VOL. I NO. 5
THE
MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
MAY 1905
WILLIAM ABBATT
281 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
Published Monthly $5.00 a Year 50 Cents a Number
THE MAGAZINE OF
HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
VOL. I MAY, 1905 NO. 5
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE _BON HOMME RICHARD_ AND THE _SERAPIS_ _Frontispiece_
PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI
RIVER (Second Paper) WARREN UPHAM 255
(Sec’y Minn. Historical Society)
THE RECORD OF REDDING CHARLES BURR TODD 266
CIVIL WAR SKETCHES (Second Paper)
Confederate Finance in Alabama WALTER L. FLEMING 274
(Prof. of History, West Va. University)
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS (First Paper) REV. LIVINGSTON ROWE
SCHUYLER 283
UNPUBLISHED POEM—_The Autograph_ THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH 288
THE THIRTIETH OF MAY (_Poem_) MRS. E. M. ADAMS 289
ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHWEST AND THEIR
PRESERVATION PROF. EDGAR L. HEWETT 291
(Of the National Museum, Washington)
JOHN PAUL JONES’ FELLOW OFFICERS EDGAR STANTON MACLAY 301
THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE—Note by the Editor. 304
BURLEIGH—AND JOHNSON’S ISLAND FREDERICK J. SHEPARD 306
(Of the Buffalo Public Library)
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Letter of Robert Stuart to Secretary of War Spencer 316
Letter of Edgar Allan Poe to William Poe 317
Letter of Abraham Lincoln about a Deserter 320
Letter of Washington about a Deserter 320
Letter of Col. Barnard Beekman, C. S. A. 321
HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 322
COMMUNICATIONS 323
MINOR TOPICS 323
BOOK NOTICES 324
_Copyright, 1905, by William Abbatt_
Entered as second-class matter, March 1, 1905, at the Post Office at
New York, N. Y., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
[Illustration:
_From the original painting by Birch_
THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE
THE “_BON HOMME RICHARD_” AND THE “_SERAPIS_” SEPT. 23, 1779
]
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
WITH NOTES AND QUERIES
═══════════════════════
VOL. I MAY, 1905. NO. 5
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THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
II THE ROUTES OF PINEDA, NARVAEZ, AND DE SOTO AND MOSCOSO
In 1519 Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (or Pinedo) was sent as commander of an
expedition of three or four sailing vessels to explore the coast of
Florida and the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico, under a commission
from Garay, the governor of the Spanish settlements in Jamaica. The
resulting map, transmitted by Garay to Spain, gives a somewhat correctly
proportioned outline of the entire gulf, with Florida, Cuba, and Yucatan
inclosing it on the east; and the Mississippi is named Rio del Espiritu
Santo (River of the Holy Spirit). In Harrisse’s _Discovery of North
America_ (1892, p. 168), a translation from the contemporary Spanish
account of this expedition says, concerning the Mississippi, that the
ships “entered a river which was found to be very large and very deep,
at the mouth of which they say they found an extensive town, where they
remained forty days and careened their vessels. The natives treated our
men in a friendly manner, trading with them, and giving what they
possessed. The Spaniards ascended a distance of six leagues up the
river, and saw on its banks, right and left, forty villages.”
Pineda’s map shows the Mississippi as if it had a wide mouth, growing
wider like a bay in going inland, and it has no representation of the
delta; but this river and the several others tributary to the gulf are
all mapped only at their mouths. What he meant for the Mississippi is
more clearly indicated by the map sent to Spain by Cortes and published
there in 1524, which shows the Rio del Espiritu Santo flowing through
two lakes close to its mouth, evidently intended to represent Lakes
Pontchartrain and Borgne. The same delineation of the Lower Mississippi
is given also by the Turin map, of about the year 1523. Both these maps,
doubtless based on information supplied by Pineda, display the course of
the Mississippi above Lake Pontchartrain to a distance of apparently at
least a hundred miles, where it is represented as formed by three
confluent streams. Through questioning the Indians, he probably learned
of the Red river, and of its northern tributary, the Black, which would
be the two inflowing streams at nearly the distance mentioned from
Pontchartrain.
The little ships of Pineda’s expedition therefore must be supposed,
according to these maps, to have entered the Mississippi by one of its
numerous outflowing navigable bayous, which, before the construction of
levees, discharged a considerable part of the waters of the great river
through Lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Borgne. The Indian town noted
at the mouth of the river may have been at the mouth of the bayou, that
is, on or near Lake Maurepas; or it may have been near the chief place
of outflow from the main river, which was most probably then, as in
recent times, at Bayou Manchac, 117 miles above the site of New Orleans
by the course of the river, and 14 miles below Baton Rouge. There is no
reason to distrust the statement that within six leagues thence up the
Mississippi the Spaniards observed forty groups of temporary or
permanent Indian dwellings. If the ships only entered the mouth of the
bayou (or of the Amite river, through which the several bayous send
their waters to the lake), being there careened and repaired, it is easy
to infer that some of the Spaniards ascended the Amite and Bayou Manchac
in small boats to the Mississippi, noted the width of that mighty
stream, sounded its great depth, and reported its Indian villages. The
delta, jutting out as a long cape, was neglected by Pineda in his
mapping, which was accepted generally by cartographers. The chart of
Vespucci’s first voyage, more truthful as to this river’s embouchure,
had been lost and forgotten.
