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THE   AMERICANS   AT   HOME. 


VOL.  I. 


Edinburgh :  Printed  by  Thomas  and  Archibald  Constable, 


EDMONSTON  AND  DOUGLAS. 

LONDON          HAMILTON,  ADAMS,  AND  CO. 

CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 

GLASGOW JAMES  MACLEHOSE. 


AMERICANS  AT  HOME 

PEN-AND-INK  SKETCHES  OF  AMERICAN  MEN 
MANNERS  AND  INSTITUTIONS. 


THE 


BY 


DAVID  MACEAE. 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


EDINBURGH: 
EDMONSTON  AND  DOUGLAS. 

1870. 

[All  rights  reserved.} 


TO  MY  REVERED  FATHER 

WHO   HAS   EVER   STOOD   ON   THE  SIDE  OF 
CIVIL  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY, 

AND   WHOSE   LIFE 
ILLUSTRATES  THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  WHICH  HE  HAS  BEEN 

LONG  A  FAITHFUL  MINISTER, 
THESE  VOLUMES  ARE  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

PAGE 

PRELIMINARY, xi 

I.— CANADA,             ......  1 

II.— SISTER  GAUDRY,         .            .           .           .           .  8 

III.— FIRST  IMPRESSIONS,              ....  15 

IV.— AMERICAN  WOMEN, 22 

V.— YOUNG:  AMERICA,       .....  28 

VI.— HELPS,  SO-CALLED, 36 

VII.— HENRY  WARD  BEECHER,    ....  47- 

VIII.— NOTES  ABOUT  NEW  YORK,            .    ,                   .  66 

IX.— THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF,  73 

X.-THE  QUAKER  CITY  AND  THE  CAPITAL,            .  87 

XL— GRANT, 113 

XIL— PURPOSE  AND  HEART  IN  THE  WAR,      .            .  123 

XIIL— ON  TO  RICHMOND,     .....  133 

XIV.— PAST  AND  PRESENT,             .            .  141 

XV.— "BEAST"  BUTLER,  SO-CALLED,     .  .  .156 

XVI.— PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES,          .            .  166 

XVII. -A  RIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER,       .  184 


vill  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XVIII.— STONEWALL  JACKSON,         .  .        194 

XIX. -JACKSON'S  CHAEACTER  ILLUSTRATED,  .        202 

XX.— "LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY,"  .  .  .215 

XXI. -A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN,        226 

XXII.— AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION'S  PLAN,        240 

XXIII.— NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS,       .  .  .246 

XXIV.— CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY,  .  .        256 

XXV.— HIGHLANDERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  .  .        265 

XXVI.— VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT,          .        272 

XXVII.— "  BUMMERS,"    ....  .289 

XXVIII.— PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE,     298 

XXIX.— PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY,         .        305 

XXX.— THE  PLOUGHSHARE,  .  .  .314 


ADVEKTISEMENT. 

THE  following  sketches  consist  of  observations  made  in 
America  during  the  years  1867  and  1868  ;  and  where 
these  called  for  supplement,  as  in  describing  the  progress 
made  by  the  freed  negroes  in  the  South,  the  latest 
official  returns  have  been  consulted.  Various  sketches, 
already  published  in  Scotch,  American,  and  Indian  papers, 
have,  in  a  revised  form,  been  incorporated  with  the  new 
material. 


VOL.  I. 


PEELIMINAET. 

THE  old  popular  notion  of  an  American  was  that  of 
a  man  who  wore  nankeen  trousers,  carried  a  bowie- 
knife,  sat  with  his  feet  on  a  mantelpiece,  and  squirted 
tobacco-juice  on  the  carpet.  There  may  be  some  people 
still  possessed  with  this  idea  of  Cousin  Jonathan,  just 
as  there  are  probably  some  Cockneys  who  still  imagine 
that  Scotchmen  wear  kilts,  live  on  porridge  and  whisky, 
and  occupy  spare  time  in  scratching  themselves  on 
posts  humanely  erected  for  that  purpose  by  His  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Argyll. 

But  as  a  rule  we  have  got  past  that  stage,  and  the 
last  decade  has  probably  taught  the  British  public 
more  about  the  Americans  and  their  country  than  the 
fifty  years  preceding.  The  war  has  been  a  great  school 
master  to  every  class.  Public  journalists  are  no  longer 
found  writing  about  the  States  as  if  they  were  little 
bigger  than  this  country,  or  putting  Louisiana  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  Mississippi,  or  bringing  the  Blue 
Eidge  within  five  miles  of  Eichmond,  or  making  rivers 
run  up  hill,  or  sending  American  troops,  "  wading 
under  a  heavy  fire,"  across  a  river  which  everybody 
ought  to  have  known  was  from  twelve  to  twenty-four 


Xll  PRELIMINARY. 

feet  deep.  The  many  admirable  books  which  have 
been  published  of  late  years,  some  of  them  by  men 
whose  names  not  only  secured  public  attention,  but 
furnished  a  guarantee  of  truthfulness,  have  helped  still 
further  to  spread  enlightened  views.  But  even  yet  we 
are  only  coming  to  know  the  Americans ;  perhaps  they 
are  only  coming  to  know  themselves.  The  changes  that 
are  taking  place  amongst  them  in  their  habits,  laws,  and 
circumstances  are  so  constant  and  rapid,  that  Eussell, 
and  Dixon,  and  Dilke,  and  Trollope,  and  Mackay,  and 
Sala,  and  Zincke,  and  all  our  other  writers  on  America, 
might  go  back  year  by  year,  and  find  as  much  to  write 
about  as  ever.  America  is  full  of  interesting  men  and 
interesting  experiments.  She  may  be  said,  indeed,  to 
be  an  experiment  herself — the  trial  of  a  Government  in 
which  all  power  and  authority  shall  emanate  from  the 
people,  and  kings  and  aristocracies  shall  be  dispensed 
with.  This  system,  working  itself  out  through  all  the 
relations  of  life,  has  involved  innumerable  changes — 
political,  social,  and  religious — and  has  converted  Ame 
rica  into  a  vast  laboratory,  in  which  experiments  are 
being  made  that  are  of  interest  not  only  to  herself,  but 
to  the  world.  She  has  made  the  great  experiment  of 
trusting  the  religious  education  of  the  whole  people — 
thirty  or  forty  millions  in  number — to  voluntary  liber 
ality.  In  Upper  Canada,  and  over  the  whole  North, 
she  has  made  the  experiment  of  providing  free  and 
undenominational  schools  for  the  whole  body  of  the 
people.  In  New  England  she  is  trying  the  effect  of 


PRELIMINARY.  Xlll 

law  in  grappling  with  drunkenness,  by  prohibiting  the 
sale  of  liquor ;  in  Canada  she  has  tried  the  effect  of  a 
Permissive  enactment.  She  is  making  the  experiment 
on  a  vast  scale,  of  giving  equal  political  rights  to  people 
of  every  race,  and  training  her  magistrates  to  what 
Wendell  Phillips  calls  political  colour-blindness,  or  in 
ability  to  distinguish  a  black  skin  from  a  white  one.  In 
Wyoming  she  has  made  the  experiment  of  giving  the 
suffrage  to  women :  and  at  Oberlin  of  educating  male 
and  female  students  together.  She  is  also  trying  the 
effect  of  changes  in  the  relations  of  the  sexes.  In  the 
Mormon  settlement  she  allows  woman  to  see  how  she 
can  get  on  with  the  fraction  of  a  husband ;  in  the 
Shaker  settlements  with  no  husband  at  all ;  and  in  the 
Free  Love  settlement  with  as  many  husbands  as  she 
likes. 

On  all  these  points  we  are  getting  information,  and 
we  want  more.  For  while  America  has  in  many  re 
spects  made  herself  a  pattern  for  the  world,  she  has 
committed  many  blunders,  and  some  of  her  experi 
ments  have  been  attended  with  very  disastrous  con 
sequences.  Take,  for  instance,  that  of  submitting 
judgeships  to  the  popular  vote — an  experiment  made 
by  Mississippi,  and  repeated  in  an  evil  hour  by  Iowa, 
and  other  States.  In  this  country,  judges  are  appointed 
for  life,  and  their  position  and  character  are  such  as  to 
make  them  proof  against  either  bribery  or  intimidation. 
In  the  States,  they  are  elected  by  the  people  for  a 


XIV  PRELIMINARY. 

few  years  at  a  time,  at  the  close  of  which  period  they 
have  to  canvass  the  voters  again  for  re-election.  In 
addition  to  this,  they  are  poorly  paid.  Political  parties 
and  cliques  "  run  "  their  own  men  for  these  situations  ; 
and  a  judge  who  wants  to  keep  his  place  has  to  re 
member  which  party  it  was  that  put  him  in,  and  can 
turn  him  out  again.  At  first,  judges  held  office  for 
life  even  where  elective,  as  in  North  Carolina,  In 
Iowa,  and  other  of  the  newer  States,  they  used  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Legislature  for  seven  years  ;  now 
they  are  elected  every  three  years  directly  by  the 
people.  The  district  judges  are  elected  by  their  re 
spective  districts  or  aggregations  of  counties ;  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  corresponding  with  our 
judges  of  Queen's  Bench,  are  elected  by  the  whole 
State.  If  a  judge  decides  in  any  case  against  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  it  is  at  the  imminent  risk  of 
losing  his  place  at  the  next  election.  An  Oberlin 
professor  gave  me  an  instance  connected  with  his  own 
experience.  He  and  some  of  his  fellow-professors  were 
imprisoned  in  1858  for  aiding  in  the  escape  of  some 
fugitive  slaves.  They  applied  for  a  writ  of  Habeas 
Corpus  on  the  ground  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was 
unconstitutional.  The  State  was  Eepublican,  and 
therefore  opposed  to  that  law;  so  was  the  Chief  Justice; 
but,  inasmuch  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  the  law, 
he  refused  the  writ,  although  he  knew  that  his  decision 
would  cost  him  his  place, — which  it  did.  Such  ex 
amples  tempt  many  of  the  judges  to  decide  according 


PRELIMINARY.  XV 

to  popular  feeling  rather  than  the  merits  of  the  case, 
and  prostitute  judicial  purity  to  political  partisanship. 
This  is  deplored  by  good  men ;  but  the  people  having 
once  got  the  power,  are  not  disposed  to  part  with  it. 
A  prominent  man  in  Iowa  said  to  me,  u  This  thing  is 
working  mischief;  but  it  would  be  death  to  go  back." 

Another  disastrous  experiment  is  that  of  putting  all 
the  Government  appointments  in  the  country  into  the 
President's  hands,  to  be  doled  out  as  rewards  for  poli 
tical  support.  The  early  Presidents  rarely  made  more 
than  half-a-dozen  or  a  dozen  changes  in  the  staff 
of  Government  officials,  and  never  made  even  these 
avowedly  on  political  grounds.  But  since  the  time  of 
President  Jackson,  it  has  been  the  practice  with  most 
Presidents  immediately  on  coming  into  office  to  empty 
almost  all  the  Government  situations  in  the  country, 
down  to  the  ,very  post-offices,  and  refill  them  with  their 
own  political  supporters.  As  these  situations  are  only 
secure  till  the  next  Presidential  election,  men  who  are 
prospering  in  their  own  business  are  not  disposed  to 
give  that  up  for  a  four-years'  appointment.  The  best 
class  of  Americans  are  therefore  rarely  available  for 
these  posts,  which  are  accordingly  filled  with  a  lower 
class  of  men — multitudes  of  whom  are  office-seekers 
by  profession,  who,  aware  that  they  have  got  their 
nose  in  the  public  crib  for  but  a  brief  period,  get  the 
most  out  of  it  they  can.  The  venality  of  many  of  these 
men  is  only  equalled  by  their  incompetence.  What 


XVI  PRELIMINARY. 

can  be  expected  of  officials  new  to  the  position  and 
knowing  that  they  are  likely  enough  to  be  out  of  it  in 
four  years  ?  Even  those  who  are  anxious  to  be  efficient 
servants  of  the  Government  need  time  to  acquire  ex- 
pertness  in  their  duties,  and  they  have  scarcely  suc 
ceeded  in  this  before  the  next  Presidential  election 
comes  round,  and  probably  compels  them  to  make  way 
for  new  men  as  ignorant  and  inexperienced  as  they 
were  themselves  at  first.  If  the  Americans  were  not  a 
smart  people  the  carrying  on  of  the  Government  under 
the  present  system  would  be  impossible. 

I  mention  these  instances  to  show  that  we  do  well 
to  familiarize  ourselves  with  American  affairs,  not  only 
to  see  what  may  be  imitated  but  what  ought  to  be 
guarded  against.  There  is  all  the  more  need  of  this 
that  America  is  now  exercising  a  powerful  influence 
on  this  country.  The  two  nations  are  knit  together  as 
parts  of  one  body.  What  affects  the  one  affects  the 
other.  Disaster  to  America  means  disaster  to  us,  though 
it  may  temporarily  benefit  a  few  ;  progress  in  America 
means  progress  here,  though  it  may  involve  changes 
hostile  to  class  interests.  It  was  the  consciousness  of 
this  that  caused  Britain  to  take  such  interest  in  the 
recent  war.  North  and  South  were  felt  to  be  but 
names  for  two  great  principles,  contending  not  only  in 
America  but  here. 

On  those  battle-fields  of  Virginia  British  conservatism 
and  British  liberalism  fought  by  proxy.  Mr.  Gladstone's 


PRELIMINARY.  XV11 

Reform  Bill  was  carried  by  Northern  bayonets  long 
before  it  went  to  the  vote  in  Parliament.  The  triumph 
of  the  North  meant  British  reform,  John  Bright  in 
the  Cabinet,  Free  Schools,  and  justice  to  Ireland. 
We  cannot  therefore  but  feel  interest  in  American 
progress  if  we  are  interested  in  our  own.  We  want 
to  know  about  her  institutions  and  how  they  work ; 
we  want  to  know  what  kind  of  people  they  develop, 
what  their  manners  are,  their  modes  of  thought, 
and  their  ways  of  working.  We  want  to  see  them 
through  many  eyes,  hear  them  through  many  ears, 
get  photographs  of  them  from  many  stand-points.  In 
the  following  humble  contribution  to  the  common 
store,  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe  the  phases  of 
American  life  and  activity  in  which  I  found  myself 
most  interested,  and  to  sketch  certain  representative 
Americans  with  wThom  I  was  anxious  if  possible  to 
increase  the  reader's  acquaintance. 

Before  proceeding,  let  me  refer  to  two  points  which 
have  biassed  many  people  in  this  country  against  every 
thing  transatlantic.  The  first  is  Brother  Jonathan's 
boastfulness.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that 
this  is  still  a  national  characteristic.  Every  State, 
every  city,  every  village  in  America  boasts  of  some 
thing.  Massachusetts  boasts  of  her  brains  ;  Pennsyl 
vania  of  her  oil  wells  ;  Virginia  of  her  illustrious  men ; 
Alabama  of  her  cotton  ;  Louisiana  of  her  sugar ;  Cali 
fornia  of  her  big  trees ;  Missouri  of  her  iron  mountains  ; 


XVlll  PRELIMINARY. 

Illinois  of  her  boundless  farms ;  Kentucky  of  her 
horses ;  Canada  of  her  incomparable  wheat.  Travelling 
through  the  Republic  especially,  you  find  that  each  State 
is  ahead  of  every  other  State,  all  things  being  taken  into 
account,  and  that  in  the  late  war  the  soldiers  of  each 
State  were  admitted  to  have  been  braver,  and  bigger, 
and  to  have  won  more  battles,  and  filled  more  graves, 
than  those  of  any  other  State.  Towns  follow  suit. 
Philadelphia  has  the  longest  and  straightest  streets, 
and  the  largest  orphanage  in  the  country ;  New  Orleans 
has  the  smoothest  drive  and  the  biggest  river  trade ; 
Milwaukee  has  the  best  bricks ;  New  York  has  the 
finest  park  and  the  largest  population  ;  Boston  has  the 
best  schools  and  the  biggest  organ ;  Chicago  has  the 
biggest  saints,  the  biggest  sinners,  and  the  biggest 
pig-killing  establishments  in  America.  "  Yes,  sir,"  as 
one  enthusiastic  Chicago  gentleman  declared,  "  the 
biggest  pig-killing  concerns  in  G  od's  creation  ! " 

It  matters  little  to  the  boasting  class  of  Americans, 
as  one  of  their  own  censors  has  said,  whether  a  thing 
be  good  or  bad,  provided  it  surpass  all  others.  If  an 
Arkansas  man  cannot  boast  of  the  education  of  a 
Boston  man,  at  any  rate  he  can  chew  more  tobacco, 
and  spit  more  and  farther  and  straighter  than  any 
other  man.  If  the  Mississippi  steamers  are  not  so 
magnificent  as  some  on  the  Hudson  Eiver,  they  sail 
faster  and  blow  up  oftener,  and  shoot  men  higher  than 
any  other  steamers  in  the  country.  It  is  always  some 
thing  for  Tennessee  to  say  that  she  has  the  deepest 


PRELIMINARY.  XIX 

mud,  and  for  Georgia  that  she  has  the  most  poisonous 
miasmas,  and  Missouri  that  she  has  the  dirtiest  river, 
and  North  Carolina  that  she  has  the  biggest  swamp. 
The  Americans  adore  immensity.  If  a  New  Yorker 
could  manage  to  fail  fpr  a  hundred  million  dollars,  he 
would  be  worshipped  as  a  god. 

You  can  always  excite  an  American's  enthusiasm  in 
a  practicable  scheme,  if  you  are  going  to  make  it  the 
biggest  thing  in  the  world.  Boston  said,  "We  shall 
have  the  biggest  musical  festival  the  world  has  seen  !" 
— myriads  assembled,  5000  performers  took  part, 
choruses  were  rung  from  a  hundred  sounding  anvils, 
and  bellowed  from  a  hundred  guns.  New  York  said, 
"  We  shall  have  the  biggest  sanitary  fair  in  the  world  !" 
and  $1,000,000  were  realized.  Chicago  said,  "We  shall 
have  the  biggest  picnic  in  the  world  !"  and  a  picnic 
company  assembled  to  the  number  of  22,000. 

Americans  have  immensity  on  the  brain.  It  seemed 
to  me  the  abiding  consolation,  in  speaking  of  the  war — 
even  with  the  Southern  people  who  had  lost  every 
thing  by  it — that  at  any  rate  it  was  a  big  war — "  an 
eveiiastin'  big  war,  sir  !"  This  craze  for  extravagance 
gives  a  character  even  to  their  wit.  The  trees  so  tall, 
that  it  took  two  men  and  a  boy  to  see  to  the  top,  the 
first  looking  till  he  was  tired,  and  the  next  beginning 
where  the  first  left  off — were  American  trees.  The  man 
who  snored  so  loud  that  he  had  to  sleep  two  doors  off 
to  keep  from  awakening  himself — the  squatter  who 
moved  farther  West  because  somebody  else,  locating 


XX  PRELIMINARY. 

within  fifty  miles,  made  him  feel  crowded — the  patent 
hair- renovator,  so  strong  that  a  little  of  it  rubbed  on 
the  door-step  brought  out  a  strong  crop  of  bristles,  and 
saved  the  expense  of  a  door-mat — the  horse  that  ran  so 
fast  that  its  shadow  couldn't  keep  up  with  it — the  gun 
boats  of  draught  so  light  that  they  could  float  wherever 
the  ground  was  a  little  damp — were  all  American. 

But  if  the  Americans  boast,  let  it  be  remembered 
that  they  have  much  to  boast  of.  Also  that  they  have 
been  tempted  to  self-laudation  not  only  by  the  magnitude 
of  their  achievements  and  the  rapidity  of  their  rise  from 
obscurity  to  their  present  height  of  splendour  and  power, 
but  by  the  provoking  ignorance  and  incredulity  in  re 
gard  to  things  American  which  they  found  abroad.  It 
ought  also  to  be  observed,  that  this  boastfulness  is  gra 
dually  disappearing  from  amongst  the  higher  classes  of 
Americans,  who  look  upon  it  as  vulgar,  and  are  content 
to  let  America  advance  without  trumpets,  and  to  see  that 
she  is  growing,  without  hallooing  to  all  the  world  to 
look. 

Finally,  we  ought  to  ask  ourselves,  Is  there  not  in 
even  this  boastfulness  a  very  enviable  sign  of  content  ? 
If  the  Irish  here  were  as  full  of  boastful  pride  in  British 
institutions  as  those  on  the  other  side  are  of  American 
institutions,  how  gladly  should  we  pardon  its  vulgarity 
for  the  sake  of  its  existence. 

The  other  preliminary  point  to  which  I  want  to  refer, 
is  American  feeling  towards  this  country.  Let  me  re- 


PRELIMINARY.  XXI 

cord  my  own  experience.  The  very  first  day  I  spent 
in  New  York,  after  passing  into  the  States  from 
Canada,  I  called  upon  a  business  man  with  a  note  of 
introduction.  After  reading  the  note,  his  first  question 
was — 

"How  did  you  stand,  sir,  in  reference  to  our 
war  ?" 

On  receiving  my  reply,  he  said,  with  some  asperity, — 
"  England,  sir,  should  sit  down  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  ; 
yes,  sir,  she  should  wear  sackcloth  till  it  had  worn  to 
rags,  for  her  conduct  to  this  country  during  the  re 
bellion." 

He  went  on  to  speak  of  the  British  press,  more  espe 
cially  of  the  Times,  whose  editor  he  declared,  if  sus 
pended  to  the  first  lamp -post,  would  meet  with  a  better 
fate  than  he  deserved.  Of  the  various  war-correspon 
dents,  he  said, — 

"  Eussell  was  at  least  fair,  but  that  infamous  slanderer, 
George  Augustus  Sala,  should  be  put  head-foremost  into 
that  stove  [pointing  to  a  red-hot  furnace  in  the  centre 
of  the  office]  ;  so  should  that  poetising  fool  Mackay ;  so 
should  that  other  beetle-headed  ape  called — what  was 
it  again  ? — well,  thank  God,  his  miserable  name  no 
longer  pollutes  my  memory." 

A  short  gentleman  who  had  come  in  and  taken  his 
stand  in  front  of  the  stove,  with  his  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
indorsed  these  sentiments  in  strong  language. 

This  topic  disposed  of,  the  new-comer  put  the  usual 
question  to  me — 


PRELIMINARY. 


"  Well,  sir,  what  do  you  think  of  this  country  ?  You 
didn't  expect  to  see  anything  like  this,  I  guess." 

His  loud  tone  disposed  me  to  a  little  banter,  and  I 
replied  that  the  country  seemed  to  be  large. 

"  Large  !"  he  cried.  "  Yes,  sir,  I  guess  it  is.  Guess 
your  little  bit  cake  of  a  country  wouldn't  cover  this 
one  State  here." 

He  went  on  to  declare  that  nobody  who  had  once 
been  in  the  States  could  live  in  Britain  again. 

"  I  tried  it,"  he  said,  "  but  I  couldn't  do  it.  Every 
thing  so  narrow  and  bigoted.  Such  dirty,  mean,  shabby 
people  as  the  Scotch  I  never  saw.  I  never  was  so  happy 
in  my  life  as  when  I  got  away  from  that  country." 

The  speaker  turned  out  to  be  himself  a  Scotchman, 
not  an  American.  His  friend,  who  wanted  Sala  and 
Mackay  put  into  the  stove,  was  also  Scotch.  And  I 
report  their  words,  because  it  gives  me  the  opportunity 
of  recording  the  fact,  that  though  I  heard  a  great  deal 
of  talk  like  this,  /  never  on  any  occasion  heard  it  from 
a  real  American.  I  have  often  heard  native  Americans 
boast  of  their  great  country  ;  I  have  heard  them  deplore 
the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  during  the  war,  and  ex 
press  their  amazement  at  British  ignorance  of  American 
affairs ;  but  I  never  met  a  true  American,  either  in  the 
North  qr  in  the  South,  who  did  not,  more  or  less,  love 
and  reverence  the  old  country.  Everywhere,  from  the 
New  England  farm-house  to  the  Georgia  plantation,  the 
fact  that  I  was  a  stranger  from  Scotland  seemed  suffi 
cient  to  secure  me  a  kindly  welcome.  This  was  a 


PRELIMINARY.  XX111 

source  of  continual  delight  to  me,  not  only  filling 
the  time  of  my  stay  in  America  with  personal  enjoy 
ment,  but  showing  how  much  of  sympathy  there  is  in 
the  American  heart  that  can  be  appealed  to  in  all  en 
deavours  to  bind  the  two  nations  more  closely  together. 

As  far  as  my  observation  went,  most  of  the  abuse 
that  is  poured  out  on  Britain  and  British  institutions, 
and  of  which  so  much  has  been  made  in  this  country, 
comes  from  the  Irish,  and  from  a  few  renegade  Scotch 
and  English.  The  Scotch,  as  a  rule,  cherish  a  romantic 
attachment  to  the  Old  Country ;  but  it  is  remarked  in 
America,  as  in  England,  that  when  a  Scotchman  docs 
turn  against  his  country,  he  becomes  its  bitterest 
traducer.  The  Irish  have  hitherto  had  more  reason 
for  their  antipathy  ;  but  there  is  good  prospect  now,  if 
the  national  spirit  of  Ireland  is  dealt  with  in  a  liberal 
way,  that  a  kindlier  feeling  to  Great  Britain  will  spread 
amongst  the  Irish  in  America,  who  are  already  a  power 
there,  and  are  daily  becoming  a  greater. 

But  what  about  the  Fourth  of  July  ?  Well,  that  is  one 
disagreeable  fact.  But  it  is  unfair  to  judge  of  American 
feeling  by  Fourth  of  July  speeches.  The  patriots  who 
shriek  on  that  day  about  "  British  tyranny,"  "  shaking 
thrones,"  "  effete  monarchies,"  "  American  Eagle  striking 
his  talons  into  the  prostrate  Lion,"  etc.  etc.,  are  often 
exceedingly  good  friends  of  this  country,  and  would 
laugh  at  being  supposed  to  mean  hostility.  It  is  a 
day  sacred  to  the  Spread  Eagle — a  day  on  which  the 
national  enthusiasm  boils  over,  and  the  American's 


XXIV  PRELIMINARY. 

pride  in  his  country  bursts  into  wild  and  exulting 
expression.  But  many  of  them  are  coming  to  see 
that  the  Spread-eagleism  of  the  Fourth  of  July  is,  as 
applied  to  us,  meaningless.  They  are  coming  to 
know  that  the  mass  of  people  in  this  country  are 
entirely  at  one  with  them  in  regard  to  the  stand  made 
by  the  Revolutionary  fathers  against  the  tyranny  of 
the  King ;  and  that  British  children  are  taught  from 
infancy  to  name  Washington  amongst  the  patriots 
whom  they  are  to  imitate  and  revere.  When  Americans 
come  to  know  this  better,  they  will  hesitate  about 
devoting  a  day  every  year  to  the  rekindling  of  national 
animosities,  that  have  only  to  be  let  alone  to  die.  It 
is  just  the  mistake  of  which  we  ourselves  were  guilty 
on  the  anniversary  of  Waterloo,  till  we  learned  better 
things.  The  Americans  have  had  the  wisdom  and 
good  taste  to  indulge  in  no  annual  glorification  over 
the  collapse  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  same 
wisdom  will  by-and-by  remove  from  the  Fourth  of  July 
its  present  tendency  to  excite  anti-British  feeling,  and 
will  convert  it  into  a  day  on  which  the  Americans  and 
we  can  rejoice  together. 


I. 

CANADA. 

MY  first  experience  of  America  was  a  rather  odd  one. 
We  passed  through  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  between 
Labrador  and  Newfoundland,  in  the  night.  When  I 
awoke  in  the  morning,  and  my  cabin- companion  told 
me  that  we  were  now  in  America,  I  jumped  up,  dressed, 
and  hurried  on  deck  to  get  my  first  sight  of  the  New 
World.  I  looked  north,  south,  east,  west;  but  as  far 
as  the  eye  could  reach  not  a  speck  of  land  was  to  be 
seen.  And  yet  we  were  in  America,  steaming  up  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  All  day  we  held  our  course  up 
the  Gulf  without  sighting  land  on  either  side.  It  was 
not  till  next  forenoon  that  we  discerned  Anticosta  lying 
like  a  strip  of  cloud  on  the  far  horizon.  Somebody 
says  that  Columbus  is  not  entitled  to  much  credit  for 
discovering  America,  as  the  country  is  so  large  that  he 
could  not  well  have  missed  it.  My  own  impression 
was,  as  we  steamed  up  that  shoreless  Gulf  of  St.  Law^ 
rence,  that  Columbus  might  have  been  pardoned  had 
he  missed  America  even  after  getting  into  it.  Nature 
doeg  things  on  a  large  scale  in  America.  The  rivers 
are  lakes  drawn  out  unendingly.  The  lakes  look  like 
oceans.  Hence  the  American  thinks  nothing  of  long 
distances.  He  steams  up  one  of  his  rivers  for  as  many 
days  and  nights  as  it  took  me  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

A 


4  CANADA. 

getting  in  that  don't  belong  to  the  aborigines.  The 
Mohawk  language,  however,  is  spoken  throughout  the 
settlement. 

In  other  districts  of  Lower  Canada  there  is  nothing 
talked  but  French.  Even  in  Montreal  there  are  parts 
of  the  city  wrhere,  if  you  ask  a  question  in  English,  you 
will  find  nobody  able  to  understand  you.  I  visited  the 
Hotel  Dieu  one  day — the  institution  connected  with  the 
strange  stories  of  Maria  Monk — and  in  one  of  the  rooms 
found  a  friar  teaching  a  school  of  boys.  We  asked 
him  what  he  taught.  He  said  "  French  and  Latin." 

"English?"  we  asked. 

"  No,  Messieurs." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  the  boys  are  taught  to 
iinderstand  Latin,  but  not  English?" 

"  It  is  so." 

We  found,  indeed,  that  he  understood  no  English 
himself,  and  this  was  a  school  in  the  commercial  capital 
of  British  America  ! 

The  consequence  is  that  everything  meant  to  be 
public  has  to  be  printed  in  French  as  well  as  English. 
The  streets  and  public  places  are  marked  "  St.  Peter — 
St.  Pierre,"  "  Fish-market — Marche  des  Poissons,"  and 
so  on.  Every  "NOTICE"  has  its  "Avis"  alongside,  and 
the  announcement  printed  in  both  languages  in  parallel 
columns.  Worse  than  this,  in  the  Council,  and  even  in 
the  Parliament  at  Ottawa,  members  will  reply  in  French 
to  speeqh.es  made  in  English,  and  a  discussion  will  ensue 
in  both  languages.  If  they  carried  the  principle  out, 
and  permitted  Gaelic,  German,  and  Mohawk,  it  would 
be  interesting  to  hear  a  good  debate.  Babel  (as  the 
Yankee  says)  would  not  be  a  circumstance  to  it. 

In   Upper   Canada  again   (though  the   Scotch  and 


CANADA.  5 

Presbyterian  element  predominates,  just  as  the  French 
and  Catholic  does  in  the  Lower  Province)  there  are 
separate  communities  of  English,  Irish,  and  Germans. 
The  existence  of  so  many  heterogeneous  and  undigested 
masses  has  prevented  as  yet  any  real  unity,  or  the 
growth  of  that  feeling  that  converts  many  peoples  into 
one  nation. 

Still,  with  all  this,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  loyalty  in 
Canada,  and  amongst  the  Scotch  and  English  a  great 
love  of  home,  and  pride  in  the  "  old  country."  In  this 
the  Englishman  is  least  demonstrative.  Like  his 
brother  in  Piccadilly,  he  assumes,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  England  is  the  envy  of  the  world ;  that  this 
must  be  perfectly  manifest  to  every  rational  being; 
and,  therefore,  that  it  is  a  mere  waste  of  words  to  talk 
about  it.  It  is  the  calmness  and  absolute  immobility 
of  this  assumption  that  makes  the  Englishman  so  un 
popular  in  America.  The  Scotch  are  less  assuming, 
but  more  demonstrative.  'Every  St.  Andrew's  Day 
they  must  have  their  flags  and  processions,  they  must 
have  sermons  about  Scotland  from  the  pulpit,  and 
they  must  have  heather  brought  all  the  way  from  the 
Scottish  hills  to  wear  in  their  button-holes.  There  is 
an  old  Scotchman  at  Belleville,  who  has  an  odd  way  of 
exhibiting  his  patriotism.  Every  St.  Andrew's  Day  he 
spreads  a  Scotch  newspaper  upon  the  floor,  empties 
upon  it  a  box  of  Scotch  earth  brought  from  Bannock- 
burn,  plants  a  Scotch  chair  upon  it,  and,  seating  himself 
triumphantly  thereon,  proceeds  to  drink  whisky  and 
sing  Scotch  songs.  He  has  never  been  back  to  Scotland 
since  he  left  it  when  a  boy ;  but  he  boasts  that  once 
every  year  he  plants  his  feet  on  Scottish  soil  and  drinks 
Scotch  whisky.  I  found,  along  with  this  attachment  to 


C  CANADA. 

the  old  country,  a  great  deal  of  bitter  feeling  in  Canada 
against  the  States.  The  conduct  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  in  permitting  the  Fenians  to  drill  and  organize 
within  sight  even  of  the  Canadian  shore,  and  returning 
their  arms  to  them  after  the  affair  was  over,  had  a  good 
deal  to  do  with  it. 

Tliis  bitterness  of  feeling,  however,  seemed  to  me 
temporary  ;  and  the  more  decided  manner  in  which  the 
Washington  Government  has  since  dealt  with  the 
Fenians  will  go  far  to  remove  it.  Even  as  it  was,  it 
did  not  imply  any  of  that  antipathy  to  Republican,  in 
stitutions  which  some  people  would  fain  believe  it  did. 
Canada  is  already  more  a  Republic  than  a  Monarchy. 
She  enjoys  connection  with  the  British  Crown  because 
she  has  the  glory  of  monarchy  without  its  burdens. 
But  if  the  Home  Government  attempted  to  impose 
upon  her  any  of  our  monarchical  institutions,  such  as 
an  Established  Church,  or  a  hereditary  aristocracy,  I 
suspect  the  practical  republicanism  of  Canada  would 
assert  itself  with  sudden  and  startling  emphasis. 

I  have  very  little  doubt  in  my  owTn  mind,  from  what 
I  have  seen,  that,  sooner  or  later,  Canada  will  either 
become  an  independent  Republic,  or — what  is  more 
likely — link  her  fortunes  with  the  States.  General 
Wyndham,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  forces  in  Canada, 
with  whom  I  had  a  talk  on  the  subject,  gave  it  as  his 
opinion  that  the  North  and  South  would  one  day  be 
come  two  nations,  and  the  North  and  Canada  one.  His 
idea,  however,  was  that  Canada  would  not  be  the  con 
quered  but  the  conqueror,  overcoming  not  by  force  of 
arms  but  by  the  vital  force  of  race  acting  under  climatic 
conditions.  The  people  of  the  North  would  probably 
laugh  at  this  last  idea ;  but  they  have  no  doubt  whatever 


CANADA.  7 

about  the  ultimate  union  of  Canada  and  the  States,  and 
little  doubt  that  it  will  be  accomplished  without  any 
appeal  to  arms.  I  heard  Emerson — who  may  be  called 
one  of  the  recognised  prophets  of  the  Eepublic — say,  in 
a  lecture  he  delivered  at  Koxbury,  near  Boston — "  You 
shall  not  make  a  coup  d'etat  and  then  pay ;  but,  like 
Penn,  pay  first.  Let  us  wait  a  thousand  years  for 
Mexico  and  Canada  before  we  seize  them  by  force." 
Emerson  is  wise.  The  fact  is  that  any  attempt  to 
coerce  Canada  into  union  would  defeat  its  own  end. 
Canada  would  spring  to  arms  in  a  moment  to  resist  it ; 
and  French,  Germans,  English,  and  Scotch  would  sink 
their  differences  in  their  common  determination  to  re 
main  free.  The  Fenian  excitement  of  1866  is  proof. 
Instead  of  exciting  a  cry  for  annexation,  it  hurried  up 
a  crop  of  steel. 


'8  SISTER  GAUDRY. 


II- 

SISTER  GAUDRY. 

IN  the  Lower  Province,  Roman  Catholicism,  though 
controlled  and  modified  to  some  extent  by  the  presence 
of  an  active  Protestant  minority,  remains  the  dominant 
religion.  The  Protestants  number  scarcely  one  in  six 
over  the  province ;  even  in  the  city  of  Montreal,  which 
is  the  nucleus  of  the  Reformed  religion,  they  number 
but  one  in  three.  Education  is  therefore  in  the  hands 
of  the  priesthood ;  and  the  bulk  of  the  educational  tax 
goes  to  the  support  of  Catholic  schools.  The  intellec 
tual  training  in  these  schools,  as  far  as  I  had  the  oppor 
tunity  of  judging,  is  much  inferior  to  that  of  Upper 
Canada,  to  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  in 
speaking  of  the  Free  School  system  in  the  States. 
There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule,  especially  in  Mon 
treal,  where  the  Convent  schools  are  so  superior  to  most 
of  the  young  ladies'  seminaries  that  they  attract  a  large 
number  of  scholars  even  from  Protestant  families. 

I  was  much  interested,  when  in  Montreal,  to  hear  of 
a  school  in  town  where  a  number  of  orphans  were 
taught  by  the  nuns,  and  where  the  poor  could  leave 
their  children  as  they  went  to  work  in  the  morning, 
and  call  for  them  again  in  the  afternoon.  Through  the 
kindness  of  an  eminent  surgeon  in  Montreal,  himself  a 
Catholic,  I  got  a  note  to  the  preceptress — the  "Bev. 


SISTER  GAUDRY.  9 

Sceur  Gaudry" — to  whose  devotion,  he  said,  the  success 
of  the  institution  was  due. 

On  ascertaining  the  time  when  visitors  were  received, 
I  made  my  way  to  the  place.  I  had  not  been  many 
minutes  in  the  waiting-room,  when  the  nun  of  whom  I 
had  heard  so  much  made  her  appearance.  Sister  Gaudry 
is  a  little  spare  woman,  quiet  and  yet  earnest  in  her 
manner,  and  with  a  face  so  full  of  gentleness  and  love 
that  her  influence  over  the  children  became  intelligible 
in  a  moment.  She  received  me  very  cordially,  said 
the  children  were  just  going  to  begin  their  afternoon 
exercises,  and  led  me  into  a  large  hall,  which  she  called 
the  Eecreation  Eoom,  where  about  a  hundred  little  boys 
(all  French)  were  ranged  on  one  side,  and  about  the 
same  number  of  little  girls  on  the  other.  At  the  tinkle 
of  a  signal  bell  they  all  rose  together  and  saluted  us 
very  prettily.  At  another  signal  they  faced  round,  and 
began  marching  with  military  precision  across  the  hall, 
and  into  the  school-room  opposite,  where  they  arranged 
themselves  on  the  seats  that  rose  like  long  steps  to  the 
wall  behind.  A  low  rail  running  up  the  middle  sepa 
rated  the  girls  from  .the  boys. 

Two  little  beds  stood  side  by  side  upon  the  floor  in 
front. 

I  asked  Sister  Gaudry  what  these  were  for. 

"  These,"  she  said,  "  are  for  any  of  the  children  that 
may  fall  asleep  during  the  exercises." 

Happy  children !  their  lines  had  fallen  in  pleasant 
places. 

At  a  signal  from  Sister  Gaudry,  made  with  a  little 
pair  of  wooden  clappers,  the  children  knelt  down,  and 
folding  their  little  hands  reverently,  repeated  a  prayer 
in  French.  The  lessons  now  began. 


10  SISTER  GAUD11Y. 

Sister  Gaudry  took  a  pointer,  and  turned  to  the  wall 
behind,  on  which  hung  a  large  illustrated  chart  of  the 
alphabet.  Beside  the  letter  "A,"  for  example,  there 
was  the  picture  of  a  cat ;  and  when  this  letter  was 
pointed  to,  the  whole  two  hundred  voices  sang  together 
a  couplet  in  French,  to  this  effect — 

"  This  is  the  vowel  '  a,' 
Which  we  sound  in  chat.'  " 

The  whole  alphabet  was  sung  through  in  this  way- 
singing  being  found  very  useful  in  sustaining  the 
attention  and  helping  the  memory.  After  a  lesson  in 
arithmetic,  Sister  Gaudry  took  her  place  behind  a  stand 
with  its  face  sloping  towards  the  children,  and  crossed 
with  bars  to  keep  anything  placed  on  it  from  slipping 
off.  On  this  she  began  to  arrange  letters  printed  on 
cards — the  children,  in  concert,  naming  the  letters  as 
they  were  exhibited,  and  the  words  into  which  they 
were  arranged.  One  of  the  little  girls  was  then  called 
by  name.  The  child,  came  down  the  steps  like  a  little 
lady,  bowed  first  to  one  side  then  to  the  other  with 
exquisite  politeness,  and  looked  up  at  Sister  Gaudry. 
The  nun  laid  a  card  upon  the  desk. 

"What  is  that?" 

"  V,"  said  the  child. 

"And  that?" 

"I." 

So  she  went  on  till  the  word  "  Yivent "  was  formed, 
and  finally  a  sentence  referring  to  some  ladies  who 
were  present,  and  to  myself. 

"  Eead  that  now,"  said  the  nun. 

The  child  read  in  a  clear  voice,  "  Vivent  ce  monsieur 
et  ces  dames." 

A  still  more  interesting  exercise  followed.     Sister 


SISTER  GAUDRY.  1 1 

Gaudry  exhibited  a  picture  on  the  stand,  and  said, — 
"What  is  this?" 

The  two  hundred  little  voices  answered,  "That  is 
David  killing  Goliath." 

"  Tell  the  story,"  said  the  nun. 

Thereupon  the  whole  school,  with  faces  becoming 
more  and  more  excited  as  they  went  on,  rehearsed  the 
story  in  concert,  with  appropriate  gesticulation.  When 
they  came  to  describe  how  David,  having  put  a  pebble 
in  his  sling  swung  it  round,  the  two  hundred  little 
arms  gave  a  whirl  in  the  air.  When  they  told  how  the 
stone  smote  the  giant,  the  two  hundred  hands  slapped 
the  two  hundred  little  foreheads  ;  and  when  finally  they 
described  how  David,  running  up  to  the  prostrate  giant, 
cut  off  his  head,  the  forest  of  little  arms  that  were 
waving  in  the  air  came  down  all  together  with  a  cut. 

The  eagerness  and  excitement  with  which  this  per 
formance  was  gone  through  it  would  be  difficult  to 
describe. 

Next  came  lessons  in  grammar  and  geometry.  There 
was  one  exceedingly  small  boy,  looking  all  the  smaller 
from  being  dressed  in  knickerbockers,  who  came  hop 
ping  down  from  a  back  bench  on  being  called,  made  his 
little  bow  with  French  politeness,  folded  his  arms  like 
a  minute  Napoleon,  and  looked  up  at  Sister  Gaudry  as 
if  ready  for  anything  that  might  be  asked  of  him,  from 
the  letter  A  to  the  differential  calculus.  He  was  asked 
to  point  out  the  pyramid,  the  cone,  and  the  square,  and 
to  name  the  parallelogram  and  the  equilateral  triangle, 
which  he  did  promptly,  his  little  French  tongue  getting 
round  the  "  lang-nebbit"  words  with  wonderful  glibness. 
He  then  made  his  little  bow  to  the  company,  and 
clambered  back  to  his  seat. 


12  SISTER  GAUDRY. 

Gymnastic  exercises  followed,  one  of  these  (familiar 
to  those  who  have  used  Miss  Carpenter's  book)  consist 
ing  in  amusing  imitations  of  various  trades.  First,  the 
boys  sang  a  verse  about  carpenter  work,  sawing  ima 
ginary  pieces  of  wood  as  they  sang.  Then  the  girls 
took  up  the  song  and  sang  about  dressmaking,  all  of 
them  sewing  nimbly  with  imaginary  needles  and  thread, 
keeping  time  to  the  music. 

The  exercises  over,  the  children,  at  a  given  signal, 
rose,  formed  promptly  in  column,  and  filed  out  as  they 
had  entered.  After  a  few  words  of  conversation  with 
the  nun,  we  followed  the  children  to  the  Recreation 
Room,  where  long  low  tables  about  the  height  of  ordi 
nary  school  forms  had  been  spread  for  dinner,  and  the 
children  were  buzzing  and  swarming  about  finding  their 
places. 

"  They  bring  their  own  food  in  little  baskets  every 
day,"  said  Sister  Gaudry,  "  for  we  are  too  poor  to  feed 
any  but  the  most  destitute.  You  see  the  bustle.  Shall 
I  tell  you  the  reason  ?  We  arrange  their  things  differ 
ently  every  day  to  teach  them  to  look  about  for  them 
selves.  We  try  to  make  every  little  thing  a  part  of 
education." 

"  Some  of  them,"  she  said,  "  are  very  poor,  and  bring 
no  food  with  them,  or  not  enough.  But  there  are 
others  whose  parents  are  not  so  poor.  These  are  often 
sent  with  more  in  their  baskets  than  they  need,  to 
teach  them  charity." 

By  this  time  the  children  were  all  seated,  but  sat  with 
their  little  hands  in  their  laps,  waiting  till  the  signal 
should  be  given. 

"  In  this  way,"  said  Sister  Gaudry,  "  we  teach  them 
not  to  act  like  wolves,  but  to  control  themselves." 


DINNER.  1 3 

She  made  a  sign,  at  which  the  children  all  rose  and 
sang  a  little  French  prayer,  beginning,  "  0  Father,  bless 
the  bread  of  Thy  children!"  Then  they  sat  down  and 
began  to  eat  with  French  relish. 

I  asked  what  the  children  paid  for  their  education. 
"  We  charge  twenty-five  cents  a  month ;  but  few  pay 
it.  In  winter,  we  have  five  hundred  on  our  roll,  with 
less  than  one  hundred  paying  anything." 

"  How,  then,  is  the  institution  supported  ? " 

"  By  charity,"  she  said.  "  We  could  not  get  on  with 
out  that.  We  have  not  only  the  expense  of  the  house, 
but  we  give  the  children  a  little  warm  soup  at  the  first 
meal.  That  is  at  eleven  o'clock.  Some  bring  a  copper 
to  pay  for  this,  but  not  many.  But  the  Lord  provides," 
she  added  meekly. 

She  then  introduced  me  to  the  Lady  Superior,  and 
we  went  together  to  another  part  of  the  building,  which 
is  reserved  for  the  blind.  Here  one  poor  child — an 
orphan  she  turned  out  to  be — whose  sightless  eyeballs 
rolled  wearily  as  if  in  hopeless  quest  of  light,  sat  reading 
to  herself,  her  long  light  fingers  travelling  nimbly  over 
the  raised  letters  of  the  book  before  her.  Another  girl, 
with  a  rich  head  of  curly  hair,  sat  opposite.  Hearing 
from  the  Lady  Superior  that  this  second  girl's  father 
was  Scotch  and  her  mother  Irish,  I  asked  her  whether 
she  would  rather  be  called  Scotch  or  Irish  ? 

She  said  at  once  "  Irish." 

"  This  gentleman  is  from  Scotland,"  said  the  Lady 
Superior  with  a  smile,  "  and  would  like  you  to  say 
Scotch." 

The  girl  laughed  and  shook  her  head. 

The  Superior  gave  her  a  slip  of  paper  and  told  her 
to  write  my  name,  which  she  did  with  the  aid  of  a 


14  SISTER  GAUDRY. 

writing  instrument  prepared  for  the  blind.  This  was 
passed  across  to  the  blind  girl  on  the  other  side,  whom 
I  had  first  noticed,  and  who  was  asked  to  read  it.  She 
took  the  paper,  passed  her  nimble  fingers  over  it— her 
sightless  eyeballs  rolling  up  the  while — and  read  the 
name  slowly  with  a  strange  foreign  accent,  for  she 
knew  no  English.  There  was  a  piteousness  in  the  poor 
orphan's  look  that  touched  my  heart.  Sister  Gaudry 
stood  with  her  arm  passed  tenderly  round  her  neck  as 
though  she  loved  her  ;  and  I  seemed  to  hear  the  voice 
that  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  one  of  the  least  of 
these,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 


FiEST  IMPRESSIONS.  15 


III. 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

THE  moment  I  set  foot  in  the  United  States  I  felt 
that  I  had  got  amongst  a  new  people.  It  is  very  re 
markable  that  a  country  still  in  its  infancy  should 
have  already  produced  so  distinct  a  type  of  man. 
There  are  great  differences  between  the  people  of  the- 
North  and  the  people  of  the  South,  between  the  people 
down  East  and  the  people  out  West ;  and  yet  a  common 
nationality  has  its  mark  upon  them  all.  An  American 
is  everywhere  recognised.  You  know  him  by  his 
speech ;  you  know  him  by  a  certain  ease  and  grandeur 
of  manner,  which  is  inspired  by  the  greatness  of  his 
country,  and  his  personal  share  in  its  government ; 
you  even  know  him  by  his  features — the  long  sharp 
face,  the  eagle  eye,  and  the  pointed  chin.  "  Losh  me  !" 
said  the  Paisley  woman  when  she  saw  the  Americans 
begin  to  board  the  ship  at  New  York,  "what  lang 
chafts  they  folks  hae  ! " 

The  same  influences  are  at  work  upon  the  foreign 
element  continually  pouring  into  the  States.  The 
rapidity  with  which  Irish,  Scotch,  and  German  faces 
become  assimilated  to  the  American  type  is  astounding. 
Even  in  New  York,  with  its  immense  foreign  popula 
tions,  "you  would  imagine,"  as  a  friend  said,  "that 
every  face  had  been  at  the  grindstone  before  coming  out." 

One  is  also  impressed  everywhere  with  the  rush  and 


16  FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

feverish  haste  of  life.  Entering  the  States  even  from 
Canada,  is  like  pushing  out  from  a  sheltered  creek  into 
the  current.  Almost  instantly  you  feel  the  catch  of  a 
swifter  life.  In  some  of  the  great  cities,  and  especially 
in  New  York,  the  rush  and  shock  of  life  is  terrific. 
But  the  same,  in  a  less  degree,  is  found  everywhere, 
even  in  the  country.  People  are  earlier  astir;  stores 
are  open,  and  business  is  going  on  briskly  before  our 
shopkeepers  are  out  of  bed.  The  streets  are  busier; 
the  shops  are  driving  a  more  vigorous  trade ;  the  trains 
and  steamers  and  ferry-boats  and  horse-cars  are  more 
crowded.  The  population  seems  astir,  and  everybody 
working  at  high-pressure.  Even  in  the  schools,  it 
would  seem,  from  the  feverish  activity,  to  be  always 
examination-day.  Business  is  carried  on  more  swiftly 
and  more  recklessly.  In  the  Corn  Exchange  at  Buffalo 
and  Chicago,  huge  transactions  that  would  be  gone  into 
here  very  warily,  are  "  fixed  "  in  a  few  minutes.  I  saw 
one  dealer  in  the  crowd  passing  from  stand  to  stand 
pricing  Indian  corn.  "  Is  that  the  lowest  ? "  he  said  to 
one  broker,  tossing  a  little  in  his  hand.  "  Yes."  "  Well, 
I  guess  I  '11  take  (so  many  boat-loads)  of  that,"  and 
turned  away.  I  ascertained  that  it  was  an  order  for 
200,000  bushels  of  grain.  Capital  is  desirable,  but  not 
essential.  A  Scotch  merchant  in  Chicago  declared  to 
me  that  if  a  man  were  attempting  to  do  business  in 
Liverpool  or  Glasgow  as  it  is  done  every  day  in  America, 
he  would  not  be  trusted  with  goods  to  the  door.  But 
the  great  game  goes  on.  Men  arg  up  to-day,  down  to 
morrow,  and  up  again  the  day  after — up  like  Antseus, 
stronger  and  more  active  than  ever.  No  man  loses 
caste  because  he  has  failed,  unless  he  has  allowed  him 
self  to  fail  for  a  trifle 


CLIMATE.  1 7 

The  rule  of  doing  smartly  what  you  have  to  do  is 
applied  even  to  eating.  Meals  are  treated  as  necessities 
of  life,  not  luxuries.  People  sit  down  at  the  dinner- 
table  not  to  talk  but  eat ;  and  I  have  seen  business 
men  in  America  shoot  a  dinner  down  and  be  off  to 
work  again  in  the  time  it  would  take  an  Englishman 
to  sharpen  the  carving-knife  and  decide  where  he  had 
better  begin  to  cut.  In  the  Opera  Restaurant  at 
Chicago — a  place  much  frequented  by  merchants — I 
had  the  curiosity  to  time  five  or  six  gentlemen  at  their 
dinners,  and  found  the  average  number  of  minutes 
taken  by  each  to  be  three  and  three-quarters.  All  of 
them  had  two  courses — one  of  them  had  three.  There 
were  no  seats ;  the  customers  swarmed  in  front  of  a 
long  metal  counter  like  a  public-house  bar.  A  man 
would  come  in,  walk  briskly  to  the  counter,  order 
brown  soup,  shoot  it  down,  order  chicken  and  ham, 
give  it  the  run  of  his  teeth  as  it  flew  in  bits  into  his 
mouth,  would  snap  up  a  blackberry  tart,  pay  his  money, 
and  be  off.  This  was  dinner ;  most  of  these  gentlemen 
only  go  home  for  supper,  which  is  the  last  meal  of 
the  day.  I  never  saw  anything  in  America  in  the 
way  of  quick  eating  to  outstrip  those  standing  dinners 
in  the  Opera  Eestaurant  at  Chicago ;  but  all  over 
America  the  habit  is  more  or  less  prevalent. 

The  climate  has  something  to  do  with  all  this.  Even 
the  passing  traveller  soon  becomes  conscious  of  the  in 
fluence  of  that  intensely  clear  vivifying  atmosphere. 
You  have  not  been  many  days  or  weeks  in  the  country 
before  you  begin  to  feel  a  quickening  of  all  the  pulses 
of  life.  You  not  only  find  yourself  able  to  work  more, 
and  work  faster  than  you  can  in  this  county ;  you  find 
yourself  impelled  to  do  it.  Sensation  is  keener  and 


1 8  FIEST  IMPRESSIONS. 

more  rapid.  You  live  faster — live  more  within  a  given 
time.  You  feel  that  a  boy  in  that  country  must  sooner 
be  a  man ;  you  have  glimmerings  of  what  the  prophet 
meant  when  he  spoke  of  a  time  when  a  child  (American 
no  doubt)  should  be  a  hundred  years  old. 

But  the  climate  is  not  everything.  The  vastness  of 
the  country  that  waits  for  occupation,  and  is  ready  to 
reward  activity  and  enterprise  with  untold  wealth,  is  a 
mighty  stimulus.  One  year  it  is  Illinois,  with  her 
boundless  alluvial  plains,  offering  a  home  and  compe 
tence  to  all  comers.  Another  year  it  is  California, 
with  her  mines  of  gold  and  her  even  richer  soil,  yield 
ing  from  twenty  to  forty  bushels  of  wheat  or  barley 
to  the  acre,  and  three  or  four  crops  from  one  sowing. 
Another  year  it  is  Kansas  or  Iowa  or  Minnesota — every 
call  not  only  bringing  floods  of  emigrants  from  the  old 
world,  but  drawing  tens  of  thousands  from  the  older 
States,  leaving  all  the  higher  wages  and  bigger  profits 
for  those  that  remain  at  home. 

This  enterprise  and  activity  is  stimulated  further  by 
republican  institutions.  Not  only  the  boundless  re 
sources,  but  the  most  exalted  positions  in  the  country 
are  as  open  to  the  son  of  the  boot- black  as  to  the  son 
of  the  bishop,  the  senator,  or  the  millionaire.  The  boy 
who  is  learning  to  cobble  shoes  to-day  may  by-and-bye 
be  Governor  of  the  State.  The  lad  who  runs  messages 
in  1870  may  in  1890  be  the  President,  standing  at  the 
head  of  the  Great  Eepublic,  waited  on  by  titled  repre 
sentatives  of  foreign  powers,  and  in  correspondence 
with  all  the  crowned  heads  in  Europe.  Grant  was  a 
furrier ;  Johnson  was  a  tailor ;  Lincoln  was  a  splitter 
of  fence  rails. 

Every  boy  is  spurring  himself  on  with  the  hope  of 


MONEY-MAKING.  1 9 

being  one  day  President.  The  impetus  these  cases  give 
to  individual  energy  lies  in  the  proof  they  furnish  that 
all  the  avenues  to  eminence  and  power  are  open  to  the 
humblest.  The  children  know  it,  and  they  push  on. 
The  parents  know  it,  and  the  poor  are  more  anxious 
to  provide  their  children  with  a  good  education.. 

The  extraordinary  facilities  for  making  money,  which 
America  has  hitherto  been  able  to  offer,  are  probably 
greater  incentives  still  to  individual  ambition. 

Whatever  be  the  cause,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
people  of  the  United  States  are  the  most  active,  push 
ing,  and  ambitious  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  money-making  instinct  is  next  to  universal. 
Young  ladies  speculate  in  stocks ;  children  are  commer 
cial  before  they  get  out  of  their  petticoats.  "  1 11  trade 
with  you  for  that,"  is  an  expression  I  often  heard 
amongst  the  school-boys ;  amongst  the  girls  too  some 
times.  I  remember  in  Canada  seeing  a  little  girl  show 
a  toy  to  her  companion,  and  say,  "  Will  you  trade  ? " 
Innumerable  chances  of  making  money  are  taken  ad 
vantage  of  in  America  that  are  lost  here.  Even  in 
the  steam  ferry-boats  that  are  continually  plying  be 
tween  Brooklyn  and  New  York,  little  boys  run  round 
with  armfuls  of  illustrated  papers,  dropping  one  on 
every  second  or  third  person's  knee,  and  though  the 
passage  only  occupies  four  minutes,  and  there  are 
hundreds  of  passengers  in  every  boat,  the  boy  is  round 
like  lightning  a  second  time,  and  has  the  payments  or 
the  papers  gathered  up  before  the  boat  touches  the 
opposite  landing-stage. 

The  Southern  people  twit  the  Yankees  with  this 
keenness  for  money-making.  They  declare  that  if  the 
spirit  of  a  Yankee  were  being  ferried  across  the  Styx, 


20  FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

lie  would  have  Charon's  odd  tholepins  whittled  into 
toothpicks  and  wooden  nutmegs,  ready  to  sell  as  soon 
as  he  got  over.  An  American,  if  he  sets  himself  to  it, 
can  make  profit  out  of  the  most  unpromising  materials. 
It  is  said  the  Shakers,  who  have  no  sentiment  on  the 
subject,  make  excellent  manure  of  their  dead. 

This  also  strikes  a  traveller  in  the  States,  that  if  one 
business  does  not  consume  a  man's  energies,  he  will 
engage  in  two  or  three  or  four,  no  matter  how  incon 
gruous,  if  they  fetch  more  greenbacks.  I  found  mini 
sters  and  professors  speculating  in  mines ;  lawyers 
keeping  shop ;  and  newspaper  editors  selling  toys. 
In  Tennessee  I  found  one  man  of  prodigious  activity 
acting  as  cutler,  insurance  agent,  medical  practitioner, 
grain  merchant,  and  postmaster  all  at  once. 

In  like  manner,  whatever  business  a  man  is  in,  he 
seems  ready  to  change  it  in  a  day  should  anything 
more  lucrative  offer.  I  remember  in  New  York,  after 
a  public  meeting  one  night,  driving  home  with  a  friend 
and  his  family.  The  hack  was  not  large  enough  for  us 
all,  and  the  son  (a  young  merchant)  went  up  on  the 
"dicky."  He  got  into  conversation  with  the  driver, 
found  him  a  sharp  fellow,  just  of  the  sort  he  happened 
to  want  at  the  time ;  and  before  we  reached  the  house 
he  had  arranged  with  the  hackman  to  dispose  of  his 
hack  next  day,  and  take  a  situation  in  the  store. 

At  Des  Moines  (Iowa),  the  superintendent  of  one  of 
the  schools  showed  us  through  the  classes,  and  seemed  to 
have  his  whole  soul  and  all  his  aims  in  life  centred  in 
the  work.  But,  just  before  we  left,  he  told  us  that  he 
had  contrived  a  new  kind  of  school-desk,  had  taken 
out  a  patent  for  it,  had  been  offered  I  forget  how  many 
thousand  dollars  to  part  with  it,  but  had  refused ;  and 


BUSINESS  PLUCK.  2 1 

was  on  the  eve  of  giving  up  schoolwork,  and  commenc 
ing  on  a  large  scale  the  manufacture  of  the  new  patent 
desk. 

Even  the  clergy  are  not  always  so  wedded  to  their 
sacred  calling  as  to  resist  the  allurements  of  the  al 
mighty  dollar.  I  met  a  minister  in  Missouri  who  had 
discovered  some  way  of  manufacturing  gas  out  of  manure. 
He  was  taking  out  a  patent  for  it,  and  had  resigned  his 
charge  to  enter  at  once  upon  this  new  field  of  activity. 

It  used  to  be  said  that  Lord  John  Eussell  had  the  pluck 
to  do  or  dare  anything :  that  he  would  not  hesitate,  if 
called  upon,  to  take  command  of  the  Channel  Fleet. 
There  is  no  end  of  this  kind  of  pluck  in  America.  Sit 
ting  in  a  friend's  office  in  Chicago,  a  young  man  called 
in  quest  of  a  situation.  My  friend  had  no  place  to  give 
him,  but  he  said,  after  a  moment's  reflection,  "  I  don't 
think  there  is  any  one  in  the  field  yet  who  sells  boots 
and  shoes  for  a  commission.  You  might  try  that." 
"  But  I  don't  know  anything  about  that  business." 
"  Well,  learn.  You  know  the  difference  between  shoes 
and  boots.  Start  with  that.  If  you  are  worth  any 
thing  you  will  soon  pick  up  the  rest."  The  youth  went 
off  at  once  to  see  about  it :  and  is  probably  by  this 
time  a  newspaper  editor  or  a  captain  of  one  of  the  lake 
steamers. 


22  AMERICAN  WOMEN, 


IV. 

AMERICAN  WOMEN': 

I  MUST  confess  to  my  shame,  that  I  went  to  America 
not  altogether  free  from  the  idea  that  the  representative 
American  lady  was  a  dry,  hard,  angular,  disagreeably 
independent  strong-minded  female.  I  was  very  soon 
and  very  delightfully  disappointed. 

No  doubt  I  did  find  here  and  there  a  few  of  the 
stamp  described.  I  also  found  more  women  taking 
prominent  and  public  positions.  I  do  not  refer  to  teach 
ing  in  public  schools  :  for  nature  has  given  woman 
special  fitness  for  this  work.  But  I  found  many  of 
them  discharging  public  functions  which  have  in  this 
country  been  monopolized  (not  always  to  the  public 
advantage)  by  the  other  sex.  In  New  Jersey,  I  found 
a  lady,  "  Doctoress  "  Fowler,  acting  as  a  public  physi 
cian,  and  having  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  skil 
ful,  and  having  the  largest  and  most  lucrative  practice 
in  the  district.  I  had  a  thought  of  taking  tic  or  tooth 
ache,  or  something,  and  sending  for  her  to  see  what  she 
did  if  she  came  ;  but  I  thought  again  and  didn't. 

In  different  parts  of  the  country  I  heard  ladies  de 
livering  public  lectures — one  of  them,  Miss  Anna  Dick 
inson,  amongst  the  most  popular  in  the  States.  In 
Massachusetts,  I  saw  a  female  clergyman  (clergyivoman 
I  should  perhaps  say),  the  Eev.  Olympia  Brown,  who 


AMERICAN  WOMEN.  23 

lias  a  good  congregation — preaches,  attends  funerals, 
baptizes,  and  discharges  all  the  duties  of  the  pastorate. 
In  the  north-west,  I  saw  "another  of  the  same,"  the 
Eev.  Miss  Chapin,  pastor  of  the  Milwaukee  Society,  with 
a  stipend  of  $2000. 

At  Albany,  in  the  State  Normal  School,  I  found  a 
dark-eyed  young  lady,  not  long  out  of  her  teens,  offici 
ating  as  a  professor  of  mathematics — sitting  in  her  pro 
fessorial  chair  when  I  first  entered,  and  watching  a 
whiskered  student  considerably  older  than  herself  de 
monstrate  a  proposition  on  the  black-board,  correcting 
him  whenever  he  went  wrong.  In  Chicago,  I  found  that 
the  Legal  Neivs  was  edited  by  a  lady  ;  and  that  another 
lady  was  acting  on  the  Board  of  Examiners  for  the  Chi 
cago  High  School. 

But  these  cases,  though  more  common  than  here,  are 
still  few  and  far  between — rari  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto. 
American  women,  as  a  rule,  are  just  as  gentle,  as  kind, 
as  agreeable,  as  affectionate,  and  as  lovely  as  our  own. 

Their  loveliness  is  of  a  different  type — paler  and 
more  ethereal.  A  beautiful  Canadian  or  American  girl 
comes  nearer  the  popular  idea  of  an  angel  than  any 
being  I  ever  beheld  out  of  dream-land.  Pale  features 
of  exquisite  symmetry,  a  delicately  pure  complexion, 
eyes  radiant  with  intelligence,  a  light,  graceful,  often 
fragile  form — this  is  the  vision  of  loveliness  that  meets 
the  eye  in  almost  every  American  drawing-room.  I 
never  saw  during  all  my  life  before  so  many  fairy  forms, 
which  it  would  have  surprised  me  less  to  see  shooting 
out  wings  and  floating  up  into  the  empyrean. 

American  girls,  however,  are  too  generally  pale  and 
thin,  and,  what  is  worse,  are  generally  too  pale  and  thin. 
Every  second  or  third  face  suggests  delicacy  and 


24  AMERICAN  WOMEN. 

dyspepsia  ;  and  one  does  not  like  to  think  of  angels  as 
dyspeptic.  The  American  girls  themselves,  I  think, 
are  nervous  about  their  thinness,  for  they  are  constantly 
having  themselves  weighed,  and  every  ounce  of  increase 
is  hailed  with  delight,  and  talked  about  with  the  most 
dreadful  plainness  of  speech.  When  I  asked  one  beauti 
ful  Connecticut  girl  whom  I  met  in  Pennsylvania  how 
she  liked  the  change.  "  Oh,  immensely  !"  she  said,  "  I 
have  gained  eighteen  pounds  in  flesh  since  last  April." 

It  sounds  very  odd  to  a  stranger.  Every  girl  knows 
her  own  weight  to  within  an  ounce  or  two,  and  is  ready 
to  mention  it  at  a  moment's  notice.  It  seems  to  be  a 
subject  of  universal  interest.  One  of  the  first  things 
done  with  a  baby  when  it  is  born  seems  to  be  to  hurry 
it  into  a  pair  of  scales  and  have  its  weight  duly  regis 
tered.  It  continues  to  be  weighed  at  short  intervals 
all  through  its  childhood,  and  on  to  the  time  when  the 
question  becomes  one  of  personal  interest,  and  it  is  old 
enough  to  weigh  itself. 

But  to  return  to  the  complexion.  This  paleness  in 
the  American  girls,  though  often  beautiful,  is  too  uni 
versal  ;  an  eye  from  the  old  country  begins  to  long  for 
a  rosy  cheek.  Lowell  said,  when  I  mentioned  the  matter 
to  him,  that  colour  was  a  thing  of  climate,  and  that  I 
should  find  plenty  of  rosy  cheeks  among  the  'moun 
tains  of  Maine,  where  there  is  more  moisture  in  the 
air.  It  may  be  so.  But  as  far  as  my  information 
actually  went,  I  never  saw  any,  either  on  mountain 
or  valley  in  any  part  of  New  England. 

My  private  impression  is,  making  all  allowance  for 
the  influence  of  dry  air,  that  the  peculiar  paleness  of 
the  New  England  girls  connects  itself  with  too  much 
metaphysics,  hot  bread,  and  pie.  I  have  strong  con- 


AMERICAN  WOMEN.  25 

victions  on  this  subject  of  pie.  Not  to  speak  of  mere 
paleness,  I  don't  see  how  the  Americans  can  reconcile 
it  with  their  notions  of  what  is  due  to  the  laws  of 
nature,  to  live  to  the  age  they  do,  considering  the  amount 
of  pie  they  eat,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  they 
generally  eat  it.  I  rarely  sat  down  to  dinner  in  America, 
even  in  a  poor  man's  house,  without  finding  pie  of  some 
kind — often  of  several  kinds — on  the  table  ;  and  with 
out  finding  that  everybody  partook  of  it  down  to  the 
microscopic  lady  or  gentleman  whom  we  should  call 
the  baby.  Pie  seems  indispensable.  Take  anything 
away,  but  leave  pie.  Americans  can  stand  the  prohi 
bition  of  intoxicating  drinks ;  but  I  believe  the  pro 
hibition  of  pie  would  precipitate  a  revolution. 

Then  metaphysics  !  In  one  family  which  I  visited. in 
the  Connecticut  valley,  two  of  the  girls  were  deep  in 
the  study  of  algebra  and  metaphysics,  as  a  voluntary 
exercise,  and  shut  themselves  up  for  three  hours  a  day 
with  Colenso  and  Sir  William  Hamilton  and  Kant. 
This  was  perhaps  exceptional,  but  the  New  England 
brain  is  very  busy.  It  develops  very  soon  and  very 
fast,  and  begins  at  an  exceedingly  early  age  to  exercise 
itself  with  the  abstruser  studies. 

Parents  and  teachers  often  told  me  that  their  difficulty, 
with  the  girls  especially,  was  not  to  get  them  urged 
on  but  to  get  them  held  back.  In  one  young  ladies' 
seminary  which  I  visited,  they  held  them  back  with 
the  following  light  studies,  in  addition  to  all  the  ordinary 
branches  : — Virgil  and  Horace ;  Latin  prose  composi 
tion  ;  anatomy  and  hygiene  ;  moral  philosophy ;  mental 
philosophy  ;  quadratic  equations.  To  this  add  pie  and 
hot  bread,  and  what  could  you  expect  but  paleness, 
even  amongst  the  mountains  of  Maine  ? 


26  AMERICAN  WOMEN. 

Paleness  and  pie  notwithstanding,  the  American  girls 
are  very  delightful.  And  in  one  point  they  fairly  sur 
pass  the  majority  of  English  girls — they  are  all  educated 
and  well  informed.  It  is  a  painful,  but  I  fear  a  too 
incontrovertible  fact,  that  a  large  number  of  our  girls 
are  very  ignorant  on  general  subjects ;  and  to  be  left 
alone  with  a  girl  who  knows  nothing,  in  a  room  with 
no  piano,  is  apt  to  become  embarrassing. 

There  is  never  the  same  difficulty  with  American 
girls.  The  admirable  educational  system  of  New 
England,  covering  the  whole  area  of  society,  has  given 
them  education  whether  they  are  rich  or  poor,  has 
furnished  them  with  a  great  deal  of  general  informa 
tion,  and  has  quickened  their  desire  for  more.  An 
American  girl  will  talk  with  you  about  anything,  and 
feel  (or  what  has  the  same  effect,  seem  to  feel)  interest 
in  it.  Their  tendency  is  perhaps  to  talk  too  much, 
and  to  talk  beyond  their  knowledge.  With  the  cleverer 
(or,  as  they  would  say  themselves,  the  "  smarter")  of 
them,  it  seemed  to  me  sometimes  to  make  no  percep 
tible  difference  whether  they  knew  anything  of  the 
subject  they  talked  about  or  not.1  But  they  generally 
know  a  little  of  everything ;  and  their  general  intelli 
gence  and  vivacity  make  them  very  delightful  com 
panions. 

A  little  experience  dissipated  another  prejudice. 
There  was  an  impression  on  my  mind  before  going  out, 

1  Mentioning  this  feature  of  Ame-  asked  him  his  opinion  of  the  bal- 
rican  character  to  a  Boston  gentle-  lot.  He  replied,  '  I  have  not  con- 
man,  he  said,— "  It  is  true.  I  was  sidered  that  subject  yet.'  You 
struck  in  England  with  the  silence  might  travel  all  over  America," 
of  the  people  when  they  had  nothing  said  my  friend,  "  and  never  hear  a 
to  say.  One  time,  travelling  in  the  man  confess  that." 
same  carriage  with  a  nobleman,  I 


AMERICAN  WOMEN.  27 

that  the  New  England  ladies  spent  time  over  intellec 
tual  pursuits  to  the  neglect  of  household  duties.  I  did 
not  find  it  so.  Comparing  class  with  class  they  are 
quite  as  good  housekeepers  as  I  have  seen  anywhere. 
They  had  need  be,  for  service  at  present  is  in  a  very 
wretched  condition  in  America ;  so  much  so  that 
middle-class  families  in  the  country  often  dispense  with 
servants  altogether.  The  young  ladies  are  taught  to 
make  beds  as  well  as  demonstrate  propositions,  and 
their  mental  philosophy,  whatever  it  amounts  to,  never 
interferes  with  the  perfection  of  the  pies.  Samuel 
Johnson  used  to  say  that  a  man  would  rather  that  his 
wife  should  be  able  to  cook  a  good  dinner  than  read 
Greek.  But  he  does  not  seem  to  have  anticipated  a 
time  when  a  woman  could  learn  to  do  both. 


28  YOUNG  AMERICA. 


V. 

YOUNG  AMERICA. 

Now  for  a  word  about  the  children.  The  children  ! 
— as  I  write  the  word  how  the  sunlight  seems  to  burst 
around  me  ! — how  many  sweet  voices  start  from  the 
silence  of  memory  and  fill  the  air  with  melody  and 
laughter  ! — how  many  bright  and  beautiful  faces,  far, 
far  away  gather  round  me  once  again !  If  I  could  pic 
ture  forth,  some  of  those  little  ones  with  whom  the 
happiest  of  all  my  happy  hours  in  America  were  spent 
— if  I  could  reproduce  the  fun,  the  romping,  the  games 
on  the  carpet,  the  hundred  little  innocent  delights  we 
shared  in  common — my  readers  would  see  that  after  all 
that  has  been  written  about  American  precocity  the 
children  there  are  children  still — in  most  points  just 
like  our  own — the  joy  and  the  sunlight  of  every  home. 

This  I  hope  will  not  be  forgotten  in  noticing  at  pre 
sent  one  or  two  points  of  difference. 

One  thing  that  astonished  me  was  the  food  given  to 
the  children.  It  seems  to  be  the  rule  in  America  to  let 
the  children  have  a  share  of  everything  on  the  table.  I 
remember  sitting  beside  one  little  boy  of  four  who  had 
soup,  a  slice  of  fowl  with  dressing,  a  sweet  potato,  a  plate 
of  pudding,  and  a  bunch  of  grapes.  He  was  a  very  small 
boy,  and  had  to  get  the  slice  of  fowl  cut  for  him  by  his 
aunt.  A^lady  in  Washington,  speaking  of  her  own  little 


YOUNG  AMERICA.  29 

boy  of  two  years  old,  said,  "  He  cannot  go  to  bed  with 
out  his  piece  of  turkey.  He  must  have  it."  Fancy  this 
in  Scotland  !  At  Cataract  House,  Niagara  (the  hotel 
on  the  American  side),  a  family  party  sat  down  at  one 
of  the  breakfast  tables.  One  of  the  party  was  a  beauti 
fully  dressed  child  of  between  two  and  three  years  of 
age,  who  was  waited  upon  by  a  gigantic  negro.  The 
first  thing  this  small  gentleman  had  was  a  cup  of  milk 
and  biscuit.  Then  he  had  two  eggs  beat  up  in  a  glass, 
and  a  slice  of  Johnny  cake  (a  cake  made  of  Indian  meal 
and  eggs).  He  supped  a  little  of  the  egg,  and  then 
called  for  fish.  After  fish  he  had  beef-steak,  and  after 
the  beef-steak  bacon  and  biscuit.  What  more  he  might 
have  needed  was  left  uncertain,  by  reason  of  his  spilling 
the  remainder  of  the  beat  eggs  over  his  own  and  his 
mother's  dress,  which  caused  him  to  be  carried  away 
from  the  table  in  a  state  of  humiliation. 

American  children  are  undoubtedly  precocious.  I 
think  this  peculiarity,  though  partly  owing  to  the  quick 
ening  effect  of  climate,  is  due  to  some  extent  to  the 
American  practice  of  bringing  children  to  the  table  from 
their  infancy.  A  New  England  lady,  who  boasted  of 
eleven  children  (which  is  about  eleven  times  more  than 
the  ordinary  number  in  New  England1),  told  me  that 
every  one  of  them  had  been  brought  to  the  table  at  seven 
months  old,  and  at  thirteen  months  could  handle  their 
forks  as  neatly  as  she  could  !  Brought  to  the  table  so 
soon,  and  hearing  all  that  goes  on,  they  begin  at  a  pre- 
ternaturally  early  age  to  take  an  interest  in  general 

1  The  New  Englanders  have  gene-  of  acquaintance.    "  Well,"  she  said, 

rally  very  small  families.     I  asked  "about  one!"    A  great  deal  more 

a  friend  in  Boston  how  many  chil-  could  be  said  about  this,  but  the 

clren  there  might  be  on  an  average  present  chapter  is  not  the  place  for 

in  each  family  within  her  own  circle  it. 


30  YOUNG  AMERICA. 

affairs,  and  to  acquire  the  ideas  and  language  of  grown 
people.  An  old  Doctor  of  Divinity  in  Canada  said  that, 
calling  one  day  at  a  friend's  house,  a  little  girl  was  sent 
in  to  amuse  him  till  her  mamma  was  ready.  The  child 
told  him  amongst  other  things  that  she  had  been  writ 
ing  a  parody  on  Kingsley's  song  of  "  The  Three  Fishers," 
but  when  drying  it  at  the  open  fire  it  dropped  from  her 
hand  and  was  burnt. 

"  Burnt !"  said  the  gallant  Doctor ;  "  if  I  had  been  the 
fire  I  should  have  stopped  till  you  had  got  it  out  again  ! " 

"  0  no,  Doctor/'  said  the  child  gravely,  "  you  couldn't 
have  done  that.  Nature,  you  know,  is  nature,  and  her 
laws  are  inviolable !" 

It  nearly  knocked  the  doctor  from  his  chair. 

I  remember  being  amused  one  day  at  the  exquisite 
combination  of  epicureanism  and  forethought  on  the  part 
of  a  little  boy.  of  nine.  "  Mother,"  he  said  gravely, 
"  give  me  only  a  little  of  the  mince  pie,  as  I  shall  want 
to  taste  the  pudding." 

The  children's  remarks  on  political  subjects  tickled 
me  most,  for  the  reason  perhaps,  that  I  have  so  rarely 
heard  anything  of  the  sort  from  children  at  home.  A 
small  boy  of  eight  will  stand  up  to  you  and  say — "  What 
do  you  think,  sir,  of  the  present  state  of  the  country  ? " 

I  remember  being  amused  beyond  expression  at  one 
little  boy  in  Brooklyn,  who,  during  the  time  of  the  im 
peachment  trial,  began  one  evening  at  supper  to  upbraid 
his  father  for  having  supported  Andrew  Johnson.  I 
also  remember  a  little  girl  not  much  higher  than^  my 
knee,  with  whom  I  was  playing  a  game  on  the  carpet, 
asking  me  with  a  serious  countenance  what  effect  I 
thought  the  acquisition  of  Eussian  America  would  have 
on  Great  Britain  !  I  laughed,  the  question  seemed  so 


WANT  OF  REVERENCE.  31 

odd  coming  from  a  child ;  but  on  seeing  the  little  eyes 
looking  up  into  my  face  in  mute  surprise,  I  recovered 
myself  as  suddenly  as  possible,  and  endeavoured  to  put 
matters  right  by  saying  that  the  thing  might  possibly 
lead  to  some  snowballing  between  the  two  nations.  But 
the  little  politician  in  petticoats  evidently  thought  this 
was  trifling  with  a  momentous  subject,  and  said  no  more. 

Eemarks  like  these  are  of  course  exceptional ;  but 
you  hear  them  sufficiently  often  to  call  your  attention 
to  this  phase  of  American  precocity.  In  most  of  their 
little  observations  there  is  more  of  the  childlike.  One 
fine  little  fellow  in  Boston,  about  three  years  old,  said 
one  day  that  he  wanted  to  get  up  a  dinner  party. 

"  Well,  whom  will  you  invite  ?"  said  his  mother. 

"  I  think,"  said  he,  "  we  ought  at  least  to  invite  uncle 
W— ,  and  Mrs.  M— ,  and  God." 

"  Hush  !  not  God,"  said  his  mother ;  "  you  cannot 
invite  God." 

"Why  not?"  said  the  little  fellow,  in  surprise; 
"Don't  God  ever  go  to  dinner  parties?" 

Alcott  might  have  found  a  depth  of  meaning  in  this 
that  the  little  fellow  himself  was  not  aware  of. 

There  is  one  unpleasant  feature  of  American  preco 
city — it  tends  much  more  frequently  than  here  to  pert- 
ness  and  utter  want  of  reverence  for  parents.  "  Papa, 
don't  be  foolish,"  I  heard  one  little  girl  say  when  her 
father  was  attempting  to  describe  to  me  how  some 
comical  Frenchman  had  spoken  at  a  public  meeting. 
You  will  sometimes  hear  a  child  say  "You  get  away  !" 
or  "  Don't  trouble  me  just  now,"  to  its  parent.  The 
parents  never  seemed  to  me  to  feel  this  as  we  should  in 
this  country. 

I  remember  an  indulgent  father  bringing  in  a  bunch 


32  YOUNG  AMERICA. 

of  grapes  for  his  little  boy.  "  Come,  you  are  a  good  fel 
low  after  all,"  said  the  child  cheerfully.  The  parent 
seemed  to  me  rather  gratified  at  so  kind  a  recognition 
on  the  part  of  his  son. 

I  remember  another  brave  little  fellow  of  four  years 
old,  who  sat  near  me  at  dinner  on  a  tall  slim  nursery 
chair,  wiping  his  mouth  after  the  first  course,  and  say 
ing, - 

"  Give  me  some  of  the  tart,  mamma,  and  ring  the  bell 
for  Emma  ;  I  want  some  fresh  water  !" 

One  can  understand  from  this  what  a  New  England 
lady  meant  when  she  said,  "  I  am  learning  to  be  a  docile 
parent ! "  "  Parents,  obey  your  children  in  all  things," 
is  the  new  commandment.  We  may  next,  as  somebody 
suggests,  see  on  the  signboard  of  some  American  store,  in 
stead  of  John  Smith  and  Son,  "  J.  Smith  and  Father." 

I  remember  sitting  one  day  in  a  friend's  house  at 
dinner.  Beside  me,  at  the  corner  of  the  table,  sat  a  very 
minute  young  gentleman,  who  in  this  country  would 
have  been  called  an  infant,  and  would  most  probably 
have  been  fed  with  a  spoon  in  the  nursery.  This  little 
fellow  sat  on  a  high-legged  nursery-chair,  had  his  own 
table-napkin  and  little  knife  and  fork,  took  a  share  of 
everything  going,  and  listened  to  the  conversation  with 
the  utmost  gravity.  When  dinner  was  over,  his  mother 
said,— 

"  Wipe  your  mouth,  darling." 

Precocity  looked  gravely  at  her.     "  Say  please." 

"  Well,  darling,  please." 

Precocity  wiped  his  lips  solemnly,  as  if  an  important 
moral  lesson  had  been  given,  and  requested  to  be  lifted 
down  from  his  chair. 

There  is  much  less  of  this  in  the  South,  where  sub- 


WANT  OF  KEVERENCE.  33 

ordination  is  more  recognised,  and  where  the  modes  of 
thought  and  feeling  are  more  like  our  own.  But  this 
is  the  growing  idea  in  the  North — independence,  reci 
procity,  the  sinking  of  old  and  even  natural  distinctions 
in  democratic  equality.  Do  to  me  whatever  you  expect 
me  to  do  to  you. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  American  chil 
dren  are  rude  or  ill-behaved.  On  the  contrary,  they 
struck  me  as  more  polite,  more  considerate,  more  orderly, 
as  a  general  rule,  than  our  own ;  but  they  need  to  be 
dealt  with  in  a  different  way.  You  must  treat  them 
as  persons  who  have  a  will  of  their  own,  and  a  right  to 
exercise  it.  You  must  appeal  to  their  reason  and  good 
sense — not  merely  to  your  own  authority. 

"  Remember  who  you  are  talking  to,  sir!"  said  an 
indignant  parent  to  a  fractious  boy ;  "  I  am  your  father, 
sir." 

"  Who 's  to  blame  for  that  ?"  said  young  Impertin 
ence  ;  "  it  ain't  me  ! " 

"  Well,  Jonas  ? "  said  a  Sunday-school  teacher  as  he 
took  his  seat,  "  how  are  you  to-night  ? " 

"  All  right,"  said  Jonas  cheerfully.  "How 's  yourself?" 

A  little  boy,  the  same  who  directed  his  mother  to 
ring  the  bell,  was  making  himself  very  disagreeable  on 
one  occasion  when  his  mother  had  him  with  her  on  a 
visit  to  some  friends.  She  took  him  to  the  bedroom, 
and  told  him  that  if  he  did  not  behave  himself  she 
would  shut  him  up  in  the  closet. 

"  You  can't.  There  ain't  a  closet  here,"  said  the  child 
triumphantly. 

"  I  '11  put  you  into  that  wardrobe,  then." 

"  No,  you  won't." 

"  But  I  will" 

c 


34  YOUNG  AMERICA. 

"You  try  it!" 

She  took  him,  forced  him  in,  and  turned  the  lock. 

Thereupon  Young  America  began  to  kick  up  a  tre 
mendous  noise  inside,  battering  the  doors  of  the  ward 
robe  as  if  he  would  have  knocked  them  off  their  hinges. 
His  mother,  fearful  that  he  would  do  mischief  either  to 
himself  or  to  the  furniture,  and  remembering  that  the 
house  was  not  hers,  took  him  out  and  said,  in  great 
distress, — 

"  Oh,  George,  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  you  ! " 

"  Don't  you  ? "  said  he,  looking  up  into  her  face. 

