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.
Two weeks after the battle of Corinth, General Rosecrans was summoned
to the Army of the Cumberland, to assume command in place of General
Buell. General Grant was placed at the head of the Thirteenth Army
Corps, including all the forces in West Tennessee. Preparations for an
aggressive movement into the enemy's country had been in progress for
some time. Corinth, Bolivar, and Jackson were strongly fortified,
so that a small force could defend them. The base of supply was at
Columbus, Kentucky, eighty-five miles due north of Jackson, thus
giving us a long line of railway to protect.
On the first of November the movement began, by the advance of a
column from Corinth and another from Bolivar. These columns met at
Grand Junction, twenty-five miles north of Holly Springs, and, after
lying there for two weeks, advanced to the occupation of the latter
point. The Rebels evacuated the place on our approach, and after a day
or two at Holly Springs we went forward toward the south. Abbeville
and Oxford were taken, and the Rebels established themselves at
Grenada, a hundred miles south of Memphis.
From Corinth I accompanied the division commanded by General Stanley.
I had known this officer in Missouri, in the first year of the war,
when he claimed to be very "conservative" in his views. During the
campaign with General Lyon he expressed himself opposed to a warfare
that should produce a change in the social status at the South. When I
met him at Corinth he was very "radical" in sentiment, and in favor of
a thorough destruction of the "peculiar institution." He declared that
he had liberated his own slaves, and was determined to set free all
the slaves of any other person that might come in his way. He rejoiced
that the war had not ended during the six months following the fall
of Fort Sumter, as we should then have allowed slavery to exist,
which would have rendered us liable to another rebellion whenever
the Southern leaders chose to make it. We could only be taught by
the logic of events, and it would take two or three years of war to
educate the country to a proper understanding of our position.
It required a war of greater magnitude than was generally expected at
the outset. In 1861 there were few people who would have consented to
interfere with "slavery in the States." The number of these persons
was greater in 1862, but it was not until 1864 that the anti-slavery
sentiment took firm hold of the public mind. In 1861 the voice of
Missouri would have favored the retention of the old system. In 1864
that State became almost as radical as Massachusetts. The change in
public sentiment elsewhere was nearly as great.
During the march from Corinth to Grand Junction, I had frequent
opportunity for conversing with the people along the route. There were
few able-bodied men at home. It was the invariable answer, when we
asked the whereabouts of any citizen, "He's away." Inquiry would
bring a reluctant confession that he had gone to the Rebel army.
Occasionally a woman would boast that she had sent her husband to
fight for his rights and the rights of his State. The violation of
State rights and the infringement upon personal prerogative were
charged upon the National Government as the causes of the war. Some
of the women displayed considerable skill in arguing the question of
secession, but their arguments were generally mingled with invective.
The majority were unable to make any discussion whatever.
"What's you-uns come down here to fight we-uns for?" said one of the
women whose husband was in the Rebel army. "We-uns never did you-uns
no hurt." (This addition of a syllable to the personal pronouns of the
second and third persons is common in some parts of the South, while
in others it will not be heard.)
"Well," said General Stanley, "we came down here because we were
obliged to come. Your people commenced a war, and we are trying to
help you end it."
"We-uns didn't want to fight, no-how. You-uns went and made the war so
as to steal our niggers."
The woman acknowledged that neither her husband nor herself ever
owned negroes, or ever expected to do so. She knew nothing about Fort
Sumter, and only knew that the North elected one President and
the South another, on the same occasion. The South only wanted its
president to rule its own region, but the North wanted to extend its
control over the whole country, so as to steal the negroes. Hence
arose the war.
Some of the poorer whites manifested a loyal feeling, which sprang
from a belief that the establishment of the Confederacy would
not better their condition. This number was not large, but it has
doubtless increased with the termination of the war. The wealthier
portion of the people were invariably in sympathy with the Rebel
cause.
After we reached Grand Junction, and made our camp a short distance
south of that point, we were joined by the column from Bolivar. In the
two columns General Grant had more than forty thousand men, exclusive
of a force under General Sherman, about to move from Memphis. The
Rebel army was at Holly Springs and Abbeville, and was estimated at
fifty thousand strong. Every day found a few deserters coming in
from the Rebels, but their number was not large. The few that came
represented their army to be well supplied with shoes, clothing, and
ammunition, and also well fed. They were nearly recovered from the
effects of their repulse at Corinth, a month before.
