CAMP-FIRE AND COTTON-FIELD:
SOUTHERN ADVENTURE
IN
TIME OF WAR.
LIFE WITH THE UNION ARMIES,
AND
RESIDENCE ON A LOUISIANA PLANTATION.
BY
THOMAS W. KNOX,
HERALD CORRESPONDENT.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
1865.
TO
THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PRESS,
WHO FOLLOWED THE
FORTUNES OF THE NATIONAL ARMIES,
AND RECORDED
THE DEEDS OF VALOR THAT SECURED THE PERPETUITY OF THE REPUBLIC,
THIS VOLUME
IS SYMPATHETICALLY INSCRIBED.
[Illustration: THE REBEL RAM ARKANSAS RUNNING THROUGH OUR FLEET.]
TO THE READER.
A preface usually takes the form of an apology. The author of this
volume has none to offer.
The book owes its appearance to its discovery of a publisher. It has
been prepared from materials gathered during the Campaigns herein
recorded, and from the writer's personal recollections.
Whatever of merit or demerit it possesses remains for the reader to
ascertain. His judgment will be unprejudiced if he finds no word of
promise on the prefatory page.
NEW YORK, _September 15th, 1865_.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE RAM _Arkansas_ RUNNING THROUGH OUR FLEET ABOVE VICKSBURG
HAULING DOWN A REBEL FLAG AT HICKMAN, KENTUCKY
THE OPENING GUN AT BOONEVILLE
THE DEATH OF GENERAL LYON
GENERAL SIGEL'S TRANSPORTATION IN MISSOURI
SHELLING THE HILL AT PEA RIDGE
GENERAL NELSON'S DIVISION CROSSING THE TENNESSEE
RUNNING THE BATTERIES AT ISLAND NUMBER TEN
THE REBEL CHARGE AT CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI
ASSAULTING THE HILL AT CHICKASAW BAYOU
STRATEGY AGAINST GUERRILLAS
THE STEAMER _Von Phul_ RUNNING THE BATTERIES
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
ANTE BELLUM.
At the Rocky Mountains.--Sentiment of the People.--Firing the
Southern Heart.--A Midwinter Journey across the Plains.--An Editor's
Opinion.--Election in Missouri.--The North springing to
Arms.--An amusing Arrest.--Off for the Field.--Final
Instructions.--Niagara.--Curiosities of Banking.--Arrival at the Seat
of War.
CHAPTER II.
MISSOURI IN THE EARLY DAYS.
Apathy of the Border States.--The Missouri State Convention.--Sterling
Price a Union Man.--Plan to take the State out of the Union.--Capture
of Camp Jackson.--Energy of General Lyon.--Union Men organized.--An
Unfortunate Collision.--The Price-Harney Truce.--The Panic among the
Secessionists.--Their Hegira from St. Louis.--A Visit to the
State Capital.--Under the Rebel Flag.--Searching for Contraband
Articles.--An Introduction to Rebel Dignitaries.--Governor
Jackson.--Sterling Price.--Jeff. Thompson.--Activity at
Cairo.--Kentucky Neutrality.--The Rebels occupy Columbus.
CHAPTER III.
THE BEGINNING OF HOSTILITIES.
General Harney Relieved.--Price's Proclamation.--End of the
Truce.--Conference between the Union and Rebel Leaders.--The First Act
of Hostility.--Destruction of Railway Bridges.--Promptness of
General Lyon.--Capture of the State Capital.--Moving on the Enemy's
Works.--The Night before Battle.--A Correspondent's Sensation.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FIRST BATTLE IN MISSOURI.
Moving up the River.--A Landing Effected.--The Battle.--Precipitous
Retreat of the Rebels.--Spoiling a Captured Camp.--Rebel Flags
Emblazoned with the State Arms.--A Journalist's Outfit.--A Chaplain of
the Church Militant.--A Mistake that might have been Unfortunate.--The
People of Booneville.--Visiting an Official.--Banking-House
Loyalty.--Preparations for a Campaign.
CHAPTER V.
TO SPRINGFIELD AND BEYOND.
Conduct of the St. Louis Secessionists.--Collisions between Soldiers
and Citizens.--Indignation of the Guests of a Hotel.--From St.
