The expenses of the department are enormous, and they must,

if practicable, be reduced. You must therefore carefully

avoid any expense not absolutely required; but at the same

time, economy is not to be carried so far as to impair

efficiency.

Maj. Babbitt has been written to and informed that you are

to organize a train under his instructions, or to aid him

in organizing it, and that you are to have charge of it. Let

that service be performed in your usual manner, and with your

accustomed energy, and I am sure all will go right.

All the operatives employed must go armed, and if a small

escort be necessary in addition, the commanding general I

have no doubt will direct it. Let it however be as small as

possible, so as not to use so large a portion of the supplies

as are usually required for escorts.

Collect all the information you can in regard to the country,

its resources, the condition of the Indians who roam over it,

what are their numbers, and how they can best be controlled;

also whether settlements might not be formed on the route

sufficiently strong to protect themselves from the Indians,

and furnish supplies for emigrants and troops.

With entire reliance on your energy, talents, and zeal, I am

respectfully your obedient servant,

TH. S. JESUP, _Quartermaster General_.

Capt. S. G. French, Assistant Quartermaster, Washington City.

In pursuance of the above orders I proceeded to San Antonio,

and reported for duty on the 24th of February, and commenced

making preparations for the organization of the train. Many

of the wagons required for the service, and all the stores,

were still on the coast, and all the available means that

Maj. Babbitt had were immediately employed in bringing them

to the depot at San Antonio. An estimate of the number of

animals that would be required was made, and, as there

were not enough in his possession, some three hundred

were received by purchase, and formed into teams for the

road, and a small train thus organized was dispatched to

Indianola to hasten up with the subsistence. But little

hired transportation could be procured, for the severity

of the winter had destroyed all vegetation, and the cattle

could barely subsist. Some of the stores thus sent by the

citizens from the coast were nearly or quite a month on the

road up to the depot at San Antonio. By the last of April

most of the stores had arrived, the requisite number of

employees had been engaged, and the loading of the wagons

was commenced. As they received the loads, they were sent

in small detachments to Leona, the point I had designated

as the general rendezvous. By the 7th of May the last train

left the depot, and I started with it for Leona. The supplies

for El Paso were kept separate from those drawn for the

escort and employees, and, in order to avoid the expense

of transporting salt provisions for the command, I received

from the commissary of subsistence eighty days' fresh meat,

the beeves being driven along by men in the employ of the

contractors, and furnished when required. As the Indians on

the borders had manifested considerable hostility during the

spring, I deemed it necessary to ask of Maj. Gen. Harney,

commanding the department, the protection of an escort.

For this service a detachment of eighty men from the first

regiment of infantry was ordered; but, as the transportation

of their subsistence would incur considerable expense,

I thought it consistent with proper economy and perfect

safety to suggest its reduction to fifty men. The number was

accordingly diminished, and on my reaching Fort Inge I found

the escort there under the command of Capt. B. H. Arthur

awaiting my arrival, and I will here express my obligations

to him for the cheerful aid he always afforded me.

I encamped at the rendezvous on the 11th. On the 12th the

last of the wagons arrived, and the day following was

passed in making final preparations for our departure.

The entire expedition, comprising one hundred and fifty

wagons (including three belonging to Maj. Backus,[17]

Capt. Sitgreaves, and Lieut. Williamson, _en route_ to New

Mexico) and over one thousand animals, moved on the 14th,

and encamped on the banks of the Nueces. These numbers were

further increased by those of citizens availing themselves of

our protection to pass through the Indian country.

The march was now continued without any accidents or

unnecessary delay, until the night of the 23d, when we were

visited by a thunderstorm, accompanied by such violent gusts

of wind as to prostrate all our tents and expose us to the

rain till morning. We were encamped in the valley of the

San Pedro river, and, knowing that it was subject to sudden

overflows from heavy falls of rain, I examined the ford the

next day about noon, and could perceive only a slight rise

in the water, and therefore commenced crossing the baggage

wagons, giving directions for the main train to follow soon

after; but no sooner were the former completely over than

in the space of a few minutes the waters rose several feet,

thereby completely cutting off all communication with the

main train for nearly two days. The waters having subsided

enough so as not to enter the wagon bodies, the stream was

passed, and we continued the march again without interruption

to the Pecos river. We found the water of this stream low;

but an examination of the ford led me to believe that it was

still too deep to pass over in safety, and I was obliged

to cause three cylindrical iron rods, or wires, that had

been left across the river by the contractors for the year

previous, to be raised and secured to the shores by means of

strong cables, which being planked over formed a suspension

bridge forty feet in length, over which the wagons with the

stores were run by hand. About seventy wagons had been thus

passed across, when the end of one of the rods that was bent

at a right angle broke, and the bridge became impassable. A

second examination of the river led to the discovery of a

ledge of rocks affording a good bottom, where the rest of

the wagons were driven across with but little difficulty.

The west bank of the river having been gained, we resumed our

journey. At the Comanche Springs we were overtaken by Col. J.

D. Graham, U. S. army, topographical engineer, on his way to

the Mexican Boundary Commission, who continued with us to El

Paso.

The disappointment arising from not having water where on

former occasions it had been characterized as permanent

or living, together with the parched-up condition of the

country, caused me to move with more circumspection. The

Lempia was found dry its entire length, excepting one place,

that was a mile distant from the road and almost inaccessible

to animals, and another at its source at the Painted Camp.

I therefore remained at the last-mentioned place, and sent

expresses ahead to look for water, which resulted in the

discovery of a pool in a ravine twenty miles in advance,

to which point we moved. The condensation of vapor on the

mountain sides caused some rain to fall about ten miles

farther on the road, where the men in advance, by digging

trenches on the plain, drained it from the surface where it

had not been absorbed, in sufficient abundance for all the

animals. Preparations had been made in anticipation of a long

journey without water, by filling all the water barrels and

kegs at the Lempia. There was now but little hope of finding

water short of Eagle Springs, sixty-five miles distant, and

the weather being extremely warm, and the roads excessively

dusty, I started at two o'clock A.M.; but, much to the joy

of every one, a small hole containing water enough for a part

of the advance train was found about sunrise, and two others

containing sufficient to allow each animal a few quarts

were discovered where we halted at noon; again about sunset

some was found in a small water gulley in Providence Creek,

and each animal was given a few gallons as they passed by

and moved in advance in quest of an encamping place where

there was some grazing for the animals. But the dryness of

the herbage seemed only to increase the thirst of the poor

mules, and all night they kept up a continued braying. At

one A.M. I again started for the springs, still twenty-nine

miles distant, halting at eleven o'clock to give the animals

all the water in the kegs and to permit them to graze. Our

baggage wagons and the advance of the escort continued on

to the springs, which, to the astonishment of all, were so

nearly dry that the few animals with us scarcely got enough

to slake their thirst. I immediately set some men to the task

of digging out the springs, and dispatched a party several

miles up the mountains to where on a former occasion a large

stream was found running, but they returned and reported it

perfectly dry. As to procuring water from the springs where

the men were digging, it was an impossibility. While thus

perplexed, a thunder shower that hovered around a distant

peak of the mountains, and then rolled up the valley, for a

time inspired hope, but like the cloud it soon passed away.

About four P.M. the trains arrived, and I directed them to

continue the march all night to the Rio Grande, thirty-two

miles distant. All day difficulties had been accumulating.

In the morning an express had overtaken us, giving the

information that some of the mules belonging to the Boundary

Commission had strayed for water during the night, and they

were unable to move from Providence Creek. They could not

be left there without water; and, lest the missing animals

should not be recovered, I caused four teams to remain at

Eagle Springs; so that, should their animals be irrecoverably

lost, I might give assistance to get their wagons up to the

springs the next day, and resolved to remain in camp till

two o'clock the next morning, believing that ere then they

would reach our camp, which fortunately was the case. At two

o'clock in the morning I left the springs, and arrived at

the mouth of the cañon[18] through which the valley of the

Rio Grande is gained, about nine A.M., and found in it near

twenty wagons blocking up the passage, the animals exhausted

for want of water and from fatigue. They were immediately

loosed and driven to the river, eight miles distant, where

the main body was encamped, and in the evening these wagons

were brought into camp from out the cañon where they had

been left. Thus, from not finding water at Eagle Springs,

and being obliged to continue on to the Rio Grande, the

trains were forced to make a march of _ninety-six_ miles

_in fifty-two consecutive hours_, the last _sixty miles_

having been made in _thirty hours_. These marches were as

disagreeable as can well be imagined, and continued to be so

to the place of destination, owing to the intolerable heat,

the thermometer during the day in the shade standing at 110

degrees, and to the immense volumes of dust that rested on

either side the road like a cloud, obscuring everything from

the view, except when wafted away by the wind.

We reached El Paso on the 24th of June, forty-nine days

after leaving San Antonio, during which time thirty-nine only

were passed in traveling. The stores were all delivered in

good condition; and an estimate being made of what would be

required on the return trip, I found more salt provisions

on hand than were necessary, and therefore caused a part of

them to be left at San Elizario, whereby the supplies were

increased by about eighteen hundred rations. As soon as

the stores were delivered and I could complete my duties,

the journey homeward was commenced. We left El Paso on the

7th of July, and reached San Antonio on the 9th of August.

The same difficulty in regard to water was not experienced

when returning; for at Eagle Springs Mr. Smith, a gentleman

who had charge of a small train of wagons, arriving there

about a week after us, finding no water, remained there in

camp while his animals were being driven to the Rio Grande,

thirty-two miles distant, and dug out the springs to a

capacity four times greater than I had left them. I also

divided the train in sections, marching on consecutive days,

so as to let the springs fill during the intervals between

the departure and the arrival. The marches were always made

with a view to favor the animals, and the time of starting,

etc., was determined by the circumstances of distance, the

weather, grazing, and water. On the journey out, I generally

had the animals corralled at night for safety when there was

no moon; but after the stores were delivered, and the main

object of the expedition had been accomplished, more risk

could be afforded; and accordingly, from the time we left

the Rio Grande until the arrival at San Antonio, the animals

were herded all the time excepting when in harness. By thus

giving them every opportunity to graze, and always traveling

with a view to favoring them, I am pleased to state that they

returned to the depot in about as good condition as when they

started, after marching a continuous journey of more than two

thousand miles, if the trips to the coast from the depot be

included. The loss of animals from deaths, straying, thefts,

and otherwise, from the rendezvous to El Paso and back, was

two and a fraction to each hundred. No Indians were ever

met on the route, though the guard at night on two occasions

fired on what were supposed to be Indians. Often they hovered

near our camp, making signal fires on the mountains.

In regard to the country through which the route lies, you

were furnished with a description in a former communication.

Of course all the peculiar characteristics that it has

obtained from the formations remain the same; but every

feature of productiveness and beauty, derived from the

seasons in their annual course, is sensibly changed, and to

the eye it presents but little that is attractive, owing to

the drought. From the Nueces to the mountains, which divide

the waters that flow into the Pacific from those that flow

into the Atlantic, the whole country appears altered. But

little rain has fallen for near two years, and hills that

before were clothed in verdure now are bare. Valleys that

seemed to vie in fertility with the most favored appear

sterile; and plains where two years ago the tall grass waved

like fields of wheat now are rocky and barren. Parasitical

plants hang leafless to the trees, and the mistletoe has

ceased to put forth its buds. Where the prairie had been

swept over by the fires of the previous summer the surface

of the earth was still black and covered with ashes, and

nothing green showed that the spring season had passed. The

vegetation of the previous years had become so dried and

withered by the scorching rays of the sun that it appeared

cineritious, crumbling into ashes or dust when pressed in

the hand or trodden on by animals. The little lakes that

once bordered the streams were dried up, and the streams

themselves had often ceased to flow. Even the prairie dogs

had forsaken the central part of their town, from starvation,

and inhabited the suburbs bordering on the vegetation that

widely encircles them, remote from their former homes. It

seemed as if Providence had withdrawn his protecting care

and left the country to itself. I never before had such a

negative proof of the fertilizing properties of rain and

dews. The general aspect of that vast extent of country west

of the Nueces is thus changed from what it was two years

since, when it was an untrodden wilderness unknown to the

white man. A general drought has prevailed, and it was only

occasionally that green grass was found where a shower had

passed in the spring. Notwithstanding the tide of immigration

settling into the country, the acknowledged enterprise of

our people, the rapid subjugation of the wild lands to useful

purposes by the settlers, and the utmost protection that may

be given to the advance of all our settlements--yet such are

the few attractions that most of that region of country,

on the route west of the intersection of the table-lands

with the Rio Grande, Northern Mexico, or perchance to the

Pacific Coast, it will be a long time before it can attract

the attention of agriculturists, or even become a pastoral

country to any great extent. The establishment of a mail

route from San Antonio to El Paso may cause a small post

to be established at Live Oak Creek or Howard's Springs,

but, generally speaking, the San Felipe limits the fertile

portions of Texas (south of the great plain) in a westerly

direction.

