detached houses, with gardens in front, porticoes, pillars, verandahs,
and Venetian blinds to aid the dense trees in keeping off the scorching
rays of the sun, which is intensely powerful in the summer, and is now
blazing so fiercely as to force one to admit the assertion that the
average temperature is as high as that of Calcutta to be very probable.
The grass-plots under these tree are covered with neat piles of cannon
balls, mostly of small size; two obsolete mortars--one dated 1776--are
placed in the main Avenue. Tents are pitched under the trees, and the
houses are all occupied by officers, who are chatting, smoking, and
drinking at the open windows. A number of men in semi-military dresses
of various sorts and side arms are lounging about the quays and the
lawns before the houses. Into one of these I am escorted, and find
myself at a very pleasant mess, of whom the greater number are officers
of the Zouave Corps, from New Orleans--one, a Dane, has served at
Idstedt, Kiel, Frederichstadt; another foreigner has seen service in
South America; another has fought in half the insurrectionary wars in
Europe. The wine is abundant, the fare good, the laughter and talk loud.
Mr. Davis has been down all day from Montgomery, accompanied by Mrs.
Davis, Mr. Maloney, and Mr. Wigfall, and they all think his presence
means immediate action.
The only ship here is the shell of the old Fulton, which is on the
stocks, but the works of the Navy Yard are useful in casting shot,
shell, and preparing munitions of war. An aide-de-camp from General
Bragg entered as we were sitting at table, and invited me to attend him
to the General’s quarters. The road, as I found, was very long and very
disagreeable, owing to the depth of the sand, into which the foot sank
at every step up to the ankle. Passing the front of an extended row of
the clean, airy, pretty villas inside the Navy Yard, we passed the gate
on exhibiting our passes, and proceeded by the sea beach, one side of
which is lined with houses, a few yards from the surf. These houses are
all occupied by troops, or are used as bar-rooms or magazines. At
intervals a few guns have been placed along the beach, covered by
sand-bags, parapets, and traverses. As we toiled along in the sand, the
aide hailed a cart, pressed it into the service, and we continued our
journey less painfully. Suddenly a tall, straight-backed man in a blue
frock-coat, with a star on the epaulette strap, a smart kepi, and
trowsers with gold stripe, and large brass spurs, rode past on a
high-stepping, powerful charger, followed by an orderly. “There is
General Bragg,” said his aide. The General turned round, reined up, and
I was presented as I sat in my state chariot. The commander of the
Confederated States Army at Pensacola is about forty-two years of age,
of a spare and powerful frame; his face is dark, and marked with deep
lines, his mouth large, and squarely set in determined jaws, and his
eyes, sagacious, penetrating, and not by any means unkindly, look out at
you from beetle brows which run straight across and spring into a thick
tuft of black hair, which is thickest over the nose, where naturally it
usually leaves an intervening space. His hair is dark, and he wears such
regulation whiskers as were the delight of our generals a few years ago.
His manner is quick and frank, and his smile is very pleasing and
agreeable. The General would not hear of my continuing my journey to his
quarters in a cart, and his orderly brought up an ambulance, drawn by a
smart pair of mules, in which I completed it satisfactorily.
