TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of the book.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
MY DIARY
NORTH AND SOUTH.
BY
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET.
1863.
[_The right of Translation is reserved._]
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Down the Mississippi--Hotel at Vicksburg--Dinner--Public
meeting--News of the progress of the war--Slavery and
England--Jackson--Governor Pettus--Insecurity of life--Strong
Southern enthusiasm--Troops bound for the North--Approach to
Memphis--Slaves for sale--Memphis--General Pillow 1
CHAPTER II.
Camp Randolph--Cannon practice--Volunteers--“Dixie”--Forced
return from the South--Apathy of the North--General retrospect of
politics--Energy and earnestness of the South--Firearms--Position
of Great Britain towards the belligerents--Feeling towards the
Old Country 22
CHAPTER III.
Heavy Bill--Railway travelling--Introductions--Assassinations
--Tennessee--“Corinth”--“Troy”--“Humbolt”--“The Confederate
camp”--Return Northwards--Columbus--Cairo--The slavery question
--Prospects of the war--Coarse journalism 41
CHAPTER IV.
Camp at Cairo--The North and the South in respect to Europe--
Political reflections--Mr. Colonel Oglesby--My speech--Northern
and Southern soldiers compared--American country-walks--
Recklessness of life--Want of cavalry--Emeute in the camp--
Defects of army medical department--Horrors of war--Bad
discipline 63
CHAPTER V.
Impending battle--By railway to Chicago--Northern enlightenment
--Mound City--“Cotton is King”--Land in the States--Dead level of
American society--Return into the Union--American homes--Across
the prairie--White labourers--New pillager--Lake Michigan 77
CHAPTER VI.
Progress of events--Policy of Great Britain as regarded by
the North--The American Press and its comments--Privacy a
luxury--Chicago--Senator Douglas and his widow--American
ingratitude--Apathy in volunteering--Colonel Turchin’s camp 88
CHAPTER VII.
Niagara--Impression of the Falls--Battle scenes in the
neighbourhood--A village of Indians--General Scott--Hostile
movements on both sides--The Hudson--Military school at West
Point--Return to New York--Altered appearance of the city--
Misery and suffering--Altered state of public opinion as to
the Union and towards Great Britain 96
CHAPTER VIII.
Departure for Washington--A “servant”--The American Press on
the War--Military aspect of the States--Philadelphia--Baltimore
--Washington--Lord Lyons--Mr. Sumner--Irritation against Great
Britain--“Independence” day--Meeting of Congress--General
state of affairs 114
CHAPTER IX.
Interview with Mr. Seward--My passport--Mr. Seward’s views
as to the war--Illumination at Washington--My “servant”
absents himself--New York journalism--The Capitol--Interior of
Congress--The President’s Message--Speeches in Congress--Lord
Lyons--General M‘Dowell--Low standard in the army--Accident to
the “Stars and Stripes”--A street row--Mr. Bigelow--Mr. N.P.
Willis 124
CHAPTER X.
Arlington Heights and the Potomac--Washington--The Federal
camp--General M‘Dowell--Flying rumours--Newspaper correspondents
--General Fremont--Silencing the Press and Telegraph--A Loan
Bill--Interview with Mr. Cameron--Newspaper criticism on Lord
Lyons--Rumours about M‘Clellan--The Northern army as reported
and as it is--General M‘Clellan 142
CHAPTER XI.
Fortress Monroe--General Butler--Hospital accommodation--Wounded
soldiers--Aristocratic pedigrees--A great gun--Newport
News--Fraudulent contractors--General Butler--Artillery
practice--Contraband negroes--Confederate lines--Tombs of
American loyalists--Troops and contractors--Duryea’s New York
Zouaves--Military calculations--A voyage by steamer to
Annapolis 160
CHAPTER XII.
The “State House” at Annapolis--Washington--General Scott’s
quarters--Want of a staff--Rival camps--Demand for horses--Popular
excitement--Lord Lyons--General M‘Dowell’s movements--Retreat
from Fairfax Court House--General Scott’s quarters--General
Mansfield--Battle of Bull’s Run 186
CHAPTER XIII.
Skirmish at Bull’s Run--The crisis in Congress--Dearth of
horses--War prices at Washington--Estimate of the effects of
Bull’s Run--Password and countersign--Transatlantic view of
“The Times”--Difficulties of a newspaper correspondent in
the field 202
CHAPTER XIV.
To the scene of action--The Confederate camp--Centreville--
Action at Bull Run--Defeat of the Federals--Disorderly retreat
to Centreville--My ride back to Washington 214
CHAPTER XV.
A runaway crowd at Washington--The army of the Potomac in
retreat--Mail-day--Want of order and authority--Newspaper
lies--Alarm at Washington--Confederate prisoners--General
M‘Clellan--M. Mercier--Effects of the defeat on Mr. Seward and
the President--M‘Dowell--General Patterson 250
CHAPTER XVI.
