Clay, Clement Claiborne (1816-1882) to Virginia Clay-Clopton
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02590 Author/Creator: Clay, Clement Claiborne (1816-1882) Place Written: Fortress Monroe, Virginia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 21 August 1865 Pagination: 4 p. ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy
Clay, a former U.S. and Confederate Senator, writes to his wife while imprisoned at Fort Monroe. Informs her that, "The hardest part of my trial here has been my solicitude about you, my parents and other kindred, who, I feared, would be tortured by newspaper accounts of my condition, or bold assertations of my guilt, or possibly, reports of evidence establishing it." States that he is relieved to hear that she gives little faith to newspaper accounts. Comments on his health, which is fair. He has not had to use any of the medicinal remedies that frighten his wife, such as "prussic acid, strychnine or any other dangerous medicines, ... nor yr. especial dread, chloroform." Mentions that he is fairly comfortable and has a diet that suits his sick stomach, and an airy, large room. Reports that he cannot sleep well because the lights are on continuously and a guard is in the room with him 24 hours a day. Remarks on the kindness of his keepers, " ... the gentle hands I have fallen into; all the officers and soldiers, with scarcely any exception, have treated me with as much tenderness as their orders permitted ... So you see there is something to soothe sorrow even sometimes from the hands that cause it; and my unpleasant situation is not without its alleviating circumstances."
After the assassination of President Lincoln, Clay was accused of having taken part in a plot in Canada against Lincoln's life and also of having planned raids into the north from Canada. He was held at Fortress Monroe for almost a year without trial, and then freed.
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