when we started again, but the more seasoned Judge drove the mules.
The signs of getting out of the sands now began to be apparent; and at
5 P.M. we were able to halt at a very decent place with grass, but _no
water_. We suffered here for want of water, our stock being very nearly
expended.
Mr Sargent, who was now comparatively sober, killed the sheep most
scientifically at 5.30 P.M.; and at 6.30 we were actually devouring it,
and found it very good. Mr Sargent cooked it by the simple process of
stewing junks of it in a frying-pan, but we had only just enough water
to do this.
[8] I was afterwards told that the Judge's term of service had expired.
El Paso was his district.
* * * * *
_19th April_ (Sunday).--At 1 A.M. this morning, our slumbers on the
bullock-rug were disturbed by a sudden and most violent thunderstorm.
M'Carthy and I had only just time to rush into the carriage, and hustle
our traps underneath it, when the rain began to descend in torrents.
We got inside with the little Jew (who was much alarmed by the thunder);
whilst Mr Sargent and the Judge crept underneath.
The rain lasted two hours; and at daylight we were able to refresh
ourselves by drinking the water from the puddles, and effect a start.
But fate seemed adverse to our progress. No sooner had we escaped from
the sand than we fell into the mud, which was still worse.
We toiled on till 11.30 A.M., at which hour we reached "_King's
Ranch_," which for several days I had heard spoken of as a sort of
Elysium, marking as it does the termination of the sands, and the
commencement of comparative civilisation.
We halted in front of the house, and after cooking and eating, I walked
up to the "ranch," which is a comfortable, well-furnished wooden
building.
Mr and Mrs King had gone to Brownsville; but we were received by Mrs
Bee, the wife of the Brownsville general, who had heard I was on the
road.
She is a nice lively little woman, a red-hot Southerner, glorying in the
facts that she has no Northern relations or friends, and that she is a
member of the Church of England.
Mr King first came to Texas as a steamboat captain, but now owns an
immense tract of country, with 16,000 head of cattle, situated, however,
in a wild and almost uninhabited district. King's Ranch is distant from
Brownsville only 125 miles, and we have been six days in reaching it.
After drying our clothes and our food after the rain of last night, we
started again at 2.30 P.M.
We now entered a boundless and most fertile prairie, upon which, as far
as the eye could reach, cattle were feeding.
Bulls and cows, horses and mares, came to stare at us as we passed.
They all seemed sleek and in good condition, yet they get nothing but
what they can pick up on the prairie.
I saw a man on horseback kill a rabbit with his revolver. I also saw a
scorpion for the first time.
We halted at 5.30 P.M., and had to make our fire principally of
cow-dung, as wood is very scarce on this prairie.
We gave up the Judge's horse at King's Ranch. The lawgiver now rides on
the box with Mr Sargent.
* * * * *
_20th April_ (Monday).--I slept well last night in spite of the numerous
prairie-wolves which surrounded us, making a most dismal noise.
The Jew was ill again, but both Mr Sargent and the Judge were very kind
to him; so also was M'Carthy, who declared that a person incapable of
protecting himself, and sickly, such as this little Jew, is always sure
of kind treatment and compassion, even from the wildest Texans.
We started at 5 A.M., and had to get through some dreadful mud--Mr
Sargent in an awful bad humour, and using terrific language.
We were much delayed by this unfortunate rain, which had converted a
good road into a quagmire. We detected a rattlesnake crawling along this
morning but there are not nearly so many of them in this country as
there used to be.
We halted at 9 A.M., and, to make a fire for cooking, we set a rat-ranch
alight, which answered very well; but one big rat, annoyed by our
proceedings, emerged hastily from his den, and very nearly jumped into
the frying-pan.
Two Texan rangers, belonging to Taylor's regiment, rode up to us whilst
we were at breakfast. These rangers all wear the most enormous spurs I
ever saw.
We resumed our journey at 12.30, and reached a creek[9] called "Agua
Dulce" at 2 P.M. M'Carthy and I got out before crossing to forage at
some huts close by. We got two dozen eggs and some lard; but, on
returning to the road, we found that Mr Sargent had pursued his usual
plan of leaving us in the lurch.
I luckily was able to get hold of a Mexican boy, and rode across the
creek _en croupe_. M'Carthy dismounted a negro, and so got over.
We halted at 5 P.M.
