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FOUR YEARS IN REBEL CAPITALS:
_AN INSIDE VIEW OF
LIFE IN THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY,
FROM BIRTH TO DEATH_
FROM ORIGINAL NOTES, COLLATED IN THE YEARS 1861 TO 1865,
BY T. C. DELEON,
AUTHOR OF "CREOLE AND PURITAN," "CROSS PURPOSES," "JUNY," ETC.
"In the land where we were dreaming!"
--_D. B. Lucas._
"I leave it to men's charitable speeches, to foreign, nations and
to the next ages."
--_Francis Bacon._
MOBILE, ALA.
THE GOSSIP PRINTING COMPANY.
1890.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1890,
By THE GOSSIP PRINTING COMPANY,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TO MY VALUED FRIEND,
MRS. AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON,
AS ONE LITTLE TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF A LIFE-WORK
DEDICATE TO HER SEX, TO HER SECTION
AND TO TRUTH,
THESE SKETCHES
OF LIFE BEHIND OUR CHINESE WALL
ARE INSCRIBED.
Transcriber's Note: The advertisement with press comments for the
author's book _Juny: or Only One Girl's Story_ has been moved to
the end of this text.
IN PLACE OF PREFACE.
Fortunate, indeed, is the reader who takes up a volume without preface;
of which the persons are left to enact their own drama and the author
does not come before the curtain, like the chorus of Greek tragedy, to
speak for them.
But, in printing the pages that follow, it may seem needful to ask that
they be taken for what they are; simple sketches of the inner life of
"Rebeldom"--behind its Chinese wall of wood and steel--during those
unexampled four years of its existence.
Written almost immediately after the war, from notes and recollections
gathered during its most trying scenes, these papers are now revised,
condensed and formulated for the first time. In years past, some of
their crude predecessors have appeared--as random articles--in the
columns of the Mobile _Sunday Times_, Appleton's _Journal_, the
Louisville _Courier-Journal_, the Philadelphia _Times_ and other
publications.
Even in their present condensation and revision, they claim only to be
simple memoranda of the result of great events; and of their reaction
upon the mental and moral tone of the southern people, rather than a
record of those events themselves.
This volume aspires neither to the height of history, nor to the depths
of political analysis; for it may still be too early for either, or for
both, of these. Equally has it resisted temptation to touch on many
topics--not strictly belonging inside the Southern Capitals--still
vexed by political agitation, or personal interest. These, if unsettled
by dire arbitrament of the sword, must be left to Time and his best
coadjutor, "sober second-thought."
Campaigns and battles have already surfeited most readers; and their
details--usually so incorrectly stated by the inexpert--have little to
do with a relation of things within the Confederacy, as they then
appeared to the masses of her people. Such, therefore, are simply
touched upon in outline, where necessary to show their reaction upon
the popular pulse, or to correct some flagrant error regarding that.
To the vast majority of those without her boundaries--to very many,
indeed, within them--realities of the South, during the war, were a
sealed book. False impressions, on many important points, were
disseminated; and these, because unnoted, have grown to proportions of
accepted truth. A few of them, it may not yet be too late to correct.
While the pages that follow fail not to record some weaknesses in our
people, or some flagrant errors of their leaders, they yet endeavor to
chronicle faithfully heroic constancy of men, and selfless devotion of
women, whose peers the student of History may challenge that vaunting
Muse to show.
To prejudiced provincialism, on the one side, they may appear too
lukewarm; by stupid fanaticism on the other, they may be called
treasonable. But--written without prejudice, and equally without fear,
or favor--they have aimed only at impartial truth, and at nearest
possible correctness of narration.
Indubitably the war proved that there were great men, on both the sides
to it; and, to-day, the little men on either--"May profit by their
example. If _this_ be treason, make the most of it!"
The sole object kept in view was to paint honestly the inner life of
the South; the general tone of her people, under strain and privation
unparalleled; the gradual changes of society and character in the
struggling nation--in a clear, unshaded outline of _things as they
were_.
Should this volume at all succeed in giving this; should it uproot one
false impression, to plant a single true one in its place, then has it
fully equaled the aspiration of
THE AUTHOR.
MOBILE, ALA., June 25, 1890.
_TABLE OF CONTENTS._
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.--The Forehead of the Storm 11-20
Washington City in 1861. Her two Social Circles. Was she a new Sodom?
Lobbyists and Diplomats. Eve of the Storm. Echo from Charleston Harbor.
A Dinner and a Ball. Popular Views of the Situation. Buchanan's Policy
and the "Peace Congress". Separation a Certainty. Preparations for the
Hejira. Precautions for Lincoln's Inauguration. Off for Dixie.
CHAPTER II.--The Cradle of the Confederacy 21-29
Through Richmond, the Carolinas and Georgia. Wayside Notes. The Masses
Willing but Unprepared. Where were the Leaders? The First Capital. A
New Flag. Hotels and their Patrons. Jefferson Davis. The Man and the
Government. Social Matters. The Curbstone Congress. Early Views of the
Struggle. A Notable "Mess."
CHAPTER III.--Congress and Cabinet 30-35
Bloodless Revolution. Glances at the Congress. Its Personnel and its
Work. Party Hacks in Place. Wind vs. Work. What People said of the
Solons. The New Cabinet. Heads of Departments Sketched. The President's
Advisers. Popular Opinion. The First Gun at Sumter.
