[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A
PICTURE
OF THE
DESOLATED
STATES;
and the work of
RESTORATION.
1865–1868
BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE.
AUTHOR OF “NEIGHBOR JACKWOOD,” “CUDJO’S CAVE,” ETC.
HARTFORD, CONN.
PUBLISHED BY L. STEBBINS.
1868.
[Illustration]
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1868,
BY L. STEBBINS,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE.
In the summer of 1865, and in the following winter, I made two visits to
the South, spending four months in eight of the principal States which
had lately been in rebellion. I saw the most noted battle-fields of the
war. I made acquaintance with officers and soldiers of both sides. I
followed in the track of the destroying armies. I travelled by railroad,
by steamboat, by stage-coach, and by private conveyance; meeting and
conversing with all sorts of people, from high State officials to
“low-down” whites and negroes; endeavoring, at all times and in all
places, to receive correct impressions of the country, of its
inhabitants, of the great contest of arms just closed, and of the still
greater contest of principles not yet terminated.
This book is the result. It is a record of actual observations and
conversations, free from fictitious coloring. Such stories as were told
me of the war and its depredations would have been spoiled by
embellishment; pictures of existing conditions, to be valuable, must be
faithful; and what is now most desirable, is not hypothesis or
declamation, but the light of plain facts upon the momentous question of
the hour, which must be settled, not according to any political or
sectional bias, but upon broad grounds of Truth and Eternal Right.
I have accordingly made my narrative as ample and as literally faithful
as the limits of these pages, and of my own opportunities, would allow.
Whenever practicable, I have stepped aside and let the people I met
speak for themselves. Notes taken on the spot, and under all sorts of
circumstances,—on horseback, in jolting wagons, by the firelight of a
farm-house, or negro camp, sometimes in the dark, or in the rain,—have
enabled me to do this in many cases with absolute fidelity.
Conversations which could not be reported in this way, were written out
as soon as possible after they took place, and while yet fresh in my
memory. Idiomatic peculiarities, which are often so expressive of
character, I have reproduced without exaggeration. To intelligent and
candid men it was my habit to state frankly my intention to publish an
account of my journey, and then, with their permission, to jot down such
views and facts as they saw fit to impart. Sometimes I was requested not
to report certain statements of an important nature, made in the glow of
conversation; these, not without regret, I have suppressed; and I trust
that in no instance have I violated a confidence that was reposed in me.
I may add that the conversations recorded are generally of a
representative character, being selected from among hundreds of such;
and that if I have given seemingly undue prominence to any subject, it
has been because I found it an absorbing and universal topic of
discussion.
MAY, 1866.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.—THE START.
Harrisburg.—First Indications of War.—Reminiscences of Lee’s
Invasion.—On to Gettysburg.—The Town and its Inhabitants.—The
Hero of Gettysburg. Page 15
CHAPTER II.—THE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG.
Cemetery Hill.—Pivot of the Battle and of the War.—Culp’s
Hill.—Rock Creek.—Cemetery at Sunset.—John Burns.—The Peach
Orchard.—Devil’s Den and Little Round Top.—Round Top.—Meade’s
Head-Quarters.—Woman’s Heroism and Humanity.—A Soldier and
his Benefactor.—Harvest of Bullets. 18
CHAPTER III.—A REMINISCENCE OF CHAMBERSBURG.
Quiet Country.—Ruins of Chambersburg.—Burning of the
Town.—Flight of the Inhabitants.—Escape of the Raiders.—Death
of Three Rebels.—Homeless Inhabitants.—State Appropriation
for their Relief.—No Loss without Gain. 34
CHAPTER IV.—SOUTH MOUNTAIN.
Hagerstown.—Valley of the Antietam.—Boonsboro’.—The Rebels in
Maryland.—View of the Mountain.—The Ascent.—Scene of General
Reno’s Death.—Rebels buried in a Well.—A Mountaineer’s
Story.—View of Catoctin Valley.—Strong Rebel
Position.—Patriot Graves.—Antietam Valley at Sunset. 40
CHAPTER V.—THE FIELD OF ANTIETAM.
Rebel Line of Retreat.—Keedysville.—Brick Church
Hospital.—Porter and his Reserves.—Banks of the
Antietam.—Scenes at the Straw-Stacks.—Unfortunate
Farmers.—Hospital Cemetery.—The Corn Field.—The Old
Ploughman.—A Lesson for Vanity.—A Soldier’s Name.—The Dunker
Church.—Sharpsburg.—Shelter from the Rain.—Southern
Pronunciation.—Burnside’s Bridge.—Ancient and Modern
Heroes.—Antietam National Cemetery.—The Battle. 44
CHAPTER VI.—DOWN THE RIVER TO HARPER’S FERRY.
Search for a Vehicle.—“Mr. Bennerhalls.”—Mr. Benner without the
“halls.”—Leaving Sharpsburg.—Mountain Scenery.—Capt.
Speaker’s Narrative.—Surrender of Harper’s Ferry.—Escape of
Twenty-two Hundred Cavalry.—Capture of Rebel Wagon
Train.—Morning in Greencastle.—Arrival at the Ferry. 57
CHAPTER VII.—AROUND HARPER’S FERRY.
River and Mountain Scenery.—Maryland Heights.—John Brown’s
Engine-House.—Reminiscence of John Brown.—Political
Inconsistency.—Negro from Shenandoah Valley.—Folly of
Secession. 64
CHAPTER VIII.—A TRIP TO CHARLESTOWN.
Railroad Passengers.—A Desolated Country.—Farmers and Land.—A
Dilapidated Town.—Meeting an Acquaintance.—Boarding-House
Fare.—People and the Government Policy.—Charlestown Jail and
Court-House.—John Brown’s Trial.—“His Soul Marching On.”—A
One-armed Confederate.—John Brown’s Gallows.—Scene from the
Scaffold.—The Church and its Uses. 69
CHAPTER IX.—A SCENE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
Washington.—A Crowd of Pardon-Seekers.—President’s Reception. 75
CHAPTER X.—BULL RUN.
From Alexandria to Manassas.—Manassas Junction.—“Overpowered,”
but not Whipped.—Ambulance Wagon.—The Driver and the
Roads.—Scene of the First Bull Run.—Soldiers’
Monument.—Luncheon in the Woods.—Scene of the Second Bull
Run.—The Monument.—Groverton.—The two Battles and their
Lessons.—The Stone House.—Miscegenated Cider.—Virginia
Negroes. 81
CHAPTER XI.—VISIT TO MOUNT VERNON.