Harrisse, from a thorough study of records of Pineda’s cruise, concludes
that he came to the Mississippi in April or May, 1519, remained at the
Indian town forty days, as stated, and went onward, exploring the coast
of Louisiana and Texas, in June and July. He coasted beyond the Panuco
river, but turned back when he reached the neighborhood of Vera Cruz,
already occupied by Cortes. The next year Pineda again voyaged to the
Panuco, with many men and horses, to establish a colony, in which
endeavor he and most of his company were killed by the Indians.
The next expedition noting the Mississippi river was under the command
of Pamphilo (or Panfilo) de Narvaez, for exploration and colonization of
the country north of the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida westward nearly to
the Panuco river, over which he had been given the title of governor.
Grandly but ignorantly planned, this expedition was most utterly
disastrous. Out of the three hundred men who began it, only Cabeza de
Vaca, the historian of their shipwrecks and wanderings, with three
others, survived to reach Spanish settlements.
In April, 1528, after a stormy voyage from Cuba, Narvaez landed on the
west coast of Florida, probably at Tampa Bay. Amid great hardships, the
expedition, mostly afoot, but having forty horses, marched through woods
and swamps, crossed rivers, found an Indian town called Apalachen, and,
finally turning back, came again to the sea, probably at the site of St.
Mark’s, about fifty miles east of the Appalachicola River. Not finding
his ships, on which he expected to re-embark, Narvaez consulted his
followers, and they decided, although destitute of tools, to construct
boats and voyage westward along the coast. More than forty had died of
disease and hunger, and ten had been killed within sight of their camp
and boat-building, by arrows of Indian foes, before they embarked, late
in September, reduced to the number of two hundred and forty-seven, in
five frail vessels, to be propelled by oars, but also provided with
sails. They had no adequate means to carry water, and consequently
suffered terribly from thirst, as well as hunger. On the sea they were
in great peril during storms; and on landing they were assailed by the
Indians with stones and arrows.
About the end of October the wretched flotilla reached the Mississippi,
of which Cabeza de Vaca wrote in his Relation, as translated by
Buckingham Smith:
“My boat, which was first, discovered a point made by the land, and,
against a cape opposite, passed a broad river. I cast anchor near a
little island forming the point, to await the arrival of the other
boats. The Governor did not choose to come up, and entered a bay
near by in which were a great many islets. We came together there,
and took fresh water from the sea, the stream entering it in
freshet. To parch some of the maize we brought with us, since we had
eaten it raw for two days, we went on an island; but finding no wood
we agreed to go to the river beyond the point, one league off. By no
effort could we get there, so violent was the current on the way,
which drove us out, while we contended and strove to gain the land.
The north wind, which came from the shore, began to blow so strongly
that it forced us to sea without our being able to overcome it. We
sounded half a league out, and found with thirty fathoms we could
not get bottom; but we were unable to satisfy ourselves that the
current was not the cause of failure.”
During the next week the boats, being rowed and drifted westward, were
separated by storms; that of Narvaez may have foundered; others were
driven ashore and wrecked. Those of the men who escaped from the sea
mostly perished by hunger and cold, while some were enslaved by the
Indians. Cabeza de Vaca was held in servitude on and near the island
where he was wrecked, probably the island of Galveston, during about six
years. Thence escaping, with two Spaniards and a negro of their company,
he wandered across Texas, Chihuahua, and Sonora, securing the friendly
aid of the Indians all the way, and coming to Spanish settlements on the
Pacific coast, near the mouth of the Gulf of California, at the end of
March, 1536. The next year he returned to Spain, where his Relation was
published in 1542. A map of his wanderings was made in Mexico for the
viceroy, but it has not been preserved. No addition to the knowledge of
the Mississippi was derived from this expedition.
Grander, equally foolhardy, and scarcely less direful in its
experiences, was the expedition of Hernando (Ferdinand) de Soto,
similarly planned for discoveries, conquest, and the establishment of a
colonial government. He attained to a possession of the country granted
to him, but only by burial in its great river.
By a strange infatuation, Cabeza de Vaca, arriving in Spain, and being
questioned by his kinsfolk, gave them the impression that Florida, then
including a large region northwest of the peninsula, was “the richest
country in the world.” This was near the truth, if understood with
reference to capabilities for agriculture; but the Spaniards pictured
such wealth of gold and silver as had been recently plundered from Peru
and Mexico. A soldier of fortune, De Soto, who was of noble lineage,
formerly poor, but who had become suddenly rich with Pizarro from the
spoils of Peru, was eager for greater wealth and power. Returning to
Spain he secured appointment as governor of Cuba, with a commission to
extend Spanish dominion over Florida and the country north of the Gulf
of Mexico, where he was to be the feudal lord and governor. It was the
same commission as that which had lured Narvaez to his death; but it was
thought to be a sure passport to great wealth.