The end of the journey through the sandy plain was at hand, for in an
inclosure of a high wall there stood a well-shaded mansion, amid trees
of live oak and sycamore, with sentries at the gate and horses held by
orderlies under the portico. General Bragg received me at the top of the
steps which lead to the verandah, and, after a few earnest and
complimentary words, conducted me to his office, where he spoke of the
contest in which he was to play so important a part in terms of
unaffected earnestness. Why else had he left his estates? After the
Mexican war he had retired from the United States Artillery; but when
his State was menaced he was obliged to defend her. He was satisfied the
North meant nothing but subjugation. All he wanted was peace. Slavery
was an institution for which he was not responsible; but his property
was guaranteed to him by law, and it consisted of slaves. Why did the
enemy take off slaves from Tortugas to work for them at Pickens? Because
whites could not do their work. It was quite impossible to deny his
earnestness, sincerity, and zeal as he spoke, and one could only wonder
at the difference made by the “stand point” from which the question is
reviewed. General Bragg finally, before we supped, took down his plans
and showed me the position of every gun in his works and all his
batteries. He showed the greatest clearness of unreserved openness in
his communications, and was anxious to point out that he had much
greater difficulties to contend with than General Beauregard had at
Charleston. The inside of Pickens is well known to him, as he was
stationed there the very first tour of duty which he had after he left
West Point. It was late at night when I returned on one of the General’s
horses toward the Navy Yard. The orderly who accompanied me was, he
said, a Mississippi planter, but he had left his wife and family to the
care of the negroes, had turned up all his cotton land and replanted it
with corn, and had come off to the wars. Once only were we challenged,
and I was only required to show my pass as I was getting on board the
schooner. Before I left General Bragg he was good enough to say he would
send down one of his aides-de-camp and horses early in the morning, to
give me a look at the works.
LETTER XII.
NEW ORLEANS, May 25, 1861.
THERE are doubts arising in my mind respecting the number of armed men
actually in the field in the South, and the amount of arms in the
possession of the Federal forces. The constant advertisements and
appeals for “a few more men to complete” such and such companies furnish
some sort of evidence that men are still wanting. But a painful and
startling insight into the manner in which “Volunteers” have been
sometimes obtained has been afforded to me at New Orleans. In no country
in the world have outrages on British subjects been so frequent and so
wanton as in the States of America. They have been frequent, perhaps,
because they have generally been attended with impunity. Englishmen,
however, will be still a little surprised to hear that within a few days
British subjects living in New Orleans have been seized, knocked down,
carried off from their labor at the wharf and the workshop, and forced
by violence to serve in the “Volunteer” ranks! These cases are not
isolated. They are not in twos and threes, but in tens and twenties;
they have not occurred stealthily or in by-ways, they have taken place
in open day, and in the streets of New Orleans. These men have been
dragged along like felons, protesting in vain that they were British
subjects. Fortunately, their friends bethought them that there was still
a British Consul in the city, who would protect his countrymen--English,
Irish, or Scotch. Mr. Mure, when he heard of the reports and of the
evidence, made energetic representations to the authorities, who, after
some evasion, gave orders that the impressed “Volunteers” should be
discharged, and the “Tiger Rifles” and other companies were deprived of
the services of thirty-five British subjects whom they had taken from
their usual avocations. The Mayor promises it shall not occur again. It
is high time that such acts should be put a stop to, and that the mob of
New Orleans should be taught to pay some regard to the usages of
civilized nations. There are some strange laws here and elsewhere in
reference to compulsory service on the part of foreigners which it would
be well to inquire into, and Lord John Russell may be able to deal with
them at a favorable opportunity. As to any liberty of opinion or real
freedom here, the boldest Southerner would not dare to say a shadow of
either exists. It may be as bad in the North, for all I know; but it
must be remembered that in all my communications I speak of things as
they appear to me to be in the place where I am at the time. The most
cruel and atrocious acts are perpetrated by the rabble who style
themselves citizens. The national failing of curiosity and prying into
other people’s affairs is now rampant, and assumes the name and airs of
patriotic vigilance. Every stranger is watched, every word is noted,
espionage commands every keyhole and every letter-box; love of country
takes to eavesdropping, and freedom shaves men’s heads, and packs men up
in boxes for the utterance of “Abolition sentiments.” In this city there
is a terrible substratum of crime and vice, violence, misery, and
murder, over which the wheels of Cotton King’s chariot rumble gratingly,
and on which rest in dangerous security the feet of his throne. There
are numbers of negroes who are sent out on the streets every day with
orders not to return with less than seventy-five cents--anything more
they can keep. But if they do not gain that--about three shillings and
six pence a day--they are liable to punishment; they may be put into
jail on charges of laziness, and may be flogged _ad libitum_, and are
sure to be half starved. Can anything, then, be more suggestive than
this paragraph, which appeared in last night’s papers. “_Only_ three
coroners inquests were held yesterday on persons found drowned in the
river, names unknown!” The italics are mine. Over and over again has the
boast been repeated to me that on the plantations lock and key are
unknown or unused in the planters’ houses. But in the cities they are
much used, though scarcely trusted. It appears, indeed, that unless a
slave has made up his or her mind to incur the dreadful penalties of
flight, there would be no inducement to commit theft, for money or
jewels would be useless; search would be easy, detection nearly certain.