"  No,  indeed,  I  don't." 

"  Then,"  said  he,  "  if  that's  so,  I  '11  behave ;"— which 
he  accordingly  did,  marching  into  the  other  room  with 
her,  and  conducting  himself  for  the  rest  of  the  evening 
like  a  little  gentleman.  She  had  capitulated — had 
given  up  the  struggle  for  authority.  He  was  now  be 
having  on  his  own  responsibility. 

Let  me  mention  another  case  for  the  sake  of  a  gro 
tesque  feature  of  its  own.  A  gentleman  in  Northampton, 
with  whom  I  spent  a  very  delightful  week,  and  who 
belongs  to  one  of  the  old  Puritan  families,  told  me  that 
for  several  years  he  had  tried  whipping  with  his  boy, 
but  found  it  ineffectual.  On  one  occasion  the  boy  was 
caught  in  an  oft-repeated  fault.  His  father  took  him 
to  his  room,  upbraided  him  for  his  persistent  disobe 
dience  ;  reminded  him  (which  was  probably  unnecessary) 
that  he  had  several  times  been  obliged,  in  the  way  of 
parental  duty,  to  apply  the  rod  of  correction,  but  that 
it  seemed  to  have  as  yet  been  in  vain.  "  I  am  much 
disheartened,"  he  said ;  "  I  don't  know  what  to  do." 

A  bright  thought  occurred  to  the  boy.  "Father," 
said  he,  "  suppose  you  pray'' 


WANT  OF  REVERENCE.  35 

The  father  was  a  good  man,  and  could  not  refuse. 
But  having  a  strong  suspicion  in  his  mind  that  the  boy 
had  suggested  this  Christian  exercise  in  order  to  escape 
punishment,  he  prayed  for  the  young  reprobate  first,  and 
whipped  him  afterwards.  He  told  me,  however,  that 
he  had  never  been  able  to  make  anything  of  the  boy 
till  he  gave  up  flogging,  and  appealed  to  the  boy's  sense 
of  what  was  right  arid  proper. 

This  seemed  to  be  a  general  experience  in  the  States. 
In  most  of  the  American  schools  whipping  is  discon 
tinued,  and  in  many  cases  strictly  prohibited  by  law ; 
and  yet  I  can  testify,  and  have  endeavoured  elsewhere 
to  show,  that  the  order  maintained  in  these  schools  is 
very  much  superior  to  the  order  maintained  in  ours. 

The  precocity  of  American  children,  and  the  demo 
cratic  ideas  that  pervade  society,  and  filter  down  even 
into  the  minds  of  the  youngest,  account  probably  for 
three  facts — 1st,  that  American  parents,  guardians,  and 
teachers  do  not  expect  the  same  reverence  and  unques 
tioning  obedience  that  is  looked  for  and  inculcated 
here  ;  2d,  that  the  children  there  will  not  be  governed 
by  mere  authority  and  force ;  and  3d,  that,  happily,  as 
a  counterpoise,  they  become  at  an  exceedingly  early  age 
amenable  to  reason. 

The  American  idea,  with  old  and  young,  seems  to  be 
to  train  themselves  to  submission,  not  to  persons  (who 
ever  they  are)  but  to  principles. 


36  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 


VI. 

HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

DOMESTIC  service  in  America  is  in  a  very  miserable 
condition.  In  judging  so,  much,  no  doubt,  depends  on 
the  side  from  which  you  look  at  it.  It  may  seem  a 
pleasant  enough  state  of  things  to  the  servant — the 
New  York  servant  for  instance — who  has  her  ten  or 
twenty  dollars  a  month,  has  the  range  of  the  pantry, 
and  lives  like  a  fighting- cock  ;  has  possibly  an  "  assist 
ant; "  can  take  a  day  or  half-day  to  herself  almost  when 
she  likes  ;  has  her  own  parlour  in  which  to  receive  and 
regale  her  followers ;  needn't  brush  the  boots  ;  needn't 
answer  the  door ;  can  be  as  independent  as  she  pleases  ; 
and  if  she  quarrels  with  her  mistress,  can  throw  up  her 
situation,  and  be  sure  of  another  as  good,  or  better, 
in  a  day  or  two.  But  this  is  a  very  miserable  state 
of  things  for  the  mistress.  To  have  a  servant  with 
whom  you  live  at  best  in  a  state  of  armed  neutrality — 
who  brings  her  followers  to  the  house,  and  disturbs  its 
quiet,  and  empties  the  larder,  and  won't  answer  the 
bell,  and  refuses  to  brush  the  boots,  and,  when  you  speak 
to  her,  tosses  her  head,  and  tells  you  to  suit  yourself 
with  another :  and  to  know  that  if  she  goes  you  will 
probably  get  another  just  as  bad,  or  worse — this  is  not 
an  agreeable  situation  to  stand  in  with  reference  to 
your  servants.  It  is  one  of  the  great  miseries  of  life 


DOMESTIC  SERVICE.  37 

in  America.  It  has  reached  such  a  height,  that  many 
families  who  would  have  one,  two,  or  even  three  ser 
vants  in  this  country,  keep  no  servant  at  all,  preferring 
to  do  all  the  work  rather  than  suffer  such  constant 
irritation  and  annoyance.  Others,  again,  go  and  live  at 
hotels.  I  doubt  if  there  be  a  single  hotel  in  the 
United  States  without  some  boarders  of  this  description. 
Many  hotels  have  scores  :  and  it  is  scarcely  to  be  won 
dered  at.  I  remember,  soon  after  my  arrival  in  America, 
asking  a  friend,  whom  I  found  boarding  in  a  hotel  with, 
his  wife  and  children,  why  he  did  not  have  a  home  of 
his  own.  "  I  did  have  a  home  of  my  own/'  he  said, 
"  till  about  two  years  ago  ;  but  I  was  driven  here  for 
want  of  proper  service.  Why,  sir,  I  had  to  get  up  and 
kindle  the  fires  in  the  morning ;  I  had  to  brush  my 
own  boots ;  I  had  to  do  fifty  things  of  that  sort  that 
the  servants  should  have  done.  I  bore  it  for  a  year ; 
but  when  I  came  home  one  day,  when  several  friends 
were  invited  to  dine  with  us,  and  found  my  wife  and 
child  left  alone,  the  servants  having  taken  offence  at 
something  and  gone  off,  then  I  thought  it  was  time  to 
give  it  up.  We  have  been  here  ever  since.  It  is  a 
wretched  thing,"  he  said,  "having  no  home  of  one's 
own ;  but  at  any  rate  we  are  free  from  annoyances  that 
were  even  more  intolerable." 

I  met  with  many  similar  cases.  Even  people  who 
have  homes  and  servants  of  their  own  are  driven  to  many 
shifts  for  want  of  ready  and  trustworthy  service.  You 
see  it  even  in  the  arrangement  of  some  houses  which, 
instead  of  being  left  to  depend  on  open  fires  or  stoves, 
are  heated  from  a  furnace  contrived  with  Yankee  inge 
nuity  to  feed  and  regulate  itself.  If  matters  do  not 
mend,  we  may  next  see  patent  clock- work  house- 


38  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

keepers,  to  be  wound  up  with  a  key,  like  the  anthropo- 
glossos  or  Mr.  Babbage's  walking  lady,  or  set  agoing 
like  the  steam  man ;  and  warranted  fit  for  all  house 
work,  from  answering  the  door  to  cooking  a  pumpkin 
pie. 

The  state  of  domestic  service  explains  to  some  extent 
another  peculiarity  in  social  life.  Instead  of  dinner 
parties,  the  great  majority  of  American  families  give  tea- 
parties,  or  else  entertainments  which  they  call  "  socials/' 
at  which  there  is  nothing  either  to  eat  or  drink,  the 
feast  being  a  feast  of  reason,  and  the  flow  a  flow  of  soul 
exclusively.  You  arrive,  let  us  suppose,  at  a  friend's 
house.  He  wants  you  to  meet  a  few  of  his  acquaint 
ances,  and  wants,  them  to  meet  you.  His  daughter 
takes  the  "buggy"  (gig,  as  we  should  call  it),  drives 
round  to  a  number  of  their  friends,  announces  a 
"  social "  that  evening,  and  invites  as  many  of  them  to 
come  as  can.  In  the  evening  they  begin  to  flock  in 
after  tea,  which  is  the  last  meal  of  the  day.  There  is 
no  formality.  Some  make  their  appearance  in  dress ; 
some  in  plain  clothes  :  for  in  America  there  is  perfect 
freedom  on  this  point,  except  in  a  few  fashionable 
circles.  The  Americans,  however,  all  dress  so  well, 
that  it  makes  less  difference.  Some  of  the  ladies  bring 
their  knitting  or  fancy-work ;  some  of  the  girls  bring 
their  music;  and  there  is  no  lack  of  talk.  Twenty, 
thirty,  or  forty  friends  arrive  in  the  course  of  the  even 
ing.  There  are  charades,  readings,  talk,  songs,  music, 
just  as  the  spirit  moves ;  though  most  of  the  time  is 
generally  spent  in  conversation,  in  which  the  Americans 
greatly  excel.  After  two  or  three  hours' enjoyment  of 
this  sort,  the  company  disperse.  At  some  of  these 
"socials"  you  find  men  of  all  classes — senators,  mer- 


MISTEESS  AND  SERVANT.  39 

chants,  lawyers,  shopkeepers,  army  or  navy  officers, 
professional  and  business  men  of  all  kinds,  with  their 
wives — meeting  and  enjoying  themselves  together  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality. 

Some  of  my  happiest  evenings  in  America  were  spent 
at  these  delightful  gatherings,  which  afford  to  a  stranger 
admirable  facilities  for  meeting  every  variety  of  cha 
racter,  and  gathering  every  kind  of  information.  But, 
pleasant  though  they  are  in  themselves,  they  must,  to 
some  extent,  be  attributed  to  the  unpleasant  state  of 
domestic  service,  which,  in  the  majority  of  American 
homes,  would  throw  the  entire  burden  of  a  dinner-party 
on  the  ladies  of  the  house. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  opens  your  eyes  to  the 
state  of  domestic  service  is  the  time  you  have  frequently 
to  wait  at  the  door  before  the  bell  is  answered,  and  the 
frequency  with  which,  when  it  is  answered,  it  is  not 
by  the  servant,  but  by  one  of  the  family.  In  some 
houses,  indeed,  the  handle  at  the  door  rings  two  bells, 
one  in  the  lobby,  and  the  other  in  the  kitchen  ;  and  it 
seemed  to  me,  in  such  cases,  that  the  servant  never 
answered  until  satisfied,  by  repeated  pulls,  that  none  of 
the  family  up-stairs  was  going  to  answer  for  her.  I 
remember  one  boarding-house  in  particular  where  the 
struggle  for  respective  rights  was  in  full  progress,  and 
where  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  door  was  never  opened 
till  the  bell  had  been  pulled  at  least  thrice.  The  first 
pull  seemed  to  announce,  in  a  general  way,  that  some 
one  was  at  the  door  ;  the  second  pull  announced  to  the 
servant  that  her  mistress  had  not  answered  it,  and  to 
the  mistress  that  the  servant  had  not  answered  it.  The 
third  ring  brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  by  announcing 
the  boarder's  determination  to  get  in  j  and  the  door  was 


40  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

then  answered  either  by  the  one  or  the  other.  Whoever 
opened  it  did  no  more,  but  turned  away  and  left  the 
boarder  to  come  in  and  shut  it  for  himself.  Such  cases, 
of  course,  are  extreme,  but  they  are  profoundly  signi 
ficant. 

Another  thing  that  opens  the  traveller's  eyes  to  the 
state  of  domestic  service  is  the  difficulty  he  often 
experiences  in  getting  his  boots  cleaned.  In  hotels, 
where  there  are  men  who  make  it  their  business,  the 
difficulty  is  unknown  ;  hence  one  hears  little  of  it  from 
those  who  merely  travel  in  America  from  hotels  in  one 
place  to  hotels  in  another.  But  in  private  houses  it 
comes  to  be  a  great  annoyance.  In  many,  where  there 
were  two  or  three  servants,  I  have  put  my  boots  out 
every  night  and  found  them  untouched  in  the  morning. 
One  case  specially  occurs  to  me.  It  was  in  the  house 
of  a  wealthy  Northern  gentleman.  My  boots  had  been 
very  much  dirtied  walking  about  the  muddy  streets  all 
day.  In  the  morning,  when  I  opened  my  bedroom 
door,  there  sat  my  dirty  boots,  just  as  I  had  put  them 
out.  Assuming,  with  the  charity  of  despair,  that  the 
servant  had  not  observed  them,  I  planted  them  in  the 
middle  of  the  passage  opposite  my  door,  and  went 
down  in  my  slippers.  On  going  up-stairs  after  breakfast 
I  was  relieved  to  see  that  my  boots  had  disappeared. 
My  hopes  were  speedily  blasted  by  the  discovery,  on 
reaching  my  room,  that  the  muddy  boots  had  simply 
been  removed  from  the  passage,  and  passed  within  the 
door.  What  was  I  to  do  ?  The  ladies  were  preparing 
to  go  out  with  me.  I  did  not  like  to  make  my  appear 
ance  in  a  muddy  pair  of  boots.  I  looked  about,  but 
there  was  nothing  that  I  could  clean  them  with.  I 
opened  my  valise,  and  found  a  newspaper.  It  was  the 


SELF-HELP.  4 1 

only  Scotch  paper  I  had  seen  for  a  month ;  but  there 
was  no  alternative  ;  I  sat  down,  read  all  I  wanted  of  the 
paper,  and  converted  it  forthwith  into  a  shoe-brush. 

On  another  occasion,  travelling  with  an  American 
clergyman,  I  found  myself,  the  first  morning,  landed 
in  the  same  difficulty.  Stepping  into  his  room,  which 
opened  off  mine,  to  consult  him  as  to  what  should 
be  done,  I  found  him  sitting  beside  his  open  valise — 
brush  in  hand,  and  blacking-box  on  floor — polishing 
his  boots  with  great  vigour.  I  found  that  these  little 
kitchen  utensils  formed  a  regular  part  of  a  gentleman's 
travelling  equipment.  Even  ladies  are  not  exempt  from 
this  sort  of  work,  though  the  implements  they  use  are 
of  a  daintier  description.  Another  case  occurs  to  me. 
In  a  beautiful  New  England  town,  I  was  present  at  a 
little  party  of  professional  men.  On  entering  the 
crowded  cloak-room,  I  found  a  little  ante-room,  in 
which  the  gentlemen  in  turn  were  putting  themselves 
in  order  before  descending  to  the  drawing-room,  and 
here,  on  first  making  the  discovery,  I  found  a  professor 
of  Greek  busily  engaged  communicating  a  high  polish  to 
his  boots,  and  handling  the  brush  with  the  skill  of  a 
professional  shoe-black.  It  was  very  comical ;  but  if 
you  can't  get  any  one  else  to  clean  your  boots,  what  are 
you  to  do  ?  America  might  almost  be  defined  as  a  land 
of  glorious  liberty,  qualified  by  the  necessity  of  brushing 
your  own  boots. 

I  have  said  so  much  about  these  little  matters, 
because,  though  small  in  themselves,  they  represent  the 
whole  state  of  domestic  service. 

One  may  hope  that  this  state  of  things  is  preparation 
for  a  better.  My  own  conviction  is  that  this  difficulty 
between  servant  and  mistress  (which  begins  now  to  be 


42  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

felt  in  our  own  country)  is  one  part  of  the  universal 
conflict  between  the  feudal  and  the  republican  ideas. 
The  republican  idea  is  that  of  political  and  social 
equality — such  equality  that  no  man  on  account  of  his 
birth  or  employment  is  to  be  held  inferior  to  another 
man.  The  feudal  idea  is  that  of  caste  :  superiors  and 
inferiors  by  reason  of  birth  or  employment,  master  and 
servant,  priest  and  layman;  lord  and  vassal,  planter  and 
slave.  This  idea  has  had  its  day,  and  is  going  down ; 
while  the  republican  idea  steadily  gains  ground,  in  the 
Church,  in  politics,  in  the  relations  of  employers  and 
employed.  Look  at  Southern  slavery;  see  where  the 
Pope,  see  where  the  English  nobles,  stand  to-day  as 
compared  with  where  they  stood  a  century  ago.  The  same 
idea  is  splitting  up  the  old  relation  of  master  and  ser 
vant  preparatory  to  forming  a  new  one,  in  which  the 
equality  of  both  parties  shall  be  recognised,  although 
their  functions  may  differ.  Servants  refuse  to  brush 
your  boots,  not  because  they  object  to  the  work  (for 
they  brush  their  own),  but  because  doing  it  for  you  as 
your  servant  is  considered  menial  work.  When  this 
idea  is  got  rid  of,  repugnance  to  the  work  will  disappear. 
Freeborn  American  boys  brush  boots  at  every  corner, 
and  feel  it  no  sacrifice  of  their  republican  dignity,  for 
they  are  doing  it  not  as  your  servants,  but  as  business 
men  in  a  small  way  entering  into  a  contract  to  do  a  cer 
tain  amount  of  work  for  a  certain  amount  of  pay,  with 
no  implication  of  inferiority. 

But  though  this  state  of  domestic  service  may  be  the 
operation  of  an  important  revolutionary  principle,  it  is 
in  the  meantime  excessively  inconvenient  to  the  indivi 
dual  mortal  who  is  not  thinking  of  any  principles  at  all, 
but  merely  wants  the  door  opened  or  his  boots  blacked. 


SERVANTS  AT  TABLE.  43 

It  is  one  indication  of  the  change  I  have  referred 
to  that  servants  in  America  do  not  like  to  be  called 
servants.  They  are  "  ladies,"  "  helps,"  "  companions." 
You  may  find  even  a  black  washerwoman  advertising 
herself  as  a  "  coloured  lady,"  "  desiring  an  engagement 
as  a  laundress."  The  negroes  are  a  long  way  behind  in 
the  race  as  yet;  but  with  white  servants  the  change 
is  not  a  mere  change  in  words. 

There  is  a  difference  in  their  position.  In  the 
Western  States  I  have  sometimes  seen  the  servants  sit 
down  to  dinner  with  the  family.  In  one  village  hotel 
I  remember  the  waiters  who  were  off  duty  sitting 
down  to  supper  with  us  in  their  shirt- sleeves.  They 
were  as  free  and  polite  in  their  manners,  and  talked 
as  well  as  any  in  the  company ;  and  but  for  their  shirt 
sleeves  would  not  have  been  distinguishable  from  the  rest. 

Even  in  the  older  States  and  in  the  great  centres  of 
civilisation  and  refinement,  the  change  of  status  is 
marked,  and  the  servants  share  in  the  good  things  of 
the  house  to  an  extent  seldom  dreamt  of  here.  Ame 
ricans  generally  go  down  into  what  is  called  the  base 
ment  to  eat ;  and  as  soon  as  the  family  has  finished,  the 
servants  ring  the  bell  again  for  themselves,  sit  down  at 
the  table  which  the  family  has  just  left  and  take  their 
share  of  the  same  dishes.  I  have  been  in  houses  where 
the  dining-room  was  not  below,  but  formed  an  ante 
room  to  the  parlour,  separated  from  it  by  sliding-doors, 
so  that  after  dinner,  while  we  sat  in  the  parlour,  we 
could  hear  the  servants  laughing  and  talking  over  their 
dinner  in  the  ante-room  which  we  had  just  left. 

Change  in  status  has  brought  with  it  (in  so  far  as  it 
has  got  time  to  work)  a  corresponding  change  in  the 
manners  and  appearance  of  servants.  Some  of  them 


44  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

are  educated  and  refined,  with  manners  as  graceful  and 
hands  as  white  as  their  mistresses.  In  one  house  where 
I  stayed,  the  servant  knew  Latin  and  could  play  on  the 
piano  remarkably  well.  In  another  family  I  was  told 
that  a  girl  who  had  been  servant  two  years  before  was 
now  head  of  an  academy.  These  were  American  girls, 
who  had  received  the  education  which  America  provides 
for  poor  as  well  as  rich.  But  very  few  American  girls 
go  into  service.  They  prefer  going  into  factories,  print 
ing  and  telegraph  offices,  and  stores,  where,  if  they  are 
clever  hands,  they  earn  as  many  dollars  a  week  as  a 
common  servant  would  in  a  month,  and  where  they 
can  have  more  independence.  One  finds  a  number  of 
Scotch  and  German  servant  girls,  who  are  much  prized 
and  sought  after.  But  most  of  the  "  helps,"  especially 
in  large  cities  like  New  York,  are  Irish,  and  Irish  of 
recent  importation,  very  ignorant,  very  handless,  and 
with  just  enough  knowledge  of  republican  liberty  and 
equality  to  make  them  disagreeable.  In  Newark,  when  I 
was  there,  I  found  an  association  of  servant  girls  banded 
together  by  the  resolution,  whatever  were  their  qualifi 
cations  or  disqualifications,  to  take  nothing  less  than 
ten  dollars  a  month  from  any  one,  and  to  support  each 
other  till  the  mistresses  gave  in.  One  gentleman  told 
me  he  had  engaged  three  Irish  "  helps  "  within  as  many 
weeks,  not  one  of  whom  seemed  to  know  anything 
except  that  she  must  have  ten  dollars  a  month.  Their 
exactions,  indeed,  are  often  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  their 
deserts.  A  literary  man,  who  heard  his  wife  endea 
vouring  to  arrange  with  a  new  servant  in  the  ante-room, 
heard  the  applicant  say  that  she  must  have  a  parlour 
to  herself,  and  would  expect  not  to  be  asked  to  do  this 
and  the  other  thing,  and  proceed  to  cross-examine  the 


IRISH  GIRLS.  45 

lady  as  to  the  habits  of  the  family.     The  gentleman  bore 
it  a  little  while,  and  then  got  up  and  went  into  the  room. 

"  You  are  applying  to  be  '  help'  here  ?"  he  said. 

"Yes." 

"  Can  you  paint  in  oil  ?" 

"No." 

"  Can  you  read  Greek,  work  logarithms,  and  calculate 
eclipses  ? " 

"No." 

"  Then,"  said  he,  "  that 's  enough,  you  won't  do  for  us. 
Good  morning." 

Let  it  be  said,  however,  for  these  Irish  girls,  that, 
with  all  their  faults  as  servants,  they  have  many  fine 
qualities  of  heart,  head,  and  hand.  With  every  tempta 
tion  to  spend  their  money  in  dress,  thousands  of  them 
continue,  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year,  to 
send  every  dollar  they  can  spare  to  support  the  old 
people  in  the  home  across  the  sea ;  or  will  keep  their 
money  accumulating  till  they  have  enough  to  bring 
their  parents  and  sisters  out  to  a  new  and  more  com 
fortable  home  in  America.  These  are  not  rare  cases. 
They  are  found  everywhere,  and  this  alone  should  hide 
a  multitude  of  sins. 

It  is  only  in  their  position  as  servants  that  there  is 
so  much  fault  to  find  with  them.  Even  in  that  position 
they  improve.  It  is  astonishing  how  fast  they  pick  up 
information ;  how  soon  they  begin  to  acquire  the  grace 
ful  manners  of  their  mistresses,  and  how  their  very 
figure  seems  to  change,  and  their  hands  to  become  white 
and  delicate.  They  learn,  too,  to  dress  with  great 
elegance.  I  was  amused  at  Brooklyn  to  hear  from  a 
lady  that  one  day,  when  her  hat  had  not  come  from  the 
milliner,  the  servant  offered  her  the  use  of  hers, 


46  HELPS  SO-CALLED. 

assuring  her  that  her  previous  mistress  had  often 
availed  herself  of  her  wardrobe.  When  I  saw  how 
beautifully  some  of  these  girls  dressed  on  a  Sunday, 
the  story  became  credible  at  once. 

But  by  the  time  a  girl  gets  this  length,  if  not  much 
sooner,  she  marries,  and  leaves  her  place  to  be  filled  up 
by  fresh  importations  of  the  rough  and  raw  material, 
that  refuses  to  answer  the  door-bell,  and  keeps  master 
and  mistress  in  such  constant  irritation  and  despair. 

The  negroes  seemed  to  me  to  make  excellent  servants. 
They  are  obedient,  apt  to  learn,  anxious  to  please.  But 
not  to  speak  of  vices  which  they  have  brought  from 
barbarism  and  slavery,  the  Northern  people  have  a 
strange  repugnance  to  black  people,  though  this  has 
much  diminished  since  the  war.  As  for  the  Irish,  they 
hate  the  "  nigger,"  with  an  ineradicable  hatred,  and  a 
coloured  servant  in  a  house  where  there  is  also  an 
Irish  servant,  leads  the  life  of  a  dog.  In  one  house 
where  I  lived  for  a  while,  and  where  there  was  a  black 
boy  to  brush  the  boots  and  answer  the  door,  the  Irish 
servants  would  not  permit  him  to  eat  in  the  same  place 
with  them,  but  made  him  take  his  food  outside.  It 
seems  to  me,  however,  that  by-and-bye  most  of  the 
servants  in  the  North,  as  in  the  South,  must  be  coloured 
people.  Already  it  is  so  in  most  of  the  hotels,  and  year 
by  year  the  practice  becomes  more  prevalent. 


HENEY  WARD  BEECHER.  47 


VII. 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

• 

IN  New  York,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr. 
Beecher,  and  hearing  him  preach  and  lecture  on  several 
occasions.  He  is  a  man  so  singular  as  not  easily  to  be 
classed  or  compared  with  others.  It  was,  indeed,  an 
old  Boston  saying,  that  mankind  was  divisible  into 
three  classes, — the  good,  the  bad,  and  the  Beechers  ! 

He  is  led  by  his  impulsive  nature  to  say  and  do  the 
strangest  things  at  times,  and  yet  in  most  cases  one 
can  feel  a  noble  Christian  heart  throbbing  underneath. 
Take  a  single  case :  Beecher  was  walking  down  the 
Bowery  one  day,  when  he  noticed  a  poor  little  withered 
boy  sitting  on  the  kerb-stone  selling  matches.  He 
stopped,  spoke  to  the  little  fellow,  and  found  that  he 
was  a  poor  castaway  child,  likely  to  perish  for  want  of 
proper  care.  Beecher  thought  for  a  moment,  and  then 
asked  the  boy  if  he  could  sing. 

Yes  ;  he  sometimes  tried. 

"  Let  me  hear  you,"  said  Beecher. 

The  boy  began  to  sing ;  Beecher  stood  with  folded 
arms,  listening.  A  crowd  began  to  collect. 

"  Very  good,"  said  Beecher,  when  the  boy  finished ; 
"  let  me  hear  another." 

By  the  time  the  second  song  was  finished,  a  large 
crowd  had  gathered.  Beecher  bent  down,  took  the 


48  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

little  boy,  slung  him  upon  his  shoulder,  and  faced  the 
crowd. 

"  JSTow,  my  little  fellow,"  he  said,  "  there  are  listeners 
for  you ;  give  them  a  song." 

The  child,  perched  on  the  great  preacher's  shoulder, 
sang  again.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  Beecher  asked 
the  little  fellow  for  his  cap,  and  went  round  the  crowd, 
holding  it  out  for  contributions.  In  a  few  minutes, 
something  like  two  hundred  dollars  was  collected. 
Beecher  took  the  boy  to  a  friend's  office,  got  him 
clothed  and  provided  for,  and  the  balance  of  money 
banked  for  his  use.  I  cannot  vouch  for  all  the  details, 
but  there  undoubtedly  you  have  the  man. 

In  America,  Beecher  is  an  independent  power. 

Wherever  he  lectures  or  preaches  people  crowd  to 
hear  him ;  his  sermons  are  printed  in  the  newspapers 
as  far  west  as  California ;  democrats  abhor  him  ;  grog- 
sellers  dread  him;  Princeton  theologians  shake  their 
heads  over  his  theology ;  but  everywhere,  liked  or  dis 
liked,  the  name  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  known,  and 
his  power  recognised. 

The  Southern  people  only  know  him  as  an  uncom 
promising  antagonist  of  slavery,  and  a  preacher  of  the 
"  isms"  which  they  regard  as  the  damnation  of  America. 
There  was  a  time  when  his  life  would  not  have  been 
worth  a  day's  purchase  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line.  It  is  said  that  a  literary  lady  from  the  South, 
visiting  Brooklyn  before  the  war,  went  to  hear  Beecher 
as  she  would  have  gone  to  see  a  ghoul.  She  was  sur 
prised  to  hear  an  earnest  gospel  sermon.  She  went, 
back  and  heard  another  even  more  unexceptionable 
than  the  first.  She  went  and  heard  him  at  meetings 
too,  till  her  preconceived  opinion  of  him  was  entirely 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER.  49 

changed.  She  sought  an  introduction,  and  said,  after 
some  conversation,  "  Mr.  Beecher,  the  South  misun 
derstands  you,  and  you  misunderstand  the  South.  I 
want  you  to  come  and  see  Dixie  for  yourself,  and  let 
the  Southern  people  hear  you." 

"  Madam/'  said  Beecher,  "  my  neck  is  short,  and  not 
handsome ;  but  it  is  the  only  one  God  has  given  me, 
and  I  had  rather  retain  it  in  its  natural  state  than  have 
it  elongated  by  external  appliances." 

This  was  at  a  time  when  Southern  feeling  was  exas 
perated  beyond  the  point  of  endurance  by  Northern 
movements  against  slavery. 

Even  now,  the  feelings  engendered  by  that  angry 
controversy  rankle  in  the  Southern  breast.  It  struck 
me  sometimes  that  the  firm  Southern  belief  in  the 
existence  of  hell  was  moored  to  the  felt  necessity  for 
some  place  of  torment  for  Wendell  Phillips,  Lloyd  Gar 
rison,  and  the  whole  family  of  Beechers.  I  scarcely 
ever  met  a  Southerner  who  had  any  hope  of  the  salva 
tion  of  Mrs.  Stowe.  The  feeling  is  that  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin  of  itself  was  enough  to  drag  the  whole  of  New 
England  to  endless  perdition,  even  supposing  that 
world  of  "  isms"  to  have  ever  had  any  opposite  ten 
dency.  There  appeared  in  some  minds  to  be  a  certain 
glimmering  of  hope  for  Henry  Ward.  I  met  with  good 
Southerners  who  seemed,  since  Beecher's  address  on 
behalf  of  General  Lee's  College,  to  cherish  a  desperate 
hope  that,  after  a  few  thousand  years  of  purgatorial 
fire,  he  might  find  a  way  of  approach  on  his  knees  to 
the  heaven  of  redeemed  planters.  The  Southern  people 
will  think  more  of  Beecher  when  they  know  him  better. 
Even  Parson  Brownlow,  visiting  Brooklyn  in  his  pro- 
slavery  days,  and  attending  service  at  Plymouth  Church, 

D 


50  HENRY  WARD  BEECHEIl. 

wrote  back  to  Ms  friends  in  Tennessee : — "  If  any  of 
you  ever  find  your  way  to  heaven,  don't  be  surprised  if 
you  meet  Beecher !" 

Beecher  is,  in  New  York,  what  Spurgeon  is  in  London, 
and  what  Dr.  Guthrie  used  to  be  in  Edinburgh.  Every 
one  visiting  the  Empire  City  is  expected  to  hear  him. 
His  church  is  in  Brooklyn,  itself  a  city  of  immense 
size,  lying  across  the  river  from  New  York,  as  Birken- 
head  lies  from  Liverpool.  Plymouth  Church  is  away 
in  one  of  the  side  streets,  but  you  have  no  difficulty  in 
finding  it  if  you  are  on  your  way  to  Beecher' s.  At  ten 
in  the  morning  or  six  in  the  evening,  cross  at  the  Ful 
ton  Ferry  and  follow  the  crowd ;  or,  if  you  are  in 
Brooklyn,  come  down  in  the  Fulton  Avenue  cars,  and 
when  the  one  in  which  you  are  travelling  stops  at  a 
certain  crossing  and  disgorges  almost  the  whole  of  its 
human  freight,  get  out  and  follow  the  stream  down 
Plymouth  Street,  and  it  will  pilot  you  to  the  place. 

The  first  time  I  heard  Beecher  in  his  own  church  was 
at  a  forenoon  service.  If  the  reader  will,  in  imagina 
tion,  accompany  me,  I  will  try  to  give  him  a  glimpse 
of  the  man  and  the  place.  Crowds  of  people  are  wait 
ing  at  the  doors  of  the  great  brick  building  to  get  their 
chance  of  a  place  when  the  regular  congregation  is 
seated  ;  but  you  and  I  are  strangers  from  a  distant  land, 
we  tell  our  errand  to  one  of  the  officiating  deacons,  and 
are  at  once  conducted  away  up  the  aisle  to  a  good  seat, 
not  many  yards  from  the  pulpit.  What  a  vast  church  we 
are  in  !  Gallery  above  gallery  piled  up  to  the  roof.  I 
wonder  if  those  people  in  the  topmost  gallery  yonder, 
with  their  heads  almost  touching  the  ceiling,  will  hear 
anything  !  The  seats  are  painted  white,  with  a  brown 
beading,  which  gives  the  whole  place  a  bright  and  ele- 


A  FOKENOON  IN  PLYMOUTH  CHUKCH.        51 

gant  appearance.  The  church  is  crowding  fast,  and  yet 
it  is  still  half-an-hour  from  the  time. 

I  spoke  of  the  pulpit — but  I  should  have  said  the 
desk.  Beecher  dislikes  those  "  sacred  mahogany  tubs" 
—hates,  as  he  says  himself,  to  be  shut  off  from  the 
people,  and  plastered  up  against  the  wall  like  a  barn- 
swallow  in  its  nest.  He  quotes  the  saying  of  Daniel 
Webster,  that  the  survival  of  Christianity  in  spite  of 
high  pulpits,  is  one  of  the  evidences  of  its  divinity. 
Beecher  likes  an  open  platform,  where  he  can  walk  to 
and  fro,  and  face  every  man  whom  he  wishes  to  address. 

It  is  an  interesting  platform  that  on  which  we  are 
now  looking.  Some  of  the  most  extraordinary  sermons 
that  the  Americans  of  this  generation  have  listened  to 
have  been  preached  from  it.  It  was  standing  on  that  plat 
form  that  Beecher  poured  forth  those  philippics  against 
slavery  that  ran  like  wildfire  through  the  North,  and 
helped  to  kindle  the  conflagration  of '61.  Let  me  describe 
one  scene  that  was  enacted  here.  After  the  sermon  one 
day,  Beecher  said,  "  Here  is  a  letter  I  got  the  other 
day  from  a  friend  in  Washington,  saying  that  a  young 
woman,  a  slave,  is  to  be  sold  this  week  unless  she  can 
buy  herself  off,  and  this  will  cost  twelve  hundred  dol 
lars.  The  trader  has  allowed  her  to  make  subscriptions, 
and  has  himself  headed  the  list  with  a  hundred  dollars. 
She  has  not  been  able,  however,  with  all  her  begging 
round  Washington,  to  raise  more  than  five  hundred  more, 
and  if  the  other  six  are  not  raised  she  will  be  sold  the 
day  after  to-morrow.  When  I  got  this  letter  about  it," 
said  Beecher,  "  I  wrote  back,  saying,  '  It  is  of  no  use 
unless  the  young  woman  comes  herself/  The  tradei 
has  such  confidence  in  her  that  he  has  let  her  come. 
She  is  here  now."  Amidst  breathless  excitement  he 


52  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

turned  to  that  door  leading  in  from  the  vestry,  and  said, 
"Come  up,  Nancy."  The  young  woman  appeared,  and 
took  her  place  timidly  beside  Beecher  on  the  platform. 
"  Now,"  said  Beecher,  "  if  we  don't  raise  six  hundred 
dollars,  this  woman  will  be  sold  the  day  after  to-morrow 
to  the  highest  bidder."  The  deacons  were  on  their  feet 
in  an  instant,  and  the  plates  went  round.  The  ex 
citement  was  intense.  One  Southern  planter  put  in 
fifty  dollars.  Ladies  who  had  no  money  put  in  their 
rings  or  brooches.  The  plates  were  piling  up.  In  the 
meantime,  two  gentlemen  (Arthur  Tappan,  I  think,  was 
one  of  them)  went  up  and  announced,  through  Beecher, 
that  whatever  the  collection  was,  they  would  guarantee 
the  six  hundred.  There  was  a  burst  of  applause  :  the 
woman  was  free  !  There  was  no  repressing  the  enthu 
siasm.  It  was  the  church  ;  but  people  clapped  their 
hands  and  cheered  as  (Beecher  said)  "  in  holy  joy."  The 
collection  turned  out  to  be  sufficient,  not  only  to  buy 
off  the  woman  but  her  little  boy.  This  is  one  of  the 
stories  of  Plymouth  Church. 

Three  minutes  from  the  time  now  !  Beecher  will  be 
in  soon.  The  church  seems  crammed,  and  still  the 
people  keep  crowding  in. 

Suddenly  a  stir  in  the  church,  and  a  turning  of  all 
eyes  to  the  platform.  See,  there  he  is  !  Beecher  him 
self,  with  that  old  smile  of  good-humoured  defiance 
on  his  face.  He  has  come  in  as  quietly  and  uncon 
cernedly  as  if  he  were  to  be  a  mere  listener.  He  has 
his  overcoat  on — his  rubbers,  too  (goloshes,  as  we  should 
call  them  here),  and  his  hat  in  his  hand,  just  as  if  he 
had  been  called  in  for  a  few  moments  from  the  street. 
No  pulpit-gown,  no  beadle,  no  ceremony,  in  this  land  of 
liberty  and  equality. 


A  FORENOON  IN  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH.  53 

Beecher  deposits  his  hat  in  the  corner,  takes  off  his 
rubbers  in  presence  of  the  whole  congregation,  seats 
himself  at  ease  in  the  chair,  and,  taking  the  hymn-book 
from  the  little  table  beside  him,  begins  to  turn  over  the 
leaves. 

At  half-past  ten,  sharp  on  the  minute,  the  organ 
begins.  In  front  of  it,  seated  in  the  orchestra  gallery, 
just  above  Beecher,  is  the  choir — a  row  of  twenty  or 
thirty  young  ladies  and  gentlemen,  whose  heads  alone 
are  visible  behind  the  low  crimson  screen.  They  are 
not  a  paid  choir ;  they  belong  to  the  congregation. 

As  soon  as  the  voluntary  is  ended,  Beecher  rises, 
takes  off  his  overcoat,  and,  stepping  forward  to  the 
desk,  says,  "  Let  us  invoke  the  blessing  of  God."  He 
does  so  in  a  few  solemn  words,  ending  with — "  Through 
Christ,  our  Redeemer,  Amen."  Then  he  opens  the  Bible 
and  begins  to  read  a  chapter — the  6th  of  Paul  to  the 
Ephesians. 

He  stands  erect  with  a  brave  look,  one  foot  planted  a 
pace  forward.  His  white  collar  is  turned  over  a  black 
tie ;  his  long  hair,  turning  grey  now,  is  brushed  back 
behind  his  ears.  His  large  grey  light-floating  eye  is 
full  of  sunny  light ;  and  about  his  whole  face,  especially 
about  his  mouth  and  chin,  that  singular  expression  of 
smiling  defiance.  Altogether  he  has  the  look  of  a  brave, 
strong  man  exulting  in  his  strength — the  look  of  one 
who  is  going  to  fight  you,  and  knows  that  he  will  win, 
but  means  to  let  you  off  without  much  punishment. 

The  people  are  still  crowding  in  at  all  doors  choking 
the  passages. 

After  a  hymn  comes  the  prayer.  There  is  a  solemn 
stillness ;  Beecher's  voice,  wonderful  in  its  pathos  and 
power,  filling  the  whole  place,  and  rising  up  with  its 


54  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

pleadings  to  the  throne  of  grace.  He  prays  for  the 
poor  and  those  left  in  ignorance — for  Sunday  schools, 
colleges,  and  universities.  "  Behold,"  he  cries  with 
emotion,  "how  many  there  are  to  be  lifted  up!"  He 
prays  that  more  men  may  come  forward  to  make  sacri 
fices  for  the  truth.  Then,  with  kindling  voice,  "  0  that 
Thou  wouldst  make  men  more  heroic  for  God  !  Lord 
Jesus,  Thou  who  hast  beheld  the  heels  of  tyrants  bathed 
in  the  blood  of  those  they  have  crushed — oh,  wilt  Thou 
not  come  in  Thy  shining  armour  and  set  the  people 
free  ?"  Then,  with  a  pause  and  sudden  revulsion  of 
feeling,  he  says — his  voice  broken  down  with  sadness— 
"  The  darkness  is  very  thick.  Life  walks  with  weary 
feet."  The  depth  of  feeling  that  trembles  in  Beecher's 
voice  when  his  heart  is  full,  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
describe. 

After  another  hymn  come  the  intimations,  some  of 
which  are  rather  odd.  Miss  Lucy  Stone  is  to  deliver 
a  lecture  somewhere  or  other  on  "Shall  women  vote?" 
The  prayer-meeting  is  to  be  shifted  this  week  from 
Wednesday  to  Saturday,  as  there  is  to  be  a  children's 
concert  on  Wednesday,  "  at  which,"  says  Beecher,  "  the 
eminent  singer,  Parepa  Eosa,  will  perform,  unless  a 
Providential  interference  shall  prevent  her."  Another 
intimation  is  to  the  effect  that  Captain  D — ,  of  this 
church,  will,  on  such  a  night,  repeat  his  lecture  on  the 
East.  Beecher  looks  at  the  paper  a  second  time,  and 
says,  with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eye — "'his  great 
Iecture7  he  calls  it."  This  excites  a  chuckle  all  over 
the  church  at  the  expense  of  the  captain,  who  is  pointed 
out  to  us  sitting  in  his  seat  in  view  of  the  whole  con 
gregation,  and  who  evidently  intends,  from  his  look  (he 
and  Beecher  are  always  bantering  one  another),  to  pay 


THE  SERMON.  55 

his  pastor  back  in  his  own  coin  at  the  earliest  possible 
date. 

There  is  another  hymn,  and  then  Beecher  comes  for 
ward  and  gives  out  the  text.  It  is  in  Ephesians  vi.  7  : 
— "  With  goodwill  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord  and  not 
to  men." 

He  pauses  for  several  moments,  looking  up  into  the 
gallery  with  that  peculiar  smile  upon  his  face,  as  if  he 
knew  there  was  some  one  there  afraid  of  him,  and  beg 
ging  him  mutely  not  to  begin  with  him.  He  lets  him 
alone  and  opens  quietly,  showing  how  Paul  is  urging 
men  to  the  fulfilment  of  their  duties — children  to  par 
ents,  parents  to  children. 

"  We  come  next,"  he  says,  "  to  slaves!'  At  that  word, 
the  key-note  of  so  many  fierce  conflicts,  there  is  the 
first  flash  of  fire. 

"  I  have  heard  it  alleged,"  says  the  preacher  (warm 
ing  up),  "  that  these  passages  justified  the  sin  of  slavery  ! 
But  mark  well  the  Apostle's  word.  When  he  speaks  to 
children,  he  says,  '  Obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord,  for 
this  is  right?  But  when  he  comes  to  the  slaves,  he 
says,  "  Serve  your  masters  " — not  your  masters  in  the 
Lord — but  your  masters  "  according  to  the  flesh,"  those 
that  happen  to  be  your  masters  according  to  the  ways 
of  the  world — serve  them  with  energy  and  sincerity  of 
purpose.  And  then  he  jumps  the  master,  as  though  the 
slave  had  no  motive  for  service  that  could  be  derived 
from  him,  and  says,  'Do  it  as  unto  Christ/  I  cannot 
do  it  for  my  master's  sake  ;  there  is  no  consideration 
growing  out  of  this  relationship  that  will  be  a  just  and 
proper  motive  for  me  to  give  him  a  slave's  obedience ; 
but  Christ  says,  '  Do  it  for  me.' "  Beecher's  voice  has 
been  kindling  through  all  the  paragraph.  He  looks  up 


56  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

now  with  flaming  eye.  "  This  distinction/'  he  cries 
with  a  voice  of  thunder,  "  this  implication  is  a  pro 
digious  argument  against  slavery  !  " 

That  is  his  introduction.  He  launches  out  now  upon 
his  subject — showing  that  this  is  a  principle  of  universal 
application — that  we  all  have  duties  to  perform  that  are 
disagreeable  or  painful,  and  that  we  should  help  our 
selves  to  their  discharge  by  looking  beyond  them  to  the 
Lord — doing  the  service  loyally  as  to  Him.  He  shows 
how  God,  to  receive  this  service,  connects  Himself  with 
all  persons  and  all  events.  "  Here/'  he  cries,  "  springs 
up  the  doctrine  of  Christian  Pantheism — the  doctrine 
of  a  personal  God  clothed  with  affection,  who  has  so 
joined  Himself  to  men  and  events  that  there  is  not  one 
thing  that  is  not  united  in  some  way  with  God,  as  in  a 
family  where,  if  a  child  is  sick  or  hurt,  it  goes  back  at 
once  to  the  heart  of  its  parents."  He  shows  how  all  men 
work  more  easily  when  acting  from  the  higher  than  from 
the  lower  motives ;  how,  therefore,  when  a  man  trains 
himself  to  work  from  this  highest  motive  of  all,  doing 
service  as  to  the  Lord,  the  yoke  becomes  easy  and  the 
burden  light. 

This  is  the  central  idea  of  his  discourse,  which  he 
illustrates  in  a  hundred  different  ways,  and  sends  home 
with  amazing  power. 

His  manner  is  peculiar.  His  manuscript  is  on  the 
desk,  but  he  does  not  stay  much  beside  it.  He  reads 
a  few  sentences  at  first;  but  as  soon  as  the  thought 
seizes  him,  he  moves  back  and  begins  to  "  orate  "  and 
gesticulate  all  round  the  platform,  till  the  idea  is  ex 
hausted  :  then  he  goes  back.  He  looks  like  a  man 
going  for  lance  after  lance  to  his  armoury,  brandish 
ing  one  awhile  in  the  air,  hurling  it  suddenly  at  the 


HIS  TRAINING.  57 

enemy,  and,  as  soon  as  he  has  seen  it  strike,  turning 
for  another. 

His  wealth  of  illustration  is  boundless.  In  this  he 
resembles  Guthrie ;  but  Guthrie  draws  more  from 
nature,  Beecher  from  human  life.  He  seems  to  search 
the  faces  of  his  audience  as  he  goes  along,  to  see  what 
manner  of  men  they  are,  and  what  their  thoughts  are 
busied  with  in  life,  that  he  may  know  with  what  argu 
ments  and  appeals  to  reach  them.  He  hesitates  at 
nothing.  If  he  come  on  politics  he  dashes  in,  and 
says,  without  the  slightest  circumlocution,  exactly  what 
he  means.  He  never  calls  a  spade  an  agricultural  im 
plement,  or  alludes  to  a  man's  wife  as  the  partner  of  his 
joys  and  sorrows.  He  conies  for  an  instant  to-day  on 
the  subject  of  political  corruption.  He  declares  that 
public  offices  are  bought  and  sold  in  the  United  States 
like  beef  in  the  shambles.  He  tells  his  audience  that  he 
says  nothing  of  New  York,  for  New  York  is  clean  gone 
like  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  ;  nothing  of  Albany,  for  it  is 
a  hissing  and  a  by- word  among  the  nations.  He  speaks 
of  the  country  at  large,  and  he  declares  that  ninety-five 
out  of  every  hundred  offices  are  bought  and  sold  like 
things  in  the  market.  The  reference  to  the  gone  condi 
tion  of  New  York  excites  alaugh,butit  is  over  in  an  instant. 
Beecher  is  on  with  kindling  face  to  something  else,  and  in 
two  minutes  after  you  could  hear  a  pin  fall,  as  the  audience 
listens  to  some  simple  story  of  the  Saviour's  love.  Then 
he  is  off  again,  flaming  with  some  new  thought,  but 
always  sweeping  on  upon  the  same  broad  track,  till  sud 
denly  he  is  done,  and  standing  there  with  the  fire  and  en 
thusiasm  still  in  his  face  that  has  been  kindling  in  it 
through  his  last  appeal.  The  closing  exercises  are  brief 
but  solemn,  and  the  vast  congregation  begins  to  disperse. 


58  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

People  quote  Beeclier's  fanny  sayings  as  they  used 
to  quote  Spurgeon's,  but  these  are  the  mere  bubbles  on 
the  surface  of  the  rushing  stream.  You  may  have 
laughed  with  the  others  at  some  odd  illustration,  but 
you  leave  the  church  a  better  man  than  when  you 
entered  it.  You  have  got  an  impulse  in  the  right 
direction :  you  go  away  with  higher  thoughts  and  pur 
poses.  This,  after  all,  is  the  test  of  a  good  sermon. 
Of  the  two  extremes,  it  is  perhaps  better  to  laugh  and 
get  good,  than  to  sleep  and  get  none. 

Many  of  the  peculiarities  of  Beecher's  style  spring 
from  his  peculiar  training.  His  father  gave  him  the 
very  best  education  within  his  reach ;  but  "  Henry " 
left  college  with  no  thought  of  the  Church,  was  rather 
a  wild  youth,  and,  with  two  companions,  followed  the 
pioneers  to  the  backwoods  to  shoot,  hunt,  and  fish. 
In  the  midst  of  this  wild  life  he  happened  to  hear 
a  Methodist  minister,  and  the  truth  struck  home  to 
his  heart.  The  effect  was  instantaneous.  Like  Saul 
when  he  was  struck  down  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  his 
first  question  was — "  What  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  " 
Beecher's  enthusiastic  nature  admitted  of  nothing  else. 
He  sold  his  rod  and  gun  for  a  horse,  and  began  to  move 
from  place  to  place,  preaching  to  the  backwoodsmen. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  Beecher's  ministry.  At  first 
he  used  to  try  and  write  his  sermons,  as  he  had  seen  his 
father  do  :  with  sometimes  nothing  but  the  end  of  a  log 
or  the  lid  of  a  pot  to  rest  the  paper  on.  But  he  found 
that  a  log-cabin  full  of  children  was  not  a  place  favour 
able  to  composition  of  this  kind,  and  he  gave  it  up. 
Thereafter  his  studying  was  done  as  he  rode  from  one 
settlement  to  another,  on  the  back  of  his  old  horse. 


HIS  TEAMING. 


59 


This  went  on  for  three  years,  before  he  settled  down  in 
a  regular  charge.  It  was  during  these  years  that  he 
acquired  his  power  of  homely  and  forcible  illustration, 
and  his  habit,  still  so  marked,  of  seizing  everything  from 
around  him  that  can  help  to  drive  truth  home  to  the 
heart.1  Without  this  he  would  never  have  succeeded 

their  fingers  in  their  pockets  and 
selected  a  quarter,  use  admirable 
tact  in  conveying  it  to  the  plate, 
so  that  no  one  shall  see  what  they 
give  ?  Pious  souls  !  they  don't  let 
their  left  hand  know  what  their  right 
doeth.  If  they  have  two  bills,  one 
good,  one  bad,  they  will  generally 
give  the  bad  one  to  the  Lord." 

Standing  forth  against  the  execu 
tion  of  Jefferson  Davis,  which,  in 
1865,  was  clamoured  for  by  a  power 
ful  party,  Beecher  said,—"  The  war 
itself  is  the  most  terrific  warning 
that  could  possibly  be  set  up.  And 
to  attempt,  by  erecting  against  this 
lurid  background  the  petty  figure  of 
a  gallows,  with  a  man  dangling  at 
it  to  heighten  the  effect,  would 
be  like  lighting  tapers  when  God's 
lightnings  are  flashing  across  the 
heavens,  to  add  to  the  grandeur  of 
the  storm." 

Commenting  on  the  parable  of 
the  unjust  judge,  he  said, — "  We 
are  told  that  he  lived  in  a  certain 
city.  If  it  had  been  New  York  this 
would  have  been  no  guide.  We 
have  so  many  of  them  here,  nobody 
would  have  known  which  judge  was 
referred  to." 

On  another  occasion,  referring  to 
a  commercial  crisis  that  had  wrecked 
a  number  of  New  York  and  Brook 
lyn  merchants,  some  of  them  his 
own  people,  he  said, — "  This  is  the 
best  thing  that  could  have  hap- 


1  Here  are  some  of  his  odd  say 
ings  : — "  Some  people  puzzle  them 
selves  about  the  origin  of  evil. 
These  people  begin  at  the  wrong 
end.  What  would  you  think  of  a 
man  who,  if  he  saw  a  pig  in  his  gar 
den,  should  begin  to  discuss  the 
question  how  that  pig  could  have 
got  in,  when  the  pig  is  busy  all  the 
time  rooting  up  his  potatoes  ?  No  ; 
the  first  thing  is  to  drive  the  pig 
out.  Let  us  drive  sin  from  our 
hearts  and  from  the  world.  Let 
this  be  our  business  here.  We  shall 
have  a  whole  eternity  afterwards  to 
ascertain  how  it  first  got  in."  Re 
ferring  to  those  who  are  great  in 
profession,  but  very  small  in  Chris 
tian  activity,  he  said,  "  Some  men 
pray  cream  and  live  skim  milk." 

Again,  speaking  of  some  mammon 
worshippers  who  make  a  profession 
of  religion,  he  said,  "  They  are  not 
satisfied  with  a  competence  :  they 
must  have  it  five  storeys  high.  And 
then  they  want  religion  as  a  sort  of 
lightning-rod  to  their  houses,  to 
ward  off  the  bolts  of  Divine  wrath." 

Upbraiding  his  people  on  one  oc 
casion  for  the  meanness  of  their 
contributions  for  the  poor,  he  said, 
"  There  are  hundreds  of  men  here 
who  ought  to  be  ashamed  ever  to 
give  anything  but  gold,  or  at  least 
a  dollar  bill,  and  they  are  ashamed 
to  do  it.  Don't  they,  when  the 
plate  approaches,  and  they  have  put 


60  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

amongst  the  rough  backwoodsmen  as  he  did.  At  last  a 
congregation  was  formed  in  Indiana,  and  Beecher,  as 
sisted  by  some  of  the  farmers,  got  a  little  church  put 
up.  It  was  a  rude  affair,  and  he  had  to  keep  it  in  order 
himself.  He  swept  the  place  every  Sunday  morning 
with  his  own  hands. 

"  I  would  have  rung  the  bell  too,"  said  Beecher,  "  if 
there  had  been  a  bell  to  ring  !" 

When  he  was  called  to  Brooklyn,  and  examined  prior 
to  his  settlement,  some  of  the  older  and  more  rigid 
clergymen  on  the  examining  committee  were  horrified  at 
his  apparent  ignorance  of  technical  theology — and  he  a 
son  of  Lyman  Beecher  !  Horace  Bushnell  stood  up  for 
him,  said  the  right  spirit  was  in  this  man,  and  he  would 
soon  work  out  for  himself  the  details  of  theology.  Some 
of  the  others  were  less  satisfied.  "  I  would  protest 
against  this  settlement,"  said  one,  "  were  I  not  in  hope 
that  his  theology  will  gradually  be  rectified  by  his  wise 
and  estimable  brother," — referring  to  Dr.  Edward  Beecher. 
When  this  brother  startled  the  orthodox  with  his 
Contest  of  Ages,  Beecher  said  to  his  old  friend, — "  You 
see  we  are  now  getting  our  theology  gradually  rectified 
by  that  wise  and  estimable  brother  of  mine!" 

One  or  two  other  stories  of  that  examination  are  still 
current.  Beecher  was  asked  by  a  New  England  minister 
of  the  stricter  sort,  if  he  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Perseverance  of  the  Saints. 

pened  fdr  some  of  you.  You  will  preaching  against  American  intern- 
now  have  an  opportunity  of  making  perance,  that  "  an  American  had 
the  acquaintance  of  your  children.  not  the  same  excuse  which  an  Eng- 
There  are  some  men  here  who  have  lishman  had,  for  the  latter  had  so 
been  accustomed  to  live  in  New  much  water  outside,  that  there  was 
York  and  roost  in  Brooklyn."  some  reason  for  his  never  taking  any 
Mr.  Zincke  heard  Beecher  say,  in  inside." 


HIS  INFLUENCE  ON  THE  PULPIT  IN  AMERICA.          61 

"  I  used  to  believe  in  that  doctrine/'  said  Beecher ; 
"but  when  I  went  out  West,  and  saw  how  the  New 
England  saints  behaved  themselves  when  they  got  away 
there,  I  gave  it  up."  He  was  not  questioned  further 
on  that  point. 

He  was  warned,  however,  by  the  presiding  minister, 
against  the  indulgence  of  wit  in  the  pulpit.  "Ah, 
Doctor/'  said  Beecher,  "  if  you  knew  how  much  I  keep 
down  as  it  is,  you  would  say  I  did  very  well.  Suppose, 
now/'  he  added,  "  God  had  endowed  you  with  any  wit, 
would  you  not  use  it  to  His  glory  ?" 

Beecher  has  wrought  a  perceptible  change  in  the 
American  pulpit.  He  has  done  so,  speaking  literally 
as  well  as  figuratively,  for  he  has  helped  to  clear  away 
the  box  pulpits  and  introduce  the  open  platform.  He 
carries  the  same  idea  into  his  preaching.  He  wants 
room,  freedom,  latitude.  He  must  speak  what  he  thinks 
and  feels,  no  matter  whether  it  make  the  people  applaud, 
or  laugh,  or  cry.  All  the  faculties  that  God  has  given 
him  he  demands  the  liberty  to  use  in  His  service— 
whether  it  be  wit,  logic,  sarcasm,  pathos,  or  humour. 
He  is  warring  with  the  devil,  and  every  arrow  in  his 
quiver  must  fly.  The  question  with  him  is  not  "  Which 
shaft  is  considered  the  most  proper?"  but  "Which  will 
fly  straightest  and  strike  deepest?" 

He  must  also  be  allowed  to  deal  with  any  and  every 
subject.  If  he  thinks  the  interests  of  religion  are 
bound  up  in  any  crisis  with  the  ascendancy  of  the  Ee- 
publican  party,  he  will  preach  Eepublican  politics.  It 
will  be  remembered  how,  in  the  crisis  of  '64  he  declared 
that  he  would  preach  Abraham  Lincoln  till  the  election 
was  over.  He  follows  his  instincts — attacks  the  grog 
shops,  the  slave-system,  the  Government,  the  State 


62  HENEY  WABD  BEECHEIl. 

Legislature,  the  corrupt  tribunals  of  New  York1 — every 
person,  institution,  or  practice  in  whom  or  in  which 
he  thinks  the  devil  is  dangerously  entrenching  him 
self. 

This  makes  his  church  a  power  in  the  land.  Evil 
doers  are  afraid  of  him.  If  a  New  York  millionaire 
or  a  Cabinet  Minister,  no  matter  who  he  is,  does  any 
conspicuously  wicked  or  dastardly  thing,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  will  have  his  clutches  on  him  next  Sunday 
night,  and  hold  him  up  in  Plymouth  Church  to  the 
execration  of  the  whole  country. 

But  if  Beecher  is  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  he  is  equally 
a  praise  to  such  as  do  well.  He  has  a  large  and  generous 
heart.  If  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  inflame  the  war- 
spirit  of  the  North  against  slavery,  he  was  also  one  of 
the  first  to  preach  magnanimity  and  mercy  to  the  con 
quered  South.  His  speech  at  Sumter,  in  '65,  is  an  im- 

1  Last  year  lie  dragged  the  New  New  York  judge  repents — what  a 
•York  city  judges,  with  all  their  ven-  mighty  change  has  to  take  place 
ality  -and  corruption  upon  them,  with  him  !  ...  If  such  a  man  came 
into  the  light.  The  judges  were  to  me  and  said,  '  Sir,  I  have  been 
furious,  and  met  to  frame  a  libel.  the  very  chief  of  sinners, 'and  a  thou- 
But  they  knew  too  well  the  truth  of  sand  men  should  say  '  Amen  !'  and 
the  allegations  ;  they  found  that  it  he  should  say,  '  I  have  corrupted 
would  be  perilous  in  the  face  of  the  the  very  fountain  of  justice — what 
public  to  attempt  to  shut  up  the  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? '  I  should 
mouth  of  their  accuser,  and  they  say,  '  Quick  !  arise  and  confess  those 
let  the  matter  drop.  Beecher  sug-  sins  ;  and  give  back  those  bribes  ! ' 
gested  that  as  they  had  failed  with  A  corrupt  judge  !  No  words  can  be 
him,  they  should  now  look  to  them-  too  liery,  no  edge  too  sharp,  no 
selves  and  repent.  He  preached  a  thunder  too  mighty,  and  no  light- 
sermon  on  "  Works  meet  for  repent-  ning  too  hot  to  scorch  such  a  man. 
ance."  He  said  there  were  many  If  such  men  are  ever  to  enter  the 
unconverted  men  who  lived  out-  kingdom  of  God,  they  must  be  bom 
wardly  such  good  moral  lives  that  again  ;  and  when  they  are,  there 
when  the  inward  change  came  they  will  be  found  scarce  enough  in  them 
glided  into  the  new  life  impercep-  to  make  a  fair-sized  infant." 
tibly.  "But,"  he  said,  "when  a 


p 

TABLE-TALK. 


63 


perishable  monument,  not  only  to  his  nobleness  of  heart, 
but  to  his  generosity  and  Christian  statesmanship.1 


1  The  so-called  "political"  sermon 
with  which,  in  Plymouth  Church, 
he  ushered  in  that  year,  deserves  to 
be  written  under  his  name  in  letters 
of  gold.  At  the  very  time  when  the 
North  was  swelling  with  her  mighty 
triumph,  and  the  New  York  Herald 
was  reminding  the  country  that  by 
and  by  there  would  be  half-a-million 
of  veteran  troops  at  leisure  to  annex 
Canada  and  punish  the  nation  that 
had  let  slip  the  Alabama  to  prey 
on  American  commerce,  this  is 
what  Henry  Ward  Beecher  ("  War- 
Beecher "  as  Punch  would  have  it) 
was  preaching  to  his  countrymen  : — 
"I  want  influence  for  my  country — 
not  power.  The  power  that  silently 
issues  from  her  laws  ;  the  sight  of 
her  wealth  and  thrift ;  the  sight  of 
her  order,  and  peace,  and  virtue ; 
the  sight  of  the  poor  man's  pros 
perity  ;  the  sight  of  a  nation  that  is 
virtuous  aud  happy ; — this  is  the 
only  political  supremacy  that  I  de 
sire  for  my  country.  ...  I  am  not 
eager  for  her  military  superiority. 
...  I  am  not  eager  even  for  her 
commercial  pre-eminence.  ...  I  am 
filled  with  a  higher  ambition.  Let 
all  arts  and  commerce  thrive  ;  let 
our  influence  extend  and  our  exam 
ple  shine  ;  but  let  it  be  as  a  Chris 
tian  nation  that  we  are  known.  We 
go  on  no  incendiary  mission.  Truth 
preaching,  not  filibustering,  is  to  be 
our  national  errand.  .  .  .  Brethren, 
we  have  no  revenges  to  seek.  If  out 
of  this  terrific  baptism  of  blood  [the 
war  was  just  closing]  we  should 
emerge  mourning  our  first-born,  and 
turn  from  green  graves  to 


bloody  hands  at  those  who  have 
not  known  or  sympathized  with  our 
sorrows  !— oh,  if  we  should  be  left 
to  that,  we  have  not  yet  escaped 
from  the  snare  of  the  devil.  If  out 
of  our  sufferings  we  do  not  rise  with 
more  Christian  fortitude  and  more 
magnanimity  than  to  raise  up  old 
evils,  and  set  on  foot  new  wars  of 
vengeance  for  things  that  might 
easily  be  forgotten,  then  we  have 
profited  little  from  this  teaching  of 
God.  I  am  not  for  war  with  any 
nation  ;  and  .  .  .  woe  be  to  the  day 
that  shall  beget  estrangement  be 
tween  the  Christians  of  England  and 
the  Christians  of  America  !  .  .  .  I 
am.  for  building  up  this  nation  in 
wealth,  in  civilisation,  in  refine 
ment,  in  political  strength,  in  mili 
tary  power,  in  all  things  that  go  to 
make  us  broad  and  tall  and  great : 
and  then  I  am  for  having  this  nation, 
in  the  majesty  of  its  might,  stand 
for  peace,  and  Christian  fellowship, 
and  Christian  love.  ...  A  nation 
that  can  be  measured  by  nothing 
but  latitudes  and  longitudes ;  a 
nation  that  has  nothing  to  fear  but 
God — is  there  not  to  be  a  day  when 
such  a  nation  shall  go  forth  sweet- 
tempered  as  a  lamb?  It  is  that 
that  I  labour  for,  and  hope  for,  and 
believe  in  for  my  nation.  Let  other 
nations  do  wrong,  and  by  the  hate- 
fulness  of  that  wrong  in  our  eyes, 
let  us  not  imitate  it." 

This  is  the  man  that  has  been 
called  a  mountebank,  a  farceur,  a 
preacher  of  "  the  gospel  according 
to  Joe  Miller." 


64  HENRY  WAKD  BEECHER. 

Beecher's  influence  on  the  American  pulpit  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  words.  He  has  lowered  its  level, 
but  increased  its  power.  He  has  made  it  stoop — to 
conquer. 

Conversing  one  day  with  Beech er  on  the  subject  of 
the  war,  he  said,  "  Our  triumph  is  producing  a  speedier 
effect  upon  you  than  upon  ourselves.  It  will  take  time 
here.  It  has  shown  its  influence  in  England  already, 
in  the  Eeform  Bill.  The  first  effect  of  that  bill  will 
be  to  revolutionize  the  educational  system.  I  should 
also  think,  but  I  don't  know,  that  it  would  affect  the 
Church  and  the  land-tenure.  The  land  question  is 
vital.  Now,  we  in  America  are  invulnerable,  unap 
proachable,  because  every  one  has  property  in  the  coun 
try.  Immigration  makes  no  difference.  If  all  Europe 
came  here  we  should  not  have  people  enough  for  the 
soil.  The  root  of  patriotism,"  he  said,  with  emphasis, 
"  is  property  in  land." 

Speaking  of  American  institutions,  he  said  he  had 
implicit  faith  in  the  good  government  of  an  educated 
people. 

I  spoke  of  the  misgovernment  of  New  York. 

"New  York,"  he  said,  "is  an  exception,  because  of 
the  mass  of  foreign  ignorance  and  vice  that  has  accu 
mulated  in  it.  The  Irish  and  German  vote  controls  the 
election.  But  that  mass  will  one  day  be  educated  and 
Americanized." 

He  had  been  in  Canada  shortly  before,  spending  the 
time  there  necessary  to  secure  the  copyright  of  Norwood. 
He  said  Canada  was  a  fine  country.  He  had  no  idea  of 
it  till  he  had  seen  it.  He  paid  what  evidently  seemed 
to  him  the  highest  conceivable  compliment  when  he 
added  that  it  appeared  not  very  different  from  the  States. 


TABLE-TALK.  65 

On  another  occasion,  speaking  of  Charles  Dickens 
and  his  visit  to  America,  I  asked  if  he  thought  his 
American  Notes  and  Chuzzlewit  would  tell  against  him 
with  the  people. 

"  No/'  said  Beecher ;  "  not  now.  There  was  a  time 
when  they  would,  but  the  feeling  has  cooled  down.  We 
were  very  sensitive  at  the  time  these  books  first  came 
out.  It  was  the  difference  between  the  young  man  of 
sixteen  and  the  man  of  thirty.  A  young  man  of  six 
teen  is  very  anxious  about  people's  opinion  of  him.  He 
doesn't  know  whether  he  is  really  a  man  or  not.  We 
have  got  past  that  stage  now." 

Speaking  of  Hepworth  Dixon's  book  on  New  America, 
and  the  prominence  he  gives  to  Shakers,  Mormons,  and 
other  exceptional  communities,  "  What  are  these  in  this 
great  nation?"  exclaimed  Beecher.  "They  are  little 
sections  of  the  people  that  step  out  of  the  line  of  the 
nation's  march,  live  a  little  time,  and  die.  '  New  Ame 
rica  ! ' — you  might  as  well  draw  a  picture  of  a  wart  on 
a  man's  nose  and  call  it  the  New  Man !" 


66  NEW  YORK. 


VIII. 

NOTES  ABOUT  NEW  YORK. 

NEW  YORK  is  a  stupendous  city — a  perfect  maelstrom 
of  commerce.  It  has  already  covered  the  greater  part 
of  the  island ;  it  is  streaming  fast  towards  the  other  end, 
where  stands  New  Harlem.  Very  soon  now  it  will 
have  swallowed  up  New  Harlem,  and  converted  the 
whole  island  into  one  huge  hive  of  industry.  Nor  are 
these  the  real  limits  of  New  York.  She  has  stretched 
her  arm  across  the  river  on  both  sides  of  her,  and  built 
other  two  great  cities  for  her  overflowing  population — 
Jersey  city  on  the  west,  Brooklyn  on  the  east,  the  latter 
with  a  population  now  of  300,000  souls. 

In  New  York  all  that  is  best  and  all  tha,t  is  worst  in 
America  is  represented.  Fling  together  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
the  New  Jerusalem,  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  a  little  of 
heaven,  and  more  of  hell,  and  you  have  a  faint  picture 
of  this  mighty  Babylon  of  the  New  World.  City  of 
colossal  wealth  and  haggard  poverty ;  city  of  virtue,  with 
an  abortionist  occupying  the  most  palatial  residence  in 
Fifth  Avenue ;  city  of  churches  and  Bible  houses,  where 
one  of  the  foremost  citizens  is  a  man  who  keeps  his  wife 
on  one  side  of  the  street  and  his  mistress  on  the  other. 

New  York  can  scarcely  be  called  an  American  city, 
the  proportion  of  foreigners — especially  of  Irish  and 
Germans — being  so  overwhelming,  and  the  steady  influx 


MISGOVERNMENT.  67 

of  this  foreign  element  being  so  immense.  The  Ger 
mans  are  reckoned  at  400,000,  being  a  larger  number 
than  is  to  be  found  in  any  German  city  except  Berlin 
and  Vienna ;  while  the  Irish  are  more  numerous  in  New 
York  than  in  any  city  in  Ireland  except  Dublin.  I  was 
surprised  to  find  the  Germans  so  numerous.  Every 
where  in  the  streets,  in  the  markets,  in  the  stages,  horse- 
cars,  and  ferry-boats — you  can  hear  German  talked. 
It  reminded  me  of  the  prevalence  of  French  in  Montreal. 
There  are  German  churches,  German  theatres,  German 
newspapers ;  but  English  is  the  language  of  every  public 
school,  even  in  the  German  quarter  of  the  city.  America 
has  wisely  determined  that  English  shall  be  the  lan 
guage  of  the  continent — one  of  the  most  important 
provisions  she  has  made  for  national  unity. 

The  Scotch  are  not  very  numerous  in  New  York,  num 
bering  only  about  20,000,  in  a  population  of  nearly  two 
millions,  taking  in  Brooklyn.  I  found  they  had  a  high 
character  for  industry  and  enterprise.  Most  of  them 
are  prosperous,  and  many  of  them  have  risen  to  positions 
of  great  wealth  and  influence.  They  are  strongly  British 
in  feeling,  remain  for  the  most  part  British  subjects,  and 
take  little  interest  in  American  politics.  They  do  not 
organize,  and  are  merely  so  many  grains  of  sand  on  the 
sea-shore.  Hence  the  Scotch,  like  the  English,  are  not 
counted  amongst  political  parties  as  the  Irish  and  Ger 
mans  are. 

The  Irish  make  a  profession  of  politics,  throw  them 
selves  with  all  the  ardour  of  their  race  into  the  political 
arena,  and  almost  monopolize  the  public  offices.  The 
Irish  element  rules  New  York,  and  the  result  is  not 
flattering  to  the  rulers.  I  doubt  if  there  be  a  city  in 
the  world  where  there  is  so  much  official  jobbery  and 


68  NOTES  ABOUT  NEW  YORK. 

corruption.  Beecher  spoke  of  New  York  as  given  over 
to  the  devil — clean  gone,  like  Sodom  and  Gomorrah— 
and  the  further  one  penetrates  into  the  government  or 
misgovernment  of  the  city,  the  more  reason  one  sees  for 
accepting  his  language  literally.  Take  a  single  case; 
the  whisky  tax  in  New  York  brings  little  or  nothing  into 
the  Treasury,  when  everybody  knows  that  it  ought  to 
bring  millions  of  dollars.  Why  is  this  ?  There  are 
officials  getting  say  $2000  a  year  to  see  the  whisky 
manufactured  and  to  tax  it.  But  it  would  pay  the 
distilleries  to  give  these  officials  $2000  a  week  not  to 
see  the  whisky,  and  therefore,  not  to  tax  it.  Whether 
the  experiment  is  made  or  not,  the  curious  fact  remains 
that,  while  the  tax  is  $2  on  the  gallon,  you  can  buy  as 
much  whisky  as  you  please  at  $1  90c.,  being  10  cents 
less  than  the  tax  on  it.  The  consequence  is,  that  when 
Government  seizes  whisky  and  puts  it  up  for  auction, 
they  can't  sell  it  even  for  the  amount  of  the  tax.  What 
a  stupendous  fraud  lies  half-concealed  under  this  single 
fact! 

The  first  thing  that  opens  the  eyes  of  a  stranger  to 
the  management  of  the  city,  especially  if  the  weather 
be  wet,  is  the  shocking  condition  of  the  streets.  The 
dirtiest  streets  of  London  or  Glasgow  are  like  a  drawing- 
room  floor  compared  with  the  streets  of  New  York  on  a 
slushy  day.  Crossing  even  Broadway,  after  a  thaw,  I 
have  had  to  tuck  up  my  "  pants  "  and  wade.  Most  of 
the  people  wear  rubbers  over  their  boots — gunboats  as 
they  sometimes  call  them  from  their  size ;  but  if  matters 
got  much  worse  they  should  have  to  betake  themselves 
to  real  boats,  and  establish  ferries  at  the  principal 
crossings.  There  is  probably  no  city  in  the  world 
where  the  streets  cost  the  people  so  much,  and  are  im- 


PRICES  AND  WAGES.  69 

proved  so  little.  And  the  condition  of  the  streets 
seems  to  be  only  a  picture  of  the  municipal  government 
generally. 

New  York,  however,  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  fair  illus 
tration  of  American  institutions — can  scarcely  be  called 
an  American  city  at  all.  It  shows  us  Eepublican 
government  controlled,  to  a  large  extent,  by  a  mass  of 
foreigners,  who  lack  the  education  and  political  training 
which  the  American  system  provides  for  its  own  people. 
From  this  point  of  view,  the  government  of  New  York, 
bad  as  it  is,  challenges  admiration.  When  we  consider 
the  overwhelming  power  of  her  foreign  element — when 
we  remember  that  she  has  been  for  many  years  a  sink 
for  the  ignorance,  vice,  and  crime  of  all  Europe — that 
the  best  of  the  emigrants  who  are  poured  out  in  ship 
loads  upon  her  wharves  day  by  day  go  west,  leaving 
the  worst  to  her — when  we  remember  that  all  this  mass 
of  important  ignorance,  and  vice,  and  crime  is  enfran 
chised  in  New  York,  and  that  the  lowest  and  most 
ignorant  class  of  immigrants  landing  to-day  can,  by  a 
cheap  and  easy  process  of  perjury,  be  converted  into 
voters  to-morrow — the  wonder  amongst  intelligent  people 
will  be,  not  that  New  York  has  a  defective  government, 
but  that  she  has  any  government  at  all.  The  fact 
that,  in  spite  of  all  these  circumstances,  law  and  order 
prevail,  and  life  and  property  are  secure — that  the  vast 
commercial  interests  of  the  city  continue  to  expand, 
and  her  social  condition  to  improve — this  fact,  in  view 
of  the  fearful  strain  to  which  American  institutions 
there  are  subjected,  makes  New  York,  in  spite  of  her 
mis-government,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  proofs  of 
the  strength  and  stability  of  Kepublican  government. 

Living  is  very  expensive  in  New  York,  and  prices 


70  NOTES  ABOUT  NEW  YORK. 

have  risen  enormously  since  the  war.  One  notices  this 
most  in  little  things.  Scarcely  anything  now  is  to  be 
got  for  a  cent ;  everything  is  three  cents,  generally  five. 
You  pay  five  cents  for  an  apple.  Lead  pencils,  which 
used  to  be  six  cents,  are  now  fifteen.  Havana  cigars, 
which  could  be  got  for  eight  and  ten  cents  formerly, 
are  up  to  thirty-five,  and  range  from  that  to  a  dollar. 
Good  beef- steak  could  not  be  got  for  less  than  thirty- 
five  cents  a  pound  any  time  I  visited  New  York  ;  while 
before  the  war  you  could  get  the  best  cut  for  eight— 
being  less  than  a  fourth  of  its  present  price.  Tea, 
which  had  been  untaxed  formerly,  was  burdened  with  a 
duty  of  20  cents  per  pound. 

There  had  been  a  similar  rise  in  the  price  of  houses 
and  in  rents.  A  friend  in  Brooklyn  had  just  paid 
$12,000  for  a  house  that  had  been  offered  him  for 
$4500  before  the  war.  "What  would  this  place  rent 
for  in  Glasgow?" — a  gentleman  who  had  been  showing 
me  through  his  new  house,  asked  me.  I  said  "£150; 
at  the  outside  £160."  "Well,"  said  he,  "I  pay  $3000 
(about  £500),  and  I  was  glad  to  get  it  at  that."  I  found 
that  few  good  middle- class  houses  could  be  got  at  less 
than  a  rental  of  $2000.  But  the  houses  are  generally 
larger,  more  commodious,  and  more  elegant,  though  less 
substantial,  than  ours ;  and  Americans  allow  a  larger  pro 
portion  of  their  incomes  to  go  for  house  accommodation 
than  we  do.  An  American  will  sink  a  third,  sometimes 
even  a  half  of  his  income,  in  house  rent. 

With  the  working  classes,  house  rent  is  a  very  serious 
item  of  expense.  I  found  working  men  in  New  York 
paying  $10  and  $12  a  month  (£20  to  £24  a  year)  for 
two  rooms  in  an  attic.  But  wages  have  risen  with  other 
things,  and  working  men  in  regular  employment  are 


WAGES  AND  SAVINGS.  71 

exceedingly  well  off.  Bricklayers  were  earning  $6 
(about  18s.)  a  day  when  I  was  in  New  York;  though 
this  high  wage  was  not  expected  to  last.  The  ordinary 
wage  for  bricklayers,  masons,  painters,  plasterers,  car 
penters,  and  mechanics  is  $5  a  day.  This  is  more  than 
double  what  it  was  before  the  war.  Labourers,  again, 
who  used  to  get  75  cents  or  $1  a  day,  now  get  $2, 
sometimes  $3.  Of  course  the  dollar  is  paper  money,  and 
$3  in  paper  money,  in  the  present  depreciated  state  of 
the  currency,  is  only  worth  about  $2  in  gold.  But  in 
spite  of  all  this— in  spite,  that  is,  of  high  prices  and 
depreciated  currency — the  condition  of  the  working 
man,  even  in  New  York,  is  better  than  it  is  here. 
Even  if  he  only  earns  enough  to  pay  his  board — board 
there  is  much  more  luxurious  than  working  men  were 
ever  accustomed  to  in  Scotland.  But  in  general,  work 
ing  men  can  live  easily  on  half  their  income.  I  found 
compositors  who  were  earning  $20  a  week,  and  who 
boarded  comfortably  on  $6.  Hence  those  who  are 
economical  easily  accumulate  money.  I  found  in  the 
Savings  Bank  of  New  York  alone  about  $80,000,000  be 
longing  chiefly  to  mechanics.  There  were  $15,000,000 
in  the  Bowery  Savings  Bank;  $14,000,000  in  the  Savings 
Bank  in  Blecker  Street ;  over  $8,000,000  in  the  Sea 
man's  Bank,  and  so  on.  The  Germans  are  the  most 
economical,  the  Irish  least  so ;  though  the  Irish,  to  their 
credit  be  it  said,  send  a  great  deal  of  money  home  to 
their  friends  and  relatives  in  Ireland.  A  gentleman 
who  has  long  been  officially  connected  with  missionary 
and  benevolent  work  amongst  the  poor  of  New  York, 
described  the  difference  between  the  Germans  and  the 
Irish  thus  : — "  If,"  he  said,  "  we  get  a  German  family  on 
our  poor  list  this  year,  we  don't  expect  to  have  them 


72  NOTES  ABOUT  NEW  YORK. 

next  year;  but  if  we  get  an  Irish  family,  we  never 
expect  to  see  them  off  the  list  as  long  as  we  can  be 
induced  to  grant  relief.  The  Irish  are  extravagant,  the 
Germans  are  always  economical.  If  a  German  earns 
twenty  cents  a  day,  he  will  live  on  thirteen;  if  an 
Irishman  earns  twenty-five,  he  will  spend  thirty." 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF.  73 


IX. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF.1 


ONE  of  the  men  I  was  most  anxious  to  meet  on  my 
way  South  was  George  H.  Stuart  of  Philadelphia.  Dur 
ing  the  war  I  had  read  a  great  deal  about  him  as  the 
animating  and  governing  spirit  of  that  vast  organization 
of  Christian  philanthropy,  the  United  States  Christian 
Commission,  which  had  rilled  the  Northern  armies  with 
Christian  influences,  which  had  its  Christian  delegates 
in  every  camp  and  hospital,  helping  the  chaplains,  the 
surgeons,  and  the  nurses,  keeping  the  soldiers  supplied 
with  a  thousand  little  comforts  which  they  would  never 
otherwise  have  enjoyed,  and  sending  its  delegates  out 
upon  the  fields  of  blood  and  agony  as  soon  as  a  battle 
was  over,  to  tend  the  maimed  and  the  dying,  friend  and 
foe  alike,  moistening  their  parched  lips,  pointing  their 

1  The  Annals  of  the  Christian  much  wish  this  age  to  be  known  in 
Commission,  which  have  now  been  after  times,  were  its  other  records 
published  by  Lippincott  of  Phila-  to  be  lost,  as  by  these  Annals  of 
delphia — also  the  Report  of  the  U.S.  the  Christian  and  Sanitary  Commis- 
Sanitary  Commission  (a  kindred  or-  sions.  Of  the  Christian  Commission, 
ganization,  which  looked  more  ex-  George  H.  Stuart  was  president  from 
clusively  to  the  physical  sufferings  first  to  last,  and  there  can  be  little 
and  wants  of  the  army),  will  pre-  doubt  that  to  the  genius,  the  Chris- 
serve  an  invaluable  record  of  two  of  tian  zeal,  and  the  organizing  and 
the  greatest  embodiments  of  Chris-  executive  ability  of  this  remarkable 
tian  philanthropy  which  this  or  any  man  the  success  of  the  Christian 
other  age  has  seen.  I  can  think  of  Commission  was  largely  due. 
few  books  by  which  one  could  so 


74  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

eyes  to  the  cross,  and  taking  their  dying  messages  to 
send  to  their  distant  homes. 

I  had  no  fewer  than  four  letters  of  introduction  to 
Mr.  Stuart  from  prominent  men  in  England  and  Scot 
land,  and  being  exceedingly  anxious  not  to  lose  what  I 
thought  might  be  my  only  opportunity,  I  forwarded 
these  letters  from  New  York,  hoping  they  would  clear 
the  wray  for  an  interview  when  I  got  on  to  Philadelphia. 
Two  days  after  I  was  writing  letters  in  a  friend's  office 
in  the  city  when  the  door  of  the  outer  office  opened,  and 
I  heard  a  cheerful  voice,  with  a  sprightly  touch  of  Irish 
in  its  accent,  inquiring  for  me.  On  looking  round,  I 
beheld  a  pleasant,  active-looking  gentleman,  in  a  cut 
away  coat  such  as  business  men  very  often  wear  in  Ame 
rica,  his  countenance  irradiated  with  a  happy  smile  that 
seemed  less  to  be  called  into  his  face  by  any  passing 
circumstance  than  to  belong  to  it  as  part  of  its  proper 
expression,  and  to  be  flowing  perpetually  from  a  cheer 
ful  heart  within. 

When  he  said  his  name  was  Stuart,  it  never  occurred 
to  me  that  this  was  George  H.  Stuart  of  Philadelphia, 
whom  I  had  pictured  as  a  much  older  man,  and  one  on 
whose  face  I  should  discern,  as  on  a  palimpsest,  the  cares 
and  herculean  labours  of  those  long  years  of  war. 

When  I  found  that  it  was  really  the  chief  of  the 
Christian  Commission  that  stood  before  me,  I  could 
not  help  expressing  my  astonishment  at  his  youthful 
appearance. 

"  Oh/'  said  he,  with  the  smile  brightening  in  his  face, 
"  work  for  the  Lord  makes  even  old  men  young." 

He  sat  down  near  me  and  began  to  converse  with 
great  vivacity,  asking  questions  about  his  friends  in 
Scotland  faster  than  I  could  answer  them,  and  winding 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF.  75 

up  by  saying  that  on  reaching  Philadelphia  I  must  go 
straight  to  his  house,  bag  and  baggage,  and  make  it  my 
home  as  long  as  I  remained  in  the  city. 

He  had  business  to  attend  to  in  New  York,  so  he  rose 
to  leave,  shaking  hands  as  cordially  as  if  we  had  been 
friends  from  boyhood. 

This  interview,  short  as  it  was,  went  far  to  explain  to 
me  the  character  and  success  of  this  remarkable  man. 
It  was  easy  to  see  how  this  youthfulness  and  buoyancy 
of  heart,  this  overflowing  kindness,  this  quickness,  elo 
quence  and  activity,  with  so  much  Christian  enthusiasm 
and  real  love  for  the  work,  would  enable  a  man  with  the 
requisite  amount  of  brain  to  organize  and  personally 
animate  and  control  even  so  vast  a  work  as  that  of  the 
Christian  Commission. 

