I went to Petersburg on April 23d. At Petersburg I was invited to
make a visit to Mr. William Cameron, and was very glad to accept.
All his servants had left him, and Colonel Frank Huger, of the
artillery, and I amused ourselves by preparing the table for
breakfast and dinner, and were Mrs. Cameron’s chief assistants in
cutting vegetables in the garden and in washing up the dishes. I
must say that this last process was anything but advantageous, as
we contrived between us to break a good deal of our friend’s pretty
china and delicate glass. The unfortunate things had a horrible way
of losing their handles and of coming to pieces, as we scrubbed
them with more zeal than discretion.
Early in June, I went to Mechlenburg to see Mr. Raines, who was
still living on the plantation which he had rented near the
plantation of Dr. Jones; and it was then that I heard of the
barbarous conduct of the Federal cavalry on their raid through
that neighborhood, and which I have mentioned previously. This
raid it will be remembered was made after the surrender of
General Lee’s army, and when there was no shadow of military
justification or excuse for it. Little was wanting to make the
conduct of the soldiers utterly execrable, and Dr. Jones escaped
better than most of his neighbors. By this time the health of Mrs.
Jones was exceedingly feeble, and in the September following she
died. Meanwhile, the seeds of consumption were developed in her
younger sister, Miss Martha Raines, and she too died a few months
afterwards. Consumption also carried off the only remaining sister,
Miss Anna Raines, who died, I think, in 1866.
It was rather difficult for me to get back from Mechlenburg to
Petersburg, a distance of about one hundred miles; but I borrowed
an old horse, and, out of the remains of several old buggies and
carriages that were on the place, succeeded in making up what
appeared to be a rather respectable vehicle. It did hang together
pretty well until I had occasion to cross a river on my route,
when the action of the water caused one of the wheels to fall to
pieces in the middle of the stream. With considerable difficulty,
I dragged what remained of the buggy out of the river, and was
fortunate enough to be able to borrow another wheel from a planter
near by. The wheel that I borrowed I was to return to him when I
should go back to Mechlenburg. As I never went back, the wheel, I
grieve to say, was not returned; and, as I do not know the name of
my kind friend, it would be vain to try to compensate him for the
loss he sustained. What weighs, I think, rather more heavily than
this on my conscience, is a commission entrusted to me by an old
farmer, on the road, with whom I took supper one night. Finding
that I expected to come back in a few days, he asked me if I would
bring him a Richmond newspaper, and gave me a silver dime to pay
for it. That dime he had saved during the war, and only parted with
it from a desire to get some news of what was going on. No doubt
he, and the friend who lent me the buggy wheel, think of me to-day
as one of the gay deceivers who were abundant after the cessation
of hostilities.
While still a good many miles from Petersburg, what with
insufficient food and hard driving my horse broke down completely,
and I dragged along the rest of the way at the rate of a mile or
two an hour. Near Petersburg I stopped to dine with a planter, who,
finding that I was an Englishman, asked me how far it was from
London to Windsor. I told him, and he replied that the distance
could not be so great, for he remembered an anecdote of the
singular experience of one of the sentries at Windsor Castle, who
was accused of sleeping on his post. Denying this emphatically,
the sentry told the officers that he had heard the bell of St.
Paul’s, at London, strike at midnight. This was thought to be
impossible; but he told them that he not only heard it, but that
the bell struck thirteen instead of twelve. It was afterward
ascertained that, through some derangement of the machinery of
the clock, thirteen had been struck instead of twelve, and the
vigilance of the sentry was established. I do not know what the
origin of the anecdote was, but it was curious to meet with it in
the bosom of Virginia. And this reminds me of the quaint knowledge
of things in London that I found here and there in the South.
Mr. L. M. Blackford, who was attached to the Military Court of
Longstreet’s Corps, asked me one day as we were riding along the
road, what streets I would take if I wanted to go from one part of
London, which he named, to another part. I told him, and he said
he thought it would be nearer to take other streets than those
I had mentioned. I asked him if he had been to London. He said
that he had not, but explained that his father and himself were
so much attached to England, and to everything English, that they
had studied the map of London, and were almost as familiar with
the place, by the map, as if they had lived there. Mr. Blackford,
by the way, is now the Principal of the Episcopal High School at
Alexandria, Va. I have not seen him since the war, but know that
he has been to Europe, and has, therefore, had an opportunity of
putting his knowledge of London streets to good account.
