Towards the latter end of Mr. Filmore's Administration, I was made Principal Draughtsman to the Gen'l Land Office, Mr. John Wilson of Chicago being Commissioner. After Mr. Pierce was inaugurated, I being an old line whig [Whig], was advised by Mr. Wilson to sink down into an assistant and hand over the place of Principal to a Democrat. I did so, and kept my position throughout Mr. Pierce'[s] administration.
When Mr. Buchanan entered the Presidential mansion, I was sent for by the Commissioner Mr. Thos. A. Hendricks and was asked what politics I held. I answered I was an old line Whig. Then he looked full in my face and asked me what were my sentiments with regard to slavery. As I was beginning to speak he advised me not to say anything if I thought what I had to say would criminate myself. I said, I have made myself offensive to my friends in Virginia for thirty years by my advocacy of free labor. Of course, sir, I expected immediately to be turned out of office. But Mr. Hendricks complimented me for my candor and retained me throughout the administration.
When you Sir, were elected President of the United States, when trouble came upon [the] Union, but one Virginian of all that served in the Gen'l Land office remained and took the oath of allegiance, and that one was myself.
My brother in law, Peter C. Johnston was a member of the Convention of the State of Virginia which pass'd the ordinance of secession. It was proposed in that body to expatriate all Virginians then employed in the service of the Gen'l Government. This was in July [1861].
Peter Johnston asked leave of the assembly to suspend the operation of that act until August, so that I might have due notice of its intent and bearing upon myself. This letter reached me from the Point of Rocks informing me of the act then in operation, advising me to resign immediately & come home. A copy of this letter of mine and the original of his are in the archives of the State at Wheeling -- I sent them to Govr. Pierpont.
When Captain Bielaski was put upon the staff of Genl. McLernand, I did certainly calculate that I should be raised again to the position I had given up to him. No sir, I was kept under by the editor of a newspaper.
During the continuing in office of Mr. Caleb Smith I remained unmolested, but when he was made Judge, and the other secretaries Otto & Co., came in, I found myself one morning without office without debt, without money, & with a family to provide for.
I had previously sent my family down to this quiet Peninsula where I had purchased an old house and a small lot of ground, in hopes, by that economy I might during your administration pay for it.
It had been used by the Federal soldiers as a Barrack & was consequently torn to pieces. I repaired it at some cost & my family are now starving in it.
Now Sir, I have stated my case. Whatever reason the assistant Secretary may have had for turning out a loyal man, I neither know nor care.
What I ask of you the head of the nation is, have I been fairly dealt with, and will you suffer me to be thus treated when you have the power to put me in a better position[?] There is a place in Mr. Newton's Bureau which would suit me -- a Draughtsman[']s place. If you ask it of Newton, he will confer it upon me.
I refer you to Mr. John Wilson of Chicago, Judge William Ballard, Louisville Kentucky & Philip Harvy of the Topographical Bureau. These gentlemen will tell you the truth -- but sir for God[']s sake save me from the testimony of the spies around and about the metropolis. They must live, and will lie.
With great esteem
Your o'bt st.
Harvey Michel
[John Wilson (1807-1876), Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1852-1855
Thomas Andrew Hendricks (1819-1885), Commissioner of the General Land Office, 1855-1859 (later, briefly Vice President under Grover Cleveland). Internal note states he was a friend of Harvey's
Peter Carr Johnston (1793-1877)
Gov. Pierpont = Francis Harrison Pierpont / aka Peirpont (1814-1899), Governor of the Restored Government of Virginia (Union)
Captain Alexander Bielaski (1811-1861), Principal draughtsman (draftsman) of General Land Office from 1853 until 1861. Friend of Lincoln, killed at Battle of Belmont, Missouri, U.S. Grant's first American Civil War battle
John Alexander McClernand (1812-1900)
Caleb Blood Smith (1808-1864), Secretary of the Interior in 1861 and 1862
John Palmer Usher (1816-1889), Assistant Secretary of the Interior
in 1861 and 1862, Secretary from 1863 until May 15, 1865
William Tod Otto (1816-1908), Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 1863 to 1871
Mr. Newton = possibly Brigadier General John Newton (1823-1895), from Norfolk, sometime head of the US Corps of Engineers, or more likely, Isaac Newton (1800-1867), head of the Agricultural Division of the US Patent Office in 1861 and first Commissioner of the US Department of Agriculture from 1862 until 1865
Judge William Ballard = probably Judge Bland Ballard (1819-1879)
Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), US President, 1850-1853
Franklin Pierce (1804-1867), US President, 1853-1857
James Buchanan, Jr. (1791-1868), US President, 1857-1861
Internal note in pencil states that Harvey had freed his slaves twenty years before the war, or did he sell them?]
Original manuscript in the John Milton Binckley Papers, 1816-1943. Library of Congress Manuscript Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. This is my rough transcription.
Many thanks to William Myers for sending scanned copies of the documents from the Binckley papers, and also to Mary Davy and Sally Young for their assistance.
Note: Harvey Mitchell's second Lincoln letter, dated January 6, 1865, can be found here.
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