That all the slaves are not indifferent to the issues before them, is
certain. At one house of a planter, the other day, one of them asked my
friend, “Will we be made to work, massa, when ole English come?” An old
domestic in the house of a gentleman in this city said, “There are few
whites in this place who ought not to be killed for their cruelty to
us.” Another said, “Oh, just wait till they attack Pickens!” These
little hints are significant enough coupled with the notices of
runaways, and the lodgments in the police jails, to show that all is not
quiet below the surface. The holders, however, are firm, and there have
been many paragraphs stating that slaves have contributed to the various
funds for State defence, and that they generally show the very best
spirit.
By the proclamation of Governor Magoffin, a copy of which I inclose, you
will see that the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and
Commander-in-chief of all her military forces on land or water, warns
all States, separated or united, especially the United States and the
Confederate States, that he will fight their troops if they attempt to
enter his Commonwealth. Thus Kentucky sets up for herself, while
Virginia is on the eve of destruction, and an actual invasion has taken
place of her soil. It is exceedingly difficult of comprehension that,
with the numerous troops, artillery, and batteries, which the
Confederate journals asserted to be in readiness to repel attack, an
invasion which took place in face of the enemy, and was effected over a
broad river, with shores readily defensible, should have been
unresisted. Here it is said there is a mighty plan, in pursuance of
which the United States troops are to be allowed to make their way into
Virginia, that they may at some convenient place be eaten up by their
enemies; and if we hear that the Confederates at Harper’s Ferry retain
their position one may believe some such plan really exists, although it
is rather doubtful strategy to permit the United States forces to gain
possession of the right bank of the Potomac. Should the position at
Harper’s Ferry be really occupied with a design of using it as a _point
d’appui_ for movements against the North, and any large number of troops
be withdrawn from Annapolis, Washington, and Baltimore, so as to leave
those places comparatively undefended, an irruption in force of the
Confederates on the right flank and in rear of General Scott’s army,
might cause most serious inconvenience and endanger his communications,
if not the possession of the places indicated.
Looking at the map, it is easy to comprehend that a march southwards
from Alexandria could be combined with an offensive movement by the
forces said to be concentrated in and around Fortress Monroe, so as to
place Richmond itself in danger, and, if any such measure is
contemplated, a battle must be fought in that vicinity, or the
_prestige_ of the South will receive very great damage. It is impossible
for any one to understand the movements of the troops on both sides.
These companies are scattered broadcast over the enormous expanse of the
States, and, where concentrated in any considerable numbers, seem to
have had their position determined rather by local circumstances than by
considerations connected with the general plan of a large campaign.
In a few days the object of the present movement will be better
understood, and it is probable that your correspondent at New York will
send, by the same mail which carries this, exceedingly important
information, to which I, in my present position, can have no access. The
influence of the blockade will be severely felt, combined with the
strict interruption of all intercourse by the Mississippi. Although the
South boasts of its resources and of its amazing richness and abundance
of produce, the constant advices in the journals to increase the breadth
of land under corn, and to neglect the cotton crop in consideration of
the paramount importance of the cause, indicate an apprehension of a
scarcity of food if the struggle be prolonged.
Under any circumstances, the patriotic ladies and gentlemen who are so
anxious for the war must make up their minds to suffer a little in the
flesh. All they can depend on is a supply of home luxuries; Indian corn
and wheat, the flesh of pigs, eked out with a small supply of beef and
mutton, will constitute the staple of their food. Butter there will be
none, and wine will speedily rise to an enormous price. Nor will coffee
and tea be had, except at a rate which will place them out of the reach
of the mass of the community. These are the smallest sacrifices of war.