After dark M'Carthy crossed the prairie to visit some friends who were
encamped half a mile distant. He lost his way in returning, and wandered
about for several hours. The Judge, with great presence of mind, kept
the fire up, and he found us at last.
The heat from nine to two is pretty severe; but in Texas there is
generally a cool sea-breeze, which makes it bearable.
[9] All streams or rivers are called creeks, and pronounced "criks."
* * * * *
_21st April_ (Tuesday).--We started at 5 A.M., and reached a hamlet
called "Casa Blanca" at 6. We procured a kid, some Indian corn, and two
fowls in this neighbourhood.
We had now quitted the flat country, and entered an undulating or
"rolling" country, full of live oaks of very respectable size, and we
had also got out of the mud.
Mr Sargent and the Judge got drunk again about 8 A.M., which, however,
had a beneficial effect upon the speed. We descended the hills at a
terrific pace--or, as Mr Sargent expressed it, "_Going like h----ll
a-beating tan bark_."
We "nooned it" at a small creek; and after unhitching, Mr Sargent and
the Judge had a row with one another, after which Mr Sargent killed and
cooked the goat, using my knife for these operations. With all his
faults he certainly is a capital butcher, cook, and mule-driver. He
takes great care of his animals, and is careful to inform us that the
increased pace we have been going at is not attributable to gin.
He was very complimentary to me, because I acted as assistant cook and
butcher.
Mr Ward's party passed us about 1 P.M. The front wheels of his buggy
having now smashed, it is hitched in rear of one of the waggons.
We made a pretty good afternoon's drive through a wood of post oaks,
where we saw another rattlesnake, which we tried to shoot.
We halted at Spring creek at 6.30 P.M.; water rather brackish, and no
grass for the mules.
The Judge gave us some of his experiences as a filibuster. He declares
that a well-cooked polecat is as good to eat as a pig, and that stewed
rattlesnake is not so bad as might be supposed. The Texans call the
Mexicans "greasers," the latter retort by the name "gringo."
We are now living luxuriously upon eggs and goat's flesh; and I think we
have made about thirty-two miles to-day.
* * * * *
_22d April_ (Wednesday).--We got under weigh at 5 A.M., the mules
looking rather mean for want of grass.
At 8 A.M. we reached the Nueces river, the banks of which are very
steep, and are bordered with a beautiful belt of live oak-trees, covered
with mustang grapes.
On the other side of the Nueces is "Oakville," a miserable settlement,
consisting of about twenty wooden huts. We bought some butter there, and
caught up Ward's waggons. The women at Oakville were most anxious to buy
snuff. It appears that the Texan females are in the habit of dipping
snuff--which means, putting it into their mouths instead of their noses.
They rub it against their teeth with a blunted stick.
We reached grass about 10 A.M., and "nooned it," the weather being very
trying--very sultry, without sun or wind.
We hitched in at 1.15--Ward's waggons in our front, and a Frenchman's
four-horse team in our rear. At 4 P.M. we reached the "Weedy," a creek
which, to our sorrow, was perfectly dry. We drove on till 7 P.M., and
halted at some good grass. There being a report of water in the
neighbourhood, Mr Sargent, the Judge, Ward, and the Frenchman, started
to explore; and when, at length, they did discover a wretched little
mud-hole, it appears that a desperate conflict for the water ensued, for
the Judge returned to us a mass of mud, and presenting a very
crestfallen appearance. Shortly after, Mr Sargent appeared, in such a
bad humour that he declined to cook, to eat, to drink, or do anything
but swear vehemently.
Deprived by this contretemps of our goat's flesh we had recourse to an
old ham and very stale bread.
We met many cotton trains and government waggons to-day, and I think we
have progressed about thirty-four miles.
* * * * *
_23d April_ (Thursday).--The wily Mr Sargent drove the animals down to
the mud-hole in the middle of last night, and so stole a march upon
Ward.
Our goat's flesh having spoiled, had to be thrown away this morning. We
started at 5.30 A.M., and reached "Rocky" at 7.30; but before this two
of Ward's horses had "_caved in_," which completely restored our
driver's good-humour.
Rocky consists of two huts in the midst of a stony country; and about a
mile beyond it we reached a pond, watered our mules, and filled our
barrels. The water was very muddy to look at, but not bad to drink.
The mules were lazy to-day; and Mr Sargent was forced to fill his bucket
with stones, and pelt the leaders occasionally.
At 8 A.M. we reached an open, undulating prairie, and halted at 10.30.