Our soldiers foraged at will on the plantations near our camp. The
quantities of supplies that were brought in did not argue that the
country had been previously visited by an army. Mules, horses, cattle,
hogs, sheep, chickens, and other things used by an army, were found in
abundance.
The soldiers did not always confine their foraging to articles of
necessity. A clergyman's library was invaded and plundered. I saw one
soldier bending under the (avoirdupois) weight of three heavy volumes
on theology, printed in the German language. Another soldier, a mere
boy, was carrying away in triumph a copy of Scott's Greek Lexicon. In
every instance when it came to their knowledge, the officers compelled
the soldiers to return the books they had stolen. German theology and
Greek Lexicons were not thought advantageous to an army in the field.
One wing of our army was encamped at Lagrange, Tennessee, and honored
with the presence of General Grant. Lagrange presented a fair example
of the effects of secession upon the interior villages of the South.
Before the war it was the center of a flourishing business. Its
private residences were constructed with considerable magnificence,
and evinced the wealth of their owners. There was a male and a
female college; there was a bank, and there were several stores and
commission houses.
When the war broke out, the young men at the male college enlisted in
the Rebel army. The young women in the female college went to their
homes. The bank was closed for want of funds, the hotels had no
guests, the stores had few customers, and these had no money, the
commission houses could find no cotton to sell and no goods to buy.
Every thing was completely stagnated. All the men who could carry
muskets went to the field. When we occupied the town, there were not
three men remaining who were of the arms-bearing age.
I found in Lagrange a man who _could_ keep a hotel. He was ignorant,
lazy, and his establishment only resembled the Fifth Avenue or the
Continental in the prices charged to the guests. I staid several days
with this Boniface, and enjoyed the usual fare of the interior South.
Calling for my bill at my departure, I found the charges were only
three dollars and fifty cents per day.
My horse had been kept in a vacant and dilapidated stable belonging to
the hotel, but the landlord refused to take any responsibility for
the animal. He had no corn or hay, and his hostler had "gone to the
Yankees!" During my stay I employed a man to purchase corn and give
the desired attention to the horse. The landlord made a charge of one
dollar per day for "hoss-keeping," and was indignant when I entered a
protest. Outside of Newport and Saratoga, I think there are very few
hotel-keepers in the North who would make out and present a bill on so
small a basis as this.
This taverner's wife and daughter professed an utter contempt for all
white persons who degraded themselves to any kind of toil. Of
course, their hostility to the North was very great. Beyond a slight
supervision, they left every thing to the care of the negroes. A
gentleman who was with me sought to make himself acquainted with the
family, and succeeded admirably until, on one evening, he constructed
a small toy to amuse the children. This was too much. He was skillful
with his hands, and must therefore be a "mudsill." His acquaintance
with the ladies of that household came to an end. His manual dexterity
was his ruin.
There was another hotel in Lagrange, a rival establishment, that bore
the reputation of being much the worse in point of comfort. It was
owned by a widow, and this widow had a son--a lank, overgrown youth of
eighteen. His poverty, on one point, was the greatest I ever knew.
He could have been appropriately selected as the hero of a certain
popular novel by Wilkie Collins. No name had ever been given him by
his parents. In his infancy they spoke of him as "the boy." When he
grew large enough to appear on the street with other boys, some one
gave him the _sobriquet_ of "Rough and Ready." From that time forward,
his only praenomen was "Rough." I made several inquiries among his
neighbors, but could not ascertain that he bore any other Christian
appellative.
The first comprehensive order providing for the care of the negroes
in the Southwest, was issued by General Grant while his army lay at
Lagrange and Grand Junction. Previous to that time, the negroes had
been disposed of as each division and post commander thought best,
under his general instructions not to treat them unkindly. Four months
earlier, our authorities at Memphis had enrolled several hundred
able-bodied negroes into an organization for service in the
Quartermaster's Department, in accordance with the provisions of
an order from District Head-Quarters. They threw up fortifications,
loaded and unloaded steamboats, and performed such other labor as was
required. In General Grant's army there was a pioneer corps of three
hundred negroes, under the immediate charge of an overseer, controlled
by an officer of engineers. No steps were then taken to use them as
soldiers.