The blockade is not yet enforced here, and the privateers of the port
are extremely active, and have captured vessels with more energy than
wisdom.
The day before yesterday, ships belonging to the United States in the
river were seized by the Confederation authorities, on the ground that
war had broken out, and that the time of grace accorded to the enemy’s
traders had expired. Great was the rush to the Consul’s office to
transfer the menaced property from ownership under the Stars and Strips
to British hands; but Mr. Mure refused to recognize any transactions of
the kind, unless sales _bona fide_ had been effected before the action
of the Confederate Marshals.
At Charleston the blockade has been raised, owing, apparently, to some
want of information or of means on the part of the United States
Government, and considerable inconvenience may be experienced by them in
consequence. On the 11th, the United States steam frigate Niagara
appeared outside and warned off several British ships, and on the 13th
she was visited by Mr. Bunch, our Consul, who was positively assured by
the officers on board that eight or ten vessels would be down to join in
enforcing the blockade. On the 15th, however, the Niagara departed,
leaving the port open, and several vessels have since run in and
obtained fabulous freights, suggesting to the minds of the owners of the
vessels which were warned off the propriety of making enormous demands
for compensation. The Southerners generally believe not only that their
Confederacy will be acknowledged, but that the blockade will be
disregarded by England. Their affection for her is proportionably
prodigious, and reminds one of the intensity of the gratitude which
consists in lively expectations of favors to come.
* * * * *
NEW ORLEANS, May 21, 1861.
Yesterday morning early I left Mobile in the steamer Florida, which
arrived in the Lake of Pontchartrain late at night, or early this
morning. The voyage, if it can be called so, would have offered, in less
exciting times, much that was interesting--certainly, to a stranger, a
good deal that was novel--for our course lay inside a chain, almost
uninterrupted, of reefs, covered with sand and pine trees, exceedingly
narrow, so that the surf and waves of the ocean beyond could be seen
rolling in foam through the foliage of the forest, or on the white
beach, while the sea lake on which our steamer was speeding lay in a
broad, smooth sheet, just crisped by the breeze, between the outward
barrier and the wooded shores of the mainland. Innumerable creeks, or
“bayous,” as they are called, pierce the gloom of these endless pines.
Now and then a sail could be made out, stealing through the mazes of the
marshy waters. If the mariner knows his course, he may find deep water
in most of the channels from the outer sea into these inner waters, on
which the people of the South will greatly depend for any coasting
trade, and supplies coastwise, they may require, as well as for the safe
retreat of their privateers. A few miles from Mobile, the steamer
turning out of the bay, entered upon the series of these lakes through a
narrow channel called Grant’s Pass, which some enterprising person, not
improbably of Scottish extraction, constructed for his own behoof by an
ingenious watercut, and for the use of which, and of a little iron
light-house that he has built close at hand, on the model of a
pepper-castor, he charges toll on passing vessels. This island is
scarcely three feet above the water; it is not over twenty yards broad
and one hundred and fifty yards long. A number of men were, however,
busily engaged in throwing up the sand, and arms gleamed amid some tents
pitched around the solitary wooden shed in the centre. A schooner lay at
the wharf, laden with two guns and sand-bags, and as we passed through
the narrow channel several men in military uniform, who were on board,
took their places in a boat which pushed off for them, and were conveyed
to their tiny station, of which one shell would make a dust-heap. The
Mobilians are fortifying themselves as best they can, and seem, not
unadvisedly, jealous of gunboats and small war steamers. On more than
one outlying sand-bank toward New Orleans are they to be seen at work on
other batteries, and they are busied in repairing, as well as they can,
old Spanish and new United States works which had been abandoned, or
which were never completed. The news has just been reported, indeed,
that the batteries they were preparing on Ship Island have been
destroyed and burnt by a vessel of war of the United States. For the
whole day we saw only a few coasting craft and the return steamers from
New Orleans; but in the evening a large schooner, which sailed like a
witch and was crammed with men, challenged my attention, and on looking
at her through the glass I could make out reasons enough for desiring to
avoid her if one was a quiet, short-handed, well-filled old merchantman.