On  reaching  Philadelphia  I  made  my  way  out  through 
the  interminable  streets  to  Mr.  Stuart's  house.  It  was 
late  when  I  arrived,  but  tea  was  waiting  for  me  just  as 
if  I  had  got  home.  Besides  Mr.  Stuart's  family  I  found 
Professor  Stoever  of  Gettysburg  and  Mr.  H.,  a  mission 
ary  on  his  way  to  India.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  the 
Professor  about  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  which  had 
raged  for  three  days  within  a  mile  of  his  house,  and  was 
the  battle  that  turned  the  tide  of  the  wrar. 

"  Mr.  Stuart  was  there,"  said  the  Professor,  "  and 
prayed  with  dying  men  upon  the  field.  He  was  much 
loved  by  the  soldiers.  One  of  our  poor  boys  at  Gettys 
burg  raised  his  bleeding  head  from  the  ground  and  said 
to  Mr.  Stuart,  '  Will  you  let  me  kiss  you  before  I  die  ?' " 

Looking  over  the  albums  on  the  drawing-room  table, 
I  lighted  on  a  number  of  familiar  faces — Spurgeon, 
Guthrie,  Arnot,  Newman  Hall,  and  Nelson  of  Edin 
burgh  ;  also  a  number  of  Mr.  Stuart's  American  friends 


76          THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

and  coadjutors — Grant,  Lincoln,  Howard,  Gough,  and 
others.  There  was  another  picture  that  arrested  my  at 
tention  the  instant  it  turned  up.  It  was  the  photograph 
of  a  tall  powerful  man  of  firm  lip  and  eye,  big  shaggy 
head  and  heavy  white  beard,  his  hands  in  his  pockets, 
and  his  elbows  drawn  well  back.  Underneath  was  the 
inscription,  "  Your  friend,  John  Brown."  It  was  the 
first  likeness  I  had  seen  of  John  Brown  of  Harper's 
Ferry,  who  had  struck  the  key-note  of  the  great  war. 

We  soon  got  upon  the  subject  of  the  Christian  Com 
mission,  of  which  Mr.  Stuart's  head  and  heart  were  full. 
He  took  me  to  his  study  and  brought  out  a  great  num 
ber  of  his  Christian  Commission  memorials  and  relics  of 
the  war.  They  were  all  in  beautiful  order — the  papers 
and  letters  folded,  docketed,  and  arranged  so  that  he 
could  lay  his  finger  on  any  one  of  them  at  a  moment's 
notice.  I  observed  this  neatness  and  method  in  all  his 
arrangements.  He  showed  me  several  Bibles  and  Tes 
taments  that  had  been  found  in  the  pockets  of  the  dead, 
or  picked  up  beside  them  on  the  battle-fields.  One  with 
the  name  of  "  Will  Black  "  on  the  fly-leaf  had  verses 
marked  on  almost  every  page,  and  passages  were  speci 
ally  scored  that  had  been  read  on  the  Sabbath-days,  which 
were  often  days  of  fighting.  Another  was  a  German 
Testament,  bearing  the  name  of  "  Fred  von  Slumbach," 
in  which  the  following  verses  had  been  scored  before 
going  into  battle  on  August  29th,  1862  : — "I  say  unto 
you,  my  friends,  be  not  afraid  of  them  that  kill  the 
body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do. 
But  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear :  Fear  him 
which,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell ; 
yea,  I  say  unto  you,  fear  him."  The  dead  soldier  may 
yet  preach  from  that  text  a  sermon  that  shall  stir  dead 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  THE  BATTLE-FIELDS.    77 

souls  to  life.  There  was  another  Bible,  or  tattered 
fragment  of  one,  all  stained  with  blood,  that  had  been 
picked  up  at  Gettysburg. 

"  When  you  go  to  Gettysburg,"  said  Mr.  Stuart,  "  you 
must  see  Eound  Top,  where  the  battle  was  fiercest,  and 
where  the  dead  lay  five  and  six  deep.  Lee  said  to 
Barksdale  of  Mississippi,  '  That  height  must  be  taken  if 
it  costs  you  all  your  men.'  Barksdale  went,  and  buried 
himself  and  his  whole  force  on  that  slope.  This  Testa 
ment  was  found  there  amongst  the  dead." 

He  showed  me  another  little  Testament  that  had 
saved  a  soldier's  life.  "  It  belonged  to  one  of  our  boys," 
said  Mr.  Stuart.  "  He  always  carried  it  in  his  breast 
pocket.  In  one  battle  a  bullet  struck  him  and  nearly 
knocked  him  down.  It  had  struck  on  the  Testament,  and 
pierced  it  to  the  back  board ;  there,  as  you  see,  it 
stopped,  and  his  life  was  saved.  There  are  scores  like 
this  scattered  up  and  down  the  country.  Some  wives 
have  them,  with  the  stains  of  their  husbands'  life-blood 
on  the  leaves.  I  saw  one  where  the  ball  had  stopped 
at  a  verse  that  startled  the  man,  and  was  the  means  of 
his  conversion.  He  was  killed  afterwards,  but  his  wife 
preserved  the  Testament.  I  said  to  her,  '  I  would  like 
to  own  that  Testament;  what  will  you  take  for  it?' 
'  Oh,  Mr.  Stuart,'  she  said,  '  there  isn't  gold  enough  in 
the  United  States  to  buy  it  from  me.' " 

Speaking  of  the  Christian  Commission,  Mr.  Stuart 
said  witli  enthusiasm,  "  It  was  glorious  work !  and  the 
Lord  seemed  to  touch  the  heart  of  the  whole  nation  to 
help  us.  Our  delegates,  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of 
noble  men,  volunteered  and  took  nothing  for  all  their 
labours.  We  were  charged  nothing  on  the  railways. 
The  Government  gave  us  tents  and  ambulances  free. 


78          THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

The  American  Bible  Society  gave  us  Bibles  and  Testa 
ments  free — 490,000  of  them  in  the  first  eighteen 
months  !  Our  stores  were  carried  free.  Our  messages 
were  flashed  through  the  wires  free.  Here  is  one  of  the 
telegrams  I  used  to  get  in  thousands.  It  is  marked 
'  D.H.'  That  means  '  dead  head ' — nothing  to  pay. 
You  see  how  it  is  addressed — '  C.C.C.'  That  means 
Chairman  Christian  Commission.'  I  used  to  be  known 
as  '  the  three  C.'s.'  " 

"  We  relied/'  he  said,  "  on  the  voluntary  contributions 
of  the  people — and  how  nobly  they  responded !  After 
Gettysburg,  when  tens  of  thousands  of  wounded  and 
dying  men  were  thrown  upon  our  hands,  I  telegraphed 
in  all  directions.  To  Boston  I  telegraphed, '  Can  I  draw 
on  you  for  10,000  dols.  at  sight?'  The  message  was 
stuck  up  in  the  Exchange.  The  merchants  formed  in 
line  to  put  down  their  subscription.  In  half-an-hour 
the  answer  came,  'Draw  for  60,000  dols.'1 

1  The  vastness  of  the  benevolent  shirts,   11,500   pairs  socks,   23,000 

and  Christian   work  done    by  the  pounds  of  meat,  28,290  cans  of  milk, 

Commission  may  be  judged  of  from  1800  pounds  of  tea,  35,000  rolls  of 

such  facts  as  the  following  : — Dur-  bandages,   1252  pairs   of  crutches, 

ing  the  first  sixteen  months  of  its  61,700  cans  of  fruits  and  jellies,  300 

existence — namely  from  May  1862  tons  of  ice,  and  24,000  quires   of 

to  October  1863— it  had  1154  xinpaid  note-paper  and  envelopes,  to  let  the 

volunteer  delegates  in  the  field.     It  poorer  soldiers  write  home.     After 

had    distributed    10,000    packages  the  single  battle  of  Gettysburg,  it 

(boxes,  barrels,  etc.)  of  stores  and  was  declared  by  the  army  surgeons 

religious  publications — the  latter  in-  and  others  that  the  help  given  by 

eluding  496,000  Bibles  and  Testa-  the  Christian  Commission  delegates, 

ments,  400,000  Psalm  and  Hymn  and  the  stores  they  distributed,  be- 

books,   1,800,000  newspapers,   and  sides  an  untold  amount  of  suffering 

18,000,000  pages  of  tracts.     Again,  relieved,  saved  more  than  a  1000 

in  the  following  year  (1864),  during  lives  on  that  field  alone.    What  then 

the  three  months  of  May,  June,  and  must  have  been  the  result  of  their 

July,  besides  Bibles  and  religious  labours  in   all  armies  and  on  all 

publications,  the  delegates  in  person  fields  ?     "  And  who,"  as  Mr.  Stuart 

distributed  to  soldiers  in  want  14,500  said,  "can  count  the  number  won 


THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  THE  BATTLE-FIELDS.    79 


"  The  children/'  he  continued,  "  helped  us  too.  They 
made  tens  of  thousands  of  little  housewives — '  comfort- 
bags/  as  the  soldiers  called  them — with  buttons,  needle 
and  thread,  comb,  cake  of  soap,  and,  above  all,  a  little 
tract  or  Testament.  Sometimes  a  whole  school  of  little 
girls  would  set  to  work  on  an  afternoon  making  com 
fort-bags.  One  school  in  Albany  sent  us  1800  of  them, 
all  filled.  They  often  put  little  letters  in  them  to  the 
soldiers,  telling  them  how  much  they  thought  about 
them,  and  prayed  for  them  every  night.  Often,  when 
we  were  distributing  the  bags,  some  poor  fellow  would 
come  and  say,  '  Can't  you  find  me  one,  sir,  with  a  letter 
in  it  ?  I  have  no  one  to  write  to  me,  sir.'  These  letters, 
carefully  preserved,  were  often  found  upon  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  soldiers  afterwards. 

"  We  used  to  tell  the  children  to  enclose  along  with 
the  letter  an  envelope  addressed,  so  that  the  soldier  who 
got  it  could  send  an  answer.  This  often  led  to  corre 
spondence,  and  cheered  the  soldiers  wonderfully,  and 
did  them  a  world  of  good. 

friends  at  home.  In  time  of  battle 
they  were  to  spare  no  pains  to 
give  immediate  information  of  the 
wounded  and  dead  to  those  who 
waited  with  trembling  hearts  for 
tidings  :  and  to  get  soldiers  who 
came  out  unharmed  to  relieve  their 
friends  at  home  by  filling  on  the 
spot  the  sheet  of  paper  offered  them. 
After  the  two  days' fighting  at  Nash 
ville,  the  delegates  at  that  station 
wrote  1000  letters,  as  extra  duty, 
after  labouring  eight  to  sixteen  hours 
a  day  with  the  suffering  and  dying. 
During  the  year  1864  there  were 
100,000  letters  post  paid  and  mailed 
to  soldiers'  friends  from  the  Chris 
tian  Commission  tents. 


to  Jesus,  and  the  joy  in  heaven  over 
their  salvation  ! " 

At   every  Christian  Commission 
station  placards  were  put  up  : — 


"  SOLDIERS'  FREE  WRITING- 
TABLE. 

PAPER  AND  ENVELOPES  FREE. 

Come  in,  and  send  word  home ; 
they  want  to  hear  from  you.  If 
you  have  no  postage  stamps,  leave 
your  letter  in  the  box;  we  will 
stamp  and  mail  it." 


The  delegates  were  specially  in 
structed  to  ask  permission  of  sick 
and  wounded  men  to  write  to  their 


80  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

"  Then  to  see  the  gratitude  of  our  boys  in  camp  and 
field,  and  how  heartily  they  lent  our  delegates  a  hand 
when  help  was  wanted.  There  was  one  single  week  in 
which  we  erected  fifty  soldiers'  churches.  A  regiment 
of  1000  men  would  turn  out,  cut  the  wood  for  us,  and 
have  everything  up  in  a  few  hours.  We  sometimes  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  church  in  the  morning,  and  had  ser 
vice  in  it  at  night ! 

"We  had  5000  delegates,  most  of  them  ministers  of 
the  gospel.  They  were  separated  into  three  classes — 
delegates  for  field  and  camp,  delegates  for  the  hospitals, 
and  delegates  for  the  battle-field.  These  last  were  our 
reserve  force.  '  Minute  men,'  we  called  them.  They 
were  men  in  different  businesses  and  professions,  who 
held  themselves  ready  to  obey  the  call  at  five  minutes' 
notice.  If  one  of  them  was  in  the  pulpit  when  the 
telegram  reached  him,  he  was  to  stop  and  hurry  off  to 
the  battle-field. 

"Here  was  our  badge,"  said  Mr.  Stuart,  showing 
me  a  little  silver  brooch  in  the  form  of  a  scroll,  with 
the  words  "Christian  Commission"  engraved  upon  it. 
"Our  delegates  all  wore  this.  I  have  seen  300  of 
them  on  one  field  of  battle,  ministering  to  the  wounded 
and  the  dying.  You  would  see  a  man  all  covered  with 
blood  lifting  himself  up  on  his  elbow  and  looking 
eagerly  about ;  and  begin  to  beckon,  if  he  saw  any  man 
with  this  badge.  They  seemed  to  die  happier  with  one 
of  us  beside  them.  We  used  to  have  everything  to  do. 
We  were  often  intrusted  with  men's  effects  after  death. 
A  person  would  come  up  and  hand  over  500  dollars  to 
any  man  with  this  badge,  though  he  had  never  seen 
him  before." 

He  showed  me  also  what  he  called  the  "  Identifier  " 


DELEGATES.  81 

— a  slip  of  parchment  about  the  size  of  an  address 
label,  with  blank  lines,  where  the  soldier  could  write 
his  name,  company,  regiment,  brigade,  division,  and 
corps,  so  that  if  killed  in  battle,  his  body  could  be 
identified.  There  was  also  a  line  for  the  name  of  the 
relative— father,  mother,  wife,  or  sister — whom  the 
soldier  wished  written  to  in  the  event  of  his  death. 
One  of  these  Identifiers  was  given  by  the  Christian 
Commission  to  every  soldier,  and  on  the  back  were 
printed  the  following  directions  : — "  Suspend  from  the 
neck  by  a  cord,  and  wear  over  the  shirt :  in  battle, 
under." 

"  We  would  find  men  lying  dead  on  the  field,"  said 
Mr.  Stuart,  "  with  these  round  their  necks.  We  were 
then  able  to  write  to  their  homes,  and  send  their  effects 
to  their  wives  or  families." 

He  showed  me  one  that  had  been  found  on  the  body 
of  a  dead  man,  and  pointed  to  the  Scripture  text  upon  it 
— "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  be 
gotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

"Poor  boy!"  said  Mr.  Stuart,  "he  would,  no  doubt, 
read  that  text  as  he  had  never  read  it  before. 

"  We  couldn't  do  all  this  for  the  rebels,"  he  said,  "  but 
if  we  found  them  dying  we  took  their  last  messages 
and  wrote  to  their  friends,  just  as  if  they  had  been  our 
own  boys.  It  was  the  same  in  the  hospitals.  The  poor 
fellows  would  sometimes  burst  into  tears.  One  of  them 
said,  '  You  fight  us  like  the  devil ;  but  you  nurse  us 
like  angels.'" 

Mr.  Stuart  told  me  a  number  of  deeply  interesting 
incidents  of  Christian  Commission  work  in  the  hos 
pitals.  I  have  only  room,  in  the  meantime,  for  one. 

F 


82  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

"  One  of  our  delegates,"  he  said,  "  making  his  round 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  found  a  soldier  who 
was  near  the  point  of  death.  He  spoke  to  him,  but 
found  that  the  man's  tongue  was  so  parched  with  fever 
that  he  could  not  speak.  He  went  to  the  nurse  and 
said,  '  I  would  like  a  word  with  that  man.  I  think  a 
lemon  would  loosen  his  tongue  ;  may  I  try  ? ' 

"  The  nurse  asked  the  surgeon.  '  Do  what  you  like 
with  him,'  said  the  surgeon.  '  He  will  be  in  the  dead- 
house  soon.' 

"  The  delegate  got  a  lemon,  and  put  a  slice  of  it  to  the 
man's  lips.  The  dying  man  sucked  it,  and  his  tongue 
was  loosened. 

" '  Have  you  a  family  ?'  asked  the  delegate. 

"'No,  sir.' 

" '  Were  you  raised  in  the  Sabbath-school  ?' 

"'Yes,  sir.' 

" '  Do  you  remember  the  story  of  Jesus  being  crucified 
for  sinners  ?' 

"  The  man  said  he  did. 

" '  Do  you  remember  the  story  of  the  malefactor  who 
was  crucified  along  with  him  ? ' 

"The  man  paused  as  if  to  think,  and  then  said 
'  Yes.' 

"  '  Do  you  remember  his  prayer  V  There  was  another 
pause.  'His  prayer,'  resumed  the  delegate,  'Lord 
remember  me  when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  kingdom.' 

"  Hope  illumined  the  man's  eyes,  and  he  said,  '  Yes, 
sir,  I  remember  it.' 

"  The  delegate  then  knelt  down  and  prayed.  The  man 
wanted  him  to  stay  all  night;  but  there  were  other 
dying  men  to  see,  and  the  delegate  had  to  pass  on.  He 


THE  DYING  SOLDIER.  83 

promised,  however,  to  return  next  day  and  write  a  letter 
to  his  home. 

"  When  he  went  back  next  day  the  place  was  vacant. 
He  spoke  to  the  nurse,  who  said  the  man  was  dead. 

"'At  half-past  four  o'clock/  said  the  nurse,  'he 
agonized  in  prayer.  At  six,  he  opened  his  eyes  and 
asked  for  the  man  who  had  talked  to  him  about  Jesus.' 
The  nurse  told  him  that  he  was  not  to  be  found — that 
she  didn't  know  either  his  name  or  quarters.  The  man 
asked  his  fellow-soldiers  to  pray  for  him ;  but  in  vain. 
He  became  quiet,  but  his  lips  moved  at  times,  seemingly 
in  silent  prayer.  At  eight  o'clock  he  spoke  in  an  audible 
voice,  and  said,  '  Amen !  It  is  all  right.  I  am  ready 
to  die.'  At  ten  minutes  past  eight,  the  spirit  of  John 
B.  Mitchell  departed.' " 

I  wish  I  could  reproduce  along  with  these  facts  the 
earnestness  of  look,  and  the  wonderful  eloquence  of 
voice  and  manner  with  which  Mr.  Stuart  told  them 
himself. 

Speaking  of  the  Christian  Commission  practice  of 
connecting  religion  with  all  their  operations,  he  said, — 

"  I  never  was  in  a  place  where  I  couldn't  have  prayer. 
When  dissolving  the  Commission,  we  went  round  (more 
than  a  hundred  of  us)  and  called,  on  Johnson,  Stanton, 
Grant,  and  all  the  heads  of  departments,  and  had  prayer 
with  them  all 

"  When  we  went  to  the  White  House,  some  of  them 
said", — 'Kemember,  Johnson  is  a  different  man  from 
Lincoln.' 

"I  said,  'I  know  it.' 

"  However,  before  we  left,  I  said  to  the  President,  "  Mr. 
Johnson,  you  have  been  called  to  the  head  of  the  nation 
at  a  very  critical  time.' 


84  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

"<  That's  so,' he  said. 

" ' No  man  stands  in  a  position  where  he  more  needs 
Divine  help.' 

"'  That's  so.' 

" '  Dr.  -  —  will  perhaps  ask  the  Divine  blessing  and 
guidance  for  you  before  we  leave.' 

"  The  President  made  no  objection,  and  we  all  knelt 
in  prayer. 

"  But  when  we  went  out  to  Culpepper  to  see  B — ,  Dr. 
Kirk  and  the  rest  of  them  said  there  was  no  hope  there. 
B —  was  a  prominent  statesman.  He  had  opposed  the 
Democrats  of  the  South,  but  he  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  movements  on  behalf  of  the  negro.  We  knew  that ; 
and  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  an  infidel.  I  thought 
it  all  the  more  necessary  that  we  should,  if  possible, 
have  prayer. 

"  He  received  us  very  kindly.  When  we  were  pre 
paring  to  leave,  I  said,  '  You  have  seen  a  good  deal  of 
fighting  here,  Mr.  B — ?' 

"'Fighting!'  said  he,  'I  have  seen  fifteen  battles 
from  that  window.' 

"  'You  have  run  many  risks.' 

" '  Yes ;  you  may  well  say  that.' 

"'Now,  gentlemen,'  I  said,  turning  to  the  others, 
'Mr.  B —  has  sacrificed  a  great  deal  for  the  country — 
he  has  suffered  a  great  deal — he  may  have  much  to 
suffer  still ;  we  cannot  tell.  I  think,  before  going,  Dr. 
Kirk^you  might  lead  us  in  thanking  God  for  having 
preserved  Mr.  B —  through  so  much,  and  in  praying 
that  he  may  be  spared  to  see  the  country  restored  to 
prosperity  and  peace.' 

"B — ,  who  had  been  throwing  in  prompt  words  of 
assent  to  everything  that  went  before,  looked  queer  at 


GENERALSHIP  IN  PRAYER.  85 

this.  We  all  began  to  go  down  upon  our  knees.  B — 
looked  about  with  a  ludicrous  expression  of  perplexity 
on  his  face,  but  seeing  us  all  kneeling,  he  seemed  to 
feel  there  was  no  escape,  and  slipt  reluctantly  down 
upon  his  knees. 

"  When  we  came  out,  Dr.  Kirk  said,  '  I  never  prayed 
in  such  strange  circumstances  before/ 

" '  Well/  said  I,  '  you  never  prayed  more  powerfully/ 

Neither  he  had.  Some  of  them  said  that  B —  was 
in  tears  when  he  rose/' 

Speaking  of  Grant,  with  whom  he  is  very  intimate, 
I  asked  Mr.  Stuart  if  the  General  was  as  taciturn  as 
he  was  reported  to  be. 

"  Quite.  He  will  sit  here,  or  in  his  own  house,  with 
friends  round  him,  and  scarcely  utter  a  word.  But  he 
reads  and  thinks  ;  has  a  keen  insight ;  answers  wisely 
and  without  waste  of  words  any  question  put  to  him ; 
and  knows  when  and  how  to  act  as  well  as  any  man  in 
the  country." 

One  of  the  family,  who  had  spent  some  days  with  the 
General's  family  at  Washington,  bore  the  same  testi 
mony  to  his  habit  of  silence  and  his  modesty.  She 
said  that  at  one  of  the  great  fairs  Grant  was  called  on 
for  a  speech.  He  refused.  Sherman  was  solicited, 
but  with  no  better  result.  Grant  was  then  appealed  to 
to  exercise  his  authority  over  Sherman,  and  order  him 
to  make  a  speech. 

"  No,"  said  Grant,  "  I  never  order  any  of  my  officers 
to  do  what  I  could  not  do  myself." 

After  prayers  we  separated  for  the  night,  Mr.  Stuart 
himself  showing  us  to  our  rooms.  I  think  I  still  hear 
his  cheerful  voice  at  the  door  of  Mr.  H/s  room,  which 
was  next  to  mine. 


86  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  AND  ITS  CHIEF. 

"All  right,  brother  H—  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Got  everything  you  want  ? " 

"Yes." 

"Sure?" 

"  Quite." 

It  was  the  index  of  the  man — all  kindness  and 
solicitude  for  others. 

Mr.  Stuart  is  one  of  the  self-made  men  of  America. 
He  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  was  a  poor  lad  when  he 
left  Belfast  to  find  his  way  to  New  York.  At  Liver 
pool,  his  little  box,  containing  all  he  possessed  in  the 
world,  fell  between  the  steamer  and  the  pier  and  was 
smashed.  Nothing  was  recovered  but  a  shirt.  Mr. 
Stuart  told  me  how  he  stood  on  the  pier  and  wept  like 
a  child.  His  marbles  and  toys  that  he  had  played 
with — all  the  relics  of  his  schoolboy  days,  and  all  the 
little  things  he  had  been  able  to  scrape  together,  were 
gone.  He  was  sixty-three  days  on  the  way  out,  the 
vessel  being  becalmed.  They  had  to  board  several 
other  ships  to  get  provisions.  On  the  1st  of  September 
1831,  he  landed  at  New  York  with  nothing  in  the 
world  but  the  clothes  upon  his  back.  Now  he  is  one 
of  the  best-known  and  most  highly  esteemed  citizens 
in  the  United  States. 


THE  QUAKER  CITY. 


X. 

THE  QUAKER  CITY  AND  THE  CAPITAL. 

THE  city  of  Philadelphia  amazed  me  by  its  vastness, 
its  mathematical  beauty,  and  the  evidences  you  see 
throughout  its  whole  extent  of  comfort  and  steady 
prosperity.  It  has  a  population  as  large  as  Glasgow, 
and  covers  a  much  wider  area.  Everywhere  you  see 
evidences  of  its  Quaker  origin,  in  its  long,  straight, 
clean  streets,  numbered  1st  Street,  2d  Street,  3d  Street, 
away  out  to  the  40th  or  50th  parallel ;  in  its  beautiful 
rectangular  network  of  street  railways  spread  through 
the  whole  city ;  in  its  interminable  rows  of  clean-shaven 
warehouses  and  shops — in  its  long  streets  of  prim  but 
costly  dwelling-houses,  miles  upon  miles  of  them,  with 
their  white  lattices  screwed  back  into  the  wall,  and 
their  flat,  cold,  white  marble  doorsteps,  that  seem  to 
implore  you  not  to  step  on  them  with  dirty  boots — no 
balusters  or  hand-rails  to  relieve  their  bareness,  save 
here  and  there,  at  long  intervals,  a  solitary,  stiff,  brittle- 
looking  cast,  sticking  up  at  one  side  of  the  step,  and 
evidently  not  intended  to  be  touched.  There  is  also  in 
Philadelphia  a  grateful  absence  of  the  feverish  high- 
pressure  life  of  other  great  cities  like  New  York  and 
Chicago ;  a  certain  demureness  of  look  about  the  people, 
and  a  tendency  to  quietness  of  colour  and  simplicity  of 


88  THE  QUAKER  CITY. 

pattern  in  the  ladies'  dresses.  But  all  this  is  gradually 
wearing  away. 

The  Quakers  though  still  numerous,  and  forming 
perhaps  the  best  educated  and  most  intelligent  and 
moral  class  of  the  community,  are  not  increasing. 
They  make  no  converts ;  and  any  Quaker  marrying  an 
outsider  is  lost  for  ever  to  the  gentle  sect.  Patrick  also 
is  getting  his  hand  into  public  affairs ;  and  Patrick  is 
apt  to  interfere  with  rectangles,  and  with  quietness  and 
demureness  of  every  sort. 

Philadelphia  is  rich  in  works  of  charity,  has  numer 
ous  homes  for  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind;  homes  fox- 
old  men,  old  women,  widows,  and  orphans ;  has  also  a 
Day  Nursery,  where  poor  people  going  to  work'  in  the 
morning  can  leave  their  children  for  the  day — the  chil 
dren  so  left  being  fed,  taught,  and  cared  for  as  in  a 
Christian  family.  In  her  City  Almshouse — the  pauper's 
palace,  as  it  is  sometimes  called — there  is  provision  for 
3000  boarders,  most  of  whom,  when  I  was  there,  were 
Irish.  If  I  remember  rightly,  less  than  one-fifth  of  the 
3000  were  American  poor — the  rest  were  foreigners. 
It  goes  very  hard  with  a  native  American  before  he  is 
found  in  the  poorhouse. 

The  Orphan  Home  (Girard  College)  is  one  of  the 
principal  sights  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  the  apotheosis 
of  orphanhood.  It  is  a  magnificent  and  massive  build 
ing  of  white  marble,  so  vast  that  20,000  people  could 
stand  upon  the  roof.  In  this  palatial  home  the  orphan 
inmates  are  fed,  clothed,  and  educated,  and  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  are  taught  a  trade.  I  learned  a  curious 
fact  in  connection  with  this  institution.  Girard,  the 
founder,  who  had  no  love  for  "the  cloth,"  made  it  a 
stipulation  in  his  bequest  that  no  priest  or  minister 


ALBERT  BARNES.  89 

should  have  anything  whatever  to  do  with  its  manage 
ment,  or  be  allowed  within  its  gates.  As  American 
ministers  dress  like  other  people,  this  regulation  does 
riot  interfere  with  their  visiting  the  institution  unoffi 
cially  ;  but  some  ministers  from  England  who  went  to 
see  the  place  had  to  go  first  and  take  off  their  white 
ties.  One  good  effect  of  the  stipulation  is  that  it  has 
thrown  the  management  of  the  institution  into  the 
hands  of  business  men. 

In  the  Quaker  city  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the 
venerable  commentator,  Albert  Barnes.  He  is  no  longer 
in  active  work,  having  resigned  his  charge  some  years 
ago,  less  on  account  of  age  than  of  the  failure  of  his 
eyesight,  consequent  on  too  incessant  application.  He 
lives  now  enjoying  well-earned  repose  in  his  quiet  home 
in  the  suburbs,  miles  out  from  the  heart  of  the  great 
city,  amongst  his  flowers  and  his  books.  His  daughter 
reads  to  him  to  save  his  eyes ;  and  when  he  writes,  as 
he  still  does  (for  his  mind  remains  too  active  to  desist 
altogether  from  work),  he  uses  the  writing-frame  on 
which  Prescott,  the  historian  (who  suffered  from  the 
same  cause),  wrote  his  last  works.  It  is  a  frame  with 
wires  across  to  guide  the  glass  pencil,  so  that  one  can 
write  with  eyes  closed.  Poor  Prescott  used  sometimes 
to  take  it  and  begin  to  write  without  remembering  to 
feel  if  the  copying-paper  was  in ;  and  only  on  coming 
to  the  foot  of  the  page,  and  proceeding  to  change  the 
sheet,  discovered  that  he  had  been  making  no  impres 
sions,  and  had  the  whole  work  to  do  over  again. 

Barnes  is  a  tall  thin  man,  with  white  hair  hanging  in 
light  curling  locks  to  his  shoulders.  He  is  more  cleri 
cal  in  appearance  than  most  of  his  brethren, — dressing  in 
black,  with  a  white  stock, — a  rarity  amongst  ministers 


90  THE  QUAKER  CITY. 

in  America.  His  lips  are  thin  and  firm,  and  his  dark 
eyes  keen  and  lustrous,  giving  no  indication  of  being 
nearly  blind.  I  remember  the  strange  impression  this 
made  upon  me  the  first  time  I  met  him.  When  he 
came  into  the  room  and  advanced  slowly  towards  me, 
his  dark  eyes  seemed  to  be  gazing  into  mine,  and  yet 
there  was  no  look  of  salutation  or  recognition  of  any 
kind.  One  would  have  imagined  him  approaching 
something  which  he  took  to  be  an  apparition.  The  fact 
turned  out  to  be  that  he  could  make  nothing  out  till  he 
was  within  a  few  feet ;  then,  suddenly  arriving  at  the 
focus,  he  recognised  me,  the  expression  of  his  face 
changed,  and  with  quiet  courtesy  he  welcomed  me  and 
bid  me  take  a  seat.  His  voice  is  quiet,  but  lacks 
music,  and  almost  tends  to  harshness.  I  was  told  that 
as  a  preacher  he  was  cold  and  polished,  wanting  point 
and  fire ;  going  smoothly  on,  without  gesticulation,  his 
hands  folded  behind  him. 

He  said  he  had  been  to  Scotland  many  years  ago, 
having  taken  the  voyage  for  the  sake  of  his  eyesight. 
He  had  heard  Guthrie  preach  on  several  occasions,  and 
once  breakfasted  with  him.  He  was  as  much  struck 
with  his  table-talk  as  with  his  sermons.  Guthrie  was 
well  known  in  America.  There. was  much  disappoint 
ment  at  his  not  being  able  to  pay  his  intended  visit. 

Dr.  Norman  Macleod,  he  thought,  was  chiefly  known 
as  editor  of  Good  Words.  But  his  speech  on  the  Sab 
bath  question  had  excited  much  interest. 

Speaking  of  American  divines,  he  thought  Beecher 
brilliant,  but  not  safe  in  his  doctrine.  Bushnell  was 
"off  the  track  altogether."  He  was,  however,  a  good 
preacher,  earnest,  thoughtful,  and  practical.  He  never 
introduced  his  speculations  into  his  preaching. 


BALTIMORE.  9 1 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Barnes  himself  was  a 
New  School  Presbyterian,  and  had  been  charged  in  the 
Old  School  Assembly  with  Pelagianism. 

He  regretted  the  narrowness  of  some  good  Churches. 
A  Eeformed  Presbyterian  who  had  been  invited  to 
preach  in  his  church,  asked  him  if  his  people  could 
sing  Souse's  version  of  the  Psalms;  and  on  learning 
that  they  could  not,  refused  to  preach.1  But  changes 
were  going  on.  Presbyterian  ministers  were  beginning 
to  use  pulpit  gowns — a  small  thing  in  itself,  but  part  of 
a  larger  movement. 

He  was  sorry  to  find  congregational  singing  diminish 
ing.  The  organ,  he  thought,  helped  to  destroy  it.  And 
yet  the  Episcopalians,  who  always  had  it,  were  singing 
more  than  the  Presbyterians.  It  depended  much  on 
the  spiritual  condition  of  the  Church. 

.  I  passed  south  from  Philadelphia  by  way  of  Balti 
more,  traversing  part  of  two  States  (Delaware  and 
Maryland),  where  slavery  existed  up  to  the  time  of  the 
war.  Already  a  change  was  discernible  in  the  aspect 
of  things.  The  negroes  were  becoming  jnore  numerous, 
the  white  people  about  the  farms  looked  more  indolent, 
and  at  the  stations  and  the  adjacent  groggeries  I  began 
to  see  a  class  of  darker  and  fiercer-looking  fellows  than 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the  North,  some  of  them 
belonging,  no  doubt,  to  the  ignorant  and  idle  class 
formerly  known  as  "mean  whites"  and  "white  trash." 
It  was  a  ludicrous  effect  of  slavery  that  even  the  slave 
despised  a  white  man  who  couldn't  afford  to  own  "a 
nigger."  The  houses  too  looked  dingier  and  the  farms 

1  It  was  this  denomination  that  in  America)  from  the  eldership  and 
recently  suspended  George  H.  Stuart  membership  of  the  Church  for  sing- 
(oue  of  the  most  eminent  Christians  ing  hymns  ! 


92  GENERAL  HOWARD. 

more  slovenly.  The  eye  searched  over  the  landscape 
in  vain  for  any  of  the  clean  white  farmhouses  that  lie 
scattered  like  shells  over  almost  every  district  in  New 
England. 

From  the  busy  city  of  Baltimore  I  passed  on  to 
Washington.  I  remember  the  impression  it  made  upon 
me,  looking  out  in  the  clear  night  as  we  approached 
the  city,  and  dimly  discerning  the  Capitol,  with  its 
imperial  dome,  standing  up  like  a  white  phantom  against 
the  sky. 

I  spent  the  next  day  in  wandering  about  through  the 
straggling  city — city  of  unbuilt  streets  and  magnificent 
distances — with  its  immense  public  buildings  and  its 
wide  field-like  avenues,  along  which  the  people  moved 
like  insects. 

At  the  head-quarters  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  I  met 
General  Howard,  chief  of  that  department — a  brilliant 
speaker,  a  great  friend  of  the  freed  slaves,  a  champion 
of  temperance,  and  a  good  soldier,  all  in  one.  It  was 
he  wTho  had  the  terrible  distinction  of  receiving  that 
last  tremendous  charge  of  Stonewall  Jackson  at  Chan- 
cellorsville.1  It  was  he  who  selected  the  position  at 
Gettysburg,  which  probably  secured  victory  to  the 
North,  and  turned  the  tide  of  the  war.  Afterwards,  in 
the  "  grand  march  to  the  sea,"  Howard  commanded  the 
right  wing  of  Sherman's  army. 

When  I  met  him  at  the  head-quarters  of  the  Bureau, 

1  On  my  return  from  America,  I  Southern  hero  low.     They  had  never 

brought   with   me,   amongst   other  approached  before  except  from  hos- 

interesting  relics,  the  coat  worn  by  tile  sides,  amidst  the  fire  and  thun- 

Howard,  and  the  overcoat  worn  by  der  of  battle.      May  the  peace  in 

Jackson  in  that  battle    of    Chan-  which  they  lie  together  now  be  a 

cellorsville — the  latter  bearing  the  foreshadow    of   North  and    South 

marks  of  the  bullet  that  laid  the  happy  and  reconciled  ! 


WASHINGTON.— A  NEGRO  SCHOOL.  93 

he  was  dressed  in  uniform — dark  blue  coat,  with  gold 
buttons,  and  major-general's  shoulder-straps.  The  right 
sleeve,  emptied  by  a  bursting  shell  at  the  battle  of  Fair 
Oaks,  was  looped  up  to  one  of  the  breast  buttons.  I 
was  much  struck  with  the  cordiality  of  his  manner. 
Immediately  on  entering,  he  came  forward,  and,  giving 
me  the  only  hand  the  Confederates  had  left  him, 
welcomed  me  to  America.  His  countenance  is  very 
pleasing.  His  gentle  eyes  make  one  think  more  of  a 
minister  of  mercy  than  of  a  soldier. 

After  some  conversation  about  my  plans,  and  the 
missionary  work  to  be  seen  amongst  the  freedmen,  one 
of  his  secretaries  wrote  an  introduction  for  me  to  the 
Bureau  officers  at  the  South,  which  his  orderly  laid 
before  him,  and  held  in  its  place,  while  Howard,  taking 
the  pen  in  his  left  hand,  attached  his  signature. 

As  Howard  wished  me  to  see  some  of  the  black  schools 
in  Washington  before  leaving,  he  introduced  me  to  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Kimball,  Superintendent  of  Education  for  the 
district  of  Columbia,  with  whom  I  rode  out  to  see  the 
negro  schools  at  Georgetown,  one  of  the  suburbs  of  the 
city. 

Here  I  found  eight  schools  clustered  together  under 
one  roof,  or  rather,  one  school  "  graded,"  that  is,  divided 
into  separate  grades  or  classes  according  to  proficiency, 
each  grade  having  its  own  room,  and  its  own  teacher, 
who  has  therefore  to  deal  only  with  pupils  at  one  stage 
which  she  has  to  see  them  carefully  and  thoroughly  car 
ried  through  before  sending  them  up  to  the  next.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  important  features  in  the  educational 
system  in  America.  The  Georgetown  school-buildings 
looked  unpromising,  being  of  rough  wood,  and  hav 
ing  more  the  appearance  of  whitewashed  sheds  than 


94  WASHINGTON. 

school-houses.  Better  buildings,  I  was  told,  were  in 
contemplation,  but  the  work  of  educating  the  coloured 
population  is  a  new  and  vast  work,  and  it  will  be  many 
years  before  everything  is  in  shape. 

The  first  grade  we  entered  was  for  one  of  the  more 
advanced  grades,  and  was  better  furnished  than  the 
rough  exterior  of  the  building  led  me  to  expect. 

The  room  was  crowded  with  black  children,  boys  and 
girls  very  orderly,  and  busy  at  their  lessons.  It  was  to 
me  a  strange  and  interesting  sight.  Till  coming  to  Ame 
rica,  I  had  never  seen  more  than  three  or  four  black 
faces  at  a  time ;  and  even  in  the  States  up  till  that 
moment  I  had  only  seen  negroes  scattered  in  the  crowd, 
or  passed  here  and  there  a  negro  cabin  with  a  little 
swarm  of  piccaninnies  at  the  door.  Now  for  the  first 
time  I  found  myself  in  a  crowd  of  little  frizzly-haired 
darkies,  looking,  to  my  unaccustomed  eyes,  like  a  room 
ful  of  imps. 

The  teacher  (a  white  lady)  gave  us  seats  on  the  plat 
form,  and  while  she  exchanged  a  few  words  with  Mr. 
Kimball,  I  took  a  more  leisurely  survey  of  the  place. 

The  walls  were  covered  with  maps,  charts,  and  short 
proverbs  in  large  type,  such  as  "  A  stitch  in  time  saves 
nine,"  and  "  Well  begun  is  half  done."  There  might  be 
fifty  or  sixty  scholars  in  the  room  ;  and  in  the  corner  I 
observed  four  boys  wi^h  dunces'  caps  of  the  sugar-loaf 
pattern  on  their  heads,  standing  up  in  a  row  against  the 
wall,  and  evidently  much  ashamed  at  being  caught  in 
disgrace  by  visitors.  Some  of  the  black  children  were 
looking  with  quite  as  much  curiosity  at  me  as  I  was 
at  them.  I  caught  the  eyes  of  one  droll-looking  little 
fellow,  and  could  not  repress  a  smile.  The  little  fellow 
instantly  grinned  with  delight  from  ear  to  ear,  and 


A  NEGRO  SCHOOL.  95 

immediately  half-a-dozen  others  were  looking  up  eagerly, 
with  their  faces  all  ready  for  a  similar  exhibition  of 
delight,  if  I  would  only  give  the  slightest  encourage 
ment. 

The  teacher  now,  at  our  request,  went  on  with  the 
lesson  we  had  interrupted.  She  turned  to  the  scholars. 

"  Tell  these  gentlemen,"  she  said,  "  what  book  you  are 
reading  in." 

"  Second  Reader"  cried  several  voices  at  once. 

"  And  the  caption  of  this  piece  1" 

"  '  The  Boy  Lost  in  the  Snow.'" 

The  little  black  girl  whose  turn  it  was  now  began,  and 
to  my  surprise  read  as  accurately,  and  with  a  great  deal 
more  expression  than  I  should  have  looked  for  in  one  of  our 
own  schools  from  a  girl  of  the  same  age.  Several  others 
read  after  her,  some  of  them  as  well,  some  even  better.  The 
way  in  which  they  divided  the  sentences  into  clauses,  and 
the  precision  with  which  they  articulated  their  words, 
showed  how  successfully  careful  teaching  was  overcoming 
the  natural  and  almost  universal  defect  of  negro  utterance. 

When  reading  was  over  the  teacher  said,  "  Books  closed ! " 
and  touched  the  bell  upon  her  table.  The  children,  clos 
ing  their  books,  rose  simultaneously,  and  stood  facing  us 
with  folded  arms,  ready  for  spelling. 

"  Spell  '  your,'  "  said  the  teacher,  turning  to  the  first  boy. 

"  Y-o-u-r,  your,"  cried  the  boy. 

"  Y-o-u-r,  your  !  "  repeated  the  whole  class,  making  the 
roof  ring  with  the  last  word.  A  round  of  spelling  was  put 
in  this  way.  When  the  word  "  exactly"  was  repeated  by 
the  class  the  teacher  held  up  her  finger. 

«  Who  said  '  'zakly  f  " 

A  little  black  girl,  grinning  from  ear  to  ear,  hung  her 
head  and  rolled  her  eyes  up  to  the  teacher's  with  a  droll 
expression  of  conscious  guilt. 

"  Spell  it,  Julia." 

The  child  began — "  E-x,  ex,  a-c-t,  act ;" — then  paused 
doubtfully,  waved  her  head,  smiled,  paused  again,  and  then 


96  WASHINGTON. 

added  abruptly,  "  1-y,  ly — exactly,"  and  grinned  in  delight 
at  her  own  success. 

When  the  word  "  paling  "  (referring  to  the  paling  of  a 
garden)  was  given,  the  boy  whose  turn  it  was  spelt  it  "  p-a-i-1- 

i-n-g." 

Instantly  a  little  black  fellow,  two  or  three  down,  who 
seemed  to  be  all  eyes  and  excitement,  held  up  his  arm  and 
worked  it  eagerly  towards  the  teacher,  to  show  that  he  was 
ready  to  correct,  glancing  with  intense  nervousness  at  a 
girl  who  had  also  held  up  her  hand,  and  who,  he  was  evi 
dently  fearful  might  deprive  him  of  this  chance  of  distin 
guishing  himself  gloriously. 

«  Well,  George  T 

"  P-a-1,  pal,  i-n-g  ;  paling,  a  fence,"  cried  the  little  fellow, 
as  if  speaking  to  a  thousand  people ;  and  having  fired  off 
the  word  in  this  triumphant  style,  instantly  resumed  his 
place  with  an  air  of  unspeakable  satisfaction. 

"  What  is  a  *  pail '  as  you  spelt  it  V  Mr.  Kimball  asked 
of  the  boy  who  had  gone  wrong. 

"  A  bucket,"  said  the  boy/' 

"  Then  do  you  think  the  paling  of  the  garden  was  made 
of  buckets  ? " 

The  boy  grinned  and  the  whole  school  shouted  with 
laughter.  Negroes,  young  and  old,  are  always  ready  for 
a  laugh. 

The  arithmetic  class  was  now  called.  I  was  specially 
interested  in  the  arithmetic  exercises,  because  I  had  often 
heard  it  alleged  that  the  negroes  could  make  nothing  of 
figures.  As  the  class  had  got  the  length  of  multiplication, 
I  gave  amongst  other  questions  the  following  : — 987,654, 
to  be  multiplied  by  4,  and  noted  the  time  on  my  watch.  In 
twelve  seconds  one  of  the  boys  jumped  up  and  cried  "  First !" 
Immediately  after,  another  boy  cried  "  Second  !  "  Then 
came  a  girl ;  and  in  twenty  seconds  half  the  class  were  on 
their  feet.  The  first  and  second  boys  were  right,  as  were 
several  of  the  others  :  and  the  first  boy  was  one  of  the 
purest  negroes  in  the  class— so  black,  as  Lowell  would  have 
said,  that  charcoal  would  make  a  chalk  mark  on  him. 


A  NEGRO  SCHOOL.  97 

We  then  tried  them  with  a  number  of  extempore  ques 
tions  to  be  worked  mentally  without  use  of  the  slate.  For 
instance,  add  11  and  9  and  8  and  2  and  7  and  7.  The 
answers  were  given  instantly,  and  for  the  most  part  cor 
rectly,  especially  by  six  or  seven  of  the  cleverest.  I  should 
have  considered  the  answering  sufficiently  creditable  to  a 
class  of  white  children  of  the  same  age. 

Two  or  three  of  the  children  were  nearly  white,  and  most 
of  them  had  at  least  an  intermixture  of  white  blood  ;  but 
I  did  not  observe  that  these  as  a  rule  were  any  cleverer 
than  the  others.  I  directed  Mr.  Kimball's  attention  to  a 
graceful  young  girl  of  eleven  or  twelve,  conspicuous  amongst 
so  many  black  children  by  reason  of  her  having  blue  eyes 
and  yellow  hair,  and  a  face  and  neck  as  white  as  you  could 
have  found  in  Scotland. 

I  said,  "  You  surely  do  not  call  that  a  coloured  girl." 

"  0  yes,"  he  said,  "  she  must  have  black  blood  in  her  or 
she  would  not  be  here.  She  is  what  some  call  a  white 
black." 

"  But  would  that  girl  have  been  bought  and  sold  like  a 
full-blooded  negro  1 " 

"  Certainly.  And  would  have  brought  a  higher  price 
by  reason  of  her  colour.  That  girl  in  a  few  years  would 
have  brought  1500  dollars." 

After  making  a  few  remarks — for  in  America  wherever 
you  go  you  are  expected  to  make  a  speech — we  visited  the 
seven  other  grades  in  the  same  building.  I  was  struck 
with  the  proficiency  of  many  of  the  classes  in  acquaintance 
with  America  and  American  institutions  before  they  had 
learnt  anything  of  other  countries. 

In  one  room,  when  requested  to  say  something  to  the 
pupils,  I  began  by  asking  if  they  knew  where  Scotland 
was. 

No  one  answered.  One  black  girl  put  her  hand  half  up 
in  a  wavering  manner  for  a  moment,  as  if  a  faint  recollec 
tion  had  struck  her,  but  drew  it  down  again. 

"  Do  any  of  you  know,  then,"  I  said,  "where  England  is?" 

Two  hands  were  held  up. 

G 


98  WASHINGTON. 

4) 

"  Well,  where  is  it  1 " 

« In  Europe." 

"  Can  you  show  it  me  on  the  map  1 " 

One  of  the  two  boys  came  up,  took  the  pointer,  and 
pointed  to  Great  Britain. 

"  I  'm  sorry,"  said  the  teacher,  "  you  didn't  happen  in 
before  my  last  class  was  promoted ;  they  would  have  known 
more  about  Scotland.  But  if  you  try  the  children  here 
with  America,  you  will  find  they  know  a  good  deal." 

I  called  up  a  very  black- skinned  boy,  with  the  thorough 
African  face,  and  asked  him  if  he  could  point  out  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania.  He  did  it  at  once. 

"  Do  you  know  the  seat  of  Government  there  1 " 

He  answered  promptly — "  Harrisburg,  on  the  Susque- 
hanna ;  "  and  pointed  to  it  on  the  map. 

I  tried  him  with  Delaware,  Minnesota,  Connecticut,  and 
some  half-a-dozen  others.  He  pointed  to  them  all  with 
equal  promptness,  and  named  their  principal  cities,  with,  I 
think,  only  one  slip. 

"  What  form  of  Government  have  you  in  this  country!" 

"  Eepublican." 

"And  in  England  ]" 

No  answer. 

"  Have  you  never  heard  of  Queen  Victoria  1 " 

No  answer. 

"  Who  stands  at  the  head  of  this  Republic  just  now  ? " 

He  answered  at  once — "  President  Johnson." 

Mr.  Kimball  then  directed  the  attention  of  the  school  to 
a  picture  of  Lincoln  that  hung  on  the  wall. 

"  Who  is  that  ? " 

"  President  Lincoln,"  cried  the  whole  school  in  a  breath. 

"  Was  he  a  good  man  ? " 

"  Y.es,  yes  !  " 

"  What  good  thing  did  he  do  ? " 

"  He  set  the  coloured  people  free." 

It  was  now  time  for  the  interval.  The  bell  was  touched, 
and  the  children  took  their  places,  while  a  boy  and  girl, 
whose  duty  this  was  for  the  day,  stepped  softly  along  dis- 


A  NEGRO  SCHOOL.  99 

tributing  the  caps  and  shawls.  The  bell  was  touched  again, 
and  the  whole  school,  rising  to  their  feet,  filed  out  in 
beautiful  order,  walking  elaborately  on  their  tiptoes  to  avoid 
making  any  noise.  As  we  passed  out  a  few  minutes  after, 
we  saw  great  numbers  of  them  at  their  lunch,  which  they 
had  brought  in  handkerchiefs  and  little  cans. 

Mounting  horse,  we  rode  next  to  the  Barracks'  School, 
where  not  only  the  scholars  but  the  teachers  are  coloured. 
The  interval  for  play  was  not  over  when  we  arrived,  but 
many  of  the  children  had  remained  at  their  lessons,  and 
others,  when  they  saw  us  go  in,  came  crowding  after  us. 
The  teachers  here,  as  at  Georgetown,  were  all  females. 
The  one  into  whose  school  we  passed  first  was  very  dark- 
skinned,  but  had  a  finely  shaped  face,  with  prominent  nose 
and  thin  firm  lips.  Mr.  Kimball  said  this  was  often  the 
case  with  even  full-blooded  Africans  of  high  caste ;  but  that 
education  and  the  development  of  intellectual  power  and 
activity  was  found  to  have  a  marked  effect  upon  the  features 
even  of  the  lowest  type  of  negroes,  assimilating  them  more 
or  less  to  the  European.  I  have  heard  Melville  Bell,  the 
well-known  elocutionist  and  inventor  of  visible  speech, 
make  a  similar  assertion  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  articulative 
exercises  on  the  appearance  of  persons  who  came  to  him 
with  loose  thick  lips,  and  slovenly  utterance.. 

Order  was  called,  and  the  black  children  put  through 
various  exercises  in  reading,  spelling,  arithmetic,  and 
geography.  One  little  girl,  perfectly  black,  not  only  named 
the  different  States,  but  pointed  out  England  and  Scotland 
on  the  map,  and  the  cities  of  London,  Edinburgh,  and 
Glasgow.  I  observed  that  here,  as  in  all  American  schools, 
great  attention  was  paid  to  method  and  rhythmical  move 
ment.  For  instance,  when  the  arithmetic  class  was  called 
the  class  rose  simultaneously,  marched  to  the  black-board, 
arranged  themselves,  with  their  faces  to  it,  at  regular  dis 
tances,  and  stood  thus  for  several  seconds  perfectly  still, 
awaiting  the  signal.  When  the  teacher  cried  "  One !  " 
every  child  put  its  fingers  on  a  piece  of  chalk — chalk  pen 
cils  lay  for  this  purpose  in  a  groove  at  the  foot  of  the 


100  WASHINGTON. 

board.  When  the  teacher  cried  "  Two  ! "  every  hand  was 
lifted  at  the  same  moment  to  the  board,  and  held  there 
with  the  point  of  the  chalk  pencil  touching  the  board, 
waiting  for  the  question  to  be  put. 

When  all  the  exercises  were  over,  I  asked  the  school 
what  message  I  was  to  take  from  them  to  my  friends  in 
Scotland.  There  was  a  pause,  and  a  good  deal  of  grinning 
and  looking  about,  one  to  the  other. 

"  Send  some  message,  won't  you]"  said  the  teacher. 

"  Tell  'em  this  is  a  good  school,"  cried  one. 

"  Tell  'em  we're  going  to  be  good  citizens,"  said  another. 

"  Tell  de  Scotch  people,"  said  a  third,  "  we'se  going  to  be 
like  dem" 

"  And  tell  'em,"  cried  a  bright-eyed,  earnest  little  fellow, 
with  bare  black  feet,  and  pants  that  terminated  raggedly 
at  the  knees,  "  tell  'em  I'se  gwine  to  be  a  teacher  ! " 

Spending  an  evening  with  Mr.  Alex.  Williamson,  of 
the  Treasury  Department,  he  showed  me  some  interest 
ing  relics  of  President  Lincoln,  in  whose  family  he  had 
been  tutor  during  the  time  of  the  war.  One  was  the 
dressing-gown  and  slippers  which  Lincoln  had  worn  in 
the  house  on  the  night  of  his  assassination.  "  I  went  to 
bed  that  night  about  ten,"  said  Mr.  Williamson,  "  and 
had  been  in  bed  about  twenty  minutes  when  we  heard 
a  ring  and  a  violent  knocking  at  the  door.  My  wife 
and  I  jumped  up,  thinking  it  was  a  fire.  On  going 
down-stairs  we  found  it  was  our  son,  then  employed  in 
the  Military  Telegraph  Office,  come  in  hot  haste  with 
the  fearful  intelligence  that  the  President  had  been  shot 
at  ForcL's  Theatre.  My  son  had  been  there,  had  seen 
Booth  after  firing  the  shot  leap  upon  the  stage,  and  rush 
out  at  the  back,  brandishing  a  formidable  bowie-knife 
to  clear  his  way.  I  pulled  on  my  clothes,  and  hurried 
first  to  the  President's  house,  to  find  Robert  (Lincoln's 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  ASSASSINATION.  101 

m 

eldest  son).  On  the  stairs  I  met  Thaddeus,  his  second 
boy —  '  little  Tad/  as  his  father  used  affectionately  to 
call  him — running  down,  in  charge  of  one  of  the  mes 
sengers.  On  seeing  me,  poor  little  Tad,  who  was  tongue- 
tacked  and  had  a  difficulty  in  pronouncing,  cried  out 
piteously— '  Oh,  Mister  Wi',  Mister  Wi',  papa's  tot !'  I 
ran  for  Mr.  Eobert  and  Major  Hay,  who  hastened  to  the 
theatre;  by  this  time  the  President  had  been  carried 
across  to  a  house  on  the  other  side  of  the  street.  Drs. 
Barnes,  Stone,  and  Crane  were  in  attendance ;  but,  on 
examining  the  course  which  the  ball  had  taken,  they 
said — "  It  is  fatal  There  is  no  hope."  At  seven  next 
morning  he  died. 

One  of  the  relics  which  Mr.  Williamson  showed  me 
was  Lincoln's  copy  of  Helper's  Impending  Crisis,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  books  that  has  ever  been  written 
against  slavery.  Lincoln  had  read  this  book  with  care, 
and  scored  the  passages  that  struck  him  most,  and  it  had 
helped  no  doubt  to  prepare  him  for  the  great  and  peril 
ous  step  of  Emancipation.  In  one  chapter  he  had  drawn 
his  pencil  twice  opposite  the  following  verses  : — 

"  Whoso  stoppeth  his  ears  at  the  cry  of  the  poor,  he 
also  shall  cry,  but  shall  not  be  heard." 

And  again,  "  Let  the  oppressed  go  free — Proclaim 
liberty  throughout  all  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof." 

Mr.  Williamson  said  that  Lincoln  had  a  deep  rever 
ence  for  the  Scriptures,  and  would  sometimes  search 
out  half-remembered  passages  that  seemed  to  promise 
guidance  in  some  dark  and  critical  hour.  Some  of  these 
were  embodied  in  his  messages  to  Congress. 

"  One  day,"  he  continued,  "  I  was  in  the  library  read 
ing,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  in  with  a  candle  in  his 


102  WASHINGTON. 

• 

hand — the  afternoon  being  dark  and  hazy — and  began 
looking  over  the  shelves,  as  if  in  search  of  some  book. 

"  By  and  by  he  said,  '  Tad  is  a  terrible  fellow.  He 
puts  everything  in  confusion/ 

"  I  said,  '  What  are  you  seeking  for,  President  ?' 

" '  I  want/  said  he,  '  a  book  I  saw  here  once — Crode's 
or  Crude's  Concordance! 

"  I  said  he  must  mean  Cruden's,  and  knowing  where 
it  was,  I  went  over  and  got  it  for  him,  saying  at  the  same 
time,  <  That  is  a  book  that  in  Scotland  you  would  find 
in  almost  every  library/ 

" '  Ah/  said  he, '  you  Scotch  folks  know  your  Bibles 
better  than  we  do.  The  more  pity  for  us/ 

"  Lincoln  had  a  great  love  for  Scotland.  He  named 
his  youngest  boy  William  Wallace  Lincoln.  Poor 
Willy!  he  died  of  typhoid  fever  in  '62.  He  was  the 
brightest  of  them  all 

"  I  remember  another  time,"  said  Mr.  Williamson, 
"  how  pleased  the  President  was  with  a  reply  made 
by  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Churches  to  the  pro-slavery 
Church  in  the  South.  The  pro-slavery  Presbyterians 
there  had  sent  an  appeal  to  the  Presbyterians  in  Scot 
land.  They  were  especially  sanguine  of  sympathy  from 
the  Free  Church,  because  the  slaveholders  had  helped 
that  Church  a  good  deal  with  money  at  the  outset. 
The  reply  from  Scotland  was  brief  but  crushing,  and 
the  Free  Church  went  in  with  the  others. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  remember,  was  conversing  with  New 
ton,  the"  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  when  a  copy  of 
this  Pteply  was  put  into  his  hand.  He  glanced  at 
it,  and  then,  turning  to  Newton,  said, — 

"  '  I  must  read  you  this  paper,  Newton ;  it  seems  of 
more  than  ordinary  ability/ 


LINCOLN'S  PERSONAL  HABITS  AND  CHARACTER.    103 

"  He  commenced  reading,  but  had  not  got  half  through 
it  before  the  tears  began  to  come  into  his  eyes,  so  deeply 
was  he  moved  to  find  that,  in  spite  of  all  her  apparent 
sympathy  with  the  South,  Scotland  was  still  sound  on 
the  question  of  slavery. 

" '  That/  said  he,  emphatically,  when  he  had  finished 
reading,  '  is  one  of  the  most  complete  arguments  against 
slavery  I  ever  read.  It  puts  the  whole  question  into  a 
nutshell/ 

"  With  that  he  went  and  placed  it  amongst  his  papers 
'  To  be  kept!  I  have  often  heard  him  refer  to  it  after 
wards." 

Speaking  of  Lincoln's  character  and  personal  habits, 
Mr.  Williamson  said  he  never  knew  him  do  a  wrong 
or  a  mean  thing ;  and  though  there  was  little  of  the 
courtier  about  him,  there  was  infinite  tenderness  of 
heart.  He  had  known  him  listen  to  the  pleadings  of 
women  and  children  till  the  tears  ran  down  his  cheeks. 

The  same  testimony  was  borne  by  others.  I  heard  of 
one  young  soldier,  belonging  to  a  Pennsylvania  regi 
ment,  who  was  condemned  to  be  shot  for  sleeping  at  his 
post.  The  news  reached  his  home,  and  almost  killed  his 
poor  widowed  mother,  who  lay  helplessly  bedridden. 
She  struggled  to  rise,  and  cried  piteously,  "  Oh,  if  I  could 
only  see  the  President !  He  would  not  shoot  my  boy." 

Her  only  other  child,  a  brave  little  girl  of  nine,  heard 
what  her  mother  said,  and  the  thought  took  possession 
of  her  mind  that  she  would  go  and  beg  the  President  for 
her  brother's  life.  She  ran  to  the  station,  and  got  the 
next  train  to  Washington — the  conductor,  when  he 
heard  her  story,  passing  her  without  charge,  and  when 
they  got  to  Washington  getting  some  one  to  show  her  to 
the  White  House. 


104  WASHINGTON. 

In  the  large  waiting-rooms  there,  crowded  with 
people,  the  little  girl  was  lost.  She  waited  long,  every 
minute  an  hour,  no  doubt,  to  her  poor  little  throbbing 
heart,  and  when  there  seemed  no  prospect  of  her  getting 
in,  her  courage  and  hope  gave  way,  and  she  began  to 
cry  bitterly. 

Lincoln  was  sitting  in  his  room  engaged  in  important 
business  when  he  heard  the  piteous  cries  of  a  child. 
After  a  little  while  he  heard  them  again,  and  calling  the 
messenger,  he  said, — 

"  See  what  disturbance  that  is  outside.  I  hear  a  child 
crying." 

The  messenger  returned  with  the  intelligence  that  a 
little  girl  was  there  whose  brother  was  to  be  shot,  and 
she  wanted  to  see  the  President. 

Lincoln  told  him  to  bring  her  in.  The  child  entered, 
her  face  wet  with  tears,  but  full  of  passionate  earnest 
ness.  She  looked  at  the  big  ungainly  man  upon  whom 
her  brother's  life  depended,  and  when  she  saw  the 
kindly  light  that  shone  through  the  deeply-marked  and 
careworn  visage,  she  threw  herself  upon  his  neck,  and 
begged  her  brother's  life.  Lincoln  was  deeply  moved ; 
he  put  his  big  hand  kindly  on  the  little  supplicant's 
head,  and  the  tears  began  to  trickle  down  his  cheeks. 

He  called  his  secretary  ;  inquiry  was  made.  Lincoln 
put  some  questions  to  the  child  about  her  mother's  cir 
cumstances,  and  then,  taking  his  pen,  he  wrote  out  a 
pardon  for  her  brother,  and  gave  instructions  to  have 
him  brought  to  Washington,  and  sent  home  with  her  to 
his  mother. 

Here  is  another  incident,  illustrating  in  a  different 
way  the  same  phase  of  Lincoln's  character : — One 
day,  driving  through  a  village,  the  people  ran  out 


THE  SCOTTISH  79TH  (FEDERAL).  105 

from  shop  and  store  to  see  him  pass.  One  huge  grimy 
blacksmith,  who  had  come  out  from  his  forge,  with  bare 
head  and  half-bared  chest,  was  conspicuous  by  reason  of 
his  immense  size  and  stentorian  cheers. 

"  Stop !"  cried  Lincoln  to  the  coachman,  "  Stop !  I  must 
get  out  and  shake  that  man's  hand.  These  are  the 
noble  fellows  that  are  the  strength  of  the  country." 

When  the  blacksmith  saw  the  President  look  at  him 
and  get  out,  he  stopped  his  cheering ;  and  when  he  saw 
the  President  coming  straight  towards  him,  began  with 
a  look  of  concern  to  move  off.  Lincoln  waved  and  cried 
to  him  to  stop  ;  but  the  big  blacksmith,  now  thoroughly 
alarmed,  ran  back  into  his  smithy.  Lincoln,  however, 
followed  him,  and  told  him  he  only  wanted  a  shake  of 
his  hand,  shook  it  with  great  goodwill,  and  some  little 
amusement,  and  drove  off  amidst  great  cheering. 

Mr.  Williamson  gave  me  the  following  particulars 
about  a  Scottish,  or  rather  a  Highland,  regiment  (the 
79th  New  York)  that  served  with  some  distinction  in 
the  war : — 

"  Soon  after  the  war  broke  out,  we  heard  that  the  men 
of  this  militia  regiment  had  mustered  into  the  regular  ser 
vice,  and  were  preparing  to  start  for  Washington.  We 
who  were  Scotch  anxiously  awaited  news  of  their  coming. 
They  had  to  run  the  rebel  gauntlet  at  Baltimore,  where  the 
6th  Massachusetts  had  bee#  fired  upon  by  the  Secessionist 
mob.  They  were  all  prepared  for  a  similar  reception.  The 
men  carried  their  muskets  loaded ;  the  officers  were  ready 
with  their  revolvers ;  and  the  advance  line  reconnoitred  as 
they  marched  through  the  swarming  city  from  the  one 
depot  to  the  other.  But  there  was  no  provocation  given 
them.  The  mob  said,  "These  are  Scotch — none  of  the 
d— d  Yankees !  ' 

"  I  remember  well  their  arrival  in  Washington.  They 
got  here  about  half-past  two  on  a  Sunday  morning,  and 


106  WASHINGTON. 

marched  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  their  band,  led  by  Sandy 
Robertson,  playing  '  Hey,  Johnny  Cope,  are  you  waukin' 
yet  1 '  As  they  neared  the  President's  house,  they  sud 
denly  struck  up  *  The  Campbells  are  coming.'  '  Old  Abe,' 
who  slept  very  slightly,  awoke  at  the  sound.  He  knew 
the  tune  well,  and  told  me  afterwards  that  it  instantly 
filled  his  mind  with  thoughts  of  the  relief  of  Lucknow.  He 
got  out  of  bed,  pulled  on  his  dressing-gown,  and  stept  out 
to  the  portico.  His  appearance  was  the  signal  for  a  wild 
hurrah,  and  it  was  some  time  before  the  cheering  subsided. 
The  President  made  a  short  speech,  the  band  at  its  close 
struck  up  '  Hail  to  the  Chief,'  and  the  regiment  resumed 
its  march  to  Georgetown.  The  79th  was  1100  strong,  and 
500  of  them  were  in  kilts.  850  of  these  men  were 
real  Scotchmen ;  the  rest  were  hardy  fellows  from  the 
North  of  Ireland — Scotch-Irish,  as  they  are  called  here. 
The  officers  were  principally  mechanics  and  masons,  and 
many  of  the  privates  had  been  clerks  and  shopkeepers  in 
New  York,  where  they  had  been  earning  from  70  to  100 
dols.  a  month,  but  had  turned  out  to  help  in  putting  down 
the  rebellion.  During  the  time  they  were  in  the  city  my 
house  was  like  their  head-quarters.  The  city  was  full  of 
Secessionists,  and  both  officers  and  men  seemed  glad  to  find 
a  countryman  who  was  enthusiastic  about  them  and  their 
cause. 

"  By-and-by  they  got  orders  to  march  to  the  front.  I 
was  out  to  see  them  go,  and  I  remember  one  of  the  soldiers, 
Gourlay,  an  Edinburgh  man,  and  a  fine  singer,  getting  on  a 
hay-rick  by  the  captain's  orders,  and  singing  '  The  March  of 
the  Cameron  Men,'  the  regiment  taking  up  the  chorus. 

"  At  Bull  Run  they  lost  heavily  in  killed  and  wounded. 
Colonel  Cameron  was  among  the  killed.  Captain  Laing 
was  on§  of  the  officers  wounded ;  Laing  was  an  old  appren 
tice  of  W.  H.  Lizars,  engraver,  Edinburgh.  He  was  first 
hit  angle-ways  on  the  windpipe,  the  ball  traversing  the 
neck  just  under  the  skin,  and  coming  out  at  the  back. 
Almost  at  the  same  moment  a  shell  exploded  near  him, 
and  a  fragment  struck  him,  hurting  him  so  badly  that  he 


A  CITY  IN  WAR  DAYS.  107 

had  to  retire,  his  serjeant  (Campbell)  helping  him.  He 
had  not  got  far  when  one  of  the  rebel  cavalry  fired  at  him 
and  shot  him  in  the  wrist.  The  rebel  was  taking  aim 
again,  when  the  sergeant  fired  at  him  and  killed  him. 
They  pushed  for  the  rear  as  fast  as  Laing's  wounds  per 
mitted,  and  were  just  getting  off  the  field  when  another 
rebel  dashed  up  and  fired  at  him,  the  ball  tearing  the 
sleeve  of  his  coat,  and  crashing  through  his  wrist.  The 
sergeant  got  at  this  fellow  with  his  bayonet,  and  killed 
him  too.  Laing  presented  the  sergeant  afterwards  with  a 
silver  medal  for  saving  his  life. 

"  Such  a  state  as  Washington  was  in  the  day  after  that 
battle ! "  my  friend  continued.  "  The  people  were  in  a 
panic ;  great  numbers  were  leaving  the  city ;  the  braver 
and  more  loyal  were  hurrying  about  preparing  to  receive 
the  wounded.  Stands  with  wine,  hot  coffee,  tea,  and  bread 
for  the  weary-footed  soldiers  were  placed  at  street  corners ; 
ambulances  were  rattling  out  for  the  maimed;  artillery 
was  hurrying  at  a  jolting  trot  through  the  streets ;  order 
lies  were  dashing  to  and  fro ;  bugles  were  sounding  *  To 
horse ;'  and  the  district  volunteers,  in  rather  a  shaky  con 
dition,  were  panting  for  glory. 

"  I  was  out  all  day  at  the  corner  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
and  Fourteenth  Street  watching  the  excitement  and  seeing 
the  wounded  come  in.  I  saw  Burnside,  who  had  gone 
prancing  out  in  high  feather  a  few  days  before  at  the  head 
of  his  troops,  in  the  midst  of  cheers  and  waving  handker 
chiefs  and  bouquets,  corne  back  on  a  broken-down  Eosi- 
nante,  with  somebody  else's  cap  on  his  head  and  the  flower 
gone  from  his  button-hole.  It  was  the  best  thing  that 
could  have  happened  for  the  North,  that  defeat.  It  let 
the  nation  see  that  serious  work  was  before  it.  The 
troops  went  out  with  no  idea  of  what  awaited  them. 
Parties  of  civilians  went  with  them  to  see  the  rebels 
whipped.  The  start  was  like  a  great  pic-nic.  Bull  Kim 
put  an  end  to  that.  The  nation  set  itself  seriously  then  to 
prepare  for  a  great  war. 

"  When  I  got  home  that  first  night,  I  found  a  number 


108  WASHINGTON. 

of  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  79th  in  and  around  my 
house — many  of  them  wounded.  The  regiment  fought 
afterwards  in  twenty-seven  battles,  winding  up  with  the 
tremendous  battle  of  Spotsylvania  Court  House,  under 
General  Grant." 

Mr.  Williamson  gave  me  the  following  vivid  descrip 
tion  of  Washington  during  those  years  of  war  : — 

"The  city  was  in  a  fearful  condition — swarming  not 
only  with  troops,  but  with  vagabonds,  vampires,  and 
harpies  of  every  description.  Hundreds  of  Irish  shebeens 
dotted  the  suburbs,  where  poisonous  whisky  was  sold  to 
the  soldiers  at  four  or  five  dollars  a  bottle,  and  citizens' 
clothes  were  kept  for  soldiers  to  desert  in.  Daily  raids 
were  made  upon  these  places  by  the  Provost  Guard,  the 
whisky  destroyed,  and  the  houses  battered  down;  but 
others  started  up  like  mushrooms,  and  low  women  were 
continually  caught  conveying  whisky  to  the  soldiers  in 
bottles  suspended  from  the  hoops  of  their  crinolines. 
Whole  streets  were  occupied  by  prostitutes,  who  never 
numbered  less  than  20,000  here  during  the  war — 5000  or 
more  of  them  black  women.  Hundreds  of  soldiers  were 
nightly  turned  out  of  these  dens  by  the  Provost  Guard ; 
restaurants  were  closed,  rum  and  whisky  run  into  the 
gutter,  and  the  proprietors  imprisoned.  Sundays  were  like 
other  days.  Church-going  was  almost  given  up.  Churches, 
indeed,  were  converted  into  hospitals,  and  filled  with 
wounded  and  dying  men. 

"  Then  such  a  roar  as  there  continually  was  in  the  city, 
day  and  night.  Droves  of  mules  from  Kentucky,  brought 
in  for  drawing  quartermaster's  stores ;  horses  by  the  thou 
sand,  for  cavalry  and  other  service,  on  their  way  to  the 
Government  corrals ;  herds  of  cattle,  for  feeding  the  army, 
driven  by  horsemen  with  long  whips,  bellowing  and  stam 
peding  through  the  streets.  Then  there  were  the  dying 
and  the  dead,  arriving  in  ship-loads  at  our  wharves  :  long 
mournful  trains  of  ambulances  moving  to  the  hospitals; 
crowds  of  people  running  after  them  to  see  if  any  of  their 


HANGING-ON  AT  THE  WHITE  HOUSE.  109 

<* 

friends  were  amongst  the  wounded ;  columns  of  rebel  pri 
soners,  heavily  guarded,  passing  to  head-quarters;  com 
panies  of  rebel  officers  guarded  by  black  soldiers  ;  regiments 
innumerable  crowding  through  the  city  on  their  way  to  the 
front.  I  remember  when  Burnside's  corps  of  45,000  men 
was  on  it^  way  to  join  Grant  in  Virginia,  it  passed  in 
review  before  the  President  and  Cabinet,  occupying  two 
days.  There  were  three  or  four  coloured  regiments  in  this 
corps,  and,  as  they  passed  '  Old  Abe/  they  sang  '  John 
Brown's  body  lies  a-mouldering  in  the  grave,'  marching 
with  their  caps  on  the  tops  of  their  bayonets.  Poor  fel 
lows  !  they  didn't  know  it,  but  they  were  on  their  way  to 
be  buried  in  the  crater  at  Petersburg." 

It  is  considered  the  correct  thing  for  a  stranger  in 
Washington  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  President.  Ac 
cordingly,  one  forenoon  I  went  up  to  the  White  House. 
It  was  a  time  of  great  political  excitement,  and  the 
reception  rooms  were  crowded  with  people  from  all 
parts  of  the  country — office-seekers,  politicians,  sena 
tors,  military  and  naval  officers,  strangers  (like  myself), 
and  a  sprinkling  of  enlightened  and  long-legged  citi 
zens  from  the  far  West,  dressed  with  Eepublican  free 
dom,  and  wearing  hats  of  every  style,  from  the  slouched 
and  the  rowdy  hat  to  the  tall  stove-pipe  and  the  Gol 
gotha. 

The  rooms  were  spacious  and  richly  carpeted,  and 
the  principal  articles  of  furniture,  omitting  half-a-dozen 
slim  chairs  (capable  of  accommodating  about  one  in  six 
of  the  persons  present,  and  never  vacant  for  a  moment), 
were  two  stupendous  spitoons,  which  were  gracefully 
planted  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  about  ten  yards  apart, 
on  large  squares  of  oilcloth.  There  was  another  and 
more  elegant  waiting-room  for  the  ladies,  who  are 
treated  everywhere  in  America  with  a  consideration 


110  WASHINGTON. 

and  courtesy  that  might  put  this  country  to  the 
blush. 

Some  of  the  freest  and  most  enlightened  of  the  citi 
zens  had  evidently  been  waiting  a  long  time,  and  were 
striding  uneasily  about,  sometimes  talking,  sometimes 
looking  out  of  the  window  at  the  end  of  the  gallery, 
sometimes,  on  their  way  back,  taking  a  squirt  at  the 
spitoon,  or  stopping  to  drop  into  it  a  chawed-up  plug 
of  tobacco.  Others  of  a  more  refined  order  lounged 
about,  or  stood  conversing  in  groups,  thickest  at  the 
end  nearest  the  door  of  the  President's  room,  '"towards 
which,  as  often  as  it  opened  to  let  anybody  out  or  in, 
all  eyes  were  instantly  turned.  The  person  who  excited 
my  sympathy  most  was  the  usher  whose  business  it 
was  to  take  in  the  cards  and  come  for  persons  who  were 
sent  for  specially  by  the  President.  Every  time  this 
unfortunate  official  passed  through  the  reception  rooms 
on  his  mission,  he  looked  like  a  fly  trying  to  make  its 
way  through  cobwebs.  He  was  hitched  aside  here, 
clutched  at  there,  arrested  everywhere, — all  being  impa 
tient  to  ascertain  when  their  turn  was  to  come,  and 
seeming  to  regard  the  usher  as  the  malicious  cause  of 
their  detention. 

It  became  very  wearisome  this  waiting.  It  was 
dreary  enough  hanging  on  in  such  a  crowd  for  one's 
turn;  but  when  some  senator  or  commanding  officer 
suddenly  appeared  on  urgent  business,  and  had  to  get 
in  next,  interrupting  the  routine,  and  remaining  closeted 
with  the  President  for  what  seemed  an  interminable 
time  to  us,  who  had  no  chairs ;  and  when  we  knew 
that  other  senators  on  urgent  business  might  arrive  at 
any  moment,  all  calculations  as  to  time  were  felt  to  be 
visionary. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  Ill 

At  last,  when  I  had  begun  to  despair  of  getting  in 
'at  all,  and  was  reduced  to  the  condition  of  leaning 
from  sheer  fatigue  against  the  balustrade,  and  would 
have  gone  away  but  for  the  thought  that  it  would  be 
throwing  away  the  chance  which  it  had  taken  three 
hours  of  patient  waiting  to  secure,  suddenly  the  usher 
came  for  me,  and  I  was  shown  into  the  President's 
room. 

President  Johnson,  when  I  entered,  was  standing  at 
the  corner  of  his  table,  which  was  covered  with  books 
and  papers.  He  is  tall,  dark-complexioned,  broad- 
shouldered,  stands  erect,  and  has  much  more  of  dignity 
in  his  manner  and  appearance  than  I  had  expected  to 
find.  He  shook  my  hand,  and  when  I  had  paid  my 
respects,  began  with  the  usual  questions, — 

"  How  long  have  you  been  in  the  country,  sir  ?"  and 
"How  do  you  like  the  country,  sir?" — with  a -few 
others  of  a  like  kind. 

After  a  brief  interview  not  likely  to  affect  perman 
ently  the  destinies  of  the  world,  I  took  my  leave.  The 
impression  which  Mr.  Johnson  left  upon  me,  both  on 
this  occasion,  and  when  I  saw  him  again  on  my  return 
to  Washington,  was  that  of  a  keen,  ambitious  man, 
with  a  strange  combination  of  furtiveness  and  power. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  the  bull-dog  in  his  broad, 
heavy,  strongly-marked  face,  with  an  expression  of 
dogged  obstinacy,  especially  about  the  lips,  which  are 
firmly  pressed  together  as  when  a  man  is  facing  a  cold 
blast.  His  eyes  are  small,  quick,  restless  ;  peering  and 
glittering  from  between  his  puffy  eyelids  like  the  eyes 
of  an  Indian,  conveying  the  idea  of  deepness,  vigilance, 
and  subtlety.  He  wore  a  look  of  anxiety,  but  there 
was  nothing  of  that  dissipated  appearance  about  him 


112  WASHINGTON. 

which  I  had  been  led  to  expect  from  the  charges  of 
habitual  drunkenness  which  were  continually  brought 
against  him  in  the  public  prints.  One  has  to  receive 
with  great  caution  the  charges  brought  against  the 
character  of  a  public  man  in  America  by  the  organs  of 
a  hostile  party. 

Johnson  is  a  Presbyterian,  and  attended  Dr.  Gurley's 
church  in  Washington.  On  the  occasion  of  my  visit 
to  the  city  in  the  following  year,  I  saw  him  there,  though 
it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  impeachment  furor,  when  he 
was  declared  by  Eadical  papers  to  be  drowning  himself 
in  drink. 

Johnson,  as  is  generally  known,  was  once  a  poor 
tailor  lad,  and  never  learnt  even  to  write  his  name  till 
after  his  marriage,  when  he  was  taught  by  his  wife. 
With  all  his  faults,  it  says  something  for  such  a  man 
that,  by  his  own  unaided  abilities,  he  should  have  raised 
himself  up  to  the  Vice -Presidency  of  a  great  Kepublic. 
It  was,  of  course,  the  bullet  of  Wilkes  Booth  that  made 
him  President. 


GRANT'S  RETICENCE.  1 1 3 


XL 

GRANT. 

AT  the  time  of  this  first  visit  to  Washington,  Grant 
was  officiating  as  interim  Secretary  of  War — the  con 
flict  between  President  Johnson  and  Congress  being  in 
progress.  I  called  on  him  with  introductions  from 
Beecher  and  George  H.  Stuart,  and  was  very  kindly 
received. 

When  I  entered  the  small  and  unpretentious  room 
where  Grant  was  at  work,  I  found  him  sitting  at  his 
table  in  the  corner,  with  piles  of  letters  and  documents 
before  him,  a  half-smoked  cigar  beside  him  on  the  edge 
of  the  table,  near  his  elbow,  and  the  omnipresent  spit 
toon  at  his  feet.  A  few  old  prints  of  the  Eevolutionary 
war  adorned  the  walls,  and  over  the  mantelpiece  hung 
a  dark  mournful-looking  print  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Grant  rose  and  shook  hands  quietly.  He  is  a  small 
man,  with  a  grim  little  mouth,  looking  all  the  grimmer 
by  reason  of  his  reddish-brown  moustache  being  cut 
across  as  with  a  scissors,  leaving  it  square  and  bristly. 
He  has  a  shrewd,  grey,  impenetrable  eye,  but,  on  the 
whole,  a  pleasant  expression  of  countenance,  as  if  he  ha<? 
something  in  him  which  he  was  amused  at  your  trying 
to  find  out. 

I  had  heard  so  much  of  his  reticence  that  I  scarcely 
expected  to  get  a  word  out  of  him.  It  struck  me  as 

H 


1 1 4  GRANT. 

probable,  however,  that  his  extreme  reserve  might  be 
owing,  in  part,  to  people  approaching  him  on  the 
political  side,  and  trying  to  get  him  to  speak  on  topics 
on  which  he  might  not  wish  to  commit  himself.  Ac 
cordingly,  I  began  to  speak  of  Scotland  and  Grant's 
family  connection  with  it,  on  which  he  opened  out  at 
once,  telling  me  that  he  was  Scotch  on  both  sides,  hi-s 
mother  being  a  Simpson,  and  that  though  his  father  and 
grandfather  had  both  been  born  in  America,  they  were 
fond  of  tracing  their  Scotch  descent.  This  led  to  a 
pleasant  conversation,  in  which  the  General  spoke  with 
out  the  least  reserve.  Grant  is  a  thorough  Eepublican. 
One  sees  it  in  his  manners,  his  language,  and  his  ex 
pressed  sympathies.  At  the  time  of  the  Mexican  dis 
turbances,  he  urged  the  Government  to  support  Juarez, 
and  declared  that  the  attempt  to  establish  a  monarchy 
in  America  by  foreign  bayonets  was  an  act  of  hostility 
against  the  United  States. 

When  he  was  asked  how  that  principle  held  with 
regard  to  British  power  in  Canada,  he  said, — "  Britain 
was  there  before  us,  and  is  slackening  her  hold.  France 
has  no  business  here  at  all,  and  is  trying  to  get  hold. 
That  makes  a  mighty  difference." 

His  attitude  towards  this  country  will,  however,  be 
determined  to  a  great  extent  by  the  feelings  of  his 
countrymen.  "I  shall  have  no  policy  of  my  own," 
he  said  himself,  "to  interpose  against  the  will  of  the 
people." 

I  was  therefore  delighted  to  find,  wherever  I  went, 
that  the  mass  of  the  American  people  seemed  so  heartily 
desirous  of  international  fraternity  and  peace.  I  can 
not  express  too  strongly  my  conviction,  from  what  I 
heard  and  saw  in  America,  that  the  anti-British  feeling 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CHARACTER.    115 

which  shows  itself  so  much  in  some  quarters,  comes 
not  from  the  native  American  population,  but  from 
people  who  have  gone  out  from  our  own  country  with 
feelings  of  disaffection  that  ripen  there  into  jealousy  and 
hate.  The  feelings  of  the  native  Americans,  and  especi 
ally  of  the  great  party  which  has  elected  Grant  to  the 
Presidential  chair,  are  those  of  cordial  good -will. 

Grant's  reticence  made  him  a  new  and  bewildering 
character  in  the  political  arena,  when  his  name  came  up 
for  President.  Nobody  seemed  to  know  exactly  what 
he  was — whether  Radical,  Eepublican,  or  Democrat. 

I  heard  Wendell  Phillips  say  in  one  of  his  public 
addresses,  referring  to  Lincoln, — "  We  had  first  a  man 
with  his  face  turned  heavenward ;  then  we  got  a  man 
with  his  face  turned  hellward ;  and  now  we  are  offered 
a  man  about  whom  the  only  thing  we  can  say  is  that 
we  don't  know  which  way  his  face  is  turned." 

Ben  Wade  was  equally  at  a  loss. 

"  I  foresee,"  he  said,  "  that  the  Eepublican  party  will 
take  Grant  up  and  run  him  in  with  a  hurrah.  The 
trouble  is,  you  don't  know  where  he  stands." 

He  was  asked  if  he  had  never  conversed  with  him  on 
political  subjects. 

"  I  have  tried,  but  it  was  no  use.  When  I  saw  the 
popular  current  running  in  his  favour,  I  wanted  to 
know  whether  he  was  for  Johnson  or  for  Congress,  or 
what  the  devil  he  was  for ;  but  I  never  could  get  any 
thing  out  of  him.  As  quick  as  I  'd  talk  politics,  he  'd 
offer  a  cigar,  and  begin  to  talk  horses." 

