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238 Klausmeyer New York, February 24, 1865. Most honorable Mayor, Once again must I trouble you with a small matter. My nephew, little Fritz, wants to send a small present to his mother for Easter: 30.00 guilders* are from him, and I have added 5 guilders for my sister Sophie. The exchange rates are improving every day, so now it is easier to send remittances than it used to be. Gold is at 150 now; 4 months ago it was still 250–70. There are still no significant events on the war front to report, the general opinion here is that the war will be largely over in 5–6 months. The rebels are losing one important place after another, and very little hope remains that during the spring campaign they will be able to turn the fortunes of war around in their favor. The leaders of the rebels have begun to realize this themselves, and everyone is trying to put the blame on someone else for the failure of their plans. They are quarrelling with each other now, the surest sign that the rebellion will soon fall apart. By the end of the war, we will have run up enormous debts (4,000 million dollars), but we don’t owe anything to anyone, except the Germans , about 100 million.The vast resources of this country, the rapid increase in population will make it much easier to pay back this debt. They have calculated that if the hardworking white population plants cotton in the South instead of the Negroes, they will be able to produce such large amounts that a 5-cent tax per pound will pay the interest on our debt. I will be writing to you again soon about another matter, and will send you further reports. With the best wishes to you and your family, Your faithful / J. Kessler [attachment: receipt by Lisetta and Sophia Keßler of April 11, 1865] 29. Victor Klausmeyer Victor Klausmeyer was born on December 17, 1828, in Bühne (Westphalia), where his father was apparently a Catholic school teacher. He left Germany in early 1851.1 During his first years in America he held a succession of jobs: first he worked in farming (‘‘my original line of business’’), then in a sugar refinery, on the railroad, as source note: Klausmeyer’s writing is consistently critical, nuanced, and facetious, and he wields all the language tools necessary for such a brilliant tour de force. In other words, he writes like a bright college graduate. Not included here is one letter in the series from before 1860. 1. Listed as ‘‘Clausmann’’ in NYPL, Heydorn, May 15, 1851. Klausmeyer 239 a canal worker, in a wire factory, and finally in a paper factory. In between jobs, he was often unemployed for several months.2 When the war broke out, he was living in Baltimore, Maryland. By the end of the war he was living and working in Washington, D.C., where he had found a job at the War Department. [ca. April 4, 1865] [salutation and start of letter missing] [11 ll.: unclear due to lack of context; about brawls and justice of the peace] Since the capture and Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg, the whole country has been in an uproar; the lampposts were drunk and the cobblestones shook. Today in particular it was like all hell had been let loose. It poured down rain from seven o’clock yesterday evening until tonight, 8 o’clock, but even that couldn’t stop the celebrations. Then you just put on your impermeable [raincoat] and off you go towalk the streets. Speeches were made by some of our most distinguished men, several tons of powder were shot off, church bells rang, associations paraded by in congratulation, and everything was very harmonious. All the Departements had the day off, and you couldn’t even see the houses, there were so many flags and banners. The rebellion is on its last legs, and whoever the Confederacy owes money to will just end up sitting on their debts. The most honorable English creditors will go home with a long nose and astonishment on their faces. We won’t pay a Goddam Cent. All we have left to deal with is one more major stronghold, the seaside town of Mobile. The small armies that still hang around in various places we will chew up one after the next, depending on our appetite. Then it’s o...

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