Franklin Archibald Dick
Encyclopedia
Franklin Archibald Dick (May 2, 1823 – February 18, 1885) was a St. Louis, Missouri
attorney
. He was assistant adjutant general to Nathaniel Lyon
at Camp Jackson
(the first Missouri Civil War incident); Missouri provost marshal general under Major General Samuel Curtis
; law partner with Montgomery Blair
at the Blair House
in Washington
D C after the Civil War.
at the age of sixteen in 1839 as a law student. He graduated in 1842 and moved to the frontier town of St. Louis, Missouri, where he practiced law in St. Louis from 1844 to 1861. He married Myra Madison Alexander, (January 12, 1832 - December 22, 1919) on November 25, 1851. Myra’s sister, Apolline, was married to Dick’s close friend, Frank Blair, the son of Francis P. Blair Sr.
, a journalist and politician who had been an advisor to President Andrew Jackson
, and who was an organizer of the Republican Party
.
Dick kept private journals during the Civil War, recording events he observed in St. Louis. He describes a meeting on January 10, 1861 in his law office in which the St. Louis Committee of Safety monitored actions by the Southern sympathizers, and many private meetings with Nathaniel Lyon. In St. Louis, after Camp Jackson was filled with secret rebels anxious for control of the St. Louis Arsenal, Dick told Frank Blair, borrowing their blind mother-in-law’s dress, veil and hat for Nathaniel Lyon to use for a disguise. Lyon was driven in Mira Alexander’s carriage into Camp Jackson to observe General Frost and his troops, along with other visitors. That night Lyon, Blair, and other Unionists met in Dick’s law office and decided to capture Camp Jackson. At Lyon’s urging, Franklin Dick served as his assistant adjutant general during the Camp Jackson affair on May 10, 1861. He writes of riding his horse in the midst of the fracas in front of the troops firing, and ordering them to stop in the name of Captain Lyon, when Lyon was on the ground He also describes Lyon’s pity and emotion as “almost womanly” on seeing the dead and wounded after the incident, and how they had to gallop around the city back to the arsenal to avoid an ambush.
Next, Dick was sent by Frank Blair to Washington to convey Blair’s concerns about General William S. Harney
’s lenient ways of dealing with secessionists. Montgomery Blair took Franklin Dick to meet with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Dick had been directed to lobby for Nathaniel Lyon’s ideas for the protection of St. Louis, ask for Lyon’s confirmation as brigadier general, and request Harney’s removal. Dick returned to St. Louis with Lincoln’s promotion for Lyon effective May 17, and an order for Blair to remove Harney at his discretion. When Harney met with Southern sympathizer General Sterling Price to cooperate for peace together, events finally led to Frank Blair delivering the orders on May 30, 1862, opening the way for Lyon to take control of troops in Missouri.
From then on, Dick wrote long letters to Lincoln about his concern with the state of affairs in Missouri.
After Camp Jackson was disbanded, Missouri was under martial law
, and remained so for the entire Civil War. Dick served on the Board of Assessments which identified and fined Southern sympathizers. Through his participation in the seizure of goods and banishment of Rebels and their families, he earned the hatred of many old St. Louisans, Conditional Unionists, and Rebels. On November 5, 1862, Dick became a lieutenant colonel and Provost Marshal General under Major General Samuel Curtis, the new Commander of the Department of Missouri. In this position, Franklin Dick had to keep order in the state and oversee the local provost marshals, enforce Curtis’s orders for the Confiscation Act, banish and assess disloyal persons, and supervise prisons and prisoners.
In a letter dated January 26, 1863 to Montgomery Blair about his problems acting as Provost Marshal General, Franklin Dick says,
In his journals, Dick talks of the time before the war in St. Louis when
Dick did not feel safe in St. Louis. He moved his family back and forth from St. Louis to Philadelphia for safety during the war, though he had to return to his law practice in St. Louis to earn a living. While in Philadelphia, he was involved in a cartridge business with his wife’s brother, George Alexander, until the factory exploded. Dick, upset by the dead and wounded, contributed money to the families, and withdrew his investment.
