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diff --git a/34843.txt b/34843.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5c98d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/34843.txt @@ -0,0 +1,24008 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Boys of '61, by Charles Carleton Coffin + +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: The Boys of '61 + or, Four Years of Fighting, Personal Observations with the Army and Navy + +Author: Charles Carleton Coffin + +Release Date: January 3, 2011 [EBook #34843] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS OF '61 *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Christine P. Travers and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +THE BOYS OF '61; + +or, + +FOUR YEARS OF FIGHTING. + + + +PERSONAL OBSERVATION WITH THE ARMY AND NAVY, + + + +_FROM THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN TO THE FALL OF RICHMOND_ + + + + +BY + +CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN, + +AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS OF '76," "THE STORY OF LIBERTY," "WINNING HIS +WAY." "MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD," "FOLLOWING THE FLAG," +"OUR NEW WAY ROUND THE WORLD," ETC. + + + + +ILLUSTRATED. + + + + + BOSTON: + PUBLISHED BY ESTES AND LAURIAT, + 301-305 WASHINGTON STREET. + 1886. + + Copyright, 1881 by + ESTES AND LAURIAT. + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by + CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN, + in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + + + +[Illustration: Charge through an abattis.] + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + + +This volume, though historic, is not a history of the Rebellion, but a +record of personal observations and experiences during the war, with +an occasional look at affairs in general to give clearness to the +narrative. The time has not arrived for the writing of an impartial +history of the conflict between Slavery and Freedom in the United +States. Reports of military operations are incomplete; documents in +the archives at Washington are inaccessible; much material remains to +be gathered before the patient historian can sift the wheat from the +chaff. More than this, the war of ideas is not yet ended. Defeated +Rebels in some parts of the South are bent on exterminating the +African race. Few of those lately in rebellion plead guilty of having +committed a crime; taking up arms against the government they consider +to have been a blunder only. We are, therefore, too near the great +events to render proper judgment upon questions in which our +principles and sympathies have been enlisted. + +The chapter concerning the Confederate Cotton Loan may seem to be out +of place in a volume of which so large a portion is given to +narrative, but I trust that it will be acceptable to the general +reader, inasmuch as it reveals the efforts of the Rebels to array all +Europe against the United States in the late struggle. The +correspondence in my possession was picked up in the streets of +Richmond, and will be of value to the future historian. The chapter in +question is but an outline of the operations of the Confederates +abroad. + +In looking over the sheets as they came from the press, several errors +relative to the organization and formation of troops in battle have +been detected, which, however, will appear in but a few copies. +Undoubtedly there are others, and the writer will esteem it a favor to +be put right wherever he is in the wrong. Few official reports of +regimental and brigade officers have been published, while the reports +of division and corps commanders are only general in their statements. +The true history of battles cannot be given till the history of +regiments is written. + +My stand-point as an observer is that of one whose instincts from +early childhood have been on the side of Freedom. I have ever believed +that Civil Liberty is the birthright of all men, and from the firing +upon Sumter to the close of the contest had full faith that the +people, under God, would subdue the Rebellion, and give freedom to the +slave. + +The four years have been worth a century of ordinary life; for in the +mighty contest Right has triumphed over Wrong, and the human race, +with a clearer perception of Truth and Justice as the sure foundation +of government, is moving on to a higher civilization. + + C. C. C. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. + +BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT. + Page + Ideas and Principles. -- Battles witnessed. -- The Leaders. -- + State of Affairs. -- Baltimore. -- Dulness in the Streets. -- + Baltimore Women. -- Raw Troops. -- Visit to Fort McHenry. -- + Washington. -- Material of the Army. -- Generals in Command. -- + General Scott. -- His Position. -- Newspaper Reports. -- Troops + organized. -- The Gathering of the Rebels. 1 + + +CHAPTER I. + +AROUND WASHINGTON. + + Alexandria. -- The Massachusetts Fifth. -- A Song for Bunker + Hill -- The Review. -- The Distant Gun. -- The Affair at + Vienna. -- A Dinner in the Field. -- Vallandigham and the Ohio + Boys. -- Patriotism of the Soldiers. -- The Rogues' March. -- + Mutiny of the Garibaldi Guard. -- An Adventure. -- Broken + English. -- Unpleasant Position. -- General Mansfield's Wrath. + -- The Lager-Beer Business. -- A Faded Aristocracy. -- Living + on a Name. -- The Sirens of Virginia. -- A South Carolina + Chattel. -- His Search for Chickens. -- How he found Freedom 8 + + +CHAPTER II. + +BULL RUN. + + The March. -- The Second Maine. -- The Pageant. -- The Bivouac. + -- The Beehives. -- Beauregard's Proclamation. -- McDowell's + Order. -- The Contrast. -- Virginia Unionism. -- The First + Shot. -- The Artillery. -- Retreat of the Rebels. -- The + Negro's Story -- Centreville. -- Snuff Dippers. -- Affairs at + Blackburn's Ford. -- The Morning -- Progress of the Battle. -- + The Rebel Prisoner. -- The Turning of the Tide -- At the Spring + -- The Panic -- The Teamsters. -- The Rebels on the Point of + Retreating. -- Richmond Dispatch. -- Wonderful Stories of the + Rebels. -- Change of Sentiment. -- General Butler. -- Union Men + of Virginia. -- Bitterness of the Rebels. -- Seductive + Influences of Slavery. 17 + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FALL OF 1861. + + Position of Affairs. -- Disaster at Ball's Bluff. -- The News + in Washington. -- How President Lincoln received it. -- His + tenderness of Heart. -- Mr. Lincoln in his Springfield Home. -- + His Temperance Principles. -- Poolsville. -- Colonel Baker's + Body. -- Slavery in Western Maryland. -- Visit to Eastern + Maryland. -- The "White Horse." -- Character of the Country. -- + Our Host at Pamunkey. -- His Family. -- Visit to Annapolis. -- + Aristocratic Pride. -- Secession in Washington. -- The Spirit + of Slavery in the Army. -- The Hutchinson Family and General + McClellan. -- Whittier's "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott." -- + Major Gould and his Scout. -- A Rebel Minister. -- Washington + Jail and its Inmates. -- Close of the Year. 30 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AFFAIRS IN THE WEST. + + Louisville. -- Position of Kentucky. -- The Opinions of a Loyal + Tennesseean. -- General Buell and His Policy. -- Events in + Missouri. -- General Halleck. -- Order No. 3. -- General + Schofield and the Guerillas. -- Negro Testimony. -- Fremont's + Army. -- Visit to Rolla. -- General Sigel. -- Radical + Sentiments of the Army. -- Cairo. -- Union Generals. -- + Introduction to General Grant. -- Commodore Foote. -- The + Mississippi Flotilla. -- Captain Porter and the Essex. -- His + Challenge to Captain Montgomery. -- Major-General Bishop Polk. + -- Reconnoissance towards Columbus. -- A Kentucky Farm-house. + -- Return to Cairo. 47 + + +CHAPTER V. + +CENTRAL KENTUCKY. + + Battle of Mill Springs. -- A genuine Kentuckian. -- Discussion + of the Negro Question. -- Kentucky Farmers. -- Lexington. -- + Scenes at the Phenix Hotel. -- Secession Ladies. -- Anthony + Trollope. -- Tomb of Henry Clay. -- Clay's Opinion of + Abolitionists. -- How a Presbyterian Minister would conduct the + War. -- Buell's Right Wing. -- Trip down the Ohio. -- + Passengers on Board the Grey Eagle. -- The People of + Owensborough. -- Up Green River. -- Kentucky Unionists. -- + Visit to Calhoun. -- A "first-class" Hotel. -- Scenes on the + Steamer. 59 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. + + Capture of Fort Henry. -- Commodore Foote's Account of the + Fight. -- His Care for the Wounded. -- His Preaching on Sunday. + -- Affairs in Mississippi. -- Capture of Fort Donelson. -- + Movement of the Troops. -- The Surrender. -- The Appearance of + the Rebels. -- The Town of Dover. -- Scenes in the Rebel Lines. + -- The formal Surrender of the Fort. -- Appearance of Buckner + and Grant. -- Rebel Officers on the Rampage. -- Commodore + Foote's Intentions. -- His Plans frustrated by Halleck. -- + Nullification of Order No. 3. -- Occupation of Columbus. -- The + Southern Muse. -- Bombardment of Island No. 10. -- Colonel + Bissell's Canal. -- Passage of Transports to New Madrid. -- + Running past the Batteries. -- General Pope's Operations. -- + Capture of Rebels. -- Surrender of Island No. 10. 76 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PITTSBURG LANDING, FORT PILLOW, AND MEMPHIS. + + The Opposing Forces. -- The Battle-Field. -- The Poor Whites of + the South. -- General Sherman. -- Beauregard's Despatch. -- + Retreat of the Rebels. -- Halleck's Advance upon Corinth. -- + The Mississippi Fleet. -- Admiral Davis. -- Captain Maynadier. + -- A Trap for the Rebels. -- Movement of the Rams. -- Fire of + the Rebel Batteries. -- Evacuation of Fort Pillow. -- Gunboat + Fight at Memphis. -- Surrender of the City. -- Commodore Ellet. 93 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +INVASION OF MARYLAND. + + Battle of Manassas. -- Colonel Broadhead. -- Confidence of the + Rebels. -- Uprising in Pennsylvania. -- Surrender of Harper's + Ferry. -- Escape of the Union Cavalry. -- Negro Teamsters. -- + Excitement of the Citizens. -- Hagerstown. -- Antietam. -- + Visit to the Right Wing. -- Poffenberg's House. -- Sumner's + Movement. -- The Corn-Field. -- Burnside's Attack. -- The Fight + at the Bridge. 110 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +INVASION OF KENTUCKY. + + The Opposing Forces. -- Bragg's Advance. -- Capture of + Frankfort. -- The Rebels in Lexington. -- Inauguration of + Governor Harris. -- Bragg's Retreat from Frankfort. -- Battle + of Perryville. -- President's Proclamation. -- The Kentucky + Policy. -- General Gillmore's Order No. 5. -- Twenty-Second + Wisconsin and Colonel Utley. -- Judge Robertson and his Boy Jo. + -- The Kentucky Policy reversed. -- An Evening in Louisville. 122 + + +CHAPTER X. + +FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG. + + Soldiers' Pets. -- Removal of McClellan. -- Burnside's Plans. + -- Army Correspondence. -- Gold Speculators. -- Expectations of + the People. 137 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. + + The Signal Guns. -- Laying the Pontoons. -- Bombardment of the + City. -- Hall's Brigade. -- Rebel Sharpshooters. -- Crossing + the River. -- Seventh Michigan. -- Yankees in Fredericksburg. + -- Night Scene. -- The Drummer-Boy. -- Rev. Arthur B. Fuller. + -- His Funeral Obsequies. -- Lee's Army. -- Positions of the + Troops. -- Burnside's Orders to Franklin. -- The Morning. -- + Movement of the Army. -- Attack on the Left. -- Franklin's + Despatches. -- Meade's Attack. -- Jackson's Line broken. -- + Franklin's Account. -- Wounded Soldiers. -- Attack on the + Right. -- Eleventh New Hampshire. -- Sturgis's Division. -- The + Last Attack. -- Recrossing the River. 142 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WINTER AT FALMOUTH. + + Employment of the Men. -- American Tract Society. -- General + Howard and the Secessionists. -- Sanitary and Christian + Commissions. -- Religion in the Army. -- Chapels. 174 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CHANCELLORSVILLE. + + General Hooker in Command. -- Reorganization of the Army. -- + Hooker's Plan. -- Movement of the Troops. -- First and Sixth + Corps. -- Lee puzzled. -- Hooker in Position. -- Lee's + Movement. -- Jackson's March. -- Howard's Position. -- + Sickles's Advance. -- Jackson's Attack. -- The Eleventh Corps. + -- Sickles's Return. -- Death of Jackson. -- The Battle of + Sunday. -- Best's Artillery. -- Stewart's Attack. -- The Second + Corps. -- Hooker's last Position. -- Second Battle of + Fredericksburg. -- Sedgwick's Attack. -- Maryee's Hill. -- + Barksdale's Retreat. -- Battle of Salem Church. -- Lost + Opportunity. 179 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CAVALRY OPERATIONS. + + Stoneman's Preparations. -- Crossing the Rapidan. -- Raid + through Virginia. -- Kilpatrick's Audacity. -- Shelling + Richmond. -- His Escape. -- Stoneman's Return. 212 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE ATLANTIC COAST. + + Port Royal. -- Sunday Services. -- Rev. Mr. Murchison. -- Visit + to the Plantations. -- Sancho's Address. -- Negro Music. -- + Mitchelville. -- Sojourner Truth. -- Enlistment of Negro + Troops. -- Colonel Higginson. -- Antipathy of White Soldiers. + -- First South Carolina Regiment. -- Smith's Plantation. 224 + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION. + + Destruction of the Nashville. -- Captain Worden. -- Attack on + Fort McAllister. -- First Bombardment of Sumter. -- Visit to + the Fleet. -- Captain Rodgers. -- Damage to the Fort. 248 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + General Lee's Movements. -- Hooker on the Watch. -- Bedlam in + Pennsylvania. -- Harrisburg. -- Baltimore. -- Colored + Population. -- Resignation of General Hooker. -- General Meade. + -- Feelings of the Soldiers. -- Advance to Gettysburg. -- + Organization of the Army. -- Patriotism of the People. -- Bread + for the Soldiers. -- Ride to Gettysburg. -- Geographical + Features of the Place. 258 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. + + General Reynolds's Position. -- Beginning of the Fight. -- + General Howard's Account. -- Weiderick's Battery. -- General + Slocum at Two Taverns. -- Howard's Messages. -- General + Hancock's Arrival. -- Color-Bearers of the Nineteenth Indiana. + -- Arrival of the Third Corps. -- SECOND DAY. -- General Meade + on the Field. -- The Cemetery. -- Major Howard. -- Ride along + the Lines. -- Stannard's Brigade. -- Meade's Head-Quarters. -- + Position of the Second Corps. -- The Third Corps. -- Sickles's + Position at Noon. -- Lee's Intentions. -- Confidence of the + Rebels. -- Longstreet's Command. -- His Plan. -- Half past + Three. -- The Attack. -- Resistance of the Third Corps. -- + McGilvery's Batteries. -- The Ninth Massachusetts Battery. -- + Barnes's Division. -- The Regulars. -- Resistance of the + Pennsylvania Reserves. -- Hood's Advance. -- Colonel + Chamberlain's Position. -- Slocum's Movement. -- Doubleday and + Williams. -- Men of Vermont. -- Fourteenth Maine. -- Louisiana + Tigers. -- THIRD DAY. -- The Morning Cannonade. -- Rebel + Prisoners. -- Fight on Culp's Hill. -- Cavalry Operations. -- + Lee's Preparations for the last Attack. -- Position of the + Troops. -- Scene at Meade's Head-Quarters. -- The Cannonade. -- + Howard's Batteries. -- Hancock wounded. -- The Vermont + Regiments. -- Repulse of the Rebels. -- Scenes along the Lines. + -- In the Rebel Lines. -- Midnight. -- After the Battle. -- + Lee's Retreat. -- Meade's Movements. -- Lee at Williamsport. -- + Crossing the Potomac. -- Battle at Falling Waters. 269 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FROM THE RAPIDAN TO COLD HARBOR. + + Opening of the Campaign. -- Organization of the Army. -- + Grant's Plan. -- The Ninth Corps. -- President Lincoln + reviewing the Colored Troops. -- The Army in Motion. -- Across + the Rapidan. -- Grant and Meade in Council. -- The Wilderness. + -- Position of the Army. -- First Day's Fight. -- Arrival of + the Ninth Corps. -- Second Day. -- Movement to Spottsylvania. + -- Sheridan's Fight. -- Todd's Tavern. -- Warren engaged. -- + Battle of Spottsylvania. -- Song of the Wounded. -- The Vermont + Brigade. -- Death of General Rice. -- Attack of the Second + Corps. -- A Day in Fredericksburg. -- Sanitary and Christian + Commissions. -- Getting Straw for the Hospitals. -- Movement to + the North Anna. -- Battle of Jericho Bridge. -- A Night in a + Cabin. -- Movement to Hanover. -- Battle of Bethesda Church. -- + General Smith's Advance to Cold Harbor. -- Sheridan's Movement. + -- Position of the two Armies. -- First Battle of Cold Harbor. + -- Hospital Scene. -- Second Battle. -- McClellan at Cold + Harbor and the Campaign of '62. -- Grant's Operations. -- + Caroline County. -- The Planters and their Property. -- The Day + of Jubilee. -- Breaking up of Society. 306 + + +CHAPTER XX. + +TO PETERSBURG. + + Comments of the Rebel Newspapers. -- Opinions of the Soldiers. + -- Discussion of Plans. -- General Hunter's Advance to + Lynchburg. -- Sheridan's Raid. -- Butler and Gillmore. -- + Movement to James River. -- Gillmore's Failure. -- Grant's + Instructions to Smith. -- Lee surprised. -- General Hinks's + Division of Colored Troops. -- Their First Engagement. -- + Smith's Advance. -- First Battle in Front of Petersburg. -- + Capture of Rebel Intrenchments. -- General Terry's Movement. -- + Lost Opportunities. -- Sentiments of the People. -- President + Lincoln. -- Heroism of the Colored Soldiers. -- Arrival of the + Ninth Corps. -- Second Battle in Front of Petersburg. -- + General Potter's Division. -- Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts. -- + Edward M. Schneider. -- Third Battle in Front of Petersburg. -- + Barbarism of Slavery. -- Prejudice against Colored Troops. -- + The Christian Commission. -- Hardships of the Campaign. -- + Religion in the Army. 351 + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SIEGE OPERATIONS. + + Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants. -- His Plan for a Mine to destroy + the Works before Petersburg. -- Difficulties he encountered in + constructing it. -- Battle at Deep Bottom. -- Completion of the + Mine. -- Preparations for springing it. -- Fuse goes out. -- + Delay. -- Relighted. -- The Explosion. -- Consternation of the + Rebels. -- Confusion of Union Troops. -- Rebels return to their + Guns. -- Terrible Slaughter in the Crater. -- Reasons for the + Failure. -- The Rebel Press. -- The Fortunes of the Confederacy. 376 + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THIRD INVASION OF MARYLAND. + + General Situation of Affairs. -- Early's Movement down the + Valley. -- Breckenridge sent to reinforce him. -- The Sixth + Corps. -- Excitement in Washington. -- Early's Force. -- + Massachusetts Sixteenth Regiment. -- Arrival of Nineteenth + Corps. -- Enthusiastic Reception. -- Confidence restored. -- + Battle of Monocacy. -- Alarming Reports. -- Advance of Rebels + upon Washington. -- Their hasty Retreat. 384 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SHERMAN'S ARMY. + + Review of Sherman's Campaign. -- Jeff Davis's dislike of + Johnston. -- Appointment of Hood. -- Davis's Speech to Hood's + Army. -- Sherman contemplates a Movement to Savannah. -- Grant + authorizes it. -- Organization of Sherman's Army. -- Comments + of Rebel Press on his March to the Sea. -- Complaints of + Sherman's Inhumanity. -- He is compared to Attila. -- His + Vindication of Himself. -- The Bummers. -- Their Humanity to + Union Refugees. 391 + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CHRISTIANITY AND BARBARISM. + + Sherman in Savannah. -- Destitution of the People. -- Humanity + of the People of the North. -- Steamer Greyhound. -- Belle + Boyd. -- Voyage of the Greyhound. -- Thunderbolt Battery. -- + Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts. -- Distribution of Supplies. -- + Rebel Prisons. -- Responsibility of Rebel Officials. -- + Amiability of General Lee. -- Andersonville. 402 + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +SCENES IN SAVANNAH. + + Aunt Nellie and her Sister. -- Inhumanity of Slavery. -- + Whittier's Lines. -- Burning of the Arsenal. -- General + Sherman's Order No. 15. -- Abandoned Lands. -- General Saxton. + -- Meeting of Freedmen. -- Address of Rev. Mr. French. -- + Appearance of the Congregation. -- Rev. Mr. Houston. -- The + Slave Market. -- Commencing a Colony. -- Plans of the Freedmen. + -- The Sexton. -- The Dead from Manassas. -- The Gospel of + Slavery. -- Breaking up of Society. -- Ladies of Savannah. -- + Poor Whites of Georgia. -- Negro Dialect. -- Freedmen in + Council in the Slave Market. -- Their Battle-Hymn. -- + Civilization. -- Christianity at Work. 414 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA. + + Instructions of General Grant. -- Sherman's Plan. -- + Expectation of the Rebels. -- Grover's Division. -- His Army in + Motion. -- Howard's Advance to the Salkehatchie. -- Crossing + the River. -- Hardee retires to Branchville. -- Kilpatrick's + Movement towards Augusta. -- Consternation of the Rebels. -- + Sherman moves to Orangeburg. -- General Potter's Division. -- + Hampton's and Wheeler's Cavalry. -- Hampton's Home. -- + Columbia. -- Burning of the City. -- Sherman charges Hampton + with kindling the Fire. -- Bitterness of South-Carolinians + against General Sherman. -- Responsibility of the Rebel + Government for Outrages. 436 + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE WAR. + + The Part taken by the State in the Political Affairs of the + Nation. -- Basis of Representation. -- Classes of People. -- + Lowlanders and Uplanders. -- Climate. -- Cotton. -- Parish + System. -- Assembling of the Legislature in 1860. -- Remarks + of W. D. Porter. -- Secession Principles. -- Adjournment to + Charleston. -- Hibernia Hall. -- Rev. Dr. Thornwell's + Preaching. -- The Teachings of the Bible. -- The Province of + History. -- Negroes for Sale. -- Women of South Carolina in + Favor of Secession. -- The Charleston _Mercury_. -- The + "Patriarchal Institution". 444 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +SUMTER. + + Governor Pickens's Letter to President Buchanan. -- Major + Anderson In Sumter. -- Construction of Rebel Batteries. -- + Negotiations for the Surrender of the Fort. -- The Bombardment. + -- Scenes in Charleston after the Surrender. -- Visit to the + Fort. -- Captured Blockade-Runners. -- Condition of the Fort. + -- Scenes of the Morning. 454 + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +CHARLESTON. + + A City of Ruins. -- Our Welcome. -- Charleston before the War. + -- The Seducer of States. -- Siege of the City. -- Removal of + the People. -- Assertion of the Charleston _Courier_. -- The + Evacuation. -- Blowing up of the Ironclads. -- Firing the City. + -- Bursting the Guns. -- Twenty-First Colored Regiment. -- + Colonel Bennett occupies the City. -- Fifty-Fourth + Massachusetts extinguishing the Flames. -- "Gillmore's Town." + -- The "Swamp Angel." -- The _Courier_ Office. -- The Banks. -- + South Carolina Troops in Confederate Service. -- The Mills + House. -- The Churches. -- The great Fire of 1861. -- + Devastation. -- Slave Merchants. -- The Bell of St. Michael's. + -- The Guard-House. -- The Slave-Mart. -- Letters of the + Slave-Traders. -- Colonel Woodford in the Office of the + _Courier_. -- Sermon of Rev. Dr. Porter. -- A Yankee in his + Bed. -- Joy of the Colored People. -- "Rosa's" Mother. -- + Washington's Birthday. -- John Brown in Charleston. -- + Humiliation of the Rebels. -- Union Men. -- The Old Flag. -- + How the People were cheated. 462 + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE LAST CAMPAIGN. + + Position of Affairs. -- Grant's Letter to Sheridan. -- Cavalry + Raids. -- Sheridan's Movement to Waynesboro'. -- Attack upon + Early. -- Advance to James River. -- Moves to White House. -- + Joins Grant. -- Alarm in Richmond. -- Lee's last Offensive + Movement. -- Attack on Fort Steadman. -- Repulse of Gordon. -- + Grant's Order to "finish up" the Rebellion. -- Sherman's Visit + to Grant. -- Great Men in Council. -- Grant's Line. -- Sheridan + on the Move. -- Lee's Diversion against the Ninth Corps. -- + Night Attack. -- A Rebel Prisoner. -- A Look at the Opposing + Forces. -- Hatcher's Run. -- Lee's Line of Fortifications. -- + Grant feels like ending the Matter. -- Battle of Dinwiddie + Court-House. -- Advance of the Fifth Corps. -- Battle of Five + Forks. -- Charge of the Fifth Corps. -- Merritt's Attack. -- + Rout of the Rebels. 485 + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +RICHMOND. + + Jeff Davis a Fugitive. -- Blowing up of the Rebel Ironclads. -- + Grant in Petersburg. -- President Lincoln and the Soldiers. -- + Ride to Richmond. -- Lee's Message to Davis. -- Consternation + in Richmond. -- Rev. Messrs. Hoge and Duncan. -- The last Slave + Coffle. -- Confederate Promises to Pay. -- Scenes of Sunday + Night. -- Pillaging the City. -- Flight of the Legislature. -- + General Ewell and the Mayor in regard to burning the City. -- + The Massacre at the Almshouse. -- Firing the City. -- Departure + of the Rebel Troops. -- Breckenridge taking a last Look of the + City. -- Sunrise. -- Major Stevens and the Fourth Massachusetts + Cavalry. -- Surrender of the City. -- Raising Flags on the + Capitol. -- The Yankees putting out the Flames. -- Entrance of + General Weitzel. -- Taking a room at the Spottswood Hotel. -- + Scenes in the City on Monday. -- General Devens's Orders. -- + Visit to the Capitol. -- Admiral Farragut. -- President + Lincoln's Arrival. -- Joy of the Colored People. -- Walk to + Jeff Davis's Mansion. -- Judge Campbell. -- Admiral Porter. -- + The President's Visit to Libby Prison. -- Opinions of the + People. -- Colored Soldiers in the Service of the Rebels. -- + Lee's Opinions. -- An Abolitionist in Richmond. -- A Newspaper + Correspondent and a Rebel Officer. -- At the Capitol. -- Scenes + of the Past. -- Christian Charity. 499 + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE CONFEDERATE LOAN. + + Attitude of Great Britain. -- Sympathies of Palmerston and + Russell. -- The English Press. -- Operatives of Lancashire. -- + The London _Times_. -- Opinions of Mr. Spence. -- His + Appointment as Financial Agent. -- Address of the London + Confederate Aid Association. -- Whittier's Lines to Englishmen. + -- Mr. Mason at St. James. -- His Griefs. -- Benjamin's Letter + to Mason. -- Mr. De Leon appointed Agent to subsidize the Press + of Europe. -- Englishmen engaged in Blockade-Running. -- + English Ship-builders at work for the Slaveholders. -- Funds + needed. -- Benjamin's Letter to Spence. -- Rebel Coin shipped + in British Vessels of War. -- Slidell's Proposition for a Loan + based on Cotton. -- French intrigue to sever Texas from the + Confederacy. -- Mr. Slidell recommends D'Erlanger as a suitable + Agent to negotiate the Loan. -- D'Erlanger offers it to the + Bankers of London. -- Mr. De Leon secures the Support of the + Press. -- Opening of the Correspondence. -- D'Erlanger's + Opinion of Mr. Spence. -- Mr. Spence's Proposal. -- Rush for + Subscriptions. -- Mr. Spence's Letter to D'Erlanger. -- + Compliments of the Emperor to D'Erlanger on the Success of the + Loan. -- Jeff Davis a Repudiator. -- Rancor of the London + _Times_ in 1849. -- Eats its Words in 1863. -- Whitewashes + Davis. -- Opinions of Mr. Sampson. -- Opinions of Mr. Delaine. + -- The _Times_ in the Pay of Jeff Davis. -- How the Support of + the Newspapers was secured. -- Mr. Spence receives L6,500 as + Correspondent of the _Times_. -- Meeting of Rebels in Paris. -- + How the Loan was sustained. -- D'Erlanger's good Game. -- + Wishes for a Second Loan. -- D'Erlanger takes the Part of + Shylock. -- Trouble with McRae. -- D'Erlanger helping Himself + to Principal and Interest. -- Schroeder & Co. in the "Ring." -- + Payments of Money. -- Who was benefited. -- The present + Bondholders. 523 + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +SURRENDER OF LEE. + + The Retreat of Lee from Petersburg. -- Dejection of Rebel + Soldiers. -- Grant's Intentions. -- Lee's Line of Retreat. -- + Grant ahead of him. -- Panic among the Rebel Troops. -- Meade's + Movements. -- Battle at Sailor's Creek. -- Custar's Charge. -- + Skirmish at Farmville. -- The Race toward Lynchburg. -- + Sheridan's Movement. -- Lee's last Council of War. -- + Correspondence between Lee and Grant. -- The Meeting. -- The + Surrender. -- Announcement to the Armies. -- Pickett's Treason. + -- Rest and Peace. 543 + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +CONCLUSION. + + General Grant at City Point. -- The End of the Rebellion. 556 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + Page + Charge Through an Abatis _frontispiece_ + + The First Subscription 1 + Capitol at Washington 4 + Pro Patria 7 + Sixth Massachusetts Regiment in Baltimore 8 + Guarding Long Bridge 12 + Aid Society's Store-Room 16 + The Ideal Freedman 16 + Ladies Working for the Army 22 + Forwarded Free 29 + Ellsworth Zouave Drill 46 + General Grant--General Sherman 54 + Hauling Cotton 62 + Baltimore in 1861 75 + East Tennessee Refugees 92 + A Mississippi School-House 96 + Gunboats in Line 102 + With Dispatch 109 + General Mcclellan at Williamsburg 110 + General Mcclellan at the Battle of Antietam 114 + The Sunken Road 118 + Battle of Antietam 120 + For the Boys in Blue 121 + Slaves Fleeing to the Army for Protection 128 + A Silent Spectator 136 + Fredericksburg 140 + Franklin's Attack 155 + Tattoo 173 + The Magic Lantern in the Hospital 174 + The Christian Commission in the Field 176 + Busy Fingers 178 + Chancellorsville 188 + Battery at Chancellorsville 194 + Sedgwick's Attack 201 + Leading a Charge 204 + Salem Church 208 + "Keep Out of the Draft" 211 + Night March of Cavalry 214 + Kearny Cross 223 + The Nation's Ward 234 + A Bird's-Nest Bank 247 + Cavalry Charge 258 + Advance to Gettysburg 263 + The Color-Bearer 272 + Gettysburg Battle-field 280 + With a "Hurrah" They Rush On 296 + A Regiment at Dinner 305 + Wilderness 317 + Spottsylvania 323 + The Sanitary Commission in the Hospital 326 + North Anna 331 + Bayonet Charge 332 + Cold Harbor 334 + Negroes Coming into the Lines 344 + Foraging 348 + One Day's Labor, One Day's Income 362 + Petersburg, July 17, 1864 365 + Petersburg, July 30, 1864 368 + Army Corps Chapel Near Petersburg 368 + Ruins of Chambersburg 388 + A Lay Delegate in the Hospital 390 + Edward Everett--Mt Vernon--Savannah--The Capitol 401 + Sherman's Bummers 420 + Fort Sumter 435 + Mississippi River Hospital Steamer 443 + Battle Of Fort Sumter 444 + Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon 453 + Defence of Fort Sumter 456 + For Our Flag 461 + "John Brown" in Charleston 480 + Citizens' Volunteer Hospital 484 + Troops Destroying A Railroad 486 + Fire Ambulance 498 + Humiliation Of Richmond 506 + Farragut at Mobile 510 + President Lincoln in Richmond 512 + Abraham Lincoln 514 + U. S. Christian Commission 522 + Captain Winslow and the Kearsarge--Admiral Farragut 528 + Patriot Orphan Home, Flushing, L. I. 542 + Surrender of General Lee 544 + General Lee's Farewell 554 + Study for a Statue of Lincoln 555 + Assassination of Lincoln 556 + With a Lavish Hand 558 + + +[Illustration: The first subscription.] + +[Illustration: Capitol at Washington.] + + + + +THE BOYS OF '61. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT. + + +[Sidenote: June, 1861.] + +After four years of war our country rests in peace. The Great +Rebellion has been subdued, and the power and authority of the United +States government are recognized in all the States. It has been a +conflict of ideas and principles. Millions of men have been in arms. +Great battles have been fought. There have been deeds of sublimest +heroism and exhibitions of Christian patriotism which shall stir the +hearts of those who are to live in the coming ages. Men who at the +beginning of the struggle were scarcely known beyond their village +homes are numbered now among + + "the immortal names + That were not born to die"; + +while the names of others who once occupied places of honor and trust, +who forswore their allegiance to their country and gave themselves to +do wickedly, shall be held forever in abhorrence. + +It has been my privilege to accompany the armies of the Union through +this mighty struggle. I was an eye-witness of the first battle at Bull +Run, of Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, Island No. 10, Fort +Pillow, Memphis, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Fort Sumter, +Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Hanover Court-House, Cold +Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and Five Forks. I was in Savannah +soon after its occupation by Sherman on his great march to the sea, +and watched his movement "northward with the sun." I walked the +streets of Charleston in the hour of her deepest humiliation, and +rode into Richmond on the day that the stars of the Union were thrown +in triumph to the breeze above the Confederate Capitol. + +It seems a dream, and yet when I turn to the numerous note-books lying +before me, and read the pencilings made on the march, the +battle-field, in the hospital, and by the flickering camp-fires, it is +no longer a fancy or a picture of the imagination, but a reality. The +scenes return. I behold once more the moving columns,--their waving +banners,--the sunlight gleaming from gun-barrel and bayonet,--the +musket's flash and cannon's flame. I hear the drum-beat and the wild +hurrah! Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, Burnside, Howard, Hancock, +and Logan are leading them; while Sedgwick, Wadsworth, McPherson, +Mansfield, Richardson, Rice, Baker, Wallace, Shaw, Lowell, Winthrop, +Putnam, and thousands of patriots, are laying down their lives for +their country. Abraham Lincoln walks the streets of Richmond, and is +hailed as the Great Deliverer,--the ally of the Messiah! + +It will be my aim in this volume to reproduce some of those +scenes,--to give truthful narratives of events, descriptions of +battles, incidents of life in camp, in the hospital, on the march, in +the hour of battle on land and sea,--writing nothing in malice, not +even towards those who have fought against the Union. I shall endeavor +to give the truth of history rather than the romance; facts instead of +philosophy; to make real the scenes of the mighty struggle through +which we have passed. + +On the 11th of June, 1861, I left Boston to become an Army +Correspondent. The patriotism of the North was at flood-tide. Her +drum-beat was heard in every village. Men were leaving their own +affairs to serve their country. The stars and stripes waved from +house-top and steeple. New York was a sea of banners. Ladies wore +Union rosettes in their hair, while gentlemen's neck-ties were of +"red, white, and blue." That family was poor indeed who could neither +by cloth or colored tissue-paper manifest its love for the Union. The +music of the streets--vocal and instrumental--was "Hail Columbia" and +"Yankee Doodle." Everywhere,--in city and town and village, in Boston, +New York, and Philadelphia,--there was the same spirit manifested by +old and young, of both sexes, to put down the Rebellion, cost what it +might of blood and treasure. + +Baltimore presented a striking contrast to the other great cities. It +was dull and gloomy. The stars and stripes waved over the Eutaw House, +from the American newspaper office, where the brothers Fulton +maintained unswerving loyalty. A few other residents had thrown the +flag to the breeze, but Secession was powerful, and darkly plotted +treason. There was frequent communication with the Rebels, who were +mustering at Manassas. Business was at a stand still. The pulses of +trade had stopped. Merchants waited in vain for customers through the +long summer day. Females, calling themselves ladies, daintily gathered +up their skirts whenever they passed an officer or soldier wearing the +army blue in the streets, and manifested in other ways their utmost +contempt for all who supported the Union. + +General Butler, who had subdued the rampant Secessionists by his +vigorous measures, had been ordered to Fortress Monroe, and General +Banks had just assumed command. His head-quarters were in Fort +McHenry. A regiment of raw Pennsylvanians was encamped on the hill, by +the roadside leading to the fort. Officers and soldiers alike were +ignorant of military tactics. Three weeks previous they were following +the plough, or digging in the coal-mines, or smelting iron. It was +amusing to watch their attempts at evolution. They were drilling by +squads and companies. "Right face," shouted an officer to his squad. A +few executed the order correctly, some faced to the left, while others +faced first right, then left, and general confusion ensued. + +So, too, were the officers ignorant of proper military phrases. At one +time a captain, whose last command had been a pair of draft-horses on +his Pennsylvania farm, on coming to a pit in the road, electrified his +company by the stentorian order to "Gee round that hole." + +It was a beautiful evening, and the moon was shining brightly, when I +called upon General Banks. Outside the fort were the field batteries +belonging to the Baltimore Artillery which had been delivered up to +Governor Hicks in April. The Secessionists raved over the transaction +at the time, and in their rage cursed the Governor who turned them +over to the United States authorities. Soldiers were building abattis, +and training guns--sixty-four pounders--to bear upon the city, for +even then there were signs of an upheaval of the Secession elements, +and General Banks deemed it best to be prepared for whatever might +happen. But the Rebels on that day were moving from Harper's Ferry, +having destroyed all the property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad +Company in the vicinity. + +Passing on to Washington I found it in a hubbub. Troops were pouring +in, raw, undisciplined, yet of material to make the best soldiers in +the world,--poets, painters, artists, artisans, mechanics, printers, +men of letters, bankers, merchants, and ministers were in the ranks. +There was a constant rumble of artillery in the streets,--the jarring +of baggage-wagons, and the tramping of men. Soldiers were quartered in +the Capitol. They spread their blankets in the corridors, and made +themselves at home in the halls. Hostilities had commenced. Ellsworth +had just been carried to his last resting-place. The bodies of +Winthrop and Greble were then being borne to burial, wrapped in the +flag of their country. + +Colonel Stone, with a number of regiments, was marching out from +Washington to picket the Potomac from Washington to Point of Rocks. +General Patterson was on the upper Potomac, General McClellan and +General Rosecrans, with Virginia and Ohio troops, were driving the +Rebels from Rich Mountain, while General McDowell was preparing to +move upon Manassas. + +These were all new names to the public. Patterson had served in the +Mexican war, but the people had forgotten it. McClellan was known only +as an engineer, who had made a report concerning the proposed railroad +to the Pacific, and had visited Russia during the Crimean war. General +Wool was in New York, old and feeble, too far advanced in life to take +the field. The people were looking up to General Scott as the Hercules +of the hour. Some one had called him the "Great Captain of the Age." +He was of gigantic stature, and had fought gallantly on the Canadian +frontier in 1812, and with his well-appointed army had marched in +triumph into the City of Mexico. The events of the last war with +England, and that with Mexico, in which General Scott was always the +central figure, had been rehearsed by the stump-orators of a great +political party during an exciting campaign. His likeness was familiar +to every American. It was to be found in parlors, saloons, beer-shops, +and in all public places,--representing him as a hero in +gold-embroidered coat, epaulets, chapeau, and nodding plume. His was +the genius to direct the gathering hosts. So the people believed. He +was a Virginian, but loyal. The newspapers lauded him. + +"General Scott is watching the Rebels with sleepless vigilance," was +the not unfrequent telegraphic despatch sent from Washington. + +But he was seventy-five years of age. His powers were failing. His old +wound troubled him at times. He could walk only with difficulty, and +it tired him to ride the few rods between his house and the War +Department. He was slow and sluggish in all his thoughts and actions. +Yet the people had confidence in him, and he in himself. + +The newspapers were filled with absurd rumors and statements +concerning the movements and intentions of the Rebels. It was said +that Beauregard had sixty thousand men at Manassas. A New York paper, +having a large circulation, pictured Manassas as an impregnable +position; a plain commanded by heavy guns upon the surrounding hills! +It is indeed a plain, but the "commanding" hills are wanting. Rumor +reported that General Joseph E. Johnston, who was in the Shenandoah +valley, destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and burning the +bridges across the Potomac, had thirty thousand men; but we now know +that his whole force consisted of nine regiments, two battalions of +infantry, three hundred cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. + +It was for the interest of the Rebels to magnify their numbers and +resources. These exaggerations had their effect at the War Department +in Washington. General Butler proposed the early occupation of +Manassas, to cut off communication by rail between Richmond and upper +Virginia, but his proposition was rejected by General Scott. The +troops in and around Washington were only partially organized into +brigades. There was not much system. Everybody was full of zeal and +energy, and there was manifest impatience among the soldiers at the +inactivity of the commander-in-chief. + +The same was true of the Rebels. They were mustering at Manassas. +Regiments and battalions were pouring through Richmond. Southern women +welcomed them with sweetest smiles, presented them with fairest +flowers, and urged them on to drive the "usurper" from Washington. +Southern newspapers, from the commencement, had been urging the +capture of the Federal capital. Said the Richmond _Examiner_, of April +23d:-- + + "The capture of Washington is perfectly within the power of + Virginia and Maryland, if Virginia will only make the effort by + her constituted authorities. Nor is there a single moment to + lose. The entire population pant for the onset.... + + "From the mountain-tops and valleys to the shores of the sea, + there is one wild shout of fierce resolve to capture Washington + City, at all and every human hazard. That filthy cage of unclean + birds must and will assuredly be purified by fire.... It is not + to be endured that this flight of abolition harpies shall come + down from the black North for their roosts in the heart of the + South, to defile and brutalize the land.... Our people can take + it,--they _will_ take it,--and Scott the arch-traitor, and + Lincoln the beast, combined, cannot prevent it. The just + indignation of an outraged and deeply injured people will teach + the Illinois Ape to repeat his race and retrace his journey + across the borders of the free negro States still more rapidly + than he came; and Scott the traitor will be given the opportunity + at the same time to try the difference between Scott's tactics + and the Shanghae drill for quick movements. + + "Great cleansing and purification are needed and will be given to + that festering sink of iniquity,--that wallow of Lincoln and + Scott,--the desecrated city of Washington; and many indeed will + be the carcasses of dogs and caitiffs that will blacken the air + upon the gallows before the work is accomplished. So let it be." + +General Beauregard was the most prominent of the Rebel commanders, +having been brought before the public by the surrender of Fort Sumter. +Next in prominence were the two Johnstons, Joseph E. and Albert +Sydney, and General Bragg. Stonewall Jackson had not been heard from. +Leo had just gone over to the Rebels. He had remained with General +Scott,--his confidant and chief adviser,--till the 19th of April, and +was made commander of the Rebel forces in Virginia on the 22d. The +Convention of Virginia, then in session at Richmond, passed the +ordinance of secession on the 17th,--to be submitted to the people for +ratification or rejection five weeks later. Lee had therefore +committed an act of treason without the paltry justification of the +plea that he was following the lead of his State. + +Such was the general aspect of affairs when, in June, I received +permission from the War Department to become an army correspondent. + +[Illustration: Pro Patria.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AROUND WASHINGTON. + + +[Sidenote: June, 1861.] + +In March, 1861, there was no town in Virginia more thriving than +Alexandria; in June there was no place so desolate and gloomy. I +visited it on the 17th. Grass was growing in the streets. Grains of +corn had sprouted on the wharves, and were throwing up luxuriant +stalks. The wholesale stores were all closed; the dwelling-houses were +shut. Few of the inhabitants were to be seen. The stars and stripes +waved over the Marshall House, the place where Ellsworth fell. A mile +out from the city, on a beautiful plain, was the camp of the +Massachusetts Fifth, in which were two companies from Charlestown. +When at home they were accustomed to celebrate the anniversary of the +battle of Bunker Hill. Although now in the enemy's country, they could +not forget the day. They sat down to an ample collation. Eloquent +speeches were made, and an ode was sung, written by one of their +number. + + "Though many miles away + From home and friends to-day, + We're cheerful still; + For, brothers, side by side + We stand in manly pride, + Beneath the shadow wide + Of Bunker Hill." + +Boom--boom--boom was the quick report of far-distant cannon. What +could it be? A reconnoitring party of Ohio troops had gone up the +Loudon railroad. Had anything happened to them? There were eager +inquiries. The men fall into line, prepared for any emergency. A few +hours later the train returned, bringing back the mangled bodies of +those who fell in the ambuscade at Vienna. + +[Illustration: Sixth Massachusetts regiment in Baltimore.] + +I talked with the wounded. They were moving slowly up the road,--a +regiment on platform cars, pushed by the engine. Before reaching +Vienna an old man stepped out from the bushes making signs and +gestures for them to stop. + +"Don't go. The Rebels are at Vienna." + +"Only guerillas, I reckon," said one of the officers. + +General Schenck, who was in command, waved his hand to the engineer, +and the train moved on. Suddenly there were quick discharges of +artillery, a rattling fire of small arms, and unearthly yells from +front and flank, within an hundred yards. The unsuspecting soldiers +were riddled with solid shot, canister, and rifle-balls. Some tumbled +headlong, never to rise again. Those who were uninjured leaped from +the cars. There was great confusion. + +"Lie down!" cried some of the officers. + +"Fall in!" shouted others. + +Each did, for the moment, what seemed best. Some of the soldiers fired +at random, in the direction of the unseen enemy. Some crouched behind +the cars; others gained the shelter of the woods, where a line was +formed. + +"Why don't you fall into line?" was the sharp command of an officer to +a soldier standing beside a tree. + +"I would, sir, if I could," was the reply, and the soldier exhibited +his arm, torn by a cannon shot. + +They gathered up the wounded, carried them to the rear in blankets, +began their homeward march, while the Rebels, eleven hundred strong, +up to this moment sheltered behind a woodpile, rushed out, destroyed +the cars, and retreated to Fairfax. + +When the news reached Alexandria, a portion of the troops there were +hastily sent forward; they had a weary march. Morning brought no +breakfast, noon no dinner. A Secessionist had fled from his home, +leaving his flocks and herds behind. The Connecticut boys appropriated +one of the cows. They had no camp utensils, and were forced to broil +their steaks upon the coals. It was my first dinner in the field. Salt +was lacking, but hunger gave the meat an excellent seasoning. For +table and furniture we had the head of a barrel, a jack-knife, and a +chop-stick cut from a hazel-bush. + +Congress assembled on the 4th of July, and the members availed +themselves of the opportunity to visit the troops. Vallandigham of +Ohio, who by word and act had manifested his sympathy for the Rebels, +visited the Second Ohio, commanded by Colonel McCook, afterwards +Major-General. I witnessed the reception given him by the boys of the +Buckeye State. The officers treated him courteously, but not +cordially. Not so the men. + +"There is that d--d traitor in camp," said one, with flashing eyes. + +"He is no better than a Rebel," said another. + +"He helped slaughter our boys at Vienna the other day," said a third. + +"Let us hustle him out of camp," remarked a fourth. + +"Don't do anything rash. Let us inform him that his presence is not +desired," said one. + +A committee was chosen to wait upon Vallandigham. They performed their +duty respectfully. He heard them, and became red in the face. + +"Do you think that I am to be intimidated by a pack of blackguards +from northern Ohio?" he said. "I shall come to this camp as often as I +please,--every day if I choose,--and I give you notice that I will +have you taken care of. I shall report your insolence. I will see if a +pass from General Scott is not to be respected." + +Turning to the officers, he began to inquire the names of the +soldiers. The news that Vallandigham was there had spread throughout +the camp, and a crowd was gathering. The soldiers were sore over the +slaughter at Vienna, and began to manifest their hatred and contempt +by groans and hisses. + +"If you expect to frighten me, you have mistaken your man. I am +ashamed of you. I am sorry for the honor of the State that you have +seen fit to insult me," he said. + +"Who has the most reason to be ashamed, you of us, or we of you?" said +one of the soldiers. "We are here fighting for our country, which you +are trying to destroy. What is your shame worth? You fired at us the +other day. You helped kill our comrades. There isn't a loyal man in +the country whose cheek does not redden with shame whenever your name +is mentioned," was the indignant reply. + +Vallandigham walked into the officers' quarters. The soldiers soon +had an effigy, labelled "Vallandigham the traitor," hanging by the +neck from a tree. They riddled it with bullets, then took it down and +rode it on a rail, the fifers playing the "Rogues' March." When +Vallandigham left the camp, they gave him a farewell salute of groans +and hisses. A few of the soldiers threw onions and old boots at him, +but his person was uninjured. He did not repeat his visit. He was so +cross-grained by nature, so thorough a traitor, that through the +session of Congress and through the war he lost no opportunity to +manifest his hatred of the soldiers. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: July, 1861.] + +It was past sunset on the 9th of July, when, accompanied by a friend, +I left Alexandria for Washington in an open carriage. Nearing the Long +Bridge, an officer on horseback, in a red-flannel blouse, dashed down +upon us, saying: "I am an officer of the Garibaldi Guard; my regiment +has mutinied, and the men are on their way to Washington! I want you +to hurry past them, give notice to the guard at the Long Bridge, and +have the draw taken up." We promised to do so if possible, and soon +came upon the mutineers, who were hastening towards the bridge. They +were greatly excited. They were talking loud and boisterously in +German. Their guns were loaded. There were seven nations represented +in the regiment. Few of them could understand English. We knew that if +we could get in advance of them, the two six-pounders looking down the +Long Bridge, with grape and canister rammed home, would quell the +mutiny. We passed those in the rear, had almost reached the head of +the column, when out sprang a dozen in front of us and levelled their +guns. Click--click--click went the locks. + +"You no goes to Vashington in ze advance!" said one. + +"You falls in ze rear!" said another. + +"What does this mean?" said my friend, who was an officer. "Where is +your captain?" he asked. + +The captain came up. + +"What right have your men to stop us, sir? Who gave them authority? We +have passes, sir; explain this matter." + +The captain, a stout, thick-set German, was evidently completely +taken aback by these questions, but, after a moment's hesitation, +replied,-- + +"No, zur, they no stops you; it was von mistake, zur. They will do zo +no more." Then approaching close to the carriage, he lowered his +voice, and in a confidential tone, as if we were his best friends, +asked, "Please, zur, vill you be zo kind as to tell me vat is the +passvord?" + +"It's not nine o'clock yet. The sentinels are not posted. You need +none." + +A tall, big-whiskered soldier had been listening. He could speak +English quite well, and, evidently desiring to apologize for the +rudeness of his comrades, approached and said, "You see we +Garibaldians are having a time of it, and--" + +Here the captain gave him a vigorous push, with a "Hush!" long drawn, +which had a great deal of meaning in it. + +"I begs your pardons for ze interruption," said the captain, extending +his hand and bowing politely. + +Once more we moved on, but again the excited leaders, more furious +than before, thrust their bayonets in our faces, again saying, "You no +goes to Vashington in ze advance." One of them took deliberate aim at +my breast, his eyes glaring fiercely. + +It would have been the height of madness to disregard their +demonstration. They had reached the guard at the Virginia end of the +bridge, who, at a loss to know what it meant, allowed them to pass +unchallenged. + +[Illustration: Guarding long bridge.] + +Now that we were compelled to follow, there was time to think of +contingencies. What if our horses had started? or what if in the +darkness a soldier, grieving over his imaginary wrong, and reckless of +life, had misunderstood us? or what if the loyal officers of the +regiment remaining at Alexandria had given notice by telegraph of what +had happened, and those two cannon at the Washington end of the bridge +had poured their iron hail and leaden rain along the causeway? It was +not pleasant to think of these possibilities, but we were in for +whatever might happen; and, remembering that God's providence is +always good and never evil, we followed our escort over the bridge. +They halted on the avenue, while we rode with all speed to General +Mansfield's quarters. + +"I'll have every one of the rascals shot!" said the gray-haired +veteran commanding the forces in Washington. An hour later the +Garibaldians found themselves surrounded by five thousand infantry. +They laid down their arms when they saw it was no use to resist, were +marched back to Alexandria, and put to the hard drudgery of camp life. + + * * * * * + +The soldiers had an amusing story to tell of one of their number who +went into the lager-beer business, the sale of beer being then +allowed. A sutler put a barrel on tap, and soon had a crowd of thirsty +customers. But the head of the barrel was exposed in the rear. A +soldier spying it, soon had that end on tap, and was doing a thriving +business, selling at five cents a glass from his end of the barrel. He +had a constant run of custom. When the crowd had satisfied their +thirst, one of the soldiers approached the sutler. + +"What do you charge for a glass?" he asked. + +"Ten cents." + +"Ten cents! Why, I can get just as much as I want for five." + +"Not in this camp." + +"Yes, sir, in this camp." + +"Where, I should like to know?" + +"Right round here." + +The sutler crawled out from his tent to see about it, and stood +transfixed with astonishment when he beheld the operation at the other +end of his barrel. He was received with a hearty laugh, while the +ingenious Yankee who was drawing the lager had the impudence to ask +him if he wouldn't take a drink! + +Virginia was pre-eminently the land of a feudal aristocracy, which +prided itself on name and blood,--an aristocracy delighting to trace +its lineage back to the cavaliers of Old England, and which looked +down with haughty contempt upon the man who earned his bread by the +sweat of his brow. The original "gentleman" of Virginia possessed +great estates, which were not acquired by thrift and industry, but +received as grants through kingly favor. But a thriftless system of +agriculture, pursued unvaryingly through two centuries, had greatly +reduced the patrimony of many sons and daughters of the cavaliers, who +looked out of broken windows and rickety dwellings upon exhausted +lands, overgrown with small oaks and diminutive pines. Yet they clung +with tenacity to their pride. + +"The Yankees are nothing but old scrubs," said a little Virginia girl +of only ten years to me. + +A young lady was brought to General Tyler's head-quarters at Falls +Church to answer a charge of having given information to the enemy. +Her dress was worn and faded, her shoes were down at the heel and out +at the toes. There was nothing left of the estate of her fathers +except a mean old house and one aged negro slave. She was reduced to +absolute poverty, yet was too proud to work, and was waited upon by +the superannuated negro. + +"You are accused, madam, of having given information to the enemy," +said General Tyler. + +The lady bowed haughtily. + +"You live in this old house down here?" + +"I would have you understand, sir, that my name is Delaney. I did not +expect to be insulted!" she exclaimed, indignantly. Words cannot +describe her proud bearing. It was a manifestation of her regard for +blood, gentility, name, and her hatred of labor. The history of the +Rebellion was in that reply. + +Virginia was also the land of sirens. A captain in a Connecticut +regiment, lured by the sweet voice of a young lady, went outside of +the pickets to spend a pleasant hour; but suddenly the Philistines +were upon him, and he was a captive. Delilah mocked him as he was led +away. Walking along the picket line on the 12th of July, I found a +half-dozen Connecticut boys under a fence, keeping close watch of +Delilah's mansion. + +"There is a girl over there," said one of them, "who enticed our +captain up to the house yesterday, when he was captured. Last night +she came out and sung a song, and asked a lieutenant to go in and see +her piano and take tea; but he smelt a rat, and was shy. To-night +there are four of us going to creep up close to the house, and he is +going in to see the piano." + +The trap was set, but the Rebels did not fall into it. + +The pickets brought in a negro, one of the first contrabands who came +into the lines of the army of the Potomac. He was middle-aged, tall, +black, and wore a checked cotton shirt and slouched hat. His boots +were as sorry specimens of old leather as ever were worn by human +beings. He came up timidly to head-quarters, guarded by two soldiers. +He made a low bow to the General, not only with his head, but with his +whole body and legs, ending the _salaam_ with a scrape of his left +foot, rolling his eyes and grinning from ear to ear. + +"What is your name?" asked the General. + +"Sam Allston, sah." + +"Who do you belong to?" + +"I belongs to Massa Allston, sah, from Souf Carolina." + +"Where is your master?" + +"He be at Fairfax; he belong to Souf Carolina regiment, sah." + +"How came you here?" + +"Why, ye see, General, massa told me to go out and buy some chickens, +and I come right straight down here, sah." + +"You didn't expect to buy them here, did you?" + +"No, sah; but I thought I would like to see de Yankees." + +"I reckon I shall have to send you back, Sam." + +This was said not seriously, but to test Sam's sincerity. + +"I don't want to go back, sah. Wouldn't go back no how if I could help +it; rather go a thousand miles away up Norf than go down Souf, sah. +They knock me about down there. Massa whipped me last week, for +talking with de other niggers about de war. O massa, don't send me +back again! I'll do anything for you, massa." + +He was the picture of anguish, and stood wringing his hands while the +tears rolled down his cheeks. Freedom, with all its imagined +blessings, was before him; slavery, with all its certain horrors, +behind him. + +The General questioned him about the Rebels. + +"They say they will whip you Yankees. Dere's right smart chance of 'em +at Fairfax, General Bonham in command. Souf Carolina is kinder mad at +you Yankees. But now dey is kinder waiting for you to come, though +they be packing up their trunks, as if getting ready to move." + +All of his stories corroborated previous intelligence, and his +information was of value. + +"Well, Sam, I won't send you back," said the General. "You may go +where you please about the camp." + +"De Lord God Almighty bless you, sah!" was the joyful exclamation. +There was no happier man in the world than Sam Allston that night. He +had found that which his soul most longed for,--Freedom! + +[Illustration: Aid Society's store-room.] + +[Illustration: The ideal freedman.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BULL RUN. + + +[Sidenote: July, 1861.] + +At noon, on the 17th of July, the troops under General McDowell took +up their line of march toward Fairfax, without baggage, carrying three +days' rations in their haversacks. One division, under General Tyler, +which had been encamped at Falls Church, marched to Vienna, while the +other divisions, moving from Alexandria, advanced upon Fairfax +Court-House. + +It was a grand pageant, the long column of bayonets and high-waving +flags. Union men whose homes were at Fairfax accompanied the march. +"It does my eyes good to see the troops in motion at last," said one. +"I have been exiled seven weeks. I know nothing about my family, +although I have been within a dozen miles of them all the time. I came +from the North three years ago. The Secessionists hated me, they +threatened to hang me, and I had to leave mighty sudden." + +The head of General Tyler's column reached Vienna at sunset. The +infantry turned into the fields, while the artillery took positions on +the hills. Near the railroad was a large woodpile, behind which the +South Carolinians took shelter, when they fired upon the Ohio boys on +the cars. It was convenient for bivouac fires, and the men helped +themselves willingly. There I received instructions from Captain +Alexander, of the engineers, an old campaigner in Mexico, which, +during the four years of the war, I have never forgotten. + +"Always sleep on the lee side of your bivouac fire," he said. "The +fire dries the ground, the heat envelopes you like a blanket; it will +keep off fever and ague. Better endure the discomfort of the smoke, +better look like a Cincinnati ham, than to feel an ache in every bone +in the morning, which you will be likely to feel if you spread your +blankets on the windward side, for then you have little benefit of the +heat, but receive the full rush of the air, which chills you on one +side, while you are roasting on the other." It was wise counsel, and +by heeding it I have saved my bones from many an ache. + +It was at this place that a very laughable incident occurred. One of +the citizens of Vienna had a bee-house well stocked with hives. A +soldier espied them. He seized a hive and ran. Out came the bees, +buzzing about his ears. Another soldier, thinking to do better, upset +his hive, and seized the comb, dripping with honey. Being also hotly +besieged, he dropped it, ran his hands through his hair, slapped his +face, swung his arms, and fought manfully. Other soldiers seeing what +was going on, and anxious to secure a portion of the coveted sweets, +came up, and over went the half-dozen hives. The air was full of +enraged insects, which stung men and horses indiscriminately, and +which finally put a whole regiment to flight. + +The Southern newspapers at this time were "firing the Southern heart," +as they phrased it, by picturing the vandalism of the North. +Beauregard, on the 5th of June, at Manassas, issued a manifesto +addressed "to the people of the counties of Loudon, Fairfax, and +Prince William." Thus it read:-- + + "A reckless and unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. + Abraham Lincoln, regardless of all moral, legal, and + constitutional restraints, has thrown his abolition hosts among + you, who are murdering and imprisoning your citizens, + confiscating and destroying your property, and committing other + acts of violence and outrage too shocking and revolting to + humanity to be enumerated. + + "All rules of civilized warfare are abandoned, and they proclaim + by their acts, if not on their banners, that their war cry is + 'Beauty and Booty.' All that is dear to man,--your honor, and + that of your wives and daughters,--your fortunes and your lives, + are involved in this momentous conflict." + +In contrast to this fulmination of falsehoods, General McDowell had +issued an order on the 2d of June, three days previous, directing +officers to transmit statements on the following points:-- + + "_First._ The quantity of land taken possession of for the + several field-works, and the kind and value of the crops growing + thereon, if any. _Second._ The quantity of land used for the + several encampments, and the kind and value of the growing + crops, if any. _Third._ The number, size, and character of the + buildings appropriated to public purposes. _Fourth._ The quantity + and value of trees cut down. _Fifth._ The kind and extent of + fencing destroyed. These statements will, as far as possible, + give the value of the property taken, or of the damage sustained, + and the name or names of the owners."[1] + + [Footnote 1: McDowell's Order.] + +A portion of the troops bivouacked in an oat-field, where the grain +was standing in shocks, and some of the artillerymen appropriated the +convenient forage. + +The owner was complaining bitterly of the devastations. "They have +taken my grain, and I want my pay for it," he said to me. + +"Are you a Union man?" I asked. + +"I was for the Union till Virginia seceded, and of course had to go +with her; but whether I am a Union man or not, the government is bound +to respect private property," he replied. + +At that moment General Tyler rode past. + +"Say, General, ain't you going to pay me for my property which your +soldiers destroyed?" + +"There is my quartermaster; he will settle it with you." + +The man received a voucher for whatever had been taken. The column +took up its line of march, passed through a narrow belt of woods, and +reached a hill from which Fairfax Court-House was in full view. A +Rebel flag was waving over the town. There were two pieces of Rebel +artillery in a field, a dozen wagons in park, squads of soldiers in +sight, horsemen galloping in all directions. Nearer, in a meadow was a +squadron of cavalry on picket. I stood beside Captain (since General) +Hawley of Connecticut, commanding the skirmishers. + +"Let me take your Sharpe's rifle," said he to a soldier. He rested it +on the fence, ran his eye along the barrel, and fired. The nearest +Rebel horseman, half a mile distant, slipped from his horse in an +instant, and fell upon the ground. It was the first shot fired by the +grand army on the march towards Manassas. The other troopers put spurs +to their horses and fled towards Fairfax, where a sudden commotion was +visible. + +"The Rebels are in force just ahead!" said an officer who had +advanced a short distance into the woods. + +"First and second pieces into position," said Captain Varian, +commanding a New York battery. The horses leaped ahead, and in a +moment the two pieces were pointing toward Fairfax. The future +historian, or the traveller wandering over the battle-fields of the +Rebellion, who may be curious to know where the first cannon-shots +were fired, will find the locality at Flint Hill, at that time the +site of a small school-house. The cannon were on either side of the +building. + +"Load with shell," was the order, and the cartridges went home in an +instant. + +Standing behind the pieces and looking directly along the road under +the shadow of the overhanging trees, I could see the Rebels in a +hollow beyond a farm-house. The shells went screaming towards them, +and in an instant they disappeared, running into the woods, casting +away blankets, haversacks, and other equipments. + +The column moved on. The occupants of the house met us with joyful +countenances. The good woman, formerly from New Jersey, brought out a +pan of milk, at which we took a long pull. + +"I can't take pay; it is pay enough to see your countenances," she +said. + +Turning from Fairfax road the troops moved toward Germantown, north of +Fairfax,--a place of six miserable huts, over one of which the +Confederate flag was flying. Bonham's brigade of South Carolinians was +there. Ayer's battery galloped into position. A shell was sent among +them. They were about leaving, having been ordered to retreat by +Beauregard. The shell accelerated their movements. Camp equipage, +barrels of flour, clothing, entrenching tools, were left behind, and +we made ourselves merry over their running. + +Those were the days of romance. War was a pastime, a picnic, an +agreeable diversion. + +A gray-haired old negro came out from his cabin, rolling his eyes and +gazing at the Yankees. + +"Have you seen any Rebels this morning?" we asked. + +"Gosh a'mighty, massa! Dey was here as thick as bees, ges 'fore you +cum; but when dat ar bumshell cum screaming among 'em, dey ran as if +de Ole Harry was after 'em." + +All of this, the flight of the Rebels, the negro's story, was +exhilarating to the troops, who more than ever felt that the march to +Richmond was going to be a nice affair. + +On the morning of the 18th the head of the column entered Centreville, +once a thrifty place, where travellers from the western counties found +convenient rest on their journeys to Washington and Alexandria. Its +vitality was gone. The houses were old and poor. Although occupying +one of the most picturesque situations in the world, it was in the +last stages of decay. + +A German met us with a welcome. Negro women peeped at us through the +chinks of the walls where the clay had fallen out. At a large +two-story house, which in former days reflected the glory of the Old +Dominion, sat a man far gone with consumption. He had a pitiful story +to tell of his losses by the Rebels. + +Here we saw the women of Centreville, so accomplished in the practice +of snuff-dipping, filling their teeth and gums with snuff, and passing +round the cup with one swab for the company! + +Richardson's brigade turned towards Blackburn's ford. Suddenly there +was a booming of artillery, followed by a sharp skirmish, which +Beauregard in his Report calls the first battle of Manassas. This was +in distinction from that fought on the 21st, which is generally known +as the battle of Bull Run. + +It was a reconnoissance on the part of General Tyler to feel the +position of the enemy. It might have been conducted more adroitly, +without sacrifice. Under cover of skirmishers and artillery, their +positions would have been ascertained; no doubt their batteries could +have been carried if suitable arrangements had been made. But the long +cannonading brought down hosts of reinforcements from Manassas. And +when too late, three or four regiments were ordered down to the +support of the Union troops. + +The First Massachusetts received the hottest of the fire. One soldier +in the thickest of the fight was shot; he passed his musket to his +comrade, saying, "It is all right, Bill," and immediately expired. The +soldier standing next to Lieutenant-Colonel Wells, received two shots +in his arm. He handed his gun to the Colonel, saying, "Here, I can't +use it; take it and use it." A great many of the soldiers had their +clothes shot through. One had three balls in his coat, but came out +unharmed. + +As it is not intended that this volume shall be a history of the war, +but rather a panorama of it, we must pass briefly in review the first +great battle of the war at Bull Run, and the flight to Washington. + +The day was calm and peaceful. Everywhere save upon the heights of +Centreville and the plains of Manassas it was a day of rest. + + "I'll tell you what I heard that day,-- + I heard the great guns far away, + Boom after boom!" + +Long before sunrise the troops of the attacking column rose from their +bivouac and moved away towards the west. The sun had but just risen +when Benjamin's batteries were thundering at Blackburn's ford, and +Tyler was pressing upon the Stone Bridge. It was past eight o'clock +before the first light ripple of musketry was heard at Sudley Springs, +where Burnside was turning the left flank of the Rebels. Then came the +opening of the cannonade and the increasing roar as regiment after +regiment fell into line, and moved southward, through the thickets of +pine. Sharp and clear above the musketry rose the cheers of the +combatants. + +"If you whip us, you will lick ninety thousand men. We have Johnston's +army with us. Johnston came yesterday, and a lot more from Richmond," +said a prisoner, boastfully. + +Onward pressed the Union troops, success attending their arms. The +battle was going in our favor. It was a little past three o'clock, +when, standing by the broken-down stone bridge which the Rebels had +destroyed, I had a full view of the action going on near Mrs. Henry's +house. The field beyond the Rebel line was full of stragglers. + +[Illustration: Ladies working for the Army.] + +A correspondent of the Charleston _Mercury_ thus writes of the aspect +of affairs in the Rebel lines at that moment:-- + + "When I entered the field at two o'clock the fortunes of the day + were dark. The regiments so badly injured, or wounded and worn, + as they staggered out gave gloomy pictures of the scene. We could + not be routed, perhaps, but it is doubtful whether we were + destined to a victory." + +"All seemed about to be lost," wrote the correspondent of the Richmond +_Dispatch_. There was a dust-cloud in the west. I saw it rising over +the distant woods, approaching nearer each moment. A few moments later +the fatal mistake of Major Barry was made.[2] Griffin and Ricketts +could have overwhelmed the newly arrived troops, less than three +regiments, with canister. But it was not so to be. One volley from the +Rebels, and the tide of affairs was reversed; and the Union army, +instead of being victor, was vanquished. + + [Footnote 2: See "Days and Nights on the Battle-Field," p. + 58.] + +A few moments before the disaster by Mrs. Henry's house, I walked past +General Schenck's brigade, which was standing in the road a few rods +east of the bridge. A Rebel battery beyond the run was throwing +shells, one of which ploughed through the Second Ohio, mangling two +soldiers, sprinkling their warm blood upon the greensward. + +While drinking at a spring, there was a sudden uproar, a rattling of +musketry, and one or two discharges of artillery. Soldiers streamed +past, throwing away their guns and equipments. Ayer's battery dashed +down the turnpike. A baggage wagon was hurled into the ditch in a +twinkling. A hack from Washington, which had brought out a party of +Congressmen, was splintered to kindlings. Drivers cut their horses +loose and fled in precipitate haste. Instinct is quick to act. There +was no time to deliberate, or to obtain information. A swift pace for +a half-mile placed me beyond Cub Run, where, standing on a knoll, I +had a good opportunity to survey the sight, painful, yet ludicrous to +behold. The soldiers, as they crossed the stream, regained their +composure and fell into a walk. But the panic like a wave rolled over +Centreville to Fairfax. The teamsters of the immense wagon train threw +bags of coffee and corn, barrels of beef and pork, and boxes of bread, +upon the ground, and fled in terror towards Alexandria. The fright was +soon over. The lines at Centreville were in tolerable order when I +left that place at five o'clock. + +Experience is an excellent teacher, though the tuition is sometimes +expensive. There has been no repetition of the scenes of that +afternoon during the war. The lesson was salutary. The Rebels on +several occasions had the same difficulty. At Fair Oaks, Glendale, and +Malvern we now know how greatly demoralized they became. No troops are +exempt from the liability of a panic. Old players are not secure from +stage fright. The coolest surgeon cannot always control his nerves. +The soldiers of the Union in the battle of Bull Run were not cowards. +They fought resolutely. The contest was sustained from early in the +morning till three in the afternoon. The troops had marched from +Centreville. The heat had been intense. Their breakfast was eaten at +one o'clock in the morning. They were hungry and parched with thirst, +yet they pushed the Rebels back from Sudley Springs, past the turnpike +to the hill by Mrs. Henry's. + +There is abundant evidence that the Rebels considered the day as lost, +when Kirby Smith arrived. + +Says the writer in the Richmond _Dispatch_, alluded to above:-- + + "They pressed our left flank for several hours with terrible + effect, but our men flinched not till their numbers had been so + diminished by the well-aimed and steady volleys that they were + compelled to give way for new regiments. The Seventh and Eighth + Georgia Regiments are said to have suffered heavily. + + "Between two and three o'clock large numbers of men were leaving + the field, some of them wounded, others exhausted by the long + struggle, who gave us gloomy reports; but as the fire on both + sides continued steadily, we felt sure that our brave Southerners + had not been conquered by the overwhelming hordes of the North. + It is, however, due to truth to say that the result of this hour + hung trembling in the balance. We had lost numbers of our most + distinguished officers. Generals Bartow and Bee had been stricken + down; Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson of the Hampton Legion had been + killed; Colonel Hampton had been wounded. + + "Your correspondent heard General Johnson exclaim to General + Cocke just at the critical moment, 'O for four regiments!' His + wish was answered, for in the distance our reinforcements + appeared. The tide of battle was turned in our favor by the + arrival of General Kirby Smith from Winchester, with four + thousand men of General Johnson's division. General Smith heard + while on the Manassas Railroad cars the roar of battle. He + stopped the train, and hurried his troops across the field to + the point just where he was most needed. They were at first + supposed to be the enemy, their arrival at that point of the + field being entirely unexpected. The enemy fell back and a panic + seized them." + +Smith had about seventeen hundred men instead of four thousand, but he +came upon the field in such a manner, that some of the Union officers +supposed it was a portion of McDowell's troops. Smith was therefore +permitted to take a flanking position within close musket-shot of +Rickett's and Griffin's batteries unmolested. One volley, and the +victory was changed to defeat. Through chance alone it seemed, but +really through Providence, the Rebels won the field. The cavalry +charge, of which so much was said at the time, was a feeble affair. +The panic began the moment that Smith opened upon Ricketts and +Griffin. The cavalry did not advance till the army was in full +retreat. + +It is laughable to read the accounts of the battle published in the +Southern papers. The Richmond _Dispatch_ has a letter written from +Manassas 23d July, which has throughout evidences of candor, and yet +this writer says, "We have captured sixty-seven pieces of artillery," +while we had only thirty-eight guns on the field. Most necromancers +have the ability to produce hens' eggs without number from a +mysterious bag, but how they could capture sixty-seven pieces of +cannon, when McDowell had but thirty-eight, is indeed remarkable. The +same writer asserts that we carried into action the Palmetto State and +the Confederate flags. + +Here is the story of a wonderful cannon-ball. Says the writer: "A +whole regiment of the enemy appeared in sight, going at double-quick +down the Centreville road. Major Walton immediately ordered another +shot. With the aid of our glass we could see them about two miles off. +There was no obstruction, and the whole front of the regiment was +exposed. _One half were seen to fall_, and if General Johnston had not +at that moment sent an order to cease firing, nearly the whole +regiment would have been killed!" The half that did not fall ought to +be grateful to Major Walton for not firing a second shot. The writer +says in conclusion: "Thus did fifteen thousand men, with eighteen +pieces of artillery, drive back ingloriously a force exceeding +thirty-five thousand, supported by nearly one hundred pieces of +cannon. We have captured nine hundred prisoners, sixty-seven pieces of +cannon, Armstrong guns and rifled cannon, hundreds of wagons, loads of +provisions and ammunition." + +One writer asserted that thirty-two thousand pairs of handcuffs were +taken, designed for Rebel prisoners! This absurd statement was +believed throughout the South. In January, 1862, while in Kentucky, I +met a Southern lady who declared that it must be true, for she had +seen a pair of the handcuffs! + +The war on the part of the North was undertaken to uphold the +Constitution and the Union, but the battle of Bull Run set men to +thinking. Four days after the battle, in Washington I met one who all +his lifetime had been a Democrat, standing stanchly by the South till +the attack on Sumter. Said he: "I go for liberating the niggers. We +are fighting on a false issue. The negro is at the bottom of the +trouble. The South is fighting for the negro, and nothing else. They +use him to defeat us, and we shall be compelled to use him to defeat +them." + +These sentiments were gaining ground. General Butler had retained the +negroes who came into his camp, calling them "contraband of war." Men +were beginning to discuss the propriety of not only retaining, but of +seizing, the slaves of those who were in arms against the government. +The Rebels were using them in the construction of fortifications. Why +not place them in the category with gunpowder, horses, and cattle? The +reply was, "We must respect the Union people of the South." But where +were the Union people? + +There were some in Western Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and +Missouri; but very few in Eastern Virginia. At Centreville there was +one man in the seedy village who said he was for the Union: he was a +German. At a farm-house just out of the village, I found an old +New-Yorker, who was for the Union; but the mass of the people, men, +women, and children, had fled,--their minds poisoned with tales of the +brutality of Northern soldiers. The mass of the people bore toward +their few neighbors, who still stood for the Union, a most implacable +hatred. I recall the woebegone look which overspread the countenance +of a good woman at Vienna on Sunday night, when, as she gave me a +draught of milk, I made a plain, candid statement of the disaster +which had befallen our army. Her husband had been a friend to the +Federal army, had given up his house for officers' quarters; had +suffered at the hands of the Rebels; had once been obliged to flee, +leaving his wife and family of six children, all of tender age, and +the prospect was gloomy. He had gone to bed, to forget in sleep, if +possible, the crushing blow. It was near midnight, but the wife and +mother could not sleep. She was awake to every approaching footstep, +heard every sound, knowing that within a stone's throw of the dwelling +there were those, in former times fast friends, who now would be among +the first to hound her and her little ones from the place; and why? +because they loved the Union! + +What had produced this bitterness? There could be but one +answer,--Slavery. It was clear that, sooner or later, the war would +become one of emancipation,--freedom to the slave of every man found +in arms against the government, or in any way aiding or abetting +treason. How seductive, how tyrannical this same monster Slavery! + +Three years before the war, a young man, born and educated among the +mountains of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, graduating at Williams +College, visited Washington, and called upon Mr. Dawes, member of +Congress from Massachusetts, to obtain his influence in securing a +position at the South as a teacher. Mr. Dawes knew the young man, son +of a citizen of high standing, respected not only as a citizen, but in +the highest branch of the Legislature of the State in former times, +and gladly gave his influence to obtain the situation. A few days +after the battle Mr. Dawes visited the Old Capitol prison to see the +prisoners which had been brought in. To his surprise he found among +them the young man from Berkshire, wearing the uniform of a Rebel. + +"How could you find it in your heart to fight against the flag of your +country, to turn your back upon your native State, and the +institutions under which you have been trained?" he asked. + +"I didn't want to fight against the flag, but I was compelled to." + +"How compelled?" + +"Why, you see, they knew I was from the North; and if I hadn't +enlisted, the ladies would have presented me with a petticoat." + +He expressed himself averse to taking the oath of allegiance. It was +only when allusion was made to his parents--the poignant grief which +would all but break his mother's heart, were she to hear of him as a +soldier in the traitors' lines,--that he gave way, and his eyes filled +with tears. He could turn against his country, his State, the +institutions of freedom, because his heart was in the South, because +he had dreaded the finger of scorn which would have cowed him with a +petticoat, but he could not blot out the influence of a mother's love, +a mother's patriotism. He had not lived long enough under the hot +breath of the simoom to have all the early associations withered and +crisped. The mention of "mother" made him a child again. + +With him was another Massachusetts man, who had been South many years, +and who was more intensely Southern than himself. Another young man, a +South Carolinian, was a law student in Harvard College when his State +seceded. He went home to enlist. "If it had not been for the war I +should now be taking my degree," said he. He was rejoicing over the +result of the battle. + +Slavery is not only tyrannical, but it is corrupting to morals. The +Secessionists of St. Joseph, Missouri, in their eagerness to +precipitate a Kansas regiment to destruction, burned a bridge on the +Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, a few miles east of St. Joseph. The +train left the city at three o'clock in the morning, and reached the +bridge before daybreak. The regiment was not on board, and instead of +destroying a thousand Union soldiers, a large number of the citizens +of St. Joseph,--with women and children, friends and neighbors of the +Secessionists,--were plunged into the abyss! + +The action of these Missouri barbarians was applauded by the +Secessionists of Washington. A friend came into my room late one +evening in great excitement. + +"What is the matter?" + +"I am sick at heart," said he, "at what I have heard. I called upon +some of my female acquaintances to-night. I knew that they were +Secessionists, but did not think that they were so utterly corrupt as +I find them to be. They are refined, intelligent, and have moved in +the first society of Washington. They boldly declared that it was +justifiable to destroy that railroad train in Missouri; that it is +right to poison wells, or violate oaths of allegiance, to help on the +cause of the South!" + +The bitterness of the women of the South during the Rebellion is a +strange phenomenon, without a parallel in history. For the women of +Ireland, who in the rebellion of '98 cut off the heads of English +residents, and chopped up their victims by piecemeal, were from the +bogs and fens,--one remove only from the beasts; but these women of +the South lay claims to a superior culture. It is one thing to be +devoted heart and soul to a cause, but it is quite another to advance +it at the cost of civilization, Christianity, and the womanly virtues. + +The assertion that all women of the South thus gave themselves over to +do wickedly, would be altogether too sweeping; a large portion may be +included. Mrs. Greenhow and Belle Boyd have written out some of their +exploits and machinations for the overthrow of the Union. With them, a +false oath or any measure of deceit, was praiseworthy, if it would but +aid the Secession cause. They are fair representatives of the females +of the South. + +[Illustration: Forwarded free.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE FALL OF 1861. + + +[Sidenote: Oct., 1861.] + +The months of August and September passed away without any action on +the part of General McClellan, who had been appointed commander of the +Army of the Potomac. + +The disaster at Ball's Bluff occurred on the 21st of October, just +three months after the battle of Bull Run. On the afternoon of the 22d +the news was whispered in Washington. Riding at once with a +fellow-correspondent, Mr. H. M. Smith of the Chicago _Tribune_, to +General McClellan's head-quarters, and entering the anteroom, we found +President Lincoln there. I had met him on several occasions, and he +was well acquainted with my friend. He greeted us cordially, but sat +down quickly, rested his head upon his hand, and seemed to be +unusually agitated. His eyes were sunken, his countenance haggard, his +whole demeanor that of one who was in trouble. + +"Will you please step in here, Mr. President," said an orderly from an +adjoining room, from whence came the click of the telegraph. He soon +came out, with his hands clasped upon his breast, his head bowed, his +body bent as if he were carrying a great burden. He took no notice of +any one, but with downcast eyes and faltering steps passed into the +street and towards the Executive mansion. + +"We have met with a sad disaster. Fifteen hundred men lost, and +Colonel Baker killed," said General Marcy. + +It was that which had overwhelmed the President. Colonel Baker was his +personal friend. They had long been intimately acquainted. In speaking +of that event afterwards, Mr. Lincoln said that it smote him like a +whirlwind in a desert. Few men have been appointed of God to bear such +burdens as were laid upon President Lincoln. A distracted country, a +people at war, all the foundations of society broken up; the cares, +trials, and perplexities which came every day without cessation, +disaster upon disaster, the loss of those he loved,--Ellsworth, Baker, +and his own darling Willie. A visitor at the White House the day of +Ellsworth's death found him in tears. + +"I will make no apology, gentlemen," said he, "for my weakness; but I +knew poor Ellsworth well, and held him in great regard. Just as you +entered the room, Captain Fox left me, after giving me the painful +details of Ellsworth's unfortunate death. The event was so unexpected, +and the recital so touching, that it quite unmanned me. Poor fellow," +he added, "it was undoubtedly a rash act, but it only shows the heroic +spirit that animates our soldiers, from high to low, in this righteous +cause of ours. Yet who can restrain grief to see them fall in such a +way as this,--not by the fortunes of war, but by the hand of an +assassin?" + +The first time I ever saw Mr. Lincoln was the day after his nomination +by the Chicago Convention. I accompanied the committee appointed to +inform him of the action of the Convention to Springfield. It was +sunset when we reached the plain, unpretentious two-story +dwelling,--his Springfield home. Turning to the left as we entered the +hall, and passing into the library, we stood in the presence of a tall +man, with large features, great, earnest eyes, a countenance which, +once looked upon, forever remembered. He received the committee with +dignity and yet with evident constraint of manner. The address of Mr. +Ashmun, chairman of the committee, was brief, and so was Mr. Lincoln's +reply. Then followed a general introduction of the party. + +There was a pitcher of ice-water and goblets on a stand, but there +were no liquors. The next morning a citizen narrated the following +incident. + +When the telegraph informed Mr. Lincoln's neighbors that the committee +were on their way, a few of his friends called upon him to make +arrangements for their reception. + +"You must have some refreshments prepared," said they. + +"O certainly, certainly. What shall I get?" + +"You will want some brandy, whiskey, wines, &c." + +"I can't do that, gentlemen. I never have kept liquors, and I can't +get them now." + +"Well, we will supply them." + +"No, gentlemen, I can't permit you to do what I would not do myself. I +will furnish good water and enough of it, but no liquors." + +He adhered to his decision; and thus at the beginning of the contest +gave an exhibition of that resoluteness of character, that +determination of will to adhere to what he felt was right, which was +of such inestimable value to the nation, in carrying the cause of the +Union triumphantly through all the dark days of the Rebellion. + + * * * * * + +It was sunset when Mr. Smith and myself reached Poolsville, after a +rapid horseback ride from Washington. The quartermasters were issuing +clothing to those who had cast away their garments while swimming the +river. The night was cold. There had been a heavy fall of rain, and +the ground was miry. It was a sad spectacle, those half-naked, +shivering soldiers, who had lost everything,--clothes, equipments, and +arms. They were almost heart-broken at the disaster. + +"I enlisted to fight," said one, "but I don't want to be slaughtered. +O my God! shall I ever forget that sight, when the boat went down?" He +covered his face with his hands, as if to shut out the horrid +spectacle. + +Colonel Baker was sent across the river with the Fifteenth and +Twentieth Massachusetts, a portion of the Tammany Regiment of New +York, and the California regiment, Colonel Baker's own, in all about +fifteen hundred men. His means of communication were only an old scow +and two small boats. He was left to fight unassisted four thousand +Rebels. Soon after he fell, there was a sudden rush to the boats, +which, being overloaded, were instantly swamped. The Rebels had it all +their own way, standing upon the bank and shooting the drowning men. +Colonel Baker's body had been brought off, and was lying at +Poolsville. The soldiers of his own regiment were inconsolable. + +Poolsville is an insignificant village, situated in one of the richest +agricultural districts of Maryland, surrounded by gentle swells of +land, wooded vales, verdant slopes, broad fields, with the far-off +mountain ranges and sweeping Potomac,--that combination which would be +the delight of a painter who loves quiet rural scenery. The soil is +fertile, and needs only good culture to yield an hundred-fold. Amid +such native richness stands the village,--a small collection of +nondescript houses, with overhanging roofs, wide porticos, or sheds +which answer for piazzas, mammoth chimneys, built outside the edifice, +as if they were afterthoughts when the houses were constructed. The +streets are narrow, and the dwellings are huddled together as if there +were but one corner lot, and all were trying to get as close to it as +possible, reminding one of a crowd of boys round the old-fashioned +fireplace of a country school-house on a winter's morning. There is +not a new house in the place. The newest one was built many years ago. +You look in vain for neat white cottages, with well-kept grounds. You +are astonished at the immense number of old wagons and carriages, with +rickety tops, torn canvas, broken wheels, shafts, and battered +bodies,--of old lumber-carts and other weather-beaten vehicles under +skeleton sheds. Look where you will, you come to the conclusion that +time has sucked out the juice of everything. There is no freshness, no +sign of a renewal of life or of present vitality. There are a small +church, and two seedy, needy taverns,--mean-looking, uninviting +places, each with its crowd of idle men, canvassing the state of +public affairs. + +Such was the village in 1861. The streets were alive with "little +images of God cut in ebony," as Mrs. Stowe calls a negro child. Many +of the "images," however, by contact with the Anglo-Saxon race, +through Slavery, had become almost white. There were three or four +hundred inhabitants, a few wealthy, with many poor. + +We found accommodations at the best private residence in the place. +The owner had a number of outlying farms, and was reported to be very +wealthy. He was courteous, and professed to be a Union man. He was +disposing of his hay and grain to the United States government, +receiving the highest prices at his own door. Yet when conversing with +him, he said, "your army," "your troops," as if he were a foreigner. A +funeral procession passed the house,--a company of the Massachusetts +Fifteenth, bearing to the village graveyard a comrade, who had laid +down his life for his country at Ball's Bluff. Said the wife of my +host to a friend as they passed: "_Their_ government has got money +enough, and ought to take the bodies away; we don't want them buried +here; it will make the place unhealthy." These expressions revealed +one thing: that between them and the Federal Union and the +Constitution there was no bond of unity. There was no nationality +binding us together. Once they would not have spoken of the army of +the United States as "your army." What had caused this alienation? +Slavery. An ebony-hued chattel kindled my fire in the morning and +blacked my boots. A yellow chattel stood behind my chair at breakfast. +A stout chattel, worth twelve hundred dollars, groomed my horse. There +were a dozen young chattels at play upon the piazza. My host was an +owner of human flesh and blood. That made him at heart a Secessionist. +The army had not interfered with Slavery. Slaves found their way into +the camp daily, and were promptly returned to their professedly loyal +masters. Yet the presence of the troops was odious to the +slaveholders. + +In the quiet of affairs around Washington I visited Eastern Maryland, +accompanied by two members of the press. The Rebels had closed the +navigation of the Potomac by erecting batteries at Cockpit Point. +General Hooker's division was at Budd's Ferry, Port Tobacco, and other +places down the river. It was the last day of October,--one of the +loveliest of the year,--when we started upon our excursion. + +No description can convey an idea of the incomparable loveliness of +the scenery,--the broad river, with the slow-moving sail-boats, the +glassy, unruffled surface, reflecting canvas, masts, and cordage, the +many-colored hills, rich with autumnal tints, the marble piles of the +city, the broad streets, the more distant Georgetown, the thousands of +white tents near and far away, with all the nice shading and blending +of varied hue in the mellow light. On every hilltop we lingered to +enjoy the richness of nature, and to fix in memory the picture which, +under the relentless hand of war, would soon be robbed of its peculiar +charms. + +Ten miles out and all was changed. The neat, tasteful, comfortable +residences were succeeded by the most dilapidated dwellings. The +fields, green with verdure, gave place to sandy barrens. To say that +everybody and everything were out at the elbows and down at the heels +is not sufficient. One must see the old buildings,--the crazy roofs, +the unglazed windows, the hingeless doors, the rotting stoops, the +reeling barns and sheds, leaning in every direction, as if all were in +drunken carousal,--the broken fences, the surrounding lumber,--of +carts, wagons, and used-up carriages, to obtain a correct idea of this +picture, so strongly and painfully in contrast to that from the +hill-tops overlooking the capital of the country. + +The first stopping-place for travellers is the "White Horse." We had +heard much of the White Horse, and somehow had great expectations, or +rather an undefined notion that Clark Mills or some other artist had +sculptured from white marble a steed balanced on his hind legs and +leaping toward the moon, like that in front of the Presidential +mansion; but our great expectations dwindled like Pip's, when we +descended a hill and came upon a whitewashed, one-story building,--a +log-house, uninviting to man or beast. A poplar in front of the +domicile supported a swinging sign, on which the country artist had +displayed his marvellous skill in painting a white horse standing on +two legs. It was time for dinner, and the landlady spread the table +for her guests. There was no gold-tinted bill of fare, with +unpronounceable French phrases, no long line of sable waiters in white +aprons. My memory serves me as to the fare. + + Pork, Pone, Potatoes. + +The pork was cold, pone ditto, potatoes also. Pone is unraised +corn-cake baked in the ashes, and said to be good for indigestion. It +is a favorite cake in the South. + +A saffron-hued young man, tall and lean, with a sharp nose and thin +face, sat on the steps of the White Horse. + +"The _ager_ got hold of me yesterday and shook me right smart," he +said. "It is a bad place for the ager. The people that used to live +here have all moved away. The land is run out. They have _terbakkered_ +it to death. We can't raise nothing, and it ain't no use to try." He +pointed to a deserted farm-house standing on a hill, and said, +"There's a place the owner has left to grow up to weeds. He can't get +nobody to carry it on." + +A stately brick mansion, standing back from the highway once the +residence of a man of wealth and taste, with blinds, portico, and +carriage-house, elaborate in design and finish, was in the last stages +of ruin. The portico had settled away from the house. The roof was +hollowed like a weak-backed horse, the chimneys were tumbling, blinds +swinging by a hinge, windows smashed, outhouses tottering with age and +neglect, all presenting a most repulsive appearance. How changed from +former years, when the courteous, hospitable proprietor of the estate +received his guests at the magnificent portico, ushered them to his +spacious halls, opened the sideboard and drank to their health, while +attendant slaves took the horses to the stables! It is easy to fill up +the picture,--the grand dinner, the walk over the estate, the stroll +by the river, the duck-shooting on the marshes, the gang of slaves in +the tobacco-patch, the army of black and yellow servants in the +kitchens, chambers, and parlors. When this old house was in its glory, +this section of Maryland was in its prime; but how great the change! + +It was sad to think of the departed days. Our reflections were of what +the place had been, what it was, and what it might have been, had +Maryland in the beginning of her history accepted Freedom instead of +Slavery. + +Taverns are not frequent in the vicinity of Pomunkey, and it was +necessary that we should seek private hospitality for the night. A +first attempt for accommodations brought us to a house, but the owner +had no oats, hay, or corn; a second ride in from the highway, brought +us to a whitewashed farm-house, with immense outside chimneys, piazza, +adjoining mud-chinked negro-quarters, with chimneys of sticks and +clay, and a dozen surrounding buildings,--as usual, all tumbling to +pieces. Explanations as to who we were secured kind hospitality from +the host, a gray-headed man, with a family consisting of his wife, +three grown-up sons, and nine adult daughters. + +"Such as I have is at your service, gentlemen," said our host. But he +had no hay, no oats, no corn, nothing but _shucks_ for our horses. Our +supper consisted of fried pork, fried salt shad, pone, wheat-cakes, +pea-coffee, strawberry-leaf tea, sweetened with damp brown sugar! + +"We don't _raise_ butter in this section of the State," said our host, +in apology. + +The supper was relished after an afternoon ride of thirty miles. The +evening being chilly, a roaring fire was kept up in the old-fashioned +fireplace. The daughters put on their most attractive attire, and left +nothing untried to entertain their three visitors. Could we dance? +Unfortunately we could not. It was a serious disappointment. They +evidently had anticipated having "a good time." One of the ladies +could play a violin, and treated us to jigs, reels, and hornpipes. + +"You must sing the gentlemen a song, Jane," said one. + +Jane turned scarlet at the suggestion, but finally, after polite +requests and a little urging, turned her back to the company, faced +the corner of the room, and sang a love-song. She could sing "Dixie," +but knew nothing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" or "Hail Columbia." The +young ladies were in sympathy with the Rebellion. + +"It must be expected that Southern people should sympathize with the +South," said our host. + +"You own some slaves?" I said. + +"I have three _servants_, sir. I think," he added, "that the people of +Eastern Maryland would be more favorable towards the Union if they +could be assured that the war would not finally become one of +emancipation. My neighbor over there had a servant who ran away into +the camp of one of the New York regiments. He went after him. The +Colonel told the master to take him, but the servant wouldn't leave +till the Colonel drew his pistol and threatened to shoot him. But +notwithstanding that, I reckon that the war will make them restless." +It was spoken frankly and unreservedly. + +It was pitiable to walk round his farm in the morning, to see +everywhere the last stages of decay,--poor, worn-out lands, +broken-down fences, weedy fields, pastures without a blade of grass, +leafless orchards, old buildings,--everything a wreck; and yet to know +that he was wedded to the very institution which was reducing the +country to a wilderness. He was not an owner of the estate, but a +rentee. He paid one hundred and fifty dollars rental for three hundred +acres of land, and yet confessed that he was growing poorer year by +year. Tobacco, corn, and oats were the only crops. He could get no +manure. He could make no hay. He kept two cows, but made no butter. +The land was being exhausted, and he did not know what he should come +to. All energy and life were gone; we saw only a family struggling +against fate, and yet clinging with a death-grapple to the system that +was precipitating their ruin. + +"Why do you not go to Illinois?" + +"O, sir, I am too old to move. Besides, this is home." + +We pictured the boundless resources of the West, the fertile lands, +the opportunities for bettering his condition, but our words fell upon +an inert mind. As a last argument, we said: "You have a large family +of daughters. In Illinois there are thousands of young men wanting +wives, who will make good husbands. There are few young men here, but +good homes await your daughters there." + +There were blushes, smiles, and sparkling eyes from the "sacred nine." +My fellow-correspondent of the Chicago _Tribune_ then drew a florid +picture of the West,--of the need of the State for such good-looking, +virtuous ladies. His eloquence was persuasive. One of the daughters +wanted to know how far it was to Illinois; but when informed that it +was a thousand miles, her countenance fell. Bliss so far away was +unattainable. + +We passed a second night with our host, who, during our absence, sent +one of the servants a dozen miles to obtain some butter, so courteous +an entertainer was he. Yet he was struggling with poverty. He kept +three slaves to wait upon his nine grown-up unmarried daughters, who +were looking out upon a dark future. There was not a single gleam of +light before them. They could not work, or, at the best, their work +was of trifling account. What would become of them? That was the one +question ever haunting the father. + +"Why do you keep your slaves? they are a bill of cost to you every +year," we said. + +"I know it. They are lazy, shiftless, and they will steal, +notwithstanding they have enough to eat and wear; but then I reckon I +couldn't get along without them very well. Sam is an excellent groom, +and Joe is a good ploughman. He can do anything if he has a mind to; +but he is lazy, like all the rest. I reckon that I couldn't get along +without him, though." + +"Your sons can groom your horses and do your ploughing." + +"Yes; but then they like to fish and hunt, you know; and you can't +expect them to do the work of the servants." + +The secret was out. Slavery made labor dishonorable. + +Conversing with another farmer about the negroes, he said: "They steal +all they can lay their hands on; and since the Yankee troops have been +in camp round here, they are ten times as bad as they used to be. My +chickens are fast disappearing. The officers buy them, I reckon." + +We thought it quite likely; for having passed several days in General +Hooker's division, we could bear testimony to the excellent fare of +the officers' mess,--chickens served in all the various forms known to +culinary art. It was convenient for officers thus to supply themselves +with poultry. Of course the slave would say that he was the lawful +owner of the poultry. Why should he have any compunctions of +conscience about disposing of the chickens roosting on his master's +apple-trees, when his labor, his life, his happiness, his +children,--all his rights were stolen from him by his master? If the +sword cut in one direction, why not in another? + +A few days later, in November, we visited Annapolis, a quaint old +city. The streets all centre at the State-House and St. John's Church. +There are antiquated houses with mossy roofs, brass knockers on the +doors, which were built two hundred years ago. We were carried back to +the time of the Revolution, when Annapolis was in its glory. + +One would suppose, in walking past the substantial stone mansions, +that the owners were living at ease, in quiet and seclusion; that they +had notes, mortgages, and bonds laid by for a rainy day: but a fair +outside does not always indicate health within. In many of those old +mansions, grand in proportion, elaborate with cornice, there was +nothing but famine. How strong is aristocratic pride! Poverty cannot +subdue it. Men and women lived there sorely pressed to keep up even a +threadbare appearance, who, before the war, held soul and body +together by raising negroes for the Southern market, and by waiting +upon the Assembly when in session. They would have deemed it degrading +to hold social intercourse with a mason or a blacksmith, or with any +one compelled to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. In poverty +they nursed their pride. The castes of Hindostan were hardly more +distinct. It is easy to see how a community can become lifeless under +such a state of society. The laboring men had gone away,--to the West, +to Baltimore, or to localities where it is not a crime to work for a +livelihood. In consequence, enterprise had died, property had +depreciated, and the entire place had become poverty-stricken. + +[Sidenote: Nov., 1861.] + +On the succeeding Sunday I was in Washington, where a superintendent +of one of the Sabbath schools was spending a portion of the hour in +singing. Among other songs was Rev. S. F. Smith's national hymn,-- + + "My country, 'tis of thee, + Sweet land of liberty." + +Among the persons present were three ladies, members of a family +sympathizing with secession. With unmistakable signs of disgust, they +at once left the house! + +Not only at church, but in the army, the spirit of slavery was +rampant. The Hutchinson family visited Washington. They solicited +permission from the Secretary of War, Mr. Cameron, to visit the camps +in Virginia and sing songs to the soldiers, to relieve the tedious +monotony of camp life. Their request was granted, and their intentions +cordially commended by the Secretary; and, being thus indorsed, +received General McClellan's pass. Their songs have ever been of +freedom. They were welcomed by the soldiers. But there were officers +in the service who believed in slavery, who had been taught in +Northern pulpits that it was a divinely appointed, beneficent +institution of Almighty God. Information was given to General +McClellan that the Hutchinsons were poisoning the minds of the troops +by singing Abolition songs; and their career as free concert givers to +the patriotic soldiers was suddenly ended by the following order from +head-quarters:-- + + "By direction of Major-General McClellan, the permit given to the + Hutchinson family to sing in the camps, and their pass to cross + the Potomac, are revoked, and they will not be allowed to sing to + the troops." + +Far from the noise and strife of war, on the banks of the Merrimack, +lived the poet of Peace and of Freedom, whose songs against oppression +and wrong have sunk deep into the hearts of the people. Whittier heard +of the expulsion of the Hutchinsons, and as if inspired by a spirit +divine, wrote the + + "EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT.[3] + + "We wait beneath the furnace-blast + The pangs of transformation; + Not painlessly doth God recast + And mould anew the nation. + Hot burns the fire + Where wrongs expire; + Nor spares the hand + That from the land + Uproots the ancient evil. + + "The hand-breadth cloud the sages feared + Its bloody rain is dropping; + The poison plant the fathers spared + All else is overtopping. + East, West, South, North. + It curses the earth; + All justice dies, + And fraud and lies + Live only in its shadow. + + "What gives the wheat-field blades of steel? + What points the rebel cannon? + What sets the roaring rabble's heel + On the old star-spangled pennon? + What breaks the oath + Of the men o' the South? + What whets the knife + For the Union's life?-- + Hark to the answer: Slavery! + + "Then waste no blows on lesser foes + In strife unworthy freemen. + God lifts to-day the veil, and shows + The features of the demon! + O North and South, + Its victims both, + Can ye not cry, + 'Let slavery die!' + And union find in freedom? + + "What though the cast-out spirit tear + The nation in his going? + We who have shared the guilt must share + The pang of his o'erthrowing! + Whate'er the loss, + Whate'er the cross, + Shall they complain + Of present pain + Who trust in God's hereafter? + + "For who that leans on His right arm + Was ever yet forsaken? + What righteous cause can suffer harm + If He its part has taken? + Though wild and loud + And dark the cloud, + Behind its folds + His hand upholds + The calm sky of to-morrow! + + "Above the maddening cry for blood, + Above the wild war-drumming, + Let Freedom's voice be heard, with good + The evil overcoming. + Give prayer and purse + To stay the Curse + Whose wrong we share, + Whose shame we bear, + Whose end shall gladden Heaven! + + "In vain the bells of war shall ring + Of triumphs and revenges, + While still is spared the evil thing + That severs and estranges. + But blest the ear + That yet shall hear + The jubilant bell + That rings the knell + Of Slavery forever! + + "Then let the selfish lip be dumb, + And hushed the breath of sighing; + Before the joy of peace must come + The pains of purifying. + God give us grace + Each in his place + To bear his lot, + And, murmuring not, + Endure and wait and labor! + + [Footnote 3: Our God is a strong fortress.] + +The expulsion of the Hutchinsons, with Whittier's ringing words, +stirred people's thoughts. A change was gradually taking place in +men's opinions. The negroes were beginning to show themselves useful. +A detachment of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, commanded by Major +Gould, was stationed on the upper Potomac. A negro slave, belonging in +Winchester, came into the lines. He was intelligent, cautious, shrewd, +and loyal. Major Gould did not return him to his master, but asked him +if he would go back and ascertain the whereabouts of Stonewall +Jackson. The negro readily assented. He was supplied with packages of +medicine, needles, thread, and other light articles greatly needed in +the South. With these he easily passed the Rebel pickets: "Been out to +get 'em for massa," was his answer when questioned by the Rebels. Thus +he passed repeatedly into the Rebel lines, obtaining information which +was transmitted to Washington. + +He had great influence with the slaves. + +"They are becoming restless," said he, "but I tells 'em that they must +be quiet. I says to 'em, keep yer eyes wide open and pray for de good +time comin'. I tells 'em if de Souf whip, it is all night wid yer; but +if de Norf whip, it is all day wid yer." + +"Do they believe it?" Major Gould asked. + +"Yes, massa, all believe it. The black men am all wid yer, only some +of 'em isn't berry well informed; but dey is all wid yer. Massa tinks +dey isn't wid yer, but dey is." + +How sublime the picture!--a slave counselling his fellow bondmen to +keep quiet and wait till God should give them deliverance! + +Among the many Rebel ministers who had done what they could to +precipitate the rebellion was a Presbyterian minister in the vicinity +of Charlestown, Virginia. It was his custom, after closing his sermon, +to invite the young men to enlist in the regiments then forming. On +one of these occasions he made an address in which he gave utterance +to the following sentiment: "If it is necessary to defend Southern +institutions and Southern rights, I will wade up to my shoulders in +blood!" This was brave; but the time came when the chivalry of the +parson was put to the test. When the Rebels were routed at Bolivar, +he, not being mounted on so fleet a horse as those of his flock who +had given heed to his counsels and joined the cavalry, found himself +left behind. A bullet lodged in the body of his horse prevented +escape. He then tried his own legs, but soon found himself in the +hands of the soldiers, who brought him to head-quarters. He at once +claimed protection of Major Gould on the most extraordinary grounds. +He had read the poems of Hannah Gould, and presumed that Major Gould, +hailing from Massachusetts, must be her kinsman. When confronted with +the Major he promptly exclaimed, "Major, I have read the poems of Miss +Hannah Gould, and admire them; presuming that she is a relative of +yours, I claim your protection and consideration." + +The Major replied that he had not the honor to be a relative of that +gifted lady, but that he should accord him all the consideration due +to those who had rebelled against the peace and dignity of the United +States, and had been taken with arms in their hands. He was marched +off with the others and placed under guard. + +Slavery was strongly intrenched in the capital of the nation. Congress +had abolished it in the District of Columbia, but it still remained. + +Said a friend to me one morning, "Are you aware that the Washington +jail is full of slaves?" I could not believe that slaves were then +confined there for no crime; but at once procured a pass from a +senator to visit the jail, and was admitted through the iron gateway +of one of the vilest prisons in the world. The air was stifled, fetid, +and malarious. + +Ascending the stone stairway to the third story of the building, +entering a dark corridor and passing along a few steps, I came to a +room twelve or fifteen feet square, occupied by about twenty colored +men. They were at their dinner of boiled beef and corn-cake. There was +one old man sitting on the stone floor, silent and sorrowful. He had +committed no crime. Around, standing, sitting, or lying, were the +others, of all shades of color, from jet black to the Caucasian hue, +the Anglo-Saxon hair and contour of features. They were from ten to +fifty years of age; some were dressed decently, and others were in +rags. One bright fellow of twenty had on a pair of trousers only, and +tried to keep himself warm by drawing around him a tattered blanket. A +little fellow ten years old was all in rags. There was no chair or bed +in the room. They must stand, or sit, or lie upon the brick and +granite floor. There was no mattress or bedding; each had his little +bundle of rags, and that was all. They looked up inquiringly as I +entered, as if to make out the object of my visit. + +One bright, intelligent boy belonged to Captain Dunnington, captain of +the Capitol police during Buchanan's administration, and then +commanding a Rebel battery. When Dunnington went from Washington to +join the Rebels he left the boy behind, and the police had arrested +him under an old Maryland law, because he had no master, and kept him +in jail five months. + +There was an old man from Fairfax Court-House. When the army advanced +to Falls Church, his master sold his wife and child, for fear they +might escape. "You see, sir, that broke me all up. O, sir, it was hard +to part with them, to see 'em chained up and taken off away down South +to Carolina. My mind is almost gone. I don't want to die here; I +sha'n't live long. When your army fell back to Washington after the +battle of Bull Run, I came to Washington, and the police took me up +because I was a runaway." + +There was another, a free negro, imprisoned on the supposition that he +was a fugitive, and kept because there was no one to pay his jail +fees. Another had been a hand on a Massachusetts schooner plying on +the Potomac, and had been arrested in the streets on the suspicion +that he was a slave. + +Another had been employed on the fortifications, and government was +his debtor. There was a little boy, ten years old, clothed in rags, +arrested as a runaway. Women were there, sent in by their owners for +safe keeping. There were about sixty chargeable with no crime +whatever, incarcerated with felons, without hope of deliverance. They +were imprisoned because negroes about town, without a master, always +had been dealt with in that manner. The police, when the slaves had +been reclaimed, had been sure of their pay, or if they were sold, +their pay came from the auctioneer. When they saw me making notes, +they imagined that I was doing something for their liberation, and +with eagerness they crowded round, saying, "Please put down my name, +sir," "I do want to get out, sir," and similar expressions. They +followed me into the passage, gazed through the grated door, and when +I said "Good by, boys," there came a chorus of "Good byes" and "God +bless yous." + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1861.] + +Seeking Senator Wilson's room, I informed him of what I had witnessed, +and read the memoranda taken in the jail. The eyes of that +true-hearted man flashed with righteous indignation. "We will see +about this," said he, springing to his feet. + +He visited the jail, saw the loathsome spectacle, heard the stories of +the poor creatures, and the next day introduced a resolution into the +Senate, which upset forever this system of tyranny, which had been +protected by the national authority. + +The year closed gloomily. There were more than six hundred thousand +troops under arms ready to subdue the Rebellion, but General McClellan +hesitated to move. But there were indications of an early advance in +the West; therefore on the last days of December I left Washington to +be an observer of whatever might happen in Kentucky. + +[Illustration: Ellsworth Zouave drill.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AFFAIRS IN THE WEST. + + +[Sidenote: Jan., 1862.] + +The church-bells of Louisville were ringing the new year in as with +the early morning we entered that city. There was little activity in +the streets. The breaking out of the war had stopped business. The +city, with a better location than Cincinnati, has had a slow growth. +Cassius M. Clay gave the reason, years ago. + +"Why," he asked, "does Louisville write on an hundred of her stores +'To let,' while Cincinnati advertises 'Wanted'? There is but one +answer,--Slavery." Many of the houses were tenantless. The people +lounged in the streets. Few had anything to do. Thousands of former +residents were away, many with the Southern army, more with the Union. +There was division of feeling. Lines were sharply drawn. A dozen loyal +Kentuckians had been killed in a skirmish on Green River; among them +Captain Bacon, a prominent citizen of Frankfort. His body was at the +Galt House. Loyal Kentuckians were feeling these blows. Their temper +was rising; they were being educated by such adversity to make a true +estimate of Secession. Everything serves a purpose in this world. Our +vision is too limited to understand much of the governmental +providence of Him who notices the fall of a sparrow, and alike +controls the destiny of nations; but I could see in the emphatic +utterances of men upon the street, that revenge might make men +patriotic who otherwise might remain lukewarm in their loyalty. + +A friend introduced a loyal Tennesseean, who was forced to flee from +Nashville when the State seceded. The vigilance committee informed him +that he must leave or take the consequences; which meant, a suspension +by the neck from the nearest tree. He was offensive because of his +outspoken loyalty. He was severe in his denunciations of the +government, on account of its slowness to put down the Rebellion. + +"Sir," said he, "this government is not going to put down the +Rebellion, because it isn't in earnest. You of the North are +white-livered. Excuse me for saying it. No; I won't ask to be excused +for speaking the truth. You are afraid to touch the negro. You are +afraid of Kentucky. The little province of the United States gets down +on its knees to the nation of Kentucky. You are afraid that the State +will go over to the Rebels, if anything is done about the negro. Now, +sir, I know what slavery is; I have lived among it all my days. I know +what Secession is,--it means slavery. I know what Kentucky is,--a +proud old State, which has a great deal that is good about her and a +great deal of sham. Kentucky politicians are no better or wiser than +any other politicians. The State is living on the capital of Henry +Clay. You think that the State is great because he was great. O, you +Northern men are a brave set! (It was spoken with bitter sarcasm.) You +handle this Rebellion as gingerly as if it were a glass doll. Go on, +go on; you will get whipped. Buell will get whipped at Bowling Green, +Butler will get whipped at New Orleans. You got whipped at Big Bethel, +Ball's Bluff, and Manassas. Why? Because the Rebels are in earnest, +and you are not. Everything is at stake with them. They employ +niggers, you don't. They seize, rob, burn, destroy; they do everything +to strengthen their cause and weaken you, while you pick your way as +daintily as a dandy crossing a mud-puddle, afraid of offending +somebody. No, sir, you are not going to put down this Rebellion till +you hit it in the tenderest spot,--the negro. You must take away its +main support before it will fall." + +General Buell was in command of the department, with his head-quarters +at the Galt House. He had a large army at Mumfordville and other +points. He issued his orders by telegraph, but he had no plan of +operations. There were no indications of a movement. The Rebel +sympathizers kept General Johnston, in command at Bowling Green, well +informed as to Buell's inaction. There was daily communication between +Louisville and the Rebel camp. There was constant illicit trade in +contraband goods. The policy of General McClellan was also the policy +of General Buell,--to sit still. + +Events were more stirring in Missouri, and I proceeded to St. Louis, +where General Halleck was in command,--a thick-set, dark-featured, +black-haired man, sluggish, opinionated, and self-willed, arbitrary +and cautious. + +Soon after his appointment to this department he issued, on the 20th +of November, his Order No. 3, which roused the indignation of earnest +loyal men throughout the country. Thus read the document:-- + + "It has been represented that information respecting the numbers + and condition of our forces is conveyed to the enemy by means of + fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to + remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be + hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any + forces on the march, and that any within our lines be immediately + excluded therefrom." + +General Schofield was in command of Northern Missouri, under General +Halleck. The guerillas had burned nearly all the railroad bridges, and +it was necessary to bring them to justice. The negroes along the line +gave him the desired intelligence, and six of the leaders were in this +way caught, tried by court-martial, and summarily shot. Yet General +Halleck adhered to his infamous order. Diligent inquiries were made of +officers in regard to the loyalty of the negroes, and no instance was +found of their having given information to the enemy. In all of the +slaveholding States a negro's testimony was of no account against a +white man under civil law; but General Schofield had, under military +law, inaugurated a new order of things,--a drum-head court, a speedy +sentence, a quick execution, on negro testimony. The Secessionists and +Rebel sympathizers were indignant, and called loudly for his removal. + +The fine army which Fremont had commanded, and from which he had been +summarily dismissed because of his anti-slavery order, was at Rolla, +at the terminus of the southwest branch of the Pacific Railroad. This +road, sixteen miles out from St. Louis, strikes the valley of the +Maramec,--not the Merrimack, born of the White Hills, but a sluggish +stream, tinged with blue and green, widening in graceful curves, with +tall-trunked elms upon its banks, and acres of low lands, which are +flooded in freshets. It is a pretty river, but not to be compared in +beauty to the stream which the muse of Whittier has made classic. +Nearly all the residences in this section are Missourian in +architectural proportions and features,--logs and clay, with the +mammoth outside chimneys, cow-yard and piggery, an oven out of doors +on stilts, an old wagon, half a dozen horses, hens, dogs, pigs, in +front, and lean, cadaverous men and women peeping from the doorways, +with arms akimbo, and pipes between the teeth. This is the prevailing +feature,--this in a beautiful, fertile country, needing but the hand +of industry, the energy of a free people, vitalized by the highest +civilization, to make it one of the loveliest portions of the world. + +At Franklin the southwestern branch of the Pacific Railroad diverges +from the main stem. It is a new place, brought into existence by the +railroad, and consists of a lime-kiln, a steam saw-mill, and a dozen +houses. Behind the town is a picturesque bluff, with the lime-kiln at +its base, which might be taken for a ruined temple of some old Aztec +city. Near at hand two Iowa regiments were encamped. A squad of +soldiers was on the plain, and a crowd stood upon the depot platform, +anxiously inquiring for the morning papers. It was a supply station, +provisions being sent up both lines. Two heavy freight trains, +destined for Rolla, were upon the southwestern branch. To one of them +passenger cars were attached, to which we were transferred. + +When the branch was opened for travel in 1859, the directors run one +train a day,--a mixed train of passenger and freight cars,--and during +the first week their patronage in freight was immense,--it consisted +of a bear and a pot of honey! On the passage the bear ate the honey, +and the owner of the honey brought a bill against the company for +damages. + +Beyond Franklin the road crosses the Maramec, enters a forest, winds +among the hills, and finally by easy grades reaches a crest of land, +from which, looking to the right or the left, you can see miles away +over an unbroken forest of oak. Far to the east is the elevated ridge +of land which ends in the Pilot Knob, toward the Mississippi, and +becomes the Ozark Mountain range toward the Arkansas line. We looked +over the broad panorama to see villages, church-spires, white +cottages, or the blue curling smoke indicative of a town or human +residence, but the expanse was primitive and unbroken. Not a sign of +life could be discovered for many miles as we slowly crept along the +line. The country is undulating, with the limestone strata cropping +out on the hillsides. In the railroad cuttings the rock, which at the +surface is gray, takes a yellow and reddish tinge, from the admixture +of ochre in the soil. In one cutting we recognized the lead-bearing +rocks, which abound through the southwestern section of the State. + +We looked in vain to discover a school-house. A gentleman who was well +acquainted with this portion of the State, said that he knew of only +two school-houses,--one in Warsaw and the other in Springfield. In a +ride of one hundred and thirteen miles we saw but two churches. As +Aunt Ophelia found "Topsy" virgin soil, so will those who undertake to +reconstruct the South find these wilds of Southwestern Missouri. And +they are a fair specimen of the South. + +It was evening when we reached Rolla. When we stepped from the car in +the darkness, there was a feeling that the place was a mortar-bed and +the inhabitants were preparing to make bricks. Our boots became heavy, +and, like a man who takes responsibility, when we once planted our +feet the tendency was for them to stay there. Guided by an +acquaintance who knew the way, the hotel was reached. In the distance +the weird camp-fires illumined the low-hanging clouds. From right and +left there came the roll of drums and the bugle-call. A group of men +sat around the stove in the bar. The landlord escorted us to the +wash-room,--a spacious, high-arched apartment, as wide as the east is +from the west, as long as the north is from the south, as high-posted +as the zenith, where we found a pail of water, a tin basin, and a +towel, for all hands; and which all hands had used. After ablution +came supper in the dining-hall, with bare beams overhead. Dinah waited +upon us,--coal-black, tall, stately, worth a thousand dollars before +the war broke out, but somewhat less just then, and Phillis, with a +mob-cap on her head, bleached a little in complexion by Anglo-Saxon or +Missourian blood. + +We soon discovered that nothing was to be done by the army in this +direction. The same story was current here as on the Potomac and in +Kentucky,--"Not ready." General Sigel had sent in his resignation, +disgusted with General Halleck. General Curtis had just arrived to +take command. The troops were sore over the removal of Fremont: they +idolized him. Among the forty thousand men in the vicinity were those +who had fought at Wilson's Creek. The lines between Rebellion and +Loyalty were more sharply drawn here than in any other section of the +country. Men acted openly. The army was radical in its sentiments, +believing in Fremont's order for the liberation of the slaves, which +the President had set aside. + +There was one other point which gave better promise of active +operations,--Cairo. Therefore bidding adieu to Rolla, we returned to +St. Louis and took the cars for Cairo. + +It was an all-night ride, with a mixed company of soldiers and +civilians. There were many ladies on their way to visit their husbands +and brothers before the opening of the campaign. One woman had three +children. "Their father wants to see them once more before he goes +into battle," said the mother, sadly. + +At last we found a place where men seemed to be in earnest. Cairo was +alive. At the levee were numerous steamboats. Soldiers were arriving. +There was a constant hammering and pounding on the gunboats, which +were moored along the shore. + +The mud cannot be put into the picture. There was thick mud, thin mud, +sticky mud, slushy mud, slimy mud, deceptive mud, impassable mud, +which appeared to the sight, to say nothing of the peculiarities that +are understood by the nose; for within forty feet of our window were a +horse-stable and pig-yard, where slops from the houses and washes from +the sinks were trodden with the manure from the stables. Bunyan's +Slough of Despond, into which all the filth and slime of this world +settled, was nothing beside the slough of Cairo. There were sheds, +shanties, stables, pig-stys, wood-piles, carts, barrels, boxes,--the +_debris_ of everything thrown over the area. Of animate things, +water-carts,--two-horse teams, which were supplying the inhabitants +with drinking water from the river. There were truckmen stuck in the +mud. There were two pigs in irrepressible conflict; also two dogs. +Twenty feet distant, soldiers in their blue coats, officers with +swords, sash and belt, ladies, and citizens, were picking their way +along the sticky sidewalks. This was Cairo. Delectable Cairo! + +The prominent names before the country at that period, as commanders +who were to lead our armies to victory, were McClellan, Buell, T. W. +Sherman, then at Port Royal, Fremont, Rosecrans, Burnside, Butler, and +Banks. William Tecumseh Sherman was reputed to be flighty in the head. +He had commanded the Department of the Ohio, but Buell had succeeded +him. He was now a brigade commander at Paducah, under General C. F. +Smith. There were several brigadiers at Cairo. General McClernand, who +had been a member of Congress, a strong partisan of Senator Douglas, +was most conspicuous. General Prentiss, who was ready to make a speech +on any and every occasion, was also well known. The commander of the +post was an obscure man. His name was Grant. At the beginning of the +war he was in the leather business at Galena. He had been educated at +West Point, where he stood well as a mathematician, but had left the +service, and had become a hard-working citizen. He was Colonel of the +Twenty-first Illinois, and had been made a brigadier by the President. +He was in charge of the expedition to Belmont, which, though +successful in the beginning, had ended almost in disaster. Having +credentials from the Secretary of War, I entered the head-quarters of +the commanding officer, and found a man of medium stature, thick set, +with blue eyes, and brown beard closely cropped, sitting at a desk. He +was smoking a meerschaum. He wore a plain blue blouse, without any +insignia of rank. His appearance was clerkly. General McClellan, in +Washington, commanded in state, surrounded by brilliant staffs, men in +fine broadcloth, gold braid, plumed hats, and wearing clanking sabres. +Orderlies and couriers were usually numerous at head-quarters. + +"Is General Grant in?" was the question directed to the clerk in the +corner. + +"Yes, sir," said the man, removing his meerschaum from his mouth, and +spitting with unerring accuracy into a spittoon by his side. + +"Will you be kind enough to give this letter to him." + +But the clerk, instead of carrying it into an adjoining room, to +present it to the commander-in-chief, opened it, ran his eye rapidly +over the contents, and said, "I am happy to make your acquaintance, +sir. Colonel Webster will give you a pass." + +Such was my first interview with General Grant. I have seen him many +times since,--in the hour of victory, at Donelson; in the shadow of +the cloud, after Pittsburg Landing; during the fearful days of the +Wilderness; in the last great hours of triumph, with Lee and his army +paroled prisoners of war; and there has ever been the same quiet, +gentlemanly deportment. + +The large hall of the St. Charles Hotel was the general resort of +officers, soldiers, guests, and citizens. I was conversing with a +friend the same afternoon when a short, muscular, quick-walking man, +in the prime of life, wearing a navy uniform, entered. His countenance +would attract attention even in a crowd, it was so mild, peaceful, and +pleasant. My friend introduced him as Commander Foote. + +"I shall be pleased to see you at my office, which is on the +wharf-boat. I usually take a little recreation after dinner," said he. + +Calling upon him the next day, I found him at leisure, having +despatched the business of the forenoon. There was a Bible on his +table and a hymn-book, and in one corner of the office a large package +of books, just received from the Sunday-School Union, directed to +"Captain A. H. Foote, U. S. N." + +Noticing my eyes turned in that direction, he said: "They are for the +sailors; I want to do what I can for the poor fellows. They haven't +any chaplain; I read the service on Sunday and visit the crews, and +talk to them; but it is very little religious instruction which they +receive. I don't allow any work, except what is absolutely necessary, +on Sunday. I believe man and beast need rest one day in seven. I am +trying to persuade the men to leave off their grog rations, with a +fair chance of success." + +[Illustration: General Grant.] + +He was at leisure, and talked freely of matters relating to the +organization of the fleet. He had to contend with great difficulties. +The department had rendered him but little service. He had done his +best to obtain mortars; had despatched officers to Pittsburg, where +they were cast, but they were all sent East for the New Orleans +fleet. He regretted it exceedingly, for with good ordnance he thought +it would not be a difficult matter to reach New Orleans, though, as he +modestly remarked, quoting the Scriptural proverb, "It becomes not him +who putteth on the harness to boast." He was lacking men. Recruiting +officers had been sent to Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, and other lake +ports, but they had signally failed, because the department did not +pay any advance to those in the river service, while on the seaboard +advances were made. He had not men enough to man his gunboats. + +[Illustration: General Sherman.] + +The department had furnished him with but few new guns. He had been +obliged to take those which were at Sackett's Harbor,--old guns far +inferior to those with which Commodore Du Pont knocked Tybee and +Hilton Head to pieces. He had to get gun-carriages manufactured in +Cincinnati, other things at St. Louis, others at Pittsburg; but +notwithstanding this, had organized a fleet which would throw a +tremendous weight of metal. He was not ready to move, yet would move, +whether ready or not, whenever the word was given. He believed in +fighting at close quarters. + +He spoke freely of the faults of the gunboats. They were too low in +the water and the engines of too limited capacity. They would not be +able to make much headway against the stream. He considered them an +experiment, and, like all experiments, they were of course defective. + +He was a close student, devoted to his profession, and bore the marks +of severe thought in the wrinkles which were deepening on his brow. +Time had begun to silver his hair and whiskers, but he walked with a +firm step. He had rare conversational powers, and imparted information +as if it were a pleasure. He was thoroughly conscientious, and had a +deep sense of his responsibility. He was aware that his own reputation +and standing as well as the interests of the public were at stake. He +was greatly beloved by his men. + +Two of the gunboats--the Essex and Louisville--were lying six or eight +miles below Cairo, guarding the river. The Essex! How often in boyhood +had I thrilled at the story of her brave fight with the Cherub and +Phebe in the harbor of Valparaiso! How often I wished that Captain +Porter could have had a fair chance in that terrible fight,--one of +the fiercest ones fought on the sea. But there was another Essex +commanded by another Captain Porter, son of him who refused to +surrender his ship till he had lost all power to defend her. + +The new craft was wholly unlike the old. That was a fast sailer, trim, +and taut, and graceful as a swan upon the waters; this a black box, +once a St. Louis ferry-boat. The sailors who had breathed the salt air +of the sea, who had swung in mid-heaven upon the swaying masts, who +had rode in glee upon the storm-tost billows, + + "Whose home was on the deep." + +regarded the new Essex in disgust, and rechristened her the _Mud +Turtle_. But her name, and the glorious record of her deeds, will not +fade from remembrance. Coming generations shall read of her exploits +with pride and pleasure. We were courteously received by her +commander, Captain Wm. D. Porter, a solid man, but little more than +five feet high, yet broad-chested, quick and energetic in his +movements. He had a long, thick, black beard, and twinkling eyes full +of fire. He had the rolling gait of a sailor, and was constantly +pacing the deck. He was a rapid talker, and had a great store of +adventure and anecdote. We alluded to the part taken by his father in +the war of 1812, and the gallant fight against great odds in +Valparaiso harbor. The eyes of the son kindled instantly. + +"Yes, sir; that was a plucky fight. The old gentleman never would have +given in if there had been the least ray of hope; but there was none. +And he was too tender-hearted to needlessly slaughter his men." + +Three days previous to our visit to the Essex, two Rebel boats came up +from Columbus to see what the Yankees were doing. In five minutes +Porter had his anchor up and steam on, pushing down to meet them +half-way; but they declined the courtesy, and steamed back to +Columbus. + +"I followed them as fast as I could," said he, as we paced the deck. +"I let them have my ten-inch Dahlgren and my two rifled forty-two +pounders one after another, and drove them till their batteries on the +bluff above the town opened on me. Then I wrote an invitation to +Montgomery, who commands their fleet, to meet me any day and I would +lick him like thunder. I fastened it to a cork and set it adrift, and +saw a boat go out and pick it up. Then I elevated my ten-inch and let +them have a shell right into the town. I reckon it waked them up +some." + +He laughed and chuckled, rubbed his hands, took a fresh quid of +tobacco, and began to talk again of his father's exploits on the +Pacific. + +The Rebels under Major-General Bishop Polk were in force at Columbus. +There was also a detachment at Mayfield, east of Columbus. A sudden +movement was made by General Grant in the direction of Mayfield, not +with any design of an attack, but to deceive the Rebels in regard to +the real intentions. The troops landed at old Fort Jefferson, six +miles below Cairo, on the Kentucky side. It was a mild day in +midwinter. The soldiers marched without baggage. Not one in ten had +gloves or mittens; and on the second night of the reconnoissance the +cold became intense, and there was great suffering. + +The soldiers kindled huge fires, and by running and walking, and +constant thrashing of the hands, passed the long, weary night. There +were numerous herds of swine in the woods, and fresh pork was +abundant. There was roasting, frying, and broiling by every bivouac +fire, and a savory fragrance of sparerib and steak. + +The dwellings of the farmers in this section of Kentucky are of the +Southern style of architecture,--log-houses containing two rooms, with +chimneys built against the ends. Entering one to obtain a drink of +water we found two tall, cadaverous young men, both of them shaking +with ague. There was a large old-fashioned fireplace, with a great +roaring fire, before which they were sitting with the door wide open +at their backs, and the cold air rushing upon them in torrents. +Probably it did not occur to either of them that it would be better to +shut the door. + +A Connecticut wooden clock ticked on a rude shelf, a bed stood in one +corner. The walls were hung with old clothes and dried herbs,--catnip +and tansy and thoroughwort. The clay had dropped out in many places, +and we could look through the chinks and see the landscape without. +The foundations of the chimney had settled, and the structure was +leaning away from the house. There were great cracks between the +brickwork and the wood. + +They claimed to be good Union men, but said that all the rest of the +people round them were disloyal. + +"We are having a hard time," said one. "The Secessionists were going +to jump us,--to take our property because we were for the Union, and +now your army has come and killed nigh about seventy-five hogs for us, +I reckon. It is kinder hard, stranger, to be used so." + +"But, my friend, if it had not been for the Union troops wouldn't you +have lost everything, if you are a Union man?" + +"Yes,--perhaps so," was the long-drawn answer, given with hesitation. + +"There is a right smart heap of Southerners at Columbus, I reckon," +said he. "There is Sam Wickliff and Josh Turner, and almost all the +boys from this yere place, and they'll fight, I reckon, stranger." + +We then learned that the officers of McClernand's division, having +been deprived of the enjoyments of home-life, and finding themselves +among the belles of Western Kentucky, had made the most of the +opportunity by dancing all night. + +"The gals danced themselves clean out, that is the reason they ain't +about," said one of the young men, apologizing for the absence of his +sisters, and added, "They is rather afraid of the Lincolnites." The +utterance of the last sentence contradicted all previous assertions of +loyalty and hearty love for the Union. + +The troops made sad havoc among the stock, shooting pigs and sheep for +fun. After scouring the country well towards Columbus, having +accomplished the object of the expedition,--that of deceiving the +Rebels in regard to the movement contemplated up the Tennessee,--the +force returned to Cairo. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CENTRAL KENTUCKY. + + +[Sidenote: Feb., 1862.] + +The tide of success during the year 1861 was almost wholly in favor of +the Rebels; but at length there came a change, in the defeat of +Zollicoffer by General Thomas at Mill Springs, on the 19th of January. +I hastened to the centre of the State to watch operations which had +suddenly become active in that quarter. + +It was on the last day of January that the zealous porter of the +Spencer House, in Cincinnati, awoke me with a thundering rap at five +o'clock, shouting, "Cars for Lexington." It was still dark when the +omnibus whirled away from the house. There were six or eight +passengers, all strangers, but conversation was at once started by a +tall, stout, red-faced, broad-shouldered man, wearing a gray overcoat +and a broad brimmed, slouched hat, speaking the Kentucky vernacular. + +It is very easy to become acquainted with a genuine Kentuckian. He +launches at once into conversation. He loves to talk, and takes it for +granted that you like to listen. The gentleman who now took the lead +sat in the corner of the omnibus, talking not only to his next +neighbor, but to everybody present. The words poured from his lips +like water from a wide-mouthed gutter during a June shower. In five +minutes we had his history,--born in "Old Kentuck," knew all the folks +in Old Bourbon, had been a mule-driver, supplied Old Virginia with +more mules than she could shake a stick at, had got tired of "Old +Kentuck," moved up into Indiana, was going down to see the folks,--all +of this before we had reached the ferry; and before arriving at the +Covington shore we had his opinion of the war, of political economy, +the Constitution, and the negroes. + +It was remarkable that, let any subject be introduced, even though it +might be most remotely related to the war, the talkers would quickly +reach the negro question. Just as in theological discussions the +tendency is toward original sin, so upon the war,--the discussion +invariably went beyond the marshalling of armies to the negro as the +cause of the war. + +The gentleman in gray had not learned the sounds of the letters as +given by the lexicographers of the English language, but adhered to +the Kentucky dialect, giving "har" for hair, "thar" for there, with +peculiar terminations. + +"Yer see, I us-_ed_ to live in Old Kaintuck, down thar beyond Paris. +Wal, I mov_ed_ up beyond India_nop_olis, bought a mighty nice farm. I +know'd all the folks down round Paris. Thar's old Speers, who got shot +down to Mill Springs,--he was a game un; a white-haired old cuss who +jined the Confederates. I know'd him. I 'tended his nigger sale +sev'ral years ago, when he busted. He war a good old man, blame me if +he want. He war crazy that ar day of the sale, and war down on the +nigger-traders. He lost thousands of dollars that ar day, cause he +hated 'em and run down his niggers,--said they wan't good when they +war, just ter keep 'em out of the hands of the cussed traders. + +"Wal, thar's Jim,--I remember him. He's in Confed'rate army, too. I +lost a bet of tew hundred dollars with him on Letcher's +'lection,--that old drunken cuss who's disgracing Old Virginia; blow +me if I didn't. That was hard on me, cause on 'lection day arter I'd +voted, I started with a drove of mu_els_, four hundred on 'em nigh +about, for Virginia. I felt mighty sick, I tell you, 'cause I had +employed a drunken cuss to buy 'em for me, and he paid more than they +war wuth. Wal, I know'd I would lose, and I did,--ten hundred dollars. +Cusses, yer know, allers comes in flocks. Wal, only ges think of it, +that ar drunken cuss is a kurnel in the Federal army. Blow me ef I +think it's right. Men that drink too much ar'n't fit to have control +of soldiers. + +"Wal, I am a Kentuckian. I've got lots of good friends in the Southern +army, and lots in the Union army. My idee is that government ought to +confiscate the property of the Rebels, and when the war is over give +it back to their wives and children. It's mighty hard to take away +everything from 'em,--blow me if it a'n't. The Abolitionists want to +confiscate the niggers. Wal, I know all about the niggers. They are a +lazy, stealing set of cusses, the hull lot of 'em. What can we do with +'em? That's what I want to know. Now my wife, she wants niggers, but I +don't. If Kentucky wants 'em, let her have 'em. It's my opinion that +Kentucky is better off with 'em, 'cause she has got used to 'em. + +"The people are talking about starving the Confederates, but I've been +through the South, and it can't be done. They can raise everything +that we can, and it's my candid opinion that government is gwine to +get licked." + +The arrival of the omnibus at the depot put an end to the talk. + +The Licking Valley, through which the railroad to Lexington runs, is +very beautiful. There are broad intervales fringed with hickory and +elm, wood-crowned hills, warm, sunny vales and charming landscapes. +Nature has done much to make it a paradise; art very little. The +farm-houses are in the Kentucky style,--piazzas, great chimneys +outside, negro cabins,--presenting at one view and in close contrast +the extremes of wealth and poverty, power and weakness, civilization +and barbarism, freedom and slavery. + +The city of Lexington is a place of the past. Before railroads were +projected, when Henry Clay was in the prime of manhood there, it was a +place of enterprise and activity. The streets were alive with men. It +was the great political and social centre of Central Kentucky. The +city flourished in those days, but its glory has passed away. The +great commoner on whose lips thousands hung in breathless admiration, +the circumstances of his time, the men of his generation, have +departed never to return. Life has swept on to other centres. In the +suburbs were beautiful residences. Riches were displayed in lavish +expenditure, but the town itself was wearing a seedy look. There was +old rubbish everywhere about the city; there were buildings with crazy +blinds, cracked walls, and leaning earthward; while even a beautiful +church edifice had broken panes in its windows. The troubles of the +year, like care and anxiety to a strong man, ploughing deep furrows +on his face, had closed many stores, and written "To Rent" on many +dwellings. A sudden paralysis had fallen, business had drooped, and +society had lost its life. + +The Phenix was the ancient aristocratic hotel of the place. It was in +appearance all of the old time,--a three-story, stone, brick, and +plaster building, with small windows, and a great bar-room or office, +which in former days was the resort of politicians, men of the turf, +and attendants at court. A crowd of unwashed men were in the hall, +spattered with mud, wearing slouched hats, unshaven and unshorn,--a +motley crew; some tilted against the walls in chairs, fast asleep, +some talking in low tones and filling the room with fumes of tobacco. +A half-dozen were greasing their boots. The proprietor apologized for +their presence, remarking that they were teamsters who had just +arrived from Somerset, and were soon to go back with supplies for +General Thomas's army. There were three hundred of them, rough, +uncouth, dirty, but well behaved. There was no loud talking, no +profanity, indecency, or rudeness, but a deportment through the day +and night worthy of all commendation. + +While enjoying the fire in the reception-room two ladies entered,--one +middle-aged, medium stature, having an oval face, dark hair, dark +hazel eyes; the other a young lady of nineteen or twenty years, sharp +features, black hair, and flashing black eyes. They were boarders at +the hotel, were well dressed, though not with remarkable taste, but +evidently were accustomed to move in the best circle of Lexington +society. A regiment was passing the hotel. + +"There are some more Yankees going down to Mill Springs, I reckon," +said the elder. + +"O, isn't it too bad that Zollicoffer is killed? I could have cried my +eyes out when I heard of it," said the youngest. "O he was so brave, +and noble, and chivalrous!" + +"He was a noble man," the other replied. + +"O, I should so like to see a battle!" said the youngest. + +"It might not be a pleasant sight, although we are often willing to +forego pleasure for the sake of gratifying curiosity," we replied. + +"I should want my side to whip," said the girl. + +[Illustration: Hauling cotton.] + +"Yes. We all expect our side to be victorious, though we are sometimes +disappointed, as was the case at Bull Run." + +"Then you were at Bull Run? I take it that you belong to the army?" + +"I was there and saw the fight, although I was not connected with the +army." + +"I am glad you were defeated. It was a good lesson to you. The +Northerners have had some respect for the Southerners since then. The +Southerners fought against great odds." + +"Indeed, I think it was the reverse." + +"No indeed, sir. The Federals numbered over sixty thousand, while +Beauregard had less than thirty thousand. He did not have more than +twelve thousand in the fight." + +"I can assure you it is a grave mistake. General McDowell had less +than thirty thousand men, and not more than half were engaged." + +"Well, I wonder what he was thinking of when he carried out those +forty thousand handcuffs?" + +"I did not suppose any one gave credence to that absurd story." + +"Absurd? Indeed, sir, it is not. I have seen some of the handcuffs. +There are several pairs of them in this city. They were brought +directly from the field by some of our citizens who went on as soon as +they heard of the fight. I have several trophies of the fight which +our men picked up." + +No doubt the young lady was sincere. It was universally believed +throughout the South that McDowell had thousands of pairs of handcuffs +in his train, which were to be clapped upon the wrists of the Southern +soldiers. + +"We have some terrible uncompromising Union men in this State," said +the eldest, "who would rather see every negro swept into the Gulf of +Mexico, and the whole country sunk, than give up the Union. We have +more Abolitionists here in this city than they have in Boston." + +It was spoken bitterly. She did not mean that the Union men of the +State were committed to immediate emancipation, but that they would +accept emancipation rather than have the Secessionists succeed. + +A gentleman came in, sat down by the fire, warmed his hands, and +joined in the conversation. Said he: "I am a Southerner. I have lived +all my life among slaves. I own one slave, but I hate the system. +There are counties in this State where there are but few slaves, and +in all such counties you will find a great many Abolitionists. It is +the brutalizing influence of slavery that makes me hate +it,--brutalizing to whites and blacks alike. I hate this keeping +niggers to raise human stock,--to sell, just as you do horses and +sheep." + +In all places the theme of conversation was the war and the negroes. +The ultra pro-slavery element was thoroughly secession, and the +Unionists were beginning to understand that slavery was at the bottom +of the rebellion. As in the dim light of the morning we already behold +the approach of the full day, so they saw that these which seemed the +events of an hour might broaden into that which would overthrow the +entire slave system. + +Anthony Trollope, an English traveller and novelist, was stopping at +the hotel at the time,--a pleasant gentleman, thoroughly English in +his personal appearance, with a plump face, indicative of good living +and good cheer. In his work entitled "North America" he mentions the +teamsters in the hall, and draws a contrast between English and +American society. He says:-- + + "While I was at supper the seventy-five teamsters were summoned + into the common eating-room by a loud gong, and sat down to their + meal at the public table. They were very dirty; I doubt whether I + ever saw dirtier men; but they were orderly and well-behaved, and + but for their extreme dirt might have passed as the ordinary + occupants of a well-filled hotel in the West. Such men in the + States are less clumsy with their knives and forks, less astray + in an unused position, more intelligent in adapting themselves to + a new life, than are Englishmen of the same rank. It is always + the same story. With us there is no level of society. Men stand + on a long staircase, but the crowd congregates near the bottom, + and the lower steps are very broad. In America, men stand on a + common platform, but the platform is raised above the ground, + though it does not approach in height the top of our staircase. + If we take the average altitude in the two countries, we shall + find that the American heads are the more elevated of the two. I + conceived rather an affection for those dirty teamsters; they + answered me civilly when I spoke to them, and sat in quietness + smoking their pipes, with a dull and dirty but orderly + demeanor."[4] + + [Footnote 4: "North America," by Anthony Trollope, Vol. II. + p. 86.] + +If Mr. Trollope, who has a very just appreciation of the character of +those quiet and orderly teamsters, will but wait a century or two, +perhaps he will find that democracy can build a staircase as high and +complete as that reared by the aristocracy of England. We have had but +two centuries for the construction of our elevated common platform, +while England has had a thousand years. There the base of the +staircase, where the multitude stand, is either stationary or sinking; +but here the platform is always rising, and bearing the multitude to a +higher plane. + +A short distance north of the city of the living is the city of the +dead. It is a pleasant suburb,--one which is adding week by week to +its population. It is laid out in beautiful avenues, grass bordered, +and shaded by grand old forest-trees. It is the resting-place of the +dust of Henry Clay. The monument to his memory is not yet finished. It +is a tall, round column upon a broad base, with a capital, such as the +Greeks never saw or dreamed of, surmounted by a figure intended to +represent the great statesman as he stood when enchaining vast +audiences by his matchless oratory. Within the chamber, exposed to +view through the iron-latticed door, star-embellished and bronzed, +lies the sarcophagus of purest marble. It is chaste in design, +ornamented with gathered rods and bonds emblematic of union, and +wreathed with cypress around its sides. The pure white marble drapery +is thrown partly back, exposing above the breast of the sleeper a +wreath, and + + HENRY CLAY. + +Upon the slab beneath the sarcophagus is this simple inscription:-- + + "I can, with unbroken confidence, appeal to the Divine Arbiter + for the truth of the declaration, that I have been influenced by + no impure purpose, no personal motive,--have sought no personal + aggrandizement, but that in all my public acts I have had a sole + and single eye, and a warm devoted heart, directed and dedicated + to what in my best judgment I believed to be the true interests + of my country." + +It is not a declaration which goes home to the heart as that simple +recognition of the Christian religion which his compeer, Daniel +Webster, directed should be placed above his grave in the secluded +churchyard at Marshfield, but Mr. Clay was a remarkable man. Of all +Americans who have lived, he could hold completest sway of popular +assemblies. Hating slavery in his early life, he at last became +tolerant of its existence. He cast the whole trouble of the nation +upon the Abolitionists. In some things he was far-sighted; in others, +obtuse. In 1843 he addressed a letter to a friend who was about to +write a pamphlet against the Abolitionists, giving him an outline of +the argument to be used. Thus he wrote:-- + + "The great aim and object of your tract should be to arouse the + laboring classes in the Free States against abolition. Depict the + consequences to them of immediate abolition. The slaves being + free, would be dispersed throughout the Union; they would enter + into competition with the free laborer, with the American, the + Irish, the German; reduce his wages; be confounded with him, and + affect his moral and social standing. And as the ultras go for + both abolition and amalgamation, show that their object is to + unite in marriage the laboring white man and the laboring black + man, and to reduce the white laboring man to the despised and + degraded condition of the black man. + + "I would show their opposition to colonization. Show its humane, + religious, and patriotic aims, that they are to separate those + whom God has separated. Why do the Abolitionists oppose + colonization? To keep and amalgamate together the two races in + violation of God's will, and to keep the blacks here, that they + may interfere with, degrade, and debase the laboring whites. Show + that the British nation is co-operating with the Abolitionists, + for the purpose of dissolving the Union."[5] + + [Footnote 5: North American Review, January, 1866, p. 189.] + +This was written by a reputed statesman, who was supposed to +understand the principles of political economy. The slaves being made +free would enter in competition with the _free laborer_. But has not +the free American laborer been forced to compete through all the years +of the past with unrequited slave labor? Without inquiring into the +aims and purposes of the Abolitionists,--what they intended to do, +and how they were to do it,--Mr. Clay accepted the current talk of the +day, and shaped his course accordingly. That letter will read +strangely fifty years hence. It reads strangely now, and goes far to +lower our estimate of the real greatness of one who for half a century +was the idol of a great political party,--whose words were taken as +the utterances of an oracle. But ideas and principles have advanced +since 1843. We stand upon a higher plane, and are moving on to one +still higher. + +Returning to the hotel, I fell into conversation with a Presbyterian +minister, who began to deplore the war. + +"We should conduct it," said he, "not as savages or barbarians, but as +Christians, as civilized beings, on human principles." + +"In what way would you have our generals act to carry out what you +conceive to be such principles?" + +"Well, sir, the blockade is terribly severe on our friends in the +South, who are our brothers. The innocent are suffering with the +guilty. We should let them have food, and raiment, and medicines, but +we should not let them have cannon, guns, and powder." + +"When do you think the war would end if such a plan was adopted?" + +He took a new tack, not replying to the question, but said,-- + +"The North began the trouble in an unchristian spirit." + +"Was not the first gun fired by the Rebels upon Fort Sumter?" + +"That was not the beginning of the war. It was the election of +Lincoln." + +"Then you would not have a majority of the people elect their officers +in the constituted way?" + +"Well, if Lincoln had been a wise man he would have resigned, and +saved this terrible conflict." + +There is a point beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and I +expressed the hope that the war would be waged with shot and shell, +fire and sword, naval expeditions and blockades, and every possible +means, upon the men who had conspired to subvert the government. There +was no reply, and he soon left the room. + +Buell's right wing under General Crittenden, was at Calhoun, on Green +River. Intelligence arrived that it was to be put in motion. + +Leaving Lexington in the morning, and passing by cars through +Frankfort,--an old town, the capital of the State, like Lexington, +seedy and dilapidated,--we reached Louisville in season to take our +choice of the two steamers, Gray Eagle and Eugene, to Henderson. They +were both excellent boats, running in opposition, carrying passengers +one hundred and eighty miles, providing for them two excellent meals +and a night's lodging, all for fifty cents! People were patronizing +both boats, because it was much cheaper than staying at home. + +Taking the Gray Eagle,--a large side-wheel steamer,--we swept along +with the speed of a railroad train. The water was very high and +rising. The passengers were almost all from Kentucky. Some of the +ladies thronging the saloon were accustomed to move in the "best +society," which had not literary culture and moral worth for its +standards, but broad acres, wealth in lands and distilleries. They +were "raised" in Lexington or Louisville or Frankfort. They spoke of +the "right smart" crowd on board, nearly "_tew_" hundred, according to +their _i_dea. + +But there is another class of Kentuckians as distinct from these +excellent ladies as chalk from cheese. They are of that class to which +David Crocket belonged in his early years,--born in a cane-brake and +cradled in a trough. There were two in the saloon, seated upon an +ottoman,--a brother and sister. The brother was more than six feet +tall, had a sharp, thin, lank countenance, with a tuft of hair on his +chin and on his upper lip. His face was of the color of milk and +molasses. He wore a Kentucky homespun suit,--coat, vest and pants of +the same material, and colored with butternut bark. He had on, +although in the saloon, a broad-brimmed, slouched hat, with an +ornament of blotched mud. He was evidently more at home with his hat +on than to sit bareheaded,--and so consulted his own pleasure, without +mistrusting that there was such a thing as politeness in the world. He +had been plashing through the streets of Louisville. He had scraped +off the thickest of the mud. There he sat, the right foot thrown +across the left knee, with as much complacency as it is possible for a +mortal to manifest. In his own estimation he was all right, although +there was a gap between his pants and vest of about six inches,--a +yellowish tawny streak of shirt. He sat in unconcerned silence, or +stalked through the saloon with his hands in his pockets, or stretched +himself at full length upon the sofa and took a comfortable snooze. + +His sister,--a girl of eighteen,--had an oval face, arched eyebrows, +and full cheeks, flowing, flaxen hair, and gray eyes. She wore a plain +dress of gray homespun without hoops, and when standing, appeared as +if she had encased herself in a meal-bag. There was no neat white +collar or bit of ribbon, or cord, or tassel,--no attempt at feminine +adornment. She was a "nut-brown maid,"--bronzed by exposure, with a +countenance as inexpressive as a piece of putty. A dozen ladies and +gentlemen who came on board at a little town twenty miles below +Louisville were enjoying themselves, in a circle of their own, with +the play of "Consequences." The cabin rang with their merry laughter, +and we who looked on enjoyed their happiness; but there was no sign of +animation in her countenance,--a block of wood could not have been +more unsympathetic. + +Among the ladies on board was one a resident of Owensboro', who, upon +her marriage eight years before, had moved from the town of Auburn, +New York, the home of Mr. Seward. + +"I was an Abolitionist," she said, "before I left home, but now that I +know what slavery is, I like it. The slaveholders are so independent +and live so easy! They can get rich in a few years; and there is no +class in the world who can enjoy so much of life as they." + +It was evidently a sincere expression of her sentiments. + +She was for the Union, but wanted slavery let alone. The strife in +Owensboro' had been exceedingly bitter. Nearly all her old friends and +neighbors were rampant Secessionists. Secession, like a sharp sword, +had cut through society and left it in two parts, as irreconcilable as +vice and virtue. There was uncompromising hostility ready to flame out +into war at any moment in all the Kentucky towns. There was also on +board a loud-talking man who walked the saloon with his hands in his +pockets, looking everybody square in the face; he was intensely loyal +to the Union. + +"Why don't Buell move? Why don't Halleck move? It is my opinion that +they are both of 'em old grannies. I want to see the Rebels licked. I +have lived in Tophet for the last six months. I live in Henderson, and +it has been a perfect hell ever since the Rebels fired on Fort Sumter. +I have lost my property through the d--d scoundrels. I want a regiment +of Union troops to go down there and clean out the devils." + +It was early morning when the scream of the Gray Eagle roused the +usual crowd of loafers from their sleep and inanition at Owensboro'. A +motley mob came down to the wharf eager to hear the news. I had been +informed that the place was one where whiskey distilleries abound, and +the information proved to be correct. The distillery buildings were +distinctly recognized by their smoking chimneys, creaking pumps, and +steaming vats. The crowd on the shore had whiskey in their looks and +behavior. Among them was one enthusiastic admirer of Abraham Lincoln. +He was bloated, blear-eyed, a tatterdemalion, with just enough whiskey +in him to make him thick-spoken, reckless, and irresponsible in the +eyes of his liquor-loving companions. While we were at a distance he +swung his hat and gave a cheer for Old Abe; as we came nearer he +repeated it; and as the plank was being thrown ashore he fairly danced +with ecstasy, shouting, "Hurrah for Old Abe! He'll fix 'em. Hurrah for +Old Abe! Hurrah for Old Abe!" + +"Shet up, you drunken cuss. Hurrah for Jeff Davis!" was the response +of another blear-eyed, tipsy loafer. + +The steamer Storm was tolling its bell as the Gray Eagle came to the +landing at Evansville, bound for Green River. Her decks were piled +with bags of corn and coffee. A barge was tethered to her side, loaded +with bundle hay and a half-dozen ambulances. We were just in time to +reach the deck before the plank was drawn in. Then with hoarse puffs +the heavily laden old craft swung into the stream and surged slowly +against the swollen tide of the Ohio. Green River joins the Ohio ten +miles above Evansville. It is a beautiful stream, with forest-bordered +banks. At that season of the year there was nothing particularly +inspiring to the muse along this stream, unless one can kindle a +poetic flame in swamps, lagoons, creeks, and log-cabins standing on +stilts, with water beneath, around, and often within them. On the spit +of land between the Ohio and Green rivers, on posts several feet under +water, was a log-cabin; a row-boat was tied to the steps, a woman and +a half-dozen children stared at us from the open door. All around was +forest. A gentleman on board said it was a fishing family. If so, the +family, little ones and all, might ply the piscatory art from doors +and windows. A more dreary, watery place cannot be imagined. + +The Storm was not a floating palace with gilded saloons, velvet +tapestry carpets, French mirrors, and a grand piano, but an old wheezy +tow-boat, with great capacity below and little above. There was a room +for the gentlemen, and a little box of a place for any ladies who +might be under the necessity of patronizing the craft. + +There were no soldiers on board, but thirty or forty passengers. We +were a hard-looking set. Our clothes were muddy, our beards shaggy, +our countenances far from being Caucasian in color, with sundry other +peculiarities of dress, feature, and demeanor. + +There was one stout man with an enormous quantity of brown hair, and a +thick yellow beard, belonging to Hopkinsville, near the Tennessee +line, who had been compelled to flee for his life. + +"We got up a cannon company, and I was captain. We had as neat a +little six-pounder as you ever saw; but I was obliged to cut and run +when the Rebels came in December; but I buried the pup and the +Secessionists don't know where she is! If I ever get back there I'll +make some of them cusses--my old neighbors--bite the dust. I have just +heard that they have tied my brother up and almost whipped him to +death. They gouged out his eyes, stamped in his face, and have taken +all his property." + +Here he was obliged to stop his narrative and give vent to a long +string of oaths, consigning the Rebels to all the tortures and pains +of the bottomless pit forever. Having disgorged his wrath, he said,-- + +"Now, sir, there is a grave judicial question on my mind, and I would +like your opinion upon it. If you owned a darkey who should get over +into Indiana, a bright, intelligent darkey, and he should take with +him ten niggers from your secession neighbors, and you should happen +to know it, would you send them back?" + +"No, sir; I should not." + +"That is my mind 'zactly. I knew you was a good Union man the moment I +sot my eyes on ye." Then came an interesting explanation. He had one +slave, a devoted fellow, who had become an active conductor on the +underground railroad. The slave had been often to Evansville and knew +the country, and had enticed away ten negroes belonging to the +Secessionists in the vicinity of Hopkinsville. He had seen them all +that morning, and more, had given each of them a hearty breakfast! +"You see," said he, "if they belonged to Union men I would have sent +'em back; but they belonged to the ----Secessionists who have driven +me out, taken all my property, and do you think I'd be mean enough to +send the niggers back?" + +On board the Storm were several other men who had been driven from +their homes by the Secessionists. There was one gentleman, a +slaveholder from the little town of Volney, between Hopkinsville and +the Cumberland River. All of his property had been taken, his negroes, +if they were not sold or seized, were roaming at will. He had two +brothers in the Rebel army. He was a plain, sensible, well-informed +farmer. He lived close upon the Tennessee line, and was acquainted +with the Southern country. + +"Slavery is a doomed institution," said he; "from Kentucky, from +Missouri, from Maryland and Virginia the slaves have been pouring +southward. There has been a great condensation of slaves at the South +where they are not wanted, and where they cannot be supported if the +blockade continues. The South never has raised its own provisions. She +could do it if she put forth her energies; but she never has and she +will not now. The time will come, if the blockade continues, when the +master will be compelled to say to the slaves, 'Get your living where +you can,' and then the system, being rolled back upon itself, will be +broken up. As for myself, I would like to have kept my slaves, because +I am getting along in years and I wanted them to take care of me; but +as the Secessionists have taken them and driven me out, it won't make +any difference to me whether the system is continued or not." + +It is utterly impossible to convey to a New-Englander who has never +crossed the Hudson a correct idea of a Kentucky country village, like +that of Calhoun, as seen from the deck of the steamer Storm, in the +light of a beautiful morning, so mild and spring-like that the robins, +bluebirds, jays, pewits, and sparrows were filling the air with their +songs, having returned from their sojourn in a Southern clime. A +sentinel was plashing through the mud along the bank, guarding the +ferry to the town of Rumsey, on the opposite side of the river. The +bank rises abruptly into the main street of the town. First we have +the McLean House, the first-class hotel of the place,--a wooden +building two stories high, containing six or eight rooms. There is +beyond it one brick building, then a number of smaller buildings +containing a couple of rooms each, and forty rods distant a church, +respectable in style and proportions. The land is undulating, and on +the hillsides there are dwellings, a half-dozen of which you might +call comfortable. The original forest oaks are still standing. A creek +or bayou runs through the town, the receptacle of all the filth +generated by ten thousand men, and thousands of mules, horses, and +hogs. + +Rumsey, on the opposite side of the river, is of smaller dimensions. +Years ago it was a "right smart" town, but business has disappeared. +The people have also gone, and now one sees a row of windowless, +doorless, deserted houses, soaked in every flood of waters. + +Visiting the "first class" hotel of the place, we sat down in the +parlor or reception-room, or whatever room it was, while the cook +prepared breakfast. It was also the landlord's bed-room, occupied by +himself and wife. + +Calling upon the landlord for a place for toilet operations, we were +invited into the kitchen which was also the dining-room and pantry and +Jim's bed-room,--Jim being a tall negro, who just now is washing +dishes, with a tin pan of hot water, and without any soap. Dinah is +rolling biscuit, and tending the hoe-cake, which is cooking nicely on +the stove. There is the flour-barrel close at hand. There is one +dinner-pot, with two kettles, a pail of water, a lantern, the +pepper-box, a dish of fat, a plate of butter, and a great heap of tin +dishes on the table, where Dinah is moulding the biscuit, while Jim +occupies the other end. The dining-table stands in the centre of the +room. The plates are laid, and the whole is covered with a blue cloth, +which at first sight seems to be a soldier's blanket, and which upon +close inspection leaves us still in doubt whether it is a table-cloth +or a bed-coverlet. There are some chairs, and an old desk which has +lost its lid, in which are nails, a hammer, some old papers, and a +deal of dust. It evidently "came down from a former generation." + +We have time to notice these things while the landlord is preparing +for our washing exploit, which is to be performed near Jim, with a +basin on a chair. + +Then we have breakfast,--beefsteak and porksteak, and buckwheat cakes, +all fried in lard, sausages, potatoes, Dinah's hoe-cakes, hot flour +biscuit, and a dish of hash, which will not go down at all, and coffee +without milk, preferred to the water of Green River, which in its +natural state is somewhat the color of yellow snuff, and which is +drank by the inhabitants of Calhoun, notwithstanding thousands of +horses are stabled on its banks. + +There was no movement of the troops, therefore nothing to detain us at +Calhoun, and knowing that there was something of interest up the +Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, we went on board the Mattie Cook, the +downward-bound steamer. While waiting for her departure we gazed at +the sights upon the shore. There was a great deal of life,--wagons, +soldiers, citizens floundering through the mud to the landing, +transporting goods. There were ludicrous scenes of men and teams stuck +in the mortar-bed; but in the midst of life there was death. A squad +of soldiers came down from camp to the hospital with a bier, and with +the slow funeral dirge brought two of their comrades to the boat,--two +who had just passed from the scenes of strife on earth to the eternal +peace beyond. Those who bore them were by no means unaffected by the +part they were called upon to perform. There were sad countenances, +too, on board the boat,--two ladies, both strangers to the dead, but +not indifferent to the scene. They had woman's tender sensibilities, +and could not keep back the tears from their eyes, for they thought of +their own sons whom they had just left, and who now stood upon the +bank to say perhaps a last good-by. + +But how transitory are all the most solemn impressions of death! Ten +minutes later a company of soldiers appeared for a trip down the river +to Stevensport to bag, if possible, the squad of Rebels which had been +prowling about the town of Stevensport. They came on board with a +hurrah, and made the welkin ring with the "Red, White, and Blue." It +was a pleasure to them to leave the hateful place even for a night, +and be in active service. + +[Illustration: Baltimore in 1861.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE. + + +[Sidenote: Feb., 1862.] + +At last the Rebel lines were broken. Commodore Foote had opened a +gateway to the heart of the Confederacy by the capture of Fort Henry +on the 6th of February. While up Green River I learned of the intended +movement, and hastened to be present, but was delayed between +Evansville and Paducah, and was not in season to see the engagement. + +Late on the Friday evening after I saw Commodore Foote in Cairo. He +had just returned from Fort Henry. + +"Can you favor me with an account of the affair?" I asked. + +"It will give me great pleasure to do so after I have prepared my +despatches for Washington," he replied. + +It was past midnight when he came to my room. He sat down, and leaned +back wearily in his chair. But soon recovering his usual energy, gave +the full details of the action. He had prepared his instructions to +his crews several days before the battle, and upon mature thought, saw +nothing to change. + +To the commanders and crews he said, that it was very necessary to +success that they should keep cool. He desired them to fire with +deliberate aim, and not to attempt rapid firing, for four reasons, +viz. that with rapid firing there was always a waste of ammunition; +that their range would be wild; that the enemy would be encouraged +unless the fire was effectual; that it was desirable not to heat the +guns. + +With these instructions he led his fleet up the narrow channel under +cover of Pine Island, thus avoiding long-range shot from the rifled +guns which it was known the enemy had in position to sweep the main +channel. He steamed slow, to allow the troops time to gain their +position. + +He visited each vessel and gave personal directions. He took his own +position in the pilot-house of the Cincinnati. The St. Louis was on +his right hand and the Carondelet and Essex were on his left, with the +Tyler, Connestoga, and Lexington in rear. There is an island a mile +and a quarter below the fort. When the head of the island was reached +the boats came into line and were within easy range. + +"Do just as I do," was his last order to the commanders. + +The Cincinnati opened, and the other vessels were quick to follow the +Commodore's example. + +"I had a definite purpose in view," said he, "to take the fort at all +hazards. It was necessary for the success of the cause. We have had +disaster upon disaster, and I intended, God helping me, to win a +victory. It made me feel bad when I saw the Essex drop out of the +line, but I knew that the fort couldn't stand it much longer. I should +have opened my broadsides in a minute or two, if Tilghman had not +surrendered, and that I knew would settle the question. We were not +more than four hundred yards distant." + +He said that when the Essex dropped behind the Rebels set up a +tremendous cheer, and redoubled their fire; but being excited their +aim was bad. + +"There is nothing like keeping perfectly cool in battle," said he. + +"When Tilghman came into my cabin," said the Commodore, "he asked for +terms, but I informed him that his surrender must be final." + +"Well, sir, if I must surrender, it gives me pleasure to surrender to +so brave an officer as you," said Tilghman. + +"You do perfectly right to surrender, sir; but I should not have +surrendered on any condition." + +"Why so? I do not understand you." + +"Because I was fully determined to capture the fort or go to the +bottom." + +The Rebel general opened his eyes at this remark, but replied, "I +thought I had you, Commodore, but you were too much for me." + +"But how could you fight against the old flag?" + +"Well, it did come hard at first; but if the North had only let us +alone there would have been no trouble. But they would not abide by +the Constitution." + +"You are mistaken, sir. The North has maintained all of her +Constitutional obligations. You of the South have perjured yourselves. +I talked to him faithfully," said the zealous officer. + +The Commodore was now nervously restless, but said: "I never slept +better in my life than I did the night before going into the battle, +and I never prayed more fervently than I did yesterday morning, that +God would bless the undertaking, and he has signally answered my +prayer. I don't deserve it, but I trust that I shall be grateful for +it. But I couldn't sleep last night for thinking of those poor fellows +on board the Essex, who were wounded and scalded. I told the surgeons +to do everything possible for them. Poor fellows! I must go and see +that they are well cared for." + +It was one o'clock in the morning, yet exhausted as he was, he went to +see that the sufferers were having every possible attention. + +This was on Saturday morning; the next day he went to church as usual. +The minister was not there, and after waiting awhile the audience one +by one began to drop off, whereupon Commodore Foote entered the +pulpit, and conducted the exercises, reading the fourteenth chapter of +John's Gospel, and addressed the congregation, urging sinners to +repentance, picturing the unspeakable love of Christ, and the rewards +which await the righteous, and closing the services by a fervent +prayer. It was as unostentatious as all his other acts, undertaken +with a dutiful desire to benefit those about him, and to glorify God. +That was his aim in life. + +The Rebel troops which were in and around Fort Henry fled in dismay +soon after the opening of the bombardment, leaving all their camp +equipage. In the barracks the camp-fires were still blazing, and +dinners cooking, when our troops entered. Books, letters half written, +trunks, carpet-bags, knives, pistols, were left behind, and were +eagerly seized by the soldiers, who rent the air with shouts of +laughter, mingled with the cheers of victory. + +Although not present, a letter fell into my hands written by a father +in Mississippi to his sons, which gives an insight into the condition +of affairs in the Confederacy at that time:-- + + "BEAR CREEK, Miss., Dec. 16, 1861. + + "TO MY DEAR BOYS SAMMIE AND THOMAS:-- + + "After a long silence I will tell you some little news. I told C. + D. Moore to tell you that paper was very scarce in this wooden + world. I went to Vaidere to get this, and was glad to get it at + 50 cents per quire. + + "The health of our country is pretty good. Crops are very short; + corn and cotton--especially cotton--not quite half a crop, though + it doesn't matter, as we can't get any money for it. For my part + I know not what we are to do. I haven't a red cent. My intention + now is to plant only about eight acres in cotton; that will make + enough to buy or barter my groceries. I fear, my children, we + will not live to see as prosperous a time after this revolution + as there was before it. I often think of the language of our + Saviour: 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani,'--My God, my God, why hast + thou forsaken me? I verily believe all this calamity has come + upon us for our wickedness. Religion is down like cotton,--not + worth much; and by the actions of good brethren it might be + bought for a mere trifle, though if we were to judge from its + sparseness, like salt, it would be worth $40 per sack. + + "O my God, what will become of us? Go, if you please, to the + churchyard, and you will hear nothing but secular affairs and + _war, war_! Dull times everywhere. Money scarce; pork high,--10 + to 12-1/2 cents per pound; salt the same; coffee $1.50 per pound, + and none to be had at that; calico 30 to 50 cents per yard; + domestics 20 to 25 cents per yard; sugar 6 to 12-1/2 cents; + molasses 30 to 40 cents, and everything in the same ratio." + +The capture of Fort Donelson and the troops defending it, was the +first _great_ achievement of the Union armies. The affair at Mill +Spring, and the taking of Roanoke Island by Burnside, were important, +but minor engagements when compared with the breaking in of the Rebel +line of defence on the Cumberland and Tennessee. The fighting on +Saturday, the last day of the series of battles, was desperate and +bloody. The ground on the right in the morning, when the Rebels moved +out and overwhelmed McClernand, was hotly contested. Grant's lines +were so extended and necessarily thin that the Rebels were enabled to +push McClernand back nearly two miles. This was done by Pillow and +Bushrod Johnson, who gained McClernand's flank. Buckner, however, who +was to strike McClernand's left, was slow in advancing. Had he moved +as rapidly as the other divisions, McClernand would have been utterly +routed. It was then that W. H. L. Wallace, of Illinois, showed his +great military ability. He had been in the Mexican war, was +courageous, and had that power of _presence_ which made every man feel +that he was under the eye of his commander. Then, too, General Logan +animated his men, and held them in close contact with the Rebels till +wounded. + +The charge of General C. P. Smith's division on the left, in the +afternoon of Saturday, was sublime. General Smith was an old soldier, +who had served in Mexico. His hair was long and white, and as he rode +along his lines, making arrangements for the advance, he was the most +conspicuous of all men on the field. He paid no heed to the rifle and +musket balls which were singing about his ears; he sat firmly on his +horse. When his lines were ready, he led them, with his cap on the +point of his sword. + +It was sunset or nearly that hour, when his division moved to the +attack of the outer works, at the southwest angle of the fort. There +was a steady advance through an open field,--a rush up the hill,--a +cheer,--the rout of Hanson's brigade of Rebels, the Second Kentucky, +Twentieth Mississippi, and Thirtieth Tennessee,--a long, loud shout of +triumph, mingled with the roar of cannon, and the rolls of musketry +from the fort, pouring upon them a concentrated fire! + +The scene at Donelson on Sunday morning, the day of surrender, was +exceedingly exhilarating,--the marching in of the victorious +divisions,--the bands playing, their flags waving, the cheers of the +troops,--the gunboats firing a salute,--the immense flotilla of river +steamboats gayly decorated! The New Uncle Sam was the boat on which +General Grant had established his head-quarters. The Uncle Sam, at a +signal from Commodore Foote, ranged ahead, came alongside one of the +gunboats, and, followed by all the fleet, steamed up river past Fort +Donelson, thick with Confederate soldiers,--past the intrenched camp +of log-huts, past a school-house on a hill, above which waved the +hospital flag,--and on to Dover, the gunboats thundering a national +salute the while. + +A warp was thrown ashore, the plank run out. I sprang up the bank, +and mingled among the disconsolate creatures,--a care-worn, haggard, +melancholy crowd which stood upon the heights above. They all told one +story, claiming that they had fought well; that we outnumbered them; +that there was a disagreement among their officers; that we had got +General Buckner; that Floyd and Pillow had escaped; that Floyd had +taken four regiments of his brigade; that there were four steamers; +that they went off crowded with soldiers, the guards sunk to the +water's edge. + +The town of Dover is the county seat of Stewart, and a point where the +farmers ship their produce. It is a straggling village on uneven +ground, and contains perhaps five hundred inhabitants. There are a few +buildings formerly used for stores, a doctor's office, a dilapidated +church, a two-story square brick court-house, and a half-dozen decent +dwellings. But the place had suffered greatly while occupied by the +Secession forces. Nearly every building was a hospital. Trees had been +cut down, fences burned, windows broken, and old buildings demolished +for fuel. + +We came upon a squad of soldiers hovering around a fire. Some were +wrapped in old patched bedquilts which had covered them at home. Some +had white blankets, made mostly of cotton. Others wore bright bocking, +which had evidently been furnished from a merchant's stock. One had a +faded piece of threadbare carpet. Their guns were stacked, their +equipments thrown aside, cartridge-boxes, belts, and ammunition +trampled in the mud. There were shot-guns, single and double-barreled, +old heavy rifles, flint-lock muskets of 1828, some of them altered +into percussion locks, with here and there an Enfield rifle. + +A few steps brought me to the main landing, where the Confederate +stores were piled, and from which Floyd made his escape. The gunboats +were lying off the landing, and a portion of McClernand's division was +on the hills beyond, the stars and stripes and the regimental banners +waving, and the bands playing. Away up on the hill Taylor's battery +was firing a national salute. + +There were sacks of corn, tierces of rice, sides of bacon, barrels of +flour, hogsheads of sugar, sufficient for several days' rations. Then +there was a dense crowd of Secessionists, evidently the rabble, or the +_debris_ of the army, belonging to all regiments. Some were sullen, +some indifferent, some evidently felt a sense of relief, mingled with +their apprehensions for the future. Among them were squads of our own +soldiers, with smiling faces, feeling very much at home, but +manifesting no disposition to add to the unhappiness of the captured. + +General McClernand's division had marched down to the outskirts of the +village, and was keeping guard. A private ran into the court-house and +threw the flag of the Union to the breeze from the belfry. Soldiers of +our army were inspecting the shops of the place. In the basement of a +store was the Confederate arsenal. There were piles of rifles, old +shot-guns, many of them ticketed with the owner's name. There were +many hunter's rifles, which had done good service in other days among +the mountains and forests of Tennessee, but, for use in battle, of but +little account. + +In another building was the Commissary department. There were +hogsheads of sugar, barrels of rice, boxes of abominable soap, and a +few barrels of flour. Later in the day we saw soldiers luxuriating +like children in the hogsheads of sugar. Many a one filled his canteen +with New Orleans molasses and his pockets with damp brown sugar. +Looking into a store we found a squad of soldiers taking things of no +earthly use. One had a looking-glass under his arm, one a paper of +files, another several brass candlesticks, one a package of bonnets. + +The Mississippians and Texans were boiling over with rage against +Floyd and Pillow for having deserted them. + +"Floyd always was a d--d thief and sneak," said one. + +Just before sunset we took a ramble through the grounds and +encampments of the Rebels, who were falling into line preparatory to +embarking upon the steamers. Standing on a hill beyond the village, we +had at one view almost all their force. Hogarth never saw such a +sight; Shakespeare, in his conceptions of Falstaff's tatterdemalions, +could not have imagined the like,--not that they were deficient in +intellect, or wanting in courage, for among them were noble men, brave +fellows, who shed tears when they found they were prisoners of war, +and who swore with round oaths that they would shoot Floyd as they +would a dog, if they could get a chance, but that for grotesque +appearance they were never equalled, except by the London bagmen and +chiffoniers of Paris. + +There were all sorts of uniforms, brown-colored predominating, as if +they were in the snuff business and had been rolled in tobacco-dust. +There was sheep gray, iron gray, blue gray, dirty gray, with bed +blankets, quilts, buffalo-robes, pieces of carpeting of all colors and +figures, for blankets. Each had his pack on his shoulder. Judging by +their garments, one would have thought that the last scrapings, the +odds and ends of humanity and of dry goods, had been brought together. + +The formal surrender of the fort took place in the cabin of the New +Uncle Sam in the evening. Buckner sat on one side of the table and +General Grant on the other. Buckner was attended by two of his staff. +The Rebel commander was in the prime of life, although his hair had +turned iron gray. He was of medium stature, having a low forehead and +thin cheeks, wore a moustache and meagre whiskers. He had on a +light-blue kersey overcoat and a checked neckcloth. He was smoking a +cigar, and talking in a low, quiet tone. He evidently felt that he was +in a humiliating position, but his deportment was such as to command +respect when contrasted with the course of Floyd and Pillow. His chief +of staff sat by his side. + +Buckner freely gave information relative to his positions, his forces, +their disposition, and his intentions. He expected to escape, and +claimed that the engagements on Saturday were all in favor of the +Confederates. No opprobrious words were used by any one. No +discussions entered into. He asked for subsistence for his men, and +said that he had only two days' provisions on hand. He had favors to +ask for some of his wounded officers, all of which were readily +acceded to by General Grant, who was very much at ease, smoking a +cigar, and conducting the business with dignity, yet with despatch. + +The prisoners were taken on board of the transports, the men on the +lower deck, and the officers having the freedom of the boat. The +saloons and cabins, berths and state-rooms were filled with the +wounded of both armies. + +"The conditions of the surrender have been most shamefully violated," +said a tall, dark-haired, black-eyed Mississippi colonel, on board +the Belle of Memphis. + +"How so?" I asked. + +"It was agreed that we should be treated like gentlemen, but the +steward of the boat won't let us have seats at the table. He charges +us a half-dollar a meal, and refuses Confederate money." + +"Well, sir, you fare no worse than the rest of us. I paid for a +state-room, but the surgeon turned me out and put in a wounded man, +which was all right and proper, and at which I have no complaint to +make, and I shall think myself well off if I can get hard-tack." + +While conversing with him, a Mississippi captain came up,--a tall, +red-whiskered, tobacco-chewing, ungainly fellow, with a swaggering +air. "This is d--d pretty business. They talk of reconstructing the +Union, and begin by rejecting our money. I don't get anything to eat," +he said. + +I directed his attention to a barrel of bacon and several boxes of +bread which had been opened for the prisoners, and from which they +were helping themselves. He turned away in disgust, saying,-- + +"Officers are to be treated according to their rank,--like +gentlemen,--and I'll be d--d if I don't pitch in and give somebody a +licking!" + +Some of the officers on board conducted themselves with perfect +decorum. One young physician gave his services to our wounded. + +Although Commodore Foote had been wounded in the gunboat attack upon +the fort, he intended to push up the river to Nashville, and intercept +General Albert Sidney Johnston, who he knew must be falling back from +Bowling Green, but he was stopped by a despatch from General Halleck +to General Grant. "Don't let Foote go up the river." + +The gunboats could have reached Nashville in eight hours. Floyd and +Pillow, who made their escape from Donelson at sunrise, reached the +city before noon, while the congregations were in the churches. Had +Commodore Foote followed he would have been in the city by three +o'clock, holding the bridges, patrolling the rivers, and cutting off +Johnston's retreat. Buell had between thirty and forty thousand men, +Johnston less than twenty. On the heel of the demoralization incident +to the rout at Mill Springs, Fort Henry, and the loss at Donelson, the +entire Rebel army in the West could have been destroyed, but for the +dictation of General Halleck, sitting in the planter's house five +hundred miles distant. + +"Had I been permitted to carry out my intention we should have put an +end to the rebellion in the West," said Commodore Foote. + +General Halleck had endeavored to enforce his order No. 3, excluding +negroes from his lines, but before daybreak on Sunday morning at +Donelson a negro entered the lines, having made his way out from +Dover, past the Rebel pickets. He reported that the Rebels were +fleeing. Some of the officers suggested that he was sent out to lure +Grant into a trap, and proposed to tie him up and give him a whipping. + +"You may hang me, shoot me, do anything to me, if it a'n't as I tell +you," was his earnest reply. + +One hour later came the Rebel flag of truce from Buckner, asking for +the appointment of Commissioners; but the information already obtained +enabled Grant to reply: "I propose to move immediately upon your +works." + +The negro was a slave, who entered the Union lines in search of +freedom,--that which his soul most longed for. General Grant did not +exclude him. Like a sensible man, he took no action in the matter, +gave no directions as to what should be done with him. The slave being +at liberty to decide for himself, took passage on a transport for +Cairo. The steamer stopped at a landing for wood, when the slave was +recognized by some of the citizens, who said that he belonged to a +Union man, and demanded that he should be put off the boat. The +captain of the steamer was inclined to accede to their demands; but +the officers on board, knowing what service he had rendered, informed +the captain that he need not be under any apprehensions of arrest by +civil process, as martial law was in force. They kept the negro under +their protection, and gave him his liberty, thus setting at defiance +General Halleck and his pro-slavery order. + +[Sidenote: March, 1862.] + +A great many negroes came into the lines, and were welcomed by the +soldiers. Among them was a boy, black as anthracite, with large, +lustrous eyes, and teeth as white as purest ivory. He was thirteen +years old, born in Kentucky, but for several years had lived near +Dover. His master, he said, was a gentleman, owned twenty-four slaves. +He had on a greasy shirt of snuff-colored jean, the genuine negro +cloth, such as one half the Southern army was compelled to wear. His +slouched hat was tipped back upon his head, showing a countenance +indicative of intelligence. + +"Well, my boy, what is your name?" I asked. + +"Dick, massa." + +"Where do you live?" + +"About fourteen miles from Dover, massa, up near de rollin' mill." + +"Is your master a Secessionist?" + +"He was Secesh, massa, but he be Union now." + +This was correct testimony, the master appearing with great boldness +at General Grant's head-quarters to let it be known he was for the +Union. + +"Are you a slave, Dick?" + +"I was a slave, but I's free now; I's 'fiscated." + +"Where were you when the fight was going on at Fort Donelson?" + +"At home; but when massa found de fort was took he started us all off +for de Souf, but we got away and come down to Dover, and was +'fiscated." + +The master was a Secessionist till his twenty-four chattels, which he +was trying to run South, became perverse and veered to the North with +much fleetness. Not only were these twenty-four started South, but ten +times twenty-four, from the vicinity of Dover, and an hundred times +twenty-four from Clarkesville, Nashville, and all along the +Cumberland. When Donelson fell, the edifice of the Secessionists +became very shaky in one corner. + +Columbus was occupied on the 5th of March, the Rebels retiring to +Island No. 10. Visiting the post-office, I secured several bushels of +Southern newspapers, which revealed a state of general gloom and +despondency throughout the Confederacy. Inspired by the events of +1861,--the battles of Bull Run, Belmont, and other engagements,--the +Southern muse had struck its lyre. + +The battle of Belmont had kindled a poetic flame in the breast of Jo. +Augustine Signaigo, in the Memphis _Appeal_. The opening stanza is as +follows:-- + + "Now glory to our Southern cause, and praises be to God, + That He hath met the Southron's foe, and scourged him with his rod; + On the tented plains of Belmont, there in their might the Vandals came. + And gave unto Destruction all they found, with sword and flame; + But they met a stout resistance from a little band that day, + Who swore that they would conquer, or return to mother clay." + +After a description of the fight, we have the following warning in the +tenth stanza:-- + + "Let the horrors of this day to the foe a warning be, + That the Lord is with the South, that His arm is with the free; + That her soil is pure and spotless as her clear and sunny sky, + And he who dare pollute it on her soil shall basely die; + For His fiat hath gone forth, e'en among the Hessian horde, + That the South has got His blessing, for the South is of the Lord." + +The New Orleans _Picayune_ had an "Ode on the Meeting of the Southern +Congress, by Henry Timrod," which opened in the following lofty +lines:-- + + "Hath not the morning dawned with added light! + And will not evening call another star + Out of the infinite regions of the night + To mark this day in Heaven? At last, we are + A nation among nations; and the world + Shall soon behold, in many a distant port, + Another flag unfurled!" + +This poet gave the following contrast between the North and South:-- + + "Look where we will, we cannot find a ground + For any mournful song! + Call up the clashing elements around, + And test the right and wrong! + On one side,--pledges broken, creeds that lie, + Religion sunk in vague philosophy; + Empty professions; Pharisaic leaven; + Souls that would sell their birth-right in the sky; + Philanthropists who pass the beggar by, + And laws which controvert the laws of Heaven! + And, on the other, first, a righteous cause! + Then, honor without flaws, + Truth, Bible reverence, charitable wealth, + And for the poor and humble, laws which give + Not the mean right to buy the right to live, + But life, home and health. + To doubt the issue were distrust in God! + If in his providence He had decreed + That, to the peace for which we pray, + Through the Red Sea of War must lie our way, + Doubt not, O-brothers, we shall find at need + A Moses with his rod!" + +The Vicksburg _Citizen_ had thirty stanzas rehearsing the events of +the year 1861. Two or three selections will be sufficient to show that +the muse halted a little now and then:-- + + "Last year's holidays had scarcely passed, + Before momentous events came thick and fast; + Mississippi on the 9th of January went out, + Determined to stand strong, firm and stout. + + * * * * * + + "Major Anderson would not evacuate Sumter, + When Gen. Beauregard made him surrender,-- + And sent him home to his abolition master, + Upon a trot, if not a little faster. + + "Then Old Abe Lincoln got awful mad, + Because his luck had turned out so bad; + And he grasped his old-fashioned steel pen, + And ordered out seventy-five thousand men. + + "May the Almighty smile on our Southern race, + May Liberty and Independence grow apace, + May our Liberties this year be achieved, + And our distress and sorrow graciously relieved." + +The bombardment of Island No. 10 commenced on the 9th of March, and +continued nearly a month. General Pope moving overland, captured New +Madrid, planted his guns, and had the Rebel steamboats in a trap. The +naval action of March 17th was grand beyond description. The mortars +were in full play. The Cincinnati, Benton, and St. Louis were lashed +together, and anchored with their bows down stream. The Carondelet and +Mound City were placed in position to give a cross-fire with the other +three, while the Pittsburg was held in reserve. + +It was past one o'clock in the afternoon of as beautiful a day as +ever dawned upon the earth, when a ball of bunting went up to the top +of the Benton's flagstaff, and fluttered out into the battle signal. +Then came a flash, a belching of smoke from her bows, a roar and +reverberation rolling far away,--a screaming in the air, a tossing up +of earth and an explosion in the Rebel works. + +The highest artistic skill cannot portray the scene of that +afternoon,--the flashes and flames,--the great white clouds, mounting +above the boats, and floating majestically away over the dark gray +forests,--the mortars throwing up vast columns of sulphurous cloud, +which widen, expand, and roll forward in fantastic folds,--the shells +one after another in swift succession rising, rotating, rushing upward +and onward, sailing a thousand feet high, their course tracking a +light gossamer trail, which becomes a beautiful parabola, and then the +terrific explosion,--a flash, a handful of cloud, a strange whirring +of the ragged fragments of iron hurled upwards, outwards, and +downwards, crashing through the forests! + +I was favored with a position on the Silver Wave steamer, lying just +above the Benton, her wheels slowly turning to keep her in position to +run down and help the gunboats if by chance they were disabled. The +Rebel batteries on the mainland and on the Island, the Rebel steamers +wandering up and down like rats in a cage, were in full view. With my +glass I could see all that took place in and around the nearest +battery. Columns of water were thrown up by the shot from the +gunboats, like the first gush from the hose of a steam fire-engine, +which falls in rainbow-colored spray. There were little splashes in +the stream when the fragments of shell dropped from the sky. Round +shot skipped along the surface of the river, tearing through the Rebel +works, filling the air with sticks, timbers, earth, and branches of +trees, as if a thunderbolt had fallen. There were explosions followed +by volumes of smoke rising from the ground like the mists of a summer +morning. There was a hissing, crackling, and thundering explosion in +front and rear and overhead. But there were plucky men in the fort, +who at intervals came out from their bomb-proof, and sent back a +defiant answer. There was a flash, a volume of smoke, a hissing as if +a flying fiery serpent were sailing through the air, growing louder, +clearer, nearer, more fearful and terrific, crashing into the Benton, +tearing up the iron plating, cutting off beams, splintering planks, +smashing the crockery in the pantry, and breaking up the Admiral's +writing-desk. + + "Howling and screeching and whizzing, + The bomb-shells arched on high, + And then, like fiery meteors, + Dropped swiftly from the sky." + +All through the sunny hours, till evening, the gunboats maintained +their position. While around the bright flashes, clouds of smoke, and +heavy thunderings brought to mind the gorgeous imagery of Revelation, +descriptive of the last judgment. + +While the bombardment was at its height, I received a package of +letters, intrusted to my care. There was one postmarked from a town in +Maine, directed to a sailor on the St. Louis. Jumping on board a tug, +which was conveying ammunition to the gunboats, I visited the vessel +to distribute the letters. A gun had burst during the action, killing +and wounding several of the crew. It was a sad scene. There were the +dead,--two of them killed instantly, and one of them the brave fellow +from Maine. Captain Paulding opened the letter, and found it to be +from one who had confided to the noble sailor her heart's +affections,--who was looking forward to the time when the war would be +over, and they would be happy together as husband and wife. + +"Poor girl! I shall have to write her sad news," said the captain. + +Day after day and night after night the siege was kept up, till it +grew exceedingly monotonous. I became so accustomed to the pounding +that, though the thirteen-inch mortars were not thirty rods distant +from my quarters, I was not wakened by the tremendous explosions. +Commodore Foote found it very difficult to fight down stream, as the +water was very high, flooding all the country. Colonel Bissell, of +General Pope's army, proposed the cutting of a canal through the +woods, to enable the gunboats to reach New Madrid. It was an Herculean +undertaking. A light-draft transport was rigged for the enterprise. +Machinery was attached to the donkey-engine of the steamer by which +immense cotton-wood trees were sawed off four feet under water. + +There was something very enchanting in the operation,--to steam out +from the main river, over corn-fields and pasture lands, into the dark +forests, threading a narrow and intricate channel, across the +country,--past the Rebel batteries. A transport was taken through, and +a tugboat, but the channel was not deep enough for the gunboats. + +Captain Stembel, commanding the Benton,--a brave and competent +officer, Commodore Foote's right-hand man,--proposed to run the +batteries by night to New Madrid, capture the Rebel steamer which Pope +had caught in a trap, then turning head up stream take the Rebel +batteries in reverse. The Commodore hesitated. He was cautious as well +as brave. At length he accepted the plan, and sent the Pittsburg and +Carondelet past the batteries at night. It was a bold undertaking, but +accomplished without damage to the gunboats. The current was swift and +strong, and they went with the speed of a race-horse. + +Their presence at New Madrid was hailed with joy by the troops. Four +steamboats had worked their way through the canal. A regiment was +taken on board each boat. The Rebels had a battery on the other side +of the river at Watson's Landing, which was speedily silenced by the +two gunboats. The troops landed, and under General Paine drove the +Rebels from their camp, who fled in confusion, throwing away their +guns, knapsacks, and clothing. + +General Pope sent over the balance of his troops, and with his whole +force moved upon General Mackall, the Rebel commander, who surrendered +his entire command, consisting of nearly seven thousand prisoners, one +hundred and twenty three guns, and an immense amount of supplies. + +The troops of General Paine's brigade came across a farm yard which +was well stocked with poultry, and helped themselves. The farmer's +wife visited the General's head-quarters to enter a complaint. + +"They are stealing all my chickens, General! I sha'n't have one +left," she exclaimed, excitedly. + +"I am exceedingly sorry, ma'am," said the General, with great +courtesy; "but we are going to put down the rebellion if it takes +every chicken in the State of Tennessee!" + +The woman retired, evidently regarding the Yankees as a race of +vandals. + +[Illustration: East Tennessee refugees.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PITTSBURG LANDING, FORT PILLOW, AND MEMPHIS. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1862.] + +The battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh as it is sometimes called, +was fought on the 6th and 7th of April. It was a contest which has +scarcely been surpassed for manhood, pluck, endurance, and heroism. In +proportion to the numbers engaged the loss in killed and wounded was +as great as that of any battle of the war. The disasters to the Rebel +cause in Tennessee moved Davis to hurry reinforcements to Corinth, +which was the new base of Johnston's operations. Beauregard was sent +into the department. He had the reputation of being a great commander, +because he commanded the Rebel batteries in the attack on Sumter, and +had received the glory of winning the victory at Bull Run. Time is the +test of honor. Men, like the stars, have their hours of rising and +setting. He was in the zenith of his fame. + +Albert Sydney Johnston was still in command, but he was induced to +move from Corinth to Pittsburg Landing and attack Grant before Buell, +who was slowly moving across the country from Nashville, could join +him. + +Buell marched with great deliberation. He even gave express orders +that there should be six miles' space between the divisions of his +army. The position at Pittsburg Landing was chosen by General Smith, +as being a convenient base for a movement upon Corinth. It had some +natural advantages for defence,--Lick Creek and a ravine above the +Landing,--but nothing was done towards erecting barricades or +breastworks. There are writers who maintain that the attack of the +Rebels was expected; but if expected, would not prudence have dictated +the slashing of trees, the erection of breastworks, and a regular +disposition of the forces? On Friday and Saturday the Rebel cavalry +appeared in our front, but were easily driven back towards Corinth. + +Nothing was done towards strengthening the line; no orders were issued +in anticipation of a battle till the pickets were attacked on Sunday +morning, while the troops were cooking their coffee, and while many of +the officers were in bed. + +Pittsburg is the nearest point to Corinth on the river. The road winds +up the bank, passes along the edge of a deep ravine, leading +southwest. It forks a half-mile from the Landing, the left-hand path +leading to Hamburg up the river, and the main road leading to Shiloh +Church, four miles from the Landing. The accompanying sketch of the +church was taken the week after the battle, with the head-quarter +tents of General Sherman around it. Its architecture is exceedingly +primitive. It is a fair type of the inertness of the people of that +region at the time. It is about twenty-five or thirty feet square, +built of logs, without pulpit or pews, with rude benches for seats. +Once it was chinked with clay, but the rains have washed out the +mortar, and the wind comes in through all the crevices. It is +thoroughly ventilated. It would make a good corn-crib for an Illinois +farmer. + +A brook meanders through the forest, furnishing water for the +worshipping assemblies. South of the church, and across the brook, is +a clearing,--an old farm-house where Beauregard wrote his despatch to +Jeff Davis on Sunday night, announcing a great victory. There are +other little clearings, which have been long under cultivation. The +people were too indolent to make new openings in the forest, where +centuries of mould had accumulated. The country was but little further +advanced than when Daniel Boone passed through the Cumberland Gap. +Civilization came and made a beginning; but the blight of slavery was +there. How the tillage and culture of New England or Ohio would crown +those swells of land with sheaves of grain! What corn and clover +fields, pastures of honeysuckle, gardens of roses! Within four miles +of one of the most beautiful rivers in the world,--in a country +needing only industry to make it a paradise,--the mourning dove filled +the air with its plaintive notes in the depths of an almost unbroken +forest, while the few people, shiftless and destitute of the comforts +of civilization, knew no better than to fight against their own best +interests. + +The majority of the poor whites of the South are very ignorant. Few of +them have ever attended school. In Tennessee, by the census of 1850, +there were more than seventy thousand native-born American adults who +could not read. Not one half of the prisoners captured at Donelson +could read or write. While the army was lying before Corinth, I +visited a Mississippi school-house,--a log building chinked with mud, +covered with long split oak shingles. It had a huge fireplace, built +of stones, and a chimney laid up with sticks and mud. There were +openings for two windows, but frames, sash, and glass all were +wanting. There was no floor but the beaten earth,--no desks. Stakes +were driven into the ground, upon which slabs of oak were laid for +seats. The teacher's desk was a large dry-goods box. + +The State of North Carolina, with a white population of five hundred +and fifty-three thousand, had eighty thousand native whites, over +twenty years of age, who had never attended school. In the State of +Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, five +States having a population of two million six hundred and seventy +thousand, there were two hundred and sixty-two thousand native-born +Americans, over twenty years of age, unable to read or write! + +It will be no easy matter to awaken aspirations in the minds of this +class. They have been so long inert, so long taught to believe that +labor is degrading, that rapid progress of Southern society cannot be +expected immediately, unless emigration infuses a new vitality into +the community. + +Ignorance was on the increase throughout the South. Public schools +were of little value where they existed, and the county was so +sparsely settled in many places there were not scholars enough to form +one. The school fund arising from the sale of public lands was often +appropriated to other uses. In Arkansas it had been squandered by +worthless officials. The planters and wealthy farmers employed +teachers in their families. Before the war, thousands of young ladies +from the North were thus engaged. They sat at the planter's table and +associated with his daughters; but, however intelligent, refined, or +agreeable they might be, they were not admitted as their equals in +society. Such teaching as they received, although the teacher might +be faithful, was of little account. The children, proud and haughty, +daily hearing of the inferiority of the people of the North, were not +always disposed to receive instruction, much less to submit to +correction, at the hands of a "Yankee schoolma'am." To be chivalrous, +courteous, high-minded, and generous toward woman has ever been the +boast of the men of the South; but, during the months immediately +preceding the outbreak of the Rebellion, insulting and abusive +language was freely uttered in the presence of Northern ladies. There +was rudeness not only of language, but in some instances of action. +The young bloods of the aristocracy, learning to crow as they heard +the old cocks, not unfrequently rose in rebellion against the +authority of the teacher. Especially was this the case with teachers +employed in the public schools. A Yankee schoolmaster or +schoolmistress was one who could be insulted with impunity; and so +bitter was the hatred, that, weeks before the first gun was fired at +Sumter, Northern teachers were forced to leave their schools and +retire from the Confederacy. + +[Illustration: A Mississippi school-house.] + +To General Sherman more than to any division commander is credit due +for the victory at Pittsburg Landing. When the first volley of +musketry reverberated through the forest on Sunday morning he leaped +into his saddle. He was conspicuous everywhere, riding along the lines +regardless of the bullets which riddled his clothes. Early in the +battle he was wounded in the wrist, but wrapping a bandage round his +arm, continued in the field. Three horses were shot under him. He was +a conspicuous mark for the Rebel riflemen. His fearless example was +inspiring to the men. And so through the long hours of the day he was +able to hold his position by the church, till the giving way of +Prentiss and Hurlburt, nearer the river, made it necessary to fall +back. Here Grant first exhibited those qualities of character which +have made him the great military commander of the age. "We will beat +them yet. They can't pass this ravine," were his words of +encouragement as he selected the final line, leading to the landing. +The contest was virtually decided at five o'clock on Sunday afternoon, +when Breckenridge attempted to cross the gorge near the river and was +hurled back with great loss. Johnston and Beauregard made a great +mistake in attacking at a point within reach of the gunboats. Had they +come in on the Purdy road, between Shiloh Church and Crump's Landing, +in all human probability there would have been a far different record +for the historians of the future. Had they attacked northwest of the +church instead of south of it, they would have taken Grant in reverse, +and forced him to change the whole front of his army; they would have +had no ravine to cross, would have been beyond reach of the gunboats, +and would have stood a fair chance of cutting off Lewis Wallace, who +was at Crump's Landing, from all connection with the main army. + +The defeat of the Rebels was decisive, and yet Beauregard sent the +following despatch to Richmond:-- + + "CORINTH, April 8th, 1862. + + "TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR AT RICHMOND:-- + + "We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten + thousand prisoners, and thirty-six pieces of cannon. Buell + reinforced Grant, and we retired to our entrenchments at Corinth, + which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides. + + "BEAUREGARD." + +On the same day he sent a flag of truce to General Grant with the +following message, also asking leave to bury the Confederate dead:-- + + "Sir, at the close of the conflict yesterday, my forces being + exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which + they were engaged with yours on that and the preceding day, and + it being apparent that you had received and were still receiving + reinforcement, I felt it my duty to withdraw my troops from the + immediate scene of the conflict." + +From Shiloh to the close of the war, Beauregard's popularity was on +the wane, and the Southern people lost confidence in him. I was at +Island No. 10 when the battle was fought, but joined the army the week +after. + +As the army moved towards Corinth, there was abundant evidence that +the defeat of the Rebels was most disastrous,--that their retreat was +hasty. Blankets, knapsacks, haversacks, here and there muskets, +wagons, one overturned in a slough, one with its tongue broken, tents, +harnesses, oats, corn, flour, tent-poles, were confusedly scattered +along the way. The carcasses of dead horses tainted the air. There +were piles of earth newly heaped above those who died from their +wounds. They fled in a fright on Monday night. I came unexpectedly +upon a little log-hut, on a by-path leading toward Monterey. Two of +McCook's cavalry rode up in advance of me. A widow woman, middle aged, +with a little girl and two little boys occupied it. She kindly gave me +a drink of water, and informed me that there were three Confederate +wounded in the other room. I looked in upon them for a moment. +Suffering had wasted them, and they had no disposition to talk of the +past or the future. The good woman had been kind to them, but she had +seen a great deal of sorrow. On Monday night one hundred wounded were +brought to her house. Her two horses had been seized by the Rebels, +her corn eaten, and no equivalent returned. She conversed +unreservedly; deplored the war, and wished it over. There were seven +new-made graves in her garden, and in her door-yard a heap of cinders +and ashes, and charred brands,--fragments of wagons and tent-poles. On +the upper Corinth road fifty wounded were lying, cared for by our +surgeons. + +I recall some of the scenes of the movement upon Corinth. Here is an +open forest, undulating land with little or no underbrush; thousands +of wagons, all plodding on, not in slow, easy motion, but by fits and +starts, with cutting, slashing, shouting, swearing, a chorus of +profanity resounding through the forests. A mule sticks fast; he +tumbles; his mate falls upon him. The drivers become enraged; then +follows a general _melee_, a long halt, frantic attempts to start +again, an unloading and reloading. Other trains in the rear, tired of +waiting, turn to the right or left, perhaps to pass the little slough +safely, only to meet with a similar mishap ten rods farther along. A +battery struggles along, with twelve horses attached to a single piece +of artillery. The entire forest is cut up by passing teams. Mingled +with the thousands of wagons are regiments. They, too, are in +confusion. Buell's and Grant's forces have become mixed. The divisions +have been ordered to move, but evidently with no prearranged system. +As far as the eye can see it is one grand hurly-burly,--one frantic +struggle to make headway,--and this for a half-dozen miles. What a +waste of horse-flesh! Here are six mules attempting to draw six boxes +of bread,--weight perhaps six hundred pounds. The cavalry bring out +their supplies on horses, each cavalryman bringing a bag of oats. +There is cursing, swearing, pounding. The army in Flanders could not +have been more profane. The brutality of the drivers is terrible. A +miserable fellow, destitute of sense and humanity, strikes a mule over +the head, felling the animal to the ground. Noble horses are +remorselessly cut up by these fiendish beings in human form. There is +no check upon their cruelty. You see dead horses everywhere. All the +finer sensibilities become callous. One must see, but not feel. There +would be pleasure in snatching a whip from the hands of these savages +and giving them a dose of their own medicine. + +General Halleck advanced with extreme caution. He built four lines of +breastworks, each line nearly ten miles long, so that if driven from +one he could fall back to another. He sunk deep wells for water, he +was preparing to be besieged instead of opening a siege. + +He doubted all the reports of his scouts,--disbelieved the stories of +negroes who came to him,--issued Order No. 57, that all "unauthorized +persons" in his lines should be sent out, especially fugitive +slaves,--threw up redoubts, dragged his heavy siege-guns through the +mud from the Landing,--planted them behind sodded earthworks, erected +bomb-proof magazines,--issued his final orders to his army of an +hundred thousand men,--opened fire from his heavy guns,--threw forward +his skirmishers, and found--a deserted town! + +Joining the fleet upon the Mississippi once more on the 3d of June, I +found Commodore (now Admiral) Davis in command, Admiral Foote having +been relieved at his own request. His wound was painful, and he was so +debilitated that he was unable to discharge his duties. The idea was +generally entertained that the Rebels had evacuated Fort Pillow. The +evacuation of Corinth was the basis for expectation of such an event. +Fires were seen over the point on the bluffs and beyond, toward +Randolph. Of course no one could say what was burning, but from the +past conduct of Rebels, it was reasonable to suppose that the +evacuation had taken place, inasmuch as there was an ominous silence +of Rebel batteries. But they suddenly waked up. Ascending to the +pilot-house of the steamer, I could see handfuls of white cloud above +and beyond the dense foliage of the forest. Then there came a dull, +heavy roar,--boom--boom--boom,--and the nearer explosion of the shells +which burst in the air above our gunboats. Not evacuated! They were +there lively as ever. + +This sudden and unexpected demonstration aroused Captain Maynadier, +and right merrily answered the mortars till noon. Then there was a +respite, while the mortar crews sat down beneath the dark green +foliage of the forest, sheltered from the burning sun, and ate their +rations, and rested the while. + +Seven or eight miles below Craighead Point is Lanier's plantation. The +proprietor being a Secessionist, burned his cotton, but for some cause +he had lost faith, or pretended to lose faith, in the Confederacy, and +desired to be permitted to return to his comfortable home, there to +remain unmolested. He sent a note to Colonel Fitch, commanding the +land forces, soliciting an interview. His request was granted, and he +so ingratiated himself into Colonel Fitch's good feeling that he +became again an occupant of his homestead. + +Subsequently it was ascertained that he was supplying the Rebel fleet +with ice, spring chickens, garden vegetables, &c. It was decided to +spring a trap upon the gentlemen of the Southern navy. A small party +was sent out by Colonel Fitch, which reached the locality +undiscovered. After a few minutes' reconnoissance, eight men were +discovered helping themselves to ice in Mr. Lanier's ice-cellar. They +were surprised. One resisted, but was shot, and the rest, after a +short parleying, surrendered. They were brought to the Benton, but +were very uncommunicative and sour. + +The loss of a lieutenant and seven men was not well relished at Fort +Pillow. Soon after noon the guns on the bluff commenced a vigorous but +random fire, as if ammunition cost nothing, and it were mere pastime +to burn powder and hurl shell over the point at our fleet. It was very +pleasant to see the round shot plump into the water all around our +gunboats, with an occasional shell puffing into cloud overhead, and +raining fragments of iron into the river,--for with such random +firing, there was but little danger of being hit. + +The day had been hot and sultry, but just before nightfall a huge bank +of clouds rolled up in the western horizon, and burst with the fury of +a tornado upon the fleet. Some of the transports dragged their anchors +before the gale, but all kept up steam; they were not long in making +head against the breeze. There was but little rain, but a dense cloud +of dust was whirled up from the sandbars. + +I was surprised to see, when the storm was at its height, two of our +rams steam rapidly down to the point and turn their prows towards the +Rebel batteries. They disappeared in the whirling dust-cloud, +vanishing from sight like ships at sea when night comes on. They +steamed swiftly down the stream and turned Craighead Point. + +Their mission, at such a moment, was to take advantage of the +storm,--of the enveloping dust-cloud,--to ascertain what the Rebels +were doing. We could hear the sudden waking up of heavy guns,--those +that had spoken to us in the past,--just as, in high party times, +great orators hold forth the night before election. The rams were +discovered, and at once the batteries were in a blaze. Then they +quietly steamed across the bend, in face of the batteries, turned +their prows up stream, and appeared in sight once more. Onward rolled +the cloud, and the Rebel cannon belched and thundered, firing shot at +random into the river. Bang--bang--bang,--two or three at a +time,--roared the guns. It was amusing, laughable, to see the rams +returning, and hear the uproar below. + +The dust-cloud, with its fine, misty rain, rolled away. The sun shone +once more, and bridged the Mississippi with a gorgeous rainbow. While +admiring it, a Rebel gunboat poked her nose around the point. Then, +after a little hesitancy, her entire body, to see what we were up to. +She was a black craft, bearing the flag of the Confederacy. Seeing how +far off we were, she steamed boldly past the point, up stream far +enough to get a sight of the entire Federal fleet; turned slowly, +placed her head downward, to be ready for a quick run home, if need +be; then turned her paddles against the current, and surveyed us +leisurely. The Mound City and Cairo being nearest, opened fire upon +the craft. A signal was run up from the Benton, and immediately from +the chimneys of the entire fleet rose heavy columns of blackest smoke, +which mingled with the white puffs of steam, and rolled away into the +blackness of the receding storm. The sun had gone down. + +Unheeding the shot falling close at her bows, or whistling over her +decks, the steamer took her own time and slowly descended the stream +and disappeared beyond the jutting headland. + +At sunset on the 4th of June, the Rebel batteries opened a fierce and +sudden fire upon the gunboats. Then there came heavy explosions, +rising columns of smoke, faint and white at first, but increasing in +volume and blackness. Another,--a third, a fourth,--expanding into one +broad column, all along the height occupied by the Rebel batteries. +Daylight was fading away, the lurid flames filled the southern sky, +and a heaving, surging bank of smoke and flame laid along the +tree-tops of the intervening forest. Occasionally there were flashes +and faint explosions, and sudden puffs of smoke, spreading out like +flakes of cotton or fleeces of whitest wool. This was all we could +see. We were ignorant of what was feeding the flames, whether steamers +or bales of cotton, or barracks or tents or houses, but were sure that +it was a burning of that which had cost a pile of Confederate notes. +After taking possession of the works in the morning, the fleet pursued +the retreating Rebels down the river. + +It was dark when we came to anchor four miles above the city of +Memphis on the 5th of June. + +[Illustration: Gunboats in line.] + +"I think that we shall have a lively time in the morning," said the +Admiral. My own quarters were on board of the J. H. Dickey, which lay +a mile up stream. I was astir before daylight on the 6th. The air was +clear,--the sky without a cloud. The stars were fading in the west, +and the columns of light were rising in the east. The gunboats--five +of them--were in a line across the stream, with the steam escaping +from their pipes. The city was in full view. People were gathering +upon the banks gazing upon the fleet. A dark column of smoke rose +from above the green foliage of the forest opposite the city, but +whether produced by burning buildings or by the Rebel fleet, was +wholly a matter of conjecture. + +The tugboat Jessie Benton, tender to the Admiral, came up to the +advance boat, which was lying by our side. + +"The Admiral thinks that the Rebel fleet is below the city, and that +we are to have a fight. You can go down if you want to," said the +captain. + +I was on board in an instant, leaving the other gentlemen of the press +asleep in their state-room. The soldiers were heaving the anchors as +we approached the fleet, shouting in chorus, "Yeave ho! yeave ho!" The +drummer-boys were beating to quarters, the marines were mustering, +officers and sailors all were busy. + +The Admiral was standing on the upper deck with Captain Phelps, +commanding the Benton, by his side. The Admiral is a tall, +well-proportioned man, about fifty years old, with gray hair and blue +eyes. He is a perfect gentleman,--kind, courteous, and affable, not +only to his officers, but to the crews. Captain Phelps is shorter, and +smaller in stature. His features are sharply cut. He stands erect, +looks upon the preparations with keen eyes, giving orders with +precision and promptness. The Benton in a few moments is ready for +action, so quickly are his orders executed. + +"Drop down toward the city, sir, and see if you can discover the Rebel +fleet," is the word of the Admiral to our captain. + +We pass through the fleet, and move slowly down stream, followed by +the Benton and Carondelet, which drift with the current. + +[Sidenote: June, 1862.] + +The sun was beginning to gild the spires of the city, and its slant +rays came streaming over the waters into our faces. Men, women, and +children were gathering upon the levee, on foot, on horseback, and in +carriages. The crowd became more dense. Were they assembling to +welcome us? Should we steam down to them, and ask them what they +thought of the Rebellion? The Rebel flag was flying from the cupola of +the court-house, and from a tall flagstaff on the levee. I remembered +that on the 6th of May, thirteen months before, on the evening after +the secession of the State, the people had torn down the stars and +stripes, borne them out to the suburbs of the city, dug a grave, and +buried the flag, trampling it in the mire! + +Suddenly a Rebel gunboat steamed out into the stream, from the shelter +of the Arkansas woods;--another,--another,--till eight had ranged +themselves in two lines of battle. "Helm aport!" shouted our captain +to the pilot, and we were rushing up stream again. The Admiral was not +quite ready for action, and the Benton and Carondelet returned to +their original position. + +The appearance of the Rebel fleet,--the orderly formation of the +battle line,--looked like work. The affair of the 10th of May, when +the Rebel gunboats stole round Craighead Point above Fort Pillow, and +sunk the Cincinnati, was sufficiently spirited to warrant the +supposition that an engagement would be desperate. Several of the +Rebel boats were fitted out at Memphis, and were manned by the old +rivermen of that city, who would fight with great bravery under the +eyes of their fellow-citizens, their wives and sweethearts. + +"Let the sailors have breakfast," said the Admiral, who believed in +fighting on a full stomach. I took mine on deck,--a cup of coffee, +hard-tack, and a slice of salt junk,--for the movements in front of +the city were too interesting to be lost sight of. The Little Rebel, +the flag-ship of Commodore Montgomery, was passing from boat to boat. +With my glass I could see the officers of the vessels. Montgomery was +issuing his final orders. + +Suddenly the Rebel fleet began to move up stream. A flag went up to +the head of the Benton's flagstaff. It was the signal to be ready for +action. Sailors dropped their plates, knives and forks, and sprang to +their guns. The Benton was nearest the Tennessee shore, then the +Carondelet, the St. Louis, Louisville, and Cairo. Our own little tug +was close by the flag-ship, keeping its place in the stream by the +slow working of its engine. + +The Rebel fleet was composed of the Van Dorn, General Price, General +Bragg, Jeff Thompson, General Lovell, General Beauregard, Sumter, and +Little Rebel,--all gunboats and all rams, built expressly with a view +of butting our fleet out of existence. The Beauregard was nearest the +shore, next the Little Rebel, then the General Price, next the General +Bragg and the General Beauregard, which composed the front line. +Immediately in rear was the General Lovell, near the Memphis shore, +her position being directly in front of the city wharf boat; next the +Van Dorn, then the Jeff Thompson, and lastly the Sumter. + +How strange, peculiar, and indescribable are one's feelings when going +into battle! There is a light-heartedness,--a quickening of all the +springs of life. There is thrill in every nerve,--an exhilaration of +spirit,--a tension of every fibre. You see every movement, hear every +sound, and think not only of what is before you, but of home, of the +loved ones there,--of the possibility that you may never behold them +again. Some men review their lives, and ask themselves if they have +left anything undone which ought to have been done,--if their lives +have been complete. + +The Little Rebel was opposite the Benton. There was a flash,--a puff +of smoke from her side,--a screaming of something unseen in the air +over my head,--a frightful sound. The shot fell far in our rear. +Another puff from the Beauregard, and the shot fell near the Benton. A +third came from the General Price, aimed at the Carondelet, passed +very near her larboard ports, and almost took our own boat in the bow. +My fear was all gone. I was in the fight. There was no possibility of +escaping from it. Wherever the boat went I must go. I should be just +as safe to keep cool as to be excited. Besides, it was a new +experience,--a new sight,--a grand exhibition. Interest, curiosity, +and reason mastered fear. I sat down in an arm-chair on the deck +beside the pilot-house, and made rapid notes of all that I saw. I +transcribe them:-- + +5.40 A. M. Cairo opens with a stern gun,--shot strikes close under +hull of Little Rebel. Our boats' bows up stream. Rebels advancing +slowly. Bang--bang--bang--bang from each of the vessels. A whole +broadside from Cairo. Another from Louisville. Air full of strange +noises. Shells burst overhead. Pieces raining all round us. Columns of +water tossed up. Both fleets enveloped in smoke. Very little wind. +Splinters thrown out from General Price. Can see a shot-hole with my +glass. Rebel fleet half-mile distant. Comes to a stand still. 6.00. +Queen of the West cutting loose from shore. Monarch also. Great black +clouds of smoke rolling up from their stacks. Steam hissing from their +pipes. Commodore Ellet on the Queen. Stands beside the pilot-house. +Sharpshooters looking from loop-holes. Queen wheels out into stream. +Passes between Benton and Carondelet. Are near enough to say good +morning to Commodore Ellet and wish him success. Monarch following +Queen, passing between Cairo and St. Louis. 6.25. Rebels moving down +stream. 6.35. Signal from Benton to round to and come to close +quarters. Queen surging ahead under full speed. Ploughs a wide furrow. +Aiming for Beauregard. Rebel fleet all opening on her. Shot crash +through her. Exciting scene. Sharpshooters at work. Beauregard puts +her helm down. Sheers off. Queen rushes by. Has missed her aim. Coming +round in a curve. Strikes the General Price. Tremendous crash. Men +jumping into water. Beauregard falling upon Queen of the West. Another +crash. Monarch close at hand. Smashes into Beauregard. Cracking of +rifles and muskets. Queen of the West sinking. Monarch throwing out a +warp. Towing her ashore. Benton close upon the General Lovell. Shot +strikes Lovell in bow. Rips from stem to stern. Water full of timber +and fragments. Lovell sinking. Man on deck. Left arm shattered, crying +help! help! help! Commotion on shore. Lovell goes down with a lurch. +River full of poor wretches struggling for life. Throwing up their +arms. Stream sweeps them away. Little Rebel fleeing to Arkansas shore. +The Jeff Thompson on fire. 7.05. Rebel fleet broken. Their guns all +silent. Beauregard sinking. We run alongside. Rebel officers lay +shattered. Sides of vessel spotted with blood. Pool of blood on deck. +Crew fled. Taken off by Little Rebel. Help lift wounded Rebel officer +on our boat. Thanked us, and said, "You are kinder than my own +comrades, for one of them was mean enough to steal my watch and pick +my pocket." Little Rebel run ashore. Crew fleeing into woods. Cairo +gives them parting broadside. Rebels crawling up the bank dripping +with water. 7.10. Boats of Benton and Carondelet picking up the +wretches. Van Dorn escaping down stream. 7.25. Fight over. Van Dorn +out of sight. Last gun fired. Jeff Thompson on fire in every part. +Grand explosion. Whole interior of boat lifted five hundred feet high. +Flames. Volumes of smoke. Bursting shells. Timbers, planks, fragments, +raining all around us. + +It was a complete annihilation of the Rebel fleet. Not a man was lost +on our gunboats, and Commodore Ellet was the only one wounded. + +The Rebel fleet began the action in good style, but maintained the +line of battle a few minutes only. The appearance of the rams threw +them into disorder. On the other hand, the line of battle taken by +Commodore Davis was preserved to the end. Everything was as systematic +and orderly as in a well-regulated household. The thought occurred, as +I saw the steady onward movement of the fleet, which, after once +starting to close in with the Rebels, did not for an instant slacken +speed, that he was clearing the river of all Rebel obstructions with +the same ease that a housewife sweeps dirt through a doorway. His +orders were few. The main thing was to get to close quarters. + +Embracing an early opportunity to reach the shore, I mingled freely +with the crowd, to see how the thing was relished and to study the +feelings of the people. Some looked exceedingly sour; some +disconsolate; a few were defiant; many of the people were evidently +good-natured, but deeply humiliated. A gentleman, resident of the +city, informed me that he did not think the people cared anything +about the Union, or had any desire to return to it, but they had an +intense hatred of the tyranny to which they had been subjected, and +were ready to welcome anything which would relieve them. + +The _Avalanche_ of that morning, hardly issued when the conflict +began, said:-- + + "There was not a little excitement about the levee last night, + occasioned by an officer coming down in a skiff announcing that + three of the Federal gunboats were in the 'shute' above the + Island. The signals and movements of the boats seemed to confirm + the report, but we have no idea that it was true. + + "Yesterday was quite lively. All reports about Fort Pillow were + listened to with interest, and they were not a few. By noon it + was known that the fort was evacuated, and there was not a little + excitement in consequence. Nearly all the stores were closed, and + those that were open, with few exceptions, were rather indisposed + to sell. Even a spool of cotton could not be had yesterday in + stores which the day before had plenty and to spare. Besides the + soldiers from Fort Pillow a fleet made us a visit which attracted + much attention and formed the subject of general conversation. + All seemed to regret what had been done and wished it were + otherwise. So prevailing was the excitement that the common mode + of salutation on Main Street was, 'When do you think the Federals + will be here?' Each one made arrangements according to the tenor + of the reply. Many persons were packing up to leave. + + "In a word, all who could began to consider anxiously the + question whether to go or stay. There was much running about on + the streets, and evidently more or less excitement on every + countenance. Some took matters coolly, and still believe that the + Federals will never go to Memphis by river. All obstructions to + their progress have not been removed and probably will not be. In + fact, the prospect is very good for a grand naval engagement, + which shall eclipse anything ever seen before. There are many who + would like the engagement to occur, who do not much relish the + prospect of its occurring very near the city. They think deeper + water and scope and verge enough for such an encounter may be + found farther up the river. All, however, are rejoiced that + Memphis will not fall till conclusions are first tried on water + and at the cannon's mouth." + +The "conclusions" had been tried and the people had seen their fleet +unceremoniously knocked to pieces. + +There were thousands of negroes on the levee, interested spectators of +the scene. I asked one athletic man what he thought of it? "O massa, I +tinks a good deal of it. Uncle Abe's boats mighty powerful. Dey go +through our boats jus like dey was eggshells." Another one standing by +at once became interested in the conversation. Said he, "Captain Jeff +Thompson, he cotch it dis time! He; hi! O how de balls did whiz!" +There was an unmistakable sign of pleasure on the countenances of the +colored population. + +In fifteen minutes after the occupation of the city, enterprising +news-boys accompanying the fleet were crying, "Here's the New York +Herald! Times and Tribune! Chicago and St. Louis papers!" + +How wonderfully had the upper Mississippi been repossessed! One by one +the Rebel obstructions had been removed. How often had we been told +that they were impregnable! How often that the gunboats would be +destroyed! How often that never would the river be opened till the +Confederacy was a recognized independent power! One short year and +their labors,--the ditch-digging, the cannon-casting, boat-building, +their braggadocio, had come to naught. + +The part taken by Commodore Ellet was glorious. He was a brave, +gallant, dashing officer, the son of a noble mother, who lived in +Philadelphia. Mr. Stuart, President of the Christian Commission, +relates that later in the war he called to see her, at her request, to +receive a large donation. He found a lady eighty-four years of age. A +grandson had been killed in battle, the body had been brought home, +and was lying in the house. Said Mrs. Ellet: "I have given my two +sons, Commodore Ellet and General Ellet, and four grandchildren to my +country. I don't regret this gift. If I had twenty sons I would give +them all, for the country must be preserved. And if I was twenty years +younger, I would go and fight myself to the last!" + +[Illustration: With dispatch.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +INVASION OF MARYLAND. + + +[Sidenote: August, 1862.] + +Great events were transpiring in Virginia. The magnificent army which +passed down the Potomac in March, which had thrown up the tremendous +fortifications at Yorktown, which had fought at Williamsburg, Fair +Oaks, Gaines's Mills, Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern, was once +more at Washington. Manassas was a bloody plain. Pope had been +defeated, sacrificed by Fitz John Porter. Day after day the booming of +cannon had been heard in Washington, borne by the breezes along the +wooded valley of the Potomac; far away at first, then nearer at +Chantilly and Fairfax Court-House. Then came the stream of fugitives, +and broken, disheartened ranks back to Arlington. The streets of +Washington were thick with hungry, war-worn men. Long lines of +ambulances wended into the city, with wounded for the hospitals, +already overcrowded. The soldiers had pitiful tales to tell of the +scenes of the Peninsula, and of the gory field of Manassas,--how near +they came to victory,--how Hooker and Heintzelman rolled back the +lines of Stonewall Jackson,--how Fitz John Porter lingered within an +hour's march of the conflict, tardily coming into line, and moving +away when lightly pressed by the enemy. There were curses loud and +deep breathed against Porter, Pope, and McClellan. The partisans of +Porter and McClellan called Pope a braggadocio, while the soldiers who +had fought with obstinacy, who had doubled up Jackson in the first +day's battle, retorted that McClellan was a coward, who, through all +the engagements on the Peninsula took good care to be out of the reach +of hostile bullets or cannon shot. The cause of the Union was gloomy. +Burnside had been hurried up from North Carolina to aid in repelling +the invader. The sun shone peacefully through the August days,--summer +passed into autumn, + + "And calm and patient Nature kept + Her ancient promise well, + Though o'er her bloom and greenness swept + The battle's breath of hell." + +[Illustration: General McClellan at Williamsburg.] + +Adversity is a test of faith. In those darkest hours there was no +faltering of hope. The heart of the nation was serene. The people +believed that God would give them the victory. The soldiers believed +it. Those who were passing away from earth, who with quickened sight +beheld the events of the hour in the light of eternity, trusted that +Providence would give the victory to their companions in arms. + +Colonel Broadhead, of Michigan, lying upon the battle-field of +Manassas, with the shadow of death stealing over him, wrote a most +touching farewell letter to his wife, in which he expressed his +convictions as to who was responsible for the defeat. + + "MY DEAR WIFE:-- + + "I write to you mortally wounded, from the battle-field. We have + again been defeated, and ere this reaches you your children will + be fatherless. Before I die let me implore that in some way it + may be stated that General ---- has been outwitted, and that ---- + is a traitor. Had they done their duty as I did mine, and had led + as I did, the dear old flag had waved in triumph. I wrote to you + yesterday morning. To-day is Sunday, and to-day I sink to the + green couch of our final rest. I have fought well, my darling; + and I was shot in the endeavor to rally our broken battalions. I + could have escaped, but would not until all our hope was gone, + and was shot,--about the only one of our forces left on the + field. Our cause is just, and our generals,--not the + enemy's,--have defeated us. In God's good time he will give us + the victory. + + "And now, good by, wife and children. Bring them up--I know you + will--in the fear of God and love for the Saviour. But for you + and the dear ones dependent, I should die happy. I know the blow + will fall with crushing weight on you. Trust in Him who gave + manna in the wilderness. + + "Dr. North is with me. It is now after midnight, and I have spent + most of the night in sending messages to you. Two bullets have + gone through my chest, and directly through my lungs. I suffer + little now, but at first the pain was acute. I have won the + soldier's name, and am ready to meet now, as I must, the + soldier's fate. I hope that from heaven I may see the glorious + old flag wave again over the undivided country I have loved so + well. + + "Farewell, wife and friends, we shall meet again." + +The military authorities were often indebted to newspaper +correspondents for intelligence concerning the movements of the +Rebels. One of the most indefatigable of the corps was Mr. U. H. +Painter, of the Philadelphia _Inquirer_. He was at Bristow Station +when Stuart made his first appearance in Pope's rear, capturing the +baggage of that officer. Mr. Painter was taken prisoner, but, true to +his profession, kept his eyes and ears open, listening to all that was +said by Stuart and his subordinate officers. Being in citizen's dress, +he managed to slip through the guard, but not till after he had +obtained important information relative to the movements of the enemy. +Reaching Washington, he at once sent an attache of the paper up the +Potomac to Point of Rocks, also informed the government that the +Rebels were intending to invade Maryland. No credence was given to his +assertion; the government believed that Washington was the point aimed +at. The Rebels made their appearance at Point of Rocks, the messenger +on watch gave Mr. Painter information by telegraph that Stuart was +crossing. That gentleman informed the government of the fact, and +forwarded a despatch to his paper. The Washington papers in the +afternoon contained semi-official denials of the despatch to the +_Inquirer_. But information from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad +Company that the Rebels had possession of the road at Point of Rocks +could not be disputed. Even then the government was slow to believe +that the Rebels seriously intended a movement upon Maryland. + +General Lee was flushed with success. He had reason to think well of +himself and of his troops. He had raised the siege of Richmond, +transferred the war to the vicinity of Washington, had defeated Pope +on the old battle-ground of Manassas, and driven the Union forces into +the defences of the capital. The troops believed that they could +accomplish anything,--overcome all obstacles,--sweep away the Union +army, and march to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York; and yet Lee +had made a miscalculation of the power of endurance on the part of his +troops, and the first invasion of the North failed, not only because +of the courage and tenacity of the Union soldiers at Antietam, but +also because the Rebel army had lost much of its aggressive power +through hard marching, constant fighting, and want of food. Jackson +had so worn down his troops that in the first day's fight at Manassas +he was defeated by Hooker and Heintzelman, and had it not been for the +timely arrival of Longstreet, would have been driven from the field. +In the second day's fight he could only hold his own, while +Longstreet, meeting with little opposition, was able to turn Pope's +left flank, and win the victory. + +Lee entered Maryland as a liberator, believing that the people would +rise _en masse_ to welcome him; but he was greatly mistaken. + +Taking the train from Philadelphia, I went to Harrisburg, Lancaster, +and York in Pennsylvania, and thence into western Maryland. Everywhere +the people were arming. All the able-bodied men were drilling. All +labor was at a stand-still. The fires of the founderies went out; the +farmers left their uncut grain in the field. Men worth millions of +dollars were in the ranks as privates. Members of Congress, professors +of colleges with their classes, iron-masters with their workmen, +ministers and the able-bodied men of their congregations, were +hastening to the rendezvous. The State Capitol grounds were swarming +with men, receiving arms and ammunition. It was a glorious exhibition +of patriotism; yet I could but think that they would offer a feeble +resistance in the open field to well-drilled troops. At Bunker Hill +raw militia stood the fire of British veterans; but such instances of +pluck are rare in history. + +Going up the Cumberland Valley I reached Greencastle on the 14th of +September, ten miles from Hagerstown. I could hear a dull and heavy +booming of cannon to the south, in the direction of South Mountain; +but the Rebels were at Hagerstown, and had made a dash almost up to +Greencastle. The only troops in the place were a few companies +watching the border, and momentarily expecting the Rebels to appear. +Citizens of Maryland, some from Virginia, Union men, were there, ready +to run farther North on the slightest alarm. + +[Sidenote: Sept., 1862.] + +The little village was suddenly excited by the cry, "They are coming!" +"They are coming!" It was not a body of Rebels, however, but the Union +cavalry, which had cut their way out from Harper's Ferry in the night +before the pusillanimous surrender of Colonel Miles. They crossed the +pontoon bridge, moved up the Potomac, through wood-paths and by-ways, +twice coming in contact with the Rebel pickets, and falling in with +Longstreet's ammunition trains between Hagerstown and Williamsport, +consisting of one hundred wagons, which were captured. Many of the +teamsters were slaves, who were very glad to see the Yankees. They +were contented under their capture. + +"Were you not frightened when you saw the Yankees?" I asked of one. + +"Not de leastest bit, massa. I was glad to see 'em. Ye see, we all +wanted to get Norf. De captain of de guard, he tell me to whip up my +horses and get away, but I done cut for de woods right towards de +Norf." + +He chuckled merrily over it, and said, "I's in de service of de Union +now." + +He was driving the horses with evident satisfaction at the sudden +change in his fortunes. + +When John Brown woke the world from its dreaming at Harper's Ferry, he +had an accomplice named Cook, who escaped and concealed himself in the +mountains of Pennsylvania, but who was hunted down by Fitz Hugh Miller +of Chambersburg. Among the Rebel prisoners was this same Fitz Hugh, +dressed in a suit of rusty gray, with a black ostrich plume in his +hat, sun-burned, dusty, having a hang-dog look. He was a captain in +the Rebel service. The Dutch blood of the citizens, usually as calm +and steady in its flow as the rivers of their Fatherland, came up with +a rush. + +"Hang him! Down with the traitor! Kill him!" they shouted. They rushed +to seize him, but the guards kept the populace at bay. The excitement +increased. Miller appealed to the guards to protect him. He was +quickly hurried into the jail, which was strongly guarded. A great +change had taken place in the opinions of the people. They had been +indifferent to the questions of the hour, but the Rebel raid, by which +they had lost their horses, had taught them an excellent lesson. +Self-interest is sometimes a stimulant to patriotism. They even began +to look with complacency upon what John Brown had done. + +[Illustration: General McClellan at the battle of Antietam.] + +The Rebels evacuated Hagerstown on the morning of the 16th of +September, and an hour later I entered it on the first train, which +was greeted by the people with shouts and hurrahs and demonstrations +of joy, as if it brought emancipation from long bondage. Some of the +citizens had manifested sympathy with the Rebels. Still there were +groups of excited men in the streets, shouting, "We'll hang the +cusses. We've spotted them, and if they ever come back we'll be the +death of them, as sure as there is a God." + +The battle of South Mountain had been fought, and the hostile armies +were concentrating for a trial of strength along the peaceful banks of +the Antietam. + +I was awakened at daylight on the morning of the 17th of September by +the booming of cannon. It was a dull, leaden morning. The clouds hung +low upon the mountains, and swept in drifts along the hillsides. The +citizens of Hagerstown were astir,--some standing on the house-tops, +listening to the increasing thunder of the cannonade, some in the +church-steeples, others making haste to visit the field of battle. I +had no horse, but finding a stable-keeper, was soon the owner of one. +The horse-dealer was quite willing to dispose of his animals. +"Horse-flesh is mighty onsartin these days," said he. "The Rebels took +my best ones, and if they should come here again, I reckon they would +clean me out." + +My first impulse was to push directly down the Sharpsburg turnpike and +gain the rear of the Rebels, enter their lines as a citizen, and see +the battle from their side. + +"Don't do it, sir," said a citizen. + +Upon reflection, it appeared to be good advice, and so turning about +(for I had already gone a mile or more in that direction) I took the +Boonsboro pike and rode rapidly towards the battle-field. Two or three +miles out I came across a Rebel soldier,--barefoot and bareheaded, +pale, sallow, worn out by hard marching, lying under an oak-tree by +the roadside. His gun was by his side. He raised his head and held up +his hand, as if to implore me not to harm him. He belonged to a +Georgia regiment, and had dropped by the way, too feeble to keep his +place in the ranks. He was taken care of by two citizens. + +Striking off from the turnpike in a by-path, then across fields, +through oak groves, directed by the roar of battle, descending a steep +hill, and fording the Antietam, I gained the battle-field in rear of +the right wing, where Hooker was in command. Passing beyond the field +hospitals, I reached the hill, on Poffenberg's farm. + +The fire was raging fearfully in front of Sumner; but Hooker's and +Mansfield's cannon were silent, cooling their brazen lips after the +morning's fever. In the hollow behind the ridge, east of Poffenberg's +house, the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps--what was left of them--were +lying, sad, yet not disheartened. How changed from what they were a +year before, then fifteen thousand strong! + +"We cannot lose many more," said one, as I talked of the morning's +action. Gibbons's brigade, of Hooker's corps, had crossed the +turnpike, and was holding the ground in the woods between it and the +Potomac. + +Ascending the ridge, I came upon Battery B, Fourth Artillery, also +Cooper's and Easton's Pennsylvania batteries, the New Hampshire Ninth +and Rhode Island Fifth,--thirty pieces bearing on the cornfield and +the wood-crowned hill, where, alas! a thousand of as brave men as ever +breathed were lying, who just before had moved to meet the enemy. + +The firing was hot and heavy a few rods south. + +The fight began with the pickets in the night, and was taken up by the +artillery at daylight. The Rebels had concentrated a heavy force on +their left, we on our right, because the lay of the land required it, +the right being our strongest ground, and their left their weakest. +The ridge behind Poffenberg's house was the door-post on which our +fortunes hinged. Not so with them,--theirs was a double door, its +hinge being in the woods bordering the turnpike south of the +toll-house. + +Hooker gave Meade, with the Pennsylvania Reserves, the right, Ricketts +the left, and placed Doubleday in support in rear. Mansfield joined +Hooker's left, but was an hour behind time. Sumner was slow to come +into action. Hooker advanced, drove in the Rebel pickets, found a +Rebel battery on his extreme right, which, as soon as he came within +its range began to plough him with a flanking fire. Meade obliqued to +the right, poured in a few volleys, and drove the enemy across the +turnpike. This was the extreme left of the enemy's line. Hooker +crossed the turnpike a few rods north of Poffenberg's, marched through +the fields to the ridge by the cornfield. Having obtained possession +of the ridge east of Poffenberg's, he planted his batteries and opened +a fierce cannonade upon the Rebels. + +The ground in front of Hooker was the scene of repeated struggles. In +the afternoon the Rebels made a desperate attempt to regain what they +had lost. They came down through the cornfield, west of the turnpike, +under cover of their batteries. Hooker, Dana, Sedgwick, Hartsuff, +Richardson, and Mansfield, all general officers, had been carried from +the field wounded. General Howard was in command of the right wing. I +was talking with him, when an officer dashed up and said, "General, +the Rebels are coming down on us." + +We were in the open field, a few rods southeast of Poffenberg's barn. +General Howard rode forward a few steps, looked through the leafy +branches of the oaks along the turnpike. We could see the dark lines +of the enemy moving through the cornfield. "Tell the batteries to give +them the heaviest fire possible," he said. It was spoken as +deliberately as if he had said to his servant, "Bring me a glass of +water." How those thirty pieces of artillery opened! Crack! crack! +crack! and then a volley by artillery! How those gray lines wavered, +swayed to and fro, and melted away! + +In Poffenberg's door-yard, along the turnpike, were two noble horses, +both killed by the same cannon-shot, smashing the head of one and +tearing the neck of the other. The dead of the Pennsylvania Reserves +laid under the palings of the garden fence. The gable of the house was +torn to pieces by a shell. In the field in front dead men in blue and +dead men in gray were thickly strown; and still farther out, along the +narrow lane which runs southwest from the house, they were as thick as +the withered leaves in autumn. How the battle-storm howled through +those woods, fiercer than the blasts of November! It was a tornado +which wrenched off the trunks of oaks large enough for a ship's +keelson,--riving them, splintering them with the force of a +thunderbolt. + +If the blow which Hooker gave had been a little more powerful,--if +Mansfield had been ordered in at the same instant with Hooker,--if +Sumner had fallen upon the Rebel centre at the same time,--there can +be but little doubt as to what would have been the result. But the +battle of Antietam was fought by piecemeal. Hooker exhausted his +strength before Mansfield came up; Mansfield was repulsed before +Sumner came in; while Burnside, who had the most difficult task of +all, was censured by McClellan for not carrying the bridge early in +the morning. Yet Franklin, who arrived at noon, was only partially +engaged, while Porter was ordered to stand a silent spectator through +the day. The several corps of the Union army were like untrained teams +of horses,--each pulled with all its strength, but no two succeeded in +pulling together. + +It was not far from twelve o'clock when the arrangements were +completed for Sumner's movement. The artillery prepared the way for +advance, by pouring in a heavy fire from all directions. The +configuration of the ground admitted of this. The cornfield sloped +toward the Antietam, and by careful scrutiny the Rebels could be seen +lying down to avoid the shot and shells. It was a moment of anxious +expectation to us who beheld the movement. + +The divisions moved past the cemetery, past Roulet's house, the left +of French's and the right of Richardson's, joining in the ravine. A +few rods beyond the house the Rebel skirmishers opened a galling fire. +Our own advanced rapidly, drove them in through the nearest cornfield. +They fled to the road, and the field beyond. + +The road is narrow, and by long usage and heavy rains, has become a +trench, a natural rifle-pit about two and a half feet deep. The Rebels +had thrown off the top rails of the fence in front, and strengthened +the position by making them into _abatti_,--imitating the example set +by General Stark on the northeastern slope of Bunker Hill, in 1775. + +The roadway was their first line; their second was in the corn, five +or six rods farther west. + +[Illustration: The sunken road.] + +The Union troops advanced in front of the road, when up rose the first +Rebel line. The fence became a line of flame and smoke. The cornfield +beyond, on higher ground, was a sheet of fire. With a rush and +cheer, the men in blue moved up to the fence, ploughed through and +through by the batteries above, cut and gashed by the leaden hail, +thrust the muzzles of their guns into the faces of the Rebels and +fired. + +The first Rebel line was nearly annihilated, and the dead lying +beneath the tasselled corn were almost as many as the golden ears upon +the stalks. Visiting the spot when the contest was over, I judged from +a little counting that a thousand of the enemy's dead were in the road +and the adjoining field. A shell had thrown seven into one heap,--some +on their faces, some on their backs,--fallen as a handful of straws +would fall when dropped upon the ground. But not they alone suffered. +The bloody tide which had surged through all the morning between the +ridges above, along the right, had flowed over the hill at this +noontide hour. The yellow soil became crimson; the russet corn-leaves +turned to red, as if autumn had put on in a moment her richest glory. +How costly! Five thousand men,--I think I do not exaggerate,--wounded +and dead, lay along that pathway and in the adjoining field![6] + + [Footnote 6: The accompanying illustration is an accurate + representation drawn by Mr. Wand, who witnessed the battle. + The battery in the foreground is north of the house of Mr. + Roulet, near the centre of Sumner's line. French's and + Richardson's divisions are seen in the middle of the picture, + and the Rebels under D. H. Hill and Longstreet beyond.] + +To Burnside was assigned the duty of carrying the stone bridge, two +miles below the turnpike, and taking the batteries which were in +position south of Sharpsburg. It was a difficult task. A high-banked +stream, bordered by willows; a narrow bridge; a steep hill; cleared +lands, with no shelter from the batteries in front and on both his +flanks, after he should have succeeded in crossing the stream. + +Burnside planted his cannon on the high hills or ridges east of the +river, and kept them in play a long time before any attempt was made +on the bridge by infantry. The Rebel batteries replied, and there was +an incessant storm of shot and shell. + +The road on the eastern side winds down a ravine to the river, which +is an hundred feet below the summit of the hills where his artillery +was posted. It is a narrow path, with a natural embankment on the +right hand, covered with oaks. There is a piece of bottom land eight +or ten rods wide on the eastern side of the river. The bridge is +narrow and about seventy-five feet long. After crossing the stream the +road runs diagonally up the bank toward the north. On the western side +are willows fringing the stream, their graceful branches bending down +to the water, and covering the opposite shore. The bank is very +abrupt. A small force on either side can hold the bridge against a +large body of men. + +The bridge was carried in the afternoon by a desperate charge. I was +watching operations in the centre at the time, and saw only the smoke +of the contest on the left, and heard its deafening roar. Riding down +there later in the day, I witnessed the last attack. Both parties had +put on new vigor at the sunset hour. The fire kindled along the line. +Far upon the right was the smoke of thirty cannon, rising in a white +sulphurous cloud. The woods opposite, where the Rebel batteries were, +flamed like a furnace. A little nearer Sumner's artillery was +thundering and hurling its bolts into the Rebels by the Dunker church. +Ayers's battery was pouring a deadly fire into the cornfield, west of +Roulet's, where the Rebel line was lying under cover. Above, on the +highest hillock, a half-mile from Sharpsburg, a heavy Rebel battery +boomed defiance. Richardson's artillery, immediately in front, was +sending shells upon the hill and into Sharpsburg, where hay-stacks, +houses and barns were burning, rolling up tall pillars of cloud and +flame to heaven. At our left Burnside's heavy guns worked mightily, +answered by the opposing batteries. The musketry had ceased, save a +few volleys rolling from beyond the willows in the valley, and a +little dripping, like rain-drops after a shower. It was a continuous +roll of thunder. The sun went down, reddened in the smoky haze. + +[Illustration: Battle of Antietam.] + +After the retreat of Lee, I rode over the ground occupied by the +Rebels, and surveyed the field from every point. The dead were thickly +strewn. A Rebel battery had occupied the ground around the Dunker +church, a small brick building on the turnpike, a mile south of +Poffenberg's. At its door-step lay a major, a captain, and eleven men, +all dead. A wounded horse, unable to lie down, was standing near a +dismantled caisson. Almost human was the beseeching look of the dumb +beast! Near by was a soldier lying with his eyes fixed on heaven. He +had died calmly. His pocket Bible was open upon his breast. Taking it +up my eye fell upon the words: "Though I walk through the valley of +the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod +and thy staff, they comfort me." All the turmoil of life was over. He +had done his duty, and had passed on to his reward.[7] + + [Footnote 7: Want of space compels me to give only a sketch + of the battle; but a full, circumstantial, and detailed + account of the positions and movements of the two armies may + be found in "Following the Flag," published by Messrs. + Ticknor and Fields of Boston.] + +Lee recrossed the Potomac without molestation from McClellan, and the +two armies went into camp, as if mutually agreed upon having a season +of rest after the hardships of the campaign. + +[Illustration: For the boys in blue.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +INVASION OF KENTUCKY. + + +[Sidenote: October, 1862.] + +Simultaneous with Lee's advance into Maryland was that of General +Bragg into Kentucky. As there were no indications that McClellan would +follow Lee into Virginia, I hastened to Kentucky to observe the events +transpiring in that department. General Buell was still in command of +the Union forces. He had been lying quiet through the summer, +occupying Chattanooga on the east, Florence on the west, and spreading +his troops over a large territory. There were detachments at +Nashville, McMinnville, Murfreesboro, and Mumfordville. This force in +Tennessee was piled in the form of a pyramid, Florence and Chattanooga +being the base and Nashville the apex. In addition there was a force +under General Morgan holding Cumberland Gap, a passage in the +mountains at the extreme southwestern part of Virginia, where the Old +Dominion rests like the point of a ploughshare against the mountains +which separate it from Kentucky. Since Daniel Boone passed through it, +the Gap has been the great thoroughfare between the West and East. The +distance from the Gap, where Morgan was keeping watch and ward, to +Chattanooga, is about one hundred and forty miles. Through this +gateway the Rebels resolved to enter Kentucky, replenish their stores, +make a demonstration upon Cincinnati, capture Louisville, cut off +Buell's supplies and communications, outflank him, destroy his army, +transfer the war to the Ohio River, and redeem Kentucky. Buell was in +repose, unconscious of General Bragg's intentions. + +Bragg formed his army in three columns near Knoxville,--one to move +upon the Gap, approaching it from the west, the second, under Kirby +Smith, to move directly upon Lexington, Danville, and Frankfort, the +third to capture the six thousand at Mumfordville, and then joining +the second division at Lexington, push on in conjunction with it to +Louisville. John Morgan, the commander of the Rebel cavalry, moved in +advance and captured Morgan's supply trains on the 17th of August. It +was the first intimation General Morgan or Buell had of the intentions +of the Rebels. Morgan knew not what was going on in his rear. The +Rebels prudently refrained from attacking him. The pass would fall +into their hands when all their plans were ripe. Morgan held his +position till the 17th of September, when, having exhausted his +provisions, he spiked his guns, destroyed the fortifications, and all +his tent equipage, and marched north to the Ohio River, through the +mountains, reaching it without loss. + +The centre column of the Rebels moved upon Frankfort, gathering up +cattle, horses, goods of all kinds, cloth, clothes, boots, shoes, +grain, and everything which could minister to their comfort. They +visited the wealthy farmers of the bluegrass region, selected the best +Kentucky stock, purchased all the new wheat, set the flour-mills a +humming, keeping the millers at it day and night. Never were millers +so busy, each miller tending his grinding with a Rebel bayonet at his +door, the glittering of which reminded him that he had a duty to +perform to the Confederacy. + +At Frankfort, the capital of the State, they took possession of the +state-house, inaugurated a governor, had a grand procession, with +speeches, and a banquet, and a general gala-day. They invited the +merchants to open their stores, made princely purchases of goods, +paying liberally in the legal currency of the Confederacy. They sent +off long lines of wagons toward the South laden with supplies. The +Kentucky farmers were relieved of their negroes as well as of their +horses. They _took_ the negroes, saying to their masters, "Swear +allegiance to the Confederacy and you shall be paid, but otherwise +they shall be confiscated." + +Thousands of slaves fled across the Ohio, for fear of being captured. +Thus the war was a double reverse acting mill, grinding slavery to +powder in the State. For six weeks the Rebels had it all their own +way. + +The third column moved upon Mumfordville, surprised the six thousand +men in that place, and pushed on towards Louisville. The Rebel forces +were far on their way before Buell awoke from his dreaming. He +gathered in his divisions, and keeping west of Bragg, made haste to +reach Louisville. If after taking Mumfordville Bragg had pushed on +rapidly, he doubtless could have taken Louisville, but waiting a day, +the golden opportunity was lost. He was evidently well pleased with +his reception at Lexington and Frankfort. A Rebel writer thus +describes the former:-- + + "The entrance of our troops into Lexington was the occasion of + the most inspiriting and touching scenes. Streets, windows, and + gardens were filled with ladies and little girls with streamers + of red and blue ribbons and flags with stars. Beautiful women + seized the hard brown hands of our rough and ragged soldiers, and + with tears and smiles thanked them again and again for coming + into Kentucky and freeing them from the presence and insults of + the hated and insolent Yankees. For hours the enthusiasm of the + people was unbounded. At every corner of the streets baskets of + provisions and buckets of water were placed for the refreshment + of our weary soldiers, and hundreds of our men were presented + with shoes and hats and coats and tobacco by the grateful people. + Private residences were turned for the time into public houses of + entertainment, free to all who could be persuaded to go and eat. + But if the reception of the infantry was enthusiastic, the tears, + the smiles, and shouts and cheers of wild delight which greeted + General John Morgan's cavalry, as they came dashing through the + streets amidst clouds of dust, was without a parallel. The + wildest joy ruled the hours. The bells of the city pealed forth + their joyous welcome, whilst the waving of thousands of white + handkerchiefs and tiny confederate flags attested the gladness + and delight of every heart."[8] + + [Footnote 8: Pollard's Second Year of the War, p. 152.] + +There were also gay times in Frankfort. Mr. Harris was inaugurated +Provisional Governor of the State by special order of General Bragg, +which read as follows:-- + + "HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF KENTUCKY, Lexington, October 2, 1862. + + "Installation of the Provisional Governor at Frankfort on + Saturday, October 4th, at 12 M. Major-General Smith is charged + with the management of the military escort, guard, and salute. + + "The Governor will be escorted from his quarters by a squadron of + cavalry, and accompanied by the Commander of the Confederate + State forces, Major-General Buckner, Brigadier-General Preston, + and their respective staffs. The Commanding General will present + the Governor to the people, and transfer in behalf of the + Confederate States the civil orders of the State, and public + records and property. + + "By order. + + "BRAXTON BRAGG, _General Commanding_." + +A host of generals graced the occasion,--Bragg, Kirby Smith, Buckner, +Stevenson, Claiborne, Heath, Churchill, Preston Smith, and William +Preston. The Capital Hotel, where the politics of the country were +wont to be discussed by Henry Clay, Crittenden, and other great lights +of former days, was crowded by the chivalry of the South. The landlord +found his larder depleting, his liquors disappearing, but he had +baskets full of Confederate notes, in exchange for food, fire, and +lodging, liquors and cigars. The ladies kept open house, and invited +the Rebel officers to tea on the auspicious occasion. + +Meanwhile General Dumont's division of Union troops, and General +Sill's division were approaching Frankfort from the north. General +Bragg was dining with the accomplished Mrs. Preston, when a messenger +dashed into town with the intelligence of the advance of the Union +troops. Governor Harris,--six hours a Governor,--packed his carpet-bag +in great haste. The brilliant throng of Rebel officers mounted their +horses, the ladies took down their miniature flags, while the citizens +of the place prepared to change their politics. The Rebel force in the +town consisted of two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, +guarding the turnpike bridge across the Kentucky river. + +The Union cavalry came thundering down the hill. It was in the +evening; and without halting to ascertain who or what they were to +encounter, dashed across the bridge. The Rebels gave one irresolute +volley and fled precipitately from the town, which was once more and +for a finality in the hands of the Union men. Four days later the +battle of Perryville was fought, and then the Rebels retired from the +State with their booty. + +Their visit was at once a curse and a blessing,--a curse, because of +the havoc, the desolation, and pillage; a blessing, because it brought +Kentuckians to a sharp corner. The President had just issued his +Proclamation of freedom, and Kentucky slaveholders were grumbling, and +were ready to shake hands with the Rebels. They had welcomed their +Southern friends, who had robbed and plundered them without stint. + +There was a marked change visible in the opinions of most men. The +high-handed outrages, the authorized thieving, the forcing of +Confederate notes upon the people, making it treason to refuse them in +exchange for horses, cattle, clothes, and provisions, the confiscation +of negroes, the grotesque appearance of the Rebel soldiers,-- + + "Some in rags, some in tags, + But none in velvet gowns,"-- + +as reads the old nursery rhyme, dissipated the illusion in which many +men had indulged. Bunyan's two pilgrims, Christian and Faithful, met a +black man clothed in white garments, as they journeyed over the +enchanted ground, who, with many fair speeches, would have turned them +from the glittering gates of the golden city; but when the robe +dropped from his limbs they saw that he was hideous, and that to +follow him was to go back again to the city of Destruction. So +Kentucky had seen the flatterer. The white robe had fallen; he was +repulsive. Ladies who wished to welcome the Rebels as soldiers of the +chivalrous South shrank with horror from the filthy crowd. The +enchantment was ended. Loyalty was taking root. + +Yet there were many old planters, partisans of an effete party,--once +Democratic in principle,--who clung to slavery with a tenacity like +that of barnacles to a worm-eaten hulk. The Louisville _Journal_ +condemned the Proclamation, giving utterance to the voice of the +slaveholders, declaring that the Proclamation would have no binding +force in that State; but the soldiers hailed it with joy. They felt +that slavery was the cause of the war, and were longing to see it +overthrown. Bragg having left the State, many masters began to look up +their slaves, some of whom had fled to the Union lines for protection. + +One wing of the army was resting at Williamstown, about twenty-five +miles south of Cincinnati, in which was a division commanded by +General Q. A. Gillmore; then a brigadier who, in common with many +other officers, believed in what was called the "Kentucky policy." +When the army began a forward movement in pursuit of Bragg, General +Gillmore issued an order, known as General Order No. 5, which reads as +follows:-- + + "All contrabands, except officers' servants, will be left behind + when the army moves to-morrow morning. Public transportation will + in no case be furnished to officers' servants. + + "Commanders of regiments and detachments will see this order + promptly enforced." + +Among the regiments of the division was the Twenty-Second Wisconsin, +Colonel Utley, an officer who had no sympathy with slavery. He had a +cool head and a good deal of nerve. He had read the Proclamation of +President Lincoln, and made up his mind to do what was right, +recognizing the President as his Commander-in-Chief, and not the State +of Kentucky. There were negroes accompanying his regiment, and he did +not see fit to turn them out. Three days later he received the +following note:-- + + "October 18, 1862. + + "COLONEL: You will at once send to my head-quarters the four + contrabands, John, Abe, George, and Dick, known to belong to good + and loyal citizens. They are in your regiment, or were this + morning. + + "Your obedient servant, + + "Q. A. GILLMORE, _Brigadier-General_." + +Colonel Utley, instead of sending the men, replied:-- + + "Permit me to say, that I recognize your authority to command me + in all military matters pertaining to the military movements of + the army. I do not look upon this as belonging to that + department. I recognize no authority on the subject of delivering + up contrabands save that of the President of the United States. + + "You are, no doubt, conversant with that Proclamation, dated + Sept. 22, 1862, and the law of Congress on the subject. In + conclusion, I will say, that I had nothing to do with their + coming into camp, and shall have nothing to do with sending them + out." + +The note was despatched to division head-quarters. Soon after an +officer called upon Colonel Utley. + +"You are wanted, sir, at General Gillmore's quarters." + +Colonel Utley made his appearance before General Gillmore. + +"I sent you an order this evening." + +"Yes, sir, and I refused to obey it." + +"I intend to be obeyed, sir. I shall settle this matter at once. I +shall repeat the order in the morning." + +"General, to save you the trouble and folly of such a course, let me +say that I shall not obey it." + +The Colonel departed. Morning came, but brought no order for the +delivery of the contrabands to their former owner. + +As the regiment passed through Georgetown, a large number of slaves +belonging to citizens of that place fled from their masters, and found +shelter in the army. Some of the officers who had less nerve than +Colonel Utley gave them up, or permitted the owners to come and take +them. A Michigan regiment marching through the town had its lines +entered by armed citizens, who forcibly took away their slaves. +Colonel Utley informed the inhabitants that any attempt to take +contrabands from his lines would be resisted. + +"Let me say to you, gentlemen," he said to a delegation of the +citizens, "that my men will march with loaded muskets, and if any +attempt is made upon my regiment, I shall sweep your streets with +fire, and close the history of Georgetown. If you seriously intend any +such business, I advise you to remove the women and children." + +The regiment marched the next morning with loaded muskets. The +citizens beheld their negroes sheltered and protected by a forest of +gleaming bayonets, and wisely concluded not to attempt the recovery of +the uncertain property. + +The day after its arrival in Nicholasville, a large, portly gentleman, +lying back in an elegant carriage, rode up to the camp, and making his +appearance before the Colonel, introduced himself as Judge Robertson, +Chief Justice of the State of Kentucky. + +"I am in pursuit of one of my boys, who I understand is in this +regiment," he said. + +"You mean one of your slaves, I presume?" + +"Yes, sir. Here is an order from the General, which you will see +directs that I may be permitted to enter the lines and get the boy," +said the Judge, with great dignity. + +"I do not permit any civilian to enter my lines for any such +purpose," said the Colonel. + +[Illustration: Slaves fleeing to the Army for protection.] + +The Judge sat down, not greatly astonished, for the reputation of the +Twenty-Second Wisconsin, as an abolition regiment, was well +established. He began to argue the matter. He talked of the +compromises of the Constitution, and proceeded to say:-- + +"I was in Congress, sir, when the Missouri Compromise was adopted, and +voted for it; but I am opposed to slavery, and I once wrote an essay +on the subject, favoring emancipation." + +"Well, sir, all that may be. If you did it from principle, it was +commendable; but your mission here to-day gives the lie to your +professions. I don't permit negro-hunters to go through my regiment; +but I will see if I can find the boy, and if he is willing to go I +will not hinder him." + +The Colonel went out and found the negro Joe, a poor, half-starved, +undersized boy, nineteen years old. He told his story. He belonged to +the Judge, who had let him to a brutal Irish man for $50 a year. He +had been kicked and cuffed, starved and whipped, till he could stand +it no longer. He went to the Judge and complained, but had been sent +back only to receive a worse thrashing for daring to complain. At last +he took to the woods, lived on walnuts, green corn, and apples, +sleeping among the corn-shucks and wheat-stacks till the army came. +There were tears in Joe's eyes as he rehearsed his sufferings. + +The Colonel went back to the Judge. + +"Have you found him?" + +"I have found a little yellow boy, who says that he belongs to a man +in Lexington. Come and see him." + +"This man claims you as his property, Joe; he says that you ran away +and left him," said the Colonel. + +"Yes, sah, I belongs to him," said Joe, who told his story again in a +plain, straightforward manner, showing a neck scarred and cut by the +whip. + +"You can talk with Joe, sir, if you wish," said the Colonel. + +"Have not I always treated you well?" the Judge asked. + +"No, massa, you hasn't," was the square, plump reply. + +"How so?" + +"When I came to you and told you I couldn't stand it any longer, you +said, 'Go back, you dog!'" + +"Did not I tell you that I would take you away?" + +"Yes, massa, but you never did it." + +The soldiers came round and listened. Joe saw that they were friends. +The Judge stood speechless a moment. + +"Joe," said the Colonel, "are you willing to go home with your +master?" + +"No, sah, I isn't." + +"Judge Robertson, I don't think you can get that boy. If you think you +can, there he is, try it. I shall have nothing to do with it," said +the Colonel, casting a significant glance around to the soldiers who +had gathered about them. + +The Judge saw that he could not lay hands upon Joe. "I'll see whether +there is any virtue in the laws of Kentucky," he said, with great +emphasis. + +"Perhaps, Judge, it will be as well for you to leave the camp. Some of +my men are a little excitable on the subject of slavery." + +"You are a set of nigger-stealers," said the Judge, losing his temper. + +"Allow me to say, Judge, that it does not become you to call us +nigger-stealers. You talk about nigger-stealing,--you who live on the +sweat and blood of such creatures as Joe! Your dwellings, your +churches, are built from the earnings of slaves, beaten out of them by +brutal overseers. You hire little children out to brutes,--you clothe +them in rags,--you hunt them with hounds,--you chain them down to toil +and suffering! You call us thieves because we have given your Joe food +and protection! Sir, I would rather be in the place of Joe than in +that of his oppressor!" was the indignant outburst of the Colonel. + +"Well, sir, if that is the way you men of the North feel, the Union +never can be saved,--never! You must give up our property." + +"Judge, allow me to tell you what sort of Unionism I have found in +Kentucky. I have not seen a half-dozen who did not damn the President. +You may put all the pure Unionism in Kentucky in one scale, and a +ten-pound nigger baby in the other, and the Unionism will kick the +beam. Allow me to say, further, that if the perpetuity or restoration +of the Union depends upon my delivering to you with my own hands that +little half-starved dwarf of a slave, the Union may be cast into hell +with all the nations that forget God!" + +"The President's Proclamation is unconstitutional. It has no bearing +on Kentucky. I see that it is your deliberate intention to set at +naught the laws," said the Judge, turning away, and walking to General +Gillmore's head-quarters. + +"You are wanted at the General's head-quarters," said an aid, soon +after, to Colonel Utley. + +The Colonel obeyed the summons, and found there not only Judge +Robertson, but several fine old Kentucky gentlemen; also Colonel +Coburn, the commander of the brigade, who agreed with General Gillmore +in the policy then current. Colonel Coburn said:-- + +"The policy of the commanding generals, as I understand it, is simply +this: that persons who have lost slaves have a right to hunt for them +anywhere in the State. If a slave gets inside of the lines of a +regiment, the owner has a right to enter those lines, just as if no +regiment was there, and take away the fugitive at his own pleasure." + +"Precisely so. The Proclamation has no force in this State," said the +Judge. + +"I regret that I am under the necessity of differing in opinion from +my commanding officers, to whom I am ready at all times to render +strict _military_ obedience, but (the Colonel raised his voice) _I +reverse the Kentucky policy!