Many young gentlemen of the noblest families in Spain, and some from
Elvas in Portugal, flocked to De Soto’s standard. One of the Portuguese,
whose name is unknown, wrote the narrative, published in 1557, which is
our chief source of information concerning the route and history of the
expedition. An English translation of this Relation of “A Gentleman of
Elvas,” made by Richard Hakluyt, was published in 1611, and was
reprinted for the Hakluyt Society in 1851. Another translation, by
Buckingham Smith, from which ensuing quotations are taken, was published
in New York by the Bradford Club in 1866.
There were more volunteers than could be accepted; and after an exultant
voyage to Cuba and thence to Florida, De Soto landed, with about 600 men
and 213 horses, at Tampa Bay, May 30 (old style), 1539.
Almost two years were spent in marches through inhospitable forests and
swamps, fording rivers, and fighting with many tribes of Indians, but
finding nothing worth plundering. After much suffering in the winter
camps, in the spring of 1541 the weary and wellnigh despairing
expedition came to the Mississippi River, probably at the Lower
Chickasaw Bluff (in Memphis, Tennessee, and extending ten miles down the
east bank of the river), near the northwest corner of the present state
of Mississippi, at the distance of about four hundred miles north of the
Gulf, but twice as far by the tortuous watercourse. Armed Indians in two
hundred canoes, coming from up the river, saluted the Spaniards, and the
chief said to De Soto “that he had come to visit, serve, and obey him;
for he had heard that he was the greatest of lords, the most powerful on
all the earth.” The Indians were doubtless treacherous; but here, as
usual, the Spaniards were the first aggressors. When the canoes drew off
from the shore, “the crossbow-men, who were in readiness,” according to
the Portuguese Relation, “with loud cries shot at the Indians, and
struck down five or six of them.”
Delay for thirty days was required in making four large boats to
transfer the cavalry and foot soldiers across the river. Beginning one
morning three hours before daybreak, by many trips to and fro, they had
all crossed before the sun was two hours high, effecting this important
movement without molestation by their vigilant Indian enemies. Wherever
they marched, the poor native people were robbed, some of them were
treacherously killed, and others, taken captive, were compelled to carry
burdens, or otherwise to aid the invaders. The Relation says of this
river, which it calls the Rio Grande: “The distance [to cross it] was
near half a league: a man standing on the shore could not be told,
whether he were a man or something else, from the other side. The stream
was swift, and very deep; the water, always flowing turbidly, brought
along from above many trees and much timber, driven onward by its
force.”
Nearly another year was spent in marches, exploration, and campaigning
against the Indians, west of the Mississippi, and on April 17, 1542, De
Soto came again to the Mississippi, at the Indian town of Guachoya,
close below the mouth of the Arkansas river. There he sank into a deep
despondency, worn out by the long series of disappointments and losses
which had attended the whole course of his expedition; he became sick
with malarial fever; and on May 21 he died, after appointing Luis de
Moscoso as his successor in command. To conceal his death from the
Indians, the body, wrapped in blankets and heavily weighted with sand,
was sunk in the middle part of the Mississippi. The new governor and
leader, Moscoso, then told the chief of the Guachoya Indians that De
Soto “had ascended into the skies, as he had done on many other
occasions; but as he would have to be detained there some time, he had
left him in his stead.”
Moscoso, after consulting the other officers, decided to march
southwestward, hoping to reach Mexico; and half a year was lost in going
far southwest, repenting, and returning to the Mississippi at an Indian
settlement called Aminoya, where the Spaniards found a large quantity of
maize, indispensable for their sustenance. This place was a short
distance above Guachoya, and apparently above the mouths of the Arkansas
and White rivers, on the same (west) side of the great river. Seven
brigantines were there built, on which, July 2, 1543, the Spaniards,
reduced to three hundred and twenty-two, embarked to go down the
Mississippi, taking with them about a hundred Indian slaves to be sold
if they should reach Spanish settlements. Two weeks were occupied in
descending the river, by rowing and the aid of the strong current,
covering a distance which was estimated as about 250 Portuguese or
Spanish leagues. (From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Bayou Manchac,
by the course of the Mississippi, is a distance of 446 miles, and to the
present mouths of the delta, 672 miles.) The debouchure of the
Mississippi was described as follows:
“When near the sea, it becomes divided into two arms, each of which
may be a league and a half broad.... Half a league before coming to
the sea, the Christians cast anchor, in order to take rest for a
time, as they were weary from rowing.... [Here Indians came, in
several canoes, for an attack.]... There also came some by land,
through thicket and bog, with staves, having very sharp heads of
fish-bone, who fought valiantly those of us who went out to meet
them.... After remaining two days, the Christians went to where that
branch of the river enters the sea; and having sounded there, they
found forty fathoms depth of water. Pausing then, the Governor
required that each should give his opinion respecting the voyage,
whether they should sail to New Spain direct, by the high sea, or go
thither keeping along from shore to shore.... It was decided to go
along from one to another shore....
“On the eighteenth day of July the vessels got under weigh, with
fair weather, and wind favorable for the voyage.... With a favorable
wind they sailed all that day in fresh water, the next night, and
the day following until vespers, at which they were greatly amazed;
for they were very distant from the shore, and so great was the
strength of the current of the river, the coast so shallow and
gentle, that the fresh water entered far into the sea.”
