mud and slush-to crossing the streets in the mud and slush.... Are we aware, ladies, that we have a habit, in these days, of lifting our skirts very high indeed when we cross the street?" All this flashing of ankles was unseemly. "To watch a well dressed and careful woman wade across Broadway is a favorite occupation of men whose admiration is not flattering."76 Of course, such extreme concern for modesty in public only masked Americans' sexuality. On October 17, 1859, the Of course, such extreme concern for modesty in public only masked Americans' sexuality. On October 17, 1859, the New York Herald New York Herald reported on the prosecution of importers of "indecent stereoscopes" that showed men and women in various states of nudity. "The sale of these articles is immense, and New York bids fair to vie with France in the manufacture of this description of artistic invention." reported on the prosecution of importers of "indecent stereoscopes" that showed men and women in various states of nudity. "The sale of these articles is immense, and New York bids fair to vie with France in the manufacture of this description of artistic invention."77 Like those hidden stereoscopes, a vivid, three-dimensional world of passion and appetites certainly played out in Vanderbilt's private, unseen spaces. The inner lives of his wife and daughters in particular remain invisible to us, as hidden as a respectable lady's knees. His girls were wives and mothers now. They often gathered at 10 Washington Place, spending hours in parlors and dining rooms, waited upon by servants. They attended concerts and went to the theater; they visited Saratoga and Staten Island; they talked, they joked, they laughed; but they did not commit their experiences to paper.
What discussions went into the construction of a family vault in the Moravian churchyard on Staten Island in 1857, with its Corinthian columns, marble statue of "Grief," and a twenty-foot shaft inscribed "VANDERBILT"? Did the women debate the likelihood of secession, should the Republicans win the White House in 1860, or did they gossip about Robert Schuyler and his wife? Did they order a driver to take them through Central Park, now rapidly approaching completion? Did they go out in the "close-quarter carriage," each costing $1,000 or more, so favored by wealthy women? Or did they prefer an open-air coupe or barouche, recently introduced from France? ("They are made large and luxuriant, as lounging carriages," the Herald Herald wrote of barouches, "and seem to be all but indispensable in the present style of ladies' dresses.") wrote of barouches, "and seem to be all but indispensable in the present style of ladies' dresses.")78 The carriage was the great recreational institution of New York's rich. Any afternoon would see expensive affairs pulled by fancy horses, carrying William B. Astor, Hamilton Fish, Watts Sherman, or even Daniel Drew through "the pleasant drives of the Central Park," as the Herald Herald remarked on December 5, 1859. Vanderbilt, of course, was one of the "fast men" who held his own reins and hungered for speed. For decades, harness racing had been the plebeian alternative to the aristocratic sport of Thoroughbreds; but Vanderbilt led a rising elite, lacking any social pedigree, that championed trotters in both formal races at dedicated tracks and informal contests on the road. To garner respectability for the sport, he helped organize the Elm Park Pleasure Ground Association, a club "of many of the best people in the city," to race on or near Bloomingdale Road above Ninetieth Street. Four hundred men belonged, with a combined investment of nearly $ remarked on December 5, 1859. Vanderbilt, of course, was one of the "fast men" who held his own reins and hungered for speed. For decades, harness racing had been the plebeian alternative to the aristocratic sport of Thoroughbreds; but Vanderbilt led a rising elite, lacking any social pedigree, that championed trotters in both formal races at dedicated tracks and informal contests on the road. To garner respectability for the sport, he helped organize the Elm Park Pleasure Ground Association, a club "of many of the best people in the city," to race on or near Bloomingdale Road above Ninetieth Street. Four hundred men belonged, with a combined investment of nearly $i million in horseflesh. million in horseflesh.
