The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (144 page)

76
NYT
, February 4, 1864;
NYS
, December 15, 1877;
NYTr
, November 2, 1878;
NYH
, March 5, 1879; Frontis, Directors' Minutes, HR, oversize vol. 248, NYCRR; NYSAD 19, 90th sess., 1867;
NYS
, December 9, 1885.

77
SED 46, 39th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 2.

78
NYSAD 19, 90th sess., 1867;
CT
, February 25, 1866. James A. Ward discusses the nation-state metaphor for railroads in
Railroads and the Character of America, 1820–1851
(Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986).

79
A mysterious bill to consolidate the Harlem and the New York Central drove this commentary;
NYT
, February 6, 1864;
RT
, February 13, 1864;
NYH
, February 25, 1864.

80
Directors' Minutes, January 27, 1864, HRR, reel 26, box 242, NYCRR; J. C. Buckhout to CV, February 11, 1864, Engineer's Office Letterbook, HRR, 1864, box 19, NYCRR;
RT
, May 14, 1864;
NYT
, April 16, 1864, March 19, 1866; Lane, 208–15; Alvin F. Harlow,
The Road of the Century: The Story of the New York Central
(New York: Creative Age Press, 1947), 164, 180. Harlow argues that CVs action in participating in the creation of the Athens railroad was “inexplicable.” It makes perfect sense, however, if CV was not yet the hidden power in the HR when the Athens project was conceived.

81
Smith, 265–7; Fowler, 162–4; RGD, NYC 265:237.

82
Executive Committee Minutes, April 11, 1863, HR, oversize vol. 249; Directors' Minutes, June 8, 1863, HR, oversize vol. 247; both NYCRR.

83
The basic story told by Clews, 107–9, appeared much earlier in
Harper's New Monthly Magazine
, April 1865. In
Harper's
, however, the management of the Hudson corner was contrasted with CVs handling of the Harlem corners, rather than attributed to CV himself.

84
Clews, 107–9; NYSAD 19, 90th sess., 1867. Even Lane, 208–11, who readily accepts most of Clews's anecdotes, expresses doubts about CVs role in the HR corner. Tellingly, CV abandoned the double-tracking of the HR after he took control of the HRR.

85
NYH
, October 19, 30, 1863; Lane, 195. It is clear from
NYH
, September 7, 1863, that the purchase of the stage lines had never been effected.

86
Directors' Minutes, March 12, 1864, HRR, reel 26, box 242, NYCRR;
NYT
, March 17, 1864;
NYH
, March 25, 26, April 30, 1864; Lane, 195–6.

87
Browder, 66.

88
NYH
, April 21, 1864; Lane, 194–8. Fowler, 350–4, not only claims that Drew was a bear in Harlem, but also provides an excellent account of calls. Browder, 103–6, agrees that Drew took a bear position in Harlem in 1864.

89
Fowler, 351. See also Clews, 107–9;
BM
, May 1864.

90
CT
, April 9, 1864;
Zion's Herald and Wesleyan Journal
, April 13, 1864; Strong, 3:430. On the Sanitary Commission, see McPherson, 480–3.

91
Fowler, 284–6;
NYT
, April 16, 1864.

92
NYH
, April 17, 19, 21, 1864;
EP in CT
, April 23, 1864;
NYT
, April 22, 1864; Medbery 241; Fowler, 71–4, 260, 354, 364–5; Robert P. Sharkey
Money, Class, and Party: An Economic Study of Civil War and Reconstruction
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1959), 51–2. For a recollection of the impact of Chase's act on the corner, see
NYTr
, August 5, 1876.

93
NYH
, April 30, May 15, June 3, 1864;
NYT
, May 5, 12, 18, 1864. See also the reminiscences of a Wall Street insider,
NYTr
, August 5, 1876. Lane, 196–8, repeats Clews's fanciful version, complete with dialogue that may be regarded as fiction. Medbery 159–60, gives an excellent description of the workings of a corner, explicitly citing this one as an example.

94
Lane, 198–9;
NYT
, April 22, 23, May 18, 1864;
NYH
, April 30, 1864; Fowler, 355–6. It will be noted that I am relying more freely on Fowler, even though, like Clews, his version of events necessarily relied on rumor. Fowler wrote much sooner after the events quoted, and was generally far more reliable than Clews. Still, I give credence to his account only when he offers personal information or is confirmed by other sources.

95
Clews, 116.

96
Directors' Minutes, May 17, 18, 1864, HRR, reel 26, box 242, NYCRR.

97
Directors' Minutes, June 13, 14, 1864, HR, oversize vol. 247; Executive Committee Minutes, June 14, July 6, 1864, HR, oversize vol. 249; all NYCRR.