Luis Hernandez de Biedma, a factor or agent for King Charles V, was a
member of De Soto’s expedition, of which, after returning to Spain, he
submitted a report in 1544. From the translation of that report, given
by Buckingham Smith in the same volume with this narrative of “The
Gentleman of Elvas,” we have the following considerably different
description of what was thought to be the junction of the Mississippi
with the gulf:
“We came out by the mouth of the river, and entering into a very large
bay made by it, which was so extensive that we passed along it three
days and three nights, with fair weather, in all the time not seeing
land, so that it appeared to us we were at sea, although we found the
water still so fresh that it could well be drunk, like that of the
river. Some small islets were seen westward, to which we went:
thenceforward we kept close along the coast, where we took shell-fish,
and looked for other things to eat, until we entered the River of
Panuco, where we came and were well received by the Christians.”
By comparing Biedma’s report with the Portuguese Relation, I am
convinced that the brigantines did not pass down the Mississippi to its
delta, but went out to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Bayou Manchac,
Lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain and Borgne, and Mississippi Sound. In
other words, Moscoso, with his squadron, took the same passage that
Pineda had taken, in 1519, for his entering the Mississippi. Several
points in the two narratives need now to be explained in detail, as to
their harmony with this conclusion.
First, the Indians had villages near the Bayou Manchac; but probably
there were no inhabitants near the true mouth of the river, at the end
of the delta. Second, under this view, we must regard the Portuguese
statement of a division of the river, into two arms or branches, as
referring to the large outflow, at a time of flood, to the Atchafalaya
River. Instead of receiving an inflow at the junction of the Red River,
the flooded Mississippi there sent out a portion of its current, by the
mouth of the Red, to the Atchafalaya; which also, when the Red is at a
higher stage than the Mississippi, takes a part of the current of the
former, carrying it south by a much shorter course to the Gulf. Third,
another statement of the Relation, noting the great depth of forty
fathoms where their branch of the river “enters the sea,” must be then
interpreted as found in the bend of the Mississippi from which the Bayou
Manchac flows away.
In its condition of a high flood, the river there opens toward a vast
expanse of water, called, by the narrator, “the sea,” reaching east over
Lake Maurepas and onward to the Gulf. It seems indeed not unlikely that
the Mississippi at that place may have then had even so great a depth;
for in a sharp curve at New Orleans it was once found by the Mississippi
River Commission to have a sounding of 208 feet. On the large scale maps
recently published by the Commission, the maximum depth of the river
close to the departure of the Bayou Manchac is noted as 145 feet; and in
the sharp bend in the east part of New Orleans, 188 feet.
Sailing on the wide Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne, with the very low
lands inclosing the latter probably then submerged, Moscoso and his men
would regard all that expanse of fresh water, reaching from the Bayou
Manchac nearly a hundred miles east to the Mississippi Sound, as “a very
large bay” of the sea. They would consequently be surprised at the very
long distance to which the Mississippi sent its waters without their
becoming salt; whereas even the greatest floods could not freshen the
sea very far out from the mouths of the delta. The Portuguese Relation
says that the Mississippi, before the departure from Aminoya, had risen,
in such a high flood, to the ground at the town, where the brigantines
were built, floating them; and we may infer, with good assurance, that
the same flood continued, at nearly its full height, through the next
two weeks, till July 16, when they came to Bayou Manchac and the vast
fresh water expanse stretching thence far to the east.
Fifty-two days were spent in slow coasting, with frequent landings, and
long delays for storms and to provide shell-fish for food, between the
Mississippi and the Panuco River, which was entered September 10, 1543;
and there the Spanish town of Panuco welcomed the surviving three
hundred and eleven of De Soto’s men.
Looking back over the history of this expedition and its results, we see
that little was gained for geographic knowledge, and nothing for the
honor of Spain or the extension of her colonies. With the clearer light
which now enables all civilized nations to recognize the great truth of
the brotherhood of all mankind, we are pained to read, throughout this
narrative, of the wanton cruelties, murderous warfare, dishonesty and
shameless perfidy, with which the Indians were treated by De Soto and
his men from the beginning to the end of their expedition. These men
were the finished product of medieval chivalry; they had mostly an
inordinate self-esteem; and they called themselves Christians, and De
Soto died with Christian serenity, in penitence and faith; but in their
conduct toward the savages every Christian or humane sentiment was
sacrificed to the love of gold and self-advancement. The first white men
to voyage far on the Mississippi, and to deal largely with its native
people, deemed them outside the pale of human sympathy or mercy.