The Commodore's great rival was Robert Bonner, editor of the Ledger Ledger. He rarely beat the skillful Bonner-but it was Vanderbilt who drew the admiration of onlookers. "What fine looking man is that," the Herald Herald rhetorically asked, rhetorically asked, with a segar in his mouth, who is passing all those roadsters on the right? He dashes past everybody but Bonner. His bays must be well trained; he handles the ribbons as though he was used to it. That gentleman with a white cravat on, you mean? Yes, sir. That is Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who has four of the best horses that appear on the road, every one of them exceedingly fast. He never gives up to anyone but Bonner; is always in good spirits, and takes great comfort in his $10,000 worth of horse flesh; is one of the coolest drivers on the road.79 August Belmont and William Aspinwall created a stir in 1859 by opening the first private art galleries New York had ever seen-large, specially designed spaces for paintings by Europe's old masters, including Velazquez and van Dyck. By contrast, Vanderbilt's only notable work of art was a bust of himself.80 But there was another New York that arose in the 1850s-the New York of tenements and day-to-day earnings, of pushcarts and workshops and strikes and police batons. In 1857, Harper's Harper's looked back fifty years and remarked, "What was then a decent and orderly town of moderate size has been converted into a huge semi-barbarous metropolis-one half as luxurious and artistic as Paris, the other half as savage as Cairo or Constantinople." This polarization angered and depressed Herman Melville, who criticized it in looked back fifty years and remarked, "What was then a decent and orderly town of moderate size has been converted into a huge semi-barbarous metropolis-one half as luxurious and artistic as Paris, the other half as savage as Cairo or Constantinople." This polarization angered and depressed Herman Melville, who criticized it in Pierre Pierre, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street," and the self-explanatory "Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs." In the aftermath of the Panic of 1857, as many as 100,000 went jobless in New York and Brooklyn; in November of that year, thousands demonstrated at Tompkins Square, the city hall, and the Merchants' Exchange, sometimes in the face of hundreds of police and troops. In the winter of 18578, at least 41,000 went homeless in Manhattan.81 As majority shareholder of a shipyard, machine works, and a fleet of steamers, Vanderbilt played a direct role in shaping this second city. He earned his reputation for keeping costs low in part by paying his workers as little as possible. In August 1858, for example, he cut the monthly wages of his firemen and coal passers from $25 to $20 and $20 to $17, respectively. (Even at the higher wage, a fireman on the Vanderbilt Vanderbilt earned in an entire year only 3 percent of what the Commodore spent on a team of horses.) When they went on strike, Vanderbilt called on the police to bring in nonunion men. In successive battles on the slips, the police beat back the strikers. earned in an entire year only 3 percent of what the Commodore spent on a team of horses.) When they went on strike, Vanderbilt called on the police to bring in nonunion men. In successive battles on the slips, the police beat back the strikers.82 Vanderbilt never acknowledged that conditions had changed since he had lifted himself up-that it was more difficult to attain self-sufficiency, let alone wealth, in this emerging new world. He expected everyone to make his own way, including Billy. As recently as 1856, Vanderbilt had derided his son as a "sucker." He knew that Billy had borrowed heavily to develop his farm, taking $5,000 from Daniel Allen alone. Jacob Van Pelt recalled how, when he had praised Billy's "splendid farm," the Commodore had reacted angrily. "Yes," he replied, "but he can't make a living off it. He has it mortgaged to a damned--. He ought to come to me. I've got plenty of money to put out on mortgages."83 But the dutiful son built up his farm successfully. He supplied great quantities of hay to the city's draft animals, and made independent investments. In 1860, for example, he became a director of the nearly complete Staten Island Railroad, and took over as its treasurer. He had emerged as a leader of Richmond County. But the dutiful son built up his farm successfully. He supplied great quantities of hay to the city's draft animals, and made independent investments. In 1860, for example, he became a director of the nearly complete Staten Island Railroad, and took over as its treasurer. He had emerged as a leader of Richmond County.84 Whether Vanderbilt's other sons would succeed remained an unanswered question. George was still at West Point. During the summer, he went on military maneuvers. "The boys are taught to sleep under the canopy of heaven, to dispense with all the luxuries and comforts of civilization, and to accustom themselves to the privations of actual warfare," wrote Harper's Weekly Harper's Weekly on September 3, 1859. "The strictness of West Point discipline has long been