CHAPTER IV.--"The Awakening of the Lion ." 36-41
Sumter's Effect on Public Feeling. Would There be a Long War--or any?
Organizing an Army. The Will of the People. How Women Worked. The Camps
a Novel Show. Mr. Davis handles Congress. His Energy and Industry.
Society and the Strangers. Joy over Virginia's Secession.
CHAPTER V.--A Southern River Boat Race 42-48
An Alabama Steamer. General Van Dorn. What River Travel is. A Calliope
and its Master. Banter for a Race. Excitement of all on Board. A Close
Shave. Neck and Neck. How a Race is Won. A Unique Toast.
CHAPTER VI.--Boat Life Afloat and Aground 49-53
Time-killers on the River. Negro Boat-hands. Cotton Loading from
Slides. Overboard! "Fighting the Tiger". Hard Aground! Delay and
Depression. Admiral Raphael Semmes. News of the Baltimore Riot.
Speculation as to its Results.
CHAPTER VII.--Mobile, the Gulf City 54-58
Echo from Maryland. Alabama's Preparation. Mobile's Crack Corps. John
Forsyth on the Peace Commissioners. Mobile Society. Pleasure-lovers and
Their Pleasures. A Victim of the Tiger. Two Moral Axioms.
CHAPTER VIII--New Orleans, the Crescent City 59-68
Location and Commercial Importance. Old Methods of Business. Relations
of Planter and Factor. A typical Brokerage House. Secure Reliance on
European Recognition and the Kingship of Cotton. Yellow Jack and his
Treatment. French Town and America. Hotels of the day. Home Society and
"The Heathen". Social Customs. Creole Women's Taste. Cuffee and Cant.
Early Regiments and Crack Companies. Judges of Wine. A Champion Diner.
CHAPTER IX.--A Change of Base 69-74
The Pensacola Army. Review by President Davis. Orders for Virginia.
Breaking Camp on the Gulf. The Start of the Zouaves. They Capture a
Train and a City. Pursuit and Recapture. The Riot and its Lesson. Early
Ideas of Discipline.
CHAPTER X.--En Route for the Border 75-83
Decision to Move the Capital. Lax Precautions. The New York "Tribune"
Dispatch. Montgomery Murmurs. Troops _en route_, and their Feelings.
The Government on Wheels. Kingsville Misnomer. Profanity and Diplomacy.
Grimes' Brother-in-law. With the C.S. Mail-bags.
CHAPTER XI.--On to Richmond 84-92
A Typical Southron. Sentiment in the Ranks. Glimpse of the new
Capital. The Inflowing Caravans. Hotels and Boarding-houses. City
and Surroundings. A Southern Poet. A Warning in Statuary. Hollywood
Cemetery. The Tredegar Works. Their Importance in the War. 'T'other
Consarn!
CHAPTER XII.--Settling to the Real Work 93-101
Regulars of the States. Virginia Sentiment. Unanimity of Purpose. Lee
and Johnston. Esprit de Corps. Centering on Virginia. Varied Types of
Different States. The Marylanders at the South. Mixed Equipments and
"Properties". Doubtful Points. Norfolk to Manassas. Where the Battle
Ground would be. Missouri's First Move.
CHAPTER XIII.--The Leaders and the Led 102-110
General Lee comes to the Front. Mr. Davis' Labors and Responsibilities.
His Personal Popularity. Social Feeling at the new Capital. "Pawnee
Sunday" Panic. Richmond Society. An After-dinner Object Lesson. How
Good Blood did not Lie. Western Virginia. Society's Pets go to the
Front. "The Brave at Home."
CHAPTER XIV.--The Baptism of Blood 111-121
The First War Bulletin. How Richmond received It. Practical Result of
Bethel. Earnest Work in Government Bureaux. Thunder from a Clear Sky.
Shadows follow Rich Mountain. _Carthago delenda!_ Popular Comparison
of Fighting Qualities. The "On-to-Richmond!" Clangor. The Southern
Pulse. "Beware of Johnston's Retreats!" Bull Run. The Day before
Manassas. Waiting!
CHAPTER XV.--After Manassas 122-128
How Rumors came. Jubilation and Revulsion. Anxiety for News. The
Decisive Charge. An Austrian View. The President's Return. His Speech
to the People. The First Train of Wounded. Sorrow and Consolation. How
Women Worked. Material and Moral Results of Manassas. Spoils and
Overconfidence. Singular Errors in Public Mind. General Belief in
Advance. The Siesta and its Dreams.
CHAPTER XVI.--The Spawn of Lethargy 129-138
Reaction of Sentiment. Conflicting Ideas about Inaction. Popular Wish
for Aggressive War. Sentiment settles to Fact. Mr. Davis' Attitude to
Johnston and Beauregard. After-battle Confusion. Strategic Reasons.
Inaction breeds grave Discontent. Effect on the Army. Sober Second
Thought. Government Use of the Lull. Bombast and Sense. A Glance North.
The Western Outlook. John B. Floyd.