Grant,  however,  has  said  enough  and  done  enough  to 
show  his  character,  and  what  may  be  expected  of  him. 

In  1861,  when  he  re-entered  the  United  States  army, 
because,  as  he  said  himself,  "  the  country  is  in  peril, 


1 1 6  GRANT. 

and  I  feel  bound  to  offer  my  services  for  whatever  they 
are  worth,"  he  added,  "  I  would  like  a  regiment ;  yet 
there  are  few  men  really  competent  to  command  a 
thousand  soldiers,  and  I  doubt  if  I  am  one  of  them." 

Three  years  after,  he  was  in  command  of  an  army, 
and  had  proved  himself  the  most  successful  commander 
in  the  North. 

When,  therefore,  we  find  him  in  '66  declining  to  go 
to  Mexico  with  the  embassy,  because,  as  he  said  him 
self,  "it  is  a  diplomatic  service  for  which  I  am  not 
fitted — a  thing  that  can  be  very  much  better  done  by 
others,"  we  are  left  to  hope  that  the  analogy  will  hold, 
and  that — 

"  Successful  counsels  may  him  now  approve, 
As  fit  for  close  intrigues  as  for  the  field." 

In  '63,  when  Grant  was  in  command  in  the  West,  a 
commercial  house  in  which  Grant's  own  father  was 
interested,  applied  to  him  for  a  special  permit  to  trade 
on  the  river.  Mr.  M — ,  a  member  of  the  firm,  went  to 
head-quarters,  secured  a  private  interview  with  the 
General,  and  presented  the  application,  backed  up  by  a 
letter  from  the  General's  father. 

"  Sir,"  said  Grant,  "  I  am  always  glad  to  give  any 
proper  help  to  my  friends  ;  but  I  cannot  do  this.  I  am 
a  servant  of  the  United  States  Government  here,  and  as 
such  I  cannot  favour  one  citizen  more  than  another." 

"  But  these  new  restrictions,"  said  Mr.  M — ;  "  could 
we  not  be  relieved  from  them  in  the  meantime  ?" 

"  No,  sir.  You  can  take  out  a  permit,  and  trade  along 
the  river,  as  others  are  doing ;  but  I  cannot  grant  privi 
leges  to  you  which  I  refuse  to  others.  I  do  not  know 
why  my  father  should  write  asking  me  to  do  it.  It  is 
a  request  that  I  cannot  listen  to  from  any  one." 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CHARACTER.      1 1  7 

Grant  has  never  had  patience  with  those  who  want  to 
use  the  public  grindstone  for  sharpening  their  own  pri 
vate  cutlery.  During  the  time  of  the  war  he  wanted  a 
law  passed  providing  that  all  fraudulent  contractors  for 
the  Government  should  be  impressed  into  the  ranks,  "  or 
still  better,"  he  said,  "  into  the  gunboat  service,  where 
they  could  have  no  chance  of  deserting." 

Though  silent,  he  is  observant  and  sagacious,  and 
quick  in  discerning  the  meaning  of  things. 

It  is  told  of  him,  that,  when  some  prisoners  were  being 
examined  at  Fort  Donelson,  and  the  result  was  re 
ported,  he  said, — "  Are  their  haversacks  filled  ?  " 

Examination  was  made,  and  the  haversacks  found  to 
contain  three  days'  rations. 

"  The  enemy  mean,  then,  to  cut  their  way  out,"  said 
Grant  instantly.  "  They  don't  mean  to  stop  and  fight 
us.  Who  attacks  now  will  whip  ;  and  the  rebels  will 
have  to  be  very  quick  to  beat  us." 

Speaking  of  his  struggle  with  the  Confederates  at  the 
Wilderness,  he  said,  "  I  have  noticed  that  the  South 
erners  fight  desperately  at  first ;  yet  when  we  hang  on 
a  day  or  two,  we  get  them  whipped."  Whatever  truth 
there  may  be  in  his  estimate  of  Southern  valour,  this 
power  of  "  hanging  on "  describes  one  of  his  most 
obvious  characteristics.  He  is  slow  to  move,  diffident 
sometimes  in  undertaking  a  work ;  but  having  under 
taken  it,  he  perseveres  in  it  with  a  grim  and  unflinching 
resolution  that  bears  down  everything  before  it.  He 
has  shown  this  quality  from  his  earliest  years.  At  West 
Point  Academy,  being  an  unsocial  boy,  he  was  treated 
at  first  with  a  good  deal  of  insolence  and  cruelty  by  the 
older  scholars.  He  stood  this  for  some  time,  till  one  day, 
on  mock  parade,  the  captain  of  the  company  addressed 


1 1 8  GRANT. 

a  very  insulting  remark  to  him.  Young  Grant  suddenly 
stepped  out  of  the  ranks,  threw  off  his  jacket,  and,  before 
the  whole  company,  challenged  the  captain  to  fight. 
The  excitement  became  intense.  The  two  boys  went  at 
it,  and  in  three  minutes  the  captain,  though  he  fought 
hard,  was  severely  thrashed,  and  had  to  cry  for  mercy. 

"Now,  lieutenant,  if  you.  please,  I'll  take  you,"  said 
Grant,  turning,  without  any  apparent  excitement,  to 
another  of  the  cadets  who  had  been  most  forward  in 
abusing  him. 

The  lieutenant  looked  as  if  he  would  have  willingly 
declined  the  combat,  but  his  reputation  was  at  stake,  and 
he  stepped  out.  Grant  made  short  work  with  him  too. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  hitching  up  his  pants,  and  looking 
as  if  his  blood  were  only  beginning  to  fire  up,  "who 
comes  next  ?  I  want  peace,  but  I'm  willing  to  fight  the 
whole  company, % one  by  one,  if  that's  necessary  to  gain 
peace." 

There  was  no  more  fighting.  The  boys,  delighted  with 
his  pluck,  poured  round  him  tumultuously,  shook  his 
hands,  and  gave  him  a  hearty  cheer.  Thereafter  he  went 
by  the  name  of  "  Company  Grant,"  the  boy  that  was 
ready  to  fight  the  whole  company.  This  name  he  bore 
till,  in  1862,  his  correspondence  with  Confederate  Gene 
ral  Buckner,  at  Tort  Donelson,  gained  him  the  new  but 
uncouth  name  of  "Unconditional-Surrender  Grant."1 

1  On  the  day  after  the  fighting  propose  to  move  immediately  upon 
(Feb.  16,  1862),  the  Confederate  your  works."  Buckuer  had  no  re- 
General  finding  his  position  despe-  source.  Swallowing  his  wrath  as 
rate,  wrote  Grant  as  follows: — "I  best  he  could,  he  replied, — "Cir- 
propose  the  appointment  of  Com-  cumstances  compel  me  to  accept  the 
missioners  to  agree  upon  terms  of  ungenerous  and  unchivalrous  terms 
capitulation."  To  which  Grant  re-  which  you  propose."  Fort  Donel- 
plied, — "  No  terms  can  be  accepted  son  was  the  first  great  victory  for 
except  unconditional  surrender.  I  the  North. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT'S  CHARACTER.      1 1  9 

At  the  bloody  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing  (April  6, 
1862),  when  affairs  were  looking  desperate,  Buell  said 
to  Grant,  who  had  ridden  up, — 

"  Have  you  provided  for  our  retreat,  General  ?" 

"  JSTo,  sir,"  said  Grant,  "  we  shall  not  retreat." 

"  But  we  may  be  forced  to  do  it,  and  we  should  at 
least  be  ready  for  all  contingencies." 

"  Well,  there  are  the  boats." 

"  The  boats  !"  exclaimed  Buell ;  "  the  boats  will  not 
hold  10,000  men,  and  we  have  30,000." 

"They  will  hold  more,"  replied  the  grim  General, 
"  than  we  shall  retreat  with." 

The  year  after,  in  the  operations  against  Vicksburg, 
Sherman  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  it  would  be  neces 
sary  to  shift  their  base  and  advance  upon  Vicksburg 
from  the  North. 

"  That  would  require  us  to  return  to  Memphis,"  said 
Grant. 

"  Of  course." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  shall  take  no  steps  backward. 
It  would  look  like  a  retreat,  and  would  dishearten  the 
country.  No,  sir,  I  have  considered  the  plan,  and  it  is 
my  purpose  to  carry  it  out." 

One  day  he  stopped  to  water  his  horse  near  a  dilapi 
dated  building.  The  lady  of  the  house,  a  rebel,  asked 
him  if  he  ever  expected  to  take  Vicksburg. 

"  Yes,  I  mean  to  take  it,"  he  said. 

"  And  when  V  said  the  lady,  with  a  scornful  laugh. 

"  I  don't  know  when,"  said  the  General  quietly. 
"  But  I  shall  take  it,  if  I  stay  here  thirty  years." 

The  same  grim  resolution  characterized  him  all 
through  the  war.  Everybody  remembers  his  reply 
when  it  was  proposed  by  some  of  his  officers,  after 


120  GRANT. 

the  desperate  but  unsuccessful  attempt  to  storm  Lee's 
position  in  the  Wilderness,  that  some  other  way  of 
advancing  on  Eichmond  should  be  tried. 

"  No,"  said  Grant,  "  I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this 
line  if  it  takes  all  summer." 

"  Fighting  it  out  on  this  line  "  has  become  a  house 
hold  phrase  in  the  North  ever  since. 

Grant  is  capable  of  great  severity  if  his  purpose  can 
thereby  be  more  readily  accomplished. 

When  Sheridan  was  pushing  up  the  beautiful  valley 
of  the  Shenandoah,  where  the  Confederates  had  so  often 
come  to  gather  the  harvests,  Grant's  orders  were  more 
severe  and  peremptory  than  had  been  issued  even  when 
the  South  was  in  the  fulness  of  her  strength. 

"  Leave  nothing,"  he  said,  "  to  invite  the  enemy  to 
return.  Destroy  whatever  cannot  be  consumed.  Let 
that  valley  be  so  left  that  crows  flying  over  it  will  have 
to  carry  their  rations  along  with  them." 

It  was  done,  and  the  vast  and  fertile  valley  was  con 
verted  for  that  season  into  a  howling  wilderness. 

It  was  the  same  with  human  life.  It  was  declared  to 
me  by  many  Southern  officers,  and  accepted  as  probable 
by  many  in  the  North,  that  Grant  sacrificed  more  men 
in  the  series  of  blows  he  struck  at  Lee  between  the 
Wilderness  and  Petersburg  than  all  the  men  Lee  had 
to  begin  with.  But  then  his  end  was  gained.  The 
North  lost  heavily,  but  the  South  was  conquered. 

If  Grant  was  terrible  in  war,  he  was  generous  in  vic 
tory.  When  Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox,  Grant 
allowed  the  Confederate  officers  to  retain  their  side-arms, 
distributed  rations  to  the  famished  troops,  and  permitted 
the  officers  and  men  to  return  to  their  homes. 

The  Southern  people,  many  of  them  officers  in  Lee's 


HIS  VIEWS  ON  SLAVERY  AND  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE.   121 

army,  speak  of  Grant's  conduct  at  Appomattox  Court 
House  with  admiration  and  gratitude. 

After  the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy,  he  appealed 
to  President  Johnson  on  behalf  of  the  chief  of  the  Con 
federate  armies. 

"  It  would  meet  with  opposition  in  the  North,"  he 
said,  "  to  allow  Lee  the  benefit  of  amnesty,  but  I  think 
it  would  have  the  best  possible  effect  towards  restor 
ing  good  feeling  and  peace  in  the  South  to  have  him 
come  in."  And  in  his  official  report  he  closed  with 
these  words,  as  honourable  to  himself  as  they  are 
appreciative  of  Southern  heroism, — "  Let  us  hope  now 
for  perpetual  peace  and  harmony  with  that  enemy 
whose  manhood,  however  mistaken  the  cause,  drew 
forth  such  herculean  deeds  of  valour." 

Grant's  views  on  the  negro  question  have  not  been 
very  clearly  expressed  in  words,  but  it  will  be  remem 
bered  that  in  1863  he  enjoined  his  commanders  to 
organize  black  regiments,  and  do  their  best  to  remove 
all  prejudice  against  them.  It  will  also  be  remembered 
that  in  all  dealings  with  the  enemy  he  declared  that 
black  troops  must  stand  on  the  same  platform  with 
white  troops,  and  be  equally  protected  by  the  Govern 
ment. 

On  his  being  spoken  to  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
and  asked  if  he  had  gone  for  abolition,  he  said  "  No." 

"But  you  were  for  gradual  emancipation  ?" 

"  No  ;  not  at  first.  The  rebellion  opened  my  eyes. 
I  saw  then  that  slavery  must  go,  and  ought  to  go.  I 
wanted  peace,  and  I  saw  that  we  could  never  have 
peace  with  slavery." 

"  You  had  a  large  number  of  black  soldiers  in  your 
army  ?" 


122  GRANT. 

"  Yes." 

"Did  they  fight  well?" 

"  Yes ;  they  fought  very  well." 

"  Do  you  think  the  black  people  will  be  able  to  hold 
their  own  in  the  South?" 

"  I  think  they  will ;  but  we  shall  see." 

"  Do  you  approve  of  giving  the  suffrage  to  coloured 
people  ? " 

"Yes.  It  has  become  a  necessity.  I  should  have 
gone  against  it  once ;  but  there  is  no  other  way  out  of 
the  difficulty  now.  The  South  will  do  well  to  accept 
it.  The  sooner  the  South  accepts  it,  the  sooner  the 
country  will  be  at  peace." 


PURPOSE  AND  HEART  IN  THE  WAK.       123 


XII. 

TUKPOSE  AND  HEART  IN  THE  WAE. 

BEFORE  passing  into  the  South,  where  the  devotion  of 
the  people  to  the  cause  they  were  led  to  espouse  is  well 
known,  let  me  say  that  I  think  this  country  has  never 
realized  the  spirit  of  earnestness  with  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  North  took  up  arms.  It  is  no  part  of 
my  belief  that  the  North  went  into  the  war  to  put 
down  slavery.  No  doubt  with  that  question  the  whole 
difficulty  from  first  to  last  was  bound  up ;  and  when  the 
boom  of  that  "  first  gun  "  at  Sumter  rolled  in  ominous 
thunder  over  the  continent,  there  were  quick  ears  that 
heard  in  it  the  death-knell  of  the  domestic  institution. 
Wendell  Phillips  heard  it  in  the  North;  Alexander 
Stephens  heard  it  in  the  South.  But  what  the  mass 
of  the  Northern  people  heard,  was  a  shot  fired  on  the 
symbol  of  National  Unity, — a  blow  struck  at  the  funda 
mental  principle  of  government  by  majorities — the 
principle  of  submission  to  the  national  will.  If  this 
principle  was  repudiated,  the  Constitution  was  waste 
paper,  and  the  Union,  the  glorious  Union,  which  had 
flushed  the  American  brow  with  pride,  and  made  that 
country  the  wonder  and  hope  of  the  world,  was  a  stu 
pendous  farce.  So  at  least  the  North  believed,  and 
the  people  (including  multitudes  who  despised  and 
damned  the  nigger  as  well  as  those  who  felt  for  him) 


124       PURPOSE  AND  HEART  IN  THE  WAR. 

sprang  to  arms  to  save  the  national  life.  But  God's 
hand  was  in  the  war,  and  the  national  life  could  not  be 
saved  with  slavery.  As  soon  as  this  became  apparent 
slavery  was  doomed ;  and  public  attention  being  called 
to  the  question  under  new  conditions,  anti- slavery 
feeling  spread  with  a  rapidity  previously  unknown. 
But  from  the  first,  the  question  of  the  national  life 
had  stirred  the  North  to  its  centre,  and  brought  the 
best  blood  of  the  country  into  the  field.  The  impres 
sion  in  this  country  was,  and  to  a  large  extent  still  is, 
that  the  North  won  merely  because  of  her  unlimited 
ability  to  replenish  her  armies  with  foreign  mercenaries. 
One  cannot  travel  in  the  States  even  now  without 
discovering  how  much  of  error  there  is  in  this  impres 
sion.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  every  American  family  I 
met,  from  Maine  to  Mississippi,  and  as  far  beyond  as  I 
travelled,  had  sent  into  the  army  one  or  more  of  its 
members.  I  found  people  in  every  walk  of  life — 
merchants,  lawyers,  ministers,  theological  students, 
and  Sunday-school  teachers — bearing  military  titles 
earned  by  actual  service.  Some  colleges  swarmed 
with  captains  and  majors.  In  one  I  heard  a  small 
colonel  (who,  if  he 'helped  to  put  down  the  rebellion, 
must  have  known  more  of  war  than  he  seemed  to 
know  of  Greek),  standing  up  before  the  professor  and 
stumbling  through  a  sentence  of  Xenophon.  At  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  during  my 
last  visit  to  that  city,  five  out  of  the  nine  licentiates 
going  out  to  Kansas  had  military  titles.1 

1  One  of  these  was  a  Colonel  Lewis,  stood  sentry,    "That  man  at  the 

whose  father  and  three  brothers  had  door,   captain,  has   a  face  uncom- 

all  been  in  the  army.     An  officer,  monly  like  yours!"     "  He  ought," 

visiting  one  of  the  brothers  in  camp,  said  the  captain  ;  "  he  is  my  father." 

said,   glancing  at  the  soldier  who  The  father,  rather  than  do  nothing 


EXTKA  HELP.  125 

All  the  religious  denominations  were  largely  repre 
sented.  Churches  got  up  companies,  and  ministers 
volunteered  with  their  people.  One  Illinois  regiment 
was  almost  entirely  officered  by  clergymen.  Bible- 
classes  emptied  themselves  into  the  ranks ;  and  some 
young  men's  Christian  Associations  supplied  whole 
regiments.  Statistics  have  shown  that,  notwithstand 
ing  the  large  number  of  Germans  and  Irish  that  either 
enlisted  or  were  brought  up  "  to  be  food  for  Confeder 
ate  powder,"  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  Eastern,  and  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  Western  troops,  were  native  Americans. 

If  there  were  large  numbers  (as  there  were)  who 
kept  out  of  the  way,  or  provided  substitutes  from  un 
worthy  motives,  there  were  others  who,  unfit  to  bear 
arms,  and  therefore  exempt,  provided  "representative 
recruits:"  and  more  still  who  not  only  enlisted  them 
selves,  but  paid  for  others  also.  Connecticut  farmers 
volunteered  and  took  their  hired  labourers  with  them. 
One  Eh  ode  Island  millionaire  (able  therefore  with  a 
stroke  of  his  pen  to  have  provided  a  substitute,  and 
kept  personally  clear  of  the  war)  enlisted  as  a  private, 
and  paid  for  the  outfit  of  his  regiment. 

Those  who  remained  at  home  not  only  met  the  de 
mands  of  the  Government,  but  showed  their  eagerness 
in  multitudes  of  cases  to  do  more.  There  was  a  poor 
woman  in  New  York  who  presented  sixty  shirts  of  her 
own  making  to  a  regiment  of  Zouaves.  There  was  a 
tinsmith  who  equipped  a  whole  company  with  tin  plates 
and  cups  free  of  expense.  These  are  cases  out  of 
thousands.  Tradesmen,  whose  clerks  enlisted,  kept 

for  "  the  cause,"  was  fighting  as  a  my  father  under  me.  I  would  pay 
private  in  his  son's  regiment.  "  I  him  off  for  the  whippings  he  used 
wish,"  said  the  other  officer,  "  I  had  to  give  me  when  I  was  a  boy." 


126  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

their  places  open  and  continued  their  salaries.  An 
eccentric  patriot  in  New  York  sent  a  ton  of  sugar 
plums  to  Fortress  Munroe,  giving  the  soldiers  a  spoon 
ful  a  piece.  The  police  of  the  same  city  not  only  fur 
nished  recruits  but  voluntarily  assessed  themselves  to 
pay  fifty  dollars  a  month  to  each  of  their  families.  M. 
Aspinwall,  a  contractor,  handed  over  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  the  entire  amount  of  his  commission  on  the  Enfield 
rifles  he  had  purchased  for  the  Government,  in  the 
form  of  a  cheque  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  In 
the  meantime  the  women  of  the  North  were  everywhere 
forming  themselves  into  Soldiers'  Aid  Societies,  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  eager  fingers,  all  over  the  country,  set 
in  motion  by  the  love  and  tender  solicitude  of  womanly 
hearts,  were  scraping  lint,  rolling  bandages,  cutting, 
sewing,  and  knitting  things  for  the  boys  who  had  gone 
forth  to  fight,  and  preparing  medicines  and  jellies  and 
whatever  they  could  think  of  that  would  comfort  the 
wounded  and  the  dying. 

The  increasing  magnitude  and  horrors  of  the  war 
stimulated  these  efforts  of  mercy,  and  showed  the  neces 
sity  for  more  united  action.  It  was  then  that  the 
leaders  began  to  speak  of  the  work  that  had  been  done 
by  the  British  Government,  and  by  Miss  Nightingale 
and  her  Sisters  of  Mercy,  in  the  Crimea.  The  practical 
genius  of  the  Americans  took  hold  of  the  idea,  and 
speedily  developed  it  to  an  extent  undreamt  of  by  its 
originators.  The  result  was  the  organization  in  1862 
of  the  "Sanitary  and  Christian  Commissions. 

We  have  seen  how  the  Christian  Commission  wrought 
—looking  in  all  its  operations  to  the  spiritual  as  well 
as  the  temporal  good  of  the  soldiers.  The  Sanitary 
Commission  confined  itself  to  matters  of  physical  health 


HELP  IN  BATTLE.  127 

and  comfort ;  had  its  agents  and  medical  officers  in 
every  army,  looking  to  the  camping  grounds  and  hos 
pitals,  the  tents  and  ambulances,  the  diet,  clothing, 
and  equipments  of  the  men,  supplying  whatever  the 
Government  could  not  or  did  not  supply,  and  in  camp 
and  battle,  in  health  and  sickness,  standing  by  the 
soldier  like  a  personal  friend.  During  General  Gil- 
more's  attack  on  Fort  Wagner,  the  relief  agents  of  the 
Commission — as  brave  in  deeds  of  mercy  as  the  troops 
were  brave  in  fight — marched  with  the  assaulting 
columns  to  the  very  rnoat  around  the  fort,  and  under 
the  hot  fire  of  the  enemy  picked  up  and  carried  back 
the  wounded  almost  as  they  fell,  making  no  difference 
between  the  black  and  white  troops,  taking  them  to  be 
cared  for  in  hospitals  which  the  Commission  had  pro 
vided  with  every  appliance  and  every  comfort  which 
the  solicitude  of  the  nation  could  supply. 

After  a  battle  at  Elizabeth,  Kentucky,  a  number  of 
dead  and  wounded  were  left  on  the  field — many  of  the 
latter  writhing  in  helpless  agony.  Instantly  on  news 
of  the  fight,  the  Sanitary  Commission  despatched  the 
officers  of  mercy  to  the  spot  with  beds  and  clothing 
and  other  comforts.  Amongst  the  poor  fellows  who 
were  picked  off  the  field  was  one,  almost  a  boy  in  years, 
who  had  become  unconscious. 

When  the  surgeon  made  his  round  next  morning  he 
found  this  lad  sitting  up  in  his  little  cot  with  a  bright 
but  utterly  bewildered  expression  of  countenance.  He 
had  closed  his  eyes  in  agony  on  the  wet  field  amongst 
the  cfead  and  dying,  he  had  opened  them  to  find  him 
self  in  a  comfortable  cot,  between  clean  sheets,  and 
something  to  read  lying  on  his  pillow. 

The  surgeon  asked  him  pleasantly  if  he  felt  better. 


128  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

"  0  yes,"  said  the  poor  fellow  in  a  faint  whisper,  "  I  'm 
better ; " — adding,  as  he  looked  around,  "  Seems  somehow 
as  if  mother  had  been  here" 

This  was  the  realized  idea  of  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion — to  follow  the  soldiers  everywhere  with  the  com 
forts  and  attention  of  home. 

During  the  bloody  and  protracted  battle  that  raged 
for  three  days  around  Gettysburg,  where  the  Christian 
Commission  delegates  did  so  noble  a  work,  the  medical 
officers  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  tended  13,000 
Federals  and  7000  Confederates  ;  and  immediately  after 
the  battle  distributed  amongst  the  needy  soldiers  72,000 
dollars'  worth  of  clothing  and  provisions,  including  1000 
blankets,  10,000  shirts,  11,000  pounds  of  mutton  and 
poultry,  600  bushels  of  vegetables,  and  12,000  loaves. 
Immense  supplies  of  money  and  goods  were  necessary 
to  carry  on  such  operations ;  but  the  heart  of  the  nation 
was  in  the  work,  and  the  hands  of  the  Sanitary  like 
the  hands  of  the  Christian  Commission  were  kept  full. 

If  nurses  were  wanted,  thousands  of  patriotic  women 
were  ready  to  volunteer.  If  blackberries  were  wanted 
to  make  tonics,  the  telegraph  sent  the  news  all  over  the 
country,  and  next  day  thousands  of  children  were  away 
blackberry-gathering  for  the  soldiers.  If  onions  were 
wanted  to  save  the  men  from  scurvy,  or  fresh  vegetables 
to  keep  them  well  in  hot  weather,  thousands  of  baskets 
and  barrels  poured  into  the  depots.  The  organization 
of  the  Commission  was  wonderfully  perfect.  Every  city, 
town/ and  village  had  branch  societies  for  receiving  and 
directing  the  voluntary  offerings  of  the  people.  These 
societies  sent  them  on  to  the  central  committees ;  the 
committees  passed  them  on  to  the  main  depots  at  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Chicago,  and  St.  Louis, 


THE  WONDERFUL  SACK.  129 

whence  they  were  being  continually  forwarded  to  the 
different  armies,  which  were  accompanied  in  all  their 
movements  by  the  agents  of  the  "  flying  depot "  of  the 
Commission. 

Money  poured  in  as  copiously  as  goods ;  and  though 
the  work  was  attended  with  great  difficulty,  and  all  the 
officers  were  paid,  the  working  expenses  were  under 
three  per  cent,  of  the  income.  Some  of  the  ways  in 
which  contributions  were  raised,  illustrate  the  enthu 
siasm  of  the  people.  Fancy  a  small  sack  of  flour  being 
made  to  fetch  £15,000  to  the  Commission.  The  story  is 
worth  telling,  as  an  illustration  of  the  American  cha 
racter  : — 

In  April  1864  a  Mr.  Gridley,  in  Nevada,  made  a 
little  bet  with  a  friend  over  a  local  election,  the  condi 
tion  being  that  whoever  lost  was  to  march  through  the 
town  with  a  20lb.  sack  of  flour  on  his  back  to  the  tune 
of  "  Dixie  "  in  the  one  case,  and  "  John  Brown  "  in  the 
other.  Mr.  Gridley  lost  the  bet,  and,  in  the  midst  of 
a  great  concourse  of  people,  marched  through  the  town, 
with  ten  musicians  in  front  playing  "  John  Brown's 
Body,"  and  with  the  sack  of  flour  upon  his  back.  With 
the  ready  wit  of  an  American,  he  had  no  sooner  fulfilled 
his  pledge,  than  he  suggested  that  the  sack  of  flour 
should  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  Sanitary  Commis 
sion.  He  started  the  auction  himself  with  a  bid  of 
$200.  It  was  knocked  down  for  $350  to  a  Mr.  Noyes, 
who  paid  the  money,  and  returned  the  sack  to  be  sold 
again.  The  process  was  repeated  over  and  over,  till 
$4000  and  several  acres  of  land  had  been  netted  for  the 
Commission.  The  affair  got  wind,  and  the  sack  with 
music  and  procession  ("the  Army  of  the  Lord,"  as  it 
came  to  be  called)  was  sent  on  to  the  neighbouring 

I 


130  THE  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

"city"  of  Gold  Hill  to  be  sold  again.  Crowds  as 
sembled  ;  a  platform  was  erected ;  Marshal  Arnold 
jumped  up  as  auctioneer,  knocked  down  the  bag  to  him 
self  for  $300,  returned  it,  and  began  again.  It  was 
bought  and  returned  with  the  price  seventy-nine  times, 
realizing  $6750  more  !  Away  it  went  now,  "Army  of 
the  Lord "  and  all,  to  the  next  town,  where  it  brought 
$1375  ;  to  the  next,  where  it  brought  $12,995  ;  and  so 
on,  till  on  the  Pacific  coast  alone  the  famous  20lb. 
bag  of  Nevada  flour  had  brought  to  the  Commission 
the  immense  sum  of  $63,000.  Dr.  Bellows,  the  chair 
man  of  the  Commission,  said,  writing  to  Mr.  Gridley, — - 
"  The  history  of  your  sack  of  flour  is  more  interesting 
and  more  peculiar  than  that  of  any  sack  recorded  short 
of  the  sack  of  Troy,  and  it  would  take  another  Homer  to 
sing  it.  I  rejoice  that  you  have  not  to  carry  on  your 
shoulders  all  the  money  it  has  made." 

Immense  sums  were  also  made  by  bazaars  or  "  Sanitary 
Fairs,"  which  were  got  up  in  almost  all  the  great  cities 
of  the  North,  some  of  them  on  a  scale  of  magnificence 
probably  unseen  before  on  this  planet.  People  who  get 
up  bazaars  in  this  country  would  find  the  record  of 
those  fairs  a  storehouse  of  novel  ideas.  It  was  said  (but 
I  cannot  vouch  for  the  story)  that  at  one  fair  a  patriotic 
and  exceedingly  pretty  young  lady  got  up  on  one  of 
the  stands  and  sold  kisses  at  $10  a  piece  ;  and  that  an 
old  gentleman,  who  purchased  one,  liked  it  so  well  that 
he  went  in  for  $50  worth  more !  At  another  fair,  to 
avoid  the  objection  of  many  Christian  people  to  lotteries, 
and  yet  gain  the  end,  a  handsome  sword  was  put  up, 
which  (instead  of  being  raffled  for)  was  to  be  voted  to 
some  one  at  the  fair — every  vote  costing  a  dollar. 
Hundreds  paid  their  dollar  to  be  enfranchised ;  many 


SANITARY  FAIRS.  131 

paid  ten,  fifty,  and  a  hundred,  to  secure  as  many  votes. 
Candidates  were  then  nominated,  funny  speeches  made, 
and  the  vote  taken ;  the  successful  candidate  was  begirt 
with  the  sword  of  honour ;  and  the  bagful  of  dollars 
emptied  into  the  capacious  lap  of  the  Sanitary  Com 
mission. 

Amongst  the  multitude  of  things  sent  to  these  fairs 
by  all  classes  of  the  people,  to  be  sold  for  the  good  of  the 
soldiers,  some  were  singular  enough.  At  Chicago,  five 
barrels  of  potatoes,  "  planted,  hoed,  and  dug  by  six 
young  ladies  of  Illinois,"  went  at  a  high  price.  A  little 
bit  of  knitted  work,  made  of  worsted  that  had  been 
bought  with  a  few  cents  found  in  the  pocket  of  a  dead 
soldier,  and  knitted  by  his  mother,  sold  for  a  hundred 
dollars.  At  another  fair  there  was  a  pillow  with  the 
following  inscription  : — "  This  pillow  belonged  to  my 
little  boy,  who  died  resting  on  it.  It  is  a  precious 
treasure  to  me,  but  I  give  it  for  the  soldiers."  On 
several  pieces  of  old  linen,  put  up  together  to  be  used 
for  bandages,  the  inscription  was  as  follows  : — 

"  A  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  at  the  open  window 
of  a  little  farm-house  among  the  Ochil  Hills  in  Scot 
land,  the  passer-by  might  have  seen  a  young  blooming 
lassie  working  merrily  at  her  spinning-wheel,  prepar 
ing  for  the  most  eventful  change  in  her  life.  Little  did 
she  dream,  as  she  merrily  drove  her  wheel,  that  her 
handiwork  would  be  used  in  1864 — more  than  a  hun 
dred  years  after  her  death — to  bind  up  the  wounds  of 
heroic  men  fighting  for  freedom  in  a  far-off  land." 

Immense  sums  of  money  were  realized  at  these  fairs. 
The  one  at  Brooklyn  brought  $400,000  ;  at  Philadelphia 
$700,000 ;  at  New  York  upwards  of  a  million,  or  say 
£150,000  sterling.  The  total  amount  of  money  and 


132  THE  SANITAEY  COMMISSION. 

produce  with  which  during  the  three  years  of  its  exist 
ence  the  Commission  was  supplied  to  carry  on  its  vast 
operations  of  mercy,  was  estimated  at  from  sixty  to 
seventy  millions  of  dollars — surely  a  noble  voluntary 
offering  to  be  made  by  a  people  who  were  at  the 
same  time  taxed  to  pay  the  three  thousand  millions 
($3, 00 0,0 00, 000)  and  more  needed  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war  by  the  Government. 

Let  it  be  also  remembered  that  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  war  (December  1862  and  January  1863),  while 
America  was  struggling  for  life,  and  was  taxing  her 
self  to  this  enormous  extent  to  sustain  her  armies  and 
mitigate  the  fearful  horrors  of  the  war,  she  had  sym 
pathy  to  spare  for  the  poor  operatives  of  Lancashire, 
and  sent  several  ships  across  the  ocean,  laden  with  provi 
sions,  for  their  relief.  In  flour  alone,  more  than  18,000 
barrels  were  sent ;  and  the  contributions  were  valued 
altogether  at  more  than  £60,000.  Some  of  the  minor 
circumstances  are  equally  deserving  of  record. 

When  the  George  Griswold — one  of  the  ships  re 
ferred  to — came  round  from  Boston  to  New  York  for 
her  cargo  of  mercy,  the  Ballast  Masters'  Association 
brought  their  lighters  to  discharge  her  ballast  free  of 
expense ;  the  stevedores  loaded  her  without  pay ;  the 
merchant  who  procured  the  flour  would  take  no  com 
mission  ;  the  pilot  who  took  her  out,  and  the  captain 
who  was  to  bring  her  across,  would  accept  no  recom 
pense...  And  so  the  ship  of  mercy  sailed,  followed  by 
many  prayers  that  God  would  not  only  bless  its  cargo 
to  the  destitute,  but  make  the  contribution  a  fresh  bond 
of  brotherhood  between  the  two  nations.  May  that 
prayer  be  answered ;  and  may  that  noble  act  be  ever 
gratefully  remembered ! 


ON  TO  RICHMOND.  133 


XIII. 

ON  TO  RICHMOND. 

i 

ON  the  10th  of  January  I  took  my  ticket  for  Eich- 
mond,  by  way  of  Acquia  Creek,  and  at  eight  o'clock 
that  night  was  steaming  down  the  silent  waters  of  the 
Potomac  under  a  full  moon,  nothing  but  the  shuddering 
of  the  steamer  and  the  muffled  thunder  of  the  machinery 
breaking  the  profound  stillness.  I  was  entering  the 
region  now  where  the  great  conflict  of  modern  times 
had  been  settled.  Everything  around  me — the  air,  the 
water,  the  phantom  shores — spoke  dumbly  of  the  past. 

"  All  quiet  on  the  Potomac  !"  The  words  came 
back  from  1862  as  from  the  grave  of  a  century,  telling 
of  that  momentous  year  when  the  forces  not  of  North 
and  South  alone,  but  of  two  mighty  civilisations,  were 
gathering  to  the  front,  preparing  for  a  conflict  that  was 
big  with  issues  for  the  world.  In  fancy  I  could  hear 
along  these  shores  again  the  roll  of  battle,  the  shock  of 
contending  armies,  the  war-thunder  that  for  four  long 
years  had  shaken  these  skies  above  me  and  filled  the 
world  with  its  reverberations.  1868  !  All  over  now. 
All  quiet  on  the  Potomac  again.  The  white- faced 
moon  was  looking  down  on  a  hundred  silent  battle 
fields,  where  half  a  million  of  dead  men  lay  sleeping 
their  long  sleep.  The  armies  of  Lee  and  Stonewall 


134  ON  TO  RICHMOND. 

Jackson  had  melted  away  like  a  dream,  the  white  flag 
that  rose  like  a  phantom  in  the  sky  had  vanished,  and 
the  South,  with  the  older  civilisation  which  it  repre 
sented,  had  gone  down  into  chaos  for  ever. 

At  half-past  ten  at  night  we  landed  at  Acquia  Creek, 
and  took  the  cars  for  Eichmond. 

After  bowling  rapidly  over  the  pale,  moon-lit  country 
for  several  hours,  we  found  ourselves  about  four  in  the 
morning  entering  the  far-famed  capital  of  the  Con 
federacy.  I  sat  close  to  the  window  of  the  car,  and 
looked  out  with  eager  eyes  upon  the  silent  city.  The 
ghostly  houses  standing  in  the  cold  weird  moonlight, 
the  empty  streets,  the  profound  stillness  over  all,  made 
it  seem  as  if  we  were  entering  a  city  of  the  dead.  Great 
shells  of  building  gutted  with  fire  glided  past,  looking 
at  us  with  their  eyeless  sockets.  On  one  side  of  the 
valley,  rising  alone  from  what  seemed  to  me  a  wilder 
ness  of  grey  tombs,  a  ghastly  wall  like  the  gable  of  a 
ruined  cathedral  towered  into  the  frosty  sky.  Here 
and  there  from  amongst  the  seeming  tombs  a  cold  light 
would  gleam  out  for  a  moment  and  disappear — pro 
bably  some  fragments  of  pottery  or  broken  glass  reflect 
ing  the  moonlight  as  we  passed. 

At  the  depot  one  or  two  sleepy  officials  were  awaiting 
the  arrival  of  our  train  before  deserting  the  place  for 
the  night ;  several  hotel  omnibus  guards,  black  as  their 
own  shadows,  were  also  there,  ready  to  get  our  baggage 
for  us  and  drive  us  to  their  respective  hotels.  In  a 
few  minutes  more  we  were  rattling  down  a  lon^  de- 

o  O 

serted  street,  awakening  its  sharp  echoes  with  the  noise 
and  clatter  of  our  vehicles. 

On  reaching  the  hotel,  and  being  shown  by  a  dusky 
waiter  to  my  room,  I  was  surprised  to  hear  at  that 


CONQUERED  BUT  NOT  SUBDUED.        135 

ghostly  hour  the  sound  of  music  and  dancing.  I  asked 
the  waiter  what  it  was. 

"  A  hop,  sah." 

"  A  ball,  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  Yes,  sah." 

Just  then  a  door  at  the  end  of  the  gallery  opened, 
and  a  gentleman  and  lady  in  full  dress,  and  with  flushed 
cheeks,  made  their  appearance,  and  passed  me  on  the 
way  out. 

When  I  had  seen  my  room  I  went  on  to  the  door 
from  which  the  sounds  of  revelry  were  coming,  and, 
looking  in,  saw  a  spacious  hall,  where  a  band  in  one 
corner  was  playing  to  some  twenty  or  thirty  young 
couples,  who  were  threading  the  mazes  of  a  dance. 
These  turned  out  to  be  the  last  lingerers  of  a  large  and 
brilliant  company  that  had  been  dancing  there  since 
nine  o'clock  on  the  previous  night.  It  was  one  of  the 
vestiges  of  Eichmond  gaiety  in  the  days  of  her  former 
splendour.  The  ball  was  over  now,  and  before  I  had 
been  many  minutes  in  my  room  the  sounds  of  revelry 
had  ceased. 

Next  day  I  found  myself  in  a  new  world.  The  place, 
the  people,  the  whole  aspect  of  things  seemed  different. 
A  few  hours  had  brought  me  from  a  land  of  light  into 
a  land  of  darkness ;  from  gladness  into  mourning ;  from 
the  victorious  North  into  the  vanquished  and  stricken 
South. 

I  had  an  introduction  to  a  gentleman  in  Eichmond, 
whom  I  found  boarding  in  the  hotel.  In  his  room  I  met 
a  Southerner  who  had  fought  in  the  Confederate  army 
from  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines  to  the  surrender  of  Lee, 
when  he  found  himself  a  beggar,  with  nothing  in  the 
world  but  a  woollen  shirt,  a  pair  of  Confederate  pants, 


136  ON  TO  RICHMOND. 

and  a  few  old  lay-books  at  home.  He  liad  now  re 
turned  to  his  profession,  and  was  practising  law  in  one 
of  the  principal  towns  in  Virginia. 

"  But/'  said  he,  rearing  himself  suddenly  with  flam 
ing  eye,  and  striking  the  table  with  his  fist,  "  I  would 
shoulder  a  musket  to-morrow,  and  fight  those  battles 
over  and  over  again,  if  we  had  only  a  chance  to  win." 

"To  perpetuate  slavery?" 

"  Slavery !  No,  sir ;  what  was  slavery  to  me  ?  I 
never  had  a  slave,  and  never  thought  of  having.  I 
fought  for  my  State,  sir — my  own  State,  Virginia  !" 

"  But  the  South,"  I  said,  "  would  never  have  gone  out 
except  for  slavery  ?" 

"Perhaps  not.  I  don't  know,  and  I  don't  care.  It 
was  enough  for  me  that  Virginia  had  gone  out.  If  she 
had  seceded  on  the  question  of  the  tariff,  or  on  the 
question  of  postage-stamps,  or  on  the  question  of  lunar 
eclipses,  it  would  have  been  the  same  thing  to  me. 
Where  Virginia  goes  I  follow.  How  could  I  stand  still, 
sir,  when  I  saw  Virginia  invaded,  and  heard  her  calling 
on  her  children  for  protection?  No,  sir;  this  is  my 
native  State.  I  was  a  Virginian  before  I  was  anything 
else,  and  I  shall  be  a  Virginian  to  the  end." 

In  the  thrilling  tone  of  his  voice  and  the  kindling  of 
his  eye  as  often  as  he  named  Virginia,  I  learned  more 
of  real  Southern  sentiment  than  I  had  from  many  a 
book.  Perhaps  as  a  Scotchman  I  understood  him  more 
readily.  I  had  only  to  imagine  a  rupture  of  the  British 
empire — Scotland  separated  again  from  England — an 
English  army  marching  north,  and  Scotland  calling  on 
her  sons  to  defend  her.  I  felt  if  such  a  thing  were 
possible,  how  many  there  still  are  who  would  turn  a 
deaf  ear  to  the  questions  at  issue,  whose  sole  motto 


TWO  VIEWS  OF  THE  SITUATION.  137 

would  be,  "  Scotland  and  the  right !  but,  right  or  wrong, 
Scotland  !" 

I  was  struck  everywhere  in  the  South  with  the  extent 
to  which  a  kindred  feeling  had  prevailed,  especially  in 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  The  State  came  first,  the 
Union  next,  while  in  the  North  it  was  first  the  Union 
and  then  the  State.  Even  now,  if  you  ask  a  Southern 
boy  what  he  is,  he  will  say  "  A  Virginian,"  or  "  A 
Georgian,"  as  the  case  may  be.  If  you  ask  a  Northern 
boy  what  he  is,  he  will  say  "  An  American."  In  the 
North,  the  principle  of  United  States  nationality  is 
triumphant,  and  the  result  of  the  war  will  ultimately 
be  to  make  it  so  over  the  entire  Union.  Sumner 
touched  the  root  of  the  question  when  he  asked.  Are 
we  a  nation  ?"  This  question  was  decided  once,  and 
probably  for  ever,  when  Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox 
Court-house. 

In  the  hotel  I  met  two  planters  who  had  each  owned 
before  the  war  several  hundred  slaves.  Like  most  of  the 
same  class  whom  I  afterwards  met  farther  south,  they 
looked  on  the  country  as  ruined,  and  spoke  with  concern 
of  the  coloured  people  as  well  as  of  themselves. 

"  Emancipation,"  said  one  of  them,  "  has  sealed  the 
doom  of  the  black  race.  The  nigger  himself  is  finding 
it  a  mistake.  He  was  happier  in  slavery.  Many  of 
them  would  like  back." 

Thinking  that  possibly  the  planters  might  be  looft- 
ing  at  the  matter  from  a  standpoint  of  their  own,  and 
anxious  to  see  what  the  black  man  himself  thought  of 
the  situation,  I  spoke  to  the  black  waiter  who  was 
attending  me  at  tea. 

"  Were  you  a  slave  before  the  war  ?" 

"  Yes,'  sah." 


138  ON  TO  RICHMOND. 

"  I  hear  you  were  better  off  then  than  now  ?" 

"  0  no,  sah." 

"Your  people,  then?" 

"  No,  sah ;  we  are  all  better  off  now.  They  cannot 
sell  us  now.  They  cannot  whip  us  now.  They  cannot 
put  us  in  prison  now.  Some  of  our  people  are  poor,  but 
they  would  rather  be  poor,  sah,  and  be  free." 

"  Did  you  ever  see  General  Lee  during  the  war-, 
time  ?" 

"  Yes,  sah." 

"  What  sort  of  man  was  he  ?" 

"  He  was  a  grand  man,  General  Lee,  sah." 

"  You  were  sorry  when  he  was  defeated,  I  suppose  ?" 

"  0  no,  sah ;  we  were  glad ;  we  clapped  our  hands 
that  day." 

Going  up  next  morning  to  see  the  Normal  School,  I 
met  a  tall,  powerful-looking  negro,  dressed  in  an  old 
light-blue  Federal  cloak,  striding  down  the  street.  He 
had  a  retreating  forehead,  but  a  quick,  intelligent  eye, 
and  a  bold  front.  I  stopped  him  to  ask  the  way. 

He  said,  proudly,  "  I  will  show  you,  sir,"  and,  turn 
ing,  walked  with  me  to  the  end  of  the  street. 

I  asked  him  if  he  had  been  in  Kichmond  during  the 
time  of  the  war.  He  said  he  had. 

"  The  Confederates  began  to  arm  the  negroes,  I  be 
lieve,  before  the  war  ended  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir.     They  armed  me." 

"  And  would  you  have  fought  for  the  Confederacy  ?" 

"  Not  except  to  be  free.  We  demanded  that  if  we 
were  to  fight  for  the  South  we  must  be  allowed  equal 
rights  with  the  white  people." 

"  Were  you  cruelly  treated  in  slavery  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 


GENERAL  W.  H.  F.  LEE.  139 

"Whipped?" 

"  No ;  I  was  never  whipped  much.  There  was  no 
reason  why  I  should.  I  did  my  work." 

"  How  were  you  cruelly  treated,  then  ?" 

"  I  was  cruelly  treated,"  said  the  man,  "  because  I 
was  kept  in  slavery." 

I  found  the  Normal  School  attended  by  a  large  num- 
,ber  of  coloured  children — many  of  them  in  course  of 
preparation  for  becoming  teachers.  They  seemed  to  be 
undergoing  an  admirable  course  of  training.  I  was 
struck  with  their  neatness,  cleanliness,  growing  refine 
ment  of  manner  and  intelligence.  I  asked  the  super 
intendent,  Miss  Canedy,  who  had  been  long  a  teacher 
in  the  North,  if  she  found  much  difference  between  the 
white  and  coloured  children. 

"  I  find  these  children  slower,"  she  said.  "  But  we 
must  not  forget  that  they  were  wholly  destitute  of  men 
tal  training  till  after  the  war.  My  conviction  is,  after 
fifteen  years'  experience  in  white  schools  in  Boston  and 
five  in  coloured  schools  here,  that  all  that  is  wanting  to 
make  black  children  as  good  scholars  as*  the  white  chil 
dren  is  equally  careful  training." 

In  the  hotel  I  met  one  of  General  Lee's  sons,  W.  H. 
F.  Lee,  who  had  been  a  cavalry  commander  during  the 
war.  He  was  a  tall,  stout,  florid  man,  with  a  certain 
lordliness  of  carriage  oftener  met  with  in  the  South  than 
in  the  North.  When  I  asked  him  about  Southern  feel 
ing  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  he  said,  "  I  think  most 
people  in  the  South  expected  that  a  time  would  come 
for  emancipation ;  but  it  was  a  thing  that  needed  time 
and  patience." 

Of  his  father's  views  he  said, — 

"  My  father  does  not  say  much  on  political  questions. 


140  ON  TO  RICHMOND. 

But  lie  was  always  for  gradual  emancipation.  During 
the  war  he  was  in  favour  of  arming  the  negroes,  and 
wrote  about  it :  but  his  advice  was  only  taken  when  it 
was  too  late." 

I  asked  him  what  the  Southern  leaders  thought  of 
the  position  of  this  country  during  the  war. 

"  We  looked  anxiously  in  that  direction,"  he  replied. 
"  We  knew  that  we  had  the  sympathy  of  some  classes 
there.  But  we  suspected  that  Great  Britain  would  never 
recognise  a  nation  like  ours  that  seemed  to  commit  it 
self  to  slavery." 


PAST  AND  PRESENT. 


XIV. 

PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

IN  Richmond  (sitting  on  its  hills,  and  beautiful  even 
in  its  ruins)  it  was  sad  to  see  everywhere  the  effects  of 
the  war  in  the  wrecked  appearance  of  the  city  and  the 
gloom  that  seemed  to  have  settled  down  upon  the  people. 
All  the  talk  in  the  hotel  was  about  the  ruined  state  of 
the  country  and  the  desperate  outlook.  On  Sunday  I 
attended  one  of  the  principal  Presbyterian  churches — 
the  Rev.  Dr.  More's.  The  congregation  was  composed 
chiefly  of  women,  most  of  them  in  black,  and  many  of 
them  in  deep  mourning.  Everything,  even  there,  seemed 
to  speak  of  the  doom  of  the  Confederacy,  and  of  dead 
sons,  and  fathers,  and  brothers,  whose  lives  had  not  only 
been  sacrificed  but  thrown  away  !  When  I  heard  the 
minister  pray  with  low  and  tremulous  voice  that  God 
would  sustain  those  on  whom  His  hand  had  been  laid 
in  heaviness,  and  who  had  that  day  memories  of  sad 
ness,  and  when  I  looked  round  at  the  many  pale  and 
woe-begone  faces  that  were  bent  forward  in  prayer,  I 
found  my  eyes  filling  with  tears. 

Parts  of  Richmond  were  still  in  ruins,  though  the  re 
building  of  the  city  steadily  progressed.  Beside  the 
State  House,  where  during  the  war  the  Confederate  Con 
gress  met,  I  saw  the  blackened  ruins  of  the  Court  House, 
with  the  roof  blown  off,  the  windows  blown  out,  and 


142  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

the  lightning-rods  still  standing.  The  old  trees  around 
it  were  blasted  and  half  charred. 

Hard  by,  in  the  adjoining  street,  St.  Paul's  Episcopal 
Church  was  pointed  out  to  me,  with  its  tall,  grey,  lance- 
like  spire,  the  church  which  Jefferson  Davis  attended 
during  the  war,  and  which  connects  itself  with  the  last 
act  in  that  tremendous  drama. 

It  was  here,  on  the  forenoon  of  Sunday  the  2d  April, 
1865,  at  a  quarter- past  eleven,  that  a  messenger  came 
in  as  the  minister  was  reading  the  chapter,  and  handed 
to  the  Kebel  President  the  despatch  from  General  Lee, 
announcing  that  his  lines  around  Petersburg  were 
broken,  and  that  Eichmond  would  have  to  be  at  once 
evacuated. 

The  congregation  had  seen  the  messenger  come  in, 
and  as  Mr.  Davis  perused  the  despatch  there  was  a  uni 
versal  hush,  every  one  watching  that  calm  thin  face,  and 
feeling  that  something  momentous  had  occurred.  Mr. 
Davis  rose  quietly  and  left  the  church,  never  to  enter  it 
again  as  President  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  news 
spread  like  wildfire.  In  half-an-hour  the  churches  were 
empty,  and  people  with  pale  and  anxious  faces  were 
hurrying  through  the  streets  scarcely  able  to  credit  the 
newTs — that  the  city  was  to  be  evacuated — that  the 
Government  which  had  stood  so  proudly  before  the 
world  was  preparing  for  flight,  and  that  the  Confederate 
capital  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  within  a 
few  hours. 

The  streets  were  soon  swarming  with  laden  waggons 
driving  in  hot  haste  to  the  Danville  depot,  and  streams 
of  excited  people  "  walking  as  if  for  a  wager,"  all  hurry 
ing  one  way,  and  carrying  with  them  boxes,  bags,  and 
bundles  of  every  description.  Night  closed  upon  the 


HELL  LET  LOOSE.  143 

doomed  city.  The  Council  had  met  in  secret  session  ; 
and,  knowing  what  the  result  would  be  if  the  people  in 
their  excitement  began  to  drink,  they  passed  a  resolu 
tion  to  have  all  the  alcoholic  liquors  in  the  city  de 
stroyed.  The  work  was  commenced  at  midnight. 
Hundreds  of  barrels  of  liquor  were  rolled  out  into  the 
street  and  the  heads  knocked  in,  till  the  gutters  ran  with 
a  liquor  freshet,  and  the  air  became  impregnated  almost 
to  suffocation  with  the  fumes.1  Hundreds  of  cases  of 
bottled  wines  and  brandies  were  tossed  from  third- storey 
windows,  and  shivered  to  fragments  in  the  street  below. 
While  the  destruction  was  going  on,  a  number  of  sol 
diers  retreating  through  the  city  succeeded  in  laying 
hold  of  a  quantity  of  drink,  and  from  that  time  law  and 
order  were  at  an  end.  Stores  were  pillaged,  and  the 
streets  began  to  ring  with  the  yells  of  infuriated  men 
and  the  shrieks  of  terrified  women. 

But  the  horrors  of  the  scene  had  only  as  yet  begun. 
Suddenly  the  darkness  over  the  river  flashed  for  a 
moment  with  lurid  light,  and  an  explosion  followed  that 
seemed  to  shake  the  earth.  Another  and  another  fol 
lowed,  as  the  giant  rams  upon  the  river  were,  one  by 
one,  blown  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  And  now  a 
cry  was  heard  in  the  streets  that  by  General  Swell's 
orders  the  tobacco  warehouses  were  being  set  on  fire. 
As  some  of  these  were  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city,  the 
terrified  people  could  scarcely  believe  its  truth  till  vast 
sheets  of  lurid  flame,  rising  from  the  region  of  the  public 
warehouses  and  the  Gallego  flour-mills,  put  an  end  to 
all  possibility  of  doubt.  Long  before  dawn  the  city  was 
lit  up  with  a  mighty  conflagration,  in  the  glare  of  which 
hundreds  of  jail-birds  and  plunderers,  like  a  swarm  of 

1  See  Pollard's  History  of  the  War,  and  Greeley's  American  Conflict. 


144  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

hobgoblins,  could  be  discerned  moving  about  in  search 
of  plunder. 

"  It  seemed  to  me,"  said  a  Eichmond  lady,  in  describ 
ing  the  scene,  "  as  if  the  last  day  had  come,  and  hell 
had  been  let  loose  upon  us." 

On  that  same  Sunday  evening,  away  along  the 
horizon,  the  Federal  forces  under  General  Weitzel  lay 
facing  the  Confederate  lines  that  surrounded  the  city, 
regaling  themselves  far  into  the  night  with  national 
airs,  little  dreaming  of  the  scene  that  was  enacting,  and 
unaware  that  the  rebel  soldiery  had  already  abandoned 
the  formidable  works  in  front,  and  were  flowing  sullenly 
away  through  the  dark  city  to  effect  a  junction  with  Lee. 

At  two  in  the  morning,  long  after  the  music  had 
ceased  and  the  army  was  buried  in  slumber,  Weitzel 
himself,  still  awake,  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  an 
explosion  coming  from  the  direction  of  Eichmond,  and 
much  more  distinct  than  the  dull  booming  of  cannon 
which  had  been  audible  during  the  previous  day  in  the 
South.  It  was  the  blowing-up  of  the  ram.  Another 
explosion  followed,  and  then  another.  Satisfied  that 
something  unusual  was  occurring,  Weitzel  sent  one  of 
his  lieutenants  up  to  the  top  of  the  signal-tower,  who 
reported  that  there  was  a  great  light  in  the  direction  of 
Eichmond,  but  he  could  not  determine  if  the  city  were 
on  fire  or  not. 

In  the  morning  the  state  of  things  became  known, 
to  the  amazement  and  joy  of  the  troops,  who  at  once 
marched  into  the  city.  It  was  part  of  the  strange 
drama,  which  Providence  and  not  man  seemed  to  have 
arranged,  that  the  first  soldiers  to  enter  Eichmond  as 
conquerors  were  Draper's  regiments  of  emancipated 
slaves ! 


PEEP  INTO  A  "MONGREL  CONVENTION."  145 

And  now,  when  I  was  there,  another  strange  scene 
of  the  drama  was  enacting.  The  Constitutional  Con 
vention  was  sitting  in  the  State  House,  under  the  stars 
and  stripes,  and  negro  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the 
State  were  occupying  the  seats  vacated  by  the  Con 
federate  Congress,  helping  white  men  to  frame  a  new 
Constitution  for  Virginia  ! 

I  went  to  see  the  Convention  at  its  work.  The 
Rotunda  at  the  State  House  swarmed  with  negroes, 
who  had  been  unable,  on  account  of  the  crowd,  to  gain 
admission  to  the  gallery.  The  coloured  people  were 
naturally  taking  an  intense  interest  in  a  Constitutional 
Assembly,  in  the  proceedings  of  which,  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  America,  people  of  their  own  race  and 
colour  were  taking  part. 

The  sight  that  awaited  me  when  I  entered  was  a 
picture  of  the  mighty  revolution  that  had  taken  place 
in  America  within  eight  short  years.  It  was,  indeed, 
a  strange  sight  this  to  behold  in  the  United  States,  and 
especially  in  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy.  Black  men 
and  white  men  sat  side  by  side  in  the  members'  seats ; 
the  galleries  were  thronged  with  woolly  heads ;  and  a 
negro  was  on  his  feet  addressing  the  House ! 

Everything  was  going  on,  however,  with  as  much 
order  and  decorum  as  is  common  in  American  legis 
latures.  Some  of  the  members  were  listening;  some 
were  listening  and  lunching  at  the  same  time ;  others 
were  reading  newspapers  ;  others  were  in  consultation ; 
others  were  preparing  letters  for  post ;  while  slippered 
pages  summoned  by  a  double  clap  of  the  hands  were  run 
ning  hither  and  thither  attending  to  the  behests  of  all. 

I  found  that  the  Convention  had  resolved  itself  into 
a  committee  of  the  whole,  to  consider  the  preamble  to 

K 


1 4  6  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

the  new  Constitution.  A  motion  had  been  made  by  a 
negro  to  the  effect  that  the  words  "  under  the  sanction 
and  recognising  the  authority  of  Almighty  God,"  should 
be  inserted  ;  and  this  motion  was  being  discussed  with 
great  copiousness  of  speech  on  both  sides. 

A  Conservative  member  rose  to  protest  against  drag 
ging  the  name  of  Deity  into  such  documents,  as  a 
violation  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  The  Command 
ments  said  that  the  name  of  God  was  not  to  be  taken 
in  vain,  and  the  work  of  this  Convention  was  to  be 
in  vain.  Thereupon  several  members  jumped  to  their 
feet  in  such  an  excited  manner  that  the  President,  who 
was  eating  something  out  of  a  paper  parcel,  knocked 
loudly  with  his  hammer  upon  his  desk,  and  returned 
the  parcel  to  his  pocket,  till  he  should  have  a  more 
favourable  opportunity  of  disposing  of  its  contents. 

A  black  member  now  rose  and  offered  another  amend 
ment,  still  recognising  the  authority  of  God.  He  spoke 
fluently  and  earnestly,  as  is  the  manner  with  coloured 
people,  and  only  wanted  training  to  make  a  very  effec 
tive  speaker.  He  said  that  in  some  courts  in  Virginia 
two  Bibles  were  kept — one  to  swear  whites  upon,  and 
the  other  for  the  blacks.  They  could  not  be  allowed  to 
kiss  even  the  same  Bible ! 

"  This,"  he  cried,  "  is  a  mockery  of  God  and  an  out 
rage  on  our  race  !  Black  men  have  played  an  important 
part  in  history,  but  white  men  have  tried  to  keep  them 
out  of  sight,  and  are  trying  to  do  so  still.  Who  was  it 
that  fell  in  Boston  before  the  revolution  leading  white 
men  to  victory  ?  It  was  Mattox ;  and  Mattox  was  a 
black  man.  Slavery  has  kept  a  mine  of  power  buried 
out  of  sight  for  200  years.  But  God  has  helped  the 
black  people  to  freedom.  And  I  want,"  he  said,  lifting 


A  FIGHTING  EDITOR.  147 

up  his  arm,  and  speaking  with  tremendous  energy,  "  I 
want  God's  name  recognised ;  and  I  want  my  children, 
when  I  am  dead  and  gone,  to  know  that  I  and  other 
black  men  had  a  hand  in  the  work  of  this  Convention." 

Another  delegate  got  up,  with  his  hands  in  his 
pockets,  and  said,  in  a  careless  way,  that  he  thought 
all  this  about  recognising  the  Deity  in  the  Constitution 
was  mere  clap-trap,  but  if  it  would  facilitate  business 
he  was  for  putting  in  the  words  and  going  home.  The 
words  would  do  no  harm  to  the  State,  and  God  would 
probably  survive  them.  So  the  discussion  went  on  :  the 
speaking  on  both  sides  rather  showy  than  good. 

I  made  my  first  acquaintance  with  a  real  "  fighting 
editor"  at  Richmond.  The  gentleman  referred  to  was 
on  the  staff  of  the  Richmond  Despatch,  and  only  a  few 
days  before  had  exchanged  shots  with  a  brother  editor, 
whose  duelling  propensities  had  earned  him  the  title  of 
"  Pistol  Pollard,"  and  who  since  then  has  been  shot  dead 
by  a  gentleman  whom  he  had  improperly  alluded  to  in 
his  paper. 

I  visited  the  Despatch  office  with  a  friend  of  the 
editor's,  who  wished  to  introduce  me,  and  followed  him 
into  a  rude  apartment,  which  turned  out  to  be  the 
sanctum.  Bulky  files  of  "exchanges"  lay  on  the  floor 
or  were  huddled  into  the  corners ;  the  editorial  table, 
which  stood  knee- deep  in  litter  of  all  kinds,  was  covered 
with  piles  of  papers,  cuttings,  and  manuscripts ;  and  on 
another  table  in  the  corner  I  observed  a  Confederate 
cloak  of  bluish-grey  lined  with  scarlet,  with  a  revolver 
lying  beside  it. 

In  front  of  the  fire  stood  the  editor  himself,  a  small, 
lithe,  flashing- eyed,  gentlemanly-looking  man,  with  a 
cigar  between  his  teeth,  and  his  hat  tipped  carelessly 


148  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

back,  revealing  a  fine  face  and  large  expanse  of  fore 
head. 

My  cicerone  saluted  him  with  a  "  Good-morning, 
Colonel." 

The  Colonel  took  his  cigar  from  between  his  teeth, 
shook  hands  cordially,  and,  on  learning  who  I  was, 
asked  a  number  of  questions  about  Scotland,  showed 
me  several  English  books  that  he  kept  for  reference  in 
his  library,  and  then  unrolled  a  large  engraving  of 
Stonewall  Jackson,  which  he  had  just  received  from 
England. 

I  asked  him  if  he  had  seen  the  General. 
"  Seen  him  ! "  exclaimed  the  Colonel,  "  I  got  my  mili 
tary  education  from  Jackson  at  Lexington.      I  went 
into  the  army  three  days  after  the  Secession  ordinance 
passed,  and  fought  under  him." 

When  the  subject  of  the  pistol  encounter  turned  up — 
"  Oh,"  said  the  Colonel,  with  a  smile,  "  it  was  nothing. 
Pollard  had  made  a  false  statement  in  his  paper.  I 
told  him  through  mine  that  he  must  either  prove  that 
statement  or  stand  convicted  as  a  liar.  Next  day,  when 
I  was  passing  through  the  Eotunda,  I  heard  a  shot  quite 
near  me,  then  another.  I  looked  round  and  saw  that 
Pollard  was  popping  at  me  with  his  revolver. 

"  I  happened  to  have  my  own  shooting  irons  with  me," 
continued  the  Colonel  with  a  careless  glance  towards 
the  revolver  on  the  side-table,  "  and  fired  back  at  him 
two  or  three  shots,  but  we  were  separated." 

I  told  him  I  had  often  heard  of  fighting  editors,  but 
had  been  rather  incredulous  of  their  existence. 

"Oh,"  said  the  Colonel  with  a  smile,  throwing  the 
stump  of  his  cigar  into  the  fire,  "  some  of  us  have  to 
write  or  fight  just  as  occasion  calls  for  it." 


THE  EDITOR  AND  THE  TWO  RUFFIANS.  149 

On  my  way  through  the  South  and  South-west,  I 
met  with  several  gentlemen  of  this  stamp,  some  of  whom 
seemed  to  have  been  more  expert  with  the  pistol  than 
with  the  pen.  It  was  said  to  have  been  the  practice 
with  some  papers  (able  to  do  things  on  a  large  scale)  to 
have  a  man  on  the  staff  to  attend  exclusively  to  the 
righting  part  of  the  business.  If  the  writing  editor 
branded  you  before  the  public  as  a  liar,  and  you  went 
in  Southern  fashion  to  demand  satisfaction,  he  handed 
you  over  politely  to  the  fighting  editor, — the  gentleman 
who  managed  the  pistolling  department.  Editors  who 
had  no  fighting  men  on  the  staff,  and  were  not  prepared 
to  undertake  the  work  themselves,  had,  and  in  some 
parts  of  the  country  still  have,  need  of  quick  wits  or 
quick  heels. 

It  is  told  of  an  editor  in  Arkansas  who  excited  the 
fury  of  the  rowdy  population  by  a  severe  article  against 
the  gambling-houses,  that  the  following  morning,  while 
clipping  "copy"  for  next  day's  paper,  he  heard  heavy 
steps  on  the  wooden  stairs  outside,  and  was  startled  by 
the  appearance  of  a  big  ruffian  at  the  door,  carrying  a 
bludgeon  in  his  hand. 

"  Air  you  the  editor  o'  this  noozpaper  ?"  said  the  man. 

"  Do  you  wish  to  see  him  ? "  said  the  editor. 

"  I  wish  to  see  him,"  said  the  man. 

"  He  is  engaged,  sir;  but  if  you  take  a  seat  I  shall  tell 
him  that  you  are  here." 

He  gave  the  man  a  chair,  and  darted  from  the  room 
to  make  his  escape  into  the  street.  He  had  only  got 
to  the  foot  of  the  stairs  when  he  encountered  another 
ruffian  just  arriving,  armed  with  a  heavy  cowhide. 

"  Whar  's  the  editor  of  this  here  paper  ? "  cried  ruffian 
Number  Two,  barring  the  way. 


150  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

"  You  '11  find  him  sitting  in  his  room  up  there/'  said 
the  editor,  pointing  towards  the  place  where  he  had  left 
ruffian  Number  One.  "  But  you  had  better  not  disturb 
him  ;  he  looks  dangerous." 

"  1 11  take  that  out  of  him  mighty  quick/'  said  the 
man  with  an  oath,  and  passed  up.  The  editor  had 
scarcely  got  into  the  street  when  he  heard  a  terrific 
uproar  in  his  sanctum,  where  each  ruffian,  taking  the 
other  for  the  obnoxious  scribe,  had  begun  a  furious 
assault. 

Another  story  is  told  of  a  Mississippi  editor,  who 
wrote  a  stinging  article  against  a  man  who  was  running 
for  a  public  office.  Next  forenoon  the  enraged  candi 
date  appeared  in  the  sanctum,  bringing  with  him  in 
one  hand  a  heavy  stick,  and  in  the  other  the  obnoxious 
article  which  he  had  clipped  from  the  paper.  After  a 
volley  of  oaths  by  way  of  introduction,  the  intruder 
sternly  demanded  of  the  trembling  editor  one  of  two 
things — either  to  eat  his  article  or  take  a  sound  thrash 
ing.  It  was  a  painful  dilemma ;  but  the  editor  ate  the 
article  and  saved  his  skin. 

While  in  Eichmond  I  paid  a  visit  to  Cameron's 
tobacco  factory, — the  only  one  in  Virginia,  as  far  as  I 
could  hear,  which  had  introduced  machinery,  and  sub 
stituted  hydraulic  presses  for  the  old  hand-screws. 
The  building  was  divided  into  different  storeys  and 
compartments,  in  which  the  various  processes  were 
gone  through  that  convert  the  dried  leaf  into  manu 
factured  tobacco  ready  for  the  smoker  or  chewer.  It 
was  night,  and  the  huge  hive  of  industry,  filled  with 
black  workers,  had  a  dim  and  weird-like,  not  to  say 
diabolical,  appearance.  In  one  compartment  we  saw 
black  women  busy  on  the  flour  tearing  asunder  the 


A  SLAVE- OWNER  ON  FREE  LABOUR.  151 

leaves  that  had  been  crushed  into  a  compact  mass  in 
the  hogsheads.  In  another  place  we  saw  more  women 
cutting  the  stem  out  of  the  leaf — the  leaves  to  go  to  the 
twisters,  and  the  stems  to  be  packed  up  and  shipped 
to  Bremen  for  the  Germans  to  make  snuff  of.  In 
another  place,  the  twist-room,  we  found  nearly  150 
black  men  and  women  facing  each  other  at  the  long 
row  of  tables,  all  busy  making  the  twist,  manipulating 
the  leaves  and  rolling  them  up  with  amazing  dexterity, 
singing  in  concert  all  the  while. 

I  asked  Mr.  Cameron,  who  kindly  went  through  the 
factory  with  me,  how  much  these  people  got  for  their 
work  ? 

"  Just  now,"  he  said,  "  only  two  cents  (or  a  penny)  a 
pound.  This  is  winter,  when  there  is  little  or  no  profit 
in  keeping  the  factory  going ;  but  it  keeps  the  hands 
together,  and  when  summer  comes,  and  the  profits 
justify  it,  the  wage  is  nearly  doubled." 

I  asked  if  these  men  had  been  his  slaves  before  the 
war? 

"  Some  of  them  were.  A  number  of  them  I  had 
bought,  and  the  rest  were  hired  from  their  owners." 

"  How  do  the  men  work,  now  they  are  free  ? " 

"I  think  most  of  them  work  better.  They  have 
the  stimulus  of  remuneration,  and  they  work  more 
heartily." 

"  How  do  you  like  the  free-labour  system  yourself  ? " 

"  I  like  it  better  than  slavery.  I  would  not  go  back 
to  the  slavery  system  if  I  could.  Labour  is  cheaper 
now  and  more  easily  managed.  Formerly  you  had  to 
keep  order  with  the  cowhide.  If  a  man  was  stubborn 
you  had  to  whip  him.  You  had  paid  six  or  eight  hun 
dred  dollars  for  him,  and  you  could  not  afford  to  let  him 


152  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

lie  idle.  But  now,  if  a  man  is  disorderly,  or  won't 
work,  you  tell  him  to  'take  his  jacket  and  go.  It  is 
much  easier  and  pleasanter.  Then,  again,  in  slave 
times,  you  had  to  keep  the  factory  going  whether  you 
were  making  money  or  not,  for  the  men  were  always  on 
your  hands.  Now  you  have  nothing  to  do,  if  a  bad 
season  comes,  but  turn  the  hands  off,  lock  the  door,  put 
the  key  in  your  pocket,  wait  for  better  times,  and  let 
the  men  look  out  for  themselves.  Every  one  for  him 
self  is  the  rule  now,  and  whatever  it  may  be  for  the 
employed,  it  is  better  for  the  employer.  Saves  money 
at  any  rate." 

This  view  of  the  case  represented,  as  far  as  I  could 
discover,  the  opinion  of  the  most  intelligent  employers 
of  labour  in  the  South.  In  regard,  however,  to  the 
amount  of  work  done  by  the  negroes  under  the  new  as 
compared  with  the  old  regime,  I  found  much  diversity 
of  opinion.  The  owner  of  a  factory  in  Lower  Virginia 
said  that  in  slave  times  he  got  as  much  work  out  of 
150  hands  as  he  did  now  out  of  200. 

"  The  compulsory  task,"  he  said,  "  was  just  enough 
to  brace  a  man  up  for  additional  work.  My  negroes, 
if  they  tried,  could  get  their  task- work  over  by  one 
o'clock,  and  everything  they  did  after  that  they  were 
paid  for.  This  was  a  stimulus  to  work  longer  than 
they  do  now." 

He  thought,  however,  that  as  competition  became 
keener,  and  the  wants  of  the  negroes  became  larger  and 
more  numerous,  they  might  come  to  work  more  and 
work  better  than  they  had  done  in  slavery. 

I  met  several  persons  in  Richmond  who  had  come  to 
Virginia  to  buy  land.  The  changes  effected  by  the  war 
have  made  a  fine  opening  in  the  Old  Dominion  for 


VIRGINIA'S  ATTRACTIONS  FOR  EMIGRANTS.        153 

skilled  labour  and  for  capital.  Conversing  with  the 
Governor  of  the  State  (Mr.  Pierpont)  on  the  subject,  he 
said, — 

"What  we  want  is  men  who  could  purchase  100  or 
150  acres.  For  them  there  is  a  chance  in  Virginia  now 
such  as  never  was  before,  and,  after  things  are  settled, 
can  never  be  again." 

I  asked  about  the  cost  of  land. 

"  It  depends  on  the  sort  of  land,  and  where  located. 
In  the  south-west  parts  of  the  State,  between  Blue 
Ridge  and  tide- water,  good  land  is  selling  for  $6  and 
$10  an  acre,  that  could  not  have  been  got  for  five  times 
that  money  before  the  war." 

"  Is  the  climate  healthy?" 

"  Yes,  everywhere  back  from  tide-water." 

I  asked  about  the  Valley  of  Virginia. 

"  The  Valley,  sir,  is  the  best  location  in  the  State  for 
emigrants  with  money.  The  land  there  runs  from  $60 
to  $80  an  acre  (£10  to  £12  sterling).  But  it  is  splen 
did  land,  cleared  and  very  productive.  It  will  be  worth 
$300  to  $400  before  long." 

"  Can  you  get  labour  to  hire  there  ?" 

"  Plenty.  The  coloured  people,  if  paid  for  their 
labour,  will  work,  and  work  well.  But  the  present 
employers  have  been  beggared  by  the  war  and  can't 
pay." 

"  What  is  grown  in  the  State  ?" 

"  Almost  everything.  Tobacco,  barley,  buck-wheat, 
Indian  corn,  potatoes,  rye,  grapes,  melons,  apples,  pears, 
and  Lord  knows  all  what.  There  is  no  State  in  the 
Union  beats  it  for  variety. 

"  The  best  grazing  country,  and  the  richest  land  for 
grain  and  tobacco,  is  in  the  mountain  region  west  of 


154  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

Lynchburg.  But  there  is  a  fine  rolling  country,  well 
watered  and  well  drained,  all  the  way  west  from  Eich- 
mond.  If  any  of  your  Scotch  farmers  are  coming  out, 
now  is  the  time  for  them.  Tell  them  to  keep  out  of 
politics  and  they  will  find  themselves  on  good  terms 
with  all  parties,  and  get  on  as  very  few  Americans  can 
in  the  meantime.  We  Union  men  meet  with  coldness 
and  opposition." 

When  I  travelled  westward  through  Virginia,  on 
re-visiting  it  the  following  spring,  I  found  almost 
everything  verified  that  I  had  heard  said  in  its  praise. 

Good  ]and  was  selling  at  a  low  figure,  fine  river 
lands  at  £5  an  acre — less  than  a  tenth  of  the  price 
which  inferior  land  would  bring  in  the  Connecticut 
Valley,  New  England.  The  productiveness  of  Virginia 
has  never  been  fairly  tested,  slavery  having  kept  agri 
culture  in  a  very  backward  state.  But  the  natural 
richness  of  the  soil  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that 
you  find  lands  that  have  been  sown  and  reaped,  year 
after  year,  for  more  than  a  century  without  manure, 
continuing  to  yield  fair  crops.  It  is  said  that  when 
these  lands  were  new  (and  lands  as  good  still  remain  to 
be  broken),  sixty-fold  of  wheat  was  no  uncommon 
yield.  Even  this  is  not  equal  to  the  yield  of  land  in 
some  of  the  Western  and  North-Western  States ;  but, 
to  compensate  for  this,  the  winters  in  Virginia  are 
much  shorter  and  the  market  almost  at  the  door. 

No  doubt  the  country  is  in  a  somewhat  unsettled 
state,  arid  the  labour  system  much  disorganized.  But 
I  was  everywhere  assured  that  emigrants  from  this 
country  would  receive  a  cordial  welcome  from  the 
people,  would  meet  with  hearty  co-operation,  and 
would  be  able  to  re-organize  labour  in  their  own 


CHEAP  LAND  IN  VIRGINIA.  155 

districts  more  readily  than  either  Northern  capitalists 
or  the  old  owners  of  the  soil.  Northern  speculators 
(with  a  few  exceptions)  did  not  seem  to  understand  the 
coloured  people,  or  be  able  to  manage  them  so  well  as 
their  old  masters ;  while  the  Southern  planters  were  not 
only  too  poor  to  pay  for  labour,  but  seemed,  in  many 
cases,  either  unable  or  indisposed  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  the  new  order  of  things.  Scotch  per 
severance,  Scotch  "  canniness,"  and  Scotch  farming 
are  precisely  what  Virginia  wants ;  and  those  who,  with 
a  little  capital,  are  prepared  to  throw  in  their  fortunes 
with  the  kind  and  hospitable  people  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
and  grapple  manfully  with  the  preliminary  difficulties 
of  the  situation,  are  likely  to  find  themselves  emerging 
from  this  transition  state  in  the  South  in  a  better 
position,  and  with  brighter  prospects  than  they  could 
hope  for  in  almost  any  other  part  of  America. 


156       "BEAST"  BUTLER,  so  CALLED. 


XV. 

"  BEAST  "  BUTLER,  SO  CALLED. 

I  CONFESS  it  was  with,  some  surprise  that  I  saw  from 
the  Richmond  papers  that  General  Butler  was  coining 
to  make  a  speech  in  that  city.  Southern  blood  is  hot, 
and  Butler  is  detested  in  the  South  more  perhaps  than 
any  man  that  lives.  There  were  two  things,  therefore, 
that  I  thought  worthy  of  note — first,  that  Butler  had 
the  pluck  to  come  ;  and  secondly,  that  he  was  allowed 
to  come  and  allowed  to  go  without  molestation. 

I  was  across  at  the  Ballard  House  seeing  a  friend  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  General  was  to 
arrive. 

"Do  you  know,"  said  he,  with  a  touch  of  bitterness 
in  his  tone,  "  that  Butler  is  going  to  stay  at  the  Ballard 
here?" 

"  No." 

"  Well,  he  is.     Apartments  are  secured." 

"  And  so,  I  reckon,  is  the  silver  plate,"  said  a  man 
standing  near. 

"  I  wonder  they  would  let  him  in." 

"  Why  shouldn't  they  ? "  said  the  man.  "  Ain't  they 
bound  to  give  entertainment  to  man  and  Beast?" 

Looking  at  the  cases  of  prints  and  photographs 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  hotel — some  of  them  shame 
fully  obscene — I  was  surprised  to  see  amongst  them 


HELPING  THEMSELVES.  157 

several  pictures  of  the  obnoxious  General,  in  which  he 
was  made  to  figure  in  horns  and  hoofs. 

I  said  to  the  youth  in  charge — "You  don't  leave 
these  exposed  here  when  Butler  is  in  the  house  ? " 

"  0  yes/'  said  he  ;  "  Butler  don't  care  a  curse,  if  we 
don't  lock  up  the  spoons." 

The  farther  south  I  travelled  towards  New  Orleans, 
the  stronger  this  association  became.  Several  times  in 
the  south-west  I  heard  people  speak  of  having  things 
"  Butlerized." 

"  Now,  don't  you  Butlerize  all  that  pie,"  said  one 
little  urchin  to  his  sister,  who  was  helping  herself 
rather  liberally. 

It  is  curious  that  Butler  should  have  got  his  name  so 
specially  associated  with  silver-plate.  General  Neal 
Dow,  on  the  other  hand,  was  twitted  with  a  penchant 
for  rebel  furniture.  It  is  told  of  him  that,  being  seri 
ously  ill  on  one  occasion,  an  officer  asked  the  surgeon  in 
attendance  what  the  matter  was. 

"  Only  a  heavy  meal  of  furniture,"  said  the  surgeon  ; 
"  but  I  have  got  him  to  throw  up  a  bureau  and  a  rock  - 
ing- chair,  and  I  think  he  will  get  round." 

It  was  said  to  be  a  joke  among  the  Western  soldiers 
that  General  Dow  had  furniture  on  the  brain. 

How  far  either  the  one  General  or  the  other  merited 
so  sinister  a  reputation  I  found  it  difficult  to  ascertain. 
Parton,  in  his  bulky  volume,  shows  that  Butler  had 
many  things  laid  to  his  charge  of  which  he  was  entirely 
innocent.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  different 
parts  of  the  South  a  wholesale  system  of  plundering 
was  carried  on — some  of  the  Federal  officers  and 
soldiers  probably  imagining  that  whatever  belonged  to 
the  enemy  was  legitimate  spoil.  I  visited  many  private 


158  "  BEAST"  BUTLER,  so  CALLED. 

houses  in  the  South  which  had  been  literally  "  cleaned 
out "  by  the  Federal  soldiers ;  and  in  the  North,  I  occa 
sionally  came  upon  pieces  of  furniture  that  had  once 
graced  the  drawing-rooms  of  Southern  planters,  and 
had  been  brought  North  without  any  "  By  your  leave." 
A  gentleman  connected  with  one  of  the  Express  Com 
panies  told  me  that  during  the  war  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  boxes  and  bales  of  plunder  from  the 
South  were  sent  North  by  Union  soldiers  and  officers 
to  their  own  homes.  Some  strange  scenes  resulted. 
Once,  for  instance,  at  a  ball  in  New  York,  a  Southern 
lady  observed,  gleaming  on  the  bosom  of  another  lady 
in  the  company,  one  of  her  own  wedding  gifts.  She 
went  up  and  said,  "  Madam,  give  me  that  brooch.  It 
is  mine.  My  name  is  Mrs. ." 

The  lady  who  was  wearing  it  looked  at  her,  hesitated 
a  moment,  and  then,  afraid  of  a  scene,  gave  it  up. 

On  the  evening  of  Butler's  public  appearance  in  Eich- 
mond,  I  made  a  mistake  of  half-aii-hour  as  to  the  time ; 
so  that  when,  through  the  pitch-dark  streets,  I  found 
my  way  to  the  "  First  African  Church,"  where  the 
address  was  to  be  delivered,  the  long  low  building 
was  already  crammed,  and  a  seething  crowd  of  negroes 
swarmed  at  every  door,  and  hung  in  masses  blacker 
than  the  night — from  every  part  of  the  railing  that 
afforded  the  least  glimpse  into  the  interior  of  the  dimly- 
lighted  church.  I  got  myself  into  the  crowd  at  one 
corner,  but  after  working  myself  up  the  steps  amongst 
the  good-humoured  darkies,  I  could  only  see,  over  the 
heads  in  front,  a  bit  of  dim  roof  and  part  of  a  gallery  that 
was  literally  loaded  with  negroes — the  dusky  faces 
being  ten  or  twelve  deep.  I  extricated  myself  with 
difficulty,  and  made  my  way  to  another  place,  where, 


BUTLER'S  APPEARANCE.  159 

through  one  of  the  windows,  I  could  discern  General 
Butler's  feet  on  the  platform.  Those  around  me  seemed 
to  consider  this  a  valuable  point  of  observation ;  but 
being  neither  a  bootmaker  nor  a  Butler- worshipper,  I 
felt  that  two  hours  spent  in  looking  through  a  window 
at  this  small  part  of  the  General's  person,  without  hear 
ing  a  word  of  his  speech,  would  be  an  unsatisfactory 
account  of  my  time.  Accordingly  I  extricated  myself 
from  the  throng  once  more,  intending  to  return  to  the 
hotel,  when,  by  good  chance,  Judge  Underwood  arrived, 
and  as  a  clearance  had  to  be  made  to  let  him  in,  I 
availed  myself  of  this  to  get  sufficiently  far  into  the 
church  to  see  and  hear. 

A  short,  stout  man,  with  large  bald  head,  a  round 
body,  and  short  spindle  legs,  stood  at  the  front  of  the 
platform,  speaking  in  a  somewhat  harsh  but  very  fluent 
and  articulate  voice.  It  was  easy,  even  at  a  glance,  to 
see  how  this  man  had  the  power  to  make  himself  an 
object  of  such  deadly  hate  to  a  whole  people.  There 
was  power  in  the  big  bald  head,  in  the  massive  brow, 
in  the  vulture  nose,  in  the  combatively  bullying  face, 
in  the  heavy  eyelids,  and  in  the  keen,  scrutinizing  eye. 
It  was  literally  eye,  not  eyes,  for  the  right  eyeball 
seemed  to  be  engaged  in  some  business  of  its  own,  as 
if  relieved  from  regular  duty,  while  the  spirit  of  the 
man  when  he  looked  at  you  seemed  to  crouch  at  the 
other,  and  (from  under  the  heavy  eyelid)  glare  out 
keenly  and  warily.  He  had  in  his  left  hand  a  pamphlet 
or  bit  of  paper — I  could  not  see  which — but  once  or 
twice  he  brought  this  paper  up  to  the  side  of  his  head, 
within  two  or  three  inches  of  his  eye,  as  if  for  reference. 
Tastes  differ,  but  I  confess  Butler's  face  was  not 
pleasant  to  me. 


1 60         "  BEAST  "  BUTLER,  SO  CALLED. 

His  speech,  as  far  as  I  heard  it,  was  clear,  logical, 
and  full  of  practical  wisdom,  but  was  delivered  with  an 
audacity  of  manner  that  made  one  reluctant  to  admire 
even  what  deserved  admiration. 