proverbial; during 'the encampment' it is severe indeed." In his leisure hours, he would have attended the frequent "hops" or dances organized by such cadets as Adelbert Ames, Wesley Merritt, and Horace Porter. But demerits or low grades hurt George's standing; as he neared graduation, he was ranked next to last in his class. on September 3, 1859. "The strictness of West Point discipline has long been proverbial; during 'the encampment' it is severe indeed." In his leisure hours, he would have attended the frequent "hops" or dances organized by such cadets as Adelbert Ames, Wesley Merritt, and Horace Porter. But demerits or low grades hurt George's standing; as he neared graduation, he was ranked next to last in his class.85 Vanderbilt remained immensely fond of the clan Corneil had married into. In early 1860, the Commodore wrote to Corneil's father-in-law, Oliver Williams, promising to visit "your sweet home." In some of the most telling lines he would ever write, he added, "Your famally is the only one on earth that I ever say a word to on paper. I much dislike to write & never do out side of business matters."86 ON THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 16, 1859, John Brown led eighteen men into the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. A veteran of the fighting against border ruffians in Kansas, he now hoped to spark an uprising by slaves in the South. Instead, Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart arrived on the scene with a force of U.S. Marines, who stormed the arsenal on October 18, captured Brown and sixteen of his men, and killed two in the process. The abolitionist stood trial and died on the gallows on December 2. "His name may be a word of power for the next half-century," George Templeton Strong wrote in his diary. The Wall Street lawyer had no sympathy for the antislavery movement, but "Old Brown's demeanor" moved him. "His simplicity and consistency, the absence of fuss, parade, and bravado, the strength and clearness of his letters, all indicate a depth of conviction that one does not expect in an Abolitionist," he wrote. "Slavery has received no such blow in my time as his strangulation."87 John Brown's raid confirmed the worst suspicions among "fire-eaters" in the South. When the newly elected House of Representatives tried to choose a speaker in December, Southern Democrats and Know-Nothings blocked the Republican plurality from naming John Sherman, the moderate brother of William T. Sherman. But they could not elect their own man because Horace Clark and a handful of other anti-Lecompton Democrats stood in their way-though Clark refused to vote for Sherman. "Common report attributes the conduct of [Clark] more to the influence of his father-in-law, Mr. Vanderbilt, than any other," the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune reported. "Mr. V's mail steamship interests are too valuable to be sacrificed by a single vote for Speaker." reported. "Mr. V's mail steamship interests are too valuable to be sacrificed by a single vote for Speaker."88 Certainly the Commodore did not wish to alienate the Democratic administration. At the moment, though, both Clark and Vanderbilt were deeply enmeshed in an even more complicated negotiation. William Aspinwall-the merchant prince, the founder of the Pacific Mail and Panama Railroad companies, the man who had given his name to a city in Panama-had decided to give up. He had opened secret talks with Vanderbilt, and on November 25 he presented the Pacific Mail board with the results: a tentative agreement to shut down the North Atlantic Steamship Company, sell to Vanderbilt Pacific Mail's seven ships on the Pacific for $2 million, distribute the proceeds to the stockholders, and terminate the corporation. Despite some dissent, the board empowered Aspinwall to conclude the negotiations. Vanderbilt prevailed on Clark to remain in New York to finalize the talks alongside Marshall Roberts, despite Clark's eagerness to go to Washington.
At nine in the evening on November 29, Clark sent a one-line note to Vanderbilt: "I am quite satisfied that the proposed arrangement is wholly impracticable." The problem was that Clark and Roberts insisted on a guarantee that the directors of Pacific Mail would not go on to compete against Vanderbilt's company as individual proprietors, newly enriched with the Commodore's money. They insisted that Aspinwall give his personal word of honor that there would be no competition-which he "peremptorily declines to give," Clark and Roberts wrote on November 30. Aspinwall replied that this demand was a "new feature," that he could not possibly speak for the stockholders as individuals. "It is a great pity," Vanderbilt concluded.89 This argument reveals the culture of American business in a moment of transition. On the eve of 1860, after decades of experience with-indeed, mastery of-the abstractions of the new economy, Vanderbilt and his ring still saw little distinction between the corporation and its stockholders. Theirs was not an elaborately worked-out philosophical position; rather, it was the product of a long tradition of controlling competition with formal and informal agreements-as well