Louis to Rolla.--Opinions of a "Regular."--Railway-life in
Missouri.--Unprofitable Freight.--A Story of Orthography.--Mountains
and Mountain Streams.--Fastidiousness Checked.--Frontier
Courtesy.--Concentration of Troops at Springfield.--A Perplexing
Situation.--The March to Dug Spring.--Sufferings from Heat and Thirst.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BATTLE OF WILSON CREEK.
The Return from Dug Spring.--The Rebels follow in
Pursuit.--Preparations to Attack them.--The Plan of Battle.--Moving
to the Attack--A Bivouac--The Opening Shot.--"Is that
Official?"--Sensations of a Spectator in Battle.--Extension of
Distance and Time.--Characteristics of Projectiles.--Taking Notes
under Fire.--Strength and Losses of the Opposing Armies.--A Noble
Record.--The Wounded on the Field.--"One More Shot."--Granger in his
Element.--General Lyon's Death.
CHAPTER VII.
THE RETREAT FROM SPRINGFIELD.
A Council of War.--The Journalists' Council.--Preparations for
Retreat.--Preceding the Advance-Guard.--Alarm and Anxiety of the
People.--Magnificent Distances.--A Novel Odometer.--The Unreliable
Countryman.--Neutrality.--A Night at Lebanon.--A Disagreeable
Lodging-place.--Active Secessionists.--The Man who Sought and
Found his Rights.--Approaching Civilization.--Rebel Couriers on the
Route.--Arrival at Rolla.
CHAPTER VIII.
GENERAL FREMONT'S PURSUIT OF PRICE.
Quarrel between Price and McCulloch.--The Rebels Advance upon
Lexington.--A Novel Defense for Sharp-shooters.--Attempt to Re-enforce
the Garrison.--An Enterprising Journalist.--The Surrender.--Fremont's
Advance.--Causes of Delay.--How the Journalists Killed Time.--Late
News.--A Contractor "Sold."--Sigel in Front.--A Motley
Collection.--A Wearied Officer.--The Woman who had never seen a Black
Republican.--Love and Conversion.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SECOND CAMPAIGN TO SPRINGFIELD.
Detention at Warsaw.--A Bridge over the Osage.--The
Body-Guard.--Manner of its Organization.--The Advance
to Springfield.--Charge of the Body-Guard.--A Corporal's
Ruse.--Occupation of Springfield.--The Situation.--Wilson Creek
Revisited.--Traces of the Battle.--Rumored Movements of the
Enemy.--Removal of General Fremont.--Danger of Attack.--A Night of
Excitement.--The Return to St. Louis.--Curiosities of the Scouting
Service.--An Arrest by Mistake.
CHAPTER X.
TWO MONTHS OF IDLENESS.
A Promise Fulfilled.--Capture of a Rebel Camp and Train.--Rebel
Sympathizers in St. Louis.--General Halleck and his Policy.--Refugees
from Rebeldom.--Story of the Sufferings of a Union Family.--Chivalry
in the Nineteenth Century.--The Army of the Southwest in
Motion.--Gun-Boats and Transports.--Capture of Fort Henry.--The Effect
in St. Louis.--Our Flag Advancing.
CHAPTER XI
ANOTHER CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI.
From St. Louis to Rolla.--A Limited Outfit.--Missouri Roads in
Winter.--"Two Solitary Horsemen."--Restricted Accommodations in a
Slaveholder's House.--An Energetic Quartermaster.--General Sheridan
before he became Famous.--"Bagging Price."--A Defect in the
Bag.--Examining the Correspondence of a Rebel General.--What the
Rebels left at their Departure.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FLIGHT AND THE PURSUIT.
From Springfield to Pea Ridge.--Mark Tapley in Missouri.--"The
Arkansas Traveler."--Encountering the Rebel Army.--A Wonderful
Spring.--The Cantonment at Cross Hollows.--Game Chickens.--Magruder
_vs_. Breckinridge.--Rebel Generals in a Controversy.--Its Result.--An
Expedition to Huntsville.--Curiosities of Rebel Currency.--Important
Information.--A Long and Weary March.--Disposition of Forces before
the Battle.--Changing Front.--What the Rebels lost by Ignorance.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE.
