_Journey from Montgomery, on the Alabama river, to Mobile, and
residence in that city._
The Steubenville, commanded by Captain Grover, is of one hundred and
seventy tons, and has a high pressure machine, of fifty horse-power.
Machines like these are very dangerous, and therefore prohibited in the
Netherlands. The machine of the Steubenville was made in Pittsburg. The
body of the boat is occupied by the cargo, the cabins are upon deck. The
dining-room had twelve births; behind this is a gallery with some
apartments; the last one was hired by us. Before we sailed, two Indians
came on board, who wondered very much at my double barrelled gun, with
percussion locks; they had never seen such fire-arms before; I permitted
them to discharge it, and gave them some of the copper caps, at which
present they testified great delight.
We went down the river very swiftly, sixteen miles an hour. The banks of
the river near Montgomery are rather high, they consist of red earth,
with many spots of flint, and covered with willow-growth. We came only a
distance of eighteen miles, to a place called Washington, where the
Hornet lay, and where we also were stopped, to remain during the night
for the purpose of taking in wood and cotton. On account of the number
of sand banks, the navigation of the river must be dangerous; the
captain assured me that the experienced pilot then on board, had one
hundred dollars per month pay, so seldom are the officers of the boats
here, accustomed to the localities!
The next morning we moved on at break of day, with considerable
rapidity; but we soon stopped again, to take in some cotton bales, which
lay ready in a wood on the shore. We had above four hundred bales
already on board. The hold of the boat was full, the space between the
machine and the first cabin was filled, as well as the space about the
cabins, and the roof over them. There was no room left for exercise in
walking, and in the cabin it was very dark. The first delay lasted about
an hour; as soon as we were in motion again, we were obliged to stop for
several hours, as one of the two pipes fell, and drew the other with it.
The steward standing near, was wounded. We pursued our journey about
midday, and laid by again towards sunset to take in wood, and remain for
the night, as the water in the river had fallen, and the sand banks were
numerous in this vicinity.
We went on shore to look about, and found ourselves near to a plantation
with extensive cotton fields, a cotton gin, and a large cotton press.
There is a vast quantity of cotton seed left, more than is required for
the next year’s planting, and the overplus is used for manure. I am well
convinced, that with a small trouble and little expense, a very good oil
could be expressed from this seed. It was thrown out in great heaps,
which contained so much heat, that it was impossible to keep my hand in
it a moment. The breadth of the river is here said to be three hundred
yards, but I cannot believe it to be so much. The right bank may be
about sixty feet high, it rests partly on sandstone, and consists of
many layers of soil; the left bank is lower. Both are grown up with
wood, close to the water’s edge with willows, and farther back with
different sorts of trees; lofty oaks, live oaks, and white oaks, which
only flourish in the south, with plane trees, hickories, and other
nut-bearing trees, here and there with beech, ash, and alder, and also
with tall green cane. If it were not so warm and unhealthy during the
summer, a residence here would be delightful. We saw upon the river many
flocks of wild geese and ducks, and upon the shore several buzzards. The
river makes a number of turns, and contains several islands; yet the
most of them are merely sand banks. Upon them lie fallen trees, of which
passing vessels must take great care. On the banks were canoes, which,
in the Indian fashion, were hewed out of a single tree.
On the 6th of January, the boat was under way before daybreak; she stopt
at Cahawba till ten o’clock, to take in wood. This place has its name
from a small river, which here flows into the Alabama. It lies upon the
right hand bank of the river, here rather high. It was founded about
five years ago, and it is already the capital of the state. With all
this advantage, it contains only three hundred inhabitants of all sorts,
and it is to be feared that its population will not increase, as the
present legislature of Alabama, has resolved to change the seat of
government to Tuscaloosa.