There could be no mistake about certain black objects on the deck. She
lay as low as a yacht, and there were some fifty or sixty men in the
waist and forecastle. On approaching New Orleans, there are some
settlements rather than cities, although they are called by the latter
title, visible on the right hand, embowered in woods and stretching
along the beach. Such are the “Mississippi City,” Pass Cagoula, and Pass
Christian, &c.--all resorts of the inhabitants of New Orleans during the
summer heats and the epidemics which play such havoc with life from time
to time. Seen from sea, these huge hamlets look very picturesque. The
detached villas, of every variety of architecture, are painted brightly
and stand in gardens in the midst of magnolias and rhododendrons. Very
long and slender piers lead far into the sea before the very door, and
at the extremity of each there is a bathing box for the inmates. The
general effect of one of these settlements, with its light domes and
spires, long lines of whitewashed railings, and houses of every hue set
in the dark green of the pines, is very pretty. The steamer touched at
two of them. There was a motley group of colored people on the jetty, a
few whites, of whom the males were nearly all in uniform; a few bales of
goods were landed or put on board, and that was all one could see of the
life of that place. Our passengers never ceased talking politics all
day, except when they were eating or drinking, for I regret to say they
can continue to chew and to spit while they are engaged in political
discussion. Some were rude provincials in uniform. One was an
acquaintance from the far East, who had been a lieutenant on board of
the Minnesota, and had resigned his commission in order to take service
under the Confederate flag. The fiercest among them all was a thin
little lady, who uttered certain energetic aspirations for the
possession of portions of Mr. Lincoln’s person, and who was kind enough
to express intense satisfaction at the intelligence that there was
small-pox among the garrison at Monroe. In the evening a little
difficulty occurred among some of the military gentlemen, during which
one of the logicians drew a revolver, and presented it at the head of
the gentleman who was opposed to his peculiar views, but I am happy to
say that an arrangement, to which I was an unwilling “party,” for the
row took place within a yard of me, was entered into for a fight to come
off on shore in two days after they landed, which led to the
postponement of immediate murder.
The entrance to Pontchartrain Lake is infamous for the abundance of its
mosquitoes, and it was with no small satisfaction that we experienced a
small tornado, a thunderstorm, and a breeze of wind which saved us from
their fury. It is a dismal canal through a swamp. At daylight the vessel
lay alongside a wharf surrounded by small boats and bathing stations. A
railway-shed receives us on shore, and a train is soon ready to start
for the city, which is six miles distant. For a few hundred yards the
line passes between wooden houses, used as restaurants, or “restaurats,”
as they are called hereaway, kept by people with French names and using
the French tongue; then the rail plunges through a swamp, dense as an
Indian jungle, and with the overflowings of the Mississippi creeping in
feeble, shallow currents over the black mud. Presently the spires of
churches are seen rising above the underwood and rushes. Then we come
out on a wide marshy plain, in which flocks of cattle up to the belly in
mud are floundering to get at the rich herbage on the unbroken surface.
Next comes a wide-spread suburb of exceedingly broad lanes, lined with
small one-storied houses. The inhabitants are pale, lean, and sickly,
and there is about the men a certain look, almost peculiar to the
fishy-fleshy populations of Levantine towns, which I cannot describe,
but which exists all along the Mediterranean seaboard, and crops out
here again. The drive through badly-paved streets enables us to see that
there is an air of French civilization about New Orleans. The streets
are wisely adapted to the situation; they are not so wide as to permit
the sun to have it all his own way from rising to setting. The shops are
“magasins;” cafés abound. The colored population looks well dressed, and
is going to mass or market in the early morning. The pavements are
crowded with men in uniform, in which the taste of France is generally
followed. The carriage stops at last, and rest comes gratefully after
the stormy night, the mosquitoes, “the noise of the captains” (at the
bar), and the shouting.
* * * * *