The Rebels make their Attack.--Albert Pike and his Indians.--Scalping
Wounded Men.--Death of General McCulloch.--The Fighting at Elkhorn
Tavern.--Close of a Gloomy Day.--An Unpleasant Night.--Vocal Sounds
from a Mule's Throat.--Sleeping under Disadvantages.--A Favorable
Morning.--The Opposing Lines of Battle.--A Severe Cannonade.--The
Forest on Fire.--Wounded Men in the Flames.--The Rebels in
Retreat.--Movements of our Army.--A Journey to St. Louis.
CHAPTER XIV.
UP THE TENNESSEE AND AT PITTSBURG LANDING.
At St. Louis.--Progress of our Arms in the Great Valley.--Cairo.--Its
Peculiarities and Attractions.--Its Commercial, Geographical, and
Sanitary Advantages.--Up the Tennessee.--Movements Preliminary to
the Great Battle.--The Rebels and their Plans.--Postponement of
the Attack.--Disadvantages of our Position.--The Beginning of the
Battle.--Results of the First Day.--Re-enforcements.--Disputes between
Officers of our two Armies.--Beauregard's Watering-place.
CHAPTER XV.
SHILOH AND THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.
The Error of the Rebels.--Story of a Surgeon.--Experience of a
Rebel Regiment.--Injury to the Rebel Army.--The Effect in our own
Lines.--Daring of a Color-Bearer.--A Brave Soldier.--A Drummer-Boy's
Experience.--Gallantry of an Artillery Surgeon.--A Regiment Commanded
by a Lieutenant.--Friend Meeting Friend and Brother Meeting Brother
in the Opposing Lines.--The Scene of the Battle.--Fearful Traces
of Musketry-Fire.--The Wounded.--The Labor of the Sanitary
Commission.--Humanity a Yankee Trick.--Besieging Corinth.--A
Cold-Water Battery.--Halleck and the Journalists.--Occupation of
Corinth.
CHAPTER XVI.
CAPTURE OF FORT PILLOW AND BATTLE OF MEMPHIS.
The Siege of Fort Pillow.--General Pope.--His Reputation for
Veracity.--Capture of the "Ten Thousand."--Naval Battle above Fort
Pillow.--The _John H. Dickey_.--Occupation of the Fort.--General
Forrest.--Strength of the Fortifications.--Their Location.--Randolph,
Tennessee.--Memphis and her Last Ditch.--Opening of the Naval
Combat.--Gallant Action of Colonel Ellet.--Fate of the Rebel
Fleet.--The People Viewing the Battle.--Their Conduct.
CHAPTER XVII.
IN MEMPHIS AND UNDER THE FLAG.
Jeff. Thompson and his Predictions.--A Cry of Indignation.--Memphis
Humiliated.--The Journalists in the Battle.--The Surrender.--A Fine
Point of Law and Honor.--Going on Shore.--An Enraged Secessionist.--A
Dangerous Enterprise.--Memphis and her Antecedents.--Her Loyalty.--An
Amusing Incident.--How the Natives learned of the Capture of Fort
Donelson.--The Last Ditch.--A Farmer-Abolitionist.--Disloyalty among
the Women.--"Blessings in Disguise."--An American Mark Tapley.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SUPERVISING A REBEL JOURNAL.
The Press of Memphis.--Flight of _The Appeal_.--A False
Prediction.--_The Argus_ becomes Loyal.--Order from General
Wallace.--Installed in Office.--Lecturing the Rebels.--"Trade follows
the Flag."--Abuses of Traffic.--Supplying the Rebels.--A Perilous
Adventure.--Passing the Rebel Lines.--Eluding Watchful Eyes.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE FIRST SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.
From Memphis to Vicksburg.--Running the Batteries.--Our Inability
to take Vicksburg by Assault.--Digging a Canal.--A Conversation with
Resident Secessionists.--Their Arguments _pro_ and _con_, and the
Answers they Received.--A Curiosity of Legislation.--An Expedition up
the Yazoo.--Destruction of the Rebel Fleet.--The _Arkansas_ Running
the Gauntlet.--A Spirited Encounter.--A Gallant Attempt.--Raising the
Siege.--Fate of the _Arkansas_.
CHAPTER XX.
THE MARCH THROUGH ARKANSAS.--THE SIEGE OF CINCINNATI.