_ I hold that the regiment stands +precisely as though there were no slavery in Kentucky. We came here as +free men, from a free State, at the call of the President to uphold a +free government. We have nothing to do with slavery. The Twenty-Second +Wisconsin, while I have the honor to command it, will never be a +regiment of nigger-catchers. I will not allow civilians to enter my +lines at pleasure; it is unmilitary. Were I to permit it, I should be +justly amenable to a court-martial. Were I to do it, spies might enter +my lines at all times and depart at pleasure." + +There was silence. But Judge Robertson was loath to go away without +his flesh and blood. He made one more effort. "Colonel, I did not come +to your lines as a spy, but with an order from your General. Are you +willing that I should go and get my boy?" + +The Colonel reflected a moment. + +"Yes, sir, and I will remain here. I told you before that I should +have nothing to do with it." + +"Do you think that the men will permit me to take him?" + +"I have no orders to issue to them in the matter; they will do just as +they please." + +"Will you send the boy into some other regiment?" + +This was too much for the Colonel. He could no longer restrain his +indignation. Looking the Judge squarely in the face, he vented his +anger in scathing words. + +The Judge departed, and at the next session of the Court Colonel Utley +was indicted for man-stealing; but he has not yet been brought to +trial. The case is postponed till the day of Judgment, when a +righteous verdict will be rendered. + +The Judge returned to Lexington, called a public meeting, at which he +made a speech, denouncing the Twenty-Second Wisconsin as an abolition +regiment, and introducing resolutions declaring that the Union never +could be restored if the laws of the State of Kentucky were thus set +at defiance. This from the Judge, while his son was in the Rebel +service, fighting against the Union. + +But the matter was not yet over. A few days later, the division +containing the Twenty-Second Wisconsin, commanded by General Baird, +_vice_ Gillmore, was ordered down the river. It went to Louisville, +followed by the slave-hunters, who were determined to have their +negroes. + +Orders were issued to the colonels not to take any contrabands on +board the boats, and most of them obeyed. Colonel Utley issued no +orders. + +A citizen called upon him and said,-- + +"Colonel, you will have trouble in going through the city unless you +give up the negroes in your lines." + +The regiment was then on its march to the wharf. + +"They have taken all the negroes from the ranks of the other +regiments, and they intend to take yours." + +The Colonel turned to his men and said, quietly, "Fix bayonets." + +The regiment moved on through the streets, and reached the Gault +House, where the slaveholders had congregated. A half-dozen approached +the regiment rather cautiously, but one bolder than the rest sprang +into the ranks and seized a negro by the collar. + +A dozen bayonets came down around him, some not very gently. He let go +his hold and sprang back again quite as quickly as he entered the +lines. + +There was a shaking of fists and muttered curses, but the regiment +passed on to the landing, just as if nothing had happened. + +General Granger, who had charge of the transportation, had issued +orders that no negro should be allowed on the boats without free +papers. + +General Baird saw the negroes on the steamer, and approaching Colonel +Utley, said,-- + +"Why, Colonel, how is this? Have all of these negroes free papers?" + +"Perhaps not all, but those who haven't, _have declared their +intentions!_" said the Colonel. + +The Twenty-Second took transportation on the steamer Commercial. The +captain of the boat was a Kentuckian, who came to Colonel Utley in +great trepidation, saying: "Colonel, I can't start till those negroes +are put on shore. I shall be held responsible. My boat will be seized +and libelled under the laws of the State." + +"I can't help that, sir; the boat is under the control and in the +employ of the government. I am commander on board, and you have +nothing to do but to steam up and go where you are directed. Otherwise +I shall be under the necessity of arresting you." + +The captain departed and began his preparations. But now came the +sheriff of Jefferson County with a writ. He wanted the bodies of +George, Abraham, John, and Dick, who were still with the +Twenty-Second. They were the runaway property of a fellow named Hogan, +who a few days before had figured in a convention held at Frankfort, +in which he introduced a series of Secession resolutions. + +"I have a writ for your arrest, but I am willing to waive all action +on condition of your giving up the fugitives which you are harboring +contrary to the peace and dignity of the State," said the sheriff. + +"I have other business to attend to just now. I am under orders from +my superiors in command to proceed down the river without any delay, +and must get the boat under way," said the Colonel, bowing, politely. + +"But, Colonel, you are aware of the consequences of deliberately +setting at defiance the laws of a sovereign State," said the sheriff. + +"Are you all ready there?" said the Colonel, not to the sheriff, but +to the officer of the day who had charge of affairs. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then cast off." + +The game of bluff had been played between the Twenty-Second Wisconsin +and the State of Kentucky, and Wisconsin had won. + +The sheriff jumped ashore. There were hoarse puffs from the +steam-pipes, the great wheels turned in the stream, the Commercial +swung from her moorings, and the soldiers of Wisconsin floated down +the broad Ohio with the stars and stripes waving above them. + +By their devotion to principle, by the firmness of their commander, +they had given the cause of Freedom a mighty uplift in the old State +of Kentucky. + +I recall an evening in the Louisville Hotel. Officers of the +army,--majors, captains, lieutenants,--were there from camp, chatting +with the ladies. It was a pleasant company,--an hour of comfort and +pleasure. The evening was chilly, and a coal-fire in the grate sent +out its genial warmth. The cut glass of the chandeliers sparkled with +ruby, purple, and amethyst in the changing light. In the anterooms +there were chess-players absorbed in the intellectual game, with a +knot of silent spectators. + +At the dinner-table Mr. Brown was my servant. His complexion was a +shade darker than mine. He served me faithfully, wearing a white +cotton jacket and apron. He entered the parlor in the evening, not +wearing his hotel uniform, but faultlessly dressed as a gentleman. He +brought not a lady, but a double-bass viol. He was followed by two +fellow-servants, one with a violin, the other with a banjo. The one +with the violin was a short, thick-set, curly-headed African,--black +as the King of Dahomey. The other was whiter than most of the officers +in the room. + +They were the hotel table-waiters and also a quadrille band. The +violinist did not know B flat from F sharp. Musical notation was Greek +to him; but he had rhythm, a quick, tuneful ear, and an appreciation +of the beautiful in music rarely found among the many thousands who +take lessons by the quarter. He did not give us Old Tar River, Uncle +Ned, and O Susannah, but themes from Labitsky and Donizetti,--melodies +which once heard are long remembered. His two comrades accompanied him +in time and tune. For the young ladies and officers it was a +delightful hour. Mr. Brown was the factotum, calling the changes with +as much steadiness and precision, while handling the double-bass, as +Hall or Dodworth at the grand ball to the Prince of Wales. So we were +served by four thousand dollars' worth of body and soul! + +The doorway leading into the hall was a portrait-gallery of dusky +faces,--Dinah, Julia, Sam, and James; old aunt Rebecca, with a yellow +turban on her head; young Sarah, three feet high, bare-legged, +bare-armed, in a torn, greasy calico dress,--her only garment; young +Toney, who had so much India-rubber in his heels that he capered +irrepressibly through the hall and executed a double-shuffle. While +the grand stairway, leading to the halls above was piled with dark, +eager faces, reminding one of the crowded auditory looking upon +Belshazzar's feast in the great picture of Allston,--fifteen, twenty, +thirty thousand dollars' worth of bones, blood, and brains! + +The violinist was in trouble. The screws would not stick, and in spite +of his spitting in the holes, his twisting and turning, he was obliged +to stop in the middle of the dance. He made strenuous efforts to keep +his instrument in tune. A man in shoulder-straps, leading a +fair-haired, graceful maiden, his partner in the dance, with a +clenched fist and an oath informed the musician that if he didn't fix +that quick he would knock his head off! It was a little glimpse of the +divine, beneficent missionary institution ordained of God for the +elevation of the sons of Ham! + +It was not difficult to make a transition in thought to a South +Carolina rice-swamp or Louisiana sugar-plantation or Arkansas +cotton-field, where a master's passion was law, and where knocking off +men's heads was not so rare a performance. + +Among the dusky crowd gazing in upon the waltzers was a girl, sixteen +or seventeen years old,--a brunette, with cherry lips, sparkling black +eyes, and cheeks as fresh and fair as apricots. She was a picture of +health. She gazed with evident delight, and yet there was always upon +her countenance a shade of sadness. In form and feature she was almost +wholly Anglo-Saxon, and more than Anglo-Saxon in beauty. + +I met her in the hall during the day having charge of a young child, +and had marked her beauty, ease, grace, and intelligence, and supposed +that she was a boarder at the hotel,--the daughter or young wife of +some officer, till seeing her the central figure of the dusky group. +Then the thought came flashing, "She is a slave!" + +She could have joined in the cotillon with as much grace as any of the +fair dancers. + +Her father, I learned, was a high-born Kentuckian, and her grandfather +was from one of the first families of Virginia; but her +great-great-great-grandmother was born in Africa, and that was the +reason why she stood a silent spectator in the hall, instead of +whirling with the gay colonel in the dance. + +[Illustration: A silent spectator.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG. + + +[Sidenote: Nov., 1862.] + +Returning to Virginia I accompanied the army of the Potomac in the +march from Berlin and Harper's Ferry to the Rappahannock. The roads +were excellent, the days mild, the air clear. Beautiful beyond +description the landscape, viewed from the passes of the Blue Ridge. +Westward in the valley of the Shenandoah was Longstreet's corps, +traced by rising clouds of dust and the smoke of innumerable +camp-fires. Eastward was the great army of the Union, winding along +the numerous roads, towards the south. Many of the soldiers had their +pets,--one had two yellow dogs in leading-strings. A gray-bearded old +soldier carried a young puppy with its eyes not yet open, in his arms +as tenderly as if it were a child. A Connecticut boy had a little +kitten on his shoulders, which kept its place contentedly. +Occasionally the lad caressed it, while kitty laid its face against +that of the beardless boy and purred with pleasure. + +The march was tediously slow. General McClellan was averse to making +it at all. He had delayed from day to day, and from week to week, till +ordered by the President to advance. He had no well-considered plan of +operations. + +The President's patience was exhausted, and at Warrenton he was +deprived of the command of the army. + +General Burnside, his successor, took the command reluctantly; but he +was quick in deciding upon a plan. General McClellan's line of march +was towards Gordonsville. Burnside decided to move upon +Fredericksburg. The movement was made with great rapidity, and +Burnside only failed of seizing the place because the pontoons were +not there at the time appointed. Lee came and occupied the town, threw +up his earthworks, and planted his batteries. Burnside planned to +have Franklin cross the Rappahannock below Port Royal, Hooker above +it, while Sumner was to cross opposite the town; but a heavy storm +frustrated the movement. + +It was generally supposed that the army would go into winter quarters, +and many of the correspondents accordingly returned to their homes. My +friend and companion in the West, Mr. Richardson, left the army of the +Potomac in disgust, and proceeded West again in search of adventure. +His wishes were more than gratified soon after at Vicksburg, where he +fell into the hands of the Rebels, who boarded him awhile at the Libby +in Richmond, and afterward at the Salisbury prison in North Carolina. +He ungraciously turned his back upon his Rebel friends one night, took +all his baggage, and left without paying his bills. + +He gained the Union lines in Tennessee after months of imprisonment, +with his desires for adventure in that direction fully satisfied. + +Nearly one half of the correspondents with the various armies either +fell into the hands of the Rebels or were wounded. Several died of +diseases contracted in the malarious swamps. As a class they were +daring, courageous, venturesome, always on the alert, making hard +rides, day and night, on the battle-field often where the fire was +hottest,--writing their accounts seated on a stump, spreading their +blankets where night overtook them, or frequently making all-night +rides after a day of excitement, hardship, and exposure, that the +public might have early information of what had transpired. Their +statements were often contradictory. Those first received by the +public were not unfrequently full of errors, and sometimes were wholly +false, for the reason that many papers had a correspondent a few miles +in rear of the army, at the base of supplies, who caught up every wild +rumor and sent it flying over the land. + +Gold speculators improved every occasion to gull the public by false +news. There is reason to believe that men in high official positions +were in collusion with operators in bullion, to the mutual advantage +of all concerned. + +The press of the country, reflecting the feelings of the people, +pronounced the campaign at an end. The friends of General McClellan +were clamorous for his return. Congress and political advisers in +Washington demanded that Burnside should move somewhere. They knew +nothing of the obstacles in his path. + +In a letter written on the 9th of December, 1862, the following view +of the situation was presented by the correspondent of the Boston +_Journal_:-- + + "It is a clear, cold morning. The sky is without a cloud. + Standing near General Sumner's quarters, I have a wide sweep of + vision. The quarters of the veteran general commanding the right + grand division are in a spacious mansion, newly constructed, the + property of a wealthy planter, whose estate is somewhat shorn of + its beauty by the ravages of war. The fences are all gone, the + forests are fast disappearing, the fine range of cedars which + lined the Belleplain road are no longer to be seen. All around + are the white tents of the command, the innumerable camp-fires + sending up blue columns of smoke. The air is calm. You hear the + rumbling of distant baggage-trains, the clatter of hundreds of + axes felling the forests for fuel,--the bugle-call of the + cavalrymen, and the rat-a-plan of the drummers, and mingling with + all, the steady, constant flow of the falling waters of the + winding stream. + + "Looking far off to the southeast, across the intervale of the + river, you see a white cloud of steam moving beneath the fringe + of a forest. It is a locomotive from Richmond, dragging its train + of cars with supplies for the Rebel camps. The forests and hills + beyond are alive with men. Resting my glass against the side of + the building to keep it steady, I can count the men grouped + around the camp-fires, turning at times to keep themselves warm. + Others are bringing in wood. An officer rides along. A train of + wagons is winding down the hill toward the town. All along the + range of hills are earthworks with sandbag embrasures, and + artillery behind,--not quaker guns, I think, but field artillery, + so ranged that a movement directly across the river would be + marching into the jaws of death,--as hazardous and destructive as + the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. + + "I know that there is a clamor for an onward movement, a desire + and expectation for an advance; but I think there are few men in + the country who, after taking a look at the Rebel positions, + would like to lead in a movement across the stream. + + "Looking into the town of Fredericksburg we see but few smokes + ascending from the chimneys, but few people in the streets. It is + almost wholly deserted. The women and children have gone to + Richmond, or else are shivering in camp. Close upon the + river-bank on either side face the pickets, within easy talking + distance of each other. There has been no shooting of late. There + is constant badinage. The Rebel picket asks the Yankee when he is + going to Richmond. The Yankee asks the Rebel if he don't want a + pair of boots. I am sorry to say that such conversation is mixed + with profane words. Each party seems to think that hard words hit + hard." + + "Last night the southern sky was red with the blaze of Rebel + camp-fires. Far off to the southeast I see a hazy cloud, and + columns of smoke, indicating the presence of a large army. I do + not doubt that if we attempt to cross we shall meet with terrible + opposition from a force nearly if not quite as large as our own. + + "If the President or General Halleck insist upon Burnside's + making the movement, it will be made with whatever power, energy, + determination, and bravery the army can exhibit. I am as anxious + as any one can be to see a great blow given to the Rebellion; but + I am not at all anxious to see the attempt made against such + disadvantages as are apparent to the most casual observer from + this position."[9] + + [Footnote 9: Letter to Boston _Journal_, December 9, 1862.] + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1862.] + +It was an unreasonable demand which the public made upon Burnside. He +had been just one month in command of the army. His first plan had +failed through the remissness of others; his second effort to move had +been made abortive by the storm. He could not attempt again the +movement with any hope of success, for Lee had taken precautions +against an attack upon his flank. Neither the public, the politician, +nor the War Department would consent to his going into winter +quarters. He had no alternative other than to devise a new plan. These +considerations are to be kept in remembrance in reviewing the battle +of Fredericksburg. + +General Burnside obtained correct information of the position held by +General Lee. Jackson's corps was separated from Longstreet's by a +ravine, but General Lee had constructed a road through the woods and +across a ravine, by which troops could be readily marched to the right +or left, as they might be needed. He was satisfied that Lee did not +expect him to cross at the town, but lower down the river. He decided, +therefore, to cross the Rappahannock, and make a desperate push to +obtain possession of the road, which would divide Lee's army. + +[Illustration: Fredericksburg.] + +The plan was accepted by a council of officers on the 10th of +December. Preparations wore made that night for the passage of the +river in three places. The artillery was drawn in position along the +bank,--about one hundred and fifty pieces, some of which were +thirty-pounders. Orders were issued to the troops to be ready at a +moment's warning. General Woodbury, with a brigade of engineers, was +ordered down to the river. + +Soon after dark on the night of the 10th, the brigade, with its long +train of boats on wheels, came down from the Stafford hills. Boats +sufficient for the construction of two bridges halted near the +railroad; enough for two more went a third of a mile down stream, +opposite the lower end of the town, while the remainder went a mile +and a half farther down, almost to Mr. Bernard's house. Sumner and +Hooker were to use those opposite the town, and Franklin those at +Bernard's. A brigade of troops was ordered to protect the engineers in +their work. The gunners stood beside their guns, ready to open fire if +the Rebels opposed them. The engineers took the boats from the wagons, +pushed them out over the thin ice, anchored them in the stream, and +commenced laying the timbers and planks. A dense fog hung over the +river, which concealed their operations, and before daybreak the +bridges were nearly completed. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth +Mississippi regiments of Barksdale's brigade, and the Eighth Florida, +of Perry's brigade, were on picket along the river, while the +Thirteenth and Twenty-First Mississippi and Third Georgia were in +reserve in the town. + +Lee was wary. He expected an advance of the Union army. His scouts +were alert. All the commanders were ordered to be vigilant. So keeping +a sharp lookout, the sentinels walked the bank through the long winter +night, peering into the darkness, and listening to catch the meaning +of the confused hum which floated to them across the stream. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1862.] + +At five o'clock on the morning of the 11th of December two signal-guns +were fired on the heights of Fredericksburg. Deep and heavy their +roar, rolling along the valley, echoing from hill to hill, and rousing +the sleepers of both armies. We who listened upon the Falmouth hills +knew that the crossing was not a surprise, but that the Rebels were +ready for battle. And now as the day dawned there came a rattling of +musketry along the river. The Rebel pickets opened the fire. The +gunners at the batteries were quick to respond, and sent grape and +canister across the stream. The Rebel pickets at the lower bridges +soon retired, and the engineers completed their work. But in the town +the Mississippians took shelter in the buildings, and poured a deadly +fire upon the bridge-builders. Almost every soldier who attempted to +carry out a plank fell. For a while the attempt was relinquished. + +"The bridge must be completed," said General Burnside. + +Once more the brave engineers attempted it. The fog still hung over +the river. Those who stood on the northern bank could only see the +flashes of the rifles on the other shore. The gunners were obliged to +fire at random, but so energetic their fire the engineers were able to +carry the bridge within eighty or ninety feet of the shore, and then +so deadly in turn was the fire of the Rebels that it was murder to +send men out with a plank. + +General Burnside stood on the piazza of the Phillips House, a mile +from the pontoons. General Sumner and General Hooker were there. Aids +and couriers came and went with messages and orders. + +"My bridge is completed, and I am ready to cross," was Franklin's +message at half past nine. + +"You must wait till the upper bridge is completed," was the reply to +Franklin. + +Two hours passed. A half-dozen attempts were made to complete the +upper bridge without success. Brave men not belonging to the engineers +came down to the bank, surveyed the scene, and then volunteering their +services, seized planks and boards, ran out upon the bridge, but only +to fall before the sharpshooters concealed in the cellars of the +houses not ten rods distant. Captain Brainard of the Fiftieth New +York, with eleven men, volunteered to finish the nearly completed +work. They went out upon the run. Five fell at one volley, and the +rest returned. Captain Perkins of the same regiment led another party. +He fell with a ghastly wound in his neck. Half of his men are killed +or wounded. These were sacrifices of life with nothing gained. It was +soul-inspiring to witness such heroic devotion, but heart-sickening to +stand on the bank and see them slaughtered,--their blood turning to +crimson the turbid waters of the Rappahannock. + +General Burnside had no desire to injure the town, but under the +usages of war he had a right to bombard it; for the Rebels had +concealed themselves in the houses, making use of them to slaughter +his men. + +"Bring all your guns to bear upon the city and batter it down," was +the order issued to General Hunt, chief of artillery. Colonel Hays had +eight batteries on the right; Colonel Tompkins had eleven batteries on +the right centre, opposite the upper pontoons,--some of them in the +yard of Mr. Lacey's house, near the river; Colonel Tyler had seven +batteries a little farther down on the left centre; while Captain De +Russey had seven batteries opposite the lower pontoons. There were in +all thirty-five batteries, with a total of one hundred and +seventy-nine guns, all bearing upon the town. The artillerymen +received the orders to prepare for action with a hurrah. They had +chafed all the morning, and longed for an opportunity to avenge the +death of their gallant comrades. + +The hour had come. They sprang to their pieces. The fire ran from the +right to the left,--from the heavy twenty-four-pounders on the heights +of Falmouth to the smaller pieces on the hills where Washington passed +his boyhood. The air became thick with the murky clouds. The earth +shook beneath the terrific explosions of the shells, which went +howling over the river, crashing into the houses, battering down +walls, splintering doors, ripping up floors. Sixty solid shot and +shells a minute were thrown, and the bombardment was kept up till nine +thousand were fired. No hot shot were used, but the explosions set +fire to a block of buildings, which added terrible grandeur to the +scene. + +The Rebel army stood upon the heights beyond the town and watched the +operations. Lee's Rebel artillery was silent, and the Mississippians +concealed in the houses were alone participants in the contest. + +The fog lifted at last and revealed the town. The streets were +deserted, but the houses, the church-steeples, the stores were riddled +with shot; yet no impression had been made on the Mississippians. + +Burnside's artillerymen could not depress their guns sufficiently to +shell them out. A working party went out upon the bridge, but one +after another was killed or wounded. + +The time had come for a bold movement. It was plain that the +Mississippians must be driven out before the bridge could be +completed, and that a party must go over in boats, charge up the hill, +and rout them from their hiding-places. Who would go? Who attempt the +hazardous enterprise? There were brave men standing on the bank by the +Lacey House, who had watched the proceedings during the long hours. +They were accustomed to hard fighting: Hall's brigade, composed of the +Seventh Michigan, Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, and +Forty-Second New York. They had fought at Fair Oaks, Savage Station, +Glendale, Malvern, and Antietam. The Twentieth had been in all these +battles, and also at Ball's Bluff. + +"We will go over and clean out the Rebels," was the cry of this +brigade. + +"You shall have the privilege of doing so," said General Burnside. + +There were not boats enough for all,--not enough for one regiment +even. A portion of the Seventh Michigan was selected to go first, +while the other regiments stood as a supporting force. + +The men run down the winding path to the water's edge, jump into the +boats, and push out into the stream. It is a moment of intense +anxiety. No one knows how large the force opposing them. The Rebel +sharpshooters are watching the movement from their hiding-places. They +have a fair view and can pick their men. The men in the boats know it, +yet they move steadily onward, steering straight across the stream, +without a thought of turning back, though their comrades are +falling,--some headlong into the river, others dropping into the +boats. The oarsmen pull with rapid strokes. When one falls another +takes his place. Two thirds the distance over,--the boats ground in +shoal water. The soldiers wait for no word of command, but with a +common impulse, with an ardor which stops not to count the cost, they +leap into the water, wade to the shore, and charge up the bank. Some +fall to rise no more, but their surviving comrades rush up the +slippery slope. A loud hurrah rings out from the soldiers who watch +them from the Falmouth shore. Up, up they go, facing death, firing +not, intent only to get at the foe and win victory with the bayonet! +They smash the windows, batter down doors, driving or capturing the +foe. + +Loud and hearty the cheers of the regiments upon the other shore. The +men of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts would give anything +to be there. All the while the cannon are roaring, hurling solid shot +and shell into the doomed city. + + "They leaped in the rocking shallops. + Ten offered where one could go; + And the breeze was alive with laughter + Till the boatmen began to row. + + "Then the shore, where the Rebels harbored, + Was fringed with a gush of flame, + And buzzing, like bees, o'er the water + The swarms of their bullets came. + + "Not a whisper! Each man was conscious + He stood in the sight of death; + So he bowed to the awful presence, + And treasured his living breath. + + "And many a brave, stout fellow, + Who sprang in the boats with mirth, + Ere they made that fatal crossing, + Was a load of lifeless earth. + + "But yet the boats moved onward; + Through fire and lead they drove, + With the dark, still mass within them, + And the floating stars above. + + "Cheer after cheer we sent them, + As only armies can,-- + Cheers for old Massachusetts, + Cheers for young Michigan! + + "They formed in line of battle; + Not a man was out of place. + Then with levelled steel they hurled them + Straight in the Rebels' face. + + "'O help me, help me, comrade! + For tears my eyelids drown, + As I see their starry banners + Stream up the smoking town.'"[10] + + [Footnote 10: Boker's "Crossing at Fredericksburg."] + +[Illustration: Fredericksburg. + + UNION POSITIONS. + + 1. French's Division} 10. Gibbon's Division} + 2. Hancock's " } 2d Corps. 11. Meade's " } 1st Corps. + 3. Howard's " } 12. Doubleday's " } + + 4. Sturgis's " } 13. Sickles's " } + 5. Getty's " } 9th Corps. 14. Birney's " } 3d Corps. + 6. Burns's " } + 15. Cavalry. + 7. Brooks's " } 16. Union Batteries. + 8. Howe's " } 6th Corps. 17. Bernard's House. + 9. Newton's " } 18. Pontoon Bridge. + 19. Hamilton's House. + 20. Maryee's House. + + + REBEL POSITIONS. + + A. Anderson's Division} F. A. P. Hill's Division} + B. Ransom's " } G. Ewell's " } + C. McLaw's " } Longstreet, H. Taliferro's " } Jackson, + D. Pickett's " } 1st Corps. I. D. H. Hill's " } 2d Corps. + E. Hood's " } J. Stuart's Cavalry } + K. Lee's Head-Quarters. + L. Longstreet Head-Quarters. + M. Jackson's "] + +When the bridge-builders saw the soldiers charge up the hill, they too +caught the enthusiasm of the moment, and finished their work. The +other regiments of the brigade, before the last planks were laid, +rushed down the bank, ran out upon the bridge, dashed up the bank, +joined their comrades, and drove the Rebels from the streets nearest +the river. + +History furnishes but few records of more daring exploits than this +action of the Seventh Michigan. Their work was thorough and complete. +In fifteen minutes they cleared the houses in front of them, and took +more prisoners than their own party numbered. + +It was now half past four in the afternoon, one of the shortest days +of winter. The sun was going down. The Rebels had delayed the crossing +through the entire day. General Burnside was severely censured by some +Northern as well as Southern papers for bombarding the town; he had no +desire to do injury to the citizens in person or property, but the +stubborn resistance of the Rebels made it necessary thus to use his +artillery. When General Sumner arrived at Falmouth, three weeks +before, he demanded the surrender of the place; but the citizens and +the women begged the officer in command not to give it up. + +"We would rather have the town burned than given up to the +Yankees,"[11] said they. + + [Footnote 11: Richmond Examiner, December 15, 1862.] + +But now the Yankees were there, marching through the streets. The +houses were battered, torn, and rent. Some were in flames, and a +battle was raging through the town. + +As soon as the bridge was completed, the other brigades of General +Howard's division moved across the river. The Rebel batteries, which +till now had kept silence, opened furiously with solid shot and shell, +but the troops moved steadily over, and took shelter along the river +bank. The Rebels were falling back from street to street, and the men +from Michigan and Massachusetts were pressing on. + +I stood upon the bank of the river and watched the scene in the +deepening twilight. Far up the streets there were bright flashes from +the muskets of the Rebels, who fired from cellars, chamber windows, +and from sheltered places. Nearer were dark masses of men in blue, who +gave quick volleys as they moved steadily on, demolishing doors, +crushing in windows, and searching every hiding-place. Cannon were +flaming on all the hills, and the whole country was aglow with the +camp fires of the two great armies. The Stafford hills were alive with +men,--regiments, brigades, and divisions moving in column from their +encampments to cross the river. The sky was without a cloud. The town +was lighted by lurid flames. The air was full of hissings,--the sharp +cutting sounds of the leaden rain. The great twenty-pounder guns on +the heights of Falmouth were roaring the while. There were shouts, +hurrahs, yells, and groans from the streets. So the fight went on till +the Rebels were driven wholly from the town to their intrenchments +beyond. + +The Seventeenth Mississippi was the most actively engaged of the Rebel +regiments. Its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Fizer, in his report, +says:-- + + "The Yankees made nine desperate attempts to finish their + bridges, but were repulsed at every attempt. They used their + artillery incessantly, with a heavy detachment of sharpshooters, + for twelve hours, we holding our position firmly the whole time, + until about half past four, P. M., when they increased their + artillery and infantry, and their batteries becoming so numerous + and concentrated, we could not use our rifles. Being deprived of + all protection, we were compelled to fall back to Caroline + Street, and from there were ordered from town. The casualties of + the regiment during the engagement were one hundred and sixteen + wounded, killed, and missing."[12] + + [Footnote 12: Lieutenant-Colonel Fizer's Report.] + +When the soldiers of the Seventh Michigan leaped into the boats, a +drummer-boy joined them,--Robert Henry Hendershot. He was only twelve +years old, but his dark eyes flashed brightly under the excitement of +the moment. His drum was upon his neck. + +"Get out, you can't go," said an officer. + +"I want to go," said Robert. + +"No, you will get shot. Out with you." + +Robert jumped into the water, but instead of going ashore, remained to +push off the boat; and then, instead of letting go his hold, clung to +the gunwale, and was taken across. + +As the boat grounded upon the other shore, a piece of shell tore +through his drum. He threw it away, seized the gun of a fallen +soldier, rushed up the hill, and came upon a Rebel soldier, slightly +wounded. "Surrender!" said Robert, pointing his gun at him. The Rebel +gave up his gun, and Robert marched him to the rear. When he returned +to the other side of the river, General Burnside saw him, and said,-- + +"Boy, I glory in your spunk! If you keep on in this way a few more +years, you will be in my place." + +His regiment, after the battle, was sent West, and Robert was in the +battles of Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, and McMinnville, where +he fought gallantly. + +As the Rebels had used the houses for a defence, the soldiers, now +that they were in possession of the town, appropriated to their own +use whatever suited their fancy. Their great desire was to obtain +tobacco, and the tobacco shops were first broken open. A large +quantity had been thrown into the river by the Rebel authorities to +prevent its falling into the hands of the Yankees; but the soldiers +soon fished it up, dried it by their bivouac fires, and through the +long night, while keeping watch, enjoyed their pipes at the expense of +the enemy. Soldiers who did not care for tobacco helped themselves to +flour, meat, potatoes, sugar, and molasses. They had a merry night +cooking bacon and eggs, frying pork, making hot cakes in the kitchens. +The houses were ransacked; beds, blankets, carpets, sofas, +rocking-chairs, settees, and lounges were carried into the streets. +Some dressed themselves in old-fashioned and antiquated clothes which +they found in the chambers. + +It was a carnival night. One fellow appropriated a heavy volume of +Congressional documents, which he carried about several days. Another +found a stuffed monkey in one of the houses, which he shouldered and +bore away. One soldier had a dozen custard-cups on a string around his +neck. Another, finding a nice beaver hat, threw aside his old cap and +took his place again in the ranks, the sport of all his comrades, for +being so nice a gentleman. It was not, however, an indiscriminate +pillage of the whole town. A great many dwellings were not entered at +all, and the owners, after the evacuation of the city, found their +premises but little injured. In the houses nearest the river the +soldiers felt that they were entitled to whatever they could lay their +hands on. But those who had taken mattresses and bedding were obliged +to give them up. The surgeons in charge of the hospitals seized the +articles for the benefit of the wounded. + +"Rev. Arthur B. Fuller is killed," said an acquaintance, as I stood +upon the bank of the river. "His body is lying in the street." + +He had been chaplain of the Massachusetts Sixteenth through all the +Peninsula campaign, working hard day and night in the hospital, till +his health had given out, and he had been honorably discharged. He had +preached his last sermon on the Sunday before; but although no longer +in the service, knowing that there was to be a great battle, so +intense was his patriotism that he could not go away, but remained to +do what he could. He took a musket, became a volunteer, and went over +with the regiments. + +"I must do something for my country. What shall I do?" he asked of +Captain Dunn in the streets of Fredericksburg on that fatal evening. + +"Now is a good time for you,--fall in on the left," said the captain, +who saw that he was cool and collected, although the bullets were +falling thick and fast around them. He stood in front of a grocery +store, loaded his musket and fired, and then coolly loaded again. He +was taking aim once more when he was shot by a sharpshooter. The +Rebels advanced, and Captain Dunn was obliged to fall back. He lay +where he fell till the enemy were driven from the town, when his body +was recovered. The Rebels had picked his pockets. They stabbed a +wounded man who was lying by his side. The soldiers of his regiment +who had listened to his teachings in life came in groups to gaze with +silent sorrow upon the marble brow of him who had been a faithful +teacher, and who gave his life freely for his country. + +At his funeral obsequies in Boston, Rev. E. O. Haven said of him:-- + + "Could he whose mangled body now lies before you, from which the + deadly bullet has expelled the noble Christian's soul, rise again + and speak out as he was wont to do in ringing words, they would + not be apologetic, but words of exultation. Were it possible for + him to be at once fallen in battle and yet alive with us, I know + that he would fill our souls with his own holy enthusiasm. I know + that he would make us understand and feel the magnitude of his + thought and the love of his heart, when he offered to his + country, in what he thought her bitterest trial, the sight of his + eye and the strength of his arm, and above all the moral example + of his character, won by many years' devotion to the good of his + fellow-men. He offered all this to his country, and he did right. + It was an overflowing love. He gave his life for liberty to all + men, instead of slavery for negroes, vassalage for the great + majority of the whites, and a despotism,--greatest curse of + all,--for a few. He offered his life to inspire the army with + noble purpose, and if need be, to inspire the nation. He knew + that his life might be taken, and is not now surprised; but there + comes a voice from his spirit to us saying, Waste not your + sympathies in inactive sorrow, but connect the strong tide of + your emotion into vigorous thought and powerful action. Weep not + for me, but weep for yourselves and your children,--or see to it + that they are so protected as not to need your tears." + +Rev. James Freeman Clarke was his playmate in boyhood, and his friend +through life, and standing by his coffin, looking for the last time +upon his face, said:-- + + "Arthur Fuller was like the most of us, a lover of peace; but he + saw, as we have had to see, that sometimes true peace can only + come through war. In this last struggle at Fredericksburg he + took a soldier's weapon, and went on with the little forlorn + hope, who were leading the advance through the streets. He had + not been in battle much before, but more among the sick in + hospitals. Perhaps he thought it right to show the soldiers that + in an hour of emergency he was ready to stand by their side. So + he went with a courage and devotion which all must admire, and + fell, adding his blood also to the precious blood which has been + shed as an atonement for the sins of the nation. May that blood + not be shed in vain. May it be accepted by God as a costly + sacrifice, and may we as a people, when our necessary trials and + punishments are sufficiently endured, become that righteous and + happy nation God meant us to be; setting an example to mankind of + a Christian republic in which there is no master and no slave, no + tyrant and no victim,--not a mere rabble scrambling for gain, but + brothers, co-operating in building up a grand commonwealth of + true liberty, justice, and humanity. Let our friends go or stay, + let us live or die,-- + + 'So wake we to higher aims, + Of a land that has lost for a little her love of gold, + And love of peace; that was full of wrongs, shames, + Horrible, hateful, monstrous, not to be told, + And hail once more the banner of battle unrolled! + Though many an eye shall darken, and many shall weep, + Yet many a darkness into light shall leap.' + + " ... To die thus, full of devotion to a noble cause, is not to + die,--it is to live. It is rising into a higher life. It is + passing up into the company of the true and noble, of the brave + and generous,--it is going to join heroes and martyrs of all + ages, who have not counted life dear when given to a good cause. + Such devoted offerings by the young and brave surrendering up + their lives raise us all above the fear of death. What matters it + when we die, so that we live holy?-- + + 'They are the dead, the buried, + They who do still survive, + In sin and sense interred;-- + The dead!--they are alive!'" + +Foothold having been secured on the southern bank of the Rappahannock, +the army began to cross. A third pontoon bridge was constructed at the +lower end of the town. A thick fog hung over the river on the morning +of the 12th. The air was calm, and I could distinctly hear the +confused hum of preparation for the great battle. Burnside's troops +were moving into position, and so were Lee's; but all the movements of +both armies were concealed by the fog. + +The Rebel pickets still clung to the outskirts of the town. At noon +the fog disappeared, drifting up the Rappahannock. Suddenly the Rebel +batteries on the hills above the town began to throw shells upon the +Second Corps, which had crossed the upper bridge and was forming in +the streets. Colonel Tyler, who commanded the heavy guns on the +Falmouth hills, was quick to reply. The batteries in the centre +opened, also those on the left. The distance from the most remote +battery on the right to the farthest on the left was five miles. The +Second and Ninth Corps were in the town, the front line was in the +streets and the rear line along the bank of the river. Artillery +trains and wagons loaded with ammunition were going over. Solid shot +from the Rebel batteries tossed up the water in the river. Shells were +bursting in the town. + +The First and Sixth Corps, under Franklin, had crossed at the lower +bridge by the house of Mr. Bernard, and were moving over the wide +plain. The Bernard House, where Franklin had established his +head-quarters, was a fine old mansion surrounded by trees. Beyond the +house there was a smooth intervale, with here and there a hollow, +where the troops could find shelter from the artillery-fire of the +enemy. + +General Stoneman was moving down from the Falmouth hills with Birney's +and Sickles's divisions. Opposite Falmouth, on the Rebel left, was +Longstreet's corps, with Anderson's division on Stanisbury Hill,--his +pickets stationed along the canal, which winds around its base. Next +to Anderson was Ransom's division, on Maryee's Hill, directly in rear +of the town. Two roads run up the hill, leading west,--the +Gordonsville plank-road and the Orange turnpike. Mr. Maryee's house +stands between them. It is a fine brick dwelling, with a stately +portico before it, with a beautiful lawn sloping towards the city, +shaded by oaks and adorned with flowering shrubs. From the roof of the +mansion General Longstreet can obtain a fair view of what is going on +in the Union lines. He can see the troops gathering in the streets and +behold the dark masses under Franklin moving out past the Bernard +House. + +At the base of the hill he can see some of his own soldiers, +sheltered behind a stone-wall along the Old Telegraph road, which is +dug like a canal into the side of the hill. It is a sheltered +position, and their rifles and muskets will sweep the level field in +front towards the town. His heaviest cannon and his largest howitzers +are in position around Maryee's house, behind earthworks. The +Washington Artillery, which was in the first battle of Manassas, and +which fought through all battles of the Peninsula, at Groveton and +Antietam, is there. + +Ransom's division extends to Hazel Run,--a stream which comes down +through a deep ravine from the west, gurgling over a rocky bed, and +turning the great wheel of a grist-mill, just hid from sight as you +look up the river from the town. An unfinished railroad embankment is +thrown up in the run,--the Gordonsville road,--which was in +construction when the war broke out. There is a hollow in the smooth +field in front of the telegraph road,--a place to be kept in +remembrance. There is a higher elevation beyond Maryee's house, which +overlooks the town, and all the plain below, called Lee's Hill, where +Lee has placed his guns of longest range. + +Across the ravine is McLaw's division, behind an embankment which +extends up the hill and into the woods along the Telegraph road. +Beyond McLaw's is Pickett's division; then Hood's division, which +forms the right of Longstreet's command, and reaches to Deep Run. +Longstreet's head-quarters are in rear of Hood. + +Across Deep Run are the head-quarters of Lee, who can stand by his +tent and look down upon the battle-field. He can see what Couch and +Wilcox are doing in the town. He is directly in front of Bernard's +mansion, and can also behold all the movements of the Union troops on +the plain. A. P. Hill's division of Jackson's corps is in front of +him,--Hill's left resting on Deep Run, and his right reaching to +Captain Hamilton's house, where the railroad crosses the old Richmond +road. Hill's troops are partially concealed in the woods. Behind Hill +are the divisions of Early and Taliferro,--Taliferro being on the +right, near Hamilton's house. Farther in the rear, on the hill, is D. +H. Hill's division, which is held in reserve. There are fourteen +guns--from Pegram's, McIntosh's, Crenshaw's, Latham's, and Johnson's +batteries--on the hill near Hamilton's. + +[Illustration: Franklin's attack. + +The diagram represents the position of the troops as witness from +Franklin's Head-quarters, looking south. + + UNION POSITIONS. + + 1. Doubleday. + 2. Meade's First Position. + 3. Meade's Second Position. + 4. Gibbon. + 5. Sickles. + 6. Birney. + 7. Newton. + 8. Howe. + 9. Brooks. + 10. Burns. + 11. Franklin's Head-quarters. + + + REBEL POSITIONS. + + A. Hood. + B. Lane, Pender. + C. Thomas's Brigade. + D. Gregg's " + E. Archer's " + F., G., H. Taliferro's Division. + I. Batteries. + J. Ewell's Division. + K. D. H. Hill's Division. + L. Stuart. + M. Batteries.] + +Mr. Bernard has been a large slaveholder. His estate is known in the +county round by the name of Mansfield. His negroes live in humble +homes,--in cabins near the railroad, out towards Hamilton's. There, +around the cabins, Jackson has placed twenty-one guns from Davidson's, +Raines's, Caskie's, and Braxton's batteries. To the right of these, +and between Bernard's and the railroad, are twelve guns,--Wooding's +and Carpenter's batteries. + +The road from Fredericksburg to Port Royal runs parallel to the river, +about half a mile distant from the stream. + +General Stuart, with two brigades of cavalry and his batteries of +light artillery, hold the road. The Louisiana Guards are sent down to +aid him. His line runs nearly at right angles with Jackson's infantry +line, and extends from the railroad to the river. His batteries will +have a cross-fire upon the First and Sixth Corps, whenever they +attempt to move out from Bernard's to gain possession of the railroad +at Hamilton's. + +Such is the field,--a smooth plain, a mile wide and two miles long, +around Bernard's, reaching up to the town. Bernard's farm is cut +across by the Port Royal road, the old road to Richmond, and by the +railroad. The Port Royal road is bordered by cedars, thick-set hedges, +and a deep ditch. There are fences dividing the intervale into fields. +Deep Run is fringed with alders. Maryee's Hill is quite steep. The +Rebel cannon sweep all the plain, the field at the base of Maryee's, +and the town itself. The Rebel troops have the protection of the +sunken road, of the rifle-pits along the crests of the hills. They are +sheltered by woods, by ravines, by the hedges and fences, but Burnside +has no cover for his troops. They must march out upon the plain, +charge up the hillsides, and receive the fire of a sheltered foe. + +To win a victory, even with a superior force, under such +circumstances, there must be not only great courage and +self-possession, but a well-laid plan and harmonious action of all +subordinate commanders. + +Burnside's plan was to make a vigorous movement with a large portion +of his army to gain the railroad at Hamilton's house, and at the same +time rout Longstreet from his position on Maryee's Hill. If he +succeeded at Hamilton's, even if he failed at Maryee's, Lee would be +compelled to evacuate the town, because Burnside would hold the +railroad over which Lee received his supplies. + +In the council of officers, held on the night of the 11th, General +Franklin, who had about sixty thousand men, urged such a movement on +the left. There was delay in issuing the orders, which gave Lee ample +time to strengthen his position. The plan adopted was substantially +that which Franklin had urged. These were Burnside's directions to +Franklin:-- + + "General Hardee will carry this despatch to you, and remain with + you through the day. The general commanding directs that you keep + your whole command in 'position' for a rapid movement down the + old Richmond road; and you will send out at once a division at + least, to pass below Smithfield, to seize, if possible, the + heights near Captain Hamilton's, on this side of the Massaponax, + taking care to keep it well supported and its line of retreat + open. He has ordered another column of a division or more to be + moved from General Sumner's command, up the Plank-road to its + intersection with the Telegraph road, where they will divide, + with a view of seizing the heights on both those roads. Holding + these heights, with the heights near Captain Hamilton's, will, he + hopes, compel the enemy to evacuate the whole ridge between these + points." + +In a letter to General Halleck, written on the 10th, a week after the +battle, General Burnside explains his plan more fully. + + "The enemy," he says, "had cut a road in rear of the line of + heights where we made our attack, by means of which they + connected the two wings of their army and avoided a long detour + around through a bad country. I obtained from a colored man + information in regard to this road, which proved to be correct. I + wanted to obtain possession of this road, and that was my reason + for making my attack on the extreme left. I did not intend to + make an attack on the right till that position was taken, which I + supposed would stagger the enemy, cutting their line in two; and + then I proposed to make a direct attack in front and drive them + out of their works." + +The day (the 12th) passed, and night came on before the army was in +position to make the attack. At sunset the batteries along the lines +opened fire, but the shells for the most part burst harmlessly, and +the soldiers, accustomed to danger, cooked their coffee by the +glimmering bivouac fires, spread their blankets on the ground, and lay +down to sleep, giving no heed to the cannon's roar or the constant +firing along the picket lines. + + +THE MORNING. + +The morning of the 13th dawned. A thick fog hung over the river, so +dense that it was hardly possible to distinguish objects a hundred +yards distant. General Sumner's head-quarters were by the house of Mr. +Phillips, north of the river. General Burnside rode down from his own +head-quarters, and met General Sumner and General Hooker, and other +officers. He wore an anxious look, and justly, for it was the most +responsible hour of his life. Up to that time all of his well-laid +plans had failed. He had hoped to cross the river and surprise the +Rebels, but two days had passed since the beginning of the movement, +giving Lee time to strengthen his defences. Now the fog hung over the +river, and he was afraid of collision between different divisions of +his troops. But a password was whispered along the lines, and orders +were issued to go forward. + +While the troops were waiting for the advance the mails arrived. How +eagerly were the letters and papers grasped by the soldiers! It was +affecting to see them, as they read the words of love from home, dash +the tears from their eyes. Home was dear to them just then. + +The fog began to drift along the valley. It was like the drawing aside +of a curtain. The entire battle-field was in view. Two signal-guns +were fired in quick succession by the Rebels far down on the left in +front of Franklin. There was a quick mounting of horses at Burnside's +head-quarters. The officers had received their final orders, and +dashed away to carry them into execution. + +The main attack was to be led by Franklin. He had his own two corps, +numbering forty thousand; Stoneman was moving to his support with +twenty thousand, and Butterfield, with the Fifth Corps, could be +called to aid him if needed. + +Standing where General Tyler had planted his guns, I had a fair view +of the entire battle-field. The position was below the town, near the +lower bridge, on the Washington farm. Rebel officers were riding to +and fro around Maryee's house. The gunners of the Washington Artillery +were leaning upon their pieces, watching the movements in the town. +The Second Corps had moved out from the streets past the old +burying-ground, and was near the gas-works. The right of the line +extended north of the Plank-road to the monument erected to the memory +of Washington's mother. + +General French's division of the Second Corps was on the right; +General Hancock's was next in the line, with Howard's division, as +reserve, in the rear. The Second Corps batteries were standing in the +streets of the town, the officers vainly seeking positions where they +could fire upon the Rebel batteries which looked down upon them from +Maryee's Hill. + +The Ninth Corps under Wilcox was joined to the Second Corps, and +occupied the lower end of the town. General Sturgis's division was in +front, with Whipple's, forming the second line. Burns's division was +in reserve, near Deep Run. The Rebel ammunition trains were in sight +far up Hazel Run, and on the distant hill there was a group of Rebel +officers around Longstreet's head-quarters. Troops and teams were +passing to and fro between Hood's and Pickett's divisions. Wilcox's +troops were taking position, marching and countermarching, closing in +solid mass under the shelter of the banks of Hazel Run. The right of +the Sixth Corps, under General Smith, rested on Deep Run, Brooks's +division joining Burns's west of the run, almost up to the railroad. +Howe's division was next in line, where the Rebel batteries had full +sweep of the broad intervale. The ground is a dead level east of the +run, extending from the river to the wooded hill, where Lee had +established his head-quarters. Howe's troops were lying along the old +Richmond road, where, beneath the cedars and sodded fences, the +soldiers found shelter from the shells of the enemy. General Newton's +division was on the left of Howe's, also lying under cover. + +General Gibbon's division of Reynolds's corps, the First, was next in +line. Meade stood next, directly in front of the railroad-crossing at +Hamilton's,--the vital point, which, if seized and held, would force +Lee out of his intrenchments. Meade had crossed the old Richmond road, +and was facing south; Doubleday's division was on the extreme left, +extending from Meade's left to the river, facing east, and standing +nearly at right angles with Meade's division. + +The battle was begun by General Meade, his divisions having been +selected to lead the advance towards the railroad-crossing. The +Bucktails, who had been in nearly all the engagements on the +Peninsula, who first exhibited their valor at Drainsville, who were +under Hooker at Antietam, were first engaged. They moved over the open +field beyond Bernard's, and drove the enemy's skirmishers. The Rebel +batteries--Latham's, Johnson's, McIntosh's, Pegram's, and +Crenshaw's--opened a heavy fire. Jackson knew the importance of +holding the position at Hamilton's, and had massed these batteries, +which gave a concentrated fire upon the advancing force. Reynolds's +batteries galloped into position and replied; and so for an hour the +pounding of the batteries went on along the left. + +Meade's division was composed of three brigades. The First was +commanded by Colonel Sinclair, and was composed of the First Rifles +(Bucktails), the First, Second, and Sixth regiments of the +Pennsylvania Reserves. The Second Brigade was commanded by Colonel +Magilton, and consisted of the Third, Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth +regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves, and the One Hundred and +Forty-Second Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Third Brigade was commanded +by General C. F. Jackson, and was composed of the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, +Eleventh, and Twelfth regiments of the Reserves. Attached to this +division were four batteries of four guns each, Captain Ransom's Third +United States artillery, Lieutenant Simpson's, Captain Amsden's, and +Captain Cooper's of the First Pennsylvania regiment of artillery. +Captain Ransom and Lieutenant Simpson had twelve-pounders, the others +were three-inch rifled guns. + +Sinclair's brigade was in the front line, and Magilton's three hundred +paces in rear of it. Jackson's was in rear of the left of the two +lines, with his men in column of regiments, about one hundred paces in +rear of Magilton's line. These three brigades numbered about six +thousand men. + + +THE ATTACK ON THE LEFT. + +It was just nine o'clock when Meade moved from his position near the +Bernard House. + +A ravine comes down from the hills and forms the dividing line between +the Bernard and Smithfield estates. As soon as Meade crossed the +ravine, he turned the head of his column to the south, and moved to +the Bowling Green or old Richmond road, where he was obliged to stop +while the pioneers could cut away the hedges, level the sod fences, +and bridge the ditches, in order that his artillery could pass. While +he was doing this, Stuart's batteries opened fire. They were on +Meade's left flank and enfiladed his lines, throwing shells directly +up the road. Meade apprehended an immediate attack on his left flank, +and swung his second brigade towards Stuart, facing east, while his +first brigade was still facing south towards Hamilton's crossing. His +line thus made two sides of a square. There was a little knoll on the +left of the first brigade. + +"That is the place for you," said Meade to Cooper and Ransom. The +batteries were quickly wheeled into the position indicated. The +gunners had a fair view of the Rebel batteries over the level plain. +Simpson brought his battery up and placed it in front of the Third +Brigade, and replied to Pegram. Such was the opening of the battle. + +Meanwhile, Doubleday was pushing down by the river. When the Rebel +batteries opened fire, he brought his own into position and gave a +cross-fire, which was so severe that Stuart's Rockbridge battery was +quickly silenced and the guns withdrawn. While this was going on, a +body of Rebel sharpshooters crept up by the hedges and commenced +firing; but two companies of marksmen were sent out by General +Jackson's brigade, which drove them back. + +An hour passed before Meade was ready to move again. Doubleday had +advanced towards Stuart, but Gibbon was not yet upon Meade's right. + +Stonewall Jackson, seeing that Doubleday was moving down the river, +thought that it was Franklin's intention to turn his right flank. D. +H. Hill's division, which was close by Hamilton's house, was sent +upon the double-quick to help Stuart hold his line.[13] This weakened +his centre. It was at this auspicious moment that Meade's division +advanced alone to pierce the Rebel line. + + [Footnote 13: Jackson's Report.] + +It was twelve o'clock, and Franklin's force was in the following +position: Doubleday on the left, well down towards Stuart, his +batteries in full play; Meade thirty or forty rods beyond the Bowling +Green road, in the open field; Gibbon and Newton just over the road; +Howe up to it; Birney and Sickles filing out from the bridges, a mile +in rear of Meade. + +All of Franklin's batteries which were in position, one hundred and +sixteen guns, commenced a rapid fire upon the woods beyond the +railroad, to protect Meade in his advance. De Russey opened with his +sixty pieces from the hills north of the Rappahannock, throwing shells +over the heads of the advancing troops. + +Jackson's batteries were equally active. There were twenty-one guns by +the negro cabins in front of Howe, twelve in front of Newton, fourteen +in front of Meade, while other single batteries under Stuart were +playing on the left. More than two hundred and fifty pieces were +roaring as Meade advanced. + +It was a magnificent spectacle; but it was a moment of anxiety to +Burnside, who could only judge of the progress of the battle by the +following despatches, received from time to time. + + "HEAD-QUARTERS, FRANKLIN'S GRAND DIVISION, + + December 13, 7.40 A. M. + + GENERAL BURNSIDE: + + "General Meade's division is to make the movement from our left; + but it is just reported that the enemy's skirmishers are + advancing, indicating an attack upon our position on the left." + + "9 o'clock A. M. + + "General Meade just moved out. Doubleday supports him. Meade's + skirmishers engaged, however, at once with enemy's skirmishers. + Battery opening, on Meade probably, from position on old Richmond + road." + + "11 o'clock A. M. + + "Meade advanced half a mile, and holds on. Infantry of enemy in + woods in front of extreme left, also in front of Howe. No loss, + so far of great importance. General Vinton badly, but not + dangerously wounded. + + "Later.--_Reynolds has been forced to develop his whole line._ + + "An attack of some force of enemy's troops on our left seems + probable, as far as can now be judged. _Stoneman has been + directed to cross one division to support our left._ Report of + cavalry pickets from the other side of the river, that enemy's + troops were moving down the river on this side during the latter + part of the night. Howe's pickets reported movements in their + front, same direction. Still they have a strong force well + posted, with batteries, there." + + "12 o'clock M. + + "Birney's division is now getting into position. That done, + Reynolds will order Meade to advance. Batteries over the river + are to shell the enemy's position in the woods in front of + Reynolds's left. He thinks the effect will be to protect Meade's + advance. A column of the enemy's infantry is passing along the + crest of the hills from right to left, as we look at it." + + "12.5 P. M. + + "General Meade's line is advancing in the direction you + prescribed this morning." + + "1 o'clock P. M. + + "Enemy opened a battery on Reynolds, enfilading Meade. Reynolds + has opened all his batteries on it; no report yet. Reynolds hotly + engaged at this moment. Will report in a few moments again." + + "1.15 o'clock P. M. + + "Heavy engagements of infantry. Enemy in force where battery is. + Meade is assaulting the hill. Will report in a few minutes + again." + + "1.25 o'clock P. M. + + "Meade is in the woods in his front; seems to be able to hold on. + Reynolds will push Gibbon in, if necessary. The battery and woods + referred to must be near Hamilton's house. The infantry firing is + prolonged and quite heavy. Things look well enough. Men in fine + spirits." + + "1.40 o'clock P. M. + + "Meade having carried a portion of the enemy's position in the + woods, we have three hundred prisoners. Enemy's battery on + extreme left retired. Tough work; men fight well. Gibbon has + advanced to Meade's right; men fight well, driving the enemy. + Meade has suffered severely. Doubleday to Meade's left,--not + engaged." + + "2-1/4 o'clock P. M. + + "Gibbon and Meade driven back from the woods. Newton gone + forward. Jackson's corps of the enemy attacks on the left. + General Gibbon slightly wounded. General Bayard mortally wounded + by a shell. Things do not look as well on Reynolds's front; + still, we'll have new troops in soon." + + "2.25 P. M. + + "Despatch received. Franklin will do his best. New troops gone + in. Will report soon again." + + "3 o'clock P. M. + + "Reynolds seems to be holding his own. Things look better, + somewhat." + + "3.40 o'clock P. M. + + "Gibbon's and Meade's divisions are badly used up, and I fear + another advance on the enemy on our left cannot be made this + afternoon. Doubleday's division will replace Meade's, as soon as + it can be collected, and, if it be done in time, of course + another attack will be made. + + "The enemy are in force in the woods on our left, towards + Hamilton's, and are threatening the safety of that portion of our + line. They seem to have detached a portion of their force to our + front, where Howe and Brooks are now engaged. Brooks has some + prisoners, and is down to the railroad. Just as soon as the left + is safe, our forces here will be prepared for a front attack, but + it may be too late this afternoon. Indeed, we are engaged in + front anyhow. Notwithstanding the unpleasant items I relate, the + _morale_ generally of the troops is good." + + "4-1/2 o'clock P. M. + + "The enemy is still in force on our left and front. An attack on + our batteries in front has been repulsed. A new attack has just + opened on our left, but the left is safe, though it is too late + to advance either to the left or front." + +Such was the intelligence which reached General Burnside of the +operations on the left. It was not very encouraging. He expected that +Franklin, with sixty thousand men at his disposal, would sweep Jackson +from his position by Hamilton's, and thus gain the rear of Lee's left +flank, which would make it easy for Sumner with the right wing to +break through the line in rear of the town. Instead of throwing forty +thousand men upon Jackson, as he could have done, dealing a blow which +might have broken the Rebel lines, Meade's division alone was sent +forward. The fire of the batteries was terrific as he advanced, and so +severe was the cannonade that the Rebel batteries which had been +advanced from the main line were forced to retire, with two caissons +blown up and several guns disabled.[14] + + [Footnote 14: Lee's Report.] + +As the troops moved on they came to a hollow before reaching the +railroad. They halted a moment on the edge of the depression and +corrected their lines. It was a clear field to the railroad +embankment, behind which they could see the gleaming of the sunlight +on the bayonets of A. P. Hill's division. + +Meade's three brigades were now in line, the first on the right, with +the Sixth regiment of the Reserves thrown out as skirmishers; the +Second in the centre, and the Third on the left. + +The direction of Meade's advance brought him against Lane's and +Archer's brigades. Lane's brigade was composed of five North Carolina +regiments,--the Seventh, Eighteenth, Twenty-Eighth, Thirty-Third, and +Thirty-Seventh. Archer's was composed of the First, Seventh, and +Fourteenth Tennessee, and Nineteenth Georgia regiments, and Fifth +Alabama battalion. They were on the railroad and in the woods. There +was a gap between the brigades, and there Meade drove the entering +wedge. It was a fierce and bloody contest along the railroad, in the +woods, upon the hillside, in the ravine, on the open plain, and on the +crest of the ridge. The fourteen guns on the hill poured a murderous +fire into Meade's left flank. The guns by Deep Run, in front of +Pender's brigade, enfiladed the line from the right, while in reserve +were two full brigades,--Thomas's and Gregg's,--to fill the gap. But +notwithstanding this, Meade, unsupported, charged down the slope, +through the hollow, up to the railroad, and over it, routing the +Fourteenth Tennessee and Nineteenth Georgia, of Archer's, and the +whole of Lane's brigade. With a cheer the Pennsylvanians went up the +hill, crawling through the thick underbrush, to the crest, doubling up +Archer and knocking Lane completely out of the line. It was as if a +Herculean destroyer had crumbled, with a sledge-hammer stroke, the +key-stone of an arch, leaving the whole structure in danger of +immediate and irretrievable ruin. + +Archer shifted the Fifth Alabama from his right to his left, but was +not able to stop the advancing Yankees. He had already sent to Gregg +for help, and that officer was putting his troops in motion. He had +sent to Ewell, who was by Hamilton's, and Trimble and Lawton were +getting ready to move, Lane was still running, and the gap was +widening between Archer and Pender. + +Gibbon ought to have been following Meade, driving up the hill through +the gap, but he halted at the railroad; his men were loath to move, +for Pender's batteries were cutting across his flank. Howe and Newton +and Brooks were by the Bowling Green road, showing no signs of +advancing. Sickles and Birney were almost back to Bernard's mansion. +Doubleday was holding the flank against Stuart, and Meade was +struggling alone. + +The latter officer thus speaks of his position at this moment:-- + + "The first brigade to the right advanced several hundred yards + over cleared ground, driving the enemy's skirmishers before them + till they reached the woods in front of the railroad, which they + entered, driving the enemy out of them to the railroad, where + they were found strongly posted in ditches and behind temporary + defences. The brigade (First) drove them from there and up the + heights in their front. Owing to a heavy fire being received on + their right flank, they obliqued over to that side, but continued + forcing the enemy back till they had crowned the crest of the + hill, crossed a main road which runs along the crest, and reached + open ground on the other side, where they were assailed by a very + severe fire from a larger force in their front, and at the same + time the enemy opened a battery which completely enfiladed them + from the right flank. After holding their ground for some time, + no support arriving, they were compelled to fall back to the + railroad."[15] + + [Footnote 15: General Meade's Testimony, Conduct of the War, + Part I. p. 696.] + +Gibbon, the nearest support to Meade, was nearly half a mile +distant.[16] That officer was wounded while the fight was hottest, but +of the part which he was performing he says:-- + + [Footnote 16: See map accompanying General Franklin's reply + to Report of Committee on Conduct of the War.] + + "As soon as the enemy's guns slackened fire, I saw General + Meade's troops moving forward into action, and I at once sent + orders to my leading brigade to advance and engage the enemy. + Shortly afterwards I ordered up another brigade to support the + first. The fire was very heavy from the enemy's infantry, and I + ordered up the Third Brigade and formed it in column on the right + of my line, and directed them to take the position with the + bayonet, having previously given that order to the leading + brigade. But the general commanding that brigade told me that the + noise and confusion was such that it was impossible to get the + men to charge, or to get them to hear any order to charge. The + Third Brigade--my last brigade--went in and took the position + with the bayonet, and captured a considerable number of + prisoners. During the fighting of the infantry I was establishing + the batteries which belonged to my division in position to assist + in the assault. I had just received the report of the success of + this Third Brigade, when shortly after I saw a regiment of Rebel + infantry come out on the left of my line between myself and + General Meade. I rode up towards a battery that was on their + left, and directed them to open fire upon that regiment. I was + riding back towards the right of my line, when I was wounded, and + left the field about half past two o'clock in the afternoon, I + think."[17] + + [Footnote 17: Testimony, Conduct of the War, Part I. p. 715.] + +It will be seen by Franklin's despatches that Meade had broken the +line before Gibbon was engaged. At 1.15 P. M. he telegraphed to +Burnside, "Meade is assaulting the hill." Ten minutes later, at 1.25 +P. M., "_Reynolds will push Gibbon in if necessary._" At 1.40 P. M., +"Meade has carried a portion of the enemy's position in the woods. We +have three hundred prisoners. Gibbon has advanced to Meade's right." + +It was in this advance to the railroad, when Gibbon came in collision +with Pender's and Thomas's brigades, that Gibbon was wounded. + +While this was going on in front, the Second and Third Brigades of +Meade were enveloping Gregg's brigade of South Carolinians, which had +been hurried up to retrieve the disaster to the line. There was a +short but bloody contest. Three hundred South Carolinians fell in that +struggle, including their commander, General Gregg, who was mortally +wounded. + +It was a critical moment with Stonewall Jackson. The whole of Ewell's +division, under the command of General Early, was brought up to regain +the ground. Lawton's brigade came first upon the Pennsylvanians, +followed by Hayes's, Trimble's, and Field's brigades, with Early's +own, commanded by Colonel Walker. + +Had Newton, Howe, Brooks, Sickles, and Birney been near at hand, or +had Gibbon been pushed promptly and effectively to Meade's support, +the record of that bloody day would have been far different from what +it is. But they were not there. They had not even been ordered to +advance! + +Unable to withstand the onset of the whole of Jackson's force (with +the exception of a portion of Taliferro's reserves), Meade was obliged +to fall back, and give up the position won by such heroic valor. As +his troops went to the rear, they met Ward's brigade of Birney's +division advancing. The Rebels were in full pursuit. Birney wheeled +his batteries into position, and opened with canister, and the Rebels +fled to the shelter of the woods. + +The divisions of Howe and Newton and Sickles were slightly engaged +later in the day, but only in repulsing a second advance of the +Rebels. The attack which Meade had opened so gallantly, and which was +attended with such good success, had failed. Less than ten thousand +men had broken the enemy's line, and opened the way to victory. Of the +sixty thousand men at Franklin's disposal not more than sixteen or +eighteen thousand were engaged during the day,[18] and of those not +more than eight thousand at any one time. + + [Footnote 18: Testimony of Meade and other officers, Conduct + of the War.] + +General Franklin, in vindicating himself from censure for not +attacking with a larger force and more vigorously, falls back on the +clause in Burnside's order, "to attack with one division at least, and +to keep it well supported." It would have been better if Burnside had +given explicit instructions. There must be some latitude allowed to +subordinates, but there are very few men who, without particular +instructions, can enter fully into the plans and intentions of the +commander-in-chief. Franklin was constitutionally sluggish in his +movements. The attack on the left required boldness, energy, and +perseverance. Sumner was the man for the place. Burnside was +peculiarly unfortunate in the selection of commanders to carry out the +particular features of his plan; but Sumner having been first to +arrive at Falmouth, and having taken position, it was not easy to make +the change. + +While the battle was raging on the left I rode over the plain. The +cavalry under General Bayard was drawn up in rear of the grove +surrounding the fine old Bernard mansion. General Bayard was sitting +at the foot of a tree, waiting for orders, and watching the advancing +columns of Meade and Gibbon. There was a group of officers around +General Franklin. Howe's and Newton's divisions were lying down to +avoid the Rebel shells, hurled from the heights beyond the railroad. +All of Franklin's guns were in play. The earth shook with the deep +concussion. Suddenly the Rebel batteries opened with redoubled fury. A +shot went over my head, a second fell in front of my horse, and +ploughed a furrow in the ground; a third exploded at my right, a +fourth went singing along the line of a regiment lying prostrate on +the earth. McCartney's, Williston's, Hexamer's, Amsden's, Cooper's, +Ransom's, and a dozen other batteries were replying. Meade was driving +up the hill. Wounded men were creeping, crawling, and hobbling towards +the hospital. Some, slightly wounded, were uttering fearful groans, +while others, made of sterner stuff, though torn and mangled, bore +their pains without a murmur. + +A soldier, with his arms around the necks of two of his comrades, was +being brought in. "O dear! O Lord! my foot is torn all to pieces!" he +cried. + +There was a hole in the toe of his boot where the ball had entered. + +"It has gone clear through to the heel, and smashed all the bones. O +dear! O dear! I shall have to have it cut off!" he cried, moaning +piteously as his comrades laid him upon the ground to rest. + +"Better cut off your boot before your foot swells." + +"Yes,--do so." + +I slipped my knife through the leather, and took the boot from his +foot. The ball had passed through his stocking. There was but a drop +or two of blood visible. I cut off the stocking, and the bullet was +lying between his toes, having barely broken the skin. + +"I reckon I sha'n't help lug you any farther," said one of the men who +had borne him. + +"Wal, if I had known that it wasn't any worse than that I wouldn't +have had my boot cut off," said the soldier. + +Returning to the Bernard mansion, I saw a commotion among the cavalry, +and learned that their commander was mortally wounded. He had been +struck by a solid shot while sitting by the tree; and they were +bearing him to the hospital. He was a brave and gallant officer. + + +THE ATTACK ON THE RIGHT. + +But while this was transpiring on the left there was a terrible +sacrifice of life at the foot of Maryee's Hill. Soon after noon +French's and Hancock's divisions of the Second Corps, with Sturgis's +division of the Ninth, advanced over the open field in rear of the +town to attack the heights. Officers walked along the lines giving the +last words. "Advance and drive them out with the bayonet!" were the +orders. + +The fifteen thousand in a compact body move to the edge of the +plateau. The hills are aflame. All of Longstreet's guns are +thundering. Shells burst in the ranks. The Rebel skirmishers, +concealed in the houses and behind fences, fire a volley and fall back +to the main line. + +Onward move the divisions. We who behold them from the rear, although +we know that death stands ready to reap an abundant harvest, feel the +blood rushing with quickened flow through our veins, when we see how +gallantly they move forward, firing no shot in return. + +Now a sheet of flame bursts from the sunken road, and another from +half-way up the slope, and yet another from the top of the hill. +Hundreds fall; but still on, nearer to the hill rolls the wave. Still, +still it flows on; but we can see that it is losing its power, and, +though advancing, it will be broken. It begins to break. It is no +longer a wave, but scattered remnants, thrown back like rifts of foam. +A portion of Sturgis's division reaches the hollow in front of the +hill and settles into it. + +The Eleventh New Hampshire, commanded by Colonel Harriman, is in the +front line. They are new troops, and this is their first battle; but +they fight so gallantly that they win the admiration of their general. + +"See!" said Sturgis to an old regiment which quailed before the fire. +"See the Eleventh New Hampshire! a new regiment, standing like posts +driven into the ground." + +Hancock and French, unable to find any shelter, are driven back upon +the town. The attack and repulse have not occupied fifteen minutes. + +It is a sad sight, that field thickly strewn with dying and dead men. +But in battle there is no time for the wringing of hands over +disaster. The bloody work must go on. + +Sturgis is in the hollow, so near the hill that the Rebel batteries on +the crest cannot be depressed sufficiently to drive him out. He is +within close musket-shot of Cobb's brigade, lying behind the +stone-wall at the base of the hill. Sturgis's men lie down, load and +fire deliberately, watching their opportunity to pick off the gunners +on the hill. In vain are all the efforts of Longstreet to dislodge +them. Solid shot, shells, canister, and shrapnel are thrown towards +the hollow, but without avail. A solitary oak-tree near is torn and +broken by the artillery fire, and pitted with musket-balls, and the +ground is furrowed with the deadly missiles; but the men keep their +position through the weary hours. The division is composed of two +brigades,--Nagles's, containing the Sixth and Ninth New Hampshire, +Seventh Rhode Island, Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania, and Second Maryland; +and Ferrero's, containing the Twenty-First and Thirty-Fifth +Massachusetts, Eleventh New Hampshire. Fifty-First Pennsylvania, and +Fifty-First New York. + +A second attempt is made upon the hill. Humphrey's division, composed +of Tyler's and Briggs's brigade of Pennsylvanians, nearly all new +troops, leads the advance, followed closely by Morrell's division of +veterans. The lines move steadily over the field, under cover of the +batteries which have been brought up and planted in the streets. +Sturgis pours a constant stream of fire upon the sunken road. Thus +aided, they reach the base of the hill in front of Maryee's, deliver a +few volleys, and then with thinned ranks retire once more to the +shelter of the ridge. + +The day is waning. Franklin has failed. He telegraphs that it is too +late to make another attack on the left. Not so does Sumner think on +the right. He is a brave old man, fearless in battle, counting human +life of little value if victory can be won by its sacrifice. He walks +to and fro by the Lacey House like a chained lion. Burnside will not +let him cross the river. Time has ploughed deep furrows on his face. +His hair is white as the driven snow. He is grim and gruff; his voice +is deep, and he has rough words for those who falter in duty; but he +has a tender heart. He dotes upon his son, and calls him "Sammy" +familiarly. He cannot bear to have him gone long from his side, but +yet is ready to send him into the thickest of the fight. He cannot see +the day lost without another struggle, and orders a third attack. + +Humphrey, Morrell, Getty, Sykes, and Howard, or portions of their +divisions, are brought up. The troops have been under arms from early +daylight. They have had no food. All day they have been exposed to the +fire of the Rebel batteries, and have lost heavily. Brooks's division +of the Sixth Corps moves up Deep Run to engage in the last attack. All +the batteries on both sides of the river are once more brought into +action. Getty moves up Hazel Run to take the Rebels in flank, who are +protected by the sunken road at the base of the hill. + + +THE LAST ATTACK. + +It is sunset. The troops move out once more upon the open plain, and +cross the field with a cheer. The ground beneath them is already +crimson with the blood of their fallen comrades. They reach the base +of the hill. Longstreet brings down all his reserves. The hillside, +the plain, the crest of the ridge, the groves and thickets, the second +range of hills beyond Maryee's, the hollow, the sunken road, are +bright flashes. Two hundred cannon strike out fierce defiance,--forty +thousand muskets and rifles flame! + +The Rebels are driven from the stone-walls, and the sunken road, and +the rifle-pit midway the hill. The blue wave mounts all but to the top +of the crest. It threatens to overwhelm the Rebel batteries. But we +who watch it behold its power decreasing. Men begin to come down the +hill singly and in squads, and at length in masses. The third and last +attempt has failed. The divisions return, leaving the plain and the +hillside strown with thousands of brave men who have fallen in the +ineffectual struggle. + +There was no fighting on Sunday, the 14th, but General Burnside was +preparing to make another attack. He had eighteen of his old regiments +in the Ninth Corps, who would go wherever he sent them. He thought +that they would carry the heights. + +"I hope," said General Sumner, "that you will desist from an attack. I +do not know of any general officer who approves it, and I think it +will prove disastrous to the army." + +The advice was followed, and it was then decided to withdraw the army. + +The wind on Tuesday night blew a gale from the southwest. Hay and +straw were laid upon the bridges to deaden the sound of the artillery +wheels. It began to rain before morning; and the Rebels, little +dreaming of what was taking place, remained in their quarters. + +Before daylight the whole army had recrossed the river, and the +bridges were taken up. Great were their amazement and wonder when the +Rebels looked down from the heights and saw the Union army once more +on the northern bank, beyond the reach of their guns. + +General Burnside lost about ten thousand men, while the loss of the +Rebels was about five thousand. The defeat was disheartening to the +army. But though repulsed, the soldiers felt that they were not +beaten; they had failed because General Burnside's plans had not been +heartily entered into by some of the officers. But the patriotic flame +burned as brightly as ever, and they had no thought of giving up the +contest. + +[Illustration: Tattoo.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE WINTER AT FALMOUTH. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1862.] + +After the battle of Fredericksburg, both armies prepared for the +winter. Two great cities of log-huts sprang up in the dense forests on +both sides of the Rappahannock, peopled by more than two hundred +thousand men. It was surprising to see how quickly the soldiers made +themselves comfortable in huts chinked with mud and roofed with split +shingles. These rude dwellings had a fireplace at one end, doors hung +on leathern hinges, and bunks one above another, like berths in a +steamboat. + +There the men told stories, played checkers and cards, read the +newspapers, wrote letters to their friends far away, and kept close +watch all the while upon the Rebels. + +But there were dark days and dreary nights. It tried their endurance +and patriotism to stand all night upon picket, with the north-wind +howling around them and the snow whirling into drifts. There were +rainy days, and weeks of mud, when there was no drilling, and when +there was nothing to do. Then chaplains, with books and papers under +their arms, were welcomed everywhere. General Howard thus bore +testimony to the labors of one who was not a chaplain, but an agent of +the American Tract Society from Boston,--Rev. Mr. Alvord:-- + + "There is a great and good man,--great because he is good and + because he is practical,--who has followed the Army of the + Potomac from the beginning. He takes his papers, and goes himself + and circulates them as far as he is able, and, by the agency of + others, gets them into nearly every regiment in the army. And you + should see the soldiers cluster around him! When his wagon drives + up in front of a regiment, the soldiers pour out with life, + circle round him, and beg for books and tracts,--for anything he + has. Some of them want papers to read for themselves, and others + to select pieces out of them to send home. I could hardly believe + it, that there was such eagerness on the part of soldiers for + such reading until I saw it with my own eyes. 'Give me a paper,' + 'Give me a paper,' 'Give me a tract,' 'Give me a book,' is the + impatient cry. Very frequently ladies have sent tracts and books + to my tent, and on the Sabbath-day I have taken them myself to + distribute, and I have scarcely ever had to ask a soldier to + receive one of them. Indeed, if you give to one or two, the + others will feel jealous if neglected."[19] + + [Footnote 19: General Howard's Address at Washington.] + +[Illustration: The magic lantern in the hospital.] + +Said a chaplain:-- + + "I am besieged by those who want something good to read. In my + rounds I am followed at my elbow. 'Please, sir, can you spare me + one?' They hail me from a distance: 'Are you coming down this + way, chaplain?' It is a pleasant thing to pause in these travels + through the parish and look back upon the white waves that rise + in the wake of one's course. Sports are hushed, swearing is + charmed away, all are reading,--Sabbath has come." + +In some regiments, where the officers co-operated with chaplains to +elevate the morals of men, few oaths were heard. + +One day General Howard started out with a handful of leaflets on +swearing, with the intention of giving one to every man whom he heard +using profane language. He went from regiment to regiment and from +brigade to brigade of his division, and returned to his tent without +hearing an oath. + +"I have been all through my division to-day," he said, "visiting the +hospitals, and I haven't heard a single man swear. Isn't it strange?" + +One of the citizens of Falmouth came to General Howard for a guard. + +"You favored secession, I suppose," said the General. + +"I stuck for the Union till Virginia went out of the Union. I had to +go with her." + +"You have a son in the Rebel army." + +"Yes, sir; but he enlisted of his own accord." + +"The soldiers steal your chickens, you say?" + +"Yes, they take everything they can lay their hands upon, and I want a +guard to protect my property." + +"If you and all your neighbors had voted against secession, you would +not need a guard. No, sir, you can't have one. When you have given as +much to your country as I have I will give you one, but not till +then," said the General, pointing to his empty sleeve. He lost his +right arm at Fair Oaks. + +It was a gloomy winter, but the Sanitary and Christian Commissions +gave their powerful aid towards maintaining the health and morals and +spirits of the army. The Christian Commission opened six stations, +from which they dispensed supplies of books and papers and food for +the sick, not regularly furnished by the medical department. Religious +meetings were held nightly, conducted by the soldiers, marked by deep +solemnity. Veterans who had passed through all the trials and +temptations of a soldier's life gave testimony of the peace and joy +they had in believing in Jesus. Others asked what they should do to +obtain the same comfort. Many who had faced death unflinchingly at +Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern, and Antietam, who had been ever +indifferent to the claim of religion, became like little children as +they listened to their comrades singing, + + "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in thee." + +It was not sentimentalism. A soldier who has been through a half-dozen +battles is the last person in the world to indulge in sentiment. He +above all men understands reality. Thus led by the sweet music and the +fervent prayers of their comrades, they rejoiced in the hope that they +had found forgiveness of sins through the blood of the Son of God. + +At Falmouth, an old tobacco-warehouse on the bank of the river, within +hail of the Rebel pickets, was cleared of rubbish, the broken ceiling +and windows covered with canvas, a rude pulpit erected, where on +Sabbath afternoons and every evening meetings were held, a Sabbath +school was organized, also a day school. One of the soldiers +established a school for the instruction of the children of the +village. Often in the calm twilight of the mild winter days the Rebel +picket pacing his beat upon the opposite bank stopped, and leaning +upon his gun, listened to the hymns of devotion wafted on the evening +air. + +[Illustration: The Christian commission in the field.] + +He could have sent a bullet whistling through the building, but +there was a mutual understanding among the pickets not to fire, and so +the meetings were undisturbed. + +In the Forty-Fourth Now York Regiment, known as the Ellsworth +Avengers, were two young soldiers whose hearts were woven together +with Christian zeal. They had no chaplain; but they established a +prayer-meeting, holding it beside a stump, in a retired place. They +obtained permission of the colonel to build a log chapel. They had to +draw the logs a mile, but they had faith and energy, and laid out a +building sixteen by thirty-two feet square. Rev. Mr. Alvord, the agent +of a Tract Society, gives the following account of their labors. + + "The first logs were heavy, and hardly any one to help. Their + plan at first was not very definite. They would lay down a log + and then look and plan by the eye. Another log was wearily drawn + and put on. The crowd came round to quiz and joke. 'Are you to + have it finished before the world ends?' 'Fixing up to leave?' + 'How does your saloon get on?' The more serious, in pity, tried + to discourage. There was 'already an order out to move; what's + the use?' 'Who wants meetings?' But these two Christian boys (S. + and L.) toiled on like Noah, amidst the scoffs of the multitude. + The edifice slowly rose; volunteers lent a hand. The Christian + men of the regiment became interested. (There were forty or fifty + in all, eighteen or twenty of whom at length aided in the work.) + A sufficient height was reached, and first a roof of brush, and + afterwards of patched ponchos, was put on, and meetings + began,--or rather they _began_ when it was only an open pen. In a + few days Burnside's advance came, and the regiment left for the + field. In their absence, plunderers stripped the cabin, and + carried off a portion of its material; but on the return of our + troops the same busy hands and hearts of faith were again at + work. A sutler gave them the old canvas cover of his large tent, + which he was about to cut up to shelter his horses with, and lo, + it _precisely filled_ the roof of the meeting-house,--not an inch + to spare! + + "Well, there it stands, to his glory and the credit of their + perseverance. (It took about one hundred logs to build it.) You + should have seen their eyes shine, as, here in my tent for + tracts, they were one day giving me its history, and you should + have been with us last evening. The little pulpit made of empty + box boards, two chandeliers suspended from the ridge-pole of + cross-sticks, wreathed with ivy, and in the socketed ends four + adamant candles, each burning brilliantly. Festoons of ivy and + 'dead men's fingers' (a species of woodbine called by this name), + looped gracefully along the sides of the room, and in the centre + from chandelier to chandelier,--their deep green, with the fine + brown bark of the pine logs, and white canvas above, striped with + its rafters, sweetly contrasting. Below, a perfect pack of + soldiers, in the 'Avengers'' uniform, squatted low upon the pole + seats, beneath which was a carpet of evergreen sprays,--all + silent, uncovered, respectful; as the service opened, you could + have heard a pin fall. There was nothing here to make a noise. + Pew-doors, psalm-books, rustling silks, or groined arches + reverberating the slightest sound of hand or footfall, there were + none. Only the click of that wooden latch, and a gliding figure, + like a stealthy vidette, squeezing in among the common mass, + indicated the late comer. The song went up from the deep voices + of men,--do you know the effect?--and before our service closed, + tears rolled down from the _faces of men_. To be short, every + evening of the week this house is now filled with some service, + four of which are religious. When they can have no preaching, + these soldiers meet for prayer. + + "I stole in one evening, lately, when they were at these + devotions; prayer after prayer successively was offered, in + earnest, humblest tones, before rising from their knees; the + impenitent looking on solemnly. Officers were present and took + part, and seldom have I seen such manifest tokens that God is + about to appear in power. Opposition there is none. The whole + regiment looks upon the house now as a matter of + pride,--encourage all the meetings. It is attractive to visitors, + and, when not used for religious purposes, is occupied by lyceum + debates, singing clubs, &c., &c. How those two Christian boys do + enjoy it! Said one of them to me, 'We have been paid for all our + labor a thousand times over.'" + +Thus, fighting, marching, singing, praying, teaching the ignorant, +trusting in God, never wavering in their faith of the ultimate triumph +of right, they passed the weary winter. + +[Illustration: Busy fingers.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CHANCELLORSVILLE. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1863.] + +General Burnside having accepted the command of the army with +reluctance, was relieved at his own request, and General Hooker was +appointed his successor. He made a thorough reorganization. The system +of grand divisions was abolished, and the corps organization adopted. +The First Corps was commanded by General Sickles, the Fifth by General +Meade, the Sixth by General Sedgwick, the Eleventh by General Howard, +and the Twelfth by General Slocum. The cavalry was consolidated into a +single corps, under General Stoneman. General Hooker intended to use +the cavalry as it had not been used up to that time. + +The vigor manifested by General Hooker in the reorganization, and the +confidence of the soldiers in him as a commander, gave new hope to the +army. He reduced the number of wagons in the trains, and informed the +officers that they would be allowed only a limited amount of baggage. +He issued orders that the troops should have rations of fresh bread, +cabbages, and onions, in abundance. Merit was commended. Officers and +men who had proved themselves efficient were allowed leave of absence, +before the opening of the spring campaign. Regiments which had shown +incapacity and loose discipline were allowed no favors. Only eleven +regiments in the whole army were highly commended. Some were severely +censured as wanting those qualities which make a good regiment. This +administration of affairs soon produced a perceptible change in the +spirits of the men. + +There were frequent rains, which prevented any movement during the +winter; but General Hooker was not idle. He was obtaining information, +from scouts and spies, of Lee's position and the number of his troops. +He kept his designs so well to himself that even his most trusted +officers were not aware of them. But his plan embraced three features: +a cavalry movement under Stoneman towards Richmond, from the Upper +Rappahannock, to destroy Lee's communications, burning bridges and +supplies; the deploy of a portion of the army down the river to +attract Lee's attention; and, lastly, a sudden march of the main body +up the river, to gain a position near Chancellorsville, southwest of +Fredericksburg, which would compel Lee to come out and fight, or +evacuate the place. If he gained the position, he could stand on the +defensive and wait Lee's movements. He decided that Lee should be the +attacking party. + +Lee had sent two divisions of Longstreet's corps under that officer to +North Carolina, and Hampton's cavalry was recruiting south of the +James River. It was a favorable opportunity to strike a heavy blow. + +On the 27th of April the Eleventh Corps, under Howard, and the +Twelfth, under Slocum, at half past five in the morning started for +Kelley's Ford by the Hartwood Church road. + +The Third, under Sickles, and the Fifth, under Meade, moved at the +same time, by a road nearer the river, in the same direction. The +Second, under Couch, went towards United States Ford, which is only +three miles from Chancellorsville. A dense fog hung over the river, +concealing the movement. The Eleventh, Twelfth, and Fifth Corps +marched fourteen miles during the day, and bivouacked at four o'clock +in the afternoon a mile west of Hartwood Church. To Lee, who looked +across the river from Fredericksburg, there was no change in the +appearance of things on the Stafford hills. The camps of the Yankees +were still there, dotting the landscape, teams were moving to and fro, +soldiers were at drill, and the smoke of camp-fires was curling +through the air. + +During the evening of the 27th the pontoons belonging to the Sixth +Corps were taken from the wagons, carried by the soldiers down to the +river, and put into the water so noiselessly that the Rebel pickets +stationed on the bank near Bernard's house had no suspicion of what +was going on. The boats were manned by Russell's brigade. At a given +signal they were pushed rapidly across the stream, and, before the +Rebel pickets were aware of the movement, they found themselves +prisoners. The First Corps went a mile farther down, to Southfield. +It was daylight before the engineers of this corps could get their +boats into the water. The Rebel sharpshooters who were lying in +rifle-pits along the bank commenced a deadly fire. To silence them, +Colonel Warner placed forty pieces of artillery on the high bank +overlooking the river, under cover of which the boats crossed, and the +soldiers, leaping ashore, charged up the bank and captured one hundred +and fifty Rebels. The engineers in a short time had both bridges +completed. General Wadsworth's division of the First Corps was the +first to cross the lower bridge. General Wadsworth had become +impatient, and, instead of waiting for the completion of the +structure, swam his horse across the stream. General Brooks, of the +Sixth Corps, was the first to cross the bridge at Bernard's. + +It was now five o'clock in the morning. There was great commotion in +Fredericksburg. A courier dashed into town on horseback, shouting, +"The Yankees are crossing down the river."[20] The church-bells were +rung. The people who had returned to the town after the battle of the +13th of December sprang from their beds. They went out and stood upon +Maryee's Hill, looked across the river, and saw the country alive with +troops. + + [Footnote 20: Letter to Richmond _Examiner_.] + +"All through the day," wrote the correspondent of the Richmond +_Examiner_, "the Yankee balloons were in the air at a great height, +and the opposite side of the river, as far as the eye could reach, was +blue with their crowded columns."[21] + + [Footnote 21: Richmond _Examiner_, May 1st 1863.] + +The drummers beat the long-roll. "Fall in! Fall in!" was the cry, and +the whole army was quickly under arms. The movement was a surprise to +General Lee. + +The crossing of the First and Sixth Corps was slow and deliberate. +"They continued to cross," says the same writer, "until two o'clock P. +M.,--infantry, artillery, and wagons. They swarmed irregularly over +the fields and bluffs, of which they had taken possession, seeming not +to have fallen into ranks. About five P. M. a light rain commenced, +when they pitched their tents, and seemed to make themselves at home." + +In order to deceive General Lee, only Wadsworth's and Brooks's +divisions were sent over in the forenoon; but portions of the other +divisions, which had been concealed behind a belt of woods, were put +in motion, and marched along the crest of the ridge, through an open +field, in sight of the Rebels, as though on their way down the river; +but, instead of crossing, were marched up through a gully around the +hill to their starting-point, and were again moved over the same +ground,--a circus-march, calculated to deceive the Rebels into +thinking that the whole army was moving in that direction. A part of +Jackson's corps had been lying at Shinker's Neck, several miles below +Fredericksburg, which Lee ordered to Hamilton's crossing, occupying +the same position that it held in the first battle. + +It was night before the remainder of the Sixth Corps crossed the +stream, while the other two divisions of the First Corps still +remained on the northern bank. Lee could not comprehend this new state +of affairs. The night of the 28th passed, and no advance was made by +the Sixth Corps. The morning of the 29th saw them in the same +position, evidently in no haste to make an attack. + +Meanwhile the main body of the army was making a rapid march up the +river. The Eleventh Corps reached Kelley's Ford, twenty-eight miles +above Falmouth, at half past four in the afternoon. The pontoons +arrived at six o'clock. Four hundred men went over in the boats, and +seized the Rebel rifle-pits, capturing a few prisoners, who were +stationed there to guard the Ford. As soon as the bridge was +completed, the troops began to cross. The Seventeenth Pennsylvania +cavalry preceded the infantry, pushed out on the road leading to +Culpepper, and encountered a detachment of Stuart's cavalry. + +On the morning of the 29th, the Twelfth Corps, followed by the +Eleventh, made a rapid march to Germanna Ford, on the Rapidan, while +the Fifth Corps took the road leading to Ely's Ford. When the Twelfth +Corps arrived at Germanna Ford at three o'clock in the afternoon, the +Rebels were discovered building a bridge. About one hundred of them +were taken prisoners. Instead of waiting for the pontoons to be laid, +the Twelfth forded the stream, which was deep and swift; but the men +held their cartridge-boxes over their heads, and thus kept their +powder dry. + +It was not till the afternoon of the 29th that Lee understood Hooker's +movement. At sunset Stuart reported that a heavy column of Yankees was +crossing the Germanna Ford, that there was another at Ely's, and still +another at United States Ford. Lee saw that the routes, after crossing +the Rapidan, converged near Chancellorsville, from whence several +roads led to the rear of his position at Fredericksburg. + +On the morning of the 30th, Hooker's army was in the following +position: The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps at Germanna Ford, moving +southeast; the Fifth Corps at Ely's Ford, moving south; the Second +Corps, followed by the Third, at United States Ford, marching +southwest; the First Corps passing up the river from its position +below Fredericksburg, making a rapid march to join the Second Corps at +United States Ford; the Sixth Corps, meanwhile, lying inactive on the +plain by Bernard's house. + +The movement was admirably made, each corps coming into position at +the appointed place and time, showing that the plan had been well +matured in the mind of the commander-in-chief. + +Early on the morning of the 30th the Eleventh Corps, followed by the +Twelfth, moved from Germanna Ford down the Stevensburg plank-road to +the Old Wilderness Tavern, which is about a mile and a half west of +Chancellorsville. The latter place, at the time of the battle, +consisted of one brick house. The country around Chancellorsville is +called "the Wilderness." Years ago a considerable portion of the land +was cleared, but the system of cultivation carried on by the +Virginians quickly exhausted the soil, and the fields were left to +grow up again to bushes. A short distance beyond the old tavern is +Dowdal's Tavern, near the junction of the Stevensburg plank-road, and +the Orange turnpike, leading to Gordonsville. Hunting Run has its +head-waters near the Stevensburg plank-road, and flows north to the +Rapidan. There is an old saw-mill on the creek, which was used as a +hospital by the Twelfth Corps during the battle. Near Dowdal's tavern +is an old church, and on the right-hand side of the road, as we go +toward Chancellorsville from Dowdal's, there is a cleared field on +elevated land, which was the centre of Hooker's line at the beginning +of the battle. Several roads diverge from Chancellorsville,--the +Orange and Fredericksburg plank-road and the Gordonsville turnpike, +both leading to Fredericksburg; also roads to United States and Ely's +Fords; also one leading south across Scott's Run. + +At noon of the 30th the Eleventh Corps reached its assigned position, +between the Germanna road and Dowdal's tavern, forming the right flank +of Hooker's line. The Third Corps, which had crossed at Ely's Ford, +came down through the woods across Hunting Run, and formed on the left +of the Eleventh, by the tavern. The Twelfth Corps filed past the +Eleventh, along the Stevensburg road, and the Third Corps passed +Chancellorsville, and moved almost to Tabernacle Church, on the Orange +and Fredericksburg plank-road. The Second Corps, having crossed at +United States Ford, came into position a mile or more in rear of the +Eleventh and Third, while the Fifth moved up and formed a line facing +southeast, reaching from Chancellorsville to Scott's Dam on the +Rappahannock, a mile and a half north of Chancellorsville. + +Stuart, commanding the Rebel cavalry, had skirmished with the Eleventh +Corps on its march, but when the Third, which crossed at Ely's, +reached Chancellorsville, Stuart found that he was cut off from direct +communication with Lee, and was obliged to move to Todd's Tavern and +Spottsylvania Court-House, to put himself in connection with the +infantry of the Rebel army. Lee was still undecided what to do, but +finally determined to leave Early's division of Jackson's corps, and +Barksdale's brigade of McLaw's division, and a part of the reserve +artillery under Pendleton, to hold Fredericksburg, and move with the +rest of the army to Chancellorsville and fight Hooker. He had already +sent Anderson's division to watch the movement. Slocum's skirmishers +met Anderson's at Chancellorsville and drove them back to Tabernacle +Church. Anderson, finding that Slocum was advancing, formed across the +roads, and was in this position at dark on the night of the 30th. + +On the morning of the 1st of May the whole Rebel army, except what was +left to watch Sedgwick, was put in motion, with the intention of +making a direct attack. Anderson advanced upon Slocum, who fell back +under instructions to Chancellorsville, and filled the gap between +the Third and Fifth. Lee followed, intending to give battle, but he +found Hooker in a position of such strength that he hesitated. Lee +says:-- + + "The enemy had assumed a position of great natural strength, + surrounded on all sides by a dense forest, filled with tangled + undergrowth, in the midst of which breastworks of logs had been + constructed, with trees felled in front so as to form an + impenetrable abatis. His artillery swept the few narrow roads by + which his position could be approached from the front, and + commanded the adjacent woods. The left of his line extended from + Chancellorsville towards the Rappahannock, covering the Bark-Mill + Ford, where he communicated with the north bank of the river by a + pontoon bridge. His right stretched westward along the Germanna + road more than two miles. + + "Darkness was approaching before the extent and strength of his + lines could be ascertained, and, as the nature of the country + rendered it hazardous to attack by night, our troops were halted, + and formed in line of battle in front of Chancellorsville, at + right angles to the plank-road.... It was evident that a direct + attack upon the enemy would be attended with great difficulty and + loss, in view of the strength of his position and his superiority + in numbers. It was therefore resolved to endeavor to turn his + right flank, and gain his rear, leaving a force in front to hold + him in check, and conceal the movement. The execution of this + plan was intrusted to Lieutenant-General Jackson, with his three + divisions." + +This movement of Lee's was very bold and hazardous. It divided his +army into three parts,--one part watching the Sixth Corps at +Fredericksburg, another between Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, +and the force under Jackson, accompanied by Stuart's cavalry, moving +to get in the rear of Hooker. Jackson was obliged to make a long +circuit by Todd's Tavern and the Furnace Road, moving first southwest +toward Spottsylvania, then west toward Orange Court-House, then north +toward the Rapidan, then east toward the old saw-mill on Hunting Run. +Rodes's division reached the Old Wilderness Tavern about four o'clock +in the afternoon. As the different divisions arrived they were formed +across the Stevensburg plank-road, Rodes in front, Trimble's division +under General Colston in the second, and A. P. Hill in the third line. + +[Sidenote: May, 1863.] + +General Hooker, having decided to fight a defensive battle, ordered +the construction of rifle-pits, and while Jackson was making this +detour the position was strongly fortified against an attack from the +direction of Fredericksburg. Early in the day it was reported that Lee +was retreating rapidly toward Culpepper Court-House. From the cleared +field occupied by Sickles the Rebel column could be seen moving +southwest,--artillery, baggage-train, and infantry. It was generally +believed in Hooker's army that Lee, finding the position too +impregnable, was retiring. Sickles and Howard thought differently. + +"Lee has divided his army, and now is the time to strike," said +General Sickles to Hooker. + +General Hooker hesitated. His plan was to stand wholly on the +defensive. Still the column filed by. + +"The enemy is on my flank," was the message from Howard. "We can hear +the sound of their axes in the woods."[22] + + [Footnote 22: Howard's Report.] + +"Now is the time to double up Lee," said Sickles, again urging an +attack.[23] + + [Footnote 23: General Sickles's statement.] + +"You may go out and feel the enemy, but don't go too fast, nor too +far," said Hooker, at last yielding. + +It is nearly two miles southwest from Chancellorsville to Wellford's +iron furnace, which is situated on the Ny River, the north branch of +the Mattapony. The road which passes the furnace, and along which +Jackson was hastening, is a byroad from the plank-road east of +Chancellorsville, to the Brock Road, which runs from Todd's Tavern +northwest to the Old Wilderness Tavern. Archer's and Thomas's brigades +of A. P. Hill's division were at the furnace when Sickles received +permission to move out. They were the rear brigades of Jackson's +column. Sickles lost no time in putting his divisions in motion. +Berdan's sharpshooters were thrown out in advance as skirmishers, and +the infantry with artillery followed; but the artillery was compelled +to halt till a bridge could be constructed across a small creek. It +was about four o'clock when the head of the column reached the road +over which Jackson had marched. Archer was nearly a mile west of the +furnace when the sharpshooters reached the road, where they suddenly +fell upon the Twenty-Third Georgia. This regiment had been detached +from Colquitt's brigade of D. H. Hill's division, and was posted on +the north side of the road, as a flanking party, to cover the march of +the troops. + +There was a sudden commotion in Archer's and Thomas's brigades. +Brown's battery was wheeled into position, and, with the Twenty-Third +Georgia and Fourteenth Tennessee, opened fire upon Sickles. The +teamsters of the Rebel baggage-trains fled into the woods. + +A courier dashed up the road to inform Archer what had happened, but +before the news reached him the Twenty-Third Georgia was in the hands +of Sickles. Archer faced about, and formed his lines. + +Anderson all the while was skirmishing with Slocum, to attract +Hooker's attention, while Jackson was getting into position, but he +was now obliged to send Wright, Posey, and Mahan to the assistance of +Archer and Thomas. They attacked Sickles's left flank, while Archer +and Thomas attacked his right. The contest waxed warm. + +"Don't go too fast," was Hooker's injunction again to Sickles. + +"I want a brigade to fill the gap between myself and Howard," was +Sickles's reply, and Barlow's brigade was sent. It was the best of the +Eleventh Corps. Howard had placed it in reserve just where he could +use it to advantage, on either flank, in front, or centre. + +The Eleventh Corps was formed in the following order: General Devens's +division on the right, between the Stevensburg road and the old +saw-mill, facing northwest; General Schurz's division south of the +plank-road, facing southwest; General Schimmelfennig's brigade of +Steinwehr's division also south of the road, reaching to Dowdal's +Tavern; Barlow's brigade north of the road, in rear of the centre. + +There was no want of precaution on the part of General Howard. General +Hooker rode along the line with Howard on Saturday forenoon. Howard +says:-- + + "At one point a regiment was not deployed and at another a gap in + the woods was not filled. The corrections were made and the + position strengthened. The front was covered by a good line of + skirmishers. I should have stated that just at evening of the 1st + the enemy made a reconnoissance on our front with a small force + of artillery and infantry. General Schimmelfennig moved out with a + battalion and drove him back. During Saturday, the 2d, the same + general made frequent reconnoissances. Infantry scouts and + cavalry patrols were constantly pushed out on every road. The + unvarying report was, 'The enemy is crossing the plank-road and + moving towards Culpepper.' At 4 P. M. I was directed to send a + brigade to the support of General Sickles. I immediately took + Barlow's brigade by a short route to General Sickles's right, + some two and a half miles from the plank-road to the front."[24] + + [Footnote 24: Howard's Report.] + +[Illustration: Chancellorsville. + + UNION POSITIONS. + + 1. Devens's Division. + 2. Schurz's " + 3. Steinwehr's Division. + 4. Barlow's Brigade before moving + to reinforce Sickles. + 5. Sickles's (3) Corps. + 6. Slocum's (12) " + 7. Meade's (5) " + 8. Couch's (2) " + 9. Cavalry. + + + REBEL POSITIONS. + + A. Stonewall Jackson's Corps. + Front line Rodes's Division. + Middle line Colston's Division. + Third line A. P. Hill's " + B. Archer's and Wright's Brigades. + C. Anderson's Division. + D. McLaw's " + T. Tavern.] + +It was six o'clock. There was a gap from Dowdal's Tavern almost to +Chancellorsville, from which Sickles had moved. Slocum had advanced +beyond Chancellorsville southeast. The sending out of Sickles and +Barlow, the advance of Slocum, and the position of the Second Corps, +so far away to the rear, left Howard without any supports. + +Jackson came through the woods upon Howard's skirmishers, who fired +and fell back. The firing attracted the attention of the men along the +lines, who were cooking their suppers. Occasional shots had been fired +during the afternoon, and there was no alarm till the skirmishers came +out of the woods upon the run, followed by the Rebels. The men seized +their arms; but, before Devens could get his regiments into position, +the Rebels were approaching his right flank, firing quick volleys and +yelling like savages. Some of Devens's command fled, throwing away +their guns and equipments. Others fought bravely. Devens, while +endeavoring to rally his men, was wounded; several of his officers +fell; yet he held his ground till the Rebels gained his rear and began +firing into the backs of the men who stood behind the breastwork. Then +the line gave way, abandoning five guns. + +Howard was at his head-quarters, by Dowdal's. Schurz also was there +when the attack commenced. He says:-- + + "I sent my chief of staff to the front when firing was heard. + General Schurz, who was with me, left at once to take command of + his line. It was not three minutes before I followed. When I + reached General Schurz's command, I saw that the enemy had + enveloped my right, and that the first division [Devens's] was + giving way. I first tried to change front with the deployed + regiments. I next directed the artillery where to go; then formed + a line, by deploying some of the reserve regiments, near the + church. By this time the whole front, on the north of the + plank-road, had given way. Colonel Burshbeck's brigade was faced + about, and, lying on the other side of the rifle-pit embankment, + held on with praiseworthy firmness. A part of General + Schimmelfennig's and a part of Colonel Krzyzanouski's brigades + moved gradually back to the north of the plank-road, and kept up + their fire. At the centre, and near the plank-road, there was a + blind panic and great confusion. By the assistance of my staff + and some other officers, one of whom was Colonel Dickinson, of + General Hooker's staff, the rout was considerably checked, and + all the artillery except eight pieces withdrawn. Some of the + artillery was well served, and told effectively on the advancing + enemy. Captain Dilger kept up a continuous fire, till we reached + General Birney's position."[25] + + [Footnote 25: Howard's Report.] + +The Rebel troops which first made their appearance, and which +enveloped Howard's right, were commanded by General Doles, who says:-- + + "At five o'clock P. M. the order was given to advance against the + enemy. The brigade moved as rapidly as possible through a very + thick wood, and skirmishers were immediately engaged by those of + the enemy. Our forces marching rapidly forward assisted in + driving in the enemy's sharpshooters, when we were subjected to a + heavy musket fire, and grape, canister, and shell. The command + was ordered to attack the enemy in his intrenched position, drive + him from it, and take his batteries. The order was promptly + obeyed; the Fourth and Forty-Fourth Georgia assaulted his + position in front; the Twenty-First Georgia was ordered to flank + him so as to enfilade his intrenchments; the Twelfth Georgia was + ordered forward, and to the right, to attack a force of the enemy + on the right. After a resistance of about ten minutes we drove + him from his position on the left, and carried his battery of two + guns, caissons, and horses. The movement of the Twelfth Georgia + on the right was successful. The order to forward was given, when + the command moved forward at the 'double-quick' to assault the + enemy who had taken up a strong position on the crest of a hill + in the open field. He was soon driven from this position, the + command pursuing him. He made _a stubborn resistance from behind + a wattling fence_, on a hill thickly covered with pine. The whole + command moved gallantly against this position, the Fourth and + Forty-Fourth Georgia in front, and the Twenty-First and Twelfth + on his left flank and rear. Here we captured one gun,--a rifled + piece. We pursued his retreating forces about three hundred yards + over an open field, receiving a severe fire from musketry and a + battery of four pieces on the crest of the hill that commanded + the field below; his infantry was in large force, and well + protected by rifle-pits and intrenchments. The command was + ordered to take the intrenchments and the battery, _which was + done after a resistance of about twenty minutes_. The enemy fled + in utter confusion, leaving his battery of four pieces, his + wounded, and many prisoners. The Twelfth Georgia and the larger + portion of the other regiments was formed in good order, and + pursued him through the pine forest, moving some five hundred + yards to the front, and holding that position until after dark. + Fresh troops having been placed in that position after dark, I + ordered the command to retire for the purpose of replenishing + ammunitions, the men being entirely out. During this engagement, + which lasted from about 5-1/2 to 9 P. M., the command captured + eight pieces of artillery and many prisoners."[26] + + [Footnote 26: General Doles's Report, p. 63.] + +It is manifest, that while a portion of the Eleventh Corps became +panic-stricken, a large number of Howard's troops fought with great +bravery. The corps numbered about thirteen thousand five hundred on +the morning of May 1st. + +The force under Howard at the time of the attack did not exceed eleven +thousand, mainly raw German troops. Howard's total loss in killed, +wounded, and prisoners was two thousand five hundred and twenty-eight. +Twenty-five officers and one hundred and fifty-three men were killed, +seventy-eight officers and eight hundred and forty-two wounded,--a +total loss of one thousand and ninety-eight killed and wounded, which +shows the severity of this brief conflict. + +The Eleventh Corps has been severely censured for pusillanimous +conduct in this battle; but when all of the facts are taken into +consideration,--that Howard had no supports to call upon; that the +Third Corps was two miles and a half from its position in the line; +that Barlow's brigade had been sent away; that the attack was a +surprise; that Jackson's force exceeded thirty thousand; that, +notwithstanding these disadvantages, a "stubborn resistance" was +offered,--praise instead of censure is due to those of the Eleventh +who thus held their ground, till one fourth of their number were +killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. + +Almost at the beginning of the attack Devens was wounded. In the +confusion and panic, there was no one to take his place till Howard +arrived. Hooker was at once in his saddle. + +"The enemy have attacked Howard and driven him in," was his word to +Sickles. + +"That can't be," said Sickles, incredulous. + +"Return at once," was the order from Hooker, by a second messenger. + +The heavy firing, constantly growing nearer, gave force to the +instruction. + +It was now quite dark. Sickles set out to return with all possible +haste, but soon found that he had got to fight his way back. Jackson's +left wing had swept round, till it rested upon the road, over which he +had marched on his way out to the Furnace. Berry's division came first +upon the enemy. A severe contest ensued, lasting till nine o'clock, +when he succeeded in re-establishing his connection with Howard, who +had thus far fought the battle almost alone. Lee, with Anderson's +command, all the while was making a demonstration against the Twelfth +and Fifth Corps east of Chancellorsville, and the Second was too far +in rear to be of any service to Howard before the return of Sickles +and Barlow. + +Jackson gained no advantage after his first attack, but on the other +hand came near experiencing a panic in his own lines. General Colston +says:-- + + "We continued to drive the enemy until darkness prevented our + farther advance. The firing now ceased, owing to the difficult + and tangled nature of the ground over which the troops had + advanced, and the mingling of my first and second lines of + battle. The formation of the troops became very much confused, + and different regiments, brigades, and divisions were mixed up + together.... The troops were hardly reformed and placed in + position when the enemy opened, about ten o'clock, a furious fire + of shot, shell, and canister, sweeping down the plank-road and + the woods on each side. A number of artillery horses, some of + them without drivers, and a great many infantry soldiers, + belonging to other commands, rushed down the road in wild + disorder; but, although many casualties occurred at this time in + my division, the troops occupied their position with the utmost + steadiness. It was at this time that General Nichols, of the + Louisiana Brigade (Fourth), a gallant and accomplished officer, + had his leg torn off by a shell, and was carried off the field. + It was also about the same time that our great, and good and + ever to be lamented corps commander fell under the fire of some + of the men of General Lane's brigade."[27] + + [Footnote 27: Colston's Report, p. 43.] + +Under cover of the fire of the artillery, Berry's division of the +Third Corps attacked Jackson. The Rebel commander had just placed A. +P. Hill's division in the front line, and was contemplating an attack +upon Sickles, when Berry advanced. His biographer says:-- + + "Such was his ardor at this critical moment, and his anxiety to + penetrate the movements of the enemy, doubly screened as they + were by the dense forest and gathering darkness, that he rode + ahead of the skirmishers, and exposed himself to a close and + dangerous fire from the enemy's sharpshooters, posted in the + timber. So great was the danger which he ran, that one of his + staff said, 'General, don't you think this is the wrong place for + you?' He replied, quickly, 'The danger is all over; the enemy is + routed. Go back and tell A. P. Hill to press right on!' Soon + after giving this order, General Jackson turned, and, accompanied + by his staff and escort, rode back at a trot on his well-known + 'Old Sorrel' toward his own men. Unhappily, in the darkness,--it + was now nine or ten o'clock at night,--the little body of + horsemen was mistaken for Federal cavalry charging, and the + regiments on the right and left of the road fired a sudden volley + into them with the most lamentable results. Captain Boswell, of + Jackson's staff, was killed, and borne into our lines by his + horse. Colonel Crutchfield, chief of artillery, was wounded, and + two couriers killed. General Jackson received one ball in his + left arm, two inches below the shoulder-joint, shattering the + bone and severing the chief artery; a second passed through the + same arm, between the elbow and wrist, making its exit through + the palm of the hand; a third entered the palm of his right hand, + about the middle, and, passing through, broke two of the bones. + + "He fell from his horse, and was caught by Captain Wormly, to + whom he said, 'All my wounds are by my own men.' + + "The firing was responded to by the enemy, who made a sudden + advance, _and, the Confederates falling back, their foes actually + charged over Jackson's body_. He was not discovered, however, and + the Federals being driven in turn, he was rescued. Ready hands + placed him upon a litter, and he was borne to the rear under a + heavy fire from the enemy. One of the litter-bearers was shot + down; the General fell from the shoulders of the men, receiving a + severe contusion, adding to the injury of the arm and injuring + the side severely. The enemy's fire of artillery at this point + was terrible. General Jackson was left for five minutes until the + fire slackened, then placed in an ambulance and carried to the + field hospital at Wilderness Run."[28] + + [Footnote 28: Life of Stonewall Jackson, by Daniels, of + Richmond, p. 254.] + +Thus fell a commander endowed with qualities calculated to stir the +warmest enthusiasm of the people of the South. He was brave, daring, +energetic, impulsive,--the most competent of all the Rebel generals to +lead a charge,--but not esteemed so able as Lee to conduct a campaign. +He was deeply religious, but espoused Treason with all his heart. He +was educated at the expense of the United States, and had sworn to +bear faithful allegiance to his country; yet he joined the Rebels at +the outset, and did what he could to inaugurate and carry to a +successful issue a civil war for the overthrow of the national +government and the establishing of another with slavery for its +corner-stone! He prayed and fought for a system of servitude which was +the sum of all villanies, and which has received the condemnation of +every civilized nation of modern times. + +Not according to the measure of his military prowess, nor by his +sincerity of heart or religious convictions and exercises, will +History judge him, but, connecting the man with the cause which he +espoused, will hold him accountable for blood shed in a war waged to +sustain human slavery, under the specious doctrine of the Rights of +States. + + * * * * * + +When the assault was made on Howard, the first move on the part of +Hooker was to arrange for a new line. + +Captain Best, commanding the artillery of the Twelfth Corps, brought +thirty-six guns into position between Chancellorsville and Dowdal's, +sweeping the fields to the south and southwest, the Orangeburg +plank-road, and the breastworks which Buschbeck had abandoned, and +behind which the Rebels were forming for a second attack. Under cover +of this fire, Birney and Whipple came back from Scott's Creek; +Williams's division, which had been pushed out southeast of +Chancellorsville, on the road to Fredericksburg, was drawn in. + +[Illustration: Battery at Chancellorsville.] + +When the Twelfth Corps got back to its place in the line, most of +Howard's works were in possession of the enemy. Williams now crossed +his own intrenchments, and formed in the field, facing westward. + +"Stand steady, old Third Brigade. Stand steady, old Second +Massachusetts," was the address of the Brigadier. + +So stood the line, while Best poured in his tremendous artillery fire, +and while Berry pushed the Rebels back into the woods. + +Jackson and A. P. Hill having been wounded, the command devolved on +General Stuart, who arrived at midnight and made a reconnoissance of +the lines. + +East of Chancellorsville Slocum and Meade were having a severe fight +with the Rebels under Lee, who says in his report:-- + + "As soon as the sound of cannon gave notice of Jackson's attack + on the enemy's right, our troops in front of Chancellorsville + were ordered to press him strongly on the left, to prevent + reinforcements being sent to the point assailed. They were + directed not to attack in force, unless a favorable opportunity + should present itself, and while continuing to cover the roads + leading from their respective positions, toward Chancellorsville, + to incline to the left so as to connect with Jackson's right as + he closed in upon the centre. These orders were well executed, + our troops advancing up to the enemy's intrenchments, while + several batteries played with good effect upon his lines, until + prevented by increasing darkness."[29] + + [Footnote 29: Lee's Report.] + +Anderson's division advanced rapidly up the Fredericksburg road, +charging upon Kane's brigade of Geary's division, composed of new +troops, which, after a short resistance, retreated in confusion. An +aid from Slocum came down to Hooker for reinforcements. "No," said +Hooker, "he must hold his own. Let Geary's division, however, be +thrown to the right of the road, that the artillery may be able to +sweep the enemy on the left." This was done, and the heavy fire that +was given by Knapp's and other batteries checked Anderson's advance. A +constant demonstration was kept up by Anderson to deceive Hooker as to +Lee's intentions. Thus the night passed. + + +THE BATTLE OF SUNDAY. + +Both armies were busy through the night, preparing for the great +struggle,--Lee to attack and Hooker to defend. The wounded were sent +to the rear, also the baggage trains, and the cavalry, and everything +which could impede operations. Hooker's line was in the form of the +letter V. The Second Corps, which had followed Berry up the night +before, occupied the right of the line, reaching nearly down to the +river, joining the left flank upon Berry's division of the Third +Corps, which extended to the plank-road, west of Chancellorsville. +Whipple's and Birney's divisions of the Third, and Geary's division of +the Twelfth, formed the point of the letter V, which enclosed +Chancellorsville. The other divisions of the Twelfth Corps and the +Fifth Corps forming the other side of the letter, extended from +Chancellorsville to the Rappahannock. The Eleventh Corps was placed in +position to support the Fifth on the extreme left of the line. During +the day the First Corps under Reynolds came up the river, crossed at +United States Ford, and wheeled into position on the right of the +Second Corps, thus forming the extreme right of the line. The troops +had been busy through the night erecting breastworks, while a large +number of guns were placed in position to sweep all the roads. Stuart +renewed the fight at daylight, with Hill in the front line, Colston in +the second, and Rodes in the third. He advanced with the intention of +breaking the line near Chancellorsville. His troops were exasperated +by the loss of their leader, and were animated by revenge. They came +through the woods almost in solid mass. Colston's and Rodes's men, +pressing eagerly forward, and closing up the spaces between the lines. +They received, without flinching, the terrible fire which flamed from +Berry's and Birney's and Whipple's lines. They charged upon Sickles's +outer works, and carried them. + +They advanced upon the second line, but were cut up by Best's +artillery. Companies and regiments melted away. Berry and Birney +advance to meet them. The living waves rolled against each other like +the billows of a stormy sea. The Rebels, as if maddened by the +obstinacy of those who held the position, rushed up to the muzzles of +the cannon. Sickles sent for reinforcements. Hooker ordered French and +Hancock of the Second Corps to advance and attack Stuart in flank. + +It was seven o'clock in the morning. The battle had been raging since +daylight. The two divisions of the Second Corps swung out from the +main line, faced southwest, and moved upon Stuart. + +South of Chancellorsville there is an elevation higher than that +occupied by Best's artillery. When the fog which had hung over the +battle-field all the morning lifted, Stuart sent his artillery to +occupy the position. Thirty pieces were planted there, which enfiladed +both of Hooker's lines. A heavy artillery duel was kept up, but, +notwithstanding the severity of the fire, the Union troops held the +position. Stuart, instead of breaking through Sickles, found the +Second Corps turning his own left flank. He says:-- + + "The enemy was pressing our left with infantry, and all the + reinforcements I could obtain were sent there. Colquitt's brigade + of Trimble's division, ordered first to the right, was directed + to the left to support Pender. Iverson's brigade of the second + line was also engaged there, and the three lines were more or + less merged into one line of battle, and reported hard pressed. + Urgent requests were sent for reinforcements, and notices that + the troops were out of ammunition. I ordered that the ground must + be held at all hazards, if necessary with the bayonet."[30] + + [Footnote 30: Stuart's Report.] + +All of the efforts of Stuart to break the line by a direct infantry +attack failed. But his batteries massed on the hill were doing great +damage. The shells swept down Birney's and Whipple's and Berry's ranks +on the one hand, and Geary's and Williams's on the other. Hooker saw +that the position could not be held without great loss of life. +Preparations were accordingly made to fall back to a stronger +position, where his army would be more concentrated, the lines shorter +and thicker, in the form of a semicircle. Meanwhile Lee swung Anderson +round and joined Stuart, making a simultaneous advance of both wings +of his army, under cover of a heavy fire from all his available +artillery,--pouring a storm of shells upon Chancellorsville, firing +the buildings. Hooker had begun to retire before Lee advanced, +withdrawing his artillery, removing his wounded, losing no prisoners. + +Every attack of Anderson upon Slocum had been repulsed with great +loss. A South Carolina regiment came against the Second Massachusetts. +Three times the men from the Palmetto state charged upon the men of +Massachusetts. Three times the flag from the Old Bay State changed +hands. But, before the Rebels could carry it from the field, it was +rescued, and at the close of the fight was still in the hands of the +regiment. When Slocum's troops had exhausted their ammunition they +emptied the cartridge-boxes of the fallen. When that was gone they +held the ground by the bayonet till ordered to retire.[31] + + [Footnote 31: "From the Potomac to the Rapidan," by Quint.] + +General Lee says:-- + + "By ten A. M. we were in full possession of the field. The + troops, having become somewhat scattered, by the difficulties of + the ground, and the ardor of the contest, were immediately + reformed, preparatory to renewing the attack. The enemy had + retired to a strong position near the Rappahannock, which he had + previously fortified. His superiority of numbers, the unfavorable + nature of the ground, which was densely wooded, and the condition + of our troops, after the arduous and sanguinary conflict in which + they had been engaged, rendered great caution necessary. Our + preparations were just completed, when further operations were + suspended by intelligence received from Fredericksburg."[32] + + [Footnote 32: Lee's Report.] + +The new line taken by Hooker was one of great strength. No assault, +with the intention of carrying it, was made by Lee. News of disaster +from Fredericksburg, where Sedgwick was driving all before him, made +it necessary for him to send reinforcements in that direction. + + +SECOND BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. + +An important part of General Hooker's plan was Sedgwick's movement on +Fredericksburg, but the battle fought there on Sunday, the 3d of May, +was wholly distinct from Chancellorsville. Early on the morning of the +2d, Professor Lowe went up in his balloon from the Falmouth hills, and +looked down upon the city. + +He reported the Rebels moving towards Chancellorsville. Looking +closely into the intrenchments behind Fredericksburg he discovered +that the Rebels intended to hold them. The Washington Artillery was +behind the breastworks by Maryee's house. + +"Ten thousand of the enemy, I should judge, still there," was his +report to General Butterfield, Hooker's chief of staff, who remained +with Sedgwick. + +During the day Reynolds withdrew and moved up the Falmouth side to +United States Ford. The Rebels saw the movement, and thought that the +Yankees did not dare to make a second attempt to drive them from their +intrenchments. + +"Now is the time for Sedgwick to attack them," was Hooker's despatch +from Chancellorsville, Saturday afternoon, to General Butterfield. + +As soon as night came on, Sedgwick began his preparations. The +engineers were directed to take up the lower pontoons and lay a new +bridge opposite the Lacy House, at the point where the Seventh +Michigan and Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts won for themselves +great honor on the 11th of December. + +"Kindle no fires; let there be no loud talking," were Sedgwick's +orders to his troops on the plain by Bernard's house, below Deep Run. +The men ate their suppers of hard-tack and cold meat in silence, threw +themselves upon the ground, and slept soundly in the calm moonlight. +At midnight an aide rode along the lines, saying to each officer, "Get +your men in readiness at once." The men sprang to their feet, folded +their blankets, and were ready. + +It was half past twelve Sunday morning before the forward movement +began. The United States Chasseurs were in advance as skirmishers, +deployed on both sides of the Bowling Green road. Shaler's brigade +followed, then Wheaton's and Brown's brigades. They crossed Deep Run, +where the skirmishers had a few shots with the Rebel pickets, and +moved into the town. + +The engineers soon had the bridge completed, and Gibbon's division of +the Second Corps, which had been waiting by the Lacy House, crossed +the stream. + +Early stationed Barksdale, with seven companies of the Twenty-First +Mississippi, between Maryee's house and the plank-road, with the +Seventeenth and Thirteenth Mississippi on the hills by the Howison +house, and the Eighteenth and the remainder of the Twenty-First behind +the stone-wall at the base of the hill. Hayes's brigade, consisting of +the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Louisianians, was on the +hill near the monument, with Wilcox's brigade in its rear, guarding +Banks's Ford. Early himself was by Hazel Run, with Gordon's, Hoke's, +and Smith's brigades. + +Sedgwick's divisions were formed in the following order: Gibbon above +the town in front of the monument, Newton in front of Maryee's Hill, +Howe at the lower end of the town, and Brooks on the plain below. + +The morning dawned. The fog prevented the Rebels from seeing the +movements of Sedgwick, though Barksdale's pickets reported the town +full of Yankees. From Chancellorsville came the roar of battle, the +constant thunder of the cannonade. It was half past five when Shaler's +brigade of Newton's division moved over the field where so many +thousands fell on the 13th of December. It was a reconnoissance to +ascertain the position and number of the force holding the place. The +men marched on gallantly, but were forced to retire before the +Mississippians and the artillery on the hill. + +Sedgwick brought Hearn's, Martin's, Adams's, and Hazard's batteries, +and Battery D of the Second United States regiment of artillery, into +position in the town and above it, while Hexamer's, the First +Maryland, and McCartney's First Massachusetts occupied the ground +below Hazel Run. McCartney was on the same spot which he occupied in +the first battle. + +It was a day of peace everywhere except at Fredericksburg and +Chancellorsville. The air was laden with the fragrance of flowers +blooming in the gardens of the town. Thousands of spectators stood +upon the Falmouth hills watching the contest. All the batteries were +at work,--the heavy guns at Falmouth, at the Lacy House, and farther +down, throwing shells and solid shot over the town into the Rebel +lines. + +Gibbon, instead of advancing directly up the hill towards the +monument, where Hayes was lying behind the intrenchments, moved up the +river road, intending to turn Hayes's right flank. Hayes moved his +men farther up, and sent a courier to Wilcox with the message, "The +Yankees are coming up the river road."[33] + + [Footnote 33: Wilcox's Report, p. 98.] + +[Illustration: Sedgwick's attack. + + UNION POSITIONS. REBEL POSITIONS. + + 1. Gibbon's Division. A. Hayes's Brigade. + 2. Newton's " B. Barksdale's Brigade. + 3. Howe's " C. Early's Division. + 4. Brooks's " Gordon's, Hoke's, and Smith's Brigades. + D. Wilcox's Brigade.] + +Wilcox left fifty men to guard the ford, and went upon the run towards +the town. It was an anxious moment to the Rebels. Barksdale and Hayes +and Wilcox all met at Stanisberry's house, and consulted as to what +should be done. Early their commander, was down on the Telegraph road, +looking after matters in that direction. + +"The Yankees are in full force below the town," said Barksdale.[34] +That was the first information Wilcox had received of the startling +fact. They had been outgeneralled. They supposed that the movement +below the town was a feint. They had seen Reynolds withdraw and march +up stream towards Chancellorsville, but had not seen Gibbon cross the +stream. Yet he was there, moving to the attack. + + [Footnote 34: Wilcox's Report.] + +"Put your batteries into position and play upon them," said +Barksdale.