The steamer Champion brought us in nine hours to Pensacola, well known
as a United States’ Naval Station. We took the steamer Leroy for
Lagrange, with three passengers, passing through Santa Rosa sound; the
island of the same name rose in the distance, by moonlight, like a
walled city, with some verdure and shrub trees, and the beach of white
sand appeared like snow; the main land, covered with live oak, has been
purchased by Government, for ship building. We left Pensacola at five
P.M. and arrived at Lagrange in time for breakfast, and took
stage for Choctahatchie, Dead Lake, where we left the conveyance and
went a mile and a half in small boats to connect with another stage
coach. This Dead Lake is surrounded with cypress trees, and abounds
with alligators; a huge fellow, with distended jaws, showed himself
beside our little canoe; we fired a musket shot and he sank. We crossed
the Choctahatchie, a rapid stream, in a small boat, walked up the hill
to a barn, and found a stage to proceed. Magnolias of immense height
were found in the everglades in abundance, and in full bloom. A day’s
ride from Lagrange brought us to the village of Mariana; we stopped
at Holmes’ Village, P. O., and dined by the road in a log-house, in a
wilderness of pines; we could look through the sides and roof of this
dwelling. The woman said she had nothing in the house for dinner, which
was true: salt bacon, corn bread, and buttermilk, were the prominent
articles. At Mariana, twenty-seven miles from the Chattahoochie, we
found supper and the first signs of a town since we left Pensacola.
Leaving Mariana, the stage had seven passengers inside and three
outside, with heavy luggage; coming down Chipola hill, the equilibrium
was almost lost; we were going over when the driver let the horses go
to save an upset, and they ran away. A refractory horse has given us
a good fright. We crossed the Apalachicola river in a flat, poled up
the stream, and took the current to the opposite bank; negroes lay
by a camp fire waiting for the boat. Walked a mile to Mount Vernon,
and stopped at Scott’s new Arsenal and Magazine; the steamer coming
in view, we heard the puff of steam fifteen miles. I took the steamer
Commerce for Apalachicola; we had undertaken to haul a raft of timber,
when we saw the Irvington coming. Come on, boys, says the Irvington.
Don’t be alarmed, says the Capt. of the Commerce. Firemen all anxious,
passengers hurried on board. Cut the hawser, cries the Capt.; now go
it. The vibration of the boat was excessive; we could scarcely raise a
cup to the lips at table; boilers and flues almost red hot, the upper
deck grew so hot that my clothing in the trunk was heated through. The
scenery is pretty, the trees and growth of underbrush and cane-brake,
down to river bank of this serpentine river, are picturesque.
We beat our enemy, and he was obliged to round to, as a make-believe,
for wood.
I found Apalachicola a small place, with some good brick stores; the
shipping lies below, brigs and schooners only get over the bar. They
are trying to make St. Joseph a rival, with a railway from Iola to the
junction of the Chattahoochie and Flint rivers, but it is not probable
that the river trade can be diverted from its natural channel. I
visited cotton plantations to see the young plant growing, and the gins
for dressing; saw the poisonous moccasin snakes, five feet long, and
alligators in abundance. Visited Quincy, a county seat, in Florida; the
stage had eleven passengers, nine inside, among the rest a gentleman’s
black servant; in the night I found him fast asleep, quietly resting on
my shoulder. I supped at Bainbridge, and tolerably well, and one man
offered a Watumpka bill, to which the woman objected, and he said he
could pay when he came along again. He left his card to the amusement
of all concerned. We halted at a place in the piny woods, where the man
had his wife and a dozen white-headed, flaxy children, dirty as pigs;
he said he was from North Carolina, and could give us corn bread and
molasses, fat bacon, and three cups of coffee, for the whole party.
At twelve at night coming to a station, I found a part of my baggage
and valise missing; I put a negro on the track and went myself in
search through the woods; detached one of the lead horses and sent
another negro in hot pursuit. I heard or saw some wild animals in the
brush, and hurried up and found the boys who had found my baggage by
the road-side, where it had fallen. Arrived at Macon, on the Ocmulgee
river; it is a pretty city, with several churches, a young ladies’
seminary, one of the largest in the Union, besides several banks.
Rode from thence to Milledgeville, the capital of Georgia, thirty-six
miles; a rough country, scenery different from that of Florida. A State
Convention was being held to reduce the number of representatives in
the Legislature. The public-houses were crowded. The Government House
and States Prison are prominent buildings.
The heat and dust were overpowering. I took supper at Sparta at twelve
at night, arrived at Warrenton at four A.M.; went to bed
and slept for the first time in three days. I was rejoiced to find
the first railroad since I left New Orleans; rode fifty-one miles to
Augusta, on the Savannah river. The yellow nankeen cotton is produced
in this section. They are now raising 20,000 bales of staple annually.
The city has ten thousand population. There are many northern people
among the residents; the markets, wharfs, public buildings, and society
give evidence of thrift and progress. The Morus multicaulis speculation
is now the rage. This reminds me of meeting a northern man in Matanzas,
who proposes taking out plants to get the winter growth and profit by
the advance of the cuttings. The bubble will soon burst. Hamburg, in
South Carolina, lies on the opposite bank of the Savannah, connecting
with a bridge, where are seen the fortifications of nullification days.