Speaking  of  the  alleged  inferiority  of  the  negro  race, 
Butler  said, — "  Fifty  years  ago,  Europeans  were  accus 
tomed  to  say  that  Americans  were  not  their  equals.  'Who 
reads  an  American  book  ? '  they  said.  '  Who  looks  at 
an  American  picture  ?  What  poets,  what  generals  has 
America  produced  ? '  The  last  half  century  has  swept 
this  taunt  away.  American  science  rules  in  the  steam 
boat  and  in  the  telegraph,  and  to-day  overshadows  the 
world.  Is  it  fair — is  it  just — to  bring  forward  those 
same  taunts  as  arguments  against  the  negro  ?  GIVE 
HIM  FAIR  PLAY  !  It  is  all  he  wants,  and  in  fifty  years 
he  may  answer  these  questions  to  America,  as  America 
has  to  the  world." 

Speaking  of  the  hopes  that  had  been  held  out  to 
negroes  during  the  war,  that  the  lands  of  the  rebels 
would  be  taken  and  parcelled  out  amongst  them,  he 
said  wisely — "  Such  confiscation  is  now  impossible.  And 
I  doubt  if  it  would  ever  have  been  a  boon  to  you,  for 
this  reason,  that  anything  that  costs  nothing  is  not 
much  valued." 

It  deserves  to  be  recorded  that  the  coloured  audience 
applauded  this  sentiment  loudly,  as  if  to  indicate  their 
entire  concurrence. 

Butler  gave  it  at  the  same  time  as  his  opinion  that 
the  men  who  tilled  the  land  should  own  it ;  that  the 
vast  landed  estates  in  the  South  should  be  broken 
up ;  that  the  owner,  instead  of  clamouring  for  foreign 
immigration,  should  use  the  black  labour  that  was 
waiting  at  his  door,  and  if  he  had  not  money,  should 


BUTLER  AND  THE  PROFESSORS.         161 

give  each  labourer,  as  wages,  thirty  or  forty  acres  of 
land  until  such  time  as  it  could  be  paid  up,  and  the 
rest  he  would  by  and  bye  be  able  to  cultivate  fully  him 
self. 

I  was  sorry  to  find  that  the  general  moderation  and 
wisdom  of  this  speech  received  little  acknowledgment 
from  the  Southern  press.  One  prominent  organ,  ex 
ceptional  in  its  wit  but  not  in  the  abusiveness  of  its 
language,  came  out  with  a  leading  article  entitled  "  THE 
BEAST,"  and  referred  to  the  meeting  in  the  following 
terms: — "Butler  spoke,  chairman  Wardwell  smiled, 
mob  applauded.  Sublime  occasion  !  Hen-roost  and 
pig-stye  thieves  forgot  their  avocation,  and  chickens  and 
pigs  for  two  hours  slept  in  undisturbed  security,  while 
the  petty  pliers  of  smaller  trades  vied  with  each  other 
in  doing  homage  to  the  more  successful  rascal ! " 

The  character  written  in  Butler's  face  seems  to  have 
developed  itself  at  an  early  age.  When  a  lad  at  college, 
it  was  binding  on  the  students  to  attend  the  college 
church — a  duty  which  to  Benjamin  was  very  irksome. 
On  one  occasion  he  heard  the  college  preacher  (who  was 
also  a  professor)  advancing  propositions  like  the  follow 
ing  : — (1.)  That  the  elect  alone  would  be  saved.  (2.) 
That  amongst  those  who  by  the  world  were  called 
Christians,  probably  not  more  than  one  in  a  hundred 
belonged  really  and  truly  to  the  elect.  (3.)  That  the 
others,  by  reason  of  their  Christian  privileges,  would 
suffer  more  hereafter  than  the  heathen  who  had  never 
heard  the  Gospel  at  all. 

.  Butler,  whose  audacity  was  always  more  conspicuous 
than  his  reverence,  made  a  note  of  these  positions,  and 
on  the  strength  of  them  drew  up  a  petition  to  the 
Faculty,  soliciting  exemption  from  further  attendance 

L 


162  "BEAST"  BUTLER,  so  CALLED. 

at  the  church,  as  only  preparing  for  himself  a  more 
terrible  future. 

"  For,"  said  he,  "  the  congregation  here  amounts  to 
600  persons,  and  nine  of  these  are  professors.  Now,  if 
only  one  in  a  hundred  is  to  be  saved,  it  follows  that 
three  even  of  the  Faculty  must  be  damned."  He  (Ben 
jamin  Butler),  being  a  mere  student,  could  not  expect 
to  be  saved  in  preference  to  a  professor.  Far,  he  said, 
be  it  from  him  to  cherish  so  presumptuous  a  hope  ! 
Nothing  remained  for  him,  therefore,  but  perdition.  In 
this  melancholy  posture  of  affairs  he  was  naturally 
anxious  to  abstain  from  anything  that  might  aggravate 
his  future  punishment ;  and  as  church  attendance  had 
been  shown  in  last  Sunday's  sermon  to  have  this  influ 
ence  upon  the  non-elect,  he  trusted  that  the  Faculty 
would  for  all  time  coining  exempt  him  from  it. 

The  result  of  this  petition,  written  out  in  an  impos 
ing  manner  and  formally  presented  to  the  Faculty,  was 
that  Butler  received  a  public  reprimand  for  irreverence, 
and,  but  for  the  influence  of  one  or  two  friends  in  the 
Faculty,  would  have  been  expelled. 

Butler  from  the  first  has  been  noted  for  a  quickness 
of  repartee  that  backs  up  his  audacity,  and  prevents  it 
from  bringing  him  to  grief.  In  one  of  his  first  law 
cases  (most  readers  are  probably  aware  that  Butler 
practised  law  in  New  England),  he  said,  in  the  usual 
way,  when  the  case  was  called,  "  Let  notice  be  given  !  " 

"  In  what  paper  ? "  asked  the  venerable  clerk. 

" In  the  Lowell  Advertiser"  said  Butler,  selecting  a 
small  local  paper  detested  by  the  Whig  party,  to  which 
the  clerk  and  the  judges  belonged. 

There  was  an  awful  pause. 

"The    Lowell    Advertiser!"   said    the    clerk,    with 


BUTLER  AND  THE  CLERK.  163 

difficulty  restraining  his  feelings,  "  I  don't  know  such  a 
paper." 

"  Pray,  Mr.  Clerk,"  said  Butler,  "  don't  begin  telling 
the  Court  what  you  don't  know,  or  there  will  be  no 
time  for  anything  else  !  " 

When  in  command  at  Bermuda  Hundreds,  one  of  the 
Petersburg  Volunteers,  who  had  held  General  Kautz's 
Brigade  of  Cavalry  at  bay  for  two  hours  till  the  advance 
of  Lee's  army  arrived,  was  brought  before  Butler  for  ex 
amination,  having  been  captured  in  the  trenches. 

"  What  are  you  by  profession  ?  "  asked  the  General 

"  A  lawyer." 

"  How  many  soldiers  were  in  Petersburg  when  Kautz 
first  appeared  ? " 

The  prisoner  declined  answering. 

"  If  you  won't  tell  me,"  said  Butler,  "  I  '11  tell  you. 
There  was  none." 

The  lawyer  took  the  liberty  of  asking  how  he  had 
arrived  at  that  conclusion. 

"By  this  infallible  deduction,"  said  Butler:— "If 
there  had  been  a  soldier  in  Petersburg,  we  should  never 
have  found  a  lawyer  in  the  trenches." 

In  New  York,  Butler  was  once  addressing  an  immense 
crowd  in  front  of  the  City  Hall  in  favour  of  the  election 
of  Horace  Greeley  to  Congress.  For  some  time  after 
his  appearance  there  was  a  terrific  storm  of  hisses, 
groans,  and  cries  of  "  Spoons  !  spoons  ! "  and  "  Down 
with  the  Beast ! "  Butler  stood  facing  the  mob  with  an 
expression  of  the  coolest  effrontery,  and  occupied  his 
time  till  they  should  subside  into  quietness  in  picking 
his  teeth  with  his  gold  tooth-pick. 

At  last  there  came  a  lull,  but  Butler  had  scarcely  got 
his  first  sentence  finished  when  the  storm  burst  out 


164  "BEAST"  BUTLER,  so  CALLED. 

afresh,  and  an  apple  shot  from  the  crowd  struck  Butler 
full  upon  the  brow.  He  caught  it  as  it  fell,  and  bow 
ing  his  thanks  to  the  man  who  had  thrown  it,  com 
menced  in  the  most  deliberate  manner  to  eat  it.  There 
was  a  roar  of  laughter  ;  the  mob  felt  that  it  was  outdone, 
and  gave  the  General  a  hearing. 

When  in  command  at  New  Orleans,  Butler  was 
standing  one  day  smoking  a  cigar  in  front  of  the  build 
ing  which  he  was  using  as  his  head-quarters,  where,  as 
usual,  the  United  States  flag  was  flying.  A  Southern 
lady  passing  down  the  street  stepped  off  the  pavement 
as  she  drew  near,  and  kept  the  other  side  of  the  street 
till  she  was  past  the  flag. 

Butler  turned  to  the  sentry. 

"  Arrest  that  woman,"  he  said,  "  and  bring  her  here." 

The  sentry  obeyed. 

"  Madam,"  said  Butler,  taking  his  cigar  from  his  lips, 
"  what  did  you  step  off  the  pavement  at  this  part  of  the 
street  for  ? " 

"  To  avoid  that  rag,"  said  the  lady,  defiantly. 

"  I  thought  so,"  said  Butler. 

He  called  a  guard,  and  said, — "  You  will  walk  this 
woman  up  and  down  under  this  flag  for  half-an-hour. 
If  she  is  fatigued  you  will  give  her  a  chair  directly 
under  it ; "  and,  resuming  his  cigar,  while  the  guard  set 
about  their  work,  he  tranquilly  watched  the  indignant 
lady  till  his  cigar  was  finished. 

It  ^was  sometimes  less  the  result  which  Butler 
aimed  at  than  (as  in  this  case)  the  intensely  aggra 
vating  means  by  which  he  effected  it,  that  made 
him  the  object  of  such  execration  and  hate  throughout 
the  South. 

Everybody  knows    about  the   order  by  means   of 


BUTLER  AND  THE  LADIES.  165 

which  he  put  an  end  to  anything  like  insult  being 
offered  to  his  soldiers  by  the  ladies  of  New  Orleans. 

An  Englishman  who  met  Butler  some  time  after  in  a 
railway  car  spoke  to  him  of  this. 

"  Do  you  know,"  said  the  General,  "  where  I  got  that 
famous  order  of  mine  ?  " 

"  Nor 

"  I  got  it  from  a  book  of  London  Statutes.  I  changed 
' London'  into  'New  Orleans  ;'  that  was  all.  The  rest  I 
copied  verbatim  et  literatim.  The  London  papers,  of 
course,  didn't  know  that,  and  called  me  '  Beast  Butler ' 
for  adopting  one  of  their  own  laws." 

Whatever  truth  there  may  be  in  this,  and  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  Butler's  taste  in  issuing  his  order, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  much-execrated  man 
possesses  administrative  ability  of  a  high  order,  and 
that  the  city  of  New  Orleans  was  never  within  the 
memory  of  its  inhabitants  kept  so  clean,  and  in  conse 
quence  so  healthy,  and  was  never  more  orderly  and 
more  free  from  those  riots  and  outrages  for  which  it 
used  to  be  notorious  than  during  the  time  when  it  was 
in  the  hands  of  General  Butler.  Let  us  not  withhold 
from  this  unlovable,  but  acute  and  sagacious  man,  his 
due. 


166  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 


XVI. 

PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

FROM  Eichmond  I  passed  on  to  Petersburg,  situated 
about  twenty-two  miles  farther  south,  on  the  Appo- 
mattox  River,  and  famous  as  the  place  where  Lee  and 
his  war-worn  veterans  made  their  last  desperate  stand 
against  the  overwhelming  forces  of  the  North. 

The  fortnight  I  spent  there  was  a  time  of  mingled 
gladness  and  sorrow — gladness  in  the  society  of  warm 
hearted  and  generous  friends,  sorrow  at  the  evidences 
that  met  me  everywhere  of  the  fearful  ravages  of  war. 
Not  a  road,  or  ridge,  or  ravine,  for  miles  around  the  city, 
but  had  its  tale  of  heroism  and  death ;  not  a  field  but 
had  been  sown  with  bullets,  and  ploughed  with  shot 
and  shell,  and  fought  over  again  and  again,  and  drenched 
with  human  blood ;  not  a  point  in  those  interminable 
lines  of  breast-works  and  rifle-pits  that  surrounded  the 
city  but  marked  the  spot  where  ragged  and  half- famished 
Confederates,  hopeless  of  their  cause  and  yet  uncon- 
quered,  stood  shivering  through  nights  of  driving  sleet 
and  biting  frost,  glaring  across  at  the  Union  lines,  and 
giving  and  receiving  the  deadly  fire  that  never  ceased, 
day  or  night,  for  eleven  months,  till  the  end  came. 

In  the  city,  too,  every  home  had  its  memories  of 
sadness.  Here  was  a  family  that  had  lost  its  head ; 
here  were  sisters  who  had  lost  their  brothers ;  here  was 


PETERSBURG.  167 

an  old  man  who  had  lost  his  boy ;  here  was  a  mother 
whose  son  had  followed  the  white  flag  to  Gettysburg 
and  never  been  heard  of  more  :  one  widow,  I  remember, 
who  had  lost  her  husband,  her  father,  and  her  only  son, 
and  had  the  bitterness  of  poverty  added  to  her  cup.  No 
heart  but  had  some  grave  within  it ;  and  a  single  word 
of  sympathy  would  often  unseal  dumb  lips  and  bring 
forth  tales  of  suffering  and  desolation,  which,  notwith 
standing  all  differences  of  opinion  about  the  lost  cause, 
it  was  impossible  to  listen  to  without  tears. 

Spending  one  evening  at  the  house  of  a  Confederate 
officer,  I  met  three  Southern  ladies,  whose  descriptions 
of  what  they  had  seen  and  experienced  during  the  war 
help  one  to  realize  so  well  what  war  is  when  brought  too 
near  home,  that  I  shall  introduce  one  of  them,  which 
the  lady,  who  was  the  wife  of  a  captain  in  Lee's  army,  - 
read  from  her  journal.  I  am  only  sorry  that  they  must 
now  lose  the  additional  interest  and  vividness  they 
derived  on  that  occasion  from  the  voice  of  the  reader, 
her  pale  and  interesting  face,  and  the  lustrous  eyes  that 
now  melted  with  tenderness,  and  now  kindled  with 
Southern  fire. 

The  following  was  her  account  of  the  first  darkening 
of  the  war- storm  around  their  city,  as  the  armies  of 
Grant  and  Lee,  fighting  all  the  way,  rolled  farther  and 
farther  south  from  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania  :— 

"  Such  troops  as  we  had  some  days  before  had  been 
withdrawn  from  Petersburg  to  points  more  threatened  with 
immediate  attack.  We  had  left  us  for  our  protection  only 
one  regiment  of  Wise's  brigade,  one  battery  of  artillery, 
and  170  militia,  composed  of  the  older  men  and  boys 
under  eighteen.  These  were  to  hold  eleven  miles  of  breast 
works  in  case  of  attack,  which  the  military  authorities 


168  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

evidently  did  not  anticipate.  But  already  a  large  force  of 
cavalry,  under  the  command  of  Kautz,  was  swooping  down 
upon  us.  How  brightly  dawned  that  lovely  summer  morn 
ing  upon  our  devoted  city,  whose  light  was  so  soon  to  be 
dimmed  with  blood  and  tears !  An  unusual  quiet  at  first 
prevailed,  but  at  an  early  hour  a  sound  broke  upon  our 
ears  which  sent  a  tremor  through  our  hearts.  It  was  the 
sullen  roar  of  cannon  and  musketry  along  our  lines !  And 
now  we  heard  the  tolling  of  the  town-bell,  the  signal  which 
summoned  grandsires  and  boys  to  the  defence  of  their 
homes  :  our  young  men  had  all  gone  to  meet  the  foe  else 
where.  Truly  might  the  enemy  say  of  us  that  day,  that  we 
'  robbed  the  cradle  and  the  grave  for  our  defenders.' 

"  And  nobly  did  they  do  their  duty.  No  shrinking 
because  the  feet  of  some  were  tottering  with  age,  while 
the  hands  of  others  were  almost  too  delicate  and  girlish  to 
handle  muskets.  As  a  little  band  of  these  boys  passed  a 
^group  of  sorrowing  mothers  and  sisters  who  were  trying  to 
smile  and  cheer  them  on  in  spite  of  their  tears,  one  noble 
lad  exclaimed,  '  Do  not  weep,  ladies ;  do  not  fear ;  we  will 
fight  for  you  as  long  as  we  have  a  cartridge  left.'  Ah  ! 
how  many  of  these  poor  striplings  were  in  a  few  hours 
mutilated  and  maimed  for  life,  or  sent  to  languish  in  a 
Yankee  prison,  and  to  how  many  more  the  bright  sun  above 
us  went  down  at  mid-day  !  .  .  .  I  was  ill,  but  all  that  long, 
weary  day,  as  I  lay  burning  with '  fever,  I  could  hear  the 
roar  of  the  fierce  conflict  going  on,  as  it  seemed,  at  our 
very  doors — the  firing  sometimes  so  near  that  our  hearts 
stood  still,  expecting  every  moment  the  in-rushing  of  the 
enemy.  Eacli  volley  seemed  to  fall  upon  our  own  hearts 
and  brain,  for  we  felt  that  at  that  moment  death  had  come 
to  some  beloved  one.  But  that  wall  of  brave  hearts  was 
standing  firm. 

"  About  three  o'clock  the  battle  reached  its  height ;  the 
artillery  of  the  enemy  made  for  a  commanding  eminence ; 
our  forlorn  hope  gained  the  ridge  before  them,  and  checked 
the  advancing  column.  Just  then,  as  if  a  mountain  had 
been  lifted  from  our  hearts,  a  body  of  our  own  cavalry — • 


PETERSBURG  UNDER  FIRE.  169 

being  General  Beauregard's  advance — dashed  unexpectedly 
into  the  city,  at  sight  of  which  the  enemy  gathered  himself 
hastily  up  and  withdrew.  Thus  did  the  God  of  Battles 
again  stretch  forth  His  hand  and  deliver  us !  But,  oh ! 
such  a  dearly-bought  deliverance !  Towards  evening,  the 
battle  being  now  over,  anxious  wives,  and  mothers,  and 
sisters,  with  pale  faces  and  trembling  hearts,  looked  for  the 
return  of  loved  ones,  or  for  tidings  of  their  fate.  We  felt 
that  some  hearts  must  mourn,  but  whose  should  it  be — 
from  which  of  us  had  the  Angel  of  Death  torn  our  idols  ] 
Soon  the  ambulances  and  waggons  began  to  come  in  from 
the  battle-field,  rumbling  along  the  silent  streets,  leaving 
now  at  this  house,  now  at  that,  the  mangled  or  dead  body 
of  some  dear  one.  At  such  moments  you  could  hear, 
breaking  the  awful  stillness,  the  wail  of  some  mother  over 
her  dead  boy,  or  the  piteous  cries  of  children  over  mutilated 
and  bleeding  fathers  or  grandsires.  It  was  a  still  summer 
evening — how  well  I  remember  it ! — and  the  sun  as  it  sank 
to  rest  seemed  to  touch  us  lovingly  and  gently  with  its  last 
rays,  as  if  in  sympathy  with  our  great  sorrow.  Night  closed 
in,  and  we  sat  down  face  to  face  with  our  woe — some  to 
watch  the  dying,  others  to  keep  sad  vigil  beside  their  dead ; 
while  numberless  hearts  agonized  in  prayer  for  loved  ones 
torn  from  home,  and  now  on  their  way  to  pine,  and  per 
haps  die,  in  some  Northern  prison. 

"  God  help  us,"  the  lady  said,  in  tremulous  tones,  "  if 
in  recalling  the  scenes  of  that  sad  day  our  hearts  burn 
within  us,  and  we  feel  that  we  have  no  love  as  yet  for  our 
enemies ! " 

The  following  paragraphs  describe  some  of  the  ex 
periences  that  followed : — 

"  June  1 6 th. — Have  been  up  for  the  first  time  since  my 
illness.  Mother  and  sisters  have  been  out  all  day  minis 
tering  to  the  wounded.  Troops  have  been  passing  all  the 
afternoon  on  their  way  to  the  left  of  our  lines,  where  there 
has  been  sharp  fighting  during  the  day. 

"  June  17 'tli. — What  a  night  we  have  had  !     The  enemy 


170  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

opened  upon  us,  shelling  a  city  of  defenceless  women, 
children,  and  wounded  soldiers.  It  was  a  lovely  moon 
light  night,  and  I  had  just  gone  to  bed  after  listening  to  a 
band  belonging  to  some  brigade  encamped  across  the  river, 
when  I  heard  the  sound  of  heavy  firing,  and  by  and  bye  a 
shell  flew  with  a  whiz  over  the  house  and  exploded  near 
by.  My  heart  sank  within  me !  But  what  could  I  do  1 
I  could  only  commit  myself  and  my  poor  stricken  country 
into  '  Our  Father's  '  keeping.  I  lay  till  nearly  one  o'clock 
listening  to  the  booming  of  guns  and  the  sound  of  bursting 
shells,  when  one  exploded  so  near  that  the  light  flashed  in 
my  very  face,  a  fragment  striking  the  porch  in  the  rear  of 
our  house.  This  so  frightened  my  sister  that  she  insisted 
on  going  to  a  neighbour's  for  safety,  so  in  my  weak  state  I 
made  an  effort  to  dress,  and  taking  our  two  servants  with 
us  we  went.  Oh,  what  sad  weary  hours  were  those  as  we 
lay  listening  to  the  fearful  sounds  that  seemed  to  threaten 
us  every  moment  with  destruction.  Some  even  of  the 
dying  had  to  be  moved  from  place  to  place  during  the 
night,  to  spots  where  they  might  at  least  die  quietly. 

"  Saturday. — To-day  we  sent  off  mother  and  sister  to 
Raleigh.  I  must  manage  to  remain  here  till  I  can  know 
the  fate  of  my  dear  husband,  who  is  with  General  Lee,  and 
has  been  through  the  terrible  conflicts  of  the  Wilderness 
and  Cold  Harbour. 

"June  ISth. — I  shall  never  forget  this  afternoon.  We 
were  just  sitting  down  to  dinner  when  we  heard  the  sound 
of  martial  music,  and  knowing  that  General  Lee's  army 
was  momentarily  expected  we  hastened  to  the  door.  Sure 
enough,  the  head  of  the  column  (A.  P.  Hill's  corps)  was 
just  turning  into  the  street,  and  what  regiment  should  come 
first  but  our  own  gallant  12th  Virginia — but  oh  !  so  worn 
with  travel  and  fighting,  so  dusty  and  ragged,  their  faces  so 
thin  and  drawn  by  privation  that  we  scarcely  knew  them. 
It  made  one's  heart  ache  to  look  at  them.  Ah  !  how 
many  dear  familiar  faces  we  missed  from  those  ranks  of 
war-worn  heroes  !  It  was  a  sad  home-coming,  and  even 
now  they  were  hurrying  on  to  the  front  to  save  their  homes 


ATTACHMENT  OE  SLAVES  TO  THEIR  MASTERS.        171 

from  the  enemy.  How  my  eager  eyes  searched  through 
those  ranks  for  one !  As  the  column  moved  up  the  street 
I  saw  a  poor,  thin,  travel-worn  figure  step  out  of  the  ranks 
and  wave  his  hat  to  me.  In  spite  of  rags  and  emaciation  I 

knew  my  own ;  he,  then,  thank  God,  was  safe — still 

spared  to  battle  for  his  beloved  South.  I  felt  frantic  with 
joy  to  see  him,  though,  alas,  in  such  a  plight,  and  even  now 
marching  towards  danger  and  death  !  They  were  passing 
so  rapidly,  and  the  crowd  was  so  great,  that  I  could  not 
reach  him.  But  our  faithful  servant  Becky,  when  I  pointed 
out  her  '  Mars,'  ran  with  lightning  speed  up  another  street, 
in  order  to  flank  the  column,  which  she  succeeded  in  doing, 
rushed  up  to  the  ranks,  and  seizing  her  dear  young  mas 
ter  by  the  hand,  went  as  far  as  she  could  with  him, 
cheering  the  poor  fellow  with  news  of  home  and  dear  ones 
there. 

"  What  would  the  Yankee  philanthropist  have  thought," 
said  the  lady,  "  had  he  observed  that  scene  between  an 
4  oppressed  slave  '  and  her  '  tyrant '  master  ? " 

"  And  that,"  she  said,  "  is  not  the  only  proof  I  could  give 
you  of  Becky's  fidelity.  When  we  were  forced  to  fly, 
Becky  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  seek  safety  with  us. 
She  insisted  on  remaining  here,  in  spite  of  danger  and  pri 
vation,  to  take  care  of  such  property  as  we  had  to  leave. 
When  the  city  was  given  up  to  the  enemy,  Becky  still  kept 
*  watch  and  ward '  over  our  things,  though  threatened  with 
Castle  Thunder  and  even  death  by  some  of  the  Yankee 
soldiers  if  she  did  not  give  up  her  master's  property.  Our 
other  two  servants  were  equally  faithful.  They  followed 
us  into  our  'refugee'  life,  and  were  like  other  daughters  to 
our  invalid  mother.  Even  after  they  were  free  they  re 
mained  with  her — one  nursing  her  tenderly,  the  other  hir 
ing  herself  out  daily  that  she  might  earn  money  enough  to 
buy  such  little  comforts  and  luxuries  as  her  mistress  had 
been  accustomed  to,  and  which  she  could  so  ill  want  in  her 
feeble  state  of  health. 

"  They  are  with  us  still,"  said  the  lady.  "  That  was  Becky 
that  waited  on  you  at  tea." 


172  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

% 

She  resumed  her  journal: — 

"  My  darling  boy  came  in  from  camp  this  morning  to 
spend  the  day  with  us,  looking  worn,  weary,  and  dusty  ; 
but  I  got  him  a  bath  and  clean  clothes,  which  was  a  luxury 
indeed  to  one  who  for  thirty  days  had  never  got  his  coat 
taken  off,  and  his  shoes  only  twice.  We  managed,  too,  to 
get  him  up  a  breakfast,  to  which  he  did  full  justice  with 
his  soldier-like  appetite.  But,  poor  fellow  !  he  has  not  got 
peace  to  enjoy  his  day.  The  enemy  has  got  the  range  of 
the  city,  and  has  been  shelling  furiously.  These  dreadful 
missiles  fly  over  and  around  us  like  great  birds  with  wild 
rushing  wings  bearing  destruction.  We  hear  one  coming, 
and  can  only  clasp  our  hands  in  silent  prayer,  and  when  it 
passes,  oh  !  how  heartily  we  exclaim,  '  Thank  God  ! '  How 
this  ever-abiding  presence  of  death  makes  us  feel  our  entire 
dependence  on  our  Father !  But  this  wear  and  tear  of  the 
nerves — this  constant  dread  of  the  fate  that  next  moment 
may  bring  upon  us — is  itself  a  slow  death.1 

"June  IQth. — It  has  not  seemed  like  Sunday.  The 
stillness  of  the  Sabbath  has  been  broken  by  the  continuous 
picket-firing  along  our  lines,  the  passing  of  troops  through 

1  The  house  in  which  I  found  a  on  the  fatal  night  preceding  the  30th 
home  during  my  stay  in  Petersburg  of  July  (1864),  when  a  sudden  and 
stood  on  the  heights,  within  a  mile  mysterious  cessation  in  the  picket 
of  the  picket  lines  to  the  north.  firing  was  followed  by  the  tremeud- 
One  night  at  supper,  the  lady  of  the  ous  explosion  of  Burnside's  mine, 
house,  speaking  of  the  incessant  fir-  within  two  miles  of  them,  shaking 
ing  that  was  continued  night  and  the  house  like  an  earthcpaake,  and 
day  during  the  siege,  took  the  knife  nearly  throwing  'them  out  of  their 
from  her  plate,  and  striking  the  haft  beds.  During  the  day,  the  artillery 
quickly  and  irregularly  on  the  tray,  took  the  principal  part  in  the  thun- 
said  the  picket  firing  went  on  like  derous  concert,  and  though  the 
that  all  night.  At  first  it  kept  them  fighting  was  supposed  to  be  confined 
awake,  but  after  a  few  weeks  -they  to  the  army  lines,  shells  were  con- 
got  so  accustomed  to  it  that  if  it  tinually  dropping  into  the  city,  and 
ceased  even  for  a  minute  they  began  exploding  with  terrific  noise  in  the 
to  get  alarmed,  wondering  what  streets.  When  people  heard  a  shell 
could  have  occurred,  and  dreading  coming,  they  used  to  throw  them- 
that  something  worse  was  about  to  selves  fiat  on  the  pavement  till  the 
befall.  They  were  taught  this  lesson  explosion  was  over,  to  dimmish  the 


GENERAL  LEE.  173 

the  streets,  and  all  the  confusion  and  noise  attending  the 
presence  of  a  large  army.  Still  the  Sabbath  bells  called  us 
to  the  sanctuary,  where,  attending  to  heavenly  things,  we 
might  forget  earth  and  all  its  woe. 

"  As  the  shells  did  not  seem  to  be  falling  in  the  street, 
my  aunt  and  I  ventured  out.  Suddenly  I  heard  the  multi 
tudinous  sound  of  horses'  feet,  and  on  turning  round,  beheld 
a  grand-looking  man  riding  up  the  street,  escorted  by  a 
suite  of  officers,  couriers,  etc.  I  knew  by  intuition  that  it 
was  our  great  chief,  the  Christian  warrior,  General  Lee.  I 
felt  as  in  the  presence  of  royalty.  And  does  he  not  indeed 
wear  a  crown  of  fame,  glittering  with  the  priceless  gem  of 
a  nation's  confidence  ?  I  exclaimed  aloud,  'Oh,  aunt,  look  ! 
— General  Lee  ! '  She  shared  my  enthusiasm.  So  did 
every  one  around.  You  could  see  the  faces  of  citizens  and 
soldiers  light  up  as  the  great  commander  passed.  He  also 
was  on  his  way  to  the  church,  where  by  and  bye  we  saw 
him.  How  humble  and  devout  was  the  demeanour  of  this 
great  and  good  man  as  he  humbly  knelt  in  God's  holy 
temple  and  '  kept  silence  before  Him.'  Surely  heaven's 
blessing  is,  and  will  ever  rest,  upon  him. 

"  General  A.  P.  Hill  knelt  beside  him.     He  is  a  small 

chance  of  being  hit  by  the  flying  Charles  Campbell,  the  historian  of 
fragments.  The  terrified  negroes,  Virginia,  who  lives  at  Petersburg, 
who  looked  upon  the  shells  as  flying  told  me  that  his  hoiise  was  struck 
demons  coming  in  search  of  human  several  times.  One  shell  plunged 
prey,  declared  that  they  came  cry-  through  the  roof  and  exploded  in 
ing  "  Whar's  you?  whar's  you?"  his  study,  shattering  the  furniture, 
{Where  are  you  ?)  A  shell  striking  blowing  out  the  windows,  and  bring- 
a  house  often  plunged  through  it,  ing  down  the  plaster.  Fortunately 
burying  itself  in  the  earth  below.  A  for  the  hope  of  another  chapter  of 
lady  gave  me  the  fragment  of  a  shell  Virginian  history  from  the  same  pen, 
that  had  passed  right  through  her  Mr.  Campbell  had  gone  down  to  the 
house,  and  exploded  in  the  yard  be-  basement  with  his  family.  Some- 
hind.  It  had  been  loaded  with  times  at  night  he  used  to  go  up-stairs 
nails,  and  left  the  yard  littered  with  to  watch  the  shells  rising  like 
those  useful  articles.  The  lady  said,  rockets  all  round  the  horizon,  and 
"  I  happened  to  be  just  in  want  of  often  crossing  each  other's  tracks, 
nails  at  the  time,  but  I  did  not  re-  He  said  it  was  like  a  grand  pyro- 
lish  the  mode  of  transportation."  technic  display. 


174  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

man,  bift  has  a  very  military  bearing,  and  a  countenance 
pleasing,  but  inexpressibly  sad. 

"  Ah,  I  know  the  reason  now,"  said  Mrs.  W — ,  looking 
up,  with  the  tears  in  her  eyes ;  "  I  know  why  he  looked  so 
sad.  It  was  the  shadow  of  his  early  death.  He  fell  in  the 
last  battle  around  Petersburg,  the  very  day  that  the  city 
was  evacuated." 

She  resumed  : — 

"  General  Lee,  to  our  great  gratification,  shook  hands 
with  several  of  us  as  he  left  the  church.  He  has  a  beauti 
ful  eye,  benevolent  but  clear  and  searching  in  its  expres 
sion,  a  noble  countenance,  with  hair  and  beard  which  the 
terrible  burden  of  a  nation's  cares  seems  to  have  prema 
turely  whitened." 

I  found  Petersburg  full  of  memories  of  Lee.  Every 
body  had  some  little  incident  to  tell  about  him,  to 
illustrate  his  nobleness,  his  Christianity,  his  solicitude 
for  his  men.  One  family  which,  during  the  siege,  had 
twice  sent  up  a  present  of  fruit  and  vegetables  to  Lee's 
head- quarters,  hoping  to  add  a  relish  to  the  scanty  fare 
which  he  shared  with  his  officers,  showed  me  a  warm 
note  of  thanks  which  he  had  returned ;  but  they  said 
it  turned  out  that,  instead  of  tasting  the  things  himself, 
he  had  distributed  them  amongst  his  wounded  and 
dying  men. 

A  Petersburg  gentleman  told  me  that  during  the  war 
he  was  one  day  travelling  by  rail  to  Eichmond  in  a 
carriage  (the  Americans  call  it  a  "  car")  full  of  soldiers. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  these  American  railway 
cars  are  like  long  narrow  rooms,  with  a  passage  down 
the  middle,  and  no  separation  of  classes.  A  poor  fellow 
with  his  arm  in  a  sling  got  up  and  tried  to  pull  on  his 
overcoat.  He  had  to  use  his  teeth  along  with  his  sound 
hand,  but  once  and  again  the  coat  fell  back.  His 


LEE  IN  BATTLE.  175 

efforts  attracted  the  attention  of  an  officer  at  the  other 
end  of  the  car,  who  rose,  went  forward,  tenderly  assisted 
him,  drawing  the  coat  very  gently  over  the  wounded 
arm,  and  buttoning  it  up  comfortably  for  him  before 
he  went  back  to  his  seat.  That  officer  was  General 
Lee.  The  gentleman  who  described  the  circumstance 
said,  "It  was  a  picture  of  his  whole  character.  The 
men  used  to  call  him  '  Uncle  Bobert.'  They  loved  him 
as  if  he  had  been  a  father." 

Illustrative  of  the  feelings  with  which  Lee's  presence 
inspired  the  troops  in  battle,  he  mentioned  the  follow 
ing  incident.  At  Fredericksburg,  a  position  of  vital 
importance  having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
Lee  gave  orders  that  it  should  be  immediately  retaken 
at  all  hazards.  Thrice  it  was  assailed  with  fury ;  but 
the  leaden  storm  that  met  the  assailants  tore  their 
ranks  to  pieces,  and  drove  the  remnants  back.  The 
carnage  and  repeated  failures  were  rapidly  demoralizing 
the  troops,  and  at  every  attempt  it  became  more  difficult 
to  make  them  return  to  the  charge.  In  the  meantime 
reinforcements  were  hurrying  up  to  the  help  of  the 
assailed.  It  was  a  critical  moment — one  of  those 
moments  that  decide  great  events.  At  this  juncture 
General  Lee  rode  to  the  front,  facing  the  enemy's  fire. 
The  sight  of  this  man  produced  an  instantaneous  effect. 
The  scattered  troops  began  to  rally  with  shouts,  fugi 
tives  turned,  became  inspired  with  a  new  courage  at 
sight  of  their  chief,  and  flowed  back  into  the  ranks. 
Lee  took  off  his  hat,  and  pointing  to  the  enemy,  called 
on  his  men  to  follow.  The  troops  were  ready  for 
another  charge,  but  they  refused  to  move  unless  Lee 
went  back. 

Eegardless  of  their  entreaties,  the  General  had  begun 


*  m  • 

176  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

to  move  forward,  when  several  of  the  men,  acting  on 
the  universal  impulse,  rushed  round  him,  seized  the 
reins  of  his  horse,  and  implored  him  with  passionate 
eartnestness  to  go  back.  "  Go  back,  General,  for  God's 
sake  !  Give  us  one  chance  more.  Go  back  and  see  us 
do  it."  His  horse  was  held  ;  the  ranks  with  a  wild  cheer 
swept  on,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  place  was  theirs. 

I  met  several  of  Lee's  officers  in  the  city,  some  of 
them  pious  men,  who  testified  to  the  high  Christian 
character  of  their  chief.  One  of  them  showed  me,  and 
allowed  me  to  copy,  a  letter  he  had  just  received  from 
Lee,  to  whom  he  had  written  on  behalf  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  for  his  signature  on  some  photographs  which  it 
was  proposed  to  distribute  amongst  the  children.  The 
following  was  Lee's  reply  :— 

"  MY  DEAR  *  *  *, — I  am  very  glad  to  learn  from  your 
letter  of  the  27th  that  the  Sunday-school  of  St.  Paul's 
Church  is  in  so  flourishing  a  condition.  My  interest  in 
the  citizens  of  Petersburg  is  as  great  now  as  when  I  was 
a  daily  witness  of  the  dangers  to  which  they  were  sub 
jected  from  the  siege  of  their  beloved  city ;  and  my 
admiration  of  the  fortitude  and  courage  they  displayed 
has  not  in  the  least  abated.  The  children  of  the  city 
will  always  have  my  warm  affection ;  and  I  rejoice 
that  they  so  early  possess  a  desire  for  that  knowledge 
which  leads  to  righteousness  and  eternal  life ;  and  in 
comparison  with  which  all  other  learning  is  valueless. 

"  iJ  it  will  gratify  them,  I  will  with  pleasure  send  the 
autographs  you  desire. 

"  Please  present  my  regards  to  your  good  pastor,  and 
with  my  best  wishes  for  your  own  welfare. — I  am,  with 
great  regard,  your  obedient  servant,  R.  E.  LEE." 


THE  DOOMED  MAN.  ]  77 

Amongst  the  friends  I  met  in  Petersburg  was  Mr. 
K — ,  a  man  of  somewhat  eccentric  character,  but  full 
of  generous  impulses,  and  one  who  had  always  shown 
himself  ready  during  the  privations  of  the  war  to  share 
whatever  he  had  with  those  who  were  worse  off  than 
himself.  On  one  occasion  he  had  been  seen  taking  off 
his  shoes  and  coat  in  the  street  to  give  to  a  poor  Con 
federate  soldier,  and  going  home  himself  in  his  stockings 
and  shirt  sleeves ! 

During  one  of  the  pleasant  evenings,  of  which  I 
cherish  so  many  delightful  recollections,  reference  was 
made  to  an  interesting  case,  in  which  Mr.  K —  had 
saved  the  life  of  a  German  soldier,  and  we  got  him  to 
give  us  the  narrative  himself.  Here  it  is  as  nearly  as 
possible  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  One  Sunday  morning  I  was  in  my  room  preparing  to 
go  to  church,  when  a  knock  came  to  the  door,  and  I  was 
told  that  a  man  wanted  to  see  me.  I  went  out  and  asked 
him  what  he  wanted. 

"  He  said, — '  There  is  a  German  prisoner  going  to  be  shot 
on  Tuesday  morning,  and  he  wants  you  to  come  and  pray 
with  him.' 

"  I  put  my  German  Bible  in  my  pocket,  and  went. 
When  I  found  myself  alone  with  the  prisoner,  I  said,  in 
German, — l  What  is  your  name  1 ' 

"  <  Henry  B— ." 

"  '  What  has  brought  you  into  this  plight  *? ' 

"  '  I  was  charged,  sir,  with  deserting.' 

"  '  And  were  you  not  guilty  1 ' 

"  '  No,  sir.' 

"  On  questioning  him  further,  I  found  that  he  had 
been  caught  trying  to  leave  Petersburg  just  after  a  very 
severe  order  had  been  issued  in  reference  to  desertion, 
which,  however,  from  his  ignorance  of  English,  he  had  not 
been  able  to  read.  Further,  he  assured  me,  earnestly  and 

M 


* 

• 

1 78  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

solemnly,  that  he  never  meant  to  desert — that  he  only 
wanted  to  run  the  blockade — that  is,  to  escape  through  the 
lines — and  go  to  Charleston  to  get  his  clothes,  of  which  he 
was  sorely  in  need,  and  to  recover  $1000  that  were  due  to 
him  there,  and  which  the  woman  of  the  house  where  he 
boarded  had  in  charge  for  him.  When  tried  by  court- 
martial,  it  was  declared  that  he  had  deserted  from  Charleston 
before  ;  but  he  assured  me  that  it  was  not  true — that  he 
had  served  his  time  and  got  an  honourable  discharge. 

"  I  asked  who  had  defended  him  at  the  court-martial. 

"  '  No  one.' 

"  '  And  what  decision  was  come  to  1 ' 

"  *  I  was  condemned,  sir ;  I  am  to  be  shot  on  Tuesday 
morning.' 

"  I  prayed  with  the  man ;  and  when  I  had  questioned 
him  again,  I  said, — '  If  all  you  have  told  me  is  true,  you 
will  not  be  shot  if  I  can  help  it.' 

"'It  is  true,  Mr.  K — ,'  he  said  earnestly;  'true,  as  I 
hope  to  see  God ! ' 

"  I  went  away  determined,  if  possible,  to  save  this  poor 
fellow's  life. 

"  I  went  to  a  man  here  who  hired  out  buggies,  and  said, 
— '  I  am  going  to  Richmond.  You  must  give  me  your  buggy 
on  credit.' 

"  '  What  are  you  going  to  Eichmond  for  1 ' 

"  *  I  am  going  to  try  and  save  a  man's  life." 

" '  Then,'  said  he,  l  you  shall  have  it,  and  not  pay  a 
cent.' 

"When  I  got  to  Richmond  I  found  Jefferson  Davis 
coming  from  church.  I  laid  the  case  before  him,  and  said, 
— '  I  have  pledged  your  word,  and  the  honour  of  the  Con 
federate  Government,  that  if  that  man's  statements  are 
found  true  you  will  reprieve  him.  Now,  sir,'  I  said,  '  I 
want  you  to  postpone  this  man's  execution  for  a  week,  till 
I  can  go  to  Charleston  and  find  out  the  truth  or  falsity  of 
his  story.' 

"  Mr.  Davis  granted  this  at  once. 

"  Back  I  came  to  Petersburg,  and  was  off  next  morning 


SAVING  A  SOLDIER'S  LIFE.  179 

to  Charleston,  where  I  arrived  the  day  after.  I  procured 
a  permit  to  go  to  Fort  Sumter,  got  the  password,  and  hired 
two  boatmen  to  take  me  down.  I  was  so  excited  that  I 
forgot  the  password,  and  when  the  sentinel  cried  ;  Halt ! ' 
I  could  only  cry  out  '  Don't  fire — for  God's  sake  don't  fire ! 
I  got  the  password,  but  I  have  forgotten  it.' 

"  I  could  not  recall  it,  and  had  to  tell  the  boatmen  to 
take  me  back,  when  suddenly  it  came  to  my  memory,  and 
I  returned  and  landed  under  the  Fort.  Colonel  Calhoun 
received  me  kindly — he  was  shot  afterwards  by  Colonel 
Rhett  in  a  duel — I  told  him  my  story,  and  said, — '  The 
man  was  charged  in  the  indictment  with  having  deserted 
here  before.' 

"  The  Colonel  looked  his  papers  and  said, — '  There  is 
some  mistake  there.  That  man  served  his  time,  and  was 
honourably  discharged.' 

"  My  heart  leapt  up  at  that.  I  was  satisfied  now  of  the 
man's  innocence.  I  got  back  to  Charleston,  and  went  next 
to  inquire  about  the  $1000.  I  wouldn't,"  said  Mr.  K — , 
getting  more  and  more  excited  in  his  narrative — "  I  wouldn't 
have  given  three  skips  of  a  flea  for  all  the  dollars  in  God's 
creation,  but  a  man's  life  depended  upon  it.  I  found  the 
woman.  Yes,  the  money  was  all  right.  The  man  had 
told  the  truth. 

"  Now  for  Richmond  again  !  Time  was  flying  past,  and 
there  was  not  a  moment  to  lose.  I  ran  away  to  the 
station,  and  was  nearly  there  when  I  remembered  that  I 
had  not  paid  my  bill.  I  ran  back  to  do  it,  and  on  return 
ing  found  the  train  was  off.  No  other  train  till  next 
morning  ;  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  remain.  Next 
morning  I  was  off.  When  we  got  to  Florence  the  cars  ran 
off  the  track.  That  detained  us  twelve  hours,  and  the 
man's  life  trembling  in  the  balance. 

"  It  was  Monday  afternoon  before  I  got  back  to  Peters 
burg,  and  the  man  was  to  be  shot  on  Tuesday  morning. 
I  had  tasted  no  food  for  three  days,  and  was  so  dirty  and 
haggard  that  nobody  knew  me.  I  ran  over  to  Pocahontas 
Bridge  to  the  depot. 


180  PETERSBURG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

"  The  man  at  the  gate  demanded  my  pass.  There  was 
no  travelling  to  or  from  Richmond  in  those  days  without 
a  Provost-Marshall's  pass. 

"  I  said, — '  I  have  no  pass.' 

"  '  Then  you  can't  come  in  here.' 

"  '  Then,'  said  I,  '  a  man's  life  will  be  lost.' 

"  '  Eh  !  what 's  your  name  V 

"  <  K— .' 

"  *  K — ! '  exclaimed  the  man,  staring  at  me.  '  Bless  me, 
what  have  you  been  doing  with  yourself]  You  look  crazy.' 

"  I  told  him  in  a  few  words ;  he  let  me  pass,  and  I  got 
into  the  cars  just  as  they  were  starting. 

"  I  reached  Richmond  on  Monday  night  at  seven  o'clock. 
When  I  got  to  President  Davis' s  house  I  was  like  to  faint. 

"'Is  Mr.  Davis  in  V 

" '  No.' 

"  (  Well,  I  must  see  him.  A  man's  life  is  at  stake.  I 
will  wait  inside  till  he  comes.' 

"  I  went  in  and  fell  asleep  on  the  sofa.  About  ten 
o'clock  I  heard  steps.  I  jumped  up.  *  Is  that  Mr.  Davis  V 

"  '  Yes.' 

" '  Tell  him  Mr.  K — ,  the  person  that  was  here  last 
week  getting  a  reprieve  for  a  condemned  man,  wants  to 
see  him.' 

"  Mr.  Davis  received  me  at  once. 

"  <  Well,'  he  said,  '  what  did  you  find  at  Charleston  T 

"  '  It  is  all  true,  sir,  what  the  man  said.'  I  mentioned 
what  Colonel  Calhoun  had  told  me,  and  also  about  the 
1000  dollars. 

" '  Well,'  said  Mr.  Davis,  '  go  to  General  Randolph's 
head-quarters,  and  lay  these  facts  before  General  Lee.  I 
spoke  to  him  about  the  case.  If  he  consents,  the  man 
shall  be  pardoned.' 

"  It  was  1 1  P.M.  when  I  found  General  Lee.  Lee 
received  me  kindly,  and  listened  to  my  story,  but  shook 
his  head. 

"  '  I  would  be  glad  if  I  could  do  it,'  he  said,  '  but  the 
safety  of  the  country  demands  that  desertion  be  put  a  stop  to.' 


A  MAN'S  LIFE  AT  STAKE.  181 

"  I  pleaded  with  him,  but  he  seemed  to  have  made  up 
his  mind. 

" '  I  have  made  this  a  matter  of  prayer,'  he  said.  '  I 
have  laid  this  case  before  God ;  and,  while  I  cannot  say 
God  answered  me,  I  feel  that  my  conscience  is  clean.' 

"  I  thought  of  the  man's  life  hanging  on  this  interview, 
and  pleaded  with  the  General  for  nearly  an  hour,  but  in  vain. 
'  The  country,'  he  said,  '  demands  that  an  example  be  made 
of  men  who  desert  their  colours,  no  matter  on  what  ground, 
and  we  must  begin  somewhere.' 

"  l  Begin,  then/  I  said,  *  with  one  of  our  own  people — 
not  with  a  poor  foreigner  who  does  not  know  the  language, 
and  could  not  read  the  orders  you  issued  on  this  subject.' 

"  General  Lee  thought  earnestly  for  a  moment,  and  then 
said, — •'  Mr.  K — ,  you  deserve  this  man's  life  given  you  if 
it  could  be  done.  But  desertion  is  imperilling  our  cause. 
We  would  have  gained  that  battle  of  Antietam  but  for 
desertion.  There  were  13,000  deserters  that  day,  and 
13,000  men  would  have  turned  the  scale.  This  man's 
life  cannot  be  taken  into  account  when  the  salvation  of  the 
country  is  at  stake.' 

"  That  crushed  me.     I  felt  that  I  could  plead  no  more. 

"  '  General,'  I  said,  *  I  asked  God's  blessing  on  that  man, 
and  I  should  like  before  I  leave  to  ask  it  on  you.' 

"  He  bowed  his  head ;  I  put  my  hands  upon  it,  and 
asked  God's  blessing  on  him,  and  on  the  cause  he  was  so 
nobly  defending.  I  could  scarcely  speak.  My  voice  was 
choked,  and  the  tears  were  blinding  my  eyes. 

"  Then  I  left  him.  I  went  to  the  hotel,  filled  with  sad 
ness  more  than  I  can  describe.  I  washed  myself,  tried  to 
eat  a  little,  and  went  to  bed,  but  could  not  sleep.  I 
thought  of  that  man  who  was  to  be  shot  now  in  a  few 
hours.  I  could  not  rest.  I  was  up  at  the  President's 
house  again  at  five  in  the  morning.  The  man '  was  to  be 
shot  at  Drewry's  Bluff  at  eight.  The  servant  refused  to 
awaken  the  President.  I  paced  about  awhile,  and  then 
went  up  to  the  officer,  who  turned  out  to  be  a  German.  I 
said, — '  The  servant  won't  awaken  the  President.  Go  you 


182  PETEKSBUKG  AND  ITS  MEMORIES. 

and  do  it,  for  God's  sake.  If  you  don't,  your  countryman 
will  be  shot.' 

"  '  I  dare  not  do  it,'  said  the  man. 

"  '  Then  I  will  go  myself.' 

" '  I  cannot  allow  you,  sir,'  said  the  man.  '  It  is  con 
trary  to  orders.' 

"  I  pleaded  and  wept,  and  at  last  he  went. 

"  The  answer  from  Mr.  Davis  was  to  send  me  up  to  his 
room.  I  found  him  in  bed.  He  shook  my  hand,  and 
asked  me  if  anything  had  occurred. 

"  I  said,  '  I  saw  General  Lee,  and  pleaded  with  him  for 
more  than  an  hour  for  that  man's  life,  but  in  vain.' 

"  '  Strange,'  said  Mr.  Davis.  '  General  Lee  was  here 
about  two  in  the  morning,  and  said  you  had  shaken  his 
decision  by  what  you  had  said  about  the  man  being  a 
foreigner  and  not  able  to  read,  and  that  we  had  better 
spare  him.' 

"  Oh,  the  joy  of  that  moment !  I  think  it  was  a  taste 
of  what  heaven  must  be.  I  could  only  say,  '  Thank  God, 
Mr.  Davis,  thank  God  ! ' 

"  But  think  of  General  Lee  going  at  two  in  the  morning 
to  see  the  President  about  that  man  ! 

"  I  asked  the  President  if  the  pardon  had  been  sent. 
He  said  no,  but  it  would  be  sent  by  special  courier  in  good 
time.  I  asked  him  if  he  would  write  me  out  a  reprieve 
now  till  the  regular  order  was  drawn  up.  He  consented 
cheerfully,  and  pointed  to  a  hand-desk  on  a  side-table, 
which  I  brought  him,  and  he  wrote  the  reprieve  in  bed. 

"  I  can't  tell  you,"  said  Mr.  K — ,  "  how  I  felt  when  I  went 
out  with  that  reprieve  in  my  hand.  The  man's  life  was 
saved.  When  the  courier  rode  down  with  the  reprieve  to 
Drewry's  Bluff  the  man's  grave  had  already  been  dug  ! 
But  it  wasn't  needed,  thank  God,  and  the  man  is  alive  yet, 
and  has  written  me  since,  and  is  never  going  to  forget  who 
saved  his  life. 

"  I  returned  to  Petersburg,  my  heart  filled  with  grati 
tude  to  God.  The  colonel  of  the  regiment  to  which  the 
man  belonged  met  me  in  the  cars.  '  Joe,'  I  call  him.  He 


THE  PARDON.  183 

was  one  of  my  old  scholars.  He  pretended  to  be  very 
angry.  '  Here,'  lie  said,  '  we  came  over  to  see  that  man 
shot.  Pretty  thing,  you  coming  and  getting  him  off.'  But 
I  could  have  stood  a  great  deal  of  bantering  that  morning. 
I  entered  Petersburg  that  day  like  a  hero  ! " 

Such  was  Mr.  K — 's  story.  I  have  given  it  not  only 
on  account  of  its  own  interest,  but  as  throwing  a  side 
light  upon  the  character  of  men  who,  owing  to  the 
nature  and  issue  of  the  war,  are  apt  now  to  be  misre 
presented  and  misunderstood. 


184  A  EIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 


XVII. 

A  RIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 

I  WAS  fortunate  enough  in  looking  around  me  at 
Petersburg  to  have  the  companionship  of  Major  Cook, 
one  of  General  Lee's  staff-officers,  who  rode  with  me 
one  day  over  part  of  the  lines,  showing  me  the  points 
of  interest,  and  describing  in  grim  soldier  fashion  many 
of  the  terrible  scenes  he  had  witnessed. 

With  a  feeling  for  the  occasion,  which  to  me  was 
touching,  he  had  put  on  his  Confederate  uniform  once 
more, — the  same  in  which  he  had  so  often  ridden 
through  the  battle,  carrying  orders  from  his  chief,  or 
rallying  broken  regiments  for  a  charge.  He  knew  that 
I  should  like  to  see  it,  and  that  it  would  help  me  to 
realize  better  the  scenes  we  were  to  be  in  the  midst  of 
again. 

I  could  see  how  the  eyes  of  the  ladies  kindled  at 
sight  of  the  "  Confederate  grey "  when  they  came  out 
to  the  verandah  to  see  us  start  on  our  expedition.  The 
Major  himself,  when  he  mounted  and  took  the  reins, 
seemed  -  to  look  grander  than  I  had  seen  him  look 
before,  and,  as  we  rode  out  towards  the  lines,  seemed 
as  if  riding  back  once  more  into  the  years  when  the 
white  flag  flew,  and  the  Southern  hosts  were  gathering 
for  the  battle. 
'  At  a  turn  of  the  road  we  came  upon  a  man  driving 


CONFEDERATE  GREY.  185 

a  waggon.  At  sight  of  the  Major  in  his  uniform  the 
man  started,  straightened  himself  into  military  atti 
tude,  and  with  eyes  of  wonder  made  the  salute. 

"  He  must  have  been  a  soldier,"  said  the  Major 
when  we  were  past. 

I  said  I  supposed  the  men  had  betaken  themselves 
to  many  strange  occupations  for  a  livelihood. 

"  0  yes,  and  our  officers  too,"  said  the  Major.  "  I 
knew  one  man  who  went  back  to  the  Express  Com 
pany's  office,  where  he  had  been  clerk.  His  military 
superior  went  into  the  same  place  as  his  porter.  It 
was  very  odd.  The  clerk  could  never  get  over  his 
military  discipline,  and  could  not  bring  himself  to 
order  his  officer  as  he  would  have  done  another  man. 
People  used  to  be  amused  hearing  him  say  to  a  porter, 
'  Don't  you  think,  sir,  we  had  better  do  so  and  so/  or, 
'  Don't  you  think,  sir,  this  parcel  had  better  be  taken 
to  Smiths/  and  so  on.  General  Lee  has  always  been 
anxious  since  the  surrender  to  see  his  old  officers  and 
men  reconciling  themselves  to  the  new  state  of  things 
and  going  into  useful  occupations.  "When  he  heard  of 
this  young  officer  becoming  a  porter,  he  said,  '  He 
deserves  more  credit  for  that  than  for  anything  he  ever 
did  in  the  army/ " 

We  reached  the  lines  and  rode  along  to  various 
points  of  observation.  Crossing  the  country  towards 
the  Federal  lines,  we  had  to  make  our  way  sometimes 
through  marshes,  sometimes  through  tangled  under 
growth,  sometimes  along  deep  ruts  and  water-courses, 
— the  Major,  with  the  quick  eye  of  a  soldier,  catching 
at  a  glance  the  route  that  ought  to  be  taken  to  reach 
any  given  point. 

"  I  have  been  here  once  or  twice  before,  reconnoit-  ' 


186 


A  RIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 


ring,"  he  said,  as  we  urged  our  horses  through  the 
brush.  "  It  was  ticklish  work.  It  doesn't  do  for  a 
soldier  to  say  that  he  was  afraid,  but  it  was  mighty 
trying  to  the  nerves  reconnoitring  over  ground  like 
this,  not  knowing  how  many  sharp-shooters  might  be 
watching  you  from  the  brush  close  by,  and  only  wait 
ing  till  you  are  a  few  yards  farther  on  to  get  a  sure 
aim ;  or  at  what  moment  you  might  have  the  bullets 
whistling  about  your  ears,  or  crashing  into  your  brain. 
Fighting  in  battle  is  mere  bagatelle  compared  with  it. 
Your  blood  is  up  then,  and  though  you  may  have 
shells  bursting  and  banging  about  you,  and  bullets 
hopping  around  like  hailstones,  you  don't  care.  You 
think  of  nothing  then  but  the  slaughter  of  the  enemy." 
We  rode  out  to  the  Federal  Soldiers'  Cemetery  at 
Poplar  Grove,  and  tying  our  horses  in  the  pine  wood 
outside  went  in  to  wander  for  a  while  among  the 
graves.  The  place  is  laid  out  in  sections,  each  section 
with  its  melancholy  forest  of  white  head-boards  on 
which  are  painted  the  names  and  regiments  of  the  dead 
men  below.  One  of  the  first  head-boards  I  stopped  to 
read  was  marked 


UNKNOWN 

U.  S.     SOLDIER 

REMOVED  FROM 

FORT  DREAD. 


I  wondered  who  the  man  was  who  lay  beneath — where 
his  home  was — whether  his  mother  was  still  alive, 
away,  perhaps,  in  some  far-off  part  of  the  world, 
wondering  what  had  become  of  her  boy,  that  she  had 


THE  CRATEIl  FIGHT.  187 

not  heard  from  him  for  so  long,  but  still  hoping  that 
one  day  he  would  return  to  gladden  her  heart  in  her 
declining  years.  Here  he  lay,  alas  !  sleeping  his  long 
sleep  among  the  unknown  dead.  There  were  long 
rows  of  these  "  Unknown."  Altogether  7500  dead 
men — soldiers  of  the  Union — lay  buried  in  this  one 
cemetery.  It  was  strange  to  walk  through  it  with  one 
before  whom,  perhaps,  many  of  them  had  fallen. 

We  visited  the  Confederate  Cemetery  too — a  still 
sadder  spectacle — for  here,  all  down  the  slope  of  the 
hill,  the  graves  were  thick  as  the  furrows  on  a  ploughed 
field,  with  nothing  to  distinguish  them  save  here  and 
there  a  slip  of  wood,  or  a  rag  fluttering  from  a  little 
stick.  But  every  year,  on  a  certain  day,  the  ladies  of 
Petersburg  come  out  to  mourn  over  their  dead,  and 
deck  the  poor  graves  with  flowers. 

On  our  return  we  visited  the  scene  of  one  of  the 
most  hideous  tragedies  of  the  war.  Those  who  read  of 
Burnside's  mine  and  the  Crater  fight  at  the  time,  are 
not  likely  to  have  forgotten  it.  It  was  in  the  year  1864, 
in  the  second  month  of  the  fighting  around  Petersburg. 
At  this  particular  point,  the  Federal  lines  had  been 
pushed  up  to  within  150  yards  of  a  projecting  fort  in 
Lee's  line  of  defence.  General  Burnside,  who  com 
manded  at  that  point  on  the  Federal  side,  secretly 
sunk  shafts,  and  running  his  subterranean  passages 
right  under  the  Confederate  fort,  prepared  to  blow  it 
up.  This  grand  bursting  open  of  the  gates  of  Lee's 
position  was  fixed  to  take  place  on  the  morning  of  the 
30th  of  July.  Accordingly,  at  4.45  on  that  fatal  morn 
ing  the  picket-firing  ceased  at  that  part  of  the  line, 
the  men  were  withdrawn,  and  the  mine  was  sprung. 
Instantly  the  earth  burst  with  a  roar  that  seemed  to 


188  A  RIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 

bring  dowii  the  heavens,  and  the  fort,  with  (it  was 
said)  300  defenders,  went  whirling  up  through  fire  and 
smoke  into  the  skies.  At  this  concerted  signal  the 
guns  all  along  the  Federal  front  opened  their  throats 
of  thunder,  assailing  the  Confederate  lines  with  thunder 
storms  of  shot  and  shell.  Now  came  the  time  for  the 
grand  charge  contemplated  by  Burnside.  The  ex 
plosion  had  left  in  place  of  the  fort  a  vast  crater,  150 
feet  long,  60  wide,  and  30  deep.  Burnside's  plan  was 
this : — Give  the  enemy  no  time  to  recover  from  the 
shock — hurry  in  through  the  crater,  clutch  the  Con 
federate  lines  right  and  left,  and  seize  the  ridge  beyond. 
That  point  gained,  the  city  lies  at  our  feet ;  we  take 
the  enemy  in  rear,  and  Petersburg  is  ours. 

Fired  with  this  great  idea,  Burnside,  as  soon  as  the 
explosion  was  over  and  the  way  cleared,  poured  a 
torrent  of  troops  into  the  crater — Ledlie's  entire  division, 
then  Potter's,  then  Wilcox's,  and  finally  his  Black 
Brigade,  anticipating  glorious  results,  possibly  the  panic 
and  stampede  of  Lee's  entire  army. 

But  the  grim  veterans  of  Fredericksburg  and  the 
Wilderness  were  not  to  be  discomfited  by  noise  and 
momentary  disaster.  Though  thunderstruck  at  first  by 
the  terrific  explosion,  which  tossed  the  fort  and  300  of 
their  comrades  into  the  air,  they  quickly  rallied ;  Lee 
and  Beauregard  were  soon  up  with  reinforcements,  and 
after  a  bloody  conflict  the  lines  were  recaptured,  and 
the  Federals  driven  out  with  fearful  loss. 

As  we  approached  the  scene  of  carnage  I  asked  the 
Major  where  he  had  been  when  the  explosion  took 
place. 

"  Away  yonder,  at  Beauregard's  head-quarters,"  he  said, 
pointing  across  the  country.  "  It  was  before  I  had  been 


THE  EXPLOSION.  189 

transferred  to  Lee's  staff.  I  remember  I  was  roused  from 
sleep  at  a  very  early  hour  by  a  booming  sound,  apparently 
at  a  great  distance.  Soon  after,  Colonel  Paul,  one  of  our 
staff-officers,  came  galloping  into  camp  and  told  General 
Beauregard  that  the  enemy  had  sprung  a  mine  under  our 
lines  near  the  junction  of  the  Baxter  and  Jerusalem  plank 
roads — that  Captain  Pegram's  battery  of  artillery  had  been 
blown  into  the  air — that  the  enemy  was  swarming  in 
through  the  crater,  and  was  developing  to  the  right  and 
left,  driving  our  men  from  the  trenches.  Beauregard 
communicated  with  Lee,  who  ordered  Mahone's  division  to 
the  place  to  dislodge  the  enemy  at  all  hazards.  Mahone 
got  his  men  together,  came  up  here,  and  went  in  with  his 
old  brigade  and  Sorrel's.  After  hard  fighting,  Mahone's 
brigade  carried  the  position  yonder  in  its  front,  but  Sorrel's 
was  almost  torn  to  pieces,  and  had  to  fall  back.  Mahone 
then  put  in  an  Alabama  brigade  which  did  the  work 
gallantly.  We  were  all  up  by  that  time  from  head 
quarters.  This  way,  and  I  shall  show  you  where  we  stood 
and  saw  it." 

We  rode  some  distance  to  the  left,  where  the  Major 
stopped. 

"  This  is  the  place,"  he  said.  "  There,  where  you  are 
now,  was  where  Lee  and  Beauregard  stood.  Yonder,  in  the 
ravine,  the  Alabama  brigade  formed.  As  they  rose  from 
the  ravine,  out  upon  the  open  slope  of  the  hill,  they  were 
met  with  a  terrific  fire  of  musketry.  They  staggered  for  a 
moment.  The  forest  of  bayonets  waved  and  shook.  Just 
then  I  saw  an  officer  on  the  right  flank  of  the  brigade  draw 
his  sword  from  what  seemed  to  be  a  silver  scabbard — it 
flashed  so  white — and,  waving  it,  cheered  on  the  men.  Up 
they  moved  in  the  face  of  the  fire,  leaving  the  slope  littered 
with  dead.  The  officer's  sword  was  still  waving ;  we  could 
see  it  flash  and  flash  in  the  light ;  up  went  the  men  quicker 
and  quicker  in  the  face  of  that  murderous  fire,  till  suddenly 
we  heard  their  yell,  and  saw  them  dash  up  to  the  works, 
swarm  in,  and  disappear.  It  was  as  gallant  a  charge  as  I 


190  A  RIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 

ever  saw.  We  recaptured  all  our  lines,  driving  the  enemy 
over  into  the  crater  like  a  herd  of  frantic  buffaloes.  Then 
such  a  .scene  ensued  as  I  hope  never  to  see  again — the 
crater  filled  with  a  seething  mass  of  men — hundreds  and 
thousands  of  them — some  firing  back  upon  us,  some  strug 
gling  wildly  to  escape.  Shattering  volleys  were  fired  into 
the  seething  abyss,  till  it  became  a  perfect  hell  of  blood. 
The  frantic  mass  heaved  and  struggled  like  demons.  Hand- 
grenades  were  tossed  in,  and  as  they  exploded  you  could 
see  heads  and  arms  and  legs  go  up  into  the  air.  Our  men 
sickened  at  the  carnage  and  stopped.  The  enemy  lost  that 
day  more  than  four  thousand  men.  They  left  the  crater 
choked  with  dead.  No  attempt  was  made  till  long  after  to 
take  the  bodies  out  for  burial.  The  earth  was  thrown  in 
upon  them  where  they  lay,  covering  the  hideous  sight  from 
the  face  of  heaven." 

I  rode  up  with  the  Major  to  see  the  fatal  spot.  A 
booth  had  been  erected  beside  it  now,  where  relics  of  the 
fight  were  sold,  and  25  cents  charged  for  admission  to 
the  ground.  The  Major's  uniform,  however,  gave  an 
official  air  to  our  visit,  and  we  were  charged  nothing. 
There  is  still  a  vast  hollow  in  the  earth,  though  the 
look  of  the  place  has  much  changed  (the  Major  said) 
in  consequence  of  the  falling  in  of  the  sides.  Human 
bones  were  still  lying  about,  and  shreds  of  uniform  and 
cartridge-pouches  and  bayonet- scabbards,  some  of  them 
scorched  and  curled  up  as  with  fire. 

The  defeat  of  Burnside  at  the  Crater  fight  had  post 
poned,  but  could  not  avert,  the  final  crash.  For  nine 
long  Aweary  months  around  Petersburg  the  fierce  but 
unequal  conflict  was  maintained.  By  the  month  of 
March  the  condition  of  Lee's  wasted  and  half-farnished 
army  was  desperate  in  the  extreme.1  And  yet,  as  late 

1  The  poor  fellows  in  the  trenches  erdbles,  used  to  laugh  at  each  other 
punning  on  Victor  Hugo's  Les  Mis-  with  hollow  cheeks  as  Lee's  Miser- 


LEE'S  SURRENDER.  191 

as  the  31st  of  that  month,  when  Warren  was  demon 
strating  in  strong  force  on  his  right,  threatening  to 
burst  in  through  his  weakened  lines,  Lee  massed  his 
infantry  on  the  imperilled  point  and  struck  Warren  a 
sudden  and  terrific  blow,  hurling  him  back  in  wild 
confusion ;  but  next  day,  and  the  day  after,  assaults 
were  made  in  overwhelming  force,  not  only  on  his  right, 
but  on  his  weakened  left  and  front;  his  lines  were 
broken  in  three  places ;  Fort  Gregg  fell ;  and,  to  crown 
all,  news  came  that  the  Federal  cavalry  was  advancing 
in  force  on  the  Burkesville  railroad,  "  which  had  now 
become  the  jugular  vein  of  the  gasping  Confederacy." 

Everybody  knows  the  rest.  On  Sunday  morning 
(April  2d),  Lee  telegraphed  to  President  Davis  that 
Eichmond  must  be  evacuated.  At  half-past  five  in  the 
afternoon,  at  Wilcox's  head-quarters  (Major  Cook  showed 

ables.  When  reduced  to  Indian  said  he,  "  the  last  year  of  the  war 
corn  for  food,  they  expressed  the  you  always  knew  a  Confederate  by 
difference  between  themselves  and  his  having  no  uniform  at  all  ! "  It 
their  more  fortunate  antagonists  by  was  said  that  during  the  progress  of 
contracting  "Federal"  and  "Con-  negotiations  for  surrender,  Lee, 
federate"  into  "Fed."  and" Co(r)n-  awaiting  the  arrival  of  Grant's  of- 
fed."  A  brigadier-general  told  me  ficer,  observed  amongst  his  staff  a 
that  for  nine  days  before  the  sur-  gallant  colonel  whose  face  was  be- 
render  he  had  nothing  to  eat  but  a  smutted  with  the  powder-smoke  of 
mouthful  of  parched  corn,  and  on  the  last  battle,  and  who  boasted  of 
the  last  day  not  even  that.  A  cap-  no  better  uniform  than  a  one-sleeved 
tain  in  the  same  army  said  he  could  Confederate  coat,  and  a  pair  of 
have  put  his  day's  rations  into  his  ragged  pants.  "  Are  you  not  go- 
waistcoat  pocket,  if  he  had  had  a  ing  to  dress,  colonel  ?"  asked  Lee. 
waistcoat  pocket  to  put  them  in.  He  "  Dress!"  exclaimed  the  colonel; 
took  his  men  out  of  Petersburg  with  "this  is  all  that's  left  me  now  on 
nothing  upon  the  upper  part  of  his  God's  earth."  "I  would  suggest, 
body  but  a  flannel  shirt.  I  remem-  however,"  said  Lee,  "  that  you  wash 
ber  once  remarking  to  a  Southern  your  face."  From  the  commence- 
officer  that  the  similarity  of  the  two  ment  of  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  Lee's 
uniforms — the  Federal  pale  blue  and  army  may  be  said  to  have  been  in 
the  Confederate  bluish  grey  must  rags, 
have  led  to  much  confusion.  "  Oh," 


192  A  EIDE  WITH  A  CONFEDERATE  OFFICER. 

me  the  white  wooden  house  with  its  faded  portico  where 
the  thing  was  done),  Lee  signed  the  order  for  the  evacu 
ation  of  Petersburg.1  Night  closed  in  upon  the  scene, 
and  in  the  morning,  to  the  surprise  of  the  Federals,  Lee 
and  all  that  remained  of  his  army  were  gone  !  Then 
came  the  pursuit,  the  Federal  forces  rolling  around  Lee 
from  all  quarters,  heading  him  off  this  way  and  that, 
Lee  shaking  them  fiercely  from  his  flanks  and  dash 
ing  them  from  his  front,  moving  for  the  west.  But 
escape  with  a  half-famished  army,  cut  off  from  all  its 
communications,  and  surrounded  by  rapidly  accumu 
lating  masses  of  the  enemy,  was  impossible,  and,  at 
Appomattox  Courthouse,  on  Sunday  the  9th  of  April 
1865,  Lee  surrendered  to  the  Federal  commander  all 
that  remained  of  the  once  proud  army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  that  two  years  before  had  shaken  the  conti 
nent  with  the  thunder  of  its  tread. 

Major  Cook,  in  describing  the  final  scenes,  said, — 

"  General  Lee  ordered  us  to  be  ready  to  move.  I  think 
he  meant  to  cut  his  way  out  with  his  last  8000  bayonets, 
had  Grant's  terms  not  been  such  as  would  have  been  hon 
ourable  to  the  South. 

"  A  number  of  us  were  standing  round  under  the  tree 
when  Grant's  staff-officer  made  his  appearance.  Lee  looked 
as  grand  that  day  as  I  have  ever  seen  him  look,  but  very  sad. 
When  his  officer  said, — '  General  Lee,  allow  me  to  introduce 
you  to  Colonel  -  -  of  General  Grant's  staff,'  Lee  rose  to 
his  magnificent  height,  looked  at  the  Yankee  officer,  and 
bowed.  The  officer  was  awed — looked  more  as  if  he  had 
come  to  beg  than  to  offer  terms. 

1  The  Major  showed  me  a  plateau  Federal    lines,   and    riding    slowly 

where  he  rode  that  day  with  Lee  along  the  exposed  part  of  the  pla- 

and  some  of  his  Generals  to  recon-  teau,  as  if  reluctant  to  retire.    "  The 

noitre.   When  the  enemy  opened  fire  game  was  up,"  said  the  Major,  "and 

upon  them,   he  remembered  Long-  I  think  Longstreet  wanted  to  die  on 

street  looking  sullenly  towards  the  the  field." 


.   • 

LEE'S  SURRENDER.  193 

"  I  remember,  when  it  became  known  that  Lee  had  sur 
rendered,  and  when  he  had  made  his  final  speech, — '  Men, 
we  have  fought  through  the  war  together — I  have  done  the 
best  for  you  that  I  could,' — his  veterans  pressed  round  him 
weeping  like  children ;  others,  with  their  cheeks  still  wet, 
and  their  faces  white  with  excitement,  leapt  up  on  ambul 
ances  and  anything  that  allowed  them  to  see  him,  and  cried 
out,  '  General !  we  '11  fight  'em  yet !  General,  say  the  word, 
and  we  '11  go  in  and  fight  'em  yet ! '  Lee  stood  with  the 
tears  in  his  eyes." 

Before  riding  back  to  the  city,  the  Major  took  me  to 
see  Fort  Hell  and  Fort  Damnation — so  named  from  the 
long-continued  and  terrific  fire  to  which  these  vital 
points  were  subjected.  Silence  hung  around  them  now, 
broken  only  by  our  own  voices  and  the  hollow  thump 
ing  of  our  horses'  hoofs,  as  we  passed  warily  over  the 
subterranean  bomb-proofs.  At  Fort  Hell  a  negro  with 
a  cart  was  pulling  out  some  of  the  wicker  baskets  from 
the  earthen  gabions  for  fire-wood.  At  Fort  Mahone, 
where  the  fighting  had  been  terrific,  and  where  the 
entrenchments  (especially  on  one  day  of  close  and  des 
perate  fighting)  had  streamed  with  blood,  we  found  a 
little  orchard  growing  peacefully  on  the  formidable 
earthworks,  from  the  peach  stones  which  the  soldiers, 
after  sucking  the  fruit,  had  thrown  over. 


#  • 
194:  STONEWALL  JACKSON. 


XVIII. 

STONEWALL  JACKSON. 

As  I  write  there  lies  beside  me  a  precious  and  yet 
sad  relic  of  the  war.  It  is  a  large,  heavy  waterproof 
coat,  about  which,  at  first  sight,  there  seems  nothing 
remarkable.  But  if  you  take  it  up  and  begin  to  exa 
mine  it,  you  are  struck  first  of  all  with  the  strange 
appearance  of  the  lining,  which  is  clouded  and  blotched 
with  stains  which  some  one  has  vainly  endeavoured  to 
wash  out.  On  examining  these  stains  more  closely, 
your  interest  is  excited  by  the  discovery  that  they  are 
the  stains  of  blood.  You  discover  next  at  the  back  of 
the  left  sleeve,  close  to  the  shoulder,  a  small  round  hole, 
made  apparently  by  the  passing  out  of  a  bullet.  In  the 
front  you  see  where  the  bullet  entered — an  almond- 
shaped  hole,  stopped  up  now  with  a  little  patch  of 
waterproof  sewed  upon  the  sleeve  inside.  Near  the 
cuff  you  come  upon  the  track  of  another  of  these  leaden 
messengers  of  death,  and  from  its  direction,  and  the 
absence  of  any  mark  of  entrance,  you  see  that  this  bul 
let,  to"1  come  out  at  this  point,  must  have  come  crashing 
first  through  the  knuckles  and  wrist.  Looking  inside 
the  sleeve,  you  see  that  it  has  been  all  saturated  with 
blood.  If  you  are  a  quick  observer,  you  will  detect 
further,  from  the  gfcwing,  that  the  whole  of  this  sleeve 
has  been  cut  open,  and  been  afterwards  stitched  up 


COAT  IN  WHICH  JACKSON  FELL.  195 

again  more  roughly.  You  can  see  where  the  knife  was 
applied  at  the  cut  of  the  collar ;  you  can  follow  its 
track  across  to  the  seam,  and  all  the  way  down  to  the 
wrist. 

By  this  time  you  have  heen  able  to  read  in  the  coat 
itself  part  of  its  tragic  history.  You  see  from  the  bullet 
marks  that  the  man  who  wore  it  must  have  been  shot 
with  his  face  to  those  who  fired ;  you  see  that  his  left 
arm  was  shattered — that  friendly  hands  had  taken  him 
up  and  cut  open  the  sleeve  to  remove  the  coat  with  the 
least  possible  pain  to  the  mangled  limb,  and  you  infer 
that  the  man  died  of  his  wounds,  for  the  coat  had  evi 
dently  passed  into  other  hands,  and  been  washed  clean 
of  the  clotted  blood,  and  patched  up  and  stitched  along 
the  rent  to  fit  it  for  another's  use.  But  who  was  the 
man  that  wore  it  ? 

You  examine  it  carefully  once  more,  and  now,  on  the 
lining  at  the  neck,  under  the  maker's  stamp,  you  dis 
cover,  half  washed  out  with  the  blood,  but  still  suffi 
ciently  legible,  written  in  the  handwriting  of  the  man 
himself,  the  name  of 

"  T.  J.  JACKSON." 

It  was  the  coat  of  the  redoubted  "  Stonewall"  Jack 
son,  the  same  in  which,  on  the  battle-field  of  Chancel  - 
lorsville,  the  hero  fell  in  the  arms  of  victory  !  The 
blood  that  has  left  these  sad  stains  upon  it  was  his,  and 
these  holes  and  patches  show  the  track  of  the  bullet 
that  laid  the  great  soldier  low,  and  changed  perhaps  the 
destinies  of  the  war.  Strangest  and  most  amazing  thing 
of  all,  that  bullet  was  not  shot  from  the  ranks  of  the 
enemy,  but  was  one  of  a  volley  fired  under  a  mistake 


196  STONEWALL  JACKSON. 

by  his  own  men — men  who  would  joyfully  have  laid 
down  their  lives  for  his  sake. 

This  coat,  which  I  first  saw  at  Charlotte,  in  North 
Carolina,  where  I  had  gone  with  introductions  to  Jack 
son's  friends,  and  which  I  afterwards  received  as  a 
sacred  memento  from  the  one  who  was  dearest  to  him 
on  earth,  brings  all  that  tragic  scene  to  memory  again. 

It  was  the  2d  day  of  May  1863.  Federal  General 
Hooker,  commanding  "  the  finest  army  on  the  planet," 
as  it  was  proudly  called,  had  crossed  the  Rappa- 
hannock  to  deal  a  crushing  blow  to  the  rebellion  and 
end  the  war.  Sedgwick,  commanding  his  left  wing, 
had  crossed  below  Fredericksburg  to  hold  the  enemy 
there  ;  Hooker  with  the  main  force  was  closing  round 
the  Southern  army  by  way  of  Chancellorsville.  The 
dense  timber  of  the  region  was  felled  in  front  of  the 
Federal  position  so  as  to  form  an  almost  impassable 
series  of  abatis ;  in  rear  of  this  were  formidable  en 
trenchments  for  the  infantry,  while  the  hills  behind 
were  bristling  with  Federal  cannon.  Lee's  position  was 
now  critical.  His  line  of  retreat  was  in  Hooker's  hands, 
and  to  attack  Hooker  in  front  was  to  risk  terrible  and 
irretrievable  disaster.  It  was  then  that  Stonewall 
Jackson,  as  fertile  in  resource  as  he  was  tremendous  in 
execution,  suggested  a  silent  movement  well  to  the  left, 
which,  if  successful,  would  allow  Hooker  to  be  assailed 
on  flank  and  rear,  compelled  to  reverse  his  plan  of  battle, 
and  turn  his  back  on  the  position  which  he  had  taken 
such  pains  to  render  impregnable. 

While  Jackson  with  three  divisions  was  stealing  away 
on  his  hazardous  enterprise,  Hooker,  completing  the 
details  of  Ids  great  movement,  was  boasting  that  the 
Confederate  army  was  now  his  property,  and  had  tele- 


DESCENT  ON  HOOKER'S  RIGHT.  197 

graphed  on  Friday  to  Washington  to  prepare  the  North 
for  a  splendid  triumph.  His  hopes  were  suddenly 
blasted  on  Saturday  afternoon  by  the  grand  outburst 
upon  his  right  flank  of  Stonewall  Jackson  and  his 
25,000  men.  It  was  Howard's  corps — the  Eleventh, 
known  as  "  Siegel's  veterans" — on  which  Stonewall  had 
now  descended  like  a  thunderbolt.  The  result  was 
described  as  one  of  the  most  tremendous  scenes  of  the 
war.  Taken  by  surprise,  the  Eleventh  corps  broke  like 
a  herd  of  buffaloes,  and  began  to  roll  back  in  wild  and 
yet  wilder  confusion  upon  Hooker's  centre.  Hundreds 
of  cavalry  horses,  left  riderless  by  the  first  discharge, 
dashed  wildly  about ;  batteries  went  off  at  a  trot ; 
masses  of  infantry  retreated  at  the  double-quick ; 
battery  waggons,  horses,  ambulances,  and  cannon  were 
tumbling  together  in  wild  confusion ;  droves  of  panic- 
stricken  men,  some  of  them  without  hats,  coats,  or 
muskets,  rushed  headlong  from  under  the  rebel  fire, 
followed  by  the  wild  yells  and  the  shattering  volleys 
of  the  victorious  Confederates.  Howard  and  some  of 
his  officers  galloped  hither  and  thither  trying  to  stem 
the  torrent,  and  getting  the  men  here  and  there  to 
make  a  stand ;  but  still  the  tide  rolled  tumultuously 
back. 

It  was  now  dusk,  and  the  night  was  fast  closing  in. 
Jackson,  eager  to  follow  up  his  success  and  convert  the 
stampede  of  the  Eleventh  corps  into  the  rout  of  Hooker's 
whole  army,  ordered  A.  P.  Hill's  division,  which  was 
in  rear,  to  press  forward  and  take  the  place  of  Ehodes, 
reserving  fire  unless  cavalry  approached  from  the  direc 
tion  of  the  enemy.  He  then  galloped  forward  to  recon 
noitre,  but  finding  the  position  of  the  enemy  concealed 
by  the  forests  and  the  deepening  gloom,  pushed  on  past 


198  STONEWALL  JACKSON. 

his  line  of  skirmishers,  reckless  of  the  close  and  dan 
gerous  fire. 

One  of  the  staff  said,  "  General,  don't  you  think  this 
is  the  wrong  place  for  you  ? " 

"  The  danger  is  over ;  the  enemy  is  routed,"  replied 
Jackson.  "  Go  back  and  tell  A.  P.  Hill  to  press  on  !" 

It  was  almost  dark  when  he  turned  and  rode  back 
with  his  staff  towards  his  own  men.  A.  P.  Hill's  corps, 
advancing  rapidly,  and  watchful  for  the  enemy,  sud 
denly  beheld  this  group  of  horsemen  emerging  from  the 
gloom. 

There  was  a  cry  of  "  Cavalry !"  and  in  an  instant  a 
hurricane  of  bullets  swept  the  road,  and  rattled  like 
hail  amongst  the  trees.  StonewalTs  hands  were  both 
shattered ;  one  bullet  crashed  through  his  left  arm  at 
the  shoulder,  splintering  the  bone  and  severing  the 
main  artery.  His  horse,  wounded  and  frantic  with 
pain,  dashed  aside ;  the  branch  of  a  tree  struck  Jackson 
on  the  head,  and  he  fell  heavily  to  the  ground. 

To  one  of  his  captains,  who  leapt  from  his  horse  and 
knelt  beside  him,  he  said,  "  All  my  wounds  are  by  my 
own  men." 

A  deadly  fire  from  the  enemy  was  now  pouring  down 
the  road.  Jackson  was  lifted  upon  a  litter  ;  but  almost 
instantly  one  of  the  bearers  was  killed,  and  the  others 
had  to  lie  down  till  the  fire  slackened. 

As  they  hurried  to  the  rear,  the  question  was  often 
put  by  the  troops, — 

"  Who  is  that  ?  who  have  you  there  ?" 

Jackson  said  in  a  low  voice  to  his  bearers, — "  Keep 
quiet.  Don't  tell  that  I  am  wounded." 

All  next  day  the  battle  raged,  but  it  was  only  the 
booming  of  the  distant  guns  that  reached  Stonewall 


JACKSON'S  DEATH.  199 

Jackson  as  he  lay  dying  at  Wilderness  Eun.  He  had 
hopes  at  first  that  he  would  recover,  and  was  eager  to 
know  from  the  doctor  how  long  he  thought  his  wounds 
would  keep  him  from  the  field. 