No geographer, nor expert draftsman for mapping, appears to have been
enlisted by De Soto in his grand company of followers. But soon after
the expedition was disbanded in Mexico, testimony of those who came back
to Europe was taken by some unknown compiler as the basis for a revised
map of the “Gulf and Coast of New Spain.” This map, preserved at Madrid
in the Archives of the Indies, was lately ascribed to the year 1521, in
the exhibition sent by Spain to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in
1893. It is reproduced by Harrisse in his great work, _The Discovery of
North America_, and is proved by him to belong to the end of 1543 or
some later date. It shows the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, from Georgia to
the Panuco river, and extends inland as far as the country was known,
however vaguely, from the explorations of De Soto and Moscoso. The
ultimate sources of the Mississippi river, called by Biedma and on this
map the Espiritu Santo, are placed on the northwestern flank of the
Appalachian mountain belt, due north of Tampa Bay. Thence two streams,
meant for the Tennessee and Cumberland (or perhaps Ohio) rivers, of
which De Soto had accounts from the Indians, flow west and unite to form
the Espiritu Santo, near whose west bank, close below the confluence of
a large tributary from the northwest, is Guachoya, the place of De
Soto’s death. Many other names are also noted, mostly of towns or
districts of Indian tribes, derived from his expedition. No indication
of the Ohio (probably) nor the Missouri, nor of the Red river as a
tributary of the Mississippi, is given by this map. Its northern
boundary, beyond which it has only blank space, is at the supposed
Cumberland river, and at the mountains adjoining the sources of the
northwestern tributary, that is, the Arkansas river. The Mississippi
empties into the Vaya (Bay) del Espiritu Santo, which is also called Mar
Pequeña (Little Sea), taking the place of the lakes north of New
Orleans, and thus confirming my conclusions as to Moscoso’s passage into
the Gulf. Excepting the long tributaries from the northeast, no greater
prominence is given to the Mississippi than to several others of the
many rivers pouring into the Atlantic and the Gulf along all this coast.
Here cartography rested during a hundred and thirty years. The next
contribution from exploration of the Mississippi was by Marquette’s map
in 1673.
These studies, indicating that Pineda and Moscoso came and went through
the large lakes north of New Orleans, answer the question asked by Dr.
Walter B. Scaife in 1892, doubting that Pineda entered the Mississippi,
and considering instead that the Rio del Espiritu Santo on the maps sent
to Spain by Garay and Cortes represents Mobile River and Bay. This view
is elaborately stated by Scaife in the Johns Hopkins University _Studies
in Historical and Political Science_, Vol. XIII (Supplement, pages
139–176). Among other historians who have adopted this view are Peter J.
Hamilton (in _Colonial Mobile_, 1897), and Prof. Alcée Fortier,
president of the Louisiana Historical Society (in _A History of
Louisiana_, 1904). But their difficulties and objections against
identifying the Mississippi as the great river where Pineda careened and
repaired his vessels are removed by his coming through Lakes
Pontchartrain and Maurepas.
Not until a hundred and eighty years later, in 1699, have we any
historic records of entry or departure through the delta mouths of the
Mississippi. Then, on the second day of March, Iberville and Bienville,
brothers destined to become illustrious by founding the French colony of
Louisiana, entered the eastern mouth of the delta with rowing boats; and
in September a small English frigate entered one of the mouths and
ascended the river to “English Turn,” a great bend ten miles below the
site of New Orleans.
WARREN UPHAM.
ST. PAUL, MINN.
(_To be continued._)
[Illustration: Fleuron]
THE RECORD OF REDDING
Mr. Grumman has produced a wholly novel and unique work[1] of a
character never before attempted so far as we are aware. It is a record
of the services and sufferings of the Revolutionary patriots of a
Connecticut town, which through its sons made history and influenced
public opinion in a much greater degree than its position and importance
would have promised. It is a record also of the loyalists of the town,
who suffered even more for their King and Cause than did the patriots,
since defeat and banishment with confiscation of their estates was their
final portion.
Redding (formerly written Reading) is one of the “hill towns,” of
Connecticut, seven miles from Danbury and thirteen from Bridgeport, the
two “shire towns,” of Fairfield County. Its people have always been
noted for brain force and intelligence. The number of its sons who have
won high places in the professions, in art, literature, diplomacy, the
army and navy is something remarkable. At the outbreak of the Revolution
it was the seat of a polite and learned society far superior to that of
the average country town of the day.
Mr. Grumman divides his book into two parts—“Military History,” (a terse
and simple account of the campaigns in which Redding soldiers figured,
with incidents) and “Revolutionary Soldiers and Patriots of Redding,” a
series of biographies which is the larger and more valuable portion of
the work. In Part I he first sketches in sharp outline the two opposing
forces which the troubles with England created in Redding as
elsewhere—the patriots and tories. The former organized their “American
Association,” the latter—very numerous and respectable in Redding—formed
their “Redding Loyalist Association,” (perhaps the first of the kind in
America), in February, 1775.
“In the present critical situation of publick affairs,” to quote its
preamble this Association adopted a set of “Resolves” which were
published in James Rivington’s _Gazette_ for Feb. 23, 1775, as follows:—
_First._ _Resolved_, That while we enjoy the privileges and immunities
of the British Constitution we will render all due obedience to his
most Gracious Majesty King George the Third, and that a firm
dependence on the Mother Country is essential to our political safety
and happiness.
_Second._ _Resolved_, That the privileges and immunities of this
Constitution are yet (in a good degree) continued to all his Majesty’s
American subjects, except those who, we conceive, have justly
forfeited their right thereto.
_Third._ _Resolved_, That we supposed the Continental Congress was
constituted for the purpose of restoring harmony between Great Britain
and her colonies and removing the displeasure of his Majesty toward
his American subjects, whereas on the contrary some of their
resolutions appear to us immediately calculated to widen the present
unhappy breach, counteract the first principles of civil society, and
in a great degree abridge the privileges of their constituents.