I have endeavored to collect some information in regard to

the Indians, as required by your orders, and from having been

on duty in Texas principally, since 1848, during which time I

have traveled over a considerable portion of the country they

frequent (in the south and west as far as New Mexico), some

conclusions I have arrived at may differ from the generally

received opinions in regard to them.

Their numbers appear to have been considerably overestimated,

if the report of men who have been among them can be relied

on, and the information gained by Lieut. Col. Hardee in his

late expedition to their country be correct. It is believed

that the entire number, including all ages and the different

sexes, of all the tribes that frequent the border settlements

of Texas, in the Eighth Military Department, does not exceed

four thousand.

The respective numbers of the different bands may be set down

(by their own computation principally) about as follows:

Delawares, 63; Shawnees, 70; Tonkaways, 300; Quapas, 200;

Caddoes, 160; Anadoces, 200; Iones, 113; Keechies, 48;

Tawacanoes, 140; Wacoes, 114; Lepans, 350; Lower Comanches,

700; and the Northern Comanches at 1,500. These tribes

roam over the country watered by the Red, Trinity, Brazos,

Colorado, Nueces, and San Pedro rivers and their tributaries

near their sources. The Northern Comanches have the most

extensive range for the pursuit of the buffalo to the

north of the Canadian. They traverse the entire country to

the south, and by their ancient warpaths cross the Pecos,

continue to the Rio Grande, enter Mexico, and carry their

depredations far into the interior of that distracted

country. The southern band of Comanches, and all the other

tribes enumerated, are found frequently associated together,

and on the northern portions of the line near their home

visit those posts in seeming friendship.

That barren, dreary, and desolate region immediately west of

the Pecos has not sufficient claims to be in possession of

any Indians. The Northern Comanches pass over a portion of

it as they wander alternately from the north to the south,

and the different bands into which the Apaches are divided

approach its borders from the north and west.

The Apaches are divided into numerous bands, and, united with

other tribes in New Mexico, have been variously estimated

at from fifteen to thirty thousand, the former being perhaps

nearer the truth.

The condition of all these Indians, except some few of the

Delawares, is truly lamentable. Denied the possession of

lands and a home, despising industry, and regarding labor

as degrading, no provision is made for subsistence by the

cultivation of the soil; but, depending entirely upon the

flesh of the horse, the mule, the uncertainty of the chase,

and the few wild products of the country, they wander about

exposed to all the vicissitudes and every ill of life that

can arise from disease, extreme exposure to cold, nakedness,

and hunger bordering on starvation, leading an existence

more filthy than swine, and as precarious and uncertain

as the wolf; and this life is rendered, if it be possible,

even yet more intolerable by the almost entire absence of

laws respecting property and the rights of the individual.

Their views of property tend toward socialism, without that

restraint by which the strong are prevented from plundering

the weak, and but few injuries have legal redress. However

strongly their condition would seem to appeal to philanthropy

for relief, much sympathy is lost in the remembrance that

their code of morals inculcates many of our vices as their

cardinal virtues, and regards our virtues as so many vices or

traits of weakness, while their atrocious barbarities shock

every sensibility of nature and humanity. The experience

of the Jesuit fathers, other Christian missionaries, and

learned professors would almost incline us to believe that

the Indian is endowed with certain instincts, as they might

be called, that are inherent in his nature, and not always

directing him to good, which neither separation from his

people, education from infancy, the attainments of academies,

attractions of wealth, the refinements of society, nor the

doctrines and precepts of Christianity can destroy; and,

after all, he stands in nature an Indian still. Be this

as it may, of one thing we are certain, they are thrown on

our borders and violate our laws, and it becomes a question

how best to control them, and what policy to pursue in our

relations with them. They are now being encroached upon

by settlements on the frontier that will soon encompass

them on many sides. We are circumscribing their bounds,

limiting their hunting expeditions, and destroying their

game. And there is no checking these encroachments, for

the State of Texas claims possession of all the domain

within her boundaries, and no act of the agents of the

Federal government can at present cede them a portion of her

territory, or military force restrain the lawless traders

established in the Indian country. Treaties may be effected

with them, but they cannot stipulate to restrain citizens

from settling on their hunting grounds, nor grant them many

immunities. It is, under the present condition of affairs,

vain to suppose that the most skillful combinations for

military operations can check a famished, wild, and degraded

people from committing depredations on the lonely roads and

extended prairies, for the purpose of clothing their naked

women and children and to satisfy the calls of hunger; and

more especially so when these very acts are not regarded as

wrong, and are the only steps by which the untutored brave

gains distinction or renown among his people and receives the

awards due to valor. Theft with them is no crime, but only a

legitimate profession. In all civilized communities ambition

is satisfied in pursuing innumerable channels of a civil

nature. The Indian has but two, war and the chase, and they

are now no longer pleasures, but made a burden by the stern

necessities of providing subsistence.

How to control these nomadic tribes various plans have been

suggested, but all calling for legislative action, and I

feel a reluctance in alluding to them. But I know of none

more humane in the end than _to teach them the power of our

government_, then grant them a territory, dismount them as

far as necessary, feed and clothe them to a sufficient extent

to make them dependent on our agents, elevate the character

of their war and council chiefs in the estimation of their

respective tribes by treating them with some distinction and

consideration, whereby their influence over the bands will

become greater, and they will become instrumental in carrying

out our wishes. Encourage the cultivation of the soil, and

establish a few plain, salutary laws for their government

and for regulating the intercourse of the whites with them,

and have them enforced by the aid of the military; and then,

perhaps ere long, tranquillity may be known on the frontier

where for so many years partial war has been waged. A similar

policy might be urged from other considerations, especially

to prevent the immense amount of claims constantly growing

out of what are alleged to be Indian depredations, and the

expense of maintaining so large a force remote from points

where the supplies are drawn.

Were the State of Texas to grant the Indians within her

borders a definite territory, ceding the jurisdiction thereof

to the United States, so that the proper laws regulating the

intercourse of the whites with them could be established and

enforced, and were they but partially clothed and fed, the

State would have peace on the frontier, immigration to her

shores would increase, the immense resources of the country

would be developed, and prosperity, spreading happiness among

her people, would spring up over her entire dominions.

The service upon which I have been engaged has induced me to

urge upon your consideration the propriety of recommending

to the honorable Secretary of War the necessity for, and

the advantages that would be derived from, a legislative

enactment whereby a limited number of employees could be

enlisted in the service of the department for a term of

years, subject to such rules and regulations as in such cases

may be established by proper authority.

When passing through Galveston I had the pleasure to examine

the establishment of Mr. G. Borden for the manufacture of

meat biscuit. Two cans, in a crushed state, containing five

pounds each, were purchased, and on our journey to El Paso

and back it was almost constantly used; and, in connection

with vegetables, was found an excellent article. We had

no such object in view as to test the usefulness to any

extent, but from its convenience and palatable qualities

it naturally came into daily use. I gave away one can of

it, which served a party of four persons, who came from New

Mexico to San Antonio without pack animals, as a reliable

dependence for food on a journey of about six hundred miles

to the nearest settlements. They made it a substitute for

animal food excepting when they chanced to meet game, and

spoke of it in commendable terms. In forming a _part_ of the

ration it would commend itself, economically, in a degree

somewhat proportionate to the diminution it would make in the

weight of the ration; but the military advantages it would

afford, where land transportation is difficult, and certain

results are to be obtained, cannot be so well calculated.

In many points of view it commends itself so favorably, as a

component part of the ration for particular service, that it

is worthy of more than a single trial.

During the months of March and April the teams were employed

in bringing up the supplies for the troops in the Eighth

Military Department, and were sent on any other duty that

the service required, and were not confined exclusively

to transporting the stores destined for the troops in New

Mexico. The provisions for the escort were conveyed from San

Antonio; and from the forage that I received were fed the

animals belonging to the officers' teams, and some was issued

to the train of the Boundary Commission in the service of

Col. Graham. These and other circumstances connected with

the general duties of the service have rendered it impossible

for me to present you with more than an approximate estimate

of the cost per pound for transportation to El Paso. I

have embraced in the calculation the cost of freight of the

provisions for the escort; the transportation of the rations

for the employees of the department, and the value thereof;

the compensation for service of all persons connected with

the train; the loss of animals; incidental expenses, etc.;

and find the cost per pound, from the Gulf to El Paso, to

be about nineteen cents. This will not exceed the expenses

per pound under the contract for the previous year, but it

exceeds that now paid citizens who own small trains and are

carrying, to a limited amount, by four cents per pound. To

the government the forage for the animals has been a heavy

item of expenditure, and although I allowed only a third

of the rations of corn, without long forage, yet it has,

owing to the exorbitant price it commands, amounted to over

two-fifths of the entire expense of the expedition.

When the grazing is good small trains of twenty or thirty

wagons may avoid the use of grain almost entirely by

traveling more slowly and stopping oftener to graze; and if

the department will thus risk supplies without escorts of any

kind, it may, to some extent, diminish expense, but it will

be attended with more uncertainty.

It may be gratifying to you to learn that during the time

we were absent on the journey, with the exceptions I have

mentioned, nothing of note occurred. The trains were always

ready to move at the hours designated, and would come into

camp without any of those vexatious delays caused by animals

"giving out" from fatigue, or the breaking of wagons, or

other accidents generally attendant on such expeditions.

Respectfully your obedient servant,

S. G. FRENCH.

_Captain and Assistant Quartermaster._

Maj. Gen. Thomas A. Jesup, Quartermaster General, U. S. A.,

Washington, D. C.

The officers who accompanied me were Capt. B. H. Arthur, in command

of the escort, and Col. J. D. Graham, Maj. Backus, Capt. Sitgreaves,

Lieut. Williamson, who availed themselves of the protection of the

expedition to go to El Paso; also my brother, John C. French, Bishop

Lama, and Mr. Wright, collecting plants for Prof. Gray. His herbarium

and large plants filled three wagons. I brought several loads of cacti,

embracing about sixty varieties. Unfortunately they were all frozen in

transit from New York to Philadelphia, an almost irreparable loss.

During the winter of 1851-52 I occupied a desk in Gen. Jesup's private

office. The morning hours, from nine to twelve, were generally given

to visitors calling on business or socially. Often were the battles

of Niagara, Lundy's Lane, and Chippewa fought over again, until the

hour to dine was at hand, and, when visitors ceased to call, the

General would look over the morning's mail, then hand the letters to

me to answer, telling me what reply to make to every letter. I found

it very difficult at first to answer so many letters handed to me one

after another, the answers to each verbally given me. Besides I seldom

reached the hotel until dinner was over.

The General used to tell me all about the war of 1812. How he was

ordered to Hartford on some ostensible service, but really to watch

the proceedings of the Secession Convention held at Hartford. Daily he

reported to President Madison, as far as possible, what the proceedings

were. They had the desire to _secede_, but were apprehensive of the

consequences.

[Illustration: JOHN C. FRENCH.]

As I have before me the proceedings of the Hartford Convention, and an

attested copy of the secret journal of that body published in Boston

by O. Everett, 13 Cornhill, 1823, I will give a few extracts from the

journal.

MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION.

From Massachusetts: George Cabot, William Prescott, Harrison

Gray Otis, Timothy Biglow, Nathaniel Dane, George Bliss,

Joshua Thomas, Hodijah Bayliss, Daniel Waldo, Joseph Lyman,

Samuel W. Wilde, and Stephen Longfellow.

From Connecticut: Chauncey Goodrich, James Hillhouse, John

Treadwell, Zepheniah Swift, Nathaniel Smith, Calvin Goddard,

and Roger M. Sherman.

From New Hampshire: Benjamin West and Miles Olcott.

From Rhode Island: Daniel Lyman, Benjamin Hazard, and Edward

Manton.

George Cabot was chosen President of the Convention.

Convention assembled December 15, 1814, and prepared rules

and orders. 1. Meetings to be opened each morning with

prayer.... 2. The most _inviolable secrecy_ shall be observed

by each member of the Convention, including doorkeeper,

etc....