Attack of illness--General M‘Clellan--Reception at the White
House--Drunkenness among the Volunteers--Visit from Mr.
Olmsted--Georgetown--Intense heat--M‘Clellan and the Newspapers
--Reception at Mr. Seward’s--Alexandria--A storm--Sudden death
of an English officer--The Maryland Club--A Prayer and Fast
Day--Financial difficulties 267
CHAPTER XVII.
Return to Baltimore--Colonel Carroll--A priest’s view of the
abolition of Slavery--Slavery in Maryland--Harper’s Ferry--John
Brown--Back by train to Washington--Further accounts of Bull
Run--American vanity--My own unpopularity for speaking the
truth--Killing a “Nigger” no murder--Navy Department 284
CHAPTER XVIII.
A tour of inspection round the camp--A troublesome
horse--M‘Dowell and the President--My opinion of Bull Run
indorsed by American officers--Influence of the Press--Newspaper
correspondents--Dr. Bray--My letters--Captain Meagher--Military
adventures--Probable duration of the war--Lord A. Vane
Tempest--The American journalist--Threats of assassination 304
CHAPTER XIX.
Personal unpopularity--American naval officers--A gun levelled
at me in fun--Increase of odium against me--Success of the
Hatteras expedition--General Scott and M‘Clellan--M‘Clellan on
his camp-bed--General Scott’s pass refused--Prospect of an
attack on Washington--Skirmishing--Anonymous letters--General
Halleck--General M‘Clellan and the Sabbath--Rumoured death of
Jefferson Davis--Spread of my unpopularity--An offer for my
horse--Dinner at the Legation--Discussion on Slavery 320
CHAPTER XX.
A Crimean acquaintance--Personal abuse of myself--Close
firing--A reconnaissance--Major-General Bell--The Prince de
Joinville and his nephews--American estimate of Louis Napoleon
--Arrest of members of the Maryland Legislature--Life at
Washington--War cries--News from the Far West--Journey to the
Western States--Along the Susquehannah and Juniata--Chicago--
Sport in the prairie--Arrested for shooting on Sunday--The
town of Dwight--Return to Washington--Mr. Seward and myself 341
CHAPTER XXI.
Another Crimean acquaintance--Summary dismissal of a newspaper
correspondent--Dinner at Lord Lyons’--Review of artillery--
“Habeas Corpus”--The President’s duties--M‘Clellan’s policy--The
Union army--Soldiers and the patrol--Public men in America--Mr.
Seward and Lord Lyons--A judge placed under arrest--Death and
funeral of Senator Baker--Disorderly troops and officers--
Official fibs--Duck-shooting at Baltimore 366
CHAPTER XXII.
General Scott’s resignation--Mrs. A. Lincoln--Unofficial mission
to Europe--Uneasy feeling with regard to France--Ball given
by the United States cavalry--The United States army--Success
at Beaufort--Arrests--Dinner at Mr. Seward’s--News of Captain
Wilkes and the Trent--Messrs. Mason and Slidell--Discussion
as to Wilkes--Prince de Joinville--The American press on the
Trent affair--Absence of thieves in Washington--“Thanksgiving
Day”--Success thus far in favour of the North 392
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Captain under arrest--Opening of Congress--Colonel Dutassy--An
ex-pugilist turned Senator--Mr. Cameron--Ball in the officers’
huts--Presentation of standards at Arlington--Dinner at
Lord Lyons’--Paper currency--A polyglot dinner--Visit to
Washington’s Tomb--Mr. Chase’s Report--Colonel Seaton--Unanimity
of the South--The Potomac blockade--A Dutch-American Crimean
acquaintance--The American Lawyers on the Trent affair--Mr.
Sumner--M‘Clellan’s Army--Impressions produced in America by
the English Press on the affair of the Trent--Mr. Sumner on the
crisis--Mutual feelings between the two nations--Rumours of war
with Great Britain 410
CHAPTER XXIV.
News of the death of the Prince Consort--Mr. Sumner and
the Trent Affair--His dispatch to Lord Russell--The Southern
Commissioners given up--Effects on the friends of the South--My
own unpopularity at New York--Attack of fever--My tour in
Canada--My return to New York in February--Successes of the
Western States--Mr. Stanton succeeds Mr. Cameron as Secretary
of War--Reverse and retreat of M‘Clellan--My free pass--The
Merrimac and Monitor--My arrangement to accompany M‘Clellan’s
head-quarters--Mr. Stanton refuses his sanction--National vanity
wounded by my truthfulness--My retirement and my return to
Europe 426
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH.
CHAPTER I.
