RUMORS OF OUR CIVIL WAR.
Mr. Merrick was elected chief-justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana in
the year of 1855. I went with him to New Orleans for that winter and lived
at the old St. Louis hotel, taking my maid with me, but leaving my
children at home in the care of their grandmother. In a letter dated May
11th, 1856, my husband writes: “I bought a house yesterday, at public
auction, which I think will do very well for us, but it will cost a good
deal to make it as comfortable as our home at Clinton. The property is in
Bouligny, a little out of the city, where we can keep our horses. There is
a plank road to the city and the railroad station will be near the door.
It is an old-fashioned French house built upon brick walls and pillars,
with a gallery in front and rear. I send you a plan of it and a sketch of
the situation. You will surely be pleased with the place after it is
arranged. I dined with Mr. Christian Roselius yesterday and he
congratulated me on the purchase; says it is delightful to live out of
town. Bouligny is in the city of Jefferson, almost half a mile above
Washington Street. There are six fireplaces in the house, and if Aunt
Susan does not like any of those large rooms below we will finish off one
above or build one for her. The girls will go to school in the city by
the cars.”
We had done some house-hunting the winter before, and I was by no means
sure I should like living out of town. In his next letter Mr. Merrick
said: “I do not think you had better come down until you have somewhat
recovered from your disappointment. I have read your letter while my
colleagues are reading opinions, and now I take some of the precious time
of the State to try to console you. The more I see of the house and its
neighborhood the better I like it. You think it is an isolated place
up-town, still uninhabited. Well, in twenty years everything will be
different, and while I have you and the children in the house, it will be
all right. Therefore, you must dry up your tears and be happy.”
It is evident that the home chosen was not such as I should have selected;
but a residence in it for nearly half a century has made it very dear,
filled as it is with precious memories of those I have loved and lost. So
extensive are the surrounding grounds, abounding in flowers, fruit-trees
and gardens, that it has been called “the Merrick Farm.” Now that Napoleon
Avenue is built up with elegant residences, this large square with its
spacious, old-fashioned, double French cottage presents a comfortable,
unique appearance in the midst of its modern environment.
So, in November, 1856, I removed from Clinton to New Orleans. In a letter
written to Mr. Merrick during the distresses of dismantling the old home,
I said: “If it please heaven to give us a long life I hope it may never
be our misfortune to move many times.” Heaven seemed to have been
propitious to my wish, for here I am in the same loved home, chosen
without my consent, but where I expect to fold my willing hands and be
made ready for my final resting place.
I do not enter upon the subject of the civil war with a disposition either
to justify or condemn; and it is with reluctance that I revert to a
question that has been settled forever by fire and blood, and whose
adjustment has been accepted even by the vanquished. But as this period
came so vitally into my life, these recollections would be incomplete
without it; besides, personal records are the side-lights of history and,
in their measure, the truest pictures of the times. Years enough have
elapsed to make a trustworthy historical perspective, and intelligent
Americans should now be able to look upon the saddest war that ever
desolated a land without favor or prejudice and to use conditions so
severely cleared of the great evil of slavery as stepping-stones to our
freedom from all further national mischief.
It must be remembered that the South was not a unit in regard to
secession. The Southwest was largely a Whig area, and in the election of
1860 this element voted for Bell and Everett under the standard: “The
Union, the Constitution and the Enforcement of Law.” It has always been a
question whether secession would have carried could it have been put to
the test of a popular vote in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and
Tennessee; for whatever may have been personally believed respecting the
right of secession, it is probable the majority of Whigs and some
Democrats doubted its expediency. The most solemn, heart-breaking hour in
the history of the States was that in which men, shaken with sobs, signed
the ordinance which severed them from the Union. Up to that hour the fight
by the press had been bitter. But when the fate of the State was sealed,
the Stars and Stripes lowered and the State flag run up in its place,
almost every man, irrespective of opinions, accepted its destinies,
shouldered his musket and marched to the front--where he stayed until a
bullet, sickness or starvation emptied his place in the ranks, or until
the surrender of Lee at Appomattox.