A fatiguing and bad road goes from the landing to this village. It has
two very broad streets, which cut each other at right angles. Only four
or five houses are of brick, the others all built of wood; they stand at
a distance from one another. In the streets were erected two very plain
triumphal arches, in honour of General La Fayette. I was made acquainted
with Colonel Pickens, friend of Colonel Wool. He had formerly served in
the army, was afterwards governor of South Carolina, and now a planter
in Alabama. He carried us to the state-house, where the legislature was
in session.[II-1] He introduced me to Governor Murphy, in whose office
we passed half an hour, in conversing very pleasantly. The governor gave
me several details concerning the state. The greater part of it had been
bought from the Indians, and settled within ten years. It was first
received by congress as a state of the union in the year 1819. All
establishments within it, are of course very new. The staple productions
are Indian corn and cotton, which are shipped to Mobile, the sea port of
the state, and sold there. The bales of cotton average about forty
dollars. About forty miles hence, at the confluence of the Black Warrior
and the Tombigbee rivers, lies the town of Demopolis, formerly called
Eagleville. It was located by the French, who had come back from the
much promising Champ d’Asyle. This place attracted my curiosity in a
lively degree, and I would willingly have visited it. The governor and
the secretary of state, however, advised me strongly against this, as
there was nothing at all there worthy of observation. They related to me
what follows:
[Footnote II-1: Accommodation is here so difficult to procure,
that the senators are obliged to sleep three upon one mattress
laid upon the floor: their food consists, it is said, almost
without exception of salted pork.]
Alabama, as a territory, was under the especial superintendence of
congress. At that period a number of French arrived from the perishing
_Champ d’Asyle_ to the United States. At the head of them were the
Generals Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Lallemand and Rigaud; congress allowed
these Frenchmen a large tract of land upon a very long credit, almost
for nothing, under the promise that they would endeavour to plant the
vine and olive tree. Both attempts miscarried, either through the
neglect of the French, or that the land was too rich for the vine and
the olive. Some of these Frenchmen devoted themselves to the more
profitable cultivation of cotton; the most of them, however, disposed of
the land allotted to them very advantageously, spread themselves through
the United States, and sought a livelihood in a variety of ways. Some
were dancing and fencing masters, some fancy shopkeepers, and others in
Mobile and New Orleans, even croupiers at the hazard tables, that are
there licensed. General Rigaud betook himself at the time of the Spanish
revolution to Spain, there to contend against France, and may now be
living in England; General Lefebvre-Desnouettes, also went back to
Europe, as it was said to obtain the money collected in France for the
colony, and to bring out settlers; he lost his life some years ago in
the shipwreck of the Albion packet, on the Irish coast. General
Lallemand resorted to New York, where he is doing well. The Frenchmen,
with some of whom I afterwards conversed in New Orleans, insisted that
they had received none of the money collected for them. Eagleville,
since called Demopolis, has only one store, and a few log houses. It
lies in a very level country, and at the most only five Frenchmen, whose
names I could not obtain, are living there now, the remaining
inhabitants are Americans.
After we had looked about the two streets of Cahawba, we embarked and
pursued our voyage. At our going on board, we remarked that Cahawba was
a depôt for cotton, which, partly in steam-boats, and partly in vessels
made of light wood, are transported down the river. These vessels have a
flat bottom, and are built in the form of a parallelogram. The part
under the water is pitched, and on the fore and back narrower ends, are
rudder oars, with which the boats are steered. The vessels are finished
in a very rough way; they are broken up in Mobile, and the timber sold.
They are known by the general title of flat boats.
Some miles below Cahawba we stopped on the right bank, near the
plantation of Mr. Rutherford. There were still fifteen bales of cotton
to be taken in. While this was doing, we went on shore to take a walk,
where the bank was tolerably high. Mr. Rutherford’s plantation has been
about six years in cultivation. The mansion-house is of wood, and built
as other log houses, but it is handsomely situated among live oaks and
pride of China trees. The entrance is shaded by a rose-tree. Around were
handsome, high and uncommonly thick sycamores, whose trunks appeared
white, elms, gum trees, and the above named (live oaks and Chinas) many
from a single trunk, also cane, that was at least twenty feet high. The
situation of the plantation was unhealthy, and Mr. R. a Georgian by
birth, told us that he carried his family for the sake of health to the
north every summer. We saw here several hundred paroquets flying round,
who kept up a great screaming. Many were shot. They are parrots, but of
a larger species than the common kind, clear green with yellow tips to
their wings, and orange-coloured heads, flesh-coloured bills, and long
green tails. We had before seen on the bank several astonishingly
numerous flocks of black birds. The banks of the river are here and
there one hundred feet high, they are composed of steep sandstone rock,
from which springs flow.
