Visit to Forts Gaines and Morgan--War to the knife the cry of the
South--The “State” and the “States”--Bay of Mobile--The forts and
their inmates--Opinions as to an attack on Washington--Rumours of
actual war.
_May 12th._ Mr. Forsyth had been good enough to invite me to an
excursion down the Bay of Mobile, to the forts built by Uncle
Sam and his French engineers to sink his Britishers--now turned
by “C. S. A.” against the hated Stars and Stripes. The mayor and
the principal merchants and many politicians--and are not all men
politicians in America?--formed the party. If any judgment of men’s
acts can be formed from their words, the Mobilites, who are the
representatives of the third greatest port of the United States,
will perish ere they submit to the Yankees and people of New
York. I have now been in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, and in none of these great States have I found the least
indication of the Union sentiment, or of the attachment for the
Union which Mr. Seward always assumes to exist in the South. If
there were any considerable amount of it, I was in a position as a
neutral to have been aware of its existence.
Those who might have at one time opposed secession, have now bowed
their heads to the majesty of the majority; and with the cowardice,
which is the result of the irresponsible and cruel tyranny of the
multitude, hasten to swell the cry of revolution. But the multitude
are the law in the United States. “There’s a divinity doth hedge”
the mob here, which is omnipotent and all good. The majority in
each State determines its political status according to Southern
views. The Northerners are endeavouring to maintain that the
majority of the people in the mass of the States generally, shall
regulate that point for each State individually and collectively.
If there be any party in the Southern States which thinks such an
attempt justifiable, it sits silent, and fearful, and hopeless in
darkness and sorrow hid from the light of day. General Scott, who
was a short time ago written of in the usual inflated style, to
which respectable military mediocrity and success are entitled in
the States, is now reviled by the Southern papers as an infamous
hoary traitor and the like. If an officer prefers his allegiance to
the United States’ flag, and remains in the Federal service after
his State has gone out, his property is liable to confiscation by
the State authorities, and his family and kindred are exposed to
the gravest suspicion, and must prove their loyalty by extra zeal
in the cause of secession.
Our merry company comprised naval and military officers in the
service of the Confederate States, journalists, politicians,
professional men, merchants, and not one of them had a word but of
hate and execration for the North. The British and German settlers
are quite as vehement as the natives in upholding States’ rights,
and among the most ardent upholders of slavery are the Irish
proprietors and mercantile classes.
The Bay of Mobile, which is about thirty miles long, with a breadth
varying from three to seven miles, is formed by the outfall of the
Alabama and of the Tombigee river, and is shallow and dangerous,
full of banks and trees, embedded in the sands; but all large
vessels lie at the entrance between Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, to
the satisfaction of the masters, who are thus spared the trouble
with their crews which occurs in the low haunts of a maritime town.
The cotton is sent down in lighters, which employ many hands at
high wages. The shores are low wooded, and are dotted here and
there with pretty villas; but present no attractive scenery.
The sea breeze somewhat alleviated the fierceness of the sun, which
was however too hot to be quite agreeable. Our steamer, crowded
to the sponsons, made little way against the tide; but at length,
after nearly four hours’ sail, we hauled up alongside a jetty at
Fort Gaines, which is on the right hand or western exit of harbour,
and would command, were it finished, the light draft channel; it
is now merely a shell of masonry, but Colonel Hardee, who has
charge of the defences of Mobile, told me that they would finish it
speedily.
The Colonel is an agreeable, delicate-looking man, scarcely of
middle age, and is well-known in the States as the author of “The
Tactics,” which is, however, merely a translation of the French
manual of arms. He does not appear to be possessed of any great
energy or capacity, but is, no doubt, a respectable officer.
Upon landing we found a small body of men on guard in the fort. A
few cannon of moderate calibre were mounted on the sand-hills and
on the beach. We entered the unfinished work, and were received
with a salute. The men felt difficulty in combining discipline
with citizenship. They were “bored” with their sandhill, and one
of them asked me when I “thought them damned Yankees were coming.
He wanted to touch off a few pills he knew would be good for
their complaint.” I must say I could sympathise with the feelings
of the young officer who said he would sooner have a day with
the Lincolnites, than a week with the musquitoes for which this
locality is famous.