The number of negroes at our posts and in our camps was rapidly
increasing. Under the previous orders, they were registered and
employed only on Government work. None but the able-bodied males were
thus available. The new arrangements contemplated the employment of
all who were capable of performing any kind of field labor. It was
expected to bring some revenue to the Government, that would partially
cover the expense of providing for the negroes.
The following is the order which General Grant issued:--
HEAD-QUARTERS THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS,
DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,
LAGRANGE, TENNESSEE, _November_ 14, 1862.
SPECIAL FIELD ORDER, NO. 4.
I. Chaplain J. Eaton, Jr., of the Twenty-seventh Ohio Volunteers, is
hereby appointed to take charge of all fugitive slaves that are
now, or may from time to time come, within the military lines of
the advancing army in this vicinity, not employed and registered in
accordance with General Orders, No. 72, from head-quarters District of
West Tennessee, and will open a camp for them at Grand Junction, where
they will be suitably cared for, and organized into companies, and set
to work, picking, ginning, and baling all cotton now outstanding in
fields.
II. Commanding officers of all troops will send all fugitives that
come within the lines, together with such teams, cooking utensils, and
other baggage as they may bring with them, to Chaplain J. Eaton, Jr.,
at Grand Junction.
III. One regiment of infantry from Brigadier-General McArthur's
Division will be temporarily detailed as guard in charge of such
contrabands, and the surgeon of said regiment will be charged with the
care of the sick.
IV. Commissaries of subsistence will issue, on the requisitions of
Chaplain Eaton, omitting the coffee ration, and substituting rye. By
order of Major-General U.S. Grant. JNO. A. RAWLINS, A.A.G.
Chaplain Eaton entered immediately upon the discharge of his duties.
Many division and brigade commanders threw obstacles in his way,
and were very slow to comply with General Grant's order. Some of the
officers of the Commissary Department made every possible delay in
filling Chaplain Eaton's requisitions. The people of the vicinity
laughed at the experiment, and prophesied speedy and complete failure.
They endeavored to insure a failure by stealing the horses and mules,
and disabling the machinery which Chaplain Eaton was using. Failing in
this, they organized guerrilla parties, and attempted to frighten
the negroes from working in the field. They only desisted from this
enterprise when some of their number were killed.
All the negroes that came into the army lines were gathered at Grand
Junction and organized, in compliance with the order. There were many
fields of cotton fully ripened, that required immediate attention.
Cotton-picking commenced, and was extensively prosecuted.
The experiment proved a success. The cotton, in the immediate vicinity
of Grand Junction and Lagrange was gathered, baled, and made ready
for market. For once, the labors of the negro in the Southwest were
bringing an actual return to the Government.
The following year saw the system enlarged, as our armies took
possession of new districts. In 1863, large quantities of cotton were
gathered from fields in the vicinity of Lake Providence and Milliken's
Bend, and the cultivation of plantations was commenced. In 1864, this
last enterprise was still further prosecuted. Chaplain Eaton became
Colonel Eaton, and the humble beginning at Grand Junction grew into a
great scheme for demonstrating the practicability of free labor, and
benefiting the negroes who-had been left without support by reason of
the flight of their owners.
As the army lay in camp near Lagrange for nearly four weeks, and
the enemy was twenty-five miles distant, there was very little war
correspondence to be written. There was an occasional skirmish near
the front, but no important movement whatever. The monotony of
this kind of life, and the tables of the Lagrange hotels, were not
calculated to awaken much enthusiasm. Learning from a staff officer
the probable date when the army would advance, I essayed a visit to
St. Louis, and returned in season to take part in the movement into
Mississippi.
At the time General Grant advanced from Lagrange, he ordered General
Sherman to move from Memphis, so that the two columns would unite in
the vicinity of Oxford, Mississippi. General Sherman pushed his column
as rapidly as possible, and, by the combined movement, the Rebels were
forced out of their defenses beyond Oxford, and compelled to select a
new line in the direction of Grenada. Our flag was steadily advancing
toward the Gulf.