December 16, 1814, committee met, ... opened with prayer....

Committee reported the following to be proper _subjects_ for

the consideration of the Convention:

The powers claimed by the Executive of the United States

to determine conclusively in respect to calling out the

militia of the States into the service of the United States,

and dividing the United States into military districts with

an officer of the army in each thereof, with discretionary

authority from the Executive of the United States to call for

the militia to be under the command of such officer.... The

refusal of the Executive of the United States to supply or

pay the militia of certain States when called out in their

defense.... The failure of the Government of the United

States to provide for the common defense, ... leaving the

separate States to defend themselves, etc.

December 17, 1814, met and opened with prayer, ... and

adjourned.

Monday, 19th, met as usual. (Proceedings of no importance.)

Tuesday, December 20, and 21st, 22d, and 23d as well, opened

with usual prayers and adjournments.

Saturday, December 24, 1814, opened with prayer by Rev. Dr.

Jenkins.... The committee appointed to prepare and report

the measures as it may be proper for this Convention to adopt

respectfully report:

Article 1. Complains about the unconstitutional attempts of

the Executive Government of the United States to infringe

upon the rights of the individual States in regard to the

militia.... Recommends the adoption of decisive measures to

protect the States from usurpations, etc.

Article 2. Recommends the States to make provision for mutual

defense by retaining a portion of the taxes....

Article 3. Recommends certain amendments to the Constitution

of the United States as follows:

(1) That the power to declare and make war by the Congress of

the United States be restricted.

(2) That it is expedient to attempt to make provision for

restraining Congress in the exercise of an unlimited power to

make new States, and to admit them into the Union.

(3) That the powers of Congress be restrained in laying

embargoes and restrictions on commerce.

(4) That a President shall not be elected from the same State

two terms successively.

(5) That the same person shall not be elected President a

second time.

(6) That an amendment be proposed respecting slave

representation and slave taxation.

On motion it was voted that this Convention be adjourned

to Monday afternoon at three o'clock, then to meet at this

place.

Monday, December 26, 1814, the Convention met pursuant to

adjournment, etc.

On the 26th, 27th, and 28th nothing of importance was done.

On the 29th, after prayers, a proposition was referred to the

committee appointed on the 21st inst.:

That the capacity of naturalized citizens to hold offices of

trust, honor, or profit ought to be restrained; and that it

is expedient to propose an amendment to the Constitution of

the United States in relation to that subject.

But this is enough to show the drift and patriotism as they saw and

_felt_ it.

One day, being late to dinner as usual, the table at Willard's was

nearly deserted; but seeing Gen. Harney, I took a seat beside him. Soon

after, Gov. W. P. Duval, of Florida, came, and, seeing Gen. Harney, he

came over and was seated between us. I knew he was a good raconteur,

and hoped to have him relate some Florida stories. After he and the

General had talked over their experiences with the Seminoles and the

Florida war, I asked him to relate some of his adventures in early

life. He began the story of Ralph Ringwood, with his schoolboy days,

the imported "jack," putting him in the smokehouse, the fright of the

old negro housekeeper, Barbara, when she opened the door and the jack

brayed, his leaving home, and so on all the way through as related

by Washington Irving, with this difference, that he embellished it

with many more incidents. He gave us an amusing account of his first

visit to New York City. When he reached Washington City President

Jackson invited him to dine with him privately. He was not familiar

with regular courses at dinner, and came near getting nothing to eat,

for while he would be telling a story to Jackson the servant would

take his plate away, provisions and all, and put an empty one there.

This occurred so often that when he was "helped" again, while talking

to the President, he held on to his plate by holding his fork in it

perpendicularly, pressing it down hard. The Governor was a very amusing

story-teller, and I think he said the way "The Experiences of Ralph

Ringwood" came to be published was: Being at West Point Academy, a

member of the Board of Visitors, he was invited by Mr. Kemble, who

lived on the shore of the Hudson opposite West Point, to dine with

him, and there he met Irving and Spaulding and related to them his

experiences in early life.

From the time I returned from Mexico, in 1847, until 1854 I was

retained on duty in Washington City, to be sent on such incidental

service as occasion required, and I am happy to tell you that during

all these years I enjoyed the confidence and respect of all the

officers in the War Department.

There were long periods of leisure, and I passed much of my time

at the Capitol interested in the Congressional debates, especially

in the Senate, where, through a friend of mine, I generally enjoyed

the privilege of the seats under the gallery or on the floor. I have

listened to Everett, the scholar; Sumner, the rhetorician; Choate,

the lawyer; Calhoun, the metaphysician; Clay, the orator; Webster,

the expounder, and all the other Senators in their best efforts day

by day, and I must declare Henry Clay the most eloquent and persuasive

speaker of all. The glowing words fell from his lips as though they had

been touched by a burning coal from the altar of Elijah on Mt. Carmel.

The great natural gift of Savonarola was his. I could illustrate his

wonderful magnetic power over men by many occurrences.

In the Metropolitan Hotel the hall leading from the entrance of the

office was long and wide. Seats were arranged to the wall on either

side, and in this hall, at night, prominent persons were wont to

assemble. An Englishman of high official position, on a visit to this

country, had arrived in Washington and was a guest at the hotel. In the

evening a number of Senators and government officials called to pay

their respects to him. Now, without regard to the order of arrival,

I will merely observe: When Mr. Cass entered the hall a few persons

spoke to him on his way to the office. His card was sent up and he

was shown to the reception room. Mr. Clayton came in and was shown

up. Mr. Webster arrived, in buff vest and blue coat, and a cloud on

his brow, and on his way to the office exchanged a few words with some

of his friends. After a while Mr. Clay came. Instantly all rose from

their seats. Though the hall was filled, the crowd pressed around him.

He had a pleasant word for every one, and the gracious reception he

gave them was so magnetic that with difficulty he reached the office

and parted from his friends, leaving them _en rapport_ with him from

sympathetic cheerfulness. When I was first introduced to Mr. Clay he

said, "Ah, an élève of the Military Academy, I suppose?" and then

spoke in commendation of the school. I felt sure the shade of his

son rose up before him, for he was educated there, and was killed on

the battlefield of Buena Vista. I once related to Mr. Clay a story I

had heard about James K. Polk. His reply was emphatic: "It cannot be

true. No man with such a heart could ever have been President of the

United States." Contrast with this Mr. Benton's remark about Stephen A.

Douglas: "He can never be elected President of the United States. His

coat tail hangs too near the ground." I never heard Mr. Benton make a

speech in favor of a measure; he was generally in opposition. If asked

who I regarded the finest speaker in the Senate at that time, I would

reply: "Henry Clay." I think his reply to Mr. Soule, of Louisiana, on

the boundary of New Mexico the best speech I have ever heard. He was

the most self-reliant man I ever knew. Gen. Jesup, who knew him well,

told me that Mr. Clay's self-reliance prevented him being elected

President. He would frame a bill on an important measure, introduce

it, and whip the whole Whig party into supporting it. Mr. Webster

and other great men in the party disliked coercion, and their support

would be lukewarm, when he might have had their hearty coöperation if

he had, before presenting a bill, called them to his room, shown it

to them to make suggestions, and asked their support in advance, and

made them feel that it was their bill as well as his. But no; he was

a great leader of men, and commanded them to follow. That is well in

military affairs, but in politics it creates jealousy where the leader

is not established by law. In the Senate, where acts are recorded, he

did command; in politics the vote is secret, his rivals were envious

and, at heart, indifferent to his success, and he fell from his own

greatness in the struggle for the presidency.

I recall what Gen. Jesup told me of Clay's duel with John Randolph,

of Roanoke. When Randolph called Clay "a being so brilliant and so

corrupt, only to be compared, indeed, to one thing under the skies--a

heap of rotten mackerel by moonlight, that shines and stinks," Clay

challenged him. Gen. Jesup and Dr. Hunt were Clay's seconds, and Gen.

James Hamilton and Col. Tatnell were Randolph's. Gen. Jesup carried

the cartel to Randolph, who referred him to Hamilton. The preliminaries

were arranged and the parties met on the Virginia side of the Potomac

above the bridge over the Little Falls at 4 P.M. April 8, 1826.

Randolph drove out there in his morning wrapper. Randolph declared

that he would fire in the air, against which Hamilton remonstrated in

vain. Without relating the particulars of Randolph's wearing gloves,

and how, therefrom, his pistol was prematurely discharged, I will

only observe that at the word Clay fired, the ball passing through

Randolph's wrapper without touching his person; then Randolph fired

in the air. Seeing this, Clay advanced, seized Randolph in his arms,

and exclaimed, "I hope, my dear sir, you are not hurt. What do I not

owe you?" Randolph exclaimed, "Mr. Clay, you owe me a new wrapper,"

pointing to the rent made in it by the pistol ball.

But what I wish more particularly to relate is that many years after

this, when Randolph was passing through Washington on his way to

Philadelphia, he was driven to the capitol, a sick man, and carried

into the Senate chamber and placed on a sofa. It so chanced that Clay

was then speaking, and Randolph exclaimed: "Raise me up! be quick, that

I may hear that matchless voice once more." What testimony to Clay's

eloquence![19]

Randolph was Minister to the court of St. Petersburg. He died on

reaching Philadelphia, and his last words were: "Remorse! remorse!"

Washington was the home of many eminent men, remarkable for their

integrity in the administration of their duties, purity of character,

and modest manner of living. In the army there was Gen. Scott, the

brave and successful soldier. He had a few eccentricities in regard to

language. He called a lieutenant a "leftenant;" a clerk, a "clark."

If any one failed among us youngsters to not give "guard" the letter

"u" long, he would be corrected; and as president of military boards

he would assume to be recorder, and generally wrote the proceedings

himself. The press ridiculed him for writing "sparcely settled" and

"conquering a peace," and the Democratic party harped on his "hasty

plate of soup" when he was nominated for the presidency; to such mean

tricks will a party descend.

There was Gen. Nathan Towson, who so gallantly captured the British

brig Caledonia under the guns of Fort Erie, in October, 1812, ever

a polite gentleman; and Gen. George Gibson, J. G. Totten, and T. S.

Jesup, the last twice breveted for gallant service in the battles of

Chippewa and Niagara. And I often met Col. George Croghan, noted for

gallantry in defense of Fort Sandusky, and of whom President Jackson

said, when charges of intoxication were presented to him against

Croghan, "Tear them up; Col. Croghan may _drink_ whenever he pleases;"

and Col. J. B. Walbach, who was, if my memory serves me aright, one of

the defenders of the Tuilleries when it was destroyed.

There were, of course, many naval officers at the capital, and a

jovial, good set of men they were. Commodore R. F. Stockton resigned

after the explosion of the "big" gun (the Peacemaker) on the propeller

Princeton, and soon afterwards represented the State of New Jersey in

the Senate. Lieut. Stockton was, as I was told the story, on the U.

S. ship Delaware (in the harbor of Gibraltar), commanded by Commodore

Pattison. Dining one day at a hotel on the neutral ground, among others

present were three young English officers of the garrison and a young

man, captain of a fine American ship. The three officers had indulged

freely of wine, and made some offensive remarks to the young captain,

who resented them, and I think threw his plate at their heads. When

challenged, they refused to fight him, on the ground that socially

he was not their equal. Stockton handed them his card, and exclaimed,

"I will take that gentleman's place; you cannot refuse to fight me."

He fought all three and wounded them, and then challenged all the

officers of the garrison. When the commandant of the fortress heard

of it, he called at once on Commodore Pattison and in a good-natured

way suggested to him to get his madcap officer on board ship as soon

as possible and make a few days' cruise, or he would have no officers

of the garrison left to command the guns. Pattison acknowledged the

necessity, weighed anchor, and went seaward.[20]

When John Howard Payne was Consul at Tunis, in 1841, he incurred a

debt for the repairs of a building for the consulate. The bey refused

to pay the bill, as he had formerly done to the foreign Consuls. This

claim had been pending since Payne's death, in 1842; so, in hopes

of settling the matter, Capt. Van Rensselaer Morgan was given a good

vessel and ordered by the Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Tunis

and adjust the claim if possible. Selecting his officers, he sailed

for the Mediterranean. One of his officers selected was skilled in

international law, and from the state papers made out a strong case

in favor of the United States. Capt. Morgan was a plain, unpretending

man, possessed of much common sense. On arriving at Tunis, he was

informed that the bey was at his country palace, a few miles distant.

