This account is confusing without the footnotes and, while impugning McFeeley’s research, it is not definitively exculpatory of Fred’s alleged conduct.
Footnotes added in below.
When/where did the Clark interview described in the first paragraph appear?
That interview is alleged in McFeely's book.
"Clark also had an interview with President Grant and urged him to champion Smith as a model for the advancement of black people everywhere in the society. Clark pointed out how good Smith's academic record was, and Grant acknowledged it, saying, 'Don't take him away; the battle may as well be fought now as any time.' However, according to Clark's version of the conversation, Fred Grant was in the room and '
in the presence of his father' [italics in McFeely] said that 'the time had not come to send colored boys to West Point.' Clark pointed out that if black men were in the Senate, surely they should be at the military academy, to which (reported Clark) Fred replied, 'Well, no da**ed [n-word] will ever graduate from West Point.' " [William S. McFeely,
Grant, p. 376]
McFeely's footnote reads, "
New National Era, Jan. 26, 1871; unidentified clipping, O. O. Howard Papers, Bowdoin College Library." [p. 551, n. 41]
Did it pre or post date the 1872 letter?
Based on McFeely's footnote, it appears to predate the 1872 letter.
Was it contemporaneous with the meeting described therein or much later?
It's hard to say exactly, because McFeely doesn't give the date of the alleged interview, though it appears it may have been about a year after the fact.
It would be inportant to know more about the context of that interview and why Clark would invent such serious accusations about Fred.
We are apparently left with speculation only as to Clark's motives.
Footnotes added:
"To McFeely, perhaps the most emblematic illustration of Grant's racial attitudes during his presidency was his participation in the case of James Webster Smith, the first black admitted to West Point. While there is no doubt that Smith had a rough time of it, McFeely fails to incorporate contradictory evidence--including the testimony of fellow black cadet Henry O. Flipper--that Smith contributed a great deal to his own unhappy experience at the academy, compounding problems rooted in the prejudice of white cadets. McFeely asserts that there is 'considerable evidence' that the president's son, Frederick, a cadet at the time of Smith's admission, 'used his peculiar authority' in support of 'the ceaseless harassment' of Smith. Unfortunately, McFeely does not reveal the nature of this 'considerable evidence.' The document cited in support of this contention, a letter from Smith to Connecticut philanthropist David Clark, the black cadet's sponsor, does not mention Fred Grant, nor does McFeely mention any instance when Smith named the president's son as one of his tormentors.
43 In fact, McFeely bases his claims for the attitudes of the Grants upon evidence presented by Clark himself. The philanthropist recalled an interview with the president concerning Smith in July 1870, at which Fred was present. While (as McFeely notes) Grant offered Clark encouragement, Fred insisted 'the time had not yet come to send colored boys to West Point,' and added, 'no d$$$ [n-word] will ever graduate' from the academy. Given the lack of corroborative testimony, the reader evaluating the testimony must assess Clark's trustworthiness.
44 The only other piece of evidence offered by McFeely in his text is also derived from Clark's pen, although McFeely's mishandling of it serves to conceal its true origins. McFeely cites an undated letter from Grant to Secretary of War William W. Belknap in which the president relayed his son's observation that other cadets found Smith 'objectionable.' However, Grant's reported comment did not appear in a letter to Belknap; the source of the comment was a July 22, 1872 letter from Clark to Sayles J. Bowen, in which Clark reported General Howard's recollection of Belknap's account of a conversation between Grant and the war secretary. Furthermore, McFeely excised the most damaging part of the letter. Clark quoted Howard as follows:
'In conversation with the Secretary of War, he informed me that President Grant had called upon him prior to the appointments of the courts-martial and said: 'I suppose, Mr. Secretary, that you are about to appoint a court-martial for the trial of the colored Cadet Smith, at West Point. I have received two or three letters from my Fred., who informs me that the cadet is very objectionable there; that there are strong prejudices existing against him, &c. Now, as this trial is to come off, Mr. Secretary, I trust that you will so make up the court as to cause his removal.'
45
"Clark's letter appeared in the July 31, 1872 issue of the
New York Tribune, the leading organ of Liberal Republican presidential candidate Horace Greeley, Grant's 1872 opponent. Its publication fulfilled Clark's vow, made the previous year, to wreak vengeance on the president for allegedly failing to sustain Smith. Grant and Belknap immediately denied the story, and the cabinet secretary wired Howard, out West visiting various posts, for comment. On August 8 Howard responded, 'Mr. Clark is certainly mistaken for I never had such a conversation with the Secretary of War and could not have made so untrue a report.'
46 Moreover, Clark's 1872 letter sheds light on his July 1870 interview with the Grants. 'I will do all that I can to protect [Smith] in his rights,' the president stated, according to Clark. Contrary to his previous description of Fred Grant as a rabid racist, Clark simply recalled that the president's son had 'never spoken to Cadet Smith; nor had he any knowledge of any indignation heaped upon him, though he had heard about them. He said he should take neither one side nor the other in the quarrel, if one existed.' In light of these statements, Fred's next comment--that perhaps 'the time had not come to send colored boys to West Point'--suggests not so much the younger Grant's bigotry as his recognition of the difficulties black cadets encountered. Indeed, the allegation that Fred uttered a racist slur does not appear in this letter. The unreliability of Clark's testimony raises serious questions about the validity of McFeely's description of the entire affair, as does McFeely's neglect of Grant's efforts to protect Smith by overturning several courts-martial decisions which had called for Smith's expulsion.
47" [Brooks D. Simpson, "Butcher? Racist? An Examination of William S. McFeely's
Grant: A Biography,"
Civil War History, Vol. XXXIII, No. 1, March, 1987, pp. 80-82]
43: McFeely,
Grant, 375-79; Henry O. Flipper,
The Colored Cadet at West Point (New York, 1878), passim. A microfilm publication of the National Archives, "Selected Documents relating to Blacks Nominated for Appointment to the U.S. Military Academy During the 19th Century, 1870-1887" (M-1002), is essential reading in understanding this case.
44: McFeely,
Grant, 376; The records of Smith's first court-martial, reproduced on M-1002, suggest that both Smith and Clark were not reliable individuals. Smith continually changed his story, and claimed that a letter he had written to Clark (and Clark had published) had been altered, a charge Clark denied.
45: McFeely,
Grant, 377; Clark to Bowen, July 22, 1872, in
New York Tribune, July 31, 1872. Bowen, former mayor of Washington, had not only joined the Liberal Republican movement but still harbored a grudge against Grant over the general's decision not to sell his house to Bowen some years before, in part because Julia refused toa gree to the sale. Julia Dent Grant,
Memoirs, 178, 193 n. 3.
46: McFeely,
Grant, 378-79;
Washington National Republican, Aug. 20, 1872; Belknap to Howard, Aug. 1, 1872, Telegrams Sent, Secretary of War, RG 107, National Archives; Howard to Belknap, Aug. 8 1872, Howard Papers, Bowdoin College.
47: Clark to Bowen, July 22, 1872, in
New York Tribune, July 31, 1872; see also M-1002 (note 43 above).