Copperhead Charles Mason: A Question of Loyalty

COPPERHEAD CHARLES MASON: A Question of Loyalty H. H. Wubben Some years ago Frank Klement objected vigorously to simpleminded condemnation of Civil War Copperheads "as men whose hearts were black, whose blood was yellow and whose minds were blank." Klement also scorned the practice of collecting Copperhead quotations "to hang them on the line of treason."1 Charles Mason would have agreed whole-heartedly. Mason knew his heart was pure, his blood patriotic red, and his mind superior. He also believed that any correct reading of his public and private writings would show that he was no traitor, although this self-assurance did not cause him to advocate publicly those positions which he believed lesser or evil-minded men would misconstrue as treasonous. Charles Mason was no typical Copperhead. He was no dirt farmer, no Catholic immigrant, no artisan or day laborer fearful of low wage competition from free blacks; nor did he have southern origins nor business ties with the South. Rather, he was a poor farm boy from upstate New York who made good. Graduated number one in his class at West Point in 1829, just ahead of his friend Robert E. Lee, he soon forsook a military career for the law. In 1836, he ventured west to the Wisconsin Territory in search of greater legal and business opportunities. He found both. When Iowa became a separate territory in 1838, Martin Van Buren appointed Mason chief justice of the Iowa supreme court, a post he held with distinction until Iowa became a state. Then he turned successfully to private practice, to railroad promotion, land speculation , assorted business enterprises and Iowa Democratic politics .2 Tapped by Franklin Pierce to head the U.S. Patent Office, 1 Frank L. Klement, The Copperheads in the Middle West (Chicago, 1960), vii. 2 The best source of biographical information on Mason's life is Charles Mason Remey (ed.), Life and Letters of Charles Mason, Chief Justice of ¡owa, 1804-1882, 16 typescript vols. (Washington, D.C., 1939). These volumes are copies of the original diaries and some of Mason's letters which are located at the Iowa State Department of History and Archives, Des Moines. They also contain some commentary passages by the editor which are inserted among the original materials. The volumes are hereafter referred to as CM. Also useful is Charles Mason Remey (ed.), Reminiscences of a Long Life and Letters of Mary Josephine Mason Remey, Daughter of Chief Justice Charles Mason, 1845-1838, 12 typescript vols. (Washington, 1939). Hereafter referred to as MJR. Mary Mason Remey's original Civil War diaries are in Des Moines also. The CM pages are numbered consecutively, vols. I-XVI. The MJR 46 he served into the first year of the Buchanan administration. During those years Mason became well-known on the Washington political scene, as well as among inventors, businessmen and patent lawyers. Mason had some interest in becoming Secretary of Interior under Buchanan, but that post went to Mississippi's Jacob Thompson. He could have continued in the Patent Office, but he chose to resign . Mason, though normally a dedicated political partisan, resented the new administration's insistence upon playing spoils politics in his bailiwick. Important also, since it contrasted with his position during the war, was his unhappiness with what he called the administration's "altogether too Southern stance." Nevertheless, when Stephen Douglas split with Buchanan over the Lecompton issue, Mason sided with the President because he valued party unity above all else in face of the growing Republican challenge .3 By the late 1850's, although Mason was increasingly involved in business in Washington, Iowa Democrats, with whom he maintained close ties, had come to look upon him with pride as a party sage and as an adornment to the organization. He became a source of information and expert commentary on political developments in the East and in the capital. By late 1860, he began to write letters on a regular basis to the Dubuque Herald, Iowa's leading Democratic newspaper. These letters, signed "X", continued to appear in the Herald throughout most of the war. They, along with his diary and correspondence, provide insight into how one important Midwest Copperhead...