General Curtis's Army reaching Helena.--Its Wanderings.--The
Arkansas Navy.--Troops and their Supplies "miss
Connection."--Rebel Reports.--Memphis in Midsummer.--"A Journey due
North."--Chicago.--Bragg's Advance into Kentucky.--Kirby Smith in
Front of Cincinnati.--The City under Martial Law.--The Squirrel
Hunters.--War Correspondents in Comfortable Quarters.--Improvising an
Army.--Raising the Siege.--Bragg's Retreat.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE BATTLE OF CORINTH.
New Plans of the Rebels.--Their Design to Capture Corinth.--Advancing
to the Attack.--Strong Defenses.--A Magnificent Charge.--Valor _vs_.
Breast-Works.--The Repulse.--Retreat and Pursuit.--The National Arms
Triumphant.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAMPAIGN FROM CORINTH.
Changes of Commanders.--Preparations for the Aggressive.--Marching
from Corinth.--Talking with the People.--"You-uns and
We-uns."--Conservatism of a "Regular."--Loyalty and
Disloyalty.--Condition of the Rebel Army.--Foraging.--German Theology
for American Soldiers.--A Modest Landlord.--A Boy without a Name.--The
Freedmen's Bureau.--Employing Negroes.--Holly Springs and its
People.--An Argument for Secession.
CHAPTER XXIII.
GRANT'S OCCUPATION OF MISSISSIPPI.
The Slavery Question.--A Generous Offer.--A Journalist's
Modesty.--Hopes of the Mississippians at the Beginning of the
War.--Visiting an Editress.--Literature under Difficulties.--Jacob
Thompson and his Correspondence.--Plans for the Capture of
Vicksburg.--Movements of General Sherman.--The Raid upon Holly
Springs.--Forewarned, but not Forearmed.--A Gallant Fight.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE BATTLE OF CHICKASAW BAYOU.
Leaving Memphis.--Down the Great River.--Landing in the
Yazoo.--Description of the Ground.--A Night in Bivouac.--Plan
of Attack.--Moving toward the Hills.--Assaulting the Bluff.--Our
Repulse.--New Plans.--Withdrawal from the Yazoo.
CHAPTER XXV.
BEFORE VICKSBURG.
Capture of Arkansas Post.--The Army returns to Milliken's
Bend.--General Sherman and the Journalists.--Arrest of the
Author.--His Trial before a Military Court.--Letter from President
Lincoln.--Capture of Three Journalists.
CHAPTER XXVI.
KANSAS IN WAR-TIME.
A Visit to Kansas.--Recollections of Border Feuds.--Peculiarities
of Kansas Soldiers.--Foraging as a Fine Art.--Kansas and
Missouri.--Settling Old Scores.--Depopulating the Border
Counties.--Two Examples of Grand Strategy.--Capture of the
"Little-More-Grape" Battery.--A Woman in Sorrow.--Frontier
Justice.--Trial before a "Lynch" Court.--General Blunt's
Order.--Execution of Horse-Thieves.--Auction Sale of Confiscated
Property.--Banished to Dixie.
CHAPTER XXVII.
GETTYSBURG.
A Hasty Departure.--At Harrisburg.--_En route_ for the Army of
the Potomac.--The Battle-Field at Gettysburg.--Appearance of
the Cemetery.--Importance of the Position.--The Configuration
of Ground.--Traces of Battle.--Round Hill.--General Meade's
Head-Quarters.--Appearance of the Dead.--Through the Forests along the
Line.--Retreat and Pursuit of Lee.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
IN THE NORTHWEST.
From Chicago to Minnesota.--Curiosities of Low-Water Navigation.--St.
Paul and its Sufferings in Earlier Days.--The Indian War.--A Brief
History of our Troubles in that Region.--General Pope's Expeditions to
Chastise the Red Man.--Honesty in the Indian Department.--The End of
the Warfare.--The Pacific Railway.--A Bold Undertaking.--Penetrating
British Territory.--The Hudson Bay Company.--Peculiarities of a
Trapper's Life.
CHAPTER XXIX.
INAUGURATION OF A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
Plans for Arming the Negroes along the Mississippi.--Opposition to the
Movement.--Plantations Deserted by their Owners.--Gathering Abandoned
Cotton.--Rules and Regulations.--Speculation.--Widows and Orphans
in Demand.--Arrival of Adjutant-General Thomas.--Designs of the
Government.