Mr Sargent and I killed and cooked the two chickens.
He has done me the honour to call me a "right good companion for the
road." He also told me that at one time he kept a hotel at El Paso--a
sort of half-way house on the overland route to California--and was
rapidly making his fortune when the war totally ruined him. This
accounts for his animosity to "Uncle Abe."[10]
We hitched in again at 3 P.M., and after pushing through some deepish
sand, we halted for the night only twenty-four miles from San Antonio.
No corn or water, but plenty of grass; our food, also, was now entirely
expended. Mr Ward struggled up at 8.15, making a desperate effort to
keep up with us, and this rivalry between Sargent and him was of great
service.
This was our last night of camping out, and I felt almost sorry for it,
for I have enjoyed the journey in spite of the hardships. The country
through which I have passed would be most fertile and productive (at
least the last 150 miles), were it not for the great irregularity of the
seasons. Sometimes there is hardly any rain for two and three years
together.
[10] General Longstreet remembered both Sargent and the Judge perfectly,
and he was much amused by my experiences with these worthies. General
Longstreet had been quartered on the Texan frontiers a long time when he
was in the old army.--August 1863.
* * * * *
_24th April_ (Friday).--We made a start at 4.15 A.M., and with the
assistance of M'Carthy, we managed to lose our way; but at 6.15 a loud
cheer from the box, of "Hoorraw for h----ll! who's afraid of fire?"
proclaimed that Mr Sargent had come in sight of Grey's ranch.
After buying some eggs and Indian corn there, we crossed the deep bed of
the river San Antonio. Its banks are very steep and picturesque.
We halted immediately beyond, to allow the mules to feed for an hour. A
woman was murdered at a ranch close by some time ago, and five bad
characters were put to death at San Antonio by the vigilance committee
on suspicion.
We crossed the Selado river at 11, and nooned it in its neighbourhood.
Mr Sargent and the Judge finished the gin; and the former, being rather
drunk, entertained us with a detailed description of his treatment of a
refractory negro girl, which, by his own account, must have been very
severe. M'Carthy was much disgusted at the story.[11]
After bathing in the Selado, Mr Sargent, being determined to beat Ward,
pushed on for San Antonio; and we drew up before Menger's hotel at 3
P.M., our mules dead beat--our driver having fulfilled his promise of
"making his long-eared horses howl."
Later in the day I walked through the streets with M'Carthy to his
store, which is a very large building, but now desolate, everything
having been sold off. He was of course greeted by his numerous friends,
and amongst others I saw a negro come up to him, shake hands, and
welcome him back.
I was introduced to Colonel Duff's brother, who is also a very
good-looking man; but he has not thrown off his British nationality and
become a "citizen."
The distance from Brownsville to San Antonio is 330 miles, and we have
been 11 days and 4 hours _en route_.
[11] However happy and well off the slaves may be as a general rule, yet
there must be many instances (like that of Mr Sargent) of ill-treatment
and cruelty. Mr Sargent is a Northerner by birth, and is without any of
the kind feeling which is nearly always felt by Southerners for
negroes.--July 1863.
* * * * *
_25th April_ (Saturday).--San Antonio is prettily situated on both banks
of the river of the same name. It should contain about 10,000
inhabitants, and is the largest place in Texas, except Galveston.
The houses are well built of stone, and they are generally only one or
two storeys high. All have verandahs in front.
Before the war San Antonio was very prosperous, and rapidly increasing
in size; but trade is now almost at a complete stand-still. All the male
population under forty are in the military service, and many necessary
articles are at famine prices. Coffee costs $7 a lb.
Menger's hotel is a large and imposing edifice, but its proprietor (a
civil German) was on the point of shutting it up for the present.
During the morning I visited Colonel Bankhead, a tall, gentlemanlike
Virginian, who was commanding officer of the troops here. He told me a
great deal about the Texan history, the Jesuit missions, and the
Louisiana purchase, &c.; and he alarmed me by doubting whether I should
be able to cross the Mississippi if Banks had taken Alexandria.
I also made the acquaintance of Major Minter, another Virginian, who
told me he had served in the 2d cavalry in the old United States army.
The following officers in the Confederate army were in the same
regiment--viz., General A.S. Johnston (killed at Shiloh), General Lee,
General Van Dorn, General Hardee, General Kirby Smith, and General
Hood.[12]
By the advice of M'Carthy, I sent my portmanteau and some of my heavy
things to be sold by auction, as I could not possibly carry them with
me.
