years younger than Mrs. Darnel, had resided since the death of her
parents with an unmarried brother in New York, where her beauty and her
mental accomplishments had gained her many admirers, none of whom,
however, had been able to make any impression on her heart.
Sophia Clements was but few years older than her gay and giddy nieces,
who kindly offered to pass her off as their cousin, declaring that she
was quite too young to be called aunt. But secure in the consciousness
of real youth, she preferred being addressed by the title that properly
belonged to her.
This visit of Sophia Clements was in the last year of the second contest
between England and America; and she found the heads of her two nieces
filled chiefly with the war, and particularly with the officers. They
had an infinity to tell her of "the stirring times" that had prevailed
in Philadelphia, and were still prevailing. And she found it difficult
to convince them that there was quite as much drumming and fifing in
New York, and rather more danger; as that city, from its vicinity to the
ocean, was much easier of access to the enemy.
The boy Robert was, of course, not behind his sisters in enthusiasm for
the "pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war," and they were
indebted to him for much soldier-news that they would not otherwise have
had the felicity of knowing--his time, between school hours, being
chiefly spent in collecting it.
On the morning after Miss Clements's arrival, she and her nieces were
sitting at their muslin work,--an occupation at that time very customary
with the ladies, as no foreign articles of cotton embroidery were then
to be purchased. There was much military talk, and frequent running to
the window by the two girls, to look out at a passing recruiting party
with their drum, and fife, and colours, and to admire the gallant
bearing of the sergeant that walked in front with his drawn sword; for
recruiting sergeants always have
"A swashing and a martial outside."
"Certainly," said Harriet Darnel, "it is right and proper to wish for
peace; but still, to say the truth, war-time is a very amusing time.
Everything will seem so flat when it is over."
"I fear, indeed," replied Miss Clements, smiling, "that you will find
some difficulty in returning to the 'dull pursuits of civil life.'"
"Aunt Sophy," said Caroline, "I wish you had been here in the summer,
when we were all digging at the fortifications that were thrown up in
the neighbourhood of the city, to defend it in case of an attack by
land. Each citizen gave a day's work, and worked with his own hands.
They went in bodies, according to their trades and professions, marching
out at early dawn with their digging implements. They were always
preceded by a band of music, playing Hail Columbia or Washington's
March, and they returned at dusk in the same manner. We regularly took
care to see them whenever they passed by."
"The first morning," said Harriet, "they came along so very early that
none of us were up till the sound of the music wakened us; and being in
our night-clothes, we could only peep at them through the half-closed
shutters; but afterwards, we took care to be always up and dressed in
time, so that we could throw open the windows and lean out, and gaze
after them till they were out of sight. You cannot think how affecting
it was. Our eyes were often filled with tears as we looked at them--even
though they were not soldiers, but merely our own people, and had no
uniform."
"All instances of patriotism, or of self-devotion for the general good,
are undoubtedly affecting," observed Sophia.
"Every trade went in its turn," pursued Harriet, "and every man of every
trade, masters and journeymen--none stayed behind. One day we saw the
butchers go, another day the bakers; also the carpenters and
bricklayers, then the shoemakers and the tailors, the curriers and the
saddlers, and the blacksmiths. Often two or three trades went together.
There were the type-founders, and the printers, and the book-binders.
The merchants also assisted, and the lawyers, and the clergymen of every
denomination. Most of the Irishmen went twice--first, according to their
respective trades, and again as Irishmen only, when they marched out
playing 'St. Patrick's Day in the Morning.' The negroes had their day,
also; and we heard them laughing and talking long before we saw them.
Only imagine the giggling and chattering of several hundred negroes!"
"Mr. and Mrs. Linley took us out in their carriage to see the
fortifications," resumed Caroline. "It was the lawyers' day; and there
were some of the principal gentlemen of the city, in straw hats and
round jackets, and some in their waistcoats only, with their
shirt-sleeves rolled up, digging with pickaxes and spades, and wheeling
barrows full of sods. It was delightful to look at them."
"There's a drum and fife again!" exclaimed Harriet. "See, see, Aunt
Sophy, do look out; here's another recruiting party--and they have
picked up four men, who have actually joined them in the street. How
glad I am!"