Down the Potomac.—Landing at Mt. Vernon.—A Throng of
Pilgrims.—Tomb of Washington.—Character of
Washington.—Mansion and Out-houses.—Girl at the
Wash-tub.—Washington’s Well.—Shade-Trees.—Within the
Mansion.—Relics.—The Portico.—Washington’s Love of
Home.—Thunder-storm. 91
CHAPTER XII.—“STATE PRIDE.”
Acquia Creek.—Railroad and Stage-Coaches.—View of
Fredericksburg.—Crossing the Rappahannock.—Ruins of the
Town—“A Son of Virginia.”—“State Pride” and
“Self-Conceit.”—Virginia and South Carolina.—Back in the
Union.—Down at the Hotel.—Another Name for State Pride. 100
CHAPTER XIII.—THE FIELD OF FREDERICKSBURG.
The Situation.—The Stone Wall of History.—A Rebel
Eye-witness.—Stripping the Dead.—Strange
Breastworks.—Fidelity of a Dog.—Gen. Lee’s
“Humanity.”—Private Cemetery.—The Marye House.—Negro who
didn’t see the Fight.—Southern Consistency.—Dissolution of
the Rebel Army.—The Buried Dead.—House of Washington’s
Mother.—Mary Washington’s Monument.—The Lacy House.—Scene
from the Windows.—Storming of Fredericksburg. 106
CHAPTER XIV.—TO CHANCELLORSVILLE.
’Lijah and his Buggy.—A Three-Dollar Horse.—Trade in Soldiers’
Clothing.—Small Farmers.—Right Ignorant but Right
Sharp.—Sedgwick’s Retreat.—Farms and Crops.—Views of
Emancipation.—Poor Whites and Niggers.—The Man that killed
Harrow.—Along the Plank-Road.—Tales of the Old
Times.—Chancellorsville Farm.—What was under the Weeds.—Bones
for the Bone-Factory.—Chancellorsville Burying-Ground.—Death
of Stonewall Jackson. 114
CHAPTER XV.—THE WILDERNESS.
Days of Anxiety.—Inflexible Spirit of the People.—Locust
Grove.—The Wilderness Church.—Relics of the Battle.—Skeletons
above Ground.—Wilderness Cemetery.—A Summer Shower.—The
Wounded in the Fire.—The Rainbow. 123
CHAPTER XVI.—SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE.
Elijah “Cut.”—Richard “H.” Hicks.—Poor Whites and the War.—Dead
Men’s Clothes.—A “Heavy Coon Dog.”—Traces of the Battle.—View
of the Court-House.—Grant’s Breastworks.—County Clerk.—Whites
and Blacks in the County.—Ignorance of the Lower Classes.—The
Negro “Fated.” 129
CHAPTER XVII.—THE FIELD OF SPOTTSYLVANIA.
The Tavern-Keeper’s Relics.—A Union Officer’s Opinions.—The
Landlord’s Cornfield.—Rebel and Yankee Troops.—Scene of the
Decisive Conflict.—Graves of Spottsylvania.—Women
“Chincapinnin.”—Leaves from a Soldier’s Testament. 137
CHAPTER XVIII.—“ON TO RICHMOND.”
A Bubble Vanished.—Desolate Scenery.—Virginia and
Massachusetts.—Ashton.—Suburbs.—Northern Men in
Richmond.—Appearance of the City. 143
CHAPTER XIX.—THE BURNT DISTRICT.
Ruins of Richmond.—Why the Rebels burnt the City.—Panic of the
Inhabitants.—Origin of the Fire.—Conflicting Opinions.—Fire
of December, 1811.—Rebuilding.—Negroes at Work.—Colored
Laborer.—Hasty Reconstruction. 147
CHAPTER XX.—LIBBY, CASTLE THUNDER, AND BELLE ISLE.
Libby Prison.—Castle Thunder.—James River.—Manchester
Bridge.—Negroes with Bundles.—Old Negro’s Story.—Belle
Island.—Talk with a Boatman.—Hatred of the Confederacy.—Skiff
to Brown’s Island.—Father and Daughter. 153
CHAPTER XXI.—FEEDING THE DESTITUTE.
Destitute Ration Tickets.—White and Black Mendicants.—Spirit of
Rapacity.—Certificates.—Spurious Cases.—American Union
Commission. 161
CHAPTER XXII.—THE UNION MEN OF RICHMOND.
One of the Twenty-one.—His Account of Confederate Times.—Rebel
Fast Days.—Insurrection of Women.—Mr. L——’s Story.—Colonel
Dahlgren’s Body.—Night Work for Union Men.—Story of Mr.
W——.—In Salisbury Prison.—Union Women.—Minor Prisons.—“One
Honest Yankee.”—Books for the Prisoners.—White and his Mule
Cart.—Scene in a Prison Yard.—The Premises by Moonlight.—Not
a “Love Affair.”—Escape of Two Prisoners.—A Halter
Case.—Running the Lines to Butler.—Partiality to
Traitors.—Union League. 166
CHAPTER XXIII.—MARKETS AND FARMING.
Mixed Population of Richmond.—Market Carts.—Scene at the
Stalls.—Vegetable Gardens.—Experience of a Jersey
Farmer.—Farms for Sale. 178
CHAPTER XXIV.—IN AND AROUND RICHMOND.
St. John’s Church and Patrick Henry.—St. Paul’s and Jeff.
Davis.—State and Confederate Capitol.—Negro
Auction-Rooms.—Hollywood and Oakwood Cemeteries.—General
Lee’s Head-Quarters Wagon.—Rebel Conscript Camp.—A Champion
of Slavery.—A Rebel.—Secesh Song. 182
CHAPTER XXV.—PEOPLE AND POLITICS.
A Conservative Union Man.—A Confederate Soldier’s
Opinions.—Female Secessionists.—Confederate Soldiers and the
Ladies.—“Bomb-proof” Situations.—Governor
Pierpoint.—Advantages to Northern Business Men.—State Debt
and Finances.—Virginia Enterprise.—Coal Mines on the
James.—Speech of a Played-Out Politician.—A Rival
Candidate.—Political Views.—New Men. 187
CHAPTER XXVI.—FORTIFICATIONS.—DUTCH GAP.—FAIR OAKS.
