adjutant-general were much knocked up by the journey; but I revived the
former with the last of the Immortalité rum. The latter was in very weak
health, and doesn't expect to live long; but he ardently hoped to
destroy a few more "bluebellies"[17] before he "goes under."
The Mississippi planter had abandoned his estate near Vicksburg, and
withdrawn with the remnant of his slaves into Texas. The Judge also had
lost all his property in New Orleans. In fact, every other man one meets
has been more or less ruined since the war, but all speak of their
losses with the greatest equanimity.
Captain Williams was a tall, cadaverous backwoodsman, who had lost his
health in the war. He spoke of the Federal general, Rosecrans, with
great respect, and he passed the following high encomium upon the
North-Western troops, under Rosecrans's command--
"They're reglar great big h----llsnorters, the same breed as ourselves.
They don't want no running after,--they don't. They ain't no Dutch
cavalry[18]--you bet!"
To my surprise all the party were willing to agree that a few years ago
most educated men in the south regarded slavery as a misfortune and not
justifiable, though necessary under the circumstances. But the meddling,
coercive conduct of the detested and despised abolitionists had caused
the bonds to be drawn much tighter.
My fellow-travellers of all classes are much given to talk to me about
their "peculiar institution," and they are most anxious that I should
see as much of it as possible, in order that I may be convinced that it
is not so bad as has been represented, and that they are not all
"Legrees," although they do not attempt to deny that there are many
instances of cruelty. But they say a man who is known to illtreat his
negroes is hated by all the rest of the community. They declare that
Yankees make the worst masters when they settle in the South; and all
seem to be perfectly aware that slavery, which they did not invent, but
which they inherited from us (English), is and always will be the great
bar to the sympathy of the civilised world. I have heard these words
used over and over again.
All the villages through which we passed were deserted except by women
and very old men; their aspect was most melancholy. The country is sandy
and the land not fertile, but the timber is fine.
We met several planters on the road, who with their families and
negroes were taking refuge in Texas, after having abandoned their
plantations in Louisiana on the approach of Banks. One of them had as
many as sixty slaves with him of all ages and sizes.
At 7 P.M. we received an unwelcome addition to our party, in the shape
of three huge, long-legged, unwashed, odoriferous Texan soldiers, and we
passed a wretched night in consequence. The Texans are certainly not
prone to take offence where they see none is intended; for when this
irruption took place, I couldn't help remarking to the Judge with regard
to the most obnoxious man who was occupying the centre seat to our
mutual discomfort,--"I say, Judge, this gentleman has got the longest
legs I ever saw." "Has he?" replied the Judge; "and he has got the
d----dest, longest, hardest back I ever felt." The Texan was highly
amused by these remarks upon his personal appearance, and apologised for
his peculiarities.
Crossed the Sabine river at 11.30 P.M.
[17] The Union soldiers are called "bluebellies" on account of their
blue uniforms. These often call the Confederates "greybacks."
[18] German dragoons, much despised by the Texans on account of their
style of riding.
* * * * *
_8th May_ (Friday).--We reached Marshall at 3 A.M., and got four hours'
sleep there. We then got into a railroad for sixteen miles, after which
we were crammed into another stage.
Crossed the frontier into Louisiana at 11 A.M. I have therefore been
nearly a month getting through the single state of Texas.
Reached Shrieveport at 3 P.M., and after washing for the first time in
five days, I called on General Kirby Smith, who commands the whole
country on this side of the Mississippi.
He is a Floridian by birth, was educated at West Point, and served in
the United States cavalry. He is only thirty-eight years old; and he
owes his rapid rise to a lieutenant-general to the fortunate fact of his
having fallen, just at the very nick of time, upon the Yankee flank at
the first battle of Manassas.[19]
He is a remarkably active man, and of very agreeable manners; he wears
big spectacles and a black beard.
His wife is an extremely pretty woman, from Baltimore, but she had cut
her hair quite short like a man's. In the evening, she proposed that we
should go down to the river and fish for cray-fish. We did so, and were
most successful, the General displaying much energy on the occasion.
He told me that M'Clellan might probably have destroyed the Southern
army with the greatest ease during the first winter, and without running
much risk to himself, as the Southerners were so much over-elated by
their easy triumph at Manassas, and their army had dwindled away.
