BANKS, NATHANIEL PRENTICE (1816-94)
Price: $395.00
Description:American politician from Massachusetts. Union general during the American Civil War. Early on, Banks was prominent in local debate societies and entered politics. Initially a Democrat, Bank’s abolitionist views drew him to the nascent Republic Party. He won election to the US House of Representatives and as Governor of Massachusetts in the 1850s. At the start of the 34th Congress, Banks was elected Speaker of the House in an election that spanned a record 133 ballots taken over the course of two months.
SIG – Signature. Small card on which he has signed in full, adding Waltham, 24 February 1884, Mass. Professionally matted in slate grey board under TruVue museum conservation glass, and a black and rich brown beaded frame. Accompanied by a steel engraving by Alonzo Chappel (Johnson, Fry & Co, New York, 1870).
At the outbreak of the Civil War, (May 1861) Abraham Lincoln appointed Banks as one of the first political major generals, over the heads of West Point regulars who, initially, resented him but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war. After suffering a serious of inglorious setbacks in the Shenandoah River Valley at the hands of Stonewall Jackson, Banks replaced Benjamin Butler at New Orleans as commander of the Department of the Gulf, charged with the administration of Louisiana and gaining control of the Mississippi River. Banks failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and badly handled the Siege of Port Hudson, taking its surrender only after Vicksburg had fallen. He then launched the Red River Campaign, a failed attempt to occupy northern Louisiana and eastern Texas that promoted his recall. Banks was regularly criticized for the failures of his campaigns, notably in tactically important tasks, including reconnaissance. Banks was also instrumental in early reconstruction efforts in Louisiana, intended by Lincoln as a model for later such activities.
One key action Banks took in support of the antislavery movement was the dismissal of Judge Edward G. Loring who had ruled in 1854 that Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave, be returned to slavery under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Under the pressure of a public petition campaign spearheaded by William Lloyd Garrison, the legislature passed two Bills of Address (1855 and 1856), calling for Loring’s removal from his state office, but in both cases incumbent Gardner had declined to remove him. Banks signed a third such bill in 1858. He was rewarded with significant antislavery support, easily winning election as Governor of Massachusetts in 1858.
After the War, Banks returned to the Massachusetts political scene, serving in Congress intermittently for seven terms, where he supported Manifest Destiny, influenced the Alaska Purchase legislation, and supported women’s suffrage. In his later years, Banks adopted more liberal progressive causes and served as a US marshal for Massachusetts (1879-1888).