Cruz, and so on to Cuba, and thence to New York; and it is in Boston
with me now. But it is not mine. The Don did not even lend it to me. I
had only his permission to take it from the library to my room, and turn
it over there; but when I was coming away, that same body-servant,
thinking it was my property, carefully packed it among the clothes in my
portmanteau; and I did not discover his mistake and my temporary gain
until I was off. I mention this in all candor; for I am conscious that
there never was a book-collector yet who did not, at some period or
other of his life, at least meditate the commission of a felony. But the
Don is coming to the States this autumn, and I must show him that I have
not been a fraudulent bailee. I shall have taken, at all events, my fill
of pleasure from the book; and I hope that George Cruikshank will live
to read what I have written; and God bless his honest old heart,
anyhow!
FOOTNOTES:
[C] Aquatint engraving in England is all but a dead art. It is now
employed only in portraits of race-horses, which are never sold
uncolored, and in plates of the fashions. The present writer had the
honor, twelve years since, of producing the last "great" work (so far as
size was concerned) undertaken in England. It was a monster panorama,
some sixty feet long, representing the funeral procession of the Duke of
Wellington. It was published by the well-known house of Ackermann, in
the Strand; and the writer regrets to say that the house went bankrupt
very shortly afterwards.
LEAVES FROM AN OFFICER'S JOURNAL.
III.
CAMP SAXTON, NEAR BEAUFORT, S. C.
January 3, 1864.
Once, and once only, thus far, the water has frozen in my tent; and the
next morning showed a dense white frost outside. We have still
mocking-birds and crickets and rosebuds and occasional noonday baths in
the river, though the butterflies have vanished, as I remember to have
observed in Fayal, after December. I have been here nearly six weeks
without a rainy day; one or two slight showers there have been, once
interrupting a drill, but never dress parade. For climate, by day, we
might be among the isles of Greece,--though it may be my constant
familiarity with the names of her sages which suggests that impression.
For instance, a voice just now called, near my tent,--"Cato, whar's
Plato?"
The men have somehow got the impression that it is essential to the
validity of a marriage that they should come to me for permission, just
as they used to go to the master; and I rather encourage these little
confidences, because it is so entertaining to hear them. "Now, Cunnel,"
said a faltering swain the other day, "I want for get me one good lady,"
which I approved, especially the limitation as to number. Afterwards I
asked one of the bridegroom's friends whether he thought it a good
match. "Oh, yes, Cunnel," said he, in all the cordiality of friendship,
"John's gwine for marry Venus." I trust the goddess prove herself a
better lady than she appeared during her previous career upon this
planet. But this naturally suggests the isles of Greece again.
_January 7._--On first arriving, I found a good deal of anxiety among
the officers as to the increase of desertions, that being the rock on
which the "Hunter Regiment" split. Now this evil is very nearly stopped,
and we are every day recovering the older absentees. One of the very
best things that have happened to us was a half-accidental shooting of a
man who had escaped from the guard-house, and was wounded by a squad
sent in pursuit. He has since died; and this very evening, another man,
who escaped with him, came and opened the door of my tent, after being
five days in the woods, almost without food. His clothes were in rags,
and he was nearly starved, poor foolish fellow, so that we can almost
dispense with further punishment. Severe penalties would be wasted on
these people, accustomed as they have been to the most violent passions
on the part of white men; but a mild inexorableness tells on them, just
as it does on any other children. It is something utterly new to them,
and it is thus far perfectly efficacious. They have a great deal of
pride as soldiers, and a very little of severity goes a great way, if it
be firm and consistent. This is very encouraging.
The single question which I asked of some of the
plantation-superintendents, on the voyage, was, "Do these people
appreciate _justice_?" If they did, it was evident that all the rest
would be easy. When a race is degraded beyond that point, it must be
very hard to deal with them; they must mistake all kindness for
indulgence, all strictness for cruelty. With these freed slaves there is
no such trouble, not a particle: let an officer be only just and firm,
with a cordial, kindly nature, and he has no sort of difficulty. The
plantation-superintendents and teachers have the same experience, they
say; but we have an immense advantage in the military organization,
which helps in two ways: it increases their self-respect, and it gives
us an admirable machinery for discipline, thus improving both the
fulcrum and the lever.