Ride with Major K——.—Forts and Earthworks.—Winter Quarters of
the Army of the James.—Affair at Laurel Hill.—At New-Market
Heights.—Gallop across the Country.—Butler’s Canal.—Origin of
the Name “Dutch Gap.”—Cox’s House.—Out on the Nine-Mile
Road.—Fair Oaks Station.—Seven Pines.—Charge of Sickles’s
Brigade.—Savage’s Station.—Two Sundays. 198
CHAPTER XXVII.—IN AND ABOUT PETERSBURG.
From Richmond to the “Cockade City.”—Evening with Judge
——.—Story of Two Brothers.—Shelling of Petersburg.—Black
Population.—Ride with Colonel E——.—The “Crater.”—Forts Hell
and Damnation.—Forts Morton and Stedman.—“Petersburg
Express.”—A Beautiful but Silent City.—Signal Tower. 205
CHAPTER XXVIII.—JAMES RIVER AND FORTRESS MONROE.
City Point.—Landmarks of Famous Events.—Hotel under the
Fortress.—Jeff. Davis’s Private Residence.—Circuit of the
Ramparts.—Pardoned Rebel. 215
CHAPTER XXIX.—ABOUT HAMPTON.
Burning of Hampton.—Freedmen’s Settlements.—Visits to the
Freedmen. 219
CHAPTER XXX.—A GENERAL VIEW OF VIRGINIA.
Fertility.—Natural Advantages.—Old Fields.—Hills and
Valleys.—Products.—Value of
Land.—Manufactures.—Oysters.—Common Schools.—Freedmen’s
Schools.—Negro Population.—Old Prejudice.—Wages.—Negroes in
Tobacco Factories.—Freedmen’s
Bureau.—Secession.—Railroads.—Finances.—Prospects. 224
CHAPTER XXXI.—THE “SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA.”
East Tennessee.—Home of President Johnson.—Knoxville.—An Old
Nigger-Dealer.—Table-Talk.—East Tennesseeans and
Niggers.—Neighborhood Feuds.—Persecution and
Retaliation.—Story of a Loyal Refugee. 237
CHAPTER XXXII.—EAST TENNESSEE FARMERS.
Description of the People.—“Domestic.”—School-Fund and
Schools.—Sects.—Farming.—Horses and Mules.—Grazing.—Want of a
Market.—Products.—Mines. 243
CHAPTER XXXIII.—IN AND ABOUT CHATTANOOGA.
View from Cameron Hill.—Mixed Population.—Post
School.—Freedmen’s Schools.—Freedmen.—Contraband
Village.—Parade of a Colored Regiment. 248
CHAPTER XXXIV.—LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.
A Bag of Grist.—Ascent of the Mountain.—The General’s
Orderly.—View from Point Lookout.—“Battle in the
Clouds.”—“Old Man of the Mountain.” 255
CHAPTER XXXV.—THE SOLDIERS’ CEMETERY.
National Cemetery of Chattanooga.—The Cave.—Interring the Dead. 260
CHAPTER XXXVI.—MISSION RIDGE AND CHICKAMAUGA.
Storming the Ridge.—Rossville Gap.—A Dreary Scene.—The
“Deadenings.”—Dyer Farm.—Camp of Colored Soldiers.—African
Superstition.—Disinterring the Dead.—The Blunder of
Chickamauga.—General Thomas’s Fight. 263
CHAPTER XXXVII.—FROM CHATTANOOGA TO MURFREESBORO’.
Traces of Military Operations.—“Union Men.”—Passing the
Cumberland Mountains.—The Country.—Story of Two
Brothers.—“Little Johnny Reb.”—Railroad Travel.—General
Hazen’s Head-Quarters.—Rebel Persecutions. 270
CHAPTER XXXVIII.—STONE RIVER.
Fortress Rosecrans.—Rebel and Union Lines.—McCook
Surprised.—Round Forest.—Cemetery of Hazen’s Brigade.—New
National Cemetery. 275
CHAPTER XXXIX.—THE HEART OF TENNESSEE.
Nashville.—Cotton and Cotton Seed.—Battle of
Nashville.—Legislature and Politics.—Governor
Brownlow.—Major-General Thomas.—On Freedmen.—Freedmen’s
Bureau.—Black and White Industry.—Freedmen’s Schools. 279
CHAPTER XL.—BY RAILROAD TO CORINTH.
Condition of Railroad.—Battle-Ground of Franklin.—Crossing the
River at Decatur.—A Young South Carolinian.—Whipping a
Negro.—A Night in the Cars.—Morning in Corinth.—“Mighty
Particular.”—The Corinthian Style.—Game.—Mr. M——’s Family and
Servants.—Fate of a “Respectable Citizen.” 290
CHAPTER XLI.—ON HORSEBACK FROM CORINTH.
Winter Morning in the Woods.—Stop at a Log-House.—An Old Lady’s
Misfortunes.—Old Lee’s Story.—A Roadside Encounter. 297
CHAPTER XLII.—ZEEK.
Talk by the Way.—Mistletoe.—Farm-Houses.—Route of the
Armies.—Beauregard’s Bivouac.—Across Owl Creek.—Zeek’s Home. 303
CHAPTER XLIII.—ZEEK’S FAMILY.
A Tennessee Farm-House.—The Farmer.—The Kitchen.—Too well
Ventilated by Half.—The Farmyard.—Mule-Pen and Out-Buildings. 306
CHAPTER XLIV.—A NIGHT IN A TENNESSEE FARM-HOUSE.
Concerning Doors.—Talk by the Firelight.—Depredations of the
Two Armies.—Hunting Conscripts.—Origin of the Name “Owl
Creek.”—Reminiscences of the Battle.—Smart Son-in-law.—Zeek
Retires.—The Bridal Chamber. 312
CHAPTER XLV.—THE FIELD OF SHILOH.
Departure.—Bridal Home.—Before and After the
Battle.—Hildebrand’s Picket Line.—Graves in the Woods.—Shiloh
Church.—Skeletons Rooted up by Swine.—Romance of the Widow
Ray House.—Romance of a Bale of Hay.—Members of One
Family.—Sheep Pasture.—The “Long Avenue.”—Trenches of the
Dead.—Pittsburg Landing.—General Prentiss’s Disaster. 321
CHAPTER XLVI.—WAITING FOR THE TRAIN AT MIDNIGHT.
Mrs. M—— on Slavery.—Hunting for the Railroad.—Negro
Encampment. 328
CHAPTER XLVII.—FROM CORINTH TO MEMPHIS.
