The Life And Letters Of Henry Lee Higginson

LIFE AND LETTERS OF HENRY LEE HIGGINSON BY BLISS PERRY WITH ILLUSTRATIONS THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS BOSTON Copyright, 1921, by BUSS PKJRRY o TO HENRY LEE HIGGINSON GRANDSON AND NAMESAKE OF THE NOBLE GENTLEMAN WHOSE LIFE IS HERE TOLD THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED PREFACE THE material for a life of Henry Lee Higginson. Is abundant. He had a fondness for keeping letters and memoranda, and the correspondence to which I have had access is enormous in quantity, and covers a period of more than seventy years. During both of his long sojourns in Europe, in his youth, he kept diaries, as he did fora while during the Civil War and later in life he dictated some vivid Reminiscences. He was passion ately devoted to his friends, and wrote them with the great est frankness and among his correspondents who were equally frank were some of the most interesting men of his generation. In the earlier chapters I have drawn freely upon his corre spondence with his father, George Higginson, and upon Henrys European diaries. The Civil War chapters utilize many hitherto unpublished letters from Charles Francis Adams, Greely S. Curtis, and other army comrades. In telling the story of Major Higginsons adventures with oil-wells in Ohio and with a cotton plantation in Georgia, during 1865 and 1866, have had the assistance of Mrs. Higginsons diaries. In giving an account of the early years of Lee, Hig ginson and Co., 1 have been permitted to use an unpublished sketch of the history of the firm, by the late Professor Barrett Wendell. The chapter on the founding of the Boston Sym phony Orchestra could scarcely have been written without the aid of the History of the Orchestra by M. A. DeWolfe Howe. In the chapter dealingwith Major Higginsons rela tions with Harvard and other colleges, 1 have been particu larly aided by his correspondence with President Eliot, Presi dent Lowell, Dean Briggs, and Professor William James. Henry Adams another lifelong friend whose letters are frequently quoted, and Major Higginsons interest in public vlii PREFACE affairs Is well illustrated by his correspondence with Charles Elliott Perkins and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. During the period of the World War, Major Higginson wrote, if possible, more vigorously than ever and I have given much space to his letters about the Orchestra in 1917 and 1918, and to his delightful correspondence with his many friends in England. My thanks are due, not only to the persons who have placed their letters from and to Major Higginson so generously at my disposal, but also to many of his friends who have assisted me in the preparation of this biography, especially to Presi dent Eliot, President Lowell, Dr. Henry P. Waloott, John T. Morse, Jr., Dr. W. Sturgis Bigelow, Professor F. W. Taussig, James J. Storrow, M. A. DC Wolfe Howe, Judge Frederick P. Cabot, and Philip Hale. Above all, I wish to thank Mrs, Higginson for her tireless and generous assistance in collect ing and arranging her husbands letters, ami in aiding me in every possible way. Both Mrs. Hi tftnson and her sou, aptaiu A. Heniy iiggins n, havckm lIyreaclthisv huncinniatnis Tipt. The index has been prepared by my friend Mr. eorge B. I ves. B, V. CAMBRIDGE, May 1921. CONTENTS I. THE COMBINED INFLUENCE i II. FIRST VISIT To EUROPE 28 III. A PERIOD OF FERMENT 72 IV. FOUR YEARS OF EUROPE 93 V. THE CIVIL WAR FIRST PHASE 140 VI. THE CIVIL WAR SECOND PHASE 176 VII. THE CIVIL WAR THIRDPHASE 203 VIII. OIL AND COTTON 239 IX. LEE, HIGGINSON AND COMPANY 267 X. THE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 291 XL THE FRIEND OF THE COLLEGE . 325 XI L COMRADE AND CITIZEN 385 XI I L THE PUBLIC SERVANT . . . 424 XIV. THE WORLD WAR .......... 462 APPENDIX The Soldiers Field Address ..... 529 INDEX 537 ILLUSTRATIONS HENRY L. HIGGINSON Frontispiece From the portrait by John Singer Sargent MR. AND MKS. GEORGE HIGGINSON 16 HENRY L. HIGGINSON 28 Class photograph 1855 H. L. HIGGINSON, MAJOR OF CAVALRY, U. S. ARMY 1863 . . 176 THE ARMY FRIENDS COMMEMORATED BY SOLDIERS FIELD, . ...