I took my place by the stage for Alleyton (Houston): it cost $40; in old
times it was $13.
I dined with M'Carthy and young Duff at 3 P.M. The latter would not
hear of my paying my share of the expenses of the journey from
Brownsville. Mrs M'Carthy was thrown into a great state of agitation and
delight by receiving a letter from her mother, who is in Yankeedom.
Texas is so cut off that she only hears once in many months.
Colonel and Mrs Bankhead called for me in their ambulance at 5 P.M., and
they drove me to see the source of the San Antonio, which is the most
beautiful clear spring I ever saw. We also saw the extensive foundations
for a tannery now being built by the Confederate Government.
The country is very pretty, and is irrigated in an ingenious manner by
ditches cut from the river in all directions. It is thus in a great
degree rendered independent of rain.
At San Antonio spring we were entertained by a Major Young, a queer
little naval officer,--why a major I couldn't discover.
Mrs Bankhead is a violent Southerner. She was twice ordered out of
Memphis by the Federals on account of her husband's principles; but she
says that she was treated with courtesy and kindness by the Federal
General Sherman, who carried out the orders of his Government with
regret.
None of the Southern people with whom I have spoken entertain any hopes
of a speedy termination of the war. They say it must last all Lincoln's
presidency, and perhaps a good deal longer.
In the neighbourhood of San Antonio, one-third of the population is
German, and many of them were at first by no means loyal to the
Confederate cause. They objected much to the conscription, and some even
resisted by force of arms; but these were soon settled by Duff's
regiment, and it is said they are now reconciled to the new regime.
My portmanteau, with what was in it--for I gave away part of my
things--sold for $323. Its value in England couldn't have been more than
£8 or £9. The portmanteau itself, which was an old one, fetched $51; a
very old pair of butcher boots, $32; five shirts $42; an old overcoat
$25.
[12] Also the Federal Generals Thomas and Stoneman.
* * * * *
_26th April_ (Sunday).--At 11.30 A.M., M'Carthy drove me in his buggy to
see the San Pedro spring, which is inferior in beauty to the San Antonio
spring. A troop of Texan cavalry was bivouacked there.
We afterwards drove to the "_missions_" of San José and San Juan, six
and nine miles from the town. These were fortified convents for the
conversion of the Indians, and were built by the Jesuits about one
hundred and seventy years ago. They are now ruins, and the architecture
is of the heavy Castilian style, elaborately ornamented. These missions
are very interesting, and there are two more of them, which I did not
see.
In the afternoon I saw many negroes and negresses parading about in
their Sunday clothes--silks and crinolines--much smarter than their
mistresses.
At 5 P.M. I dined with Colonel Bankhead, who gave an entertainment,
which in these hard times must have cost a mint of money. About fourteen
of the principal officers were invited; one of them was Captain Mason
(cousin to the London commissioner), who had served under Stonewall
Jackson in Virginia. He said that officer was by no means popular _at
first_. I spent a very agreeable evening, and heard many anecdotes of
the war. One of the officers sang the Abolition song, "John Brown,"
together with its parody, "I'm bound to be a soldier in the army of the
South," a Confederate marching-song, and another parody, which is a
Yankee marching-song, "We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour-apple tree."
Whenever I have dined with Confederate officers they have nearly always
proposed the Queen's health, and never failed to pass the highest
eulogiums upon Her Majesty.
* * * * *
_27th April_ (Monday).--Colonel Bankhead has given me letters of
introduction to General Bragg, to General Leonidas Polk, and several
others.
At 2 P.M. I called on Mrs Bankhead to say good-bye. She told me that her
husband had two brothers in the Northern service--one in the army and
the other in the navy. The two army brothers were both in the battles of
Shiloh and Perryville, on opposite sides. The naval Bankhead commanded
the Monitor when she sank.
---- introduced me to a German militia General in a beer-house this
afternoon. These two had a slight dispute, as the latter spoke strongly
in disapproval of "_secret or night lynching_."
The recent escapade of Captain Peñaloso seems to have been much
condemned in San Antonio. This individual (formerly a butcher) hanged
one of his soldiers a short time ago, on his own responsibility, for
desertion and stealing a musket. This event came off at 12 o'clock noon,
in the principal plaça of the city. The tree has been cut down, to show
the feelings of the citizens.