West Tennessee.—Two Sides to the Picture.—Commerce of Memphis. 332
CHAPTER XLVIII.—FREEDMEN’S SCHOOLS AND THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU.
Freedmen in Memphis.—Colored Benevolent
Societies.—Schools.—Officers of the Bureau.—Old Wrongs
Righted.—Summary Justice.—Milly Wilson’s Story.—Cases from
Mississippi.—Business of the Bureau.—Suppressed Wills. 336
CHAPTER XLIX.—DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI.
A Mississippi Steamboat.—Passengers.—Supper.—Evening
Amusements.—Steamboat Race.—River and
Shores.—Landings.—Captain and Colored Gentleman.—An Awful
Thought.—Helena.—A Colored Soldier’s Return.—Condition of the
Levees.—Freshets.—Best Protected Plantations.—Negro
Insurrections. 347
CHAPTER L.—IN AND ABOUT VICKSBURG.
Sight of the Town.—Yankee Canal.—Hills of Vicksburg.—Caves.—An
Under-Ground Residence.—Bombardment.—Famine.—Ride to the
Fortifications.—Grant and Pemberton Monument.—Sherman’s
Unsuccessful Assault.—Chickasaw Bayou.—Indian
Mounds.—Fortifications below Vicksburg.—“Will the Freedmen
Work?”. 356
CHAPTER LI.—FREE LABOR IN MISSISSIPPI.
Laborers defrauded of their Hire.—“Honesty” of a
Planter.—Northern and Southern Master.—Freedmen and
Planters.—Furnishing Supplies.—Slave Labor on Mr. P——’s
Plantation.—Overseers and Negroes.—Change at Christmas. 362
CHAPTER LII.—A RECONSTRUCTED STATE.
Ignorance of the Free-Labor System.—Serf Code.—Freedmen in
Civil Courts.—Convention and Legislature.—State
Militia.—White and Black Offenders.—Persecution of Union
Men.—A Pardoned Rebel.—Freedmen’s Schools. 369
CHAPTER LIII.—A FEW WORDS ABOUT COTTON.
Best Cotton Lands.—Anxiety of the Planter.—Fascination of the
Culture.—Northern Planters.—Estimate of Cost and
Profits.—Prospect of Crop. 379
CHAPTER LIV.—DAVIS’S BEND.—GRAND GULF.—NATCHEZ.
Home of Jeff. Davis.—Colony of Paupers.—Other Farms on the
Peninsula.—Success of the Freedmen.—Colored Courts.—Village
of Grand Gulf.—The “Gulf.”—Situation of Natchez.—Cargoes of
Cotton.—Talk with an Overseer. 383
CHAPTER LV.—THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI.
Used-up Deck Hands.—Toilsome Work and Brutal Treatment.—French
Custom.—Steamboat Acquaintances.—Pay for Slaves.—Jim B—— and
his Niggers.—“A Mountain Spout of a Woman.”—Talk with an
Arkansas Planter.—Louisiana Planters.—Deck Passengers.—Black
Woman’s Story.—French Inhabitants.—Creoles and
Slaves.—Villages and Plantations.—Levees.—The River flowing
on a Ridge.—Unavailable Swamps.—River Water.—River runs Up
Hill. 388
CHAPTER LVI.—THE CRESCENT CITY.
Midwinter at New Orleans.—French Quarter.—Anomalous Third
Class.—Style of Building.—Levee.—Where the Cotton
goes.—Shipment of Cotton during the War and since.—Freight of
a Liverpool Steamer.—St. Charles Rotunda.—One of the
Crowd.—His Scheme for making a Fortune.—His Opinion of the
Planters.—Northern Men in Louisiana.—Planters and
Niggers.—Hard Overseers.—General Phil. Sheridan.—Military
Division of the Gulf.—Troops in Texas.—The Mexican
Question.—The South to be Northernized.—Sheridan’s Personal
Appearance.—Governor Wells.—Deeds and Professions.—Mayor
Kennedy.—On the Future of New Orleans and the South.—Street
Railroads.—Property owned by People of Color.—A Black and
White Strike. 397
CHAPTER LVII.—POLITICS, FREE LABOR, AND SUGAR.
Radical Union Men.—On the President’s Policy.—On General
Banks.—Gentleman who had no Vote.—Newspapers.—General T. W.
Sherman.—Rebel Militia.—Colored “Cavalry” Drilling.—Capital
and Labor.—Louisiana Serf Code.—Planters and the
Bureau.—Dependence of the Negroes.—Defrauded by
Whites.—Independent Homes for the Freedmen.—Colored
Schools.—Northern Men.—A Sugar Plantation.—Abandoned
Parishes.—Sugar and Cotton.—Cane Planting.—Field of Cane in
June.—A Sugar-Mill.—Sugar Crop.—White Laborer. 406
CHAPTER LVIII.—THE BATTLE OF MOBILE BAY.
Lake Ponchartrain.—Capture of the “Water Witch.”—Morning in the
Gulf.—Entering Mobile Bay.—Scene of Farragut’s Fight.—A Poet
in the Battle. 415
CHAPTER LIX.—MOBILE.
The Merchant Fleet.—Harbors on the Gulf.—Spanish
Fort.—Obstructions in the Channel.—Up Spanish River.—The
City.—The Great Explosion.—Business. 420
CHAPTER LX.—ALABAMA PLANTERS.
River Steamers.—Character of Alabamians.—One of the Despairing
Class.—Mr. J——’s Experience.—Mr. G——’s Opinions.—Mr. H—— of
Lowndes County.—Planters’ Justice.—One of the Hopeful
Class.—Agricultural Associations. 423
CHAPTER LXI.—WILSON’S RAID.
Shores of the Alabama.—Plantation Ploughs.—Author’s Ignorance
Enlightened.—Selma.—Ruins of the Town.—Chain-Gang.—Battle of
Selma.—A Freedman’s Story.—Loyalty and Fidelity.—Negro Boy
Arthur.—Raiders in Lowndes County.—Planter’s Wife and the
Wine.—Track of Wilson’s Cavalry. 433
CHAPTER LXII.—NOTES ON ALABAMA.
