"Mr. H.L."
"Is he here?"
"No."
"Where can he be found?"
"At the office of Deputy----."
"I'm not going there. This is an order from General Pemberton for you to
move out of this house in two hours. He has selected it for headquarters.
He will furnish you with wagons.".
"Will he furnish another house also?"
"Of course not."
"Has the owner been consulted?"
"He has not; that is of no consequence; it has been taken. Take this
order."
"I shall not take it, and I shall not move, as there is no place to move
to but the street."
"Then I'll take it to Mr. L."
"Very well, do so."
As soon as Mr. Impertine walked off I locked, bolted, and barred every
door and window. In ten minutes H. came home.
"Hold the fort till I've seen the owner and the general," he said, as I
locked him out.
Then Dr. B.'s remark in New Orleans about the effect of Dr. C.'s fine
presence on the Confederate officials there came to my mind. They are
influenced in that way, I thought; I look rather shabby now, I will dress.
I made an elaborate toilet, put on the best and most becoming dress I had,
the richest lace, the handsomest ornaments, taking care that all should be
appropriate to a morning visit; dressed my hair in the stateliest braids,
and took a seat in the parlor ready for the fray. H. came to the window
and said:
"Landlord says, 'Keep them out. Wouldn't let them have his house at any
price.' He is just riding off to the country and can't help us now. Now
I'm going to see Major C, who sent the order."
Next came an officer, banged at the door till tired, and walked away. Then
the orderly came again and beat the door--same result. Next, four officers
with bundles and lunch-baskets, followed by a wagon-load of furniture.
They went round the house, tried every door, peeped in the windows,
pounded and rapped, while I watched them through the blind-slats.
Presently the fattest one, a real Falstaffian man, came back to the front
door and rung a thundering peal. I saw the chance for fun and for putting
on their own grandiloquent style. Stealing on tiptoe to the door, I turned
the key and bolt noiselessly, and suddenly threw wide back the door, and
appeared behind it. He had been leaning on it, and nearly pitched forward
with an "Oh! what's this?" Then seeing me as he straightened up, "Ah,
madam!" almost stuttering from surprise and anger, "are you aware I had
the right to break down this door if you hadn't opened it?"
"That would make no difference to me. I'm not the owner. You or the
landlord would pay the bill for the repairs."
"Why didn't you open the door?"
"Have I not done so as soon as you rung? A lady does not open the door to
men who beat on it. Gentlemen usually ring; I thought it might be
stragglers pounding."
"Well," growing much blander, "we are going to send you some wagons to
move; you must get ready."
"With pleasure, if you have selected a house for me. This is too large; it
does not suit me."
"No, I didn't find a house for you."
"You surely don't expect _me_ to run about in the dust and shelling to
look for it, and Mr. L. is too busy."
"Well, madam, then we must share the house. We will take the lower floor."
"I prefer to keep the lower floor myself; you surely don't expect _me_ to
go up and down stairs when you are so light and more able to do it."
He walked through the hall, trying the doors. "What room is that?"--"The
parlor." "And this?"--"My bedroom." "And this?"--"The dining-room."
"Well, madam, we'll find you a house and then come and take this."
"Thank you, colonel. I shall be ready when you find the house. Good
morning, sir."
I heard him say as he ran down the steps, "We must go back, captain; you
see I didn't know they were this kind of people."
Of course the orderly had lied in the beginning to scare me, for General
Pemberton is too far away from Vicksburg to send such an order. He is
looking about for General Grant. We are told he has gone out to meet
Johnston; and together they expect to annihilate Grant's army and free
Vicksburg forever. There is now a general hospital opposite this house and
a small-pox hospital next door. War, famine, pestilence, and fire surround
us. Every day the band plays in front of the small-pox hospital. I wonder
if it is to keep up their spirits? One would suppose quiet would be more
cheering.
_May 17th, 1863_.--Hardly was our scanty breakfast over this morning when
a hurried ring drew us both to the door. Mr. J., one of H.'s assistants,
stood there in high excitement.
"Well, Mr. L., they are upon us; the Yankees will be here by this
evening."
"What do you mean?"
"That Pemberton has been whipped at Baker's Creek and Big Black, and his
army are running back here as fast as they can come and the Yanks after
them, in such numbers nothing can stop them. Hasn't Pemberton acted like a
fool?"
"He may not be the only one to blame," replied H.
"They're coming along the Big B. road, and my folks went down there to be
safe, you know; now they're right in it. I hear you can't see the armies
for the dust; never was anything else known like it. But I must go and try
to bring my folks back here."
What struck us both was the absence of that concern to be expected, and a
sort of relief or suppressed pleasure. After twelve some worn-out-looking
men sat down under the window.
"What is the news?" I inquired.
"Retreat, retreat!" they said, in broken English--they were Louisiana
Acadians.
About 3 o'clock the rush began. I shall never forget that woful sight of a
beaten, demoralized army that came rushing back,--humanity in the last
throes of endurance. Wan, hollow-eyed, ragged, footsore, bloody, the men
limped along unarmed, but followed by siege-guns, ambulances,
gun-carriages, and wagons in aimless confusion. At twilight two or three
bands on the court-house hill and other points began playing Dixie, Bonnie
Blue Flag, and so on, and drums began to beat all about; I suppose they
were rallying the scattered army.