My efforts to obtain employment in Petersburg were entirely
unsuccessful, although I was not particular about the kind of work.
I was on the point of getting an engagement as the driver of a
dray, but a stalwart negro, at the last moment, was taken in my
place. It was a sensible thing on the part of the employer of the
negro, no doubt, but it was mortifying to me that a negro should be
allowed to earn his bread, and a white man, who was willing to do
the same work, be denied the opportunity.
In July I went over to Richmond, and with a Mr. Evans, (a relative
of Mr. Tyler) began arrangements for publishing a small weekly
newspaper. My work was to be local reporting and canvassing for
advertisements. The type, I think, was borrowed from the Richmond
_Whig_, and we got to the point of making up one form, consisting
of the first and fourth pages of the forthcoming paper. But the
_Whig_ had done something to offend the military autocrat who was
in command at Richmond, and one fine morning he sent a party of
soldiers to the _Whig_ office, who took possession of the whole
establishment, and closed it up. Our newspaper in embryo was
embargoed with the rest of the establishment, and there my first
connection with American journalism came to an untimely end.
Returning to Petersburg, I walked down to Mr. Raines’ plantation,
and there earned something for myself, for the first time since
the war had ended. Mr. Raines had returned home, and had cut his
wheat crop, which was a very fine one, and, as much to amuse us
as anything else, he told his son Frank and me that, if we would
take the horse-rake and glean the fields, we might have what wheat
we could find. It was desperately hot work, but we succeeded
in getting a considerable quantity of wheat, which Mr. Raines
threshed out and sold for us in Petersburg. My share of the
proceeds was about $10.
I spoke just now of walking down to the plantation. The distance
from Petersburg was about eighteen miles, and I frequently walked
it by the middle of the day, leaving Petersburg early in the
morning.
One of the Ordnance Sergeants of Longstreet’s Corps, John J.
Campbell, lived at Petersburg, and I stayed there with him for some
time, after my visit to Mr. Cameron. Mrs. Campbell was a plain,
unaffected and thoroughly good-hearted woman, and was unremitting
in her kindness. Unfortunately there came to be more talking than
I liked about my own affairs, and a coolness grew up which I
greatly regretted. I mention Mrs. Campbell here, in order to have
the satisfaction of showing that, whatever was the cause of the
discontinuance of our friendly relations, I am, and always have
been, most grateful for her kindness.
Mrs. Andrew White had been zealous in her efforts to secure for
me some employment, and to her I was indebted for the clothes
which took the place of my Confederate uniform. Through her
instrumentality, in October I was engaged by Seldner & Rosenberg,
of Petersburg, as book-keeper. I fear that I knew nothing, or next
to nothing, about book-keeping. But my employers were not aware of
that awkward fact, and I do not think that they discovered it. The
pay was $40 a month, and I paid $30 a month for my board. I went
to work at half-past six o’clock in the morning, and remained at
work until eight o’clock at night. There was not much margin for my
personal expenses, and the long hours made the occupation terribly
irksome to me, but I had the promise of an advance of pay, and,
with that before me, struggled on until November.
In Petersburg one day I saw a Federal officer riding my black
horse, which I had sent to Mr. Raines’ to recruit during the
previous winter, and which had been captured in the raid there
after the cessation of hostilities. I claimed the horse at once,
and the first difficulty I encountered was the fact that I was not
regarded as a citizen of the United States. The officer in command
at Petersburg told me that my claim would not be considered, unless
I could show that I was an American citizen, or intended to become
one. As a matter of fact, I had become a citizen of Virginia, by
my service in the Confederate Army. But this was not sufficient
for the captors of my charger, so I made no difficulty in fully
renouncing before the proper officer at Petersburg my allegiance
to every foreign King, Prince or potentate, and more particularly
Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. This was my formal “declaration of
intention” to become a citizen of the United States, and I received
my naturalization papers from Judge Bryan, of the United States
District Court, at Charleston, in 1867.
In spite of the greatest economy, I found that my expenses were
greater than my income, and I determined to abandon book-keeping in
the clothing and dry goods establishment of Seldner & Rosenberg,
and try my hand at planting, with Dr. Jones. The understanding with
him was that I should assist in managing the plantation under his
direction, and receive a portion of the net profit, whatever that
might be.