The wounded man died in the hospital, and the general verdict seemed to
be, "Him brought it on heself." Another soldier died of pneumonia on the
same day, and we had the funerals in the evening. It was very
impressive. A dense mist came up, with a moon behind it, and we had only
the light of pine-splinters, as the procession wound along beneath the
mighty moss-hung branches of the ancient grove. The groups around the
grave, the dark faces, the red garments, the scattered lights, the misty
boughs, were weird and strange. The men sang one of their own wild
chants. Two crickets sang also, one on either side, and did not cease
their little monotone, even when the three volleys were fired above the
graves. Just before the coffins were lowered, an old man whispered to me
that I must have their position altered,--the heads must be towards the
west; so it was done,--though they are in a place so veiled in woods
that either rising or setting sun will find it hard to spy them.
We have now a good regimental hospital, admirably arranged in a deserted
gin-house,--a fine well of our own within the camp-lines,--a
ful-allowance of tents, all floored,--a wooden cook-house to every
company, with sometimes a palmetto mess-house beside,--a substantial
wooden guard-house, with a fireplace five feet "in de clar," where the
men off duty can dry themselves and sleep comfortably in bunks
afterwards. We have also a great circular school-tent, made of condemned
canvas, thirty feet in diameter, and looking like some of the Indian
lodges I saw in Kansas. We now meditate a regimental bakery. Our
aggregate has increased from four hundred and ninety to seven hundred
and forty, besides a hundred recruits now waiting at St. Augustine, and
we have practised through all the main movements in battalion drill.
Affairs being thus prosperous, and yesterday having been six weeks since
my last and only visit to Beaufort, I rode in, glanced at several camps,
and dined with the General. It seemed absolutely like reentering the
world; and I did not fully estimate my past seclusion till it occurred
to me, as a strange and novel phenomenon, that the soldiers at the other
camps were white.
_January 8._--This morning I went to Beaufort again, on necessary
business, and by good luck happened upon a review and drill of the white
regiments. The thing that struck me most was that same absence of
uniformity, in minor points, that I noticed at first in my own officers.
The best regiments in the Department are represented among my captains
and lieutenants, and very well represented, too; yet it has cost much
labor to bring them to any uniformity in their drill. There is no need
of this, for the prescribed "Tactics" approach perfection: it is never
left discretionary in what place an officer shall stand, or in what
words he shall give his order. All variation would seem to imply
negligence. Yet even West Point occasionally varies from the
"Tactics,"--as, for instance, in requiring the line officers to face
down the line, when each is giving the order to his company. In our
strictest Massachusetts regiments this is not done.
It needs an artist's eye to make a perfect drill-master. Yet the small
points are not merely a matter of punctilio; for, the more perfectly a
battalion is drilled on the parade-ground, the more quietly it can be
handled in action. Moreover, the great need of uniformity is this: that,
in the field, soldiers of different companies, and even of different
regiments, are liable to be intermingled, and a diversity of orders may
throw everything into confusion. Confusion means Bull Run.
I wished my men at the review to-day; for, amidst all the rattling and
noise of artillery and the galloping of cavalry, there was only one
infantry movement that we have not practised, and that was done by only
one regiment, and apparently considered quite a novelty, though it is
easily taught,--forming square by Casey's method: forward on centre.
It is really just as easy to drill a regiment as a company,--perhaps
easier, because one has more time to think; but it is just as essential
to be sharp and decisive, perfectly clear-headed, and to put life into
the men. A regiment seems small when one has learned how to handle it,
a mere handful of men; and I have no doubt that a brigade or a
division would soon appear equally small. But to handle either
_judiciously_,--ah, that is another affair!
