_Travels to Pensacola._
Colonel Wool was obliged to go to Pensacola, in pursuance of his duty of
inspection. I determined to accompany him with Mr. Huygens, as Pensacola
was interesting to me as a military man. Mr. Bowdoin felt himself
unwell, and was tired of travelling. He remained, therefore, in Mobile,
with the intention of going to New Orleans by the first opportunity.
On the 10th of January, we left Mobile in the steam-boat Emeline. This
vessel goes daily from Blakely, which lies on the left shore of the bay,
to Mobile, and back again. The distance amounts, in a straight line, to
about twelve miles; some marshy islands covered with cane and shallows,
lengthen the passage to fourteen miles. The Emeline, Captain Fowler, is
the smallest steam-boat that I ever saw. She is only of thirty-two tons
burthen, is built of planks, which are laid over each other without
ribs, like a skiff, and the engine, a low pressure, has only eight
horse-power. The boat belongs to the captain, and, with its engine, was
constructed in New York. When it left that city to sail for Mobile, no
insurance company would undertake to underwrite it, and Mr. Fowler was
compelled to come on his individual risk. His capital embarked in it,
will, nevertheless, produce a very good profit. Yet the smallest
steam-boats which navigate the Florida and Alabama rivers, are insured.
Some are too old and rotten for any company to insure, especially as the
navigation on these rivers is so dangerous, that the few good vessels
must give one per cent. monthly, as a premium.
From the water side, Mobile, with its ships in harbour, has a pretty
appearance. We had also a handsome view of Mobile Bay, in which we
counted nine ships of various sizes stretching in. A number of wild
ducks flew about among the islands. In two hours we crossed the bay, and
landed at five o’clock in the evening at Blakely.
This place has a very good situation, on rather an elevated bank, in a
grove nearly composed of live oaks, of which some are full twenty feet
in circumference. A bushy kind of palm tree grows here which is called
Spanish bayonet, which appears to partake of the nature of the macaw
trees. Blakely was founded in the year 1816, by a Mr. Blakely, dead
about five years since, and then sold to various speculators. This place
was established to injure Mobile, and to draw the commerce of that place
away from it. The design has, however, failed of success. Mobile is
superior in capital, and Blakely has injured itself alone. Upon the
shore stand two large wooden buildings in ruins, the smallest part of
them only is rented, and used as stores. On the eminence behind these
buildings are placed about twenty wooden houses, of which the largest is
the only tavern, and it is really a respectable one. We took our lodging
there. The houses are very neatly built, with projecting roofs and
piazzas, and surrounded with gardens. Some, however, are deserted, and
exhibit the decay of the place. A large wooden edifice two stories high,
provided with a cupola, was originally intended for an academy; from the
want of scholars, this academy has never been in operation, the building
therefore is used as a place of worship, and as a court-house. The
number of inhabitants cannot exceed two hundred.
During our ramble it had become dark; the moon was in her first quarter.
The air was as warm as in a fine May evening in Germany. All was
pleasant and cheerful, and only our recollection that this handsome
country was poisonous in summer, produced a discord with the scene. In
the evening I sat and wrote in one of the rooms of the tavern with open
doors and windows, and heard the sparrow chirp as if it were summer.
I had noticed very few sweet orange trees in this part of the country,
and the few which I saw were small and young. As I manifested my
surprise, the reason was given, that the numerous orange trees which
formerly were here, had been all killed in the winter of 1821-22, by a
four day’s frost.
Before we commenced our journey the next morning, I found in the earth
several pieces of petrified live oak. The mineral riches of this
district are not yet explored. I imagine, that a mineralogist, who
should here prosecute his researches, might reap a rich harvest.
We hired a two-horse barouche, which was to carry us to Pensacola,
sixty-five miles distant from Blakely. In this, we departed about ten
o’clock in the morning, well stocked with plenty of provision, which,
in this country, so destitute of inns, was considered as a necessary
supply. Close to Blakely we ascended a hill, which afforded us a very
beautiful view of the town, the bay of Mobile, and of a valley watered
by a stream, with the richest prospect of vegetation I ever beheld. The
grove before us was full of magnolias of all sizes, of laurels, and an
evergreen bush that was called the water oak; and among them all, the
most splendid live oaks. Unfortunately this lovely country did not reach
very far. Scarcely a short mile from Blakely, the good soil ceased, and
the wearisome sand and long-leaved pines began once more. We advanced
but thirty miles during the day; a delicious warm state of the weather,
however, cheered us. At first we found several plantations which the
inhabitants of Blakely, in somewhat easy circumstances, resorted to
during the summer, when the yellow fever occupied that place. On some of
these plantations, the dry rice, (so called from the fields which
produce it lying so high that they cannot be overflowed,) is cultivated.