The captain procured a carriage, and took two of his officers with him

and drove out to see his mightiness, the bey--a prince in rank.

When admitted to the audience chamber, instead of making salaams he

walked directly up to the bey and in a frank and friendly manner took

his hand and, shaking it heartily, said: "How do you do, Mr. Bey,

how do you do? Don't get up, Mr. Bey, don't get up; I will take a

seat alongside of you. I hope you are well. How are Mrs. Bey and the

children? I hope they are _all_ well. I have been a long time coming,

and I am glad to see you, Mr. Bey. We have a fine ship; you must come

and see us, Mr. Bey, do come." The Captain, after a short interview

about current events, rose to leave, and with some expression of

solicitude for the bey's health, he retired a few steps, when, suddenly

stopping, he turned to the bey, drew from his pocket a large envelope,

and remarked, "O, Mr. Bey, I forgot to hand you these papers. Here

they are. Don't read them now; you will have plenty of time to do that

before we leave."

When the Captain was on his way back to his ship, an officer of the

court, riding furiously, overtook him, rode past, and, planting his

horse in front of the carriage, stopped it, and, bowing, exclaimed: "O

howadji, the bey says that claim will be paid."[21]

A few years ago I was the guest of Commodore Morgan at the life-saving

station on Indian River, or rather on the broad Atlantic near Indian

River inlet, and I regret that I did not think to ask him to tell me

the story himself.

Society in Washington in the forties was largely Southern, and had

not lost the courtly dignity and grace of colonial days. It was quiet,

gentle, and refined, where it is now loud, boisterous, and rough in a

measure, from the power of suddenly accumulated wealth that dominates

over all the conditions of life, social and industrial. On New Year's

and other occasions we used to call on Mrs. Madison. Her face retained

marks of that beauty that has been transmitted to canvas and adorns

the East Room of the presidential mansion. I have seen her wearing a

turban.

On the 1st of April, 1853. I received a letter informing me of the

death of Joseph L. Roberts, who died on the 28th of March previous at

his residence on his plantation near Natchez, Miss., and requesting me

to come there immediately, if possible. Gen. Jesup, ever considerate

as he was, gave me leave to visit the family. Mr. Roberts had been the

cashier of the branch Bank of the United States at Norfolk, Va., then

president of the branch Bank of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania,

and at his death was the agent of the latter institution. His wife was

Miss Mary Symington, one of the beautiful women of Philadelphia.

As I had been engaged to Miss E. Matilda, their second daughter, we

were married on the 26th of April, 1853, and soon after we went to

Washington.

I remained on duty in the War Department until the spring of 1854. As

I had become tired of hotel life, and wished the quietness of a home, I

requested Gen. Jesup to assign me to some Western post, and he sent me

to Fort Smith, Ark.

The military reservation of Fort Smith is separated from the town by a

street, and the dividing line between Arkansas and the Choctaw Nation

runs through the garrison grounds. When Mrs. French crossed the street

and went into the town, I became both the commander and the garrison,

and "my right there was none to dispute."

My duties were light and were mainly receiving and forwarding supplies

to the troops stationed at Forts Washita and Gibson. Several times I

went in a light carriage to Fort Washita, through the Choctaw people,

a distance of one hundred and eighty miles, accompanied by only my

servant boy. The accommodations on the road were always clean and good

and the people kind. On one occasion my duties required me to go from

Washita to Fort Towson (eighty miles), on the Red river, to examine

the public buildings and sell them. Col. Braxton Bragg fitted me out

on a mule with a hard saddle, and I started off alone. That day I rode

forty miles to "the boggy" without seeing any person; rested at night

with an Indian family, and rode the next day to Fort Towson. I was met

there by a committee of Choctaws, wealthy men and well educated. One

of them owned slaves in number sufficient to raise three hundred bales

of cotton yearly, and "lived sumptuously every day." They went with me

to examine the buildings. It would have been folly to sell and destroy

such property, for it would bring nothing. So I recommended that it be

deeded to the Choctaws for an academy, and it was given to them.

I made a journey to Fort Gibson through the Cherokee Nation. I had been

advised to stop and take breakfast with an Indian family, for I would

there, no doubt, see two beautiful and accomplished girls, members of

the family. Report had not done them justice. There was only a delicate

shade of Indian color in the white skin. They were lithe, tall, and

graceful; and nature gave them hands as beautiful as ever Praxiteles

shaped in marble. They had lately returned from Troy, N. Y., where they

had been educated by Miss Willard. Pope's

Lo the poor Indian, whose untutored mind

Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind,

does not apply to the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians; many of them

are well educated. I became acquainted with John Ross, chief of the

Cherokees, in Washington, and lately sent to Mr. Clyde, of New York, a

letter from John Ross to frame and place in the saloon of his steamship

Cherokee.

Indian blood is being rapidly diffused with the blood of the white

man--a half-breed, quarter, and eighth. Fred Douglass is dead--a

mulatto. Shall we credit his intelligence to the white blood or the

negro? Suppose he had been an octoroon? What then!

Sometime during the year 1855 Col. Henry Wilson made Fort Smith his

headquarters, and with him came Lieut. J. H. Potter, adjutant of the

Seventh Infantry, who was a classmate of mine. He was a jovial, good

fellow, and a wound in his leg made it an excellent indicator of

rain, and was used to guide us on hunting expeditions. Partridges were

numerous, and during the hunting season nearly every afternoon Mrs.

French and I in a carriage, and Lieut. Potter on his pony, would ride

over the prairie and have rare sport. We had well-trained dogs and

open shooting, and time passed pleasantly on. From this dream life I

was awakened to make a visit to Natchez, Miss., on business connected

with the estate of Mr. J. L. Roberts. In company with a French planter

on the Teche, in Louisiana, whom I invited to go with me, I started

in an ambulance for Little Rock. The weather was bitterly cold, the

thermometer being ten degrees below zero. The close of the second day

brought us to the usual "stopping place," but all accommodations were

occupied by the sheriff, guards, and prisoners. The owner of the house

told me I would have to go on to Little Rock, unless Capt. ----, who

lived seven miles farther on, could be induced to let us stay overnight

with him; but that he was a misanthrope, and would see no one. The

gray, leaden sky, the biting wind, the snow that was falling in dry

pellets, and the bitter cold made our situation desperate, and induced

me to try the Captain with a little adulation.

How lonely and dreary everything was! I knocked at the door, I heard

the bolts slide, and the door was slowly opened by the Captain. I

introduced myself to him, and told him that I was informed he lived

here; that, regarding him as a Mexican veteran, I had called to pay my

respects to him; that I was present and witnessed the gallant fight his

command made with the Mexican lancers at the hacienda of Buena Vista;

that I never was so cold before in my life, except the night of the

battle of Buena Vista. He was silent till I finished. He took my hand,

and said: "Come in." He ordered the horses taken out, introduced me to

his wife, and we passed a pleasant evening before a great blazing fire.

Doubt not my word, but no one in Arkansas then believed that we entered

the portals of that door.

Learning that no steamers could reach Little Rock, we went to Duval's

Bluff, on the White river, for a boat; got on the first one that

arrived. The Captain said he was bound for Memphis, but would land us

at the mouth of the White river to get a down boat.

When near the mouth of the White river, the captain of the boat

informed me that the wharfboat at the mouth of the river had been

removed, and that he would carry us up the Mississippi until we met

a down boat, and put us on that. The wind was blowing violently, and

the river full of floating cakes of ice; and when we met a boat, so

violent was the wind, it would not answer our hail to stop, and we went

on up. In the midst of all this snow, ice, and gale the boat caught

fire in the hold, and the flames burst up the hatchways very high. The

hatches were soon covered with wet mattresses, steam driven into the

hold, cotton on deck thrown overboard, and the boat landed where the

bank was high and the water deep. Baggage and furniture were put on

shore, and fires built. Holes were bored in the hull of the boat, but

the cotton on fire could not be extinguished. About dusk the captain

announced that he would put the baggage on the boat again and run up

the river three miles to a place where he could scuttle her in shoal

water and put out the fire. All the passengers walked through the deep

snow to the landing above, except one man and his wife, the Frenchman,

and myself. It was not pleasant to be on the river in such a gale, and

with the boat deck hot from the fires beneath; and when we did land and

made fast to a wood barge, the owner, seeing we were on fire, ran out

and cut our line with his ax to send us adrift. What a punishment the

crew of the steamer gave him for cutting our line!

In time a steamer going up took us on board and carried us to Helena.

After trials innumerable, and too long to write, I reached Natchez

safely. Nothing during the late war equaled this journey in the

suffering I leave untold. I rode out to the residence of Gen. John A.

Quitman, and asked him to go on my bond. He said: "Certainly I will.

Take dinner with us, and I will then go down with you." When we reached

the clerk's office, he asked Mr. Inge, the clerk, what the amount

would be, and I think he replied about one hundred and eighty thousand

dollars. Asking for a _blank bond_, he signed it, and said: "Fill this

out when necessary with any sum required." It was a kind act, and all

he said was: "If you should have any trouble, let me know it, and I

will aid you."

Mrs. Mary S. Roberts died April 5, 1854, and it devolved on me to take

out letters of administration on the estate. I then returned to Fort

Smith and continued on duty there until March 29, when I tendered my

resignation. A reply to this letter was as follows:

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, }

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 24, 1856. }

_Sir_: Your letter of the 29th ult., tendering the

resignation of your commissions of first lieutenant, Third

Artillery, and captain and assistant quartermaster has been

received and laid before the Secretary of War, by whom I

am instructed to say that, as your communication appears to

have been written under an impression that your leave would

not be extended, he desires that you will state, with as

little delay as practicable, if this supposition be correct,

or whether it is your intention to leave the service in any

event. A decision upon your letter of resignation will be

deferred until you are heard from upon the subject.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. COOPER, _Adjutant General_.

Capt. S. G. French, Assistant Quartermaster, United States

Army, Greenville, Miss.

As I had now, among other property, a plantation on Deer Creek, near

Greenville, and over a hundred servants on it, I asked in reply that

my resignation be accepted. To this letter I received an answer: "Your

resignation has been accepted by the President of the United States to

take effect the 31st inst. [May]."

While living at Fort Smith, Ark., was born Matilda Roberts French, on

the 16th of August, 1855.

The summer of 1856 was passed mainly in Canada, and in the autumn we

returned to the plantation. In the spring of 1857 Mrs. French and her

little girl went on a visit to her sister, Mrs. John C. French, in

San Antonio, Tex., and in May following I joined her there. And here a

great sorrow crossed my path.

On the morning of June 13 Mrs. French greeted me with joy and hope,

but ere the day was passed her life ended in that sleep "that knows no

breaking." She went to the grave for her baby boy, and took him with

her. O, the irony of fate! She, the peer of the noblest, crowned by

every grace, the idol of the house, the gentle mother, the handmaiden

of charity, the priestess of religion, a believer in its promises,

bowed to His will, and left all that makes life attractive before age

or disease or disappointment or grief or sorrow had chilled her heart,

and left a smile on her face for weeping friends, when her pure spirit

rose to meet her God. Her remains rest with her babe on her breast,

beside her parents, in a vault at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia,

Pa., where the waters of the beautiful Schuylkill gently flow by the

portals of her tomb.

I remained in San Antonio until autumn, when I returned home. In March,

1858, I embarked on the steamer Europa for Liverpool. As I leave you

my journal of travels in Europe, I shall mention only some of the

principal places visited.

Most of the traveling in Italy was in private carriage, and only in

daylight. In Naples, Rome, and Florence I remained a month each.

From London I went to Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Toulon, Naples,

Rome, Florence, Pisa, Modena, Bologna, Mantua, Verona, Venice, Milan,

Como, Isola Madre, Isola Bella, Simplon Pass, Domo-dosola, Martigny,

Chamoni, Geneva, Bienne, Berne, Interlaken, Wingen Alps, Grindenwald,

Basle, Baden-Baden, Ulm, Munich, Salzburg, Ischl, Lintz, Danube River

to Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Potsdam, Frankfort, Wiesbaden

down the Rhine, Cologne, Liege, Brussels, Waterloo, Paris, London,

Windsor Castle, Birmingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Carlisle, Edinburgh,

Sterling, Callander, The Trosacks, Lake Katrine, Dunbarton, Glasgow,

Belfast, Irish Causeway, Dublin, Chester, Liverpool, home.