So of governing: it is as easy to govern a regiment as a school or a
factory, and needs like qualities,--system, promptness, patience, tact;
moreover, in a regiment one has the aid of the admirable machinery of
the army, so that I see very ordinary men who succeed very tolerably.
Reports of a six months' armistice are rife here, and the thought is
deplored by all. I cannot believe it, yet sometimes one feels very
anxious about the ultimate fate of these poor people. After the
experience of Hungary, one sees that revolutions may go backward; and
the habit of injustice seems so deeply impressed upon the whites, that
it is hard to believe in the possibility of anything better. I dare not
yet hope that the promise of the President's Proclamation will be kept.
For myself I can be indifferent, for the experience here has been its
own daily and hourly reward; and the adaptedness of the freed slaves for
drill and discipline is now thoroughly demonstrated and must soon be
universally acknowledged. But it would be terrible to see this regiment
disbanded or defrauded.
_January 12._--Many things glide by without time to narrate them. On
Saturday we had a mail with the President's Second Message of
Emancipation, and the next day it was read to the men. The words
themselves did not stir them very much, because they have been often
told that they were free, especially on New-Year's Day, and, being
unversed in politics, they do not understand, as well as we do, the
importance of each additional guaranty. But the chaplain spoke to them
afterwards very effectively, as usual; and then I proposed to them to
hold up their hands and pledge themselves to be faithful to those still
in bondage. They entered heartily into this, and the scene was quite
impressive, beneath the great oak-branches. I heard afterwards that only
one man refused to raise his hand, saying bluntly that his wife was out
of slavery with him, and he did not care to fight. The other soldiers of
his company were very indignant, and shoved him about among them while
marching back to their quarters, calling him "Coward." I was glad of
their exhibition of feeling, though it is very possible that the one who
had thus the moral courage to stand alone among his comrades might be
more reliable, on a pinch, than some who yielded a more ready assent.
But the whole response, on their part, was very hearty, and will be a
good thing to which to hold them hereafter, at any time of
discouragement or demoralization,--which was my chief reason for
proposing it. With their simple natures, it is a great thing to tie them
to some definite committal; they never forget a marked occurrence, and
never seem disposed to evade a pledge.
It is this capacity of honor and fidelity which gives me such entire
faith in them as soldiers. Without it, all their religious demonstration
would be mere sentimentality. For instance, every one who visits the
camp is struck with their bearing as sentinels. They exhibit, in this
capacity, not an upstart conceit, but a steady, conscientious devotion
to duty. They would stop their idolized General Saxton, if he attempted
to cross their beat contrary to orders: I have seen them. No feeble or
incompetent race could do this. The officers tell many amusing instances
of this fidelity, but I think mine the best.
It was very dark the other night,--an unusual thing here,--and the rain
fell in torrents; so I put on my India-rubber suit, and went the rounds
of the sentinels, incognito, to test them. I can only say that I shall
never try such an experiment again, and have cautioned my officers
against it. 'T is a wonder I escaped with life and limb,--such a
charging of bayonets and clicking of gun-locks. Sometimes I tempted
them by refusing to give any countersign, but offering them a piece of
tobacco, which they could not accept without allowing me nearer than the
prescribed bayonet's distance. Tobacco is more than gold to them, and it
was touching to watch the struggle in their minds; but they always did
their duty at last, and I never could persuade them. One man, as if
wishing to crush all his inward vacillations at one fell stroke, told me
stoutly that he never used tobacco, though I found next day that he
loved it as much as any one of them. It seemed wrong thus to tamper with
their fidelity; yet it was a vital matter to me to know how far it could
be trusted, out of my sight. It was so intensely dark that not more than
one or two knew me, even after I had talked with the very next sentinel,
especially as they had never seen me in India-rubber clothing, and I can
always disguise my voice. It was easy to distinguish those who did make
the discovery; they were always conscious and simpering when their turn
came; while the others were stout and irreverent till I revealed myself,
and then rather cowed and anxious, fearing to have offended.