Down the Mississippi--Hotel at Vicksburg--Dinner--Public
meeting--News of the progress of the war--Slavery and
England--Jackson--Governor Pettus--Insecurity of life--Strong
Southern enthusiasm--Troops bound for the North--Approach to
Memphis--Slaves for sale--Memphis--General Pillow.
_Friday, June 14th._--Last night with my good host from his
plantation to the great two-storied steamer General Quitman, at
Natchez. She was crowded with planters, soldiers and their families,
and as the lights shone out of her windows, looked like a walled
castle blazing from double lines of embrasures.
The Mississippi is assuredly the most uninteresting river in the
world, and I can only describe it hereabout by referring to the
account of its appearance which I have already given--not a particle
of romance in spite of oratorical patriots and prophets, can ever
shine from its depths, sacred to cat and buffalo fish, or vivify its
turbid waters.
Before noon we were in sight of Vicksburg, which is situated on a
high bank or bluff on the left bank of the river, about 400 miles
above New Orleans and some 120 miles from Natchez.
Mr. MacMeekan, the proprietor of the “Washington,” declares himself
to have been the pioneer of hotels in the far west; but he has now
built himself this huge caravanserai, and rests from his wanderings.
We entered the dining saloon, and found the tables closely packed
with a numerous company of every condition in life, from generals
and planters down to soldiers in the uniform of privates. At the
end of the room there was a long table on which the joints and
dishes were brought hot from the kitchen to be carved by the negro
waiters, male and female, and as each was brought in the proprietor,
standing in the centre of the room, shouted out with a loud voice,
“Now, then, here is a splendid goose! ladies and gentlemen, don’t
neglect the goose and apple-sauce! Here’s a piece of beef that _I_
can recommend! upon my honour you will never regret taking a slice of
the beef. Oyster-pie! oyster-pie! never was better oyster-pie seen in
Vicksburg. Run about, boys, and take orders. Ladies and gentlemen,
just look at that turkey! who’s for turkey?”--and so on, wiping the
perspiration from his forehead and combating with the flies.
Altogether it was a semi-barbarous scene, but the host was active and
attentive; and after all, his recommendations were very much like
those which it was the habit of the taverners in old London to call
out in the streets to the passers-by when the joints were ready. The
little negroes who ran about to take orders were smart, but now and
then came into violent collision, and were cuffed incontinently. One
mild-looking little fellow stood by my chair and appeared so sad that
I asked him “Are you happy, my boy?” He looked quite frightened.
“Why don’t you answer me?” “I’se afeered, sir; I can’t tell that to
Massa.” “Is not your master kind to you?” “Massa very kind man, sir;
very good man when he is not angry with me,” and his eyes filled with
tears to the brim.
The war fever is rife in Vicksburg, and the Irish and German
labourers, to the extent of several hundreds, have all gone off to
the war.
When dinner was over, the mayor and several gentlemen of the city
were good enough to request that I would attend a meeting, at a room
in the railway-station, where some of the inhabitants of the town had
assembled. Accordingly I went to the terminus and found a room filled
with gentlemen. Large china bowls, blocks of ice, bottles of wine and
spirits, and boxes of cigars were on the table, and all the materials
for a symposium.
The company discussed recent events, some of which I learned for the
first time. Dislike was expressed to the course of the authorities in
demanding negro labour for the fortifications along the river, and
uneasiness was expressed respecting a negro plot in Arkansas; but
the most interesting matter was Judge Taney’s protest against the
legality of the President’s course in suspending the writ of _habeas
corpus_ in the case of Merriman. The lawyers who were present at this
meeting were delighted with his argument, which insists that Congress
alone can suspend the writ, and that the President, cannot legally do
so.
The news of the defeat of an expedition from Fortress Monroe against
a Confederate post at Great Bethel, has caused great rejoicing. The
accounts show that there was the grossest mismanagement on the part
of the Federal officers. The Northern papers particularly regret the
loss of Major Winthrop, aide-de-camp to General Butler, a writer of
promise. At four o’clock p.m. I bade the company farewell, and the
train started for Jackson. The line runs through a poor clay country,
cut up with gulleys and water-courses made by violent rain.
There were a number of volunteer soldiers in the train; and their
presence no doubt attracted the girls and women who waved flags and
cheered for Jeff. Davis and States Rights. Well, as I travel on
through such scenes, with a fine critical nose in the air, I ask
myself “Is any Englishman better than these publicans and sinners in
regard to this question of slavery?” It was not on moral or religious
grounds that our ancestors abolished serfdom. And if to-morrow our
good farmers, deprived of mowers, reapers, ploughmen, hedgers and
ditchers, were to find substitutes in certain people of a dark skin
assigned to their use by Act of Parliament, I fear they would be
almost as ingenious as the Rev. Dr. Seabury in discovering arguments
physiological, ethnological, and biblical for the retention of
their property. And an evil day would it be for them if they were
so tempted; for assuredly, without any derogation to the intellect
of the Southern men, it may be said that a large proportion of the
population is in a state of very great moral degradation compared
with civilised Anglo-Saxon communities.