, Dick practiced law with Montgomery Blair
, working out of offices in the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House
. The Blair House is now the official guest house for the White House. Franklin Dick died on February 18, 1885, and was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
of Edinburgh
in 1296. The family crest shows two unicorns surrounding a sinking ship and the motto, “At Spes Infracta, Via Tuta Virtus,” which means “But hope is unbroken, virtue is a safe path” Generations later, Archibald Dick was born in 1715 and immigrated to America, where he served in the Revolutionary War. In his will, he freed his slaves, giving each a legacy. One of his sons, Elisha C. Dick
, was a friend of George Washington
’s and the only doctor attending his last illness who disagreed with the diagnosis and spoke against using leeches. The second son, Thomas Barnard Dick, drowned while fishing, leaving his son, Archibald Thomas Dick, who practiced law and served in the War of 1812. Archibald Thomas Dick’s only son was Franklin Archibald Dick.
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. He was assistant adjutant general to Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....
at Camp Jackson
Camp Jackson
Camp Jackson may refer to:* Camp Jackson a post located near Ione, Amador County, California during the American Civil War* Initial name for Fort Jackson, a US Army base in South Carolina...
(the first Missouri Civil War incident); Missouri provost marshal general under Major General Samuel Curtis
Samuel Curtis
Samuel Ryan Curtis was an American military officer, and one of the first Republicans elected to Congress. He was most famous for his role as a Union Army general the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.-Biography:Born near Champlain, New York, Curtis graduated from the United...
; law partner with Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair , the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown, was a politician and lawyer from Maryland...
at the Blair House
Blair House
Blair House is the official state guest house for the President of the United States. It is located at 1651-1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., opposite the Old Executive Office Building of the White House, off the corner of Lafayette Park....
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
D C after the Civil War.
Biography
Dick was born in Philadelphia on May 2, 1823, the only son of Archibald Thomas Dick and Hannah Rogers. Dick entered the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
at the age of sixteen in 1839 as a law student. He graduated in 1842 and moved to the frontier town of St. Louis, Missouri, where he practiced law in St. Louis from 1844 to 1861. He married Myra Madison Alexander, (January 12, 1832 - December 22, 1919) on November 25, 1851. Myra’s sister, Apolline, was married to Dick’s close friend, Frank Blair, the son of Francis P. Blair Sr.
Francis Preston Blair
Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was an American journalist and politician.-Biography:Blair was born at Abingdon, Virginia. He moved to Kentucky, graduated from Transylvania University in 1811, took to journalism, and was a contributor to Amos Kendall's paper, the Argus, at Frankfort...
, a journalist and politician who had been an advisor to President Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, and who was an organizer of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
.
Civil War Years
Franklin Dick actively supported Frank Blair’s efforts to keep Missouri in the Union by serving on committees, and at his urging later became provost marshal general. President Lincoln used Frank Blair as an unofficial advisor on Missouri affairs during the war. Frank’s brother, Montgomery, was President Abraham Lincoln’s Postmaster General.Dick kept private journals during the Civil War, recording events he observed in St. Louis. He describes a meeting on January 10, 1861 in his law office in which the St. Louis Committee of Safety monitored actions by the Southern sympathizers, and many private meetings with Nathaniel Lyon. In St. Louis, after Camp Jackson was filled with secret rebels anxious for control of the St. Louis Arsenal, Dick told Frank Blair, borrowing their blind mother-in-law’s dress, veil and hat for Nathaniel Lyon to use for a disguise. Lyon was driven in Mira Alexander’s carriage into Camp Jackson to observe General Frost and his troops, along with other visitors. That night Lyon, Blair, and other Unionists met in Dick’s law office and decided to capture Camp Jackson. At Lyon’s urging, Franklin Dick served as his assistant adjutant general during the Camp Jackson affair on May 10, 1861. He writes of riding his horse in the midst of the fracas in front of the troops firing, and ordering them to stop in the name of Captain Lyon, when Lyon was on the ground He also describes Lyon’s pity and emotion as “almost womanly” on seeing the dead and wounded after the incident, and how they had to gallop around the city back to the arsenal to avoid an ambush.
Next, Dick was sent by Frank Blair to Washington to convey Blair’s concerns about General William S. Harney
William S. Harney
William Selby Harney was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He was born in what is today part of Nashville, Tennessee but at the time was known as Haysborough....
