Richard Yates: Civil War Governor (review)

BOOK REVIEWS373 Richard Yates: Civil War Governor. By Richard Yates and Catherine Yates Pickering. Edited by John H. Krenkel. (Danville, 111.: Interstate Printers and Publishers, 1966. Pp. vi, 300. $8.95.) Dr. John Krenkel has edited and documented a biography of Richard Yates, Civil War governor of Illinois, utilizing the original manuscript written by the governor's son, Richard Yates, who was assisted by his own daughter, Catherine Yates Pickering. It is then, a family account of a lesser known historical figure. Dr. Krenkel has done an exhaustive job of footnoting the manuscript and has succeeded in adding short biographical sketches and explanatory notes which are thoroughly needed in what is mainly a patchwork account of Yates's life. As editor he remains uncritically and unobtrusively in the background. The major question which arises is whether or not the volume merited the extensive treatment it has found. As a eulogy, a verbal monument, or a tribute to Governor Yates, it is, I suppose, acceptable. As a work of biography , however, it falls short of the mark. The volume is largely one long series of testimonials by relatives, friends, and former pohtical allies of the governor, all applauding Yates for his stalwart character, purity of motive, superior ability, etc. Yates was a colorful, interesting personality who lived and served the United States during critical times in the nation's history. A member of first the Whig and then the Republican party, his career was marked by three terms in the Illinois state legislature, two terms in the House of Representatives, the Civil War governorship, and a term as (Radical) Republican senator from Illinois. He favored internal improvements for the West and was active in attempts to secure much enlightened reform legislation such as woman's suffrage, and educational institutions for the blind, the deaf and the dumb. He was completely loyal to the Union and active in its defense. Yet this volume completely overstates the case for Yates, holding him up as a kind of exalted demigod. Most simply put, Yates was an aggressive, ambitious, cut and slash politician who struggled oftentimes between conscience and expediency, principle and profit, duty and ambition. Expediency , profit and ambition won at least as many rounds as conscience, principle and duty. He knew Lincoln and was from the same congressional district. He was not (as this volume implies) always Lincoln's loyal friend and pohtical supporter. In fact Yates can be found on various occasions in the front ranks of those attacking the Lincoln policies. He appointed Grant to a series of minor mihtary positions in the state, but was not (as this volume states) properly the "discoverer" of Grant. Yates, himself, in a letter written in 1868, simply states: "I am entided to no credit for I saw nothing in him [Grant] superior to many whom I appointed." Space forbids adding to a list of discrepancies which could be lengthened many times over. At times the information becomes so trivial as to defy explanation. It is 374CIVIL WAR HISTORY of questionable value to find that Mrs. Yates's wedding gown "is still in perfect condition and is proudly possessed" by a member of the family. It is also of questionable value to find listed the names of the Illinois delegation and the other important residents of Mrs. Harrison's Washington, D.C, boarding house, followed by the counties included in Yates's congressional district, and for good measure a list of some senators and representatives topped by the names of the President and Cabinet. Again, examples could be multiplied. Often the language used to describe Yates becomes so extremely complimentary that it loses force. For example: "Yates, likewise, was the servant of God, trained for the very purpose of guiding Illinois . . . through the arduous and matchless hours of the nation's crisis. He was endowed with a brilliant mind, a splendid physique, indomitable courage, superb oratory, intense devotion to his state and country, tender sympathy, selflessness , and faith in God." Often the event is overdramatized as, for example, with the appointment of Grant. Whereas the author states: "The discovery of Grant was a romance, a melodrama, almost as breathless as any of Dumas' novels...