By the accession of the new load of cotton bales, our vessel became too
heavily laden. She acquired a balancing motion, like a ship at sea. This
was exceedingly embarrassing in the numerous bends of the river, and to
avoid the danger of falling back, it was necessary to stop the machinery
at every turn. The fine dry weather which pleased us so much, was the
cause of the great fall in the water of the river. The change from high
to low water was very rapid. In the spring, as I was assured, the river
rose sixty feet and more, and inundated the high land near it. I could
not doubt the fact; for I saw upon the rocky banks the traces of the
high water. About dark we laid by on the right shore to take in wood.
We remained here for the night, and I had in a wretched lair an equally
wretched repose.[II-2]
[Footnote II-2: In this part of the country, they have either
feather beds or moss mattresses; if these latter are old, the moss
clots together, and it is like lying on cannon-balls.]
On the 7th of January, at six in the morning, our vessel was once more
in motion; soon, however, she stuck fast upon the sand. It required much
trouble to bring her off, and turn her round; the task occupied an hour
and a half. It was shortly before daybreak, and we were all in bed, if
such miserable cribs deserved the name. It had various effects upon our
travelling companions. Mr. Huygens rose in consternation from his bed,
and made a great disturbance. Mr. Bowdoin called to his servant, and
directed him to inquire what had happened. He was very uneasy when we
told him that we might lie several days, perhaps weeks here, to wait for
rain, and the consequent rise of the river. The colonel and I, who had
acquired by our long experience, a tolerable portion of recklessness,
remained in our cots, and left the matter to Providence, as we perceived
that the captain would rather disembark his cotton, which consumed
nothing, than to support much longer a number of passengers, all with
good appetites, who had agreed for their voyage at a certain price. When
we were again afloat, Mr. Bowdoin remarked with a face of great wisdom,
that he had foreseen that we should not long remain aground, as he had
not felt the stroke of the boat on the sand-bar.
We passed the whole day without any further accident, the weather was
rather dull and drizzling. Nothing interesting occurred to our
observation. We passed by two steam-boats that had been sunk in the
river, of which the last, called the Cotton Plant, went down only a
month since. Both struck against trees in the river, and sank so slowly,
that all the passengers, and part of the cargo were saved. They were so
deep that only the wheel-houses raised themselves above the water. From
these boats already a part of the machinery has been taken out
piece-meal.
In the afternoon we passed a little place called Claiborne, situated on
an eminence on the left bank of the river. Three miles below, we stopped
about sunset, on the right bank for wood. The name of the place is
Wiggins’s Landing. It consists of two log-houses standing upon a height,
among old tall thin oak trees, which was settled by a Mr. Wiggins, with
his wife and children, a short time before. The houses had a very
picturesque appearance, and I was sorry that I could not take a sketch
of them. Mr. W. proposed to cut down the wood for the purpose of raising
cotton there. It was a pity to do so with this handsome grove, handsome,
although injured in its appearance by the Spanish moss which hangs from
the trees. Monsieur Chateaubriand compares the trees enveloped in this
moss to apparitions; in the opinion of Brackenridge, they resemble ships
under full sail, with which the air plays in a calm at sea. I, who never
beheld ghosts, nor possessed Mons. Chateaubriand’s powers of
imagination, though I had seen sails tossing in the wind, compared these
trees in my prosaic mood, to tenter-hooks, on which beggars dry their
ragged apparel before some great holy-day.
We were in hopes, that we should have made more progress during the
night, but the captain had become so prudent, and almost anxious, from
the sight of the two sunken steam-boats, that he determined to spend the
night at Wiggins’s Landing. Formerly, near Claiborne, there was a
stockade, called Fort Claiborne, where an affair took place with the
Indians in the last war. This place is named in honour of the deceased
Mr. Claiborne, governor of the former Mississippi Territory, of which
the present state of Alabama formed a part, who died about eight years
ago, governor of the state of Louisiana, in New Orleans. He had taken
possession of Louisiana, in the name of the United States, which the
then existing French Government had sold to them. Mr. Claiborne was a
particular favourite and countryman of President Jefferson. He had by
his voice decided the presidential election in favour of Jefferson,
against his antagonist, Aaron Burr, for which Jefferson was gratefully
mindful during his whole life.
