By this time Lieutenant J---- and his party had returned from searching
our bed-rooms, and calling to his men said, "Boys, take what you want."
These acted like long-pent-up animals suddenly let loose. All our stock,
horses and mules were driven off, our cattle, sheep and hogs were
killed; the barns and smoke-house were broken open, and all their
contents scattered, and all our vehicles of every kind, tools and
implements were broken in pieces and thrown into the creek or burned.
It was awful to hear the screams of the cattle and hogs as they were
chased and bayoneted, and the scatter and terror of the sheep was
terrible to see. Even my pet calf, which you know papa gave me, and I
took so much pleasure in raising by hand, was killed; and dear old
Aaron, our house cat, was cruelly run through with a bayonet, right
before my eyes, as he tried to escape under the house. Such brutal
scenes I never had supposed I would ever have to witness.
While all this was going on mother said to Lieutenant J----, "If you
take from us all means of subsistence we will starve." He turned, and
with much satisfaction said, "You are being punished for what you have
done;" and going out, mounted his horse and rode off among the negroes,
proclaiming to them their freedom and incessantly asking for "the man of
the house." They could only say that he was absent, when he said, "He
may not be here, but he has left a----rebel of a woman, who is as bad as
a man, and the house ought to be burnt." The negroes were very much
alarmed, and entreated us not to talk to the soldiers as they hated us
so and said such awful things.
It was now quite dark and the excitement and confusion were truly awful.
We all withdrew to the parlor, and closing the door sat in the dark, not
knowing what the next moment might bring forth; but the faithful Quash
brought in a candle and placed it on the table with his accustomed air.
He had scarcely brought it in when the front door was opened and in
walked General Potter, followed by his aids. Not one of them had the
decency to make the least salutation, or take any notice of the five
ladies seated in the room. But the General immediately seated himself,
while Lieutenant J----seized our candle, and opening mother's bed-room
door called out, "General, this will be a comfortable room for you," to
which remark the General assented. Lieutenant J----, then looking around
said, "I take possession of this room for General Potter." After this
the General made repeated attempts at conversation with us, but as we
had that afternoon seen such wanton destruction of our property, and
were constrained to see our enemies occupying the rooms in which it had
been so often our pleasure to entertain our friends, you may imagine we
were in no mood for conversation.
We all soon went upstairs, where Quash brought us some tea. As it was
then near midnight we decided to go to bed, and mother said she would go
down in the morning and request that a written protection be furnished
us, as this had been suggested by the quiet-looking officer, our
protector of the afternoon before. Therefore, as early as possible she
did so, but General Potter received her very shortly, and only replied,
"Your husband is in the Rebel army." She replied, "It was our desire
that he should leave us, and I am glad he is not here, for if he had
been I suppose he would have been shot."
He replied, "You talk like a fool when you say that," and turned off;
when mother said, "If that is your opinion, I have the more need of
protection."
As the General was about to go out to mount his horse at the door,
Lieutenant B---- came to the rescue, saying, "General, with your
permission, I can write a paper addressed to the officers and men of the
United States army, saying that it is your desire that this house and
its lady occupants be unmolested."
The General only answered, "You may if you wish," when a paper to that
effect was written, and its influence was certainly beneficial. We felt
that we owed our safety largely to Lieutenant B----, who conducted
himself in every way as a gentleman, and on leaving thanked mother
courteously for his night's accommodation and politely bowed to all of
us.
It was near midday before all of the officers had left the house, and
we, much jaded, were able to have breakfast. The house was now kept
strictly shut up, as the lawn was still studded with the tent flies of
the regiment encamped there. If a door was opened for a moment, a
soldier would walk in, and it was as much as mother could do to get him
out again.
We kept almost entirely upstairs, taking all of our meals there, and in
constant dread of making any noise. One man said to mother, "The General
thinks that your husband is hidden; he does not believe that he is not
here."