This rice is little inferior to the swamp rice of South Carolina, and
will yield fifty bushels to the acre. I regaled myself with the melody
of several birds, of which most were robins, birds of passage, which
live through the winter in these southern countries, and in the spring,
approach the north, there to announce it. I saw also several cranes. To
complete the illusion, that it was summer, a number of frogs lent their
aid, and croaked loudly from the marshes.
We halted at noon, in a shady place, near a clear brook, and dispatched
a part of our provisions, seated on a dry green turf. For the first time
in my life, a shade in January was a desirable object. The night
overtook us before we reached our lodgings for the night, which we
intended to take up at a place called Belle Fontaine. The road was
hardly discernible, for it was so little travelled, that grass grew in
the tracks, and the stumps of trees were as difficult to avoid, as they
were frequent. We risked oversetting more than once. To avoid such an
accident, we determined to proceed on foot. We took in this way, a walk
of at least six miles, in an unbroken pine forest, inhabited by bears,
wolves, and even panthers. At first we had the light of the moon; about
nine o’clock it went down, and we had considerable difficulty to keep
the road. As the dwellings were scattering from each other, we imitated
the barking of dogs, to give them an opportunity to answer in the same
language. This succeeded; we heard dogs bark, moved in the direction
whence the sound came, and reached about ten o’clock, the desired Belle
Fontaine, a log house with two rooms, or cabins, and a cleared opening
before it. A man of rather unpromising appearance, the landlord, Mr.
Pollard, admitted us, and took charge of our horses. His wife, a pale,
sickly looking being, who hardly returned an answer to our questions,
was obliged to rise from her bed, to prepare us a supper and
sleeping-room. The whole establishment had at first, the look of a
harbour for robbers, but there was well roasted venison prepared for us,
on a neat table, and tolerable coffee, for which we had, luckily,
brought sugar along with us. It was really comfortable, though our
chamber remained open the whole night, as there was no door, and only
two beds were furnished.
The 12th of January we left our quarters at seven in the morning, and
travelled thirty-two miles to Pensacola. Twelve miles from Belle
Fontaine brought us to a stand at the Perdido, where we breakfasted at a
plantation, situated on the right bank of the river. This stream forms
the boundary between Alabama and the territory of Florida, which does
not yet contain inhabitants sufficient to entitle it to a reception
among the states of the Union. The river is small, its banks sandy, and
we crossed it in a poor ferry-boat. On the banks, as generally through
the whole of that district, I saw many bushy palms, here called
palmattoes. The soil on the whole, was as bad as that we saw yesterday,
the growth was pine; there is fresh vegetation only about the springs.
The air grew still warmer, we saw a few butterflies. As we approached
Pensacola, the pines ceased, and we moved through dwarf oaks. The soil
was a deep sand; we passed by a marsh full of water oaks.
Pensacola, which we reached about five o’clock, lies upon a bay of the
ocean. It is an ancient Spanish town, and was surrendered by Spain with
all Florida, to the United States in 1821. It contains about one
thousand inhabitants. We lodged ourselves in Collins’s Hotel, and went,
immediately on our arrival, to walk about the town. It is the most
miserable place that I have beheld since I crossed the Atlantic. Such
Spaniards as possessed any property have left this place, when it was
ceded to the United States, and have moved off either to New Orleans, or
the island of Cuba. Only the poorest of them have remained. Since that
time, the Americans settled here, have, as at Mobile, created a new
population. The deepest sand covers the unpaved streets, which are
broad, and regularly laid out. Only a few new houses are of brick, they
are mostly of wood, and stand at a considerable distance from each
other. There is not a single ship in the port. A new market-house of
brick is building upon the shore, and not far from it stands the wooden
catholic church, the outside of which appears in a forlorn condition.
Near the church are the ruins of an old English barrack, which was burnt
about four years ago; its two wings were covered by two block houses of
logs, which are standing, one of which serves for a custom-house. About
the town several block houses have stood, which formerly afforded a good
protection against the Seminole Indians, the original inhabitants of
this section of country.
In the evening of this day, and on the next morning we received visits
from several officers, from Colonel Clinch, commandant of the 4th
regiment of infantry, who was posted here with Major Wright and others.