The man is more natural, and more reckless; he has more of the
qualities of the Arab than are to be reconciled with civilisation;
and it is only among the upper classes that the influences of the
aristocratic condition which is generated by the subjection of
masses of men to their fellow-man are to be found.
At six o’clock the train stopped in the country at a railway crossing
by the side of a large platform. On the right was a common, bounded
by a few detached wooden houses, separated by palings from each
other, and surrounded by rows of trees. In front of the station
were two long wooden sheds, which, as the signboard indicates, were
exchanges or drinking saloons; and beyond these again were visible
some rudimentary streets of straggling houses, above which rose three
pretentious spires and domes, resolved into insignificance by nearer
approach. This was Jackson.
Our host was at the station in his carriage, and drove us to his
residence, which consisted of some detached houses shaded by trees
in a small enclosure, and bounded by a kitchen garden. He was one of
the men who had been filled with the afflatus of 1848, and joined
the Young Ireland party before it had seriously committed itself to
an unfortunate outbreak; and when all hope of success had vanished,
he sought, like many others of his countrymen, a shelter under the
stars and stripes, which, like most of the Irish settled in Southern
States, he was now bent on tearing asunder. He has the honour of
being mayor of Jackson, and of enjoying a competitive examination
with his medical rivals for the honour of attending the citizens.
In the evening I walked out with him to the adjacent city, which has
no title to the name, except as being the State capital. The mushroom
growth of these States, using that phrase merely as to their rapid
development, raises hamlets in a small space to the dignity of
cities. It is in such outlying expansion of the great republic that
the influence of the foreign emigration is most forcibly displayed.
It would be curious to inquire, for example, how many men there are
in the city of Jackson exercising mechanical arts or engaged in small
commerce, in skilled or manual labour, who are really Americans in
the proper sense of the word. I was struck by the names over the
doors of the shops, which were German, Irish, Italian, French, and by
foreign tongues and accents in the streets; but, on the other hand,
it is the native-born American who obtains the highest political
stations and arrogates to himself the largest share of governmental
emoluments.
Jackson proper consists of strings of wooden houses, with white
porticoes and pillars a world too wide for their shrunk rooms, and
various religious and other public edifices, of the hydrocephalic
order of architecture, where vulgar cupola and exaggerated steeple
tower above little bodies far too feeble to support them. There
are of course a monster hotel and blazing bar-rooms--the former
celebrated as the scene of many a serious difficulty, out of some of
which the participators never escaped alive. The streets consist of
rows of houses such as I have seen at Macon, Montgomery, and Bâton
Rouge; and as we walked towards the capital or State-house there
were many more invitations “to take a drink” addressed to my friend
and me than we were able to comply with. Our steps were bent to the
State-house, which is a pile of stone, with open colonnades, and an
air of importance at a distance which a nearer examination of its
dilapidated condition does not confirm. Mr. Pettus, the Governor of
the State of Mississippi, was in the Capitol; and on sending in our
cards, we were introduced to his room, which certainly was of more
than republican simplicity. The apartment was surrounded with some
common glass cases, containing papers and odd volumes of books; the
furniture, a table or desk, and a few chairs and a ragged carpet;
the glass in the windows cracked and broken; the walls and ceiling
discoloured by mildew.
The Governor is a silent man, of abrupt speech, but easy of access;
and, indeed, whilst we were speaking, strangers and soldiers walked
in and out of his room, looked around them, and acted in all respects
as if they were in a public-house, except in ordering drinks. This
grim, tall, angular man seemed to me such a development of public
institutions in the South as Mr. Seward was in a higher phase in the
North. For years he hunted deer and trapped in the forest of the far
west, and lived in a Natty Bumpo or David Crocket state of life;
and he was not ashamed of the fact when taunted with it during his
election contest, but very rightly made the most of his independence
and his hard work.
The pecuniary honours of his position are not very great as Governor
of the enormous State of Mississippi. He has simply an income of
£800 a year and a house provided for his use; he is not only quite
contented with what he has but believes that the society in which he
lives is the highest development of civilised life, notwithstanding
the fact that there are more outrages on the person in his State,
nay, more murders perpetrated in the very capital, than were known in
the worst days of mediæval Venice or Florence;--indeed, as a citizen
said to me, “Well, I think our average in Jackson is a murder a
month;” but he used a milder name for the crime.
