Frederick William Seward (8 July 1830-25 April 1915) was United States Assistant Secretary of State from 6 March 1861 to 4 March 1869 (succeeding William H. Trescot and preceding Bancroft Davis) and from 16 March 1877 to 31 October 1879 (succeeding John Cadwalader and preceding John Hay).
Biography[]
Frederick William Seward was born in Auburn, New York, the son of William H. Seward, the younger brother of Augustus Henry Seward, and the elder brother of William H. Seward Jr. and Fanny Seward. He practiced law in Rochester before serving as a secretary to his father from 1849 to 1857 and as associate editor of the Albany Evening Journal from 1851 to 1861. On 21 February 1861, he delivered a letter to President Abraham Lincoln him containing Charles Pomeroy Stone and Winfield Scott's warnings about Southern plots to kill him in Baltimore, possibly saving Lincoln's life. Frederick went on to become Assistant Secretary of State in charge of consular service, assisting in the conclusion of the Burlingame Treaty with Qing China. On 14 April 1865, he was pistol-whipped by pro-Confederate assassin Lewis Powell moments before Powell stabbed his father in his bed. Seward suffered several skull injuries, but he ultimately survived and went on to testify at Andrew Johnson's 1868 impeachment trial as a defense witness, to serve in the State Assembly in 1875, and to serve as Assistant Secretary of State from 1877 to 1879. He died at his estate near Peekskill in 1915.