Captain Campbell of the Marine Corps, who had the command of the new
navy-yard, that was to be established here: some supplies had arrived,
and were put in store at Fort Barrancas. As we wished to see this fort,
the gentlemen were so polite as to accommodate us with their boats.
I went with Colonel Wool in Captain Campbell’s boat. We had a favourable
wind, and spreading two sails we reached fort Barrancas, nine miles by
sea from Pensacola, in an hour. On the way we saw a flock of sixteen
pelicans. On account of the point of land stretching into the bay, we
had to make a circuit; it was called Tartar point, and the new navy-yard
is to be upon it. It is thought that it will be commenced in two months.
The country about Pensacola and the shores of the bay are the most
disagreeable that can be conceived of; nothing but sand heaps
dazzling-white like snow. In the bay lies a level island, St. Rosa, with
a growth of dwarf oaks. On it had been erected a fort, which was blown
up by the English, when they occupied Pensacola in the year 1814, to
support the Creek Indians then at war with the United States, and were
compelled to evacuate it by General Jackson. The English blew up also a
part of Fort Barrancas at the same time, but the Spaniards have
reinstated it, although on a smaller scale; thus it remains at present.
The cannon are of brass, English and Spanish. Among the latter I
observed two very fine twenty-four pounders, cast in Seville. Nothing
can be more unhandy than the Spanish gun-carriages, they have wheels,
which at the outside measure four feet in diameter.
In the gorge of the works, there is a large bomb-proof casemate, and in
the yard a furnace for red-hot shot. The whole of the work is built of
sand, therefore the wall outside, and the parapet inside, are covered
with upright planks, and the cheeks of the embrazures in the same
manner. The Spanish cannon, also mounted on the clumsiest carriages, are
placed in battery. The fort was temporarily given up to the marines, who
employed the casemates and block houses for magazines, till the
requisite preparations could be made in the navy-yard. At that period,
the fort will be dismantled, and in its place a respectable fortress
will be erected to defend this important point.
It is of the highest consequence to the United States, to have an
extensive maritime and military position on the Mexican gulf, on account
of the increasing power of the new South American Republics.
Nevertheless, Pensacola can only be of secondary ability to fill such a
station, since the sand bank lying in the mouth of the bay, has only
twenty-two feet upon it at high water; and necessarily, is too shallow
for ships of the line, or even American frigates of the first class.
Besides, upon the whole coast of the Gulf of Mexico, there is but one
single bay, (and this is situated southward of La Vera Cruz,) in which
armed ships of the line can pass in and out. The pieces of ordnance
placed upon the walls, as well as some forty lying upon the beach, half
covered with sand, of old Spanish and English cannon, are, as is said,
perfectly unserviceable.
Outside of the fort, about two hundred paces distant from it, along the
sea-coast, stands a light house built of brick, about eighty feet high,
in which twenty lamps in divisions of five, constantly turn upon an axis
in a horizontal movement during the night. They are set in motion by
clock-work, and were prepared in Roxbury, near Boston. I saw the model
in the patent office at Washington. The lamps are all furnished with
plated reflectors, and are fed with spermaceti oil. The land about the
fort is for the most part sandy, and produces only pines naturally,
these however have been rooted out, and dwarf oaks and palmettoes have
since sprouted out.
I have mentioned General Jackson above, and surmised that he had driven
the English out of Pensacola. I add to this remark the following: the
Seminoles, as it is asserted, manifestly stirred up by the English,
without the least provocation, commenced a war against the United
States, in the year 1818. General Jackson defeated them, and directed
the two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who had sold weapons and
ammunition to the Indians, as well as stimulated them to war against the
United States, to be hanged. After this, he attacked Pensacola and the
Barrancas, where the Indians were sheltered and protected by the Spanish
authorities. The town of Pensacola was poorly fortified and soon
mastered. General Jackson then opened a cannonade of two pieces of
artillery on Fort Barrancas. The Spanish governor hid himself under the
steps of the coast battery, and surrendered the fort, since by the
agreeing statement of two captains, the garrison refused to fight,
(consisting of three companies of the Spanish regiment of Louisiana,)
because they had not received their pay for some time. “Audacibus
fortuna juvat!”
On the 14th of January I took a walk in front of the town to view the
former fortifications of this place. These works owe their foundation to
the English. England, indeed avowedly possessed this country, West
Florida, from 1763 to 1783; at the treaty of Versailles, it was fully
given up to Spain, after it had been conquered by Don Galvez, then
governor of Louisiana, who afterwards was Viceroy of Mexico. The best
defence of Pensacola consists in the marshes which surround it. Beyond
the marshes lie undistinguishable sand hillocks, which were occupied by
forts. A thousand paces in front of the town, to the left of the road
leading to Mobile, lies a fort.