CHAPTER XVII.--From Court to Camp 139-146
A Winter's Inaction and Effects. Comforts and Homesickness. Unseen Foes
and Their Victory. Care and Cleanliness. _Nostalgia._ Camp Morality.
Record of the "Cracks". In a Maryland Mess. Mud and Memories. Has
History a Parallel? Old Cavaliers and New.
CHAPTER XVIII.--Society at the Capital 147-157
Richmond Overflowing. Variety of Visitors. Gradual Growth of Gayety.
"Danceable Teas". Amateur Benefits. "Youth at the Helm". A Society
Woman's View. Social Theories and Practice. Virginian Hospitality.
Quieter Sociability. The Presidential Household. Mr. and Mrs. Davis.
Formal Levees. Social Ethics. Dissipation. Disappointing Solons.
CHAPTER XIX.--Days of Depression 158-165
Reverses on All Lines. Zollicoffer's Death. Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of
War. Transportation Dangers. The Tennessee River Forts. Forrest, and
Morgan. Gloom follows Nashville's Fall. Government Blamed by People.
The Permanent Government. Mr. Davis' Typical Inaugural. Its Effect and
Its Sequence. Cabinet Changes.
CHAPTER XX.--From Shiloh to New Orleans 166-173
Sunshine and Shadow. Clouds gather in the West. Island No. 10. Shiloh.
Illustrative Valor. Deep Depression. Was Johnston hounded to His Death?
Fall of New Orleans. Odd Situation of Her Captors. Butler in Command.
His Place in Southern Opinion. Strategic Results. Popular Discontent.
Effect on the Fighters. Butler and the Women. Louisiana Soldiers.
CHAPTER XXI.--The Conscription and Its Consequences 174-188
The "More Men!" cry. Passage of the Act. State Troops Turned Over.
Appointment of Generals. Longings for Home. Exemptions and "Details".
The Substitute Law. Mr. Davis' Wisdom Vindicated. Governor Joe Brown
kicks. State Traits of the Conscripts. Kentucky's Attitude. Tennessee's
"Buffaloes". The "Union Feeling" Fallacy. Conscript Camps. Morals of
the "New Ish". Food and Money Scarcer. Constancy of the Soldiers. The
Extension Law. Repeal of the Substitute Act. Home-Guards. "The Cradle
and the Grave."
CHAPTER XXII.--Waiting the Ordeal by Combat 189-197
The North Prepares a New "On to Richmond.". Joe Johnston's Strategy.
From Manassas to Richmond. Magruder's Lively Tactics. The Defenders
Come. Scenes of the March Through. A Young Veteran. Public Feeling.
Williamsburg's Echo. The Army of Specters. Ready! Drewry's Bluff. The
Geese Fly South. Stern Resolve!
CHAPTER XXIII.--Around Richmond 198-206
Seven Pines. War at the Very Gates. Harrowing Scenes. Woman's Heroism.
Crowded Hospitals. A Lull. Jackson's Meteor Campaign. Ashby Dead! The
Week of Blood. Southern Estimate of McClellan. What "Might Have Been".
Richmond Under Ordeal. "The Battle Rainbow". Sad Sequelae. Real Sisters
of Mercy. Beautiful Self-sacrifice.
CHAPTER XXIV.--Echoes of Seven Days, North and South 207-214
Confederates Hopeful, but Not Overconfident. The Cost to the North.
McClellan Sacrificed. General Pope and His Methods. He "Finds" Jackson
at Cedar Mountain. A Glance Trans-Allegheny. Well-Conceived Federal
Programme. General Bragg's Unpopularity. To the Ohio and Back. Would-be
Critics. Flashes illumine the Clouds. Kentucky Misrepresented.
CHAPTER XXV.--The War in the West 215-222
A Gloomy Outlook. Lone Jack. "The Butcher, McNeil". Corinth and
Murfreesboro. Their Bloody Cost. The Cry Wrung from the People. Mr.
Davis stands Firm. Johnston relieves Bragg. The Emancipation
Proclamation. Magruder's Galveston Amphiboid. The Atlantic Seaboard.
Popular Estimate of the Status. Hope for the New Year.
CHAPTER XXVI.--The Failure of Finance 223-229
Was Cotton really King? How it Might have been Made So. Government's
Policy. Comparison with Northern Finance. Why the South believed in her
Advantage. How the North buoyed up her Credit. Contractors and
Bondholders. Feeling at the South on the Money Question. Supply and
Demand for Paper. Distrust creeps In. Rapid Depreciation.
CHAPTER XXVII.--Dollars, Cents and Less 230-240
Results of Inflation. Comparative Cost of Living North and South. How
Army and Officials were Paid. Suffering enhances Distrust. Barter
Currency. Speculation's Vultures. The Auction Craze. Hoarding Supplies.
Gambling. Richmond Faro-banks. Men met There. Death of Confederate
Credit. The President and Secretary held to Account. Nothing but
Mismanagement.
CHAPTER XXVIII--Across the Potomac and Back 241-250
Precedents of the First Maryland Campaign. Jackson strikes Pope. Second
Manassas. Why was Victory not Pushed? The People demand Aggressive
Warfare. Over the River. Harper's Ferry falls. Elation at the South.
Rosy Prophecies. Sharpsburg. The River Recrossed. Gloom in Richmond.