Soon after my return from Europe I was kindly invited by Benjamin Gould

to make him a visit in Boston. His son, N. Goddard Gould, had, as I

have stated, been my traveling companion for many months. Their home

was in Penberton Square. The family was composed of charming, refined,

cultured people, and I retain only pleasant recollections of their

kindness.

I passed the winter in San Antonio, Tex., and the summer at Rye Beach,

N. H. This year (1859) some notable events occurred that had important

bearings in shaping the history, if not the destiny, of the country.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's publication of an imaginative work, "Uncle

Tom's Cabin," Hinton Helper's pamphlet called a manifesto, and John

Brown's raid in Virginia, to raise an insurrection among the slaves

and to kill the whites, like distant thunder, presaged the coming

storm. His purposes of _murder_ were well known to many prominent

abolitionists of the North, who assisted him by contributions to obtain

arms to carry out his murderous designs. The party consisted of the old

murderer, his three sons, thirteen white men, and five negroes from

the North. They obtained possession of the armory at Harper's Ferry

October 16, killing a negro, the mayor of the town, and other citizens.

On arrival of the United States troops under Col. R. E. Lee, the armory

was captured. Some were killed in the assault, and the remainder taken

prisoners. These were tried and hung.

This infamous outrage on the State of Virginia, instead of being

condemned by the people of the North, won their admiration, sympathy,

and love for John Brown, and by some he is compared to our Saviour,

and "his soul is still marching on," without peace or rest, like

the wandering Jew--on, on--a punishment for his crimes. These events

induced an uncalled for and unjust feeling of hatred toward the South,

and the intensity of this hatred is most significantly displayed

in the _apotheosis_ of this murderer, and the _consecration_ of his

crimes. Could this be otherwise than a warning to the Southern people?

The statutes made by the Northern States for the _abolition_ of

_slavery_ never set _free_ a _living slave_. They emancipated only the

unborn. Now you can comprehend the difference between _abolition_ and

_emancipation_.

After the war began many unusual expedients were resorted to designed

to increase the wild frenzy of the people North. Among them was the

spectacle of Henry Ward Beecher selling slaves from the pulpit stage of

his Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. So noted was this exhibition that it is

related as one of the eight notable events of the nineteenth century.

I attribute this act of his to _heredity_.

CHAPTER X.

Canada, Boston, Rye Beach--Antislavery Party Nominates

Lincoln for President--His Election Evidence of Hostility

to the South--Mississippi Secedes--Gov. Pettus--Appointed

Colonel and Chief of Ordnance in the Army of the State

of Mississippi--State Had No Arms--Governor Sends an

Agent to Europe to Purchase Arms--Laboratory for Making

Ammunition--Flannel and Paper to Make Cartridges--Cartridges

and Horse Collars--Only Old Flint Muskets--Old

Shotguns--Governor Objects to the State Troops Going out

of the State--Visit Home--Am Offered the Appointment of

Brigadier General, Confederate States of America.

I spent the summer of 1860 at Rye Beach, Boston, and in Canada. When I

returned I found the animosity between the two great political parties

very bitter. Slavery, for the first time in the history of the United

States, had consolidated all the "isms" and all parties against the

South, and nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, save only

the Democratic party, and that was divided. On my journey home I found

intense excitement all the way on account of a sectional nomination for

President, and the election of Lincoln was deemed an open declaration

of hostility to the people of the South, and drove them to the act

of secession. And the people of Mississippi, in convention assembled,

repealed all the laws and ordinances by which she became a member of

the Federal Union, and on January 9, 1861, she was a sovereign and

independent State.

About the middle of February I received a verbal message from the

Governor, J. J. Pettus, that he wished to see me, and soon after I

went to Jackson. The Governor informed me that I had been appointed a

lieutenant colonel and chief of ordnance in the army of the State of

Mississippi on February 12, 1861.

On assuming the duties of the office I found the State destitute of

all military supplies and without arms. Investigation showed that

a mercantile firm in New Orleans had offered, immediately after the

act of secession, to furnish arms from England or Belgium, but it was

declined.

Weeks after, the Governor sent an agent to Europe to purchase arms,

but it was too late to get any in England; but in Belgium he obtained

some muskets, and shipped them on a vessel that reached the mouth of

the Mississippi river just as the blockading ships arrived there.

Discovering the blockade, the vessel bore away for Havana, and

stored the arms there. From Havana they were afterwards brought over

and landed in small quantities. I built a powder house, and asked

permission to go to St. Louis and purchase powder, and it was refused

on the ground or belief that I would be arrested there, and that he,

the Governor, would have to arrest a person as a hostage in my place.

Afterwards I wrote to a friend in St. Louis, and obtained two hundred

kegs (I think that was the number) of powder and fifty-four sets of

artillery harness, and this was done after the town of Cairo, Ill., was

garrisoned by Gen. Grant.

I purchased _every_ yard of flannel that could be obtained in New

Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, and other towns for artillery cartridges,

and all the paper suitable for making cartridges for small arms, even

including wall paper, and could not get enough. I was offered by a

person whom I knew in Philadelphia a machine for molding lead balls

with die for all caliber of small arms (made for the Governor General

of Cuba) for a moderate sum, but the Governor disapproved of getting

it. Then I made arrangements to have one thousand large Colt's pistols

with holsters, etc., sent me from Philadelphia. Twenty thousand

dollars in the treasury was placed to the order of the express agent

in Jackson, payable to him on delivery of the goods. He succeeded

in getting them as far as Baltimore, and there they were seized or

stopped. This was in April.

When all arrangements were made for putting up ammunition, the

Confederate government could not send me a person that had ever seen a

cartridge made, and I had to teach the women how they were put up. The

same was true of artillery ammunition. The guns were cast in Richmond,

Va., but the carriages were made in Jackson. In making artillery

harness difficulty was experienced in procuring leather, and not one

person could be found in the State that had ever made a leather horse

collar, so dependent were the people of the South for most of the

manufactured articles in common use.

As for arms for the infantry and cavalry, we literally had none fit

for use. The flintlock muskets found in the arsenal at Baton Rouge, I

shipped from time to time to my merchant, Walter Cox, in New Orleans,

who employed a gunsmith to alter them to percussion lock; and caps

for the guns came in small quantities smuggled over the line from

Tennessee. However, as fast as possible the organized companies were

supplied with arms such as we had and very good ammunition, and went to

their homes to await orders.

When the supply of arms was exhausted I was directed by the Army

Board to issue an order for the purchase of shotguns, with which the

Governor was bent on arming the troops. He would "o' nights" come to

my room and tell me long yarns about how his father, or grandfather,

once with a party armed with shotguns loaded with buckshot waylaid

a band of Indians, and killed them all. Elated with this legendary

story, he wanted _his_ army to be supplied with shotguns, so that he

might annihilate the pestiferous Yankees, should they invade _his_

domain. Gens. Alcorn, Dahlgreen, and O'Farrel were to superintend the

collection of these deadly shotguns in their respective departments,

and I was ordered to write out instructions for their guidance. Now,

lest we should be burdened with a lot of worthless arms, they were

informed that it was not expected they would purchase the costly

shotguns at high figures, nor were they to buy guns made of "two-penny

skip iron," nor "sham-dam barrels," cast-iron barrels, etc.

Alas! when these guns began to arrive the god of war never beheld such

a wonderful collection of antique weapons as came in for the Governor.

There were guns with only a vent, to be fired with a live coal, guns

without ramrods, barrels without stocks, stocks without barrels, guns

without cocks, cocks without pans. One gun, I remember, consisted of a

barrel that flared out at the muzzle like a bell nailed on a crooked

cypress rail, without cock, having only a pan and vent, requiring

one man to hold it and another to "touch it off." It was a valuable

collection for an antiquarian, but useless in war. I am particular in

describing this remarkable collection of arms, because I never saw any

of the arms sent South by Secretary J. B. Floyd, and I don't want any

Northern writer to accuse him of having sent these shotguns privately

to aid "rebellion." A _private_ and _confidential report_ of all the

arms found in the various arsenals, and all arms in the possession of

the Confederate States, was sent me by the Chief of Ordnance of the

Confederate government. It showed a beggarly array of trash not unlike

Pettus's collection turned over for me to issue to his troops, to

ambush the Yankees should they invade his territory.

I must here, as a contribution to war history, say a few words about

the Governor's _grand strategy_. Several companies of Mississippi

troops crossed out of his State, and went to the front in Tennessee,

and were received by the Confederate army then with Gen. G. J. Pillow

to hold the enemy in check. For some offense a few of them were put

in the guardhouse. They made their escape, and came to Jackson. The

Governor, Wiley P. Harris, and myself were in his office, when two

long-haired men came in, and asked for his excellency. "I am the

Governor," was the reply. They told him how they had been put in the

guardhouse, etc., and his reply was: "Go back to your company, and

tell Gen. Pillow that, notwithstanding you have been mustered into the

Confederate service, you are by fiction of law supposed to be in the

State of Mississippi, and still in my command, and not subject to his

orders," etc.

On another occasion Capt. Manlove had organized a company, and by

purchase or otherwise had armed it with the Mississippi rifles. When

the Governor learned that they contemplated going to Richmond, he

told me to issue an order requiring them to turn in their arms. Capt.

Manlove came over to see me about it. He was informed that it was

an order of the Governor, and would have to be obeyed. After dinner

he asked me privately what I would do if I were in his place. I told

him I could not advise him, yet he could go home at once, muster his

company, get on the night train, and in the morning be beyond his

jurisdiction. He did this; but when the Governor learned that they had

passed through the city during the night, he telegraphed Gen. Charles

Clark, at Iuka, to stop the company and disarm them, which he refused

to do. Capt. Sweet had an artillery company in Vicksburg with four

guns, horses, and ammunition, complete for the field. He came over to

see me lest his guns be taken, and in a few days after he was reported

to be in Tennessee in front of the enemy. And so very properly the

army of Mississippi became less and less, by the troops themselves

going quietly to the front or by his sending or loaning troops for

Pensacola and Tennessee, etc. I have no desire to make any reflections

on the Governor, except to point out how his war policy would have

been ruinous to the Confederate cause, had he been permitted to invite

the enemy to invade the "sacred soil of Mississippi" to gratify his

desire to ambush them and kill them with shotguns. This opportunity was

afforded him in 1863.

By the latter part of August most of the Mississippi troops were in the

Confederate army, and I had worked up and issued all the war material

that could be obtained, and was comparatively idle.

In October I made a visit home in Greenville, and one night the

servant came in with the mail. I opened the letters and read them,

but among them was a yellow envelope from Greenville that I did

not open, supposing it to be a bill, and turned my attention to the

papers. When mother and sister rose to retire, I opened this envelope,

and behold! it was a dispatch from the President, saying: "Will you

accept an appointment of brigadier general? Answer." And the question

then was, what should I do? Should I raise a company of cavalry or

accept this appointment? They advised me to accept. Ten days after, I

telegraphed the President accepting the appointment. During that time

I was in Jackson closing my ordnance accounts. Why I did not accept

the appointment at once I cannot understand now, unless it was so

unexpected that I took time to reflect the matter over. The date of

the appointment was October 23, 1861. I had been appointed a major of

artillery in the _regular_ army of the Confederacy April 2, 1861.

CHAPTER XI.

Leave for Richmond--Ordered to Evansport, Va., to Blockade

the Potomac--Worthless Ammunition--Forces on the Maryland

Shore--Constant Firing All Winter--Orders to Fall Back to

Fredericksburg--"Come to Richmond Immediately"--Orders from

Gen. Lee--New Berne Falls--Relieve Branch at Kinston--Ordered

to Wilmington--Build Defenses--Fort Fisher Constructed--Col.

William Lamb in Command--Running the Blockade--Whitworth

Guns--July 17, 1862, Placed in Command of the Department

of North Carolina and Southern Virginia--Defend a Line

from the Appomattox to Cape Fear--July 31, Shell Gen.

McClellan's Army--Constructed Defenses of Petersburg--Battle

of Fredericksburg--Pelham--President Calls for Me--Gen.

Lee's Considerate Conduct--Gen. Foster at Tarboro, N. C.--He

Interviews an Old Darky--Railroad Bridge at Goldsboro,

N. C., Burned--Weak Defense Made--How I Got Supplies

from Suffolk--Mrs. Johnston and Gen. Viele--Was Fannie

Cooper a Spy?--Martial Law--Sidney Lanier--Flag of Truce

Boats--Exchange of Prisoners.

