| He Knew Lincoln Clinton Meneely, a retired administrative official of Teledyne Gurley Co. recently found among his papers a Feb. 28, 1919 clipping of The Troy Times interview with his grandfather who had worked with President Lincoln. The story is about Clinton H. (Hanks) Meneely of the Meneely Bell Foundry family. He was born in 1839, received an excellent education for those days and was appointed a major in the Second Reg., New York Volunteers, Cavalry. He was assigned to the staff of Maj.-Gen. McClellan who ordered him to report to Brig.-Gen. J. J. Wadsworth who was the military governor of the Department of Washington. In the interview, Maj. Meneely said: "I met Mr. Lincoln under all conditions, day and night, and on one eventful occasion I spent a whole night in his presence at this meeting were all the members of the Cabinet and a large number of senators and congressmen. The main subject under consideration being the ability and character of some of the prominent generals at the front. These officers were freely discussed, but in all of this animated talk, the President was in no sense excited and was persistent in respect to honest judgment, rebuking every word of bitterness." Meneely went on to note that "each person present was taught the extreme power which can be exerted by simple, honest and intelligent action. There was no letting down of discipline in this case, but the man who controlled had a big heart and could not be swayed by prejudice."' The Troy major recalled that when it became necessary to relieve an officer of very high rank in one of our armies, because of this officer's inability to command troops, "Mr. Lincoln, through a sense of duty, issued the order of removal, but in such a kind and beautiful form as to cause the deposed officer to publish a statement that the President in his tender sympathy had made him nearly as happy in his removal from office as he would have been by his promotion in rank. Did any other man ever possess such a heart as Mr. Lincoln had?" Maj. Meneely also said that whenever Gen. Wadsworth was engaged with visitors, the President said he would wait for his turn. In the flowery language of the day, Maj. Meneely said: "You can imagine what inspiration and satisfaction came to me, only 22 years of age, by reason of my familiar meetings with this most noble man, but even then I could not picture the person who has destined to become one of the grandest men the world had ever produced. Do you not think that this association leads to most pleasant reflections? He recalled one incident about the President: "During the Civil War word reached the mother of a soldier boy that her son had been tried by a court martial on a charge of sleeping on post and had been sentenced to death. "This poor woman, a widow, rushed to Washington, had a quick audience with the President and was promptly told that the sentence in this case would be suspended. " But, " she said, "you did not say that the sentence has been dropped. My boy may be executed any time." Mr. Lincoln cheerfully replied, "My dear woman, have no anxiety, for I shall be much older than Methuselah was before your boy is harmed." His grandson said Maj. Meneely's commission, dated July 30, 1862 has the full signatures of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and President Abraham Lincoln. The family has that and other wartime appointments and a file of letters he wrote to his wife, Josephine Roof, whom he married in November 1862. They give vivid descriptions of the campaigns he participated in. Upon his return from service, he did not go into the bell making business with his brothers in West Troy. Instead he started his own bell foundry on River Street, Troy. It too became a successful operation. He died at the age of 83 in 1923. |