President (and Ex-Union General) Rutherford B. Hayes Intervenes to Secure a Civil War Pension For One of His Postmaster Appointees Who Had Been an Officer
John Charles Black was a Medal of Honor-winning Union regimental commander during the Civil War, and thereafter a Democratic U.S. Congressman. He was U.S. Commissioner of Pensions between 1885 and 1889, during President Cleveland’s first term. Cleveland had campaigned against corruption in allocation of pensions based on Civil War service, and during...
John Charles Black was a Medal of Honor-winning Union regimental commander during the Civil War, and thereafter a Democratic U.S. Congressman. He was U.S. Commissioner of Pensions between 1885 and 1889, during President Cleveland’s first term. Cleveland had campaigned against corruption in allocation of pensions based on Civil War service, and during Black’s years in office there were charges that he nit-picked application papers to stall legitimate pensions, and gave preference to soldiers that were Democrats.
Thomas Reed was a Virginia Unionist who enlisted in the 1st West Virginia Infantry in 1861 and was promoted to captain on July 29,1862. He was taken prisoner in 1863, and honorably discharged at close of the war, returning to his home in Fairmont, WV. A Republican, in 1880, President Hayes appointed him postmaster at Fairmont.
When Reed had a problem getting his pension from Black, he asked his old patron Hayes to intervene on his behalf. In this letter, Hayes agrees to do so.
Autograph letter signed, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio, October 30, 1888, to Capt. Reed. “Your letter of the 9th instant came here during my absence. I have now written to General Black as you request and trust it will hurry up favorable action in your case.” Surely the personal intervention from Hayes would have made the difference.

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