On the 8th of January, we left our anchoring ground between six and
seven o’clock. The shores, which at first were pretty high, became by
degrees lower, they remained, however, woody, mostly of oak wood in
appearance, hung with long moss. Under the trees, grew very thick, and
uncommonly handsome cane, above twenty feet high. At the rise of the
river, these shores, often covered with water, are on this account
little inhabited. Taking it for granted that the population of Alabama
increases in numbers, and the higher land becomes healthier from
extirpation of the forest, without doubt dykes will be made on these
lower banks, to guard the land from inundation, and make it susceptible
of culture. Here and there rose sand banks out of the water, and also
several snags. We passed the place where the year before, a steam-boat,
the Henry Clay, was sunk; since which time, however, she has been set
afloat again. It is not very consolatory to the traveller, to behold
places and remains of such occurrences, particularly when they find
themselves on board such a miserable vessel as ours. Several
steam-boats, which at present navigate the Alabama, formerly ran on the
Mississippi, as this one did; they were judged too bad for that river,
and were, therefore, brought into this trade, by which their possessors
realized much money. We saw to-day many wild ducks and geese, on the
shores also, numbers of paroquets, which make a great noise; in the
river there were alligators, which are smaller than the Egyptian
crocodile. One of these creatures was lying on the shore of the bank,
and was sunning itself, yet too far from us, and our boat went too fast,
to permit of my seeing it distinctly, or of shooting at it. In the
afternoon we saw several small rivers, which flowed into the Alabama, or
ran out of it, forming stagnant arms, which are here called bayous. The
river itself takes extraordinary turns, and shapes out a variety of
islands. We afterwards reached the confluence of the rivers Alabama and
Tombigbee, where there is an island, and the country appears extremely
well. Both rivers united, take the name of Mobile river.
About three miles below this junction, several wooden houses formed a
group on the right bank. Formerly, there was a stockade here, Fort
Stoddart, from which this collection of houses has its name. Here is the
line which forms the thirty-first degree of latitude, once the boundary
between the United States and the Spanish possessions. The Mobile river
still increased in breadth, and as the night commenced, seemed about
half a mile wide. The weather was very dark and cloudy, the pilot could
not distinguish his course, and although we approached close to the
city, we could proceed no farther, without exposing ourselves to danger.
Early on the 9th of January it was extremely foggy. On this account a
boat was sent out to reconnoitre. The fog after some time cleared away a
little, and we found ourselves so near the wharves that we immediately
touched one of the piers, and landed about half past eight. We had
travelled four hundred and fifty miles from Montgomery. The journey by
land amounts only to two hundred and fifty-eight miles, and yet is
seldom performed, on account of the want of good roads and
accommodation. Being arrived at Mobile and extremely glad at having left
our wretched steam-boat, in which we had enjoyed no comfort, we took up
our residence in Smooth’s Hotel, a wooden building, the bar-room of
which is at the same time the post-office, and therefore somewhat
lively.
Mobile, an ancient Spanish town, yet still earlier occupied by the
French, was ceded with Louisiana, in 1803, to the United States. The few
respectable creole families, who had formerly dwelt here, left the place
at the cession, and withdrew to the island of Cuba, and none but those
of the lower classes remained behind. A new population was formed of the
North Americans, who came here to make money. From this cause, the
French as well as the Spanish language remains only among the lower
classes; the better society is thoroughly American. Mobile contains five
thousand inhabitants, of both complexions, of which about one thousand
may be blacks. The town lies on the right bank of the Florida river,
where it is divided into several arms, and has formed Mobile bay, which,
thirty miles below, joins the Mexican gulf. It is regularly built, the
streets are at right angles, part of them parallel with the river, the
rest perpendicular to it. Along the shore is a wooden quay, and wooden
piers or landing bridges project into the water, for the convenience of
vessels. There are lying here about thirty ships, of which several are
of four hundred tons, to be loaded with cotton. The most of them are
from New York. When the ebb tide draws off the water, a quantity of
filth remains uncovered on the shore, and poisons the atmosphere. This
circumstance may contribute its agency to the unhealthiness of the place
in summer. The shore opposite the harbour is marshy and full of cane.
The town lies upon a poor sandy soil; the streets are not paved, and
unpleasant from the depth of the sand. On both sides of the streets
there are paths made of strong plank, which divide the walk from the
cartway of the street, which will be converted into pavements when brick
or stone shall have become cheaper.