Fredericksburg and its Effect on the People. Why on Pursuit? Hooker
replaces Burnside. Death of Stonewall Jackson.
CHAPTER XXIX.--Over Again to Gettysburg 251-258
Popular Grief for Jackson. Again to the River. Winchester and her
Women. The People Rejoice at the Advance. Public Belief in its Result.
Washington to Fall; the War to End. The Prelude to Disaster. Second Day
at Gettysburg. Pickett's Wonderful Charge. Some one has Blundered? How
the Story came South. Revulsion and Discontent. Lee not Blamed.
Strictures on Non-retaliation. The Marylanders.
CHAPTER XXX.--The Confederacy Afloat 259-271
Who the Southern Sailors were. Regular and Provisional Navy-bills.
Popular Estimate of Mr. Mallory. Iron-clads vs. Cruisers. The Parole
of "Pirate Semmes". What Iron-clads might have done. Treasury and
Navy. The "Merrimac". Virginia Fight in Hampton Roads. The White-flag
Violation. Those wonderful Wooden Shells. Other flashing Achievements.
Comparison of the two Navies. Doubtful Torpedo Results. Summing up the
Hue-and-Cry. Nashville and New Orleans. The Tatnall-"Virginia"
Court-martial. Who did More than They?
CHAPTER XXXI.--The Chinese Wall Blockade, Abroad and at Home 272-287
Foundation Errors. Lost Opportunity. The Treaty of Paris View. First
Southern Commissioners. Doubts. The Mason-Slidell Incident. Mr.
Benjamin's Foreign Policy. DeLeon's Captured Despatches. Murmurs
Loud and Deep. England's Attitude. Other Great Powers. Mr. Davis'
View. "If". Interest of the Powers. The Optimist View. Production
and Speculation. Blockade Companies. Sumptuary Laws. Growth of Evil
Power. Charleston and Savannah. Running the Fleet at Wilmington.
Demoralization and Disgust. The Mississippi Closed. Vicksburg.
"Running the Bloc." on the Border. The Spy System. Female Agents.
CHAPTER XXXII.--Press, Literature and Art 288-301
Newspapers North and South. Ability Differently Used. Reasons Therefor.
Criticism of Affairs; its Effect. Magazines and their Clientele. Prose
Writers ante bellum. Rebel War Rhymes. Origin and Characteristics. The
Northern "National Hymn". Famous Poets and Their Work. Dirge Poetry and
Prison Songs. Father Ryan and the Catholic Church. "Furled Forever!"
Musical Taste. How Songs were Utilized. Military Bands. Painters and
Paintings. No Southern Art. A Few Noted Pictures.
CHAPTER XXXIII.--Wit and Humor of the War 302-315
Strange Laughter. The Confederate "Mother Goose". Travesty and Satire.
The "Charles Lamb" of Richmond. Camp Wit. Novel Marriage. A
"Skirmisher". Prison Humor. Even in Vicksburg! Sad Bill-of-Fare.
Northern Misconception. Richmond Society Wit. The "Mosaic Club" and
its Components. Innes Randolph's Forfeit. The Colonel's Breakfast
Horror. Post-surrender Humor. Even the Emancipated.
CHAPTER XXXIV.--The Beginning of the End 316-326
Gradual Weakening of the South. The Wearing-out Process. Sequelae of
Vicksburg and Gettysburg. Congress _vs._ President. Mr. Foote and
his Following. Drain of Men and Material. Home Guards. The "Speculator
Squad". Dire Straits in Camp and Home. Carpet Blankets. Raids and their
Results. Breaking down of Cavalry Mounts. Echoes of Morgan's Ohio Dash.
His Bold Escape. Cumberland Gap. A Glance at Chickamauga. "The Might
Have Been" Once More. Popular Discontent. General Grant Judged by his
Compeers. Longstreet at Knoxville. Missionary Ridge. President's Views
and People's. Again the Virginia Lines. Skirmish Depletion. Desertions.
"Kir-by-Smithdom."
CHAPTER XXXV.--The Upper and Nether Millstones 327-335
"Crushing the Spine of Rebellion". Grant's Quadruple Plan. The Western
Giant. Why its Back Broke. _Delenda est Atlanta!_ Grant becomes
the Upper Millstone. Men and Means Unstinted. Dahlgren's Raid. The
South's Feeling. The Three Union Corps. War in the Wilderness. Rumors
North and South. Spottsylvania. Still to the Left! Cold Harbor Again.
The "Open Door" Closed. Glance at Grant's Campaign. Cost of Reaching
McClellan's Base. Sledge-Hammer Strategy. Solemn Joy in Richmond.
CHAPTER XXXVI.--"The Land of Darkness and the
Shadow of Death" 336-346
Comparison of Numbers. The Ratio of Loss. The Process of Attrition.
Stuart's Last Fight. The River Approaches. Beauregard "bottles" Butler.
Grant sits down Before Petersburg. "Swapping with Boot". Feeling of the
Southern People. The Lines in Georgia. Military Chess. Different
Methods of Sherman and Grant. Southern View. Public Confidence in
Johnston. Hood relieves Him. How Received by the People. The Army
Divided. "The Back Door" Opened at Last! Mr. Davis visits Hood's Army.
The Truce and the Chances. On the Rack.
CHAPTER XXXVII.--Dies Irae--Dies Illa! 347-359
The Lull at Petersburg. Strain on Army and People. North and South
Waiting. Fears for Richmond. After Atlanta. Peace Propositions. Mr.
Davis' Attitude. Mr. Stephens' Failure at Fortress Monroe. Hood's Fatal
Move. Results of Franklin. Strange Gayeties in Richmond. From the Dance
to the Grave. "Starvations" and Theatricals. Evacuation Rumors. Only
Richmond Left. Joe Johnston Reinstated. Near Desperation. Grant
Strikes. The News in Church. Evacuation Scenes. The Mob and the Stores.
Firing Warehouses. The Last Reb Leaves. Fearful Farewells. Dead!
CHAPTER XXXVIII.--After the Death-Blow was Dealt 360-372
The Form of Surrender. Federals march In. Richmond in Flames.
Blue-Coats fight the Fire. Sad Scenes. Automatic Shelling. Discipline
Wins. At the Provost-Marshal's. A City of the Dead. Starvation plus
Suspense. The Tin-Can Brigade. Drawing Rations. Rumors and Reality.
The First Gray Jacket returns. General Lee re-enters Richmond. Woman,
the Comforter. Lincoln's Assassination. Resulting Rigors. Baits for
Sociability. How Ladies acted. Lectures by Old Friends. The Emigration
Mania. Fortunate Collapse of Agreement. The Negro's Status. To Work, or
Starve. Woman's Aid. Dropping the Curtain.
FOUR YEARS IN REBEL CAPITALS.
CHAPTER I.
THE FOREHEAD OF THE STORM.
The cloud no bigger than a man's hand had risen.
It became visible to all in Washington over the southern horizon. All
around to East and West was but the dull, dingy line of the storm that
was soon to burst in wild fury over that section, leaving only seared
desolation in its wake. Already the timid and wary began to take in
sail and think of a port; while the most reckless looked from the
horizon to each other's faces, with restless and uneasy glances.
In the days of 1860, as everybody knows, the society of Washington city
was composed of two distinct circles, tangent at no one point. The
larger, outer circle whirled around with crash and fury several months
in each year; then, spinning out its centrifugal force, flew into
minute fragments and scattered to extreme ends of the land. The smaller
one--the inner circle--revolved sedately in its accustomed grooves,
moving no whit faster for the buzz of the monster that surrounded and
half hid it for so long; and when that spun itself to pieces moved on
as undisturbed as Werther's Charlotte.
The outer circle drew with it all the outside population, all the
"dwellers in tents," from the busiest lobbyman to the laziest
looker-on. All the "hotel people"--those caravans that yearly poured
unceasing into the not too comfortable _caravanserai_ down
town--stretched eager hands toward this circle; for, to them, it meant
Washington. Having clutched an insecure grasp upon its rim, away they
went with a fizz and a spin, dizzy and delighted--devil take the
hindmost! Therein did the thousand lobbyists, who yearly came to roll
logs, pull wires and juggle through bills, find their congenial prey.
Who shall rise up and write the secret history of that wonderful
committee and of the ways and means it used to prey impartially upon
government and client? Who shall record the "deeds without a name,"
hatched out of eggs from the midnight terrapin; the strange secrets
drawn out by the post-prandial corkscrew? Who shall justly calculate
the influence the lobby and its workings had in hastening that
inevitable, the war between the states?
Into this outer circle whirled that smaller element which came to the
Capital to spend money--not to make it. Diamonds flash, point lace
flounces flaunt! Who will stop that mighty whirligig to inspect whether
the champagne is real, or the turtle is prime?
_Allons! le jeu est fait!_
Camp-followers and hangers-on of Congress, many of its members from the
West, claim agents from Kansas, husbandless married women from
California and subterranean politicians from everywhere herein found
elements as congenial as profitable. All stirred into the great _olla
podrida_ and helped to "Make the hell broth boil and bubble."
The inner circle was the real society of Washington. Half submerged for
half of each year by accumulating streams of strangers, it ever rose
the same--fresh and unstained by deposit from the baser flood. Therein,
beyond doubt, one found the most cultured coteries, the courtliest
polish and the simplest elegance that the drawing-rooms of this
continent could boast. The bench and the bar of the highest court lent
their loftiest intellects and keenest wits. Careful selections were
there from Congress of those who held senates on their lips and kept
together the machinery of an expanding nation; and those "rising men,"
soon to replace, or to struggle with them, across the narrow Potomac
near by. To this society, too, the foreign legations furnished a strong
element. Bred in courts, familiar with the theories of all the world,
these men must prove valuable and agreeable addition to any society
into which they are thrown.
It is rather the fashion just now to inveigh against foreigners in
society, to lay at their door many of the peccadilloes that have crept
into our city life; but the diplomats are, with rare exceptions, men of
birth, education and of proved ability in their own homes. Their ethics
may be less strict than those which obtain about Plymouth Rock, but
experience with them will prove that, however loose their own code,
they carefully conform to the custom of others; that if they have any
scars across their morals, they have also the tact and good taste to
keep them decorously draped from sight.
