Beschreibung:

HAYES, Rutherford B. Autograph letter signed ("R.B. Hayes") as President, to Secretary of State WILLIAM M. EVARTS, Washington, 26 August 1878. 1½ pages, 8vo (8 11/16 x 5 3/16 in.), on Executive Mansion stationery, very minor browning, otherwise in fine condition. HAYES CONSIDERS THE APPOINTMENT OF EX-CONFEDERATE JOHN SINGLETON MOSBY, PARTISAN RANGER John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916), a Confederate scout under the command of General J.E.B. Stuart at the outset of the Civil War, raised a band of partisan rangers in 1862 whose guerilla activities in Northern Virginia were a scourge to Union forces. Mosby's men mercilessly preyed upon Union supply lines in a region quickly dubbed "Mosby's Confederacy." The Yankees searched endlessly for the rangers but were unable to significantly control their activities before the end of the war. Mosby, a hero in the South, opened a law practice after the war and befriended his former enemy, Ulysses S. Grant, much to the displeasure of his southern brethren. Here, writing to his Secretary of State, the President expresses uncertainty about the confirmation of his appointee Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1826), son of the former President: "In the doubt as to opposition to Lincoln's confirmation, & for other reasons I am inclined to give Mosby his choice of C[hina] or H[ong] K[ong]." Mosby was ultimately appointed as Minister to Hong Kong. As Hayes intends a trip in the near future, he asks Evarts to return to Washington to oversee affairs in his absence: "On reflection I shall feel safer if you are in Washington soon after we go west. I will instruct my secretary and clerks to refer to you any matter of importance, and request the members of the Cabinet to do the same." He concludes: "Mrs. Hayes will be glad to see the young people in our party going west."