I was introduced to Governor Moore, of Louisiana, to the
Lieutenant-Governor Hyams, and also to the exiled Governor of Missouri,
Reynolds.
Governor Moore told me he had been on the Red River since 1824, from
which date until 1840 it had been very unhealthy. He thinks that Dickens
must have intended Shrieveport by "Eden."[20]
Governor Reynolds, of Missouri, told me he found himself in the
unfortunate condition of a potentate exiled from his dominions; but he
showed me an address which he had issued to his Missourians, promising
to be with them at the head of an army to deliver them from their
oppressors.
Shrieveport is rather a decent-looking place on the Red River. It
contains about 3000 inhabitants, and is at present the seat of the
Louisianian Legislature _vice_ Baton Rouge. But only twenty-eight
members of the Lower House had arrived as yet, and business could not be
commenced with less than fifty.
The river now is broad and rapid, and it is navigated by large steamers;
its banks are low and very fertile, but reputed to be very unhealthy.
General Kirby Smith advised me to go to Munroe, and try to cross the
Mississippi from thence; he was so uncertain as to Alexandria that he
was afraid to send a steamer so far.
I heard much talk at his house about the late Federal raid into
Mississippi,[21] which seems to be a copy of John Morgan's operations,
except that the Federal raid was made in a thinly populated country,
bereft of its male inhabitants.
[19] Called by the Yankees "Bull Run."
[20] I believe this is a mistake of Governor Moore. I have always
understood Cairo was Eden.
[21] Grierson's raid.
* * * * *
_9th May_ (Saturday).--Started again by stage for Munroe at 4.30 A.M. My
companions were, the Mississippi planter, a mad dentist from New Orleans
(called, by courtesy, doctor), an old man from Matagorda, buying slaves
cheap in Louisiana, a wounded officer, and a wounded soldier.
The soldier was a very intelligent young Missourian, who told me (as
others have) that, at the commencement of these troubles, both he and
his family were strong Unionists. But the Lincolnites, by using
coercion, had forced them to take one side or the other--and there are
now no more bitter Secessionists than these people. This soldier (Mr
Douglas) was on his way to rejoin Bragg's army. A Confederate soldier
when wounded is not given his discharge, but is employed at such work as
he is competent to perform. Mr Douglas was quite lame; but will be
employed at mounted duties or at writing.
We passed several large and fertile plantations. The negro quarters
formed little villages, and seemed comfortable: some of them held 150 or
200 hands. We afterwards drove through some beautiful pine forests, and
were ferried across a beautiful shallow lake full of cypresses, but not
the least like European cypress trees.
We met a number more planters driving their families, their slaves, and
furniture, towards Texas--in fact, everything that they could save from
the ruin that had befallen them on the approach of the Federal troops.
At 5 P.M. we reached a charming little town, called Mindon, where I met
an English mechanic who deplored to me that he had been such a fool as
to naturalise himself, as he was in hourly dread of the conscription.
I have at length become quite callous to many of the horrors of stage
travelling. I no longer shrink at every random shower of tobacco-juice;
nor do I shudder when good-naturedly offered a quid. I eat voraciously
of the bacon that is provided for my sustenance, and I am invariably
treated by my fellow-travellers of all grades with the greatest
consideration and kindness. Sometimes a man remarks that it is rather
"mean" of England not to recognise the South; but I can always shut him
up by saying, that a nation which deserves its independence should fight
and earn it for itself--a sentiment which is invariably agreed to by
all.
* * * * *
_10th May_ (Sunday).--I spent a very rough night in consequence of the
badness of the road, the jolting of the carriage, and having to occupy a
centre seat.
In the morning we received news from every one we met of the fall of
Alexandria.
The road to-day was alive with negroes, who are being "run" into Texas
out of Banks's way. We must have met hundreds of them, and many families
of planters, who were much to be pitied, especially the ladies.
On approaching Munroe, we passed through the camp of Walker's division
(8000 strong), which was on its march from Arkansas to meet Banks. The
division had embarked in steamers, and had already started down the
"Wachita" towards the Red River, when the news arrived of the fall of
Alexandria, and of the presence of Federal gunboats in or near the
Wachita itself. This caused the precipitate return and disembarkation of
Walker's division. The men were well armed with rifles and bayonets, but
they were dressed in ragged civilian clothes. The old Matagorda man
recognised his son in one of these regiments--a perfect boy.