CHAPTER XXX.
COTTON-PLANTING IN 1863.
Leasing the Plantations.--Interference of the
Rebels.--Raids.--Treatment of Prisoners.--The Attack upon Milliken's
Bend.--A Novel Breast-Work.--Murder of our Officers.--Profits of
Cotton-Planting.--Dishonesty of Lessees.--Negroes Planting on their
own Account.
CHAPTER XXXI.
AMONG THE OFFICIALS.
Reasons for Trying an Experiment.--Activity among Lessees.--Opinions
of the Residents.--Rebel Hopes in 1863.--Removal of Negroes to West
Louisiana.--Visiting Natchez.--The City and its Business.--"The
Rejected Addresses".
CHAPTER XXXII.
A JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE LINES.
Passing the Pickets.--Cold Weather in the South.--Effect of Climate
upon the Constitution.--Surrounded and Captured.--Prevarication
and Explanation.--Among the Natives.--The Game for the
Confederacy.--Courtesy of the Planters.--Condition of the
Plantations.--The Return.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ON THE PLANTATION.
Military Protection.--Promises.--Another Widow.--Securing
a Plantation.--Its Locality and Appearance.--Gardening in
Louisiana.--How Cotton is Picked.--"The Tell-Tale."--A Southerner's
Opinion of the Negro Character.--Causes and Consequences.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
RULES AND REGULATIONS UNDER THE OLD AND NEW SYSTEMS.
The Plantation Record.--Its Uses.--Interesting Memoranda.--Dogs,
Jail, and Stocks.--Instructions to the Overseer.--His Duties and
Responsibilities.--The Order of General Banks.--Management of
Plantations in the Department of the Gulf.--The two Documents.
Contrasted.--One of the Effects of "an Abolition War".
CHAPTER XXXV.
OUR FREE-LABOR ENTERPRISE IN PROGRESS.
The Negroes at Work.--Difficulties in the Way.--A Public Meeting.--A
Speech.--A Negro's Idea of Freedom.--A Difficult Question to
Determine.--Influence of Northern and Southern Men Contrasted.--An
Increase of Numbers.--"Ginning" Cotton.--In the Lint-Room.--Mills and
Machinery of a Plantation.--A Profitable Enterprise.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
WAR AND AGRICULTURE.
Official Favors.--Division of Labor.--Moral Suasion.--Corn-gathering
in the South.--An Alarm.--A Frightened Irishman.--The Rebels
Approaching.--An Attack on Waterproof.--Falstaff Redivivus.--His Feats
of Arms.--Departure for New Orleans.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
IN THE COTTON MARKET.
New Orleans and its Peculiarities.--Its Loss by the Rebellion.--Cotton
Factors in New Orleans.--Old Things passed away.--The Northern
Barbarians a Race of Shopkeepers.--Pulsations of the Cotton Market.--A
Quarrel with a Lady.--Contending for a Principle.--Inharmony of the
"Regulations."--An Account of Sales.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
SOME FEATURES OF PLANTATION LIFE.
Mysteries of Mule-trading.--"What's in a Name?"--Process of Stocking
a Plantation.--An Enterprising White Man.--Stratagem of a
Yankee.--Distributing Goods to the Negroes.--The Tastes of the
African.--Ethiopian Eloquence.--A Colored Overseer.--Guerrillas
Approaching.--Whisky _vs_. Guerrillas.--A Hint to Military Men.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
VISITED BY GUERRILLAS.
News of the Raid.--Returning to the Plantation.--Examples of Negro
Cunning.--A Sudden Departure and a Fortunate Escape.--A Second
Visit.--"Going Through," in Guerrilla Parlance.--How it is
Accomplished.--Courtesy to Guests.--A Holiday Costume.--Lessees
Abandoning their Plantations.--Official Promises.
CHAPTER XL.
PECULIARITIES OF PLANTATION LABOR.
Resuming Operation.--Difficulties in the Way.--A New Method of Healing
the Sick.--A Thief Discovered by his Ignorance of Arithmetic.--How
Cotton is Planted.--The Uses of Cotton-Seed.--A Novel
Sleeping-Room.--Constructing a Tunnel.--Vigilance of a Negro Sentinel.
