AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, DATED AT BOSTON, OCTOBER 4, 1889, FROM BARRETT WENDELL TO "MY DEAR MR. HAVEN," DESCRIBING PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON'S DISTRAUGHT STATE DURING THE IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS: "THE STORY OF ANDREW JOHNSON IS THIS. I HAVE IT DIRECTLY FROM THE MAN CONCERNED. THIS WAS AN INTIMATE FRIEND OF MR. HUGH MCCULLOCH, WHO YOU MAY REMEMBER WAS JOHNSON'S SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. DURING THE IMPEACHMENT THIS GENTLEMAN, WHO CHANCED TO BE IN WASHINGTON, CALLED ON MR. MCCULLOCH. THE SECRETARY . . . ASKED HIM HIS OPINION OF THE PRESIDENT. " 'I THINK HIM,' SAID THE VISITOR, 'IMPOLITIC BUT THOROUGHLY HONEST.' 'YOU MUST TELL HIM SO,' SAID MR. MCCULLOCH. "IN SPITE OF PROTESTATIONS, THE VISITOR WAS HURRIED TO THE WHITE HOUSE & INTO SOME INNER ROOM, WHERE THEY FOUND JOHNSON ALONE. THERE HE WAS ASKED TO REPEAT TO THE PRESIDENT WHAT HE HAD SAID TO THE SECRETARY. WITH NATURAL HESITATION HE DID SO. WHEN HE CAME TO THE WORD 'HONEST' JOHNSON SPRANG TO HIS FEET, HELD OUT BOTH HANDS, & LITERALLY WEEPING, GRASPED THE HANDS OF THE VISITOR, TOO MUCH AFFECTED TO SPEAK. "I KNOW OF FEW MORE PATHETIC SCENES THAN THIS... IGNORANT, PATRIOTIC JOHNSON, MADDENED BY THE HOUNDS OF PARTY POLITICS, BELIEVING HIM SELF DOOMED TO STAND ALONE FOR WHAT HE BELIEVED RIGHT, & ACTUALLY AFFECTED BEYOND THE RANGE OF SPEECH BY THE MEETING WITH A SINGLE MAN WHO WAS WILLING TO AVOW BELIEF IN HIS HONESTY. JOHNSON, YOU REMEMBER, WOULD NOT DISAVOW THE UNION WHEN THE SECESSIONISTS OF TENNESSEE PUT A ROPE AROUND HIS NECK. A VULGAR FELLOW HE WAS NO DOUBT - A COMMON MAN OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. BUT IN THE END, I BELIEVE, HE WILL BE RECOGNIZED AS ONE WHO DID HIS BEST. SINCERELY YOURS, BARRETT WENDELL"
6" x 4 1/4". [4]pp [one folded sheet], unlined paper, completely in ink manuscript. Docketed on edge of first page, "Wendell B. Oct. 4, 89." Very Good. Barrett Wendell (1855-1921) was a Harvard literature professor. The story that he tells in this Letter suggests the enormous tension engulfing President Johnson..... More