In obedience to orders received, I went to Richmond in November.

I called on the President, and then reported to the War Department

for duty. Secretary Benjamin told me that he would put me on duty

at Norfolk; but for some reason, when the order came, I was directed

to relieve Gen. Trimble and take command of the troops at Evansport

and the batteries there, and blockade the Potomac river to prevent

communications with Washington City by water.

[Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS.]

An earthwork at the mouth of the Quantico had been constructed, and

contained nine or ten nine-inch Dahlgren guns. To these I added five

or six heavy guns. These latter guns were far apart, and mounted

in circular pits sunk in the earth. Thus isolated, they commanded

the river afar, both up and down, and no concentrated fire could be

made on them all at the same time. One was a large English Armstrong

rifled gun. The infantry force was composed of the regiments of Cols.

Brockinbrough, Virginia; J. J. Pettigrew, North Carolina; W. B. Bate,

Tennessee; Col. J. J. Judge, Alabama; Col. Thomas, Georgia; Walker,

Arkansas; Fagan, Arkansas; Bronough's battalion, Arkansas; Col. Snowden

Andrews's battery of field artillery, Maryland; and Capt. Swann's

company of cavalry. Capt. Chatard, Capt. McCorkle, Lieuts. Simms and

Wood, C. S. navy, were given command of some of the land batteries and

the steamer Page. On the Maryland shore opposite us were the brigades

of Gens. Hooker and Sickles, and some water batteries of Parrott guns:

and above several ships of war were blockaded, and below such ships of

war as came up from time to time. With this force the river was closed

to navigation; and as Lord Lyons, the British minister, remarked in one

of his dispatches, "Washington is the only city in the United States

that is really blockaded."

The ammunition found in the magazine for the large guns was very

indifferent. The powder was a mixture of blasting with rifle powder.

Sometimes the Armstrong gun, at the same elevation, would not throw

a shell more than halfway across the river; then again far over the

river.

During the whole winter, notwithstanding a great deal of shelling from

the steamers below us and the opposite batteries, nothing of importance

occurred. It was only the thunder of big guns.

I think it was on the 5th of March that I received, confidentially,

verbal orders to remove all stores to Fredericksburg, and to be

prepared to fall back on the 8th inst. All property was removed except

the heavy guns. Some of them were thrown into the Potomac, and the

remainder spiked and the carriages destroyed. On the 8th the troops in

my command were on the road to Fredericksburg. On the night of the 13th

a telegram was handed me, saying: "Come to Richmond immediately." I

reached that city early next day. Calling on the President, he told me

that I must go at once to New Berne, N. C., and relieve Gen. L. O. B.

Branch, take command of the forces there, and call at Gen. R. E. Lee's

office for instructions. I found Gen. Lee at his home, and he said: "I

want you to go to New Berne, and drive Burnside away from there when

he attacks the place. When can you go?" I said by the first train,

requesting him to have my staff and horses sent me as soon as possible.

The train was to leave in the afternoon. Next came a message from the

President, telling me that he wished me to call at once. I did so, and

he then informed me that he had just received a dispatch that New Berne

had fallen, but that I must go down and assume command.

I found Gen. Branch at Kinston. He received me very cordially, and

offered to aid me. I disliked to hand him the orders, because they

were written before they knew the battle had been fought. I made an

inspection of the troops, and found them cheerful and seemingly not

at all discouraged by their defeat. This was on the 17th. On the 20th

I received a dispatch ordering me to Wilmington, as there was some

apprehension of that place being attacked, and I went there without

delay. Gen. Joseph R. Anderson succeeded to the command at Kinston.

On arriving at Wilmington, the first duty was the immediate examination

of the defenses at the mouth of the Cape Fear river. Fort Caswell was

in fair condition for defense, and any vessels passing it would meet

river obstructions while under short range of the guns. Fort Fisher was

a small unfinished work, consisting of a casemate battery _fronting

the ocean_, and a line of works, nearly at right angles with this,

that ran back inland. This latter line constituted the land seaside

defense, while the guns also commanded the channel and the entrance

thereto. This face I continued inland to the edge of the marsh, making

it perhaps a third of a mile in length. From my assuming command in

March until I was ordered to Petersburg in July I gave this fort much

care, and kept a large force at work. Commencing at the right of the

casemate battery, I caused a line of revetment to be put up, extending

parallel with the ocean, a distance of perhaps half a mile; knowing the

winds would blow the sands up and make a glacis in front; and so the

windstorms blew thousands of tons of sand, forming a smooth slope to

the seashore. From this front we constructed a line back to the marsh,

and thence up to the line running back from the casemate. It was an

enormous work, and its garrison should not have been less than three

thousand men. Outside the sea front, near the ocean, I sunk a pit, as

deep as admissible, and mounted the largest of the Tredegar guns, that

swept the horizon in every direction.

Maj. Kendrick was in command of Fort Fisher for some time. I believe

it was at his own request that he was relieved, and I put Col. William

Lamb in command in his place, and he remained there until it was

captured, January 15, 1865. I mention this because it is a part of the

history of the fort.

There were many incidents connected with Fort Fisher whilst in my

command at Wilmington. I had constructed a telegraph from Wilmington

to Fort Fisher. One morning early I received a telegram stating that

a "blockade steamer" had been run ashore near the fort, designedly,

because she was fired on by the blockading ships and had much powder on

board, and that a messenger had reached the fort, asking the commander

to sink his steamer to _save the powder_, and asking me for orders.

However, before he got my reply to "not fire a shot at the steamer," a

shot was fired at her from Fort Fisher, and, striking below the water

line, she gradually filled. All the shells of the enemy fell short. We

took charge of the abandoned steamer, and sent two lines from her to

the shore, and with the labor of two hundred men removed all the cargo

to the depth of six feet in the water. The brandy, whisky, ale, powder,

medicines, and above all six Whitworth field guns, were landed. Two

of these guns were kept at Fort Fisher. As their range was about six

miles, I instructed Col. Lamb to select good men for them, and practice

with them inland, so as not to let the enemy know the range. When this

was done, one bright day when all was quiet, and the lazy blockaders

were lying at anchor about three miles off the fort, these two guns

opened on them, creating a lively scene. Black smoke began to stream

up from the smokestacks of the steamers; sails were thrown to the wind

from the ships in all haste, and the squadron went seaward. When they

returned, they anchored out of range, and from this time on I requested

all blockade runners (steamers) on arriving to make the mouth of the

channel at dawn and run in by daylight out of reach of the enemy's

guns.

Soon after this another steamer came in from Nassau, and Capt.

McCorkle, of the navy, and I got into a yawl with two sailors and

went out to meet her. We found a young "my lord" from England, who

had run the blockade to carry a "free lance" and have some "fun"

with the Yankees. He had been pent up on shipboard and was full of

life, and asked us to take him ashore in our boat. When we shoved

off, he insisted on taking one of the oars for mere relief to the

exuberance of life. We had almost three miles to row, and McCorkle,

as boatswain, managed the rudder so as to give him an opportunity to

display his strength. When he began to weaken, McCorkle would cry out,

"Give way, my lord," to encourage him. When we reached camp, he was

not so restless; but he was a jolly good fellow, and I hope he had an

opportunity given him to gratify his inclination to fight.

My volunteer aid, Baker, was given a month's leave. He obtained a small

boat and loaded her with nine bales of cotton, and, with only a small

boy to tend the jib sail, put out for Nassau, reached port safely, and

sold the boat and cargo. He returned on a vessel that ran the blockade

at Charleston, and brought me a "pith" India hat, gloves, kid gaiter

shoes, and other acceptable articles. With him on the steamer came

a distinguished officer, carrying a saber as large as the sword of

Wallace, who was "spoiling" for a fight, as he expressed it at a dinner

given him by some of the officers in Charleston. He was a genuine, good

soldier, entered our service, and often distinguished himself while

chief of staff for Gen. J. E. B. Stuart.

I was kept very busy during my stay in Wilmington in constructing

defensive works. I _fortified the city of Wilmington_; put up, or

mounted, isolated guns on the bluff banks of the river, and otherwise

defended the city from the approach from seaward.

And now were "fought the fights" around Richmond, and I was down here

digging dirt without much honor or renown, and when they terminated an

order came, July 17, placing me in command of the Department of North

Carolina and Southern Virginia. Gen. W. H. C. Whiting was given the

command of the defenses of Wilmington, and I was requested to name

certain counties around the city to give him a separate command. He

continued there until Fort Fisher was captured, as stated, on January

15, 1865. Although it was subjected to a terrific bombardment, the

report shows that out of forty-seven heavy mounted guns twenty-five of

them and their carriages were serviceable when captured. How difficult

it is to destroy sand forts!

Fort Sumter, with its walls crumbled into dust by four years of

bombardment, never was captured, and its defense stands _alone_,

unparalleled in the history of the world, and before which all others

pale. See Jollification Order, Vol. L., No. 106, page 1143, "War

Records," when information was sent to the United States troops that

the Confederates had left the fort.

Occasionally some war steamers would come near enough to throw shells

into Fort Fisher, but they did very little damage.

The main annoyance was the reports given out that every large naval

expedition was designed for Wilmington. On one of these occasions a

company of volunteers, mainly _lawyers and the like_, most elegant men,

arrived in Wilmington from Fayetteville and tendered their services

to defend Fort Fisher. Although I had learned the destination of the

fleet was not the Cape Fear river, I accepted their services, sent

them to Fort Fisher, and put them to work with wheelbarrows and shovels

to build ramparts. It went hard with them at first, but after a while

they considered it as being a rather good offer too prolonged. Their

complexions were soon tanned, their hands blistered. They, however,

made the time pass away merrily, worked hard, slept well, improved in

health, and when their time expired Capt. Devereux and his companions

thanked me for the opportunity given them to fight for the cause, and

making the fort impregnable, as they expressed it. They enjoyed working

because they were men of character.

The battles around Richmond had been fought, and Gen. McClellan driven

to seek shelter at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, under cover

of the heavy guns of the navy. Gen. R. E. Lee's army rested around

Richmond. My line of defense commenced on the James near Drewry's

Bluff, thence down the James, down the Blackwater, thence on to the

mouth of the Cape Fear river, over three hundred miles in length, with

the enemy at intervals along the front at Norfolk, Suffolk, Washington,

Plymouth, New Berne, and other places, constantly threatening and

making raids. It was imposing on me unceasing labor and a grave

responsibility; and I will here remark, once for all, that during

my command of this department, although Smith, Hill, and Longstreet

were temporarily in command, at intervals, they did not remain in the

department any length of time, or interfere with the defense.

Sometime toward the last of July Gen. D. H. Hill, who had no command,

came over from Richmond, and as no defensive works had been constructed

for Petersburg, the matter was mentioned, and it resulted in our riding

out and selecting a point on the Appomattox river to start from; and

we determined on the line to the City Point railroad, thence on by the

farms of Hare, Friends, and Dunns. And as I may not refer to it again,

I will state I went to work with my troops, and, staking out the line,

_constructed the entire works around the city_, crossing the Jerusalem

pike and on to the lead works on the P. and W. railroad. It took one

year to build this line, and it served a good purpose in the end, and

gave one year of life to the Confederacy.

On the evening of July 28 Gen. Hill handed me a letter from Gen. Lee

stating that he would send over to Petersburg the next day Gen. W. D.

Pendleton, his chief of artillery, with six batteries. To these other

batteries could be added as desired, the whole to go down to Coggins's

Point, on the James, and attack, at night, the shipping and camp of

the Federal army at Harrison's Landing, on the opposite shore; and

that I should command the expedition, etc. Accordingly I increased the

number of guns to seventy-five, and designated Gen. Daniel's brigade as

the escort. We started on the morning of the 30th, intending to make

the attack that night. The forces were halted in the woods. I then

rode down with Gen. Pendleton to the dwelling of Mr. Ruffin, on the

river, to reconnoiter the grounds and select positions for the guns. At

Ruffin's I took off my coat, put on a straw hat, hoisted an umbrella,

and in the seeming garb of a farmer examined the shore, rode down to

the river and watered my horse near a war steamer. After going down a

half mile I returned. It was then growing late, and we started back.

To my astonishment, in the darkness, I met the artillery moving toward

the river. As not one captain had any idea of the ground, every gun

was ordered back, and such trouble to encamp, by reason of the intense

darkness, seldom occurs. Gen. Hill, who was in camp, said we would "be

_discovered next day_," and he returned to Petersburg. The next morning

the captains of the batteries were instructed to go through the clover

fields to the river bank and select positions for their guns. This was

done without attracting the notice of the enemy, or the hundreds of

vessels in the stream.