as raw self-interest. Yet it demonstrates how even the most sophisticated businessmen held to a tangible understanding of the world of commerce. The financial columnist for the New York Herald New York Herald found it astonishing that Aspinwall and his fellow directors refused the demands of Vanderbilt's representatives. "Without such a guarantee, in fact, Mr. Vanderbilt would have made the worst of bargains," the newspaper observed. "In ordinary cases, it is the vendor who guarantees his purchaser against competition; in this case the vendor was the Pacific Mail Company, which was going into liquidation and out of existence on the consummation of the bargain; the guarantee, therefore, was naturally sought from the individual directors, from whom alone opposition was to be expected." found it astonishing that Aspinwall and his fellow directors refused the demands of Vanderbilt's representatives. "Without such a guarantee, in fact, Mr. Vanderbilt would have made the worst of bargains," the newspaper observed. "In ordinary cases, it is the vendor who guarantees his purchaser against competition; in this case the vendor was the Pacific Mail Company, which was going into liquidation and out of existence on the consummation of the bargain; the guarantee, therefore, was naturally sought from the individual directors, from whom alone opposition was to be expected."90 In January 1860, Joseph Scott, the guardian of the machine works and steamboats at Punta Arenas, walked into Vanderbilt's office on Bowling Green. "I had always expected there would be a line there [in Nicaragua], and that probably he would run it, and if I could sell the things then, I could receive enough to pay my services," he later testified. But the line never reopened, and the property fell into ruin. "I went to Mr. Vanderbilt for a settlement," Scott reported, "to see if he would take the things off my hands." Instead, he went to work for Vanderbilt as agent of the Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Company in Aspinwall, Panama.91 Pacific Mail felt the pain of continued competition. It lost a reported $100,000 in the last quarter of 1859 alone, and its prospects looked grim. In January, Vanderbilt's iron-hulled Champion Champion arrived in San Francisco, and greatly impressed the city's cynical residents. "As far as we can ascertain by full inquiry the Commodore shows no symptoms of yielding," the arrived in San Francisco, and greatly impressed the city's cynical residents. "As far as we can ascertain by full inquiry the Commodore shows no symptoms of yielding," the New York Tribune New York Tribune remarked. The newspaper was correct. When Samuel L. M. Barlow, a key figure in Pacific Mail, suggested the possibility of a compromise to Horace Clark, Clark offered no encouragement. "The Commodore was here [in Washington] yesterday and I endeavoured to sound him [out] on the subject. He is more indifferent than I hoped to find him," Clark wrote on January 16. "Let me suggest to you that remarked. The newspaper was correct. When Samuel L. M. Barlow, a key figure in Pacific Mail, suggested the possibility of a compromise to Horace Clark, Clark offered no encouragement. "The Commodore was here [in Washington] yesterday and I endeavoured to sound him [out] on the subject. He is more indifferent than I hoped to find him," Clark wrote on January 16. "Let me suggest to you that you you go right straight to him and talk to go right straight to him and talk to him him yourself." yourself."92 Clark's letter was a warning of Vanderbilt's determination, but also an invitation to further talks. Once again, Aspinwall and Barlow began to meet secretly with the Commodore. They soon arrived at a new agreement, one that obviated the need for guarantees of any kind. They would divide the business in half, Pacific Mail retreating to its eponymous ocean and Vanderbilt's Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Company restricting itself to the Atlantic. (This was the same basic agreement they had made in 1856, before Walker had disrupted everything.) Vanderbilt was to bring his new Champion Champion back around Cape Horn, receive $50,000 to pay for the voyage, and sell the other, much older ships based in San Francisco to Pacific Mail for five thousand shares of stock and $250,000 in cash, to be paid in ten monthly installments. He would not be allowed to trade the shares for two years. (Vanderbilt owned the ships, so he took this payment himself.) The North Atlantic Steamship Company would be shut down. The two parties would split fares and postal payments according to mileage (giving Vanderbilt 30 percent). The plan would establish a new, more stable monopoly back around Cape Horn, receive $50,000 to pay for the voyage, and sell the other, much older ships based in San Francisco to Pacific Mail for five thousand shares of stock and $250,000 in cash, to be paid in ten monthly installments. He would not be allowed to trade the shares for two years. (Vanderbilt owned the ships, so he took this payment himself.) The North Atlantic Steamship Company would be shut down. The two parties would split fares and postal payments according to mileage (giving Vanderbilt 