AFTER THE VICTORY.
The two ramrods were still pacing to and fro, when I aroused in the gray
of the morning; but they looked very misty and moist, as if they were
impalpables that were shortly to evaporate. The Major poked his head
between the flaps at eight o'clock, and said that breakfast was ready;
but the ramrod nearest me kept vigilantly alongside, and I thought he
had been invited also. The other ramrod guarded the empty tent, and I
think that he believed me a doppel-ganger likewise.
I wondered what was to be done with me, as the hours slipped rapidly by.
The guards were relieved again at ten o'clock, and Quartermaster's men
commenced to take down the tents. Camps were to be moved, and I inquired
solicitously if I was to be moved also. The Major replied that prisoners
were commonly made to walk along the road, escorted by horsemen, and I
imagined, with dread, the companionship of negroes, estrays, ragged
Confederates, and such folk, while the whole army should witness my
degradation. Finally, all the tents were lifted and packed in wagons, as
well as the furniture. I adhered to a stool, at which the teamster
looked wistfully, and the implacable sentinels walked to and fro. A
rumor became current among the private soldiers, that I was the nephew
of the southern General Lee, whose wife had been meantime captured at
Hanover Court House. Curious groups sauntered around me, and talked
behind their hands. One man was overheard to say that I had fought
desperately, and covered myself with glory, and another thought that I
favored my uncle somewhat, and might succeed to his military virtues.
"I guess I'll take that cheer, if you ain't got no objection," said the
teamster, and he slung it into the wagon. What to do now troubled me
materially; but one of the soldiers brought a piece of rail, and I
"squatted" lugubriously on the turf.
"If you ever get to Richmond," said I, "you shall be considerately
treated." (Profound sensation.)
"Thankee!" replied the man, touching his cap; "but I'm werry well
pleased _out_ o' Richmond, Captain."
Here the Major was seen approaching, a humorous smile playing about his
eyes.
"You are discharged," said he; "General Marcy will return your pass, and
perhaps your papers."
I wrung his hand with indescribable relief, and he sent the "ramrod" on
guard, to saddle my horse. In a few minutes, I was mounted again, much
to the surprise of the observers of young Lee, and directly I stood
before the kindly Chief of Staff. At my request, he wrote a note to the
division commander, specifying my good behavior, and restoring to me all
privileges and immunities. He said nothing whatever as to the mistake in
the papers, and told me that, on special occasions, I might keep with
advances, by procuring an extraordinary pass at head-quarters. In short,
my arrest conduced greatly to my efficiency. I invariably carried my
Richmond despatches to General Marcy, thereafter, and, if there was
information of a legitimate description, he gave me the benefit of it.
My own brigade lay at Dr. Gaines's house, during this time, and we did
not lack for excitement. Just behind the house lay several batteries of
rifled guns, and these threw shells at hourly intervals, at certain
Confederate batteries across the river. The distance was two miles or
less; but the firing was generally wretched. Crowds of soldiers gathered
around, to watch the practice, and they threw up their hats applaudingly
at successful hits. Occasionally a great round shot would bound up the
hill, and a boy, one day, seeing one of these spent balls rolling along
the ground, put out his foot to stop it, but shattered his leg so
dreadfully that it had to be amputated. Dr. Gaines was a rich,
aristocratic, and indolent old Virginian, whose stables, summerhouses,
orchards, and negro-quarters were the finest in their district. The
shooting so annoyed him that he used to resort to the cellar; several
shots passed through his roof, and one of the chimneys was knocked off.
His family carriages were five in number, and as his stables were turned
into hospitals, these were all hauled into his lawn, where their
obsolete trimmings and queer shape constantly amused the soldiers. About
this time I became acquainted with some officers of the 5th Maine
regiment, and by permission, accompanied them to Mechanicsville. I was
here, on the afternoon of Thursday, May 27, when the battle of Hanover
Court House was fought. We heard the rapid growl of guns, and continuous
volleys of musketry, though the place was fourteen miles distant. At
evening, a report was current that the Federals had gained a great
victory, and captured seven hundred prisoners. The truth of this was
established next morning; for detachments of prisoners were from time to
time brought in, and the ambulances came to camp, laden with the
wounded. I took this opportunity of observing the Confederate soldiers,
as they lay at the Provost quarters, in a roped pen, perhaps one hundred
rods square.