Montgomery.—The Capitol.—Where the Confederate Egg was
Hatched.—Men of the Back Country.—Small Farmers in the
Legislature.—Original Secessionists and Union Men.—Young Man
of Chambers County.—A Prisoner at Harrisburg.—Life among the
Yankees.—Return Home.—Disloyalty of the People.—Newspapers
and Churches.—Northern and Southern Alabama.—Union Men of
Randolph County.—Great Destitution.—Service of the Freedmen’s
Bureau.—Negro in Civil Courts.—Freedmen’s Schools.—Cotton
Stealing.—Prospect of Cotton Crop.—How to Hire the
Freedmen.—All Sorts of Contracts.—Northern Men in
Alabama.—Topography.—Tree Moss.—Best Cotton
Lands.—Disadvantages.—Artesian Wells.—Region of Small
Farms.—Climate.—Common Schools.—First Cotton Crop.—Indian
War.—Railroads. 441
CHAPTER LXIII.—IN AND ABOUT ATLANTA.
Closing Battles of the War.—The Yankees at West Point.—Foggy
Night at Atlanta.—City by Daylight.—Colored Soldier’s
Widow.—Property Destroyed.—Religion a
Nuisance.—Rebuilding.—Rents.—White and Black
Refugees.—Accounts by Citizens.—Negro’s Horse.—Jesse Wade,
the Poor White; on Sherman’s Strategy; on Schools; on
Reconstruction.—Nigger _versus_ White Man.—Out-door
Convention of Freed People.—Georgia Railroads and Banks. 452
CHAPTER LXIV.—DOWN IN MIDDLE GEORGIA.
Last View of Atlanta.—Negro Emigration.—Indigent
Negroes.—Niggers’ best Friends.—Railroad to Macon.—The
Country.—City of Refuge.—Colored Population.—Murders and
Shootings.—Need of Cavalry.—Georgia and the War.—Freedmen’s
Bureau and the People.—Negro of Middle Georgia.—Infraction of
Contracts.—Control of Bureau Funds.—Macon Freedmen’s
Schools.—Union Men in Georgia.—An Old Settler’s Story.—“No
Party” Cry.—Confederates and Yankees. 460
CHAPTER LXV.—ANDERSONVILLE.
Yankee Prison at Macon.—“Death’s Acre.”—Trial of Captain
Wirz.—His Personal Appearance.—Scene of his Crimes.—Name of
the Town.—Present Appearance.—The Stockade.—Double Walls.—The
Dead Line.—Prisoners’ Caves.—Huts and Barrack
Sheds.—Out-Buildings.—Cemetery.—Death
Record.—Inscriptions.—Rebel Owner’s Claim.—Testimony of
Georgians. 468
CHAPTER LXVI.—SHERMAN IN MIDDLE GEORGIA.
Tradition regarding General Sherman’s Gloves.—Confederate
General’s Testimony.—Criticisms and Anecdotes.—“The Great
Robber” in Jones County.—Confederate Stockings.—Yankee
Soldiers and Rebel Dogs.—Sherman’s Field
Orders.—Pillagers.—Shooting Horses and Stock.—Army and its
Stragglers.—Negro and the Trunk.—Persuasion of a Rope.—The
“Great Robber” in Putnam County.—Not a Raid.—Movement of the
Army.—Panic of the People.—Flight from Milledgeville.—Masters
and Slaves. 475
CHAPTER LXVII.—PLANTATION GLIMPSES.
Worn-out Plantations.—Houses on Props.—A Northern Man’s
Experience.—Men and Women Ploughing.—Home Manufactures.—A
Planter’s House.—Old Master and Young Master.—A Georgia Woman
and the Yankees. 482
CHAPTER LXVIII.—POLITICS AND FREE LABOR IN GEORGIA.
Milledgeville.—State Legislature.—Repudiation.—Complaints of
Confederate Despotism.—Value of Slave Property; to be Paid
for by the Government.—Common-School System.—Freedmen’s
Schools.—Negro with the Small-Pox.—Georgia Planter and
Niggers.—Kinder than the Yankees.—Poor Whites in New York and
Massachusetts.—Abuse of the Yankees; of Freedmen’s
Bureau.—Mr. C—— of Oglethorpe County; why he damned the
Yankees.—Tax on Color.—Southern Methods.—State Commissioner
of the Bureau.—Planters’ Profits.—Meanness of the
Georgians.—Sending Negroes out of the State.—Ignorance of the
Freed People.—Tendency to Idleness.—Bribes Offered.—Cruelties
to Freedmen.—Public Sentiment on the Subject.—Cotton Crop. 488
CHAPTER LXIX.—SHERMAN IN EASTERN GEORGIA.
Sherman and the Railroads.—Condition of the Tracks.—General
Grant on Sherman’s “Hair Pins.”—Machinery for Destroying
Track.—Condition of the Bent Iron.—Railroad Buildings.—One
Glove off.—The “Bummers” in Burke County.—People Stripped of
Everything.—Sherman and the Old Woman.—Buried Gold and
Silver.—Shrewdness of Planter’s Wife.—A “Sorry”
Watch.—Experience of a Northern Man.—Running off Goods and
Stock.—Hiding Place in the Bushes.—Coming of the
Soldiers.—Stopped by Yankee Cavalry.—Why the Women
screamed.—Pursuit of a Horse.—Luck of a Poor Planter.—Reduced
to Corn-Meal Bran.—By Stage to Scarborough.—By Rail to
Savannah.—Comments of the Passengers.—By the Ogeechee
River.—Importation of Hay. 501
CHAPTER LXX.—A GLANCE AT SAVANNAH.
Sherman at Savannah.—Conference with Secretary Stanton.—Issuing
of General Orders No. 15.—Aspect of the
City.—Situation.—Inhabitants.—Trade.—Colored
Schools.—Bonaventure Cemetery. 508
CHAPTER LXXI.—CHARLESTON AND THE WAR.
Charleston and Savannah Railroad.—Steamboats.—Morning in
Charleston Harbor.—Objects in the Mist.—Historic
Water.—Charleston and the Old Flag.—Early Walk in the
City.—Turkey Buzzards.—People and Houses.—Great Fire of
1861.—Its Origin.—Picturesque Ruins.—Damage done by
Shells.—Spite against Firemen.—Panic and Flight of the
Inhabitants.—A Northern Man’s Experience.—Nineteen Months’
Bombardment.—Not a Joyful Anniversary.—Evacuation by the
Rebels.—Fire and Explosion.—The City isolated. 511
CHAPTER LXXII.—A VISIT TO FORT SUMTER.