As the day closed a drizzling mist made the darkness _thick_. Like the

interior of the Mammoth Cave, it could be felt, but not seen. However

forty-five guns were put in position, exclusive of the two long Parrott

guns captured at Manassas. Amidst such darkness what a beautiful sight

was before us! Ten thousand lights from the shipping and the camp shone

the brighter from some reflection of the darkness that should have

obscured them. At midnight the battery on the right was to open fire,

to be followed in quick succession along the line, and in a minute

it was a continuous fire. Soon the lights were all extinguished, save

one or two on some lone craft in the river. When the firing commenced

all the monitors and other war vessels moved up the river to meet the

_ironclad_ built in Richmond that was reported to be ready to come down

the river, and so we were not subjected to any fire except from one

gunboat, and from some Whitworth guns that sent bolts, whistling like

birds, high over our heads. As the day dawned the guns were withdrawn

and we returned to Petersburg. The report of Gen. Pendleton and my own

can be found in the war records. There were no casualties on our side.

It was real amusement.

Officers of the Union army, years after, gave me accounts of the

wild confusion in their camps. Unexpected as a midnight earthquake

it burst upon the slumbering army. Horses and mules broke loose and

ran affrighted over the grounds, stumbling over tent cords. Captains

shouted everywhere for men to fall in line. The blue was here and

there mingled with midnight summer's sleeping uniforms of white

indescribables, airy and cool, that were seen only by the light of

bursting shells. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton told me he could find nothing

in his tent to put on, except now and then by the light of the shells,

and my good friend, Gen. Rufus Ingalls, in the first letter he wrote me

after the surrender, said: "You don't know, dear Sam, how near you came

killing me that night, which, had it happened, would have been a great

sorrow to you." I was informed that a war correspondent wrote a letter

severely criticising Gen. McClellan's inability with eighty thousand

men to offer any resistance to this attack, that was successfully used,

with other charges, by his enemies to have him relieved from command of

the Army of the Potomac. McClellan, perhaps mortified that his position

was shelled without being able to make any defense, treated the matter

very lightly in his reports. He had not taken the precaution to place

any guns on the river bank, and the intense darkness prevented moving

artillery through his camp. Besides, he could not use guns, as the

ships and vessels of every kind lined the river shore and were in the

way.

Gen. Lee directed me to have my scouts watch McClellan's movements

closely, especially movements of the shipping down the James. In time

I reported the departure of the transports, and the crossing of the

Chickahominy with the infantry. Soon after followed the battles of

Cedar Run, August 9; the second Manassas, September 2, where Pope met

his reward; then Fredericksburg, December 13, where the vain Burnside

was defeated.

There is an incident connected with this last battle that I will

here relate, although it has been published in a magazine called the

_Confederate Veteran_. The Federal army had crossed the Rappahannock

river and formed in line of battle to attack the Confederate army

on the heights beyond. Maj. Pelham commanded a battery belonging to

Stuart's cavalry, away on our right flank, in age a youth, in character

a hero. When the Federal line commenced to advance, in full view of

friends and foe, in the silence that often precedes a great battle,

Pelham, with a piece of artillery, dashed forward between the two

armies, halted, a puff of smoke, a shell burst over the Federal line,

and in a moment the fire of twenty batteries centered on that lone gun;

and there, amidst shrieking shot and bursting shell, flame and smoke,

that detachment of Frenchmen worked their gun and stayed the battle

near an hour, all the while singing the "Marseillais," which was now

and then heard for a moment, borne by the fitful breeze, in the break

of an almost continuous roar of artillery. France and glory evermore

abides in the hearts of Frenchmen. Macaulay, in his lays of ancient

Rome, tells in song the story of Horatius and his two friends defending

the bridge over old Tiber against the hosts of Lars Porsena, and here

is a deed of modern date that rivals that of old, and some day it will

be a theme of inspiration for a poet. A boy, one gun, eight Frenchmen

holding in check so long eighty thousand men!

Sometime in November, I think it was, I received a dispatch from the

President to come over to Richmond. On calling at the President's

house I found Gen. Lee there. The General asked me what was the least

number of troops I would require, for a short time, to hold my line.

Reflecting awhile, I said about six thousand. His reply was: "That is

reasonable. When you return order all above that number to report to

me." Now I write this as an illustration of the delicate consideration

Gen. Lee had for the officers under him. He could have ordered from

the department such troops as he desired, without seeing me, but he was

ever a gentleman, and considerate to every one.

I have not the date, my papers having been turned over to my successor,

but it was during the winter of 1862-63 that Gen. Foster made a raid

from New Berne up to near Tarboro, N. C., and as soon as I could

ascertain his designs and objective point I began to concentrate troops

to meet him. I assembled about eight thousand troops at Tarboro. Foster

was at a village about twelve miles distant. During the afternoon he

marched on one road toward Tarboro, and I moved on another to meet

him, and on the road that he was reported to be on. When night came we

were near each other on different roads, and preparations were made for

battle. In the morning Foster was far away on his road to New Berne. It

was cold, and snow covered the ground, and pursuit was useless except

by cavalry. There was brought to me an old negro slave who was with

Foster during that night, and the following was his story:

Well, master, I will tell you how it was. You see I was going

from Tarboro out on that road unbeknownst that the Yankees

was there. Well, for sure, some of dem Yankees on horseback

cried, "Stop dar," and asked me, "Where you live, and where

you goin'?" I told how it was, and they said, "Come along,

old man," and they took me to the ginneral. He was in a house

sitting on a sofa, and he says to me, "Are you from Tarboro?"

and I said, "Yes, master;" and then he says, "Take a seat

here." So I sot down just this way. He was on this side of

me, and I was, as it might be, on tother side of him. He

looked kind to me, and says to me: "You know we are friends

of the colored people, and so you must tell me de truth."

Then he says: "Mose [for I had done told him my name], Mose,

are there many soldiers in Tarboro?" I told him there was in

de morning more men than I had ever seen in my life, and I

tells him where they went to. Then he asks me: "Mose, have

they much cabalry?" "Cabalry? what you mean by dat?" "Have

they many men on horses?" And I says: "Bless your soul,

master, I neber have seen as many blackbirds in de cornfields

as dey have horses thar; everywhere you go you see dem men on

horses." "Have they many guns?" "Sure, ebery man hab a gun."

"You don't understand me, Mose," says he; "have they many

cannon on wheels?" Then I ups and tells how when dem cannon

went out of town I sot on de ground on my knees in a joint

of fence in a cornfield on tother side de road and looks

through de rails and counts them, and dar war, for sure,

just sixty-four of dem. Next he asked me what ginnerals were

there, and I told him I ain't particlarly 'quainted with dem,

but that I had heard tell of Ginneral Martin there, who had

but one arm. Then, after thinking for some time, he called a

man and told him to take care of me and not let me get away.

Soon they beat de drums and blowed de horns, and they all got

ready and was going back, and in the big crowd I slips out,

and, bless the Lord, I am home here with de ole woman and

children.

Whether Foster was influenced by the information he got from old Mose,

I know not, but such was the old negro's story as he related it to me

the next day, as I remember it.

I am quite sure vandalism (especially stealing) commenced in New

Berne, for the pianos and furniture shipped from there decorate to-day

many a Northern home. At Hamilton most of the dwellings had been

entered, mirrors broken, furniture smashed, doors torn from their

hinges, and especially were the feather beds emptied in the streets,

spokes of carriage wheels broken, and cows shot in the fields by the

roadside, etc. It was a pitiful sight to see the women and children

in their destitute condition. Alas! toward the end it was an everyday

occurrence, and the main object of small expeditions was to steal

private property.

Pretty early in December a lady correspondent, outside of New Berne,

informed me that it was reported that the troops in the town were to

move out and attack Wilmington, or destroy the railroad to that place.

I kept Gen. G. W. Smith, in Richmond, whose command embraced the State

of North Carolina, advised of the information received, and he went

through Petersburg, stopping to see me, and then went on to Goldsboro,

N. C., to await developments.

My diary says:

Left Petersburg December 15, in the evening train for Weldon.

From there ordered the horses and equipments by land road to

Goldsboro. Also, by command of Gen. G. W. Smith, I ordered

Col. Martin's regiment to Goldsboro. I left in Petersburg,

awaiting transportation, the Mississippi regiments and some

of Daniel's Brigade and Bradford's Artillery. Leaving Weldon,

I proceeded to Goldsboro, and arrived there at 7:30 A.M. on

the 16th, and took the train to Kinston. Reached Mosely Hall

about 10 A.M. Found Gen. Evans there. At this time there

was heard heavy firing at the Whitehall bridge over the

Neuse river. The firing increasing rapidly, I sent to Gen.

Robertson Col. Burguin's regiment, and Gen. Pettigrew to

take command if it should prove to be a determined attempt

to cross the river, which I doubted. This regiment did not

reach there in time to render any material assistance. The

troops engaged were Leventhorpe's Eleventh North Carolina, a

part of Feribee's and Evans's Brigades, Jordan's Thirty-First

North Carolina, and two pieces of artillery. A battery I sent

did not reach there until the fight was over. In this affair

we lost about thirty killed and wounded. We had about five

hundred men engaged, and the enemy four regiments and fifteen

pieces of artillery, and their loss, from inferior position,

must have been about one hundred.

Being satisfied that the attempt to cross or to put down a

pontoon bridge was frustrated, if seriously contemplated,

and that the objective point was Goldsboro and the railroad

bridge there, I ordered Col. Rodgers up from Kinston, who

had been there all day in possession of the town, and sent

him and Evans's Brigade forward to Goldsboro in haste, and

informed Gen. Smith that the enemy was moving up the river;

and made every effort to get our force to Goldsboro. Gen.

Pettigrew moved with Burguin's and Leventhorpe's regiments

for that point, leaving a strong force and two guns at

Whitehall. The train that took Rodgers did not return until

about 4 A.M., and left soon after with troops. Seeing them

off, I started on horseback with staff and rode to Goldsboro,

and reached there at 9 A.M. and reported to Gen. Smith.

The guard that was left at Mosely Hall was directed to take

an account of the cotton burned there, and to save the rope

and bagging.

When I reached the depot near Bear Creek I there found

Burguin's regiment and a down train. It brought me an order

from Gen. Smith to leave Gen. Robertson in command of the

troops at Whitehall and Spring Bank bridges to hold them.

Gen. Martin was left in command at Mosely Hall. I have since

learned that the enemy left eighty men unburied at Whitehall.

They removed the wounded. Seventy stand of arms were

collected. During this time Gen. Clingman, with his brigade,

was on the right bank of the river.

When Col. Rodgers was ordered from Kinston I directed that

the command of Wallace should proceed direct to Goldsboro

from Greenville, and not stop at Kinston to support Col.

Rodgers, as he had been ordered away.

In consequence of the movements made, as has been stated,

the condition of matters on the morning of the 17th,

was as follows: Clingman was over the river on the right

bank with his brigade (Cantrell's, Shaw's, and Marshall's

regiments) and some artillery; Evans, with his brigade and

the Mississippi troops, in the town; Rodgers, near by; and

Burguin, _en route_, near at hand. When I reached the town

and reported to Gen. Smith he told me he had ordered, early

in the morning, Gens. Evans and Clingman to make an armed

reconnoissance on the other side of the river. For some

reason, not known to me, it never moved or got off until the

enemy attacked the bridge.

About 2:30 P.M. I was informed that the enemy was advancing

on the Goldsboro bridge (the railroad bridge over the Neuse),

and the cannon were heard in the distance. Pettigrew started

to join Clingman on the other side of the river. Smith sent

for me to come to his office. I remained with him about an

hour, urging forward troops. Gen. Smith then went to the

hotel, for his sword, coat, etc. When he returned I picked

up my saber and said: "If you have no particular use for

me here, I shall go down to the field." To this he replied:

"Very well."

Riding down I overtook the Hon. W. Dortch, Confederate States

Senator, and Gov. Z. Vance. They wished to show me some fords

in the river. I found Pettigrew examining them also. I then

galloped on for the field, and found Gen. Smith there. He

had passed by while we were locating the fords. On arriving

on the field I found most of our troops in the edge of the

woods. I moved them across the field to the railroad, which

afforded some protection. The enemy were drawn up in line

on some rising ground somewhat obliquely to the railroad.