But  the  hero  had  fought  his  last  fight.  He  was 
never  to  be  seen  on  the  battle-field  again. 

His  wife,  who  had  been  sent  for,  arrived,  and  nursed 
him  with  tender  devotion  to  the  end.  He  never  com 
plained  of  his  wounds.  "  God  knows  what  is  best,"  he 
said. 

In  his  last  talk  with  the  chaplain  he  suggested,  as  a 
text  from  which  to  preach  to  the  soldiers  that  day,  the 
28th  verse  of  the  8th  chapter  of  Eomans  : — "  All  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God."  This 
was  a  favourite  verse,  and  a  key  to  some  of  the  grandest 
features  of  his  character. 

When  his  wife  told  him,  with  quivering  lip,  the  final 
opinion  of  the  doctors — that  he  was  dying — he  said 
cheerfully,  "  Very  good ;  God  does  what  is  best.  It  is 
all  right." 

After  a  little  while  he  said,  "  Bury  me  at  Lexington, 
in  the  Valley  of  Virginia." 

He  sank  rapidly  now,  and  his  mind  began  to  wander. 
At  one  time  some  sound  seemed  to  catch  his  dying  ear ; 
he  moved  his  head  as  if  to  listen.  Suddenly  the  old 
war-look  kindled  in  his  face  again,  and  his  weeping 
friends  were  startled  by  the  words, — "  A.  P.  Hill,  pre 
pare  for  action !"  It  was  some  thought  of  the  battle. 
The  light  faded  ;  the  head  sank  back ;  an  expression  of 
divine  serenity  overspread  the  features,  and  in  a  few 
moments  Stonewall  Jackson  was  dead.1 

1  As  a  fresh  controversy  has  been      Stonewall  Jackson  was  killed  by  his 
started  in  America  as  to  whether      own  men,  let  me  quote  the  follow- 


STONEWALL  JACKSON. 


So  fell  the  grandest  hero  of  the  South ;  and  with 
him  the  sun  of  Southern  glory  began  to  set.  Desper 
ate  valour  was  yet  to  be  shown  on  many  fields  of 
agony  and  blood  ;  but  no  great  victory  was  ever  again 

"  It  is  all  right ;  God 


to  light  on  Southern  banners. 


ing  passages  from  a  letter  published 
"by  a  Federal  officer  (General  Revere) 
who  fought  at  Chancellorsville,  and 
believes  himself  to  have  been  an 
eye-witness  of  the  scene.  He  says  : 
— "  Our  division  was  held  in  reserve 
near  the  Chancellorsville  House 
until  about  five  o'clock  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  which  was  the  time  of 
the  furious  attack  made  on  the  right 
of  our  line  by  Jackson,  which  broke 
the  Eleventh  corps,  hurling  it  back 
in  disorder.  We  were  almost  im 
mediately  ordered  to  the  front  to 
check  the  advance  of  the  enemy. 
...  As  soon  as  my  line  was  formed 
and  pickets  thrown  out,  I  rode  to 
the  front  to  inspect  the  line,  and 
to  rectify  my  positions  if  necessary. 
It  was  now  twilight,  but  the  moon 
was  shining.  While  engaged  in 
changing  the  posts  of  some  of  the 
sentinels  covering  the  left  of  the 
line,  in  a  comparatively  clear  part 
of  the  forest  near  the  plank  road,  I 
heard  the  sound  of  an  approaching 
cavalcade  from  the  side  of  the 
enemy,  which  soon  appeared,  and 
the  foremost  horseman,  detaching 
himself  from  it,  came  on  alone,  so 
near  that  the  soldier  beside  me 
levelled  his  rifle  for  a  shot  at  him  ; 
but  I  stopped  him  from  firing,  not 
wishing  to  reveal  our  position,  and 
judging  him  an  officer  making  a  re 
connaissance,  in  which  case  it  would 
have  been  a  useless  thing  to  kill 
him — even  if  he  could  have  hit  him 


in  the  uncertain  light.  After  a  few 
moments  spent  apparently  in  trying 
to  pierce  the  gloom,  this  person 
slowly  turned  his  horse,  and  the 
whole  party  returned  towards  the 
Confederates  at  a  gallop.  The  clat 
ter  of  hoofs  became  fainter  in  the 
distance,  when  suddenly  the  dark 
ness  in  that  direction  was  lighted 
up  by  a  flash,  succeeded  by  the 
well-known  rattle  of  a  volley  of 
musketry  from  at  least  a  battalion, 
on  the  right  of  the  road,  and  after 
the  interval  of  about  twenty  seconds 
came  another  volley  from  the  left. 
Being  apprehensive  that  some  of 
our  troops  might  possibly  be  in  that 
direction,  I  rode  forward  to  satisfy 
myself,  as,  if  called  into  action, 
there  might  be  danger  of  firing  upon 
our  own  troops.  Emerging  from 
the  thick  undergrowth  upon  the 
road,  a  riderless  horse  dashed  past 
me  towards  our  lines,  and  I  reined 
up  near  a  group  of  three  persons, 
two  of  whom  were  supporting  the 
third,  who  was  stretched  on  the 
ground,  apparently  grievously  hurt. 
...  I  saw  at  once  that  these  were 
Confederates,  but  reflecting  that  I 
was  well  armed  and  mounted,  more 
over,  that  I  wore  a  private's  grey 
overcoat  and  slouched  hat,  which 
were  common  to  both  parties,  I  sat 
still,  regarding  the  group  in  silence, 
but  prepared  to  fly  if  necessary  at 
the  first  warning.  The  silence  was 
broken  by  one  of  the  persons,  who 


JACKSON  S  DEATH. 


201 


knows  what  is  best."  When  the  South  accepts  readily 
and  cheerfully,  as  he  would  have  done,  God's  verdict 
on  the  Southern  cause,  the  work  of  reconstruction  will 
already  be  half  accomplished,  and  the  way  to  peace  and 
good-will  made  plain. 


seemed  to  regard  me  with  surprise, 
and,  speaking  as  one  having  autho 
rity,  he  directed  me  'to  ride  up 
there  and  see  what  troops  those 
were,'  indicating  the  direction  of  the 
enemy,  to  which  I  gave  a  sign  of 
assent,  and,  too  happy  to  escape,  I 
rode  in  that  direction  until  out  of 
sight  of  the  group,  when,  making  a 
circuit,  I  returned  within  my  own 
lines.  Just  as  I  reached  our  picket 
line  the  Federal  section  of  artil 
lery  posted  on  the  plank  road  com 
menced  firing,  and  I  could  plainly 
hear  the  grape  crashing  through 
the  limbs  of  the  trees  near  the 
point  I  had  left  .  .  .  About  a 
fortnight  after  the  battle,  at  the 
camp  at  Falmouth,  I  saw  the  Rich 
mond  Enquirer,  giving  a  detailed 
account  of  the  death  of  Stonewall 
Jackson,  and  the  circumstances  of 


his  receiving  his  wound,  which  made 
it  clear,  to  me  at  least,  that  he  was 
the  man  I  saw  lying  on  the  ground, 
and  that  he  was  killed  by  his  own 
men.  Other  Confederate  accounts 
mention  'some  one  was  sitting  on  his 
horse  by  the  side  of  the  wood,  look 
ing  on  motionless  and  silent.'  Cap 
tain  Wilbourne  directed  him  'to 
ride  up  there  and  see  what  troops 
those  were,'  upon  which  the  stran 
ger  slowly  rode  in  the  direction 
pointed  out,  but  never  returned 
with  any  answer.  ...  As  to  Jack 
son  having  met  his  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  First  Massachusetts, 
that  is  impossible,  as  that* regiment 
occupied  a  position  on  the  left  of 
our  division,  near  the  plank  road, 
and  completely  out  of  sight  and 
range  of  the  spot  he  advanced  to 
while  reconnoitering." 


202     JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 


XIX. 

JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

TRAVELLING  round  the  South,  I  met  so  many  of 
Jackson's  friends,  and  heard  him  so  often  described  by 
those  who  had  known  him  and  fought  under  him,  that 
he  rises  before  my  mind  as  clearly  as  if  I  had  seen  him 
a  hundred  times  myself.  His  old  horse  "  Sorrel;"  his 
faded  grey  uniform,  discoloured  with  the  smoke  and 
dust  of  a  hundred  battle-fields;  his  long,  stiff,  lank 
figure;  his  strange  walk  and  occasionally  abstracted 
look;  his  habit  of  sitting  on  his  horse  bent  forward, 
with  his  knees  cramped  up  and  his  old  cadet-cap  tilted 
so  far  forward  that  he  had  to  keep  his  chin  up  to  let 
him  see — his  luminous  blue  eye,  clear  and  searching — 
his  grave,  stern  look — the  terrible  kindling  of  his 
countenance  when,  in  the  midst  of  the  battle,  he  rode 
up  with  what  his  men  called  his  "  war- look  "  on  him — • 
the  strange  motion  of  his  right  arm,  lifted  every  now 
and  then  to  heaven  as  if  in  prayer,  and  suddenly 
dropped  again — all  comes  back  to  me  with  the  vivid 
ness  not  of  description  but  of  sight. 

It  was  said  that  the  singularity  of  Jackson's  appear 
ance  and  the  oddness  of  his  manner  made  him  at  first 
the  object  of  much  ridicule  and  contempt.  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  who  ought  to  have  seen  deeper  into  Jack 
son's  character,  is  said  to  have  gone  so  far  at  one  time 


JACKSON  AND  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.        203 

as  to  bring  before  his  Cabinet  a  proposition  for  his 
removal. 

It  was  very  soon  after  this  that  Jackson's  exploits  in 
the  Valley  showed  not  only  to  Jefferson  Davis  but  to 
the  world  that  a  great  military  genius  had  arisen  in  the 
South.  After  repulsing  Banks,  Jackson  was  retreating 
slowly  up  the  Shenandoah,  pursued  by  the  converging 
columns  of  Fremont  and  Shields,  when,  turning  sud 
denly  at  Cross  Keys,  he  dealt  Fremont  a  staggering 
blow,  driving  him  back  in  wild  confusion.  The  first 
news  of  this  was  received  by  Mr.  Letcher  at  Eichmond, 
who  immediately  went  and  read  the  despatch  to  Davis. 

"  There  must  be  some  mistake,"  said  Davis.  "  That 
handful  of  men  in  retreat  could  never  have  turned 
and  beat  a  strong  army  in  pursuit." 

Jackson,  meantime,  having  disposed  of  Fremont, 
crossed  the  river  rapidly,  attacked  Shields,  who  had 
been  pursuing  him  on  the  other  side,  and  routed  him 
with  great  slaughter. 

Again  Letcher  was  the  first  to  get  the  news,  and 
hurried  with  it  to  Davis's  house.  He  found  Davis  and 
his  Cabinet  at  dinner. 

"You  would  get  my  news  of  yesterday  confirmed?" 
said  Letcher. 

"Yes,  Jackson's  despatch  came  in  to-day,  saying 
that,  'by  the  blessing  of  God,'  he  had  gained  the 
victory." 

"  Well,"  said  Letcher,  "  here  is  another  bulletin  of 
victory  " — and  he  handed  Mr.  Davis  the  telegram. 

Mr.  Davis  started.  "  This  is  incredible  !"  he  said. 
"  It  cannot  be.  It  is  unprecedented  in  military  history 
—an  army  like  that  in  full  retreat  turning  on  its  track 
and  vanquishing  two  stronger  armies  in  pursuit !" 


204  JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

Still  it  turned  out  to  be  true.  Mr.  Davis  never 
troubled  his  Cabinet  with  any  proposal  to  remove 
Stonewall  Jackson  again. 

Jackson  was  soon  the  idol  of  the  South.  When 
passing  with  his  command  through  towns  or  villages, 
people  poured  out  eagerly  to  see  him  ;  women  brought 
their  children  in  their  arms  to  point  him  out  that  they 
might  tell  in  after  life  that  they  had  seen  the  great 
soldier.  His  brother-in-law  gave  me  an  amusing  in 
stance  of  this  popularity.  A  Virginian  gentleman,  on 
the  Mechanicsville  Turnpike,  near  Eichmond,  had  given 
up  his  crops  and  pasture-fields  to  the  Confederate 
Government,  reserving  one  ten-acre  lot  of  corn,  which 
he  guarded  jealously.  He  was  excited  to  fury  one  day 
by  discovering  a  group  of  horsemen,  whom  he  took  for 
cavalry,  riding  straight  through  this  ten- acre  lot.  He 
rushed  out — "  How  dare  you  ride  through  my  field  ?"  he 
said.  "  You  vagabonds,  I  '11  report  you — I  '11  report 
you  to  the  President." 

A  horseman,  in  an  old  dusty  grey  coat  and  cadet-cap, 
rode  up  and  said,  "  We  are  on  urgent  business,  sir,  and 
took  the  shortest  cut." 

"Do  you  command  this  company,  sir?"  cried  the 
irascible  Virginian. 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Then  I  '11  teach  you  a  lesson.  By I  '11  report 

you,  sir.  What 's  your  name  ?  " 

"  Jackson," 

"  Jackson  ?    What  Jackson  ? " 

"  T.  J.  Jackson,  Major- General,  Confederate  Army." 

"  What !  you  ain't  Stonewall  Jackson  ?" 

"  They  sometimes  call  me  so,"  said  the  horseman. 

"  Bless  my  soul !  "  cried  the  Virginian,  rushing  for^ 


HIS  HABITS.  205 

ward  and  grasping  the  General's  hand.  "  General 
Jackson  !  God  bless  you,  sir !  If  I  had  known  it  was 
you  !  Ride  where  you  like,  sir — ride  over  my  field ;  go 
back,  sir,  and  ride  over  it,  every  demd  inch  of  it." 

Jackson's  character  and  achievements  excited  even 
his  enemies  to  admiration.  Federal  prisoners  were 
always  anxious  to  see  him.  At  Harper's  Ferry  11,000 
of  them,  whom  he  had  taken  at  one  fell  swoop  in  Sep 
tember  1862,  greeted  him  when  he  rode  along  the  line 
with  lusty  cheers. 

By  his  own  men,  Jackson  was  almost  adored  ;  and 
the  sight  of  his  faded  coat  and  cadet- cap  was  always 
the  signal  for  a  cheer.  "  They  were  terrible  on  us, 
them  hard  marches,"  said  one  of  his  soldiers,  whom  I 
met  as  far  south  as  Vicksburg ;  "  but  oh,  sir,"  he  added, 
with  the  tears  suddenly  starting  into  his  eyes,  "  how 
we  loved  him  ! " 

Jackson  himself  was  a  man  who  disliked,  and  was 
ever  afraid  of,  adulation.  He  once  said  to  a  friend, 
"  These  newspapers  make  me  ashamed." 

When  the  editor  of  a  public  magazine  wrote  him  for 
his  photograph  and  a  narrative  of  his  achievements, 
with  a  view  to  publication,  his  reply  was  curt, — "  Sir,  I 
have  no  photograph,  and  I  have  achieved  nothing." 

On  another  occasion  he  said, — "The  way  in  whicli 
press,  army,  and  people  seem  to  lean  on  individuals  fills 
me  with  alarm.  They  are  forgetting  God  in  his  instru 
ments." 

In  his  habits,  Jackson  was  extremely  simple.  He 
never  used  intoxicating  drinks,  eschewing  them  even 
when  they  were  ordered  as  medicine.  All  the  hardships 
of  camp  and  field  he  shared  with  his  poorest  soldiers. 
He  would  lie  down  contentedly  and  snatch  a  few  hours 


206  JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

of  sleep  behind  a  wall  or  in  the  comer  of  a  fence  when  no 
better  quarters  offered.  The  soiled  appearance  of  his 
coat  and  cap  indicated  that  he  was  no  stranger  to  this 
soldier's  bed.  His  physical  endurance  was  very  great. 
He  has  ridden  for  three  days  and  three  nights  at  a  time 
— sometimes  sleeping  in  his  saddle  during  the  march. 

In  fertility  of  resource,  in  quickness  and  boldness 
of  execution,  Jackson  had  no  equal.  In  his  terrible 
marches,  he  sped  over  the  country  like  the  messenger 
of  Fate — undeterred  by  difficulties  that  would  have 
been  regarded  by  others  as  insuperable. 

One  of  the  inarches  he  made  in  his  mysterious  advance 
upon  Romney  in  1861  has  sometimes  been  compared  to 
Napoleon's  passage  of  the  Alps.  A  sudden  and  dread 
ful  change  in  the  weather  found  Jackson  already  on  his 
way,  with  an  army  unsupplied  with  tents,  overcoats,  or 
blankets.  At  night  the  soldiers  had  to  keep  themselves 
from  freezing  to  death  by  lying  around  the  bivouac  fires. 
One  man  said  he  built  a  fire  at  eight  o'clock,  went  to 
sleep  by  it,  awoke  at  twelve,  found  the  fire  out  and 
about  three  inches  of  snow  over  him.  Jackson  shared 
the  hardships  of  his  men,  and  inspired  them  with  his 
own  enthusiasm.  On  they  pressed,  over  roads  heavy, 
wet  and  slippery  with  half- frozen  sleet.  Men  were  con 
tinually  falling  and  their  guns  going  off.  The  long- 
trains  of  waggons  dragged  heavily  along — some  of  the 
horses  crippled,  and  blood  streaming  from  their  knees. 
Hundreds  of  men  had  to  be  detailed  to  steady  the  faint 
ing  animals  and  help  to  push  the  waggons  forward. 
With  unwavering  purpose,  through  blinding  storms  of 
rain,  hail,  and  sleet,  Jackson  pressed  on,  till  reaching 
Bath,  with  an  army  that  might  have  been  tracked  by  the 
innumerable  prints  of  naked  and  bleeding  feet,  he  en- 


POLICY.  207 

countered  the  Federals,  attacked  them  with  fury,  routed 
them  and  drove  them  across  the  Potomac.  Leaving 
Loring  at  Romney,  he  had  just  carried  his  old  brigade 
back  to  watch  the  enemy  at  Winchester,  when  Presi 
dent  Davis,  not  understanding  these  movements,  and, 
at  this  early  stage,  mistaking  Jackson's  genius  for  mad 
ness,  ordered  Romney  to  be  evacuated — leaving  Jack 
son's  purpose  a  mystery  to  this  day. 

All  his  great  movements  were  veiled  in  mystery.  So 
important  an  element  did  he  consider  this  to  be  that  he 
would  mask  his  designs  with  elaborate  care — often  in 
stituting  minute  inquiries  in  regard  to  roads  and  water 
courses  in  a  direction  which  he  meant  not  to  take. 
Having  in  this  way  thrown  spies  upon  the  wrong  scent, 
he  would  suddenly  strike  camp  and  march  off  in  the 
opposite  direction — his  destination  unknown  even  to 
his  own  officers.  For  the  same  purpose,  he  would  often 
camp  at  cross-roads,  so  as  to  make  it  impossible  for 
any  one  to  infer  which  way  he  would  go  to-morrow. 

He  said  himself,  "  If  I  thought  my  coat  knew  what 
I  intended  to  do,  I  would  take  it  off  and  burn  it." 

Jackson's  war  policy  was  aggressive  action,  prompt, 
fierce,  decisive.  Strike  the  enemy  before  he  can  strike 
you.  If  repulsed,  be  watchful,  ready  in  an  instant  to 
surprise  with  another  stroke,  and  change  defeat  into 
victory.  If  you  succeed,  and  as  often  as  you  succeed, 
pursue  the  enemy,  cut  him  to  pieces,  and  by  decisive 
blows  end  the  war. 

When  Manassas  was  won,  Jackson,  though  wounded, 
was  for  instantly  following  up  the  victory.  "  The  work 
is  but  half  done,"  he  said  to  President  Davis,  who  had 
come  upon  the  field.  "  Give  me  10,000  men  and  I  will 
take  Washington." 


208  JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  a  courier  from 
Lee  found  Jackson,  who  had  got  no  rest  the  night 
before,  snatching  an  hour's  sleep  in  his  tent.  The 
courier  awoke  him,  described  the  position  of  the  van 
quished  enemy,  and  asked  advice. 

"  Drive  'em  in  the  river,  sir ;  drive  'em  in  the  river," 
said  Stonewall  instantly. 

Of  Jackson's  personal  courage  many  stories  are  told. 
At  Chapultepec,  during  the  Mexican  war,  his  battery 
was  exposed  to  so  terrific  a  fire  from  the  castle  that  the 
men  were  demoralized  and  ran  aside  for  shelter.  Jack 
son  called  on  them  to  return,  and,  to  inspire  them  with 
confidence,  walked  back  and  forward  before  the  aban 
doned  gun  in  the  midst  of  plunging  shot,  to  convince 
them  that  it  was  possible  to  do  so  and  yet  live.  Whilst 
striding  to  and  fro  in  this  fearful  position  a  booming 
cannon-ball  passed  between  his  legs,  and  tore  up  the 
ground  beside  him,  but  seemed  to  make  no  impression 
on  his  iron  nerves. 

This  battery  was  commanded  by  Captain  (afterwards 
General)  Bee,  who  never  forgot  this  instance  of  Jack 
son's  courage.  It  was  this  same  officer  who,  at  the 
battle  of  Manassas,  gave  Jackson  the  name  by  which 
he  is  to  live  in  history.  Bee's  command,  at  a  critical 
moment  in  that  battle,  was  assailed  by  the  Union  forces 
with  terrific  fury.  Bee  rode  up  and  down  the  lines 
trying  to  sustain  the  courage  of  his  men,  but  the  odds 
were  too  great,  and  the  Confederate  line  began  to  give 
way.  At  this  moment  he  encountered  Jackson. 

"  It  is  going  against  us,  General !"  he  cried,  with 
uncontrollable  anguish.  "  They  are  driving  us  back  !" 

"  Sir,"  said  Jackson  sternly,  "  we  will  give  them  the 
cold  steel!" 


STERN  DISCIPLINE.  209 

Bee  galloped  back  to  his  wavering  ranks,  and,  point 
ing  to  Jackson,  cried  out, — 

"  Keep  at  it,  boys !  keep  at  it !  There  is  Jackson 
standing  like  a  stone  wall !" 

At  the  battle  of  Kernstown,  in  the  Valley,  part  of 
Jackson's  line  was  beginning  to  break  before  the  mur 
derous  fire  of  the  advancing  enemy.  Jackson  sprang 
from  his  horse,  called  a  drummer  boy,  and,  putting  his 
hand  firmly  on  the  lad's  shoulder,  said, — 

"Beat  the  rally!" 

The  terrified  boy  began  to  beat.  Jackson,  with  flam 
ing  eye,  and  what  the  soldiers  called  his  "  war-look " 
upon  his  face,  stood  amidst  the  leaden  storm,  with  his 
hand  upon  the  boy's  shoulder,  holding  him  to  his  work. 
The  men  cheered,  re-formed  under  fire,  and,  advancing 
with  the  wild  yell  which  came  to  be  so  well  known  in  the 
war,  drove  the  enemy  back  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

Jackson  had  a  strong  and  stern  sense  of  duty.  It 
is  one  of  the  stories  told  of  him  at  his  old  college 
at  Lexington,  that  after  his  appointment  as  chemistry 
professor  there,  he  continued  during  the  hot  summer 
months  to  wear  the  thick  woollen  uniform  he  had  worn 
all  winter.  When  a  brother  professor  met  him  one  day 
grilling  in  purgatorial  heat,  and  asked  in  astonishment 
why  he  was  wearing  such  clothes,  Jackson  explained 
to  him  that  he  had  seen  this  uniform  prescribed  in  the 
regulations  and  was  not  aware  that  he  was  at  liberty 
to  make  a  change. 

He  applied  to  others  the  same  rule  that  he  applied 
to  himself,  and  was  a  firm  disciplinarian  both  at  college 
and  in  the  army.  This  was  a  marked  point  of  differ 
ence  between  Jackson  and  Lee,  who  in  dealing  with 
his  men  was  gentle  to  a  fault. 

0 


210          JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

One  of  his  commanding- officers  told  me  that  so  reluc 
tant  was  Lee  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  men  who  might,  he 
thought,  be  doing  their  best,  that  he  permitted  many 
incompetent  officers  to  retain  their  commands,  allowing 
in  this  way  the  kindness  of  his  heart  to  impair  the 
efficiency  of  his  armies. 

Jackson  on  the  other  hand  was  stern  and  remorseless 
in  his  discipline.  He  would  not,  I  was  told,  hesitate  to 
have  a  man  shot  instantly  who  refused  to  obey  orders. 
In  action  his  one  controlling  thought  was  how  to  crush 
the  enemy ;  and  if  even  officers  of  rank  were  doing 
their  duty  inefficiently,  they  were  thrust  aside  with  as 
little  ceremony  as  a  private  soldier. 

In  one  battle,  when  A.  P.  Hill's  troops  did  not  seem 
to  be  moving  into  action  with  proper  celerity,  Jackson 
rode  up,  and,  with  a  sharp  rebuke  to  Hill,  took  com 
mand  of  the  men  himself. 

Hill,  who  was  a  soldier  of  great  ability,  felt  deeply 
hurt. 

"General,"  he  said,  "if  you  command  my  division, 
you  had  better  take  my  sword." 

"Ketire  to  the  rear,  sir!"  cried  Stonewall  sternly, 
"and  consider  yourself  under  arrest." 

There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  obey.  Stonewall, 
thinking  of  nothing  but  how  to  turn  the  battle,  hurled 
Hill's  division  in  upon  the  enemy  ;  while  poor  Hill,  for 
his  too  hasty  words,  had  to  remain  under  arrest  until 
released  by  General  Lee.1 

1  Off  duty,  Jackson  was  as  modest  crossing     the     Masannttin    Moun- 

and  unassuming  as  a  child  ;    and  tains,   some    of   the    regiments    in 

even  in  war,  when  men  had  done  Early's  division,    finding    the    dis- 

their  best,  he  could  be  as  lenient  as  trict  rich  in  old  peach,  and  thinking 

his    chief.      After    the    battle    of  it  possible  that  in  their  exhausting 

Sharpsburg,  when  his  command  was  march  they  were  in  need,  like  Timo- 


JACKSON  S  PIETY. 


211 


Jackson  was  a  deeply  religious  man;  and  the  pro 
found  calmness  with  which  he  was  often  observed  to 
stand  in  fires  and  hurricanes  of  death,  sprang  no  doubt 
to  some  extent  from  his  serene  conviction  that  nothing 
could  touch  him  so  long  as  God  had  work  for  him  to 
do.  As  one  of  his  friends  has  said,  "  Prayer  was  the 
breath  of  his  nostrils."  Large-hearted  and  tolerant  of 
all  differences  of  opinion,  he  was  himself  at  the  same 
time  a  Presbyterian  of  rigid  orthodoxy,  and  one  who 
found  a  deep  and  abiding  pleasure  in  religious  exer 
cises. 

At  the  Military  Institute,  before  the  war,  when  living 
in  barracks,  he  would  rise  before  the  dawn,  so  as  not 
to  be  disturbed  in  his  devotions  by  the  cadets,  and 


thy,  of  a  little  wine  for  their  stom 
achs'  sake  and  their  many  infirmi 
ties,  indulged  in  a  good  deal  more 
than  the  apostle  would  have  been 
likely  to  sanction.  The  consequence 
was  that  Stonewall,  happening  to 
ride  in  the  rear  of  Early's  division 
that  day,  found  the  men  scattered 
for  miles  along  the  road,  some  of 
them  dancing  polkas,  others  sitting 
by  the  roadside  weeping  over  their 
absence  from  their  homes,  or  cheer 
ing  themselves  with  fragments  of 
bacchanalian  songs  and  psalm  tunes. 
Early  had  tried  to  terrify  the  soldiers 
with  a  report  that  the  huts  on  the 
mountains  were  full  of  smallpox, 
but  in  vain.  He  had  befcn  along  in 
person,  warning,  expostulating,  and 
swearing  (this  last  was  said  to  be 
Early's  forte).  At  last  disgusted, 
he  had  given  it  up,  had  ridden  to 
camp,  and  was  toasting  his  shins  in 
the  frosty  night  before  a  rousing 
fire,  when  an  orderly  rode  up,  and 


handed  him  a  despatch  from  General 
Jackson. 

Early  took  the  note  and  read  as 
follows  :— 

"  Headquarters,  Left  Wing. 

<(  SIR, — General  Jackson  desires 
to  know  why  he  saw  so  many  strag 
glers  in  rear  of  your  division  to 
day  ?  " 

(Signed)  "  A.  S.  PENDLETON." 

The  grim  old  soldier  got  a  bit  of 
paper,  and  pencilled  the  following 
reply  :— 

"  Headquarters, 
Early's  Division. 
"  CAPTAIN,— In  answer  to    your 
note,  I  think  it  probable  that  the 
reason  why  General  Jackson  saw  so 
many  of  my  stragglers  to-day  is  that 
he  rode  in  rear  of  my  division. — Re 
spectfully,  J.  A.  EARLY." 

Jackson,  who  had  a  great  regard 
for  the  brave  and  eccentric  soldier, 
and  had  probably  discovered  that  he 
had  done  all  that  man  could  do, 
made  no  further  inquiries. 


2 1 2  JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

spend  sometimes  hours  in  prayer,  while  all  around  him 
were  buried  in  sleep. 

It  was  his  regular  practice  to  be  an  hour  on  his  knees 
twice  a  day.  To  a  friend  and  kindred  spirit,  he  once 
said, — 

"  When  I  have  great  freedom  in  my  morning  prayer, 
everything  during  the  day  goes  well  with  me ;  but  if 
my  prayer  does  not  come  from  my  heart,  and  is  cold 
and  formal  and  constrained,  I  expect  nothing  but  annoy 
ance  and  trouble." 

He  taught  a  class  in  the  Sunday  school  at  Lexing 
ton  ;  and  at  Winchester,  during  the  war,  he  often  con 
ducted  the  Union  prayer-meeting. 

Even  in  the  midst  of  his  most  active  campaigns,  he 
would  sacrifice  any  personal  comfort  rather  than  his 
intercourse  with  God — often  slipping  out  in  the  cold 
and  rain  to  secure  the  requisite  solitude.  It  was  said 
that  his  negro  boy  knew  when  a  battle  was  imminent 
by  the  time  his  master  spent  in  prayer. 

"Gwine  to  be  a  fight,  sartin,"  he  said,  on  the  morn 
ing  of  Port  Republic;  "Massa's  bin  a  pray  in'  all 
night." 

One  of  his  staff  tells  how,  going  to  Jackson's  tent 
during  the  movement  of  his  army  from  the  Shenandoah 
to  Fredericksburg,  he  found  the  General  reading  his 
Testament.  He  also  mentions  the  childlike  simplicity 
and  earnestness  with  which  Jackson  said  grace  at 
every  meal,  with  both  hands  uplifted.  Even  when 
leading  his  men  to  battle  he  was  often  seen  to  lift  his 
right  arm  and  his  eyes  towards  heaven,  and  move  his 
lips  as  if  in  prayer.  His  soldiers  used  to  watch  the 
motions  of  that  arm  with  superstitious  awe.  Some  of 
them  told  me  that  they  often  felt,  when  they  saw  Jack- 


JACKSON'S  PIETY.  213 

son  moving  on  with  uplifted  arm,  as  if  God  himself 
were  moving  before  them  into  the  fight. 

The  same  spirit  of  earnest  religion  showed  itself.in 
every  part  of  his  conduct.  When  Virginia  went  out  of 
the  Union  a  Northern  clergyman,  dearly  loved  by  Jack 
son,  and  connected  with  him  by  many  ties,  went  to  see 
him  personally,  and  implored  him  with  tears  not  to 
draw  his  sword  against  the  Union.  Jackson  took  him 
to  his  room,  and  prayed  long  and  earnestly  for  Divine 
direction.  At  last  he  rose  from  his  knees  with  strong 
conviction  on  his  face  and  said, — "  I  must  go  out  with 
Virginia.  God's  will  be  done  !" 

It  was  the  same  in  all  his  letters  and  despatches. 
For  instance,  in  a  despatch  dated  Winchester,  10th 
March,  5.55  A.M.,  he  says,  asking  for  more  troops, — "  I 
believe  Providence  will  give  us  a  rich  military  harvest. 
.  .  .  The  enemy  has  not  come  within  five  miles,  but 
may  do  so  at  any  moment  unless  prevented  by  God." 
What  a  realization  there  is  here  of  God's  actual  pre 
sence  and  power ! 

General  Hill,  his  brother-in-law,  said  to  me, — "  It  was 
never  with  Jackson  '  We  have  beaten  the  enemy,'  but 
always  '  God  has  given  us  the  victory.'  And  the  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  order  a  prayer-meeting  to  give 
thanks." 

He  manifested  the  same  spirit  in  defeat  as  in  victory. 
He  never  complained  of  disaster  which  the  best  had 
been  done  to  avoid.  When  he  was  carried  wounded 
from  the  battle  at  Chancel] orsville,  he  said, — "  Another 
hour  would  have  enabled  me  to  cut  off  the  enemy  from 
the  ford,  and  compelled  Hooker  either  to  cut  his  way 
out  or  surrender.  But  God  knows  what  is  best." 

Those  who  would  defend  Calvinistic  doctrine  from 


214  JACKSON'S  CHARACTER  ILLUSTRATED. 

the  charge  of  fatalism,  can  point  to  few  cases  stronger 
than  that  of  Jackson.  His  belief  in  the  Divine  decrees 
was  firm  to  rigidness  :  and  yet  no  man  of  our  time  has 
exhibited  a  stronger  sense  of  individual  responsibility 
or  more  vigilance  and  success  in  seeking  to  change  dis 
aster  into  victory,  and  reverse  what  would  have  seemed 
to  most  the  final  decision  of  Fate. 


LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY."  215 


XX. 

"  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

I  WENT  in  the  spring  of  1868  to  Lexington — a 
quiet  little  country  town  far  up  the  great  valley  of 
Virginia — to  visit  Jackson's  grave,  and  to  meet  General 
Lee,  who  was  acting  there  as  President  of  Washington 
College.1  I  found  Lexington  full  of  memories  of  the 
great  soldier  who  had  for  so  many  years  been  one  of  her 
citizens.  Here,  off  the  main  street,  stood  the  little  house 
with  its  white  wooden  balustrade,  where  Jackson  lived. 
There,  on  a  rounded  eminence  behind  the  town,  stood 
the  Military  Institute  in  which  he  taught.  It  had  been 
partially  burnt  by  the  Federal  troops  in  1864,  but  was 
being  rebuilt.  The  student  who  showed  it  me  pointed 
out  the  window  of  Jackson's  class-room,  and  the  door 
below  by  which  lie  used  to  enter.  Everybody  about  the 

1  The  circumstances  that  have  ginia  in  1861.  Three  years  before 
brought  the  two  great  soldiers  of  the  this,  his  child  had  died,  and  he  had 
Confederacy — the  living  and  the  .laid  it  to  sleep  in  the  little  village 
dead — together  again  in  that  little  graveyard.  Perhaps  it  was  this  as 
town  of  Lexington,  are  these: — After  much  as  anything  else  that  bound 
the  Mexican  war,  in  which  Jackson  the  heart  of  the  great  soldier  to  his 
had  served  as  lieutenant,  he  was  Lexington  home,  and  prompted  the 
appointed  to  a  professorship  in  wish  he  expressed  when  dying  of  his 
the  Lexington  Military  Academy.  wounds  after  the  battle  of  Chancel- 
There,  with  his  young  wife  and  his  lorsville,  that  he  should  be  buried 
little  child,  he  spent  some  of  the  "  at  Lexington  in  the  Valley."  His 
happiest  years  of  his  life,  till  called  dying  wish  was  sacredly  fulfilled, 
again  into  the  iield  by  the  outbreak  His  body  after  death  was  taken  first 
of  the  war  and  the  secession  of  Vir-  to  Richmond,  and  laid  out  in  state 


216  "  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

little  town  had  seen  him,  and  remembered  his  appear 
ance, — his  tall  angular  figure,  his  awkward  gait,  and  the 
silent  and  abstracted  air  witli  which  he  used  to  go  about. 
Those  who  knew  him  said  that  in  private  he  was  a 
quiet,  gentle,  and  unassuming  man ;  but  where  duty 
was  involved,  stern  and  rigid  in  his  discipline.  In  the 
Sunday-school,  of  which  he  took  charge,  he  enforced 
punctuality  by  locking  the  door  when  the  hour  arrived, 
allowing  two  minutes  for  difference  of  watches,  but 
suffering  neither  scholar  nor  teacher  to  enter  after  these 
two  minutes  had  elapsed.  A  citizen  of  Lexington,  who 
had  been  intimate  with  Jackson,  said  he  had  a  wonder 
ful  power  of  getting  at  all  the  knowledge  a  person  had 
on  any  subject  in  which  he  was  interested.  He  used  to 
get  out  of  him  all  his  methods  of  rearing  plants,  and 
then  go  home  and  think  over  them  and  make  improve 
ments,  and  show  him  the  results.  I  found,  however,  that 
no  one  in  Lexington  had  ever  imagined  in  the  eccentric, 

O  O 

odd-looking  professor  the  genius  that  was  by-and-bye 
to  astonish  them  and  the  world.  When  he  left  the 
town  to  join  the  army  of  Virginia,  and  his  first  achieve 
ments  were  heard  of,  the  Lexington  people  thought  it 
must  be  some  happy  chance,  and  were  disposed  to  be 

at  the  Capitol,  where  it  is  said  more  disbanded  armies  had  to  seek  a  re- 
than  20,000  mourners  looked  on  the  turn  to  civil  life.  Lee  would  pro- 
wan  face  of  the  great  soldier.  bably  have  retired  to  his  old  family 
Thence,  through  a  land  of  sorrow  seat  at  Arlington,  but  the  house 
and  tears,  the  coffin,  covered  with  and  estate  had  been  seized  by  the 
the  snow-white  banner  of  the  Con-  Government.  He  therefore  accepted 
federate  States,  was  borne  west-  an  invitation  sent  him  to  become 
wards  over  the  Blue  Kidge  to  Lex-  President  of  Washington  College,  in 
ington.  the  same  little  city  of  the  mountains 
In  the  meantime  the  war  raged  on  where  Jackson  had  taught  in  the 
till  1865,  when  the  South  was  com-  Military  Academy,  and  now  lay 
pelled  from  exhaustion  to  give  in,  buried, 
and  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 


JACKSON'S  GRAVE.  2 1 7 

facetious  over  the  idea  of  their  old  professorial  friend 
having  had  any  merit  in  the  matter.  Probably  the  last 
people  in  America  to  believe  in  Jackson's  genius  were 
his  old  fellow- citizens. 

It  was  a  dull  day,  and  the  rain  was  dropping  into  the 
long  muddy  road  along  which  Lexington  is  built,  when 
I  made  my  way  out  to  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
village  to  see  Jackson's  grave.  I  came  by-and-bye,  on 
the  left-hand  side  of  the  road,  to  a  plank  palisade,  dingy 
and  somewhat  dilapidated,  enclosing,  as  I  could  see,  a 
graveyard.  The  wooden  gates  were  fastened ;  but  I 
found  a  stile  at  one  corner  and  got  over.  It  was  a  small 
secluded  place  with  a  sprinkling  of  white  monuments,  a 
few  pathways  through  it,  and  here  and  there  a  handful 
of  shrubs  or  a  tree.  I  wandered  about  in  search  of  the 
tomb,  at  the  head  of  which  I  was  told  that  a  sprig  of 
laurel  brought  from  the  grave  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena 
had  been  planted. 

At  last,  on  a  little  cross-walk,  I  came  to  a  grave  in 
front  of  two  cypress  trees.  It  was  surrounded  by  a  neat 
cast-iron  railing,  through  which,  at  the  other  end,  the 
branches  of  a  laurel  were  twisted.  In  the  centre  of  the 
plot,  over  the  dead  man's  breast,  there  stood  an  iron  urn, 
half-buried  now  in  a  tuft  of  withered  grass.  And  there, 
at  the  head  of  the  grave,  on  a  plain  white  marble  scroll, 
was  inscribed  the  name  of  the  great  soldier.  Beside 
him  was  the  little  grave  of  his  child,  who  had  died  before 
the  war. 

It  was  a  sad  and  lonely  spot.  Everything  around 
was  still,  except  the  gentle  sound  of  the  rain  dropping 
softly  from  the  trees.  Nature  seemed  weeping  over  the 
dead  hero's  grave.  Here,  then,  lay  Stonewall  Jackson, 
whose  name  had  once  rolled  in  thunder  over  the  world. 


218  "  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

All  his  marchings,  all  his  battles  over  now  :  and  the 
cause,  for  which  he  fought,  dead  and  buried  with  him 
here  under  the  withered  grass. 

Near  at  hand,  a  willow -tree  was  putting  forth  its 
delicate  green  leaves,  for  the  spring  was  now  come.  And 
I  thought,  "  There  will  come  a  spring-time  also  to  the 
stricken  South,  and  the  nobleness  that  lies  buried  in 
this  grave  shall  blossom  into  higher  life." 

Washington  College,  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  "  Lee's 
College,"  is  a  large  building  with  a  Grecian  facade, 
standing  on  a  rising  ground,  in  what  one  man  called 
"  the  outsquirts  "  of  the  town.  Close  to  one  end  of  it 
stands  the  house  occupied  by  Lee  as  President — a  hand 
some  house  with  trees  and  gardens  in  front. 

The  college  has  a  little  history  of  its  own.  It  origi 
nated  in  a  classical  school,  established  by  the  early 
settlers  of  Virginia,  in  the  days  when  George  the  Second 
was  their  King.  In  1784,  America  being  then  inde 
pendent,  the  Virginia  Legislature,  by  way  of  testifying 
its  appreciation  of  the  patriotism  of  Washington,  passed 
an  Act  vesting  in  him  certain  valuable  shares.  Wash 
ington,  however,  declined  to  take  them,  except  with  the 
proviso  that  he  might  transfer  the  gift  to  some  public 
object.  The  result  was  the  transfer  of  the  whole  dona 
tion  to  the  institution  which  now  bears  his  name,  and 
over  which,  by  a  happy  historic  coincidence,  General 
Lee,  who  is  married  to  the  grand-daughter  of  the  wife  of 
Washington,  now  presides.  This  endowment  yields 
annually  to  the  college  the  interest  on  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

When  the  war  broke  out  in  1861,  the  students  of 
Washington  College  organized  themselves  into  a  mili 
tary  company,  joined  Stonewall  Jackson  at  Winchester, 


LEE'S  COLLEGE.  219 

and  for  four  years  shared  the  fortunes  of  the  Stonewall 
Brigade — the  college  in  the  meantime  closed,  and 
slumbering  amongst  the  mountains  at  Lexington,  wait 
ing  till  peace  should  return,  and  bring  her  soldier- 
students  back.  She  received  a  rude  awakening  in  1864, 
when  the  Federal  troops  of  General  Hunter  entered 
Lexington,  sacked  the  college,  and  partially  destroyed 
its  library.  I  found,  in  talking  with  the  librarian,  that 
this  in  his  eyes  was  the  one  unpardonable  sin.  With  a 
rueful  countenance,  he  pointed  to  encyclopedias  and 
other  series  of  books  with  only  a  few  odd  volumes  left. 
A  number  of  the  books  taken  by  the  Federal  soldiers 
to  read  had  been  picked  up  afterwards  about  the  fields 
and  returned.  He  showed  me  with  a  much  more  cheer 
ful  face  various  books  that  had  been  received  as  dona 
tions,  some  of  them  from  publishers  in  this  country. 
He  said  the  college  was  poor,  and  gifts  of  this  kind 
very  welcome. 

In  1865,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  steps  were  taken 
to  reorganize  the  institution,  and  General  Lee's  accept 
ance  of  the  Presidentship  gave  it  at  once  a  guarantee 
of  success.  Five  new  professorships  were  established, 
and  a  full  literary  and  scientific  course  organized.  The 
degrees  granted  are— B.S.  (Bachelor  of  Science),  and 
B.L.  (Bachelor  of  Law),  besides  the  usual  B.A.  and 
M.A.1 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  attendance  of  students 

1  The  philosophy  taught  in  the  that  Reid  was  a  standard  work  with 

college    is    the    Scotch    (Common  them,  and  Brown  was  known,  but 

Sense)  philosophy.    The  text-books  that  all  through  the  South,  as  well 

in  the  mental  and  moral  philosophy  as  over  a  great  part  of  the  North, 

class     are    Dugald    Stewart     and  Dugald  Stewart  was  the  most  popu- 

Hodge's  edition  of  Sir  William  Ha-  lar  and  valued  of  all  philosophical 

milton.   Professor  Kirkpatrick  said  writers. 


220  "  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

had  increased  to  four  hundred.  About  a  third  of  these 
were  Virginians ;  but  twenty  other  States  (including 
Massachusetts)  were  represented.  Many  of  the  stu 
dents  lodge  in  the  college  buildings,  furnishing  their 
own  rooms,  and  feeding  in  town ;  the  rest  lodge  and 
board  in  private  families. 

General  Lee's  business  as  President  is  not  to  teach 
but  to  exercise  a  general  supervision.  He  is  ex  officio 
Chairman  of  the  Faculty,  presides  at  examinations, 
confers  all  degrees,  and  distributes  premiums.  He  re 
ceives  weekly  reports  of  the  standing  and  deportment 
of  every  student,  and  visits  the  class-rooms  from  time 
to  time,  that  he  may  judge  for  himself  of  their  diligence 
and  behaviour.  The  professors,  such  of  them  at  least 
as  I  had  the  opportunity  of  conversing  with,  said  that 
Lee's  influence  upon  the  whole  college  had  been  very 
marked. "  He  had  diffused  a  Christian  spirit,  and  made 
discipline  easy.  It  was  one  of  Lee's  duties,  as  Presi 
dent,  to  admonish  defaulters  ;  and  one  of  the  professors 
declared  that  such  was  the  profound  veneration  in 
which  he  was  held  throughout  the  South,  that  he 
believed  there  were  students  in  college  who  would 
rather  shoot  themselves  than  appear  before  Lee  in 
disgrace. 

My  first  meeting  with  Lee  was  in  the  room  reserved 
for  the  use  of  the  College  President,  where  he  is  occu 
pied  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day  in  writing.  He 
was  dressed  in  one  of  his  old  military  coats,  stripped 
of  all  its  former  decorations.  He  is  a  noble-looking 
man,  tall,  straight,  and  soldier-like,  with  crisp  hair 
turning  white,  short  trimmed  beard,  pointed  at  the 
chin,  and  dark  imperial-looking  eyes,  very  keen  and 
searching.  His  manners  are  quiet  and  dignified ;  and 


LEE'S  RETICENCE.  221 

there  is  a  good  deal  of  the  old  English  cavalier  in  his 
look  and  bearing.  I  was  struck,  sometimes  painfully, 
with  what  seemed  a  hidden  sadness  in  his  countenance. 
It  might  have  been  my  own  thought,  but  it  seemed  to 
me  as  if  the  shadow  of  the  past  were  over  him,  as  if  one 
could  read  behind  the  vigilance  of  his  dark  eyes  the 
fate  of  the  South,  and  of  the  myriads  who  lay  sleeping 
on  the  silent  battle-fields. 

I  knew  from  report  that  Lee  was  reticent  on  politi 
cal  subjects,  and  wisely  so,  his  position  in  the  country 
since  the  war  demanding  the  utmost  prudence.  I  there 
fore  made  no  attempts  during  the  interviews  I  had  witli 
him  to  "  draw  him  out ;"  at  the  same  time  I  spoke  freely 
on  all  subjects  that  came  naturally  in  the  way.  Politi 
cal  topics  were,  therefore,  referred  to ;  but  Lee  was  on 
his  guard,  and  I  could  not  but  notice  the  admirable 
delicacy  and  tact  with  which,  as  often  as  the  conversa 
tion  threatened  to  become  political,  he  contrived  to  turn 
it  into  another  channel.1 

1  Let  me  mention  one  instance  negroes  happened  to  be  referred  to 

which  occurs  to  me.     I  happened  to  again.   Lee,  as  if  interested  to  know 

speak  of  the  coloured  people  during  how  far  my  experience  corroborated 

our  first  interview.     Lee,  just  as  if  his  observation,  said, — "  Did  you  see 

he  were  going  to  enter  on  the  sub-  many  of  them  to  clay  ?  " 
ject,  said  they  were  flocking  in  great          I  told  him  I  had  seen  very  few. 
numbers    into    the    towns — that   I          "  The  rain,"    said   Lee,    "  must 

should  see  many  of  them  in  Lex-  have  kept  them  within  doors.     It  is 

ington  if  I  went  about,  as  he  hoped  unfortunate  weather  for  seeing  our 

I  would,  there  being  several  points  little  town.     But  you  must  wait  till 

in   the   town    and    its    neighbour-  it  clears  up,  and  visit  the  Natural 

hood  that  would  interest  a  stranger  Bridge  of  Virginia.     You  could  ride 

— some  of  which  points  he  went  on  there  and  back  in  one  day  with  a 

quite  naturally  to  speak  of  till  the  good  horse  ;  "  and  he  proceeded  to 

coloured  people  were  as  far  away  describe  a  visit  he  had  himself  paid 

from  the  line  of  conversation  as  if  to  the  bridge — the  negro   silently 

they  had  never  been  mentioned.  vanishing  from  the  conversation  as 

In  the  evening,  at  his  house,  the  before. 


222  "  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

At  his  house  I  met  some  of  the  professors,  and  con 
versation  went  on  briskly  ;  but  I  noticed  that  whenever 
they  introduced  political  topics,  Lee  became  silent,  and 
allowed  the  conversation  to  go  on  without  him. 

One  of  his  sons  told  me  that  his  father's  answer  to 
direct  inquiries  on  vexed  questions  was  that  he  was  a 
soldier,  not  a  politician. 

In  speaking  of  the  war,  reference  was  made  to  the 
odds  against  which  the  South  had  fought,  and  the  want 
there  was  of  accurate  statistics.  I  told  Lee  it  was 
understood  he  was  preparing  a  history  of  the  conflict 
himself. 

"  I  have  that  in  view,"  he  said,  "  but  the  time  is  not 
come  for  impartial  history.  If  the  truth  were  told  just 
now,  it  would  not  be  credited." 

When  I  mentioned  a  book  about  the  war,  the  proof- 
sheets  of  which,  it  was  asserted,  had  been  submitted  to 
General  Grant  and  himself  for  revision,  he  said, — 

"  It  is  a  mistake.  I  have  never  read  a  history  of  the 
war,  nor  the  biography  of  any  man  engaged  in  it.  My 
own  life  has  been  written,  but  I  have  not  looked  into 
it."  He  added,  after  a  pause,  "  I  do  not  desire  to  awaken 
memories  of  the  past." 

Speaking  of  Lexington  and  its  neighbourhood,  he 
said, — 

"  You  will  meet  with  many  of  your  countrymen  here. 
The  valley  of  Virginia  is  peopled  with  Scotch-Irish — 
people  Vho  have  come  from  Scotland  by  way  of  Ireland. 
They  are  a  fine  race.  They  have  the  courage  and  de 
termination  of  the  Scotch,  with  the  dash  and  intrepidity 
of  the  Irish.  They  make  fine  soldiers." 

He  said  it  was  an  old  wish  of  his  to  visit  this  country, 
but  it  would  never  be  realized  now.  Stonewall  Jackson 


TABLE-TALK.  223 

had  been  in  Scotland  before  the  war.  He  had  heard 
him  speak  of  it.1 

When  he  spoke  of  Jackson  I  was  struck  with  the 
emphasis  he  placed  upon  his  piety.  One  cannot  indeed 
be  long  with  Lee  without  finding  his  Christian  charac 
ter  revealing  itself  almost  unconsciously  in  his  manners 
and  conversation.  I  remember  with  peculiar  distinct 
ness  the  solemnity  with  which,  at  table,  standing  before 
his  family,  he  asked  God's  blessing  on  the  food.  Also, 
when  he  referred  to  a  gentleman  whom  he  wished  me  to 
see  at  Eichmond,  his  saying,  that  he  had  rarely  met 
"  with  a  nobler  or  more  Christian  man."  It  was  only  a 
word,  and  yet  it  showed  by  what  standard  he  gauged  a 
man's  worth. 

Lee  comes  of  an  old  and  famous  Virginian  family.  His 
ancestor  in  Charles  the  First's  time  was  Eichard  Lee,  a 
cavalier,  who,  on  emigrating  to  Virginia,  became  Secre 
tary  of  the  colony,  and  at  Cromwell's  death  got  Charles 
the  Second  proclaimed  "  King  of  England,  Scotland,  Ire 
land,  and  Virginia"  though  the  restoration  did  not  take 
place  for  two  years  after.  Coming  down  to  later  times, 
we  find  amongst  the  champions  of  American  Independ- 

1  In  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Jackson,  and  the  Rock  of  Puritan  Worship  ; 
received  last  year,  she  gives  some  par-  and  of  passing  from  Inversnaid  to 
ticulars  of  Stonewall's  visit  to  Scot-  Loch  Katrine  and  region.  He  speaks 
land,  which  seems  to  have  been  made  of  "the  wild  rushing  torrents,"  of 
in  1856 — five  years  before  the  war.  Ellen's  Isle,  Ben  Venue,  and  the 
In  his  journal,  he  speaks  of  visiting  Trossachs,  and  of  going  thence  to 
Glasgow  from  Dumfries  on  the  24th  Stirling  and  Edinburgh.  His  widow 
July.  He  mentions  having  seen  adds, — "  He  was  so  much  charmed 
the  monuments  of  John  Knox,  Sir  with  his  brief  visit  to  Scotland  that 
Walter  Scott,  and  Charles  Tennant ;  he  often  told  me  it  was  his  wish  to 
of  "sailing  down  the  Clyde,"  of  visit-  take  me  there,  and  although  he  ex- 
ing  Dumbarton  Castle,  Lochlomond,  tended  his  travels  to  the  Continent 
Slate  Quarry,  Lead  Mines  seven-  as  far  as  Rome,  he  delighted  speci- 
teen  miles  farther,  burying-place  of  ally  in  talking  of  your  interesting 
the  Macgregors,  Rob  Roy's  Cave,  country." 


224  "  LEXINGTON  IN  THE  VALLEY." 

ence  Henry  Lee,  who  captured  Jersey  City  fort  from  the 
British,  and  received  for  this  service  a  gold  medal  from 
Congress.  Eobert  E.  Lee  was  one  of  this  soldier's  sons 
by  his  second  wife. 

Lee  was  born  in  1807.  At  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point  he  was  distinguished  for  his  studious  habits 
and  gentlemanly  conduct,  and  as  one  who  never  tasted 
intoxicating  liquors  nor  used  tobacco.  He  graduated  in 
1829  at  the  head  of  his  class. 

In  1832,  Lee  (then  a  lieutenant)  married  Miss  Custis, 
the  grand- daughter  of  the  wife  of  George  Washington. 
It  was  in  this  way  that  he  came  to  inherit  the  house  and 
estate  of  Arlington.  He  distinguished  himself  under 
General  Scott  in  Mexico,  and  afterwards  in  war  with  the 
Indians. 

When  the  difficulties  between  North  and  South  came 
to  a  head  in  1860,  and  the  Southern  States  spoke  of 
secession,  Lee,  who  was  deeply  attached  to  the  Union, 
deprecated  the  movement  in  the  strongest  possible  terms. 
But  brought  up  like  most  Southerners  to  put  the  State 
first  and  the  Union  after  it,  he  felt  himself  called  upon, 
when  Virginia  went  out,  to  follow.  Montgomery  Blair 
was  sent  by  President  Lincoln  to  offer  Lee  (it  is  said)  the 
command  of  the  Federal  army,  an  offer  which,  had  ambi 
tion  been  his  motive,  he  would  eagerly  have  accepted. 
His  reply  was,  "  Mr.  Blair,  I  look  upon  secession  as 
anarchy.  If  I  owned  four  millions  of  slaves  in  the  South, 
I  would  sacrifice  them  all  to  the  Union.  But  how  can 
I  draw  my  sword  against  my  native  State  ? "  As  late  as 
December  1861,  Mrs.  Lee  wrote  to  a  Northern  friend, — 
"  My  husband  has  wept  tears  of  blood  over  this  terrible 
war,  but,  as  a  man  of  honour  and  a  Virginian,  he  must 
follow  the  destiny  of  his  State." 


LEE'S  FAMILY  AND  ESTATE.  225 

Lee,  therefore,  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  seces 
sionists  and  fire-eaters  who  pushed  the  South  into  that 
disastrous  war.  When  he  resigned  his  commission  in 
the  National  army,  Arlington  (as  has  already  been  men 
tioned)  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  ;  but  will,  it  is  understood,  be  restored  to  Lee's 
family.  Many  people  even  in  the  North  seemed  to 
expect  that  it  would  be  restored  to  Lee  himself,  and 
regarded  the  idea  with  favour. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Washington,  the  mansion- 
house  was  desolate  and  half-dismantled.  Many  of  its 
fine  old  trees  had  been  cut  down  to  make  room  for  a 
national  cemetery,  in  which  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  the  Federal  dead  lie  buried,  under  long  rows  of  white 
headboards — a  ghastly  memento  awaiting  the  family  of 
the  Confederate  chief! 


226          A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN. 


XXI. 

A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN. 

TRAVELLING  through  North  Carolina  in  the  month  of 
January,  I  was  joined  at  Weldon  by  the  Eev.  E.  P. 
Smith,  field  agent  of  the  American  Missionary  Asso 
ciation,  who  was  also  on  his  way  round  the  South, 
inspecting  the  scattered  schools  and  mission  stations 
which  this  Association  has  planted  amongst  the  eman 
cipated  slaves. 

At  an  early  stage  of  the  war,  the  deplorable  condition 
of  the  negroes  who  were  flying  from  slavery,  and  swarm 
ing  in  thousands  within  the  Union  lines,  had  excited 
sympathy  and  anxiety  in  the  North.  Long  before  the 
establishment  of  the  Freedmari's  Bureau  by  the  Govern 
ment,  numerous  voluntary  organizations  were  at  work 
amongst  the  "  contrabands,"  trying  to  get  them  educated, 
evangelized,  fitted  for  their  new  condition,  and  in  the 
first  instance  saved  from  starvation.  Of  these  agencies 
the  American  Missionary  Association  was  the  most 
active  and  the  most  successful.  It  had  been  in  exist 
ence  since  1846,  had  been  anti-slavery  from  the  first, 
in  days  when  to  be  so  was  a  reproach  ;  and  had  devoted 
itself  to  the  evangelization  of  the  coloured  people  in 
Canada,  in  Jamaica,  and  in  Africa.  The  war  turned 
its  attention  specially  to  the  South,  which  was  now  to 
become  the  great  field  of  its  activity.  In  1861,  at 


AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION.  227 

Fortress  Monroe,  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  near  the  spot 
where  the  first  cargo  of  slaves  was  landed,  the  Associa 
tion  opened  a  school  for  fugitive  slaves — the  first  of  the 
kind  which  had  ever  enjoyed  in  the  Southern  States 
the  protection  of  the  national  flag.  Whenever  the 
Northern  armies  obtained  possession,  the  agents  of  the 
Association  followed,  opening  new  schools  and  esta 
blishing  mission  homes  for  its  teachers  and  missionaries. 
The  work  grew  apace.  The  slaves  in  the  last  year  of 
the  war  were  liberated  by  tens  of  thousands  at  a  time, 
and,  in  April  1865,  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  left  a 
slave  population  of  four  millions,  equal  to  the  whole 
population  of  Scotland,  scattered  over  the  desolated 
South  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  multitudes  of 
them  in  a  state  of  semi-barbarism,  and  wholly  unfit  to 
care  for  themselves.  The  Missionary  Association  work 
ing  along  with  other  agencies,  redoubled  its  efforts  to 
meet  this  tremendous  crisis.  It  was  sustained  by 
Christian  philanthropy  in  the  North  and  in  this  country, 
and  by  the  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  of  its  own  mis 
sionaries  and  female  teachers,  many  of  whom  left  com 
fortable  and  even  luxurious  homes  in  the  North  to 
devote  themselves,  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  population, 
to  the  task  of  helping  these  emancipated  millions  up 
into  the  light. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  the  South,  the  Association 
had  530  teachers  and  missionaries  scattered  over  the 
quondam  slave  States,  and  had  gathered  40,000  black 
people  into  its  schools.  It  had  also  established  several 
Normal  schools  and  colleges,  and  was  making  the  im 
portant  experiment  of  an  Agricultural  College,  where 
the  black  students  could  support  themselves  by  manual 
labour  during  their  course  of  study.  To  this  college  I 


228          A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FEEEDMEN. 

shall  refer  more  particularly  in  describing  the  details  of 
the  whole  system  in  the  next  chapter.  It  was  to  visit 
one  of  these  mission  homes  of  the  Association  in  North 
Carolina  that  I  turned  off  at  Weldon,  and  accompanied 
Mr.  Smith  to  the  seaboard. 

Skirting  the  Dismal  Swamp,  and  passing  through 
Newbern  to  the  coast,  we  reached  Morehead  City  that 
night  (Jan.  28),  and  crossed  to  Beaufort  in  an  open 
skiff— a  distance  of  about  five  miles — navigating  our 
way  in  the  darkness  between  long  flat  shoals,  rushing 
before  a  stiff  breeze  with  sometimes  only  a  few  inches 
of  water  under  our  keel.  On  landing  by  the  light  of  a 
lamp,  we  made  our  way  through  the  city  along  wide, 
dark,  straggling  streets,  where  we  were  often  up  to  the 
ankles  in  loose  sand. 

A  hospitable  reception  awaited  us  at  the  plain  but 
comfortable  "  Home/'  where  we  found  a  staff  of  four 
teachers  (white  ladies  from  the  North),  under  the 
guardianship  and  superintendence  of  a  clergyman  (the 
Eev.  Mr.  Beales)  and  his  wife,  who  had  been  labouring 
amongst  the  freed  people  for  more  than  five  years. 

The  night-school  had  just  been  dismissed,  and  the 
family  had  come  in  to  supper,  at  which  we  joined 
them,  and  at  which,  I  remember,  along  with  tea,  a 
dish  of  large  and  delicious  oysters,  which  are  very 
abundant  at  Beaufort,  and  were  selling  at  ten  cents 
(or  about  fourpence)  a  gallon.  The  people  gather  them 
in  alnlost  any  quantity  upon  a  vast  shore,  which  is 
exposed  at  low  tide.1 

1  The  American  oyster  is  a  glorious  and  then  asked  what  he  was  to  do 

monster.     It  is  told  of  Thackeray,  with  them, 

that  when  a  dish  of  them  was  set  "Eat  them,  of  course." 

for  the  first  time  before  him,  he  "Oh  !  eat  them,  "said  Thackeray, 

gazed  at  them  for  several  moments,  as  if  a  new  light  had  dawned  upon 


AGED  SCHOLARS.  229 

We  had  to  be  early  astir  in  the  morning  to  have 
breakfast  and  family  prayers  over  before  eight,  when 
the  schools  open.  Mr.  Beales  showed  me  with  much 
pride  round  the  premises,  which  stand  in  an  open  space 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  include  dwelling- 
house,  schools,  and  chapel.  These  had  all  been  erected 
by  the  Freedmen  themselves,  many  of  wrhom,  after 
getting  through  their  own  work  for  the  day,  had 
come  and  toiled  at  the  building  of  their  own  little 
mission  church  and  the  school-houses  for  their  children 
till  far  into  the  night.  "  The  whole  work  is  theirs," 
said  Mr.  Beales.  "Not  a  white  man's  hand  has  been 
upon  these  buildings." 

In  one  of  the  class-rooms  connected  with  the  church, 
I  observed  on  the  mantelpiece  a  boxful  of  heavy  old- 
fashioned  spectacles. 

"  These,"  said  Mr.  Beales,  "  are  for  the  old  people.  We 
hold  a  Bible-class  in  this  room,  and  some  of  our  scholars 
are  very  aged  negroes,  who  cannot  see  without  spectacles. 
The  old  people  are  very  eager  to  learn.  We  have  a 
number  of  them  in  the  night-school.  Mrs.  Beales  has 
one  class  in  which  three  generations  sit — a  grandmother, 
a  daughter,  and  a  grand-daughter,  all  on  the  same  bench, 
learning  in  the  same  book.  There  is  a  woman  also 
that  I  must  show  you  at  the  night-school.  She  was  a 
fugitive  from  slavery,  and  carried  a  big  Bible  about 
with  her  through  the  woods  and  swamps,—'  toted  it 
around/  as  she  says  herself,  500  miles  and  more.  She 
couldn't  read,  but  she  had  got  her  old  mistress  to  turn 
down  the  leaves  at  the  verses  she  knew  by  heart,  and 

him  ;  adding,  after  a  pause,  "  Well,       friend  asked  him  how  he  felt  after  it. 
here  goes  !"  "I  feel,"  said  he,  "as  if  I  had 

When  he  had  swallowed  one,  his       swallowed  a  baby ! " 


230         A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FEEEDMEN. 

often  she  would  sit  down  in  the  woods  and  open  the 
big  Bible  at  these  verses,  and  repeat  them  aloud,  and 
find  strength  and  consolation. 

"  She  is  a  woman  of  tremendous  muscular  strength," 
he  added.  "  They  say  it  was  no  joke  whipping  her  in 
slave  times.  She  would  fight  like  a  lion,  and  drive 
men  back.  One  time  she  held  both  her  master  and  the 
Town  Sergeant  at  bay  for  a  long  time,  though  they  tried 
to  get  her  down  with  ropes.  But  you.  must  get  her  to 
tell  the  story  herself." 

When  we  went  to  breakfast  it  was  still  half-an-hour 
from  school-time,  but  a  crowd  of  black  children  had 
already  gathered  and  were  waiting  eagerly  round  the 
doors.  On  the  verandah  we  found  Mr.  Smith  talking 
with  two  little  negro  boys  who  were  standing  below. 

"  These  two  little  fellows,"  he  said,  "  walk  five  miles 
to  school  every  morning." 

A  taller  boy,  in  a  dilapidated  felt  hat  and  ragged 
blue  trousers,  who  had  been  listening,  stepped  forward 
and  said, — 

"  I  would  walk  ten  miles,  sir,  to  get  to  school." 

"  Can't  you  come,  then?" 

"  ]STo,  sir,  I  have  to  work  all  day." 

After  breakfast,  the  business  of  the  day  began.  The 
scholars  all  met  in  the  large  school-room,  to  the  num 
ber  of  several  hundreds,  and  after  singing  a  hymn  and 
reciting  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  concert,  they  marched  in 
sections  to  the  rooms  assigned  to  the  respective  grades. 

I  had  gone  away  to  get  some  letters  written  in  a  little 
room  attached  to  the  church,  when  I  heard  some  per 
sons,  evidently  negroes,  talking  at  the  foot  of  the  wooden 
stair. 

"Whar  is  he?" 


TALK  WITH  FREEDMEN.  231 

"He'supdar." 

"  I  'd  like  to  see  him.     Whar  does  he  come  from?" 

"  From  de  North,  I  'spects.  He 's  white  anyhow. 
He  come  wid  Mr.  Smif." 

"  I  hear  Massa  Beales  say  he  come  from  Scotland." 

"ScotlanM  Whar's  dat?" 

"  Dun  no." 

"  Way  Norf  and  dat  a  way  I  reckon." 

"  Well,  I  wants  to  see  him  anyhow.  Come,  you  get 
up  first." 

I  heard  their  footsteps  on  the  stairs,  and  by-and-bye 
two  black  men  and  a  stout,  laughing-eyed  black  woman, 
whom  I  had  seen  about  the  house  that  morning,  made 
their  appearance  at  the  open  door.  The  men  took  off 
their  hats,  and  one  of  them  said  politely, — "  Good 
mornin',  sah." 

I  found  that  this  last  was  an  old  man  who  had 
been  more  than  fifty  years  in  slavery.  The  other  had 
been  a  soldier  during  the  war,  in  one  of  the  black  regi 
ments.  He  was  at  work  now  at  Beaufort,  and  was  a 
scholar  in  the  night-school. 

When  our  talk  turned  on  slavery,  and  I  mentioned 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  one  of  the  men  shook  his  head. 
The  other  said, — 

"  I  know  dat  book  right  well.  I  heard  mo'  of  it  read. 
Dere  was  good  white  folks,  sah,  as  well  as  bad,  but 
when  they  was  bad,  Lord-a-mercy,  you  never  saw  a 
book,  sah,  that  come  up  to  what  slavery  was." 

"  I  used  to  see  'em  whip  my  mother,"  said  the  woman ; 
"yes,  sah,  till  the  blood  was  a-flowing;  and  when  I 
grow'd  up  they  turned  on  me." 

"  0 !  it  was'barbareous !  Lord-a-mercy,  it  was  dreffu' !" 
exclaimed  the  old  man. 


232        A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FKEEDMEN. 

"  How  do  your  old  masters  treat  you  now?" 

"  They  treat  us  better  than  we  'spected.  It 's  won 
derful  to  see  'em,  sah.  I  haven't  one  word  to  say  agin 
'em,  for  myself,  anyhow." 

"  But  up  country,"  said  the  old  man,  sorrowfully, 
"  I  hear  a  woman  say  the  whip  is  a-goin'  and  the  horn 
a-blowin'  just  as  it  use  to  be." 

"  Is  it  true  that  you  are  poorer  and  worse  off  now 
than  formerly?" 

"  Some  of  us  is  poorer,  sah.  We  finds  it  hard  gettin' 
'long  just  now.  But  bress  de  Lord,  we's  free,  anyhow  ! 
and  better  days  is  a-comin'  in  de  Lord's  good  time." 

"  We  might  a'  been  better  off,"  said  the  young  man, 
"  if  we  hadn't  fooled  away  our  money  in  war  time.  We 
had  always  plenty  then,  and  we  thought  it  would  be  so 
always." 

"  Ah,  dat  's  true,"  said  the  old  man,  shaking  his  head ; 
"  I  had  a  hundred  dollars,  but  it  slip  away.  No  care 
'bout  money  in  dem  days.  It  was  come  day,  go  day, 
and  God  save  Sunday.  But  we  knows  better  how  to 
save  now." 

"  What  we  feels  most,"  he  said,  "  is  havin'  to  rent 
houses.  If  we  had  homesteads  of  our  own !  But  it 
takes  most  all  we  can  make  to  pay  the  rent.  But  when 
we  save  enough  we  are  lookin'  to  buy  homesteads,  if  de 
big  fish  will  only  sell  us  land." 

After  school  was  over,  Mr.  Beales  took  me  away  with 
him  to  gee  some  of  the  black  people  in  their  homes. 
Many  of  them  seemed  very  poor,  very  ignorant,  and 
very  degraded.  Others  who  had  been  house  or  body 
servants,  or  who  had  been  fortunate  in  having  kind 
masters,  were  much  more  intelligent  and  active. 

As  we  approached  one  neat  cabin  by  the  road-side, 


VISIT  TO  A  NEGKO  CABIN.  233 

Mr.  Beales  said, — "  This  is  the  house  of  a  Mrs.  D — , 
who  bought  herself  twice,  and  yet  was  -  both  times  en 
slaved  again.  Her  husband  is  an  old  man,  but  he 
wanted  to  be  able  to  read  the  Bible,  and  began  with 
his  ABC,  and  learned  to  read  in  six  months." 

When  we  stopped  at  the  door,  a  cheerful  voice  from 
within  told  us  to  enter.  It  was  the  voice  of  the  old 
man,  whom  we  found  sitting  by  the  fire,  suffering 
severely  from  rheumatism,  but  wonderfully  patient,  and 
full  of  gratitude  to  the  Lord  for  having  brought  him 
through  so  much,  and  for  laying  His  hand  so  lightly 
upon  him.  Nothing  struck  me  more  about  many  of 
these  freedmen  than  this  devoutness  and  recognition  of 
God's  hand  in  everything. 

"  The  Master  knows,"  and  "  If  the  Master  wills,"  and 
"  De  Lord  would  have  it  so,"  are  common  expressions 
among  them. 

The  plain  wooden  walls  of  the  room  were  orna 
mented  here  and  there  with  prints  cut  from  illustrated 
papers. 

When  the  old  man  saw  me  looking  up  at  one  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  he  said  reverently, — 

"  You  lookin',  sah,  at  President  Linkum  ?  We  call 
him  de  Moses  of  de  coloured  people.  He  led  us  forth 
out  of  de  land  of  bondage." 

His  wife  made  her  appearance  by-and-bye,  and  wel 
comed  us  warmly.  Her  quick  dark  eye  and  firm  lip 
made  it  easy  to  credit  her  with  the  energy  and  resolu 
tion  that  must  have  been  necessary  to  enable  her  not 
only  to  purchase  her  freedom  once,  but  set  to  work, 
when  re- enslaved,  and  purchase  herself  again. 

In  answer  to  my  inquiries,  she  told  me  her  history 
— how  she  had  paid  for  her  freedom  500  dollars,  earned 


234        A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN. 

with  her  own  hand;  how  her  "protector"  (the  quasi 
owner  which  the  Slave  Code  required  every  free  or 
freed  negro  in  the  South  to  have)  was  drowned  with 
her  free  papers  in  his  pocket,  and  how,  destitute  of  her 
free  papers,  she  became  a  slave  again.  How,  as  she 
said  herself,  she  took  up  a  resolution  to  buy  herself 
again,  or  run  away  North — how  she  toiled  on  and  paid 
the  price  of  her  liberty  once  more — how  before  long  her 
new  "  protector"  died  bankrupt — how,  as  she  said,  the 
creditors  "  'fisticated  his  property,"  and  sold  her  along 
with  the  rest. 

"  They  even  sold  my  oyster- tongs,"  she  said,  indig 
nantly.  "  Yes,  sah,  they  even  sold  the  bed  I  had  made 
with  my  two  hands,  the  mean  willains,  God  forgive  'em." 

Then,  how  she  had  begun  to  buy  herself  a  third  time, 
when  the  war  broke  out,  and  left  her  free,  before  she 
had  paid  more  than  a  fourth  of  the  old  price. 

"  De  rest  ain't  paid  yet,"  she  said  with  a  'cute  smile. 
"  No,  sah  !  leave  dat  to  de  Judgment  day." 

I  asked  her  how  long  it  took  to  buy  herself  each  time. 

"  'Bout  four  years,  wu'kin'  extra,"  she  said.  "  Yes, 
sah,  they  were  hard  times  ;  and  sometimes  my  feet  and 
ankles  would  be  swole  so  I  could  scarce  stand.  But  I 
had  great  consolation ;  I  knew  dere  was  a  God  above 
looking  down  upon  me." 

I  asked  how  she  had  got  on  since  the  war. 

"  Oh,  right  well,"  she  said  cheerfully.  "  Me  and  my 
husband  turned  right  to  and  built  this  house,  with  a 
brick  chimbly  to  it." 

She  seemed  to  be  very  proud  of  the  brick  "  chimbly ; " 
so  seemed  the  old  man  too,  though  he  told  us  in  a  con 
fidential  tone,  that  there  was  still  a  debt  of  some  dol 
lars  on  it. 


VISIT  TO  A  NEGRO  CABIN.  235 

"  But  I  reckon,"  he  said,  "  there 's  strength  enough  in 
these  old  bones  of  mine  to  earn  enough*to  pay  it  all,  and 
leave  it  to  the  chill'en  free." 

"  Ef  I  'd  that  done,"  he  said,  thoughtfully,  "  ef  I  only 
had  dat  ar  chimbly  clear,  I  wouldn't  mind  if  de  Master 
came  and  called  me  home  to-morrow." 

As  we  left  I  noticed  a  quantity  of  Indian  corn  dry 
ing  on  a  stand  near  the  door.  I  asked  the  woman,  who 
had  come  to  see  us  out,  if  they  had  grown  that  corn 
themselves. 

"No,"  she  said,  "that's  the  Lord's  corn." 

I  found  afterwards  that  two  ships  had  "been  cast 
ashore  the  previous  week  and  had  gone  to  pieces,  leav 
ing  the  shore  bestrewn  with  the  grain  with  which  they 
had  been  laden.  The  poor  negroes,  left  very  destitute 
by  reason  of  the  bad  harvest,  had  gathered  it  up,  and 
called  it  "  Providence  Corn,"  or  "  The  Lord's  Corn." 

That  night  we  had  a  meeting  of  all  the  day  and  night 
schools  connected  with  the  mission  ;  and,  at  its  close,  I 
remember  in  the  dim  light  the  crowded  audience  sing 
ing  that  old  triumphal  song  : — 

"  Sound  the  loud  timbrel  o'er  Egypt's  dark  sea, 
Jehovah  has  triumphed,  his  people  are  free  !" 

It  is  difficult  to  convey  an  idea  of  what  it  was  to 
listen  to  this  song  of  triumph,  sung  in  exulting  strains 
by  four  or  five  hundred  people  who  had  been  themselves 
in  slavery.  As  I  watched  the  dusky  throng,  swaying  in 
the  dim  light,  their  eyes  looking  upward  and  onward  as 
if  the  pillar  of  fire  were  moving  before  them,  it  seemed 
as  if  I  could  hear  the  tread  of  the  four  millions  of  freed 
people  moving  from  darkness  and  bondage  up  into  liberty 
and  light. 

After  the  meeting,  several  of  the  black  people  waited 


236         A  MISSION  HOME  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN. 

to  speak  to  us.  Prominent  amongst  them  was  a  huge 
negress — a  muscular  Christian  of  the  most  tremendous 
type — who  stood  with  her  brawny  arms  folded,  and  her 
coal-black  face  lit  up  with  a  good-natured  smile. 

"  This,"  said  Mr.  Beales,  "  is  Mrs.  H — ,  about  whom 
I  told  you  before.  It  was  she  who  fought  the  town 
sergeant." 

The  woman  laughed.  She  said  she  had  generally 
been  very  kindly  treated  in  slavery. 

"  But  I  wouldn't  stop,  no,  not  with  the  best  man  or 
the  best  woman  God  has  put  in  dis  yar  world,  if  I  could 
be  free.  There  was  good  massas  and  good  missuses  ; 
but  what  was  all  dat  if  your  chill'n  could  be  sold  away 
from  you,  and  you  got  to  keep  quiet  ? " 

I  asked  her  about  her  encounter  with  the  Town 
Sergeant. 

"  Oh,"  said  she  with  a  grin,  "  dat  warn't  much  to  speak 
on.  Ole  massa,  he  use  to  drink  hard,  and  one  day  he 
come  and  see  my  boy  doing  something,  and  began  kick- 
in'  him  around  and  layin'  on  de  cowhide,  like  to  kill 
him.  I  kep'  back  and  kep'  back  as  long 's  I  could,  and 
at  last  I  cry  out,  '  Oh,  massa,  don't ;  I  wish  my  boy  was 
dead  sooner  than  be  treat  like  that.'  Then  old  massa 
he  turn  on  me  and  struck  me  twice  ;  but  my  blood  was 
up,  and  I  tore  de  cowhide  from  him.  Didn't  care  if  I 
should  be  whip  to  death  for  it.  Off  went  massa  in  a 
mighty  rage,  and  by'm  by  back  he  come  wid  the  town 
sargearit  and  a  rope.  When  I  see  de  rope  I  backed  up 
agin  de  wall,  so  they  couldn't  get  behind  rne.  Up  come 
de  town  sargeant,  and  sez  he,  '  Ain't  no  use  «all  this ; 
cross  your  hands,'  sez  he,  '  you 's  agoin'  to  prison.'  I  sez, 
'  I  no  objection  to  go  to  prison,  but  I  won't  be  tied,  and 
I  won't  be  whipped/  The  sergeant,  when  he  hear  dat, 


THE  HOME  AT  BEAUFORT.  237' 

he  come  right  at  me,  but  I  druv  him  back.  Then  the 
two  come  at  me,  closin'  in  ;  but  I  knock  de  sargeant 
about  putty  considerable,  and  fowt  my  way  clean  out. 
They  was  scared  on  me  now,  but  dey  swore  drefful,  and 
said  I  had  to  give  in,  and  began  to  throw  the  rope  at 
me  wid  a  loop  like  I  was  a  wild  cow.  I  kep  flingin'  it 
off,  but  they  got  a  catch,  and  pulled  me  down.  Jus'  then 
up  comes  young  massa — de  ole  man's  son  as  I  had 
nursed — and  tore  off  de  rope,  and  said,  '  I  won't  see  old 
mammy  treat  like  that.'  The  town  sargeant  swore  agin, 
and  said  he  would  go  right  away  and  get  a  stronger 
man,  and  he  went ;  but  de  stronger  man  never  came, 
and  de  sergeant  he  didn't  come  back  neither  !  No,  sah  ; 
neber  saw  more  of  dat  town  sargeant." 

I  asked  her  how  she  had  got  on  since  she  became  free. 

"  Times  is  hard,"  she  said,  "  and  we  can't  get  along 
fast ;  but  we  has  homes  of  our  own  now,  and  we  can't 
be  druv  away,  and  we  can  send  our  chill'en  to  school 
now,  and  get  'em  teached  like  de  white  folks — praise  de 
Lord!" 

The  Home  at  Beaufort  is  a  specimen  of  the  others 
planted  by  the  same  Association  throughout  the  South. 
Some  of  these  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  and  Tennessee  I  afterwards  visited.  The 
teachers  are  almost  all  white  ladies  from  the  North, 
thoroughly  initiated  into  the  New  England  system  of 
elementary  training  as  practised  in  the  public  schools — 
a  system,  which  I  have  never  seen  equalled  elsewhere. 
Teaching  of  this  kind  is  precisely  what  the  black  people 
need.  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  these  teachers  and 
missionaries  full  of  earnestness  and  devotion,  for  with 
out  deep  personal  interest  in  the  work  its  difficulties 
and  hardships  would  have  prevented  them,  in  most 


238         A  HOME  MISSION  AMONGST  THE  FREEDMEN. 

cases,  from  undertaking  it.  The  toil  is  itself  severe — 
teaching  day  after  day  and  night  after  night  amongst 
an  ignorant,  degraded,  and  often  brutalized  people ;  even 
Sunday,  with  its  schools  and  Bible- classes,  bringing 
rather  a  variety  of  work  than  a  cessation  of  it. 

But  what  they  were  evidently  feeling  much  more 
than  the  toil  was  their  total  isolation.  They  are  not 
only  far  from  their  home,  and  from  the  society  that 
would  cheer  and  sustain  them  in  their  arduous  labours ; 
they  are  totally  excluded  from  the  white  society  that 
exists  around  them.  Southern  feeling  has  been  embit 
tered  and  exasperated  by  the  war;  and  these  schools 
and  teachers,  following  in  the  wake  of  Northern  victory, 
continually  remind  the  white  people  of  their  own  humi 
liation  and  defeat.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  persuade 
themselves  that  these  teachers  are  only  there  to  stir  up 
the  black  people  against  their  old  masters.  They  would 
not  even  visit  the  schools  to  see  what  was  actually 
done.  I  remember  one  Southern  gentleman  accom 
panying  me  as  far  as  the  school  door ;  but  when  I  asked 
him  to  come  in,  he  said,  "  No ;  I  don't  enter  nigger 
schools."  A  teacher  from  New  England — "a  Yankee 
school  marm,"  as  they  call  her — is  looked  upon  in  the 
South  with  much  the  same  feeling  that  an  Englishman 
would  have  encountered  in  the  Highlands  after  the 
atrocities  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  The  feeling  is 
perhaps  natural,  but  it  is  not  the  less  to  be  deplored. 
In  most"  places  no  attempt  was  made  to  conceal  it ;  and 
even  in  church  the  teachers  were  often  treated  with 
such  obtrusive  contempt  that  they  were  compelled,  for 
the  sake  of  their  feelings,  to  attend  service  with  the 
negroes.  In  some  cases  the  feeling  of  animosity  was 
carried  further.  At  one  station  which  I  visited,  the 


THEE  ATS.  239 

two  ladies  who  occupied  the  little  mission  home  were 
threatened  with  their  lives.  They  refused  to  abandon 
their  work  ;  and  one  of  them,  who  was  a  very  spirited 
girl,  got  a  revolver,  and  practised  herself  daily  in  its 
use,  determined  to  defend  herself  and  the  home  as  best 
she  could  if  an  attack  was  made.  In  another  school 
shots  had  been  fired  through  the  windows.  In  two 
others  the  fatal  warning  had  been  received  from  the 
mysterious  and  lawless  organization  known  as  the 
Ku-klux-klan,  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  with  skull  and 
crossbones  at  the  head,  threatening  the  teachers  with 
death  unless  they  left  the  place  within  three  days. 
Such  cases  were  rare,  but  the  feeling  of  antipathy  was 
almost  universal,  and  made  the  missionaries  and  teachers 
feel  more  homeless  and  exiled  than  had  there  been  no 
white  people  near  them  at  all. 

The  circles  in  Northern  society  to  which  many  of 
these  teachers  belong  is  further  evidence  of  the  noble 
ness  of  their  motives  in  dedicating  themselves  to  such 
a  work.  Though  they  are  all  in  receipt  of  salaries, 
according  to  the  rule  of  the  Association,  many  of  them 
were  in  circumstances  that  made  the  salary  no  considera 
tion.  One  teacher  in  the  Home  at  Macon  was  a  young 
heiress ;  and  the  missionary  superintendent  for  that 
district  was  a  gentleman  who  owns  valuable  property 
in  Chicago,  and  who  was  not  only  spending  his  whole 
time  and  energy  in  the  missionary  field,  but  was  con 
tributing  far  more  to  the  Association's  funds  than  all 
the  salary  it  gave  him. 


240  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION. 


XXII. 

AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION'S  PLAN. 