In this extremity a kind-looking Irish soldier came to our aid and
promised that we should be protected if it "cost him his life," and that
he would bring a friend with him, who would spend the night in the shed
room, "to be handy, if needed." This kind friend, McManus, proved his
Irish blood by bringing the most villainous specimen of a man we had yet
seen, and whispering to mother that "sure he had no confidence in him at
all."
We were much taken aback at McManus's friend's appearance, but relieved
when the chaplain of the regiment came up and asked to be allowed to
sleep in the house.
Our servants behaved admirably and themselves provided and served our
meals with unfailing regularity, and managed to give us many little
treats, which we suspected came from the United States commissariat.
Mother hopes that she may be able to get us to the city in safety, for
our position here is very unprotected and we wish to get possession of
our house in the city before it falls into the hands of the Freedmen's
Bureau.
I place this letter in the hands of ----, who promises to get it through
the lines, and I trust it will reach you.
* * * * *
CHARLESTON, March 14, 1865.
I hope my last safely reached you, and I know you feel anxious about us,
so I will get ---- to smuggle this through the lines. You will be
relieved to know that we are once more in our house in Charleston.
By dint of mother's representations of our unprotected condition on the
plantation to the officer in command, and her frequent reminders that by
their confiscation of all our animals and destruction of our vehicles we
had been deprived of all means of transporting ourselves to the city,
she obtained transportation.
As soon as the Northeastern Railroad was put in running order, which was
within a few days after Charleston was evacuated, the major informed us
that we might ride down in a box-car. He also gave us permission to
carry in the car whatever household goods we could.
It was hard to choose from the accumulation of years what furniture to
take with us, as we knew that all that was left would be stolen, our
presence only having kept out the vagrant negroes and camp followers,
who, we heard from the servants, complained very much that our house had
not been gutted as had others in the neighborhood. We had a very short
time for choosing, as we had notice only in the afternoon, that we must
be off in the morning. Mother had a time among us, as each had something
very untransportable, which, to quote dear Aunt Anna, "it would be
sacrilege to leave."
I fought hard for all the books and the old sofa, which had been in the
house since the Revolution, and was said to have been Washington's
favorite seat when he visited the plantation in 1791; but I had to
content myself with only the books that I could get into a trunk, and
when our friendly Irish soldier, McManus, who volunteered to help us
move the things, seized our valued sofa to hoist it into the car, it
proved its antiquity by breaking in pieces. I could have cried over the
loss, but mother said, "This is no time for sentiment; it has served
from one Revolution to be wrecked in another."
The last night we spent at the plantation was truly forlorn. The
servants warned us to expect an attack from some vagrant negroes, who
had come from the up-country, and were roving about, as Maum Martha
expressed it, "free till dey fool," robbing and destroying, unchecked by
the authorities.
We asked the officer in command to give us a guard for the night, but he
refused; so mother decided that we must spend the night together in the
parlor. The men servants promised to watch outside, and both Fanny and
Rachel begged to be allowed to stay with us in the house. You may
imagine that it was a weary vigil, as none of us slept, and we put out
the light, fearing lest it might guide some evil-doer.
Paul, Quash and Jack walked around the house by turns all night; and I
am sure that it was owing to their faithful watchfulness that the dawn
found us unmolested.
At an early hour Maum Martha brought in a nice breakfast, and with some
pride told us that one of the officers had seen her preparing it and had
expressed surprise; but she had told him that she was from an old Congo
family herself, an' no upstart free nigger; for since Maussa's family
came from France, and hers from Africa, they had been together for five
generations. "An' so long as I's in de kitchen I knew what's proper to
be sent in de house, even if I hab to scurry to get it."
Quash, Fanny, and Rachel came with us to the city, but Maum Martha and
Paul were left behind in their home.
With difficulty we got in to the dirty box-car, and Aunt May had quilted
into her skirts many papers for safe-keeping and around her shoulders
had her valuable cashmere shawl sewed under a black one, all of which
weighted her down so that she fell, and frightened us much by her
inability to rise.
We picked her up and were thankful that she was not hurt, and had been
kept from getting up only by her entourage.