The Governor conversed on the aspect of affairs, and evinced that
wonderful confidence in his own people which, whether it arises from
ignorance of the power of the North, or a conviction of greater
resources, is to me so remarkable. “Well, sir,” said he, dropping
a portentous plug of tobacco just outside the spittoon, with the
air of a man who wished to show he could have hit the centre if he
liked, “England is no doubt a great country, and has got fleets
and the like of that, and may have a good deal to do in Eu-_rope_;
but the sovereign State of Mississippi can do a great deal better
without England than England can do without her.” Having some slight
recollection of Mississippi repudiation, in which Mr. Jefferson Davis
was so actively engaged, I thought it possible that the Governor
might be right; and after a time his Excellency shook me by the hand,
and I left, much wondering within myself what manner of men they
must be in the State of Mississippi when Mr. Pettus is their chosen
Governor; and yet, after all, he is honest and fierce; and perhaps he
is so far qualified as well as any other man to be Governor of the
State. There are newspapers, electric telegraphs, and railways; there
are many educated families, even much good society, I am told, in the
State; but the larger masses of the people struck me as being in a
condition not much elevated from that of the original backwoodsman.
On my return to the Doctor’s house I found some letters which had
been forwarded to me from New Orleans had gone astray, and I was
obliged, therefore, to make arrangements for my departure on the
following evening.
_June 16th._--I was compelled to send my excuses to Governor Pettus,
and remained quietly within the house of my host, entreating him
to protect me from visitors and especially my own _confrères_,
that I might secure a few hours even in that ardent heat to write
letters to home. Now, there is some self-denial required, if
one be at all solicitous of the _popularis aura_, to offend the
susceptibilities of the irritable genus in America. It may make all
the difference between millions of people hearing and believing you
are a high-toned, whole-souled gentleman or a wretched ignorant
and prejudiced John Bull; but, nevertheless, the solid pudding of
self-content and the satisfaction of doing one’s work are preferable
to the praise even of a New York newspaper editor.
When my work was over I walked out and sat in the shade with a
gentleman whose talk turned upon the practises of the Mississippi
duello. Without the smallest animus, and in the most natural way
in the world, he told us tale after tale of blood, and recounted
terrible tragedies enacted outside bars of hotels and in the public
streets close beside us. The very air seemed to become purple as he
spoke, the land around a veritable “Aceldama.” There may, indeed, be
security for property, but there is none for the life of its owner in
difficulties, who may be shot by a stray bullet from a pistol as he
walks up the street.
I learned many valuable facts. I was warned, for example, against the
impolicy of trusting to small-bored pistols or to pocket six-shooters
in case of a close fight, because suppose you hit your man mortally
he may still run in upon you and rip you up with a bowie knife before
he falls dead; whereas if you drive a good heavy bullet into him,
or make a hole in him with a “Derringer” ball, he gets faintish and
drops at once.
Many illustrations, too, were given of the value of practical lessons
of this sort. One particularly struck me. If a gentleman with whom
you are engaged in altercation moves his hand towards his breeches
pocket, or behind his back, you must smash him or shoot him at once,
for he is either going to draw his six-shooter, to pull out a bowie
knife, or to shoot you through the lining of his pocket. The latter
practice is considered rather ungentlemanly, but it has somewhat
been more honoured lately in the observance than in the breach. In
fact, the savage practice of walking about with pistols, knifes,
and poniards, in bar-rooms and gambling-saloons, with passions
ungoverned, because there is no law to punish the deeds to which they
lead, affords facilities for crime which an uncivilised condition of
society leaves too often without punishment, but which must be put
down or the country in which it is tolerated will become as barbarous
as a jungle inhabited by wild beasts.
Our host gave me an early dinner, at which I met some of the citizens
of Jackson, and at six o’clock I proceeded by the train for Memphis.
The carriages were of course, full of soldiers or volunteers,
bound for a large camp at a place called Corinth, who made night
hideous by their song and cries, stimulated by enormous draughts of
whiskey and a proportionate consumption of tobacco, by teeth and by
fire. The heat in the carriages added to the discomforts arising
from these causes, and from great quantities of biting insects in
the sleeping places. The people have all the air and manners of
settlers. Altogether the impression produced on my mind was by no
means agreeable, and I felt as if I was indeed in the land of Lynch
law and bowie knives, where the passions of men have not yet been
subordinated to the influence of the tribunals of justice. Much of
this feeling has no doubt been produced by the tales to which I have
been listening around me--most of which have a smack of manslaughter
about them.
_June 17th._ If it was any consolation to me that the very noisy
and very turbulent warriors of last night were exceedingly sick,
dejected, and crestfallen this morning, I had it to the full. Their
cries for water were incessant to allay the internal fires caused
by “40 rod” and “60 rod,” as whiskey is called, which is supposed
to kill people at those distances. Their officers had no control
over them--and the only authority they seemed to respect was that
of the “gentlemanly” conductor whom they were accustomed to fear
individually, as he is a great man in America and has much authority
and power to make himself disagreeable if he likes.