[35] Huger's battery galloped up, chose a fine position on +the hill near Dr. Taylor's house, and began to fire upon the +Massachusetts Twentieth, which was in the road, compelling it to seek +shelter under the hill. So effectual was the fire that Gibbon's +advance was checked. + + [Footnote 35: Barksdale's Report.] + +Brooks and Howe moved against the Rebels below the town, but found +them strongly posted. + +Twice Newton advanced upon Maryee's Hill, and was driven back. The +forenoon was waning. But though baffled, Sedgwick was not disposed to +give up the attempt. He watched the contest closely, reconnoitring all +the positions of the Rebels, and determined to make an attack with his +whole force at once. + +But while Sedgwick was making preparations, Early endeavored to drive +Brooks and Howe into the river. He advanced from the position occupied +by Pender and Hood in the first battle, emerged from the woods and +crossed the open field. + +It is about ten o'clock. McCartney's battery, the First Massachusetts, +is on a hillock, where it has full sweep of all the plain, right and +left, and in front. There are five batteries of the Rebel reserve +artillery, under Pendleton, in front, which have tried in vain to +drive McCartney from the spot. A solid shot kills two horses and a +man; McCartney is struck by a fragment of shell; yet the battery +maintains its position north of the Bowling Green road, in Bernard's +field. A regiment which never before has been under fire is lying in +front of the battery, sheltered by the hedges along the +road,--soldiers that have enlisted for nine months. They are wanting +in pluck, and as the Rebels advance, run straight up the hill towards +the battery. + +"Get out of the way, or I'll fire through you," shouts Lieutenant +Green, who impatiently holds his artillerists in check till the +fugitives are past him. + +He cuts at them right and left with his sword, indignant at their +cowardly conduct, anxious to have the coast clear, that he may pour a +torrent of canister into the advancing foe, now close at hand. + +The whole battery--six pieces--opens by a volley, sending streams of +canister down the slope! But the Rebels are in earnest. Still they +advance. + +"Give them double-shotted canister," shouts Green to his gunners, and +they ram home the charges with a will. The guns leap from the ground +with the recoil! + +Nearer,--across the road,--up the hill,--they come. + +"Give it to them! Give it to them! Quick!" are the energetic shouts of +Green, and the canister tears through the ranks. No troops can face +such a destructive fire. The Rebels flee down the hill, across the +road, over the field, to the shelter of the woods. + +"The repulse of the enemy on the extreme left was effected almost +entirely by McCartney's battery," said General Brooks.[36] + + [Footnote 36: Brooks's Report.] + +General Sedgwick determined to carry Maryee's Hill at the point of the +bayonet. Some of the officers thought it an impossibility. It had been +tried three times in the first battle and twice during that morning, +and all attempts had failed. But Sedgwick converged his forces upon +one point. He formed his columns in three lines, with the intention of +moving his whole force at once,--thus preventing Early from sending +any reinforcements from other parts of the lines. + +The troops selected for the attack upon Maryee's Hill were the +Sixty-First Pennsylvania and Forty-Third New York in the front line, +north of the plank-road, and the First Long Island and Eighty-Second +Pennsylvania in the second line, under General Shaler. South of the +plank-road were the Sixth Maine and Thirty-First New York in the front +line, with the Fifth Wisconsin acting as skirmishers. Next in line +were the Seventh Massachusetts and Thirty-Sixth New York, Second New +York and Twenty-Sixth New Jersey, of Neil's brigade. Still farther +down, by Hazel Run, was the Vermont brigade. + +Gibbon moved against Hayes and Wilcox, while Brooks still held the +ground, and made a demonstration against Early. + +It is past eleven o'clock before all the dispositions are made. + +"Go upon the double-quick. Don't fire a shot. Give them the bayonet. +Carry the rifle-pits, charge up the hill, and capture the guns," are +the instructions. + +The men throw aside everything which will hinder them, fix their +bayonets, and prepare for the work. Their blood is up. They know that +it is to be a desperate struggle. But it is not death that they are +thinking of, but victory! + +The Sixty-First Pennsylvania and Forty-Third New York move over the +bridge across the canal. Their advance is the signal for all the +lines. The men rise from the ground where they have been lying +sheltered from the Rebel shells. The Rebel batteries above them are in +a blaze. The stone-wall at the base of the hill is aflame. Barksdale +sees the threatening aspect. "I am hard pressed," is his message to +Wilcox. "Send me reinforcements." But Gibbon is moving on Wilcox, and +the latter cannot respond. + +Cool and steady the advance. The hills rain canister. The sunken road +is a sheet of flame. But onward into the storm, with a cheer, heard +above the roar of battle upon the distant Falmouth hills, they leap +into the sunken road and capture the Rebels defending it. They climb +the hill. Steep the ascent. They feel the hot breath of the cannon in +their faces. Some roll to the bottom of the hill, the lamp of life +extinguished forever; but their surviving comrades do not falter. They +reach the crest, leap over the breastworks, and seize the guns! Maine, +Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and Wisconsin meet in the +intrenchments and rend the air with victorious cheers! + +[Illustration: Leading a charge.] + +Barksdale puts spurs to his horse and rides to the rear, leaving half +of his brigade and eight guns in the hands of the victors. + +Barksdale says:-- + + "The distance from town to the points assailed was so short, the + attack so suddenly made, and the difficulty of removing troops + from one part of the line to another was so great, that it was + utterly impossible for either General Wilcox or General Hayes to + reach the scene of action in time to afford any assistance + whatever."[37] + + [Footnote 37: Barksdale's Report.] + +There was consternation in the Rebel lines. Early fled down the +Telegraph road. Hayes also ran. Wilcox, who was not aware of the +disaster, remained in position on Taylor's Hill, wondering what had +happened. Had Sedgwick known his position, the whole of Wilcox's +brigade might have been captured; but it required time to reform the +lines, and Wilcox made his escape. + +Long and loud and joyous were the shouts of the victors. The +stronghold had been wrested from the Rebels at last. + +It was Sunday noon. Hooker had just fallen back from Chancellorsville, +and the Rebels were rejoicing over their success, when a messenger +reached Lee with the tidings of disaster. Fredericksburg was lost, +after all. It must be recovered, or the victory at Chancellorsville +would be only a disastrous defeat. + +Sedgwick telegraphed his success to Hooker. + +"Move and attack Lee in rear," was Hooker's order. + +Lee sent McLaws to hold Sedgwick in check. The time had come when +Hooker should have assumed the offensive. The First Corps had arrived, +but had taken no part in the battle. The Third Corps, Meade's, was in +good condition; so was the Second, Hancock's, although it had fought +during the forenoon. Barlow's brigade of the Eleventh was fresh; the +Twelfth had fought bravely, had lost heavily, but was not demoralized. +The Third Corps had suffered most of all, yet it could be relied upon +for another contest. The withdrawal of McLaws left Lee's line thin +towards Fredericksburg, the place to break through, and open +communication with Sedgwick. The hour had come when he ought not to +stand longer on the defensive, but gathering his forces in mass +overwhelm Lee by a sudden and mighty onset. It was an auspicious +moment,--a golden opportunity, such as does not often come to military +commanders. But having formed his plan of fighting a defensive battle, +he did not depart from it, and lost the victory which lay within his +grasp. + +Sedgwick having carried the heights of Fredericksburg, instead of +following Early down the Telegraph road, made preparations to move +towards Chancellorsville, and join Hooker. + +Wilcox, meanwhile, brought two of Huger's rifle-guns into position +near Dr. Taylor's house, and opened fire. He also threw out his +skirmishers, made a display of his force, and looked round to see what +could be done to escape from his perilous position. Sedgwick brought +up a battery, and moved forward his lines. Wilcox fled, and succeeded, +by rapid marching under the shelter of a pine thicket, in gaining the +plank-road, near Salem Church, where he was joined by General McLaws, +and where also Barksdale rallied his troops. + +The church is a brick building, without any steeple, standing on the +south side of the road, about four miles out from Fredericksburg, and +about a mile and a half south of the Rappahannock at Banks's Ford. +There was an oak grove near the church, and in front of it an open +field, but west of it there were thick woods, which effectually +concealed the Rebels. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when +Sedgwick advanced up the plank-road, with Brooks's division in the +road, Newton north of it, and Howe on the south side. Sedgwick's +skirmishers sent back word that the Rebels were in strong force in the +woods. At the same moment the Rebel batteries opened fire. One of +their first shells killed a mounted orderly and his horse, and wounded +Captain Reed, of General Brooks's staff. + +Sedgwick brought up his artillery and commenced a fire upon the +church, and the woods beyond it. Wilcox had formed his line across the +plank-road. His sharpshooters were in the church. He had four pieces +of artillery in the road and on each side of it. He also threw a +company of sharpshooters into a school-house near the church. +Kershaw's and Wofford's brigades were on the right of the road; +Semmes's and Mahone's on the other side. Sedgwick's batteries were in +position near the toll-gate, and so accurate and destructive was the +fire of his guns that the Rebel batteries by the church were driven +from their position. Russell's and Bartlett's brigades moved forward +to rout the enemy from the woods, Sedgwick supposing there was but a +small force to oppose him. The advance was over ground slightly +ascending, through an open field, towards the woods, where the Rebel +skirmishers were lying. It is a narrow belt of woods. Behind it were +the church and school-house, and beyond the church the woods where the +main body of the Rebels were lying. They drove the skirmishers from +the belt of woods, halted a moment to reform their lines, gave three +cheers, charged through the grove, routing the Rebels there concealed. +They surrounded the school-house, captured the entire company of the +Ninth Alabama stationed in it, put to flight a regiment lying behind +the house.[38] But the remainder of the Ninth Alabama, with other +regiments, came to the rescue, succeeded in recapturing a portion of +their comrades, and forced Russell and Bartlett to retire. + + [Footnote 38: General Wilcox's Report.] + +It was now nearly six o'clock in the afternoon, and till night set in +there was heavy fighting along the whole line. Wilcox and Semmes +several times advanced upon Sedgwick, but were repulsed. So far as +numbers were concerned the contest was about equal. But the Rebels +were on commanding ground, and protected by the woods, while Sedgwick +was in the open field. In this contest Wilcox lost four hundred and +ninety-five men. He had six officers killed and twenty-three wounded. +Semmes lost six hundred and eighty-three killed and wounded, Wafford +five hundred and sixty-two. The whole loss of the Rebels in the fight +at Salem Church was nearly two thousand. Sedgwick, instead of +advancing again, waited for the Rebels to attack him, but they did not +choose to come out from their strong position in the woods, and try it +a second time in the field. Thus the day closed. + +[Illustration: Salem church. + + UNION POSITIONS. REBEL POSITIONS. + + 1. Newton's Division. A. Semmes and Mahone. + 2. Brooks's " B. Wilcox. + 3. Howe's " C. Kershaw and Wofford. + D. Barksdale. + E. Reinforcements. + F. Dr. Taylor's. + G. Route of Wilcox's Retreat.] + +Sedgwick's success endangered Lee, and, unless Fredericksburg were +regained, the battle was lost to the Rebels. Lee says:-- + + "The enemy had so strengthened his position near Chancellorsville + that it was deemed inexpedient to assail it with less than our + whole force, which could not be concentrated until we were + relieved from the danger that menaced our rear. It was + accordingly resolved still further to reinforce the troops in + front of General Sedgwick, in order, if possible, to drive him + across the Rappahannock. Accordingly, on the 4th, General + Anderson was directed to proceed with his remaining brigades to + join General McLaws, the three divisions of Jackson's corps + holding our position at Chancellorsville. Anderson reached Salem + Church about noon, and was directed to gain the left flank of the + enemy and form a junction with Early."[39] + + [Footnote 39: Lee's Report, p. 12.] + +Half of the Rebel army was arrayed against Sedgwick, who held his +ground through the 4th till night. Early, during the day, retraced his +steps up the Telegraph road, and, finding that Sedgwick had moved out +to Salem Church, and that the fortifications were unoccupied, took +possession, and thus cut Sedgwick's communications with Falmouth. When +Anderson arrived he had no alternative but to retreat by Banks's Ford, +where he crossed the river without loss during the night. Hooker also +recrossed, took up his bridges, and the army returned again to its +camp. + +In reviewing this battle, it is apparent that Hooker's movement to +Chancellorsville was a surprise to Lee. It was excellently planned and +efficiently executed,--each corps reaching its assigned position at +the time appointed by the Commander-in-chief. It is plain that +Hooker's departure from his original intention--to await an attack +from Lee--was the cause of the disaster at the beginning of the +engagement. Sickles's corps and Barlow's brigade being absent, the +balance of the Eleventh Corps had no supports; and yet by Bushbeck's +brigade and Dilger's battery, with such assistance as was given by a +few brave men of the other brigades, Jackson's right was not only held +in check, but thrown into confusion. Howard's statement of the case +presents the matter in its true light. + +Thus reads his report:-- + + "Now, as to the cause of this disaster to my corps. + + "1st. Though constantly threatened, and apprised of the moving of + the enemy, yet the woods were so dense that he was able to mass a + large force, whose exact whereabouts neither patrols, + reconnoissancers, nor scouts ascertained. He succeeded in forming + a column to and outflanking my right. + + "2d. By the panic produced by the enemy's reverse fire, regiments + and artillery were thrown suddenly upon those in position. + + "3d. The absence of General Barlow's brigade, which I had + previously located in reserve and _en echelon_, with Colonel Von + Gilsa's, so as to cover his right flank. + + "My corps was very soon reorganized, near Chancellorsville, and + relieved General Meade's corps on the left of the line, where it + remained till Thursday morning."[40] + + [Footnote 40: Howard's Report, p. 9.] + +Had Sickles's corps and Barlow's brigade been in the line, there would +have been not only no disaster, but Jackson would have been defeated +at the outset; for, upon the return of those troops from Scott's Run, +he was driven with great loss. + +Jackson was driven by Sickles when the Third Corps returned to the +line; and had Sickles and Barlow been in their proper positions when +the attack was made, they could have repulsed him with greater ease. + +Though Jackson's attack was successful, it is not therefore +conclusively evident that Lee's plan was wise. His army was divided +into three parts,--Early at Fredericksburg, Lee east of +Chancellorsville, and Jackson northwest of it. Being thoroughly +acquainted with the country, he was able to take his position +unobserved. + +There were several opportunities during the battle when Hooker could +have broken Lee's lines. The battle virtually was lost to Lee on +Sunday noon. Hooker had fallen back from Chancellorsville, but +Sedgwick had taken Fredericksburg. Had Hooker, when he ordered +Sedgwick to attack Lee in the rear, on Sunday afternoon, himself +advanced, Lee would have been forced to abandon the contest; but, +having resolved at the outset to stand on the defensive, the Union +commander adhered to the idea, and thus Lee was able to retrieve the +disaster at Fredericksburg,--far more serious than that which had +happened to the Eleventh Corps. + +Could we but comprehend the ways of God, we might perhaps discover +that the failure of the Union army at Chancellorsville was not owing +to the prowess of the Rebels, the valor of Stonewall Jackson, nor the +strategy of Lee, but to another cause. When the army came into +position at Chancellorsville, the commanding general is reported to +have said that the Almighty could not prevent him from winning a +victory. God is not mocked with impunity. There is one anthem +resounding through all the ages,--"_Te Deum Laudamus!_" + +[Illustration: "Keep out of the draft."] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CAVALRY OPERATIONS. + + +[Sidenote: May, 1863.] + +"The Yankees can't ride horses; they were made to go on foot and dig +in the dirt; but the men of the South are true-born cavaliers, +accustomed from their childhood to the sports of the field," said a +Richmond newspaper at the beginning of the war; but Zagoni's charge at +Springfield, Pleasanton's at Barber's Cross-Roads, and Dahlgren's at +Fredericksburg showed that the men of the North could ride to some +purpose. Up to this time the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac had +taken little part in the great battles which had been fought. It had +been divided by McClellan into squadrons, and attached to brigades of +infantry; but Burnside, before his resignation, had begun a +reorganization of the cavalry. Hooker completed the work by forming a +cavalry corps, consisting of three divisions, commanded by +Major-General Stoneman. The division commanders were Generals +Pleasanton, Gregg, and Averill. In the month of March, Stoneman, +wishing to ascertain the position of the Rebel cavalry, sent Averill's +division across the Rappahannock, at Kelley's Ford. The Rebels +guarding the crossing were nearly all captured. Averill pushed out +towards Culpepper, but met Stuart, and after a sharp engagement +retired across the river. + +March and April were muddy; but Stoneman's squadrons were busy +foraging the country north of the Rappahannock, while his scouts were +finding their way through Stuart's lines, reaching James River, +entering Richmond, ascertaining where supplies for the Rebel army were +accumulated, and what troops guarded the bridges in rear of Lee's +army. They discovered that the main body of the Rebel cavalry was in +the vicinity of Culpepper and Orange Court-House, under Fitz-Hugh and +Custis Lee. + +One feature of General Hooker's plan, in the movement to +Chancellorsville, was the destruction of Lee's supplies and his +communications with Richmond. This part was assigned to the cavalry. +Averill was sent to Bealton, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, as +if intending a movement upon Gordonsville. Stuart sent the two Lees up +the river to keep watch, which left a door open at Germanna Ford. + +Stoneman sent all his unserviceable horses and men to Falmouth. Men +who could not endure hardship and exposure were detailed to remain and +guard the camp. The cavalrymen only knew that there was to be a +movement somewhere, so well kept were Hooker's intentions. + +Pleasanton was ordered to accompany Hooker to Chancellorsville, +Averill was directed to cross the river at Rappahannock Station, and +move towards Gordonsville, while Gregg's division was selected to +strike the blow which would cripple Lee. + +On the 29th of April, when the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps reached +Kelley's Ford, on the Rappahannock, Gregg, who was lying there, +crossed in advance, and moved west towards Culpepper. Averill at the +same time forded the river at Rappahannock Station, four miles above, +and moved also towards Culpepper. There was a small force of Rebel +cavalry in that town, but Averill charged through the streets. The +Rebels made a hasty retreat towards Gordonsville, crossing the Rapidan +at the railroad and burning the bridge behind them. Averill followed, +and the Lees thought that Gordonsville was the point aimed at. Gregg, +instead of going to Culpepper, turned south through Stevensburg; and, +while the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps were crossing the Rapidan at +Germanna Ford, his troops were fording the same stream eight miles +higher up. + +When Gregg arrived at Raccoon Ford, he found it guarded by a strong +force on the opposite side, intrenched around the house of Colonel +Porter, which overlooks the ford. Gregg halted his column in the field +and woods, near the house of Mr. Stringfellow, on the northern bank, +and made demonstrations as if to cross. He opened with his artillery, +which was replied to by the Rebels. While the enemy was thus diverted, +a small force was sent to Morton's Ford, two miles below, which +crossed without opposition, dashed up the road, and came upon the +Rebels in rear of Colonel Porter's house. They fled towards Orange +Court-House. Lieutenant Gaskell, with a portion of the Fifth United +States Cavalry, followed them five miles, capturing an officer and +several men. The division crossed, and bivouacked on the hills around +Colonel Porter's house for the night. This movement of Gregg's +compelled the Lees, who intended to fight Averill at Rapidan Station, +to make a hasty retreat towards Gordonsville, for Gregg was on their +flank. Averill crossed the stream, driving back the Rebels, and by his +movement deceiving the enemy. He followed them nearly to Gordonsville, +remained till Gregg's division was well on its way, then recrossed the +stream, and rejoined Hooker. + +The night of the 30th of April was cold and the ground damp, but no +fires were allowed. At two o'clock in the morning the men were roused +from sleep, not by the bugle-call, but by low-spoken words. They were +soon ready to move, but were obliged to wait till daylight for a +guide. Four hours of valuable time were lost by this delay. + +The column moved along the road which runs south from Raccoon Ford to +Louisa Court-House, at Greenwood. It crossed Mountain Run soon after +daylight, reached the Fredericksburg plank-road, and moved on the +north fork of the North Anna. A small body dashed into Orange Spring +early in the morning, and captured a lieutenant of Jackson's staff, +and a wagon loaded with intrenching tools. Squadrons were sent out in +all directions,--on the side-roads and by-paths, through the fields +and forests,--telling the people everywhere that Hooker's whole army +was on the march, creating the impression among the people that Hooker +was making a swift descent upon Richmond. The soldiers helped +themselves to chickens, turkeys, lambs, and obtained breakfasts in the +houses of the farmers, who were astonished at their sudden appearance, +and their unceremonious way of sitting down to breakfast without being +asked. They visited stables, seized or exchanged horses without paying +any boot. Great was the excitement among the negroes, who poured out +from the cabins with wild expressions of joy. Hundreds of them joined +the column, without saying good by to their masters. The citizens were +sullen, but the women gave free utterance to their feelings. + +[Illustration: A night march of cavalry.] + +Gregg reached Louisa Court-House, twenty miles from Raccoon Ford, +at two o'clock in the afternoon. The Virginia Central Railroad, from +Richmond to Gordonsville, passes through the town. A large quantity of +supplies was in store there, guarded by several hundred Rebel cavalry, +who, when they heard that the "Yankees" were coming, sent off what +they could on a train of cars, and then fled to Gordonsville. Gregg +sent out a regiment in pursuit, while the main body of his command +bivouacked in the field west of the Court-House. Small bodies were +detailed east and west along the railroad, tearing up the track, +burning the ties, and destroying all the culverts and bridges in the +vicinity. + +It was the first time that the people of Louisa Court-House had been +visited by the Yankees. They had lived in security, never entertaining +the thought that the "Yankees" could penetrate so far into the +interior. They wanted high pay for all they had to sell, but were +ready to make a great discount between Confederate currency and +greenbacks. Gregg was now east of Gordonsville and Averill north of +it. Gregg sent a portion of the First Maine Cavalry towards the place, +as if intending to proceed in that direction. Three or four miles west +of the Court-House the Maine men encountered a large force, which had +been sent by Fitz-Hugh Lee. The officer commanding the party sent word +to Gregg, and fell back slowly; but the Rebels charged upon him, +killed two, and captured twenty-eight. Gregg formed his division for +battle, and the Rebels retreated towards Gordonsville. + +At five o'clock in the afternoon, the railroad and depot buildings +having been destroyed, the column turned southeast, crossed the South +Anna, passing through Yancyville, a little village on that stream, +moved down the river, and reached Thompson's Cross-Roads at eleven +o'clock. + +Up to this time General Stoneman had not informed his officers of his +intentions. He called them together at midnight and gave them their +instructions. + +"You are to destroy the bridges over the North Anna, and break up +Lee's communications in that direction," were his instructions to +Gregg. + +"Colonel Davis will destroy the bridges over the South Anna, south of +the Fredericksburg Railroad." + +"Colonel Wyndham, with details of regiments from his brigade, will +reach the James River at Columbia, and destroy the bridge there and +break up the canal." + +"Colonel Kilpatrick, with the Harris Light Cavalry, will move to the +Chickahominy, and burn the bridges across that stream." + +Stoneman himself, with the main force, was to remain there, and cover +the movement. When the object each commander had in view was +accomplished, they were allowed the widest latitude for other +operations. + +At half past two o'clock Sunday morning, May 3d, the various columns +are in motion. It is a bright moonlight night. Gregg moves northeast, +Davis east, Kilpatrick southeast, and Wyndham south. + +At this moment, Lee at Chancellorsville is arranging for his second +attack on Hooker; Sedgwick preparing to storm the heights of +Fredericksburg; Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded, and lying in a +house at Guinea's Station. Averill is hastening to withdraw from the +vicinity of Orange Court-House, when he should be moving on towards +Gordonsville. Couriers are flying through the country, along the roads +leading to Richmond, with the astounding intelligence that "the +Yankees are coming!" + +General Gregg has the First Maine and Tenth New York, with two pieces +of artillery. He moves rapidly up the Central Railroad. There are no +troops to oppose him. He burns the station at Beaver Dam, and +Anderson's bridge across the North Anna, about three miles north of +the station. He sends out detachments along the railroad, burning all +the bridges in the vicinity. Another detachment moves to the South +Anna, along the Richmond and Gordonsville turnpike, and destroys the +bridge called the Ground-Squirrel bridge, over that stream. Having +accomplished the object of the expedition, without any loss, Gregg +returns and rejoins Stoneman at Thompson's Cross-Roads the 5th of May +having made a forced march of seventy miles, and doing great damage. + +Kilpatrick and Davis are near together in their movements, going east +and southeast. Kilpatrick makes his first halt thirteen miles from +Richmond. There are bodies of Rebel troops around him,--a large force +at Hanover Junction, other troops in the vicinity of Ashland, and +others moving out from the city to intercept him. His only safety is +in a rapid, audacious movement. At daylight on Monday morning, May +4th, after a short rest for his men and horses, he is again in motion, +directly toward Richmond. He strikes the Fredericksburg railroad at +Hungary Station, five miles from the city, burns the depot, tears up +the track, pushes directly down the Brooke pike, till he can see the +spires of the city, only two miles distant. + +There is great excitement in the city,--riding to and fro of officers +and couriers, mustering of militia, turning out of clerks from the +departments, shouldering of muskets and hasty buckling on of +cartridge-boxes, forming lines and hastening out to the intrenchments. +Frightened farmers ride in from all directions with the intelligence +that the country is swarming with Yankees. A company of artillery and +a considerable force of infantry, with cavalry pickets and scouts, +which are moving out on the Brooke pike, are seized with a panic and +rush back to the city. The bells are rung. The confusion and +consternation increase. Men hide their valuables. Women and children +cross the river to Manchester. The Union prisoners, who have been +suffering the horrors of Libby Prison for many months, looking through +their iron-grated windows, behold the commotion. They can hear the +booming of Kilpatrick's guns. Their hearts bound with indescribable +joy. They are thrilled with the thought that deliverance is at hand. + +Kilpatrick captures Lieutenant Brown, an aide-de-camp of General +Winder, and an escort accompanying him, within the fortifications. He +paroles him, dating the parole at the city of Richmond. + +"You are a mighty daring sort of fellows, but you'll certainly be +captured before sundown," said the aide. + +"That may all be, but we intend to do a mighty deal of mischief +first," replied Kilpatrick.[41] + + [Footnote 41: Kilpatrick and Our Cavalry, p. 49.] + +He leaves a portion of the troops with his artillery, which engages +the Rebel batteries, while, guided by a negro, with a small +detachment he moves through the fields to the railroad, burns Meadow +bridge, running a train of cars into the stream. With one regiment of +cavalry he reaches the Rebel fortifications, captures Rebels inside +them, plants his batteries, and throws shells almost into the city of +Richmond, in face of their own batteries, destroys communication with +Lee, burning bridges, tearing up railroad tracks, pulling down +telegraph wire, running a train of cars into the river, with rebel +troops all around him. + +Having accomplished this he moves northeast, for he can see Rebel +columns moving up the Brooke pike and Mechanicsville road, to cut off +his retreat. He dismisses all hope of returning to Stoneman. It is a +critical moment. He must move in some direction at once. He consults +his map. + +"To horse, men! We are all right! We are safe yet."[42] + + [Footnote 42: Kilpatrick and our Cavalry, p. 50.] + +With a faithful negro to guide him, he moves through woods and fields, +along by-paths and cross roads, going east and northeast, to Hanover +Town, on the Pamunkey. His horses are jaded, but he makes a hard ride, +reaches the place in safety, crosses the stream, sets fire to the +bridge, halts his men upon the northern bank. The Rebels, in hot +pursuit, come down to the other bank, mortified and chagrined and +enraged at his escape. The Yankees throw up their caps, and greet them +with a hearty cheer. Scouts come in and report a train of thirty +wagons loaded with corn for the Rebel army near by. Kilpatrick +captures them, feeds his horses with what corn he needs, destroys the +rest, moves five miles up the river, bivouacks for the night, remains +till one o'clock in the morning of the 5th, then moving rapidly north +to Aylett's, near Mattapony River, surprises three hundred Rebel +cavalry, capturing two officers, thirty-three men, burning fifty-six +wagons and a building containing twenty thousand barrels of corn and +wheat, quantities of clothing and commissary stores, safely crossing +the Mattapony in season to escape the advance of the Rebel cavalry in +pursuit. Pushing on, later in the evening, he destroys a third wagon +train, burns buildings containing a large amount of corn, near +Tappahannock, then turning southeast, making a forced march of twenty +miles, reaches King and Queen Court-House, where he finds a body of +cavalry drawn up to dispute his passage. He prepares to charge, but +suddenly discovers that it is a portion of the Twelfth Illinois of +Colonel Davis's command. The meeting is a joyful one. The two commands +move on together, marching southeast, reaching Gloucester Point at ten +o'clock on the morning of the 7th, where they find rest and safety +under the guns of the Union fortifications, making a march of nearly +two hundred miles in less than five days, with a loss of only one +officer and thirty-seven men, having captured and paroled upward of +three hundred of the enemy.[43] + + [Footnote 43: Kilpatrick's Report.] + +"Who will convey news to Hooker of our success?" was the question put +by Kilpatrick when at Aylett's, after routing the Rebels there. + +"I am ready to go," was the quick response of Lieutenant Estes of the +First Maine, who was acting as aide to Kilpatrick. Ten men were +detailed to accompany him. They struck across the country north, and +reached the Rappahannock at Tappahannock Court-House, dashing into +that place, and capturing a lieutenant and fifteen men! whom they +paroled. The river was swollen, and they could not cross. The whole +country was alarmed. The militia were assembling. There were three +hundred on the north side of the river. The officer in command sent +over a flag of truce demanding the Lieutenant to surrender; but +Lieutenant Estes had no intention of giving up just then. Finding that +he could not go north, he turned south. In his flight he came upon a +Rebel major, two captains, and three privates, who were captured and +paroled. But the militia were close upon the brave Lieutenant, who +found himself and party caught in a trap between the river and the +Great Dragon Swamp. Seeing that they could not escape on horseback, +they abandoned their horses and took to the swamp. The militia +surrounded it, and set bloodhounds on the track of the fugitives, who +were finally captured, and sent off towards Richmond, under a strong +guard; but before they reached the Mattapony, Kilpatrick set them at +liberty and took the Rebel guard along with him to Gloucester, +accompanied by thousands of negroes, on foot, in carts, wagons, and +old family carriages, drawn by mules, oxen, and sometimes by +cows,--packed full, and loaded down on top, by the dark-hued but +light-hearted creatures, who had heard of the proclamation of +President Lincoln, and were ready to accept freedom at the hands of +the Yankees. After resting a few days, Kilpatrick crossed the river on +transports, marched up the tongue of land between the Rappahannock and +Potomac, and joined Hooker at Falmouth, having made a complete circuit +of the Rebel army. + +When Colonel Wyndham left Thompson's Cross-Roads on the morning of the +3d, he moved rapidly southwest towards the James, striking it at +Columbia. The distance was about twenty miles. There were many small +creeks to cross, but Wyndham reached Columbia at eight o'clock. The +people had just finished breakfast when a man, riding furiously, his +hair wet with foam, came dashing down the street, shouting "The +Yankees are coming! the Yankees are coming!" + +The people laughed; some thought him crazy. The Yankees coming? +Impossible! But a column of men in blue, with gleaming sabres, dashed +down the road into the village. There were no Rebel soldiers in the +vicinity to oppose Wyndham. Some of the citizens fled in consternation +across the James, giving the alarm. But the people over the river +would not believe their stories. + +"I'll go and see for myself," said an old farmer, who mounted his +horse and took one of his best servants with him. He went on till he +was in sight of the Yankees, then stopped and looked at them in +amazement. Suddenly his servant dashed away straight towards the +Yankees. + +"Stop! come back!" he shouted, but the negro galloped boldly into +Wyndham's lines, bringing an excellent horse, while his late master +turned the other way, more amazed than ever. + +Some of the soldiers told the inhabitants that they belonged to +Stuart's command; and the word spread that they were not Yankees after +all. A young fellow, the son of a rich farmer, rode boldly into the +lines to see Stuart's cavalry. + +"Has Lee licked the Yankees?" he asked. + +"I reckon," said a cavalryman. + +"Good!" said the boy. + +"See here, my friend, my horse has gi'n out. I am on important +business; I should like to exchange horses with you. General Stuart +will make it all right with you when he comes this way," said the +soldier, who, without further ceremony, put his saddle upon the +noble-blooded animal, while the young man looked on in amazement. + +Many of the Rebel cavalrymen were dressed in blue clothing, which had +been stripped from prisoners, and that was the reason why the +inhabitants were at a loss to know whether they were Yankees or +Rebels. + +Colonel Wyndham burned the bridge across the James, destroyed several +canal-boats loaded with supplies, burned a warehouse filled with corn +and medical stores, dug sluices in the banks of the canal, and +attempted to destroy the locks, but did not succeed. He remained till +four o'clock in the afternoon, then pushed down the river five miles, +moved north, then northwest, and reached Stoneman at ten o'clock in +the evening, accompanied by hundreds of negroes. When the alarm was +given on a plantation that the Yankees were coming, the farmers made +all haste to secrete their horses. + +"Here! Jim, Sam, Cuffee, take the horses into the woods. Quick!" There +was a grand commotion in all the stables, the negroes mounting the +horses and riding into the thick bushes; but as soon as they were out +of their masters' sight, they made for the Yankees by the shortest +route! They were ready to do anything for their deliverers. They kept +close watch while the soldiers rested; visited plantations, bringing +in chickens, turkeys, calves, and lambs, and cooked delicious suppers +for the whole command. They kept Stoneman informed of what was going +on. He learned that in two hours after Wyndham left Columbia, a large +body of cavalry entered the place in pursuit, but Wyndham moved so +rapidly they could not overtake him. + +A portion of Buford's brigade, the First Regulars, dashed along the +Virginia Central Railroad, and tore up the track. A company went to +the North Anna, drove off a guard of infantry from a bridge, captured +five prisoners, burned the bridge, and returned to Stoneman without +losing a man. + +The Fifth Regulars went down the James to Cartersville twelve miles +below Columbia, to destroy a bridge. They met a portion of Lee's +brigade. There was skirmishing; but while one portion of the Regulars +was holding the Rebels in check, another party reached the bridge, set +it on fire, and then the whole force returned to Stoneman. + +The Rebels all the while were hovering round Stoneman on the +southwest, but did not dare to attack him. They did not know what to +make of the conflicting stories. "The Yankees are at Frederickshall, +at Ashland, at Columbia, at Thompson's Cross-Roads, at Louisa, at +Richmond," were the reports. The country swarmed with Yankees; every +farmer had his story of woe, of stolen horses and runaway negroes; the +farmers' wives and daughters mourned over lost chickens, of +meat-houses broken open, jars of jelly and preserves carried away. Few +of the Virginia farmers had ever seen a regiment of cavalry, and when +the lines filed down the narrow roads, a squadron was magnified to a +regiment, and a hundred men became a thousand. + +On Tuesday afternoon, all of the detachments except Kilpatrick's and a +portion of Davis's having returned, Stoneman commenced his homeward +march, and recrossed the Rapidan at Raccoon Ford, in safety, though he +was obliged to swim his horses through the swollen stream. There was +no enemy to molest him, none to hang upon his rear. He recrossed the +Rappahannock at Kelley's Ford, and rejoined Hooker at Falmouth, having +successfully accomplished what he had undertaken. + +The Rebels were mortified, chagrined, and exasperated. The success +which they had achieved in compelling Hooker to retire from +Chancellorsville was in a measure counterbalanced by Stoneman's +operations, especially by Kilpatrick's audacious exploits. + +This cavalry movement was the first great raid of the war. It was not +only a success, but it toughened the soldiers and prepared them for +the hardships and battles which followed on the Upper Rappahannock, at +Aldie, Middleburg, and Gettysburg. It gave confidence. The men felt +that they were no longer the laughing-stock of the army. They had +other employment now than guarding teams or keeping watch on the +picket line. There was pleasurable excitement in riding through the +enemy's country, making dashes into villages, charging upon the enemy, +riding through the dense forests, and finding good living at every +farm-house. There were plenty of volunteers for any enterprise. + +A few days later Stuart attempted a counter raid in rear of the army, +but was driven across the Rappahannock with ease. Then came the severe +struggle at Brandy Station. Lee had started on his Gettysburg +campaign, and Stuart was kept on the flank to conceal the movement, +but Kilpatrick and Gregg unmasked it. Then as Stuart swung along the +base of the Blue Ridge, while Lee went down the Shenandoah with the +infantry, the contest was renewed in a running fight from Aldie to +Snicker's Gap. In all of these engagements the superiority of the +Union cavalry was fully established. The Union soldiers had learned to +ride horses; and from Stoneman's raid to the capture of Jeff Davis +they rode to some purpose. + +[Illustration: Kearny Cross.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE ATLANTIC COAST. + + +[Sidenote: March, 1863.] + +The encounter between the Merrimack and the Monitor had set the world +agog on the matter of armored vessels. A fleet of ironclads had been +prepared, with the special object in view of recapturing Fort Sumter. +It was an event looked forward to with intense interest, not only in +the North, but throughout the civilized world. Having a desire to +witness that attack, I proceeded South, leaving New York on the 7th of +February, 1863, on board the steamer Augusta Dinsmore, belonging to +Adams's Express. Captain Crowell, her commander, was a sharp-eyed +Connecticut Yankee, who kept the lead constantly going as we ran down +the coast, and who was as well acquainted with all the soundings as +the skipper of Nantucket immortalized by Mr. Fields, who detected the +soil of Marm Hackett's garden by smell and taste, although Nantucket +had sunk. + +The harbor of Port Royal was crowded with shipping. General Foster's +force from North Carolina had just arrived, to participate in a land +movement. General Hunter was in command of the department, and there +arose at once a question of jurisdiction, which paralyzed the +operations of the army. The officers and soldiers at Port Royal, weary +with doing nothing, had fitted up a theatre. The building was used for +church services on Sunday. Attending the morning service the day after +our arrival, I found an audience of about one hundred persons, among +them General Hunter and staff. The clergyman, an Episcopalian, in a +rusty black gown, stood upon the stage. A soldier played a melodeon +and conducted the singing. In the afternoon there was a business +meeting in the African Baptist church, which I also attended. Rev. +Abraham Murchison, a tall copper-hued negro, was pastor, and presided +over the deliberations. He had been a slave in Savannah, but made his +way to our lines, was a storekeeper or huckster on week-days, and +preached on Sunday. The church was a plain wooden building, erected by +order of General Mitchell for an African church. There were two rows +of benches, a plain pine pulpit, a ventilated ceiling, from which +three or four glass lamps were suspended,--all being very much like +the rude churches to be found in the thinly-settled prairies of +Illinois. The congregation were singing when we entered,-- + + "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood + Stand dressed in living green, + So to the Jews fair Canaan stood, + While Jordan rolled between." + +The leader was a round-headed, compact, energetic negro, twenty-five +years of age, whose zeal was bounded only by the capacity of his +lungs. It was the well-known tune "Jordan," sung by millions in times +past and present. The women occupied one side of the house, the men +sitting opposite. It was a dusky view, looking down the aisle from my +seat at the right of the pulpit. They were countenances not types of +beauty, not attractive intellectually. But there was perfect decorum +and solemnity. All heads were bowed when the preacher addressed the +Throne of Grace. It was a prayer full of supplications and +thanksgiving, expressed in fitting words. + +The church had a case of discipline. Their sexton had been remiss in +lighting the lamps, and was arraigned for trial. The pastor called the +sexton to the front, and thus indicted him:-- + +"John, my son, you are arraigned for not doing as you have agreed, and +covenanted to do. We pay you one hundred and twenty dollars a year for +lighting these yere beautiful lamps which the church have so +generously provided, and, sir, you have been remiss in your duty. On +Thursday night, when we were assembled for holy prayer, we were in +darkness. You did wrong. You broke your obligations. You must be +punished. What say you? Brethren, we will hear what he has to say." + +"I lighted the lamps, sah, but they went out; de oil was bad, I +reckon," said the sexton. + +The pastor called upon one of the deacons to take the chair. He was +of middle age, black as anthracite coal, bald-headed, and was dressed +in pants and coat made of old sailcloth. By his side sat his +colleague, wearing a United States soldiers' blue overcoat. The +preacher, taking his stand in the aisle, laid aside his clerical +authority, and became one of the brethren. "Brother cheerman, our +brother am presump_tus_. He say he light de lamps and dey go out. How +does he know dey go out? He ought to stay and see dey don't go out. He +am presumptus and should be punished. I move, sir, dat our brother be +set aside from commin to de Lord's table till he make satisfaction." + +A brother seconded the motion, and the question was put by the deacon. +Two or three voted affirmatively, but nearly all negatively. The +question was not understood. The preacher explained: "You is +discomposed in your minds. You do not understand de question. Can any +of you tell me how you voted?" + +The question was put a second time, and the offending member was +unanimously debarred the privileges of the church. + +After the discipline a candidate for admission was presented, a stout +young man, named Jonas. + +"Well, my son, where are you from?" said the pastor. + +"From Charleston, sir." + +"Was you a member of the church there, my son?" + +"Yes, sir, I was a member of the church." + +"Does any one here know anything about Jonas?" + +A half-dozen responded "Yes," all agreeing that his deportment was +correct. + +"Did you bring your 'stificate with you?" + +"No, sir; I came away in a hurry, and hadn't any time to get one." + +"Yes, my son; we understand that you were obliged to leave in a hurry +or not at all. But what made you become a Christian?" + +"Because I felt I was a sinner." + +"Did you pray, my son?" + +"Yes, sir; and I feel that through the mercy of Jesus Christ my sins +are pardoned." + +It was a simple narrative, and expressed with evident consciousness +of the solemnity of the declaration. It was plain that in spiritual +things these people were further advanced than in business matters. +The evidence was satisfactory, and the member received by an extension +of right hand of fellowship on the part of the pastor. In the evening +Rev. Mr. Murchison preached from the text, "And they shall call upon +the rocks and mountains to fall upon them," &c. + +It was a crude, disjointed discourse, having very little logic, a +great many large words, some of them ludicrously misapplied, yet +contained striking thoughts, and appropriate similes. This was a +congregation standing on the lowest step of civilization. Minister and +people were but a twelvemonth out of bondage. All behind them was +barbarism. Before them was a future, unrevealed, but infinitely better +than what their past had been. Their meeting was orderly, and I have +seen grave legislative bodies in quite as much of a muddle over a +simple question as that congregation of black men emerging from their +long night of darkness. + +On the following Sunday I was present at a service on Ladies' Island. +The owner of the plantation where the meeting was held erected his +house in full view of Beaufort, and near the bank of the stream where +the tide ebbs and flows upon the sandy beach. It was a mean mansion, +standing on posts, to give free circulation to the air underneath. In +hot summer days the shade beneath the house was the resort of all the +poultry of the premises. Thousands of hard-working New England +mechanics live in better houses, yet from Beaufort the place made an +imposing show, surrounded by orange and magnolia trees. The sandy +acres of the plantation stretched towards St. Helena. A short distance +from the planter's house were the weather-beaten cabins of the +negroes, mere hovels, without window-panes, with mud chimneys,--the +homes of generations who had gone from the darkness and hopelessness +of a wearying life to the rest and quiet of the grave. + +On that morning when Admiral Dupont shelled the Rebels out of the +forts at Hilton Head and Bay Point, the owner of these acres made a +hasty exit from his house. He sent his overseer to the cabins to hurry +up the negroes, but to his surprise not a negro was to be found. The +colored people had heard the thundering down the bay. They knew its +meaning. It set their hearts beating as they never had throbbed before. +It was the sweetest music they ever had heard. A horseman came riding +furiously up to the house, with terror in his countenance. The master +hastened out to know how the battle was going. + +"The Yankees have taken the forts!" said the messenger. The master +became pale. + +"You had better get your negroes together, and be ready for a move," +said the messenger. + +Sharp ears had heard all this,--the ears of Sam, a colored man, who, +seeing the herald arrive in hot haste, had the curiosity to hear what +he had to say, then bounded like a deer to the cabins, running from +door to door, whispering to the inmates, "To the woods! to the woods! +De Yankees hab taken de forts,--massa is going to de mainland, and is +going to take us wid him." + +The cabins were deserted in an instant; and five minutes later, when +the overseer came round to gather his drove of human cattle, he found +empty hovels. The planter and his overseer were obliged to do their +own hasty packing up. + +The plantation was in the hands of a warm-hearted Christian gentleman +from Massachusetts, Mr. Norton. The people of the estate gathered for +worship in the large parlor of the house. + +The room was eighteen or twenty feet square, and had a wide-mouthed +fireplace, in which a cheerful fire of pitch knots was blazing. There +was a settee, a mahogany sideboard, where the former owner was +accustomed to quaff his wines and liquors. Seats and chairs were +brought in. The big dinner-bell was rung, and the people, thirty or +forty in number, came in, men, women, and children. Some of the women +brought their infants. Uncle Jim, the patriarch of the plantation, was +too feeble to attend. The superintendent, Mr. Norton, comforted his +heart by reading to him a chapter in the Bible and offering prayers in +the miserable cabin, where the old man was lying on a pile of rags. +Uncle Jim was a sincere Christian. The word of God was sweet to him. +His heart overflowed with thanks and praise, for the display of God's +great goodness to him and his people. + +A hymn was lined off by Mr. Norton, after the fashion of our fathers. +William, a stout, middle-aged man, struck into St. Martin's, and the +congregation joined, not reading the music exactly as good old Tansur +composed it, for there were crooks, turns, slurs, and appoggiaturas, +not to be found in any printed copy. It was sung harshly, nasally, and +dragged out in long, slow notes. + +A pure-blooded negro, Sancho, offered prayer. He had seen great +hardship in life and had suffered more than his namesake, the squire, +who was once unceremoniously tossed in a blanket. His prayer was the +free utterance of a warm heart. It was a familiar talk with Jesus, his +best friend. He improved the opportunity to mingle an exhortation with +his supplication. He thus addressed the unconverted:-- + +"O, my poor, impenitent fellow-sinner, what you think you are doing? +Where you think you are going? Death will ride up soon in a big black +carriage and take you wid him down to de regions of deep darkness. Why +don't you repent now, and den he will carry you up into de light of +paradise!" + +Looking forward to the hour of the Christian's release from the +bondage of this life, he said, in conclusion, "And now, good Lord, +when we have done chaw all de hard bones and swallowed all de bitter +pills, we trust de good Lord will take us to himself." + +After an address from the superintendent, Sancho rose. + +"My belobed friends," said he, "I neber 'spected to see such a day as +dis yere. For twenty years, I hired my time of old massa, I was +'bleeged to pay him twelve dollars a month in advance, and if I didn't +hab de money ready, he wollopped me. But I's a free man now. De good +Lord hab done it all. I can't read. It is de great desire ob my heart +to learn to read, so dat I can read de Bible all my own self; but I's +too old to learn. But I rejoice dat my chillen can hab de opportunity +to study de precious word. De Lord is doin great tings for us in dese +yere days. Ole massa, was a purty good massa, and I prays de Lord to +make him lay down his weapons ob rebellion and become a good Union man +and a disciple ob de Lord Jesus, for Jesus tells us dat we must lub +our enemies." + +After the exercises of the religious meeting were concluded, the +chairs were set aside, and they began a "praise meeting," or singing +meeting. Most of their music is plaintive. The piece frequently +commences with a recitative by one voice, and at the end of the first +line the chorus joins. The words are often improvised to suit the +occasion. + +A favorite song is "Roll, Jordan, roll," in which the progression of +the melody is very descriptive of the rolling of waves upon the beach. +There are many variations of the melody, but that here given is as I +heard it sung by the negroes of Bythewood. + +[Music: ROLL JORDAN. + + Little children sitting on the tree of life. To hear the Jordan roll; O + roll, Jordan roll, Jordan roll, Jordan roll. We march the angel march, O + march the angel march, O my soul is rising heavenward To hear the Jordan roll.] + +The verses vary only in recitation. If Mr. Jones is present he will +hear, "Mr. Jones is sitting on the tree of life." There is no pause, +and before the last roll is ended the one giving the recitative places +another personage on the tree, and thus Jordan rolls along. + +As the song goes on the enthusiasm rises. They sing louder and +stronger. The recitative is given with increased vigor, and the chorus +swells with increasing volume. They beat time, at first, with their +hands, then their feet. They rise from their seats. William begins to +shuffle his feet. Anna, a short, thick-set woman, wearing a checkered +dress, and an apron, which once was a window-curtain, claps her hands, +makes a short, quick jerk of her body, stamps her feet on the +unaccented part of the measure, keeping exact syncopation. Catherine +and Sancho catch the inspiration. They go round in a circle, +shuffling, jerking, shouting louder and louder, while those outside of +the circle respond with increasing vigor, all stamping, clapping their +hands, and rolling out the chorus. William seems to be in a trance, +his eyes are fixed, yet he goes on with a double-shuffle, till the +perspiration stands in beads upon his face. Every joint seems hung on +wires. Feet, legs, arms, head, body, and hands swing and jump like a +child's dancing Dandy Jim. Sancho enters into it with all his heart, +soul, mind, and might, clapping his hands, rolling his eyes, looking +upward in ecstasy and outward upon the crowd, as if he were their +spiritual father and guardian. + +Thus it went on till nature was exhausted. When the meeting broke up, +they all came round in procession, shaking hands with the +superintendent and the strangers present, and singing a parting song, + + "There's a meeting here to-night!" + +The superintendent informed me that the children who attended school +could not be coaxed to take part in those praise meetings. They had +learned to sing Sunday-school songs, and evidently looked upon the +plantation songs of their fathers and mothers as belonging to their +bondage and not worthy to be sung now that they were free. + +A short distance from Hilton Head is the town of Mitchelville, laid +out by the lamented astronomer, General Mitchell, who fell a victim to +the yellow-fever in the summer of 1862. The town is on a broad sandy +plain, bordered by groves and thickets of live-oak, palmetto, and the +coast pine. + +At that time there were about seventy houses,--or cabins rather,--of +the rudest description, built of logs, chinked with clay brought up +from the beach, roofs of long split shingles, board floors, windows +with shutters,--plain board blinds, without sash or glass. Each house +had a quarter of an acre of land attached. There was no paint or lime, +not even whitewash, about them. It was just such a place as might be +expected in a new country, where there were no saw-mills or +brick-kilns,--a step in advance of a hole in the ground or a bark +wigwam. It was the beginning of the experiment of civilization on the +part of a semi-barbarous people just released from abject bondage, and +far from being free men. + +I looked into the first cabin, and seeing an old man sitting before +the fire, greeted him with "How do you do, Uncle?" the sobriquet of +all middle-aged negro men. + +"'Pears how I'm rather poorly,--I's got de chills, boss." + +He was a slave in Florida, made his escape from his master's +plantation fifty miles inland, reached Fernandina, and entered the +lines of the Union army. He was dressed in pants made of old +sailcloth, and the tattered cast-off blouse of a Union soldier. The +room was twelve feet square. I could see through the chinking in a +hundred places. At the coping of the roof, where it should have joined +the wall, there was a wide opening all around, which allowed all the +warmth to escape. The furniture consisted of three tables, four +chairs, a mahogany wash-stand, all of which once stood in the mansion +of some island planter. There was a Dutch-oven on the hearth, the +sight of which made my mouth water for the delicious tea-cakes of +childhood. There were pots, kettles, baskets, and bags, and a pile of +rags, old blankets which the soldiers had thrown aside. It required +but a few words to thaw out Uncle Jacob, who at once commenced +fumbling in his pockets, producing, after a studious search, a brown +paper, carefully folded, enclosing the name of a gentleman in New York +who had taken home Uncle Jacob's nephew. He wanted me to read it to +him,--the name, the street, the number,--that he might learn it by +heart. + +"He is learning to write, boss, and I shall have a letter from him by +and by," said the old man, in glee. He handed me three letters, all +from men who once were slaves, not written by them individually, but +by amanuenses. One was a sailor on the gunboat Ottawa, off Charleston; +one was in New York city, and the third in Ohio. + +"Please, boss, I should like to hab you read 'em," he said. + +It was a pleasure to gratify the kind-hearted man, who listened with +satisfaction beaming from every line of his countenance. + +Uncle Jacob had been five months in the employ of the United States, +unloading vessels at Hilton Head, and had received only his rations +and a little clothing. + +"Well, Uncle Jacob, which would you rather be, a freeman or a slave?" +I asked. + +"O, Lor' bless you, boss, I wouldn't like to be a slave again." + +"Do you think you can take care of yourself?" + +"Jes let gubberment pay me, boss, and see if I can't." + +It was spoken with great earnestness. + +In the next cabin I found Peter, who had taken the name of Brown, that +of his former master. Slavery gave its victims but one name. General +Mitchell said that they were entitled to another name, and he ordered +that they should take that of their former masters; hence there are +Peter Beauregards, James Trenholms, Susan Rhetts, Julia Barnwells, on +the plantations of the Sea Islands. + +"Mr. Brown, did you ever hear about the Abolitionists?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir, tank you, I's he'd of 'em." + +"What did you hear about them?" + +"O, dey is a werry bad sort of people, sir. Old massa said dat if dey +could get a chance dey would take all our pickaninnies and smash der +brains out agin de trees!" + +"Did you ever see an Abolitionist?" + +"No, sir, tank you, nebber saw one." + +"Well, Mr. Brown, I am one." + +Mr. Brown started involuntarily. He looked me all over from head to +feet, giving a keen search. "'Pears how I shouldn't tink you could hab +de heart to do it, sir." + +"Do I look as though I should like to kill your little ones?" + +"No, sir, I don't tink you would." + +I told him who the Abolitionists were, and what they wished to +do,--that they were friends of the slaves, and always had been. He +grasped my hand, and said, "God bless you, sir." And then burst into +hearty laughter. + +Having been informed that it would be impossible to obtain a fowl of +the negroes at that season of the year, I made the attempt; but though +I offered treble the value, not one would part with a hen. They were +looking forward to broods of chickens which would bring them in +"heaps" of money in the fall of the year. The negro race understands +the value of money quite as well as we who boast of Anglo-Saxon blood. + +Entering the head-quarters of the commanding officer one day, I saw a +thin, spare colored woman sitting before the fire. She nodded and +smiled, ran her eyes over me, as if to take in every feature or +peculiarity of my person and dress, then gazed into the fire and +seemed absorbed in her own thoughts. A friend said, "That is our +Sojourner Truth." + +She had brought off several companies of negroes from the mainland, +and had given a great deal of information concerning the movements of +the Rebels. She had penetrated swamps, endured hardships, eluded Rebel +pickets, visiting the plantations at midnight, and conversing with the +slaves. + +"I can travel all through the South, I reckon," she said. + +"Are you not afraid that the Rebels will catch you?" + +"Well, honey, I reckon they couldn't keep me," she said, with a smile. + +She had exhibited such remarkable shrewdness and finesse in her +exploits, and had rendered such valuable services to the department, +that she was held in high esteem. + +At that time, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, favorably known as a writer for +the press, was residing on Paris Island. Seated one evening by the +bright fire blazing on her hearth, I listened to her narrative of +Sojourner Truth, who had been a slave, who had penetrated the far +South in search of her lost children, who had run off many slaves to +Canada, and who went round the country, impelled by the conviction +that she had been called of God to testify against the sins of the +people; hence her name, "Sojourner Truth." + +[Illustration: The Nation's Ward.] + +The narration revealed traits of character, not unfrequently seen +in the negro race, and it will not be out of place in this chapter, +which is intended to give the position of a race at its lowest plane +of life. + +This wonderful woman lives in modern art. She is the original Libyan +Sibyl, a statue by Mr. Story, which was more impressive than all +others in the gallery of the World's Exhibition in London in 1862. +Sojourner once called upon Mrs. Stowe, who has given us this account +of the interview:[44]-- + + [Footnote 44: Atlantic Monthly, April, 1863.] + + On her head she wore a bright Madras handkerchief, arranged as a + turban, after the manner of her race. She seemed perfectly + self-possessed and at her ease,--in fact, there was almost an + unconscious superiority, not unmixed with a solemn twinkle of + humor, in the odd, composed manner in which she looked down on + me. Her whole air had at times a gloomy sort of drollery which + impressed one strangely. + + "So, this is _you_," she said. + + "Yes," I answered. + + "Well, honey, de Lord bless ye! I jes' thought I'd like to come + an' have a look at ye. You's heerd o' me, I reckon?" she added. + + "Yes, I think I have. You go about lecturing, do you not?" + + "Yes, honey, that's what I do. The Lord has made me a sign unto + this nation, an' I go round a-testifyin', an' showin' on 'em + their sins agin my people." + + So saying, she took a seat, and, stooping over and crossing her + arms on her knees, she looked down on the floor, and appeared to + fall into a sort of revery. Her great gloomy eyes and her dark + face seemed to work with some undercurrent of feeling; she sighed + deeply, and occasionally broke out,-- + + "O Lord! O Lord! Oh, the tears, an' the groans, an' the moans! O + Lord!" + + * * * * * + + By this time I thought her manner so original that it might be + worth while to call down my friends; and she seemed perfectly + well pleased with the idea. An audience was what she wanted,--it + mattered not whether high or low, learned or ignorant. She had + things to say, and was ready to say them at all times, and to any + one. + + I called down Dr. Beecher, Professor Allen, and two or three + other clergymen, who, together with my husband and family, made a + roomful. No princess could have received a drawing-room with more + composed dignity than Sojourner her audience. She stood among + them calm and erect as one of her own native palm-trees waving + alone in the desert. I presented one after another to her, and at + last said,-- + + "Sojourner, this is Dr. Beecher. He is a very celebrated + preacher." + + "_Is_ he?" she said, offering her hand in a condescending manner, + and looking down on his white head. "Ye dear lamb, I'm glad to + see ye! De Lord bless ye! I loves preachers. I'm a kind o' + preacher myself." + + "You are?" said Dr. Beecher. "Do you preach from the Bible?" + + "No, honey, can't preach from de Bible,--can't read a letter." + + "Why, Sojourner, what do you preach from, then?" + + Her answer was given with a solemn power of voice, peculiar to + herself, that hushed every one in the room. + + "When I preaches, I has jest one text to preach from, an' I + always preaches from this one. _My_ text is, 'WHEN I FOUND + JESUS.'" + + "Well, you couldn't have a better one," said one of the + ministers. + + She paid no attention to him, but stood and seemed swelling with + her own thoughts, and then began this narration:-- + + "Well, now, I'll jest have to go back, an' tell ye all about it. + Ye see, we was all brought over from Africa, father an' mother + an' I, an' a lot more of us; an' we was sold up an' down, an' + hither an' yon; an' I can 'member, when I was a little thing, not + bigger than this 'ere," pointing to her grandson, "how my ole + mammy would sit out o' doors in the evenin', an' look up at the + stars an' groan. She'd groan an' groan, an' says I to her,-- + + "'Mammy, what makes you groan so?' + + "An' she'd say,-- + + "'Matter enough, chile! I'm groanin' to think o' my poor + children: they don't know where I be, an' I don't know where they + be: they looks up at the stars, an' I looks up at the stars, but + I can't tell where they be. + + "'Now,' she said, 'chile, when you're grown up, you may be sold + way from your mother an' all your ole friends, an' have great + troubles come on ye; an' when you has these troubles come on ye, + ye jes' go to God, an' He'll help ye.' + + "An' says I to her,-- + + "'Who is God, anyhow, mammy?' + + "An' says she,-- + + "'Why, chile, you jes' look up _dar_! It's Him that made all + _dem_!' + + "Well, I didn't mind much 'bout God in them days. I grew up + pretty lively an' strong, an' could row a boat, or ride a horse, + or work round, an' do 'most anything. + + "At last I got sold away to a real hard massa an' missis. Oh, I + tell you, they _was_ hard! 'Peared like I couldn't please 'em + nohow. An' then I thought o' what my old mammy told me about God; + an' I thought I'd got into trouble, sure enough, an' I wanted to + find God, an' I heerd some one tell a story about a man that met + God on a threshin'-floor, an' I thought, 'Well an' good, I'll + have a threshin'-floor, too.' So I went down in the lot, an' I + threshed down a place real hard, an' I used to go down there + every day, an' pray an' cry with all my might, a-prayin' to the + Lord to make my massa an' missis better, but it didn't seem to do + no good; an' so says I, one day,-- + + "'O God, I been a-askin' ye, an' askin' ye, an askin' ye, for all + this long time, to make my massa an' missis better, an' you don't + do it, an' what _can_ be the reason? Why, maybe you _can't_. + Well, I shouldn't wonder ef you couldn't. Well, now, I tell you, + I'll make a bargain with you. Ef you'll help me git away from my + massa an' missis, I'll agree to be good; but ef you don't help + me, I really don't think I can be. Now,' says I,'I want to git + away; but the trouble's jest here: ef I try to git away in the + night, I can't see; an' ef I try to git away in the daytime, + they'll see me, an' be after me.' + + "Then the Lord said to me, 'Get up two or three hours afore + daylight, an' start off.' + + "An' says I, 'Thank'ee, Lord! that's a good thought.' + + "So up I got, about three o'clock in the mornin', an' I started + an' travelled pretty fast, till, when the sun rose, I was clear + away from our place an' our folks, an' out o' sight. An' then I + begun to think I didn't know nothin' where to go. So I kneeled + down, an' says I,-- + + "'Well, Lord, you've started me out, an' now please to show me + where to go.' + + "Then the Lord made a house appear to me, an' He said to me that + I was to walk on till I saw that house, an' then go in an' ask + the people to take me. An' I travelled all day, an' didn't come + to the house till late at night; but when I saw it, sure enough, + I went in, an' I told the folks the Lord sent me; an' they was + Quakers, an' real kind they was to me. They jes' took me in, an' + did for me as kind as ef I'd been one of 'em; an' after they'd + giv me supper, they took me into a room where there was a great, + tall, white bed; an' they told me to sleep there. Well, honey, I + was kind o' skeered when they left me alone with that great white + bed; 'cause I never had been in a bed in my life. It never came + into my mind they could mean me to sleep in it An' so I jes' + camped down under it, on the floor, an' then I slep' pretty well. + In the mornin', when they came in, they asked me ef I hadn't been + asleep; an' I said, 'Yes I never slep' better.' An' they said, + 'Why, you haven't been in the bed!' An' says I, 'Laws, you + didn't think o' sech a thing as my sleepin' in dat 'ar' _bed_, + did you? I never heerd o' sech a thing in my life.' + + "Well, ye see, honey, I stayed an' lived with 'em. An' now jes' + look here: instead o' keepin' my promise an' bein' good, as I + told the Lord I would, jest as soon as everything got a-goin' + easy, _I forgot all about God_. + + "Pretty well don't need no help; an' I gin' up prayin'. I lived + there two or three years, an' then the slaves in New York were + all set free, an' ole massa came to our house to make a visit, + an' he asked me ef I didn't want to go back an' see the folks on + the ole place. An' I told him I did. So he said, ef I'd jes' git + into the wagon with him, he'd carry me over. Well, jest as I was + goin' out to git into the wagon, _I met God!_ an' says I, 'O God, + I didn't know as you was so great!' An' I turned right round an' + come into the house, an' set down in my room; for 't was God all + around me. I could feel it burnin', burnin', burnin' all around + me, an' goin' through me; an' I saw I was so wicked, it seemed as + ef it would burn me up. An' I said, 'O somebody, somebody, stand + between God an' me! for it burns me!' Then, honey, when I said + so, I felt as it were somethin' like an _amberill_ [umbrella] + that came between me an' the light, an' I felt it was + _somebody_,--somebody that stood between me an' God; an' it felt + cool, like a shade; an' says I, 'Who's this that stands between + me an' God? Is it old Cato?' He was a pious old preacher; but + then I seemed to see Cato in the light, an' he was all polluted + an' vile, like me; an' I said, 'Is it old Sally?' an' then I saw + her, an' she seemed jes' so. An' then says I, '_Who_ is this?' + An' then, honey, for a while it was like the sun shinin' in a + pail o' water, when it moves up an' down; for I begun to feel 't + was somebody that loved me; an' I tried to know him. An' I said, + 'I know you! I know you! I know you!'--an' then I said, 'I don't + know you! I don't know you! I don't know you!' An' when I said, + 'I know you, I know you,' the light came; an' when I said, 'I + don't know you, I don't know you,' it went, jes' like the sun in + a pail o' water. An' finally somethin' spoke out in me an' said, + '_This is Jesus!_' An' I spoke out with all my might, an' says I, + '_This is Jesus!_ Glory be to God!' An' then the whole world grew + bright, an' the trees they waved an' waved in glory, an' every + little bit o' stone on the ground shone like glass; an' I shouted + an' said, 'Praise, praise, praise to the Lord!' An' I begun to + feel sech a love in my soul as I never felt before,--love to all + creatures. An' then, all of a sudden, it stopped, an' I said, + 'Dar's de white folks, that have abused you an' beat you an' + abused your people,--think o' them!' But then there came another + rush of love through my soul, an' I cried out loud,-'Lord, Lord, + I can love _even de white folks_!' + + "Honey, I jes' walked round an' round in a dream. Jesus loved me! + I knowed it,--I felt it. Jesus was my Jesus. Jesus would love me + always. I didn't dare tell nobody; 'twas a great secret. + Everything had been got away from me that I ever had; an' I + thought that ef I let white folks know about this, maybe they'd + get _Him_ away,--so I said, 'I'll keep this close. I won't let + any one know.'" + + "But, Sojourner, had you never been told about Jesus Christ?" + + "No, honey. I hadn't heerd no preachin',--been to no meetin'. + Nobody hadn't told me. I'd kind o' heerd of Jesus, but thought he + was like Gineral Lafayette, or some o' them. But one night there + was a Methodist meetin' somewhere in our parts, an' I went; an' + they got up an' begun for to tell der 'speriences; an' de fust + one begun to speak. I started, 'cause he told about Jesus. 'Why,' + says I to myself, 'dat man's found him too!' An' another got up + an' spoke, an' I said, 'He's found him, too!' An' finally I said, + 'Why, they all know him!' I was so happy! An' then they sung this + hymn": (Here Sojourner sang, in a strange, cracked voice, but + evidently with all her soul and might, mispronouncing the + English, but seeming to derive as much elevation and comfort from + bad English as from good):-- + + "There is a holy city, + A world of light above, + Above the stairs and regions,[45] + Built by the God of love." + + [Footnote 45: Starry regions.] + + * * * * * + + "Well, den ye see, after a while I thought I'd go back an' see de + folks on de ole place. Well, you know, de law had passed dat de + culled folks was all free; an' my old missis, she had a daughter + married about dis time who went to live in Alabama,--an' what did + she do but give her my son, a boy about de age of dis yer, for + her to take down to Alabama? When I got back to de ole place, + they told me about it, an' I went right up to see ole missis, an' + says I,-- + + "'Missis, have you been an' sent my son away down to Alabama?' + + "'Yes, I have,' says she; 'he's gone to live with your young + missis.' + + "'O Missis,' says I, 'how could you do it?' + + "'Poh!' says she, 'what a fuss you make about a little nigger. + Got more of 'em now than you know what to do with.' + + "I tell you, I stretched up. I felt as tall as the world! + + "'Missis, says I, '_I'll have my son back agin!_' + + "She laughed. + + "'_You_ will, you nigger? How you goin' to do it? You ha'n't got + no money.' + + "'No, Missis,--but _God_ has,--an' you'll see He'll help + me!'--an' I turned round an' went out. + + "O, but I _was_ angry to have her speak to me so haughty an' so + scornful, as ef my chile wasn't worth anything. I said to God, 'O + Lord, render unto her double! It was a dreadful prayer, an' I + didn't know how true it would come. + + "Well, I didn't rightly know which way to turn; but I went to the + Lord, an' I said to Him, 'O Lord, ef I was as rich as you be, an' + you was as poor as I be, I'd help you,--you _know_ I would; and, + oh, do help me!' An' I felt sure then that He would. + + "Well, I talked with people, an' they said I must git the case + before a grand jury. So I went into the town when they was + holdin' a court, to see ef I could find any grand jury. An' I + stood round the court-house, an' when they was a-comin' out, I + walked right up to the grandest-lookin' one I could see, an' says + I to him,-- + + "'Sir, be you a grand jury?' + + "An' then he wanted to know why I asked, an' I told him all about + it; an' he asked me all sorts of questions, an' finally he says + to me,-- + + "'I think, ef you pay me ten dollars, that I'd agree to get your + son for you.' An' says he, pointin' to a house over the way, 'You + go 'long an' tell your story to the folks in that house, an' I + guess they'll give you the money.' + + "Well, I went, an' I told them, an' they gave me twenty dollars; + an' then I thought to myself, 'Ef ten dollars will git him, + twenty dollars will git him _sartin_.' So I carried it to the man + all out, an' said,-- + + "'Take it all,--only be sure an' git him.' + + "Well, finally they got the boy brought back; an' then they tried + to frighten him, an' to make him say that I wasn't his mammy, an' + that he didn't know me; but they couldn't make it out. They gave + him to me, an' I took him an' carried him home; an' when I came + to take off his clothes, there was his poor little back all + covered with scars an' hard lumps, where they flogged him. + + "Well, you see, honey, I told you how I prayed the Lord to render + unto her double. Well, it came true; for I was up at ole missis' + house not long after, an' I heerd 'em readin' a letter to her how + her daughter's husband had murdered her,--how he'd thrown her + down an' stamped the life out of her, when he was in liquor; an' + my ole missis, she giv a screech, an' fell flat on the floor. + Then says I, 'O Lord, I didn't mean all that! You took me up too + quick.' + + "Well, I went in an' tended that poor critter all night. She was + out of her mind,--a-cryin', an' callin' for her daughter; an' I + held her poor ole head on my arm, an' watched for her as ef she'd + been my babby. An' I watched by her, an' took care on her all + through her sickness after that, an' she died in my arms, poor + thing!" + +In the spring of 1851, a Woman's Rights Convention was held in Akron, +Ohio. The newspapers had ridiculed such conventions, and they were +looked upon as legitimate subjects for ridicule. They had been +vilified and caricatured, but there was a desire through that section +of the country to hear what the women would have to say for +themselves, and the church in which the meeting was held was +consequently crowded. Sojourner Truth was there. Mrs. Gage was +president of the meeting. She said:-- + + "The leaders of the movement, tremblingly alive to every + appearance of evil that might spring up in their midst, were many + of them almost thrown into panics on the first day of the + meeting, by seeing a tall, gaunt black woman, in a gray dress and + uncouth sun-bonnet, march deliberately into the church and up the + aisle with an air of a queen, and take her seat on the pulpit + steps. A buzz of disapprobation was heard all over the house, and + such words as these fell upon listening ears: 'An Abolition + affair! Woman's Rights and Niggers!' 'We told you so!' 'Go it, + old darkey!' + + "The second day the work waxed warm. Methodist, Baptist, + Episcopal, and Presbyterian, and Universalist ministers came in + to hear and discuss the resolutions brought forth. One claimed + superior rights and privileges for man because of superior + intellect; another, because of the manhood of Christ. If God had + desired the equality of woman, he would have given some token of + his will through the birth, life, and death of the Saviour. + Another gave a theological view of the sin of our first mother. + There were few women in those days who dared to speak in + meeting'; and the august teachers of the people, with long-winded + bombast, were seeming to get the better of us, while the boys in + the galleries and sneerers among the pews were enjoying hugely + the discomfiture, as they supposed, of the strong-minded. Some of + the tender-skinned friends were growing indignant and on the + point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere of the Convention + betokened a storm. + + "Slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who + till now had hardly lifted her head. + + "'Don't let her speak!' gasped a half-dozen in my ear. She moved + slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her + feet, and turned her great piercing eyes upon me. There was a + hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. I rose and + announced 'Sojourner Truth,' and begged the audience to keep + silence a few moments. The tumult subsided at once, and every eye + was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet + high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air like one in a + dream. At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in + deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the + house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows. + + "'Well, chillen, whar dar's so much racket dar must be som'ing + out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggas of de Souf and de + women of de Norf, all a talking about de rights, de white men + will be in a fix pretty soon. + + "'But what's all dis here talking 'bout? Dat man ober dar say dat + woman needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, + and to hab de best place eberywhar. Nobody eber helps me into + carriages, or ober ditches or ober mud-puddles, or gives me any + best place.' Raising herself to her full height, and her voice to + a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked, 'And arn't I a woman? + Look at me. Look at my arm,' and she laid bare her right arm to + her shoulder, showing its tremendous muscular power. 'I have + ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could + head me; and arn't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chillen, and + seen most of 'em sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with + a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard; and arn't I a woman? Den + dey talks about dis ting in de head. What dis dey call it?' + 'Intellect,' whispered some one near her. 'Dat's it, honey. + What's dat got to do wid woman's rights or niggers' rights? If my + cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you + be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?' + + "She pointed her significant finger and sent a keen glance at the + minister who had made the argument. The cheering was long and + loud. + + "'Den dat little man in black, dar, he say woman can't have as + much right as man, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman. _Whar did your + Christ come from?_' + + "Rolling thunder could not have stilled that crowd as did those + deep and wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched + arm and eye of fire. Raising her voice she repeated, 'Whar did + your Christ come from? From God and a woman. Man had nothing to + do with him.' + + "O what a rebuke she gave the little man! Turning again to + another objector, she took up the defence of Mother Eve. It was + pointed, and witty, and solemn, and eliciting at almost every + sentence deafening applause; and she ended by asserting that 'if + de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world + upside down, all herself alone, all dese togeder,' and she + glanced her eye over us, 'ought to be able to turn it back again + and git it right side up again; and now dey is asking to, the men + better let 'em. Bleeged to you for hearin' me, and now old + Sojourner ha'n't got notin' more to say.' + + "Amid roars of applause she turned to her corner, leaving more + than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with + gratitude. She had taken us up in her great strong arms and + carried us over the slough of difficulty, turning the whole tide + in our favor. I have never in my life seen anything like the + magical influence that subdued the mobbish spirit of the day and + turned the jibes and sneers of an excited crowd into notes of + respect and admiration. Hundreds rushed up to shake hands with + the glorious old mother and bid her God speed." + +The enlistment of negro troops began at Port Royal in the fall of +1862, and by midwinter the First South Carolina, commanded by Colonel +Higginson, had its ranks nearly full. There was strong prejudice in +the army against employing negroes. The New Jersey troops in the +department of the South were bitterly hostile. Colonel Stevenson, of +Massachusetts, a gallant officer, having imprudently given utterance +to his feelings upon the subject, was arrested by General Hunter, +which caused a great deal of excitement in the army, and which +attracted the attention of the country to the whole subject. + +The day after the arrest of Colonel Stevenson, a scene occurred in the +cabin of the steamer Wyoming, plying between Beaufort and Hilton Head, +which is given as a historical note. The party consisted of several +ladies, one or two chaplains, fifteen or twenty officers, four +newspaper correspondents, and several civilians. + +A young captain in the Tenth New Jersey opened the conversation. + +"I wish," said he, "that every negro was compelled to take off his +hat to a white man. I consider him an inferior being." + +"You differ from General Washington, who took off his hat and saluted +a negro," said one of the correspondents. + +"General Washington could afford to do it," said the captain, a little +staggered. + +"Are we to understand that in this age a captain cannot afford to +equal a negro in politeness?" was the provoking question of the +correspondent. + +"Do you want to be buried with a nigger, and have your bones touch his +in the grave?" + +"As to that I have no feeling whatever. I do not suppose that it will +make much difference to the bones of either party." + +"Well, when I die I want twenty niggers packed all around me," shouted +the captain, excitedly, turning to the crowd to see the effect of his +sarcasm. + +"I presume, sir, you can be accommodated if you can get the consent of +the twenty negroes." + +The captain saw that he was losing his argument by losing his temper, +and in calmer tones said: "I want to see the negro kept in his proper +place. I am perfectly willing he should use the shovel, but it is an +outrage upon the white man,--an insult to have him carry a musket." + +"I would just as soon see a negro shot as to get shot myself. I am +perfectly willing that all the negroes should help put down the +Rebellion," said the correspondent. + +"I am not willing to have them act as soldiers. Put them in the +ditches, where they belong. They are an inferior race." + +A second correspondent broke in. "Who are you, sir?" said he; "you who +condemn the government? You forget that you as a soldier have nothing +to say about the orders of the President or the laws of Congress. You +say that the negro is an inferior being; what do you say of Frederick +Douglass, who has raised himself from slavery to a high position? Your +straps were placed on your shoulders, not because you had done +anything to merit them, but because you had friends to intercede for +you,--using their political influence,--or because you had money, and +could purchase your commission. You hate the negro, and you want to +keep him in slavery, and you allow your prejudice to carry you to the +verge of disloyalty to the government which pays you for unworthily +wearing your shoulder-straps." + +The captain and the entire company listened in silence while another +correspondent took up the question. + +"Gentleman, you denounce the negro; you say that he is an inferior +being. You forget that we white men claim to stand on the highest +plane of civilization,--that we are of a race which for a thousand +years has been in the front rank,--that the negro has been bruised, +crushed, trodden down,--denied all knowledge, all right, everything; +that we have compelled him to labor for us, and we have eaten the +fruit of his labors. Can we expect him to be our equal in acquisition +of knowledge? Where is your sense of fair play? Are you afraid that +the negro will push you from your position? Are you afraid that if you +allow him to aid in putting down the Rebellion, that he too will +become a free man, and have aspirations like your own, and in time +express toward you the same _chivalric_ sentiments which you express +toward him? How much do you love your country if you thus make +conditions of loyalty?" + +The captain made no reply. The whole company was silent. There were +smiles from the ladies. The captain went out upon the deck, evidently +regretting that the conversation had fallen upon so exciting a topic. + +The First South Carolina Regiment of loyal blacks was in camp on +Smith's plantation, four miles out from Beaufort. We rode over a sandy +plain, through old cotton-fields, pine-barrens, and jungles, past a +dozen negro-huts, where the long tresses of moss waved mournfully in +the breeze. The men had gathered a boat-load of oysters, and were +having a feast,--old and young, gray-headed men, and curly-haired +children, were huddled round the pans, steaming and smoking over the +pitch-knot fires. + +Smith's plantation is historic ground,--the place where the Huguenots +built a fort long before the Mayflower cast anchor in Cape Cod harbor. +The plantation was well known to the colored people before the war as +a place to be dreaded,--a place for hard work, unmerciful whippings, +with very little to eat. The house and the negro quarters were in a +delightful grove of live-oaks, whose evergreen leaves, wide-spreading +branches, thick foliage, and gnarled trunks, gave cooling shade. In +front of the house, leading down to the fort, is a magnolia walk. +Behind the house, in a circular basin,--a depression often found on +sandy plains,--was the garden, surrounded by a thick-set, fantastic +palmetto hedge. The great oak between the house and the garden, was +the whipping-post. One of the branches was smooth, as if a swing had +been slung there, and the bark had been worn by the rope swaying to +the merry chattering and light-hearted laughter of children. Not that, +however. There the offender of plantation law,--of a master's +caprice,--had paid the penalty of disobedience; there men, women, and +children, suspended by the thumbs, stripped of their clothing, +received the lash. Their moans, groans, cries, and prayers fell +unheeding on overseer, master, and mistress,--but heard and heeded +they were in heaven, and kept in remembrance. And the hour of +retribution had come, the time of deliverance was near. + +What a choice spot for the punishment of the criminal! close to the +house,--where the master, the mistress, their sons and daughters, the +infant at the nurse's breast, could see the blood fly. + +The plantation jail was in the loft of the granary, beneath a +pitch-pine roof, which, under the heat of a midsummer sun, was like an +oven. There was one little window in the gable for the admission of +air. There were iron rings and bolts in the beams and rafters, where +the slaves were chained. + +The owner of the plantation was not unmindful of the religious wants +of his fellow-Christians. West of the house was the plantation chapel, +a whitewashed building of rough boards, twenty feet by thirty, with a +rude belfry, where hung the plantation bell, which on week-days was +rung at daybreak. Charmingly its music floated over the blue waters of +Beaufort Bay, mingling with the morning winds, swaying the magnolia +branches, calling the hands--men, women, and children--to their +unrequited tasks in the cotton-field. On Sunday it called them, with +silvery lips and melting sounds, to come and worship: not to study +God's Word, not to bow down with him who--by the "divine missionary +institution," as the Southern doctors of divinity called it, was their +master, ordained of God--could separate husband and wife, or toss in +a baby to boot, in a bargain; not to bow down with him, for he +worshipped in Beaufort, in the ancient church;--he was a chivalric son +of South Carolina, riding up in his coach, and leaving his four +hundred fellow-disciples to grope their way to heaven, directed by a +pious bondman, as best they might. + +If one wish for a flood of reflections, he will be overwhelmed on such +a spot. + +The First South Carolina was at drill beneath the oak, drilling as +skirmishers, advancing, retiring, rallying, deploying, loading and +firing, with precision. They had already been under fire in an +expedition up one of the Georgia rivers. + +I had breakfasted with the captain of the steamer Darlington, which +was used as a transport on the occasion, who showed me the numerous +bullet-marks on the steamer. + +"How did the negroes stand fire?" I asked. "They fought splendidly, +sir." + +It was no longer an experiment whether they would make good soldiers. +They had demonstrated it by their courage and patriotism. The +antipathy which at the beginning was rampant quickly toned down. The +deportment of the colored soldiers under insult, their bravery in +battle, compelled respect from all who had doubted their heroism or +fidelity. + +In the attack upon Jacksonville, which occurred on the 12th of March, +an old patriarch--too old to do any fighting--harangued the troops, +and told them that every one who should be killed in a cause so holy +would be pretty sure of stepping directly into heaven; but that if +they hung back and showed that they were cowards, there wasn't much +hope of eternal life for such! He was greatly venerated by the +soldiers, for he had been a preacher. + +[Illustration: A bird's-nest Bank.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1863.] + +After vexatious delays, the ironclad fleet was ready for action. It +was deemed desirable to test their armor, before attacking Sumter, by +making a reconnoissance of Fort McAllister, on the Ogeechee. + +It was late on the afternoon of March 1st, when the steamer George +Washington left Hilton Head for a trip to Ossabow Sound. The Passaic, +Montauk, Nahant, and Patapsco, ironclads of the Monitor pattern, were +already there. The Washington took the "inside" route up Wilmington +River and through the Rumley marshes. The gunboat Marblehead was +guarding the entrance to the river. It was past sunset, and the tide +was ebbing. + +"You had better lie here till morning; there are indications that we +shall hear from those fellows up there," said the commander of the +Marblehead. Looking westward into the golden light of the departing +day, we could see the spires of Savannah, also nearer the Rebel +gunboats moving up and down the river. + +The anchor dropped, the chain rattled through the hawsehole, the +lights were extinguished, the guns put in trim; the lookout took his +position; the sentinels passed to and fro, peering into the darkness; +a buoy was attached to the cable, that it might be slipped in an +instant; all ears listened to catch the sound of muffled oars or +plashing paddle-wheels, but there was no sound save the piping of the +curlew in the marshes and the surging of the tide along the reedy +shores. At three o'clock in the morning we were away from our +anchorage, steaming up Wilmington River. The moonlight lay in a golden +flood along the waters, revealing the distant outline of the Rebel +earthworks. How charming the trip! exhilarating, and sufficiently +exciting, under the expectation of falling in with a hostile gunboat, +to bring every nerve into action. It was sunrise when the Washington +emerged from the marshes and came to anchor among the ironclads. The +Montauk had just completed a glorious work,--the destruction of the +Nashville. We had heard the roar of her guns, and the quick, +ineffectual firing from Fort McAllister. + +The Nashville, which began her piratical depredations by burning the +ship Harvey Birch, ran into Savannah, where she had been cooped up +several months. She had been waiting many weeks for an opportunity to +run out to sea again. On Saturday morning, the last day of February, a +dense fog hung over the marshes, the islands, and inlets of Ossabow. +The Montauk lay at the junction of the Great and Little Ogeechee +Rivers, when the fog lifted and the Nashville was discovered aground +above the fort. + +The eyes of Captain Worden sparkled as he gave the command to prepare +for action. He had not forgotten his encounter with the Merrimack. The +Montauk moved up stream, came within range of the fort, which opened +from all its guns, but to which Captain Worden gave no heed. Taking a +position about three quarters of a mile from the Nashville and half a +mile from the fort, he opened with both guns upon the grounded +steamer, to which the Nashville replied with her hundred-pounder. The +third shell from the Montauk exploded inside the steamer, setting her +cotton on fire. The flames spread with great rapidity. Her crew fled +to the marshes, the magazine soon exploded, and the career of the +Nashville was ended. + +At high tide on the morning of the 3d of March the Passaic, Patapsco, +and Nahant moved up the Ogeechee, and opened fire on the fort, to test +the working of their machinery. The fire was furious from the fort, +but slow and deliberate from the ironclads. Several mortar-schooners +threw shells in the direction of the fort. The monitors were obliged +to retire with the tide. They were struck repeatedly, but the balls +fell harmlessly against the iron plating. It was evident that at the +distance of three fourths of a mile, or a half-mile even, the +ironclads could withstand the heaviest guns, while on the other hand +the fire of the monitors must necessarily be very slow. The attack was +made, not with the expectation of reducing the fort, but to test the +monitors before the grand attack upon Fort Sumter. + +The first attack on Sumter occurred on the 7th of April. The fort +stood out in bold relief, the bright noon-sun shining full upon its +southern face, fronting the shallow water towards Morris Island, +leaving in shadow its eastern wall toward Moultrie. The air was clear, +and we who were on shipboard just beyond the reach of the Rebel guns, +looking inland with our glasses, could see the city, the spires, the +roofs of the houses thronged with people. A three-masted ship lay at +the wharves, the Rebel rams were fired up, sail-boats were scudding +across the harbor, running down toward Sumter, looking seaward, then +hastening back again like little children, expectant and restless on +great occasions, eager for something to be done. + +The attacking fleet was in the main ship-channel,--eight little black +specks but little larger than the buoys which tossed beside them, and +one black, oblong block, the New Ironsides, the flag-ship of the +fleet. It was difficult to comprehend that beneath the surface of the +sea there were men as secure from the waves as bugs in a bottle. It +was as strange and romantic as the stories which charmed the Arabian +chieftains in the days of Haroun Al Raschid. + +The ironclads were about one third of a mile apart, in the following +order:-- + + Weehawken, Patapsco, Nantucket, + Passaic, Ironsides, Nahant, + Montauk, Catskill, Keokuk. + +The Keokuk was built by a gentleman who had full faith in her +invulnerability. She was to be tested under fire from the Rebel +batteries before accepted by the government. She had sloping sides, +two turrets, and was built for a ram. The opinions generally +entertained were that she would prove a failure. + +General Hunter courteously assigned the steamer Nantucket to the +gentlemen connected with the press, giving them complete control of +the steamer, to go where they pleased, knowing that there was an +intense desire not only in the North, but throughout the world, to +know the result of the first contest between ironclads and +fortifications. The Nantucket was a small side-wheel steamer of light +draft, and we were able to run in and out over the bar at will. Just +before the signal was given for the advance we ran alongside the +flag-ship. The crew were hard at work hoisting shot and shells from +the hold to the deck. The upper deck was bedded with sand-bags, the +pilot-house wrapped with cable. All the light hamper was taken down +and stowed away. The iron plating was slushed with grease. Rebel +soldiers were marching across Morris Island, within easy range. A +shell would have sent them in haste behind the sand-hills; but heavier +work was at hand, and they were harmless just then. + +It was past one o'clock when the signal for sailing was displayed from +the flag-ship, and the Weehawken, with a raft at her prow, intended to +remove torpedoes, answered the signal, raised her anchor, and went +steadily in with the tide, followed by the others, which maintained +their respective positions, distant from each other about one third or +a half-mile. In this battle of ironclads there are no clouds of +canvas, no beautiful models of marine architecture, none of the +stateliness and majesty which have marked hundreds of great naval +engagements. There are no human beings in sight,--no propelling power +is visible. There are simply eight black specks and one oblong block +gliding along the water, like so many bugs. + +But Sumter has discovered them, and discharges in quick succession +nine signal guns, to announce to all Rebeldom that the attack is to be +made. Morris Island is mysteriously silent as the Weehawken advances, +although she is within range. Past Fort Wagner, straight on toward +Moultrie the Weehawken moves. The silence is prolonged. It is almost +painful,--the calm before the storm, the hushed stillness before the +burst of the tornado! + +There comes a single puff of smoke from Moultrie,--one deep +reverberation. The silence is broken,--the long months of waiting are +over. The shot flies across the water, skipping from wave to wave, +tossing up fountains, hopping over the deck of the Weehawken, and +rolling along the surface with a diminishing ricochet, sinking at last +close upon the Morris Island beach. Fort Wagner continues the story, +sending a shot at the Weehawken, which also trips lightly over the +deck, and tosses up a water-spout far toward Moultrie. The Weehawken, +unmindful of this play, opens its ports, and sends a fifteen-inch +solid shot toward Sumter, which, like those that have been hurled +toward her, takes a half-dozen steps, making for a moment its +footprints on the water, and crashes against the southwest face of the +fort, followed a moment later by its eleven-inch companion. The vessel +is for a moment enveloped in the smoke of its guns. Bravely done! +There comes an answer. Moultrie, with the tremendous batteries on +either side by the hotel and east of it, and toward the inner harbor, +bursts in an instant into sheets of flame and clouds of sulphurous +smoke. There is one long roll of thunder, peal on peal; deep, heavy +reverberations and sharp concussions, rattling the windows of our +steamers, and striking us at the heart like hammer strokes. + +The ocean boils! Columns of spray are tossed high in air, as if a +hundred submarine fountains were let instantly on, or a school of +whales were trying which could spout highest. There is a screaming in +the air, a buzzing and humming never before so loud. + +At five minutes before three Moultrie began the fire. Ten minutes have +passed. The thunder has rolled incessantly from Sullivan's Island. +Thus far Sumter has been silent, but now it is enveloped with a cloud. +A moment it is hid from view--first a line of light along its parapet, +and thick folds of smoke unrolling like fleeces of wool. Other flashes +burst from the casemates, and the clouds creep down the wall to the +water, then slowly float away to mingle with that rising from the +furnaces in the sand along the shore of Sullivan's Island. Then comes +a calm,--a momentary cessation. The Rebel gunners wait for the breeze +to clear away the cloud, that they may obtain a view of the monitor, +to see if it have not been punched into a sieve, and if it be not +already disappearing beneath the waves. But the Weehawken is there, +moving straight on up the channel, turning now toward Moultrie. To her +it has been only a handful of peas or pebbles. Some have rattled +against her turret, some upon her deck, some against her sides. +Instead of going to the bottom, she revolves her turret, and fire two +shots at Moultrie, moving on the while to gain the south eastern wall +of Sumter. + +Again the forts and batteries begin, joined now by Cummings Point and +long ranges from Fort Johnson. All around the Weehawken the shot +flash, plunge, hop, skip, falling like the rain-drops of a summer +shower. Unharmed, undaunted, she moves straight on, feeling her way, +moving slowly, with grappling-irons dragging from the raft in front to +catch up torpedoes. It is for the Weehawken to clear the channel, and +make smooth sailing for the remainder of the fleet. + +To get the position of the Weehawken at this moment, draw a line from +Cummings Point to Moultrie, and stick a pin on the line a little +nearer to Moultrie than to Morris Island. It is about one half a mile +from Moultrie, about one third of a mile from Sumter. + +There she is,--the target of probably two hundred and fifty or three +hundred guns, of the heaviest calibre, at close range, rifled cannon +throwing forged bolts and steel-pointed shot, turned and polished to a +hair in the lathes of English workshops,--advancing still, undergoing +her first ordeal, a trial unparalleled in history! + +For fifteen minutes she meets the ordeal alone, but the channel found +to be clear, the Passaic, the Montauk, and Patapsco follow, closing up +the line, each coming in range and delivering their fire upon Sumter. +At twenty minutes past three the four monitors composing the right +wing of the fleet are all engaged, each pressing on to reach the +northeastern face of the fort, where the wall is weakest, each +receiving as they arrive at particular points a terrible fire, +seemingly from all points of the compass,--points selected by trial +and practice indicated by buoys. They pass the destructive latitudes +unharmed. Seventy guns a minute are counted, followed by moments of +calm and scattering shots, but only to break out again in a prolonged +roar of thunder. They press on, making nearer and nearer to Sumter, +narrowing the distance to one thousand yards, eight hundred, six, +five, four hundred yards, and send their fifteen-inch shot crashing +against the fort, with deliberate, effective fire. + +At first the fort and the batteries and Moultrie seem to redouble +their efforts in increasing the fire, but after an hour there is a +perceptible diminution of the discharges from the fort. After each +shot from the ironclads, clouds of dust can be discerned rising above +the fort and mingling with the smoke. Steadying my glass in the lulls +of the strife, watching where the southwest breeze whiffs away the +smoke, I can see increasing pock-marks and discolorations upon the +walls, as if there had been a sudden breaking out of cutaneous +disease. + +The flag-ship, drawing seventeen feet of water, was obliged to move +cautiously, feeling her way up the channel. Just as she came within +range of Moultrie her keel touched bottom on the east side of the +channel; fearing that she would run aground the anchor was let go. +Finding the vessel was clear, the Admiral again moved on, signalling +the left wing to press forward to the aid of the four already engaged. +The Ironsides kept the main channel, which brought her within about +one thousand yards of Moultrie and Sumter. She fired four guns at +Moultrie, and received in return a heavy fire. Again she touched +bottom, and then turned her bow across the channel toward Sumter, +firing two guns at Cummings Point. After this weak and ineffectual +effort, the tide rapidly ebbing the while, she again got clear, but +gave up the attempt to advance. The Catskill, Nantucket, Nahant, and +Keokuk pressed up with all possible speed to aid the four which were +receiving a tremendous hammering. + +See them sweep past the convergent points and radial lines! See the +bubbling of the water,--the straight columns thrown up in the +sunlight,--the flashes, the furrows along the waves, as if a plough +driven with lightning speed were turning up the water! They are all +close up to Sumter, within four or five hundred yards. Behind them are +Moultrie and Fort Ripley, and Fort Beauregard, flashing, smoking, +bellowing; in front is Sumter, and in the background are Fort Wagner +and Cummings Point. Across the shallow waters is Fort Johnson; still +farther off to the right is Castle Pinckney, too far away to do +damage. From all sides the balls fall around the fleet. Calmly and +deliberately the fire is returned,--with a deliberation which must +have commanded the admiration of the enemy. + +The Keokuk presented a fair mark with her sloping sides and double +turrets. Her commander, Captain Rhind, although not having entire +confidence in her invulnerability, was determined to come to close +quarters. She was not to be outdone by the ironclads who had led the +advance. Swifter than they, drawing less water, she made haste to get +up with the Weehawken. The guns which had been trained upon the others +were brought to bear upon her. Where she sailed the fire was fiercest. +Her plating was but pine wood to the steel projectiles, flying with +almost the swiftness of a minnie bullet. Shot which glanced harmlessly +from the others penetrated her angled sides. Her after turret was +pierced in a twinkling, and a two-hundred pound projectile dropped +inside. A heavy shot crashed into the surgeon's dispensary, and mixed +emetics, cathartics, pills and powders not according to prescriptions. +The enemy noticed the effect of his shot and increased his fire. +Captain Rhind was not easily daunted. He opened his forward turret and +gave three shots in return for the three or four hundred rained around +him. The sea with every passing wave swept through the shot-holes, and +he was forced to retire or go to the bottom with all on board. + +The tide was ebbing fast, and the signal for retiring was displayed by +the flag-ship. It was raised, seemingly, at an inopportune moment, for +the fire of the fort had sensibly diminished, while that from the +ironclads was steady and true. It was past five o'clock, almost +sunset, when the fleet came back. Never had there been such a +hammering of iron and smashing of masonry as during two and a half +hours of that afternoon. The gunboat Bibb, the Ben Deford, and the +Nantasket had taken position in the North Channel at a respectful +distance off Sullivan's Island. A mile or two east of Moultrie is +Beach Inlet, where a powerful battery had been erected. While intently +gazing on the contest, the correspondents and all hands on the other +steamers were startled by hearing the whiff and whiz of a rifle +projectile, which came diagonally across the Nantasket, across the bow +of the Ben Deford, falling into the sea about one hundred yards ahead. +There was a laughable cuddling down and scampering for the +coal-bunkers, the engine-room, and between decks. There was an +immediate hauling in of cables and motion of paddle-wheels. A second +shot in admirable line fell short. We being at anchor and within +range, the Rebel gunner had made nice calculations. He had already +fired a half-dozen shots, which had fallen far ahead unnoticed. +Cummings Point also tried to reach us with shells, but failed. One of +the correspondents claimed that the press completely silenced a +battery--by getting out of the way! + +Steaming into the retiring fleet we ran alongside the Keokuk. A glance +at her sides showed how terrible the fire had been. Her smoke-stack, +turrets, sides,--all were scarred, gashed, pierced through and +through. An inspection revealed ninety-four short-marks. There were +none below the water-line, but each wave swept through the holes on +the sides. Her pumps were going and she was kept free. Only three of +her officers and crew were wounded, although she had been so badly +perforated. + +"All right, nobody hurt, ready for them again," was the hearty +response of Captain George Rodgers, of the Catskill, as I stepped upon +the slushed deck of that vessel and grasped the hand of her wide-awake +commander. The Catskill had received about thirty shots. One +two-hundred-pounder, thrown evidently from a barbette gun, had fallen +with tremendous force upon the deck, bending, but not breaking or +penetrating the iron. On the sides, on the turret, and on the +pilot-house were indentations like saucers, but there was no sign of +serious damage. + +The Nahant came down to her anchorage with a gashed smoke-stack. Going +on board, we found that eleven of her officers and crew had received +contusions from the flying of bolt-heads in the turret. One shot had +jammed the lower ridge of her turret, interfering with its revolution. +She had been struck forty times, but--aside from the loss of a few +bolt-heads, a diminished draft to her chimney, and the slight jam upon +the turret--her armor was intact. + +The other monitors had each a few bolts started. Four gun-carriages +needed repairs,--injured not by the enemy's shot, but by their own +recoil. One shot had ripped up the plating of the Patapsco and pierced +the wood-work beneath. This was the only shot, out of the twenty-five +hundred or three thousand supposed to have been fired from the forts +which penetrated the monitors! + +The Weehawken had received three heavy shot upon her side, the +indentations close together. The plates were badly bent, but the shot +had fallen as harmlessly as pebbles upon the side of a barn. + +The Ironsides had received thirty balls, all of which had been turned +by her armor. + +One hundred and fifty-three shots were fired by the fleet, against +twenty-five hundred or three thousand by the Rebels. The monitors were +struck in the aggregate about three hundred and fifty times. + +About six thousand pounds of iron were hurled at Fort Sumter during +the short time the fleet was engaged, and probably five or six times +that amount of metal, or thirty thousand pounds, was thrown at the +fleet. The casualties on board the fleet were,--none killed; one +mortally, one seriously, and thirteen slightly wounded. + +Captain Ammen, commanding the Patapsco, was confident that the last +shots which he fired passed through the wall of the fort. He and other +commanders obeyed the signal for retiring with great reluctance. They +saw that the fire of the fort was growing weaker,--that the wall was +crumbling. It is now known that the Rebel commander, General Ripley, +was on the point of evacuating the fort when the signal was made for +the fleet to withdraw. The wall was badly shattered, and a few more +shots would have made it a complete ruin. + +The lower casemates were soon after filled with sand-bags, the guns +having been removed. The walls were buttressed with palmetto logs, and +the fort lost nearly all of its original features, but was made +stronger than ever. + +The Keokuk sunk in the morning on the bar. The sea was rough, and the +water poured through the shot-holes with every wave, so that it was +found impossible to keep her afloat. + +Admiral Dupont decided not to renew the attack, which caused a good +deal of murmuring among the soldiers in the fleet. The ironclads +returned to Hilton Head for repairs, the expedition was abandoned, and +Sumter was left to float its flag in defiance of Federal authority. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA. + + +[Sidenote: June, 1863.] + +The second invasion of the North was planned immediately after the +battle of Chancellorsville. The movement of General Lee was upon a +great circle,--down the valley of the Shenandoah, crossing the Potomac +at Williamsport with his infantry and artillery, while General Stuart, +with the main body of Rebel cavalry, kept east of the Blue Ridge to +conceal the advance of the infantry. + +General Hooker, at Fredericksburg, the first week in June, received +positive information that Lee was breaking up his camp, and that some +of his divisions were moving towards Culpepper. The dust-clouds which +rose above the tree-tops indicated that the Rebel army was in motion. +The Army of the Potomac immediately broke up its camp and moved to +Catlett's Station, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, where +intelligence was received that Stuart had massed the Rebel cavalry at +Brandy Station for a raid in Pennsylvania. + +General Pleasanton, commanding the cavalry, was sent with his entire +force to look into the matter. He fell upon Stuart on the 9th of June, +on the broad, open plains along the Rappahannock. A desperate battle +ensued,--probably it was the greatest cavalry battle of the war,--in +which Stuart was driven back upon the Rebel infantry, which was +hurried up from Culpepper to his support. The object of the attack was +accomplished,--Stuart's raid was postponed and Lee's movement +unmasked. On the same day, Lee's advanced divisions reached +Winchester, attacked General Milroy, captured the town, the cannon in +the fortifications, and moved on to the Potomac. + +[Illustration: Cavalry charge.] + +Hastening to Pennsylvania, I became an observer of the great events +which followed. The people of the Keystone State in 1862 rushed to +arms when Lee crossed the Potomac, but in 1863 they were strangely +apathetic,--intent upon conveying their property to a place of +security, instead of defending their homes. In '62 the cry was, +"Drive the enemy from our soil!" in '63, "Where shall we hide our +goods?" + +Harrisburg was a Bedlam when I entered it on the 15th of June. + +The railroad stations were crowded with an excited people,--men, +women, and children,--with trunks, boxes, bundles; packages tied up in +bed-blankets and quilts; mountains of baggage,--tumbling it into the +cars, rushing here and there in a frantic manner; shouting, screaming, +as if the Rebels were about to dash into the town and lay it in ashes. +The railroad authorities were removing their cars and engines. The +merchants were packing up their goods; housewives were secreting their +silver; everywhere there was a hurly-burly. The excitement was +increased when a train of army wagons came rumbling over the long +bridge across the Susquehannah, accompanied by a squadron of cavalry. +It was Milroy's train, which had been ordered to make its way into +Pennsylvania. + +"The Rebels will be here to-morrow or next day," said the teamsters. + +At the State-House, men in their shirt-sleeves were packing papers +into boxes. Every team, every horse and mule and handcart in the town +were employed. There was a steady stream of teams thundering across +the bridge; farmers from the Cumberland valley, with their household +furniture piled upon the great wagons peculiar to the locality; +bedding, tables, chairs, their wives and children perched on the top; +kettles and pails dangling beneath; boys driving cattle and horses, +excited, worried, fearing they knew not what. The scene was painful, +yet ludicrous. + +General Couch was in command at Harrisburg. He had but a few troops. +He erected fortifications across the river, planted what few cannon he +had, and made preparations to defend the place. + +General Lee was greatly in need of horses, and his cavalrymen, under +General Jenkins, ravaged the Cumberland Valley. A portion visited +Chambersburg; another party, Mercersburg; another, Gettysburg, before +any infantry entered the State. + +Ewell's corps of Lee's army crossed the Potomac, a division at +Williamsport, and another at Shepherdstown, on the 22d of June, and +came together at Hagerstown. The main body of Lee's army was at +Winchester. Stuart had moved along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, +and had come in contact with a portion of Pleasanton's cavalry at +Aldie and Middleburg. Hooker had swung the army up to Fairfax and +Centreville, moving on an inner circle, with Washington for a pivot. + +Visiting Baltimore, where General Schenck was in command, I found the +Marylanders much more alive to the exigencies of the hour than the +Pennsylvanians. Instead of hurrying northward with their household +furniture, they were hard at work building fortifications and +barricading the streets. Hogsheads of tobacco, barrels of pork, old +carts, wagons, and lumber were piled across the streets, and patriotic +citizens stood, musket in hand, prepared to pick off any Rebel troops. + +Colored men were impressed to construct fortifications. They were shy +at first, fearing it was a trap to get them into slavery, but when +they found they were to defend the city, they gave enthusiastic +demonstrations of joy. They went to their work singing _their +Marseillaise_, + + "John Brown's body," &c. + +While writing in the Eutaw House, I heard the song sung by a thousand +voices, accompanied by the steady tramp, tramp, tramp of the men +marching down the street, cheering General Schenck as they passed his +quarters. + +How rapid the revolution! Twenty-six months before, Massachusetts +troops had fought their way through the city, now the colored men were +singing of John Brown amid the cheers of the people! + +General Hooker waited in front of Washington till he was certain of +Lee's intentions, and then by a rapid march pushed on to Frederick. +Lee's entire army was across the Potomac. Ewell was at York, enriching +himself by reprisals, stealings, and confiscations. General Hooker +asked that the troops at Harper's Ferry might be placed under his +command, that he might wield the entire available force and crush Lee; +this was refused, whereupon he informed the War Department that, +unless this condition were complied with, he wished to be relieved of +the command of the army. The matter was laid before the President and +his request was granted. General Meade was placed in command; and what +was denied to General Hooker was substantially granted to General +Meade,--that he was to use his best judgment in holding or evacuating +Harper's Ferry! General Halleck was military adviser to the President, +and the question between him and Hooker was whether Halleck, sitting +in his chair at Washington, or Hooker at the head of the army, should +fight General Lee. The march of Hooker from Fairfax to Frederick was +one of the most rapid of the war. The Eleventh Corps marched +fifty-four miles in two days,--a striking contrast to the movement in +September, 1862, when the army made but five miles a day. + +It was a dismal day at Frederick when the news was promulgated that +General Hooker was relieved of the command. Notwithstanding the result +at Chancellorsville, the soldiers had a good degree of confidence in +him. General Meade was unknown except to his own corps. He entered the +war as brigadier in the Pennsylvania Reserves. He commanded a division +at Antietam and at Fredericksburg, and the Fifth Corps at +Chancellorsville. + +General Meade cared but little for the pomp and parade of war. His own +soldiers respected him because he was always prepared to endure +hardships. They saw a tall, slim, gray-bearded man, wearing a slouch +hat, a plain blue blouse, with his pantaloons tucked into his boots. +He was plain of speech, and familiar in conversation. He enjoyed in a +high degree, especially after the battle of Fredericksburg, the +confidence of the President. + +I saw him soon after he was informed that the army was under his +command. There was no elation, but on the contrary he seemed weighed +down with a sense of the responsibility resting on him. It was in the +hotel at Frederick. He stood silent and thoughtful by himself. Few of +all the noisy crowd around knew of the change that had taken place. +The correspondents of the press knew it long before the corps +commanders were informed of the fact. No change was made in the +machinery of the army, and there was but a few hours' delay in its +movement. + +General Hooker bade farewell to the principal officers of the army on +the afternoon of the 28th. They were drawn up in line. He shook hands +with each officer, laboring in vain to stifle his emotion. The tears +rolled down his cheeks. The officers were deeply affected. He said +that he had hoped to lead them to victory, but the power above him had +ordered otherwise. He spoke in high terms of General Meade. He +believed that they would defeat the enemy under his leadership. + +While writing out the events of the day in the parlor of a private +house during the evening, I heard the comments of several officers +upon the change which had taken place. + +"Well, I think it is too bad to have him removed just now," said a +captain. + +"I wonder if we shall have McClellan back?" queried a lieutenant. + +"Well, gentlemen, I don't know about Hooker as a commander in the +field, but I do know the Army of the Potomac was never so well fed and +clothed as it has been since Joe Hooker took command." + +"That is so," said several. + +After a short silence, another officer took up the conversation and +said,-- + +"Yes, the army was in bad condition when he took command of it, and +bad off every way; but it never was in better condition than it is +to-day, and the men begin to like him." + +The army was too patriotic to express any dissatisfaction, and in a +few days the event was wholly forgotten. + +It was evident that a collision of the two armies must take place +before many days, and their positions, and the lines of movement +indicated that it must be near Gettysburg, which is the county seat of +Adams, Pennsylvania, nearly forty miles a little north of east from +Frederick, on the head-waters of the Monocacy. Rock Creek, which in +spring-time leaps over huge granite boulders, runs south, a mile east +of the town, and is the main stem of the Monocacy. Being a county +seat, it is also a grand centre for that section of the State, +contains three thousand inhabitants, and has a pleasant location, +surrounded with scenery of quiet beauty, hills, valleys, the dark +outline and verdure-clad sides of the Blue Ridge in the west, and the +billowy Catoctin range on the south. Roads radiate in all directions. +It was a central point, admitting of a quick concentration of forces. + +The army commanded by General Meade consisted of seven corps. + +1. Major-General Reynolds; 2. Major-General Hancock; 3. Major-General +Sickles; 5. Major-General Sykes; 6. Major-General Sedgwick; 11. +Major-General Howard; 12. Major-General Slocum. + +As Ewell was at York, and as Lee was advancing in that direction, it +was necessary to take a wide sweep of country in the march. All Sunday +the army was passing through Frederick. It was a strange sight. The +churches were open, and some of the officers and soldiers attended +service,--a precious privilege to those who before entering the army +were engaged in Sabbath schools. The stores also were open, and the +town was cleaned of goods,--boots, shoes, needles, pins, tobacco, +pipes, paper, pencils, and other trifles which add to a soldier's +comfort. + +[Illustration: Advance to Gettysburg.] + +Cavalry, infantry, and artillery were pouring through the town, the +bands playing, and the soldiers singing their liveliest songs. The +First Corps moved up the Emmettsburg road, and formed the left of the +line; the Eleventh Corps marched up a parallel road a little farther +east, through Griegerstown. The Third and Twelfth Corps moved on +parallel roads leading to Taneytown. The Second and Fifth moved still +farther east, through Liberty and Uniontown, while the Sixth, with +Gregg's division of cavalry, went to Westminster, forming the right of +the line. + +The lines of march were like the sticks of a fan, Frederick being the +point of divergence. + +On this same Sunday afternoon Lee was at Chambersburg, directing +Ewell, who was at York, to move to Gettysburg. A. P. Hill was moving +east from Chambersburg towards the same point, while Longstreet's, the +last corps to cross the Potomac, was moving through Waynesboro' and +Fairfield, marching northeast towards the same point. + +It was a glorious spectacle, that movement of the army north from +Frederick. I left the town accompanying the Second and Fifth Corps. +Long lines of men and innumerable wagons were visible in every +direction. The people of Maryland welcomed the soldiers hospitably. + +When the Fifth Corps passed through the town of Liberty, a farmer rode +into the village, mounted on his farm-wagon. His load was covered by +white table-cloths. + +"What have ye got to sell, old fellow? Bread, eh?" said a soldier, +raising a corner of the cloth, and revealing loaves of sweet soft +plain bread, of the finest wheat, with several bushels of +ginger-cakes. + +"What do you ask for a loaf?" + +"I haven't any to sell," said the farmer. + +"Haven't any to sell? What are ye here for?" + +The farmer made no reply. + +"See here, old fellow, won't ye sell me a hunk of your gingerbread?" +said the soldier, producing an old wallet. + +"No." + +"Well, you are a mean old cuss. It would be serving you right to tip +you out of your old bread-cart. Here we are marching all night and all +day to protect your property, and fight the Rebs. We haven't had any +breakfast, and may not have any dinner. You are a set of mean cusses +round here, I reckon," said the soldier. + +A crowd of soldiers had gathered, and others expressed their +indignation. The old farmer stood up on his wagon-seat, took off the +table-cloths, and replied,-- + +"I didn't bring my bread here to sell. My wife and daughters set up +all night to bake it for you, and you are welcome to all I've got, and +wish I had ten times as much. Help your selves, boys." + +"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" "Bully for you!" "You're a brick!" "Three +cheers for the old man!" "Three more for the old woman!" "Three more +for the girls!" + +They threw up their caps, and fairly danced with joy. The bread and +cakes were gone in a twinkling. + +"See here, my friend, I take back all the hard words I said about +you," said the soldier, shaking hands with the farmer, who sat on his +wagon overcome with emotion. + +On Tuesday evening, General Reynolds, who was at Emmettsburg, sent +word to General Meade that the Rebels were evidently approaching +Gettysburg. At the same time, the Rebel General Stuart, with his +cavalry, appeared at Westminster. He had tarried east of the Blue +Ridge till Lee was across the Potomac,--till Meade had started from +Frederick,--then crossing the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry, he pushed +directly northeast of the Monocacy, east of Meade's army, through +Westminster, where he had a slight skirmish with some of the Union +cavalry, moved up the pike to Littlestown and Hanover and joined Lee. + +Riding to Westminster I overtook General Gregg's division of cavalry, +and on Wednesday moved forward with it to Hanover Junction, which is +thirty miles east of Gettysburg. There, while our horses were eating +their corn at noon, I heard the distant cannonade, the opening of the +great battle. + +Striking directly across the country, I rejoined the Fifth Corps at +Hanover. There were dead horses and dead soldiers in the streets lying +where they fell. The wounded had been gathered into a school-house, +and the warm-hearted women of the place were ministering to their +comfort. It was evening. The bivouac fires of the Fifth Corps were +gleaming in the meadows west of the town, and the worn and weary +soldiers were asleep, catching a few hours of repose before moving on +to the place where they were to lay down their lives for their +country. + +It was past eight o'clock on Thursday morning, July 2d, before we +reached the field. The Fifth Corps, turning off from the Hanover road, +east of Rock Creek, passed over to the Baltimore pike, crossed Rock +Creek, filed through the field on the left hand and moved towards +Little Round-top, or Weed's Hill as it is now called. + +Riding directly up the pike towards the cemetery, I saw the Twelfth +Corps on my right, in the thick woods crowning Culp's Hill. Beyond, +north of the pike, was the First Corps. Ammunition wagons were going +up, and the artillerymen were filling their limber chests. Pioneers +were cutting down the trees. + +Reaching the top of the hill in front of the cemetery gate the +battle-field was in view. To understand a battle, the movements of the +opposing forces, and what they attempt to accomplish, it is necessary +first to comprehend the ground, its features, the hills, hollows, +woods, ravines, ledges, roads,--how they are related. A rocky hill is +frequently a fortress of itself. Rail fences and stone walls are of +value, and a ravine may be equivalent to ten thousand men. + +Tying my horse and ascending the stairs to the top of the gateway +building, I could look directly down upon the town. The houses were +not forty rods distant. Northeast, three fourths of a mile, was Culp's +Hill. + +On the northern side of the Baltimore pike were newly mown fields, the +grass springing fresh and green since the mower had swept over it. In +those fields were batteries with breastworks thrown up by Howard on +Wednesday night,--light affairs, not intended to resist cannon-shot, +but to protect the cannoneers from sharpshooters. Howard's lines of +infantry were behind stone-walls. The cannoneers were lying beside +their pieces,--sleeping perhaps, but at any rate keeping close, for, +occasionally, a bullet came singing past them. Looking north over the +fields, a mile or two, we saw a beautiful farming country,--fields of +ripened grain,--russet mingled with the green in the landscape. + +Conspicuous among the buildings is the almshouse, with its brick +walls, great barn, and numerous out-buildings, on the Harrisburg road. +Beyond are the houses of David and John Blocher,--John Blocher's being +at the junction of the Carlisle and Newville roads. Looking over the +town, the buildings of Pennsylvania College are in full view, between +the road leading northwest to Mummasburg, and the unfinished track of +a railroad running west through a deep excavation a half-mile from the +college. The Chambersburg turnpike runs parallel to the railroad. +South of this is the Lutheran Theological Seminary, beautifully +situated, in front of a shady grove of oaks. West and southwest we +look upon wheat, clover, and corn fields, on both sides of the road +leading to Emmettsburg. A half-mile west of this road is an elevated +ridge of land, crowned with apple-orchards and groves of oaks. Turning +to the southeast, two miles distant, is Round-top, shaped like a +sugar-loaf, rocky, steep, hard to climb, on its western face, easy to +be held by those who have possession, clad with oaks and pines. +Nearer, a little east of the meridian, is Weed's Hill, with Plum Run +at its western base, flowing through a rocky ravine. From the sides of +the hill, and on its top, great boulders bulge, like plums in a +pudding. It is very stony west of the hill, as if Nature in making up +the mould had dumped the _debris_ there. + +Between Round-top and Weed's there is a gap, where men bent on a +desperate enterprise might find a passway. Between Weed's and the +cemetery the ridge is broken down and smoothed out into fields and +pastures. The road to Taneytown runs east of this low ridge, the road +to Emmettsburg west of it. A small house stands on the west side of +the Taneytown road, with the American flag flying in front of it. +There are horses hitched to the fences, while others are nibbling the +grass in the fields. Officers with stars on their shoulders are +examining maps, writing, and sending off cavalrymen. It is General +Meade's head-quarters. When the Rebel batteries open it will be a warm +place. + +Having taken a general look at the field, I rode forward towards the +town, between Stewart's and Taft's batteries, in position on either +side of the road. Soldiers in blue were lying behind the garden +fences. + +"Where are you going?" said one. + +"Into the town." + +"I reckon not. The Rebs hold it, and I advise you to turn about. It is +rather dangerous where you are. The Rebels are right over there in +that brick house." + +Right over there was not thirty rods distant. + +"Ping!"--and there was the sharp ring of a bullet over our heads. + +General Howard was in the cemetery with his maps and plans spread upon +the ground. + +"We are just taking a lunch, and there is room for one more," was his +kind and courteous welcome. Then removing his hat, he asked God to +bless the repast. The bullets were occasionally singing over us. +Soldiers were taking up the headstones and removing the monuments from +their pedestals. + +"I want to preserve them, besides, if a shot should strike a stone, +the pieces of marble would be likely to do injury," said the General. + +The flowers were blooming around us. I gathered a handful as a memento +of the hour. Preparations were rapidly going on for the approaching +struggle. North, west, and southwest the whole country was alive with +Rebels,--long lines of men deploying in various directions, tents +going up, with yellow flags above them on the distant hills, thousands +of canvas-covered wagons, slowly winding along the roads, reaching as +far as the eye could see towards Chambersburg, Carlisle, and +Fairfield,--turning into the fields and taking positions in park. +There were batteries of artillery, the cannon gleaming in the noonday +sun, and hundreds of horsemen riding in hot haste on many a desperate +errand. + +While partaking of our refreshment, General Howard narrated the +operations of the preceding day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. + + +[Sidenote: July, 1863.] + +On Tuesday evening, the 30th of June, General Reynolds was in camp on +Marsh Run, a short distance from Emmettsburg, while General Howard, +with the Eleventh Corps, was in that town. Instructions were received +from General Meade assigning General Reynolds to the command of the +First, Eleventh, and Third Corps. General Reynolds moved early in the +morning to Gettysburg, and sent orders to General Howard to follow. +General Howard received the orders at 8 o'clock in the morning. +General Barlow's division of the Eleventh followed the First Corps by +the most direct road while General Schurz's and General Steinwehr's +divisions went by Horner's Mills, the distance being thirteen miles. +General Howard, with his staff, pushed on in advance of his troops. + +Buford's division of cavalry passed through Gettysburg on Tuesday and +went into camp a mile and a half west of the town on the Chambersburg +pike. At 9.30 A. M. on Wednesday, the Rebels of A. P. Hill's division +appeared in front of him, and skirmishing commenced on the farm of +Hon. Edward McPherson. General Reynolds rode into Gettysburg about 10 +o'clock in advance of his troops, turned up the Chambersburg road, +reconnoitred the position, rode back again, met the head of his column +a mile down the Emmettsburg road, turned it directly across the +fields, towards the seminary, and deployed his divisions across the +Chambersburg road. General Archer's brigade of Heth's division of A. +P. Hill's corps was advancing eastward, unaware of Reynolds's +movement. He had passed Herr's tavern, two miles beyond the town, when +he found himself face to face with General Meredith's brigade of +Reynolds's command. The fight opened at once. Archer and several +hundred of his men were captured. General Cutler, pushing out from +the town between the half-finished railroad and the Chambersburg road, +came in contact with Davis's brigade of Mississippians. The contest +increased. General Reynolds, while riding along the line, was killed +in the field beyond the Seminary, and the command devolved on General +Doubleday. + +General Howard heard the cannonade, and riding rapidly up the +Emmettsburg road entered the town, sent messengers in search of +General Reynolds, asking for instructions, not knowing that he had +been killed. + +While waiting the return of his aids, he went to the top of the +college to reconnoitre the surrounding country. His aid, Major Biddle, +soon came back, with the sad intelligence that General Reynolds had +fallen, and that the command devolved on himself. + +It was half past eleven. The Rebels were appearing in increased force. +The prisoners taken said that the whole of A. P. Hill's corps was near +by. + +"You will have your hands full before night. Longstreet is near, and +Ewell is coming," said one, boastingly. + +"After an examination of the general features of the country," said +General Howard, "I came to the conclusion that the only tenable +position for my limited force was on this ridge. I saw that this was +the highest point. You will notice that it commands all the other +eminences. My artillery can sweep the fields completely." + +He pointed towards the north, where across the pike, just beyond the +gateway, were Colonel Wainwright's batteries of the First Corps, and +around us were Colonel Osborn's of the Eleventh. Behind us, east of +the cemetery, was some of the reserve artillery. + +The head of the Eleventh Corps reached Gettysburg about twelve +o'clock. The first and third division passed through the town, moved +out beyond the college, and joined the right of the First Corps. +Howard sent three batteries and his second division, Steinwehr's, to +take possession of the cemetery and the hill north of the Baltimore +pike. + +Thus far success had attended the Union arms. A large number of +prisoners had been taken with but little loss, and the troops were +holding their own against a superior force. About half past twelve +cavalry scouts reported that Ewell was coming down the York road, and +was not more than four miles distant. General Howard sent an aid to +General Sickles, who was at Emmettsburg, requesting him to come on +with all haste. Another was sent down the Baltimore pike to the Two +Taverns, three miles distant, with a similar message to General +Slocum. The Second Corps was there,--resting in the fields. They had +heard the roar of the battle, and could see the clouds of smoke rising +over the intervening hills. General Slocum was the senior officer. He +received the message, but did not, for reasons best known to himself, +see fit to accede to the request. He could have put the Twelfth Corps +upon the ground in season to meet Ewell, but remained where he was +till after the contest for the day was over. + +It was a quarter before three when Ewell's lines began to deploy by +John Blocher's house on the York road. The Rebel batteries were +wheeled into position, and opened on Wadsworth. Weiderick's battery in +the cemetery replied. Again a messenger went in haste to the +delinquent officer. + +"I sent again to General Slocum, stating that my right flank was +attacked; that it was in danger of being turned, and asking him if he +was coming up," said General Howard. + +The message was delivered to Slocum, who was still at the Two Taverns, +where he had been through the day. Weiderick's battery was in plain +view from that position, but General Slocum did not move. + +This officer on Thursday and Friday did hard service. He afterward +commanded acceptably one of Sherman's wings in the march from Atlanta +to the sea, but on the first day at Gettysburg his inaction, unless +satisfactorily explained, will compel the impartial historian to +assign him a lower place on the scroll of fame than would otherwise +have been accorded him. + +Sickles was too far off to render assistance. Meanwhile Ewell was +pressing on towards the college. Another division of Rebels under +General Pender came in from the southwest, and began to enfold the +left of Howard's line. + +"I want a brigade to help me!" was the word from Schurz, commanding +the two divisions in front of Ewell, beyond the college. + +"Send out Costa's brigade," said Howard to his chief of staff. +The brigade went down through the town accompanied by a battery, and +joined the line, upon the double-quick. An hour passed, of close, +desperate fighting. It wanted a quarter to four. Howard confronted by +four times his own force, was still holding his ground, waiting for +Slocum. Another messenger rode to the Two Taverns, urging Slocum to +advance. + +"I must have reinforcements!" was the message from Doubleday on the +left. "You must reinforce me!" was the word from Wadsworth in the +centre. + +"Hold out a little longer, if possible; I am expecting General Slocum +every moment," was Howard's reply. Still another despatch was sent to +the Two Taverns, but General Slocum had not moved. The Rebel cannon +were cutting Wadsworth's line. Pender was sweeping round Doubleday; +Ewell was enclosing Schurz. Sickles was five miles distant, advancing +as fast as he could. Slocum was where he had been from early morning, +three miles distant. The tide was turning. The only alternative was a +retreat. It was past four o'clock. For six hours the ground had been +held against a greatly superior force. + +Major Howard, the General's brother, a member of his staff, dashed +down the pike in search of Slocum, with a request that he would move +at once, and send one division to the right and the other to the left +of Gettysburg. Slocum declined to go up to the front and take any +responsibility, as he understood that General Meade did not wish to +bring on a general engagement. He was willing, however, to send +forward his troops as General Howard desired, and issued his orders +accordingly. Under military law the question might be raised whether a +senior officer had a right to throw off the responsibility which +circumstances had forced upon him; also whether he could turn over his +troops to a subordinate. + +[Illustration: The color-bearer.] + +But before the divisions of the Twelfth Corps could get in motion, the +Rebels had completely enfolded both flanks of Howard's line. The order +to retreat was given. The two corps came crowding through the town. +The Rebels pressed on with cheers. Most of the First Corps reached the +cemetery ridge, and were rallied by Howard, Steinwehr, and Hancock. +This officer had just arrived. The troops were streaming over the +hill, when he reined up his steed in the cemetery. He came, under +direction of General Meade, to take charge of all the troops in front. +The Eleventh Corps was hard pressed, and lost between two and three +thousand prisoners in the town. + +The Rebels of Ewell's command pushed up the northern slope, through +the hay-fields, flushed with victory; but Weiderick's battery poured +canister in quick discharges into the advancing ranks, breaking the +line. + +The retreat was so orderly and the resistance so steady that the +Rebels gave utterance to their admiration. Said General Hill,-- + +"A Yankee color-bearer floated his standard in the field and the +regiment fought around it; and when at last it was obliged to retreat, +the color-bearer retired last of all, turning round now and then to +shake his fist in the face of the advancing Rebels. He was sorry when +he saw him meet his doom."[46] + + [Footnote 46: Lieutenant Freemantle.