The generality of the houses are of wood, covered with shingles, and
have piazzas. Some new houses only, are built of brick. This article
must be imported, and is not to be procured in large quantities of any
quality. As an example of this, I saw a house finished, of which the two
first stories were of red brick, and the third of yellow. There are also
here some Spanish houses which consist of timber frames, of which the
open spaces are filled up with beaten clay, like those of the German
peasantry. Besides several private houses, most of the public buildings
are of brick. These are, a theatre, which, besides the pit, has a row of
boxes and a gallery, the bank, the court of the United States, the
county court-house, the building of which was in progress, and the
prison. Near this prison stood the public whipping post for negroes. It
was constructed like a sash frame. The lower board on which the feet of
the unfortunate being were to stand, could be pushed up or down, to
accommodate the height of the individual. Upon it is a block, through
which the legs are passed. The neck and arms are passed through another.
The Catholic church here is in a very miserable situation. I went into
it, just at the time the church seats were publicly rented for the year
to the highest bidders; two in my presence were disposed of for nineteen
dollars a piece. The church within resembles a barn, it had a high altar
with vessels of tin, and a picture of no value, also two little side
altars.
A large cotton warehouse, of all the buildings in Mobile, most excited
my attention. This consists of a square yard, surrounded on three sides
by massive arcades, where the cotton bales coming from the country are
brought in, and preparatory to their shipment are again pressed, that
they may occupy as little room as possible in the vessel. The bales were
arranged on a layer of thick plank, between which there is room allowed
to pass the ropes through. Above the bales, which are placed between
four strong iron vices, is a cover, in which there is room left for the
ropes as below. These covers have four apertures, with female screws,
through which the vices pass. On every screw there is a face wheel. All
these four face wheels are driven by a crown wheel, which is put in
motion by a horse. The covers are thus screwed down on the bales, and
their bulk reduced one-third. During the pressure, the negro labourers
have drawn the ropes through the groves between the planks and fastened
the bales with little difficulty. This warehouse or magazine has two
such presses. It occupies three sides of the yard, the fourth contains a
handsome dwelling house. The whole is built of brick, and has an iron
verandah. It belongs to speculators in New Orleans, and is known by the
name of the “fire proof magazine,” although the interior is of wood.
The weather was very fine, and as warm as we have it in summer: I felt
it very much in walking, and most of the doors and windows in the houses
stood open. On this account I seated myself in the piazza before the
house. A number of Choctaw Indians, who led a wandering life in the
woods around the town, went about the streets selling wood, which they
carried in small billets, bound on their backs. They are of a darker
colour, and, if possible, still dirtier than the Creeks, they wrap
themselves also in blankets, and most of them wore round hats trimmed
with tin rings and pieces of tin. I walked through the streets of the
place, which contains several large stores, to all appearance well
stocked. In these excursions I found an old Brunswicker, named Thomas,
who kept a grog-shop here, and who showed me a young alligator, an ugly
animal, at most three months old. It was about eight inches long, and
was preserved in a tub of water, in which it was daily supplied with
fresh grass. When it was taken out of the water and placed on the sand,
it ran about with much alacrity. Its head was disproportionately large,
and it had already double rows of sharp teeth.
In the afternoon we saw a volunteer company, of about twenty and upwards
strong, pretty well equipped, turn out to celebrate the anniversary of
the battle of New Orleans, the eighth of January, 1815. On the preceding
day, being Sunday, this festival was not commemorated. They had erected
a platform on an open spot of ground, and brought there three old iron
pieces, with which a national salute of twenty-four guns was fired.
Colonel Wool had many acquaintances and countrymen here, from the north,
to whom he introduced me. Conversation, therefore, did not fail us,
though many comforts of life are withheld for a period. Thus, for
example, I was deprived of milk so long as I was in the Indian
territory, as the cattle were driven into the woods during the winter,
to support themselves.
I made an attempt to pass round the town, but was prevented on one side
by woods, and on the other, by ditches and marshes, so that I found
myself limited in my promenade to the streets. These, however,
I measured to my heart’s content. There was nothing new to me but some
fruit shops, in which were excellent oranges from Cuba, at six cents a
piece, large pine apples, much larger than the finest I had seen in
England, also from Cuba, at forty-two and three-quarter cents a piece,
thus much dearer than in Charleston, where they cost but twelve and a
half cents a piece, besides bananas and cocoa nuts in abundance.