Minister To Russia
When the Civil War began in April 1861, Lincoln nominated Clay as ambassador to Spain, but Clay declined.
Clay accepted the post of Minister to the Russian court at St. Petersburg. The Civil War erupted before he left for Russia. As there were no Federal troops in Washington at the time, Mr. Clay organized a group of 300 volunteers to protect the White House and US Naval Yard from a possible Confederate attack. These men became known as Cassius M. Clay's Washington Guards. For this service President Lincoln gave Clay a presentation Colt revolver. When Federal troops arrived, Clay and his family embarked for Russia.
As Minister to Russia, he witnessed the Tsar's emancipation edict. Recalled to the United States to accept a commission as a major general from Lincoln, Clay publicly refused to accept it unless Lincoln would sign an emancipation proclamation. Lincoln sent Clay to Kentucky to assess the mood for emancipation there and in the other border states. Following Clay's return, Lincoln issued the proclamation.
Clay returned to Russia in 1863 and remained until 1869. He was influential in the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska.
Read more about this topic: Cassius Marcellus Clay (abolitionist)
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“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the fraught bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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