The form of this fort, I made out from the remains grown over with
bushes. Behind it was open, and there are still the ruins of a
bomb-proof powder magazine, built of brick, which the English blew up in
1814. It appeared partly covered with timber. A thousand paces farther
to the left, are the ruins of another somewhat larger fort, upon another
small eminence so disposed as to command the interior of the first. It
appears to have been calculated for from four to five hundred men, while
the first could only shelter two hundred. The ramparts of both are
composed merely of sand, and the high bushes of various species, which
flourish to a remarkable degree on the ruins, exhibit the productive
force of the climate. The soil around the forts, also consisting of sand
only, yields palmettoes and dwarf oaks. I had remarked the same soil
upon the land side of Fort Barrancas, and besides cactus, some of which
grew in a screw-like form through the bricks, many of them in the driest
sand. In 1782, a handful of Waldeckers, then in English pay, defended
these works against fifteen thousand Spaniards, and in the absence of an
English engineer, the captain there, and the present Lieutenant-General
Heldring, of the Netherlands, discharged that duty.
Colonel Walton, secretary of state of Florida, who had just returned in
a vessel from Talahasse, told me so much of the beautiful situation, and
delicious country about that town, only laid out within a year, as well
as of the interior of Florida, with its rising and falling springs and
lakes, the discharge of which no one was acquainted with, that I was
sorry I could not visit that place, to which the fourth regiment had
marked out a road. Thirty miles from Talahasse, Prince Achille Murat, in
company with the former colonel, now Mr. Gadsden, purchased much land,
on which he will cultivate maize, cotton and sugar. M. Murat must be a
young man of great spirit. It is, however, charged against him, that he
has addicted himself to a low familiar behaviour, in which he appears to
wish to excel; that he chews tobacco constantly, &c.
I paid a visit to the catholic clergyman of this place, Abbé Mainhout,
a native of Waerschot, in East Flanders. The Abbé came in 1817, with the
bishop of Louisiana, Mr. Dubourg, as a missionary to the United States.
This excellent man does very little credit to the climate, he is now
just recovering from a severe fit of sickness. He is universally
esteemed and loved on account of his exemplary conduct and learning: and
as he is the only clergyman in the place, the inhabitants of whatever
persuasion they may be, resort to his church. He was pleased with my
visit, particularly, as I brought him news from his native land.
Colonel Clinch sent us his carriage, to carry us to the quarters, where
Colonel Wool was to hold his inspection. Since the English barracks have
been burnt, the troops have been stationed out of town in preference,
from apprehension of the yellow fever. There is a large wooden barracks
built in a healthy situation, on an eminence two miles from town on the
road to the Barrancas, for the troops. These barracks in the phrase of
this service are called cantonments, this one, after the colonel, is
named cantonment Clinch. It consists of ten log-houses built in a row,
under one roof. Each house is for a company, and contains two rooms.
Before this long range of barracks, is a large parade, with a flag
staff. Opposite to this are the officers quarters. The officers of each
company have a house, which stands opposite to the barrack of their own
soldiers. Behind the long building for the men, is the range of
kitchens; behind this is the guard house and prisoners room, and still
farther back in the woods, the etcetera. On the right wing is the
colonel’s house, placed in a garden surrounded by a palisade. The house
is built of wood, two stories high, and furnished with a piazza below,
and a gallery above. Upon the left wing, stands a similar building
appointed for the residence of the lieutenant colonel and major; at
present, however, arranged as an hospital, as the first officer commands
in Tampa Bay, and the major in Fort Mitchel. The cantonment has its
front towards the bay; at the foot of the eminence on which it stands,
is a bayou, and the appearance is really handsome. The colonel has only
two officers and about twenty men, with the regimental surgeon, so that
the inspection was soon completed.
After dinner we returned to the town, and passed the evening in a very
pleasant party at Mr. Walton’s, which was given from politeness to me.
I found here several Creole ladies of the place, who spoke bad French,
but looked very well, and were dressed with taste. Conversation was our
only amusement, but this was animated and well supported.
On the 15th of January we left Pensacola, at eight o’clock in the
morning, to return to Mobile by the same way we came. We encountered a
skunk, something larger than a cat, with a thick, hairy, and erect tail.