Many Southern men said: “Never give up the United States flag; let us
settle our difficulties under it.” On a Fourth of July one of our
neighbors illuminated his house and decorated it with that flag. He was
entirely unmolested. We were kinder in that instance to Union people among
us than the Yankees sometimes were to “copperhead traitors” at the North.
A very few Union men among us went over the other side of the Mason and
Dixon line; a few more remained quietly at home, under great stress of
public opinion, but gave of their substance, and usually their sons, to
the Confederate cause. General Banks said, in his occupation of the city,
“I could put all the Union men in New Orleans in one omnibus.”
This was a season of great anxiety and perplexity. After the war became
inevitable it may be said that no woman wavered in her allegiance to the
Southern cause. Our boys clamored to be allowed to enlist. From Northern
relatives came letters wailing: “The war cry is abroad; blood is to be
spilled, the nation is to be involved in the bitterest of all wars. It may
be that your son, David, and one of my boys may meet in deadly conflict.
And when we have cut each other’s throats, destroyed commerce, ruined
cities, demoralized the people, outraged humanity, what have we gained?
Nothing! nothing! Would to God that some Washington might arise and stay
the deadly strife, save the country from shame and disgrace in the eyes of
the world.”
On the other side was asserted: “We have nothing else to do but to fight.
No door is open to us. Our position as freemen, our all is at stake.
Without slavery the best sugar plantation in Louisiana would be worthless.
The British thought our forefathers were wrong. We have ten times the
cause for revolt which they had. Constitutional rights are invaded. We
shall and _must_ succeed.”
Our son David, then in his seventeenth year, was at Centenary College,
La., when hostilities began. As he saw his comrades leaving in order to
join the army he became very impatient to do likewise. In a letter of
April 26, 1861, replying to his urgings, I wrote: “I know you will not
think us unkind in asking you to continue your college duties. You have
ever been true and filial without having it exacted. Persist in these
relations, my dear boy. Write us freely and tell us in perfect confidence
whatever you think and feel. Do not act hastily. We do not refuse your
request but wish you to wait for further advice. You have no wife and
children, but you have parents and sisters to fight for (I don’t count
little Eddie). I know you are patriotic and are willing to make sacrifices
for the sake of your country, but you must learn much before you go into
the army.
“27th, afternoon.--Father has come in and says Vice-President Alexander
Stephens writes to President Davis that there are plenty of men--as many
soldiers as are now wanted; and this is good news. With Virginia added to
the Southern Confederacy we ought to carry the day. It is a pity the
border States are so dilatory. Try to be content where you are until your
turn comes. Your father says it will come, sure and fast, and you know his
judgment is infallible. Last night I went to the Military Fair for the
benefit of the soldiers.”
War is the same the world over, and the women are always heroically
bearing their share of its responsibilities. I see it announced in this
morning’s paper (January 1st, 1900) that Adelina Patti and the Duchess of
Marlborough are to appear at an entertainment at Covent Garden in aid of
the English fund for officers’ wives and families, called for by the
present war in South Africa. It has been noted that after the States
seceded a Union woman could not be found in the entire South. However that
may be, I am told on authority that while Jackson, Miss., was burning and
being pillaged by troops whose horses were festooned with women’s clothes,
General Sherman was appealed to by a Southern woman. “Well, madam,” said
he, “don’t you know that the Southern women and the Methodist Church North
are keeping up this war?”