CHAPTER XLI.
THE NEGROES AT A MILITARY POST.
The Soldiers at Waterproof.--The Black Man in Blue.--Mutiny and
Desertion.--Their Cause and Cure.--Tendering a Resignation.--No Desire
for a Barber.--Seeking Protection.--Falsehood and Truth.--Proneness to
Exaggeration.--Amusing Estimates.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE END OF THE EXPERIMENT.
The Nature of our "Protection."--Trade Following the Flag.--A
Fortunate Journey.--Our Last Visit.--Inhumanity of the
Guerrillas.--Driving Negroes into Captivity.--Killing an
Overseer.--Our Final Departure.--Plantations Elsewhere.
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE MISSISSIPPI AND ITS PECULIARITIES.
Length of the Great River, and the Area it Drains.--How Itasca Lake
obtained its Name.--The Bends of the Mississippi.--Curious Effect upon
Titles to Real Estate.--A Story of Napoleon.--A Steamboat Thirty-five
Years under Water.--The Current and its Variations.--Navigating Cotton
and Corn Fields.--Reminiscences of the Islands.
CHAPTER XLIV.
STEAMBOATING ON THE MISSISSIPPI IN PEACE AND WAR.
Attempts to Obstruct the Great River.--Chains, Booms, and
Batteries.--A Novelty in Piloting.--Travel in the Days Before the
Rebellion.--Trials of Speed.--The Great Race.--Travel During the
War.--Running a Rebel Battery on the Lower Mississippi.--Incidents of
the Occasion.--Comments on the Situation.
CHAPTER XLV.
THE ARMY CORRESPONDENT.
The Beginning and the End.--The Lake Erie Piracy.--A Rochester
Story.--The First War Correspondent.--Napoleon's Policy.--Waterloo
and the Rothschilds.--Journalistic Enterprise in the Mexican War.--The
Crimea and the East Indian Rebellion.--Experiences at the Beginning
of Hostilities.--The Tender Mercies of the Insurgents.--In the
Field.--Adventures in Missouri and Kentucky.--Correspondents
in Captivity.--How Battle-Accounts were Written.--Professional
Complaints.
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.
Scarcity of the Population.--Fertility of the Country.--Northern Men
already in the South.--Kansas Emigrants Crossing Missouri.--Change of
the Situation.--Present Disadvantages of Emigration.--Feeling of
the People.--Property-Holders in Richmond.--The Sentiment in North
Carolina.--South Carolina Chivalry.--The Effect of War.--Prospect of
the Success of Free Labor.--Trade in the South.
CHAPTER XLVII.
HOW DISADVANTAGES MAY BE OVERCOME.
Conciliating the People of the South.--Railway Travel and its
Improvement.--Rebuilding Steamboats.--Replacing Working
Stock.--The Condition of the Plantations.--Suggestions about Hasty
Departures.--Obtaining Information.--The Attractions of Missouri.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
THE RESOURCES OF THE SOUTHERN STATES.
How the People have Lived.--An Agricultural Community.--Mineral
and other Wealth of Virginia.--Slave-Breeding in Former
Times.--The Auriferous Region of North Carolina.--Agricultural
Advantages.--Varieties of Soil in South Carolina.--Sea-Island
Cotton.--Georgia and her Railways.--Probable Decline of the Rice
Culture.--The Everglade State.--The Lower Mississippi Valley.--The Red
River.--Arkansas and its Advantages.--A Hint for Tragedians.--Mining
in Tennessee.--The Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky.--Texas and its
Attractions.--Difference between Southern and Western Emigration.--The
End. CAMP-FIRE AND COTTON-FIELD.
CHAPTER I.
ANTE BELLUM.
At the Rocky Mountains.--Sentiment of the People.--Firing the
Southern Heart.--A Midwinter Journey across the Plains.--An Editor's
Opinion.--Election in Missouri.--The North springing to
Arms.--An amusing Arrest.--Off for the Field.--Final
Instructions.--Niagara.--Curiosities of Banking.--Arrival at the Seat
of War.
