The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (139 page)

36
SED 13, 35th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 1; Robert E. May,
The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire: 1854–1861
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989), 113.

37
Strong, 2:211; Burrows & Wallace,
666–70
.

38
NYH
, June 17, 1857,
Liberator
, July 17, 1857; Burrows & Wallace, 836–41.

39
Stampp, 214–7, 221; Burrows & Wallace, 846–7; McPherson, 188–91; Tanner, 226.

40
NYH
, January 1, 1858; Strong, 2:351.

41
NYT
, September 3, 19, 1857; RGD, NYC, 342:290.

42
Strong, 2:355–6;
NYT
, October 6, 1857.

43
RGD, NYC, 316:81.

44
This dialogue is taken from Tanner, 225–30.

45
Tanner, 225–30; October 21, 1857, HRR Minutes;
NYTr
in
HC
, August 15, 1876. The crisis largely involved the coupons of the first-mortgage bonds, which the company lacked the funds to pay.

46
Tanner, 225–30; RGD, NYC, 340:47. As mentioned earlier, Tanner's quotation strikes me as accurate. It closely fits the HRR Minutes and RGD, which records a mortgage to Drew issued on September 30, 1857. I believe this unpublished testimony was given on March 3, 1869, to a committee of the New York State Assembly; see NYSAD 142, 92nd sess., 1869, in which CV and Horace Clark testified that CV took the bonds at a 50 percent discount.

47
November 11, 20, 28, 1857, January 30, February 10, 1858, HRR Minutes. On the HRR's improved condition in 1858, see
NYH
, May 19, 1858; NYSAD 142, 92nd sess., 1869.

48
HW
, November 21, 1857. For a discussion of Thanksgiving's spread, see
JoC
, November 30, 1837.

49
NYH
, February 23, 1868;
CT
, January 13, 1867, February 11, 1868.

50
H W
, November 28, 1857. For more information about CV's racing and the carriages of the wealthy, see
NYH
, June 18, December 5, 1859; Melvin L. Adelman, “The First Modern Sport in America: Harness Racing in New York City, 1825–1870,”
Journal of Sport History
8, no. 1 (spring 1981): 5–32. Adelman notes that Thoroughbred racing was considered a sport of the older, aristocratic elite, and that harness racing—both formal and informal—was championed by a rising wealthy class that lacked social pedigree. On Frank Work's role as CVs broker, see
NYS
, March 7, 1878.

51
SED 13, 35th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 1;
NYT
, December 28, 1857; Strong, 2:378–9; May,
Southern Dream
, 113–25; Folkman, 95–6.

52
NYH
, January 28, March 1, 1858; Manning, 4:660–1; Burns, 221–4. Webster tagged along with Allen, to his apparent annoyance. On the attitude of the Nicaraguans toward the White contract, see
NYH
, April 28, 1858.

53
Pacific Mail had stopped its subsidy during the operation of CKG and CM's Nicaragua line, but resumed when they suspended operations.
NYH
, February 4, 5, 1858;
NYT
, February 6, March 27, April 21, 1858;
Independent
, February 11, 1858; Kemble, 78, 92.

54
NYT
, April 10, 1858;
National Era
, April 15, 1858; SctDP;
ATC v. CKG
, September 13, 1858, file 1858–53, Superior Court, NYCC A year later, the receiver for Accessory Transit asked for the decision to be set aside “on the ground of collusion between Vanderbilt and Garrison;”
NYT
, September 26, 1859.

55
RGD, NYC, 374:97;
NYT
, March 14, 18, 1854, April 28, 1858;
CV v. JLW
, November 7, 1860, file 1860-#985, Superior Court, NYCC. On White's private opera box, see
NYH
, December 25, 1855.

56
HW
, March 8, 27, 1858;
NYH
, April 2, 1858;
NYT
, May 26, 27, 1858; Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt,
American Steamships on the Atlantic
(Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 1981), 169–70.

57
David Colden Murray, Receiver of the ATC, v. CV
, November 3, 1859, file PL 1859-M V74, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC.

58
NYT
, March 27, July 1, 5, 1858.

59
NYH
, May 30, 1858;
NYT
, June 28, July 15, 16, 31, 1858; SctDP; Manning, 4:686; Burns, 231. See also Cyril Allen, “Felix Belly: Nicaraguan Canal Promoter,”
HAHR
37, no. 1 (February 1957): 46–59, to understand the role of Felix Belly, a French canal promoter who intrigued against CV.