Harbor Obstructions.—Destructive Water Worm.—Palmetto
Wharves.—Fort Sumter from without.—A Mass of Ruins.—Effect of
Bombardment.—Section of the Old Wall.—Landing at the
Fort.—Inside View.—The Old Flag again.—Situation of the
Fort.—Old Iron under the Walls.—Cost of United States
Forts.—Garrison.—Beauregard’s Bombardment.—Major Anderson’s
Fame.—Fame not so cheap since.—Military Duty and Common
Sense.—Policy of the Government.—The Fort from Morris Island. 517
CHAPTER LXXIII.—A PRISON AND A PRISONER.
General S——’s Visits to Charleston.—Taken Prisoner.—Jumping
from the Cars.—Circular Perambulation.—The Man with the Bag
of Corn.—Pine-leaves and Tobacco.—Chased by
Blood-hounds.—What he lived on.—Visit to a lone Widow.—Night
in a Canebrake.—A Man on Horseback.—Proffer of a Canteen.—A
Friend in Need.—Night in a Gin-House.—Parting in the
Morning.—Entangled among Streams.—Taken for a
Spy.—Recognized.—How he got his Clothes again.—Sent to
Macon.—Tunnelling the Ground under the
Stockade.—Betrayed.—Sent to Charleston.—The Work-house.—Jail
and Hospitals.—Entrance to the Work-house, Rooms, and
Cells.—Prisoners’ Bunks.—Visited by a Shell.—Watching the
Shells by Night.—A Taste of the pure Air.—Negro
Whippings.—Tower of Observation.—Mountain of
Offal.—“Kindness” to Prisoners.—Plans of Escape.—Exploring
the Cistern.—Tunnelling the Walls.—Betrayed again.—Grand
Scheme to Capture and Fire the City.—Exchanged. 521
CHAPTER LXXIV.—THE SEA-ISLANDS.
Negro of Cotton States and Border States.—Causes of
Difference.—Slaves and Slavery in South Carolina.—Labor
Disorganized.—Negro Instincts.—Emigration to the
Coast.—Settlements under Sherman’s Order.—No more
Allotments.—General Howard’s Visit.—President’s
Theory.—Conflict of Authority.—Of Claims.—Nothing
Settled.—Freedmen’s Crops.—Gun and
Fishing-Rod.—Discouragement.—Difficult Question. 532
CHAPTER LXXV.—A VISIT TO JAMES ISLAND.
Stroll along the Wharves.—Negroes under
Coal-Sheds.—Misery.—Boats to James Island.—Planters and their
Freedmen.—Taciturn Boatman.—Previous Visits.—Captured by
Negroes.—Third Visit.—Our Reception.—Number of
Freedmen.—House of Three Orphans.—Conversation with their
Guardian.—An Unreasonable Complaint.—A Northern Man’s
Fortunes.—Negro from St. John.—“Faithful Old Family
Servant.”—Colored Guard.—Women “Listing.”—Our Guard takes
Notes.—Negroes Farming.—Attachment to their Homes.—Children
going to School.—Shade-Trees used for Fences.—Extent of the
Island.—Freedmen their own Driver. 537
CHAPTER LXXVI.—SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
Destruction by the Army.—A South Side View.—In Orangeburg
District.—A Lady’s Account.—Discipline of the Army.—Fidelity
of an Old Cook.—Warned by a Dream.—Behavior of the
Negroes.—Firing Houses.—Foragers.—Yankee Officers.—Soldiers’
Fun and Mischief.—Behavior.—Destructiveness.—Three Nights in
the Chimney Corner.—White Lie by a Black Boy.—White Officers
and Black Girls.—Robbed of everything.—The Negroes
afterwards.—Few White Men left in the Country.—Cut off from
Charleston. 546
CHAPTER LXXVII.—THE BURNING OF COLUMBIA.
The Fall of Pride.—Infatuation of the People.—Scenes of
Panic.—Citizen Plunderers.—General Sherman’s Promise.—Origin
of the Fires.—Accounts by Responsible Citizens.—Rocket
Signals.—Fire-Balls thrown into Houses.—Stories of Federal
Guards.—Skill at finding Treasures.—“Divining Rods.”—The Fire
in the Distance.—Dismay and Terror.—Thirty Millions of
Property Destroyed.—Sacking of the Churches; of Masonic and
Odd-Fellow Lodges.—Drunkenness.—Discipline.—Robberies.—Many
Guards faithful.—Curious Incidents.—Funeral of a
Lapdog.—Popular Jokes in the Army.—Mrs. Minegault’s
Bracelet.—Destitution.—Doing as we would have been done
by.—War and Institutions of Learning.—Horrors left
behind.—Ruins. 553
CHAPTER LXXVIII.—NOTES ON SOUTH CAROLINA.
Free Labor in the Eastern District.—West of the
Wateree.—Planters and the Crop they depended on.—Cotton and
Corn.—Crops during the Confederacy.—Rice
Culture.—Railroads.—Finances.—United States Taxes.—Prevalence
of Crime.—Dishonest Treasury Agents; their Modes of
Operating.—Animosity against the Government.—Progressive
Class.—Governor Orr on Negro Suffrage.—Story of a Negro
Carpenter.—Freedmen’s Schools. 565
CHAPTER LXXIX.—THE RIDE TO WINNSBORO’.
By Stage from Columbia.—Destruction of the Railroad Track.—The
Yankees Dissected.—A Skeleton at the Banquet.—Stage-Coach
Conversation.—Negro Suffrage and Free Labor.—Spirit of the
People.—Outrages on Negroes.—A Candid Confession.—Sherman’s
“Bummers” at Winnsboro’. 571
CHAPTER LXXX.—A GLIMPSE OF THE OLD NORTH STATE.
Change of Scene.—North Carolina Legislature.—Business at
Raleigh.—Impoverishment of the State.—Effects of
Repudiation.—Stay Laws.—Rice Culture.—North Carolina
Farmers.—Freedmen and Freedmen’s Schools.—Governor Worth on
Sherman’s “Bummers”. 578
CHAPTER LXXXI.—CONCLUSIONS.