It was evening, as I hitched my horse to a stake near-by, and pressed up
to the receptacle for the unfortunates. Sentries enclosed the pen,
walking to-and-fro with loaded muskets; a throng of officers and
soldiers had assembled to gratify their curiosity; and new detachments
of captives came in hourly, encircled by sabremen, the Southerners
being disarmed and on foot. The scene within the area was ludicrously
moving. It reminded me of the witch-scene in Macbeth, or pictures of
brigands or Bohemian gypsies at rendezvous, not less than five hundred
men, in motley, ragged costumes, with long hair, and lean, wild, haggard
faces, were gathered in groups or in pairs, around some fagot fires. In
the growing darkness their expressions were imperfectly visible; but I
could see that most of them were weary, and hungry, and all were
depressed and ashamed. Some were wrapped in blankets of rag-carpet, and
others wore shoes of rough, untanned hide. Others were without either
shoes or jackets, and their heads were bound with red handkerchiefs.
Some appeared in red shirts; some in stiff beaver hats; some were
attired in shreds and patches of cloth; and a few wore the soiled
garments of citizen gentlemen; but the mass adhered to homespun suits of
gray, or "butternut," and the coarse blue kersey common to slaves. In
places I caught glimpses of red Zouave breeches and leggings; blue
Federal caps, Federal buttons, or Federal blouses; these were the spoils
of anterior battles, and had been stripped from the slain. Most of the
captives were of the appearances denominated "scraggy" or "knotty." They
were brown, brawny, and wiry, and their countenances were intense,
fierce, and animal. They came from North Carolina, the poorest and least
enterprising Southern State, and ignorance, with its attendant virtues,
were the common facial manifestations. Some lay on the bare ground, fast
asleep; others chatted nervously as if doubtful of their future
treatment; a few were boisterous, and anxious to beg tobacco or coffee
from idle Federals; the rest--and they comprehended the greater
number--were silent, sullen, and vindictive. They met curiosity with
scorn, and spite with imprecations. A child--not more than four years of
age, I think--sat sleeping in a corner upon an older comrade's lap. A
gray-bearded pard was staunching a gash in his cheek with the tail of
his coat. A fine-looking young fellow sat with his face in his hands,
as if his heart were far off, and he wished to shut out this bitter
scene. In a corner, lying morosely apart, were a Major, three Captains,
and three Lieutenants,--young athletic fellows, dressed in rich gray
cassimere, trimmed with black, and wearing soft black hats adorned with
black ostrich-feathers. Their spurs were strapped upon elegantly fitting
boots, and they looked as far above the needy, seedy privates, as lords
above their vassals.
After a time, couples and squads of the prisoners were marched off to
cut and carry some firewood, and water, for the use of their pen, and
then each Confederate received coffee, pork, and crackers; they were
obliged to prepare their own meals, but some were so hungry that they
gnawed the raw pork, like beasts of prey. Those who were not provided
with blankets, shivered through the night, though the rain was falling,
and the succession of choking coughs that ran through the ranks, told
how ill they could afford the exposure. Major Willard had charge of
these men, and he sent a young officer to get me admittance to the pen,
that I might speak with them.
"Good evening, Major," I said, to the ranking Confederate officer, and
extended my hand. He shook it, embarrassedly, and ran me over with his
eye, as if to learn my avocation. "Can I obtain any facts from you," I
continued, "as to the battle of Hanover?"
"Fuh what puhpose?" he said, in his strong southern dialect.
"For publication, sir."
He sat up at once, and said that he should be happy to tell me anything
that would not be a violation of military honor. I asked him, therefore,
the Confederate Commandant at Hanover, the number of brigades,
regiments, and batteries engaged, the disposition of forces, the
character of the battle, and the losses, so far as he knew, upon his own
side. Much of this he revealed, but unguardedly let out other matters,
that direct inquiry could not have discovered. I took notes of the
legitimate passages, trusting to memory for the rest; and think that I
possessed his whole stock of information, in the course of an hour's
manoeuvring. It seemed that General Branch, formerly a member of the
Federal congress, had been sent with some thousands of Carolina troops
across the upper Chickahominy, to see if it would not be possible to
turn the Federal right, and cut off one of its brigades; but a stronger
Federal reconnoissance had gone northward the day before, and
discovering Branch's camp-fires, sent, during the night, for
reinforcements. In the end, the "North State" volunteers were routed,
their cannon silenced or broken, and seven hundred of their number
captured. The Federals lost a large number of men killed, and the
wounded upon both sides, were numerous.
The Confederate Major was of the class referred to in polite American
parlance, as a "blatherskite." He boasted after the manner of his
fellow-citizens from the county of "Bunkum," but nevertheless feared and
trembled, to the manifest disgust of one of the young Captains.