Satisfied there would be no battle until our army had passed Oxford,
I tarried several days at Holly Springs, waiting for the railway to
be opened. I found the town a very pleasant one, finely situated, and
bearing evidence of the wealth and taste of its inhabitants. When
the war broke out, there were only two places in the State that could
boast a larger population than Holly Springs.
At the time of my arrival, the hotels of Holly Springs were not open,
and I was obliged to take a room at a private house with one of the
inhabitants. My host was an earnest advocate of the Rebel cause, and
had the fullest confidence in the ultimate independence of the South.
"We intend," said he, "to establish a strong Government, in which
there will be no danger of interference by any abolitionists. If you
had allowed us to have our own way, there would never have been any
trouble. We didn't want you to have slavery in the North, but we
wanted to go into the Territories, where we had a perfect right, and
do as we pleased about taking our slaves there. The control of the
Government belongs to us. The most of the Presidents have been
from the South, as they ought to be. It was only when you elected
a sectional President, who was sworn to break up slavery, that we
objected. You began the war when you refused us the privilege of
having a national President."
This gentleman argued, further, that the half of all public property
belonged to the South, and it was only just that the State authorities
should take possession of forts and arsenals, as they did at the
inception of the war. It was the especial right of the South to
control the nation. Slavery was instituted from Heaven, for the
especial good of both white and black. Whoever displayed any sympathy
for the negro, and wished to make him free, was doing a great
injustice to the slave and his master, particularly to the latter.
Once he said the destruction of slavery would be unworthy a people who
possessed any gallantry. "You will," he declared, "do a cruel wrong
to many fine ladies. They know nothing about working with their hands,
and consider such knowledge disgraceful. If their slaves are taken
from them, these ladies will be helpless."
This gentleman was the possessor of several negroes, though he lived
in a house that he did not own. Of course, it was a great injustice to
deprive him of his only property, especially as the laws of his State
sanctioned such ownership. He declared he would not submit to any
theft of that character. I do not think I ever saw a person manifest
more passion than was exhibited by this individual on hearings one
afternoon, that one of his slaves had taken refuge in our camp, with
the avowed intention of going North.
"I don't care for the loss," said he, "but what I do care for is, to
be robbed by a nigger. I can endure an injury from a white man; to
have a nigger defy me is too much."
Unfortunate and unhappy man! I presume he is not entirely satisfied
with the present status of the "Peculiar Institution."
The cotton speculators at Holly Springs were guilty of some sharp
transactions. One day a gentleman residing in the vicinity came to
town in order to effect a sale of fifty bales. The cotton was in a
warehouse a half-dozen miles away.
Remaining over night in Holly Springs, and walking to the railway
station in the morning, he found his cotton piled by the track and
ready for shipment. Two men were engaged effacing the marks upon
the bales. By some means they had obtained a sufficient number of
Government wagons to remove the entire lot during the night. It was a
case of downright theft. The offenders were banished beyond the lines
of the army.
In a public office at Holly Springs our soldiers found a great number
of bills on the Northern Bank of Mississippi. They were in sheets,
just as they had come from the press. None of them bore dates or
signatures.
The soldiers supplied all needed chirography, and the bills obtained
a wide circulation. Chickens, pigs, and other small articles were
purchased of the whites and negroes, and paid for with the most
astonishing liberality.
Counterfeits of the Rebel currency were freely distributed, and could
only be distinguished from the genuine by their superior execution.
Among the women in Holly Springs and its vicinity snuff was in great
demand. The article is used by them in much the same way that men chew
tobacco. The practice is known as "dipping," and is disgusting in the
extreme. A stick the size of a common pencil is chewed or beaten at
one end until the fibers are separated. In this condition it forms a
brush.
This brush is moistened with saliva, and plunged into the snuff. The
fine powder which adheres is then rubbed on the gums and among the
teeth. A species of partial intoxication is the result.
The effect of continued "dipping" becomes apparent. The gums are
inflamed, the teeth are discolored, the lips are shriveled, and the
complexion is sallow. The throat is dry and irritated, and there is a
constant desire to expectorate.
I trust the habit will never become a Northern one.