At the station in Charleston we first heard of the burning of Columbia
and while we were waiting for a carriage the officer in command of the
guard kept dinning into our ears that General Hampton had burned that
city, which assertion mother firmly contradicted, persistently saying
that General Sherman had done it.
We were much afraid that we would find our house taken by the Freedmen's
Bureau, or by some officers for a residence, but happily neither was the
case. But we found that nearly all the furniture had been stolen, and
were thankful to have the few pieces that we had brought from the
plantation.
As it was on Saturday that we came down all of our things had to be left
in the station until Monday, and then when Quash went for them he found
that the military gentry (?) had taken from among them whatever they
wanted.
All the furniture that we found in the house was an old table and a very
large book-case, and my only bed thus far has been a mosquito net spread
on the floor.
On Sunday afternoon mother and Aunt May went to see Cousin M., who is
very ill, and while Annie and I remained with Aunt Anna, who was resting
on her mattress on the floor, Rachel came rushing up stairs, saying,
"Oh, mam, some officers say they want this house and have come to take
it; they are coming up into the dining-room now."
I at once said, "We must go down and meet them," and calling to Annie to
put the few spoons that were out at once in her pocket, we each gave
Aunt Anna an arm and went down, followed by Rachel.
I must say I felt much agitated at the thought of what we might
encounter, and dreaded for our old aunt, who seemed much unnerved.
As we entered the dining-room by one door a naval officer came in by the
other, advancing with a calm air of possession.
I was just going to speak when Aunt Anna astounded us by saying, in the
kindest tones, "Why, Edmund! how is your mother?"
We thought her bereft of reason, but the effect upon the officer was
instantaneously overwhelming. He staggered and exclaimed, "Good God!
Miss J--, is it you? You shall not be molested," and turning quickly,
left the house without giving her a chance to say another word.
It seems that Aunt Anna had instantly recognized him as the son of an
old and dear friend in New York, and upon the return of mother and Aunt
May the unlooked-for occurrence was fully discussed.
Aunt was much commended for recognizing him and we hope that her
recognition will stand us in good stead, as we know that Lieutenant
Henry is a gentleman, and on account of the warm friendship that has
existed for so many years between our old aunts and the elder members of
his family he will probably use any influence he may have with the
authorities in our favor.
The next day another naval officer called at the house and asked to see
mother, whom he told that he had had the pleasure, previous to the war,
of serving with those of our family who were then in the navy, and
although he had been blockading Charleston for many months he had
promised our cousin, Lieutenant----, who remained in the United States
Navy, that if he ever got into Charleston he would look us up, and
gladly do what he could to help us.
Mother felt that in our present defenseless condition she should not
refuse any offers of aid, and thanked him. He then produced a copy of a
morning paper, which contained a general order that any citizen who
desired protection must put a United States flag on his house, and that
no outrages would be punished that were committed on premises that did
not contain such flags.
After reading this order he drew from his pocket a small flag, which, he
said, with our permission, he would tack to the piazza.
Mother politely declined his offer, but our aunts made such a point of
the advisability of accepting it that she was induced to yield. He then
asked me to hold the little staff while he tacked it to the post; but I
could not touch it, and called to his assistance a little negro girl, as
more appropriate, who stood staring in at the gate, and she held it for
him.
Annie looked on quietly and said nothing, but at night, after we were
gone to bed, said, "I cannot stand it. I cannot breathe with that flag
there." She only expressed my own feelings, so we quietly went down in
the dark, and pulling it down, secreted it.
We determined to keep our own counsel, as we had heard only the day
before of the arrest and imprisonment of a lady for pulling down a
similar flag, and had no desire to be martyrs, only we did not want it
there. The next morning, while we held our peace, we were much amused at
the excitement of our aunts over the disappearance of the flag, and
their insisting that they knew it had been stolen, for they had seen "a
man going down the street with one just like it."
The house now remains as heretofore, undecorated.