Their right was about seven hundred yards distant, and

the left four hundred. There was really but little firing

except artillery, and that was at the one gun we brought

on the field. Evans, on our left, ordered a charge over the

open field toward a battery. The regiment making the charge

suffered considerably from canister shot, and as soon as

possible I recalled it. It soon became dark, both lines

maintaining their positions. Smith now came over to the left,

and called Evans, Pettigrew, and me, with Stevens, engineer,

to consult or counsel with him on the question of remaining

or withdrawing. All but Evans favored crossing back to camp.

The diary is too full of detail to quote. We recrossed because

the weather was intensely cold, and the troops had no blankets or

provisions, and would be unfit for service if they remained there. Next

morning Foster was on his return to New Berne. Had Smith seen to it

that Evans had crossed over, and with Clingman's Brigade and his own

moved as directed, the bridge could not have been burned, as it was, by

a party of six men. Reports said Foster had eighteen thousand men and

eighteen pieces of artillery; we had nine thousand, with nearly twenty

pieces of artillery. The whole matter was probably a demonstration

in favor of Burnside at Fredericksburg. Our troops were not properly

handled at Goldsboro.

From Goldsboro I returned to Petersburg on the 24th. On January

5, 1863, I left Petersburg for Weldon on account of information of

an apprehended attack on Wilmington. The next day Gen. G. W. Smith

arrived, and then went on to Goldsboro. On the 16th I joined Gen. Smith

at Goldsboro. Owing to information received on the 20th, I ordered

Cook's Brigade to near South Washington, Ransom's to Kenonsville,

and Pettigrew's intermediate, to support either. In the evening Smith

went to Wilmington. On the 27th I received information that Gen. Smith

had been ordered to Richmond, and a dispatch came for me from the War

Department to repair to Goldsboro and assume command of all the troops.

On the 3d of February I received orders to send reinforcements to

Wilmington. I sent Evans's Brigade there. Orders also came to convene

a court of inquiry on Gen. Evans. On the 8th forces were sent from

Wilmington to Charleston, and on the 18th I examined the works around

the city of Wilmington that I had constructed a year ago, and the next

day visited the forts, Fisher, Caswell, etc. I returned to Petersburg

on the 23d. Gen. D. H. Hill, having no troops, was put in command

of those in North Carolina, leaving me Southern Virginia. I found in

Petersburg Lieut. Gen. Longstreet.

In the summer of 1862 an estimable clergyman came to me and spoke of an

opportunity of obtaining some supplies for the troops from Norfolk. I

believed it feasible, and referred him to my chief quartermaster, Maj.

J. B. Moray. It speedily was put into operation, and the plan was very

simple. An Englishman, living some miles from Suffolk, having charge

of or owning an estate on which he lived, had permission to pass the

lines at will, and had a permit to purchase supplies for his place.

Under this permit he procured for the reverend gentleman large supplies

of sugar, coffee, clothes, shoes, medicines, surgical instruments,

saddler's tools, bacon, etc. One day at Weldon, or Halifax, a trunk was

sent to headquarters through this channel containing some coffee and

the most costly pair of boots I have ever worn. The foot was calfskin

and the tops of morocco, and came above the knee. They were worn long

after the war ended. Who sent them I do not know. The only trouble I

gave to this matter of obtaining supplies was to place a respectable

and permanent guard that could be trusted, to let the boats land with

the supplies.[22] When I went to Petersburg the ladies were somewhat

"slipshod," for no ladies' shoes, toothbrushes, pins, needles, or

materials for dresses were for sale. Through respectable men "running

the blockade," I had the town supplied. All that I required of these

men was that they should bring a few necessary articles for the

government, then as much as they wished for sale, but the invoice must

be submitted to the quartermaster to see if there were any other things

useful for the army.

There was a large, tall woman named Johnston by whom hundreds of

letters, with money in them, were sent by soldiers to their families in

that part of Virginia, and in return she brought letters to Confederate

soldiers. I detailed an intelligent man to read all letters going out

and returning by the blockade runners; all letters, too, going _north_

by, or received from, the flag of truce boats were examined before

being delivered to the persons addressed. Only a few of these letters

were referred to me. I never doubted Mrs. Johnston's integrity, but

some of my staff endeavored to have me believe she was a spy on both

sides. She always told me the truth about the enemy, for I could see it

corroborated by the testimony of others. One time she was gone about

six weeks, then returned and said Gen. Vielè had put a guard over her

house in Norfolk and kept her a prisoner. When some years afterwards

I met Gen. Vielè in New York he told me he could do nothing with her,

she defied him, and he kept her at home that while. She gave him no

truthful information, but was faithful in her reports to us.

There was a girl living in Norfolk that wanted to cross the lines and

go to Richmond. Three prominent citizens, separately, informed me that

she was a spy. Gen. J. J. Pettigrew, on the Blackwater, received like

information, and asked me for instructions. I wrote: "Let her come, but

send an officer to watch her." She arrived by train, in company with

a "roach-backed" looking woman with a child in her arms, and went to

the hotel. I directed the city marshal to arrest her if she attempt to

leave for Richmond, and he arrested her at the Richmond depot the next

morning and brought her to me. She swore she was a true woman to the

Confederacy, that she had a brother in the service. I asked her how she

left Suffolk. She declared she passed the Federal lines with the woman

now with her, who had a pass for two persons, that she brought the

woman and child along with her lest the woman should be imprisoned for

aiding her over the line of pickets, etc. Then I read to her several

letters informing me "Fannie Cooper left this morning in a carriage

with a Yankee officer to go to Richmond." She denied it all. I told her

she would have to go to Salisbury a prisoner until I could inquire into

her case further. She begged not to be imprisoned there, so I sent her

back to Gen. Pettigrew, commanding on the Blackwater, to have her sent

back to her home. Now, during the siege of Suffolk, many persons told

me that "she did go out of Suffolk in the carriage with an officer,"

etc. In 1866 she wrote me a letter declaring all I heard about her was

false, and wishing me all sorts of bad things. All in all it would have

been an interesting case for Sherlock Holmes.

Petersburg was under martial law, and to keep the city in peace and

order was no small task. Men who were regarded respectable would sell

liquor to the soldiers. To fine the offenders was useless. To end

it, the suggestion was made that a court-martial should condemn the

next offender to have his head shaved and wear a "barrel shirt," and

be marched through the city two hours every day for ten days. That

ended selling whisky. How would a dude look with his head shaved and

protruding through a hole in the head of a barrel? Would the sun affect

_his_ intellect? The doctors reported that no ordinary person could

endure it, so I remitted a part of the sentence.

One day the provost marshal arrested a blockade runner for not obeying

his instructions. His goods were placed in a rented store, and J. A.

Shingleur, of Columbus, Ga., and Sidney Lanier, of my signal corps,

were detailed to sell them. The money was deposited in bank to my

order. After the war was ended I gave the owner the funds. I have often

wondered if that quiet, gentle soldier-poet remembered his experience

as a merchant in Petersburg? Often he and a friend would come to my

quarters and pass the evening with us, where the "alarums of war" were

lost in the soft notes of their flutes, for Lanier was an excellent

musician. I believe his cantata was sung at the opening of the World's

Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876.

Another duty was the exchange of prisoners on arrival at City Point

of the flag of truce steamer. Our men were sent out to a camp I had,

and thence to their commands. I never went to the flag of truce boat

in all this while but once, and then I did not go aboard of her. I

dismounted and took a seat on a box. All was quiet. The staging from

the main deck rested on the wharf. On this deck, by the staging, were

posted two soldiers with arms aground. On the upper deck were three or

four United States soldiers. Their clothing was clean, neat, and new,

and they wore unsoiled white cotton gloves. The wharf was guarded by a

lone Confederate soldier. On his head was a straw hat, his raiment was

butternut in color, his shoes were low-quartered, his hair and beard

long. In countenance he was dignified, and his eye bright. To protect

himself from the cold north wind, a brown blanket was tied, or pinned,

in front around his neck, and as he turned to the north, pacing to and

fro in front of the stage, his blanket would swing now east, now west,

and on returning wrap him in its folds. He heeded not the neat clad

enemy on the steamer, but walked his post with the conscious conviction

that he was their peer in every walk of life. None of the soldiers

leaning over the railing and looking down on him were commenting on his

garb, or laughing at him. Battle had taught them to respect him. Still

the contrast in clothing and comfort was marked.

CHAPTER XII.

Telegram from Secretary of War--Go to Richmond--Declined

Going to Vicksburg--Gen. Longstreet--He Starts for

Suffolk--Suffolk--Capture of a Fort and Garrison--No

Report Made of the Capture--Statement of Lieut. George

Reese--Longstreet Ordered to Join Lee--Dispatches--Battle

of Chancellorsville--Withdraw from Suffolk--An Impertinent

Note--Court of Inquiry Asked for and Refused--Possible

Result Had Longstreet Obeyed Orders--_Ten_ Dispatches to

Longstreet--Orders to Report to Gen. Johnston.

On March 1, 1863, I received a telegram from the Secretary of War

stating that he wished to see me in regard to a change of service.

The day following I called at the office of the Secretary, Hon. J.

A. Seddon, and he expressed a desire that I would go to the city of

Vicksburg to assist in the defense of that place. I did not give my

assent, preferring to consider the matter. On the 3d I rode around the

line of defensive works that I had constructed around Petersburg with

Gen. Longstreet, and did not get back until 3 P.M.

I have already stated that on my return from Wilmington on the 23d

of February, 1863, I found Gen. Longstreet in Petersburg in command

of the divisions of Gens. Hood and Pickett. The main object of his

coming was to provision his troops and forage his animals (until active

service commenced requiring him to join Gen. Lee or otherwise) from

the supplies in the adjoining counties of Virginia and the counties

of North Carolina in the northeastern portion of the State, and be in

readiness to join Gen. Lee promptly, which he said was arranged before

he left Fredericksburg. (See Longstreet's "Memoirs," page 329.)

That the trains might move in safety, it was necessary to confine the

Federal forces in the works around Suffolk and Norfolk. Accordingly

about the middle of April Longstreet moved with his two divisions and

one of mine on Suffolk. The approach of our troops was not discovered

until the advance was in open view of the defenses around the city.

Their pickets were quietly captured, and the lookout sentinel in an

observatory on a platform in the top of a large pine tree in front of

the city might have been captured also had it not been for the desire

of one of the Confederates to take a shot at him while he was in the

top, before any one had been sent near the base of the pine. The man

came down as lively as a squirrel, and the alarm was given.

The circumvallation of the city, in part, was made by Pickett's

division on the right, mine in the center, and Hood's on the left, and

thus the siege of Suffolk began.

When Gen. Longstreet had been in Petersburg some time, he said to

me one day that he purposed to attack Suffolk after his preparations

were made, and to take the trains and send them down into the seaboard

counties for provisions.

The next thing I knew, April 9, he put his command in motion, and

took from me a division and a number of batteries, and was on his

way to Suffolk without informing me in any way of his designs, or of

his wishes.[23] The next day I put a staff officer in charge of the

department headquarters, and with my other staff officers rode to

Suffolk and took command of my own troops there that had been removed

without sending the order through my office as courtesy required. No

doubt the object of such proceedings was to give the command of a

division to Gen. M. Jenkins, a worthy and gallant officer, who had

distinguished himself in the seven days' fight around Richmond. On

the morning of the 13th I took command of my own troops, the brigades

of Pettigrew, Jenkins, and Davis, and my batteries. I found Gen.

Longstreet down near the front, where there was considerable artillery

firing and skirmishing on the advanced line. Longstreet asked me to

accept the command of all the artillery, which I refused to do. I told

him I did not intend to give up the command of my division to any one,

but that I was willing to give all the assistance I could, personally

and through the chief of my artillery, to place in position guns to

prevent gunboats going up and down the river; and, although my diary

does not mention it, all the artillery was ordered to report to me. I

assigned all the batteries belonging to them to the _command of the

respective divisions_, and thus it was scattered along the line for

several miles, leaving me some spare batteries and a few siege guns in

charge of my chief of artillery. But I will copy from my diary:

Tuesday, 14th. Heavy skirmishing; rode to Pickett's Division

and to the extreme right of the line, and met Gen. Armstead

there.

Wednesday, 15th. Started down the river with some artillery

to endeavor to destroy the gunboats; found but one in the

river, and it was too far below. After getting guns in

position withdrew them. Day very rainy.