--_Blackwood's Magazine_, + September, 1863.] + +Three color-bearers of the Nineteenth Indiana were shot. The +Sergeant-Major, Asa Blanchard, ran and took the flag when the third +man fell, waved it, and cried "Rally, boys!" The next moment he fell. +His comrades stopped to carry him off. The Rebels were close at hand. + +"Don't stop for me," he cried. "Don't let them have the flag. Tell +mother I never faltered." They were his parting words to his comrades, +who saved the flag. + +General Hancock met General Howard and informed him of his +instructions, saying, "General Meade undoubtedly supposed that I was +your senior, but you outrank me." + +"It is no time to talk about rank. I shall most cheerfully obey your +instructions and do all in my power to co-operate with you," was +Howard's reply, thus waiving the command which was his by right. They +perfectly agreed in what was to be done. General Howard took charge of +the troops and batteries on the right of the line, while General +Hancock brought order out of confusion on the left. + +The Rebels having been repulsed by the batteries, and satisfied with +the work of the day, made no further attack, although they greatly +outnumbered the Union force. + +General Sickles arrived at seven o'clock, and General Slocum also came +up, he being the senior officer, General Howard turned over the +command to him, while General Hancock went back to see General Meade +at Taneytown, to inform him of the state of affairs. The Third Corps +filed into position on the left of the First, south of the cemetery, +while the Twelfth took possession of Culp's Hill. + +So closed the first day at Gettysburg. + + +SECOND DAY. + +THURSDAY, July 2. + +General Meade arrived on the battle-field at three o'clock on the +morning of the 2d, and had an interview with General Howard soon after +by the cemetery gate. They rode along the lines together. + +"I am confident that we can hold this position," said General Howard. + +"I am glad to hear you say so, for it is too late to leave it," said +Meade. + +The cannonade began at daybreak, the guns in the cemetery and those of +the Rebels near Blocher's house keeping up a steady fire for an hour, +when both parties, as if by mutual consent, became silent; but the +pickets were at it all along the lines. + +While I was conversing with General Howard, his brother, Major Howard, +who was keeping a sharp look upon the Rebels, came running up. "There +is a splendid chance to cut them up, General; just see them!" + +A column of Rebels was moving along the Chambersburg road, and stood +out in bold relief. + +"Let Osborn pitch in the shells from his rifled pieces," said the +Major. + +General Howard surveyed them a moment and replied: "We might do them +some damage, but we are not quite ready to bring on a general +engagement. It isn't best to hurry. We shall have enough fighting +before night." + +The battle had not commenced in earnest. Lee was moving his troops +towards the left. The Union pickets were posted along the Emmettsburg +road; some were lying down in the wheat-fields beyond it, keeping up a +steady interchange of shots with the Rebels. It was a favorable time +to ride over the ground where the great contest was to take place. + +The first division, General Ames's, of the Eleventh Corps, was north +of the Baltimore pike, the third division, Schurz's, was on both sides +of it, and the second division, Steinwehr's, in the cemetery, lying +behind the stone wall, which forms its western boundary. Colonel +Osborn's batteries were on the crest of the ridge, in position to fire +over the heads of the infantry. Robinson's division of the First Corps +was posted at the left of Steinwehr's, crossing the Taneytown road. +Wadsworth's and Doubleday's divisions of the First were north of the +Baltimore pike, to the right of General Ames, reaching to Culp's Hill, +where they joined the Twelfth Corps. + +Riding down the road towards Taneytown, I came upon General Stannard's +brigade of nine months' Vermont boys, lying in the open field in rear +of the cemetery. Occasionally a shell came over them from the Rebel +batteries, by Blocher's. It was their first experience under fire. +They were in reserve, knowing nothing of what was going on the other +side of the hill, yet tantalized by a flank fire from the distant +batteries. A short distance farther I came to General Meade's +head-quarters, in the house of Mrs. Leister. General Meade was there +surrounded by his staff, consulting maps and issuing orders. General +Hancock's head-quarters' flag,--the tree-foil of the Second +Corps,--was waving on the ridge southwest of the house. General +Slocum's,--the star-flag,--was in sight, on a conical hill a half-mile +eastward. The crescent flag of the Eleventh was proudly planted on the +highest elevation of the cemetery. The Maltese cross of the Fifth +Corps was a half-mile south, toward Round-top. + +Turning into the field and riding to the top of the ridge, I came upon +Hayes's division of the Second Corps, joining Robinson's of the First; +then Gibbons's and Caldwell's of the Second, reaching to a narrow +roadway running west from the Taneytown road to the house of Abraham +Trostle, where, a half-mile in advance of the main line, was planted +the diamond flag of the Third Corps, General Sickles. Pushing directly +west, through a field where the grass was ripening for the scythe, I +approached the house of Mr. Codori, on the Emmettsburg road. But it +was a dangerous place just then to a man on horseback, for the pickets +of both armies were lying in the wheat-field west of the road. General +Carr's brigade of the Third Corps was lying behind the ridge near the +house of Peter Rogers. Soldiers were filling their canteens from the +brook in the hollow. Further down by the house of Mr. Wentz, at the +corner of the narrow road leading east from the Emmettsburg road, and +in the peach-orchards on both sides of it, were troops and batteries. +The Second New Hampshire, the First Maine, and the Third Michigan were +there, holding the angle of the line, which here turned east from the +Emmettsburg road. Thompson's battery was behind Wentz's house. General +Sickles had his other batteries in position along the narrow road, the +muzzles of the guns pointing southwest. Ames's New York battery was in +the orchard, and the gunners were lying beneath the peach-trees, +enjoying the leafy shade. Clark's New Jersey battery, Phillips's Fifth +Massachusetts, and Bigelow's Ninth Massachusetts were on the left of +Ames. Bigelow's was in front of Trostle's house, having complete +command and the full sweep of a beautiful slope beyond the road for +sixty rods. + +The slope descends to a wooded ravine through which winds a brook, +gurgling over a rocky bed. Beyond the brook are the stone farm-house +and capacious barn of John Rose, in whose door-yard were the Union +pickets, exchanging a shot now and then with the Rebels of +Longstreet's corps, south of Rose's, who were lying along the +Emmettsburg road. + +General Barnes's division of the Third Corps was in the woods south of +the narrow road, and among the rocks in front of Weed's Hill. + +Sickles had advanced to the position upon his own judgment of the +fitness of the movement. He believed that it was necessary to hold the +ravine, down to Round-top, to prevent the enemy from passing through +the gap between that eminence and Weed's Hill. + +General Meade had called his corps commanders to his head-quarters +for consultation. Sickles did not attend, deeming it of vital +importance to prepare for the advance of the enemy, and his soldiers +were levelling fences and removing obstructions. + +A peremptory order reached Sickles requiring his presence. He rode to +the head-quarters of the army, but the conference was over, and he +went back to his command followed by General Meade. + +"Are you not too much extended? Can you hold your front?" asked the +Commander-in-Chief. + +"Yes, only I shall want more troops." + +"I will send you the Fifth Corps, and you may call on Hancock for +support." + +"I shall need more artillery." + +"Send for all you want. Call on General Hunt of the Artillery Reserve. +I will direct him to send you all you want." + +The pickets were keeping up a lively fire. + +"I think that the Rebels will soon make their appearance," said +Sickles. + +A moment later and the scattering fire became a volley. General Meade +took another look at the troops in position, and galloped back to his +head-quarters. + +General Lee, in his report, has given an outline of his intentions, he +says:-- + + "It had not been intended to fight a general battle at such a + distance from our base, unless attacked by the enemy; but, + finding ourselves unexpectedly confronted by the Federal army, it + became a matter of difficulty to withdraw through the mountains + with our large trains. At the same time the country was + unfavorable for collecting supplies while in the presence of the + enemy's main body, as he was enabled to restrain our foraging + parties by occupying the passes of the mountains with regular and + local troops. A battle thus became, in a measure, unavoidable. + Encouraged by the successful issue of the engagement of the first + day, and in view of the valuable results that would ensue from + the defeat of the army of General Meade, it was thought advisable + to renew the attack. + + "The remainder of Ewell's and Hill's corps having arrived, and + two divisions of Longstreet's, our preparations were made + accordingly. During the afternoon intelligence was received of + the arrival of General Stuart at Carlisle, and he was ordered to + march to Gettysburg and take position on the left. A full + account of these engagements cannot be given until the reports of + the several commanding officers shall have been received, and I + shall only offer a general description. + + "The preparations for attack were not completed until the + afternoon of the 2d. + + "The enemy held a high and commanding ridge, along which he had + massed a large amount of artillery. General Ewell occupied the + left of our line, General Hill the centre, and General Longstreet + the right. In front of General Longstreet the enemy held a + position from which, if he could be driven, it was thought that + our army could be used to advantage in assailing the more + elevated ground beyond, and thus enable us to reach the crest of + the ridge. That officer was directed to endeavor to carry this + position, while General Ewell attacked directly the high ground + on the enemy's right, which had already been partially fortified. + General Hill was instructed to threaten the centre of the Federal + line, in order to prevent reinforcements being sent to either + wing, and to avail himself of any opportunity that might present + itself to attack." + +Lee had been all day perfecting his plans. He was riding along his +lines at sunrise, reconnoitring Meade's position. His head-quarters +were near the Theological Seminary, where, at five o'clock in the +morning, Lee, Hill, Longstreet, Hood, and Heth were engaged in +conversation. The conference lasted till seven o'clock, when +Longstreet rode down to his corps to make arrangements for the attack. +Hood had the extreme right, and McLaws stood next in line. Pickett, +commanding his other division, had not arrived. It was to be held in +reserve.[47] + + [Footnote 47: The accompanying plan of the battle-field + accurately represents the general positions of the troops + engaged. On the right of the Union line is the Twelfth Corps; + then two divisions of the First; then the Eleventh in and + around the cemetery; then Robinson's division of the First; + then the Second and the Fifth on the left, occupying Weed's + Hill. The Third Corps is in the position it occupied at the + beginning of the battle on the afternoon of the second day. + It was forced back to Trostle's house. The Sixth Corps is in + the position it occupied at sunset on the second day. On the + third day it was in line along Weed's Hill. When Slocum went + over from the right to aid in repulsing Longstreet on the + second day, he passed near the two houses standing on the + Taneytown road. Meade's quarters were in the house over which + a flag is flying. + + Longstreet is in the position which he occupied at three + o'clock on the afternoon of the second day, and to which he + retired after failing to push Sickles beyond Trostle's. + + Pickett commanded a division and not a corps. But as his + division took the lead in the last attack, on the third day, + and as his repulse was seemingly the turning-point of the + Rebellion, especial mention has been made of the part taken + by the troops under his command. Hill supported him. A + portion of Hill's troops were with Longstreet in the attack + of the second day. + + Ewell is in the position he occupied at dark on the second + day, while two of Slocum's divisions were aiding the left of + Meade's line. + + Lee's head-quarters were near Smucker's house. + + The fight on the first day began on Willoughby's Run. The + Union lines on that day extended from the Middletown road + along the semicircle occupied by the Rebel cannon in the + diagram, to the railroad east of Blocher's. The map is + reduced from an accurate survey. + + The best plan of this battle extant is the isometrical + picture of Gettysburg, by Colonel J. B. Batchelder, who has + devoted many months to the study of the field. It will ever + be standard authority for the historian.] + +Lee chose, as his first point of attack, the position occupied by +Sickles. The ground by Wentz's house is higher than the ridge, where +Hancock had established his head-quarters. If he could drive Sickles +from the peach-orchard by turning his left flank, and gain Weed's +Hill, Meade would be compelled to retreat, and the nature of the +ground was such in rear of the cemetery that a retreat might be turned +into a complete rout. Meade's position was a very fair one for +defence, but one from which an army could not well retire before a +victorious enemy. The trains in park along Rock Creek would have been +in the way. Baggage trains are exceedingly useful, but there are times +when commanders do not know what to do with them. A battery in the +hands of the enemy, planted on the ridge, or in the cemetery, if those +places had fallen into the hands of the Rebels, would have produced +confusion in Meade's rear among the teamsters, who are not always cool +under fire, especially if they have refractory mules to manage. +General Meade would have chosen a position fifteen or twenty miles in +rear, nearer to his base of supplies, and had he been at Gettysburg on +Wednesday evening, doubtless would have ordered a retreat. The +question, whether to fall back or to hold the position, was seriously +debated. But Howard had made the stand. He believed that the position +could be held, and Lee defeated there. He did not calculate for a +defeat, but for victory. Had Meade fallen back, Lee would have been +wary of moving on. It was not his intention, he says, to fight a +general battle so far from his base. He would have followed +cautiously, if at all. Through the foresight, faith, and courage of +Howard, therefore, Gettysburg has become a turning-point in history. +And yet, not that alone, for the warp and woof of history are made up +of innumerable threads. The Rebels, on that afternoon of Thursday, as +they moved out from the woods into the fields south of the house of +John Rose, had a thorough contempt for the troops in blue, standing +beneath the peach-trees in Sherfy's orchard, and along the road +towards Trostle's. Big Bethel, Bull Run, Richmond, Manassas, +Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Cedar Mountain, Harper's Ferry they +remembered as victories; and even Antietam and South Mountain were +called drawn battles by the Rebel commander-in-chief. They had already +achieved one victory on the soil of Pennsylvania. Five thousand +Yankees had been captured. The troops of the Confederacy were +invincible, not only while fighting at their own doors, but as +invaders of the North. Such was the feeling of the soldiers. But the +Rebel officers were not quite so sanguine of success as the men. An +Englishman, who saw the fight from the Rebel side, says:-- + + "At 4.30 P. M. (Wednesday) we came in sight of Gettysburg, and + joined General Lee and General Hill, who were on the top of one + of the ridges which form the peculiar feature of the country + round Gettysburg. We could see the enemy retreating up one of the + opposite ridges, pursued by the Confederates with loud yells. + + "The position into which the enemy had been driven was evidently + a strong one. General Hill now came up, and told me he had been + very unwell all day, and in fact he looks very delicate. He said + he had two of his divisions engaged, and had driven the enemy + four miles into his present position, capturing a great many + prisoners, some cannon, and some colors; he said, however, that + the Yankees had fought with a determination unusual to them. He + pointed out a railway cutting in which they had made a good + stand; also a field, in the centre of which he had seen a man + plant the regimental colors, round which the regiment had fought + for some time with much obstinacy; and when at last it was + obliged to retreat, the color-bearer retired last of all, turning + round every now and then to shake his fist at the advancing + Rebels. General Hill said he felt quite sorry when he saw this + gallant Yankee meet his doom. + + "General Ewell had come up at 3.30 on the enemy's right and + completed his discomfiture. + + "General Reynolds, one of the best Yankee generals, was reported + killed. Whilst we were talking, a message arrived from General + Ewell, requesting Hill to press the enemy in front, whilst he + performed the same operation on his right. The pressure was + accordingly applied in a mild degree, but the enemy were too + strongly posted, and it was too late in the evening for a regular + attack."[48] + + [Footnote 48: Freemantle.] + +[Illustration: Gettysburg battlefield.] + +General Hill and General Lee had been observant of the "determination +unusual to the Yankees." The "pressure" brought upon Howard in the +cemetery, at nightfall, was resisted by men who had suffered defeat, +who had left a third of their comrades dead or wounded on the field, +or as prisoners in the hands of the enemy. But the Rebel +rank-and-file, remembering only the victories they had already won, +did not for a moment doubt their ability to win another. They were +flushed with the enthusiasm of repeated successes. + +On the other hand, the soldiers of the Union believed, with Howard, +Hancock, Sickles, and other officers, that they could hold the +position against the assaults of Lee. It was not a calculation of +advantages,--of the value of hills, ravines, fields, and meadows,--or +of numbers, but a determination to win the day or to die on the spot. + +Such were the feelings of the opposing parties on that sunny +afternoon, as they appeared in line of battle. + +The Rebel forces moving to the attack south of Wentz's were wholly +under Longstreet's command. Anderson's division of Hill's corps was +joined to McLaw's and Hood's, to form the attacking column. The +Washington Artillery of New Orleans was in the woods southwest of +Wentz's house. Barksdale's Mississippians were behind artillery. A few +rods west of the same house, on a narrow road leading towards +Hagerstown, is the residence of Mr. Warfield. A third of a mile north +of Wentz's, on the Emmettsburg road, is the house of Philip Snyder. +Between Warfield's and Snyder's, Longstreet planted fifty or sixty +guns to bear on the peach-orchard and the batteries which Sickles had +stationed along the road leading past Trostle's, and upon the woods +east of the house of Mr. Rose. + +Longstreet's plan was to attack with all the vigor possible,--to bear +down all opposition in the outset. Commanders frequently begin an +engagement by feeling of the enemy's position,--advancing a few +skirmishers, a regiment, or a brigade; but in this instance Longstreet +advanced all but his reserve. + +It was half past three. Riding rapidly to the right to see if there +were signs of activity in that direction, dismounting in rear of the +line, and tying my horse to a tree, I took a look northward. A mile to +the north Rebel officers were in view, galloping furiously over the +fields, disappearing in groves, dashing down the road to the town, and +again returning. There was a battery in position beyond the railroad, +and as I looked narrowly at an opening between two groves, I saw the +glistening of bayonets, and a line as if a column of men were marching +east toward the thick forest on Rock Creek. It was surmised that they +were to attack our right upon Culp's Hill by advancing directly down +Rock Creek through the woods. Prisoners captured said that Ewell had +sworn a terrible oath to turn our flank, if it took his last man. To +guard against such a movement, Slocum was throwing up breastworks from +the crest of the hill down to Rock Creek. Two batteries were placed in +position on hillocks south of the turnpike, to throw shells up the +creek, should such an attempt be made. The Union Cavalry in long lines +was east of the creek, and the Reserve Artillery, in parks, with +horses harnessed, was in the open field south of Slocum's +head-quarters. + +'As near as I can make out, the Rebels have got a line of batteries in +that piece of woods,' said an officer who had been looking steadily +across the ravine to Blocher's Hill. Laying my glass upon the +breastwork, I could see the guns and the artillerymen beside their +pieces, as if ready to begin the action. + +Suddenly there came the roar of a gun from the south. It was +Longstreet's signal. Another, another, and the fire ran from Snyder's +to the Seminary, then round to Blocher's Hill. + +I was at the moment near the cemetery. There came a storm of shot and +shell. Marble slabs were broken, iron fences shattered, horses +disembowelled. The air was full of wild, hideous noises,--the low buzz +of round shot, the whizzing of elongated bolts, and the stunning +explosions of shells, overhead and all around. + +There was a quick response from the Union batteries. In three minutes +the earth shook with the tremendous concussion of two hundred pieces +of artillery. + +The missiles of the Rebels came from the northeast, north, northwest, +west, and southwest. The position occupied by the Vermont nine months' +men was one of great exposure, as the ground in rear of the cemetery +was the centre of a converging fire. + +"Lie close," said General Stannard to the men. They obeyed him, but he +walked to the top of the ridge and watched the coming on of the storm +in the southwest. + +The Fifth Corps had not moved into position, but was resting after the +sixteen miles' march from Hanover. + +The Rebels of Longstreet's command first in sight come out from the +woods behind Warfield's house, a long line in the form of a crescent, +reaching almost to Round-top. Ames's battery was the first to open +upon them. Thompson, Clark, and Phillips began to thunder almost +simultaneously. Bigelow, from his position, could not get a sight at +them till two or three minutes later. The Third Michigan, Second New +Hampshire, and Third Maine were the first regiments engaged. The fire +ran down the line towards Rose's house. The regiments in the woods +along the ravine south of the house,--the Seventeenth Maine, Third +Michigan, and others,--were soon in the fight. A portion of the +Seventeenth Maine had been skirmishing all the morning. + +Ward's brigade on the rocky ridge in front of Weed's Hill was assailed +by Hood. How fearful the fight! Sickles's front line, after an +obstinate struggle, was forced back. He was obliged to withdraw his +batteries by Wentz's house. Bigelow retired firing by prolonge, over +the rocky ground. The contest in the peach-orchard and around Rose's +house was exceedingly bloody. Sickles sent his aide for +reinforcements: "I want batteries and men!" said he. + +"I want you to hold on where you are until I can get a line of +batteries in rear of you," said Colonel McGilvery, commanding the +artillery of the Third Corps, to Bigelow. "Give them canister!" he +added as he rode away. Bigelow's men never had been under fire, but +they held on till every charge of canister was spent, and then +commenced on spherical case. Bigelow was just west of Trostle's barn. +A Rebel battery hastened up and unlimbered in the field. He opened +with all his guns, and they limbered up again. McGilvery's batteries +were not in position, and the gallant captain and his brave men would +not leave. The Rebels rushed upon the guns, and were blown from the +muzzles. Others came with demoniac yells, climbing upon the limbers +and shooting horses. Sergeant Dodge went down, killed instantly; also +Sergeant Gilson. Lipman, Ferris, and Nutting, three of the cannoneers, +were gone, twenty-two of the men wounded, and Bigelow shot through the +side; also four men missing, yet they held on till McGilvery had his +batteries in position! + +It was a heroic resistance. Gun after gun was abandoned to the +advancing Rebels. But the cannoneers were thoughtful to retain the +rammers, and though the Rebels seized the pieces they could not turn +them upon the slowly-retreating handful of men, who with two pieces +still growled defiance. Back to Trostle's door-yard, into the garden, +halting by the barn, delivering a steady fire, they held the enemy at +bay till the batteries of the Fifth Corps, a little east of Trostle's, +and the arrival of reinforcements of infantry, permitted their +withdrawal. More than sixty horses belonging to this one battery were +killed in this brief struggle at the commencement of the battle. With +the seizure of each piece the Rebels cheered, and advanced with +confident expectation of driving Sickles over the ridge. + +But new actors came. Barnes's division of the Fifth went down through +Trostle's garden and through the grove south of the house, crossed the +road, and entered the woods. The Rebels were in the ravine by Rose's +house. Winslow's New York battery was in a wheat-field south of +Trostle's, holding them in check, while Hazlitt's battery on Weed's +Hill rained a torrent of shells from its rocky fortress. + +Ayer's division of Regulars, which had been lying east of Weed's Hill, +moved upon the double-quick through the woods, up to the summit. The +whole scene was before them: the turmoil and commotion in the woods +below,--Barnes going in and the shattered regiments of the Third Corps +coming out. Some batteries were in retreat and others were taking new +positions. They dashed down the hillside, became a little disorganized +in crossing Plum Run, but formed again and went up the ridge among the +boulders, disappeared in the woods, stayed a few minutes, and then, +like a shattered wreck upon the foaming sea, came drifting to the +rear. + +After the battle, an officer of the Seventeenth Regulars pointed out +to me the line of advance. + +"We went down the hill upon the run," said he. "It was like going down +into hell! The Rebels were yelling like devils. Our men were falling +back. It was terrible confusion: smoke, dust, the rattle of musketry, +the roaring of cannon, the bursting of shells." + +The Pennsylvania Reserves, under Crawford, went in. They were fighting +on their own soil. Among them were soldiers whose homes were in +Gettysburg. + +Sickles called upon Hancock for help. Caldwell's division went down, +sweeping past Trostle's into the wheat-field, dashing through Barnes's +men, who were falling back. Regiments from three corps and from eight +or ten brigades were fighting promiscuously. The Rebel lines were also +in confusion,--advancing, retreating, gaining, and losing. + +It was like the writhing of two wrestlers. Seventy thousand men were +contending for the mastery on a territory scarcely a mile square! It +has been called the battle of Little Round-top, but most of the +fighting at this point took place between Little Round-top on Weed's +Hill and the house of Mr. Rose. But there was also a contest around +and upon the hill. + +The advance of Hood enveloped the Union force below. The men on Hood's +extreme right skirted the base of the hill, clambered over the rocks +by the "Devil's Den,"--a rocky gorge,--and began to pour into the gap +between Weed's and Round-top. Vincent's and Weed's brigades were +holding the hill. The Twentieth Maine, Colonel Chamberlain, was on the +extreme left. The Eighty-Third Pennsylvania, Forty-Fourth New York, +and Sixteenth Michigan were farther north. The Twentieth Maine stood +almost alone. There began to be a dropping of bullets along the line +from the Rebel skirmishers creeping into the gap, and Colonel +Chamberlain saw the enemy moving past his flank. He immediately +extended his own left flank by forming his men in single rank. The +fight was fierce. The Rebels greatly outnumbered Chamberlain, but he +had the advantage of position. He was on the crest of the hill, and at +every lull in the strife his men piled the loose stones into a rude +breastwork. He sent for assistance, but before the arrival of +reinforcements Hood's troops had gained the eastern side of the hill, +and the Twentieth Maine stood in the form of the letter U, with Rebels +in front, on their flank, and in rear. + +It was nearly six o'clock. I was at Meade's head-quarters. The roar of +battle was louder and grew nearer. Hill was threatening the centre. A +cloud of dust could be seen down the Baltimore pike. Had Stuart +suddenly gained our rear? There were anxious countenances around the +cottage where the flag of the Commander-in-Chief was flying. Officers +gazed with their field-glasses. "It is not cavalry, but infantry," +said one. "There is the flag. It is the Sixth Corps." + +We could see the advancing bayonets gleaming in the setting sun. Faces +which a moment before were grave became cheerful. It was an inspiring +sight. The troops of that corps had marched thirty-two miles during +the day. They crossed Rock Creek, filed into the field, past the +ammunition train, threw themselves upon the ground, tossed aside their +knapsacks, and wiped the sweat from their sun-burnt cheeks. + +"We want reinforcements. They are flanking us," said an officer, +riding up to Meade. Word was sent to Slocum, and Williams's division +of the Twelfth left their breastwork on Culp's Hill, came down upon +the double-quick, leaping the stone walls between Slocum's +head-quarters and the cemetery, and moved into the field west of the +Taneytown road. + +Stannard's brigade was attached to the First Corps, commanded by +Doubleday. The Vermont boys had been lying on their faces through +the long, tormenting hours. They were ready for desperate work. +Doubleday dashed down to General Stannard. There is a strong +contrast between these two officers. Doubleday is tall, +broad-shouldered, a little stooping. He was in Sumter with Anderson +when the Rebels fired the first gun at the old flag. He is cool and +courageous. Stannard is short, straight, compactly built. He was a +private citizen at St. Albans, Vermont, when the war began. He is a +thorough citizen-soldier, as undaunted as his superior. + +"You are wanted over there. Report to Hancock," said Doubleday. + +The men of Vermont sprang to their feet, and went up the ridge toward +the southwest upon the run. At the same time an officer rode down to +the Sixth Corps. I saw the tired and weary men rise from the ground +and fall into line. They also moved off upon the run toward Weed's +Hill, which was all aflame. Hazlitt was firing canister from the top. +Nearly all the Third, Fifth, and Second Corps batteries were at work. +The sun was just setting. Sickles had been forced back from the +peach-orchard, and from Rose's house, but he was still holding +Trostle's. The dark lines of the Sixth Corps became lost to sight, as +they moved into the woods crowning the hill. There were quicker +volleys, a lighting up of the sky by sudden flashes, followed by a +cheer,--not the wild yell peculiar to the Rebels, but a sharp, clear +hurrah, from the men who had held the hill. Longstreet was giving up +the struggle, and his men were falling back. Colonel Randall, with +five companies of the Thirteenth Vermont, led the advance of General +Stannard's column. Hancock had been forced to leave the guns of one of +his batteries on the field near Codori's house. + +The Rebel sharpshooters were lying along the Emmettsburg road, pouring +in a deadly fire, under cover of which a large body of Rebels was +advancing to take possession of the pieces. + +"Can you retake that battery?" was Hancock's question to Randall. + +"We'll do it or die, sir!" + +"Then go in." + +"Forward!" said Randall, turning in his saddle and waving his sword. +His men gave a cheer, and broke into a run. The Colonel's horse fell, +shot through the shoulder, but the Colonel dashed ahead on foot. They +reached the guns, drew them to the rear. The Rebels came on with a +rush. But help was at hand,--the Fourteenth Maine joined the +Vermonters. Leaving the guns the soldiers faced about, charged upon +the Rebels, captured eighty-three prisoners, and two Rebel cannon, and +then returned! Long and loud were the cheers that greeted them. + +"You must be green, or you wouldn't have gone down there," said a +Pennsylvanian, who had been in a dozen battles. The blood of the +Vermont boys was up, and they had not calculated the consequences of +such a movement. + +So closed the day on the left. But just as the contest was coming to +an end around Weed's Hill, it suddenly commenced on the north side of +the cemetery. Hayes's brigade of Louisiana Tigers, and Hoke's North +Carolinians, belonging to Early's division of Ewell's corps, had been +creeping across Spangler's farm, up the northern slope of the cemetery +hill. Suddenly, with a shout they sprang upon Barlow's division, +commanded by Amos. It was a short, fierce, but decisive contest. The +attack was sudden, but the men of Ames's command were fully prepared. +There was a struggle over the guns of two Pennsylvania batteries. The +Fifth Maine battery was in an exceedingly favorable position, at an +angle of the earthworks, east of the hill, and cut down the Rebels +with a destructive enfilading fire. The struggle lasted scarcely five +minutes,--the Rebels retreating in confusion to the town. + +When Slocum went with Williams to the left there were no indications +of an attack on Culp's Hill, but unexpectedly Ewell made his +appearance in the woods along Rock Creek. General Green, who had been +left in command, extended his line east and made a gallant fight, but +not having men enough to occupy all the ground, Ewell was able to take +possession of the hollow along the Creek. When Williams returned, he +found his entrenchments in possession of the enemy. The men of the +Twelfth threw themselves on the ground in the fields on both sides of +the Baltimore pike, for rest till daybreak. + +"We are doing well," was Longstreet's report to Lee at seven o'clock +in the evening, from the left.[49] Ewell himself rode down through the +town, to report his success on the right. + + [Footnote 49: Blackwood's Magazine, September, 1863.] + +At a later hour Longstreet reported that he had carried everything +before him for some time, capturing several batteries, and driving the +Yankees; but when Hill's Florida brigade and some other troops gave +way, he was forced to abandon a small portion of the ground he had +won, together with all the captured guns except three. + +It was late in the evening when I threw myself upon a pile of straw in +an old farm-house, near the Baltimore pike, for a few hours' rest, +expecting that with the early morning there would be a renewal of the +battle. + +There was the constant rumble of artillery moving into position, of +ammunition and supply wagons going up to the troops. Lights were +gleaming in the hollows, beneath the shade of oaks and pines, where +the surgeons were at work, and where, through the dreary hours +wailings and moanings rent the air; yet though within musket-shot of +the enemy, and surrounded with dying and dead, I found refreshing +sleep. + + +THIRD DAY. + +FRIDAY, July 3. + +Boom! boom! Two guns, deep and heavy, at four o'clock. It was a sultry +morning. The clouds hung low upon the hills. Two more! and then more +rapidly than the tick of a pendulum came the concussions. There were +flashes from all the hills,--flashes in the woods along Rock Creek. +The cemetery was aflame. The door which had been opened against Slocum +was to be closed, and this was the beginning of the effort. + +The cannonade broke the stillness of the morning, and drowned all +other sounds. Riding up the turnpike to the batteries, I had a good +view of the battle-ground. General Sickles was being carried to the +rear on a stretcher. He had suffered amputation. Following him was a +large number of prisoners, taken in the fight upon the left. Some were +haggard and care-worn,--others indifferent, or sulky, and some very +jolly. "I have got into the Union after hard fighting," said one, "and +I intend to stay there." + +There were a few musket-shots in the woods upon the hill, from the +pickets in advance. Slocum was preparing to regain what had been lost. +It was seven o'clock before he was ready to move. The men moved +slowly, but determinedly. The Rebels were in the rifle-pits, and +opened a furious fire. A thin veil of smoke rose above the trees, and +floated away before the morning breeze. Rapid the fire of +musketry,--terrific the cannonade. Ewell was determined not to be +driven back. He held on with dogged pertinacity. He had sworn +profanely to hold the position, but in vain his effort. The rifle-pits +were regained, and he was driven, inch by inch, up Rock Creek. + +It took four hours to do it, however. Ewell, well knowing the +importance of holding the position, brought in all of his available +force. Johnson's, Rhodes's, and Early's divisions, all were engaged. +To meet these General Shaler's brigade of the Sixth Corps was brought +up to Culp's Hill, while Neil's brigade of the same corps was thrown +in upon Early's flank east of Rock Creek, and the work was +accomplished. The men fought from behind trees and rocks, with great +tenacity. It was the last attempt of Lee upon Meade's right. + +Gregg's and Kilpatrick's divisions of cavalry were east of Rock Creek. +An orderly came dashing down the Hanover road. + +"Stuart is coming round on our right!" said he. "General Pleasanton +sends his compliments to General Gregg, desiring him to go out +immediately and hold Stuart in check. His compliments also to General +Kilpatrick, desiring him to go down beyond Round-top, and pitch in +with all his might on Longstreet's left." + +I was conversing with the two officers at the time. + +"Good! come on, boys!" shouted Kilpatrick, rubbing his hands with +pleasure. The notes of the bugle rang loud and clear above the rumble +of the passing army wagons, and Kilpatrick's column swept down the +hill, crossed the creek, and disappeared beyond Round-top. A half-hour +later I saw the smoke of his artillery, and heard the wild shout of +his men as they dashed recklessly upon the Rebel lines. It was the +charge in which General Farnsworth and a score of gallant officers +gave up their lives. + +General Gregg's division formed in the fields east of Wolf Hill. +Stuart had already extended his line along the Bonnoughtown road. +There was a brisk cannonade between the light batteries, and Stuart +retired, without attempting to cut out the ammunition trains parked +along the pike. + +Through the forenoon it was evident that Lee was preparing for another +attack. He had reconnoitred the ground with Longstreet in the morning, +and decided to assault Meade's line between the cemetery and Weed's +Hill with a strong force. He could form the attacking column out of +sight, in the woods west of Codori's house. In advancing the troops +would be sheltered till they reached the Emmettsburg road. Howard's +guns in the cemetery would trouble them most by enfilading the lines. +Howard must be silenced by a concentrated artillery fire. The cemetery +could be seen from every part of the line occupied by the Rebels, and +all the available batteries were brought into position to play upon +it, and upon the position occupied by the Second Corps. + +The arrangements were intrusted to Longstreet. He selected Pickett's, +Pender's, Heth's, and Anderson's divisions. Pickett's were fresh +troops. Heth had been wounded, and Pettigrew was in command of the +division. Wilcox's and Perry's brigades of Anderson's division had the +right of the first Rebel line. Pickett's division occupied the centre +of the first line, followed by Pender's. Heth's division, followed by +Wright's brigade of Anderson's, had the left of the line. + +Wilcox and Perry's line of advance was past Klingel's house. Pickett's +right swept across the Emmettsburg road by the house of Peter Rogers; +his left reached to Codori's, where it joined Pettigrew's. Rhodes's +division of Ewell's corps was brought down from the woods by Smucker's +house, and put in position south of the town, to support Pettigrew's +left. The attacking column numbered from twenty to twenty-five +thousand men, but the force in support gave nearly thirty-five +thousand men which Longstreet had in hand. + +The movements of the Rebels, as seen from the Union lines, indicated +an attack upon our extreme left. The Fifth, Third, and Sixth Corps +therefore were placed well down toward Round-top. + +Commencing at the Taneytown road and walking south, we have the +following disposition of the troops resisting this attack. Robinson's +division of the First Corps, reaching from the road along an oak +grove, past a small house occupied by a colored man. Hays's division +lay behind a stone wall, and a small grove of shrub-oaks. Gibbon had +no protection except a few rails gathered from the fences. There are +three oak-trees which mark the spot occupied by Hall's brigade. +Harrow's was just beyond it, south. In front of Harrow's, six or +eight rods, were three regiments of Stannard's Vermont brigade,--the +Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Sixteenth,--lying in a shallow trench. +Caldwell's division extended from Gibbon's to the narrow road leading +past Trostle's house. The ridge in rear of the troops bristled with +artillery. The infantry line was thin, but the artillery was compact +and powerful. + +Longstreet having made his disposition for the attack, and the Rebel +artillery not being ready, threw himself on the ground and went to +sleep.[50] + + [Footnote 50: Blackwood's Magazine, September, + 1864.--Freemantle.] + +Lee reconnoitred the position from the cupola of the college, over +which the Confederate hospital-flag was flying,--thus violating what +has been deemed even by half-civilized races a principle of honor. + +Visiting General Meade's head-quarters in the house of Mrs. Leister, +in the forenoon, I saw the Commander-in-chief seated at a table with a +map of Gettysburg spread out before him. General Warren, chief +engineer, was by his side. General Williams, his Adjutant-General, who +knew the strength of every regiment, was sitting on the bed, ready to +answer any question. General Hunt, chief of artillery, was lying on +the grass beneath a peach-tree in the yard. General Pleasanton, chief +of the cavalry, neat and trim in dress and person, with a riding-whip +tucked into his cavalry boots, was walking uneasily about. Aids were +coming and going; a signal-officer in the yard was waving his flags in +response to one on Round-top. + +"Signal-officer on Round-top reports Rebels moving towards our left," +said the officer to General Meade. + +It was five minutes past one when the signal-gun for the opening of +the battle was given by the Rebels on Seminary Hill. Instantly the +whole line of Rebel batteries, an hundred and fifty guns, joined in +the cannonade. All of the guns northeast, north, and northwest of the +town concentrated their fire upon the cemetery. Those west and +southwest opened on Hancock's position. Solid shot and shells poured +incessantly upon the cemetery and along the ridge. The intention of +Lee was soon understood,--to silence Howard's batteries because they +enfiladed the attacking force ready to move over the fields toward the +centre, our weakest point. If they could give to the living who held +the burial-place a quiet as profound as that of the sleepers beneath +the ground, then they might hope to break through the thin line of men +composing the Second Corps. + +But Howard was not a man to be kept quiet at such a time without +especial cause. His horses were knocked to pieces, the tombstones +shivered, iron railings torn, shrubs and trees cut down, here and +there men killed, but his batteries were not silenced. + +Mr. Wilkenson of the New York _Tribune_, who was at General Meade's +head-quarters when the fire was severest, thus describes the scene:-- + + "In the shadow cast by the tiny farm-house, sixteen by twenty, + which General Meade had made his head-quarters, lay wearied staff + officers and tired correspondents. There was not wanting to the + peacefulness of the scene the singing of a bird, which had a nest + in a peach-tree within the tiny yard of the whitewashed cottage. + In the midst of its warbling a shell screamed over the house, + instantly followed by another, and another, and in a moment the + air was full of the most complete artillery-prelude to an + infantry battle that was ever exhibited. Every size and form of + shell known to British and to American gunnery shrieked, whirled, + moaned, and whistled, and wrathfully fluttered over our ground. + As many as six in a second, constantly two in a second, bursting + and screaming over and around the head-quarters, made a very hell + of fire that amazed the oldest officers. They burst in the + yard,--burst next to the fence on both sides, garnished as usual + with the hitched horses of aides and orderlies. The fastened + animals reared and plunged with terror. Then one fell, then + another,--sixteen lay dead and mangled before the fire ceased, + still fastened by their halters, which gave the expression of + being wickedly tied up to die painfully. These brute victims of a + cruel war touched all hearts. Through the midst of the storm of + screaming and exploding shells an ambulance, driven by its + frenzied conductor at full speed, presented to all of us the + marvellous spectacle of a horse going rapidly on three legs. A + hinder one had been shot off at the hock. A shell tore up the + little step at the head-quarters cottage, and ripped bags of oats + as with a knife. Another soon carried off one of its two pillars. + Soon a spherical case burst opposite the open door,--another + ripped through the low garret. The remaining pillar went almost + immediately to the howl of a fixed shot that Whitworth must have + made. During this fire, the horses at twenty and thirty feet + distant were receiving their death, and soldiers in Federal blue + were torn to pieces in the road, and died with the peculiar yells + that blend the extorted cry of pain with horror and despair. Not + an orderly, not an ambulance, not a straggler was to be seen upon + the plain swept by this tempest of orchestral death, thirty + minutes after it commenced. Were not one hundred and twenty + pieces of artillery trying to cut from the field every battery we + had in position to resist their purposed infantry attack, and to + sweep away the slight defences behind which our infantry were + waiting? Forty minutes,--fifty minutes,--counted watches that + ran, O so languidly! Shells through the two lower rooms. A shell + into the chimney, that daringly did not explode. Shells in the + yard. The air thicker, and fuller, and more deafening with the + howling and whirring of these infernal missiles. The Chief of + Staff struck,--Seth Williams,--loved and respected through the + army, separated from instant death by two inches of space + vertically measured. An aide bored with a fragment of iron + through the bone of the arm. And the time measured on the + sluggish watches was one hour and forty minutes." + +A soldier was lying on the ground a few rods distant from where I was +sitting. There was a shriek, such as I hope never again to hear, and +his body was whirling in the air, a mangled mass of flesh, blood, and +bones! + +A shell exploding in the cemetery, killed and wounded twenty-seven men +in one regiment![51] and yet the troops, lying under the +fences,--stimulated and encouraged by General Howard, who walked +coolly along the line,--kept their places and awaited the attack. + + [Footnote 51: General Howard's Report.] + +It was half past two o'clock. + +"We will let them think that they have silenced us," said General +Howard to Major Osborne. The artillerists threw themselves upon the +ground beside their pieces. + +Suddenly there was a shout,--"Here they come!" + +Every man was on the alert. The cannoneers sprang to their feet. The +long lines emerged from the woods, and moved rapidly but steadily over +the fields, towards the Emmettsburg road. + +Howard's batteries burst into flame, throwing shells with the utmost +rapidity. There are gaps in the Rebel ranks, but onward still they +come. They reach the Emmettsburg road. Pickett's division appears by +Klingel's house. All of Howard's guns are at work now. Pickett turns +to the right, moving north, driven in part by the fire rolling in upon +his flank from Weed's Hill, and from the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Corps +batteries. Suddenly he faces east, descends the gentle slope from the +road behind Codori's, crosses the meadow, comes in reach of the +muskets of the Vermonters. The three regiments rise from their shallow +trench. The men beneath the oak-trees leap from their low breastwork +of rails. There is a ripple, a roll, a deafening roar. Yet the +momentum of the Rebel column carries it on. It is becoming thinner and +weaker, but they still advance. + +The Second Corps is like a thin blue ribbon. Will it withstand the +shock? "Give them canister! Pour it into them!" shouts Major Charles +Howard, running from battery to battery. The Rebel line is almost up +to the grove in front of Robinson's. It has reached the clump of +shrub-oaks. It has drifted past the Vermont boys. Onward still. "Break +their third line! Smash their supports!" cries General Howard, and +Osborne and Wainwright send the fire of fifty guns into the column, +each piece fired three times a minute! The cemetery is lost to +view,--covered with sulphurous clouds, flaming and smoking and +thundering like Sinai on the great day of the Lord! The front line of +Rebels is melting away,--the second is advancing to take its place; +but beyond the first and second is the third, which reels, breaks, and +flies to the woods from whence it came, unable to withstand the storm. + +Hancock is wounded, and Gibbon is in command of the Second Corps. +"Hold your fire, boys; they are not near enough yet," says Gibbon, as +Pickett comes on. The first volley staggers, but does not stop them. +They move upon the run,--up to the breastwork of rails,--bearing +Hancock's line to the top of the ridge,--so powerful their momentum. + +Men fire into each other's faces, not five feet apart. There are +bayonet-thrusts, sabre-strokes, pistol-shots; cool, deliberate +movements on the part of some,--hot, passionate, desperate efforts +with others; hand-to-hand contests; recklessness of life; tenacity of +purpose; fiery determination; oaths, yells, curses, hurrahs, +shoutings; men going down on their hands and knees, spinning round +like tops, throwing out their arms, gulping up blood, falling; +legless, armless, headless. There are ghastly heaps of dead men. +Seconds are centuries; minutes, ages; but the thin line does not +break! + +The Rebels have swept past the Vermont regiments. "Take them in +flank," says General Stannard. + +The Thirteenth and Sixteenth swing out from the trench, turn a right +angle to the main line, and face the north. They move forward a few +steps, pour a deadly volley into the backs of Kemper's troops. With a +hurrah they rush on, to drive home the bayonet. The Fifteenth, +Nineteenth, Twentieth Massachusetts, and Seventh Michigan, Twentieth +New York, Nineteenth Maine, One Hundred Fifty-First Pennsylvania, and +other regiments catch the enthusiasm of the moment, and close upon the +foe. + +The Rebel column has lost its power. The lines waver. The soldiers of +the front rank look round for their supports. They are gone,--fleeing +over the field, broken, shattered, thrown into confusion by the +remorseless fire from the cemetery and from the cannon on the ridge. +The lines have disappeared like a straw in a candle's flame. The +ground is thick with dead, and the wounded are like the withered +leaves of autumn. Thousands of Rebels throw down their arms and give +themselves up as prisoners. + +How inspiring the moment! How thrilling the hour! It is the high-water +mark of the Rebellion,--a turning-point of history and of human +destiny! + +Treason had wielded its mightiest blow. From that time the Rebellion +began to wane. An account of the battle, written on the following day, +and published on the 6th of July in the Boston _Journal_, contains the +following passage:-- + + "The invasion of the North was over,--the power of the Southern + Confederacy broken. There at that sunset hour I could discern the + future; no longer an overcast sky, but the clear, unclouded + starlight,--a country redeemed, saved, baptized, consecrated anew + to the coming ages. + + "All honor to the heroic living, all glory to the gallant dead! + They have not fought in vain, they have not died for naught. No + man liveth to himself alone. Not for themselves, but for their + children; for those who may never hear of them in their + nameless graves, how they yielded life; for the future; for all + that is good, pure, holy, just, true; for humanity, + righteousness, peace; for Paradise on earth; for Christ and for + God, they have given themselves a willing sacrifice. Blessed be + their memory forevermore!" + +[Illustration: "With a hurrah they rush on!"] + +I rode along the lines, and beheld the field by the light of the +gleaming stars. The dead were everywhere thickly strown. How changed +the cemetery! Three days before, its gravelled walks were smooth and +clean; flowers were in bloom; birds carolled their songs amid the +trees; the monuments were undefaced; the marble slabs pure and white. +Now there were broken wheels and splintered caissons; dead horses, +shot in the neck, in the head, through the body, disembowelled by +exploding shells, legs broken, flesh mangled and torn; pools of blood, +scarlet stains on the headstones, green grass changed to crimson; +marble slabs shivered; the ground ploughed by solid shot, holes blown +out by bursting shells; dead men lying where they had fallen, wounded +men creeping to the rear; cries and groans all around me! Fifty shells +a minute had fallen upon that small enclosure. Not for a moment was +there thought of abandoning the position. How those batteries of +Osborne and Wainwright, of the Eleventh and First Corps, had lightened +and thundered! There were scores of dead by the small house where the +left of the Rebel line advanced, lying just as they were smitten down, +as if a thunderbolt had fallen upon the once living mass! + +An English officer, who saw the battle from the Rebel lines, thus says +of the repulse:-- + + "I soon began to meet many wounded men returning from the front; + many of them asked in piteous tones the way to a doctor, or an + ambulance. The further I got the greater became the number of the + wounded. At last I came to a perfect stream of them flocking + through the woods in numbers as great as the crowd in Oxford + Street in the middle of the day.... They were still under a heavy + fire; the shells were continually bringing down great limbs of + trees, and carrying further destruction amongst their melancholy + procession. I saw all this in much less time than it takes to + write it, and although astonished to meet such a vast number of + wounded, I had not seen enough to give me an idea of the real + extent of the mischief. + + "When I got close up to General Longstreet, I saw one of his + regiments advancing through the woods in good order; so, thinking + I was just in time to see the attack, I remarked to the General + that 'I wouldn't have missed this for anything.' Longstreet was + seated on the top of a snake-fence, in the edge of the wood, and + looking perfectly calm and unperturbed. He replied, 'The devil + you wouldn't! I would like to have missed it very much; we've + attacked and been repulsed. Look there!' + + "For the first time I then had a view of the open space between + the two positions, and saw it covered with Confederates slowly + and sulkily returning towards us in small broken parties.... + + "I remember seeing a general (Pettigrew I think it was) come up + to him and report that he was unable to bring his men up again. + Longstreet turned upon him and replied with some sarcasm: 'Very + well,--never mind, then, General; just let them remain where they + are. The enemy is going to advance, and will spare you the + trouble.' ... + + "Soon afterward I joined General Lee, who had in the mean while + come to the front, on becoming aware of the disaster. He was + engaged in rallying and in encouraging the troops, and was riding + about a little in front of the woods quite alone, the whole of + his staff being engaged in a similar manner further to the rear. + His face, which is always placid and cheerful, did not show signs + of the slightest disappointment, care, or annoyance; and he was + addressing to every soldier he met a few words of encouragement, + such as, 'All this will come right in the end; we will talk it + over afterwards,--but in the mean time all good men must rally. + We want all good men and true men just now,' &c.... He said to + me,'This has been a sad day for us, Colonel,--a sad day; but we + can't expect always to gain victories.' ... I saw General Wilcox + (an officer who wears a short round jacket and a battered straw + hat) come up to him, and explain, almost crying, the state of his + brigade. General Lee immediately shook hands with him, and said, + cheerfully, 'Never mind, General. All this has been my fault,--it + is I that have lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in + the best way you can.'"[52] + + [Footnote 52: Blackwood's Magazine, September, + 1863.--Lieutenant-Colonel Freemantle.] + +It was past eleven o'clock in the evening when I rode up from the +gory field, over the ridge, where the Second Corps had stood like a +wall of adamant. Meade's head-quarters were in a grove, east of the +small house where he established himself at the beginning of the +battle. The fire had been too hot at Mrs. Leister's. Meade was +sitting on a great flat boulder, listening to the reports of his +officers, brought in by couriers. It was a scene which lives in +memory: a dark forest,--the evening breeze gently rustling the green +leaves over our heads,--the katydids and locusts singing +cheerily,--the bivouac fires glimmering on the ground, revealing the +surrounding objects,--the gnarled trees, torn by cannon-shot,--the +mossy stones,--the group of officers,--Williams, Warren, Howard (his +right sleeve wanting an arm), Pleasanton, as trim as in the morning; +Meade stooping, weary, his slouched hat laid aside, so that the +breeze might fan his brow. + +"Bully! bully! bully all round!" said he; and then turning to his +chief of staff, Humphrey, said, "Order up rations and ammunition." + +To General Hunt, chief of artillery, "Have your limbers filled. Lee +may be up to something in the morning, and we must be ready for him." + +A band came up and played "Hail to the Chief!" the "Star-spangled +Banner," and "Yankee Doodle." Soul-stirring the strains. The soldiers, +lying on their arms, where they had fought, heard it, and responded +with a cheer. Not all: for thousands were deaf and inanimate evermore. + +No accurate statement of the number engaged in this great, decisive +battle of the war can ever be given. Meade's march to Gettysburg was +made with great rapidity. The Provost Marshal of the army, General +Patrick, committed the great error of having no rear guard to bring up +the stragglers, which were left behind in thousands, and who found it +much more convenient to live on the excellent fare furnished by the +farmers than to face the enemy. Meade's entire force on the field +numbered probably from sixty to seventy thousand. The Rebel army had +made slower marches, and the soldiers could not straggle; they were in +an enemy's country. Lee, therefore, had fuller ranks than Meade. His +force may be estimated at ninety thousand men. + +The people of the North expressed their gratitude to the heroes who +had won this battle, by pouring out their contributions for the relief +of the wounded. The agents of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions +were quickly on the ground, and hundreds of warm-hearted men and +women hastened to the spot to render aid. The morning after the battle +I saw a stout Pennsylvania farmer driving his two-horse farm wagon up +the Baltimore pike, loaded down with loaves of soft bread which his +wife and daughters had baked. + +Tender and affecting are some of the incidents of the battle-field. A +delegate of the Christian Commission passing among the wounded, came +to an officer from South Carolina. + +"Can I do anything for you?" he asked. + +"No!" was the surly reply. + +He passed on, but upon his return repeated the question, and received +the same answer. The day was hot, the air offensive, from putrefying +wounds, and the delegate was putting cologne on the handkerchiefs of +the patients. + +"Colonel, let me put some of this on your handkerchief." + +The wounded man burst into tears. "I have no handkerchief." + +"Well, you shall have one"; and wetting his own gave it to him. + +"I can't understand you Yankees," said the Colonel. "You fight us like +devils, and then you treat us like angels. I am sorry I entered this +war."[53] + + [Footnote 53: Address before Alumni of Williams College, + 1865. Charles Demond.] + +Said another Rebel,--an Irishman,--to a chaplain who took care of him, +"May every hair of your head be a wax-taper to light you on your way +to glory!"[54] + + [Footnote 54: Ibid.] + +A chaplain passing through the hospital, came to a cot where lay a +young wounded soldier who had fought for the Union. + +"Poor fellow!" said the chaplain. + +"Don't call me 'poor fellow!'" was the indignant reply. + +"Dear fellow, then. Have you written to your mother since the battle?" + +"No, sir!" + +"You ought to. Here it is the tenth,--a whole week since the battle. +She will be anxious to hear from you." + +The lad with his left hand threw aside the sheet which covered him, +and the chaplain saw that his right arm was off near the shoulder. + +"That is the reason, sir, that I have not written. I have not +forgotten her, sir. I have prayed for her, and I thank God for giving +me so dear a mother." + +Then turning aside the sheet farther, the chaplain saw that his left +leg was gone. Sitting down beside the young hero the chaplain wrote as +he dictated. + +"Tell mother that I have given my right arm and my left leg to my +country, and that I am ready to give both of my other limbs!" said +he.[55] + + [Footnote 55: Rev. Mr. Auley, meeting Christian Association, + Chicago.] + +The courage and patriotism of Spartan mothers is immortalized in story +and song. "Return with your shield, or upon it," has been held up for +admiration through three thousand years. The Greek fire is not +extinguished; it burns to-day as bright and pure as ever at Salamis or +Marathon. + +Riding in the cars through the State of New York after the battle of +Gettysburg, I fell in conversation with a middle-aged woman who had +two sons in the army. + +"Have they been in battle?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir; one has been in fifteen battles. He was taken prisoner at +Chancellorsville and was wounded at Gettysburg. The other is in the +Medical Department." + +"The one who was wounded at Gettysburg must have seen some hard +fighting." + +"Yes, sir; and I hear a good account of him from his captain. He says +my son behaves well. _I told him, when he went away, that I would +rather hear he was dead than that he had disgraced himself._" + +"His time must be nearly out." + +"Yes, sir, it is; but he is going to see it through, and has +re-enlisted. I should like to have him at home, but I know he would be +uneasy. His comrades have re-enlisted, and he is not the boy to back +out. I rather want him to help give the crushing blow." + +There were thousands of such mothers in the land. + +Lee retreated the morning after the battle. His reasons for a +retrograde movement are thus stated by himself:-- + + "Owing to the strength of the enemy's position and the reduction + of our ammunition, a renewal of the engagement could not be + hazarded. and the difficulty of procuring supplies rendered it + impossible to continue longer where we were. Such of the wounded + as were in condition to be removed, and part of the arms + collected on the field, were ordered to Williamsport. The army + remained at Gettysburg during the 4th, and at night began to + retire by the road to Fairfield, carrying with it about four + thousand prisoners. Nearly two thousand had previously been + paroled, but the enemy's numerous wounded, that had fallen into + our hands after the first and second day's engagements, were left + behind."[56] + + [Footnote 56: Lee's Report.] + +Meade made no attempt to follow him with his main army, but marched +directly down the Emmettsburg road, once more to Frederick, then west +over South Mountain to intercept him on the Potomac. Meade had the +inside of the chess-board. He was a victor. The men who had made a +forced march to Gettysburg were awake to the exigency of the hour, and +made a quick march back to Frederick, and over the mountains to +Boonsboro'. A severe storm set in, and the roads were almost +impassable, but the men toiled on through the mire, lifting the +cannon-wheels from the deep ruts, when the horses were unable to drag +the ordnance, singing songs as they marched foot-sore and weary, but +buoyant over the great victory. + +And now, as the intelligence came that Grant had taken Vicksburg, that +Banks was in possession of Port Hudson, and that the Mississippi was +flowing "unvexed to the sea," they forgot all their toils, hardships, +and sufferings, and made the air ring with their lusty cheers. They +could see the dawn of peace,--peace won by the sword. The women of +Maryland hailed them as their deliverers, brought out the best stores +from their pantries and gave freely, refusing compensation. + +Meade left all his superfluous baggage behind, and moved in light +marching order. Lee was encumbered by his wounded, and by his trains, +and when he reached Hagerstown found that Meade was descending the +mountain side, and that Gregg was already in Boonsboro'. + +Reinforcements were sent to Meade from Washington, with the +expectation that by concentration of all available forces, Lee's army +might be wholly destroyed. The elements, which had often retarded +operations of the Union troops,--which had rendered Burnside's and +Hooker's movements abortive in several instances, now were propitious. +The Potomac was rising, and the rain was still falling. On the morning +of the 13th I rode to General Meade's head-quarters. General Seth +Williams, the ever-courteous Adjutant-General of the army, was in +General Meade's tent. He said that Meade was taking a look at the +Rebels. + +"Do you think that Lee can get across the Potomac?" I asked. + +"Impossible! The people resident here say that it cannot be forded at +this stage of the water. He has no pontoons. We have got him in a +tight place. We shall have reinforcements to-morrow, and a great +battle will be fought. Lee is encumbered with his teams, and he is +short of ammunition." + +General Meade came in dripping with rain, from a reconnoissance. His +countenance was unusually animated. He had ever been courteous to me, +and while usually very reticent of all his intentions or of what was +going on, as an officer should be, yet in this instance he broke over +his habitual silence, and said, "We shall have a great battle +to-morrow. The reinforcements are coming up, and as soon as they come +we shall pitch in." + +I rode along the lines with Howard in the afternoon. The Rebels were +in sight. The pickets were firing at each other. There was some +movement of columns. + +"I fear that Lee is getting away," said Howard. + +He sent an aide to Meade, with a request that he might attack. + +"I can double them up," he said, meaning that, as he was on Lee's +flank, he could strike an effective blow. + +Kilpatrick was beyond Howard, well up towards Williamsport. "Lee is +getting across the river, I think," said through a messenger. + +It was nearly night. The attack was to be made early in the morning. + +The morning dawned and Lee was south of the Potomac. That officer +says:-- + + "The army, after an arduous march, rendered more difficult by the + rains, reached Hagerstown on the afternoon of the 6th and morning + of the 7th July. + + "The Potomac was found to be so much swollen by the rains that + had fallen almost incessantly since our entrance into Maryland, + as to be unfordable. Our communications with the south side were + thus interrupted, and it was difficult to procure either + ammunition or subsistence, the latter difficulty being enhanced + by the high waters impeding the working of the neighboring mills. + The trains with the wounded and prisoners were compelled to await + at Williamsport the subsiding of the river and the construction + of boats, as the pontoon bridge, left at Falling Waters, had been + partially destroyed. The enemy had not yet made his appearance; + but, as he was in condition to obtain large reinforcements, and + our situation, for the reasons above mentioned, was becoming + daily more embarrassing, it was deemed advisable to recross the + river. Part of the pontoon bridge was recovered, and new boats + built, so that by the 13th a good bridge was thrown over the + river at Falling Waters. + + "The enemy in force reached our front on the 12th. A position had + been previously selected to cover the Potomac from Williamsport + to Falling Waters, and an attack was awaited during that and the + succeeding day. This did not take place, though the two armies + were in close proximity, the enemy being occupied in fortifying + his own lines. Our preparations being completed, and the river, + though still deep, being pronounced fordable, the army commenced + to withdraw to the south side on the night of the 13th. + + "Ewell's corps forded the river at Williamsport, those of + Longstreet and Hill crossed upon the bridge. Owing to the + condition of the roads, the troops did not reach the bridge until + after daylight of the 14th, and the crossing was not completed + until 1 P. M., when the bridge was removed. The enemy offered no + serious interruption, and the movement was attended with no loss + of material except a few disabled wagons and two pieces of + artillery, which the horses were unable to move through the deep + mud. Before fresh horses could be sent back for them, the rear of + the column had passed."[57] + + [Footnote 57: Lee's Report.] + +Kilpatrick was astir at daybreak; he moved into Williamsport. I +accompanied his column. The Rebels were on the Virginia hills, +jubilant at their escape. There were wagons in the river, floating +down with the current, which had been capsized in the crossing. +Kilpatrick pushed on to Falling Waters, fell upon Pettigrew's brigade, +guarding the pontoons, captured two cannon and eight hundred men, in +one of the most daring dashes of the war. It was poor satisfaction, +however, when contrasted with what might have been done. The army was +chagrined. Loud were the denunciations of Meade. + +"Another campaign on the Rappahannock, boys," said one officer in my +hearing. + +"We shall be in our old quarters in a few days," said another. + +General Meade has been severely censured for not attacking on the +13th. Lee had lost thirty thousand men. He had suffered a crushing +defeat at Gettysburg. Enthusiasm had died out. His soldiers were less +confident than they had been. His ammunition was nearly exhausted. He +was in a critical situation. + +Those were reasons why he should be attacked; but there were also +reasons, which to Meade were conclusive, that the attack should not be +made till the 14th: the swollen river,--the belief that Lee had no +means of crossing the Potomac,--and the expected reinforcements. The +delay was not from lack of spirit or over caution; but with the +expectation of striking a blow which would destroy the Rebel army. + +Lee went up the valley, while Meade pushed rapidly down the base of +the Blue Ridge to Culpepper. But he was not in condition to take the +offensive, so far from his base; and the two armies sat down upon the +banks of the Rapidan, to rest after the bloody campaign. + +[Illustration: Regiment at dinner.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FROM THE RAPIDAN TO COLD HARBOR. + + +[Sidenote: May, 1864.] + +There are few months in the calendar of centuries that will have a +more conspicuous place in history than the month of May, 1864. It will +be remembered on account of the momentous events which took place in +one of the greatest military campaigns of history. We are amazed, not +by its magnitude merely, for there have been larger armies, heavier +trains of artillery, greater preparations, in European warfare,--but +by a succession of events unparalleled for rapidity. We cannot fully +comprehend the amount of endurance, the persistency, the hard +marching, the harder fighting, the unwearied, cheerful energy and +effort which carried the Army of the Potomac from the Rappahannock to +the James in forty days, against the stubborn opposition of an army of +almost equal numbers. There was not a day of rest,--scarcely an hour +of quiet. Morning, noon, and midnight, the booming of cannon and the +rattling of musketry echoed unceasingly through the Wilderness, around +the hillocks of Spottsylvania, along the banks of the North Anna, and +among the groves of Bethesda Church and Cold Harbor. + +There were individual acts of valor, as heroic and soul-stirring as +those of the old Cavaliers renowned in story and song, where all the +energies of life were centred in one moment. There was the spirited +advance of regiments, the onset of brigades, and the resistless +charges of divisions,--scenes which stir the blood and fire the soul; +the hardihood, the endurance, the cool, collected, reserved force, +abiding the time, the calm facing of death; the swift advance, the +rush, the plunge into the thickest of the fight, where hundreds of +cannon, where fifty thousand muskets, filled the air with iron hail +and leaden rain. + +The army wintered between the Rappahannock and the Rapidan. There had +been a reduction and reconstruction of its corps,--an incorporation +of the First and Third with the Fifth and Sixth, with reinforcements +added to the Second. The Second was commanded by Major-General +Hancock, the Fifth by Major-General Warren, the Sixth by Major-General +Sedgwick. + +These three corps, with three divisions of cavalry commanded by +General Sheridan, composed the Army of the Potomac, commanded by +Major-General Meade. The Ninth Corps, commanded by Major-General +Burnside, was added when the army took up its line of march. + +Lee was behind Mine Run, with his head-quarters at Orange Court-House, +covering the advance to Richmond from that direction. + +There was concentration everywhere. General Gillmore, with what troops +could be spared from the Department of the South, joined his forces to +those on the Peninsula and at Suffolk under General Butler; Sigel +commanded several thousand in the Shenandoah; Crook and Averell had a +small army in Western Virginia; at Chattanooga, under Sherman and +Thomas, was gathered a large army of Western troops; while Banks was +up the Red River, moving towards Shreveport. + +The _dramatis personae_ were known to the public, but the part assigned +to each was kept profoundly secret. There was discussion and +speculation whether Burnside, from his encampment at Annapolis, would +suddenly take transports and go to Wilmington, or up the Rappahannock, +or the James, or the York. Would Meade move directly across the +Rapidan and attack Lee in front, with every passage, every hill and +ravine enfiladed by Rebel cannon? Or would he move his right flank +along the Blue Ridge, crowding Lee to the seaboard? Would he not make, +rather, a sudden change of base to Fredericksburg? None of the wise +men, military or civil, in their speculations, indicated the line +which General Grant adopted. The public accepted the disaster at +Chancellorsville and the failure at Mine Run as conclusive evidence +that a successful advance across the Rapidan by the middle fords was +impossible, or at least improbable. So well was the secret kept, that, +aside from the corps commanders, none in or out of the army, except +the President and Secretary of War, had information of the line of +march intended. + +General Grant had a grand plan,--not merely for the Army of the +Potomac, but for all of the armies in the Union service. + +Banks was to take Shreveport, then sail rapidly down the Mississippi +and move upon Mobile, accompanied by the naval force under Farragut. +Sherman was to push Johnston from his position near Chattanooga. If +Banks succeeded at Mobile, he was to move up to Montgomery and +co-operate with Sherman. Such a movement would compel the Rebel +General Johnston to retire from Atlanta. It would sever Alabama and +Mississippi from the other States of the Confederacy. + +Butler was to move up the James and seize Richmond, or cut the +railroads south of the Appomattox. Sigel was to pass up the +Shenandoah, while the troops in Western Virginia were to sever the +railroad leading to East Tennessee. + +The Army of the Potomac was to move upon Richmond,--or rather upon +Lee's army. The policy of General Grant--the idea upon which he opened +and conducted the campaign--must be fully comprehended before the +events can be clearly understood. + +That idea is thus expressed in General Grant's official report:-- + + "From an early period in the Rebellion I had been impressed with + the idea that active and continuous operations of all the troops + that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and + weather, were necessary to a speedy termination of the war. The + resources of the enemy, and his numerical strength, were far + inferior to ours; but as an offset to this, we had a vast + territory, with a population hostile to the government, to + garrison, and long lines of river and railroad communications to + protect, to enable us to supply the operating armies. + + "The armies in the East and West acted independently and without + concert, like a balky team, no two ever pulling together, + enabling the enemy to use to great advantage his interior lines + of communication for transporting troops from east to west, + reinforcing the army most vigorously pressed, and to furlough + large numbers during seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to + their homes, and do the work of producing for the support of + their armies. It was a question whether our numerical strength + and resources were not more than balanced by these disadvantages + and the enemy's superior position. + + "From the first, I was firm in the conviction that no peace could + be had that would be stable and conducive to the happiness of the + people, both North and South, until the military power of the + rebellion was entirely broken. + + "I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of + troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy; + preventing him from using the same force at different seasons + against first one and then another of our armies, and the + possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary + supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer + continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his + resources, until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, there + should be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the + loyal section of our common country, to the Constitution and laws + of the land." + +The Army of the Potomac had no easy task to perform. Lee had the +advantage of position. The Rapidan was his line. He had improved his +old earthworks and thrown up new ones. His cannon covered the fords. +His army was as large as when he invaded Pennsylvania. Grant must +cross the Rapidan at some point. To attempt and fail would be +disastrous. It was easy to say, Push on! but it was far different to +meet the storm of leaden hail,--far different to see a line waver, +break, and scatter to the rear, with utter loss of heart. Those were +contingencies and possibilities to be taken into account. + +It was no light affair to supply an army of one hundred and fifty +thousand men, over a single line of railway,--to accumulate supplies +in advance of the movement,--to cut loose from his base of operations, +and open a new base as occasion should call. Every mile of advance +increased Grant's difficulty, while every mile of retrograde movement +carried Lee nearer to his base of operations. + +All the speculations in regard to Burnside's destination fell to the +ground when, on the 25th of April, the Ninth Corps passed through +Washington, and moved into Virginia. It was a sublime spectacle. The +Ninth Corps achieved almost the first successes of the war in North +Carolina. It had hastened to the Potomac in time to aid in rescuing +the capital when Lee made his first Northern invasion. It won glory at +South Mountain, and made the narrow bridge of Antietam forever +historic. It had readied Kentucky in season to aid in driving the +Rebels from that State, and now, with recruited ranks,--with new +regiments of as good blood as ever was poured out in the cause of +right, with a new element which was to make for itself a name never +again to be despised, the corps was marching through the capital of +the nation, passing in review before Abraham Lincoln. The corps +marched down Fourteenth Street past Willard's Hotel, where upon the +balcony stood the President and General Burnside. Behold the scene! +Platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions. +The men are bronzed by the rays of a Southern sun, and by the March +winds. The bright sunshine gleams from their bayonets; above them wave +their standards, tattered by the winds, torn by cannon-ball and +rifle-shot,--stained with the blood of dying heroes. They are +priceless treasures, more beloved than houses, land, riches, honor, +ease, comfort, wife or children. Ask them what is most dear of all +earthly things, there will be but one answer,--"The flag! the dear old +flag!" It is their pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day,--the +symbol of everything worth living for, worth dying for! + +Their banners bear the names of Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, Roanoke, +Newburn, Gains's Mills, Mechanicsville, Seven Pines, Savage Station, +Glendale, Malvern, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Antietam, South +Mountain, Knoxville, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Gettysburg, inscribed in +golden characters. + +The people of Washington have turned out to see them. Senators have +left their Chamber, and the House of Representatives has taken a +recess to gaze upon the defenders of their country, as they pass +through the city,--many of them, alas! never to return. + +There is the steady tramping of the thousands,--the deep, heavy jar of +the gun-carriages,--the clattering of hoofs, the clanking of sabres, +the drum-beat, the bugle-call, and the music of the bands. Pavement, +sidewalk, windows, and roofs are occupied by the people. A division of +veterans pass, saluting the President and their commander with cheers. +And now with full ranks, platoons extending from sidewalk to sidewalk, +are brigades which never have been in battle, for the first time +shouldering arms for their country; who till a year ago never had a +country, who even now are not American citizens, who are +disfranchised,--yet they are going out to fight for the flag! Their +country was given them by the tall, pale, benevolent-hearted man +standing upon the balcony. For the first time they behold their +benefactor. They are darker hued than their veteran comrades; but they +can cheer as lustily, "Hurrah! Hurrah!" "Hurrah for Massa Linkum!" +"Three cheers for the President!" They swing their caps, clap their +hands, and shout their joy. Long, loud, and jubilant are the +rejoicings of those redeemed sons of Africa. Regiment after regiment +of stalwart men,--slaves once, but freemen now,--with steady step and +even rank, pass down the street, moving on to the Old Dominion. + +It was the first review of colored troops by the President. He gave +them freedom, he recognized them as soldiers. Their brethren in arms +of the same complexion had been murdered in cold blood, after +surrender, at Port Pillow and at Plymouth. And such would be their +fate should they by chance become prisoners of war. + +The time had come for the great movement. + +On Tuesday afternoon, May 3d, the cavalry broke camp on the Orange and +Alexandria Railroad, and moved eastward,--General Gregg's division +towards Ely's Ford, and General Wilson's division towards Germanna +Ford, each having pontoons. At midnight the Second Corps, which had +been encamped east of Culpepper, followed General Gregg. At daylight +on the morning of the 4th of May, the Fifth and Sixth Corps and the +reserve artillery were moving towards Germanna Ford. The +supply-train--four thousand wagons--followed the Second Corps. There +were but these two available roads. + +The enemy was at Orange Court-House, watching, from his elevated +lookout on Clark's Mountain, for the first sign of change in the Union +camp. In the light of the early dawn he saw that the encampments at +Culpepper were broken up, while the dust-cloud hanging over the forest +toward the east was the sure indication of the movement. + +General Lee put his army in instant motion to strike the advancing +columns as they crossed the Rapidan. The movement of Grant was +southeast, that of Lee northeast,--lines of advance which must produce +collision, unless Grant was far enough forward to slip by the angle. +There is reason to believe that General Grant did not intend to fight +Lee at Wilderness, but that it was his design to slip past that point +and swing round by Spottsylvania, and, if possible, get between Lee +and Richmond. He boldly cut loose his connection with Washington, and +plunged into the Wilderness, relying upon the ability of his soldiers +to open a new base for supplies whenever needed. + +In this first day's movement he did not uncover Washington. Burnside +was still lying on the north bank of the Rappahannock. It was +understood in the army that the Ninth Corps was to be a reserve to +protect the capital. So, perhaps, Lee understood it. But at nightfall, +on the 4th, the shelter-tents were folded, and the men of the Ninth, +with six days' rations in their haversacks, were on the march along +the forest-road, lighted only by the stars, joining the main army at +Germanna Ford on the morning of the 5th. + +The movement from the Rapidan to Cold Harbor was made in thirty days. +It was a series of movements by the left flank, in part to get between +Lee and his southern communications, and in part to force him to +abandon strong positions. + + The movements were:-- + From Culpepper to Wilderness. + From Wilderness to Spottsylvania. + From Spottsylvania to the North Anna. + From the North Anna to Cold Harbor. + From Cold Harbor to Petersburg. + +It was thirty days of continuous marching, or fighting, building +defences and bridges, opening roads, establishing new bases of +supplies, through a country densely wooded, and crossing four large +rivers, besides numerous smaller streams, to find always the enemy +upon the other side, prepared to give desperate battle. + +It was early in the morning on the 4th of May when the reveille +sounded for the last time over the hills and dales of Culpepper. The +last cups of coffee were drunk, the blankets folded, and then the +army, which through the winter had lain in camp, moved away from the +log huts, where many a jest had been spoken, many a story +told,--where, through rain and mud, and heat and cold, the faithful +and true-hearted men had kept watch and ward through the long, weary +months,--where songs of praise and prayer to God had been raised by +thousands who looked beyond the present into the future life. + +So rapid was the march that the Second Corps reached Chancellorsville +before night, having crossed the Rapidan at Ely's Ford. The Sixth and +Fifth Corps crossed at Germanna Ford, without opposition, and before +night the Army of the Potomac was upon the southern side of that +stream, where it was joined by the Ninth Corps the next morning. + +General Grant's quarters for the night were in an old house near the +ford. Lights were to be put out at nine o'clock. There were the usual +scenes of a bivouac, and one unusual to an army. The last beams of +daylight were fading in the west. The drummers were beating the +tattoo. Mingled with the constant rumbling of the wagons across the +pontoons, and the unceasing flow of the river, was a chorus of +voices,--a brigade singing a hymn of devotion. It was the grand old +choral of Luther, Old Hundred. + + "Eternal are thy mercies, Lord, + Eternal truth attends thy word; + Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore, + Till suns shall rise and set no more." + +Many soldiers in that army were thinking of home,--not only of loved +ones, and of associations full of sweet and tender memories, but of a +better abiding-place, eternal in the heavens. To thousands it was a +last night on earth. + +Early in the morning of the 5th Generals Meade and Grant, with their +staffs, after riding five miles from Germanna Ford, halted near an old +mill in the Wilderness. General Sheridan's cavalry had been pushing +out south and west. Aides came back with despatches. + +"They say that Lee intends to fight us here," said General Meade, as +he read them. + +"Very well," was the quiet reply of General Grant. + +The two commanders retire a little from the crowd, and stand by the +roadside in earnest conversation. Grant is of medium stature, yet has +a well-developed _physique_, sandy whiskers and moustache, blue eyes, +earnest, thoughtful, and far-seeing, a cigar in his mouth, a knife in +one hand, and a stick in the other, which he is whittling to a point. +He whittles slowly towards him. His thoughts are not yet crystallized. +His words are few. Suddenly he commences upon the other end of the +stick, and whittles energetically from him. And now he is less +reticent,--talks freely. He is dressed in plain blue; and were it not +for the three stars upon his shoulder, few would select him as the +Lieutenant-General commanding all the armies of the Union in the +field. + +Meade is tall, thin, a little stooping in the shoulders, quick, +comprehending the situation of affairs in an instant, energetic,--an +officer of excellent executive ability. + +Years ago, a turnpike was built from Fredericksburg to Orange +Court-House; but in the days when there was a mania for plank roads, +another corporation constructed a plank road between the same places. +A branch plank road, commencing two miles west of Chancellorsville, +crosses the Rapidan at Germanna Ford, running to Stevensburg, north of +that stream. The turnpike runs nearly east and west, while the +Stevensburg plank road runs northwest. General Grant has established +his head-quarters at the crossing of the turnpike and the Stevensburg +road, his flag waving from a knoll west of the road. A mile and a half +out on the turnpike, on a ridge, is Parker's store, where, early in +the morning, I saw long lines of Rebel infantry, the sunlight gleaming +from bayonet and gun-barrel. + +Before the contest begins, let us go up to the old Wilderness tavern, +which stands on the Stevensburg plank road, and take a view of a +portion of the battle-field. It will be a limited view, for there are +few open spaces in the Wilderness. + +From the tavern you look west. At your feet is a brook, flowing from +the southwest, and another small stream from the northwest, joining +their waters at the crossing of the turnpike and the plank road. The +turnpike rises over a ridge between the two streams. On the south +slope is the house of Major Lacy, owner of a house at Falmouth, used +by our soldiers after the battle of Fredericksburg. It is a beautiful +view,--a smooth lawn in front of the house, meadows green with the +verdure of spring; beyond the meadows are hills thickly wooded,--tall +oaks, and pine and cedar thickets. On the right hand side of the +turnpike the ridge is more broken, and also thickly set with small +trees and bushes. A mile and a half out from the crossing of the two +roads the ridge breaks down into a ravine. General Lee has possession +of the western bank, Grant the eastern. It is such a mixture of woods, +underbrush, thickets, ravines, hills, hollows, and knolls, that one is +bewildered in passing through it, and to attempt to describe would be +a complete bewilderment to writer and reader. + +But General Grant has been compelled to make this ridge his right line +of battle. He must protect his trains, which are still coming in on +the Germanna road. + +The Sixth Corps, commanded by General Sedgwick, holds the right, +covering the road to Germanna Ford. The left of the Third Division +reaches the turnpike, where it connects with the Fifth Corps, +Warren's. Before the arrival of Burnside's force, one division of the +Fifth is placed in position south of the turnpike. Now leaving a wide +gap, you walk through the woods towards the southeast, and two miles +from head-quarters you find the Second Corps, under Hancock, a long +line of men in the thick forest, on both sides of the Orange plank +road. + +The forenoon of the 5th instant was devoted to taking positions. +Engineers rode over the ground and examined the character of the +country. A small party pushed out to Parker's store, but encountered a +Rebel column advancing; but the knowledge thus obtained of the ground +in that direction was of great value. + +Word was sent to General Hancock, who had orders to move in direction +of Spottsylvania; that Lee was taking positions. He hastened to make +connection with the other corps. Had he not moved rapidly, Lee would +have obtained possession of the fork of the two plank roads, the +Stevensburg and the Orange road, which would have been a serious +mishap. The Rebel advance was not more than a mile distant when +Hancock secured it. No sooner had the pickets been thrown out, than +the rattling of musketry commenced all along the line. About four in +the afternoon, each commander began to feel the position of the other +by advancing brigades on the right, left, and centre. An exchange of a +few volleys would seemingly satisfy the parties. + +It had been the practice of General Lee to begin and close a day with +a grand fusilade. In this battle he adhered to his former tactics, by +advancing a heavy force upon our right, and then, when the contest was +at its height in that direction, attacked on the left. The rolls of +musketry were very heavy and continuous for an hour. There was but +little opportunity to charge bayonet. It was a close contest in a +thick wood, on land which years ago was turned by the plough, but +which, having by thriftless culture incident to the existence of +servile labor, been worn out, now bears the smallest oaks, hazels, +sassafras, and briers. + +Hostilities ceased at night. Each commander learned enough of the +other's operations to make dispositions for the following day. Grant +had no alterations to make. Lee had forced him to accept battle there, +and he must do the best he could. Longstreet arrived in the night, and +was placed against Hancock, on the Rebel right, or rather on the right +centre, overlapping the Second and coming against a portion of the +Ninth Corps, which was assigned to the left centre. Thus these two +corps and their two commanders met again in deadly conflict, having +fought at the first and second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, and +Knoxville. + +General Alexis Hays, in the front line, finding that he was +outnumbered, sent word to Hancock that he must have reinforcements. + +"Tell him," said Hancock to the aide, "that he shall have a fresh +brigade in twenty minutes." + +Twenty minutes! An age to those who see their comrades falling,--their +lines growing thinner. Before the time had expired, General Hays was +carried back a corpse; but though the brave man had fallen, the troops +held their ground. + +Night closed over the scene. Everybody knew that the contest would be +renewed in the morning. Lee began the attack on the 5th, falling like +a thunderbolt on the flank of Grant, but made no impression on the +Union lines,--not moving them an inch from their chosen positions. + +Grant resolved to take the initiative on the morning of the 6th, and +orders were accordingly issued for a general attack at daybreak. + +Sedgwick was to commence on the right at five o'clock, but Lee saved +him the trouble. A. P. Hill forestalled the movement by advancing at +half past four. The Rebel batteries by Parker's store sent a +half-dozen shots into the Union lines as a signal for the beginning of +the contest. Then came a slight ripple of musketry, then a +roll,--long, deep, heavy,--and the crash,--indescribable, fearful to +hear, terrible to think of. Fifty thousand muskets were flashing, with +occasional cannon-shots, mingled with shouts, cheers, and hurrahs from +the Union lines, and yells like the war-whoop of Indians,--wild, +savage howls from the depths of the tangled jungle. The sun rises upon +a cloudless sky. The air becomes sultry. The blood of the combatants +is at fever heat. There are bayonet-charges, surgings to and fro of +the opposing lines, a meeting and commingling, like waves of the +ocean, sudden upspringings from the underbrush of divisions stealthily +advanced. There is a continuous rattle, with intervening rolls +deepening into long, heavy swells, the crescendo and the diminuendo of +a terrible symphony, rising to thunder-tones, to crash and roar +indescribable. + +The Ninth Corps during the day was brought between the Fifth and +Second. Divisions were moved to the right, to the left, and to the +centre, during the two days' fight, but the positions of the corps +remained unchanged, and stood as represented in the diagram. + +[Illustration: Wilderness.] + +Through all those long hours of conflict there was patient endurance +in front of the enemy. There were temporary successes and reverses on +both sides. In only a single instance was there permanent advantage to +Lee, and that he had not the power to improve. It was at the close of +the contest on the 6th. The sun had gone down, and twilight was +deepening into night. The wearied men of Rickett's division of the +Sixth Corps, in the front line of battle on the right, had thrown +themselves upon the ground. Suddenly there was a rush upon their +flank. There was musketry, blinding flashes from cannon, and +explosions of shells. The line which had stood firmly through the day +gave way, not because it was overpowered, but because it was +surprised. General Seymour and a portion of his brigade were taken +prisoners. There was a partial panic, which soon subsided. The second +line remained firm, the enemy was driven back, and the disaster +repaired by swinging the Sixth Corps round to a new position, covered +by the reserve artillery. + +On the morning of the 7th the pickets reported that Lee had fallen +back. Reconnoitring parties said that he was throwing up +entrenchments. Grant was thoughtful through the day. He said but +little. He had a cigar in his mouth from morning till night. I saw him +many times during the day, deeply absorbed in thought. He rode along +the centre, and examined the Rebel lines towards Parker's store. At +times a shell or solid shot came from the Rebel batteries through the +thick forest growth, but other than this there was but little +fighting. Grant determined to make a push for Spottsylvania, and put +his army between Lee and Richmond. By noon the trains were in motion, +having been preceded by Sheridan with the cavalry, followed by the +Ninth Corps, and then the Fifth on a parallel road. But Lee had the +shortest line. He was on the alert, and there was a simultaneous +movement of the Rebel army on a shorter line. + +The Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps took the Block road, while the +Ninth, with the trains, moved by Chancellorsville, over the +battle-ground of the preceding summer, where the bones of those who +fell in that struggle were bleaching unburied in the summer air. + +It was eleven P. M. on Saturday evening, May 7th, when Generals Grant +and Meade, accompanied by their cavalry escorts, left the Wilderness +head-quarters of General Hancock for a ride to Todd's Tavern, a place +of two or three houses, exhibiting the usual degree of thriftlessness +which characterized the Old Dominion. Twice during the ride we ran +into the Rebel pickets, and were compelled to take by-paths through +fields and thickets. General Grant rode at a break-neck speed. How +exciting! The sudden flashing of Rebel muskets in front, the whiz of +the minnie projectile over our heads, the quick halt and right about +face,--our horses stumbling over fallen timber and stumps, the +clanking of sabres, the clattering of hoofs, the plunge into brambles, +the tension of every nerve, the strain upon all the senses, the +feeling of relief when we are once more in the road, and then the +gallop along the narrow way, beneath the dark pines of the forest, +till brought to a halt by the sudden challenge from our own sentinel! +It is a fast life that one leads at such a time. When the reaction +sets in the system is as limp as a wilted cabbage-leaf. + +"Where are you going?" was the question of a cavalryman as we halted a +moment. + +"To Spottsylvania." + +"I reckon you will have a scrimmage before you get there," said he. + +"Why?" + +"Well, nothing in particular, except there are forty or fifty thousand +Rebs in front of you. Sheridan has had a tough time of it, and I +reckon there is more work to be done." + +We pushed on and reached Todd's at one o'clock on Sunday morning. The +roads were full of cavalry, also the fields and woods. Sheridan had +been fighting several hours, with Fitz Lee. The wounded were being +brought in. Surgeons were at work. In the field, a short distance from +the spot, the pickets were still firing shots. The Rebels were +retiring, and Sheridan's men, having won the field, were throwing +themselves upon the ground and dropping off to sleep as unconcernedly +as when seeking rest in the calm repose and silence of their +far-distant homes. + +Fastening our horses to the front-yard fence of Todd's, making a +pillow of our saddles, wrenching off the palings for a bed to keep our +bones from the ground, wrapping our blankets around us, we were sound +asleep in three minutes, undisturbed by the tramping of the passing +troops, the jar of the artillery, the rumble of the ammunition wagons, +the shouts of the soldiers, the shrieks of the wounded, and groans of +the dying. + +At sunrise the head-quarters of the army were removed to Piney Grove +Church. No bell called the worshippers of the parish to its portal on +that Sabbath morning, but other tones were vibrating the air. The +Fifth Corps had come in collision with the Rebels, and while the +rear-guard of the army were firing their last shots in the Wilderness, +the cannonade was reopening at Spottsylvania. + +The day was intensely hot. I was wearied by the events of the +week,--the hard riding, the want of sleep, the series of battles,--and +instead of riding out to the field, enjoyed luxurious repose beneath +the apple-trees, fragrant with blossoms, and listened to the strange +Sabbath symphony, the humming of bees, the songs of the birds, the +roll of musketry, and the cannonade. + +The second division, Robinson's, and the fourth, Cutler's (after the +loss of Wadsworth, killed at the Wilderness), were engaged. Baxter's +brigade of Robinson's division was thrown forward to ascertain the +position of the enemy. Their advance brought on the battle. The Sixth +Corps was moved to the left of Warren's on the Piney Church road, and +was placed in supporting distance. In this first engagement Robinson +was badly wounded in the leg. + +The Second Corps having filed through the woods, after a hot and dusty +march, came up behind the Fifth and Sixth. I took a ride along the +lines late in the afternoon. The Fifth was moving slowly forward over +undulations and through pine thickets,--a long line of men in blue, +picking their way, now through dense underbrush, in a forest of +moaning pines, now stepping over a sluggish stream, with briers, +hazel, thorn-bushes, and alders impeding every step, and now emerging +into an old field where the thriftless farmers had turned the shallow +soil for spring planting. + +There had been a lull in the cannonade, but it commenced again. It was +as before, a spirited contest, which lasted half an hour. Warren +pressed steadily on and drove the Rebels from their advanced position, +forcing them to retire across the creek, but losing several hundred +men before he dislodged them. + +Reaching an opening in the forest, I came upon Hart's plantation, a +collection of negro huts and farm buildings,--a lovely spot, where the +spring wheat was already rolling in green waves in the passing breeze. +Looking south over Po Creek, I could see the Catharpen road lined with +horse and footmen, and could hear in the intervals of silence the +rumble of wagons. A cloud of dust rose above the forest. Were the +Rebels retreating, or were they receiving reinforcements? General +Grant came down and looked at them. The Rebel artillerists near the +court-house must have discovered us, for a half-dozen cannon-shot came +ringing through the air, plunging into the newly ploughed cornfield +and the clover-land, knee deep with luxuriant grass. + +On Monday morning it was found that Lee's whole army was at +Spottsylvania; and as our skirmishers were deployed to ascertain the +position of the enemy, it was discovered that Rebels occupied all the +ground in front. General Grant did not at first think Lee would make a +detour of his whole force from a direct line to Richmond; he thought +it must be only detachments of men which had been thrown in his way; +but when he discovered what Lee's intentions were, he prepared to +accept battle. Word was sent to General Burnside to take position on +the extreme left. The Second Corps, which had been in rear of the +Fifth, was swung to the right, while the Sixth was deflected toward +the Ninth. While these dispositions were being made, the skirmishing +and cannonade were never intermitted for an instant. A pontoon train +was sent around to the right, to be used by Hancock. A battery was +placed in position at Hart's plantation, and its rifle shot and shells +interrupted the tide of travel on the Catharpen road. Riding down to +the front of Hancock's corps, I found Birney, who with the Third +Division held the extreme right, and had already pushed far over +toward the Catharpen road. + +Gibbon's division was in the centre, and Barlow's was on the left, +occupying, in part, ground which the Fifth had held the night +previous. It was nearly night, and the conflict was deepening. The day +had been intensely hot, but, as the coolness of evening came on, both +parties addressed themselves to the encounter. Barlow marched over +undulating pasture-lands, through fringes of forest, into a meadow, +across it, and into the dark pines beyond. Taking a favorable stand +near a deserted farm-house, by the Piney Church road, I could see the +dark lines move steadily on. Below me, on a hillock, were Hancock and +staff directing movements. A half-dozen batteries were in position +close by. One--the Third Massachusetts--was sending its shells over +the heads of our men into the woods beyond the meadow. Mounting the +breastworks which had been thrown up at this spot, I could see the +orchard where the Rebel riflemen were lying. There was the sharp, +shrill ringing of the minnie bullets whistling through the air, and at +times a lurid sheet of flame from a brigade pouring in its volleys. +There was the flash, the cloud of dust wherever the ragged iron tore +its way, and the deafening report. I gladly availed myself of whatever +protection the breastwork afforded, although a solid shot would have +passed through the slight embankment as readily as a stone could be +hurled through chaff. The chances were as one to several thousand of +my being hit, but it is the one chance which makes a person wish he +were somewhere else. The Second Corps was smartly assailed, but stood +their ground and became assailants in turn,--not because they obeyed +orders, but from the impulse of the men, who needed no urging. It was +a remarkable feature. The men in that contest fought because they +wanted to. Gibbons and Birney swung like a double-hinged door upon +Longstreet's left flank and obtained possession of the ground which +the Rebels occupied at the beginning of the engagement. + +It became evident on Tuesday morning that General Lee had chosen +Spottsylvania as a place for a trial of strength. Preparations were +accordingly made for the work. General Grant's wounded impeded his +movements. He decided to send them to Fredericksburg. All who could +walk were started on foot. Those who could not, but who did not need +ambulances, were placed in empty wagons. The long procession took its +winding way, and other thousands of mangled forms were brought in to +fill the empty places. It was a sad sight. It made me sick at heart, +and weary of war, and how much more sick and weary when I thought of +the great iniquity which had caused it. + +At daybreak the cannonade recommenced, Grant's guns coming first into +play. The Rebels for a while remained in silent indifference; but as +continued teasing rouses a wild beast's anger, so at length they +replied. + +The air was calm, and the reverberation rolled far over the forest. +There was constant skirmishing through the forenoon. General Grant +rode along the lines, inspected the position, and issued orders for a +general advance at five o'clock; but Lee took the initiative, and +through the afternoon the battle raged with exceeding fierceness. + +There was nothing at Spottsylvania worthy of contention,--no +mountain-pass or deep-running river; but General Grant being on his +way to Richmond, his adversary, like Apollyon assaulting Christian, +had come out to meet him on that spot. Lee had the advantage of +position and was able to concentrate his forces. It was about one +o'clock when Longstreet began to press Hancock. There was a hot +engagement for an hour, principally by Birney's division; but failing +to move Birney, an attempt was made to pry open still wider the joint +between the Second and Fifth Corps. + +The relative positions of the two armies will be seen from the +following diagram. + +[Illustration: Spottsylvania.] + +The battle was fought in the forest,--in the marshes along the +Ny,--in ravines,--in pine-thickets densely shaded with the dark +evergreens that shut out the rays of the noonday sun,--in open fields, +where Rebel batteries had full sweep and play--with shell, and grape, +and canister--from intrenched positions on the hills. + +During a lull in the strife I visited the hospitals. Suddenly the +battle recommenced in greater fury. The wounded began to come in at a +fearful rate. The battle was drawing nearer. Shells were streaming +past the hospitals. There were signs of disaster. + +"Are they driving us?" was the eager inquiry of the wounded. + +While the storm was at its height, a stalwart soldier who had just +risen from the amputating-table, where his left arm, torn to shreds by +a cannon-shot, had been severed above the elbow, leaning against the +tent-pole, sang the song he often had sung in camp,-- + + "The Union forever! Hurrah, boys! hurrah! + Down with the traitor, up with the star; + While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again, + Shouting the battle-cry of Freedom!" + +His wounded comrades heard it, and joined in the chorus, raising their +arms, swinging their caps, and cheering the flag they loved. It is one +of memory's fadeless pictures. Is it a wonder that the recollection of +that scene sometimes fills my eyes with tears? + +The contest all along the line was terrific. Even now, over all the +intervening time and distance, I seem to hear the unceasing rattle and +roll of musketry and cannon, the cheer of the combatants, the tramping +of horses, the explosion of shells, the shriek of the rifled +projectile, the crash through the trees. It goes on hour after hour. +The ranks are thinning. The men with stretchers bring in their +bleeding burdens, and lay them gently upon the ground. + +It is past seven o'clock. The shades of evening are falling. The +hillside in front of the Sixth Corps is aflame. While the uproar is +wildest there is a cheer, sharper and louder than the din of the +conflict. It is not the savage war-cry of the enemy, but a buoyant +shout. Into the storm sweeps the Vermont brigade, with bayonets firmly +set, leaping over the Rebel works, and gathering hundreds of prisoners +from Dale's brigade of Rebels. Ewell poured in reinforcements to +strengthen his line and regain his lost work, which was stubbornly +held by the Second Vermont. Far in advance of the main line lay that +regiment, pouring a deadly fire upon the enemy. General Wright (in +command after Sedgwick's death) sent to have the regiment withdrawn. + +"We don't want to go back! Give us rations and ammunition, and we'll +hold it for six months if you want us to," was the reply. + +General Wright rode to General Grant. "What shall I do?" he asked. + +"Pile in the men and hold it!" was the answer. + +General Wright returned, but meanwhile a subordinate officer had +ordered them to retire. They were loath to give up what they had won +so gloriously. + +General Rice, commanding a brigade in the Fifth Corps, was wounded, +and borne to the rear. The surgeon laid down his knife after removing +the shattered limb, and stood beside him to soothe with tender words +in the last dread hour which was coming on apace. The sufferer could +hear the swelling tide of battle, the deepening rolls like waves upon +the ocean shore. His eyes were closing. He was approaching that ocean +which has no shore. His pain was intense. + +"Turn me over," said he, faintly. + +"Which way?" + +"Let me die with my face to the enemy!" + +They were his last words. A short struggle and all was ended. A +Christian patriot had finished his work on earth, and was numbered +with the heroic dead. + +The early dawn of Thursday, the 12th, beheld the Second Corps in +motion,--not to flank the enemy, but moving, with fixed bayonets, +straight on towards his intrenchments. Barlow's and Birney's +divisions in columns of battalions, doubled on the centre, to give +strength and firmness, led the assault. They move silently through +the forest,--through the ravine in front of them, up to their own +skirmish-line,--past it,--no longer marching, but running +now,--dashing on with enthusiasm thrilling every nerve. They sweep +away the Rebel picket-line as if it were a cobweb. On! into the +intrenchments with a hurrah which startles the soldiers of both +armies from their morning slumbers. Major-General Johnson and +Brigadier-General Stewart, and three thousand men of Ewell's +division are taken prisoners, eighteen cannon, and twenty-two +standards captured. + +It was the work of five minutes,--as sudden as the swoop of an eagle. +Then the uproar of the day began. The second line of the enemy's works +was assaulted; but, exasperated by their losses, the Rebels fought +fiercely. The Ninth Corps was moved up from the left to support the +Second. Longstreet, on the other hand, was brought over to help Ewell. +The Fifth and Sixth became partially engaged. There were charges and +counter-charges. Positions were gained and lost. From morning till +night the contest raged on the right, in the centre, and on the left, +swaying to and fro over the undulations and through the ravines. It +was a battle of fourteen hours' duration,--in severity, in unflinching +determination, in obstinacy, not exceeded by any during the war. +Between forty and fifty pieces of artillery were at one time in the +hands of General Hancock; but owing to the difficulties of removal, +and the efforts of the enemy, he could secure only eighteen. During +the day Grant advanced his lines a mile towards the court-house, and +repulsed Lee in all his counter-attacks. + +During the lull in the strife at Spottsylvania I spent a day in +Fredericksburg, visiting the hospitals. + +The city is a vast hospital; churches, public buildings, private +dwellings, stores, chambers, attics, basements, all full. There are +thousands upon the sidewalk. All day long the ambulances have been +arriving from the field. There are but few wounded left at the front, +those only whom to remove would be certain death. + +[Illustration: The sanitary commission in the hospital.] + +A red flag has been flung out at the Sanitary Commission rooms,--a +white one at the rooms of the Christian Commission. There are three +hundred volunteer nurses in attendance. The Sanitary Commission have +fourteen wagons bringing supplies from Belle Plain. The Christian +Commission has less transportation facilities, but in devotion, in +hard work, in patient effort, it is the compeer of its more +bountifully supplied neighbor. The nurses are divided into details, +some for day service, some for night work. Each State has its Relief +Committee. + +How patient the brave fellows are! Not a word of complaint, but thanks +for the slightest favor. There was a lack of crutches. I saw an old +soldier of the California regiment, who fought with the lamented Baker +at Ball's Bluff, and who had been in more than twenty battles, +hobbling about with the arms of a settee nailed to strips of board. +His regiment was on its way home, its three years of service having +expired. It was reduced to a score or two of weather-beaten, +battle-scarred veterans. The disabled comrade could hardly keep back +the tears as he saw them pass down the street. "Few of us left. The +bones of the boys are on every battle-field where the Army of the +Potomac has fought," said he. + +There was the sound of the pick and spade in the churchyard, a +heaving-up of new earth,--a digging of trenches, not for defence +against the enemy, but for the last resting-place of departed heroes. +There they lie, each wrapped in his blanket, the last bivouac! For +them there is no more war,--no charges into the thick, leaden +rain-drops,--no more hurrahs, no more cheering for the dear old flag! +They have fallen, but the victory is theirs,--theirs the roll of +eternal honor. Side by side,--men from Massachusetts, from +Pennsylvania, and from Wisconsin,--from all the States, resting in one +common grave. Peace to them! blessings on the dear ones,--wives, +mothers, children whom they have left behind. + +Go into the hospitals;--armless, legless men, wounds of every +description. Men on the floor, on the hard seats of church-pews, lying +in one position all day, unable to move till the nurse, going the +rounds, gives them aid. They must wait till their food comes. Some +must be fed with a spoon, for they are as helpless as little children. + +"O that we could get some straw for the brave fellows," said the Rev. +Mr. Kimball, of the Christian Commission. He had wandered about town, +searching for the article. + +"There is none to be had. We shall have to send to Washington for +it," said the surgeon in charge. + +"Straw! I remember two stacks, four miles out on the Spottsylvania +road. I saw them last night as I galloped in from the front." + +Armed with a requisition from the Provost Marshal to seize two stacks +of straw, with two wagons driven by freedmen, accompanied by four +Christian Commission delegates, away we went across the battle-field +of December, fording Hazel Run, gaining the heights, and reaching the +straw stacks owned by Rev. Mr. Owen, a bitter Rebel. + +"By whose authority do you take my property?" + +"The Provost Marshal, sir." + +"Are you going to pay me for it?" + +"You must see the Provost Marshal, sir. If you are a loyal man, and +will take the oath of allegiance, doubtless you will get your pay when +we have put down the Rebellion." + +"It is pretty hard. My children are just ready to starve. I have +nothing for them to eat, and you come to take my property without +paying for it." + +"Yes, sir, war is hard. You must remember, sir, that there are +thousands of wounded men,--your Rebel wounded as well as ours. If your +children are on the point of starving, those men are on the point of +dying. We must have the straw for them. What we don't take to-night we +will get in the morning. Meanwhile, sir, if anybody attempts to take +it, please say to them that it is for the hospital, and they can't +have it." + +Thus with wagons stuffed, we leave Rev. Mr. Owen and return to make +glad the hearts of several thousand men. O how they thank us! + +"Did you get it for me? God bless you, sir." + +It is evening. Thousands of soldiers just arrived from Washington have +passed through the town to take their places in the front. The hills +around are white with innumerable tents. + +A band is playing lively airs to cheer the wounded in the hospitals. I +have been looking in to see the sufferers. Two or three have gone to +their long home. They will need no more attention. A surgeon is at +work upon a ghastly wound, taking up the arteries. An attendant is +pouring cold water upon a swollen limb. In the Episcopal church a +nurse is bolstering up a wounded officer in the area behind the +altar. Men are lying in the pews, on the seats, on the floor, on +boards on top of the pews. + +Two candles in the spacious building throw their feeble rays into the +dark recesses, faintly disclosing the recumbent forms. There is heavy, +stifled breathing, as of constant effort to suppress cries extorted by +acutest pain. + +Passing into the street you see a group of women, talking about _our_ +wounded,--Rebel wounded, who are receiving their especial devotion. +The Provost Marshal's patrol is going its rounds to preserve order. + +Starting down the street, you reach the rooms of the Christian +Commission. Some of the men are writing letters for the soldiers, some +eating their night-rations, some dispensing supplies. Passing through +the rooms, you gain the grounds in the rear,--a beautiful garden +once,--not unattractive now. The air is redolent with honeysuckle and +locust blossoms. The prunifolia is unfolding its delicate milk-white +petals; roses are opening their tinted leaves. + +Fifty men are gathered round a summer-house,--warm-hearted men, who +have been all day in the hospitals. Their hearts have been wrung by +the scenes of suffering, in the exercise of Christian charity, +imitating the example of the Redeemer of men. They have dispensed food +for the body and nourishment for the soul. They have given cups of +cold water in the name of Jesus, and prayed with those departing to +the Silent Land. The moonlight shimmers through the leaves of the +locusts, as they meet at that evening hour to worship God + +The little congregation breaks into singing,-- + + "Come, thou fount of every blessing." + +After the hymn, a chaplain says, "Brethren, I had service this +afternoon in the First Division hospital of the Second Corps. The +surgeon in charge, before prayer, asked all who desired to be prayed +for to raise their hands, and nearly every man who had a hand raised +it. Let us remember them in our prayers to-night." + +A man in the summer-house, so far off that I cannot distinguish him, +says,-- + +"Every man in the Second Division of the Sixth Corps hospital raised +his hand for prayers to-night." + +There are earnest supplications that God will bless them; that they +may have patience; that Jesus will pillow their heads upon his breast, +relieve their sufferings, soothe their sorrows, wipe away all their +tears, heal their wounds; that he will remember the widow and the +fatherless, far away, moaning for the loved and lost. + +Another hymn,-- + + "Jesus, lover of my soul, + Let me to thy bosom fly," + +and the delegates return to their work of mercy. + +At Spottsylvania there were constant skirmishing and artillery-firing +through the 13th, and a moving of the army from the north to the east +of the Court-House. A rain-storm set in. The roads became heavy, and a +contemplated movement--a sudden flank attack--was necessarily +abandoned. + +There was a severe skirmish on the 14th, incessant picket-firing on +the 15th, and on the 16th another engagement all along the line,--not +fought with the fierceness of that of the 12th, but lasting through +the forenoon, and resulting in the taking of a line of rifle-pits from +the enemy. + +On Wednesday, the 18th, there was an assault upon Lee's outer line of +works. Two lines of rifle-pits were carried; but an impassable abatis +prevented farther advance, and after a six hours' struggle the troops +were withdrawn. + +On the afternoon of the 19th Ewell gained the rear of Grant's right +flank, and came suddenly upon Tyler's division of heavy artillery, +armed as infantry, just arrived upon the field. Though surprised, they +held the enemy in check, forced him back, and with aid from the Second +Corps compelled him to retreat with great loss. This attack was made +to cover Lee's withdrawal to the North Anna. His troops were already +on the march. + +Grant was swift to follow. + +It is a two days' march from Spottsylvania to the North Anna. The +crossings of the Mattapony were held by Rebel cavalry, which was +quickly driven. Then came the gallant crossing of the Fifth Corps at +Jericho Ford, the irresistible charge of Birney and Barlow of the +Second Corps at Taylor's Bridge, the sweeping-in of five hundred +prisoners, the severe engagements lasting three days,--all memorable +events, worthy of prominence in a full history of the campaign. + +[Illustration: North Anna.] + +The North Anna is a rapid stream, with high banks. East of Taylor's +bridge, towards Sexton's Junction, there is an extensive swamp, but +westward the country is rolling. It was supposed that Lee would make a +stubborn resistance at the crossings, but at Jericho Warren found only +a few pickets upon the southern bank. A pontoon was laid and two +divisions sent over; but moving towards the railroad a mile, they +encountered Hood's and Pickett's divisions of Ewell's corps. The +cannonade was heavy and the musketry sharp, mainly between Cutler's +command and Ewell's, lasting till dark. + +It is about two miles from Jericho crossing to the railroad, the point +for which the right wing was aiming. + +"I reckon that our troops didn't expect you to come this way," said +Mr. Quarles, a citizen residing on the north bank, with whom I found +accommodation for the night. + +"I suppose you didn't expect Grant to get this side of the +Wilderness?" + +"We heard that he was retreating towards Fredericksburg," was the +response. + +He was the owner of a saw-mill. Timber was wanted for the construction +of a bridge. His mill was out of repair, but there were men in the +Union army accustomed to run saw-mills, and an hour was sufficient to +put the machinery in order for the manufacture of lumber. It was +amusing to see the soldiers lay down their guns, take up the crowbar, +roll the logs into the mill, adjust the saw, hoist the gate, and sit +upon the log while the saw was cutting its way. The owner of the mill +looked on in disgust, as his lumber was thus freely handled. + +In the first advance from Jericho bridge, the force was repulsed. The +Rebels of Ewell's command came on with confidence, to drive the +retreating troops into the river; but Warren had taken the precaution +to place his smooth-bore guns on a hillock, south of the stream, while +his rifled pieces were on the north side, in position, to give a +cross-fire with the smooth-bores. When the Rebels came within reach of +this concentrated fire they were almost instantly checked. It was no +time to rush on, or to stand still and deliberate; they fled, +uncovering the railroad, to which the Sixth advanced, tearing up the +track and burning the depot. In the centre, the Ninth Corps had a +severe fight, resulting in considerable loss. + +It is two miles from Jericho bridge to Carmel Church, which stands in +a beautiful grove of oaks. While the troops were resting beneath the +trees, waiting for the order to move, a chaplain entered the church +and proposed to hold religious service. + +The soldiers manifested their pleasure, kneeled reverently during the +prayer, and listened with tearful eyes to the exhortations which +followed. + +It was inspiring to hear them sing, + + "Come, sing to me of heaven, + When I'm about to die; + Sing songs of holy ecstasy, + To waft my soul on high." + +At dark on the evening of the 25th of May, I rode along the lines of +the Second Corps to take a look at the Rebels. There was a steady fire +of artillery. One battery of the Rebels had full sweep of the plain, +and the shells were flying merrily. A thunder-storm was rising. The +lightning was vivid and incessant. My head-quarters for the night were +to be with a surgeon attached to the First Division of the Ninth +Corps, several miles distant. The dense black clouds rising in the +west made the night intensely dark, except when the lightning-flashes +gleamed along the sky. It was a scene of sublime grandeur: heaven's +artillery in play,--the heavy peals of thunder, mingling with the roar +of the battle-field! After an hour's ride through pine thickets, +over old corn-fields, half-blinded by the lightning, I reached the +quarters of my friend the surgeon, whose tent was just then being +packed into the wagon for a night march to a new position. The storm +was close at hand, and together we fled for shelter to a neighboring +cabin. I had barely time to fasten my horse and enter the door before +the storm was upon us. + +[Illustration: Bayonet charge.] + +The house was built of logs, chinked with mud, contained two rooms +about fifteen feet square, and was occupied by a colored family. + +Others had fled for shelter to the hospitable roof. I found +congregated there for the night nine surgeons, three hospital nurses, +a delegate of the Christian Commission, two soldiers, two colored +women, a colored man, three children. The colored people had taken +their only pig into the house, to save the animal from being killed by +the soldiers, and had tied it to the bed-post. Their poultry--half a +dozen fowls--was imprisoned under a basket. The rain fell in torrents +throughout the night. Finding a place under the table for my head, +with my overcoat for a pillow, and thrusting my legs under the bed +which was occupied by three surgeons, I passed the night, and thought +myself much more highly favored than the forty or fifty who came to +the door, but only to find a full hotel. + +Instead of trying to walk over the obstacle in his path, Grant decided +to go round it. Stealing a march upon Lee, he moved suddenly +southeast, crossed the Pamunkey at Hanover Town, opened a new base of +supplies at White House, forcing Lee to fall back on the Chickahominy. + +On Sunday, the 29th, a great cavalry engagement took place at Hawes's +shop, west of Hanover Town, in which Sheridan drove the Rebels back +upon Bethesda Church. The army came into position on the 30th, its +right towards Hanover Court-House. Lee was already in position, and +during the day there was firing all along the line. All the corps were +engaged. The Second Corps by the Shelton House, by a bayonet-charge +pushed the enemy from the outer line of works which he had thrown up, +while the Fifth Corps rolled back, with terrible slaughter, the mass +of men which came upon its flank and front at Bethesda Church. At Cold +Harbor, the Sixth, joined by the Eighteenth Army Corps, under +Major-General W. F. Smith, from Bermuda Hundred, met Longstreet and +Breckenridge, and troops from Beauregard. Sheridan had seized this +important point,--important because of the junction of roads,--and +held it against cavalry and infantry till the arrival of the Fifth and +Eighteenth. The point secured, a new line of battle was formed on the +1st of June. The Ninth held the right of Bethesda Church; the Fifth +was south of the church, joining the Eighteenth; the Sixth held the +road from Cold Harbor to Gaines's Mills; while the Second was thrown +out on the left, on the road leading to Despatch Station and the +Chickahominy. + +[Sidenote: June, 1864.] + +In the campaign of 1862, Cold Harbor was General McClellan's +head-quarters while he was on the north bank of the Chickahominy, and +Jackson, when he advanced to attack Fitz John Porter, marched down the +road over which Grant moved, to that locality. It is a place of one +house,--an old tavern standing at a crossing of roads, twelve miles +from Richmond. The most direct route to the city runs past Gaines's +Mills, where the first of the series of battles was fought before +Richmond, in the seven days' contest. Jackson's head-quarters were at +Cold Harbor during that engagement. + +The general position of the two armies in Grant's battles at Cold +Harbor is indicated by the accompanying diagram. + +[Illustration: Cold Harbor.] + +A huge catalpa stands in front of the old tavern, where in the +peaceful days of the Old Dominion travellers rested their horses +beneath the grateful shade, while they drank their toddy at the tavern +bar. Two great battles were fought there by Grant, the first in the +evening of the 1st of June, the second on the evening of the 3d. + +There is a line of breastworks west of the house, a few rods distant, +behind which Russell's division of the Sixth Corps is lying. The road +to Despatch Station runs due south; the road to New Cold Harbor +southwest, the road to Bethesda Church northwest. In the battle fought +on the 1st instant, Neil was east of the road leading to Despatch +Station, Russell west of the house, and Ricketts northwest. + +Passing toward the right one mile, we come to the house of Daniel +Woody, which is in rear of the right of the line of the Eighteenth. It +is the head-quarters of General Martindale, who commands the right +division of the line. Next is Brooks's division in the centre, with +Devens on the left, connecting with Ricketts's on the right of the +Sixth. + +There is a clear space west of Woody's house, a cornfield lately +planted, but now trodden by the feet of Martindale's men. In front of +Brooks there is a gentle swell of land, wooded with pines. On the +crest of the hill there is a line of Rebel rifle-pits. In front of +Devens the swell is smoothed to a plain, or rather there is a +depression, as if the hillock had been scooped out of the plain. This +also is wooded. The belt of timber stretches over the plain, crossing +the road to Gaines's Mill, about half a mile from the tavern,--a dark +strip of green twenty or thirty rods in width. Beyond the belt toward +Richmond is a smooth field, half a mile in width, bounded on the +farther edge, under the shadow of another belt of green, by the line +of Beauregard's breastworks. The line of Rebel defence runs diagonally +to the road, the distance being less between Ricketts and the work +than on the left in front of Neil. This plain is swept by Rebel cannon +and thousands of rifles and muskets. + +It was past six o'clock--nearly seven--before the troops were in +position to move upon the enemy's works. They marched through the +woods, emerged upon the open field The Rebel batteries opened with +redoubled fury, but the line advanced steadily. Devens found the +depression in front of him almost a marsh, with trees felled, forming +an abatis; but his men passed through, and again came into line. +Burnham's brigade, of Brooks's division, containing the Tenth and +Thirteenth New Hampshire, Eighth Connecticut, and One Hundred and +Eighteenth New York, charged up the hill in front, and took the +rifle-pits above them. Ricketts, having less distance to advance than +the other divisions of the Sixth, was soonest in the fight, sweeping +all before him. Before the Rebels could reload their pieces after the +first volley the bayonets of the advancing columns, gleaming in the +light of the setting sun, were at their throats. Half a brigade was +taken prisoners, while the rest of the Rebels in front of Ricketts +fled in disorder. + +Russell moving along the road received an enfilading fire from +artillery and musketry. The Rebels having recovered from their panic, +held on with stubbornness. The broad plain over which Russell moved +was fringed with fire. From dark till past ten o'clock Breckenridge +tried in vain to recover what he had lost. + +The loss was severe to us in killed and wounded. But it was a victory, +so signal that a congratulatory order was issued by General Meade to +the Sixth Corps. + +Lying beneath the ever-moaning pines, with the star-lit heavens for a +tent, I listened to the sounds of the battle,--steady, monotonous, +like the surf on the beach. An hour's sleep, and still it was rolling +in. But all things must have an end. Near midnight it died away, and +there was only the chirping of the cricket, the unvarying note of the +whip-poor-will, and the wind swaying the stately trees around me. +Peaceful all around; but ah! beyond those forest belts were the +suffering heroes, parched with thirst, fevered with the fight, +bleeding for their country. How shall we thank them? How shall we +reward them? What estimate shall we place upon their work? O friends, +as you recall this sacrifice, let your hearts warm with devotion to +your country. Do honor to the noble dead, and forget not the +living,--the widow and the fatherless. + +The battle of the 3d of June was obstinate and bloody, and resulted +in great loss to Grant. The artillery firing was constant through the +forenoon, but Lee was too strongly entrenched to be driven. + +As soon as there was a lull in the roar of battle, I improved the +opportunity to visit the hospitals. There were long lines of +ambulances bringing in the wounded, who were laid beneath the trees. +Unconscious men were upon the tables, helpless in the hands of the +surgeons,--to wake from a dreamless sleep with a limb gone, a bleeding +stump of a leg or arm. Horrid the gashes where jagged iron had cut +through the flesh, severing arteries and tendons in an instant. Heads, +hands, legs, and arms mangled and dripping with blood,--human blood! +There were moans, low murmurings, wrenched from the men against their +wills. Men were babbling, in their delirium, of other scenes,--dim +recollections, which were momentary realities. To be with them and not +do for them,--to see suffering without power to alleviate,--gives +painful tension to nerves, even though one may be familiar with scenes +of carnage. + +I turned from the scene all but ready to say, "Anything to stay this +terrible destruction of human life." But there were other +thoughts,--of retributive justice,--of sighs and groans, scourged +backs, broken hearts, partings of mothers from their children,--the +coffle train, and the various horrors of the accursed system of +slavery, the cause of all this "wounding and hurt." I remembered that +it was a contest between eternal right and infernal wrong; that He who +is of infinite love and tenderness in His war against rebellion, +spared not his only begotten Son;--and thus consoled and strengthened, +I could wish the contest to go on till victory should crown our +efforts, and a permanent peace be the inheritance of our children. + +At Cold Harbor the abilities of Lee, McClellan, and Grant as +commanders have been exhibited. Lee's head-quarters during the battle +of Gaines's Mills were at New Cold Harbor, but during the afternoon he +rode over to the old tavern and had a talk with Jackson. That battle +was won by Lee after a hard struggle, not through any lack of courage +on the part of the Union troops, but through McClellan's want of +generalship. McClellan was ever taking counsel of his fears. He +uniformly overestimated the numbers of the enemy. When Lee advanced to +Munson's Hill, near Alexandria, in October, 1861, his army did not +exceed sixty thousand, but McClellan estimated it at "one hundred and +fifty thousand, well drilled, equipped, ably commanded, and strongly +entrenched."[58] In March, 1862, when Lee evacuated Manassas, his +estimate of the Rebel army was one hundred and fifteen thousand, while +the actual strength was less than fifty thousand. "It seems clear that +I shall have the whole force of the enemy on my hands, probably not +less than one hundred thousand, and probably more," wrote McClellan to +the Secretary of War upon his arrival at Yorktown. + + [Footnote 58: McClellan's Report, p. 46.] + +Magruder commanded the Rebels at Yorktown. "My whole force," says he, +"was less than eleven thousand."[59] + + [Footnote 59: Magruder's Report.] + +The day before the battle of Cold Harbor, McClellan's estimate of +Lee's army was two hundred thousand.[60] His own force, sick and well, +on the 20th, was one hundred and seventeen thousand. He had present +and fit for duty on the day of battle from one hundred to one hundred +and five thousand. Lee's force was two or three thousand less. + + [Footnote 60: McClellan's Report, p. 238.] + +McClellan knew very little of Lee's army. He intrusted the management +of the secret service to two French princes, who, however estimable +they might be as individuals, had a superficial acquaintance with the +English language, who knew but little of America or Americans,--whose +geographical knowledge of the country in which the war was being +carried on was less than that of the scholars of a New England grammar +school,--who were wanting in the lawyer-like qualifications necessary +to separating the true from the false in the stories of deserters, +scouts, and spies. So inefficient was the secret service that +McClellan had no information of Lee's movements or intentions till +Jackson was at Ashland, within a few hours' march of Cold Harbor. When +he saw that he was to be attacked, he moved his own head-quarters to +the south side, making no effort to win the battle, thinking only of a +retreat to the James. + +A general who wins a battle through the blundering of an inefficient +opponent cannot be called, on that account alone, a great commander. +There must be genius in movements, in making use of positions and +forces, so that victory is wrenched from a skilful foe, to entitle a +commander to wear the bay leaves upon his brow. + +McClellan's army was divided by the Chickahominy. He had about thirty +thousand men on the north bank and seventy-five thousand on the south +side. Lee submitted a plan to Jeff Davis, which was accepted, by which +he hoped to destroy that portion of McClellan's force on the north +bank. Whiting's and Ewell's divisions were put on board the cars and +sent up the Virginia Central Railroad to Gordonsville, as if to join +Jackson in the Shenandoah, or for a march on Washington, but Jackson +was on his way towards Richmond. He commanded the united force, +amounting to thirty thousand. He moved down to Ashland. A deserter +informed McClellan at Cold Harbor that Jackson would attack him on the +28th.[61] Negroes came in on the next day who said that Jackson was at +Hanover Court-House. McClellan's line was twenty miles long. His +extreme right was north of Richmond, at Mechanicsville; his left was +southeast of the city, resting on White Oak Swamp. McClellan could +have reinforced Porter, and defeated Lee, or he could have withdrawn +him to the south bank, and pushed into Richmond, but he left Porter to +contend with Lee's entire army, except Magruder's command of about +twenty thousand men,[62] while he burned his supplies, destroyed the +railroad, and made ready to march to the James. Porter held his ground +till nearly night, calling for reinforcements. Had a division been +sent him at the right time, Lee would have suffered a terrible defeat. +Slocum, of Franklin's corps, was sent over when too late to be of +essential service. Jackson extended his left south from the old +tavern, and fell upon Porter's right flank, and drove the Union +troops, but everywhere else Lee was repulsed with great loss. His +entire loss in that battle was about nine thousand and five hundred, +McClellan's about four thousand. + + [Footnote 61: McClellan's Report.] + + [Footnote 62: Pollard, First Year, p. 329.] + +Lee moved out from Richmond when Jackson was at Hanover Court-House. +Branch's division marched up the Brooke turnpike, A. P. Hill moved +over the Mechanicsville turnpike, Longstreet and D. H. Hill by the New +Bridge road. McClellan was informed of the movement. Here was his +golden opportunity. By throwing nearly his entire army north of the +Chickahominy, he could have met Lee outside of his entrenchments, or +he could have withdrawn Porter and made a rush upon the city. Lee +expected to meet the whole Union army at Cold Harbor, and in the +battle supposed he was fighting McClellan's main force. + +"The principal part of the enemy was on the north side," says Lee in +his report. It is evident that in his plan he calculated that +McClellan would not risk a battle with a divided army, and he +therefore left but a small force to hold Richmond. Magruder on the +other hand, saw the danger to the city. Says Magruder:-- + + "From the time at which the enemy withdrew his forces to this + side of the Chickahominy, and destroyed the bridges, to the + moment of his evacuation,--that is, from Friday night until + Sunday morning,--I considered the situation of our army extremely + critical and perilous. The larger portion of it was on either + side of the Chickahominy, the bridges had all been destroyed, and + but one was rebuilt, the New Bridge, which was fully commanded by + the enemy's guns at Golding's; and there were but twenty-five + thousand men between his army and Richmond. I received repeated + instructions during Saturday night from General Lee's + head-quarters, enjoining upon my command the utmost vigilance, + directing the men to sleep on their arms, to be prepared for + whatever might occur. I passed the night without sleep, and in + the superintendence of their execution. Had McClellan massed his + whole force in column, and advanced it against any point of our + line of battle, as was done at Austerlitz by the greatest captain + of any age, though the head of his column would have suffered + greatly, its momentum would have insured him success, and the + occupation of our works about Richmond, and consequently the city + might have been his reward. Our relief was therefore great when + information reached us that the enemy had evacuated his works and + was retreating."