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diff --git a/23340.txt b/23340.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10e11c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/23340.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11926 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Campaigns of a Non-Combatant,, by George Alfred Townsend + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, + and His Romaunt Abroad During the War + +Author: George Alfred Townsend + +Release Date: November 5, 2007 [EBook #23340] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGNS OF A NON-COMBATANT, *** + + + + +Produced by Rebecca Hoath, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +CAMPAIGNS + +OF + +A NON-COMBATANT, + +AND HIS + +ROMAUNT ABROAD DURING THE WAR. + +BY +GEO. ALFRED TOWNSEND. + + +NEW YORK: +BLELOCK & COMPANY, +19 BEEKMAN STREET, +1866. + + + +Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1866, by + +GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND, + +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the +Southern District of New York. + +SCRYMGEOUR, WHITCOMB & CO., + +Stereotypers, + +15 WATER STREET, BOSTON. + + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: Inconsistency in hyphenation in this etext is as in| +|the original book. | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +TO + +"Miles O'Reilly," + +Who saw the war as vividly as he sang it; and whose aims for the peace +that has ensued, are even nobler than the noble influence he exerted +during the struggle, these chapters of travel are inscribed by his +friend and colleague. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In the early part of 1863, while I was resident in London,--the first of +the War Correspondents to go abroad,--I wrote, at the request of Mr. +George Smith, publisher of the Cornhill Magazine, a series of chapters +upon the Rebellion, thus introduced:-- + + "Few wars have been so well chronicled, as that now desolating + America. Its official narratives have been copious; the great + newspapers of the land have been represented in all its campaigns; + private enterprise has classified and illustrated its several + events, and delegates of foreign countries have been allowed to + mingle freely with its soldiery, and to observe and describe its + battles. The pen and the camera have accompanied its bayonets, and + there has not probably been any skirmish, however insignificant, + but a score of zealous scribes have remarked and recorded it. + + "I have employed some leisure hours afforded me in Europe, to + detail those parts of the struggle which I witnessed in a civil + capacity. The Sketches which follow are entirely personal, and + dwell less upon routine incidents, plans, and statistics, than upon + those lighter phases of war which fall beneath the dignity of + severe history and are seldom related. I have endeavored to + reproduce not only the adventures, but the impressions of a + novitiate, and I have described not merely the army and its + operations, but the country invaded, and the people who inhabit it. + + "The most that I have hoped to do, is so to simplify a campaign + that the reader may realize it as if he had beheld it, travelling + at will, as I did, and with no greater interest than to see how + fields were fought and won." + +To those chapters, I have added in this collection, some estimates of +American life in Europe, and some European estimates of American life; +with my ultimate experiences in the War after my return to my own +country. I cannot hope that they will be received with the same favor, +either here or abroad, as that which greeted their original publication. +But no man ought to let the first four years of his majority slip away +unrecorded. I would rather publish a tolerable book now than a possibly +good one hereafter. + + + + +CAMPAIGNS OF A NON-COMBATANT, + +AND HIS + +Romaunt abroad during the War. + + + + +CHAPTER 1. + +MY IMPRESSMENT. + + +"Here is a piece of James Franklin's printing press, Mr. Townsend," said +Mr. Pratt to me, at Newport the other day,--"Ben. Franklin wrote for the +paper, and set type upon it. The press was imported from England in +1730, or thereabouts." + +He produced a piece of wood, a foot in length, and then laid it away in +its drawer very sacredly. + +"I should like to write to that press, Mr. Pratt," I said,--"there would +be no necessity in such a case of getting off six columns for to-night's +mail." + +"Well!" said Mr. Pratt, philosophically, "I have a theory that a man +grows up to machinery. As your day so shall your strength be. I believe +you have telegraphed up to a House instrument, haven't you?" + +"Mr. Pratt," cried I, with some indignation, "your memory is too good. +This is Newport, and I have come down to see the surf. Pray, do not +remind me of hot hours in a newspaper office, the click of a Morse +dispatch, and work far into the midnight!" + +So I left Mr. Pratt, of the Newport _Mercury_, with an ostentation of +affront, and bade James Brady, the boatman, hoist sail and carry me over +to Dumpling Rocks. + +On the grassy parapet of the crumbling tower which once served the +purposes of a fort, the transparent water hungering at its base, the +rocks covered with fringe spotting the channel, the ocean on my right +hand lost in its own vastness, and Newport out of mind save when the +town bells rang, or the dip of oars beat in the still swell of +Narragansett,--I lay down, chafing and out of temper, to curse the +only pleasurable labor I had ever undertaken. + +To me all places were workshops: the seaside, the springs, the summer +mountains, the cataracts, the theatres, the panoramas of islet-fondled +rivers speeding by strange cities. I was condemned to look upon them all +with mercenary eyes, to turn their gladness into torpid prose, and speak +their praises in turgid columns. Never nepenthe, never _abandonne_, +always wide-awake, and watching for saliences, I had gone abroad like a +falcon, and roamed at home like a hungry jackal. Six fingers on my hand, +one long and pointed, and ever dropping gall; the ineradicable stain +upon my thumb; the widest of my circuits, with all my adventure, a +paltry sheet of foolscap; and the world in which I dwelt, no place for +thought, or dreaminess, or love-making,--only the fierce, fast, flippant +existence of news! + +And with this inward execration, I lay on Dumpling Rocks, looking to +sea, and recalled the first fond hours of my newspaper life. + +To be a subject of old Hoe, the most voracious of men, I gave up the +choice of three sage professions, and the sweet alternative of idling +husbandry. + +The day I graduated saw me an _attache_ of the Philadelphia _Chameleon_. +I was to receive three dollars a week and be the heir to lordly +prospects. In the long course of persevering years I might sit in the +cushions of the night-editor, or speak of the striplings around me as +"_my_ reporters." + +"There is nothing which you cannot attain," said Mr. Axiom, my +employer,--"think of the influence you exercise!--more than a clergyman; +Horace Greeley was an editor; so was George D. Prentice; the first has +just been defeated for Congress; the last lectured last night and got +fifty dollars for it." + +Hereat I was greatly encouraged, and proposed to write a leader for next +day's paper upon the evils of the Fire Department. + +"Dear me," said Mr. Axiom, "you would ruin our circulation at a wink; +what would become of our ball column? in case of a fire in the building +we couldn't get a hose to play on it. Oh! no, Alfred, writing leaders is +hard and dangerous; I want you first to learn the use of a beautiful +pair of scissors." + +I looked blank and chopfallen. + +"No man can write a good hand or a good style," he said, "without +experience with scissors. They give your palm flexibility and that is +soon imparted to the mind. But perfection is attained by an alternate +use of the scissors and the pen; if a little paste be prescribed at the +same time, cohesion and steadfastness is imparted to the man." + +His reasoning was incontrovertible; but I damned his conclusions. + +So, I spent one month in slashing several hundred exchanges a day, and +paragraphing all the items. These reappeared in a column called "THE +LATEST INFORMATION," and when I found them copied into another journal, +a flush of satisfaction rose to my face. + +The editor of the _Chameleon_ was an old journalist, whose face was a +sealed book of Confucius, and who talked to me, patronizingly, now and +then, like the Delphic Oracle. His name was Watch, and he wore a +prodigious pearl in his shirt-bosom. He crept up to the editorial room +at nine o'clock every night, and dashed off an hour's worth of +glittering generalities, at the end of which time two or three +gentlemen, blooming at the nose, and with cheeks resembling a map drawn +in red ink, sounded the pipe below stairs, and Mr. Watch said-- + +"Mr. Townsend, I look to you to be on hand to-night; I am called away by +the Water-Gas Company." + +Then, with enthusiasm up to blood-heat, aroused by this mark of +confidence, I used to set to, and scissor and write till three o'clock, +while Mr. Watch talked water-gas over brandy and water, and drew his +thirty dollars punctually on Saturdays. + +So it happened that my news paragraphs, sometimes pointedly turned into +a reflection, crept into the editorial columns, when water-gas was +lively. Venturing more and more, the clipper finally indited a leader; +and Mr. Watch, whose nose water-gas was reddening, applauded me, and +told me in his sublime way, that, as a special favor, I might write all +the leaders the next night. Mr. Watch was seen no more in the sanctum +for a week, and my three dollars carried on the concern. + +When he returned, he generously gave me a dollar, and said that he had +spoken of me to the Water-Gas Company as a capital secretary. Then he +wrote me a pass for the Arch Street Theatre, and told me, benevolently, +to go off and rest that night. + +For a month or more the responsibility of the _Chameleon_ devolved +almost entirely upon me. Child that I was, knowing no world but my own +vanity, and pleased with those who fed its sensitive love of approbation +rather than with the just and reticent, I harbored no distrust till one +day when Axiom visited the office, and I was drawing my three dollars +from the treasurer, I heard Mr. Watch exclaim, within the publisher's +room-- + +"Did you read my article on the Homestead Bill?" + +"Yes," answered Axiom; "it was quite clever; your leaders are more alive +and epigrammatic than they were." + +I could stand it no more. I bolted into the office, and cried-- + +"The article on the Homestead Bill is mine, so is every other article in +to-day's paper. Mr. Watch does not tell the truth; he is ungenerous!" + +"What's this, Watch?" said Axiom. + +"Alfred," exclaimed Mr. Watch, majestically, "adopts my suggestions very +readily, and is quite industrious. I recommend that we raise his salary +to five dollars a week. That is a large sum for a lad." + +That night the manuscript was overhauled in the composing room. Watch's +dereliction was manifest; but not a word was said commendatory of my +labor; it was feared I might take "airs," or covet a further increase of +wages. I only missed Watch's hugh pearl, and heard that he had been +discharged, and was myself taken from the drudgery of the scissors, and +made a reporter. + +All this was very recent, yet to me so far remote, that as I recall it +all, I wonder if I am not old, and feel nervously of my hairs. For in +the five intervening years I have ridden at Hoe speed down the groove of +my steel-pen. + +The pen is my traction engine; it has gone through worlds of fancy and +reflection, dragging me behind it; and long experience has given it so +great facility, that I have only to fire up, whistle, and fix my +couplings, and away goes my locomotive with no end of cars in train. + +Few journalists, beginning at the bottom, do not weary of the ladder ere +they climb high. Few of such, or of others more enthusiastic, recall the +early associations of "the office" with pleasure. Yet there is no world +more grotesque, none, at least in America, more capable of fictitious +illustration. Around a newspaper all the dramatis personae of the world +congregate; within it there are staid idiosyncratic folk who admit of +all kindly caricature. + +I summon from that humming and hurly-burly past, the ancient +proof-reader. He wears a green shade over his eyes and the gas burner is +drawn very low to darken the bald and wrinkled contour of his forehead. +He is severe in judgment and spells rigidly by the Johnsonian standard. +He punctuates by an obdurate and conscientious method, and will have no +italics upon any pretext. He will lend you money, will eat with you, +drink with you, and encourage you; but he will not punctuate with you, +spell with you, nor accept any of your suggestions as to typography or +paragraphing whatsoever. He wears slippers and smokes a primitive clay +pipe; he has everything in its place, and you cannot offend him more +than by looking over any proof except when he is holding it. A chip of +himself is the copyholder at his side,--a meagre, freckled, matter of +fact youth, who reads your tenderest sentences in a rapid monotone, and +is never known to venture any opinion or suggestion whatever. This boy, +I am bound to say, will follow the copy if it be all consonants, and +will accompany it if it flies out of the window. + +The office clerk was my bane and admiration. He was presumed by the +verdant patrons of the paper to be its owner and principal editor, its +type-setter, pressman, and carrier. His hair was elaborately curled, and +his ears were perfect racks of long and dandyfied pens; a broad, +shovel-shaped gold pen lay forever opposite his high stool; he had an +arrogant and patronizing address, and was the perpetual cabbager of +editorial perquisites. Books, ball-tickets, season-tickets, pictures, +disappeared in his indiscriminate fist, and he promised notices which he +could not write to no end of applicants. He was to be seen at the +theatre every night, and he was the dashing escort of the proprietor's +wife, who preferred his jaunty coat and highly-polished boots to the +less elaborate wardrobe of us writers. That this noble and fashionable +creature could descend to writing wrappers, and to waiting his turn with +a bank-book in the long train of a sordid teller, passed all speculation +and astonishment. He made a sorry fag of the office boy, and advised us +every day to beware of cutting the files, as if that were the one vice +of authors. To him we stole, with humiliated faces, and begged a +trifling advance of salary. He sternly requested us not to encroach +behind the counter--his own indisputable domain--but sometimes asked us +to watch the office while he drank with a theatrical agent at the +nearest bar. He was an inveterate gossip, and endowed with a damnable +love of slipshod argument; the only oral censor upon our compositions, +he hailed us with all the complaints made at his solicitation by +irascible subscribers, and stood in awe of the cashier only, who +frequently, to our delight and surprise, combed him over, and drove him +to us for sympathy. + +The foreman was still our power behind the throne; he left out our copy +on mechanical grounds, and put it in for our modesty and sophistry. In +his broad, hot room, all flaring with gas, he stood at a flat stone like +a surgeon, and took forms to pieces and dissected huge columns of +pregnant metal, and paid off the hands with fabulous amounts of +uncurrent bank bills. His wife and he went thrice a year on excursions +to the sea-side, and he was forever borrowing a dollar from somebody to +treat the lender and himself. + +The ship-news man could be seen towards the small-hours, writing his +highly imaginative department, which showed how the Sally Ann, Master +Todd, arrived leaky in Bombay harbor; and there were stacks of newsboys +asleep on the boilers, fighting in their dreams for the possession of a +fragment of a many-cornered blanket. + +These, like myself, went into the halcyon land of Nod to the music of a +crashing press, and swarmed about it at the dawn like so many gad flies +about an ox, to carry into the awakening city the rhetoric and the +rubbish I had written. + +And still they go, and still the great press toils along, and still am I +its slave and keeper, who sit here by the proud, free sea, and feel like +Sinbad, that to a terrible old man I have sold my youth, my convictions, +my love, my life! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE WAR CORRESPONDENT'S FIRST DAY. + + +Looking back over the four years of the war, and noting how indurated I +have at last become, both in body and in emotion, I recall with a sigh +that first morning of my correspondentship when I set out so +light-hearted and yet so anxious. It was in 1861. I was accompanied to +the War department by an _attache_ of the United States Senate. The new +Secretary, Mr. Edwin M. Stanton, referred me to a Mr. Sanford, "Military +Supervisor of Army Intelligence," and after a brief delay I was +requested to sign a parole and duplicate, specifying my loyalty to the +Federal Government, and my promise to publish nothing detrimental to its +interests. I was then given a circular, which stated explicitly the kind +of news termed contraband, and also a printed pass, filled in with my +name, age, residence, and newspaper connection. The latter enjoined upon +all guards to pass me in and out of camps; and authorized persons in +Government employ to furnish me with information. + +Our Washington Superintendent sent me a beast, and in compliment to what +the animal might have been, called the same a horse. I wish to protest, +in this record, against any such misnomer. The creature possessed no +single equine element. Experience has satisfied me that horses stand on +four legs; the horse in question stood upon three. Horses may either +pace, trot, run, rack, or gallop; but mine made all the five movements +at once. I think I may call his gait an eccentric stumble. That he had +endurance I admit; for he survived perpetual beating; and his beauty +might have been apparent to an anatomist, but would be scouted by the +world at large. I asked, ruefully, if I was expected to go into battle +so mounted; but was peremptorily forbidden, as a valuable property might +be endangered thereby. I was assigned to the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps +in the anticipated advance, and my friend, the _attache_, accompanied me +to its rendezvous at Hunter's Mills. We started at two o'clock, and +occupied an hour in passing the city limits. I calculated that, +advancing at the same ratio, we should arrive in camp at noon next day. +We presented ludicrous figures to the grim sabremen that sat erect at +street corners, and ladies at the windows of the dwellings smothered +with suppressed laughter as we floundered along. My friend had the +better horse; but I was the better rider; and if at any time I grew +wrathful at my sorry plight, I had but to look at his and be happy +again. He appeared to be riding on the neck of his beast, and when he +attempted to deceive me with a smile, his face became horribly +contorted. Directly his breeches worked above his boots, and his bare +calves were objects of hopeless solicitude. Caricatures, rather than +men, we toiled bruisedly through Georgetown, and falling in the wake of +supply teams on the Leesburg turnpike, rode between the Potomac on one +side and the dry bed of the canal on the other, till we came at last to +Chain Bridge. + +There was a grand view from the point of Little Falls above, where a +line of foamy cataracts ridged the river, and the rocks towered gloomily +on either hand: and of the city below, with its buildings of pure +marble, and the yellow earthworks that crested Arlington Heights. The +clouds over the Potomac were gorgeous in hue, but forests of melancholy +pine clothed the sides of the hills, and the roar of the river made such +beautiful monotone that I almost thought it could be translated to +words. Our passes were now demanded by a fat, bareheaded officer, and +while he panted through their contents, two privates crossed their +bayonets before us. + +"News?" he said, in the shortest remark of which he was capable. When +assured that we had nothing to reveal, he seemed immeasurably relieved, +and added--"Great labor, reading!" At this his face grew so dreadfully +purple that I begged him to sit down, and tax himself with no further +exertion. He wiped his forehead, in reply, gasping like a triton, and +muttering the expressive direction, "right!" disappeared into a +guard-box. The two privates winked as they removed their muskets, and we +both laughed immoderately when out of hearing. Our backs were now turned +to the Maryland shore, and jutting grimly from the hill before us, the +black guns of Fort Ethan Allen pointed down the bridge. A double line of +sharp abattis protected it from assault, and sentries walked lazily up +and down the parapet. The colors hung against the mast in the dead calm, +and the smoke curled straight upward from some log-huts within the fort. +The wildness of the surrounding landscape was most remarkable. Within +sight of the Capital of the Republic, the fox yet kept the covert, and +the farms were few and far apart. It seemed to me that little had been +done to clear the country of its primeval timber, and the war had +accomplished more to give evidence of man and industry, than two +centuries of occupation. A military road had been cut through the solid +rocks here; and the original turnpike, which had been little more than a +cart track, was now graded and macadamized. I passed multitudes of +teams, struggling up the slopes, and the carcasses of mules littered +every rod of the way. The profanity of the teamsters was painfully +apparent. I came unobserved upon one who was berating his beasts with a +refinement of cruelty. He cursed each of them separately, swinging his +long-lashed whip the while, and then damned the six in mass. He would +have made a dutiful overseer. The soldiers had shown quite as little +consideration for the residences along the way. I came to one dwelling +where some pertinacious Vandal had even pried out the window-frames, and +imperilled his neck to tear out the roof-beams; a dead vulture was +pinned over the door by pieces of broken bayonets. + +"Langley's,"--a few plank-houses, clustering around a tavern and a +church,--is one of those settlements whose sounding names beguile the +reader into an idea of their importance. A lonesome haunt in time of +peace, it had lately been the winter quarters of fifteen thousand +soldiers, and a multitude of log huts had grown up around it. I tied my +horse to the window-shutter of a dwelling, and picked my way over a +slimy sidewalk to the ricketty tavern-porch. Four or five privates lay +here fast asleep, and the bar-room was occupied by a bevy of young +officers, who were emptying the contents of sundry pocket-flasks. Behind +the bar sat a person with strongly-marked Hebrew features, and a +watchmaker was plying his avocation in a corner. Two great dogs crouched +under a bench, and some highly-colored portraits were nailed to the +wall. The floor was bare, and some clothing and miscellaneous articles +hung from beams in the ceiling. + +"Is this your house?" I said to the Hebrew. + +"I keepsh it now." + +"By right or by conquest?" + +"By ze right of conquest," he said, laughing; and at once proposed to +sell me a bootjack and an India-rubber overcoat. I compromised upon a +haversack, which he filled with sandwiches and sardines, and which I am +bound to say fell apart in the course of the afternoon. The watchmaker +was an enterprising young fellow, who had resigned his place in a large +Broadway establishment, to speculate in cheap jewelry and do itinerant +repairing. He says that he followed the "Army Paymasters, and sold +numbers of watches, at good premiums, when the troops had money." +Soldiers, he informed me, were reckless spendthrifts; and the prey of +sutlers and sharpers. When there was nothing at hand to purchase, they +gambled away their wages, and most of them left the service penniless +and in debt. He thought it perfectly legitimate to secure some silver +while "going," but complained that the value of his stock rendered him +liable to theft and murder. "There are men in every regiment," said he, +"who would blow out my brains in any lonely place to plunder me of these +watches." + +At this point, a young officer, in a fit of bacchanal laughter, +staggered rather roughly against me. + +"Begurpardon," he said, with an unsteady bow, "never ran against person +in life before." + +I smiled assuringly, but he appeared to think the offence unpardonable. + +"Do asshu a, on honor of gentlemand officer, not in custom of behaving +offensively. Azo! leave it to my friends. Entirely due to injuries +received at battle Drainesville." + +As the other gentlemen laughed loudly here, I took it for granted that +my apologist had some personal hallucination relative to that +engagement. + +"What giggling for, Bob?" he said; "honor concerned in this matter, +Will! Do asshu a, fell under Colonel's horse, and Company A walked over +small of my back." The other officers were only less inebriated and most +of them spoke boastfully of their personal prowess at Drainesville. This +was the only engagement in which the Pennsylvania Reserves had yet +participated, and few officers that I met did not ascribe the victory +entirely to their own individual gallantry. I inquired of these +gentlemen the route to the new encampments of the Reserves. They lay +five miles south of the turnpike, close to the Loudon and Hampshire +railroad, and along both sides of an unfrequented lane. They formed in +this position the right wing of the Army of the Potomac, and had been +ordered to hold themselves in hourly readiness for an advance. By this +time, my friend S. came up, and leaving him to restore his mortified +body, I crossed the road to the churchyard and peered through the open +door into the edifice. The seats of painted pine had been covered with +planks, and a sick man lay above every pew. At the ringing of my spurs +in the threshold, some of the sufferers looked up through the red eyes +of fever, and the faces of others were spectrally white. A few groaned +as they turned with difficulty, and some shrank in pain from the glare +of the light. Medicines were kept in the altar-place, and a doctor's +clerk was writing requisitions in the pulpit. The sickening smell of the +hospital forbade me to enter, and walking across the trampled yard, I +crept through a rent in the paling, and examined the huts in which the +Reserves had passed the winter. They were built of logs, plastered with +mud, and the roofs of some were thatched with straw. Each cabin was +pierced for two or more windows; the beds were simply shelves or berths; +a rough fireplace of stones and clay communicated with the wooden +chimney; and the floors were in most cases damp and bare. Streets, +fancifully designated, divided the settlement irregularly; but the +tenements were now all deserted save one, where I found a whole family +of "contrabands" or fugitive slaves. These wretched beings, seven in +number, had escaped from a plantation in Albemarle county, and +travelling stealthily by night, over two hundred miles of precipitous +country, reached the Federal lines on the thirteenth day. The husband +said that his name was "Jeems," and that his wife was called "Kitty;" +that his youngest boy had passed the mature age of eight months, and +that the "big girl, Rosy," was "twelve years Christmas comin'." While +the troops remained at Langley's, the man was employed at seventy-five +cents a week to attend to an officer's horse. Kitty and Rose cooked and +washed for soldiers, and the boys ran errands to Washington and +return,--twenty-five miles! The eldest boy, Jefferson, had been given +the use of a crippled team-horse, and traded in newspapers, but having +confused ideas of the relative value of coins, his profits were only +moderate. The nag died before the troops removed, and a sutler, under +pretence of securing their passage to the North, disappeared with the +little they had saved. They were quite destitute now, but looked to the +future with no foreboding, and huddled together in the straw, made a +picture of domestic felicity that impressed me greatly with the +docility, contentment, and unfailing good humor of their dusky tribe. +The eyes of the children were large and lustrous, and they revealed the +clear pearls beneath their lips as they clung bashfully to their +mother's lap. The old lady was smoking a clay pipe; the man running over +some castaway jackets and boots. I remarked particularly the broad +shoulders and athletic arms of the woman, whose many childbirths had +left no traces upon her comeliness. She asked me, wistfully: "Masser, +how fur to de nawf?" + +"A long way," said I, "perhaps two hundred miles." + +"Lawd!" she said, buoyantly--"is dat all? Why, Jeems, couldn't we foot +it, honey?" + +"You a most guv out before, ole 'oman," he replied; "got a good ruff +over de head now. Guess de white massar won't let um starve." + +I tossed some coppers to the children and gave each a sandwich. + +"You get up dar, John Thomas!" called the man vigorously; "you tank de +gentleman, Jefferson, boy! I wonda wha your manners is. Tank you, +massar! know'd you was a gentleman, sar! Massar, is your family from ole +Virginny?" + +It was five o'clock when I rejoined S., and the greater part of our +journey had yet to be made. I went at his creeping pace until courtesy +yielded to impatience, when spurring my Pegasus vigorously, he fell into +a bouncing amble and left the _attache_ far behind. My pass was again +demanded above Langley's by a man who ate apples as he examined it, and +who was disposed to hold a long parley. I entered a region of scrub +timber further on, and met with nothing human for four miles, at the end +of which distance I reached Difficult Creek, flowing through a rocky +ravine, and crossed by a military bridge of logs. Through the thick +woods to the right, I heard the roar of the Potomac, and a finger-board +indicated that I was opposite Great Falls. Three or four dead horses lay +at the roadside beyond the stream, and I recalled the place as the scene +of a recent cavalry encounter. A cartridge-box and a torn felt hat lay +close to the carcasses: I knew that some soul had gone hence to its +account. + +The road now kept to the left obliquely, and much of my ride was made +musical by the stream. Darkness closed solemnly about me, with seven +miles of the journey yet to accomplish, and as, at eight o'clock, I +turned from the turnpike into a lonesome by-road, full of ruts, pools, +and quicksands, a feeling of delicious uneasiness for the first time +possessed me. Some owls hooted in the depth of the woods, and wild pigs, +darting across the road, went crashing into the bushes. The +phosphorescent bark of a blasted tree glimmered on a neighboring knoll, +and as I halted at a rivulet to water my beast, I saw a solitary star +floating down the ripples. Directly I came upon a clearing where the +moonlight shone through the rents of a crumbling dwelling, and from the +far distance broke the faint howl of farm dogs. A sense of insecurity +that I would not for worlds have resigned, now tingled, now chilled my +blood. At last, climbing a stony hill, the skies lay beneath me +reddening with the flame of camps and flaring and falling alternately, +like the beautiful Northern lights. I heard the ring of hoofs as I +looked entranced, and in a twinkling, a body of horsemen dashed past me +and disappeared. A little beyond, the road grew so thick that I could +see nothing of my way; but trusting doubtfully to my horse, a deep +challenge came directly from the thicket, and I saw the flash of a +sabre, as I stammered a reply. Led to a cabin close at hand, my pass +was examined by candle-light, and I learned that the nearest camp of the +Reserves was only a mile farther on, and the regiment of which I was in +quest about two miles distant. After another half hour, I reached Ord's +brigade, whose tents were pitched in a fine grove of oaks; the men +talking, singing, and shouting, around open air fires; and a battery of +brass Napoleons unlimbered in front, pointing significantly to the West +and South. For a mile and a half I rode by the light of continuous +camps, reaching at last the quarters of the ----th, commanded by a +former newspaper associate of mine, with whom I had gone itemizing, +scores of times. His regiment had arrived only the same afternoon, and +their tents were not yet pitched. Their muskets were stacked along the +roadside, and the men lay here and there wrapped in their blankets, and +dozing around the fagots. The Colonel was asleep in a wagon, but roused +up at the summons of his Adjutant, and greeting me warmly, directed the +cook to prepare a supper of coffee and fried pork. Too hungry to feel +the chafing of my sores and bruises, I fell to the oleaginous repast +with my teeth and fingers, and eating ravenously, asked at last to be +shown to my apartments. These consisted of a covered wagon, already +occupied by four teamsters, and a blanket which had evidently been in +close proximity to the hide of a horse. A man named "Coggle," being +nudged by the Colonel, and requested to take other quarters, asked +dolorously if it was time to turn out, and roared "woa," as if he had +some consciousness of being kicked. When I asked for a pillow, the +Colonel laughed, and I had an intuition that the man "Coggle" was +looking at me in the darkness with intense disgust. The Colonel said +that he had once put a man on double duty for placing his head on a +snowball, and warned me satirically that such luxuries were preposterous +in the field. He recommended me not to catch cold if I could help it, +but said that people in camp commonly caught several colds at once, and +added grimly that if I wished to be shaved in the morning, there was a +man close by, who had ground a sabre down to the nice edge of a razor, +and who could be made to accommodate me. There were cracks in the bottom +of the wagon, through which the cold came like knives, and I was +allotted a space four feet in length, by three feet in width. + +Being six feet in height, my relation to these Procrustean quarters was +most embarassing; but I doubled up, chatteringly, and lay my head on my +arm. In a short time I experienced a sensation akin to that of being +guillotined, and sitting bolt upright, found the teamsters in the +soundest of Lethean conditions. As the man next to me snored very +loudly, I adopted the brilliant idea of making a pillow of his thigh; +which answered my best expectations. I was aroused after a while, by +what I thought to be the violent hands of this person, but which, to my +great chagrin, proved to be S., intent upon dividing my place with me. +Resistance was useless. I submitted to martyrdom with due resignation, +but half resolved to go home in the morning, and shun, for the future, +the horrible romance of camps. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A GENERAL UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. + + +When I awoke at Colonel Taggert's tent the morning afterward, I had +verified the common experience of camps by "catching several colds at +once," and felt a general sensation of being cut off at the knees. Poor +S., who joined me at the fire, states that he believed himself to be +tied in knots, and that he should return afoot to Washington. Our horses +looked no worse, for that would have been manifestly impossible. We were +made the butts of much jesting at breakfast; and S. said, in a spirit of +atrocity, that camp wit was quite as bad as camp "wittles." I bade him +adieu at five o'clock A. M., when he had secured passage to the city in +a sutler's wagon. Remounting my own fiery courser, I bade the Colonel a +temporary farewell, and proceeded in the direction of Meade's and +Reynold's brigades. The drum and fife were now beating _reveille_, and +volunteers in various stages of undress were limping to roll-call. Some +wore one shoe, and others appeared shivering in their linen. They stood +ludicrously in rank, and a succession of short, dry coughs ran up and +down the line, as if to indicate those who should escape the bullet for +the lingering agonies of the hospital. The ground was damp, and fog was +rising from the hollows and fens. Some signal corps officers were +practising with flags in a ploughed field, and negro stewards were +stirring about the cook fires. A few supply wagons that I passed the +previous day were just creaking into camp, having travelled most of the +night. I saw that the country was rude, but the farms were close, and +the dwellings in many cases inhabited. The vicinity had previously been +unoccupied by either army, and rapine had as yet appropriated only the +fields for camps and the fences for fuel. I was directed to the +headquarters of Major-General M'Call,--a cluster of wall tents in the +far corner of a grain-field, concealed from public view by a projecting +point of woods. A Sibley tent stood close at hand, where a soldier in +blue overcoat was reading signals through a telescope. I mistook the +tent for the General's, and riding up to the soldier was requested to +stand out of the way. I moved to his rear, but he said curtly that I was +obstructing the light. I then dismounted, and led my horse to a clump of +trees a rod distant. + +"Don't hitch there," said the soldier; "you block up the view." + +A little ruffled at this manifest discourtesy, I asked the man to denote +some point within a radius of a mile where I would _not_ interfere with +his operations. He said in reply, that it was not his business to denote +hitching-stalls for anybody. I thought, in that case, that I should stay +where I was, and he politely informed me that I might stay and +be--jammed. I found afterward that this individual was troubled with a +kind of insanity peculiar to all headquarters, arising out of an +exaggerated idea of his own importance. I had the pleasure, a few +minutes afterward, of hearing him ordered to feed my horse. A thickset, +gray-haired man sat near by, undergoing the process of shaving by a very +nervous negro. The thickset man was also exercising the privileges of +his rank; but the more he berated his attendant's awkwardness, the more +nervous the other became. I addressed myself mutually to master and man, +in an inquiry as to the precise quarters of the General in command. The +latter pointed to a wall tent contiguous, and was cursed by the thickset +man for not minding his business. The thickset man remarked +substantially, that he didn't know anything about it, and was at that +moment cut by the negro, to my infinite delight. Before the wall tent in +question stood a tall, broad-shouldered gentleman in shirt-sleeves and +slippers, warming his back and hands at a fire. He was watching, through +an aperture in the tent, the movements of a private who was cleaning his +boots. I noticed that he wore a seal ring, and that he opened and shut +his eyes very rapidly. He was, otherwise, a very respectable and +dignified gentleman. + +"Is this General M'Call?" said I, a little discomposed. The gentleman +looked abstractedly into my eyes, opening and shutting his own several +times, as if doubtful of his personality, and at last decided that he +_was_ General M'Call. + +"What is it?" he said gravely, but without the slightest curiosity. + +"I have a letter for you, sir, I believe." + +He put the letter behind his back, and went on warming his hands. Having +winked several times again, apparently forgetting all about the matter, +I ventured to add that the letter was merely introductory. He looked at +it, mechanically. + +"Who opened it?" he said. + +"Letters of introduction are not commonly sealed, General." + +"Who are you?" he asked, indifferently. + +I told him that the contents of the letter would explain my errand; but +he had, meantime, relapsed into abstractedness, and winked, and warmed +his hands, for at least, five minutes. At the end of that time, he read +the letter very deliberately, and said that he was glad to see me in +camp. He intimated, that if I was not already located, I could be +provided with bed and meals at headquarters. He stated, in relation to +my correspondence, that all letters sent from the Reserve Corps, must, +without any reservations, be submitted to him in person. I was obliged +to promise compliance, but had gloomy forebodings that the General +would occupy a fortnight in the examination of each letter. He invited +me to breakfast, proposed to make me acquainted with his staff, and was, +in all respects, a very grave, prudent, and affable soldier. I may say, +incidentally, that I adopted the device of penning a couple of gossipy +epistles, the length and folly of which, so irritated General M'Call, +that he released me from the penalty of submitting my compositions for +the future. + +I took up my permanent abode with quartermaster Kingwalt, a very prince +of old soldiers, who had devoted much of a sturdy life to promoting the +militia interests of the populous county of Chester. When the war-fever +swept down his beautiful valley, and the drum called the young men from +villages and farms, this ancient yeoman and miller--for he was +both--took a musket at the sprightly age of sixty-five, and joined a +Volunteer company. Neither ridicule nor entreaty could bend his purpose; +but the Secretary of War, hearing of the case, conferred a brigade +quartermastership upon him. He threw off the infirmities of age, stepped +as proudly as any youngster, and became, emphatically, the best +quartermaster in the Division. He never delayed an advance with tardy +teams, nor kept the General tentless, nor penned irregular requisitions, +nor wasted the property of Government. The ague seized him, +occasionally, and shook his grey hairs fearfully; but he always +recovered to ride his black stallion on long forages, and his great +strength and bulk were the envy of all the young officers. + +He grasped my hand so heartily that I positively howled, and commanded a +tall sergeant, rejoicing in the name of Clover, to take away my horse +and split him up for kindling wood. + +"We must give him the blue roan, that Fogg rides," said the +quartermaster, to the great dejection of Fogg, a short stout youth, who +was posting accounts. I was glad to see, however, that Fogg was not +disposed to be angry, and when informed that a certain iron-gray nag was +at his disposal, he was in a perfect glow of good humor. The other +_attaches_ were a German, whose name, as I caught it, seemed to be +Skyhiski; and a pleasant lad called Owen, whose disposition was so mild, +that I wondered how he had adopted the bloody profession of arms. A +black boy belonged to the establishment, remarkable, chiefly, for +getting close to the heels of the black stallion, and being frequently +kicked; he was employed to feed and brush the said stallion, and the +antipathy between them was intense. + +The above curious military combination, slept under a great tarpaulin +canopy, originally used for covering commissary stores from the rain. +Our meals were taken in the open air, and prepared by Skyhiski; but +there was a second tent, provided with desk and secretary, where Mr. +Fogg performed his clerk duties, daily. When I had relieved my Pegasus +of his saddle, and penned some paragraphs for a future letter, I +strolled down the road with the old gentleman, who insisted upon showing +me Hunter's mill, a storm-beaten structure, that looked like a great +barn. The mill-race had been drained by some soldiers for the purpose of +securing the fish contained in it, and the mill-wheel was quite dry and +motionless. Difficult Creek ran impetuously across the road below, as if +anxious to be put to some use again; and the miller's house adjoining, +was now used as a hospital, for Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, and some +inferior officers. It was a favorite design of the Quartermaster's to +scrape the mill-stone, repair the race, and put the great breast-wheel +to work. One could see that the soldier had not entirely obliterated the +miller, and as he related, with a glowing face, the plans that he had +proposed to recuperate the tottering structure, and make it serviceable +to the army, I felt a regret that such peaceful ambitions should have +ever been overruled by the call to arms. + +While we stood at the mill window, watching the long stretches of white +tents and speculating upon the results of war, we saw several men +running across the road toward a hill-top cottage, where General Meade +made his quarters. A small group was collected at the cottage, +reconnoitring something through their telescopes. As I hastened in that +direction, I heard confused voices, thus: "No, it isn't!" "It is!" "Can +you make out his shoulder-bar?" "What is the color of his coat?" "Gray!" +"No, it's butternut!" "Has he a musket!" "Yes, he is levelling it!" At +this the group scattered in every direction. "Pshaw!" said one, "we are +out of range; besides, it is a telescope that he has. By----, it is a +Rebel, reconnoitring our camp!" There was a manifest sensation here, and +one man wondered how he had passed the picket. Another suggested that he +might be accompanied by a troop, and a third convulsed the circle by +declaring that there were six other Rebels visible in a woods to the +left. Mr. Fogg had meantime come up and proffered me a field-glass, +through which I certainly made out a person in gray, standing in the +middle of the road just at the ridge of a hill. When I dropped my glass +I saw him distinctly with the naked eye. He was probably a mile distant, +and his gray vesture was little relieved by the blue haze of the forest. + +"He is going," exclaimed a private, excitedly; "where's the man that was +to try a lead on him?" Several started impulsively for their pieces, and +some officers called for their horses. "There go his knees!" "His body +is behind the hill!" "Now his head----" + +"Crack! crack! crack!" spluttered musketry from the edge of the mill, +and like as many rockets darted a score of horsemen through the creek +and up the steep. Directly a faint hurrah pealed from the camp nearest +the mill. It passed to the next camp and the next; for all were now +earnestly watching; and finally a medley of cheers shook the air and the +ear. Thousands of brave men were shouting the requiem of one paltry +life. The rash fool had bought with his temerity a bullet in the brain. +When I saw him--dusty and still bleeding--he was beset by a full +regiment of idlers, to whom death had neither awe nor respect. They +talked of the delicate shot, as connoisseurs in the art of murder,--and +two men dug him a grave on the green before the mill, wherein he was +tossed like a dog or a vulture, to be lulled, let us hope, by the music +of the grinding, when grain shall ripen once more. + +I had an opportunity, after dinner, to inspect the camp of the +"Bucktails," a regiment of Pennsylvania backwoodsmen, whose efficiency +as skirmishers has been adverted to by all chroniclers of the civil war. +They wore the common blue blouse and breeches, but were distinguished by +squirrel tails fastened to their caps. They were reputed to be the best +marksmen in the service, and were generally allowed, in action, to take +their own positions and fire at will. Crawling through thick woods, or +trailing serpent-like through the tangled grass, these mountaineers were +for a time the terror of the Confederates; but when their mode of +fighting had been understood, their adversaries improved upon it to such +a degree that at the date of this writing there is scarcely a Corporal's +guard of the original Bucktail regiment remaining. Slaughtered on the +field, perishing in prison, disabled or paroled, they have lost both +their prestige and their strength. I remarked among these worthies a +partiality for fisticuffs, and a dislike for the manual of arms. They +drilled badly, and were reported to be adepts at thieving and unlicensed +foraging. + +The second night in camp was pleasantly passed. Some sociable +officers--favorites with Captain Kingwalt--congregated under the +tarpaulin, after supper-hour, and when a long-necked bottle had been +emptied and replenished, there were many quaint stories related and +curious individualities revealed. I dropped asleep while the hilarity +was at its height, and Fogg covered me with a thick blanket as I lay. +The enemy might have come upon us in the darkness; but if death were +half so sound as my slumber afield, I should have bid it welcome. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A FORAGING ADVENTURE. + + +There was a newsboy named "Charley," who slept at Captain Kingwalt's +every second night, and who returned my beast to his owner in +Washington. The aphorism that a Yankee can do anything, was exemplified +by this lad; for he worked my snail into a gallop. He was born in +Chelsea, Massachusetts, and appeared to have taken to speculation at the +age when most children are learning A B C. He was now in his fourteenth +year, owned two horses, and employed another boy to sell papers for him +likewise. His profits upon daily sales of four hundred journals were +about thirty-two dollars. He had five hundred dollars in bank, and was +debating with Captain Kingwalt the propriety of founding an army express +and general agency. Such a self-reliant, swaggering, far-sighted, and +impertinent boy I never knew. He was a favorite with the Captain's +black-boy, and upon thorough terms of equality with the Commanding +General. His papers cost him in Washington a cent and a half each, and +he sold them in camp for ten cents each. I have not the slightest doubt +that I shall hear of him again as the proprietor of an overland mail, or +the patron and capitalist of Greenland emigration. + +I passed the second and third days quietly in camp, writing a couple of +letters, studying somewhat of fortification, and making flying visits to +various officers. There was but one other Reporter with this division of +the army. He represented a New York journal, and I could not but +contrast his fine steed and equipments with the scanty accommodations +that my provincial establishment had provided for me. His saddle was a +cushioned McClellan, with spangled breast-strap and plump saddle-bags, +and his bridle was adorned with a bright curb bit and twilled reins. He +wore a field-glass belted about his body, and was plentifully provided +with money to purchase items of news, if they were at any time difficult +to obtain. I resolved inwardly to seize the first opportunity of +changing establishments, so that I might be placed upon as good a +footing. My relations with camp, otherwise, were of the happiest +character; for the troops were State-people of mine, and, as reporters +had not yet abused the privileges accorded them, my profession was held +in some repute. I made the round of various "messes," and soon adopted +the current dissipations of the field,--late hours, long stories, +incessant smoking, and raw spirits. There were some restless minds about +me, whose funds of anecdote and jest were apparently inexhaustible. I do +not know that so many eccentric, adventurous, and fluent people are to +be found among any other nationality of soldiers, not excepting the +Irish. + +The blue roan of which friend Fogg had been deprived, exhibited +occasional evidences of a desire to break my neck. I was obliged to +dispense with the spur in riding him, but he nevertheless dashed off at +times, and put me into an agony of fear. On those occasions I managed to +retain my seat, and gained thereby the reputation of being a very fine +equestrian. As there were few civilians in camp, and as I wore a gray +suit, and appeared to be in request at head-quarters, a rumor was +developed and gained currency that I was attached to the Division in the +capacity of a scout. When my horse became unmanageable, therefore, his +speed was generally accelerated by the cheers of soldiers, and I became +an object of curiosity in every quarter, to my infinite mortification +and dread. + +The Captain was to set off on the fourth day, to purchase or seize some +hay and grain that were stacked at neighboring farms. We prepared to go +at eight o'clock, but were detained somewhat by reason of Skyhiski being +inebriated the night before, and thereby delaying the breakfast, and +afterward the fact that the black stallion had laid open the black-boy's +leg. However, at a quarter past nine, the Captain, Sergeant Clover, +Fogg, Owen, and myself, with six four-horse wagons, filed down the +railroad track until we came to a bridge that some laborers were +repairing, where we turned to the left through some soggy fields, and +forded Difficult Creek. As there was no road to follow, we kept straight +through a wood of young maples and chestnut-trees. Occasionally a trunk +or projecting branch stopped the wagons, when the teamsters opened the +way with their axes. After two hours of slow advance, we came to the end +of the wood, and climbed a succession of hilly fields. From the summit +of the last of these, a splendid sweep of farm country was revealed, +dotted with quaint Virginia dwellings, stackyards, and negro-cabins, and +divided by miles of tortuous worm-fence. The eyes of the Quartermaster +brightened at the prospect, though I am afraid that he thought only of +the abundant forage; but my own grew hazy as I spoke of the peaceful +people and the neglected fields. The plough had furrowed none of these +acres, and some crows, that screamed gutturally from a neighboring +ash-tree, seemed lean and pinched for lack of their plunder of corn. + +Many of the dwellings were guarded by soldiers; but of the resident +citizens only the women and the old men remained. I did not need to ask +where the young men were exiled. The residue that prayed with their +faces toward Richmond, told me the story with their eyes. There was, +nevertheless, no melodramatic exhibition of feeling among the bereaved. +I did not see any defiant postures, nor hear any melting apostrophies. +Marius was not mouthing by the ruins of Carthage, nor even Rachel +weeping for her Hebrew children. But there were on every hand +manifestations of adherence to the Southern cause, except among a few +males who feared unutterable things, and were disposed to cringe and +prevaricate. The women were not generally handsome; their face was +indolent, their dress slovenly, and their manner embarrassed. They +lopped off the beginnings and the ends of their sentences, generally +commencing with a verb, as thus: "Told soldiers not to carr' off the +rye; declared they would; said they bound do jest what they pleased. Let +'em go!" + +The Captain stopped at a spruce residence, approached by a long lane, +and on knocking at the porch with his ponderous fist, a woman came +timidly to the kitchen window. + +"Who's thar?" she said, after a moment. + +"Come out young woman," said the Captain, soothingly; "we don't intend +to murder or rob you, ma'am!" + +There dropped from the doorsill into the yard, not one, but three young +women, followed by a very deaf old man, who appeared to think that the +Captain's visit bore some reference to the hencoop. + +"I wish to buy for the use of the United States Government," said the +Captain, "some stacks of hay and corn fodder, that lie in one of your +fields." + +"The last hen was toted off this morning before breakfast," said the old +man; "they took the turkeys yesterday, and I was obliged to kill the +ducks or I shouldn't have had anything to eat." + +Here Fogg so misdemeaned himself, as to laugh through his nose, and the +man Clover appeared to be suddenly interested in something that lay in a +mulberry-tree opposite. + +"I am provided with money to pay liberally for your produce, and you +cannot do better than to let me take the stacks: leaving you, of course, +enough for your own horses and cattle." + +Here the old man pricked up his ears, and said that he hadn't heard of +any recent battle; for his part, he had never been a politician; but +thought that both parties were a little wrong; and wished that peace +would return: for he was a very old man, and was sorry that folks +couldn't let quiet folks' property alone. How far his garrulity might +have betrayed him, could be conjectured only by one of the girls taking +his hand and leading him submissively into the house. + +The eldest daughter said that the Captain might take the stacks at his +own valuation, but trusted to his honor as a soldier, and as he seemed, +a gentleman, to deal justly by them. There could be no crop harvested +for a twelvemonth, and beggary looked them in the face. I have never +beheld anything more chivalrously gallant, than the sturdy old +quartermaster's attitude. He blended in tone and face the politeness of +a diplomat and the gentleness of a father. They asked him to return to +the house, with his _officers_, when he had loaded the wagons; for +dinner was being prepared, and they hoped that Virginians could be +hospitable, even to their enemies. As to the hay and fodder, none need +be left; for the Confederates had seized their horses some months +before, and driven off their cows when they retired from the +neighborhood. + +I so admired the queer gables and great brick ovens of the house, that I +resolved to tie my horse, and rest under the crooked porch. The eldest +young lady had taken me to be a prisoner, and was greatly astonished +that the Quartermaster permitted me to go at large. She asked me to have +a chair in the parlor, but when I made my appearance there, the two +younger sisters fled precipitately. The old man was shaking his head +sadly by the fireplace. Some logs burned on the andirons with a red +flame. The furniture consisted of a mahogany sideboard, table, and +chairs,--ponderous in pattern; and a series of family portraits, in a +sprawling style of art, smirked and postured on the wall. The floor was +bare, but shone by reason of repeated scrubbing, and the black +mantel-piece was a fine specimen of colonial carving in the staunchest +of walnut-wood. + +Directly the two younger girls--though the youngest must have been +twenty years of age--came back with averted eyes and the silliest of +giggles. They sat a little distance apart, and occasionally nodded or +signalled like school children. + +"Wish you _would_ stop, Bell!" said one of these misses,--whose flaxen +hair was plastered across her eyebrows, and who was very tall and +slender. + +"See if I don't tell on you," said the other,--a dark miss with roguish +eyes and fat, plump figure, and curls that shook ever so merrily about +her shoulders. + +"Declar' I never said so, if he asks me; declar' I will." + +"Tell on you,--you see! Won't he be jealous? How he will car' on!" + +I made out that these young ladies were intent upon publishing their +obligations to certain sweethearts of theirs, who, as it afterward +seemed, were in the army at Manassas Junction. I said to the +curly-haired miss, that she was endangering the life of her enamored; +for it would become an object with all the anxious troops in the +vicinity to shorten his days. The old man roused up here, and remarked +that his health certainly was declining; but he hoped to survive a while +longer for the sake of his children; that he was no politician, and +always said that the negroes were very ungrateful people. He caught his +daughter's eye finally, and cowered stupidly, nodding at the fire. + +I remarked to the eldest young woman,--called Prissy (Priscilla) by her +sister,--that the country hereabout was pleasantly wooded. She said, in +substance, that every part of Virginia was beautiful, and that she did +not wish to survive the disgrace of the old commonwealth. + +"Become right down hateful since Yankees invaded it!" exclaimed Miss +Bell. "_Some_ Yankee's handsome sister," said Miss Bessie, the +proprietor of the curls, "think some Yankees puffick gentlemen!" + +"Oh, you traitor!" said the other,--"wish _Henry_ heard you say that!" + +Miss Bell intimated that she should take the first opportunity of +telling him the same, and I eulogized her good judgment. Priscilla now +begged to be excused for a moment, as, since the flight of the negro +property, the care of the table had devolved mainly upon her. A single +aged servant, too feeble or too faithful to decamp, still attended to +the menial functions, and two mulatto children remained to relieve them +of light labor. She was a dignified, matronly young lady, and, as one of +the sisters informed me, plighted to a Major in the Confederate service. +The others chattered flippantly for an hour, and said that the old place +was dreadfully lonesome of late. Miss Bell was _sure_ she should die if +another winter, similar to the last, occurred. She loved company, and +had always found it _so_ lively in Loudon before; whereas she had +positively been but twice to a neighbor's for a twelvemonth, and had +quite forgotten the road to the mill. She said, finally, that, rather +than undergo another such isolation, she would become a _Vivandiere_ in +the Yankee army. The slender sister was altogether wedded to the idea of +her lover's. "_Wouldn't_ she tell Henry? and _shouldn't_ she write to +Jeems? and oh, Bessie, you would not _dare_ to repeat that before +_him_." In short, I was at first amused, and afterwards annoyed, by this +young lady, whereas the roguish-eyed miss improved greatly upon +acquaintance. + +After a while, Captain Kingwalt came in, trailing his spurs over the +floor, and leaving sunshine in his wake. There was something galvanic in +his gentleness, and infectious in his merriment. He told them at dinner +of his own daughters on the Brandywine, and invented stories of Fogg's +courtships, till that young gentleman first blushed, and afterward +dropped his plate. Our meal was a frugal one, consisting mainly of the +ducks referred to, some vegetables, corn-bread, and coffee made of +wasted rye. There were neither sugar, spices, nor tea, on the premises, +and the salt before us was the last in the dwelling. The Captain +promised to send them both coffee and salt, and Fogg volunteered to +bring the same to the house, whereat the Captain teased him till he left +the table. + +At this time, a little boy, who was ostensibly a waiter, cried: "Miss +Prissy, soldiers is climbin' in de hog-pen." + +"I knew we should lose the last living thing on the property," said this +young lady, much distressed. + +The Captain went to the door, and found three strolling Bucktails +looking covetously at the swine. They were a little discomposed at his +appearance, and edged off suspiciously. + +"Halt!" said the old man in his great voice, "where are you men going?" + +"Just makin' reconnoissance," said one of the freebooters; "s'pose a +feller has a right to walk around, hain't he?" + +"Not unless he has a pass," said the Quartermaster; "have you written +permission to leave camp?" + +"Left'nant s'posed we might. Don't know as it's your business. Never see +_you_ in the regiment." + +"It is my business, as an officer of the United States, to see that no +soldier strays from camp unauthorizedly, or depredates upon private +property. I will take your names, and report you, first for straggling, +secondly for insolence!" + +"Put to it, Bill!" said the speaker of the foragers; "run, Bob! go it +hearties!" And they took to their heels, cleared a pair of fences, and +were lost behind some outbuildings. The Captain could be harsh as well +as generous, and was about mounting his horse impulsively, to overtake +and punish the fugitives, when Priscilla begged him to refrain, as an +enforcement of discipline on his part might bring insult upon her +helpless household. I availed myself of a pause in the Captain's wrath, +to ask Miss Priscilla if she would allow me to lodge in the dwelling. +Five nights' experience in camp had somewhat reduced my enthusiasm, and +I already wearied of the damp beds, the hard fare, and the coarse +conversation of the bivouac. The young lady assented willingly, as she +stated that the presence of a young man would both amuse and protect the +family. For several nights she had not slept, and had imagined footsteps +on the porch and the drawing of window-bolts. There was a bed, formerly +occupied by her brother, that I might take, but must depend upon rather +laggard attendance. I had the satisfaction, therefore, of seeing the +Captain and retinue mount their horses, and wave me a temporary good by. +Poor Fogg looked back so often and so seriously that I expected to see +him fall from the saddle. The young ladies were much impressed with the +Captain's manliness, and Miss Bell wondered _how_ such a _puffick_ +gentleman could _reconcile_ himself to the Yankee cause. She had felt a +desire to speak to him upon that point as she was _sure_ he was of fine +stock, and entirely averse to the invasion of such territory as that of +_dear_ old Virginia. There was something in his manner that _so_ +reminded her of some one who should be _nameless_ for the present; but +the "nameless" was, _of course_, young, _handsome_, and _so_ brave. I +ruthlessly dissipated her theory of the Captain's origin, by stating +that he was of humble German descent, so far as I knew, and had probably +never beheld Virginia till preceded by the bayonets of his neighbors. + +After tea Miss Bessie produced a pitcher of rare cider, that came from a +certain mysterious quarter of the cellar. A chessboard was forthcoming +at a later hour, when we amused ourselves with a couple of games, +facetiously dubbing our chessman Federals and Confederates. Miss Bell, +meanwhile, betook herself to a diary, wherein she minutely related the +incidents and sentiments of successive days. The quantity of words +underscored in the same autobiography would have speedily exhausted the +case of italics, if the printer had obtained it. I was so beguiled by +these patriarchal people, that I several times asked myself if the +circumstances were real. Was I in a hostile country, surrounded by +thousands of armed men? Were the incidents of this evening portions of +an historic era, and the ground about me to be commemorated by +bloodshed? Was this, in fact, revolution, and were these simple country +girls and their lovers revolutionists? The logs burned cheerily upon the +hearth, and the ancestral portraits glowered contemplatively from the +walls. Miss Prissy looked dreamily into the fire, and the old man snored +wheezily in a corner. A gray cat purred in Miss Bell's lap, and Miss +Bessie was writing some nonsense in my note-book. + +A sharp knock fell upon the door, and something that sounded like the +butt of a musket shook the porch without. The girls turned pale, and I +think that Miss Bessie seized my arm and clung to it. I think also, that +Miss Bell attempted to take the other arm, to which I demurred. + +"Those brutal soldiers again!" said Priscilla, faintly. + +"I think one of the andirons has fallen down, darter!" said the old man, +rousing up. + +"Tremble for my life," said Miss Bell; "_sure_ shall die if it's _a +man_." + +I opened the door after a little pause, when a couple of rough privates +in uniform confronted me. + +"We're two guards that General Meade sent to protect the house and +property," said the tallest of these men; "might a feller come in and +warm his feet!" + +I understood at once that the Quartermaster had obtained these persons; +and the other man coming forward, said-- + +"I fetched some coffee over, and a bag o' salt, with Corporal Fogg's +compliments." + +They deposited their muskets in a corner, and balanced their boots on +the fender. Nothing was said for a time. + +"Did you lose yer poultry?" said the tall man, at length. + +"All," said Miss Priscilla. + +"Fellers loves poultry!" said the man, smacking his lips. + +"Did you lose yer sheep?" said the same man, after a little silence. + +"The Bucktails cut their throats the first day that they encamped at the +mill," said Miss Priscilla. + +"Them Bucktails great fellers," said the tall man; "them Bucktails awful +on sheep: they loves 'em so!" + +He relapsed again for a few minutes, when he continued: "You don't like +fellers to bag yer poultry and sheep, do you?" + +Miss Priscilla replied that it was both dishonest and cruel. Miss Bell +intimated that none but Yankees would do it. + +"P'raps not," said the tall soldier, drily; "did you ever grub on fat +pork, Miss? No? Did you ever gnaw yer hard tack after a spell o' +sickness, and a ten-hour march? No? P'raps you might like a streak o' +mutton arterwards! P'raps you might take a notion for a couple o' +chickens or so! No? How's that, Ike? What do you think, pardner? (to me) +I ain't over and above cruel, mum. I don't think the Bucktails is over +and above dishonest to home, mum. But, gosh hang it, I think I _would_ +bag a chicken any day! I say that above board. Hey, Ike?" + +When the tall man and his inferior satellite had warmed their boots till +they smoked, they rose, recovered their muskets, and bowed themselves +into the yard. Soon afterward I bade the young ladies good night, and +repaired to my room. The tall man and his associate were pacing up and +down the grass-plot, and they looked very cold and comfortless, I +thought. I should have liked to obtain for them a draught of cider, but +prudently abstained; for every man in the army would thereby become +cognizant of its existence. So I placed my head once more upon a soft +pillow, and pitied the chilled soldiers who slept upon the turf. I +thought of Miss Bessie with her roguish eyes, and wondered what themes +were now engrossing her. I asked myself if this was the romance of war, +and if it would bear relating to one's children when he grew as old and +as deaf as the wheezy gentleman down-stairs. In fine, I was a little +sentimental, somewhat reflective, and very drowsy. So, after a while, +processions of freebooting soldiers, foraging Quartermasters, deaf +gentlemen, Fogg's regiment, and multitudes of ghosts from Manassas, +drifted by in my dreams. And, in the end, Miss Bessie's long curls +brushed into my eyes, and I found the morning, ruddy as her cheeks, +blushing at the window. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT A MARCH IS IN FACT. + + +I found at breakfast, that Miss Bessie had been placed beside me, and I +so far forgot myself as to forget all other persons at the table. Miss +Priscilla asked to be helped to the corn-bread, and I deposited a +quantity of the same upon Miss Bessie's plate. Miss Bell asked if I did +not love _dear_ old Virginia, and I replied to Miss Bessie that it had +lately become very attractive, and that, in fact, I was decidedly +rebellious in my sympathy with the distressed Virginians. I _did_ +except, however, the man darkly mooted as "Henry," and hoped that he +would be disfigured--not killed--at the earliest engagement. The deaf +old gentleman bristled up here and asked _who_ had been killed at the +recent engagement. There was a man named Jeems Lee,--a distant +connection of the Lightfoots,--not the Hampshire Lightfoots, but the +Fauquier Lightfoots,--who had distinctly appeared to the old gentleman +for several nights, robed in black, and carrying a coffin under his arm. +Since I had mentioned his name, he recalled the circumstance, and hoped +that Jeems Lightfoot had not disgraced his ancestry. Nevertheless, the +deaf gentleman was not to be understood as expressing any opinion upon +the merits of the war. For _his_ part he thought both sides a little +wrong, and the crops were really in a dreadful state. The negroes were +very ungrateful people and property should be held sacred by all +belligerents. + +At this point he caught Miss Priscilla's eye, and was transfixed with +conscious guilt. + +I had, meantime, been infringing upon Miss Bessie's feet,--very pretty +feet they were!