’s lenient ways of dealing with secessionists. Montgomery Blair took Franklin Dick to meet with President Lincoln and Secretary of War Simon Cameron. Dick had been directed to lobby for Nathaniel Lyon’s ideas for the protection of St. Louis, ask for Lyon’s confirmation as brigadier general, and request Harney’s removal. Dick returned to St. Louis with Lincoln’s promotion for Lyon effective May 17, and an order for Blair to remove Harney at his discretion. When Harney met with Southern sympathizer General Sterling Price to cooperate for peace together, events finally led to Frank Blair delivering the orders on May 30, 1862, opening the way for Lyon to take control of troops in Missouri.
From then on, Dick wrote long letters to Lincoln about his concern with the state of affairs in Missouri.
After Camp Jackson was disbanded, Missouri was under martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
, and remained so for the entire Civil War. Dick served on the Board of Assessments which identified and fined Southern sympathizers. Through his participation in the seizure of goods and banishment of Rebels and their families, he earned the hatred of many old St. Louisans, Conditional Unionists, and Rebels. On November 5, 1862, Dick became a lieutenant colonel and Provost Marshal General under Major General Samuel Curtis, the new Commander of the Department of Missouri. In this position, Franklin Dick had to keep order in the state and oversee the local provost marshals, enforce Curtis’s orders for the Confiscation Act, banish and assess disloyal persons, and supervise prisons and prisoners.
In a letter dated January 26, 1863 to Montgomery Blair about his problems acting as Provost Marshal General, Franklin Dick says,
…The only semblance of the U.S. authority in a large part of the State, is the Provost Marshal system–it is an important matter to determine whether or not it shall be preserved. In a long letter forwarded by Gen. Curtis to Wash’n. some days ago, I gave some facts to show its operation… As I consider these matters of importance, I make them known to you and hope that you will present them to the President.
One more matter it is important to me to speak of - & that is, that St. Louis is the seat and centre of the rebel plots & Schemes, and spies revel here. The women, & several of them of the better class act as mail carriers–at no time have the rebel sympathizers & secret workers been so active and bold as now–their course, of that of treason–These People ought to be sent South–Our Union People here know this, & urge it constantly upon Genl. Curtis–I assure you that the authority of the Govt. here, before our face is despised & set at naught…
In his journals, Dick talks of the time before the war in St. Louis when
... we felt as if we were forever safe,” and contrasts that with his perspective in 1865, when “the People in the North have become accustomed to the war–here in Phil’a. the People go on just as in ordinary times–They gay[ly] continue their giddy amusements–the errands go on with business as usual, & the war is an interesting topic, which they keep more or less in mind.
Dick did not feel safe in St. Louis. He moved his family back and forth from St. Louis to Philadelphia for safety during the war, though he had to return to his law practice in St. Louis to earn a living. While in Philadelphia, he was involved in a cartridge business with his wife’s brother, George Alexander, until the factory exploded. Dick, upset by the dead and wounded, contributed money to the families, and withdrew his investment.
After the war
After the Civil War ended at the urging of Francis P. Blair Sr.Francis Preston Blair
Francis Preston Blair, Sr. was an American journalist and politician.-Biography:Blair was born at Abingdon, Virginia. He moved to Kentucky, graduated from Transylvania University in 1811, took to journalism, and was a contributor to Amos Kendall's paper, the Argus, at Frankfort...
, Dick practiced law with Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair , the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown, was a politician and lawyer from Maryland...
, working out of offices in the Blair House on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. The Blair House is now the official guest house for the White House. Franklin Dick died on February 18, 1885, and was interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ancestry
The Dick family was descended from William de Dick, the first magistrateMagistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1296. The family crest shows two unicorns surrounding a sinking ship and the motto, “At Spes Infracta, Via Tuta Virtus,” which means “But hope is unbroken, virtue is a safe path” Generations later, Archibald Dick was born in 1715 and immigrated to America, where he served in the Revolutionary War. In his will, he freed his slaves, giving each a legacy. One of his sons, Elisha C. Dick
Elisha C. Dick
Elisha Cullen Dick, M.D. was a mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and attending physician at George Washington's death.- Family :...
, was a friend of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
’s and the only doctor attending his last illness who disagreed with the diagnosis and spoke against using leeches. The second son, Thomas Barnard Dick, drowned while fishing, leaving his son, Archibald Thomas Dick, who practiced law and served in the War of 1812. Archibald Thomas Dick’s only son was Franklin Archibald Dick.