There can be no doubt that the enforcement of the conscription has, as
a general rule, been extremely easy throughout the Confederacy (except
among the Germans); but I hear of many persons evading it, by getting
into some sort of government employment--such as contractors, agents, or
teamsters to the Rio Grande. To my extreme regret I took leave of my
friend M'Carthy this evening, whose hospitality and kindness I shall
never forget.
I left San Antonio by _stage_ for Alleyton at 9 P.M. The stage was an
old coach, into the interior of which nine persons were crammed on three
transverse seats, besides many others on the roof. I was placed on the
centre seat, which was extremely narrow, and I had nothing but a strap
to support my back. An enormously fat German was my _vis-à-vis_, and a
long-legged Confederate officer was in my rear.
Our first team consisted of four mules; we afterwards got horses.
My fellow-travellers were all either military men, or connected with the
Government.
_Only five_ out of nine chewed tobacco during the night; but they aimed
at the windows with great accuracy, and didn't _splash_ me. The amount
of sleep I got, however, was naturally very trifling.
* * * * *
_28th April_ (Tuesday).--We crossed the river Guadalupe at 5 A.M., and
got a change of horses.
We got a very fair breakfast at Seguin at 7 A.M., which was beginning
to be a well-to-do little place when the war dried it up.
It commenced to rain at Seguin, which made the road very woolly, and
annoyed the outsiders a good deal.
The conversation turned a good deal upon military subjects, and all
agreed that the system of election of officers had proved to be a great
mistake. According to their own accounts, discipline must have been
extremely lax at first, but was now improving. They were most anxious to
hear what was thought of their cause in Europe; and none of them seemed
aware of the great sympathy which their gallantry and determination had
gained for them in England in spite of slavery.
We dined at a little wooden hamlet called Belmont, and changed horses
again there.
The country through which we had been travelling was a good deal
cultivated, and there were numerous farms. I saw cotton-fields for the
first time.
We amused ourselves by taking shots with our revolvers at the enormous
jack-rabbits which came to stare at the coach.
In the afternoon tobacco-chewing became universal, and the spitting was
sometimes a little wild.
It was the custom for the outsiders to sit round the top of the
carriage, with their legs dangling over (like mutes on a hearse
returning from a funeral). This practice rendered it dangerous to put
one's head out of the window, for fear of a back kick from the heels, or
of a shower of tobacco-juice from the mouths, of the Southern
chivalry on the roof. In spite of their peculiar habits of hanging,
shooting, &c., which seemed to be natural to people living in a wild
and thinly-populated country, there was much to like in my
fellow-travellers. They all had a sort of _bonhommie_ honesty and
straightforwardness, a natural courtesy and extreme good-nature, which
was very agreeable. Although they were all very anxious to talk to a
European--who, in these blockaded times, is a _rara avis_--yet their
inquisitiveness was never offensive or disagreeable.
Any doubts as to my personal safety, which may have been roused by my
early insight into Lynch law, were soon completely set at rest; for I
soon perceived that if any one were to annoy me the remainder would
stand by me as a point of honour.
We supped at a little town called Gonzales at 6.30.
We left it at 8 P.M. in another coach with six horses--big strong
animals.
The roads being all natural ones, were much injured by the rains.
We were all rather disgusted by the bad news we heard at Gonzales of the
continued advance of Banks, and of the probable fall of Alexandria.
The squeezing was really quite awful, but I did not suffer so much as
the fat or long-legged ones. They all bore their trials in the most
jovial good-humoured manner.
My fat _vis-à-vis_ (in despair) changed places with me, my two
bench-fellows being rather thinner than his, and I benefited much by the
change into a back seat.
* * * * *
_29th April_ (Wednesday).--Exhausted as I was, I managed to sleep
wonderfully well last night. We breakfasted at a place called
Hallettsville at 7 A.M., and changed carriages again.
Here we took in four more Confederate soldiers as outsiders, and we were
now eighteen in all. Nowhere but in this country would such a thing be
permitted.
Owing to the great top-weight, the coach swayed about like a ship in a
heavy sea, and the escapes of a capsize were almost miraculous. It is
said that at the end of a Texan journey the question asked is not, "Have
you been upset?" but, "How many times have you been upset?"
The value of the negroes working in the fields was constantly appraised
by my fellow-travellers; and it appeared that, in Texas, an able-bodied
male fetched $2500, whilst a well-skilled seamstress was worth $3500.