--which expressive but not very refined method of +correspondence caused her to blush to the eyes. Miss Bell, noticing the +same, was determined to tell '_Henry_' at once, and I hoped in my heart +that she would set out for Manassas to further that purpose. + +The door opened here, and the rubicund visage of Mr. Fogg appeared like +the head of the Medusa. He said that 'Captain' had ordered the blue roan +to be saddled and brought over to me, but I knew that this was a cunning +device on his part, to revisit the dwelling. Miss Bell, somehow caught +the idea that Fogg was enamored of her, and the poor fellow was +subjected to a volley of tender innuendos and languishing glances, that +by turn mortified and enraged him. + +I bade the good people adieu at eight o'clock, promising to return for +dinner at five; and Miss Bessie accompanied me to the lane, where I took +leave of her with a secret whisper and a warm grasp of the hand. One of +her rings had somehow adhered to my finger, which Fogg remarked with a +bilious expression of countenance. I had no sooner got astride of the +blue roan than he darted off like the wind, and subjected me to great +terror, alternating to chagrin, when I turned back and beheld all the +young ladies waving their handkerchiefs. They evidently thought me an +unrivalled equestrian. + +I rode to a picket post two miles from the mill, passing over the spot +where the Confederate soldier had fallen. The picket consisted of two +companies or one hundred and sixty men. Half of them were sitting around +a fire concealed in the woods, and the rest were scattered along the +edges of a piece of close timber. I climbed a lookout-tree by means of +cross-strips nailed to the trunk, and beheld from the summit a long +succession of hazy hills, valleys, and forests, with the Blue Ridge +Mountains bounding the distance, like some mighty monster, enclosing the +world in its coils. This was the country of the enemy, and a Lieutenant +obligingly pointed out to me the curling smoke of their pickets, a few +miles away. The cleft of Manassas was plainly visible, and I traced the +line of the Gap Railway to its junction with the Orange and Alexandria +road, below Bull Run. For aught that I knew, some concealed observer +might now be watching me from the pine-tops on the nearest knoll. Some +rifleman might be running his practised eye down the deadly groove, to +topple me from my perch, and send me crashing through the boughs. The +uncertainty, the hazard, the novelty of my position had at this time an +indescribable charm: but subsequent exposures dissipated the romance and +taught me the folly of such adventures. + +The afternoon went dryly by: for a drizzling rain fell at noon; but at +four o'clock I saddled the blue roan and went to ride with Fogg. We +retraced the road to Colonel T----s, and crossing a boggy brook, turned +up the hills and passed toward the Potomac. Fogg had been a +schoolmaster, and many of his narrations indicated keen perception and +clever comprehension. He so amused me on this particular occasion that I +quite forgot my engagement for dinner, and unwittingly strolled beyond +the farthest brigade. + +Suddenly, we heard a bugle-call from the picket-post before us, and, at +the same moment, the drums beat from the camp behind. Our horses pricked +up their ears and Fogg stared inquiringly. As we turned back we heard +approaching hoofs and the blue roan exhibited intentions of running +away. I pulled his rein in vain. He would neither be soothed nor +commanded. A whole company of cavalry closed up with him at length, and +the sabres clattered in their scabbards as they galloped toward camp at +the top of their speed. With a spring that almost shook me from the +saddle and drove the stirrups flying from my feet, the blue roan dashed +the dust into the eyes of Fogg, and led the race. + +Not the wild yager on his gait to perdition, rode so fearfully. Trees, +bogs, huts, bushes, went by like lightning. The hot breath of the nag +rose to my nostrils and at every leap I seemed vaulting among the +spheres. + +I speak thus flippantly now, of what was then the agony of death. I +grasped the pommel of my saddle, mechanically winding the lines about my +wrist, and clung with the tenacity of sin clutching the world. Some +soldiers looked wonderingly from the wayside, but did not heed my shriek +of "stop him, for God's sake!" A ditch crossed the lane,--deep and +wide,--and I felt that my moment had come: with a spring that seemed to +break thew and sinew, the blue roan cleared it, pitching upon his knees, +but recovered directly and darted onward again. I knew that I should +fall headlong now, to be trampled by the fierce horsemen behind, but +retained my grasp though my heart was choking me. The camps were in +confusion as I swept past them. A sharp clearness of sense and thought +enabled me to note distinctly the minutest occurrences. I marked long +lines of men cloaked, and carrying knapsacks, drummer-boys beating music +that I had whistled in many a ramble,--field-officers shouting orders +from their saddles, and cannon limbered up as if ready to move,--tents +taken down and teams waiting to be loaded; all the evidences of an +advance, that I alas should never witness, lying bruised and mangled by +the roadside. A cheer saluted me as I passed some of Meade's regiments. +"It is the scout that fetched the orders for an advance!" said several, +and one man remarked that "that feller was the most reckless rider he +had ever beheld." The crisis came at length: a wagon had stopped the +way; my horse in turning it, stepped upon a stake, and slipping rolled +heavily upon his side, tossing me like an acrobat, over his head, but +without further injury than a terrible nervous shock and a rent in my +pantaloons. + +I employed a small boy to lead the blue roan to Captain Kingwalt's +quarters, and as I limped wearily after, some regiments came toward me +through the fields. General McCall responded to my salute; he rode in +the advance. The Quartermaster's party was loading the tents and +utensils. The rain fell smartly as dusk deepened into night, and the +brush tents now deserted by the soldiers, were set on fire. Being +composed of dry combustible material, they burned rapidly and with an +intense flame. The fields in every direction were revealed, swarming +with men, horses, batteries, and wagons. Some of the regiments began the +march in silence; others sang familiar ballads as they moved in column. +A few, riotously disposed, shrieked, whistled, and cheered. The +standards were folded; the drums did not mark time; the orders were few +and short. The cannoneers sat moodily upon the caissons, and the +cavalry-men walked their horses sedately. Although fifteen thousand men +comprised the whole corps, each of its three brigades would have seemed +as numerous to a novice. The teams of each brigade closed up the rear, +and a quartermaster's guard was detailed from each regiment to march +beside its own wagons. When the troops were fairly under way, and the +brush burning along from continuous miles of road, the effect was grand +beyond all that I had witnessed. The country people gathered in fright +at the cottage doors, and the farm-dogs bayed dismally at the unwonted +scene. I refused to ride the blue roan again, but transferred my saddle +to a team horse that appeared to be given to a sort of equine +somnambulism, and once or twice attempted to lie down by the roadside. +At nine o'clock I set out with Fogg, who slipped a flask of spirits into +my haversack. Following the tardy movement of the teams, we turned our +faces toward Washington. I was soon wet to the skin, and my saddle +cushion was soaking with water. The streams crossing the road were +swollen with rain, and the great team wheels clogged on the slimy banks. +We were sometimes delayed a half hour by a single wagon, the storm +beating pitilessly in our faces the while. During the stoppages, the +Quartermaster's guards burned all the fence rails in the vicinity, and +some of the more indurated sat round the fagots and gamed with cards. + +Cold, taciturn, miserable, I thought of the quiet farm, house, the ruddy +hearth-place, and the smoking supper. I wondered if the roguish eyes +were not a little sad, and the trim feet a little restless, the chessmen +somewhat stupid, and the good old house a trifle lonesome. Alas! the +intimacy so pleasantly commenced, was never to be renewed. With the +thousand and one airy palaces that youth builds and time annihilates, my +first romance of war towered to the stars in a day, and crumbled to +earth in a night. + +At two o'clock in the morning we halted at Metropolitan Mills, on the +Alexandria and Leesburg turnpike. A bridge had been destroyed below, and +the creek was so swollen that neither artillery nor cavalry could ford +it. The meadows were submerged and the rain still descended in torrents. +The chilled troops made bonfires of some new panel fence, and stormed +all the henroosts in the vicinity. Some pigs, that betrayed their +whereabouts by inoportune whines and grunts, were speedily confiscated, +slaughtered, and spitted. We erected our tarpaulin in a ploughed field, +and Fogg laid some sharp rails upon the ground to make us a dry bed. +Skyhiski fried a quantity of fresh beef, and boiled some coffee; but +while we ate heartily, theorizing as to the destination of the corps, +the poor Captain was terribly shaken by his ague. + +I woke in the morning with inflamed throat, rheumatic limbs, and every +indication of chills and fever. Fogg whispered to me at breakfast that +two men of Reynold's brigade had died during the night, from fatigue and +exposure. He advised me to push forward to Washington and await the +arrival of the division, as, unused to the hardships of a march, I +might, after another day's experience, become dangerously ill. I set +out at five o'clock, resolving to ford the creek, resume the turnpike, +and reach Long Bridge at noon. Passing over some dozen fields in which +my horse at every step sank to the fetlocks, I travelled along the brink +of the stream till I finally reached a place that seemed to be shallow. +Bracing myself firmly in the saddle, I urged my unwilling horse into the +waters, and emerged half drowned on the other side. It happened, +however, that I had crossed only a branch of the creek and gained an +island. The main channel was yet to be attempted, and I saw that it was +deep, broad, and violent. I followed the margin despairingly for a +half-mile, when I came to a log footbridge, where I dismounted and swam +my horse through the turbulent waters. I had now so far diverged from +the turnpike that I was at a loss to recover it, but straying forlornly +through the woods, struck a wagon track at last, and pursued it +hopefully, until, to my confusion, it resolved itself to two tracks, +that went in contrary directions. My horse preferred taking to the left, +but after riding a full hour, I came to some felled trees, beyond which +the traces did not go. Returning, weak and bewildered, I adopted the +discarded route, which led me to a worm-fence at the edge of the woods. +A house lay some distance off, but a wheat-field intervened, and I might +bring the vengeance of the proprietor upon me by invading his domain. +There was no choice, however; so I removed the rails, and rode directly +across the wheat to some negro quarters, a little removed from the +mansion. They were deserted, all save one, where a black boy was singing +some negro hymns in an uproarious manner. The words, as I made them out, +were these:-- + + "Stephen came a runnin', + His Marster fur to see; + But Gabriel says he is not yar'; + He gone to Calvary! + O,--O,--Stephen, Stephen, + Fur to see; + Stephen, Stephen, get along up Calvary!" + +I learned from this person two mortifying facts,--that I was farther +from Washington than at the beginning of my journey, and that the morrow +was Sunday. War, alas! knows no Sabbaths, and the negro said, +apologetically-- + +"I was a seyin' some ole hymns, young Mars'r. Sence dis yer war we don't +have no more meetin's, and a body mos' forgits his pra'rs. Dere hain't +been no church in all Fairfax, sah, fur nigh six months." + +Washington was nineteen miles distant, and another creek was to be +forded before gaining the turnpike. The negro sauntered down the lane, +and opened the gate for me. "You jes keep from de creek, take de mill +road, and enqua' as ye get furder up," said he; "it's mighty easy, sah, +an' you can't miss de way." + +I missed the way at once, however, by confounding the mill road with the +mill lane, and a shaggy dog that lay in a wagon shed pursued me about a +mile. The road was full of mire; no dwellings adjoined it, and nothing +human was to be seen in any direction. I came to a crumbling negro cabin +after two plodding hours, and, seeing a figure flit by the window, +called aloud for information. Nobody replied, and when, dismounting, I +looked into the den, it was, to my confusion, vacant. + +The soil, hereabout, was of a sterile red clay, spotted with scrub +cedars. Country more bleak and desolate I have never known, and when, at +noon, the rain ceased, a keen wind blew dismally across the barriers. I +reached a turnpike at length, and, turning, as I thought, toward +Alexandria, goaded my horse into a canter. An hour's ride brought me to +a wretched hamlet, whose designation I inquired of a cadaverous old +woman-- + +"Drainesville," said she. + +"Then I am not upon the Alexandria turnpike?" + +"No. You're sot for Leesburg. This is the Georgetown and Chain Bridge +road." + +With a heavy heart, I retraced my steps, crossed Chain Bridge at five +o'clock, and halted at Kirkwood's at seven. After dinner, falling in +with the manager of the Washington Sunday morning _Chronicle_, I penned, +at his request, a few lines relative to the movements of the Reserves; +and, learning in the morning that they had arrived at Alexandria, set +out on horseback for that city. + +Many hamlets and towns have been destroyed during the war. But, of all +that in some form survive, Alexandria has most suffered. It has been in +the uninterrupted possession of the Federals for twenty-two months, and +has become essentially a military city. Its streets, its docks, its +warehouses, its dwellings, and its suburbs, have been absorbed to the +thousand uses of war. + +I was challenged thrice on the Long Bridge, and five times on the road, +before reaching the city. I rode under the shadows of five earthworks, +and saw lines of white tents sweeping to the horizon. Gayly caparisoned +officers passed me, to spend their Sabbath in Washington, and trains +laden with troops, ambulances, and batteries, sped along the line of +railway, toward the rendezvous at Alexandria. A wagoner, looking +forlornly at his splintered wheels; a slovenly guard, watching some +bales of hay; a sombre negro, dozing upon his mule; a slatternly Irish +woman gossiping with a sergeant at her cottage door; a sutler in his +"dear-born," running his keen eye down the limbs of my beast; a spruce +civilian riding for curiosity; a gray-haired gentleman, in a threadbare +suit, going to camp on foot, to say good by to his boy,--these were some +of the personages that I remarked, and each was a study, a sermon, and a +story. The Potomac, below me, was dotted with steamers and shipping. The +bluffs above were trodden bare, and a line of dismal marsh bordered some +stagnant pools that blistered at their bases. At points along the +river-shore, troops were embarking on board steamers; transports were +taking in tons of baggage and subsistence. There was a schooner, laden +to the water-line with locomotive engines and burden carriages; there, +a brig, shipping artillery horses by a steam derrick, that lifted them +bodily from the shore and deposited them in the hold of the vessel. +Steamers, from whose spacious saloons the tourist and the bride have +watched the picturesque margin of the Hudson, were now black with +clusters of rollicking volunteers, who climbed into the yards, and +pitched headlong from the wheel-houses. The "grand movement," for which +the people had waited so long, and which McClellan had promised so +often, was at length to be made. The Army of the Potomac was to be +transferred to Fortress Monroe, at the foot of the Chesapeake, and to +advance by the peninsula of the James and the York, upon the city of +Richmond. + +I rode through Washington Street, the seat of some ancient residences, +and found it lined with freshly arrived troops. The grave-slabs in a +fine old churchyard were strewn with weary cavalry-men, and they lay in +some side yards, soundly sleeping. Some artillery-men chatted at +doorsteps, with idle house-girls; some courtesans flaunted in furs and +ostrich feathers, through a group of coarse engineers; some sergeants of +artillery, in red trimmings, and caps gilded with cannon, were reining +their horses to leer at some ladies, who were taking the air in their +gardens; and at a wide place in the street, a Provost-Major was +manoeuvring some companies, to the sound of the drum and fife. There +was much drunkenness, among both soldiers and civilians; and the people +of Alexandria were, in many cases, crushed and demoralized by reason of +their troubles. One man of this sort led me to a sawmill, now run by +Government, and pointed to the implements. + +"I bought 'em and earned 'em," he said. "My labor and enterprise set 'em +there; and while my mill and machinery are ruined to fill the pockets o' +Federal sharpers, I go drunk, ragged, and poor about the streets o' my +native town. My daughter starves in Richmond; God knows I can't get to +her. I wish to h----l I was dead." + +Further inquiry developed the facts that my acquaintance had been a +thriving builder, who had dotted all Northeastern Virginia with +evidences of his handicraft. At the commencement of the war, he took +certain contracts from the Confederate government, for the construction +of barracks at Richmond and Manassas Junction; returning inopportunely +to Alexandria, he was arrested, and kept some time in Capitol-Hill +prison; he had not taken the oath of allegiance, consequently, he could +obtain no recompense for the loss of his mill property. Domestic +misfortunes, happening at the same time, so embittered his days that he +resorted to dissipation. Alexandria is filled with like ruined people; +they walk as strangers through their ancient streets, and their property +is no longer theirs to possess, but has passed into the hands of the +dominant nationalists. My informant pointed out the residences of many +leading citizens: some were now hospitals, others armories and arsenals; +others offices for inspectors, superintendents, and civil officials. The +few people that remained upon their properties, obtained partial +immunity, by courting the acquaintance of Federal officers, and, in many +cases, extending the hospitalities of their homes to the invaders. I do +not know that any Federal functionary was accused of tyranny, or +wantonness, but these things ensued, as the natural results of civil +war; and one's sympathies were everywhere enlisted for the poor, the +exiled, and the bereaved. + +My dinner at the City Hotel was scant and badly prepared. I gave a negro +lad who waited upon me a few cents, but a burly negro carver, who seemed +to be his father, boxed the boy's ears and put the coppers into his +pocket. The proprietor of the place had voluntarily taken the oath of +allegiance, and had made more money since the date of Federal occupation +than during his whole life previously. He said to me, curtly, that if by +any chance the Confederates should reoccupy Alexandria, he could very +well afford to relinquish his property. He employed a smart barkeeper, +who led guests by a retired way to the drinking-rooms. Here, with the +gas burning at a taper point, cobblers, cocktails, and juleps were mixed +stealthily and swallowed in the darkness. The bar was like a mint to the +proprietor; he only feared discovery and prohibition. It would not +accord with the chaste pages of this narrative to tell how some of the +noblest residences in Alexandria had been desecrated to licentious +purposes; nor how, by night, the parlors of cosey homes flamed with riot +and orgie. I stayed but a little time, having written an indiscreet +paragraph in the Washington Chronicle, for which I was pursued by the +War Department, and the management of my paper, lacking heart, I went +home in a pet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +DOWN THE CHESAPEAKE. + + +Disappointed in the unlucky termination of my adventures afield, I now +looked ambitiously toward New York. As London stands to the provinces, +so stands the empire city to America. Its journals circulate by hundreds +of thousands; its means are only rivalled by its enterprise; it is the +end of every young American's aspiration, and the New Bohemia for the +restless, the brilliant, and the industrious. It seemed a great way off +when I first beheld it, but I did not therefore despair. Small matters +of news that I gathered in my modest city, obtained space in the columns +of the great metropolitan journal, the----. After a time I was delegated +to travel in search of special incidents, and finally, when the noted +Tennessee Unionist, "Parson" Brownlow, journeyed eastward, I joined his +_suite_, and accompanied him to New York. The dream of many months now +came to be realized. A correspondent on the ----'s staff had been +derelict, and I was appointed to his division. His horse, saddle, +field-glasses, blankets, and pistols were to be transferred, and I was +to proceed without delay to Fortress Monroe, to keep with the advancing +columns of McClellan. + +At six in the morning I embarked; at eleven I was whirled through my own +city, without a glimpse of my friends; at three o'clock I dismounted at +Baltimore, and at five was gliding down the Patapsco, under the shadows +of Fort Federal Hill, and the white walls of Fort McHenry. The latter +defence is renowned for its gallant resistance to a British fleet in +1813, and the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," was +written to commemorate that bombardment. Fort Carroll, a massive +structure of hewn stone, with arched bomb-proof and three tiers of +mounted ordnance, its smooth walls washed by the waves, and its +unfinished floors still ringing with the trowel and the adze,--lies some +miles below, at a narrow passage in the stream. Below, the shores +diverge, and at dusk we were fairly in the Chesapeake, under steam and +sail, speeding due southward. + +The _Adelaide_ was one of a series of boats making daily trips between +Baltimore and Old Point. Fourteen hours were required to accomplish the +passage, and we were not to arrive till seven o'clock next morning. I +was so fortunate as to obtain a state-room, but many passengers were +obliged to sleep upon sofas or the cabin floor. These boats monopolized +the civil traffic between the North and the army, although they were +reputed to be owned and managed by Secessionists. None were allowed to +embark unless provided with Federal passes; but there were, +nevertheless, three or four hundred people on board. About one fourth of +these were officers and soldiers; one half sutlers, traders, +contractors, newsmen, and idle civilians, anxious to witness a battle, +or stroll over the fields of Big Bethel, Lee's Mills, Yorktown, +Gloucester, Williamsburg, or West Point; the rest were females on +missions of mercy, on visits to sons, brothers, and husbands, and on the +way to their homes at Norfolk, Suffolk, or Hampton. Some of these were +citizens of Richmond, who believed that the Federals would occupy the +city in a few days, and enable them to resume their professions and +homes. The lower decks were occupied by negroes. The boat was heavily +freighted, and among the parcels that littered the hold and steerage, I +noticed scores of box coffins for the removal of corpses from the field +to the North. There were quantities of spirits, consigned mainly to +Quartermasters, but evidently the property of certain Shylocks, who +watched the barrels greedily. An embalmer was also on board, with his +ghostly implements. He was a sallow man, shabbily attired, and appeared +to look at all the passengers as so many subjects for the development of +his art. He was called "Doctor" by his admirers, and conversed in the +blandest manner of the triumphs of his system. + +"There are certain pretenders," he said, "who are at this moment +imposing upon the Government. I regret that it is necessary to repeat +it, but the fact exists that the Government is the prey of harpies. And +in the art of which I am an humble disciple,--that of injecting, +commonly called embalming,--the frauds are most deplorable. There was +Major Montague,--a splendid subject, I assure you,--a subject that any +_Professor_ would have beautifully preserved,--a subject that one +esteems it a favor to obtain,--a subject that I in particular would have +been proud to receive! But what were the circumstances? I do assure you +that a person named Wigwart,--who I have since ascertained to be a +veterinary butcher; in plain language, a doctor of horses and +asses,--imposed upon the relatives of the deceased, obtained the body, +and absolutely ruined it!--absolutely _mangled_ it! I may say, +shamefully disfigured it! He was a man, sir, six feet two,--about your +height, I think! (to a bystander.) About your weight, also! Indeed quite +like you! And allow me to say that, if you should fall into my hands, I +would leave your friends no cause for offence! (Here the bystander +trembled perceptibly, and I thought that the doctor was about to take +his life.) Well! _I_ should have operated thus:--" + +Then followed a description of the process, narrated with horrible +circumstantiality. A fluid holding in solution pounded glass and certain +chemicals, was, by the doctor's "system," injected into the +bloodvessels, and the subject at the same time bled at the neck. The +body thus became hard and stony, and would retain its form for years. He +had, by his account, experimented for a lifetime, and said that little +"Willie," the son of President Lincoln, had been so preserved that his +fond parents must have enjoyed his decease. + +It seemed to me that the late lamented practitioners, Messrs. Burke and +Hare, were likely to fade into insignificance, beside this new light of +science. + +I went upon deck for some moments, and marked the beating of the waves; +the glitter of sea-lights pulsing on the ripples; the sweep of belated +gulls through the creaking rigging; the dark hull of a passing vessel +with a grinning topmast lantern; the vigilant pilot, whose eyes glared +like a fiend's upon the waste of blackness; the foam that the panting +screw threw against the cabin windows; the flap of fishes caught in the +threads of moonlight; the depths over which one bent, peering half +wistfully, half abstractedly, almost crazily, till he longed to drop +into their coolness, and let the volumes of billow roll musically above +him. + +A woman approached me, as I stood against the great anchor, thus +absorbed. She had a pale, thin face, and was scantily clothed, and spoke +with a distrustful, timorous voice:-- + +"You don't know the name of the surgeon-general, do you sir!" + +"At Washington, ma'am?" + +"No, sir; at Old Point." + +I offered to inquire of the Captain: but she stopped me, agitatedly. +"It's of no consequence," she said,--"that is, it is of great +consequence to me; but perhaps it would be best to wait." I answered, as +obligingly as I could, that any service on my part would be cheerfully +rendered. + +"The fact is, sir," she said, after a pause, "I am going to +Williamsburg, to--find--the--the body--of my--boy." + +Here her speech was broken, and she put a thin, white hand tremulously +to her eyes. I thought that any person in the Federal service would +willingly assist her, and said so. + +"He was not a Federal soldier, sir. He was a Confederate!" + +This considerably altered the chances of success, and I was obliged to +undeceive her somewhat. "I am sure it was not my fault," she continued, +"that he joined the Rebellion. You don't think they'll refuse to let me +take his bones to Baltimore, do you, sir? He was my oldest boy, and his +brother, my second son, was killed at Ball's Bluff: _He_ was in the +Federal service. I hardly think they will refuse me the poor favor of +laying them in the same grave." + +I spoke of the difficulty of recognition, of the remoteness of the +field, and of the expense attending the recovery of any remains, +particularly those of the enemy, that, left hastily behind in retreat, +were commonly buried in trenches without headboard or record. She said, +sadly, that she had very little money, and that she could barely afford +the journey to the Fortress and return. But she esteemed her means well +invested if her object could be attained. + +"They were both brave boys, sir; but I could never get them to agree +politically. William was a Northerner by education, and took up with the +New England views, and James was in business at Richmond when the war +commenced. So he joined the Southern army. It's a sad thing to know that +one's children died enemies, isn't it? And what troubles me more than +all, sir, is that James was at Ball's Bluff where his brother fell. It +makes me shudder to think, sometimes, that his might have been the ball +that killed him." + +The tremor of the poor creature here was painful to behold. I spoke +soothingly and encouragingly, but with a presentiment that she must be +disappointed. While I was speaking the supper-bell rang, and I proposed +to get her a seat at the table. + +"No, thank you," she replied, "I shall take no meals on the vessel; I +must travel economically, and have prepared some lunch that will serve +me. Good by, sir!" + +Poor mothers looking for dead sons! God help them! I have met them often +since; but the figure of that pale, frail creature flitting about the +open deck,--alone, hungry, very poor,--troubles me still, as I write. I +found, afterward, that she had denied herself a state-room, and intended +to sleep in a saloon chair. I persuaded her to accept my berth, but a +German, who occupied the same apartment, was unwilling to relinquish his +bed, and I had the power only to give her my pillow. + +Supper was spread in the forecabin, and at the signal to assemble the +men rushed to the tables like as many beasts of prey. A captain opposite +me bolted a whole mackerel in a twinkling, and spread the half-pound of +butter that was to serve the entire vicinity upon a single slice of +bread. A sutler beside me reached his fork across my neck, and plucked a +young chicken bodily, which he ate, to the great disgust of some others +who were eyeing it. The waiter advanced with some steak, but before he +reached the table, a couple of Zouaves dragged it from the tray, and +laughed brutally at their success. The motion of the vessel caused a +general unsteadiness, and it was absolutely dangerous to move one's +coffee to his lips. The inveterate hate with which corporations are +regarded in America was here evidenced by a general desire to empty the +ship's larder. + +"Eat all you can," said a soldier, ferociously,--"fare's amazin' high. +Must make it out in grub." + +"I always gorges," said another, "on a railroad or a steamboat. Cause +why? You must eat out your passage, you know!" + +Among the passengers were a young officer and his bride. They had been +married only a few days, and she had obtained permission to accompany +him to Old Point. Very pretty, she seemed, in her travelling hat and +flowing robes; and he wore a handsome new uniform with prodigious +shoulder-bars. There was a piano in the saloon, where another young lady +of the party performed during the evening, and the bride and groom +accompanied her with a song. It was the popular Federal parody of "Gay +and Happy:" + + "Then let the South fling aloft what it will,-- + We are for the Union still! + For the Union! For the Union! + We are for the Union still!" + +The bride and groom sang alternate stanzas, and the concourse of +soldiers, civilians, and females swelled the chorus. The reserve being +thus broken, the young officer sang the "Star-Spangled Banner," and the +refrain must have called up the mermaids. Dancing ensued, and a soldier +volunteered a hornpipe. A young man with an astonishing compass of lungs +repeated something from Shakespeare, and the night passed by gleefully +and reputably. One could hardly realize, in the cheerful eyes and active +figures of the dance, the sad uncertainties of the time. Youth trips +lightest, somehow, on the brink of the grave. + +The hilarities of the evening so influenced the German quartered with +me, that he sang snatches of foreign ballads during most of the night, +and obliged me, at last, to call the steward and insist upon his good +behavior. + +In the gray of the morning I ventured on deck, and, following the +silvery line of beach, made out the shipping at anchor in Hampton Roads. +The _Minnesota_ flag-ship lay across the horizon, and after a time I +remarked the low walls and black derricks of the Rip Raps. The white +tents at Hampton were then revealed, and finally I distinguished +Fortress Monroe, the key of the Chesapeake, bristling with guns, and +floating the Federal flag. As we rounded to off the quay, I studied with +intense interest the scene of so many historic events. Sewall's Point +lay to the south, a stretch of woody beach, around whose western tip +the dreaded _Merrimac_ had so often moved slowly to the encounter. The +spars of the _Congress_ and the _Cumberland_ still floated along the +strand, but, like them, the invulnerable monster had become the prey of +the waves. The guns of the Rip Raps and the terrible broadsides of the +Federal gunboats, had swept the Confederates from Sewall's Point,--their +flag and battery were gone,--and farther seaward, at Willoughby Spit, +some figures upon the beach marked the route of the victorious Federals +to the city of Norfolk. + +The mouth of the James and the York were visible from the deck, and long +lines of shipping stretched from each to the Fortress. The quay itself +was like the pool in the Thames, a mass of spars, smoke-stacks, ensigns +and swelling hills. The low deck and quaint cupola of the famous +_Monitor_ appeared close into shore, and near at hand rose the thick +body of the _Galena_. Long boats and flat boats went hither and thither +across the blue waves: the grim ports of the men of war were open and +the guns frowned darkly from their coverts; the seamen were gathering +for muster on the flagship, and drums beat from the barracks on shore; +the Lincoln gun, a fearful piece of ordnance, rose like the Sphynx from +the Fortress sands, and the sodded parapet, the winding stone walls, the +tops of the brick quarters within the Fort, were some of the features of +a strangely animated scene, that has yet to be perpetuated upon canvas, +and made historic. + +At eight o'clock the passengers were allowed to land, and a provost +guard marched them to the Hygeia House,--of old a watering-place +hotel,--where, by groups, they were ushered into a small room, and the +oath of allegiance administered to them. The young officer who +officiated, repeated the words of the oath, with a broad grin upon his +face, and the passengers were required to assent by word and by gesture. +Among those who took the oath in this way, was a very old sailor, who +had been in the Federal service for the better part of his life, and +whose five sons were now in the army. He called "Amen" very loudly and +fervently, and there was some perceptible disposition on the part of +other ardent patriots, to celebrate the occasion with three cheers. The +quartermaster, stationed at the Fortress gave me a pass to go by steamer +up the York to White House, and as there were three hours to elapse +before departure, I strolled about the place with our agent. In times of +peace, Old Point was simply a stone fortification, and one of the +strongest of its kind in the world. Many years and many millions of +dollars were required to build it, but it was, in general, feebly +garrisoned, and was, altogether, a stupid, tedious locality, except in +the bathing months, when the beauty and fashion of Virginia resorted to +its hotel. A few cottages had grown up around it, tenanted only in "the +season;" and a little way off, on the mainland, stood the pretty village +of Hampton. + +By a strange oversight, the South failed to seize Fortress Monroe at the +beginning of the Rebellion; the Federals soon made it the basis for +their armies and a leading naval station. The battle of Big Bethel was +one of the first occurrences in the vicinity. Then the dwellings of +Hampton were burned and its people exiled. In rapid succession followed +the naval battles in the Roads, the siege and surrender of Yorktown, the +flight of the Confederates up the Peninsula to Richmond, and finally the +battles of Williamsburg, and West Point, and the capture of Norfolk. +These things had already transpired; it was now the month of May; and +the victorious army, following up its vantages, had pursued the +fugitives by land and water to "White House," at the head of navigation +on the Pamunkey river. Thither it was my lot to go, and witness the +turning-point of their fortunes, and their subsequent calamity and +repulse. + +I found Old Point a weary place of resort, even in the busy era of civil +war. The bar at the Hygeia House was beset with thirsty and idle +people, who swore instinctively, and drank raw spirits passionately. The +quantity of shell, ball, ordnance, camp equipage, and war munitions of +every description piled around the fort, was marvellously great. It +seemed to me that Xerxes, the first Napoleon, or the greediest of +conquerors, ancient or modern, would have beheld with amazement the +gigantic preparations at command of the Federal Government. Energy and +enterprise displayed their implements of death on every hand. One was +startled at the prodigal outlay of means, and the reckless summoning of +men. I looked at the starred and striped ensign that flaunted above the +Fort, and thought of Madame Roland's appeal to the statue by the +guillotine. + +The settlers were numbered by regiments here. Their places of business +were mainly structures or "shanties" of rough plank, and most of them +were the owners of sloops, or schooners, for the transportation of +freight from New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, to their depots at +Old Point. Some possessed a dozen wagons, that plied regularly between +these stores and camps. The traffic was not confined to men; for women +and children kept pace with the army, trading in every possible article +of necessity or luxury. For these--disciples of the dime and the +dollar--war had no terrors. They took their muck-rakes, like the man in +Bunyan, and gathered the almighty coppers, from the pestilential camp +and the reeking battle-field. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ON TO RICHMOND. + + +Yorktown lies twenty-one miles northwestward from Old Point, and thither +I turned my face at noon, resolving to delay my journey to "White +House," till next day morning. Crossing an estuary of the bay upon a +narrow causeway, I passed Hampton,--half burned, half desolate,--and at +three o'clock came to "Big Bethel," the scene of the battle of June 11, +1861. A small earthwork marks the site of Magruder's field-pieces, and +hard by the slain were buried. The spot was noteworthy to me, since +Lieutenant Greble, a fellow alumnus, had perished here, and likewise, +Theodore Winthrop, the gifted author of "Cecil Dreeme" and "John Brent." +The latter did not live to know his exaltation. That morning never came +whereon he "woke, and found himself famous." + +The road ran parallel with the deserted defences of the Confederates for +some distance. The country was flat and full of swamps, but marked at +intervals by relics of camps. The farm-houses were untenanted, the +fences laid flat or destroyed, the fields strewn with discarded +clothing, arms, and utensils. By and by, we entered the outer line of +Federal parallels, and wound among lunettes, cremailleres, redoubts, and +rifle-pits. Marks of shell and ball were frequent, in furrows and holes, +where the clay had been upheaved. Every foot of ground, for fifteen +miles henceforward, had been touched by the shovel and the pick. My +companion suggested that as much digging, concentred upon one point, +would have taken the Federals to China. The sappers and miners had made +their stealthy trenches, rod by rod, each morning appearing closer to +their adversaries, and finally, completed their work, at less than a +hundred yards from the Confederate defences. Three minutes would have +sufficed from the final position, to hurl columns upon the opposing +outworks, and sweep them with the bayonet. Ten days only had elapsed +since the evacuation (May 4), and the siege guns still remained in some +of the batteries. McClellan worshipped great ordnance, and some of his +columbiads, that were mounted in the water battery, yawned cavernously +through their embrasures, and might have furnished sleeping +accommodations to the gunners. A few mortars stood in position by the +river side, and there were Parrott, Griffin, and Dahlgren pieces in the +shore batteries. + +However numerous and powerful were the Federal fortifications, they bore +no comparison, in either respect, to those relinquished by the +revolutionists. Miniature mountain ranges they seemed, deeply ditched, +and revetted with sods, fascines, hurdles, gabions or sand bags. Along +the York riverside there were water batteries of surpassing beauty, that +seemed, at a little distance, successions of gentle terraces. Their +pieces were likewise of enormous calibre, and their number almost +incredible. The advanced line of fortifications, sketched from the mouth +of Warwick creek, on the South, to a point fifteen miles distant on the +York: one hundred and forty guns were planted along this chain of +defences; but there were two other concentric lines, mounting, each, one +hundred and twenty, and two hundred and forty guns. The remote series +consisted of six forts of massive size and height, fronted by swamps and +flooded meadows, with frequent creeks and ravines interposing; sharp +_fraise_ and _abattis_ planted against scarp and slope, pointed cruelly +eastward. There were two water batteries, of six and four thirty-two +columbiads respectively, and the town itself, which stands upon a red +clay bluff, was encircled by a series of immense rifled and smooth-bore +pieces, including a powerful pivot-gun, that one of McClellan's shells +struck during the first day's bombardment, and split it into fragments. +At Gloucester Point, across the York river, the great guns of the +_Merrimac_ were planted, it is said, and a fleet of fire-rafts and +torpedo-ships were moored in the stream. By all accounts, there could +have been no less than five hundred guns behind the Confederate +entrenchments, the greater portion, of course, field-pieces, and, as the +defending army was composed of one hundred thousand men, we must add +that number of small arms to the list of ordnance. If we compute the +Federals at so high a figure,--and they could scarcely have had less +than a hundred thousand men afield,--we must increase the enormous +amount of their field, siege, and small ordnance, by the naval guns of +the fleet, that stood anchored in the bay. It is probable that a +thousand cannon and two hundred thousand muskets were assembled in and +around Yorktown during this memorable siege. The mind shudders to see +the terrible deductions of these statistics. The monster, who wished +that the world had but one neck, that he might sever it, would have +gloated at such realization! How many days or hours would have here +sufficed to annihilate all the races of men? Happily, the world was +spared the spectacle of these deadly mouths at once aflame. Beautiful +but awful must have been the scene, and the earth must have staggered +with the shock. One might almost have imagined that man, in his +ambition, had shut his God in heaven, and besieged him there. + +While the fortifications defending it amazed me, the village of Yorktown +disappointed me. I marvelled that so paltry a settlement should have +been twice made historic. Here, in the year 1783, Lord Cornwallis +surrendered his starving command to the American colonists and their +French allies. But the entrenchments of that earlier day had been +almost obliterated by these recent labors. The field, where the Earl +delivered up his sword, was trodden bare, and dotted with ditches and +ramparts; while a small monument, that marked the event, had been hacked +to fragments by the Southerners, and carried away piecemeal. Yet, +strange to say, relics of the first bombardment had just been +discovered, and, among them, a gold-hilted sword. + +I visited, in the evening, the late quarters of General Hill, a small +white house with green shutters, and also the famous "Nelson House," a +roomy mansion where, of old, Cornwallis slept, and where, a few days +past, Jefferson Davis and General Lee had held with Magruder, and his +associates, a council of war. It had been also used for hospital +purposes, but some negroes were now the only occupants. + +The Confederates left behind them seventy spiked and shattered cannon, +some powder, and a few splintered wagons; but in all material respects, +their evacuation was thorough and creditable. Some deserters took the +first tidings of the retreat to the astonished Federals, and they raised +the national flag within the fortifications, in the gray of the morning +of the 4th of May. Many negroes also escaped the vigilance of their +taskmasters, and remained to welcome the victors. The fine works of +Yorktown are monuments to negro labor, for _they_ were the hewers and +the diggers. Every slave-owner in Eastern Virginia was obliged to send +one half of his male servants between the ages of sixteen and fifty to +the Confederate camps, and they were organized into gangs and set to +work. In some cases they were put to military service and made excellent +sharpshooters. The last gun discharged from the town was said to have +been fired by a negro. + +I slept on board a barge at the wharf that evening, and my dreams ran +upon a thousand themes. To every American this was hallowed ground. It +had been celebrated by the pencil of Trumbull, the pen of Franklin, and +the eloquence of Jefferson. Scarce eighty years had elapsed since those +great minds established a fraternal government; but the site of their +crowning glory was now the scene of their children's shame. Discord had +stolen upon their councils and blood had profaned their shrine. + +I visited next day a bomb-proof postern, or subterranean passage, +connecting the citadel with the outworks, and loitered about the +fortifications till noon, when I took passage on the mail steamer, which +left the Fortress at eleven o'clock, and reached White House at dusk the +same evening. The whole river as I ascended was filled with merchant and +naval craft. They made a continuous line from Old Point to the mouth of +York River, and the masts and spars environing Yorktown and Gloucester, +reminded one of a scene on the Mersey or the Clyde. At West Point, there +was an array of shipping scarcely less formidable, and the windings of +the interminably crooked Pamunkey were marked for leagues by sails, +smoke-stacks, and masts. The landings and wharves were besieged by +flat-boats and sloops, and Zouaves were hoisting forage and commissary +stores up the red bluffs at every turn of our vessel. + +The Pamunkey was a beautiful stream, densely wooded, and occasional +vistas opened up along its borders of wheat-fields and meadows, with +Virginia farm-houses and negro quarters on the hilltops. Some of the +houses on the river banks appeared to be tenanted by white people, but +the majority had a haunted, desolate appearance, the only signs of life +being strolling soldiers, who thrust their legs through the second story +windows, or contemplated the river from the chimney-tops, and groups of +negroes who sunned themselves on the piazza, or rushed to the margin to +gaze and grin at the passing steamers. There were occasional residences +not unworthy of old manorial and baronial times, and these were attended +at a little distance by negro quarters of logs, arranged in rows, and +provided with mud chimneys built against their gables. Few of the +Northern navigable rivers were so picturesque and varied. + +We passed two Confederate gunboats, that had been half completed, and +burned on the stocks. Their charred elbows and ribs, stared out, like +the remains of some extinct monsters; a little delay might have found +each of them armed and manned, and carrying havoc upon the rivers and +the seas. West Point was simply a tongue, or spit of land, dividing the +Mattapony from the Pamunkey river at their junction; a few houses were +built upon the shallow, and some wharves, half demolished, marked the +terminus of the York and Richmond railroad. A paltry water-battery was +the sole defence. Below Cumberland (a collection of huts and a wharf), a +number of schooners had been sunk across the river, and, with the aid of +an island in the middle, these constituted a rather rigid blockade. The +steamboat passed through, steering carefully, but some sailing vessels +that followed required to be towed between the narrow apertures. The +tops only of the sunken masts could be discerned above the surface, and +much time and labor must have been required to place the boats in line +and sink them. Vessels were counted by scores above and below this +blockade, and at Cumberland the masts were like a forest; clusters of +pontoons were here anchored in the river, and a short distance below we +found three of the light-draught Federal gunboats moored in the stream. +It was growing dark as we rounded to at "White House;" the camp fires of +the grand army lit up the sky, and edged the tree-boughs on the margin +with ribands of silver. Some drums beat in the distance; sentries paced +the strand; the hum of men, and the lowing of commissary cattle, were +borne towards us confusedly; soldiers were bathing in the river; +team-horses were drinking at the brink; a throng of motley people were +crowding about the landing to receive the papers and mails. I had at +last arrived at the seat of war, and my ambition to chronicle battles +and bloodshed was about to be gratified. + +At first, I was troubled to make my way; the tents had just been +pitched; none knew the location of divisions other than their own, and +it was now so dark that I did not care to venture far. After a vain +attempt to find some flat-boats where there were lodgings and meals to +be had, I struck out for general head-quarters, and, undergoing repeated +snubbings from pert members of staff, fell in at length, with a very +tall, spare, and angular young officer, who spoke broken English, and +who heard my inquiries, courteously; he stepped into General Marcy's +tent, but the Chief of Staff did not know the direction of Smith's +division; he then repaired to Gen. Van Vleet, the chief Quartermaster, +but with ill success. A party of officers were smoking under a "fly," +and some of these called to him, thus-- + +"Captain! Duke! De Chartres! What do you wish?" + +It was, then, the Orleans Prince who had befriended me, and I had the +good fortune to hear that the division, of which I was in search, lay a +half mile up the river. I never spoke to the Bourbon afterward, but saw +him often; and that he was as chivalrous as he was kind, all testimony +proved. + +A private escorted me to a Captain Mott's tent, and this officer +introduced me to General Hancock. I was at once invited to mess with the +General's staff, and in the course of an hour felt perfectly at home. +Hancock was one of the handsomest officers in the army; he had served in +the Mexican war, and was subsequently a Captain in the Quartermaster's +department. But the Rebellion placed stars in many shoulder-bars, and +few were more worthily designated than this young Pennsylvanian. His +first laurels were gained at Williamsburg; but the story of a celebrated +charge that won him the day's applause, and McClellan's encomium of the +"Superb Hancock," was altogether fictitious. The musket, not the +bayonet, gave him the victory. I may doubt, in this place, that any +extensive bayonet charge has been known during the war. Some have gone +so far as to deny that the bayonet has ever been used at all. + +Hancock's regiments were the 5th Wisconsin, 49th Pennsylvanian, 43d New +York, and 6th Maine. They represented widely different characteristics, +and I esteemed myself fortunate to obtain a position where I could so +eligibly study men, habits, and warfare. During the evening I fell in +with the Colonel of each of these regiments, and from the conversation +that ensued, I gleaned a fair idea of them all. + +The Wisconsin regiment was from a new and ambitious State of the +Northwest. The men were rough-mannered, great-hearted farmers, +wood-choppers, and tradesmen. They had all the impulsiveness of the +Yankee, with less selfishness, and quite as much bravery. The Colonel +was named Cobb, and he had held some leading offices in Wisconsin. A +part of his life had been adventurously spent, and he had participated +in the Mexican war. He was an ardent Republican in politics, and had +been Speaker of a branch of the State Legislature. He was an attorney in +a small county town when the war commenced, and his name had been +broached for the Governorship. In person he was small, lithe, and +capable of enduring great fatigue. His hair was a little gray, and he +had no beard. He did not respect appearances, and his sword, as I saw, +was antique and quite different in shape from the regulation weapon. He +had penetrating gray eyes, and his manners were generally reserved. One +had not to regard him twice to see that he was both cautious and +resolute. He was too ambitious to be frank, and too passionate not to be +brave. In the formula of learning he was not always correct; but few +were of quicker perception or more practical and philosophic. He might +not, in an emergency, be nicely scrupulous as to means, but he never +wavered in respect to objects. His will was the written law to his +regiment, and I believed his executive abilities superior to those of +any officer in the brigade, not excepting the General's. + +The New York regiment was commanded by a young officer named Vinton. He +was not more than thirty-five years of age, and was a graduate of the +United States Military Academy. Passionately devoted to engineering, he +withdrew from the army, and passed five years in Paris, at the study of +his art. Returning homeward by way of the West Indies, he visited +Honduras, and projected a filibustering expedition to its shores from +the States. While perfecting the design, the Rebellion commenced, and +his old patron, General Scott, secured him the colonelcy of a volunteer +regiment. He still cherished his scheme of "Colonization," and half of +his men were promised to accompany him. Personally, Colonel Vinton was +straight, dark, and handsome. He was courteous, affable, and brave,--but +wedded to his peculiar views, and, as I thought, a thorough "Young +American." + +The Maine regiment was fathered by Colonel Burnham, a staunch old yeoman +and soldier, who has since been made a General. His probity and +good-nature were adjuncts of his valor, and his men were of the better +class of New Englanders. The fourth regiment fell into the hands of a +lawyer from Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He had been also in the Mexican +war, and was remarkable mainly for strictness with regard to the +sanitary regulations of his camps. He had wells dug at every stoppage, +and his tents were generally fenced and canopied with cedar arbors. +General Hancock's staff was composed of a number of young men, most of +whom had been called from civil life. His brigade constituted one of +three commanded by General Smith. Four batteries were annexed to the +division so formed; the entire number of muskets was perhaps eight +thousand. The Chief of Artillery was a Captain Ayres, whose battery +saved the three months' army at Bull Run. It so happened that he came +into the General's during the evening, and recited the particulars of a +gunboat excursion, thirty miles up the Pamunkey, wherein he had landed +his men, and burned a quantity of grain, some warehouses, and shipping. +I pencilled the facts at once, made up my letter, and mailed it early in +the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RUSTICS IN REBELLION. + + +At White House, I met some of the mixed Indians and negroes from +Indiantown Island, which lies among the osiers in the stream. One of +these ferried me over, and the people received me obsequiously, touching +their straw hats, and saying, "Sar, at your service!" They were all +anxious to hear something of the war, and asked, solicitously, if they +were to be protected. Some of them had been to Richmond the previous +day, and gave me some unimportant items happening in the city. I found +that they had Richmond papers of that date, and purchased them for a few +cents. They knew little or nothing of their own history, and had +preserved no traditions of their tribe. There was, however, I +understood, a very old woman extant, named "Mag," of great repute at +medicines, pow-wows, and divination. I expressed a desire to speak with +her, and was conducted to a log-house, more ricketty and ruined than any +of the others. About fifty half-breeds followed me in respectful +curiosity, and they formed a semicircle around the cabin. The old woman +sat in the threshold, barefooted, and smoking a stump of clay pipe. + +"Yaw's one o' dem Nawden soldiers, Aunt Mag!" said my conductor. "He +wants to talk wid ye." + +"Sot down, honey," said the old woman, producing a wooden stool; "is you +a Yankee, honey? Does you want you fauchun told by de ole 'oman?" + +I perceived that the daughter of the Delawares smelt strongly of +fire-water, and the fumes of her calumet were most unwholesome. She was +greatly disappointed that I did not require her prophetic services, and +said, appealingly-- + +"Why, sar, all de gen'elmen an' ladies from Richmond has dere fauchuns +told. I tells 'em true. All my fauchuns comes out true. Ain't dat so, +chillen?" + +A low murmur of assent ran round the group, and I was obviously losing +caste in the settlement. + +"Here is a dime," said I, "that I will give you, to tell me the result +of the war. Shall the North be victorious in the next battle? Will +Richmond surrender within a week? Shall I take my cigar at the Spotswood +on Sunday fortnight?" + +"I'se been a lookin' into dat," she said, cunningly; "I'se had dreams on +dat ar'. Le'um see how de armies stand!" + +She brought from the house a cup of painted earthenware containing +sediments of coffee. I saw her crafty white eyes look up to mine as she +muttered some jargon, and pretended to read the arrangement of the +grains. + +"Honey," she said, "gi' me de money, and let de ole 'oman dream on it +once mo'! It ain't quite clar' yit, young massar. Tank you, honey! Tank +you! Let de old 'oman dream! Let de ole 'oman dream!" + +She disappeared into the house, chuckling and chattering, and the sons +of the forest, loitering awhile, dispersed in various directions. As I +followed my conductor to the riverside, and he parted the close bushes +and boughs to give us exit, the glare of the camp-fires broke all at +once upon us. The ship-lights quivered on the water; the figures of men +moved to and fro before the fagots; the stars peeped timorously from the +vault; the woods and steep banks were blackly shadowed in the river. +Here was I, among the aborigines; and as my dusky acquaintance sent his +canoe skimming across the ripples, I thought how inexplicable were the +decrees of Time and the justice of God. Two races united in these +people, and both of them we had wronged. From the one we had taken +lands; from the other liberties. Two centuries had now elapsed. But the +little remnant of the African and the American were to look from their +Island Home upon the clash of our armies and the murder of our braves. + +By the 19th of May the skirts of the grand army had been gathered up, +and on the 20th the march to Richmond was resumed. The troops moved +along two main roads, of which the right led to New Mechanicsville and +Meadow Bridges, and the left to the railroad and Bottom Bridges. My +division formed the right centre, and although the Chickahominy fords +were but eighteen miles distant, we did not reach them for three days. +On the first night we encamped at Tunstalls, a railroad-station on Black +Creek; on the second at New Cold Harbor, a little country tavern, kept +by a cripple; and on the night of the third day at Hogan's farm, on the +north hills of the Chickahominy. The railroad was opened to Despatch +Station at the same time, but the right and centre were still compelled +to "team" their supplies from White House. In the new position, the army +extended ten miles along the Chickahominy hills; and while the engineers +were driving pile, tressel, pontoon, and corduroy bridges, the cavalry +was scouring the country, on both flanks, far and wide. + +The advance was full of incident, and I learned to keep as far in front +as possible, that I might communicate with scouts, contrabands, and +citizens. Many odd personages were revealed to me at the farm-houses on +the way, and I studied, with curious interest, the native Virginian +character. They appeared to be compounds of the cavalier and the boor. +There was no old gentleman who owned a thousand barren acres, spotted +with scrub timber; who lived in a weather-beaten barn, with a +multiplicity of porch and a quantity of chimney; whose means bore no +proportion to his pride, and neither to his indolence,--that did not +talk of his ancestry, proffer his hospitality, and defy me to an +argument. I was a civilian,--they had no hostility to me,--but the +blue-coats of the soldiers seared their eyeballs. In some cases their +daughters remained upon the property; but the sons and the negroes +always fled,--though in contrary directions. The old men used to peep +through the windows at the passing columns; and as their gates were +wrenched from the hinges, their rails used to pry wagons out of the mud, +their pump-handles shaken till the buckets splintered in the shaft, and +their barns invaded by greasy agrarians, they walked to and fro, +half-weakly, half-wrathfully, but with a pluck, fortitude, and devotion +that wrung my respect. Some aged negro women commonly remained, but +these were rather incumbrances than aids, and they used the family meal +to cook bread for the troops. An old, toothless, grinning African stood +at every lane and gate, selling buttermilk and corn-cakes. Poor mortal, +sinful old women! They had worked for nothing through their three-score +and ten, but avarice glared from their shrivelled pupils, and their last +but greatest delight lay in the coppers and the dimes. One would have +thought that they had outlived the greed of gold; but wages deferred +make the dying miserly. + +The lords of the manors were troubled to know the number of our troops. +For several days the columns passed with their interminable teams, +batteries, and adjuncts, and the old gentlemen were loth to compute us +at less than several millions. + +"Why, look yonder," said one, pointing to a brigade; "I declar' to +gracious, there ain't no less than ten thousand in _them_!" + +"Tousands an' tousands!" said a wondering negro at his elbow. "I wonda +if dey'll take Richmond dis yer day?" + +Many of them hung white flags at their gate-posts, implying neutrality; +but nobody displayed the Federal colors. If there were any covert +sympathizers with the purposes of the army, they remembered the +vengeance of the neighbors and made no demonstrations. There was a +prodigious number of stragglers from the Federal lines, as these were +the bane of the country people. They sauntered along by twos and threes, +rambling into all the fields and green-apple orchards, intruding their +noses into old cabins, prying into smoke-houses, and cellars, looking at +the stock in the stables, and peeping on tiptoe into the windows of +dwellings. These stragglers were true exponents of Yankee +character,--always wanting to know,--averse to discipline, eccentric in +their orbits, entertaining profound contempt for everything that was not +up to the measure of "to hum." + +"Look here, Bill, I say!" said one, with a great grin on his face; "did +you ever, neow! I swan! they call that a plough down in these parts." + +"Devilishest people I ever see!" said Bill, "stick their meetin'-houses +square in the woods! Build their chimneys first and move the houses up +to 'em! All the houses breakin' out in perspiration of porch! All their +machinery with Noah in the ark! Pump the soil dry! Go to sleep a milkin' +a keow! Depend entirely on Providence and the nigger!" + +There was a mill on the New Bridge road, ten miles from White House, +with a tidy farm-house, stacks, and cabins adjoining. The road crossed +the mill-race by a log bridge, and a spreading pond or dam lay to the +left,--the water black as ink, the shore sandy, and the stream +disappearing in a grove of straight pines. A youngish woman, with +several small children, occupied the dwelling, and there remained, +besides, her fat sister-in-law and four or five faithful negroes. I +begged the favor of a meal and bed in the place one night, and shall not +forget the hospitable table with its steaming biscuit; the chubby baby, +perched upon his high stool; the talkative elderly woman, who took +snuff at the fireplace; the contented black-girl, who played the Hebe; +and above all, the trim, plump, pretty hostess, with her brown eyes and +hair, her dignity and her fondness, sitting at the head of the board. +When she poured the bright coffee into the capacious bowl, she revealed +the neatest of hands and arms, and her dialect was softer and more +musical than that of most Southerners. In short, I fell almost in love +with her; though she might have been a younger playmate of my mother's, +and though she was the wife of a Quartermaster in a Virginia regiment. +For, somehow, a woman seems very handsome when one is afield; and the +contact of rough soldiers, gives him a partiality for females. It must +have required some courage to remain upon the farm; but she hoped +thereby to save the property from spoliation. I played a game of whist +with the sister-in-law, arguing all the while; and at nine o'clock the +servant produced some hard cider, shellbarks, and apples. We drank a +cheery toast: "an early peace and old fellowship!"--to which the wife +added a sentiment of "always welcome," and the baby laughed at her knee. +How brightly glowed the fire! I wanted to linger for a week, a month, a +year,--as I do now, thinking it all over,--and when I strolled to the +porch,--hearing the pigeons cooing at the barn; the water streaming down +the dam; the melancholy monotony of the pine boughs;--there only lacked +the humming mill-wheel, and the strong grip of the miller's hand, to +fill the void corner of one's happy heart. + +But this was a time of war, when dreams are rudely broken, and mine +could not last. The next day some great wheels beat down the bridge, and +the teams clogged the road for miles; the waiting teamsters saw the +miller's sheep, and the geese, chickens, and pigs, rashly exposed +themselves in the barnyard; these were killed and eaten, the mill +stripped of flour and meal, and the garden despoiled of its vegetables. +A quartermaster's horse foundered, and he demanded the miller's, giving +therefor a receipt, but specifying upon the same the owner's relation to +the Rebellion; and, to crown all, a group of stragglers, butchered the +cows, and heaped the beef in their wagons to feed their regimental +friends. When I presented myself, late in the afternoon, the yard and +porches were filled with soldiers; the wife sat within, her head thrown +upon the window, her bright hair unbound, and her eyes red with weeping. +The baby had cried itself to sleep, the sister-in-law took snuff +fiercely, at the fire; the black girl cowered in a corner. + +"There is not bread in the house for my children," she said; "but I did +not think they could make me shed a tear." + +If there were Spartan women, as the story-books say, I wonder if their +blood died with them! I hardly think so. + +If I learned anything from my quiet study of this and subsequent +campaigns, it was the heartlessness of war. War brutalizes! The most +pitiful become pitiless afield, and those who are not callous, must do +cruel duties. If the quartermaster had not seized the horses, he would +have been accountable for his conduct; had he failed to state the +miller's disloyalty in the receipt, he would have been punished. The men +were thieves and brutes, to take the meal and meat; but they were +perhaps hungry and weary, and sick of camp food; on the whole, I became +a devotee of the George Fox faith, and hated warfare, though I knew +nothing to substitute for it, in _crises_. + +Besides, the optimist might have seen much to admire. Individual merits +were developed around me; I saw shop-keepers and mechanics in the ranks, +and they looked to be better men. Here were triumphs of engineering; +there perfections of applied ingenuity. I saw how the weakest natures +girt themselves for great resolves, and how fortitude outstripped +itself. It is a noble thing to put by the fear of death. It was a grand +spectacle, this civil soldiery of both sections, supporting their +principles, ambitions, or whatever instigated them, with their bodies; +and their bones, lie where they will, must be severed, when the +plough-share some day heaves them to the ploughman. + +One morning a friend asked me to go upon a scout. + +"Where are your companies?" said I. + +"There are four behind, and we shall be joined by six at Old Cold +Harbor." + +I saw, in the rear, filing through a belt of woods, the tall figures of +the horsemen, approaching at a canter. + +"Do you command?" said I again. + +"No! the Major has charge of the scout, and his orders are secret." + +I wheeled beside him, as the cavalry closed up, waved my hand to +Plumley, and the girls, and went forward to the rendezvous, about six +miles distant. The remaining companies of the regiment were here drawn +up, watering their nags. The Major was a thick, sunburnt man, with +grizzled beard, and as he saw us rounding a corner of hilly road, his +voice rang out-- + +"Attention! Prepare to mount!" + +Every rider sprang to his nag; every nag walked instinctively to his +place; every horseman made fast his girths, strapped his blankets +tightly, and lay his hands upon bridle-rein and pommel. + +"Attention! Mount!" + +The riders sprang to their seats; the bugles blew a lively strain; the +horses pricked up their ears; and the long array moved briskly forward, +with the Captain, the Major, and myself at the head. We were joined in a +moment by two pieces of flying artillery, and five fresh companies of +cavalry. In a moment more we were underway again, galloping due +northward, and, as I surmised, toward Hanover Court House. If any branch +of the military service is feverish, adventurous, and exciting, it is +that of the cavalry. One's heart beats as fast as the hoof-falls; there +is no music like the winding of the bugle, and no monotone so full of +meaning as the clink of sabres rising and falling with the dashing pace. +Horse and rider become one,--a new race of Centaurs,--and the charge, +the stroke, the crack of carbines, are so quick, vehement, and dramatic, +that we seem to be watching the joust of tournaments or following fierce +Saladins and Crusaders again. We had ridden two hours at a fair canter, +when we came to a small stream that crossed the road obliquely, and +gurgled away through a sandy valley into the deepnesses of the woods. A +cart-track, half obliterated, here diverged, running parallel with the +creek, and the Major held up his sword as a signal to halt; at the same +moment the bugle blew a quick, shrill note. + +"There are hoof-marks here!" grunted the Major,--"five of 'em. +The Dutchman has gone into the thicket. Hulloo!" he added, +precipitately--"there go the carbines!" + +I heard, clearly, two explosions in rapid succession; then a general +discharge, as of several persons firing at once, and at last, five +continuous reports, fainter, but more regular, and like the several +emptyings of a revolver. I had scarcely time to note these things, and +the effect produced upon the troop, when strange noises came from the +woods to the right: the floundering of steeds, the cries and curses of +men, and the ringing of steel striking steel. Directly the boughs +crackled, the leaves quivered, and a horse and rider plunged into the +road, not five rods from my feet. The man was bareheaded, and his face +and clothing were torn with briars and branches. He was at first riding +fairly upon our troops, when he beheld the uniform and standards, and +with a sharp oath flung up his sword and hands. + +"I surrender!" he said; "I give in! Don't shoot!" + +The scores of carbines that were levelled upon him at once dropped to +their rests at the saddles; but some unseen avenger had not heeded the +shriek; a ball whistled from the woods, and the man fell from his +cushion like a stone. In another instant, the German sergeant bounded +through the gap, holding his sabre aloft in his right hand; but the left +hung stiff and shattered at his side, and his face was deathly white. He +glared an instant at the dead man by the roadside, leered grimly, and +called aloud-- + +"Come on, Major! Dis vay! Dere are a squad of dem ahead!" + +The bugle at once sounded a charge, the Major rose in the stirrups, and +thundered "Forward!" I reined aside, intuitively, and the column dashed +hotly past me. With a glance at the heap of mortality littering the way, +I spurred my nag sharply, and followed hard behind. The riderless horse +seemed to catch the fever of the moment, and closed up with me, leaving +his master the solitary tenant of the dell. For perhaps three miles we +galloped like the wind, and my brave little traveller overtook the +hindmost of the troop, and retained the position. Thrice there were +discharges ahead; I caught glimpses of the Major, the Captain, and the +wolfish sergeant, far in the advance; and once saw, through the cloud of +dust that beset them, the pursued and their individual pursuers, turning +the top of a hill. But for the most part, I saw nothing; I _felt_ all +the intense, consuming, burning ardor of the time and the event. I +thought that my hand clutched a sabre, and despised myself that it was +not there. I stood in the stirrups, and held some invisible enemy by the +throat. In a word, the bloodiness of the chase was upon me. I realized +the fierce infatuation of matching life with life, and standing arbiter +upon my fellow's body and soul. It seemed but a moment, when we halted, +red and panting, in the paltry Court House village of Hanover; the +field-pieces hurled a few shells at the escaping Confederates, and the +men were ordered to dismount. + +It seemed that a Confederate picket had been occupying the village, and +the creek memorized by the skirmish was an outpost merely. Two of the +man Otto's party had been slain in the woods, where also lay as many +Southerners. + +Hanover Court House is renowned as the birthplace of Patrick Henry, the +colonial orator, called by Byron the "forest Demosthenes." In a little +tavern, opposite the old Court House building, he began his humble +career as a measurer of gills to convivials, and in the Court House,--a +small stone edifice, plainly but quaintly constructed,--he gave the +first exhibitions of his matchless eloquence. Not far away, on a +by-road, the more modern but not less famous orator, Henry Clay, was +born. The region adjacent to his father's was called the "Slashes of +Hanover," and thence came his appellation of the "Mill Boy of the +Slashes." I had often longed to visit these shrines; but never dreamed +that the booming of cannon would announce me. The soldiers broke into +both the tavern and court-house, and splintered some chairs in the +former to obtain relics of Henry. I secured Richmond newspapers of the +same morning, and also some items of intelligence. With these I decided +to repair at once to White House, and formed the rash determination of +taking the direct or Pamunkey road, which I had never travelled, and +which might be beset by Confederates. The distance to White House, by +this course, was only twenty miles; whereas it was nearly as far to +head-quarters; and I believed that my horse had still the persistence to +carry me. It was past four o'clock; but I thought to ride six miles an +hour while daylight lasted, and, by good luck, get to the depot at nine. +The Major said that it was foolhardiness; the Captain bantered me to go. +I turned my back upon both, and bade them good by. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PUT UNDER ARREST. + + +While daylight remained, I had little reason to repent my wayward +resolve. The Pamunkey lay to my left, and the residences between it and +the road were of a better order than others that I had seen. This part +of the country had not been overrun, and the wheat and young corn were +waving in the river-breeze. I saw few negroes, but the porches were +frequently occupied by women and white men, who looked wonderingly +toward me. There were some hoof-marks in the clay, and traces of a broad +tire that I thought belonged to a gun-carriage. The hills of King +William County were but a little way off, and through the wood that +darkened them, sunny glimpses of vari-colored fields and dwellings now +and then appeared. I came to a shabby settlement called New Castle, at +six o'clock, where an evil-looking man walked out from a frame-house, +and inquired the meaning of the firing at Hanover. + +I explained hurriedly, as some of his neighbors meantime gathered around +me. They asked if I was not a soldier in the Yankee army, and as I rode +away, followed me suspiciously with their eyes and wagged their heads. +To end the matter I spurred my pony and soon galloped out of sight. +Henceforward I met only stern, surprised glances, and seemed to read +"murder" in the faces of the inhabitants. A wide creek crossed the road +about five miles further on, where I stopped to water my horse. The +shades of night were gathering now; there was no moon; and for the +first time I realized the loneliness of my position. Hitherto, adventure +had laughed down fear; hereafter my mind was to be darkened like the +gloaming, and peopled with ghastly shadows. + +I was yet young in the experience of death, and the toppled corpse of +the slain cavalry-man on the scout, somehow haunted me. I heard his +hoof-falls chiming with my own, and imagined, with a cold thrill, that +his steed was still following me; then, his white rigid face and +uplifted arms menaced my way; and, at last, the ruffianly form of his +slayer pursued him along the wood. They glided like shadows over the +foliage, and flashed across the surfaces of pools and rivulets. I heard +their steel ringing in the underbrush, and they flitted around me, +pursuing and retreating, till my brain began to whirl with the motion. +Suddenly my horse stumbled, and I reined him to a halt. + +The cold drops were standing on my forehead. I found my knees a-quiver +and my breathing convulsive. With an expletive upon my unmanliness, I +touched the nag with my heel, and whistled encouragingly. Poor pony! +Fifty miles of almost uninterrupted travel had broken his spirit. He +leaped into his accustomed pace: but his legs were unsteady and he +floundered at every bound. There were pools, ruts, and boughs across the +way, with here and there stretches of slippery corduroy; but the thick +blackness concealed these, and I expected momentarily to be thrown from +the saddle. By and by he dropped from a canter into a rock; from a rock +to an amble; then into a walk, and finally to a slow painful limp. I +dismounted and took him perplexedly by the bit. A light shone from the +window of a dwelling across some open fields to the left, and I thought +of repairing thither; but some deep-mouthed dogs began to bay directly, +and then the lamp went out. A tiny stream sang at the roadside, flowing +toward some deeper tributary; lighting a cigar, I made out, by its +fitful illuminings, to wash the limbs of the jaded nag. Then I led him +for an hour, till my own limbs were weary, troubled all the time by +weird imaginings, doubts, and regrets. When I resumed the saddle the +horse had a firmer step and walked pleasantly. I ventured after a time +to incite him to a trot, and was going nicely forward, when a deep +voice, that almost took my breath, called from the gloom-- + +"Who comes there? Halt, or I fire! Guard, turn out!" + +Directly the road was full of men, and a bull's-eye lantern flashed upon +my face. A group of foot-soldiery, with drawn pistols and sabres, +gathered around me, and I heard the neigh of steeds from some +imperceptible vicinity. "Who is it, Sergeant?" said one. "Is there but +one of 'em?" said another. "Cuss him!" said a third; "I was takin' a +bully snooze." "Who are yeou?" said the Sergeant, sternly; "what are +yeou deouin' aout at this hour o' the night? Are yeou a rebbil?" + +"No!" I answered, greatly relieved; "I am a newspaper correspondent of +Smith's division, and there's my pass!" + +I was taken over to a place in the woods, where some fagots were +smouldering, and, stirring them to a blaze, the Sergeant read the +document and pronounced it right. + +"Yeou hain't got no business, nevertheless, to be roamin' araound +outside o' picket; but seein' as it's yeou, I reckon yeou may trot +along!" + +I offered to exchange my information for a biscuit and a drop of coffee, +for I was wellnigh worn out; while one of the privates produced a +canteen more wholesome than cleanly, another gave me a lump of fat pork +and a piece of corn bread. They gathered sleepily about me, while I told +of the scout, and the Sergeant said that my individual ride was "game +enough, but nothin' but darn nonsense." Then they fed my horse with a +trifle of oats, and after awhile I climbed, stiff and bruised, to the +saddle again, and bade them good night. + +I knew now that I was at "Putney's," a ford on the Pamunkey, and an hour +later I came in sight of the ship-lights at White House, and heard the +steaming of tugs and draught-boats, going and coming by night. I hitched +my horse to a tree, pilfered some hay and fodder from two or three nags +tied adjacent, and picked my way across a gangway, several barge-decks, +and a floating landing, to the mail steamer that lay outside. Her deck +and cabin were filled with people, stretched lengthwise and crosswise, +tangled, grouped, and snoring, but all apparently fast asleep. I coolly +took a blanket from a man that looked as though he did not need it, and +wrapped myself cosily under a bench in a corner. The cabin light flared +dimly, half irradiating the forms below, and the boat heaved a little on +the river-swells. The night was cold, the floor hard, and I almost dead +with fatigue. But what of that! I felt the newspapers in my breast +pocket, and knew that the mail could not leave me in the morning. +Blessed be the news-gatherer's sleep! I think he earned it. + +It was very pleasant, at dawn, to receive the congratulations of our +agent, with whom I breakfasted, and to whom I consigned a hastily +written letter and all the Richmond papers of the preceding day. He was +a shrewd, sanguine, middle-aged man, of large experience and good +standing in our establishment. He was sent through the South at the +beginning of the Rebellion, and introduced into all public bodies and +social circles, that he might fathom the designs of Secession, and +comprehend its spirit. Afterward he accompanied the Hatteras and Port +Royal expeditions, and witnessed those celebrated bombardments. Such a +thorough individual abnegation I never knew. He was a part of the +establishment, body and soul. He agreed with its politics, adhered to +all its policies, defended it, upheld it, revered it. The Federal +Government was, to his eye, merely an adjunct of the paper. Battles and +sieges were simply occurrences for its columns. Good men, brave men, bad +men, died to give it obituaries. The whole world was to him a Reporter's +district, and all human mutations plain matters of news. I hardly think +that any city, other than New York, contains such characters. The +journals there are full of fever, and the profession of journalism is a +disease. + +He cashed me a draft for a hundred dollars, and I filled my saddle-bags +with smoking-tobacco, spirits, a meerschaum pipe, packages of sardines, +a box of cigars, and some cheap publications. Then we adjourned to the +quay, where the steamer was taking in mails, freight and passengers. The +papers were in his side-pocket, and he was about to commit them to a +steward for transmission to Fortress Monroe, when my name was called +from the strand by a young mounted officer, connected with one of the +staffs of my division. I thought that he wished to exchange salutations +or make some inquiries, and tripped to his side. + +"General McClellan wants those newspapers that you obtained at Hanover +yesterday!" + +A thunderbolt would not have more transfixed me. I could not speak for a +moment. Finally, I stammered that they were out of my possession. + +"Then, sir, I arrest you, by order of General McClellan. Get your +horse!" + +"Stop!" said I, agitatedly, "--it may not be too late. I can recover +them yet. Here is our agent,--I gave them to him." + +I turned, at the word, to the landing where he stood a moment before. To +my dismay, he had disappeared. + +"This is some frivolous pretext to escape," said the Lieutenant; "you +correspondents are slippery fellows, but I shall take care that you do +not play any pranks with me. The General is irritated already, and if +you prevaricate relative to those papers he may make a signal example of +you." + +I begged to be allowed to look for----; but he answered cunningly, that +I had better mount and ride on. An acquaintance of mine here interfered, +and testified to the existency of the agent and his probable connection +with the journals. Pale, flurried, excited, I started to discover him, +the Lieutenant following me closely meantime. We entered every booth and +tent, went from craft to craft, sought among the thick clusters of +people, and even at the Commissary's and Quartermaster's pounds, that +lay some distance up the railroad. + +"I am sorry for you, old fellow," said the Lieutenant, "but your +accomplice has probably escaped. It's very sneaking of him, as it makes +it harder for you; but I have no authority to deal with him, though I +shall take care to report his conduct at head-quarters." + +I found that the Lieutenant was greatly gratified with the duty +entrusted to him. He had been at the cavalry quarters on the return of +the scouting party, and had overheard the Major muttering something as +to McClellan's displeasure at receiving no Richmond journals. The Major +had added that one of the correspondents took them to White House, and, +mentioning me by name, this young and aspiring satellite had blurted out +that he knew me, and could doubtless overtake me at the mail-boat in the +morning. The Commanding General authorised him to arrest me _with the +papers_, and report at head-quarters. This was then a journey to +recommend him to authority, and it involved no personal danger. I was +not so intimidated that I failed to see how the Lieutenant would lose +his gayest feather by failing to recover the journals, and I dexterously +insinuated that it would be well to recommence the search. This time we +were successful. The shrewd, sanguine, middle-aged man was coolly +contemplating the river from an outside barge, concealed from the shore +by piled boxes of ammunition. He was reading a phonetic pamphlet, and +appeared to take his apprehension as a pleasant morning call. I caught +one meaning glance, however, that satisfied me how clearly he understood +the case. + +"Ha! Townsend," said he, smilingly, "back already? I thought we had lost +you. One of your military friends? Good-day, Lieutenant." + +"I am under arrest, my boy," said I, "and you will much aggravate +General McClellan, if you do not consign those Richmond journals to his +deputy here." + +"Under arrest? You surprise me! I am sorry, Lieutenant that you have had +so fatiguing a ride, but the fact is, those papers have gone down the +river. If the General is not in a great hurry, he will see their columns +reproduced by us in a few days." + +"How did they go?" said the Lieutenant, with an oath, "if by the +mail-boat I will have General Van Vliet despatch a tug to overhaul her." + +"I am very sorry again," said the bland civilian, smoothing his hands: +"but they went by the _South America_ at a much earlier hour." + +I looked appealingly to him; the satellite stared down the river +perplexedly, but suddenly his eye fell upon something that absorbed it; +and he turned like a madman to---- + +"By! ---- sir, you are lying to me. There is the _South America_ moored +to a barge, and her steam is not up!" + +"Those words are utterly uncalled for," said the agent,--"but you cannot +irritate me, my dear sir! I know that youth is hot,--particularly +military youth yet inexperienced; and therefore I pardon you. I made a +mistake. It was not the _South America_, it was--it was--upon my word I +cannot recall the name!" + +"You do not mean to!" thundered the young Ajax, to whose vanity, ----'s +speech had been gall; "my powers are discretionary: I arrest you in the +name of General McClellan." + +"Indeed! Be sure you understand your orders! It isn't probable that such +a fiery blade is allowed much discretionary margin. The General himself +would not assume such airs. Why don't you shoot me? It might contribute +to your promotion, and that is, no doubt, your object. I know General +McClellan very well. He is a personal friend of mine." + +His manner was so self-possessed, his tone so cutting, that the young +man of fustian--whose name was Kenty--fingered his sword hilt, and +foamed at the lips. + +"March on," said he,--"I will report this insolence word for word." + +He motioned us to the quay; we preceded him. The sanguine gentleman +keeping up a running fire of malevolent sarcasm. + +"Stop!" said he quietly, as we reached his tent,--"I have not sent them +at all. They are here. And you have made all this exhibition of yourself +for nothing. I am the better soldier, you see. You are a drummer-boy, +not an officer. Take off your shoulder-bars, and go to school again." + +He disappeared a minute, returned with two journals, and looking at me, +meaningly, turned to their titles. + +"Let me see!" he said, smoothly,--"_Richmond Examiner_, May 28, +_Richmond Enquirer_, May 22. There! You have them! Go in peace! Give my +respects to General McClellan! Townsend, old fellow, you have done your +full duty. Don't let this young person frighten you. Good by." + +He gave me his hand, with a sinister glance, and left something in my +palm when his own was withdrawn. I examined it hastily when I girt up my +saddle. It said: "_Your budget got off safe, old fellow._" He had given +Kenty some old journals that were of no value to anybody. When we were +mounted and about to start, the Lieutenant looked witheringly upon his +persecutor-- + +"Allow me to say, sir," he exclaimed, "that you are the most unblushing +liar I ever knew." + +"Thank you, kindly," said----, taking off his hat, "you do me honor!" + +Our route was silent and weary enough. The young man at my side, +unconscious of his wily antagonist's deception, boasted for some time +that he had attained his purposes. As I could not undeceive him, I held +my tongue; but feared that when this trick should be made manifest, the +vengeance would fall on me alone. I heartily wished the unlucky papers +at the bottom of the sea. To gratify an adventurous whim, and obtain a +day's popularity at New York, I had exposed my life, crippled my nag, +and was now to be disgraced and punished. What might or might not befall +me, I gloomily debated. The least penalty would be expulsion from the +army; but imprisonment till the close of the war, was a favorite +amusement with the War Office. How my newspaper connection would be +embarrassed was a more grievous inquiry. It stung me to think that I had +blundered twice on the very threshold of my career. Was I not acquiring +a reputation for rashness that would hinder all future promotion and +cast me from the courts of the press. Here the iron entered into my +soul; for be it known, I loved Bohemia! This roving commission, these +vagabond habits, this life in the open air among the armies, the white +tents, the cannon, and the drums, they were my elysium, my heart! But to +be driven away, as one who had broken his trust, forfeited favor and +confidence, and that too on the eve of grand events, was something that +would embitter my existence. + +We passed the familiar objects that I had so often buoyantly +beheld,--deserted encampments, cross-roads, rills, farm-houses, fields, +and at last came to Daker's. I called out to them, and explained my +woful circumstances with rueful conciseness. + +It was growing dark when we came to general headquarters, two miles +beyond Gaines's Mill. The tents were scattered over the surface of a +hill, and most of them were illumined by candles. + +The Lieutenant gave our horses to an orderly, and led the way through +two outer circles of wall-tents, between which and the inner circle, +guards were pacing, to deny all vulgar ingress. + +A staff officer took in our names, and directly returned with the reply +of "Pass in!" We were now in the sacred enclosure, secured by flaming +swords. Four tents stood in a row, allotted respectively to the Chief of +Staff, the Adjutant-General, the telegraph operators, and the select +staff officers. Just behind them, embowered by a covering of cedar +boughs, stood the tent of General McClellan. Close by, from an open plot +or area of ground, towered a pine trunk, floating the national flag. +Lights burned in three of the tents: low voices, as of subdued +conversation, were heard from the first. + +A little flutter of my heart, a drawing aside of canvas, two steps, an +uncovering, and a bow,--I stood at my tribunal! A couple of candles were +placed upon a table, whereat sat a fine specimen of man, with kindly +features, dark, grayish, flowing hair, and slight marks of years upon +his full, purplish face. He looked to be a well-to-do citizen, whose +success had taught him sedentary convivialities. A fuming cigar lay +before him; some empty champagne bottles sat upon a pine desk; tumblers +and a decanter rested upon a camp-stool; a bucket, filled with water and +a great block of ice, was visible under the table. Five other gentlemen, +each with a star in his shoulder-bar, were dispersed upon chairs and +along a camp bedside. The tall, angular, dignified gentleman with +compressed lips and a "character" nose, was General Barry, Chief of +Artillery. The lithe, severe, gristly, sanguine person, whose eyes +flashed even in repose, was General Stoneman, Chief of Cavalry. The +large, sleepy-eyed, lymphatic, elderly man, clad in dark, civil gray, +whose ears turned up habitually as from deafness, was Prince de +Joinville, brother to Louis Philippe, King of France. The little man +with red hair and beard, who moved quickly and who spoke sharply, was +Seth Williams, Adjutant-General. The stout person with florid face, +large, blue eyes, and white, straight hair, was General Van Vliet, +Quartermaster-General. And the man at the table, was General Marcy, +father-in-law to McClellan, and Executive officer of the army. + +Maps, papers, books, and luggage lay around the room; all the gentlemen +were smoking and wine sparkled in most of the glasses. Some swords were +lying upon the floor, a pair of spurs glistened by the bed, and three of +the officers had their feet in the air. + +"What is it you wish, Lieutenant?" said General Marcy, gravely. + +The boor in uniform at my side, related his errand and order, gave the +particulars of my arrest, declaimed against our agent, and submitted the +journals. He told his story stammeringly, and I heard one of the +officers in the background mutter contemptuously when he had finished. + +"Were you aware of the order prohibiting correspondents from keeping +with the advance?" said the General, looking up. + +"I had not been notified from head-quarters. I have been with the army +only a week." + +"You knew that you had no business upon scouts, forages, or +reconnoissances; why did you go?" + +"I went by invitation." + +"Who invited you?" + +"I would prefer not to state, since it would do him an injury." + +Here the voices in the background muttered, as I thought, applaudingly. +Gaining confidence as I proceeded, I spoke more boldly-- + +"I am sure I regret that I have disobeyed any order of General +McClellan's; but there can nothing occur in the rear of an army. +Obedience, in this case, would be indolence and incompetence; for only +the reliable would stay behind and the reckless go ahead. If I am +accredited here as a correspondent, I must keep up with the events. And +the rivalries of our tribe, General, are so many, that the best of us +sometimes forget what is right for what is expedient. I hope that +General McClellan will pass by this offence." + +He heard my rambling defence quietly, excused the Lieutenant, and +whistled for an orderly. + +"I don't think that you meant to offend General McClellan," he said, +"but he wishes you to be detained. Give me your pass. Orderly, take this +gentleman to General Porter, and tell him to treat him kindly. Good +night." + +When we got outside of the tent, I slipped a silver half-dollar into the +orderly's hand, and asked him if he understood the General's final +remark. He said, in reply, that I was directed to be treated with +courtesy, kindness, and care, and asked me, in conclusion, if there were +any adjectives that might intensify the recommendation. When we came to +General Porter, the Provost-Marshal, however, he pooh-poohed the +qualifications, and said that _his_ business was merely to put me under +surveillance. This unamiable man ordered me to be taken to Major +Willard, the deputy Provost, whose tent we found after a long search. +The Major was absent, but some young officers of his mess were taking +supper at his table, and with these I at once engaged in conversation. + +I knew that if I was to be spared an immersion in the common guardhouse, +with drunkards, deserters, and prisoners of war, I must win the favor of +these men. I gave them the story of my arrest, spoke lightly of the +offence and jestingly of the punishment, and, in fact, so improved my +cause that, when the Major appeared, and the Sergeant consigned me to +his custody, one of the young officers took him aside, and, I am sure, +said some good words in my favor. + +The Major was a bronzed, indurated gentleman, scrupulously attired, and +courteously stern. He looked at me twice or thrice, to my confusion; for +I was dusty, wan, and running over with perspiration. His first remark +had, naturally, reference to the lavatory, and, so far as my face and +hair were concerned, I was soon rejuvenated. I found on my return to the +tent, a clean plate and a cup of steaming coffee placed for me, and I +ate with a full heart though pleading covertly the while. When I had +done, and the tent became deserted by all save him and me, he said, +simply-- + +"What am I to do with you, Mr. Townsend?" + +"Treat me as a gentleman, I hope, Major." + +"We have but one place of confinement," said he, "the guardhouse; but I +am loth to send you there. Light your pipe, and I will think the matter +over." + +He took a turn in front, consulted with some of his associates, and +directly returning, said that I was to be quartered in his office-tent, +adjoining. A horror being thus lifted from my mind, I heard with sincere +interest many revelations of his military career. He had been a common +soldier in the Mexican war, and had fought his way, step by step, to +repeated commissions. He had garrisoned Fort Yuma, and other posts on +the far plains, and at the beginning of the war was tendered a volunteer +brigade, which he modestly declined. His tastes were refined, and a warm +fancy, approaching poetry, enhanced his personal reminiscences. His face +softened, his eyes grew milder, his large, commanding mouth relaxed,--he +was young again, living his adventures over. We talked thus till almost +midnight, when two regulars appeared in front,--stiff, ramrodish +figures, that came to a jerking "present," tapped their caps with two +fingers, and said, explosively; "Sergeant of Guard, Number Five!" + +The Major rose, gave me his hand, and said that I would find a candle in +my tent, with waterproof and blankets on the ground. I was to give +myself no concern about the nag, and might, if I chose, sit for an hour +to write, but must, on no account, attempt to leave the canvas, for the +guard would instantly shoot me down. The guard in question had a +_doppel-ganger_,--counterpart of himself in inflexibility,--and both +were appendages of their muskets. He was not probably a sentient being, +certainly not a conversational one. He knew the length of a stride, and +the manual of bayonet exercise, but was, during his natural life, a +blind idolater of a deity, called "Orders." The said "Orders," for the +present evening, were walking, not talking, and he was dumb to all +conciliatory words. He took a position at one end of my tent, and his +double at the other end. They carried their muskets at "support arms," +and paced up and down, measuredly, like two cloaked and solemn ghosts. I +wrapped myself in the damp blankets, and slept through the bangs of four +or five court-martials and several executions. At three o'clock, they +changed ramrods,--the old doppel-gangers going away, and two new ones +fulfilling their functions. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AFTER THE VICTORY. + + +The two ramrods were still pacing to and fro, when I aroused in the gray +of the morning; but they looked very misty and moist, as if they were +impalpables that were shortly to evaporate. The Major poked his head +between the flaps at eight o'clock, and said that breakfast was ready; +but the ramrod nearest me kept vigilantly alongside, and I thought he +had been invited also. The other ramrod guarded the empty tent, and I +think that he believed me a doppel-ganger likewise. + +I wondered what was to be done with me, as the hours slipped rapidly by. +The guards were relieved again at ten o'clock, and Quartermaster's men +commenced to take down the tents. Camps were to be moved, and I inquired +solicitously if I was to be moved also. The Major replied that prisoners +were commonly made to walk along the road, escorted by horsemen, and I +imagined, with dread, the companionship of negroes, estrays, ragged +Confederates, and such folk, while the whole army should witness my +degradation. Finally, all the tents were lifted and packed in wagons, as +well as the furniture. I adhered to a stool, at which the teamster +looked wistfully, and the implacable sentinels walked to and fro. A +rumor became current among the private soldiers, that I was the nephew +of the southern General Lee, whose wife had been meantime captured at +Hanover Court House. Curious groups sauntered around me, and talked +behind their hands. One man was overheard to say that I had fought +desperately, and covered myself with glory, and another thought that I +favored my uncle somewhat, and might succeed to his military virtues. + +"I guess I'll take that cheer, if you ain't got no objection," said the +teamster, and he slung it into the wagon. What to do now troubled me +materially; but one of the soldiers brought a piece of rail, and I +"squatted" lugubriously on the turf. + +"If you ever get to Richmond," said I, "you shall be considerately +treated." (Profound sensation.) + +"Thankee!" replied the man, touching his cap; "but I'm werry well +pleased _out_ o' Richmond, Captain." + +Here the Major was seen approaching, a humorous smile playing about his +eyes. + +"You are discharged," said he; "General Marcy will return your pass, and +perhaps your papers." + +I wrung his hand with indescribable relief, and he sent the "ramrod" on +guard, to saddle my horse. In a few minutes, I was mounted again, much +to the surprise of the observers of young Lee, and directly I stood +before the kindly Chief of Staff. At my request, he wrote a note to the +division commander, specifying my good behavior, and restoring to me all +privileges and immunities. He said nothing whatever as to the mistake in +the papers, and told me that, on special occasions, I might keep with +advances, by procuring an extraordinary pass at head-quarters. In short, +my arrest conduced greatly to my efficiency. I invariably carried my +Richmond despatches to General Marcy, thereafter, and, if there was +information of a legitimate description, he gave me the benefit of it. + +My own brigade lay at Dr. Gaines's house, during this time, and we did +not lack for excitement. Just behind the house lay several batteries of +rifled guns, and these threw shells at hourly intervals, at certain +Confederate batteries across the river. The distance was two miles or +less; but the firing was generally wretched. Crowds of soldiers gathered +around, to watch the practice, and they threw up their hats applaudingly +at successful hits. Occasionally a great round shot would bound up the +hill, and a boy, one day, seeing one of these spent balls rolling along +the ground, put out his foot to stop it, but shattered his leg so +dreadfully that it had to be amputated. Dr. Gaines was a rich, +aristocratic, and indolent old Virginian, whose stables, summerhouses, +orchards, and negro-quarters were the finest in their district. The +shooting so annoyed him that he used to resort to the cellar; several +shots passed through his roof, and one of the chimneys was knocked off. +His family carriages were five in number, and as his stables were turned +into hospitals, these were all hauled into his lawn, where their +obsolete trimmings and queer shape constantly amused the soldiers. About +this time I became acquainted with some officers of the 5th Maine +regiment, and by permission, accompanied them to Mechanicsville. I was +here, on the afternoon of Thursday, May 27, when the battle of Hanover +Court House was fought. We heard the rapid growl of guns, and continuous +volleys of musketry, though the place was fourteen miles distant. At +evening, a report was current that the Federals had gained a great +victory, and captured seven hundred prisoners. The truth of this was +established next morning; for detachments of prisoners were from time to +time brought in, and the ambulances came to camp, laden with the +wounded. I took this opportunity of observing the Confederate soldiers, +as they lay at the Provost quarters, in a roped pen, perhaps one hundred +rods square. + +It was evening, as I hitched my horse to a stake near-by, and pressed up +to the receptacle for the unfortunates. Sentries enclosed the pen, +walking to-and-fro with loaded muskets; a throng of officers and +soldiers had assembled to gratify their curiosity; and new detachments +of captives came in hourly, encircled by sabremen, the Southerners +being disarmed and on foot. The scene within the area was ludicrously +moving. It reminded me of the witch-scene in Macbeth, or pictures of +brigands or Bohemian gypsies at rendezvous, not less than five hundred +men, in motley, ragged costumes, with long hair, and lean, wild, haggard +faces, were gathered in groups or in pairs, around some fagot fires. In +the growing darkness their expressions were imperfectly visible; but I +could see that most of them were weary, and hungry, and all were +depressed and ashamed. Some were wrapped in blankets of rag-carpet, and +others wore shoes of rough, untanned hide. Others were without either +shoes or jackets, and their heads were bound with red handkerchiefs. +Some appeared in red shirts; some in stiff beaver hats; some were +attired in shreds and patches of cloth; and a few wore the soiled +garments of citizen gentlemen; but the mass adhered to homespun suits of +gray, or "butternut," and the coarse blue kersey common to slaves. In +places I caught glimpses of red Zouave breeches and leggings; blue +Federal caps, Federal buttons, or Federal blouses; these were the spoils +of anterior battles, and had been stripped from the slain. Most of the +captives were of the appearances denominated "scraggy" or "knotty." They +were brown, brawny, and wiry, and their countenances were intense, +fierce, and animal. They came from North Carolina, the poorest and least +enterprising Southern State, and ignorance, with its attendant virtues, +were the common facial manifestations. Some lay on the bare ground, fast +asleep; others chatted nervously as if doubtful of their future +treatment; a few were boisterous, and anxious to beg tobacco or coffee +from idle Federals; the rest--and they comprehended the greater +number--were silent, sullen, and vindictive. They met curiosity with +scorn, and spite with imprecations. A child--not more than four years of +age, I think--sat sleeping in a corner upon an older comrade's lap. A +gray-bearded pard was staunching a gash in his cheek with the tail of +his coat. A fine-looking young fellow sat with his face in his hands, +as if his heart were far off, and he wished to shut out this bitter +scene. In a corner, lying morosely apart, were a Major, three Captains, +and three Lieutenants,--young athletic fellows, dressed in rich gray +cassimere, trimmed with black, and wearing soft black hats adorned with +black ostrich-feathers. Their spurs were strapped upon elegantly fitting +boots, and they looked as far above the needy, seedy privates, as lords +above their vassals. + +After a time, couples and squads of the prisoners were marched off to +cut and carry some firewood, and water, for the use of their pen, and +then each Confederate received coffee, pork, and crackers; they were +obliged to prepare their own meals, but some were so hungry that they +gnawed the raw pork, like beasts of prey. Those who were not provided +with blankets, shivered through the night, though the rain was falling, +and the succession of choking coughs that ran through the ranks, told +how ill they could afford the exposure. Major Willard had charge of +these men, and he sent a young officer to get me admittance to the pen, +that I might speak with them. + +"Good evening, Major," I said, to the ranking Confederate officer, and +extended my hand. He shook it, embarrassedly, and ran me over with his +eye, as if to learn my avocation. "Can I obtain any facts from you," I +continued, "as to the battle of Hanover?" + +"Fuh what puhpose?" he said, in his strong southern dialect. + +"For publication, sir." + +He sat up at once, and said that he should be happy to tell me anything +that would not be a violation of military honor. I asked him, therefore, +the Confederate Commandant at Hanover, the number of brigades, +regiments, and batteries engaged, the disposition of forces, the +character of the battle, and the losses, so far as he knew, upon his own +side. Much of this he revealed, but unguardedly let out other matters, +that direct inquiry could not have discovered. I took notes of the +legitimate passages, trusting to memory for the rest; and think that I +possessed his whole stock of information, in the course of an hour's +manoeuvring. It seemed that General Branch, formerly a member of the +Federal congress, had been sent with some thousands of Carolina troops +across the upper Chickahominy, to see if it would not be possible to +turn the Federal right, and cut off one of its brigades; but a stronger +Federal reconnoissance had gone northward the day before, and +discovering Branch's camp-fires, sent, during the night, for +reinforcements. In the end, the "North State" volunteers were routed, +their cannon silenced or broken, and seven hundred of their number +captured. The Federals lost a large number of men killed, and the +wounded upon both sides, were numerous. + +The Confederate Major was of the class referred to in polite American +parlance, as a "blatherskite." He boasted after the manner of his +fellow-citizens from the county of "Bunkum," but nevertheless feared and +trembled, to the manifest disgust of one of the young Captains. + +"Majuh!" said this young man, "what you doin' thah! That fellow's makin' +notes of all your slack; keep your tongue! aftah awhile you'll tell the +nombah of the foces! Don't you s'pose he'll prent it all?" + +The Major had, in fact, been telling me how many regiments the "old +Nawth State, suh," had furnished to the "suhvice," and I had the names +of some thirty colonels, in order. The young Captain gave me a sketch of +General Branch, and was anxious that I should publish something in +extenuation of North Carolina valor. + +"We have lost mo' men," said he, "than any otha' Commonwealth; but these +Vuhginians, whose soil, by----! suh, we defend suh! Yes, suh! whose soil +we defend; these Vuhginians, stigmatize us as cowads! _We_, suh! yes +suh, _we_, that nevah wanted to leave the Union,--_we cowads_! Look at +ou' blood, suh, ou' blood! That's it, by----! look at that! shed on +every field of the ole Dominion,--killed, muhdud, captued, crippled! We +_cowads_! I want you prent that!" + +I was able to give each of the officers a drop of whiskey from my flask, +and I never saw men drink so thirstily. Their hands and lips trembled as +they took it, and their eyes shone like lunacy, as the hot drops sank to +the cold vitals, and pricked the frozen blood. Mingling with the +privates, I stirred up some native specimens of patriotism, that +appeared to be in great doubt as to the causes and ends of the war. They +were very much in the political condition of a short, thick, sententious +man, in blue drilling breeches, who said-- + +"Damn the country! What's to be done with _us_?" + +One person said that he enlisted for the honor of his family, that "fit +in the American Revolution;" and another came out to "hev a squint et +the fightin'." Several were northern and foreign lads, that were working +on Carolina railroads, and could not leave the section, and some labored +under the impression that they were to have a "slice" of land and a +"nigger," in the event of Southern independence. A few comprehended the +spirit of the contest, and took up arms from principle; a few, also, +declared their enmity to "Yankee institutions," and had seized the +occasion to "polish them off," and "give them a ropein' in;" but many +said it was "dull in our deestreeks, an' the niggers was runnin' away, +so I thought I'ud jine the foces." The great mass said, that they never +contemplated "this box," or "this fix," or "these suckemstances," and +all wanted the war to close, that they might return to their families. +Indeed, my romantic ideas of rebellion were ruthlessly profaned and +dissipated. I knew that there was much selfishness, peculation, and +"Hessianism" in the Federal lines, but I had imagined a lofty +patriotism, a dignified purpose, and an inflexible love of personal +liberty among the Confederates. Yet here were men who knew little of +the principles for which they staked their lives;--who enlisted from the +commonest motives of convenience, whim, pelf, adventure, and foray; and +who repented, after their first misfortune, with the salt rheum in their +eyes. I think that all "great uprisings" resolve to this complexion. +With due reverence for my own ancestry, I think that they sometimes +stooped from greatness to littleness. I must confess that certain +admissions in my revolutionary textbook are much clearer, now that I +have followed a campaign. And if, as I had proposed, I could have +witnessed the further fortunes of the illustrious Garibaldi, I think +that some of his compatriots would have been found equally inconsistent. +Let no man believe that the noblest cause is fought out alone by the +unerring motives of duty and devotion. The masses are never so constant. +They cannot appreciate an abstraction, however divine. Any of the +gentlemen in question would have preferred their biscuit and fat pork +before the political enfranchisement of the whole world! + +I rode across the fields to the Hogan, Curtis, and Gaines mansions; for +some of the wounded had meantime been deposited in each of them. All the +cow-houses, wagon-sheds, hay-barracks, hen-coops, negro cabins, and +barns were turned into hospitals. The floors were littered with +"corn-shucks" and fodder; and the maimed, gashed, and dying lay +confusedly together. A few, slightly wounded, stood at windows, relating +incidents of the battle; but at the doors sentries stood with crossed +muskets, to keep out idlers and gossips. The mention of my vocation was +an "open sesame," and I went unrestrained, into all the largest +hospitals. In the first of these an amputation was being performed, and +at the door lay a little heap of human fingers, feet, legs, and arms. I +shall not soon forget the bare-armed surgeons, with bloody instruments, +that leaned over the rigid and insensible figure, while the comrades of +the subject looked horrifiedly at the scene. The grating of the +murderous saw drove me into the open air, but in the second hospital +which I visited, a wounded man had just expired, and I encountered his +body at the threshold. Within, the sickening smell of mortality was +almost insupportable, but by degrees I became accustomed to it. The +lanterns hanging around the room streamed fitfully upon the red eyes, +and half-naked figures. All were looking up, and saying, in pleading +monotone: "Is that you, doctor?" Men with their arms in slings went +restlessly up and down, smarting with fever. Those who were wounded in +the lower extremities, body, or head, lay upon their backs, tossing even +in sleep. They listened peevishly to the wind whistling through the +chinks of the barn. They followed one with their rolling eyes. They +turned away from the lantern, for it seemed to sear them. Soldiers sat +by the severely wounded, laving their sores with water. In many wounds +the balls still remained, and the discolored flesh was swollen +unnaturally. There were some who had been shot in the bowels, and now +and then they were frightfully convulsed, breaking into shrieks and +shouts. Some of them iterated a single word, as, "doctor," or "help," or +"God," or "oh!" commencing with a loud spasmodic cry, and continuing the +same word till it died away in cadence. The act of calling seemed to +lull the pain. Many were unconscious and lethargic, moving their fingers +and lips mechanically, but never more to open their eyes upon the light; +they were already going through the valley and the shadow. I think, +still, with a shudder, of the faces of those who were told mercifully +that they could not live. The unutterable agony; the plea for somebody +on whom to call; the longing eyes that poured out prayers; the looking +on mortal as if its resources were infinite; the fearful looking to the +immortal as if it were so far off, so implacable, that the dying appeal +would be in vain; the open lips, through which one could almost look at +the quaking heart below; the ghastliness of brow and tangled hair; the +closing pangs; the awful _quietus_. I thought of Parrhasius, in the +poem, as I looked at these things:-- + + "Gods! + Could I but paint a dying groan----." + +And how the keen eye of West would have turned from the reeking cockpit +of the _Victory_, or the tomb of the Dead Man Restored, to this old +barn, peopled with horrors. I rambled in and out, learning to look at +death, studying the manifestations of pain,--quivering and sickening at +times, but plying my avocation, and jotting the names for my column of +mortalities. + +At eleven o'clock there was music along the high-road, and a general +rushing from camps. The victorious regiments were returning from +Hanover, under escort, and all the bands were pealing national airs. As +they turned down the fields towards their old encampments, the several +brigades stood under arms to welcome them, and the cheers were many and +vigorous. But the solemn ambulances still followed after, and the red +flag of the hospitals flaunted bloodily in the blue midnight. + +Both the prisoners and the wounded were removed between midnight and +morning to White House, and as I had despatches to forward by the +mail-boat, I rode down in an ambulance, that contained six wounded men +besides. The wounded were to be consigned to hospital boats, and +forwarded to hospitals in northern cities, and the prisoners were to be +placed in a transport, under guard, and conveyed to Fort Delaware, near +Philadelphia. + +Ambulances, it may be said, incidentally, are either two-wheeled or +four-wheeled. Two-wheeled ambulances are commonly called "hop, step, and +jumps." They are so constructed that the forepart is either very high or +very low, and may be both at intervals. The wounded occupants may be +compelled to ride for hours in these carriages, with their heels +elevated above their heads, and may finally be shaken out, or have their +bones broken by the terrible jolting. The four-wheeled ambulances are +built in shelves, or compartments, but the wounded are in danger of +being smothered in them. It was in one of these latter that I rode, +sitting with the driver. We had four horses, but were thrice "swamped" +on the road, and had to take out the wounded men once, till we could +start the wheels. Two of these men were wounded in the face, one of them +having his nose completely severed, and the other having a fragment of +his jaw knocked out. A third had received a ball among the thews and +muscles behind his knee, and his whole body appeared to be paralyzed. +Two were wounded in the shoulders, and the sixth was shot in the breast, +and was believed to be injured inwardly, as he spat blood, and suffered +almost the pain of death. The ride with these men, over twenty miles of +hilly, woody country, was like one of Dante's excursions into the +Shades. In the awful stillness of the dark pines, their screams +frightened the hooting owls, and the whirring insects in the leaves and +tree-tops quieted their songs. They heard the gurgle of the rills, and +called aloud for water to quench their insatiate thirst. One of them +sang a shrill, fierce, fiendish ballad, in an interval of relief, but +plunged, at a sudden relapse, in prayers and curses. We heard them +groaning to themselves, as we sat in front, and one man, it seemed, was +quite out of his mind. These were the outward manifestations; but what +chords trembled and smarted within, we could only guess. What regrets +for good resolves unfulfilled, and remorse for years misspent, made +hideous these sore and panting hearts? The moonlight pierced through the +thick foliage of the wood, and streamed into our faces, like invitations +to a better life. But the crippled and bleeding could not see or feel +it,--buried in the shelves of the ambulance. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BALLOON BATTLES. + + +Some days ago, as I was sitting in Central Park, under a tree no bigger +than Jonah's gourd, broiling nicely brown, and seasoning the process by +reading what the lesser weeklies said about me, I saw at the Park gate a +great phantasm, like a distended sausage, swaying to and fro as if +striving to burst, and directly the horrible thing blew upwards, +spilling all the stuffing from the case. + +I saw in a moment that the apparition was a balloon, and that the +aeronaut was only emptying ballast. + +Straight toward me the floating vessel came, so close to the ground that +I could hear the silk crackle and the ropes creak, till, directly, a man +leaned over the side and shouted-- + +"Is that you, Townsend?" + +"Hallo, Lowe!" + +"I want you to get on your feet and be spry about it: we have a literary +party here, and wish you to write it up. I'll let one bag of ballast go, +as we touch the grass, and you must leap in simultaneously. Thump!" + +Here the car collided with the ground, and in another instant, I found +quantities of dirt spilled down my back, and two or three people lying +beneath me. The world slid away, and the clouds opened to receive me. +Lowe was opening a bottle of Heidsick, and three or four gentlemen with +_heads sick_ were unclosing the petals of their lips to get the +afternoon dew. + +These were the various critics and fugitive writers of the weekly and +daily press. They looked as if they wanted to put each other over the +side of the car, but smothered their invective at my advent, as if I +were so much pearl-ash. + +It was just seven o'clock, and the Park lay like a veined and mottled +blood-stone in the red sunset. The city wilted to the littleness of a +rare mosaic pin, its glittering point parting the blue scarf of the bay, +and the white bosom of the ocean swelling afar, all draped with purple +clouds like golden hair, in which the entangled gems were the sails of +the white ships. + +I said this aloud, and all the party drew their lead pencils. They +forgot the occasion in my eloquence, and wanted to report me. + +Just here, I drew a field-glass from the aeronaut, and reconnoitred the +streets of the city. To my dismay there was nobody visible on Broadway +but gentlemen. I called everybody's attention to the fact, and it was +accounted for on the supposition that the late bank forgeries and +defalcations, growing out of the extravagance of womankind, had prompted +all the husbands to make of their homes nunneries. + +We observed, however, close by every gentleman, something that resembled +a black dog with his tail curled over his back. + +"Stuff!" said one, "they're hay wagons." + +"No!" cried Lowe, "they're nothing of the sort; they are waterfalls, and +the ladies are, of course, invisible under them." + +We accepted the explanation, and thought the trip very melancholy. No +landscape is complete without a woman. Very soon we struck the great +polar current, and passed Harlem river; the foliage of the trees, by +some strange anomaly, began to ascend towards us, but Lowe caught two +or three of the supposed leaves, and they proved to be greenbacks. + +There was at once a tremendous sensation in the car; we knew that we +were on the track of Ketchum and his carpet-bag of bank-notes. + +"Is there any reward out?" cried Lowe. + +"Not yet!" + +"Then we won't pursue him." + +As we slowly drifted to the left, the Hudson shone through the trees, +and before dusk we swept across Lake Mahopec. I heard a voice singing to +the dip of oars, and had to be held down by five men to restrain an +involuntary impulse to quit my company. + +"Townsend," said Lowe, "have you the copy of that matter you printed +about me in England? This is the time to call you to account for it. We +are two or three miles above _terra firma_, and I might like to drop you +for a parachute." + +I felt Lowe's muscle, and knew myself secure. Then I unrolled the pages, +which I fortunately carried with me, and told him the following news +about himself:-- + +The aeronaut of the Army of the Potomac was Mr. S. T. C. Lowe; he had +made seven thousand ascensions, and his army companion was invariably +either an artist, a correspondent, or a telegrapher. + +A minute insulated wire reached from the car to headquarters, and +McClellan was thus informed of all that could be seen within the +Confederate works. Sometimes they remained aloft for hours, making +observations with powerful glasses, and once or twice the enemy tested +their distance with shell. + +On the 13th of April, the Confederates sent up a balloon, the first they +had employed, at which Lowe was infinitely amused. He said that it had +neither shape nor buoyancy, and predicted that it would burst or fall +apart after a week. It certainly occurred that, after a few fitful +appearances, the stranger was seen no more, till, on the 28th of June, +it floated, like a thing of omen, over the spires of Richmond. At that +time the Federals were in full retreat, and all the acres were covered +with their dead. + +On the 11th of April, at five o'clock, an event at once amusing and +thrilling occurred at our quarters. The commander-in-chief had appointed +his personal and confidential friend, General Fitz John Porter, to +conduct the siege of Yorktown. Porter was a polite, soldierly gentleman, +and a native of New Hampshire, who had been in the regular army since +early manhood. He fought gallantly in the Mexican war, being thrice +promoted and once seriously wounded, and he was now forty years of +age,--handsome, enthusiastic, ambitious, and popular. He made frequent +ascensions with Lowe, and learned to go aloft alone. One day he ascended +thrice, and finally seemed as cosily at home in the firmament as upon +the solid earth. It is needless to say that he grew careless, and on +this particular morning leaped into the car and demanded the cables to +be let out with all speed. I saw with some surprise that the flurried +assistants were sending up the great straining canvas with a single rope +attached. The enormous bag was only partially inflated, and the loose +folds opened and shut with a crack like that of a musket. Noisily, +fitfully, the yellow mass rose into the sky, the basket rocking like a +leather in the zephyr; and just as I turned aside to speak to a comrade, +a sound came from overhead, like the explosion of a shell, and something +striking me across the face laid me flat upon the ground. + +Half blind and stunned, I staggered to my feet, but the air seemed full +of cries and curses. Opening my eyes ruefully, I saw all faces turned +upwards, and when I looked above,--the balloon was adrift. + +The treacherous cable, rotted with vitriol, had snapped in twain; one +fragment had been the cause of my downfall, and the other trailed, like +a great entrail, from the receding car, where Fitz John Porter was +bounding upward upon a Pegasus that he could neither check nor direct. + +The whole army was agitated by the unwonted occurrence. From battery No. +1, on the brink of the York, to the mouth of Warwick river, every +soldier and officer was absorbed. Far within the Confederate lines the +confusion extended. We heard the enemy's alarm-guns, and directly the +signal flags were waving up and down our front. + +The General appeared directly over the edge of the car. He was tossing +his hands frightenedly, and shouting something that we could not +comprehend. + +"O--pen--the--valve!" called Lowe, in his shrill tones; +"climb--to--the--netting--and--reach--the--valve--rope." + +"The valve!--the valve!" repeated a multitude of tongues, and all gazed +with thrilling interest at the retreating hulk that still kept straight +upward, swerving neither to the east nor the west. + +It was a weird spectacle,--that frail, fading oval, gliding against the +sky, floating in the serene azure, the little vessel swinging silently +beneath, and a hundred thousand martial men watching the loss of their +brother in arms, but powerless to relieve or recover him. Had Fitz John +Porter been drifting down the rapids of Niagara, he could not have been +so far from human assistance. But we saw him directly, no bigger than a +child's toy, clambering up the netting and reaching for the cord. + +"He can't do it," muttered a man beside me; "the wind blows the +valve-rope to and fro, and only a spry, cool-headed fellow can catch +it." + +We saw the General descend, and appearing again over the edge of the +basket, he seemed to be motioning to the breathless hordes below, the +story of his failure. Then he dropped out of sight, and when we next saw +him, he was reconnoitring the Confederate works through a long black +spy-glass. A great laugh went up and down the lines as this cool +procedure was observed, and then a cheer of applause ran from group to +group. For a moment it was doubtful that the balloon would float in +either direction; it seemed to falter, like an irresolute being, and +moved reluctantly southeastward, towards Fortress Monroe. A huzza, half +uttered, quivered on every lip. All eyes glistened, and some were dim +with tears of joy. But the wayward canvas now turned due westward, and +was blown rapidly toward the Confederate works. Its course was fitfully +direct, and the wind seemed to veer often, as if contrary currents, +conscious of the opportunity, were struggling for the possession of the +daring navigator. The south wind held mastery for awhile, and the +balloon passed the Federal front amid a howl of despair from the +soldiery. It kept right on, over sharpshooters, rifle-pits, and +outworks, and finally passed, as if to deliver up its freight, directly +over the heights of Yorktown. The cool courage, either of heroism or +despair, had seized upon Fitz John Porter. He turned his black glass +upon the ramparts and masked cannon below, upon the remote camps, upon +the beleaguered town, upon the guns of Gloucester Point, and upon +distant Norfolk. Had he been reconnoitring from a secure perch at the +tip of the moon, he could not have been more vigilant, and the +Confederates probably thought this some Yankee device to peer into their +sanctuary in despite of ball or shell. None of their great guns could be +brought to bear upon the balloon; but there were some discharges of +musketry that appeared to have no effect, and finally even these +demonstrations ceased. Both armies in solemn silence were gazing aloft, +while the imperturbable mariner continued to spy out the land. + +The sun was now rising behind us, and roseate rays struggled up to the +zenith, like the arcs made by showery bombs. They threw a hazy +atmosphere upon the balloon, and the light shone through the network +like the sun through the ribs of the skeleton ship in the _Ancient +Mariner_. Then, as all looked agape, the air-craft "plunged, and tacked, +and veered," and drifted rapidly toward the Federal lines again. + +The allelujah that now went up shook the spheres, and when he had +regained our camp limits, the General was seen clambering up again to +clutch the valve-rope. This time he was successful, and the balloon fell +like a stone, so that all hearts once more leaped up, and the cheers +were hushed. Cavalry rode pell-mell from several directions, to reach +the place of descent, and the General's personal staff galloped past me +like the wind, to be the first at his debarkation. I followed the throng +of soldiery with due haste, and came up to the horsemen in a few +minutes. The balloon had struck a canvas tent with great violence, +felling it as by a bolt, and the General, unharmed, had disentangled +himself from innumerable folds of oiled canvas, and was now the cynosure +of an immense group of people. While the officers shook his hands, the +rabble bawled their satisfaction in hurrahs, and a band of music +marching up directly, the throng on foot and horse gave him a vociferous +escort to his quarters. + +Five miles east of Richmond, in the middle of May, we found the balloon +already partially inflated, resting behind a ploughed hill that formed +one of a ridge or chain of hills, bordering the Chickahominy. The stream +was only a half-mile distant, but the balloon was sheltered from +observation by reason of its position in the hollow. + +Heretofore the ascensions had been made from remote places, for there +was good reason to believe that batteries lined the opposite hills; but +now, for the first time, Lowe intended to make an ascent whereby he +could look into Richmond, count the forts encircling it, and note the +number and position of the camps that intervened. The balloon was named +the "Constitution," and looked like a semi-distended boa-constrictor, as +it flapped with a jerking sound, and shook its oiled and painted folds. +It was anchored to the ground by stout ropes affixed to stakes, and also +by sand-bags which hooked to its netting. The basket lay alongside; the +generators were contained in blue wooden wagons, marked "U. S.;" and +the gas was fed to the balloon through rubber and metallic pipes. A tent +or two, a quantity of vitriol in green and wicker carboys, some horses +and transportation teams, and several men that assisted the inflation, +were the only objects to be remarked. As some time was to transpire +before the arrangements were completed, I resorted to one of the tents +and took a comfortable nap. The "Professor" aroused me at three o'clock, +when I found the canvas straining its bonds, and emitting a hollow +sound, as of escaping gas. The basket was made fast directly, the +telescopes tossed into place; the Professor climbed to the side, holding +by the network; and I coiled up in a rope at the bottom. + +"Stand by your cables," he said, and the bags of ballast were at once +cut away. Twelve men took each a rope in hand, and played out slowly, +letting us glide gently upward. The earth seemed to be falling away, and +we poised motionless in the blue ether. The tree-tops sank downward, the +hills dropped noiselessly through space, and directly the Chickahominy +was visible beyond us, winding like a ribbon of silver through the ridgy +landscape. + +Far and wide stretched the Federal camps. We saw faces turned upwards +gazing at our ascent, and heard clearly, as in a vacuum, the voices of +soldiers. At every second the prospect widened, the belt of horizon +enlarged, remote farmhouses came in view; the earth was like a perfectly +flat surface, painted with blue woods, and streaked with pictures of +roads, fields, fences, and streams. As we climbed higher, the river +seemed directly beneath us, the farms on the opposite bank were plainly +discernible, and Richmond lay only a little way off, enthroned on its +many hills, with the James stretching white and sinuous from its feet to +the horizon. We could see the streets, the suburbs, the bridges, the +outlaying roads, nay, the moving masses of people. The Capitol sat white +and colossal on Shockoe Hill, the dingy buildings of the Tredegar works +blackened the river-side above, the hovels of rockets clustered at the +hither limits, and one by one we made out familiar hotels, public +edifices, and vicinities. The fortifications were revealed in part only, +for they took the hue of the soil, and blended with it; but many camps +were plainly discernible, and by means of the glasses we separated tent +from tent, and hut from hut. The Confederates were seen running to the +cover of the woods, that we might not discover their numbers, but we +knew the location of their camp-fires by the smoke that curled toward +us. + +A panorama so beautiful would have been rare at any time, but this was +thrice interesting from its past and coming associations. Across those +plains the hordes at our feet were either to advance victoriously, or be +driven eastward with dusty banners and dripping hands. Those white +farm-houses were to be receptacles for the groaning and the mangled; +thousands were to be received beneath the turf of those pasture fields; +and no rod of ground on any side, should not, sooner or later, smoke +with the blood of the slain. + +"Guess I got 'em now, jest where I want 'em," said Lowe, with a +gratified laugh; "jest keep still as you mind to, and squint your eye +through my glass, while I make a sketch of the roads and the country. +Hold hard there, and anchor fast!" he screamed to the people below. Then +he fell imperturbably to work, sweeping the country with his hawk-eye, +and escaping nothing that could contribute to the completeness of his +jotting. + +We had been but a few minutes thus poised, when close below, from the +edge of a timber stretch, puffed a volume of white smoke. A second +afterward, the air quivered with the peal of a cannon. A third, and we +heard the splitting shriek of a shell, that passed a little to our left, +but in exact range, and burst beyond us in the ploughed field, heaving +up the clay as it exploded. + +"Ha!" said Lowe, "they have got us foul! Haul in the cables--quick!" he +shouted, in a fierce tone. + +At the same instant, the puff, the report, and the shriek were repeated; +but this time the shell burst to our right in mid-air, and scattered +fragments around and below us. + +"Another shot will do our business," said Lowe, between his teeth; "it +isn't a mile, and they have got the range." + +Again the puff and the whizzing shock. I closed my eyes, and held my +breath hard. The explosion was so close, that the pieces of shell seemed +driven across my face, and my ears quivered with the sound. I looked at +Lowe, to see if he was struck. He had sprung to his feet, and clutched +the cordage frantically. + +"Are you pulling in there, you men?" he bellowed, with a loud +imprecation. + +"Puff! bang! whiz-z-z-z! splutter!" broke a third shell, and my heart +was wedged in my throat. + +I saw at a glimpse the whole bright landscape again. I hoard the voices +of soldiers below, and saw them running across fields, fences, and +ditches, to reach our anchorage. I saw some drummer-boys digging in the +field beneath for one of the buried shells. I saw the waving of signal +flags, the commotion through the camps,--officers galloping their +horses, teamsters whipping their mules, regiments turning out, drums +beaten, and batteries limbered up. I remarked, last of all, the site of +the battery that alarmed us, and, by a strange sharpness of sight and +sense, believed that I saw the gunners swabbing, ramming, and aiming the +pieces. + +"Puff! bang! whiz-z-z-z! splutter! crash!" + +"Puff! bang! whiz-z-z-z! splutter! crash!" + +"My God!" said Lowe, hissing the words slowly and terribly, "_they have +opened upon us from another battery_!" + +The scene seemed to dissolve. A cold dew broke from my forehead. I grew +blind and deaf. I had fainted. + +"Pitch some water in his face," said somebody. "He ain't used to it. +Hallo! there he comes to." + +I staggered to my feet. There must have been a thousand men about us. +They were looking curiously at the aeronaut and me. The balloon lay +fuming and struggling on the clods. + +"Three cheers for the Union bal-loon!" called a little fellow at my +side. + +"Hip, hip--hoorooar! hoorooar! hoorooar!" + +"Tiger-r-r--yah! whoop!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SEVEN PINES AND FAIROAKS. + + +Returning from White House on Saturday, May 29, I heard the cannon of +"Seven Pines." The roar of artillery came faintly upon the ear in the +dells and woods, but in the open stretches of country, or from cleared +hill-tops, I could hear also the volleys of musketry. It was the battle +sound that assured me of bloody work; for the musket, as I had learned +by experience, was the only certain signification of battle. It is +seldom brought into requisition but at close quarters, when results are +intended; whereas, cannon may peal for a fortnight, and involve no other +destruction than that of shell and powder. I do not think that any throb +of my heart was unattended by some volley or discharge. Dull, hoarse, +uninterrupted, the whole afternoon was shaken by the sound. It was with +a shudder that I thought how every peal announced flesh and bone riven +asunder. The country people, on the way, stood in their side yards, +anxiously listening. Riders or teamsters coming from the field, were +beset with inquiries; but in the main they knew nothing. As I stopped at +Daker's for dinner, the concussion of the battle rattled our plates, and +the girls entirely lost their appetites, so that Glumley, who listened +and speculated, observed that the baby face was losing all the lines of +art, and was quite flat and faded in color. Resuming our way, we +encountered a sallow, shabby person, driving a covered wagon, who +recognized me at once. It was the "Doctor" who had lightened the +journey down the Chesapeake, by a discourse upon embalming. He pointed +toward the field with a long bony finger, and called aloud, with a smirk +upon his face-- + +"I have the apparatus here, you see. They will need me out yonder, you +know. There's opportunity there for the development of the 'system.'" + +I did not reach my own camp at Gaines's Farm, till late in the day. The +firing had almost entirely ceased, but occasional discharges still broke +the repose of evening, and at night signal rockets hissed and showered +in every direction. Next day the contest recommenced; but although not +farther in a direct line, than seven miles, from our encampment, I could +not cross the Chickahominy, and was compelled to lie in my tent all day. + +These two battles were offered by the Confederates, in the hope of +capturing that portion of the Federal army that lay upon the Richmond +side of the river. Some days previously, McClellan had ordered Keyes's +corps, consisting of perhaps twelve thousand men, to cross Bottom +Bridge, eight miles down the Chickahominy, and occupy an advanced +position on the York River railroad, six miles east of Richmond. Keyes's +two divisions, commanded by Generals Couch and Casey, were thus encamped +in a belt of woods remote from the body of the army, and little more +than a mile from the enemy's line. Heintzelman's corps was lying at the +Bridge, several miles in their rear, and the three finest corps in the +army were separated from them by a broad, rapid river, which could be +crossed at two places only. The troops of Keyes were mainly +inexperienced, undisciplined volunteers from the Middle States. When +their adversaries advanced, therefore, in force, on the twenty-ninth +instant, they made a fitful, irregular resistance, and at evening +retired in panic and disorder. The victorious enemy followed them so +closely, that many of the Federals were slain in their tents. During +that night, the Chickahominy, swollen by rains, overflowed its banks, +and swept away the bridges. The beaten and disorganized relic of the +fight of "Seven Pines," was thus completely isolated, and apparently to +be annihilated at daybreak. But during the night, twenty thousand fresh +men of Sumner's corps, forded the river, carrying their artillery, piece +by piece across, and at dawn they assumed the offensive, seconded by the +encouraged columns of Keyes. The fight was one of desperation; at night +the Federals reoccupied their old ground at Fairoaks, and the +Confederates retired, leaving their dead and wounded on the field. They +lost, among their prisoners, General Pettigrew, of South Carolina, who +was severely wounded, and with whom I talked as he lay in bed at +Gaines's Mansion. He appeared to be a chivalrous, gossipy old gentleman, +and said that he was the last South Carolinian to stand by the Union. + +On the succeeding day, Monday, June 2, I rode to "Grape-Vine Bridge," +and attempted to force my horse through the swamp and stream; but the +drowned mules that momentarily floated down the current, admonished me +of the folly of the hazard. The bridge itself was a swimming mass of +poles and logs, that yielded with every pressure; yet I saw many wounded +men, who waded through the water, or stepped lightly from log to log, +and so gained the shore, wet from head to foot. Long lines of supply +teams and ambulances were wedged in the depth of the thick wood, +bordering the river; but so narrow were the corduroy approaches to the +bridge, and so fathomless the swamp on either hand, that they could +neither go forward, nor return. The straggling troops brought the +unwelcome intelligence, that their comrades on the other side were +starving, as they had crossed with a single ration of food, and had long +ago eaten their last morsels. While I was standing close by the bridge, +General McClellan, and staff, rode through the swamp, and attempted to +make the passage. The "young Napoleon," urged his horse upon the +floating timber, and at once sank over neck and saddle. His staff +dashed after him, floundering in the same way; and when they had +splashed and shouted, till I believed them all drowned, they turned and +came to shore, dripping and discomfited. There was another Napoleon, +who, I am informed, slid down the Alps into Italy; the present +descendant did not slide so far, and he shook himself, after the manner +of a dog. I remarked with some surprise, that he was growing obese; +whereas, the active labors of the campaign had reduced the dimensions of +most of the Generals. + +I secured my horse, and placed a drummer-boy beside him, to prevent +abduction or mistake; then stripping from top to toe, and holding my +garments above my head, I essayed the difficult passage; as a +commencement, I dropped my watch, but the guard-hook caught in a log and +held it fast. Afterward, I slipped from the smooth butt of a tree, and +thoroughly soused myself and clothing; a lumber-man from Maine, beheld +my ill luck, and kindly took my burden to the other side. An estuary of +the Chickahominy again intervened, but a rough scow floated upon it, +which the Captain of Engineers sent for me, with a soldier to man the +oars. I neglected to "trim boat," I am sorry to add, although admonished +to that effect repeatedly by the mariner; and we swamped in four feet of +water. I resembled a being of one of the antediluvian eras, when I came +to land, finally, and might have been taken for a slimy Iguanodon. I +sacrificed some of my under clothing to the process of cleansing and +drying, and so started with soaking boots, and a deficiency of dress, in +the direction of Savage's. Passing the "bottom," or swamp-land, I +ascended a hill, and following a lane, stopped after a half hour at a +frame-mansion, unpainted, with some barns and negro-quarters contiguous, +and a fine grove of young oaks, shading the porch. An elderly gentleman +sat in the porch, sipping a julep, with his feet upon the railing, and +conversing with a stout, ruddy officer, of decidedly Milesian +physiognomy. When I approached, the latter hurriedly placed a chair +between himself and me, and said, with a stare-- + +"Bloodanowns! And where have ye been? Among the hogs, I think?" I +assured him that I did not intend to come to close quarters, and that it +would be no object on my part to contaminate him. The old gentleman +called for "William," a tall, consumptive servant, whose walk reminded +me of a stubborn convict's, in the treadmill, and ordered him to scrape +me, which was done, accordingly, with a case-knife. The young officer +proposed to dip me in the well and wring me well out, but I demurred, +mainly on the ground that some time would be so consumed, and that my +horse was waiting on the other side. He at once said that he would send +for it, and called "Pat," a civilian servant, in military blue, who was +nursing a negro baby with an eye, it seemed, to obtain favor with the +mother. The willingness of the man surprised me, but he said that it was +a short cut of four miles to the railroad bridge, which had been +repaired and floored, and that he could readily recover the animal and +return at three o'clock. My benefactor, the officer, then mixed a julep, +which brought a comfortable glow to my face, and said, without parley-- + +"You're a reporter, on the----" + +He said further, that he had been Coroner's Surgeon in New York for many +years, and had learned to know the representatives of newspapers, one +from the other, by generic manner and appearance. Three correspondents +rode by at the time, neither of whom he knew personally, but designated +them promptly, with their precise connections. In short, we became +familiar directly, and he told me that his name was O'Gamlon, +Quartermaster of Meagher's Irish brigade, Sumner's corps. He was +established with the elderly gentleman,--whose name was Michie,--and had +two horses in the stable, at hand. He proposed to send me to the field, +with a note of introduction to the General, and another to Colonel +Baker, of the New York 88th (Irish), who could show me the lines and +relics of battle, and give me the lists of killed, wounded, and missing. +I repaired to his room, and arrayed myself in a fatigue officer's suit, +with clean underclothing, after which, descending, I climbed into his +saddle, and dashed off, with a mettlesome, dapper pony. The railroad +track was about a mile from the house, and the whole country, hereabout, +was sappy, dank, and almost barren. Scrub pines covered much of the +soil, and the cleared fields were dotted with charred stumps. The houses +were small and rude; the wild pigs ran like deer through the bushes and +across my path; vultures sailed by hundreds between me and the sky; the +lane was slippery and wound about slimy pools; the tree-tops, in many +places, were splintered by ball and shell. I crossed the railroad, cut +by a high bridge, and saw below the depot, at Savage's, now the +head-quarters of General Heintzelman. Above, in full view, were the +commands at Peach Orchard and Fairoaks, and to the south, a few furlongs +distant, the Williamsburg and Richmond turnpike ran, parallel with the +railway, toward the field of Seven Pines. The latter site, was simply +the junction of the turnpike with a roundabout way to Richmond, called +the "Nine Mile Road," and Fairoaks was the junction of the diverging +road with the railroad. Toward the latter I proceeded, and soon came to +the Irish brigade, located on both sides of the way, at Peach Orchard. + +They occupied the site of the most desperate fighting. + +A small farm hollowed in the swampy thicket and wood, was here divided +by the track, and a little farm-house, with a barn, granary, and a +couple of cabins, lay on the left side. In a hut to the right General +Thomas Francis Meagher made his head-quarters, and a little beyond, in +the edges of the swamp timber, lay his four regiments, under arms. + +A guard admonished me, in curt, lithe speech, that my horse must come no +further; for the brigade held the advance post, and I was even now +within easy musket range of the imperceptible enemy. An Irish boy +volunteered to hold the rein, while I paid my respects to the Commander. +I encountered him on the threshold of the hut, and he welcomed me in the +richest and most musical of brogues. Large, corpulent, and powerful of +body; plump and ruddy--or as some would say, bloated--of face; with +resolute mouth and heavy animal jaws; expressive nose, and piercing +blue-eyes; brown hair, mustache, and eyebrows; a fair forehead, and +short sinewy neck, a man of apparently thirty years of age, stood in the +doorway, smoking a cigar, and trotting his sword fretfully in the +scabbard. He wore the regulation blue cap, but trimmed plentifully with +gold lace, and his sleeves were slashed in the same manner. A star +glistened in his oblong shoulder-bar; a delicate gold cord seamed his +breeches from his Hessian boots to his red tasselled sword-sash; a +seal-ring shone from the hand with which he grasped his gauntlets, and +his spurs were set upon small aristocratic feet. + +A tolerable physiognomist would have resolved his temperament to an +intense sanguine. He was fitfully impulsive, as all his movements +attested, and liable to fluctuations of peevishness, melancholy, and +enthusiasm. This was "Meagher of the Sword," the stripling who made +issue with the renowned O'Connell, and divided his applauses; the +"revolutionist," who had outlived exile to become the darling of the +"Young Ireland" populace in his adopted country; the partisan, whose +fierce, impassioned oratory had wheeled his factious element of the +Democracy into the war cause; and the soldier, whose gallant bearing at +Bull Run had won him a brigadiership. He was, to my mind, a realization +of the Knight of Gwynne, or any of the rash, impolitic, poetic +personages in Lever and Griffin. Ambitious without a name; an adventurer +without a definite cause; an orator without policy; a General without +caution or experience, he had led the Irish brigade through the hottest +battles, and associated them with the most brilliant episodes of the +war. + +Every adjunct of the place was strictly Hibernian. The emerald green +standard entwined with the red, white, and blue; the gilt eagles on the +flag-poles held the Shamrock sprig in their beaks; the soldiers lounging +on guard, had "69" or "88" the numbers of their regiments, stamped on a +green hat-band; the brogue of every county from Down to Wexford fell +upon the ear; one might have supposed that the "year '98" had been +revived, and that these brawny Celts were again afield against their +Saxon countrymen. The class of lads upon the staff of Meagher, was an +odd contrast to the mass of staff officers in the "Grand Army." +Fox-hunters they all seemed to me, and there was one, who wore a long, +twisted, pomatumed moustache, who talked of steeple chases, all the +while, and wanted to have "a healthy dash" of some kind. A class of +Irish exquisites, they appeared to be,--good for a fight, a card-party, +or a hurdle jumping,--but entirely too Quixotic for the sober +requirements of Yankee warfare. When anything absurd, forlorn, or +desperate was to be attempted, the Irish brigade was called upon. But, +ordinarily, they were regarded, as a party of mad fellows, more +ornamental than useful, and entirely too clannish and factious to be +entrusted with power. Meagher himself seemed to be less erratic than his +subordinates; for he had married a New York lady, and had learned, by +observation, the superiority of the pelfish, plodding native before his +own fitful, impracticable race. His address was infatuating: but there +was a certain airiness, indicative of vanity, that revealed his great +characteristic. He loved applause, and to obtain it had frittered away +his fine abilities, upon petty, splendid, momentary triumphs. He was +generous to folly, and, I have no doubt, maintained his whole staff. + +When I requested to be shown the field, and its relics, Meagher said, in +his musical brogue, that I need only look around. + +"From the edge of that wood," he said, "the Irish brigade charged across +this field, and fell upon their faces in the railway cutting below. A +regiment of Alabamians lay in the timber beyond, with other Southerners +in their rear, and on both flanks. They thought that we were charging +bayonets, and reserved their fire till we should approach within +butchering distance. On the contrary, I ordered the boys to lie down, +and load and fire at will. In the end, sir, we cut them to pieces, and +five hundred of them were left along the swamp fence, that you see. +There isn't fifty killed and wounded in the whole Irish brigade." + +A young staff officer took me over the field. We visited first the +cottage and barns across the road, and found the house occupied by some +thirty wounded Federals. They lay in their blankets upon the +floors,--pale, helpless, hollow-eyed, making low moans at every breath. +Two or three were feverishly sleeping, and, as the flies revelled upon +their gashes, they stirred uneasily and moved their hands to and fro. By +the flatness of the covering at the extremities, I could see that +several had only stumps of legs. They had lost the sweet enjoyment of +walking afield, and were but fragments of men, to limp forever through a +painful life. Such wrecks of power I never beheld. Broad, brawny, +buoyant, a few hours ago, the loss of blood, and the nervous shock, +attendant upon amputation, has wellnigh drained them to the last drop. +Their faces were as white as the tidy ceiling; they were whining like +babies; and only their rolling eyes distinguished them from mutilated +corpses. Some seemed quite broken in spirit, and one, who could speak, +observing my pitiful glances toward his severed thigh, drew up his mouth +and chin, and wept as if with the loss of comeliness all his ambitions +were frustrated. A few attendants were brushing off the insects with +boughs of cedar, laving the sores, or administering cooling draughts. +The second story of the dwelling was likewise occupied by wounded, but +in a corner clustered the terrified farmer and his family, vainly +attempting to turn their eyes from the horrible spectacle. The farmer's +wife had a baby at her breast, and its little blue eyes were straying +over the room, half wonderingly, half delightedly. I thought, with a +shudder, of babyhood thus surrounded, and how, in the long future, its +first recollections of existence should be of booming guns and dying +soldiers! The cow-shed contained seven corpses, scarcely yet cold, lying +upon their backs, in a row, and fast losing all resemblance to man. The +farthest removed, seemed to be a diminutive boy, and I thought if he had +a mother, that she might sometime like to speak with me. When I took +their names, I thought what terrible agencies I was fulfilling. Beyond +my record, falsely spelled, perhaps, they would have no history. And +people call such deaths glorious! + +Upon a pile of lumber and some heaps of fence-rails, close by, sat some +dozens of wounded men, mainly Federals, with bandaged arms and faces, +and torn clothing. There was one, shot in the foot, who howled at every +effort to remove his boot; the blood leaked from a rent in the side, and +at last, the leather was cut, piecemeal from the flesh. These ate +voraciously, though in pain and fear; for a little soup and meat was +being doled out to them. + +The most horrible of all these scenes--which I have described perhaps +too circumstantially--was presented in the stable or barn, on the +premises, where a bare dingy floor--the planks of which tilted and +shook, as one made his way over them--was strewn with suffering people. +Just at the entrance sat a boy, totally blind, both eyes having been +torn out by a minnie-ball, and the entire bridge of the nose shot away. +He crouched against the gable, in darkness and agony, tremulously +fingering his knees. Near at hand, sat another, who had been shot +through the middle of the forehead, but singular to relate, he still +lived, though lunatic, and evidently beyond hope. Death had drawn blue +and yellow circles beneath his eyes, and he muttered incomprehensibly, +wagging his head. Two men, perfectly naked, lay in the middle of the +place, wounded in bowels and loins; and at a niche in the +weather-boarding, where some pale light peeped in, four mutilated +wretches were gaming with cards. I was now led a little way down the +railroad, to see the Confederates. The rain began to fall at this time, +and the poor fellows shut their eyes to avoid the pelting of the drops. +There was no shelter for them within a mile, and the mud absolutely +reached half way up their bodies. Nearly one third had suffered +amputation above the knee. There were about thirty at this spot, and I +was told that they were being taken to Meadow Station on hand cars. As +soon as the locomotive could pass the Chickahominy, they would be +removed to White House, and comfortably quartered in the Sanitary and +hospital boats. Some of them were fine, athletic, and youthful, and I +was directed to one who had been married only three days before. + +"Doctor," said one, feebly, "I feel very cold: do you think that this is +death? It seems to be creeping to my heart. I have no feeling, in my +feet, and my thighs are numb." + +A Federal soldier came along with a bucket of soup, and proceeded to +fill the canteens and plates. He appeared to be a relative of Mark +Tapley, and possessed much of that estimable person's jollity-- + +"Come, pardner," he said, "drink yer sup! now, old boy, this'ill warm +ye; sock it down and ye'll see yer sweetheart soon. You dead, +Ally-bammy? Go way, now. You'll live a hundred years, you will. That's +wot you'll do. Won't he, lad? What? Not any? Get out! You'll be slap on +your legs next week and hev another shot at me the week a'ter that. You +know you will! Oh! you Rebil! You, with the butternut trousers! Say! +Wake up and take some o' this. Hello! lad, pardner. Wake up!" + +He stirred him gently with his foot; he bent down to touch his face. A +grimness came over his merriment. The man was stiff and dumb. + +Colonel Baker, commanding the 88th New York, was a tall, martial +Irishman, who opened his heart and bottle at the same welcome, and took +me into the woods, where some of the slain still remained. He had slept +not longer than an hour, continuously, for seventy hours, and during the +past night had been called up by eight alarums. His men lay in the dark +thickets, without fires or blankets, as they had crossed the +Chickahominy in light marching order. + +"Many a lad," said he, "will escape the bullet for a lingering +consumption." + +We had proceeded but a very little way, when we came to a trodden place +beneath the pines, where a scalp lay in the leaves, and the imprint of a +body was plainly visible. The bayonet scabbard lay at one side, the +canteen at the other. We saw no corpses, however, as fatigue parties had +been burying the slain, and the whole wood was dotted with heaps of +clay, where the dead slept below in the oozy trenches. Quantities of +cartridges were scattered here and there, dropped by the retreating +Confederates. Some of the cartridge-pouches that I examined were +completely filled, showing that their possessors had not fired a single +round; others had but one cartridge missing. There were fragments of +clothing, hair, blankets, murderous bowie and dirk knives, spurs, +flasks, caps, and plumes, dropped all the way through the thicket, and +the trees on every hand were riddled with balls. I came upon a squirrel, +unwittingly shot during the fight. Not those alone who make the war must +feel the war! At one of the mounds the burying party had just completed +their work, and the men were throwing the last clods upon the remains. +They had dug pits of not more than two feet depth, and dragged the +bodies heedlessly to the edges, whence they were toppled down and +scantily covered. Much of the interring had been done by night, and the +flare of lanterns upon the discolored faces and dead eyes must have +been hideously effective. The grave-diggers, however, were practical +personages, and had probably little care for dramatic effects. They +leaned upon their spades, when the rites were finished, and a large, dry +person, who appeared to be privileged upon all occasions, said, +grinningly-- + +"Colonel, your honor, them boys 'ill niver stand forninst the Irish +brigade again. If they'd ha' known it was us, sur, begorra! they 'ud ha' +brought coffins wid 'em." + +"No, niver!" "They got their ticket for soup!" "We kivered them, fait', +will inough!" shouted the other grave-diggers. + +"Do ye belave, Colonel," said the dry person, again, "that thim +ribals'll lave us a chance to catch them. Be me sowl! I'm jist wishin to +war-rum me hands wid rifle practice." + +The others echoed loudly, that they were anxious to be ordered up, and +some said that "Little Mac'll give 'em his big whack now." The presence +of death seemed to have added no fear of death to these people. Having +tasted blood, they now thirsted for it, and I asked myself, +forebodingly, if a return to civil life would find them less ferocious. + +I dined with Colonel Owen of the 69th Pennsylvania (Irish) volunteers. +He had been a Philadelphia lawyer, and was, by all odds, the most +consistent and intelligent soldier in the brigade. He had been also a +schoolmaster for many years, but appeared to be in his element at the +head of a regiment, and was generally admitted to be an efficient +officer. He shared the prevailing antipathy to West Point graduates; for +at this time the arrogance of the regular officers, and the pride of the +volunteers, had embittered each against the other. His theory of +military education was, the establishment of State institutions, and the +reorganization of citizenship upon a strict militia basis. After dinner, +I rode to "Seven Pines," and examined some of the rifle pits used during +the engagement. A portion of this ground only had been retaken, and I +was warned to keep under cover; for sharpshooters lay close by, in the +underbrush. A visit to the graves of some Federal soldiers completed the +inspection. Some of the regiments had interred their dead in trenches; +but the New Englanders were all buried separately, and smooth slabs were +driven at the heads of the mounds, whereon were inscribed the names and +ages of the deceased. Some of the graves were freshly sodded, and +enclosed by rails and logs. They evidenced the orderly, religious habits +of the sons of the Puritans; for, with all his hardness of manner and +selfishness of purpose, I am inclined to think that the Yankee is the +best manifestation of Northern character. He loves his home, at least, +and he reveres his deceased comrades. + +When I returned to Michie's, at six o'clock, the man "Pat," with a +glowing face, came out to the gate. + +"That's a splendid baste of yours, sur," he said,--"and sich a boi to +gallop." + +"My horse doesn't generally gallop," I returned, doubtfully. + +When I passed to the barn in the rear, I found to my astonishment, a +sorrel stallion, magnificently accoutred. He thrust his foot at me +savagely, as I stood behind him, and neighed till he frightened the +spiders. + +"Pat," said I, wrathfully, "you have stolen some Colonel's nag, and I +shall be hanged for the theft." + +"Fait, sur," said Pat, "my ligs was gone intirely, wid long walkin', and +I sazed the furst iligant baste I come to." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +STUART'S RAID. + + +The old Chickahominy bridges were soon repaired, and the whole of +Franklin's corps crossed to the south side. McClellan moved his +head-quarters to Dr. Trent's farm, a half-mile from Michie's, and the +latter gentleman's fields and lawn were made white with tents. Among +others, the Chief of Cavalry, Stoneman, pitched his canopy under the +young oaks, and the whole reserve artillery was parked in the woods, +close to the house. The engineer brigade encamped in the adjacent +peach-orchard and corn-field, and the wheat was trampled by battery and +team-horses. Smith's division now occupied the hills on the south side +of the Chickahominy, and the Federal line stretched southeastward, +through Fairoaks, to White Oak Swamp, seven miles away. Porter's corps +still lay between Mechanicsville and New Bridge, on the north bank of +the river, and my old acquaintances, the Pennsylvania Reserves, had +joined the army, and now formed its extreme right wing. This odd +arrangement of forces was a subject of frequent comment: for the right +was thus four miles, and the left fourteen miles, from Richmond. The +four corps at once commenced to entrench, and from Smith's redoubt on +the river bluffs, to Casey's entrenched hill at White Oak, a continuous +line of moderately strong earthworks extended. But Porter and the +Reserves were not entrenched at all, and only a few horsemen were +picketed across the long reach of country from Meadow Bridge to Hanover +Court House. Both flanks, in fact, were open, and the left was a day's +march from the right. We were, meantime, drawing our supplies from White +House, twenty miles in the rear; there were no railroad guards along the +entire line, and about five companies protected the grand depot. Two +gunboats lay in the river, however, and as the teams still went to and +fro, a second depot was established at a place called Putney's or +"Garlic," five miles above White House. I went often, and at all hours +of the day and night, over this exposed and lonely route. My horse had +been, meantime, returned to the Provost Quarters, and the rightful owner +had obtained his stallion in exchange. I rode the said stallion but +once, when he proceeded to walk sideways, and several times rivalled the +renowned Pegasus in his aerial flights. The man named "Pat" essayed to +show his paces one day, but the stallion took him straight into +Stoneman's wall-tent, and that officer shook the Irishman blind. My +little bob-tailed brownie was thrice endeared to me by our separation; +but I warned the man "Pat" to keep clear of him thereafter. The man +"Pat" was a very eccentric person, who slept on the porch at Michie's, +and used to wake up the house in the small hours, with the story that +somebody was taking the chickens and the horses. He was the most +impulsive person that I ever knew, and when I entrusted despatches to +him once, he put them on the hospital boat by mistake, and they got to +New York at the close of the campaign. + +Michie's soon became a correspondents' rendezvous, and we have had at +one time, at dinner, twelve representatives of five journals. The Hon. +Henry J. Raymond, Ex-Lieutenant Governor of New York, and proprietor of +the _Times_ newspaper, was one of our family for several weeks. He had +been a New Hampshire lad, and, strolling to New York, took to journalism +at the age of nineteen years. His industry and probity obtained him both +means and credit, and, also, what few young journalists obtain, social +position. He was the founder of Harper's Magazine, one of the most +successful serials in America, and many English authors are indebted to +him for a trans-Atlantic recognition of their works. He edited an +American edition of _Jane Eyre_ before it had attracted attention in +England, and conducted the _Courier and Enquirer_ with great success for +many years. The _Times_ is now the most reputable of the great New York +dailies, and Mr. Raymond has made it influential both at home and +abroad. He has retained, amidst his social and political successes, a +predilection for "Bohemia," and became an indefatigable correspondent. I +rode out with him sometimes, and heard, with interest, his accounts of +the Italian war, whither he also went in furtherance of journalism. +Among our quill cavalry-men was a fat gentleman from Philadelphia, who +had great fear of death, and who used to "tear" to White House, if the +man "Pat" shot a duck in the garden. He was a hearty, humorous person, +however, and an adept at searching for news. + +O'Ganlon rode with me several times to White House, and we have crossed +the railroad bridge together, a hundred feet in the air, when the planks +were slippery, the sides sloping, and the way so narrow that two horses +could not pass abreast. He was a true Irishman, and leaped barricades +and ditches without regard to his neck. He had, also, a partiality for +by-roads that led through swamps and close timber. He discovered one day +a cow-path between Daker's and an old Mill at Grapevine Bridge. The long +arms of oaks and beech trees reached across it, and young Absalom might +have been ensnared by the locks at every rod therein. Through this +devious and dangerous way, O'Ganlon used to dash, whooping, guiding his +horse with marvellous dexterity, and bantering me to follow. I so far +forgot myself generally, as to behave quite as irrationally, and once +returned to Michie's with a bump above my right eye, that rivalled my +head in size. At other times I rode alone, and my favorite route was an +unfrequented lane called the "Quaker Road," that extended from Despatch +Station, on the line of rail, to Daker's, on the New Bridge Road. Much +of this way was shut in by thick woods and dreary pine barrens; but the +road was hard and light, and a few quiet farms lay by the roadside. +There was a mill, also, three miles from Daker's, where a turbulent +creek crossed the route, and at an oak-wood, near by, I used to frighten +the squirrels, so that they started up by pairs and families; I have +chased them in this way a full mile, and they seemed to know me after a +time. We used to be on the best of terms, and they would, at length, +stand their ground saucily, and chatter, the one with the other, +flourishing their bushy appendages, like so many straggling "Bucktails." +When I turned from the beaten road, where the ruts were like a ditch and +parapet, and dead horses blackened the fields; where teams went creaking +day and night, and squads of sabremen drove pale, barefooted prisoners +to and fro like swine or cattle, the silence and solitude of this +by-lane were beautiful as sleep. Many of the old people living in this +direction had not seen even a soldier or a sutler, save some mounted +scouts that vanished in clouds of dust; but they had listened with awe +to the music of cannon, though they did not know either the place or the +result of the fighting. If fate has ordained me to survive the +Rebellion, I shall some day revisit these localities; they are stamped +legibly upon my mind, and I know almost every old couple in New Kent or +Hanover counties. I have lunched at all the little springs on the road, +and eaten corn-bread and bacon at most of the cabins. I have swam the +Pamunkey at dozens of places, and when my finances were low, and my nag +hungry, have organized myself into a company of foragers, and broken +into the good people's granaries. I do not know any position that +admitted of as much adventure and variety. There was always enough +danger to make my journeys precariously pleasant, and, when wearied of +the saddle, my friends at Daker's and Michie's had a savory julep and a +comfortable bed always prepared. I had more liberty than General +McClellan, and a great deal more comfort. + +Mrs. Michie was a warm-hearted, impulsive Virginia lady, with almost New +England industry, and from very scanty materials she contrived to spread +a bountiful table. Her coffee was bubbling with rich cream, and her +"yellow pone" was overrunning with butter. A cleanly black girl shook a +fly-brush over our shoulders as we ate, and the curious custom was +maintained of sending a julep to our bedrooms before we rose in the +mornings. Our hostess was too hospitable to be a bitter partisan, and +during five weeks of tenure at her residence, we never held an hour's +controversy. She had troubles, but she endured them patiently. She saw, +one by one, articles of property sacrificed or stolen; she heard the +servants speaking impudently; and her daughters and son were in a remote +part of the State. The young man was a Confederate Surgeon at Lynchburg, +and the young ladies had taken refuge in Rockbridge County. The latter +were, from all accounts, pretty and intelligent, and one day, as I +examined some parcels of books in the parlors, I found a volume of +amateur poems that some laboring bard had dedicated to the youngest of +them. Mr. Michie was a fine old Virginia gentleman, who remembered +Thomas Jefferson well, as he had been reared in that great statesman's +village, Charlottesville. He told me many anecdotes of Patrick Henry, +John Randolph, and other distinguished patriots. + +I wrote in one of the absent daughter's albums the following lines:-- + + Alas! for the pleasant peace we knew, + In the happy summers of long ago, + When the rivers were bright, and the skies were blue, + By the homes of Henrico: + We dreamed of wars that were far away, + And read, as in fable, of blood that ran, + Where the James and Chickahominy stray, + Through the groves of Powhattan. + + 'Tis a dream come true; for the afternoons + Blow bugles of war, by our fields of grain, + And the sabres clink, as the dark dragoons + Come galloping up the lane; + The pigeons have flown from the eves and tiles, + The oat-blades have grown to blades of steel, + And the Huns swarm down the leafy aisles + Of the grand old Commonweal. + + They have torn the Indian fisher's nets, + Where flows Pamunkey toward the sea, + And blood runs red in the rivulets, + That babbled and brawled in glee; + The corpses are strewn in Fairoak glades, + The hoarse guns thunder from Drury's Ridge, + The fishes that played in the cove, deep shades, + Are frightened from Bottom Bridge. + + I would that the year were blotted away, + And the strawberry grew in the hedge again; + That the scythe might swing in the tangled hay, + And the squirrel romp in the glen; + The walnut sprinkle the clover slopes, + Where graze the sheep and the spotted steer; + And the winter restore the golden hopes, + That were trampled in a year. + +On Friday, June 13, I made one of my customary trips to White House, in +the company of O'Ganlon. The latter individual, in the course of a +"healthy dash" that he made down the railroad ties,--whereby two shoes +shied from his mare's hoofs,--reined into a quicksand that threatened to +swallow his steed. He afterward left his sword at Summit Station, and I, +obligingly, rode back three miles to recover it. We dined at Daker's, +where Glumley sat beside the baby-face, pursuant to his art-duties, and +the plump, red-cheeked miss sat beside me. O'Ganlon was entertained by +the talkative daughter, who drove him quite mad; so that, when we +resumed our horses, he insisted upon a second "healthy dash," and +disappeared through a strip of woods. I followed, rationally, and had +come to a blacksmith's shop, at the corner of a diverging road, when I +was made aware of some startling occurrence in my rear. A mounted +officer dashed past me, shouting some unintelligible tidings, and he was +followed in quick succession by a dozen cavalry-men, who rode as if the +foul fiend was at their heels. Then came a teamster, bare-backed, whose +rent harness trailed in the road, and directly some wagons that were +halted before the blacksmith's, wheeled smartly, and rattled off towards +White House. + +"What is the matter, my man?" I said to one of these lunatics, +hurriedly. + +"The Rebels are behind!" he screamed, with white lips, and vanished. + +I thought that it might be as well to take some other road, and so +struck off, at a dapper pace, in the direction of the new landing at +Putney's or "Garlic." At the same instant I heard the crack of carbines +behind, and they had a magical influence upon my speed. I rode along a +stretch of chestnut and oak wood, attached to the famous Webb estate, +and when I came to a rill that passed by a little bridge, under the way, +turned up its sandy bed and buried myself in the under-brush. A few +breathless moments only had intervened, when the roadway seemed shaken +by a hundred hoofs. The imperceptible horsemen yelled like a war-party +of Camanches, and when they had passed, the carbines rang ahead, as if +some bloody work was being done at every rod. + +I remained a full hour under cover; but as no fresh approaches added to +my mystery and fear, I sallied forth, and kept the route to Putney's, +with ears erect and expectant pulses. I had gone but a quarter of a +mile, when I discerned, through the gathering gloom, a black, misshapen +object, standing in the middle of the road. As it seemed motionless, I +ventured closer, when the thing resolved to a sutler's wagon, charred +and broken, and still smoking from the incendiaries' torch. Further on, +more of these burned wagons littered the way, and in one place two slain +horses marked the roadside. When I emerged upon the Hanover road, sounds +of shrieks and shot issued from the landing at "Garlic," and, in a +moment, flames rose from the woody shores and reddened the evening. I +knew by the gliding blaze that vessels had been fired and set adrift, +and from my place could see the devouring element climbing rope and +shroud. In a twinkling, a second light appeared behind the woods to my +right, and the intelligence dawned upon me that the cars and houses at +Tunstall's Station had been burned. By the fitful illumination, I rode +tremulously to the old head-quarters at Black Creek, and as I +conjectured, the depot and train were luridly consuming. The vicinity +was marked by wrecked sutler's stores, the embers of wagons, and toppled +steeds. Below Black Creek the ruin did not extend: but when I came to +White House the greatest confusion existed. Sutlers were taking down +their booths, transports were slipping their cables, steamers moving +down the stream. Stuart had made the circuit of the Grand Army to show +Lee where the infantry could follow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FEVER DREAMS IN WAR. + + +A subtle enemy had of late joined the Confederate cause against the +invaders. He was known as Pestilence, and his footsteps were so soft +that neither scout nor picket could bar his entrance. His paths were +subterranean,--through the tepid swamp water, the shallow graves of the +dead; and aerial,--through the stench of rotting animals, the nightly +miasms of bog and fen. His victims were not pierced, or crushed, or +mangled, but their deaths were not less terrible, because more +lingering. They seemed to wither and shrivel away; their eyes became at +first very bright, and afterward lustreless; their skins grew hard and +sallow; their lips faded to a dry whiteness; all the fluids of the body +were consumed; and they crumbled to corruption before life had fairly +gone from them. + +This visitation has been, by common consent, dubbed "the Chickahominy +fever," and some have called it the typhus fever. The troops called it +the "camp fever," and it was frequently aggravated by affections of the +bowels and throat. The number of persons that died with it was fabulous. +Some have gone so far as to say that the army could have better afforded +the slaughter of twenty thousand men, than the delay on the +Chickahominy. The embalmers were now enjoying their millennium, and a +steam coffin manufactory was erected at White House, where twenty men +worked day and night, turning out hundreds of pine boxes. I had, +occasion, in one of my visits to the depot, to repair to the tent of one +of the embalmers. He was a sedate, grave person, and when I saw him, +standing over the nude, hard corpse, he reminded me of the implacable +vulture, looking into the eyes of Prometheus. His battery and tube were +pulsing, like one's heart and lungs, and the subject was being drained +at the neck. I compared the discolored body with the figure of _Ianthe_, +as revealed in Queen Mab, but failed to see the beautifulness of death. + +"If you could only make him breathe, Professor," said an officer +standing by. + +The dry skin of the embalmer broke into chalky dimples, and he grinned +very much as a corpse might do:-- + +"Ah!" he said, "_then_ there would be money made." + +To hear these embalmers converse with each other was like listening to +the witch sayings in Macbeth. It appeared that the arch-fiend of +embalming was a Frenchman named Sonca, or something of that kind, and +all these worthies professed to have purchased his "system." They told +grisly anecdotes of "operations," and experimented with chemicals, and +congratulated each other upon the fever. They would, I think, have piled +the whole earth with catacombs of stony corpses, and we should have no +more green graves, but keep our dead with us as household ornaments. + +The negroes did not suffer with the fever, although their quarters were +close and filthy. Their Elysium had come; there was no more work. They +slept and danced and grinned, and these three actions made up the sum of +their existence. Such people to increase and multiply I never beheld. +There were scores of new babies every day; they appeared to be born by +twins and triplets; they learned to walk in twenty-four hours; and their +mothers were strong and hearty in less time. Such soulless, lost, +degraded men and women did nowhere else exist. The divinity they never +had; the human they had forgotten; they did no great wrongs,--thieving, +quarrelling, deceiving,--but they failed to do any rights, and their +worship was animal, and almost profane. They sang incongruous mixtures +of hymns and field songs:-- + + "Oh! bruddern, watch an' pray, _watch_ an' pray! + De harvest am a ripenin' our Lord an' Marser say! + Oh! ho! yo! dat ole coon, de serpent, ho! oh! + Watch an' pray!" + +I have heard them sing such medleys with tears in their eyes, apparently +fervid and rapt. A very gray old man would lead off, keeping time to the +words with his head and hands; the mass joining in at intervals, and +raising a screaming alleluja. Directly they would all rise, link hands, +and proceed to dance the accompaniment. The motion would be slow at +first, and the method of singing maintained; after a time they would +move more rapidly, shouting the lines together; and suddenly becoming +convulsed with strange excitement, they would toss up their arms, leap, +fall, groan, and, seemingly, lose consciousness. Their prayers were +earnest and vehement, but often degenerated to mere howls and noises. +Some of both sexes had grand voices, that rang like bugles, and the very +impropriety of their music made it fascinating. It used to seem to me +that any of the great composers might have borrowed advantageously some +of those original negro airs. In many cases, their owners came within +the lines, registered their allegiance, and recovered the negroes. These +were often veritable Shylocks, that claimed their pounds of flesh, with +unblushing reference to the law. The poor Africs went back cowed and +tearful, and it is probable that they were afterward sent to the far +South, that terrible _terra incognita_ to a border slave. + +Among the houses to which I resorted was that of a Mr. Hill, one mile +from White House. He had a thousand acres of land and a valuable fishery +on the Pamunkey. The latter was worth, in good seasons, two thousand +dollars a year. He had fished and farmed with negroes; but these had +leagued to run away, and he sent them across the river to a second farm +that he owned in King William County. It was at Hill's house that the +widow Custis was visiting when young Washington reined at the gate, on +his road to Williamsburg. With reverent feelings I used to regard the +old place, and Hill frequently stole away from his formidable military +household, to talk with me on the front porch. Perhaps in the same +moonlights, with the river shimmering at their feet, and the grapevine +shadowing the creaky corners,--their voices softened, their chairs drawn +very close, their hands touching with a thrill,--the young soldier and +his affianced had made their courtship. I sometimes sat breathless, +thinking that their figures had come back, and that I heard them +whispering. + +Hill was a Virginian,--large, hospitable, severe, proud,--and once I +ventured to speak upon the policy of slavery, with a view to develop his +own relation to the "institution." He said, with the swaggering manner +of his class, that slavery was a "domestic" institution, and that +therefore no political law could reach it. I insinuated, quietly, that +no political law should therefore sustain it, and took exception to the +idea that what was domestic was therefore without the province of +legislation. When I exampled polygamy, Hill became passionate, and asked +if I was an abolitionist. I opined that I was not, and he so far +relented as to say that slavery was sanctioned by divine and human laws; +that it was ultimately to be embraced by all white nationalities, and +that the Caucasian was certain, in the end, to subjugate and possess +every other race. He pointed, with some shrewdness, to the condition of +the Chinese in California and Australia, and epitomized the gradual +enslaving of the Mongol and Malay in various quarters of the world. + +"As to our treatment of niggers," he said, curtly, "I never prevaricate, +as some masters do, in that respect. I whip my niggers when they want +it! If they are saucy, or careless, or lazy, I have 'em flogged. About +twice a year every nigger has to be punished. If they ain't roped over +twice a year, they take on airs and want to be gentlemen. A nigger is +bound by no sentiment of duty or affection. You must keep him in trim by +fear." + +Among the victims of the swamp fever, were Major Larrabee, and +Lieutenant-Colonel Emory, of the Fifth Wisconsin regiment; I had been +indebted to them for many a meal and draught of spirits. I had talked +with each of them, when the camps were darkened and the soldiery asleep. +Larrabee was a soldier by nature,--adventurous, energetic, intrepid, +aggressive. He had been a country Judge in Wisconsin, and afterwards a +member of Congress. When the war commenced, he enlisted as a common +soldier, but public sentiment forced the State Government to make him a +Major. Emory was a mild, reflective, unimpassioned gentleman,--too +modest to be eminent, too scrupulous to be ambitious. The men were +opposites, but both capital companions, and they were seized with the +fever about the same time. The Major was removed to White House, and I +visited him one day in the hospital quarters. Surgeon General Watson, +hospital commandant, took me through the quarters; there was quite a +town of sick men; they lay in wall-tents--about twenty in a tent,--and +there were daily deaths; those that caught the fever, were afterwards +unfit for duty, as they took relapses on resuming the field. The tents +were pitched in a damp cornfield; for the Federals so reverenced their +national shrines, that they forbade White House and lawn to be used for +hospital purposes. Under the best circumstances, a field hospital is a +comfortless place; but here the sun shone like a furnace upon the tents, +and the rains drowned out the inmates. If a man can possibly avoid it, +let him never go to the hospital: for he will be called a "skulker," or +a "shyster," that desires to escape the impending battle. Twenty hot, +feverish, tossing men, confined in a small tent, like an oven, and +exposed to contumely and bad food, should get a wholesome horror of war +and glory. + +So far as I could observe and learn, the authorities at White House +carried high heads, and covetous hands. In brief, they lived like +princes, and behaved like knaves. There was one--whose conduct has never +been investigated--who furnished one of the deserted mansions near by, +and brought a lady from the North to keep it in order. He drove a span +that rivalled anything in Broadway, and his wines were luscious. His +establishment reminded me of that of Napoleon III. in the late Italian +war, and yet, this man was receiving merely a Colonel's pay. My +impression is that everybody at White House robbed the Government, and +in the end, to cover their delinquencies, these scoundrels set fire to +an immense quantity of stores, and squared their accounts thus: "Burned +on the Pamunkey, June 28, commissary, quartermaster's, and hospital +stores, one million dollars." + +The time was now drawing to a close that I should pass amid the familiar +scenes of this region. The good people at Daker's were still kindly; but +having climbed into the great bed one night, I found my legs aching, my +brain violently throbbing, my chest full of pain and my eyes weak. When +I woke in the morning my lips were fevered, I could eat nothing, and +when I reached my saddle, it seemed that I should faint. In a word, the +Chickahominy fever had seized upon me. My ride to New Bridge was marked +by great agony, and during much of the time I was quite blind. I turned +off, at Gaines's Mill, to rest at Captain Kingwalt's; but the old +gentleman was in the grip of the ague, and I forebore to trouble him +with a statement of my grievances. Skyhiski made me a cup of tea, which +I could not drink, and Fogg made me lie on his "poncho." It was like old +times come back, to hear them all speak cheerfully, and the man Clover +said that if there "warn't" a battle soon, he knew what he'd do, he +did! he'd go home, straight as a buck! + +"Becoz," said the man Clover, flourishing his hands, "I volunteered to +fight. To _fight_, sir! not to dig and drive team. Here we air, sir, +stuck in the mud, burnin' with fever, livin' on hardtack. And thair's +Richmond! Just thair! You can chuck a stone at it, if you mind to. A'ter +awhile them rebbils'll pop out, and fix us. Why ain't we led up, +sa-a-y?" + +The man Clover represented common sentiment among the troops at this +time; but I told him that in all probability he would soon be gratified +with a battle. My prediction was so far correct, that when I met the man +Clover on the James River, a week afterward, he said, with a rueful +countenance-- + +"Sa-a-a-y! It never rains but it pours, does it?" + +As I rode from the camp of the Pennsylvania Reserves, at noon, on the +21st of June, I seemed to feel a gloomy premonition of the calamities +that were shortly to fall upon the "Army of the Potomac." I passed in +front of Hogan house; through the wood above the mill; along Gaines's +Lane, between his mansion and his barn; across a creek, tributary to the +Chickahominy; and up the ploughed hills by a military road, toward +Grapevine Bridge. Lieutenant-Colonel Heath, of the Fifth Maine Regiment, +was riding with me, and we stopped at the tip of an elevated field to +look back upon the scene. I was very sick and weary, and I lay my head +upon the mane of my nag, while Heath threw a leg across his saddle +pommel, and straightened his slight figure; we both gazed earnestly. + +The river lay in the hollow or ravine to the left, and a few farm-houses +sat among the trees on the hill-tops beyond. A battery was planted at +each house, and we could see the lines of red-clay parapets marking the +sites. From the roof of one of the houses floated a speck of +canvas,--the revolutionary flag. A horseman or two moved shadow-like +across a slope of yellow grain. Before and back the woods belted the +landscape, and some pickets of both sides paced the river brink: they +did not fire upon each other. + +Our side of the Chickahominy was not less peaceful. A couple of +batteries lay below us, in the meadows; but the horses were dozing in +the harness, and the gunners, standing bolt upright at the breech, +seemed parts of their pieces; the teamsters lay grouped in the long +grass. Immediately in front, Gaines's Mansion and outhouses spotted a +hillside, and we could note beyond a few white tents shining through the +trees. The roof of the old mill crouched between a medley of wavy fields +and woods, to our right, and just at our feet a tiny rill divided +Gaines's Mill from our own. Behind us, over the wilderness of swamp and +bog-timber, rose Smith's redoubt, with the Federal flag flaunting from +the rampart. + +"Townsend," said Heath, as he swept the whole country with his keen eye, +"do you know that we are standing upon historic ground?" + +He had been a poet and an orator, and he seemed to feel the solemnity of +the place. + +"It may become historic to-morrow," I replied. + +"It is so to-day," he said, earnestly; "not from battle as yet; _that_ +may or may not happen; but in the pause before the storm there is +something grand; and this is the pause." + +He took his soft beaver in his hand, and his short red hair stood +pugnaciously back from his fine forehead. + +"The men that have been here already," he added, "consecrated the place; +young McClellan, and bluff, bull-headed Franklin; the one-armed devil, +Kearney, and handsome Joe Hooker; gray, gristly Heintzelman; +white-bearded, insane Sumner; Stuart, Lee, Johnston, the Hills----" + +"Why not," said I, laughingly, "Eric the red,--the redoubtable Heath!" + +"Why not?" he said, with a flourish; "Fate may have something in store +for me, as well as for these." + +I have thought, since, how terribly our light conversation found +verification in fact. If I had said to Heath, that, at the very moment, +Jefferson Davis and his Commander-in-chief were sitting in the dwelling +opposite, reconnoitring and consulting; that, even now, their telescopes +were directed upon us; that the effect of their counsel was to be +manifest in less than a week; that one of the bloodiest battles of +modern times was to be fought beside and around us; that six days of the +most terrible fighting known in history were to ensue; that my friend +and comrade was standing upon the same clods which would be reddened, at +his next coming, with his heart's blood; and that the trenches were to +yawn beneath his hoofs, to swallow himself and his steed,--if I had +foretold these things as they were to occur, I wonder if the "pause +before the storm" would have been less awful, and our ride campward less +sedate. Poor Heath! Gallant New Englander! he called at my bedside, the +sixth day following, as I lay full of pain, fear, and fever, and after +he bade me good by, I heard his horse's hoofs ringing down the lane. Ten +minutes afterward he was shot through the head. + +When I reached Michie's, at three o'clock, I had to be helped from the +saddle, and the fever was raging in my whole body before nightfall. My +hands were flushed, my face hot, but my feet were quite cold, and I was +seized with chills that seemed to shake my teeth from my head. Mrs. +Michie made me a bowl of scorching tea, and one of the black-girls +bathed my limbs in boiling water. The fever dreams came to me that +night, in snatches of burning sleep, and toward morning I lay restlessly +awake, moving from side to side, famishing for drink, but rejecting it, +when they brought it to my lips. The next day, my kind hostess gave me +some nourishing soup, but after a vain effort to partake of it, I was +compelled to put it aside. O'Ganlon procured some pickled fruit and +vegetables from a sutler, which I ate voraciously, quaffing the vinegar +like wine. Some of my regimental friends heard of my illness, and they +sent me quiet luxuries, which gladdened me, though I did not eat. During +the day I had some moments of ease, when I tried to read. There was a +copy of Wordsworth's poems in the house, and I used to repeat stanzas +from "Peter Bell," till they rang, in eddies of rhyme, through my weak +brain, and continued to scan and jangle far into the nights. Some of +these fever-dreams were like delusions in delirium: peopled with +monsters, that grinned and growled. Little black globules used to leer +from corners, and after a time they began to revolve toward me, +increasing as they came, and at length rolling like mountains of surge. +I frequently woke with a scream, and found my body in profuse +perspiration. There were fiery snakes, also, that, at first, moved +slowly around me, and I followed them with red and terrified eyes. After +awhile they flashed in circles of lightning, and hissed showers of +sparks, until I became quite crazed with fear. The most horrible +apparitions used to come to my bedside, and if I dropped to sleep with +any thought half formed or half developed, the odd half of that thought +became impregnated, somehow, and straightway loomed up a goblin, or a +giant, or a grotesque something, that proceeded to torture me, like a +sort of Frankenstein, for having made it. Amid all these ghastly things, +there came beautiful glimpses of form, scene, and sensation, that +straightway changed to horrors. I remember, for example, that I was +gliding down a stream, where the boughs overhead were as shady as the +waters, and there were holy eyes that seemed to cool my fever; but +suddenly the stream became choked with corpses, that entangled their +dead limbs with mine, until I strangled and called aloud,--waking up +O'Ganlon and some reporters who proposed to give me morphine, that I +might not alarm the house. + +How the poor soldiers fared, in the hot hospitals, I shudder to think; +but a more merciful decree spared my life, and kind treatment met me at +every hand. Otherwise, I believe, I should not be alive to-day to write +this story; for the fever had seized me in its severest form, and I had +almost tutored myself to look upon my end, far from my home and on the +very eve of my manhood. + +O'Ganlon, at last, resolved to send me to White House, and started +thither one day, to obtain a berth for me upon a Sanitary steamer. The +next day an ambulance came to the door. I tried to sit up in bed, and +succeeded; I feebly robed myself and staggered to the stairs. I crawled, +rather than walked, to the hall below; but when I took a chair, and felt +the cool breeze from the oaks fanning my hair, I seemed to know that I +should get well. + +"Boom! Boom! Boom!" pealed some cannon at the moment, and all the +windows shook with the concussion. + +Directly we heard volleys of musketry, and then the camps were astir. +Horses went hither and thither; signal flags flashed to-and-fro; a +battery of the Reserve Artillery dashed down the lane. + +I felt my strength coming back with the excitement; I even smiled feebly +as the guns thundered past. + +"Take away your ambulance, old fellow," I said, "I shan't go home till I +see a battle." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TWO DAYS OF BATTLE. + + +The Confederates had been waiting two months for McClellan's advance. +Emboldened by his delay they had gathered the whole of their available +strength from remote Tennessee, from the Mississippi, and from the +coast, until, confident and powerful, they crossed Meadow Bridge on the +26th of June, 1862, and drove in our right wing at Mechanicsville. The +reserves of Gen. McCall were stationed here; they made a wavering +resistance,--wherein four companies of Bucktails were captured +bodily,--and fell back at nightfall upon Porter's Corps, at Gaines's +Mill. Fitz John Porter commanded the brigades of Gens. Sykes and +Morrell,--the former made up solely of regulars. He appeared to have +been ignorant of the strength of the attacking party, and he telegraphed +to McClellan, early on Thursday evening, that he required no +reinforcements, and that he could hold his ground. The next morning he +was attacked in front and flank; Stewart's cavalry fell on his right, +and turned it at Old Church. He formed at noon in new line of battle, +from Gaines's House, along the Mill Road to New Coal Harbor; but +stubbornly persisted in the belief that he could not be beaten. By three +o'clock he had been driven back two miles, and all his energies were +unavailing to recover a foot of ground. He hurled lancers and cavalry +upon the masses of Jackson and the Hills, but the butternut infantry +formed impenetrable squares, hemmed in with rods of steel, and as the +horsemen galloped around them, searching for previous points, they were +swept from their saddles with volleys of musketry. He directed the +terrible fire of his artillery upon them, but though the gray footmen +fell in heaps, they steadily advanced, closing up the gaps, and their +lines were like long stretches of blaze and ball. Their fire never +slackened nor abated. They loaded and moved forward, column on column, +like so many immortals that could not be vanquished. The scene from the +balloon, as Lowe informed me, was awful beyond all comparison,--of +puffing shells and shrieking shrapnel, with volleys that shattered the +hills and filled the air with deathly whispers. Infantry, artillery, and +horse turned the Federal right from time to time, and to preserve their +order of battle the whole line fell back toward Grapevine Bridge. At +five o'clock Slocum's Division of volunteers crossed the creek from the +south side, and made a desperate dash upon the solid columns of the +Confederates. At the same time Toombs's Georgia Brigade charged Smith's +redoubt from the south side, and there was a probability of the whole of +both armies engaging before dark. + +My fever of body had so much relinquished to my fever of mind, that at +three o'clock I called for my horse, and determined to cross the bridge, +that I might witness the battle. + +It was with difficulty that I could make my way along the narrow +corduroy, for hundreds of wounded were limping from the field to the +safe side, and ammunition wagons were passing the other way, driven by +reckless drivers who should have been blown up momentarily. Before I had +reached the north side of the creek, an immense throng of panic-stricken +people came surging down the slippery bridge. A few carried muskets, but +I saw several wantonly throw their pieces into the flood, and as the +mass were unarmed, I inferred that they had made similar dispositions. +Fear, anguish, cowardice, despair, disgust, were the predominant +expressions of the upturned faces. The gaunt trees, towering from the +current, cast a solemn shadow upon the moving throng, and as the evening +dimness was falling around them, it almost seemed that they were +engulfed in some cataract. I reined my horse close to the side of a +team, that I might not be borne backward by the crowd; but some of the +lawless fugitives seized him by the bridle, and others attempted to pull +me from the saddle. + +"Gi' up that hoss!" said one, "what business you got wi' a hoss?" + +"That's my critter, and I am in for a ride; so you get off!" said +another. + +I spurred my pony vigorously with the left foot, and with the right +struck the man at the bridle under the chin. The thick column parted +left and right, and though a howl of hate pursued me, I kept straight to +the bank, cleared the swamp, and took the military route parallel with +the creek, toward the nearest eminence. At every step of the way I met +wounded persons. A horseman rode past me, leaning over his pommel, with +blood streaming from his mouth and hanging in gouts from his saturated +beard. The day had been intensely hot and black boys were besetting the +wounded with buckets of cool lemonade. It was a common occurrence for +the couples that carried the wounded on stretchers to stop on the way, +purchase a glass of the beverage, and drink it. Sometimes the blankets +on the stretchers were closely folded, and then I knew that the man +within was dead. A little fellow, who used his sword for a cane, stopped +me on the road, and said-- + +"See yer! This is the ball that jes' fell out o' my boot." + +He handed me a lump of lead as big as my thumb, and pointed to a rent in +his pantaloons, whence the drops rolled down his boots. + +"I wouldn't part with that for suthin' handsome," he said; "it'll be +nice to hev to hum." + +As I cantered away he shouted after me-- + +"Be sure you spell my name right! it's Smith, with an 'E'--S-M-I-T-H-E." + +In one place I met five drunken men escorting a wounded sergeant; the +latter had been shot in the jaw, and when he attempted to speak, the +blood choked his articulation. + +"You let go him, pardner," said one of the staggering brutes, "he's not +your sergeant. Go 'way!" + +"Now, sergeant," said the other, idiotically, "I'll see you all right, +sergeant. Come, Bill, fetch him over to the corn-crib and we'll give him +a drink." + +Here the first speaker struck the second, and the sergeant, in wrath, +knocked them both down. All this time the enemy's cannon were booming +close at hand. + +I came to an officer of rank, whose shoulder-emblem I could not +distinguish, riding upon a limping field-horse. Four men held him to his +seat, and a fifth led the animal. The officer was evidently wounded, +though he did not seem to be bleeding, and the dust of battle had +settled upon his blanched, stiffening face, like grave-mould upon a +corpse. He was swaying in the saddle, and his hair--for he was +bare-headed--shook across his white eyeballs. He reminded me of the +famous Cid, whose body was sent forth to scare the Saracens. + +A mile or more from Grapevine Bridge, on a hill-top, lay a frame +farm-house, with cherry trees encircling it, and along the declivity of +the hill were some cabins, corn-sheds, and corn-bins. The house was now +a Surgeon's headquarters, and the wounded lay in the yard and lane, +under the shade, waiting their turns to be hacked and maimed. I caught a +glimpse through the door, of the butchers and their victims; some +curious people were peeping through the windows at the operation. As the +processions of freshly wounded went by, the poor fellows, lying on their +backs, looked mutely at me, and their great eyes smote my heart. + +Something has been written in the course of the war upon straggling +from the ranks, during battle. But I have seen nothing that conveys an +adequate idea of the number of cowards and idlers that so stroll off. In +this instance, I met squads, companies, almost regiments of them. Some +came boldly along the road; others skulked in woods, and made long +detours to escape detection; a few were composedly playing cards, or +heating their coffee, or discussing the order and consequences of the +fight. The rolling drums, the constant clatter of file and +volley-firing,--nothing could remind them of the requirements of the +time and their own infamy. Their appreciation of duty and honor seemed +to have been forgotten; neither hate, ambition, nor patriotism could +force them back; but when the columns of mounted provosts charged upon +them, they sullenly resumed their muskets and returned to the field. At +the foot of the hill to which I have referred the ammunition wagons lay +in long lines, with the horses' heads turned from the fight. A little +beyond stood the ambulances; and between both sets of vehicles, +fatigue-parties were going and returning to and from the field. At the +top of the next hill sat many of the Federal batteries, and I was +admonished by the shriek of shells that passed over my head and burst +far behind me, that I was again to look upon carnage and share the +perils of the soldier. + +The question at once occurred to me: Can I stand fire? Having for some +months penned daily paragraphs relative to death, courage, and victory, +I was surprised to find that those words were now unusually significant. +"Death" was a syllable to me before; it was a whole dictionary now. +"Courage" was natural to every man a week ago; it was rarer than genius +to-day. "Victory" was the first word in the lexicon of youth yesterday +noon; "discretion" and "safety" were at present of infinitely more +consequence. I resolved, notwithstanding these qualms, to venture to the +hill-top: but at every step flitting projectiles took my breath. The +music of the battle-field, I have often thought, should be introduced +in opera. Not the drum, the bugle, or the fife, though these are +thrilling, after their fashion; but the music of modern ordnance and +projectile, the beautiful whistle of the minie-ball, the howl of shell +that makes unearthly havoc with the air, the whiz-z-z of solid shot, the +chirp of bullets, the scream of grape and canister, the yell of immense +conical cylinders, that fall like redhot stoves and spout burning coals. + +All these passed over, beside, beneath, before, behind me. I seemed to +be an invulnerable something at whom some cunning juggler was tossing +steel, with an intent to impinge upon, not to strike him. I rode like +one with his life in his hand, and, so far as I remember, seemed to +think of nothing. No fear, _per se_; no regret; no adventure; only +expectancy. It was the expectancy of a shot, a choking, a loud cry, a +stiffening, a dead, dull tumble, a quiver, and--blindness. But with this +was mingled a sort of enjoyment, like that of the daring gamester, who +has played his soul and is waiting for the decision of the cards. I felt +all his suspense, _more_ than his hope; and withal, there was excitement +in the play. Now a whistling ball seemed to pass just under my ear, and +before I commenced to congratulate myself upon the escape, a shell, with +a showery and revolving fuse, appeared to take the top off my head. Then +my heart expanded and contracted, and somehow I found myself conning +rhymes. At each clipping ball,--for I could hear them coming,--a sort of +coldness and paleness rose to the very roots of my hair, and was then +replaced by a hot flush. I caught myself laughing, syllabically, and +shrugging my shoulders, fitfully. Once, the rhyme that came to my +lips--for I am sure there was no mind in the iteration--was the simple +nursery prayer-- + + "Now I lay me down to sleep," + +I continued to say "down to sleep," "down to sleep," "down to sleep," +till I discovered myself, when I ceased. Then a shell, apparently just +in range, dashed toward me, and the words spasmodically leaped up: +"Now's your time. This is your billet." With the same insane pertinacity +I continued to repeat "Now's your time, now's your time," and "billet, +billet, billet," till at last I came up to the nearest battery, where I +could look over the crest of the hill; and as if I had looked into the +crater of a volcano, or down the fabled abyss into hell, the whole grand +horror of a battle burst upon my sight. For a moment I could neither +feel nor think. I scarcely beheld, or beholding did not understand or +perceive. Only the roar of guns, the blaze that flashed along a zigzag +line and was straightway smothered in smoke, the creek lying glassily +beneath me, the gathering twilight, and the brownish blue of woods! I +only knew that some thousands of fiends, were playing with fire and +tossing brands at heaven,--that some pleasant slopes, dells, and +highlands were lit as if the conflagration of universes had commenced. +There is a passage of Holy Writ that comes to my mind as I write, which +explains the sensation of the time better than I can do:-- + +"_He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, +as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened +by reason of the smoke of the pit._ + +"_And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth._"--Revelation, +ix. 2, 3. + +In a few moments, when I was able to compose myself, the veil of cloud +blew away or dissolved, and I could see fragments of the long columns of +infantry. Then from the far end of the lines puffed smoke, and from man +to man the puff ran down each line, enveloping the columns again, so +that they were alternately visible and invisible. At points between the +masses of infantry lay field-pieces, throbbing with rapid deliveries, +and emitting volumes of white steam. Now and then the firing slackened +for a short time, when I could remark the Federal line, fringed with +bayonets, stretching from the low meadow on the left, up the slope, over +the ridge, up and down the crest, until its right disappeared in the +gloaming of wood and distance. Standards flapped here and there above +the column, and I knew, from the fact that the line became momentarily +more distinct, that the Federals were falling stubbornly back. At times +a battery would dash a hundred yards forward, unlimber, and fire a score +of times, and directly would return two hundred yards and blaze again. I +saw a regiment of lancers gather at the foot of a protecting swell of +field; the bugle rang thrice, the red pennons went upward like so many +song birds, the mass turned the crest and disappeared, then the whole +artillery belched and bellowed. In twenty minutes a broken, straggling, +feeble group of horsemen returned; the red pennons still fluttered, but +I knew that they were redder for the blood that dyed them. Finally, the +Federal infantry fell back to the foot of the hill on which I stood; all +the batteries were clustering around me, and suddenly a column of men +shot up from the long sweep of the abandoned hill, with batteries on the +left and right. Their muskets were turned towards us, a crash and a +whiff of smoke swept from flank to flank, and the air around me rained +buck, slug, bullet, and ball! + +The incidents that now occurred in rapid succession were so thrilling +and absorbing that my solicitude was lost in their grandeur. I sat like +one dumb, with my soul in my eyes and my ears stunned, watching the +terrible column of Confederates. Each party was now straining every +energy,--the one for victory, the other against annihilation. The +darkness was closing in, and neither cared to prolong the contest after +night. The Confederates, therefore, aimed to finish their success with +the rout or capture of the Federals, and the Federals aimed to maintain +their ground till nightfall. The musketry was close, accurate, and +uninterrupted. Every second was marked by a discharge,--the one firing, +the other replying promptly. No attempt was now made to remove the +wounded; the coolness of the fight had gone by, and we witnessed only +its fury. The stragglers seemed to appreciate the desperate emergency, +and came voluntarily back to relieve their comrades. The cavalry was +massed, and collected for another grand charge. Like a black shadow +gliding up the darkening hillside, they precipitated themselves upon the +columns: the musketry ceased for the time, and shrieks, steel strokes, +the crack of carbines and revolvers succeeded. Shattered, humiliated, +sullen, the horse wheeled and returned. Then the guns thundered again, +and by the blaze of the pieces, the clods and turf were revealed, +fitfully strewn with men and horses. + +The vicinity of my position now exhibited traces of the battle. A +caisson burst close by, and I heard the howl of dying wretches, as the +fires flashed like meteors. A solid shot struck a field-carriage not +thirty yards from my feet, and one of the flying splinters spitted a +gunner as if he had been pierced by an arrow. An artillery-man was +standing with folded arms so near that I could have reached to touch +him; a whistle and a thumping shock and he fell beneath my nag's head. I +wonder, as I calmly recall these episodes now, how I escaped the death +that played about me, chilled me, thrilled me,--but spared me! "They are +fixing bayonets for a charge. My God! See them come down the hill." + +In the gathering darkness, through the thick smoke, I saw or seemed to +see the interminable column roll steadily downward. I fancied that I +beheld great gaps cut in their ranks though closing solidly up, like the +imperishable Gorgon. I may have heard some of this next day, and so +confounded the testimonies of eye and ear. But I knew that there was a +charge, and that the drivers were ordered to stand by their saddles, to +run off the guns at any moment. The descent and bottom below me, were +now all ablaze, and directly above the din of cannon, rifle, and +pistol, I heard a great cheer, as of some salvation achieved. + +"The Rebels are repulsed! We have saved the guns!" + +A cheer greeted this announcement from the battery-men around me. They +reloaded, rammed, swabbed, and fired, with naked arms, and drops of +sweat furrowed the powder-stains upon their faces. The horses stood +motionless, quivering not half so much as the pieces. The gristly +officers held to their match-strings, smothering the excitement of the +time. All at once there was a running hither and thither, a pause in the +thunder, a quick consultation-- + +"'Sdeath! They have flanked us again." + +In an instant I seemed overwhelmed with men. For a moment I thought the +enemy had surrounded us. + +"It's all up," said one; "I shall cross the river." + +I wheeled my horse, fell in with the stream of fugitives, and was borne +swiftly through field and lane and trampled fence to the swampy margin +of the Chickahominy. At every step the shell fell in and among the +fugitives, adding to their panic. I saw officers who had forgotten their +regiments or had been deserted by them, wending with the mass. The +wounded fell and were trodden upon. Personal exhibitions of valor and +determination there were; but the main body had lost heart, and were +weary and hungry. + +As we approached the bridge, there was confusion and altercation ahead. +The people were borne back upon me. Curses and threats ensued. + +"It is the Provost-guard," said a fugitive, "driving back the boys." + +"Go back!" called a voice ahead. "I'll blow you to h--ll, if you don't +go back! Not a man shall cross the bridge without orders!" + +The stragglers were variously affected by this intelligence. Some cursed +and threatened; some of the wounded blubbered as they leaned languidly +upon the shoulders of their comrades. Others stoically threw themselves +on the ground and tried to sleep. One man called aloud that the "boys" +were stronger than the Provosts, and that, therefore, the "boys" ought +to "go in and win." + +"Where's the man that wants to mutiny?" said the voice ahead; "let me +see him!" + +The man slipped away; for the Provost officer spoke as though he meant +all he said. + +"Nobody wants to mutiny!" called others. + +"Three cheers for the Union." + +The wounded and well threw up their hats together, and made a sickly +hurrah. The grim officer relented, and he shouted stentoriously that he +would take the responsibility of passing the wounded. These gathered +themselves up and pushed through the throng; but many skulkers plead +injuries, and so escaped. When I attempted to follow, on horseback, +hands were laid upon me and I was refused exit. In that hour of terror +and sadness, there were yet jests and loud laughter. However keenly I +felt these things, I had learned that modesty amounted to little in the +army; so I pushed my nag steadily forward and scattered the camp +vernacular, in the shape of imprecations, left and right. + +"Colonel," I called to the officer in command, as the line of bayonets +edged me in, "may I pass out? I am a civilian!" + +"No!" said the Colonel, wrathfully. "This is no place for a civilian." + +"That's why I want to get away." + +"Pass out!" + +I followed the winding of the woods to Woodbury's Bridge,--the next +above Grapevine Bridge. The approaches were clogged with wagons and +field-pieces, and I understood that some panic-stricken people had +pulled up some of the timbers to prevent a fancied pursuit. Along the +sides of the bridge many of the wounded were washing their wounds in the +water, and the cries of the teamsters echoed weirdly through the trees +that grew in the river. At nine o'clock, we got under way,--horsemen, +batteries, ambulances, ammunition teams, infantry, and finally some +great siege 32s. that had been hauled from Gaines's House. One of these +pieces broke down the timbers again, and my impression is that it was +cast into the current. When we emerged from the swamp timber, the hills +before us were found brilliantly illuminated with burning camps. I made +toward head-quarters, in one of Trent's fields; but all the tents save +one had been taken down, and lines of white-covered wagons stretched +southward until they were lost in the shadows. The tent of General +McClellan alone remained, and beneath an arbor of pine boughs, close at +hand, he sat, with his Corps Commanders and Aides, holding a council of +war. A ruddy fire lit up the historical group, and I thought at the +time, as I have said a hundred times since, that the consultation might +be selected for a grand national painting. The crisis, the hour, the +adjuncts, the renowned participants, peculiarly fit it for pictorial +commemoration. + +The young commander sat in a chair, in full uniform, uncovered. +Heintzelman was kneeling upon a fagot, earnestly speaking. De Joinville +sat apart, by the fire, examining a map. Fitz John Porter was standing +back of McClellan, leaning upon his chair. Keyes, Franklin, and Sumner, +were listening attentively. Some sentries paced to and fro, to keep out +vulgar curiosity. Suddenly, there was a nodding of heads, as of some +policy decided; they threw themselves upon their steeds, and galloped +off toward Michie's. + +As I reined at Michie's porch, at ten o'clock, the bridges behind me +were blown up, with a flare that seemed a blazing of the Northern +Lights. The family were sitting upon the porch, and Mrs. Michie was +greatly alarmed with the idea that a battle would be fought round her +house next day. + +O'Ganlon, of Meagher's staff, had taken the fever, and sent anxiously +for me, to compare our symptoms. + +I bade the good people adieu before I went to bed, and gave the man +"Pat" a dollar to stand by my horse while I slept, and to awake me at +any disturbance, that I might be ready to scamper. The man "Pat," I am +bound to say, woke me up thrice by the exclamation of-- + +"Sure, yer honor, there's--well--to pay in the yard! I think ye and the +Doctor had better ride off." + +On each of those occasions, I found that the man Pat had been lonesome, +and wanted somebody to speak to. + +What a sleep was mine that night! I forgot my fever. But another and a +hotter fever burned my temples,--the fearful excitement of the time! +Whither were we to go, cut off from the York, beaten before +Richmond,--perhaps even now surrounded,--and to be butchered to-morrow, +till the clouds should rain blood? Were we to retreat one hundred miles +down the hostile Peninsula,--a battle at every rod, a grave at every +footstep? Then I remembered the wounded heaped at Gaines's Mill, and how +they were groaning without remedy, ebbing at every pulse, counting the +flashing drops, calling for water, for mercy, for death. So I found +heart; for I was not buried yet. And somehow I felt that fate was to +take me, as the great poet took Dante, through other and greater +horrors. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +M'CLELLAN'S RETREAT. + + +The scene presented in Michie's lawn and oak grove, on Saturday morning, +was terribly picturesque, and characteristic of the calamity of war. The +well was beset by crowds of wounded men, perishing of thirst, who made +frantic efforts to reach the bucket, but were borne back by the stronger +desperadoes. The kitchen was swarming with hungry soldiers who begged +corn-bread and half-cooked dough from the negroes. The shady side-yard +was dotted with pale, bruised, and bleeding people, who slept out their +weariness upon the damp grass, forgetful, for the moment, of their +sores. Ambulances poured through the lane, in solemn procession, and now +and then, couples of privates bore by some wounded officer, upon a +canvas "stretcher." The lane proving too narrow, at length, for the +passing vehicles, the gate-posts and fence were torn up, and finally, +the soldiers made a footway of the hall of the dwelling. + +The retreat had been in progress all night, as I had heard the wagons +through my open windows. By daylight the whole army was acquainted with +the facts, that we were to resign our depot at White House, relinquish +the North bank of the river, and retire precipitately to the shores of +the James. A rumor--indignantly denied, but as often repeated--prevailed +among the teamsters, surgeons, and drivers, that the wounded were to be +left in the enemy's hands. It shortly transpired that we were already +cut off from the Pamunkey. A train had departed for White House at dawn, +and had delivered its cargo of mortality safely; but a second train, +attempting the passage, at seven o'clock had been fired into, and +compelled to return. A tremendous explosion, and a shaft of white smoke +that flashed to the zenith, informed us, soon afterward, that the +railroad bridge had been blown up. + +About the same time, the roar of artillery recommenced in front, and +regiments that had not slept for twenty hours, were hurried past us, to +take position at the entrenchments. A universal fear now found +expression, and helpless people asked of each other, with pale lips-- + +"How far have we to walk to reach the James?" + +It was doubtful, at this time, that any one knew the route to that +river. A few members of the signal corps had adventured thither to open +communication with the gunboats, and a small cavalry party of Casey's +division had made a foray to New Market and Charles City Court House. +But it was rumored that Wise's brigade of Confederates was now posted at +Malvern Hills, closing up the avenue of escape, and that the whole right +wing of the Confederate army was pushing toward Charles City. Malvern +Hills, the nearest point that could be gained, was about twenty miles +distant, and Harrison's Landing--presumed to be our final +destination--was thirty miles away. To retreat over this distance, +encumbered with baggage, the wounded and the sick, was discarded as +involving pursuit, and certain calamity. Cavalry might fall upon us at +every turning, since the greater portion of our own horse had been +scouting between White House and Hanover, when the bridges were +destroyed, and was therefore separated from the main army. At eight +o'clock--weak with fever and scarcely able to keep in the saddle--I +joined Mr. Anderson of the _Herald_, and rode toward the front, that I +might discover the whereabouts of the new engagement. Winding through a +cart-track in Michie's Woods, we came upon fully one third of the whole +army, or the remnant of all that portion engaged at Gaines's Mill;--the +Reserves, Porter's Corps, Slocum's division, and Meagher's +brigade,--perhaps thirty-thousand men. They covered the whole of Tent's +farm, and were drawn up in line, heavily equipped, with their colors in +position, field officers dismounted, and detachments from each regiment +preparing hot coffee at certain fires. A very few wagons--and these +containing only ammunition--stood harnessed beside each regiment. In +many cases the men lay or knelt upon the ground. Such hot, hungry, weary +wretches, I never beheld. During the whole night long they had been +crossing the Chickahominy, and the little sleep vouchsafed them had been +taken in snatches upon the bare clay. Travelling from place to place, I +saw the surviving heroes of the defeat: Meagher looking very yellow and +prosaic; Slocum,--small, indomitable, active; Newton,--a little gray, a +trifle proud, very mercurial, and curiously enough, a Virginian; +Meade,--lithe, spectacled, sanguine; and finally General McCall, as +grave, kindly odd and absent, as I had found him four months before. The +latter worthy was one of the first of the Federal Generals to visit +Richmond. He was taken prisoner the second day afterward, and the half +of his command was slain or disabled. + +I went to and fro, obtaining the names of killed, wounded and missing, +with incidents of the battle as well as its general plan. These I +scrawled upon bits of newspaper, upon envelopes, upon the lining of my +hat, and finally upon my shirt wristbands. I was literally filled with +notes before noon, and if I had been shot at that time, endeavors to +obtain my name would have been extremely difficult. I should have had +more titles than some of the Chinese princes; some parts of me would +have been found fatally wounded, and others italicized for gallant +behavior. Indeed, I should have been shot in every part, taken prisoner +at every place, killed outright in every skirmish, and marvellously +saved through every peril. My tombstone would have been some hundreds of +muster-rolls and my obituary a fortune to a newspaper. I recollect, with +some amusement, the credit that each regiment took upon itself for +distinguished behavior. There were few Colonels that did not claim all +the honors. I fell in with a New Jersey brigade, that had been decimated +of nearly half its _quota_, and a spruce young Major attempted to convey +an idea of the battle to me. He said, in brief, that the New Jersey +brigade, composed mainly of himself and his regiment, and some few +organizations of little consequence,--although numbering ten thousand +odd soldiers,--had received the whole shock of a quantity of "Rebels." +The said "Rebels" appeared to make up one fourth part of the population +of the globe. There was no end to them. They seemed to be several miles +deep, longer and more crooked than the Pamunkey, and stood with their +rear against Richmond, so that they couldn't fall back, even if they +wanted to. In vain did the New Jersey brigade and his regiment attack +them with ball and bayonet. How the "Rebels" ever withstood the +celebrated charge of his regiment was altogether inexplicable. + +In the language of the Major,--"the New Jersey brigade,--and my +regiment,--fit, and fit, and fit, and give 'em 'get out!' But sir, may I +be----, well there (expression inadequate), we couldn't budge 'em. No, +sir! (very violently,) not budge 'em, sir! _I_ told the boys to walk at +'em with cold steel. Says I: 'Boys, steel'ill fetch 'em, or nothin' +under heaven!' Well, sir, at 'em we went,--me and the boys. There ain't +been no sich charge in the whole war! Not in the whole war, sir! +(intensely fervid;) leave it to any impartial observer if there has +been! We went up the hill, square in the face of all their artillery, +musketry, cavalry, sharpshooters, riflemen,--everything, sir! +Everything! (energetically.) One o' my men overheard the Rebel General +say, as we came up: says he,--'that's the gamest thing I ever see.' +Well! we butchered 'em frightful. We must a killed a thousand or two of +'em, don't you think so, Adjutant? But, sir,--it was all in vain. No go, +sir! no, sir, no go! (impressively.) And the New Jersey brigade and my +regiment fell back, inch by inch, with our feet to the foe +(rhetorically.) Is that so, boys?" + +The "boys," who had meantime gathered around, exclaimed loudly, that it +was "true as preachin," and the Major added, in an undertone that his +name was spelled * * *. + +"But where were Porter's columns?" said I, "and the Pennsylvania +Reserves?" + +"I didn't see 'em," said the Major: "I don't think they was there. If +they had a been, why wa'n't they on hand to save my regiment, and the +New Jersey brigade?" + +It would be wrong to infer from these vauntings, that the Federals did +not fight bravely and endure defeat unshrinkingly. On the contrary, I +have never read of higher exemplifications of personal and moral +courage, than I witnessed during this memorable retreat. And the young +Major's boasting did not a whit reduce my estimate of his efficiency. +For in America, swaggering does not necessarily indicate cowardice. I +knew a Captain of artillery in Smith's division, who was wordier than +Gratiano, and who exaggerated like Falstaff. But he was a lion in +action, and at Lee's Mills and Williamsburg his battery was handled with +consummate skill. + +From Trent's farm the roadway led by a strip of corduroy, through +sloppy, swampy woods, to an open place, beyond a brook, where Smith's +division lay. The firing had almost entirely ceased, and we heard loud +cheers running up and down the lines, as we again ventured within cannon +range. On this spot, for the second time, the Federals had won a decided +success. And in so far as a cosmopolitan could feel elated, I was proud, +for a moment, of the valor of my division. The victors had given me +meals and a bed, and they had fed my pony when both of us were hungry. +But the sight of the prisoners and the collected dead, saddened me +somewhat. + +These two engagements have received the name of the First and Second +battles of Golding's Farm. They resulted from an effort of Toombs's +Georgia brigade to carry the redoubt and breastworks of General Smith. +Toombs was a civilian, and formerly a senator from Georgia. He had no +military ability, and his troops were driven back with great slaughter, +both on Friday and Saturday. Among the prisoners taken was Colonel Lamar +of (I think) the 7th Georgia regiment. He passed me, in a litter, +wounded, as I rode toward the redoubt. + +Lamar was a beautiful man, shaped like a woman, and his hair was long, +glossy, and wavy with ringlets. He was a tiger, in his love of blood, +and in character self-willed and vehement. He was of that remarkable +class of Southern men, of which the noted "Filibuster" Walker was the +great exponent. I think I may call him an apostle of slavery. He +believed it to be the destiny of our pale race to subdue all the dusky +tribes of the earth, and to evangelize, with the sword, the whole +Western continent, to the uses of master and man. Such people were +called disciples of "manifest destiny." He threw his whole heart into +the war; but when I saw him, bloodless, panting, quivering, I thought +how little the wrath of man availed against the justice of God. From +Smith's on the right, I kept along a military road, in the woods, to +Sedgwick's and Richardson's divisions, at Fairoaks. Richardson was +subsequently slain, at the second battle of Bull Run. He was called +"Fighting Dick," and on this particular morning was talking composedly +to his wife, as she was about to climb to the saddle. His tent had been +taken down, and soldiers were placing his furniture in a wagon. A +greater contrast I never remarked, than the ungainly, awkward, and +rough General, with his slight, trim, pretty companion. She had come to +visit him and had remained until commanded to retire. I fancied, though +I was separated some distance, that the little woman wept, as she kissed +him good by, and he followed her, with frequent gestures of good-hap, +till she disappeared behind the woods. I do not know that such prosaic +old soldiers are influenced by the blandishments of love; but "Fighting +Dick" never wooed death so recklessly as in the succeeding engagements +of New Market and Malvern Hills. + +From Seven Pines to the right of Richardson's head-quarters, ran a line +of alternate breastwork, redoubt, and stockade. The best of these +redoubts was held by Captain Petit, with a New York Volunteer battery. I +had often talked with Petit, for he embodied, as well as any man in the +army, the martial qualifications of a volunteer. He despised order. +Nobody cared less for dress and dirt. I have seen him, sitting in a hole +that he hollowed with his hands, tossing pebbles and dust over his head, +like another Job. He had profound contempt for any man and any system +that was not "American." I remember asking him, one day, the meaning of +the gold lace upon the staff hats of the Irish brigade. + +"Means run like shell!" said Petit, covering me with dirt. + +"Don't the Irish make the best soldiers?" I ventured. + +"No!" said Petit, raining pebbles, "I had rather have one American than +ten Irishmen." + +The fighting of Petit was contrary to all rule; but I think that he was +a splendid artillery-man. He generally mounted the rampart, shook his +fist at the enemy, flung up his hat, jumped down, sighted the guns +himself, threw shells with wonderful accuracy, screamed at the gunners, +mounted the rampart again, halloed, and, in short, managed to do more +execution, make more noise, attract more attention and throw more dirt +than anybody in the army. His redoubt was small, but beautifully +constructed, and the parapet was heaped with double rows of sandbags. It +mounted rifled field-pieces, and, at most times, the gunners were lying +under the pieces, asleep. Not any of the entrenched posts among the +frontier Indians were more enveloped in wilderness than this. The trees +had been felled in front to give the cannon play, but behind and on each +side belts of dense, dwarf timber covered the boggy soil. To the left of +Petit, on the old field of Seven Pines, lay the divisions of Hooker and +Kearney, and thither I journeyed, after leaving the redoubtable +volunteer. Hooker was a New Englander, reputed to be the handsomest man +in the army. He fought bravely in the Mexican war, and afterwards +retired to San Francisco, where he passed a Bohemian existence at the +Union Club House. He disliked McClellan, was beloved by his men, and was +generally known as "Old Joe." He has been one of the most successful +Federal leaders, and seems to hold a charmed life. In all probability he +will become Commander-in-chief of one of the grand armies. + +Kearney has passed away since the date of which I speak. He was known as +the "one-armed Devil," and was, by odds, the best educated of all the +Federal military chiefs. But, singularly enough, he departed from all +tactics, when hotly afield. His personal energy and courage have given +him renown, and he loved to lead forlorn hopes, or head +storming-parties, or ride upon desperate adventures. He was rich from +childhood, and spent much of his life in Europe. For a part of this time +he served as a cavalry-man with the French, in Algiers. In private life +he was equally reckless, but his tastes were scholarly, and he was +generous to a fault. Both Kearney and Hooker were kind to the reporters, +and I owe the dead man many a favor. General Daniel Sickles commanded a +brigade in this corps. To the left, and in the rear of Heintzelman's +corps, lay the divisions of Casey and Couch, that had relapsed into +silence since their disgrace at Seven Pines. General Casey was a +thin-haired old gentleman, too gracious to be a soldier, although I +believe that he is still in the service. His division comprised the +extreme left of the Grand Army, and bordered upon a deep, impenetrable +bog called "White Oak Swamp." It was the purpose of McClellan to place +this swamp between him and the enemy, and defend its passage till his +baggage and siege artillery had obtained the shelter of the gunboats, on +the shores of the James. I rode along this whole line, to renew my +impressions of the position, and found that sharp skirmishing was going +on at every point. When I returned to Savage's, where McClellan's +headquarters had temporarily been pitched, I found the last of the +wagons creaking across the track, and filing slowly southward. The +wounded lay in the out-houses, in the trains of cars, beside the hedge, +and in shade of the trees about the dwelling. A little back, beside a +wood, lay Lowe's balloon traps, and the infantry "guard," and cavalry +"escort" of the Commander-in-chief were encamped close to the new +provost quarters, in a field beyond the orchard. An ambulance passed me, +as I rode into the lane; it was filled with sufferers, and two men with +bloody feet, crouched in the trail. From the roof of Savage's house +floated the red hospital flag. Savage himself was a quiet Virginia +farmer, and a magistrate. His name is now coupled with a grand battle. + +I felt very hungry, at four o'clock, but my weak stomach revolted at +coarse soldier fare, and I determined to ride back to Michie's. I was +counselled to beware; but having learned little discretion afield, I +cantered off, through a trampled tillage of wheat, and an interminable +woods. In a half hour I rode into the familiar yard; but the place was +so ruined that I hardly recognized it. Not a panel of fence remained: +the lawn was a great pool of slime; the windlass had been wrenched from +the well; a few gashed and expiring soldiers lay motionless beneath the +oaks, the fields were littered with the remains of camps, and the old +dwelling stood like a haunted thing upon a blighted plain. The idlers, +the teamsters, and the tents were gone,--all was silence,--and in the +little front porch sat Mrs. Michie, weeping; the old gentleman stared at +the desolation with a working face, and two small yellow lads lay +dolorously upon the steps. They all seemed to brighten up as I appeared +at the gate, and when I staggered from my horse, both of them took my +hands. I think that tears came into all our eyes at once, and the little +Ethiops fairly bellowed. + +"My friends," I said, falteringly, "I see how you have suffered, and +sympathize with you, from my heart." + +"Our beautiful property is ruined," said Mrs. Michie, welling up. + +"Yer's five years of labor,--my children's heritage,--the home of our +old age,--look at it!" + +The old gentleman stood up gravely, and cast his eyes mournfully around. + +"I have nobody to accuse," he said; "my grief is too deep for any hate. +This is war!" + +"What will the girls say when they come back?" was the mother's next +sob; "they loved the place: do you think they will know it?" + +I did not know how to reply. They retained my hands, and for a moment +none of us spoke. + +"Don't think, Mr. Townsend," said the chivalrous old gentleman again, +"that we like you less because some of your country people have stripped +us. Mother, where is the gruel you made for him?" + +The good lady, expecting my return, had prepared some nourishing chicken +soup, and directly she produced it. I think she took heart when I ate so +plentifully, and we all spoke hopefully again. Their kindness so touched +me, that as the evening came quietly about us, lengthening the shadows, +and I knew that I must depart, I took both their hands again, doubtful +what to say. + +"My friends,--may I say, almost my parents? for you have been as +kind,--good by! In a day, perhaps, you will be with your children again. +Richmond will be open to you. You may freely go and come. Be comforted +by these assurances. And when the war is over,--God speed the time!--we +may see each other under happier auspices." + +"Good by!" said Mr. Michie; "if I have a house at that time, you shall +be welcome." + +"Good by," said Mrs. Michie; "tell your mother that a strange lady in +Virginia took good care of you when you were sick." + +I waved a final adieu, vaulted down the lane, and the wood gathered its +solemn darkness about me. When I emerged upon Savage's fields, a +succession of terrible explosions shook the night, and then the flames +flared up, at points along the railroad. They were blowing up the +locomotives and burning the cars. At the same hour, though I could not +see it, White House was wrapped in fire, and the last sutler, teamster, +and cavalry-man had disappeared from the shores of the Pamunkey. + +I tossed through another night of fever, in the captain's tent of the +Sturgis Rifles,--McClellan's body guard. And somehow, again, I dreamed +fitfully of the unburied corpses on the field of Gaines's Mill. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A BATTLE SUNDAY. + + +In the dim of the morning of our Lord's Sabbath, the twenty-ninth of +June, 1862, I sat in my saddle at Savage's. The gloom was very +cheerless. A feeling of hopeless vagabondism oppressed me. I remembered +the Disinherited Knight, the Wandering Jew, Robinson Crusoe, and other +poor errants in the wide world, and wondered if any of them ever looked +so ruefully as I, when the last wagon of the Grand Army disappeared +through the shadow. + +The tent had been taken down at midnight. I had been dozing in the +saddle, with parched lips and throbbing temples, waiting for my comrade. +Head-quarters had been intending to move, without doing it, for four +hours, and he informed me that it was well to stay with the Commanding +General, as the Commanding General kept out of danger, and also kept in +provisions. I was sick and petulant, and finally quarrelled with my +friend. He told me, quietly, that I would regret my harshness when I +should be well again. I set off for White Oak, but repented at "Burnt +Chimneys," and turned back. In the misty dawn I saw the maimed still +lying on the ground, wrapped in relics of blankets, and in one of the +outhouses a grim embalmer stood amid a family of nude corpses. He dealt +with the bodies of high officers only; for, said he-- + +"I used to be glad to prepare private soldiers. They were wuth a five +dollar bill apiece. But, Lord bless you, a Colonel pays a hundred, and +a Brigadier-General two hundred. There's lots of them now, and I have +cut the acquaintance of everything below a Major. I might," he added, +"as a great favor, do a Captain, but he must pay a Major's price. I +insist upon that! Such windfalls don't come every day. There won't be +another such killing for a century." + +A few horsemen of the escort loitered around head-quarters. All the +tents but one had been removed, and the staff crouched sleepily upon the +refuse straw. The rain began to drizzle at this time, and I unbuckled a +blanket to wrap about my shoulders. Several people were lying upon dry +places, here and there, and espying some planks a little remote, I tied +my horse to a peach-tree, and stretched myself languidly upon my back. +The bridal couch or the throne were never so soft as those knotty +planks, and the drops that fell upon my forehead seemed to cool my +fever. + +I had passed into a sort of cognizant sleep when a harsh, loud, cruel +voice awakened me, and I seemed to see a great Polyphemus, stretching +his hands into the clouds, and gaping like an earthquake. + +"Boy," I heard him say, to a slight figure, near at hand, "boy, what are +you standing there for? What in ---- do you want?" + +"Nothing!" + +"Take it, and go, ---- ---- you! Take it, and go!" + +I peeped timorously from my place, and recognized the Provost-General of +the Grand Army. He had been sleeping upon a camp chest, and did not +appear to be refreshed thereby. + +"I feel sulky as ----!" he said to an officer adjoining; "I feel ---- +bad-humored! Orderly!" + +"General!" + +"Whose horses are these?" + +"I don't know, General!" + +"Cut every ---- ---- one of 'em loose. Wake up these ---- ---- loafers +with the point of your sabre! Every ---- ---- one of 'em! That's what I +call ---- ----boldness!" + +He strutted off like the great Bomba or the Czar, and I thought I never +beheld a more exceptional person in any high position. + +With a last look at Savage's white house, the abandoned wretches in the +lawn, the blood-red hospital flag, the torn track and smouldering cars, +I turned my face southward, crossed some bare plains, that had once been +fields, and at eight o'clock passed down the Williamsburg road, toward +Bottom Bridge. The original roadway was now a bottomless stretch of +sand, full of stranded wheels, dead horses, shreds of blankets, +discarded haversacks, and mounds of spilled crackers. Other routes for +wagons had been opened across fields, over bluffs, around pits and bogs, +and through thickets and woods. The whole country was crossed with +deeply-rutted roads, as if some immense city had been lifted away, and +only its interminably sinuous streets remained. Near Burnt Chimneys, a +creek crossing the road made a ravine, and here I overtook the hindmost +of the wagons. They had been stalled in the gorge, and a provost guard +was hurrying the laggard teamsters. The creek was muddy beyond +comparison, and at the next hill-top I passed "Burnt Chimneys," a few +dumb witnesses that pointed to heaven. A mile or two further, I came to +some of the retreating regiments, and also to five of the siege +thirty-twos with which Richmond was to have been bombarded. The main +army still lay back at their entrenchments to cover the retreat, and at +ten o'clock I heard the roar of field guns; the pursuit had commenced, +and the Confederates were pouring over the ramparts at Fairoaks. I did +not go back; battles were of no consequence to me. I wanted some +breakfast. If I could only obtain a cup of warm coffee and a fragment of +meat, I thought that I might recover strength. But nothing could be +obtained anywhere, for money or charity. The soldiers that I passed +looked worn and hungry, for their predecessors had swept the country +like herds of locusts; but one cheerful fellow, whom I addressed, +produced a lump of fat pork that I tried to eat, but made a signal +failure. All my baggage had been left at Michie's, where it remains to +this moment. None cared to be hospitable to correspondents at this +despondent hour, and a horrible idea of starvation took possession of my +mind. A mile from White Oak Swamp, some distance back of the road, lay +the Engineer Brigade. They were now on the eve of breaking camp, and +when I reached Colonel McCloud Murphy's, his chests were packed, and all +his provisions had gone ahead. He gave me, however, a couple of hard +crackers and a draught of whiskey and quinine, whereby I rallied for a +moment. At General Woodbury's I observed a middle-aged lady, making her +toilet by a looking-glass hung against the tent-pole. She seemed as +careful of her personal appearance, in this trying time, as if she had +been at some luxurious court. There were several women on the retreat, +and though the guns thundered steadily behind, they were never flurried, +but could have received company, or accepted offers of marriage, with +the utmost complacency. If there was any one that rouged, I am sure that +no personal danger would have disturbed her while she heightened her +roses; and she would have tied up her back hair in defiance of shell or +grape. + +At Casey's ancient head-quarters, on the bluff facing White Oak Swamp, I +found five correspondents. We fraternized immediately, and they all +pooh-poohed the battle, as such an old story that it would be absurd to +ride back to the field. We knew, however, that it was occurring at Peach +Orchard, on a part of the old ground at Fairoaks. These gentlemen were +in rather despondent moods, and there was one who opined that we were +all to be made prisoners of war. In his own expressive way of putting +it, we were to be "gobbled up." This person was stout and inclined to +panting and perspiration. He wore glasses upon a most pugnacious nose, +and his large, round head was covered with short, bristly, jetty hair. + +"I promised my wife," said this person, who may be called Cindrey, "to +stay at home after the Burnside business. The Burnside job was very +nearly enough for me. In fact I should have quite starved on the +Burnside job, if I hadn't took the fever. And the fever kept me so busy +that I forgot how hungry I was. So I lived over that." + +At this point he took off his glasses and wiped his face; the water was +running down his cheeks like a miniature cataract, and his great neck +seemed to emit jets of perspiration. + +"Well," he continued, "the Burnside job wasn't enough for me; I must +come out again. I must follow the young Napoleon. And the young Napoleon +has made a pretty mess of it. I never expect to get home any more; I +know I shall be gobbled up!" + +A youngish, oldish, oddish fellow, whom they called "Pop," here told Mr. +Cindrey to keep his pulse up and take a drink. A tall, large person, in +semi-quaker garb, who did not look unlike George Fox, run to seed, said, +with a flourish, that these battles were nothing to Shiloh. He was +attached to the provincial press, and had been with the army of the West +until recently. Without any exception, he was the "fussiest," most +impertinent, most disagreeable man that I ever knew. He always made a +hero of himself in his reports, and if I remember rightly, their +headings ran after this fashion:-- + +"_Tremendous Battle at_ ROANOKE! _The Correspondent of_ THE BLUNDERBUSS +_hoists the_ NATIONAL FLAG above the REBEL RAMPARTS!!!" or +again--"_Grand Victory at_ SHILOH! _Mr. Twaddle, our Special +Correspondent_, TAKEN PRISONER!!! _He_ ESCAPES!!! _He is_ FIRED UPON!!! +_He wriggles through_ FOUR SWAMPS and SEVEN HOSTILE CAMPS! _He is_ AGAIN +CAPTURED! _He_ STRANGLES _the sentry_! _He drinks the Rebel Commander, +Philpot_, BLIND! _Philpot gives him_ THE PASSWORD!! --> _Philpot +compliments the Blunderbuss._ <-- OUR _Correspondent gains the +Gunboats_! _He is_ TAKEN ABOARD! _His welcome!_ _Description of_ HIS +BOOTS! _Remarks, etc._, ETC., ETC!!!" + +This man was anxious to regulate not only his own newspaper, but he +aspired to control the entire press. And his self adulation was +incessant. He rung all the changes upon Shiloh. Every remark suggested +some incident of Shiloh. He was a thorough Shilohite, and I regretted in +my heart that the "Rebels" had not shut him away at Shiloh, that he +might have enjoyed it to the end of his days. + +The man "Pop" produced some apple whiskey, and we repaired to a spring, +at the foot of the hill, where the man "Pop" mixed a cold punch, and we +drank in rotation. I don't think that Cindrey enjoyed his draught, for +it filtered through his neck as if he had sprung a leak there; but the +man Twaddle might have taken a tun, and, as the man "Pop" said, the +effect would have been that of "pouring whiskey through a knot-hole." It +was arranged among our own reporters, that I, being sick, should be the +first of the staff to go to New York. The man "Pop" said jocosely, that +I might be allowed to die in the bosom of my family. The others gave me +their notes and lists, but none could give me what I most needed,--a +morsel of food. At eleven o'clock our little party crossed White Oak +Creek. There was a corduroy bridge upon which the teams travelled, and a +log bridge of perilous unsteadiness for foot passengers. But the +soldiers were fording the stream in great numbers, and I plunged my +horse into the current so that he spattered a group of fellows, and one +of them lunged at me with a bayonet. Beyond the creek and swamp, on the +hillsides, baggage wagons and batteries were parked in immense numbers. +The troops were taking positions along the edge of the bottom, to oppose +incursions of the enemy, when they attempted pursuit, and I was told +that the line extended several miles westward, to New Market Cross +Roads, where, it was thought, the Confederates would march out from +Richmond to offer battle. The roadway, beyond the swamp, was densely +massed with horse, foot, cannon, and teams. The latter still kept toward +the James, but the nags suffered greatly from lack of corn. Only +indispensable material had been hauled from the Chickahominy, and the +soldiers who fought the ensuing protracted battles were exhausted from +hunger. Everything had an uncomfortable, transient, expectant +appearance, and the feeble people that limped toward the _ultima thule_ +looked fagged and wretched. + +There were some with balls in the groin, thigh, leg, or ankle, that made +the whole journey, dropping blood at every step. They were afraid to lie +down, as the wounded limbs might then grow rigid and stop their +progress. While I pitied these maimed persons, I held the sick in +greater sympathy. The troubles of the one were local; the others were +pained in every bone. Bullets are fearful tenants, but fevers are worse. +And some of the flushed, staggering folk, that reeled along the +roadside, were literally out of their minds. They muttered and talked +incoherently, and shouted ribald songs till my blood curdled to see +them. At the first house on the right of the road, a half-mile past the +Creek, I noticed many idle soldiers climbing the white palings, to watch +something that lay in the yard. A gray-haired man was expiring, under +the coolness of a spreading tree, and he was even now in the closing +pangs. A comrade at his side bathed his brow with cool water, but I saw +that he would shortly be with Lazarus or Dives. His hands were stretched +stiffly by his sides, his feet were rigidly extended, and death was +hardening into his bleached face. The white eyeballs glared sightlessly +upward: he was looking into the other world. + +The heat at this time was so intolerable that our party, in _lieu_ of +any other place of resort, resolved to go to the woods. The sun set in +heaven like a fiery furnace, and we sweat at every pore. I was afraid, +momentarily, of sunstroke, and my horse was bathed in foam. Some +companies of cavalry were sheltered in the edges of the woods, and, +having secured our nags, we penetrated the depths, and spread out our +blankets that we might lie down. But no breath of air stirred the +foliage. The "hot and copper sky" found counterpart in the burning +earth, and innumerable flies and insects fastened their fangs in our +flesh. Cindrey was upon the rack, and it seemed to me that he possessed +a sort of capillary perspiration, for the drops stood at tips of each +separate bristle. He appeared to be passing from the solid to the fluid +state, and I said, ungenerously, that the existing temperature was his +liquifying point. + +"Then," said the man "Pop," with a youngish, oldish smile, "we may as +well liquor up." + +"I don't drink!" said Twaddle, with a flourish. "During all the perilous +hours of Shiloh, I abstained. But I am willing to admit, in respect to +heat, that Shiloh is nowhere at present. And, therefore, I drink with a +protest." + +"No man can drink from my bottle, with a protest," said "Pop." "It isn't +regular, and implies coercion. Now I don't coerce anybody, particularly +you." + +"Oh!" said Twaddle, drinking like a fish, or, as "Pop" remarked, enough +to float a gunboat; "oh! we often chaffed each other at Shiloh." + +"If you persist in reminding me of Shiloh," blurted Cindrey, "you'll be +the ruin of me,--you and the heat and the flies. You'll have me +dissolving into a dew." + +Here he wiped his forehead, and killed a large blue fly, that was +probing his ear. We all resolved to go to sleep, and Twaddle said that +_he_ slept like a top, in the heat of action, at Shiloh. "Pop" asked +him, youngishly, to be kind enough to capture no redoubts while we +slumbered, and not to raise the national flag over any ramparts for +fifteen minutes. Then he grinned oldishly, and commenced to snore, with +his flask in his bosom. I am certain that nobody ever felt a tithe of +the pain, hunger, heat, and weariness, which agonized me, when I awoke +from a half-hour's sweltering nap. My clothing was soaking with water; I +was almost blind; somebody seemed to be sawing a section out of my head; +my throat was hot and crackling; my stomach knew all the pangs of +emptiness; I had scarcely strength to motion away the pertinacious +insects. A soldier gave me a trifle of boiling water from his canteen; +but I gasped for air; we were living in a vacuum. Sahara could not have +been so fierce and burning. Two of us started off to find a spring. We +made our way from shade to shade, expiring at every step, and finally, +at the base of the hill, on the brink of the swamp, discovered a rill of +tepid water, that evaporated before it had trickled a hundred yards. If +a sleek and venomous water-snake--for there were thousands of them +hereabout--had coiled in the channel, I would still have sucked the +draught, bending down as I did. Then I bethought me of my pony. He had +neither been fed nor watered for twenty hours, and I hastened to obtain +him from his place along the woodside. To my terror, he was gone. +Forgetful of my weakness, I passed rapidly, hither and thither, +inquiring of cavalry-men, and entertaining suspicions of every person in +the vicinity. Finally, I espied him in charge of a rough, thievish +sabreman, who affected not to see me. I went up to the animal, and +pulled the reins from his shoulder, to discover the brand mark,--"U. S." +As I surmised, he had not been branded, and I turned indignantly upon +the fellow:-- + +"My friend, how came you by this horse?" + +"Quartermaster!" said the man, guiltily. + +"No sir! He belongs to me. Take off that cavalry-saddle, and find mine, +immediately." + +"Not if the court knows itself," said the man--"and it thinks it do!" + +"Then," said I, white with rage, "I shall report you at once, for +theft." + +"You may, if you want to," replied the man, carelessly. + +I struck off at once for the new Provost Quarters, at a farm-house, +close by. The possible failure to regain my animal, filled me with +rueful thoughts. How was I, so dismounted, to reach the distant river? I +should die, or starve, on the way. I thought I should faint, when I came +to the end of the first field, and leaned, tremblingly, against a tree. +I caught myself sobbing, directly, like a girl, and my mind ran upon the +coolness of my home with my own breezy bedroom, soft paintings, and +pleasant books. These themes tortured me with a consciousness of my +folly. I had forsaken them for the wickednesses of this unhappy +campaign. And my body was to blacken by the road-side,--the sable birds +of prey were to be my mourners. + +But, looking through my tears, a moving something passed between me and +the sky. A brownish bay pony, trailing a fence-rail by his halter, and +browsing upon patches of oats. I whistled thrice and the faithful animal +trotted to my feet, and extended his great nose to be rubbed. I believe +that this horse was the only living thing in the army that sympathized +with me. He knew that I was sick, and I thought once, that, like the +great dogs of Saint Bernard, he was about to get upon his knees, that I +might the more readily climb upon his back. He did, however, stand +quietly, while I mounted, and I gave him a drink at the foot of the +hill. Returning, I saw the soldier, wrongfully accused, eyeing me from +his haunt beneath the trees. I at once rode over to him, and apologized +for my mistake. + +"Never mind," said the man, complacently. "You was all right. I might a +done the same thing. Fact is," he added, "I did hook this hoss, but I +knew you wan't the party." + +During the rest of the day I travelled disconsolately, up and down the +road, winding in and out of the lines of teams. + +I was assured that it would be impossible to get to the James till next +day, as no portion of that army had yet advanced so far. The moody +minutes of that afternoon made the longest part of my life, while the +cannon at Peach Orchard and Savage's, roared and growled incessantly. +Toward the close of the day I fell in with Captain Hill, of the New York +Saratoga regiment, who gave me the outline of the fight. + +The Confederates had discovered that we were falling back, by means of a +balloon, of home manufacture,--the first they had been able to employ +during the entire war. They appeared at our entrenchments on Sunday +morning, and finding them deserted, commenced an irregular pursuit, +whereby, they received terrible volleys of musketry from ambuscaded +regiments, and retired, in disorder, to the ramparts. This was the +battle of "Peach Orchard," and was disastrous to the Southerners. In the +afternoon, they again essayed to advance, but more cautiously. The +Federals, meantime, lay in order of battle upon Savage's, Dudley's, and +Crouch's farms, their right resting on the Chickahominy, their centre on +the railroad, and their left beyond the Williamsburg turnpike. For a +time, an artillery contest ensued, and the hospitals at Savage's, where +the wounded lay, were thrice fired upon. The Confederates finally +penetrated the dense woods that belted this country, and the battle, at +nightfall, became fervid and sanguinary. The Federals held their ground +obstinately, and fell back, covered by artillery, at midnight. The woods +were set on fire, in the darkness, and conflagration painted fiery +terrors on the sky. The dead, littered all the fields and woods. The +retreating army had marked its route with corpses. This was the battle +of "Savage's," and neither party has called it a victory. + +During the rest of the night the weary fugitives were crossing White Oak +Creek and Swamp. Toward daybreak, the last battery had accomplished the +passage; the bridge was destroyed; and preparations were made to +dispute the pursuit in the morning. + +I noted these particulars and added to my lists of dead and captured. At +dusk I was about to sleep, supperless, upon the bare ground, when my +patron, Colonel Murphy, again came in sight, and invited me to occupy a +shelter-tent, on the brow of the hill at White Oak. To my great joy, he +was able to offer me some stewed beef, bread and butter, and hot coffee. +I ate voraciously, seizing the food in my naked fingers, and rending it +like a beast. + +The regiment of Colonel Murphy was composed of laborers, and artificers +of every possible description. There were blacksmiths, moulders, masons, +carpenters, boat-builders, joiners, miners, machinists, riggers, and +rope-makers. They could have bridged the Mississippi, rebuilt the +Tredegar works, finished the Tower of Babel, drained the Chesapeake, +constructed the Great Eastern, paved Broadway, replaced the Grand Trunk +railroad, or tunnelled the Straits of Dover. I have often thought that +the real greatness of the Northern army lay in its ingenuity and +industry, not in its military qualifications. + +Our conversation turned upon these matters, as we sat before the +Colonel's tent in the evening, and a Chaplain represented the feelings +of the North in this manner: "We must whip them. We have got more money, +more men, more ships, more ingenuity. They are bound to knuckle at last. +If we have to lose man for man with them, their host will die out before +ours. And we wont give up the Union,--not a piece of it big enough for a +bird or a bee to cover,--though we reduce these thirty millions one +half, and leave only the women and children to inherit the land." The +heart of the army was now cast down, though a large portion of the +soldiers did not know why we were falling back. I heard moody, +despondent, accusing mutterings, around the camp-fires, and my own mind +was full of grief and bitterness. It seemed that our old flag had +descended to a degenerate people. It was not now, as formerly, a proud +recollection that I was an American. If I survived the retreat, it would +become my mission to herald the evil tidings through the length and +breadth of the land. If I fainted in their pursuit, a loathsome prison, +or a grave in the trenches, were to be my awards. When I lay down in a +shelter-tent, rolling from side to side, I remembered that this was the +Sabbath day. A battle Sabbath! How this din and slaughter contrasted +with my dear old Lord's days in the prayerful parsonage! The chimes in +the white spire, where the pigeons cooed in the hush of the singing, +were changed to cannon peals; and the boys that dozed in the "Amen +corner," were asleep forever in the trampled grain-fields. The good +parson, whose clauses were not less truthful, because spoken through his +nose, now blew the loud trumpet for the babes he had baptized, to join +the Captains of fifties and thousands; and while the feeble old women in +the side pews made tremulous responses to the prayer for "thy soldiers +fighting in thy cause," the banners of the Republic were craped, dusty, +and bloody, and the scattered regiments were resting upon their arms for +the shock of the coming dawn. + +Thus I thought, tossing and talking through the long watches, and toward +morning, when sleep brought fever-dreams, a monstrous something leered +at me from the blackness, saying, in a sort of music-- + +"Gobbled up! Gobbled up!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +BY THE RIVERSIDE. + + +A crash and a stunning shock, as of a falling sphere, aroused me at nine +o'clock. A shell had burst in front of our tent, and the enemy's +artillery was thundering from Casey's old hill, beyond the swamp. As I +hastily drew on my boots,--for I had not otherwise undressed,--I had +opportunity to remark one of those unaccountable panics which develop +among civilian soldiers. The camps were plunged into disorder. As the +shells dropped here and there, among the tents and teams, the wildest +and most fearful deeds were enacted. Here a caisson blew up, tearing the +horses to pieces, and whirling a cannoneer among the clouds. There an +ammunition wagon exploded, and the air seemed to be filled with +fragments of wood, iron, and flesh. A boy stood at one of the fires, +combing out his matted hair; suddenly his head flew off, spattering the +brains, and the shell--which we could not see--exploded in a piece of +woods, mutilating the trees. The effect upon the people around me was +instantaneous and appalling. Some, that were partially dressed, took to +their heels, hugging a medley of clothing. The teamsters climbed into +the saddles, and shouted to their nags, whipping them the while. If the +heavy wheels hesitated to revolve, they left horses and vehicles to +their fate, taking themselves to the woods; or, as in some cases, cut +traces and harness, and galloped away like madmen. In a twinkling our +camps were almost deserted, and the fields, woods, and roads were alive +with fugitives, rushing, swearing, falling, and trampling, while the +fierce bolts fell momentarily among them, making havoc at every rod. + +To join this flying, dying mass was my first impulse; but after-thought +reminded me that it would be better to remain. I must not leave my +horse, for I could not walk the whole long way to the James, and the +fever had so reduced me that I hardly cared to keep the little life +remaining. I almost marvelled at my coolness; since, in the fulness of +strength and health, I should have been one of the first of the +fugitives; whereas, I now looked interestedly upon the exciting +spectacle, and wished that it could be daguerreotyped. + +Before our artillery could be brought to play, the enemy, emboldened at +his success, pushed a column of infantry down the hill, to cross the +creek, and engage us on our camping-ground. For a time I believed that +he would be successful, and in that event, confusion and ruin would have +overtaken the Unionists. The gray and butternut lines appeared over the +brow of the hill,--they wound at double quick through the narrow +defile,--they poured a volley into our camps when half-way down, and +under cover of the smoke they dashed forward impetuously, with a loud +huzza. The artillery beyond them kept up a steady fire, raining shell, +grape, and canister over their heads, and ploughing the ground on our +side, into zigzag furrows,--rending the trees, shattering the +ambulances, tearing the tents to tatters, slaying the horses, butchering +the men. Directly Captain Mott's battery was brought to bear; but before +he could open fire, a solid shot struck one of his twelve-pounders, +breaking the trunnion and splintering the wheels. In like manner one of +his caissons blew up, and I do not think that he was able to make any +practise whatever. A division of infantry was now marched forward, to +engage the Confederates at the creek side; but two of the +regiments--and I think that one was the 20th New York--turned bodily, +and could not be rallied. The moment was full of significance, and I +beheld these failures with breathless suspense. In five minutes the +pursuers would gain the creek, and in ten, drive our dismayed +battalions, like chaff before the wind. I hurried to my horse, that I +might be ready to escape. The shell and ball still made music around me. +I buckled up my saddle with tremulous fingers, and put my foot upon the +stirrup. But a cheer recalled me and a great clapping of hands, as at +some clever performance in the amphitheatre. I looked again. A battery +from our position across the road, had opened upon the Confederate +infantry, as they reached the very brink of the swamp. For a moment the +bayonets tossed wildly, the dense column staggered like a drunken man, +the flags rose and fell, and then the line fell back disorderly. At that +instant a body of Federal infantry, that I had not seen, appeared, as by +invocation; their steel fell flashingly, a column of smoke enveloped +them, the hills and skies seemed to split asunder with the shock,--and +when I looked again, the road was strewn with the dying and dead; the +pass had been defended. + +As the batteries still continued to play, and as the prospect of +uninterrupted battle during the day was not a whit abated, I decided to +resume my saddle, and, if possible, make my way to the James. The +geography of the country, as I had deciphered it, satisfied me that I +must pass "New Market," before I could rely upon my personal safety. New +Market was a paltry cross-road's hamlet, some miles ahead, but as near +to Richmond as White Oak Creek. The probabilities were, that the +Confederates would endeavor to intercept us at this point, and so attack +us in flank and rear. As I did not witness either of these battles, +though I heard the discharge of every musket, it may be as well to +state, in brief, that June 30 was marked by the bloodiest of all the +Richmond struggles, excepting, possibly, Gaines's Mill. While the +Southern artillery engaged Franklin's corps, at White Oak Crossing, and +their left made several unavailing attempts to ford the creek with +infantry,--their entire right and centre, marched out the Charles City +Road, and gave impetuous battle at New Market. The accounts and the +results indicate that the Federals won the day at New Market, sheerly by +good fighting. They were parching with thirst, weak with hunger, and it +might have been supposed that reverses had broken their spirit. On the +contrary they did not fall back a rod, during the whole day, and at +evening Heintzelman's corps crowned their success by a grand charge, +whereat the Confederates broke and were pursued three miles toward +Richmond. The gunboats Galena and Aroostook, lying in the James at +Turkey Bend, opened fire at three o'clock, and killed promiscuously, +Federals and Confederates. But the Southern soldiers were superstitious +as to gunboats, and they could not be made to approach within range of +the Galena's monstrous projectiles. + +I shall always recall my journey from White Oak to Harrison's Bar, as +marked by constantly increasing beauties of scenery, and terrors of +event. At every hoof-fall I was leaving the low, boggy, sparsely settled +Chickahominy region, for the high farm-lands of the James. The +dwellings, as I progressed, became handsome; the negro quarters were +less like huts and cattle-sheds; the ripe wheatfields stretched almost +to the horizon; the lawns and lanes were lined with ancient shade-trees; +there were picturesque gates and lodges; the fences were straight and +whitewashed, there were orchards, heavy with crimson apples, where the +pumpkins lay beneath, like globes of gold, in the rows of amber corn. +Into this patriarchal and luxuriant country, the retreating army wound +like a great devouring serpent. It was to me, the coming back of the +beaten _jetters_ through _Midgards_, or the repulse of the fallen angels +from heaven, trampling down the river-sides of Eden. They rode their +team-horses into the wavy wheat, and in some places, where the reapers +had been at work, they dragged the sheaves from the stacks, and rested +upon them. Hearing of the coming of the army, the proprietors had vainly +endeavored to gather their crops, but the negroes would not work, and +they had not modern implements, whereby to mow the grain rapidly. The +profanation of those glorious stretches of corn and rye were to me some +of the most melancholy episodes of the war. No mind can realize how the +grain-fields used to ripple, when the fresh breezes blew up and down the +furrows, and the hot suns of that almost tropical climate, had yielded +each separate head till the whole landscape was like a bright cloud, or +a golden sea. The tall, shapely stalks seemed to reach out imploringly, +like sunny-haired virgins, waiting to be gathered into the arms of the +farmer. They were the Sabine women, on the eve of the bridal, when the +insatiate Romans tore them away and trampled them. The Indian corn was +yet green, but so tall that the tasselled tops showed how cunningly the +young ears were ripening. There were melons in the corn-rows, that a +week would have developed, but the soldiers dashed them open and sucked +the sweet water. They threw clubs at the hanging apples till the ground +was littered with them, and the hogs came afield to gorge; they slew the +hogs and divided the fresh pork among themselves. As I saw, in one +place, dozens of huge German cavalry-men, asleep upon bundles of wheat, +I recalled their Frankish forefathers, swarming down the Apennines, upon +Italy. + +The air was so sultry during a part of the day, that one was constantly +athirst. But there was a belt of country, four miles or more in width, +where there seemed to be neither rills nor wells. Happily, the roads +were, in great part, enveloped in stately timber, and the shade was very +grateful to men and horses. The wounded still kept with us, and many +that were fevered. They did not complain with words; but their red eyes +and painful pace told all the story. If we came to rivulets, they used +to lie upon their bellies, along the margins, with their heads in the +flowing water. The nags were so stiff and hot, that, when they were +reined into creeks, they refused to go forward, and my brown animal once +dropped upon his knees, and quietly surveyed me, as I pitched upon my +hands, floundering in the pool. I remember a stone dairy, such as are +found upon Pennsylvania grazing farms, where I stopped to drink. It lay +up a lane, some distance from the road, and two enormous tulip poplar +trees sheltered and half-concealed it. A tiny creek ran through the +dairy, over cool granite slabs, and dozens of earthen milk-bowls lay in +the water, with the mould of the cream brimming at the surface. A pewter +drinking-mug hung to a peg at the side, and there were wooden spoons for +skimming, straining pails, and great ladles of gourd and cocoanut. A +cooler, tidier, trimmer dairy, I had not seen, and I stretched out my +body upon the dry slabs, to drink from one of the milk-bowls. The cream +was sweet, rich, and nourishing, and I was so absorbed directly, that I +did not heed the footfalls of a tall, broad, vigorous man, who said in a +quiet way, but with a deep, sonorous voice, and a decided Northern +twang-- + +"Friend, you might take the mug. Some of your comrades will want to +drink from that bowl." + +I begged his pardon hastily, and said that I supposed he was the +proprietor. + +"I reckon that I must give over my ownership, while the army hangs +around here," said the man; "but I must endure what I can't cure." + +Here he smiled grimly, and reached down the pewter cup. Then he bent +over a fresh bowl, and dexterously dipped the cup full of milk, without +seeming to break the cream. + +"Drink that," he said; "and if there's any better milk in these parts, I +want to know the man." + +He looked at me critically, while I emptied the vessel, and seemed to +enjoy my heartiness. + +"If you had been smart enough to come this way, victorious," added the +man, straightforwardly, "instead of being out-generalled, whipped, and +driven, I should enjoy the loss of my property a great deal more!" + +There was an irresistible heartiness in his tone and manner. He had, +evidently, resolved to bear the misfortunes of war bravely. + +"You are a Northern man?" I said, inquiringly. + +"How do you know?" + +"There are no such dairies in Virginia; a Virginian never dipped a mug +of milk after your fashion; you haven't the Virginia inflection, and +very weak Virginia principles." + +The man laughed dryly, and filled himself a cup, which he drank +sedately. + +"I reckon you are correct," he said; "pretty much correct, any way. I'm +a New Yorker, from the Mohawk Valley, and I have been showing these +folks how they can't farm. If there's anybody that farms better than I +do, I want to know the man!" + +He looked at the flowing water, the clean slabs and walls, the shining +tins, and smacked his lips satisfactorily. I asked him if he farmed with +negroes, and if the prejudices of the country affected either his social +or industrial interests. He answered that he was obliged to employ +negroes, as he had thrice tried the experiment of working with whites, +but with ill success. + +"_I_ would have kept 'em," he added, in his great voice, closing a +prodigious fist, "but the men would not stay. I couldn't make the +neighbors respect them. There was nobody for 'em to associate with. They +were looked upon as niggers, and they got to feel it after a while. So I +have had only niggers latterly; but I get more work from them than any +other man in these parts. If there's anybody that gets more work out of +niggers than I do, I want to know the man!" + +There was a sort of hard, hearty defiance about him, typical of his +severe, angular race, and I studied his large limbs and grim, full face +with curious admiration. He told me that he hired his negro hands from +the surrounding slave-owners, and that he gave them premiums upon excess +of work, approximating to wages. In this way they were encouraged to +habits of economy, perseverance, and sprightliness. + +"I don't own a nigger," he said, "not one! But I don't think a nigger's +much too good to be a slave. I won't be bothered with owning 'em. And I +won't be conquered into 'the institution.' I said, when I commenced, +that I should not buy niggers, and I won't buy niggers, because I said +so! As to social disadvantages, every Northern man has 'em here. They +called me an abolitionist; and a fellow at the hotel in Richmond did so +to my face. I knocked him into a heap, and nobody has meddled with me +since." "Of course," he said, after a moment, "it won't do to inflame +these people. These people are like my bulls, and you mustn't shake a +red stick at 'em. Besides, I'm not a fanatic. I never was. My wife's one +of these people, and I let her think as she likes. But, if there's +anybody in these parts that wants to interfere with me, I should like to +know the man!" + +The contemptuous tone in which he mentioned "these people" amused me +infinitely, and I believed that his resolute, indomitable manner would +have made him popular in any society. He was shrewd, withal, and walked +beside me to his gate. When the regiments halted to rest, by the +wayside, he invited the field officers to the dairy, and so obtained +guards to rid him of depredators. He would have escaped very handsomely, +but the hand of war was not always so merciful, and a part of the battle +of Malvern Hills was fought upon his property. I have no doubt that he +submitted unflinchingly, and sat more stolidly amid the wreck than old +Marius in battered Carthage. + +Until two o'clock in the afternoon I rode leisurely southward, under a +scorching sky, but still bearing up, though aflame with fever. The guns +thundered continuously behind, and the narrow roads were filled, all the +way, with hurrying teams, cavalry, cannon, and foot soldiers. I stopped, +a while, by a white frame church,--primly, squarely built,--and read the +inscriptions upon the tombs uninterestedly. Some of the soldiers had +pried open the doors, and a wounded Zouave was delivering a mock sermon +from the pulpit. Some of his comrades broke up the meeting by singing-- + + "John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave," + +and then a Major ordered them out, and put a guard upon the building. +The guard played cards upon the door sills. + +I was frequently obliged, by the crowded state of the roads, to turn +aside into woods, fens, and fields, and so make precarious progress. +Sometimes I strayed, unwittingly, a good way from the army, and +recovered the route with difficulty. On one of these occasions, I was +surprised by a person in civil dress, who seemed to shoot up out of the +ground. He was the queerest, grimmest, fearfulest man that I have ever +known, and, at first, I thought that the arch fiend had appeared before +me. The wood was very deep here, and there were no wayfarers but we two. +It was quite still; but now and then we heard the rumble of wagons, and +the crack of teamster's whips. The man in question wore dead black +beard, and his eyebrows were of the same intense, lustreless hue. So +were his eyes and his hair; but the latter formed a circle or cowl +around his head. He had a pale skin, his fingers, were long and bony, +and he rode dexterously in and out, among the tree boles, with his hat +in his hand. His horse was as black as himself, and, together, they made +a half-brigandish, half-satanic appearance. + +I reined in sharply, when I saw this person, and he looked at me like +the evil-eye, through his great owlish orbs. + +"Good day," he said, in profound basso, as low I think as "double G," +and when he opened his mouth, I saw that his teeth were very white. + +I saluted him gravely, and, not without a shudder, rode beside him. He +proved to be a sort of Missionary, from the Evangelical religious +denominations of the North, to inquire into the spiritual condition of +the soldiers. Camps were full of such people, but I had not found any +man who appeared to be less qualified for his vocation; to have such a +figure at one's deathbed, would be like a foretaste of the great fiend. +He had a fashion of working his scalp half way down to his eyes, as he +spoke, and when he smiled,--though he never laughed aloud,--his +eyelashes did not contract, as with most people, but rather expanded, +till his eyeballs projected from his head. On such occasions, his white +teeth were revealed like a row of fangs, and his leprous skin grew yet +paler. + +"The army has not even the form of godliness," said this man. In the +course of his remarks, he had discovered that I was a correspondent, and +at once turned the conversation into a politico-religious channel. + +"The form of godliness is gone," said the man again in "double G." "This +is a calamitous fact! I would it were not so! I grieve to state it! But +inquiry into the fact, has satisfied me that the form of godliness does +not exist. Ah!" + +When the man said "Ah!" I thought that my horse would run away, and +really, the tone was like the deep conjuration in Hamlet: +"_swear-r-r-r_!" + +"For example," said the man, who told me that his name was Dimpdin,--"I +made some remarks to the 1st New Jersey, on Sabbath week. The field +officers directed the men to attend; I opened divine service with a +feeling hymn; a very feeling hymn! A long measure hymn. By Montgomery! +I commenced earnestly in prayer. In appropriate prayer! I spoke +advisedly for a short hour. What were the results? The deplorable +results? There were men, sir, in that assembly, who went to sleep. To +sleep!" + +He must have gone a great way below "double G," this time, and I did not +see how he could get back. He drew his scalp quite down to the bridge of +his nose, and, seeing that my horse pricked up his ears, timorously +smiled like the idol of Baal. + +"There were men, sir, who did worse. Not simply failing to be hearers of +the word! But doers of evil! Men who played cards during the service. +Played cards! Gambled! Gambled! And some,--abandoned wretches!--who +mocked me! Lifted up their voices and mocked! Mockers, gamblers, +slumberers!" + +I never heard anything so awful as the man Dimpdin's voice, at the +iteration of these three words. They seemed to come from the bowels of +the earth, and rang through the wood like the growl of a lion. He told +me that he was engaged upon a Memorial to the Evangelical Union, which +should state the number of unconverted men in the ranks, and the number +of castaways. He accredited the loss of the campaign to the prevailing +wickedness, but was unwilling to admit that the Southern troops were +more religious. His theory of reform, if I remember it, embraced the +raising of Chaplains to the rank of Major, with proportionate pay and +perquisites, the establishment of a military religious bureau, and a +Chaplain-General with Aides. Each soldier, officer, teamster, and +drummer-boy was to have a Testament in his knapsack, and services should +be held on the eve of every battle, and at roll-call in the mornings. +There was to be an inspection of Testaments as of muskets. For swearing, +a certain sum should be subtracted from the soldier's pay, and conferred +upon the Chaplains. + +"In fact," said Dimpdin, tragically,--scalping himself meanwhile,--"the +church must be recognized in every department, and if my Memorial be +acted upon favorably, we shall have such victories, in three months, as +will sweep Rebellion into the grave. Yes! Into the grave! The grave!" + +I was obliged to say, here, that my horse could not stand these +sepulchral noises, and that my nerves, being shattered by the fever, +were inadequate to bear the shock. So the man Dimpdin smiled, like a +window-mummy, and contented himself with looking like Apollyon. We +reached a rill directly, and he produced a wicker flask, with a +Britannia drinking-case. + +"Young men love stimulating drinks," said Dimpdin,--"strong drinks! +alcoholic drinks! Here is a portion of Monongahela! old Monongahela! We +will refresh ourselves!" + +He found a lemon, accidentally, in his saddle-bag, and contrived an +informal punch, with wonderful dexterity. I took a draught modestly, and +he emptied the rest, with an "Ah!" that shook the woods. + +I wondered if the man Dimpdin would suggest the apportionment of flasks +to soldiers, in his Evangelical report! + +He left me, when we regained the road, to ride with a lithe, bronchial +person, in white neckcloth and coat cut close at the collar. They looked +like the fox and the fiend, in the fable, and I seemed to hear the man +Dimpdin's voice for three succeeding weeks. + +At three o'clock, I climbed a gentle hill,--and I was now very weary and +weak,--and from the summit, looked upon the river James, flowing far off +to the right, through woods, and bluffs, and grainfields, and reedy +islands. At last, I had gained the haven. The bright waters below me +seemed to cool my red, fiery eyes, and a sort of blessed blindness fell +for a time upon me, so that, when I looked again my lashes were wet. The +prospect was truly beautiful. Far to the west, standing out from the +chalky bluffs, were scattered the white camps of Wise's Confederate +brigade. Beyond, on the remote bank of the river, lay farm-lands, and +stately mansions, and some one showed me, rising faintly in the +distance, "Drury's Bluff," the site of Fort Darling, where the gunboats +were repulsed in the middle of May. Below, in the river, lay the +_Galena_, and a little way astern, the _Aroostook_. Signal-men, with +flags, were elevated upon the masts of each, and the gunners stood upon +the decks, as waiting some emergency. The vessels had steam up, and +seemed to be ready for action at any moment. This was Grand Turkey Bend, +and the rising ground on which I stood, was known as "Malvern Hills." A +farm-house lay to my left, and repairing thither, I cast myself from the +nag, and lay down in the shady yard, thankful that I had reached the +haven, and only solicitous now to escape the further privations of +McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE HOSPITAL TRANSPORT. + + +An earnest desire now took possession of me, to be the first of the +correspondents to reach New York. The scenes just transpired had been +unparalleled in the war, and if, through me, the ---- should be the +first to make them public, it would greatly redound to my credit. +Perhaps no profession imparts an enthusiasm in any measure kindred to +that of the American Newsgatherer. I was careless of the lost lives and +imperilled interests, the suffering, the defeat: no emotions either of +the patriot or the man influenced me. I only thought of the _eclat_ of +giving the story to the world, and nurtured an insane desire to make to +Fortress Monroe, by some other than the common expedient. That this was +a paltry ambition I know; but I write what happened, and to the +completion of my sketch of a correspondent, this is necessary to be +said. I found Glumley at the old mansion referred to, and stealthily +suggested to him the seizing of an open boat, whereby we might row down +to the Fortress. He rejected it as impracticable, but was willing to +hazard a horseback ride down the Peninsula. I knew that this would not +do, and after a short time I continued my journey down the riverside, +hopeful of finding some transport or Despatch boat. I was now in Charles +City County, and the river below me was dotted with woodland islands. I +soon got upon the main road to Harrison's Point or Bar, and followed the +stream of ambulances and supply teams for more than an hour. At last we +reached a diverging lane, through which we passed to a landing, close to +a fine dwelling, whose style of architecture I may denominate, the +"Gothic run mad." An old cider-press was falling into rottenness on the +lawn; four soldiers were guarding the well, that the mob might not +exhaust its precious contents, and between some negro-huts and the brink +of the bluff, stood a cluster of broad-armed trees, beneath whose shade +the ambulance-drivers were depositing the wounded. + +I have made these chapters sufficiently hideous, without venturing to +transcribe these new horrors. Suffice it to say that the men whom I now +beheld had been freshly brought from the fight of New Market, and were +suffering the first agonies of their wounds. One hour before, they had +felt all the lustiness of life and adventure. Now, they were whining +like babes, and some had expired in the ambulances. The act of lifting +them to the ground so irritated their wounds that they howled dismally, +and yet were so exhausted that after lying upon the ground awhile, they +quietly passed into sleep. Such are the hardening results of war, that +some soldiers, who were unhurt, actually refused to give a trifle of +river water from their canteens to their expiring comrades. At one time +a brutal wrangle occurred at the well, and the guard was compelled to +seek reinforcement, or the thirsty people would have massacred them. + +I was now momentarily adding to my notes of the battles, and the wounded +men very readily gave me their names; for they were anxious that the +account of their misfortunes should reach their families, and I think +also, that some martial vanity lingered, even among those who were +shortly to crumble away. A longboat came in from the Galena, after a +time, and General McClellan, who had ridden down to the pier, was taken +aboard. He looked to be very hot and anxious, and while he remained +aboard the vessel, his staff dispersed themselves around the banks and +talked over the issues of the contest. As the General receded from the +strand, every sweep of the long oars was responded to from the hoarse +cannon of the battle-field, and when he climbed upon deck, the steamer +moved slowly up the narrow channel, and the signal-man in the foretop +flourished his crossed flag sturdily. Directly, the _Galena_ opened fire +from her immense pieces of ordnance, and the roar was so great that the +explosions of field-guns were fairly drowned. She fired altogether by +the direction of the signals, as nothing could be seen of the +battle-field from her decks. I ascertained afterward that she played +havoc with our own columns as well as the enemy's, but she brought hope +to the one, and terror to the other. The very name of gunboat affrighted +the Confederates, and they were assured, in this case, that the +retreating invaders, had at length reached a haven. The _Galena_ kept up +a steady fire till nightfall, and the Federals, taking courage, drove +their adversaries toward Richmond, at eve. Meanwhile the Commanding +General's escort and body-guard had encamped around us, and during the +night the teams and much of the field cannon fell back. I obtained +shelter and meals from Quartermaster Le Duke of Iowa, whose canvas was +pitched a mile or more below, and as I tossed through the watches I +heard the splashing of water in the river beneath, where the tired +soldiers were washing away the powder of the battle. + +In the morning I retraced to head-quarters, and vainly endeavored to +learn something as to the means of going down the river. Commanders are +always anxious to grant correspondents passes after a victory; but they +wish to defer the unwelcome publication of a defeat. I was advised by +Quartermaster-General Van Vliet, however, to proceed to Harrison's Bar, +and, as I passed thither, the last day's encounters--those of "Malvern +Hills"--occurred. The scenes along the way were reiterations of terrors +already described,--creaking ambulances, staggering foot soldiers, +profane wagoners, skulking officers and privates, officious Provost +guards, defiles, pools and steeps packed with teams and cannon, wayside +houses beset with begging, gossiping, or malicious soldiers, and wavy +fields of wheat and rye thrown open to man and beast. I was amused at +one point, to see some soldiers attack a beehive that they might seize +the honey. But the insects fastened themselves upon some of the +marauders, and after indescribable cursing and struggling, the bright +nectar and comb were relinquished by the toilers, and the ravishers +gorged upon sweetness. + +Harrison's Bar is simply a long wharf, extending into the river, close +by the famous mansion, where William Henry Harrison, a President of the +United States, was born, and where, for two centuries, the scions of a +fine old Virginia family have made their homestead. The house had now +become a hospital, and the wounded were being conveyed to the pier, +whence they were delivered over to some Sanitary steamers, for passage +to Northern cities. I tied my horse to the spokes of a wagon-wheel, and +asked a soldier to watch him, while I repaired to the quay. A half +drunken officer was guarding the wharf with a squad of men, and he +denied me admittance, at first, but when I had said something in +adulation of his regiment--a trick common to correspondents--he passed +me readily. The ocean steamer _Daniel Webster_ was about being cast +adrift when I stepped on board, and Colonel Ingalls, Quartermaster in +charge, who freely gave me permission to take passage in her, advised me +not to risk returning to shore. So, reluctantly, I resigned my pony, +endeared to me by a hundred adventures, and directly I was floating down +the James, with the white teams and the tattered groups of men, receding +from me, and each moment the guns of Malvern Hills growing fainter. +Away! praised be a merciful God! away from the accursed din, and terror, +and agony, of my second campaign,--away forever from the Chickahominy. + +For awhile I sat meditatively in the bow of the boat, full of strange +perplexities and thankfulness. I had escaped the bullet, and fever, and +captivity, and a great success in my profession was about to be accorded +to me, but there was much work yet to be done. The rough material I had +for a grand account of the closing of the campaign; but these +fragmentary figures and notes must be wrought into narrative, and to +avail myself of their full significance, I must lose no moment of +application. I found that I was one of four correspondents on board, and +we resolved to district the boat, each correspondent taking one fourth +of the names of the sick and wounded. The spacious saloons, the clean +deck, the stairways, the gangways, the hold, the halls,--all were filled +with victims. They lay in rows upon straw beds, they limped feverishly +here and there; some were crazed from sunstroke, or gashes; and one man +that I remember counted the rivets in the boilers over the whole hundred +miles of the journey, while another,--a teamster,--whipped and cursed +his horses as if he had mistaken the motion of the boat for that of his +vehicle. + +The _Daniel Webster_ was one of a series of transports supplied for the +uses of the wounded by a national committee of private citizens. Her +wood work was shining and glossy, her steel shone like mirrors, and she +was cool as Paradise. Out of the smoke, and turmoil, and suffocation of +battle these wretched men had emerged, to enjoy the blessedness, +unappreciated before, of shelter, and free air and cleanliness. There +was ice in abundance on board, and savory lemonade lay glassily around +in great buckets. Women flitted from group to group with jellies, +_bonbons_, cigars, and oranges, and the grateful eyes of the prostrate +people might have melted one to tears. These women were enthusiasts of +all ages and degrees, who proffered themselves, at the beginning of the +war, as stewardesses and nurses. From the fact that some of them were of +masculine natures, or, in the vocabulary of the times, "strong-minded," +they were the recipients of many coarse jests, and imputations were +made upon both their modesty and their virtue. But I would that any +satirist had watched with me the good offices of these Florence +Nightingales of the West, as they tripped upon merciful errands, like +good angels, and left paths of sunshine behind them. The soldiers had +seen none of their countrywomen for months, and they followed these +ambassadors with looks half-idolatrous, half-downcast, as if consciously +unworthy of so tender regard. + +"If I could jest die, now," said one of the poor fellows to me, "with +one prayer for my country, and one for that dear young lady!" + +There was one of these daughters of the good Samaritan whose face was so +full of coolness, and her robes so airy, flowing, and graceful, that it +would have been no miracle had she transmuted herself to something +divine. She was very handsome, and her features bore the imprint of that +high enthusiasm which may have animated the maid of Arc. One of the more +forward of the correspondents said to her, as she bore soothing +delicacies to the invalids, that he missed the satisfaction of being +wounded, at which she presented an orange and a cigar to each of us in +turn. Among the females on board, I remarked one, very large, angular, +and sanguine, who sat at a small table, dispensing luxuries with the +manners of a despot and the charity of a child. She had a large vessel +of boiling coffee, from which she drew spicy quantities at intervals; +and when the troops thronged around eagerly, she rebuked the more +forward, and called up some emaciated, bashful fellows, giving them +the preference. Every soldier who accepted coffee was obliged to +take a religious tract, and she gave them away with a grim satisfaction +that was infinitely amusing and interesting. I ventured to ask +this imperative person for a bottle of ink, and after some +difficulty,--arising out of a mistaken notion on her part that I was +dangerously wounded,--she vaulted over a chair, and disappeared into a +state-room. When she returned, her arms were filled with a perfect +wilderness of stationery, and having supplied each of us in turn, she +addressed herself to me in the following sententious manner:-- + +"See here! You reporter! (There's ink!) I want to be put in the +newspapers! Look at me! Now! Right straight! (Pens?) Here I am; thirteen +months at work; been everywhere; done good; country; church; never +noticed. Never!--Now! I want to be put in newspapers." + +At this point the Imperatress was called off by some soldiers, who +presumed to draw coffee without her consent. She slapped one of them +soundly, and at once overpowered him with kindnesses, and tracts; then +she returned and gave me a photograph, representing herself with a +basket of fruit, and a quantity of good books. I took note of her name, +but unfortunately lost the memorandum, and unless she has been honored +by some more careful scribe, I fear that her labors are still +unrecognized. + +During much of the trip, I wrote material parts of my report, copied +portions of my lists, and managed before dusk, to get fairly underway +with my narrative. From the deck of the steamer I beheld at five +o'clock, what I had long wished to see,--the famous island of Jamestown, +celebrated in the early annals of the New World, as the home of John +Smith, and of Nathaniel Bacon, and as the resort of the Indian Princess, +Pocahontas. A single fragment of a tower, the remnant of the Colonial +church, was the only ruin that I could see. + +At seven o'clock we dropped anchor in Hampton Roads, and a boat let down +from the davits. Some of my wily compeers endeavored to fill all the +stern seats, that I might not be pulled to shore; but I swung down by a +rope, and made havoc with their shins, so that they gained nothing; the +surf beat so vehemently against the pier at Old Point, that we were +compelled to beach the boat, and I ran rapidly through the ordnance +yard to the "Hygeia House," where our agent boarded; he had gone into +the Fortress to pass the night, and when I attempted to follow him +thither, a knot of anxious idlers, who knew that I had just returned +from the battle-fields, attempted to detain me by sheer force. I dashed +rapidly up the plank walk, reached the portal, and had just vaulted into +the area, when the great gates swung to, and the tattoo beat; at the +same instant the sergeant of guard challenged me:-- + +"Who comes there? Stand fast! Guard prime!" + +A dozen bright musket-barrels were levelled upon me, and I heard the +click of the cocks as the fingers were laid upon the triggers. When I +had explained, I was shown the Commandant's room, and hastening in that +direction, encountered Major Larrabee, my old patron of the fifth +Wisconsin regiment. He took me to the barracks, where a German officer, +commanding a battery, lodged, and the latter accommodated me with a camp +bedstead. Here I related the incidents of the engagements, and before I +concluded, the room was crowded with people. I think that I gave a +sombre narration, and the hearts of those who heard me were cast down. +Still, they lingered; for the bloody story possessed a hideous +fascination, and I was cross-examined so pertinaciously that my host +finally arose, protesting that I needed rest, and turned the party out +of the place. The old fever-dreams returned to me that night, and my +brain spun round for hours before I could close my eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ON FURLOUGH AWHILE. + + +Counter winds and tides had so delayed the _Adelaide_, on which I +departed for New York with my despatches, that it became a doubtful +question as to whether we could make connection with the early train for +New York. The captain shook his head distrustfully when he had looked at +his watch, and told me that he frequently failed to land his passengers +in time. The bitterness of the doubt so troubled me, that I paced the +decks, looking at the approaching city, and thinking that all my labor +was to be disappointed in the end. I could not telegraph my narrative +and lists, for Government controlled the wires; and moreover, the +Associated Press regulations forbade any newspaper to telegraph +exclusive news from any point but Washington. I half resolved to hire a +special locomotive, but it was doubtful that the railway authorities +could procure one, at 60 short notice. Unless I overtook the eight +o'clock A. M. train, I could not get to New York before two o'clock next +morning,--too late for the press. Besides, how did I know that some +correspondent had not reached Washington, by way of one of the Potomac +vessels, and so forestalled me? Here was an opportunity to be the first +of all our correspondents to publish the incidents and results of six +days' stupendous warfare,--but escaping at the very moment of +realization. The seconds were hours as we swept past Fort Carroll, +rounded Fort McHenry, and swung toward our moorings, under Fort Federal +Hill. + +"If we make a prompt landing," said the Captain, "you may barely get the +train." + +I stood with my bundles of notes upon the high deck, and signalled a +cab-driver. He caught the precious manuscript, and bolted for his cab. +In another second he was 'dashing like a runaway up the pier, over the +bridge, through Pratt Street, and--out of sight. Slowly the great hulk +turned awkwardly about; one turn of her paddles brought us close enough +to fling a rope, a second drew her very near the shore; the distance was +fearful, but I braced myself for the leap. + +"Stand clear!" I called to the score of hackmen. + +A little run, a spring,--and I fell upon my feet, rolled over upon my +face, gathered myself to the arms of all the Jehus, and was carried off +bodily by a man with a great knob on his forehead as big as the end of +his whip-handle. + +"G'lang! Who-o-o-oh! Swis-s-s!" + +I think that I promised that man everything under the sun to catch the +train. I recollect that the knob on his forehead grew black and bulging +as he lashed his horse. I found myself standing up in the cab, screaming +like the driver. We were both insane, and the horse must have been of +the breed of _Pegasus_, for I could feel the vehicle gyrating in the +air. Now we turned a lamp-post, and the glass splintered somewhere; a +dog howled as we drove over his appendage; a woman with a baby gave a +short scream and disappeared into the earth; a policeman gave chase, but +we laughed him to scorn. + +Huzza! Here we are! The train stands puffing at the long platform. "Your +bundle, yer honor! Wasn't I the boy to make the keers?" "Didn't I +projuce yer honor in good time, sur?" I only know that I flung a +greenback to the two,--that I vainly besought the ticket agent to give +me no change, but consign it to the first engineer who failed to make +time,--that I wrote on the back of my hat for four hours,--that I +devoured a chicken and as many eggs as she had laid in a lifetime, at +Havre de Grace,--that I leaped upon the platform at Broad and Prime +streets, Philadelphia, at noon,--that I plunged into a cab, and said, +significantly-- + +"New York Ferry!" + +It chafed me to pass through the promenade street of my home-city, +without a moment to spare for my family or friends. The cab-horse +slipped in Chestnut Street, and I went over the rest of the route on +foot, at a dog-trot pace, passing in various quarters for a sportsman, a +professional runner, and a lunatic. I was greatly aggravated between +Amboy and Camden, by persons making inquiries for brothers, sons, and +acquaintances. At last, when I attained the steamer, the Captain kindly +shut me up in his office, and I went on with my narrative till my eyes +were burning and my hands failed in their function. Kill von Kull and +its picturesque shores went by; we emerged into the beautiful bay, and +winding among its buoys, harbor lights, and shipping, came to, at +length, at the foot of Christopher Street. I repaired to the office at +once, and wrote far into the night, refraining, finally, from sheer +blindness and exhaustion, and dropped asleep in the carriage as I was +taken toward the Metropolitan Hotel. + +The next day was Friday, July 4, the anniversary of American +Independence, and my version of the six-days' battles caused universal +gloom and grief. I had furnished five pages or forty columns of closely +printed matter, and thousands of tremulous fingers were tracing out the +names of their dead dear ones, while I sipped my wine and rehearsed for +the hundredth time, the incidents of the retreat to a multitude of men. +Cards and letters came to me by the gross, from bereaved countrymen, and +I was obliged, finally, to add a postscript to my account, and a protest +that I knew no more, and could answer no interrogatories. A bath, fresh +clothing, and rich food so far improved my appearance in a few days, +that I presented no other traces of sickness and travel than a sunburnt +face, and a rheumatic walk. + +With restoration came a revival of old desires, appetites, and +attachments. It required one additional campaign to sober me in these +respects, and I was not a little relieved, to receive an order on the +fourth day, to proceed to Washington, and attach myself to the "Army of +Virginia" at the head of which Major-General John Pope had just been +placed. After two quieter days' enjoyment, in the Quaker City, I +reported myself at the Capital, but was debarred from taking the field +at once, owing to the tardiness of the new Commander. For two weeks or +more, I loitered around Washington, and although the time passed +monotonously, I saw many persons and events which have much to do with +the history of the Rebellion. The story of "Washington During the War" +has yet to be written in all its vividness of enterprise, devotion, and +infamy. It has been, in periods of peace, a dull, dolorous town, of +mammoth hotels, paltry dwellings, empty lots, prodigiously wide avenues, +a fossil population, and a series of gigantic public buildings, which +seemed dropped by accident into a fifth-rate backwoods settlement. +During the sessions Washington was overrun with "Smartness": Smart +pages, smart messengers, smart cabmen, smart publicans, smart +politicians, smart women, smart scoundrels! Greatness became commonplace +here, and Mr. Douglas might drink at Willard's Bar, with none so poor to +do him reverence, or General Winfield Scott strut like a colossus along +"the Avenue," and the sleepy negroes upon their backs would give him the +attention of only one eye. It was interesting, to notice how rapidly +provincial eminence lost caste here. Slipkins, who was "Honorable" at +home, and of whom his county newspaper said that "this distinguished +fellow citizen of ours will be heard from, among the greatest of the +free,"--Slipkins moved to and fro unnoticed, and voted with his party, +and drank much brandy and water, and left no other record at the Capital +than some unpaid bills, and perhaps an unacknowledged heir. A gaping +rustic and his new bride, or a strolling foreigner, marvelling and +making notes at every turn, might be observed in the Patent Office +examining General Washington's breeches, but these were at once called +"greenies," and people put out their tongues and winked at them. The +Secretaries' ladies gave parties now and then, attended by the folks who +sold them horses, or carpets, or wines; the President gave a "levee," +whereat a wonderfully Democratic horde gathered to pinch his hands and +ogle his lady; the Marine band (in _red_ coats), played twice a week in +the Capital grounds, and Senators, Cyprians, Ethiops, and children +rallied to enjoy; a theatre or two played time-honored dramas with +Thespian companies; a couple of scholars lectured in the sombre +Smithsonian Institution; an intrigue and a duel filled some most doleful +hiatus; and a clerk absconded with half a million, or an Indian agent +robbed the red men and fell back to the protection of his "party." A +very dismal, a very dirty, and a very Democratic settlement was the +American Capital, till the war came. + +Even the war lost half its interest in Washington. A regiment marching +down Broadway was something to see, but the same regiment in +Pennsylvania Avenue looked mean and matter-of-fact. A General in the +field, or riding uncovered through Boston or Baltimore, or even lounging +at the bar of the Continental or the Astor House or the Tremont, was +invested with an atmosphere half heroic, half poetic; but Generals +in Washington may be counted by pairs, and I used to sit at dinner +with eight or a dozen of them in my eye. There was the new +Commander-in-Chief, Halleck, a short, countryfied person, whose blue +coat was either threadbare or dusty, or lacked some buttons, and who +picked his teeth walking up and down the halls at Willard's, and argued +through a white, bilious eye and a huge mouth. There was General +Mitchel, also, who has since passed away,--a little, knotty gentleman, +with stiff, gray, Jacksonian hair. And General Sturgis passed in and out +perpetually, with impressive, individual Banks, or some less prominent +person, all of them wearing the gold star upon their shoulders, and +absolute masters of some thousands of souls. The town, in fact, was +overrun with troops. Slovenly guards were planted on horseback at +crossings, and now and then they dashed, as out of a profound sleep, to +chase some galloping cavalier. Gin and Jews swarmed along the Avenue, +and I have seen gangs of soldiers of rival regiments, but oftener of +rival nationalities, pummelling each other in the highways, until they +were marched off by the Provosts. The number of houses of ill-fame was +very great, and I have been told that Generals and Lieutenants of the +same organization often encountered and recognized each other in them. +Contractors and "jobbers" used to besiege the offices of the Secretaries +of War and Navy, and the venerable Welles (who reminded me of Abraham in +the lithographs), and the barnacled Stanton, seldom appeared in public. +Simple-minded, straightforward A. Lincoln, and his ambitious, clever +lady, were often seen of afternoons in their barouche; the little +old-fashioned Vice-President walked unconcernedly up and down; and when +some of the Richmond captives came home to the Capital, immense meetings +were held, where patriotism bawled itself hoarse. A dining hour at +Willard's was often wondrously adapted for a historic picture, when +accoutred officers, and their beautiful wives,--or otherwise,--sat at +the _table d'-hote_, and sumptuous dishes flitted here and there, while +corks popped like so many Chinese crackers, and champagne bubbled up +like blood. At night, the Provost Guard enacted the farce of coming by +deputations to each public bar, which was at once closed, but reopened +five minutes afterward. Congress water was in great demand for weak +heads of mornings, and many a young lad, girt up for war, wasted his +strength in dissipation here, so that he was worthless afield, and +perhaps died in the hospital. The curse of civil war was apparent +everywhere. One had but to turn his eye from the bare Heights of +Arlington, where the soldiers of the Republic lay demoralized, to the +fattening vultures who smoked and swore at the National, to see the true +cause of the North's shortcomings,--its inherent and almost universal +corruption. Human nature was here so depraved, that man lost faith in +his kind. Death lurked behind ambuscades and fortifications over the +river, but Sin, its mother, coquetted _here_, and as an American, I +often went to bed, loathing the Capital, as but little better than +Sodom, though its danger had called forth thousands of great hearts to +throb out, in its defence. For every stone in the Capitol building, a +man has laid down his life. For every ripple on the Potomac, some +equivalent of blood has been shed. + +I lodged for some time in Tenth Street, and took my meals at Willard's. +The legitimate expenses of living in this manner were fourteen dollars a +week; but one could board at Kirkwood's or Brown's for seven or eight +dollars, very handsomely. A favorite place of excursion, near the city, +was "Crystal Spring," where some afternoon orgies were enacted, which +should have made the sun go into eclipse. I repaired once to Mount +Vernon, and looked dolorously at the tomb of the _Pater Patris_, and +once to Annapolis, on the Chesapeake, which the war has elevated into a +fine naval station. + +At length Pope's forces were being massed along the line of the +Rappahannock, below the Occoquan river, and upon the "Piedmont" +highlands. "Piedmont" is the name applied to the fine table-lands of +Northern Virginia, and the ensuing campaign has received the designation +of the "Piedmont Campaign." Pope's army proper was composed of three +corps, commanded respectively by Generals Irvin McDowell, Franz Siegel, +and Nathaniel P. Banks. But a portion of General McClellan's peninsular +army had meantime returned to the Potomac, and the corps of General +Burnside was stationed at Fredericksburg, thirty miles or more below +Pope's head-quarters at Warrenton. + +I presented myself to General Pope on the 12th of July, at noon. His +Washington quarters consisted of a quiet brick house, convenient to the +War office, and the only tokens of its importance were some guards at +the threshold, and a number of officers' horses, saddled in the shade of +some trees at the curb. The lower floor of the dwelling was appropriated +to quartermasters' and inspectors' clerks, before whom a number of +people were constantly presenting themselves, with applications for +passes;--sutlers, in great quantities, idlers, relic-hunters, and +adventurers in still greater ratio, and, last of all, citizens of +Virginia, solicitous to return to their farms and families. The mass of +these were rebuffed, as Pope had inaugurated his campaign with a show of +severity, even threatening to drive all the non-combatants out of his +lines, unless they took the Federal oath of allegiance. He gave me a +pass willingly, and chatted pleasantly for a time. In person he was +dark, martial, and handsome,--inclined to obesity, richly garbed in +civil cloth, and possessing a fiery black eye, with luxuriant beard and +hair. He smoked incessantly, and talked imprudently. Had he commenced +his career more modestly, his final discomfiture would not have been so +galling; but his vanity was apparent to the most shallow observer, and +although he was brave, clever, and educated, he inspired distrust by his +much promising and general love of gossip and story-telling. He had all +of Mr. Lincoln's garrulity (which I suspect to be the cause of their +affinity), and none of that good old man's unassuming common sense. + +The next morning, at seven o'clock, I embarked for Alexandria, and +passed the better half of the forenoon in negotiating for a pony. At +eleven o'clock, I took my seat in a bare, filthy car, and was soon +whirled due southward, over the line of the Orange and Alexandria +railroad. The country between Alexandria and Warrenton Junction, or, +indeed, between Washington and Richmond, was not unlike those masterly +descriptions of Gibbon, detailing the regions overrun by Hyder Ali. The +towns stood like ruins in a vast desert, and one might write musing +epitaphs at every wind-beaten dwelling, whence the wretched denizens had +fled in cold and poverty to a doubtful hospitality in the far South. +Fences there were none, nor any living animals save the braying hybrids +which limped across the naked plains to eke out existence upon some +secluded patches of grass. These had been discharged from the army, and +they added rather than detracted from the lonesomeness of the wild. +Their great mournful eyes and shaggy heads glared from copses, and in +places where they had lain down beside the track to expire. If we +sometimes pity these dumb beasts as they drag loaded wains, or heavy +omnibuses, or sub-soil ploughs, we may also bestow a tender sentiment +upon the army mules. Flogged by teamsters, cursed by quartermasters, +ridiculed by roaring regiments of soldiers, strained and spavined by +fearful draughts, stalled in bogs and fainting upon hillsides,--their +bones will evidence the sites of armies, when the skeletons of men have +crumbled and become reabsorbed. I have seen them die like martyrs, when +the inquisitor, with his bloody lash, stood over them in the closing +pangs, and their last tremulous howl has almost moved to tears. Some of +the dwellings seemed to be occupied, but the tidiness of old times was +gone. The women seemed sunburnt and hardened by toil. They looked from +their thresholds upon the flying train, with their hair unbraided and +their garters ungyved,--not a negro left to till the fields, nor a son +or brother who had not travelled to the wars. They must be now hewers of +wood, and drawers of water, and the fingers whereon diamonds used to +sparkle, must clench the axe and the hoe. + +At last we came to Bull Run, the dark and bloody ground where the first +grand armies fought and fled, and again to be consecrated by a baptism +of fire. The railway crossed the gorge upon a tall trestle bridge, and +for some distance the track followed the windings of the stream. A +black, deep, turgid current, flowing between gaunt hills, lined with +cedar and beech, crossed here and there by a ford, and vanishing, above +and below, in the windings of wood and rock; while directly beyond, lie +the wide plains of Manassas Junction, stretching in the far horizon, to +the undulating boundary of the Blue Ridge. As the Junction remains +to-day, the reader must imagine this splendid prospect, unbroken by +fences, dwellings, or fields, as if intended primevally to be a place +for the shock of columns, with redoubts to the left and right, and +fragments of stockades, dry rifle pits, unfinished or fallen +breastworks, and, close in the foreground, a medley of log huts for the +winter quartering of troops. The woods to the north mark the course of +Bull Run; a line of telegraph poles going westward points to Manassas +Gap; while the Junction proper is simply a point where two single track +railways unite, and a few frame "shanties" or sheds stand contiguous. +These are, for example, the "New York Head-quarters," kept by a person +with a hooked nose, who trades in cakes, lemonade, and (probably) +whiskey, of the brand called "rotgut;" or the "Union Stores," where a +person in semi-military dress deals in India-rubber overcoats, +underclothing, and boots. As the train halts, lads and negroes propose +to sell sandwiches to passengers, and soldiers ride up to take mail-bags +and bundles for imperceptible camps. In the distance some teams are +seen, and a solitary horseman, visiting vestiges of the battle; sidings +beside the track are packed with freight cars, and a small mountain of +pork barrels towers near by; there are blackened remains of locomotives +a little way off, but these have perhaps hauled regiments of +Confederates to the Junction; and over all--men, idlers, ruins, railway, +huts, entrenchments--floats the star-spangled banner from the roof of a +plank depot. + +The people in the train were rollicking and well-disposed, and black +bottles circulated freely. I was invited to drink by many persons, but +the beverage proffered was intolerably bad, and several convivials +became stupidly drunk. A woman in search of her husband was one of the +passengers, and those contiguous to her were as gentlemanly as they knew +how to be. "A pretty woman, in war-time," said a Captain, aside, to me, +"is not to be sneezed at." At "Catlett's," a station near Warrenton +Junction, we narrowly escaped a collision with a train behind, and the +occupants of our train, women included, leaped down an embankment with +marvellous agility. Here we switched off to the right, and at four +o'clock dismounted at the pleasant village of Warrenton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CAMPAIGNING WITH GENERAL POPE. + + +The court-house village of Fauquier County contained a population of +twelve or fifteen hundred at the commencement of the war. Its people +embraced the revolutionary cause at the outstart, and furnished some +companies of foot to the Confederate service, as well as a mounted +company known as the "Black Horse Cavalry." The guns of Bull Run were +heard here on the day of battle, and hundreds of the wounded came into +town at nightfall. Thenceforward Warrenton became prominently identified +with the struggle, and the churches and public buildings were transmuted +to hospitals. After the Confederates retired from Manassas Junction, the +vicinity of Warrenton was a sort of neutral ground. At one time the +Southern cavalry would ride through the main street, and next day a body +of mounted Federals would pounce upon the town, the inhabitants, +meanwhile, being apprehensive of a sabre combat in the heart of the +place. Some people were ruined by the war; some made fortunes. The Mayor +of the village was named Bragg, and he was a trader in horses, as well +as a wagon-builder. There were two taverns, denominated respectively, +the "Warrenton Inn," and the "Warren Green Hotel." I obtained a room at +the former. A young man named Dashiell kept it. He was a +fair-complexioned, clever, high-strung Virginian, and managed to obtain +a great deal of paper money from both republics. It is an encomium in +America, to say that a man "Can keep a hotel," but what shall be said of +the man who can keep a hotel in war-time? I observed young Dashiell's +movements from day to day, and I am satisfied that his popularity arose +from his fairness and frankness. He charged nine dollars a week for +room, and "board," of three meals, but could, with difficulty, obtain +meat and vegetables for the table. His mother and his brother-in-law +lived in the house. The latter was a son of Mayor Bragg, and had been +twice in the Confederate service. He was engaged both at Bull Run and at +Fairfax Court House, and made no secret of his activity at either place. +But he was treated considerately, though he vaunted intolerably. The +"Inn" was a frame dwelling, with a first floor of stone, surrounded by a +double portico. The first room (entering from the street) was the +office, consisting of a bare floor, some creaking benches, some chairs +with whittled and broken arms, a high desk, where accounts were kept, a +row of bells, numbered, communicating with the rooms. Hand-bills were +pinned to the walls, announcing that William Higgins was paying good +prices for "likely" field hands, that Timothy Ingersoll's stock of dry +goods was the finest in Piedmont, that James Mason's mulatto woman, +named Rachel, had decamped on the night of Whitsuntide, and that one +hundred dollars would be paid by the subscriber for her return. Most of +these bills were out of date, but some recent ones were exhibited to me +calling for volunteers, labelled, "Ho! for winter-quarters in +Washington;" "Sons of the South arise!"--"Liberty, glory, and no +Yankeedom!" A bellcord hung against the "office" door, communicating +with the stables, where a deaf hostler might _not_ be rung up. In the +back yard, suspended from a beam, and upright, hung a large bell, which +called the boarders to meals. It commonly rung thrice, and I was told on +inquiry, by the cook-- + +"De fust bell, sah, is to prepah to prepah for de table; dat bell, when +de fust cook don't miss it, is rung one hour befo' mealtime. De second +bell, sah, is to _prepah_ for de table; de last bell, to _come_ to de +table." + +I should have been better pleased with the ceremony, if the food had +been more cleanly, more wholesome, and more abundant. We used to clear +the plates in a twinkling, and if a person asked twice for beef, or +butter, he was stared at by the negroes, as if he had eaten an entire +cow. I soon brought the head-waiter to terms by promising him a dollar a +week for extra attendance, and could even get ice after a time, which +was a luxury. There was a bar upon the premises, which opened +stealthily, when there were liquors to be sold. Cider (called +champaigne) could be purchased for three dollars a bottle, and whiskey +came to hand occasionally. There were cigars in abundance, and I used to +sit on the upper porch of evenings, puffing long after midnight, and +watching the sentinels below. + +There was some female society in Warrenton, but the blue-coats engrossed +it all. The young women were ardent partisans, but also very pretty; and +treason, somehow, heightened their beauty. Disloyalty is always +pardonable in a woman, and these ladies appreciated the fact. They +refused to walk under Federal flags, and stopped their ears when the +bands played national music; but every evening they walked through the +main street, arm in arm with dashing Lieutenants and Captains. Many +flirtations ensued, and a great deal of gossip was elicited. In the end, +some of the misses fell out among themselves, and hated each other more +than the common enemy. I overheard a young lady talking in a low tone +one evening, to a Captain in the Ninth New York regiment. + +"If you knew my brother," she said, "I am sure you would not fire upon +_him_." + +As there were plain, square, prim porches to all the dwellings, the +ladies commonly took positions therein of evenings, and a grand +promenade commenced of all the young Federals in the town. The streets +were pleasantly shaded, and a leafy coolness pervaded the days, though +sometimes, of afternoons, the still heat was almost stifling. A jaunt +after supper often took me far into the country, and the starlights were +softer than one's peaceful thoughts. To be a civilian was a +distinguished honor now, and I enjoyed the staring of the citizens, who +pondered as to my purposes and pursuits, as only villagers can do. There +is a quiet pleasure in being a strange person in a country town, and so +far from objecting to the inquisitiveness of the folk, I rather like it. +One may be passing for a young duke, or tourist, or clergyman, or what +not? + +The Ninth New York (militia) regiment guarded Warrenton, and it was +composed of clever, polite young fellows, who had taken to volunteering +before there was any promise of war, and who turned out, pluckily, when +the strife began. Perhaps public sentiment or pride of organization +influenced them. They were all good-looking and tidy, and their +dress-parades, held in the main street, were handsome affairs. I have +never seen better disciplined columns, and the youthful faces of the +soldiers, with the staid locality of the exhibition,--young women, +negroes, dogs and babies, and old men looking on,--seemed to contradict +the bloody mission of the troops. The old men, referred to, were +villagers of such long standing that had the Court of Saint James, or +the Vatican, or the battle of Waterloo been moved into their country, +they would have still been villagers to the last. They met beside the +Warrenton Inn, under the shade of the trees, at eleven o'clock every +morning, and borrowed the New York papers of the latest date. One +individual, slightly bald, would read aloud, and the rest crouched or +stood about him, making grunts and remarks at intervals. They did not +wish to believe the Federal reports, but they must needs read, and as +most of them had sons in the other army, their pulses were constantly +tremulous with anxiety. I think that Pope's resolve to transport these +harmless old people beyond his lines was very barbarous, and the +soldiers denounced it in similar terms. They spoke of Pope, as of some +terrible despot, and wished to know when he was coming to town, as they +had appointed a committee, and drafted a petition, asking his +forbearance and charity. When these villagers found me out to be a +Newspaper Correspondent, they regarded me with amusing interest, and +marvelled what I would say of their town. A villager is very sensitive +as to his place of residence, and these good people read the----daily, +confounding me with all the paper,--editorial, correspondence, and, I +verily believe, advertisements. One of them wished me to board at his +residence, and I was, after a time, invited out to dinner and tea +frequently. + +The negroes remained in Warrenton, in great numbers, and held carnival +of evenings when the bands played. "Contrabands" were coming daily into +town, and idleness and vice soon characterized the mass of them. They +were ignorant, degraded, animal beings, and many of them loved rum; it +was the last link that bound them to human kind. Servants could be hired +for four dollars a month and "keep;" but they were "shiftless" and +unprofitable. The Provost-Marshal of the place was a Captain +Hendrickson. His quarters were in the Court House building, and he kept +a zealous eye upon sutlers and citizens. The former trespassed in the +sales of liquors to soldiers, and the latter were accused of maintaining +a contraband mail, and of conspiring to commit divers offences. There +were a number of churches in the village, all of which served as +hospitals, and in the quiet cemetery west of the town, two hundred slain +soldiers were interred. A stake of white pine was driven at the head of +each grave. Here lay some of the men who had helped to change the +destinies of a continent. No public worship was held in the place. The +Sundays were busy as other days: trains came and went, teams made dust +in the streets, cavalry passed through the village, music arose from all +the outlying camps; parades and inspections were made, and all the +preparations for killing men were relentlessly forwarded. A pleasant +entertainment occurred one evening, when a plot of ground adjoining the +Warrenton Inn, was appropriated for a camp theatre. Candle footlights +were arranged, and the stage was canopied with national flags. The +citizens congregated, and the performers deferred to their prejudices by +singing no Federal songs. Tho negroes climbed the trees to listen, and +their gratified guffaws made the night quiver. The war lost half its +bitterness at such times; but I thought with a shudder of Stuart's +thundering horsemen, charging into the village, and closing the night's +mimicry with a horrible tragedy. + +Some of the dwellings about the place were elegant and spacious, but +many of these were closed and the owners removed. Two newspapers had +been published here of old, and while ransacking the office of one of +them, I discovered that the type had been buried under the floor. The +planks were speedily torn away, and the cases dragged to light. I +obtained some curious relics, in the shape of "cuts" of recruiting +officers, runaway negroes, etc., as well as a column of a leader, in +type, describing the first battle of Bull Run. For two weeks I had +little to do, as the campaign had not yet fairly commenced, and I passed +many hours every day reading. A young lawyer, in the Confederate +service, had left an ample library behind him, and the books passed into +the hands of every invader in the town. + +Pope finally arrived at Warrenton, and as the troops seemed to be +rapidly concentrating, I judged it expedient to procure a horse at once, +and canvassed the country with that object. By paying a quartermaster +the Government price ($130), I could select a steed from the pound, but +inspection satisfied me that a good saddle nag could not be obtained in +this way. After much parleying with Hebrews and chaffing with country +people, I heard that Mayor Bragg kept some fair animals, and when I +stated my purpose at his house, he commenced the business after a +fashion immemorial at the South, by producing some whiskey. + +When Mayor Bragg had asked me pertinently, if I knew much about the +"pints of a hoss," and what "figger in the way of price" would suit me, +he told an erudite negro named "Jeems" to trot out the black colt. The +black colt made his appearance by vaulting over a gate, and playfully +shivering a panel of fence with his "off" hoof. Then he executed a +flourish with his tail, leaped thrice in the air, and bit savagely at +the man "Jeems." + +When I asked Mayor Bragg if the black colt was sufficiently gentle to +stand fire, he replied that he was gentle as a lamb and offered to put +me astride him. I had no sooner taken my seat, however, than the black +colt backed, neighed, flourished, and stood erect, and finally ran away. + +A second animal was produced, less mettlesome, but also black, finely +strung, daintily hoofed, and as Mayor Bragg said, "just turned four +year." The price of this charger was one hundred and ninety dollars; but +in consideration of my youth and pursuit, Mayor Bragg proposed to take +one hundred and seventy-five; we compromised upon a hundred and fifty +dollars, Major Bragg throwing in a halter, and by good luck I procured a +saddle the same evening, so that I rode triumphantly through the streets +of Warrenton, and fancied that all the citizens were admiring my new +purchase. + +I was struck with the fact, that Mayor Bragg, though an ardent patriot, +would accept of neither Confederate nor Virginia money; he required +payment for his animal, in Father Chase's "greenbacks." + +Mounted anew, I fell into my former active habits, and made two +journeys, to Sperryville and Little Washington, in one direction, to +Madison in another; each place was probably twenty miles distant; the +latter was merely a cavalry outpost, where Generals Hatch and Bayard +were stationed, and the former villages were the head-quarters, +respectively, of General Banks and General Siegel. + +Madison was, at this time, a precarious place for a long tarrying. I +went to sleep in the inn on the night of my arrival, and at that time +the place was thronged with cavalry and artillery-men. Next morning, +when I aroused, not a blue-coat could be seen. They had fallen back in +the darkness, and prudently abstaining from breakfast, I galloped +northward, as if the whole Confederate army was at my heels. These old +turnpike roads were now marked by daily chases and rencontres. A few +Virginians, fleetly mounted, would provoke pursuit from a squad of +Federals, and the latter would be led into ambuscades. A quaint incident +happened in this manner, near Madison. + +Captain T. was chasing a party of Confederates one afternoon, when his +company was suddenly fired upon from a wheatfield, parties rising up on +both sides of the road, and discharging carbines through the fence +rails. Three or four men, and as many horses were slain; but the +ambushing body was outnumbered, and several of its members killed. Among +others, a young lieutenant took deliberate aim at Captain T. at the +distance of twelve yards; and, seeing that he had missed, threw up his +carbine to surrender. The Captain had already drawn his revolver, and, +amazed at the murderous purpose, he shot the assassin in the head, +killing him instantly. Nobody blamed Captain T., but he was said to be a +humane person, and the affair preyed so continually upon his mind, that +he committed suicide one night in camp. + +At Sperryville I saw and talked with Franz Siegel, the idol of the +German Americans. He had been a lieutenant in his native country, but +subsided, in St. Louis, to the rank of publican, keeping a beer saloon. +When the war commenced, he was appointed to a colonelcy, in deference to +the large German republican population of Missouri. His abilities were +speedily manifested in a series of engagements which redeemed the +Southern border, and he finally fought the terrible battle of Pea Ridge, +Arkansas, which broke the spirit of the Confederates west of the +Mississippi. The man who fought "mit Siegel" in those days, was always +told in St. Louis: "Py tam! you pays not'ing for your lager." Siegel +now commanded one of Pope's corps. He was a diminutive person, but +well-knit, emaciated by his active career, feverish and sanguine of +face, and, as it appeared to me, consuming with energy and ambition. As +a General he was prompt to decide and do, and his manner of dealing with +Confederate property was severer than that of any American. He battered +the splendid mansion hotel of White Sulphur Springs to the ground, for +example, when somebody discharged a rifle from its window. He preferred +to fight by retreating, and if pursued, generally unmasked his guns and +made massacre with the scattered opponents. Another German commander was +Blenker, whose corps of Germans might have belonged to the free bands of +the Black forest. They were the most lawless men in the Federal service, +and what they did not steal they destroyed. Such volunteers were +mercenaries, in every sense of the word. I have been told that they +slaughtered sheep and cattle in pure wantonness, and the rats of +Ehrenfels did not make a cleaner sweep of provisions. The Germans, as a +rule, lacked the dash of the Irish troops and the tact of the Americans. +They thought and fought in masses, had little individuality, and were +thick-skulled; but they were persevering and had their hearts in the +cause. + +General Banks was a fine representative of the higher order of Yankee. +Originally a machinist in a small manufacturing town near Boston, he +educated himself, and was elected successively Legislator, Governor, +Congressman, and General of volunteers. His personal graces were +equalled by his energy, and his ability was considerable. He has been +very successful in the field, and has conducted a retreat unparalleled +in the war; these things being always reckoned among American successes. +The country hereabout was mountainous, healthy, and well adapted for +campaigning. Streams and springs were numerous, and there were fine +sites for camps. The deserted toll-houses along the way glowered +mournfully through the rent windows, and I fancied them, sometimes, as I +rode at night, haunted by the shambling tollman. + + Ancient road that wind'st deserted, + Through the level of the vale,-- + Sweeping toward the crowded market, + Like a stream without a sail, + + Standing by thee, I look backward, + And, as in the light of dreams, + See the years descend and vanish, + Like thy tented wains and teams.