30 percent). The plan would establish a new, more stable monopoly93 There was only one problem: the Panama Railroad did not want a settlement with Vanderbilt. It profited enormously by carrying passengers for both sides, and it had enjoyed a record business during the fare war. A number of the railroad's directors sat on the Pacific Mail board, and they were certain to resist the agreement. So Aspinwall played a trick. He invited those directors to take a junket with him to Panama. He boarded the steamship in New York with his trunks, along with his guests; then, moments before the ship sailed, he announced that pressing business would keep him at home. When the directors returned from Panama, they discovered to their irritation that the treaty with Vanderbilt had been signed and ratified in their absence.94 As the 1860s began, Vanderbilt attained wealth and influence never before imagined for a private American citizen-"almost kingly power," as the Chicago Tribune Chicago Tribune said. He controlled American steamship traffic on the Atlantic Ocean, and stood as the largest shareholder in Pacific Mail. said. He controlled American steamship traffic on the Atlantic Ocean, and stood as the largest shareholder in Pacific Mail.95 (In 1860, Daniel Allen took a seat on the company's board of directors to represent his father-in-law's interests.) Vanderbilt arranged a lasting rise in fares (though not to their previous heights), and along the way prevented his friend Roberts from starting a rival line without paying him a penny. When the California postal contract expired after Congress adjourned without making arrangements for a new one, Vanderbilt refused to carry any more mail. This edict threatened to add weeks to communication between the two coasts by forcing the mail to be carried overland. The Commodore relented only after President Buchanan begged him to reconsider and promised to ask Congress to pay him retroactively. Vanderbilt expanded his role in New York's railroads as well. Already a director of Harlem, he helped Drew restructure the bankrupt Erie's debt (for a very large fee), and joined him on the Erie's board of directors. (In 1860, Daniel Allen took a seat on the company's board of directors to represent his father-in-law's interests.) Vanderbilt arranged a lasting rise in fares (though not to their previous heights), and along the way prevented his friend Roberts from starting a rival line without paying him a penny. When the California postal contract expired after Congress adjourned without making arrangements for a new one, Vanderbilt refused to carry any more mail. This edict threatened to add weeks to communication between the two coasts by forcing the mail to be carried overland. The Commodore relented only after President Buchanan begged him to reconsider and promised to ask Congress to pay him retroactively. Vanderbilt expanded his role in New York's railroads as well. Already a director of Harlem, he helped Drew restructure the bankrupt Erie's debt (for a very large fee), and joined him on the Erie's board of directors.96 One by one, Vanderbilt's enemies lost, surrendered, or met with a violent death. Law had given up; Collins had failed; Morgan, Garrison, Aspinwall, and even Joseph Scott had accepted his terms. Others were less wise, or less fortunate. On August 14, 1859, an uprising in Costa Rica overthrew President Mora. He was executed on September 30, 1860. Even the irrepressible William Walker reached the end of his piratical career. The British captured him on his latest filibustering expedition, and handed him over to the Hondurans, the nearest Central American authorities. They unceremoniously shot him to death on September 12, 1860.97 And then there was Joseph White, who had plagued Vanderbilt from the beginning of the gold rush. In January 1861 White returned to Nicaragua, this time to buy exclusive rights to harvest rubber. As he swung in a hammock on the porch of a hotel, he began to talk with another American, Jonathan Gavitt. "It appears that this conversation was not of a very pleasant character, as Mr. Gavitt had been several months in Nicaragua on business of a similar nature to that of Mr. White's, and the former thought the latter was trespassing on his ground," the New York Times New York Times reported. Gavitt sent his servant to retrieve his revolver, then shot White in the leg. After seven days in tremendous pain, White died. reported. Gavitt sent his servant to retrieve his revolver, then shot White in the leg. After seven days in tremendous pain, White died.98 ON NOVEMBER 4, 1859, VANDERBILT sued Henry J. Raymond, editor of the sued Henry J. Raymond, editor of the New York Times New York Times, for libel. The article in question-a patently false report that Vanderbilt had supported Walker's last expedition-was hardly the issue. After all, journalists of the day relied heavily on rumor and innuendo; newspaper reporting was inaccurate on a regular basis. The point, Vanderbilt argued in his legal complaint, was "that the said article in the Times Times is the result either of personal ill-will toward him or interest averse to his, which leads to the said newspaper being impelled to assail