nly cause for
complaint and faultfinding. Andrew, the Governor, Sumner
and Wilson, the Senators, most of the members of Congress,
most of the leaders in the Legislature and in the military
and political activities, were of the old Free Soil Party.
There was a feeling, not wholly unreasonable, that the old
Whigs had been somewhat neglected, and that their cooperation
and help were received rather coldly. This feeling led to
the movement, called the People's Party, which begun at a
large public meeting in Cambridge, where my dear old friend
and partner, ex-Governor Washburn, was one of the speakers.
That party called a State Convention and nominated Charles
Devens for Governor. Devens had been an old Whig. He had
become a Republican in 1856, and had been one of the earliest
to enlist in the War, in which he became afterward the most
famous Massachusetts soldier. He was a man of spirit, very
affectionate and generous, always ready to stand by his friends,
especially if he suspected that anybody had treated them unjustly.
The People's Party sent a Committee to the seat of war in
September, 1862. The Committee found Devens in his tent,
repeated to him the plans of his old Whig friends, and induced
him to accept the nomination of the People's Party for Governor.

I was called to the battlefield of Antietam, where a near
kinsman of mine had been mortally wounded, just about the
same time. I entered Devens's tent just as this Committee
was leaving it with his written acceptance in their hands.
I told him the other side of the story, told him how the
whole people were alive with enthusiasm, and that Governor
Andrew was doing the very best possible, and that these petty
jealousies, while there was some little reason for them,
ought not to affect the public action of the people. Devens
regretted very much what he had done. He told me that if
he could recall the letter, he would do it. But it was too
late.

Governor Andrew was triumphantly reelected, and Devens was
ever after an earnest and loyal Republican.

CHAPTER X
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM
1848 TO 1869

In 1848, the Free Soil Party in Massachusetts nominated candidates
for State officers. It was made up of Whigs, Democrats and
members of the Liberty Party. It had made no distinct issue
with the Whig Party upon matters of State administration.
Governor Briggs, the Whig Governor, was a wise and honest
Chief Magistrate, highly respected by a