William McKinley
Washington, DC, March 9, 1897
McKinley Gives Up Seat to Old Civil War Commander Slabbed NM PSA 8
ANS

WILLIAM MCKINLEY, Autograph Note Signed, March 9, 1897, on ?Executive Mansion? notecard. 1 p., 4.25" x 2.75". Light stain at top; very good; PSA/DNA slabbed

With this brief note, President McKinley gave up a seat reserved for his use to General Russell Hastings, a lifelong friend from Ohio. They had served together in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry and on the staff of Brigadier General Rutherford B. Hayes. When Hastings married the niece of Hayes at the White House in 1878, Major William McKinley and his wife were among the small number of guests present. Hastings had traveled from Bermuda to attend McKinley?s inauguration and arrived in Washington on February 28. The seat McKinley offered may have been at a local theater.

Hastings joined approximately one hundred veterans of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry who had come to witness McKinley?s inauguration. Approximately half of the contingent came from Cleveland, but others came from California, Nebraska, and Missouri, in addition to Hastings from Bermuda. After the inauguration, they called on their former comrade and the new President at the White House on the morning of March 5. Hastings was the ranking member of the group.

The day after President McKinley wrote this note, a Washington newspaper carried the front-page headline, ?Gen. Hastings Hurt / President McKinley?s Old Commander Run Down by a Wagon. / His Left Leg is Broken / Visited at the Emergency Hospital by the President. / The Latter?s Anxiety.? The accident occurred at 12:30 p.m., when Hastings and his friends, General and Mrs. James L. Botsford of Youngstown, Ohio, were returning from the White House to the Ebbitt House hotel. Botsford was another veteran of the 23rd Ohio Regiment. A wagon belonging to commission merchants Golden & Love knocked Hastings down, breaking his right leg, the same one in which he was wounded more than four decades earlier. An emergency ambulance took Hastings to the hospital, where President McKinley visited him at 2:20 p.m.

The newspaper report recorded the exchange that followed:
??Why, general, I am indeed sorry to find you here. But I understand it is not serious, and that?s good. It all comes from running away from us so soon. Let me see, the last time I saw you wounded was at Winchester, where you were wounded.?
??Yes, and you didn?t think I?d pull through, either, did you??
??No, sir,? replied the President. ?Your condition now is much better than it was then.??
According to the report, ?General Hastings was moved to tears at the kindness of the chief executive.? The following day, Mrs. McKinley visited Hastings at Garfield Hospital, where he had been taken to recuperate.

Complete Transcript
Executive Mansion, / Washington.
Admit Genl R Hastings and friends to seat reserved for use of the President
William McKinley
March 9 1897

Russell Hastings (1835-1904) was born in Massachusetts and moved to Ohio with his family in 1847. He served as lieutenant, captain, and lieutenant colonel in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Both Rutherford B. Hayes and William S. Rosecrans led that regiment before being promoted to brigadier generals. Hastings served on the staff of Hayes alongside Major William McKinley. Hastings was severely wounded in the leg at the Battle of Opequan and suffered the effects of the wound for several decades. On March 13, 1865, he was brevetted a brigadier general of volunteers for ?gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Opequon, Va.? After the war, Hastings served in the Ohio legislature (1865-1867) and as U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio from 1867 to 1872. In December 1872, he married Mary Adele Humphrey of Michigan, and they settled in northern Illinois. She died from complications of childbirth in April 1874. In 1878, he married Emily Platt (1850-1919), a niece of President Rutherford B. Hayes, in the White House; among the few guests were Major William McKinley and his wife. Hastings and his second wife had three children. In the early 1880s, they lived in Bermuda, where they grew lilies for export to the United States.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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4.25" x 2.75"