_Fourth._ _Resolved_, That notwithstanding we will in all
circumstances conduct with prudence and moderation we consider it an
indispensable duty we owe to our King and Constitution, our Country
and posterity, to defend, maintain and preserve at the risk of our
lives and properties the prerogatives of the Crown, and the privileges
of the subject from all attacks by any rebellious body of men, any
Committees of Inspection, Correspondence, &c.
(“Signed by one hundred and forty one Inhabitants whose names are to
be seen at the Printer’s.”—adds Rivington.)
The effect of this document on the patriots of Redding was like that of
a red rag on a bull. They at once set to work to discover its signers
and presently made public in a circular the entire list so far as they
belonged in Redding. It was given out by the Committee of Observation
under this preamble.
“WHEREAS, There was a certain number of resolves published—and whereas
said Resolves are injurious to the rights of this Colony and breathe a
spirit of enmity and opposition to the rights and liberties of all
America and are in direct opposition to the Association of the
Continental Congress: and notwithstanding said resolutions were come
into with a (seeming) view to secure the said signers some
extraordinary privileges and immunities, yet either through negligence
in the printer or upon design of the subscribers, said signed names
are not made publick—and now if there be any advantage in adopting
those principles we are willing they should be entitled there to; and
for which end and for the more effectual carrying into execution said
Association we have taken some pains and by the assistance of him who
carried said resolves to said Printer we have obtained the whole of
said names. But as we mean not to publish the names of any except
those who belong to said Reading, their names are as follows.”
Some seventy-four names follow, and then this note:
“There are only forty two Freeholders in the above number; there are
several minors, &c., to make the above number of seventy four that
belong to said Reading, and we hereby hold them up to the publick as
opposers to the Association of said Congress.
Signed by order of the Committee of Observation for said Town of
Reading.
EBENEZER COUCH,
_Chairman_.”
The Loyalist Association met this challenge by boldly publishing in
Rivington’s _Gazette_ the entire list of signers, and the battle began.
The course of events very soon brought many of the loyalist signers into
hearty accord with the patriots, as Mr. Grumman shows, but those who
persisted were treated with such severity that they fled to the forests
and caves, where they were concealed until they could escape to the
British lines.
Free Masons will be interested in Mr. Grumman’s account of the making of
American Union Lodge, among the officers of the Continental Line while
the right wing of the Continental Army lay in winter quarters in
Redding, 1778–9. “During the siege of Boston,” he says, “the meetings of
the Grand Lodge ... were suspended and a commission was granted by John
Rowe (the successor of Gen. Joseph Warren as Grand Master), to Col. Joel
Clark of the Connecticut troops to establish a lodge within the army,
which was to hold its meetings whenever convenient as the army moved
from place to place.” This lodge was to be designated “The American
Union Lodge.” It was accordingly organized, but the change of base to
New York and the stirring events which followed seem to have prevented
further meetings. Its Master, Col. Clark, died after the Long Island
campaign and the Lodge appears to have lapsed until the encampment at
Redding brought the Connecticut officers together with leisure to renew
their fraternal relations. For this purpose the Lodge was convened early
in February, in conformity to the following notice:
“On the application of a number of gentlemen, brethren of the Ancient
and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, to the members of
American Union Lodge held by authority under the Right Worshipful John
Rowe Esq. Grand Master of all Masons in North America, where no Grand
Master is appointed, requesting that the said American Union Lodge
meet for the purpose of re-establishing the Ancient Craft in the same.
Agreeable to which a summons was issued desiring the members of the
American Union Lodge to meet at Widow Sanford’s, near Reading Olde
Meeting House, on Monday the 15th of inst. February at 4 o’clock post
m. and an invitation sent to the others, the brethren of the Ancient
and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons to attend at 5
o’clock Post m.
JONATHAN HEART,
_Secretary_.”
At this first meeting Gen. Samuel H. Parsons was elected Master in place
of Col. Clark, deceased.
Several meetings of the Lodge were held while the Army lay at Redding,
two of which were attended by Washington (though Mr. Grumman does not
note the fact). On March 22 it held a dinner at Esq. Hawley’s, “the Rev.
Dr. Evans and a number of gentlemen and ladies being present,” and a
“Grand Banquet” on April 7th, four days before orders came for the Army
to prepare to leave. A very full account of this is given by Mr. Grumman
in a quotation from the Lodge records:
It having been voted to dine at three o’clock, at half past one the
procession began as follows:
1. Br. Whitney, Outside Tyler.
2. The Wardens with white rods.
3. The youngest Brother with the Bag.
4. The Brethren by Juniority.
5. The W. Master with his Rod.
The Treasurer on his right hand supporting the Sword of Justice: the
Secretary on his left supporting the Bible, Square, and Compasses.
6. Br. Peck, the Inside Tyler. Music advanced playing the Entered
Apprentice March.
The W. Master and Brethren having seated themselves together with a
number of respectable Inhabitants, gentlemen and ladies, the Rev. Doct.
Evans delivered a discourse suitable to the occasion.
