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Roscoe Conkling’s Wartime Cotton Speculation

2015; Volume: 96; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/nyh.2015.0001

2328-8132

Jeffrey D. Broxmeyer,

American History and Culture

New York History Spring 2015© 2015 by The New York State Historical Association 167 Roscoe Conkling’s Wartime Cotton Speculation Jeffrey D. Broxmeyer, University of Toledo The American Civil War catapulted a new generation of political leaders into positions of influence. In New York, Roscoe Conkling was chief among this crop of ambitious politicians and he remained a dominant figure well into the 1880s. In the war’s aftermath, and the eclipse of slavery as a central issue, Conkling institutionalized the Republican Party in the state by establishing a political machine through control over federal patronage. Despite mastery of the spoils system, and quite unlike many of his own political lieutenants, Conkling did not conspicuously leverage his position to build personal wealth while holding public office.1 Yet, it would be a mischaracterization to claim that Conkling did not profit from politics . During the war years, he used party and government connections to discreetly make a small fortune by speculating in cotton. Previous scholars have failed to scrutinize Conkling’s participation in this quasi-legal venture . New evidence, including Federal Income Tax records, suggests that long-hidden wartime cotton profits first established the future U.S. Senator as a property owner. This pivotal episode deserves attention because it sheds light on the role of private wealth accumulation in political factionalism , and the way that savvy Republican officeholders benefited from the cotton policies established during President Abraham Lincoln’s first term. For Roscoe Conkling, an alliance that initially formed with partners over wartime commerce persisted in political and business relationships well into the Gilded Age. 1. After resignation from the U.S. Senate in 1881, however, Conkling became wealthy for the first time in his life. He spun political influence into a successful career as a corporate lawyer and lobbyist for railroads and other business interests. By contrast, top Conkling loyalists such as Alonzo Cornell, Chester Arthur, and George Bliss built personal fortunes during their tenure in office. Jeffrey D. Broxmeyer, “Politics as a Sphere of Wealth Accumulation: Cases of Gilded Age New York, 1855–1888 (PhD Diss., City University of New York-Graduate Center, 2014), chapter 4. 168 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY Roscoe Conkling’s portrait from Charles A. Dana, “Reminiscences of Men and Events of the Civil War” McClure’s Magazine Vol. 10, No. 1 (November 1897): 29. Courtesy Print Collection. Miriam and Ida D. Wallach Division. Prints and Photographs. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Broxmeyer Roscoe Conkling’s Cotton Speculation 169 From Electoral Defeat to Political Commerce At the outbreak of the Civil War, Roscoe Conkling was already a rising star in the Republican Party and in New York State politics. Although he was only twenty-two-years-old at the time, Conklin’s antebellum family connections had led to an appointment by Governor Hamilton Fish to the office of Oneida County District Attorney. By the time the Confederates States Army fired on the United States Army position in Fort Sumter, Conkling had already served as Mayor of Utica, a thriving town in the Mohawk Valley, and was in his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives where he represented Oneida and Herkimer counties. The campaign of 1862 marked an unfortunate reversal for Conkling, who had developed a “proprietary interest” in a seat that by tradition had rotated among local party activists.2 The Union’s disastrous first year in the war generated a wave of public dissatisfaction that shook Republican bastions and punished Lincoln supporters at the ballot box. In the midst of escalating conflict, Roscoe Conkling was suddenly ousted from office by Francis Kernan, an anti-war Democrat, fellow Utican, and former mentor in the legal profession. Yet, Conkling did not enlist in the military, the obvious choice of men of his age and sectional passions. The record of Frederick A. Conkling, his brother, offers a stark contrast . A member of Congress representing New York City, Frederick was also defeated in the election of 1862. Upon the end of his term in office, Frederick enlisted at the rank of colonel in the New York 84th Infantry Regiment, for which he raised volunteers.3 At the time of Frederick’s enlistment...