Return Home.—Summing Up.—Condition of the South.—Demand for
Capital and Labor.—Recovery of Agriculture and Business.—A
Hint to Emigrants.—Loyalty of the People.—Union Men at the
Close of Hostilities.—A Change for the Worse.—Talk for the
Talk’s sake.—Enough of War.—Danger of Unarmed Rebellion.—Aims
of Southern Leaders.—Security needed.—How to punish
Treason.—Plans of Reconstruction.—Southern Plan.—Southern
Representatives and the Test Oath.—The Rule of
Justice.—Principles of the Declaration of
Independence.—Impartial Suffrage.—History of Progressive
Ideas.—Time for the Sowing of the New Seed.—Are the Blacks
prepared for the Franchise?—The Basis of
Representation.—Prospects. 583
CHAPTER LXXXII.—THE WORK OF RESTORATION.
A Year later.—Hopes disappointed.—Position of the Whites of the
South.—Treatment of Southern Unionists, Black and
White.—Sections where the Hostility was most
intense.—Honorable and Noble Exceptions to this State of
Feeling.—The most Noisy Supporters of the Lost Cause.—The
Effect of President Johnson’s Course in stimulating this
Hostility.—Review of his Course so far as it relates to
Reconstruction.—Interviews with Southern Men.—Organization of
Provisional Governments.—Specimens of the Men appointed by
him as Governors.—Defiance of Congress in Advance.—Assurances
to South Carolina.—Democratic Conventions indorsing the
President’s Policy.—The Message of December, 1865.—Opposition
to Congress.—His “White-washing Message.”—Veto of the First
Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.—The 22d of February Speech.—Veto of
the Civil Rights Bill.—Its Passage over the Veto.—Provisions
of the Bill.—The Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution.—What it was.—Veto of the Second Freedmen’s
Bureau Bill.—Passage over the Veto.—Its Provisions.—Admission
of Tennessee.—Mr. Johnson signs the Resolution, but
protests.—The Memphis Riot.—The New Orleans Massacre.—Mr.
Johnson responsible for them.—General Sheridan’s Account of
it.—The Philadelphia Convention.—Its Tears.—It proves a
Failure.—Mr. Johnson weeps.—Mr. Johnson’s Speeches.—Reply to
the Philadelphia Committee.—“Congress hanging on the Verge of
the Government.”—“Swinging round the Circle.”—Disgraceful
Conduct of Mr. Johnson.—Billingsgate in his
Speeches.—Wearisome Platitudes.—The Effect they had on the
Elections of 1866. 591
CHAPTER LXXXIII.—RECONSTRUCTION.
Condition of the Republican and Democratic Parties in Congress
in December, 1866.—The District of Columbia Elective
Franchise Bill passed: Its Provisions.—Mr. Johnson vetoes it,
but it is passed over the Veto.—Territorial Franchise Bill
passed.—Admission of Nebraska as a State, with the Elective
Franchise Proviso.—Difficulties in Maturing satisfactorily
the Reconstruction Act.—The Provisions of the House Bill.—It
is materially changed in the Senate.—Further Modification in
the House Provisions of the Bill as finally passed.—Necessity
for the Tenure of Office Act: Its Provisions.—Effect of the
Passage of the District of Columbia Franchise Bill on
Tennessee.—Decision of the Supreme Court of Tennessee.—The
First Supplementary Reconstruction Act of the Fortieth
Congress.—It is vetoed, and re-passed: Its
Provisions.—Arrangement for the Call of a Summer Session.—Mr.
Stanbery’s Exposition of the Reconstruction Acts.—The Summer
Session of 1867.—The Second Supplementary Reconstruction Act:
Its Provisions.—Appropriations for Carrying out the
Reconstruction Acts.—The President’s Communication.—The
Resolution of the House in Reply.—Sharp Talk.—The Completion
of Congressional Legislation on the Subject in
1867.—Condition of the Desolated States in 1867. 605
CHAPTER LXXXIV.—THE WORK OF RESTORATION.
Votes on the Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment.—The New
States and Reconstructed States likely to vote for it.—Action
of the Commanders of the Military Districts.—The Fifth
District.—Measures adopted by General Sheridan.—His Reasons
for them.—Further Action of General Sheridan.—Governor Wells
removed, and Governor Flanders appointed.—Incidents in
Charleston: The Railroad Cars; The Flag at the Charleston
Fire Parade.—General Sickles’ Order No. 10: Its
Provisions.—Attorney-General Stanbery’s Objections to
it.—Other Orders of General Sickles.—He asks to be relieved
of his Command.—Troubles in General Pope’s
District.—Insubordination of Governor Jenkins: General Pope
asks that he be removed; General Grant’s Indorsement.—Riot in
Mobile.—In Richmond.—Registration, and Powers of Military
Commanders.—The Interference of the Attorney-General.—His
Written Opinions.—General Grant decides that they are not
Mandatory.—General Sheridan’s Opinion of them.—Removal of
Throckmorton.—Sheridan’s Complaint of Rousseau.—The Removal
of Secretary Stanton determined upon, and of General Sheridan
also.—The President’s Letter to Stanton.—Stanton’s
Reply.—General Grant’s Private Letter to the
President.—Stanton suspended, and Grant appointed Secretary
of War ad interim.—The Order for Sheridan’s Removal.—General
Grant’s Protest.—The President’s Reply.—Thomas appointed to
the Fifth District, but declines on account of his
Health.—Hancock appointed.—General Griffin’s Death.—General
Sickles’ Removal.—Generals Canby and Mower’s Orders.—The
President’s two Proclamations.—Who are to be amnestied.—The
President’s Pardons.—General Hancock’s Special Order.—The
President’s delight with it.—He proposes that Congress shall
make a Public Recognition of the General’s
Patriotism.—Congress “don’t see it.”—Measures of General
Hancock.—General Grant revokes his Orders.—Hancock asks to be
relieved, and is appointed by the President to the Command of
the New Department of Washington.—The New
Constitutions.—Alabama: The Measures of the Rebels to prevent
the adoption of the Constitution.—The Constitutions of the
other States adopted.—Vote on Convention and Constitution. 624
CHAPTER LXXXV.—SOCIAL CONDITION.
Suffering at the South among the Freedmen and Loyal
Whites.—Causes.—The Discharge of the Freedmen by their
Employers for Voting.—Good Conduct of the
Freedmen.—Description of the Scenes at the Polls in
Montgomery, Ala.—Negro Suffrage, North and South.—Reasons why
it was indispensable that the Freedmen should have the
Ballot.—Testimony to the Good Conduct of the Negroes at the
South.—Southern White Loyalty.—The Competency of the Negro
for the exercise of Suffrage equal to that of the Poor
Whites.—Eloquence of a Negro in Arkansas, a recent Slave.—The
Destitution at the South.—Wrongs Inflicted on the
Freedmen.—Laziness of the Rebel Whites.—The Advance in
Education at the South.—Benevolent Associations.—Freedmen’s
Bureau.—Mr. Peabody’s Munificent Gift.—Higher Education.—The
Educational Provisions in the New Constitutions.—The Results
which must flow from this in the Future. 651
CHAPTER LXXXVI.—IMPEACHMENT.