After dinner the W. Master called on Bro. Munson and others for songs
and sentiments when the company were favored with the following, each
song and toast being enlivened with appropriate music.
Song by Bro. MUNSON _Watery Gods_
Toast _Health of Congress_
Music _Grenadier’s March_
Song by Bro. MUNSON _Elegy on Gen. Wolfe_
Toast _Arts and Sciences_
Music _Dead March_
Mason’s Song by Bro. REDFIELD
Toast _The Good and Just_
Music _Prince Eugene_
Song by Bro. MUNSON _Colin and Phebe_
Toast _The Ladies of America_
Music _Country Jig_
Song on Masonry by Bro. MARSHALL Music _Splendor of the Morning_
Song by Bros. MUNSON and MARSHALL _The Tempest_
_With Jack the Seaman to conclude._
At six o’clock the procession returned to the Lodge room and the Lodge
being opened it was,
“Voted, That the thanks of the lodge be presented in writing to the
Rev. Doct. Evans for his polite address and sentiments delivered this
day, and that Bro. Waldo wait on him with the same; also that Bro.
Waldo present our thanks to the Rev. Mr. Bartlett and to the other
gentlemen and ladies who favored the lodge with their company at
dinner.”
Todd, in his History of Redding gives one of the songs sung on this
occasion.
But it is in his biographical record of the patriots and loyalists of
Redding that Mr. Grumman’s book is most original and valuable. There are
one hundred pages of these, compiled with an accuracy and fullness
surprising to one who realizes the paucity of material of this sort now
extant and the difficulty of securing it.
Joel Barlow, poet, statesman, and earlier, Chaplain in the Army was one
of the most distinguished of these. Mr. Grumman has a very interesting
extract from the diary of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, dated Sept. 14,
1773, regarding young Joel’s matriculation at Moor’s preparatory school
in Hanover, N. H., not given by any of the poet’s biographers so far as
we are aware.
“Mr. Samuel Barlow of Reading, Mass, (Ct.?) brings his son Joel to
school. The said son is to officiate as waiter on table at meal time
and also to be at the beck of Miss Elizabeth: only in play time and
vacations to perform such errands and incidental service as she shall
have occasion for in her business, and in consideration of her
services and his to have his board, viz: eating, drinking, washing,
firewood, candles, study room and tuition.”
This Miss Elizabeth Burr was of Fairfield, Conn., near Reading, and came
to have charge of Joel, and to “superintend the cooking in commons and
manage the prudentials of it.” She was probably a relative and did this
to aid the boy in getting an education, his father having a family of
ten to provide for.
A typical Reading patriot was the Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett who served the
Congregational Church there as pastor for fifty-seven years, and who
when hostilities broke out brought his sword, freshly ground, to his son
Daniel, and bade him go and defend his country. Another was Lemuel
Sanford, who represented Redding at twenty-two sessions of the General
Assembly, covering a period of twenty years, served on numerous
committees and died a Judge of the County Court.
The greatest patriot of all, and one of the greatest of the historic
struggle, William Heron, Mr. Grumman places among the loyalists. This
man was an Irishman, born in Cork in 1742, of good family and educated
at Trinity College, Dublin. He was the intimate personal friend of Lord
Howe, and the friend and trusted adviser of Washington and Putnam.
Howe’s well known leniency toward the Americans was perhaps due to him,
and the minute knowledge the patriot chiefs had of the British forces,
and the plans of their leaders came largely from him. He was a shrewd,
tactful, forceful, brilliant man with all an Irishman’s power of
blarney, and hating the British as a loyal Irishman should, he yet
hoodwinked Sir Henry Clinton, and his Adjutant General, Major Oliver
DeLancey, into the belief that he was secretly an adherent of the
British cause, and could give them valuable information. For years—with
the full knowledge of Washington and Putnam—he maintained a
correspondence with them, was allowed to come into the city of New York,
was dined and wined by them, went freely about the city, and obtained
information of the greatest value to the patriot leaders. What
information he gave the British in return was either of no great
importance, or would have come to them by some other channel. In
Clinton’s “Record of Private Intelligence,” discovered in London in
1882, and purchased by Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet,[2] there are several
letters from this man, some of them implicating Major General Samuel H.
Parsons, of Connecticut, in treasonable intercourse with the British,
but this was only a part of the plot. The career of Heron during the
eight years of the war would furnish material for a dozen historical
romances. Mr. Grumman prints a letter from Parsons to Washington, dated
Apr. 6, 1782 in which he says of him:
“He is a native of Ireland, a man of very large knowledge, and a great
share of natural sagacity united with a sound judgment, but of as
unmeaning a countenance as any person in my acquaintance. With this
appearance he is as little suspected as any man can be. An officer in
the department of the Adjutant General is a countryman and very
intimate acquaintance of Mr. Heron, through which channel he has been
able frequently to obtain important and very interesting information.”
Parsons adds that he knows him to be a consistent National Whig, always
in the field in every alarm and in every trial proving himself a man of
bravery. Corroborative proof of this view is found in the fact that
after the war, instead of being run off to Nova Scotia with the other
loyalists, Heron represented Redding in seventeen sessions of the
General Assembly, and was given other offices of importance by his
townsmen.