60
McPherson, 163–7.

61
NYT
, July 2, 1858. See also
CT
, March 22, 1858;
NYT
, February 9, 1858.

62
Daniel E. Sickles to JB, September 29, 1857, roll 33, JBP For more on JB's coldness toward CV because of his hostility to Clark, see
NYT
, September 2, 1858.

63
BE
, August 18, 1858;
NYT
, April 6, July 2, September 2, 1858.

64
Burrows & Wallace, 847–51;
NYT
, August 9, 13, 1858.

65
Strong, 2:411–3;
NYT
, January 28, September 6, 7, 27, October 7, 1858.

66
NYT
, October 15, 29, 30, 1858;
National Era
, November 4, 1858; Strong, 2:419.

67
NYH
, September 5, October 5, 1859;
Washington Evening Star
, December 6, 1858;
NYH
, September 5, 1859;
NYTr
, September 8, 1859; SED 45, 36th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11; Kemble, 83.

68
NYT
, June 11, December 13, 1858;
Washington Evening Star
, December 13, 1858; Manning, 4:862.

69
NYT
, June 2, 1860;
HW
, February 12, 19, March 5, 1859;
NYH
, April 29, 1859;
LT
, March 2, 1859;
PS
, July 28, 1859. There are signs of an early start to negotiations with Samuel L. M. Barlow, a prominent figure in Pacific Mail; see CV to Samuel L. M. Barlow, May 7, 1859, BW box 30 (47), Samuel L. M. Barlow Collection, HL; CV to John T. Wright and William S. Freeman, October 19, 1859, CV-NYHS.

70
New York Observer and Chronicle
, April 7, 1859;
NYT
, November 28, 1859;
NYH
, September 10, October 3, 1859, January 1, 1860;
NYTr
, September 7, 1859; Pacific Mail Steamship Co.,
Proceedings in Connection with Negotiations with C Vanderbilt, November 30th, 1859
(New York: G. F. Nesbitt & Co., 1859), copy in BL; Kemble, 83–5. Though incorporated in April, the Atlantic & Pacific Steamship Company advertised for stock subscriptions in
NYT
, September 23, 1859, and was mistakenly derided as simply an attempt to drive down the Pacific Mail share price.

71
Washington Evening Star
, December 6, 1858;
NYH
, September 5, 1859;
NYTr
, September 8, 1859; SED 45, 36th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11; Kemble, 83. CV's correspondence with Holt appears in SED 45.

72
CV to Pliny Miles, June 8, 1859, NYSL.

73
CV to JB, August 30, 31, November 1, 1859, reel 38, JB to Alexander Dimitry November 1, 1859, reel 50, JBP.

74
SED 45, 36th Cong., 1st sess.;
NYT
, September 27, October 13, 1859;
NYH
, October 3, 1859;
HW
, September 24, 1859; October 1, 1859. On CVs purchase of CKG's stake, see
NYT
, October 10, 1859;
NYH
, October 10, 1859;
CT
, October 14, 1859;
NYTr
, March 2, 1860. CKG continued to serve as agent until Vanderbilt's new agents arrived from New York; CV to John T. Wright and William S. Freeman, October 19, 1859, CV-NYHS. Kemble, 93, reported that an examination of Pacific Mail's books showed that it lost money.

75
NYH
, October 5, 6, 7, 1859;
CT
, October 8, 1859;
NYT
, October 25, 1859; SED 45, 36th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11; SED 44, 41st Cong., 3rd sess., vol. 1.

76
HW
, December 18, 1858.

77
NYH
, October 17, 1859.

78
NYH
, July 10, 1859;
HW
, October 1, 1859; Strong, 2:454.

79
NYH
, December 5, 1859. On the symbolic nature of the CV-Bonner rivalry, and the social implications of the rise of trotting, see Adelman, “The First Modern Sport.”

80
HW
, February 26, 1859.

81
Burrows & Wallace, 697–705, 845–6, 849–51
(Harper's
quoted on 697).

82
Burrows & Wallace, 847–51;
NYT
, August 9, 13, 1858.