98
CT
, July 20, 1864;
United States Service Magazine
, August 1864. On July 1, Congress ceased to pay CV for mail service to California; SED 44, 41st Cong., 3rd sess., vol. 1.

99
NYH
, May 2, 1878; Smith, 178–85.

100
NYT
, July 9, 1865, June 26, 1866;
CT
, August 12, 1866; Smith, 180.

101
CT
, September 6, 1860, September 23, 1866;
PS
, August 11, 1864;
NYT
, July 9, 1865; Smith, 183. Lane, 199, and Medbery, 163–4, claim that Morrissey went against CV in the second Harlem corner; Fowler, 355, says the opposite. Fowler seems more likely to be right.
NYT
, July 9, 1865, reports that the Saratoga track, with CV as a key backer, was in operation with Morrissey as a manager in 1864, hinting that Morrissey's attempt to ingratiate himself with CV dated to the aftermath of the first Harlem corner.

102
NYS
, December 22, 1877.

103
HG to Hanson A. Risley February 16, March 27, 1864, Hanson A. Risley Papers, Duke.

104
CJV to HG, September 7, 1864, reel 2, HGP.

105
HG to Abraham Lincoln, September 21, 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, LOC. HG was correct that CV was a leading purchaser of federal bonds; see, for example, a report of his purchase of $300,000 in 5–20 bonds in early 1865, HED 52, 39th Cong., 2nd sess., vol. 8.

106
HG to William P. Fessenden, October 4, 1864, HG, E. D. Morgan et al. to William P. Fessenden, October 10, 1864, HG to William P. Fessenden, December 1, 1864, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, NYHS; HG to Hanson A. Risley October 12, Hanson A. Risley Papers, Duke.

107
HG to Abraham Lincoln, November 23, 1864, Abraham Lincoln Papers, LOC.

108
Directors' Minutes, September 6, October 4, 1864, HR, oversize vol. 247, NYCRR.

109
Medbery 161–2, gives a story circulating in Wall Street in 1870 that CV had tested WHV by trying to trick him into short-selling Hudson River stock at a time when he was planning to drive the price up; WHV, however, saw through the ploy, and purchased Hudson River instead. Though Lane tells the tale as well, it was simply one more rumor circulating around CV There is no good evidence that he tried to undercut his son, on whom he increasingly relied.

Fifteen
The Power to Punish

1
W. L. Garrison to Wife, September 5, 1864, William Lloyd Garrison Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, Boston Public Library.

2
NAR
, April 1867; Foner, 462; Alfred D. Chandler Jr., ed.,
The Railroads; The Nation's First Big Business: Sources and Readings
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965), 3, 9.

3
William Cronon,
Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
(New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1991), 23–93; Edward Chase Kirkland,
Men, Cities, and Transportation: A Study in New England History, 1820–1900
, vol. 1 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1948), 496; George Rogers Taylor and Irene D. Neu,
The American Railroad Network, 1861–1890
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956), 57, 67–75; Maury Klein,
Unfinished Business: The Railroad in American Life
(Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1994), 9–16; Alfred D. Chandler Jr.,
The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1977), 91.

4
Sven Beckert,
The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850–1896
(New York; Cambridge University Press, 2001), 145–9; Chandler,
Visible Hand
, 81–94; Chandler,
The Railroads
, 43; Foner, 20, 461; NYSAD 114, 90th sess., February 20, 1867. For bank reports, see
BM
throughout this period.

5
Annual Report, February 11, 1865, HR Annual Reports, oversize vol. 241, NYCRR; Thomas C. Cochran,
Railroad Leaders, 1845–1890: The Business Mind in Action
(New York: Russell & Russell, 1965, orig. pub. 1953), 63–4, 83, 84–6, 474–5; Alfred D. Chandler Jr., “The Railroads: Pioneers in Modern Corporate Management,”
BHR
39, no. 1 (spring 1965): 16–40; Alfred D. Chandler Jr. and Stephen Salsbury “The Railroads: Innovators in Modern Business Administration,” in Bruce Mazlish, ed.,
The Railroad and the Space Program: An Exploration in Historical Analogy
(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1965), 127–62; Chandler,
Visible Hand
, 94–121.

6
NYSAD 19, 90th sess., 1867. For an example of CVs guidance to his distant agents during his steamship years, see CV to John T. Wright and William S. Freeman, October 19, 1859, CV-NYHS.

7
NYSAD 19, 90th sess., 1867; LW Dictation. For examples of CVs scrutiny and direction, see J. C. Buckhout to CV May 23, 1864, Engineer's Office Letterbook, HRR, 1864, box 19, NYCRR;
RT
, September 30, 1865.