The victory at Big or Little Bethel has greatly elated these men,
and they think they can walk all over the Northern States. It was
a relief to get out of the train for a few minutes at a station
called Holly Springs, where the passengers breakfasted at a dirty
table on most execrable coffee, corn bread, rancid butter, and very
dubious meats, and the wild soldiers outside made the most of their
time, as they had recovered from their temporary depression by this
time, and got out on the tops of the carriages, over which they
performed tumultuous dances to the music of their band, and the great
admiration of the surrounding negrodom. Their demeanour is very
unlike that of the unexcitable staid people of the North.
There were in the train some Texans who were going to Richmond
to offer their services to Mr. Davis. They denounced Sam Houston
as a traitor, but admitted there were some Unionists, or as they
termed them, Lincolnite skunks, in the State. The real object of
their journey was, in my mind, to get assistance from the Southern
Confederacy, to put down their enemies in Texas.
In order to conceal from the minds of the people that the government
at Washington claims to be that of the United States, the press
politicians and speakers divert their attention to the names of
Lincoln, Seward, and other black republicans, and class the whole of
the North together as the Abolitionists. They call the Federal levies
“Lincoln’s mercenaries” and “abolition hordes,” though their own
troops are paid at the same rate as those of the United States. This
is a common mode of procedure in revolutions and rebellions, and is
not unfrequent in wars.
The enthusiasm for the Southern cause among all the people is most
remarkable,--the sight of the flag waving from the carriage windows
drew all the population of the hamlets and the workers in the field,
black and white, to the side of the carriages to cheer for Jeff.
Davis and the Southern Confederacy, and to wave whatever they could
lay hold of in the air. The country seems very poorly cultivated,
the fields full of stumps of trees, and the plantation houses very
indifferent. At every station more “soldiers,” as they are called,
got in, till the smell and heat were suffocating.
These men were as fanciful in their names and dress as could be.
In the train which preceded us there was a band of volunteers armed
with rifled pistols and enormous bowie knives, who called themselves
“The Toothpick Company.” They carried along with them a coffin, with
a plate inscribed, “Abe Lincoln, died ----,” and declared they were
“bound” to bring his body back in it, and that they did not intend
to use muskets or rifles, but just go in with knife and six-shooter,
and whip the Yankees straight away. How astonished they will be when
the first round shot flies into them, or a cap full of grape rattles
about their bowie knives.
At the station of Grand Junction, north of Holly Springs, which
latter is 210 miles north of Jackson, several hundreds of our warrior
friends were turned out in order to take the train north-westward for
Richmond, Virginia. The 1st Company, seventy rank and file, consisted
of Irishmen armed with sporting rifles without bayonets. Five-sixths
of the 2nd Company, who were armed with muskets, were of the same
nationality. The 3rd Company were all Americans. The 4th Company
were almost all Irish. Some were in green others were in grey, the
Americans who were in blue had not yet received their arms. When the
word fix bayonets was given by the officer, a smart keen-looking man,
there was an astonishing hurry and tumult in the ranks.
“Now then, Sweeny, whar are yes dhriven me too? Is it out of the
redjmint amongst the officers yer shovin’ me?”
“Sullivan, don’t ye hear we’re to fix beenits?”
“Sarjent, jewel, wud yes ayse the shtrap of me baynit?”
“If ye prod me wid that agin; I’ll let dayloite into ye.”
The officer, reading, “No 23, James Phelan.”
No reply.
Officer again, “No. 23, James Phelan.”
Voice from the rank, “Shure, captain, and faix Phelan’s gone, he wint
at the last depôt.”
“No. 40, Miles Corrigan.”
Voice further on, “He’s the worse for dhrink in the cars, yer honour,
and says he’ll shoot us if we touch him;” and so on.
But these fellows were, nevertheless, the material for fighting
and for marching after proper drill and with good officers, even
though there was too large a proportion of old men and young lads in
the ranks. To judge from their dress these recruits came from the
labouring and poorest classes of whites. The officers affected a
French cut and bearing with indifferent success, and in the luggage
vans there were three foolish young women with slop-dress imitation
clothes of the Vivandière type, who, with dishevelled hair, dirty
faces, and dusty hats and jackets, looked sad, sorry, and absurd.
Their notions of propriety did not justify them in adopting straps,
boots, and trousers, and the rest of the tawdry ill-made costume
looked very bad indeed.