"Do come and look, aunt," said Caroline; "it is not the same party that
passed a little while ago. I know it by the sergeant, who has darker
hair and eyes than the other. This is Lieutenant Bunting's recruiting
party. He has handbills on all the corners, headed: 'List, list--oh,
list!'"
"Aunt Sophy," said Harriet, as they resumed their seats, "you cannot
imagine what a lively summer we have had!"
"I can easily imagine," replied Sophia, "that you almost lived out of
the window."
"How could we do otherwise," answered Harriet, "when there was so much
to look at, particularly during the alarm? Alarms are certainly very
exciting."
"Undoubtedly," observed Sophia; "but what was the alarm?"
"Oh! there has been one long alarm all summer; and it is still going on,
or our volunteers would not stay so long at Camp Dupont. But there, it
seems, they may have to remain till winter drives the British away from
the Capes."
"I conclude," said Miss Clements, "the alarm _par excellence_ was when
the enemy sailed up the Chesapeake to attack Baltimore, and there was an
apprehension of their crossing over to Philadelphia."
"The very time," answered Harriet. "We had a troop of horse
reconnoitering on the Chesapeake. Their camp was at Mount Bull, near
Elkton. They were all gentlemen, and they acted in turn as videttes. One
of them arrived here every evening with despatches for General
Bloomfield concerning the movements of the enemy--and they still come.
You know last evening, soon after your arrival, one of the times that I
ran to the window was to see the vidette[73] galloping along the street,
looking so superbly in his light-horseman's uniform, with his pistols in
his holsters, and his horse's feet striking fire from the stones."
[Footnote 73: _Estafette_, we believe, is the proper term, but the
military couriers of that period were always called _videttes_ by the
citizens.]
"Once," said Caroline, "we heard a galloping in the middle of the night,
and therefore we all got up and looked out. In a few minutes the streets
were full of men who had risen and dressed themselves, and gone out to
get the news. I was sorry that, being women, we could not do the same.
But we sent Bob--you don't know how useful we find Bob. He is versed in
all sorts of soldiers and officers, and every kind of uniform, and the
right way of wearing it. He taught us to distinguish a captain from a
lieutenant, and an infantry from an artillery officer,--silver for
infantry, and gold for artillery,--and then there is the staff uniform
besides, and the dragoons, and the rifle officers, and the engineers. Of
course, I mean the regular army. As to volunteers and militia, we knew
them long ago."
"But you are forgetting the vidette that galloped through the street at
midnight," said Sophia.
"True, aunt; but when one has so much to tell, it is difficult to avoid
digressions. Well, then--this vidette brought news of the attack on
Baltimore; and, by daylight, there was as much confusion and hustle in
the town, as if we had expected the enemy before breakfast."
"We saw all the volunteers march off," said Harriet, taking up the
narrative. "They started immediately to intercept the British on their
way to Philadelphia,--for we were sure they would make an attempt to
come. We had seen from our windows, these volunteers drilling for weeks
before, in the State House Yard. It is delightful to have a house in
such a situation. My favourite company was the Washington Guards, but
Caroline preferred the State Fencibles. I liked the close round jackets
of the Guards, and their black belts, and their tall black feathers
tipped with red. There was something novel and out of the common way in
their uniform."
"No matter," said Caroline, "the dress of the State Fencibles was far
more manly and becoming. They wore coatees, and white belts, and little
white pompons tipped with red; pompons stand the wind and weather much
better than tall feathers. And then the State Fencibles were all such
genteel, respectable men."
"So were the Washington Guards," retorted Harriet, "and younger
besides."
"No, no," replied Caroline, "it was their short, boyish-looking jackets
that gave them that appearance."
"Well, well," resumed Harriet, "I must say that all the volunteer
companies looked their very best the day they marched off in full
expectation of a battle. I liked them every one. Even the blankets that
were folded under their knapsacks were becoming to them. We saw some of
the most fashionable gentlemen of the city shoulder their muskets and go
off as guards to the baggage-wagons, laughing as if they considered it
an excellent joke."