In the inner circle of Washington were those officers of the army and
navy, selected for ability or service--or possibly "by grace of
cousinship"--to hold posts near the government; and, with full
allowance for favoritism, some of these were men of culture, travel and
attainment--most of them were gentlemen. And the nucleus, as well as
the amalgam of all these elements, was the resident families of old
Washingtonians. These had lived there so long as to be able to winnow
the chaff and throw the refuse off.
There has ever been much talk about the corruption of Washington, easy
hints about Sodom, with a general sweep at the depravity of its social
system. But it is plain these facile fault-finders knew no more of its
inner circle--and for its resident society only is any city
responsible--than they did of the court of the Grand Turk. Such critics
had come to Washington, had made their "dicker," danced at the hotel
hops, and been jostled on the Avenue. If they essayed an entrance into
the charmed circle, they failed.
Year after year, even the Titans of the lobby assailed the gates of
that heaven refused them; and year after year they fell back, baffled
and grommelling, into the pit of that outer circle whence they came.
Yet every year, especially in the autumn and spring, behind that
Chinese wall was a round of entertainments less costly than the crushes
of the critic circle, but stamped with quiet elegance aped in vain by
the non-elect. And when the whirl whirled out at last, with the departing
Congress; when the howling crowd had danced its mad _carmagnole_ and
its vulgar echoes had died into distance, then Washington society was
itself again. Then the sociality of intercourse--that peculiar charm
which made it so unique--became once more free and unrestrained.
Passing from the reek of a hotel ball, or the stewing soiree of a
Cabinet secretary into the quiet _salon_ of a West End home, the
very atmosphere was different, and comparison came of itself with that
old _Quartier Saint Germain_, which kept undefiled from the pitch
that smirched its Paris, through all the hideous dramas of the
_bonnet rouge_.
The influence of political place in this country has long spawned a
social degradation. Where the gift is in the hands of a fixed power,
its seeking is lowering enough; but when it is besought from the
enlightened voter himself, "the scurvy politician" becomes a reality
painfully frequent. Soliciting the ballot over a glass of green corn
juice in the back room of a country grocery, or flattering the _cara
sposa_ of the farmhouse, with squalling brat upon his knee, is
scarcely calculated to make the best of men more of "an ornament to
society." Constant contact with sharpers and constant effort to be
sharper than they is equally as apt to blunt his sense of delicacy as
it is to unfit one for higher responsibilities of official station. So
it was not unnatural that that society of Washington, based wholly on
politics, was not found wholly clean. But under the seething
surface--first visible to the casual glance--was a substratum as pure
as it was solid and unyielding.
Habitues of twenty years remarked that, with all the giddy whirl of
previous winters in the outer circle, none had approached in mad
rapidity that of 1860-61. The rush of aimless visiting, matinees and
dinners, balls and suppers, followed each other without cessation;
dress and diamonds, equipage and cards, all cost more than ever before.
This might be the last of it, said an uneasy sense of the coming storm;
and in the precedent sultriness, the thousands who had come to make
money vied with the tens who came to spend it in mad distribution of
the proceeds. Madame, who had made an immense investment of somebody's
capital in diamonds and lace, must let the world see them. Mademoiselle
must make a certain exhibit of shapely shoulders and of telling stride
in the German; and time was shortening fast. And Knower, of the Third
House, had put all the proceeds of engineering that last bill through,
into gorgeous plate. It would never do to waste it, for Knower meant
business; and this might be the end of the thing.
So the stream rushed on, catching the weak and timid ones upon its
brink and plunging them into the whirling vortex. And still the rusty
old wheels revolved, as creakily as ever, at the Capital. Blobb, of
Oregon, made machine speeches to the sleepy House, but neither he, nor
they, noted the darkening atmosphere without. Senator Jenks took his
half-hourly "nip" with laudable punctuality, thereafter rising eloquent
to call Mr. President's attention to that little bill; and all the
while that huge engine, the lobby, steadily pumped away in the
political basement, sending streams of hot corruption into every artery
of the government.
Suddenly a sullen reverberation echoes over the Potomac from the South.
The long-threatened deed is done at last. South Carolina has seceded,
and the first link is rudely stricken from the chain.
There is a little start; that is all. The Third House stays for a
second its gold spoon; and, perhaps, a trifle of the turtle spills
before reaching its mouth. Madame rearranges her parure and smoothes
her ruffled lace; while Mademoiselle pouts a little, then studies her
card for the next waltzer. Senator Jenks takes his "nip" just a trifle
more regularly; and Blobb, of Oregon, draws a longer breath before his
next period. As for the lobby-pump, its piston grows red-hot and its
valves fly wide open, with the work it does; while thicker and more
foul are the streams it sends abroad.
For awhile there is some little talk around Willard's about the
"secesh;" and the old soldiers wear grave faces as they pass to and fro
between the War Department and General Scott's headquarters. But to the
outer circle, it is only a nine-day wonder; while the dancing and
dining army men soon make light of the matter.
But the stone the surface closes smoothly over at the center makes
large ripples at the edges. Faces that were long before now begin to
lengthen; and thoughtful men wag solemn heads as they pass, or pause to
take each other by the buttonhole. More frequent knots discuss the
status in hotel lobbies and even in the passages of the departments;
careful non-partisans keep their lips tightly closed, and hot talk,
_pro_ or _con_, begins to grow more popular.