Munroe is on the "Wachita" (pronounced Washtaw), which is a very pretty
and wide stream. After crossing it we arrived at the hotel after dark.
Universal confusion reigned there; it was full of officers and soldiers
of Walker's division, and no person would take the slightest notice of
us.
In desperation I called on General Hebert, who commanded the post. I
told him who I was, and gave him a letter of introduction, which I had
fortunately brought from Kirby Smith. I stated my hard case, and
besought an asylum for the night, which he immediately accorded me in
his own house.
The difficulty of crossing the Mississippi appeared to increase the
nearer I got to it, and General Hebert told me that it was very doubtful
whether I could cross at all at this point. The Yankee gunboats, which
had forced their way past Vicksburg and Port Hudson, were roaming about
the Mississippi and Red River, and some of them were reported at the
entrance of the Wachita itself, a small fort at Harrisonburg being the
only impediment to their appearance in front of Munroe.
On another side, the enemy's forces were close to Delhi, only forty
miles distant.
There were forty or fifty Yankee deserters here from the army besieging
Vicksburg. These Yankee deserters, on being asked their reasons for
deserting, generally reply,--"Our Government has broken faith with us.
We enlisted to fight for the Union, and not to liberate the G----d
d----d niggers." Vicksburg is distant from this place about eighty
miles.
The news of General Lee's victory at Chancellorsville had just arrived
here. Every one received it very coolly, and seemed to take it quite as
a matter of course; but the wound of Stonewall Jackson was universally
deplored.
* * * * *
_11th May_ (Monday).--General Hebert is a good-looking creole.[22] He
was a West-Pointer, and served in the old army, but afterwards became a
wealthy sugar-planter. He used to hold Magruder's position as
commander-in-chief in Texas, but he has now been shelved at Munroe,
where he expects to be taken prisoner any day; and, from the present
gloomy aspect of affairs about here, it seems extremely probable that he
will not be disappointed in his expectations. He is extremely down upon
England for not recognising the South.[23]
He gave me a passage down the river in a steamer, which was to try to
take provisions to Harrisonburg; but, at the same time, he informed me
that she might very probably be captured by a Yankee gunboat.
At 1 P.M. I embarked for Harrisonburg, which is distant from Munroe by
water 150 miles, and by land 75 miles. It is fortified, and offers what
was considered a weak obstruction to the passage of the gunboats up the
river to Munroe.
The steamer was one of the curious American river boats, which rise to a
tremendous height out of the water, like great wooden castles. She was
steered from a box at the very top of all, and this particular one was
propelled by one wheel at her stern.
The river is quite beautiful; it is from 200 to 300 yards broad, very
deep and tortuous, and the large trees grow right down to the very edge
of the water.
Our captain at starting expressed in very plain terms his extreme
disgust at the expedition, and said he fully expected to run against a
gunboat at any turn of the river.
Soon after leaving Munroe, we passed a large plantation. The negro
quarters were larger than a great many Texan towns, and they held three
hundred hands.
After we had proceeded about half an hour, we were stopped by a mounted
orderly (called a courier), who from the bank roared out the pleasing
information, "They're a-fighting at Harrisonburg." The captain on
hearing this turned quite green in the face, and remarked that he'd be
"dogged" if he liked running into the jaws of a lion, and he proposed to
turn back; but he was jeered at by my fellow-travellers, who were all
either officers or soldiers, wishing to cross the Mississippi to rejoin
their regiments in the different Confederate armies.
One pleasant fellow, more warlike than the rest, suggested that as we
had some Enfields on board, we should make "a little bit of a fight," or
at least "make one butt at a gunboat." I was relieved to find that these
insane proposals were not received with any enthusiasm by the majority.
The plantations, as we went further down the river, looked very
prosperous; but signs of preparations for immediate skedaddling were
visible in most of them, and I fear they are all destined to be soon
desolate and destroyed.