The train which still bore a large number of soldiers for the camp
of Corinth, proceeded through dreary swamps, stunted forests, and
clearings of the rudest kind at very long intervals. We had got
out of the cotton district and were entering poorer soil, or land
which, when cleared, was devoted to wheat and corn, and I was told
that the crops ran from forty to sixty bushels to the acre. A more
uninteresting country than this portion of the State of Mississippi I
have never witnessed. There was some variety of scenery about Holly
Springs where undulating ground covered with wood, diversified the
aspect of the flat, but since that we have been travelling through
mile after mile of insignificantly grown timber and swamps.
On approaching Memphis the line ascends towards the bluff of the
Mississippi, and farms of a better appearance come in sight on the
side of the rail; but after all I do not envy the fate of the man
who, surrounded by slaves and shut out from the world, has to pass
his life in this dismal region, be the crops never so good.
At a station where a stone pillar marks the limit between the
sovereign State of Mississippi and that of Tennessee, there was
a house two stories high, from the windows of which a number of
negro girls and young men were staring on the passengers. Some of
them smiled, laughed, and chatted, but the majority of them looked
gloomy and sad enough. They were packed as close as they could,
and I observed that at the door a very ruffianly looking fellow in
a straw hat, long straight hair, flannel shirt, and slippers, was
standing with his legs across and a heavy whip in his hand. One of
the passengers walked over and chatted to him. They looked in and up
at the negroes and laughed, and when the man came near the carriage
in which I sat, a friend called out, “Whose are they, Sam?” “He’s a
dealer at Jackson, Mr. Smith. They’re as prime a lot of fine Virginny
niggers as I’ve seen this long time, and he wants to realise, for the
news looks so bad.”
It was 1.40 p.m. when the train arrived at Memphis. I was speedily
on my way to the Gayoso House, so called after an old Spanish ruler
of the district, which is situated in the street on the bluff, which
runs parallel with the course of the Mississippi. This resuscitated
Egyptian city is a place of importance, and extends for several miles
along the high bank of the river, though it does not run very far
back. The streets are at right angles to the principal thoroughfares,
which are parallel to the stream; and I by no means expected to see
the lofty stores, warehouses, rows of shops, and handsome buildings
on the broad esplanade along the river, and the extent and size
of the edifices public and private in this city, which is one of
the developments of trade and commerce created by the Mississippi.
Memphis contains nearly 30,000 inhabitants, but many of them are
foreigners, and there is a nomad draft into and out of the place,
which abounds in haunts for Bohemians, drinking and dancing-saloons,
and gaming-rooms. And this strange kaleidoscope of negroes and whites
of the extremes of civilisation in its American development, and of
the semi-savage degraded by his contact with the white; of enormous
steamers on the river, which bears equally the dug-out or canoe of
the black fisherman; the rail, penetrating the inmost recesses of
swamps, which on either side of it remain no doubt in the same state
as they were centuries ago; the roll of heavily-laden waggons through
the streets; the rattle of omnibuses and all the phenomena of active
commercial life before our eyes, included in the same scope of vision
which takes in at the other side of the Mississippi lands scarcely
yet settled, though the march of empire has gone thousands of miles
beyond them, amuses but perplexes the traveller in this new land.
The evening was so exceedingly warm that I was glad to remain within
the walls of my darkened bed-room. All the six hundred and odd guests
whom the Gayoso House is said to accommodate were apparently in the
passage at one time. At present it is the head-quarters of General
Gideon J. Pillow, who is charged with the defences of the Tennessee
side of the river, and commands a considerable body of troops around
the city and in the works above. The house is consequently filled
with men in uniform, belonging to the General’s staff or the various
regiments of Tennessee troops.
The Governors and the Legislatures of the States, view with dislike
every action on the part of Mr. Davis which tends to form the State
troops into a national army. At first, indeed, the doctrine prevailed
that troops could not be sent beyond the limits of the State in
which they were raised--then it was argued that they ought not to be
called upon to move outside their borders; and I have heard people
in the South inveighing against the sloth and want of spirit of the
Virginians, who allowed their State to be invaded without resisting
the enemy. Such complaints were met by the remark that all the
Northern States had combined to pour their troops into Virginia,
and that her sister States ought in honour to protect her. Finally,
the martial enthusiasm of the Southern regiments impelled them to
press forward to the frontier, and by delicate management, and
the perfect knowledge of his countrymen which Mr. Jefferson Davis
possesses, he is now enabled to amalgamate in some sort the diverse
individualities of his regiments into something like a national army.
On hearing of my arrival. General Pillow sent his aide-de-camp to
inform me that he was about starting in a steamer up the river, to
make an inspection of the works and garrison at Fort Randolph and
at other points where batteries had been erected to command the
stream, supported by large levies of Tennesseans. The aide-de-camp
conducted me to the General, whom I found in his bed-room, fitted up
as an office, littered with plans and papers. Before the Mexican war
General Pillow was a flourishing solicitor, connected in business
with President Polk, and commanding so much influence that when the
expedition was formed he received the nomination of brigadier-general
of volunteers. He served with distinction and was severely wounded at
the battle of Chapultepec and at the conclusion of the campaign he
retired into civil life, and was engaged directing the work of his
plantation till this great rebellion summoned him once more to the
field.