One day I find, per card, that the Patagonian Ambassador dines me at
seven. As it is not a state dinner I go, to find it even more stupid.
At dessert the reserve wears off and all soon get deep in the "Star of
the West" episode.
"Looks mighty bad now, sir. Something must be done, sir, and soon,
too," says Diggs, a hard-working M.C. from the North-west. "But, as
yet, I don't see--what, exactly!"
"Will your government use force to supply Fort Sumter?" asks Count B.,
of the Sardinian legation.
"If so, it might surely drive out those states so doubtful now, that
they may not go to extremes," suggested the Prussian _charge ad
interim_.
"Why, they'll be whipped back by the army and navy within ninety days
from date," remarks a gentleman connected with pension brokerage.
"If part of the army and navy does not go to get whipped with them,"
growls an old major of the famed Aztec Club. And the scar across the
nose, that he brought away from the Belen Gate, grows very uncomfortably
purple.
"By Jove! I weally believes he means it! Weally!" whispers very young
Savile Rowe, of H.B.M. legation. "Let's get wid of these politics.
Dwop in at Knower's; soiwee, you know;" and Savile tucks his arm under
mine.
Two blocks away we try to lose uncomfortable ideas in an atmosphere of
spermaceti, hot broadcloth, jockey club and terrapin.
"Next quadwille, Miss Wose?"
"Oh, yes, Mr. Rowe; and--the third galop--let me see--the fifth waltz.
And oh! isn't it nasty of those people in South Carolina! Why _don't_
they behave themselves? Oh, dear! what a lovely color Karmeen Sorser
has to-night! _Au revoir_!" and Miss Rose Ruche glides off, _a deux
temps_, on the arm of the Turkish _charge_.
As I stroll through the rooms, there is much glaring light and there
are many nude necks. I am jostled by polking damsels and button-holed
by most approved bores. But, through the blare of the brass horns and
over the steaming terrapin, the one subject rises again and again,
refusing burial as persistently as Eugene Aram's old man.
"Try a glass of this punch," Knower chirps cheerily. "Devilish good
punch! Good glass, too. See the crest and the monogram blowed in. Put
Kansas Coal Contriver's Company proceeds into that glass. But things
_are_ looking blue, sir, devilish blue; and I don't see the way
out at all. Fact is, I'm getting pretty down in the mouth!" And the
lobbyist put a bumper of punch in the same position. "People may talk,
sir, but my head's as long as the next, and I don't see the way out.
Washington's dead, sir; dead as a hammer, if this secession goes on.
Why, what'll become of our business if they move the Capital? Kill us,
sir; kill us! Lots of southern members leaving already"--and Knower's
voice sunk to a whisper--"and would you believe it? I heard of nine
resignations from the army to-day. Gad, sir! had it from the best
authority. That means business, I'm afraid." And little by little the
conviction dawned on all classes that it did mean business--ugly, real
business. What had been only mutterings a few weeks back grew into
loud, defiant speech. Southern men, in and out of Congress, banded
under their leading spirits, boldly and emphatically declared what they
meant to do. Never had excitement around the Capitol run half so high.
Even the Kansas-Nebraska furore had failed to pack the Senate galleries
so full of men and women, struggling for seats and sitting sometimes
through the night. One after another the southern leaders made their
valedictories--some calm and dignified, some hot and vindictive--and
left the seats they had filled for years. One after another, known and
honored names were stricken from the army and navy lists, by resignation.
One after another, states met in convention and, by "ordinance of
secession," declared themselves independent of the Federal Government.
It was as though the train had been prepared and the action of South
Carolina was but the lighting of the fuse. Within six weeks from Mr.
Buchanan's New Year reception, six states had deliberately gone out of
the Union.
When it was too late, the sleepy administration opened its eyes. Not
liking the looks of things, it shut them again. When it was too late,
there were windy declarations and some feeble temporizing; but all
thinking men felt that the crisis had come and nothing could avert it.
The earthquake that had rumbled so long in premonitory throes suddenly
yawned in an ugly chasm, that swallowed up the petty differences of
each side. One throb and the little lines of party were roughly
obliterated; while across the gulf that gaped between them, men glared
at each other with but one meaning in their eyes.
That solemn mummery, the "Peace Congress," might temporarily have
turned the tide it was wholly powerless to dam; but the arch seceder,
Massachusetts, manipulated even that slight chance of compromise. The
weaker elements in convention were no match for the peaceful Puritan
whom war might profit, but could not injure. Peace was pelted from
under her olive with splinters of Plymouth Rock, and Massachusetts
members poured upon the troubled waters oil--of vitriol!
When the "Peace Commissioners" from the southern Congress at Montgomery
came to Washington, all felt their presence only a mockery. It was too
late! they came only to demand what the government could not then
concede, and every line they wrote was waste of ink, every word they
spoke waste of breath. Southern congressmen were leaving by every
train. Families of years residence were pulling down their household
gods and starting on a pilgrimage to set them up--where they knew not,
save it must be in the South. Old friends looked doubtfully at each
other, and wild rumors were rife of incursions over the Potomac by
wild-haired riders from Virginia. Even the fungi of the departmental
desks, seeming suddenly imbued with life, rose and threw away their
quills--and with them the very bread for their families--to go South.