It rained harder and harder, and when I had nearly made the rounds, I
had had enough of it, and, simply giving the countersign to the
challenging sentinel, undertook to pass within the lines.
"Halt!" exclaimed this dusky man and brother, bringing down his
bayonet,--"de countersign not correck."
Now the magic word, in this case, was "Vicksburg," in honor of a rumored
victory. But as I knew that these hard names became quite transformed
upon their lips, "Carthage" being familiarized into Cartridge, and
"Concord" into Corn-cob, how could I possibly tell what shade of
pronunciation my friend might prefer for this particular proper name?
"Vicksburg," I repeated, blandly, but authoritatively, endeavoring, as
zealously as one of Christy's Minstrels, to assimilate my speech to any
supposed predilection of the Ethiop vocal organs.
"Halt dar! Countersign not correck," was the only answer.
The bayonet still maintained a position which, in a military point of
view, was impressive.
I tried persuasion, orthography, threats, tobacco, all in vain. I could
not pass in. Of course my pride was up; for was I to defer to an
untutored African on a point of pronunciation? Classic shades of
Harvard, forbid! Affecting scornful indifference, I tried to edge away,
proposing to myself to enter the camp at some other point, where my
elocution would be better appreciated. Not a step could I stir.
"Halt!" shouted my gentleman again, still holding me at his bayonet's
point, and I wincing and halting.
I explained to him the extreme absurdity of this proceeding, called his
attention to the state of the weather, which, indeed, spoke for itself
so loudly that we could hardly hear each other speak, and requested
permission to withdraw. The bayonet, with mute eloquence, refused the
application.
There flashed into my mind, with more enjoyment in the retrospect than I
had experienced at the time, an adventure on a lecturing tour in other
years, when I had spent an hour in trying to scramble into a country
tavern, after bed-time, on the coldest night of winter. On that occasion
I ultimately found myself stuck midway in the window, with my head in a
temperature of 80 deg., and my heels in a temperature of -10 deg., with a
heavy window-sash pinioning the small of my back. However, I had got safe
out of that dilemma, and it was time to put an end to this one.
"Call the corporal of the guard," said I, at last, with dignity,
unwilling either to make a night of it or to yield my incognito.
"Corporal ob de guard!" he shouted, lustily,--"Post Number Two!" while I
could hear another sentinel chuckling with laughter. This last was a
special guard, placed over a tent, with a prisoner in charge. Presently
he broke silence.
"Who am dat?" he asked, in a stage whisper. "Am he a buckra [white
man]?"
"Dunno whether he been a buckra or not," responded, doggedly, my
Cerberus in uniform; "but I's bound to keep him here till de corporal ob
de guard come."
Yet, when that dignitary arrived, and I revealed myself, poor Number Two
appeared utterly transfixed with terror, and seemed to look for nothing
less than immediate execution. Of course I praised his fidelity, and the
next day complimented him before the guard, and mentioned him to his
captain; and the whole affair was very good for them all. Hereafter, if
Satan himself should approach them in darkness and storm, they will take
him for "de Cunnel," and treat him with special severity.
_January 13._--In many ways the childish nature of this people shows
itself. I have just had to make a change of officers in a company which
has constantly complained, and with good reason, of neglect and improper
treatment. Two excellent officers have been assigned to them; and yet
they sent a deputation to me in the evening, in a state of utter
wretchedness. "We's bery grieved dis evening, Cunnel; 'pears like we
couldn't bear it, to lose de Cap'n and de Lieutenant, all two togeder."
Argument was useless; and I could only fall back on the general theory,
that I knew what was best for them, which had much more effect; and I
also could cite the instance of another company, which had been much
improved by a new captain, as they readily admitted. So with the promise
that the new officers should not be "savage to we," which was the one
thing they deprecated, I assuaged their woes. Twenty-four hours have
passed, and I hear them singing most merrily all down that
company-street.
