Holt, Joseph (1807-1894) Letter from the Hon. Joseph Holt
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08694 Author/Creator: Holt, Joseph (1807-1894) Place Written: Washington, D.C. Type: Pamphlet Date: 1861 Pagination: 1 v. : 23 p. ; 22.7 x 14.7 cm. Order a Copy
Full title is: "Letter from the Hon. Joseph Holt, Upon the Policy of the General Government, the Pending Revolution, Its Objects, and the Duty of Kentucky in the Crisis." Printed by Henry Polkinhorn in Washington, D.C. Printed copy of a letter Holt wrote to Kentucky Judge Joshua Speed on 31 May 1861. Is glad that Kentucky has not joined the Confederacy, but says it is disappointing they have chosen a neutral course and have denied the right of all to march on their soil. Goes on to say the South is at fault for the course of events. Says origins of conflict go back to the 1830s "When General Jackson crushed nullification, he said it would revive again under the form of slavery agitation: and we have lived to see his prediction verified. Indeed that agitation, during the last fifteen or twenty years, has been almost the entire stock in trade of Southern politicians." Lays out the case why Kentucky should avoid joining the Confederacy, saying "Could my voice reach every dwelling in Kentucky, I would implore its inmates-if they would not have the rivers of their prosperity shrink away, as do unfed streams beneath the summer heat- to rouse themselves from their lethargy, and fly to the rescue of their country before it is everlastingly too late." Original wrappers and stab-stich binding.
Holt served as U.S. Postmaster General and U.S. Secretary of War in the final days before the American Civil War, in the administration of President James Buchanan. During the war he served as the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army and was the chief prosecutor during the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators in 1865.
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