Captain Mayo, our naval friend, has just come to inform mother that
orders have been issued by the commanding general that we all must go up
King street tomorrow morning, and take the oath of allegiance to the
United States. She positively refused, but Captain Mayo says that in
case of noncompliance we will all have to leave the city at once. I am
at a loss to imagine what grounds the authorities have for fear of us,
as helpless a party of five ladies as can be found, the eldest being 81,
and the youngest 16; but we must decide to-day, and unless you see us,
if we are actually turned out, I will write you of the result in another
letter.
* * * * *
CHARLESTON, March 17, 1865.
Day before yesterday Captain Mayo returned and informed us that the
orders had been modified, so that if we desired, only the oath of
neutrality would be required.
We had never before heard of such an oath being required of helpless
women, but we were willing to compromise under the circumstances. So as
there was not the smallest chance of our ever being of any service again
to the Confederate cause, we announced our willingness to declare
ourselves neutral if the United States Government thought it important.
Aunt Anna said her 81 years rendered her utterly unable to walk as far
as the provost marshal's office and asked if the commandant thought her
neutrality of importance would he send an officer to the house to
administer the oath? This was done.
Aunt May, having in view the new regulation, which prohibited the
delivery of letters through the post-office to any one who had not taken
the oath of allegiance, and having her daughter in New York, from whom
she was anxious to hear, said tremblingly that she would take the oath
of allegiance.
Captain Mayo's manner to her immediately changed, and became very
cordial, as he said he would go and notify the provost marshal and come
back for us, whom he had already offered to accompany.
We retired to our room to make ourselves presentable for the streets, as
we had not been out of the house since we came down from the plantation;
and Annie and I changed our homespun dresses for our black and put on,
with lurking feelings of satisfaction, our bonnets, for which we had
paid the milliner, only a few months before, $150 each. We felt that our
enemies would be impressed with the fact that we were quite within the
circle of the fashionable world, and really when we appeared Captain
Mayo seemed quite struck; but we did not then imagine the reason.
He courteously offered his arm to Aunt May, who took it with a deep
sigh, and we, leaving Aunt Anna to Rachel's care, followed them to the
provost marshal's office, where we had reason to be glad of Captain
Mayo's escort, as the sidewalk in front of the office and the doorway
were thronged with idle negroes, who would have made themselves very
offensive if they had not seen us escorted by a United States officer.
As we entered, Captain Mayo said to us in a low tone, "The oath will be
administered to you ladies by a member of one of the best families of
Boston," to which Annie replied, "Don't you think that he might be
better employed?"
Of this the captain took no notice as he led the party to the middle of
a room, where we stood the attraction of many curious eyes. The officer
at the table came forward and asked which of the ladies desired to take
the oath of allegiance, whereupon Aunt May, looking very conscious,
moved forward and tremblingly held up her hand, but she was so agitated
that she could scarcely murmur her assent and sign her name to the
iron-clad oath.
When she had finished Captain Mayo congratulated her upon her renewed
loyalty, but much to his chagrin she replied, "I only did it so that I
could get my letters from the post-office; but I had not idea that the
oath contained such dreadful sentiments; please let me scratch out my
name and take the oath of neutrality instead."
At this the provost marshal remarked, "Madam, do you not realize the
sanctity of an oath, or do you desire to take all the oaths?"
Mother and Annie calmly took oaths of neutrality, and when my turn came
and I stepped forward to swear neutrality to the United States, it
appeared to be the crowning farce of the day. The officers present
seemed to be impressed with the absurdity of the thing and could not
control their countenances, and smiled as I stood before them.
As we sadly walked away we passed several Northern women and observed
that they all wore bonnets not much larger than our hands, while our
bonnets that we had thought so much of, with their lofty fronts, could
be compared to nothing more truly than the tower of Pisa. We could not
resist the idea that the oddity of our appearance must have led them to
imagine that we had just come out of the ark.
Upon our arrival at home Annie and I at once set about cutting down our
bonnets and drawing in and changing the shape of our skirts, but mother
was very unsympathetic and said she could not imagine why we wished to
look like Yankee women.