THE  great  aim  of  the  Association  is  not  to  constitute 
itself  a  permanent  agency  for  teaching  and  evangelizing 
the  black  race,  but  rather  to  prepare  that  race  for  teaching 
and  evangelizing  itself.  All  its  operations  have  this 
object  steadily  in  view.  First  in  order  come  its  numer 
ous  day  and  night  schools,  scattered  over  that  vast 
mission  field  in  the  South,  and  occupying  about  400  of 
its  teachers.  In  these  schools  a  thorough  elementary 
education  is  given  along  with  religious  instruction. 
Then  come  its  High  and  its  Normal  Schools,  established 
at  the  principal  centres  of  its  work,  into  which  it 
gathers  the  best  pupils  from  its  common  schools,  espe 
cially  those  who  are  anxious  to  qualify  for  teachers.  It 
has  High  schools  at  Beaufort  and  Wilmington  (North 
Carolina) ;  at  Savannah  (Georgia) ;  at  Memphis  and 
Chattanooga  (Tennessee) ;  and  at  Louisville  (Kentucky). 
It  has  Normal  schools  at  Hampton  (Virginia) ;  Char 
leston  (South  Carolina) ;  Macon  (Georgia) ;  and  Tal- 
ladega"  and  Mobile  (Alabama).  In  these  the  scholars 
are  carried  to  higher  branches,  are  put  through  a 
severer  course  of  study,  and  in  the  normal  departments 
are  required  to  teach  model  classes  in  the  presence  of 
the  superintendents,  who  criticise  their  method,  and 
give  them  all  needed  instruction  and  advice. 


AN  EXPERIMENT.  241 

Then  come  its  chartered  colleges  at  Berea  (Kentucky), 
Nashville  (Tennessee),  and  Atlanta  (Georgia).  "  Black 
Universities"  they  are  sometimes  called,  though  at 
Berea  College  nearly  100  of  the  students  are  white.  At 
these,  besides  the  Preparatory  and  Normal,  there  is  an 
Academic  and  a  Collegiate  course, — the  former  chiefly 
designed  for  business,  the  latter  (which  embraces  in 
struction  in  the  ancient  and  modern  languages,  and  the 
higher  mathematics),  designed  to  qualify  for  professional 
life.  The  college  at  Berea  has  over  300  students,  Fisk 
University  about  400,  of  whom  88  were  that  year  in 
the  higher  departments.  It  had  turned  out  a  number 
of  excellent  black  teachers,  and  25  more  were  on  the 
eve  of  completing  their  course  and  entering  upon  the 
same  work. 

The  Association  is  also  engaged  in  a  most  important 
experiment  which  it  began  the  year  I  was  there.  Its 
teachers  had  found  that  many  promising  black  students 
were  compelled,  in  order  to  earn  their  bread,  to  leave 
school,  and  go  to  places  where  there  were  no  night- 
classes  or  schools  of  any  kind  to  which  negroes  were 
admitted.  They  found  also  that  the  ignorance,  degra 
dation,  and  immorality  that  often  surrounded  the 
scholars  at  home,  made  the  attempt  to  elevate  and 
refine  them  during  school  hours  as  hopeless  as  the 
labours  of  Sisyphus. 

To  meet  such  cases  the  Association  conceived  the 
idea  of  institutions  akin  to  Cornell  University,  with 
which  Goldwin  Smith  is  connected,  where  manual 
labour  should  be  associated  with  study ;  where,  there 
fore,  the  students  could  support  themselves,  and  where 
they  might  be  surrounded  by  the  refining  influences  of 
a  Christian  home. 

Q 


242  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION. 

Accordingly,  as  a  first  experiment,  a  farm  of  120 
acres  of  choice  land  was  purchased  at  Hampton,  in  the 
State  of  Virginia,  at  an  expense  of  $45,000  ;  additional 
buildings  were  erected  upon  it,  a  practical  farmer  was 
got  to  direct  the  farming  operations,  and  a  staff  of 
teachers  was  appointed  for  the  school  and  college. 

The  institution  had  not  been  opened  many  weeks 
before  it  had  more  black  students  than  provision  had 
been  made  for.  It  took  a  step  in  advance  of  even  its 
prototype  at  Ithaca,  by  admitting  students  of  both 
sexes.  The  first  season  was  a  bad  one  for  farm  produce, 
but  the  result  of  the  experiment  was  most  encouraging. 
The  male  students  earned  during  the  first  term  and 
vacation  more  than  a  dollar  a  week  above  their  ex 
penses.  The  female  students  during  the  same  period 
fell  a  little  short  of  their  expenses  ;  but  in  the  next 
term  and  vacation  they  earned  nearly  a  dollar  a  week 
over  cost,  while  the  male  students  earned  a  weekly  sur 
plus  of  about  $3.  During  both  terms  the  students 
advanced  rapidly  with  their  studies,  and  showed  steady 
progress  in  character  and  deportment.  This  institution, 
embodying  the  idea  of  self-help  as  a  means  of  culture, 
and  training  the  negro  not  only  to  study,  but  to  habits 
of  cleanliness,  industry,  economy,  and  Christian  purity 
of  life,  is  likely  to  prove  the  germ  of  an  important 
movement.  It  is  a  little  seed  planted  in  a  vast  field  of 
promise.  Provision  is  made  for  a  three-years'  course  of 
study.1-  The  students,  whose  numbers  have  increased 

1  The  following  are  the  studies  of  written  commenced  ;  first  lessons  in 

the  different  years  : —  grammar  ;  physical  geography,  with 

f<  First  Year. — Reading;  analysis  map-drawing  ;  object  lessons  ;  vocal 

of   sounds  and  vocal  gymnastics;  music;  rhetorical  exercises;  general 

writing  ;  spelling,  with  definitions  ;  exercises  ;  gymnastics, 
punctuation  ;    oral  arithmetic  and          "  Second  Year. — The  studies  of 


NEGRO  STRENGTH  AND  WEAKNESS.  243 

now  to  between  seventy  and  eighty,  are  engaged,  on  an 
average,  eight  hours  a  day, — four  in  school,  and  four  in 
manual  labour.  Speaking  generally,  the  morning  is  de 
voted  to  labour,  the  afternoon  to  classes,  and  the  evening 
to  reading  and  study.  The  male  students  work  on  the 
farm  and  in  the  mechanical  shop ;  the  female  students 
do  all  the  house-work,  and  are  taught  knitting,  sewing, 
and  dressmaking.  There  is  a  Normal  department,  where 
those  who  are  anxious  to  become  teachers  receive  spe 
cial  instruction.  They  are  already  the  principal  teachers 
of  a  large  and  flourishing  coloured  school  in  the  imme 
diate  neighbourhood. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  sketch  that  the 
American  Missionary  Association  has  much  in  common 
with  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  It  has,  indeed,  worked 
hand-in-hand  with  the  Government  agency;  and  General 
Howard,  the  chief  of  the  Bureau,  has  been  one  of  its 
best  friends.  But  the  distinctive  character  of  the  Asso 
ciation  is  that  it  is  a  Missionary  agency,  and  associates 
Christian  teaching  with  all  its  operations.  The  extreme 
importance  of  this  will  be  manifest  to  every  one  who 
is  acquainted  with  the  negro  character.  The  negro's 
strength,  and  also  his  weakness,  lie  in  his  emotional 

the  first  year  contiimed  and  carried  and  book-keeping  ;  exercises  in  oral 
forward  ;  miscellaneous  reading  ;  and  written  arithmetic,  and  in  geo- 
grammar  and  analysis ;  letter-writ-  graphy ;  natural  science,  with  lee- 
ing  and  composition  ;  drafts  of  busi-  tures  ;  lectures  on  agriculture  and 
ness  papers ;  lectures  on  physiology,  agricultural  chemistry,  with  expe- 
with  charts  ;  lectures  on  agriculture  riments  by  pupils  ;  rhetorical  exer- 
and  agricultural  chemistry,  with  cises ;  vocal  music  ;  gymnastics ; 
analysis  of  soils  ;  vocal  music  ;  gym-  exercises  in  teaching  classes,  to  deve- 
nastics  ;  general  and  rhetorical  exer-  lop  power  of  expression ;  and  actual 
cises  ;  exercises  in  teaching.  teaching  in  the  Butler  and  Lincoln 
"  Third  Year. — General  reading  ;  Model  Schools,  in  the  vicinity  of 
composition  and  orations  ;  instruc-  the  institution." 
tion  in  practical  business  methods 


244  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION. 

nature.  I  never  saw  such  religious  enthusiasm  and 
such  strong  Christian  faith  in  the  midst  even  of  ignor 
ance  and  degradation  as  I  saw  amongst  these  freedmen. 
But  this  very  feature  of  their  character  tends  to  make 
religion  a  matter  of  mere  excitement,  and  convert  their 
religious  services  into  scenes  of  frenzy  and  confusion. 
It  also  lays  the  negro  peculiarly  open  to  the  tempta 
tions  of  intemperance  and  lust.  Hence  the  necessity 
there  is  for  a  training  that  shall  teach  this  impulsive 
nature  self-control,  and  change  its  religious  frenzy  into 
real  Christian  activity.  The  Missionary  Association 
has  found  itself  compelled,  in  the  presence  of  so  much 
ignorance,  to  devote  itself  mainly,  in  the  meantime,  to 
common  school-work,  teaching  the  negroes  to  read  and 
write,  as  a  condition  indispensable  to  future  progress. 
But  with  all  this  work  it  associates  moral  and  religious 
training.  It  builds  chapels  where  it  can  along  with  its 
schools,  it  has  evangelists  at  all  its  centres  of  activity, 
and  its  teachers  are  all  members  of  evangelical  churches, 
and  teach  in  its  Sunday  schools.  It  anticipates  that, 
under  proper  training,  the  religious  enthusiasm  of  the 
coloured  man  will  contribute  an  important  element  to 
American  Christianity.  It  is  also  of  opinion  that  the 
best  hope  for  the  evangelization  of  the  African  race  lies 
in  the  education  of  the  freedmen.  One  of  its  most 
devoted  missionaries — too  sanguine,  perhaps,  but  still 
looking  in  the  direction  from  which  hope  comes — said 
to  me, '"  Sir,  I  have  laboured  amongst  these  people  for 
eight  years,  and  I  am  full  of  hope.  Multitudes  of  them 
are  crying  for  education  and  the  gospel.  If  we  give  it 
them  now  while  they  are  crying  for  it,  we  shall  soon 
have  thousands  of  educated  blacks  at  work  amongst 
their  own  people  here,  and  going  as  missionaries  to 


HOPE  FROM  NEGRO  CULTURE.         245 

Africa.  Yes,  sir,  if  the  Church  did  her  duty  now,  we 
should  see  the  gospel  in  fifty  years  hence  preached  by 
black  men  over  all  Ethiopia." 

The  American  Missionary  Association  carries  on  its 
great  work  at  an  annual  expense  of  about  $350,000, 
for  which  it  depends  entirely,  year  by  year,  on  the 
voluntary  liberality  of  Christian  people  in  America  and 
in  our  own  country. 


246          NOKTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 


XXIII. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 

I  SPENT  some  weeks  travelling  through  North  Ca 
rolina,  visiting  the  towns  of  Ealeigh,  Charlotte,  and 
Wilmington,  and  some  of  the  settlements  in  the  in 
terior.  The  State  of  North  Carolina  is  about  the  size 
of  England,  and  has  rich  and  varied  resources,  which, 
in  spite  of  her  being  so  old  a  colony,  are  still  waiting 
for  development.  The  "  Eip  Van  Winkle  State"  has 
got  an  awakening  now,  and  slavery  will  no  longer  retard 
her  progress  by  diverting  her  proper  share  of  white 
immigration  into  the  Free  States.  North  Carolina  has 
gold,  iron,  and  coal  in  abundance ;  she  grows  wheat, 
rye,  barley,  Indian  corn,  and  flax;  and  in  some  im 
portant  points  takes  precedence  of  the  fertile  States 
around  her.  She  has  advantage  over  Virginia  in  being 
able  to  produce  cotton ;  over  South  Carolina  in  being 
able  to  produce  tobacco  ;  and  over  Tennessee  in  being 
able  to  produce  rice.  She  has  also  vast  forests  of  pitch- 
pine,  yielding  enormous  quantities  of  tar,  turpentine, 
and  lumber.  She  gets  the  name,  indeed,  of  the  Tar 
State,  and  her  people  are  nicknamed  Tar-heels.1  In 

1  During  the  war,   her  soldiers  lina  regiment  was  marching  past, 

used  to  be  quizzed  on  this  score,  "  No  ;  General  Lee  has  used  it  all 

but  they  could  turn  the  laugh  at  up,  putting  it  in  the  trenches  here." 

times  upon  their  banterers.    "Say,  "Ah!    what's  that  for?"      "To 

got  any  tar  left  ?"  cried  some  Vir-  make  the  Virginian  soldiers  stick 

giiiian  troops,  when  a  North  Caro-  to  their  posts." 


WANT  OF  POKTS.  247 

the  back  country  I  went  through  some  of  her  "  turpen 
tine  orchards/' — tracts  of  pine- forest,  where  the  trees  are 
"  boxed"  for  turpentine.  A  cavity  like  a  bowl  is  cut 
in  the  side  of  each  tree  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground;  the  turpentine  gathers  in  this,  and  is  ladled 
out  into  buckets  by  the  "  turpentine  farmer."  In  some 
parts  of  the  forest  you  find  thousands  of  trees  "  boxed" 
in  this  way.  Every  year  more  of  the  bark  immediately 
above  the  cavity  is  chopped  off,  to  stimulate  the  outflow 
of  juice,  till  the  tree  is  dying.  When  no  more  turpen 
tine  is  to  be  got,  the  pines  are  hewn  down  and  the 
stumps  set  on  fire,  to  clear  the  land  for  cultivation. 

The  soil  in  some  parts  of  the  State  is  very  sandy, 
but  experiments  are  being  largely  made  in  the  plant 
ing  of  a  native  vine  called  Scuppernoug,  which  is 
found  to  flourish  in  soil  where  nothing  else  could  live. 
The  scuppernong  grape  produces  a  beautiful  straw- 
coloured  wine,  very  pleasant  to  the  taste;  and  it  is 
anticipated  that  this  will  by-and-by  become  a  great  and 
lucrative  trade.  Land  suitable  for  the  culture  of  this 
vine  was  selling  at  eighteenpence  an  acre  ;  and  in  Rich 
mond  County  I  saw  a  man  who  was  making  a  capital 
living  out  of  it  on  land  utterly  useless  for  anything  else. 
It  is  believed  by  some  of  the  planters  that  the  scup 
pernong  grape  is  destined  to  take  the  place  of  cotton 
in  North  Carolina. 

One  thing  that  has  told  against  the  State  is  her  lack 
of  good  harbours.  She  has  several  navigable  rivers, — 
the  Cape  Fear  River  navigable  by  steam-boats  of  light 
draft  as  far  inland  as  Fayetteville  ;  but  their  mouths 
are  choked  with  sandy  shoals  and  bars,  that  make  the 
channels  tortuous  and  difficult  of  navigation.  She  has, 
therefore,  had  to  ship  much  of  her  produce  through 


248          NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 

Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  causing  them  to  get  credit 
for  much  that  belongs  truly  to  her. 

At  Ealeigh,  which  is  the  seat  of  the  State  govern 
ment,  I  found  another  Convention  of  mixed  black  and 
white  delegates,  similar  to  the  one  at  Eichmond,  sitting 
in  the  Assembly  House,  engaged  in  revising  the  Con 
stitution.  The  agitation  connected  with  the  recognition 
of  negro  rights  was  at  its  height,  and  the  reporters  of 
one  of  the  papers  (the  North  Carolinian)  had  just  been 
excluded  by  a  vote  of  Convention  from  the  reporters' 
seat,  because  the  paper  headed  its  daily  report  of  pro 
ceedings  with  the  title, — "  BONES  AND  BANJO  CONVEN 
TION;"  also  because  it  added  "  nigger"  to  the  name  of 
every  coloured  delegate ;  and  because  it  called  him, 
as  the  practice  always  was  with  slaves,  by  his  Christian 
name,  thus,  "  Jim  Harris  (nigger)." 

I  got  unexpectedly  mixed  up  myself  with  a  new 
phase  of  the  agitation  in  rather  an  odd  way.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  Ealeigh  had 
asked  me  to  lecture  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  and 
applied  to  the  Convention  for  the  use  of  the  place  in 
which  its  meetings  were  held.  I  happened  to  be  pre 
sent  that  day,  and  heard  the  application  read.  The 
president  said  he  supposed  there  would  be  no  difficulty 
about  granting  it,  when  one  of  the  negro  members  rose 
to  ask  if  at  the  proposed  meeting  the  distinction  be 
tween  white  and  coloured  people  was  to  be  made. 
Black  men  had  as  good  a  right  to  sit  in  the  body  of 
the  hall  as  white  men,  and  if  they  were  to  be  refused 
admission  or  sent  up  into  the  galleries  as  in  slave 
days,  he  would  protest  against  the  house  being  granted. 
Thereupon  ensued  a  lively  dispute  between  the  two 
parties,  which  was  stopped  by  the  president  declaring 


D.  H.  HILL.  249 

that  he  would,  by  the  power  vested  in  him,  grant  the 
use  of  the  House  on  his  own  responsibility.  In  the 
meantime,  however,  word  was  brought  that  the  Governor 
had  offered  the  Senate  Chamber,  where,  accordingly,  the 
meeting  was  held.  The  papers  seemed  to  regard  with 
a  horror  which  it  is  difficult  for  a  Scotchman  to  under 
stand,  this  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  negroes  to  initiate 
social  as  well  as  political  equality. 

From  Ealeigh  I  went  on  to  Charlotte,  a  nourishing 
little  city  farther  to  the  west,  and  celebrated  as  the 
place  where  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  (of  Indepen 
dence)  was  issued  in  1775.  Charlotte  had  fortunately 
escaped  the  ravages  of  Sherman's  army.  The  people, 
on  the  way  to  Charlotte,  declared  that  her  escape  was 
owing  to  the  impassable  condition  in  which  she  always 
keeps  her  roads.  The  roads  are  certainly  bad,  and 
Charlotte  certainly  escaped,  but  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect  between  the  two  facts  I  will  not  vouch  for. 

At  Charlotte  I  met  two  of  Stonewall  Jackson's 
brothers-in-law, — General  D.  H.  Hill,  who  was  one  of 
his  corps  commanders,  and  Captain  Toe  Morrison,  who 
was  on  his  staff.  I  found  Hill  editing  a  monthly  journal, 
The  Land  we  Love;  and  the  Captain,  a  fair-corn  plexioned, 
blue-eyed  youth,  acting  as  his  sub-  editor,  but  preparing 
to  leave  for  California,  to  find  a  home  in  "  the  sunset 
land."  Hill  is  a  small,  lithe,  resolute-looking  man,  was 
a  sharp  disciplinarian,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being 
a  stubborn  and  desperate  fighter. 

One  of  his  officers,  Colonel  Hall,  said  he  never  knew 
a  man  of  firmer  nerve  or  one  who  faced  death  with 
more  coolness. 

At  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  he  saw  him,  in  the  face 
of  a  murderous  fire  from  the  enemy,  ride  slowly,  with  a 


250          NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 

cigar  in  his  mouth,  across  a  wide  field  between  the  two 
lines.  When  he  reached  the  copse  where  Hall  and 
another  officer  were  standing,  they  expostulated  with 
him  for  so  reckless  an  exposure  of  his  life. 

"  I  did  it  for  a  purpose/'  said  Hill,  coolly.  "  I  saw 
that  our  men  were  wavering,  and  I  wanted  to  give  them 
confidence." 

Hill  was  blamed  for  being  as  reckless  of  his  men's 
lives  as  of  his  own.  His  charges  were  made  with  great 
fury,  and  he  would  charge  again  and  again,  as  long  as 
there  was  a  chance  of  victory.  Before  the  war  he  was 
mathematical  professor  at  Lexington ;  previous  to  that, 
I  believe,  a  Judge-advocate.  The  versatility  of  the 
American  genius  is  wonderful.  The  General  is 
author  of  an  admirable  work  on  the  Crucifixion,  in 
which  he  seeks  to  establish  the  accuracy  of  the  Scrip 
ture  narrative  by  dealing  with  it  as  in  a  court  of  jus 
tice,  calling  witnesses,  cross-examining,  looking  at  the 
case  on  both  sides,  and  summing  up.  I  heard  this  book 
highly  spoken  of  throughout  Carolina.  He  had  a  com 
panion  volume  ready  on  the  Eesurrection,  but  the  out 
break  of  the  war  prevented  its  publication.  Hill  is  one 
of  the  rigid  old-school  Presbyterians  of  the  South. 

Iii  the  same  little  city  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
and  hearing  Zebulon  B.  Vance,  one  of  the  most  famous 
orators  and  politicians  of  North  Carolina. 

Vance  is  a  great  favourite  with  the  people,  and  has 
been  the  popular  candidate  at  one  time  or  another  for 
almost  every  office  of  any  importance  in  the  State. 
Many  amusing  stories  are  told  about  him.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  stumping  the  State  against  Colonel 
C — .  In  one  of  the  western  counties,  at  a  meeting  in 
the  open  air,  the  Colonel  appeared  on  the  ground  with 


JUMPING  INTO  OFFICE.  251 

a  keg  of  whisky,  which  produced  such  a  strong  diver 
sion  in  his  favour,  that  Vance  was  soon  left  with  a  mere 
handful  of  auditors.  Seeing  that  something  must  "be 
done,  he  stopped  his  speech,  said  he  felt  stiff,  and  chal 
lenged  those  around  him  to  a  jump.  The  Americans 
have  all  a  love  of  the  grotesque,  and  the  very  absurdity 
of  the  proposal  made  it  the  more  acceptable.  A  line 
was  drawn,  and  Vance  and  his  handful  of  supporters 
were  soon  busily  engaged  in  trying  who  could  take  the 
longest  jump — a  game  in  which  Vance,  being  something 
of  an  athlete,  excelled.  This  singular  proceeding  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  some  in  the  adjoining  crowd, 
who,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  came  over  to  see  what 
the  fun  was.  This  drew  the  eyes  of  others,  and  pre 
sently  of  more,  till  in  a.  few  minutes  almost  the  whole 
body  of  electors  was  crowding  round  to  see  the  sport, 
leaving  the  Colonel  with  no  auditory  but  his  empty 
keg.  There  was  no  resource  but  to  follow  the  people 
and  try  to  get  them  back. 

"  Here  comes  the  Colonel,"  cried  some  in  the  crowd. 
"  Clear  the  way  for  the  Colonel ;  he  's  going  to  jump." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  said  the  Colonel,  "  I  consider  this 
a  most  undignified  proceeding." 

Undignified  ? — when  some  of  the  Free  and  Enlight 
ened  had  just  been  at  it.  The  remark  was  not  received 
with  favour. 

"  If  you  air  too  proud  to  jump  with  us,"  cried  one,  "  I 
reckon  you  air  too  proud  to  suit  this  here  county." 

"Oh,  I  didn't  mean  that,"  said  the  Colonel.  "I'll 
jump  if  the  electors  wish  it." 

The  pacified  crowd  cleared  a  way,  and  some  one, 
amidst  loud  applause,  proposed  that  the  vote  should  be 
given  to  the  candidate  who  jumped  farthest. 


252          NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 

This  sealed  the  Colonel's  fate.  Tall,  stiff,  and  unused 
to  this  kind  of  exercise,  he  had  no  chance  against  his 
supple  opponent,  and  Vance  came  in  at  the  top  of  the 
poll.  Vance  speaks  of  it  himself  as  the  time  he 
"jumped  into  office." 

On  another  occasion  his  re-election  was  vehemently 
opposed,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  neglected  his  official 
duties.  His  opponent,  whose  forte  lay  in  vituperation, 
compared  Vance  to  the  unfruitful  tree  ;  fit  only  to  be  cut 
down  and  cast  into  the  fire,  and  wound  up  with  a  tor 
rent  of  coarse  invective.  Vance  replied  that  his  oppon 
ent  had  forgotten  the  rest  of  his  gospel  story  about  the 
unfruitful  tree,  for  when  the  lord  of  the  vineyard 
wanted  it  cut  down,  the  wise  gardener  advised  him  to  let 
it  stand  another  year  till  he  had  digged  about  it  and 
dunged  it.  "  Now,"  said  Vance,  making  his  only  allu 
sion  to  his  opponent's  coarseness,  "  last  year  I  had  the 
other  candidate  digging  about  me,  and  this  year  I  have 
this  candidate  dunging  about  me.  Let  the  unfruitful 
tree  stand  one  year  more  till  we  see  the  result."  He 
was  allowed  to  stand. 

My  first  sight  of  Vance  was  in  a  friend's  office  in  rear 
of  a  large  hardware  store.  The  ex-Governor^with  that 
disregard  of  conventional  forms  which  continually  sur 
prises  and  amuses  a  stranger  in  America,  was  sitting 
astride  of  a  rough  wooden  chair  with  his  face  the  wrong 
way,  and  while  he  talked  to  his  friend  who  kept  the 
store,  and  was  also  an  insurance  agent  and  a  medical 
practitioner,  and  possibly  various  other  things,  he  was 
amusing  himself  by  carving  the  corner  of  the  chair  with 
his  whittl ing-knife.  He  is  a  tall,  handsome  man,  with 
hard  head  and  lurid-gleaming  eyes  of  peculiar  intensity. 
In  manner  he  is  exceedingly  easy  and  frank,  and  his 


VANCE'S -TABLE -TALK.  253 

conversation   is  full  of  funny  experiences  and  anec 
dotes.1 

Speaking  of  his  military  experience, — for  Vance  com 
manded  a  rebel  regiment  during  the  war, — he  said  that 
he  and  his  troops  left  the  place  with  a  baggage  train  a 
mile  long,  and  came  back  with  nothing  but  what  they 
had  upon  their  backs,  and  not  much  there.  "  Only 
some  few,"  he  said,  "who  expected  promotion,  retained 
an  extra  shirt."  Some  of  the  poor  fellows  had  not  got 
their  clothes  changed  for  a  month.  Even  officers  had 
sometimes  to  content  themselves  with  "  a  dry  wash,"- 
that  is,  taking  off  their  woollen  shirts  and  flapping  them 
against  the  saddle,  to  shake  the  vermin  out.  In  camp, 
he  said,  you  would  often  see  men  holding  their  shirts  up 
and  examining  them  in  the  light.  This  was  called 
"  skirmish  drill/'  or  "  reading  linen." 

I  attended  a  political  meeting  held  in  Charlotte  one 

1  Here  are  some  of  them : — Speak-  "Advance!     I'm  not  going  in 
ing  of  sticking  to  one's  post,  there  there  to  be  drowned.     Come  out, 
was  an  Irish  confederate  in  the  6th  and  be  relieved." 
South    Carolina,   who  was    placed  "  I  mustn't.   The  lieutenant  tould 
sentry  on  the  beach  at  Siillivan's  me  I  wasn't  to  stir  from  my  post 
Island,  with  orders  to  walk  between  till  I  was  first  relieved." 
two  points,  and  to  let  no  one  pass  "Then,"  cried  the  corporal,  be- 
without  the  counter-sign,  which,  for  ginning   to  move  off,    "I'll  leave 
safety's  sake,  was  to  be  whispered.  you  there  all  night." 
It   seemed  that  they  had  forgotten  "Begorra,  you  won't,"   shouted 
all    about  the    tide,  for  when  the  Patrick,     levelling     his     musket, 
corporal  came  round  with  the  relief  "  Halt !  or  I  '11  put  a  hole  in  ye  ; 
guard,    he   discovered   Patrick,    in  them 's  my  orders.     No  one  is  to 
the  moonlight,  up  to  the  waist  in  pass  without  the  counter-sign,  and 
water.  it 's  to  be  given  in  whisper." 

"Who  goes  there?"  cried  Pat-  There  was  no  help  for  it.     The 

rick.  shivering  corporal  had  to  wade  out. 

"Relief,"  shouted  the  corporal.  Some   of   our  boys,   who  didn't 

"Advance,  thin,"  cried  the  de-  know  much  else,  had  fine  heads  for 

lighted  Irishman.     "Advance,  and  soldiering.      After    the    battle    of 

give  the  counter-sign."  Shai-psburg,  a  number  of  men  who 


254          NORTH  CAROLINA  AND  SONS. 

evening,  where  Vance  was  one  of  the  speakers.  He  had 
not  been  advertised  to  appear,  but  the  people  saw  that 
he  was  present,  and  when  the  first  speaker  finished, 
there  were  continued  cries  of  "  Vance  !  Vance  ! "  which 
compelled  him  to  take  the  platform.  His  power  over 
the  audience  was  astonishing.  The  first  half-dozen 
words  he  uttered — "  Fellow-citizens,  I  once  heard  of  an 
Irishman " — excited  a  roar  of  laughter  before  any  one 
had  the  remotest  idea  of  what  the  story  was.  He  kept 
the  people  laughing  and  cheering  almost  incessantly. 
When  he  came  to  speak  of  the  oppression  of  the  South, 
he  lashed  himself  into  a  state  of  great  excitement,  and 
strode  up  and  down  the  platform  gesticulating  with 
such  energy  that  the  chairman  had  to  back  his  seat- 
more  than  once  to  get  out  of  danger.  Vance  has  great 
power  of  satire.  One  picture  he  drew  of  a  political 
opponent  paddling  out  in  mid-ocean  on  a  single  plank, 

had  won  laurels  were  examined  with  ever  they  saw  him,  by  greeting  him 

a  view  to  promotion.  One  of  them  with  a  universal  "  ba-a,  ba-a,"  as  if 

was  found  so  wofully  deficient  in  his  a  whole  flock  of  bell-wethers  were 

education  that  it  was  moved  that  at  his  back.  One  time,  coming  up 

the  Board  pass  on  to  the  next  can-  with  the  Federals  at  Mumfordsville, 

didate.  the  troops  were  drawn  up  in  line  of 

"President,"  said  the  man,  ex-  battle.  That  fearful  pause  before  a 

citedly,  "  I  can't  read  or  write  ;  I've  fight  generally  silenced  the  most  in- 

never  been  vaccinated ;  I  don't  veterate  joker.  But  as  fate  wo^^ld 

know  about  tactics  ;  but,  by — ,  I'll  have  it,  just  at  that  moment  the 

undertake  to  whip  any  man  on  this  commissary  appeared,  riding  slowly 

Board."  down  the  line,  with  a  face  of  awful 

Men  will  have  their  fun  sometimes  solemnity,  suited  to  the  occasion, 

in  the  very  face  of  death.  During  Presently  the  universal  silence  was 

one  campaign  in  Kentucky,  the  broken  by  a  timid  "  ba-a "  from 

soldiers  of  one  regiment  were  sup-  some  one  in  the  ranks.  Another 

plied  with  mighty  tough  mutton.  "  ba-a  "  joined  chorus,  the  cry  was 

It  was  awful.  But  the  commissary  caught  up  all  along  the  line,  and  in 

would  give  them  nothing  else,  and  the  midst  of  a  universal  "ba-a" 

they  had  to  eat  it.  They  avenged  the  commissary,  putting  spurs  to 

themselves  on  the  commissary  when-  his  horse,  disappeared. 


VANCE  ON  THE  STUMP.  255 

and  warning  a  majestic  frigate  to  clear  the  way,  elicited 
tumultuous  applause,  and  caused  great  laughter  at  the 
expense  of  the  person  satirized. 

The  speech  was  rather  a  succession  of  happy  hits  than 
a  continued  argument.  Vance  said  himself,  in  conver 
sation  afterwards,  that  stump  bpeaking  spoiled  a  man 
for  deliberative  assemblies. 

"  On  the  stump,"  he  said,  "  you  have  to  confine  your 
self  to  what  every  man  with  a  ragged  shirt  and  one 
suspender  can  understand." 

His  own  rule,  if  a  lengthy  argument  became  indis 
pensable,  was,  as  soon  as  he  saw  any  one  whittling  or 
shifting  his  position,  to  say,  "  But  this  reminds  me  of 
an  anecdote." 

"  The  man  brightens  up  at  that,"  said  Vance,  "  and 
you  gain  ten  minutes  for  the  rest  of  your  argument." 

He  thought,  however,  that  all  true  oratory  was 
addressed  to  the  audience  before  you;  and  that  the 
newspapers  and  the  telegraph,  which  made  the  speaker 
think  of  another  audience  that  should  get  his  speech 
minus  himself,  and  "  read  it  in  cold  blood,"  was  putting 
eloquence  to  death. 

Vance  was  Governor  of  his  State  during  the  war, 
and,  to  his  honour  be  it  said,  was  one  of  the  loudest 
in  his  demand  for  inquiry  into  the  alleged  treatment 
of  Federal  prisoners  at  Andersonville,  and  in  his  con 
demnation  of  such  treatment  should  it  turn  out  to  be 
as  reported. 


256       CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY. 


XXIV. 

CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY. 

AT  Wilmington,  of  blockade-running  celebrity, 
where  I  spent  two  or  three  weeks  with  hospitable 
friends,  I  met  the  well-known  Captain  Maffitt  of  the 
Florida,  whose  career  upon  the  high  seas  excited  so 
much  attention  at  the  time. 

I  had  heard  a  good  deal  about  Maffitt  in  the  North, 
where  he  was  regarded  by  many  as  perhaps  the  ablest 
naval  officer  who  had  lent  his  sword  to  the  Confe 
deracy. 

He  held,  however,  strong  Southern  views,  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and,  in 
1862,  took  command  of  the  Florida  (then  called  the 
Oreto),  and  sailed  from  Nassau  with  twenty  men  all 
told,  intending  to  make  for  some  Confederate  port, 
where  he  could  have  the  steamer  equipped,  and  in 
vested  with  a  proper  nationality.  Two  days  after 
leaving  Nassau,  yellow  fever  broke  out  on  board ; 
twelve  out  of  the  twenty  men  died,  and  Maffitt  himself 
prostrated  by  the  plague  and  not  expected  to  live. 
Nevertheless,  he  proceeded  to  Havana,  and  sailed 
thence  for  Mobile,  where  the  Florida  made  her  appear 
ance  on  the  4th  of  September  off  Mobile  bar.  Here 
she  was  encountered  by  three  Federal  men-of-war,  and 
ordered  to  heave-to.  Maffitt,  who  (though  scarcely 


MAFFITT  OF  THE  "  FLORIDA."  257 

able  after  the  fever  to  support  himself  without  assist 
ance)  had  resumed  command,  paid  no  attention,  but 
held  on  his  course.  Immediately  the  squadron  opened 
fire  with  deadly  effect,  shot  after  shot  striking  the  ship, 
shattering  her  boats,  and  damaging  her  hull,  rigging, 
and  spars.  Eleven  men  were  wounded,  and  one  man's 
head  was  torn  off  by  an  eleven- inch  shell ;  but  Maffitt 
held  on  and  got  his  command  into  port. 

Before  the  Florida  was  equipped  and  again  ready 
for  sea,  the  Federal  force  outside  had  been  increased 
from  three  to  thirteen  heavily  armed  steamers,  and 
the  Commodore  reported  to  the  Government  at  Wash 
ington  that  there  was  nothing  to  fear,  as  the  Florida 
was  sealed  up  hermetically  in  Mobile  Bay.  Maffitt, 
however,  early  one  morning  got  up  steam,  moved  out 
just  before  dawn,  and  was  discovered  steaming  right 
through  the  heart  of  the  formidable  fleet  that  had  been 
on  the  watch  for  him.  Such  a  firing  and  racing  and 
chasing  ensued,  as  probably  the  Mexican  Gulf  had  rarely 
seen  before ;  but  Maffitt,  with  his  little  steamer,  escaped, 
and  was  soon  forth  on  his  terrible  career,  lighting  up 
the  ocean  with  the  flames  of  captured  and  burning  ships. 

I  heard  in  New  York  a  story  of  an  extraordinary 
coincidence  in  connection  with  Maffitt. 

A  gentleman  on  his  way,  with  his  wife,  from  New 
York  to  some  port  in  the  Southern  seas,  was  expressing 
to  a  friend  his  fervent  hope  that  no  "  Confederate 
pirate  "  would  catch  sight  of  them. 

"  Well,"  said  his  friend,  "  God  help  you  if  Semmes 
gets  his  clutches  on  you.  But  I'll  tell  you  what  I 
can  do.  I  know  Maffitt,  and  if  you  like  I  will  give 
you  a  note  of  introduction  to  him.  If  you  should  fall 
foul  of  the  Florida  it  may  serve  some  purpose." 

R 


258       CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALEY. 

He  wrote  out  the  note  more  in  fun  than  earnest,  and 
the  gentleman,  with  a  laugh,  took  it,  put  it  in  his 
pocket-book,  and  thought  no  more  about  it.  It  was  on 
the  tenth  or  eleventh  day  of  the  voyage  that  a  sus 
picious-looking  craft  hove  in  sight,  gave  chase,  and 
brought  their  ship  to  with  a  shot  across  her  bows.  A 
boat  came  off,  seized  the  ship,  took  off  all  on  board, 
and  set  her  on  fire.  When  the  gentleman  found  him 
self  with  his  fellow -captives  on  the  deck  of  the  cruiser, 
he  asked  what  ship  it  was,  and  found  that  it  was  no 
other  than  the  Florida,  to  the  commander  of  which  he 
had  got  the  introductory  note.  He  lost  no  time  in 
getting  the  letter  out  arid  presenting  it  to  Captain 
Maffitt.  The  Captain  read  it,  laughed,  shook  the 
gentleman's  hand,  gave  up  his  own  cabin  to  him  and 
his  wife,  and  paid  them  every  attention  till  an  oppor 
tunity  occurred  of  putting  them  ashore. 

I  asked  Captain  Maffitt  himself  if  the  story  was 
true.  He  said  it  was,  and  that  it  was  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  coincidences  he  had  ever  known  to 
occur. 

Maffitt  is  a  cultured  and  gentlemanly  man,  small- 
sized,  spare  in  figure,  with  a  fine  cast  of  head,  a  dark 
keen  eye,  a  strong  tuft  of  black  whisker  on  his  chin, 
and  a  firm  little  mouth  that  seemed  to  express  the 
energy  and  determination  of  his  character.  I  remember 
his  appearance  as  he  stepped  about  the  streets  of  Wil 
mington  in  his  short  military  cloak.  He  was  in 
reduced  circumstances,  having  staked  his  whole  fortune 
and  position  upon  the  lost  cause ;  but,  like  so  many  of 
his  old  military  and  naval  associates,  he  was  trying  his 
hand  at  business,  and  striving  to  reconcile  himself  to 
the  new  order  of  things. 


MAFFITT  OF  THE  "  FLORIDA."  259 

Speaking  of  the  war,  he  said, — "  The  grand  mistake 
of  the  South  was  neglecting  her  navy.  All  our  army 
movements  out  west  were  baffled  or  embarrassed  by 
the  armed  Federal  steamers  which  swarmed  on  western 
waters.  This  should  not  have  been.  Before  the  capture 
of  New  Orleans,  the  South  could  have  had  a  navy 
strong  enough  to  prevent  the  capture  of  that  city,  and 
hold  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  This  would 
have  prevented  many  disastrous  battles,  and  made  Sher 
man's  march  through  the  country  impossible. 

"  But  nobody  here,"  he  said,  "  would  believe  at  the 
beginning  that  a  great  war  was  before  us.  South  Ca 
rolina  seceded  first,  and  improvised  a  navy  consisting 
of  two  tug-boats !  North  Carolina  followed  suit,  and 
armed  a  tug  and  a  passenger  boat !  Georgia,  Alabama, 
and  Louisiana  put  in  commission  a  handful  of  frail 
river  boats  that  you  could  have  knocked  to  pieces  with 
a  pistol-shot.  That  was  our  navy  !  Then  came  Con 
gress,  and  voted  money  to  pay  officers  like  myself  who 
had  left  the  Federal  navy,  but  it  voted  nothing  to  build 
or  arm  ships  for  us  to  command  ! 

"  Of  course  it  woke  up  by-and-by,  and  ordered  vessels 
to  be  built  here,  there,  and  everywhere ;  but  it  was  too 
late. 

"  And  yet,"  said  the  Captain,  proudly,  "  the  Confe 
derate  navy,  minute  though  it  was,  won  a  place  for 
itself  in  history.  The  credit  belongs  to  us  of  testing  in 
battle  the  invulnerability  of  iron-clads,  and  revolution 
izing  the  navies  of  the  world.  The  Merrimac  did  that. 
And  though  we  had  but  a  handful  of  light  cruisers, 
while  the  ocean  swarmed  with  armed  Federal  vessels, 
we  swept  Northern  commerce  from  the  seas. 

"  If  only,"  he  added,  "  the  old  usage  in  regard  to  sea 


260       CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY. 

prizes  in  neutral  ports  had  been  still  in  vogue,  we  should 
have  done  more,  and  the  pecuniary  gain  to  the  officers 
and  men  and  to  the  Confederate  Government  would 
have  been  immense." 

At  Wilmington  I  had  also  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
Confederate  General  Eansom,  who  had  held  command 
in  the  cavalry,  and  who  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the 
material  of  which  that  branch  of  the  service  was  com 
posed  when  it  first  took  the  field. 

"  They  were  almost  all,"  he  said,  "  gentlemen's  sons, 
splendidly  mounted,  and  accustomed  to  the  saddle  from 
infancy.  They  were  used  to  the  chase,  skilled  in  the 
handling  of  fire-arms,  and  full  of  noble  impulses."  He 
added,  "  It  only  needed  one  thing,  sir,  to  have  moulded 
that  incomparable  material  into  the  finest  body  of 
cavalry  the  world  has  ever  seen.  That  one  thing  was 
discipline.  For  want  of  that — from  sheer  neglect — and 
a  misconception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  conflict  that 
was  before  us,  the  chance  was  lost ;  and  our  cavalry,  in 
stead  of  being  what  it  should  have  been,  became  at  last, 
in  some  cases  at  least,  a  just  reproach  to  the  service." 

I  found  this  judgment  everywhere  confirmed.  The 
Confederate  cavalry  was  immeasurably  superior  at  first 
to  the  cavalry  which  the  North  had  to  extemporize, 
and  which  was  composed  to  a  large  extent  of  men  who 
did  not  know  how  to  sit  upon  a  horse's  back.  One 
lady  said  that  you  could  know  a  Federal  trooper  at  any 
distance  by  his  sitting  on  his  horse  like  a  grasshopper. 
But  year  by  year  the  Federal  cavalry  improved,  while 
the  Confederate  cavalry  deteriorated,  partly  owing  to 
the  impossibility  of  continuing  the  supply  of  such  men 
as  took  the  field  at  first,  and  partly  owing  to  want  of 
discipline,  till  at  last  it  threatened  to  fall  as  far  below 


QUIZZING  THE  CAVALRY.  2G1 

the  Federal  cavalry  in  real  efficiency  as  the  Federal 
cavalry  had  been  below  it  at  first. 

The  inutility  of  the  cavalry  became  a  by-word  in  the 
South ;  and  though  it  arose  to  a  large  extent  from  the 
changing  circumstances  of  modern  warfare  (for  it  will 
be  remembered  that  the  same  charge  was  brought 
against  our  own  cavalry  in  the  Crimea  prior  to  the 
famous  charge),  yet  it  did  not  save  them  from  the  deri 
sion  of  the  infantry. 

When,  on  the  advance  of  the  enemy's  infantry,  the 
cavalry  were  ordered  to  the  rear,  the  troops  generally 
greeted  them  with  shouts  of, — "  Here  come  the  butter 
milk  rangers ;  there 's  goin'  to  be  a  fight,  sartin,  when 
they  're  clearin'  out  o'  the  road." 

The  poor  dragoon  who  had  to  ride  alone  past  a  force 
of  infantry,  would  probably  have  preferred  running  the 
gauntlet  of  a  Federal  battery.  Out  of  a  hundred  of  the 
jokes  with  which  he  used  to  be  assailed,  take  one  : 

Man  in  the  ranks  to  cavalry  soldier  riding  by — "  Say, 
mister,  did  you  ever  see  a  Yankee  ? " 

Cavalryman  (sharply) — "  Yes,  I've  seen  a  Yankee, 
and  Yankees." 

Man  in  the  ranks — "  How 's  that  ?  Your  hoss  ain't 
lame  ?" 

Man  further  on — "  Hadn't  on  your  spurs,  maybe  ?" 

The  cavalrymen  were  ready  enough  at  times  to  joke 
at  their  own  expense.  One  of  them  was  travelling  by 
rail  with  two  friends  belonging  to  a  regiment  of  infantry. 
By --and- by  a  baby  in  the  car  lifted  up  its  shrill  voice, 
evidently  desiring  recourse  to  what  Mr.  Micawber  would 
have  called  the  maternal  fount.  The  noise  woke  another 
baby,  which  also  began  to  cry.  The  soldiers  got  restless, 
and  began  to  whisper  about  a  retreat.  (The  reader  will 


262       CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY. 

remember  that  the  construction  of  the  "  cars"  in  America 
allows  people  to  pass  from  one  car  to  another,  even 
when  the  train  is  at  full  speed).  The  cavalryman  voted 
for  immediate  flight ;  his  comrades  hesitated,  in  case  it 
might  offend  the  mothers. 

"  Wall,  boys,"  said  the  cavalryman,  "  I  reckon  it 's 
for  me  to  go  first.  I  'm  used  to  retreating  when  the 
infantry  opens  fire,"  and  led  the  way. 

This  story  is  also  told : — When  the  Mississippi 
cavalry,  retreating  from  Corinth,  had  joined  Pember- 
ton's  army  at  Grenada,  a  lad  came  riding  into  camp  one 
day  crying  out  to  the  soldiers  that  he  had  brought  im 
portant  news  from  head-quarters. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  A  flag  of  truce  from  Grant." 

"  From  Grant !     What  does  he  want  ?" 

"Nothing  much,"  said  young  Quiz,  "only  he  says 
he  wants  to  conduct  the  war  on  civilized  principles ; 
and  as  he  intends  to  shell  this  here  town,  he  requests 
that  the  women,  and  the  children,  and  the  Mississippi 
cavalry  be  carefully  removed  out  of  the  way  of  danger." 

The  lad  narrowly  escaped  with  his  ears. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  Confederate  horse 
as  well  as  foot  could  show  its  mettle  when  occasion 
called  for  it.  The  achievements  of  Ashby  and  Stuart 
and  Hampton  will  live  as  long  as  there  is  a  memory  of 
the  war.  But  the  use  of  cavalry  is  fast  changing,  and 
bodies  of  horse  can  never  accomplish  now  what  they 
were  capable  of  before  the  introduction  of  the  rifle. 

During  the  Confederate  war  they  made  several  im 
portant  raids,  and  often  served  as  eyes  and  ears  to  the 
army.  But  when  fighting  had  to  be  done,  the  cavalry 
generally  fought  on  foot,  merely  using  their  horses  for 


A  REMINISCENCE.  263 

rapid  locomotion.  Cavalry  engagements  were  few,  and 
confined  to  the  earlier  years  of  the  war.  The  battle  of 
Kelly's  Ford  under  Stuart,  and  the  Depot  fight  under 
Wade  Hampton,  were  the  most  noted.  General  Ransom 
said  that  in  these  engagements  sabre-strokes  were 
exchanged  freely,  but  that  the  revolver  was  the 
favourite  weapon.  He  said  the  revolvers  on  the  Con 
federate  side  were  mostly  those  captured  in  fight,  and 
that,  before  the  war  closed,  at  least  a  half  of  the  whole 
Confederate  army  had  equipped  itself  in  the  same  way 
with  weapons  taken  from  the  enemy.1 

Speaking  of  Jefferson  Davis,  the  General  gave  the 
following  personal  reminiscence : — "  One  day  when  I 
was  with  him  in  his  office,  a  telegram  in  cypher  was 
brought  in.  One  of  his  aides  was  summoned  to  trans 
late  it.  When,  in  the  course  of  a  few  minutes,  it  was 
handed  to  Mr.  Davis,  the  President  looked  at  it,  and 
suddenly,  with  more  feeling  than  I  ever  saw  him  betray, 
rose  from  his  seat,  and  with  both  hands  in  his  hair,  his 
eye  flashing,  and  every  feature  indicating  passionate 
disappointment,  cried,  '  Why  did  he  not  fight  ?  Why 
did  he  not  fight?  Every  step  backward  is  perilous/ 
With  a  strong  effort  of  self-control  he  calmed  himself, 
and  said,  with  another  glance  at  the  telegram,  '  He 
reports  himself  flanked.  Flanked !  Why  does  he  not, 
when  Sherman  separates  his  army,  fall  upon  him  and 
destroy  him?  But  it  is  useless  speaking  of  it  now.' 
He  handed  me  the  despatch.  It  was  from  General 

1  They  helped  themselves  to  more  the  enemy  out  of  a  copse  wood,  one 

than  arms  when  they  got  the  chance,  of  the  barefooted  men  took  careful 

and  in  their  ragged  condition  they  aim  and  fired.     The  instant  he  saw 

needed  it.     It  is  said  that  one  shoe-  his  man  fall,   he  cried  anxiously, 

less  regiment  got  a  nickname  from  the  "  Them  's  my  shoes  ! " 
following  circumstance  : — In  driving 


2C4       CONFEDERATE  NAVY  AND  CAVALRY. 

Joe  Johnston,  saying  in  substance  that  he  had  been 
out-flanked  and  compelled  to  fall  back  from  Dalton, 
Georgia,  and  that  5000  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  and  Mis 
souri  troops  had  deserted." 

Eansom  had  been  intimate  with  Jeb  Stuart ;  was  with 
him  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war ;  was  often  his  companion 
in  arms ;  and  bore  strong  testimony  to  his  personal 
character.  He  said, — "  Stuart  has  been  maligned.  He 
was  very  deferential  to  the  ladies,  but  he  was  chaste 
and  innocent.  He  was,  indeed,  a  thoroughly  Christian 
man.  I  have  slept  in  the  same  room  with  him  often, 
and  never  knew  him  go  to  bed  without  going  down  on 
his  knees  first  in  prayer.  He  never  swore  and  he 
never  drank.  Indeed,  he  was  so  rigorous  a  teetotaller 
that  if  there  was  liquor  used,  even  in  the  cooking  of  a 
dish,  he  would  not  taste  it." 

Stonewall  Jackson  regarded  Stuart  as  a  prince  among 
cavalry  leaders.  To  one  of  his  friends  he  said, — "  Ashby 
had  never  his  equal  on  the  charge.  But  he  never  had 
his  men  in  hand,  and  some  of  his  most  brilliant  exploits 
were  performed  by  himself  and  a  handful  of  his 
followers.  He  would  have  done  more  had  he  been  a 
disciplinarian ;  but  he  was  too  kind-hearted."  He 
added,  "  Stuart  is  my  ideal  of  a  cavalry  leader — 
prompt,  vigilant,  fearless."  When  he  fell  at  Chan- 
cellorsville,  he  expressly  desired  that  Stuart  should 
take  his  place  in  the  command. 

Stuart's  fame  as  a  soldier,  combined  with  his  hand 
some  form  and  graceful  manners,  made  him  the  idol  of 
Southern  ladies.  I  heard  many  of  them  speak  of  him 
with  the  glowing  enthusiasm  which  was  excited 
amongst  the  Jacobite  ladies  by  the  gallant  Prince 
Charlie. 


HISTOKY  OF  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT.  2C5 


XXV. 

HIGHLANDERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

NORTH  Carolina  was  long  a  favourite  field  for 
Highland  emigration.  More  than  a  hundred  and 
forty  years  ago,  when  Alexander  Clark,  of  Jura, 
went  out  to  North  Carolina  and  made  his  way  up  the 
Cape  Fear  Eiver  to  Cross  Creeks,1  he  found  already 
there  one  Hector  M'Neill  (known  as  Bluff  Hector,  from 
his  occupying  the  bluffs  over  the  river),  who  told  him 
of  many  others  settled  farther  back,  most  of  them 
exiles  from  Scotland,  consequent  on  the  troubles  that 
followed  the  downfall  of  the  Stuarts,  some  of  them 
Macdonalds  who  had  been  fugitives  from  the  massacre 
of  Glencoe.  The  numbers  were  largely  increased  by 
the  failure  of  the  Jacobite  Eebellion  in  1745.  The 
persecution  to  which  the  Highlanders  were  subjected 
after  the  scattering  of  the  clans  at  Culloden  made 
many  of  them  eager  to  escape  from  the  country ;  and 
when  the  Government,  after  the  execution  of  many 

1  This  place  has  had  three  names  name  of  Campbelton  was  given  it,  in 

— Cross   Creeks,   Campbelton,   and  consequence  of  many  of  the  settlers 

Fayetteville.     It  was  called   Cross  in  and  around  the  spot  being  emi- 

Creeks  from  the  curious  fact,  that  grants  from  Kintyre.     In  1784,  it 

two  streams  which  meet  there  seem  had  a  visit  from  the  famotis  Marquis 

to  cross  one  another  and  pass  round  Lafayette,    in    whose    honour    the 

a  patch  of  land  before  meeting  again.  inhabitants    changed  its  name   to 

In  1762,  when  it  was  constituted  a  Fayetteville,  by  which  it  has  since 

town  by  Act  of  State  Assembly,  the  been  known. 


2G6  HIGHLANDERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

captured  rebels,  granted  pardon  to  the  rest  on  condition 
of  their  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  emigrating  to 
the  plantations  of  America,  great  numbers  availed  them 
selves  of  the  opportunity.  They  were  followed  gradu 
ally  by  many  of  their  kith  and  kin,  till  the  vast  plains 
and  forest-land  in  the  heart  of  North  Carolina  were 
sprinkled  with  a  Gaelic-speaking  population. 

In  1775  the  Scotch  Colony  received  a  memorable 
accession  in  the  person  of  Flora  Macdonald,  who  with 
her  husband  and  children  had  left  Scotland  in  poverty 
to  seek  a  home  with  their  friends  in  the  American 
forests.  The  heroine  was  received  at  Wilmington  and 
at  various  points  along  her  route  with  Highland  hon 
ours  ;  and  the  martial  airs  of  her  native  land  greeted 
her  as  she  approached  Cross  Creeks,  the  little  capital  of 
the  Highland  settlement.  She  arrived,  however,  at  an 
unhappy  time.  The  troubles  between  Great  Britain 
and  her  colonies  were  coming  to  a  head,  and  in  a  few 
months  hostilities  began. 

It  is  somewhat  singular  that  many  of  these  Highland 
colonists — the  very  men  who  had  fought  against  the 
Hanoverian  dynasty  at  home — were  now  forward  to 
array  themselves  on  its  side.  But  they  had  been 
Jacobites  and  Conservatives  in  Scotland,  and  Conservat 
ism  in  America  meant  loyalty  to  the  King.  Many  of 
them,  however,  espoused  the  cause  of  Independence,  and 
the  declaration  prepared  in  the  county  of  Cumberland, 
immediately  after  the  famous  declaration  of  the  neigh 
bouring  county  of  Mecklenburg,  has  many  Highland 
names  attached.  The  crafty  Governor  of  the  colony, 
earing  the  spread  of  anti-British  sentiment,  and  know 
ing  the  influence  of  Flora  Macdonald  amongst  the  Scot 
tish  settlers,  commissioned  one  of  her  kinsfolk  (Donald 


FLORA  MACDONALD.  267 

Macdonald),  who  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Prince's 
army  in  1745,  to  raise  a  Highland  regiment  for  the 
King,  and  gave  the  rank  of  captain  to  Flora's  husband. 
This  identified  the  heroine  with  the  Royalist  party,  and 
had  the  effect  of  securing  the  adhesion  of  hundreds  of 
gallant  men  who  would  otherwise  have  held  back  or 
joined  the  other  side.  When  the  Royal  Standard  was 
raised  at  Cross  Creeks,  1500  Highlanders  assembled  in 
arms.  Flora,  it  is  said,  accompanied  her  husband,  and 
inspired  the  men  with  her  own  enthusiasm.  She  slept 
the  first  night  in  the  camp,  and  did  not  return  to  her 
home  till  she  saw  the  troops  begin  their  march.  The 
fate  that  awaited  this  gallant  little  force  is  known  to  all 
readers  of  history.  It  had  got  down  the  river  as  far  as 
Moore's  Creek,  on  its  way  to  join  Governor  Martin, 
when,  finding  further  advance  checked  by  a  force  of 
Revolutionists  under  Lillington  and  Caswell,  while 
another  under  Colonel  Moore  was  hurrying  up  in  pur 
suit,  it  was  driven  to  attack  the  enemy  in  front  on 
ground  of  his  own  choosing.  In  the  first  onslaught 
its  chief  officers  fell,  confusion  ensued,  and  after  a  severe 
struggle  the  Highlanders  were  routed.  Flora's  husband 
was  taken  prisoner,  and  thrown  into  Halifax  jail. 

Many  of  those  who  escaped  were  said  to  have  joined 
another  Highland  regiment  which  was  raised  for  the 
King,  under  the  title  of  the  North  Carolina  Highlanders, 
which  fought  the  Revolutionists  till  the  close  of  the 
war.  So  deeply  had  they  identified  themselves  with 
the  royal  cause,  that  when  the  war  was  ended  most  of 
them,  including  Flora  Macdonald  and  her  husband,  left 
America  and  returned  to  Scotland.1  Those  who  re 
mained  in  the  settlement,  divided  by  the  war,  were 

1  The  life  of  Flora  Macdonald  has      daughter,  in  the  form  of  an  autobio- 
been    published     by    her    grand-      graphy,  said  to  be  based  on  family 


2G8 


HIGHLANDERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


soon  reunited  by  peace,  became,  as  in  duty  bound,  good 
Eepublicans,  and  resumed  the  task  of  taming  the  savage 
wilderness  in  which  they  had  cast  their  lot. 

When  the  troubles  between  North  and  South  were 
gathering  to  a  head  in  1860,  the  Highlanders,  with  their 
conservative  instincts,  were  almost  to  a  man  opposed  to 
secession.  But,  taught  to  believe  that  their  allegiance 
was  due  primarily  not  to  the  Federal  Government  but 
to  the  State,  no  sooner  did  North  Carolina  go  out  than 
they,  with  Highland  loyalty,  followed;  and  no  men 
crowded  to  the  front  more  eagerly,  or  fought  more 
valiantly  or  more  desperately  to  the  bitter  end. 

Almost  every  man  of  them  I  met  had  served  in  the 
Confederate  army,  and  had  left  dead  brothers  or  sons 
on  the  battle-field.  Others,  following  the  example  of 


records.  The  following  is  the  pas 
sage  in  \vhich  the  Scottish  heroine 
is  made  to  describe  the  episode  in 
her  life  connected  with  America  : — 
"In  1775  my  husband  put  in 
practice  a  plan  he  and  I  had  often 
talked  over— that  of  joining  the 
emigrants  who  were  leaving  their 
native  hills  to  better  their  fortunes 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
We  were  induced  to  favour  this 
scheme,  more  particularly  as  a  suc 
cession  of  failures  of  the  crops  and 
unforeseen  family  expenses  rather 
cramped  our  small  income.  So, 
after  making  various  domestic  ar 
rangements,  one  of  which  was  to 
settle  our  dear  boy  Johnnie  under 
the  care  of  a  kind  friend — Sir  Alex 
ander  M'Kenzie  of  Delvin,  near  Dun- 
keld — until  he  was  of  age  for  an 
India  appointment,  we  took  ship  for 
North  America.  The  others  went 
with  us,  my  youngest  girl  excepted, 
whom  I  left  with  friends  ;  she  was 
only  nine  years  old.  Ann  was  a 


fine  young  woman,  and  my  sons  as 
promising  fellows  as  ever  a  mother 
could  desire.  Believe  me,  dear 
Maggie,  in  packing  the  things,  the 
Prince's  sheet  was  put  up  in  laven 
der,  so  determined  was  I  to  be  laid 
in  it  whenever  it  might  please  my 
Heavenly  Father  to  command  the 
end  of  my  days.  On  reaching  North 
Carolina,  Allan  soon  purchased  and 
settled  upon  an  estate ;  but  our 
tranquillity  was  ere  long  broken  up 
by  the  disturbed  state  of  the  coun 
try,  and  my  husband  took  an  active 
part  in  that  dreadful  War  of  Inde 
pendence.  The  Highlanders  were 
now  as  forward  in  evincing  attach 
ment  to  the  British  Government  as 
they  had  furiously  opposed  it  in 
former  years.  My  poor  husband, 
being  loyally  disposed,  was  treated 
harshly  by  the  opposite  party,  and 
was  confined  for  some  time  in  jail  at 
Halifax.  After  being  liberated,  he 
was  officered  in  a  loyal  corps— the 
North  Carolina  Highlanders ;  and 


A  CONFEDERATE  HIGHLANDER. 


269 


those  who  had  left  Scotland  after  the  downfall  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  America  after  the  triumph  of  the  Eevolu- 
tion,  had  left  the  States  altogether,  and  gone  off  to 
Mexico. 


Amongst  those  I  found  at  Wilmington  was  one  who 
was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  material  that  the  Highlands 
have  given  to  Carolina,  a  tall,  dark-visaged,  soldierly 
fellow — General  William  Macrae — whose  personal  val 
our  and.  splendid  handling  of  his  troops  in  battle  had 
caused  him  to  be  repeatedly  complimented  by  Lee  in 
general  orders.  He  enlisted  in  the  Monroe  Light  In 
fantry  in  1861  as  a  private  ;  fought  in  almost  all  the  great 
battles  of  the  war ;  and  before  it  closed  in  1865  had  risen 
to  the  rank  of  Brigadier- General.  At  Malvern  Hill  he 


Ithough  America  suited  me  and  the 
young  people,  yet  my  husband 
thought  it  advisable,  at  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  war,  to  quit  a  country 
that  had  involved  us  in  anxiety  and 
trouble  almost  from  the  first  month 
of  our  landing  on  its  shores.  So,  at 
a  favourable  season  for  departure, 
we  sailed  for  our  native  country,  all 
of  us,  excepting  our  sons  Charles 
and  Kanald,  who  were  in  New  York 
expecting  appointments,  which  they 
soon  after  obtained  ;  Alexander  was 
already,  dear  boy,  at  sea.  Thus  our 
family  was  reduced  in  number.  On 
the  voyage  home  all  went  on  well 
until  the  vessel  encountered  a  French 
ship  of  war,  and  we  were  alarmed  on 
finding  that  an  action  was  likely  to 
take  place.  The  captain  gave  orders 
for  the  ladies  to  remain  below,  safe 
from  the  skirmish  ;  but  I  could  not 
rest  quiet,  knowing  my  husband's 
spirit  and  energy  would  carry  him 
into  the  thick  of  the  fighting  ;  there 
fore  I  rushed  up  the  companion- 


ladder— I  think  it  was  so  called — 
and  insisted  on  remaining  on  deck 
to  share  my  husband's  fate,  what 
ever  that  might  be.  Well,  dear 
Maggie,  thinking  the  sailors  were 
not  so  active  as  they  ought  to  have 
been— and  they  appeared  crest-fal 
len,  as  if  they  expected  a  defeat — I 
took  courage  and  urged  them  on  by 
asserting  their  rights  and  the  cer 
tainty  of  victory.  Alas  !  for  my 
weak  endeavours  to  be  of  service  I 
was  badly  rewarded,  being  thrown 
down  in  the  noise  and  confusion  on 
deck.  I  was  fain  to  go  below,  suf 
fering  excruciating  agony  in  my  arm, 
which  the  doctor,  who  was  fortu 
nately  on  board,  pronounced  to  be 
broken.  It  was  well  set,  yet  from 
that  time  to  this  it  has  been  con 
siderably  weaker  than  the  other.  So 
you  see  I  have  perilled  my  life  for 
both  the  houses  of  Stuart  and  Bruns 
wick,  and  gained  nothing  from 
either  side ! " 


270  HIGHLANDERS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

took  a  regiment  in  300  strong,  and  only  came  out  with 
35 — the  colonel  and  five  out  of  six  captains  killed.  At 
Fredericksburg  he  was  posted  on  the  hill  in  front  of 
Marye's  Heights,  under  terrific  fire,  lost  nearly  half  of 
his  men,  but  held  the  ground.  He  wras  in  the  great 
battles  of  the  Wilderness,  and  on  the  25th  of  August 
1864,  at  Petersburg,  fought  the  battle  of  Eeames  Cut,  in 
which  he  captured  nine  pieces  of  artillery  and  more 
men  than  he  had  in  his  own  command.  On  this  occa 
sion  he  was  complimented  by  Lee.  In  April  1865, 
when  Lee,  with  the  remnants  of  his  wasted  army,  was 
attempting  to  make  his  way  to  the  mountains,  Macrae's 
brigade  covered  the  retreat  near  Farmville.  Advancing 
towards  Appomattox,  where  preparations  for  surrender 
had  already  been  made,  he  attacked  and  drove  off  a 
Federal  force  which  had  fallen  upon  the  waggon  trains. 
This  was,  it  is  said,  the  last  fight  in  Virginia,  and  his 
brigade  was  the  last  to  stack  arms  and  surrender. 
When  I  met  him  at  Wilmington,  he  spoke  of  this  with 
a  certain  gloomy  satisfaction. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  battles  in  which  he  had 
fought,  he  had  never  been  wounded  except  once,  in  the 
jaw,  by  a  ball,  though  twice  he  had  his  sword  shot  in 
two,  and  his  hat  and  clothes  much  torn  by  bullets  and 
fragments  of  shell.  On  one  occasion  he  had  the  unhappy 
distinction  of  being  fired  at  by  nearly  a  wfhole  division. 
It  was  dusk,  there  was  heavy  skirmishing  going  on,  and 
Macrae,  making  his  way  through  the  woods,  and  riding 
up  to  what  he  thought  was  a  division  of  Confederate 
troops,  found  to  his  horror  that  it  was  Franklin's  divi 
sion  of  the  enemy.  He  was  recognised,  and  told  that  he 
was  a  prisoner.  He  said  nothing,  but  turning  his  horse 
and  giving  it  a  touch  of  the  spur,  galloped  for  the  wood. 
According  to  report,  nearly  the  whole  of  Franklin's 


HIGHLANDERS  IN  THE  WAR.  271 

division  of  20,000  fired  a  volley  after  him.  His  sword 
was  cut  in  two,  his  cap  shot  off,  and  his  horse  badly 
wounded,  but  he  himself  escaped  unhurt.1 

He  seemed  to  belong  to  a  fighting  family.  His  eight 
brothers  had  all  been  either  in  the  army  or  navy.  One 
of  them  was  in  the  national  army  when  the  war  broke 
out,  and  considered  that  his  oath  bound  him  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union.  He  and  his  brothers  accordingly 
fought  on  opposite  sides,  and  in  one  battle,  it  is  said, 
face  to  face.  Their  father,  General  Alexander  Macrae, 
had  fought  in  the  war  with  England  in  1812,  and,  on 
the  outbreak  of  the  Confederate  war,  though  then  a 
man  of  seventy  years  of  age,  took  the  field  again,  and 
commanded  what  was  known  as  Macrae's  Battalion. 
He  died  not  many  weeks  after  I  parted  from  him  at 
Wilmington.  He  was  the  grandson  of  the  Eev.  Alex 
ander  Macrae,  minister  of  Kintail,  two  of  whose  sons 
fell  fighting  for  the  Pretender  at  Culloden.  The  others 
emigrated  to  North  Carolina,  and  one  of  them,  Philip, 
who  had  also  served  in  the  Prince's  army,  cherished  so 
deadly  a  hate  of  the  English  in  consequence  of  the 
atrocities  of  Cumberland,  that  he  would  never  learn  the 
English  language,  but  spoke  Gaelic  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  The  family  settled  in  Moore  County,  which  is 
part  of  what  is  still  called  "  the  Scotch  country." 

1  His  "brother  told  me  a  ludicrous  enough  to  face  the  fire  of  the  enemy, 
story  about  his  first  uniform.  The  but  to  face  his  comrades  in  this  ex- 
country  tailor  who  got  the  order  for  traordinary  uniform  was  too  much 
it,  and  who  had  confused  notions  of  for  him.  The  handiwork  of  the  pa- 
military  costume,  prepared,  in  the  triotic  tailor  never  made  its  appear- 
glow  of  his  patriotism,  and  with  a  ance  in  the  Confederate  army.  The 
noble  resolution  to  sustain  the  hon-  General  declared  to  me  the  badge 
our  of  the  district,  an  extraordinary  of  every  rank  in  the  army,  from  the 
coat,  frogged,  dashed,  slashed,  and  stripe  of  the  corporal  up  to  the 
glorified  with  every  kind  of  military  stars  of  a  commander-in-chief,  was 
decoration  he  had  ever  seen  or  heard  stuck  upon  that  coat,  either  before 
of.  The  young  soldier  had  courage  or  behind. 


272  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 


XXVI. 

VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

IN  the  month  of  February,  one  clear,  sharp  morning, 
I  left  Wilmington  on  my  way  up  the  Cape  Fear  Eiver, 
to  follow  the  old  track  of  the  Highland  emigrants,  and 
see  their  settlement. 

The  steamers  on  that  river,  as  indeed  on  most  of  the 
long  rivers  in  America,  are  stern-wheelers — large,  slim, 
white,  and  deck- cabined,  with  only  one  paddle,  but  it 
of  stupendous  size,  standing  out  like  a  mill-wheel  from 
the  stern,  and  making  one  think,  on  seeing  the  steamer 
in  motion,  of  a  gigantic  wheelbarrow  drawn  swiftly 
backwards.  The  advantage  of  the  stern-wheel  for  shal 
low  and  winding  rivers  is,  that  it  allows  of  a  narrower 
beam  than  two  paddles,  and  takes  sufficient  hold  to 
propel  a  steamer  in  water  too  shallow  for  the  screw. 
Our  steamer  that  morning  (flat-bottomed,  of  course,  as 
all  American  river- steamers  are)  drew  only  eighteen 
inches  of  water,  and  went  at  great  speed. 

We  ^  had  not  been  steaming  long  up  the  broad  pale 
earthy-brown  river,  through  the  flat  expanse,  with  its 
rice  plantations,  its  forest  land,  and  its  clearings,  with 
the  black  stumps  still  standing  like  chessmen  on  a 
board,  when  I  was  struck  with  the  extraordinary  ap 
pearance  of  the  leafless  woods,  which  looked  as  if  a 


NEARING  "  THE  SCOTCH  COUNTRY."  273 

deluge  had  just  subsided,  leaving  the  trees  covered  with 
masses  of  seaweed. 

I  gazed  on  this  phenomenon  with  much  wonder,  till 
it  suddenly  occurred  to  me  that  this  must  be  the  famous 
Carolina  moss  (Tillandsia)  of  which  I  had  often  heard, 
but  which  I  had  not  yet  seen  in  any  quantity.  I 
satisfied  myself  by  asking  a  tall,  shaggy  man,  in  leather 
leggings  and  a  tattered  cloak  of  Confederate  grey,  who 
was  standing  near  me. 

"  Don't  it  grow  whar  you  come  from  ?"  asked  the  man, 
with  the  usual  inquisitiveness  of  thinly  peopled  regions. 
On  learning  that  I  was  a  stranger  from  the  old  country, 
he  became  exceedingly  courteous,  and  told  me  that  the 
moss  I  had  inquired  about  was  very  common  in  that 
State,  and  was  much  used  by  the  people  for  stuffing 
seats  and  cushions  and  bedding,  being  first  boiled  to 
kill  it.  He  said  it  seemed  to  feed  upon  the  air.  You 
could  take  a  handful  and  fling  it  over  the  branch  of 
another  tree  and  it  would  grow  all  the  same.1 

After  a  sail  of  some  hours  we  reached  a  point  from 
which  a  railway  runs  in  a  south-westerly  direction, 
traversing  part  of  the  "  Scotch  country."  Here  we  got 

1  In  subsequent  journey  ings  through  branch  to  branch,  and  loads  every 
North  and  South  Carolina,  I  saw  tree  with  its  grey  drapery,  giving 
great  expanses  of  forest  loaded  with  the  place  a  very  melancholy  look, 
this  moss.  In  wet,  swampy  tracts,  and  yet  beautiful — the  beauty  of 
it  becomes  dark  in  hue,  and  hangs  mourning.  A  handful  which  I 
in  heavy  masses  from  every  branch,  brought  home  with  me  and  hung  upon 
giving  the  trees  a  dismal  and  funereal  my  study  gasalier,  hangs  there  now, 
look.  In  other  places  less  swampy  retaining  all  its  silvery  beauty.  I 
it  has  a  lighter  and  much  more  sometimes  saw  Carolina  ladies  wear- 
graceful  appearance.  When  at  Sa-  ing  little  tufts  of  it  under  their 
vannah,  in  South  Carolina,  I  went  brooches.  More  frequently  I  ob- 
out  to  the  Cemetery  of  Bonaventure,  served  it  hung  round  pictures  on  the 
where  the  woods  are  all  hung  with  wall,  adding  to  the  ornamental  ap- 
the  moss,  which  festoons  itself  from  pearance  of  the  frame. 


274  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

into  the  "  cars,"  and  were  soon  bowling  through  the 
lonely  forest  on  the  narrow  iron  road,  sometimes  over 
tracts  that  were  irregularly  covered  for  miles  with  still 
water,  in  which  the  trees  and  bushes  that  rose  from  it 
stood  reflected  as  on  the  bosom  of  a  lake.  Now  and 
then,  at  long  intervals,  we  stopped  at  some  little  way 
side  station  in  the  forest,  with  its  cheerful  signs  of 
human  life — its  casks  of  turpentine  and  its  piles  of 
corded  wood,  around  which  the  pines  were  being  hewrn 
down  and  cut,  some  of  them  into  bars,  others  into 
cheese-like  sections,  for  splitting  into  the  shingles  that 
are  used  for  roofing  instead  of  slates  or  tiles.  Occa 
sionally  the  train  stopped  at  places  where  there  was  no 
station  at  all,  to  let  some  one  out  at  the  part  of  the 
forest  nearest  to  his  home.  The  conductor,  who  was 
continually  passing  up  and  down  through  the  cars, 
stopped  the  train  whenever  necessary,  by  pulling  the  cord 
that  is  slung  along  the  roof  of  all  American  trains  and 
communicates  with  the  engine. 

We  now  began  to  get  up  into  the  higher  country, 
amongst  forests  of  giant  pines,  where  the  ground  was 
rough,  and  where  the  sandy  soil,  looking  in  some  places 
like  patches  of  snow,  seemed  for  the  most  part  untouched 
by  the  hand  of  man.  It  was  into  these  vast  solitudes, 
of  which  we  had  as  yet  but  touched  the  skirt,  that  the 
Highlanders,  driven  from  their  native  land  during  the 
religious  and  political  troubles  of  last  century,  had  come 
to  find-  a  home. 

Instead  of  describing  the  rest  of  the  journey,  let  me 
introduce  here  the  first  letter  written  home  from  the 
settlement,  in  order  to  give  a  picture  taken  from  life 
of  the  home  and  surroundings  of  a  Scotch  planter  in 
the  backwoods  of  North  Carolina  : — 


A  HOME  IN  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT.  275 

"  February  6. 

"  I  am  writing  by  the  blaze  of  a  great  pine- wood  fire. 
There  is  a  lamp  on  the  table,  but  the  blazing  pine-sticks 
fill  the  room  with  such  deluges  of  flamy  light,  that  the 
extinction  of  the  lamp  would  make  no  difference.  A 
rifle  hangs  over  the  fireplace,  and  a  shot-gun  is  stand 
ing  in  the  corner  behind  me. 

u  This  plantation  is  in  the  heart  of  the  great  forest, 
and  near  one  of  the  biggest  swamps  in  the  State.  If 
you  want  to  picture  the  appearance  of  the  place  by  day, 
imagine  an  oblong  clearing  in  the  forest ;  a  comfortable 
though  somewhat  faded-looking  frame-house,  with  a 
garden  in  front,  and  negro  quarters  behind  ;  the  cotton 
fields,  with  their  long  straggling  snake -fences  stretching 
away  on  one  hand  ;  and  beyond,  on  every  side,  the  great 
sombre  forest  shutting  in  the  plantation  as  with  a 
wall  of  pine-trunks.  You  would  be  amused  to  see  what 
a  lot  of  pigs  there  is  about  the  place.  They  call  them 
'  pigs'  when  they  are  little,  and  '  hogs'  when  they  grow 
big.  They  are  allowed  to  run  about  where  they  please, 
and  in  summer  feed  themselves ;  but  just  now  they  are 
called  in  twice  a  day  to  be  fed.  A  '  hoop-hoop  !'  brings 
them  swarming  from  the  woods. 

"  The  house  and  gates  and  fences  are  all  more  or  less 
out  of  repair.  The  place  has  shared  in  the  general 
wreck  of  the  war,  and  had  also  a  visit  from  Sherman's 
'  bummers/  who  plundered  the  house  and  destroyed  a 
good  deal  which  they  could  not  carry  away. 

"  The  family  here  consists  of  M.,  Mrs.  M.,  and  three 
girls.  M.  is  connected  with  an  old  Highland  family  in 
Eoss-shire.  He  is  a  dark,  thin,  sad-looking  man,  and 
has  taken  the  disasters  of  the  war  to  heart.  This  sea 
son,  too,  has  been  very  bad,  and  has  made  his  first 


276  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

experiment  in  free  labour  a  failure,  and  swept  away 
almost  all  that  the  war  had  left.  He  is  sitting  in  his 
rough  rocking  chair  gazing  into  the  fire.  He  has  fallen 
into  a  deep  reverie,  and  I  can  see  from  the  expression 
of  his  face  that  he  is  brooding  over  his  broken  fortunes. 

"  Mrs.  M.  is  sitting  at  the  table,  opposite  me,  busy 
with  her  needle.  She  is  tall,  thin,  sharp-featured ;.  very 
active  and  vivacious,  and  with  a  spirit  not  easily  de 
pressed.  She  speaks  of  the  quiet  times  before  the  war 
as  the  golden  age  of  the  South ;  but  she  says  times  are 
changed,  and  the  women  as  well  as  the  men  must  work 
now  if  they  are  to  live.  She  has  accordingly  set  herself 
bravely  to  the  task,  is  up  early  and  late,  teaches  a  little 
school  in  the  parlour  in  the  forenoon,  and  manages  all 
the  affairs  of  the  house.  '  I  am  getting  Yankeeized/ 
she  says  herself.  She  has  very  strong  opinions  on  the 
subject  of  Secession,  and  still  stronger  on  the  subject  of 
those  '  bummers'  who  plundered  the  house,  stole  her 
silk  dresses,  slaughtered  the  chickens,  smashed  her 
waggonette,  and  carried  off  the  horses.  She  says,  what 
ever  the  chief  end  of  man  may  be,  the  chief  end  of 
a  Southern  woman  now  is  to  love  God  and  hate  the 
Yankees.  But  her  animosity  is  chiefly  in  her  speech, 
and  my  private  conviction  is,  that  even  a  '  bummer' 
in  distress  would  nowhere  be  surer  to  find  mercy  than 
here. 

"  It  seems  odd  in  a  house  like  this — buried  in  the 
heart  of  the  trackless  forest — to  find  a  piano.  Yet 
there  is  one  in  the  corner ;  and  M.'s  eldest  daughter  is 
taking  a  set  of  Scotch  airs  out  of  it.  Her  task  is  no 
easy  one,  for  the  piano  has  not  been  tuned  since  the 
year  1861 — the  tuner  who  used  to  visit  the  settlement 
once  every  two  years  having  fallen  in  the  war. 


LITTLE  BETTY.  277 

"  The  two  little  girls  are  in  the  other  room  just  now 
teaching  a  small  and  very  comical  black  girl  of  about 
their  own  age,  called  Betty,  who  does  little  things  about 
the  house,  and  seems  to  belong  to  it,  like  a  kitten.  Betty 
is  a  great  amusement.  Every  morning  before  I  am  up, 
she  comes  into  my  room  with  an  armful  of  sticks  to  kindle 
my  fire.  She  wears  a  red  handkerchief  tied  turban- 
fashion  round  her  head,  and  bobs  about  noiselessly  at 
her  work  like  a  little  black  imp.  She  is  in  and  out  of 
the  room  several  times  before  she  gets  the  fire  made, 
but  as  soon  as  the  pine-sticks  have  begun  to  blaze,  she 
steals  noiselessly  out,  and  shuts  the  door  after  her  with 
elaborate  care.  At  meals  she  waits  at  table,  and  runs 
for  anything  that  may  be  wanted ;  and  though  she  has 
a  knack  of  bringing  the  wrong  thing,  she  is  so  eager  to 
please,  and  so  intensely  delighted  when  she  does  any 
thing  aright,  that  no  one  can  be  angry  with  her.  Even 
Mrs.  M.  only  admonishes  her  in  a  philosophical  way, 
telling  her,  as  a  rule  for  future  conduct  in  life,  to  keep 
her  eyes  always  open  (which  seems  to  me  superfluous 
advice),  and  to  listen  attentively  to  all  that  is  said,  and 
be  very  particular  in  bringing  exactly  what  is  called 
for — to  all  which  little  Betty  listens  with  doubtful 
comprehension,  but  with  intense  delight  at  being  paid 
so  much  attention  to.  In  the  evening,  when  we  are  all 
gathered  round  the  pine  fire,  little  Betty  comes  in 
and  creeps  up  to  the  corner  of  the  hearth  and  sits  there 
as  quiet  as  a  little  black  puss,  listening  to  us  with  her 
droll  face  and  her  big  bright  black  eyes.  I  am  so 
amused  at  little  Betty  that  I  have  several  times  been 
betrayed  into  a  smile  when  her  eyes  caught  mine. 
Little  Betty  evidently  takes  this  as  a  sign  of  friendship, 
and  sits  watching  me  with  eyes  on  the  alert,  and  face 


278  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

ready  to  expand  into  a  grin  of  delight  the  instant  I  give 
the  slightest  sign  of  encouragement. 

"  The  little  girls  are  very  regular  in  marching  Betty  off 
to  the  other  room  after  tea,  but  it  is  suspected  that  more 
fun  goes  on  than  study.  About  ten  minutes  since  we 
heard  a  sudden  rush  and  scuffling  of  feet  in  the  passage, 
ending  in  the  bursting  open  of  the  door  and  the  irrup 
tion  of  the  two  little  teachers.  '  Why  are  you  playing 
just  now  ?'  Mrs.  M.  said ;  '  are  you  not  giving  Betty 
her  lessons  ?' 

"  '  Yes,  but  she  wants  into  the  A  B  abs,  and  she  don't 
know  her  ABC  yet/  said  one  of  the  little  preceptresses. 
'  I  told  her  "  J  "  twenty  times  last  night,  and  she  can't 
point  it  out  yet.' 

« <  We  gave  her  about  a  thousand  slaps,'  said  little 
preceptress  Number  2,  '  but  she  only  laughed.' 

"  '  What  did  she  laugh  for  ?' 

"  '  She  said  the  slaps  tickled  her/ 

"  All  this  time  little  Betty,  with  eyes  dancing  with 
fun,  stood  grinning  at  the  door. 

" (  There  must  be  some  fault  in  your  method,'  said 
Mrs.  M.,  philosophically ;  '  you  should  show  her  the 
formation  of  the  letters,  and  explain.' 

"  The  children  carried  off  little  Betty  to  make  this 
experiment — with  what  success  we  shall  hear  when 
they  return. 

"  Mrs.  M.  says  that  little  Betty  is  the  grandchild  of 
an  African  princess,  who  was  brought  here  as  a  slave. 
She  was  yellow,  was  tatooed  all  over,  and  had  silver 
anklets.  According  to  her  own  account,  she  had  been 
wandering  on  the  shore  gathering  shells,  when  she  was 
captured  and  carried  away.  She  had  twenty- three 
children  here :  fifteen  of  them  are  still  alive.  Betty's 


LITTLE  BETTY.  279 

mother  also  has  a  great  many  children.  The  last  baby 
she  had,  she  wanted  Betty  to  nurse ;  but  Betty  said, 
'  No,  I  won't  nuss  a  nigger  child.' 

"  She  and  several  others  who  were  slaves  here  before 
the  war,  have  remained  with  the  family,  and  live  in 
their  old  quarters  behind  the  house.  I  have  spoken  to 
one  or  two  of  them.  They  must  have  been  treated 
kindly  in  slave  days,  for  they  seem  to  know  little 
difference  between  slavery  and  freedom.  It  is  said, 
indeed,  that  one  of  them  who  has  seventeen  children, 
with  prospects  of  more,  and  no  idea  of  how  to  support 
them,  offered  to  dispose  of  a  few  of  them  to  M.  at  a  low 
figure  if  he  would  have  them.  M.  had  to  explain  that 
transactions  of  this  kind  are  no  longer  legal. 

"  We  have  three  meals  a  day — breakfast  at  eight, 
dinner  at  one,  supper  at  six.  All  the  meals  are  pretty 
much  alike.  Take  to-day,  for  instance;  at  breakfast 
we  had  coffee,  biscuits,  and  corn-cake,  with  syrup  and 
butter  ;  salt  fish,  hash,  and  sweet  potatoes.  At  dinner 
we  had  beef,  sausages,  sweet  potatoes,  pie,  coffee,  and 
milk.  At  supper,  tea  instead  of  coffee,  but  the  rest  a 
second  edition  of  the  substantial  breakfast.  No  liquor 
is  used  in  the  house.  One  scarcely  ever  sees  liquor  in 
a  house  here.  After  breakfast  and  dinner  the  dishes 
are  washed  at  the  open  window,  a  negro  woman  wash 
ing  them  outside  and  handing  them  in  to  Mrs.  M.,  who 
dries  them,  and  stimulates  the  servant  to  greater 
activity.1 

"  There  is  a  thin  white  woman  who  occasionally  ap- 

1  The  fashion  of  washing  the  dishes  the  duties  (or  rather,  as  it  seemed  to 

in  the  eating-room  immediately  after  me,  one  of  the  amusements)  of  the 

meals  is  not  confined  to  the  back-  ladies  to  wash  the  dishes  at  table 

woods.     I  found  even  in  some  Vir-  after  a  meal,  even  when  there  were 

ginian  families  that  it  was  one  of  plenty  servants. 


280  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

pears  in  the  house  in  a  serving  capacity — a  thing  very 
rare  in  the  South,  where  service  is  considered  degrading. 
The  difference  between  the  white  and  black  race,  how 
ever,  is  carefully  marked,  and  I  notice  that  Mrs.  M. 
always  says  '  Ma'am,'  when  speaking  to  the  white  ser 
vant.  '  How  are  you  to-day,  ma'am  ? '  "  Will  you  see, 
ma'am,  if  so  and  so  is  there  ?'  and  so  on. 

