CHARLES R. DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

[Washington, D.C.¹Charles’s letter was on stationery with the following printed letterhead: “Treasury Department / Third Auditor’s Office.” c. 22 April] 1869.

DEAR FATHER:

I am seated at my desk in the Treasury Department of the United States,
having received the last official paper necessary to my appointment on
yesterday.²After the Civil War, Charles settled in Washington, D.C., and found employment as a clerk in the Freedmen’s Bureau (1867–69) and later, in early May 1869, in the Treasury Department. After his father purchased the in 1870, Charles acted as a correspondent for the newspaper. In 1871, he served as a clerk to the Santo Domingo Commission, and was later appointed consul at Puerto Plata, Santa Domingo, by President Ulysses S. Grant, serving in this position from 1875 to 1879. Returning to the United States in 1879, he entered the import-export business while living in Corona, New York. In 1882, Charles moved back to Washington, D.C., and took a job as an examiner in the Pension Bureau, where he remained until entering the real estate business in 1892. , ser. 2, 3: 860, ser. 3, 1: 126; McFeely, , 239, 257–58, 272; , 1: 407–08. I feel as though I have got something worth being proud of, for
it is no easy matter to get in this Dept. and what is more, I am in the highest Bureau in the Department, as all accounts against the Government
for settlement receive their last examination in this office, and each clerk
is held strictly to an account for all mistakes wherby over issues may be
made of Govt. money.

We have but little writing to do, most of our work being by figures. I
have already been congratulated for my aptness in the routine of business
in the office.

The papers have made a mistake in my name making it Robert R.
Douglass.

Fred. will no doubt receive a position of some kind in this office in a
few days, at least Sec’y Boutwell³Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, George Sewall Boutwell (1818–1905) served as a Democratic state representative and governor before reaching the age of thirty-five. Vehemently opposed to slavery, Boutwell switched political affiliations in the 1850s and helped found his state’s Republican party in 1855. The first commissioner of internal revenue (1862–63), Boutwell was elected three times as a Radical Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives (1863–69). There he served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, helped frame the Fourteenth Amendment, championed the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, and was one of the House managers during the Senate impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. Appointed secretary of the treasury by Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, Boutwell served for four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He later represented the United States as a diplomatic consul in Haiti (1885), Hawaii (1886), and Chile (1893–94). Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds., , 6 vols. (Westport, Conn., 1978), 2: 703–04; Robert Sobel, ed., (Westport, Conn., 1977), 32–33; , 1: 331–32; , 4: 382–83; , 2: 489–90; (online). has offered it.

I intend to stick by Judge Kelley⁴William Darrah Kelley. & I wish you would be kind enough
to write him a line thanking him for the interest he has so kindly taken in
my behalf.⁵In a letter to his father dated 4 April 1869, Charles stated that he had been promised a clerkship in the Treasury Department and that he expected to receive an official job offer at any time. He explained that although he had received a number of strong recommendations from Republican leaders (including Senators Roscoe Conkling and Samuel C. Pomeroy and Representative George W. Julian), it was Judge William D. Kelley who had been instrumental in arranging the job with Secretary of the Treasury George S. Boutwell. Charles added that in exchange for his assistance, the judge had simply asked him to do “some extra writing for [him] out of office hours,” which he was more than willing to do. Charles R. Douglass to Douglass, 4 April 1869, General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 447R–49, FD Papers, DLC. He has been a true friend to me, and he may in a short time be
able to render me further assistance.

My garden is flourishing.
Love from all to all at home.
Aff. Yr. Son

CHAS. R. DOUG LASS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 516–18, FD Papers, DLC.