The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3 | Page 3

tell you what let's do; you sing "Coronation," and
I'll join with you.' So we sang together the old tune, and also "Praise
God from whom all blessings flow." Then I sang "Old John Brown," he

marching around the room and joining in the chorus after each verse."
After the war had begun, Governor Andrew insisted on every measure
to defeat the Confederate armies that was consistent with the laws of
war. He was especially strenuous in demanding the emancipation of the
slaves, as the following quotation from a sketch by Mr. Albert G.
Browne, Jr., the Governor's military secretary, will show:--
"Over the bodies of our soldiers who were killed at Baltimore he had
recorded a prayer that he might live to see the end of the war, and a
vow that, so long as he should govern Massachusetts, and so far as
Massachusetts could control the issue, it should not end without freeing
every slave in America. He believed, at the first, in the policy of
emancipation as a war measure. Finding that timid counsels controlled
the government at Washington, and the then commander of the Army
of the Potomac, so that there was no light in that quarter, he hailed the
action of Fremont in Missouri in proclaiming freedom to the Western
slaves. Through all the reverses which afterwards befell that officer he
never varied from this friendship; and when at last Fremont retired
from the Army of Virginia, the Governor offered him the command of
a Massachusetts regiment, and vainly urged him to take the field again
under our State flag. Just so, afterwards, he welcomed the similar
action of Hunter in South Carolina, and wrote in his defence the
famous letter in which he urged 'to fire at the enemy's magazine.' He
was deeply disappointed when the administration disavowed Hunter's
act, for he had hoped much from the personal friendship which was
known to exist between the General and the President. Soon followed
the great reverses of McClellan before Richmond.
"The feelings of the Governor at this time, on the subject of
emancipation, are well expressed in a speech which he made on Aug.
10, 1862, at the Methodist camp-meeting on Martha's Vineyard. It was
the same speech in which occurs his remark since so often quoted:--
"'I know not what record of sin awaits me in the other world, but this I
know, that I was never mean enough to despise any man because he
was black.'

"Referring to slavery, he said:--
"'I have never believed it to be possible that this controversy should end
and peace resume her sway until that dreadful iniquity has been trodden
beneath our feet. I believe it cannot, and I have noticed, my friends
(although I am not superstitious, I believe), that, from the day our
government turned its back on the proclamation of General Hunter, the
blessing of God has been withdrawn from our arms. We were marching
on conquering and to conquer; post after post had fallen before our
victorious arms; but since that day I have seen no such victories. But I
have seen no discouragement. I bate not one jot of hope. I believe that
God rules above, and that he will rule in the hearts of men, and that,
either with our aid or against it, he has determined to let the people go.
But the confidence I have in my own mind that the appointed hour has
nearly come makes me feel all the more confidence in the certain and
final triumph of our Union arms, because I do not believe that this great
investment of Providence is to be wasted.'"
[Illustration: GOV. ANDREW'S BIRTHPLACE]
Governor Andrew retired from office January 5, 1866, and, returning to
private life, he again entered upon a large practice at the bar, which was
lucrative as well.
On the 30th of October, 1867, he died suddenly of apoplexy, after tea,
at his own home on Charles street, Boston. The body was laid in Mount
Auburn Cemetery, but was afterwards removed to the old burial-place
in Hingham, where a fine statue has since been erected over his grave.
Governor Andrew was married Christmas evening, December, 1848, to
Miss Eliza Jane, daughter of Charles Hersey, of Hingham. They had
four children living at the time of his death,--John Forrester, born Nov.
26, 1850; Elizabeth Loring, born July 29, 1852; Edith, born April 5,
1854; Henry Hersey, born April 28, 1858.
Mr. Edwin P. Whipple, who was first chosen as the most competent
person to write the biography of Governor Andrew, after examining the
Governor's private and official correspondence, affirmed that he could

discover nothing in his most private notes which was not honorable.
[Illustration: BURIAL-PLACE AND MONUMENT, HINGHAM,
MASS.]
Says Mr. Peleg W. Chandler, in his "Memoir and Reminiscences of
Governor