"To think," said Caroline, "of the hardships they have to suffer in
camp! After the worst of the alarm had subsided, many of the volunteers
obtained leave of absence for a day or two, and came up to the city to
visit their families, and attend a little to business. We always knew
them in a moment by their sunburnt faces. They told all about it, and
certainly their sufferings have been dreadful, for gentlemen. Standing
guard at night, and in all weather,--sleeping in tents, without any
bedsteads, and with no seats but their trunks,--cooking their own
dinners, and washing their own dishes,--and, above all, having to eat
their own awful cooking!"
"But you forget the country volunteers," said Harriet, "that came
pouring in from all parts of Pennsylvania. We saw them every one as they
passed through the city on their way down to Camp Dupont. And really we
liked _them_ also. Most of the country companies wore rifle-dresses of
coloured cotton, trimmed with fringe; for instance, some had blue with
red fringe, others green with yellow fringe; some brown with blue
fringe. One company was dressed entirely in yellow, spotted with black.
They looked like great two-legged leopards. We were very desirous of
discovering who an old gray-haired man was that rode at the head. He was
a fine-looking old fellow, and his dress and his horse were of the same
entire gray. I shall never forget that man."
"I shall never forget anything connected with the alarm," resumed
Caroline. "There was a notice published in all the papers, and stuck up
at every corner, telling what was to be done in case the enemy were
actually approaching the city. Three guns were to be fired from the Navy
Yard as a signal for the inhabitants to prepare for immediate danger.
You can't think how anxiously we listened for those three guns."
"I can readily believe it," said Miss Clements.
"We knew some families," continued Caroline, "that, in anticipation of
the worst, went and engaged lodgings in out-of-the-way places, thirty or
forty miles from town, that they might have retreats secured; and they
packed up their plate and other valuable articles, for removal at a
short notice. We begged of mamma to let us stay through everything, as
we might never have another opportunity of being in a town that was
taken by the enemy; and as no gentleman belonging to us was in any way
engaged in the war, we thought the British would not molest _us_. To say
the truth, mamma took the whole alarm very coolly, and always said she
had no apprehensions for Philadelphia."
"Maria Milden was at Washington," observed Harriet, "when the British
burnt the President's House and the Capitol, and she told us all about
it, for she was so fortunate as to see the whole. Nobody seems to think
they will burn the State House, if they come to Philadelphia. But I
do--don't you, aunt Sophia? What a grand sight it would be, and how fast
the State-House bell would ring for its own fire!"
"We can only hope that they will always be prevented from reaching the
city at all," replied Miss Clements.
"But don't I hear a trumpet?" exclaimed Caroline; and the girls were
again at the window.
"Oh! that is the troop of United States dragoons that Bob admires so
much," cried Harriet. "They have recruited a hundred men here in the
city. I suppose they are on their way to the lines. Look, look, aunt
Sophy,--now, you must acknowledge this to be a fine sight."
"It is," said Sophia.
"Only see," continued Harriet, "how the long tresses of white horse-hair
on their helmets are waving in the wind; and see how gallantly they hold
their sabres; and look at the captain as he rides at their head,--only
see his moustaches. I hope that captain will not be killed."
"But I shall be sorry if he is not wounded," said Caroline. "Wounded
officers are always so much admired. You know, Harriet, we saw one last
winter with his arm in a sling, and a black patch on his forehead. How
sweetly he looked!"
"Nay," said Harriet, "I cannot assent to that; for he was one of the
ugliest men I ever saw, both face and figure, and all the wounding in
the world would not have made him handsome."
"Well, interesting then,"--persisted Caroline;--"you must own that he
looked interesting, and that's everything."
"May I ask," said Miss Clements, "if you are acquainted with any
officers?"
"Oh, yes," replied Harriet, "we meet with them sometimes at houses where
we visit. How very unlucky it is that brother Francis happens to be
living in Canton, just at this time of all others! If he were with us,
we could go more into company, and his friends would visit at our
house--and of course he would know a great many officers. But mamma is
so very particular, and so very apprehensive about us, and she cannot
herself be persuaded to go to any public places. I wish Bob were grown
up."