Annie and I witnessed a sickening sight yesterday when we were out on
the street for a few moments. A handsome large dog was being chased by
some negro soldiers, one of whom dashed out its brains with the butt of
a rifle almost on to our skirts. We were dreadfully agitated, and upon
mentioning the matter to Captain Mayo, he informed us that all dogs must
have licenses or be killed. I was much distressed at the danger of
losing my pet Cora, but Captain Mayo offered to obtain a license free
for her if I would accept it, and as we did not have $1.50 to pay for
it, we accepted his kind offer, so Cora is now protected.
Yesterday mother received notice that a war tax had been levied upon all
real estate, and that it must be paid within thirty days. Our tax
amounts to $180, and for our lives we cannot conceive where the money is
coming from to pay it, as we have only one gold dollar among us, but
little provisions, and only two of our cows that were smart enough to
escape into the woods when the others of the herd were slaughtered at
the plantation by General Potter's troops.
Mother was greatly troubled about the necessity of raising the money,
and seeing an advertisement in the paper that old china and handsome
pieces of glass would be bought by a Bostonian for relics, sent an
answer to the address and this morning took from the trunk some of our
best pieces we had saved and set them upon our only table in readiness
for the purchaser.
While we were at dinner two very unattractive citizens of Boston
presented themselves, who after looking at the articles, declined to
purchase and instead offered themselves as boarders, saying that they
had come to Charleston to open a grocery house and would be willing to
pay their board in provisions. Of course this arrangement was promptly
declined, but we were very much disheartened that our first effort to
raise the money for the tax had proved such a failure.
I give you a copy of the oath of neutrality I had to take; it is such a
farce.
* * * * *
"Headquarters Northern District Department South.
"Provost Marshal's Office, No. 35 King Street,
"Charleston, S. C, March 15, 1865.
"I do hereby certify on honor that on the 15th day of March, 1865,
at Charleston, S. C, the oath of neutrality to the United States of
America was duly taken, subscribed and made matter of record of by
Miss Marion Porcher.
"THOMAS L. APPLETON,
_Captain Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers,
Provost Marshal, N. D. D. S_"
TAY--A STORY OF MAUMA
One day some time ago, while turning over the contents of an old trunk,
which had been mine since childhood, had followed me in innumerable
moves, and contained the odds and ends full of associations as life goes
on, I came to a pair of half-moon earrings; they were very large, and of
old gold. "Oh!" I exclaimed, as I looked at them, "these bring Tay back
to the life."
My little girls, who had been looking on, eager-eyed, for mamma's old
trunk had always possessed a mysterious charm for Floy, and Grace,
enhanced since some years previous, when, after I had given up the idea
of having new cloaks for them for the winter, I chanced to see an
advertisement for Confederate bonds, and succeeded in finding enough of
these in my old trunk to supply the needed cloaks, and also other
things.
"Who was Tay?" they both exclaimed. I felt a sense of self-reproach at
the question; and I am sure to Tay herself the idea that one of her
"chillun's chillun" could have reached the mature age of ten years and
never had heard of her existence would have seemed incredible. It was
not from any lack of kindly recollection of the old woman that I had not
told the children of her; but my life had been a busy one, with many
invalid times, when the reverses of life pressed heavily, and I shrank
from speaking voluntarily of my childhood days, which had been so
different from theirs; and besides the children of the South to-day,
whose mothers were half-grown girls at the time of emancipation, belong
to a new order of things, and are out of sympathy with their parents on
many subjects. They do not understand their elders' feelings toward the
negroes. They regard them with very impartial eyes, and see them as they
are to-day. And as the succession of careless, ignorant cooks and
housemaids come and go they cannot understand the kind allowances made
for their faults by those who remember the tender nursing of the dear
old maumas. But to return to Tay.
"Who was Tay?" I repeated. "Why, one of the best of women; and it is
high time you should hear about her, and love her memory. So if you will
get your knitting and sit very quite I will tell you her story.