We came to a courier picket every sixteen miles. At one of them we got
the information, "Gun-boats drove back," at which there was great
rejoicing, and the captain, recovering his spirits, became quite jocose,
and volunteered to give me letters of introduction to a "particular
friend of his about here, called Mr Farragut;" but the next news, "Still
a-fightin'," caused us to tie ourselves to a tree at 8 P.M., off a
little village called Columbia, which is half-way between Munroe and
Harrisonburg.
We then lit a large fire, round which all the passengers squatted on
their heels in Texan fashion, each man whittling a piece of wood, and
discussing the merits of the different Yankee prisons at New Orleans or
Chicago. One of them, seeing me, called out, "I reckon, Kernel, if the
Yankees catch you with us, they'll say you're in d----d bad company;"
which sally caused universal hilarity.
[22] The descendants of the French colonists in Louisiana are called
creoles; most of them talk French, and I have often met Louisianian
regiments talking that language.
[23] General Hebert is the only man of education I met in the whole of
my travels who spoke disagreeably about England in this respect. Most
people say they think we are quite right to keep out of it as long as we
can; but others think our Government is foolish to miss such a splendid
chance of "smashing the Yankees," with whom we must have a row sooner or
later.
* * * * *
_12th May_ (Tuesday).--Shortly after daylight three negroes arrived from
Harrisonburg, and they described the fight as still going on. They said
they were "dreadful skeered;" and one of them told me he would "rather
be a slave to his master all his life, than a white man and a soldier."
During the morning some of the officers and soldiers left the boat, and
determined to cut across country to Harrisonburg, but I would not
abandon the scanty remains of my baggage until I was forced to do so.
During the morning twelve more negroes arrived from Harrisonburg. It
appears that three hundred of them, the property of neighbouring
planters, had been engaged working on the fortifications, but they all
with one accord bolted when the first shell was fired. Their only idea
and hope at present seemed to be to get back to their masters. All spoke
of the Yankees with great detestation, and expressed wishes to have
nothing to do with such "bad people."
Our captain coolly employed them in tearing down the fences, and
carrying the wood away on board the steamer for firewood.
We did nothing but this all day long, the captain being afraid to go on,
and unwilling to return. In the evening a new alarm seized him--viz.,
that the Federal cavalry had cut off the Confederate line of couriers.
During the night we remained in the same position as last night, head up
stream, and ready to be off at a moment's notice.[24]
[24] One of the passengers on board this steamer was Captain Barney of
the Confederate States Navy, who has since, I believe, succeeded Captain
Maffit in the command of the Florida.
* * * * *
_13th May_ (Wednesday).--There was a row on board last night; one of
the officers having been too attentive to a lady, had to skedaddle
suddenly into the woods, in order to escape the fury of her protector,
and he has not thought it advisable to reappear. My trusty companion for
several days, the poor young Missourian, was taken ill to-day, and told
me he had a "_right smart little fever_ on him." I doctored him with
some of the physic which Mr Maloney had given me, and he got better in
the evening.
We had pickets out in the woods last night. Two of my fellow-travellers
on that duty fell in with a negro, and pretending they were Yankees,
asked him to join them. He consented, and even volunteered to steal his
master's horses; and he then received a tremendous thrashing,
administered by the two soldiers with their ramrods.
At 9 P.M., to the surprise of all, the captain suddenly made up his mind
to descend the river at all hazards, thinking, I suppose, that anything
was better than the uncertainty of the last twenty-four hours.
The further we went, the more beautiful was the scenery.
At 4 P.M. we were assured by a citizen on the bank that the gunboats
really had retreated; and at 5.30 our doubts were set at rest, to our
great satisfaction, by descrying the Confederate flag flying from Fort
Beauregard, high above the little town of Harrisonburg. After we had
landed, I presented my letter of introduction from General Hebert to
Colonel Logan, who commands the fort. He introduced me to a German
officer, the engineer.
They gave me an account of the attack and repulse of the four Federal
gunboats under Commodore Woodford, and supposed to have been the
Pittsburg (ironclad), the General Price, the Arizona, and another.
Fort Beauregard is a much more formidable looking work than I expected
to see, and its strength had evidently been much underrated at Munroe.
A hill 190 feet high, which rises just in rear of Harrisonburg, has been
scarped and fortified. It is situated at an angle of the river, and
faces a long "reach" of two miles.