and if possible injure him." Personal ill will indeed. Raymond responded with insults the very next day. "We are at some little loss to understand the meaning of this sudden floundering of the Commodore-this explosion of blubber at the prick of a newspaper paragraph," he wrote. "We don't know whether it indicates that he is growing old and touchy, or that he is becoming ambitious of notoriety." is the result either of personal ill-will toward him or interest averse to his, which leads to the said newspaper being impelled to assail and if possible injure him." Personal ill will indeed. Raymond responded with insults the very next day. "We are at some little loss to understand the meaning of this sudden floundering of the Commodore-this explosion of blubber at the prick of a newspaper paragraph," he wrote. "We don't know whether it indicates that he is growing old and touchy, or that he is becoming ambitious of notoriety."99 But this attack was also a matter of politics. During the late 1850s, even into 1860, the New York Times New York Times waged a crusade against Vanderbilt. On February 9, 1859, Raymond published perhaps his most memorable assault, "Your Money or Your Line," berating Vanderbilt for forcing Pacific Mail to pay his monthly subsidy under the threat of his renewed competition. In this piece, Raymond crafted a lasting metaphor in American culture: the robber baron. waged a crusade against Vanderbilt. On February 9, 1859, Raymond published perhaps his most memorable assault, "Your Money or Your Line," berating Vanderbilt for forcing Pacific Mail to pay his monthly subsidy under the threat of his renewed competition. In this piece, Raymond crafted a lasting metaphor in American culture: the robber baron.
Like those old German barons who, from their eyries along the Rhine, swooped down upon the commerce of the noble river and wrung tribute from every passenger that floated by, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, with all the steamers of the Accessory Transit held in his leash, has insisted that the Pacific Company should pay him toll, taken of all America that had business with California and the South Sea, and the Pacific Company have submitted to his demand.... He has... devoted himself to the study of the steam navigation of his country-not with the object of extending its development, but for the purpose of making every prosperous enterprise of the kind in turn his tributary or his victim.
Though Raymond never used the exact phrase "robber baron," it entered the American lexicon as a term for an industrialist who wields his power unscrupulously, to the harm of others. Yet it is essential to note how the metaphor originated. Raymond criticized Vanderbilt for preying upon preying upon monopolists. He attacked him for, as he wrote elsewhere, "driving too sharp a competition." monopolists. He attacked him for, as he wrote elsewhere, "driving too sharp a competition."100 In "Your Money or Your Line," Raymond derided "competition for competition's sake; competition which crowds out legitimate enterprises... or imposes tribute upon them." On July 13, 1860, he called on "our mercantile community to look the curse of competition fully in the face." In "Your Money or Your Line," Raymond derided "competition for competition's sake; competition which crowds out legitimate enterprises... or imposes tribute upon them." On July 13, 1860, he called on "our mercantile community to look the curse of competition fully in the face."
To later generations of Americans, Raymond's critique would make no sense. Vanderbilt was a robber baron because he was excessively competitive? Vanderbilt's enterprises were not "legitimate," even though they were more successful than those that supposedly were? Was competition supposed to have no winners or losers? And wasn't it Pacific Mail that was the monopolistic force that restrained trade by buying off competitors (a policy that made it immensely profitable)?
Raymond's arguments reflected a deep and persistent strain of Whig philosophy. The editor himself was a "reliably orthodox" Whig, and his newspaper was founded by "Whig bankers," as two historians write.101When he tried to express his loathing for Vanderbilt, he drew on a political vocabulary, a political mind-set, now decades old, crafted in a younger America with limited capital and few large enterprises. The Whigs had strongly believed in economic development, and had championed legal devices such as corporations to assist wealthy men in concentrating capital for useful purposes. Pacific Mail, which originated in a federal plan to guarantee mail service to the Pacific coast, offered a perfect example of their ideals; more than that, the elite status of its incorporators appealed to social prejudices that lingered among old New York Whigs. Raymond even depicted corporations as fragile creations. In "Your Money or Your Line," he made the argument that "no joint-stock company... can ever be a match for a single man" who possessed a large sum of money. Raymond gave voice to a certain strand of Whig thinking that had always condemned the destructive tendency of free competition, casting it as piracy that annihilated capital.