From Fort Gaines the steamer ran across to Fort Morgan, about three
miles distant, passing in its way seven vessels, mostly British, at
anchor, where hundreds may be seen, I am told, during the cotton
season. This work has a formidable sea face, and may give great
trouble to Uncle Sam, when he wants to visit his loving subjects
in Mobile in his gunboats. It is the work of Bernard, I presume,
and like most of his designs has a weak long base towards the land;
but it is provided with a wet ditch and drawbridge, with demi
lunes covering the curtains, and has a regular bastioned trace.
It has one row of casemates, armed with 32 and 42-pounders. The
barbette guns are 8-inch and 10-inch guns; the external works at
the salients, are armed with howitzers and field-pieces, and as we
crossed the drawbridge, a salute was fired from a field battery, on
a flanking bastion, in our honour.
Inside the work was crammed with men, some of whom slept in the
casemates--others in tents in the parade grounds and enceinte of
the fort. They were Alabama Volunteers, and as sturdy a lot of
fellows as ever shouldered musket; dressed in homespun coarse
grey suits, with blue and yellow worsted facings and stripes--to
European eyes not very respectful to their officers, but very
obedient, I am told, and very peremptorily ordered about as I heard.
There were 700 or 800 men in the work, and an undue proportion of
officers, all of whom were introduced to the strangers in turn.
The officers were a very gentlemanly, nice-looking set of young
fellows, and several of them had just come over from Europe to
take up arms for their State. I forget the name of the officer in
command, though I cannot forget his courtesy, nor an excellent
lunch he gave us in his casemate after a hot walk round the
parapets, and some practice with solid shot from the barbette guns,
which did not tend to make me think much of the greatly-be-praised
Columbiads.
One of the officers named Maury, a relative of “deep-sea Maury,”
struck me as an ingenious and clever officer; the utmost harmony,
kindliness, and devotion to the cause prevailed among the garrison,
from the chief down to the youngest ensign. In its present state
the Fort would suffer exceedingly from a heavy bombardment--the
magazines would be in danger, and the traverses are inadequate. All
the barracks and wooden buildings should be destroyed if they wish
to avoid the fate of Sumter.
On our cruise homewards, in the enjoyment of a cold dinner, we had
the inevitable discussion of the Northern and Southern contest. Mr.
Forsyth, the editor and proprietor of the “Mobile Register,” is
impassioned for the cause, though he was not at one time considered
a pure Southerner. There is difference of opinion relative to an
attack on Washington. General St. George Cooke, commanding the
army of Virginia on the Potomac, declares there is no intention
of attacking it, or any place outside the limits of that free and
sovereign State. But then the conduct of the Federal Government in
Maryland is considered by the more fiery Southerners to justify the
expulsion of “Lincoln and his Myrmidons,” “the Border Ruffians and
Cassius M. Clay,” from the capital. Butler has seized on the Relay
House, on the junction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, with
the rail from Washington, and has displayed a good deal of vigour
since his arrival at Annapolis. He is a democrat, and a celebrated
criminal lawyer in Massachusetts. Troops are pouring into New York,
and are preparing to attack Alexandria, on the Virginia side, below
Washington and the Navy Yard, where a large Confederate flag is
flying, which can be seen from the President’s windows in the White
House.
There is a secret soreness even here at the small effect produced
in England compared with what they anticipated by the attack on
Sumter; but hopes are excited that Mr. Gregory, who was travelling
through the States some time ago, will have a strong party to
support his forthcoming motion for a recognition of the South.
The next conflict which takes place will be more bloody than that
at Sumter. The gladiators are approaching--Washington, Annapolis,
Pennsylvania are military departments, each with a chief and Staff,
to which is now added that of Ohio, under Major G. B. M‘Clellan,
Major-General of Ohio Volunteers at Cincinnati. The authorities on
each side are busy administering oaths of allegiance.
The harbour of Charleston is reported to be under blockade by the
Niagara steam frigate, and a force of United States’ troops at St.
Louis, Missouri, under Captain Lyon, has attacked and dispersed a
body of State Militia under one Brigadier-General Frost, to the
intense indignation of all Mobile. The argument is, that Missouri
gave up the St. Louis Arsenal to the United States’ Government, and
could take it back if she pleased, and was certainly competent to
prevent the United States’ troops stirring beyond the Arsenal.