On June 1st, 1861, I find in one of my letters to my brother: “David is at
home. We are willing to give him to our country. His father spares no
trouble or expense to fit him for a soldier’s duty. He has a drill-master
who instructs him in military science during the day, and drills him with
the ‘State Rights Guards’ every night. This Frenchman, whose name I cannot
spell, says in two weeks more he will be equal to a captain’s duties; but
his father says he must understand the movements of a brigade, battalion
and regiment, as well as that of company drill; he must know something and
become qualified for everything; so I think he wishes him to have a
commission. He is the sole representative of our immediate family. I fear
for him, his youth is against him--he should be twenty-one instead of
seventeen--though this will not disqualify him in the volunteer service if
he is competent. He will go whenever called.”
Thus my young son left me for the army in Virginia where he served until
incapacitated by an extraordinary wound through the head received at Seven
Pines while a member of the staff of Gen. Leroy Stafford.
After this my brother went into an artillery company as first lieutenant,
and I went to the Myrtle Grove plantation to take leave of him. It was
during my temporary absence that New Orleans fell into Federal possession,
which fact caused me to spend the whole period of the war with my family
on the Atchafalaya river at this plantation, having only occasional visits
from my husband, who found it necessary to take the greater portion of his
slaves to a safer place in another part of the state. His own liberty was
also threatened, and since one of his colleagues, Judge Voorhies, had been
taken prisoner and detained away from his family and official business, it
was desirable that Judge Merrick should incur no such risk.
When Louisiana seceded from the Union many thought that no blood would be
spilled; that the Yankees would not fight, and would never learn to bear
arms. But this was not Mr. Merrick’s opinion, nor that of many others. The
men we called Yankees had fought bravely for their own independence and
gained it, and they would fight if necessary again; we should see our soil
dug up and earthworks made on our own secluded plantations.
I left my New Orleans home furnished with every comfort, but have never
since seen it in that perfect condition. Under General Ben Butler, a
public sale was made of the contents of the dwelling, stables and
outhouses for the benefit of the United States. Mrs. J. Q. A. Fellows told
me she counted thirteen wagon loads of furniture taken out, and had she
known me then as she afterwards did, she would have saved many valuable
things for me. I owned an excellent miscellaneous library, a new piano,
valuable carriages, pictures, china and cut glass--the acquisition of
twenty-five years, belonging to me personally who had done nothing to
bring on the hostilities between the sections. I was informed that my
carriage was appropriated by a Federal officer for his own use.
It was not long before the predictions of my husband were realized by
General Banks’ invading our retreat with the purpose of investing Port
Hudson in the rear, Farragut meanwhile was trying to force a passage past
its guns on the Mississippi river. While Gen. Banks’ command was in
transit we were in daily and hourly contact with the troops. When
Brig.-Gen. Grover ascertained that my household consisted of women alone,
he had his tent pitched very near the dwelling, informing me himself that
he did this to secure our safety, and assuring me that we should be
unmolested inside the enclosure of our dooryard and the lawn bordering in
front on the Atchafalaya river. To this end three men were detailed to act
as a guard. I had then a family consisting of two daughters, Laura and
Clara, their baby brother Edwin and the two Misses Chalfant and Miss
Little, who were my guests for a long time.
We were abundantly furnished with the necessaries of life, and had a
bountiful supply of vegetables besides the products of our dairy and
poultry yard. Lacking new books to read and mail to bring us letters,
newspapers or magazines, there yet came into our lives an intenser
interest in what was before us so constantly--this war between the North
and the South; and in one way or another everybody, white and black, man,
woman and child, took a more or less active part in carrying it on.
A letter from Mrs. Mary Wall gives the following: “I hear my son Benjamin
has gone to the war, Willie too, and Bowman has joined the ‘Hunter
Rifles.’ There is nothing talked of here but war. God help me, but it is
hard! I nursed these boys and they are part of myself; life would be
utterly barren without them. But I cannot keep them, nor say a word to
stay them from defending their country; but I think it will kill me. I
should be better off without children in this extremity.
“What do you think the North intends? Is it to be a war of extermination?
Have you read Helper’s book? He says, ‘Go out of the Union to-day and we
will scourge you back to-morrow, and make the banks of the Mississippi one
vast sepulchre, but you shall give up your slaves.’