Foreshadowings of Impeachment.—Action on the subject in the
XXXIXth Congress.—Mr. Ashley’s Motion.—Its defeat.—The
resolutions of Messrs. Loan and Kelso.—Mr. Ashley’s
resolution.—Report of the Impeachment Committee.—Postponement
to XLth Congress.—The Committee renewed.—Their
report.—Impeachment killed for the time.—Conduct of the
President.—Reinstatement of Secretary Stanton.—The
President’s quarrel with General Grant.—The reason why.—His
attempts to prevent any communication with Secretary
Stanton.—His attempt to remove Stanton and appoint General
Thomas Secretary _ad interim_.—Stanton refuses obedience and
appeals to congress.—The excitement.—Impeachment resolutions
moved immediately.—Report of committee on reconstruction.—The
vote on Impeachment—The announcement to the Senate.—Its
reception.—Preparation of the Articles of Impeachment.—The
managers elected.—The articles.—The Senate organized as a
High Court of Impeachment.—The progress of the trial.—The
speeches.—The Secret Session of the Court.—The delay of the
vote.—The first vote on the eleventh article.—Defeat of
Impeachment by a single vote.—The vote.—Probable effect on
the President.—The vote on the second and third articles.—Mr.
Stanton’s resignation.—The National Convention at
Chicago.—Nomination of Grant and Colfax.—The ballots for Vice
President.—The Platform.—Certainty of success.—The glorious
future. 669
THE SOUTH.
CHAPTER I.
THE START.
In the month of August, 1865, I set out to visit some of the scenes of
the great conflict through which the country had lately passed.
On the twelfth I reached Harrisburg,—a plain, prosaic town of brick and
wood, with nothing especially attractive about it except its
broad-sheeted, shining river, flowing down from the Blue Ridge, around
wooded islands, and between pleasant shores.
It is in this region that the traveller from the North first meets with
indications of recent actual war. The Susquehanna, on the eastern shore
of which the city stands, forms the northern limit of Rebel military
operations. The “high-water mark of the Rebellion” is here: along these
banks its uttermost ripples died. The bluffs opposite the town are still
crested with the hastily constructed breastworks, on which the citizens
worked night and day in the pleasant month of June, 1863, throwing up,
as it were, a dike against the tide of invasion. These defences were of
no practical value. They were unfinished when the Rebels appeared in
force in the vicinity: Harrisburg might easily have been taken, and a
way opened into the heart of the North. But a Power greater than man’s
ruled the event. The Power that lifted these azure hills, and spread out
the green valleys, and hollowed a passage for the stream, appointed to
treason also a limit and a term. “Thus far and no farther.”
The surrounding country is full of lively reminiscences of those
terrible times. Panic-stricken populations flying at the approach of the
enemy; whole families fugitive from homes none thought of defending;
flocks and herds, horses, wagon-loads of promiscuously heaped household
stuffs and farm produce,—men, women, children, riding, walking, running,
driving or leading their bewildered four-footed chattels,—all rushing
forward with clamor and alarm under clouds of dust, crowding every road
to the river, and thundering across the long bridges, regardless of the
“five-dollars-fine” notice, (though it is to be hoped that the
toll-takers did their duty;)—such were the scenes which occurred to
render the Rebel invasion memorable. The thrifty Dutch farmers of the
lower counties did not gain much credit either for courage or patriotism
at that time. It was a panic, however, to which almost any community
would have been liable. Stuart’s famous raid of the previous year was
well remembered. If a small cavalry force had swept from their track
through a circuit of about sixty miles over two thousand horses, what
was to be expected from Lee’s whole army? Resistance to the formidable
advance of one hundred thousand disciplined troops was of course out of
the question. The slowness, however, with which the people responded to
the State’s almost frantic calls for volunteers was in singular contrast
with the alacrity each man showed to run off his horses and get his
goods out of Rebel reach.
From Harrisburg I went, by the way of York and Hanover, to Gettysburg.
Having hastily secured a room at a hotel in the Square, (the citizens
call it the “Di’mond,”) I inquired the way to the battle-ground.
“You are on it now,” said the landlord, with proud satisfaction,—for it
is not every man that lives, much less keeps a tavern, on the field of a
world-famous fight. “I tell you the truth,” said he; and, in proof of
his words, (as if the fact were too wonderful to be believed without
proof,) he showed me a Rebel shell imbedded in the brick wall of a house
close by. (N. B. The battle-field was put into the bill.)
Gettysburg is the capital of Adams County: a town of about three
thousand souls,—or fifteen hundred, according to John Burns, who assured
me that half the population were Copperheads, and that they had no
souls. It is pleasantly situated on the swells of a fine undulating
country, drained by the head-waters of the Monocacy. It has no especial
natural advantages; owing its existence, probably, to the mere fact that
several important roads found it convenient to meet at this point, to
which accident also is due its historical renown. The circumstance which
made it a burg made it likewise a battle-field.
About the town itself there is nothing very interesting. It consists
chiefly of two-story houses of wood and brick, in dull rows, with
thresholds but little elevated above the street. Rarely a front yard or
blooming garden-plot relieves the dreary monotony. Occasionally there is
a three-story house, comfortable, no doubt, and sufficiently expensive,
about which the one thing remarkable is the total absence of taste in
its construction. In this respect Gettysburg is but a fair sample of a
large class of American towns, the builders of which seem never once to
have been conscious that there exists such a thing as beauty.
John Burns, known as the “hero of Gettysburg,” was almost the first
person whose acquaintance I made. He was sitting under the thick shade
of an English elm in front of the tavern. The landlord introduced him as
“the old man who took his gun and went into the first day’s fight.” He
rose to his feet and received me with sturdy politeness; his evident
delight in the celebrity he enjoys twinkling through the veil of a
naturally modest demeanor.
“John will go with you and show you the different parts of the
battle-ground,” said the landlord. “Will you, John?”
“Oh, yes, I’ll go,” said John, quite readily; and we set out.