[63] + + [Footnote 63: Magruder's Report, p. 191.] + +Magruder, in the above statement, unintentionally exposes the +faultiness of Lee's plan, which, had McClellan improved his +opportunity, would have been the loss of the Rebel capital, the rout +and disorganization of Lee's army, and a historic page wholly +different from that now on record. + +In contrast is Grant's plan of operations. His secret-service +department was managed with rare ability, by men acquainted with the +English language, who were adepts in the art of sifting truth from +falsehood. Grant was well informed as to Lee's numbers, the +reinforcements at his disposal, and his movements. He took counsel of +his courage, never of his fear. In his plan of the Wilderness +campaigns, the series of movements from the Rapidan to the James, were +duly considered before the orders for the advance were given. When he +saw that he could not reach Richmond from the north, he decided to +sweep round to the James, but not till he had made it impossible for +Lee to move upon Washington, by breaking up the Virginia Central and +Fredericksburg Railroad. McClellan complained that he was deprived of +the control of McDowell's force at Fredericksburg, which was retained +by the President to cover Washington; but the railroad from Richmond +to Manassas was then in running order, with the exception of the +bridge across the Rappahannock. Grant's prudence in securing +Washington was as marked as his tenacity of purpose to push on towards +Richmond. + +The transfer of the Eighteenth Corps from Bermuda Hundred to seize +Cold Harbor,--the order for which was given before the army crossed +the Pamunkey,--was a conception as brilliant as that of Lee's in the +transfer of Jackson from the Shenandoah in '62. The march of the army +to the south side of the James, which will be narrated in another +chapter, was the most striking movement of the campaign, exhibiting +the same quality of genius which had been exhibited at Vicksburg, and +which has no parallel in the movements of any of the Rebel commanders +during the war. + +There was a season of rest while Grant was preparing for the march to +the James. The army needed it. A month had passed, the most terrible +of all the months of the war. There had been scarcely an hour of quiet +from the moment when the army broke camp at Culpepper till it reached +Cold Harbor. It never can be known how many were killed and wounded +in that month of battle. The hospitals of Washington were crowded. +Thousands of slightly wounded were granted leave of absence. +Reinforcements were hurried on to fill up the wasted ranks. Lee's loss +was nearly as heavy as Grant's. Richmond was overflowing with wounded; +all central Virginia was a hospital. Both armies were becoming +exhausted. + +Lee was the attacking party at the Wilderness, but it was his last +offensive movement, except as the gauge of battle was given by Grant. + +The march from Spottsylvania to Cold Harbor was through a section +never before visited by Union troops. At the crossing of the Ny I +found quarters at a farm-house owned by a feeble, forceless, +gray-bearded, black-eyed man. There was constitutionally a want of +starch in his physical organization. He was free and frank, but +shiftless. He owned eighty acres of land, two negroes, an old horse, +and a rickety cart. His house was mean, but it was charmingly located, +overlooking the broad valley of the Mattapony, and surrounded by +locusts and magnolias. Nature had done a great deal towards making it +a paradise, but the owner had been an indifferent steward. Lying upon +the grass beneath the trees, I fell into conversation with the +proprietor. + +"This is Caroline County, I believe." + +"Yes, sir, this is old Caroline,--a county which has sold more negroes +down south than any other in Virginia." + +"I was not aware of that; but I remember now a negro song which I used +to hear. The burden of it was, + + 'I wish I was back in old Caroline.'" + +"Quite likely, for the great business of the county has been +nigger-raising, and it has been our curse. I never owned only old +Peter and his wife. I wish I didn't own them, for they are old and I +have got to support them; but how in the world I am to do it I don't +know, for the soldiers have stripped me of everything." + +"Do you mean the Union soldiers?" + +"Yes, and ours (Rebels) also. First, my boys were conscripted. I kept +them out as long as I could, but they were obliged to go. Then they +took my horses. Then your cavalry came and took all my corn and stole +my meat, ransacked the house, seized my flour, killed my pigs and +chickens, and here I am, stripped of everything." + +"It is pretty hard, but your leaders would have it so." + +"I know it, sir, and we are getting our pay for it." + +It was frankly spoken, and was the first admission I had heard from +Southern lips that the South was suffering retribution for the crime +of Secession. It probably did not enter his head that the selling of +slaves, the breaking up of families, the sundering of heart-strings, +the cries and tears and prayers of fathers and mothers, the outrages, +the whippings, scourgings, branding with hot irons, were also crimes +in the sight of Heaven. Broken hearts were nothing to him,--not that +he was naturally worse than other men, but because slavery had blunted +sensibility. + +During the march the next day towards the North Anna, I halted at a +farm-house. The owner had fled to Richmond in advance of the army, +leaving his overseer, a stout, burly, red-faced, tobacco-chewing man. +There were a score of old buildings on the premises. It had been a +notable plantation, yielding luxuriant harvests of wheat, but the +proprietor had turned his attention to the culture of tobacco and the +breeding of negroes. He sold annually a crop of human beings for the +southern market. The day before our arrival, hearing that the Yankees +were coming, he hurried forty or fifty souls to Richmond. He intended +to take all,--forty or fifty more,--but the negroes fled to the woods. +The overseer did his best to collect them, but in vain. The proprietor +raved, and stormed, and became violent in his language and behavior, +threatening terrible punishment on all the runaways, but the +appearance of a body of Union cavalry put an end to maledictions. He +had a gang of men and women chained together, and hurried them toward +Richmond. + +The runaways came out from their hiding-places when they saw the +Yankees, and advanced fearlessly with open countenances. The first +pleasure of the negroes was to smile from ear to ear, the second to +give everybody a drink of water or a piece of hoe-cake, the third to +pack up their bundles and be in readiness to join the army. + +"Are you not afraid of us?" + +"Afraid! Why, boss, I's been praying for yer to come; and now yer is +here, thank de Lord." + +"Are you not afraid that we shall sell you?" + +"No, boss, I isn't. The overseer said you would sell us off to Cuba, +to work in the sugar-mill, but we didn't believe him." + +Among the servants was a bright mulatto girl, who was dancing, +singing, and manifesting her joy in violent demonstration. + +"What makes you so happy?" I asked. + +"Because you Yankees have come. I can go home now." + +"Is not this your home?" + +"No. I come from Williamsport in Maryland." + +"When did you come from there?" + +"Last year. Master sold me. I spect my brother is 'long with the army. +He ran away last year. Master was afraid that I should run away, and +he sold me." + +The negroes came from all the surrounding plantations. Old men with +venerable beards, horny hands, crippled with hard work and harder +usage; aged women, toothless, almost blind, steadying their steps with +sticks; little negro boys, driving a team of skeleton steers,--mere +bones and tendons covered with hide,--or wall-eyed horses, spavined, +foundered, and lame, attached to rickety carts and wagons, piled with +beds, tables, chairs, pots and kettles, hens, turkeys, ducks, women +with infants in their arms, and a sable cloud of children trotting by +their side. + +"Where are you going?" I said to a short, thick-set, gray-bearded old +man, shuffling along the road; his toes bulging from his old boots, +and a tattered straw hat on his head,--his gray wool protruding from +the crown. + +"I do'no, boss, where I's going, but I reckon I'll go where the army +goes." + +"And leave your old home, your old master, and the place where you +have lived all your days?" + +"Yes, boss; master, he's gone. He went to Richmond. Reckon he went +mighty sudden, boss, when he heard you was coming. Thought I'd like to +go along with you." + +[Illustration: Negroes coming into the lines.] + +His face streamed with perspiration. He had been sorely afflicted with +the rheumatism, and it was with difficulty that he kept up with the +column; but it was not a hard matter to read the emotions of his +heart. He was marching towards freedom. Suddenly a light had shined +upon him. Hope had quickened in his soul. He had a vague idea of what +was before him. He had broken loose from all which he had been +accustomed to call his own,--his cabin, a mud-chinked structure, with +the ground for a floor, his garden patch,--to go out, in his old age, +wholly unprovided for, yet trusting in God that there would be food +and raiment on the other side of Jordan. + +It was a Jordan to them. It was the Sabbath-day,--bright, clear, calm, +and delightful. There was a crowd of several hundred colored people at +a deserted farm-house. + +"Will it disturb you if we have a little singing? You see we feel so +happy to-day that we would like to praise the Lord." + +It was the request of a middle-aged woman. + +"Not in the least. I should like to hear you." + +In a few moments a crowd had assembled in one of the rooms. A stout +young man, black, bright-eyed, thick-wooled, took the centre of the +room. The women and girls, dressed in their best clothes, which they +had put on to make their exodus from bondage in the best possible +manner, stood in circles round him. The young man began to dance. He +jumped up, clapped his hands, slapped his thighs, whirled round, +stamped upon the floor. + +"Sisters, let us bless the Lord. Sisters, join in the chorus," he +said, and led off with a kind of recitative, improvised as the +excitement gave him utterance. From my note-book I select a few +lines:-- + + RECITATIVE. + + "We are going to the other side of Jordan." + + CHORUS. + + "So glad! so glad! + Bless the Lord for freedom, + So glad! so glad! + We are going on our way, + So glad! so glad! + To the other side of Jordan, + So glad! so glad! + Sisters, won't you follow? + So glad! so glad! + Brothers, won't you follow?" + +And so it went on for a half-hour, without cessation, all dancing, +clapping their hands, tossing their heads. It was the ecstasy of +action. It was a joy not to be uttered, but demonstrated. The old +house partook of their rejoicing. It rang with their jubilant shouts, +and shook in all its joints. + +I stood an interested spectator. One woman, well dressed, intelligent, +refined in her deportment, modest in her manner, said, "It is one way +in which we worship, sir. It is our first day of freedom." + +The first day of freedom! Behind her were years of suffering, +hardship, unrequited toil, heartaches, darkness, no hope of recompense +or of light in this life, but a changeless future. Death, aforetime, +was their only deliverer. For them there was hope only in the grave. +But suddenly Hope had advanced from eternity into time. They need not +wait for death; in life they could be free. Is it a wonder that they +exhibited extravagant joy? + +Apart from the dancers was a woman with light hair, hazel eyes, and +fair complexion. She sat upon the broad steps of the piazza, and +looked out upon the fields, or rather into the air, unmindful of the +crowd, the dance, or the shouting. Her features were so nearly of the +Anglo-Saxon type that it required a second look to assure one that +there was African blood in her veins. She alone of all the crowd was +sad in spirit. She evidently had no heart to join in the general +jubilee. + +"Where did you come from?" I asked. + +"From Caroline County." + +Almost every one else would have said, "From old Caroline." There was +no trace of the negro dialect, more than you hear from all classes in +the South, for slavery has left its taint upon the language; it spares +nothing, but is remorseless in its corrupting influences. + +"You do not join in the song and dance," I said. + +"No, sir." + +Most of them would have said "master" or "boss." + +"I should think you would want to dance on your first night of +freedom, if ever." + +"I don't dance, sir, in that way." + +"Was your master kind to you?" + +"Yes, sir; but he sold my husband and children down South." + +The secret of her sadness was out. + +"Where are you going? or where do you expect to go?" + +"I don't know, sir, and I don't care where I go." + +The conversation ran on for some minutes. She manifested no animation, +and did not once raise her eyes, but kept them fixed on vacancy. +Husband and children sold, gone forever,--there was nothing in life to +charm her. Even the prospect of freedom, with its undefined joys and +pleasures, its soul-stirring expectations, raising the hopes of those +around her, moved her not. + +Life was a blank. She had lived in her master's family, and was +intelligent. She was the daughter of her master. She was high-toned in +her feelings. The dancing and shouting of those around her were +distasteful. It was to her more barbaric than Christian. She was alone +among them. She felt her degradation. Freedom could not give her a +birthright among the free. The daughter of her master! It was gall and +wormwood; and he, her father, had sold her husband and his +grandchildren! + +I had read of such things. But one needs to come in contact with +slavery, to feel how utterly loathsome and hateful it is. There was +the broken-hearted victim, so bruised that not freedom itself, neither +the ecstasy of those around her, could awaken an emotion of joy. Hour +after hour the festivities went on, but there she sat upon the step, +looking down the desolate years gone by, or into a dreamless, hopeless +future. + +It was late at night before the dancers ceased, and then they stopped, +not because of a surfeit of joy, but because the time had come for +silence in the camp. It was their first Sabbath of freedom, and like +the great king of Israel, upon the recovery of the ark of God, they +danced before the Lord with all their might. + +We had a hard, dusty ride from the encampment at Mongohick to the +Pamunkey. It was glorious, however, in the early morning to sweep +along the winding forest-road, with the head-quarters' flag in +advance. Wherever its silken folds were unfurled, there the two +commanders might be found,--General Meade, commanding the Army of the +Potomac, and General Grant, the commander of all the forces of the +Union in the field. We passed the long line of troops, crossed the +Pamunkey upon a pontoon bridge, rode a mile or two across the verdant +intervale, and halted beneath the oaks, magnolias, and buttonwoods of +an old Virginia mansion. The edifice was reared a century ago. It was +of wood, stately and substantial. How luxurious the surrounding shade; +the smooth lawn, the rolled pathways bordered by box, with moss-roses, +honeysuckle, and jessamines scenting the air, and the daisies dotting +the greensward! The sweep of open land,--viewing it from the wide +portico; the long reach of cultivated grounds; acres of wheat rolling +in the breeze, like waves of the ocean; meadow-lands, smooth and fair; +distant groves and woodlands,--how magnificent! It was an old estate, +inherited by successive generations,--by those whose pride it had been +to keep the paternal acres in the family name. But the sons had all +gone. A daughter was the last heir. She gave her hand, and heart, and +the old homestead,--sheep, horses, a great stock of bovines, and a +hundred negroes or more,--to her husband. The family name became +extinct, and the homestead of seven or eight generations passed into +the hands of one bearing another name. + +When McClellan was on the Peninsula, the shadow of the war-cloud swept +past the place. One or two negroes ran away, but at that time they +were not tolerated in camp. The campaign of 1862 left the estate +unharmed. But Sheridan's cavalry, followed by the Sixth Corps, in its +magnificent march from the North Anna, had suddenly and unexpectedly +disturbed the security of the old plantation. There was a rattling +fire from carbines, a fierce fight, men wounded and dead, broken +fences, trodden fields of wheat and clover; ransacked stables, +corn-bins, meat-houses, and a swift disappearing of live stock of +every description. + +[Illustration: Foraging.] + +But to go back a little. The proprietor of this estate ardently +espoused Secession. His wife was as earnest as he. They hated the +North. They loved the institutions and principles of the South. They +sold their surplus negroes in the Richmond market. They parted +husbands and wives, tore children from the arms of their mothers, +and separated them forever. They lived on unrequited labor, and grew +rich through the breeding of human flesh for the market. + +When the war commenced, the owner of this magnificent estate enlisted +in the army and was made a Colonel of cavalry. He furnished supplies +and kept open house for his comrades in arms; but he fell in a cavalry +engagement on the Rappahannock, in October, 1863, leaving a wife and +three young children. The advance of the army, its sudden appearance +on the Pamunkey, left Mrs. ---- no time to remove her personal estate, +or to send her negroes to Richmond for safe keeping. Fitz-Hugh Lee +disputed Sheridan's advance. The fighting began on this estate. +Charges by squadrons and regiments were made through the corn-fields. +Horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, were seized by the cavalrymen. The +garden, filled with young vegetables, was spoiled. In an hour there +was complete desolation. The hundred negroes--cook, steward, +chambermaid, house and field hands, old and young--all left their work +and followed the army. Mrs. ---- was left to do her own work. The +parlors of the stately mansion were taken by the surgeons for a +hospital. The change which Mrs. ---- experienced was from affluence to +abject poverty, from power to sudden helplessness. + +Passing by one of the negro cabins on the estate, I saw a middle-aged +colored woman packing a bundle. + +"Are you going to move?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir; I am going to follow the army." + +"What for? Where will you go?" + +"I want to go to Washington, to find my husband. He ran away awhile +ago, and is at work in Washington." + +"Do you think it right, auntie, to leave your mistress, who has taken +care of you so long?" + +She had been busy with her bundle, but stopped now and stood erect +before me, her hands on her hips. Her black eyes flashed. + +"Taken care of me! What did she ever do for me? Haven't I been her +cook for more than thirty years? Haven't I cooked every meal she ever +ate in that house? What has she done for me in return? She has sold my +children down South, one after another. She has whipped me when I +cried for them. She has treated me like a hog, sir! Yes, sir, like a +hog!" + +She resumed her work of preparation for leaving. That night she and +her remaining children joined the thousands of colored people who had +already taken sudden leave of their masters. + +Returning to the mansion to see the wounded, I met Mrs. ---- in the +hall. She was tall, robust, dignified. She evidently did not fully +realize the great change which had taken place in her affairs. The +change was not complete at that moment. The colored steward was there, +hat in hand; obsequious, bowing politely, and obeying all commands. A +half-hour before I had seen him in the cook's cabin, making +arrangements for leaving the premises, and a half-hour later he was on +his way toward freedom. + +"I wish I had gone to Richmond," said the lady. "This is terrible, +terrible! They have taken all my provisions, all my horses and cattle. +My servants are going. What shall I do?" She sank upon the sofa, and +for a moment gave way to her feelings. + +"You are better off here than you would be there, with the city full +of wounded, and scant supplies in the market," I remarked. + +"You are right, sir. What could I do with my three little children +there? Yet how I am to live here I don't know. When will this terrible +war come to an end?" + +But enough of this scene. I have introduced it because it is real, and +because it is but one of many. There are hundreds of Southern homes +where the change has been equally great. Secession is not what they +who started it thought it would be. The penalties for crime always +come, sooner or later. God's scales are correctly balanced. He makes +all things even. For every tear wrung from the slave by injustice, for +every broken heart, for the weeping and wailing of mothers for their +babes sold to the far-off South, for every wrong there is retribution + + "Though the mills of God grind slowly, + Yet they grind exceeding small; + Though with patience he stands waiting, + With exactness grinds he all." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +TO PETERSBURG. + + +[Sidenote: June, 1864.] + +General Grant had tried to break Lee's lines at Cold Harbor, and had +been repulsed with great loss. The Richmond newspapers were jubilant. +"He is floundering in the swamps of Chickahominy. He has reached the +graveyard of Yankee armies," said they. + +The newspapers opposed to the war and in sympathy with the Rebellion, +in the North, made Cold Harbor an occasion for glorifying General +McClellan, their candidate for the Presidency. + +"Grant is a butcher. He has sacrificed a hundred thousand lives. He +acts under Lincoln's orders. Elect McClellan, and we shall have +peace." + +The army was dejected, but did not lose heart. It had been repulsed, +had lost many brave men, but it had pushed Lee from the Wilderness to +Richmond. + +I conversed freely with the soldiers, and rarely found one who had not +full confidence in the ability of General Grant. Round their bivouac +fires the history of the Army of the Potomac was freely discussed. The +old soldiers, who had fought in the first Cold Harbor battle, +remembered how twenty-seven thousand men held Lee at bay on that +ground through the long hours of the first of the seven days' fight in +front of Richmond; how McClellan kept sixty thousand men on the south +bank of the Chickahominy, inactive,--sending a brigade to their aid +when too late to be of use. They recalled the scenes of those terrible +demoralizing days,--how McClellan kept out of harm's way. When the +battle was raging on the north bank of the Chickahominy he was south +of it; when Sumner was holding Savage Station, McClellan was across +White Oak Swamp; when Glendale was fought, and the Rebels under Hill +routed, McClellan was at Malvern, and while Magruder was madly pushing +his troops on to be slaughtered at Malvern, McClellan was on board a +gunboat; how in the night the whole army was ordered away from a +victorious field, from an impregnable position, while Lee was fleeing +towards Richmond! Soldiers who had come later into the service +remembered the failure at Fredericksburg and the retreat from +Chancellorsville, and in contrast saw that Grant had pluck. It is a +quality of character which soldiers admire. They could also see that +there was system in his movements. They sometimes spoke of him as the +Grand Flanker. "He'll flank Lee out of Richmond yet; see if he don't," +said a soldier. + +If Grant had failed to move Lee from his position in a direct attack, +Lee also had failed to drive Grant from the junction of the roads at +old Cold Harbor,--an important point, as, by opening the railroad from +White House, he could easily bring up his supplies. His army was +intact,--not divided, as McClellan's had been by the dark and sluggish +Chickahominy. + +"What will Grant do?" was a question often discussed around the +mess-tables of brigadiers, colonels, and captains,--by men who were +bound to obey all orders, but who nevertheless had their own ideas as +to the best method of conducting the campaign. The Lieutenant-General +had the whole plan of operations settled for him many times. It was +amusing to see the strategic points indicated on the maps. + +"He can swing in north of the city upon the high lands. The +Chickahominy swamps don't extend above Mechanicsville," said one. + +"But how will he get his supplies?" + +"Open the Fredericksburg road. It is open now from Aquia Creek to the +Rappahannock." + +But Grant, instead of opening the road, determined to break it up +completely, also the Virginia Central, which runs to Gordonsville, to +prevent Lee from moving upon Washington. Up to this time all of his +movements, while they were upon Lee's flank, had not uncovered that +city; but now Washington would take care of itself. + +The plan of the campaign had been well matured by General Grant +before he started from Culpepper. He says:-- + + "My idea from the start had been to beat the enemy north of + Richmond if possible. Then after destroying his lines of + communication north of the James River, to transfer the army to + the south side, and besiege Lee in Richmond, or follow him south + if he should retreat."[64] + + [Footnote 64: Grant's Official Report.] + +Grant was not willing to sacrifice his men. He resolved to transfer +his army south of the James, and cut Lee's communications. Gregg was +sent in advance, with the cavalry belonging to the Army of the +Potomac, crossing the Chickahominy, and making a rapid movement by the +left flank. + +Lee evidently did not mistrust Grant's intention,--judging from the +disposition he made of his troops, and the tardiness with which he +marched to counteract the movement. The transfer of the Eighteenth +Corps from Bermuda Hundred to Cold Harbor undoubtedly had its effect +upon Lee's calculations. It was an indication that Grant intended to +keep Washington covered. + +Hunter at this time was advancing from the West. Sheridan, who had +been guarding the road to White House, was withdrawn, and sent with +two divisions of his cavalry up the Virginia Central road to +Gordonsville, hoping to meet Hunter at Charlottesville; but Hunter had +moved on Lynchburg, and the union of the forces was not effected. +Sheridan's movement, however, threw dust in the eyes of Lee. + +Grant knew that Petersburg was held by a handful of Rebel +troops,--Wise's Legion. The citizens had been organized into a +battalion, but the place could be taken by surprise. Strong earthworks +had been thrown up around the city early in the war, but the troops in +the city were not sufficient to man them. Grant believed that the +place could be seized without difficulty; and taking a steamer at +White House went to Bermuda Hundred, held a conference with Butler, +who sent Gillmore with thirty-five hundred men across the Appomattox, +near the Point of Rocks, to attack the city from the east. At the same +time, Kautz's division of cavalry was sent, by a long detour, across +the Norfolk Railroad, to enter the town from the south. Having made +these arrangements, Grant returned to his army, which had been lying +behind its intrenchments at Cold Harbor. + +Preparations had been quietly making for a rapid march. The Second +Corps had been moved down towards the Chickahominy. The Fifth was sent +to Despatch Station. Gregg and Torbett, with their divisions of +cavalry, were placed at Bottom's Bridge. The Rebel pickets were there +on watch. Meanwhile workmen were busily engaged in opening the +railroad. Lee must have known that Grant had a new movement under way, +the precise nature of which it was difficult to understand. + +The movement of Gillmore was a disgraceful failure. He crossed the +Appomattox on the evening of the 10th of June, without molestation, +marched up within sight of the city spires, discovered a formidable +line of breastworks, and without making an attack, turned about and +retired to Bermuda Hundred. Kautz, on the contrary, after a rapid +movement, entered the city from the south, but Gillmore having +retreated, could not hold it, and was obliged to retire. + +Grant was justly indignant when he heard of the failure. It was a +golden opportunity lost. Gillmore and Kautz could have taken and held +the place till the arrival of reinforcements. Gillmore was wholly +responsible for the failure. Grant once more hurried to Bermuda +Hundred, to superintend in a second movement, leaving Meade to conduct +the army from Cold Harbor to the James. + +The grand movement from the north of Richmond, by which the whole army +was placed south of that city, was begun on the 12th, in the evening. +Wilson's division of cavalry was thrown across the Chickahominy, and +sent to seize Long Bridge in White Oak Swamp. The Fifth Corps +followed. The Rebels struck the Fifth Corps in flank, but Crawford +repulsed them. The Second Corps followed the Fifth. The Sixth and +Ninth crossed at Jones's Bridge, while the fifty miles of wagon trains +swung far to the east and crossed the swamp fifteen miles below. Gregg +covered the flank of the army with his cavalry, concealing the +movement. The men had a hard time, being attacked constantly by the +Rebel cavalry and infantry. It was of the utmost importance to Lee to +know where Grant intended to strike, whether north of the James, by +the Charles City and New Market roads, or across the James at Dutch +Gap, joining his forces with Butler's, or whether his movement was +directly upon Petersburg. + +Lee moved on the inner circle with great caution. + +The Eighteenth Corps took water transportation from White House, and +arrived at Bermuda Hundred at midnight on the 14th. Grant was there. +He ordered General Smith to proceed at once against Petersburg. If +successful in the seizure of that place, Lee would be compelled to +leave Richmond. It was in the line of his direct communication with +the South. Losing that place, he would have only the Danville road, +and Grant would soon deprive him of that. The Appomattox would be +Grant's line of defence. Seizing it Grant could bide his time. He +could become a patient watcher, and Lee would be a victim to +circumstances. + +Grant was quick to see the advantages to be gained. Lee was slower in +arriving at a perception of the fatal consequences to himself which +would result from the loss of the place; but when awakened to a sense +of his danger, acted with great energy. On the other hand, Smith, who +was intrusted with the execution of the enterprise, was dilatory in +the execution. Birney in part is to be held responsible for the delay +in the execution of the order. + +"Push on and capture the place at all hazards! You shall have the +whole army to reinforce you," said Grant to Smith. Grant was in such +haste to have Smith move, that he did not stop to write the order. He +believed that Smith could reach Petersburg before Lee could make his +detour through Richmond. + +A. P. Hill had already been thrown south of Richmond, and was in front +of Butler. The scouts up the Appomattox reported the rumbling of heavy +trains along the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. Lee was putting his +troops into the cars. The dash of Kautz, and the movement of Gillmore +up to the entrenchments, and his retirement without an attack, had +resulted in the manning of the Petersburg batteries. A brigade had +been thrown down towards City Point, five miles from Petersburg. Soon +after daylight the cavalry came upon the Rebel pickets, by the City +Point railroad, beyond which they found the Rebels with two cannon +behind rifle-pits, in the centre of an open field on Bailey's farm. + +Hinks's division of the Eighteenth Corps was composed of colored +troops, who had never been under fire. Would they fight? That was the +important question. After a reconnoissance of the position by General +Hinks, the troops were formed for an assault. The Rebel cannon opened. +The sons of Africa did not flinch, but took their positions with +deliberation. They had been slaves; they stood face to face with their +former masters, or with their representatives. The flag in front of +them waving in the morning breeze was the emblem of oppression; the +banner above them was the flag of the free. Would an abject, servile +race, kept in chains four thousand years, assert their manhood? +Interesting the problem. Their brothers had given the lie to the +assertion of the white man, that negroes wouldn't fight, at Wagner and +Port Hudson. Would they falter? + +The Rebels were on a knoll in the field, and had a clear sweep of all +the approaches. The advancing troops must come out from the woods, +rush up the slope, and carry it at the point of the bayonet, receiving +the tempest of musketry and canister. + +Hinks deployed his line. At the word of command the colored men +stepped out from the woods, and stood before the enemy. They gave a +volley, and received one in return. Shells crashed through them, but, +unheeding the storm, with a yell they started up the slope upon the +run. They received one charge of canister, one scathing volley of +musketry. Seventy of their number went down, but the living hundreds +rushed on. The Rebels did not wait their coming, but fled towards +Petersburg, leaving one of the pieces of artillery in the hands of +their assailants, who leaped over the works, turned it in a twinkling, +but were not able to fire upon the retreating foe, fleeing in +consternation towards the main line of entrenchments two miles east of +the city. + +The colored troops were wild with joy. They embraced the captured +cannon with affectionate enthusiasm, patting it as if it were animate, +and could appreciate the endearment. + +"Every soldier of the colored division was two inches taller for that +achievement," said an officer describing it. These regiments were the +Fifth and Twenty-Second United States colored troops, who deserve +honorable mention in history. + +Brooks's division now moved up. Martindale was approaching Petersburg +by the river road. By noon the whole corps was in front of the main +line of works. Martindale was on the right, by the river, Brooks in +the centre, Hinks on the left, with Kautz's division of cavalry +sweeping down to the Jerusalem road, which enters Petersburg from the +southeast. + +Smith delayed unaccountably to make the attack. It was a priceless +moment. A reconnoissance showed a line of strong works, in which were +eighteen pieces of field artillery. The forts were well built, and +connected with breastworks, but the Rebels had not soldiers enough to +man them. The citizens of Petersburg had been called out to hold the +town. It is evident that Smith might just as well have accomplished at +one o'clock what was achieved at sunset. He was a brave officer, +fearless in battle, an engineer of ability, reckless of danger, but +failed to see the necessity of impetuous action. The value of time was +left out of his calculations. + +General Grant thus speaks of Smith's operations:-- + + "General Smith got off as directed, and confronted the enemy's + pickets near Petersburg before daylight next morning, but for + some reason that I have never been able to satisfactorily + understand, did not get ready to assault his main lines until + near sundown. Then, with a part of his command only, he made the + assault, and carried the lines northeast of Petersburg from the + Appomattox River, for a distance of over two and a half miles, + capturing fifteen pieces of artillery and three hundred + prisoners. This was about seven P. M."[65] + + [Footnote 65: Grant's Report.] + +The main road leading east from Petersburg ascends a hill two miles +out, upon the top of which stands the house of Mr. Dunn. The house is +a few rods south of the road. In front of it is a fort; another south; +a third north, and other works, with heavy embankments and deep +ditches. The woods in front of the house of Mr. Dunn were cut down in +1862, when McClellan was on the Peninsula, and the trunks of the +trees, blackened by fire, are lying there still, forming an abatis. +The ground is nearly level, and the Rebel riflemen have a fair view of +the entire field. It is three hundred and sixty paces from the forts +to the woods, in the edge of which Hinks's division of colored troops +are lying. The guns in the forts by the house of Mr. Dunn give a +direct front fire, while those by the house of Mr. Osborn on the north +enfilade the line. Brooks is in position to move upon the batteries by +Osborn's house, while Martindale is to advance up the railroad. + +The troops were placed in line for the attack not far from one +o'clock. They were exposed to the fire of the artillery. Hinks +impatiently waited for orders. Two o'clock passed. The shells from the +Rebel batteries were doing damage. + +"Lie down!" said he to his men. They obeyed, and were somewhat +sheltered. + +Three o'clock! four o'clock,--five,--still no orders. Duncan's brigade +was lying on both sides of the road, a short distance north of +Buffum's house. + +At length the word was given. Duncan threw forward a cloud of +skirmishers. The Rebels opened with renewed vigor from the batteries; +and the infantry, resting their muskets over the breastworks, fired at +will and with great accuracy of aim. Men dropped from the advancing +ranks. It was of little use to fire in return. "On! push on!" was the +order. Hinks and Duncan both entered heartily into the movement. They +had chafed all the afternoon at the delay; but had been admiring +observers of the conduct of the troops under the fire of shells. + +The skirmishers advanced quickly within close range, followed by the +main line, moving more slowly over the fallen timber. The skirmishers +gave a yell and pushed on, without waiting for the main body. They +leaped into the ditches in front of the breastworks, and climbed on +their hands and knees up the steep embankments. The Rebels above fired +into their faces, and many a brave fellow rolled back dead to the +bottom. + +The column, perceiving the advance of their comrades, and catching the +enthusiasm, broke into a run, rushing upon the forts, sweeping round +the curtains, scaling the breastworks, and dashing madly at the +Rebels, who fled towards Petersburg. Brooks's men at the same moment +swarmed over the embankments by Osborn's, while Martindale advanced +along the railroad. Fifteen pieces and three hundred men were +captured, of which two thirds of the prisoners and nine cannon were +taken by the colored troops, who wheeled the guns instantly upon the +enemy, and then, seizing the spades and shovels which the Rebels had +left behind, reversed the fortifications and made them a stronghold. + +Through the months which followed the colored troops looked back to +this exploit with pride. They never were weary of talking about +it,--how they advanced, how they leaped over the intrenchments, how +the Rebels went down the hill upon the run. + +Smith had possession of the fortifications at 7 P. M. He ought to have +moved on. There were no other works between him and Petersburg. Not a +brigade from Lee had reached the city, and the disaster was calculated +to demoralize the Rebel soldiers. The Second Corps had arrived. +Birney, who had the advance of that corps, ought to have been on the +ground by mid-afternoon, and Smith had delayed the assault on his +account. He expected Birney to appear on his left, and attack by the +Jerusalem plank-road; but that officer, by taking the wrong road, went +several miles out of his way. Had he been in position at the time +Smith expected him, the attack would have been made at 3 o'clock +instead of at 7. + +Smith's delay to follow up the advantage gained was an error. General +Grant says:-- + + "Between the line thus captured and Petersburg there were no + other works, and there was no evidence that the enemy had + reinforced Petersburg with a single brigade from any source. The + night was clear,--the moon shining brightly,--and favorable to + further operations. General Hancock, with two divisions of the + Second Corps, had reached General Smith just after dark, and + offered the service of these troops as he (Smith) might wish, + waiving rank to the named commander, who, he naturally supposed, + knew best the position of affairs. But instead of taking these + troops and pushing on at once into Petersburg, he requested + General Hancock to relieve a part of his line in the captured + works, which was done before midnight."[66] + + [Footnote 66: Grant's Report.] + +Not till the Rebel outpost on Bailey's farm fell into the hands of the +colored troops did Lee fully comprehend Grant's movement. Then there +were lively movements in the Rebel ranks. All of the railroad cars in +Richmond were put upon the road. Brigades were hurried through the +streets, piled into the cars, and sent whirling towards Petersburg. + +While Lee was watching the Charles City and Newmarket roads, north of +the James, expecting Grant in that direction, Butler sent General +Terry, with a portion of the Tenth Corps, on a reconnoissance in front +of Bermuda Hundred. Terry encountered the Rebel pickets, drove them +in, reached the main line, attacked vigorously, broke through, +carrying all before him, and pushed on to the railroad at Port +Walthall Junction, cut down the telegraph, and tore up the track. + +This was an advantage not expected by Grant, who at once ordered two +divisions of the Sixth Corps, under Wright, to report to Butler at +Bermuda Hundred; but that officer, instead of moving rapidly, advanced +leisurely, and even halted awhile. + +Terry was attacked by A. P. Hill and obliged to fall back. Grant had +the mortification of learning in the evening that, through the +dilatory movements of the troops under Smith and Wright, his plans had +failed. + +In the counsels of the Almighty the time for final victory had not +come. God reigns, but men act freely nevertheless. There have been +numerous instances during the war where great events hung on little +things. An interesting chapter might be written of the occasions where +the scales were seemingly evenly balanced, and where, to the eye of +faith, the breath of the Almighty turned them for the time. + +At Bull Run the victory was lost to the Union arms through the mistake +of Captain Barry.[67] At Pittsburg Landing, if Johnston had attacked +from the northwest instead of the southwest,--if he had deflected his +army a mile,--far different, in all human probability, would have been +the result of that battle. + + [Footnote 67: See "My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field"; + also testimony of Captain Ricketts and Captain Griffin, in + Report of Committee on Conduct of the War.] + +Was the arrival of the Monitor in Hampton Roads on that morning, after +the havoc made by the Merrimac, accidental? How providential rather! +How singular, if not a providence, that the wind should blow so wildly +from the southwest on that night of the withdrawal of the army from +Fredericksburg, wafting the rumbling of Burnside's artillery and the +tramp of a hundred thousand men away from the listening ears of the +enemy within close musket-shot! Events which turn the scales according +to our desires we are inclined to count as special providences: but +the disaster at Bull Run, the sitting down of McClellan in the mud at +Yorktown; the lost opportunities for moving upon Richmond after +Williamsburg and Fair Oaks; also, while the battle was raging at +Gaines's Mills and at Glendale; the pusillanimous retreat from +Malvern; the inaction at Antietam; Hooker's retreat from +Chancellorsville,--from Lee, who also was in retreat,--are +inexplicable events. Meade's waiting at Boonsboro, Lee's escape, +Gillmore's unexplained turning back from Petersburg, Wright's halting +when everything depended on haste, Smith's delay,--all of these are +mysterious providences to us, though to the Rebels they were at the +time plain interpositions of God. God's system is reciprocal; +everything has its use, everything is for a purpose. We read blindly, +but to reason and faith there can be but one result,--the +establishment of justice and righteousness between man and man and his +Maker. There must be a righting of every wrong, an atonement for every +crime. + + "The laws of changeless justice bind + Oppressor with oppressed; + And, close as sin and suffering joined, + We march to fate abreast." + +It must have been evident to most observers, that as the war +progressed men were brought to a recognition of God, as an overruling +power in the mighty conflict. In the first uprising of the people +there was pure, intense patriotism. The battle of Bull Run stung the +loyal masses of the North, and filled them with a determination to +redeem their tarnished honor. The failure of the Peninsular campaigns, +the terrible disasters in 1862, crushed and bruised men's spirits. +They began to talk of giving freedom to the slave as well as of the +restoration of the Union. + +"My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or +destroy slavery," wrote President Lincoln to Horace Greeley, August +22d, 1862, reflecting doubtless the feelings of nearly a majority of +the people. Whittier had already expressed, in the lines quoted on +pages 41, 42, the feelings of those who saw that slavery or the +nation must die. + +Two years passed, and Abraham Lincoln gave utterance to other +sentiments in his second inaugural address to the people. Disaster, +suffering, a view of Gettysburg battle-field, the consecration of that +cemetery as the hallowed resting-place of the patriotic dead, had +given him a clear insight of God's truth. Thus spoke he from the steps +of the Capitol:-- + + "The Almighty has his own purposes. Woe unto the world because of + offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to + that man by whom the offence cometh! If we shall suppose that + American slavery is one of these offences, which in the + providence of God must needs come, but which, having continued + through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he + gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to + those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any + departure from those Divine attributes which the believers in a + living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do + we pray, that the mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. + Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by + the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil + shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash + shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three + thousand years ago, so still must it be said, the judgments of + the Lord are true and righteous altogether." + +It was the recognition of these principles that made the people +patient under the severe afflictions, the disasters, the failures. +Fathers and mothers, weeping for their sons slain in battle, said to +their hearts, "Be still!" for they saw that God was leading the +people, through suffering, to recognize justice and righteousness as +the Republic,--that thus he was saving the nation from perdition. + +The heroism of the colored soldiers, and their splendid achievements, +won the respect of the army. Their patriotism was as sublime, their +courage as noble, as that of their whiter-hued comrades boasting +Anglo-Saxon blood, nurtured and refined by centuries of civilization. + +On the morning after the battle, an officer, passing through the +hospital, came upon a colored soldier who had lost his left leg. + +"Well, my boy, I see that you have lost a leg for glory," said the +officer. + +[Illustration: One day's labor, one day's income.] + +"_No, sir; I have not lost it for glory, but for the elevation of my +race!_" + +It was a reply worthy of historic record, to be read, through the +coming centuries, by every sable son of Africa, and by every man, of +whatever lineage or clime, struggling to better his condition. + +The negroes manifested their humanity as well as their patriotism. + +"While the battle was raging," said General Hinks, "I saw two wounded +negroes helping a Rebel prisoner, who was more severely wounded, to +the rear." + +"Give the water to my suffering soldiers," said the wounded Philip +Sidney. The incident stands upon the historic page, and has been +rehearsed in story and song, as worthy of admiration. Shall not this +act of two unknown colored soldiers also have a place in history? + +The time, we trust, will come when men will be rated for what they are +worth,--when superiority will consist, not in brute force, but in +moral qualities. The slaveholders of the South, at the beginning of +the war, esteemed themselves superior to the men of the North, and +immeasurably above their slaves; but in contrast,--to the shame of the +slaveholders,--stands the massacre at Fort Pillow and the humanity of +the colored soldiers in front of Petersburg. + +On the night of the 16th, Burnside arrived with the Ninth Corps. +Neill's division of the Sixth also arrived. Burnside attacked the +Rebels, but was repulsed. The lines were reconnoitred, and it was +determined to make a second assault. + +About half a mile south of the house of Mr. Dunn was the residence of +Mr. Shand, held by the Rebels. During the cannonade which preceded the +assault, a Rebel officer entered the house and sat down to play a +piano. Suddenly he found himself sitting on the floor, the stool +having been knocked away by a solid shot, without injury to himself. + +The house was a large two-story structure, fronting east, painted +white, with great chimneys at either end, shaded by buttonwoods and +gum-trees, with a peach-orchard in rear. Fifty paces from the +front-door was a narrow ravine, fifteen or twenty feet deep, with a +brook, fed by springs, trickling northward. West of the house, about +the same distance, was another brook, the two joining about twenty +rods north of the house. A Rebel brigade held this tongue of land, +with four guns beneath the peach-trees. Their main line of breastworks +was along the edge of the ravine east of the house. South, and on +higher ground, was a redan,--a strong work with two guns, which +enfiladed the ravine. Yet General Burnside thought that if he could +get his troops into position, unperceived, he could take the tongue of +land, which would break the Rebel line and compel them to evacuate the +redan. Several attempts had been made by the Second Corps to break the +line farther north, but without avail. This movement, if not +successful, would be attended with great loss; nevertheless, it was +determined to make the assault. + +It was past midnight when General Potter led his division of the Ninth +down into the ravine. The soldiers threw aside their knapsacks, +haversacks, tin plates and cups, and moved stealthily. Not a word was +spoken. The watches of the officers in command had been set to a +second. They reached the ravine where the pickets were stationed, and +moved south, keeping close under the bank. Above them, not fifteen +paces distant, were the Rebel pickets, lying behind a bank of sand. + +If their listening ears caught the sound of a movement in the ravine, +they gave no alarm, and the troops took their positions undisturbed. +The moon was full. Light clouds floated in the sky. Not a sound, save +the distant rumble of wagons, or an occasional shot from the pickets, +broke the silence of the night. The attacking column was composed of +Griffin's and Curtin's brigades,--Griffin on the right. He had the +Seventeenth Vermont and Eleventh New Hampshire in his front line, and +the Ninth New Hampshire and Thirty-Second Maine in the second. Curtin +had six regiments,--the Thirty-Sixth Massachusetts, and the +Forty-Fifth and Forty-Eighth Pennsylvania, in his front line; the +Seventh Rhode Island, Twelfth New York, and Fifty-Eighth Massachusetts +in his second line. + +[Illustration: Petersburg July 17th 1864.] + +The soldiers were worn with hard marching and constant fighting, and +had but just arrived from City Point, yet they took their positions +without flinching. The officers gazed at the hands of their watches in +the moonlight, and saw them move on to the appointed time,--fifteen +minutes past three. Twenty paces,--a spring up the steep bank would +carry the men to the Rebel pickets; fifty paces to the muzzles of the +enemy's guns. + +"All ready!" was whispered from man to man. They rose from the ground +erect. Not a gun-lock clicked. The bayonet was to do the work. + +"_Hurrah!_" The lines rise like waves of the sea. There are straggling +shots from the Rebel pickets, four flashes of light from the Rebel +cannon by the house, two more from the redan, one volley from the +infantry, wildly aimed, doing little damage. On,--up to the +breastworks! Over them, seizing the guns! A minute has passed. Four +guns, six hundred and fifty prisoners, fifteen hundred muskets, and +four stands of colors are the trophies. The Rebel line is broken. The +great point is gained, compelling Lee to abandon the ground which he +has held so tenaciously. + +In the Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts was a soldier named Edward M. +Schneider. When the regiment was formed he was a student in Phillips +Academy, Andover. From motives of patriotism, against the wishes of +friends, he left the literature of the ancients and the history of the +past, to become an actor in the present and to do what he could for +future good. His father is the well-known missionary of the American +Board at Aintab, Turkey. + +On the march from Annapolis, though but seventeen years old, and +unaccustomed to hardship, he kept his place in the ranks, from the +encampment by the waters of the Chesapeake to the North Anna, where he +was slightly wounded. The surgeons sent him to Port Royal for +transportation to Washington, but of his own accord he returned to +his regiment, joining it at Cold Harbor. While preparing for the +charge upon the enemy's works, on the 17th instant, he said to the +chaplain,-- + +"I intend to be the first one to enter their breastworks." + +The brave young soldier tried to make good his words, leading the +charge. + +He was almost there,--not quite: almost near enough to feel the hot +flash of the Rebel musketry in his face; near enough to be covered +with sulphurous clouds from the cannon, when he fell, shot through the +body. + +He was carried to the hospital, with six hundred and fifty of his +division comrades; but lay all night with his wound undressed, waiting +his turn without a murmur. The chaplain looked at his wound. + +"What do you think of it?" + +Seeing that it was mortal, the chaplain was overcome with emotion. He +remembered the last injunction of the young soldier's sister: "I +commit him to your care." + +The young hero interpreted the meaning of the tears,--that there was +no hope. + +"Do not weep," said he; "it is God's will. I wish you to write to my +father, and tell him that I have tried to do my duty to my country and +to God." + +He disposed of his few effects, giving ten dollars to the Christian +Commission, twenty dollars to the American Board, and trifles to his +friends. Then, in the simplicity of his heart, said,-- + +"I have a good many friends, schoolmates, and companions. They will +want to know where I am,--how I am getting on. You can let them know +that I am gone, and that I die content. And, chaplain, the boys in the +regiment,--I want you to tell them to stand by the dear old flag! And +there is my brother in the navy,--write to him and tell him to stand +by the flag and cling to the cross of Christ!" + +The surgeon examined the wound. + +"It is my duty to tell you that you will soon go home," said he. + +"Yes, doctor, I am going home. I am not afraid to die. I don't know +how the valley will be when I get to it, but it is all bright now." + +Then, gathering up his waning strength, he repeated the verse often +sung by the soldiers, who, amid all the whirl and excitement of the +camp and battle-field, never forget those whom they have left behind +them,--mother, sister, father, brother. Calmly, clearly, distinctly he +repeated the lines,--the chorus of the song: + + "Soon with angels I'll be marching, + With bright laurels on my brow; + I have for my country fallen,-- + Who will care for sister now?" + +The night wore away. Death stole on. He suffered intense pain, but not +a murmur escaped his lips. Sabbath morning dawned, and with the coming +of the light he passed away. + +"I die content," said Wolfe, at Quebec, when told that the French were +fleeing. + +"Stand up for Jesus," said Dudley Tyng, in his last hours: words which +have warmed and moved thousands of Christian hearts. + +"Let me die with my face to the enemy," was the last request of +General Rice, Christian, soldier, and patriot, at Spottsylvania; but +equally worthy of remembrance are the words of Edward M. +Schneider,--boy, student, youthful leader of the desperate charge at +Petersburg. They are the essence of all that Wolfe and Tyng and Rice +uttered in their last moments. His grave is near the roadside, marked +by a rude paling. The summer breeze sweeps through the sighing pines +above the heaved-up mound. Mournful, yet sweet, the music of the +wind-harp;--mournful, in that one so young, so full of life and hope +and promise, should go so soon; sweet, in that he did his work so +nobly. Had he lived a century he could not have completed it more +thoroughly or faithfully. His was a short soldier's life, extending +only from the peaceful shades of Andover to the intrenchments of +Petersburg; but O, how full! + +Will the tree of Liberty prematurely decay, if nourished by such +life-giving blood? It is costly, but the fruit is precious. For pain +and anguish, waste and desolation, we have such rich recompense as +this,--such examples of patriotic ardor, heroic daring, and Christian +fortitude, that make men nobler, nations greater, and the world better +by their contemplation. + +I have stood by the honored dust of those whose names are great in +history, whose deeds and virtues are commemorated in brass and marble, +who were venerated while living and mourned when dead; but never have +I felt a profounder reverence for departed worth than for this young +Christian soldier, uncoffined, unshrouded, wrapped only in his +blanket, and sleeping serenely beneath the evergreen pines. + +His last words--the messages to his comrades, to his father, and his +brother--are worthy to live so long as the flag of our country shall +wave or the cross of Christ endure. + +"Stand up for the dear old flag and cling to the cross of Christ!" +They are the emblems of all our hopes for time and eternity. Short, +full, rounded, complete his life. Triumphant, glorious his death! + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Petersburg July 30th 1864.] + +Grant determined to assault all along the line on the morning of the +18th, as nearly the entire army had arrived. Lee, however, fell back +during the night to a new position nearer the city. + +But the attack was made. The Eighteenth, Second, and Sixth Corps +gained no advantage; but the Ninth and Fifth drove the Rebels across +the Norfolk Railroad, and reached the Jerusalem plank-road. The +position of the besieging army is shown by the accompanying diagram. + +On the 21st of June Grant attempted to take the Weldon Railroad with +the Second and Sixth Corps, but was opposed by the Rebels on Davis's +farm, beyond the Jerusalem road, and a battle ensued. + +[Illustration: Army corps chapel near Petersburg.] + +The engagement was renewed the next day. There was a gap in the +lines, of which A. P. Hill took advantage, and attacked Barlow's +division in flank. A severe struggle followed, in which Gibbon's +division lost four guns. The battle was continued on the 23d, but no +farther progress was made. The troops had been fighting, marching, +or building breastworks for forty-seven days, without interruption. +Daily and nightly, from the Rapidan to the Weldon road, they had +been in constant action. The troops were exhausted. Grant had lost +seventy thousand. The reinforcements which had reached him were +inexperienced. Men when physically prostrated are indifferent to +commands. Discipline becomes lax. Hundreds of efficient officers had +fallen during the campaign. Brigades were commanded by majors, +regiments by captains, companies by corporals. The army needed +thorough reorganization. The right of the line was sufficiently near +to Petersburg to commence siege operations. Intrenchments were +accordingly thrown up and guns mounted, and the army enjoyed +comparative rest. But it was a rest under fire, day and night, the +Ninth and Eighteenth Corps especially being constantly harassed by +the enemy, who were bitterly opposed to the employment of colored +troops. It was systematic hostility,--ingrained, revengeful, +relentless. They would not recognize or treat them as prisoners of +war. Slavery long before had proclaimed that black men had no rights +which white men were bound to respect. For them was no mercy; only +the fate of their compatriots at Fort Pillow awaited them, if taken +in arms against their former masters, though wearing the uniform of +the republic which had given them freedom and sent them to battle. + +There was a tacit understanding between the soldiers of the Fifth and +the enemy in front of them that there should be no picket-firing. They +filled their canteens at the same spring and had friendly +conversations. But not so in front of the Ninth, in which thirty were +wounded or killed every twenty-four hours. Such was the unnecessary +sacrifice of life to this Moloch of our generation! There were those +in the army, as well as out of it, who were not willing that the +colored soldier should be recognized as a man. + +"The negroes ought not to be allowed to fight," said a Massachusetts +captain to me. + +"Why not, sir?" + +"Because the Rebels hate us for making them soldiers," was the reply; +and adding, dubiously, "I don't know but that the negroes have souls; +but I look upon them as a lower order of beings than ourselves." + +The old prejudice remained. We were not willing to deal fairly. We +asked the negro to help fight our battles, but we were willing to pay +him only half a soldier's wages, as if we feared this simple act of +justice might be construed as an acknowledgment of his social as well +as civil equality. + +Through all the weary months of fighting and exposure the wants of the +soldiers were greatly relieved by the Sanitary and Christian +Commissions. The warm-hearted people in the North never ceased their +contributions. The machinery of both those excellent organizations was +so perfect that the soldiers had quick relief. + +The power of any force--moral and religious as well as mechanical--is +in proportion to the directness of its application. I recall, in this +connection, a hot, dry, sultry day. The sun shone from a brazen sky. +The grass and shrubs were scorched, withered, and powdered with dust, +which rose in clouds behind every passing wagon. Even the aspens were +motionless, and there was not air enough to stir the long, lithe +needles of the pines. The birds of the forest sought the deepest +shade, and hushed even their twitter. It was difficult for men in +robust health to breathe, and they picked out the coolest places and +gave themselves up to the languor of the hour. It required an earnest +effort to do anything. Yet through this blazing day men crouched in +the trenches from morning till night, or lay in their shallow +rifle-pits, watching the enemy,--parched, broiled, burned, not daring +to raise their heads or lift their hands. To do so was to suffer death +or wounds. + +The hospital tents, though pitched in the woods, were like ovens, +absorbing and holding the heat of the sun, whose rays the branches of +the trees but partially excluded. Upon the ground lay the sick and +wounded, fevered and sore, with energies exhausted, perspiration +oozing from their faces, nerves quivering and trembling, pulses faint +and feeble, and life ebbing away. Their beds were pine boughs. They +lay as they came from the battle-field, wearing their soiled, torn, +and bloody garments, and tantalized by myriads of flies. + +The surgeons in charge were kind-hearted and attentive. They used all +means in their power to make their patients comfortable. Was this the +place where the sick were to regain their health, far from home and +friends! With nothing to cheer them, hope was dying out, and +despondency setting in; and memory, ever busy, was picturing the dear +old home scenes, so painfully in contrast with their dismal present. + +It was the Sabbath, and there were many among the suffering thousands +who had been accustomed to observe the day as one of worship and rest +from toil and care. In imagination they heard the pealing of +church-bells, the grand and solemn music of the organ, or the hum of +children's voices in the Sabbath school. + +There were no clouds to shut out the sun, but the brazen dome of the +sky glowed with steady heat. The Christian Commission tent had been +besieged all day by soldiers, who wanted onions, pickles, lemons, +oranges,--anything sour, anything to tempt the taste. A box of oranges +had been brought from City Point the night before. It was suggested +that they be distributed at once to the sick and wounded. "Certainly, +by all means," was the unanimous voice of the Commission. I +volunteered to be the distributor. + +Go with me through the tents of the sufferers. Some are lying down, +with eyes closed, faces pale, and cheeks sunken. The paleness +underlies the bronze which the sun has burned upon them. Some are half +reclining on their elbows, bolstered by knapsacks, and looking into +vacancy,--thinking, perhaps, of home and kin, and wondering if they +will ever see them again. Others are reading papers which delegates of +the Commission have distributed. Some of the poor fellows have but one +leg; others but the stump of a thigh or an arm, with the lightest +possible dressing to keep down the fever. Yesterday those men, in the +full tide of life, stood in the trenches confronting the enemy. Now +they are shattered wrecks, having, perhaps, wife and children or +parents dependent upon them; with no certainty of support for +themselves even but the small bounty of government, which they have +earned at such fearful sacrifice. But their future will be brightened +with the proud consciousness of duty done and country saved,--the +surviving soldier's chief recompense for all the toil and suffering +and privation of the camp and field. + +As we enter the tent they catch a sight of the golden fruit. There is +a commotion. Those half asleep rub their eyes, those partially +reclining sit up, those lying with their backs toward us turn over to +see what is going on, those so feeble that they cannot move ask what +is the matter. They gaze wistfully at our luscious burden. Their eyes +gleam, but not one of them asks for an orange. They wait. Through the +stern discipline of war they have learned to be patient, to endure, to +remain in suspense, to stand still and be torn to pieces. They are +true heroes! + +"Would you like an orange, sir?" + +"Thank you." + +It is all he can say. He is lying upon his back. A minnie bullet has +passed through his body, and he cannot be moved. He has a noble brow, +a manly countenance. Tears moisten his eyes and roll down his sunken +cheeks as he takes it from my hand. + +"It is a gift of the Christian Commission, and I accept your thanks +for those who made the contribution." + +"Bully for the Christian Commission," shouts a wide-awake, jolly +soldier, near by, with an ugly wound in his left arm. + +"Thank you," "God bless the Commission," "I say, Bill, aren't they +bully?" are the expressions I hear behind me. + +In one of the wards I came upon a soldier who had lost his leg the day +before. He was lying upon his side; he was robust, healthy, strong, +and brave. The hours dragged heavily. I stood before him, and yet he +did not see me. He was stabbing his knife into a chip, with nervous +energy, trying to forget the pain, to bridge over the lonely hours, +and shut the gloom out of the future. I touched his elbow; he looked +up. + +"Would you like an orange?" + +"By jingo! that is worth a hundred dollars!" + +He grasped it as a drowning man clutches a chip. + +"Where did this come from?" + +"The Christian Commission had a box arrive last night." + +"The Christian Commission? My wife belongs to that. She wrote to me +about it last week,--that they met to make shirts for the Commission." + +"Then you have a wife?" + +"Yes, sir, and three children." + +His voice faltered. Ah! the soldier never forgets home. He dashed away +a tear, took in a long breath, and was strong again. + +"Where do you hail from, soldier?" + +"From old Massachusetts. I had a snug little home upon the banks of +the Connecticut; but I told my wife that I didn't feel just right to +stay there, when I was needed out here, and so I came, and here I am. +I shall write home, and tell Mary about the Christian Commission. I +have been wishing all day that I had an orange; I knew it was no use +to wish. I didn't suppose there was one in camp; besides, here I am, +not able to move a peg. I thank you, sir, for bringing it. I shall +tell my wife all about it." + +These expressions of gratitude were not indifferent utterances of +courtesy, but came from full hearts. Those sun-burned sufferers +recognized the religion of Jesus in the gift. The Christian religion, +thus exemplified, was not a cold abstraction, but a reality, providing +for the health of the body as well as the soul. It was easy to +converse with those men concerning their eternal well-being. They +could not oppose a Christianity that manifested such regard for their +bodily comfort. Such a religion commended itself to their hearts and +understandings. Thus the Commission became a great missionary +enterprise. Farina, oranges, lemons, onions, pickles, comfort-bags, +shirts, towels, given and distributed in the name of Jesus, though +designed for the body, gave strength to the soul. To the quickened +senses of a wounded soldier parched with fever, far from home and +friends, an onion was a stronger argument for the religion which +bestowed it than the subtle reasoning of Renan, and a pickle sharper +than the keenest logic of Colenso! + +Visiting Washington one day, I passed through several of the +hospitals, and was present when the delegates came to the +head-quarters of the Commission and narrated their experiences of the +day. About fifty were present. Their work was washing and dressing +wounds, aiding the sick and wounded in every way possible, +distributing reading matter, writing letters for those unable to +write, with religious exercises and conversation. No delegate was +allowed to give jellies or wines as food, or to hold meetings in any +ward, without permission of the surgeon in charge, which usually was +granted. It was a rule of the Commission, and not of the Medical +Department. The design was to do everything possible for the good of +the men, and nothing for their hurt. One delegate said that he found +fully one third of the men in his wards professing Christians. They +were glad to see him, and rejoiced to obtain religious reading. A few +days before he had given an old man a book entitled the "Blood of +Jesus." + +"I have found Jesus, and O, he is so precious!" said the old soldier. + +Another delegate said: "I found among the patients a minister who +enlisted as a private. He has been in the hospital sixteen months, and +has maintained his Christian character through all the trials of camp +and hospital life. I found some convalescents playing cards. + +"'My boys, you don't play cards on Sunday, do you?' + +"'It isn't Sunday, is it? Why, hang it all, chaplain, we can't keep +track of the days in the army.' + +"I talked to them of home and of their mothers. The tears rolled down +their cheeks. They put up their cards, and read the papers I gave +them." + +"I never saw men so ready to receive religious instruction," said +another delegate, "or who were so easily impressed with its truths. I +am satisfied that this is a golden opportunity to the Christian +Church. I found a young man to-day who said, 'I want you, chaplain, to +tell me just what I have to do to be a Christian. I will do just what +you say. I want to be a Christian.' It was a sincere desire. I find +that the Catholics are just as eager to have religious instruction as +others." + +"I found a sergeant from Massachusetts, very low, but he met me with a +smile. 'It is all right, I am happy, and I die content. Tell my +friends so,'" reported another. + +"I have been over the river to see some detached regiments," said a +chaplain. "I asked one noble-looking soldier if he loved Jesus? + +"'No, I don't.' + +"'Are you married?' + +"'No; but I have a sister. She isn't a Christian, but she wrote to me +that she wanted me to become one, and I wrote to her that I wanted her +to be one; and I guess, chaplain, that everybody who believes the +Bible feels just so. If they ain't good themselves, they want their +friends to be.' + +"I found another soldier writing a letter on a little bit of paper. I +gave him a full sheet and an envelope. + +"'Are you a Christian Commission man?' + +"'Yes.' + +"'You are a d---- good set of fellows.' + +"'Hold on, soldier, not quite so hard.' + +"'I beg your pardon, chaplain, I didn't mean to swear, but, darn it +all, I have got into the habit out here in the army, and it comes +right out before I think.' + +"'Won't you try to leave it off?' + +"'Yes, chaplain, I will.'" + +Said another delegate: "I went among the men, and they all gathered +round me with great eagerness. They were a little disappointed, +however, when they saw that I was a delegate of the Commission. They +took me to be the paymaster. + +"But I have something that is better than gold." + +"'Give me some of it,' said one, who was the son of a Baptist +minister, a tender-hearted Christian." + +One, just returned from the army at Petersburg, said: "I came across a +drummer-boy of one of the Massachusetts regiments, a member of the +Sabbath school at home, who lost his Bible during the campaign, but he +has written the heads of his drum all over with texts of Scripture +from memory. He beats a Gospel drum." + +An hour was passed with such narration interspersed with devotional +exercises. Glorious their work! Sweet the music of their parting +hymn:-- + + "Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee; + E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me, + Still all my song shall be, + Nearer, my God, to thee, + Nearer to thee." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SIEGE OPERATIONS. + + +[Sidenote: June, 1864.] + +The Norfolk Railroad enters Petersburg through a ravine. In the attack +upon the enemy's lines, on the 18th of June, the hollow was gained and +held by Burnside's troops, their most advanced position being about +four hundred feet from the Rebel line. + +Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, commanding the Forty-Eighth +Pennsylvania Regiment, a practical miner, conceived the idea of +excavating a tunnel under the Rebel works and exploding a mine. He +submitted the plan to Burnside, who approved it. General Meade said it +could not be done. Major Duane, of the Engineers, laughed at the idea. +Other officers, of high rank, scouted the project. Colonel Pleasants +was fully convinced of its practicability, and set his men to work. + +He made application at head-quarters for a theodolite to make a +triangulation of the distance, but was refused its use. He was obliged +to send to Washington to obtain one. No facilities were granted him. +He could neither obtain boards, lumber, or mining-picks. But his +regiment, numbering four hundred men, were mostly miners, and he was +confident of success. Work was accordingly commenced on the 25th of +June, at noon. No wheelbarrows being provided, the men were obliged to +make hand-barrows of cracker-boxes. But they were at home in the +earth, and not easily discouraged by difficulties or want of proper +tools to work with, and pushed forward the gallery, which was about +four and a half feet high and the same in width, with great zeal. The +earth brought out was covered with bushes, to conceal it from the +Rebels, who by its fresh appearance might suspect where the mine was +being sunk, as it was known throughout the army that mining operations +had been commenced, and the Rebels had heard of it. The Richmond +papers published the news, and it was heralded through the North. + +At every discharge of the Rebel artillery there was danger of the +caving in of the earth; but Pleasants' daring burrowers crept steadily +forward, till the noise overhead, as well as previous measurements, +convinced them that they were immediately under the Rebel works. The +main gallery was five hundred and ten feet in length, beside which +were two lateral galleries, one thirty-seven and the other +thirty-eight feet in length. + +A short distance from the entrance, inside of the Union +fortifications, a vertical shaft was sunk, in which a fire was kept +constantly burning, to produce ventilation. Eight magazines were +placed in the lateral galleries, charged with four tons of powder, +strongly tamped, and connected by fuses. The mine was completed on the +23d of July. + +Grant planned an assault upon the Rebel line, independently of the +explosion of the mine. He sent two divisions of the Second Corps, with +two divisions of Sheridan's cavalry, to the Army of the James, at Deep +Bottom, where an attack was made, four guns captured, and the line +extended from Deep Bottom to the New Market road. Lee attempted to +recover his lost ground, but failed. Grant, in this expedition, +employed an immense train of empty baggage-wagons, which, passing in +sight of the Rebel pickets, made the movement an enigma to Lee. The +Rebels in the fortifications had commenced a counter-mine, but +suspended labor. + +General Burnside wished that the colored troops of his division, under +General Ferrero, should lead in the assault after the mine was +exploded; and the troops were drilled with that special object in +view. He believed that they would make a successful charge. They were +fresh, had taken but little part in the campaign, and were desirous of +emulating the example of their comrades of the Eighteenth Corps. The +white troops were worn with hard marching, fighting, and exposure in +the trenches in front of Petersburg, where they had been on the watch +day and night. The lines were so near to the Rebels that a man could +not show his head above the parapet without being shot. They had +acquired the habit of taking their positions by covered approaches, +and had lost the resolute confidence and fearlessness manifested at +the beginning of the campaigns. + +General Meade objected to Burnside's plan. + +"I objected," says Meade, "not that I had any reason to believe that +the colored troops would not do their duty as well as the white +troops, but that they were a new division, and had never been under +fire, had never been tried, and, as this was an operation which I knew +beforehand was one requiring the very best troops, I thought it +impolitic to trust to a division of whose reliability we had no +evidence."[68] + + [Footnote 68: Attack on Petersburg, Report of Committee on + Conduct of the War, p. 4.] + +The matter was referred to General Grant, who says:-- + + "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front, + and I believe if he had done so it would have been a success. + Still I agreed with General Meade in his objections to the plan. + General Meade said that if we put the colored troops in front (we + had only one division), and it should prove a failure, it would + then be said, probably, that we were shoving those people ahead + to get killed, because we did not care anything about them. But + that could not be said if we put white troops in front."[69] + + [Footnote 69: Ibid., p. 5.] + +General Burnside had three divisions of white troops; as there were +reasons for assigning either of the divisions to lead the assault, +lots were cast, and the duty fell upon General Ledlie. + +Burnside was directed by Meade to form his troops during the night, +and be ready to assault at daylight on the 30th. His pioneers were to +be equipped to destroy the enemy's abatis. Intrenching tools were +provided, so that if successful in breaking the Rebel lines, the +position might be quickly secured. + +Portions of the Fifth and Eighteenth Corps were brought up to support +the Ninth. + +The field artillery was to be harnessed for immediate use. The siege +artillery was to open a heavy fire. The Second Corps, at Deep Bottom, +was to move to the rear of the Eighteenth, and be ready for any +emergency. Sheridan, with the cavalry, was ordered to attack south and +east of Petersburg. The Engineers were to have sand-bags, gabions, +and fascines in readiness. The mine was to be fired at half past +three, and simultaneously with the explosion the assaulting column was +to rush into the gap. + +"Promptitude, rapidity of execution, and cordial co-operation are +essential to success," wrote General Meade, in his concluding orders. + +The movements and preparations were completed before three o'clock. +The moon was shining brightly, but the Rebels made no discovery of the +change of position and massing of troops in rear of the Ninth Corps. +The heights near the hospitals were covered by teamsters, ambulance +drivers, surgeons, and civilians, waiting with intense interest for +the expected upheaval. + +Half past three came, and the fuse was lighted. A stream of fire ran +quickly along the gallery, but no explosion followed. Had the fuse +failed? Lieutenant Douty and Sergeant Reese went boldly in to +ascertain, and found the fire had gone out one hundred feet from the +entrance. The fuse was relighted, but it was almost five o'clock, and +the anxious spectators began to speculate as to the cause of the +delay. + +Grant and Meade were at the front. The troops thought the whole thing +a failure, and began to ridicule the Pennsylvania miners. + +Fleming's Rebel brigade, composed of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and +Twenty-Second North Carolinians, was asleep over the mine. The pickets +only were awake. Pegram's battery was also in the redoubt. + +Finally there came a trembling of the earth, then a bursting forth of +volcanic flames and rolling up of dense clouds of smoke. A mountain of +rubbish rose in the air. Earth, men, planks, timbers, cannon, shot and +shell, were hurled upward and outward! The sight was terribly grand. +To add to the frightfulness of the eruption and the grandeur of the +spectacle, one hundred guns instantly belched forth their thunders. +The Rebels were surprised and panic-stricken for the moment, and ran +to escape the falling earth and timbers, leaving their artillery +silent. A huge gap had been made in the Rebel works, four or five +hundred feet in length and twenty feet in depth. + +Success depended upon the immediate occupation of the breach. Ten +minutes passed before Ledlie moved, and then he only advanced to the +crater. The Rebels offered no opposition. The important point to be +gained and held was a ridge four hundred yards beyond. Ledlie still +halted in the excavation. Wilcox and Potter soon followed him, and the +three divisions became intermixed, and general confusion prevailed. An +hour of precious time was lost. Ledlie made no attempt to move in or +out, and Potter and Wilcox could not go forward while he blocked the +way. + +The enemy gradually recovered from their stupor, and began to fire +from the hills, and batteries of artillery were brought up on the +right and left to enfilade the crater: but not a cannon-shot was fired +by the Rebels till after seven o'clock. The supporting brigades +meanwhile were crowding upon those in front. The colored troops were +ordered forward. They also entered the crater, which only added to the +confusion. Potter succeeded in freeing his troops from Ledlie's, and +pushed on toward the crest, but being unsupported, he was obliged to +retire, driven back by the canister which the enemy poured into his +ranks from the new position they had taken on Cemetery Hill. The Rebel +fire increased. Eight, nine, ten o'clock passed; their batteries were +throwing a concentrated fire of shells and solid shot into the mingled +human mass. Mahone's and Ransom's divisions of infantry were hurried +to the top of the ridge, and mortars were brought into play, and the +crater became a terrible scene of slaughter. Meade, seeing that +further attempt to take the ridge would be not only useless, but a +waste of life, permitted Burnside to withdraw his troops at +discretion. Yet to retire was to run the gauntlet of almost certain +death. The space between the abyss and Burnside's breastworks was +swept by a cross-fire from the enemy's artillery and infantry. To +remain in the crater was sure destruction; to advance was impossible; +to retreat the only alternative. Permission was given the troops to +retire. By degrees they fled to the rear; but it was two o'clock in +the afternoon before the place was wholly evacuated. + +Forty-seven officers and three hundred and seventy-two soldiers were +killed, one hundred and twenty-four officers and fifteen hundred and +fifty-five soldiers wounded, and nineteen hundred missing; a total +loss of over four thousand men, and no substantial advantage gained. + +The loss of the Rebels by the explosion was very great, as also by the +heavy artillery fire. + +The causes of the failure, as decided by the Committee on the Conduct +of the War, were: the injudicious formation of the troops assaulting; +the halting of Ledlie; lack of proper engineers; and the want of a +competent head at the scene of assault. + +The reasons why the attack ought to have been successful are thus +stated:-- + + "1. The evident surprise of the enemy at the time of the + explosion of the mine, and for some time after. + + "2. The comparatively small force in the enemy's works. + + "3. The ineffective fire of the enemy's artillery and musketry, + there being scarcely any for about thirty minutes after the + explosion, and our artillery being just the reverse as to time + and power. + + "4. The fact that our troops were able to get two hundred yards + beyond the crater, towards the west, but could not remain there + or proceed farther for want of supports."[70] + + [Footnote 70: Report of Committee.] + +It was a humiliating, disgraceful failure, which filled the North with +mourning. The Rebels manifested their hatred of the colored troops by +shooting some of them even after they had surrendered. The Richmond +_Enquirer_ said that the assaulting column was led by colored troops, +who rushed on with the cry of "No quarter," but the assertion is not +true. The colored troops were not ordered forward till late in the +morning, and then advanced but a few steps beyond the crater. The +_Enquirer_ of August 1st doubtless gave expression to the sentiments +of the Southern people respecting the treatment to be accorded to +colored soldiers. Said that paper:-- + + "Grant's war cry of "No quarter," shouted by his negro soldiers, + was returned with interest, we regret to hear not so heavily as + it ought to have been, since some negroes were captured instead + of being shot.... Let every salient we are called upon to defend + be a Fort Pillow, and butcher every negro that Grant hurls + against our brave troops, and permit them not to soil their hands + with the capture of one negro." + +It was the opinion of many officers who saw the advance of the +colored division, that, had they been permitted to lead the assault, +the crest would have been seized and held. Such is the opinion of the +Lieutenant-General already given. + +The onset promised to be successful, but ended in one of the severest +disasters of the war, without any compensation worthy of mention. + +Sad the scene on that afternoon. The ground was thickly strewn with +dying and dead. The sun blazed from a cloudless sky, and the heat was +intense. The cries of the wounded were heart-rending. Officers and men +on both sides stopped their ears, and turned away heart-sick at the +sight. It was an exhibition of the horrible features of war which, +once seen, is forever remembered. + +The operation of Grant upon the enemy's lines of communication was +beginning to be felt in Richmond. Wilson and Kautz on the Danville and +Weldon roads, Sheridan on the Virginia Central, and Hunter in the +vicinity of Lynchburg, altogether had caused an interruption of +communication which advanced the prices of produce in the markets of +that city. + +It is amusing to read the papers published during the summer of 1864. +All of Grant's movements from the Rapidan to Petersburg were retreats. +Lee, in his despatches to Jeff Davis from the Wilderness, said that +Grant was retreating towards Fredericksburg. It happened, however, +that Lee found Grant attacking his lines at Spottsylvania on the +following morning. "The enemy is falling back from Spottsylvania," +said the _Examiner_, when Grant moved to the North Anna. + +"Grant is floundering in the swamp of the Chickahominy; he has reached +McClellan's graveyard," said the Rebel press, when he was at Cold +Harbor. + +"Grant's attitude before Petersburg is that of a baffled, if not a +ruined man," said the Richmond _Enquirer_. + +"We can stand such a siege as Grant thinks he has established for +twenty years to come," was the language of the Petersburg _Express_. + +Another number of the _Enquirer_, commenting upon the Richmond +markets, revealed more clearly the truth. + +"The extortion _now_ practised upon the people," said the _Enquirer_ +of June 30th, "in every department of necessary supply, is frightful. +It is a pitiable sight to see the families of this city swarming in +the markets for food, and subjected to the merciless exactions of this +unrestrained avarice." + +The fortunes of the Confederacy were becoming desperate. Sherman had +advanced from Chattanooga, driving Johnston to Atlanta. The removal of +Johnston, and the appointment of an officer in his stead who would +fight the Yankees, was demanded. Jeff Davis heeded the cry, removed +Johnston, and appointed Hood to succeed him. The _Enquirer_ was +jubilant. Said that sheet:-- + + 'There must be an end of retreating, and the risk of defeat must + be encountered, or victory can never be won. The rule of + Cunctator must have an end, for the rashness of Scipio can only + end this war. If General Johnston has been relieved, the country + will accept this action of the President as a determination + henceforth to accept the risk of battle, as involving the fate + and fixing the destiny of the Confederacy. To go forward and to + fight is now the motto of our armies, and since Johnston would + not advance, Hood has no other alternative, for his appointment + has but one meaning, and that is to give battle to the foe.... + Grant is hopelessly crippled at Petersburg, and Lee has but a few + days ago thundered his artillery in the corporate limits of + Washington City. Grant, while apparently advancing, has been + really retreating, and this day is in a position from which he + can advance no farther, and from which his retreat is only a + question of time. Grant is exhausting the malice of + disappointment and the chagrin of defeat in bombarding + Petersburg; but Sherman, unless defeated by Hood, must march into + Atlanta. The movements of General Lee have so weakened the army + of Grant, that it is more an object of pity than of fear."[71] + + [Footnote 71: Richmond _Enquirer_, July 19, 1864.] + +Early in the campaign Grant, seeing the necessity of keeping the ranks +of the Army of the Potomac full, had ordered the Nineteenth Corps, +then on the Mississippi, to take transports for the James. His policy +was concentration combined with activity. His foresight and prudence +in this matter were of inestimable value, as will be seen in the +ensuing chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THIRD INVASION OF MARYLAND. + + +[Sidenote: July, 1864.] + +The armies of the Union in Virginia, in the West, beyond the +Mississippi, and along the Gulf were controlled by General Grant. The +chess-board was continental in its dimensions, but everything upon it +seemed within reach of his hand. He had two armies under his immediate +direction,--the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James. He was +in constant communication with Sherman at Atlanta, and his orders +reached the forces a thousand miles distant on the Mississippi! The +details were left to the commanders of the various armies, but all +important schemes were submitted to him for approval. But his best +plans sometimes miscarried, from the neglect or inability of his +subordinates to carry them into execution. Before starting from the +Rapidan, General Grant ordered Hunter, who had succeeded to the +command of Sigel in the Shenandoah, to proceed up the valley to +Staunton and Gordonsville. When Grant was on the North Anna, he +advised that officer to move on Charlottesville and Lynchburg, live on +the country as he marched, and destroy the railroads, and, if +possible, the James River Canal. Accomplishing that, he was to return +to Gordonsville, and there join Grant. Hunter advanced. Sheridan was +sent with the cavalry, while Grant was at Cold Harbor, to aid him. +Sheridan broke up the Virginia Central Railroad, moved to +Gordonsville, but hearing nothing of Hunter returned to the White +House, and rejoined Grant at Petersburg. + +Hunter moved up the valley. At the same time Generals Crook and +Averill, leaving Western Virginia, met Hunter near Staunton, where +they had a battle with the Rebels under General Jones, who was killed, +and his force routed, with a loss of three guns and fifteen hundred +prisoners. + +Hunter, instead of approaching Lynchburg by Gordonsville and +Charlottesville, took the road leading through Lexington and thus +missed Sheridan. + +He reached Lynchburg on the 16th of June, at the same time that Grant +was moving from Cold Harbor to the James. Lee, seeing the danger which +threatened him at the backdoor of the Rebel capital, threw +reinforcements into Lynchburg, and Hunter was obliged to retreat, +being far from his base, and having but a limited supply of +ammunition. Having advanced upon Lynchburg from the west, instead of +from the north, he was obliged to retreat in the same direction +through Western Virginia, a country wellnigh barren of supplies. This +left the Shenandoah open. There was no force to oppose the Rebels who +were at Lynchburg. The decision of Hunter to go forward by Lexington +instead of by Gordonsville disarranged Grant's plans, who did not +direct him to move by Charlottesville. His letter to Halleck of the +25th of May reads: "If Hunter can possibly get to Charlottesville and +Lynchburg, he should do so, living on the country. The railroads and +canals should be destroyed beyond the possibility of repair for weeks. +Completing this, he could find his way back to his original base, or +from Gordonsville join this army." No mention was made of his +advancing by Lexington; but taking that route, and being compelled to +retreat by the Great Kanawha, gave Lee an opportunity to strike a blow +at Washington. He was active to improve it, but Grant was quick to +discover his intentions. + +Ewell was sick, and Early was appointed to command the Rebel troops in +the Valley. Breckenridge was sent up from Richmond. The troops took +cars and moved up the Lynchburg road to Gordonsville. Early found +himself at the head of twenty-five or thirty thousand men. Mosby, with +his band of guerillas, was scouring the Valley and Western Virginia. +He reported a clear coast towards Washington, but that Sigel was at +Martinsburg. + +Early passed rapidly down the Valley, drove Sigel across the Potomac, +and followed him to Hagerstown. The people of Western Maryland and +Southern Pennsylvania, who had already received two unpleasant visits +from the Rebels, fled in haste towards Baltimore and Harrisburg. The +panic was widespread. Extravagant stories were told of the force of +the enemy: Lee's whole army was advancing; he had outgeneralled Grant; +he had sixty thousand men across the Potomac; Washington and Baltimore +were to be captured. All of which was received with exceeding coolness +by the Lieutenant-General in command at City Point, who detached the +Sixth Corps, ordering Ricketts's division to Baltimore and the other +two divisions to Washington. The Nineteenth Corps, which had arrived +at Fortress Monroe, was despatched to Washington. + +The news was startling. Leaving the army at Petersburg, I hastened to +City Point, to proceed to Washington. There was no commotion at +General Grant's head-quarters. The chief quartermaster was looking +over his reports. The clerks were at their regular work. There were +numerous transports in the stream, but no indications of the +embarkation of troops. General Grant was out, walking leisurely about, +with his thumbs in the arm-holes of his vest, smoking his cigar so +quietly and apparently unconcerned, that, had it not been for the +three stars on his shoulders, a stranger would have passed him without +a thought of his being the man who was playing the deepest game of war +in modern times. The members of his military family were not in the +least excited. Calling on Colonel Bowers, Grant's adjutant-general, I +found him attending to the daily routine. + +"They are having a little scare at Washington and in the North. It +will do them good," said he. + +"How large a force is it supposed the Rebels have in Maryland?" + +"Somewhere about twenty-five thousand,--possibly thirty. Breckenridge +has gone, with his command. And Early has raked and scraped all the +troops possible which were outside of Richmond. Mosby is with him, and +the irregular bands of the upper Potomac, and the troops which met +Hunter at Lynchburg. It will not affect operations here. Lee +undoubtedly expected to send Grant post-haste to Washington; but the +siege will go on." + +On the wall of his room was a map of the Southern States, showing by +colored lines the various gauges of all the railroads. Grant came in, +looked at it, said "Good morning," and went out for another stroll +about the grounds, thinking all the while. + +On board our boat was a lively company, principally composed of the +soldiers of the Massachusetts Sixteenth, who had served three years, +and were on their way home. They were in the Peninsular campaigns. +Their commander, Colonel Wyman, was killed at Glendale, where they +held the ground when McCall's line was swept away. His fugitives ran +through Hooker's and Sumner's lines, but the men of the Sixteenth +stood firm in their places, till the drift had passed by, and moved +forward to meet the exultant enemy, pouring in such a fire that the +Rebel column became a mob, and fled in haste towards Richmond. They +were in Grover's brigade at the second battle of Manassas. There have +been few bayonet-charges pushed with such power as theirs in that +battle. The Rebels were on Milroy's left flank, which was bending like +a bruised reed before their advance, when Grover moved to the attack. + +"We stood in these lines," said a wounded officer of the Second +Louisiana, a prisoner at Warrenton, two months after that battle. +"They fell upon us like a thunderbolt. They paid no attention to our +volleys. We mowed them down, but they went right through our first +line, then through our second, and advanced to the railroad +embankment, and there we stopped them. They did it so splendidly that +we couldn't help cheering them. It made me feel bad to fire on such +brave fellows." + +They were reduced to a squad. Their comrades were lying on nearly all +the battle-fields of Virginia. + +"We have had a pretty rough time of it, and I am glad we are through; +but I wouldn't mind having another crack at the Johnnie's round +Washington," said a soldier, lying on the deck with his knapsack for a +pillow. + +The whole regiment was ready to volunteer for the defence of +Washington. + +The cannoneers of the Twelfth New York battery were of the company. +They were in Wilson's raid, had lost their guns, and felt sore. Even +when their loss is owing to no fault on the part of the artillerists, +they usually feel that it is humiliating. They give pet names to the +dogs of war; and when a good shot has been made, affectionately pat +their brazen lips. + +There were members of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, taking +care of the sick and wounded; also a family of refugees from Prince +George County, on the way to Maryland, to find a new home till the war +was over. + +Early was making the most of his opportunity. His cavalry moved at +will, with no force to oppose them. + +They divided into small bodies and overran the country from Frederick +to Williamsport, destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, burning +canal-boats, seizing horses, cattle, and supplies, from the farmers, +ransacking houses as thoroughly as the soldiers of the Union had done +in Virginia. + +The first invasion of Maryland, in 1862, was a political as well as a +military movement. It was supposed by the Rebel leaders that the State +was ready to join the Confederacy, that the people were held in +subjection by a military despotism. "My Maryland" was then the popular +song of the South, sung in camp, on the march, and in parlors and +concert-halls. + + "The despot's heel is on thy shore, + Maryland! + His torch is at thy temple-door, + Maryland! + Avenge the patriotic gore + That wept o'er gallant Baltimore, + And be the battle-queen of yore, + Maryland! My Maryland!" + +When Jackson's corps crossed the Potomac, his troops sang it with +enthusiastic demonstrations, tossing up their caps. They came as +liberators. Jackson's orders were strict against pillage. All property +taken was to be paid for in Confederate notes,--at that time esteemed +by the Rebels to be as good as greenbacks, though not very acceptable +to the Marylanders. It was an invasion for conciliation. The troops +respected the orders, and, aside from the loss of a few horses, the +people of Maryland were well treated in that campaign. But in the +second invasion, when Lee passed into Pennsylvania, no favor was shown +to Maryland. Houses, stores, public and private buildings alike were +sacked and burned. The soldiers foraged at will, and the one who could +secure the most clothing or food was the best fellow. In this third +and last invasion, officers and soldiers pillaged indiscriminately. + +[Illustration: Ruins of Chambersburg.] + +"Pay me twenty thousand dollars or I will burn your town," said Early +to the citizens of Hagerstown, who advanced the money or its +equivalent. + +General Lew Wallace was in command at Baltimore. He sent what troops +he could collect to the Monocacy, where he was joined by Ricketts's +division of the Sixth Corps. Wallace formed his line across the +railroad and awaited Early's advance. With the exception of Ricketts's +division, Wallace's troops were men enlisted for one hundred days, +also heavy artillerests taken from the Baltimore fortifications, +invalids from the hospitals, and volunteers, numbering about nine +thousand. The Rebels forded the stream and began the attack. They were +held in check several hours. Wallace, after losing about twelve +hundred men, was obliged to retreat. + +His defeat, and the stories of the magnitude of the Rebel force, put +Baltimore and Washington in great excitement. The battle at Monocacy +was fought on Saturday. On Sunday morning the church-bells in +Baltimore were rung, and the citizens, instead of attending worship, +made haste to prepare for the enemy. Alarming reports reached that +city from Westminster, Reisterstown, and Cockeysville, that the Rebels +were in possession of those places. Couriers dashed into Washington +from Rockville, only twelve miles distant, crying that the Rebels were +advancing upon the capital. On Monday morning they were near +Havre-de-Grace, at Gunpowder River, where they burned the bridge, cut +the telegraph, captured trains, and robbed passengers, entirely +severing Baltimore and Washington from the loyal North. Only five +miles from Washington, they burned the house of Governor Bradford, and +pillaged Montgomery Blair's. Government employees were under arms, and +troops were hastening out on the roads leading north and west, when I +arrived in Washington. Loud cheers greeted Wright's two divisions of +the Sixth Corps, and still louder shouts the veterans of the +Nineteenth Corps, from the Mississippi, as they marched through the +city. It was amusing and instructive to watch the rapid change in +men's countenances. When disaster threatens, men are silent; the +danger past, the tongue is loosened. + +On Tuesday the Rebel sharpshooters were in front of Fort Stevens; +they picked off some of the gunners, but a charge by a brigade +dislodged them. They fled, leaving about one hundred dead and wounded. +Forces were gathering around Early, and on Wednesday morning he +hastily retreated. He recrossed the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry, and +made his way, through Snicker's Gap, into the Shenandoah Valley, with +an immense train of plunder, consisting of forage, grain, horses, +cattle, hogs, sheep, groceries, clothing, and a forced contribution of +two hundred thousand dollars from the people of Frederick, levied +under threat of burning the town. + +Early had no serious intention of attacking Washington, but the +invasion was designed primarily to raise the siege of Petersburg, and +secondarily to replenish the commissariat of the Rebel army. + +Grant comprehended the movement, and instead of abandoning Petersburg, +made preparations to seize the Weldon road, which, after a severe +struggle, was accomplished. A few weeks later Sheridan defeated Early +in the Valley, which ended the campaign of 1864 in Virginia. + +[Illustration: A lay delegate in the hospital.] + +[Illustration: A charge.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SHERMAN'S ARMY. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.] + +The army under General Sherman fought its way from Chattanooga to +Atlanta, and then marched to the sea, capturing Fort McAllister, and +opening communication with the fleet under Dupont on the 13th of +December, and a few days later made its grand _entree_ into Savannah. +A brief review of Sherman's campaign is necessary to a clear +understanding of what afterward transpired in his department. + +While the Army of the Potomac was pushing through to the south side of +the James, the Army of the West was moving upon Atlanta, having driven +the Rebels under Johnston from Tunnel Hill, Buzzards' Roost, Resaca, +Kingston, Allatoona, and Kenesaw. Johnston fought only on the +defensive, and was constantly beaten, abandoning stronghold after +stronghold that the Rebels had declared impregnable, and whose +surrender they felt was humiliating and disgraceful. + +There was a clamor throughout the South for his removal, and the +appointment of a general who would take the offensive. Jeff Davis +disliked Johnston on personal grounds, and appointed Hood his +successor. That officer hurled his troops against Sherman's +breastworks, and suffered a damaging defeat. Sherman in turn made a +flank movement, and compelled Hood to evacuate Atlanta, which Sherman +occupied on the 2d of September. Jeff Davis hastened West. He +conceived the idea of forcing Sherman to retreat from Atlanta to +Nashville, by invading Tennessee. As Hood's army had been driven from +Chattanooga to Dalton, losing all its strong positions, this plan is +one of the most remarkable in military history. It is hardly within +the sphere of sober criticism, but appropriately belongs to the comic +page. "Your feet shall again press the soil of Tennessee, within +thirty days," said Davis to the soldiers. "The invader shall be driven +from your territory. The retreat of Sherman from Atlanta shall be like +Napoleon's from Moscow." + +Sherman had already contemplated a movement to Savannah, and had +opened correspondence with Grant. + + "Until we can repopulate Georgia it is useless to occupy it; but + the utter destruction of its roads, houses, and people will + cripple their military resources. By attempting to hold the roads + we will lose a thousand men monthly, and will gain no result. I + can make the march and make Georgia howl.... Hood may turn into + Tennessee and Kentucky, but I believe he will be forced to follow + me. Instead of being on the defensive, I would be on the + offensive. Instead of guessing at what he means, he would have to + guess at my plans. The difference in war is fully twenty-five per + cent. I can make Savannah, Charleston, or the mouth of the + Chattahoochee, and prefer to march through Georgia, smashing + things to the sea." + +Grant authorized the movement. Hood was preparing to move north. + +Sherman's right wing, commanded by Howard, was composed of Osterhaus's +Fifteenth Corps and the Seventeenth, under Blair; Slocum had his left +wing, containing the Fourteenth Corps under Jeff. C. Davis, and the +Twentieth with Williams. + +The Twentieth was consolidated from the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps of +the Army of the Potomac, which had fought at Fredericksburg, +Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. + +Sherman sent his last despatch to Washington on the 11th of November. +On the 17th, the day on which Sherman left Atlanta, Hood crossed the +Tennessee River, to make the movement which was to compel Sherman to +evacuate Georgia! + +Sherman's southward march was a surprise to the Rebels. They affected +joy, and predicted his destruction. + +Said the Augusta _Constitutionalist_:-- + + "The hand of God is in it. The blow, if we can give it as it + should be given, may end the war. We urge our friends in the + track of the advance to remove forage and provisions, horses, + mules, and negroes, and stock, and burn the balance. Let the + invader find the desolation he would leave behind him staring him + in the face.... Cut trees across all roads in front of the enemy, + burn the bridges, remove everything possible in time, and, before + the enemy arrives, burn and destroy what cannot be + removed,--leave nothing on which he can subsist; and hide the + millstone and machinery of the mills.... The Russians destroyed + the grand army of Napoleon, of five hundred thousand men, by + destroying their country, by the fulness of fire applied to their + own cities, houses, and granaries. Let Georgians imitate their + unselfishness and love of country for a few weeks, and the army + of Sherman will have the fate of the army of Napoleon."[72] + + [Footnote 72: Augusta _Constitutionalist_, November 22, + 1864.] + +Said the Savannah _News_:-- + + "We have only to arouse our whole arms-bearing people,--hover on + his front, his flanks, and rear,--remove from his reach or + destroy every thing that will subsist man or beast,--retard his + progress by every means in our power,--and, when the proper time + comes, fall upon him with the relentless vengeance of an insulted + and outraged people, and there need be no doubt of the + result."[73] + + [Footnote 73: _News_, November 22, 1864.] + +If it be true," said the _Examiner_ of Richmond, "that Sherman is now +attempting this prodigious design, we may safely predict that his +march will lead him to the Paradise of Fools, and that his magnificent +scheme will hereafter be reckoned + + 'With all the good deeds that never were done.'" + +Almost without opposition Sherman reached the sea, and forced Hardee +to evacuate Savannah. + +General Sherman is regarded by many people in the Southern States as +the Attila of the nineteenth century, because his path from Atlanta to +the Roanoke is a widespread scene of devastation. Yet he did only that +which the leaders of the Rebellion and the newspapers of the South +urged the people to do. They proposed to make the country a ruin in +self-defence. Sherman did it to shorten the war. He says:-- + + "We consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country for + thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah; + also the sweet potatoes, hogs, sheep, and poultry, and carried + off more than ten thousand horses and mules. I estimate the + damage done to the State of Georgia as one hundred million + dollars; at least twenty million dollars of which enured to our + advantage, and the remainder was simple waste and + destruction."[74] + + [Footnote 74: Sherman's Report.] + +This is a frank avowal. It is the official utterance of the commander +who was instrumental in causing such wholesale destruction. To what +end? What was gained by it? Was such destruction warranted? What will +be the verdict of history? These are questions which force themselves +upon every thinking mind. + +General Sherman's vindication of himself is found in his +correspondence with the Mayor of Atlanta and with General Hood +concerning the expulsion of the non-combatants from that city. + +As he could not subsist his army and the citizens also, he ordered +that every person not connected with the army should leave the place. +The people of that town had done what they could to overthrow the +government of the United States. They had given great material aid to +the Rebellion. They hated the Union as bitterly as ever, but were +willing to be consumers of the food dispensed by a government which +they were not willing to recognize as holding rightful authority over +them. The Mayor set forth the suffering which would be entailed upon +women and children, the poor and sick, by the enforcement of the +order. + + "You know the woe, the horror, and the suffering cannot be + described in words," said the Mayor. "Imagination can only + conceive of it, and we ask you to take these things into + consideration.... We solemnly petition you to reconsider this + order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunate people to remain + at home and enjoy what little means they have." + +The reply of General Sherman was clear and decisive. + + "GENTLEMEN: I have your letter of the 11th, in the nature of a + petition to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from + Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your + statements of the distress that will be occasioned by it, and yet + shall not revoke my order, simply because my orders are not + designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for + the future struggles in which millions, yea, hundreds of millions + of good people outside of Atlanta, have a deep interest. We must + have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure + this we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and + favored country. To stop the war, we must defeat the Rebel armies + that are arrayed against the laws and Constitution, which all + must respect and obey. To defeat the armies, we must prepare the + way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and + instruments which enable us to accomplish our purpose. + + "Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may + have many years of military operations from this quarter, and + therefore deem it wise and prudent to prepare in time. The use of + Atlanta for warlike purposes is inconsistent with its character + as a home for families. There will be no manufactures, commerce, + or agriculture here for the maintenance of families, and sooner + or later want will compel the inhabitants to go.... + + "War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought + war on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a + people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and + I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to + secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our + country.... + + "You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against + these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the + only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in + peace and quiet at home, is to stop this war, which can alone be + done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in + pride. We don't want your negroes or your horses, or your houses + or your land, or anything you have; but we do want, and will + have, a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we + will have, and if it involves the destruction of your + improvements, we cannot help it. + + "You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers, + that live by falsehood and excitement, and the quicker you seek + for truth in other quarters the better for you. I repeat, then, + that by the original compact of government, the United States had + certain rights in Georgia which have never been relinquished, and + never will be; that the South began the war by seizing forts, + arsenals, mints, custom-houses, etc., etc., long before Mr. + Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or tittle + of provocation. I myself have seen, in Missouri, Kentucky, + Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and + children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and + with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we + fed thousands upon thousands of the families of Rebel soldiers + left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war + comes home to you, you feel very differently, you deprecate its + horrors, but did not feel them when you sent car-loads of + soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shells and shot to carry war + into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds + and thousands of good people, who only asked to live in peace at + their old homes, and under the government of their inheritance. + But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can + only be reached through Union and war; and I will ever conduct + war purely with a view to perfect an early success. + + "But, my dear sirs, when that peace does come, you may call upon + me for anything. Then will I share with you the last cracker, + and watch with you to shield your home and families against + danger from every quarter. Now, you must go, and take with you + the old and feeble; feed and nurse them, and build for them in + more quiet places proper habitations to shield them against the + weather, until the mad passions of men cool down, and allow the + Union and peace once more to settle on your old homes at + Atlanta." + +General Hood protested against the order. By a flag of truce he sent a +letter, saying:-- + + "Permit me to say, the unprecedented measure you propose + transcends in studied and iniquitous cruelty all acts ever before + brought to my attention in this dark history of the war. In the + name of God and humanity, I protest, believing you are expelling + from homes and firesides wives and children of a brave people." + +To this Sherman answered on the same date:-- + + "You style the measures proposed, 'unprecedented,' and appeal to + the dark history of war for a parallel, as an act of 'studied and + iniquitous cruelty.' It is not unprecedented, for General + Johnston himself very wisely and properly removed the families + all the way from Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta + should be excepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal to 'the dark + history of war,' when recent and modern examples are so handy. + You yourself burned dwelling-houses along your parapet; and I + have seen, to-day, fifty houses that you have rendered + uninhabitable because they stood in the way of your forts and + men. You defended Atlanta on a line so close to the town that + every cannon-shot and many musket-shots from our line of + investment, that overshot their mark, went into the habitations + of women and children. General Hardee did the same thing at + Jonesboro', and General Johnston did the same last summer at + Jackson, Mississippi. + + "I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance + these cases of very recent occurrence, and could go on and + enumerate hundreds of others, and challenge any fair man to judge + which of us has the heart of pity for the families of 'brave + people.' I say it is kindness to these families of Atlanta to + remove them at once from scenes that women and children should + not be exposed to; and the 'brave people' should scorn to commit + their wives and children to the rude barbarians who thus, as you + say, violate the rules of war as illustrated in the pages of its + 'dark history.' + + "In the name of common sense, I ask you not to 'appeal to a just + God' in such a sacrilegious manner,--you who in the midst of + peace and prosperity have plunged a nation into war, dark and + cruel war; who dared and badgered us into battle; insulted our + flag; seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the + honorable custody of a peaceful ordnance sergeant; seized and + made prisoners even the very first garrisons sent to protect your + people against negroes and Indians, long before any other act was + committed by the, to you, 'hateful Lincoln government,' tried to + force Missouri and Kentucky into rebellion, in spite of + themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana; turned loose your + privateers to plunder unarmed ships; expelled Union families by + the thousands, burned their houses, and declared by acts of your + Congress the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods + had and received. Talk thus to the Marines, but not to me, who + have seen these things, and who will this day make as much + sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South as the best-born + Southerner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and + fight it out as we propose to-day, and not deal in such + hypocritical appeals to God and humanity. + + "God will judge us in due time, and he will pronounce whether it + will be humane to fight with a town full of women and the + families of 'a brave people' at our back, or to remove them in + time to places of safety among their own friends and people." + +Notwithstanding the excesses which were committed by the foragers on +Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea, his army maintained its +discipline. The soldiers while in and around Savannah were orderly and +quiet. No woman was insulted; there was no debauchery, no breaking +open of houses. Citizens could walk the streets and engage in business +without molestation. Life and property were respected. General Sherman +in his official report thus spoke of the conduct of his soldiers:-- + + "As to the rank and file, they seem so full of confidence in + themselves that I doubt if they want a compliment from me; but I + must do them the justice to say that, whether called on to fight, + to march, to wade streams, to make roads, clear out obstructions, + build bridges, make 'corduroy,' or tear up railroads, they have + done it with alacrity and a degree of cheerfulness unsurpassed. A + little loose in foraging, they 'did some things they ought not to + have done,' yet, on the whole, they have supplied the wants of + the army with as little violence as could be expected, and as + little loss as I calculated. Some of these foraging parties had + encounters with the enemy which would, in ordinary times, rank as + respectable battles. + + "The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so manly, so + quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of + discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled + with women and children, occupied by a large army with less + disorder, or more system, order, and good government. The same + general and generous spirit of confidence and good feeling + pervades the army which it has ever afforded me especial pleasure + to report on former occasions." + +Although Sherman's army was composed of four corps, the Fourteenth, +Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Twentieth, he had another made up from all +of these, which, though unknown in the war office, was of much service +to him and of great damage to the enemy. It was known as the "Bummer" +Corps. The word is not to be found in either of the American +unabridged dictionaries, though it has become historic. Who made it, +or how it came into use, is not known. It may have been derived from +the word _bum-bailiff_, which is a corruption of bound-bailiff, a +subordinate civil officer appointed to serve writs and to make +executions, and bound with sureties for a faithful discharge of his +trust; or from _bum-boat_, a boat used for conveying provisions, +fruit, and supplies from shore to ship. From the two words we get the +full meaning of the term _Bummer_. + +Sherman could not start from Atlanta with sufficient supplies of +bread, meat, and corn for his great march. He must live on the +country. Hence he marched in four parallel columns, near enough to aid +each other if attacked, yet far enough apart to mow a swath forty or +fifty miles in width. + +The foraging party, numbering over five thousand, always on the alert, +ever in the advance, kept ahead of Kilpatrick with his cavalry. + +"If I come to a town or village or plantation, and stop to obtain +forage, I find that the infernal bummers have been there," said +Kilpatrick. + +Having authority to take provisions, the bummers were not tardy in +executing their trust. They went in squads, fought the Rebel +skirmishers, and defeated Wheeler's cavalry in several encounters. No +matter how rich a prize there might be of poultry in a farm-yard, the +appearance of a Rebel brought them into line for mutual defence. + +Sometimes they came in with a dozen fresh horses loaded with +chickens, turkeys, and pigs. In one instance a squad, with live fowls +dangling at their saddles, was confronted by Rebel cavalry. They +formed in line, fired a volley, and started upon a charge. The +galloping of the horses, accompanied by the flapping of wings, the +cackling of hens, gobbling of turkeys, and squealing of pigs, +stampeded the horses of the enemy, and gave the bummers an easy +victory. + +Farm wagons were confiscated and filled with provisions,--jars of +jelly, preserves, pickles, and honey, baskets of sweet potatoes and +legs of bacon. They often rode grandly in family carriages, +accompanied by crowds of grinning negroes, who had pointed out the +places where the planters had secreted provisions, and who watched for +Rebels while the bummer secured his plunder; and then, when the master +was out of sight, bid good by forever to the old plantation, and with +light hearts leaped the fences, on their way to freedom. + +There were two classes of bummers,--the regular soldier of the corps, +who kept his comrades well supplied with good things, and the +irregular member, whose chief care was to provide for himself. + +They were of great service, not only as foragers, but as flankers and +scouts, keeping Sherman well informed of the whereabouts of the +Rebels. Yet their lawlessness had a demoralizing tendency. Some were +tender-hearted, and took only what was needed to eat, while others +ransacked houses, ripped open feather-beds, smashed looking-glasses +and crockery, and tumbled tables and chairs about unceremoniously, +frightening women and children. But a bummer outraging a woman would +have been hung by his fellows on the nearest tree, or if not by them +he would have had short respite of life from the soldiers in the +ranks. + +While in Savannah they had no occasion to ply their vocation, as +provisions were abundant. Noticing full-grown chickens picking up corn +in the streets, I expressed my surprise to an officer of the Twentieth +Corps. + +"The fact is," he replied, "we have lived on chickens all the way from +Atlanta. We have had roast chicken, fried chicken, and stewed chicken, +till we are tired of it." + +But when Sherman resumed his march through South Carolina, the +bummers were keener than ever. The whole army was eager to begin the +march. Each regiment, when it crossed the Savannah River, and set foot +in South Carolina, gave a cheer. They were in the hot-bed of +Secession. + +"We'll make South Carolina howl!" they said. + +I saw an unoccupied mansion, upon the floors of which were Brussels +and tapestry carpeting, and mirrors of French plate-glass adorned the +parlor. There was a library with well-filled shelves, and in the +drawing-room a costly rosewood piano,--all of which in an hour were +licked up by the flames. + +Far away to the north, as far as the eye could reach, were pillars of +smoke, ascending from other plantations. + +"We'll purify their Secession hate by fire," said one. + +The soldiers evidently felt that they were commissioned to administer +justice in the premises, and commenced by firing the premises of the +South Carolinians. They were avengers, and their path through that +proud State was marked by fire and desolation. "South Carolina began +the Rebellion, and she shall suffer for it. If it had not been for her +there would have been no war. She is responsible for all the misery, +woe, and bloodshed." Such was the universal sentiment. + +Although Sherman's troops carried the torch in one hand and the sword +in the other, and visited terrible retribution upon the Rebels, they +were quick to relieve the wants of the truly loyal. A few days before +reaching Savannah they came to a plantation owned by a man who through +all the war had remained faithful to the Union. He had been hunted +through the woods with bloodhounds by the Rebel conscript officers. +Hearing the Yankees had arrived, he came out from his hiding-place, +and joined the Twentieth Corps, with the intention of accompanying it +to Savannah. The soldiers made up for him a purse of one hundred and +thirty dollars. When it was presented he burst into tears. He could +only say, so great was his emotion, "Gentlemen, I most heartily thank +you. It is a kindness I never expected. I have been hunted through +swamps month after month. My wife and children have been half starved, +insulted, and abused, and all because we loved the old flag." + +The stories which were told by those refugees, of Union men and +conscripts hunted by bloodhounds, of imprisonment and murder by +Rebels,--of the sufferings of the Union prisoners at Millen, Libby, +Salisbury, and Andersonville,--wrought the soldiers of Sherman's army +into a frenzy of wrath against South Carolina. + +[Illustration: Mt. Vernon, Edward Everett, The Capitol, Savannah.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CHRISTIANITY AND BARBARISM. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.] + +When Sherman's army entered Savannah the people of that city were on +the verge of starvation. The Rebel authorities had not accumulated +sufficient supplies for a long defence. They were ignorant of the +intentions of Sherman when he left Atlanta, and were unable to see +through his plan till too late to put the place in condition to +withstand a siege. Breastworks were hastily thrown up on the west side +of the city. The eastern approaches were strongly protected by a +series of forts, turrets, and batteries built by slaves at the +beginning of the war, in which were heavy guns commanding the river +and the roads. No one had dreamed that the Yankees would come from the +west. When Sherman was fairly on his march there was consternation in +all the cities along the coast. Charleston expected him. Would he not +aim directly toward the cradle of Secession? The people of Mobile +believed that the fleet which was gathering in the Gulf was destined +to co-operate with the "ruthless invader" in an attack upon them. The +inhabitants of Brunswick expected to see him there. The citizens of +Savannah were equally alarmed. Proclamations and manifestoes were +issued. Governor Brown called upon the Georgians to rise in their +might; but their former might was weakness now. They had lost heart. +They saw that their cause was failing. Their armies, successful in the +beginning, had won no victory for many months. The appeals of the +Governor, the manifestoes of the Rebel generals, the calls of +municipal authorities, and the exhortations of Davis, awakened no +enthusiasm. The planters did not hasten to the rendezvous, nor respond +to the call to send provisions. The Rebel quartermasters and +commissaries were active in making forced levies, and the conscription +bureau was vigilant in bringing in reluctant recruits; but before +preparations for defending the city were completed Sherman was +thundering at the door. + +When he saw the destitution, he made an appeal to the humanity of the +people of the North. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were quick to +respond. In Boston thirty thousand dollars were contributed in four +days, a steamer chartered, loaded, and despatched on its errand of +mercy. The occasion being so unusual, I deemed it worth while to visit +Savannah, to be an eye-witness of the reception of the timely and +munificent gift. + +The employment of the steamer Greyhound on such a mission added to the +interest. She was a captured blockade-runner, built at Greenock, +Scotland, in 1863, purposely to run the blockade. She made one trip +into Wilmington, and was seized while attempting to escape from that +port. In every timber, plank, rivet, and brace was England's hatred of +the North, support of the South, and cupidity for themselves; but now +she carried peace and good-will, not only to the people of Savannah, +but to men of every clime and lineage, race and nation. The Greyhound +speeding her way was a type and symbol of the American Republic, +freighted with the world's best hopes, and sailing proudly forward to +the future centuries. + +Among the passengers on board at the time of her capture was Miss +Belle Boyd, of notoriety as a spy,--bold, venturesome, and dashing, +unscrupulous, bitter in her hatred of the Yankees, regardless of truth +or honor, if she could but serve the Rebels. She was of great service +to them in the Shenandoah. Being within the Union lines, she obtained +information which on several occasions enabled Jackson to make those +sudden dashes which gave him his early fame. + +It was nearly dark on Saturday evening, January 14th, when the +Greyhound discharged her pilot off Boston Light. The weather was +thick, the wind southeast, but during the night it changed to the +northwest and blew a gale. The cold was intense. Sunday morning found +us in Holmes's Hole, covered with ice. At noon the gale abated, and we +ran swiftly across the Vineyard Sound, shaping our course for +Hatteras. Off Charleston we passed through the blockading fleet, which +was gayly decorated in honor of the taking of Fort Fisher. The Rebel +flag was floating defiantly over Sumter. On Thursday evening we +dropped anchor off Port Royal, where a half-day was lost in obtaining +permission from the custom-house to proceed to Savannah. The +obstructions in Savannah River made it necessary to enter Warsaw Sound +and go up Wilmington River. With a colored pilot,--the only one +obtainable, recommended by the Harbor-Master of Hilton Head,--the +Greyhound put to sea once more, ran down the coast, and on Sunday +morning entered the Sound. Our pilot professed to know all the crooks +and turns of the river, but suddenly we found ourselves fast on a +mud-bank. It was ebb-tide, and the incoming flood floated us again. +Then the engines refused to work, the pumps having become foul, and +the anchor was dropped just in season to save the steamer from +drifting broadside upon a sandbar. It was ten miles to Thunderbolt +Battery. The captain of a pilot-boat was kind enough to send Messrs. +Briggs and Baldwin, of the committee of the citizens of Boston in +charge of the supplies, Mr. Glidden, of the firm owning the Greyhound, +and the writer, up to that point. We landed, and stood where the +Rebels had made sad havoc of what was once a pleasant village. Some +Iowa soldiers, on seediest horses and sorriest mules, were riding +round on a frolic. Shiftless, long-haired, red-eyed men and women, +lounging about, dressed in coarsest homespun, stared at us. A score of +horses and mules were in sight, and here were collected old carts, +wagons, and carriages which Sherman's boys had brought from the +interior. + +"We want to get a horse and wagon to take us to Savannah," said one of +the party to a little old man, standing at the door of a house. + +"Wal, I reckon ye can take any one of these yere," he said, pointing +to the horses and mules. Such animals! Ringboned, spavined, +knock-kneed, wall-eyed, sore-backed,--mere hides and bones, some of +them too weak to stand, others unable to lie down on account of stiff +joints. + +"How far is it to Savannah?" we asked of the residents of the village. + +"Three miles," said one. + +"Two miles and a half, I reckon," said a second. + +"Three miles and three quarters," was the estimate of a third person. + +A woman, dressed in a plaid petticoat, a snuff-colored linsey-woolsey +tunic, with a tawny countenance, black hair, and flashing black eyes, +smoking a pipe, said: "I'll tell yer how fur it be. Savannah be a +frying-pan and Thunderbolt be the handle, and I live on the eend on +it. It be four miles long, zactly." + +Two colored soldiers rode up, both on one horse, with "55" on their +caps. + +"What regiment do you belong to?" + +"The Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts." + +Their camp was a mile or so up river. A steamboat captain, who wished +to communicate with the quartermaster, came upstream in his boat and +kindly offered to take us to the Fifty-Fifth. It began to rain, and we +landed near a fine old mansion surrounded by live-oaks, their gnarled +branches draped with festoons of moss, where we thought to find +accommodations for the night; but no one answered our ringing. The +doors were open, the windows smashed in; marble mantels, of elaborate +workmanship, marred and defaced; the walls written over with doggerel. +There were bunks in the parlors, broken crockery, old boots,--_debris_ +everywhere. + +The committee took possession of the premises and made themselves at +home before a roaring fire, while the writer went out upon a +reconnoissance, bringing back the intelligence that the camp of the +Fifty-Fifth was a mile farther up the river. It was dark when we +reached the hospitable shanty of Lieutenant-Colonel Fox, who, in the +absence of Colonel Hartwell, was commanding the regiment, which had +been there but twenty-four hours. The soldiers had no tents. + +One of the committee rode into Savannah, through a drenching rain, to +report to General Grover. The night came on thick and dark. The rain +was pouring in torrents. Colonel Fox, with great kindness, offered to +escort us to a house near by, where we could find shelter. We splashed +through the mud, holding on to each other's coat-tails, going over +boots in muddy water, tumbling over logs, losing our way, being +scratched by brambles, falling into ditches, bringing up against +trees, halting at length against a fence,--following which we reached +the house. The owner had fled, and the occupant had moved in because +it was a free country and the place was inviting. He had no bed for +us, but quickly kindled a fire in one of the chambers and spread some +quilts upon the floor. "I haven't much wood, but I reckon I can pick +up something that will make a fire," said he. Then came the pitch-pine +staves of a rice-cask; then a bedstead, a broken chair, a wooden +flowerpot! + +The morning dawned bright and clear. General Grover sent out horses +for us, and so we reached the city after many vexatious delays and +rough experiences. + +The people in Savannah generally were ready to live once more in the +Union. The fire of Secession had died out. There was not much +sourness,--less even than I saw at Memphis when that city fell into +our hands, less than was manifested in Louisville at the beginning of +the war. + +At a meeting of the citizens resolutions expressive of gratitude for +the charity bestowed by Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were +passed, also of a desire for future fellowship and amity. + +A store at the corner of Bay and Barnard Streets was taken for a +depot, the city canvassed, and a registry made of all who were in +want. I passed a morning among the people who came for food. The air +was keen. Ice had formed in the gutters, and some of the jolly young +negroes, who had provided themselves with old shoes and boots from the +camp-grounds of Sherman's soldiers, were enjoying the luxurious +pastime of a slide on the ice. The barefooted cuddled under the sunny +side of the buildings. There was a motely crowd. Hundreds of both +sexes, all ages, sizes, complexions, and costumes; gray-haired old men +of Anglo-Saxon blood, with bags, bottles, and baskets; colored +patriarchs, who had been in bondage many years, suddenly made freemen; +well-dressed women wearing crape for their husbands and sons who had +fallen while fighting against the old flag, stood patiently waiting +their turn to enter the building, where through the open doors they +could see barrels of flour, pork, beans, and piles of bacon, hogsheads +of sugar, molasses, and vinegar. There were women with tattered +dresses,--old silks and satins, years before in fashion, and laid +aside as useless, but which now had become valuable through +destitution. + +There were women in linsey-woolsey, in negro and gunny cloth, in +garments made from meal-bags, and men in Confederate gray and +butternut brown; a boy with a crimson plush jacket, made from the +upholstering of a sofa; men in short jackets, and little boys in long +ones; the cast-off clothes of soldiers; the rags which had been picked +up in the streets, and exhumed from garrets; boots and shoes down at +the heel, open at the instep, and gaping at the toes; old bonnets of +every description, some with white and crimson feathers, and ribbons +once bright and flaunting; hats of every style worn by both sexes, +palm-leaf, felt, straw, old and battered and well ventilated. One +without a crown was worn by a man with red hair, suggestive of a +chimney on fire, and flaming out at the top! It was the ragman's +jubilee for charity. + +One of the tickets issued by the city authorities, in the hand of a +woman waiting her turn at the counter, read thus:-- + + "CITY STORE. + MARY MORRELL. + 12 lbs. Flour, + 7 " Bacon, + 2 " Salt, + 2 qts. Vinegar." + +Andersonville, Belle Isle, Libby Prison, Millen, and Salisbury will +forever stand in suggestive contrast to this City Store in Savannah, +furnished by the free-will offering of the loyal people of the North. + +"At Libby," reads the report of the United States Sanitary Committee, +"a process of slow starvation was carried on. The corn-bread was of +the roughest and coarsest description. Portions of the cob and husk +were often found grated in with the meal. The crust was so thick and +hard that the prisoners called it 'iron clad.' To render the bread +eatable they grated it, and made mush of it; but the crust they could +not grate. Now and then, after long intervals, often of many weeks, a +little meat was given them, perhaps two or three mouthfuls. At a later +period they received a pint of black peas, with some vinegar, every +week; the peas were often full of worms, or maggots in a chrysalis +state, which, when they made soup, floated on the surface.... But the +most unaccountable and shameful act of all was yet to come. Shortly +after this general diminution of rations, in the month of January, the +boxes (sent by friends in the North to the prisoners), which before +had been regularly delivered, and in good order, were withheld. No +reason was given. Three hundred arrived every week, and were received +by Colonel Ould, Commissioner of Exchange; but instead of being +distributed, they were retained and piled up in warehouses near by, in +full sight of the tantalized and hungry captives."[75] + + [Footnote 75: Report of the United States Sanitary + Commission.] + +While these supplies were being distributed to the people of Savannah, +thirty thousand Union prisoners in the hands of the Rebels in +Southwestern Georgia were starving to death,--not from a scarcity of +food, but in accordance with a deliberately formed plan to render them +unfit for future service in the Union ranks by their inhuman +treatment, should they live to be exchanged. + +What a page of darkness for the future historian! + +On the other hand, the Rebel prisoners in the North received +invariably the same rations, in quality and quantity, given to the +Union soldiers in the field, with ample clothing, fuel, and shelter. +So unexceptional was their treatment, that since the war a Southern +writer, desirous of removing the load of infamy resting upon the +South, has advertised for statements of unkind treatment in Northern +prisons![76] + + [Footnote 76: See the _Watchman_, New York.] + +Of the treatment of Union soldiers in the Southern prisons the United +States Sanitary Commission says:-- + + "The prisoners were almost invariably robbed of everything + valuable in their possession; sometimes on the field, at the + instant of capture, sometimes by the prison authorities, in a + quasi-official way, with the promise of return when exchanged or + paroled, but which promise was never fulfilled. This robbery + amounted often to a stripping of the person of even necessary + clothing. Blankets and overcoats were almost always taken, and + sometimes other articles; in which case damaged ones were + returned in their stead. This preliminary over, the captives were + taken to prison." + +At the trial of Wirz, the commandant of Andersonville, Dr. John C. +Bates, a surgeon of the Rebel service, testified as follows:-- + + "My attention was called to a patient in my ward who was only + fifteen or sixteen years of age. I took much interest in him, + owing to his youth. He would ask me to bring him a potato, bread, + or biscuit, which I did. I put them in my pocket. He had scurvy + and gangrene. I advised him not to cook the potato, but to eat it + raw. He became more and more emaciated, his sores gangrened, and + for want of food, and from lice, he died. I understood that it + was against orders to take anything in to the prisoners, and + hence I was shy in slipping food into my pockets. Others in the + ward came to their death from the same causes. When I went there, + there were two thousand or two thousand five hundred sick. I + judge twenty or twenty-five thousand persons were crowded + together. Some had made holes and burrows in the earth. Those + under the sheds were doing comparatively well. I saw but little + shelter, excepting what ingenuity had devised. I found them + suffering with scurvy, dropsy, diarrhoea, gangrene, pneumonia, + and other diseases. When prisoners died, they were laid in + wagons, head foremost, to be carried off. I don't know how they + were buried. The effluvia from the hospital was very offensive. + If by accident my hand was abraded, I would not go into the + hospital without putting a plaster over the affected part. If + persons whose systems were reduced by inanition should by chance + stump a toe or scratch the hand, the next report to me was + gangrene, so potent was the regular hospital gangrene. The + prisoners were more thickly confined in the stockade,--like ants + and bees. Dogs were kept to hunt down the prisoners who escaped. + Fifty per cent of those who died might have been saved had the + patients been properly cared for. The effect of the treatment of + the prisoners was, morally as well as physically, injurious. + There was much stealing among them. All lived each for himself. I + suppose this was superinduced by their starving condition. Seeing + the dying condition of some of them, I remarked to my student, 'I + can't resuscitate them; the weather is chilling; it is a matter + of impossibility.' I found persons lying dead sometimes among the + living. Thinking they merely slept, I went to wake them up and + found they had taken their everlasting sleep. This was in the + hospital. I judge it was about the same in the stockade. There + being no dead-house, I erected a tent for the purpose, but I soon + found that a blanket or quilt had been clipped off the canvas; + and as the material could not be readily supplied, the dead-house + was abandoned. I don't think any more dead-houses were erected. + The daily ration was less in September, October, November, and + December than it was from the 1st of January to the 20th of + March. The men had not over twenty ounces of food in the + twenty-four hours." + +The prison at Andersonville was established in January, 1864, and was +used a little more than a year. It was in the form of a quadrangle, +1,295 feet long, 865 feet wide. A small stream, rising from +neighboring springs, flowed through the grounds. Within the enclosure, +seventeen feet from the stockade, the dead-line was established, +marked by small posts, to which a slight strip of board was nailed. +Upon the inner stockade were fifty-two sentry-boxes, in which the +guards stood with loaded muskets; while overlooking the enclosure were +several forts, with field artillery in position, to pour grape and +canister upon the perishing men at the first sign of insurrection. + +Miss Clara Barton, the heroic and tender-hearted woman who, in the +employ of government, visited this charnel-house to identify the +graves of the victims, thus reports:-- + + "Under the most favorable circumstances and best possible + management the supply of water would have been insufficient for + half the number of persons who had to use it. The existing + arrangements must have aggravated the evil to the utmost extent. + The sole establishments for cooking and baking were placed on the + bank of the stream immediately above and between the two inner + lines of the pallisades. The grease and refuse from them were + found adhering to the banks at the time of our visit. The guards, + to the number of three thousand six hundred, were principally + encamped on the upper part of the stream, and when the heavy + rains washed down the hillsides covered with thirty thousand + human beings, and the outlet below failed to discharge the flood + which backed and filled the valley, the water must have become so + foul and loathsome that every statement I have seen of its + offensiveness must fall short of the reality; and yet within + rifle-shot of the prison flowed a stream, fifteen feet wide and + three feet deep, of pure, delicious water. Had the prison been + placed so as to include a section of 'Sweet Water Creek,' the + inmates might have drank and bathed to their hearts' + content."[77] + + [Footnote 77: Miss Barton's Report.] + +The prisoners had no shelter from the fierce sun of summer, the +pelting autumn rains, or the cold of winter, except a few tattered +tents. Thousands were destitute of blankets. For refuge they dug +burrows in the ground. + +Miss Barton says:-- + + "The little caves are scooped out and arched in the form of + ovens, floored, ceiled, and strengthened, so far as the owners + had means, with sticks and pieces of board, and some of them are + provided with fireplaces and chimneys. It would seem that there + were cases, during the long rains, where the house would become + the grave of its owner by falling upon him in the night.... + During thirteen long months they knew neither shelter nor + protection from the changeable skies above, nor the pitiless, + unfeeling earth beneath.... + + "Think of thirty thousand men penned by close stockade upon + twenty-six acres of ground, from which every tree and shrub had + been uprooted for fuel to cook their scanty food, huddled like + cattle, without shelter or blanket, half clad and hungry, with + the dewy night setting in after a day of autumn rain. The hilltop + would not hold them all, the valley was filled by the swollen + brook. Seventeen feet from the stockade ran the fatal dead-line, + beyond which no man might step and live. What did they do? I need + not ask where did they go, for on the face of the whole earth + there was no place but this for them. But where did they place + themselves? How did they live? Ay! how did they die?" + +Twelve thousand nine hundred and ninety graves are numbered on the +neighboring hillside,--the starved and murdered of thirteen +months,--one thousand per month, thirty-three per day! Murdered by +Jeff Davis, Robert E. Lee, James Seddon, and John C. Breckenridge! +Murdered under official sanction, in accordance with premeditated +design. Davis, Lee, Seddon, and Breckenridge may not have issued +orders to starve the prisoners; but if cognizant of any inhumanity, +it was in the power of Davis to stop it, and of Lee, as +commander-in-chief of the army, as also of Sedden, and after him +Breckenridge, secretaries of war. A word from either of these +officials would have secured humane treatment. + +General Lee is beloved by the Southern people for his amiability, his +gentleness and generosity, as well as his unselfish devotion to the +cause of Secession. But the historian will doubtless keep in mind that +to be amiable is to be worthy of esteem and confidence. Those who have +espoused the cause of the Union cannot discover much amiability in one +who remained in the service of the government as the confidant of the +commander-in-chief of the army of the United States till hostilities +were commenced, and then, three days after his resignation, accepted +the command of the Rebel forces in Virginia. Fort Sumter was fired +upon April 12, 1861. General Lee resigned his commission in the +service of the United States on the 19th, and on the 22d took command +of Rebel troops at Richmond. The State had not then seceded. The +ordinance of Secession was passed by the convention on the 17th of the +same month, to be submitted to popular vote for ratification on the +third Tuesday of May. Without waiting for the action of the people of +his State, General Lee issued his military orders and waged war +against the United States. + +The future historian will not overlook the fact that General Lee, if +not issuing direct orders for the starvation of Union prisoners, made +no remonstrance against the barbarities of Andersonville, or of the +course taken to debauch the patriotism of the Union soldiers. It was +promised that whoever would acknowledge allegiance to the Confederacy, +or consent to make shoes or harness or clothing for the Rebels, should +have the privilege of going out from the stockade, and finding +comfortable quarters and plenty of food and clothing. Thus tempted, +some faltered, while others died rather than be released on such +terms, preferring, in their love for the flag, to be thrown like logs +into the dead-cart, and tumbled into the shallow trenches on the +hillside! + +Among the prisoners was a lad who pined for his far-off Northern home. +Often his boyish heart went out lovingly to his father and mother and +fair-haired sister. How could he die in that prison! How close his +eyes on all the bright years of the future! How lie down in death in +that loathsome place, when, by taking the oath of allegiance to the +Southern Confederacy, he could obtain freedom? His comrades were +dying. Every day the dead-cart came and bore them away by scores and +hundreds. What a sight their stony eyes, sunken cheeks, and swaying +limbs! Around him was a crowd of living skeletons. + +"Take the oath and you shall live," said the tempter. What a trial! +Life was sweet. All that a man hath will he give for his life. How +blessed if he could but hear once more the voice of his mother, or +grasp again a father's hand! What wonder that hunger, despair, and +death, and the example of some of his comrades, made him weakly +hesitate? + +Too feeble to walk or to stand, he crawled away from the dying and +the dead, over the ground reeking with filth. He had almost reached +the gate beyond which were life and liberty. A comrade, stronger and +older, suspected his purpose. Through the long, weary months this +brave soldier had solaced his heart by taking at times from his bosom +a little flag,--the stars and stripes,--adoring it as the most sacred +of all earthly things. He held it before the boy. It was the flag he +loved. He had sworn to support it,--never to forsake it. He had stood +beneath it in the fierce conflict, quailing not when the death-storm +was thickest. Tears dimmed his eyes as he beheld it once more. +Tremblingly he grasped it with his skeleton fingers, kissed it, laid +it on his heart, and cried, "God help me! I can't turn my back upon +it. O comrade, I am dying; but I want you, if ever you get out of this +horrible place, to tell my mother that I stood by the old flag to the +last!" + +And then, with the flag he loved lying on his heart, he closed his +eyes, and his soul passed on to receive that reward which awaits those +to whom duty is greater than life. + + "On Fame's eternal camping-ground + Their silent tents are spread, + And Glory guards, with solemn round, + The bivouac of the dead." + +This is the contrast between Christian charity and barbaric hate,--not +that all the people of the South were inhuman, or that men there are +by nature more wicked than all others; but the barbarity was the +legitimate outgrowth of slavery. + +The armies of the South fought bravely and devotedly to establish a +Confederacy with slavery for its corner-stone; but not their valor, +sacrifice, and endurance, not Stonewall Jackson's religious enthusiasm +or intrepidity, not Lee's military exploits, can avail to blot the +horrors of Andersonville from the historic record. Their cause + + "Hath the primal, eldest curse upon it, + A brother's murder." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +SCENES IN SAVANNAH. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.] + +As I intended to spend some days in Savannah, I set out one afternoon +in search of lodgings more commodious than those furnished at the +Pulaski House, and I was directed to a house owned by a gentleman who, +during the war, had resided in Paris,--a large brick mansion, fronting +on one of the squares, elegantly finished and furnished. It had been +taken care of, through the war, by two faithful negroes, Robert and +his wife Aunt Nellie, both of them slaves. + +I rang the bell, and was ushered into the basement by their daughter +Ellen, also a slave. Robert was fifty-three years of age,--a tall, +stout, coal-black, slow-spoken, reflective man. Aunt Nellie was a year +or two younger. Her features were of the African type; her eyes large +and lustrous. Her deportment was lady-like, her language refined. She +wore a gingham dress, and a white turban. + +Ellen, the daughter, had a fair countenance, regular features, of +lighter hue than either father or mother. She appeared as much at ease +as most young ladies who are accustomed to the amenities of society. + +Aunt Nellie called me by name. + +"I saw you yesterday at church," she said. + +She placed a chair for me before the fire, which burned cheerfully on +the hearth. There was a vase of amaranths on the mantel, and +lithographs on the walls. A clock ticked in one corner. There were +cushioned arm-chairs. The room was neat and tidy, and had an air of +cheerfulness. A little boy, four or five years old, was sitting by the +side of Aunt Nellie,--her grand-nephew. He looked up wonderingly at +the stranger, then gazed steadily into the fire with comical gravity. + +"You are from Boston, I understand," said Aunt Nellie. "I never have +been to Boston, but I have been to New York several times with my +master." + +"Did you have any desire to stay North?" + +"No, sir, I can't say that I had. This was my home; my children and +friends, and my husband were all here." + +"But did you not wish to be free?" + +"That is a very different thing, sir. God only knows how I longed to +be free; but my master was very kind. They used to tell me in New York +that I could be free; but I couldn't make up my mind to leave master, +and my husband. Perhaps if I had been abused as some of my people +have, I should have thought differently about it." + +"Well, you are free now. I suppose that you never expected to see such +a day as this!" + +"I can't say that I expected to see it, but I knew it would come. I +have prayed for it. I didn't hardly think it would come in my time, +but I knew it must come, for God is just." + +"Did you not sometimes despair?" + +"Never! sir; never! But O, it has been a terrible mystery, to know why +the good Lord should so long afflict my people, and keep them in +bondage,--to be abused, and trampled down, without any rights of their +own,--with no ray of light in the future. Some of my folks said there +wasn't any God, for if there was he wouldn't let white folks do as +they have done for so many years; but I told them to wait,--and now +they see what they have got by waiting. I told them that we were all +of one blood,--white folks and black folks all come from one man and +one woman, and that there was only one Jesus for all. _I knew it,--I +knew it!_" She spoke as if it were an indisputable fact which had come +by intuition. + +Here Aunt Nellie's sister and her husband came in. + +"I hope to make your better acquaintance," she said, courtesying. It +is a common form of expression among the colored people of some parts +of the South. She was larger, taller, and stouter than Aunt Nellie, +younger in years, less refined,--a field hand,--one who had drunk +deeply of the terrible cup which slavery had held to her lips. She +wore a long gray dress of coarse cloth,--a frock with sleeves, +gathered round the neck with a string,--the cheapest possible +contrivance for a dress, her only garment, I judged. + +"These are new times to you," I said. + +"It is a dream, sir,--a dream! 'Pears like I don't know where I am. +When General Sherman come and said we were free, I didn't believe it, +and I wouldn't believe it till the minister (Rev. Mr. French) told us +that we were free. It don't seem as if I was free, sir." She looked +into the fire a moment, and sat as if in a dream, but roused herself +as I said,-- + +"Yes, you are free." + +"But that don't give me back my children,--my children, that I brought +forth with pains such as white women have,--that have been torn from +my breast, and sold from me; and when I cried for them was tied up and +had my back cut to pieces!" + +She stopped talking to me, raised her eyes as if looking into +heaven,--reached up her hands imploringly, and cried in agony,-- + +"O Lord Jesus, have mercy! How long, O Lord? Come, Jesus, and help me. +'Pears like I can't bear it, dear Lord. They is all taken from me, +Lord. 'Pears like as if my heart would break. O blessed Jesus, they +say that I am free, but where are my children!--my children!--my +children!" + +Her hands fell,--tears rolled down her cheeks. She bowed her head, and +sat moaning, wailing, and sobbing. + +"You wouldn't believe me," said Aunt Nellie, speaking to her. "You +said that there was no use in praying for deliverance; that it was no +use to trust God,--that he had forgotten us!" + +She rose and approached her sister, evidently to call her mind from +the terrible reality of the past. "You used to come in here and go +worry, worry, worry all day and all night, and say it was no use; that +you might as well die; that you would be a great deal better off if +you were dead. You wouldn't believe me when I said that the Lord would +give deliverance. You wouldn't believe that the Lord was good; but +just see what he has done for you,--made you free. Aren't you willing +to trust him now?" + +The sister made no reply, but sat wiping away her tears, and sighing +over the fate of her children. + +"Did you not feel sometimes like rising against your masters?" I +asked of the husband. + +"Well, sir, I did feel hard sometimes, and I reckon that if it hadn't +been for the grace which Jesus gave us we should have done so; but he +had compassion on us, and helped us to bear it. We knew that he would +hear us some time." + +"Did you ever try to escape?" + +"No, sir. I was once interested in colonization, and talked of going +to Africa,--of buying myself, and go there and be free. Rev. Mr. +Gurley came here and gave a lecture. He was the agent of the +Colonization Society, I reckon; but just then there was so much +excitement among the slaves about it, that our masters put a stop to +it." + +"The good people of Boston are heaping coals of fire on the heads of +the slaveholders and Rebels," said Aunt Nellie. + +"How so?" I asked. + +"Why, as soon as General Sherman took possession of the city, you send +down ship-loads of provisions to them. They have fought you with all +their might, and you whip them, and then go to feeding them." + +"I 'spect you intended that black and white folks should have them +alike," said her sister. + +"Yes, that was the intention." + +"Not a mouthful have I had. I am as poor as white folks. All my life I +have worked for them. I have given them houses and lands; they have +rode in their fine carriages, sat in their nice parlors, taken voyages +over the waters, and had money enough, which I and my people earned +for them. I have had my back cut up. I have been sent to jail because +I cried for my children, which were stolen from me. I have been +stripped of my clothing, exposed before men. My daughters have been +compelled to break God's commandment,--they couldn't help +themselves,--I couldn't help them; white men have done with us just as +they pleased. Now they turn me out of my poor old cabin, and say they +own it. O dear Jesus, help me!" + +"Come, come, sister, don't take on; but you just give thanks for what +the Lord has done for you," said Aunt Nellie. + +Her sister rose, stately as a queen, and said,-- + +"I thank you, sir, for your kind words to me to-night. I thank all the +good people in the North for what they have done for me and my +people. The good Lord be with you." + +As she and her husband left the room, Aunt Nellie said,-- + +"Poor girl! she can't forget her children. She's cried for them day +and night." + +Never till then had I felt the full force of Whittier's burning +lines:-- + + "A groan from Eutaw's haunted wood,-- + A wail where Camden's martyrs fell,-- + By every shrine of patriot blood, + From Moultrie's wall and Jasper's well! + + "By storied hill and hallowed grot, + By mossy wood and marshy glen, + Whence rang of old the rifle-shot, + And hurrying shout of Marion's men, + The groan of breaking hearts is there,-- + The falling lash, the fetter's clank! + _Slaves_, SLAVES are breathing in that air + Which old De Kalb and Sumter drank! + + "What, ho! _our_ countrymen in chains! + The whip on WOMAN'S shrinking flesh! + Our soil yet reddening with the stains + Caught from her scourging, warm and fresh! + What! mothers from their children riven! + What! God's own image bought and sold! + Americans to market driven, + And bartered, as the brute, for gold!" + +The night of the 28th of January was a fearful one in Savannah. The +inhabitants experienced all the terror of a bombardment combined with +the horror of a great conflagration. A fire broke out a little before +midnight in a long row of wooden buildings at the west end of the +city. The wind was fresh from the northwest, and the night exceedingly +cold. My rooms were in the Pulaski House. I was awakened by a sudden +explosion, which jarred the house, and heard the cry that the arsenal +was on fire. + +There was another explosion,--then a volley of shells, and large +fragments came whirring through the air, striking the walls, or +falling with a heavy plunge into the street. + +"There are three thousand shells in the building," said a soldier +running past, fleeing as if for his life. + +"There are fifty tons of powder, which will go off presently," said +another, in breathless haste. Fifty tons of powder! Savannah would be +racked to its foundations! There would be a general crumbling of +walls. Men, women, and children were running,--crying, and in fear of +being crushed beneath the ruins of falling buildings. + +It was the Rebel arsenal. I could not believe that the Rebels would +store fifty tons of powder in the city, and waited for the general +explosion. It did not come. Gradually I worked my way, under the +shelter of buildings, towards the fire. The fire-engines were +deserted, and the fire was having its own way, licking up the +buildings, one after another, remorselessly. + +It was a gorgeous sight,--the flames leaping high in air, thrown up in +columns by the thirteen-inch shells, filling the air with burning +timbers, cinders, and myriads of sparks. The streets were filled with +fugitives. The hospitals were being cleared of sick and wounded, the +houses of furniture. + +It was grand, but terrible. General Grover at once took measures to +arrest the progress of the flames, by tearing down buildings, and +bringing up several regiments, which, with the citizens and negroes, +succeeded in mastering the destroying element. + +In the morning there was a wilderness of chimneys, and the streets +were strewn with furniture. + +It was amusing to see with what good humor and _nonchalance_ the +colored people and the soldiers regarded the conflagration. + +Two negro women passed me, carrying great bundles on their heads. + +"I's clean burned out," said one. + +"So is I"; and they both laughed as if it was very funny. + +"Let 'em burn: who cares?" said one soldier. "They have fought us, and +now let 'em suffer." + +"We have got to do guard duty, and it is a little more comfortable to +be quartered in a house than to sleep in a shelter-tent, so let us +save the place," said another; and the two went to work with a will to +subdue the flames. + + * * * * * + +General Sherman's Special Field Order No. 15, dated January 16, 1865, +permitted the freedmen to take possession of the abandoned lands. A +meeting--called by General Saxton, who had been appointed +Inspector--was held in the Second African Baptist Church, a large +building, which was crowded to its utmost capacity by the colored +people. It was the first meeting ever held in Savannah having in view +the exclusive interests of the colored people. + +The organist was playing a voluntary when I entered the church. He was +a free colored man, a native of Charleston, having a bullet-shaped +head, bright, sparkling eyes, and a pleasant voice. He had lived in +Savannah nine years, and was a music-teacher,--giving instruction on +the violin, piano-forte, and organ, also vocal music, to persons of +his own race. He was in the habit of putting in clandestinely some of +the rudiments of the English language, although it was against the +peace and dignity of the State. He dared to open a school, and taught +in secret in the evening; but a policeman discovered that he was an +incendiary, and he was compelled to hide till the matter was +forgotten. + +"When the voluntary was completed, the choir sung Rev. Mr. Smith's +American hymn,-- + + "My country, 'tis of thee, + Sweet land of liberty, + Of thee I sing." + +Their country! Their liberty! The words were no longer meaningless. + +By request of General Saxton, they also sang Bishop Heber's Missionary +hymn,-- + + "From Greenland's icy mountains, + From India's coral strand, + Where Afric's sunny fountains + Roll down their golden sand, + From many an ancient river, + From many a palmy plain, + They call us to deliver + Their land from error's chain." + +General Saxton addressed them. + +"I have come to tell you what the President of the United States has +done for you," said he. + +"God bless Massa Linkum!" was the response of a thousand voices. + +"You are all free." + +"Glory to God! Hallelujah! Amen!" they shouted in tumultuous chorus. + +[Illustration: Sherman's "bummers."] + +He explained the cause of the war: how the Rebels fired upon the flag, +how they hated freedom, and wished to perpetuate slavery, which +produced the war, that, in turn, under God's providence, had made them +free men. They were free, but they must labor to live. Their relations +to their masters had all been changed. They could go where they +pleased, do what they pleased, provided they did that which was right; +but they had no claim upon their masters,--they must work for +themselves. All wealth came from the soil, and by cultivating the +ground they could obtain food, and thus increase their wealth. He read +and explained General Sherman's order, and told them of the +advancement which the freedmen had made at Beaufort. They had +comfortable homes, their children were attending school, and the men +and women had almost forgotten that they had been slaves. One man had +accumulated ten thousand dollars in four years; another was worth five +thousand. He advised them to go upon the islands and take possession +of the abandoned lands. He also advised the young and able-bodied to +enlist in the service of the United States. They were citizens, and +they must begin to do their part as citizens. They were free, but +there was still some fighting to be done to secure their liberty. + +Rev. Mr. French also addressed them. + +"Your freedom," said he, "is the gift of God. The President has +proclaimed it, and the brave men of General Sherman's army have +brought it to you." + +"God bless General Sherman! Amen! That's so!" were the enthusiastic +responses. They clapped their hands and gave expression to their joy +in emphatic demonstrations. It was a strange sight,--a sea of turbaned +heads in the body of the house, occupied by the women, wearing +brightest colored handkerchiefs, or bonnets with flaming ribbons; +while above, in the galleries, were two sable clouds of faces. Every +window was filled by a joyous, enthusiastic crowd. + +"You are to show your late masters that you can take care of +yourselves. If I were in your place I would go, if I had to live on +roots and water, and take possession of the islands," said Mr. French. + +"Yes, sir, dat is what we will do. We're gwine." + +"Show your old masters that you can work as hard to keep out of +slavery as they did to keep you in bondage. And you must have but one +wife, instead of two or three, as you used to do." + +There was a great sensation at this point,--an outburst of laughter +echoing and re-echoing from floor to ceiling. I was utterly unable to +understand how the remark was received, but the sable audience +evidently looked upon it as a very funny affair. The negro race has a +quick and natural appreciation of anything bordering upon the +ridiculous. They boil over with uncontrollable merriment at a very +small matter. + +"Treat your old masters with all respect; be generous and kind to +them. This is your day of rejoicing, and they are drinking their cup +of sorrow. Do them good,--help them. Break off bad habits,--be good +citizens, truthful and honest. Now, all of you who are ready to +scratch for a living,--who are resolved to make your own way in the +world,--hold up your hands." + +Up went a thousand hands. + +"You owe your liberty to the men of the North, to President Lincoln, +to the thousands who have died,--to Jesus Christ." + +Deep and solemn was the Amen,--a spontaneous outburst of gratitude, +welling up from their sympathetic and affectionate natures. + +A prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Houston, of the Third African Baptist +Church. It was impassioned, fervent, and earnest, in which there were +thanksgiving, confession of sin, and a pleading for God's help. The +President, the Union army, the Federal government, were remembered. He +prayed also that God would bring the Rebels to see that they ought to +lay down their arms and be at peace. + +Then in conclusion they sang the hymn,-- + + "Eternal are thy mercies, Lord, + Eternal truth attends thy word." + +How gloriously the grand old choral of Luther rang! Old men +sang,--tottering upon the verge of the grave, their heads white, their +voices tremulous, their sight dim; women with scarred backs +sang,--who had toiled unrequited in the malarious rice-swamps, who had +prayed in dungeons and prisons, who had wept and moaned for their +stolen babes,--for their husbands, mangled and torn by bloodhounds. +But that was all of the past. The day of jubilee had dawned. They had +cried day and night, "O Lord, how long!" But now they had only +thanksgiving and praise. + +After the meeting there was a general shaking of hands. "Bless de Lord +for dis yere day." "May de good Lord be wid you." "I never 'spected to +see dis yere day; but de praise belongs to de good Lord; he be wid +you, brudder." + +Such were the congratulations. There were none of the white people of +Savannah present. Before the men of the West entered the city, such a +gathering, even for religious worship, would have been incendiary +unless attended by white men. But it was an inauguration of a new +era,--a beginning of the settlement of the question over which +philanthropists, politicians, and statesmen had puzzled their +philosophic brains: "What shall we do with them?" + +Rev. Mr. Houston accompanied me to my room, and gave me a history of +his life. He was forty-one years old, had always been a slave, and +received his freedom at the hands of General Sherman. When a boy his +master hired him out to the Marine Hospital. Waiting upon the sailors, +he had an opportunity to hear a great deal about the world. They had +books and papers. He had a desire to learn to read, and they, not +having the black laws of Georgia before their eyes, taught him his +letters. Then obtaining a Bible, and other books, he read with great +zeal. He wanted to be a preacher, and after examination by the Baptist +Association, was ordained to preach by white men. He purchased his +time before the war, paying fifty dollars a month to his master, and +became a provision-dealer, yet preaching on Sundays. He leased the +lower story of a building fronting the market, where he sold his meat +and where he lived. Above him, up two flights, was the slave-mart of +Savannah. He used to go into the country, up the railroad to the +centre of the State, to purchase cattle, and became well acquainted +with the planters. He heard their discussions on current affairs, and +thus received information upon the politics of the country. He gave +an account of the state of affairs, of opinions held in the North and +in the South at the time when Fremont was a candidate for the +Presidency. + +"We knew that he was our friend," said Mr. Houston, "and we wanted him +elected. We were very much disappointed at the result of that +election; but we kept hoping and praying that God would have mercy on +us as a race." + +"Did your people understand the points at issue between the South and +the North, when the war begun?" I asked. + +"Yes, sir, I think we did. When South Carolina fired on Sumter we +understood that the North was fighting for the Union. The flag had +been insulted, and we thought that you of the North would have spunk +enough to resent the insult. Those of us who could read the papers +knew that the points at issue really were between Freedom and +Slavery." + +"What did you think when we were defeated at Manassas? Did you not +despair?" + +"No, sir. I knew that the North would not give in for one defeat. Some +of our people were down-hearted, but I had faith in God, sir. I felt +that the war must go on till we were made free. Besides, we prayed, +sir! There have been a great many prayers, sir, offered up from +broken-hearted men and women,--from negro cabins, not in public,--for +the success of the North. They could not offer such supplications at +church; they were offered to a God who sees in secret, but who rewards +openly. We are receiving all we ever asked for. Bless his holy name." + +"You have seen people sold in the market, I suppose?" + +"O yes, sir, thousands of them. O, sir, it seems as if I now could +hear the groans and cries of mothers and fathers as they marched down +those stairs out into the street in gangs,--their chains rattling and +clanking on the stairs. It was hell, sir! The wailings of the damned +can never be more heart-rending, as they were driven out, crying, 'O +Lord! have mercy! O massa, don't! don't! O my poor children!'" + +His eyes shone with a strange light. The muscles of his hands +tightened. He arose and walked the room, wiped the tears from his +eyes, but composing himself sat down, and said; "Iniquity was at its +height when the war began, and it continued till General Sherman +came. O, it was terrible! terrible! to be there in that room on the +lower floor, and see the hundreds taken out,--to see them nabbed in +the streets, or taken from their beds at dead of night by the sheriff, +and sold at once; for since the war began white men have been obliged +often to raise money suddenly, and slave property being especially +insecure, we were liable to be sold at any moment. Runaway slaves were +whipped unmercifully. Last summer I saw one receive five hundred +lashes out on the Gulf Railroad, because he couldn't give an account +of himself. The man who kept the slave-market left the city with a +large number of slaves just before Sherman came, taking them South; +but he is back in the city. He is a bitter old Rebel." + +Mr. Houston and a party of freedmen had been to Skidaway Island to +take possession of lands under General Sherman's order, and commence a +colony. + +They laid out a village, also farm lots of forty acres, set aside one +central lot for a church, another for a school-house; then placing +numbers in a hat, made the allotment. It was Plymouth Colony repeating +itself. They agreed that if any others came to join them they should +have equal privileges. So the Mayflower was blooming on the islands of +the South Atlantic! + +"We shall build our cabins and organize our town government for the +maintenance of order," said Mr. Houston. + +"I told you that I hired my time of my master," said he. "My master +hired my money, and when I asked him for it he refused to pay me; and +as I had no power before the law, I could not compel him, and have +lost it. I have about five hundred hides, which I would like to send +North. I want to purchase a portable saw-mill. We shall need +lumber,--must have it to build our houses and our church." + +Such was his plan,--indicating a foresight which gave promise of a +prosperous future. + + * * * * * + +Passing by a church, I saw the sexton, with brush in hand, sweeping +the aisles. The edifice was a substantial, ancient structure, with a +mahogany pulpit of the old style, a broad aisle, chandelier pendent +from the arched roof, filagree and panel-work around the galleries. +Old and aristocratic families had sat in the cushioned pews,--men of +vast wealth, owning houses, lands, and slaves. A great organ loomed +high up in the gallery, its gilt pipes fronting the pulpit. Marriages +and funerals had been solemnized at the altar. For fifteen years, +Sunday after Sunday, this sexton had faithfully discharged his duties +at the church. + +He was stout, thick-set, strong, with well-developed muscles and a +clear eye. He was gentlemanly in his deportment, and his voice was one +of the most musical I ever heard. + +"Shall I take a look at the church?" + +"Certainly, sir. Walk in." + +His words were as if he had chanted them, so faultless the tone, +inflection, and cadence. His features were well formed, but anthracite +coal is not blacker than his complexion. I was interested in him at +once. He leaning upon his broom, and sitting in one of the pews, had a +free conversation upon the events of his life. + +He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1829. + +"My old master died," said he, "and I fell to his son, who went off to +college and got to spreeing it, lost all his property, and of course I +had to be sold. I brought twelve hundred dollars,--that was in +1849,--but another man offered the man who bought me a hundred and +fifty dollars bonus for his bargain, which was accepted, and I was +brought to Charleston. I have always been a slave." + +"But you are a free man now; just as free as I am." + +"Yes, sir, so General Sherman told me. I had a talk with him; and he +talked just as free with me as if I was his own brother. But I don't +feel it in my heart, sir, to go away and leave my old master, now that +he is poor, and calamity has come upon him." + +"Has he always treated you well?" + +"Yes, sir,--that is, he never scarred my back. Some masters are mighty +hard, sir. I don't blame some negroes for running away from their +masters now that they can, for they have been treated mighty bad, sir; +but my master has had great calamity come upon him, sir. When I was +brought here from Norfolk, master's son Bob, who is in Texas,--a +captain in the Southern army now,--saw me, and liked me, and I liked +him, and his father bought me for Bob, and Bob and I have been like +brothers to each other. I have no complaint to make. But master has +lost two sons in Virginia. One of them was killed in the first battle +of Manassas." + +"I suppose you have heard many prayers here for Jeff Davis?" + +"Yes, sir, and mighty fine sermons for the Southern army, sir; and +there have been solemn scenes in this church, sir. Six bodies, one +Sunday, after the first battle of Manassas, were here in this broad +aisle. I had the communion-table set out here, right in front of the +pulpit, and there they lay,--six of 'em. I couldn't help crying when I +saw 'em, for they were just like old friends to me. They used to +attend the Sunday school when they were boys, and used to cut up a +little wild, and it was my business to keep 'em straight. They +belonged to the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, and went with Colonel +Bartow. They went away gayly, and thought they were going to Richmond +to have a nice time. Their mothers and sisters told them to go and +fight the Yankees. They didn't expect to see them brought back dead, I +reckon. It was a sad day, sir." + +"Then the women were as eager as the men for the war?" + +"Yes, sir,--more. They were crazy about fighting the Yankees. I know +that some of the boys didn't want to fight against the flag, but the +women made 'em. The men had to wear Secession badges, as something to +show that they were for the South. If it hadn't been for the ladies, I +reckon we wouldn't have had the war." + +"What do the women think now?" + +"Well, sir, some of them are as bitter as ever they were against the +Yankees, but I reckon they don't care to say much; and then there are +others who see it ain't no use to try to hold out any longer. There +are lots of 'em who have lost their husbands and brothers and sons. I +reckon there are very few of the Light Infantry left. I know 'em all, +for I took care of their hall,--their armory,--and they made me hoist +the flag one day union down. That made me feel very bad, sir. I always +loved the flag, and I love it now better than ever. It makes me feel +bad to think that my boys fought against it (he meant the boys who +attended the Sunday school). But I reckon it is the Lord's doing, sir, +and that it will be a blessing to us in the end." + +"Can you read and write?" I asked. + +"A little, sir. I never had any one to show me, but I used to sit down +here in the pews and take up the hymn-book, and spell out the words, +and one day master Bob set me a copy in writing, and so I have learned +a little. I can read the newspapers, sir, and have kept track of the +war." + +Upon the first battle of Manassas, the Peninsular campaigns, the +blowing up of the Merrimac, the battles of Antietam, Gettysburg, +Vicksburg, New Orleans, and Sherman's campaign, he was well informed. +He had a brother who was fighting for the Union. + +"He is a brave fellow, and I know he won't show the white feather," +said he. + +We talked upon the prospects of the colored people now that they were +free. + +"I reckon, sir," said he, "that a good many of 'em will be +disappointed. They don't know what freedom is. But they will find that +they have got to work, or else they won't get anything to eat. They +are poor, ignorant creatures; but I reckon, sir, that after a while, +when things get settled, they will learn how to take care of +themselves. But I think they are mighty foolish to clear out and leave +their old masters, when they can have good situations, and good pay, +and little to do. Then, sir, it is kind of ungrateful like, to go away +and leave their old masters when the day of calamity comes. I could +not do it, sir; besides, I reckon I will be better off to stay here +for the present, sir." + +I informed him that I was from Massachusetts. + +"I know something about Massachusetts, and I reckon it is a mighty +fine State, sir. I have heard you abused, and the people of Boston +also. Savannah people said hard things about you: that you were +abolitionists, and wanted the negroes to have equal privileges with +the white men. My father, when I was in Norfolk, undertook to get to +Massachusetts, but he was hunted down in the swamps and sold South, +away down to Alabama, and that is the last I have heard of him. I have +always liked Massachusetts. I reckon you are a liberal people up +there. I hear you have sent a ship-load of provisions to us poor +people." + +I gave him information upon the subject, and spoke of Mr. Everett, who +made a speech at the meeting in Faneuil Hall. + +"Mr. Everett! I reckon I heard him talk about General Washington once +here, five or six years ago. He was a mighty fine speaker, sir. The +house was crowded." + +The sun was setting, and the sexton had other duties. As I left the +church, he said: "Come round, sir, some afternoon, and I will take you +up to the steeple, so that you can get a sight of the city, and may be +you play the organ. I love to hear music, sir." + +How strangely this will read fifty years hence! The words +_slave_,--_master_,--_sold_,--_hunted down_, will make this present +time seem an impossibility to those who live after us. This sexton--a +slave--heard the minister preach of the loosing of the bonds of the +oppressed, and of doing unto others as they would be done by, yet he +found in his own experience such a Gospel a lie. His bonds were not +loosened; and the boys of the Sunday school, the petted sons of +Savannah, went out from their aristocratic homes to perpetuate that +lie. At last through war came deliverance; and yet there was so much +gentleness in the heart of this man, that in the day of calamity which +came to his master, when his sons one by one were killed in their +endeavors to sustain that lie; when his property disappeared like dew +before the morning sun; when his pride was humiliated; when his +daughters, who were expectants of immense fortunes, were compelled to +do menial service,--this servant, though a free man, could not find it +in his heart to leave them, and take the liberty he loved! It may have +been an exceptional case; but it shows an interesting feature of +Southern life. The words of this sexton of Savannah will adorn the +historic page. "I reckon, sir, that it is the Lord's doing, and that +it will be a blessing to us in the end." + +Society in the South, and especially in Savannah, had undergone a +great change. The extremes of social life were very wide apart before +the war; they were no nearer the night before Sherman marched into the +city; but the morning after there was a convulsion, an upheaval, a +shaking up and a settling down of all the discordant elements. The +tread of that army of the West, as it moved in solid column through +the streets, was like a moral earthquake, overturning aristocratic +pride, privilege, and power. + +Old houses, with foundations laid deep and strong in the centuries, +fortified by wealth, name, and influence, went down beneath the shock. +The general disruption of the former relations of master and slave, +and forced submission to the Union arms, produced a common level. A +reversal of the poles of the earth would hardly have produced a +greater physical convulsion than this sudden and unexpected change in +the social condition of the people of the city. + +On the night before Sherman entered the place there were citizens who +could enumerate their wealth by millions; at sunrise the next morning +they were worth scarcely a dime. Their property had been in cotton, +negroes, houses, land, Confederate bonds and currency, railroad and +bank stocks. Government had seized their cotton; the negroes had +possession of their lands; their slaves had become freemen; their +houses were occupied by troops; Confederate bonds were waste paper; +their railroads were destroyed; their banks insolvent. They had not +only lost wealth, but they had lost their cause. And there were some +who were willing to confess that they had been fighting for a system +of iniquity. + +One could not ask for more courteous treatment than I received during +my stay in Savannah. I am indebted to many ladies and gentlemen of +that city for kind invitations to pass an evening with them. There was +no concealment of opinion on either side, but with the utmost good +feeling full expression was given to our differing sentiments. + +"We went into the war in good faith; we thought we were right; we +confidently expected to establish our independence; but we are +whipped, and have got to make the best of it," was the frank +acknowledgment of several gentlemen. + +"I hate you of the North," said a young lady. It came squarely, and +the tone indicated a little irritation. + +"I am very sorry for it. I can hardly think that you really hate us. +You don't hate me individually?" + +"O no. You come here as a gentleman. I should indeed be rude and +unladylike to say that I hated you; but I mean the Yankees in general. +We never can live together in peace again. For one, I hope to leave +the country." + +"If I were to reside here, you of course would treat me courteously so +long as I was a gentleman in my deportment?" + +"Certainly; but you are an individual." + +"But if two individuals can live peacefully, why not ten,--or a +hundred,--a thousand,--all?" + +She hesitated a moment; and then, with flashing eyes and flushed +countenance, which added charms to her beauty, said, "Well, it is +hard--and you will not think any worse of me for saying it--to have +your friends killed, your servants all taken away, your lands +confiscated; and then know that you have failed,--that you have been +whipped. I wish that we had the power to whip you; but we haven't, and +must make the best of it. What we are to do I don't know. We have been +able to have everything that money could buy, and now we haven't a +dollar. I don't care anything about keeping the negroes in slavery; +but there is one feeling which we Southerners have that you cannot +enter into. My old mamma who nursed me is just like a mother to me; +but there is one thing that I never will submit to,--that the negro is +our equal. He belongs to an inferior race." + +She laid down the argument in the palm of her hand with a great deal +of emphasis. + +"Your energy, boldness, and candor are admirable. If under defeat and +disaster you sat down supinely and folded your hands, there would be +little hope of your rising again; but your determination to make the +best of it shows that you will adapt yourself readily to the new order +of things. There never will be complete equality in society. Political +and social equality are separate and distinct. Rowdies and ragamuffins +have natural rights: they may have a right to vote, they may be +citizens; but that does not necessarily entitle them to free entrance +into our homes." + +The idea was evidently new to the young lady,--and not only to her, +but to all in the room. To them the abolition of slavery was the +breaking down of all social distinctions. So long as the negro was +compelled to enter the parlor as a servant, they could endure his +presence; but freedom implied the possibility, they imagined, of his +entrance as an equal, entitled to a place at their firesides and a +seat at their tables. The thought was intolerable. + +The poor whites of the South are far below the colored people in +ability and force of character. They are a class from which there is +little to hope. Nothing rouses their ambition. Like the Indians, they +are content with food for to-day; to-morrow will take care of itself. +In the cities they swarm along the sides of buildings on sunny days, +and at night crawl into their miserable cabins with little more +aspiration than dogs that seek their kennels. Undoubtedly there is far +less suffering among the poor of the Southern cities than among the +poor of New York, where life is ever a struggle with want. The South +has a milder climate, nature requires less labor for production, and +the commercial centres are not overcrowded. The poor whites of the +South maintain no battle with starvation, but surrender resignedly to +poverty. They can exist without much labor, and are too indolent to +strive to rise to a higher level of existence. The war has taken their +best blood. Only shreds and dregs remain. + +"What can be done for the poor whites?" + +It is a momentous question for the consideration of philanthropists +and statesmen. + +They are very ignorant. Their dialect is a mixture of English and +African, having words and phrases belonging to neither language; +though the _patois_ is not confined to this class, but is sometimes +heard in sumptuously furnished parlors. + +"I suppose that you will not be sorry when the war is over," I +remarked to a lady in Savannah. + +"No, sir. I reckon the Confederacy is done gone for," was the reply. + +It is reported that a North Carolina colonel of cavalry was heard to +address his command thus,--"'Tention, battalion. Prepare to gen orto +yer critter. Git!" + +The order to ride rapidly was, "Dust right smart!" + +You hear young ladies say, _Paw_, for Pa, _Maw_, for Ma, and then, +curiously adding another vowel sound, they say _kear_ for car, _thear_ +for there. + +The poor whites of the country are called "poor white trash," +"crackers," "clay-eaters," "sand-hillers," and "swamp angels," by the +educated whites. There is no homogeneity of white society. The +planters, as a rule, have quite as much respect for the negroes as +for the shiftless whites. + +Yet these miserable wretches are exceedingly bitter against the North: +it is the bitterness of ignorance,--brutal, cruel, fiendish, produced +by caste, by the spirit of slavery. There is more hope, therefore, of +the blacks, in the future, than of this degraded class. The colored +people believe that the people of the North are their friends. +Freedom, food, schools, all were given by the Yankees; hence gratitude +and confidence on the part of the freedmen; hence, on the part of the +poor whites, hatred of the North and cruelty toward the negro. +Idleness, not occupation, has been, and is, their normal condition. It +is ingrained in their nature to despise work. Indolence is a virtue, +laziness no reproach. Thus slavery arrayed society against every law +of God, moral and physical. + +The poor whites were in bondage as well as the blacks, and to all +appearance will remain so, while the natural buoyancy of the negro +makes him rise readily to new exigencies; with freedom he is at once +eager to obtain knowledge and acquire landed estates. + +The colored people who had taken up lands on the islands under General +Sherman's order met for consultation in the Slave Market, at the +corner of St. Julian Street and Market Square. I passed up the two +flights of stairs down which thousands of slaves had been dragged, +chained in coffle, and entered a large hall. At the farther end was an +elevated platform about eight feet square,--the auctioneer's block. +The windows were grated with iron. In an anteroom at the right women +had been stripped and exposed to the gaze of brutal men. A colored man +was praying when I entered, giving thanks to God for the freedom of +his race, and asking for a blessing on their undertaking. After +prayers they broke out into singing. Lieutenant Ketchum of General +Saxton's staff, who had been placed in charge of the confiscated +lands, was present, to answer their questions. + +"I would like to know what title we shall have to our lands, or to the +improvements we shall make?" was the plain question of a tall black +man. + +"You will have the faith and honor of the United States," was the +reply. + +Rev. Mr. French informed them that the government could not give them +deeds of the land, but that General Sherman had issued the order, and +without doubt President Lincoln would see it was carried out. "Can't +you trust the President who gave you your freedom?" he asked. + +A stout man, with a yellow complexion, rose in the centre of the +house: "I have a house here in the city. I can get a good living here, +and I don't want to go to the islands unless I can be assured of a +title to the land; and I think that is the feeling of four fifths +present." + +"That's so!" "Yes, brother!" was responded. There was evidently a +reluctance to becoming pioneers in such an enterprise,--to leaving the +city unless the guaranty were sure. + +Another man rose. "My bredren, I want to raise cotton, and I'm gwine." + +It was a short but effective speech. With keen, sharp intellect, he +had comprehended the great commercial question of the day. He knew +that it would pay to raise cotton on lands which had been held at +fabulous prices when the staple was worth but ten or fifteen cents. He +was going to improve the opportunity to raise cotton, even if he did +not become a holder of the estate. + +"I'm gwine ye, brudder!" "So will I!" and there was a general shaking +of hands as if that were sealing a contract. Having determined to go, +they joined in singing "The Freedmen's Battle-Hymn," sung as a solo +and repeated in chorus:-- + + +[Music: FREEDMEN'S BATTLE-HYMN. + + I'll fight for Lib-er-ty, I'll fight for Lib-er- + ty, I'll fight--I'll fight for Lib-er-ty. + + _Solo._--I'll fight for Liberty, + I'll fight for Liberty, + I'll fight--I'll fight for Liberty. + + _Chorus._--In the New Jerusalem, + In the New Jerusalem, + In the New--the New Jerusalem. + + I'm not afraid to die, + I'm not afraid to die, + I'm not--I'm not afraid to die. + + _Chorus._--In the New, &c. + + I shall meet my Saviour there, + I shall meet my Saviour there, + I shall meet--shall meet my Saviour there. + + _Chorus._--In the New, &c. + + I shall wear a starry crown, + I shall wear a starry crown, + I shall wear--I shall wear a starry crown. + + _Chorus._--In the New, &c.] + +The colored soldiers of Foster's army sang it at the battle of Honey +Hill, while preparing to go into the fight. How gloriously it sounded +now, sung by five hundred freedmen in the Savannah slave-mart, where +some of the singers had been sold in days gone by! It was worth a trip +from Boston to Savannah to hear it. + +The next morning, in the same room, I saw a school of one hundred +colored children assembled, taught by colored teachers, who sat on the +auctioneer's platform, from which had risen voices of despair instead +of accents of love, brutal cursing instead of Christian teaching. I +listened to the recitations, and heard their songs of jubilee. The +slave-mart transformed to a school-house! Civilization and +Christianity had indeed begun their beneficent work. + +[Illustration: Fort Sumter.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.] + +General Sherman received, soon after his arrival in Savannah, +instructions from General Grant to hasten with his army to James +River. Transports were sent down for the shipment of the troops. Grant +desired to combine the two great armies, throw Sherman upon his own +left flank, and sever Lee's communications with the South, and also +prevent his escape. Through all the long months of summer, autumn, and +winter,--from June to February,--Grant had put forth his energies to +accomplish this object, but had not been able to cut the Danville +road, Lee's chief line of supply or retreat. The arrival of Sherman +upon the sea-coast made the plan feasible. + +But that officer thought it better to march northward, driving the +enemy before him, and finish up the entire Rebel forces on the +Atlantic coast; besides, South Carolina deserved a retribution as +severe as that which had been meted out to Georgia. He also believed +that he could thus join Grant quite as soon as by the more circuitous +route by water. Grant assented to the proposition, and having full +confidence in the ability of his lieutenant, left him to co-operate in +the manner he thought most advisable. + +The Rebels expected that Sherman would move upon Charleston, but such +was not his intention. He determined to make a movement which would +compel its evacuation, while at the same time he could drive the +forces of the Rebels in the interior of the State northward, and by +destroying all the railroads in his progress, and severing Lee from +the agricultural regions of the South, so cripple his resources as to +paralyze the Rebel army before Richmond, and bring the war to a speedy +close. + +He wished to preserve his army entire, and accordingly a division of +the Nineteenth Corps, which had fought under Emory in the Southwest +and under Grover in the Shenandoah, having no enemy to pursue after +the annihilation of Early, was sent down to garrison Savannah, Grover +being made commandant of the post. + +General Howard, commanding the right wing, took transports with the +Seventeenth Corps, Blair's, for Beaufort, whence he pushed into the +interior, striking the Charleston and Savannah Railroad at Pocatoligo, +and establishing there a depot of supplies. The Fifteenth Corps, +Logan's, followed, except Corse's division, which, being prevented by +freshets from marching direct to Pocatoligo, moved with the left wing, +commanded by Williams, joining the Twentieth Corps, and crossing the +Savannah marched to Hardeeville, on the Charleston Railroad, and +opened communication with Howard. + +"Come with me," was the kind invitation of General Williams; "you will +see high old times, I reckon. My soldiers are crazy to get into South +Carolina." But believing that Sherman's movement would necessitate the +evacuation of Charleston, I preferred to enter that city at the hour +of her deepest humiliation. + +Davis's corps, the Fourteenth, with Geary's division of the Twentieth, +crossed at Sister's Ferry, fifty miles above Savannah. This detour was +necessary on account of the flooding of the country by freshets. The +gunboat Pontiac was sent up to cover the crossing. When Slocum reached +the river at Sister's Ferry he found it three miles in width, and too +deep to ford, and was obliged to wait till the 7th of February before +he could cross. This movement deceived Hardee and Beauregard. The +presence of Howard at Pocatoligo looked like an advance upon +Charleston, while Slocum being at Sister's Ferry indicated an attack +upon Augusta. The Rebel commanders therefore undertook to hold a line +a hundred miles in length. D. H. Hill was hurried to Augusta, Hardee +took position at Branchville, while Beauregard remained at Charleston. +This scattering of the Rebel forces made Sherman's task comparatively +easy, as their combined army would hardly have been a match for +Sherman in a pitched battle on a fair field. His troops had entire +confidence in themselves and in their commander. Having fought their +way from Chattanooga to Atlanta, having marched to the sea and taken +Fort McAllister and Savannah, they believed there was no obstacle +which they could not overcome in marching or fighting. + +Wilmington had been captured, and Sherman proposed to receive his next +supplies from the coast. + +"I shall reach Goldsboro' about the 15th of March," said Sherman to +his chief quartermasters, who at once made preparations to forward +supplies from Morehead City in North Carolina. + +Sherman held a conference with Admiral Dahlgren on the 22d of January, +and with General Foster, commanding the Department of the South. All +the troops in that quarter were to be employed in a movement against +Charleston. General Foster being in feeble health, Major-General +Gillmore, who had charge of the department during the summer, and who +had conducted the engineering operations against Wagner and Sumter, +again took command. + +The march of the right wing, under Howard, commenced on the 1st of +February. Howard found obstructions on all the roads. The negroes from +the plantations had been impressed into the Rebel service to burn +bridges, fell trees, and open sluice-ways; but his Pioneer Corps was +so thoroughly organized that such obstacles did not greatly impede his +progress. + +The Salkehatchie River runs southeast, and reaches the Atlantic midway +between Charleston and Savannah. Howard moved up its southern bank, +northwest, till he reached River's bridge, thirty-five miles above +Pocatoligo. It was a weary march, through swamps, mud, and +pine-barrens. River's bridge and Beaufort bridge were held by the +Rebels, who were strongly posted. Blair, with the Seventeenth Corps, +was ordered to carry the first, and Logan, with the Fifteenth, the +latter. Blair detailed Mower's and Corse's divisions for the work. The +troops saw before them a swamp three miles wide, overflowed, with soft +mire beneath, filled with gnarled roots of gigantic trees. It was +midwinter. The air was keen. They knew not the depth of the water. The +forest was gloomy. Above them waved the long gray tresses of moss. +There was nothing of pomp and circumstance to inspire them. It was an +undertaking full of hazard. They must shiver an hour in the water, +breast deep, before they could reach the enemy. But they hesitated not +an instant when the order was given to move. They stepped into the +water jocosely, as if upon a holiday excursion. + +A Rebel brigade guarded the farther shore; flanking it, and reaching +the firm land below the bridge, the troops rushed recklessly forward, +and quickly drove the enemy from his strong position, losing but +seventeen killed and seventy wounded. + +Thus by one dash the Rebel line of the Salkehatchie was broken, and +Hardee retired behind the Edisto to Branchville. The railroad from +Charleston to Augusta was reached the next day, and D. H. Hill at +Augusta, with one third of the Rebel force, was severed from Hardee +and Beauregard. For three days Howard's men were engaged in destroying +the railroad west of the Edisto,--waiting also for the left wing, +which had been detained by freshets. + +Kilpatrick, meanwhile, had pushed well up towards Augusta, driving +Wheeler, burning and destroying property, and threatening Hill. The +Rebels everywhere were in a state of consternation. They could not +divine Sherman's intentions. The people of Charleston, who for four +years had heard the thunder of cannon day and night down the harbor, +and had come to the conclusion that it was impossible the city could +ever be taken, now thought Sherman was intending to knock for +admission at the back door. The people of Augusta saw that their fair +town was threatened. It had been an important place to the +Confederates through the war, contributing largely to help on the +Rebellion by its manufacturing industry. Citizens fled from Charleston +to Cheraw, Columbia, Winsboro', and other towns up the Santee and +Catawba, little thinking that they were jumping from the "frying-pan +into the fire." + +Branchville is sixty-two miles northwest of Charleston, on the north +bank of the Edisto. Hardee expected to see Sherman at that place, and +made elaborate preparations to defend it, as it lay in the path to +Charleston. But Sherman, instead of turning southeast, kept his eye on +the north star, and moved on Orangeburg, thirteen miles north of +Branchville, where also the Rebels were prepared to make a stand; but +the Seventeenth Corps made one dash, and the enemy fled from a long +breastwork of cotton-bales. This was on the 12th of February. +Meanwhile General Hatch, with a portion of Gillmore's troops, was +threatening Charleston along the coast. + +A division under General Potter, accompanied by a large number of +gunboats, went to Bull's Bay, north of Charleston, as if to approach +the city from that quarter. The monitors were inside the bar. There +were Union troops on Morris's Island, ready to move, while the +batteries kept up their fire, sending shells into the city. Thus from +every point except on the northern side Charleston was threatened. + +It was not till Howard was well up towards Columbia that Hardee saw he +had been completely flanked, and that Sherman had no intention of +going to Charleston. The only force in front of Sherman was Wheeler's +and Wade Hampton's cavalry, with straggling bands of infantry. +Hampton's home was Columbia. He was rich, and had a palatial +residence. He was an aristocrat, in principle and action. He was +bitter in his hatred of the Union and the men of the North. He had +fought upon nearly all the battle-fields of Virginia, and doubtless, +in common with most of the people of his State, had not thought it +possible the war should reach his own door. But Sherman was there, and +being powerless to defend the capital of the State, he was reckless to +destroy. + +Columbia had been a depot of supplies through the war. In view of its +occupation, Sherman gave written orders to Howard to spare all +dwellings, colleges, schools, churches, and private property, but to +destroy the arsenals and machinery for the manufacture of war +material. + +Howard threw a bridge across the river three miles above the city, and +Stone's brigade of Wood's division of the Fifteenth Corps was sent +across. The Mayor came out in his carriage, and made a formal +surrender to Colonel Stone, who marched up the streets, where huge +piles of cotton were burning. Hampton, in anticipation of the giving +up of the city, had caused the cotton to be gathered, public as well +as private, that it might be burned. There were thousands of bales. +Negroes were employed to cut the ropes that bound them, and apply the +torch. As Stone marched in the last of Hampton's troops moved out. +The wind was high, and flakes of burning cotton were blown about the +streets, setting fire to the buildings. The soldiers used their utmost +exertions to extinguish the flames, working under the direction of +their officers. The whole of Wood's division was sent in for the +purpose, but very little could be done towards saving the city. The +fire raged through the day and night. Hundreds of families were burned +out, and reduced from opulence, or at least competency, to penury. It +was a terrible scene of suffering and woe,--men, women, and children +fleeing from the flames, surrounded by a hostile army, composed of men +whom they had called vandals, ruffians, the slime of the North, the +pests of society, and whom they had looked upon with haughty contempt, +as belonging to an inferior race. Indescribable their anguish; and yet +no violence was committed, no insulting language or action given by +those soldiers. Sherman, Howard, Logan, Hazen, Woods,--nearly all of +Sherman's officers,--did what they could to stay the flames and +alleviate the distress. They experienced no pleasure in beholding the +agony of the people of Columbia. + +General Sherman thus vindicates himself in his official report, and +charges the atrocity upon Wade Hampton:-- + + "I disclaim on the part of my army any agency in this fire, but, + on the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains + unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton + with having burned his own city of Columbia,--not with a + malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly 'Roman + stoicism,' but from folly and want of sense, in filling it with + lint, cotton, and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked + well to extinguish the flames; but others not on duty, including + the officers who had long been imprisoned there, rescued by us, + may have assisted in spreading the fire after it had once begun, + and may have indulged in unconcealed joy to see the ruin of the + capital of South Carolina."[78] + + [Footnote 78: Sherman's Report.] + +Thus Columbia, the beautiful capital of a once haughty State, became a +blackened waste. The convention which passed the ordinance of +Secession, when called together on the 17th of December, 1860, met in +Columbia, but after organizing adjourned to Charleston, as the city +was infected with small-pox. But it was the more poisonous virus of +Secession which finally laid their proud city low. + +The people of South Carolina are bitter in their hatred of General +Sherman. They charge all the devastation committed during his march +from Atlanta to Goldsboro' upon him. In their estimation he is "a +fiend," and his conduct not merely "inhuman," but "devilish." Yet he +only adopted the policy which the Rebel leaders urged upon their +adherents, and which was vehemently advocated by the Southern press. +Rebel, not loyal torches, fired Charleston, Orangeburg, and Columbia. + +It is claimed that Sherman did not regard private property, but +destroyed it indiscriminately with that belonging to the Confederate +government. Was there any respect shown by the Rebel authorities? +Cotton, resin, turpentine, stores owned by private individuals, were +remorselessly given to the flames by the Rebels themselves, and their +acts were applauded by the people of the South as evincing heroic +self-sacrifice. + +Great stress is laid upon the suffering occasioned by the pillaging +and burning by Sherman's troops; but in Pennsylvania yet remain the +ruins of Chambersburg as evidence of the tender mercy of the Rebels, +who not only destroyed public property, but gave dwelling-houses and +stores to the torch. + +What act so malignant, bloody, ghastly, and fiendish as the sacking, +burning, and massacre at Lawrence! What deed so damning since the +barbarities of Scio or Wyoming! What woe so deep!--men, children, +murdered, butchered, scalped, the bodies of the dead tossed into the +flames! No relenting on the part of the Rebels, but savage, infuriate +joy at the sight of the warm heart's blood of their victims! Woman's +prayers and tears availed not to stay their murderous hands or move +their brutal hearts. + +The responsibility cannot be evaded by saying that Quantrel was only a +guerilla. If not holding a commission from the Rebel government, he +was fighting for the Confederacy, and was ranked with Morgan and +Mosby. He was an ally of Jeff Davis and General Lee. When were his +acts disavowed by the Rebel government? What restraint was ever laid +upon him? He passed from the scene of massacre, lighted by the flames +of the burning town, safely into the Rebel lines, where instead of +outlawry he found protection and favor. On what page of Confederate +history shall we read the remonstrance of Lee, Davis, Stephens, +Toombs, or Breckenridge? Where is the protest of the "chivalrous" +gentlemen of the South? What action was taken by the Rebel Congress? + +Vain the search for disavowal of or protest against the act. The +historian of another generation will be able to pass right judgment +upon all that has transpired during these dark years of anarchy and +revolution, sorrow, tears, and anguish. The verdict of posterity will +be just, and will endure through the ages. + +[Illustration: Mississippi river hospital steamer.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE WAR. + + +[Sidenote: Dec., 1864.] + +To fully comprehend the fitting punishment of South Carolina we must +keep in remembrance her position before the war. We must behold her as +she appeared in 1860,--the leader and chief conspirator against the +Republic. + +She had always taken a prominent part in the political affairs of the +nation. Although a State, she was hardly a republican commonwealth, +and very far from being a democracy. The State was ruled by a clique, +composed of wealthy men, of ancient name, who secured privileges and +prerogatives for themselves at the expense of the people, who had but +little voice in electing their lawgivers. + +The basis of representation in the Legislature was exceedingly +complex. In the House of Representatives it was a mixture of property, +population, white inhabitants, taxation, and slaves. In the Senate it +consisted of geographical extent, white and slave population, +taxation, and property. The Senate was constituted after the "Parish +system," which gave the whole control of political affairs in the +State into the hands of a few wealthy men from the sea-coast. + +[Illustration: Battle of Fort Sumter.] + +There are two distinct classes of people in South Carolina,--the +lowlanders and the uplanders. The settlers of the lowlands were +emigrants from England and France, gentlemen with aristocratic ideas. +The settlers of the uplands, in the western counties, were pioneers +from Virginia and North Carolina,--small farmers, cultivating their +own lands. During the Revolutionary war the uplanders were Whigs, the +lowlanders Tories. The lowlanders had wealth, the uplanders were poor. +When the Constitution was formed, organizing a State government, the +lowlanders took care of their own interests. The lowlands in Colonial +times were divided into parishes, and with the forming of the +Constitution each parish was to have a Senator. The uplands, not +being parishes, were districts of much larger territorial area, hence +political power fell into the hands of a few individuals along the +coast. As white population increased in the districts, and decreased +or remained stationary in the parishes, the up-country men tried to +emancipate themselves from political serfdom, but there was no remedy +except by an amendment to the Constitution, through a Convention +called by the Legislature; and as the lowlanders had control of that +body, there was no redress. The State, therefore, became an engine of +political power, managed and worked by a few men from Charleston, +Beaufort, St. Helena, Edisto, Colleton, and other parishes along the +sea-coast. + +Nature gave South Carolina sunny skies and a genial clime. The sea +contributed an atmosphere which gained for Edisto and St. Helena +islands the monopoly in the world's markets for cotton of finest +fibre. Wealth increased with the gathering in of each new crop, and +with wealth came additional power. Superiority of political privilege +made the few impatient of restraint and ambitious not only to control +State, but national affairs. South Carolina attempted defiance of +national law in 1832, and was defeated. + +The parishes governed the State solely in the interests of slavery. It +gave them power, to perpetuate which they made slavery aggressive. +Here is exposed the root from which Secession sprung. Free labor in +the North was a plant of vigorous growth. Slavery was slow. It left +worn-out lands in its track. Hard work, brutality, and sin sent its +victims to an early grave. Freedom was gaining ground. Slavery must be +carried into the Territories and secure a foothold in advance of free +labor. So the struggle began, and through pride, passion, and +malignant hatred of the North Secession was at last accomplished. + +Upon the assembling of the Legislature for the choice of Presidential +electors, the President of the Senate, W. D. Porter, of Charleston, +said to his fellow-legislators:-- + + "All that is dear and precious to this people,--life, fortune, + name, and history,--all is committed to our keeping for weal or + for woe, for honor or for shame. Let us do our part, so that + those who come after us shall acknowledge that we were not + unworthy of the great trusts devolved upon us, and not unequal + to the great exigencies by which we were tried.... No human power + can withstand or break down a united people, standing upon their + own soil and defending their own firesides."[79] + + [Footnote 79: Proceedings of South Carolina Legislature.] + +They made their election. They thought it to be weal, but under God's +providence it proved to be woe. + +A Senator said:-- + + "We have two ways before us,--in one, whether we will or not, we + must tread; for, in the event of this issue, there would be no + repose. In both lie dangers, difficulties, and troubles, which no + human foresight can foreshadow or perceive; but they are not + equal in magnitude. One is beset with humiliation, dishonor, + _emeutes_, rebellion,--with submission in the beginning to all, + and at all times, and confiscation and slavery in the end. The + other, it is true, has its difficulties and trials, but no + disgrace. Hope, duty, and honor shine along the path. Hope + beacons you to the end.... For himself he would unfurl the + Palmetto flag, fling it to the breeze, and with the spirit of a + brave man determine to live and die as became our glorious + ancestors, and ring the clarion notes of defiance in the face of + an insolent foe."[80] + + [Footnote 80: Speech of Senator Chestnut.] + +When assembled in Hibernia Hall, in Charleston, since called Secession +Hall, the delegates gave free utterance to their sentiments. + +Said Mr. Parker:-- + +"It is no spasmodic effort that has come suddenly upon us; it has been +gradually culminating for a long period of thirty years. At last it +has come to that point where one may say the matter is entirely +right." + +"I have been engaged in this movement ever since I entered political +life," said Lawrence M. Keitt. + +"It is not anything produced by Mr. Lincoln's election or by the +non-execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. It has been a matter which +has been gathering head for thirty years," said R. Barnwell Rhett. + +It was the fire of 1832 flaming anew. No rights had been invaded. That +Secession was inaugurated without cause must ever be the verdict of +history. And history will forever hold John C. Calhoun, R. Barnwell +Rhett, Right Rev. Bishop Elliott, Rev. Dr. Thornwell, and other +statesmen, editors, ministers,--members of the slaveholding forum, +bar, and pulpit,--responsible for all the suffering, bloodshed, and +desolation which have come to the country. + +Proud in spirit was South Carolina just then. The cotton crop was +luxuriant. Planters were plethoric with money. The internal +slave-trade established its marts of human flesh all through the +South. Virginia became slave-breeding, and South Carolina +slave-consuming. In former years slavery was deemed an evil, a curse; +but the call for cotton, its rise in market value, with increased +profit of culture and a consequent demand for labor, transformed it +into a blessing, to be perpetuated for the best good of the human +race. + +It was found to be in perfect accordance with the teachings of the +Bible. The system itself was right; the abuse of the good was only +evil. Rev. Dr. Thornwell, Professor of Theology in the Presbyterian +Seminary at Columbia, came boldly forward to advocate slavery as a +Divine institution, ordained of God for the welfare of the human race. +He preached thus:-- + + "Our slaves are our solemn trust, and while we have a right to + use and direct their labors, we are bound to feed, clothe, and + protect them, to give them the comforts of this life, and to + introduce them to the hope of a blessed immortality. They are + moral beings, and it will be found that in the culture of their + moral nature we reap the largest reward from their service. _The + relation itself is moral_, and in the tender affections and + endearing sympathies it evokes it gives scope for the most + attractive graces of human character. Strange as it may sound to + those who are not familiar with the system, slavery is a school + of _virtue_, and no class of men have furnished sublimer + instances of heroic devotion than slaves in their loyalty and + love to their masters. We have seen them rejoice at the cradle of + the infant, and weep at the bier of the dead; and there are few + among us who have not drawn their nourishment from their generous + breasts."[81] + + [Footnote 81: Southern _Presbyterian Review_, January, 1861.] + +Such was the teaching from those who called themselves appointed of +God to preach the Gospel of purity and peace. Church and State, morals +and religion, everything that could give strength and respectability +to their cause, were brought in to aid the work of the conspirators. +So thorough were the teachings, that South Carolina became almost a +unit on the question of Secession. + +The people of the South charge the Union army with desecrating their +church edifices. Is it a wonder that soldiers, reasoning from cause to +effect, concluded that the religion which was foremost in +precipitating a Rebellion which sustained such an inhuman system was +not worth serious consideration? Is it a wonder that, after +experiencing the horrors of Rebel prisons, they lost reverence for a +religion which could uphold a government guilty of such fiendish +cruelties? + +Slavery was the corner-stone and foundation of the Confederacy. Never +was the trade in slaves between States so thriving as during the +winter of 1860. And the leaders of the Rebellion were looking forward +to the time when the commerce with Africa would be reopened. Mr. Lamar +of Savannah, who during the Rebellion was agent of the Confederacy in +London for the purchase of army supplies, imported in the bark +Wanderer a cargo of native Africans, some of whom were sold in +Charleston. There was a large party in the Confederate Congress which +advocated the resumption of the foreign trade, the abolition of which +in 1808 was set down as one of the grievances of the South. + +It is the province of history to make a record of the bad as well as +the good, shameful and humiliating though it may be. Sin and +wickedness are horrible facts. To view them as such, to contemplate +them in contrast with holiness and righteousness, and draw useful +lessons from such contemplation, is far better than to say that they +have no place in history. Posterity will wonder that a Church which +called itself Christian ever gave its support and advocacy to an +institution which daily brought its victims, like cattle, to the +auction-block, which made no distinction of age, which was remorseless +as death, and which from the cradle to the grave held its victim as +with a tiger's gripe. + +On the opposite page is presented a sample of an auctioneer's +handbill, which I found upon the floor of the slave-mart, with the +prices paid by the buyers marked in pencil against the names of the +"chattels," and now appearing in parentheses. + + Administrator's Sale, by Order of the Ordinary. + + A PRIME AND ORDERLY GANG OF + 68 Long Cotton Field Negroes, + Belonging to the Estate of the late Christopher J. Whaley. + + WILBUR & SON + Will sell at PUBLIC AUCTION in Charleston, + At the Mart in Chalmers Street, + On Thursday, Feb. 2d, 1860, + COMMENCING AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK, + THE FOLLOWING GANG OF LONG COTTON NEGROES, + Who are said to be remarkably prime, and will be sold as per Catalogue. + + NAMES. AGES. + Jimmy, driver, 30 + Flora, seamstress, 24 + James, 5 + Charles, ($125,) 1 + August, 52 + Mathias, ($1,220,) 18 + Sandy, 16 + John, 13 + Tom, 70 + Jack, 38 + James, 6 + Leah, 5 + Flora, 2 + Andrew, 42 + Binah, 40 + Phillis, 20 + Mary, 15 + Lymus, 10 + Abram, ($275,) 2 + Binah, 2 mos. + Andrew, 29 + Hagar, 25 + Dayman, 4 + Cuffy, 21 + Hagar, ($1,320,) 20 + Margaret, 85 + Lucy, cripple, 60 + John, 22 + Ellick, ($1,160,) 18 + Libby, 19 + Carter, 36 + Taffy, 13 + Rachel, ($720,) 8 + Jannett, 18 + Phebe, ($860,) 40 + Judy, 8 + Major, 40 + Lavinia, 30 + Billy, ($550,) 10 + Tamor, 6 + Jimmy, 52 + Kate, 46 + Susan, 25 + Thomas, ($380,) 6 + Kate, 1 + Edward, coachman, 49 + Amey, 22 + Teneh, washer, 30 + Josephine, 9 + Sam, 11 + Isaac, 5 + William, 1 + Amey, 27 + Louisa, ($750,) 8 + Joe, 3 + Sam, ruptured, 65 + Andrew, dropsical, 61 + Daniel, 70 + Lymus, 30 + Lucy, nurse, 58 + + TERMS. + + One-third Cash; balance in one and two years, secured by bond, and + mortgage of the negroes, with approved personal security. Purchasers + to pay us for papers. + +The Charleston _Mercury_ was the organ of the Secessionists from the +start. It not only advocated Secession as a political principle, but +filled its columns with articles holding up to ridicule and contempt +the people of the North. The spirit of hate seemed to seize the whole +community, in which women even exceeded their husbands. Thus wrote a +Southern lady:-- + +"I would rather die than hold a position of inferiority and vassalage +to the North, and the dominant feeling of my heart is to leave a State +where men are too cowardly to protect their women and too mercenary to +risk their money."[82] + + [Footnote 82: Charleston _Mercury_, November 3, 1860.] + +"The question has thrust itself into our domestic fireside, and you +find all classes,--men, women, and children,--asking what they must do +to be saved," said W. F. Cullock, Collector of Charleston, in a speech +at the Pulaski House, Savannah, on the opening of the Charleston and +Savannah Railroad. + +"Fight! Secede!" was the response from the drunken crowd. + +The South Carolina Muse tuned her lyre and sang,-- + + "We'll unfurl the Lone-Star banner, + And we'll keep it waving high; + For Secession we are pledged, + For Secession we will die." + +The city of Charleston was foremost for Secession. When the news was +received that Mr. Lincoln was elected President, a red flag, with the +palmetto-tree and a lone star wrought upon it, was raised. Says the +_Mercury_: "A shout and twice three cheers greeted its appearance. The +Association of 1860 assembled. The feeling was for prompt action." + +The Legislature was in session at Columbia. On the 11th of the month a +bill was passed calling a State convention. + +"Gentlemen, hats off!" said the _Mercury_. "Then +hip-hip-hip-hurrah!--and +hip-hip-hip-hurrah--hurrah--hurrah--hurrah--for the homes we +love!"[83] + + [Footnote 83: _Mercury_, November 12, 1860.] + +Then more soberly the editor added:-- + + "The news of the passage of the convention resolutions by an + almost unanimous vote, at Columbia, was received in this city on + Saturday night with demonstrations which have, perhaps, never + been equalled in the political history of the country. Our whole + community seemed to breathe freer and deeper, and upon every brow + sat confidence and hope. It was as though the glorious sun had + suddenly dispersed cloud and mist and vapor, and sent its + illuminating rays to every heart and home. Men looked each other + in the face as men should do who feel that under God their + destinies are in their own hands." + +Thus a "daughter of South Carolina" inflamed her sisters:-- + + "Listen, daughters of South Carolina, to the voice of a faithful + sister. Should our State back out now she would be disgraced + forever.... Shrink now, and we are crushed forever. Then there + will be no end of the trouble you fear. Abolition emissaries will + be at work all over the South, inciting the negroes in every + direction. Trials must come, but let them come in the right way, + and all will be well. Secede, put ourselves in a state of + defence; be ready for any emergency. Should the government + coerce, our sister States will come to the rescue. Let it be so. + Better perish beneath the shock than to live degraded.... O women + of South Carolina! Mothers, sisters, wives! do not wear the white + feather now, unless, like that gallant king of old, it waves on + our men to the war."[84] + + [Footnote 84: _Mercury_, November 9, 1860.] + +Said another:-- + + "Let us women of Carolina prove that the same noble spirit which + visited the mothers and maidens of '76 is alive, and glowing in + the spirits of their descendants. I am myself a widowed mother, + but I have said to my three sons, that if any one of them shall + be craven enough to desert the State now, to temporize in her + councils, or be backward if her honor calls them to the field, + let him never look upon my face again."[85] + + [Footnote 85: Charleston _Mercury_, November 17, 1860.] + +What had transpired to produce this white heat of passion? Simply that +a party was coming into power opposed to the extension of slavery over +free territory. True this party had also disavowed any intention of +interference with slavery in the States; but restriction was loss of +power,--paralysis and death at last. The grievance of South Carolina +arose wholly from slavery. She claimed the right to traffic in human +beings. She believed it was a natural right, authorized by the +Creator of the universe, having the sanction and solemnity of the +patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and Christ himself. It was a natural, +moral, and scriptural right for a master to rob his brother in the +Lord of his earnings during the week, commune with him on Sunday, whip +him on Monday, and sell him on Tuesday. The institution being +missionary in its nature, and designed to carry the Gospel to Africa, +he had a right to separate husbands and wives, parents and children, +break the marriage relation, and establish new alliances at will. No +doubt they were sincere in their belief that the system was not only +good in itself, but that it was a beneficent arrangement for the +well-being of the human race. Certainly it was beneficial to the +master; why should it not be to the slave? Men can be as sincerely +zealous for Wrong as for Right. Eighteen hundred years ago a man +zealous for the truth filled the prisons of Syria with Christians, and +thought he was doing righteously in the sight of God; and human nature +is the same now as then. Men and women who advocated the righteousness +of slavery were scrupulous to a penny in their dealings with one +another, and with colored people who were free,--but the loss of +freedom gave the right to commit robbery! Strange, also, the confusion +and delusion of moral ideas. Society prided itself on its virtue. Men +and women of Caucasian blood departing from morality found the door of +society shut against them; but slavery being patriarchal it was not a +crime, not even an offence against morality, for a planter to choose a +Hagar from his slaves. Society placed no bar in his way, the Church no +ban upon his action. Hagar could be taken into the master's household, +appear in silks and satins, with Ishmael for the pet of the family, or +both could be knocked off to the highest bidder in the mart, separated +and sent one to the rice-swamps of Georgia and the other to the +cane-brakes of Louisiana, Hagar weeping and mourning for her child, +and the planter, with the price of blood in his pocket, be received in +any parlor in Charleston, or made Governor of the State! There were +patriarchs in the convention which carried South Carolina out of the +Union, who were urged on to treason by the women of the South. Ishmael +would not rise in insurrection, even if his brother Isaac and father +Abraham went to war. + +Said another "daughter of South Carolina":-- + + "Arming the State will keep the negroes in check. They are arrant + cowards, those dear dark friends of ours.[?] Some of you can + remember how in '22 they would shrink away at the gleam of their + master's sword as he armed for the nightly patrol, and the + creaking of the horseman's saddles as they paraded the streets + sent them hiding in every hole and corner."[86] + + [Footnote 86: Charleston _Mercury_, November 9, 1860.] + +Isaac was eager for the fray; he burned to fight the Yankees. Hence +the consummation of the treason. + +[Illustration: Cooper shop volunteer refreshment saloon.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +SUMTER. + + +[Sidenote: Feb., 1865.] + +Fort Sumter was evacuated by the Rebels and occupied by the Union +troops on the 18th of February, 1865; but before entering upon the +events of that ever-memorable morning it will give breadth and color +to the picture to glance at the scenes witnessed there at the +beginning and during the Rebellion. + +On the 17th of December, 1860, Governor Pickens sent a strictly +confidential letter to President Buchanan. + + "To spare the effusion of blood," said he, "which no human power + may be able to prevent, I earnestly beg your immediate + consideration of all the points I call your attention to.... I + would most respectfully, and from a sincere devotion to the + public peace, request that you will allow me to send a small + force, not exceeding twenty-five men and an officer, to take + possession of Fort Sumter immediately, in order to give a feeling + of safety to the community. There are no United States troops in + that fort whatever, or perhaps only four or five at present, + besides some additional workmen or laborers lately employed to + put the guns in order.... If Fort Sumter could be given to me as + Governor, I think the public mind would be quieted, under a + feeling of safety." + +The State seceded on the 20th. Major Anderson with a handful of men +was at Fort Moultrie. "The garrison will not be strengthened. The +people will obey the call for war, and take the forts," said the +Charleston _Mercury_ of the 22d. + +Five days later, on the 27th, the people of Charleston looked seaward +and saw Moultrie in flames, and the stars and stripes waving over +Sumter. They were indignant. They considered it a breach of faith. + +"Anderson has opened civil war," said the _Courier_.[87] + + [Footnote 87: _Courier_, December 29, 1860.] + +"His act must be repudiated by the government," said the +_Mercury_.[88] + + [Footnote 88: _Mercury_, December 29, 1860.] + +"Unless you order Anderson back, I cannot, under my convictions of +patriotism and honor, continue to hold office," said the Secretary of +War, John B. Floyd, of Virginia.[89] + + [Footnote 89: Floyd's Letter to Buchanan.] + +Charleston was intensely excited. + +"Assemble the Light Infantry and the Meagher Guards at the Citadel. +Arm them and take possession of Castle Pinckney. Proceed immediately +to Fort Moultrie; send troops to Morris Island," were the orders of +Governor Pickens to Colonel Pettigrew. + +"Our line of operations embraces four points: Fort Moultrie, Castle +Pinckney, Fort Johnson, and Morris Island. You are indebted to the +forbearance of the enemy for the liberty of transporting the +reinforcements and supplies, which you ordered at midnight, and which +are to be sent to your battery now in course of erection on Morris +Island. A single gun from Fort Sumter would sink your transports and +destroy your troops and supplies," reported General Simmons to the +Governor on the 1st of January. + +It was the language of war. The United States was an enemy. The guns +of Moultrie were already trained on Sumter. The battery on Morris +Island was for the destruction of that fort. South Carolina had begun +the war in intention and in fact. The erection of the battery was war. + +On the 9th of January the same battery opened fire on the Star of the +West, steaming into the harbor, bearing the United States flag. + +"You are asked to surrender the fort to the constituted authorities of +South Carolina," was the demand of Governor Pickens on the 11th. + +"I cannot comply with your request," was the response from Anderson. + +Then came the negotiations between Charleston and Washington,--the +demands upon Buchanan, the shuffling and indecision of the two-faced, +unprincipled politician, who had written himself down as an "Old +Public Functionary." Major Anderson was watched day and night, cut off +from intercourse with the shore, deprived of fresh provisions, treated +as an enemy, and compelled to see the preparations on Morris Island +and on the floating battery for the reduction of the fort. Thus +February and March passed away. His provisions were nearly gone. +Troops were pouring into Charleston from all parts of the State and +from other States. Savannah sent a company early in December. They +were under the command of General Beauregard,--a small, brown, thin, +wiry man, forty years old, born upon the banks of the Mississippi, in +Louisiana, yet more of a Frenchman than an American. + +Mr. Lincoln could not consent that Major Anderson should starve. The +people of the North would not permit it. Its sentiment was for +sustaining an officer who had been true to his oath, amid a general +breaking down of loyalty. + +Sunday dawned, the 7th of April, and Major Anderson, looking out from +his prison, saw the Rebels hard at work to complete the batteries on +Morris Island. + +"An attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only," +was the official notice from President Lincoln to Pickens on the 8th. + +"Demand the surrender of the fort; if refused, reduce it," was the +order from Montgomery. + +"Surrender," was the message of Beauregard to Anderson. "I cannot; but +I shall soon be starved out unless relieved," was the courteous reply. + +"When will you evacuate?" + +"At noon on the 15th, if I receive no supplies," wrote Anderson on the +11th. + +"I shall open fire in one hour," was the last message of Beauregard, +at twenty minutes past three on the morning of the 12th. + +Then came the roar of the first gun, fired by old Mr. Ruffin, +gray-haired, nearly fourscore. Not the young bloods of the South +alone, but men and women of all ages and classes were crazy for the +contest. + +Shells burst in the fort, plunging through the wooden barracks and +officers' quarters. Solid shot from Morris Island were hurled +point-blank against the walls. All day the batteries flamed, and +Sumter leisurely replied. + +[Illustration: Defence of Fort Sumter.] + +When darkness came on Sumter closed its port-holes and rested, but the +Rebels, like spirits of evil, were at work through the night. + +The second day dawned, and all the cannon were roaring again. The +barracks were on fire, the smoke curling into the casemates, the hot +stifling air reaching the gunners, who, wrapping themselves in wet +cloths, and covering their faces, crept along the passages, rolling +casks of powder into the sea. What delight on shore to see the flames +mount above the walls! With what energy Moultrie, Pinckney, and Morris +Island and the floating battery redoubled their fire. All but three of +Anderson's cartridges were gone. The flagstaff was shot away. "The +flag is down!" is the cry within the fort. Up into the storm, where +the shot and shell are falling, walks Lieutenant Hall, planting the +flag upon the parapet, where it waves till Wigfall appears at a +port-hole. Then the parley,--the surrender,--and Charleston was +excited as never before or since. Men and women on the house-tops, and +gathered in church-steeples; business at a stand still, champagne +flowing like water, costliest wines quaffed at the expense of +merchants of New York; bells ringing, guns firing, ladies waving their +handkerchiefs,--the city all aglow with bonfires in the evening; +crowds surging through the streets, or drinking whiskey in the +bar-rooms: Beauregard the Napoleon of the new era. Governor Pickens +addressed the mob from the balcony of the Charleston Hotel:-- + + "It is a glorious and exultant occasion. Fellow-citizens, I + clearly saw that the day was coming when we would triumph beyond + the power of man to put us down. Thank God the day has + come,--thank God the war is open, and we will conquer or perish! + We have defeated their twenty millions, and we have made the + proud flag of the stars and stripes, that never was lowered + before to any nation on this earth,--we have lowered it in + humility before the glorious little State of South Carolina!"[90] + + [Footnote 90: Speech of Governor Pickens.] + +Intoxicated with wine and whiskey, delirious with success, insane with +Secession, the jubilant crowd cheer and drink, and shout again, +bidding defiance to the government, and cursing the Yankees. + +Four years pass, and Sumter is repossessed by the troops of the Union. +How cheering the sight to behold once more the crimson folds and +fadeless stars of our country's flag waving in the sunlight over the +crumbled walls! + +Early in the morning we entered the harbor,--General Gillmore and +staff, General Webster, chief of General Sherman's staff, with several +gentlemen and ladies from Port Royal. The blockading fleet and the +monitors were steaming in, their long watch through the sweltering +days of summer and the stormy nights of winter at an end. They were +feeling their way up the channel searching for torpedoes. + +The steamer Deer, built on the Clyde, a few hours from Nassau, with an +assorted cargo,--a low, rakish, fast-running craft, with steam +escaping from her pipes,--was lying under the guns of a monitor. She +had worked her way in during the night. The crestfallen captain was +chewing the cud of disappointment on the quarter-deck, looking +gloomily seaward the while, and doubtless wishing himself in the +harbor of Nassau. Two nights before the Syren had passed in. The wreck +of a third blockade-runner was lying on the sands of Sullivan's +Island, near Moultrie, which months before had been run ashore by the +fleet. The tide was surging through the cabin windows. Barnacles had +fastened upon the hull, and long tresses of green, dank seaweed hung +trailing from the iron paddle-wheels. It was a satisfaction to know +that the time was at hand when Englishmen at Nassau would have to shut +up shop. + +We glided along the shore of Morris Island, white with tents. What +heroic valor on those sands,--the assault upon Wagner, the slow, +persistent excavation of the trenches, the unremitting vigilance and +energy, the endurance which had forced the evacuation of Morris +Island,--the turning of the guns of Wagner upon Sumter, the planting +of the "Swamp-Angel" battery,--the first shell sent streaming into the +city, startling the inhabitants, and awaking the unpleasant conviction +that the Yankees were at their doors! So memory ran over the historic +events, as we swept up the channel. + +The steamer could not approach near the landing, and we were taken to +the fort in small boats. We reached the interior through a low, +narrow passage. + +The fort bore little resemblance to its former appearance, externally +or internally. None of the original face of the wall was to be seen, +except on the side towards Charleston and a portion of that facing +Moultrie. From the harbor and from Wagner it appeared only a +tumulus,--the _debris_ of an old ruin. All the casemates, arches, +pillars, and parapets were torn up and utterly demolished. The great +guns which two years before kept the monitors at bay, which flamed and +thundered awhile upon Wagner, were dismounted, broken, and partially +buried beneath the mountain of brick, dust, concrete, sand, and +mortar. After Dupont's attack, in April, 1863, a reinforcement of +palmetto-logs was made on the harbor side, and against half of the +wall facing Moultrie, and the lower casemates were filled with +sand-bags; but when General Gillmore obtained possession of Wagner, +his fire began to crumble the parapet. The Rebels endeavored to +maintain its original height by gabions filled with sand, but this +compelled a widening of the base inside by sand-bags, thousands of +which were brought to the fort at night. Day after day, week after +week, the pounding from Wagner was maintained so effectually that it +was impossible to keep a gun in position on the side of Sumter +fronting it, and the only guns remaining mounted were five or six on +the side towards Moultrie, in the middle tier of casemates. Five +howitzers were kept on the walls to repel an attack by small boats, +the garrison keeping under cover, or seeking shelter whenever the +lookout cried, "A shot!" + +_Cheveaux-de-frise_ of pointed sticks protected the fort from a +scaling party. At the base outside was a barrier of interlaced wire, +supported by iron posts. There was also a submerged network of wire +and chains, kept in place by floating buoys. + +I had the curiosity to make an inspection of the wall nearest +Moultrie, to see what had been the effect of the fire of the ironclads +in Dupont's attack. With my glass at that time I could see that the +wall was badly honeycombed; a close inspection now proved that the +fire was very damaging. There were seams in the masonry, and great +gashes where the solid bolts crumbled the bricks to dust. It was +evident that if the fire had been continued any considerable length of +time the wall would have fallen. Its effect suggested the necessity of +filling up the lower casemates. + +An hour was passed in the fort, the band playing national airs, and +the party inspecting the ruins and gathering relics. + +Captain James of the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth, aide to General +Gillmore, was wounded in the assault on Wagner. He gazed at the ruins +with a satisfaction not unmixed with melancholy, for beneath the sands +of Morris Island was lying his beloved commander, Colonel Shaw. + +The Rebels had refused to give up his body. "Let him lie buried +beneath his niggers," was their answer to the request. And there he +lies beside the brave men who followed him to death and glory, having +won an immortal name no less as the commander of the first negro +regiment sent to the war than by his gentle bearing as a man and +bravery as a soldier. His acceptance of the command of the despised +men who gladly enlisted when called to the field required at the time +a devotion to principle and a decision of character, to face the gibes +and sneers flung at him by negro-haters in his rear, greater than the +courage to meet the enemy at the front. But he nobly led the way, and +silenced every carping tongue. + +For four long years the cannon of Sumter had hurled defiance at the +rights of man; but the contest now was ended. Eternal principles had +prevailed against every effort of Rebel hate to crush them. The strong +earthworks on Sullivan's and Johnson's islands, the batteries in the +harbor, Castle Pinckney and Fort Ripley, and those in the city erected +by slaves, were useless forever, except as monuments of folly and +wickedness. As I stood there upon the ruins of Sumter, looking down +into the crater, the past like a panorama was unrolled, exhibiting the +mighty events which will forever make it memorable. The silent landing +of Major Anderson at the postern gate, the midnight prayer and solemn +consecration of the little band to defend the flag till the last, the +long weeks of preparation by the Rebels, the Star of the West turning +her bow seaward, the 12th of April, the barracks on fire, the supplies +exhausted, the hopelessness of success, the surrender, and all that +had followed, were vivid memories of the moment. + +How inspiring to hear the music of the band, to behold the numerous +vessels of the fleet decorated from bowsprit to yardarm and topmast +with flags and streamers, to recall the heroic sacrifices of those who +had fought through the weary years, to know that Sumter, Moultrie, the +city, and the State were redeemed from the worst system of vassalage, +that our country was still a nation, renewed and regenerated by its +baptism of fire and blood, that truth and right were vindicated before +the world; and to look down the coming years, and know that Freedom +was secured to all beneath the folds of the flag that had withstood +the intrigues of cabals and the shock of battle, and that Christianity +and civilization, twin agents of human progress, had received an +impetus that would forever keep us in the van of nations. + +[Illustration: For our Flag.] + +Looking at that flag, involuntarily I repeated the words of the song +which I heard when the shadows of night fell upon the gory field of +Antietam, sung by our wounded in one of the hospitals:-- + + "Our flag is there! our flag is there! + We hail it with three loud huzzas! + Our flag is there! our flag is there! + Behold the glorious stripes and stars! + Stout hearts have fought for that bright flag, + Strong hands sustained it masthead high, + And O, to see how proud it waves, + Brings tears of joy to every eye!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +CHARLESTON. + + +[Sidenote: Feb., 1865.] + +A city of ruins,--silent, mournful, in deepest humiliation. It was +early morning when we reached the wharf, piled with merchandise, not +busy with commercial activity as in other days, but deserted, its +timbers rotting, its planks decayed, its sheds tumbling in and reeling +earthward. The slips, once crowded with steam and sailing vessels, +were now vacant, except that an old sloop with a worm-eaten gunwale, +tattered sails, and rigging hanging in shreds, alone remained. + +A few fishermen's dories only were rocking on the waves, tethered to +the wharves by rotten ropes, where the great cotton Argosies in former +years had shipped or landed their cargoes. + +Before the sailors had time to make fast the steamer, myself and +friend[91] were up the pier. The band was playing "Hail, Columbia," +and the strains floated through the desolate city, awakening wild +enthusiasm in the hearts of the colored people, who came rushing down +the grass-grown streets to welcome us. + + [Footnote 91: James Redpath.] + +When near the upper end of the pier we encountered an old man bending +beneath the weight of seventy years,--such years as slavery alone can +pile upon the soul. He bowed very low. + +"Are you not afraid of us Yankees?" + +"No, massa, God bless you. I have prayed many a night for you to come, +and now you are here. Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!" + +He kneeled, clasped my hand, and with streaming eyes poured out his +thanks to God. + +Let us, before entering upon a narrative of military incidents, look +at Charleston as she was at the beginning of the Rebellion, when the +great cotton mart of the Atlantic coast, with lines of steamships to +New York and Boston. Then her wharves not only were piled with bales +of cotton and tierces of rice, or with goods from the warehouses and +manufactories of New England and Great Britain, but, next to New +Orleans, she was the most populous city of the South, and, in +proportion to the number of inhabitants, the wealthiest. Her banks and +insurance offices were as stable as those of Wall Street. She aspired +to be the commercial emporium of the South. The newspapers of +Charleston taught the people to believe that Secession and +non-intercourse with the North would make the city the rival of New +York. She first adopted the vagaries of her own son, Calhoun, on the +rights of States. She proclaimed cotton king, not of America, but of +the world, and in her pride believed that all nations could be brought +to do her homage. She was rich and aristocratic, and looked upon the +people of the North with contempt. + +"The Cavaliers, Jacobites, and Huguenots," wrote De Bow, "who settled +the South, naturally hate, contemn, and despise the Puritans, who +settled the North. The former are master races; the latter a slave +race, descendants of the Anglo-Saxon serfs." + +Through ignorance and vanity such assertions were accepted as truths. +Boys and girls of the common schools of the North could have shown +that, in the contests between the Cavaliers and Puritans, the +Cavaliers were defeated; that the Jacobites went down before the party +which placed William of Orange on the throne. + +Charleston called the people of South Carolina into council. The +_Mercury_--that able but wicked advocate of Secession--threw out from +its windows this motto: "One voice and millions of strong arms to +uphold the honor of South Carolina!" Not the honor of the nation or of +the people, but of South Carolina,--the Mephistopheles of the +Confederacy, the seducer of States. With honeyed words, and well-timed +flattery she detached State after State from the Union. + +"Whilst constituting a portion of the United States," said South +Carolina, in her address to the slaveholding States, "it has been +_your_ statesmanship which has guided it in its mighty strides to +power and expansion. In the field and in the cabinet _you_ have led +the way to renown and grandeur." + +The ministers of her churches were foremost in abetting the Rebellion. +Church and State, merchant and planter, all from high to low of the +white population, brought themselves to believe that their influence +was world-wide, through King Cotton and his prime minister, African +Slavery. Hence the arrogance, fierce intolerance, and mad hate which +had their only prototypes in the Rebellion of the Devil and his angels +against Beneficent Goodness. + +The siege of Charleston was commenced on the 21st of August, 1863, by +the opening of the "Swamp-Angel" battery. On the 7th of September Fort +Wagner was taken, and other guns were trained upon the city, +compelling the evacuation of the lower half. For fourteen months it +had been continued; not a furious bombardment, but a slow, steady fire +from day to day. About thirteen thousand shells had been thrown into +the town,--nearly a thousand a month. + +They were fired at a great elevation, and were plunging +shots,--striking houses on the roof and passing down from attic to +basement, exploding in the chambers, cellars, or in the walls. The +effect was a complete riddling of the houses. Brick walls were blown +into millions of fragments, roofs were torn to pieces; rafters, beams, +braces, scantlings, were splintered into jack-straws. Churches, +hotels, stores, dwellings, public buildings, and stables, all were +shattered. There were great holes in the ground, where cart-loads of +earth had been excavated in a twinkling. + +In 1860 the population of the city was 48,509,--26,969 whites, 17,655 +slaves, and 3,885 free colored. The first flight from the city was in +December, 1861, when Port Royal fell into the hands of Dupont; but +when it was found that the opportunity afforded at that time for an +advance inland was not improved, most of those who had moved away +returned. The attack of Dupont upon Sumter sent some flying again; but +not till the messengers of the "Swamp Angel" dropped among them did +the inhabitants think seriously of leaving. Some went to Augusta, +others to Columbia, others to Cheraw. Many wealthy men bought homes +in the country. The upper part of the city was crowded. Men of fortune +who had lived in princely style were compelled to put up with one +room. Desolation had been coming on apace. The city grew old rapidly, +and had become the completest ruin on the continent. There were from +ten to fifteen thousand people still remaining in it, two thirds of +whom were colored. + +When Sherman flanked Orangeburg, Hardee, who commanded the Rebels in +Charleston, saw that he must evacuate the place. There was no +alternative; he must give up Sumter, Moultrie, and the proud old city +to the Yankees. It was bitter as death! A few of the heavy guns were +sent off to North Carolina, all the trains which could be run on the +railroad were loaded with ammunition and commissary supplies, the guns +in the forts were spiked, and the troops withdrawn. + +The inhabitants had been assured that the place should be defended to +the last; and in the _Courier_ office we found the following sentence +in type, which had been set up not twenty-four hours before the +evacuation: "There are no indications that our authorities have the +first intention of abandoning Charleston, as I have ascertained from +careful inquiry!" Duplicity to the end. + +The Rebellion was inaugurated through deception, and had been +sustained by an utter disregard of truth. + +Friday and Saturday were terrible days. Carts, carriages, wagons, +horses, mules, all were brought into use. The railroad trains were +crowded. Men, women, and children fled, terror-stricken, +broken-hearted, humbled in spirit, from their homes. How different +from the 12th of April, 1861, when they stood upon the esplanade of +the battery, sat upon the house-tops, clustered in the steeples, +looking seaward, shouting and waving their handkerchiefs as the clouds +of smoke and forked flames rolled up from Sumter! + +"God don't pay at the end of every week, but he pays at last, my Lord +Cardinal," said Anne of Austria. + +General Hardee remained in the city till Friday night, the 17th +instant, when he retired with the army, leaving a detachment of +cavalry to destroy what he could not remove. Every building and shed +in which cotton had been stored was fired on Saturday morning. The +ironclads "Palmetto State," "Chicora," and "Charleston" were also +given to the flames. They lay at the wharves, and had each large +quantities of powder and shell on board. General Hardee knew that the +explosions of the magazines would send a storm of fire upon the city. +He knew it would endanger the lives of thousands; but what cared he? +Governor McGrath called upon the people to destroy their houses. The +newspapers pointed to Moscow as a sublime instance of heroic devotion. +Human life, the wailing of infants, the feebleness of old age, weighed +nothing with Hampton, Hardee, McGrath, General Lee, or Jeff Davis. + +The torch was applied early on the morning of the 18th. The citizens +sprang to the fire-engines and succeeded in extinguishing the flames +in several places; but in other parts of the city the fire had its own +way, burning till there was nothing more to devour. On the wharf of +the Savannah Railroad depot were several hundred bales of cotton and +several thousand bushels of rice. On Lucas Street, in a shed, were +twelve hundred bales of cotton. There were numerous other sheds all +filled. Near by was the Lucas mill, containing thirty thousand bushels +of rice, and Walker's warehouse, with a large amount of commissary +stores, all of which were licked up by the fire so remorselessly +kindled. + +At the Northeastern Railroad depot there was an immense amount of +cotton which was fired. The depot was full of commissary supplies and +ammunition, powder in kegs, shells, and cartridges. The people rushed +in to obtain the supplies. Several hundred men, women, and children +were in the building when the flames reached the ammunition and the +fearful explosion took place, lifting up the roof and bursting out the +walls, and scattering bricks, timbers, tiles, beams, through the air; +shells crashed through the panic-stricken crowd, followed by the +shrieks and groans of the mangled victims lying helpless in the +flames, burning to cinders in the all-devouring element. Nor was this +all. At the wharves were the ironclads, burning, torn, rent, scattered +over the water and land,--their shells and solid shot, iron braces, +red-hot iron plates, falling in an infernal shower, firing the +wharves, the buildings, and all that could burn. + +There was more than this. Two magnificent Blakely guns--one at the +battery, the other near the gas-works on Cooper River--were loaded to +the muzzle and trains laid to burst them. The concussion shattered all +the houses in the immediate vicinity. + +The buildings near the Northeastern depot were swept away. All the +houses embraced in the area of four squares disappeared. The new +bridge leading to James Island was destroyed, the fire eating its way +slowly from pier to pier through the day. The citizens did their +utmost to stay the flames, but from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, all +through Saturday night, Sunday, and Monday, the fire burned. How +fearful this retribution for crime! Abandoned by those who had cajoled +and deceived them, who had brought about their calamity, while +swearing to defend them to the last, humbled, reduced from affluence +to poverty, the people of Charleston were compelled to endure the +indescribable agony of those days. + +Colonel Bennett, commanding the Twenty-First United States Colored +Troops on Morris Island, seeing signs of evacuation on Saturday +morning, the 18th, hastened up the harbor in boats with his regiment, +landing at the South Atlantic wharf. + +"In the name of the United States government," was his note to the +Mayor, "I demand the surrender of the city of which you are the +executive officer. Until further orders, all citizens will remain in +their houses." + +The mayor, meanwhile, had despatched a deputation to Morris Island +with formal intelligence of the evacuation. + +"My command," wrote Colonel Bennett, "will render every possible +assistance to your well-disposed citizens in extinguishing the +flames." + +The Twenty-First United States Colored Troops was made up of the old +Third and Fourth South Carolina regiments, and many of them were +formerly slaves in the city of Charleston. They were enlisted at a +time when public sentiment was against them, in the winter of 1862-63. +I was at Port Royal then, and they were employed in the +quartermaster's department. They were sneered at and abused by +officers and men belonging to white regiments; but Colonel Bennett +continued steadfast in his determination, obtained arms after a long +struggle, in which he was seconded by Colonel Littlefield, +Inspector-General of colored troops in the department. Colonel Bennett +had organized four companies of the Third and Colonel Littlefield four +companies of the Fourth. The two commands were united and numbered as +the Twenty-First United States Colored Troops. They went to Morris +Island in 1863, took part in two or three engagements, and proved +themselves good soldiers of the Union. It was their high privilege to +be first in the city. The stone which the builders rejected once in +the history of the world became the head stone of the corner; and in +like manner the poor, despised, rejected African race, which had no +rights, against whom the city of Charleston plotted iniquity and +inaugurated treason, marched into the city to save it from +destruction! Following the Twenty-First was a detachment of the +Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts. + +"Let him lie buried beneath his niggers!" Stung by the insult to the +memory of their lamented commander and by the sneer at themselves, +will they not now wreak their vengeance on the ill-fated city? It is +their hour for retaliation. But they harbor in their hearts no malice +or revenge. Conscious of their manhood, they are glad of another +opportunity of showing it. + +The soldiers of the Fifty-Fourth have proved their prowess on the +field of battle; they have met the chivalry of South Carolina face to +face, and shown their equality in courage and heroism, and on this +ever-memorable day they make manifest to the world their superiority +in honor and humanity. + +Let the painter picture it. Let the poet rehearse it. With the old +flag above them, keeping step to freedom's drum-beat, up the +grass-grown streets, past the slave-marts where their families and +themselves have been sold in the public shambles, laying aside their +arms, working the fire-engines to extinguish the flames, and, in the +spirit of the Redeemer of men, saving that which was lost. + +"It was the intention of some of our officers to destroy the city," +said one of the citizens; "they not only set it on fire, but they +double-shotted the guns of the ironclads, and turned them upon the +town, but fortunately no one was injured when they exploded." + +The lower half of the city was called Gillmore's town by the +inhabitants. + +We visited the old office of the _Mercury_, in Broad Street. A +messenger sent by the "Swamp Angel" had preceded us, entering the +roof, exploding within the chimney, dumping several cart-loads of +brickbats and soot into the editorial room, breaking the windows and +splintering the doors. It was the room in which Secession had its +incubation. The leading rebellious spirits once sat there in their +arm-chairs and enthroned King Cotton. They demanded homage to his +majesty from all nations. The first shell sent the _Mercury_ up town +to a safer locality, but when Sherman began his march into the +interior, the _Mercury_ fled into the country to Cheraw, right into +his line of advance! + +The _Courier_ office in Bay Street had not escaped damage. A shell +went down through the floors, ripping up the boards, jarring the +plaster from the walls, and exploded in the second story, rattling all +the tiles from the roof, bursting out the windows, smashing the +composing-stone, opening the whole building to the winds. Another +shell had dashed the sidewalk to pieces and blown a passage into the +cellar, wide enough to admit a six-horse wagon. Near the _Courier_ +office were the Union Bank, Farmers' and Exchange Bank, and Charleston +Bank, costly buildings, fitted up with marble mantels, floors of +terra-cotta tiles, counters elaborate in carved work, and with +gorgeous frescoing on the walls. There, five years ago, the merchants +of the city, the planters of the country, the slave-traders, assembled +on exchange, talked treason, and indulged in extravagant day-dreams of +the future glory of Charleston. + +The rooms were silent now, the oaken doors splintered, the frescoing +washed from the walls by the rains which dripped from the shattered +roof; the desks were kindling-wood, the highly-wrought cornice-work had +dropped to the ground, the tiles were ploughed up, the marble mantles +shivered, the beautiful plate-glass of the windows was in fragments upon +the floor. The banks helped on the Rebellion,--contributed their funds +to inaugurate it, and invested largely in the State securities to place +the State on a war footing. The three banks named held on January 6, +1862, six hundred and ten thousand dollars' worth of the seven per cent +State stock, issued under the act of December, 1861. + +The entire amount of the State loan of one million eight hundred +thousand dollars issued under that act was taken by the banks of the +State. Every bank with the exception of the Bank of Camden and the +Commercial Bank of Columbia subscribed to the stock. The seven +Charleston banks at this early stage of the war had loaned the State +permanently eleven hundred and forty-two thousand dollars.[92] + + [Footnote 92: Report of Treasurer and Finance, South + Carolina, 1862.] + +At this period of the war the State had twenty-seven thousand three +hundred and sixty-two troops[93] in the field, out of a white +population of two hundred and ninety-one thousand, by the census of +1860,--nearly one half of the voting population, so fiercely burned +the fires of Secession. But the flames had reached their whitest heat. +Even at that time the people had grown weary of the war, and refused +to enlist. + + [Footnote 93: Report of James Chestnut, Chief Military + Department, South Carolina, January 1, 1862, p. 47.] + +"The activity and energy had been already abstracted," writes the +chief of the Military Department of the State; "they had stricken at +the sovereignty of the State; ignorance, indolence, selfishness, +disaffection, and to some extent disappointed ambition, were combined +and made unwittingly to aid and abet the enemy, and to become the +coadjutors of Lincoln and all the hosts of abolition myrmidons."[94] + + [Footnote 94: Ibid., p. 24.] + +Passing from the banks to the hotels, we found a like scene of +destruction. The doors of the Mills House were open. The windows had +lost their glazing and were boarded up. Sixteen shots had struck the +building. The rooms where Secession had been rampant in the beginning, +where bottles of wine had been drunk over the fall of Sumter, echoed +only to our footsteps. The Charleston Hotel, where Governor Pickens +had uttered his proud, exultant, defiant words, was pierced in many +places. Dining-halls, parlors, and chambers had been visited by +messengers from Wagner. I gathered strawberry flowers and dandelions +from the grass-green pavement in front of the hotel, trodden by the +drunken multitude on that night when the flag of the Union was humbled +in the dust. + +No wild, tumultuous shoutings now, but silence deep, painful, +sorrowful. Our own voices only echoed along the corridors and +balconies where surged the lunatics of that hour. We passed at will +along the streets, wanderers in a desolate city. Along the Battery, a +beautiful promenade of the city, shaded by magnolias, and fragrant +with the bloom of roses and syringas, overlooking the harbor, stood +the residences of the "chivalric" men of South Carolina. From their +balconies and windows the occupants had watched the first bombardment +of Sumter. They had seen with joyful eyes the flames lick up the +barracks, and the lowering of the flag of the Union. But now their +palatial homes were wrecks, and they were fugitives. Doorless and +windowless the houses. The elaborate centre pieces of stucco-work in +the drawing-rooms crumbled; the bedrooms filled with bricks, the white +marble steps and mahogany balusters shattered; owls and bats might +build their nests in the coming spring-time undisturbed in the +deserted mansions, the esplanade of the Battery, the pleasure-ground +of the Charlestonians, their delight and pride, was now merely a huge +embankment of earth,--a magazine of shot and shell. + +The churches--where slavery had been preached as a missionary +institution, where Secession had been prayed for, where _Te Deums_ had +been sung over the fall of Sumter and hosannas shouted for the great +victory of Manassas--were, like the houses, wrecks. The pavements were +strewn with the glass shattered from the windows of old St. Michael's, +the pride and reverence of Charleston; and St. Philip's, where +worshipped the rich men, where the great apostle of Secession and +devotee of slavery, Calhoun, lies in his narrow cell, resembled an +ancient ruin. His grave, marked by a white marble slab, was unharmed, +but the bones of his fellow-sleepers had been disturbed by the shells. +The yard was overrun with weeds and briers. Bombs had torn through the +church. Pigeons had free access. Buzzards might roost there +undisturbed. + +In 1861 the heart of the city was burned out by a great fire, which +swept from the Cooper River to the Ashley. How it ignited no one has +told. The colored people are fully imbued with the belief that it was +sent of the Lord. No attempt had been made to rebuild the waste. All +the energy of the people had been given to prosecuting the war. There +had been no sound of trowel, hammer, or saw, except upon the +ironclads. + +The blackened area was overgrown with fire-weeds. Lean and hungry curs +barked at us from the tenantless houses. Cats which once purred by +pleasant firesides ran from their old haunts at our approach. The rats +had deserted the wharves and moved up town with the people. The +buzzards, which once picked up the garbage of the markets, had +disappeared. A solitary rook cawed to us, perched on the vane of the +court-house steeple. Spiders were spinning their webs in the +counting-houses. + +It was an indescribable scene of desolation,--of roofless houses, +cannon-battered walls, crumbling ruins, upheaved pavement, and +grass-grown streets; silent to all sounds of business, voiceless only +to a few haggard men and women wandering amid the ruins, reflecting +upon a jubilant past, a disappointed present, and a hopeless future! + +"Her merchants were the great men of the earth; for by their sorceries +were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of the +prophets and of the saints." + +Charleston was one of the great slave-marts of the South. She was the +boldest advocate for the reopening of the slave-trade. Her statesmen +legislated for it; her ministers of the Gospel upheld it as the best +means for Christianizing Africa and for the ultimate benefit of the +whole human race. Being thus sustained, the slave-traders set up their +auction-block in no out-of-the-way place. A score of men opened +offices and dealt in the bodies and souls of men. Among them were T. +Ryan & Son, M. M. McBride, J. E. Bowers, J. B. Oaks, J. B. Baker, +Wilbur & Son, on State and Chalmers Streets. Twenty paces distant from +Baker's was a building bearing the sign, "Theological Library, +Protestant Episcopal Church." Standing by Baker's door, and looking up +Chalmers Street to King Street, I read another sign, "Sunday-School +Depository." Also, "Hibernian Hall," the building in which the +ordinance of Secession was signed. In another building on the opposite +corner was the Registry of Deeds. Near by was the guard-house with its +grated windows, its iron bars being an appropriate design of +double-edged swords and spears. Thousands of slaves had been +incarcerated there for no crime whatever, except for being out after +nine o'clock, or for meeting in some secret chamber to tell God their +wrongs, with no white man present. They disobeyed the law by not +listening to the bell of old St. Michael's, which at half past eight +in the evening, in its high and venerable tower, opened its trembling +lips and shouted, "Get you home! Get you home!" Always that; always of +command; always of arrogance, superiority, and caste; never of love, +good-will, and fellowship. On Sunday morning it said, "Come and sit in +your old-fashioned, velvet-cushioned pews, you rich ones! Go up +stairs, you niggers!" + +The guard-house doors were wide open. The jailer had lost his +occupation. The last slave had been immured within its walls, and St. +Michael's curfew was to be sweetest music thenceforth and forever. It +shall ring the glad chimes of freedom,--freedom to come, to go, or to +tarry by the way; freedom from sad partings of wife and husband, +father and son, mother and child. + +The brokers in flesh and blood took good care to be well buttressed. +They set up their market in a reputable quarter, with St. Michael's +and the guard-house, the Registry of Deeds and the Sunday-School +Depository, the Court-House and the Theological Library around them to +make their calling respectable. + +But the "Swamp Angel" had splintered the pews of St. Michael's, +demolished the pulpit, and made a record of its doings in the Registry +building. At one stroke it opened the entire front of the +Sunday-School Depository to the light of heaven. There was also a mass +of evidence in the courtroom--several cart-loads of brick and plaster, +introduced by General Gillmore--against the right of a State to +secede. + +I entered the Theological Library building through a window from which +General Gillmore had removed the sash by a solid shot. A pile of old +rubbish lay upon the floor,--sermons, tracts, magazines, books, +papers, musty and mouldy, turning into pulp beneath the rain-drops +which came down through the shattered roof. + +Amid these surroundings was the Slave-Mart,--a building with a large +iron gate in front, above which, in large gilt letters, was the word +MART. + +The outer iron gate opened into a hall about sixty feet long by +twenty broad, flanked on one side by a long table running the entire +length of the hall, and on the other by benches. At the farther end a +door, opening through a brick wall, gave entrance to a yard. The door +was locked. I tried my boot-heel, but it would not yield. I called a +freedman to my aid. Unitedly we took up a great stone, and gave a +blow. Another, and the door of the Bastile went into splinters. Across +the yard was a four-story brick building, with grated windows and iron +doors,--a prison. The yard was walled by high buildings. He who +entered there left all hope behind. A small room adjoining the hall +was the place where women were subjected to the lascivious gaze of +brutal men. There were the steps, up which thousands of men, women, +and children had walked to their places on the table, to be knocked +off to the highest bidder. The thought occurred to me that perhaps +Governor Andrew, or Wendell Phillips, or William Lloyd Garrison would +like to make a speech from those steps. I determined to secure them. +While there a colored woman came into the hall to see the two Yankees. + +"I was sold there upon that table two years ago," said she. + +"You never will be sold again; you are free now and forever!" I +replied. + +"Thank God! O the blessed Jesus, he has heard my prayer. I am so glad; +only I wish I could see my husband. He was sold at the same time into +the country, and has gone I don't know where." + +Thus spake Dinah More. + +In front of the mart was a gilt star. I climbed the post and wrenched +it from its spike to secure it as a trophy. A freedman took down the +gilt letters for me, and knocked off the great lock from the outer +iron gate, and the smaller lock from the inner door. The key of the +French Bastile hangs at Mount Vernon; and as relics of the American +prison-house then being broken up, I secured these. + +Entering the brokers' offices,--prisons rather,--we walked along the +grated corridors, looked into the rooms where the slaves had been +kept. In the cellar was the dungeon for the refractory,--bolts and +staples in the floors, manacles for the hands and feet, chains to +make all sure. There had evidently been a sudden evacuation of the +premises. Books, letters, bills of sale, were lying on the floor. + +Let us take our last look of the Divine missionary institution. Thus +writes James H. Whiteside to Z. B. Oakes:-- + + "I know of five very likely young negroes for sale. They are held + at high prices, but I know the owner is compelled to sell next + week, and they maybe bought low enough so as to pay. Four of the + negroes are young men, about twenty years old, and the other a + very likely young woman about twenty-two. I have never stripped + them, but they seem to be all right." + +C. A. Merrill writes from Franklin:-- + + "If I can I will come and buy some of your fancy girls and other + negroes, if I can get them at a discount." + +A. J. McElveen writes from Sumterville:-- + + "I send a woman, age twenty-two. She leaves two children, and her + owner will not let her have them. She will run away. I pay for + her in notes, $650. She is a house woman, handy with the needle, + in fact she does nothing but sew and knit, and attend to house + business." + +Another letter from the same:-- + + "I met a man who offered me four negroes,--one woman and three + girls, all likely and fine size for the ages,--thirty-six, + thirteen, twelve, and nine. The two oldest girls are the same + size; all right as to teeth and person." + +I cannot transfer to these pages what follows; decency forbids. + +Thomas Otey writes from Richmond:-- + + "This market is fine. They are selling from twenty-five to fifty + per day, and at fine prices. A yellow girl sold this morning for + $1,320. No qualifications; black ones at $1,150; men at $1,400. + Small ones in the ratio." + +There was no longer a manifestation of lordly insolence and assumed +superiority over the Yankees on the part of the whites. They spoke +respectfully, but were reticent except when questioned. Once they +asked questions of Yankees: "What is your occupation? What brought you +to the South? What are you doing here? I believe you are a +---- Abolitionist, and the quicker you get out of this town the +better." Such was formerly their language. So they talked to Judge +Hoar, a citizen of Massachusetts. So they talked to Colonel Woodford +in 1860. + +In 1860, in the month of December, Lieutenant-Colonel Woodford, of the +One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh New York volunteers, was in Charleston +on business. He was waited on one day by a committee of citizens and +informed that he had better leave the city, inasmuch as he was a +Northerner, and besides was suspected of being an Abolitionist. He was +put on board a steamer, and compelled to go North. He was now Provost +Marshal of the Department. On the morning of the 20th he visited the +office of the Charleston _Courier_. The editors had fled the city, but +the business man of the establishment remained to protect it. Colonel +Woodford was received very graciously. The following conversation +passed between them:-- + +_Colonel W._ "Whom have I the pleasure of addressing?" + +_Business man._ "Mr. L----, sir." + +_Col. W._ "Will you do me the favor to loan me a piece of paper?" + +_Mr. L._ "Certainly, certainly, sir." + +_Col. W._ "Shall I also trouble you for a pen and ink?" + +_Mr. L._ "With pleasure, sir." + +The ink was muddy and the pen poor, but the business man, with great +alacrity, obtained another bottle and a better pen. Colonel W. +commenced writing again:-- + + "OFFICE PROVOST MARSHAL, + CHARLESTON, February 20, 1865. + + "Special Order, No. 1. + + "The Charleston Courier establishment is hereby taken possession + of by the United States." + +Mr. L. had been overlooking the writing, forgetful of courtesy in his +curiosity. He could hold in no longer. + +"Colonel, surely you don't mean to confiscate my property! _Why, I +opposed nullification in 1830!_" + +"That may be, sir, but you have done what you could to oppose the +United States since 1860. If you will show me by your files that you +have uttered one loyal word since January 1, 1865, I will take your +case into consideration." + +He could not, and the _Courier_ passed into other hands. + +The rich men of the city--those who had begun and sustained the +Rebellion--fled when they saw that the place was to fall into the +hands of the Yankees. But how bitter the humiliation! On the Sunday +preceding, Rev. Dr. Porter, of the Church of the Holy Communion, +preached upon the duty of fighting the Yankees to the last. "Fight! +fight, my friends, till the streets run blood! Perish in the last +ditch rather than permit the enemy to obtain possession of your +homes!" + +But on Monday morning Dr. Porter was hastening to Cheraw, to avoid +being caught in Sherman's trap. The people of Charleston expected that +Sherman would swing round upon Branchville, and come into the city, +and therefore hastened to Columbia, Cheraw, and other northern towns +of the interior, where not a few of them became acquainted with the +"Bummers." + +Rev. Dr. Porter owned a fine residence, which he turned over to an +English lady. As there were no hotel accommodations, my friend and I +were obliged to find private lodgings, and were directed to the house +of the Rev. Doctor. We were courteously received by Mrs. ----, a lady +in middle life, still wearing the bloom of old England on her cheeks, +although several years a resident of the sunny South. Rising early in +the morning, for a stroll through the city before breakfast, I found +the cook and chambermaid breaking out in boisterous laughter. The cook +danced, clapped her hands, sat down in a chair, and reeled backward +and forward in unrestrained ecstasy. + +"What pleases you, Aunty?" I asked. + +"O massa! I's tickled to tink dat massa Dr. Porter, who said dat no +Yankee eber would set his foot in dis yar city, had to cut for his +life, and dat a Yankee slept in his bed last night! Bless de Lord for +dat!" + +The white women manifested their hatred to the bitter end. + +"I'll set fire to my house before the Yankees shall have possession of +the city!" was the exclamation of one excited lady, when it was +whispered that the place was to be evacuated; but her Rebel friends +saved her the trouble by applying the torch themselves. + +The colored people looked upon the Yankees as their deliverers +from bondage. They spoke of their coming as the advent of the +Messiah. Passing along King Street, near the citadel, with my +fellow-correspondent, we met an old negress with a basket on her +arm, a broad-brimmed straw hat on her head, wearing a brown dress +and roundabout. She saw that we were Yankees, and made a profound +courtesy. + +"How do you do, Aunty?" + +"O bless de Lord, I's very well, tank you," grasping my hand, and +dancing for joy. "I am sixty-nine years old, but I feel as if I wan't +but sixteen." She broke into a chant-- + + "Ye's long been a-comin, + Ye's long been a-comin, + Ye's long been a-comin, + For to take de land + + "And now ye's a-comin, + And now ye's a-comin, + And now ye's a-comin, + For to rule de land." + +And then, clapping her hands, said, "Bless de Lord! Bless de dear +Jesus!" + +"Then you are glad the Yankees are here?" + +"O chile! I can't bress de Lord enough; but I doesn't call you +Yankees." + +"What do you call us?" + +"I call you Jesus's aids, and I call you head man de Messiah." She +burst out into a rhapsody of hallelujah and thanksgivings. "I can't +bress de Lord enough; and bress you, chile: I can't love you enough +for comin." + +"Were you not afraid, Aunty, when the shells fell into the town?" + +She straightened up, raised her eyes, and with a look of triumphant +joy, exclaimed,-- + +"When Mr. Gillmore fired de big gun and I hear de shell a-rushin ober +my head, I say, Come dear Jesus, and I feel nearer to Heaben dan I +eber feel before!" + +My laundress at Port Royal was Rosa, a young colored woman, who +escaped from Charleston in 1862, with her husband and four other +persons, in a small boat. On that occasion Rosa dressed herself in +men's clothes, and the whole party early one morning rowed past +Sumter, and made for the gunboats. + +"If you go to Charleston I wish you would see if my mother is there," +said Rosa. "Governor Aiken's head man knows where she lives." + +We went up King Street to Governor Aiken's. We found his "head man" in +the yard,--a courteous black, who, as soon as he learned that we were +Yankees, and had a message from Rosa to her mother, dropped all work +and started with us, eager to do anything for a Yankee. A walk to John +Street, an entrance through a yard to the rear of a dwelling-house, +brought us to the mother, in a small room, cluttered with pots, +kettles, tables, and chairs. She was sitting on a stool before the +fire, cooking her scanty breakfast of corn-cake. She had a little rice +meal in a bag given her by a Rebel officer. She was past sixty years +of age,--a large, strong woman, with a wide, high forehead and +intellectual features. She was clothed in a skirt of dingy negro +cloth, a sack of old red carpeting, and poor, thin canvas shoes of her +own make. Such an introduction! + +"Here comes de great Messiah, wid news of Rosa!" said my introducer, +with an indescribable dramatic flourish. + +The mother sprang from the stool with a cry of joy. "From Rosa? From +Rosa? O, thank the Lord!" She took hold of my hands, looked at me with +intense earnestness and joy, and yet with a shade of doubt, as if it +could not be true. + +"From Rosa?" + +"Yes, Aunty." + +She kneeled upon the floor and looked up to heaven. She saw not us, +but God and Jesus. The tears streamed from her eyes. She recounted in +prayer all her long years of slavery, of suffering, of unrequited +toil, and achings of the heart. "You have heard me, dear Jesus! O +blessed Lamb!" + +It was a conversation between herself and the Saviour. She told him +the story of her life, of all its sorrows, of his goodness, kindness, +and love, the tears rolling down her cheeks the while and falling in +great drops upon the floor. She wanted us to stay and partake of her +humble fare, pressed my hands again and again; and when we told her we +must go, she asked for God's best blessing and for Jesus' love to +follow us. It was a prayer from the heart. We had carried to her the +news that she was free, and that her Rosa was still alive. The long +looked-for jubilee morning had dawned, and we were to her God's +messengers, bringing the glad tidings. It was one of the most +thrilling moments I ever experienced. + +This woman had been a slave, had been sold, exposed to insult, had no +rights which a white man was bound to respect. So said the Chief +Justice of the United States, Roger B. Taney. God ordained her, in his +beneficent goodness, to be a slave. So preached Rev. Dr. Thornwell, +the great South Carolina theologian; so said the Southern +Presbyteries, by solemn resolutions. Remembering these things, I went +out from that humble dwelling with my convictions deepened that it was +God's war, and that the nation was passing through the fire in just +punishment for its crimes against humanity. + +The 22d of February, Washington's birthday, was celebrated in +Charleston as never before. In the afternoon a small party of +gentlemen from the North sat down to a dinner. Among them were Colonel +Webster, Chief of General Sherman's staff, Colonel Markland of the +Post-Office Department, several officers of the army and navy, and +four journalists, all guests of a patriotic gentleman from +Philadelphia, Mr. Getty. + +Our table was spread in the house of a caterer who formerly had +provided sumptuous dinners for the Charlestonians. He was a mulatto, +and well understood his art; for, notwithstanding the scarcity of +provisions in the city, he was able to provide an excellent +entertainment, set off with canned fruits, which had been put up in +England, and had run the gauntlet of the blockade. + +[Illustration: "John Brown" in Charleston.] + +Sentiments were offered and speeches made, which in other days would +have been called incendiary. Five years before if they had been +uttered there the speakers would have made the acquaintance of Judge +Lynch, and been treated to a gratuitous coat of tar and feathers, or +received some such chivalric attention, if they had not dangled from a +lamp-post or the nearest tree. Lloyd's Concert Band, colored +musicians, were in attendance, and "Hail Columbia," the "Star-Spangled +Banner," and "Yankee Doodle,"--songs which had not been heard for +years in that city,--were sung with enthusiasm. To stand there, with +open doors and windows, and speak freely without fear of mob +violence, was worth all the precious boon had cost,--to feel that our +words, our actions, our thoughts even, were not subject to the +misinterpretation of irresponsible inquisitors,--that we were not +under Venetian espionage, but in _free_ America, answerable to God +alone for our thoughts, and to no man for our actions, so long as they +did not infringe the rights of others. + +Henceforth there shall be free speech in Charleston. A party of twenty +gentlemen began the new era on the 22d of February, and to me it will +ever be a pleasant reflection that I was one of the privileged number. + +While dining we heard the sound of drums and a chorus of voices. +Looking down the broad avenue we saw a column of troops advancing with +steady step and even ranks. It was nearly sunset, and their bayonets +were gleaming in the level rays. It was General Potter's brigade, led +by the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts,--a regiment recruited from the ranks +of slavery. Sharp and shrill the notes of the fife, stirring the +drum-beat, deep and resonant the thousand voices singing their most +soul-thrilling war-song,-- + + "John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave." + +Mingling with the chorus were cheers for Governor Andrew and Abraham +Lincoln! + +They raised their caps, hung them upon their bayonets. Proud their +bearing. They came as conquerors. Some of them had walked those +streets before as slaves. Now they were freemen,--soldiers of the +Union, defenders of its flag. + +Around them gathered a dusky crowd of men, women, and children, +dancing, shouting, mad with very joy. Mothers held up their little +ones to see the men in blue, to catch a sight of the starry flag, with +its crimson folds and tassels of gold. + + "O dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb, + Waiting for God, your hour at last has come, + And freedom's song + Breaks the long silence of your night of wrong." + +Up the avenue, past the citadel, with unbroken ranks, they marched, +offering no insult, uttering no epithet, manifesting no revenge, for +all the wrongs of centuries heaped upon them by a people now humbled +and at their mercy. + +While walking down the street an hour later I inquired my way of a +white woman. She was going in the same direction, and kindly +volunteered to direct me. + +"How do the Yankees behave?" I asked. + +"O, they behave well enough, but the niggers are dreadful sassy." + +"They have not insulted you, I hope." + +"O no, they haven't insulted me, but they have other folks. They don't +turn out when we meet them; they smoke cigars and go right up to a +gentleman and ask him for a light!" + +The deepest humiliation to the Charlestonians was the presence of +negro soldiers. They were the provost guard of the city, with their +head-quarters in the citadel. Whoever desired protection papers or +passes, whoever had business with the marshal or the general +commanding the city, rich or poor, high-born or low-born, white or +black, man or woman, must meet a colored sentinel face to face and +obtain from a colored sergeant permission to enter the gate. They were +first in the city, and it was their privilege to guard it, their duty +to maintain law and order. + +A Rebel officer who had given his parole, but who was indiscreet +enough to curse the Yankees, was quietly marched off to the +guard-house by these colored soldiers. It was galling to his pride, +and he walked with downcast eyes and subdued demeanor. + +The gorgeous spectacle of the numerous war vessels in the harbor +flaming with bunting from yardarm and topmast, and thundering forth a +national salute in double honor of the day and the victory, deeply +impressed the minds of the colored population with the invincibility +of the Yankees. + +"O gosh a mighty! It is no use for de Rebs to think of standing out +against de Yankees any longer. I'll go home and bring Dinah down to +see de sight!" cried an old freedman as he beheld the fleet. Bright +colors are the delight of the African race, and a grand display of any +kind has a wonderful effect on their imagination. + +Neither the white nor the colored people comprehended the change +which had taken place in their fortunes. The whites forgot that they +were no longer slave-drivers. Passing down Rutledge Street one morning +I saw a crowd around the door of a building. A friend who was there in +advance of me said that he heard an outcry, looked in, and found a +white man whipping a colored woman. Her outcries brought a colored +sergeant of the Provost Guard and a squad of men, who quietly took the +woman away, told her to go where she pleased, and informed the man +that that sort of thing was "played out." Two white women were passing +at the time. "O my God! To think that we should ever come to this!" +was the exclamation of one. "Yes, madam, you have come to it, and will +have to come to a good deal more," was the reply of my friend. + +There were a few Union men in the city, who through the long struggle +had been true to the old flag. They were mostly Germans. Many Union +officers escaping from prison had been kindly cared for by these +faithful friends, who had been subjected to such close surveillance +that secretiveness had become a marked trait of character. + +I saw a small flag waving from a window, and wishing to find out what +sort of a Union man resided there, rang the bell. A man came to the +door, of middle age, light hair, and an honest German face. + +"I saw the stars and stripes thrown out from your window, and have +called to shake hands with a Union man, for I am a Yankee." + +He grasped my proffered hand and shook it till it ached. + +"Come in, sir. God bless you, sir!" + +Then suddenly checking himself, he lowered his voice, looked into the +adjoining rooms, peeped behind doors, to see if there were a listener +near. + +"We have to be careful; spies all about us," said he, not fully +realizing that the soldiers of the Union had possession of the city. +He showed me a large flag. + +"Since the fall of Sumter," said he, "my wife and I have slept on it +every night. We have had it sewed into a feather-bed." + +He gazed upon it as if it were the most blessed thing in the world. + +He had aided several soldiers in escaping from prison; and on one +occasion had kept two officers secreted several weeks, till an +opportunity offered to send them out to the blockading fleet. + +During the bombardment of the city, the newspapers had published their +daily bulletins,--"So many shells fired. No damage." From the proud +beginning to the humiliating breaking up of the rule of Secession, the +people were cheated, deluded, and deceived by false promises and lying +reports. It was sad to walk amid the ruins of what had been once so +fair. It seemed a city of a past age and of an extinct generation. And +it was. The Charleston of former days was dead as Palmyra. Old things +had passed away; a new generation will behold a wondrous change. + + "Along that dreary waste where lately rung + The festal lay which smiling virgins sung, + Where rapture echoed from the warbling lute, + And the gay dance resounded, all was mute." + +[Illustration: Citizens' volunteer hospital.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE LAST CAMPAIGN. + + +[Sidenote: March, 1865.] + +Hastening northward, I joined the Army of the Potomac in season to be +an observer of Grant's last campaign. It was evident that the power of +the Rebellion to resist was rapidly on the wane. In the West there +were several small Rebel forces, but no large organized body. Hood's +defeat at Nashville had paralyzed operations east of the Mississippi. +Johnston was falling back before Sherman, without ability to check his +advance. + +Grant had strengthened his own army. Schofield was at Wilmington, +preparing to co-operate with Sherman. Sheridan was in the Valley, at +Winchester,--his cavalry in excellent condition for a move. The +cavalry arm of the service had been growing in importance. Grant had +fostered it, and now held it in his hand, as Jove his thunderbolts. +His letter to Sheridan, written on the 20th of February, shows how +thoroughly he had prepared for the finishing work. + +"As soon as it is possible to travel," he writes, "I think you will +have no difficulty about reaching Lynchburg with a cavalry force +alone. From thence you could destroy the railroad and canal in every +direction, so as to be of no further use to the Rebellion. Sufficient +cavalry should be left behind to look after Mosby's gang. From +Lynchburg, if information you might get there would justify it, you +could strike south, heading the streams in Virginia to the westward of +Danville, and push on and join Sherman. This additional raid, with one +now about starting from East Tennessee, under Stoneman, numbering four +or five thousand cavalry; one from Eastport, Mississippi, numbering +ten thousand cavalry; Canby from Mobile Bay, numbering thirty-eight +thousand mixed troops,--these three latter pushing for Tuscaloosa, +Selma, and Montgomery, and Sherman with a large army eating out the +vitals of South Carolina, is all that will be wanted to leave nothing +for the Rebellion to stand upon. I would advise you to overcome great +obstacles to accomplish this. Charleston was evacuated on Tuesday +last." + +Sheridan started on the 27th of February with two divisions of +cavalry, numbering about ten thousand men, reached Staunton on the 2d +of March, fell upon Early at Waynesboro', capturing sixteen hundred +prisoners, eleven guns, seventeen battle-flags, and two hundred +wagons; occupied Charlottesville on the 3d, destroyed the railroad, +and burned the bridge on the Rivanna River. A rain-storm delaying his +trains, and obliging him to wait two days, he abandoned the attempt to +reach Sherman; then dividing his force, he sent one division towards +Lynchburg, which broke up the railroad, while the other went down +James River, cutting the canal. He intended to cross the James at New +Market, move southeast to Appomattox Court-House, strike the South +Side Railroad, tear it up, and join Grant's left flank; but a freshet +on the James prevented the accomplishment of his purpose. He therefore +sent scouts through the Rebel lines to Grant, to inform him of the +difficulties he had encountered and consequent change of plan. + +"I am going to White House, and shall want supplies at that point," +said he. The scouts left him on the 10th at Columbia, and reached +Grant on the 12th. Sheridan made a rapid march, passing quite near +Richmond on the north, and raising a midnight alarm in the Rebel +capital. + +"Couriers reported that the enemy were at the outer fortifications, +and had burned Ben Green's house," writes a citizen of Richmond. + +"Mr. Secretary Mallory and Postmaster-General Regan were in the +saddle, and rumor says the President and the remainder of the cabinet +had their horses saddled, in readiness for flight."