"I would be gratified if you would visit New Orleans to witness the count of the vote." 11

By: vivian on 4:32 PM

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“I would be gratified if you would visit New Orleans to witness the count of the vote.”

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President Ulysses S. Grant to Benjamin Harrison, November 11th, 1876. In Library of Congress Vol. 8 as “W. G. Grant to Benjamin Harrison.”

The presidential election of 1876 proved the closest in US history, with three occupied Southern states submitted double sets of returns, either election Hayes or Tilden. Republicans rallied to control the vote-counting process in each, once they received telegrams asking “Can you hold your state? Reply immediately.” Once it appeared that local leaders would, in fact, produce a victory for Hayes, National Republican Chairman Zechariah Chandler issued an authoritative dispatch: “Hayes has 185 votes and is elected.”

Republicans feared fraud in the vote counting, so they requested party leaders be on hand to witness the count. Outgoing President Grant requested the General Harrison supervise in Louisiana, and Chairman Zechariah Chandler asked him to visit South Carolina. Harrison declined both appeals, exhausted as he was of campaigning, and focused instead on his neglected legal work.

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