Charles R. Douglass to Frederick Douglass, June 6, 1867

CHARLES R. DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Washington, D.C.^{1On the line following his signature, Charles added “264 G. M.”} 6 June 1867.

D. FATHER

Having a few leisure moments, I know of no better way of informing them than by writing you and all a few lines. I received your letter^{2This letter has not been located.} a few days ago finding me well and in pretty good spirits. The colored population here are jubilant over their recent success at the polls,^{3On 8 January 1867, Congress granted voting rights to all adult male citizens of Washington, D.C. The first time African American men were able to exercise this right was an election in Georgetown, which took place the following month. What Charles Douglass is referring to, however, is the citywide municipal election held on 3 June 1867. At the time, African Americans made up one-third of the city’s total population, but surviving records indicate that by Election Day there were 8,212 black men registered to vote, compared with just 9,792 white voters. On the day of the election, city officials were clearly concerned that problems might arise—local papers reported that telegraph operators were on duty in every polling place in case the police needed to be summoned—but, as the New York Times reported, the most remarkable aspect of the election was that it turned out to be “just like any other.” Due in no small part to the heavy African American turn out, the Republican slate swept the city as well as most of the wards. Washington National Republican, 4 June 1867; New York Times, 4 June 1867; Harrison, Washington during Civil War, 187; Joan Talbert Thornell, Governance of the Nation’s Capital: A Summary History of the Forms and Powers of Local Government for the District of Columbia, 1790 to 1973 (Washington, D.C., 1990), n.p.} and to night are to have a torchlight procession. The rebels have resorted to every kind of unfair means to frustrate the election of the radical nominees but to no effect. Everything passed off quietly on the part of the colored voters. The only disturbance I noticed was two white men fighting over a black man, one said the black man had voted the Democrat ticket and the other said he did not believe it and they went together. I enjoyed it much. Mr. Wormley^{4In the 1850s, James Wormley, a free black, opened a hotel and restaurant in two houses he owned on I Street in the heart of Washington, D.C. In 1859, Wormley’s establishment became the regular meeting place of the Washington Club, whose members included most of the city’s political and military elites. On the recommendation of members of the club, the Buchanan administration hired Wormley to cater for the members of the first Japanese Commission, sent to the United States in May 1860, as it sailed up the coast from Norfolk, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., and then on to its final destination, Philadelphia. In 1867, the Johnson administration engaged Wormley to host and cater the second Japanese Commission during its stay in the nation’s capital, which began on 1 May. Led by the mathematician Ono Tomogoro, who was a member of the shogun’s Western Literature Research Institute, the second Japanese Commission was tasked primarily with acquiring ships for the nascent Japanese navy, and spent weeks negotiating the purchase of a former Confederate steam-powered ironclad ram (the Stonewall) from the U.S. Navy for $400,000. Charles Douglass’s belief that Wormley had “made considerable money off of the Japanese” may be related to an item that appeared in the National Republican a few days after this letter was written, which indicated that on the day they left (4 June 1867), members of the commission had asked their host to divide a parting gift of $210 among the waiters who had cared for them during their stay at his hotel. Washington National Republican, 1 May 1867; Washington National Intelligencer, 4 May 1867; Washington Evening Star, 5 June 1867; Washington National Republican, 10 June 1867; Andrew Johnson, The Papers of Andrew Johnson, ed. LeRoy P. Graf, Ralph W. Haskins, and Paul H. Bergeron, 16 vols. (Knoxville, Tenn., 1967–2000), 12: 252–53; Brian Niiya, ed., Japanese American History: An A to Z Reference from 1868 to the Present (New York, 1993), 26; “The Wormley Hotel,” WhiteHouseHistory.org.} wants very much for you to come down here and spend a few weeks making his house your home. He has made considerable money off of the Japanese and he proposes to have a little rest and enjoyment. My love to

Libbie^{5Mary Elizabeth “Libbie” Murphy Douglass.} and Mother.^{6Anna Murray Douglass.} I hope you may take a trip down here and spend a week or so.

Affectionately Yr. Son

CHARLES R. DOUG LASS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 279–80, FD Papers, DLC.