The gunboats, after demanding an unconditional surrender, which was
treated with great contempt by Colonel Logan, opened fire at 2 P.M. on
Sunday, and kept it up till 6.30, throwing about one hundred and fifty 9
and 11 inch shell. The gunboats reopened again for about an hour on
Monday afternoon, when they finally withdrew, the Arizona being
crippled.
The fort fired altogether about forty-five 32-pound shot (smooth bore.)
The range was about a mile.
The garrison thought that they had loosened several of the Pittsburg's
iron-plates. They felt confident they could have sunk the wooden vessels
if they had attempted to force the passage; and they were naturally much
elated with their success, which certainly had not been anticipated on
board my steamer, or at Munroe.
I had not time to visit the interior of the fort, but I saw the effect
of the shell upon the outside. Those which fell in the sand did not
burst. Only three men were wounded in the garrison. They told me the
deck of the Pittsburg was furnished with a parapet of cotton bales for
riflemen.
The river at Harrisonburg is about 160 yards broad, and very deep, with
a moderate current. The town, being between the vessels and the fort,
had, of course, suffered considerably during the bombardment.
When the works are complete they will be much more formidable.
To our great joy Colonel Logan decided that our vessel should proceed at
once to Trinity, which is fifteen miles nearer Natchez (on the
Mississippi) than Harrisonburg.
We arrived there at 8 P.M., and found that the gunboats had only just
left, after having destroyed all the molasses and rum they could find,
and carried away a few negroes.
Six of us pigged in one very small room, paying a dollar each for this
luxury to an old woman, who was most inhospitable, and told us "she
didn't want to see no soldiers, as the Yanks would come back and burn
her house for harbouring rebels." I am always taken for a Confederate
officer, partly from being in their company, and partly on account of my
clothes, which happen to be a grey shooting-suit, almost the same colour
as most of the soldiers' coats.
* * * * *
_14th May_ (Thursday).--The officers and soldiers, about thirty in
number, who came down the Wachita in my company, determined to proceed
to Natchez to-day, and a very hard day's work we had of it.
As the Louisianian bank of the Mississippi is completely overflowed at
this time of year, and the river itself is infested with the enemy's
gunboats, which have run past Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the passage can
only be made by a tedious journey in small boats through the swamps and
bayous.
Our party left Trinity at 6 A.M. in one big yawl and three skiffs. In
my skiff were eight persons, besides a negro oarsman named "Tucker." We
had to take it in turns to row with this worthy, and I soon discovered
to my cost the inconvenience of sitting in close proximity with a
perspiring darkie. This negro was a very powerful man, very vain, and
susceptible of flattery. I won his heart by asking him if he wasn't
worth 6000 dollars. We kept him up to the mark throughout the journey by
plying him with compliments upon his strength and skill. One officer
declared to him that he should try to marry his mistress (a widow) on
purpose to own him.
After beating up for about eight miles against one of three streams
which unite at, and give its name to, Trinity, we turned off to the
right, and got into a large dense swamp. The thicket was so tangled and
impenetrable that we experienced the greatest difficulty in forcing our
way through it; we were often obliged to get into the water up to our
middles and shove, whilst most of the party walked along an embankment.
After two hours and a half of this sort of work we had to carry our
boats bodily over the embankment into a bayou called Log Bayou, on
account of the numerous floating logs which had to be encountered. We
then crossed a large and beautiful lake, which led us into another
dismal swamp, quite as tangled as the former one. Here we lost our way,
and got aground several times; but at length, after great exertions, we
forced ourselves through it, and reached Lake Concordia, a fine piece of
water, several miles in extent, and we were landed at dusk on the
plantation of a Mr Davis.
These bayous and swamps abound with alligators and snakes of the most
venomous description. I saw many of the latter swimming about exposed to
a heavy fire of six-shooters; but the alligators were frightened away by
the leading boat.
The yawl and one of the skiffs beat us, and their passengers reached
Natchez about 9 P.M., but the other skiff, which could not boast of a
Tucker, was lost in the swamp, and passed the night there in a wretched
plight.
The weather was most disagreeable, either a burning sun or a downpour of
rain.