"  M.  and  I  are  out  all  day  about  the  plantation,  or 
away  visiting  friends  in  other  parts  of  the  forest.  As 
the  '  bummers'  carried  off  his  horses  and  destroyed  his 
waggonette,  we  make  our  expeditions  in  a  spider- wheeled 
and  very  loose-jointed  '  buggy'  (or  gig)  drawn  by  a 
meagre  mule  with  a  foxy  tail,  and  rejoicing  in  the  once 
honoured  name  of  '  Jeff.  Davis/  These  mules  have 
wonderful  endurance.  They  have  need  of  it  here,  for 
some  of  the  roads  are  terrible.  Yesterday  we  were  away 
seeing  some  plantations  about  fourteen  miles  from  this, 
and  passed  through  the  skirt  of  a  swamp.  These  Ame 
rican  swamps  are  no  mere  marshy  patches  of  ground 
such  as  we  call  by  that  name  in  Scotland.  They  are 
immense  tracts  of  country,  bigger  sometimes  than  a 
whole  county  in  Scotland,  and  densely  wooded.  In 
some  places  the  trees  stand  deep  in  water,  and  are  so 
close,  and  have  such  a  tangled  undergrowth  of  holly, 
bamboo-briar,  and  all  kinds  of  rank  vegetation,  that  the 
water  beneath,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  penetrate  into  the 
gloom,  looks  black  and  unfathomable.  They  say  that 
fugitive  slaves  used  sometimes  to  plunge  into  these 
thickets  to  put  the  dogs  off  the  scent,  and  make  their 
way  to  islands  in  the  heart  of  the  swamp,  where,  if  they 
kept  close,  they  could  live  in  comparative  security  for 
months  and  even  years.  I  was  told  of  one  fugitive 
slave  in  Mississippi  who  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  a 


"  THE  SCOTCH  COUNTRY."  281 

vast  swamp  there,  and  lived  in  it  like  a  wild  beast  for 
nineteen  years;  and  only  in  1865,  when  he  chanced  to 
meet  another  black  man  on  the  skirt  of  the  forest 
learned  that  there  had  been  war  in  America,  that  slavery 
was  at  an  end,  and  that  he  might  come  forth  a  free  man 
to  dwell  again  with  his  own  kind. 

"  Part  of  the  road  we  travelled  yesterday  was  cut 
straight  as  an  arrow  through  a  dark  forest,  which  rose 
into  the  heavens  like  giant  walls  close  on  both  sides  of 
us.  In  some  places  the  water  from  the  brimming  swamp 
was  flowing  sullenly  across  the  road,  gurgling  and  eddy 
ing,  and  looked  so  dark  and  deep,  as  '  Jeff'  waded 
cautiously  on,  that  I  should  have  felt  more  comfortable 
if  the  buggy  had  been  a  boat.  About  three  miles  far 
ther  in,  at  a  point  where  another  track  crossed  ours,  I 
saw  on  one  of  the  huge  black  gum-trees  a  placard  stuck, 
advertising  '  Hayes  &  Co.'s  Dry  Goods  !'  The  man  that 
carried  his  paste-pot  and  posters  there  deserves  to  be 
ranked  with  the  firm  that  advertised  boot-blacking  on 
the  Egyptian  Pyramids. 

"  The  woods  are  chiefly  of  pine — great  giants,  with 
bleached  trunks  and  tufted  tops,  a  little  like  palms  in 
shape ;  but  walnut  and  cherry  trees  of  prodigious  size, 
ash,  bay,  and  black  gam-trees,  are  all  abundant.  I  was 
much  impressed  by  the  noise  the  wind  made  amongst  the 
pine-trees.  It  was  so  like  the  roaring  of  the  sea,  that 
when  I  shut  my  eyes  I  could  scarcely  believe  that  we 
were  not  near  some  shore. 

"  I  notice  that  there  are  no  names  to  properties  here. 
People  ask,  '  How  far  is  it  to  Black  Duncan's  ?'  '  How 
do  I  go  to  get  to  Big  Archie's  ?'  and  so  on.  We  visited 
some  fine  plantations  of  from  two  to  six  hundred  acres 
in  extent,  which  had  become  worth  from  £500  to  £2000 


282  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

a  year  before  the  war — all  cleared  and  occupied  by 
Highland  settlers.  Everywhere  I  meet  with  a  warm 
reception  and  pressing  invitations  to  remain.  It  seems 
enough  that  I  have  come  from  the  old  country.  The 
hospitality  is  wonderful.  .  .  .  We  are  generally  home 
in  time  for  supper,  and  spend  the  evenings  here  in 
front  of  the  pinewood  fire." 

The  plantation  described  in  the  foregoing  letter  is  in 
Robeson,  which,  with  the  adjacent  counties  of  Moore, 
Cumberland,  Bladen,  and  Eichmond,  forms  "  the  Scotch 
country."  The  population  is  thin  and  scattered  over  a 
vast  area ;  but  the  clearings  are  numerous,  and  here  and 
there  in  the  forest  one  comes  upon  a  village — the  houses, 
as  usual  in  America,  built  of  wood,  but  many  of  them 
neat  and  commodious. 

Almost  all  the  people  I  met  were  "  Macs,"  generally 
Macdonalds,  Macleods,  Macraes,  Macnairs,  and  Macneils, 
indicating  descent  from  the  clans  of  the  West  Highlands 
and  the  Hebrides.  They  are  a  fine  race  of  men — tall, 
strong,  and  handsome — so  hardy  and  unaccustomed  to 
disease  that  they  say  the  old  people,  even  when  sinking 
under  the  infirmities  of  age,  refuse  to  take  to  bed,  and 
generally  die  in  their  chairs  by  the  fireside.  Many  of 
them  are  wealthy,  and  almost  all  in  comfortable  circum 
stances,  owning  their  houses,  lands,  and  teams.  They 
have  more  schools  than  I  found  in  any  other  country 
district  in  the  South,  and  they  boast  of  having  helped 
North  Carolina  to  produce  more  teachers  and  ministers 
than  any  other  Southern  State. 

There  is  a  Scotch  fair  which  is  chartered  by  the 
legislature,  and  held  twice  a  year  at  a  place  called  Laurel 
Hill.  The  November  gathering  used  to  be  attended  by 


THE  HIGHLAND  CAPITAL.  283 

a  great  concourse  of  people,  often  eight  or  ten  thousand. 
Stalls  were  erected,  and  goods  of  all  kinds  exposed  for 
sale  or  barter.  The  fair,  however,  has  degenerated  of 
late  years ;  roughs  and  vagabonds  from  all  quarters 
attend  it;  and  its  principal  features  now  are  gambling, 
drinking,  and  what  they  call  "  horse- swopping."  There 
is  a  broad  road  in  the  centre  of  the  fair,  where  those 
who  have  horses  to  dispose  of  ride  up  and  down,  show 
ing  off  their  paces,  and  shouting,  "  Here 's  your  fine 
saddle-horse  !"  "  Here's  your  trotter  !"  "  Here 's  your 
buggy-nag  !"  as  the  case  may  be. 

In  consequence  of  the  amount  of  drinking  that 
goes  on  at  the  fair,  ladies  have  ceased  to  attend  it.  It 
is  said  they  used  to  be  present  in  great  numbers,  and 
gave  the  scene  a  very  gay  and  festive  appearance. 

The  capital  of  the  settlement  is  Fayetteville,  which 
was  a  flourishing  little  town  till  wrecked  by  the  late 
war.  It  had  become  famous  in  Carolina  for  its  candy — 
a  trade  begun  by  a  Mrs.  Banks,  who  went  out  from 
Scotland  nearly  thirty  years  ago  and  established  a  fac 
tory  there.  Part  of  Sherman's  army  of  80,000  men,  on 
its  way  from  Savannah  to  Ealeigh,  passed  that  way, 
plundered  Fayetteville,  and  destroyed  the  factory.  The 
business,  however,  has  been  resumed.  It  was  at 
Fayetteville  that  Flora  Macdonald  lived.  The  place 
where  her  house  stood  is  still  pointed  out.  Some  of 
her  descendants  are  in  Carolina  still,  persons  at  least 
who  claim  to  be  so.  There  was  one  man  in  the  settle 
ment  of  the  name  of  M'Q —  (they  call  him  "  Colonel 
M'Q — ,"  though  nobody  seems  to  know  if  he  had  ever 
been  in  any  army),  who  declared  that  he  was  a  grand 
son  of  the  heroine's,  and  who,  on  this  account,  always 
wore  an  immense  pair  of  ruffles.  He  would  never  put 


284  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

his  hand  to  work,  considering  manual  labour  beneath 
the  dignity  of  a  person  so  highly  connected.  He  was 
exceedingly  poor  in  consequence,  and  sometimes  went 
about  with  bare  feet,  but  never  without  his  ruffles. 

Gaelic  has  almost  entirely  died  out  in  the  settlement. 
For  a  long  time  it  was  the  common  language.  The 
early  settlers  taught  it  even  to  their  negro  slaves ;  but 
English  seems  now  universal.  I  met  with  very  few 
who  could  either  read  or  speak  the  Gaelic;  though 
many  had  been  more  or  less  familiar  with  it  in  child 
hood.  One  lady  gave  me  a  very  old  Gaelic  psalm- 
book  which  she  had  often  heard  her  mother  read  aloud 
in  the  old  sing-song  fashion  by  the  fireside.1  A  gentle 
man,  the  son  of  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  settle 
ment,  told  me  that  his  father,  though  American  born, 
kept  up  his  Gaelic  to  the  last,  and  though  English  was 
his  language  for  every-day  life,  yet  when  he  and  any  of 
his  old  cronies  got  together  in  the  evening,  after  a 
Presbytery  meeting,  they  would  go  back  upon  their 
Gaelic,  and  sit  up  half  the  night  talking  it. 

I  was  told  that   in   some   parts   of  the   settlement 

1  The  same  lady  gave  me  an  old  "  STATE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 

paper,  called  a  "  Lie  Bill,"  which  RICHMOND  COUNTY. 

illustrates  one  of  the  old  practices  "  Whereas  Daniel  M  'Lean,  of  said 

of  the  settlement.     It  is  a  bill  con-  State,  and  County  of  Robeson,  came 

fessing  falsehood  or  slander,  signed      *°  "ieAlthls  ^>.  antl sa^f that, he  was 

&,1         told  that  I  said  that  he.  the  said 

by  the  slanderer  and  given  to  the      Daniel  M<Leanj  swore  to3  a  lie  in  a 

person  slandered,  who  could,  there-  cause  between  Neil  M'Lean,  of  Robe- 
fore,  if  he,  found  the  slander  circu-  son  County,  and  Daniel  M'Lean,  of 
lating,  show  the  signed  confession,  said  Richmond  County,  I  hereby 

and  so  refute  it.     This  saved  un-      affirm  thaj  l  *°.  n °\  remember  of 
j     i       j.i         saying  such  ;  but.  if  I  said  it.  it  is 

necessary  exposure,   and   also   the      faise."      (Signed)     " -." 

time  and  trouble  and  expense  that          «  January  the  1th,  1811." 
a  lawsuit  would  have  incurred.  mi  •      vn    • 

™     ,  n      .  This    bill    is    attested    by    two 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  one         • ,  ,,  , , 

T  .    .  witnesses,  one  a  namesake  of  the 

I  got,  with  the  mere  omission  of  the  ,    ,-,        .-, 

complainant,  the  other  a  namesake 
retracter  s  name  : — 

of  the  confessor. 


ADDRESSING  THE  JURY  IN  GAELIC.  285 

which  I  had  not  the  opportunity  of  visiting,  Gaelic  is 
still  understood,  and  cherished  by  a  few  enthusiastic 
Highlanders  with  a  romantic  attachment.  The  story  is 
told  of  a  man,  who,  travelling  through  Moore  County  and 
finding  himself  likely  to  be  overtaken  by  the  darkness, 
called  at  a  farm-house  and  asked  shelter  for  the  night. 
The  farmer  taking  him  for  a  "  buckskin,"  or  one  of  the 
idle  vagabonds  who  are  found  in  abundance  everywhere 
in  the  South,  called  to  him  to  go  about  his  business. 

The  man,  speaking  in  Gaelic,  said,  "  Good-night,"  and 
turned  away. 

At  the  sound  of  the  old  and  cherished  language  the 
farmer  started  to  his  feet,  hurried  after  the  man,  and 
brought  him  back,  welcoming  him  in  Gaelic  to  all  the 
hospitalities  of  his  house. 

It  is  also  said  that  in  the  Court  at  Fayetteville 
on  one  occasion,  Mr.  Banks,  the  State  Solicitor,  and 
brother  of  the  Mrs.  Banks  already  referred  to,  finding 
that  the  jurymen  were  all  Highlanders,  addressed  them 
in  Gaelic.  Not  a  word  was  intelligible  to  the  Judge, 
but  the  jury  were  intensely  delighted,  and  it  seemed 
certain  that  Mr.  Banks  would  carry  his  case. 

It  happened,  however,  that  Mr.  Leech,  the  prisoner's 
counsel,  was  even  a  better  Gaelic  scholar  than  Mr. 
Banks,  though  nobody  in  Court  was  aware  of  it.  Mr. 
Leech,  to  conciliate  the  Judge,  began  in  English,  and 
then  said  that  as  the  State  Solicitor  had  addressed  the 
jury  in  Gaelic,  he  would  crave  permission  to  follow  him 
in  the  same  language.  He  first  upbraided  Mr.  Banks 
for  his  bad  Gaelic,  and  declared  that  if  he  heard  one  of 
his  own  children  speaking  the  ancient  and  noble  lan 
guage  so  ungrammatically  he  would  take  the  tawse  to 
him.  He  then  took  up  the  case,  made  a  magnificent 


286  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

speech  in  Gaelic,  carried  the  enthusiastic  jury  with  him, 
and  got  a  unanimous  verdict  for  the  prisoner. 

Even  after  English  became  the  language  of  ordinary 
life,  Gaelic  was  continued  in  the  pulpit.  A  congrega 
tion  within  a  few  miles  of  Fayetteville  had  Gaelic  ser 
vices  regularly  till  within  the  last  few  years,  but  they 
are  now  discontinued. 

Highland  songs  and  dances  were  once  common ;  but 
"  Dixie's  Land  "  is  better  known  now  than  the  pibroch, 
and  the  Church  has  done  a  great  deal  to  put  dancing 
down,  though  its  zeal  has  often  been  more  than  its 
success. 

One  staunch  Highlander,  of  the  name  of  M'Gregor, 
who  was  a  great  dancer,  kept  himself,  during  the  New 
Year  festivities,  in  a  chronic  state  of  alcoholic  excite 
ment,  and  put  in  an  appearance  wherever  there  was  hope 
of  a  reel  or  strathspey.  He  was  remonstrated  with,  and 
at  last  threatened  with  the  Session.  "  You  may  Sayshun 
and  you  may  Sayshun,"  cried  the  obdurate  Celt,  "but 
when  New  Year  comes  M'Gregor  is  on  the  floor." 

O 

The  settlers  are  almost  all  Presbyterians  ;  and  though 
distances  are  often  great,  and  the  roads  through  swamp 
and  forest  very  bad,  the  churches  are  well  attended. 
One  planter  with  whom  I  stayed  drove  through  the 
rough  forest  six  miles  to  church ;  and  an  old  lady  in 
the  same  district,  who  had  been  robbed  of  her  horses 
and  conveyance  by  Sherman's  "bummers,"  went  four 
miles  every  Sunday  on  foot  to  the  same  place  of  wor 
ship.  The  last  minister  there,  though  not  himself  of 
Scotch  descent,  was  exceedingly  fond  of  the  Scotch 
people,  and  refused  to  leave,  though  called  to  other  and 
wealthier  congregations,  one  of  which  offered,  if  he  went, 
to  triple  his  "  salary."  He  used  to  carry  about  a  snuff- 


THE  FIRST  CHURCHES.  287 

box,  made  of  the  Wallace  Oak,  which  he  prized  highly ; 
and  a  stick  which  a  Mr.  Witherspoon  had  brought  out 
to  him  from  Scotland. 

The  oldest  existing  churches  in  the  settlement  are  at 
Fayetteville  and  Barbacue.  They  were  formed  upwards 
of  a  hundred  years  ago  by  a  Gaelic  minister  of  the  name 
of  Campbell,  a  native  of  Campbeltown,  Kintyre,  who 
emigrated  to  America  in  1730,  joined  the  Highlanders, 
and  travelled  to  and  fro  in  the  settlement  for  some 
years,  acting  as  an  evangelist.  He  got  the  church  at 
Barbacue  formed  in  1730,  five  elders  were  ordained,  and 
the  old  Scotch  fashion  of  visiting  and  catechising 
adhered  to.  The  elders  were  so  strict  that  they  came 
to  be  known  as  the  "  little  ministers "  of  Barbacue. 
They  were  so  vigilant  also  in  regard  to  the  doctrine 
taught  from  the  pulpit,  especially  when  a  strange 
minister  was  with  them,  that  a  clergyman  from  Scot 
land  (the  Eev.  John  Macleod),  who  once  visited  the 
settlement,  said  he  "  would  rather  preach  to  the  most 
fashionable  congregation  in  Edinburgh  than  to  the 
little  critical  carles  at  Barbacue." 

After  the  War  of  Independence,  the  settlers  were 
thrown  upon  their  own  resources  for  the  support  of 
religion,  but  the  churches  increased ;  and  as  far  as  I 
could  learn,  most  of  them  are  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
through  temporarily  suffering,  like  everything  else,  from 
the  effects  of  the  war.  The  "  critical  carles  of  Barbacue," 
however,  have  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth.  The 
style  of  preaching  is  a  good  deal  changed ;  the  old 
practice  of  visitation  and  catechising  has  disappeared  ; 
even  family  worship  is  much  less  common  than  it 
seems  to  have  been  forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  The 
Scotch,  however,  all  through  the  State,  have  a  good 


288  VISIT  TO  THE  HIGHLAND  SETTLEMENT. 

character.  One  of  the  Judges  told  me  that  he  had 
never  known  a  Scotchman  before  the  Court  charged 
with  any  high  misdemeanour. 

Like  their  neighbours,  the  Scotch  settlers  were  slave 
holders,  but  they  had  comparatively  few  slaves,  and 
were  able  to  look  after  them.  They  exercised  a  stern 
but  wholesome  discipline,  and,  it  is  said,  compelled 
their  negroes  to  go  to  church,  and  catechised  those  who 
were  at  home.  I  found  most  of  them  temperate  in 
their  views  of  slavery,  some  of  them  even  glad  that  it 
was  gone,  and  anxious  now  to  have  white  immigration 
in  order  to  get  free  labour  fairly  tried.  One  planter 
said  that  if  ten  Scotch  families  went  out  he  would  give 
them  twenty  acres  of  land  a  piece,  free  of  charge,  merely 
to  have  them  settle  on  the  plantation  and  introduce 
the  Scotch  method  of  farming. 

Some  time  must  elapse  before  the  settlement  can 
recover  from  the  terrible  effects  of  the  war.  The  best 
men  were  drained  away ;  the  country  devastated ;  and 
the  whole  system  of  labour  disorganized.  But  the 
people  who  were  brave  enough  to  face,  and  strong  and 
persevering  enough  to  overcome,  the  difficulty  of  estab 
lishing  civilisation  in  so  wild  a  region,  are  not  the  men 
to  succumb  to  temporary  disaster.  The  country  is  fit 
for  far  better  things  than  has  yet  been  made  of  it ;  and 
free  labour  going  in,  stimulating  enterprise  and  develop 
ing  new  industries,  can  scarcely  fail  to  carry  the  settle 
ment  to  a  higher  point  of  prosperity  than  it  ever  attained 
before. 


BUMMERS."  289 


XXVII. 

"BUMMERS." 

EEPEATED  reference  has  already  been  made  to  Sher 
man's  "  bummers."  The  depredations,  however,  of  these 
troopers  did  so  much  not  only  to  give  Georgia  and  the 
Carolinas — South  Carolina  especially — their  present 
poverty-stricken  appearance,  but  to  excite  the  exaspe 
ration  of  feeling  which  is  retarding  the  progress  of  re 
conciliation  between  North  and  South,  that  they  deserve 
more  special  notice. 

When  Sherman  began  his  famous  march  through  the 
South,  he  gave  orders  that  his  army  was  to  feed  upon 
the  country.  Foraging  parties  had  accordingly  to  be 
organized  by  all  the  brigade  commanders,  which  were 
sent  out  to  scour  and  plunder  the  country  far  and  wide, 
clutching  with  myriad  hands  at  everything  that  was 
wanted  to  feed  the  monster  army  that  was  moving  up 
in  the  rear  with  its  eighty  thousand  mouths,  and  its 
omnivorous  appetite  for  rebel  property. 

These  foraging  parties,  which  came  to  be  known  in 
the  South  as  "  Sherman's  bummers,"  swarmed  over  the 
whole  country  in  troops,  fighting  when  it  was  neces 
sary,  but  much  less  eager  to  fight  than  to  plunder. 

Practice  in  this  made  them  wonderfully  skilful.  They 
came  to  carry  on  not  only  their  foraging,  but  'their 
thieving  operations  with  such  exquisite  system,  that 

T 


290 


they  may  be  almost  said  to  have  erected  Robbery  into 
one  of  the  fine  arts.  They  carried  maps  of  the  country, 
with  every  village  and  plantation  marked,  and  all  the 
roads  and  paths  through  the  forest  by  which  any  place 
could  be  reached.  They  seemed  to  know  what  men 
were  away  in  the  Confederate  army,  what  men  might 
be  found  at  home,  and  how  much  booty  was  to  be  ex 
pected  at  each  plantation.  Thousands  of  the  defence 
less  inhabitants  fled  before  them,  carrying  away  what 
valuables  they  could,  and  moving  from  place  to  place, 
"  refugeeing,"  as  it  was  called,  keeping  out  of  the  way 
themselves,  but  leaving  their  houses  a  prey  to  the 
spoiler.  Others  remained  at  home,  women  swarming 
together  for  mutual  protection,  everybody  burying  as 
many  things  as  possible  in  the  woods,  gardens,  and 
fields,  in  hopes  of  saving  them. 

It  was  very  difficult,  however,  to  hide  anything  away 
where  the  keen  and  practised  scent  of  a  "  bummer" 
could  not  find  it  out.  One  lady  told  me,  that  when  a 
troop  came  to  her  husband's  plantation  and  suspected 
that  something  which  they  had  not  found  about  the 
house  must  have  been  buried  in  the  field,  they  arranged 
themselves  in  line  at  its  further  extremity,  each  man 
about  the  distance  of  three  yards  from  the  next,  and 
advanced  rapidly,  dibbling  the  ground  on  both  sides 
with  their  ramrods.  In  this  way  they  discovered  in  an 
incredibly  short  space  of  time  all  the  things  that  had 
been  concealed.  Where  boxes  were  buried,  and  the 
displaced  earth  removed,  the  ground  was  looser  ;  where 
the  earth  had  been  stamped  in  again,  the  ground  was 
harder;  and  in  either  case  the  dibbling  ramrod  dis 
covered  the  difference,  and  the  hidden  treasure  was 
speedily  disinterred. 


BAD  POST-BAGS.  291 

Stratagem  often  succeeded  where  search  had  failed. 
At  a  South  Carolina  village  a  "  bummer,"  attired  in 
Confederate  clothes,  so  as  not  to  be  recognised,  returned 
after  the  troop  had  gone,  and  finding  an  old  man  who 
was  suspected  to  have  some  valuables  concealed,  said 
confidentially,  just  as  if  he  had  seen  them,  "  That 's  not 
a  good  place  you  Ve  put  your  things  in.  More  '  bum 
mers'  are  coming,  and  you  had  better  get  them  shifted." 
The  old  man  thanked  him,  dug  up  his  treasure  that 
night,  and  buried  it  in  another  place.  The  spy  took 
care  to  watch,  saw  where  the  things  were  put,  and  de 
camped  with  them  before  the  morning. 

The  "  bummers  "  were  not  fastidious  as  to  the  kind  of 
plunder.  Turnips,  fowling-pieces,  and  ladies'  under 
clothing,  chickens  and  communion  services,  whips, 
spoons,  pictures,  and  eatables  and  drinkables  of  every 
description — all  was  grist  to  the  "  bummer's  "  mill.  In 
one  village,  a  trooper  discovered  a  quantity  of  molasses 
in  a  postmaster's  deserted  store.  The  Americans 
are  all  fond  of  molasses ;  using  them  regularly  at 
breakfast  and  supper  to  their  buckwheat  cakes  and 
waffles.  The  "  bumrner,"  reluctant  to  leave  so  delicious 
a  prize  behind,  poured  a  quantity  into  the  post-bags, 
which  he  slung  over  his  saddle.  The  bags  were  too 
coarse  for  contents  of  this  description,  and  as  he  rode 
off  to  join  his  comrades  the  treacle  began  to  stream 
down  the  belly  of  his  horse.  He  was  heard  riding 
away  cursing  the  Confederacy  for  not  having  better 
post-bags. 

Another  party  of  them  found  a  woman  making  black 
soap, — a  compound  with  which,  as  it  seemed,  they 
were  not  familiar. 

"  Here,  hand  over  some  of  them  molasses,"  cried  one. 


292  "  BUMMERS." 

"  This  ain't  molasses."  "  You  get  along  ;  we  know 
better,"  and  the  foremost  man  took  some  of  the  black  soap 
into  his  mouth.  His  face  assumed  a  hideous  aspect, 
he  sputtered  and  swore,  and  swore  and  sputtered,  and 
was  for  shooting  the  woman,  believing  that  she  had 
poisoned  him. 

The  negroes  were  often  plundered  as  ruthlessly  as 
the  white  people.  At  Fayetteville,  a  poor  black 
woman  who  had  been  eagerly  awaiting  the  army  of 
Emancipation,  saw  the  "  bummers  "  coming,  and  running 
out  clapped  her  hands,  crying,  "  Bress  de  Lor',  you  'se 
come.  Bress  de  good  Lor'." 

"  Ah,  we  're  come,"  cried  one  of  the  men,  jumping 
from  his  horse,  "  let 's  see  what  you  Ve  got  here,  granny," 
and  in  spite  of  her  piteous  cries  went  off  with  her 
blankets. 

They  were  especially  remorseless  in  dealing  with 
those  negroes  who  refused  to  tell  where  their  master's 
things  had  been  concealed.  At  a  plantation  in  the 
Highland  settlement,  they  strung  up  a  poor  old  negro 
three  times  by  the  neck,  but  the  faithful  servant  refused 
to  betray  his  trust. 

Upon  the  better  feelings  of  some  of  these  men 
constant  practice  in  depredation  had  produced  so  in 
durating  an  effect,  that  no  amount  of  kindness  or 
conciliation  seemed  to  divert  them  from  their  purpose. 
One  of  Sherman's  officers  lived  for  a  week  in  a  Southern 
family  in  North  Carolina,  was  treated  with  the  utmost 
kindness,  and  then,  before  going,  ordered  his  men 
up  to  carry  off  the  plate.  At  Anderson,  South  Caro 
lina,  some  Federal  officers  were  invited  to  dinner  by 
Judge  M — ,  who  probably  hoped  in  this  way  to 
secure  their  protection.  They  accepted  the  invitation, 


HEARTLESSNESS.  293 

and  were  in  the  middle  of  dinner  when  a  noise  was 
heard  in  the  adjoining  room.  It  turned  out  to  be  some 
of  their  soldiers  who  had  come  in,  and  were  plundering 
the  house.  The  officers  were  appealed  to  but  they 
refused  to  interpose,  and  walked  out.  The  lady  went 
and  pleaded  with  the  sergeant.  "  Well,  ma'am,"  said  he, 
"  I  'm  sorry;  but  I  'm  a  subordinate  officer,  and  my  orders 
are  to  carry  these  things  away."  Such  cases  were  bad, 
but  they  were  not  the  most  heartless.  A  Christian 
coloured  woman  in  Savannah,  who  had  saved  the  lives 
of  three  Federal  soldiers,  by  concealing  them  in  her 
cellar  for  several  days,  till  the  Confederate  troops  had 
evacuated  the  city,  told  me  that  after  all  they  decamped 
with  a  number  of  her  things. 

Neither  age  nor  sex  had  any  deterring  influence  on 
some  of  these  ruffians.  Near  Fayetteville  a  party  of 
them  entered  the  house  of  an  old  gentleman  ninety-four 
years  of  age,  and  almost  blind,  who  had  been  a  strong 
Union  man,  and  had  upbraided  his  family  for  taking 
arms  against  a  Government  which  he  declared  to  be  the 
best  on  earth.  This  was  well  known,  but  it  made  no 
difference.  The  "  bummers"  plundered  his  house,  and 
took  away  even  the  old  man's  bedding.  One  of  them 
noticing  his  watch-chain,  said, "  I  guess  you  have  a  nice 
watch  there  ?"  and  came  up  to  take  it.  The  old  man 
drew  back,  and  with  his  palsied  hand  seized  a  rifle, 
saying,  "  Two  can  play  at  this  game  !"  On  seeing  this 
one  of  the  girls  fainted,  and  the  "bummers"  took  them 
selves  off.  They  went  into  the  house  of  another  member 
of  the  same  family,  took  even  the  shoes  off  the  children's 
feet,  and  left  the  house  so  completely  "  cleaned  out," 
that  the  family  had  to  subsist  for  two  days  on  the  corn 
picked  up  at  the  place  where  the  "  bummers"  had  fed 


294  "BUMMERS." 

their  horses.  At  Wilmington,  I  was  told  that  Sher 
man's  soldiers  plundered  the  house  of  the  venerable 
Bishop  Atkinson,  took  his  pulpit-gown  and  trampled  it 
under  their  feet. 

To  the  ladies  no  more  respect  was  paid,  which  is  the 
more  remarkable  as  Americans  in  general  are  more 
deferential  to  women  than  any  people  perhaps  in  the 
world.  The  wife  of  a  wealthy  planter  in  South  Carolina 
told  me  that  two  of  them  forced  their  way  into  her  bed 
room,  took  several  costly  silk  dresses  from  her  wardrobe, 
threw  them  over  their  horses,  and  rode  off  with  them 
under  a  deluge  of  rain.  In  some  cases  they  went  the 
length  of  tearing  ladies'  dresses  off  their  persons,  to  see 
that  nothing  valuable  was  concealed  underneath. 

In  the  city  of  Columbia,  during  the  conflagration 
which  they  had  helped  to  kindle,  they  arrested  dis 
tracted  women  in  the  streets,  robbed  them  of  their 
watches,  and  even  forced  off  their  finger-rings. 

These  are  but  illustrations  of  what  the  people  had  to 
suffer  along  the  whole  course  of  Sherman's  march. 
They  are  not  pleasant  things  to  tell,  but  they  help  to 
explain  some  otherwise  unaccountable  exhibitions  of 
Southern  hatred  to  Northern  men  and  Northern  move 
ments.  Most  of  the  people  complain  even  more  of  the 
animus  shown  by  these  troopers  than  of  their  depreda 
tions.  Not  content  with  taking  away  as  many  horses 
as  they  wanted,  they  killed  the  rest,  and  left  whole 
districts  lumbered  up  with  carcases,  which  were  like  to 
breed  a  pestilence,  the  people  having  no  means  of  re 
moving  them. 

The  slaughter  of  horses  might  have  been  considered 
a  war  measure,  but  on  some  of  the  plantations  which  I 
visited,  the  "  bummers"  had  burned  books,  destroyed 


EXCEEDING  OEDEES. 


295 


family  records  and  deeds,  drawn  their  knives  across 
oil-paintings,  and  smashed  clocks  and  pianos.  In  one 
planter's  house  they  had  taken  a  quantity  of  tar  and 
poured  it  into  a  valuable  piano,  rendering  it  utterly 
useless. 

They  perpetrated  these  acts  of  vandalism,  not  to 
speak  of  other  and  more  dastardly  outrages,  chiefly  in 
South  Carolina,  a  State  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the 
Northern  troops,  as  having  been  the  hotbed  of  Seces 
sion.  South  Carolina  was  traversed  from  end  to  end, 
and  was  left  a  perfect  wreck. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  Sherman  was  responsible 
for  all  this.  On  the  contrary,  in  his  general  order1  he 


1  The  following  is  the  text  of  sec 
tions  iv. -vn.  :— "  The  army  will 
forage  liberally  on  the  country  dur 
ing  the  inarch.  To  this  end  each 
brigade  commander  will  organize  a 
good  and  sufficient  foraging  party, 
iinder  the  command  of  one  or  more 
discreet  officers,  who  will  gather, 
near  the  route  travelled,  corn  or 
forage  of  any  kind,  meat  of  any 
kind,  vegetables,  corn-meal,  or  what 
ever  is  needed  by  the  command  ; 
aiming  at  all  times  to  keep  in  the 
waggon-trains  at  least  ten  days'  pro 
visions  for  the  command,  and  three 
days'  forage.  Soldiers  must  not 
enter  the  dwellings  of  the  inhabi 
tants,  or  commit  any  trespass  ;  dur 
ing  the  halt,  or  at  camp,  they  may 
be  permitted  to  gather  turnips, 
potatoes,  and  other  vegetables,  and 
drive  in  stock  in  front  of  their 
camps.  To  regular  foraging  parties 
must  be  intrusted  the  gathering  of 
provisions  and  forage  at  any  dis 
tance  from  the  road  travelled. 

' '  To  army  corps  commanders  is  in 


trusted  the  power  to  destroy  mills, 
houses,  cotton-gins,  etc.  ;  and  for 
them  this  general  principle  is  laid 
down  : — In  districts  and  neighbour 
hoods  where  the  army  is  unmo 
lested,  no  destruction  of  such  pro 
perty  should  be  permitted ;  but 
should  guerillas  or  bush-whackers 
molest  our  march,  or  should  the  in 
habitants  .burn  bridges,  obstruct 
roads,  or  otherwise  manifest  local 
hostility,  then  army  corps  com 
manders  should  order  and  enforce  a 
devastation  more  or  less  relentless, 
according  to  the  measure  of  such 
hostility. 

"  As  for  horses,  mules,  waggons, 
etc.,  belonging  to  the  inhabitants, 
the  cavalry  and  artillery  may  ap 
propriate  freely,  and  without  limit, 
discriminating,  however,  between 
the  rich,  who  are  usually  hostile,  and 
the  poor  or  industrious,  usually 
neutral  or  friendly.  Foraging  par 
ties  may  also  take  mules  or  horses 
to  replace  the  jaded  animals  of  their 
trains,  or  to  serve  as  pack-mules  for 


296  "BUMMEES." 

prohibited  soldiers  from  entering  the  dwelling-houses 
of  the  inhabitants,  recommended  consideration  for  the 
poor  and  the  industrious,  and  forbade  the  use  of  abusive 
or  threatening  language.  These  instructions  were  at 
tended  to  by  the  better  class  of  his  soldiers,  many  of 
whom  showed  the  utmost  courtesy  to  the  people,  and 
defended  them  in  numerous  instances  from  insult  and 
outrage.  But  Sherman  himself,  in  his  report,  admits  that 
others  had  been  "  a  little  loose  in  foraging,"  and  "  had 
done  some  things  which  they  ought  not  to  have  done," 
which  is  a  delicate  way  of  putting  the  fact  that  they 
had  robbed  and  plundered  the  defenceless  people  with 
out  regard  to  age,  colour,  and  sex,  and  had  committed 
other  and  deeper  outrages,  which  only  the  shame  of 
the  people  prevented  from  becoming  known  to  the 
public. 

So  far,  however,  as  the  general  devastation  of  the 
country  was  concerned,  it  formed  a  part  of  Sherman's 
express  design — was  involved,  indeed,  in  the  very  idea 
of  pasturing  his  immense  army  upon  a  thinly  peopled 
country  as  he  went  along.  His  avowed  policy  was  to 
make  war  so  terrible  and  insupportable  to  the  people 
that  they  would  be  driven  to  peace ;  and  then  to  make 
peace  so  pleasant  that  the  bitterness  of  war  would 
soon  be  forgotten.  He  did  his  best  to  carry  out  both 
parts  of  the  programme.  He  moved  his  army  like  a 
cloud  of  locusts  across  the  South,  devouring  the  land, 
and  turning  a  remorseless  ear  to  the  piteous  cries  of  the 
people;  but  as  soon  as  the  enemy  gave  in,  and  Joe 

the  regiments  or  brigades.     In  all  thinks  proper,  give  written  certifi- 

foraging  of  whatever  kind,  the  par-  cates  of  the  facts,  but  no  receipts  ; 

ties  engaged  will  refrain  from  abu-  and  they  will  endeavour  to  leave 

sive  or  threatening  language,  and  with  each  family  a  reasonable  por- 

may,  when  the  officer  in  command  tion  for  their  maintenance." 


SHERMAN'S  POLICY.  297 

Johnston  (commanding  the  Confederate  army  in  North 
Carolina)  opened  negotiations  for  surrender,  Sherman 
granted  most  generous  terms  of  peace, — terms  so  gener 
ous  that  his  Government  refused  to  indorse  them.  He 
succeeded '  with  the  first  part  of  his  programme,  he 
failed  with  the  second ;  and  the  result  is  what  we  see. 
But  mightier  forces  and  deeper  purposes  were  in  the 
war  than  even  Sherman  could  control. 


298   PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE. 


XXVIII. 

PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE. 

THE  Chair  of  Mathematics  in  the  South-  Carolina 
University  at  Columbia  is  occupied  by  General  E.  P. 
Alexander,  Lee's  old  chief  of  artillery,  who,  at  the  time 
of  my  visit,  was  busy  during  his  spare  hours  preparing 
a  history  of  Longstreet's  corps.  He  had  found  unex 
pected  difficulty  in  collecting  materials,  partially  owing 
to  a  fact  which  he  believed  would  leave  posterity  with 
little  more  than  one  side  of  the  question, — the  fact, 
namely,  that  the  Confederate  officers  who  could  have 
furnished  the  necessary  materials  are  almost  all  engaged 
now  in  other  employments,  and  so  driven,  many  of  them, 
by  the  necessities  of  daily  life,  that  they  have  no  time 
to  spend  on  history. 

He  said  if  his  book  ever  got  the  length  of  publica 
tion,  military  readers  would  learn  with  astonishment 
with  what  defective  artillery  the  South  had  done  what 
she  did.  She  had  very  few  good  guns.  As  for  her 
rifled  cannon,  they  were  so  bad  that  he  had  thought  of 
giving  them  up  and  taking  to  smooth-bores.  A  splen 
did  battery  of  Armstrong's  arrived  at  last,  but  just  too 
late.  The  General's  evident  regret  that  the  war  had 
not  lasted  just  a  little  longer  to  let  him  try  that  new 
battery  upon  the  enemy,  was  a  true  touch  of  professional 
enthusiasm. 


FLEEING  FROM  THE  FLAMES.  299 

His  experience  did  not  seem  to  go  much  in  favour  of 
breech-loading.  "  It  is  all  very  well,"  he  said,  "  for 
small  pieces  ;  but  you  can  load  at  the  muzzle  as  fast  as 
a  heavy  gun  will  stand  it." 

Walking  along  the  wide  streets  of  the  once  beautiful 
city  in  which  the  College  stands,  it  was  sad  to  see  how 
much  of  it  was  still  in  ruins.  Three  years  had  passed 
since  Sherman  and  Wade  Hampton  managed  to  burn  it 
between  them,1  but  whole  streets  were  still  wanting ; 
the  trees  were  scathed  with  fire  ;  and  nothing  left  where 
stately  houses  had  once  stood  but  a  few  charred  beams 
hanging  over  the  black  pits  of  debris,  which  had  been 
their  cellars. 

The  city  was  full  of  fearful  memories  of  that  night. 
One  narrative  given  me  by  an  old  Scotch  minister  from 
Kirkcudbright,  but  for  many  years  now  the  pastor  of  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  South  Carolina,  will  help  the 
reader  to  realize  the  scene  : — He  said,  "  At  nine  o'clock 
on  the  forenoon  of  that  day,  I  saw  the  mayor  drive  out 
in  his  carriage  to  surrender  the  city.  At  half-past  ten, 
when  Wade  Hampton's  cavalry  retired,  the  head  of 
Sherman's  column  was  already  in  sight,  and,  by  eleven, 
Sherman  was  in  the  city  with  all  his  army.  .  .  .  That 
night  the  city  was  found  on  fire.  It  was  a  wild  night,  the 
wind  blowing  strongly  from  the  east.  I  was  out  every 
few  minutes  to  watch  the  progress  of  the  fire,  and  see 

1   Each  General  lays  the  blame  extinguish  the  fire,  but  admits  that 

upon  the  other.     Sherman  says  that  "  others  not  on  duty,  including  the 

a  perfect  tempest  of  wind  was  raging  officers  who  had  long  been  impri- 

at  the  time,  and  that  the  cotton  soned  there,   rescued  by  us,  may 

which  Wade  Hampton  had  set  on  have  assisted  in  spreading  the  fire 

fire  before  evacuating  the  city,  was  after  it  had  once  begun,  and  may 

blown  about  in  burning  flakes,  ignit-  have  indulged  in  unconcealed  joy  to 

ing  the  houses.     He  says  that  his  see  the  ruin  of  the  capital  of  South 

officers  and  men  did  their  best  to  Carolina." 


300      PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE. 

if  the  wind  was  changing,  for  I  was  fearful  that  the 
conflagration  would  lick  up  our  house  with  the  rest. 
At  twelve  o'clock,  the  large  house  that  stood  next  took 
fire,  and  I  saw  that  ours  must  go.  I  gave  the  signal  to 
awaken  the  children,  and  we  all  turned  out  into  the 
night,  the  ladies  carrying  great  bundles.  I  had  a  grand 
child  in  one  arm,  and  a  bundle  in  the  other.  There 
was  a  sea  of  fire  behind  us.  There  was  fire  on  the  right, 
and  fire  on  the  left.  We  made  our  way  to  a  friend's 
house,  but  the  conflagration  came  on,  and  we  had  to  fly 
to  another's,  and  by-and-by  we  had  to  leave  it  too.  My 
son  said,  '  Let  us  get  to  the  back  of  the  fire.'  We  saw 
a  little  darkness  to  the  north-east,  and  went  in  that 
direction.  When  we  got  to  Mrs.  W.'s  house  we  found  a 
great  crowd  of  soldiers.  I  heard  a  woman's  voice  shriek 
ing  '  0  don't !  don't !'  and  found  that  the  soldiers  were 
threatening  to  set  fire  to  the  house.  I  said,  '  We  had 
better  go  out  to  the  Asylum/  We  found  the  Asylum 
crowded,  and  the  yard  filling  with  fugitives  like  our 
selves.  Nearly  a  thousand  people  took  shelter  there 
that  night.  In  the  morning  there  was  scarcely  any 
thing  left  of  Columbia  but  blackened  ruins.  Four  thou 
sand  citizens  were  in  the  streets  homeless." 

Tho  old  man  added,  "  I  had  sent  up  my  library  from 
Charleston — my  library  that  I  had  taken  forty-five  years 
to  collect,  and  had  spent  my  little  all  upon.  I  had  sent 
it  up  to  Columbia,  thinking  it  would  be  safe.  It  was 
burnt  to  ashes,  not  a  scrap  left.  I  had  sent  up  also  the 
Eecords  of  the  old  Scotch  Church — records  150  years 
old — that  had  been  left  in  my  charge.  They  shared  the 
same  fate.  We  haven't  left  now  a  single  record  of  birth, 
death,  or  marriage;  and  that  church  was  one  of  the 
oldest  Scotch  churches  in  America.  The  St.  Andrew's 


AN  EDUCATED  NEGRO.  301 

Society,  another  old  and  noble  Scotch  institution  in 
this  State,  lost  its  fine  paintings — its  portrait  of  Dugald 
Stewart — and  other  valuable  relics.  No  one  can  reckon 
up,  sir,  all  that  was  destroyed  by  that  one  night's 
work" 

At  Charleston,  amongst  the  most  prominent  members 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention  assembled  there,  I  was 
interested  to  find  a  coloured  man  who  had  been  educa 
ted  in  Scotland,  and  whom  I  remembered  as  a  fellow- 
student  in  Edinburgh.  The  case  of  Francis  L.  Cardozo 
shows  what  culture  can  do  for  a  coloured  as  w.ell  as  for 
a  white  man.  Cardozo  was  the  child  of  free  negroes, 
was  taken  to  Scotland  when  a  boy,  attended  school  and 
college  in  Glasgow,  went  through  a  theological  curri 
culum  in  the  Hall  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Edinburgh,  returned  to  America,  became  a  teacher 
first  in  New  York,  and  afterwards  (when  the  war  opened 
up  the  South)  in  Charleston ;  was  elected  a  member  of 
Convention,  and  now,  at  the  present  moment,  under  the 
new  regime,  holds  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State  for 
South  Carolina. 

Cardozo  is  a  man  of  middle  size,  but  of  dignified  ap 
pearance  and  refined  manners.  He  is  a  well-read  man, 
has  a  clear  head,  is  an  excellent  argumentative  speaker, 
and  a  first-rate  organizer  and  man  of  business. 

I  spent  one  or  two  evenings  with  him  at  his  house, 
which  was  furnished  with  much  elegance  and  taste.  In 
his  admirably  selected  library  I  saw  well-thumbed 
copies  of  Sir  William  Hamilton's  Lectures,  Morell's 
Philosophy,  Euskin,  Ecce  Homo,  Stanley,  D'Aubigne, 
Macaulay,  with  a  Shakespeare  and  Horace,  several 
works  on  algebra,  and  numerous  other  books,  indicating 
the  wide  range  of  his  studies.  I  have  heard  strong  pro- 


302   PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE. 

slavery  men  in  the  South  declare  that  you  can  no  more 
teach  a  negro  than  you  can  teach  a  mule.  But  there 
are  no  mules  that  have  yet  learned  to  read  Kuskin  and 
Horace. 

Cardozo  took  me  through  the  black  schools  in  the 
city,  which  he  was  still  superintending,  and  where 
ahout  800  black  boys  and  girls  were  being  educated. 
"  I  feel  more  interest  and  more  pride  in  these  classes," 
he  said,  "  than  I  ever  did  in  New  York.  The  children 
there  had  been  taught  from  infancy,  and  were  being 
helped  at  home;  but  here,  most  of  the  scholars  depend 
entirely  upon  the  training  they  get  from  us,  and  we  see 
the  effect  of  our  work  upon  them.  It  is  a  perpetual 
enjoyment." 

I  asked  him  what  difference  he  had  found  between 
white  and  black  children. 

"  Very  little,"  he  said.  "  I  have  perhaps  to  explain 
more  here,  but  remember  these  children  have  had  no 
previous  mental  training.  Otherwise  there  seems  little 
difference.  They  understand  as  well,  and  memorize  as 
quickly,  as  any  children  at  the  North.  We  have  boys 
only  a  year  at  school  who  are  reading  in  Caesar." 

He  said  the  coloured  people  would  have  a  long 
struggle  before  they  could  overcome  the  prejudice 
against  them.  That  prejudice  was  strong  both  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  He  mentioned  some  cases  of 
it.  On  one  occasion,  when  travelling  by  the  Weldon 
Eailway4  with  his  wife,  who  is  almost  white,  they  took 
their  seats  in  one  of  the  ordinary  cars.  By-and-by 
the  conductor  came  through  to  see  tickets.  On  catch 
ing  sight  of  Cardozo,  he  looked  fiercely  at  him,  looked 
at  his  wife,  whom  he  also  saw  to  be  coloured,  and  com 
ing  up  to  them,  said,  "  No  niggers  allowed  here.  You 


CHARLESTON.  303 

get  along  to  the  niggers'  car/'  and  turned  them  out. 
The  Civil  Eights'  Bill  had  not  passed  then,  and  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  obey. 

Charleston,  though  much  disfigured  by  the  war,  is  a 
royal  city.  All  her  finest  streets  are  lined  with  trees, 
and  her  suburbs,  which  cover  a  vast  area,  are  filled  with 
elegant  houses,  many  of  them  of  magnificent  size,  with 
verandahs  all  round,  and  grounds  beautified  with  orange 
trees,  palmettoes,  and  magnolias. 

From  the  top  of  the  Orphan  Asylum — one  of  the 
noblest  of  the  charities  for  which  Carolina  has  long  had 
an  honourable  name — a  magnificent  view  is  got  of  the 
whole  city,  the  wide  rivers  on  both  sides,  and  the  vast 
bay  formed  by  their  confluence,  and  stretching  away  to 
wards  the  sea,  with  Fort  Sumter  and  the  other  islands 
dotting  the  expanse.1 

In  its  situation,  Charleston  bears  a  remarkable 
resemblance  to  New  York,  with  this  difference,  that 
the  rivers  insulate  New  York  completely,  while  they 
leave  Charleston  on  a  tongue  of  land.  The  resem 
blance  of  the  places  makes  the  stranger  notice  perhaps 
all  the  more  the  difference  between  the  two  peoples — a 
difference  which  exists  more  or  less  between  the  whole 
South  and  the  North.  Although  Charleston,  like  New 

1  In  the  garden  in  front  of  the  disfavour  with  the  Americans,  and 
Orphanage  stands,  or  rather  totters,  the  statue  that  was  to  stand  so 
an  old  statue  of  Pitt,  whereby  hangs  proudly  through  the  ages,  was 
a  tale.  When  it  was  reared  in  1776,  pulled  down  and  thrown  into  a  eel- 
it  was  declared,  amidst  universal  lar.  In  1820,  some  antiquarian  dis- 
enthusiasm,  that  the  stone  would  covered  the  mutilated  effigy,  and 
crumble  to  pieces  before  South  Caro-  got  it  set  up  in  the  Orphanage  gar- 
lina  forgot  her  obligations  to  the  den,  where  the  illustrious  statesman 
British  Statesman  who  had  done  so  now  stands,  with  his  arm  broken 
much  to  help  the  cause  of  American  off,  his  nose  splintered,  his  neck 
Independence.  When  Pitt's  son  cracked,  and  his  head  as  loose  as  a 
came  into  office,  the  name  got  into  church  establishment. 


304   PERSONAL  NOTES  FROM  THE  PALMETTO  STATE. 

York,  is  a  commercial  centre,  the  atmosphere  of  the 
place  is  calmer  and  less  exciting.  The  streets  are  not 
so  full  of  people  who  look  as  if  they  had  just  invented 
a  machine,  and  were  running  away  to  secure  the  patent. 
The  rush  after  dollars  and  cents,  especially  cents,  is 
less  keen  and  universal.  There  is  more  quietness,  more 
ease,  more  suavity  of  manner.  The  difference  is  like 
that  which  is  felt  by  any  one  who  has  passed  from 
London  to  Bath,  or  from  Leeds  to  York,  or  from  Glas 
gow  to  Edinburgh. 


PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY.  305 


XXIX. 

PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY. 

THOUGH  all  the  States  have  developed  under  nomi 
nally  the  same  kind  of  Government,  there  are  differ 
ences  between  North  and  South  in  the  constitution  and 
tendencies  of  society  perceptible  even  to  the  passing 
stranger.  Under  the  form  of  Bepublicanism,  the  current 
of  social  and  political  life  in  the  South  has  been  moving 
towards  a  different  goal.  In  the  North  the  whole  ten 
dency  has  been  to  produce  a  splendid  mediocrity — to 
compensate  for  the  want  of  an  aristocratic  class  by 
raising  the  general  level.  The  South  in  theory  did  the 
same — claimed  indeed  a  more  perfect  equality  for  its 
citizens  than  was  possible  in  the  North.  It  maintained, 
that  where  white  men  had  to  do  menial  work,  there 
could  be  no  real  equality ;  that  this  was  only  attainable 
where  there  was  a  servile  race  to  do  such  work  outside 
the  limits  of  citizenship.  But  the  theory  has  not  been 
borne  out  by  the  facts.  The  effect  of  Southern  prin 
ciples  has  practically  been  to  produce,  even  amongst 
the  whites,  a  separation  of  classes  greater  than  exists  in 
the  North, — to  make  society  aggregate  itself  towards  two 
extremes, — floating  a  lordly  class  on  the  surface,  and 
precipitating  to  the  bottom  the  sediment  commonly 
known  as  white  trash. 

The  strength  of  the  North  has  lain  in  what  may  be 
U 


306  PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY. 

called,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  her  Middle  Class, — her 
myriads  of  freeholders, — the  men  who  carried  Lincoln 
into  office  in  1860,  and  again  in  1864,  over  the  heads 
of  the  Democratic  party,  the  centaur-like  party  which 
has  strangely  incorporated  the  most  aristocratic  element 
in  the  country  with  the  most  plebeian.  The  governing 
strength  of  the  South,  on  the  contrary,  lay  in  her  upper 
class, — her  great  slaveholders, — the  men  who  dragged  the 
States  into  rebellion,  securing  the  adhesion  of  the  body 
of  the  people  after  secession  and  &?/  secession,  instead  of 
securing  it  (which  it  is  doubtful  if  they  could  have  done) 
in  order  to  secession. 

The  existence  of  these  two  classes  in  the  South,  in 
spite  of  the  social  confusion  caused  by  the  war,  still 
strikes  a  stranger  passing  from  the  North.  He  meets, 
on  the  one  hand,  a  lordlier  class  of  men  than  the  North 
has  been  able  to  produce — lordlier,  perhaps,  than  the 
South,  devoid  now  of  a  servile  class  over  which  to  rear 
its  head,  can  ever  in  this  age  produce  again — a  class  as 
nearly  approaching  our  own  nobility  as  was  possible 
in  the  midst  of  cotton-growing  and  slavery.1 

The  war  brought  out  some  of  these  men  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  corresponding  representatives  of  the 
North, — Jefferson  Davis  and  Abraham  Lincoln ;  Stuart 
and  Kilpatriek ;  Wade  Hampton  and  Sherman ;  Robert 
E.  Lee  and  Ulysses  Grant.  But  this  aristocratic  class  in 
the  South  is  limited,  while  at  the  other  extreme,  beyond 
the  middle  class,  which  is  also  limited,  lies  an  immense 
class  of  whites  as  a  direct  product  of  Southern  principles, 

1  Emerson,  speaking  of  the  dignity  the  South.     The  North  was  talked 

and  suavity  of  Southern  manners,  down  by  these  agreeable  gentlemen, 

said, — "  Men  who  were  too  great  to  War  was  the  disinfectant  to  this 

be  bullied  or  bribed  gave  way  to  serious  enchantment." 
lordliness.     This  was  the  power  of 


POOR  WHITES.  307 

which  in  the  North  has  scarcely  any  existence  except 
as  a  foreign  element  not  yet  digested  by  the  gastric 
forces  which  are  continually  at  work  upon  it, — a  class 
poor,  idle,  uneducated,  and  in  many  respects  very 
worthless. 

Few  stronger  indications  of  the  opposite  tendencies 
of  Northern  and  Southern  society  can  be  pointed  to 
than  the  state  of  education.  In  the  North,  the  educa 
tion  of  the  masses  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most 
indispensable  elements  of  national  life  and  progress,  and 
infinite  care  has  been  taken,  by  the  establishment  and 
continual  extension  and  improvement  of  the  free- school 
system,  to  educate  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  Ap 
propriations  of  land,  appropriations  of  money,  the  erec 
tion  of  free-schools  in  every  township  and  village,  the 
preparation  of  efficient  teachers,  the  devising  of  means 
for  giving  every  child  in  every  district  a  good  education — 
these  are  absorbing  thoughts  everywhere  in  the  North. 
In  the  South,  on  the  contrary,  there  has  been  no  free- 
school  system.  In  the  cities,  where  there  was  more  of 
an  independent  middle  class,  there  were  here  and  there 
charity  schools  for  such  as  could  not  pay  for  class  edu 
cation  ;  but  the  idea  of  schools  where  the  children  of 
all  classes  should  sit  together  and  be  trained  alike,  has 
always  been  abhorrent  to  Southern  ideas.1  No  general 
attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  educate  the  mass  of  the 
poor  whites  ;  and  even  the  profession  of  the  teacher  has 

1  "  We  have  got  to  hating  every-  prolific  source  of  the  infidelity  and 

thing  with  the  prefix  '  free,' "  said  treasons  that  have  turned  her  cities 

the  Virginia  Democrat  when  advo-  into  Sodoms  and  Gomorrahs,  and 

eating  Mr.  Buchanan's  election  in  her  land  into  the  common  nestling 

1856.     "  But  the  worst  of  all  these  place  of  howling  bedlamites.     We 

abominations  is  the  modern  system  abominate  the  system  because  the 

of  Free  Schools.    The  New  England  schools  are  free." 
system  of  Free  Schools  has  been  the 


308  PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY. 

been  held  so  low,  that  few  Southerners  of  any  ability 
would  give  themselves  to  the  work ;  and  those  who 
wanted  their  families  thoroughly  educated,  had  often  to 
bring  teachers  and  governesses  from  the  North,  and 
send  their  young  men  to  Northern  colleges. 

The  South  in  almost  everything  is  Conservative.  The 
battles  that  are  over,  or  still  raging  at  the  North,  have 
scarcely  begun  at  the  South.  The  old  philosophy  is 
taught  in  her  Universities ;  the  old  creeds  and  confes 
sions  bind  her  churches ;  and  a  deference  is  paid  by  the 
religious  classes  to  the  clergy  which,  in  the  more  de 
mocratic  North,  is  denied.  The  same  Conservatism  is 
visible  in  the  social  relations.  Servants  are  under  con 
trol,  children  are  treated  more  as  they  are  with  us,  and 
woman  stands  just  where  she  used  to  do.  There  is  no 
Woman's  Eights  Movement  in  the  South ;  there  are  no 
lady  professors,  no  doctoresses,  no  Eev.  Olympia  Browns  ; 
nor  does  one  find  any  Shaker  communities,  any  Mormon 
settlements,  any  Oneida  Creeks  for  experiments  in  Free 
Love  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  All  these,  even 
in  the  North,  are  exceptional ;  but  public  sentiment 
there  is  more  favourable  to  a  readjustment  of  the  old 
relation  between  the  sexes ;  more  tolerant  at  least  of 
experiments. 

By  the  Southern  people  all  these  movements  are 
classed  together  as  belonging  to  the  family  of  Yankee 
Isms,  which  they  regard  as  begotten  of  the  devil,  and 
destined,  unless  put  down  with  a  strong  hand,  to  lead 
the  country  to  anarchy. 

Along  with  the  Conservative  idea  of  woman's  position, 
the  South  preserves  a  higher  standard  of  female  virtue, 
perhaps  I  should  say  white  virtue.  How  far  this  is 
owing  to  the  existence  of  a  semi-aristocratic  class,  and 


FEMALE  VIRTUE.  309 

whether  the  broader  democracy  of  the  North  tends  to 
deflect  the  standard,  are  questions  open  to  discussion ; 
but  the  fact  remains.  The  Southern  people  boast  of  it, 
and  the  Northern  people  in  one  form  or  another  ac 
knowledge  it. 

Of  course  there  are  multitudes  of  Christian  people  in 
the  North  who  maintain  as  high  a  standard  of  domestic 
purity  and  virtue  as  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth ; 
but  the  general  tone  of  society  is  undoubtedly  laxer, 
and  vices  prevail  in  the  North,  cropping  out  even  in 
newspaper  advertisements,  which  are  almost  unknown 
in  the  South.  The  laws  degrading  marriage  and 
facilitating  divorce  which  obtain  in  Illinois  and  Indiana 
would  be  tolerated  by  no  Southern  State,  and  are 
spoken  of  by  the  Southern  people  with  detestation. 
So  keen  also  is  the  Southern  feeling  in  reference  to 
cases  of  dishonour  (I  mean  again  white  dishonour),  that 
cases  which  in  the  North  would  be  dealt  with  in  the 
form  of  an  action  for  damages,  would  in  the  South  be 
punished  with  death,  by  the  champion  of  the  party 
aggrieved,  and  however  the  law  stood  no  Southern  jury 
would  convict  the  avenger. 

In  talking  this  subject  over  with  a  Southern  gentle 
man,  he  said, — "  A  woman,  sir,  in  the  South  who  would 
seek  pecuniary  compensation  for  loss  of  honour  in  a 
court  of  law,  would  be  regarded  as  a  saleable  harlot ; 
and  her  male  relations  who  permitted  such  a  thing, 
would  be  looked  upon  as  dastards  who  shared  the 
profits  and  deserved  a  deeper  infamy.  Any  man  who 
destroyed  the  virtue  of  a  member  of  my  family  I  should 
kill  whenever  and  wherever  I  found  him.  Any  Southern 
gentleman  would  do  the  same,  and  the  moral  sense  of 
the  public  would  approve  his  act.  I  had  a  classmate 


310  PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY. 

at  the  Military  Academy,"  he  said,  "who  became  a 
Presbyterian  minister.  He  had  an  only  sister,  a 
widow,  to  whom  a  friend  made  improper  proposals. 
She  informed  her  brother,  who  was  500  miles  distant. 
The  clergyman  rode  the  distance  on  horseback,  found 
the  offender,  and  killed  him.  I  have  seen  him  since, 
officiating  in  his  usual  capacity  as  a  minister.  As  far 
as  I  know  he  was  never  reprimanded  even  by  his  church." 

With  a  higher  standard  of  virtue  amongst  women, 
there  is  also  kept  up  in  the  South  a  higher  standard  of 
honour  amongst  men.  This  principle,  acting  just  as 
we  have  seen  it  act  in  our  own  country,  is  variable  and 
capricious.  It  puts  a  check  on  much  of  the  meanness 
and  dishonesty  that  too  often  goes  in  the  North  by  the 
name  of  smartness  in  business.  It  causes  the  Southern 
gentleman  to  attach  more  importance  to  the  develop 
ment  of  moral  qualities  than  of  material  wealth  or 
intellectual  acuteness ;  but  it  issues  practically  more 
in  sensitiveness  and  high  spirit  than  in  a  Christian 
morality.  "  I  would  punish  my  boy  four  years  old," 
said  one  Southern  gentlemen,  "  if  he  allowed  himself 
to  be  called  opprobrious  names,  either  by  his  school 
mates  or  by  his  teacher,  and  did  not  strike  the  offender 
at  once.  He  might  be  beaten  in  return ;  that  matters 
nothing.  The  boy  preserves  his  honour  if  he  resents 
the  insult  to  the  best  of  his  ability." 

Said  another  fiery  Southerner  whom  I  met  in  an 
Alabama' river  steamboat,  and  who  carried  a  revolver  in 
his  breeches'  pocket,  "  I  am  as  good  a  Christian,  sir,  at 
times,  as  any  man  in  God's  creation ;  but,  sir,  I  am  also 
a  gentleman.  And  if  any  man  insults  me,  I  will  call 
that  man  out,  and  if  he  refuses  to  come  out,  I  will 
shoot  him  at  sight,  sir." 


INFLUENCE  OF  SLAVERY.  311 

Duelling,  however,  is  not  practised  in  the  South  half 
as  much  as  is  supposed,  and  the  indiscriminate  duel  is 
altogether  condemned  by  the  most  intelligent  classes  ; 
but  amongst  Southern  gentlemen  generally,  I  found  the 
principle  of  duelling  strongly  maintained.  Talking 
on  this  subject  with  General  Ranson,  to  whom  I  have 
already  referred,  he  said, — "  We  in  the  South  are  taught 
from  childhood  to  believe  that  death  is  preferable  to 
dishonour.  Christian  principle  would  generally  pre 
vent  me  from  seeking  the  life  of  a  fellow-man  in  cold 
blood,  but  there  are  times,  sir,  I  unhesitatingly  assert, 
there  are  times,  when  to  fight  is  as  indispensable  to 
character  as  breath  is  to  life." 

Unhappily,  most  of  the  people  who  go  about  armed 
in  the  South,  are  unable  to  distinguish  such  times  from 
others  ;  and  the  practical  effect  of  teaching  the  resent 
ing  of  insult  by  a  resort  to  arms,  has  been  to  produce 
disregard  of  human  life,  and  a  prevalence,  in  many 
quarters,  of  brutal  outrages  and  murderous  assaults. 
For  every  man  who  is  shot  in  a  duel,  a  hundred  are 
"  shot  at  sight,"  or  stabbed  in  the  heat  of  some  un 
expected  quarrel. 

Probably  no  single  cause  has  done  so  much  to  pro 
duce  or  perpetuate  these  distinctions  between  South 
and  North  as  slavery.  That  institution,  by  putting  the 
brand  of  degradation  upon  labour,  repelled  the  immi 
gration  that  has  done  so  much  for  the  Free  States ;  it 
depressed  the  inventiveness,  the  enterprise,  and  the 
activity  of  the  Southern  people  themselves  ;  and  it  pro 
duced  that  omnipresent  class  of  loafers,  buckskins,  and 
vagabonds  of  every  description,  who,  because  they  were 
white  men,  were  therefore  by  hypothesis  gentlemen;  who, 


312  PECULIARITIES  OF  SOUTHERN  SOCIETY. 

being  gentlemen,  would  not  work  if  they  could  help  it ; 
and  who,  as  they  would  not  work,  remained  in  a  state 
of  poverty  and  dependence.  It  threw  all  the  greater 
power  into  the  hands  of  the  great  slaveholders,  a  power 
enormously  increased  by  the  three-fifths  representative 
clause,  which  gave  the  slaveholder  three  additional  votes 
for  every  five  slaves  that  he  possessed.  It  caused  the 
sons  of  these  men  to  be  reared  in  indolence  and  luxury, 
and,  while  it  permitted  the  leisure,  the  culture,  and  the 
commanding  position  that  enabled  them  to  perpetuate 
a  lordly  class,  and  to  furnish  almost  all  the  statesmen 
that  America  produced  for  half  a  century,  it  tempted  the 
majority  to  lives  of  luxurious  ease,  gaiety,  and  dissipa 
tion,  offering  them  facilities  for  the  gratification  of  all 
their  passions,  and  releasing  them  from  the  wholesome 
discipline  that  develops  self-reliance  and  enterprise. 

Finally,  as  a  system  hostile  to  free  labour,  it  threw 
up  between  the  Slave  and  the  Free  States  a  mighty 
wall  of  separation,  against  which  the  waves  of  Northern 
agitation  and  progress  long  washed  and  beat  in  vain, 
thus  leaving  in  the  South  many  virtues  as  well  as  vices 
elsewhere  disappearing,  most  of  them  the  vices  and  the 
virtues  characteristic  of  feudal  and  patriarchal  times. 

The  determination  to  protect  slavery,  arising  to  a 
large  extent  from  a  belief  in  the  impossibility  of  getting 
on  without  it,  necessarily  prompted  the  South  to  be  Con 
servative,  and  repellent  of  Northern  ideas  in  religion, 
politics,  and  sociology,  any  one  of  which,  if  admitted, 
would  have  been  inevitably  followed  by  the  others,  to 
the  subversion,  sooner  or  later,  of  the  whole  system  of 
Southern  society.  The  more  liberal  and  revolutionary 
the  North  became,  the  more  determined  and  fierce  be 
came  the  South  in  her  Conservatism,  till  the  two  forces 


INFLUENCE  OF  SLAVEKY.  313 

began  to  pull  so  strongly  different  ways  within  the 
limits  of  the  same  Constitution,  that  one  of  three  things 
became  inevitable,  either  (1)  separation,  or  (2)  the  sub 
jection  of  Northern  principles  to  those  of  the  South  ;  or 
(3)  the  subjection  of  Southern  principles  to  those  of  the 
North.  The  question  was  referred  in  1861  to  the  Tri 
bunal  of  War,  and  settled  by  the  collapse  of  the  South 
in  1865. 


3 1 4  THE  PLOUGHSHARE. 


XXX. 

THE  PLOUGHSHARE. 

I  WAS  struck  with  a  remark  made  by  a  Southern 
gentleman  in  answer  to  the  assertion  that  Jefferson 
Davis  had  culpably  continued  the  war  for  six  months 
after  all  hope  had  been  abandoned. 

"  Sir,"  he  said,  "  Mr.  Davis  knew  the  temper  of  the 
South  as  well  as  any  man  in  it.  He  knew  if  there  was 
ever  to  be  anything  worth  calling  peace,  the  South  must 
win ;  or,  if  she  couldn't  win,  she  wanted  to  be  whipped 
—well  whipped — thoroughly  whipped." 

I  was  struck  with  another  remark  made  by  a  pro 
minent  statesman  in  the  North.  "  God  Almighty,"  he 
said,  "  has  ploughed  up  the  South — ploughed  it  up  with 
a  deep  plough  from  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  people  that  were  on  the  top  are  now 
below,  and  the  people  who  were  below  are  now  upper 
most.  And  God  has  done  it,  sir,  to  prepare  the  South 
for  a  new  creation." 

The  farther  south  I  went,  the  oftener  these  remarks 
came  back  upon  me.  Evidence  was  everywhere  that 
the  South  had  maintained  the  desperate  conflict  till  she 
was  utterly  exhausted.  At  its  outbreak  she  had  poured 
her  best  men  into  the  field.1  When  these  began  to  fail 

1  So  many  Southern  gentlemen  army,  and  so  many  of  the  planters 
had  been  officers  in  the  national  sons  had  been  trained  in  the  mili- 


WASTE  OF  POPULATION. 


315 


she  supplied  their  places  with  the  next  best.  When 
she  could  not  find  men  enough  within  the  military  age, 
she  sent  old  men  who  were  above  and  boys  who  were 
below  it,  till,  as  Grant  said,  she  robbed  the  cradle  and 
the  grave  to  fill  her  depleted  ranks.  They  told  me  at 
Petersburg  that  in  the  last  year  of  war  little  boys  had 
to  be  brought  from  the  Military  Academy  to  drill  the 
recruits ;  so  imperative  a  necessity  was  there  for  every 
grown  soldier  at  the  front.  Almost  every  man  I  met 
in  the  South,  and  especially  in  North  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  Virginia,  seemed  to  have  been  in  the  army  ;  and  it 
was  painful  to  find  how  many  even  of  those  who  had 
returned  were  mutilated,  maimed,  or  broken  in  health 
by  exposure.  When  I  remarked  this  to  a  young  Con 
federate  officer  in  North  Carolina,  and  said  I  was  glad 


tary  schools,  that  the  South  had  a 
splendid  staff  of  officers  ready  when 
the  war  began.  But  the  propor 
tions  of  the  conflict  became  rapidly 
so  vast  that  almost  from  the  first 
she  had,  like  the  North,  to  officer 
many  of  her  regiments  with  men 
destitute  of  any  military  education. 
The  result  was  much  fatal  blunder 
ing,  relieved  occasionally  by  some 
what  ludicrous  incidents.  On  one  oc 
casion,  Confederate  General  Rhodes, 
seeing  that  the  enemy  had  opened 
fire  upon  a  regiment  which  an  in 
experienced  colonel  was  marching 
in  column,  dashed  up  and  told  the 
colonel  to  charge. 

"  Charge  ! "  exclaimed  the  be 
wildered  colonel,  not  understanding 
that,  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  must 
first  throw  his  men  into  line. 
"  Charge,  General !  Do  you  mean 
that  we  are  to  charge  endways  ? " 

Some   of  these  tiros  became  ex 


cellent  officers  without  becoming 
proportionately  familiar  with  their 
military  vocabulary.  One  who 
wanted  his  men  to  wheel,  but  could 
not  recall  the  word,  shouted,  "  Come 
round  like  a  gate,  boys  ! "  and  went 
ever  after  by  the  name  of  General 
Gates.  Another,  when  he  wanted 
his  men  to  fall  into  ranks,  used  to 
cry,  "  Make  two  rows,  boys  ;  make 
two  rows  ! ' '  Governor  William 
Smith  of  Virginia,—"  Extra  Billy  " 
he  was  called,  from  his  having  once 
put  on  an  extra  stage-coach  some 
where — was  as  gallant  an  officer  as 
ever  "  spiled  for  a  fight,"  but  he 
had  no  notion  of  tactics.  He  used 
to  bring  his  men  up  face  to  face 
with  the  enemy,  cry,  "  Now,  boys, 
stick  'em  !  "  and  dash  in  along  with 
them.  It  was  said  that  he  never 
came  out  with  the  same  regiment 
that  he  took  in. 


316  THE  PLOUGHSHARE. 

to  see  that  he  had  escaped  unhurt,  he  said,  "  Wait  till 
we  get  to  the  office,  sir,  and  I  will  tell  you  more  about 
that."  When  we  got  there,  he  pulled  up  one  leg  of  his 
trousers,  and  showed  me  that  he  had  an  iron  rod  there 
to  strengthen  his  limb,  and  enable  him  to  walk  without 
limping,  half  of  his  foot  being  off.  He  showed  me  on 
the  other  leg  a  deep  scar  made  by  the  fragment  of  a 
shell ;  and  these  were  but  two  of  seven  wounds  which 
had  left  their  marks  upon  his  body.  When  he  heard 
me  speak  of  relics,  he  said,  "  Try  and  find  a  North  Caro 
lina  gentleman  without  a  Yankee  mark  on  him." 

The  South  had  not  only  wasted  her  population,  but 
her  material  resources.  I  visited  districts  where  the 
people  had  not  only  gone  on  paying  the  ruinous  war- 
tax,  but  had  dug  up  every  potato  in  their  fields,  pulled 
every  apple  from  their  orchards,  taken  even  the  blankets 
from  their  beds,  to  make  up  and  send  to  the  famishing 
army.  In  Mobile  I  met  a  brave  little  Southern  girl, 
who  had  gone  barefooted  the  last  year  of  the  war,  that 
the  money  intended  for  her  shoes  might  go  to  the  poor 
soldier. 

When  medicines  could  no  longer  be  sucked  into  the 
South  through  the  rigorous  blockade,  the  Confederate 
Government  called  upon  the  women  and  children ;  who 
went  out  into  the  woods  and  swamps  and  gathered  hore- 
hound,  bone-set,  wild  cherry  bark,  dog-wood,  and  any 
thing  that  could  help  to  supply  the  want.  When  there 
was  a  danger  of  any  place  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  the  people,  with  unflinching  hand,  dragged  out 
their  last  stores  of  cotton,  tobacco,  and  turpentine,  and 
consigned  them  to  the  flames.  Wade  Hampton  of  South 
Carolina,  when  Sherman  was  advancing  on  Columbia, 
set  fire  to  4000  bales  of  cotton  that  belonged  to  himself. 


POVERTY-  STRICKEN.  317 

The  people  said,  "  We  did  it  all,  thinking  the  South 
would  win." 

The  process  of  beggaring  the  country  was  thus  carried 
on  from  within  as  well  as  from  without.  When  the  war 
closed  in  1865,  the  South  presented  a  spectacle  of  wreck 
and  prostration  probably  without  parallel  in  modern 
times. 

Nearly  three  years  had  passed  when  I  travelled 
through  the  country,  and  yet  we  have  seen  what  traces 
the  war  had  left  in  such  cities  as  Richmond,  Petersburg, 
and  Columbia.  The  same  spectacle  met  me  at  Charleston. 
Churches  and  houses  had  been  battered  down  by  heavy 
shot  and  shell  hurled  into  the  city  from  Federal  bat 
teries  at  a  distance  of  five  miles.  Even  the  valley  of 
desolation  made  by  a  great  fire  in  1861,  through  the 
very  heart  of  the  city,  remained  unbuilt.  There,  after 
the  lapse  of  seven  years,  stood  the  blackened  ruins  of 
streets  and  houses  waiting  for  the  coming  of  a  better 
day.  The  bank  capital  in  the  city,  which  stood  formerly 
at  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  had  fallen  to  five  hundred 
thousand.  The  Battery  Promenade,  where  two  or  three 
hundred  gay  equipages  could  have  been  counted  before 
the  war,  was  almost  deserted.  "  People  have  to  content 
themselves  now  with  a  ten  cent  ride  in  a  street  car," 
said  a  friend.  Over  the  country  districts  the  prostra 
tion  was  equally  marked.  Along  the  track  of  Sherman's 
army  especially,  the  devastation  was  fearful — farms  laid 
waste,  fences  burned,  bridges  destroyed,  houses  left  in 
ruins,  plantations  in  some  cases  turning  into  wilder 
nesses  again. 

The  people  had  shared  in  the  general  wreck,  and 
looked  poverty-stricken,  care-worn,  and  dejected.  Ladies 
who  before  the  war  had  lived  in  affluence,  with  black 


3 1 8  THE  PLOUGHSHARE. 

servants  round  them  to  attend  to  their  every  wish, 
were  boarding  together  now  in  half-furnished  houses, 
cooking  their  own  food  and  washing  their  own  linen, 
some  of  them,  I  was  told,  so  utterly  destitute,  that  they 
did  not  know  when  they  finished  one  meal  where  they 
were  to  find  the  next. 

But  the  plough-share  had  gone  deeper.  It  had  not 
only  devastated  the  country  and  impoverished  the 
people,  it  had  subverted  the  whole  Southern  system  of 
labour.  It  had  taken  the  four  millions  of  slaves, 
hitherto  bound  to  service  in  the  houses,  the  factories, 
and  the  plantations  all  over  the  South,  and  had  set 
them  free  to  work  or  not,  as  they  chose. 

The  class  that  had  suffered  most  by  all  these 
changes  was  precisely  the  class  that  had  been  wealthi 
est  and  most  powerful  before  the  war.  The  people 
who  had  been  poor  before  the  war,  had  suffered  least 
and  gained  most.  Many  of  them,  seeing  better  pro 
spects  opened  up  by  the  revolution,  were  developing 
new  activity,  and  were  swarming  up  into  the  light  over 
the  ruins  of  the  old  system. 

But  the  class  that  had  formerly  been  the  ruling  class, 
and  had  done  so  much  to  determine  the  character  of 
the  South,  had  been  utterly  wrecked. 

The  extent  to  which  it  lost  in  the  war  itself  has  not 
been  sufficiently  appreciated.  When  the  conflict  began, 
this  class,  the  most  highly  cultured  in  the  South — 
planters,  planters'  sons,  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  coun 
try  generally — poured  into  the  army,  many  of  them 
fighting  and  falling  even  in  the  ranks.  The  pick  of 
these  men  officered  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
the  havoc  amongst  them  in  that  position  was  beyond 
precedent.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  fatal 


LOSS  IREEPAEABLE.  319 

laxity  of  discipline  which  prevailed  on  both  sides  at 
first,  but  in  the  Confederate  army  to  the  last,  made  far 
too  much  depend  on  the  personal  qualities  and  popu 
larity  of  military  superiors. 

Confederate  soldiers  tell  with  pride  how,  at  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg,  Lee  in  person  rallied  broken 
regiments,  and  directed  the  fire  of  an  exposed  battery, 
while  the  Federal  General,  from  a  safe  distance,  was 
watching  the  battle  through  a  powerful  field-glass.  But 
this  was  matter  rather  for  humiliation  than  pride,  as 
showing  the  necessity  for  personal  daring  and  exposure 
which  the  inferior  discipline  of  the  Southern  army  im 
posed  upon  its  chiefs.  It  was  the  same  through  all 
grades,  and  the  loss  in  officers  was  accordingly  frightful. 
General  D.  H.  Hill  declared  to  me  that  in  several  battles 
which  he  had  been  able  to  compare  reports  of,  the  loss 
of  officers  on  the  Southern  side  was  four  times  greater 
than  on  the  side  of  the  North. 

Now,  these  men,  as  we  have  said,  were  the  picked 
men  of  the  South,  and  every  one  who  fell  was  an  irre 
parable  loss,  affecting  not  only  the  war,  but  the  whole 
future  of  the  South.  For  the  class  to  which  they  be 
longed  was  not  only  limited,  it  was  the  product  of  a  state 
of  society  which  was  no  longer  to  exist.  And  yet,  as  we 
have  seen,  this  was  precisely  the  class  which  in  propor 
tion  to  its  numbers  lost  most  heavily,  leaving  the  South 
at  the  end  of  the  war  shorn  of  a  large  portion  of  the  very 
men  who  had  given  her  so  distinctive  a  character,  and 
had  been  the  strength  of  the  old  system. 

But  this  was  not  only  the  class  that  lost  most  in 
numbers,  it  was  the  class  the  residuum  of  which  has 
been  most  completely  wrecked  in  its  position  and 
prospects.  The  wealth  of  the  Southern  aristocracy 


320  THE  PLOUGHSHARE. 

consisted  in  land,  money,  and  slaves.  The  war  took 
their  slaves  from  them  and  gave  them  no  compensa 
tion.  The  war  converted  their  money  into  Confederate 
bonds  and  bills,  and  converted  these  into  waste  paper 
when  the  rebellion  collapsed.  I  met  a  lady  in  Georgia 
who  in  January  1865  had  150,000  dollars  in  Con 
federate  paper,  and  owned  slaves  that  would  have  sold 
in  1860  for  50,000  dollars  more  in  gold.  Sherman's 
Army  of  Emancipation  came  along.  Her  slaves  were 
set  free ;  her  Confederate  money  became  instantly 
valueless ;  her  jewellery  was  seized  by  the  "  bum 
mers  ;"  and  she  was  left  in  such  absolute  destitution 
that  next  day,  having  no  food,  she  had  to  go  like  a 
common  pauper  to  the  Bureau  shed,  wait  her  turn  in 
a  crowd  of  negroes,  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  at 
the  hand  of  a  Federal  soldier,  to  get  bread  to  keep  her 
children  from  starvation.  This  was  the  plough-share 
entering  into  the  Southern  soul.  Hers  was  but  one 
case  out  of  thousands  ;  it  might  almost  be  taken  to  re 
present  the  condition  of  the  whole  aristocracy  of  the 
South  when  the  war  closed. 

The  land  was  left, — not  indeed  in  all  cases,  for  the 
Government  took  possession  of  the  estates  of  the  most 
prominent  rebels  ;  but  even  where  it  was  left,  the  want 
of  money,  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country,  and  the 
total  subversion  of  the  old  system  of  labour  made  it,  in 
many  cases,  almost  valueless ;  the  impoverished  owner 
being  una,ble  either  to  work  it  or  get  it  sold. 

Although  three  years  had  passed  since  the  final 
crash,  I  found  the  old  aristocracy  still  in  the  dust,  with 
less  and  less  hope  of  ever  recovering  its  old  position. 
Men  who  had  held  commanding  positions  during  the 
war  had  fallen  out  of  sight  and  were  filling  humble 


THE  LAST  FIRST.  321 

situations — struggling,  many  of  them,  to  earn  a  bare 
subsistence.  One  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  the 
Confederacy  was  trying  to  earn  a  living  in  the  pea-nut 
business  ;  a  cavalry  commander  was  keeping  a  boarding- 
school.  One  of  Beauregard's  staff-officers  was  teaching 
a  small  day-school.  Other  officers  were  keeping  stores, 
editing  little  newspapers,  acting  as  clerks,  and  even  as 
farm-labourers  in  the  pay  of  others.  I  remember 
dining  with  three  cultured  Southern  gentlemen,  one  a 
general,  the  second,  I  think,  a  captain,  and  the  third  a 
lieutenant.  They  were  all  living  together  in  a  plain 
little  wooden  house,  such  as  they  would  formerly  have 
provided  for  their  servants.  Two  of  them  were  engaged 
in  a  railway  office,  the  third  was  seeking  for  a  situation, 
frequently,  in  his  vain  search,  passing  the  large  blinded 
house  where  he  had  lived  in  luxurious  ease  before  the 
war. 

The  old  planters  were,  many  of  them,  going  about 
with  ruin  written  on  their  faces,  some  of  them  so  poor 
that  they  were  trying  to  sell  a  portion  of  their  land  in 
order  to  pay  the  tax  upon  the  rest.  One  of  them,  who 
showed  me  much  kindness,  was  living  in  the  corner  of  a 
huge  house  which  had  once  been  the 'home  of  gaiety 
and  princely  hospitality.  It  was  all  dismantled  now 
and  shut  up,  excepting  three  rooms  below,  where  its 
owner  was  living  in  seclusion.  Others  had  shut  up 
their  houses  altogether  and  gone  to  live  in  lodgings. 

These  old  lords  of  the  land  had  not  only  dropped 
into  obscurity  and  comparative  destitution,  but  they 
had  been  deprived  of  their  votes ;  while,  to  make  the 
revolution  complete,  the  negroes,  who  had  been  their 
slaves  a  year  or  two  before,  whom  they  had  bought  and 
sold  like  cattle,  were  now  not  only  free,  but  were  in- 

VOL.  i.  x 


322  THE  PLOUGHSHAKE. 

vested  with,  the  suffrage  ;  and  through  their  white  and 
black  representatives  in  such  conventions  as  those  I 
have  described,  were  helping  to  frame  the  new  consti 
tutions  under  which  their  old  masters  were  to  live  ! 
Whatever  the  new  creation  is  to  be,  the  ploughshare 
had  done  its  work. 

This  state  of  things  cannot  of  course  wholly  con 
tinue.  Superior  men,  pulled  down  by  external  circum 
stances,  will  rise  again  by  virtue  of  the  superiority 
inherent  in  them.  Blood  and  culture  will  tell  in  spite 
of  impoverishment  and  political  disabilities.  But  such 
men,  if  they  rise,  must  rise  under  a  new  regime.  They 
will  have  to  deal  in  a  new  way  with  a  new  condition  of 
things.  The  South  of  1860  is  dead — old  things  have 
passed  away — all  things  are  become  new.  In  the  very 
State  (South  Carolina)  which  precipitated  the  war  to 
keep  the  negro  in~  slavery,  121  negroes  sit  in  the  Legis 
lature,  one  of  them  as  her  Secretary  of  State  :  while,  by 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  retributions  in  human 
history,  another  negro  has  been  elected  by  Mississippi  to 
the  Senate,  to  fill  the  very  chair  occupied  formerly  by 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis ! 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


EDINBURGH  : 
THOMAS  AND  ARCHIBALD 
PRINTERS   1O  1HE  QUEEN,  AND  TO  TfE  UNIVERSITY. 


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