I often notice how their griefs may be dispelled, like those of
children, merely by permission to utter them: if they can tell their
sorrows, they go away happy, even without asking to have anything done
about them. I observe also a peculiar dislike of all _intermediate_
control: they always wish to pass by the company officer, and deal with
me personally for everything. General Saxton notices the same thing with
the people on the plantations as regards himself. I suppose this
proceeds partly from the old habit of appealing to the master against
the overseer. Kind words would cost the master nothing, and he could
easily put off any non-fulfilment upon the overseer. Moreover, the
negroes have acquired such constitutional distrust of white people, that
it is perhaps as much as they can do to trust more than one person at a
time. Meanwhile this constant personal intercourse is out of the
question in a well-ordered regiment; and the remedy for it is to
introduce by degrees more and more of system, so that their immediate
officers will become all-sufficient for the daily routine.
It is perfectly true (as I find everybody takes for granted) that the
first essential for an officer of colored troops is to gain their
confidence. But it is equally true, though many persons do not
appreciate it, that the admirable methods and proprieties of the regular
army are equally available for all troops, and that the sublimest
philanthropist, if he does not appreciate this, is unfit to command
them.
Another childlike attribute in these men, which is less agreeable, is a
sort of blunt insensibility to giving physical pain. If they are cruel
to animals, for instance, it always reminds me of children pulling off
flies' legs, in a sort of pitiless, untaught, experimental way. Yet I
should not fear any wanton outrage from them. After all their wrongs,
they are not really revengeful; and I would far rather enter a captured
city with them than with white troops, for they would be more
subordinate. But for mere physical suffering they would have no fine
sympathies. The cruel things they have seen and undergone have helped to
blunt them; and if I ordered them to put to death a dozen prisoners, I
think they would do it without remonstrance.
Yet their religious spirit grows more beautiful to me in living longer
with them: it is certainly far more so than at first, when it seemed
rather a matter of phrase and habit. It influences them both on the
negative and the positive side. That is, it cultivates the feminine
virtues first,--makes them patient, meek, resigned. This is very evident
in the hospital; there is nothing of the restless, defiant habit of
white invalids. Perhaps, if they had more of this, they would resist
disease better. Imbued from childhood with the habit of submission,
drinking in through every pore that other-world trust which is the one
spirit of their songs, they can endure everything. This I expected; but
I am relieved to find that their religion strengthens them on the
positive side also,--gives zeal, energy, daring. They could easily be
made fanatics, if I chose; but I do not choose. Their whole mood is
essentially Mohammedan, perhaps, in its strength and its weakness; and I
feel the same degree of sympathy that I should, if I had a Turkish
command,--that is, a sort of sympathetic admiration, not tending towards
agreement, but towards cooperation. Their philosophizing is often the
highest form of mysticism; and our dear surgeon declares that they are
all natural transcendentalists. The white camps seem rough and secular,
after this; and I hear our men talk about "a religious army," "a Gospel
army," in their prayer-meetings. They are certainly evangelizing the
chaplain, who was rather a heretic at the beginning; at least, this is
his own admission. We have recruits on their way from St. Augustine,
where the negroes are chiefly Roman Catholics; and it will be
interesting to see how their type of character combines with that elder
creed.
It is time for rest; and I have just looked out into the night, where
the eternal stars shut down, in concave protection, over the yet
glimmering camp, and Orion hangs above my tent-door, giving to me the
sense of strength and assurance which these simple children obtain from
their Moses and the Prophets. Yet external Nature does its share in
their training; witness that most poetic of all their songs, which
always reminds me of the "Lyke-Wake Dirge" in the "Scottish Border
Minstrelsy":--
"I know moon-rise, I know star-rise;
Lay dis body down.
I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight,
To lay dis body down.
I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through the graveyard,
To lay dis body down.
I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms;
Lay dis body down.
I go to de Judgment in de evening ob de day
When I lay dis body down;
And my soul and your soul will meet in de day
When I lay dis body down."