I passed the summer and autumn of 1860 in the Rocky Mountain Gold
Region. At that time the population of the young Territory was
composed of emigrants from Northern and Southern States, those from
the colder regions being in the majority. When the Presidential
election took place, there was much angry discussion of the great
questions of the day, and there were threats of violence on the part
of the friends of the "institution." The residents of the Gold Region
were unable to cast their votes for the men of their choice, but their
anxiety to know the result was very great.
When it was announced that the Republican candidate had triumphed,
there were speedy signs of discontent. Some of the more impulsive
Southerners departed at once for their native States, predicting a
separation of Dixie from the North before the end of the year. Some
went to New Mexico, and others to Texas, while many remained to press
their favorite theories upon their neighbors. The friends of the Union
were slow to believe that any serious difficulty would take place.
Long after the secession of South Carolina they were confident our
differences could be healed without an appeal to arms.
My visit to the Rocky Mountains was a professional one. During my stay
in that region I supplied several Eastern journals with letters from
Colorado and New Mexico. One after another, the editors of these
journals informed me that letters from the Territories had lost their
interest, owing to the troubles growing out of the election. Wishing
to take part in the drama about to be enacted, I essayed a midwinter
journey across the plains, and, early in February, stood in the
editorial room of _The Herald_.
I announced my readiness to proceed to any point between the Poles,
wherever _The Herald_ desired a correspondent. The editor-in-chief was
busy over a long letter from some point in the South, but his response
was promptly given. Half reading, half pausing over the letter, he
briefly said:--
"A long and bloody war is upon us, in which the whole country will be
engaged. We shall desire you to take the field; probably in the West.
It may be several weeks before we need you, but the war cannot be long
delayed."
At that time few persons in the North looked upon the situation with
any fears of trouble. There were some who thought a hostile collision
was among the possibilities, but these persons were generally in the
minority. Many believed the secession movement was only the hasty work
of political leaders, that would be soon undone when the people of the
South came to their senses.
That the South would deliberately plunge the country into civil war
was difficult to comprehend, even after the first steps had been
taken. The majority of the Northern people were hoping and believing,
day by day, that something might transpire to quell the excitement and
adjust the difficulties threatening to disturb the country.
Before leaving the Rocky Mountains I did not believe that war was
certain to ensue, though I considered it quite probable. As I passed
through Missouri, the only slave State that lay in my route, I found
every thing comparatively quiet. In St. Joseph, on the day of my
arrival, the election for delegates to the State Convention was being
held. There was no disorder, more than is usual on election days in
small cities. Little knots of people were engaged in discussion, but
the discussions partook of no extraordinary bitterness. The vote of
the city was decidedly in favor of keeping the State in the Union.
Between the 7th of December and the 12th of April, the Northern blood
warmed slowly. The first gun at Sumter quickened its pulsations. When
the President issued his call for seventy-five thousand men for three
months, to put down insurrection, the North woke to action. Everywhere
the response was prompt, earnest, patriotic. In the Northern
cities the recruiting offices were densely thronged. New York and
Massachusetts were first to send their favorite regiments to the
front, but they were not long in the advance. Had the call been for
four times seventy-five thousand, and for a service of three years,
there is little doubt the people would have responded without
hesitation.
For a short time after my arrival at the East, I remained in a small
town in Southern New Hampshire. A few days after the first call was
issued, a friend invited me to a seat in his carriage for a ride to
Portsmouth, the sea-port of the State. On reaching the city we found
the war spirit fully aroused. Two companies of infantry were drilling
in the public square, and the citizens were in a state of great
excitement. In the course of the afternoon my friend and myself were
arrested, by a committee of respectable citizens, who suspected us of
being Southern emissaries. It was with great difficulty we convinced
them they had made a slight mistake. We referred them to the only
acquaintances we had in the city. They refused to consider the truth
established in the mouths of two witnesses, and were not induced to
give us our liberty until all convenient proof of our identity had
been adduced.
To be arrested within twenty miles of home, on suspicion of being
delegated from Charleston or Montgomery, was one of my most amusing
experiences of the war. The gentleman who accompanied me was a very
earnest believer in coercion. His business in Portsmouth on that
occasion was to offer his services in a regiment then being formed.
A few months later he received a commission in the army, but did not
obtain it through any of our temporary acquaintances at Portsmouth.