A typical loyalist of Redding was John Lyon, a farmer and business man,
who owned one hundred acres of land in the town with two houses thereon,
beside a half interest in a schooner and much merchandise. This man not
only signed the “Reading Resolves,” but carried them to Rivington, the
King’s Printer in New York, who printed them. For this act in March,
1775, he was seized by a mob, ill treated and robbed, and his
merchandise at Mill River (now Southport) to the value of five hundred
pounds was also seized. The persecution continued until he was obliged
to fly to the British lines, where he entered the King’s service, aided
in raising the “King’s Rangers,” a loyalist regiment, and acted as guide
during the war. At the close of the war he fled to Nova Scotia with his
wife and two sons and settled at Kingston.
In his memorial to the King from which the above facts are taken, he
estimates his losses at £1,790, and was allowed £290 in satisfaction (?)
thereof.
CHARLES BURR TODD.
BETHEL, CONN.
[Illustration: Fleuron]
CIVIL WAR SKETCHES.
II.
CONFEDERATE FINANCE IN ALABAMA
SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS AND SALARIES.
Besides the regular appropriations for the usual expenses of the
government, there were many extraordinary appropriations. These, of
course, were the war expenses and were far greater than the ordinary
expenses. The chief item of these extraordinary appropriations was for
the support of the indigent families of soldiers, and for this purpose
about $11,000,000 was provided. For the military defense of the State
several million dollars were appropriated, much of this being spent for
arms and clothing for the Alabama troops, both in the Confederate and
the State service. Money was granted to the University of Alabama and
other military schools on condition that they furnish drill masters for
the State troops without charge. Hospitals were furnished in Virginia
and in Alabama for the Alabama soldiers. The gunboat _Florida_ was
bought for the defense of Mobile, and $150,000 was appropriated for an
ironclad ram for the same purpose. Loans were made to commanders of
regiments to buy clothing for their soldiers, and the State began to
furnish clothing, $50,000 being appropriated at one time for clothing
for the Alabama soldiers in Northern prisons. By March 12, 1862, Alabama
had contributed $317,600 to the support of the army of Northern
Virginia.[3] Much was expended in the manufacture of salt in Alabama and
in Virginia, which was sold at cost or given away to the poor; in the
purchase of salt from Louisiana to be sold at a low price, and in
bounties paid to salt-makers in the State who sold salt at reasonable
prices. The State also paid for medical attendance for the indigent
families of soldiers. When the records and rolls of the Alabama troops
in the Confederate service were lost, money was appropriated to have new
ones made. Frequent grants were made to the various benevolent societies
of the State whose object was to care for the maimed and sick soldiers,
and the widows and orphans. Cotton and wool cards and agricultural
implements were purchased and distributed among the poor. Slaves and
supplies were taken for the public service and the owners compensated.
The appropriations for the usual expenses of the government were light,
seldom more than twice the appropriations in times of peace,
notwithstanding the depreciated currency. The public officers who
received stated salaries ranged from $1,500 to $4,000 a year in State
money. In 1862, the salaries of the professors in the State University
were doubled on account of the depreciated currency, the president
receiving $5,000 and each professor $4,000.[4] The members of the
General Assembly were more fortunate. In 1864, they received $15 a day
for the time in session, and the clerks of the Legislature, who were
disabled soldiers or exempt from service, or were women, were paid the
same amount. The salt commissioners drew salaries of $3,000 a year in
1864 and 1865, though this amount was not sufficient to pay their board
for more than six months. Salaries were never increased in proportion to
expenses. The compensation, in December, 1864, for capturing a runaway
slave was $25, worth probably 50 cents in coin. For the inaugural
expenses of Governor Watts in 1863, $500 in paper was appropriated.[5]
Many laws were passed regulating and changing the fees and salaries of
public officials. In October, 1864, for example, the salaries of the
State officials, tax assessors and collectors, and judges were increased
50%. Besides the general depreciation of the currency, the variations of
values in the different sections of the State rendered such changes
necessary. In the central part, which was safe for a long time from
Union raids, the currency was to the last worth more, and the prices of
the necessaries of life were lower, than in the more exposed regions.
This fact was taken into consideration by the Legislature when fixing
the fees of the State and county officers in the various sections.
TAXATION.
As a result of the policy adopted at the outset of meeting the
extraordinary expenses by bond issues,[6] the people continued to pay
the light taxes levied before the war, and paid them in paper money.
Though falling heavily on the salaried and wage-earning classes, it was
never a burden upon the agricultural classes, except in the poorest
white counties. The poll tax brought in little revenue. Soldiers were
exempt from its payment and from taxation on property to the amount of
$500. The widows and orphans of soldiers had similar privileges. A
special tax of 25% on the former rate was imposed on all taxable
property in November, 1861, and a year later, by acts of December 9,
1862, a far-reaching scheme of taxation was introduced. Under this poll
taxes were levied as follows:
White men, 21 to 60 years $0 75
Free negro men, 21 to 50 years 5 00
Free negro women, 21 to 45 years 3 00
Slaves (children to laborers in prime) $0 50 to 2 00
More valuable slaves $2 00 and up
And other taxes as follows: