The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (136 page)

56
Soulé, 744–7; Baughman, 73; David Lavender,
Nothing Seemed Impossible: William C. Ralston and Early San Francisco
(Palo Alto: American West, 1975), 17, 21–39;
NYT
, October 20, 1851. Every secondary source I have consulted names CM and CKG as coconspirators during the 1853–54 conflict, even though no primary source evidence supports this conclusion. It appears to be an extrapolation based on their later partnership.

57
AltaC
, April 11, 1853; Deposition of Nicholas Laning, ATC Lawsuit; Deposition of Theodore A. Wakeman, Deposition of Benjamin F. Voorhees, MacDonald Lawsuit; Lavender, 58–60.

58
Dialogue and details of this conversation are taken from the depositions of Edmund Randolph, Alexander P. Crittenden, and John W. Bent, MacDonald Lawsuit.

59
Depositions of Edmund Randolph, Alexander P. Crittenden, John W. Bent, Benjamin F. Voorhees, and Edward J. C. Kewen, MacDonald Lawsuit;
NYT
, November 21, 1855. Randolph's partner in the transit-flipping scheme was Alexander P. Crittenden, who spoke to CKG about the proposal repeatedly; see William Walker to Alexander P. Crittenden, October 25, 1855, MacDonald Lawsuit.

60
Commodore Hiram Paulding, USS
Potomac
, Havana, to James C. Dobbin, January 22, 1856, roll 96: Home Squadron, June 30, 1855, to December 17, 1856, Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy from Commanding Officers of Squadrons, 1841–1886, Microfilm Publication M89, NA Walker, 150.

61
CV to WLM, March 26, 1856, HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11; Deposition of Edmund Randolph, San Francisco, January 11, 1859, MacDonald Lawsuit. Contrast my version of CKG's actions with that of Scroggs,
Filibusters and Financiers
, and “William Walker and the Steamship Corporation in Nicaragua,”
AHR
10, no. 4 (July 1905): 792–811. Scroggs crafted the accepted version of these events, arguing that it was CM and CKG's “plan” to convince Walker to annul the charter and give them the rights to carry passengers across Nicaragua. Abundant evidence not consulted by Scroggs, and a closer analysis, points to the version given here.

62
John H. Wheeler to WLM, December 15, 1855, Manning, 4:496:
NYT
, March 15, 1856; Walker, 146–8. Historians as well as contemporary reporters have ignored Walker's own declaration that the armed force dispatched by White convinced him to destroy the company. It is, in fact, the most satisfying explanation for his actions. By revoking the corporate charter, he endangered his lifeline to the United States, and made a powerful enemy; but, as an extreme reaction to White's small armed force, it is in keeping with Walker's loathing of treachery and obsession with power. Scroggs mentions the force, but only in the context of the Pierce administration's attitude toward the company; see “William Walker and the Steamship Corporation.”

63
Deposition of Edmund Randolph, San Francisco, January 11, 1859, Deposition of John W. Bent, New York, July 3, 1858, MacDonald Lawsuit; Walker, 150–2. Interestingly, Walker wrote that Alexander Crittenden and Randolph led him to believe that CKG wanted him to cancel the ATC charter, whereas Crittenden, Randolph, and French all testified that CKG resisted this action. The most likely explanation is that Crittenden and Randolph misled Walker to secure his cooperation.

Eleven Vanderbilt

1
BE
, December 8, 1855;
NYT
, December 11, 1855;
NYT
, December 11, 1855;
New York Courier and Enquirer
, reprinted in the
LT
, December 29, 1855;
NYH
, January 1, 1856. For a detailed analysis of the
Vanderbilt
(and all of CVs other Atlantic steamships) see Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt,
American Steamships on the Atlantic
(Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 1981), 222–49.

2
RGD, NYC, 374:1. CV would later claim that he spent between $800,000 and $900,000 on the
Vanderbilt;
see HsR 2, part 2A, 37th Cong., 2nd sess., vol. 2.

3
NYTr
, December 17, 24, 1855;
NYH
, December 24, 1855;
NYT
, February 7, 1856.

4
National Era
, January 10, 1856.

5
On the administration's attitude toward Walker and French, see
NYT
, December 14, 15, 1855;
NYH
, November 25, 1856; WLM to John H. Wheeler, November 8, 1855, Manning, 4:74. On the Crampton affair, see WLM to J. F. Crampton, August 27, 1855, vol. 80: Private Letterbook, WLMP;
NYH
, December 25, 1855;
NYT
, November 17, 1855, May 21, 1856;
SEP
, May 24, 1856.

6
NYH
, December 24, 25, 1855, May 9, 1856;
NYTr
, December 24, 25, 1855;
NYT
, December 25, 1855;
LT
, January 8, 1856.

7
NYH
, December 24, 25, 1855, May 9, 1856;
NYTr
, December 24, 25, 1855;
NYT
, December 25, 1855;
LT
, January 8, 1856. Scott, a careful man, searched the
Northern Light
for arms with McKeon, offering more proof that the company was not secretly supporting Walker, beyond its special emigrant rate. No arms were found on the ship; later it became clear that arms were being shipped down in sailing vessels;
NYTr
, February 7, 1857. Scott also testified that emigrants to California typically went heavily armed, often with revolvers and rifles, and so many weapons were probably carried to Nicaragua by individual filibuster recruits. On the Irish and Five Points, see Tyler Anbinder,
Five Points: The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum
(New York: Free Press, 2001), 42–50, 67–80, 111–40.

8
NYTr
, January 7, 8, 24, 1856;
NYH
, January 7, 8, 10, 1856;
NYW
, November 14, 1877;
David Colden Murray, Receiver of the ATC, v. CV
, November 3, 1859, file PL 1859-M V74, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC.

9
NYTr
, January 7, 8, 26, February 9, 1856;
NYH
, January 8, 10, 25, 1856; entry for January 21, 1856, Senate Journal, 34th Cong., 1st sess.; William Walker, Response to Interrogatories,
Charles MacDonald v. CKG and CM
, July 26, 1858, Papers Concerning the Filibuster War, BL;
David Colden Murray, Receiver of the ATC, v. CV
, November 3, 1859, file PL 1859-M V74, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC; CV to WLM, March 17, 1856, HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11. On CV's hostility toward Walker, see Wheeler's statement in Memorial Presented by David Colden Murray, fold. 1, box 1, CRCC.

10
NYTr
, January 7, 8, 26, February 9, 1856;
NYH
, January 8, 10, 25, 1856; entry for January 21, 1856, Senate Journal, 34th Cong., 1st sess.; William Walker, Response to Interrogatories,
Charles MacDonald v. CKG and CM
, July 26, 1858, Papers Concerning the Filibuster War, BL;
David Colden Murray, Receiver of the ATC, v. CV
, November 3, 1859, file PL 1859-M V74, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC; CV to WLM, March 17, 1856, HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11; Depositions of O. M. Wozendraft and Edward J. C. Kewen, MacDonald Lawsuit.

11
NYTr
, February 14, 19, 23, March 5, 11, 12, 1856;
NYT
, March 6, 1856.

12
NYTr
, March 14, 1856;
NYH
, March 14, 18, 1856;
NYT
, March 14, 15, 25, 1856. A dispute erupted on Wall Street over whether CM's short sales were legal, given the revocation of the charter; see entries for March 14, 18, 1856, Minutes of the New York Stock and Exchange Board, vol. 4: 1851–1858, 247, New York Stock Exchange Archives.

13
NYTr
, March 15, 17, 1856; HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11;
NYH
, October 16, 1856;
NYT
, March 20, 1856;
Congressional Globe
, March 17, 1856.

14
LT
, April 8, 1856;
NYT
, March 18, 24, 26, 1856;
NYTr
, March 29, 1856;
CT
, March 28, 1856; HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11. See McPherson, 103–16, and Robert E. May,
The Southern Dream of Caribbean Empire: 1854–1861
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989).

15
NYT
, March 17, 1856;
David Colden Murray, Receiver of the ATC, v. CV
, November 3, 1859, file PL 1859-M V74, Supreme Court Pleadings, NYCC;
NYH
, March 31, 1856;
NYTr
, October 15, 1856. Though the subsidy was usually attributed to Pacific Mail alone, the
Independent
, February 11, 1858, reported that 75 percent was paid by Pacific Mail and 25 percent by U.S. Mail, a ratio that corresponds to other joint operations. Though the
Times
later would condemn the noncompetition payment, on March 18, 1856, it said in approving tones that it assumed such a “bonus” would be paid.

16
Memorial of David Colden Murray, CRCC; Mary Wilhelmine Williams,
Anglo-American Isthmian Diplomacy: 1815–1915
(New York: Russell & Russell, 1965), 211–2. Regarding Cross's mission, see a letter from Cross, September 6, 1856, in a newspaper clipping in the Scrapbook, John Hill Wheeler Papers, LOC. Birdsall was identified as “superintending engineer” in
NYH
, October 16, 1856. On Birdsall's mission, see Manning, 4:556.

17
New York Express
, in
CT
, May 12, 1856; Heyl, 6:79–80.

18
Walker, 188–9; May
Manifest Destiny's Underworld
, 201–5. Both Walker and Edmund Randolph said that they thought steamship service to Nicaragua would continue without interruption, but that Cross's coup disrupted the line on the Pacific for six critical weeks; Deposition of Edmund Randolph, MacDonald Lawsuit.

19
Published letter from Cross, September 6, 1856, Scrapbook, John Hill Wheeler Papers, LOC; Folkman, 78–9. CKG's contract as agent expired March 31, 1856;
ATC v. CKG
, September 13, 1858, file 1858-#53, Superior Court, NYCC. On the ATC steamships on the Pacific, see
NYH
, December 1, 1856.

20
SctDP; see also CV to WLM, March 17, 1856, HED 103, 34th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 11. For more on Scott, see
NYT
, December 27, 1855; entry for November 8, 1855, Diary, John Hill Wheeler Papers, LOC.