Sir: I have to inform you that the Congress of the United States, by a resolution of the 28th of January, 1864, an attested copy of which is herewith sent, offered you their thanks for your generous gift to the nation during the last war, of the steamer "Vanderbilt," and requested the President to cause a gold medal to be struck and forwarded to you, commemorative of that gift. It is now my pleasing duty to forward the medal to you accordingly. I avail myself of the occasion to express a hope that it may prove acceptable, and also to congratulate you upon the proud consciousness, which you cannot fail to cherish, of having, by the act referred to, rendered your country a signal service at a critical period in its history.
I am, Sir, your very obedient servant,
William H. Seward.
Cornelius Vanderbilt to the Secretary of State.
New York, May 3rd, 1866.
To the Honorable
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Sir: Your communication of the 17th of April ult., informing me that the Congress of the United States had, by their resolution of the 28th of January, 1864, tendered to me their thanks for the gift of the steamer "Vanderbilt," and requested the President to cause a gold medal to be struck and forwarded to me in commemoration of the gift, has been placed in my hands.
I have also received the medal, together with an attested copy of the resolution in compliance with which you have caused it to be transmitted.
You have been pleased to express the hope that the medal would be acceptable to me, with your congratulations for the consciousness which you consider I cannot fail to cherish of having, by the act which its presentation commemorates, rendered a service to my country at a critical period in its history.
Permit me, Sir, to return my acknowledgment for this national recognition of the act referred to, and to express the satisfaction with which I have received this generous token of remembrance. It may not be inappropriate for me to refer to the transaction which gave rise to the resolve of Congress which your Department has now so gracefully executed.
About the year 1856, I formed the design and commenced the work of a steamship for the purpose of demonstrating that individual enterprise could, without the aid of governmental encouragement, place upon the ocean steamships equal at least in magnitude, power and speed, to any which had been constructed under governmental patronage and protection in any part of the world. An expenditure of about one million of dollars produced the steamship "Vanderbilt," which carried the flag of our country across the sea in a lesser space of time than any national banner had been hitherto borne.