“Christians ought to pray constantly that the great Omnipotent may help
us. We cannot fathom God’s plans. I am ready to let my negroes go if the
way opens, but I do not see that it is my duty to set them free right here
and now, though the time may be approaching for them to emerge from their
captivity. God’s will is just and good. Oh for perfect reliance on His
promises to all who love and serve Him!”
Those who were a part of ante-bellum affairs will remember how earnestly
serious-minded and conscientious slaveholders discussed the possibility of
gradual emancipation as advocated by Henry Clay. The negroes were in their
possession by inheritance and by the customs and laws of the land in which
they were born. The slaves were not only a property which had come to them
as a birthright, but also a responsibility which could not be laid aside
except in a manner that would secure the future good of the slave, with
proper consideration for what was justly due the master and his posterity
in the settlement of the great question. If politicians on both sides, who
cared more for party control and for the money value of a negro than for
the nation’s good, could have been ordered to the rear, there is little
doubt but that slaveholder and abolitionist and the great American people
could have been brought to weigh the subject together on its own merits,
and slavery might have been abolished to the satisfaction of North and
South by law instead of in a cataclysm of blood.
Those were anxious days when families were left without their male
protectors and we women had only ourselves and our young children in our
disquieted homes. Yet we were cheerful and marvelously comforted, drawing
nearer day by day to the Almighty Father, and sleeping the sleep of the
just, though often awakened by the sound of guns and to the sight of
Federal blue-coats drawn up in battle-line with gleaming bayonets. There
was fasting and prayer everywhere during all the long struggle. The most
pathetic sight was thousands of women, children and slaves, with the few
non-combatant men the army had spared, on their knees in daily union
prayer-meetings, at sunrise or sunset, before the God of Battles.
Each of us sympathized with the words of Lizzie Dowdell, writing in May,
1861: “I do believe the Lord is on our side. If we fail, God have mercy on
the world--for the semblance of human liberty will have fled. The enemy
has men, money, horses and chariots; they are strong and boastful. Our
sins may be flagrant, and we may need to be scourged with scorpions; but
will God permit us to be overwhelmed?” Both sides referred their case to
the Court of Heaven--as the assaulted Boers are doing to-day. If they
sink beneath the unlimited resources of the British, will the triumph of
might now be the triumph of right and of human liberties? Three and
one-half decades have softened the shadow of prejudice and the high lights
of self-interest. It is well for the whole nation that slavery has been
abolished and the Union preserved. How much loss will be revealed by time
in the sacrifices of the rights of States against Federal encroachment, is
a problem for future statesmanship. But it is certain to-day that the
moral loss to the United States by the civil war will not be recovered in
fifty years; while the baneful corruption of public sentiment and the
ruling Administration, by reason of the late Spanish-American conflict, is
sufficiently apparent to send every Christian to his knees, or to the
ballot-box--the only worldly corrector of political wrongs.
We set a second table for our guard. One middle-aged man named Peter, a
very young German and another--all foreigners--made up the trio. I had
every delicacy within my reach provided for them, and insisted that my
young ladies should see that the table was arranged tastefully, enjoining
it on them that they should respond politely whenever they were spoken to.
The young German on entering the yard stooped and pulled a rose which he
gaily pinned on his coat. “See,” said one of the girls at the window,
“that mean Yankee is taking our flowers!” “It is a good sign,” I replied,
“that he will never do us any greater harm. He has a kind expression on
his blond young face and in his honest blue eyes;” and this fair-faced
boy proved a valuable protector on many occasions. He had learned his
English in the army and to our horror was terribly addicted to profanity.
Instead of the ordinary response to one of our remarks he would come out
with “The hell, you say!” even when spoken to by one of the girls.
Nevertheless when at last these faithful enemy-friends took up their line
of march, we were friendly enemies, and regretfully saw them depart.