This creature cannot run with agility, and we could easily have caught
it. We, however, suffered it to go quietly to its hole, as it scatters
its effluvium when disturbed, and if the least piece of clothing be
touched by it, it must be thrown away entirely, as there is no method of
freeing it from the detestable smell. If a dog is sprinkled by it he
become almost sick, whines, and throws himself about for some time on
the earth. We passed also two wolf-traps, resembling our rat-traps, but
of course constructed on a larger scale.
We made a short stay at the house on Perdido river. We met with a
planter from the banks of the Alabama, who had come here to take back
one of his negroes, whom he had hired before to the mistress of this
house and ferry. He had treated the poor creature with such barbarity,
that the negro not far from the house had threatened him with the knife,
and had ran back. The man had put us across the river, but as soon as he
saw his master, he ran away quickly, and was no more to be seen. The
gentleman asked us to assist him in arresting and detaining his negro,
but we unanimously rejected his proposal with disgust. Some days before,
the negro had pleased me much by his lively and agreeable disposition,
while his master and tormentor appeared to me, in every respect, highly
the reverse.
About five o’clock in the afternoon we reached the same log-house in
which we had passed the night, near Belle Fontaine. As it was still
daylight, I went immediately in search of the spring to which this place
owes its name; I found, however, only a marsh with several springs,
about which, except the vegetation, there was nothing attractive. The
landlord was not at home, and the whole domestic management rested on
the poor pale wife, who had five children to take care of, and expected
a sixth soon. She had for an assistant a single little negro wench, who
was soon sent away, so the poor woman had every thing to provide; yet
she set before us an excellent supper.
Towards morning, I was roused out of my uneasy slumbers by a powerful
uproar. It was caused by cranes that flew over the house. At eight
o’clock in the morning we left Belle Fontaine and travelled back to
Blakely, where we arrived before five o’clock in the evening, and took
possession of our former quarters. Through the whole passage back, not
the least thing occurred worthy of remark. A good road could be made at
little expense between Blakely and Pensacola, at least the numerous
large trees, which after violent storms have fallen transversely over
the road and shut it up, might be cleared away. One is obliged often to
make a considerable circuit on account of these trees.
On the following morning at ten o’clock, we embarked once more on board
the steam-boat Emeline, and in very fine, though cold weather, reached
Mobile at twelve o’clock. We found Mr. Bowdoin confined to his bed, with
the gout in both legs. We immediately betook ourselves to the harbour.
During our absence, the packet schooner Emblem, Captain Vincent, from
New Orleans, had arrived here, and designed returning to that city. The
captain had heard of us, and remained some time to take us along. His
vessel stood in very high repute, as well for her sailing, as on account
of accommodation and cleanliness. We agreed for the passage at fifteen
dollars for each person. The vessel would have sailed exactly on this
day, but as the captain had understood that we were desirous of seeing
the new fort on Mobile point, which was built thirty miles from Mobile,
he was so polite as to postpone his voyage till the next morning, to
allow us to see the fort by daylight.
Of course, we had some time on our hands. We took a walk in the woods
situated behind the town, which is composed of pines, and some evergreen
bushes. It is also the great burial-ground, which is thickly filled up
by the agency of the yellow fever, and the sickly climate. Several
Choctaw Indians bivouacked here, like gypsies; the men lay drunk upon
the earth, and their miserable women were obliged to carry the bundles
of wood to town for sale.
To my great astonishment, I learned that there were gambling-houses even
here, kept by Frenchmen, and that each in the city paid a yearly tax of
one thousand dollars for a license. I was told that respectable
merchants were in the habit of going there to have an eye over their
clerks, and also to observe what mechanics, or other small tradesmen,
played here, to stop giving credit to such as haunted the resorts of
these gentry. I was taken to two of these gambling-houses, which are
united with coffee-houses, to see how they were conducted. In one of
them were two roulette tables, in two separate rooms, in the other,
which was smaller, one roulette and one pharo table. There was betted
here silver and paper, but not more than twenty dollars bank notes, and
most of them did not bet more than a dollar a time. A couple of young
fellows lost all that they had, and behaved very indecently when they
were stripped of their money. Several of the better sort appeared to be
country people, who had brought their corn and cotton to market, and
only played off their profits. At one of the tables sat some common
sailors, half drunk. We found rather low company collected in both
houses, and our curiosity was soon satisfied. It is to be hoped, that
the legislature of Alabama will prohibit such houses. They are, on the
whole, very good places for recruiting the army and navy!