"We were very desirous," said Caroline, "of being among the young ladies
who joined in presenting a standard, last October, to a regiment of
infantry that was raised chiefly in the city, but mamma would not permit
us. However, we saw the ceremony from a window. The young ladies who
gave the standard were all dressed alike in white muslin frocks and long
white kid gloves, with their hair plain and without ornament--they
looked sweetly. The regiment had marched into town for the purpose,--for
they were encamped near Darby. The young ladies with the flag stood on
the steps of a house in Chestnut street, and the officers were ranged in
front. She that held the standard delivered a short address on the
occasion, and the ensign who received it knelt on one knee, and replied
very handsomely to her speech. Then the drums rolled, and the band
struck up, and the colours waved, and the officers all saluted the
ladies."
"In what way?" asked Sophia.
"Oh, with their swords. A military salute is superb--Bob showed us all
the motions. Look now, aunt Sophia, I'll do it with the fly-brush.
That's exactly the way."
"I have always considered a military salute extremely graceful," said
Miss Clements.
"But we have still more to tell about this regiment," continued
Caroline. "You must know we spent a most delightful day in their
camp--actually in their camp!"
"And how did you happen to arrive at that pitch of felicity?" asked
Sophia.
"Oh!" replied Caroline, "we are, most fortunately for us, acquainted
with the family of an officer belonging to this district, and they
invited us to join them on a visit to the camp. Our friends had made
arrangements for having a sort of picnic dinner there, and baskets of
cold provisions were accordingly conveyed in the carriages. The weather
was charming, for it was the Indian summer, and everything conspired to
be so delightful. First we saw a review: how elegantly the officers
looked galloping along the line,--and then the manoeuvres of the
soldiers were superb,--they seemed to move by magic. When the review was
over, the officers were all invited to share our dinner. As they always
went to Darby (which was close by) for their meals, they had no
conveniences for dining in camp; and the contrivances that were resorted
to for the accommodation of our party caused us much amusement. The
flies of two or three tents were put together so as to make a sort of
pavilion for us. Some boards were brought, and laid upon barrels, so as
to form a table; and for table-cloths we had sheets supplied by the
colonel. We sat on benches of rough boards, similar to those that formed
the table. Plates, and knives and forks, were borrowed for us of the
soldiers. We happened to have no salt with us,--some, therefore, was
procured from the men's pork-barrels, and we made paper salt-cellars to
put it in. But the effect of our table was superb, all the gentlemen
being in full uniform--such a range of epaulets and sashes! Their
swords and chapeaux, which they had thrown under a tree, formed such a
picturesque heap! The music was playing for us all the time, and we were
waited upon by orderlies--think of having your plate taken by a soldier
in uniform! Wine-glasses being scarce among us, when a gentleman invited
a lady to take wine with him, she drank first, and gave him her glass,
and he drank out of it--and so many pretty things were said on the
occasion. After dinner the colonel took us to his tent, which was
distinguished from the others by being larger, and having a flag flying
in front, and what they called a picket fence round it. Then we were
conducted all through the camp, each lady leaning on the arm of an
officer: we almost thought ourselves in Paradise. For weeks we could
scarcely bear to speak to a citizen--Mr. Wilson and Mr. Thomson seemed
quite sickening."
"What nonsense you are talking!" said Mrs. Darnel, who, unperceived by
her daughters, had entered the room but a few moments before, and seated
herself on the sofa with her sewing. "When you are old enough to think
of marrying (the two girls smiled and exchanged glances), you may
consider yourselves very fortunate if any such respectable young men as
the two you have mentioned so disdainfully, should deem you worthy of
their choice."
"I have no fancy for respectable young men," said Harriet, in a low
voice.
"I hope you will live to change your opinion," pursued Mrs. Darnel. "I
cannot be all the time checking and reproving; but my consolation is
that when the war is over, you will both come to your senses,--and while
it lasts the officers have, fortunately, something else to think of than
courtship and marriage; and are seldom long enough in one place to
undertake anything more than a mere flirtation."
"For my part," said Miss Clements, "nothing could induce me to marry an
officer. Even in time of peace to have no settled home; and to be
transferred continually from place to place, not knowing at what moment
the order for removal may arrive; and certainly in time of war my
anxiety for my husband's safety would be so great as entirely to destroy
my happiness."