"Majuh!" said this young man, "what you doin' thah! That fellow's makin'
notes of all your slack; keep your tongue! aftah awhile you'll tell the
nombah of the foces! Don't you s'pose he'll prent it all?"
The Major had, in fact, been telling me how many regiments the "old
Nawth State, suh," had furnished to the "suhvice," and I had the names
of some thirty colonels, in order. The young Captain gave me a sketch of
General Branch, and was anxious that I should publish something in
extenuation of North Carolina valor.
"We have lost mo' men," said he, "than any otha' Commonwealth; but these
Vuhginians, whose soil, by----! suh, we defend suh! Yes, suh! whose soil
we defend; these Vuhginians, stigmatize us as cowads! _We_, suh! yes
suh, _we_, that nevah wanted to leave the Union,--_we cowads_! Look at
ou' blood, suh, ou' blood! That's it, by----! look at that! shed on
every field of the ole Dominion,--killed, muhdud, captued, crippled! We
_cowads_! I want you prent that!"
I was able to give each of the officers a drop of whiskey from my flask,
and I never saw men drink so thirstily. Their hands and lips trembled as
they took it, and their eyes shone like lunacy, as the hot drops sank to
the cold vitals, and pricked the frozen blood. Mingling with the
privates, I stirred up some native specimens of patriotism, that
appeared to be in great doubt as to the causes and ends of the war. They
were very much in the political condition of a short, thick, sententious
man, in blue drilling breeches, who said--
"Damn the country! What's to be done with _us_?"
One person said that he enlisted for the honor of his family, that "fit
in the American Revolution;" and another came out to "hev a squint et
the fightin'." Several were northern and foreign lads, that were working
on Carolina railroads, and could not leave the section, and some labored
under the impression that they were to have a "slice" of land and a
"nigger," in the event of Southern independence. A few comprehended the
spirit of the contest, and took up arms from principle; a few, also,
declared their enmity to "Yankee institutions," and had seized the
occasion to "polish them off," and "give them a ropein' in;" but many
said it was "dull in our deestreeks, an' the niggers was runnin' away,
so I thought I'ud jine the foces." The great mass said, that they never
contemplated "this box," or "this fix," or "these suckemstances," and
all wanted the war to close, that they might return to their families.
Indeed, my romantic ideas of rebellion were ruthlessly profaned and
dissipated. I knew that there was much selfishness, peculation, and
"Hessianism" in the Federal lines, but I had imagined a lofty
patriotism, a dignified purpose, and an inflexible love of personal
liberty among the Confederates. Yet here were men who knew little of
the principles for which they staked their lives;--who enlisted from the
commonest motives of convenience, whim, pelf, adventure, and foray; and
who repented, after their first misfortune, with the salt rheum in their
eyes. I think that all "great uprisings" resolve to this complexion.
With due reverence for my own ancestry, I think that they sometimes
stooped from greatness to littleness. I must confess that certain
admissions in my revolutionary textbook are much clearer, now that I
have followed a campaign. And if, as I had proposed, I could have
witnessed the further fortunes of the illustrious Garibaldi, I think
that some of his compatriots would have been found equally inconsistent.
Let no man believe that the noblest cause is fought out alone by the
unerring motives of duty and devotion. The masses are never so constant.
They cannot appreciate an abstraction, however divine. Any of the
gentlemen in question would have preferred their biscuit and fat pork
before the political enfranchisement of the whole world!