[95] + + [Footnote 95: Rebel War Clerk's Diary, Vol. II. p. 446.] + +[Illustration: Troops destroying a railroad.] + +Sheridan was not quite so near, and had no thought of attacking the +city. He passed quietly down the north bank of the Pamunkey to the +White House, where supplies were in waiting. He rested his horses a +day or two, and then moved to Petersburg. + +At daylight on the morning of the 25th of March Lee made his last +offensive movement. + +He conceived the idea of breaking Grant's line east of Petersburg, and +destroying his supplies at City Point. The first part he successfully +accomplished, but the last could not have been carried out. He massed +Gordon's and Bushrod Johnson's divisions in front of the Ninth Corps, +for an attack upon Fort Steadman and the batteries adjoining. The fort +was held by the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery. It was a square +redoubt, covering about one acre, and mounted nine guns, and was not +more than five hundred feet from the Rebel line. The Rebels tore away +their own abatis, and in less than a minute were inside the fort. +Almost the whole garrison was captured, and the guns turned upon the +batteries. + +Colonel Tidball, commanding the artillery in the Ninth Corps, quickly +had his men at work. General Parke, commanding the Ninth, threw +Hartranft's and Wilcox's divisions in rear of Fort Steadman. They fell +like a thunderbolt upon Gordon's front line, taking eighteen hundred +prisoners, forcing the enemy out of the fort, and recapturing the +guns. + +Long and loud the huzzas which went up when the guns were wheeled once +more upon the discomfited foe. President Lincoln saw the battle from +the high ground near the house of Mr. Dunn. During the forenoon Gordon +sent in a flag of truce, asking permission to bury his dead, which was +granted. The Union loss was not far from eight hundred and thirty, +mostly in prisoners, while Lee's exceeded three thousand. + +General Meade ordered a general attack. He thought that there must be +a weak place in some portion of the Rebel line. The Second and Sixth +Corps succeeded in taking the intrenched picket line, and holding it. +Great efforts were made by Lee to regain it, but in vain. Nine hundred +prisoners were captured during the afternoon. + +I rode to City Point in the evening, and visited Grant's +head-quarters. General Grant was well satisfied with the results of +the day. + +"It will tell upon the next great battle," said he. "Lee has made a +desperate attempt and failed. The new recruits fought like veterans." + +He had already issued his order for the grand movement which was to +give the finishing blow to the Rebellion. He had been impelled to this +by various causes, not the least of which was the unjust course +pursued by some of the newspapers of the West, which lauded Sherman +and his men, but sneered at the Army of the Potomac. The soldiers of +the East had accomplished nothing, they said, and the soldiers of the +West would have to finish the Rebellion. Sherman had fought his way +from Chattanooga to the sea. He was driving all before him. He would +come in on Grant's left flank and rout Lee. These taunts and inuendoes +were keenly felt by the men who had won the fields of Gettysburg, +Antietam, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and who had lost eighty thousand +of their comrades in forty days. Grant felt it. He saw the dangerous +tendency of such jealousy. He knew what the Eastern soldiers could do; +that they had fought with unsurpassed bravery and heroism. To avoid +sectional animosity between the East and the West, he determined to +strike Lee before Sherman's arrival, and accordingly issued his order +on the 24th. + +But Sherman meanwhile visited Grant in person. I was sitting in the +office of General Grant's Adjutant-General on the morning of the 28th +of March, and saw President Lincoln, with Generals Grant, Sherman, +Meade, and Sheridan, coming up the walk. Look at the men whose names +are to have a conspicuous place in the annals of America. Lincoln, +tall, round-shouldered, loose-jointed, large-featured, deep-eyed, with +a smile upon his face. He is dressed in black, and wears a fashionable +silk hat. Grant is at Lincoln's right, shorter, stouter, more compact; +wears a military hat with a stiff, broad brim, has his hands in his +pantaloons' pockets, and is puffing away at a cigar while listening to +Sherman. Sherman, tall, with high, commanding forehead, is almost as +loosely built as Lincoln; has sandy whiskers, closely cropped, and +sharp, twinkling eyes, long arms and legs, shabby coat, slouch hat, +his pants tucked into his boots. He is talking hurriedly, +gesticulating now to Lincoln, now to Grant, his eyes wandering +everywhere. Meade, also tall, with thin, sharp features, a gray +beard, and spectacles, is a little stooping in his gait. Sheridan, the +shortest of all, quick and energetic in all his movements, with a face +bronzed by sun and wind; courteous, affable, a thorough soldier. I had +not met him for many months, but he at once remembered me, and spoke +of Pittsburg Landing, where I first made his acquaintance. The plan of +the Lieutenant-General was then made known to his subordinates, and +each departed during the day, to carry into execution the respective +parts assigned them. + +Grant's line was nearly forty miles long, extending from the north +side of the James to Hatcher's Run. General Ord, who had succeeded +Butler in command of the Army of the James, left Weitzel to maintain +the position north of James River, and moved with two divisions of the +Twenty-Fourth Corps under Gibbon, and one of the Twenty-Fifth under +Birney, with a division of cavalry under McKenzie, to Hatcher's Run, +arriving there on the morning of the 29th. + +On the afternoon of the 28th Sheridan started with Crook's and +Merritt's divisions of cavalry for Dinwiddie Court-House, while Warren +with the Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run, and marched towards the +same point. + +"We have four days' rations in our haversacks, and twelve days' in our +wagons," said Colonel Batchelder, Quartermaster-in-chief of the Army +of the Potomac. + +Lee discovered the movement, and during the evening of the 29th made a +diversion against the Ninth Corps. Precisely at ten o'clock there was +a signal-gun, a yell, a volley of musketry as the Rebels attacked +Parke's picket-line. Then came the roar of the cannonade. The Ninth +Corps was prepared. Through the afternoon there had been suspicious +movements along the Rebel lines, and Parke was on the watch. It was +surmised that Lee would endeavor to compel Grant to recall the Fifth +and Second Corps. Parke strengthened his picket-line, and brought up +his reserve artillery, to be ready in case of emergency. In three +minutes nearly two hundred guns and mortars were in play. The night +was dark, the wind south, and rain falling, but the battle increased +in intensity. I stood upon the hill in rear of the Ninth Corps, and +witnessed the display. Thirty shells were in the air at the same +instant. The horizon was bright with fiery arches, crossing each other +at all angles, cut horizontally by streams of fire from rifled cannon. +Beneath the arches thousands of muskets were flashing. It surpassed in +sublimity anything I had witnessed during the war. The slightly +wounded in the hospitals of the Ninth Corps who could walk went out +with me to see the fight. + +"I wish I was down there with the boys," said one who the day before +had received a bullet through his right hand. + +After two hours of terrific cannonade the uproar ceased, Lee having +found that Grant's lines were as strong as ever. The demonstration +cost him several hundred soldiers. I talked with one of the wounded +Rebels. + +"You can't subdue us even if you take Richmond," said he; "we'll fight +it out in the mountains." + +"Undoubtedly you feel like fighting it out, but you may think better +of it one of these days." + +A delegate of the Christian Commission sat down to write a letter for +him to his wife, to be sent by a flag of truce. + +"Tell her," said he, "that I am kindly treated." + +His voice choked and tears rolled down his cheeks. A nurse stood over +him bathing his wounds to cool the fever, combing his hair, and +anticipating all his wants. I recalled the words of a citizen of +Savannah, who said, "I went to the stockade when your prisoners were +brought down from Millen, with a basket of oranges to give to the sick +and dying, but was told by the officer in command that his orders were +imperative to allow no one to give anything to the prisoners." + +Observe the contrast. Here were good beds, nourishing food, delicacies +from the stores of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions, and kind +attention. There see a crowd of wretches in rags, exposed to the +winds, the rains, the broiling heat or the biting cold, eating +corn-meal and water, and meat alive with maggots,--stinted till +starved, held captive till hope died, till the mind wandered, and the +victims became drivelling imbeciles or walking skeletons, and greeted +death as a welcome release from the horrors of their prison-pen. But I +have adverted to this before; still commentary is ever provoked. + +Hatcher's Run, an affluent of Rowanty Creek, has a general southeast +course. It is crossed by three main highways, which lead out of +Petersburg towards the southwest,--the Vaughn road farthest east, +Squirrel Level road next, and last the Boydtown plank-road. The +Squirrel Level road forks seven miles out, one fork running to the +Vaughn road and the other to the plank-road. It is nine miles from +Petersburg to the toll gate on the plank-road, which is situated a few +rods south of the run. The stream above this crossing of the +plank-road tends west and southwest, so that if a fisherman with his +rod and fly were to start at the head-waters of the creek he would +travel northeast, then east, then at the bridge on the plank-road +southeast, and after reaching the Vaughn road, south. + +Were we to stand upon the bridge where the plank-road crosses the +stream, and look northeast, we would obtain a view of the inside of +the Rebel lines. The bridge was in Lee's possession, also the +toll-gate on the south side, also a portion of the White Oak road, +which branches from the plank road, near the toll-gate, and leads +west, midway between the run and the plank-road. + +The country is densely wooded, mostly with pine, with occasional +clearings. Several steam saw-mills have been erected in this vicinity, +which cut timber for the Petersburg market. The plank-road leads to +Dinwiddie Court-House, which is fifteen miles from Petersburg. Just +beyond the Court-House is Stony Creek, which has a southeast course, +with a branch called Chamberlain's Bed, coming down from the north, +having its rise in a swamp near the head of Hatcher's Run. + +Now to understand the direction of the Rebel line of fortifications, +let us in imagination start from Petersburg and walk down the +plank-road. We face southwest, and walk in rear of fort after fort +nine miles to Hatcher's Run, where a strong work has been erected on +the north bank of the stream. We cross the bridge and find another on +the south bank near the toll-house and Burgess's tavern. Here we leave +the plank-road, and turning west walk along the White Oak road with +Hatcher's Run north of us a mile distant. Four miles from the town we +come to "Five Forks," where five roads meet, midway the head of +Chamberlain's Bed and Hatcher's Run. This is an important point,--the +key of Petersburg,--which, although so far away from the town, and +apparently of no importance, is in reality the most vital point of +all. There is no stream immediately behind or before it, but a mile +south is the swamp of Chamberlain's Run; a mile north the low lands of +Hatcher's Run, but here firm, hard ground. If Grant can break through +this gateway he can tear up the rails of the South Side road, have +unobstructed passage to the Danville road, and Richmond and Petersburg +are his. It is six miles from the Forks, north, to the railroad, but +that is the best place for Lee to fight, and there he establishes a +strong line of works. + +Grant's movement was that of fishermen stretching a seine. He kept one +end of the net firmly fastened to the bank of the Appomattox, while +Sheridan drew the other past Dinwiddie Court-House to Five Forks, with +the intention of reaching the railroad west of Petersburg, to enclose, +if possible, Lee's entire army. Such the plan,--noble in conception, +grand in execution. + +Sheridan had started to cut the South Side road at Burkesville, but +Grant, upon deliberation, decided to strike nearer. + +"I feel like ending the matter, if it is possible to do so, before +going back," wrote Grant, from Gravelly Run,--three miles west of +Hatcher's Run. "I do not want you to cut loose and go after the +enemy's roads at present. In the morning push round the enemy if you +can, and get on to his right rear." + +The rain which commenced falling at midnight on the 29th continued +through the 30th and the forenoon of the 31st, but Sheridan kept in +motion, reached Dinwiddie at five o'clock on the 29th, where he +bivouacked. + +On the morning of the 30th he came in contact with the Rebels a mile +beyond the Court-House, posted on the west bank of Chamberlain's Run. + +W. H. F. Lee's cavalry held the right of the Rebel line, with +Pickett's division of infantry on the left. During the forenoon +Bushrod Johnson's division of infantry came down from Five Forks and +formed on Pickett's left. + +Sheridan reconnoitred the position during the forenoon, and began the +attack about two P. M., but the ground was marshy, and his horses +could not be used. Johnson's and Pickett's divisions, and Wise's +brigade, which also had arrived, crossed the run about half past two. +The fight was severe. Sheridan dismounted his men, deployed them as +infantry, and contested the ground, falling back on Dinwiddie +Court-House, where the battle ended at eight o'clock in the evening. + +Meade ordered McKenzie's division of cavalry to hasten to the +assistance of Sheridan, and at five o'clock directed Warren to push a +small force down the White Oak road to communicate with that officer, +and Bartlett's brigade was sent. During the night Warren's whole force +moved towards Dinwiddie to attack Pickett and Johnson in the rear, and +at daylight was ready for the assault; but the Rebels had decamped, +and were once more in position at Five Forks. + +On the morning of the 1st of April, Sheridan, having command of the +Fifth Corps, as well as the cavalry, moved cautiously towards Five +Forks. The forenoon was passed in reconnoitring the position, which +was defended by the whole of Pickett's division, Wise's independent +brigade of infantry, Fitz Hugh Lee's, W. H. Lee's, and Ross's +divisions of cavalry, and Johnson's division of infantry. + +Sheridan's order was to form the whole corps before advancing, so that +all the troops should move simultaneously. + +[Sidenote: April, 1865.] + +Following the Fifth Corps, we came to the Gravelly Run church, which +is about one and a half miles southeast of Five Forks. A quarter of a +mile northwest of the church is the house of Mr. Bass, a landmark for +the future historian, for there Sheridan's line turned a right angle. +Ayers's division of the Fifth marching past the church, wheeled on the +north side of the house and faced west. Crawford's division passed on, +and came into line north of Ayers's, while Griffin's stood in reserve +on the White Oak road, in rear of Ayers's. McKenzie's cavalry, which +had been some time on the ground, deflected to the right and held the +ground to Hatcher's Run, which here has a course due east. McKenzie, +Crawford, Ayers, and Griffin therefore faced west. Taking the other +leg of the angle, we find Stagg's division of cavalry nearest the +house of Mr. Bass, then Gibbs's and Fitzhugh's, Pennington's and +Wells's, all facing north, and on the extreme left, Coppinger's facing +northeast. Fitzhugh's division was directly south of Five Forks. This +powerful body of cavalry was all under the command of Major-General +Merritt. + +The woods were dense, with here and there an opening. + +"Keep the sun shining over your left shoulders," was Warren's order to +his troops. The length of his front was about one thousand yards, and +his divisions were in three lines,--numbering about twelve thousand. +While the troops were forming he drew a sketch of the enemy's position +for each division commander, and instructed them to explain it to each +brigade commander, that there might be no mistake in the movement. + +The cavalry, through the afternoon, while Warren was getting into +position, kept up a skirmish fire. + +Sheridan was impatient. The sun was going down and he must attack at +once or retire. He could not think of doing the latter, as it would +give Pickett and Johnson time to make their intrenchments exceedingly +strong. He ordered Merritt to make a demonstration. That officer +advanced Wells and Coppinger against Johnson's extreme right. + +"I am going to strike their left flank with the Fifth Corps, and when +you hear the musketry, assault all along the line," were his +instructions to Merritt. + +The Fifth advanced in excellent order, sweeping round Pickett's left +flank, and falling on his rear. For a half-hour there was a heavy +fire, but the woods being dense the loss was not very great. When the +order to charge bayonet was given, the men rushed forward, leaped over +the intrenchments, and captured Pickett's front line. Pickett formed a +new line, which he endeavored to hold against the Fifth. Warren +ordered Crawford to take them once more in flank, and sent one of +McKenzie's brigades to aid him. Ayers's and Griffin's divisions had +become disorganized by the success, but reforming they advanced along +the White Oak road, but were checked by Pickett's new line. Officers +were urging the men forward, but there was faltering. Warren, +accompanied by Captain Benvaud, rode to the front, and called upon his +officers to follow his example. Quick the response. Officers of all +ranks, from generals to subalterns and the color-bearers, sprang +forward. In an instant the line rallied, and with fixed bayonets +leaped upon the enemy and captured the whole force opposing them. +Warren's horse fell, fatally shot, and an orderly by his side was +killed, within a few paces of the intrenchment. When Merritt heard the +roll of musketry he ordered the attack. His cavalrymen rode fearlessly +through the woods, dashed up to the intrenchments, leaped over them +and carried the entire line along his front in the first grand charge. + +"The enemy," says Sheridan, "were driven from their strong line of +works, completely routed; the Fifth Corps doubling up their left flank +in confusion, and the cavalry of General Merritt dashing on to the +White Oak road, capturing their artillery, turning it upon them, and +riding into their broken ranks, so demoralized them that they made no +serious stand after their line was carried, but took flight in +disorder."[96] + + [Footnote 96: Sheridan's Report.] + +It was now nearly dark, but Merritt and McKenzie followed the enemy, +who threw away their guns and knapsacks, and sought safety in flight, +or finding themselves hard pressed, surrendered. + +Between five and six thousand prisoners and eighteen pieces of +artillery were captured. The way was open to the South Side Railroad. +Grant determined to turn the success to quick account. "Attack along +the whole line," was his message to the corps commanders. + +At ten o'clock Saturday evening the cannonade began. All the batteries +joined, all the forts, the gunboats in the Appomattox, the batteries +west of Bermuda Hundred, and the monitors by the Howlet House. There +was a continual succession of flashes and an unbroken roll of thunder. +The Rebels had no peace during the night. + +"Send up the provost brigade," was Grant's despatch sent to City +Point. The Sixty-First Massachusetts, One Hundred and Fourteenth New +York, and other regiments, and Sheridan's dismounted cavalry, were out +at daybreak and on the march. + +"Send up the marines to guard the prisoners," was his second despatch, +and the blue-jackets from the gunboats, with carbines, were sent +ashore. The time had come for the mustering of every available man. +The sailors took cars at City Point, and sang all the way to Hatcher's +Run, as if they were having a lark. + +Lee was in trouble. He sent a message to Longstreet, who was north of +the James, to hurry to Petersburg. Longstreet put Ewell in command and +hastened across the James, with Fields's division. Lee had three +bridges, besides those in Richmond,--one at Warwick's, another at +Knight's farm, and the third at Chaffin's Bluff. Longstreet, Lee's +ablest general, stout, robust, with heavy black whiskers, with his +staff, galloped across the middle bridge toward Petersburg, leaving +his troops to follow. + +The Richmond bells were ringing, not the paean of victory, as after +some of their successful battles, but for the assembling of the +militia to man the fortifications from which Longstreet's troops were +retiring. + + "The beat of the alarming drum + Roused up the soldier ere the morning star, + While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, + Or whispering, with white lips, 'The foe! They come! they come!'" + +Let us look at Lee's lines at midnight, Saturday, April 1st. Johnson, +Pickett, Wise, and W. H. F. Lee's cavalry are fleeing towards the +Appomattox, beyond Hatcher's Run; A. P. Hill is holding the line east +of the Run; Gordon occupies the fortifications from the Jerusalem road +to the Appomattox; Longstreet is hastening down from Richmond; Ewell +is north of the James, and the citizens of Richmond are jumping from +their beds to shoulder muskets for service in the trenches. Lee has +not yet decided to evacuate Petersburg. He will wait and see what a +day may bring forth. + +He had not long to wait. Parke, commanding the Ninth Corps, during the +night, prepared to assault. It was precisely four o'clock when the +divisions leaped from their intrenchments, and with bayonets fixed, +without firing a gun, tore away the abatis in front of the forts, +swarmed over the embankments, crawled into the embrasures, and climbed +the parapet. It was the work of five minutes only, but four forts, +mounting between twenty and thirty guns, were taken, with seven +hundred prisoners. + +Grant began early on Sunday morning to draw the farther end of the net +toward Petersburg. Sheridan, with the cavalry and two divisions of the +Fifth, moved upon Sutherland's Station on the South Side Railroad, +eleven miles from Petersburg. Grant sent him Miles's division of the +Second Corps. Wright and Ord, east of the run, at nine o'clock +assaulted the works in their front, and after a severe struggle +carried them, capturing all the guns and several thousand prisoners. + +Humphrey, who was west of the run, now was able to leave his position +and join Wright and Ord. By noon we see the net drawn close. Sheridan +at Sutherland's, with the Fifth Corps, then Humphrey, Ord, and Wright; +all swinging towards the city, taking fort after fort and contracting +the lines. + +In the morning I watched the movements on the left, but as the line +advanced, hastened east in season to see the last attack on Forts +Mahone and Gregg, the two Rebel strongholds south of the town. These +forts were in rear of the main Rebel line, on higher ground. + +The troops, in columns of brigades, moved steadily over the field, +drove in the Rebel pickets, received the fire of the batteries without +breaking, leaped over the breastworks with a huzza, which rang shrill +and clear above the cannonade. Mahone was an embrasured battery of +three guns; Gregg, a strong fort with sally-ports, embrasures for six +guns, and surrounded by a deep ditch. Mahone was carried with a rush, +the men mounting the escarpment and jumping into it, regardless of the +fire poured upon them by the Rebels. + +There was a long struggle for the possession of Gregg. Heth and Wilcox +were there, animating the garrison. The attacking columns moved in +excellent order over the field swept by the guns of the fort, and even +received the canister without staggering. The fort was enveloped in +smoke, showing that the defence was heroic, as well as the assault. + +The lines move on. The soldiers spring into the ditch and climb the +embankment. The foremost, as they reach the top, roll back upon their +comrades. They are lost from sight in smoke and flame; but from the +cloud there comes a hurrah, and the old flag waves in the sunlight +above the stronghold which, through all the weary months, has +thundered defiance. + +Lee's line was broken at the centre, and Petersburg was no longer +tenable. + +It was inspiriting to stand there, and watch the tide of victory +rolling up the hill. With that Sunday's sun the hopes of the Rebels +set, never to rise again. The C. S. A.,--the Confederate Slave +Argosy,--freighted with blood and groans and tears, the death's-head +and cross-bones at her masthead, hailed as a rightful belligerent, +furnished with guns, ammunition, and all needful supplies by +sympathetic England and France, was a shattered, helpless wreck. + +[Illustration: Fire ambulance.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +RICHMOND. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1865.] + +There was no longer the semblance of a Confederacy. Jeff Davis and +Breckenridge were fugitives, without country or home. The Rebel army +was flying. Richmond was in flames. The Rebellion had gone down in a +night,--in darkness as it originated, and as it ought to die. + +At three o'clock, Monday morning, an explosion took place which shook +Richmond to its foundations, and made even the beds in the hospital at +City Point heave as if by an earthquake. It was occasioned by the +blowing up of the Rebel ironclads. Semmes was again without a command, +for the Rebel navy was no more. If not swept from the ocean by Union +cruisers, as the Alabama was by the Kearsarge, it was crushed by the +ponderous blows of Grant and his victorious legions, as the result of +his successes in the field. The shock roused the army from slumber. +The hosts surrounding Petersburg needed no other reveille. The +soldiers were on their feet in an instant, and General Wilcox +(commanding the first division of the Ninth Corps) accepted it as a +signal to advance. He was lying east of the city, his right resting on +the Appomattox. His men sprang forward, but found only deserted works. +The last body of Rebels--the lingerers who were remaining to plunder +the people of Petersburg--took to their heels, and the division +entered the town without opposition. + +The entire army was in motion. Engineers hurried up with pontoons, +strung them across the Appomattox, and Grant began the pursuit. I +entered the town soon after sunrise, and found troops pouring in from +all quarters, cheering, swinging their caps, helping themselves to +tobacco, rushing upon the double-quick, eager to overtake Lee. + +The colored population thronged the streets, swinging their old hats, +bowing low, and shouting "Glory!" "Bless de Lord!" "I's been a praying +for dis yere to happen, but didn't 'spect it quite so soon." "It is +ges like a clap of thunder," said an old negro. + +"I's glad to see you. I'm been trying and wishing and praying dat de +Lord would help me get to de Yankees, and now dey has come into dis +yere city," said another. The citizens of the place, also, were in the +streets, amazed and confounded at what had happened. Provost General +Macy, of Massachusetts, established a guard to prevent depredations +and to save the army from demoralization. The Rebels, before +retreating, destroyed their commissary stores and set all the tobacco +warehouses on fire. I took a hurried survey of the Rebel works in +front of Fort Steadman, and found them very strong. The ground was +honeycombed by the shells which had been thrown from the mortars of +the Ninth Corps. + +General Grant was early in the town, cool, calm, and evidently well +pleased with the aspect of affairs; and President Lincoln, who was at +City Point, visited Petersburg during the day. He went up in a special +car. The soldiers at Meade Station caught a sight of him, and cheered +most heartily. He acknowledged the enthusiasm and devotion of the +soldiers by bowing and thanking them for the glorious achievement of +their arms. On Friday he looked care-worn, but the great victory had +smoothed the deep wrinkles on his brow. + +Reaching City Point at noon, I was soon in the saddle, galloping +towards Richmond; crossing the Appomattox at Broadway, riding to +Varina, crossing the James on the pontoons, and approaching the city +by the New Market road, overtaking a division of the Twenty-Fifth +Corps on the outskirts of the city. It was a hard, exhausting ride. +Two miles out from the city my horse fell, and I found myself turning +a summersault into the ditch; without broken bones, however, but I was +obliged to moderate my speed for the remainder of the distance. + +Before entering upon the narrative of my own observations, let us take +a look at events transpiring in the city on Sunday. + +"We are," said the _Sentinel_ of Saturday evening, "very hopeful of +the campaign which is opening, and trust that we are to reap a large +advantage from the operations evidently near at hand.... We have only +to resolve that we never will surrender, and it will be impossible +that we shall ever be taken." + +"My line is broken in three places, and Richmond must be evacuated," +was Lee's despatch to Jeff Davis. The messenger found him in Rev. Dr. +Minnegerode's church. He read the despatch, hurried to the Executive +Mansion, passed up the winding stairway to his business apartment, sat +down by a small table, wrote an order for the removal of the coin in +the banks to Danville, for the burning of the public documents, and +for the evacuation of the city. Mrs. Davis had left the city several +days previous. + +Rev. Dr. Minnegerode, before closing the forenoon service, gave notice +that General Ewell desired the local forces to assemble at 3 P. M. +There was no evening service. Ministers and congregations were +otherwise employed. Rev. Mr. Hoge, a fierce advocate for slavery as a +beneficent institution, packed his carpet-bag. Rev. Mr. Duncan was +moved to do likewise. Mr. Lumpkin, who for many years had kept a +slave-trader's jail, had a work of necessity on this Lord's day,--the +temporal salvation of fifty men, women, and children! He made up his +coffle in the jail-yard, within pistol-shot of Jeff Davis's parlor +window, and a stone's throw from the Monumental Church. The poor +creatures were hurried to the Danville depot. This sad and weeping +fifty, in handcuffs and chains, was the last slave coffle that shall +tread the soil of America. + +Slavery being the corner-stone of the Confederacy, it was fitting that +this gang, keeping step to the music of their clanking chains, should +accompany Jeff Davis, his secretaries Benjamin and Trenholm, and the +Reverend Messrs. Hoge and Duncan, in their flight. The whole Rebel +government was on the move, and all Richmond desired to be. No +thoughts now of taking Washington, or of the flag of the Confederacy +flaunting in the breeze from the dome of the national Capitol! +Hundreds of officials were at the depot, waiting to get away from the +doomed city. Public documents, the archives of the Confederacy, were +hastily gathered up, tumbled into boxes and barrels, and taken to the +trains, or carried into the streets and set on fire. Coaches, +carriages, wagons, carts, wheelbarrows, everything in the shape of a +vehicle, was pressed into use. There was a jumble of boxes, chests, +trunks, valises, carpet-bags,--a crowd of excited men sweating as +never before: women with dishevelled hair, unmindful of their +wardrobes, wringing their hands, children crying in the crowd, +sentinels guarding each entrance to the train, pushing back at the +point of the bayonet the panic-stricken multitude, giving precedence +to Davis and the high officials, and informing Mr. Lumpkin that his +niggers could not be taken. O, what a loss was there! It would have +been fifty thousand dollars out of somebody's pocket in 1861, and +millions now of Confederate promises to pay, which the hurrying +multitude and that chained slave gang were treading under +foot,--trampling the bonds of the Confederate States of America in the +mire, as they marched to the station; for the oozy streets were as +thickly strewn with four per cents, six per cents, eight per cents, as +forest streams with autumn leaves. + +"The faith of the Confederate States is pledged to provide and +establish sufficient revenues for the regular payment of the interest, +and for the redemption of the principal," read the bonds; but there +was a sudden eclipse of faith, a collapse of confidence, a shrivelling +up like a parched scroll of the entire Confederacy, which was a base +counterfeit of the American Union it sought to overturn and supplant, +now an exploded concern, and wound up by Grant's orders, its bonds, +notes, and certificates of indebtedness worth less than the paper on +which they were printed. + +Soon after dark the commissaries, having loaded all the army wagons +with supplies, began the destruction of what they could not carry +away. In the medical purveyor's department were several hundred +barrels of whiskey, which were rolled into the street and stove in by +soldiers with axes. As the liquor ran down the gutter, officers and +soldiers filled their flasks and canteens, while those who had no +canteen threw themselves upon the ground and drank from the fiery +stream. The rabble with pitchers, basins, dipped it up and drank as if +it were the wine of life. The liquor soon began to show its effects. +The crowd became a mob, and rushed upon the stores and government +warehouses. The soldiers on guard at first kept them at bay, but as +the darkness deepened the whiskey-maddened crowd became more furious. +By midnight there was a grand saturnalia. The flour in the government +stores was seized. Men were seen rolling hogsheads of bacon through +the streets. Women filled their aprons with meal, their arms with +candles. Later in the night the floating _debris_ of the army reached +the city,--the teamsters, servants, ambulance-drivers, with stragglers +from the ranks, who pillaged the stores. First attacking the clothing, +boot, and hat stores, then the jewellers' shops and the saloons, and +lastly the dry-goods establishments. Costly panes of glass were +shivered by the butts of their muskets, and the reckless crowd poured +in to seize whatever for the moment pleased their fancy, to be thrown +aside the next instant for something more attractive. + +"As I passed the old market-house," writes a Rebel soldier, "I met a +tall fellow with both arms full of sticks of candy, dropping part of +his sweet burden at every step." + +"Stranger," said he, "have you got a sweet tooth?" + +"I told him that I did not object to candy." + +"Then go up to Antoni's and get your belly full, and all for nothing." + +"A citizen passed me with an armful of hats and caps. 'It is every man +for himself and the Devil for us all to-night,' he said, as he rushed +past me."[97] + + [Footnote 97: A Rebel Courier's Experience.] + +The train which bore Jeff Davis from the city left at eight o'clock in +the evening. He took his horses and coach on board for a flight across +the country, in case Sheridan stopped the cars. He was greatly +depressed in spirits, and his countenance was haggard and care-worn. +At the station there was a crowd of men who had fawned upon +him,--office-holders, legislators, and public-spirited citizens who +had made great sacrifices for the Rebellion,--who, now that they +wished to obtain standing room upon the train, found themselves rudely +thrust aside by the orders of the President. They were of no more +account than the rest of the excited populace that knew Davis but to +execrate him. + +In the Sabbath evening twilight, the train, with the fugitive +government, its stolen bullion, and its Doctors of Divinity on board, +moved out from the city. + +At the same hour the Governor of Virginia, William Smith, and the +Legislature, embarked in a canal-boat, on the James River and Kanawha +Canal, for Lynchburg. On all the roads were men, women, and children, +in carriages of every description, with multitudes on horseback and on +foot, flying from the Rebel capital. Men who could not get away were +secretly at work, during those night-hours, burying plate and money in +gardens; ladies secreted their jewels, barred and bolted their doors, +and passed a sleepless night, fearful of the morrow, which would bring +in the despised "Vandal horde of Yankee ruffians"; for such were the +epithets they had persistently applied to the soldiers of the Union +throughout the war. + +But the government was not quite through with its operations in +Richmond. General Ewell remained till daylight on Monday morning to +clear up things,--not to burn public archives in order to destroy +evidence of Confederate villany, but to add to the crime already +committed another so atrocious that the stanchest friends of the +Confederacy recoiled with horror even from its contemplation. + +It was past midnight when the Mayor learned that Ewell had issued +orders for firing the government buildings and the tobacco warehouses. +He sent a deputation of prominent citizens to remonstrate. They were +referred to Major Melton, who was to apply the torch. + +"It is a cowardly pretext on the part of the citizens, trumped up to +save their property for the Yankees," said he. + +The committee endeavored to dissuade him from the act. + +"I shall execute my orders," said he. + +They went to General Ewell, who with an oath informed them that the +torch would be applied at daylight. Breckenridge was there, who said +that it would be a disgrace to the Confederate government to endanger +the destruction of the entire city. He was Secretary of War, and could +have countermanded the order. Will not history hold him accountable? + +To prevent the United States from obtaining possession of a few +thousand hogsheads of tobacco, a thousand houses were destroyed by +fire, the heart of the city burnt out,--all of the business portion, +all the banks and insurance-offices, half of the newspapers, with +mills, depots, bridges, founderies, workshops, dwellings, +churches,--thirty squares in all, swept clean by the devouring flames. +It was the final work of the Confederate government. Inaugurated in +heat and passion, carried on by hate and prejudice, its end was but in +keeping with its career,--the total disregard of the rights of person +and property. + +In the outskirts of the city, on the Mechanicsville road, was the +almshouse, filled with the lame, the blind, the halt, poor, sick, +bed-ridden creatures. Ten rods distant was a magazine containing +fifteen or twenty kegs of powder, which might have been rolled into +the creek near at hand, and was of little value to a victorious army +with full supplies of ammunition; but the order of Jeff Davis to blow +up the magazines was peremptory and must be executed. + +"We give you fifteen minutes to get out of the way," was the sole +notice to that crowd of helpless beings lying in their cots, at three +o'clock in the morning. Men and women begged for mercy; but their +cries were in vain. The officer in charge of the matter was +inexorable. Clotheless and shoeless, the inmates ran in terror from +the spot to seek shelter in the ravines; but those who could not run +while the train to fire it was being laid, rent the air with shrieks +of agony. The match was applied at the time. The concussion crushed in +the broad side of the house as if it had been pasteboard. Windows flew +into flinders. Bricks, stones, timbers, beams, and boards were whirled +through the air. Trees were twisted off like withes in the hands of a +giant. The city was wrenched and rocked as by a volcanic convulsion. +The dozen poor wretches whose infirmities prevented their leaving the +house wore horribly mangled; and when the fugitives who had sought +shelter in the fields returned to the ruins they found only the +bruised and blackened remains of their fellow-inmates. + +Let us take a parting glance at the Rebel army as it leaves the city. + +The day is brightening in the east. The long line of baggage-wagons +and the artillery has been rumbling over the bridges all night. The +railroad trains have been busy in conveying the persons and property +of both the government and the people; but the last has departed, and +still a disappointed crowd is left at the depot. The roads leading +west are filled with fugitives in all sorts of vehicles, and on +horseback and on foot. + +Men are rolling barrels of tar and turpentine upon the bridges. Guards +stand upon the Manchester side to prevent the return of any soldier +belonging to Richmond. Custis Lee's division has crossed, and +Kershaw's division, mainly of South Carolinians, follows. The troops +march silently; they are depressed in spirit. The rabble of Manchester +have found out what fine times their friends in Richmond are having, +and old women and girls are streaming across the bridges laden with +plunder,--webs of cloth, blankets, overcoats, and food from the +government storehouses. The war-worn soldiers, ragged and barefoot, +behold it, and utter curses against the Confederate government for +having deprived them of clothing and food. + +General Ewell crosses the bridge, riding an iron-gray horse. He wears +an old faded cloak and slouch hat. He is brutal and profane, mingling +oaths with his orders. Following him is John Cabel Breckenridge, the +long, black, glossy hair of other days changed to gray, his high, +broad forehead wrinkled and furrowed. He is in plain black, with a +talma thrown over his shoulders. He talks with Ewell, and gazes upon +the scene. Suddenly a broad flash of light leaps up beyond the city, +accompanied with a dull, heavy roar, and he sees the air filled with +flying timbers of the hospital, whose inmates, almost without warning, +and without cause or crime, are blown into eternity. + +The last division has crossed the river. The sun is up. A match is +touched to the turpentine spread along the timbers, and the bridges +are in flames; also the tobacco warehouses, the flouring-mills, the +arsenals, and laboratory. The Rebel troops behold the conflagration as +they wind along the roads and through the green fields towards the +southwest, and memory brings back the scenes of their earlier +rejoicing. It is the 2d of April, four years lacking two weeks since +the drunken carousal over the passage of the ordinance of Secession. + +[Illustration: Ruins of Richmond.] + +It was a little past four o'clock when Major A. H. Stevens of the +Fourth Massachusetts cavalry, and Provost Marshal of the Twenty-Fifth +Army Corps, with detachments from companies E and H, started upon a +reconnoissance of the enemy's intrenchments. He found them evacuated +and the guns spiked. A deserter piloted the detachment safely over the +torpedoes which had been planted in front of them. A mile and a half +out from the city, Major Stevens met a barouche and five men mounted +bearing a white flag. The party consisted of the Mayor, Judge Meredith +of the Confederate States Court, and other gentlemen, who tendered the +surrender of the city. He went into the city and was received with joy +by the colored people, who shouted their thanks to the Lord that the +Yankees had come. He proceeded to the Capitol, ascended the roof, +pulled down the State flag which was flying, and raised the guidons of +the two companies upon the building. + +The flames were spreading, and the people, horror-struck and stupefied +by the events of the night, were powerless to arrest them. On, on, +from dwelling to warehouse, from store to hotel, from hotel to banks, +to the newspaper offices, to churches, all along Main Street from near +the Spottswood Hotel to the eastern end of the town; then back to the +river, to the bridges across the James, up to the large stone +fire-proof building, erected by the United States for a post-office, +full of Confederate shinplasters, around this, on both sides of it, up +to Capitol Square, the flames roared and leaped and crackled, +consuming all the business part of the city. In the arsenal were +several thousand shells, which exploded at intervals, throwing +fragments of iron, burning timbers, and blazing brands and cinders +over the surrounding buildings, and driving the people from their +homes. + +Major Stevens ordered the fire-engines into position, posted his +soldiers to preserve order, and called upon the citizens to work the +engines, and did what he could to stop the progress of the devouring +element. + +General Weitzel triumphantly entered the city at eight o'clock, the +colored soldiers singing the John Brown song. With even ranks and +steady step, colors waving, drums beating, bands playing, the columns +passed up the streets, flanked with fire, to the Capitol. Then +stacking their guns, and laying aside their knapsacks, they sprang to +the engines, or mounted the roofs and poured in buckets of water, or +tore down buildings, to stop the ravages of the fire kindled by the +departing Rebels,--emulating the noble example of their comrades in +arms at Charleston; like them manifesting no vindictiveness of spirit, +but forgetting self in their devotion to duty, forgetting wrong and +insult and outrage in their desire to serve their oppressors in their +hour of extremity. + +The business portion was a sea of flame when I entered the city in the +afternoon. I tried to pass through Main Street, but on both sides the +fire was roaring and walls were tumbling. I turned into a side street, +rode up to the Capitol, and then to the Spottswood Hotel. Dr. Reed's +church in front was in flames. On the three sides of the hotel the +fire had been raging, but was now subdued, and there was a fair +prospect that it would be saved. + +"Can you accommodate me with a room?" + +"I reckon we can, sir, but like enough you will be burnt out before +morning. You can have any room you choose. Nobody here." + +I registered my name on a page which bore the names of a score of +Rebel officers who had left in the morning, and took a room on the +first floor, from which I could easily spring to the ground in case +the hotel should be again endangered by the fire. + +Throwing up the sash I looked out upon the scene. There were swaying +chimneys, tottering walls, streets impassable from piles of brick, +stones, and rubbish. Capitol Square was filled with furniture, beds, +clothing, crockery, chairs, tables, looking-glasses. Women were +weeping, children crying. Men stood speechless, haggard, wobegone, +gazing at the desolation. + +In Charleston the streets echoed only to the sound of my own footsteps +or the snarling of hungry curs. There I walked through weeds, and trod +upon flowers in the grassy streets; but in Richmond I waded through +Confederate promises to pay, public documents, and broken furniture +and crockery. + +Granite columns, iron pillars, marble facades, broken into thousands +of pieces, blocked the streets. The Bank of Richmond, Bank of the +Commonwealth, Traders' Bank, Bank of Virginia, Farmers' Bank, a score +of private banking-houses, the American Hotel, the Columbian Hotel, +the _Enquirer_ and the _Dispatch_ printing-offices, the Confederate +Post-Office Department, the State Court-House, the Mechanics' +Institute, all the insurance offices, the Confederate War Department, +the Confederate Arsenal, the Laboratory, Dr. Reed's church, several +founderies and machine-shops, the Henrico County Court-House, the +Danville and the Petersburg depots, the three bridges across the +James, the great flouring-mills, and all the best stores of the city, +were destroyed. + +Soldiers from General Devens's command were on the roof of the +Capitol, Governor's house, and other buildings, ready to extinguish +the flames. The Capitol several times caught fire from cinders. + +"If it had not been for the soldiers the whole city would have gone," +said a citizen. + +The colored soldiers in Capitol Square were dividing their rations +with the houseless women and children, giving them hot coffee, +sweetened with sugar,--such as they had not tasted for many months. +There were ludicrous scenes. One negro had three Dutch-ovens on his +head, piled one above another, a stew-pan in one hand and a skillet in +the other. Women had bags of flour in their arms, baskets of salt and +pails of molasses, or sides of bacon. No miser ever gloated over his +gold so eagerly as they over their supply of provisions. They had all +but starved, but now they could eat till satisfied. + +How stirring the events of that day! Lee retreating, Grant pursuing; +Davis a fugitive; the Governor and Legislature of Virginia seeking +safety in a canal-boat; Doctors of Divinity fleeing from the wrath +they feared; the troops of the Union marching up the streets; the old +flag waving over the Capitol; Rebel ironclads blowing up; Richmond on +fire; the billows rolling from square to square, unopposed in their +progress by the bewildered crowd; and the Northern Vandals laying down +their arms, not to the enemy in the field, but the better to battle +with a foe not more relentless, but less controllable with the weapons +of war. Weird the scenes of that strange, eventful night,--the +glimmering flames, the clouds of smoke hanging like a funeral pall +above the ruins, the crowd of homeless creatures wandering the +streets. + + "Such resting found the soles of unblest feet!" + +In the morning I visited the Capitol building, which, like the +Confederacy, had become exceedingly dilapidated, the windows broken, +the carpets faded, the paint dingy. + +General Weitzel was in the Senate Chamber issuing his orders; also +General Shepley, Military Governor, and General Devens. + +The door opened, and a smooth-faced man, with a keen eye, firm, quick, +resolute step, entered. He wore a plain blue blouse with three stars +on the collar. It was the hero who opened the way to New Orleans, and +who fought the battle of the Mobile forts from the masthead of his +vessel,--Admiral Farragut. He was accompanied by General Gordon of +Massachusetts, commanding the Department of Norfolk. They heard the +news Monday noon, and made all haste up the James, landing at Varina +and taking horses to the city. It was a pleasure to take the brave +Admiral's hand, and answer his eager questions as to what Grant had +done. Being latest of all present from Petersburg, I could give him +the desired information. "Thank God, it is about over," said he of the +Rebellion. + +It was a little past noon when I walked down to the river bank to view +the desolation. While there I saw a boat pulled by twelve rowers +coming up stream, containing President Lincoln and his little son, +Admiral Porter, and three officers. Forty or fifty freedmen--sole +possessors of themselves for twenty-four hours--were at work on the +bank of the canal, under the direction of a lieutenant, securing some +floating timber; they crowded round the President, forgetting work in +their wild joy at beholding the face of the author of the great +Emancipation Proclamation. As he approached I said to a colored +woman,-- + +"There is the man who made you free." + +"What, massa?" + +"That is President Lincoln." + +"Dat President Linkum?" + +"Yes." + +She gazed at him a moment in amazement, joy, rapture, as if in +supernal presence, then clapped her hands, jumped and shouted, +"Glory! glory! glory!" + +[Illustration: Farragut at Mobile.] + +"God bless you, Sah!" said one, taking off his cap and bowing very +low. + +"Hurrah! hurrah! President Linkum hab come! President Linkum hab +come!" rang through the street. + +The lieutenant found himself without men. What cared those freedmen, +fresh from the house of bondage, for floating timber or military +commands? Their deliverer had come,--he who, next to the Lord Jesus, +was their best friend! It was not a hurrah that they gave so much as a +wild, jubilant cry of inexpressible joy. + +They pressed round the President, ran ahead, and hovered upon the +flanks and rear of the little company. Men, women, and children joined +the constantly increasing throng. They came from all the streets, +running in breathless haste, shouting and hallooing, and dancing with +delight. The men threw up their hats, the women waved their bonnets +and handkerchiefs, clapped their hands, and shouted, "Glory to God! +glory! glory! glory!"--rendering all the praise to God, who had given +them freedom, after long years of weary waiting, and had permitted +them thus unexpectedly to meet their great benefactor. + +"I thank you, dear Jesus, that I behold President Linkum!" was the +exclamation of a woman who stood upon the threshold of her humble +home, and with streaming eyes and clasped hands, gave thanks aloud to +the Saviour of men. + +Another, more demonstrative, was jumping and swinging her arms, +crying, "Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord! Bless de Lord!" as if there +could be no end of her thankfulness. + +No carriage was to be had, so the President, leading his son, walked +to General Weitzel's head-quarters,--Jeff Davis's mansion. Six +sailors, wearing their round blue caps and short jackets and baggy +pants, with navy carbines, formed the guard. Next came the President +and Admiral Porter, flanked by the officers accompanying him, and the +writer, then six more sailors with carbines,--twenty of us in all. + +The walk was long, and the President halted a moment to rest. "May de +good Lord bless you, President Linkum!" said an old negro, removing +his hat and bowing, with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. The +President removed his own hat and bowed in silence: it was a bow which +upset the forms, laws, customs, and ceremonies of centuries of +slavery. It was a death-shock to chivalry, and a mortal wound to +caste. Recognize a nigger! Disgusting. A woman in an adjoining house +beheld it, and turned from the scene with unspeakable contempt. There +were men in the surging mass who looked daggers from their eyes, and +felt murder in their hearts, if they did not breathe it from their +lips. But the hour of sacrifice had not yet come; the chosen assassin +was not there; the crowning work of treason and traitors yet remained +to be performed. Not the capital of the defunct slave Confederacy, but +of the restored nation, was to be the scene of the last brutal act in +the tragedy of horrors perpetrated in the name of Christianity. The +great-hearted, noble-minded, wise-headed man, whom Providence had +placed in the Executive chair to carry successfully through the bloody +war of freedom against slavery to its glorious consummation, passed on +to the mansion from whence the usurping President had fled. + +When the soldiers saw him amid the noisy crowd they cheered lustily. +It was an unexpected ovation. Such a welcome, such homage, true, +heartfelt, deep, impassioned, no prince or prelate ever received. + +[Illustration: President Lincoln in Richmond.] + +The streets becoming impassable on account of the increasing +multitude, soldiers were summoned to clear the way. How strange the +event! The President of the United States--he who had been hated, +despised, maligned above all other men living by the people of +Richmond--was walking its streets, receiving every evidence of love +and honor! How bitter the reflections of that moment to some who +beheld him, who remembered, perhaps, that day in May, 1861, when +Jefferson Davis entered the city,--the pageant of that hour, his +speech, his promise to smite the smiter, to drench the fields of +Virginia with richer blood than that shed at Buena Vista! How that +part of the promise had been kept; how their sons, brothers, and +friends had fallen; how all else predicted had failed; how the land +had been filled with mourning; how the State had become a desolation; +how their property, wealth, had disappeared! They had been invited to +a gorgeous banquet; the fruit was fair to the eye, golden and +beautiful, but it had turned to ashes. They had been promised a high +place among the nations. Cotton was the king of kings; and England, +France, and the whole civilized world would bow in humble submission +to his majesty. That was the promise; but now their king was +dethroned, their government overthrown, their President and his +cabinet vagrants. They had been promised affluence, Richmond was to be +the metropolis of the Confederacy, and Virginia the all-powerful State +of the new nation. How terrible the cheat! Their thousand-dollar bonds +were not worth a penny. A million dollars would not purchase a dinner. +Their money was valueless, their slaves were freemen, the heart of +their city was in ashes. They had been deluded in everything. Those +whom they had most trusted had most abused their confidence; and at +last, in the most unfeeling and inhuman manner, had fired their +dwellings, destroying property they could no longer use or levy upon, +thus adding arson and robbery to the already long list of their +crimes. + +The people of Richmond were in despair, having no means for present +subsistence, or to rebuild or commence business again. All their +heroism, hardship, suffering, expenditure of treasure, and sacrifice +of blood had availed them nothing. There could be no comfort in their +mourning, no alleviation to their sorrow. All had been lost in an +unrighteous cause, which God had not prospered, and no satisfaction +could be derived from their participation in it. For try to deceive +themselves as they might into a belief that the conflict was +unavoidable by the encroachments of the North upon the South, they +could but remember the security and peace they enjoyed in the Union, +little of which they had felt or dared hope for in their Utopian +scheme of slavery. + +At length we reached the house from which Jeff Davis had so recently +departed, where General Weitzel had established his head-quarters. The +President entered and sat wearily down in an arm-chair which stood in +the fugitive President's reception-room. General Weitzel introduced +the officers present. Judge Campbell entered. At the beginning of the +war he was on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, +afterwards espoused Secession, and was appointed assistant Secretary +of War under Seddon. He was tall, and looked pale, care-worn, +agitated, and bowed very low to the President, who received him with +dignity, and yet cordially. + +President Lincoln, accompanied by Admiral Porter, General Weitzel, and +General Shepley, rode through the city, escorted by a squadron of +cavalry, followed by thousands of colored people, shouting "Glory to +God!" They had seen great hardship and suffering. A few were well +dressed. Some wore pants of Union blue and coats of Confederate gray. +Others were in rags. The President was much affected as they crowded +around the carriage to touch his hands, and pour out their thanks. +"They that walked in darkness had seen a great light." Their great +deliverer was among them. He came not as a conqueror, not as the head +of a mighty nation,-- + + "Not with the roll of the stirring drum, + Nor the trumpet that sings of fame,"-- + +but as a plain, unpretending American citizen, a representative +republican Chief Magistrate, unheralded, almost unattended, with +"malice towards none, with charity for all," as he had but a few weeks +previously proclaimed from the steps of the Capitol at Washington. + +He visited Libby prison, breathed for a moment its fetid air, gazed +upon the iron-grated windows and the reeking filth upon the slippery +floors, and gave way to uncontrollable emotions. + +Libby Prison! What horrors it recalls! What sighs and groans! What +prayers and tears! What dying out of hope! What wasting away of body +and mind! What nights of darkness settling on human souls! Its door an +entrance to a living charnel-house, its iron-barred windows but the +outlook of hell! It was the Inferno of the slave Confederacy. Well +might have been written over its portal, "All hope abandon, ye who +enter here." + +Visiting the prison the next morning, I found it occupied by several +hundred Rebels, who were peering from the grated windows, looking +sadly upon the desolation around them. A large number were upon the +roof, breathing the fresh air, and gazing upon the fields beyond the +James, now green with the verdure of spring. Such liberty was never +granted Union prisoners. Whoever approached the prison bars, or laid +his hand upon them, became the victim of a Rebel bullet. + +[Illustration: A. Lincoln.] + +There was a crowd of women with pails and buckets at the windows, +giving the prisoners provisions and talking freely with their friends, +who came not only to the windows, but to the door, where the +good-natured sentinel allowed conversation without restraint. + +The officer in charge conducted our party through the wards. The air +was saturated with vile odors, arising from the unwashed crowd,--from +old rags and dirty garments, from puddles of filthy water which +dripped through the floor, ran down the walls, sickening to all the +senses. From this prison fifteen hundred men were hurried to the +flag-of-truce boat on Sunday, that they might be exchanged before the +evacuation of the city. Many thousands had lived there month after +month, wasting away, starving, dying of fever, of consumption, of all +diseases known to medical science,--from insanity, despair, +idiocy,--having no communication with the outer world, no food from +friends, no sympathy, no compassion,--tortured to death through rigor +of imprisonment, by men whose hearts grew harder from day to day by +the brutality they practised. + +"Please give me a bit of bread, Aunty, I am starving," was the plea +one day of a young soldier who saw a negro woman passing the window. +He thrust his emaciated hand between the bars and clutched the bit +which she cheerfully gave him; but before it had passed between his +teeth he saw the brains of his benefactress spattered upon the +sidewalk by the sentinel! + +Although the city was in possession of the Union forces, there were +many residents who believed that Lee would retrieve the disaster. + +"I was sorry," said a citizen, "to see the Stars and Stripes torn down +in 1861. It is the prettiest flag in the world, but I shed tears when +I saw it raised over the Capitol of Virginia on Sunday morning." + +"Why so?" I asked. + +"Because it was done without the consent of the State of Virginia." + +"Then you still cling to the idea that a State is more than the +nation." + +"Yes; State rights above everything." + +"Don't you think the war is almost over,--that it is useless for Lee +to contend further?" + +"No. He will fight another battle, and he will win. He can fight for +twenty-five years in the mountains." + +"Do you think that men can live in the mountains?" + +"Yes; on roots and herbs, and fight you till you are weary of it, and +whip you out." + +A friend called upon one of the most aristocratic families of the +place. He found that men and women alike were exceedingly bitter and +defiant. They never would yield. They would fight through a +generation, and defeat the Yankees at last. + +They were proud of the Old Dominion, the mother of States and of +Presidents, proud of their ancestry, of the chivalry of Virginia, and +gave free expression to their hatred. + +Having heard that a brigade of colored troops had been enlisted in +Richmond for the Rebel army, I made inquiries to ascertain the facts. +All through the war the Rebel authorities had engaged a large number +of slaves as teamsters and laborers. The immense fortifications thrown +up around Richmond, Yorktown, Petersburg, Wilmington, Charleston, and +Savannah were the work of slaves. The Rebels said that slavery, +instead of being a weakness, was an element of strength. Slaves built +the fortifications and raised the corn and wheat, which enabled the +Confederacy to send all of its white fighting population to the field. +But the fighting material was used up. Men were wanted. An unsparing +conscription failed to fill up the ranks. Then came the agitation of +the question of employing negro soldiers. + +General Lee advocated the measure. "They possess," said he, "all the +physical qualifications, and their habits of obedience constitute a +good foundation for discipline. I think those who are employed should +be freed. It would neither be just nor wise, in my opinion, to require +them to serve as slaves. The best course to pursue, it seems to me, +would be to call for such as are willing to come,--willing to come, +with the consent of their owners. An impressment or draft would not be +likely to bring out the best class, and the use of coercion would make +the measure distasteful to them and to their owners." + +The subject was debated in secret session in Congress, and a bill +enacted authorizing their employment. + +A great meeting was held in the African church to "fire the Southern +heart," and speeches were made. A recruiting-office was opened. The +newspapers spoke of the success of the movement. Regiments were +organizing. + +"I fear there will soon be a great scarcity of arms when the negroes +are drilled," wrote the Rebel war clerk in his diary on the 11th of +March; and five days later, on the 17th, "We shall have a negro army. +Letters are pouring into the department from men of military skill and +character, asking authority to raise companies, battalions, and +regiments of negro troops. It is the desperate remedy for the very +desperate case, and may be successful. If three hundred thousand +efficient soldiers can be made of this material, there is no +conjecturing when the next campaign may end." + +A week later the colored troops had a parade in Capitol Square. There +were so few, that the war clerk said it was "rather a ridiculous +affair." + +"How many colored men enlisted?" I asked of a negro. + +"'Bout fifty, I reckon, sir. Dey was mostly poor Souf Carolina +darkies,--poor heathen fellers, who didn't know no better." + +"Would you have fought against the Yankees?" + +"No, sir. Dey might have shot me through de body wid ninety thousand +balls, before I would have fired a gun at my friends." + +"Then you look upon us as your friends?" + +"Yes, sir. I have prayed for you to come; and do you think that I +would have prayed one way and fit de other?" + +"I'll tell you, massa, what I would have done," said another, taking +off his hat and bowing: "I would have taken de gun, and when I cotched +a chance I'd a shooted it at de Rebs and den run for de Yankees." + +This brought a general explosion from the crowd, and arrested the +attention of some white men passing. + +We were in the street west of the Capitol. I had but to raise my eyes +to see the Stars and Stripes waving in the evening breeze. A few paces +distant were the ruins of the Rebel War Department, from whence were +issued the orders to starve our prisoners at Belle Isle, Salisbury, +and Andersonville. Not far were the walls of Dr. Reed's church, where +a specious Gospel had been preached, and near by was the church of Dr. +Minnegerode. The street was full of people. I was a stranger to them +all, but I ventured to make this inquiry,-- + +"Did you ever see an Abolitionist?" + +"No, massa, I reckon I neber did," was the reply. + +"What kind of people do you think they are?" + +"Well, massa, I specs dey is a good kind of people." + +"Why do you think so?" + +"'Case when I hear bad white folks swearing and cursing about 'em, I +reckon dar must be something good about 'em." + +"Well, my friends, I am an Abolitionist; I believe that all men have +equal rights, and that I have no more right to make a slave of you +than you have of me." + +Every hat came off in an instant. Hands were reached out toward me, +and I heard from a dozen tongues a hearty "God bless you, sir!" + +White men heard me and scowled. Had I uttered those words in Richmond +twenty-four hours earlier I should have had no opportunity to repeat +them, but paid for my temerity with a halter or a knife; but now those +men who stretched out their hands to me would have given the last drop +of their blood before they would have seen a hair of my head injured, +after that declaration. + +The slaves were the true loyal men of the South. They did what they +could to help put down the Rebellion by aiding Union prisoners to +escape, by giving trustworthy information. The Stars and Stripes was +their banner of hope. What a life they led! I met a young colored man, +with features more Anglo-Saxon than African, who asked,-- + +"Do you think, sir, that I could obtain employment in the North?" + +"What can you do?" + +"Well, sir, I have been an assistant in a drug store. I can put up +prescriptions. I paid forty dollars a month for my time before the +Confederate money became worthless, but my master thought that I was +going to run away to the Yankees, and sold me awhile ago; and he was +my own father, sir." + +"Your own father?" + +"Yes, sir! They often sell their own flesh and blood, sir!" + +Among the correspondents accompanying the army was a gentleman +connected with the Philadelphia _Press_, Mr. Chester, tall, stout, and +muscular. God had given him a colored skin, but beneath it lay a +courageous heart. Visiting the Capitol, he entered the Senate chamber +and sat down in the Speaker's chair to write a letter. A paroled Rebel +officer entered the room. + +"Come out of there, you black cuss!" shouted the officer, clenching +his fist. + +Mr. Chester raised his eyes, calmly surveyed the intruder, and went on +with his writing. + +"Get out of there, or I'll knock your brains out!" the officer +bellowed, pouring out a torrent of oaths; and rushing up the steps to +execute his threat, found himself tumbling over chairs and benches, +knocked down by one well-planted blow between his eyes. + +Mr. Chester sat down as if nothing had happened. The Rebel sprang to +his feet and called upon Captain Hutchins of General Devens's staff +for a sword. + +"I'll cut the fellow's heart out," said he. + +"O no, I guess not. I can't let you have my sword for any such +purpose. If you want to fight, I will clear a space here, and see that +you have fair play, but let me tell you that you will get a tremendous +thrashing," said Captain Hutchins. + +The officer left the hall in disgust. "I thought I would exercise my +rights as a belligerent," said Mr. Chester. + +I ascended the steps of the Capitol and stood on the roof of the +building to gaze upon the panorama, hardly surpassed in beauty +anywhere,--a lovely combination of city, country, valley, hill, plain, +field, forest, and foaming river. The events of four years came to +remembrance. First, the secession of the state on the 17th of April, +1861, by the convention which sat with closed doors in the hall below, +the threats of violence uttered against the Union delegates from the +western counties, the wild tumult of the "People's Convention," so +called, in Metropolitan Hall,--a body of Jacobins assembling to +browbeat the convention in the Capitol; and when the ordinance was +passed, the appearance of John Tyler, once President of the United +States, with Governor Wise, among the fire-eaters, welcomed with noisy +cheers; it seemed as if I could hear the voice of Tyler as he said +that Virginia and the people of the South had submitted to aggression +till secession was a duty, and that the Almighty would smile upon the +work of that day. They were the words of a feeble old man, whose every +official act was in the interest of slavery. Vehement the words of +Wise, who imagined that the Yankees had seized one of his children as +a hostage for himself. + +"If they suppose," said he, "that hostages of my own heart's blood +will stay my hand in a contest for the maintenance of sacred rights, +they are mistaken. Affection for kindred, property, and life itself +sink into insignificance in comparison with the overwhelming +importance of public duty in such a crisis as this." + +Mason, the lordly senator, and Governor Letcher, the drunken executive +of the State, also addressed the crazy crowd, fired to a burning heat +of madness by passion and whiskey. + +On that occasion the Confederate flag was raised upon the flagstaff +springing from the roof of the Capitol, although the State had not +joined the Confederacy. The people were to vote on the question, and +yet the Convention had enjoined that the act of secession should be +kept a secret till Norfolk Navy Yard and Harper's Ferry Arsenal could +be seized.[98] The newspapers of Richmond had no announcement to make +the next morning that the State was no longer a member of the Union. +What honorable, high-minded, "chivalrous" proceedings! + + [Footnote 98: Rebel War Clerk's Diary, Vol. I. p. 24.] + +Then came the volunteers thronging the streets. Professor Jackson +(Stonewall) was drilling the cadets. Three days after the passage of +the ordinance of secession, troops were swarming in the yard around +the Capitol, and A. H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy, +and Ex-President Tyler, and the drunken Letcher were negotiating an +alliance offensive and defensive between the sovereign State of +Virginia and the States already confederated to establish a +slaveholding republic. + +Next in order was the arrival of Jeff Davis and the perambulating +government of the Confederacy, to tarry a few days in Richmond before +proceeding to Washington. Davis and his followers made boastful +promises of what they could and would do, breathing out threatenings +and slaughter against the hated Yankees. Then the hurly-burly,--the +rush of volunteers, the arrival of troops, welcomed with cheers and +smiles, the streets through which they passed strewn with flowers by +the ladies of Richmond. The Confederate Congress and heads of +departments came,--Stephens, Toombs, Cobb, Floyd, Wigfall, Memminger, +Mallory,--with thousands of place-hunters, filling the city to +overflowing, putting money into the pockets of the citizens,--not gold +and silver, but Confederate currency, to be redeemed two years after +the ratification of the treaty of peace with the United States. +Beauregard, the rising star of the South, came from Charleston, to +reap fresh laurels at Manassas. Richmond was solemn on that memorable +Sabbath, the 21st of June, 1861, for through the forenoon the reports +were that the Yankees were winning the day; but at night, when the +news came from Davis that the "cowardly horde" was flying, +panic-stricken, to Washington, how jubilant the crowd! + +A year later there were pale faces, when the army of McClellan swept +through Williamsburg. Jeff Davis packed up his furniture, and made +preparations to leave the city. There was another fright when the +Rebels came back discomfited from Fair Oaks. + +From the roof of the Capitol anxious eyes watched the war-clouds +rolling up from Mechanicsville and Cold Harbor. Those were mournful +days. Long lines of ambulances, wagons, coaches, and carts, filled +with wounded, filed through the streets. How fearful the slaughter to +the Rebels in those memorable seven days' fighting! Deep the +maledictions heaped upon the drunken Magruder for the carnage at +Malvern Hill. + +Beneath the roof on which I stood Stuart, Gregg, and Stonewall +Jackson,--dead heroes of the Rebellion,--had reposed in state, mourned +by the weeping multitude. + +Before me were Libby Prison and Belle Isle. What wretchedness and +suffering there! Starvation for soldiers of the Union, within sight of +the fertile fields of Manchester, waving with grain and alive with +flocks and herds! Nearer the Capitol was the mansion of Jeff Davis, +the slave-trader's jail and the slave-market. What agony and cries of +distress within the hearing of the Chief Magistrate of the +Confederacy, as mothers pressed their infants to their breasts for the +last time. + +In front of the Capitol was the stone building erected by the United +States, where for four years Jeff Davis had played the sovereign, +where Benjamin, Memminger, Toombs, Mallory, Sedden, Trenholm, and +Breckenridge had exercised authority, dispensing places of profit to +their friends, who came in crowds to find exemption from conscription. +Beyond, and on either side, was the forest of blackened chimneys, +tottering walls, and smoking ruins of the fire which had swept away +the accumulated wealth of years in a day. How terrible the +retribution! Before the war there was quiet in the city, but there +came a reign of terror, when ruffians ruled, when peaceful citizens +dared not be abroad after dark. There was sorrow in every household +for friends fallen in battle, and Poverty sat by many a hearthstone. + +Hardest of all to bear was the charity of their enemies. Under the +shadow of the Capitol the Christian and Sanitary Commissions were +giving bread to the needy. Standing there upon the roof I could look +down upon a throng of men, women, and children receiving food from the +kind-hearted delegates, upon whose lips were no words of bitterness, +but only the song of the angels,--"Peace on earth, good-will to men!" + +[Illustration: U. S. Christian Commission.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE CONFEDERATE LOAN. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1865.] + +The attitude of Great Britain towards the United States during the +Rebellion will make a strange chapter in history. The first steamship +returning from that country after the firing upon Fort Sumter brought +the intelligence that the British government had recognized the Rebels +as belligerents. Mr. Adams, the newly appointed Minister to the Court +of St. James, was on his way to London, but without waiting to hear +what representations he might have to make, the ministry with unseemly +haste gave encouragement to the Rebels. + +Palmerston, Russell, the chief dignitaries of state, and of the Church +also, with the London _Times_ and Morning _Post_, espoused the cause +of the slaveholders, while the weavers of Lancashire, though thrown +out of employment by the blockade, gave their sympathies to the North. +They were ignorant of the causes which led to hostilities. The English +press informed them that it was the tariff; that the people of the +South had a right to secede; that the United States had no right to +restrain them; that the South was fighting for liberty: but +notwithstanding this, the operatives, from the beginning, ranged +themselves on the side of the Union. They stood in opposition to +Palmerston and the peers of the realm,--the press, the aristocracy, +and the mill-owners. In this they were guided, perhaps, more by +instinct than by reason. + +They knew that in the North labor was free, but that the South had +made slavery the corner-stone of their Confederacy. Their life was +ever a battle, for Labor was the slave of Capital. They knew nothing +of State rights, or the rights of belligerents, or of American +tariffs, but instinct by a short road led them to the conclusion that +the conflict was not merely national, but world-wide, and that the +freemen of the North were fighting for the rights of men everywhere. + +The London _Times_ was foremost among the newspapers to prophesy the +disruption of the Union. Its utterances were oracular. It claimed +superior knowledge and a deeper insight of the American question than +any of its contemporaries, and its opinions were accepted as truth by +all Englishmen who approved the slaveholders' war. Ship-builders, +cotton-brokers, and capitalists regulated their faith and works by the +leading articles of that journal, and loaned their money to the South. + +"The great republic is gone, and no serious attempt will be made by +the North to save it," wrote Mr. W. H. Russell to the _Times_ in +April, 1861. + +"General bankruptcy is inevitable, and agrarian and socialist riots +may be expected very soon," was the despatch of that individual +immediately after the battle of Bull Run. + +The tradespeople of England believed him. The South was victor; the +Confederacy was to become a nation. The agents of the South were +already in England purchasing supplies, paying liberal prices. They +found that Englishmen were ready to engage in any scheme of +profit,--in running the blockade, building war-ships for the +Confederate government, or selling arms and ammunition, in violation +of the laws of the realm. + +As a large number of letters written by Rebel agents and emissaries in +England and France have fallen into my hands, I purpose in this +chapter to give a _resume_ of their contents, which expose the secret +history of the Cotton Loan. + +Soon after the beginning of hostilities the Liverpool correspondent of +the _Times_, Mr. James Spence, entered heartily into the support of +the cause of the South. He was engaged in commercial pursuits, but +found leisure not only to keep up his correspondence with the _Times_, +but to write a book entitled the "American Union," in which he +advocated the right of the South to secede, and extolled slavery as a +superior condition of life for the laboring man. + +"The negroes," said he, "have at all times abundant food: the +sufferings of fireless winters are unknown to them, medical attendance +is always at command; in old age there is no fear of a workhouse; +their children are never a burden or a curse; their labor, though +long, is neither difficult nor unhealthy. As a rule, they have their +own ground and fowls and vegetables, of which they sell a surplus. So +far, then, as merely animal comforts extend, their lot is more free +from suffering than those of many classes of European laborers." + +Such sympathy with slavery received its reward in the appointment of +Mr. Spence as financial agent of the Confederacy. Large sums of money +were sent from Charleston, Savannah, and Richmond to England. Vessels +found little difficulty in running the blockade during the first year +of the war, and Nassau became the half-way station, and thousands of +Englishmen counted up their gains from blockade-running with glee. +Societies were formed in London and other principal cities, called +"Confederate Aid Associations." + +An address to the British public was issued, setting forth the +barbarism of the North against the South, struggling for her rights. + + "The women of the South," reads the address, "have been insulted, + imprisoned, flogged, violated, and outraged in a most inhuman and + savage manner. Their homes and goods have been destroyed, their + houses forcibly entered, the helpless and unresisting inmates + murdered, the fleeing overtaken and cut down in cold blood by the + savage soldiery of the North.... They are now glutting their + hellish rage against the people they seek to destroy in + inflicting every kind of torture, punishment, and misery that + their fruitful minds can invent upon those that they would fain + call fellow-citizens.... The atrocities, cruelties, crimes, and + outrages committed against the South in this war are without a + parallel in the history of the world.... + + "In the name of suffering Lancashire, civilization, justice, + peace, liberty, humanity, Christianity, and a candid world; and + by the highest considerations that can call men into action, we + beg you to come forward to aid, contribute, and support a brave + and valiant people that are fighting for their homes, firesides, + birthright, lives, independence, sacred honor, and all that is + dear to mankind. By all the sorrows, deprivations, bereavements, + losses, hardships, and suffering that now ingulf the Confederate + people, we appeal to you to arouse, and rush to their aid with + your pence, shillings, and pounds; give them your sympathy, + countenance, and influence, to hurl the tyrants from their + country, and obtain the greatest boon to man,--self-government. + Fairest and best of earth, for the sake of violated innocence, + insulted virtue, and the honor of your sex,--come in woman's + majesty and omnipotence, and give strength to a cause that has + for its object the highest human aims, the amelioration and + exaltation of humanity." + +The address was issued by Englishmen, had a wide circulation, and +undoubtedly was accepted as a true representation of affairs. + +Then Whittier sent his stinging words, "To Englishmen," across the +Atlantic:-- + + "But yesterday you scarce could shake, + In slave-abhorring rigor, + Our Northern palms, for conscience' sake; + To-day you clasp the hands that ache + With 'walloping the nigger'! + + * * * * * + + "And is it Christian England cheers + The bruiser, not the bruised? + And must she run, despite the tears + And prayers of eighteen hundred years, + A-muck in Slavery's crusade? + + "O black disgrace! O shame and loss + Too deep for tongue to phrase on! + Tear from your flag its holy cross, + And in your van of battle toss + The pirate's skull-bone blazon!" + +The Trent affair had inflamed the British public, and Rebel +sympathizers were fierce for war, that the South might reap the +advantage; but Mason and Slidell had been given up by President +Lincoln, and Mr. Mason stood hat in hand at the gate of St. James. But +Earl Russell could not conveniently see him just then. Lancashire had +spoken. Men upon whose humble hearths no fire warmed the wintry air, +in whose homes poverty was ever a guest, around whose doors the wolf +of want was always prowling,--the bone and muscle of England, with +whom the instinct of Liberty was stronger to persuade than distress +and famine to subdue,--they, the hardy workers of England, were with +the North. + +At home, in the valley of the Shenandoah, Mr. Mason had been a +Virginia lord. It was his nature to be proud, imperious, and haughty. +He lived in the greatness of an ancient family name. He expected ready +admittance at St. James; but though he rang the bell early and often, +and sent in his card, Earl Russell was not "at home" to him. + +He was ready to turn away in disgust, but the wants of the +Confederacy compelled him to submit to whatever humiliation Earl +Russell might choose to administer. He told his griefs to Mr. +Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of State, and received condolence. + + "Your correspondence with Lord Russell," wrote the Secretary, + "shows with what scant courtesy you have been treated, and + exhibits a marked contrast between the conduct of the English and + French statesmen now in office, in their intercourse with foreign + agents, eminently discreditable to the former. It is lamentable + that at this late period of the nineteenth century, a nation so + enlightened as Great Britain should have failed yet to discover + that a principal cause of the dislike and hatred towards England, + of which complaints are rife, in her Parliament and press, is the + offensive arrogance of some of her public men. The contrast is + striking between the polished courtesy of M. Thouvenal and the + rude incivility of Lord Russell. + + "Your determination to submit to these annoyances in the service + of your country, and to overlook personal slights, while hope + remains that your continued presence in England may benefit our + cause, cannot fail to command the approval of your + government."[99] + + [Footnote 99: Benjamin's letter to Mason, October 28, 1862.] + +Englishmen wanted to see the great republic broken to pieces, but +there were repulsive features in that system of civilization which the +South was attempting to establish. The Union dead were mangled at +Manassas; their bones were carved into charms and amulets. Among the +mountains of Tennessee old men were dragged from their beds at +midnight, and hung without judge or jury, because they loved the flag +of their country. In Missouri bridges were burned at night, and men, +women, and children upon railroad trains were precipitated into +yawning gulfs by their neighbors! This was the work of the "master +race," too "refined," "chivalric," and "gentlemanly" to associate with +the laboring men of the North. Were the workingmen of Old England any +more worthy than they of New England to associate with the +slave-masters of the South? British operatives and mechanics +understood the question,--that it was a conflict between two systems +of labor,--and they rejected with disdain all overtures from the +South. + +The intervention of England and France was necessary to insure the +success of the Rebel cause, and English and European public sentiment +must be brought round to the Southern side by the power of the press. +Mr. Edwin De Leon therefore was made an agent of the Confederacy to +subsidize the press of Europe. The wires were pulled by Mr. Benjamin, +who wrote thus to Mr. De Leon:-- + + "I will take measures to forward you additional means to enable + you to extend the field of your operations, and to embrace, if + possible, the press of Central Europe in your campaign. Austria + and Prussia, as well as the smaller Germanic powers, seem to + require intelligence of the true condition of our affairs, and + the nature of our struggle; and it is to be hoped that you may + find means to act with efficiency in moulding public opinion in + those countries."[100] + + [Footnote 100: Benjamin's letter to Mr. De Leon, December 13, + 1862.] + +That this scheme of bribery was successful will appear further on. The +British government having with precipitate haste recognized the Rebels +as belligerents, English merchants were quick to follow in the track +of Palmerston and Russell. Merchants, bankers, admirals of the navy, +officers of the army, speculators, spendthrifts, adventurers from the +slums and stews of London and Liverpool, in common with members of +Parliament and peers of the realm, engaged in blockade-running, not +only to enrich themselves, but to aid in establishing a government +based on human slavery. The agents of the Confederacy in England found +hearty welcome from all classes, especially the ship-builders. + +[Illustration: Captain Winslow and the Kearsarge.] + +Soon after the attack upon Sumter Mr. Mallory, Secretary of the +Confederate Navy, sent Captain Bullock of Savannah to England, to +engage ship-builders to fit out privateers. He found W. C. Miller & +Son of Liverpool, and the Lairds of Birkenhead, ready to engage in the +work of destroying American commerce. He contracted with the first for +the building of the Oreto, or Florida, and with the Lairds for the +"290," or Alabama. He also found warm welcome from Roebuck, Gregory, +and other members of Parliament, and from capitalists, who subscribed +liberally in aid of the enterprise. + +[Illustration: Admiral Farragut.] + +Funds were needed for the payment of Rebel debts in England, and the +Confederate Congress passed a bill in April, 1862, authorizing the +exchange of bonds for articles in kind, and Mr. Benjamin thereupon +wrote to Mr. Mason, advising him of the financial arrangements which +had been made. + + "At your suggestion," said Mr. Benjamin, "I have appointed Mr. + James Spence of Liverpool financial agent, and have requested him + to negotiate for the sale of five million dollars of our eight + per cent bonds, if he can realize fifty per cent on them. I have + already sent over two millions of bonds, and will send another + million in a week or ten days. Mr. Spence is directed to confer + with Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. who had previously been made + our depositaries at Liverpool.... I have also directed Mr. Spence + to endeavor to negotiate for the application of two and a half + millions of coin, which I have here, for the purchase of supplies + and munitions for our army. I hope that this coin will be + accepted by British houses in payment at the rate of sterling in + England, less freight and insurance. It seems to me that upon its + transfer to British owners, they could obtain transportation for + it on their vessels of war from any Confederate port, inasmuch as + it would be _bona fide_ British property, and in any event the + holder of the transfer would have a certain security."[101] + + [Footnote 101: Benjamin's Letter, October 24, 1862.] + +This scheme of an alliance between British naval officers and the +Rebel government was carried out, and a portion of the coin shipped in +a British man-of-war, the Vesuvius, from Bahama, by the English +consul.[102] + + [Footnote 102: Earl Russell's letter to Mr. Adams, Diplo. + Cor. 1863, Part I. p. 129.] + +The bonds referred to by Mr. Benjamin were the regularly issued bonds +of the Confederacy. Cotton certificates were also issued; but in +addition to these means, the Rebel government deemed it advisable to +bring out a loan based exclusively on cotton. + +The proposition came from Mr. Slidell, who was in Paris, envoy to the +Court of France, but who, instead of attending the receptions of the +Emperor at the Tuileries, was endeavoring to obtain social and +political recognition by giving luxurious entertainments. Napoleon was +ready to recognize the Confederacy, but Palmerston and Russell +hesitated, and he was not quite prepared to move alone in the matter. + +He was anxious to see the great republic broken up, not that he +particularly desired the establishment of the Confederacy, but for +the furtherance of his own designs in Mexico. While professing to Mr. +Slidell good-will, and a readiness to give substantial aid to the +Rebellion, his agents, M. de Saligny, French minister in Mexico, M. +Theron, French consul at Galveston, and M. Tabouelle, French +vice-consul at Richmond, were intriguing to dismember Texas from the +Confederacy. + +"The Emperor of the French," wrote Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Slidell, "has +determined to conquer and hold Mexico as a colony, and is desirous of +interposing a weak power between his new colony and the Confederate +States, in order that he may feel secure against interference with his +designs on Mexico.... The evidence thus afforded of a disposition on +the part of France to seize on this crisis of our fate as her occasion +for the promotion of selfish interests, and this too after the +assurances of friendly disposition, or, at worst, impartial +neutrality, which you have received from the leading public men of +France, cannot but awaken solicitude."[103] + + [Footnote 103: Benjamin to Slidell, October 17, 1862.] + +The French consuls at Galveston and Richmond were dismissed by Jeff +Davis, but that did not outwardly ruffle the temper of the Emperor, +nor stop the cotton loan, as will presently be seen. The Rebel +congressmen looked upon Slidell's scheme with distrust, but the bill +was eventually passed in secret session. The finances of the +Confederacy were going to wreck. There were heavy debts in Europe, +and, unless the bills were promptly paid, there would be an end of +supplies. England was suffering for cotton, and the time had come for +the successful negotiation of a loan, based on cotton, with great +apparent advantages to the subscribers. The mill-owners of Manchester +were ready to enter upon any speculation which would start their +machinery; the aristocracy would subscribe out of sympathy for the +slaveholders; the Liverpool shippers would take stock, as it would +give employment to their blockade-runners; while the unusual risks and +great chances of profit would make it attractive to the multitude with +whom the Derby is the whitest day of the year. + +Mr. Slidell had made the acquaintance of Baron Ermile d'Erlanger of +Paris, a Jewish banker, who had a branch house in Frankfort conducted +by his brother, Raphael d'Erlanger. This firm was recommended by +Slidell as a suitable agency for bringing out the loan, and the +contract was given them by Mr. Memminger. D'Erlanger began +preparations for putting it on the market in February, 1863. He +desired to issue it in England, France, Holland, and Germany at the +same time, to bring to the Confederacy the financial support of +Europe. The considerations were political as well as financial. He +found some difficulty, however, in obtaining English agents. The +Barings and Rothschilds stood aloof. He offered the London management +to Messrs. John H. Gilliat & Co., but that firm declined having +anything to do with it. It was offered to other bankers, but refused. +He found willing agents at last in Messrs. John Henry Schroeder & Co., +and the firm of Messrs. Lawrence, Son, and Pearce. In Liverpool +Messrs. Frazer, Trenholm, & Co. had been acting as agents of the +Confederacy, and the management was placed in their hands. Schroeder's +agents in Amsterdam managed it there, while D'Erlanger's branch house +in Frankfort brought it out in that city. D'Erlanger himself +manipulated it in Paris. + +D'Erlanger and Mr. Beer, of his firm, visited England, and arranged +matters with Mason and Spence, and with Frazer, Trenholm, & Co., all +of whom were acting as agents of the Confederacy. A special agent had +been appointed by the Rebel government to take charge of the +loan,--General C. J. McRae,--who was on his way from Richmond to +Paris; but as the needs of the Confederacy were urgent, the loan was +opened before his arrival. + +The support of the press was secured,--all but two or three papers +being brought, through the agency of Mr. De Leon, Mr. Mason, and Mr. +Spence, to praise the Confederacy, cry down the Union, and urge +recognition by France and England as the surest way to put an end to +the war. + +The correspondence in my possession between the parties opens on the +1st of March. Mr. Spence, sitting in his parlor in the Burlington +Hotel, Old Burlington Street, London, writes to Baron d'Erlanger, who +is in Paris, asking for a copy of the contract. + +D'Erlanger did not place a very high estimate on the ability of Mr. +Spence as a financial manager; but as he was the correspondent of the +_Times_, and commercial agent of the Confederacy, thought best not to +offend him. Spence, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to make +money. A week later, on the 6th of March, he wrote thus to +D'Erlanger:-- + + "You said something in the last interview of L50,000 of the + stock. If it had occurred to you to put down to me that quantity + at the gross price of seventy-seven, I should be disposed to + consider it, looking to the advantage to all concerned of having + a common interest." + +As the loan was issued at 90, this proposal of Mr. Spence to take it +at 77,--giving him a margin of 13 per cent under the contract +price,--was, in the language of bankers, "a shave" for his services as +correspondent of the _Times_,--a transaction upon which more light +will be thrown further on in this history. + +The loan was put upon the market on the 19th of March. Fifteen per +cent was to be paid at the time of subscribing. The stock was limited +to three million pounds sterling ($15,000,000); but so desirous were +Englishmen to take it, the applications were for L9,000,000 +($45,000,000). + +On the evening of the 19th Mr. Spence wrote to D'Erlanger of its +success in Liverpool:-- + + "All goes well here. The cotton trade take it up with strong + interest, and it will come out for large sums. I applied very + early for L20,000, and thought I should have been first, but + found P---- was before me, with his L100,000. You will have a lot + of applications in London from the storgs,--that is, those who + join to sell at the premium. Here we have no class of that kind, + and our applicants, as in Manchester, being more _bona fide_, + will, as a rule, take a day or two to digest its merits. The + market closed here at 4-1/4,--quite high enough for the first + day." + +On the next day, the 20th, Mr. Spence writes:-- + + "We shall very much exceed a million here, I think, by noon + to-morrow. The political effect will be enormous. It is the + recognition of the South by the intelligence of Europe." + +On the 21st, congratulations were received by D'Erlanger from Slidell, +who was in London. + +"Allow me to congratulate you," said he, "on your _magnific_ success. +Apart from the direct advantages of the affair, it cannot fail to +give great prestige to your house." + +"_The Emperor himself, through the medium of his Chef de Cabinet_," +wrote D'Erlanger to Memminger, "_complimented us upon the great +success; a proof with what interest the operation had been received by +all friends of the South._" + +Notwithstanding the "intelligence of Europe" had rushed to secure it, +bankers of respectability--men who prized honor and integrity above +pounds and pence--stood aloof, for they remembered that Mr. Jefferson +Davis, President of the slaveholding Confederacy, was a repudiator. No +allegation against him had been made through the press, but the +_Times_ came to the rescue before the attack. On the 19th, the day on +which the loan was issued, Mr. Sampson, editor of the city article, +said:-- + + "Those among the English people who are still suffering from + Mississippi repudiation will perhaps view with wonder and regret + the negotiation of a loan for a government of which Mr. Jefferson + Davis, by whom that repudiation was defended in his place in + Congress, is the head. But the Southern Confederacy includes + Virginia, Georgia, and other honorable States, and it is by the + prospect of what the Confederacy will do as a whole that people + will make their calculation. The reasoning that would exclude the + South from a loan on account of the conduct of Mississippi, would + apply equally to the North, since the North embraces Michigan. It + would also have applied to the United States loans negotiated + while Mississippi was a State of the Union, and especially while + Mr. Jefferson Davis was an influential member of the Federal + government, and regarded with high favor by all the Northern + population, by whom the remarks of the _Times_ on his financial + views were then declared to be nothing but the outpourings of + British rancor."[104] + + [Footnote 104: _Times_, March 19, 1863.] + +Turning to the _Times_ of July 13th, of 1849, we find a letter written +by Jeff Davis, copied from the Washington _Union_, in which the +repudiator says:-- + + "The crocodile tears which have been shed over ruined creditors + are on a par with the lawless denunciations which have been + heaped upon that State." + +To this the _Times_ replied:-- + + "Taking its principles and its tone together, it is a doctrine + which has never been paralleled. Let it circulate throughout + Europe, that a member of the United States Senate in 1849 has + openly proclaimed that at a recent period the Governor and + Legislative assemblies of his own State deliberately issued + fraudulent bonds for five million dollars to sustain the credit + of a rickety bank, that the bonds in question having been + hypothecated abroad to innocent holders, such holders have not + only no claim against the community by whose Executive and + Representatives this act was committed, but that they are to be + taunted for appealing to the verdict of the civilized world, + rather than to the judgment of the legal officers of the State by + whose functionaries they have been robbed, and that the ruin of + toil-worn men, of women and of children, and the crocodile tears + which that ruin has occasioned, is a subject of jest on the part + of those by whom it has been accomplished, and then let it be + asked if any foreigner ever penned a libel on the American + character equal to that against the people of Mississippi by + their own Senator."[105] + + [Footnote 105: _Times_, July 13, 1849.] + +Mr. Davis published a rejoinder, dated at Briarfield, Miss., August +29, 1849, addressed to the editor of the _Mississippian_. "It is a +foreigner's slander," said he, "against the government, the judiciary, +and the people of the Mississippi. It is an attack upon our republican +government, the hypocritical cant of stock-jobbers and pensioned +presses,--by the hired advocates of the _innocent_ stock dealers of +London change. It is a calumnious imputation." + +The State of Mississippi had obtained the money in London on the +solemn pledge of the faith of the State, and loaned it to the +citizens; but the State had broken its pledge, repudiated the debt, +and Mr. Jeff Davis eulogized the proceeding! The courts of the State +decreed in 1842 that the debt was valid, and the decision was +reaffirmed in 1853. Jeff Davis was then Secretary of War, and through +his efforts and influence the State continued to repudiate the claims +of the British bondholders. In 1863 Mississippi was indebted to +Englishmen not only for the principal, $5,000,000, but for twenty-five +years of unpaid interest; yet, notwithstanding this, the _Times_, +eating its words of other days, came before the English people with a +certificate of character for the repudiator, also publishing one from +Slidell. "I am inclined to think," wrote Slidell, "that the people in +London confound Mr. Reuben Davis, whom I have always understood to +have taken the lead on the question of repudiation, with President +Jefferson Davis. I am not aware that the latter was ever identified +with the question." + +The _Times_, commenting upon Slidell's letter, said:-- + + "It is satisfactory to find that the friends of the President of + the Confederate States are anxious to free him from the charge of + having been an advocate of the repudiation which has now been + practised for exactly a quarter of a century by the State of + Mississippi.... + + "Should it turn out that there has been a mistake, the + announcement will be hailed with warm gratification,--not from + any idle feeling of partisanship for the South, on the one hand, + or the merely sordid consideration of the prospects of the + bondholders on the other, but because there can be no question, + whether his course be judged by Northerners or Southerners, that + in his conduct of the existing war Mr. Jefferson Davis has + displayed such qualities as to give the world an interest in + wishing that the dishonorable classes who are to be found in + every nation should not, either now or in the future, be able to + point to him as an instance of the possibility of a heartless + disregard of pecuniary rights being compatible with real + greatness of character. It is to be apprehended, however, that + the solution will not come in the manner contemplated. + Nevertheless, in another way it is not out of reach, and the best + probability is that the unhappy blot upon Mr. Davis's reputation + was caused by the influence of an unscrupulous community upon a + then young and aspiring politician, deriving his views, perhaps, + from the sophistical perversions of fraudulent lawyers, and that + he has since discovered his mistake, and learnt to feel and + acknowledge that if he had again to act in the matter, it would + be in a very different spirit."[106] + + [Footnote 106: _Times_, March 23, 1863.] + +It was necessary, for the success of the loan, to show that the South +was sure of obtaining its independence, and while the editor of the +city article was whitewashing Jeff Davis, the editor in chief was +assuring the public that the Union was forever broken up. + +Thus wrote Mr. Delaine, the editor in chief, on the 19th:-- + + "So far as it is concerned, the once United States are a mere + heap of loose materials, a caldron of molten stuff, ready to + receive whatever form fortune may determine. In that vast _melee_ + are two centres, which severally strive to give law and order to + the whole. At Washington a body of men, not without courage, + ability, and enterprise, are laboring, not to restore the + Union,--they might as well try to restore the Heptarchy,--but to + reconquer what has been lost, and, let the worst come to worst, + to establish a military power." + +On the 27th another leader was given to American affairs. Said the +editor:-- + + "As to the final issue of the war, all the world, except some + politicians, soldiers, and contractors at Washington and New + York, have made up their minds, ... excepting a few disappointed + gentlemen of Republican tendencies, we all expect, we nearly all + wish, success to the Confederate cause." + +And again, on the 28th:-- + + "There was room enough for two states on one continent, could the + Americans but have believed it. We do not affect to be surprised + at the course they have taken. It was natural that a blow should + be struck for the Union; but all Europe has long seen that the + Union could never be restored." + +That men act from motives is a fundamental truth of moral philosophy. +Why the _Times_ gave such earnest advocacy to the slaveholders may be +inferred from what follows. Opening now the correspondence of +D'Erlanger with the Rebel Secretary of the Treasury, we read, under +date of June 6, 1863:-- + +"_A great margin had to be given to interest the newspapers, pay +commissions, and captivate the opinions of those who treated the loan +and its support as a question of profit and loss._" + +And further on, in the same letter:-- + +"_Thanks to great pecuniary sacrifices made, AND THE SUPPORT OF ALL +THE NEWSPAPERS, the subscriptions for the loan surpassed our own +expectations. It reached five times the amount of the loan, and +success made everybody friends._" + +At a later date, J. Henry Schroeder & Co., in a note marked "private," +writes to D'Erlanger:-- + +"For the advertisements in the _Times_, through Mr. Sampson, and later +on in the _Index_, concerning the payment of the coupons, _we shall do +the needful_." + +Thus we learn, from the statement of D'Erlanger, that the _Times_, +upon which John Bull pins his faith, was not only by sympathy, but +through interest, the advocate of the loan and of the slave-lords' +Confederacy. Its financial articles and its leaders were written to +the order of D'Erlanger. By the aid of the _Times_, a Parisian Jew, +taking advantage of the sympathy expressed for the South by lords, +members of Parliament, bankers, business men, and adventurers, and of +the general gullibility of the British public, was able to secure a +subscription of forty-five million dollars,--or thirty million in +excess of the loan! On page 532 we have seen that the Liverpool +correspondent of the _Times_ had been quieted by a commission of +L6,500 ($30,000), not for services rendered, but to secure his +interest, as explained in D'Erlanger's letter to Memminger, written on +the 8th of July, 1863. The banker says:-- + + "When our loan contract was coming back from America, this + gentleman [Mr. Spence] wanted to interfere in the matter, by all + means, and claimed a partnership to the contract of one sixth, + under the pretence that he was the financial agent of the + Confederate government in England, and that our making the loan + had put him out of business which he might otherwise have + transacted for the South. We knew that Mr. Spence wrote + frequently for the _Times_, that as a public writer he could do a + great deal of harm if not any good. We succeeded in escaping his + intrusion, and when I had made arrangements to bring out the loan + in England, I followed his invitation to arrange matters with him + in Liverpool, and went down there myself. I gave him L50,000 of + the loan at seventy-seven, taking them back at ninety, which gave + him a commission as profit of L6,500." + +These extracts from D'Erlanger's correspondence will serve to show the +American people that the London _Times_ was in the service and pay of +Jeff Davis during the Rebellion. + +On the evening of the 23d Lord Campbell called up the American +question in Parliament, making a speech in favor of recognizing the +Confederacy. He spoke of the remarkable success of the loan as a proof +that the English public were ready to aid the South. The loan being +thus bolstered up rose to four and a half per cent premium. + +Mr. McRae having arrived in France, there was a meeting of +distinguished Rebels in Paris on the 4th of June, at D'Erlanger's +banking-house. Mason, Slidell, and L. J. C. Lamar, who had been +purchasing supplies in London for the Confederacy,--and McRae were +present. The object of the meeting was to consider the financial +condition of the Confederate government in Europe. The indebtedness of +the Confederacy abroad, for cannon, arms, ships, and supplies, at that +time, was put down at L1,741,000 ($8,705,000). "At the same time," +reads the correspondence, "Ermile d'Erlanger & Co. furnished the +meeting with a full statement concerning the loan. According to which, +L1,850,000 ($9,250,000) of the loan is in circulation; a part of which +is full paid, having been subscribed for by the creditors of the +government." + +The balance of L1,150,000 was in the hands of D'Erlanger for disposal. +In a letter written two days later, on the 6th, by D'Erlanger to +Memminger, we learn how there happened to be so large an amount of the +stock on hand. Unfavorable news from America caused a feeling of +uneasiness, and speculative holders began to sell at depreciated +rates. + +"An arrangement," says D'Erlanger, "was thereupon entered into with +Mr. Mason, and heartily approved by Mr. Slidell, which enabled us to +buy for the government L1,000,000 of the stock; but so eager was the +speculation, that this did not suffice, and the sum had to be extended +to L1,500,000. This operation had its effect, and better tidings +helped the market." + +Upon this amount purchased by D'Erlanger to sustain the price of the +loan, 35 per cent had been paid in by the subscribers. + +"We would not," writes the banker, "have recommended the course of +buying back part of the loan for the government, but for its peculiar +character. The first Confederate loan was as much a political as a +commercial transaction, and we have done everything that it may be +regarded in both ways.... We, as well as our friends Messrs. +Schroeder, are happy to have been able to lend our names and credit to +the first financial operation of the South." + +On the 13th of June McRae wrote to D'Erlanger a sharp letter, charging +him with "unauthorized proceedings." D'Erlanger was playing a good +game for himself. + +"These important modifications of the contract," wrote McRae, "_have +in every case inured to the benefit of the contractors_." + +D'Erlanger replied on the same day, saying, "The operation [the +repurchase of the stock] was not conducted on any selfish ground, but +for the political feeling attached to the loan." It made no difference +to D'Erlanger whether he bought or sold on government account, so long +as he received his commissions. He objected, however, to receiving the +full amount of his commission in bonds; he must have part cash. + +"We should," wrote he, "be under too heavy an outlay if we had to take +the L150,000 commission in bonds." This commission, therefore, up to +the 15th of June, 1863, had reached the nice little sum of $750,000! + +D'Erlanger having disposed of the stock to good advantage, was anxious +to bring out a second loan on the same terms. In a letter written to +Memminger on the 8th of July we discover what those terms were. + +"We are ready," said he, "to make a new loan contract, taking exactly +the terms of the old contract, and engaging to divide with the +government the profits to be realized, between the rate of 77 and the +issue price." + +The loan then on the market was issued at 90, which gave D'Erlanger a +commission of 6-1/2 per cent,--a portion of which doubtless went into +the pocket of Slidell. D'Erlanger was fearful that the success of the +loan would bring proposals from other banking-houses. "We wish," said +he, "that the circumstance of our names being the first connected with +a large financial transaction for the government in Europe shall tell +in our favor, and that a preference shall be granted to us, which we +are quite ready to merit, by making better terms to the government +than any other respectable house may offer." + +This proposition was indorsed by McRae, who the following week +accompanied D'Erlanger to Rippaldson, where "a charming company" had +gathered, and "an agreeable week was passed in the society of Madame +Caroline and Miss Theresa." McRae, in a letter written on the 17th, +urges a new loan, but the news from Gettysburg and Vicksburg had +"lessened the appetite," and we hear no more of the proposition for a +second loan. + +At a later date, in December, the correspondence is in regard to the +purchase of boats for the government, in which the Paris banker takes +the part of Shylock:-- + + "Well then, it now appears you need my help: + Go to then; you come to me, and you say, + _Shylock, we would have moneys_." + +McRae wanted L200,000 on government account, and applied to +D'Erlanger, whose terms will be seen from the following extract from +McRae's letter:-- + + "Your proposition amounts to this: That the government should pay + 100 per cent for the use of L200,000, for probably less than six + months, with no risk on the part of the lenders, as the L650,000 + of bonds deposited, and the lien on the boats purchased with the + sum lent, would protect them against loss in any event. My + proposition was to pay 33-1/3 for L200,000, for a period of + probably ten or twelve months. This I considered sufficiently + favorable for the lenders, as they would have been secured by the + deposit of L333,333 of bonds, and a lien on the boats." + +The American people, doubtless, care very little who among Rebel +agents and manipulators of the loan, or who of the bondholders, made +or lost money, and I pass over the details of the interesting +correspondence. That D'Erlanger managed it shrewdly for his own +benefit is very evident. He charged interest, commission, and exchange +on all the stock passing through his hands. In the transaction +L140,000, raised from the sale of bonds, was set aside as "caution +money" by Mason and Slidell, who wished, for political considerations, +to keep the stock at par. D'Erlanger charged commission on the +repurchase of this stock, although he held it in his own name, and +received interest on the same! McRae was not then in Europe, but upon +arriving he refused to ratify the act of Mason and Slidell, but made a +proposition to D'Erlanger that the banker should place L704,000 of +unsold stock. It is not stated what commission he was to receive. The +agreement was verbal, and D'Erlanger was to forfeit L140,000 if the +stock was not placed at the end of six months. The months rolled away, +and the stock was not placed, and D'Erlanger, instead of paying his +forfeiture, held on to the L140,000 of caution money, and helped +himself to the interest from government funds in his hands! McRae had +no redress except to appeal to Memminger. D'Erlanger wrote a honeyed +letter to the Rebel Secretary of Treasury, and offered to +"compromise" by giving up one half! McRae finally accepted terms from +D'Erlanger; what they were is not stated, but McRae writes a doleful +letter to the banker, saying that he is afraid Memminger and Davis +will censure him. D'Erlanger seems to have wound McRae round his +finger at will. + +Schroeder & Co. were in the "ring" with D'Erlanger, and received +commission and brokerage on the entire amount of the loan, L3,000,000. +D'Erlanger, Schroeder, and McRae each took L50,000 of stock in the +"Franco-English Steam Navigation Company," which was to bring out +cotton on government account. D'Erlanger fixed the date of issuing the +bonds, and thus brought advantage to himself. Among the payments made +through Mr. Mason were L55,000 to Captain Crenshaw, L26,000 to Captain +North, L38,000 to Captain Maury, L31,000 to Captain Bullock and Mr. +Spence. A portion of these sums went into the hands of the Lairds for +the rams which they were building. Isaac Campbell & Co. received +L515,000 ($2,575,000). This firm took L150,000 of the loan. Bonds to +the amount of L117,000 were converted into cotton. It appears that +D'Erlanger endeavored to sweep these into his drag-net, and obtain +commission and brokerage wholly unauthorized. + +Since the close of the war the British holders of the loan have called +upon D'Erlanger for an account of his operations, but can obtain no +satisfaction. They have despatched an agent to the United States, +appealing to the magnanimity of the Federal government for an +adjustment and payment of their claims! Such insolent audacity has +been promptly rebuked by Mr. Seward. Marvellous their stupidity and +effrontery,--to ask pay for the coals on which they sought to roast +us, for the rope that was to strangle the young giant of the West, +whose growth they had beheld with alarm, and whose power they feared! +As is evident from the correspondence in my possession, the whole +scheme was well contrived and manipulated by Slidell and D'Erlanger +for the benefit of themselves, and also of Campbell & Co., Schroeder & +Co., Spence, the Lairds, and McRae, who, by the aid of the London +_Times_, and "all the _papers_," were able to fleece the English +aristocracy out of fifteen million dollars. + +From mercenary motives they enlisted in the cause of slavery to +destroy a friendly republican government. They had persistently +asserted that a constitutional democracy like ours must ultimately +fail to secure the rights and liberties of the people,--that internal +war would crumble it into ruins like the ancient republics; and now +they thought the fulfilment of their prophecy so near at hand it was +unnecessary longer to disguise their hatred, and openly gave their +"aid and comfort" to the enemy, jeering at our efforts and denouncing +our measures to maintain our existence among the nations. They +ventured their money on the doubtful issue and lost, and now so +lugubriously bewail their folly as to make themselves ridiculous in +the eyes of the world, and the laughing-stock of the American people. + +[Illustration: Patriot Orphan Home, Flushing, L. I.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +SURRENDER OF LEE. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1865.] + +At three o'clock Monday morning, April 3d, Wilcox's division of the +Ninth Corps entered Petersburg just in season to see the rear guard of +Lee's army disappear over the hills on the north bank of the +Appomattox, having burned the bridges and destroyed all the supplies +which could not be transported. Lee's army was divided,--Longstreet, +Pickett, and Johnson being south of the stream, fifteen miles west of +the city. Gordon, Mahone, Ewell, and Elzy, with the immense trains of +supplies and batteries from Richmond, were north of the river,--all +moving southwest, towards Danville, with the intention of joining +Johnston in North Carolina. + +"Good by, boys," said the women of Petersburg, some sorrowfully; +others more joyful cried, "We'll drink pure coffee, with sugar in it, +to-morrow. No more hard times."[107] They were weary of war. The +troops passed through the town in silence and dejection. It was a +sorrowful march. The successive disasters of Sunday, the sudden +breaking up, the destruction of property, the scenes of the night, +soon had their effect upon the spirits of the army. Soldiers slipped +from the ranks, disappeared in the woods, and threw away their +muskets, sick at heart, and disgusted with war. Virginia soldiers had +little inclination to abandon the Old Dominion and fight in North +Carolina. They were State-rights men,--each State for itself. If +Secession could cut loose from the Union, why not from the +Confederacy? + + [Footnote 107: Lee's Last Campaign, p. 26.] + +Before noon the troops moving from Petersburg, and those retreating +from Richmond, with all the baggage-trains and flying citizens, came +together on the Chesterfield road, producing confusion and delay. Had +Lee thrown his supply trains upon the Lynchburg road, and made a day's +march farther west with his army, instead of taking the nearest road +to Danville, he probably would have escaped; but his progress was very +slow. The roads were soft, the wagons overloaded. The stalling of a +single horse in the advance delayed the whole army. + +The teamsters were quite as unwilling to go south as the soldiers. +They were expecting every moment to hear the ringing shouts of +Sheridan's men charging upon their flank or rear. There were frequent +panics, which set them into a fever of excitement, and added to the +confusion. + +Grant determined to prevent Lee's escape if possible. The Ninth Corps +was detailed to hold the town, guard the railroad, reconstruct it, and +follow the other corps as a reserve. The Second, Fifth, and Sixth +Corps, instead of crossing the river were sent upon the double-quick +along the road which runs between the Appomattox and the South Side +Railroad. + +Ord, with the divisions of the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Corps, +marched for Burkesville Junction. Sheridan, being in advance with the +cavalry, reached Jettersville, on the Richmond and Danville road, +forty-four miles from Richmond, on the 4th, tore up the track, +intrenched his position, and waited for the infantry. Meade joined him +on the morning of the 5th, while Ord, by a forced march, reached +Burkesville, south of Sheridan. + +Lee crossed the Appomattox at Clemenstown, moved southwest to Amelia +Court-House, where he was joined by Longstreet's, Pickett's, and +Johnson's troops. The Appomattox has its rise in Prince Edward county, +runs northeast, approaching within fifteen miles of the James, then +turns southeast, and joins the James at Petersburg. + +[Illustration: Surrender of General Lee.] + +The bridge at Clemenstown, on which Lee crossed was narrow and unsafe, +and the army was much hindered. Had he not crossed at all, but marched +round the bend instead, he might have slipped past Sheridan while that +officer was waiting at Jettersville for Meade to join him. On the 5th +Meade, finding that he was ahead of Lee, instead of marching west, +turned northeast, and swept up the railroad toward Amelia, with the +Fifth Corps on the right, the Second in the centre, and the Sixth on +the left with the cavalry. Lee, seeing that he could not go down the +railroad, instead of marching southwest, as he had done the day +before, moved directly west, to give Meade the slip if possible. He +abandoned wagons, caissons, and forage, and everything that impeded +his march. + +The Rebels had reached their Bull Run. The trains from Richmond were +crossing the bridge when a panic set in. "While we were gazing," says +a Rebel writer, "at the wagons moving up from the bridge and entering +the road leading to the Court-House, our ears caught the sound of five +or six shots in succession; and, looking in the direction whence the +sound came, we perceived two or three horsemen emerge from a wood +about half a mile distant, and as quickly retire. We could not discern +their uniform, but the supposition was, of course, that they were a +part of Sheridan's cavalry. There was a slight confusion at the head +of the train, and then a halt. 'The Yankees! Sheridan!' As the cry +echoed from man to man, the teamsters began to turn their mules +towards the river, many involving themselves with those in their rear, +while others dismounted and sought the nearest wood. In five minutes +the scene had been changed from quiet to the utmost disorder. The +wagons were turned back with astonishing rapidity, each teamster +unmercifully lashing his jaded animals, as anxious to reach the other +side as an hour before he had been to get to this. The cavalry, who +had been scattered over the fields cooking or eating their breakfasts, +now caught the alarm, and leaving their rations grasped their bridles, +mounted, and spurred their horses towards the bridge. For this point +all were aiming, and the foot-sore infantry now seemed to have but a +poor chance of life in the road now jammed with wagons, mules, and +mounted men. The narrow defile, bounded on either side by tall rocks, +was filled with horses, wagons, and men, all unable to advance a foot +toward the desired point.... Upon the other side (north) the panic was +even greater, the rumor prevailing that five hundred Yankees were in +our front, and that a large number of our wagons had been captured and +burned. Vainly plunging their sharp spurs into the steaming flanks of +the poor mules, and still unable to make them trot through the mud and +up the steep hills, the teamsters cut loose the traces, and +remounting would gallop away, flourishing their long whips, yelling, +and urging their horses to the utmost speed. Forsaking the road, they +leaped the fences, thronged the fields, and sought the wood for +hiding-places.... Scores of broken-down and wrecked wagons and +ambulances were overturned and abandoned, their contents being strewed +over the road; corn and oats, meal and flour covered the ground, while +quartermaster's papers were scattered in every direction. Clothing and +even medicinal stores had been in like manner thrown away."[108] + + [Footnote 108: Rebel Courier's Experience.] + +When General Meade discovered Lee's new movement, he wheeled toward +the left, and faced the Second and Fifth Corps northwest. The Fifth +Corps moved up to Painesville, which is northwest of Amelia; but +Griffin, commanding, was too late to strike Lee, whose rear-guard had +passed that point. The Second Corps moved through Deatonville, which +is five miles west of Jettersville, while the Sixth Corps, moving +southwest, came upon the Rebels on Little Sailor's Creek, a small +tributary of the Appomattox, running north. The Twenty-Fourth Corps +meanwhile, marching from Burkesville up the railroad, joined the Sixth +Corps at the head of the creek. + +Early in the morning of the 6th General Ord directed that the +Petersburg and Lynchburg Railroad bridge across the Appomattox be +seized and held if possible; if not able to hold it, the troops were +to destroy it. The Fifty-Fourth Pennsylvania and One Hundred and +Twenty-Third Ohio were sent to do the work. They moved toward the +river, but suddenly found themselves on the right flank of Lee's army, +which, was in line of battle, between Sailor's Creek and the +Appomattox. + +Lee made a stand at this point to save his trains. He was still hoping +to reach Danville. If he could fight a successful battle, his wagons +would have time to slip away from Sheridan. He had already been forced +ten miles out of his direct line of march, and if he failed here he +must give up all expectation of reaching Danville, and strike west +towards Lynchburg. + +His army stood on the west bank of Sailors' Creek, facing east and +southeast, behind intrenchments, with the Appomattox, which here runs +northeast, behind him. + +Walking along the Union lines we see that the Fifth Corps is not yet +up from its long _detour_ north toward Painesville, but the Second +Corps is approaching the creek four miles above its junction with the +Appomattox. One division of cavalry is on its right flank, reaching +down to the river. The Sixth Corps is on the left of the Second, +facing west. There is a break in the line as we go towards Ord's +command, which is near Burkesville, facing northwest, with Sheridan's +cavalry on both flanks. + +The forenoon was passed in skirmishing on the part of the Union +troops. The regiments sent to seize the bridge were not able to +accomplish the task, and were driven with severe loss. But now the +Second Corps came up, a foothold was gained across the creek, and +Lee's left flank was forced towards the river. + +It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon before the Sixth Corps +came up with the Rebels. This corps had been marching southwest; but +when the skirmishers discovered the enemy, Wright halted Seymour's +division, which was in advance, faced it west, while Wheaton's +division filed past Seymour's and took position on the left. The third +division was in reserve. The cavalry was on the left of Wheaton. +Sheridan found himself confronted by Ewell's and Kershaw's divisions, +which were strongly intrenched. + +Seymour and Wheaton moved from the road west, went down the steep +declivity into the ravine, receiving the fire of the Rebels without +flinching, crossed the creek, ascended the other bank, and dashed upon +the intrenchments. At the same moment Custar's division of cavalry +advanced with sabres drawn, their horses upon the run, goaded with +spur and quickened by shout, till they caught the wild enthusiasm of +their riders, and horses and men unitedly became as fiery Centaurs, +the earth trembling beneath the tread of the thousands of hoofs, the +air resounding with bugle-blasts and thrilling cheers! + +The charge of this division was heroic. The Rebel artillery opened +with shells, followed by canister. The infantry, protected by +breastworks, were able to give a galling fire, but the squadrons swept +everything before them, leaping the intrenchments, sabring all who +resisted, crushing the whole of Lee's right wing by a single blow, +gathering up thousands of prisoners, who stood as if paralyzed by the +tremendous shock. + +Entire regiments threw down their arms. Miles of wagons, caissons, +ambulances, forges, arms, ammunition,--all that belonged to that +portion of the line, was lost to Lee in a moment. Generals Ewell, +Kershaw, Defoe, Barton, Custis Lee, Borden, and Corse were prisoners +almost before they knew it. + +"Further fighting is useless; it will be a waste of life," said Ewell +to Custar. + +"Bravely done, Custar," said Sheridan, riding up, and complimenting +his lieutenant in the presence of the whole division. + +It was through the co-operation of the other cavalry divisions, +Crook's and Devens's and Merritt's, and of the Sixth Corps, that +Custar was enabled to strike such a crushing blow. Honor is due to +all. Custar had his horse killed; Lieutenant Harwell, Captain +Barnhart, Lieutenant Narvall, Lieutenant Main, and Lieutenant Custar, +all belonging to his staff, also had their horses shot in the splendid +charge, which of itself proves that it was gallant and desperate. +Officers and men alike rushed upon the enemy, rivalling each other in +deeds of daring. + +After receiving this paralyzing blow Lee gave up all hope of reaching +Danville. He could move only in the direction of Lynchburg. Caissons, +wagons, and ambulances were burned, cannon abandoned, commissary +supplies left by the roadside. + +It was a day of jubilee to the colored people, who swarmed out from +their cabins and appropriated the plunder. + +"'Pears like as if we were spiling the Egyptians," said an old man who +had gathered an immense pile of blankets and coats. + +There was a skirmish at Farmville the next morning, between the +cavalry and the left wing of Lee's army. The centre, and what remained +of the right wing, crossed the Appomattox ten miles above +Farmville,--both columns moving to Appomattox Court-House, where Lee +hoped to unite his scattered forces. + +Grant and Meade, with the Second and Sixth Corps, crossed at +Farmville, and followed Lee along the Petersburg and Lynchburg +turnpike. Ord, joined by the Fifth, starting from Burkesville, took +the shortest road to Appomattox Court-House, nearly fifty miles +distant, while Sheridan, with the main body of the cavalry, made a +rapid movement southwest to cut off Lee's retreat. The pursuit from +Sailors' Creek commenced on Friday morning, and Lee was brought to bay +Saturday noon. + +It was an exciting race. There were frequent interchanges of shots +between the cavalry, hovering like a cloud upon Lee's flank, also +captures of abandoned wagons, ambulances, caissons, pieces of +artillery, and picking up of stragglers. Glimpses of the Rebel forces +were sometimes had across the ravines. As a sight of the flying deer +quickens the pursuit of the hound, so an occasional view of the flying +enemy roused the soldiers to a wild and irrepressible enthusiasm, and +their shouts and cheers rang long and loud through the surrounding +woodlands. + +Appomattox Court-House is at the head-waters of the Appomattox River, +on the table-land between the rivulets which give rise to that stream +and the James River, which makes its great southern bend at Lynchburg. +The place is sometimes called Clover Hill. It is a small +village,--such as are to be seen throughout the Old Dominion,--one or +two good, substantial houses, surrounded by a dozen or twenty +miserable cabins. + +Lee succeeded in reuniting his troops, numbering not more than a +division, such as once marched under his direction up the heights of +Gettysburg, or moved into the fight in the Wilderness; but when +reunited and ready to move upon Lynchburg, he found the cloud which +had hung upon his flank and rear now enveloping him on the north, the +east, the south, the west. Sheridan had swung past him, Ord and +Griffin were south of him, holding the road leading to Danville, while +Wright and Humphrey, east and north, were preparing to drive him over +against Sheridan, who in turn would toss him down towards Ord and +Griffin. + +Great was the consternation in the Rebel ranks when, on Saturday +morning, the Rebels discovered that Sheridan was cutting off their +retreat to Lynchburg. + +"Yankees at Appomattox! Sheridan!"[109] was the cry of a party of +Rebel officers on a locomotive, hastening to Lynchburg in season to +escape the Union cavalrymen then advancing to tear up the rails. +Sheridan pounced upon the artillery, and on the afternoon of the 8th +captured twenty-five pieces. Meade at the same time came upon the rear +of the Rebels a mile east of the Court-House, and captured a battery. +Lee's men were melting away, worn down by hard marching and fighting, +and discouraged by defeat and disaster. His provisions were getting +low, as the larger part of the supplies had been abandoned. His +condition was critical. + + [Footnote 109: Rebel Courier's Experience.] + +It was a gloomy night. A courier brought intelligence that Sheridan +had possession of Concord Station. + +"We all felt," says a Rebel writer, "our hearts chilled by this new +rumor. Concord Station was between us and Lynchburg, and we had no +knowledge of any other road to that place than that which we were +pursuing. Turning back, our capture was inevitable. The generals +withdrew to consult, the staff officers conversed in low tones, while +the soldiers, teamsters, the cause being unknown, did not hesitate to +declare their impatience at the delay."[110] + + [Footnote 110: Rebel Courier's Experience.] + +Lee called his last council of war, summoning Longstreet, Pickett, +Gordon, and Hill. The condition of affairs was discussed. It was a sad +hour. Lee was much depressed. He did not know that the infantry under +Ord and Griffin were south of him, but supposed that his way was +disputed only by Sheridan. It was decided to force a passage. The +attack was made; but the volleys of musketry and the vigor of the +cannonade, and the long lines of men in blue, convinced him that he +had little chance of escaping. The skirmishing was kept up through the +day,--both parties too wearied and exhausted to fight a general +battle,--yet each moment of delay made Lee's condition more hopeless. + +Grant had despatched a letter to Lee on the 7th, from Farmville, +asking the surrender of the army of Northern Virginia. + +Lee replied the same day, asking for terms. + +On the 8th Grant sent a second letter, insisting upon one condition +only: "That the men and officers shall be disqualified for taking up +arms against the United States until properly exchanged." + +"I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of +this army," Lee answered; but at the same time asked for an interview +at ten o'clock next morning. Sheridan had not closed all the roads to +Lynchburg, but was in such a position that it was impossible for Lee +to get away with his army. Breckenridge, with a large number of +officers and many thousands of privates, struck northwest, through +by-roads and fields, crossed James River, reached Lynchburg and passed +into North Carolina. + +The Second Corps was in position on Sunday morning, waiting the order +to advance, when a flag of truce was displayed in front of Miles's +division. Captain J. D. Cook, of General Miles's staff, was sent to +receive it. He was met by Colonel Taylor, of Lee's staff, who brought +a note from Lee, wishing for a suspension of hostilities to take into +consideration the terms offered by General Grant on Saturday. General +Meade signified by note that he had no authority to enter into an +armistice, but would wait two hours before making an attack, and would +communicate with General Grant. + +Before the expiration of the time General Grant arrived, and a +correspondence with Lee followed, which resulted in the appointment of +a place of meeting for a more full consideration of the terms proposed +by General Grant. + +In the little village of Appomattox Court-House there is a large, +square brick house, with a portico in front, the residence of Wilmer +McLean. Roses were budding in the garden on that Sabbath morning, +violets and daffodils were already in bloom, and the trees which +shaded the dwelling were green with the verdure of spring. General Lee +designated it as the place for meeting General Grant. It was a little +past two o'clock in the afternoon when General Lee, accompanied by +General Marshall, his chief of staff, entered the house. A few minutes +later General Grant arrived, accompanied only by Colonel Parker, of +his staff, chief of the Six Nations. + +The meeting was in the parlor,--a square room, carpeted, furnished +with a sofa and centre-table. Lee, dressed in a suit of gray, was +sitting by the table when Grant entered. Time had silvered his hair +and beard. He wore an elegant sword, a gift from his friends. + +General Grant had left his sword behind, and appeared in the same suit +he had worn in the field through the eventful days,--a plain blue +frock, with double row of buttons, and shoulder-straps bearing the +three silver stars, the insignia of his rank as Lieutenant-General. + +The meeting was cordial. After salutations the two commanders sat +down, placed their hats on the table, and conversed as freely as in +other days when both were in the service of the United States. General +Lee alluded to the correspondence which had passed between them. + +"General, I have requested this interview, to know more fully the +terms which you propose," said General Lee. + +General Grant replied that he would grant a parole to officers and +men, and that the officers might retain their side-arms and their +personal effects. General Lee assented to the proposition, and did not +ask for any modification of the terms, which were then engrossed. The +paper was signed by General Lee at half past three o'clock. + +After he had affixed his signature, General Lee asked for General +Grant's understanding of the term "personal effects" which had been +used in the instrument. + +"Many of my cavalrymen own their horses," he said. + +"I think that the horses must be turned over to the United States," +was the reply. + +"I coincide in that opinion," was Lee's rejoinder. + +"But," said General Grant, "I will instruct the officers who are +appointed to carry out the capitulation to allow those who own horses +to take them home. They will need them to do their spring ploughing +and to till their farms." + +"Allow me to express my thanks for such consideration and generosity +on your part. It cannot fail of having a good effect," General Lee +replied with emotion. + +After further conversation General Lee expressed a hope that each +soldier of his army might be furnished with a certificate, or some +other evidence of parole, to prevent them from being forced into +further service by Confederate conscripting officers. + +[Illustration: General Lee's Farewell.] + +"I will order such certificates to be issued to every man," said +General Grant; and as soon as the preliminaries were settled, the +head-quarters printing-press was put to work striking off blanks for +that purpose. + +"My army is short of rations," said Lee. + +"You shall be supplied," and an order was at once issued to the +commissary to furnish rations to the prisoners. + +The question of terms had been discussed the evening previous around +Grant's camp-fire. Grant stated that he wanted such a surrender as +would break down the positions which France and England had taken in +recognizing the Rebels as belligerents. He did not wish for +humiliating terms. He would not require a formal grounding of arms. +The Rebels were Americans, and his object was to restore them to the +Union and not to degrade them. + +Lee returned to his army and stated the terms of capitulation, which +were received with great satisfaction, especially by those who owned +horses. They cheered loudly, and no doubt heartily. The terms were +such as they had not expected. The newspapers of the South had +persistently represented the men of the North as bloodthirsty and +vindictive,--as vandals, robbers, and murderers,--capable of doing the +work of fiends, and the remarkable leniency of Grant surprised them. + +The terms were not altogether acceptable to Grant's army. Many of the +officers remembered that General Pickett never had resigned his +commission in the United States service, but that he had taken up arms +against the country without any scruples of conscience. He was a +deserter and a traitor, found in arms. The soldiers remembered that +scores of their comrades had been shot or hung for deserting the +ranks; the utmost leniency of the government was a long term of +imprisonment in a penitentiary or confinement on the Dry Tortugas. +Sentinels had been shot for falling asleep while on duty; yet General +Pickett and his fellow-traitors were, by the terms of the parole, +granted an indulgence which was equivalent to a pardon. It was General +Pickett who hung the Union men of North Carolina who had enlisted in +the service of the Union, but who, under the fortunes of war, had +fallen into his hands. In General Pickett's estimation they had +committed an unpardonable crime. He considered them as citizens of the +Confederacy, and hung them upon the nearest tree. It was cold-blooded +murder. But his desertion, treason, inhumanity, and murders were +offset by the plea that the North could afford to be magnanimous to a +conquered foe! The soldiers idolized Grant as a commander. They had no +objection to his terms with the privates of Lee's army, but there was +dissent from including Pickett and Ewell, and other Rebel officers who +had been notoriously inhuman to Union soldiers. The Rebel soldiers +were generally humane towards prisoners, especially after the first +year of the war. Many instances might be cited of their kindness to +the wounded on the battle-field and to prisoners in their hands. The +officers in the field were also kind, but the political leaders, the +women, and officers in charge of prisons were cruel and vindictive. + +The hour came for Lee to part with his officers. He retained his +calmness and composure, but they could not refrain from shedding +tears. It was to be their last meeting. He was to lead them no more in +battle. + +The occasion brought before them an acute sense that all was +over,--all lost; their sacrifices, sufferings, heroism, had been in +vain; their pride was humbled; instead of being victors, they were +vanquished; history and the impartial verdict of mankind perhaps would +hold them responsible for the blood which had been shed. It was a sad +hour to that body of men in gray, wearing the stars of a perished +Confederacy. + +The intelligence of the capitulation was communicated to Grant's army +by bulletin. As the news flew along the lines on that Sabbath morning, +the cheering was prolonged and vociferous. For the first time in four +years the veterans who had toiled in the mud of the Peninsula, who had +been beaten back from Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, who had +stood like a wall of adamant on the banks of the Antietam, and the +heights of Gettysburg, who had pressed Lee from the Wilderness to Five +Forks, who had brought him to bay at last, were to have a peaceful +night. + +Their fighting was over, and there was to be no more charging of +batteries; nor long watchings in the trenches, drenched by rains, +parched by summer heat, or numbed by the frosts of winter; no more +scenes of blood, of wasting away in hospitals, or murders and +starvation in Rebel prisons. It was the hour of peace. In the radiant +light of that Sabbath sun they could rejoice in the thought that they +had once more a reunited country; that an abject people had been +redeemed from slavery; that the honor of the nation had been +vindicated; that the flag which traitors had trailed in the dust at +the beginning of the conflict was more than ever the emblem of the +world's best hopes. + +[Illustration: Study for a statue of Lincoln.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +CONCLUSION. + + +[Sidenote: April, 1865.] + +Day was breaking on the 12th of April, when General Grant, accompanied +by his staff, alighted from the cars at City Point, after a tedious +night ride from Burkesville. He walked slowly up the steep bank to his +head-quarters, not with the air of a conqueror, but as if sleep and +rest would be far more acceptable than the congratulations of a noisy +crowd. Four years had passed since he left his quiet home in Illinois, +a humble citizen, unknown beyond his village borders; but now his name +was inseparably connected with a great moral convulsion, world-wide in +its influence, enduring as time in its results. The mighty conflict of +ideas had swept round the globe like a tidal wave of the ocean. +Industry had been quickened in every land, and new channels of trade +opened among the nations. Wherever human language was spoken, men +talked of the war between Slavery and Freedom, and aspirations for +good were awakened in the hearts of toiling millions in Europe, on the +burning sands of Africa, and in the jungles of Hindostan, to whom life +was bare existence and the future ever hopeless. + +[Illustration: Assassination of Lincoln.] + +The four years of fighting were over; the Rebellion was subdued. On +the first of April Lee had a large army, but suddenly he had been +overwhelmed. That which seemed so formidable had disappeared like a +bubble in the sunshine. Though the Rebels saw that the Confederacy was +threatened as it had not been at any other period of the war, there +were few, if any, who, up to the latest hour, dreamed that there could +be such an overturning of affairs. That Lee had held his ground so +long was a warranty that he could successfully resist all Grant's +efforts to take Richmond. The Confederate Congress met daily in the +capital, passed resolutions, enacted laws, and debated questions of +state, as if the Confederacy had a place among the nations, with +centuries of prosperity and glory in prospect. But their performance +came to an unexpected end. The last act of the tragedy was given on +the 14th,--the assassination of the President. + +What drama surpasses it in interest? What period of the world's +history is more replete with great events affecting the welfare of the +human race? In 1861, when the curtain rose, the world beheld a nation, +peaceful, happy, prosperous. Then came the spectacle,--the procession +of seceding States, with bugles sounding, colors flying, the +bombardment of Sumter; the uprising of the people of the North, the +drum-beat heard in every village, flags floating from all the +steeples, streamers and banners from all the house-tops, great +battles, defeat, and victory; a ploughman and splitter of rails the +liberator of the enslaved, their enlistment as soldiers of the +Republic; the patriotism of the people; woman's work of love and +mercy; the ghastly scenes in Southern prisons, the conflagration of +cities set on fire by the Rebels, the breaking up of the Confederacy, +the assassination, the capture of the Rebel chief, the return of the +victorious armies, the last grand military pageant at Washington, and +then the retirement of the soldiers to peaceful life! Sublime the +picture! + +The conflict commenced as a rebellion, but ended in revolution. +Slavery has disappeared. Civil liberty is stronger than in 1861. Four +millions of freedmen are candidates for citizenship, who at the +beginning of the Rebellion had no rights under the flag of the Union. + + "Slaves rise up men; the olive waves, + With roots deep set in battle graves." + +The Rebellion was an attempt to suppress Truth and Justice by tyranny. +The effort might have been successful in earlier ages, but not in the +nineteenth century, and never will the attempt be repeated on American +soil, for the tendency of mind is towards a clearer perception of the +rights of man. America uttered her protest against despotic power in +1776. "It was an experiment," said the aristocracies of Europe. The +"republican bubble has burst," said Earl Russell in 1861; but the +Republic lives, and the false and ignoble distinctions in the society +of the Old World, which slavery attempted to establish in the New, +have been reversed. America teaches this truth to the wondering +nations,--that the strongest government rests, not on the few, not on +property, never on injustice, but on the people, on diffused wealth +and enlightened mind, on obligation to man and God. + +Kings will yet lay aside their sceptres, and subjects will become +sovereigns, because the people of America, by example, have shown the +world that civil and religious liberty for all, as well as for the +few, is of more value than human life. + +How lavish the expenditure of blood! How generous the outpouring of +the wine of life by the heroic dead! + + "Song of peace, nor battle's roar, + Ne'er shall break their slumbers more; + Death shall keep his solemn trust, + 'Earth to earth, and dust to dust.'" + +Dead, yet living. Their patriotism, sacrifice, endurance, patience, +faith, and hope can never die. Loved and lamented, but immortal. Paeans +for the living, dirges for the dead. Their work is done, not for an +hour, a day, a year, but for all time; not for fame or ambition, but +for the poor, the degraded, the oppressed of all lands, for +civilization and Christianity, for the welfare of the human race +through Time and Eternity! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Boys of '61, by Charles Carleton Coffin + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS OF '61 *** + +***** This file should be named 34843.txt or 34843.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/8/4/34843/ + +Produced by D Alexander, Christine P. 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