It was the modern hegira!
A dull, vague unrest brooded over Washington, as though the city had
been shadowed with a vast pall, or threatened with a plague. Then when
it was again too late, General Scott--"the general," as the hero of
Lundy's Lane and Mexico was universally known--virtually went into the
Cabinet, practically filling the chair that Jefferson Davis had
vacated. Men felt that they must range themselves on one side, or the
other, for the South had spoken and meant what she said. There might be
war; there must be separation!
I was lounging slowly past the rampant bronze Jackson in Lafayette
Square when Styles Staple joined me.
"When do you start?" was his salutation.
"When do I start?" Staple's question was a sudden one.
"Yes, for the South? You're going of course; and the governor writes me
to be off at once. Better go together. Eh? Night boat, 4th of March."
Now the governor mentioned was not the presiding executive of a
southern state, but was Staple _pere_, of the heavy cotton firm of
Staple, Long & Middling, New Orleans. Staple _fils_ had been for
years a great social card in Washington. The clubs, the legations, the
avenues and the german knew him equally well; and though he talked
about "the house," his only visible transaction with it was to make
the name familiar to bill-brokers by frequent drafts. So I answered the
question by another:
"What are you going to do when you get there?"
"Stop at Montgomery, see the Congress, draw on 'the house,' and then t'
Orleans," he answered cheerfully. "Come with me. Lots to see; and, no
doubt, about plenty to do. If this sky holds, all men will be wanted.
As you're going the sooner the better. What do you say? Evening boat,
March 4th? Is it a go?"
It gave only two days for preparation to leave what had come nearer
being home that any other place in a nomadic life. But he was right. I
was going, and we settled the matter, and separated to wind up our
affairs and take _conge_.
The night before President Lincoln's inauguration was a restless and
trying one to every man in Washington. Nervous men heard signal for
bloody outbreak in every unfamiliar sound. Thoughtful ones peered
beyond the mist and saw the boiling of the mad breakers, where eight
millions of incensed and uncontrolled population hurled themselves
against the granite foundation of the established government. Selfish
heads tossed upon sleepless pillows, haunted by the thought that the
dawn would break upon a great change, boding ruin to their prospects,
monetary or political. Even the butterflies felt that there was a
something impending; incomprehensible, but uncomfortably suggestive of
work instead of pleasure. So Washington rose red-eyed and unrefreshed
on the 4th of March, 1861.
Elaborate preparations had been made to have the day's ceremonial
brilliant and imposing beyond precedent. Visiting militia and civil
organizations from every quarter--North, East and West--had been
collecting for days, and meeting reception more labored than
spontaneous. The best bands of the country had flocked to the Capital,
to drown bad blood in the blare of brass; and all available cavalry and
artillery of the regular army had been hastily rendezvoused, for the
double purpose of spectacle and security. Still the public mind was
feverish and unquiet; and the post commandant was like the public mind.
Rumors were again rife of raids over the Potomac, with Henry A. Wise or
Ben McCullough at their head; nightmares of plots to rob the Treasury
and raze the White House sat heavy on the timid; while extremists
manufactured long-haired men, with air guns, secreted here and there
and sworn to shoot Mr. Lincoln, while reading his inaugural.
All night long, orderlies were dashing to and fro at breakneck speed;
and guard details were marching to all points of possible danger. Day
dawn saw a light battery drawn up on G street facing the Treasury, guns
unlimbered and ready for action; while infantry held both approaches to
the Long Bridge across the Potomac. Other bodies of regulars were
scattered at points most available for rapid concentration; squadrons
of cavalry were stationed at the crossings of several avenues; and all
possible precautions were had to quell summarily any symptoms of riot.
These preparations resembling more the capital of Mexico than that of
the United States, were augury of the peace of the administration thus
ushered in! Happily, they were needless. All who remember that
inauguration will recall the dull, dead quiet with which the day passed
off. The very studiousness of precaution took away from the enjoyment
of the spectacle even; and a cloud was thrown over the whole event by
the certainty of trouble ahead. The streets were anxious and all gayety
showed effort, while many lowering faces peeped at the procession from
windows and housetops.
It was over at last. The new man had begun with the new era; and Staple
and I had finished our _chasse_ at Wormley's dinner table, when that
worthy's pleasant, yellow face peered in at the door.
As we jumped into the carriage awaiting us and Wormley banged the door,
a knot of loungers ran up to say good-bye. They were all
men-about-town; and if not very dear to each other, it was still a
wrench to break up associations with those whose faces had been
familiar to every dinner and drive and reception for years. We had
never met but in amity and amid the gayest scenes; now we were plunging
into a pathless future. Who could tell but a turn might bring us face
to face, where hands would cross with a deadly purpose; while the hiss
of the Minie-ball sang accompaniment in place of the last galop that
Louis Weber had composed.
"Better stay where you are, boys!"--"You're making a bad thing of
it!"--"Don't leave us Styles, old fellow!"--"You'll starve down South,
sure!"--were a few of the hopeful adieux showered at us.
"Thank you all, just the same, but I think we won't stay," Staple
responded. "What would 'the house' do? God bless you, boys! Good-bye,
Jim!"