I rode across the fields to the Hogan, Curtis, and Gaines mansions; for
some of the wounded had meantime been deposited in each of them. All the
cow-houses, wagon-sheds, hay-barracks, hen-coops, negro cabins, and
barns were turned into hospitals. The floors were littered with
"corn-shucks" and fodder; and the maimed, gashed, and dying lay
confusedly together. A few, slightly wounded, stood at windows, relating
incidents of the battle; but at the doors sentries stood with crossed
muskets, to keep out idlers and gossips. The mention of my vocation was
an "open sesame," and I went unrestrained, into all the largest
hospitals. In the first of these an amputation was being performed, and
at the door lay a little heap of human fingers, feet, legs, and arms. I
shall not soon forget the bare-armed surgeons, with bloody instruments,
that leaned over the rigid and insensible figure, while the comrades of
the subject looked horrifiedly at the scene. The grating of the
murderous saw drove me into the open air, but in the second hospital
which I visited, a wounded man had just expired, and I encountered his
body at the threshold. Within, the sickening smell of mortality was
almost insupportable, but by degrees I became accustomed to it. The
lanterns hanging around the room streamed fitfully upon the red eyes,
and half-naked figures. All were looking up, and saying, in pleading
monotone: "Is that you, doctor?" Men with their arms in slings went
restlessly up and down, smarting with fever. Those who were wounded in
the lower extremities, body, or head, lay upon their backs, tossing even
in sleep. They listened peevishly to the wind whistling through the
chinks of the barn. They followed one with their rolling eyes. They
turned away from the lantern, for it seemed to sear them. Soldiers sat
by the severely wounded, laving their sores with water. In many wounds
the balls still remained, and the discolored flesh was swollen
unnaturally. There were some who had been shot in the bowels, and now
and then they were frightfully convulsed, breaking into shrieks and
shouts. Some of them iterated a single word, as, "doctor," or "help," or
"God," or "oh!" commencing with a loud spasmodic cry, and continuing the
same word till it died away in cadence. The act of calling seemed to
lull the pain. Many were unconscious and lethargic, moving their fingers
and lips mechanically, but never more to open their eyes upon the light;
they were already going through the valley and the shadow. I think,
still, with a shudder, of the faces of those who were told mercifully
that they could not live. The unutterable agony; the plea for somebody
on whom to call; the longing eyes that poured out prayers; the looking
on mortal as if its resources were infinite; the fearful looking to the
immortal as if it were so far off, so implacable, that the dying appeal
would be in vain; the open lips, through which one could almost look at
the quaking heart below; the ghastliness of brow and tangled hair; the
closing pangs; the awful _quietus_. I thought of Parrhasius, in the
poem, as I looked at these things:--
"Gods!
Could I but paint a dying groan----."
And how the keen eye of West would have turned from the reeking cockpit
of the _Victory_, or the tomb of the Dead Man Restored, to this old
barn, peopled with horrors. I rambled in and out, learning to look at
death, studying the manifestations of pain,--quivering and sickening at
times, but plying my avocation, and jotting the names for my column of
mortalities.
At eleven o'clock there was music along the high-road, and a general
rushing from camps. The victorious regiments were returning from
Hanover, under escort, and all the bands were pealing national airs. As
they turned down the fields towards their old encampments, the several
brigades stood under arms to welcome them, and the cheers were many and
vigorous. But the solemn ambulances still followed after, and the red
flag of the hospitals flaunted bloodily in the blue midnight.
Both the prisoners and the wounded were removed between midnight and
morning to White House, and as I had despatches to forward by the
mail-boat, I rode down in an ambulance, that contained six wounded men
besides. The wounded were to be consigned to hospital boats, and
forwarded to hospitals in northern cities, and the prisoners were to be
placed in a transport, under guard, and conveyed to Fort Delaware, near
Philadelphia.
Ambulances, it may be said, incidentally, are either two-wheeled or
four-wheeled. Two-wheeled ambulances are commonly called "hop, step, and
jumps." They are so constructed that the forepart is either very high or
very low, and may be both at intervals. The wounded occupants may be
compelled to ride for hours in these carriages, with their heels
elevated above their heads, and may finally be shaken out, or have their
bones broken by the terrible jolting. The four-wheeled ambulances are
built in shelves, or compartments, but the wounded are in danger of
being smothered in them. It was in one of these latter that I rode,
sitting with the driver. We had four horses, but were thrice "swamped"
on the road, and had to take out the wounded men once, till we could
start the wheels. Two of these men were wounded in the face, one of them
having his nose completely severed, and the other having a fragment of
his jaw knocked out. A third had received a ball among the thews and
muscles behind his knee, and his whole body appeared to be paralyzed.
Two were wounded in the shoulders, and the sixth was shot in the breast,
and was believed to be injured inwardly, as he spat blood, and suffered
almost the pain of death. The ride with these men, over twenty miles of
hilly, woody country, was like one of Dante's excursions into the
Shades. In the awful stillness of the dark pines, their screams
frightened the hooting owls, and the whirring insects in the leaves and
tree-tops quieted their songs. They heard the gurgle of the rills, and
called aloud for water to quench their insatiate thirst. One of them
sang a shrill, fierce, fiendish ballad, in an interval of relief, but
plunged, at a sudden relapse, in prayers and curses. We heard them
groaning to themselves, as we sat in front, and one man, it seemed, was
quite out of his mind. These were the outward manifestations; but what
chords trembled and smarted within, we could only guess. What regrets
for good resolves unfulfilled, and remorse for years misspent, made
hideous these sore and panting hearts? The moonlight pierced through the
thick foliage of the wood, and streamed into our faces, like invitations
to a better life. But the crippled and bleeding could not see or feel
it,--buried in the shelves of the ambulance.