--T. B. READ. + +To provide myself with thorough equipment for Pope's campaign, I +returned to Washington, and purchased a patent camp-bed, which strapped +to my saddle, saddle bags of large capacity, India-rubber blankets, and +a full suit of waterproof cloth,--hat, coat, _genoullieres_, and +gauntlets. I had my horse newly shod, I drew upon my establishment for +an ample sum of money, and, to properly inaugurate the campaign, I gave +an entertainment in the parlor of the inn. + +Pipes, cold ham, a keg of beer, and a demijohn of whiskey comprised the +attractions of the night. The guests were three Captains, two Adjutants, +two Majors, a Colonel, four Correspondents, several Lieutenants, and a +signal officer. There was some jesting, and much laughing, considerable +story-telling, and (toward the small hours) a great deal of singing. +Much heroism was evolved; all the guests were devoted to death and their +country; and there was one person who took off his coat to fight an +imaginary something, but changed his mind, and dropped asleep directly. +At length, a gallant Captain, to demonstrate his warlike propensities, +fired a pistol through the front window; and somebody blowing out the +candles, the whole party retired to rest upon the floor. In this +delightful way my third campaign commenced, and next evening I set off +for the advance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +ARMY MORALS. + + +Some of General McDowell's aides had invited me to pass a night with +them at Warrenton Springs. Fully equipped, I joined Captain Ball, of +Cincinnati, and we rode southward, over a hard, picturesque turnpike, +under a clear moonlight. The distance was seven miles, and a part of +this route was enlivened by the fires, halloos, and the music of camps. +Volunteers are fond of serenading their officers; and this particular +evening was the occasion of much merry-making, since a majority of the +brass bands were to be mustered out of the service to-morrow. We could +hear the roll of drums from imperceptible localities, and the sharp +winding of bugles broke upon the silence like the trumpet of the +Archangel. Stalwart shapes of horsemen galloped past us, and their hoofs +made monotone behind, till the cadence died so gradually away that we +did not know when the sound ceased and when the silence began. The +streams had a talk to themselves, as they strolled away into the meadow, +and an owl or two challenged us, calling up a corporal hawk. This latter +fellow bantered and blustered, and finally we fell into an ambush of +wild pigs, which charged across the road and plunged into the woods. +There were despatch stations at intervals, where horses stood saddled, +and the couriers waited for hoof-beats, to be ready to ride fleetly +toward head-quarters. Anon, we saw wizard lights, as of Arctic skies, +where remote camps built conflagration; and trudging wearily down the +stony road, poor ragged, flying negroes, with their families and their +worldly all, came and went--God help them!--and touched their hats so +obsequiously that my heart was wrung, and I felt a nervous impulse to +put them upon my steed and take their burdens upon my back. Little sable +folk, asleep and ahungered, drawn to that barefoot woman's breast; and +the tired boy, weeping as he held to his father's hand; and the father +with the sweat of fatigue and doubt upon his forehead,--children of +Ishmael all; war raging in the land, but God overhead! These are the +"wandering Jews" of our day, hated North and South, because they are +poor and blind, and do no harm; but out of their wrongs has arisen the +abasement of their wrongers. Is there nothing over all? + +We entered the beautiful lawn of the Springs' hotel, at ten o'clock, and +a negro came up to take our horses. By the lamplight and moonlight I saw +McDowell's tent, a sentry pacing up and down before it, and the thick, +powerful figure of the General seated at a writing-table within. Irvin +McDowell was one of the oldest officers in the service, and when the war +commenced he became a leading commander in the Eastern army. At Bull Run +he had a responsible place, and the ill success of that battle brought +him into unpleasant notoriety. Though he retained a leading position he +was still mistrusted and disliked. None bore ingratitude so stolidly. He +may have flinched, but he never replied; and though ambitious he tried +to content himself with subordinate commands. Some called him a traitor, +others an incompetent, others a plotter. If McClellan failed, McDowell +was cursed. If Pope blundered, McDowell received half the contumely. But +he loosened no cord of discipline to make good will. Implacable, +dutiful, soldierly, rigorous in discipline, sententious, brave,--the +most unpopular man in America went on his way, and I think that he is +recovering public favor again. The General of a republic has a thorny +path to tread, and almost every public man has been at one time +disgraced during the civil war. McDowell, I think, has been treated +worse than any other. + +Our nags being removed, we repaired to one of the rustic cottages which +bounded the lawn, and I was introduced to several members of the staff; +among others, to a Count Saint Alb, an Austrian. He had been an officer +in his native country; but came to America, anxious for active service, +and was appointed to Gen. McDowell's Staff with the rank of Captain. I +understood that he was writing a book upon America. There are many such +adventurers in the Federal service, but the present one was clever and +amusing, and he spoke English fluently. + +Our tea was plain but abundant, consisting of broiled beef, fresh bread, +butter, and cheese; and the inveterate whiskey was produced afterward, +when we assembled on the piazza, so that the hours passed by pleasantly, +if not profitably, and we retired at two o'clock. + +In the morning I bathed in the clear, cold sulphur spring, where +thousands of invalid people had come for healing waters. A canopy +covered the spring, and a soldier stood on guard at the top of the +descending steps, to preserve the property in its original cleanliness. +This was one of the most famous medical springs on the American +continent; the water was so densely impregnated that its peculiarly +offensive smell could be detected at the distance of a mile. The place +was going to ruin now. All the bathing-rooms were falling apart, the +pipes had been carried off to be moulded into bullets, and the great +hotel was desolate. I walked into the ball-room; but the large gilded +mirrors had been splintered, and lewd writings defaced the wall. Some +idlers were asleep upon the piazzas, and the furniture was removed or +broken. Some rustic cottages dotted the lawn, but these were now +inhabited by officers and their servants. A few days were to finish the +work of rapine, and a heap of ashes was to mark the scene of +tournament, coquetry, and betrothal. I witnessed a review of troops in a +field contiguous, at nine o'clock. The heat was so intense that many men +fell out of line and were carried off to their camps. McDowell passed +exactingly from man to man, examined muskets, clothing, and knapsacks, +and the inspection was proceeding, when I bade my friends good by and +set out for Culpepper. + +I crossed the North Rappahannock, or Hedgemain river, upon a precarious +bridge of planks. A new bridge for artillery was being constructed close +by; for the river beneath had a swift, deep current, and could with +difficulty be forded. Patches of wagons, squads of horse, and now and +then a regiment of infantry, varied the monotony of the journey. The +country was high, woody, and sparsely settled. At noon I overtook +Tower's brigade, and observing the 94th N. Y. Regiment resting in the +woods, I dismounted and made the acquaintance of its Colonel. He was at +this juncture greatly enraged with some of his soldiers who had been +plucking green apples. + +"Boy," he said to one, "put down that fruit! Drop it, or I'll blow your +head off! Directly you'll double up, pucker, and say that you have the +"di-o-ree," and require an ambulance. Orderly!" + +A sergeant came up and touched his cap. + +"Take your musket," said the Colonel; "go out to that orchard, and order +those men away. If they hesitate or object, shoot them!" + +A few such colonels would marvellously improve the volunteer +organization. + +The Hazel or North Anne river, a branch of the Hedgemain, interposed a +few miles further on, and passing through a covered bridge, I turned +down the north bank, crossed some spongy fields, and at length came to a +dry place in the edge of a woods, where I tied my nag, spread out my +bed, and prepared to dine. A box of sardines, a lemon, and some fresh +sandwiches constituted the repast, and being dusty and parched I +stripped afterward and swam across the river. Seeing that my horse +plunged and neighed, with swollen eyeballs, and every evidence of +terror, I hastened toward him and discovered a black snake, six feet or +more in length, which seemed about to coil itself around the nag's leg. +The size and contiguity of the reptile at first appalled me, and my mind +was not more composed when the serpent, at my approach, manifested an +inclination to assume the offensive. Its folds were thicker than my arm, +and it commenced to revolve rapidly, at length running up a sapling, +suspending itself by the tail, and hissing vehemently. It belonged to +the family of "racers," and was hideous and powerful beyond any specimen +that I had seen. I blew it into halves at the second discharge of my +pistol, and at once resumed my saddle, indisposed to remain longer +amidst such acquaintances. + +At four o'clock I saw Culpepper, a trim little village, lying in the +hollow of several hills. A couple of steeples added to its +picturesqueness, and a swift creek, crossed by a small bridge, +interposed between myself and the main part of the place. It looked like +Sunday when I rode through the principal street. The shutters were +closed in the shop windows, the dwellings seemed tenantless, no citizens +were abroad, no sutlers had invaded the country; only a few cavalry-men +clustered about an ancient pump to water their nags, and some military +idlers were sitting upon the long porch of a public house, called the +Virginia Hotel. I tied my horse to a tree, the bole of which had been +gnawed bare, and found the landlord to be an old gentleman named Paine, +who appeared to be somewhat out of his head. Two days before the +Confederate cavalry had vacated the village, and the army had been +encamped about the town for many months. A sabre conflict had taken +place in the streets; and these events, happening in rapid succession, +combined with the insolence of some Federal outriders, had so agitated +the host that his memory was quite gone, and he could not perform even +the slightest function. There is a panacea for all these things, which +the faculty and philanthropy alike forbid, but which my experience in +war-matters has invariably found unfailing. I produced my flask, and +gently insinuated it to the old gentleman's lips. He possessed instinct +sufficient to uncork and apply it, and the results were directly +apparent, in a partial recovery of memory. He said that meals were one +dollar each, board four dollars a day, or by the week twenty-five +dollars. These terms are unknown in America; but when Mr. Paine added +that horse provender was one dollar per "feed," I looked aghast, and +required some stimulant myself to appreciate the enormity of the +reckoning. I discovered, however, that the people of the village were +almost starving; that beef had been fifty cents a pound during the whole +winter, flour twenty-five dollars per barrel, coffee one dollar and a +quarter a pound, and corn one dollar per bushel. The army had swept the +country like famine, and the citizens had pinched, pining faces, with +little to eat to-day and nothing for to-morrow. + +I acquiesced in the charge, as no choice remained, and asked to be shown +to my room. A burly negro, apparently suffering _delirium tremens_, +seized my baggage with quaking hands, and lifting a pair of red eyes +upon me, shuffled through a bare hall, up a stairway, and into a +bedroom. I never saw a more hideous being in my life, and when he had +flung my luggage upon the floor, he sank into a chair, and glared +wofully into my face, breathing like one about to expire. + +"Young Moss," said he, "cant you give a po' soul a drop o' sperits? Do +for de good Lord's sake! Do, Moss, fo' de po' nigga's life. Do! do! +Moss." + +I poured him out a little in a tumbler, less from charity than from +fear; for he knew that I was provided with a bottle, and I seemed to +read murder in his eyes. + +He drank like one athirst and scant of breath, making a dry, chuckling +noise with his throat. When he had finished, he leaned his powerful neck +and head upon the bed and groaned terribly. + +"Moss," he said again, "ain't you got no tobacco, Moss? I haint had none +since Christmas. I's mos dead I'm po' sinful nigga'. Do give some +tobacco to po' creature, do!" + +I told him that I did not chew the weed, but gave him a crushed cigar, +and he thrust it into his mouth, as if it was food and he was perishing. +This wretched animal performed the duties of a chambermaid upon the +premises; he made the beds, attended to the toilets, answered the bells, +etc. He finally became so offensive that I forbade him my room, and he +revenged himself by paltry thefts. There were two other servants, a +woman with a baby, and a shrewd, dishonest mulatto man, who was the +steward and carver. This fellow secreted provender in the kitchen and +sold it stealthily to hungry soldiers. A public house so mismanaged I +had nowhere met. Sometimes we could get no breakfast till noon, and +finally the price of dinner went up to one dollar and a half, with +nothing to eat. The table was protected from flies by a series of paper +fans, pendant from the ceiling and connected by a cord, which an ebony +boy pulled, at the foot of the room to keep them in motion. This boy +being worked day and night, often fell asleep upon his stool, when the +yellow man boxed his ears, or knocked him down; and then he would fan +with such vigor that a perfect gale swept down the table. The landlord +was a kindly old man, but he could not "keep a hotel," and the +strong-minded part of the house consisted of his wife and four +daughters. Gen. Ben Butler would have sent these young women to Ship +Island, five times of a day. They were very bad-mannered and always sat +apart at one end of the cloth, talking against the "Yankees." As there +was no direct provocation to do so, this boldness was gratuitous, and +detracted rather than added to my estimate of the heroism of Southern +women. I have known them to burst into the office, crowded with +blue-coats, and scream-- + +"Pop, Yankees thieving in garden!" or, "Pop, drive these Yankees out of +parlor!" + +Every afternoon when the pavement was unusually patronized by young +officers, these women would sally out, promenade in crinoline, silk +stockings, and saucy hoods, and the crowd would fall respectfully back +to let them pass. A flag hung from a hospital over the sidewalk, and +with a pert flourish, the landlord's daughters filed off the pavement, +around the ensign, and back again. This was amusing, I thought, but not +very clever, and rather immodest. Had they been handsome, some romance +might have attached to the act; but being homely and not marriageable, I +smiled at the occurrence and entered it in my diary as "patriotism run +mad." The stable arrangements were, if possible, worse. One had to be +certain, from actual presence, that his horse was fed at all, and during +the first three days of my tenure, the black hostler lost me a breast +strap, a halter, a crupper strap, and finally emptied my saddle-bags. + +Now and then a woman made her appearance at a front window, stealthily +peeping into the street, or a neighboring farmer ventured into town upon +a lean consumptive mule. The very dogs were skinny and savage for want +of sustenance, and when a long, cadaverous hog emerged from nowhere one +day, and tottered up the main street, he was chased, killed, and +quartered so rapidly, that the famous steam process seemed to have been +applied to him, of being dropped into a hopper, and tumbling out, a +medley of hams, ribs, lard, and penknives. The stock of provisions at +the hotel finally gave out, and I was compelled to purchase morsels of +meat from the steward. Dreadful visions of famishing ensued, but +ultimately the railway was opened to town, and a sutler started a shop +in the village. I lived upon sardines and crackers for two days, and a +Major Fifield, Superintendent of Military Railroads, gave me savory +breakfasts of ham afterward. Troops were now concentrating in the +neighborhood of Culpepper, and a bevy of camps encircled the little +village. Crawford's Brigade, of Banks's Corps, garrisoned the place, and +a Provost Marshal occupied the quaint Court House. Reconnoissances were +made southward daily, and I joined one of these, which left the village +on the second of August, at three o'clock, for Orange Court House, +seventeen miles on the way to Richmond. Detachments of a Vermont and a +New York cavalry regiment composed the reconnoitring party, and the +whole was commanded by Gen. Crawford, a clever and unostentatious +soldier. We bivouacked that night near Raccoon Ford, on the river +Rapidan. No fires were built; for we knew that the enemy was all around +us, and we slept coldly and imperfectly till the gray of Sunday morning. +At daylight we galloped into the main street of Orange Court House, +having first sent a squadron around the village, to ride in at the other +end. At the very moment of our entry, a company or more of Confederate +horse was also trotting into town. Both parties sounded the charge +simultaneously, and the carbines exploded in the very heart of the +village. For a minute or more a sabre fight ensued, alternated by the +firing of revolvers; but the defenders were overmatched, and several of +them having been slain, they turned to escape. At that moment, however, +our other squadron charged upon them, effectually blocking up the +street, and the whole party surrendered. A major, who exhibited some +obstinacy, was felled from the saddle by a terrible cut, which clove his +skull, and a very dexterous young fellow, who attempted to escape by a +side street, dodged a bevy of pursuers and saved his head by the loss of +both his ears. The disfigured corpses of those freshly slain were laid +along the sidewalk in a row; and after some invasion of henroosts and +private pantries, we remounted, and with fifty or more prisoners +crossed the Rapidan, and were welcomed into Culpepper with cheers. The +prisoners were lodged in the loft of the Court House, and their officers +were paroled, and boarded among the neighbors. They complied with the +terms of their parole very honorably, and bore testimony to the courtesy +of their captors. I talked with them often upon the tavern porch, but an +undue intimacy with any of them might have brought me into disrepute. +Although the larders of the village were supposed to be empty, savory +meals were nevertheless sent daily to these cavalry-men, and it was +evident that the people on all hands sympathized with their soldiery. + +The stringent orders of Pope, relative to removing the disaffected +beyond his lines, were never enforced. I doubt if the veritable +commander himself meant to do more than intimidate evil doers; but I saw +frequent evidences of scrupulous humanity on the part of his general +officers. + +One day, when I was negotiating with the Provost for the purchase of +some port wine, stored upon the premises of a village druggist, a +sergeant elbowed his way into the presence of the Marshal, and pushed +forward two very dirty lads, who gave their ages respectively, as ten +and thirteen years. They were of Hibernian parentage, and belonged to +the class of newsboys trading with the different brigades. The younger +lad was wiping his nose and eyes with a relic of a coat sleeve, and the +elder was studying the points of the case, with a view to an elaborate +defence. The sergeant produced a thick roll of bills and laid them upon +the desk. + +"Gineral Crawford," said he, "orders these boys to be locked up in the +jail. They have been passing this stuff upon the country folks, and +belong to a gang of young varmints who follers the 'lay.' The Gineral is +going to have 'em brought up at the proper time and punished." + +The bills were fair imitations of Confederate currency, and were openly +sold in the streets of Northern cities at the rate of thousands of +dollars for a penny. These lads probably purchased horses, swine, or +fowls with them, or perhaps paid some impoverished widow for board in +the worthless counterfeit. + +The younger lad sobbed and howled when the order for his incarceration +had been announced, but the elder made a stout remonstrance. + +He didn't know the Gineral would arrest him. Everybody else passed the +bills. He thought they wos good bills; some man gave 'em to him. They +wan't passed, nohow, upon nobody but _Rebels_! He could prove that! He +"know'd" a quartermaster that passed 'em. Wouldn't they let him and Sam +off this wunst? + +They were both sent to Coventry, despite their tears, and down to the +last day of our tenure in Culpepper, I saw these wicked urchins peeping +through the grates of the old brick jail, where they lay in the steam +and vapor, among negroes, drunkards, and thieves,--an evidence of +justice, which it is a pleasure to record, in this free narrative. + +I joined a mess in the Ninth New York regiment finally, and contrived to +exist till the fifth of the month, when Pope moved his head-quarters to +a hill back of Culpepper, and thereafter I lived daintily for a little +while. On the 8th of August, however, an event occurred, which disturbed +the wisest calculations of the correspondent and the Generals, THE +BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +GOING INTO ACTION. + + +While General Pope's army was concentrating between the Rappahannock and +Rapidan rivers, the army of General Stonewall Jackson was lying upon the +south bank of the Rapidan, and that renowned commander's head-quarters +were at Gordonsville, about thirty miles from Culpepper. It was +generally presumed that Jackson had fortified Gordonsville, intending to +lie in wait there, or possibly to oppose the crossing of Pope upon the +banks of the river. It was not believed that Jackson's force was very +great, because the main body of the Confederates were held below +Richmond, where McClellan's army still remained. The Southern capital +seemed to be menaced both from the North and the South; but in reality, +the Grand Army was re-embarking at Harrison's Bar, and sailing up the +Chesapeake in detachments, to effect a junction with Pope on the plains +of Piedmont. So important a movement could not be concealed from the +Confederates, and they had resolved to annihilate Pope before +McClellan's reinforcements could arrive. It was the work of two weeks to +transport eighty or a hundred thousand men three hundred miles, and +finding that Burnside's corps had already landed upon the Potomac, +Stonewall Jackson determined to cross the Rapidan and cripple the +fragment of Pope's forces stationed at Culpepper. + +Stonewall Jackson is one of the many men whose extraordinary military +genius has been developed by the civil war. But unlike the mass who have +become famous in a day, and lost their laurels in a week, Jackson's +glory has steadily increased. He was first brought into notice at +Winchester, where he fought a fierce battle with Banks, and derived the +_sobriquet_ which he has retained to the present time. Soon afterward, +he chased Banks's army down the Shenandoah Valley, and across the +Potomac. Afterward, he bore a conspicuous part in the engagement below +Richmond, and was now to become prominent in the most daring episodes of +the whole war. His excellence was _activity_. He scrupled at no fatigue, +marched his troops over steep and circuitous roads, was everywhere when +unexpected, and nowhere when sought, and his boldness was equal to his +energy. He did not fear to attack overpowering numbers, if the situation +demanded it. All that General Lee might plan, General Jackson would dare +to execute; and he has been, above all others, the Soult of the Southern +war, while Stuart was its Murat, and Lee its Napoleon. + +We first had intimation of the advance of Jackson on the afternoon of +the 7th of August. Two regiments of cavalry, picketed upon the Rapidan, +rode pell-mell into Culpepper, reporting a large Southern force at the +fords, and rapidly advancing. Pope at once ordered the whole of one of +these regiments under arrest, and it was the opinion of the army that +the approach was a feint, or, at most, a reconnoissance in force. +Subsequent information satisfied the incredulous, however, that a +considerable body of troops were marching northward, and their outriding +scouts had been seen at Cedar Mountain, only six miles from Culpepper. +The latter is one of the many woody knobs or heights that environ the +village, but it is nearer than any other, and should have been occupied +by Pope, simultaneously with his arrival. It is scarcely a mountain in +elevation, but so high that the clouds often envelope its crest, and it +commands a view of all the surrounding country. There are cleared +patches up its sides, and the highest of these constitutes the farm of a +clergyman, after whom the eminence is sometimes called "Slaughter's +Mountain." At its base lie a few pleasant farms; and a shallow rivulet +or creek, called Cedar Run, crosses the road between the mountain and +Culpepper. Upon the mountain side Jackson had placed his batteries, and +his infantry lay in dense thickets and belts of woods before the hill +and on each side of it. The position was a powerful, though not an +impregnable one; for batteries might readily be pushed up the slope, and +our infantry had often ascended steeper eminences. But an opposing army +scattered about the meadow lands below, would find its several +components exposed to shot and shell, thrown from points three or four +hundred feet above them. + +When it had been discovered that the enemy had anticipated us in seizing +this strong position, word was at once despatched to Banks and Siegel to +bring up their columns without delay. The brigade of General Crawford +was marched through Culpepper at noon on Friday; and that afternoon, +foot-sore, but enthusiastic, regiments began to arrive in rapid +succession. + +I had been passing the morning of Friday with Colonel Bowman, a modest +and capable gentleman, when the serenity of our converse was disturbed +by a sergeant, who rode into camp with orders for a prompt advance in +light marching order. In a twinkling all the camps in the vicinity were +deserted, and the roads were so blocked with soldiers on my return, that +I was obliged to ride through fields. + +I trotted rapidly into the village, and witnessed a scene exciting and +martial beyond anything which I had remarked with the Army of Virginia. +Regiments were pouring by all the roads and lanes into the main street, +and the spectacle of thousands of bayonets, extending as far as the eye +could reach, was enhanced by the music of a score of bands, throbbing +all at the same moment with wild music. The orders of officers rang out +fitfully in the din, and when the steel shifted from shoulder to +shoulder, it was like looking down a long sparkling wave. Above the +confusion of the time, the various nativities of volunteers roared their +national ballads. "St. Patrick's Day," intermingled with the weird +refrain of "Bonnie Dundee," and snatches of German sword-songs were +drowned by the thrilling chorus of the "Star-Spangled Banner." Then some +stentor would strike a stave of-- + + "John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave," + +and the wild, mournful music would be caught up by all,--Germans, Celts, +Saxons, till the little town rang with the thunder of voices, all +uttering the name of the grim old Moloch, whom--more than any one save +Hunter--Virginia hates. Suddenly, as if by rehearsal, all hats would go +up, all bayonets toss and glisten, and huzzas would deafen the winds, +while the horses reared upon their haunches and the sabres rose and +fell. Then, column by column, the masses passed eastward, while the +prisoners in the Court-House cupola looked down, and the citizens peeped +in fear through crevices of windows. + +Being unattached to the staff of any General at the time, and therefore +at liberty as a mere spectator, I rode rapidly after the troops, passed +the foremost regiments, and unwittingly kept to the left, which I did +not discover in the excitement of the ride, till my horse was foaming +and my face furrowed with heat drops. I saw that the way had been little +travelled, and inquiry at a log farm-house, some distance further, +satisfied me that I had mistaken the way. Two men in coarse brown suits, +were chopping wood here, and they informed me, with an oath, that the +last soldiers seen in the neighborhood, had been Confederate pickets. A +by-road enabled me to recover the proper route, and from the top of a +hill overlooking Culpepper, I had a view of the hamlet, nestling in its +hollow; the roads entering it, black with troops, and all the slopes +covered with wagon-trains, whose white canopies seemed infinite. The +skies were gorgeously dyed over the snug cottages and modest spires; +some far woods were folded in a pleasant haze; and the blue mountains +lifted their huge backs, voluming in the distance, like some boundary +for humanity, with a happier land beyond. Here I might have stood, a few +months before, and heard the church bells; and the trees around me might +have been musical with birds. But now the parsons and the choristers +were gone; the scaffold was erected, the axe bare, and with a good by +glance at the world and man, some hundreds of wretches were to drop into +eternity. We have all read of the guillotine in other lands; it was now +before me in my own. + +As I passed into the highway again, and riding through narrow passages, +grazing officers' knees, turning vicious battery horses, winding in and +out of woods, making detours through pasture fields, leaping ditches, +and so making perilous progress, I passed many friends who hailed me +cheerfully,--here a brigadier-general who waved his hand, or a colonel +who saluted, or a staff officer who rode out and exchanged inquiries or +greetings, or a sergeant who winked and laughed. These were some of the +men whose bodies I was to stir to-morrow with my foot, when the eyes +that shone upon me now would be swollen and ghastly. + +Some of the privates seeing me in plain clothes, as I had joined the +army merely as a visitor and with no idea of seeing immediate service +there, mistook me for a newspaper correspondent, which in one sense I +was; and I was greeted with such cries as-- + +"Our Special Artist!" + +"Our Own Correspondent!" + +"Give our Captain a setting up, you sir!" + +"Puff our Colonel!" + +"Give me a good obituary!" + +"Where's your pass, bub?" + +"Halloo! Jenkins. Three cheers for Jenkins!" + +I shall not soon forget one fellow, who planted himself in my path (his +regiment had halted), and leaning upon his musket looked steadily into +my eyes. + +"Ef I had a warrant for the devil," he said, "I'd arrest that feller." + +Many of the soldiers were pensive and thoughtful; but the mass were +marching to their funerals with boyish outcries, apparently anxious to +forget the responsibilities of the time. + +"Let's sing, boys." "Oh! Get out, or I'll belt you over the snout." +"Halloo! Pardner, is there water over there?" "Three groans for old +Jeff!" "Hip-hip--hoo-roar! Hi! Hi!" + +A continual explosion of small arms, in the shape of epithets, jests, +imitations of the cries of sheep, cows, mules, and roosters, and +snatches of songs, enlivened the march. If something interposed, or a +halt was ordered, the men would throw themselves in the dust, wipe their +foreheads, drink from their canteens, gossip, grin, and shout +confusedly, and some sought opportunities to straggle off, so that the +regiments were materially decimated before they reached the field. The +leading officers maintained a dignity and a reserve, and reined their +horses together in places, to confer. At one time, a private soldier +came out to me, presenting a scrap of paper, and asked me to scrawl him +a line, which he would dictate. It was as follows:-- + +"_My dear Mary, we are going into action soon, and I send you my love. +Kiss baby, and if I am not killed I will write to you after the fight._" +The man asked me to mail the scrap at the first opportunity; but the +same post which carried his simple billet, carried also his name among +the rolls of the dead. + +At five o'clock I overtook Crawford's brigade, drawn up in front of a +fine girdle of timber, in a grass field, and on the edge of Cedar Creek. +Their ambulances had been unhitched, and ranged in a row against the +woods and the soldiers were soon formed in line of battle, extending +across the road, with their faces toward the mountain. In this order +they moved through the creek, and disappeared behind the ridge of a +cornfield. The hill towered in front, but with the naked eye I could +distinguish only a speck of floating something above the roof of +Slaughter's white house. This was said to be a flag, though I did not +believe it; and as there were no evidences of any enemy, which I could +determine, I turned my attention to the immediate necessities of myself +and my horse. A granary lay at a little distance, and as I was hastening +thither, a trooper came along with a blanket full of corn. Fortuitously, +he dropped about a dozen ears, which I secured, and hitched my animal to +a tree, where he munched until I had fallen asleep. The latter event +happened in this wise. + +I had observed a slight person in the uniform of a surgeon. He was +dividing a large lump of pork at the time, and three great crackers lay +before him. I approached and introduced myself, and in a few minutes I +was a partial proprieter of the meat, and he a recipient of some drink. +The same person directed me to occupy a shelf of the ambulance, and when +we lay down together he narrated some of his experiences in Martinsburg, +when the Confederates occupied the place after Banks's retreat. He had +charge of a hospital at that time, and witnessed the entrance of the +Confederate army. The wildness of the people was unbounded, he said, and +all who had given so much as a drop of cold water to the invaders were +pointed out and execrated. The properties of a few, said to be +Unionists, were endangered; and ruffianly soldiers climbed to the +windows of the hospital, hooting and taunting the sick. Not to be +outdone in bitterness, the tenants flung up their crutches and cheered +for the "Union,"--that darling idea, which has marshalled a million of +men and filled hecatombs with its champions. In a few days the Federals +took possession of the town anew, and the Southern element was in turn +oppressed. This is Civil War,--more cruel than the excesses of +hereditary enemies. A year before these people of the Shenandoah were +fellow-countrymen of the soldiery they contemned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CEDAR MOUNTAIN. + + +There being nothing to eat in the vicinity of the ambulances, I mounted +anew at five o'clock and rode back toward Culpepper. No portion of the +troops of Crawford were visible now, and only some gray smoke moved up +the side of the mountain. A few stragglers were bathing their faces in +Cedar Creek, and some miles in the rear lay several of McDowell's +brigades under arms. Their muskets were stacked along the sides of the +road, the men lay sleepily upon the ground,--company by company, each in +its proper place,--the field-officers gossiping together, and the colors +upright and unfurled. I was stopped, all the way along the lines, and +interrogated as to what was happening in front. + +"Any Reb-bils out yonder?" asked a grim, snappish Colonel. + +"Guess they don't mean to fight before breakfast!" blurted a Captain. + +"Wish they'd cut away, anyway, if they goin' to!" muttered a chorus of +privates. + +At the village there was nothing to be purchased, although some sutlers' +stores lay at the depot, guarded by Provost officers. I persuaded a +negro to give me a mess of almost raw pork, and a woman, with a child at +the breast, cooked me some biscuit. There were many civilians and idle +officers in the town, and the streets were lined with cavalry. Mr. +Paine, the landlord, was losing the remnant of his wits, and the young +ladies were playing the "Bonnie Blue Flag," and laughing satirically at +some young officers who listened. The correspondents began to show +themselves in force, and a young fellow whom I may call Chitty, +representing a provincial journal, greatly amused me, with the +expression of fears that there might be no engagement after all. Chitty +was an attorney, who had forsaken a very moderate practice, for a press +connection, and he informed me, in confidence, that he was gathering +materials for a history of the war. By reason of his attention to this +weighty project, he failed to do any reporting, and as his mind was not +very well balanced, he was commonly taken to be a simpleton. As there +was nobody else to talk to, I amused myself with Chitty during the +forenoon, and he narrated to me some doubtful intrigues which had varied +his career in Piedmont. But Chitty had mingled in no battles, and now +that a contest was about to take place, his heart warmed in +anticipation. He asked me if the hottest fighting would not probably +occur on the right, and intimated, in that event, his desire to carry +despatches through the thickest of the fray. Death was welcome to Chitty +if he could so distinguish himself. Between Chitty and a nap in a wagon, +I managed to loiter out the morning, and at three o'clock, a cannon +peal, so close that it shook the houses, brought my horse upon his +haunches. For awhile I did not leave the village. Cannon upon cannon +exploded; the young ladies ceased their mirth; the landlord staggered +with white lips into the air, and after a couple of hours, I heard the +signal that I knew so well--a volley of musketry. Full of all the old +impulses, I climbed into the saddle, and spurred my horse towards the +battle-field. + +The ride over six miles of clay road was a capital school for my pony. +Every hoof-fall brought him closer to the cannon, and the sound had +become familiar when he reached the scene. At four o'clock, the musketry +was close and effective beyond anything I had known, and now and then I +could see, from secure places, the spurts of white cannon-smoke far up +the side of the mountain. The action was commenced by emulous +skirmishers, who crawled from the woodsides, and annoyed each other from +coverts of ridge, stump, and stone heap. A large number of Southern +riflemen then threw themselves into a corner of wood, considerably +advanced from their main position. Their fire was so destructive that +General Banks felt it necessary to order a charge. Two brigades, when +the signal was given, marched in line of battle, out of a wood, and +charged across a field of broken ground toward the projecting corner. As +soon as they appeared, sharpshooters darted up from a stretch of scrub +cedars on their right, and a battery mowed them down by an oblique fire +from the left. The guns up the mountain side threw shells with beautiful +exactness, and the concealed rifle-men in front poured in deadly showers +of bullet and ball. As the men fell by dozens out of line, the survivors +closed up the gaps, and pressed forward gallantly. The ground was +uneven, however, and solid order could not be observed throughout. At +length, when they had gained a brookside at the very edge of the wood, +the column staggered, quailed, fell into disorder, and then fell back. +Some of the more desperate dashed singly into the thicket, bayoneting +their enemies, and falling in turn in the fierce grapple. Others of the +Confederates ran from the wood, and engaged hand to hand with +antagonists, and, in places, a score of combatants met sturdily upon the +plain, lunging with knife and sabre bayonet, striking with clubbed +musket, or discharging revolvers. But at last the broken lines regained +the shelter of the timber, and there was a momentary lull in the +thunder. + +For a time, each party kept in the edges of the timber, firing at will, +but the Confederates were moving forward in masses by detours, until +some thousands of them stood in the places of the few who were at first +isolated. Distinct charges were now made, and a large body of Federals +attempted to capture the battery before Slaughter's house, while +separate brigades charged by front and flank upon the impenetrable +timber. The horrible results of the previous effort were repeated; the +Confederates preserved their position, and, at nightfall, the Federals +fell back a mile or more. From fifteen hundred to two thousand of the +latter were slain or wounded, and, though the heat of the battle had +lasted not more than two hours, nearly four thousand men upon both sides +were maimed or dead. The valor of the combatants in either cause was +unquestionable. But no troops in the world could have driven the +Confederates out of the impregnable mazes of the wood. It was an error +to expose columns of troops upon an open plain, in the face of +imperceptible sharpshooters. The batteries should have shelled the +thickets, and the infantry should have retained their concealment. The +most disciplined troops of Europe would not have availed in a country of +bog, barren, ditch, creek, forest, and mountain. Compared to the bare +plain of Waterloo, Cedar Mountain was like the antediluvian world, when +the surface was broken by volcanic fire into chasms and abysses. In this +battle, the Confederate batteries, along the mountain side, were +arranged in the form of a crescent, and, when the solid masses charged +up the hill, they were butchered by enfilading fires. On the Confederate +part, a thorough knowledge of the country was manifest, and the best +possible disposition of forces and means; on the side of the Federals, +there was zeal without discretion, and gallantry without generalship. + +During the action, "Stonewall" Jackson occupied a commanding position on +the side of the mountain, where, glass in hand, he observed every change +of position, and directed all the operations. General Banks was +indefatigable and courageous; but he was left to fight the whole battle, +and not a regiment of the large reserve in his rear, came forward to +succor or relieve him. As usual, McDowell was cursed by all sides, and +some of Banks's soldiers threatened to shoot him. But the unpopular +Commander had no defence to make, and said nothing to clear up the +doubts relative to him. He exposed himself repeatedly, and so did Pope. +The latter rode to the front at nightfall,--for what purpose no one +could say, as he had been in Culpepper during the whole afternoon,--and +he barely escaped being captured. The loss of Federal officers was very +heavy. Fourteen commissioned officers were killed and captured out of +one regiment. Sixteen commissioned officers only remained in four +regiments. One General was taken prisoner and several were wounded. A +large number of field-officers were slain. + +During the progress of the fight I galloped from point to point along +the rear, but could nowhere obtain a panoramic view. The common +sentiment of civilians, that it is always possible to see a battle, is +true of isolated contests only. Even the troops engaged, know little of +the occurrences around them, and I have been assured by many soldiers +that they have fought a whole day without so much as a glimpse of an +enemy. The smoke and dust conceal objects, and where the greatest +execution is done, the antagonists have frequently fired at a line of +smoke, behind which columns may, or may not have been posted. + +It was not till nightfall, when the Federals gave up the contested +ground, and fell back to some cleared fields, that I heard anything of +the manner of action and the resulting losses. As soon as the firing +ceased, the ambulance corps went ahead and began to gather up the +wounded. As many of these as could walk passed to the rear on foot, and +the spectacle at eight o'clock was of a terrible character. The roads +were packed with ambulances, creaking under fearful weights, and rod by +rod, the teams were stopped, to accommodate other sufferers who had +fallen or fainted on the walk. A crippled man would cling to the tail of +a wagon, while the tongue would be burdened with two, sustaining +themselves by the backs of the horses. Water was sought for everywhere, +and all were hungry. I met at sundry times, friends who had passed me, +hopeful and humorous the day before, now crawling wearily with a +shattered leg or dumb with a stiff and dripping jaw. To realize the +horror of the night, imagine a common clay road, in a quiet, rolling +country, packed with bleeding people,--the fences down, horsemen riding +through the fields, wagons blocking the way, reinforcements in dark +columns hurrying up, the shouting of the well to the ill, and the feeble +replies,--in a word, recall that elder time when the "earth was filled +with violence," and add to the idea that the time was in the night. + +I assumed my old role of writing the names of the wounded, but when, at +nine o'clock, the 10th Maine regiment--a fragment of the proud column +which passed me in the morning--returned, I hailed Colonel Beale, and +reined with him into a clover-field, the files following wearily. +Tramping through the tall garbage, with few words, and those spoken in +low tones, we stopped at length in a sort of basin, with the ground +rising on every side of us. The men were placed in line, and the Company +Sergeants called the rolls. Some of the replies were thrilling, but all +were prosaic:-- + +"Smith!" + +"Smith fell at the first fire, Sergeant. Bill, here, saw him go down." + +"Sturgis!" + +"Sam's in the ambulance, wi' his thigh broke. I don't believe he'll +live, Sergeant!" + +"Thompson!" + +"Dead." + +"Vinton!" + +"Yar! (feebly said) four fingers shot off!" + +In this way, the long lists were read over, while the survivors chatted, +laughed, and disputed, talking of the incidents of the day. Most of the +men lay down in the clover, and some started off in couples to procure +water. The field-officers gave me some items relative to the conflict, +and as they were ordered to remain here, I resolved to pass the night +with them. Obtaining a great fence-rail, I lashed my horse to it by his +halter, and, removing his saddle and bridle, left him free to graze in +the vicinity. Then I unfolded my camp-bed, covered myself with a rubber +blanket, and continued to listen to the conversation. Of course, +accusations, bitter mutterings, moodiness, and melancholy, prevailed. I +heard these for some time, interspersed with sententious eulogies upon +particular persons, and references to isolated events. The evening was +one of the pleasantest of the year, in all that nature could contribute; +a fine starlight, a transparent atmosphere, a coolness, and a fragrance +of sweet-clover blossoms. I had laid my head upon my arm, and shut my +eyes, and felt drowsiness come upon me, when something hurtled through +the air, and another gun boomed on the stillness. A shell, describing an +arc of fire, fell some distance to our left, and, in a moment, a second +shell passed directly over our heads. + +"----!" said an officer; "have they moved a battery so close? See! it is +just at the end of this field!" + +I looked back! At the top of the basin in which we lay, something +flashed up, throwing a glare upon the woody background, and a shell, +followed by a shock, crashed ricochetting, directly in a line with us, +but leaped, fortunately, above us, and continued its course far beyond. + +"They mean 'em for us," said the same voice; "they see these lights +where the fools have been warming their coffee. Halloo!" + +Another glare of fire revealed the grouped men and horses around the +battery, and for a moment I thought the missile had struck among us. +There was a splutter, as of shivering metal flying about, and, with a +sort of intuition, the whole regiment rose and ran. I started to my feet +and looked for my horse. His ears were erect, his eyeballs distended, +and his nostrils were tremulous with fright. A fifth shell, so perfectly +in range that I held my breath, and felt my heart grow cold, came toward +and passed me, and, with a toss of his head, the nag flung up the rail +as if it had been a feather. He seemed literally to juggle it, and it +flitted here and there, so that I dared not approach him. A favorable +opportunity at length ensued, and I seized the animal by his halter. He +was now wild with panic, and sprang toward me as if to trample me. In +vain I endeavored to pull him toward the saddle. Fresh projectiles +darted beside and above us, and the last of these seemed to pass so +close that I could have reached and touched it. The panic took +possession of me. I grasped my camp-bed, rather by instinct than by +choice, and, holding it desperately under my arm, took to my heels. + +It was a long distance to the bottom of the clover-field, and the swift +iron followed me remorselessly. At one moment, when a shell burst full +in my face, half blinding me, I felt weak to faintness, but still I ran. +I had wit enough to avoid the high road, which I knew to be packed with +fugitives, and down which, I properly surmised, the enemy would send his +steady messengers. Once I fell into a ditch, and the breath was knocked +out of my body, but I rolled over upon my feet with marvellous +sprightliness, till, at last, when I gained a corn-field, my attention +was diverted to a strange, rattling noise behind me. I turned and +looked. It was my horse, the rail dangling between his legs, his eyes on +fire in the night. As we regarded each other, a shell burst between us. +He dashed away across the inhospitable fields, and I fell into the high +road among the routed. Expletives like these ensued:-- + +"Sa-a-ay! Hoss! Pardner! Are you going to ride over this wounded +feller?" + +"Friend, have you a drop of water for a man that's fainted here?" + +"Halloo! Buster! Keep that bayonit out o' my eye, if you please!" + +"Where's Gen. Banks? I hearn say he's a prisoner." + +"I do' know!" + +"Was we licked, do you think?" + +"No! We warn't nothin' o' the kind. Siegel's outflanked 'em and okkepies +the field. A man jus' told me so." + +"Huzza! Hearties, cheer up! Siegel's took the field, and Stonewall +Jackson's dead." + +"Three cheers for Siegel." + +"Hoorooar, hoor--" + +"Oh! Get out! That's all blow. Don't try stuff me! We're lathered; +that's the long and shawt of it." + +"Is that so? Boys, I guess we're beat!" + +Such was the character of exclamations that ran here and there, and +after a little volley of them had been let off, a long pause succeeded, +when only the sighs of the injured and the tramp of men and nags broke +the silence. Overhead the starlight and the blue sky; on either side the +rolling, shadowy fields; and wrapping the horizon in a gray, grisly +girdle, the reposing woods plentiful with dew. Nature was putting forth +all her still, sweet charms, as if to make men witness the damned +contrast of their own wrath, violence, and murder. Even thus, +perhaps,--I reasoned,--in the days of old, did the broken multitudes of +Xerxes return by the shores of the golden Archipelago; and the +Hellespont shone as peacefully as these silvernesses of earth and +firmament. The dulness of history became invested with new intelligence. +I filled in the details of a thousand routs conned in school-days, when +only the dry outlines lay before me. They were mysteries before, and +lacked the warmness of life and truth; but now I _saw_ them! The armor +and the helmets fell away, with all other trappings of custom, language, +and ceremony. This pale giant, who walked behind the ambulance, leaning +upon the footboard, was the limping Achilles, with the arrow of Paris +festering in his heel. This ancient veteran, with his back to the field, +was the fugitive AEneas, leaving Troy behind. And these, around me, +belonged to the columns of Barbazona, scattered at Legnano by the +revengeful Milanese. Cobweb, and thick dust, and faded parchment had +somewhat softened those elder events; but in their day they were +tangible, practical, and prosaic, like this scene. Years will roll over +this, as over those, and folks will read at firesides, half doubtfully, +half wonderingly, the story of this bafflement, when no fragment of its +ruin remains. It was a profound feeling that I should thus be walking +down the great retreat of time, and that the occurrences around me +should be remembered forever! + +There were a few prisoners in the mass, walking before cavalry-men. +Nobody interfered with them, and they were not in a position to feel +elated. Now and then, when we reached an ambulance, the fugitives would +press around it to inquire if any of their friends were within. Rough +recognitions would ensue, as thus:-- + +"Bobby, is that you, back there?--Bobby Baker?" + +"Who is it?" (feebly uttered.) + +"Me, Bobby--Josh Wiggins. Are you shot bad, Bobby?" + +"Shot in the thigh; think the bone's broke. You haven't got a drop of +water, have you?" + +"No, Bobby; wish I had. Have anymore of our boys been hurt that you know +of?" + +"Switzer is dead; Bill Cringle and Jonesy are prisoners; 'Pud' White is +in the ambulance ahead; 'Fol' Thompson's lost an arm; that's all I +know." + +When we had gone two miles or more, we found a provost column drawn +across the road, and a mounted officer interrogating all who attempted +to pass:-- + +"Stop there! You're not wounded." + +"Yes, I am." + +"Pass on! Halt boy! Go back. Men, close up there. Stop that boy." + +"I am sun-struck, Major." + +"You lie! Drive him back. Go back, now!" + +Beyond this the way was comparatively clear; but as I knew that other +guards held the road further on, I passed to the right, and with the +hope of finding a rill of water, went across some grass fields, keeping +toward the low places. The fields were very still, and I heard only the +subdued noises wafted from the road; but suddenly I found myself +surrounded by men. They were lying in groups in the tall grass, and +started up suddenly, like the clansmen of Roderick Dhu. At first I +thought myself a prisoner, and these some cunning Confederates, who had +lain in wait. But, to my surprise, they were Federal uniforms, and were +simply skulkers from various regiments, who had been hiding here during +the hours of battle. Some of these miserable wretches asked me the +particulars of the fight, and when told of the defeat, muttered that +they were not to be hood-winked and slaughtered. + +"I was sick, anyway," said one fellow, "and felt like droppin' on the +road." + +"I didn't trust my colonel," said another; "he ain't no soldier." + +"I'm tired of the war, anyhow," said a third, "and my time's up soon; so +I shan't have my head blown off." + +As I progressed, dozens of these men appeared; the fields were strewn +with them; a true man would rather have been lying with the dead on the +field of carnage, than here, among the craven and base. I came to a +spring at last, and the stragglers surrounded it in levies. One of them +gave me a cup to dip some of the crystal, and a prayerful feeling came +over me as the cooling draught fell over my dry palate and parched +throat. Regaining the road, I encountered reinforcements coming rapidly +out of Culpepper, and among them was the 9th New York. My friend +Lieutenant Draper, recognized me, and called out that he should see me +on the morrow, if he was not killed meantime. Culpepper was filling with +fugitives when I passed up the main street, and they were sprinkled +along the sidewalks, gossiping with each other. The wounded were being +carried into some of the dwellings, and when I reached the Virginia +Hotel, many of them lay upon the porch. I placed my blanket on a clean +place, threw myself down exhaustedly, and dropped to sleep directly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +OUT WITH A BURYING PARTY. + + +When I rose, at ten o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 10, the +porch was covered with wounded people. Some fierce sunbeams were gliding +under the roof, shining in the poor fellows' eyes, and they were +stirring wearily, though asleep. Picking my way among the prostrate +figures, I resorted to the pump in the rear of the tavern for the +purpose of bathing my face. A soldier stood there on guard, and he +refused to give me so much as a draught of water. The wounded needed +every drop, and there were but a few wells in the town. I strolled +through the main street, now crowded with unfortunates, and pausing at +the Court House, found the seat of justice transmuted to a headquarters +for surgeons, where amputations were being performed. Continuing by a +street to the left, I came to the depot, and here the ambulances were +gathered with their scores of inmates. A tavern contiguous to the +railway was also a hospital, but in the basement I found the +transportation agents at breakfast, and they gave me a bountiful meal. + +It was here arranged between myself and an old friend--a newspaper +correspondent who had recently married, and whose wife awaited him at +Willard's in Washington--that he should proceed at once to New York with +the outline of the fight, and that I should follow him next day (having, +indeed, to report for duty and fresh orders at Head-quarters of the +army in Washington,) with particulars and the lists of killed. I +commenced my part of the labors at once, employing three persons to +assist me, and we districted Culpepper, so that no one should interfere +with the grounds of the other. My own part of the work embraced both +hotel-hospitals, the names and statements of the prisoners of the Court +House loft, and interviews with some of the generals and colonels who +lay at various private residences. The business was not a desirable one; +for hot hospital rooms were now absolutely reeking, and many of the +victims were asleep. It would be inhuman to awaken these; but in many +cases those adjacent knew nothing, and with all assiduity the rolls must +be imperfect. I found one man who had undergone a sort of mental +paralysis and could not tell me his own name. However, I groped through +the several chambers where the bleeding littered the bare floors. Some +of them were eating voraciously, and buckets of ice-water were being +carried to and fro that all might drink. Some male nurses were fanning +the sleeping people with boughs of cedar; but the flies filled the +ceiling, and, attracted by the wounds, they kept up a constant buzzing. +I imagined that mortification would rapidly ensue in this broiling +atmosphere. A couple of trains were being prepared below, to transport +the sufferers to Washington, and from time to time individuals were +carried into the air and deposited in common freight-cars upon the hard +floors. Here they were compelled to wait till late in the evening, for +no trains were allowed to leave the village during the day. At the +Virginia Hotel, I visited, among others, the room in which I had lodged +when I first came to Culpepper. Eight persons now occupied it, and three +of them lay across the bed. I took the first man's name, and as the man +next to him seemed to be asleep, I asked the first man to nudge him +gently. + +"I don't think he is alive," said the man; "he hasn't moved since +midnight. I've spoken to him already." + +I pulled a blanket from the head of the figure, and the tangled hair, +yellow skin, and stiffened jaw told all the story. The other man looked +uneasily into the face of the corpse and then lay down with his back +toward it. + +"I hope they'll take it out," said he, "I don't want to sleep beside it +another night." + +The guard at the Court House allowed me to ascend to the loft, and the +prisoners--forty or fifty in number--clustered around me. They had +received, a short time before, their day's allotment of crackers and +bread, and some of them were sitting in the cupola, with their bare legs +hanging over the rails. They were anxious to have their names printed, +and I learned from the less cautious the names of the brigades to which +they belonged. Before I left the room I had obtained the number of +regiments in Jackson's command and the names of his brigadier-generals. +Some prisoners arrived while I was noting these matters. They had been +sent to pick up arms, canteens, cartridge-boxes, etc., from the +battle-field, and some of our cavalry had ridden them down and captured +them. They were a little discomposed, but said, for the most part, that +they were weary of the war and glad to be in custody. As a rule, +Northern and Southern troops have the same general manners and +appearances. These were more ragged than any Federals I had ever known, +and their appetites were voracious. + +I found General Geary, a Pennsylvania brigade Commander, in the dwelling +of a lady near the end of the town. He had received a bullet in the arm, +and, I believe, submitted to amputation afterward. He was a tall, +athletic man, upwards of six feet in height, and a citizen of one of the +mountainous interior counties of the Quaker State. His life had been +marked by much adventure, and he had been elevated to many important +civil positions in various quarters of the Republic. He occupied a +leading place, in the Mexican war, and was afterward Mayor of San +Francisco and Governor of Kansas. He acted with the Southern wing of +the Democratic party, and was discreetly ambitious, promoting the +agricultural interests of his commonwealth, and otherwise fulfilling +useful civil functions. He was a fine exemplar of the American +gentleman, preserving the better individualities of his countrymen, but +discarding those grosser traits, which have given us an unenviable name +abroad. Geary could not do a mean thing, and his courage came so +naturally to him that he did not consider it any cause of pride. The +bias of party, which in America diseases the best natures, had in some +degree affected the General. He was prone to go with his party in any +event, when often, I think, his fine intelligence would have prompted +him to an independent course. But I wish that all our leading men +possessed his manliness, for then more dignity and self-respect, and +less "smartness," might be apparent in our social and political +organizations. + +He was lying on his back, with his shattered arm bandaged, and resting +on his breast. Twitches of keen pain shot across his face now and then, +but he received me with a simple courtesy that made his patience thrice +heroic. He did not speak of himself or his services, though I knew both +to be eminent; but McDowell had insulted him, as he rode disabled from +the field, and Geary felt the sting of the word more than the bullet. He +had ventured to say to McDowell that the Reserves were badly needed in +front, and the proud "Regular" had answered the officious "Volunteer," +to the effect that he knew his own business. Not the least among the +causes of the North's inefficiency will be found this ill feeling +between the professional and the civil soldiery. A Regular contemns a +Volunteer; a Volunteer hates a Regular. I visited General Augur--badly +wounded--in the drawing-room of the hotel, and paused a moment to watch +Colonel Donnelly, mortally wounded, lying on a spread in the hall. The +latter lingered a day in fearful agony; but he was a powerful man in +physique, and he fought with death through a bloody sweat, never +moaning nor complaining, till he fell into a blessed torpidity, and so +yielded up his soul. The shady little town was a sort of Golgotha now. +Feverish eyes began to burn into one's heart, as he passed along the +sidewalks. Red hospital flags, hung like regalia from half the houses. A +table for amputations was set up in the open air, and nakedness glared +hideously upon the sun. How often have they brought out corpses in plain +boxes of pine, and shut them away without sign, or ceremony, or tears, +driving a long stake above the headboard. The ambulances came and went, +till the line seemed stretching to the crack of doom; while, as in +contemplation of further murder, the white-covered ammunition-teams +creaked southward, and mounted Provosts charged upon the skulkers, +driving them to a pen, whence they were forwarded to their regiments. +Old Mr. Paine, the landlord, tottered up to me, with a tear in his eye, +and said-- + +"My good Lord, sir! Who is responsible for this?" + +He did not mean to suggest argument. It was the language of a human +heart pitying its brotherhood. + +At twelve o'clock I started anew for the field, and fell in with Captain +Chitty on the way. He stated that his courage during the fight surpassed +his most heroic expectations, and added, in an undertone, that he was +deliberating as to whether he should allow his name to be mentioned +officially, since several military men were urging that honor upon him. +I dissuaded Chitty from this intent, upon the ground that his reputation +for modesty might be sacrificed. Chitty at once said that he would take +my advice. We encountered Surgeon Ball, of Ohio, after a time, and he +informed us that a day's armistice had been agreed upon, to allow for +the burial of the dead. The work of interment was already commenced in +front, and the surgeon had been ordered to see to the wounded, some of +whom still lay on the places where they fell. He allowed us to accompany +him in the capacity of cadets, but we first diverged a little from the +road, that he might obtain his portmanteau of instruments. I fell into a +little difficulty here, by unwittingly asking aloud of the 28th +Pennsylvania regiment, if that was not the organization which hid itself +during the fight? The 28th had been ordered, on the morning of Saturday, +to occupy Telegraph Mountain,--an elevation in the rear of Cedar +Mountain,--which was used for a Federal signal-post. Nobody having +notified the 28th to return to camp, they remained on the mountain, +passively witnessing the carnage, and came away in the night. But +although my remark was jestingly said, the knot of soldiers who heard it +were intensely excited. They spoke of taking me "off that hoss," and +called me a New York "Snob," who "wanted his head punched." This irate +feeling may be attributed to the rivalry which exists between the +"Empire" and the "Keystone" States, the latter being very jealous of the +former, and claiming to have sent more troops to the war than any other +commonwealth. The 28th volunteers doubtless expected a terrific +onslaught from the next issue of the Philadelphia papers. + +The reserve, which had lain some miles in the rear the previous evening, +were now massed close to the field, but in the woods, that the enemy +might not count their numbers from his high position. Stopping at times +to chat with brother officers, at last I reached the meadow whence I had +been driven the previous evening. I looked for my nag in vain. One +soldier told me that he had seen him at daylight limping along the high +road; but after sundry wild-goose chases, I gave up the idea of +recovering him. + +At last I passed the outlying batteries, with their black muzzles +scanning the battle-ground, and ascending the clover field, came upon +the site of the battery which had so discomfited us the previous night. +A signal vengeance had overtaken it. Some splinters of wheel and an +overturned caisson, with eight horses lying in a group,--their hoofs +extended like index boards, their necks elongated along the ground, and +their bodies swollen--were the results of a single shell trained upon +the battery by a cool artillerist. Beyond, the road and fields were +strown with knapsacks, haversacks, jackets, canteens, cartridge-boxes, +shoes, bayonets, knives, buttons, belts, blankets, girths, and sabres. +Now and then a mule or a horse lay at the roadside, with the clay +saturated beneath him; and some of the tree-tops, in the depth of the +woods, were scarred, split, and barked, as if the lightning had blasted +them. Now passing a disabled wagon, now marking a dropped horseshoe, now +turning a capsized ambulance, now regarding a perfect wilderness of old +clothes, we emerged from the timber at last, and came to the place where +I had slept on the eve of the battle. A hurricane had apparently swept +the country here, and the fences had been transported bodily. Sometimes +the ground looked, for limited areas, as if there had been a rain of +kindling-wood; and there were furrows in the clay, like those made by +some great mole which had ploughed into the bowels of the earth. All the +tree boles were pierced and perforated, and boughs had been severed so +that they littered the way. Cedar Creek ran merrily across what had been +the road,--the waters limpid and cool as before,--and when I passed +beyond, I entered the region of dead men. Some poisonous Upas had +seemingly grown here, so that adventurers were prostrated by its +exhalations. A tributary rivulet formed with the creek a triangular +enclosure of ground, where most of the Federals had fallen. To the left +of the road stood a cornfield; to the right a stubble-field, dotted with +stone heaps: deep woods formed the background to these, and +scrub-timber, irregularly disposed, the foreground. On the right of the +stubble lay a great stretch of "barren," spotted with dwarf cedars, and +on the left of the cornfield stood a white farm-house, with orchards and +outbuildings; beyond, the creek had hollowed a ravine among the hills, +and the far distance was bounded by the mountains on the Rapidan. In the +immediate front, towered Cedar Mountain, with woods at its base; and +the roadway in which I stood, lost itself a little way on in the mazes +of the thicket. Looking down one of the rows of corn, I saw the first +corpse--the hands flung stiffly back, the feet set stubbornly, the chin +pointing upward, the features losing their sharpness, the skin +blackening, the eyes great and white-- + + "A heap of death--a chaos of cold clay." + +Turning into the cornfield, we came upon one man with a spade, and +another man lying at his feet. He was digging a grave, and when we +paused to note the operation, he touched his cap:-- + +"Pardner o' mine," he said, indicating the body; "him and I fit side by +side, and we agreed, if it could be done, to bury each other. There +ain't no sich man as that lost out o' the army, private or +officer,--with all respect to you." + +It was a eulogy that sounded as if more deserved, because it was homely. +There are some that I have read, much finer, but not as honest. At +little distances we saw parties of ten or twenty, opening trenches, the +tributary brook, only, dividing the Confederate and Federal fatigue +parties. Close to this brook, in the cornfield, lay a fallen trunk of a +tree, and four men sat upon it. Two of them wore gray uniforms, two wore +blue. The latter were Gens. Roberts and Hartsuff of the Federal army. +They were waiting for Gens. Stuart and Early, of the Confederate army: +and the four were to define the period of the armistice. The men in gray +were Major Hintham of Mississippi, and Lieut. Elliott Johnston of +Maryland. Hintham was a lean, fiery, familiar man, who wore the uniform +of several field-marshals. An ostrich feather was stuck in his soft hat +and clasped by a silver star upon a black velvet ground. A golden cord +formed his hat-band, and two tassels, as huge as those of drawing-room +curtains, fell upon his back. His collar was plentifully embroidered as +well as his coat-sleeves, and a black seam ran down his trousers. He +wore spurs of prodigious size, and looked, in the main, like a tragedian +about to appear upon the stage. The other man was young, stout, and good +humored; and he talked sententiously, with a little vanity, but much +courtesy. The Federals had nothing to say to these, they dealt only with +equals in rank. It became a matter of professional ambition, now, to +obtain the greatest amount of information from these Confederates, +without appearing to depart from any conventionality of the armistice. I +got along very well till Chitty came up, and his interrogatives were so +pert and pointed that he very nearly spoiled the entire labor. Young +Johnston was a Baltimorean, and wished his people to know something of +him; he gave me a card, stated that he was one of Gen. Garnett's aids, +and had opened the armistice, early in the day, by riding into the +Federal lines with a flag of truce. By detachments, new bodies of +Confederate officers joined us, most of them being young fellows in gray +suits: and at length Gen. Early rode down the hillside and nodded his +head to our party. + +It was the custom of our newspapers to publish, with its narrative of +each battle, a plan of the field; and in furtherance of this object, +having agreed to act for my absent friend, I moved a little way from the +place of parley, and laying my paper on the pommel of my saddle +proceeded to sketch the relative positions of road, brook, mountain, and +woodland. While thus busily engaged, and congratulating myself upon the +fine opportunities afforded me, a lithe, indurated, severe-looking +horseman rode down the hill, and reining beside me, said-- + +"Are you making a sketch of our position?" + +"Not for any military purpose." + +"For what?" + +"For a newspaper engraving." + +"Umph!" + +The man rode past me to the log, and when I had finished my transcript, +I resumed my place at the group. The new comer was Major General J. E. +B. Stuart, one of the most famous cavalry leaders in the Confederate +army. He was inquiring for General Hartsuff, with whom he had been a +fellow-cadet at West Point; but the Federal General had strolled off, +and in the interval Stuart entered into familiar converse with the +party. He described the Confederate uniform to me, and laughed over some +reminiscences of his raid around McClellan's army. + +"That performance gave me a Major-Generalcy, and my saddle cloth there, +was sent from Baltimore as a reward, by a lady whom I never knew." + +Stuart exhibited what is known in America as "airiness," and evidently +loved to talk of his prowess. Directly Gen. Hartsuff returned, and the +forager rose, with a grim smile about his mouth-- + +"Hartsuff, God bless you, how-de-do?" + +"Stuart, how are you?" + +They took a quiet turn together, speaking of old school-days, perhaps; +and when they came back to the log, Surgeon Ball produced a bottle of +whiskey, out of which all the Generals drank, wishing each other an +early peace. + +"Here's hoping you may fall into our hands," said Stuart; "we'll treat +you well at Richmond!" + +"The same to you!" said Hartsuff, and they all laughed. + +It was a strange scene,--this lull in the hurricane. Early was a North +Carolinian, who lost nearly his whole brigade at Williamsburg. He wore a +single star upon each shoulder, and in other respects resembled a homely +farmer. He kept upon his horse, and had little to say. Crawford was gray +and mistrustful, calmly measuring Stuart with his eye, as if he intended +to challenge him in a few minutes. Hartsuff was fair and burly, with a +boyish face, and seemed a little ill at ease. Stuart sat upon a log, in +careless posture, working his jaw till the sandy gray beard brushed his +chin and became twisted in his teeth. Around, on foot and on horse, +lounged idle officers of both armies; and the little rill that trickled +behind us was choked in places with corpses. A pleasanter meeting could +not have been held, if this were a county training. The Surgeon told +Gen. Stuart that some of his relatives lived near the Confederate +Capital, and as the General knew them, he related trifling occurrences +happening in their neighborhoods, so that the meeting took the form of a +roadside gossip, and Stuart might have been a plain farmer jaunting home +from market. The General, who was called "JEB" by his associates, so far +relented finally as to give me leave to ride within the Confederate +outer lines, and Lieut. Johnson accompanied me. The corpses lay at +frequent points, and some of the wounded who had not been gathered up, +remained at the spots where they had fallen. One of these, whose leg had +been broken, was incapable of speaking, and could hardly be +distinguished from the lifeless shapes around him. The number of those +who had received their death wound on the edge of the brook, while in +the act of leaping across was very great. I fancied that their faces +retained the mingled ardor and agony of the endeavor and the pang. There +seemed to be no system in the manner of interment, and many of the +Federals had thrown down their shovels, and strolled across the +boundary, to chaff and loiter with the "Butternuts." No one, whom I saw, +exhibited any emotion at the strewn spectacles on every side, and the +stories I had read of the stony-heartedness during the plague, were more +than rivalled by these charnel realities. Already corruption was +violating the "temples of the living God." The heat of the day and the +general demoralizing influences of the climate, were making havoc with +the shapely men of yesterday, and nature seemed hastening to reabsorb, +and renew by her marvellous processes, what was now blistering and +burdening her surface. Enough, however, of this. Satiated with the +scenes of war, my ambition now was to extend my observations to the +kingdoms of the Old World. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT IN ENGLAND. + + +The boy's vague dream of foreign adventure had passed away; my purpose +was of a tamer and more practical cast; it was resolved to this problem: +"How could I travel abroad and pay my expenses?" + +Evidently no money could be made by home correspondence. The new order +of journals had no charity for fine moral descriptions of church +steeples, ruined castles, and picture galleries; I knew too little of +foreign politics to give the Republic its semi-weekly "sensation;" and +exchange was too high at the depreciated value of currency to yield me +even a tolerable reward. But might I not reverse the policy of the +peripatetics, and, instead of turning my European experiences into +American gold, make my knowledge of America a bill of credit for +England? + +What capital had I for this essay? I was twenty-one years of age; the +last three years of my minority had been passed among the newspapers; I +knew indifferently well the distribution of parties, the theory of the +Government, the personalities of public men, the causes of the great +civil strife. And I had mounted to my saddle in the beginning of the +war, and followed the armies of McClellan and Pope over their sanguinary +battle-fields. The possibility thrilled me like a novel discovery, that +the Old World might be willing to hear of the New, as I could depict it, +fresh from the theatre of action. At great expense foreign +correspondents had been sent to our shores, whose ignorance and +confidence had led them into egregious blunders; for their travelling +outlay merely, I would have guaranteed thrice the information, and my +sanguine conceit half persuaded me that I could present it as +acceptably. I did not wait to ponder upon this suggestion. The guns of +the second action of Bull Run growled a farewell to me as I resigned my +horse and equipments to a successor. With a trifle of money, I took +passage on a steamer, and landed at Liverpool on the first of October, +1862. + +Among my acquaintances upon the ship was a semi-literary adventurer from +New England. I surmised that his funds were not more considerable than +my own; and indeed, when he comprehended my plans, he confessed as much, +and proposed to join enterprises with me. + +"Did you ever make a public lecture?" he asked. + +Now I had certain blushing recollections of having entertained a +suburban congregation, long before, with didactic critiques upon Byron, +Keats, and the popular poets. I replied, therefore, misgivingly, in the +affirmative, and Hipp, the interrogator, exclaimed at once-- + +"Let us make a lecturing tour in England, and divide the expenses and +the work; you will describe the war, and I will act as your agent." + +With true Yankee persistence Hipp developed his idea, and I consented to +try the experiment, though with grave scruples. It would require much +nerve to talk to strange people upon an excitable topic; and a camp +fever, which among other things I had gained on the Chickahominy, had +enfeebled me to the last degree. + +However, I went to work at once, inditing the pages in a snug parlor of +a modest Liverpool inn, while Hipp sounded the patrons and landlord as +to the probable success of our adventure. Opinions differed; public +lectures in the Old World had been generally gratuitous, except in rare +cases, but the genial Irish proprietor of the _Post_ advised me to go on +without hesitation. + +We selected for the initial night a Lancashire sea-side town, a summer +resort for the people of Liverpool, and filled at that time with +invalids and pleasure-seekers. Hipp, who was a sort of American +Crichton, managed the business details with consummate tact. I was +announced as the eye-witness and participator of a hundred actions, +fresh from the bloodiest fields and still smelling of saltpetre. My +horse had been shot as I carried a General's orders under the fire of a +score of batteries, and I was connected with journals whose reputations +were world-wide. Disease had compelled me to forsake the scenes of my +heroism, and I had consented to enlighten the Lancashire public, through +the solicitation of the nobility and gentry. Some of the latter had +indeed honored the affair with their patronage. + +We secured the three village newspapers by writing them descriptive +letters. The parish rector and the dissenting preachers were waited upon +and presented with family tickets; while we placarded the town till it +was scarcely recognizable to the oldest inhabitant. + +On the morning of the eventful day I arrived in the place. The best room +of the best inn had been engaged for me, and waiters in white aprons, +standing in rows, bowed me over the portal. The servant girls and +gossips had fugitive peeps at me through the cracks of my door, and I +felt for the first time all the oppressiveness of greatness. As I walked +on the quay where the crowds were strolling, looking out upon the misty +sea, at the donkeys on the beach, and at the fishing-smacks huddled +under the far-reaching pier, I saw my name in huge letters borne on the +banner of a bill-poster, and all the people stopping to read as they +wound in and out among them. + +How few thought the thin, sallow young man, in wide breeches and +square-toed boots, who shambled by them so shamefacedly, to be the +veritable Mentor who had crossed the ocean for their benefit. Indeed, +the embarrassing responsibility I had assumed now appeared to me in all +its vividness. + +My confidence sensibly declined; my sensitiveness amounted to +nervousness; I had half a mind to run away and leave the show entirely +to Hipp. But when I saw that child of the Mayflower stolidly, shrewdly +going about his business, working the wires like an old operator, making +the largest amount of thunder from so small a cloud, I was rebuked of my +faintheartedness. In truth, not the least of my misgivings was Hipp's +extraordinary zeal. He gave the townsmen to understand that I was a +prodigy of oratory, whose battle-sketches would harrow up their souls +and thrill them like a martial summons. It brought the blush to my face +to see him talking to knots of old men after the fashion of a town crier +at a puppet-booth, and I wondered whether I occupied a more reputable +rank, after all, than a strolling gymnast, giant, or dwarf. + +As the twilight came on my position became ludicrously unenviable. The +lights in the town-hall were lit. I passed pallidly twice or thrice, and +would have given half my fortune if the whole thing had been over. But +the minutes went on; the interval diminished; I faced the crisis at last +and entered the arena. + +There sat Hipp, taking money at the head of the stairs, with piles of +tickets before him; and as he rose, gravely respectful, the janitor and +some loiterers took off their hats while I passed. I entered the little +bare dressing-room; my throat was parched as fever, my hands were hot +and tremulous; I felt my heart sag. How the rumble of expectant feet in +the audience-room shook me! I called myself a poltroon, and fingered my +neck-tie, and smoothed my hair before the mirror. Another burst of +impatient expectation made me start; I opened the door, and stood before +my destiny. + +The place was about one third filled with a representative English +audience, the males preponderating in number. They watched me intently +as I mounted the steps of the rostrum and arranged my port-folio upon a +musical tripod; then I seated myself for a moment, and tried to still +the beating of my foolish heart. + +How strangely acute were my perceptions of everything before me! I +looked from face to face and analyzed the expressions, counted the lines +down the corduroy pantaloons, measured the heavily-shod English feet, +numbered the rows of benches and the tubes of the chandeliers, and +figured up the losing receipts from this unremunerative audience. + +Then I rose, coughed, held the house for the last time in severe review, +and repeated-- + +"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN--A grand contest agitates America and the world. +The people of the two sections of the great North American Republic, +having progressed in harmony for almost a century, and become a +formidable power among the nations, are now divided and at enmity; they +have consecrated with blood their fairest fields, and built monuments of +bones in their most beautiful valleys," etc. + +For perhaps five minutes everything went on smoothly. I was pleased with +the clearness of my voice; then, as I referred to the origin of the war, +and denounced the traitorous conspiracy to disrupt the republic, faint +mutterings arose, amounting to interruptions at last. The sympathies of +my audience were, in the main, with the secession. There were cheers and +counter cheers; storms of "Hear, hear," and "No, no," until a certain +youth, in a sort of legal monkey-jacket and with ponderously +professional gold seals, so distinguished himself by exclamations that I +singled him out as a mark for my bitterest periods. + +But while I was thus the main actor in this curious scene, a strange, +startling consciousness grew apace upon me; the room was growing dark; +my voice replied to me like a far, hollow echo; I knew--I knew that I +was losing my consciousness--that I was about to faint! Words cannot +describe my humiliation at this discovery. I set my lips hard and +straightened my limbs; raised my voice to a shrill, defiant pitch, and +struggled in the dimming horror to select my adversary in the +monkey-jacket and overwhelm him with bitter apostrophes. In vain! The +novelty, the excitement, the enervation of that long, consuming fever, +mastered my overtaxed physique. I knew that, if I did not cease, I +should fall senseless to the floor. Only in the last bitter instant did +I confess my disability with the best grace I could assume. + +"My friends," I said, gaspingly, "this is my first appearance in your +country, and I am but just convalescent; my head is a little weak. Will +you kindly bear with me a moment while the janitor gets me a glass of +water?" + +A hearty burst of applause took the sting from my mortification. A bald +old gentleman in the front row gravely rose and said, "Let me send for a +drop of brandy for our young guest." They waited patiently and kindly +till my faintness passed away, and when I rose, a genuine English cheer +shook the place. + +I often hear it again when, here in my own country, I would speak +bitterly of Englishmen, and it softens the harshness of my condemnation. + +But I now addressed myself feverishly to my task, and my disgrace made +me vehement and combative. I glared upon the individual in the +monkey-jacket as if he had been Mr. Jefferson Davis himself, and read +him a scathing indictment. The man in the monkey-jacket was not to be +scathed. He retorted more frequently than before; he was guilty of the +most hardy contempt of court. He was determined not to agree with me, +and said so. + +"Sir," I exclaimed at last, "pray reserve your remarks till the end of +the lecture, and you shall have the platform." + +"I shall be quite willing, I am sure," said the man in the monkey-jacket +with imperturbable effrontery. + +Then, as I continued, the contest grew interesting; explosions of "No, +no," were interrupted with volleys of "Ay, ay," from my adherents. +Hipp, who had squared accounts, made all the applause in his power, +standing in the main threshold, and the little auditory became a ringing +arena, where we fought without flinching, standing foot to foot and +drawing fire for fire. The man in the monkey-jacket broke his word: +silence was not his forte; he hurled denials and counter-charges +vociferously; he was full of gall and bitterness, and when I closed the +last page and resumed my chair, he sprang from his place to claim the +platform. + +"Stop," cried Hipp, in his hard nasal tone, striding forward; "you have +interrupted the lecturer after giving your parole; we recall our +promise, as you have not stood by yours. Janitor, put out the lights!" + +The bald old gentleman quietly rose. "In England," he said, "we give +everybody fair play; tokens of assent and dissent are commonly made in +all our public meetings; let us have a hearing for our townsman." + +"Certainly," I replied, giving him my hand at the top of the stairs, +"nothing would afford me more pleasure." + +The man in the monkey-jacket then made a sweeping speech, full of loose +charges against the Americans, and expressive of sympathy with the +Rebellion; but, at the finishing, he proposed, as the sentiment of the +meeting, a vote of thanks to me, which was amended by another to include +himself. Many of the people shook hands with me at the door, and the +bald old gentleman led me to his wife and daughter, whose benignities +were almost parental. + +"Poor young man!" said the old lady; "a must take care of 'is 'ealth; +will a come hoom wi' Tummas and me and drink a bit o' tea?" + +I strolled about the place for twenty-four hours on good terms with many +townsmen, while Hipp, full of pluck and business, was posting me against +all the dead walls of a farther village. Again and again I sketched the +war-episodes I had followed, gaining fluency and confidence as by +degrees my itinerant profession lost its novelty, but we as steadily +lost money. The houses were invariably bad; we had the same fiery +discussions every evening, but the same meagre receipts, and in every +market town of northwestern Lancashire we buried a portion of our little +capital, till once, after talking myself hoarse to a respectable +audience of empty benches, Hipp and I looked blankly into each other's +faces and silently put our last gold pieces upon the table. We were +three thousand miles from home, and the possessors of ten sovereigns +apiece. I reached out my hand with a pale smile:-- + +"Old fellow," I said, "let us comfort ourselves by the assurance that we +have deserved success. The time has come to say good by." + +"As you will," said Hipp: "it is all the fault of this pig-headed +nation. Now I dare say if we had brought a panorama of the war along, it +would have been a stunning success; but standing upon high literary and +forensic ground, of course they can't appreciate us. Confound 'em!" + +I think that Hipp has since had but two notions,--the exhibition of that +panorama, or, in the event of its failure, a declaration of war against +the British people. He followed me to Liverpool, and bade me adieu at +Birkenhead, I going Londonward with scarcely enough money to pay my +passage, and he to start next day for Belfast, to lecture upon his own +hook, or, failing (as he afterward did), to recross the Atlantic in the +steerage of a ship. + +My feelings, as the train bore me steadily through the Welsh border, by +the clustering smoke-stacks of Birmingham, by the castled tower of +Warwick, and along the head waters of the Thames and Avon, were not of +the most enthusiastic description. I had no money and no friends; I had +sent to America for a remittance, but in the interval of six weeks +required for a reply, must eat and drink and lodge, and London was wide +and pitiless, even if I dared stoop to beg assistance. + +Let no young man be tempted to put the sea between his home and himself, +how seductive soever be the experiences of book-makers and poetic +pedestrians. One hour's contemplation of poverty in foreign lands will +line the boy's face with the wrinkles of years, and burn into his soul +that withering dependency which will rankle long after his privations +are forgotten. + +In truth, my circumstances were so awkward that my very desperation kept +me calm. I had a formal letter to one English publisher, but not any +friendly line whatever to anybody; and as the possibilities of sickness, +debt, enemies, came to mind, I felt that I was no longer the hero of a +romance, but face to face with a hard, practical, terrible reality. It +was night when I landed at the Paddington Station, and taking an omnibus +for Charing Cross, watched the long lines of lamps on Oxford Street, and +the glitter of the Haymarket theatres, and at last the hard plash of the +fountains in Trafalgar Square, with the stony statues grouped so rigidly +about the column to Nelson. + +I walked down Strand with my carpet-bag in my hands, through Fleet +Street and under Temple Bar, till, weary at last from sheer exercise, I +dropped into a little ale-house under a great, grinning lantern, which +said, in the crisp tone of patronage, the one word, "beds." They put me +under the tiles, with the chimney-stacks for my neighbors, and I lay +awake all night meditating expedients for the morrow: so far from regret +or foreboding, I longed for the daylight to come that I might commence +my task, confident that I could not fail where so many had succeeded. +They were, indeed, inspirations which looked in upon me at the dawn. The +dome of St. Paul's guarding Paternoster Row, with Milton's school in the +background, and hard by the Player's Court, where, in lieu of +Shakespeare's company, the American presses of the _Times_ shook the +kingdom and the continent. I thought of Johnson, as I passed Bolt Alley, +of Chatterton at Shoe Lane, of Goldsmith as I put my foot upon his grave +under the eaves of the Temple. + +The public has nothing to do with the sacrifices by which my private +embarrassment received temporary relief. Though half the race of authors +had been in similar straits, I would not, for all their success, undergo +again such self-humiliation. It is enough to say that I obtained +lodgings in Islington, close to the home of Charles Lamb, and near +Irving's Canterbury tower; and that between writing articles on the +American war, and strategic efforts to pay my board, two weeks of +feverish loneliness drifted away. + +I made but one friend; a young Englishman of radical proclivities, who +had passed some years in America among books and newspapers, and was now +editing the foreign column of the _Illustrated London News_. He was a +brave, needy fellow, full of heart, but burdened with a wife and +children, and too honestly impolitic to gain money with his fine +abilities by writing down his own unpopular sentiments. He helped me +with advice and otherwise. + +"If you mean to work for the journals," he said, "I fear you will be +disappointed. I have tried six years to get upon some daily London +paper. The editorial positions are always filled; you know too little of +the geography and society of the town to be a reporter, and such +miscellaneous recollections of the war as you possess will not be +available for a mere newspaper. But the magazines are always ready to +purchase, if you can get access to them. In that quarter you might do +well." + +I found that the serials to which my friend recommended me shared his +own advanced sentiments, but were unfortunately without money. So I made +my way to the counter of the Messrs. Chambers, and left for its junior +partner an introductory note. The reply was to this effect. I violate no +confidence, I think, in reproducing it:-- + + "SIR,--I shall be glad to see any friend of----, and may be + found," etc., etc. "I fear that articles upon the American war, + written by an American, will not, however, be acceptable in this + journal, as the public here take a widely different view of the + contest from that entertained in your own country, and the feeling + of horror is deepening fast." + +Undeterred by this frank avowal, I waited upon the publisher at the +appointed time,--a fine, athletic, white-haired Scotchman, whose name is +known where that of greater authors cannot reach, and who has written +with his own hand as much as Dumas _pere_. He met me with warm +cordiality, rare to Englishmen, and when I said-- + +"Sir, I do not wish the use of your paper to circulate my +opinions,--only my experiences," he took me at once to his editor, and +gave me a personal introduction. Fortunately I had brought with me a +paper which I submitted on the spot; it was entitled, "Literature of the +American War," collated from such campaign ballads as I could remember, +eked out with my own, and strung together with explanatory and critical +paragraphs. The third day following, I received this announcement in +shockingly bad handwriting:-- + +"D'r S'r, + "Y'r article will suit us. + "The ed. C. J." + +For every word in this communication, I afterward obtained a guinea. The +money not being due till after the appearance of the article, I +anticipated it with various sketches, stories, etc., all of which were +largely fanciful or descriptive, and contained no paragraph which I wish +to recall. In other directions, I was less successful. Of two daily +journals to which I offered my services, one declined to answer my +letter, and the other demanded a quarto of credentials. + +So I lived a fugitive existence, a practical illustration of Irving's +"Poor Devil Author," looking as often into pastry-shop windows, testing +all manner of cheap Pickwickian veal-pies, breakfasting upon a chop, and +supping upon a herring in my suburban residence, but keeping up pluck +and _chique_ so deceptively, that nobody in the place suspected me of +poverty. + +I went for some American inventors, to a rifle ground, and explained to +the Lords of the Admiralty the merits of a new projectile; wrote letters +to all the Continental sovereigns for an itinerant and independent +embassador, and was at last so poor that my only writing papers were a +druggist's waste bill-heads. An article with no other "backing" than +this was fortunate enough to stray into the _Cornhill Magazine_. I found +that its proprietor kept a banking-house in Pall Mall, and doubtful of +my welcome on Cornhill, ventured one day in my unique American +costume,--slouched hat, wide garments, and squared-toed boots,--to send +to him directly my card. He probably thought from its face that a +relative of Mr. Mason's was about to open an extensive account with him. +As it was, once admitted to his presence, he could not escape me. The +manuscript lay in his hands before he fully comprehended my purpose. He +was a fine specimen of the English publisher,--robust, ruddy, +good-naturedly acute,--and as he said with a smile that he would waive +routine and take charge of my copy, I knew that the same hands had +fastened upon the crude pages of Jane Eyre, and the best labors of +Hazlitt, Ruskin, Leigh Hunt, and Thackeray. + +Two more weary weeks elapsed; I found it pleasant to work, but very +trying to wait. At the end my courage very nearly failed. I reached the +era of self-accusation; to make myself forget myself I took long, ardent +marches into the open country; followed the authors I had worshipped +through the localities they had made reverend; lost myself in +dreaminesses,--those precursors of death in the snow,--and wished myself +back in the ranks of the North, to go down in the frenzy, rather than +thus drag out a life of civil indigence, robbing at once my brains and +my stomach. + +One morning, as I sat in my little Islington parlor, wishing that the +chop I had just eaten had gone farther, and taking a melancholy +inventory of the threadbare carpet and rheumatic chairs, the +door-knocker fell; there were steps in the hall; my name was mentioned. + +A tall young gentleman approached me with a letter: I received him with +a strange nervousness; was there any crime in my record, I asked +fitfully, for which I had been traced to this obscure suburb for condign +arrest and decapitation? Ha! ha! it was my heart, not my lips, that +laughed. I could have cried out like Enoch Arden in his dying +apostrophe:-- + + "A sail! a sail! + I am saved!" + +for the note, in the publisher's own handwriting, said this, and more:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I shall be glad to send you fifteen guineas + immediately, in return for your article on General Pope's Campaign, + if the price will suit you." + +But I suppressed my enthusiasm. I spoke patronizingly to the young +gentleman. Dr. Johnson, at the brewer's vendue, could not have been more +learnedly sonorous. + +"You may say in return, sir, that the sum named will remunerate me." + +At the same time the instinct was intense to seize the youth by the +throat, and tell him that if the remittance was delayed beyond the +morning, I would have his heart's-blood! I should have liked to thrust +him into the coal-hole as a hostage for its prompt arrival, or send one +of his ears to the publishing house with a warning, after the manner of +the Neapolitan brigands. + +That afternoon I walked all the way to Edmonton, over John Gilpin's +route, and boldly invested two-pence in beer at the time-honored Bell +Inn. I disdained to ride back upon the omnibus for the sum of +threepence, but returned on foot the entire eight miles, and thought it +only a league. Next day my check came duly to hand,--a very formidable +check, with two pen-marks drawn across its face. I carried it to +Threadneedle Street by the unfrequented routes, to avoid having my +pockets picked, and presented it to the cashier, wondering if he knew me +to be a foreign gentleman who had written for the _Cornhill Magazine_. +The cashier looked rather contemptuous, I thought, being evidently a +soulless character with no literary affinities. + +"Sir," he said, curtly, "this check is crossed." + +"Sir!" + +"We can't cash the check; it is crossed." + +"What do you mean by crossed?" + +"Just present it where you got it, and you will find out." + +The cashier regarded me as if I had offered a ticket of leave rather +than an order for the considerable amount of seventy-five dollars. I +left that banking-house a broken man, and stopped with a long, long face +at a broker's to ask for an explanation. + +"Yesh, yesh," said the little man, whose German silver spectacles sat +upon a bulbously Oriental nose; "ze monish ish never paid on a crossed +shequc. If one hash a bank-account, you know, zat ish different. Ze +gentleman who gif you dis shequc had no bishness to crosh it if you have +no banker." + +I was too vain to go back to Cornhill and confess that I had neither +purse nor purser; so I satisfied the broker that the affair was correct, +and he cashed the bill for five shillings. + +That was the end of my necessities; money came from home, from this and +that serial; my published articles were favorably noticed, and opened +the market to me. Whatever I penned found sale; and some correspondence +that I had leisure to fulfil for America brought me steady receipts. + +Had I been prudent with my means, and prompt to advantage myself of +opportunities, I might have obtained access to the best literary +society, and sold my compositions for correspondingly higher prices. +Social standing in English literature is of equal consequence with +genius. The poor Irish governess cannot find a publisher, but Lady +Morgan takes both critics and readers by storm. A duchess's name on the +title-page protects the fool in the letter-press; irreverent +republicanism is not yet so great a respecter of persons. I was often +invited out to dinner, and went to the expense of a dress-coat and kids, +without which one passes the genteel British portal at his peril; but +found that both the expense and the stateliness of "society" were +onerous. In this department I had no perseverance; but when, one +evening, I sat with the author of "Vanity Fair," in the concert rooms at +Covent Garden, as Colonel Newcome and Clive had done before me, and took +my beer and mutton with those kindly eyes measuring me through their +spectacles, I felt that such grand companionship lifted me from the +errantry of my career into the dignity of a renowned art. + +I moved my lodgings, after three months, to a pleasant square of the +West End, where I had for associates, among others, several American +artists. Strange men were they to be so far from home; but I have since +found, that the poorer one is the farther he travels, and the majority +of these were quite destitute. Two of them only had permanent +employment; a few, now and then, sold a design to a magazine; the mass +went out sketching to kill time, and trusted to Providence for dinner. +But they were good fellows for the most part, kindly to one another, and +meeting in their lodgings, where their tenure was uncertain, to score +Millais, or praise Rosetti, or overwhelm Frith. + +My own life meantime passed smoothly. I had no rivals of my own +nationality; though one expatriated person, whose name I have not heard, +was writing a series of prejudiced articles for _Fraser_, which he +signed "A White Republican." I thought him a very dirty white. One or +two English travellers at the same time were making amusingly stupid +notices of America in some of the second-rate monthlies; and Maxwell, a +bustling Irishman, who owns _Temple Bar_, the _Saint James_, and +_Sixpenny Magazine_, and some half dozen other serials, was employing a +man to invent all varieties of rubbish upon a country which he had never +beheld nor comprehended. + +After a few months the passages of the war with which I was cognizant +lost their interest by reason of later occurrences. I found myself, so +to speak, wedged out of the market by new literary importations. The +enforcement of the draft brought to Europe many naturalized countrymen +of mine, whose dislike of America was not lessened by their +unceremonious mode of departure from it; and it is to these, the mass of +whom are familiarly known in the journals of this country, that we owe +the most insidious, because the best informed, detraction of us. +_Macmillan's Magazine_ did us sterling service through the papers of +Edward Dicey, the best literary _feuilletonist_ in England; and +Professor Newman, J. Stuart Mill, and others, gave us the limited +influence of the _Westminster Review_. The _Cornhill_ was neutral; +_Chambers's_ respectfully inimical; _Bentley_ and _Colburn_ +antagonistically flat; Maxwell's tri-visaged publications grinningly +abusive; _Good Words_ had neither good nor bad words for us; _Once a +Week_ and _All the Year Round_ gave us a shot now and then. _Blackwood_ +and _Fraser_ disliked our form of Government, and all its +manifestations. The rest of the reviews, as far as I could see, pitied +and berated us pompously. It was more than once suggested to me to write +an experimental paper upon the failure of republicanism; but I knew only +one American--a New York correspondent--who lent himself to a systematic +abuse of the Government which permitted him to reside in it. He obtained +a newsboy's fame, and, I suspect, earned considerable. He is dead: let +any who love him shorten his biography by three years. + +However, I at last concluded a book,--if I may so call what never +resulted in a volume,--at which, from the first, I had been pegging +away. I called it "The War Correspondent," and made it the literal +record of my adventures in the saddle. When some six hundred MS. pages +were done I sent it to a publisher; he politely sent it back. I +forwarded it to a rival house; in this respect only both houses were +agreed. Having some dim recollection of the early trials of authors I +perseveringly gave that copy the freedom of the city; the verdict upon +it was marvellously identical, but the manner of declension was always +soothing. They separately advised me not to be content with one refusal, +but to try some other house, though I came at last to think, by the +regularity of its transit to and fro, that one house only had been its +recipient from the first. + +At last, assured of its positive failure, I took what seemed to be the +most philosophic course,--neither tossing it into the Thames, after the +fashion of a famous novelist, nor littering my floor with its fragments, +and dying amidst them like a _chiffonnier_ in his den: I cut the best +paragraphs out of it, strung them together, and published it by separate +articles in the serials. My name failed to be added to the British +Museum Catalogue; but that circumstance is, at the present time, a +matter of no regret whatever. + +When done with the war I took to story-writing, using many +half-forgotten incidents of American police-reporting, of border +warfare, of the development of civilization among the pioneers, of +thraldom in the South, and the gold search on the Pacific. The majority +of these travelled across the water, and were republished. And when +America, in the garb of either fact or fiction, lost novelty, I entered +the wide field of miscellaneous literature among a thousand competitors. + +An author's ticket to the British Museum Reading-room put the whole +world so close around me that I could touch it everywhere. I never +entered the noble rotunda of that vast collection without an emotion of +littleness and awe. Lit only from the roof, it reminded me of the Roman +Pantheon; and truly all the gods whom I had worshipped sat, not in +statue, but in substance, along its radiating tables, or trod its +noiseless floors. Half the literature of our language flows from thence. +One may see at a glance grave naturalists knee-deep in ichthyological +tomes, or buzzing over entomology; pale zealots copying Arabic +characters, with the end to rebuild Bethlehem or the ruins of Mecca; +biographers gloating over some rare original letter; periodical writers +filching from two centuries ago for their next "new" article. The +Marquis of Lansdowne is dead; you may see the _Times_ reporter yonder +running down the events of his career. Poland is in arms again, and the +clever compiler farther on means to make twenty pounds out of it by +summing up her past risings and ruins. The bruisers King and Mace fought +yesterday, and the plodding person close by from _Bell's Life_ is +gleaning their antecedents. Half the _literati_ of our age do but like +these bind the present to the past. A great library diminishes the +number of thinkers; the grand fountains of philosophy and science ran +before types were so facile or letters became a trade. + +The novelty of this life soon wore away, and I found myself the creature +of no romance, but plodding along a prosy road with very practical +people. + +I carried my MSS. into Paternoster Row like anybody's book-keeper, and +accused the world of no particular ingratitude that it could not read my +name with my articles, and that it gave itself no concern to discover +me. Yet there was a private pleasure in the congeniality of my labor, +and in the consciousness that I could float upon my quill even in this +vast London sea. Once or twice my articles went across the Channel and +returned in foreign dress. I wonder if I shall ever again feel the +thrill of that first recognition of my offspring coming to my knee with +their strange French prattle. + +I was not uniformly successful, but, if rejected, my MSS. were +courteously returned, with a note from the editor. As a sample I give +the following. The original is a lithographed fac-simile of the +handwriting of Mr. Dickens, printed in blue ink, the date and the title +of the manuscript being in another handwriting. + + OFFICE OF "ALL THE YEAR ROUND." + + A WEEKLY JOURNAL CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS. + + + NO. 26 WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W. C. + _January 27, 1863._ + + + Mr. Charles Dickens begs to thank the writer of the paper entitled + "A Battle Sunday" for having done him the favor to offer it as a + contribution to these pages. He much regrets, however, that it is + not suited to the requirements of "All the Year Round." + + The manuscript will be returned, under cover, if applied for as + above. + +The prices of miscellaneous articles in London are remunerative. +Twenty-four shillings a magazine page is the common valuation: but +specially interesting papers rate higher. Literature as a profession, in +England, is more certain and more progressive than with us. It is not +debased with the heavy leaven of journalism. Among the many serial +publications of London, ability, tact, and industry should always find a +liberal market. There is less of the vagrancy of letters,--Bohemianism, +Mohicanism, or what not,--in London than in either New York or Paris. + +I think we have the cleverer fugitive writers in America, but those of +England seemed to me to have more self-respect and conscientiousness. +The soul of the scribe need never be in pledge if there are many +masters. + +While a good writer in any department can find work across the water, I +would advise no one to go abroad with this assurance solely. My +success--if so that can be called which yielded me life, not +profit--was circumstantial, and cannot be repeated. I should be loth to +try it again upon purely literary merits. + +After nine months of experiment I bade the insular metropolis adieu, and +returned no more. The Continent was close and beckoning; I heard the +confusion of her tongues, and saw the shafts of her Gothic Babels +probing the clouds, and for another year I roamed among her cities, as +ardent and errant as when I went afield on my pony to win the spurs of a +War Correspondent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +SPURS IN THE PICTURE GALLERIES. + + +Florence, city of my delight! how do I thrill at the recollection of the +asylum afforded me by thee in the Via Parione. The room was tiled, and +cool, and high, and its single window looked out upon a real palace, +where the family of Corsini, presided over by a porter in cocked hat and +an exuberance of gold lace, gave me frequent glimpses of gauze dresses +and glorious eyes, whose owners sometimes came to the casement to watch +the poor little foreigner, writing so industriously. + +Every young traveller has two or three subjects of unrest. Mine were +girls and art. The copyists in the galleries were more beautiful studies +to me than the paintings. The next time I go to Europe, I shall take +enough money along to give all the pretty ones an order; this will be an +introduction, and I shall know how they live, and how much money they +make, and what passions have heaved their beautiful bosoms, to make +their slow, quiet lives forever haunted and longing. + +Love, love! There are only two grand, unsatiated passions, which keep us +forever in freshness and fever,--love and art. + +In Italy I breathed the purest atmosphere; all the world was a +landscape picture; all the skies were spilling blueness and crimson +upon the mountains; all the faces were Madonnas; all the perspectives +were storied architecture. Westward the star of Empire takes its way, +but that of art shines steadily in the East. Thither look our American +young men, no matter at which of its altars they make their +devotions,--painting, sculpture, or architecture. And I, who had known +some fondness for the pencil till lured into the wider, wilder field of +letters, felt almost an artist's joy when I stood in the presence of +those solemn masters whose works are inspired and imperishable, like +religion. + +Having passed the first thrill and disappointment,--for pure art speaks +only to the pure by intuition or initiation, and I was yet a novice,--my +old newspaper curiosity revived to learn of the successful living rather +than of the grand dead. + +Correspondents, like poets, are born, not made: the venerable +associations around me--monuments, cloisters, palaces, the homes and +graves of great men whom I revered, the aisles where every canvas bore a +spell name--could not wean me from that old, reportorial habit of asking +questions, peeping into private nooks, and making notes upon +contemporary things, just as I had done for three years, in cities, on +routes, on battle-fields. And as the old world seemed to me only a great +art museum, I longed to look behind the tapestry at the Ghobelin +weavers, pulling the beautiful threads. + +"Where dwell these gay and happy students, who quit our hard, bright +skies, and land of angularities, to inhale the dews of these sedative +mosses, and, by attrition with masterpieces, glean something of the +spirit of the masters?" + +Straightway the faery realm opened to me, and two months of Italian +rambling were spent in association with the folk I esteemed only less +than my own exemplars. + +Art, in all ages, is the flowery way. No pursuit gives so great joy in +the achieving, none achieved yields higher meed of competence, +contentment, and repute. Its ambition is more genial and subdued than +that of literature, its rivalry more courteous and exalting; its daily +life should be pastoral and domestic, free from those feverish mutations +and adventures which cross the incipient author, and it is forever +surrounded by bright and beautiful objects which linger too long upon +the eye to stir the mind to more than emulation. + +Is it harsh to say that artists have been too well rewarded, and +thinkers and writers too ill? Vasari dines at the ducal table, while +Galileo's pension is the rack; the mob which carries Cimabue's canvas in +triumph, drives Dante into exile; Rubens is a king's ambassador, and +Grotius is sent to jail; to Reynolds's levees, poor, bankrupt Goldsmith +steals like an unwelcome guest, and Apelles's gold is paid to him in +measures, while Homer, singing immortal lines, goes blind and begging. + +Art students take rank in Italy among the best of travellers, but +Bohemianism in art is at one's peril. There are many wasted lives among +the clever fellows who go abroad ostensibly for study. I recall Jimman, +who was an expert with the pencil, and who colored with excellent +discrimination. He went to Dusseldorf at first, and became known to +Leutze, who praised his sketches. He began to associate at once with +students and tipplers, and dissipated less by drinking than by talking. +I have a theory that more men are lost to themselves and the age by a +love of "gabbing" than by drinking. It is not hard to eschew cognac and +claret, but there is no cure for "buzzing." There is a drunkenness of +talk which takes possession of one, and Jimman would have had the +_delirium tremens_ in a week, with nobody to listen to him. To my mind +the Trappiste takes the severest of monastic vows. + +Jimman used to rise in the morning betimes, full of inflexible +resolution. Having stretched his canvas, and carefully prepared his +pigments, he went to breakfast, pondering great achievements. Here he +fell in with a lot of Germans,--the most incurable race of gossipers in +the world,--and while they discussed, in a learned way, every subject +under the sun, the meal extended into the afternoon, and Jimman +concluded that it was then too late to undertake anything. In this way +his ambition burnt away, his money was squandered, he lost facility of +manipulation, and came back to Paris at the age of twenty-eight, to +pursue the same listless, garrulous existence; debts and grisettes, +buzzing and brandy, the utterance of resolves which expired in the +utterance, and Jimman finally became, perforce, a common apprentice to a +moulder, that he might not entirely starve. + +I saw him, for the last time, in the Louvre, looking at Zurbaran's +"Kneeling Monk." + +"Ah, Townsend," he said, "I might have done something like that. All my +zeal is gone." + +And he began to chat in the same loose, familiar way. Dumbness and +deafness would have been endowments rather than deprivations for him. + +I had rooms in Florence with Gypsum and Stagg. The former was a young, +industrious fellow, of German descent, who worked hard, but not wisely. +He spent half a year in copying a face by Paul Veronese, and the other +half in sketching an old convent yard. But he did not visit, and an +artist, to get orders and take rank, must be seen as well as be earnest. +He need not be hail-fellow, but should keep well in the circle of +respectable travellers; for these are to be his patrons, if he pleases +them. Gypsum was over-modest and too conscientious; he had only a trifle +of money, and was careless of his attire. So he disregarded society, and +society forgot him. Therefore, at dawn, he betook himself to the old +convent-yard, and stood at his easel bravely, never so unhappy as when +one of the church's innumerable holy days arrived, for then he was +forbidden to work upon the convent premises. With all his +conscientiousness he received no orders; while Stagg, who was not more +clever, proportioned to his longer experience, was befriended on every +hand, because he went to the American chapel regularly and wore a +dress-coat at the sociables. + +Stagg used the old studio of Buchanan Read, just off the Via Seragli. + +I stumbled upon him one morning, and saw more than I anticipated. + +A young, plump girl, without so much as a fig-leaf upon her, was posing +before his easel, so motionless that she scarcely winked, one hand +extended and clasping her loosened tresses, and bending upon one white +and dimpled knee. + +She had the large dark eyes of the professional _modello_, and a bosom +as ripe as Titian's Venus. Her feet were small, and her hands very white +and beautiful. But of me she took no more notice than if I had been a +bird alighting upon the window, or a mouse peeping at her from the edge +of his knot-hole. + +Old Stagg, who was commonly grave as a clergyman, now and then left his +easel to alter her position, and when he was done, she gathered up her +clothes, which had lain in a heap on the floor, and took her few silver +pieces with a "_Mille grazie, Signore!_" and went home to take dinner +with her little brothers. + +A studio in Florence costs only fifteen or twenty francs a +month,--seldom so much. There are a series of excellent ones in the same +Via Seragli, in a very large dismantled convent. There is a well in the +centre of its great courtyard, and innumerable ropes lead from it to the +various high windows of the building, on which buckets of water are +forever ascending. All this of which I speak refers to a year ago, when +Florence was not a capital; doubtless, studios command more at present. + +The models at Florence were to me strange personages. There was a +drawing-school which I sometimes attended, where one old woman kept +three daughters, aged respectively twenty, seventeen, and thirteen +years. They lived pretty much as they were born, and while they posed +upon a high platform, the old woman took her seat near the door and +looked on with grim satisfaction. She was very careful of their moral +habits, but the second one she lost by an excess of greed. She resolved +to make them useful by day, as well as by night, and put them to work at +the studios of individual artists. But as no one artist wanted three +models, the girls had to separate, and, out of the mother's vigilance, +the second one, Orsolo, went to the atelier of a wicked and handsome +fellow, and met with the usual romance of her class. + +The oldest girl, Luigia, married a man-model, and their nuptials must +have been of a most prosaic character. + +Among the many men who thus stood for the artists, was one old fellow, +tall, and bearded, and massively characterized, who used to remain +motionless for hours; until he seemed to be dead. He had been a model in +every stage of life, from childhood to the grave, and represented every +subject from Garibaldi to Moses. + +The walks in and around Florence occupied all my Sabbaths. Stagg and I +used to stroll up to Fiesole, by the villa where Boccaccio's party of +story-tellers met, and look up old pictures in the village church; we +measured the proportions of the chapel on the hill of Saint Miniato, and +he endeavored in vain to imitate the hue of the light as it fell through +the veined marble of Serravezza; we spent contemplative afternoons in +the house of Michael Angelo, and went up to Vallambrosa, at the risk of +our necks, to look at a Giotto no bigger than a tea-plate. In Florence +there is enough out-of-door statuary to make one of the finest galleries +in the world. The majesty of Donatello's "Saint George" arises before me +when I would conceive of any noble humanity, and the sweep of Orgagna's +great arches give me an idea of vastness like the sea; in the Pitti +palace only giants should abide; the Campanile goes up to heaven as +beautiful as Jacob's ladder, and in the perpetual twilight of the Duomo +I was not of half the stature I believed when roaming under the loftier +sky. + +I saw a jail in Florence, and it troubled me; who in that beautiful city +could do a crime? How should old age, or bad passions, or sickness, or +shame, exist in that limpid atmosphere, in the shadow of such +architecture, in the presence of those pictures? + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +A CORRESPONDENT ONCE MORE. + + +Again on the way to Washington! I have made the trip more than sixty +times. I saw the Gunpowder Bridge in flames when Baltimore was in arms +and the Capital cut off from the North. I saw from Perryville the State +flag of Maryland waving at Havre de Grace across the Susquehanna. I saw +at the Washington Navy Yard the blackened body of Ellsworth, manipulated +by the surgeons. I moved through the city with McClellan's onward army +toward the transports which were to carry it to the Peninsula. The awful +tidings of the seven days' retreat came first through the Capital in my +haversack, and before Stonewall Jackson fell upon the flank of Pope, I +crossed the Long Bridge with the story of the disaster of Cedar +Mountain. In like manner the crowning glory of Five Forks made me its +earliest emissary, and the murder of the President brought me hot from +Richmond to participate in the pursuit of Booth and chronicle his +midnight expiation. + +Again am I on the way to the city of centralization, to paint by +electricity the closing scenes of the conspirators, and, as I pass the +Pennsylvania line, the recollection of those frequent pilgrimages--pray +God this be the last!--comes upon me like the sequences of delirium. + +As I look abroad upon the thrifty fields and the rich glebe of the +ploughman, I wonder if the revolutions of peace are not as sweeping and +sudden as those of war. He who wrote the certain downfall of this +Nation, did not keep his eye upon the steadily ascending dome of the +capitol, nor remark, during the thunders of Gettysburg, the as energetic +stroke of the pile-drivers upon the piers of the great Susquehanna +bridge. We built while we desolated. No fatalist convert to Mohammed had +so sure faith in the eternity of his institutions. More masonry has been +laid along the border during the war than in any five previous years. We +have finished the Treasury, raised the bronze gates on the Capitol, +double-railed all the roads between New York and the Potomac, and gone +on as if architecture were imperishable, while thrice the Rebels swept +down toward the Relay. + +And we have done one strategic thing, which, I think, will compare with +the passing of Vicksburg or the raid of Sherman; we have turned +Philadelphia. + +This modern Pompeii used to be the stumbling-block on the great highway. +It was to the direct Washington route what Hell-gate was to the Sound +Channel. We were forbidden the right of way through it, on the ground +that by retarding travel Philadelphia would gain trade, and had to cross +the Delaware on a scow, or lay up in some inn over night. New Jerseymen, +I hear, pray every morning for their daily stranger; Philadelphia has +much sinned to entrap its daily customer. But Maillefert--by which name +I designate the inevitable sledge which spares the grand and pulverizes +the little--has built a road around the Quaker City. It is a very +curious road, going by two hypothenuses of about fifteen miles to make a +base of three or four, so that we lose an hour on the way to the +Capital, all because of Philadelphia's overnight toil. + +The bridge at Perryville will be one of the staunchest upon our +continent: the forts around Baltimore make the outlying landscapes +scarcely recognizable to the returning Maryland Rebels. At last,--woe be +the necessity! we have garrisoned our cities. The Relay House is the +most picturesque spot between the two foci of the country. Wandering +through the woods, I see the dirty blouses of the remnant of "the boys" +and the old abatis on the height looks sunburnt and rusty; away through +the gorge thunders the Baltimore and Ohio train, over what ruins and +resurrections, torn up a hundred times, and as obstinately relaid, until +all its engineers are veteran officers, and can stand fire both of the +furnace and the musket. Everybody in the country is a veteran; the +contractor, who ran his schooner of fodder past the Rebel batteries; the +correspondent, whose lean horse slipped through the crevices of dropping +shells; the teamster, who whipped his mule out of the mud-hole, while +his ammunition wagon behind grew hot with the heaviness of battle; the +old farmer, who took to his cellar while the fight raged in his +chimneys, but ventured out between the bayonet charges to secure his +fatted calf. + +Annapolis Junction has still the sterile guise of the campaign, where +the hills are bare around the hospitals, and the railway taverns are +whittled to skeletons. I have really seen whole houses, little more than +shells, reduced to meagreness by the pocket-knife. The name of almost +everybody on the continent is cut somewhere in the South; Virginia has +more than enough names carved over her fireside altars to inscribe upon +all her multitudinous graves. + +There are close to the city fine bits of landscape, where the fields dip +gracefully into fertile basins, and rise in swells of tilled fields and +orchard to some knoll, enthroning a porticoed home. Two years ago all +these fields were quagmires, where stranded wheels and the carcasses of +hybrids, looked as if a mud-geyser had opened near by. The grass has +spread its covering, as the birds spread their leaves over the poor +babes in the wood, and we walk we know not where, nor over what +struggles, and shadows, and sorrows. + +I pity the army mule, though he never asked me for sympathy. Who ever +loved a mule? You can love a lion, and make him lick your hand: some +people love parrots, and owls; and I once knew a person who could catch +black snakes and carry them lovingly in his bosom; but I never knew a +beloved mule. Yet this war has been fought and won by hybrids. They have +pulled us out of ruts and fed us, and starved for us. The mule is the +great quartermaster. See him and his brethren yonder in +corral,--miserable veterans of no particular race, slab-sided, and +capable of holding ink between their ribs. They mounch, and mounch, and +wear the same stolid eye which you have seen under the driver's lash, +and in the vaulting moment of victory. No stunning receptions greet +them, no cheers and banquets when Muley comes marching home; over at +_Giesboro_ they come in crippled, die by the musket without a murmur, +and are immediately boiled down and forgotten. + +I was once beaten by a rival correspondent upon a prominent battle, by +riding a mule with my despatches. He walked into a mud-puddle just half +way between the field and the post-office, and stopped there till +morning. + +Here we are, at Washington. I have been in most of the cities of Europe: +some of them have dirty suburbs, but the first impression of the Capitol +City is dreary in the extreme; a number of the lost tribes have +established booths contiguous to the terminus, wherein the filthiest +people in the world eat the filthiest dishes; a man's sense of +cleanliness vanishes when he enters the District of Columbia. I have +been astonished to remark how greatness loses its stature here. Mr. +Charles Sumner is a handsome man on Broadway or Beacon Street, but +eating dinner at Thompson's, his shoulders seem to narrow and his fine +face to grow commonplace. + +Above the squalid wideness of ungraded streets and the waste of shanties +propped upon poles above abysses of vacant lots, where two drunken +soldiers are pummelling each other, towers the marvellous dome with its +airy genius firmly planted above, like the ruins of Palmyra above +contemporary meanness. Moving up the streets, in dust and mud-puddle, +you see shabbily ambitious churches, with wooden towers; hotels, the +curbs whereof are speckled with human blemishes, sustaining like +hip-shotten caryatides the sandstone-wooden columns. Within there is a +pandemonium of legs in the air, and an agglomeration of saliva, ending +with an impertinent clerk and two crescents of lazy waiters, who shy +whisks, and are ambitious to run superfluous errands, for the warrant to +rob you. Of people, you see squads; of residents, none. The public +edifices have not picked their company, neither have the public +functionaries. There is a quantity of vulgar statuary lying around, +horses standing on their tails, and impossible Washingtons imbedded in +arm-chairs; but the noble facade of the treasury always suggests to me +Couture's great picture of the Decadence, where, under a pure colonnade, +some tipplers are carousing. If we are to have statues at the Capital, +let us make them with uplifted hands, and shame upon their grave, +contemplative faces. + +Shall we ever make Washington the representative Capital of the country? + +Certainly all efforts to improve the site worthy of the seat of gigantic +legislation have hitherto failed. The sword and the malaria have +attacked it. Every year sees the President driven from his Mansion by +pestilential vapors, and the sanitary condition of the city is +extraordinarily bad. The carcasses of slain horses at Giesboro send +their effluvia straight into Washington on the wind, and the "Island," +or that part of the city between the river and the canal, is dangerous +almost all the year. + +Moreover, the entire river front of the city seems to be untenable, +except for negroes; the Washington monument stands on the yielding plain +in the rear of the Chief Magistrate's, a stunted ruin, finding no +foundation; and much of the great Capital reserve near by, would be a +dead weight, if any effort were made to dispose it of, as building lots. +The small portion of Washington lying upon Capitol Hill, is the most +salubrious and covetable; but it is a lonesome journey by night around +the Capitol grounds to the city. The finest residences lie north of the +President's house, but the number of these grows apace, and the quantity +of capital invested in private real estate, remains almost stationary. + +We recall but two or three citizens of Washington who have spent their +money on the spot where they have made it. Corcoran was the most +generous; he erected a museum of art, and Government has made it a +Commissary depot! But how few of the illustrious Senators, Chief +Justices, Generals, etc., who draw their sustenance from the Capital, +care a penny to decorate it? Compare the home of Governor Sprague on 6th +Street, to his splendid mansion at Providence, or the Club House of the +Secretary of State, to his place at Auburn. Washington has power, but it +cannot attract. It is the solitary monarch, at whose feet all kneel, but +by none beloved. Strangers repair to it, grow rich, and quit it with +their earnings. Government works nobly to imitate the Palaces of the +Caesars, and the public edifices leave our municipal structures far +beneath, but these marble and granite piles seem to mock the littleness +of individual ambition. Two hotels have been built during the war, both +of the caravansary class, but the city, for four years, has been +miserably incompetent to entertain its guests, or to command their +respect. + +Washington, to be a city, lacks three elements--commerce, +representation, health; the environs are picturesque, and the new forts +on the hill-tops little injure the landscape. + +But the question is not premature, whether Washington city will ever +answer the purposes of a stable seat of government, and reflect the +enterprise, patriotism, and taste of the American people. + +I have sometimes thought that these huge public buildings,--now +inadequate to accommodate the machinery of the Government,--would, at +some future day, be the nucleus of a great _lycee_, and that Washington +would become the Padua of the Republic, its University and Louvre, while +legislation and administration, despairing of giving dignity to the +place, would depart for a more congenial locality. + +At any rate, the old Federal theory of a sylvan seat of government has +failed. + +For a sequestered and virtuous retreat of legislation, we have +corruption augmented by dirt, and business stagnation aggravated by +disease. There are virtues in the town; but these must be searched for, +and the vices are obvious. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +FIVE FORKS. + + +I commence my account on the battle-field, but must soon make the long +and lonely ride to Humphrey's Station, where I shall continue it. + +I am sitting by Sheridan's camp-fire, on the spot he has just signalized +by the most individual and complete victory of the war. All his veterans +are around him, stooping by knots over the bright fagots, to talk +together, or stretched upon the leaves of the forest, asleep, with the +stains of powder yet upon their faces. There are dark masses of horses +blackened into the gray background, and ambulances are creaking to and +fro. I hear the sobs and howls of the weary, and note, afar off, among +the pines, moving lights of burying parties, which are tumbling the +slain into the trenches. A cowed and shivering silence has succeeded the +late burst of drums, trumpets, and cannon; the dead are at rest; the +captives are quiet; the good cause has won again, and I shall try to +tell you how. + +Many months ago the Army of the Potomac stopped before Petersburg, +driven out of its direct course to Richmond. It tried the Dutch Gap and +the powder-ship, and shelled and shovelled till Sherman had cut five +States in half, and only timid financiers, sutlers, and congressional +excursionists paid the least attention to the armies on the James. We +had fights without much purpose at our breastworks, and at Hatcher's +Run, but the dashing achievements of Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley +overtopped all our dull infantry endeavors, and he shared with Sherman +the entire applause of the country. No one knows but that behind these +actors stood the invisible prompter, Grant; yet prompters, however +assiduous, never divide applauses with the _dramatis personae_; and +therefore, when Sheridan, the other day, by one of those slashing +adventures which hold us breathless, appeared on the Pamunkey and +crossed the peninsula to City Point, even the armies of the Potomac and +James were agitated. The _personnel_ of the man, not less than his +renown, affected people. A very Punch of soldiers, a sort of Rip Van +Winkle in regimentals, it astonished folks, that with so jolly and +grotesque a guise, he held within him energies like lightning, the bolts +of which had splintered the fairest parts of the border. But nobody +credited General Sheridan with higher genius than activity; we expected +to hear of him scouring the Carolina boundary, with the usual +destruction of railways and mills, and therefore said at once that +Sheridan would cut the great Southside road. But in this last chapter +Sheridan must take rank as one of the finest military men of our +century. The battle of "Five Forks" was, perhaps, the most ingeniously +conceived and skilfully executed that we have ever had on this +continent. It matches in secretiveness and shrewdness the cleverest +efforts of Napoleon, and shows also much of that soldier's broadness of +intellect and capacity for great occasions. + +Sheridan had scarcely time to change his horses' shoes before he was +off, and after him much of our infantry also moved to the left. We +passed our ancient breastworks at Hatcher's Run, and extended our lines +southwestward till they touched Dinwiddie Court House, thirty miles from +City Point. The Rebels fell back with but little skirmishing, until we +faced northward and reached out toward their idolized Southside Railway; +then they grew uneasy, and, as a hint of their opposition, fought us the +sharp battle of Quaker Road on Thursday. Still, we reached farther and +farther, marvelling to find that, with his depleted army, Lee always +overmatched us at every point of attack; but on Friday we quitted our +intrenchments on the Boydtown plank-road, and made a bold push for the +White Oak road. This is one of the series of parallel public ways +running east and west, south of the Southside, the Vaughan road being +the first, the Boydtown plank-road the second, and the old Court-House +road the third. It became evident to the Rebels that we had two direct +objects in view: the severing of their railway, and the occupation of +the "Five Forks." The latter is a magnificent strategic point. Five good +roads meet in the edge of a dry, high, well-watered forest, three of +them radiating to the railway, and their tributaries unlocking all the +country. Farther south, their defences had been paltry, but they +fortified this empty solitude as if it had been their capital. Upon its +principal road, the "White Oak," aforenamed, they had a ditched +breastwork with embrasures of logs and earth, reaching east and west +three miles, and this was covered eastward and southeastward by +rifle-pits, masked works, and felled timber; the bridges approaching it +were broken; all the roads picketed, and a desperate resolve to hold to +it averred. This point of "Five Forks" may be as much as eight miles +from Dinwiddie Court House, four from the Southside road, and eighteen +from Humphrey's, the nearest of our military railway stations. A crooked +stream called Gravelly Run, which, with Hatcher's, forms Rowanty Creek, +and goes off to feed the Chowan in North Carolina, rises near "Five +Forks," and gives the name of Gravelly Run Church to a little Methodist +meeting-house, built in the forest a mile distant. That meeting-house is +a hospital to-night, running blood, and at "Five Forks" a victor's +battle-flags are flying. + +The Fifth Army Corps of General Warren, has had all of the flank +fighting of the week to do. It lost five or six hundred men in its +victory of Thursday, and on Friday rested along the Boydtown plank-road, +at the house of one Butler, chiefly, which is about seven miles from +Five Forks. On Friday morning, General Ayres took the advance with one +of its three divisions, and marched three-quarters of a mile beyond the +plank-road, through a woody country, following the road, but crossing +the ubiquitous Gravelly Run, till he struck the enemy in strong force a +mile and a half below White Oak road. They lay in the edge of a wood, +with a thick curtain of timber in their front, a battery of field-pieces +to the right, mounted in a bastioned earthwork, and on the left the +woods drew near, encircling a little farm-land and negro-buildings. +General Ayres's skirmish-line being fired upon, did not stand, but fell +back upon his main column, which advanced at the order. Straightway the +enemy charged headlong, while their battery opened a cross fire, and +their skirmishers on our left, creeping down through the woods, picked +us off in flank. They charged with a whole division, making their +memorable yell, and soon doubled up Ayres's line of battle, so that it +was forced in tolerable disorder back upon General Crawford, who +commanded the next division. Crawford's men do not seem to have +retrieved the character of their predecessors, but made a feint to go +in, and, falling by dozens beneath the murderous fire, gave up the +ground. Griffin's division, past which the fugitives ran, halted awhile +before taking the doubtful way; the whole corps was now back to the +Boydtown plank-road, and nothing had been done to anybody's credit +particularly. + +General Griffin rode up to General Chamberlain in this extremity. +Chamberlain is a young and anxious officer, who resigned the +professorship of modern languages in Bowdoin College to embrace a +soldier's career. He had been wounded the day before, but was zealous to +try death again. + +"Chamberlain," said Griffin, "can't you save the honor of the Fifth +corps?" + +The young General formed his men at once,--they had tasted powder +before,--the One Hundred and eighty-fifth New York and the One Hundred +and ninety-eighth Pennsylvania. Down they went into the creek waist +deep, up the slope and into the clearing, muskets to the left of them, +muskets in front of them, cannon to the right of them; but their pace +was swift, like their resolve; many of them were cut down, yet they kept +ahead, and the Rebels, who seemed astonished at their own previous +success, drew off and gave up the field. Almost two hours had elapsed +between the loss and the recovery of the ground. The battle might be +called Dabney's Farm, or more generally the fight of Gravelly Run. The +brigades of Generals Bartlett and Gregory rendered material assistance +in the pleasanter finale of the day. An order was soon after issued to +hasten the burial of the dead and quit the spot, but Chamberlain +petitioned for leave to charge the Rebel earthwork in the rear, and the +enthusiasm of his brigade bore down General Warren's more prudent doubt. +In brief, Griffin's division charged the fort, drove the Rebels out of +it, and took position on the White Oak road, far east of Five Forks. +While Griffin's division must be credited with this result, it may be +said that their luck was due as much to the time as the manner of their +appearance; the Rebel divisions of Pickett and Bushrod Johnston were, in +the main, by the time Griffin came up, on their way westward to attack +Sheridan's cavalry. Ayres and Crawford had charged as one to four, but +the forces were quite equalized when Chamberlain pushed on. The corps +probably lost twelve hundred men. In this action, the Rebels, for the +first time for many weeks, exhibited all their traditional +irresistibility and confidence. The merit of the affair, I am inclined +to think, should be awarded to them; but a terrible retribution remained +for them in the succeeding day's decrees. + +The ill success of the earlier efforts of Sheridan, show conclusively +the insufficiency of ever so good cavalry to resist well organized and +resolute infantry. Concentrating at Dinwiddie Court House, he proceeded +to scour so much of the country that he almost baffled conjecture as to +where his quarters really were. As many thousand cavalry as constitute +his powerful force seem magnified, thus mounted and ever moving here and +there, to an incredible number. The Court House, where he remained +fittingly for a couple of days, is a cross-road's patch, numbering about +twelve scattered buildings, with a delightful prospect on every side of +sterile and monotonous pines. This is, I believe, the largest village in +the district, though Dinwiddie stands fourth in population among +Virginia counties. At present there is almost as great a population +underground as the ancient county carried on its census. Indeed, one is +perplexed at every point to know whence the South draws its prodigious +armies. Some English officers have been visiting Dinwiddie during the +week, and one of them said, curtly: "Blast the country! it isn't worth +such a row, you know. A very good place to be exiled, to be sure, but +what can you ever make of it!" + +This soulless Briton had never read any of the poems about the +"boundless continent," and had no distinct conception of "size." + +From Dinwiddie fields, Sheridan's men went galloping, by the aid of maps +and cross-examination, into every by-road; but it was soon apparent that +the Rebel infantry meant to give them a push. This came about on Friday, +with a foretaste on Thursday. + +Little Five Forks, is a cross-road not far from Dinwiddie Court House, +in the direction of Petersburg. Big Five Forks, which, it must be borne +in mind, gives name to the great battle of Saturday, is farther out by +many miles, and does not lie within our lines. But, if the left of the +army be at Dinwiddie, and the right at Petersburg, Little Five Forks +will be first on the front line, though when Sheridan fought there, it +was neutral ground, picketed but not possessed. Very early in the week, +when the Rebels became aware of the extension of our lines, they added +to the regular force which encamped upon our flank line at least a +division of troops. These were directed to avoid an infantry fight, but +to seek out the cavalry, and, by getting it at disadvantage, rid the +region both of the harmfulness of Sheridan, and that prestige of his +name, so terrifying to the Virginia house-wife. So long as Sheridan +remained upon the far left, the Southside road was unsafe, and the +rapidity with which his command could be transferred from point to point +rendered it a formidable balance of power. The Rebels knew the country +well, and the peculiar course of the highways gave them every advantage. +The cavalry of Sheridan's army proper, is divided into two corps, +commanded by Generals Devin and Custer; the cavalry of the Potomac is +commanded by General Crook; Mackenzie has control of the cavalry of the +James. On Friday, these were under separate orders, and the result was +confusion. The infantry was beaten at Gravelly Run, and the cavalry met +in flank and front by overwhelming numbers, executed some movements not +laid down in the manual. The centre of the battle was Little Five Forks, +though the Rebels struck us closer to Dinwiddie Court House, and drove +us pell mell up the road into the woods, and out the old Court House +road to Gravelly Run. We rallied several times, and charged them into +the woods, but they lay concealed in copses, and could go where sabres +were useless. The plan of this battle-field will show a series of +irregular advances to puzzle anybody but a cavalry-man. The full +division of Bushrod Johnston and General Pickett, were developed against +us, with spare brigades from other corps. Our cavalry loss during the +day was eight hundred in killed and wounded; but we pushed the Rebels so +hard that they gave us the field, falling back toward Big Five Forks, +and we intrenched immediately. Two thousand men comprise our losses of +Friday in Warren's corps and Sheridan's command, including many valuable +officers. We shall see how, under a single guidance, splendid results +were next day obtained with half the sacrifice. + +On Friday night General Grant, dissatisfied, like most observers, with +the day's business, placed General Sheridan in the supreme command of +the whole of Warren's corps and all the cavalry. General Warren reported +to him at nightfall, and the little army was thus composed:-- + +_General Sheridan's Forces, Saturday April 1, 1865._ + +Three divisions of infantry, under Generals Griffin, Ayres, and +Crawford. + +Two divisions of cavalry, formerly constituting the Army of the +Shenandoah, now commanded by General Merritt, under Generals Devin and +Custer. + +One division cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, under General Crook. + +Brigade or more cavalry Army of the James, under General Mackenzie. + +In this composition the infantry was to the cavalry in the proportion of +about two to one, and the entire force a considerable army, far up in +the teens. Sheridan was absolute, and his oddly-shaped body began to bob +up and down straightway; he visited every part of his line, though it +stretched from Dinwiddie Court House to the Quaker road, along the +Boydtown Plank and its adjuncts. At daybreak on Saturday he fired four +signal-guns, to admonish Warren he was off; and his cavalry, by +diverging roads, struck their camps. Just south of Culpepper is a +certain Stony creek, the tributaries to which wind northward and control +the roads. Over Stony creek went Crook, making the longest detour. +Custer took a bottom called Chamberlain's bed; and Devin advanced from +Little Five Forks, the whole driving the Rebels toward the left of their +works on White Oak road. + +We must start with the supposition that our own men far outnumbered the +Rebels. The latter were widely separated from their comrades before +Petersburg, and the adjustment of our infantry as well as the great +movable force at Sheridan's disposal, renders it doubtful that they +could have returned. At any rate they did not do so, whether from choice +or necessity, and it was a part of our scheme to push them back into +their entrenchments. This work was delegated to the cavalry entirely, +but, as I have said before, mounted carbineers, are no match for +stubborn, bayoneted infantry. So when the horsemen were close up to the +Rebels, they were dismounted, and acted as infantry to all intents. A +portion of them, under Gregg and Mackenzie, still adhered to the saddle, +that they might be put in rapid motion for flanking and charging +purposes; but fully five thousand indurated men, who had seen service in +the Shenandoah and elsewhere, were formed in line of battle on foot, and +by charge and deploy essayed the difficult work of pressing back the +entire Rebel column. This they were to do so evenly and ingeniously, +that the Rebels should go no farther than their works, either to escape +eastward or to discover the whereabouts of Warren's forces, which were +already forming. Had they espied the latter they might have become so +discouraged as to break and take to the woods; and Sheridan's object was +to capture them as well as to rout them. So, all the afternoon, the +cavalry pushed them hard, and the strife went on uninterruptedly and +terrifically. I have no space in this hurried despatch to advert either +to individual losses or to the many thrilling episodes of the fight. It +was fought at so close quarters that our carbines were never out of +range; for had this been otherwise, the long rifles of the enemy would +have given them every advantage. With their horses within call, the +cavalry-men, in line of battle, stood together like walls of stone, +swelling onward like those gradually elevating ridges of which Lyell +speaks. Now and then a detachment of Rebels would charge down upon us, +swaying the lines and threatening to annihilate us; for at no part of +the action, till its crisis, did the Southern men exhibit either doubt +or dismay, but fought up to the standard of the most valiant treason the +world has ever had, and here and there showing some of those wonderful +feats of individual courage which are the miracles of the time. + +A colonel with a shattered regiment came down upon us in a charge. The +bayonets were fixed; the men came on with a yell; their gray uniforms +seemed black amidst the smoke; their preserved colors, torn by grape and +ball, waved yet defiantly; twice they halted, and poured in volleys, but +came on again like the surge from the fog, depleted, but determined; +yet, in the hot faces of the carbineers, they read a purpose as +resolute, but more calm, and, while they pressed along, swept all the +while by scathing volleys, a group of horsemen took them in flank. It +was an awful instant; the horses recoiled; the charging column trembled +like a single thing, but at once the Rebels, with rare organization, +fell into a hollow square, and with solid sheets of steel defied our +centaurs. The horsemen rode around them in vain; no charge could break +the shining squares, until our dismounted carbineers poured in their +volleys afresh, making gaps in the spent ranks, and then in their +wavering time the cavalry thundered down. The Rebels could stand no +more; they reeled and swayed, and fell back broken and beaten. And on +the ground their colonel lay, sealing his devotion with his life. + +Through wood and brake and swamp, across field and trench, we pushed the +fighting defenders steadily. For a part of the time, Sheridan himself +was there, short and broad, and active, waving his hat, giving orders, +seldom out of fire, but never stationary, and close by fell the long +yellow locks of Custer, sabre extended, fighting like a Viking, though +he was worn and haggard with much work. At four o'clock the Rebels were +behind their wooden walls at Five Forks, and still the cavalry pressed +them hard, in feint rather than solemn effort, while a battalion +dismounted, charged squarely upon the face of their breastworks which +lay in the main on the north side of the White Oak road. Then, while the +cavalry worked round toward the rear, the infantry of Warren, though +commanded by Sheridan, prepared to take part in the battle. + +The genius of Sheridan's movement lay in his disposition of the +infantry. The skill with which he arranged it, and the difficult +manoeuvres he projected and so well executed, should place him as high +in infantry tactics as he has heretofore shown himself superior in +cavalry. The infantry which had marched at 21/2 P. M. from the house of +Boisseau, on the Boydtown plank-road, was drawn up in four battle lines, +a mile or more in length, and in the beginning facing the White Oak road +obliquely; the left or pivot was the division of General Ayres, Crawford +had the center and Griffin the right. These advanced from the Boydtown +plank-road, at ten o'clock, while Sheridan was thundering away with the +cavalry, mounted and dismounted, and deluding the Rebels with the idea +that he was the sole attacking party; they lay concealed in the woods +behind the Gravelly Run meeting-house, but their left was not a +half-mile distant from the Rebel works, though their right reached so +far off that a novice would have criticized the position sharply. Little +by little, Sheridan, extending his lines, drove the whole Rebel force +into their breastworks; then he dismounted the mass of his cavalry and +charged the works straight in the front, still thundering on their +flank. At last, every Rebel was safe behind his intrenchments. Then the +signal was given, and the concealed infantry, many thousand strong, +sprang up and advanced by echelon to the right. Imagine a great barndoor +shutting to, and you have the movement, if you can also imagine the door +itself, hinge and all, moving forward also. This was the door:-- + + AYRES--CRAWFORD--GRIFFIN. + +Stick a pin through Ayres and turn Griffin and Crawford forward as you +would a spoke in a wheel, but move your pin up also a very little. In +this way Ayres will advance, say half a mile, and Griffin, to describe a +quarter revolution, will move through a radius of four miles. But to +complicate this movement by echelon, we must imagine the right when half +way advanced cutting across the centre and reforming, while Crawford +became the right and Griffin the middle of the line of battle. Warren +was with Crawford on this march. Gregory commanded the skirmishers. +Ayres was so close to the Rebel left that he might be said to hinge upon +it; and at 6 o'clock the whole corps column came crash upon the full +flank of the astonished Rebels. Now came the pitch of the battle. + +We were already on the Rebel right in force, and thinly in their rear. +Our carbineers were making feint to charge in direct front, and our +infantry, four deep, hemmed in their entire left. All this they did not +for an instant note, so thorough was their confusion; but seeing it +directly, they, so far from giving up, concentrated all their energy and +fought like fiends. They had a battery in position, which belched +incessantly, and over the breastworks their musketry made one unbroken +roll, while against Sheridan's prowlers on their left, by skirmish and +sortie, they stuck to their sinking fortunes, so as to win unwilling +applause from mouths of wisest censure. + +It was just at the coming up of the infantry that Sheridan's little band +was pushed the hardest. At one time, indeed, they seemed about to +undergo extermination; not that they wavered, but that they were so +vastly overpowered. It will remain to the latest time a matter of marvel +that so paltry a cavalry force could press back sixteen thousand +infantry; but when the infantry blew like a great barndoor--the simile +best applicable--upon the enemy's left, the victory that was to come had +passed the region of strategy and resolved to an affair of personal +courage. We had met the enemy; were they to be ours? To expedite this +consummation every officer fought as if he were the forlorn hope. +Mounted on his black pony, the same which he rode at Winchester, +Sheridan galloped everywhere, his flushed face all the redder, and his +plethoric, but nervous figure all the more ubiquitous. He galloped once +straight down the Rebel front, with but a handful of his staff. A dozen +bullets whistled for him together; one grazed his arm, at which a +faithful orderly rode; the black pony leaped high, in fright, and +Sheridan was untouched, but the orderly lay dead in the field, and the +saddle dashed afar empty. General Warren rode with Crawford most of the +afternoon, mounted likewise, and making two or three narrow escapes. He +was dark, dashing, and individual as ever, but for some reason or other +was relieved of his command after the battle, and Griffin was instated +in his place. General Sheridan ordered Warren to report to General +Grant's head-quarters, sending the order by an aid. Warren, on his own +hook, did not meet on Friday with his general success, and on Saturday +Sheridan was the master-spirit; but Warren is a General as well as a +gentleman, and is only overshadowed by a greater genius,--not +obliterated. Ayres, accounted the best soldier in the Fifth corps, but +too quietly modest for his own favor, fought like a lion in this pitch +of battle, making all the faint-hearted around him ashamed to do ill +with such an example contiguous. General Bartlett, keen-faced and active +like a fiery scimitar, was leading his division as if he were an +immortal! He was closest at hand in the most gallant episodes, and held +at nightfall a bundle of captured battle-flags. But Griffin, tall and +slight, was the master-genius of the Fifth corps, to which by right he +has temporarily succeeded. He led the charge on the flank, and was the +first to mount the parapet with his horse, riding over the gunners as +May did at Cerro Gordo, and cutting them down. Bartlett's brigade, +behind him, finished the business, and the last cannon was fired for the +day against the conquering Federals. General Crawford fulfilled his +full share of duties throughout the day, amply sustained by such +splendid brigade commanders as Baxter, Coulter, and Kellogg, while Gwin +and Boweryman were at hand in the division of General Ayres; not to omit +the fallen Winthrop, who died to save a friend and win a new laurel. +What shall I say for Chamberlain, who, beyond all question, is the first +of our brigade commanders, having been the hero of both Quaker Road and +Gravelly Run, and in this action of Five Forks making the air ring with +the applauding huzzas of his soldiers, who love him? His is one of the +names that will survive the common wreck of shoulder-straps after the +war. + +But I am individualizing; the fight, as we closed upon the Rebels, was +singularly free from great losses on our side, though desperate as any +contest ever fought on the continent. One prolonged roar of rifle shook +the afternoon; we carried no artillery, and the Rebel battery, until its +capture, raked us like an irrepressible demon, and at every foot of the +intrenchments a true man fought both in front and behind. The birds of +the forest fled afar; the smoke ascended to heaven; locked in so mad +frenzy, none saw the sequel of the closing day. Now Richmond rocked in +her high towers to watch the impending issue, but soon the day began to +look gray, and a pale moon came tremulously out to watch the meeting +squadrons. Imagine along a line of a full mile, thirty thousand men +struggling for life and prestige; the