Our captors were the solid men of the city, any one of whom could
have sat for the portrait of Mr. Turveydrop without the slightest
alteration. On taking us into custody, they stated the grounds on
which they arrested us. Our dark complexions and long beards had
aroused suspicions concerning the places of our nativity. Suspicion
was reduced to a certainty when one of them heard me mention my
presence in Missouri on the day of choosing candidates for the
Convention. Our purpose was divined when I asked if there was any
activity at the Navy Yard. We were Rebel emissaries, who designed to
lay their Navy Yard in ashes!
On our release and departure we were followed to our homes, that the
correctness of our representations might be ascertained. This little
occurrence, in the center of New England, where the people claim to
be thoroughly quiet and law-abiding, indicated that the war spirit in
that part of the North was more than momentary.
The West was not behind the Eastern States in the determination
to subdue the Rebellion. Volunteers were gathering at Cairo, and
threatening to occupy points further down the Mississippi. At
St. Louis the struggle was active between the Unionists and the
Secessionists.
A collision was a mere question of time, and of short time at the
best.
As I visited _The Herald_ office for final instructions, I found that
the managing editor had determined upon a vigorous campaign. Every
point of interest was to be covered, so that the operations of our
armies would be fully recorded from day to day. The war correspondents
had gone to their posts, or were just taking their departure. One
correspondent was already on the way to Cairo. I was instructed to
watch the military movements in Missouri, and hastened to St. Louis as
fast as steam could bear me.
Detained twelve hours at Niagara, by reason of missing a railway
train, I found that the opening war gave promise of affecting that
locality. The hotel-keepers were gloomy at the prospect of losing
their Southern patronage, and half feared they would be obliged to
close their establishments. There were but few visitors, and even
these were not of the class which scatters its money profusely. The
village around the Falls displayed positive signs of dullness, and
the inhabitants had personal as well as patriotic interest in wishing
there was no war. The Great Cataract was unchanged in its beauty
and grandeur. The flood from the Lakes was not diminished, and the
precipice over which the water plunged was none the less steep. The
opening war had no effect upon this wonder of the New World.
In Chicago, business was prostrated on account of the outbreak of
hostilities. Most of the banks in Illinois had been holding State
bonds as securities for the redemption of their circulation. As these
bonds were nearly all of Southern origin, the beginning of the war
had materially affected their value. The banks found their securities
rapidly becoming insecure, and hence there was a depreciation in the
currency. This was not uniform, but varied from five to sixty per
cent., according to the value of the bonds the respective banks were
holding. Each morning and evening bulletins were issued stating the
value of the notes of the various banking-houses. Such a currency was
very inconvenient to handle, as the payment of any considerable sum
required a calculation to establish the worth of each note.
Many rumors were in circulation concerning the insecurity of a
Northern visitor in St. Louis, but none of the stories were very
alarming. Of one thing all were certain--the star of the Union was
in the ascendant. On arriving in St. Louis I found the city far from
quiet, though there was nothing to lead a stranger to consider his
personal safety in danger. I had ample material for entering at
once upon my professional duties, in chronicling the disordered and
threatening state of affairs.
On the day of my arrival, I met a gentleman I had known in the Rocky
Mountains, six months before. I knew his courage was beyond question,
having seen him in several disturbances incident to the Gold Regions;
but I was not aware which side of the great cause he had espoused.
After our first greetings, I ventured to ask how he stood.
"I am a Union man," was his emphatic response.
"What kind of a Union man are you?"
"I am this kind of a Union man," and he threw open his coat, and
showed me a huge revolver, strapped to his waist.
There were many loyal men in St. Louis, whose sympathies were evinced
in a similar manner. Revolvers were at a premium.
Some of the Secessionists ordered a quantity of revolvers from New
York, to be forwarded by express. To prevent interference by the Union
authorities, they caused the case to be directed to "Colonel Francis
P. Blair, Jr., care of ----." They thought Colonel Blair's name
would secure the property from seizure. The person in whose care the
revolvers were sent was a noted Secessionist, who dealt extensively in
fire-arms.
Colonel Blair learned of the shipment, and met the box at the station.
Fifty revolvers of the finest quality, bought and paid for by the
Secessionists, were distributed among the friends of Colonel Blair,
and were highly prized by the recipients.