"Well," said Mrs. Darnel, "I wish, for a thousand reasons, that this war
was over. Setting aside all more important considerations, the
inconvenience it causes in our domestic concerns is too incessant to be
trifling. We are not yet prepared to live comfortably without the aid
of foreign importations. The price of everything has risen enormously."
"That is very true, mamma," observed Harriet; "only think of having to
give two dollars a yard for slight Florence silk; such silk as before
the war _we_ would not have worn at all--but now we are glad to get
anything,--and two dollars a pair for cotton stockings; cambric muslin a
dollar and a half a yard--a dollar for a paper of pins--twenty-five
cents for a cotton ball!"
"And groceries!" resumed Mrs. Darnel; "sugar a dollar a pound--lemons
half a dollar a piece!"
"I must say," said Caroline, "I am very tired of cream of tartar
lemonade. I find it wherever I go."
"Well, all this is bad enough," said Harriet; "but somehow it does not
make us the least unhappy, and certainly we are anything but dull."
"And then it is so pleasant," remarked Caroline, "every now and then to
hear the bells ringing, and to find that it is for a victory; and it is
so glorious to be taking ship after ship from the British. Bob says he
envied the New Yorkers the day the frigate United States brought in the
Macedonian."
"I own," said Miss Clements, "that the excitement of that day, can never
be forgotten by those that felt it. It had been ascertained the evening
before that these ships were off Sandy Hook, but in the morning there
was a heavy fog which, it was feared, would prevent their coming up to
the city. Nevertheless, thousands of people were assembled at daylight
on the Battery. At last a sunbeam shone out, the fog cleared off with
almost unprecedented rapidity, and there lay the two frigates at anchor,
side by side--the Macedonian with the American colours flying above the
British ensign. So loud were the acclamations of the spectators, that
they were heard half over the city, and they ceased not, till both
vessels commenced firing a salute."
The conversation was finally interrupted by the arrival of some female
visitors, who joined Mrs. Darnel in lamenting the inconveniences of the
times. One fearing that if the present state of things continued, she
would soon be obliged to dress her children in domestic gingham, and the
other producing from her reticule a pattern for a white linen glove,
which she had just borrowed with a view of making some for herself; kid
gloves being now so scarce that they were rarely to be had at any
price.
A few evenings afterwards, our young ladies were invited to join a party
to a ball; where Mr. Wilson and Mr. Thomson were treated with
considerable indifference by the Miss Darnels; but being very
persevering young men, they consoled themselves with the hope that _le
bon temps viendra_. About the middle of the evening, the girls espied at
a distance, among the crowd of gentlemen near the door, the glitter of a
pair of silver epaulets.
"There's a field-officer, Aunt Sophia," said Harriet: "he wears two
epaulets, and is therefore either a major or a colonel. So I am
determined to dance with him."
"If you can," added Caroline.
"How will you accomplish this enterprise?" asked Sophia.
"Oh!" replied Harriet, "I saw him talking to Mr. Wilson, who, I suppose,
has got acquainted with him somehow. So I'll first dance with poor
Wilson, just to put him into a good humour, and I'll make him introduce
this field-officer to me."
All this was accomplished. She _did_ dance with Mr. Wilson--he _was_ put
into a good humour; and when, half-laughing, half-blushing, she
requested that he would contrive for her an introduction to the
field-officer, he smiled, and, somewhat to her surprise, said at once,
"Your wish shall be gratified," adding, "he fought bravely at
Tippecanoe, and was rewarded with a commission in the regular service."
Mr. Wilson then left her, and in a few minutes returned with the
gentleman in question, whom he introduced as Major Steifenbiegen. The
major was of German extraction (as his name denoted), and came
originally from one of the back counties of Pennsylvania.
When Harriet Darnel had a near view of him, she found that the
field-officer, though a tall, stout man, was not distinguished by any
elegance of figure, and that his features, though by no means ugly, were
heavy and inexpressive, and his movements very much like those of a
wooden image set in motion by springs. However, he was in full uniform,
and had two epaulets, and wore the U. S. button.