woods gathering about them--but +yesterday the home of hermit hawks and chipmonks--now ablaze with +bursting shells, and showing in the dusk the curl of flames in the +tangled grass, and, rising up the boles of the pine trees, the scaling, +scorching tongues. Seven hours this terrible spectacle had been enacted, +but the finale of it had almost come. + +It was by all accounts in this hour of victory when the modest and brave +General Winthrop of the first brigade, Ayres division, was mortally +wounded. He was riding along the breastworks, and in the act as I am +assured, of saving a friend's life, was shot through to the left lung. +He fell at once, and his men, who loved him, gathered around and took +him tenderly to the rear, where he died before the stretcher on which he +lay could be deposited beside the meeting-house door. On the way from +the field to the hospital he wandered in mind at times, crying out, +"Captain Weaver how is that line? Has the attack succeeded?" etc. When +he had been resuscitated for a pause he said: "Doctor, I am done for." +His last words were: "Straighten the line!" And he died peacefully. He +was a cousin of Major Winthrop, the author of "Cecil Dreeme." He was +twenty-seven years of age. I had talked with him before going into +action, as he sat at the side of General Ayres, and was permitted by the +guard of honor to uncover his face and look upon it. He was pale and +beautiful, marble rather than corpse, and the uniform cut away from his +bosom showed how white and fresh was the body, so pulseless now. + +General Griffin said to me: "This victory is not worth Winthrop's life." + +Winthrop went into the service as a simple color-bearer. He died a +brevet brigadier. + +At seven o'clock the Rebels came to the conclusion that they were +outflanked and whipped. They had been so busily engaged that they were a +long time finding out how desperate were their circumstances; but now, +wearied with persistent assaults in front, they fell back to the left, +only to see four close lines of battle waiting to drive them across the +field, decimated. At the right the horsemen charged them in their vain +attempt to fight "out," and in the rear straggling foot and cavalry +began also to assemble; slant fire, cross fire, and direct fire, by file +and volley rolled in perpetually, cutting down their bravest officers +and strewing the fields with bleeding men; groans resounded in the +intervals of exploding powder, and to add to their terror and despair, +their own artillery, captured from them, threw into their own ranks, +from its old position, ungrateful grape and canister, enfilading their +breastworks, whizzing and plunging by air line and ricochet, and at last +bodies of cavalry fairly mounted their intrenchments, and charged down +the parapet, slashing and trampling them, and producing inexplicable +confusion. They had no commanders, at least no orders, and looked in +vain for some guiding hand to lead them out of a toil into which they +had fallen so bravely and so blindly. A few more volleys, a new and +irresistible charge, a shrill and warning command to die or surrender, +and, with a sullen and tearful impulse, five thousand muskets are flung +upon the ground, and five thousand hot, exhausted, and impotent men are +Sheridan's prisoners of war. + +Acting with his usual decision, Sheridan placed his captives in care of +a provost-guard, and sent them at once to the rear. Those which escaped, +he ordered the fiery Custer to pursue with brand and vengeance; and they +were pressed far into the desolate forest, spent and hungry, many +falling by the way of wounds or exhaustion, many pressed down by hoof or +sabre-stroke, and many picked up in mercy and sent back to rejoin their +brethren in bonds. We captured in all fully six thousand prisoners. +General Sheridan estimated them modestly at five thousand, but the +provost-marshal assured me that he had a line four abreast a full mile +long. I entirely bear him out, having ridden for forty minutes in a +direction opposite to that they were taking, and growing weary at last +of counting or of seeing them. They were fine, hearty fellows, almost +all Virginians, and seemed to take their capture not unkindly. They wore +the gray and not very attractive uniform of the Confederacy, but looked +to be warm and fat, and passing along in the night, under the fir-trees, +conveyed at most a romantic idea of grief and tribulation. They were put +in a huge pen, midway between Big and Little Five Forks, for the night, +the officers sharing the same fare with the soldiers, from whom, +indeed, they were undistinguishable. + +Thus ended the splendid victory of Five Forks, the least bloody to us, +but the most successful, proportionate to numbers engaged, that has been +fought during the war. One man out of every three engaged took a +prisoner. We captured four cannon, an ambulance train and baggage-teams, +eight thousand muskets, and twenty-eight battle-flags. General +Longstreet, it is thought, commanded. Neither he nor Pickett nor Bushrod +Johnston, division commanders, were taken; they were wise enough to see +that the day was lost, and imitated Bonaparte after Waterloo. + +I attribute this victory almost entirely to Sheridan; it was won by +strategy and persistence, and in great part by men who would not stand +fire the day before. The happy distribution of duties between cavalry +and infantry excited a fine rivalry, and the consciousness of Sheridan's +guidance inspired confidence. Has any battle so successful ever been +fought in Virginia? or, indeed, in the East? I think not. It has opened +to us the enemy's flank, so that we can sweep down upon the Appomattox +and inside of his breastworks, enabling us to shorten our lines of +intrenchments one half, if no more, and putting out of Lee's service +fifteen thousand of his choicest troops. And all this, General Sheridan +tells me, has cost him personally no more than eight hundred men, and +the service no more than fifteen hundred. Compare this with +Chancellorsville, Williamsburg, the Wilderness, Bull Run, and what shall +we say? The enemy must have lost in this fight three thousand in killed +and wounded. + +The scene at Gravelly Run meeting-house at 8 and at 10 o'clock on +Saturday night, is one of the solemn contrasts of the war, and, I hope, +the last of them. A little frame church, planted among the pines, and +painted white, with cool, green window-shutters, holds at its foot a +gallery for the negroes, and at the head a varnished pulpit. I found +its pews moved to the green plain over the threshold, and on its bare +floors the screaming wounded. Blood ran in little rills across the +planks, and, human feet treading in them, had made indelible prints in +every direction; the pulpit-lamps were doing duty, not to shed holy +light upon holy pages, but to show the pale and dusty faces of the +beseeching; and as they moved in and out, the groans and curses of the +suffering replace the gush of peaceful hymns and the deep responses to +the preacher's prayers. Federal and Confederate lay together, the +bitterness of noon assuaged in the common tribulation of the night, and +all the while came in the dripping stretchers, to place in this golgotha +new recruits for death and sorrow. I asked the name of the church, but +no one knew any more than if it had been the site of some obsolete +heathen worship. At last, a grinning sergeant smacked his thumbs as if +the first idea of his life had occurred to him, and led me to the +pulpit. Beneath some torn blankets and rent officers' garments, rested +the hymn book and Bible, which he produced. Last Sunday these doled out +the praises of God, and the frightened congregation worshipped at their +dictation. Now they only served by their fly leaves to give me my +whereabouts, and said:-- + +_Presented to Gravelly Run Meeting House by the Ladies._ + +Over the portal, the scenes within were reiterated, except that the +greatness of a starry night replaced the close and terrible arena of the +church. Beneath the trees, where the Methodist circuit-rider had tied +his horse, and the urchins, daring class-meeting, had wandered away to +cast stones at the squirrels, and measure strength at vaulting and +running, the gashed and fevered lay irregularly, some soul going out at +each whiff of the breeze in the fir-tops; and the teams and surgeons, +and straggling soldiers, and galloping orderlies passed all the night +beneath the old and gibbous moon and the hushed stars, and by the +trickle of Gravelly Run stealing off, afeared. But the wounded had no +thought that night; the victory absorbed all hearts; we had no losses to +notice where so much was won. + +A mile past the church, going away from head-quarters all the time, lies +Five Forks, the object and name of the battle. A large open field of +perhaps thirty acres, interposes between the church and the commencement +of the Rebel works. Their left is only some rails and logs to mask +marksmen, but the work proper is a very long stretch of all obstructions +of a man's height in relief. + +The White Oak road runs directly in front of these intrenchments, and +was, at the time I passed, the general highway for infantry returning +from the field and cavalry-men concentrating at General Sheridan's +bivouac. Riding a mile I came upon the Five Forks proper, and just to +the left, at the foot of some pines, the victor and his assistants were +congregated. Sheridan sat by some fagots, examining a topographical map +of the country he had so well traversed; possibly with a view to design +further aggressive movements in the morning. He is opposite me now as I +pen these paragraphs by the imperfect blaze of his bivouac fire. He is +good humored and talkative, like all men conscious of having achieved a +great work, and has been good enough to sketch for me the plan of the +day's operations, from which I have compiled much of the statement +above. Close by lies Custer, trying to sleep, his long yellow hair +covering his face; and General Griffin, now commanding the Fifth corps, +goes here and there issuing orders, while aides and orderlies rode in +and out, bearing further fresh messages of deeds consummated or +proposed. We shall have a hot night no doubt, for away off to the right, +continue volleys of musketry and discharges of artillery, intermixed +with what seem to be thunderbolts of our men-of-war at anchor in the +Appomatox and James,--if such can be heard at this great +distance,--which tell us that the lines are in motion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +RICHMOND DESOLATE. + + +The scenes of entering the doomed stronghold, when Grant had burst its +gates, ought to be made vivid as the spectacle of death. With my good +and talented associate, Mr. Jerome B. Stillson, I hold the Spotswood +Hotel, and from this caravansary of the late capital as thoroughly +identified with Rebellion as the inn at Bethlehem with the gospel, we +date our joint paragraphs upon the condition of the city. A week cannot +have exhausted the curiosity of the North to learn the exact appearance +of a city which has stood longer, more frequent, and more persistent +sieges, than any in Christendom. This town is the Rebellion; it is all +that we have directly striven for; quitting it, the Confederate leaders +have quitted their sheet-anchor, their roof-tree, their abiding hope. +Its history is the epitome of the whole contest, and to us, shivering +our thunderbolts against it for more than four years, Richmond is still +a mystery. + +Know then, that, whether coming from Washington or Baltimore, the two +points of embarkation, all bound hitherward must rendezvous at Fortress +Monroe; thence, in such excellent steamers as the _Dictator_, start up +the broad James River. To own a country-house upon the "Jeems" river is +the Virginia gentleman's ultimate aspiration. There, with a +tobacco-farm, and wide wheatlands, his feet on his front-porch rails, a +Havana cigar between his teeth, and a colored person to bring him +frequent juleps, the Virginia gentleman, confident in the divinity of +slavery, hopes in his natural, refined idleness, to watch the little +family graveyard close up to his threshold, till it shall kindly open +and give him sepulture. + +Elsewhere men aim to be successful, or enterprising, or eloquent, or +scholarly, but that nobleness of hospitality, high spirit, dignity, and +affability which constitute our idea of chivalry is everywhere save here +an exotic. We say that chivalry is "played out," and that the prestige +of "first families" is gone with the hurried retreat before Grant's +salamanders. Not so. Secession as a cause is past the range of +possibilities. But no people in their subjugation wear a better front +than these brave old spirits, whose lives are not their own. Fire has +ravaged their beautiful city, soldiers of the color of their servants, +guard the crossings and pace the pavement with bayoneted muskets. But +gentlemen they are still, in every pace, and inch, and syllable,--such +men as we were wont to call brothers and countrymen. However, the James +River, at which we commenced, has not a town upon it between the sea and +the head of navigation. It is a strong commentary upon this patriarchal +civilization, judged by our gregarious tastes, that one of the noblest +streams in the world should show to the traveller only here and there a +pleasant mansion, flanked by negro cabins, but nowhere a church-spire +nor a steam-mill. All that we see from Fortress Monroe to City Point are +ridges of breastworks, rifle-pits, and forts, lying bare, yellow, and +deserted, to defend its passage, excepting at James Island, where the +solitary and broken tower of the ancient colony holds guard over some +bramble and ruin. Here Smith founded the celebrated settlement, which +wooed to its threshold the gentle Pocahontas, and fell to fragments at +the behest of the fiery Bacon. The ramparts on the James will remain +forever; great as they are, they would hardly hold the bones of the +slain in the capture and defence. Four hours from Fortress Monroe we +pass Harrison's Landing, where two grand armies, _beaten_ aside from +Richmond, sought the shelter of the river, and at City Point quit our +large craft, to be transferred to a light draught vessel, which is to +carry the first mail going to Richmond under the national flag since the +beginning of the war. + +City Point is still a populous place, and the millions of mules upon it +bray hoarsely; but we leave all these behind, as well as the national +standard, which flaunts over General Grant's late head-quarters, and +steam past the mouth of the Appomattox to go through the enemy's lines. + +Henceforward every foot of the way is freshly interesting. The Rebel ram +_Atlanta_ in tow of a couple of tugs, goes past us with a torpedo boat +at the rear. She is raking, slant, and formidable; but "old glory" is +waving on her. Directly our own leviathan, the _Roanoke_ drifts up, and +all her storm-throated tars cheer like the belch of her guns. We see to +the right, the tip of Malvern Hill, ever sorrowful and sacred, and soon +a great unfinished ram careens by, which never grew to battle-size; the +true colors shine above her bulwarks like a flower growing in a carcass. +Then at little intervals there are frequent prizes from the docks of +Richmond, tugs, transports, barges, some of which show under our +beautiful banner the Rebel cross, pale and contemptible. These +malcontents committed as great crime against good taste in substituting +for our starry emblem this artistic abomination, as against law and +policy in changing the configuration of the Union. There is another +flag, however, which we see, half exultantly, half vindictively,--the +cross of St. George,--flying from a British cutter. + +By and by we come to our intrenchments upon the upper James and at +Bermuda Hundred. Now they are very listless and half empty. The boys +have gone off to tread on Lee's shanks. Only a few vessels stand at the +landings, and the few remnants have laid down the rifle, and taken up +the fishing-pole. One should come up this river to get a conception of +our splendid navy. Sharp-pointed gunboats, with bullet-proof crows' +nests and swivels that are the gentlest murderers ever polished; +monitors through whose eyeholes a ball a big as a cook-stove squints +from a columbiad socket; ferry-boats which are speckled with brass +cannon, and all sorts of craft that can float and manoeuvre, provided +they look at us through deadly muzzles are there to the number of fifty +or sixty, as many as make the entire navies of all other American +nations. After the war we must have a great naval review, and invite all +the crowned heads to attend it. Soon we reach Dutch Gap, where lies +Butler's canal, or "Butler's gut," as the sailors call it. The river at +this point is so crooked that Butler must have laid it out by the aid of +his wrong eye. The canal is meant to cut on a long elbow; but being +almost at right angles to the course of the river, only the most +obliging tide would run through it. As a consequence, it is a sort of a +sluice merely, of insufficient width, and as a "sight" very +disappointing to great expectations. Between the points of debouch of +this canal crosses a drawbridge of pontoons, for the use of our troops, +and just beyond it Aiken's Landing, where the flag of truce boat +stopped. A fine brick mansion stands in shore, with a wharf abreast it. +The banks around it are trodden here with many feet. These are the +traces of the poor prisoners who reached here, fevered, and starving and +naked, to catch for the first time the sight of cool waters and friends, +and the bright flag which they had followed to the edge of the grave. +How they threw up their hats, and cheered to the feeblest, and wept, and +danced, and laughed. Long be the place remembered, as holy, neutral +ground, where death never trod, and multitudes passed from suffering, to +freedom and home. Beyond this point, the most formidable Rebel works we +have seen, line the high bluffs and ridges. They are monuments of +patient labor, and make of themselves hills as great as nature's. But +the siege pieces, which often bellowed upon them like thunderbolts +along the mountain-tops, are gone now, and only straggling, meddling +fellows pass them at all. The highest of these works commands both ends +of the Dutch Gap canal, and while our lads were digging they often hid +themselves in caves which they dug in the cliff-sides. + +We reach the first torpedo at length; a little red flag marks it, by +which the boat slips tremulously, though another and another are before, +at the sight of which our nervous folks are agitated. Here is a monitor +with a drag behind it, which has just fished up one; and the sequel is +told by a bloody and motionless figure upon the deck. These torpedoes +are the true dragon teeth of Cadmus, which spring up armed men. + +Happily for us, the Rebels have sown but few of them, and the position +of these was pointed out by one of their captains who deserted to our +side. In the midst of these lie the obstructions. Great hulks of vessels +and chained spars, and tree-tops which reach quite across the river, +except where our pioneers have hewn a little gap to let the steamer +through. Upon these obstructions a hundred cannon bear from the cliffs +before us, and as we go further we see the whole river-bed sprinkled +with strange contrivances to keep back our thunder-bearers. We think it +absolutely impossible, under any circumstances, that our fleet could +have got to Richmond so long as the Rebels contested the passage; each +step forward finds new and greater obstacles. The channel is as narrow +as Harlem River and as crooked as a walk in the ramble of Central Park. +Each elbow of the stream is muscular with snag and snare wherever the +swift stream swoops around abruptly. Jagged abatis, driven piles, and +artificial lumber, bar the way before us. To the right of us, to the +left of us, behind us, stand up the bare parapets, crowned with airy +lookout towers, where, at the coming of a nautilus, the whole horizon +and foreground would rain crossfires of shell and iron bolts, to sweep +into annihilation the tiniest or the staunchest opposition from the +earth's surface, and under the earth and above the earth death waited to +leap up and draw the daring to its bosom. Not one, nor two, nor three +lines of defences frowned down as we cautiously steamed along, but every +precipice was bristling with defiance, as if the deep subterranean fires +underlying our race had burst here fitfully and frequently, heaving up +the swells of the hills till they lay hard and barren for human +ingenuity to garnish them with anxious artillery. All along were the +deep funnel-shaped cases of the torpedoes just disentombed. But at +nightfall Drury's Bluff flitted by like the battlemented wall of a city, +and then we saw no more. + +The band that greeted us from a distance stops playing as the boat nears +the wharf. + +There is a stillness, in the midst of which Richmond, with her ruins, +her spectral roof, afar, and her unchanging spires, rests beneath a +ghastly, fitful glare,--the night stain which a great conflagration +leaves behind it for weeks,--struggling silently with colossal shadows +along the foreground, two hideous walls alone arise in front, shutting +these gleams. They are the Libby Prison and Castle Thunder. Right and +left, and far in the moonlighted perspective beyond, there is a soft +glitter upon cornices and domes. A haggard glow of candles, faintly +defines the thoroughfares that have not suffered ruin; while massive, +and upon a height overlooking all, stands the Capitol, flying its black +shadow from the sinking moon across a hundred crumbling walls, until its +edges touch the windows of the Libby. + +But over its massive roof, dimly seen through the mists of the river, +and, as before, "through the mists of the deep," the banner of the +Union, banished for four years, is shaken out again, broad and +beautiful, by the breath of an April night. Upon the face of every +leaning figure on the steamer's deck, in sight of that radiant signal, +is the same half-melancholy, half-triumphant smile. + +The thought of the battle which has passed, of the army, which, after +struggling through years for this majestic procession, has swept by and +beyond without the view for which its straining eyes have yearned, is +sad and strange. There comes back dimly suggestive, a story of Iran and +his host, thundering at the gates of Tupelo, for the possession of a +wondrous jewel, and awakening once upon a dawn to learn that Tupelo was +an empty casket,--to turn back longing, "wondering eyes upon the city, +and to hunt the fleeing prize afar." Yet unto those legions of the +republic which have emptied Richmond of a prize which yet they may have +easily clutched, there go out reverence and blessing even larger than +might be bestowed upon them resting in camp, upon these overlooking +hills. That true allegiance, that calm and stern self-sacrifice which +impels an army forward past the sweet applauses and rewarding calms to +which great victories might entitle it, are the purest sources of its +glory and its fame. God bless the army that has permitted us to +consummate this journey and to gaze upon this spectacle, while it does +not impress us too proudly, too triumphantly. Both pride and triumph +have, of course, a place in the tumultuous feeling that surges through +the hearts of all; yet as in every true man is born an instinct of +compassion for a fallen foe, we prefer that the shout should go up in +honor of our victory alone, and not because these have suffered. + +The boat touches the shore at Rockett's, the foot of Richmond. A few +minutes' walk and we tread the pavements of the capital. There are no +noisy and no beseeching runners; there is no sound of life, but the +stillness of a catacomb, only as our footsteps fall dull on the deserted +sidewalk, and a funeral troop of echoes bump their elfin heads against +the dead walls and closed shutters in reply, and this is Richmond. Says +a melancholy voice: "And this is Richmond." + +We are under the shadow of ruins. From the pavements where we walk far +off into the gradual curtain of the night, stretches a vista of +desolation. The hundreds of fabrics, the millions of wealth, that +crumbled less than a week ago beneath one fiery kiss, here topple and +moulder into rest. A white smoke-wreath rising occasionally, enwraps a +shattered wall as in a shroud. A gleam of flame shoots a grotesque +picture of broken arches and ragged chimneys into the brain. Huge piles +of debris begin to encumber the sidewalks, and even the pavements, as we +go on. The streets in some places are quite choked up from walking. We +are among the ruins of half a city. The wreck, the loneliness, seem +interminable. The memory of lights in houses above, beheld while upon +the steamer, alone keeps despondency from a victory over hope; and +although the continued existence of the Spottswood Hotel is vouched for +by authority, my lodge in such a wilderness seems next to impossible. +Away to the right, above the waste of blackened walls, around the +phantom-looking flag upon the capitol,--the only sign betwixt heaven and +earth, or upon the earth, that Richmond is not wholly deserted,--beyond +and out of the ruins, we walk past one of two open doorways where the +moon serves as candle to a group of talking negroes. The gas works, +injured by fire, are not working, and "ile" has not been struck in the +Confederacy. Not a white man appears until we reach the +Spottswood,--there before the entrance is a conclave of officers,--then, +at last, entering, we stand in that most famous of Southern hotels, the +interior of which is filled with the very aroma of the Rebellion. A +thankful yielding up of carpet-bags and valises to the indignant negro +waiters, and then a brief moonlight stroll toward the capitol. + +Within the gates of the Square, that swing on their hinges silent as the +hour we pass alone, before us stands the magnificent monument crowned +with Crawford's equestrian statue of Washington. The right hand of the +rider, lifted against the sky, points a prophetic finger toward the +southwest. Dark, and motionless, and grand, it is the one symbol +belonging solely to the Union, which they have not dared to desecrate; +which they have strangely chosen to consider neither as an insult nor a +rebuke. + +Gazing beyond at the capitol itself, and back again at the figure which +overlooks the building, it is not hard to imagine that, while the noisy +debates of a congress of traitors to the Union that he founded were in +progress, those bronze lips sometimes smiled in scorn. + +Leaving Richmond proper, and descending into the low, squalid portion of +the town known as Rocketts, one sees among the many large warehouses, +used without exception for the storage of tobacco, a certain one more +irregular than the rest. An archway leads into it, and upon the outside +of the second story windows runs a long ledge or footway, whereupon +sentries used to stride, guarding the miserable people within. This is +the jail of Castle Thunder, and it was the civil or State prison of the +capital. Ill as were the accommodations of prisoners of war, the +treatment of their own unoffending citizens by the Rebel government was +ten times more infamous. We could not repress indignation, nor by any +philosophic or charitable effort excuse the atrocious tyranny which here +lashed, chained, handcuffed, tortured, shot, and hung, hundreds of +people whom it could not stultify or impress. We may grant that the +Confederacy had become a government; that, in its perilous incipiency, +it had apology for severity and rigor with all malcontents; that, in its +own struggle for death or life, it might, in self-defence, absorb all +private liberty; but even thus the terrible testimony of this Castle +Thunder is an everlasting stigma upon the Southern cause. We entered its +strong portal, and there in the new commandant's room lay the record +left behind by the Confederates. Its pages made one shudder. + +These are some of the entries:-- + + "George Barton,--giving food to Federal prisoners of war; forty + lashes upon the bare back. Approved. Sentence carried into effect + July 2. + + "Peter B. Innis,--passing forged government notes; chain and ball + for twelve months; forty lashes a day. Approved. + + "Arthur Wright,--attempting to desert to the enemy; sentenced to be + shot. Approved. Carried into effect, March 26. + + "John Morton,--communicating with the enemy; to be hung. Approved. + Carried into effect, March 26." + +In an inner room are some fifty pairs of balls and chains, with anklets +and handcuffs upon them, which have bent the spirit and body of many a +resisting heart. Within are two condemned cells, perfectly dark,--a +faded flap over the window peep-hole,--the smell from which would knock +a strong man down. + +For in their centre lies the sink, ever open, and the floors are sappy +with uncleanliness. To the right of these, a door leads to a walled yard +not forty feet long, nor fifteen wide, overlooked by the barred windows +of the main prison rooms, and by sentry boxes upon the wall-top. Here +the wretched were shot and hung in sight of their trembling comrades. +The brick wall at the foot of the yard is scarred and crushed by balls +and bullets which first passed through some human heart and wrote here +their damning testimony. The gallows had been suspended from a wing in +the ledge, and in mid-air the impotent captive swung, none daring or +willing to say a good word for him; and not for any offence against +God's law, not for wronging his neighbor, or shedding blood, or making +his kind miserable, but for standing in the way of an upstart +organization, which his impulse and his judgment alike impelled him to +oppose. This little yard, bullet-marked, close, and shut from all +sympathy, is to us the ghastliest spot in the world. Can Mr. Davis visit +it, and pray as he does so devoutly afterward? When men plead the +justice of the South, and arguments are prompt to favor them, let this +prison yard rise up and say that no such crimes in liberty's name have +ever been committed, on this continent, at least. Up stairs, in Castle +Thunder, there are two or three large rooms, barred and dimly lit, and +two or three series of condemned cells, pent-up and pitchy, where, by a +refinement of cruelty, the ceiling has been built low so that no man can +stand upright. Here fifteen or twenty were crowded together, and, in the +burning atmosphere, they stripped themselves stark naked, so that when +in the morning the cell-doors were opened, they came forth as from the +grave, begging for death. There are women's cells too; for this great +and valiant government recognized women as belligerents, and locked them +up close to a sentry's cartridge, so that, in the bitterness of +solitude, they were unsexed, and railed, and blasphemed, like wanton +things. On the pavements before the jail, were hidden numberless guards, +who shot at every rag fluttering from the cages, and all this little +circle of death and terror was enacted close to the bright river, and +airy pediment of that high capitol, where bold men hoped by war to wring +from a reluctant Union, acknowledgment of arrogant independence to rein +civilization as it pleased, and warp the destinies of our race. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE RUINS OF THE REBELLION. + + +When Richmond was a plain city, a county seat, and the residence of a +governor and commonwealth legislature, its enterprise was as gradual as +its hospitality and private probity were steadfast. It was always a +fierce political arena, and its two great journals, the _Whig_ and +_Enquirer_, were not more violently partisan than its hustings. In the +latter its debaters were wide-famed. No such "stump" has ever existed in +America, commencing with Patrick Henry, whose eloquence was as intense +and telling as his statesmanship was errant and inconsistent, and +passing through the shrill and bitter apostrophies of John Randolph down +to the latest era of Henry A. Wise, the most sufferable and interminable +campaign orator extant, and John Minor Botts, scarcely his inferior. +With us, out of door rhetoric is dry, studied, and argumentative; here +an inspiration, based upon feeling rather than reason, and so earnest +that it knew no personal friendship where its political affinities +stopped. Whig and Democrat were not men of the same race or family in +Richmond; they passed each other on the sidewalk with a sneer or a +scowl, and knew no coalition even in the house of God. Even when the +Whig party as an organization deceased, the Whigs, as individuals, +retained their traditional antipathy, and the advent of secession was +decried by these, not because they loved the Union more, but the +triumphant Democracy the less. Separation was a feature of the hated +faith, and no good could come out of Nazareth. The Union men of Richmond +who have hungered in Castle Thunder, and been driven, needy and naked, +from the South, were all old line Whigs, distrusting the North, but +disliking Democracy. However, the war burst at last, heralded by that +mysterious lunatic who appeared like a warning giant in the twilight day +of the Union,--old John Brown; and as the Gulf States wheeled into line +and pulled down the old colors, the Old Dominion, Southern and +slaveholding, was too impulsive not to follow the whirlwind. She did not +go for policy's sake, nor for principle's sake, but for emotion's sake. +How wild and jubilant, and confident, were those Richmond mass meetings, +at which separation was counselled! How awful seems their levity at this +distance, with the city conquered and in ruins! On the Capitol Hill the +mad orators inveighed; within the Capitol met the disunion assembly in +secret and prolonged session; before the American, the Exchange, and the +Spottswood hotels, visiting commissioners harangued the crowd; the +people went to ballot on the day of State suicide, with laughing and +wagging, and at the decree that Virginia and her people had resolved to +quit the fabric of their fathers, bonfires and illuminations lit up the +river and the sky. + +Done, these were the men to stand fast. Done in dream, the first acts +were mirages rather than comprehensible events. They marched upon +Harper's Ferry; they suppressed the Unionists in their midst; they +erased the sacred mottoes of amity and unity from their monuments, and +won to the new cause they so blindly embraced every inch of their soil +except Old Point, where Fortress Monroe still stood defiant, to be in +the end the source of their downfall. Gayly went the populace of +Richmond, and splendid parties made the nights lustrous. When they heard +that their town was mentioned, among many others, as the probable +Confederate capital, they threw their hearts into the suggestion and +offered lands and edifices as free gifts for the honor of being the +centre of the South. A few, more interested, beheld in the coming of the +seat of government higher rents and increased patronage, crowded hotels, +and railway stock at a premium; but the mass, with the enthusiasm of +women or children, thought only of their beloved city growing in rank +and power; the home of legislators, orators, and savans; the seat of all +rank and the depository of archives. At last the good news came; +Richmond was the capital of a great nation; that courtesy bound all +grateful Virginian hearts to the common cause forever; the heyday and +gratulation were renewed; the new President, and the reverend senators +appeared on Richmond streets; the citizens were proud and happy. + +There was no spectre of the mighty North, slowly rising from lethargy +like those Medicean figures of Michael Angelo, which leap from stone to +avengers. There was no mutter of coming storm, no clank of coming sabres +and bayonets, no creak of great wheels rolling southward, and war in its +extremest and most deadly phase. Richmond and Virginia laughed at these, +flushed in the present, and invincible in the past. They only held high +heads,--and trade, with vanity, grew strong, till every citizen wondered +why all this glory had been so long delayed, and despised the ten years +preceding the rupture, if not, indeed, the whole past of the Union. + +The President of the United States proclaimed war; an army marched upon +the city. Not until the battle of Bull Run, when the dead and mangled +came by hundreds into the town, did any one discover the consequences of +Richmond's new distinction; but by this time the Rebel government had +absorbed Virginia, and was master of the city. Thenceforward Richmond +was the scene of all terrors, the prey of all fears and passions. +Campaign after campaign was directed against her; she lived in the +perpetual thunder of cannon; raiders pressed to her gates; she was a +great garrison and hospital only, besieged and cut off from her own +provinces; armies passed through her to the sound of drums, and returned +to the creak of ambulances. She lost her social prestige, and became a +barrack-city, filled with sutlers, adventurers, and refugees, till, +bearing bravely up amid domestic riot and horrible demoralization,--a +jail, a navy-yard, a base of operations,--she grew pinched, and base, +and haggard, and, at last, deserted. Given over to sack and fire, the +wretches who used her retreated in the night, and the enemies she had +provoked marched over her defences, and laid her--spent, degenerate, and +disgraced--under martial law. + +The outline of the scenes immediately associated with the evacuation of +Richmond has been told by telegraph. Now that the stupefied citizens +have recovered reason and memory so well as to tell us the story, it +seems the most dramatic and fearful of the war. On Saturday the city was +calm and trusting; Lee, its idol, held Grant, at Petersburg, fast; the +daily journals came out as usual, filled with soothing accounts; that +night came vague rumors of reverses; in the morning vaguer rumors of +evacuation; by Sunday night the public records were burned in the +streets, and the only remaining railway carried off the specie of the +banks; before daylight on Monday, the explosions of bridges and +half-built ships of war shook the houses; in the imperfect day, women, +and old men, and children began to sway and surge before the guarded +depot, which refused to admit them; then the town fell afire; no +remonstrance could pacify the incendiaries; the spring wind carried the +flame from the burning boats on the canal to the great Galligo Mills, to +files of massive warehouses groaning with tobacco, into the heart of the +town, where stores, and vaults, and banks, and factories lined the wide, +undulating streets; it filled the gray concave with flame till the stars +of the dawn shrank to pale invisibility in the advancing glare, and the +crackle of hot roofs and beams, and the crash of walls and timbers, +drowned the cries of the frightened and bankrupt, who beheld their +fortunes wither in an hour, and the inheritance of their children fall +to ashes. By the red, consuming light, poured past the straggling +Confederate soldiers, dead to the acknowledgment of private rights, and +sacking shop and home with curses and ribaldry; the suburban citizens +and the menial negroes adopted their examples; carrying off whatever +came next their hands, and with arms full of "swag," dropping it in the +highway, lured by some dearer plunder. Negroes, with baskets of stolen +champagne and rare jars of tamarinds, sought their dusky quarters to +swill and carouse; and whites of the middle, and even of the higher +class, lent themselves to theft, who, before this debased era, would +have died before so surrendering their honor. All was peril, terror, and +license; all who had nothing to lose were thieves; all who had anything +left to lose were cowards. The conflagration swept through the densest, +proudest blocks, driving off, not only the resident worthy, but the +resident corrupt. Where were the lewd contractors, who had hoarded +Confederate scrip by the basest exactions? With the fall of the capital +their dollars dwindled to dust; four years of crime had resulted in +beggary; still, with grasping palms, they adhered to their valueless +paper, bearing it away. But of all the wretched, the Cyprians were the +foremost. These inhabited the dense and business part of the town, where +their houses were serried and compact; and, driven forth by the fire, +they sought the street in their plumes and calicoes, to spend a cold and +shivering bivouac in the square of the Capitol. From afar, the rich men +of Sunday watched the flames of Monday sweeping on in terrible +impetuosity, knowing that every tongue of light which leaped on high +carried with it the competence they had sinned to acquire. And behind +all, plunderer, incendiary, and straggler, came the one vague, +overlapping, dreadful fear of--the enemy. Would they finish what friends +had commenced,--the sack, the desolation, the slaughter of the place? +Richmond had cost them half a million of lives, a mountain of blood and +wealth, four years of deadly struggle; would they not complete its ruin? + +The morning came; the Confederates were gone; cavalry in blue galloped +up the streets; a brigade of white infantry filed after them; then came +the detested negroes. Behold! the victors, the subjugators, assist to +quench the flames,--and Richmond is captured, but secure! + +Many of the churches were open on the Sunday of April 9, 1865, and were +thinly attended by the more adventurous of the citizens, with a +sprinkling of soldiers and Northern civilians. Mr. Woodbridge, at the +Monument Church, built on the site of a famous burnt theatre, prayed for +"all in authority," and held his tongue upon dangerous topics. The First +Baptist Negro Church has been occupied all the week by Massachusetts +chaplains, and Northern negro preachers, who have talked the gospel of +John Brown to gaping audiences of wool, white-eyeball, and ivory, +telling them that the day of deliverance has come, and that they have +only to possess the land which the Lord by the bayonet has given them. +To-day, Mr. Allen, the regular white preacher, occupied the pulpit, and +told the negroes that slavery was a divine institution, which would +continue forever, and that the duty of every good servant was to stay at +home and mind his master. Half of the enlightened Africans got up midway +of the discourse and left; the rest were in doubt, and two or three +black class-leaders, whom the parson had wheeled over, prayed lustily +that the Lord would keep Old Virginny from new ideas and all Yankee +salvations; so that in the end the population were quite tangled up, as +much so as if they had read the book of Revelation. I attended Saint +Paul's, the fashionable Episcopalian church, where Lee, Davis, +Memminger, and the rest had been communicants, and heard Doctor +Minnegerode discourse. He was one of the Prussian refugees of 1848, +and, though a hot Jacobin there, became a more bitter secessionist here. +He is learned, fluent, and thoughtful, but speaks with a slight Teutonic +accent. Jeff Davis's pew was occupied by nobody, the door thereof being +shut. Jeff was a very devout man, but not so much so as Lee, who made +all the responses fervently, and knelt at every requirement. This church +is capable of "seating" fifteen hundred persons, has galleries running +entirely around it, and is sustained at the roof within by composite +pilasters of plaster, and at the pulpit by columns of mongrel +Corinthian; the _tout ensemble_ is very excellent; a darkey sexton gave +us a pew, and there were some handsome ladies present, dark Richmond +beauties, haughty and thinly clothed, with only here and there a +jockey-feathered hat, or a velvet mantilla, to tell of long siege and +privation. We saw that those who dressed the shabbiest had yet preserved +some little article of jewelry--a finger-ring, a brooch, a bracelet, +showing how the last thing in woman to die is her vanity. Poor, proud +souls! Last Sunday many of them were heiresses; now many of them could +not pay the expenses of their own funerals. There were some Confederate +officers in the house. They reminded me of the captive Jews holding +worship in their gutted Temple. Some ruffians broke into this church +after the occupation, and wrote ribaldry in the Bible and hymn-book. Dr. +Minnegerode dared not pray for the Confederate States, and his sermon +was trite, based upon the text of the eleventh chapter of the Acts--"The +disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." In the opening +lesson, however, he aimed poison at the North, selecting the +forty-fourth and following Psalms, commencing, "We have heard with our +ears, O God! our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their +days, in the times of old." Then it spoke of the heathen being driven +out and the chosen people planted; afflicted by God's disfavor, the +forefathers held the territory, and the generation extant would yet rout +its enemies. But now the old stock were put to shame, a reproach to +their neighbors and those that dwelt round about them. "Thou hast broken +us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death," +going not forth with our armies, bowing our souls to the dust till our +bellies cleave unto the earth; we are killed all the day long, and +counted as sheep for the slaughter. + +Let all who would drink the essence of sorrow and anguish, read this +wonderful Psalm, to learn how after this recapitulation, the parson said +aloud the thrilling invocation. + +"Arise! for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake." + +Then came the next Psalm, light and tripping, full of praise for the +king and his bride, coming to the nuptials with her virgin train: +"instead of thy fathers, shall be thy children, whom thou mayst make +princes in all the earth." A poetic parallel might be drawn between all +this and the early hopes of Richmond; but the third Psalm came in like a +beautiful peroration. + +"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,--the +Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah! He +maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow and +cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire." + +Clear, direct, and in meaning monotone, the captive high-priest read all +this, so fearfully applicable to the subjugated and ruined town, and +then the organ threw its tender music into the half-empty concave, +sobbing like a far voice of multitudes, until the sweet singing of +Madame Ruhl, the chorister, swept into the moan of pipes, and rose to a +grand peal, quivering and trilling, like a nightingale wounded, making +more tears than the sublimest operatic effort and the house reeled and +trembled, as if Miriam and her chanting virgins were lifting praises to +God in the midst of the desert. + +That part of the New Testament read, by some strange fatuity, touches +also the despair of the city. It told of Christ betrayed by Iscariot, +deserted by his disciples, saying to his few trusty ones: "I will smite +the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." +"Can ye not watch with me one hour?" he says to the timid and sleeping; +and turning to his conquerors, avers that the Son of Man shall return to +Jerusalem, "sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds +of heaven." All this, of course, was the prescribed lesson for the +Sunday before Easter, which to-day happened to be; but had the pastor +searched it out to meet the exigencies of the place and time, it could +not have been more _apropos_. He read also from Daniel, where the king's +dream was interpreted; his realm, like a tree worn down to the root, and +the king himself making his dwelling with the wild asses, but in the end +"thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known +that the heavens do rule." + +Again the organ rang, and the wonderful voice of the choristers +alternated with deep religious prayers, whose refrain was, "Have mercy +upon us." + +Only one Sunday gone by, the church was densely packed with Rebel +officers and people; Mrs. Lee was there, and the president, in his high +and whitened hairs. Midway of the discourse a telegram came up the +aisle, borne by a rapid orderly. The president read it, and strode away; +the preacher read it, and faltered, and turned pale; it said: + + My lines are broken; Richmond must be evacuated by midnight. + ROBERT E. LEE. + +Ill news travels without words; the whole house felt that the great +calamity had come; they broke for the doors, and left the rector, alone +and frightened, to finish the solemn services. + +Now the enemy is here; the music and the prayer are not interrupted. God +is over all, whether Davis or Lincoln be uppermost. + +This campaign, so gloriously and promptly finished, has consumed just +eleven days. It took three to flank the Rebel army, one to capture +Petersburg, one to occupy Richmond, and six to pursue, overtake, and +capture the Army of Northern Virginia. No such memorable fighting has +ever been known on our continent, and it parallels the Italian, the +Austerlitz, and the Jena campaigns; in breadth of conception, it +outrivals them all; it took less men to do it than the last two; it +shows equal sagacity with any of them, but none of their brilliant +episodes; and, unlike them, we cannot trace its full credit to any +single personality. It has made the army immortal, but the lustre of it +is diffused, not concentrating upon any single head. Grant must be +credited with most of the combinations; yet without the genius and +activity of Sheridan, the bewildering rapidity of Sherman, and the +steadfastness of such reliable men as Wright, Parke, and Griffin, these +combinations would have fallen apart. It is said that Stoneman and +Sheridan were to have joined their separate cavalry commands at +Lynchburg, and effect a simultaneous junction with the Army of the +Potomac. This failed, through a miscalculation of distance or time; but +had they succeeded, we should have been less than three days in turning +Lee's right, and so made the campaign even more concise. But Grant's +talent has been marked and signal. He is the long-expected "coming man." +None can be lukewarm in surveying the nice adjustment of so many +separate and converging routes to a grand series of victories. Sherman +leaves the Rebellion no Gulf city to inhabit, and cuts off Lee's retreat +while he absorbs Johnston; the navy closes the last seaport; Sheridan +severs all communication with Richmond, and swells the central forces; +then the Rebels are lured from their lines and scattered on their right; +the same night the intrenchments of Petersburg are stormed, Richmond +falls as this prop is removed, being already hungry-hearted, and the +flushed army falls upon Lee and finishes the war. Is not this work for +gratulation? Glory to the army, perfect at last, and to Grant, to +Sheridan, to each of its commanders! + +Let us not do injustice to Lee. His tactics at the close of his career +were as brilliant as necessity would permit. He could not feed Richmond, +even though its impregnable works were behind him to retire to. So he +gave his government time to evacuate, and, with his thinned and +famishing ranks, made a bold push to join Johnston, some of whose +battalions had already reinforced him; overtaken on the way, and +punished anew, he did as any great and humane commander would +do,--stopped the effusion of blood uselessly, and gave up his sword. + +Unless Davis has been captured, we would think it improbable that he had +given up the Rebel cause. He was born to revolutionize, containing +within himself all the elements of a Rebel leader, and too proud to +yield, even when, like Macbeth, pursued to his castle-keep. I am assured +by those who know him best that he has been, throughout, the absolute +master of the Confederacy, overawing Lee, who, from the first, was a +reluctant Rebel; and his design was, until abandoned by his army, to +hold Richmond, even through starvation, making, behind its tremendous +fortifications, a defence like that of Leyden or Genoa. + +There is no more faith in the Rebellion; it will be a long time before +the United States is greatly beloved, but it will be always obeyed. Our +soldiers look well, most of them being newly uniformed, and behave like +gentlemen. Courtesy will conquer all that bayonets have not won. The +burnt district is still hideously yawning in the heart of the town, a +monument to the sternness of those bold revolutionists who are being +hunted to their last quarry. Despotism, under the plea of necessity, has +met with its end here as it must everywhere. We shall have no more +experiments for liberty out of the Union, if the new Union will grant +all that it gave before. Yesterday, when our splendid levies were +paraded in the street, with foot, cavalry, and cannon, in admirable +order, and kindly-eyed men in command, I looked across their cleanly +lines, tipped with bayonets, to the Capitol they had won, bearing at +last the tri-color we all love and honor, as the symbol of our homes and +the hope of the world, and thought how more grandly, even in her ruin, +Richmond stood in the light of its crowding stars, rather than the den +of a desperate cabal, whose banner was known in no city nor sea, but as +the ensign of corsairs, and hailed only by fustian peers, now rent in +the grip of our eagle, and without a fane or an abiding-place. Let us go +on, not conquerors, but Republicans, battering down only to rebuild more +gloriously,--not narrowing the path of any man, but opening to high and +low a broader destiny and a purer patriotism. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +WAR EXECUTIONS. + + +To have looked upon seventeen beings of human organism, ambition, sense +of pain and of disgrace, brought forward with all the solemnities of a +living funeral, and launched from absolute cognition to direct death, +should put one in the category of Calcraft, Ketch, and Isaacs. + +Yet, I do not think it would be right to so classify me. I know an +excellent clergyman, who has seen and assisted in fifty odd executions. +He says, as I say, that each new one is an augmented terror. But he is +upon the spot to smooth the felon's troubled spirit, and I am with him +to teach the felon's boon companions the direness of the penalty. +Without either the Chaplain or myself, capital punishment would lose +half its effectiveness. + +And this is why I write the present article,--to relieve myself from the +pertinacious inquiries with which I have been assailed since my return +from the melancholy episodes of the executions at Washington. I am +button-holed at every corner, and put through a cross-examination, to +which Holt's or Bingham's had no searchingness: "How did Mrs. Suratt +die?" "Was the rope attached to her left ear?" "What sort of rope was +it, for example?" "Do her pictures look like her?" "Pray describe how +Payne twisted, and whether you think Atzeroth's neck was dislocated?" + +And, after answering these questions, replete as they are with horrible +curiosity, the questioner turns away, saying, "Dear me! I wouldn't see a +man hung for a thousand dollars." + +I am weary of such hypocrisy, and I shall, in this paper, speak of some +executions I have witnessed. + +I was quite a small boy, at school, when my chum and model, Bill +Everett, dragged me off to Wayland's Mill, to see old Mrs. Kitty White +suspended. She was a very infamous old woman, who had been in the habit +of kidnapping black children, and running them by night from the Eastern +shore across the bay to Virginia, where they were sold. If they became +noisy and obstreperous before they left her house, and suspicion fell +upon her, she clove their skulls with a hatchet, and buried them in her +garden. When finally discovered, the remains of nearly a score marked +how wholesale had been her wickedness. + +This old woman was very drunk when she came to be hanged, and so was the +sheriff who assisted her. She called him impolite names, and carried a +pipe in her mouth, and went off smoking and cursing. I remember that I +cried very loudly, so that Bill Everett had to choke me, and saw ghosts +for so many nights succeeding, that Crouch, our maid of all work, had to +sit at my bedside till I fell asleep. + +The atrocity of a crime makes great difference in one's desire to see +its after tragedy; and the next hanging I attended was almost +world-famed. Four men were suspended for shooting down an entire family +in cold blood. They had embarked on a raid of robbery, and emerging from +the barren scrub of Delaware Forest, fell upon a snug and secluded +Maryland farm-house, where the farmer's family were taking their supper. +They fired through the ruddy windows, and brought the man down at his +wife's feet; she, in turn, fell upon her threshold, rushing forth into +the darkness, and the remnant of the family perished except two boys, +who slipped away and gave the alarm. + +The jailer's boys of Chestertown went to school with me, and I was +invited by the least of them to visit the jail,--a tumble-down old +structure with goggly windows, and so unsafe that the felons had to be +ironed to almost their own weight. And into the cell where the four +fiends were lying, the jailer's big boy, for a big joke, pushed me, and +locked the door upon me. + +I was alone with the same bloody-handed men who had so recently, and for +a trifle of gold, made the fireside a shamble, and the night a howling +terror. + +They appreciated the joke, and drew me to them, while their chains +clanked, and pressed to my face their wild and prickly beards. There was +one of them, named Drummond, who swore he would cut my heart out, and +they executed a sort of death-tune on the floor with their balls and +links. I lost all knowledge and perception in my fright, and cannot, at +this interval, remember anything succeeding, but the execution. They +were put to death upon a single long scaffold, the counterpart of that +erected for the Booth conspirators, and the rope attached to the neck of +the least guilty, broke when the drop fell, and cast him upon the +ground, lacerated, but conscious, to be picked up and again suspended, +while he begged for life, like a child. + +The sixth miscreant murdered from revenge, which is just a trifle better +than avarice: his girl preferred another, and the disappointed man, +Bowen, went to sea. Returning, he found the united lovers in the +exultation of happiness; a child had just been born to them, and, +touched by their content, Bowen gave the old rival his hand, and asked +him out to accept a bumper. They drank again and again,--the spirits +burning their blood to fire, and reviving again the bitter story of +Bowen's love and shame. Within the hour, the husband lay at the jilted +man's feet! He was condemned to death, and I undertook to describe his +exit for a weekly newspaper. + +Still I see him, broad and muscular, climbing the gallows stair with +his peaked cap, deathly white, and looking up at the sun as if he +dreaded its eye. There was the muttering of prayers, the spasm of one +spectator taken sick at the crisis, and the dull thump of the scaffold +falling in. + +The preacher Harden, who fondled his wife on his knee, and fed her the +while with poison, passed away so recently, that I need not revive the +scene into which all his bad life should have been prolonged. + +The death of Armstrong, expiating a hypocrite's life at Philadelphia, is +not so well remembered: he killed an old man in the heart of the city, +riding in a wagon, and dumped him out when he reached the suburbs. His +life, to the end, was marked by all insolence and infamy, and on the day +of the execution, he made a pretended confession, inculpating two +innocent persons. One hour after this, he made the following speech:-- + + MY FRIENDS: I have a few words to say to you; I am going to die; + and let me say, in passing, I die in peace with my Maker; and if, + at this moment, a pardon was offered me on condition of giving up + my Maker, I would not take it; and I die in peace with all the + world, and forgive all my enemies. I desire you to take warning by + my fate. Sabbath-breaking was the first cause. I bid you farewell, + gentlemen, (here he mentioned various officers), and I bid you all + farewell. I die in peace with everybody. + +The Sheriff, very nervous, gave a signal to the drop-man too soon, and a +serious accident very nearly occurred. The props were readjusted, all +but the main support removed, and that unhinged; the Sheriff waved his +handkerchief, and with the dead thump of the trap-lids against their +cushions, and the heavy jerking of the noose knot against the victim's +throat, the young murderer hung dangling in the air, not a limb +quivering, and only a convulsive movement of the shoulders, to indicate +the struggle which life maintained when giving up its place in the +body. + +There was a rush forward. The doctors grasped his wrist. Some spectators +passed their hands across his knees to feel the tremulous sinews; one or +two felt a faintness, and a dozen made coarse jokes; and one or more +speculated as to the issue of his immortal part, or the degree of his +pain, or the probability of his cognizance. In seven minutes he was +beyond the reach of execution or executioner, and a hurdle being wheeled +from the stable, they cut down his body, while a few scrambled for the +rope, and it was wheeled on a run into the convict's corridor for his +old father to claim. The neck was not broken, nor the flesh discolored. +Some said that he died "game;" and all went away, leaving the old man +and a brother to sit by the remains and weep, that so great calamity had +darkened their home and blighted their lives. Few lamented him, for he +had youth, but none of its elements of sympathy; and those who would +make, even of his dying speech, a text and a lesson, are instancing a +lie more grievous than the murder which he did. + +In England, I saw two men and a woman suffer death on the common +sidewalk; just as if we were to hang people in New York on the pavement +before the Tombs. + +No man, anxious to see an execution in London, need be disappointed. +Once or twice a month the wolves are brought to the slaughter, and all +the people are invited to enjoy the spectacle. A woman, one Catharine +Wilson, was to be hanged for poisoning. She was middle aged, and had +been reputable. Her manner of making way with folks was to act as +sick-nurse, and mingling poison with their medicine, possess herself of +the trifles upon their persons. She had sent six souls to their account +in this way; but, discovered in the seventh attempt, all the other cases +leaked out. She was condemned, of course, and on the Sunday evening +previous to the execution, as I was returning from Spurgeon's +Tabernacle, the omnibus upon which I sat passed through the Old Bailey. +There were the carpenters joining the timbers of the scaffold, and +building black barricades across the street. A murmuring crowd stood +around in the solemn night, and the funereal walls of old Newgate +glowered like a horrible vault upon the dimly-lit street. The public +houses across the way were filled up with guests. All the front parlors +and front bedrooms had been let at fat prices, and suppers were spread +in them for the edification of their tenants. Do you remember the +thrilling chapter of "The Jew's last night alive," in "Oliver Twist?" +Well, this was the scene! These were the same beams and uprights. There, +huge, massive, and blackened with smoky years, rose the cold, impervious +stones; and yonder, casting its sharp pinnacles into the sky, is the +tower of St. Sepulchre's Church, where the bell hangs muffled for the +morrow's tolling away of a sinner's life. Old Fagin heard it, though it +was no new sound to him; for Field Lane, where he kept his "fence," lies +a very little way off,--little more than a stone's throw, and when, in +the morning, I dressed at an early hour and hurried to the place of +execution, I saw Charley Bates, and the Dodger, and Nancy, and Toby +Crackit, and the rest, shying men's hats in the air, and looking out for +the "wipes" and the "tickers." All the streets leading to Newgate were +like great conduits, where human currents babbled along, emptying +themselves into the Old Bailey. Mothers by the dozen were out with their +infants, holding them aloft tenderly, to show them the noose and the +cross-beam. Fathers came with their sons, and explained very carefully +to them the method of strangulation. Little girls, on their way to +workshops, had turned aside to see the playful affair, and traders in +fancy soap and shoe-blacking, pea-nuts and shrimps, Banbury cakes, and +Chelsea buns, and Yarmouth bloaters, were making the morning hilarious +with their odd cries and speeches. Along the chimney-pots of Green +Arbour Court, where Goldsmith penned the "Vicar of Wakefield," lads and +maidens were climbing, that they might have commanding places. There +was one young woman who had some difficulty in climbing over a +battlement, and the mob hailed her failure with roars of mirth. But she +persevered, though there was a high wind blowing, and then called loudly +for her male attendant to follow her. He obeyed dutifully, and they both +seated themselves upon a chimney-top,--a picture of love rewarded,--and +waited for the show. The moments, as marked upon St. Sepulchre's clock, +went grudgingly, as if the index-hands were unwilling to shoulder the +responsibility of what was to come. Meantime, the police had their hands +full; for some merry urchins were darting between their legs, and it was +dangerous to keep one's hat on his head, for it hazarded plucking off +and shying here and there. At the chamber-windows aforesaid, crowded the +tipsy occupants, men and women, red-eyed with drinking, and leering +stupidly upon the surging heads below. Some asked if Calcraft did the +"job," and others volunteered sketches of Calcraft's life. One man +boasted that he had taken a pot of beer with him, and another added that +the hangman's children and his own went to school together. "He +pockets," said the man, "two-pun ten for every one he drops, besides his +travelling expenses, and he has put away three hundred and twenty folks. +He is a clever fellow, is Calcraft, and he is going to retire soon." + +So the hours passed; the great clock-hands journeyed onward; all eyes +watched them attentively; suddenly the deep bells struck a terrible +one--two--three--four--five--six--seven--eight, and the bells of the +neighborhood answered, some hoarsely, others musically, others faintly, +as if ashamed. + +Before the tones had died away, three persons appeared upon the +scaffold,--a woman, pinioned and wearing a long, sharp, snowy, shrowdy, +death-cap; a man in loose black robes with a white neckhandkerchief, and +a burly, surly fellow, in black cloth, bareheaded, and having a curling +jetty beard around his heavy jaws. It is but a moment, that, standing +on tiptoe, you catch this scene. The priest stretches his hand toward +the people, and says some unintelligible words; those of the mob curse +each other, and some scream out that they are dying in the press. Then +the scaffold is clear; the woman stands alone,--God forgive her!--and +when you look again, a bundle of old clothes, tipped with a sugar-loaf, +is all that is visible, and the gallows-cord is very straight and tight. +For the last chapter, consult the graveyard within the jail walls! + +The guillotining which I witnessed in Paris, in the month of June, 1864, +may be deemed worthy of an extended description:-- + +Couty de la Pommerais was a young physician of Paris, descended from a +fine family, and educated beyond the requirements of a French Faculty. +He was handsome and manly, and gave evidences of ambition at an early +age. He was popularly called the Comte de la Pommerais, and at the time +of his apprehension, was expecting a decoration from the Papal +Government, with the rank he desired. Like all French students, he was +incontinent, and had several mistresses. The last of these was a widow +named Pauw, who appears to have loved him sincerely. She had some little +fortune, which they consumed together; and then la Pommerais married a +rich young lady, with whom he lived one year. Her mother died suddenly +at the end of that time, and as la Pommerais was interested in getting +certain moneys which the elder lady controlled, the manner of her death +led to suspicions of poisoning. However, the woman was interred, but the +son-in-law was not so fortunate as he supposed, and he ceased to live +with his wife, but returned to Madame Pauw, who still adored him. Upon +this fond, foolish woman he seems to have premeditated a deep and +intricate crime; and it was for this that he suffered death. She must +have been dishonest like himself, for she consented to a scheme of +swindling the insurance companies; but, unlike himself, she lacked the +wit to be silent, and was heard to hint mysteriously that she should +soon be grand and happy. La Pommerais persuaded her to have her life +insured, which was done for 515,000 francs, or upward of $100,000. When +the matter had transpired some time, he persuaded her to feign sickness. +The simple woman asked why she should do so. + +"The insurance people," he replied, "will, when they consider that you +are dangerously ill, prefer to give you 100,000f., rather than pay the +515,000f. in the certainty of your death. You can give them up your +policy, accept the compromise, get well again, and be rich." + +Yet this counterfeited sickness was meant by the villain to prepare the +neighbors of Mme. Pauw for the death which he intended to ensue. He was +to make it known to all, that she was dangerously ill; she was to uphold +his testimony; and he was to kill her in due time, and take the whole of +the insurance. At length, the farce was finished. La Pommerais gave to +Mme. Pauw, a poison difficult to detect, called _digitalline_, the +essential principle of our common foxglove; she died unconscious of his +deception, loving him to the last, and he claimed the 515,000 francs at +the insurance office. He was suspected, accused, and tried. The old +suspicions relative to his mother-in-law were revived; the bodies were +exhumed and examined; upon evidence entirely circumstantial and +technical, he was convicted, and sentenced to be guillotined. His +learning and standing made the trial a famous one; his bearing during +the long proceedings was calm and collected; he was handsome, and had +much sympathy: but the jury found him guilty, and the Emperor refused to +extend his clemency to the case. He was put in a strait jacket and +locked up in La Roquette, the prison for the condemned. + +The prison of _La Roquette_ (or the Rocket Prison) is situated in the +eastern suburbs of Paris, a mile beyond the Bastile. It does not look +unlike our American jails; a high exterior wall of rough stone, over the +top of which one gets a glimpse of the prison gables, with a huge gate +in the arched portal, guarded forever by sentinels. Before this gate is +a small open plot of ground, planted with trees. _Rue de la Roquette_ +passes between it and a second prison, immediately facing the first, +called the _Prison des Jeunes Detenus_, or, as we would say in America, +the "House of Refuge." Standing between the two jails, and looking away +from Paris, one will see the great metropolitan cemetery of _Pere la +Chaise_, scarcely a stone's throw distant, and behind him will be the +great _abbatoir_ or public slaughter-house of Menilmontant, with the +vast area of roofs and spires of Paris stretching beyond it to the +horizon. It was to this region of vacant lots and lonesome, glowering +houses, that thousands of Parisians bent their steps the night before +the execution. The news had gone abroad that la Pommerais would not be +pardoned. It was also generally credited that this would be the last +execution ever held in Paris, since there is a general desire for the +abolition of capital punishment in France, and a conviction that the +Legislature, at its next session, will substitute life-imprisonment. +This, with the rarity of the event, and that terrible allurement of +blood which distinguishes all populaces, brought out all the excitable +folk of the town; and at dusk, on the night before the expiation, the +whole neighborhood of La Roquette was crowded with men and women. All +classes of Parisians were there,--the _blouses_, or workingmen, standing +first in number; the students from the Latin Quartier being well +represented, and idlers, and well-dressed nondescripts without +enumeration,--distributing themselves among women, dogs, and babies. + +Venders of _gateaux_, muscles, and fruit were out in force. The "Savage +of Paris," clothed in his war plumes, paint, greaves, armlets, and +moccasins, was selling razors by gaslight; here and there ballad-mongers +were singing the latest songs, and boys, with chairs to let, elbowed +into the intricacies of the crowd, which amused itself all the night +long by smoking, drinking, and hallooing. At last, the mass became +formidable in numbers, covering every inch of ground within sight of the +prison, and many soldiers and _sergeants de ville_, mounted and on foot, +pushed through the dense mass to restore order. + +At midnight, a body of cavalry forced back the people from the square of +La Roquette. A number of workmen, issuing from the prison-gates, +proceeded to set up the instrument of death by the light of blazing +torches. The flame lit up the dark jail walls, and shone on the helmets +and cuirasses of the sabre-men, and flared upon spots of the upturned +faces, now bringing them into strong, ruddy relief, now plunging them +into shadow. When the several pieces had been framed together, we had a +real guillotine in view,--the same spectre at which thousands of good +and bad men had shuddered; and the folks around it, peering up so +eagerly, were descendants of those who stood on the _Place de la +Concorde_ to witness the head of a king roll into the common basket. +Imagine two tall, straight timbers, a foot apart, rising fifteen feet +from the ground. They are grooved, and spring from a wide platform, +approached by a flight of steps. At the base, rests a spring-plank or +_bascule_, to which leather thongs are attached to buckle down the +victim, and a basket or _pannier_ filled with sawdust to receive the +severed head. Between these, at their summit, hangs the shining knife in +its appointed grooves, and a cord, which may be disconnected by a jerk, +holds it to its position. Two men will be required to work the +instrument promptly,--the one to bind the condemned, the other to drop +the axe. The _bascule_ is so arranged that the whole weight and length +of the trunk will rest upon it, leaving the head and neck free, and when +prone it will reach to the grooves, leaving space for the knife to pass +below it. The knife itself is short and wide, with a bright concave +edge, and a rim of heavy steel ridges it at the top; it moves easily in +the greased grooves, and may weigh forty pounds. It has a terrible +fascination, hanging so high and so lightly in the blaze of the torches, +which play and glitter upon it, and cast stains of red light along its +keen blade, as if by their brilliance all its past blood-marks had +become visible again. A child may send it shimmering and crashing to the +scaffold, but only God can fasten together the warm and throbbing parts +which it shall soon dissever. And now that the terrible creature has +been recreated, the workmen slink away, as if afraid of it, and a body +of soldiers stand guard upon it, as if they fear that it might grow +thirsty and insatiate as in the days of its youth. The multitude press +up again, reinforced every hour, and at last the pale day climbs over +the jail-walls, and waiting people see each other by its glimmer. The +bells of Notre Dame peal out; a hundred towers fall into the march of +the music; the early journals are shrieked by French newsboys, and folks +begin to count the minutes on their watches. There are men on the ground +who saw the first guillotine at work. They describe the click of the +cleaver, the steady march of victims upon the scaffold-stairs, the +rattle of the death-cart turning out of the _Rue Saint Honore_, the +painted executioners, with their dripping hands, wiping away the jets of +blood from the hard, rough faces; nay! the step of the young queen, +white-haired with care, but very beautiful, who bent her body as she had +never bent her knee, and paid the penalty of her pride with the neck +which a king had fondled. + +At four minutes to six o'clock on Thursday morning, the wicket in the +prison-gate swung open; the condemned appeared, with his hands tied +behind his back, and his knees bound together. He walked with +difficulty, so fettered; but other than the artificial restraints, there +was no hesitation nor terror in his movements. His hair, which had been +long, dark, and wavy, was severed close to his scalp; his beard had +likewise been clipped, and the fine moustache and goatee, which had set +off his most interesting face, no longer appeared to enhance his +romantic, expressive physiognomy. Yet his black eyes and cleanly cut +mouth, nostrils, and eyebrows, demonstrated that Couty de la Pommerais +was not a beauty dependent upon small accessories. There was a dignity +even in his painful gait; the coarse prison-shirt, scissored low in the +neck, exhibited the straight columnar throat and swelling chest; for the +rest, he wore only a pair of black pantaloons and his own shapely boots. +As he emerged from the wicket, the chill morning air, laden with the dew +of the truck gardens near at hand, blew across the open spaces of the +suburbs, and smote him with a cold chill. He was plainly seen to +tremble; but in an instant, as if by the mere force of his will, he +stood motionless, and cast a first and only glance at the guillotine +straight before him. It was the glance of a man who meets an enemy's +eye, not shrinkingly, but half-defiant, as if even the bitter +retribution could not abash his strong courage. The dramatic manner +which is characteristic of the most real and earnest incidents of French +life had its fascination for la Pommerais, even at his death-hour. Not +Mr. Booth nor Mr. Forrest could have expressed the rallying, startling, +almost thrilling recognition of an instrument of death, better than this +actual criminal, whose last winkful of daylight was blackened by the +guillotine. It reminded one of Damon, in the pitch of the tragedy:-- + + "I stand upon the scaffold--I am standing on my throne." + +His dark eye was scintillant; his nostril grew full; his shoulders fell +back as if to exhibit his broad, compact figure in manlier outline; he +seemed to feel that forty thousand men and women, and young children +were looking upon him to see how he dared to die, and that for a +generation his bearing should go into fireside descriptions. Then he +moved on between the files of soldiers at his shuffling pace, and before +him went the _aumonier_ or chaplain, swaying the crucifix, behind him +the executioner of Versailles--a rough and bearded man--to assist in the +final horror. + +It was at this intense moment a most wonderful spectacle. As the +prisoner had first appeared, a single great shout had shaken the +multitude. It was the French word "_Voila!_" which means "Behold!" +"See!" Then every spectator stood on tiptoe; the silence of death +succeeded; all the close street was undulant with human motion; a few +house roofs near by were dizzy with folks who gazed down from the tiles; +all the way up the heights of Pere la Chaise, among the pale chapels and +monuments of the dead, the thousands of stirred beings swung and shook +like so many drowned corpses floating on the sea. Every eye and mind +turned to the little structure raised among the trees, on the space +before _La Roquette_, and there they saw a dark, shaven, disrobed young +man, going quietly toward his grave. + +He mounted the steps deliberately, looking toward his feet; the priest +held up the crucifix, and he felt it was there, but did not see it; his +lips one moment touched the image of Christ, but he did not look up nor +speak; then, as he gained the last step, the _bascule_ or swingboard +sprang up before him; the executioner gave him a single push, and he +fell prone upon the plank, with his face downward; it gave way before +him, bearing him into the space between the upright beams, and he lay +horizontally beneath the knife, presenting the back of his neck to it. +Thus resting, he could look into the _pannier_ or basket, into whose +sawdust lining his head was to drop in a moment. And in that awful +space, while all the people gazed with their fingers tingling, the +legitimate Parisian executioner gave a jerk at the cord which held the +fatal knife. With a quick, keen sound, the steel became detached; it +fell hurtling through the grooves; it struck something with a dead, dumb +thump; a jet of bright blood spurted into the light, and dyed the face +of an attendant horribly red; and Couty de la Pommerais's head lay in +the sawdust of the pannier, while every vein in the lopped trunk +trickled upon the scaffold-floor! They threw a cloth upon the carcass +and carried away the pannier; the guillotine disappeared beneath the +surrounding heads; loud exclamations and acclaims burst from the +multitude; the venders of trash and edibles resumed their cheerful +cries, and a hearse dashed through the mass, carrying the warm body of +the guillotined to the cemetery of Mt. Parnasse. In thirty minutes, +newsboys were hawking the scene of the execution upon all the quays and +bridges. In every cafe of Paris some witness was telling the incidents +of the show to breathless listeners, and the crowds which stopped to see +the funeral procession of the great Marshal Pelissier divided their +attention between the warrior and the poisoner,--the latter obtaining +the preponderance of fame. + +I wonder sometimes, if the ultimate penalty, however enforced, greatly +assists example, or dignifies justice. But this would involve a very +long controversy, over which many sage heads have sadly ached. + +In the open daylight, when my face is shining, and my life secure, I +take the humanitarian side, and denounce the barbarities of the gibbet. + +But when I come down the dark stairs of the daily paper office, after +midnight, and see three or four stealthy fellows hiding in the shadows, +and go up the black city unarmed with my pocket full of greenbacks, I +think the gallows quite essential as a warning, and indorse it, even +after seventeen executions. + +So end my desultory chapters of desultory life. It has been, in the +arranging of them, difficult to reject material,--not to select it. I am +amazed to find what a world of dead leaves lies around my feet, as if I +were a tree that blossomed and shed its covering every day. There are +baskets-full of copy still remaining, from which the temptation is great +to gather. It is sad to have written so much at twenty-five, and yet to +have only drifting convictions. I may have succeeded in depicting the +lives of certain young gentlemen who reported the war. All of us, who +were young, loved the business, and were glad to quit it. For myself, I +am weary of travel; rather than publish again from these fragments of my +fugitive life, let me weave their material into a more poetic story, +softened by some years of stay at home. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Campaigns of a Non-Combatant,, by +George Alfred Townsend + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGNS OF A NON-COMBATANT, *** + +***** This file should be named 23340.txt or 23340.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/4/23340/ + +Produced by Rebecca Hoath, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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