Of course there is, and must be, always an inclination to deride
these volunteer officers on the part of regular soldiers; and I was
informed by one of the officers in attendance on the General that
he had made himself ludicrously celebrated in Mexico for having
undertaken to throw up a battery which, when completed, was found
to face the wrong way, so that the guns were exposed to the enemy.
General Pillow is a small, compact, clear-complexioned man, with
short grey whiskers, cut in the English fashion, a quick eye, and
a pompous manner of speech; and I had not been long in his company
before I heard of Chapultepec and his wound, which causes him to
limp a little in his walk, and gives him inconvenience in the saddle.
He wore a round black hat, plain blue frock coat, dark trousers, and
brass spurs on his boots; but no sign of military rank. The General
ordered carriages to the door, and we went to see the batteries on
the bluff or front of the esplanade, which are intended to check
any ship attempting to pass down the river from Cairo, where the
Federals under General Prentiss have entrenched themselves, and are
understood to meditate an expedition against the city. A parapet of
cotton bales, covered with tarpaulin, has been erected close to the
edge of the bank of earth, which rises to heights varying from 60 to
150 feet almost perpendicularly from the waters of the Mississippi,
with zigzag roads running down through it to the landing-places. This
parapet could offer no cover against vertical fire, and is so placed
that well-directed shell into the bank below it would tumble it all
into the water. The zigzag roads are barricaded with weak planks,
which would be shivered to pieces by boat-guns; and the assaulting
parties could easily mount through these covered ways to the rear of
the parapet, and up to the very centre of the esplanade.
The blockade of the river at this point is complete; not a boat
is permitted to pass either up or down. At the extremity of the
esplanade, on an angle of the bank, an earthen battery, mounted with
six heavy guns, has been thrown up, which has a fine command of the
river; and the General informed me he intends to mount sixteen guns
in addition, on a prolongation of the face of the same work.
The inspection over, we drove down a steep road to the water
beneath, where the Ingomar, a large river steamer, now chartered for
the service of the State of Tennessee, was lying to receive us. The
vessel was crowded with troops--all volunteers, of course--about to
join those in camp. Great as were their numbers, the proportion of
the officers was inordinately large, and the rank of the greater
number preposterously high. It seemed to me as if I was introduced to
a battalion of colonels, and that I was not permitted to pierce to
any lower strata of military rank. I counted seventeen colonels, and
believe the number was not then exhausted.
General Clarke, of Mississippi, who had come over from the camp
at Corinth, was on board, and I had the pleasure of making his
acquaintance. He spoke with sense and firmness of the present
troubles, and dealt with the political difficulties in a tone of
moderation which bespoke a gentleman and a man of education and
thought. He also had served in the Mexican war, and had the air
and manner of a soldier. With all his quietness of tone, there was
not the smallest disposition to be traced in his words to retire
from the present contest, or to consent to a re-union with the
United States under any circumstances whatever. Another general,
of a very different type, was among our passengers--a dirty-faced,
frightened-looking young man, of some twenty-three or twenty-four
years of age, redolent of tobacco, his chin and shirt slavered by its
foul juices, dressed in a green cut-away coat, white jean trousers,
strapped under a pair of prunella slippers, in which he promenaded
the deck in an Agag-like manner, which gave rise to a suspicion of
bunions or corns. This strange figure was topped by a tremendous
black felt sombrero, looped up at one side by a gilt eagle, in
which was stuck a plume of ostrich feathers and from the other side
dangled a heavy gold tassel. This decrepit young warrior’s name was
Ruggles or Struggles, who came from Arkansas, where he passed, I was
informed, for “quite a leading citizen.”
Our voyage as we steamed up the river afforded no novelty, nor any
physical difference worthy of remark, to contrast it with the lower
portions of the stream, except that upon our right hand side, which
is, in effect, the left bank, there are ranges of exceedingly high
bluffs, some parallel with and others at right angles to the course
of the stream. The river is of the same pea-soup colour with the same
masses of leaves, decaying vegetation, stumps of trees, forming small
floating islands, or giant cotton-tree, pines, and balks of timber
whirling down the current. Our progress was slow; nor did I regret
the captain’s caution, as there must have been fully nine hundred
persons on board; and although there is but little danger of being
snagged in the present condition of the river, we encountered now
and then a trunk of a tree, which struck against the bows with force
enough to make the vessel quiver from stem to stern. I was furnished
with a small berth, to which I retired at midnight, just as the
Ingomar was brought to at the Chickasaw Bluffs, above which lies Camp
Randolph.